DECEMBER REVIEWS

Books I've been Reading

The Land Before Avocado by Richard Glover - this is a fun and at times disturbing memoir of 70s Australia. After a conversation with his son, explaining there were no Avocados in Australia when he was a kid, Richard decides to look back at his youth during this time and see if it was better or worse than being a youth now. Loads of fun, load of information, some sobering statistics and thoughts, but as always beautifully put together. And he finds out there were Avocados, but not in as regular supply as today.

The Power of Hope by Kon Karapanagiotidis - Kon is a laywer, activist, and founder of the Asylum Seeker Resource Centre. This is a story of his life with information about his work, working with refugees, and his own personal struggles and how he overcome them. It is a powerful and uplifting read. His stories are important to Australia and ones everyone should read. Whilst some are rough to hear, he writes with such passion and love and hope, you feel great and positive about the future with people like him fighting the good fight.

Dear Santa edited by Samuel Johnson - this is a lovely little publication by the Love Your Sister Cancer Charity. It is a collection of Dear Santa letters from various Australians, well known and not so well known. The letters are funny, dramatic, and well worthy of a read. Plus proceeds go to charity! A really important one! #FuckCancer

J.D. Salinger: The Escape Artist by Thomas Beller - A shortish but comprehensive and entertaining biography of the great man. Beller visits a lot of New York locations featured in Salinger's life and writing, which gives a different spin to the story we all know.

Hotel California by Barney Hoskyns - The Story of the west coast music in the late 60s and 70s. James Taylor, The Mamas and the Papas, Carole King, Joni Mitchell, David Crosby, Neil Young, Linda Ronstadt, The Eagles and so forth are included in this book. How they all fitted together, worked with each other and brought music from California. Not a bad read, but no real new ground broken.

Off the Cliff: how the making of Thelma and Louise drove Hollywood to the edge by Becky Aikman - I wasn't sure if there was a book in this, but it was great and compelling. A fascinating lead up to how they go this classic movie made, the players, what it meant for feminism and the aftermath. This is a great read!

The Ocean at the End of The Lane by Neil Gaiman -  I have already read this book some time ago, but this was the talking book as read by the author...sigh. If you haven't heard Neil Gaiman's voice, especially his reading voice, you simply must, it is perfection and dreamy and everything. So listening to this fabulous fairy tale for adults was a sublime thing! Highly recommend.

What I've Been Watching

The Marvelous Mrs Maisel - This is the best show I have seen all year and boy, there have been some good ones. It is written and directed by Amy Sherman- Palladino of Gilmore Girls fame. And like that, this is sassy and brilliant, in fact it is possible better! It is set in the 50s and the set design is sublime. The costumes swoonworthy, also great music. The cast is excellent and funny and wonderful. The show is about a young Jewish woman 4 years into her marriage. She is gorgeous and funny and everything. Her husband, a budding stand up comic, leaves her for his secretary and her life changes. She (and the kids) move in with her very Jewish parents and by accident she finds herself on stage at the club where her husband used to perform and she is a hit. Susie (the brilliant Alex Borstein, Lois on Family Guy), who works at the club takes her on as a client. Every shot is a postcard, loads of popular culture references of the time. I love the differentiation between Mrs Maisel's day life and her night life as a fast talking comical broad, she is still her, just a lot more bawdy. It is set is New York, it is glorious and pure joy. You can see why it has won so many awards. Rachel Brosnahan as Mrs Maisel is the most charming, joyous, feminist, funny, and gorgeous character I've ever seen on screen, I love her!!!

Counterpart - this is easily one of the best shows I have seen this year. Set in a modern day Cold War. JK Simmons plays Howard Silk a low grade employee of the UN in Germany, totally oblivious to what the organisation actually does until one day when everything changes. He meets a man who looks exactly like him, but is not him, even though his name is also Howard Silk. He finds out this new Howard Silk exists in an alternate world that was accidentally made after experiments in 1997 which completely replicated the world as we know it. The portal to the new world is under the UN building, but things over there have not progressed as the original world has and they are trying to infiltrate it.

This slight sci-fi premise is beautifully executed and completely believable. The story lines are fast and clever. It is complex, but relatively easy to understand. The cast (including Stephen Rea, Olivia Williams, Richard Schiff and Jacqueline Bissett) and acting are superb but Simmons' performance is extraordinary. Playing two characters with distinct and yet subtle differences. This is definitely must see TV.

Castle Rock - a series based on Stephen King Novels and set ups. The fictional town of Castle Rock is where the Shawshank Prison is and one day a strange amount of weirdness happens in the town that gets people very uncomfortable. A prison guard commits suicide in a very brutal way and a young seemingly mute boy turns up out of nowhere and only utters a name, a name of someone long gone. As things unravel is seems that this is not an unusual occurrence for a town that has quite the history of eerie and mystery. Where this is going, I am not entirely sure, but it is compelling, and well cast.

