Compare and contrast
I can't resist buying chocolate when it's heavily discounted
It was especially pleasing to see two varieties of sea salt caramel flavoured dark chocolate on special recently.
I love comparing and contrasting products.
The line "compare and contrast" first came to my attention in essay questions at school.
In more recent years I've learned the value of having two bottles of wine open, as it lets one evaluate their flavours against each other.
When I drank I'd start with a small glass of a cheap wine and it'd help me appreciate the following glass more fully.
When I eased up on wine and began drinking coffee again, I bought every brand of bean available and evaluated their merits before settling on a combination of two contrasting flavours.
A similar thing happened when I ate these dark chocolates.
First I had the Frey branded chocolate, noting the bitter and salt flavours -- particularly the lingering molasses-like liquorice taste.
Then I had the Lindt, enjoying the smooth mouth-feel and sweetness, as well as the burnt sugar toffee.
And, finally, I ate them both together and marvelled at how well they complemented each other.
I love comparing and contrasting products.
The line "compare and contrast" first came to my attention in essay questions at school.
In more recent years I've learned the value of having two bottles of wine open, as it lets one evaluate their flavours against each other.
When I drank I'd start with a small glass of a cheap wine and it'd help me appreciate the following glass more fully.
When I eased up on wine and began drinking coffee again, I bought every brand of bean available and evaluated their merits before settling on a combination of two contrasting flavours.
A similar thing happened when I ate these dark chocolates.
First I had the Frey branded chocolate, noting the bitter and salt flavours -- particularly the lingering molasses-like liquorice taste.
Then I had the Lindt, enjoying the smooth mouth-feel and sweetness, as well as the burnt sugar toffee.
And, finally, I ate them both together and marvelled at how well they complemented each other.
Dying in the arts
Summer means every major Australian gallery is advertising an imported 'blockbuster' exhibition
They're invariably dead males from another country and we're told they're important.
But these backward-looking shows are one symptom of an illness that sees art isn't recognised for having a role everyone's daily lives.
Art is dying up its own arse, seemingly happy to be the domain of practitioners with letters after their names and increasingly hiding in academic clothing.
I'd hope most people would agree that creativity, like exercise, is an important activity.
Yet we see very few role models.
Just like sport, art's cultural sibling, it ought to be promoted as needing 30 minutes a day.
But, also like sport, people are mostly offered to buy a passive relationship with the thing they claim to love.
They're invariably dead males from another country and we're told they're important.
But these backward-looking shows are one symptom of an illness that sees art isn't recognised for having a role everyone's daily lives.
Art is dying up its own arse, seemingly happy to be the domain of practitioners with letters after their names and increasingly hiding in academic clothing.
I'd hope most people would agree that creativity, like exercise, is an important activity.
Yet we see very few role models.
Just like sport, art's cultural sibling, it ought to be promoted as needing 30 minutes a day.
But, also like sport, people are mostly offered to buy a passive relationship with the thing they claim to love.
Inherent Vice
Recently watched Inherent Vice a second time and thoroughly enjoyed it
Paul Thomas Anderson's adaptation of Thomas Pynchon's novel sits between Chinatown and The Big Lebowski, with many of the familiar Chandler-style LA detective plot points.
While there's some ambiguity about the femme fatale, it's got the mess of threads that reveal themselves to be deeply entangled and a sinister (former) psychiatric facility.
The post-'60s setting thrives on paranoia, and I mentioned previously how the film triggered an unsettling moment for me.
Anderson's movies are often grand and, while some of them have felt a bit sluggish for me, I think Inherent Vice should be regarded as a classic.
There are many amazing scenes and incredible performances, as well as revitalising the American Noir genre in a way I haven't seen since The Last Seduction.
Paul Thomas Anderson's adaptation of Thomas Pynchon's novel sits between Chinatown and The Big Lebowski, with many of the familiar Chandler-style LA detective plot points.
