Train to Busan

Korean zombies on a train! A touch of Snowpiercer.

Jackie

More interesting and better than I'd expected - nuanced and unjudgemental in how it treats both the myth-making element of her rendition of Kennedy's presidency and the events around his assassination, and the way she responds to that personal and publicly-lived loss (grief, depression, self-assertion), with the second of those - the experiential side - much the better. A heavy film, and given additional weight by Portman's performance, which is convincingly layered (not to mention the score).

(w/ Sara)

Veronica Mars

It really only works with the context of having watched the show, I suspect, and even then it doesn't have the sharpness (of all kinds) that the tv series had at its best - but it's not terrible either, and it's a chance to revisit all of the surviving major characters that I can think of, so for that I enjoyed this famously kickstartered film continuation. Veronica Mars, what a great character.

(seasons 1, 2, 3)

Born Yesterday (MTC)

Fun start to the season - 1940s/50s wheelings and dealings, romance, screwball comedy and some darker edges including Trumpian resonance. Russell Dykstra (known to me as 'the solicitor from Rake') good as the bullying junk yard millionaire who comes to Washington looking to remove pesky legal obstacles to his none too scrupulous business dealings and so too Christie Whelan Brown as his 'dumb' blonde companion whose coming into her own drives much of the action of the play.

(w/ Tamara)

"Sovereignty" (ACCA)

With a few exceptions, contemporary art produced by indigenous Australians, resulting in some common themes but explored in a range of ways.

(w/ Kim)

The Dark Knight Trilogy

What an epic - a character that it gets as much from its characters and how its action is shot as from its narrative and thematic arcs. Impressive the way the three films complement and build on each other while each having a distinct feel and take on genre.

(Batman Begins; The Dark Knight; again; The Dark Knight Rises; again; Batman Begins)

NGV International

Some bits and pieces from two exhibitions on level 3: "Common ground", made up of selections from the permanent collection (art, design, fashion etc) organised around the themes of 'urbanism', 'nature', 'time', 'masculinity' and 'anthropomorphism; and "Shut up and paint", which ranged across a wide range of types of contemporary painting including quite a few newishly acquired pieces.

Michael Parekowhai - "Rainbow Servant Dreaming" (2005). Nice Magritte reference - five painted figures mounted on a wall:

Sarah Ryan - "What to give and take" (2011). A lenticular photograph - digitally spliced images that then appear to move depending on the viewer's perspective:

A couple of Scott Redford 'urinals' (2000), glistening jewel-like, including one from Surfers Paradise:

Matti Braun - "Untitled" (2015). Coloured dyes on silk, the shades of pink differentiating and deepening with time and immersion. And, in conversation with the Braun and similarly large scale: Helen Frankenthaler - "Cape, (Provincetown)" (1964); I've seen this one before but was struck by it anew today.

And, in a different vein, a pleasingly phenomenological piece - a much more modestly sized and presented watercolour and wash: Gunter Christmann - "The streets of Darlo (Woman sitting on steps)" (1994):

The Edge of Seventeen

Rather just right in its depiction of teenage not-being-understood and not-understanding. Falling into neither caricature nor cartoonishness, it feels real without ever being forced, and optimistic without being naive - the 'coming of age' is clearly patterned yet believable. Very nicely done.

(w/ Julian)

"Philippe Parreno: Thenabouts" (ACMI)

Some striking images amidst this exhibition of video pieces made by Parreno - we came in partway through Marilyn (set in a set of a Waldorf Astoria hotel room), then 1968, a recreation of the train journey that took Robert Kennedy's body from New York to Washington (its still-posed passers-by made me think of Gregory Crewdson), Invisibleboy (the most engaging of the ones we saw, with its gradually emergent monsters), its sequel, the moody Li Yan (night-time, a woman) and then the beginnings of another. The order of the videos is up to the 'gallery technician', as a gesture towards making the exhibition more participatory and recognising that it has meaning only through being viewed by the audience; possibly, that also explains the mildly helium-ed fish-shaped balloons there for the playing with in the darkened space.

