Rick Miller

One of the tasks that I have been assigned for the January issue of Time Out is an interview with Canadian entertainer, Rick Miller. In preparation for this interview I obviously had to do some research on the bloke and in doing so I have grown to greatly appreciate his creativity.

His play, Bigger Than Jesus, is a one-man show that challenges and explores contemporary society's conception of Jesus. While some extremists may view his play as slightly blasphemous, most critics have praised the way that the production encourages inter-faith dialogue. As an agnostic I've always been interested in religion and have great respect for people that have faith but I'm also fascinated by the way that some believers are ridiculously narrow-minded and over-the-top. I'm definitely not against religion of any kind but I am against all forms of extremism because I believe that it pretty much goes hand-in-hand with qualities of intolerance and ignorance. And that's why I'm interested in Miller's play - he aims to comically explore these problematic issues in modern-day religion. 

It actually doesn't look that great in this video but it's received great reviews, has been performed in five countries and four languages, and has also received various awards so it must be good, right?

Miller also wrote MacHomer, a mix of The Simpsons and Shakespeare's MacBeth. Yes, it seems as strange as it sounds. But the idea is also amazingly creative. Miller's impersonations of all the different Simpsons characters is meant to be quite precise as well. Once again, this video doesn't really make it look great but the mere fact that it has been playing for a decade now is a testament to its positive audience reception.

I think these plays would be great for people that aren't serious theatre-goers and just want to have an easy laugh. Unfortunately I won't actually be able to see Bigger Than Jesus because I will be in Japan but hopefully I can attend either one of his productions some time in the near future.

Aquarium

Today I had a day off from Time Out and Longchamp. This is noteworthy because, for me, a completely free day happens once in a blue moon. And because it is so rare, I try to make the most of it.

After much deliberation, Nugen and I decided to visit the Sydney Aquarium. We both had very fond memories of the tourist attraction so anticipated it to be a relatively exciting experience (I was excited, at least). Obviously our expectations were too high. The last time we went was when we were both probably around 12 years old and easily amused. We had estimated that we would spend at least three hours admiring the fish but instead it took us a grand total of one hour. And some of the tanks were actually quite depressing because it highlighted the cramped conditions that these fishes had to live in. Also, I had a random family that constantly asked me to take photos of them at different spots in the aquarium because I was unfortunate enough to be at the exact same spot as them each time.

However, despite my whinging, it wasn't all bad - it just wasn't what we had hoped for it to be. And obviously I had a great time with Nugen (awww). Also, luckily we had a buy one get one free voucher otherwise I would've been spewing.

Best of all, I got this awesome - albeit low quality - picture from the outing:

Jelly Fish

The Smart State

9 things I learnt from my two-night stay in Brisvegas:

1. It's hot and humid.

2. The Caxton offers 2-for-1 steak but ask for it well done because 'medium rare' apparently means 'raw' to them. I would know because I accidentally brushed my tongue too far back and gagged and vomited out chunks of raw meat. I learnt that I should not brush my tongue after a boozy-night and, more importantly, that I need to chew my food more.

3. It's the most spaced out city in the world and yet it only takes 20 minutes to get from the city to leafy suburbia.

4. There are lots of bridges in Brisbane and the Story Bridge (the main attraction of the city) is a fifth of the size of Sydney Harbour Bridge.

Story Bridge

5. Young-looking boys at The Vick are brave kids. One youngster interrupted me as I was engaged in conversation with a group of people to tell me that I was 'beautiful'. I asked him if he was taking the piss and he walked away dejected. I respect the courage, though. 

6. Bars close at 2.30am on Tuesday nights (but the casino continues to serve $4 daiquiris for those still keen).

7. Don't order fish and chips from the Greek restaurant near The Lagoon (Brisbane's fake beach). Unless your idea of fish and chips is oily, deep-fried rubber.

The Lagoon

8. Allow more than 30 minutes to drive from the city to airport. Luckily (?) our underestimation of the traffic was saved by the fact that my flight was delayed by 3 hours. I ended up saving $150 that I would have paid for a new ticket but suffered 3 hours twiddling my thumbs at Brisbane Domestic Airport.

9. Sara is a great host. And Harry is a douche who calls me a bitch while I brush my teeth (same night as point 2). The story goes like this: after a long drunken night Harry comes up to me in the bathroom and asks me what I'm doing. I tell him that I'm brushing my teeth. He then calls me a bitch and walks away. No explanation. Nothing.

Gin and Tonic by the pool

I want to look this good when/if pregnant.

Miranda Kerr: babe-ing

I found it hilarious that some images have her breasts blurred out. Boobs: too much for some people to handle. 

