Sing-a-long-a Sound of Music

On Saturday night I went to the Sound of Music singalong at the Arts Centre, State Theatre.

Wowser, what a night. I never would have thought there were so many Von Trapp family fanatics living here in Melbourne! I started feeling like the only person at a fancy dress party not in costume when I found myself surrounded by nuns, marias, edelweiss,  leiderhosen and the Austrian hills in the theatre foyer.

It was all pretty hilarious. We were given a bag of goodies which we had to use in some way during the performance to interact with the movie – along with singing to every song – which most people in the audience didn’t even need the captions for. It went a bit like this:

How - [thrust flash card forward]

do you solve a problem like

maria?

how do you catch a cloud and pin it down? how do you find a word that means

maria?

a flibbertigibbet

a willo’ the whisp

(yep that one was a bit questionable!)

a clown?

It was quite funny – we had to use the flash cards throughout the song and, boy, it got quick… stressful at times, I was pretty happy when the dialogue kicked in.

We also had magical moments – when Maria is asking Captain Von Trapp for some fabric to make play clothes and he says “NO”, we madly start waving little cloth swatches at the screen screaming “behind you, behind you!”

and then, miraculously, Maria turns around and notices the drapes in her bedroom!

We also had to slowly wave our little Edelweiss flowers when the Captain sang ‘Edeweiss’ -and when Maria and the Captain, Gaylord, finally kiss, we fired off party poppers (mainly to keep everyone awake)

Overall a very entertaining night. I think having to hiss at the Baroness  every time she came onscreen was a bit much, she has a fair bit of a lot of screen time… but you don’t often get the chance to clap, shout, scream and boo in public outside a footy match so I think it has my vote.  Now for the Rocky Horror Picture Show!

Instagram

I downloaded, like everyone else it seem, the instagram app that lets you apply funky retro filters to photos on your iphone and share them. Warning, it’s highly addictive and kind of brilliant how it can take a crummy photo and turn it into something artistic, grainy and uber cool.

I went to lunch at my grandma’s on Sunday, I was a little hungover and the bowl of pasta looked like such carby goodness I couldn’t resist taking a photo. After the instagram treatment it looks unreal. saucy goodness.

Why do things look so good with a filter on them? That nostalgic film harks back to a simpler time and people always look a little browner, a little warmer and, possibly, a little happier?

Marsaxlokk rooftop in Malta… hmmm, if I could beam myself back there right now I’d be the happiest person!

ahhh, nearly spring.

Oh, and this little beauty taken in the Nicholas Building in the city – is it 2011 or 1942?

Kitchen mural

We bought this awesome mural a few weeks ago from surfaceview.co.uk called ‘Poolside Gossip’. It was snapped by Slim Aarons in 1970 at a desert house in Palm Springs designed by Richard Neutra for Edgar Kaufman. Today it got pasted on the kitchen wall and after delicious dumplings and a photography exhibition, we rushed home to check it out.

And it’s COOL.

and here’s the view when you’re doing the dishes:-

and when you’re picking a piece of fruit!

I’m a big fan xx

As modern as tomorrow…

is a current exhibition at the State Library of Victoria. It focuses on photography in postwar Melbourne and beautifully illustrates the profound impact events in history have on shaping culture.

Almost all of the featured artists came to Melbourne as European immigrants during World War II and introduced a new approach to photography and how we contemplate art and industry.

Tonight we dropped in after work to find we had the whole gallery to ourselves. It was so refreshing wandering around alone with such beautiful works. Below is Athol Shmith’s ‘A Bouquet to your Beauty’ – snapped a bit lopsidedly by me…

It was cool to see beautiful photos of people at work – I loved Wolfgang Sievers photos and it was rad to see industrial shots of the ’60s taken in our trendy modern day inner city suburbs like Brunswick. 

Below is a photo attributed to Helmut Newton of Maggie Tabberer c. 1960 , the cheekbones! Apparently Newton first called Maggie by her nickname, before that she had only been known as Margaret, and she has been known as Maggie ever since.

Typical Melbourne to always have something interesting going  on. Bookended with HuTong dumplings and beers and coming home to see our awesome new kitchen mural = fab night. xx

One day…

the book that we loved when we were in Europe. I read it in London, Paris and on the train to Amsterdam. You read it in Berlin and Como. Such an amazing book. I’m looking forward to the movie (but hoping Anne Hathaway’s Harry Potter rims aren’t too distracting!)

City pillows – an unoriginal post

I know, I know, if someone in the future discovers this blog and does a teensy bit of digging they’d find that cup of schmo posted on these city pillows recently (first actually). But they’re good, kitsch and I think they’d look cool on our couch, so I wanted to share them anyway.

Let’s not forget all the fun we had in Seattle - sculpture park, pike place market, boat trip to puget sound, sailing past the passage to alaska, dreaming of getting our able seaman license, belltown, pho in fremont, drinks in capitol hill – with a Seattle cushion!

I’d also like a tangible reminder of the beautiful drive up to San Francisco where we spent a night at the Lamplighter Inn in the quaint and moneyed up town of Carmel-by-the-sea – please.  The breathtaking drive through Big Sur (yep, I’m not dwelling on those winding roads), the awesome Frank Lloyd Wright house on the water, pebble beach golf course… yep, we would definitely need a Carmel-by-the-sea pillow too, oh, wait, they’ve got one!

And to complete the trio we’d have to include the city that inspired the painting. San Francisco. The sunken bed at The Touchstone on Geary, the boozy night at the Redwood Room,  Roman’s Sonoma winery tour, visiting the Frieda Kahlo’s at SFMOMA, mission dolores and walking walking walking. hmmm, definitely pillow time!

So many wonderful memories over there. it’d be so cool to surround ourselves with daily reminders! xx

Go forth…

That’s all… xx