(w/ Meribah)

Hero

I wasn't as susceptible to this one as I was whenever it was all those years ago that I saw it previously, though if anything I suspect I would have enjoyed the cinematography and colours more on this pass. I'm a big rewatcher (and rereader) but I guess not all films stand up to that in the same way.

Rogue One: A Star Wars Story

It probably only works as 'A Star Wars Story', since it's that context that gives the film's events their significance. So it's hard to assess this film 'on its own terms' as it were. Still and all, I thought Rogue One was pretty good - it moves slickly but has a decent dose of military grit to it, not least in the fates of every single one of the main (good) protagonists. Directed by Gareth Edwards and while it doesn't have the same distinctive touch that characterised his work in Monsters and Godzilla, there's nonetheless a deftness that also plays its part in elevating Rogue One despite its franchise-y trappings.

Star Trek Beyond

Fast-moving fun - it really is one thing after another, and entertainingly so.

(Star Trek, Star Trek Into Darkness)

Adia Victoria - Beyond the Bloodhounds

At its best when at its growliest, with fuzzily blues-rock trawls like "Sea of Sand" and "Stuck in the South", but the more hauntedly folksy cuts work too, with Victoria's raspy voice adding still more grit to a set that wouldn't be lacking even without it. Neat.

"David Hockney: Current" & "Viktor & Rolf: Fashion Artists" (NGV International)

David Hockney

Much funner, more technically proficient and better than I'd expected - very enjoyable in fact. Several sets of works from the last five or so years; the iphone and ipad works are impressive (it's quite something the way they work so well at such large scale, like the Yosemite ones), as is the "82 portraits & 1 still life" series (lots of people connected to Hockney's life, including art world luminaries and others like Larry Gagosian, Benedikt Taschen, Jacob Rothschild, members of his family, various artists and collaborators, Tacita Dean's son, at least one and it might have been two of his dentists...), and the playing with cut and paste photos and paintings and photos of paintings (including the paintings and some of the objects they depict - like the blue benches - being installed as part of the exhibition).

In between

An interlude in the sun, beanbag, garden outside, my mind as close to empty as it's been for a long time.

Viktor & Rolf

Also a lot of fun - clothing on mannequins, miniature clothing on dolls, catwalk show videos, and one doll on a catwalk. Called Zoolander to mind once or twice, reminding me of the inherent silliness of haute couture (which I don't mean entirely damningly).

Passengers

Well I watched this mainly because cinemas have air conditioning and it was on at the right time, and space-y visuals, Chris Pratt and Jennifer Lawrence are all appealing. All three of those were fine (the bit with the swimming pool when the gravity controller goes on the fizz is memorable), and Michael Sheen's android barman was a nice turn, but the story is rather too bland - despite a good premise - to leave much of an impression.

Laura Stevenson - Live at the Vera Club

Mostly drawn from the (both excellent) Wheel and Cocksure, and not that different from the recorded versions. Available for download by 'donate what you want'.

"Sister Corita's Summer of Love" (Potter Museum)

Pretty cool: silk screen prints made by Sister Corita Kent, a Catholic nun, in the 60s - some with an explicit faith-related element but most just humanistically exhortatory and progressive. I liked these.

Sicario

Terrifically written and shot - economically and tightly on the first count and quite spectacularly on the second - and just generally a very well put together and involving film. It doesn't ever seem like Kate's involvement with the murkily not-by-the-books 'cross agency team' that is conducting an escalating - and exciting - series of operations targeting a Mexican drug cartel is going to end well, and it doesn't, but that's as it should be. Also, for the first time I really realise what the fuss is about Emily Blunt, who is thoroughly convincing (also Benicio del Toro, inscrutably and dangerously charismatic).

Game of Thrones seasons 1 to 6

Rewatched seasons 1 to 5 anyway in the lead up to season 6.

Season 1 (22 July). A reminder of how neatly everything is set up, with a lot of what's to come foreshadowed not just in this first season but in fact in the very first episodes. And, in fact, what a tightly put together season of storytelling it is.

