http://www.starwars.com/episode-iv/release/video/news20060503.html
The original, unaltered Star Wars Trilogy coming to DVD. Sounds almost too good to be true.
It’s about time
Reply
Author Archives: Tim
ANZAC Day
It was ANZAC Day yesterday. Apart from being a good day off work, it was a chance to reflect on an interesting trend in Australia, namely that ANZAC Day now seems in the national ethos to be more Australia Day than Australia Day itself. This makes some sense – even C.E.W. Bean said that the consciousness of Australian nationhood was born at Gallipoli – it was certainly a defining event for the nation. However, it seems that Australia takes ANZAC Day more seriously now than it ever has in my lifetime – it’s no longer just a day for diggers to march and get drunk, and we’ve come a long way from Alan Seymour’s ‘The One Day of the Year‘. Regardless, I find it quite interesting how much Australia gets behind its ANZAC and military tradition, even while there is such little support for our involvement in the war in Iraq.
Amongst other things, Tegan and I went and saw ‘Kokoda‘ at the movies yesterday. A lot of people have asked us what we thought about it, so here are my thoughts:
It was quite a decent film – I guess we enjoyed it, if you can say that you ‘enjoy’ a film such as that. It was certainly one of the better war films I’ve seen for some time. As did many other critics, I thought it owed a lot to “The Thin Red Line” – it had that same psychological aspect. However, where the narrative and psychology of The Thin Red Line was more about questioning why war was necessary, “what is it all for?”, that question was nowhere to be seen in Kokoda. In Kokoda, it’s explicit and obvious what they are fighting for – it’s about the defence of Australia. In Kokoda, the psychological aspect is more about mateship – quite fitting for an Aussie film.
Kokoda is certainly not going to go down in history as one of the best films of all time, not even one of the best war films. It was good, but it’s not Gallipoli or The Thin Red Line or Apocalypse Now. It was quite well made, but there were several aspects that showed it was made by more amateur film makers. Their influences show through obviously as well: they ascribe to the Hitchcock approach to suspense, that you’ll keep your audience in suspense longer by showing them exactly what’s going to happen, while the characters are in the dark, and thus leave them wondering how it’s going to play out. There are also a few moments of real shock and other parts that are quite emotionally moving – Tegan was certainly a bit teary by the end. I will say, also, that I thought it was far better than ‘Saving Private Ryan‘ – while the first half hour of Saving Private Ryan was amazing and epic (particularly in the cinemas), that movie overall came across to me as Spielberg trying to make an intelligent, thought-provoking film and failing miserably; instead producing (by the end) schmaltzy, American crap. Kokoda stays well above that level, even if it is an unashamedly Australian patriotic film.
In summary: well worth seeing.
“Also, I can kill you with my brain”
Tegan and I really enjoyed the Firefly TV series – it’s a shame that it ended all too soon and that we only ever saw it after it came out on DVD. It’s still definitely worth checking out.
I ate gold
I’ve been travelling to Melbourne for work a bit recently and have quite been enjoying dinner and drinks out while there. I really enjoy some of the cocktail bars there – recent ones including Polly, The Long Room and the Golden Monkey. The first two of those are the best cocktail bars I’ve ever been to.
On Monday night, though, I ate at Shoya Japanese Restaurant in the Chinatown part of the Melbourne CBD and it was pretty much the best Japanese meal I’ve ever had. Because I was on my own I sat at the sushi bar, so I could see the executive chef (and owner) working away in front of me on sushi and sashimi, which was pretty cool. As is my wont in places like that, I just set a budget and asked him to feed me whatever he wanted to cook.
I received all the dishes on their banquet menu for that night – and I really should scan it in and include it here – it was amazing! The gold came on top of the sashimi – it wasn’t a large platter, about three pieces each of tuna, salmon and (I think) swordfish. On top of the tuna was a piece of sea urchin (again, I think) and on top of that the chef placed a couple of small flakes of gold. I can’t see how it works, but it did seem to add to the taste, And the meal overall was fantastic, and included some fairly unusual ingredients, considering that it was done in a traditional style. I had broiled duck, thinly sliced and cooked in miso sauce, an appetiser which involved scrambled egg served in sea urchin and topped with salmon caviar, grilled wagyu beef rib served on a large piece of grated white radish, and the meal finished up with black sesame panacotta. Basically, the whole meal was utterly delicious, and I also enjoyed chatting with the chef (it was a fairly quiet night). The staff were all very friendly and the manager and assistant manager also came and spoke with me as well. I had asked for a copy of the banquet menu to take home and show Tegan, and the manager said that if I brought Tegan back, if there was anything we particularly liked that wasn’t on the menu to ask the chef and he could do it. Amazing. Needless to say, I’ll definitely go back with Tegan, hopefully before too long.
The other interesting thing about Shoya, and one of the things that convinced me to walk in, was that their menu mentions that Chairman Kaga of Iron Chef fame was spotted there one night and he obviously enjoyed it so much that he ate there four nights in a row, sitting in different parts of the restaurant – and he then sent a note and a painting on rice paper from Japan, noting how excellent the restaurant was, rivalling any in Tokyo. Apart from that being a ringing endorsement, I apparently sat in the same seat at the sushi bar that the Chairman had sat in, which is very, very cool.
How far we’ve come as a nation
I’m currently reading a book of great Australian speeches, called “Men and Women of Australia”. I read a great line in it the other day – actually, there have been many great lines in it, but one that really struck me was by Edmund Barton. It was in a speech delivered on 17 January 1901 – only two weeks after Federation, and thus two weeks into his term as Prime Minister. This is apparently the first policy speech by an Australian Prime Minister, and it made great reading. In speaking about the task before those who might be elected to the Commonwealth Government and his hope that the people would elect men equal to the task, he said:
“We can ask them – and they will respond – to train their views to the national aspect, as distinguished from the local aspect – to return men of principle who will uphold the dignity of the continent in Parliament. … I hope and believe that Parliament will not be degraded by any disorder, because men will recognise that better work can be effected when things are done decently and in order…”
So how did we get from there to here?