Malick's masterpiece stumps some, leaves others amazed

FILM ... with Michael Dalton

The Tree of Life (PG)
Director: Terrence Malick
Stars: Brat Pitt, Sean Penn, Jessica Chastain, the Universe as we now don't know it
Rating: 4.5/5
138-minutes, now screening

Firmly dividing audiences and critics, and aggressively booed at The Cannes Film Festival, Terrence Malick’s controversial new film, The Tree of Life, comes on like a dream.

For the indolent, this appears to be a film about family life accompanied by unconnected imagery. But for those willing to meet Malick halfway — and to appreciate this exhilarating work, you must — his film is a thoughtfully designed examination of the world, our place in it, and what we are.
The primary focus here is a family with Brad Pitt (in a revelatory performance) and Jessica Chastain (who resembles a young Liv Ullman) as the parents. They have three sons, and much of the action is seen through the eyes of their son Jack (played in his mature years by a confused Sean Penn).
One of Malick’s many contentions is the mystery of human behaviour, which he investigates through the domination of a father over a son (paralleled early on by a staggeringly beautiful return to The Big Bang where we witness the conflict between two dinosaurs), and the growing resentment of the son. Can we ever understand why people behave the way they do? A broad question certainly, but one Malick answers with elegance.
There’s more, much more, as Malick plays host to their lives, mirroring their actions with the bigger picture and always with the finer details. This profound piece, full of imagery, and superbly scored by Alexandre Desplat and classic choral standards (Tavener and Gorecki among many others) drifts and floats, meandering along with little exposition. The Tree of Life is for those willing to surrender to this journey, and there’s never been one like it. Malick’s film moves slowly and it must, for The Tree of Life is some kind of a masterpiece, alive with beauty and truth.



Isabelle shines in hit-and-miss afffair

Special Treatment (MA15+)
Stars: Isabelle Huppert,Bouli Lanners
Rating: 3/5
96-minutes, now screening

Isabelle Huppert makes any film worthwhile; whether she’s tortured by personal demons (The Piano Teacher), introverted (8 Femmes), or obsessive (Home), Huppert brings her own unique style of performance to the table.

In Special Treatment, she plays Alice, a fetish prostitute ready to get out of the game. Running alongside her is Xavier (Bouli Lanners) a disillusioned, arrogant psychiatrist who, as the film begins, is ready to leave his wife due to, it would seem, general discontent.
This is a curious film, in search of a tone, and not as balanced as it should be. It hits the right notes and there’s a delicious, giggly sense of the forbidden as we watch Alice prepare for her various clients—one is turned on by sex in the middle of a crime scene, another by seeing her behave like a lollipop-loving nymph—yet there’s no real sense of foundation to the action. Neither character is happy, they need each other, but surprisingly, their eventual meetings don’t result in much, other than confusion and withdrawal.
Whether we visit a prostitute or a psychiatrist, the idea is to leave feeling better and this contrivance, which is certainly exciting fodder, isn’t handled with the sophistication it deserves.
Special Treatment tries to be arch and cool about the hooker lifestyle, tries to peel back the layers of Xavier’s dilemma — at one point he visits an exclusive sex club which overwhelms him hysterically — and tries to, with little explanation, bring Alice peace. But the final resolution is too trite, too easy, and too self-righteous.
Refusing to treat Alice, Xavier refers her to another doctor who works in a disabled centre, which is mawkishly used for a “things could be a lot worse” scenario. Neither Alice nor Xavier is a fool, but Special Treatment certainly makes them out to be.



The Binge


The Yes Men Fix the World (M) now available through Madman
Blades of Blood (M) now available through Icon
The Firm (MA15+) now available through Icon
Certified Copy (M) now available through Madman

Something of a mixed bag this issue, as I trawl through the DVDs I have for review. In The Yes Men Fix the World (above), self-appointed guardians of the oppressed and the weak, Andy Bichlbaum and Mike Bonanno, once more set out to take on irresponsible and unscrupulous corporations.
This latest film is more of the same from the guys who spawned The Yes Men in 2003, and while some of their stunts seem a little repetitive, and others prompt outright guffaws, the concept becomes more than a little disheartening when the same stunts and ridiculous corporate presentations begin being taken seriously by those who churn billions of dollars around the world—tick-shaped bio-survival suits that feed on global refugees to sustain their corporate wearers? Fantastic! Do you have a card?

In the big budget Blades of Blood, two sixteenth-century Korean statesmen pit their wits against each other in order to rally enough support to either collaborate with advancing Japanese invaders, or unite squabbling clans to defend their homeland. This compelling film certainly lives up to its title, drenching the sets and cast in treachery and tragedy.
Another kind of treachery comes to light in The Firm, as the unemployed Dom (Calum McNab) falls victim to the glamour of football violence in his local neighbourhood, particularly in the form of the charismatic thug, Bex (Paul Anderson), who is totally comfortable picking up wide-eyed sycophants and grinding them up in gang violence before spitting them out on the streets.

And finally, for something a little more urbane and cerebral, cinephiles will froth at the mouth over the DVD release of Abbas Kiarostami’s Certified Copy, starring Juliette Binoche and relative newcomer, William Shimell as two people who meet in a small Italian town, and proceed to role play some quite disturbing relationship scenarios—or are they role playing?

New De Bortoli pair blend well together

WINE ... with David Bray

De Bortoli first came to notice in the early 1980s with some wonderful, history-making botrytised white from their Riverina vineyards. Did very nicely out of it, too. They are still moving right along, not only putting out a fine pair of interesting blends, but announcing them in contemporary style.

