Chantal and Richard's Wedding

Yesterday was Chantal and Richard's wedding day. The wedding ceremony took place at Sts Peter and Paul Catholic Church in South Melbourne. Chantal looked gorgeous in her beautiful lace dress as she entered the church with her Mum. The priest who performed the ceremony was quite a character- it almost felt like a Catholic revival at times. Family members from both sides took part throughout the ceremony, and we learned that they were getting married on the birthday of Chantal's late father, which I thought was special and a good omen.

After the ceremony there was a few hours gap before the reception started, so I had a coffee with Amrita, Philippe and their two little ones in a cafe next door to the church before heading into the city to kill some time. The reception took place at the Wattle Park Chalet in Surrey Hills which is located within some parklands. We had pre-dinner drinks, hors d'oeurves and a group photo before heading inside for dinner. Once the wedding party entered they cut the cake and then spread out speeches before the entree and main course. The food was quite tasty throughout the night. I had the pumpkin and feta tortellini, chicken breast stuffed with brie and sundried tomatoes, and tiramisu for dessert. The dance floor was pumping early as well as the photo booth upstairs. The evening was a mix of Sri Lankan and Swedish traditions in honor of their family heritages. Overall it was a fun night and I wish the happy couple all the best for their future together.

French Film Festival 2015

The Alliance Francaise French Film Festival has been on in Melbourne over the past few weeks and Onagh and I have been to see a number of the films showcased this year. Attending has also allowed me to see how much of my high school French I actually remember. Here are the films that I have seen, which thankfully have been pretty good for the most part:

The Gazelles follows Marie (Camille Chamoux) as she throws away her 15 year relationship with Eric and enters the dating scene with a bunch of friends of her work colleague Sandra (Audrey Fleurot). A lighthearted and at times scary glimpse into the singles scene when you are older, it was an amusing film to watch.

The New Girlfriend is a psychological thriller that starts with the funeral of Laura and follows the aftermath for her husband David (Romain Duris) and their baby, as well as Laura's lifelong best friend Claire (Anais Demoustier). Claire goes to visit David one day and discovers him dressed as a woman. The film explores how Claire helps David to develop his female persona Virginia, and how that impacts on Claire's relationships with both her husband and David.

The Connection is the true story behind the hit movie The French Connection told from a European perspective. The film covers the drug trade and corruption in Marseille in the mid-1970s and stars Jean Dujardin as the magistrate Pierre Michel and Gilles Lellouche as mafia boss Gaetan Zampa. It was an action packed film and quite entertaining.

Saint Laurent is another film set mainly in the late 1960s to mid-1970s and covers the life of fashion designer Yves Saint Laurent (Gaspard Ulliel). You get to see his struggles with poor health and addiction, as well as his relationships with his partner and muses. The film culminates with his 1976 Moroccan-inspired collection. If they ever do an English language biopic they should get designer and Project Runway alum Austin Scarlett to play YSL.

Almost Friends is a comedy that involves two women at a crossroads in their lives. Carole (Emmanuelle Devos) feels overshadowed by her chef husband Sam (Roschdy Zem), and secretly comes to an adult training center to get an assessment of her career options. She becomes friends with her counsellor Marithe (Karin Viard) and Marithe gives Carole advice that plays more to her ulterior motives than Carole's best interests. I thought the film was ok, but found Sam distracting as the actor has a resemblance to President Barack Obama.

The Gate is set in Cambodia during the 1970s reign of Pol Pot and tells the true story of French ethnologist Francois Bizot (Raphael Personnaz), who was captured and imprisoned by the Khmer Rouge. It explores the relationship he develops with Comrade Duch (Kompheak Phoeung) while under captivity and what happens when they meet again years later. Considering the horrors of the Khmer Rouge, I thought the film was quite restrained in what it showed of the realities of captivity in the prison camps.

Girlhood is set in the housing projects of Paris and follows 16-year-old Mariame (Karidja Toure). After she is told her grades are too poor to continue on to high school, she meets three other girls who are brash and stylish and joins up with them. The film explores their friendships, the social and gender politics of growing up in a tough neighborhood, and the choices the girls make in order to survive.

