Ceremonials is an album that gets slowly into your skin and gets more addictive the more you listen to it. I have to confess that the first time I heard it, I found it very different from Lungs in conception, tones, feeling, musical influences and lyrics.
The lyrics are quite intriguing and ambiguous, what makes them enthralling. I think they are an improvement with regards to Lungs. The mix of rhythms is also very interesting, and transmits a great energy that goes from peaceful to roaring. At the same time, some of the rhythms and melodies remind me of other groups and eras too.
I miss the presence of some acoustic songs in the album, although some acoustic pieces are in the deluxe version of the album and they show Florence's great talent. I don't know why some of them weren't included as such in the standard CD.
The album comes to down to what makes you feel and think. To me, it gives me the energy of a world full of mystery and depth, but shiny and brilliant that opens if you let it be, if that makes any sense to you. It also makes me feel a million dollar babe when I hear it. Why? I don't know. I guess because it express many things that are inside me, or brings the best out of me. Go and figure out.
Four Stars
683-703 Hay St. Mall
Perth Western Australia 6000
(08) 9476 7676
http://www.enex100.com/
Hours:
Mon-Thu 7:00 - 21:00
Fri 7:00 - 22:00
Sat 7:00 - 19:00
Sun 11:00 - 18:00
Enex100 has, a priory, anything to make it the next big thing in the city and a super-duper area for shopping: nice Australian designers and up-market shops, terrific location, a supermarket and a food hall. Still, the place lacks personality. In fact, this mall doesn't feel like a mall, but like a parochial airport duty free. The layout is unwelcoming and it feels like a passage area, which is what it has become for many people.
Some of the individual shops are great, but be prepared to pay for the brand you fancy. Some others are too popular, like Nine West or JB-fi, or Woolies. This is a pastiche of a shopping mall that mixes the expensive with a Woollies and a food court. It sounds weird, to me. And it feels weird. If you want an expensive classy area for shops, just build one, instead of mixing in the same pot things that are never going to coexist harmoniously.
It is also my experience that the shop attendants of some of the shops there will give you the look or ignore you if you're wearing your working clothes or are in your jeans. Unfortunately, Enex100 is also a meadow for some cows, and it stinks of manure,
The food court is too expensive. They are offering food-hall sort of food, which is, my dearest wanted-to-be posh, fast food, even if it is displayed in fancy pots, served in fancy dishes and you seat in a contemporary-style decorated area. Is you hunger clouding your ability to see?
In an out.
Excess of corridor space.
100 seconds to get me out of here.
The Blue Room Theatre is what any alternative avant-garde theatre needs to be - a place where the interaction between the actors and the public is immediate, so close that you can touch and smell the actors, where the nature of the shows is always independent, experimental, and intimate, The problem with the immediacy and the intimacy is that, if you start to snooze everybody is going to see you, that if you don't like what is going on there is no escape out until the recess, that if you have a coughing attack, well, the function is disrupted.
The staff are all very friendly and young, and very cute.
The toilets need to be refurbished and redecorated, really! So unglamorous for my royal bottom. No no no!
I have always found taking alcoholic drinks to a theatre room an oddity. Can't we watch anything without a drink or something? Does our brain need to be conveniently boozed to enjoy anything in this country?
It always shocks me that the WA Arts scene, and the BRT, seems to be attended by, mostly, +55y.o. people, retires and couples. Perhaps this is just my experience. Although some nights quite young trendy people seem to be around, that is rarely the case. This is not theatre for the masses or mainstream theatre, so where are all those WAAPA students, Art students and those hypsters who pretend to be such a thing? Ahh, yes, in the usual mainstream booze booths or eateries among the vulgus. I find it a very bad indication of the artistic soul of this city, really, that young people seem to have little interest in independent art shows unless you go to the hipster place where you go, mostly, because it is where you get your stamp of approval as a hipster. So very mainstream... really.
Please go to the Blue Room. It is the best way to watch theatre in Perth, and the best way to watch theatre in general, costs a trifle (especially if you subscribe), it won't take much or your time, and you'll get an unique experience in a theatre of which Perthites should be very proud,
Listen carefully... it could even enlarge your brain, and even even even... your erogenous parts... Just give it a try. If it doesn't work for you, you are, officially, culturally impotent. Ha!
Did You know that, if you are a poor person and still want to attend a performance here, you can volunteer as an usher and get your ticket gratis?
Call them at 08 9227 7005
Bear in mind that you can get cheaper prices if you subscribe to 4 or 8 shows, or even cheaper if you become a member. Thus, this season ticket prices go from $20 concession, to $25 full priced, but if you are a member you pay 15 and 20 respectively, and even cheaper if you go on a group of + 8 people as you get your seat for just 15 bucks.
Elektra is a pop group formed by triplets Sara, Cleo and Aracne who raise to world stardom quickly, becoming international celebrities. When they get sick, infected by a mysterious virus, they have to retire to have surgery on their vocal cords. They reappear a year later, but their performance style, their songs and they very appearance have completely changed, and the former pop group is no longer recognizable. After their controversial tour they decide to retire, and offer a last performance on TV, to be shown around the world. That is when the nightmare starts.
