The Tragedy Of Macbeth

Tonight Sally and I went to the Palace Pentridge Cinema to see Joel Coen's new film The Tragedy Of Macbeth, which was written by Coen based on William Shakespeare's play Macbeth. It stars Denzel Washington as Macbeth and Frances McDormand as Lady Macbeth and they put in incredible performances along with all the other actors in the cast. 

 

The film is shot in black and white and the cinematography and brutalist architecture of the set really add to the tension and drama of the scenes and actors emerge from shadows into the light. It took a bit to get my brain into the rhythm of iambic pentameter at the start, but then I could just sit back an enjoy this adaptation.

Tinsel: A Christmas Drag Cabaret and Dinner

Tonight Ash, Simone and I headed to Mission to Seafarers after work for a pre-holiday celebration by attending Tinsel: A Christmas Drag Cabaret and Dinner. The show featured performances by several drag artists, DJ Jack Hardmen on the decks, and a three-course dinner by award winning chef Jamie Donovan. The attendance at tonight's show was lower due to a few late cancellations because of the current coronavirus wave of the Omicron variant sweeping through Melbourne, but that didn't dampen people's spirits.

My favorites Dazza and Keif were the MCs for the evening and opened the show with their dance routine to the Beastie Boys' "Intergalactic." Each artist did two routines for the night, and their second one was to a medley of Lil Nas X songs. Uff the Queen brought the glamour with her lip syncs to "Diamonds Are A Girl's Best Friend" and Mariah Carey's "All I Want For Christmas Is You." Miss Friby had the most interesting and humorous numbers of the night with her renditions of Amy Winehouse's "Back To Black" and The Champs "Tequila."

 

In between acts we were treated to our three-course dinner. It began with a mix of entrees including hummus, Panko crumbed mushroom arancini, and house tea-smoked salmon. The mains were a mix of foods from around the world with a slow-cooked beef brisket, tandoori chicken, polenta triangles, Mexican corn cobs, and a Middle Eastern grain salad with roast pumpkin. For dessert we had little chocolate and pecan pies and pavlova cups. Overall it was a fun evening with a variety of acts, good food, and a chance to catch up with friends before Christmas.

Amyl And The Sniffers- Croxton Bandroom

Tonight was the first of two sold out headline shows for Amyl and The Sniffers at the Croxton Bandroom. These shows were delayed a couple times due to lockdowns and restrictions (or "cursed" in the view of lead singer Amy Taylor).

Opening the evening was three piece female rock band Bitch Diesel, who each took turn singing lead vocals. Next up was three piece punk band, CLAMM, who I thought were fantastic from the start to the finish of their set. They had great songs that covered a wide range of societal issues and are definitely worth checking out.

Amyl and The Sniffers came out to big cheers from the crowd and launched their set with "Freaks To The Front." They played many songs off their latest album Comfort To Me, including my favorites "Guided By Angels," "Security," "Knifey," "Hertz" and "Don't Fence Me In." Amy prowled the stage and interacted with the crowd throughout the night and the mosh pit went off, especially to older songs like "I'm Not A Loser" and "Gacked on Anger." The band sounded tight as they tore through their set, and it was a fantastic homecoming show after a tough couple weeks for the band as their overseas tour was impacted by members getting COVID-19.

Here's the video for "Guided By Angels"

Andy White- Brunswick Artists' Bar

Tonight was a bit of a reunion with some of old friends as we gathered at the Brunswick Artists' Bar to see Andy White play and celebrate the release of his new single "Another Sunny Day." Andy played two sets of songs solo on guitar from throughout his career at this intimate show. Highlights for me were the ALT track "Penelope Tree," "If You Want It," "The Guilty and The Innocent," "James Joyce's Grave," and "Groovy Kind Of Way." He also previewed some songs off his new album This Garden Is Only Temporary and songs he wrote during previous lockdowns such as "Stay At Home" and "Isolation."

It was great to catch up with Fran, Lara, Peter and Mark as well as chat with Andy after the show ahead of him heading overseas to tour the UK in January. Andy's new album is due to be released on 28 January 2022.