The Belier Family also focuses on a 16-year-old girl, Paula (Louane Emera), the only hearing member of a deaf family who are dairy farmers in a small village. At school she decides to join the choir because of a cute boy, but it turns out she has an amazing singing voice. Her teacher encourages her to practice in order to audition for a music school in Paris, and Paula struggles with wanting to aim for independence in her life while at the same time feeling guilty about abandoning her family. The audition scene was particularly poignant as she sang Michel Sardou's "Last Flight"- especially for someone like me who has left family behind to live half way around the world. This was probably my favorite film of all the ones we saw.

Huw Parkinson Lampoons Australian Politics

Huw Parkinson is doing some of the best political commentary going with his mash-ups of Australian politicians with popular films and tv shows. His latest video is a take on Christopher Pyne's Sky News Interview last week where Pyne claimed to be a fixer.

Star Wars: Fixed (with Christopher Pyne)


Here are some other great creations by Huw from the past few months:

Four Weddings and a Funeral with Tony Abbott


Consider Yourself Part Of The Furniture


Seinfeld In Parliament


The Darjeeling Abbotted
The Darjeeling Abbotted from Huw Parkinson on Vimeo.

In Dreams- David Lynch Revisited

As a huge fan of director David Lynch and the soundtracks he and Angelo Badalamenti composed for his film and tv work, I was really excited to get the opportunity to hear these songs interpreted live. In Dreams: David Lynch Revisited brought together an array of artists under the musical direction of David Coulter to perform tracks from throughout Lynch's career. Onagh joined me for tonight's second and final show at the Melbourne Recital Centre where we had very close second row seats.

The evening began in a very Lynchian way with David Coulter in a sequenced jacket and long red gloves sawing into a log. Sophia Brous did an amazing a capella version of "Llorando (Crying)" from Mulholland Drive, and was later joined by Kirin J Callinan for a unique interpretation of "Blue Velvet." It was the Twin Peaks tracks though that I was really eager to hear, and thankfully many of them featured throughout the night. Cibo Matto did a raucous version of "A Real Indication," Sarah Blasko sang the two Julee Cruise tracks "The Nightingale" and "Into The Night" before being joined on stage by Sophia and Kirin for "Just You and I" (with Kirin at his creepy/charming best). Violinist Owen Pallett sang the iconic "Falling," Sophia performed Jimmy Scott's "Sycamore Trees," and harpist Marshall McGuire played "Laura Palmer's Theme," which was both haunting and beautiful.

Camille O'Sullivan had fantastic outfits for both her numbers, and I really enjoyed her version of "Song To The Siren" from Lost Highway. Mick Harvey and the band did a thumping version of "Ghost Of Love" from Inland Empire, before Sophia joined him for a duet of Chris Isaak's "Wicked Game" with Owen, Camille and Kirin on backing vocals. As David thanked everyone who participated in this tribute show, the band finished the night with "Dance Of The Dream Man." Overall it was a pretty impressive evening and such a privilege to see all these fantastic artists perform together on the same stage.

Chet Faker- Palais Theatre

Chet Faker (aka Nicholas Murphy) has been on a meteoric rise over the past two years, taking out the number one spot on the Triple J Hottest 100 for 2014. Tonight Tash and I attended his fifth and final sold out show at the Palais Theatre. I've been aware of him for a while but never really listened to his releases, so I went into this show fresh. His music is more of a soulful electronica, and throughout the night he built up the layers of beats and sang along while accompanied by a drummer/percussionist and guitarist/keyboardist. He also had a pretty intricate light show to go along with each song, although there were way too many strobe lights. All of the songs got big reactions from the all ages crowd, and I really enjoyed his cover of Blackstreet's "No Diggity" (which first brought him to prominence), "Gold" and "Talk Is Cheap." Sitting up in the lounge also allowed us to be able to see what he was doing throughout the night, which made things interesting.

Here's the video for "Talk Is Cheap"

Dan Sultan- Zoo Twilights

A few weeks ago Dan Sultan was meant to play a Zoo Twilights show at the Melbourne Zoo, but a thunder and lightening storm shortly after the gates opened meant that it had to be cancelled. Fortunately they were able to reschedule it for this evening, and the weather managed to cooperate. Ruth staked out some prime space up the front and Belinda, Tash and I joined her and Danny there for the night. The opening act was Benny Walker and his band, who played a bluesy set with some extended jams.