Yep, it was an on-line launch, as near as your correspondent can recall to an electronically facilitated wine tasting. The two bottles had arrived by courier, along with instructions on how to use the “virtual platform’’. Easy it was, and at 10 in the morning up on my screen came Leanne De Bortoli and Steve Webber on the back deck of their Yarra Valley home, with bottles, monitor and cameras.
They talked, opened bottles, poured, sipped, did the things they do in old-fashioned wine tastings. Your reporter took a modest sip or two after a good sniff and didn’t spit. Other people were sending in comments.
Leanne kicked it off as follows: “In 1994, my family planted the newly named BellaRiva vineyard on the King River at the base of the Victorian snowfields. The 200-hectare vineyard is planted on sandstone and shale deposits washed down by the river over time. It is planted to Pinot Grigio, Vermentino, Sangiovese, Merlot, Tempranillo, Moscato Giallo as well as some more traditional varieties.
“Making seriously interesting wine for $16-18 per bottle sounds easy, but we find it extremely challenging. At this price, Australia has typically produced dried out dense red wine with lots of oak, which just doesn’t cut the mustard in the food stakes. And we have done to death both the fuller styles of white wine at one end of the scale and the very neutral styles at the other.
“Hence, Steve and I have been dreaming about some grown-up blends that are dry, savoury, interesting and proudly medium-bodied in both white and red format. The wines are more about style than variety. The white blend is light, faintly aromatic, dry and textural; the red blend bright, rustic and savoury. We think both are seriously delicious!”
Winemaker Steve got to the details, starting with the 2010 BellaRiva Pinot Grigio Vermentino (below): “In our vineyards we think this blend works. Grigio doesn’t have much flavour but is dry, vinous, thirst- quenching while Vermentino, which we have completely fallen for, is faintly aromatic, medium bodied and gives real interest to white wine. We could have used Malvasia and /or Fiano for a similar flavour profile.
And on the actual winemaking: “Grapes are both whole bunch pressed as well as crushed to give a range of phenolics for complexity and texture. The juice is allowed to ferment in used French oak casks as well as some higher solids tank fermentation. Lees are stirred regularly until final assembling of the blend.”
And on its taste: “Light straw in colour with a green edge. Complex, slightly nutty, faintly aromatic, fresh. Pear like fruit with nutty undertones. Clean but good texture and complexity, quite fine, almost salty, gluggable. : Alc/Vol: 12.5 per cent.
“For 2009 BellaRiva Sangiovese Merlot (above right), we admire the rusticity of Sangiovese. It is the king of peasant wine – light to medium bodied, savoury, slightly naughty, dry and can be drunk as ‘new’ wine or lovely as semi mature red (3-5 years). Blend in a bit of Merlot that has more Italianate than standard ‘right bank’ characters and you have something pretty interesting. Fruit is hand-picked and fermented in 15T static fermenters for 10-12 days. The fruit is then pressed, settled and matured in used oak casks for 10 months before bottling. Some wine is retained in tank for freshness."
And for its taste: “Red with good garnet edge. Complex, slightly rustic earthy aromas, autumnal, brooding. Savoury palate with good texture and length. Chalky tannins. Dreaming pasta! Alc/Vol: 13.5 per cent”


All your reporter can add is that they went down very nicely indeed later in the day.
But back to the King Valley, which is yielding some of the more interesting new wines on the Australian market.
To refresh your memory, it’s in the hills of north-east Victoria, south of Wangaratta, on the way to major Victorian snow fields. Tourist publicity tells us it has a history which features bushrangers and Chinese and Italian immigrants.
The Chinese came from the Goldfields in the mid-1800s as market gardeners, tobacco growers and merchants. The Italian followed in the 1940s and 50s, grew tobacco for a while but soon realised they would do better with European wine grapes.
There are some 25 wineries here at last count. Best known are two of our country’s strongest and most innovative family-owned wine producers, Brown Brothers of Milawa and De Bortoli, which is where we came in.

MoB about to hit the roof

FROM MY CORNER .... with Ann Brunswick

You’ve probably all seen the recent media coverage showing that work is progressing apace on the $200 million restoration of our City Hall. One of the project's outcomes will be to restore the ground floor windows on the building's Ann Street side that were covered up when the Museum of Brisbane was established a few years back.

Once the refurbishment work is finished, those inside the building will again be able to see the outside world through the windows fronting King George Square and lining the Ann Street wall. So where will that leave the museum?
Well, my spies at City Hall tell me the MoB is earmarked to return to the upgraded City Hall in a new position.
Apparently plans are afoot to site an expanded MoB on the building's roof, which the City Hall kindergarten once occupied.

***
Somebody working in the state public sector sent me a copy of an advertisement for a job vacancy in the Department of Transport. Why they would do that is beyond me. They know perfectly well how happy I am at The Indie and how fat my salary package is.
The editor even sweetened the deal at our last contract negotiations by throwing in a free full membership for me at Tattersall’s Club. So that’s where you'll find me at lunchtime and most of the afternoon if you are keen to track me down.
Applications closed recently so it is too late for you to apply. Nevertheless, for your information here are a couple of paragraphs from the ad in question:
“The Department of Transport and Main Roads is seeking an accomplished Engagement and Communication Strategist (A08) to build stakeholder focus knowledge and capability for its People and Capability Division. The primary responsibilities of the Engagement and Communication Strategist are to implement People and Capability Division's stakeholder focus strategy:
• developing, delivering and evaluating cost-effective activities to embed a stakeholder focussed culture
• being a key source of specialist knowledge and authoritative advice about stakeholder focus; and
• supporting divisional staff in conducting engagement and communication activities to achieve the best possible business outcomes for the division and its stakeholders."
Does anyone out there have any idea what this job is all about? Did you make sense of any of it?
For your information, an AO8 position in the state public service attracts a salary of somewhere between almost $98,000 and more than $103,000.
Now, just bear in mind that the recently delivered 2011-12 State Budget contained overall spending initiatives totalling more than $43 billion.
Of that amount, almost $17 billion is for public service wages. Now, leaving aside the cost of paying our more useful public employees – nurses, teachers, police officers, ambos and the like – there must be a lot of room for cutting that wages bill by giving the pink slip to people such as the boffin who wrote the job description cited in the previous item.

Valley needs 'Giulani makeover'

NEWS

Inner-city Councillor David Hinchliffe wants former New York Mayor Rudi Giuliani to undertake a tour of Fortitude Valley and give his views on ways of reviving the Valley heart.

Mr Giuliani is in Brisbane as guest speaker at the Asia Pacfiic Cities Summit at the Convention Centre.
“Mayor Giuliani was able to bring back Times Square from the doldrums to its current position as the ‘Crossroads of the World’”, said Cr Hinchliffe, who represents Central Ward.
“His philosophy of ‘no broken windows’ could do the same to the Valley”.
Cr Hinchliffe, whose ward office is in the heart of the Valley's business area, said the Valley suffered from not having one authority with clear powers over crime and grime.
“The sooner Council and State resolve to have the one authority which speaks with the one voice and has complete say over what happens in the Valley the sooner the Valley will be able to get its act together. There are some property owners who are simply holding the Valley back.
“If properties look unloved as many properties in the Valley do, then it sends the wrong message to everyone else in that community.
“The state says council has the power to act and the council says it doesn’t have the power to take on property owners.
“We need to be able to go into the Valley with a bag of carrots and sticks – carrots to provide incentives to property owners to do the right thing and sticks to deal with those property owners who frankly don’t give a damn,” Cr Hinchliffe said.
At this morning’s session of the Asia Pacific Cities Summit, Giuliani spoke about his philosophy of making sure all property owners looked after their buildings “and that included fixing all the broken windows” as a way of building confidence in communities.
Cr Hinchliffe said: “There are a number of major companies interested in investing in places like the TCB building in the Valley, but the state of properties between the train station and the Mall is a big drawback to investment."

Residents angry over park plan silence

NEWS

By Joe Hinchliffe

Telco giant Optus appears poised to build infrastructure on a much-loved near-city park – and local residents are angry that their prized bushland is being threatened by privatisation without the community so much as being told, let alone asked.