Season 2 (21 August). Rewatching this goes in layers: previous book reads, previous tv season watching, and the experiences of all of the above, all in the background to the immediate re-encounter. Season 2 occasionally feels spread just a touch too thin even though it has the convergence of several major characters on King's Landing as its spine, but it's noticeable how it lays out both history and depth of its characters as it goes, while also showing the choices that they make which will later prove fatal whether literally or otherwise (Theon, Robb).

Season 3 (10 December). On first pass, I think when I watched this season I might not have been fully focused on it; on this go around I also felt that the episodes themselves were perhaps just a bit too scattered, but that's probably inherent in the show's design and particularly the number of characters and how widely flung they are (Derrick asked me who my favourite was; answer: Arya). The Tyrells become more prominent, we meet the wildlings, bad things are done by erstwhile Stark allies (and by plenty of others), Theon's torture really gets to be a bit much (although it does allow for a few minutes of uprush at the end when Yara comes across all heroic), all the killing at the end of the 'red wedding' still hits home, I realised that Davos's decision to save Gendry is maybe responsible for Stannis's later and even worse choice (and we see a bit of poor doomed Shireen), and a whole lot of other characters who'll endure through to at least season 5 (which is as far as I've seen as yet) go through an awful lot: Cersei, Jaime, Tyrion, Sansa, Jon, Sam, Brienne, with Petyr Baelish and Dany for the time being seemingly ascendant and Bran an apparent wildcard. Power and family are equally important themes, along with the morally arbitrary way in which anything can happen to anyone.

Season 4 (17 December). In a show full of brutal shocks, Oberyn's death is right up there - not only because he's such an enjoyable character, but because it happens right when it seems he's on the verge of actually exacting justice (which would be pretty much unique in the show so far). Also worthy of note: the way that the slipping of the Lannisters' grip on power is precipitated by the four main family members themselves - even Tywin - and their relationships with each other (once Joffrey has been removed from the frame); the way that Cersei continues to be given moments that make her, if not quite sympathetic, at least at times an understandable figure deserving of sympathy; Sansa's seemingly beginning to come into her own; episode 9 as the wildlings storm the Wall and Jon takes unofficial command; Dany beginning to bog down; multiple encounters between previously separated characters on their various travels; the relationship between Arya and the Hound (and the optimistic final scene of the season, as Arya sails away to Braavos).

Season 5 (30 December). A few things here. It's so baked in that you don't even notice how thoroughly the character archetypes (as opposed to the narrative expectations) are being undermined until you pay attention: beautiful queens, heroic knights, noble lords, evil dwarves. The dragons get very big during this season and you remember that maybe they're at the heart of this whole thing. Myrcella looks like an actual fairytale princess until she succumbs as part of the carnage of the final episode. The Sand Snakes are unconvincing - a low point in the characterisations of the show. Cersei gets her moment and is not as subtle as she thinks; the Tyrells are brought low; Stannis loses it all (so what of Melisandre?); the Boltons are proving maybe the purest manifestation of the cruelty of the will to power. A remarkable number of Stark children are still alive. Tyrion (and Peter Dinklage) is really magnificent - great in his own right and no matter who he is playing against (Varys, Jorah, Dany).

(previously - seasons 1 (and again), 2, 3, 4 and 5)

* * *

Season 6 (5 January). Starts fast and strong, immediately going to the aftermath of all the major developments and cliffhangers from the ending of the previous season and producing an effectively creepy reveal at the end of opening episode "The Red Woman". And the rest of the season mixes episodes and passages moving at a similar pace as the key characters increasingly converge or are put on a path to convergence and a whole lot of loose ends are tied up including seemingly every major character or group who's previously been introduced returning as the pieces begin to move into place for the beginning of the endgame, with episodes and sections that are more about scene-setting and exposition (but with a similar aim of gathering things together for the impending series climax).

Along the way, it can almost feel - at once satisfyingly and (given the tenor of the show to date) concerningly - like heroes and villains are emerging, with the latter getting their just deserts.