Dan Sultan came out solo and started his set with "Dirty Ground" off his recent EP of the same name. After playing "Nobody Knows" and his Way Of The Eagle collaboration "Rattlesnake" the rest of the band joined him on stage. Dan played tracks from all of his releases, including "Under Your Skin," "Crazy," "It Belongs To Us," "Your Love Is Like A Song," "The Same Man" and a very cathartic version of "Old Fitzroy," which was dedicated to a couple of family members who recently passed away. Throughout the night he was quite gracious and thanked people for buying his album Blackbird, which recently went gold. The main set finished with "Kimberley Calling" and then for an encore they tore through a great version of "Letter." It was a bit chilly by the end of the night, but I'm glad the show was able to be rescheduled and we didn't have to deal with rain.

Here's the video for "Kimberley Calling"

Rufus Wainwright- Vibrate Tour

Rufus Wainwright has returned to Australia to play some solo shows in support of his best of album Vibrate.  Simon joined me for tonight's concert at the Palais Theatre. The opening act was Rufus' half-sister Lucy Wainwright Roche, who played a solo folk set on acoustic guitar. She was very funny in between songs and requested questions from the crowd. One person asked if she and Rufus ever played together as children and she recounted a story of Rufus having her pretend to lay dead on the couch while he sang arias to her. Besides her own songs she played a cover of Bruce Springsteen's "Hungry Heart" (complete with an audience sing along) and a track off an album of dark lullabies that she is currently recording with her sister Martha Wainwright.

Rufus came out in jeans and a pink patterned jacket and sat at the piano to start his set with "Grey Gardens." This was the first time I have seen him live without a band. He alternated between piano and acoustic guitar as he played songs from throughout his career. I was really excited to hear older songs such as "Beauty Mark," "Vibrate," "April Fools," "Gay Messiah" and my personal favorite "Going To A Town." We also got the more recent tracks "Out Of The Game," "Montauk," "Sonnet 20" and an aria from his recently recorded opera Prima Donna. Rufus' voice sounded absolutely amazing during the night, and at one point he said he was channelling Joan Sutherland. It wouldn't have been a Rufus show without some humorous moments, and we were visited on stage by Liza Minelli and Judy Garland before he and Liza (aka Lucy) duetted on the song "Me and Liza." Rufus also worked through a brand new song called "Lucy's Blue" and finished the main set with "Cigarettes and Chocolate Milk."

The encore started with another one of my favorites "The Art Teacher" and then he invited out the Melbourne Hallelujah chorus (people who pledged a certain amount for the recording of Prima Donna). Rufus and Lucy did a duet of "Pretty Things" before the chorus joined in for Leonard Cohen's "Hallelujah," which sounded great. The first encore finished with "Poses" and then Rufus came back out and sang "Foolish Love" to close the evening. This was another fantastic concert by Rufus and it's always a privilege to see such a talented musician play in person. If you don't own any of his albums start off with Vibrate and then work your way through his back catalogue.

Here's the video for "Me and Liza"

Andy White- Wesley Anne

Andy White has just returned from an overseas tour of Italy, the UK, Ireland and Canada, so he was fighting fit for his live set at the Wesley Anne in Northcote tonight. This was actually my first time in the venue, and the bandroom is a great space (and they serve food in there). I came in towards the end of folk singer Alison Thom's set, catching the last few songs. Fran joined me and it was good to be able to catch up with her.

Andy started his set solo by playing "James Joyce's Grave" before inviting members of his band The Antipoets onto the stage. Most of the songs in the set were off his recent album How Things Are, with highlights including "Drifting," "Band Of Gold," "Jessica Says," "Everyone's In Love," and "Lennon." We were also treated to the older tracks "Italian Girls on Mopeds," "Vision Of You," "If You Want It" and the set closer "Jacqui." Andy seemed to enjoy himself throughout the night and sounded great. I'd really like to catch him doing a whole set solo just on acoustic guitar.

The Basics- Tinder Knight

It was billed as a secret show under the moniker Tinder Knight on the Northcote Social Club website, but those in the know realised tonight was going to be a unique and special evening featuring The Basics. They set up to play 'in the round' style in the middle of the bandroom with just a piano and two acoustic guitars. The crowd was limited to 200 people, which made for an intimate experience as everyone sat or stood around them. In addition, people were invited to bring along sheet music for any songs they would like the band to attempt to play, which added an element of unpredictability to the night.

