The bits of stuff that fall in the cracks between Life, Music and outrageous fortune.         January   Close this window to return to Mike Rudd & Bill Putt's Stop Press   Tony and Dr Wazz reeling in the years at Southgate Holiday capers 9.1.12 - It's been a far busier holiday season than I could've imagined, even without the usual Heathmont house-sitting, but it's all been good. My ACT cultural attaché, Maria Gravias, has been in town and we certainly shared our quota of cultural and family-type events while she was here, including the Mad Square German Expressionist exhibition at the NGV, a visit to the Tarawarra Museum of Art, NYE at the Cafarellas and visiting the other Rudds (with whom I also saw The Importance of Being Earnest) at Torquay. The Brittendens are in town and Dr Sellers and I lunched with Tony yesterday. Wazz and Tony haven't seen each other since 1997 so there was much catching up to do.   Melancholia grinds its way through the solar system Melancholia 4.1.12 - I remembered that David and Margaret respectively loathed and loved this movie, but it wasn't till we were ten minutes into Melancholia that I remembered one of David's key objections; the pervasive use of the hand-held camera. I tried to ward off the nausea by only occasionally focusing on the screen, but I still broke into a sweat, which, combined with the chill of the theatre's air-conditioning, made for an interesting sensation. I should've made for the exit, as quite a few (mostly elderly) people were doing during the course of the movie, but I decided that my strategy was working OK and I wasn't actually going to throw up so I soldiered on. Look, it's an interesting idea - it maybe even qualifies as an attempt at an Artistic statement - but it's so much less than it could've been. Terminal Tedium might've been another apt title. I frankly wouldn't recommend it to you unless you're tantalised by the prospect of glimpsing Kirsten Dunst's tits. (Excellent by the way). Perhaps you could say to someone you don't like very much that you've heard that it's very good. Well, Margaret thought it was..     back to the top