While there's some ambiguity about the femme fatale, it's got the mess of threads that reveal themselves to be deeply entangled and a sinister (former) psychiatric facility.
The post-'60s setting thrives on paranoia, and I mentioned previously how the film triggered an unsettling moment for me.
Anderson's movies are often grand and, while some of them have felt a bit sluggish for me, I think Inherent Vice should be regarded as a classic.
There are many amazing scenes and incredible performances, as well as revitalising the American Noir genre in a way I haven't seen since The Last Seduction.
Dream within a dream
Yesterday I awoke from a dream in which I awoke at a friend's house and discussed the dream I'd been having -- a dream within a dream
That nested dream had been about learning to fly on an eagle, which was a beaut image and I wrote a haiku to remind myself of it.
However, the conversation with the friend also included pointing at a newspaper written in Sanskrit and identifying a swastika on the page.
The friend had replied that it had another meaning.
I'd shared this detail with my partner yesterday morning, then it unsettled me when we watched the film Inherent Vice last night:
I'm not sure but I think the response in the film is word-for-word what was said in my dream.
Dreams are weird.
That nested dream had been about learning to fly on an eagle, which was a beaut image and I wrote a haiku to remind myself of it.
However, the conversation with the friend also included pointing at a newspaper written in Sanskrit and identifying a swastika on the page.
The friend had replied that it had another meaning.
I'd shared this detail with my partner yesterday morning, then it unsettled me when we watched the film Inherent Vice last night:
I'm not sure but I think the response in the film is word-for-word what was said in my dream.
Dreams are weird.
Mere mail
At first I was disappointed that it only contained a handful of religious pamphlets.
Then I realised it shows someone is concerned about my spirit.
Thanks!
Star Wars backstory
"Sometimes you can have science fiction where you create a whole other world, like Star Wars. The genesis was Apocalypse Now. It was supposed to be George Lucas’s movie at first. George Lucas and Francis Ford Coppola, they came up from LA to the Bay Area because it was the hotbed of radicalism. They wanted to make a radical film collective. And they didn’t. But after Lucas did American Graffiti, he was like, “Cool, I have a hit. Now I’m doing my Apocalypse Now,” which was his movie based on Heart of Darkness.
"The protagonists were [supposed to be] the Vietcong — we were following them, going into enemy territory, into the US’s conquered territory, and finding their Kurtz, which was someone who had come from the Vietcong, joined up with the US, risen in the ranks because of everything he knew and how murderous he was against his own people, and they were going to go get him.
"He couldn’t get it funded. He was like, “What? I just made all this money? What’s going on?” They were like, “It’s too radical. You’re not going to get this funded. Leave it alone.” He was like, “Okay, I’ll take the same story and I’ll put it in space.” The Rebels were the Vietcong, the Empire was the US, and Darth Vader was their Kurtz."
Chip off the old block
Before his Christmas holiday, I accidentally told Eden he could start an Instagram account
On his return, he asked if I wanted to see the meme he’d made.
It was a picture of Prime Minister Scott Morrison with the text “How good is climate change?”
Despite the poor contrast of the lettering. pride surged through me.
How good is the chip off the old block?
It was a picture of Prime Minister Scott Morrison with the text “How good is climate change?”
Despite the poor contrast of the lettering. pride surged through me.
How good is the chip off the old block?
Film of the decade
Funny thing happened when I was prompted to list my favourite movies of the last decade
My friend Ben is a Movie Nerd and he posted a list of the top ten movies of the last ten years.
I agreed with Inception (2010) and Arrival (2016) and maybe even Fury Road (2015) but, as I looked over lists and considered my own selection, I soon realised my tastes had shifted.
The movies that were most meaningful to me were those I'd watched over and over with my children.
When I saw Scott Pilgrim... (2010), for example, I couldn't wait to share it my son because he would recognise the way it works to include the visual language from videogames and comics.