After Kris, Tim and Wally came out and took their seats they started off with a cover of Crowded House's "Not The Girl You Think You Are." Kris explained that they called the show Tinder Knight because Tuesday's are supposed to be the nights that people go on Tinder dates. The band promised to play mostly rarely heard Basics songs and covers, so I knew we would be in for a great evening. In the first set we were treated to a number of Basics tracks, including "To Think Of You," "Wait For You," "Ashleigh Wakes," "Trouble In His Head" and "What Do You See In Me?" Some of the covers were pretty amazing as well, especially Tears For Fears' "Mad World," The Beatles' "Here, There and Everywhere" and David Bowie's "As The World Falls Down" from the movie Labyrinth (perhaps the most random cover of the evening). The highlight though was Wally singing an audience request for George Michael's "Freedom" while trying to read the lyrics in the dark room.

After a brief intermission the guys came back out for what was a pretty eclectic second set. They began with Cold Chisel's "When The War Is Over" and then Kris sang Christina Aguilera's "Genie In A Bottle." Wally slayed Paul McCartney's "Maybe I'm Amazed" and they all played a beautiful version of Fleetwood Mac's "Rhiannon." As for Basics tracks we got to hear "Hey Rain" (with Tim on piano), "Keep The Door Open," "With This Ship," "All Or Nothing" and "Home Again." One theme that ran throughout the night was Wally's excitement about having seen Roxette last week and his desire to sing "The Look." We got a few snippets here and there, including a bit of a jazzy version, but it wasn't until near the end of the set that he finally got to sing the song in full. As they were on a Swedish kick Ace of Base came up, which resulted in a little piece of "The Sign."

Kris made a request for Wally to sing the Gotye track "Bronte." It had a couple false starts around Kris and Tim not being able to do the harmonies but Wally did a gorgeous version in the end. I enjoyed hearing Kris and Wally sing Michael McDonald and Kenny Loggins' "What A Fool Believes," but my favorite moment was an audience request for John Farnham's "You're The Voice" that they took on with gusto (that song is a bit of a guilty pleasure for me). Kris dedicated Neil Young's "Old Man" to himself as it's his birthday on Saturday and had everyone singing along with him. The very last song of the night was The Beatles' "The End," which was the perfect way to finish this epic 3 hour gig.

The evening felt like one of those classic Basics shows of the past with all the humor, harmonies and unique covers. My cheeks hurt from laughing and smiling so much. The guys really seemed to be enjoying themselves, but there was also a tinge of sadness as Wally is moving to New York and we don't know when The Basics will be playing together again. I'm having flashbacks to the Keep Your Friends Close era as there is a finished album (currently titled The Age of Entitlement) but no release date on the horizon. We will just have to wait and see what the future holds, but I don't think this is the end for The Basics.

White Night Melbourne 2015

I enjoyed White Night Melbourne so much last year that I was eager to check it all out again this year. Running for one night only from 7:00 pm - 7:00 am, it's an opportunity to choose your own adventure as there is so much to see and experience. In order to get the best out of White Night, I have the following tips:

• Plan ahead what you want to see: Look at the program and highlight what your "must sees" are on a map. It's much easier to see things in a geographical order than to zigzag across the city.
• Come into the city after midnight: The best way to avoid the big crowds and long lines is to come in as many people are starting to head home. I arrived around 1:00 am and was able to wander around without having to deal with a crush of people.
• Wear comfortable shoes: As the footprint of White Night expands, it means you will be doing a lot of walking in order to see everything. I walked over 11 kms (nearly 7 miles) during the four hours I was at White Night.
• Follow #WhiteNightMelb: Wondering where those secret spots on the map are going to be located? Utilise social media to find the answer so you don't miss out on something great.

I started my night at the NGV to see KEYFRAMES by Group LAPS, which featured illuminated stick figures in motion, and experience the laser lumia effect of Infinite Curve by Kit Webster and David Leigh.

