David Sedaris - When You Are Engulfed In Flames

A collection of mostly brief, anecdotal pieces which are ostensibly scenes from Sedaris's life but which I suspect have been slightly embellished in places, mostly fairly light - in the vein of observational humour - but grounded; it's sometimes hilarious (though not as frequently as I'd expected), at times touched lightly with sadness, and always readable...possibly this was just me seeing what I expected to see, but I was left with the impression that, partly as a matter of subject matter, but more particularly in terms of tone, this was a book that might particularly strike a chord with gay men, though its appeal evidently isn't in any sense limited to that demographic and I'd struggle to really explain that impression. Anyway, it was both diverting and occasionally thought-provoking; I think I might read some more of his stuff.

"Terminus" (Abbey Theatre @ Malthouse)

"Terminus" is a verse play comprised of a series of monologues, delivered in turn by three figures who stand and are spotlit each time it's their turn to speak, unspooling a dizzying tale of violence, compassion, car chases, transcendent sex, the obscene and the lyrical, and souls literally sold to the devil, here performed by a very strong trio of actors from the Irish Abbey Theatre (Kate Brennan, Andrea Irvine, Karl Shiels) and given a simple, evocative staging which brings out both the play's visceral and human elements and its more metaphysical urges. Extremely impressive.

(w/ Ruth and Hayley - part of MIAF)

(500) Days of Summer OST

Works well both on its own terms and as a document of the film, which is unsurprising given how closely woven music is into the film itself. It's a pleasing mix of the familiar (two of the Smiths' most iconic songs in "There Is A Light That Never Goes Out" and "Please, Please, Please, Let Me Get What I Want", "There Goes The Fear", "Mushaboom"), the sort-of-familiar (most notably, sweet covers of "Here Comes Your Man" and "Please, Please, Please" by Meaghan Smith and She & Him respectively) and songs that I didn't know before but remember from the film itself (Regina Spektor's "Us", which plays over the opening credits and does much to set the tone for the film and its soundtrack, has particularly stuck with me).

Missing, sadly, are the original cuts of the Nancy & Frank (Black) songs that Summer and Tom do in the film; likewise, though less regrettably (although I wouldn't have minded had it in fact been included), "She's Like The Wind" - but you can't have everything. All up, this is a very, very charming soundtrack indeed.

Death in Vegas - The Contino Sessions

Kind of an electro-rock collision (from back in the late 90s), both relatively downbeat and harder-edged bits feeding into the mix. Hasn't made much of an impression on me, although it has some interesting moments.

Terry Pratchett - Nation

An attempt at something a bit different by Pratchett. Nation puts Issues more front and centre than most of his Discworld books (although they've never been far from sight even in those others, and particularly in the last two-thirds or so of that, continuing series), and contains fewer laughs, though the voice is still recognisably his and it's an easy read for all that. Nothing special by Pratchett's standards, though, for all that its heart is clearly in the right place.

"A Streetcar Named Desire" (STC)

Cate + "Streetcar" = a lightning trip up to Sydney last weekend to catch a matinee performance. Cass and I first looked into this a while back, but tickets were already all gone; we had better luck when a new round was released, and Sunny arranged to see the same performance along with a currently Sydney-based friend of his, one Louise. (M also came up, but didn't see the play.)

So it was worth the trip - an extremely solid production highlighted by Blanchett's performance and the strength of those around her, and without any particular weaknesses. I would have liked it more if it had been more drenched in atmosphere, more melodramatic, rather than being rendered (as it in fact was) in relatively understated, naturalistic hues - I didn't feel it quite got to the heart of the play, but even so, as a merely very good staging of what may well be a great play, it was very enjoyable.