Nothing happening anywhere in my life so I've signed up to do ScriptFrenzy for 2011, wiping out the entire month of April. I'm telling you this because if I'm not around for the next month, you'll know where I am. Right here, sure, but in a delicious state of smelly, unwashed, hair-pulled dishevelment and burrowed deep inside my head where it's all unfolding and unwinding.
Gosh, I do love the process!
ScriptFrenzy is an annual competition at Writer's Store to see who can produce a 100+ page film script in a month. I've got several hopefully great screenplays all 'magpie-d', visualised, plotted and with kinks ironed out and beats in the right place so - dah! dah! - ready to be written but I've got so used to entertaining myself in other ways - shopping, blogging and massages - I've learned how to procastinate bigtime so I reckon this competition will give me discipline to get at least one of these scripts done.
But which one? Which one? Which one? I've only got today to decide. "Boudicca"? "Hunting Amelia"? "Vampyre"?
No, not "Vampyre"! That's the script I've long wanted to write about the actor Henry Irving's relationship with Bram Stoker, which has long fascinated me because it's just so "gaslight", Victorian and sinister, starting out so well but slowly winding itself into something so sick, sad and destructive it lead to Bram Stoker's nightmares which lead, in turn, to the creation of the novel "Dracula", the writing of which came from such a deep place it actually killed him. No, I can't write that one in a month because it needs to be lovingly stoked and fed, with every nuance understood and wound around and gently pumped into life. Bram Stoker deserves that.
You know, I can't understand why no one's already written a book about this "friendship". Perhaps it's because it would be so difficult to get right. Mind you, I always thought that about my idea for a script about very-British Bertie's relationship with his very-Australian speech therapist which is why I kept putting it off ... and it turned out I wasn't fast enough getting it down and out because I was beaten to the punch but that's definitely OK with me because it was David Siedler and his doing it and getting an Oscar for it was such kudos for Fiji! GO FIJI!!!!
Mind you, several other script ideas I've been toying with over the years have also been usurped by other writers and those films bombed spectacularly. No names, but those particular films either misunderstood the content or skewed it off in ways that didn't work or simply were bad scripts, so it's really just a waiting game because time will pass and people will forget and then it'll be ripe for yet another film on the subject and THEN I can pounce.
Mmmm, "Boudicca"!!! Visualising Cate Blanchard in the lead because it would take someone of her sublime talent to drive that big 'turnaround' scene, where she stumbles through her burning palace, batted and bleeding after the assault, out onto the hillside where she wordlessly sorts through her anger and confusion until, with her knee-length red hair loose and whipping in the wind, she finally ululates her call to war over the emerald green hillsides. Mmmm, delicious!
But "Hunting Amelia" is also calling to be written! Can you see it? The Pacific! Kiribati! Atolls! High shots of Astor's white yacht framed against a turquoise sea! A canary yellow sea plane against a deep azure sky! And my script as I visualise it has lots of scenes in tightly closed rooms with tightly closed groups and tightly closed minds contrasting immediately with - POW!!! - the glorious Pacific with those endless miles and miles of unadulterated beauty! Dark and light! Light and shade! And, although not actually in it, my favourite ever historical figure, Amelia Earhart, driving the action.
Have you ever had the experience where a single line in a dry historical document leaps out at you and grabs your imagination and almost immediately explodes into a story! That's what happened here. That line was "Major Hadley believed they were hunting for Amelia in the wrong island group so stole Astor's yacht to sail to the Phoenix Islands to look for her." I mean, WOW!, right! STORY!!!
And then, later I came across Major Hadley's name again in another batch of historical documents, these ones about the Japanese invasion of Kiribati, which, after reporting the Battle for Tarawa, ends with a line saying "Major Hadley refused to urinate on the British flag and so was shot by the Japanese Colonel. The other British plantation owners and their families were heartened by his example and so also chose death over the capitulation and surrender demanded in dishonouring their flag."
I actually have that flag! Did you know that? That very same flag! It was left in the dirt after the massacre but picked up later by a Kiribati fellow and hidden for the duration, then handed over after the war to a British Colonial Officer and thus ended up as the prized possession of a fellow called Frank Fleming who died at my father's hospital and, because dad couldn't find his family and thus who should inherit his belongings, it ended up in storage for many decades, where much later, after my dad died, I came across it and knew it had some sort of history and so was thinking something proper and respectful should be done with it and it was while researching its background I came across those documents - and Major Hadley - in the first place.
There is a monument outside the town of Tarawa in Kiribati, on the exact spot where it happened, with the names of all those plantation owners - the men, women and children - who chose death on that terrible day! I'd really love to see it! Apparently there are so very many names, it's horrifying. And right at the top is Major Hadley. I thought maybe the flag should be given to the Republic of Kiribati to fly next to this monument, but apparently doing that is all so political and such a minefield I was strongly advised against donating it ... so I've still got it, waiting for the right situation to arise so I can finally donate it someplace meaningful and respectful
Anyway, that's "Hunting Amelia"! The story of Major Hadley, from there to there! He's someone who really does need to be remembered, isn't he! But surely I'd need more than a month to do him justice! From those documents he comes across as all Errol Flynn and cartoonish so I made him much older and darker and battling his own demons ... and it's while hunting Amelia he comes to peace with himself and his past ... yadda, yadda, yadda! ... and so refusing to capitulate to the Japanese Colonel is a triumph and a Big Win ... yadda, yadda, yadda! ... and Konde, now a man himself, scoops up the flag and takes it with him on Astor's now filthy old yacht and sails off to the Phoenix Group to bury the remains of Amelia Earhart.
Oh yeah! This one really wants to be written! Anyway, if you don't see me in April, yes, I am indeed avoiding you so don't bother to contact me because I'll probably not even notice you're there!
Wednesday, March 30, 2011
Monday, March 28, 2011
Are they?
I just heard a whisper of a rumour that ... well, that American singer Cher doesn't know it - what with being illegitimate and all - but that her dad is actually a Native American from the Cree Nation and is a cousin of singer Buffy Saint Marie!
You know me. I can never resist a mystery, and you can never tell me anything without me checking it out, and so, for want of proper information, have been rummaging around on youtube looking for young Buffy so I can compare her to a young Cher and look for resemblances.
Well, you will never guess - well, actually you will! - but have a look at what I just found:
Now if we compare it with ...
... is it just me or are we all getting a resounding "Yes!" from these! I mean, it's not just the faces, have a look at those bodies and those legs in particular! And not to mention a more than slight similarity in the timbre of their exceptional voices!
Sticking with this same theme, about a decade ago someone told me that Bob Marley was actually a cousin of English actor Nigel Havers (now Lord Havers, having inherited is title from his dad), so I tracked down photos of both of them as young men, and placed them side by side and those faces had so much in common - seriously, check it out for yourself - I came away saying "It's not impossible." although taking it through the family trees of both, it was too obscure to nail for definite.
Let me see if youtube can also deliver something on this theme:
How could I have doubted St Youtube, Patron Saint of The Ulimate Delivery?
So freeze it on 0.6 or 0.7 where you have a close-up! Now let's look for young Bob!
No! I can't find any YOUNG Bob Marley and most of his live footage is "embedding request denied" so I've got only this one:
Yes! No! I'm kinda on the side of "Mmmm?" followed up with a "Not entirely impossible" because there's enough there so you too can see that there could be a smidgen of truth to that rumour.
And it's definitely the same with this one - Buffy and Cher - so I for one am not discounting it altogether, although I have no idea how to dive into those family trees and so, for once, am not taking this any further! Maybe someone else would like to?
You know me. I can never resist a mystery, and you can never tell me anything without me checking it out, and so, for want of proper information, have been rummaging around on youtube looking for young Buffy so I can compare her to a young Cher and look for resemblances.
Well, you will never guess - well, actually you will! - but have a look at what I just found:
Now if we compare it with ...
... is it just me or are we all getting a resounding "Yes!" from these! I mean, it's not just the faces, have a look at those bodies and those legs in particular! And not to mention a more than slight similarity in the timbre of their exceptional voices!
Sticking with this same theme, about a decade ago someone told me that Bob Marley was actually a cousin of English actor Nigel Havers (now Lord Havers, having inherited is title from his dad), so I tracked down photos of both of them as young men, and placed them side by side and those faces had so much in common - seriously, check it out for yourself - I came away saying "It's not impossible." although taking it through the family trees of both, it was too obscure to nail for definite.
Let me see if youtube can also deliver something on this theme:
How could I have doubted St Youtube, Patron Saint of The Ulimate Delivery?
So freeze it on 0.6 or 0.7 where you have a close-up! Now let's look for young Bob!
No! I can't find any YOUNG Bob Marley and most of his live footage is "embedding request denied" so I've got only this one:
Yes! No! I'm kinda on the side of "Mmmm?" followed up with a "Not entirely impossible" because there's enough there so you too can see that there could be a smidgen of truth to that rumour.
And it's definitely the same with this one - Buffy and Cher - so I for one am not discounting it altogether, although I have no idea how to dive into those family trees and so, for once, am not taking this any further! Maybe someone else would like to?
The Liz Mystery!
I meant to post this last week, but got all kinda caught up in ... you know!
Front page news in all the Chinese newspapers.
I was astonished. I mean, front page news?? Lead story? Huh? And it seems that happened right across Mainland China too!
I was so gobsmacked, I asked several Mainlanders "Why does China care?" and the reply was "She was the only Western woman we ever saw during the Cultural Revolution!" and "She was the only glamorous woman I ever saw during the Cultural Revolution!" and other comments of that ilk.
But the upshot, as far as I can see, is that Elizabeth Taylor was the only face of Western Women seen China for nearly 40 years!
I'm fine with that, but still ... isn't it ODD!!! Like, why her? All those marriages pointing to decadence and unhappiness in the Western World? A moral lesson to China in what to avoid at all costs?
However, if she were meant to be a moral lesson it certainly didn't work because those folks I talked to all thought she was so beautiful and so glamorous and just right in every way!
Bet Liz never knew that about herself! That she was loved and admired all across Mainland China and, moreso, was the very symbol of Western Women and epitome of Western Glamour in the lives of billions of souls in that part of the world who were, back then, not really allowed to have much of that at all!
"Hey Baby! Uh! Ah!"
Because I'm trying to cut back on the number of photos I take - since my files have become too unwieldy - and, as you know, not being at the Stadium this year and so very curious if Our HK7s Song "Hey Baby, Uh Ah!" had beaten off the organisers silly attempt to once again update by introducing yet another new between-matches song ...
... so while walking the length of Lockhart Road after leaving Carnegies last night, I decided to only photograph those folks who were walking along singing "Hey Baby, Uh Ah" ... because it's such a catchy song, once you start singing it you can't stop and I suspected, if People Power had again this year TRIUMPHED, this song would have it's righteous place again ... and so definitely be heard beyond the Stadium!
And YES!!! It may not be a Jasmine Revolution, but it would seem we have again WON because these are the folks who took the song with them by singing or humming as they walked:
And just look at how happy everyone is! It's definitely not hype because Hong Kong Sevens really is The Greatest Party on Earth!
And on that happy note, let's all sing "Boom, Boom, Boom!" in the usual places in "Sweet Caroline" and put this weekend to bed for yet another year!
