Catsidhe

A couple of weeks ago, Liza D. invited me to a Radio Laria evening of poetry and puppetry, held at the Library Portal in Northcote, a delightful venue that reminded me of a more dilapidated version of the Abbotsford Convent. Melbourne still surprises me with its little secrets to this day. It was a rather wonderful and funny night, not the least because I found myself in the company of several people whom I knew from the online world. Encouraged by the door staff and a glass of wine, I ended up joining in the activities to give my first public poetry performance with the only item I had on hand, a piece comparing the assumed differences between Perth and Sydney entitled "We're not here to fuck spiders", originally for a US bicoastal journal. Thankfully, the audience was both kind and appreciative, even if I do tend to write for annotated content - far too many obscure references and metaphors.

I'll take this opportunity to sing some praises of Liza D., a dear friend of many decades. We met originally in the Jika days, where, possibly impressed by our cocktail parties, she invited me to produce and serve at one of her parties. Then she gifted me a little book on Tetum, for my original trip to Timor-Leste as an election observer, which was transcribed on my return and, at the time, was the only online Tetum dictionary. We've stayed in touch ever since, and on many occasions have had good reason to spend time in each other's company. Liza is a rather multi-disciplinary artist in her own right, as a writer, painter, singer, actor, comedian, reviewer, and so much more. I will also mention that, with a most immediate direct experience from two evenings ago, she hosts wonderful birthday parties with wonderful and creative company.

To add a little more to the experiences, on Saturday I used my NGV membership to visit the Cartier exhibition. Obviously, there were plenty of impressive designs, but I can't really get into the idea that precious natural stones (diamonds, rubies, emeralds, sapphires, etc.) are what make such items valuable. Synthetic stones are a fraction of the cost, are objectively better in terms of clarity, and intersubjectively better in terms of ethics. In the afternoon, I was joined by Sarah and young Leo, and we ventured to ACMI for their centrepiece "The Story of the Moving Image", which is really quite a brilliant exhibit from early stop-motion illusions, to film, to video-games. Whilst the NGV offered an obviously high-end exhibit with Cartier, I think ACMI offered something more interactive, visceral, technological, and ultimately even more beautiful.