Very late to this but if you haven’t read it, it’s chock full of excellent sentences such as: “The late queen can be held responsible for much, but nobody could accuse her of seeming to enjoy her role.” www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...
two suited men pose in an orchid house
#PrimeVideo Midsomer Murders, Season 8, 2005. More cosily Dreadful Things in cosy villages, leading up to the most terrible murder yet 🥺
three film stills of a man preparing to sacrifice a half-naked woman
film credit still of a devil silhouette against blue with phallic placement of credits
#PrimeVideo The Dunwich Horror, 1970. Dull film about sensational happenings: witchcraft, bloodthirsty demonic twins, horny interdimensional beings, etc, eg a nightmare where the expressionless heroine (Sandra Dee!) is attacked by the cast of Hair - eeek. Cheeky sub-Saul Bass credits by Sandy Dvore.
film still of a large man-like monster with the top half a woman strapped to his back, walking through a landscape strewn with bodies
#DisneyPlus Predator: Badlands, 2025. Pretty good sequel to Prey (itself amazing as a predator film!) A few home truths about ‘alphas’ & the importance of empathy, which wouldn’t have gone down well in the manosphere, might explain why it only made $185m at the box office. For the rest of us: fun.
film poster of a woman lying back half-off a bed, her head hanging backwards and mouth in a scream, with a small demon crouching on her stomach
#PrimeVideo Gothic, 1986. Bonkers, OTT and a very bad film, but its camp excesses make it a guilty pleasure (like many Ken Russell films): a remarkable cast lose it completely, run around hysterically, and eventually give birth to the Frankenstein story.
film poster of a woman’s face in a hole in a beehive made by the silhouette of a hook-handed man
#PrimeVideo Candyman 2: Farewell to the Flesh, 1995. Poorly written & plotted (& even conceived) sequel: basically remakes the original but more incoherently & ineffectively. I like Philip Glass’ music but even that’s not used extremely well and the New Orleans Carnival setting seems very blunted.
three views of a sunny street event and a photographer of three people hiding in the shade
two men smiling and the South American drinks they were consuming
six photographs of food stalls in a street festival
a shandy bottle and three photographs of two people dancing
Usual things at the #JohnstonSt (Hispanic/Latino) Fiesta: food stores, drinks, things to buy, some music, too much sun. Not as many people when we went this time! Retreated to #Tropical afterwards to escape the sun and for a drink; the music was TOO LOUD but a little dancing happened.
part of a church interior with arches and walls covered with gold mosaics
Stupendous place!
Jubilate Agno is such an amazing … er, list!
two frames from an animated film showing a man slipping over and a green monster looking aghast
poster for an animated film showing a green monster and a red one with tiny people along the bottom edge
#Beamafilm Grendel Grendel Grendel, 1981. Australia’s 2nd animated feature, from Alexander ‘Life. Be in it.’ Still. Characterful retelling of Beowulf from pov of the monster, an urbane, philosophical viewer of man’s idiotic exploits. Many songs, but constantly fascinating and, ultimately, sad.
four film stills showing a man not coping with colonial conditions
four film stills showing women in colonial situations
film poster showing a man posturing on a beach
#Beamafilm Zama, 2017. Inspired by Jorge I finally watched Lucrecia Martel’s 4th feature, a slyly anti-colonialist tale of colonial decay & disappointment: flawed Magistrate Zama gets stuck in C18th Kafkaesque situations & goes downhill from there. Exquisitely filmed and with astonishing sequences.
television program still of a man and woman wearing period costume in a garden
#Stan #BBC Pride and Prejudice, 1995. Yes, our annual re-watching of this evergreen masterpiece, which radiates benevolence and wisdom and makes us glow in delight.
collage of black and white film stills showing an actress playing identical twins
film poster showing a man and woman hugging and a large picture of a woman holding scissors threateningly
#WatchingWithJorge #YouTube The Dark Mirror, 1946. Olivia de Havilland plays both of that ole cliché the good/evil twins: “one who loves… and one who loves to kill!” Pretty good actually, with the sisters differentiated and some tension generated. Wonder what sister/rival Joan Fontaine thought!