Master Of None - this was quite good, funny, sweet, and an interesting take of love and life from Aziz Ansari. I was in two minds about watching it after the hoo-haa around Ansari, but gave it a go anyway.

The Last Man on Earth S 2-4 - What fun this binge was. Last Man on Earth is a comedy about the aftermath of a virus that has wiped out most of the earth's population. The small group that has somehow managed to survive are a mixmatch of personalities and the show is about their survival. It is not a complex show but a lot happens, set in the US, the group travel around looking for a safe environment to live. They come across other survivors, an astronaut falls from space, there are deaths and births, they live in Cher's house for a while (Cher did not survive), and find themselves on the run from a psycho and then nuclear melt downs (no one is looking after them so they begin to catch on fire and leak - quite a scary thought if you think about it). It is a great cast and just laugh out loud funny. 

Silicon Valley S5 - Pied Piper lives to see another day...again, and the more things change, the more things remain the same. Always hilarious, this show gets better and better.

Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt S3 - this is a fun show, great humour and a great cast. I personally think Titus is the star of the show!!

Younger S3/4 -  I am loving this great series set in the NY publishing world. The premise is a 40 something girl tries to get back into the business after years away and finds she is too old, so pretends to be a 20 something and gets away with it. Mostly this is a pulpy show, and I love it. Funny and sex with publishing stuff thrown in.

Bojack Horseman S1 - great animated show about a washed up star from 90s television who happens to be a horse. In this world people and animals exist equally and it really works. A great comic cast voicing these characters really make it work, Will Arnett as Bojack, Amy Sedaris, Alison Brie, Aaron Paul and many others make this a delight. Oh and it is adult humour, not animation for kids!

Safe Harbour – Intense Australian drama about a group of friends holidaying on a yacht and they come across an overloaded and broken down boat of asylum seekers. They decided to tow the boat to safety, yet the next morning the boat is gone and it looks like it was cut free. When one of the group comes across one of the refugees some years later the truth begins to come out. Excellent cast, acting, and storytelling.

In The Fade – Diane Kruger is excellent in this as a grieving mother and wife after her son and husband are killed in a bomb attack. The trial, which starts to accuse her husband of wrong dealings and she decides to take justice into her own hands.

The 15:17 to Paris – this is the true story of the 2015 terrorist attack on a train bound for Paris. It tells the back story of the heroes and in an interesting twist, Eastwood cast the actual real life heroes in the main roles, playing themselves. This was a slow burn, but fascinating.

The Forger – one of those last heist films to help a friend. Travolta plays a  forger who paints a famous Monet for a switch. This was ok but a bit of a cliché.

Unsane – creepy thriller from Steven Soderbergh starring Claire Foy who appears to have mental health issues and ends up in a temporary institution against her will. But is she really mentally ill?

I Feel Pretty – I have a love/hate thing for Amy Schumer, I find some of her work great and other stuff too much. I wasn’t even going to watch this but I am glad I did. It was light and at times a little silly but the message of loving yourself and not getting hung up on the fleeting nature of aesthetics was pretty amazing. Also Michelle Williams as the head of a cosmetic company was brilliant, I had absolutely no idea it was her. This is worth having a look at!

Aurure - delightful French romantic comedy about Aurure in her early 40s and divorced and struggling enough and now her eldest daughter is pregnant, making her, quelle horreur, a grandmother. What will she do!?!?

Descent into the Maelstrom: The Radio Birdman Story – excellent doco on the Aussie punk rock band. I didn’t really know much about their background, and this was a detailed no holds barred look at the band. Plus loads of live footage and music, which was brilliant and intense as you can imagine!

Armistice Day: Live at The Domain, Sydney – this is a great live concert by Midnight Oil from their recent The Great Circle Tour in 2017. As edgy and sharp as they ever were. Perfection!

Beside Bowie: the Mick Ronson Story - great doco on Bowie's early sidekick, how they met, their friendship, his other work. It is ultimately a sad story, but what a great guitarist. Bowie fans will love this, and anyone interested in great music.

What I've Been Listening To

Gratitude and Grief by Elixir featuring Katie Noonan with Michael Leunig - whimsical album with poetry read by Leunig and songs to match. Lovely and sweet.

Bottle It In by Kurt Vile - great indie rock by the great man. Love this guy.

Far From earth by Stonefield - another thrashy and gutsy album from this fab all girl group

Elephants on Acid by Cypress Hill – laid back, stoney trip hop, love it!

44/876 by Sting and Shaggy – a bit cringeworthy on paper, but ok to listen to, laid back Jamaican style reggae.

Solo Anthology: the best of Lindsey Buckingham by Lindsey Buckingham – mix of great and ordinary, all his non Fleetwood Mac work

The Capitol Studio Session by Jeff Goldblum and the Mildred Snitzer Orchestra - divine live album of standards and jazz!! LOVE!!!