NDBT

Or maybe parents. I point your attention to this article:

http://www.ew.com/ew/article/0,,20043442,00.html which says that the Secret of NIMH, now out on DVD, is too dark and scary for kids. Please! It was my second favorite film as a kid (after Robin Hood, thank you very much)! And I’d much rather kids were watching that, or the original Land Before Time, than these new things where nothing bad ever happens. No one these days would kill off Bambi’s (or littlefoot’s) mother. Well, maybe Pixar. I’m tempted to hang around Melbourne until the Pixar exhibit opens…

Wandered around city 2 days ago. Saw the Victoria market, which has just about everything imaginable from delis to digeridoos. Got lost, saw the parliament building and Princess theater (more really stunning architecture). Finished the Orient Express, which was very good, although disappointing that I knew what was coming. Read American Gods. Which was… hmmm… I think it might be better to read that before reading Sandman. Because it won tons and tons of awards, and yet I wasn’t quite as captivated as I expected to be. I think the problem was; in American Gods, Gaiman weaves together the strands of many types of mythology while exploring America, whereas in Sandman he still brings in lots of types of mythology whilst simultaneously creating his own. Which is more impressive. Still, I enjoyed his musings on America (you have to wonder what makes a super talented guy up and leave England for Minnesota) and it was overally a really satisfying read. Just not as impressive as Sandman, unfortunately. And not quite as funny as Neverwhere. Maybe he works better in short story/episode mode. I have to find Stardust and Coraline now.

Speaking of which, I turned in my old stack of books to get new ones, so I’ve got a few more murder mysteries, and Tales of the City, which I’ve been meaning to read forever. I remember the Gay Men’s Chorus in SF doing a piece that had a spoken interlude from one of the books. I don’t remember what it was about – but I remember it being funny. I’ve checked 4 bookstores for something by David Foster Wallace, too, because I feel like I should read something of his, and no one carries any. Maybe in Sydney.

 I looked up Oz release dates for the next few films I’m looking forward to, and aside from Harry Potter, they are all pushed back to between August and November (except for Black Sheep which was already released in NZ, and I’ll be able to see on DVD when I get there). That’s so sad! I realize it’s winter here, but they don’t get a blockbuster season, really. Then again they don’t have the 4th of July holiday.

I’m Bored. Can’t do much of anything….

The lady in my room has spontaneously started bringing me food because my bag was stolen. The other night she brought a coke and cookies, and last night she dropped off a sandwhich and chocolate. Which is really sweet of her.

Yesterday I wandered down to the Melbourne 60s American Muscle Car Club show. It was kind of disappointing. THey had some lovely cars (especially one really gorgeous mustang), but there were only about a dozen in total. After that I saw an arts open air market, and went to the art museum (the non-Aussie part). Quite a few 1st rate painters, but I think it tended to be their second best work. However they did have wuite a few good pieces by unknowns (or unknown to me at least), including quite a few good seascapes. They also had special exhibits on Japanese screens, which were lovely, sneakers (lots of custom converse, vans, etc.), travel photography of the mid 19th century, which was hysterical; most everything was Italian, and so many of the shots were exactly ones I had taken, but in sepia and with fewer people. Then a cool print exhibit on Imaginary prisons by G. B. Piranesi and Vik Muniz. The first did ink drawings of imaginary prisons, which were cool, the second reproduced the drawings using intricate thread models, which he photographed. They look 2-d and quite similar to the originals at first until you look closer. It was very cool.  Oh – and they had an exhibit on the world fairs 1851-1937, quelle coincidence. There wasn’t much there, but it did have a couple of cool photos of the white city. They’ll be opening an exhibit from the Guggenheim collection on the 30th – apparently the only city in the world to get it.

I slept for 16 hours last night. Whoops. I fell asleep at 8 at night. Hopefully that means I’ll have no problem getting up early tomorrow. I think tomorrow I’ll head to the zoo, and the day after I’ll try for the penguins. I’ve also heard about a grey-headed flying fox colony, so I’ll see if I can see that, maybe the healesville wildlife sanctuary, although probably not. The pixar exhibit, hopefully my bank cards will have come by then, and then I can move on to Sydney. I have to figure out how long I want to stay there, so I can go ahead and buy a flight to Cairns. There seem to be some good deals on at the moment (knock on wood).

I had a totally bizarre dream last night that included chasing down a criminal in an SUV, post-college senior parties getting canceled, and mountain mill house. I was very confused when I woke up.

Your linkspam: 

Angie’s been getting rave reviews for A Mighty Heart:

 http://popwatch.ew.com/popwatch/2007/06/mighty-heart-re.html#more It’s gotten a 78% on Rotten Tomatoes, and a whopping 86% from the cream of the crop. Yay Angelina!
Do not look directly into its eyes – the cuteness can kill!:

http://mfrost.typepad.com/cute_overload/2007/06/petite-pixel-ki.html
There’s a pic of kreacher here (looks even better than dobby, imho):

http://community.livejournal.com/ootpmoviepics/64648.html
EW’s annual 100 list is at:

http://www.ew.com/ew/package/0,,20043289,00.html However, I cannot fully endorse this list, as it seems someone may have forgotten Sam Rockwell.

Stuff from Cleolinda:
John Krasinki New Favorite For ‘Fletch.’ [Having never seen the original, I’m all for more movie roles for Mr. Krasinski. Although really I’d like to see more office. Why on earth is it not carried over seas?]

Woody Allen To Direct Puccini Opera. [At the L.A. opera – where I saw that ghastly production of Rasputin. Whether those 2 things are connected, I’m not sure.]

First shot of Kate and Leo from Revolutionary Road. Favorite comment: “i cant believe titanic came out a decade ago. fuck. why am i so old.” [awww… now I feel old, too…]

Tags: Travel

This entry was posted on Sunday, June 24th, 2007 at 7:48 pm and is filed under Travel. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.