Tasty Winter Salad

1 cup of hot freshly boiled chick peas (boil extra, make hummus)
150g orange kumara, diced
half a red onion
two red tomatoes
half an avocado
a few heads of broccoli, lightly steamed
a good sprinkling of picked peppercorns
juice of one lemon
salt and pepper
optional: olive oil, satay sauce

Microwave the kumara on high for five minutes, stir in the chickpeas, onion, tomatoes and avo.
Add the broccoli, steamed, and season then stir and serve.

Global Warming

battle

Wayne's World

Did you ever wonder what it is they say in Wayne's World One, in the scene where Wayne winds down the window and talks to the old man?

Hey funny, me too!

I'm pretty sure its Grey Poupon, some sort of mustardy foodstuff.

Like this:


http://www.kraftfoods.com/greypoupon/

Trailer for I'm your Man

here

Leonard Cohen: I'm your Man

Leonard Cohen: I'm your Man made me physically aware of the prescence of my heart. Ostensibly a biopic of The Man's life and his music, it is really a combination of golden moment from interviews with Leonard, interspersed with big name performers covering his songs. Said performers also occasionally give insights into the way He has influenced them and their music.

The performances shown are from a concert performed at the Sydney Opera House (would that I have known at the time) in 2005. The narrative of the movie loosely follows Cohen's life from early black and white footage of himself as a child, culminating in a wonderful performance of Tower of Song, the only performance expressly recorded for the documentary. Tower of Song is an apt closer, with its nod to old age: "well my friends are gone and my hair is grey, I ache in the places that I used to play". Bono is in the background here, but he just plays keys and support vocals so doesn't ruin it, tho his glasses remain ostentatious.

Particularly hilarious is Rufus Wainwright's account of his first encounter with LC in the kitchen in his underpants, regurgitating sausage for a baby bird.

Nick Cave tells the viewer about the first time he heard Cohen, and the sense of liberation and inspiration that grew from this newfound knowledge in a small Australian town.

In terms of performances, Antony's is the most touching, with his curious mix of talent and vulnerability. This performance follows Cohen's own account of the potential beauty of language, and the lyrics are fittingly poignant. Rufus Wainwright's performance is a close second best, particularly the cover of Chelsea Hotel No. 2.

Perhaps the beauty of the performances is best summed up by the satisfied moan emitted by the stranger at my elbow at the close of the best performances.

Interviews with Cohen are shown quite close, often cropping his forehead to maximise the impact of those deep eyes, full of intrinsic dignity. His deliciously deep spoken prose is as evocative and modest as his lyrics.

At 73 years old, its not likely that he will tour again, but by god if he does I'll do what I need to in order to be in his audience.

Review: Sundance film fest short films

6 films in 93 minutes, all quite distinct from one another

The Tube with a Hat is a slow-moving study of the relationship between a father and son during their quest to get their old television fixed. Set in impoverished Romania, the colour of the countryside reflects the economic situation. Pragmatic approaches to otherwise impossible situations are neatly captured.

Death to the Tinman is hilarious. The witty script is mirrored in the abridging editing style. Beautiful in B&W and full of characters of pushed stereotypes, the story has ludicrous elements that fit perfectly with the humor. My personal favorite

Bitch follows a segment of the life of a community college girl with a bad attitude we can all sympathise with. Dedicated to ridding the world of its poser elements via beatdowns, she meets her perfect match, but of course this isn't a typical love story. Some really dark humorous moments.

Family Reunion shows a beautiful lesbian returning to the home country, torn as to how to tell her family about her sexual preference. Filled with characters viewers may recognise from their own visits home - the clueless but well intentioned mother, the rarely present father, the ipod-involved younger bro, the intimate-beyond-it-being-appropriate-anymore ex, and so on. Near panic at the end, but it diffuses nicely. There's a really wicked focus pull in there.

The Oates' Valour was my personal least-fave, it was offbeat enough that I couldn't always follow the plot, which tends to disturb me. Gormless suburbia with a nightmare alcoholic bully father leads to a brief stint in military school, enabling some comical Full Metal Jacket style backchat. Some beautiful shots and some downright ugly ones (notably the swimming pool), and a 5 part structure makes it unusual.

Motodrom was one of the most unusual shorts I've ever seen - all about motorbikes so the content was absolutely not my cup of tea. But the cinematography was the hands down winner from all the shorts. A time lapse sequence of a large wooden building, one plank at a time, was memorable, as was the point of view shot of a motorbike rider circumnavigating the interior of said building, at 90 degrees to the horizontal wall. If its a mens' sport, the cinema going man must be of a different breed because accolades were sparse and confusion ruled those that shared my theater.

subjective view of Welly in July 2007 II

subjective view of Welly in July 2007

Fun with A4 and random cool fine art

Auckland city

Wellingtown

chef chaoeun, hashish (and accordingly, tourism) capital of morocco

Granada again

excellent granada street art