Ready! Set! Go!
... so while walking the length of Lockhart Road after leaving Carnegies last night, I decided to only photograph those folks who were walking along singing "Hey Baby, Uh Ah" ... because it's such a catchy song, once you start singing it you can't stop and I suspected, if People Power had again this year TRIUMPHED, this song would have it's righteous place again ... and so definitely be heard beyond the Stadium!
And YES!!! It may not be a Jasmine Revolution, but it would seem we have again WON because these are the folks who took the song with them by singing or humming as they walked:
And just look at how happy everyone is! It's definitely not hype because Hong Kong Sevens really is The Greatest Party on Earth!
And on that happy note, let's all sing "Boom, Boom, Boom!" in the usual places in "Sweet Caroline" and put this weekend to bed for yet another year!
Ready! Set! Go!
Sunday, March 27, 2011
HK7s! Sunday! "Pass Me the Hemlock, Jeeves!"
"There will be great tears in Apia tonight!"
"Suva!"
"Suva? Are you sure?"
"Yes, the capital of Fiji is Suva."
"Right, as I was saying, there will be great tears in Suva tonight."
Just as the HK7s commentators said this, some people at the table behind us at Carnegies began talking about drinking hemlock and I thought "Yeah, pass me that cup!"
It's quite astonishing what a funk Fiji's loss to New Zealand caused me. Deep, deep sadness indeed.
And it wasn't just that we lost, it was HOW we lost.
It was NZ showing off that bugged me the most! In an earlier game, on Saturday, a guy in the Kenyan team instantly grabbed the ball the nano-second the whistle blew to start the game and raced it up the field to score a try, and the commentators were all "Oh wow! Seven seconds from starting whistle. That must be the fastest try in HK7s EVER!"
Well, that's what also happened at the start of the Fiji-New Zealand Semi-Final! The whistle blew and within only about five seconds those dastardly Kiwis made a try. It was like the All Blacks had decided to show the Kenyans "That's not a quick try! THIS is a quick try!" ... and Fiji let them do it! Oh, the shame!
And then they let it happen AGAIN!
So the Kiwis are 14 to nil and Fiji starts a kerfuffle over some knee injury and it's clearly intended to break the NZ rhythm and the seconds are ticking away on the clock and I'm thinking "Fiji's going to regret that lost time!" ... and it was pointless time-wasting too because the minute after the play started up again, the Kiwis scored a third try!
19 to nil! The shame, the shame! But then Fiji got it together and scored a magnificent try and we all remembered at last why they are classed as one of the world's best teams.
And that's the way things stood at half time.
Second half was magnificent and matched play but several errors or something costing Fiji their tries, but the game stood at 19-14 and Fiji looked like they could take it easily ... except they ran out of time!
Yeah, that'll teach them to stop their silly kerfuffling!
So I'm there in Carnegies bar, in the deepest and saddest funk, surrounded by hordes of cheering Kiwis and thinking about drinking hemlock! It's all so annoying I get out of there, refusing to watch the England vs Samoa semi-finals ("Great tears in Apia tonight!"), and lurk around Lockhart Road, sulking for over an hour until I recall it was only eight years ago that I actually thought "Ewwww! Yuck!" when someone gave me free HK7s tickets!
That was shortly after we arrived in Hong Kong and a Canadian woman - I forget her name - who had rooms close to us at our hotel-apartment, had a severe asthma attack after arriving back from HK7s Friday's games, and was on a stretcher being taken to hospital when I walked into the hotel lobby and, despite her respiratory distress, she pulled out an envelope and handed it to me saying "Please don't waste these!"
Her HK7s tickets ... and I regret to say I thought "Ewwww! Yuck! How could she imagine I'd even want these." and so I gave them away! It was to Keith, but nonetheless I still can't believe there was ever a time I didn't dance with joy at being given free HK7s tickets!
Anyway, there I was in my deep, deep funk over Fiji's loss and this memory of a time when I wouldn't have given a toss about such things certainly made me feel a little better about it ...
... but then I heard that Christchurch had just had a new series of earth tremors (the biggest 3.9) and recalled that the All Blacks said they were dedicating the tournament to the victims of the Christchurch earthquake and hoped winning the Cup would cheer them up, and were donating any winnings to the victims ...
... and I thought I had to be the worst person who ever lived to begrudge them anything ...
... so I went back to Carnegies to watch the finals for the Bowl and Shield and Plate. And, yes, to cheer for New Zealand in the BIG CUP FINAL against England.
Congratulations New Zealand on winning the Hong Kong 7s for 2011 ... and let's all pretend I'm sincere about it ... although I am sincere about how nice the All Blacks were to do all this for Christchurch and do hope their win does cheer Christchurch up lots!
"Suva!"
"Suva? Are you sure?"
"Yes, the capital of Fiji is Suva."
"Right, as I was saying, there will be great tears in Suva tonight."
Just as the HK7s commentators said this, some people at the table behind us at Carnegies began talking about drinking hemlock and I thought "Yeah, pass me that cup!"
It's quite astonishing what a funk Fiji's loss to New Zealand caused me. Deep, deep sadness indeed.
And it wasn't just that we lost, it was HOW we lost.
It was NZ showing off that bugged me the most! In an earlier game, on Saturday, a guy in the Kenyan team instantly grabbed the ball the nano-second the whistle blew to start the game and raced it up the field to score a try, and the commentators were all "Oh wow! Seven seconds from starting whistle. That must be the fastest try in HK7s EVER!"
Well, that's what also happened at the start of the Fiji-New Zealand Semi-Final! The whistle blew and within only about five seconds those dastardly Kiwis made a try. It was like the All Blacks had decided to show the Kenyans "That's not a quick try! THIS is a quick try!" ... and Fiji let them do it! Oh, the shame!
And then they let it happen AGAIN!
So the Kiwis are 14 to nil and Fiji starts a kerfuffle over some knee injury and it's clearly intended to break the NZ rhythm and the seconds are ticking away on the clock and I'm thinking "Fiji's going to regret that lost time!" ... and it was pointless time-wasting too because the minute after the play started up again, the Kiwis scored a third try!
19 to nil! The shame, the shame! But then Fiji got it together and scored a magnificent try and we all remembered at last why they are classed as one of the world's best teams.
And that's the way things stood at half time.
Second half was magnificent and matched play but several errors or something costing Fiji their tries, but the game stood at 19-14 and Fiji looked like they could take it easily ... except they ran out of time!
Yeah, that'll teach them to stop their silly kerfuffling!
So I'm there in Carnegies bar, in the deepest and saddest funk, surrounded by hordes of cheering Kiwis and thinking about drinking hemlock! It's all so annoying I get out of there, refusing to watch the England vs Samoa semi-finals ("Great tears in Apia tonight!"), and lurk around Lockhart Road, sulking for over an hour until I recall it was only eight years ago that I actually thought "Ewwww! Yuck!" when someone gave me free HK7s tickets!
That was shortly after we arrived in Hong Kong and a Canadian woman - I forget her name - who had rooms close to us at our hotel-apartment, had a severe asthma attack after arriving back from HK7s Friday's games, and was on a stretcher being taken to hospital when I walked into the hotel lobby and, despite her respiratory distress, she pulled out an envelope and handed it to me saying "Please don't waste these!"
Her HK7s tickets ... and I regret to say I thought "Ewwww! Yuck! How could she imagine I'd even want these." and so I gave them away! It was to Keith, but nonetheless I still can't believe there was ever a time I didn't dance with joy at being given free HK7s tickets!
Anyway, there I was in my deep, deep funk over Fiji's loss and this memory of a time when I wouldn't have given a toss about such things certainly made me feel a little better about it ...
... but then I heard that Christchurch had just had a new series of earth tremors (the biggest 3.9) and recalled that the All Blacks said they were dedicating the tournament to the victims of the Christchurch earthquake and hoped winning the Cup would cheer them up, and were donating any winnings to the victims ...
... and I thought I had to be the worst person who ever lived to begrudge them anything ...
... so I went back to Carnegies to watch the finals for the Bowl and Shield and Plate. And, yes, to cheer for New Zealand in the BIG CUP FINAL against England.
Congratulations New Zealand on winning the Hong Kong 7s for 2011 ... and let's all pretend I'm sincere about it ... although I am sincere about how nice the All Blacks were to do all this for Christchurch and do hope their win does cheer Christchurch up lots!
Friday, March 25, 2011
HK7s! Saturday!
None of the bars on Lockhart Road are showing the HK7s. Everyone is saying the local channel Pearl won it over the satellite channels, so I'm sitting at home, huddled under blankets, watching.
It's not the same.
And Dennis in Noumea, in New Caledonia, says it's not on there either so it's stupid for a local channel to be showing it. I mean, Fiji stops for this Tournament so what will they do without live satellite feed. Watch on their computers?
I mean, seriously, for a tournament as exciting as HK7s, is THIS really enough?
However, according to unconfirmed rumour, it will be on satellite tomorrow for the big games and I'll be so cross if it isn't true. This year, I've been doing this "huddled under blankets" routine while watching the unfolding of various natural disasters that have personal impact on my life ... and I really don't like doing the same for something as wonderful and fun as HK7s. It feels so wrong.
But, since it doesn't appear to be going out to the world, the big news is that Fiji beat Malaysia 59-0 yesterday and we've just this minute beat Russia 22-14! Really exciting game!
But I do have to say, I really don't like that "L" gesture Fiji's making every time they score! It looks suspiciously like taunting which definitely isn't in the spirit of 7s. I have no doubt they really intend it to mean "Thank you, Lord!" or "This one's for you, Lord!" but it certainly isn't coming across that way and it's making even ME want to cheer for the other team.
We play Kenya this afternoon. Fingers crossed for that one! Yes, I know Russia slaughtered Kenya and Fiji kinda-little-bit slaughtered Russia, but I doubt Kenya was playing their A-Game for a team like Russia they didn't have reason to respect! And they DO definitely respect Fiji! It'll be a nail-biter, I hope!
(Later: Fiji beat Kenya 40 nil, and Kenya really was trying.)
Apart from that, the big news is they're trying to introduce a new between-matches song. Since I'm not at the stadium, I don't know how that's going down. You'll recall they tried to change the song last year and, on Friday at the Stadium, 40,000 spectators just sang "Hey, Baby, Uh! Ha!" over the top of the new song, so by Saturday the old song - Our Song!!! - ""Hey, Baby, Uh! Ha!" was back in its rightful place!
I don't know this new song, so let's see if I can find it on youtube:
They MUST be kidding!!! Oh for heaven's sake. GET IT OFF!!!! And apart from anything else, this "Best Party on Earth" has NOTHING to do with America so why the heck should they be given a presence at all!
I mean, the only reason they're here is so that the rest of the world can stomp all over them and show them exactly why they never let the rest of the world into their so-called "World Series!"
Nah, this is a truly stupid song and so completely wrong and must GO!!!
I mean, who on earth thinks it can compete with:
We can't let this song go easily, because NOTHING feels better than joining in with 40,000 people singing along at the top of their lungs to THIS song!
I mean, it even knocks this one for a six:
However, that one we do let them play every now and again because it's fun to sing every couple of hours!
And naturally, we can never let each day end without the usual ...