The story is just fantastic. The way the Greek Myth has been revamped, still being recognisable and horrific is incredible - Brilliant! The drawing, in colour and BW, but especially the latter, is just fantastic, very powerful, and detailed, with a great use of the chiaroscuro and ink use. The work of a virtuoso drawer. The movie is mostly a sequence of still drawings with some animated parts, the coloured ones. There must be reason why the director did not made the whole movie in motion animation (economic reasons? lack of background in animation? an artistic reason?), but the film still works and left me in awe.
I love non-linear stories, but I think the director has chosen the wrong narrative for this story, as the movie starts in the present and tells most of it in a flashback. The story is so good and powerful that a linear story from the past to the present would have been much more surprising, horrific, shocking and mysterious. Starting from the end does not improve the result of the story at all. Perhaps it works on paper, but not as much on film. At least to me. It is excusable, though, as Sanz is a Comics artist not a proper animator. Still his work is impressive, as well as the story, tempo and suspense of this film, which are great, as well as the ending.
One of the best short films I have seen this year.
The film can be watched on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oir5N8mqXaE&feature=colike
The author's website deserves a visit: http://salvadorsanz.blogspot.com/
659 Beaufort St
Mt Lawley Western Australia 6050
(08) 9370 1777
http://www.liveattheastor.com.au
A lovely old-fashioned theatre in an art-Deco building restored, refurbished and repainted a few years ago; the interior is very colourful and nice, sort of charming kitschy Deco, with a cute dressing circle.
The Astor was used as a cinema until not long ago, and regulars -like me- mourned the closing of its doors. Fortunately enough, The Astor is still home to very cool yearly events, like the Perth Comedy Festival, the Revelation Perth International Film Festival, and concerts from Indie bands and international solo artists, as well as individual performances by Australian comedians. An agent from
BOCS is inside the building for your convenience (3pm-7pm Mo to Fri).
Located in the heart of the Beaufort St, The Astor has plenty of food and drink places around to enjoy your time before or after the event you are attending. You can also buy drinks in the theatre, but I have always found that awkward.
I love old-style theatres like The Astor. They have flavour, and that indescribable feeling that you are in a proper theatre, if you know what I mean. The Astor is an institution in Perth, and in Mount Lawley.
If you are interested in what's on or in what's coming visit (beyond the official site mentioned above in the business page) their Facebook page at http://www.facebook.co.... I cannot understand why they don't have the opening times of the theatre and of the BOCS office mentioned in the main website.
Down the Way it is one of those albums that seem to be composed and played just for you, alone, as if Angus and Julia were at your place, in an improvised gathering singing some songs for you, in front of a bonfire at night time. That sort of intimacy.
The intimate feeling of the album, and the complementary voices of the Stones, is what makes it so special. Most importantly, the lyrics go from the extremely poetic, especially the magnificent For You, to those really fun and cheeky, like Big Jet Plane, just to mention two completely different songs.
The album gets down into your skin, slowly, and puts you in a special blissful trance mood. I especially like playing it at night, when the silence of the streets and the darkness of the sky are the perfect canvas for the lyric sparks of this album.
A little jewel for your ears.
Strawberry net is an online shop and awesome place to purchase genuine luxury brand cosmetics, make-up and perfumes at discounted prices. You don't have to register to order, which is always a bonus with me, and receive discounts for ordering more than one item, gifts if you are a first-time customer, and some promotional staff. You you get what you pay for and much more. Isn't that cool?
They only accept payments via Paypal, which is always my fav way of purchasing online, and the parcel is delivered to your place super-fast, at least in Australia's main cities. If you aren't at home they leave the parcel a central post office for you to pick it up.
When I ordered, I did so a bit hesitantly, as I had read customers' reviews saying that the products sold are fake. An acquaintance told me that hers were the real deal, and so are mine, really, the same packaging, quality, smell, colour, everything, as the original products that I buy here in Australia for double the price. The perfume I purchased was unboxed, but they pack it properly. I don't care about the original box as I always put them in the rubbish; however, the bottle and the smell and the quality of the perfume are the same.
The thought and care these guys put into packing your order is to be praised. They took the time to wrap every item, individually, with a wonderfully fuchsia gift wrap, and placed a purple ribbon around the parcel box. Moreover the foam thingies were there so the product wouldn't move much during transportation. Brilliant everything.
The products are sent to Australia from Hong-Kong, so it takes nothing for you receiving your order. They sell to many countries, so you visit http://www.strawberrynet.com and select your country, and voila, you will see the products in your currency. I will certainly order from them again as they supply the same products I buy here for a fraction of the price.
They sheep everywhere in the world for free!
MIND
If I was you, I wouldn't select at check-out normal Post shipping, as the parcel is not trackeable, and, if lost, you cannot claim anything as Post Australia is the only one to blame. If the order is lost using other methods, StrawberryNET will resend you the items you purchased.
