Off Season Adventures: Sydney

For Part Two of my adventure down under, we flew to Sydney, Australia. 

The view from above - coming in for a landing!

I flew in first midday to do a little exploring by myself. I dropped my bags off at the Pandora office in the Chippendale neighborhood, a former industrial neighborhood that through gentrification (it’s happening everywhere!) that has transformed into a creative scene. It’s south of the city center, between the downtown and the airport, so it was an ideal place to start walking. I walked through Surry Hills, to the fun Darlinghurst/Kings Cross area and had lunch at Sweetheart’s Rooftop, which had been recommended. The restaurant has this super cool, spacious rooftop area that would have been perfect on a sunny day. 

At least I had it all to myself? More drinks for me!

I was the only person up there on this ominously gray afternoon but the bartender was super nice. He whipped up his own creative cocktail and recommended one of their massive burgers. 

So many yums

After this massive lunch I went to get some more steps in and walked toward the city center, through the Domain and Hype Parks, past the Australia Museum. George St was a fun road to walk down to get back to Chippendale, as it has a lot of shops, restaurants, and interesting looking buildings. 

I would so live here!

There was a night market I was hoping to check out in Chinatown, but unfortunately right as I was heading there the sky opened up and it began to torrential downpour. I booked it with my luggage in tow to the closest movie theater to kill some time while I waited for evening activities (which were thankfully indoors).  If you have to see a movie during your time in Australia, Event Cinemas on George St was really nice. I saw “Money Monster,” with George Clooney and Julia Roberts. It actually exceeded my low expectations and was an interesting spin on bank corruption. After the movie I may way to the Sydney Opera House, the most epic of venues to see a show at. It was a special show in support of VIVID Sydney, a light, music and ideas festival where they do really interesting light installations on popular landmarks around town and have a ton of events and parties over the course of 23 days. The photos from VIVID 2015 look AMAZING but when I was there the rain shut down a lot of things. Back to the show, I got to the Opera House a little early for a bite and a drink. The show was Ta-Ku, an Australia DJ from Perth who gained notoriety online with his mixtapes, remixes, and EPs that have an interesting blend of lush soul and dusty hip hop. His set featured the singer WAFIA from Brisbane, who was an absolutely beautiful and haunting vocalist, along with a string quartet, backup singers, and a kaleidoscope laser light show.

LASERS 4 DAYZ

 The next morning we woke up in the apartment we were staying in by Bondi Beach, which would have been the ideal location with the exception of the fact that it still felt like we were in the middle of a hurricane. I will give it to the surfers though, these guys were still out on their boards catching the massive storm waves. Now that’s dedication! Still, that meant no coastal walk for us.

What is this, a beach for ants?

We got lunch at a trattoria on the main street running down the coast, Campbell Parade, that was good but nothing worth writing about. After lunch we walked to Hall St, which is a cute stretch of shops and cafes. As another great indoor backup activity, we decided to get massages. In theory this sounds like a relaxing option, when in reality we went to the Siam Cabana Fine Thai Massage parlor, which was a really nice place but they really go deep with their elbows on your spine. A hurt-so-good moment while you hear your friend in pain through the curtain and realize you’re not alone in this intensity. That evening we went to another VIVID event in Bondi, a Brazilian dance night. It was this super cool underground bar that had a massive front room with a stage and dance floor where the band played.

Brazil Down Under

There was a second bar room in the back that felt almost like a completely separate venue, with fun cocktails and a speakeasy feel. They had a bluesy, vintage band planning which was a big contrast from the Brazilian festivities going on in the other room. 

We woke up to day three in Sydney and guess what, it’s still raining. That morning I attended my first (and so far only) Australian book club, where we read “We Are Completely Beside Ourselves,” which I did not love since I found the main narrator unlikable. However, the brunch we had at Trio during the brunch club was very enjoyable! I had their corn fritters, topped with bacon slices, tomato jam, arugula, and goat cheese. It was the perfect blend of sweet and savory.

Bacon makes everything better

In the afternoon we went back to downtown city even though it was still pouring so I could at least enjoy a little more of Sydney despite the storm (thanks again to my hostess friend for being a good sport and traipsing through the rain). We went to the Museum of Contemporary Art in The Rocks, which is across an inlet from the Sydney Opera House. Usually I find modern art a little bourgeois and ethereal for my taste, but this had a lot of really interesting exhibits using modern art to talk about the issues of immigration and being a refugee.

