Marie Antoinette

At last! And it was exactly what I wanted it to be. Seeing Marie Antoinette has really made me happy - after all the anticipation and excitement and everything, it was just wonderful. I don't really know what to say. The picture looks scrumptious, candy store pretty - costumes and decorations, and lots of widescreen shots of Versailles, and the party and court scenes sparkle. That Sofia Coppola mood - atmosphere - is present, especially in the sequence where the queen and her attendants trail through the fields after her birthday party before watching the sun rise (and, the counterpoint which tips it further bittersweet - the emptiness of the morning-after comedown as she sits silent and alone in her bath). And there's lots of light and lightness, energy and whimsy (I especially liked the first morning dressing scene).

Kirsten is really, really good - cute, charming, kittenish, poised, hinting at depths. She's onscreen for virtually the whole running time of the film, and she lights it up (as she must); the partying, the ceremonies, the moments of quiet desolation - it's all conveyed sensitively and seemingly intuitively. Totally gorgeous. Jason Schwartzman, about whom I haboured serious doubts beforehand, also v.g.. Anachronistic soundtrack worked for me: "Plainsong"! "Ceremony"! Um, the Strokes (it works in context)! And lots of other nice, fitting stuff. Liked the somewhat odd dialogue style, too.

I think that I like both Lost In Translation and The Virgin Suicides more than this one, but the way I feel about Marie Antoinette is quite different from how I respond to those earlier two (though it's very much a Coppola film in 'feel') so that comparison may not be entirely meaningful. Oh, whatever. I haven't really found the words to describe it, but that's alright. I think that I'm still a bit on a cloud from watching it.

(w/ Kelly - exactly the right company for this one.)

Thomas Pynchon - Against The Day

Very good, very Pynchonesque. More human, and humanistic, than previous Pynchon novels - more 'ah' moments where the response is drawn out by the situation or thoughts of a character rather than by some linguistic or intellectual pyrotechnics in the text itself. Perhaps as the flip side, less frequently laugh-out-loud funny. Generally less off the wall (friendly ball lightning notwithstanding) and less screwball. The archivist in me may regret this in the future (there's so much to say!), but I'm going to leave it at that.

The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe

A bit of a disappointment, this. The PG rating ought to've been a clue - it's a children's film, and while there's nothing wrong with that (and it looks the part, in a good way), the film pulled its punches in a way which made it unsatisfying (so you never actually see anyone die onscreen, for example - again, nothing wrong with that per se but it does tend to dilute the impact of the climactic battle sequence). Sense of wonder only partly there...good acting though.

