JUNE REVIEWS

What I've Been Reading

Saga Land by Richard Fidler and Kari Gislason - I listened to this on talking book - read by the authors - and really enjoyed it. It is a mix of the history of saga stories from Iceland and the authors explorations there to find out more about the sagas and the family history of Icelander Kari. It is interesting, gripping, funny, and loads of great history, including the compelling and fascinating side story of Bobby Fischer and a chess tournament in Iceland.

Calypso by David Sedaris - I was very lucky to have received the latest Sedaris from a good friend in publishing months before it was published and I dare say it is his best book yet! Such a thrill to be reading something not many others had read, and because it was great anyway. As he ages he just gets better and better, this is a mix of the usual family stories, some from his younger years but most from recent times holidaying with family at their holiday home. He delves into middle aged life, getting older, family and the deaths of his sister and mother. As always he treads the line between funny and emotional and he can pack a punch when you least expect it. Prior to this I had read his entire back catalogue in order and it was wondrous to take in his evolution over the years. Extraordinary stuff. If you want to laugh out loud, here is one of the very few authors that will make you do that!

A Forger's Tale by Shaun Greenhalgh- I was a little disappointed with this one, an autobiography of an art forger...written from jail. Certainly an interesting story, but I wanted to know more about what happened and I think it would have been written with more clarity by someone else. 

The Museum of Lost Art by Noah Charney- Now this one was great, a book about the world's lost art. From theft to Nazi looting to fire to flooding and so forth. If all of these were found and put into a museum, my goodness it would be something else. I have a bit of an obsession with reading about stolen art - it fascinates me to think something amazing could be hidden in someone's attic. Surely art is for all to see. This tells the stories behind each piece and I whipped through the book and it left me wanting more. A must read.

Insomniac City by Bill Hayes - Bill Hayes is a photographer and beautiful writer. He leaves the west coast for the east coast - specifically New York City - when his partner dies of Aids. Once settled in NY, he meets an ageing Oliver Sacks and they become lovers. But that is just the background of this stunning book. Part memoir, part travelogue, part meditation, I cannot begin to say what an impact this book had on me. Bill moves through his life with grace and ease, an insomniac, he uses the beat of the city to stay still, investigate what is around, wander the streets, take pics of everyday people, and sucks it all in. A must read book.

Walk Through Walls - Marina Abramovich - I've been reading this for ages, it was a rough start, mostly as Marina's childhood was rough. But once I waded through that - and her childhood gave her the strength to carry out her art through her life - it just was the most amazing read. I have always been very drawn to Marina, there is something magnetic about her. Whilst I truly do not understand some of her art, I appreciate her meditative state. It details her volcanic love affair with Ulay, and all of her art and pieces. I thoroughly enjoyed it and it certainly gave me some real insight into the woman behind the enigma.

The Lost City of Z by David Grann - I loved the premise of this book, the author decides to follow the steps of British explorer, Fawcett, who disappeared looking for a supposed city in the jungles of Brazil, to see if he could find traces of Fawcett and the city. I really wanted to love this book, and I did enjoy it, parts of it. I wanted more of Grann and his amateur exploration and less of the back story. Obviously you need to know the back story to gain understanding of what Grann does, but it needed better balance.

Too Much ROck 'n' Roll: a life in music - Mark Tinson - great read about the life of local muso, Tinson, excellent stories and heaps of hints and tips to make it in the industry. Highly Recommend.

200 Women: who will change the way you see the world -  this was a huge coffee table style book with short interviews with 200 amazing women from around the world. Lovely photography, and great insight from great minds. Many of Australians included, including my lovely friend, Anita Heiss. This is one we all should read!

How Much The Heart Can Hold: Seven Stories On Love - Seven short stories about love. All incredibly different, all very well written, all enchanting and sexy and romantic and beautiful and sad.

A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L'Engle - a classic children's story I have never read, and with the movie coming out I thought I should. I really enjoyed it but was a little disappointed, because I think I had read so much about it that my expectations were too high. A classic kids out on their own adventure, trying to locate their Dad, who is missing in action.

What I've Been Watching

Blue - hugely important doco on pollution and the oceans, and how things like plastic are effecting marine life. Devastating stuff, a must see for everyone who cares about the planet we live on.

I Am Not Your Negro -  based on the unfinished manuscript by James Baldwin, about his three close friends, Malcolm X, Martin Luther King Jnr, and Medgar Evers and race in America. The doco takes up where James left off and continues the story. Awful and sad, and yet at once uplifting. We have come a long way, but still have miles to go.

Richard Prior Doco  - can't think of the title of this, but it was really good, loads of footage, the good, the bad, and the ugly, the really ugly. Prior was certainly a genius and also severely disturbed.

Elvis Presley: the searcher - Great doco about The King, loads of previously unseen footage, covered the little known things, loads of music, and just made me smile.

Rock and Roll Guns For Hire: the story of the sidemen doco - great doco about the sidemen in bands. Earl Slick for Bowie, Wendy and Lisa for Prince, and so forth. The musos who often tour with big bands, and whilst not part of the band, they kinda are. Fascinating and some great music.

Ferrari: race to mortality -doco on the beginnings of Ferrari in F1 racing. Incredible early footage, scary and heart wrenching stuff.

Arthur Miller: Writer - great doco on the writer Arthur Miller. About his work, life, loves. Quite sad in parts, especially the Marilyn section.

The Child in Time - based on the Ian McEwan book, this is a heart breaking story of a lost child. Benedict Cumberbatch and Kelly MacDonald are great as the grieving parents.