I tried to do some quick research to confirm that Annie Leibovitz started this trend of photographing pregnant women.  And I think that my assumptions were correct. More reason to love Leibovitz and VF.

Japanese Exchange Girls

Tomorrow afternoon my family and I will be hosting two 17-year-old Japanese exchange girls for two nights.

Both of the girls specified that they have poor English skills, which should be interesting considering my sister speaks minimal Japanese and my dad (the main Jap speaker) won't really be home most of the time. I imagine we will end up having awkwardly silent conversations or maybe ones where we both just smile and nod stupidly.

One of them stated that she hates fruits and enjoys eating sweets. I expect this girl to turn up with numerous cavities or to be slightly obese. The introduction packages include pictures of the girls but the scanned images turned out black so it's really hard to tell. Either way I'm sure the girls will be lovely.

I hope the sugar-lover will be a female version of this real-life Russell 

And even though my sister is the main person who will be looking after them, I still feel an enormous pressure to show them the best time possible. They will have fun.

OCD.

My life has always been planned. And always will be. I try to be spontaneous but I like to control the degree of spontaneity. Yes, I'm controlling and I really don't mind at all. I'd prefer to be prepared and happy than 'carefree' and disappointed.

So here is my plan now that I'm done with uni:

1. Go to Brisvegas and visit my exchange bestie, Sara. I met Sara through Rakhee (my other bfffffllll) during the early days of Leeds and we've experienced a lot of great moments together. These include: jumping in a car with potentially dangerous strangers, going on a mini pub crawl in London being girly and chatting about relationships, getting obese in Rome, getting crazy in Whitby (Dracula Museum; best thing ever?), getting crazy in Hamburg, her putting up with my stupidity on my last night in London, and wasting our time in Manchester doing pretty much nothing. I have so many memories with this gal - the only problem is that my memory is very poor so it's hard to give specific examples. I swear she's real though.

Sara macking a gelato in Vatican City

2. Japan with mum and sister for 10 days. Osaka specifically. Not sure what we'll be doing exactly but will definitely meet up with Yuki, get drunk in some karaoke bar, overload on high-tech gadgets, and get myself some mercury poisoning.

3. Vietnam for a month with Nugen. It'll take us a full two days and around 5 connecting flights but we'll get there. Nugen's a massive fan of his motherland so I'm very keen for him to show me the best of the Nam. I'm thinking awesome food, cheap tailored clothes, and then more food.

4. Work in Sydney for a few months and then jet off again. I'm talking a whirlwind trip from China > Europe with the beautiful Jacqui (so far we've got Berlin, Prague, and Amsterdam on the list) > USA to see my many American loves.

Owning one of these bad boys would totally make the adventures much more interesting me thinks. It would also make me very broke. But at least I wouldn't be homeless because, well, I'd have this thing to shelter me.

The Opera Trailer

Ohhhh yes

5. ?


In the mean time I'm working my butt off trying to save up money to fulfil these dreams. I also plan to write more specifically about each of the destinations before, during, and after I get there so stay tuned folks.

MECO Formal

Holy crap we're (pretty much) all done after spending 4 years together. The good thing about Media at USYD is that there's only around 80 of us so it's a really tight-knit bunch and when we go into the real world and became famous journalists we can call on each other for help. 

Only they can understand the long nights in the labs, sitting through seemingly irrelevant lectures, the bore of Law & Ethics, and the pain of the Internship and Critical Practice essays. But more importantly, these kids have become my friends.

Much love goes out to the MECO crew. 

To celebrate our freedom we will be getting drunk at my dad's restaurant tonight. 

Woooooopppp. 

By the end of the night. Photo courtesy of Jonno's FB

FREEDOM.

Today marks the day that I submitted my final essay - the last essay that I will ever have to write in my life.

It was a terrible experience.

Although I had the whole semester to complete these final two assignments, I still managed to torture myself by pulling all-nighters. I've had a combined total of 10 hours sleep in the past 3 days while surviving on 5 cups of tea per day so this post will be short and sweet. In fact, I'm still shaking from the caffeine.

Despite the fact that my mind is currently a complete blur, I just had to share my excitement with the world in the form of a blog post.

This video reflects my personal delusion/excitement.



Speaking of excitement...I've had a few more articles published for Time Out. This is so unrelated but whatevs; I had to publish these links somehow.

Here is:

My feature on Xavier Samuel and his role in The Loved Ones.

My feature on Boomburbs exhibition.

An interview with Reportage photo festival director.

Facts about contemporary jazz heroes.

And a summary of November community festivals.

Now that uni is over I can focus on my (non-existent) career and continue to add work to my portfolio.  Woop...?