Friday, June 28, 2013

House keeping

 I need to dust off my blog a bit 
and give it a spring clean.

In the process, I should also let you know
that, with the imminent demise of google reader,
you can start following me over at Bloglovin'...

Just click on that button over there,
yes, up there in the top left corner;
yes, that's the one.

Or click here:

blog 2013

Wally is so excited, he can't get over there fast enough.
...
Well, he'll be there when he wakes up, for sure.

Thursday, June 27, 2013

I really hope that blogging is like riding a bicycle.


Little Boozle 2013

I've been more or less missing in (real life's) action
for the past 6 months.

I reckon that I have thought about blogging daily.
I have written long and- I swear- hysterically entertaining or thought provoking posts in my head
as I got on with life.

...things like buying Australian products,
the indignation that John Barrowman didn't get a call up
 for the Dr Who 50th Anniversary special,
 sex ed.,
palm oil,
why some blood isn't thicker than water,
why my child waits until I leave the state to need the emergency room,
 human nature at its very, very best and its very, very worst...

But things just happened.

Things like broken bones
(yes, that would be plural...bones*)
 5 year old Queen Bees,
an overseas visitor,
an education crisis which almost caused me to consider home schooling
(and if you know me, you know that "home schooling" is not a phrase that is compatible
with my temperament.
There is a reason that I became a vet and not a teacher)
four birthdays,
a fiftieth wedding anniversary,
family stress,
seemingly never-ending, non-resolvable business stress,
a trip to Fiji,
a trip to Kangaroo Island
 and the Barossa Valley,
 my annual interstate sewing weekend,
and then a general and ongoing apathy when it came to just sitting down and writing a post.

How can I want to do something so badly
but just can't be bothered?

blog 2013

I have managed to sew and knit
to let off creative steam.

So really it has just been...life.

Little Boozle 2013

I am hopeful that the next six months will be a little less hectic
with no broken bones
and a lot less apathy
and that I will start blogging again.
Surely it is just like riding a bicycle.


Little Boozle 2013


(*My toe, which lost the fight with a door frame, has healed now
but my son's arm, which lost the bout with his bed frame,
is still healing.
I think falling over in your bedroom and managing to fracture your arm
in a nasty manner is somewhat freaky
and yet somewhat expected from a kid.
Luckily their healing capacity is also somewhat freaky
in a fabulous way)

Little Boozle 2013





Thursday, June 13, 2013

Jesus Christ. You superstar.

Little Boozle

The last (and only) time I saw a production of Jesus Christ Superstar was in 1992.
The cast covered a good whack of the Who's Who of Australian music at that time.
...John Farnham, Kate Ceberano, Jon Stevens, Angry Anderson...

I was 23 at the time and I was a Uni student.
And, to be honest, I don't remember what I felt about it
(either due to the passage of time
or the fact that there are great big blocks of time at University
that I don't remember)
but I do know that I didn't feel what I felt when I saw the 2013 version last week.

Little Boozle

I hadn't listened to the soundtrack for years
and JCSS has not been on my list of favourite musicals.

But I am a Tim Minchin fan
and yes, OK, I did want to see what Andrew O'Keefe was going to do.

If I had to own up to having a favourite Spice Girl,
it would be Mel C.
(The one who could actually sing)

Plus I was interested to see if Ben Forster lived up to the hype around his portrayal of Jesus.

(www.cooltry.com.au)

And wow.

Wow. Wow. Wow. Wow. Wow.Wow. Wow.

By the time Jesus was getting his hot forehead anointed with myrrh by Mary Magdalene,
the production of Wicked that I saw last year has dropped from first place to runner-up
in my list of best. ever. musical productions.

It is set in modern times
(think reality shows, text voting, graffiti and hashtags for Jesus and his supporters,
CCTV cameras and mobile phones)
and is very clever.
It reminded me of Baz Luhrmann's interpretation of  Romeo and Juliet.

(www.perthnow.com.au)

We "only" had Forster's understudy, Rory Taylor,
who was "only" just brilliant.

Tim Minchin may not be the world's best singer 
but his voice was fantastic in this role
and the passion and emotion of Judas was breath-taking.
(Added to that he can carry off heavy eye makeup like no other man I know)



(And for anyone who is interested,
Andrew O'Keefe's role involved a single song
and a crushed velvet red suit.
Brilliant.)

(And for anyone who is interested,
Jon Stevens is ageing well. Very, very well)

I would go and see it again in a heartbeat.
And again.
And again.

(www.smh.com.au)

I haven't stopped playing the soundtrack since I saw it.
To think that Tim Rice and Andrew Lloyd-Webber wrote this 
when they were under 25...the mind boggles.
I am not quite sure why I didn't appreciate how bloody good it was before.
Maybe a long-haired John Farnham just didn't engage me.

In the past week, I have thought more about the story of Jesus and Judas
than I have since I completed my First Holy Communion in my teens.
Even though the ending is...well, let's say somewhat predictable,
whether you have religious beliefs or not,
the story of frailty and betrayal and the desperation
of the characters will move you.