... and it's been the End of Day song for HK7s since the 1970s because nothing beats leaving the Stadium at the end of a fabulous day with your 40,000 new Best Friends with all us singing along at the top of our lungs. Social scientists have tried to work out why it should be so, and claim significance for certain lines - "good times never seemed so good" resonating so strongly and "reaching out, touching hands" with everyone reaching out and touching hands with everyone around them - but I suspect it's really because we all do a "Boom! Boom! Boom!" chant during the empty spaces ... but nonetheless it's Our Special HK7s Leaving-The-Stadium Song and it is definitely part of the magic of this supremely glorious weekend!
Oooh, NZ playing Portugal! Must go! Those blankets are calling me!
Nah, it's not the same as being there, is it!
It's not the same.
And Dennis in Noumea, in New Caledonia, says it's not on there either so it's stupid for a local channel to be showing it. I mean, Fiji stops for this Tournament so what will they do without live satellite feed. Watch on their computers?
I mean, seriously, for a tournament as exciting as HK7s, is THIS really enough?
However, according to unconfirmed rumour, it will be on satellite tomorrow for the big games and I'll be so cross if it isn't true. This year, I've been doing this "huddled under blankets" routine while watching the unfolding of various natural disasters that have personal impact on my life ... and I really don't like doing the same for something as wonderful and fun as HK7s. It feels so wrong.
But, since it doesn't appear to be going out to the world, the big news is that Fiji beat Malaysia 59-0 yesterday and we've just this minute beat Russia 22-14! Really exciting game!
But I do have to say, I really don't like that "L" gesture Fiji's making every time they score! It looks suspiciously like taunting which definitely isn't in the spirit of 7s. I have no doubt they really intend it to mean "Thank you, Lord!" or "This one's for you, Lord!" but it certainly isn't coming across that way and it's making even ME want to cheer for the other team.
We play Kenya this afternoon. Fingers crossed for that one! Yes, I know Russia slaughtered Kenya and Fiji kinda-little-bit slaughtered Russia, but I doubt Kenya was playing their A-Game for a team like Russia they didn't have reason to respect! And they DO definitely respect Fiji! It'll be a nail-biter, I hope!
(Later: Fiji beat Kenya 40 nil, and Kenya really was trying.)
Apart from that, the big news is they're trying to introduce a new between-matches song. Since I'm not at the stadium, I don't know how that's going down. You'll recall they tried to change the song last year and, on Friday at the Stadium, 40,000 spectators just sang "Hey, Baby, Uh! Ha!" over the top of the new song, so by Saturday the old song - Our Song!!! - ""Hey, Baby, Uh! Ha!" was back in its rightful place!
I don't know this new song, so let's see if I can find it on youtube:
They MUST be kidding!!! Oh for heaven's sake. GET IT OFF!!!! And apart from anything else, this "Best Party on Earth" has NOTHING to do with America so why the heck should they be given a presence at all!
I mean, the only reason they're here is so that the rest of the world can stomp all over them and show them exactly why they never let the rest of the world into their so-called "World Series!"
Nah, this is a truly stupid song and so completely wrong and must GO!!!
I mean, who on earth thinks it can compete with:
We can't let this song go easily, because NOTHING feels better than joining in with 40,000 people singing along at the top of their lungs to THIS song!
I mean, it even knocks this one for a six:
However, that one we do let them play every now and again because it's fun to sing every couple of hours!
And naturally, we can never let each day end without the usual ...
... and it's been the End of Day song for HK7s since the 1970s because nothing beats leaving the Stadium at the end of a fabulous day with your 40,000 new Best Friends with all us singing along at the top of our lungs. Social scientists have tried to work out why it should be so, and claim significance for certain lines - "good times never seemed so good" resonating so strongly and "reaching out, touching hands" with everyone reaching out and touching hands with everyone around them - but I suspect it's really because we all do a "Boom! Boom! Boom!" chant during the empty spaces ... but nonetheless it's Our Special HK7s Leaving-The-Stadium Song and it is definitely part of the magic of this supremely glorious weekend!
Oooh, NZ playing Portugal! Must go! Those blankets are calling me!
Nah, it's not the same as being there, is it!
Thursday, March 24, 2011
It's PARTY TIME Again!
Last weekend in March! You know what that means, don't you!
HONG KONG 7s!!!
I was there for this game
If you don't already know and love this "Greatest Party on Earth" let me remind you:
and it was almost more exciting than I could bear.
Already I'm getting calls from overseas folks asking where they can score tickets, so let me tell you something you NEED to know:
It is virtually impossible to get HK7s tickets in Hong Kong!
At least it is if you're not prepared to pay those ridiculous scalper-prices there on Caroline Hill and there have been times when we've been so desperate, we have.
It's a huge source of sourness here in HK that of the 40,000 tickets available for each day of the competition only 2,000 are sold here to locals. And they make it a massive bun fight to get any, with overnight line-waits and crashing computers and hours spent on the phone, waiting in line for the next available operator.
Those 2000 tickets are always snapped up within an hour so then the scrambling around has to start, and we all do scramble you know, because it's such a fantastic three-days, it is worth it!
Each year we've managed to score tickets, we've only done so by working three to five phones simultaneously and even that didn't work this year. There's a day we'll never get back again.
Everyone in HK hates it so much, this scrambling for tickets, especially when it always turns out they've sold half of them to English scalpers who sell them on Caroline Hill for outrageous amounts.
How is this possible? I know HK says it doesn't sell to scalpers but we all know differently!
But the upshot is we don't have tickets this year, and we're not happy about it and are still pleading and scrambling and feeling most deprived.
So please, please, please, if anyone knows where there are spares around, please let us know! PLEASE!!!! I'll be the crazy woman down there on Lockhart Road in the Fiji rugby jersey waving the Fiji flag at the big screen, most likely at Devil's Advocate.
Wednesday, March 23, 2011
Random Photo! AGAIN!!
Can't talk about what I want to talk about - and you can guess what that is! - murder most foul! - so instead let's do another photo chosen with my eyes shut:
Shoes in the Wan Chai Market!
Not so interesting but ... Rosie adores shoes, but they're so very expensive in New Zealand, yet here they're "cheap as", especially in Wan Chai Markets just up the road from us, so whenever I spot that a new crop has come in, I take shots of those I think Rosie would love and sent them to her with a note to select her most desired pair ... and then bully Keith into buying them for her.
Honestly, New Zealand prices!! Can there BE anything more unconscionable as what shops there charge for things!
You may recall how, when in New Zealand several years ago, the nieces were badgering me to buy them the most amazing bejeweled purses - which really were special so I understood - but they were NZ$130.00 each and there was no way on earth I'd indulge them that much ...
... but then, a year later, I was in Handbag Heaven in Guangzhou, and there they were: those exact bags! And they cost less than A$5.00 each! Naturally, I instantly went "Best Auntie on Earth" and got them one each, which thrilled them so much.
But those are the sorts of price differences between there and here, so I'm really not being overly indulgent with these "select your heart's desire" offers to the kids represented by the photo above!
P.S. Rosie chose the red pair in the middle!
What Kills Us This Week!
HK Police are asking the public to stop this incessant talk, rumour and gossip about last week's murder on Lamma Island because they say they want to nail the guy seriously and forever, and none of it is helping. So I won't talk about it here. And I won't talk about what I've heard, although I've heard a great deal.
Instead, I'll talk about the "Hello Kitty" murder several years back.
But, first, I must make excuses and tell you upfront that HK is such a safe place to live that the police are - thankfully? - very inexperienced in dealing with murder cases, which is probably - no, undoubtedly! - the reason why they usually take so many botched steps, and why they so often take really quite silly diversions and apply such strange significance to the oddest things, during the process of their investigations.
However, it's most usually those very botched steps and strange significances that cause most all of these HK murders to become so very very absorbing and such a reason for all the talk.
I wasn't here for the "Hello Kitty" murder investigation several years ago, but it was so bizarre I followed the story: a young girl found in pieces in a box with her head stuffed inside a "Hello Kitty" doll; a fact which caused the police to go overboard with very silly theories about what it meant.
I didn't know HK then and so, in my innocence, thought "Any decent profiler on their force would tell them that anything over the face means that the killer knew the victim and felt a great deal of remorse and guilt, so they need to look close to home." and reasoned that if the police knew that and were discounting it - and making a big deal out of that stuffed toy - that they had to be right and the toy was indeed important!
It wasn't! As that decent profiler would have told them, the killer/s would see the dead girls face and, in horrified remorse, grab the nearest thing to hand and since HK girls love "Hello Kitty" and so many collect these soft toys and other paraphernalia, what this toy represented really had no significance whatsoever.
At least that's what the profiler would have said if HK had profilers. They don't! In fact, they aren't really set up for murder investigations. And since they really do such a sincerely good job of making HK a safe place for all of us, I really do feel desperately sorry for them in this latest Lamma Drama because they know the world is watching them and know that they're not coming over very well, so let's all get behind them.
And yes, I know, their most frequent response to these sorts of crimes is to arrest the nearest 'hakgwei', and, sure, that seems to be what's happened here, however we do need to keep in mind that sometimes those 'hakgwei' really are guilty! And, from everything I've heard that I'm not talking about in here, I do think that's the case in our latest desperately tragic murder on Hong Kong's gentle, low-key, away-from-the-rat-race, very-nod-to-the-1960s Flower-Power, "Peace, Love and let's all be Hippies" Lamma Island!
But to choose a threatdown for this week?
Instead, I'll talk about the "Hello Kitty" murder several years back.
But, first, I must make excuses and tell you upfront that HK is such a safe place to live that the police are - thankfully? - very inexperienced in dealing with murder cases, which is probably - no, undoubtedly! - the reason why they usually take so many botched steps, and why they so often take really quite silly diversions and apply such strange significance to the oddest things, during the process of their investigations.
However, it's most usually those very botched steps and strange significances that cause most all of these HK murders to become so very very absorbing and such a reason for all the talk.
I wasn't here for the "Hello Kitty" murder investigation several years ago, but it was so bizarre I followed the story: a young girl found in pieces in a box with her head stuffed inside a "Hello Kitty" doll; a fact which caused the police to go overboard with very silly theories about what it meant.
I didn't know HK then and so, in my innocence, thought "Any decent profiler on their force would tell them that anything over the face means that the killer knew the victim and felt a great deal of remorse and guilt, so they need to look close to home." and reasoned that if the police knew that and were discounting it - and making a big deal out of that stuffed toy - that they had to be right and the toy was indeed important!
It wasn't! As that decent profiler would have told them, the killer/s would see the dead girls face and, in horrified remorse, grab the nearest thing to hand and since HK girls love "Hello Kitty" and so many collect these soft toys and other paraphernalia, what this toy represented really had no significance whatsoever.
At least that's what the profiler would have said if HK had profilers. They don't! In fact, they aren't really set up for murder investigations. And since they really do such a sincerely good job of making HK a safe place for all of us, I really do feel desperately sorry for them in this latest Lamma Drama because they know the world is watching them and know that they're not coming over very well, so let's all get behind them.
