222 William St
Northbridge Western Australia 6000
9228 8822
Website
Hours:
Tue-Sun 11:30am til late.
THE PLACE - Centrally located in William St, just steps away from the Culture Centre, Flipside Northbridge has a small, simple and luminous shop, with three seating areas: a few communal/group tables, a long decked table facing the wall and a three-seat table facing the street. I love this one, which is perfect for people watching
if you are on your own, On the other hand, who is watching whom? You are
being watched, too! I love their bulb lamps and the background music they have! On a more practical level, you can see the guys cooking the burgers, so nothing is hidden and everything looks clean and properly managed.
If the place is full, it can be noisy even loud, especially when there are boisterous men - the
"Me-Tarzan-eating-Burger" species. Other days, though, the place is very
quiet at lunch, and more enjoyable if you are with your partner or
eating alone. If you want a quite place and having a romantic affair
with your burger, take it away.
THE FOOD - I am sure that you, like me, have a sensual relationship with your burgers. To me, for them to be fully enjoyable, they have to be nicely sized (yes, size does matter), tender, juicy, tasty, easy to bite and masticate, and manageable with my hands without the thing falling apart or stuff flipping out after the first touch. If this is so, you can do what any burger lover does when facing a good burger - look at it in love and eat it with an expression of unbeatable happiness. You are with me, right? Well, I had just that experience the first day I visited Flipside Northbridge, and, to the date, remains my best experience at Flipside.
This is not a place for fussy eaters, so you get a burger on a plate without any adornment - simple god big burgers. You can adorn them with a bucket of chips :O. They have gluten free rolls, though (paid as an extra).
Their Garden Party Veggie burger is light but flavoursome, very fresh ingredients, and with a delicious fluffy bun and chickpea patty, and I did not feel heavy despite its size. The best one I have eaten at Flipside regarding preparation, textures and assemblage.
Their hot beef burger is my favourite in flavour, despite its simplicity, because the chilly sauce/jam they use is really full of flavour, but not overwhelming in hotness. A hottie!
The classic burger is simple but nice, and not heavy on your stomach, but, for whatever reason the meat patty was a bit on the small size and the cheese unnoticeable...The mini-flip is decently sized for a snack and perfect for a light lunch if you add some chips.
Their chips are thick and crunchy. Simple but nice.
Your burger can take a
while to be prepared, even if they are not full. On the other hand,
this is a guarantee that the food is being prepared in the way it should
be and not rushed out.
THE SERVICE
The staff taking your orders and the waitress are really friendly and smiley, and eager to please.
ROOM FOR IMPROVEMENT
- They use iceberg lettuce in many of their burgers, which is very crunchy but not tasteless, so I would replace it with a more flavoursome variety of lettuce.
- I would provide customers with a small knife -Just Burgers's style- to half their burger if they want.
THE DOWNS
- The cooking and assembling staff changes from day to day at lunch (I guess also for dinner), and you will soon notice that the burgers are some days better assembled and prepared than others, and the patty can be on the small side (as in the photo).
- Their chicken burgers are, like in other Perth burgers bars, a fillet, not a burger. Me like burger chick, no fillet chick.
- The long walled table facing the wall is not very inviting. Nobody wants to eat looking at a beautifully empty white wall.
***
Flipside Northbridge is becoming increasingly popular due to its killer location, the friendliness of the staff, and because, really, who does not like a burger? Still, the burgers are simpler and less tasty than at Grill'd, to which the place reminisces the most in burger philosophy. Their burgers are good-sized, good-prized, very fresh, juicy, easy to eat and move with your hands, and some of them really nice. To be honest, these are the sort of burgers that anybody could prepare at home, which is kind of cool if you are out and feel like eating decently-prepared food.
Location 9
Layout 6
Ambience 6
Food 6.7
Drinks 6
Service 7
The Grave of the Fireflies is the story of survival of two Japanese brothers: 4y.o. girl Satsuko and her 14y.o brother Saita, at the end of the Second World War in Japan. It is based on the semi-biographical novel by Akiyuki Nosaka.
Grave of the Fireflies is one of the saddest stories and movies I have ever seen. It puts a face to the children of any war, those who lose everything and are left with nothing, those too easily forgotten and so easily neglected. What makes the movie sad is the verisimilitude of the story, that something like that happened and is happening any time that there is a war anywhere in the world.
