art vs fart

21 – 27 Feb

why do i love tourists? one morning, i was walking along goulburn street and i was asked for directions to darling harbour by a very friendly looking and attractive young german woman with her husband/ boyfriend. i gave them directions and later waited for them to catch up as we reached the elizabeth street intersection so i can be more detailed with interesting spots along the way. later that day, as i was walking uphill to get back home, i bumped into them again. they looked cheerful and excited to be discovering the beauty of sydney. i chatted with them and gave them suggestions to check out the eat streets around our area. i even gave longrain (the hippest thai restaurant/cocktail bar this side of surry hills) a good plug. as i left them, i felt great and almost hesitant to let them go. i wanted to continue chatting or even hang out with them some more so i can show them why am so proud of my city. but maybe i was helpful only because they were cute and friendly. i would have probably been not as helpful if they were loud annoying americans.

the oscars had global attention but in my world, six movies in a week is definitely over my average. tuesday night, D and i watched ‘sky captain’ starring gwyneth, angelina & jude for $5 at greater union. we had dinner afterwards in an irish pub and my pepper steak went down so well i didn’t have room for dessert. the five other movies i saw this week were in the queer/ arthouse category. part of the MD film festival. the low budget ones were transparently under achieved but the message and intent still worth the tiicket. “everyone” (canadian wedding) was possibly my least favourite. i was probably annoyed as our seating was bad and my tummy was feeling off. it did not help that the actors were ugly. “locked up” was very ironic as it was made by a production company primarily in the porn market. and yet the theme and moral lesson of the story was more cheesy than titanic. the fetish scenes were not welcomed by some but a lot i am sure were mesmerised. anthony thought it was bad but i knew not to take the movie seriously so i enjoyed it. charles deliberately closed his eyes at some sections and held his mouth so he did not throw up. i on the other hand just laughed it off. in “raspberry reich” at the valhalla, i had to close my eyes and not focus as the flashing red screens with black writing loudly came on. if i was epiliectic i probably would have had an attack. the revolutionary and capitalistic messages were lost in a lot of the audience minds whilst the porn scenes were uncomfortable for some. there were a few who walked off. adam loved it. so did atef. mixing porn and art is probably clever but the art is perhaps too much on the fart side. “slutty summer” was annoying for me as it twanged too much with an abnoxious new york accent, actors who could not act, and those who were supposed to be glam were actually from my perspective a bit on the gloom instead. “summer storm” was a crowd favourite. and i would be interested to get it on dvd. the german films this year were certainly notable.