Even Arrival has recently become elevated because my daughter asks to see it, although I also like the way it incorporates the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis as that influenced me in first-year university.
And Whiplash (2014) has gone from being a film that's inventive in the way it presents music, to being a film I'd admire for the influence it had on my son -- who now plays drums after watching it a dozen times or more.
So I realised that, where I'd once been a film critic and would work to objectively justify the films I liked, I now subjectively like films I've come to appreciate after repeated viewings to meet the demands of my children.
As a result, I think the best movie of the decade is Chef (2014).
I've lost track of how many times I've watched this small film made by an actor, writer and director who has shaped many blockbusters, Jon Favreau.
One of the things I've come to enjoy is the way the titular chef rediscovers the joy in his craft through leaving restaurants to start a food truck.
I can't help but wonder if that's also true of Favreau, who has handled films with intimidatingly large budgets but brings his celebrity friends in to play minor parts in this wholesome family film.
My kids, I think, love how the character of the son helps the chef with social media.
I love that I get to put my arms around them on the couch when we watch it.
My friend Ben is a Movie Nerd and he posted a list of the top ten movies of the last ten years.
I agreed with Inception (2010) and Arrival (2016) and maybe even Fury Road (2015) but, as I looked over lists and considered my own selection, I soon realised my tastes had shifted.
The movies that were most meaningful to me were those I'd watched over and over with my children.
When I saw Scott Pilgrim... (2010), for example, I couldn't wait to share it my son because he would recognise the way it works to include the visual language from videogames and comics.
Even Arrival has recently become elevated because my daughter asks to see it, although I also like the way it incorporates the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis as that influenced me in first-year university.
And Whiplash (2014) has gone from being a film that's inventive in the way it presents music, to being a film I'd admire for the influence it had on my son -- who now plays drums after watching it a dozen times or more.
So I realised that, where I'd once been a film critic and would work to objectively justify the films I liked, I now subjectively like films I've come to appreciate after repeated viewings to meet the demands of my children.
As a result, I think the best movie of the decade is Chef (2014).
I've lost track of how many times I've watched this small film made by an actor, writer and director who has shaped many blockbusters, Jon Favreau.
One of the things I've come to enjoy is the way the titular chef rediscovers the joy in his craft through leaving restaurants to start a food truck.
I can't help but wonder if that's also true of Favreau, who has handled films with intimidatingly large budgets but brings his celebrity friends in to play minor parts in this wholesome family film.
My kids, I think, love how the character of the son helps the chef with social media.
I love that I get to put my arms around them on the couch when we watch it.
Mexican lexicon
Culture vulture
Back when he was a baby, I was going through one of my Duke Ellington phases and he'd make those bubbly baby noises while listening to the melodies.
In recent years he's introduced me to music that I had no idea existed. Newer stuff like vaporwave (which I like) and also older artists like Oingo Boingo (which I like seeing the confused looks on the staff at record shops when he asks for it and they invariably don't have it).
Last weekend we walked into JB Hi-fi and I was impressed that Oscar walked out with three albums that demonstrate his broad taste in music.
One was "Holy Diver" by Dio, which was one of the first metal albums I heard after my cousin Chris was attracted by the cover art. (It also tickles my sentimentality that the shop where I heard it was near the one where Oscar shopped.)
Another was "Station to Station" by Bowie, who I only started to appreciate when I was about twice as old as my son is now.
The last was an album of country ballads by someone I can't remember and tell myself I don't care to hear, but I feel I should ask to listen to next time we're driving somewhere.
It's interesting to consider that, given the entire of history of recorded music is now largely available, kids these days have a very different experience of being introduced to culture.
I know Oscar has found some music via JoJo's Bizarre Adventure, yet even that seems a weird leap in another direction.
He's got discerning taste and I appreciate learning from him. Even when it seems rubbish to me, he's able to articulate a context in which to understand his latest enthusiasm.
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