The animation is marvellous, colourful, attentive to the detail, scenic and intimate, with a lyricism that only Ghibli’s Studies are able to create. The drawing of the Japanese countryside is simply superb, and the same can be said of the city destroyed environments. The atmosphere is great. The colours are precious - a little more saturated than usual for Ghibli’s. The music by Michio Mamiya is extremely subtle and beautiful, perfect for the story.
The characters of the two brothers are wonderfully drawn and dubbed by the Japanese actors. Some of the intimate scenes of the two brothers are really magical, especially the ones involving the fireflies that give tittle to the movie.
What is great about this movie is that, very soon, you forget that you are watching animation, as the story is so strong, captivating and engaging, that those drawn characters become real - alive. Please watch it in Japanese with English subtitles, otherwise you will miss a bit of the essence of the film.
A classic animation movie difficult to forget, soulful and marvellous in every possible way. One of those movies that should be in any bucket movie list. So good it is. One of the best animation film I have ever seen and ever made. No doubt. No perhaps. Go and grab it.
Cultural Centre
Perth Western Australia 6000
(08) 9227 6288
http://www.fringeworld.com.au
Three and a half weeks of entertainment, fun and cultural activities featuring Australian, European and American artists In boring Perth? Perth? Boring?
The FWF has dramatically transformed Perth's cultural scene for good, with a varied, interesting and independent (stress independent), offer of Music (all styles indie!), Theatre (comedy, drama, burlesque) and Films (independent & World films). The Cultural Centre really comes alive when the "Fringers" set their feet in our city and with the many activities and temporary spaces set and come alive in this space.
It is remarkable that the festival, despite its quality, has decent pricing. From the medium-high (mostly for music events) to gratis (free!) for some open-air shows. You could attend an event for less than the price you expend eating out. Is that for real? Yes! Yelp!
The festival attracts a great number of people of all ages, allured by a cultural offer that is relatively new in suburban Perth and allows us experiencing what is happening beyond our shores. We like it because we are citizens of Planet Earth, right? Aliens also like it. So good it is.
The colourful vintage ticketing caravans, the super-friendly staff, and the program were excellent in 2012. I went to four shows this year, and I reminded myself that I should had gone to many more.
DOWNS
I find a disrespectful towards Artists and the public locating their shows in places that are not well prepared for a paid show. Example - the Treasure Chest Chamber was especially opened for some of the FWF shows, and the event much publicised. I attended a theatre function there. The place did look ugly, the antithesis of an artistic-minded place, did not have any ventilation (being a Southern girl I always have a hand fan with me, that was the only ventilation I got), the room was really hot for the public, can you imagine for the actresses under the lights? Moreover, the movable grades were not steep enough, so people looked like a bunch of geese swinging their bodies to see over other people's heads. I hope they are a bit more mindful next year.
I am looking forward to next year's program and to Perth becoming, again, a cheery princess with a fringe.
Merida is the oldest daughter of Fergus and Elinor. She is a tomboy, a bit of a rebel, opinionated and wild. She happily lives with her parents and triplets until she is asked to fulfil her destiny, comply with her clan's tradition, and choose a husband from the allied clans' suitors. In constant conflict with her mother, Merida visits an old witch in search for a potion to help her escape her destiny. However, what she finds is a curse of cosmic proportions. How is Merida going to save her mother, herself and the kingdom?
Pixar lost a bit its essence and idiosyncrasy when was engulfed by Disney. Since then, every second Pixar movie we get a real Pixar movie in conception, ideas and originality. The in-between years are for movies like Brave, which follow a template with structured predefined characters, values and jokes that are very much modern Disney.
Brave's animation is amazing from a visual point of view: the colours, layouts, backgrounds, the rendering of the landscapes and characters movement, the camera angling, the 3D design and even the movement of Merida's hair are spectacular. Still, a good animation movie needs of a good script with a sound story and narrative to be successful: what it tells and how it tells it are always more important than how it looks like.
Brave's script -by Mark Andrews, Steve Purcell, Brenda Chapman and Irene Mecchi- is, a priory, a winner. It mixes many European folk legends and human archetypes (like the ones we see in Anderson or the Grimm Brothers' tales) with modern attitudes and sensibilities. Moreover, Merida is in a way, a combination of all old Disney's heroines.
The film is entertaining and beautiful to watch, and some of the characters are very funny. There are many funny moments especially those involving the witch, Merida's triplet brothers, and the lady bear.