Residents were stunned last week by the appearance of four leasing pegs staked into Teneriffe Park, directly next to the park’s entrance on Teneriffe Drive. With little to no feedback since, they fear they may also be powerless to stop the project. In an area of the inner city where high property values make every square metre of land a prized commodity, the park’s three hectares of native bushland provide a sanctuary for both wildlife and for locals, who regularly gather to use the barbecue and playground. It has been lovingly nurtured and protected by community groups for decades and its barbecue and play equipment are regular gathering points for locals.
Teneriffe Bushcare Group meets regularly to regenerate the diverse ecosystems, including dry rainforest, found within the park, and its spokesperson Rodney Chambers (pictured) objects to the fact that locals have been excluded from the discussion. “The issue here is the rudeness of Optus,” said Mr Chambers, a member of the volunteer organisation since its foundation more than 20 years ago.
“They have not consulted anyone and when you ask them what’s going on, they say that they have no plans, they are only in discussions. But they have surveyors out staking out the land, so there is something going on,” he said.
The group and other residents have banded together to get to the bottom of the mystery, concerned that decades of work are to be undone by the development. But they say that until now Brisbane City Council’s Local Asset Service (LAS), which manages local parks, has been unable to satisfactorily explain the presence of the pegs.
Recent inquiries to council have revealed only that the pegs are a part of a proposed piece of infrastructure by mobile phone provider Optus which has also requested that Energex upgrade and relocate an existing streetlight so that it can attach antennas on top of the pole. The development also includes the construction of a shelter area to house electronic transmitters on the park itself.
Although Optus has already staked out a 2m by 3.5m plot of land and removed branches from the area, it has not followed any of the guidelines set out for development on council property, locals claim. The first step requires that the developers approach council’s City Property and Leasing department for approval.
A member of the department has said it is unaware of the Optus proposal and that it was “completely inappropriate” for the mobile company to stake out the area at this point. This should be followed by community consultation. But so far locals have been largely left in the dark.
So far Optus has not responded to any of the community’s inquiries about the details and some of the group are pessimistic about the chances of standing up to the telecommunications giant.
“I’ve looked into the Telecommunications Act,” said long-term resident Peter Milne, “and if they decide to go ahead we can’t stop them.” The Act, passed in 1997 by the Howard Government, included a clause that allowed the construction of telecommunications infrastructure that was deemed “low impact” to proceed without the approval of council or community consultation. The Act stipulated however that even low-impact development had an obligation to “protect the environment” including, amongst others, “eco-systems, people and communities.”
Given the unique nature of this inner city bushland and its significance for the local community there does appear to be grounds on which to challenge the development.
Indeed Council’s City and Property Branch has disputed the classification of the development as being of low impact, which would force Optus to seek council and community approval. Robert Hugall, an electrical engineer and Teneriffe local, agrees with the council that the development would have a significant impact on the neighbourhood. “Even the basic monopoles come with large cabinets that will be completely inappropriate for this remanent of inner-city bushland that local residents have fought hard to maintain and worked hard to regenerate,” he said.
As locals struggle to piece together the facts on what is happening to their community icon, some are willing to work with Optus to make the development genuinely “low impact.” But with the telecommunications giant so far not even deigning a response, they are left with few options.
“I’m not a diehard protestor, said Mr Chambers, “but we've fought these things in the past.”

• Optus had not responded to a request for an interview as this issue of The Independent went to press.

Action at last on Valley grot spot... but is it anywhere near enough

NEWS

Axed Valley Place Manager Greg Scroope enjoyed a partial win in his last days on the job recently — his stinging rebuke to one of the Valley’s leading property owners was apparently the catalyst for forcing some cleaning and repair work on one of the suburb’s worst grot spots –- the walkway from Valley Metro to Wickham Street.

In a email to local stakeholders before his departure, Mr Scroope lamented an impasse that “allows a landowner to completely disregard normal standards of safety, health and amenity”.
Mr Scroope’s email came two days before his job was terminated by City Council and other Valley Place staff relocated to other council duties, a decision attacked by local councillor David Hinchliffe.
In his email to Cr Hinchliffe, state MP Grace Grace, the Valley Chamber of Commerce, Brisbane Lifestyle Committee Council chair Geraldine Knapp, Valley Malls Advisory Committee chair Phil DiBella and other stakeholders, Mr Scroope said he had met 10 days earlier with property owner Jack Moc who “owns the building that holds Cafe One and who has the administrative and management rights for the area between the air bridge linking McWhirter’s through to the Valley Metro Shopping Centre”.
“I have been trying for months to encourage Jack into cleaning up this property. I had an agreement with Jack that he would clean up his premises subject to the ‘significant and substantial mounting pressure’ of a range of stakeholders on this property. In the time provided an agreed to by Jack Moc, he only complied with half of one of the nine requests made of him.
“Given that I’m only in council for another two days, there is limited opportunity for me to do anything more with regard to achieving the outcome we are all looking for. I can I suggest that the necessary and relevant state council officers will come together shortly to look at this property in a forensic way.”
In an email to Mr Moc on Monday 30 May, he wrote: “Jack I visited the arcade this afternoon and it is still as dirty as ever. Apart from the application of some paint to the escalator walls the place is the same. It should be noted that both escalators were not functioning when I was there.
“Jack, when I came to see you two weeks ago, I came to give you some early advise (sic) to clean the place because of the ‘substantial mounting pressure’ on the owners of this property. That has not gone away and I again suggest you complete the work in the next day or two.”
But in a followup email on his second last day Mr Scroope told stakeholders: “There looks to have been more work done overnight. The floor in the Mt Cathy property [Walton’s portion] has been mopped and swept but still shows signs of substantial inground dirt. Now it just looks as dirty as the rest of the Moc property which has to be said is an improvement. Floor tiles are still missing. Large graffiti is still evident in the Mt Cathy property walls.
“Dirty ceiling tiles have been painted over so expect them to start peeling within months. Single flouro lights have been installed where doubles are required.
“Neither of the escalators are working.”
An inspection by The Independent earlier this week revealed that most of the 14 floor tiles that had been replaced already need to be relaid. Four of the white tiles have already broken up and are now piled in a corner. Other tiles wobble freely, with their grouting having separated from the floor itself. Many light tubes are still missing. The Wickham Street end owned by Mr Moc has had a decent makeover, with the escalator walls painted, lights replaced and some redundant signs removed. Councillor Hinchliffe said closing of the Place Management Project for the Valley was a “very retrograde step in the campaign to clean up the area”.
The decision had been made without consultation or reference with him as local councillor or with the local Valley business community.
He told Cr Geraldine Knapp by email: “I am very disappointed that Greg Scroope’s role as Place Manager for the Valley has now been axed. Greg has been great and the axing of his job has come as a shock to the local community. “Is there any possibility of revising that decision?”








Since the picture at the far right was taken, the white tile at top left has joined the pile of discared and broken tiles in the corner of the walkway.

Time to act on those ‘who don’t give a rats’

NEWS

Long-serving city councillor David Hinchliffe believes Fortitude Valley locals are “reaching boiling point” over property owners who have let their premises run down. He’s also expressed his frustration over the apparent inability of authorities at various levels of government to bring these owners to task.