This one actually has nothing to do with immigration, it just looked cool

There’s a café on the top floor that is windowed and has a good view of the Sydney Opera House and bridge, so we had a snack and waited for the sun to set so we could see the VIVID light display. Sadly, they didn’t appear to be working so we went to Sailors Thai, nearby in The Rocks. It was tasty Thai food, so I definitely recommend it. After dinner we grabbed some gelato and wandered back to the water where the lights were finally up! We watched the lights change on the Opera House for a bit before grabbing a cab back to Bondi for the night.

VIVID #success

Sappiness in Yemen

And no, I don't think everyone in Yemen is emo. I'm referring to the movie "Salmon Fishing in Yemen." First off, in case you don't know where Yemen is:

There, now that you've learned something educational from this blog post, let's continue with the movie review. I was excited to see this movie. It received a lot of critic buzz and made the rounds at the 2011 indie film festival circuit  The movie is based on the success novel with the same name by Paul Torday. I haven't read the book but after looking into it, it sounds a lot different than the movie. The book is classified as a political satire and won a prize for comedic writing. I love dry British humor. I think I would have liked this movie a lot more if it had satire. Unfortunately Hollywood decided to turn it into a romantic drama. And that was the beginning of their downfall. The movie stars Ewan McGregor and Emily Blunt, two skilled British actors.Their acting abilities did not equal on-screen chemistry. The premise of the movie is that Harriett (Blunt) is trying to help foster Yemen-England relations for her boss but creating a goodwill story. Somehow she decides that the perfect story would be to introduce the sport of salmon fly fishing to Yemen. The movie doesn't provide any background as to where this out-there concept came from. She enlists the non-eager British government expert in salmon fisheries with Asperger's syndrome to help, Fred (McGregor). A Yemen sheikh decides donate millions of pounds to fund this project and bring salmon to the Yemen. This is not an easy task and they go through many hurdles trying to get this up and running. I think that part of the movie is interesting.

The part of the movie I take issue with is the romantic plot line. At the beginning Harriett is dating a solider who gets sent to war, promptly going MIA. Fed is married to a very career-oriented, ambitious woman who's work requires a lot of travel. Seemingly out of nowhere, halfway through the movie, Fred comes to the realization that he's in love with Harriett after his wife approaches him and calls him out on it. Harriett's been a weepy mess because she assumes her MIA boyfriend is probably dead. Instantaneously she returns Fred's affections. I won't spoil the ending even though I think you can guess where this is going. Anyway, the second part of the movie is extremely sappy. I really think they should have left it a political British satire. Rent this one if you want a sappy British love story that makes no sense. Watch "Love Actually" if you want a sappy British move that's actually good.

Movie Confession

I want to get it all out in the open at the beginning of this post. I cried at the end of "The Help." I didn't see it coming, it just snuck up on me. I read "The Help" a couple months ago and didn't cry at the end of the book. And I knew what I was in store for plot-wise. I can't remember the last time I cried at the end of a movie. That probably ended when all rom-coms started rolling out the exact same plot lines. Or when I realized that I am not a cute crier. Some people look like sad, big eyed little puppy dogs. I look like a wet mess. Like the fat kid who dropped her ice cream in the sand on beach day (and started using mascara at an early age).

Anyway, I digress. Let's start with the book by Kathryn Stockett. I thought it was good. Not great, but not "Twilight." The book spent over 100 weeks on the New York Times Best-Sellers list. It won a bunch of literary awards. I'm told it's part of Oprah's Book Club, but what isn't these days. The plot itself is interesting and had the potential to be hugely impactful. Unfortunately I just didn't think it was that well written. This was her first novel and apparently it was rejected by over 50 literary agents. Stockett jumped abruptly from one character's view to another. There didn't seem to be any additional insights by adding various viewpoints. And I agree with the reviews that called this book racist. Why did the maid parts have to be in poor, broken dialect while the white women didn't have any Southern inflections? I just kept reading because it was an easy read and I just wanted to be done with it. 

