RIP lovely lady

Elizabeth Taylor was one classy lady. Let's just forget about Larry Fortensky's mullet for a little while (I know it's hard, but please, I'm trying to make a point here so just try...) and focus on the fact this beautiful woman raised more than $100 million for AIDS. As the Times pointed out today, "Indeed, Ms. Taylor also became a heroine for many gay people for criticizing a slow response to AIDS from politicians." Liz Taylor was a wonderful actress, and a wonderful human being.

Jean Paul Gaultier

I adore big beehive hair, black and white, tweed, cat's eye sunglasses and all things granny chic in general, so naturally I loved the Jean Paul Gaultier Fall 2011 show at Paris Fashion Week. Add a Chanel quilted 2.55 and a flask of Hendrick's gin, and you have a glimpse of how I intend to dress as a geriatric. Posse of adoring Persian cats still optional, at this stage, anyway.

Australian animals are the cutest

Oh, Knut, how I loved you.

By now you all know about poor little Knut the polar bear, and if I write any more on this, I'm gonna cry...

Love talk

"Sure, heartbreak is inevitable and tomorrow is promised to no one, but that’s no reason to talk yourself out of happiness today,"  says Coquette in The Daily

I wanna be near you

I've been listening to an old 2008 Cut Copy mix tape which features this Chicken Lips remix of Irish band Bell XI's song Flame. I think the lyrics are wonderful. When I first heard it,  I thought they were, "I wanna be near you, and big in your life," but "I wanna be near you, and blink in your light " is even better.

When your hand brushed against mine
I thought I'd collapse
I'm no rolling stone
I gather too much moss
Maybe it's 'cos I'm getting
A little bit older
But oh how your neck
Flows to your shoulder
It draws me, it draws me to your flame

I wanna be near you
And blink in your light
And toast marshmallows
On a cold dark night
By your flame

Your flesh it melts in my mouth
Like Holy Communion
But you don't really care for
Jesus now do you?
A photograph of this love
Hangs on my wall
I would dare to speak its name
If I knew what it was called
I would dare to speak its name
If I knew what it was called

Rattle the one who's shadow
You're standing in
Under the branches after
It's been raining
On your flame
I wanna be near you
And blink in your light
And toast marshmallows
On a cold dark night
By your flame

Your brought your flame
Into the chambers of my heart
You brought your flame
Where all's been condemned to dark
And now your flame
Spits shadows on my walls
Shadow on my walls

All I Want

 I love this song, and this film clip. Oh, to be Sarah Blasko....sigh.

Obama's iPod

I read her fawning address to US Congress in full, and watched the coverage of her visit on the news, but I completely missed the fact Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard gave Barack Obama an iPod of Australian music until a friend told me about it. Below is the full list of songs, selected by her staff. I'm glad they included Dan Kelly, Claire Bowditch, Megan Washington and the mighty Eddie Current Suppression Ring, but only one Nick Cave song?! Midnight Oil and INXS were mandatory, but the mere sight of so many Jimmy Barnes songs makes me cringe, and a lot of the younger stuff doesn't really warrant inclusion on Obama's iPod. They also left out one of the greatest Australian bands of all time, The Easybeats, and the beautiful strains of Sarah Blasko.