And yes, I know, their most frequent response to these sorts of crimes is to arrest the nearest 'hakgwei', and, sure, that seems to be what's happened here, however we do need to keep in mind that sometimes those 'hakgwei' really are guilty! And, from everything I've heard that I'm not talking about in here, I do think that's the case in our latest desperately tragic murder on Hong Kong's gentle, low-key, away-from-the-rat-race, very-nod-to-the-1960s Flower-Power, "Peace, Love and let's all be Hippies" Lamma Island!
But to choose a threatdown for this week?
THREATDOWN
Resisting the urge:
Monday, March 21, 2011
Random Photo # something!
Since nothing is happening, for today's post I'm again selecting a photo with my eyes shut to talk about - or not, if it's too boring!
This isn't nearly as much fun since Keith lost 28,000 of my photos (OK, not actually lost, just somewhere where I can't find them) but let's do it anyway:
Oh, this is hilarious! I was feeling a little blue several months ago, and someone suggested I take a Medicine Walk to work out what I needed in my life.
If you don't know, a Medicine Walk is something that Native Americans do (did?) when they have a problem. Apparently you tell The Great Spirit your issue and then you take a walk with your eyes truly open and look out for a sign.
Since this was a weekend and Keith was home, I told him what I was up to and invited him along, but he told me I was being particularly daft and so, in Keith's presence, I told the air around me that I was feeling a lack in my life and asked what I needed, and left without him ...
... and barely had I started out this building when I saw this piece of plastic lying on the ground. It was definitely unexpected because this is Hong Kong and you seldom see rubbish, let alone random pieces of rubbish with English writing ... and it had that angel on it. I mean, how amazing is that! Besides, the message really jibed with me and I was so surprised that I snapped this photo as proof to show Keith I'd got an answer!
Good one, huh! And, trust me, I will be taking many Medicine Walks in the future! And I doubt Keith will laugh at me in future!
Reminds me, in the past I used to play a game with myself I called Bibliomancy, where I'd be down or have a problem and so go to the local library and wander aimlessly until I felt the urge to pick out a book which I'd open at random and read whatever was beneath my finger. It used to astonish me how often those words would jibe.
Like, once, recently, while in HK's Central Library, I was feeling a kinda free-floating sadness so decided to resuscitate my old game to see if I could work out why I was so low. Without giving it a moment's rational thought, I wandered around and grabbed a book at random which turned out to be "Trinny and Suzanna's What Not to Wear" and the words under my finger read "Your pants are too short, your shoes don't match your outfit, your hair is a mess. Fix these up and you'll be surprised at how much better you feel." ...
... and dammit if it wasn't exactly right! So I whizzed out of there to see Elf, my hairdresser, (sincerely, my hairdresser's name is Elf.) and got a haircut and instantly felt so much better!
Proper standard therapy would have taken hours and a great deal of money to reach this conclusion but here I was, with my downright and spurious irrationality, being given this excellent advice for free.
Rational thinking really is vastly over-rated, you realise!
This isn't nearly as much fun since Keith lost 28,000 of my photos (OK, not actually lost, just somewhere where I can't find them) but let's do it anyway:
Oh, this is hilarious! I was feeling a little blue several months ago, and someone suggested I take a Medicine Walk to work out what I needed in my life.
If you don't know, a Medicine Walk is something that Native Americans do (did?) when they have a problem. Apparently you tell The Great Spirit your issue and then you take a walk with your eyes truly open and look out for a sign.
Since this was a weekend and Keith was home, I told him what I was up to and invited him along, but he told me I was being particularly daft and so, in Keith's presence, I told the air around me that I was feeling a lack in my life and asked what I needed, and left without him ...
... and barely had I started out this building when I saw this piece of plastic lying on the ground. It was definitely unexpected because this is Hong Kong and you seldom see rubbish, let alone random pieces of rubbish with English writing ... and it had that angel on it. I mean, how amazing is that! Besides, the message really jibed with me and I was so surprised that I snapped this photo as proof to show Keith I'd got an answer!
Good one, huh! And, trust me, I will be taking many Medicine Walks in the future! And I doubt Keith will laugh at me in future!
Reminds me, in the past I used to play a game with myself I called Bibliomancy, where I'd be down or have a problem and so go to the local library and wander aimlessly until I felt the urge to pick out a book which I'd open at random and read whatever was beneath my finger. It used to astonish me how often those words would jibe.
Like, once, recently, while in HK's Central Library, I was feeling a kinda free-floating sadness so decided to resuscitate my old game to see if I could work out why I was so low. Without giving it a moment's rational thought, I wandered around and grabbed a book at random which turned out to be "Trinny and Suzanna's What Not to Wear" and the words under my finger read "Your pants are too short, your shoes don't match your outfit, your hair is a mess. Fix these up and you'll be surprised at how much better you feel." ...
... and dammit if it wasn't exactly right! So I whizzed out of there to see Elf, my hairdresser, (sincerely, my hairdresser's name is Elf.) and got a haircut and instantly felt so much better!
Proper standard therapy would have taken hours and a great deal of money to reach this conclusion but here I was, with my downright and spurious irrationality, being given this excellent advice for free.
Rational thinking really is vastly over-rated, you realise!
The Glory of BOLLYWOOD!
While Robert was here in HK - he's now back in Shanghai - we were fondly recalling how, as teenagers, we always went to the movies half an hour early, so we could sneak in to watch the Vamp die at the end of the Hindi movie on beforehand. (Fiji cinemas always alternated Bollywood and Hollywood films to maximise profits.)
If you don't know Bollywood movies, in the end the Bad Girl, known as The Vamp, always dies, making way for the Hero and Heroine to marry and live happily ever after. This was always the tradition and the expectation, so it was HOW she died that made it so addictive to us.
Oh my, how we LOVED a good Vamp Death. And the best would always involved tuberculosis and dainty little coughs and many, many songs and dances and several costume changes, and it was always so profoundly silly, nothing could be more blissful, and we'd have to smother the laughter so as not to disturb the hordes of Indian lasses crying their eyes out all around us, and so draw the wrath of the ushers who'd have thrown us out in a heartbeat.
And talking about it now, after so many decades, I was so thrilled that Robert remembers all this and with as much joy and relish as I do.
Anyway, after he flew out yesterday, I went looking for a really charmingly silly Bollywood Vamp Death to send to him as a piece of Glorious Nostalgia ... but stumbled across this one that is so delightful no Vamp Death, no matter how spectacular, could ever top it.
Do you too love it? Oh my! This is so delicious, kudos, kudos, kudos all round!
Oh, those wonderful "La La Las"! And those leg kicks! And do note the Hero's evil Elvis haircut, and how he taps his fingers with boredom as the Vamps gyrate in front of him. And the bizarre presence of that four year old boy. And that old dancing Baddie, and those safari jackets, and that sincerely handsome sinister Tibetan/Aztec/Egyptian Baddie, and those delicious dancing Aztecs or Egyptians or whoever they're meant to be, and their wonderful "Huh! Huh! Huhs!", their pot bellies and their rolling eyes at the girlies bums.
Oh, and stick with it because there's this Ninja who appears at the end to dance with The Vamps!!!
Oh my! Oh my! This entire sequence is so shudderingly delightful, I'm sure I'd have to search hard to top it, so I'm choosing this one to forward to Robert in memory of our shared past, and I hope, despite it not having a Bizarre Vamp Death (and I hope to find the end of this film so we can all see how these two Vamp Girlies die) I do hope Robert loves it, and also that you love it too - particularly you, Lady R. - so can finally understand WHY we risked the wrath of so many ushers by sneaking into the cinema early!
If you don't know Bollywood movies, in the end the Bad Girl, known as The Vamp, always dies, making way for the Hero and Heroine to marry and live happily ever after. This was always the tradition and the expectation, so it was HOW she died that made it so addictive to us.
Oh my, how we LOVED a good Vamp Death. And the best would always involved tuberculosis and dainty little coughs and many, many songs and dances and several costume changes, and it was always so profoundly silly, nothing could be more blissful, and we'd have to smother the laughter so as not to disturb the hordes of Indian lasses crying their eyes out all around us, and so draw the wrath of the ushers who'd have thrown us out in a heartbeat.
And talking about it now, after so many decades, I was so thrilled that Robert remembers all this and with as much joy and relish as I do.
Anyway, after he flew out yesterday, I went looking for a really charmingly silly Bollywood Vamp Death to send to him as a piece of Glorious Nostalgia ... but stumbled across this one that is so delightful no Vamp Death, no matter how spectacular, could ever top it.
Do you too love it? Oh my! This is so delicious, kudos, kudos, kudos all round!
Oh, those wonderful "La La Las"! And those leg kicks! And do note the Hero's evil Elvis haircut, and how he taps his fingers with boredom as the Vamps gyrate in front of him. And the bizarre presence of that four year old boy. And that old dancing Baddie, and those safari jackets, and that sincerely handsome sinister Tibetan/Aztec/Egyptian Baddie, and those delicious dancing Aztecs or Egyptians or whoever they're meant to be, and their wonderful "Huh! Huh! Huhs!", their pot bellies and their rolling eyes at the girlies bums.
Oh, and stick with it because there's this Ninja who appears at the end to dance with The Vamps!!!
Oh my! Oh my! This entire sequence is so shudderingly delightful, I'm sure I'd have to search hard to top it, so I'm choosing this one to forward to Robert in memory of our shared past, and I hope, despite it not having a Bizarre Vamp Death (and I hope to find the end of this film so we can all see how these two Vamp Girlies die) I do hope Robert loves it, and also that you love it too - particularly you, Lady R. - so can finally understand WHY we risked the wrath of so many ushers by sneaking into the cinema early!
Saturday, March 19, 2011
Getting Back To Gaia!
I think if I mention the word Gaia one more time, everyone around will scream at me, but I don't care because, for the first time in my life, just about everyone actually knows what I mean by the word and no one's laughing and eye-rolling anymore.
I've been banging on about Gaia for decades, even before I knew it was an existing hypothesis with a proper intellectual status and all that other stuff that counts for a lot more than it should; back when folks would still roll their eyes when I raised the subject and tell me to stop being "so idiosyncratic".
It was one of my mother's big things: the belief that the earth is a living being, an Earth Mother that provides everything an individual needs and that, beyond the acquisition of knowledge, a person didn't need to go far beyond what the world offered freely. And she walked the talk too because she and Ifarami, our gardener/local witchdoctor, put together a fantastic produce garden that provided everything we needed AND it also looked wonderful too. A veritable Garden of Eden!
And everything we couldn't grow ourselves, she'd get from local farmers and fishermen who she'd support as a matter of principle.
But mum also believed that the Earth Mother was ruthless, and even used to say "We lost the right to live on this planet when we took our waste products out of the cycle of life and turned them into a problem." And my dad, who was very scientifically minded, always agreed with her on this point.
Dad, however, used to add "The earth will toss us off before it lets itself be destroyed."
I think that's he's proving himself right there. I believe this is what is starting to happen but I hope, I think, I dream, that we're not too late! That we can put things right before they go even more wrong!
And we have to change. Sincerely, we really do have to change! It is no longer an option!
However, I also believe we're getting there! I suspect everything vile happening around us and those constant questions "why is this happening?" means that we are ready for the change.
People are inching towards a different vision. At least I hope they are! No, I have to believe they are!