In an email to Brisbane Lifestyle Committee chairperson Geraldine Knapp, Cr Hinchliffe wrote: “I think everyone in the Valley is reaching boiling point over the state of a number of premises and the apparent inability that authorities have to take strong, decisive and if necessary punitive action to deal with ‘difficult’ property owners who frankly don't give a ‘rat’s’ about the state of their properties.
“I take it you’ve been briefed about the on-going efforts to try to clean up certain properties owned by ‘recalcitrant’ owners who keep resisting the efforts of the council, the Valley Chamber of Commerce, myself, the media and the public to clean up their premises.
“The issue referred to in the email below from Greg Scroope is the state of the property which for many arriving in the Valley is their introduction to area. It is the arcade from the Valley Metro train stations through the building and across the air-bridge to McWhirters. It is an utter disgrace and it has been getting progressively worse over the last six months. I encourage you to visit and see for yourself.
“Of course, it is also a privately owned space, so the issue arises what powers council has to take action.
“I have been asking council for a ruling on whether council does have the power to make property owners in the Valley clean up filthy premises. That power exists for the front of properties fronting the malls and that power is applied where it is needed. But the question arises whether the power exists elsewhere. Through Grace Grace MP, I’ve received advice from the State Government that the council does have such power. However, officers have been telling me that that is not the case either under the Building or Public Health legislation. I have raised this at the recent Valley Malls Committee meeting and asked for confirmation. We do need clarity about this.
“Can you please obtain advice whether such power is available to council to fine owners who do not clean up filthy premises? If council does not have the power, then we need to ask the state to change the legislation. I have put this proposal forward before. When will there be an answer please?”

Fresh fruit and vegies ‘always a family option’

NEWS

Shop wisely and buy produce in good supply at a fair price and no Queensland family should be forced to forgo fresh fruit and vegetables as part of their regular diet.

That’s the advice from McWhirters Farmers Markets owner Nick Criticos (pictured) in response to a recent mainstream media article that suggested Queenslanders were being forced to turn to tinned fruit and vegetables as soaring prices in the wake of recent cyclone and flood disasters pushed fresh produce prices supposedly out of reach. The recent Sunday Mail article claimed retailers were applying up to 300 per cent markups on some lines.
Under the heading “Buyers Get the Rough End!” the article gave one example where a farmer had found pineapples being sold at a small fruit shop for 14 times the farmgate price.
Mr Criticos who has operated in the Valley for more than two decades has one simple suggestion to anyone confronted with outlets that are hitting shoppers with anywhere near 300 per cent markups: “Don’t buy them!”
Mr Criticos said wise shoppers needed to understand the industry’s basic rule of supply and demand and adjust their shopping patterns accordingly.
“It’s the nature of the industry. Crops fail. Crops get damaged. Don’t go into a fruit and vegetable store with a set notion that you must have one particular product. Use the alternatives.
“For example, a lot of vegetables are up in price at the moment because of the cold. Wait until supplies improve and prices come down.”
Mr Criticos said a follow-up article in the Courier-Mail some days later had listed a number of produce markets in south-east Queensland where shoppers could supposedly get a good deal on their fruit and vegies.
“Carrots up at the city markets today were $2.50 a kilo. I have the same quality for $1.50. They were selling broccoli for $8 a kilo; we are at $4.
“And my prices includes all the labour and costs associated with running a permanent fruit and vegetable market, not paying a small fee to set up an open-air stall.
“We always apply a fair markup on our cost price. We are here to look after our customers.”

‘Little pieces’ add up to a competition win

By Suzannah Thomsett
Photo: Rod Pilbeam

New Farm design student Lauren Sisson is very pleased that her initial success in the Teneriffe Festival design competition means the opportunity to do still more work on her branding design.

Ms Sisson (pictured) works one day a week at Basis Agency to refine and apply her original design to all of the festival’s branding opportunities.
“At [Basis Agency] I’m extending upon the original, revisiting parts of it, preparing it for additional applications such as sponsorship – the more formal side of things, not just all the pretty graphics,” Ms Sisson said.
The 19-year-old is only weeks from graduating from Design College Australia with an Advanced Diploma in Graphic Design, and has lived in New Farm for about a year. Ms Sisson says for her design she wanted to look at what suited Teneriffe as she saw it.
“It’s a friendly and light-hearted place, and it’s a celebratory festival,” she said. “I wanted to capture the eclectic nature of Teneriffe … it’s about all the little pieces coming together.
“I guess the main prize for me will be seeing my design everywhere at the festival when I’m finished.”
Teneriffe Festival’s organisers say there were more than 30 entries in their design competition, although Ms Sisson only knew of the 10 in her class.
“The project went on for a full term, about eight to nine weeks, and we worked on it at the college about once or twice a week,” Ms Sisson said.
“Of course, I put lots in outside of college, too.” Ms Sisson says that after she graduates, she would like to do graphic design work for a magazine or other editorial publication.
The Teneriffe Festival is on Saturday 2 July and will feature: a farmers, craft and fashion market; fashion parades; outdoor movie screenings; sheep shearing; and historical displays and bus tours, among other attractions.

• For more information, visit http://www.teneriffefestival.org/.

‘Use sluggish market to your advantage’

PROPERTY News

With reduced competition forcing property prices down and rents increasing in many regions across Australia, now is the perfect time for first-home buyers to snap up a bargain before investors do, according to PRDnationwide.

Activity in the housing market has dropped by as much as 55 per cent over just 12 months in some capital cities according to PRDnationwide, leading to conditions favouring first-home buyers, with more properties for sale and discounted asking prices. “It’s an extremely good time to invest,” says Adam Gray (pictured) from PRDnationwide New Farm.
“I believe that house prices will be higher next year than this year so now is the opportunity.” He encourages first-home buyers who are not currently in the position to purchase to buy with a friend or relative.
“They can do this as tenants in common so they own a certain percentage of the property,” he said.
Mr Gray also suggests first-home buyers consider buying a studio apartment. “Although they are not very big, they could be a great stepping stone for an individual to get onto the property ladder.”
Gary Roden of PRDnationwide Kallangur to Brisbane’s north, said buyers can afford a first home if they are serious about it and set a plan. “For a young couple it is important to get your priorities right. Both parties should retain their employment and forget about starting a family for at least three years,” he says.
“The cost of living is so high it prevents the single person from entering to market unless they have a high paid job. “This is an excellent time for buyers to save a deposit – in previous years from 2000 to 2004 a person could not save quick enough to beat the rising price of real estate.”
Mr Roden says potential homebuyers should stop trying to compete with friends and purchase a home in their price bracket. “Most first-home buyers have many friends that they unconsciously compete with,” he says.
“If people feel like they will never get to purchase a property, then in most cases they won’t. It is all to do with attitude and good planning. “I do not believe property prices will drop much lower due to our strong economy and high employment so the best time to start saving is now.”
He warns against relying on government hand-outs or access to “easy money”.