I think what really got me about the movie was the superb acting. It was stacked with amazing actresses, making an uninspired book something worth watching. The casting was incredible. They somehow found the perfect actress to encompass each role and personality like how you imagine them exactly from the book. The movie actually won a SAG for "Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture." Viola Davis won a SAG as the main maid in the story, Aibileen Clark. Octavia Spencer won a SAG, Golden Globe and Oscar for playing Minnie Jackson exactly like I pictured her from the book. Poor Jessica Chastain was up for all three as well but didn't win any, even though she was very convincing as the clueless flake Celia Foote. I feel bad that Emma Stone didn't get any recognition as Skeeter. Same with Bryce Dallas Howard, as the hate-able Hilly Holbrooke. Also, Allison Janney and Sissy Spacek are scene-stealers with their smaller roles. It's a pretty sappy movie, so prepare yourself. What I think maybe got me the most was just viewing that struggle and thinking about all the things that haven't changed very much since Jackson, MS in the 1960s. If you liked the book, you should probably rent this if you didn't already run out to theaters. If you didn't like the book, wait for cable. If Oprah's cable network lives on, I'm sure this will be a staple.

A book review!

I rarely write up book review on my blog. I think there are so many actual good book review bloggers out there that who am I to compete. However, I just finished a trilogy that I couldn't put down and it is being turned into a movie, so I'm going for it. The trilogy I have not been able to put down for the last couple weeks and stayed up late so I could finish is "The Hunger Games" by Suzanne Collins. It's been on all the best sellers list since being released from 2008-2010. The books in sequence are "The Hunger Games," "Catching Fire" and "Mockingjay." I didn't initially read them because the premise sounded too science fiction for me. It takes place in Panem, which is North America in the future after it's been destroyed by numerous natural and man-made disasters. Panem is split into 13 different districts and an area called "The Capitol."  The Capitol punishes the districts for a previous rebellion by making them send one boy and one girl to the "hunger games" every year to compete against the kids from other districts until only one remains alive. This didn't appeal to me at all. But the main girl, Katniss, is a great female lead and at the end of the day, it's less apocalyptic and is basically a love story. Katniss is torn between two different boys, Gale and Peeta. It's action packed and romantic, which is a rare combination, resulting in a total page turner.

The first movie is coming out March 23, 2012. They cast my new favorite young actress, Jennifer Lawrence as Katniss. Peeta will be played by John Hutcherson, the adorable boy in "The Kids Are All Right." Gale will be played by Liam Hemsworth, unfortunately known for being in "The Last Song" and dating Miley Cyrus. Other big names include Elizabeth Banks, Stanley Tucci, Woody Harrelson and Donald Sutherland. This Monday the news came out that a date for the second movie has been set for November 2013. I'm so excited to see how they do with the adaptations and am so glad they're not cramming all the books in to one movie. While this will never replace Harry Potter for me, it's nice to have a book/movie release to be excited about!

Book review: Water For Elephants

After hearing that it is being made into a movie with Reese Witherspoon , Christopher Waltz, and Robert Pattinson, I reread the book "Water For Elephants." I read it when it came out in 2006 and rereading it now was just as fulfilling. The book is a romantic mystery-thriller (I'm not sure if this is an established genre but if it's not, it should be) by Sara Gruen, following a Cornell dropout with a vet-major who hops aboard a circus train and become the circus troupe vet. In the circus, he finds love, has many adventures, and ends up finding his way. The book alternates between the main character, Jacob, as an old man in a nursing home and his adventures when he was young with the circus. The movie is set to come out in April 2011. I hope it lives up to the  book!

Sookie Stackhouse novels

In the last month and a half I have been OBSESSED with reading all of the Sookie Stackhouse novels. Right now there are 10 books in the series, with the 11th coming out this May. The books are written by Charlaine Harris and they are like literary crack. They're very easy to read and there are a lot of cliffhangers. These are the books that the HBO show "True Blood" is based off of. I'm a huge fan of the show but I think I like the books even more. The books are all written from Sookie's perspective, so you get a lot more of people's inner thoughts via her telepathy. There's a lot of characters, which is sometimes hard to keep track of, but they are all very interesting. And to "True Blood's" credit, they did a good job with casting. Another upside of the books, the two characters who annoy me in the show are not a major part of the books at all! And they are much, much better than the "Twilight" books because they are not centered around mopey teenagers.