The last two episodes are absolutely packed: first you get the feel-good in Meereen, with Dany (definitely in the hero camp for now, as she has been all series) beating the slavers and then teaming up with Yara (less prominent but also clearly 'good' for now in the sense that you see her care for other people and want to do the right thing) and therefore teamed up with Tyrion (another 'good' character pretty much from the get go somehow despite killing both his lover and his father in quick succession a couple of seasons back), Varys (good by default because principled and trying to serve the realm) and Theon (presumably now redeemed despite the villainous doings in sacking Winterfell, killing innocent children, etc), then there's the ugliness of the Battle of the Bastards (preceded by the dispatching of Rickon) which still is the end of Ramsay, followed by the feel-bad in Kings Landing with the unexpected - but, in retrospect, maybe entirely consistently escalatory and direct - turn of Cersei blowing up the Sept and with it Margaery (I'll miss her) not to mention Loras, Mace, Lancel and the High Sparrow (with Pycelle also removed) and then Tommen's departure leaving her on the throne.

So you've got Cersei in Kings Landing surrounded by her supporters, with the unknown that is Jaime and his relationship with her. And you've got Jon, acclaimed as the new King in the North, and Sansa (reunited in another feel-good moment that does feel earned given how long all the Starks have been separated ... although the unknown of the relationship between them) in Winterfell, together with Davos and the ever unknown quantity that is Littlefinger. And, finally, Dany is on her way, with the supporters she's garnered (see above) plus seemingly the Martells and what remains of the Tyrells.

There are still plenty of others at large, but increasingly they seem on a trajectory to collision or resolution. Bran and his history-filling flashbacks (which actually work well) is now full of knowledge plus there was the sudden action with the Night King - not to mention the pathos of Hodor - and it seems like he's headed for the fray. The Brotherhood without Banners is seemingly heading north, Sandor Clegane probably with them. The Red Woman might be heading their way. And Arya does away with Walder Frey and is also heading back towards the main action. Elsewhere, the Knights of the Vale have finally been activated, and the Tullys at Riverrun (with Edmure) may be back in the game. Plus Brienne and Jorah, and it's unclear what's become of Euron ... and Gendry?

Despite the absurdity of the number of characters there, it feels comfortingly like everything is being moved into configuration giving the show every chance to stick the landing.

Daniel Flynn - Chapter One

There was a (relatively brief) period when I was buying bottled water semi-regularly while in the city and, once I'd noticed them in 7-Eleven, I got in the habit of buying the 'Thankyou' ones because of the claim on their labels that profits went towards international development projects to improve lives (with individual tracking code number on each bottle to prove it); it also didn't hurt that they were Australian. A little while later, I noticed they'd expanded to muesli bars and cereal - and was impressed that they were being stocked by Woolworths - and added those to my shopping rotation too.

I've learned from reading Chapter One, by Thankyou (co-)founder Daniel Flynn, that the organisation is a genuine for-purpose social enterprise, set up as a charitable trust and with all of its profits going towards projects aimed at combating poverty. Also interesting to follow his account from idea to start-up to - at least at present - success, and what it took to get there (including some innovative approaches to campaigns targeting 7-Eleven, Coles and Woolworths through social media and other means), as well as their plans for scaling up their operations and impact including deliberate diversification of products before markets. It made me want to know more, as well as doing enough to make me believe that there might be something significant here in what they're doing and how they're doing it.

I received this as a gift (from Ray) but I also liked the angle on the book itself whereby purchasers choose how much to pay for it, and therefore the size of their contribution to Thankyou's purpose.

From the FAQ on their website: 

How does Thankyou™ finance its operations? 

Although we operate as a sustainable business, we’re different to most other companies in that we don’t have investors or shareholders. This is great for impact because it allows us to give 100% of profits to projects, but it also can be a challenge when it comes to growing the organisation. Because of this, a big part of what we do relies on our strategic partners, many of whom offer a range of services to us at a discounted rate. In addition, we have private donors who don’t invest but simply give towards growing the Thankyou business.