Maplethorpe Exhibition at MALBA

So this was a treat - what good timing, an exhibition in town from a photographer whos work i admire, Robert Maplethorpe at the Museo Latinamerico de Buenos Aires.

Mi Casa

So heres a couple of Shots of my little pad in Buenos Aires. As you can see its quite chic and stylish. The only problem is I feel a little bit entombed - it, has no windows, and very echoey - I know its raining outside because i can hear it all around me but I can see anything and 2 in the afternoon looks just the same as 2 in the morning!. Still not a bad little place, good location and fun having a home from home with internet too.

Recoleta Cemetary, Buenos Aires

I have a bit of a morbid fascination with tombs and cemetaries, not sure why. I find them very peaceful. This place was chocca with incredibly beautiful statues, sclupture and various forms of architecture. It reeks of old money. I kept thinking of Isabelle Allende and Garcia Marquez novels and the big old wealthy families in them. It also contains Evitas rather unasuming family vault. A couple of the vaults had fallen into a creepy state of disrepair with cobwebs and dust covering big old ornate coffins - all a bit Draculaesque!

Let the festivities commence!

I thought this past week would never end. Packing up and moving all your belongings is truly heinous (good word!). This is move number ..hmm *counts fingers* .. six for me in the last 10years. It doesnt get any better. I know plenty of people whove done it more than that though. Kirsty at works probably done that many in the last 9months!, perhaps not with quite as much stuff.

First theres the packing of boxes, phase one is staring at your place thinking where the hell do i start, phase 2 after you have done that first box and broken the phychological barrier is not too bad, actually it can be fun - getting systematic and having the opportunity to chuck alot of stuff. Feels a bit like spring cleaning. The last phase seems to go on for days though - the one where you thought youd packed almost everything but the place is an absolute tip with bits and pieces everywhere that never seem to end. You end up just chucking things at random into boxes at 3 am on the night before the removalist is due.

Then theres the actual move, - no matter how little stuff you think you have, this always seems to take at least 5 or 6 hours all of which you are paying for, sometimes ive paid people do most of the actual moving stuff. The only thing with that is although you dont do so much of the backbreaking stuff, you end up doing about 10 car loads on your own with smaller stuff thinking you'll save hours, only to find it takes just as long in the long run anyay. This time I was moving into storage and they supply a driver and a van, your supposed to do the moving stuff your self - thank goodness i also booked a labourer to help as well as a friend or we never would have made it. Somehow I always end up living somewhere that is a bugger to get in an out of. This particular place had a nazi body corporate who disctate how you get in and out and when. I think they chose the worst way on purpose, its not fun hauling a wardrobe the entire length of a car park and up a 45degree slope! Luckily the other end of things being purpose built was much quicker, there were a few hairy moments wondering if my Tutankhamuns tomb of stuff was going to squeeze in, all packed up to the ceiling but we made it in the end.

Next comes cleaing your old apartment to withing an inch of its life, so that you can get your bond money back. A particulary soul destroying task as by this stage you are invariably exhausted and scrubbing away at a place making it cleaner than it ever was when you lived there is like the last straw before collapsing in a worrysome heap somewhere. This time i opted to pay some people - possibly straight of a boat with questionable residency status to do the job for me, it still took them 5hours. Meanwhile my jobs were not completely over as i took down remaining bags of rubbish and things i couldnt get away with leaving there.

No wonder they say moving is on that list of most stressful things you can do. I still had to pack for the big trip, luckily not so bad once i'd narrowed it down a bit. I actually found my self culling T shirts in order of how much they weighed, i couldnt decide other wise! I think my scales were faulty though, i thought id got down to 16KG but turns out was 21 K at the airport this morning,

So here i am in my apartment in Buenos aires, and once ive recvered from the flying and settled in a bit I might start to enjoy myself!. The flight was fine, I always enjoy flying, I like being no where, with nothing to worry about and no one to bother you. Movies to watch, cocooned and fed.

Minor panic on arrival here as i had to call the apartment people which was proving problematical, not quite sure what i would have done if it were not for a last minute interational sim card purchase at the lonely planet shop at the airport in Sydney, and also for a nice taxi driver who hung about at the apartment trying to work out which buttons to press.

So here i am though .. the ''Cher'' apartment. (yes thats right folks). Apart from having no source of natural light in that typicaly latin way of building apartments around a dingy shaft with no window to the street, its very swanky and designer. I shall have to post fotos.

Well.. update over for now..

Le Reve

This ones for all those Flighties over in Vegas at the moment at the Global Gathering..

Le Reve, at the Wynn Hotel is a Cirque Du Soleil spin off production. A massive water based extravaganza with arial feats, gymnastics, diving and plenty of eye candy is possibly the most amazing show I have ever seen. I think I would probably fly to Vegas just to see it again. Spellbinding! The Soundtracks pretty good too.

Berlin

Having a pang of excitement over heading to Berlin, hoping to get mixed up in some underground grunginess. Has anyone seen Hedwig and the angry inch? Love that movie. Heres a taster.

Rome

Im feeling like that Comfortably numb song at the moment ... Hello... is there anybody out there.... Is it weird to be writing random stuff that probably nobody will have any interest in reading? And why would they? ...

Anywho.. check out some more fotos Mr or Mrs random cyberspace person. This was a few days in Rome a year or two ago. Id been there on a rail trip round Europe aged 17 or so but not since. The Vatican Museum was AMAZING, and the dimensions of the Pantheon pretty incredible. Nice place to have a good wander round.

Sense and Sensibility

Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen


My rating: 4 of 5 stars
I really did enjoy this, probably a notch under Pride and Predjudice, Im not sure if thats because it was my second Austen and P/P was such a surprise to find I enjoyed so much, or because it had slightly less to it that that one. I have discovered I get a real buzz from reading an historical classic. Its so much more that just the story, its an uncanny insight to another periods customs and morals, written right then and there by someone living in that environment, rather than something written in contemporary times set in the past. Historical fiction is often fascinating too if well researched but I do love picturing the author at work in Regency England. Such a different time. I mean, in all honesty the novel is all froth and bonnets, not a great deal happens apart from 2 sisters fretting In their own different ways over which man they many or may not end up marrying and whether they will be able to secure them a bit of future happiness and stability. Nobody works. Its all tea parties and calling cards. But the dialogue is exquisite and very clever. I loved Mrs Jenings matchmaking. There were several moments where I couldnt help thinking of French and Saunders, the one where Jen is trying to learn her lines for an upcoming Merchant Ivory production.

'Helena Bottom Carter.. Maggie Smith... Me'
'Oh Miss Honeyhives, Miss Honeyhives... ahem ahem, Reverend Bootle I Do Declare' etc etc etc..

I loved the conversations between Lucy and Elinor, both keeping up the pretnence of politeness and friendship, whilst busy weedling information out of each other, Lucy being spiteful and evil and Elinor being quietly superior. You cant help but smile at them all all having fainting fits and needing a lie down and the merest whiff of a gentleman with an income


Emma is next on the Austen list.

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