All the cast of actors do a good job at dubbing their respective characters: Kelly Macdonald as Merida, Billy Connolly as Merida's father, Emma Thompson as her mother, and Julie Walters as the Witch. To be fair, Billy Connolly's dubbing always sounds like himself not as the character he plays.
Still, Brave does not deliver beyond the artistic qualities of the animation, because the story sends contradictory messages. It feels as if the writing team had done bit and pieces separately, and then stitched them together without further adjustment and polishing. Being so, the movie can be labelled, depending on the moment, as feminist, sexist, retrograde, modern, advanced or conservative. Two main messages are sent to the world. 1/ "Obey your mother". That can be a revolutionary message in a world in which children are spoiled-rotten and disrespect their parents. However, going from there to deciding that everything mammy says is good for your future and that the tradition has to be respected no matter how senseless it is, it is a bit reactionary. 2/ On the other hand, the story tells us that you can be brave and daring, but until certain point - bravery is subversive, and subversion is not good. What?! Be brave and make your own fate, free will do exist, but fate is fateful and will crash you if you subvert the status-quo. What! What? What?!
Too much is always too much. Brave is a beautiful senseless sermon that gets lost in its own wordiness and senseless preaching. It is perfect for small children, as it has lots of action and some funny moments that the little ones (and your inner child) will enjoy. More sounded boys and girls, our just your sound self, could get a bit puzzled at the moral of the story and the wordy ending.
Kiki's Delivery service is a Studio Ghibli's traditional hand-drawn animation movie loosely based on Eiko Kadono's eponymous book, but with important additions by Miyazaki. It tells the story of Kiki, a 13's y.o. witch who leaves the family home with her cat Jiji to get a life of her own and start her training as a witch in a big city away from parents and friends.
It is a Ghibli's trademark the detail and artistic drawing of the scenery and cityscapes, and Kiki's is no exception. It has a precious and colourful drawing. The European city where Kiki goes is a mix of Northern European architecture and Southern European lighting and mood. The time frame is an imprecise point in time, a golden-era of peace and tolerance, set around the 1950s, but with elements that go from the 30s (the zeppelin) to the 60s (B&W TV), with other elements that can be placed in between.
Three elements stand out in this movie beyond the hand-drawn precious animation. The first one is Kiki's story - a metaphor of the changes that take us from childhood to adulthood, from being in the family's womb, many times taking for granted what we have, to being alone, unprotected, standing by ourselves, defining who we are and want to be as individuals. Jiji's evolution with regards to Kiki is just the result of Kiki's transformation into an adult, not of the cat's changing ways!
The second element is very Miyazaki's - the presence of magical and non-magical elements combined harmoniously in a world of good-natured tolerant humans that accept magic as a natural thing, like Kiki's flying her broom through a city making courier deliveries.
Thirdly, this is a movie about women, female nature and sisterhood. Except for Tombo -Kiki's admirer and good-natured inventive friend- the main characters are powerful savy women: Osono, the pregnant baker, represents acceptance without questions, maternal care, the City, hard work and determination. Ursula the painter, on the contrary, represents freedom, personal independence, individuality, the wild, the follow your heart and explore your soul message. Finally, the two old ladies in the blue-roofed house -Madam and Bertha- are examples of kindness, carefulness, attention to the detail, old manners and class. In fact, Kiki finds a mother, two grandmas and a big sister in the city. Miyazki's Europe is, it seems, a a matriarchal society.
There a few points that I would have liked further explored with extra footage, as the movie is enjoyable, and the ending was unnecessarily hasted and leaves you with a big sweet and sour after-taste. Still, Kiki is an adorable
story with lovable characters, that is entertaining and good for both
children and adults, especially if you love magic realism and Ghibli and Miyakazi's magic worlds.
A warning - Some of the DVDs come with several dubbing versions and several captions. Beware, the original first dubbing of the original was done without respect to the original, and changes and mutates the dialogues without respect, changes the tone of the movie and even transforms Jiji into a sarcastic adult cat. It is not a proper dubbing but an interpretation with additions to the original made by Disney. It is shameful and disrespectful and you better ignore it. There is a second American dubbing that is truthful to the original. Watch the original Japanese with captions, and choose the captions that follow the Japanese script not the invented superposed American. Who wants to watch an adulteration when the original is perfect?