two posters on a cafe with rainbow and transgender flag colours
#Gabriel still with its Pride of Victoria livery #Gaybriel
a view down onto a street completely covered by tree canopy
Well done to the #Postcode3000 policy (1992) which increased the city centre residential population (from 2,000!) and undertook huge public realm improvements - look at those tree canopies in what was a open traffic sewer (and horrifying to cycle along!). #melbournelife
a container with two dumplings against a backdrop of Chinese lanterns and a sign saying “Lunar New Year 2026”
Chinese lanterns hanging on a frame
long queue in a corporate foyer with a backdrop of video walls of blue abstract shapes
To celebrate Chinese New Year, Dexus had free dumplings for their #QV tenants 🥟🥟🎊 - long queue!
a timber staircase in a building with red ceiling
a timber walkway in a building with white softly curved walls
two photographs of the inside of a concert venue with rich golden timber panelling in abstract swirls
the inside of a concert venue with rich golden timber panelling in abstract swirls
The lovely interiors of the #MelbourneRecitalCentre and #ElizabethMurdochHall, ARM 2009, seriously excellent venues wrapped up in jokey architecture, proving you can have both at the same time.
five photographs of a theatrical performance by a man, a piano and a pianist wrapped with luscious projections
#MelbourneRecitalCentre Winterreise. Schubert’s magnificent late sob-story - a jilted guy wanders off into a winter’s night of doom - given a stupendous boost with projections of Fred Williams landscapes & the fabulous voice (and acting) of Allan Clayton. A rare time when adding something enhances.
four black and white film stills of a floating man’s leg tethered to a beach, a woman in a chair on a beach, four circus musicians marching towards a huge structure of scaffolding, and people lined up walking along a low curved wall
#Kanopy 8 1/2, 1963. A chaotic, egotistical, overlong, incoherent, self-inflated, meandering, self-referential, metafictional roman-a-clef mess. Also: glorious, captivating, and extremely influential. One-of-a-kind (thank goodness).
film poster showing the negative of a photograph of demolition men hacking away at the facade of a building under the words ‘The Lost City of Melbourne’
a rendering and a photograph of two huge nineteenth century buildings and their puny and unimpressive replacements
#Netflix The Lost City of Melbourne, 2022. Lovely doco with photos & footage of demolished Melbourne gems lost in a rush to modernisation in the 1950s. Luckily so much survived 20 years of destruction (“Whelan the Wrecker is here”) that we still live in one of the world’s great Victorian cities.
film still of a young man and woman standing in the dark at the bottom of an escalator
#Netflix A Quiet Place: Day One, 2024. Unusual framing for a horror/action, starting with an end-of-life cancer patient who’s full of resentment and basically given up. Great performances and thoughtful ideas make the whole thing very worthwhile.
Important article. should be gift link. www.wsj.com/us-news/immi...
two photographs of a Volkswagen van in orange and black livery
Very very cute VW in #groovy #Fitzroy
diamanté-covered shapes of an ice-cream cone, pineapple, and cocktail
Some purses (!) at #Shag #SmithSt
photograph of the stage set for a theatrical production, and above some of the main cast listed with photographs of their faces
#SumnerTheatre #MTC My Brilliant Career. Re-seeing this brilliant show and showing it to Gilberto on Valentine’s Day. It was very good but sadly the force-of-nature star wasn’t feeling well so we got a substitute; she was great but after 6 month’s anticipation it was disappointing.
five photographs of plates of food from a restaurant meal
Valentine’s Day pre-theatre meal at #MissPearl, very nice indeed!
a woman’s face turns towards us behind a man’s profile, both lit against a black background
#PrimeVideo Mind Games, 2000. Leave no cliché unserved. Terrible writing, poor plotting and flat acting (sorry Fiona Shaw, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Crispin Bonham-Carter, etc). Blame Lynda La Plante.
film poster image of a man in black suit and woman in orange dress dancing, her clothes billowing like a meringue
#HBOMax The Barkleys of Broadway, 1949. Easter Parade sequel with Ginger Rogers replacing ‘incapacitated’ Judy Garland. Lavish but lacklustre: Ira Gershwin’s witty lyrics don’t compensate for Harry Warren’s forgettable music. But Tchaikovsky and George Gershwin and a nice phone gag lifts it a bit.
documentary poster image looking up into a strange shaped dome with geometrical lines drawn over it
#Beamafilm Borromini and Bernini, The Challenge for Perfection, 2023. Doco focussing on maverick genius Borromini in C17th Rome (Bernini only appears as his wiley rival). Great images and interesting interviews, if you ignore the toe-curlingly awful (but seemingly compulsory) “personifications” 🤮
view into a highly decorated bar with multiple orange lamps
New bar opened in #LonsdaleSt called, of course, Arcane Fairies.