100 favourite songs: The list

1. “Lazy Line Painter Jane” – Belle and Sebastian
2. “Hyper-ballad” – Björk
3. “Fade Into You” – Mazzy Star
4. “Venus In Furs” – The Velvet Underground
5. “Just Like Honey” – The Jesus and Mary Chain
6. “Wrecking Ball” – Gillian Welch
7. “Losing My Religion” – R.E.M.
8. “Paranoid Android” – Radiohead
9. “Lorelei” – Cocteau Twins
10. “This Love” – Craig Armstrong (featuring Liz Fraser)
11. “Blue Thunder” – Galaxie 500
12. “Everybody Here Wants You” – Jeff Buckley
13. “Love Will Tear Us Apart” – Joy Division
14. “You’re In A Bad Way” – Saint Etienne
15. “Talk Show Host” – Radiohead
16. “Shivers” – Boys Next Door
17. “Like A Rolling Stone” – Bob Dylan
18. “Wise Up” – Aimee Mann
19. “Can’t Be Sure” – The Sundays
20. “Sometimes” – My Bloody Valentine
21. “Spark” – Tori Amos
22. “Gorecki” – Lamb
23. “September Gurls” – Big Star
24. “Ceremony” – Galaxie 500
25. “Seal My Fate” – Belly
26. “Hold On, Hold On” – Neko Case
27. “Cowgirl In The Sand” – Neil Young & Crazy Horse
28. “El President” – Drugstore (featuring Thom Yorke)
29. “She’s A Jar” – Wilco
30. “Just Like Heaven” – The Cure
31. “Teardrop” – Massive Attack
32. “There Is A Light That Never Goes Out” – The Smiths
33. “Pink Orange Red” – Cocteau Twins
34. “American Flag” – Cat Power
35. “Lucky” – Radiohead
36. “Noah’s Dove” [demo] – 10,000 Maniacs
37. “Little Bombs” – Aimee Mann
38. “Birthday” – The Sugarcubes
39. “The State I Am In” – Belle and Sebastian
40. “Right In Time” – Lucinda Williams
41. “Save Me” – Aimee Mann
42. “Heaven Or Las Vegas” – Cocteau Twins
43. “Nude As The News” – Cat Power
44. “The Ship Song” – Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds
45. “In The Aeroplane Over The Sea” – Neutral Milk Hotel
46. “Marquee Moon” – Television
47. “Sea Of Love” – Cat Power
48. “Little Stars” – Lisa Miller
49. “Heroes” – David Bowie
50. “On The Beach” – Neil Young
51. “Not Too Soon” – Throwing Muses
52. “Where Is My Mind?” – Pixies
53. “Only Love Can Break Your Heart” – Neil Young
54. “Ride The Wind To Me” – Julie Miller
55. “Musette And Drums” – Cocteau Twins
56. “Wish You Were Here” – Pink Floyd
57. “Torn” – Natalie Imbruglia
58. “Neighbourhood #1 (Tunnels)” – The Arcade Fire
59. “The Killing Moon” – Echo & the Bunnymen
60. “Consequence” – The Notwist
61. “Daisy Glaze” – Big Star
62. “Be Mine” – R.E.M.
63. “Street Spirit (Fade Out)” – Radiohead
64. “One” – U2
65. “Breakfast In Bed” – Dusty Springfield
66. “Rebellion (Lies)” – The Arcade Fire
67. “Midnight Singer” – Laura Veirs
68. “Electrolite” – R.E.M.
69. “Colors And The Kids” – Cat Power
70. “Without You I’m Nothing” – Placebo
71. “Revelator” – Gillian Welch
72. “There Is An End” – The Greenhornes (featuring Holly Golightly)
73. “Feed The Tree” – Belly
74. “Maps” – Yeah Yeah Yeahs
75. “Utopia” – Goldfrapp
76. “Wuthering Heights” – Kate Bush
77. “Dance Of Sulphur” – Scout Niblett
78. “Fake Plastic Trees” – Radiohead
79. “Mimi On The Beach” – Jane Siberry
80. “How Soon Is Now?” – The Smiths
81. “Everybody Hurts” – R.E.M.
82. “In Love With A View” – Mojave 3
83. “Pearly-Dewdrops’ Drops” – Cocteau Twins
84. “Good Woman” – Cat Power
85. “Cornflake Girl” – Tori Amos
86. “Today” – Smashing Pumpkins
87. “Nothing Natural” – Lush
88. “If I Give You A Smile” – Whistler
89. “Way To Blue / Day Is Done” – Nick Drake
90. “Simple Things” – Belle and Sebastian
91. “Daybreaker” – Beth Orton (Four Tet remix)
92. “Under The Milky Way” – The Church
93. “Wide Open Road” – The Triffids
94. “Ghost World” – Aimee Mann
95. “Helpless” – Neil Young
96. “I Know I Know I Know” – Tegan and Sara
97. “Lovefool” – The Cardigans
98. “Faster” – Manic Street Preachers
99. “Alison” – Elvis Costello
100. “Sand” – OP8

Babel

This was an interesting film, but I don't think that it was really about anything. There are some clear threads running through it but, for me, they don't really come together into an entirely coherent whole. Still, 'coherent' is one thing but 'convincing' is another altogether, and Babel does convince - it's a bold, striking thing, with some really striking images and sequences, concepts to burn (another distinction: concepts yes, developed ideas maybe not so much), and characters to catch hold of. The most affecting storyline is that of Chieko, which took me longest to warm to (because it felt a bit exploitative...but I think the film earns its gestures), but all of it is involving. I found Babel sort of gruelling, but on balance I think it's an impressive bit of film-making, if not one that makes me feel I need to revisit it in a hurry.

(w/ Sid)

100 favourite songs: #1: "Lazy Line Painter Jane" - Belle and Sebastian

Really, what does it mean to call any song my ‘favourite’? I’m not sure, but whatever I mean, I think that “Lazy Line Painter Jane” has to be it.

In its wryly urgent, off-kilter kind of way, the duet is six minutes of utmost genius … it has a sensibility and a gentle, unexpected delicacy … - 2/8/03

Heard it on the radio — didn’t know who it was (it was the first Belle and Sebastian song that really spoke to me) but I was enthralled.