Next I headed into the Queen Victoria and Alexandria Gardens to hear the kinetic sound sculptures of Ray Lee's Chorus, and see the ultimate profile photo opportunity provided by Carla O'Brien's Neon Angel Wings (and there was a line of people waiting to take pictures in front of it). I then walked past the glowing giant lotus flowers of Sita's Garden in the Yarra River and across to Birrarung Marr to see the fire breathing dragon of Sean Diamond and Stephanie Selig's The Crucible.

I am a massive fan of The Electric Canvas as their light projections are always so amazing. Once again they did an fantastic job with Wonderland along Flinders Street, taking on the theme of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland.

The laneways and streets of Melbourne's CBD held many little treasures to discover, including the combination of street art and light projection with Yandell Walton and 'I & The Others' Exodus, the animated sculptures projected in Plasmatic No.1, Plasmatic No.2, Plasmatic No.3 by Andy Buchanan, and the Vanishing and Becoming light projections on the Queen Victoria Women's Centre by Sohan Ariel Hayes.

At the State Library there were two different pieces to celebrate the sesquicentenary of the publication of Lewis Carroll's novel Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. Outside were the Rabbit Hole light projections by Nick Azidis, and inside the library dome were the 360-degree light projections of Eat Me by Antoine + Manuel accompanied by music by Sui Zhen. It was great to finally get into the dome this year (the line was much shorter at 4:00 am) as I not only enjoyed the projections, but also the air conditioning since it was still so warm and humid outside.

On the map for White Night there were a number of secret spots named with a question mark as to their location. Fortunately I learned via Twitter that one not to miss was Sofles - Graffiti Mapped curated by Juddy Roller, which was located on the way to the Carlton Gardens. The work combined 3D video mapping with street art and a musical score. It was an innovative work and one of the highlights of the evening.

My last location for the night was the Royal Exhibition Building to see 4 Elements by Ocubo. Showcasing the elements of earth, water, fire and air, the projections also featured dancers moving across the building as the elements changed. This was a large scale, amazing work projected onto one of my favorite buildings in Melbourne. I couldn't think of a better way to end my White Night journey for 2015.

Birthday Celebrations

My milestone birthday has finally arrived, and it's been a great day! Unfortunately things at work are really busy so I was unable to take the day off. However, my parents brightened my desk by sending an incredible bouquet of flowers (which also tipped off my colleagues that it was my birthday). Justin and I escaped for lunch at Mamasita, which was fantastic as usual and fulfilled my craving for Mexican food. Then my divisional colleagues threw a little surprise afternoon tea for me with a cake from Laurent, which was really thoughtful of them.

As someone who went on a patisserie crawl last year, it should be no surprise that I chose to celebrate my birthday this year by doing the dessert degustation at Om Nom in the Adelphi Hotel. When you walk in you are hit by the sweet smell of sugar. I was joined by a lovely group of friends, with over half of us doing the degustation and the others ordering savory food to share. Onagh was kind enough to get me the Adelphi Rose cocktail, which was quite nice. I think between us we managed to order all of the degustation options on the menu. My three choices were as follows:

• Raspberry Field- Raspberry and lychee sorbet, baked meringue, raspberry panna cotta, rosewater pearls and white chocolate
• Icecream 'Sanga'- Pistachio ice cream, ricotta orange cream, vanilla chantilly, biscuit cuillere, strawberry swirled vanilla ice cream and balsamic spheres
• MagNOM- Flourless chocolate, valhrona manjari 64% chocolate ice cream, peanut dacquoise and peanut butter swirled vanilla ice cream

All of the dishes tasted and looked great, but I think my favorite was the Raspberry Field with its raspberry sorbet mushroom cap. It was really nice of the staff to write happy birthday on my MagNOM plate (I blew out one of the table candles after my friends sang to me). Since the sizes were smaller than normal desserts and had light flavors I didn't feel overloaded on sugar by the end of the evening. The degustation was a great way to sample a portion of the menu at the quite reasonable price of $48 per person. I look forward to coming back to Om Nom to try some more dishes. I would also like to thank all my friends for making turning 40 years old a fun and relatively pain free experience.

Daniel Rossen- Northcote Social Club

When Daniel Rossen last played in Melbourne with Grizzly Bear in 2012 his solo EP Silent Hour / Golden Mile had just been released. I never thought I would get to hear these songs played live, so I was super excited when he announced he would be doing a solo tour of Australia last year. Belinda joined me at the Northcote Social Club for tonight's second sold out show. The opening act was Jasia (aka Josiah Willows), who was accompanied by a guy on double bass. He mixed his classical training on violin with loops and electric guitar, producing an ethereal sound with his voice and music.

