Allison Russell - The Returner

With a looser, funkier vibe and no diminishment in the poetry and craft, The Returner sparkles.

(Outside Child)

Bottoms

Fizzy and fun, and all these years on, I still like a good high school movie. But this one suffers a bit from not being clear on what it's actually for.

Shirley Le - Funny Ethnics

It's the specificity that makes Funny Ethnics stand out, and the stealth amidst its directness. The humour's welcome too. It presents as an unblinking depiction of second generation Vietnamese migrant working class life in western Sydney and I don't doubt its authenticity; it has the trappings of a coming of age story but there's something undisclosed - resistant - about its narrator Sylvia and a slipperiness to its narrative arc that gives the novel an unusual character.

Thầy Trọng, a monk from the temple near Pizza Hut on Chapel Road, used to come in for Scripture class at Yagoona Public School. One of the first things Thầy Trọng taught us was the prayer 'Nam mô A Di Đà Phật' (Glory to Buddha). Winston Tran had laughed at the monk's mustard robes and said, 'Phật sounds like fuck!' Thầy Trọng quit after that. The Buddhist class got mixed in with the No Religion class and we spent Scripture hour watching Pocahontas.

James Norbury - Big Panda and Tiny Dragon

Really quite nice Zen-ish meanderings.

Naomi Klein - Doppelganger

Much illumination about the present day and how we got here. I was struck by her explanation of the convergence of the 'wellness' influencer movement with far right authoritarianism ('diagonalism') through the lens of - among other things - a shared focus on the individual rather than collective or structural responsibilities or efficacy, as well as an associated willingness to treat others' lives as lesser and therefore expendable. 

The concept of the doppelganger at a societal level proves to have pretty good explanatory force, even if it sometimes felt like it was being stretched beyond its natural meaning to do so. I tend to find explanations of collective behaviour that are based on conscious or unconscious repudiation of intolerable knowledge - such as the projection of violent stereotypes on to Indigenous people and people of colour as a response to the awareness of the violence upon which colonial and white society continues to be founded - but Klein's argument for its operation is as compelling as any I've read.

Wish

The animation is pretty nice (a mix of hand drawn and CGI), I've developed an attachment to the main songs, and the story is functional enough.

(w/ L)

Crazy, Stupid, Love

I liked the way it focused most on the middle-aged married couple, and its niceness. Also Ryan Gosling and Emma Stone in a La La Land preview.

NGV Triennial

From 1 1/2 floors of the Triennial a couple of weeks back. I guess I'd need to see the whole thing to comment informedly but the bits I did see, while frequently enjoyable, struck me as skewed towards the accessible more than the challenging. 

Fernando Laposse - Conflict avocados project (2023) - including a room-spanning tapestry, 40-minute documentary film, and other artifacts, about the way avocado farming in Mexico - where half of the world's avocados are produced - has caused environmental, cultural and other destruction, and the story of Cheran, an Indigenous community that revolted and is now self-governing

Megacities - Tokyo, Delhi, Shanghai, Lagos, Sao Paulo, Cairo, Dhaka, Mexico City, Seoul, Jakarta, each photographed by one resident; projected by city and theme on multiple screens

Six fine Tracey Emin gouaches (2014)

Jeff Wall - "Untangling" (2006), which I've seen more than once before but which landed with renewed forced on this viewing (the lightbox glowed, far more brightly than above)

Malerie Marder - "Untitled" (2001) and Anne Zahalka - "Sunday, 2:09pm" (1995) - part of a tremendous quartet along one wall, along with one each from Gregory Crewdson and Alex Prager, under the theme of 'Narrative' (which also included the Jeff Wall one)

Derek Henderson - "Kohaihai Road, North Beach, West Coast. 10-30am, 9th February 2004" (2004)

Angie McMahon - Light, Dark, Light Again

Unusual nowadays to find a song that calls on me to replay it over and over, and Light, Dark, Light Again has two in a row - "Fish", with its austere chime and invocation of Pornography-era Cure alongside 90s indie sulk, and the most addictive song I've heard in ages, and then "Letting Go", which is as "Thunder Road" as they come in this mode. The whole album has a vibe; it's good. I can't help triangulating - a little bit Sharon Van Etten, a little bit Courtney Barnett, a little bit Lucy Dacus. Plus McMahon's Australian.

"2023 EOY Mix"

From David. Plenty listenable; best new discovery for me is Wolf Alice ("Lipstick on the Glass").

Migration

Good hearted enough I guess, but also mediocre.

(w/ L and H)

Slow Horses seasons 1-3

The spy stuff is good, the humour an essential addition, and Gary Oldman is the main event.

2023: "Not strong enough"

2023 soundtrack - on spotify. Not a banner year for music for me, but plenty of catchy songs and records in my existing lane, often by acts already very familiar.

1. It's Not Just Me, It's Everybody - Weyes Blood
And In The Darkness, Hearts Aglow (Sub Pop, 2022)

2. County Road - Margo Price
Strays (Loma Vista, 2023)

3. Not Strong Enough - boygenius
the record (Interscope, 2023)

4. 80's Movie - Morgan Wade
Psychopath (RCA Nashville, 2023)

5. Rustin' in the Rain - Tyler Childers
Rustin' in the Rain (Hickman Holler, 2023)

6. King of Oklahoma - Jason Isbell
Weathervanes (Southeastern, 2023)

7. Brand New Eyes - Laura Cantrell
Just Like A Rose: The Anniversary Sessions (Propeller Sound, 2023)

8. French Restaurant - Lydia Loveless
Nothing's Gonna Stand In My Way Again (Bloodshot, 2023)

9. get him back! - Olivia Rodrigo
GUTS (Geffen, 2023)

10. White Horse - Chris Stapleton
Higher (Mercury Nashville, 2023)

James Han Mattson - Reprieve

Neat enough in how it lays out the layers of racial, cultural, capitalist, patriarchal and other forms of exploitation that comprise the real horror of the plot, but a bit overly programmatic for me. I would've liked it more if it were wilder and perhaps leaned more into its genre trappings.

Rebecca Solnit - Men Explain Things To Me

Rebecca Solnit is remarkable for many things - the clarity of her writing, her facility with the memorable meaningful image, the intellectual and ethical sophistication of her thought, the way she brings those all together. And all that's on display in this set of essays on the theme of feminism, patriarchy and female experience, where she's consistently light and somehow humble despite the weight of what she's saying and the force with which she says it.

Get Smart

Silly but charming enough.

Don't Worry Darling

Overly familiar premise maybe but done with a bit of style and some nice layers to Florence Pugh's performance.

Now You See Me

A lightweight entertainment that I've seen before.

boygenius - the rest

The ep that follows the record. For an outfit made up of three established artists each with their own distinctive voice, boygenius are impressively identifiable in sound.

Chris Stapleton - Higher

I wonder whether it's easy for Stapleton to write songs like these. They have an easy, classic feel to them that sometimes slips into being overly generic but just as often lands - as on songs like "What Am I Gonna Do", "The Fire" and "White Horse".

(Traveller)