Tunes, Flicks, Culture, and Stuff

Lydia and I have been out and about these past couple of weeks, enjoying the Australian summer and the Melbourne night-life. We’ve been trying to take full advantage of the warmer weather and the longer days, so we’ve been attending a number of outdoor concerts and movies. In the past two weeks, we’ve seen the following:

Movies:

• “The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey” at Hoyts in Melbourne Central. Hoyts has large theatres in the Melbourne Central mall/station, perfect for catching the big-ticket flix. I found the movie to be very similar to the Lord of The Rings trilogy – a bit boring. Lydia loved it.
• “The Perks of Being a Wallflower” at Kino cinema in the city. Kino has a number of smaller theatres and is closer to our apartment (15 minute walk across the park into the city). Wine is available for purchase for a more intimate atmosphere – it’s Lydia’s favourite cinema. I enjoyed the movie (even though it is a “coming of age” story), and Lydia gave it a favourable review, although I don’t think she enjoyed it as much as me.



Moonlight Cinema

• "This is 40” and “Django Unchained” at Moonlight Cinema. Nearly every night in the summer, Moonlight Cinema is held in the Royal Botanical gardens where they show a mix of new and old releases at sunset. It’s a really cool venue, although we’ve found that we have to arrive quite early for the new releases, or risk having to sit behind a tree or way in the back. You’re allowed to bring in your own food and beverages, which helps pass the time waiting for the sun to set. It’s a surreal experience to watch the sun set behind the Melbourne skyline and the giant grey-headed Flying Foxes fly overhead. Lydia loved “This is 40,” whereas I found it entertaining, but not as compelling as some other Apatow films. “Djang Unchained” was awesome (classic Tarantino), although we both agreed it was a bit long.

Concerts:

Flying =w= on the Sidney Myer Stage

Me rocking next to the Ghost of Weezer present

• Weezer (indisputably one of the best bands of all time) at the Sidney Myer Music Bowl in the Royal Botanical Gardens. It was our first show at Sidney Myer, my 8th time seeing Weezer perform and Lydia’s 3rd. It was actually the same “Memories” tour we had seen two years ago in Chicago, as they took a break touring before coming to Australia. The same as all of those before it, the show was incredible, and we had a blast. The premise of the show is the band plays one to two songs from each album, starting with their most recent and working backwards to their second album. The band then takes a break, returns to the stage, and plays their first (and debatably best) album from start to finish.
• Sleigh Bells at Billboard The Venue in the city. This was the first time either Lydia or I have seen them live, as well as the first time either of us had been to The Billboard. The venue is a non-descript doorway off of Russell Street in the city. Upon entry, you head down to the basement where you’re met with a small, creatively-lit bar, with a small stage up front. The venue is standing-only (perfect for a band like Sleigh Bells), with the stage at one end, roughly the same width of the building. Lydia and I managed to be in the third row from the stage, which was awesome. The show was (appropriately) loud and they band played pretty much every song off their two albums. We really enjoyed ourselves and wished that the show could’ve been longer.

Sleigh Bells at The Billboard

We still have a few concerts and movies queued up in the upcoming weeks:

Movies:

1. Lincoln (still awaiting release in Australia)
2. Zero Dark Thirty
3. Flight 

Concerts:

1. Blink-182 Feb 27th at Sidney Myer
2. Wilco March 27th at Hammer Hall

More on those later!

The World is Alight

As it is capturing headlines worldwide, you may be familiar with the fact that Australia is experiencing record-breaking heat waves, and rampant bush fires in nearly all six states.  As a result, Lydia and I have donned our fire-retardant attire and forged ahead in our lives as usual (kidding).  While we’ve definitely had some hot days, Melbourne’s weather is fickle as ever, including one recent swing of one day reaching a high of 41C (105F) one day, with the following day reaching no higher than 21C (68F).  For the most part, we’re pretty isolated from the bush fires in greater Melbourne, and it would seem that most of Victoria has been spared this year (thus far).  The same can’t be said for our island neighbour to the south of Tasmania, and rural parts of New South Wales to the north, both of which have experienced some devastating bush fires.

Bush fires aren’t uncommon in Australia during the summer months, as the vegetation dries out quickly in the dry heat and winds, and eucalypt oil in much of the fallen foliage serves as an abundant fuel source.  Even in the relatively temperate and moist Dandenong mountains just east of Melbourne, bush fire has had it’s both devastating and necessary effect, as recently as 2009.  In fact, much of the native Australian flora is dependent upon semi-regular bush fire, whether to clear out old growth to make room for new, or in the case of a few Australian plants, as a necessity for reproduction.  Take for example the Acorn Banksia, which requires fire for its seeds to disperse.

Prior to European settlement, many Aboriginals would intentionally light bush fires, both as a means of hunting as well as to protect from too much dried fuel from accumulating.

And while bush fires can have devastating impacts to many homes and croplands, many times these fires are left unaltered in the rural outback.  Take for instance this image taken by NASA, known colloquially as “Black Marble.”

Source: "WA bushfires light NASA's 'Black Marble' photo of Earth," Herald Sun

Without knowledge of Australian urbanisation and geographic landscape, one might think that Western Australia is full of bustling metropolises, on the magnitude of Tokyo or New York City.  Even NASA had to take a second look at their photographs, which were taken in April and October 2012.  As it turns out, those patches of light are in fact unchecked bush fires in the Australian uninhabited expanse.

It’s pretty incredible to imagine the exact scale of those fires (although as this article reports, they may appear larger than they actually were due to the photographic techniques NASA used to assemble its images), but even more incredible is the fact that these fires would be burning without anyone really knowing.  

Happy New Year!

Have a happy and healthy 2013!  Lydia and I rang in the New Year watching the fireworks in the city:

We hope 2013 holds as much good fortune and fun experiences as 2012 has!