Belfast

The British Film Festival is currently on and Sally and I met at the Kino Cinema this afternoon to see Kenneth Branagh's new film Belfast. Loosely based on his childhood, the black and white film is a coming of age story set in the late 1960s around the start of the Troubles in Northern Ireland. 

 

Buddy (Jude Hill) lives with his brother and parents (Jamie Dornan and Caitriona Balfe) in a mixed working class neighborhood. Their peaceful existence is shattered when a mob of unionists comes and firebombs the houses of Catholic families on the street. While in the background a barricade goes up and people patrol the local streets, the focus of the story is Buddy and his family as they live through these times and try to determine if they should stay or move to England where there is work. It's more of a sentimental film that skims the surface of the political tensions of the time, but it was entertaining and Jude Hill's performance as Buddy was fantastic.

 

Belfast opens for a broader release in Australia in January 2022.

Life In Coronavirus Lockdown: The Delta Variant

COVID-19 cases in Australia (source: The Age)

During 2021 Victoria was successful in having a few short(ish), sharp lockdowns for around 7 - 14 days whenever we had COVID-19 outbreaks. These lockdowns worked to get cases back down to zero and allowed things to open up again with minimal restrictions. However, that all changed in June when Sydney had a fast moving outbreak of the Delta variant that ended up with Greater Sydney and other parts of New South Wales going into lockdown for around four months. These cases also spread across borders into other states and territories and even New Zealand, resulting in local lockdowns in those areas.

For Melbourne and Victoria, our luck ran out in August, which unfortunately coincided with me taking a month's annual leave from work. Around a week after our fifth lockdown ended in July, more mystery cases emerged and we went into our sixth lockdown. It was only supposed to last for seven days, but instead went for 77 days as the lockdown restrictions were not working against the Delta variant and cases continued to rise, especially in the north and west of Melbourne (site of our second wave in 2020). Victorian leaders soon realised that pursing COVID zero was no longer an option, so at the start of September they shifted to New South Wales' strategy, which was to keep case numbers under control while we vaccinated our way out of the outbreak. Victoria set its Roadmap to opening in line with the milestones in Australia's National Plan.

Thankfully vaccination rates really picked up (I was fully vaccinated in mid-July) and when we hit 70% of 16+ fully vaccinated on 21 October the lockdown ended in Greater Melbourne. This meant an end to the reasons to leave home and the curfew, being able to have up to 10 people in your home, and the gradual opening up of schools, hospitality and some retail under density limits. Our next milestone of 80% of 16+ fully vaccinated will be hit in the next few days, which is why from 6pm tonight for the long weekend Greater Melbourne and regional Victoria were reunited, retail, gyms, and entertainment venues are back open, masks are no longer required outdoors, and we are operating in a vaccinated economy where you have to show proof of full vaccination to get into places or return to work on site.

After all of our sacrifices it's great to finally get through to the other side and have a bit of hope for the future. We still have around 1,500 new cases a day in Victoria (not ideal), but the curve finally seems to be bending down so those numbers should start dropping. International borders in New South Wales and Victoria will open from 1 November, and we will no longer need permission from the Federal Government to leave the country. Victoria's final milestone is for 90% 12+ fully vaccinated, which we are expected to reach around 24 November. That is when all limits and restrictions should be lifted. Of course, for some other states and territories, their vaccination rates are behind those of us that have had outbreaks and been in lockdown, and as a result they will be slower to open their borders. But thankfully Australia is starting to emerge from its bubble to join the rest of the world again.

Victorian Earthquake

Melbourne is currently in its sixth lockdown, experiencing another day of anti-lockdown protests in the CBD, and this morning we had an earthquake. When are the locusts arriving? The 5.9 magnitude earthquake hit in the Victorian alpine town of Mansfield at 9:15am at a depth of 10km and was felt in multiple states. As the shaking started I thought either we were having an earthquake or my apartment building was collapsing. The shaking went on for 10-15 seconds and I knew it was above a 5 on the Richter scale. Thankfully there was minimal damage throughout the state, with the biggest casualty being the brick facade of a building on Chapel Street in Windsor. But earthquakes, let alone this size, aren't meant to happen here. The largest earthquake I've experienced was the 6.9 magnitude 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake in the Bay Area, but this one was equally unnerving as it wasn't expected.