Daniel Rossen came out and took a seat on the raised platform on the stage and started his set with "Up On High." He joked that this was his vacation tour as he's escaping the winter and snow in New York. Alternating between 6 and 12 string acoustic guitars run through pedals and a piano, he played songs spanning his entire career. Highlights included "Silent Song" and "Golden Mile" from his solo EP, and a number of Department of Eagles tracks off In Ear Park: "In Ear Park," "Herringbone" and "Balmy Night," which he played on the banjo. He did a cover of Townes Van Zandt's "Kathleen" as well as a few brand new and unreleased songs of his own, including the amazing track "Not Coming Back."

Daniel is a phenomenal guitar player so it was such a privilege to watch him play up close in an intimate setting. I also have to commend the crowd who were quiet and very respectful throughout the evening. It was so nice to not have to deal with talkers and noise and be able to focus on the music. This is especially true since he only played a couple of older Grizzly Bear tracks in the set: "Easier" and "Deep Blue Sea." Daniel finished the night with the Department of Eagles' song "Phantom Other." It was such an amazing show, and so great to hear songs that I thought I would never get to see played live in concert.

Here's a 2014 live set by Daniel on Seattle's KEXP:

St Kilda Festival- The Basics and San Cisco

Today was Festival Sunday at the St Kilda Festival, and thankfully the weather Gods were kind to us as the temperature wasn't nearly as hot as forecast earlier in the week. This year is the 35th anniversary of the festival, which is the largest of its kind in Australia. As I was walking along Jacka Boulevard I came across the Hare Krishna Ratha Yatra parade as it passed under the pedestrian bridge and people threw down rose petals from above.

I met up with Mary near the front of the main stage for the mid-afternoon set by The Basics. It was an impassioned start with "Time Poor" and "The Lucky Country" as the first two songs. Kris reminded the crowd that Monday's Liberal Party spill wouldn't result in any real change if someone else became Prime Minster. The set was a good mix of older songs, with the Stand Out/Fit In tracks "Have Love, Will Travel," "Hey There!," "Just Hold On," "Three Cool Cats" and "Rattle My Chain" (appropriate for the occasion as the album cover was shot at The Espy). Kris and Tim just returned from a quick trip to Kenya and were dressed in a dashiki and Maasai red plaid cloth. Unfortunately Wally was losing his voice as the set went on, but he made it through "So Hard For You" and "Second Best," which contained an extended drum solo. One funny moment was when he took a sip of Kris' lemonade, realized it contained alcohol, and asked Kris if he'd made a shandy (the answer was yes). By the end of their set the grey skies had turned blue and the sun was out. They closed with a great cover of Neil Young's "Old Man," and as Kris referenced Jimmy Fallon I think my tweet to him about the Two Neil Youngs bit on the Tonight Show last week may have inspired its inclusion in the set.

We managed to find Tash, who was sitting further back on the hill, and stayed there to watch San Cisco's set. Although I own all their releases this was the first time I've seen them live. They played a mix of new songs off their upcoming album Gracetown as well as some old favorites such as "Awkward," "Beach" and "No Friends." The newer single "Run" and just released "Too Much Time Together" got a good reaction, but it was the set closer "Fred Astaire" that had the huge crowd bopping along. I thought it was really brave of them to play so many new songs to a festival crowd, as it would have been easier to focus on their older, more well known tracks.

Super Bowl XLIX

The Super Bowl is like an American national holiday, so my fellow Ameristralian Danny and I took today off work so we could watch the big game. Once again we went to Burger Mary's Super Bowl party, which was held at the Waterside Hotel on Flinders Street. This year's game was between last year's winner the Seattle Seahawks and the New England Patriots, who were three time champions under coach Bill Belichick. Normally I would have been a fairly neutral observer, but after last year's NFC Championship game loss against Seattle and their cornerback Richard Sherman's post game comments, I was firmly cheering on the Patriots today.