Tips on getting onto the property ladder

• Work out your budget before you go house hunting
• Stop trying to compete with friends and purchase a home in your price bracket
• Buy with a friend or relative.
• Rent out spare rooms
• Downgrade your expectations and buy a smaller property than you had first planned
• To save for a deposit try paying more rent to your agent or parents than necessary and ask them to save it for you.
• Borrow the deposit from parents or ask them to set up a small loan against their own home to fund the deposit
• Some developers can help to contribute to the deposit by way of a rebate
• Get a high paying job and delay family plans while saving for a deposit.

Good designs flood in

PROPERTY News

Housing design for flood-affected areas has received a boost with the announcement of a winning design of a unique architectural competition aimed at providing new designs for flood-resistant homes.

Archicentre Queensland manager Ian Agnew said the LJ Hooker flood design competition co-sponsored by LJ Hooker, The Future Housing Taskforce and Archicentre had been won by the Queensland- based Dion Seminara Architecture from 12 new designs by local residential architects.
Mr Agnew said the completion highlighted the important and vital role of architects in solving a major problem of flood prone areas and housing affordability through innovative design. Archicentre, which provided the community with information in dealing with homes after the floods, believes the design competition provided valuable opportunities to look at safer better ways to rebuild homes in flood prone areas. “Given the number of homes at risk in this country, this is literally a $63 billion problem,” said L J Hooker CEO L. Janusz Hooker, who was one of the judges.
“The architects in this competition have set new standards in flood-safe home design.”
Up to $63 billion of existing residential buildings, including as many as 247,600 individual buildings, are potentially at risk of inundation in Australia this century, according to Climate Change Risks to Australia’s Coast, published by the Australian Department of Climate Change.
The winning concept home (pictured above) designed by Dion Seminara Architecture is to be built in a controlled environment, with the home being transported to the site in two parts and connected down the centre. This means the building construction can be controlled and cost limited where possible. Such an approach also allows for mass construction.
\Winning architect Dion Seminara said: “One of the main aims of the design was to provide for an easy clean up after the flood with a flexible multipurpose use of the ground level for vehicles or storage. The concept home has a flood clearance level of 4.5 metres to the first floor.
“This zone features materials and finishes which can be hosed down without damage. The design itself allows the water to flow through the building without placing pressure on the structure.
“The concept home is built on posts making it suitable for any sloping site and has the flexibility to be expanded through interlocking pavilion extensions.” Mr Seminara said the environmentally friendly design features lightweight building materials and the concept home fits into both urban and bush environment.
Mr Agnew said all entries were of a high quality and fulfilled the entry criteria that required each submission to:
• Successfully integrate flood resistant, energy efficient and sustainable design.
• Meet or provide a well-substantiated challenge to requirements set by Building Code of Australia and local and statutory authorities.
• Provide three bedrooms and not exceed 220 square metres in size.
• Provide under cover accommodation for two cars.
• Be able to be constructed on a site with up to a 1:4 slope.
• Be built from 80 per cent lightweight materials.
• Have a construction budget not exceeding $200,000, excluding consultants' and authorities' fees and permits, site preparation costs, service connections, site allowances and landscape works.

Building boost grant applauded

PROPERTY News

The new $140 million “Building Boost” grant scheme, announced as part of the state government’s 2011-2012 State Budget is a kick-start measure desperately needed by Queensland’s building industry, says the Master Builders, Queensland’s peak body for housing and construction.
Master Builders executive director Graham Cuthbert said Master Builders welcomed the decision to introduce a $10,000 incentive for all consumers building a new home in Queensland. “By announcing this new grant as part of the 2011-2012 State Budget, the government is recognising the vital role the building industry plays as a key driver of Queensland’s economy.
“For some time now, we have been calling for measures to boost our ailing industry, which has been struggling with the lowest activity levels in ten years. This announcement demonstrates the government’s commitment to providing immediate measures that will return the building industry to a more competitive state.
“We anticipate that this grant will provide a short-term boost in new home construction that our industry so desperately needs. And increased activity brings job creation – but not only jobs onsite. We know that for every job created onsite, a further five jobs are created throughout the supply chain.
“Master Builders identified a number of priority areas for the building and construction industry in our pre-budget recommendations, which have also been addressed in [the] State Budget.
“The government has announced a significant $15 billion capital works expenditure program that will help to ensure activity levels do not decrease further, particularly with the wind down of federal programs, such as the Building Education Revolution.
“Our call for financial incentives for businesses to retain apprentices has also been heard, with payroll tax concessions for apprentices, which should help to keep apprentices in work and ensure that when our industry does return to boom times, we are not faced with a skills shortage. “While the removal of previous stamp duty concessions is a blow, unfortunately tough decisions must be made during tough times. Overall, Master Builders is very pleased that the building and construction industry is being considered a top priority in the 2011-2012 State Budget for kick starting Queensland’s economy.”


... but stamp duty rise will ‘flatten market’

The decision in the Budget by the State Government to remove the stamp duty home concession will flatten the struggling Queensland residential property market and cost homebuyers thousands of dollars, the Real Estate Institute of Queensland (REIQ) believes.

The government announced that from 1 August the concession which non-first home buyers receive when buying a new or established home as their principal place of residence will be removed. For a median-priced house in Brisbane, homebuyers will now be hit with more than $15,000 in stamp duty– an increase of more than $7,000. First home buyer stamp duty concessions will remain for homes up to $500,000.
The government also announced a $10,000 grant for new-home builds. The Queensland Building Boost grant will be available for all people building, or buying, a new-build home or unit priced up to $600,000 between 1 August 2011 and 31 January 2012. REIQ chairman Pamela Bennett said while any incentive to increase housing supply and create jobs in the construction sector was a positive for the economy, the removal of the stamp duty concession for non-first home buyers will wreck havoc on the Queensland property market. About 60 per cent of all dwellings financed in Queensland in April were to non-first home buyers.
“The market is already the lowest it has been in many years and today’s announcement will just make it worse,” she said. “The government is obviously trying to fill the financial void that has been left by the weak property market, and the subsequent lower stamp duty receipts given the marked reduction in property sales over the past 18 months. “A better way to stimulate the economy would have been to provide financial incentives for all buyers of all types of properties which in turn would have increased activity and therefore helped the government’s bottom-line."
According to the REIQ, the $10,000 grant for new-builds might provide a much-needed shot in the arm for the building sector but its value will be greatly diminished by the increased rates of stamp duty that non-first home buyers will have to pay. It is also unlikely to assist more first home buyers into the market.
“There has been a huge reduction in first home buyer activity over the past year and this grant is unlikely to change that state of affairs to any significant degree,” she said.
“While the grant means first-timers will be able to access $17,000, as well as stamp duty concessions, purchasing a new-build home or unit continues to be out of the financial reach of most prospective homeowners.”

