DVD Fest

Part 1

Have just finished watching Wong Kar Wai’s ‘Fallen Angels’. I’m still only working two days a week at the moment, so yesterday I rented some DVDs. I have a feeling that I’ve seen ‘Fallen Angels’ before, but I don’t remember much about it. It is one of Takako’s favourite films though, so when I saw it at the video store I knew I had to get it out. It’s quite a strange film in many ways, but very compelling and visually very beautiful. Can’t wait until Wong Kar Wai’s new film finally gets a release here – Philip raved about it.

Moreno arrives back in Sydney at some point this afternoon (I’m pretty sure it’s today he’s due back) so I’m going out to the airport to meet him. I have to quickly go into work as well as I said I’d go in to see Judith and anyway I need to use the internet. I’m going to get ADSL connected here at home as I’m sick of having to use the internet at work. Have done some research and found a plan for $50 a month with generous downloads and high speeds. There are so many IPs out there and so many different plans.

My trip away with my class went really well. They’re a really great class and there were no problems or dramas. The weather was really hot, which made studying a little difficult, but we went swimming and on the second day hired some kayaks for 2 hours. The hostel we stayed at is on Pittwater, one hour north of Sydney and is only accessible by ferry. Being in the middle of the bush it was very quiet – a great break from the city for three days. Saw lots of wildlife including a number of huge lace monitors – giant lizards – and a very long – as yet – unidentified black snake.

Got back on Friday afternoon and spent most of the weekend doing very little. Saw Zhang Yi Mou’s ‘House of Flying Daggers’ on Saturday afternoon. I know Philip didn’t like it, but I quite enjoyed it. Some very unexpected plots twists and beautiful cinematography. Tried to go and see a film at the Gay and Lesbian Film Festival (part of Mardi Gras) yesterday, but the film I wanted to see was sold out, so instead I walked from Paddington through Woolloomooloo (great name!) to the Botanical Gardens and then to Circular Quay. It’s been very strange weather lately. Not hot, but very, very humid and overcast.

Part 2

Has taken me quite a while to post this - my friend Moreno arrived back in Sydney from New Zealand on Monday and I've been spending a lot of time with him and not much time in front of the computer. I've finally registered for my own broadband internet connection, so hopefully by the end of next week I should be able to do all of this from the comfort of home instead of having to wait until I get to work. I'm still only working two days a week, so I don't really have much time to access the internet at the moment.

Have been binging on DVDs recently. Last night I watched an Italian film 'La Finestra di Fronte - Facing Window'. I'd seen it before, but liked it and decided that I wanted to see it again. Wednesday I watched Mira Nair's 'Vanity Fair', which I never got round to seeing at the cinema. The Indian influences were very obvious, which actually reflected the period when Britain was obsessed with everything Indian. I'm reading a really interesting book by William Dalrymple at the moment called 'White Mughals: Love and Betrayal in Eighteenth-Century India'. It's a fascinating portrayal of India in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth-centuries and how India influenced many of the British who went there. It's interesting how much influence India and Britain had on each other and how both countries changed so much.