We had reserved seats up on the third level where there were long tables set up for people to sit at. It was amusing to see all these Aussies going crazy for Miller beer and the 15 varieties of chicken wings (especially the guy across from us who I think ate at least 20 wings himself). The game got off to a slow start, with the New England offense dominating time on the field but not translating that onto the scoreboard. At halftime the game was tied 14-14 after a brave decision by Seattle to go for a touchdown on fourth down in the dying seconds of the second quarter.

After enjoying Katy Perry's half time performance (especially loved seeing Missy Elliot) it was back to the action, and Seattle looked to be in the driver's seat with a 10 point lead going into the fourth quarter. However, you can never count out a team with Tom Brady as its quarterback, and he had two great drives resulting in touchdowns to give the Patriots a 4 point lead with 2 minutes to go. Then came the most insane couple minutes I think I've ever seen in a football game, with Seattle getting quickly down the field in a few plays, including a 33-yard juggling catch by Jermaine Kearse while he was on his back. It looked like the game was all over when Marshawn Lynch was stopped just short of the goal line. One would think you would just run it in, but then Seattle decided to throw the ball and it was intercepted in the end zone by Patriots rookie Malcolm Butler and that was it- the Patriots managed to hold on to win the Super Bowl. It was an amazing finish to a very entertaining second half.

Final Score
New England Patriots: 28
Seattle Seahawks: 24

Beautiful Noise

Over the next two weekends ACMI is showing the documentary film Beautiful Noise, which tells the story of the UK shoegaze scene in the 1980s and 1990s. I was already planning to attend but managed to win a double pass from ACMI on Twitter this week for tonight's screening. There are many bands featured in the film, including the Cocteau Twins, The Jesus and Mary Chain, My Bloody Valentine, and a couple of my personal favorites with Lush and Ride. Having grown up during this period and also being a devotee of San Francisco alternative radio station Live 105 and MTV's 120 Minutes it was great to see and hear all these bands from my youth again. I feel fortunate to have lived through a genre that had gender equality and was so focused on the music. Seeing the film also made me wish I had my Cocteau Twins and Ride albums here to listen to (although I would have to track down a cassette player to play them on).

Here's the trailer for the film:

Lullaby Movement and Birdman

It's Australia Day today so Onagh and I took advantage of having the day off to catch up and do a couple things. First off we went to the NGV to see Lullaby Movement featuring Sophia Brous and special guests Leo Abrahams and David Coulter. This work was originally commissioned by Urban Theatre Projects for Bankstown: Live as part of the Sydney Festival 2015. It featured Sophia exploring the melodies and multi-layered meaning of lullabies, drawn from migrant families in Bankstown. There were lots of children in the audience for the half-hour performance in the Great Hall, and Sophia alternated between performing in the crowd and on the stage. It was lovely to hear these lullabies sung in different languages, and always great to see Sophia perform (I'm hopeful she will release some new music soon).

Next we headed to the Kino Cinemas for an afternoon showing of the movie Birdman. The film stars Michael Keaton as Riggin Thomson, a washed up famous Hollywood actor who starred in the Birdman movie franchise. To revive his career he decides to write, direct and star in an adaptation of a Raymond Carver short story on Broadway. The movie covers the rehearsals and preview performances of the play leading up to opening night as well as Thomson's battles against the voice of Birdman, which torments him throughout. The staccato jazz drumming in the score really adds to the pace and feel of the film. Keaton is great in a role that seems to parallel his own career, and I thought Edward Norton as Thomson's acting nemesis Mike Shiner gave an absolutely standout performance. All the accolades are definitely deserved for this film and if you haven't seen it already go check it out.

Chantal's Bachelorette Party

My lovely friend Chantal is getting married next month, so last night we had her bachelorette party (or hen's as it is referred to in Australia, which I personally refuse to use). The theme was "Spec-Tacular" so everyone brought along funny glasses to wear. We started the evening doing some life drawing at The Artful Hen in Prahran. After some drinks and nibbles we sat in front of our easels and did brief introductions before our male model came out. Our instructor took us through several different drawing exercises as our model did various poses. At the end Chantal sat up on the podium with him and we had to do a progressive drawing exercise where we rotated to a new easel every 40 seconds. Some of the end products were quite humorous. My sketching got better as time went on, and it was good to catch up with Amrita and get to meet her 3 month old son.