It’s ramshackle, full of heart, rapturously joyful.

I listen to it too loud every time I listen to it.

If I had to pick one song to explain who I am, this would be it.

The Best of McSweeney's volume 2 edited by Dave Eggers

There is definitely a unifying sensibility that runs through the stories collected here. I'm not sure how to put it - a kind of terse opacity or apparent (but not necessarily all-the-way-down) depthlessness, maybe. Difficult to put one's finger on it. Had read a couple before - Glen David Gold's "The Tears of Squonk, and What Happened Thereafter" (about a circus and a murderous elephant) and K Kvashay-Boyle's "Saint Chola" (for mine, the best story in the collection). Kevin Brockmeier's "The Ceiling" v.g. and, I think, A M Homes' "Do Not Disturb".

Also, working my way through the volume, I found myself feeling at a few points that all the thinking about (and doing) writing has made me a better reader.

Eskimo Joe - "Black Fingernails, Red Wine" cd single

One of the solicitors in the group I'm rotating through (GB) gave everyone a block of chocolate and a cd single for Christmas, the latter being picked based on what he thought were the best songs of the year; I got "Black Fingernails, Red Wine", which I'd heard a few times before but not really listened to. And it's alright - pleasantly, mildly epic radio rock, a sturdy song with some nice trimmings.

The Killers - Sam's Town

This is the story of Howard and the Killers.

First, heard "Somebody Told Me" on the radio. Over and over. Thought it was catchy but kinda dumb.

Then, heard "Mr Brightside". Thought it was excellent.

Was told that the Killers were now one of the biggest bands in the world. Decided that I felt a lot better about this than I would about a lot of the other candidates.

A gap.

Heard the new Killers song on the radio a few times, the one with the lyric that goes "he doesn't look a thing like Jesus". Thought it was okay and all, but whatever.

Kept reading about how the new album was all Springsteen and stuff.

Last Saturday night, doing nothing in particular at home, got it into my head that I wanted to own the new one, immediately. Put Born in the U.S.A. on to inspire myself then went out and got the album.

Was initially a bit underwhelmed by it. More U2 than Springsteen, really (exhibit A: "Read My Mind"). But have kept listening to it, not forcing myself but rather enjoying it. So it's growing on me - the anthems aren't as anthemic as I would like (and let's face it, why would I listen to a band like the Killers if not for the anthems?) but they're pretty good still. Yeah, it feels like the band might've overreached themselves a little bit but Sam's Town is pretty good.

100 favourite songs: #2: "Hyper-ballad" - Björk

“Hyper-ballad” is, somehow, what its title promises — a beautifully shimmering, beats-driven, string-touched meditation from the top of a mountain, in which the melody, despite its disregard for conventional structure and progression, lingers and resonates long after the final, shivering strings have drawn wistfully away. It’s a brave, expressionistic, unutterably touching love song … - 19/1/03

As happened with many of these songs, I fell for “Hyper-ballad” back in high school, and I’ve loved it unreservedly since…it’s perfect, and I wear it close to my heart.

A moment: Saint Etienne - "Mr Donut"

Oh Saint Etienne, they do have a way of making me feel. This time it was the sweet, gauzey sigh of "Mr Donut", from their smashing 1998 record Good Humor (also home to "Sylvie" and "The Bad Photographer"), as I was driving home from Mulgrave late in the afternoon today. I've heard the song before, plenty of times, but today it caught at me, leaving me feeling light and wistful in the sunshine; listening to it tonight, now, lying on my bed and feeling slightly unmoored, I hear the music in bright, wispy pastels - turquoise and aquamarine and fuchsia and eggshell blue, concrete grey and motion-blurry at the edges. It's delicate and pretty and sophisticated and simple and somehow unobtrusively mournful, too, though you can never put your finger on why.

100 favourite songs: #3: "Fade Into You" - Mazzy Star

I reckon this to be one of the truly great singles of the nineties, its woozy, dreamy beauty getting me every time. - 18/4/04

Mazzy Star’s back catalogue is studded with glories, but for mine, “Fade Into You” is far and away their finest moment — mysterious, languorous and ineffably nocturnal, its hazy, velvet sway is pure magic, a dark-stoned bracelet glimmering in the night. I’ve been listening to this song for years and it’s still as immediate and as impenetrable as ever, its layers as beguiling and as inscrutable, the tones of yearning and contentment as perfectly mingled, the quiet wonder as unshakeable and undeniable.