Paul Kelly
• To Her Door (Paul Kelly’s Greatest Hits: Songs from the South, Vols 1 & 2)• From Little Things Big Things Come (Paul Kelly’s Greatest Hits: Songs from the South, Vols 1 & 2)
Geoffrey Gurrumul Yunupingu
• Bapa (Gurrumul)• Wirrpangu (Gurrumul)• Djarimirri (Gurrumul)
Temper Trap
• Sweet Disposition (Conditions)• Love Lost (Conditions)
Panics
• Don’t Fight It (Cruel Guards)
Dan Kelly and the Alpha Males
• Star of the Sea (Drowning in the Fountain of Youth)
Hilltop Hoods
• The Hard Road (The Hard Road)• The Nosebleed Section (The Calling)
John Butler Trio
• Funky Tonight (Grand National)• One Way Road (April Uprising)• Used to Get High (Grand National)
Angus and Julia Stone
• Big Jet Plane (Down the Way)
The Herd
• I Was Only 19 (The Sun Never Sets)
Jimmy Barnes
• Red Hot (The Rhythm and the Blues Album)• That’s Right (The Rhythm and the Blues Album)• Hallelujah (I love her so) (The Rhythm and the Blues Album)• That’s How It Is (The Rhythm and the Blues Album)• Keep a Knocking (The Rhythm and the Blues Album)• Reconsider Me (The Rhythm and the Blues Album)• Shake Rattle & Roll (The Rhythm and the Blues Album)• Rockin’ Pneumonia (The Rhythm and the Blues Album)• A Fool In Love (The Rhythm and the Blues Album)• You Can’t Judge a Book (The Rhythm and the Blues Album)• I was Made to Love Her (The Rhythm and the Blues Album)• Young Blood (The Rhythm and the Blues Album)• My Baby Just Cares for Me (The Rhythm and the Blues Album)
Ian Moss
• Good Times (Soul on West 53rd)• Standing in The Shadows of Love (Soul on West 53rd)
Dan Sultan
• Your Love is like a Song (Homemade Biscuits)
INXS
• Never Tear Us Apart (Platinum Greatest Hits)• Need You Tonight (Platinum Greatest Hits)• The Loved One (Platinum Greatest Hits)• New Sensation (Platinum Greatest Hits)
Xavier Rudd
• Let Me Be (Solace)• Better People (White Moth)
Midnight Oil
• King of the Mountain (Blue Sky Mining)• Blue Sky Mine (Blue Sky Mining)• Beds are Burning (Diesel and Dust)• Short Memory (10,9,8,7,6,5,4,3,2,1)
Nick Cave (and the Bad Seeds)
• Into My Arms (The Best Of....)
Troy Cassar–Daley
• Bow River (Standing On the Outside: The Songs of Cold Chisel)
Kasey Chambers
• Pony (Wayward Angel)• The Captain (The Captain)
Jessica Mauboy
• Burn (Been Waiting)• Time After Time (Been Waiting)
Crowded House
• Now We’re Getting Somewhere (The Very Very Best of Crowded House)• World Where You Live (The Very Very Best of Crowded House)• Weather With You (The Very Very Best of Crowded House)• Something So Strong (The Very Very Best of Crowded House)• When You Come (The Very Very Best of Crowded House)• Four Seasons in One Day (The Very Very Best of Crowded House)• Distant Sun (The Very Very Best of Crowded House)• Sister Madly (The Very Very Best of Crowded House)• Better Be Home Soon (The Very Very Best of Crowded House)• Mean to Me (The Very Very Best of Crowded House)• It’s Only Natural (The Very Very Best of Crowded House)• Fall At Your Feet (The Very Very Best of Crowded House)• Don’t Dream It’s Over (The Very Very Best of Crowded House)
Kylie Minogue
• Confide in Me (Ultimate Kylie)
Where the Wild Roses Grow (Ultimate Kylie)
Megan Washington
• How to Tame Lions (I Believe You Liar)• Sunday Best (I Believe You Liar)
Bliss n Eso
• Bullet and a Target (Flying Colours)
Yothu Yindi
• Treaty (radio mix) (Tribal Voice)• Djapana (sunset dreaming) (Tribal Voice)• Dots on the Shells (One Blood)
Cat Empire
• Hello (The Cat Empire)• Days Like These (The Cat Empire)
Hunters and Collectors
• Holy Grail (Cut)• Throw Your Arms Around Me (Natural Selection)• When the River Runs Dry (Natural Selection)• Do You See What I See (Natural Selection)
Augie March
• One Crowded Hour (Moo You Bloody Choir)• Janelle (Standing on the Outside)
Missy Higgins
• Scar (The Scar)• The Special Two (The Special Two)• Steer (On a Clear Day)
James Morrison
• Chameleon (Scream Machine)• God Bless the Child duo with Deni Hines (The Other Woman)• St Louis Blues (Quartet)• St James Infirmary Blues (Tribute to Louis Armstrong)
Powderfinger
• These Days (Odyssey Number Five)• Burn Your Name (Golden Rule)• My Happiness (Odyssey Number Five)• Baby I’ve Got You on My Mind (Vulture Street)• Lost and Running (Lost and Running-Single)
Bernard Fanning
• Wish You Well (Tea & Sympathy)• Songbird (Tea & Sympathy)• Watch Over Me (Tea & Sympathy)• Thrill Is Gone (Tea & Sympathy)• Wash Me Clean (Tea & Sympathy)• Which Way Home? (Tea & Sympathy)• Hope and Validation (Tea & Sympathy)• Down to the River (Tea & Sympathy)• Yesterday’s Gone (Tea & Sympathy)• Not Finished Just Yet (Tea & Sympathy)• The Strangest Thing (Tea & Sympathy)• Sleeping Rough (Tea & Sympathy)• Further Down the River (Tea & Sympathy)• Believe (Tea & Sympathy)
Clare Bowditch
• Message to My Girl (She Will Have Her Way: The Songs of Tim and Neil Finn)• Modern Day Addiction (Modern Day Addiction)
Guy Sebastian
• Like It Like That (Like it Like That)• In the Midnight Hour (The Memphis Album)• (Sittin’ On) The Dock of the Bay (The Memphis Album)
Living End
• All Torn Down (The Living End)• White Noise (White Noise)
Silver Chair
• Straight Lines (Young Modern)• Tomorrow (Frogstomp)• Ana’s Song, Open Fire (Neon Ballroom)
Wolfmother
• Joker and the Thief (Wolfmother)• Woman (Wolfmother)
Tame Impala
• Solitude is Bliss (InnerSpeaker)
Eddy Current Suppression Ring
• Which Way to Go (Primary Colours)
Tina Arena
• Chains (Don’t Ask)• To Sir With Love (Songs of Love and Loss)
Savage Garden
• To the Moon & Back (Truly Madly Completely: The Best of Savage Garden)• Affirmation (Truly Madly Completely: The Best of Savage Garden)
Lior
∙ This Old Love (Autumn Flow)∙ Tumbling into the Dawn (Tumbling into the Dawn)
Christine Anu
• Island Home (Stylin’ Up)• Sunshine On a Rainy Day (Come My Way)• No Woman No Cry (Liberation Blue Acoustic Series)
GANGgajang
Sounds of Them (GANGgajang)
The Go-Betweens
• Streets of Your Town (16 Lovers Lane)
Archie Roach and Ruby Hunter
• Little by Little (Ruby)• Coolman Baby (Ruby)• Nagarrindjeri Woman (Ruby)
Archie Roach
• John Pat (Journey)• Too Many Bridges (Journey)• Liyarn Ngarn (Journey)
The Waifs
• London Still (Up All Night)• Lighthouse (Up All Night)• Bridal Train (A Brief History)
Renée Geyer
• Heading in the Right Direction (The Ultimate Collection)• Stares and Whispers (The Ultimate Collection)• It’s a Man’s Man’s World (The Ultimate Collection)
Saltwater Band
• Compass (Malk)• Djarridjarri-Blue Flag (Djarridjarri)• Arafura Sea (Gapu Damurrun’)