Unit market eases: REIQ

PROPERTY residential

The Queensland unit and townhouse market has not been immune from this year’s natural disasters and patchy economic conditions, the Real Estate Institute of Queensland (REIQ) says.

The REIQ’s March quarter Queensland market monitor report shows that median unit and townhouse prices eased across much of south-east Queensland during the first three months of 2011. While a number of regional centres bucked this trend to record positive growth, this was mainly due to the construction of new unit or townhouse developments, or the sale of more expensive existing stock, in these areas over the period. The number of preliminary unit and townhouse sales in Queensland decreased 15 per cent over the March quarter.
“The unit and townhouse market has been impacted by lower numbers of first-home buyers and investors, who are the type of buyers usually the most interested in this more affordable segment of the market,” REIQ chairman Pamela Bennett said.
“First-home buyers continue to languish at about 15 per cent of the Queensland residential property market, while investors appear to have adopted a wait-and-see approach until a clearer picture emerges on interest rates and the economy. “The prestige market is also struggling with the number of preliminary sales of units and townhouses for more than $1 million across Queensland dropping about 40 per cent compared to the December quarter.”
The median unit and townhouse price in Brisbane eased 1.4 per cent to $395,000 over the quarter. On the Gold and Sunshine coasts, the median unit price decreased 2.7 per cent to $355,000 and 2.1 per cent to $350,000 respectively.
“REIQ agents continue to report a significant drop in demand compared to the same period last year, but this is creating wonderful opportunities for buyers with many sellers having to be very realistic about what price they can achieve in the current conditions if they want to make a sale,” Ms Bennett said.
Positive median price growth was recorded for the Toowoomba, the Fraser Coast, Rockhampton and Townsville local government areas over the March quarter. Over the period, there was an increase in sales in higher-priced stock in Toowoomba and the Fraser Coast which pushed up the median sale price.
Rockhampton and Townsville both recorded median price increases of 4.5 per cent over the period. As Rockhampton’s unit market continues to be quite small, this result was due to higher priced unit sales in Yeppoon, while sales in new waterfront developments in North Ward and South Townsville have underpinned that region’s result over the quarter.

Rupe’s troops target our dear old Aunty

FROM MY CORNER ... with Ann Brunswick

In recent weeks those in charge of American media mogul Rupert Murdoch’s national broadsheet The Australian appeared to have stepped up their ongoing campaign to destroy our national broadcaster, the ABC. The wizards of the weekday Oz and its sister publication The Weekend Australian have been looking for any excuse to bag the ABC as part of what seems to be a blatant effort to spook it out of media markets that the Dirty Digger wants all to himself.

In its May 28-29 edition The Weekend Australian’s Chris Kenny had a lengthy piece that recited News Limited’s usual complaints about the ABC – that it is elitist, promotes leftish causes, gives right wingers a hard time, is unaccountable for its biased coverage, and should therefore not be the recipient of taxpayer funds. It was the usual stuff we have come to expect from Rupe’s troops.
As part of his item, Mr Kenny described the now-departed host of The 7.30 Report, Kerry O’Brien as a “former Whitlam staff member”. Well, of course that is a fact. But let us stop to consider that Mr Kenny is a former chief of staff to former federal Liberal Party leader, Malcolm Turnbull. He was also chief of staff to former Howard government foreign minister Alexander Downer. He also has served in senior roles in Liberal state governments in South Australia.
Now, that is all fair enough. It would be wrong to suggest a professional journalist like Mr Kenny would now act as a blatant promoter of the Liberal Party’s cause. So why was Mr O’Brien described as if he spends all day singing The Internationale, The East is Red, and the It’s Time jingle just because he worked for a Labor Party government – one that left office almost 36 years ago!
In the same edition of The Weekend Australian another story lambasted the ABC for daring to have plans to produce and screen a documentary on David Hicks, the young chap who got involved with terrorists and confessed to charges laid by the US government during his stay in the notorious Guantanamo Bay military prison in Cuba where he claimed to have been tortured and left on the brink of suicide.
Apparently as far as The Oz is concerned that is not fertile ground for a doco. Supposedly it’s just another waste of taxpayers’ funds by those commos – if not terrorists – at the ABC. The Australian of 3 June attacked what it described as “cross-promotion” on ABC Radio’s morning program in Sydney.
Apparently the show’s host Deborah Cameron spent a good slice of time discussing comic actor Chris Lilley’s Angry Boys series now screening on ABC TV. Oh dear, how dare she discuss a popular TV show! Even from a distance it did not seem to be cross-promotion in the true sense of the term.
It was a pretty hollow and petty criticism, especially when you consider News Limited publications wrote the book on cross-promotion. The Weekend Australian of 4-5 June carried a yarn getting stuck into Sydney ABC Radio breakfast announcer Adam Spencer because he dared to make some laudatory remarks about the quality of journalism in the Fairfax publication, the Australian Financial Review. All of these attacks on the ABC have one aim in mind – to drive it out of markets that Rupert, as usual, wants all to himself. He is facing declining circulations for his hard-copy newspapers and at the same time is confronting the problem that people surfing the internet do not want to pay for online content.
That is not a problem for a publicly funded organisation such as the ABC, so Rupert wants to bully it into vacating the field or a big part of it in the hope he can turn a quid selling the type of content the ABC now offers everyone free.

***

Speaking of our national broadcaster, it was somewhat annoying to see and hear a recent promotion for the 1982 US movie Come Back to the Five and Dime, Jimmy Dean, Jimmy Dean that screened on ABC 2.

It said the movie starred “Oscar winner” Cher and “Oscar winner” Kathy Bates. The promo voiceover added that the movie also starred Karen Black who wasn’t an Oscar winner. She did, however, get nominated for her role in the 1970 flick Five Easy Pieces. It seemed odd to me that the “Oscar winner” tag was bandied about so freely, give Cher’s award was for her appearance in the 1987 movie Moonstruck and Ms Bates won hers for the 1990 film Misery. Both were awarded years after director, the late Robert Altman, had CDTTFADJDJD in the can.


Has journalism got a future?

There was some controversy recently when the Fairfax media group announced a round of proposed sackings to improve its bottom line and which included a large number of its sub-editors. Fairfax plans to outsource the work to an outfit called Pagemasters that already sub-edits a range of publications on a fee-for-service basis.

Rupert Murdoch’s News Limited has its own in-house version of Pagemasters through the creation of dedicated hubs where subs work on a variety of the group’s publications, not just a single newspaper. But even without outsourcing the work, Rupert’s Weekend Australian did manage to almost duplicate two headlines within two pages of each other in its motoring section.

A champagne worth exploring

WINE ...with David Bray

Champagne. Your reporter is in two minds, at least, about it. I enjoy the good stuff (which I have tasted rarely since I retired from writing about wine for the daily paper). I believe it tends to be expensive for what it delivers to most people, many of whom don’t particularly care for it.