Suburnicon - Julianne Moore and Matt Damon star in this black comedy from George Clooney, about a family in 50s suburbia who are not as they seem. I really wanted to love this film, but found it fell flat.

The Promise -  bit of a dreary love triangle between Christian Bale, Oscar Isaac, and Charlotte Le Bon during the Ottomon Empire.

Mother - Javier Bardem and Jennifer Lawrence are a couple with an extraordinary house, isolated in the country. A strange man, Ed Harris, and eventually his family arrive and create havoc and things great really strange. I mean REALLY strange. Based on the bible and the creation of Eve etc, this is part clever, and part frustrating.

My Cousin Rachel - this is another odd film, Rachel (Rachel Weisz) is the wife of the main character's (Philip) cousin. But his cousin believes his wife is trying to kill him, when he does die, Philip wants revenge, but that does not exactly work out. Weisz is beguiling as always, but something just doesn't work in this film.

Belle De Jour - fabulous French film from 1967 starring Catherine Deneuve as Belle, an uptight housewife who finds pleasure as a call girl.

Terms of Endearment - how lovely it is to revisit favourite films, especially a classic such as this. Shirley MacLaine and Jack Nicholson are at the top of their game in this family drama. While the tears and tissue useage are high in this one, the laughs and the feel goodness balances things out. Just watching the interaction between those gorgeous leads is worth admission alone. This film has not dated in the slightest, deserved of all those Oscars, and totally worth the heartache in the later part of the film.

Fast Times at Ridgemont High - this stoner film is a little bit fun, and a little but silly, but def worth it to watch actors like Sean Penn and Jennifer Jason Leigh, and many others, before they became famous.

The Room - notorious for being one of the worst films made...it is! But kinda funny, about a very odd man and his girlfriend and her affairs!!

Apple Tree Yard - whole this is nowhere as wholesome as the title would suggest. A 4 episode thriller that had me on the edge of my seat. Emily Watson - always brilliant - is a Scientist, top of her game, and a lovely family. She meets a mysterious man, Ben Chaplin, and falls into a torrid affair with him. And her entire life starts to unravel when a man turns up dead and she is arrested for his murder. Did she do it? And if not, who did? Wonderful stuff!

Just One Look  - French mini series, a woman finds an old photo with what looks like her husband, when he was younger in it. She shows him and he says it is not him, the next day he goes missing. Was that him in the photo, why did he say it wasn't him, where did the photo come from, and where is her husband? Many questions to be answered, a great little thriller. I have to be honest I found the ending a little soap operay, but the rest of it was pretty good.

This Is Us S2 - oh boy, this series kills me. I love it so. We find out what happened to the Dad, and it couldn't have been more upsetting. The family moves forward and backwards in life, everything about them is all about their father and his absence. Milo Ventimiglia is without a doubt the shining star of this show. But really the entire cast is amazing, the levels and layers, and the utter realness of it all. One of the best family dramas I have ever seen.

The Durrells S2 - Gerard Durrell's stories of his idyllic childhood on the island of Corfu, this series is just a sheer delight. Mrs Durrell, the wonderful Keeley Hawes, drags her four children from dreary old London to Shining Corfu. They have minimal funds and rent a ramshackle old house and the children run free and find themselves, after the sadness of their father dying. It is funny, and delightful, and you just want to pack up and join them.

Westworld S2 - I often wonder why I watch this, but for every annoyance, there is something that drags me back in. Multiple time lines (more than 20 apparently) make it extraordinarily difficult to work out what is going on, but I guess it's the thrill of trying to work it out. There are not many likeable characters which makes it even more annoying, and yet I persist!

Delicious S2 - picks up where series 2 left off. Dawn French and Emilia Fox are running the hotel and all is going well...until it isn't. It would appear the deceased Iain Glenn still has some surprises to rock their world. The food and surrounds are part of what makes this cute little series rock, plus Dawn French, always a delight!

Arrow S1  Superhero show about a masked arrowman who is determined to save his city from evil, after being lost on an island for 6 years. 

Versace - This is not really about Versace at all, but his murderer, Andrew Cunanan (the amazing Darren Criss). And oh my lordie, what a wild ride it is. This young guy is a psychopath at the highest level, the killing spree he goes on before even getting to Miami and Versace is something else. I did not know this true story and I am completely hooked, what an utterly devious man.

Once Upon a Time S6 - ok this is getting close to jumping the shark, it is getting too repetitive. One more season to go and we will see if all the fairy tale characters get their happy ending...or not...

Genius 2: Picasso - Antonio Banderas was born to play Picasso, literally born in the same town. He is astonishingly good, almost back to his Almodovar days, in this. I love Picasso - which is not a popular thing - well, I love his art. This series made it difficult to love the man, as much as I knew about his dalliances anyway, and that is a whole other story. I did find the movement around timelines a little frustrating, but ultimately the art and the man behind it are fascinating.

Mystery Road - easily one of the best Australian dramas I have seen in ages. Aaron Pedersen is called into a country town to help investigate the disappearance of a young boy. Judy Davis is stunning as the local cop. Seriously, she needs to be on film more, what a great performance. An outstanding cast including Deborah Mailman, Wayne Blair, Colin Friels, Tasma Walton, Ernie Dingo, John Waters...only 6 episodes, it left me wanting more.

What I've Been Listening To

Podcasts - the usual - Conversations with Richard Fidler and Chats 10, Looks 3.

ELO - love my ELO, been listening to them a lot

Martha Wainwright - going through her back catalogue, of which I own all - all signed by the lady herself too! Her voice is just stunning, everything she does, in French or English is perfect.

70s Radio - I love my 70s radio, and I always have it on in the background at home.