Queen’s Birthday Weekend- Part 2

We had a really fun day on Saturday, and against all weather predictions Sunday was another gloriously sunny day.  What better way to spend a sunny Sunday than a morning pottering around the apartment and an afternoon in the park.  And so it was that after lunch we headed to Darling Harbour for the annual Jazz and Blues Festival.

After we made our way through all the non-jazz fan tourists that swarmed the area we found seat at the main stage in Tumbalong park. It was really enjoyable to just sit outside with a glass of wine, listening to music and indulging in chat.

After that we made our way out of Darling Harbour and discovered what looked like your regular obnoxious trendy bar was in fact jam packed with all sorts of our favourite Belgian beers – Piraat, Chimay, Duvel et al.  Dad was certainly impressed with his Chimay Blanche!

Monday was Dad and Sue’s anniversary, along with Dad’s birthday so – given that they were flying out that afternoon – we took them to our favourite beach for a spot of breakfast.  Bather’s Pavillion on Balmoral is always busy, but they’re impressively efficient, and we enjoyed a very good morning feed.  Of course, there’s no better way to walk off such a feast than a stroll along the beach, especially when it’s an unseasonably warm winter day.

We had a really enjoyable holiday weekend with Dad and Sue, as we always do, and they seemed to enjoy it too.  They’re great house guests and even bring gifts – fresh passionfruit from their own trees, homemade plum pickle and mango chutney, and of course the big one – our wedding quilt.  Not only did Sue bring us a gorgeous quilt which goes perfectly in our bedroom, but there were matching pillow shams and throw cushions.  Thank you Sue for the lovely gift, and thank you guys for a great weekend.

Wrong In So Many Ways

Through no fault of my own I’ve had John Denver’s classic “Take Me Home, Country Roads” stuck in my head.  Versions of it featured heavily in a Studio Ghibli film we watched over the weekend, and on Monday my ipod decided to play the original.  What’s particularly distracting about having this particular masterpiece going round and round is that despite how many many times I’ve heard this song (it used to be a favourite of a former flatmate) I still get it wrong.  I ALWAYS sing the title lyrics the wrong way round!

Not a big deal, but I just can’t seem to shake it.  Of course, I’m not the only person with such steadfast lyrical errors.  Another flatmate used to insist that Dire Straits were singing about “Money for nothing and CHEQUES for free“.  And someone we know very well (*cough* Amanda’s mum *cough*) will swear blind that in Billie Jean, Micheal Jackson is particularly insistent that “the CHAD is not my son“.

Of course they aren’t the only ones nor are they themost ridiculous.  Kiss This Guy is a great collection of misheard lyrics – ranging from the easily mistakeable to the completely ridiculous.  It makes you realise that “The Chad” is not nearly as far from the truth as “the cheetahs mugged my son”!

Weekly Menu (Last one of the year!)

Monday: Spicy Honey & Garlic Quail

Tuesday: Broccoli with Red Lentil Sauce

Wednesday: Coconut Fish with Cucumber Salad

Thursday: Marinated Lamb & Mango Salad

Friday: Penne with Spinach & Cannellini Beans

Breakfast: Banana Muffins

Lunch: Tahini Salad

Who in the World is André Rieu?

Any good comic book fan will have come across the term retconning.  For everyone else, retroactive continuity in comics – and other fiction – is the deliberate changing of previously established facts.  In order for something to be true now, you just change what happened in the past.

This happens a lot in comics – and soap operas – when it turns out that someone previously believed to be dead turns out to have miraculously survived.  One of the most well known, and worst, examples of this was in Dallas.  Bobby Ewing was dead for an entire season, but they wanted to bring him back so how could they do this?  With the same strategy we were always told never to use at school writing stories – someone wakes up, and it was all a dream.

Imagine if someone you’d never met before told you they went to school with you.  They could photoshop a year book picture to place you both in, and you would believe them.  They just changed your past.  Which brings us back to the question in the title of the post.

André Rieu is a well-coiffed, supposedly world-renowned violinist.  I first becase aware of him about a year or so ago when I saw a few CDs in the post office.  Recently, the post office’s Rieu supplies have grown to something like 30 CDs and 20 DVDs.  But more than just merchandise, he’s bringing his show to Australia – the world’s biggest touring production complete with an ice rink and life size Viennese Castle.  There are TV specials, and they are even showing the concert on PPV – “the biggest event of the year!”