It is often wasted by extravert newly rich people who spend hundreds and thousands on the most expensive bubbles, seduced by the well-known names on the label. I am well aware that people possessed of superb palates and eminent commonsense adore Champagne. Our Masters of Wine and Bernadette O’Shea for example. I have enjoyed learning from them in formal classes and informal tastings. Yet if today you were to offer me one bottle of the top fizz or a case of mid-price red, I would go for the latter.
All of which brings me to the point. We all recognise perhaps a dozen or more Champagne houses. There are scores more in that lovely part of France from which the drink legally and exclusively derives its name. (Well the Europeans are trying the enforce that exclusive bit but a major publication recently informed us that a particular brand of Champagne is produced in India.)
Here’s a new one, and it comes with a link, slight but real, to Australia’s history.
The importers (Woolworths) describe Duperrey Premier Cru Champagne brut nv as the product of a premium private label. It is made exclusively by La Maison G.H. Martel & Cie, established in 1869, in Epernay.
The blurb tells us “this exclusive Champagne is named after the famous French explorer, Louis Isadore Duperrey (1786-1865), who circumnavigated the globe in his ship, Coquille. In his travels, Duperrey mapped much of southern Australia and Tasmania. Just as Duperrey sailed over the waters from France to us long ago, so does this fine Champagne, named in tribute to him”.
There’s more: “This charismatic and finely tuned Champagne is an assemblage of 60 per cent chardonnay and 40 per cent pinot noir. The grapes are picked exclusively from Premier Cru vineyards. Chef de cave and oenologist, Christophe Rapeneau presides over the Gallo-Roman ‘crayères’ (chalk cellars that are up to 22 metres in depth), and combines traditional winemaking methods with modern technology to produce this beautifully balanced Champagne.”
Champagne Duperrey Premier Cru Brut NV has 12 per cent alcohol, is pale yellow with a fine and persistent bead and creamy mousse, as you would expect of the real thing.
Back to the blurb: “The aromas evolving are both subtle and complex, showing hints of white flowers, dried apricot, vanilla, hazelnuts and warm bread. The palate is fresh and full flavoured with a crisp dry finish. It shows fine balance between the elegance of the chardonnay and the generosity of the pinot noir. The palate lingers, with floral, dried fruit and brioche notes. A complex and persistent Champagne.” Inspired writing guys.
I like the wine. It comes at a fair price, between $45 and $50, depending on the outlet. If you are serving champagne, best do it in a flute –long stem with a tall, narrow bowl, thin sides.
The flat coupe which may still be found in lesser establishments just won’t do the job. Best serving temperature is 7 to 9 degrees. Open bottle by holding the cork and rotating the bottle at an angle.
Finally, and I know you have been waiting for this bit – “a sabre can be used to open a Champagne bottle with great ceremony. This technique is called sabrage”. Thank you, Wikipedia.

Copped a good bellylaugh at this one!

THEATRE .... Review: Phillip Bate

When Even Stevens won the 1962 Melbourne Cup he was a pronounced favourite at 3/1. Almost 50 years on, Getting Even with Stephen (GEWS) at the Stage Door Dinner Theatre at Bowen Hills proved an even more pronounced favourite with theatre patrons. It’s truly spooky! I recently saw Noel Coward’s witty comedy Blithe Spirit put on by Centenary Players at Chelmer.

Then hard on its heels, I’m asked to review GEWS, a comedy which involves two married couples, a medium, ghosts and road fatalities. “Had the GEWS playwright been channeling Noel Coward?” I mused later, only to discover when I googled the name that the man in question, Eric Scott, had been sitting diagonally opposite me at the play and I could have asked him there and then.
While both plays pivot around a happy medium, the plot differs sufficiently to dismiss any thoughts of plagiarism. Instead, Brisbane-based Scott has written a fast-paced comedy with plenty of physical action and Australian reference points. This allows director Damien Lee and his fellow-cast of six plenty of scope with their characters.
It’s Dennis and Anita’s 10th wedding anniversary and they are celebrating it at the home of business partners and friends, Chloe and Steven. Steven declares he wants some port and, when Chloe decides she is the only one sober enough to drive, she takes Dennis off to get a bottle from his home. It is revealed then that Anita (Bobbi-Lea Dionysius) and Steven (Nick Allen-Ducat) are having an affair.
A policeman (Damien Lee) then turns up and informs them that Chloe (Tara Jade) and Dennis (Ryan Thomas) have died in a car crash. Was it an accident? Chloe and Dennis return as disgruntled ghosts and haunt the hell out of the illicit lovers. Into the fray comes an eccentric spirit guide, Doris le Grand (Simone Healey) whose job it is to find out why Chloe and Dennis won’t budge to the hereafter.
Finally, with some time lapses it is revealed that it was in fact Anita’s time that was up and not Chloe’s, so Anita and Dennis disappear into the ether and Chloe wreaks her revenge on Steven. While the production blurb summarises the plot, it’s up to the cast to give the play life which they do with great gusto. Simone Healey appears “larger than life” as Doris the happy medium in her dealings with the spirit world while I’m sure Damien parked his police car in a no parking zone outside the theatre in-between shifts at the nearby Fortitude Valley Police Station.
When it comes to the two married couples, Bobbi-Lea as Anita and Jade as Chloe dominate proceedings – and their respective husbands – in the first act as they take advantage of great opportunities to compete for Stephen’s love and attention. However, Act 2 provides both husbands – Nick as Stephen and Ryan as Dennis – their moments of glory to display their comedic wares as the plot twists and turns more times than an endless spiral staircase.

• Sadly, the season of Getting Even with Stephen has now ended. Visit www.stagedoordinnertheatre.com.au to see more about their upcoming shows.

Directorial debut could be a sleeper

FILM ... with TIM MILFULL

Sleeping Beauty (MA15+)
Director: Julia Leigh
Stars: Emily Browning, Rachael Blake
Rating: 3.5/5 120-minutes, screening from 23 June

I haven’t met a woman yet who found Julia Leigh’s film Sleeping Beauty rewarding, and some have actually been quite vitriolic about the experience of watching Emily Browning’s Lucy subjecting herself to a succession of degrading sexual experiences.

But there’s something significant in the fact that more than a week later people are still arguing about this Aussie indie. Browning’s twentysomething Lucy is a university student struggling with all of the issues and more that confront her peers: a demanding, problematic mother, sympathetic and antagonistic flatmates, ever-present assessment, a dying best friend, and a series of mundane and sometimes challenging jobs.
When an opportunity to take on a high-end erotic waitressing job presents itself, Lucy jumps at the chance, and despite warnings from her employer, Clara (Rachael Blake), the young woman looks for more opportunities to exploit a career that undeniably exploits her.
Sleeping Beauty has all the elements of the fairytales on which it is based; but we’re not talking about the sometimes scary Disney version, or even the disturbing stories from the Brothers Grimm. Leigh also has drawn inspiration from a wide range of sources in writing her screenplay, from the mythology of a pervy King Solomon and a voyeuristic novella by Gabriel Garcia Marquez, to Japanese Nobel Prize winner, Yasunari Kawabata’s novella, House of Sleeping Beauties.
The resulting film is an unrelentingly cold examination of the amoral tendencies that some men have toward objectifying women, and questions the motives behind these woman in allowing themselves to be exploited. Yes, this kind of thing has been done before, and by much higher profile directors – think the glorious Catherine Deneuve as an amateur prostitute in Luis Buñuel’s 1967 film, Belle de Jour – but Sleeping Beauty is Julia Leigh’s debut feature, and as such represents a pretty impressive beginning that promises much for the future.