Reassessments

I. Since seeing Kasey live, I've listened a lot more to Carnival and realised that it's actually really good - and remembered the same about Wayward Angel.

II. The more I think about it, the better The Prestige becomes. It left me a little bit cold immediately after I'd seen it, but the further away I get from that actual viewing, the more it's sinking in, especially the human tragedy of it all (the character of Fallon is particularly poignant in this respect). Really darn good.

Victorian Equal Opportunity Commission annual oration: Julian Burnside QC - "Protecting Rights in a Climate of Fear"

Went to this with a few others from MS - Leana, Nicolette, Tamara and Rachel, plus a couple of others and a bunch of summer clerks including Steph - and stretched it out to a three-hour lunch break (including the oration itself)...am definitely winding down for the year. So anyway, there were a couple of EOC speakers, and then Rob Hulls got up and gave a vintage Hulls performance, bringing the dynamism and really talking up the Charter and the importance of formal rights instruments generally as well as giving Ruddock and Howard a good kicking re David Hicks and general inhumanity. It took me a while, but somewhere in the last couple of years I became a fan of the man, and I enjoyed today's effort.

As Burnside began by saying, it was a hard act to follow (even though he was obviously the main act), but as one would expect he did a good job. Leana said afterwards that she thought he'd pitched his 'oration' at exactly the right level, and I think that's right given that the audience probably didn't predominantly have a legal background. He stepped us through some of the more egregious of the recent counter-terrorism laws, expressed his appalledness about the federal government's immigration policy and attitude towards Hicks, and ran through (at a very high level) some of the threats to rights - ineffectual opposition party, unengaged or compliant media, and the existence of a prevailing climate of fear - considering the first two conditions to have been met for the last 10 years and the third to have been gifted to national western governments worldwide by September 11, and generally showed why he's carved such a formidable reputation for himself as a human rights and social justice advocate.

* * *

Also, I don't usually bother mentioning presentations that take place at MS, but there've been a couple of noteworthy ones lately. We'd arranged for President Maxwell of the Court of Appeal to speak to us about the Charter in honour of Human Rights Day last Friday, and he was very good - very passionate and inspiring, and more willing to express opinions on certain matters than we're accustomed to seeing from the Australian judiciary. We always talk about his judgment in the Royal Women's Hospital case but it became evident that that judgment reflects a real commitment on his part. And the climate change and clean energy folks scored Ziggy Switkowski to come in and talk about the conclusions of the uranium mining/nuclear energy taskforce that he's heading up at the moment (apparently, before he was Telstra's CEO, he did substantially research into the area - post-doctoral, I think) - that was interesting, and I thought that he was very impressive, though I'm not so sure that some of the stuff that he considered to be uncontroversial (re safety, etc) is as scientifically widely-accepted as he suggested...

The New Pornographers @ the Prince, Tuesday 12 December

Randomness. I got all excited about this on Friday morning when I read about it in EG, mainly because the article mentioned that Neko Case was coming down, so I threw out a few tendrils to a few likely coattendees and figured I'd work it out over the weekend. But then the weekend was stinking hot and I was exhausted and sluggish and in kind of a bad mood and it all just seemed too much of a hassle, especially given that I had the FSG practice group Christmas party to attend that night as well. But then it turned out that said Christmas party was at the St Kilda lawn bowls club - ie, 5 minutes' walk from the Prince - so when things wound down at the party I figured that I might as well try my luck.

Lucky I did, too. I thought that there was an outside chance that the show might be mindblowingly good (they just seem like the kind of band with that potential), and though it didn't turn out to be that, it was still v.g. Six of them on stage, each integral to the clatter and noise being produced - the songs sounded good live, a bit rougher around the edges than the recorded versions and not as subtle (I would've liked it if the keyboards were mixed louder), but in a good way. And they played "Mass Romantic" and "Testament To Youth In Verse" (my two faves) back to back, and ended the encore set with "Letter From An Occupant" (my next fave), hooray! Plus, it was totally ace to see Neko doing her thing, tambourine and all.

Kate Atkinson - Case Histories

Time was, a few years ago now, when I'd have gone so far as to call Kate Atkinson one of my favourite writers - I read Human Croquet, then Behind the Scenes at the Museum, and then Emotionally Weird, all during that time around the tailend of high school and the beginning of uni (Not the End of the World came a bit later, I think), and thought them all rather wonderful.