I truly believe André Rieu is one of the world’s first non-fiction examples of retconning.  I very much doubt that he has been around for more than a couple of years – but an instant back catalogue and a page on wikipedia is clearly all you need to convince an entire country that they’ve always loved him.

Frikkin’ Lasers (Not On Sharks)

Like monkeys and LOLcats, everybody loves lasers – and none more so than those proponents of experimentation Radiohead. As if you couldn’t have guessed, Thom and co. have eschewed cameras for their latest video shoot, and have made it with lasers.

It’s incredibly impressive hi-tech stuff . It may look like a live action pin impression of the band, but because of just who it is the results is stunningly emotive. Of course, as the geeks among you will have realised, the ‘video’ is not a series of static images – it’s a visualisation of raw data. And we all know that data can be manipulated.

You can watch, and even edit your own Radiohead video with Google,

Cover Me Impressed

If you are in anyway Scottish, or even claim to be, you will know of the Proclaimers. You don’t have to know much about them – twins frae Fife (not Leith, that’s just in the name of an album) is enough – but you should be able to sing-a-long with their bigger numbers. When ye goooooooo … you WILL send back a letter from America, and you WOULD walk 500 miles too!!

I’m Gonna Be (500 Miles)… to give the song its proper title was particularly enjoyable as it was played every time Chris Paterson’s golden boot would score points for Edinburgh Rugby at Murrayfield (note to self: future post idea, why it’s great Paterson is coming home after being wasted at Gloucester).

Well, it turns out that in recent times, 500 Miles was covered by Maxïmo Park for Radio 1. The song is totally different, yet intrinsically the same. This may at first sound blasphemous, but it really is a great recording. The tune has changed and some of the lyrics have been tweaked to make it a very contemporary and VERY Maxïmo Park song. And the best part is that they have kept the distinctive regional British accent aspect of the song. Gone are the Scottish brogues, but in is the bands distinctive Geordie tones. Well worth a listen. If you can track it down, I highly recommend it.

European Final

Last week, in Manchester, the Russians beat Rangers in football. This week Manchester beat Chelski in Russia. And tonight the ultimate European championship – the Eurovision song contest!!

Obviously the event itself has already been and gone (and following the football we were not surprised to see Russia take the title with the UK at the bottom of the table) but it’s airing here right now. It is, as always, a gloriously cheesy affair, absolutely made by the commentary of Sir Inappropriate Wogan.

We saw some of the semifinalists, and were particularly struck by the blood-letting of Azerbaijan and the screaming we do NOT want to win desperation of the Irish act, who sadly did not make it to the final – we simply cannot understand why not:

NYC

The cat’s doing a nice job, but I think Interpol did it a little better  :

Crime And Punishment

The first crime I want to talk about today was the brutal butchering of two of my all time top 70s Rock Songs on American Idol. There was a very half-arsed attempt at The Doobie Brothers’ Long Train Running, and there was a terrible “rendition” of Kansas’ Carry On Wayward Son. It’s great to hear my faves getting airplay, but not like this … not like this.

Right, crime number two was meant to be robbery, but it was in fact stupidity. Two guys tried to rob a social club here in Sydney and though this had apparently happened a few times before at this venue, the would-be robbers failed to notice the 50 motorbikes parked outside. Here, this is usually a pretty good sign that the venue is full of bikies – Australia’s Hells Angels. I won’t spoil it for you, you really have to see the footage for yourself, but my favourite moment is when the guy notices the small horde advancing rapidly towards him.

And finally, I’m afraid I cannot end with a light hearted human interest story because I’ve been building to the worst of all. You had probably better get yourself a stiff drink – and savour it like it’s your last – because we may be heading towards an international beer shortage! It seems a number of factors have combined in recent times to produce a shortage in the very fundamentals of beer: hops and malted barley. Without malt and hops there can be no beer – or at least no beer that has any flavour, light beers will be fine. If nothing else we could be looking at a considerable price rise. I’m not sure I can really get my head around this … no beer … what? … I think I’m going to have to lie down for a while.

FYI

Set your TiVos! Radiohead are doing a webcast on New Year’s Eve. It will be broadcast over the internet on radiohead.tv at midnight GMT, but we’ll be watching it here in the States at midnight EST on Current TV. If you weren’t lucky enough (like we were) to see them live while they were recording In Rainbows and experimenting with the new songs, now’s your chance to hear the final versions. Well, as much of a final version as any Radiohead song ever really is. . .