Odd couple makes for one enjoyable road trip

The Trip (MA15+)
Director: Michael Winterbottom
Stars; Steve Goohan, Rob Brydon
Rating: 3.5/5 107-minutes, screening from 30 June

British comedian Steve Coogan has worked with writer-director, Michael Winterbottom in the past on films like 24 Hour Party People, and the adaptation of Tristram Shandy: A Cock and Bull Story, and few would argue that the world isn’t the better off for the work of this collaborative pair.

In 2010, Winterbottom invited Coogan to reprise the dysfunctional self-portrayal from A Cock and Bull Story, and reunited the comedian with the much-underappreciated impressionist Rob Brydon, pitting them against each other in a fictional television series about regional restaurants in the United Kingdom.
The premise of the documentary saw Coogan invited by The Observer to drive around England reviewing the best food on offer, and in the absence of Coogan’s latest girlfriend – and unable to convince anyone else to accompany him – the idiosyncratic Coogan convinces Brydon to come along for the ride.
The television version of The Trip has yet to hit our shores; in the meantime, those up for some very dry humour can watch Winterbottom’s feature-length version, which has firmly whetted my appetite for the television series.
Some of the funniest moments in A Cock and Bull Story saw Coogan and Brydon playing a relentless game of one-upmanship, as they fought to dominate each other in the company of others, from who knew the most arcane information about the monument they had just passed, to who could do the best impression of whichever famous actor.
There is all this and more in The Trip, as the pair bicker over impressions of Michael Caine or the origins of the most recent geological site they encountered, all to the bemusement of passers-by. Winterbottom and his talented cast undoubtedly possess that certain skill necessary to fashion complex human drama and entertainment out of what seems like nothing.

THE BINGE
The Tunnel (M) now available through Paramount and BitTorrents
D13: The Ultimatum (M) now available through Icon
The Forgotten Ones (M) now available through Icon
Le Quattro Volte (M) now screening at Tribal Theatres
The Savage Eye: Surrealism & Cinema screening at GoMA from 11 June to 2 October


There are a number of unusual aspects about Aussie indie horror film, The Tunnel apart from the fact that this often quite frightening thriller is set beneath the streets of Sydney in a catacomb of abandoned tunnels, director Carlo Ledesma’s film was released simultaneously on three platforms: in the cinema, on DVD, and online through peer-to-peer sources like BitTorrents. On any level, The Tunnel is worth checking out.

I missed the first District 13 film from writer-producer Luc Besson, but if the sequel D13: The Ultimatum is anything to go by, I’ll be tracking it down. This action-packed film set in Paris in the near future pits super-cop, Damien Tomaso (Cyril Raffaelli) and career crim, Leïto (David Belle) together in a non-stop, awesomely choreographed battle against an unscrupulous secret police force.
By all means, check out everything else on this page, but stay away from The Forgotten Ones, a derivative mess that throws a pack of unsympathetic young people onto an uncharted island inhabited by bloodthirsty cannibal-monsters. Gilligan and his mates had more sense than this lot.
Writer-director Michelangelo Frammartino’s Le Quattro Volte may not have any dialogue in its 88-minutes, but this extraordinary film set in the hills of Calabria tells a beautiful series of stories set over the space of four seasons. With a small cast of humans, and a larger cast of animals, this is an impressive narrative about nature and where we sit within it.
Finally, if you’re looking to mess with your head a little, the cinematic component of Surrealism: The Poetry of Dreams at GoMA will offer an excellent start. Curated in conjunction with the Centre Pompidou in Paris, The Savage Eye: Surrealism in Cinema examines the concept from its origins in the early twentieth-century with directors like Luis Buñuel and Salvador Dalí, right through to its influences on contemporary filmmakers like David Lynch and Alejandro Jodorowsky.

Cruising is never boring

TRAVEL ... with David Bray

So what do you do on a cruise? The quick answer is as much or as little as you like. My even shorter one is that I was never bored. A month at sea and there was always something interesting to do. Not a lot of sitting around the pool in deck chairs. None of it at all actually. Nor a great deal of strolling the promenade deck.


But this isn’t an ordinary cruise. We sail from sunny Sydney to windy and cold Wellington, up into the tropics and further north to Osaka and darn cold Peking, Shanghai and cold damp Hong Kong. Not much sun to bake in and occasional ice on the deck. So, okay, what do we do?
Here’s one day: 6am gym; 7am. fetch coffee from Sir Samuel’s to cabin (stateroom, they call it); 8am. Breakfast; 10am Destination lecture on Beijing, its history and culture; 11.15 Lecture on Europe, Japan and China – Can the world adjust to two Asian super powers? 12.20 to 2pm lunch; 3-5pm Mrs. B has watercolour class. 3.30 Lecture on seafaring lore and legend. All speakers and well qualified and entertaining. 6pm dinner, with our regular four and the table is so entertaining that we are always pretty well last to totter away to make way for the second sitting.
That pretty well sees us out but there is on this night a variety show in the Royal Court theatre. The planetarium is running Passport to the Universe, which we have already experienced. Three good shows on offer during the voyage. The Internet centre of three rooms and the casino are always open. We go to computer classes, notably an introduction to Paintbook, and even to a couple of bridge classes. Apple rules on this ship. We’re Microsoft. I spend some frustrating hours trying to get messages out, though plenty come in to the iPad.
There’s a good, welcoming, well-run library of 8500 books. The cabin TV shows many channels including repeats of those lectures and a raft of international news services. We see the Fukushima tsunami live as it happens, at sea, not all that far away. The cinema is a grave disappointment, abysmal selection of films.
We enjoy another look at Amadeus, but had hoped for offerings involving ports of call. Our travel group is regularly offered bingo or trivial pursuit and for all I know go along and enjoyed these harmless pastimes. They may also meet for drinkies each evening at 5. We must be a bit anti-social, because we rather enjoy the sundowner on our own balcony.
Out in the open air there are pools various sporting set-ups, even a golf net with a basic club and balls provided. It says something about the range of activities that your reporter, a life-long golfer, didn’t pick up a club. There are shops and every so often a market-style line-up of tables is set up in a main area flogging watches, jewelry, that sort of stuff. Extraordinarily popular it looks, too.
Then, of course, there are the shore excursions. You know what, we are always, without exception, glad to be back aboard the great and grand Queen Mary 2.