Next we walked up Chapel Street to the Temperance Hotel for dinner, where we were joined by even more people. We had our own section of the bar reserved, and Chantal's sisters did a great job of organizing everything, including some rounds of trivia. For dinner we had our choice of an entree, main and dessert.  I ate the fried calamari, roasted salmon with garlic mash, and citrus and fennel salad, and the creme brulee with rose water and pistachio biscotti. All of it tasted pretty good. After some group photos I said my goodbyes and headed home. The evening was a great success and I'm really looking forward to the wedding festivities.

Kris Schroeder- The Drunken Poet

In order to make up for missing The Basics post-Christmas show at the Corner Hotel Mary and I made our way down to The Drunken Poet in West Melbourne this evening to catch Kris Schroeder play two sets. He started off with a cover of Buffalo Springfield's "For What It's Worth" and managed to lose the amplifier plug into his guitar mid-song. After quickly getting a second microphone set up the show continued. It was an epic mix of covers and original tunes. The new Basics tracks sounded really good: "What Ever Happened To The Working Class," "Tunaomba Saidia," "The Lucky Country," and "To Think Of You." It was also very interesting to hear Kris sing lead on "So Hard For You" instead of Wally.

Kris played a lot of new and interesting covers across the two sets as well, including Cold Chisel's "Cheap Wine," "After The Gold Rush" and "Old Man" by Neil Young, "Come Together" by The Beatles and "Got My Mind Set On You" by George Harrison. The most anticipated cover though had to be Kris finally playing his interpretation of Kenny Loggins and Michael McDonald singing "What A Fool Believes." Things got very entertaining towards the end of the second set when during The Rolling Stones' "Satisfaction" an older gentleman decided to join in by playing some maracas he brought along with him (Kris even played a couple bars of "I Go To Rio" in the middle). As usual there were also a heap of Crowded House tracks played throughout: "Nails In My Feet," "Four Seasons In One Day," "Fall At Your Feet" and "Better Be Home Soon," which was the last song for the evening. Both Mary and I really enjoyed the extended second set and Kris may have continued to play even longer had he not broken another guitar string.

The Imitation Game and Sol Food

This is always the best time of year to see movies as studios release all their good films in time for awards season. Tonight Lynne, Gabby and I headed up to the Regency Cinema to see The Imitation Game. The film is based loosely on the life of British mathematician Alan Turing (Benedict Cumberbatch) as he and a select group of cryptographers tried to crack Germany's Enigma code as part of a top secret mission during World War II. Cumberbatch is fantastic in his portrayal of the prickly Turing, and Keira Knightly was equally good as the lone female in the team, Joan Clarke. After the war Turing, a homosexual, was convicted of gross indecency and underwent chemical castration, which may have led to his suicide. It was a sad ending for a man who really was a pioneer of computer science and the use of machines for artificial intelligence.

After the movie we headed to the Puerto Rican restaurant Sol Food on Lincoln Avenue in San Rafael for a late dinner. Always a very popular place, and one I've been wanting to try out for quite a while, it was good to be able to get in without having to stand in line and get a table. I ordered the bistec encebollado combination meal, which included salad, rice, black beans and plantains. The food was good but really enhanced by their secret weapon- the pique or homemade vinegar hot sauce that added a lot of flavor to the dish. Besides the meal it was good to chat and catch up with Gabby and Lynne as we all went to school together (and I haven't seen Gabby in years). If I was living in town I would definitely enjoy the little weekly movie club they have going.

Early Birthday Celebrations

As I will be back in Australia when my milestone 40th birthday occurs in February my parents decided to throw me an early birthday celebration with family and friends from the Bay Area. Mom made three poster boards filled with pictures from throughout my life and hung those on the wall in the dining area. It was great to see some of my aunts and uncles, cousins and godparents who I don't get to see regularly. We also got a bit of kid wrangling in between my niece and nephew and Lynne and Jeremy's two little ones.

Lunch was very nice between the hors d'oeuvres and the main meal of chicken tetrazzini and a mixed green salad. The chocolate cake from Victoria Bakery was rich and delicious, and accompanied by a glass of Mumm Napa sparkling wine. The funniest gift I received was from my aunt who managed to save my high school graduation senior cruise t-shirt that was given as a hand me down to my cousins in order to give it back to me all these years later. It was a lovely afternoon and best of all I've still got a month and a half until I actually turn 40!