WHAT STAR SIGN SHOULD YOU BE ? You Should Be A Gemini

What's good about you: witty and energetic, you're simply the most fun to be around What's bad about you: you're flighty - losing interest in people and projects quickly In love: you enjoy the "honeymoon phase," but after that it's hard for you to stick around In friendship, you're: likely to have many groups of friends, with many different interests Your ideal job: mime, guru, or cartoonist Your sense of fashion: casual and simple You like to pig out on: fast food, especially burritos

What Sign Should You Be?

(I'm actually Libra.)

Another Melly challenge You scored as Deep Space Nine (Star Trek). You have entered the dark side of the Star Trek universe. The paradise of Earth is far from you and you must survive despite having enemies on all fronts. But you wouldn't have it any other way because you thrive in conflict and will know what needs to be done to take care of those around you. Now if only the Founders would quit trying to take over the galaxy. Deep Space Nine (Star Trek) 94% Millennium Falcon (Star Wars) 94% SG-1 (Stargate) 88% Babylon 5 (Babylon 5) 88% Serenity (Firefly) 81% Moya (Farscape) 81% FBI's X-Files Division (The X-Files) 81% Andromeda Ascendant (Andromeda) 75% Galactica (Battlestar: Galactica) 75% Bebop (Cowboy Bebop) 69% Nebuchadnezzar (The Matrix) 56% Enterprise D (Star Trek) 50% Your Ultimate Sci-Fi Profile II: which sci-fi crew would you best fit in? (pics) created with QuizFarm.com

The Theory of Pearls
The art of embellishment

Composer Jerry Herman, hot on the heels of huge successes with "Mame" and "Hello Dolly", took a risk in 1969 with a musical based on Giradoux's "Mad Woman of Chaillot and failed spectacularly.
"Dear World" is probably not deservng of such a failure, but it is flawed. It's low point is undoubtedly the title song. Its high point "The Tea Party" is a tantalising glimpse of what Herman might have done if he had succeeded in writing a serious musical.
In the Tea Party the Madwoman of the title gathers together her two fellow mad-women (of the Flea Market and Montmartre) to save Paris and the planet from the madness of Big Business. And in the middle of the Tea Party we come to this short interchange.

M: Suppose I were to say your pearls were false ?
C: They were, they were.
M: I'm not asking you what they were, I'm asking what they are.
C: Surely you must know when you wear pearls, that little by little the pearls become real.
M: And isn't it the same with memories ?

Memories are pearls, and conciously or unconciously over the years our memories shift and change, we embellish and edit as it suits the moment, and little by little we lose track of the changes. Still, our memories are our realities, the only reality our past can have.

Melly copped two of my pearls at lunch today, and suggested I should be writing them up here. Parallel lines of thought - I'd been considering that was maybe where this blog should be heading. Well, we'll see what happens.

Watch this space.

BROKEBACK DAY


Australia Day public holiday last week, an expected temperature over 40C, and the long awaited (for me anyway) opeing of Brokeback Mountain.
Arranged to meet N for the second session, arrive there an hour or so before to find the seesion sold out, and people already queued to get in and get their preferred seating. Bought tickets for the next sessionwhen N arrived, then headed off to find a cool bar. Found a new one to me - a Bier Cafe. Like the idea and liked the bar. Kinda lucky we couldn't get in to that session of the movie, N and I had a bit if catching up to do. Talked our heads off, and didn't have too many beers.

So. The film. I'd been so looking forward to it. I was not disappointed. I have to say straight up this is not a gay film any more than it is a cowboy film. Its a film about two people who fall in love, unexpectedly and dangerously, a love they initially cannot understand or accept. So, is it just a love story, a sort of chick flick with a twist ? No, there is much more to it. I does deal with prejudice, and with what the pressure to conform can do to people's lives (pay attention to the wives) but it is basically about love. And it succeeds in being the most powerful film about that overworked topic I've seen in a long. long time.

It helps of course to have two of the hottest young actors on the scene playing the leads. Heath Ledger's performance is nothing short of amazing, supported by Jake Gyllenhal's beautifully tailored character. It is Ledger's film (as it should be, it is Ennis' story). Ang Lee's direction never falters, his vision of the film is breathtaking.

Ten days since I saw it and I can't shake it. Still thinking about it, still feeling for the characters. Wonderful extract in the weekend papers from Annie P. stating she has experienced something few writers get - to see a film of their work that goes beyond what they are able to achieve with words alone.

I have been on a 10 day campaign to encourge everyone I know to see this film. Consider yourself encouraged to do so.