When Case Histories came out, though (2004 - was it really only two years ago?), I was disappointed. At the time, I thought it was quite a shift in genre from her earlier stuff (from whimsical family narratives to stolid crime investigation stories?), and it didn't grab me in the same way. Revisiting the novel now - taking a break from Against the Day, which I've been reading solidly for the last few weeks - I like and appreciate it more, and can better see how it connects up to Atkinson's work, both thematically and stylistically. One thing that Atkinson does marvellously is evoke the quiet sadness and spaces in everyday life - and this time I was able to appreciate Jackson's musical taste a bit more (he drives around listening to sad country songs about people leaving - "From Boulder To Birmingham" (mentioned twice!), Sweet Old World, Hell Among The Yearlings, etc). And boy can she write.

Talvin Singh @ the Prince, Thursday 7 December

Asked, I went along out of curiosity, but neither I nor my inviter, Jarrod, realised that it would be a dj set. Tedious - if I'd been on my own, I would've been out of there about 10 minutes after he started, once I'd caught on.

Jerry Maguire

I thought I was going to watch Coffee and Cigarettes tonight, but I turned the tv on and Jerry Maguire was showing, and I guess the rest of the story writes itself.

It's not that JM is particularly a Meaningful Film for me, but I remembered it as being good, and, well, it is. It's sweet and warm and funny, and it has a heart; Tom is spot-on and Renée as adorable as ever (well, this was really where it all started with her, at least for me) - and *big confession* I found myself actually a bit teary when they reconciled at the end (and a lot of the other scenes got me, too). How totally embarrassing, but it's true.

I've got to say, as well, I have a feeling that it was the same the first time around, years ago - then, as now, I was moved. Well (and here I'd like you to imagine me shrugging at the screen), I never pretended to be cool...

Neko Case: Live from Austin TX

A bare bones dvd but of course it's all about the music, which is pretty good, Case running through a set of songs mostly from her first three lps and in fine voice. Highlights probably her "Wayfaring Stranger" (gave me chills - not unusual for renditions of the song) and "Look For Me (I'll Be Around)".

"Castan Centre for Human Rights Law: Human Rights 2006: The Year in Review" conference

Only went to the afternoon sessions: Joo-Cheong Tham on counter-terrorism laws and civil liberties, Carolyn Evans on RRTA-related issues, Julie Debeljak on the judicial interpretation and declaration provisions of the Victorian Charter of Rights, and Paula Gerber on human rights education in secondary schools. All quite interesting though not particularly arresting and I got a bit out of each of the papers; I especially liked Carolyn Evans (who I've met in passing before), even though her topic was, on its face, probably the least immediately interesting to me.

(MS-sponsored; took place at the Malthouse. Not a bad way to spend the afternoon of the last day of my M&A rotation, by the way.)

Nellie McKay - Pretty Little Head

At last, the album in the double cd form that McKay wanted from the outset. My copy arrived in the mail a couple of days ago - delicious packaging, by the way - and while the songs are rearranged slightly from the version which circulated a few months ago, and there are some additional ones (all relatively slight but congruous - of these new ones, "Food" is a particular delight), Pretty Little Head is still utterly great.

Also, just for the record, I'm basically totally in love with Nellie McKay. Well, no surprises there, really.

Sin City: The Very Best of the Flying Burrito Brothers

Collects the whole of the first two Flying Burrito Brothers albums (which were also the two with which Gram Parsons was involved) - The Gilded Palace Of Sin and Burrito Deluxe - and some other songs from the time. I've had it for ages, but it really is coming into the right time of year for this music now, and I've been listening to it properly lately and basically bathing in how unimpeachably good it all is (particularly that first album). I think I like solo Gram better, but the charms of the Flying Burrito Brothers' stuff are of a somewhat different hue and in many ways they run just as deep.

Yann Arthus-Bertrand - "Earth from Above: An Aerial Portrait of Our Planet - Towards Sustainable Development"

Wandered through this, outdoors on the banks of the Yarra behind Fed Square, one Friday night a few weeks back. Impressively extensive exhibition of large photographic prints of vistas from all over the world, curated with lengthy text descriptions highlighting (environmental) sustainability issues relevant to the images. I didn't go through it all carefully, but it was good.