Marina Abramovic & Franco

I've only just discovered this WSJ video of my darling Franco with performance artist Marina Abramovic, who I saw at MoMA last year while I was on holidays in New York. I found a few of Abramovic's performances, which were re-enacted at the gallery by younger models and actors, quite confronting, but I appreciate her message and the intention of the work nonetheless. I think Franco sums up performance art quite nicely when he wrote, "Performance art can seem pretentious, but it can also be quite mischievous and playful." Oh, Franco...

More Oz love: Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds

I love this song, and would of course enjoy it if it came from the US or the UK or anywhere for that matter, but Nick Cave is another crazy brilliant Australian musician from Melbourne, and listening to him reminds me of watching bands at The Esplanade in St Kilda; of home.

Teachers

This article about a teacher in Salinas, California is truly inspiring. Surely school teaching must be the most rewarding of professions, despite the fact they are largely ignored and underpaid. Gotta get in touch with my wonderful high school literature teacher whose tutelage inspired me to actually consider writing for a living.

My second favourite Hopper, after Dennis, of course





I recently went to the Edward Hopper exhibition at the Whitney. I was a little disappointed by the show because I was hoping to see this painting, 'Morgensonne' from 1952, which is my favourite Hopper work. There is something serene about this figure as she takes in the morning sun and contemplates the world beyond her bedroom window.



Oz love

This is Melbourne band The Drones performing a cover of Kev Carmody's 'River of Tears' at the Cannot Buy My Soul concert at Sydney's State Theatre in 2008. The concert was a tribute to Carmody, who is an Aboriginal singer whose songs are often about black deaths in custody.  I have been feeling particularly homesick the last few days, and listening to a lot of Australian music as a result. I guess I've just been craving the sound of a guttural Australian accent, and one of the reasons why I love The Drones so much is because of their very distinctive Melbourne sound. I was recently discussing Oz music with an American who works in the music biz and he said he loves discovering a band that actually embodies the sound from whence they came. Gareth Liddiard could never be accused of adopting an American accent in his singing, that's for sure.

Lanvin





Alber Elbaz, the Moroccan-born Israeli designer currently at the helm of French house Lanvin, just presented a beautiful set of frocks at Paris fashion week. This one was my favorite. You can't go wrong with ol' fashioned black and white. Thank goodness Elbaz hasn't revived Jeannne Lanvin's signature mother-and-daughter outfits.

“We’ve Come a Long Way, Ladies”

So declared First Lady Michelle Obama this evening from the White House as she commemorated the 100th anniversary of International Women’s Day. She's right, but I couldn't help but spend most of today, of all days, thinking about all the women in the world who still need equality and justice in their lives. This article is one I read recently which really had a profound impact on me, and this is yet another report from Al Jazeera documenting the disturbing wave of femicides occurring in Mexico.