Jason Blake gave this piece, a monologue written by Will Eno, a good review in the SMH. We saw it last night, and I must say that I have no idea why. A more spectacular failure to engage the audience is a rarity. But the theatre was warm, the seat was reasonably comfortable, it was only a bit over an hour long, and after all these years of Buddhism I have at least a slight level of skill in resting my mind in its own nature, so I was able to let the time pass pleasantly enough.
There were good points: Sarah noticed that the line “The dead horse of a life we beat, all the wilder, all the harder, the deader it gets” was quite telling. And about 50 minutes into the show Luke Mullins, the actor, went “Boo” quite loudly and unexpectedly, so the audience was momentarily a-flutter as we all exclaimed a light “Hooh!”. So that was amusing.
Otherwise it came across to me as a self-indulgent ramble through an angst I didn’t feel – even vicariously – peppered with humour that was as sophomoric as the title.
People care enough to keep this kind of place passable and free, but they don’t particularly pride themselves on the back lane. Perhaps that’s why there is such a dreamy peace to be found there sometimes.
The Patio de tango website has been down for more than a week, which is bad news for them. But here is the summary from last week’s lesson at Bondi, concentrating on forward and backward ochos:
It’s the late summer and the successful female orb-spinners have grown fat. The strings of discarded prey advertise their success and demonstrate the majestic scale of their palaces. So when you walk down the path between the bushes, those who don’t like spiders should not look up.
Like most pictures on this blog, you can click for a closer view, but again those who do not like spiders should not enlarge the picture below – the detailed view has more resolution than I usually use. The bodies of the big ones can easily be bigger than my thumbnail!
Tango lessons are usually Thursday night at the Spanish Club, but we couldn’t make it this week, so went for our Level 1 Lesson 6 to a different venue, Bondi Pavilion, this afternoon. The clip shows Pedro and Maria doing the steps from “Level 1″, although with more decoration – not to mention more elegance and panache – than we beginners can.
Loud chanting of battle cries, lots of cameras – when people have suffered, it’s hardly surprising that younger demonstrators can get carried away by the urge to somehow, anyhow do something!
Woke up before the 4:00 a.m. alarm to catch the bus down to Central Station for 5:00. The Sydney contingent was two full coaches plus a minibus. Dozing on the 4-hour trip to Canberra was slightly successful. Arrived late.
There were speeches outside Parliament House, a march to the Chinese Embassy, a touch of rabble-rousing chant, just enough to get some young ones to try to rush the police line, which makes for more dramatic footage. Chants like “Shame, Shame – China Shame”, “Stop Killing – In Tibet”, “Stop Torture – In Tibet”, some silence, some songs.
And that was it really. What’s the point? I think just being there to be counted usually has a point, though it’s obviously very indirect.
This isn’t the interesting, focussed blog you might have been looking for…
"Pica Pica" is, as I'm sure you knew, the name for the common magpie. It's no more than a collection of bits and pieces I wanted to make available for friends and family. I have other blogs for dharma related material (at DangZang), and a small one for translation at my work site.
At last the catalogue project that I began so long ago has reached a sort of completion. Improvement will always be possible, through more detail and ironing out mistakes. But at least I now know what I’ve got, and will avoid that embarrassing moment when you start reading a wonderful text that you ordered from […]
Happiness is booming: its stock is riding high. In 2012 you will be able, for a mere thousand Australian dollars, to take part in a conference on “Happiness and its causes” in Sydney. Unless, that is, you happen to want to join the additional workshops, which take another 700 dollars or more out of […]
