"Skylight" (MTC)

At times I could feel both leads acting, though overall both were good (Colin Friels and Anna Samson). Worked the trick of making me imagine both myself in the characters' place and parallels to my own life, though more in terms of emotional timbre than actual situation.

(w/ Erandathie) 

Parks and Recreation season 7

A pretty sweet ending, complete with Bill Murray.

(seasons 1-3, 4, 5, 6)

Elbow - The Take Off and Landing

Another Elbow album full of songs like cathedrals. Nice.

Tegan and Sara - Love You to Death

Another sheerly terrific, racingly heartfelt record full of highlights in similar vein to Heartthrob, though perhaps a touch sleeker. Part of this happy convergence with which I associate Chvrches, latter day Taylor Swift, before them Robyn (in the vanguard) and others, each act with their own history and trajectory which both subliminally and actually colours where they've landed just now; on Love You to Death, "Faint of Heart" and "Stop Desire" are two of the most delightful, both with great chorus spikes.

Donnie Darko

For me, at least, I think that movies can provide a truer reflection (or refraction) of my experience of the world than any other form of art. Even though it was books that I first took to, music that then lodged most deeply during my most impressionable teenage and early young adult years, and theatre and (visual) art that often prompt the most complex and profound responses in me now, it's movies that - as a form - come closest to the phenomenological in what they offer: immersively experiential, and therefore emotional, associative and intellectual all mixed.

So: Donnie Darko. This was one of my favourite films back when I first saw it - several times - but then it kind of waned in my mind over the probably more than a decade during which (a) I didn't watch it again and (b) a whole lot of other stuff happened, and I began thinking of it - when I thought of it at all - as a film that I used to like, with that liking maybe fixed to a specific point in time for me (a recent rewatching didn't especially shake that, although it reminded me of some of the reasons why I'd liked it so much). But watching it again last night - on a big screen - it all came rushing back, right from the opening scene, and I was caught up in its magic the whole way through. It doesn't need parsing - this is just a great film, which has always affected and resonated with me, and still does.

(w/ David - a 15th anniversary screening at Nova)

"Max and Olive" (Potter, Melbourne Uni) - second trip

After my first visit, I found that I couldn't stop thinking about this exhibition, even (especially?) amidst what turned out to be a very intense week. So I went again the following weekend.

 

(w/ Al)

"Double Indemnity" (MTC)

Slick enough, but I'm not sure I would've got much out of this if I'd been familiar with the source book or its film adaptation. Committed performances and a twisty story made for an engaging evening but all in all it seemed a touch on the thin side, like there wasn't much to it.

(w/ Meribah)

Sarah Thornton - Seven Days in the Art World

Enjoyable in its tour through the various scenes in the world of contemporary art - auction (Christie's), 'crit' (art school seminar involving peer feedback - California Institute of the Arts), art fair (Basel), prize (Turner), magazine (Artforum), studio (Takashi Murakami's), biennale (Venice) - and associated actors including dealers, collectors, curators, critics, auction house experts and, indeed, artists.

Explicitly takes an 'ethnographic' approach which perhaps enabled access but may also account for the somewhat lack of a point - or, more accurately, a perspective or critical view - to much of the description; also largely missing (by design, but still very noticeably) is anything much about the relevance of the qualities of the art itself. Also drags a bit in some of the latter chapters.

All up, despite fascinating topic and a sense of being grounded in the reality of what it describes, not as good as another in somewhat similar vein that I read a few years back.

How to Vote Progressive in Australia: Labor or Green? edited by Dennis Altman and Sean Scalmer

Interesting topic; timely publication. Some contributors obviously have a dog in this race (ie current ALP and Greens MPs) and others address the question from a range of perspectives. Notably, I'm pretty sure that all accept the Greens will be a significant part of the political landscape for the foreseeable future (which is certainly how it seems, but hasn't seemed a cert - or near enough to - until relatively recently).

10 Cloverfield Lane

Tight and suspenseful, each successive plot point something of a surprise when it eventuates even though it had been signalled earlier as a possibility - the film plays fair by laying it out like this but still bites because you don't know which of the possible paths it will take. Made even better by the realisation that, as this piece lays out more or less uncontrovertibly, the film is fundamentally about domestic abuse, and all of its pieces fit together in support, including the final act and ultimate choice on which the film ends; also that the main character is played by Mary Elizabeth Winstead aka Ramona from Scott Pilgrim!

"Max and Olive" (Potter, Melbourne Uni)

As in Dupain and Cotton - active at the same time, and entwined to the extent of having been briefly married to each other. Focuses on their respective work in the 1930s, with a few from the 40s. Very good.

"There's no particular subject that I prefer - the light is why I take photographs" - Olive Cotton

(on tour from the NGA)

Eleanor Friedberger - New View

Relaxed, somewhat retro-leaning singer songwriter fare, with melodies that weave around and often emerge late in the piece though without the experimental flair of the Fiery Furnaces. Not bad.