Fashion businesses have to make a living out of their trade and get some profits for their hard work. I am fine with that. However, we are paying too much for almost everything in Australia. Our wallets are assaulted every day with a charming smile and a discounted label.
In a time in which most of what we consume is mass-produced in China using cheap labour working on hard strenuous conditions, there is no excuse for paying what we pay for fashion items, many of them of bad or mediocre quality. Even if they are of good quality, they are still overpriced.
1/ Just look at the sales. Two examples. Last year, I bought a pair of sandals by Donna Karan from David Jones (no fakes, no damaged, good!) for 17 bucks. Yep. 17! The original price was close to 100! That is the tenth of the original price less, and they are still making profits out of it!
Yesterday afternoon, I bought a lovely sequinned Alannah Hill's cardigan, also at David Jones, valued at 200 dollars, for 64 bucks!
2/ On the other hand, there are perennial discounts and sales in stores like Myers, Ojay, Jacquie E, Review, to mention some places I visit often. Products are priced way over what they are worth, and after two days or two weeks on the racks at impossible prices they are discounted - 20 or 30%. Discounted? Or is it more rightly priced?
3/ There is a more dangerous trend - tested by me and my two eyes. You go to your fav shoe store because you fancy, say, a pair of shoes valued at 109 dollars. Being the bargain hunter I am, I drop by often to see if the price is reduced. Then, yesterday, I drop by again at seeing the sale sign. I enter. I check the price of that very same pair, and the sale sticker says.... 109 bucks. Isn't that insulting? Isn't that unethical? Isn't that a complete lack of respect towards the same very hand that feeds you?
These shops and chain stores are still making lots of money out of their discounts and sales. I am not saying to they have to sell below cost, but perhaps 5 times more instead of 10 times the price they sell. The workers in China are not becoming rich from their work, if you know what I mean.
We are living in the Matrix of a shopping retail
fantasy. The harsh truth is that we are not getting
a discount. What they call discount is something closer to what I call the ethical price of a product. I call ethical prices to those prices that provide a good revenue to the business,
but do not overcharge consumers; in other words, the consumer pays what
the product is worth (quality and real value) plus the business' profits and wages, plus a bonus for the exclusivity of the brand.
Ethical prices are missing in action in our normal non-luxury stores. Why are overcharged five, ten or twenty times the price of a product? Why do they overcharge us, and then complain that sales are not going well and that people are shopping online too much? Ahhhh, yes. It is called greediness and a short-sighted approach to business.
I rarely buy anything full-priced unless it is well-priced, something I really need, or something hand-made locally that is worth my hard-work-earned money. The interesting fact is that those people crafting unique pieces in Western Australia are still producing affordable and even cheap items, despite their producing costs being higher. How can that be possible? Perhaps they are less greedy and have their craft more at heart and treat their customers with a bit of more respect not just like a money-making number.
661 Hay St
Perth Western Australia 6000
(08) 9321 2522
http://www.portmans.com.au/
THE GOOD
+ They have very girlie trendy classy stuff, with lots of colour, plus a good selection of work clothing.
+ Their accessories section is small, lovely and well priced, with pretty trendy pieces. Their scarves are among my favourite things here because, unlike other chain stores, they have texture, volume, the right length, and awesome fabrics. They always have a huge selection of belts.
+ The staff are a bunch of no-fuss, friendly and helpful girls, no matter the day or the hour you visit. I always prefer this shop to the one on Murray St just because of their terrific service and friendliness.
+ They open before 10am.
+ They have nice changing rooms.
+ They have an exchange policy of 14 days, so you can drop by, grab something without trying, and return it if the size or style does not suits you. This is especially convenient if you work most shopping hours and take advantage of your lunch break for shopping! So very convenient.
THE SO-SO
- The quality of the apparel and most complements is poor to medium, with a few exceptions. The fabrics are very thin and not good quality, although they look fantastic on. I have bought many
things there, and except for the scarves, they tend to deteriorate soon.
For example, I bought a couple of stockings this year, and they torn
apart quicker than the ones I bought from Coles! Their belts are
synthetic and very "plasticky" and the same can be said of their wallets, bags, and so on. They are so pretty, though!
- The prices are a too high for the quality of the products sold.
***
Good for fashion fixes and emergencies, Portmans at Hay St offers what other Portmans shops sell, but the shop is smaller and the service way better than in other branches of the chain.