And there are signs we all are finally starting to get it right. Like, my dear friend Robert's book "Me'a Kai" coming from nowhere to win BEST COOKBOOK IN THE WORLD, knocking out some brutal and impressive competition. As Edouard Cointreau, the global Godfather of food books, explained: Me'a Kai won because it had a vision that the future should be about sustainable food and eating for health.
It is really about letting ourselves get back into the cycle of life!
Robert knows that! Robert believes that! Robert thinks that we should be working more closely with the earth. Be more simple! Get our own hands dirty! Be more basic! Do away with food dissonance by knowing the folks who produce what we eat! AND, most importantly, he knows that food can still be delicious - even moreso delicious - when we do this!
And the world has rewarded him for it. Yayyy!
However, I want him to go even further! I bullied him, yesterday, the poor honey, into buying Reader's Digest "Foods that Harm: Foods that Heal." and then he had to lug the big heavy book around with him for the rest of the day, and I've been banging on to him about Kitchen Witching: knowing the chemical properties of food and preparing dishes that feed directly into curing people of their ailments - something I want to do when I'm an old lady - and also telling him about people like Marianne, who are cooking up old witchdoctor remedies and having them tested by scientists and discovering they are packed full of disease-fighting ingredients.
And women like Alba's good friend Dr Barbara Wong, a biochemist up there in Nan Sha, in Mainland China, who, for the past 14 years, has been working on developing healthy and natural alternatives to today's killer food additives.
Darling Robert has been very polite about my constant rabbiting on about my "so idiosyncratic" passions, but he's probably secretly ready to strangle me! Besides, he's already planning to take his future in a totally different direction; working with farmers in various Pacific Islands and putting them into direct contact and communication with tourist resorts, where he also wants to work with their kitchens to develop dishes that make our Pacific Cuisine palatable for foreigners, thereby finally making our beloved Islands, hopefully, self-sustaining and locals kinda rich-ish.
But we're not really so different here since we're both on the same page about getting back into the cycle of life ... and that's what I hope for in the future, in all our futures: I would like to see us all stop this abuse of Gaia, our Earth Mother, and for us all to really stop and think about how we're using Her resources, and to start finally trying to get it right!
And how can we NOT, since more and more it's proving that our very lives and futures depend on it.
I've been banging on about Gaia for decades, even before I knew it was an existing hypothesis with a proper intellectual status and all that other stuff that counts for a lot more than it should; back when folks would still roll their eyes when I raised the subject and tell me to stop being "so idiosyncratic".
It was one of my mother's big things: the belief that the earth is a living being, an Earth Mother that provides everything an individual needs and that, beyond the acquisition of knowledge, a person didn't need to go far beyond what the world offered freely. And she walked the talk too because she and Ifarami, our gardener/local witchdoctor, put together a fantastic produce garden that provided everything we needed AND it also looked wonderful too. A veritable Garden of Eden!
And everything we couldn't grow ourselves, she'd get from local farmers and fishermen who she'd support as a matter of principle.
But mum also believed that the Earth Mother was ruthless, and even used to say "We lost the right to live on this planet when we took our waste products out of the cycle of life and turned them into a problem." And my dad, who was very scientifically minded, always agreed with her on this point.
Dad, however, used to add "The earth will toss us off before it lets itself be destroyed."
I think that's he's proving himself right there. I believe this is what is starting to happen but I hope, I think, I dream, that we're not too late! That we can put things right before they go even more wrong!
And we have to change. Sincerely, we really do have to change! It is no longer an option!
However, I also believe we're getting there! I suspect everything vile happening around us and those constant questions "why is this happening?" means that we are ready for the change.
People are inching towards a different vision. At least I hope they are! No, I have to believe they are!
And there are signs we all are finally starting to get it right. Like, my dear friend Robert's book "Me'a Kai" coming from nowhere to win BEST COOKBOOK IN THE WORLD, knocking out some brutal and impressive competition. As Edouard Cointreau, the global Godfather of food books, explained: Me'a Kai won because it had a vision that the future should be about sustainable food and eating for health.
It is really about letting ourselves get back into the cycle of life!
Robert knows that! Robert believes that! Robert thinks that we should be working more closely with the earth. Be more simple! Get our own hands dirty! Be more basic! Do away with food dissonance by knowing the folks who produce what we eat! AND, most importantly, he knows that food can still be delicious - even moreso delicious - when we do this!
And the world has rewarded him for it. Yayyy!
However, I want him to go even further! I bullied him, yesterday, the poor honey, into buying Reader's Digest "Foods that Harm: Foods that Heal." and then he had to lug the big heavy book around with him for the rest of the day, and I've been banging on to him about Kitchen Witching: knowing the chemical properties of food and preparing dishes that feed directly into curing people of their ailments - something I want to do when I'm an old lady - and also telling him about people like Marianne, who are cooking up old witchdoctor remedies and having them tested by scientists and discovering they are packed full of disease-fighting ingredients.
And women like Alba's good friend Dr Barbara Wong, a biochemist up there in Nan Sha, in Mainland China, who, for the past 14 years, has been working on developing healthy and natural alternatives to today's killer food additives.
Darling Robert has been very polite about my constant rabbiting on about my "so idiosyncratic" passions, but he's probably secretly ready to strangle me! Besides, he's already planning to take his future in a totally different direction; working with farmers in various Pacific Islands and putting them into direct contact and communication with tourist resorts, where he also wants to work with their kitchens to develop dishes that make our Pacific Cuisine palatable for foreigners, thereby finally making our beloved Islands, hopefully, self-sustaining and locals kinda rich-ish.
But we're not really so different here since we're both on the same page about getting back into the cycle of life ... and that's what I hope for in the future, in all our futures: I would like to see us all stop this abuse of Gaia, our Earth Mother, and for us all to really stop and think about how we're using Her resources, and to start finally trying to get it right!
And how can we NOT, since more and more it's proving that our very lives and futures depend on it.
GO "ME'A KAI"
Here's a bit of wonderfulness from a British Columbia newspaper:
"Me'a Kai" is being hailed as the major gastronomic upset of the year by European media, a veritable David-versus-Goliath victory for the relatively unknown and unlikely region when it comes to world-class cuisine."
And then it goes on to say: "Over 26,000 cookbooks are published each year and Me’a Kai beat out submissions from 154 countries including perennial favourites like a submission from arguably the world’s best chef, Rene Redzepi, and his book “NOMA,” and “The Essential New York Times Cookbook” by Amanda Hesser."
GO ROBERT! GO PACIFIC!
And also, since candles were lit to Kwan Yin for this eventuality ... GO KWAN YIN!!!
And here's something I haven't told you! Just guess who is currently in Hong Kong for meetings and TV appearances and such?
"Me'a Kai" is being hailed as the major gastronomic upset of the year by European media, a veritable David-versus-Goliath victory for the relatively unknown and unlikely region when it comes to world-class cuisine."
And then it goes on to say: "Over 26,000 cookbooks are published each year and Me’a Kai beat out submissions from 154 countries including perennial favourites like a submission from arguably the world’s best chef, Rene Redzepi, and his book “NOMA,” and “The Essential New York Times Cookbook” by Amanda Hesser."
GO ROBERT! GO PACIFIC!
And also, since candles were lit to Kwan Yin for this eventuality ... GO KWAN YIN!!!
And here's something I haven't told you! Just guess who is currently in Hong Kong for meetings and TV appearances and such?
The 'major gastronomic upsetter of the year' himself!
GO ROBERT!!!
GO ROBERT!!!
Thursday, March 17, 2011
Too Cross!
"Gaia is ruthlessly cruel to any species that crosses her." and we've been crossing her for too long and I think she's had enough!
And if you don't know about the Gaia Hypothesis, here's a quote: "Gaia is an embodiment of the notion of a Mothering Earth, the source of the living and non-living entities that make up the Earth. Gaia is gentle, feminine and nurturing, but also ruthlessly cruel to any who cross her."
I'm beginning to understand what's going down in The Middle East! People have had enough of corrupt and dangerous leadership!
Well, I think we all are! I think we should extend The Middle East's "Jasmine Revolution" to the entire world! Enough, I say, of these
Wednesday, March 16, 2011
Tuesday, March 15, 2011
What Kills Us This Week!
WE'RE BACK!!!! Hong Kong is all in "Threatdown!" mode over a rumour that BBC news reported a radiation cloud from Japan heading straight towards us!!!
LOVE IT!!!!
And just to make this more delicious, someone then said that salt protects you from radiation ...
LOVE IT!!!!
And just to make this more delicious, someone then said that salt protects you from radiation ...
Hong Kong panic shopping!
... and so practically the entire city immediately raced into the nearest shops to buy out all the salt they had. Seriously, bagloads of the stuff! Sandbagging it no doubt!
Hong Kong, thank you for returning to what we have come to expect from you, and thanks to your charming Chicken Little-ing, I again get to enjoy my weekly laugh!
Molly's Wedding!
I was asked what Molly's wedding was like and rather than explain, I thought I'd paste an old letter into here and let it do the talking for me:
Gorgeous wedding! Highly recommended venue, service, etc etc
etc ... Beautiful night!
It was held at Vuda Point (the place where Fijians first
landed in Fiji) at the marina at First Landings Resort.
Stunning site. A little finger of land out into the sea,
with a marina on one side and yachts everywhere.
The wedding took place at sunset, with the sun sinking over
the water and the sky all pink and gold behind them.
The theme was pink and gold frangapanis and they were
everywhere and on everything, including Molly's head, although
not on the kilts, sashes and sporrans of the Scottish
contingent although that would have been charming, don't you
think!
The tables, covered in frangipanis, with frangipani
centrepieces and frangipani-shaped candles, were set out
under the stars, surrounded by flaming torches and the night
was fine, clear, balmy-warm and beautiful.
Food was Fijian style and just gorgeous too.
Oh, and have to mention the resort provided a big screen TV
in a bure annex at the back of the site so the Scottish crew -
and a lot of the Fiji guests - could go watch the Lions play
rugby in some big game someplace. Don't know who requested it
but you just hate it when a resort does TOO much to cater to
guests' whims! All the men kept disappearing all night. It
was a wonder that any of the speeches etc actually got done.
Still, it kept everything short and sweet - including the
highland dancing - and that's never a bad thing.
Molly looked gorgeous. She had five possible bridal gowns -
including the to-die-for gorgeous pink embroidered Indian sari
- but actually, in the end, decided to wear the silk white and
gold sheath dress with a matching shawl and a pink and gold
frangipani headpiece. Lovely choice. Really suited her.
Mike wore the full Frazier kilt (the oldest one they're
entitled to - apparently the older the tartan the more
prestigious it is), as did all the men in the groom's family.
Strangely, it didn't clash with ANYTHING all night. Looks like
you can wear a kilt anytime anyplace and get away with it.
Who'd have thunk it!
After the service Mike's father Jock played the bagpipes (he's
extraordinarily good) and we all had to dance The Gay Gordon
and all sorts of other dances, and, naturally,since Fiji doesn't
know about such things, we all got pretty hilarious.
What else? Oh yes! Included in the wedding party were Te Akau,
dressed as a fairy, and David looking very sharp in a suit and
spiderman shoes.
And, yes, yes, Molly and Mike cried as they said their vows.
So cute, lah! AND it turns out, according to Mike's brother
George's speech, Mike, as a very young boy, used to have a
security blanket he called Molly. It seems he carried Molly
around with him for wwaaayyy too many years, everywhere he
went, until long after it got to be a major concern for his
family.
And now he marries someone called Molly! Isn't that just so
weirdly, strangely, bizarrely Freudian. Things that make
you go mmm! In fact, things that make you go Mmmmmmmmmm!!!!!
What else can I tell you about the night? Molly and Mike
didn't have a send-off, deciding to stay for the entire party.
Well worth it.
A good night. Big booze-up, lots of catching up with old
friends, laughs, stupid hats, stupid dances, lots and lots
and lots of fun!
AND NO ONE GOT PICKED UP BY POLICE DRIVING BACK TO NADI!
Minor miracle there!
They went off the early the next day for their honeymoon,
flying up to Savu Savu to join the yacht, and then sailing
to the old leper colony at Makogai (where mum and dad also
went on their honeymoon), down to Ovalau, Leulivia and then
to Beqa, to scuba dive with the sharks ...
... just like what Jane did last Wednesday - which I have
to mention since Jane was swooped repeatedly by a twelve
foot tiger shark and found it such a rush she loves to talk
about it at every available opportunity so feel free to ask
her to tell you all about it; she'd be so grateful.
And that's Molly's wedding. Excellent evening all round!
You really should have been there!
Monday, March 14, 2011
Co-Incidences?
Have you seen the footage? That New Zealand uni student wandering around the devastation that was once Sendai in Japan looking for his girlfriend? I'm not the only one, it seems, who had previously seen him doing vigil in the park in downtown Christchurch for his parents. Some news reporters recognised him as well, and I was very pleased to hear him say that his parents were found alive ... but what the heck is he now doing in Sendai?
The HK newspapers picked up on the story, talking about "unlucky" people, but two earthquakes and a tsunami in a fortnight? That is so "unlucky" as to make you wonder what the heck is going on?
However, I'm more than willing to accept this as a hideous co-incidence. Did you read that the father of the baby born in the refuge centre in Cairns, in North Queensland, during the height of Cyclone Yasi was named Staum because he himself was born in the refuge centre in Darwin at the height of Cyclone Tracey?
Odd, la?
However, if Staum's father and grandfather had also been born at the height of cyclones, that would be another thing altogether! That would definitely make you pause!
I have known people who have lived such a life that goes so far beyond co-incidences that they very definitely make you stop and say, like Hamlet "There are more things in Heaven and Earth, Horatio, than are dream't of in your philosophy!"
I grew up around jinxed people. Julie A.'s grandfather walked away unscathed from 19 aircrashes, and our neighbour Mrs Hawley had never once traveled by ship where she didn't end up in a lifeboat, and I have to tell you they were among my most beloved adults when I was growing up - practically mythical beings in my eyes - because I thought they were the luckiest people who had ever lived, and also because they had the BEST stories.
There was no stopping me! Whenever I heard Julie's Grampa was in town, immediately I was over to their house to hear the latest, and whenever Mrs Hawley went anywhere by ship, I could hardly wait for her latest stories and I'd count down the days on a calender, like she was Christmas or something, and, on the day of her return, I'd linger on the veranda waiting with bated breath, and the instant I heard her car coming down the road I'd start to run ... only my mother would grab my arm and order me to at least give her an hour to settle in before I went over to breathlessly ask my question "How long were you in the lifeboat this time?"
She never disappointed.
No, wait, she did! There was one trip where she was only in the lifeboat for three hours - because the sprinkler systems went off, spraying scalding hot water all through the ship and they off-loaded everyone while they fixed it - and because it was so ... ordinary ... that disappointed me. More normally her ship would hit old WWII mines or a reef or the engine room would explode or something else life-threatening and dramatic and they'd be such amazing stories I couldn't wait for the next one.
"You'll have to take another trip soon, Mrs Hawley!" I'd say when the latest story was done. "I think you'd be better off taking planes." my hideously sensible mother would tell her!
Grrrrrrr!
But for plane crashes there was always Julie's Grampa! He was a lovely rolypoly rollicking fellow with the most delicious Canadian accent and I'd shudder with delight every time he said those words "Ah jinx arrowplanes!" and he said them often. And his stories would always start with him boarding 'arrowplanes' and shouting from the doorway "Ah jinx arrowplanes! I'm wahning y'all! Ah jinx arrowplanes. Ah suhgest y'all get off right now because y'all gonna die." and whenever the 'arrowplane' began to screw up, which it invariably did, he'd always shout "Ah wahned y'all. I wahned ya! I told y'all I jinx arroplanes. Ah'm wahking away from this, but y'all gonna die!"
And apparently, although I didn't hear the story from him, Air Pacific hostesses, when they'd see his name on the passenger list, would have serious discussions about who was going to slap him first.
I know it's inexplicable but it always happened. He was never on a flight where stuff didn't go wrong, and I know for a fact that Air Pacific did major investigations on the stuff-ups that happened on those flights and could never find a rational explanation for any one of them. In fact, one report said, at the end of an exhaustive report, "The only explanation we can come up with is that Mr M. has a jinx."
And I know for a fact that Air Pacific suggested that Grampa in future travel to Fiji by ship!
Hey, wouldn't it be a laugh if he took a ship with Mrs Hawley on it!
Oh, and because he'd crashed all over the world, he had the BEST stories about how people in different countries behave during and after a plane crash. Even while listening to him, we knew we were privileged because they were definitely a set of stories we'll probably never hear from anyone else, EVER!, so it was a bonus that he was also a hilarious storyteller who'd relate all in a way that made it seem like a classic comedy routine, so the nano-second he was finished it was all "Can you tell that one again?"
It's a pity that all I can recall from this amazing recounting is that North Americans scream - without the swearing - as the plane plunges to earth "I'm suing you for this!" Oh, and the very best plane crash refrain was "You're making me miss my connecting flight from Chicago!"
So I know there are people who are like this, people who either are very, very "unlucky" or who indeed, like Douglas Adam's fictional "Rain God" in "So Long and Thanks for All The Fish!", carry a jinx.
Nonetheless, I do hope that the New Zealand uni student finds his girlfriend! AND that I never ever see him on the news again.
The HK newspapers picked up on the story, talking about "unlucky" people, but two earthquakes and a tsunami in a fortnight? That is so "unlucky" as to make you wonder what the heck is going on?
However, I'm more than willing to accept this as a hideous co-incidence. Did you read that the father of the baby born in the refuge centre in Cairns, in North Queensland, during the height of Cyclone Yasi was named Staum because he himself was born in the refuge centre in Darwin at the height of Cyclone Tracey?
Odd, la?
However, if Staum's father and grandfather had also been born at the height of cyclones, that would be another thing altogether! That would definitely make you pause!
I have known people who have lived such a life that goes so far beyond co-incidences that they very definitely make you stop and say, like Hamlet "There are more things in Heaven and Earth, Horatio, than are dream't of in your philosophy!"
I grew up around jinxed people. Julie A.'s grandfather walked away unscathed from 19 aircrashes, and our neighbour Mrs Hawley had never once traveled by ship where she didn't end up in a lifeboat, and I have to tell you they were among my most beloved adults when I was growing up - practically mythical beings in my eyes - because I thought they were the luckiest people who had ever lived, and also because they had the BEST stories.
There was no stopping me! Whenever I heard Julie's Grampa was in town, immediately I was over to their house to hear the latest, and whenever Mrs Hawley went anywhere by ship, I could hardly wait for her latest stories and I'd count down the days on a calender, like she was Christmas or something, and, on the day of her return, I'd linger on the veranda waiting with bated breath, and the instant I heard her car coming down the road I'd start to run ... only my mother would grab my arm and order me to at least give her an hour to settle in before I went over to breathlessly ask my question "How long were you in the lifeboat this time?"
She never disappointed.
No, wait, she did! There was one trip where she was only in the lifeboat for three hours - because the sprinkler systems went off, spraying scalding hot water all through the ship and they off-loaded everyone while they fixed it - and because it was so ... ordinary ... that disappointed me. More normally her ship would hit old WWII mines or a reef or the engine room would explode or something else life-threatening and dramatic and they'd be such amazing stories I couldn't wait for the next one.
"You'll have to take another trip soon, Mrs Hawley!" I'd say when the latest story was done. "I think you'd be better off taking planes." my hideously sensible mother would tell her!
Grrrrrrr!
But for plane crashes there was always Julie's Grampa! He was a lovely rolypoly rollicking fellow with the most delicious Canadian accent and I'd shudder with delight every time he said those words "Ah jinx arrowplanes!" and he said them often. And his stories would always start with him boarding 'arrowplanes' and shouting from the doorway "Ah jinx arrowplanes! I'm wahning y'all! Ah jinx arrowplanes. Ah suhgest y'all get off right now because y'all gonna die." and whenever the 'arrowplane' began to screw up, which it invariably did, he'd always shout "Ah wahned y'all. I wahned ya! I told y'all I jinx arroplanes. Ah'm wahking away from this, but y'all gonna die!"
And apparently, although I didn't hear the story from him, Air Pacific hostesses, when they'd see his name on the passenger list, would have serious discussions about who was going to slap him first.
I know it's inexplicable but it always happened. He was never on a flight where stuff didn't go wrong, and I know for a fact that Air Pacific did major investigations on the stuff-ups that happened on those flights and could never find a rational explanation for any one of them. In fact, one report said, at the end of an exhaustive report, "The only explanation we can come up with is that Mr M. has a jinx."
And I know for a fact that Air Pacific suggested that Grampa in future travel to Fiji by ship!
Hey, wouldn't it be a laugh if he took a ship with Mrs Hawley on it!
Oh, and because he'd crashed all over the world, he had the BEST stories about how people in different countries behave during and after a plane crash. Even while listening to him, we knew we were privileged because they were definitely a set of stories we'll probably never hear from anyone else, EVER!, so it was a bonus that he was also a hilarious storyteller who'd relate all in a way that made it seem like a classic comedy routine, so the nano-second he was finished it was all "Can you tell that one again?"
It's a pity that all I can recall from this amazing recounting is that North Americans scream - without the swearing - as the plane plunges to earth "I'm suing you for this!" Oh, and the very best plane crash refrain was "You're making me miss my connecting flight from Chicago!"
So I know there are people who are like this, people who either are very, very "unlucky" or who indeed, like Douglas Adam's fictional "Rain God" in "So Long and Thanks for All The Fish!", carry a jinx.
Nonetheless, I do hope that the New Zealand uni student finds his girlfriend! AND that I never ever see him on the news again.
Sunday, March 13, 2011
Isa, Japan, Japan, Japan!
"But nothing ever happens in Japan!" several young Japanese I've known have said to me in the past.
I tried to explain my own belief that "when nothing ever happens, that's good!" - grown out of that quote - and I wish I could remember who said it - that "The life of the planet is like the life of a soldier: long periods where nothing happens followed by moments of screaming terror." - but they didn't get it.
I guess they do now.
This devastation isn't some remote event happening at the far ends of the earth. We know these souls who have suffered through and are still suffering through the worst situation I can ever imagine. We know names and faces and histories and stories involving people who this is actually happening to.
Sendai is the little city where Talei did her Japanese Student Exchange four years ago. She went to High School there and home-stayed with several exceptionally lovely families, so she met a lot of locals she found immensely kind and hospitable and she loved them and the city. You may recall I flew out to join her as chaperon to her school group during the "traveling around" part of her Japan Exchange, and that is what makes this is particularly hard; that we have names and faces, histories and stories of real people who this has happened to ... and is still happening to ... there's an alert out right now about another tsunami heading their way ...
... and Sendai High School was so kind to Talei's High School in Innisfail, in North Queensland, when Cyclone Larry wiped out their town two years ago ...
... so now it's time for a return of that kindness, except we can't find out what has happened to Sendai High School. Nor what's happened to those families we know either.
Look, we really do have to thank Google for those message boards they've put up for this crisis. When there's nothing else available, it's genuinely nice to have a place to inquire after the people we know and to see if there's any way we can help. Of course, we aren't yet getting replies because they're not yet re-organised for that - at least that's what we're telling ourselves - but when there's nothing else, it's a way of feeling you've at least done something.
Isa, poor Sendai, poor Japan. The "haarp" talk has gone up several notches, by the way. Everyone around is still blaming the Americans for all this. I am, however, still recounting with "Gaia" and what is particularly good is that I'm having to explain what I mean less and less all the time as more and more folks are taking this hypothesis on board.
And if you aren't one of those folk who know about "Gaia Theory" it's the belief that Mother Earth is a living entity who will not allow Herself to be destroyed and, once she reaches somewhere just before 'the point of no return' she will toss off the offending species in any way she can.
So that's my explanation of what's happening: that we are living through these moments of screaming terror because Gaia is saying "Enough!" and getting rid of us!
Although that's no salve for Sendai and the rest of Japan right at this moment.
Isa, poor, poor Japan. I guess it's time to bring that old word out of the mothballs. Poor BELEAGUERED Japan!
And if you too would like to help, you can find out here:
Red Cross International: www.icrc.org
Google Crisis Response: www.google.com/crisisresponse
International Medical Corps: www.internationalmedicalcorps.org
I tried to explain my own belief that "when nothing ever happens, that's good!" - grown out of that quote - and I wish I could remember who said it - that "The life of the planet is like the life of a soldier: long periods where nothing happens followed by moments of screaming terror." - but they didn't get it.
I guess they do now.
This devastation isn't some remote event happening at the far ends of the earth. We know these souls who have suffered through and are still suffering through the worst situation I can ever imagine. We know names and faces and histories and stories involving people who this is actually happening to.
Sendai is the little city where Talei did her Japanese Student Exchange four years ago. She went to High School there and home-stayed with several exceptionally lovely families, so she met a lot of locals she found immensely kind and hospitable and she loved them and the city. You may recall I flew out to join her as chaperon to her school group during the "traveling around" part of her Japan Exchange, and that is what makes this is particularly hard; that we have names and faces, histories and stories of real people who this has happened to ... and is still happening to ... there's an alert out right now about another tsunami heading their way ...
... and Sendai High School was so kind to Talei's High School in Innisfail, in North Queensland, when Cyclone Larry wiped out their town two years ago ...
... so now it's time for a return of that kindness, except we can't find out what has happened to Sendai High School. Nor what's happened to those families we know either.
Look, we really do have to thank Google for those message boards they've put up for this crisis. When there's nothing else available, it's genuinely nice to have a place to inquire after the people we know and to see if there's any way we can help. Of course, we aren't yet getting replies because they're not yet re-organised for that - at least that's what we're telling ourselves - but when there's nothing else, it's a way of feeling you've at least done something.
Isa, poor Sendai, poor Japan. The "haarp" talk has gone up several notches, by the way. Everyone around is still blaming the Americans for all this. I am, however, still recounting with "Gaia" and what is particularly good is that I'm having to explain what I mean less and less all the time as more and more folks are taking this hypothesis on board.
And if you aren't one of those folk who know about "Gaia Theory" it's the belief that Mother Earth is a living entity who will not allow Herself to be destroyed and, once she reaches somewhere just before 'the point of no return' she will toss off the offending species in any way she can.
So that's my explanation of what's happening: that we are living through these moments of screaming terror because Gaia is saying "Enough!" and getting rid of us!
Although that's no salve for Sendai and the rest of Japan right at this moment.
Isa, poor, poor Japan. I guess it's time to bring that old word out of the mothballs. Poor BELEAGUERED Japan!
And if you too would like to help, you can find out here:
Red Cross International: www.icrc.org
Google Crisis Response: www.google.com/crisisresponse
International Medical Corps: www.internationalmedicalcorps.org
Saturday, March 12, 2011
Ginger Rogers at 92!
What was I talking about, wondering how to be a woman my age, despairing at the lack of suitable role models for 'how to be an old lady'!!!
No longer even remotely a problem because just look at this:
Ginger Rogers dancing with her great-great-grandson!!!
I was already impressed at her dancing 'at her age' before discovering I was being conned and she had not even yet began to dance!
We have our role model, ladies! So let's start practising NOW!
No longer even remotely a problem because just look at this:
Ginger Rogers dancing with her great-great-grandson!!!
I was already impressed at her dancing 'at her age' before discovering I was being conned and she had not even yet began to dance!
We have our role model, ladies! So let's start practising NOW!
Thursday, March 10, 2011
Robert Oliver Webpage!
Since Robert Oliver won BEST COOKBOOK IN THE WORLD with "Me'a Kai", he now has his own webpage, so if you want to know more about him - and I can tell you firsthand that he's a total darling - you can now check him out for yourself:
http://www.robertoliveronline.com/
Go, Rupati Levu!
http://www.robertoliveronline.com/
Go, Rupati Levu!
What Kills Us This Week!
Hong Kong used to be an endlessly amusing place to live because we lurched from crisis to crisis, forever convinced, like Chicken-Little, that the sky was falling on our heads. But it's been weeks! No, it's been months since a single "We're all gonna DIE!" has passed anyone's lips.
I don't know what's wrong. We're just not ourselves these days. It's like we've all suddenly grown up and that's simply not fun.
When we first arrived in Hong Kong, at the tail end of the 2003 SARS crisis, it was so useful that everyone was convinced they personally stood on the precipice because ... well, with a queue 100 folk strong ahead of you, all you had to do was start coughing and instantly the line vanished. It was so much fun and so useful and always made you feel like a SuperHero with enormous SuperPowers and I must tell you that no feeling is more fun.
These days ... nope, nothing! Stunts like this no longer work. Sad.
And what we're talking about these days instead. Mostly ...
No, not so much Charlie Sheen although everyone here's betting on how long before the Ultimate Meltdown and the how and when, although not the why, although a lot of folk are talking about his parents and how they tried to raise him as a man of integrity, so a "why" is implied.
No, what everyone is talking about here is about turning real life into songs and cartoons, and how much fun this new technology is. And also lots of talk about Keith Richards, and how he's so cool - although, gosh, doesn't he look awful for his age! You know, all the normal stuff folks the world over talk about.
So I guess this means I'm going to have to retire my weekly threatdown (the charming Chinese word for "panic") since folks simply aren't panicking anymore.
But one more time for Old Times Sake!
I don't know what's wrong. We're just not ourselves these days. It's like we've all suddenly grown up and that's simply not fun.
When we first arrived in Hong Kong, at the tail end of the 2003 SARS crisis, it was so useful that everyone was convinced they personally stood on the precipice because ... well, with a queue 100 folk strong ahead of you, all you had to do was start coughing and instantly the line vanished. It was so much fun and so useful and always made you feel like a SuperHero with enormous SuperPowers and I must tell you that no feeling is more fun.
These days ... nope, nothing! Stunts like this no longer work. Sad.
And what we're talking about these days instead. Mostly ...
No, not so much Charlie Sheen although everyone here's betting on how long before the Ultimate Meltdown and the how and when, although not the why, although a lot of folk are talking about his parents and how they tried to raise him as a man of integrity, so a "why" is implied.
No, what everyone is talking about here is about turning real life into songs and cartoons, and how much fun this new technology is. And also lots of talk about Keith Richards, and how he's so cool - although, gosh, doesn't he look awful for his age! You know, all the normal stuff folks the world over talk about.
So I guess this means I'm going to have to retire my weekly threatdown (the charming Chinese word for "panic") since folks simply aren't panicking anymore.
But one more time for Old Times Sake!
THREATDOWN
Having tiger blood, dude!
Monday, March 7, 2011
Marianne Faithful Concert.
As we were leaving after a mighty night, Lee said "She really is a slap in the face for all of us who lived our lives by the book!" and I think with that he nailed it.
It was a terrific night, an amazing night even, although it didn't start out that way.
I think the problem was that I'd come with certain expectations. I had come, I think, looking for direction.
We have now become "women of a certain age" and, as Lady R. often says "We have no idea how to be Old Ladies. We are now at an age our grandmothers were when we first knew them, and all we know is that we don't want to be them."
So how do people like us - people who didn't 'live our lives by the book' - who were once Punks and Proto-Goths and Angry Young Women - turn ourselves into Old Ladies? We can't be our grandmothers, and we're definite about that, so who are we to be?
And I suspect that's what was going through my head with this concert. I suspect I was wondering if Saint Marianne, who lead the way, kicked out the traces, forged our path, in the past, would still have the answers I needed?
She looks fabulous, by the way! Really, really good!
And looking good is one answer, sure.
But for the rest?
At the start of the concert, I felt I was asking too much because ... the band was needlessly loud and, yes, she could carry her voice over the top of it, although only with a strain, and so that wonderful rasp was cracking - and not in a good way - and, worst of all, was trying to get her message when everything she was saying was unclear and fuzzy.
She began doing songs from her new album "Horses and High-heels" and it was an endless "Huh? Say wot?". They were songs based on memories of a Dublin Childhood that weren't even her own. Apparently she created songs from the childhood stories from her lead guitarist which just seemed bizarre and too Post-Modern. Like, how can you have a past like Saint Marianne ... yet use another person's past ...
"Huh? Say wot?", right?
And they were all much like Elton John songs, only without Bernie Taupin ... and without Elton John either. Kinda nowhere! It was like she was standing at the crossroads and didn't know if she was to take the road to All-Embracing Earth Mother or the other road to Dark Magic-Weaving Shaman, writing songs of dispossession as though she was almost half-committed to being a Voice for the Dispossessed ... only NOT! It was all nowhere. No guidance, no direction, no anything really. Just fuzzy and nebulous and "don't know where I am now!" and seeming as lost as the rest of us.
But then she performed "Sister Morphine" and with that song suddenly we knew who she was because SHE knew who she was, and that's when the magic started. It was all "I was there. I have been there. And it was good. But I triumphed and now I'm not there, and that is also good." and that's when the cheers from the Aging Feminist Crew started "We love you, Marianne" and the young Chic Young Camp guys "We love you, Marianne" ...
... and then she did Dusty Springfield's "Going Back" with the line about magic carpet rides ...
... and she was taking us on that ride with her, and her voice grew strong and it was amazing. Beyond Amazing! It was so spectacular you could hardly breathe!
And when she sang the line "live my days instead of counting my years!" she was the Shaman, channeling the Great White Goddess in our names, and we knew that she knew exactly where she was! Yes, she was indeed on the crossroad and wondering what path to take, and suddenly those crossroads were a singularly beautiful, shimmering, magical place to be.
And that's the message Saint Marianne suddenly started to bring us. It's OK to be us, as we are now, ready to give up who we were but not yet knowing who to be in the future, because for we Unconventional Sorts of Women, this is a beautiful and singular time in our lives and we should just "live the days instead of counting the years", relishing our lives and enjoying the magic of having all sorts of adventures, choices and lives still waiting there in our futures.
And, as Lee said as we were leaving, that who she is today is a slap in the face for everyone who lived their lives by the book and that is ... a wonderful answer!
It was a terrific night, an amazing night even, although it didn't start out that way.
I think the problem was that I'd come with certain expectations. I had come, I think, looking for direction.
We have now become "women of a certain age" and, as Lady R. often says "We have no idea how to be Old Ladies. We are now at an age our grandmothers were when we first knew them, and all we know is that we don't want to be them."
So how do people like us - people who didn't 'live our lives by the book' - who were once Punks and Proto-Goths and Angry Young Women - turn ourselves into Old Ladies? We can't be our grandmothers, and we're definite about that, so who are we to be?
And I suspect that's what was going through my head with this concert. I suspect I was wondering if Saint Marianne, who lead the way, kicked out the traces, forged our path, in the past, would still have the answers I needed?
She looks fabulous, by the way! Really, really good!
Risked being tossed out to get this shot!
Got into trouble too!
And looking good is one answer, sure.
But for the rest?
At the start of the concert, I felt I was asking too much because ... the band was needlessly loud and, yes, she could carry her voice over the top of it, although only with a strain, and so that wonderful rasp was cracking - and not in a good way - and, worst of all, was trying to get her message when everything she was saying was unclear and fuzzy.
She began doing songs from her new album "Horses and High-heels" and it was an endless "Huh? Say wot?". They were songs based on memories of a Dublin Childhood that weren't even her own. Apparently she created songs from the childhood stories from her lead guitarist which just seemed bizarre and too Post-Modern. Like, how can you have a past like Saint Marianne ... yet use another person's past ...
"Huh? Say wot?", right?
And they were all much like Elton John songs, only without Bernie Taupin ... and without Elton John either. Kinda nowhere! It was like she was standing at the crossroads and didn't know if she was to take the road to All-Embracing Earth Mother or the other road to Dark Magic-Weaving Shaman, writing songs of dispossession as though she was almost half-committed to being a Voice for the Dispossessed ... only NOT! It was all nowhere. No guidance, no direction, no anything really. Just fuzzy and nebulous and "don't know where I am now!" and seeming as lost as the rest of us.
But then she performed "Sister Morphine" and with that song suddenly we knew who she was because SHE knew who she was, and that's when the magic started. It was all "I was there. I have been there. And it was good. But I triumphed and now I'm not there, and that is also good." and that's when the cheers from the Aging Feminist Crew started "We love you, Marianne" and the young Chic Young Camp guys "We love you, Marianne" ...
... and then she did Dusty Springfield's "Going Back" with the line about magic carpet rides ...
... and she was taking us on that ride with her, and her voice grew strong and it was amazing. Beyond Amazing! It was so spectacular you could hardly breathe!
And when she sang the line "live my days instead of counting my years!" she was the Shaman, channeling the Great White Goddess in our names, and we knew that she knew exactly where she was! Yes, she was indeed on the crossroad and wondering what path to take, and suddenly those crossroads were a singularly beautiful, shimmering, magical place to be.
And that's the message Saint Marianne suddenly started to bring us. It's OK to be us, as we are now, ready to give up who we were but not yet knowing who to be in the future, because for we Unconventional Sorts of Women, this is a beautiful and singular time in our lives and we should just "live the days instead of counting the years", relishing our lives and enjoying the magic of having all sorts of adventures, choices and lives still waiting there in our futures.
And, as Lee said as we were leaving, that who she is today is a slap in the face for everyone who lived their lives by the book and that is ... a wonderful answer!
Sunday, March 6, 2011
Radio Fiji One
At a recent gathering of Fiji Alumni we were talking about Radio Fiji One - Fiji's English Language Station - and just how "freaking awful" it was. Just for laughs we were putting together a playlist for your average music show, so I have decided to reproduce your typical afternoon session so you too can see what we endured every single day of our lives:
Now everyone from Fiji is running away screaming.
Yup, I'm only half kidding because this pretty much was the playlist of our lives. Is it any wonder we were desperate for something different, so whenever possible we'd take our radios down to Loloma Beach and see if today was one of those lucky, lucky days when we could pick up the New Zealand pirate station Radio Hauraki?
You know, everyone who lived in Fiji during the 60s and 70s should set up shrines to Lovey Rounds for liberating us all from the tyranny of our Jim Reeves and Bony M. playlists!
So let's end this post on the most appropriate note: "Lovey, thank you so much, vinaka vaka levu, we all owe you so much." and for the final time "Love you, Lovey!!!" because she HATES being known as Lovey these days, and given who she now is, we must be formal.
Now everyone from Fiji is running away screaming.
Yup, I'm only half kidding because this pretty much was the playlist of our lives. Is it any wonder we were desperate for something different, so whenever possible we'd take our radios down to Loloma Beach and see if today was one of those lucky, lucky days when we could pick up the New Zealand pirate station Radio Hauraki?
You know, everyone who lived in Fiji during the 60s and 70s should set up shrines to Lovey Rounds for liberating us all from the tyranny of our Jim Reeves and Bony M. playlists!
So let's end this post on the most appropriate note: "Lovey, thank you so much, vinaka vaka levu, we all owe you so much." and for the final time "Love you, Lovey!!!" because she HATES being known as Lovey these days, and given who she now is, we must be formal.
Friday, March 4, 2011
A Fiji Laugh!
Now and again, I do a post you have to be from Fiji to get. This is yet another of these.
Kai Loma, you will never believe what I found on youtube:
And this comes in the middle of a Bollywood film too! I tell you, I just screamed, part amused and part outraged.
And for those folks who aren't Kai Loma, this is a famous Fijian song performed in Fijian ... which you absolutely DO NOT expect to find in a film coming out of India.
Kai Loma, you will never believe what I found on youtube:
And this comes in the middle of a Bollywood film too! I tell you, I just screamed, part amused and part outraged.
And for those folks who aren't Kai Loma, this is a famous Fijian song performed in Fijian ... which you absolutely DO NOT expect to find in a film coming out of India.
Thursday, March 3, 2011
Congratulations, Robert!
It's the best, best, best news!
Robert Oliver's cookbook "Me'a Kai" has just won "Best Cookbook in the World" at the International Gourmand Awards!
Couldn't be more excited. Isn't it just fabulous news! And will you join me in a little happy dance? "Go Robert, go Robert, go Robert!"
Dance over! I'm trying to download both a photo of Robert and a photo of "Me'a Kai" into here and they won't insert, so I'll just have to settle for another of mine.
Robert Oliver's cookbook "Me'a Kai" has just won "Best Cookbook in the World" at the International Gourmand Awards!
Couldn't be more excited. Isn't it just fabulous news! And will you join me in a little happy dance? "Go Robert, go Robert, go Robert!"
Dance over! I'm trying to download both a photo of Robert and a photo of "Me'a Kai" into here and they won't insert, so I'll just have to settle for another of mine.
Kwan Yin be praised!
The tassels are there
because it's the first time
I've taken her out of her box
for a happy occasion!
Robert, darling honey-bunny, I could not be happier nor more proud of you. This is the best best best best news, and I do expect to hear all about it and in the most minute detail imaginable, next week.
Hey, do you recall that night in Rushcutters Bay when you cooked me cracked pepper steak and how we were giggling that studying French at university should have come down to this? Well, let me tell you something HUGE! Studying French at university all those years ago has actually come down to THIS!!!
And it happened in Paris too, so you got to use your French afterall. And who knew when you were on your long and winding road you were actually on a straight trajectory from there to here!
And those folks who aren't Robert, if you wish to purchase your own "Me'a Kai" - THE BEST COOKBOOK IN THE WORLD!!!!! - here are the shopping details:
To order Me�a Kai online for worldwide delivery:http://www.fishpond.co.nz/
Wednesday, March 2, 2011
World Gourmand Awards! GO ROBERT!!!
Tonight in Paris it's the World Gourmand Awards.
We are watching this event with bated breath because, as you know, my old highschool bestie, Robert Oliver, has been nominated for Best Cookbook in the World for 2010.
We are watching this event with bated breath because, as you know, my old highschool bestie, Robert Oliver, has been nominated for Best Cookbook in the World for 2010.
My Kwan Yin
aiming her Abundance Jar
at Robert's beautiful book
By tonight we will know. So exciting!
Darling Boy's very nervous since he's up against the Big Boys, books like The New York Times Essential Cookbook so now humbly writes "This book is our competition at the GOURMAND AWARDS for BEST COOKBOOK IN THE WORLD 2010. I am in awe of this book, so won't feel miffed if we come 2nd or 3rd to this calibre! I mean, I want to win!!! But this book is a class act, all the way."
Poor honey. It's the Oscars and he's nominated against Meryl Streep.
Nonetheless, fingers crossed! Go ROBERT! Go Pacific Cuisine!
Yup, it's not just Robert on the line here. It's the entire Pacific. Like he says "To think that Me'a Kai is now out there "in this world" (of haut cuisine). Win or lose this award, Pacific Cuisine now has it's rightful place at the table with the French and Italians."
We always knew that our food ranked high on the scale of deliciousness, but now the rest of the world gets to know it too.
Pacific food has never got a good rap. Back in Brisbane, in the early 80s, I threw a dinner party where I served up entirely Pacific Cuisine. All my guests were supposedly Global Citizens, all of whom had widely traveled and knew a lot about food. I had kokoda as an entree, followed by crab palisami in meti (that's meti on the cover of Me'a Kai) with steamed daruka, dalo and okra, and ended with a soursop icecream with sticky Fijian pudding. Or that's what I prepared. And you wouldn't believe the trouble I went to to source these ingredients.
And what happened?
No one would eat a thing. When I brought out the kokoda, "Raw fish! You expect us to eat raw fish!" these sophisticated palates said, so that sensational dish went by the board. And when I brought out the palisami (which is so very difficult to get right), "It looks like what you find inside baby's nappy." some smart aleck said, and then all the jokes started about what baby had been eating.
Since I was, by then, so angry and hating them all so much, I stuck everything back in the fridge and ordered in a pizza instead. Yup, that was these dicks real idea of international cuisine!
And the next day I rang decent Fiji folk who already knew what a treat this all was and invited them to dinner instead. And, since all Pacific cuisine - always delicious - tastes even better after a night in the fridge, this second dinner party was a wild success.
I learned my lesson from that and never again tried to introduce Pacific Cuisine to anyone who didn't already know it is unbelievably and amazingly fabulous.
But that's what Robert has done with "Me'a Kai"; introduced the world to our amazing food, and now the world is rewarding him for it. Yes, we know, even being nominated is a very great honour but wouldn't it be fabulous to take top prize.
And if it does - if the folk with the best palates on earth give this food the ultimate thumbs up - I get to mentally give the finger to all those hideous dinner guests who were there at my table for my Great Pacific Dine-Out ... and life doesn't get any better than that!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
Posts
