For the fight for human rights

Freeload

Years ago, Amnesty International Australia sent a white pen through the mail. The card describing it's reason for being in the envelope was startling. Very squirm inducing. The kind where it's more than a paper cut that carries through the entire day.

Political torture is an unfortunate occurrence all across the world. Victims can find themselves subject to various methods and never without pain. After all, what's torture without pain?

The ball point pen, simple and efficient tool for writing that it is, is at times used as an implement of torture.

Think urethra and the pain is most apparent. It's a shocking way to highlight just one of the many reasons why Amnesty fight the fights they do. A fight worth helping in any way possible.

They acknowledge donations with both a receipt in the mail and an email detailing the amount.

The Royal Flying Doctor Service of Australia on the other, another charitable cause, appears to offer nothing more than a simple and generic thank you page. Nothing else it seems.

Soon Van - Friday, 30 June 2006 - 15:26

Superman Returns

Popcorn

Cutting it wide with a ticket close on expiration, the afternoon session of Superman Returns is better than expected. At least in terms of audience civility and general respect to the overall enjoyment for others.

John Williams' "Superman Theme" opens up the screen and with it brings along a stirring well and utter blast of hope and emotion. Nothing compares to listening to the score large and from around all sides surround.

Clean and with a powerful face and strong voice, Brandon Routh really displays this simple charisma that delivers the character. It's Superman right up there large and in the next scene, an effortless change into Clark Kent.

Kevin Spacey as Lex Luthor really bones up on the smarts and actually poses a real threat to Superman. Luthor versus Superman and it's all on like Donkey Kong. Nasty work from the man. Nasty beyond compare really.

Superman Returns is essentially about the return of the icon, the ramifications of leaving others and the values of family.

Spotting Martin Place and York Streets as those of Metropolis in a few of the scenes proves to be some Sydneysider hawk eye fun.

Soon Van - Friday, 30 June 2006 - 13:47

MOY 11: Non-stop block of 80s pop

Occupied

Surfing across the speakers in waves, the others throw fixation and fascination upon music videos from the glorious 80s. One by one, as the viral infliction courses its strain from one creative to the next, they lose themselves in the viewing. Sating their desire seems nigh on impossible.

Hours on from cracking the doors and it's working through an aural time warp that spurs on a bit of speed in the fingers. Listening to them swoon over the sounds of Tiffany, Dexy's Midnight Runners and Rick Astley, to remember but three, and disquiet boils fervently enough to create a distraction to focus.

Soon Van - Thursday, 29 June 2006 - 15:07

Dodging a Duck at the Seymour

Writing

Facing the realisation that mental blackouts are good for nothing, it's a harrowing feat to even string one sentence together. To then jumble a cacophony of other dictionary fiends for the exercise makes no difference in the final outcome. Either way, no matter how many times it looks like an old or new paragraph, it's a number's game with the words trying to express an emotional response.

So it is that The Program features the review of Duck. Certainly uncertain, though the trials will leave it all the same.

Soon Van - Thursday, 29 June 2006 - 04:54

Squeezing money for drama and animals

Freeload

Running close to the end of the year, and with a desire to shell out money toward charities, a look around is in order. Tax purposes the major driving point.

First port of call, the Griffin Theatre Company. Owners and what of the SBW Stables Theatre in Kings Cross. Sadly, donations are through a community site. It's the lack of personalisation which appears distant. Those venturing forth may find their favour found in a name call in next year's yearly program of productions and performances for the year.

On the straight up charity side, the International Fund for Animal Welfare. Acknowledgement sees a contribution amount and reference number in the email. Follows up and quashes generic fears on the resulting screen. Plushly, donations over a meager sum of twenty five dollars nets a nice and cute little animal in the post. Stuffed of course.

Crazy nut work flexing the numbers on the American Express credit card. Squeezing the neck of this plastic while it's still valid. Many more months to go.

Soon Van - Tuesday, 27 June 2006 - 12:30

Sleeper that never wakes up

Freeload

Oporto meet for the warm up, and the catch into the fray. It's a quiet world with the major topic of conversation being that of yo-yos. Only playing spectator for the National Championships back in May and still without a trick to hold. Working the meet up with a national branded yo-yo doesn't make things easier.

At the dead Hyde Park fountain near the corner of Park and Elizabeth Streets, a group of yo-yoers and a few jugglers. Cold and chilly air makes for the fingers to snap. Knuckles busting on strings catching too quick. It's the crack that makes the quality in the pain.

And there in amongst the pain and lot of these players hanging and catching tricks, a learner, no closer to landing a trapeze at the Starbucks breaking point. Even a simple flick up return is beyond the skills at this point.

Six months to nationals. Time is counting down like the whirring of the bearings in the axle to exhaustion.

Soon Van - Monday, 26 June 2006 - 14:01

Tristram Shandy: A Cock and Bull Story

Popcorn

For a film about a film about a book, Tristram Shandy: A Cock and Bull Story is pretty funny. Insecurities and niggling debates over the tiniest of details abound. Steve Coogan and Rob Brydon play off each other so well that there just doesn't seem to be enough of it on screen. With the draw of the curtains at the closing credits, and an entire audience still in their seats, it's not a lonely feeling with others at the morning preview.

Soon Van - Monday, 26 June 2006 - 13:43

Duck at the Seymour Centre

Theatrics

Taking the tilt toward the very last second, catching the close of the doors beats the plus one by a few minutes. Later on the turn around at the end of the game, a meet up and the explanation still remains a little chilly though clear.

Duck by Stella Feehily in the Downstairs Theatre, is an abrasive tale of the despair a young woman suffers. Not only with such an unfortunate nick name, but of the conditions that envelop her existence. One that seems to seem at times light and hopeful and at others just a cloud of misty black ink smoking through the rafters.

Of which, it would appear that by the last third of the performance, all of the cigarette smoke does a number on the brain. Coupling with the after and lingering effects of sleeping a shifting sleep schedule against the rest of the world, it's a vision splendour of the skull kneading it's own back.

Recognising a face from the pre show mingle crowd, laughing in the audience and grabbing a bottle of water at the after party, it was that of Nick Papademetriou. Last seen at the Seymour Centre as the priest of a nature in Silence. Familiarity of a stranger and an actor is a weird thing. Etiquette on farewells missing a sheet of clarity, and a slink away into the rainy night a shimmer away.

Soon Van - Sunday, 25 June 2006 - 11:48

Deep Sea 3D at IMAX Darling Harbour

Popcorn

Rains, everywhere outside. streaming down the windows of the IMAX. Girl down in the Boost Juice shop runs through about a quarter of a new paper towel roll. Cleaning in a maddening state with each swipe going down for another square.

Big funky 3D glasses cover right over the face and pinch a little on the nose. Johnny Depp and Kate Winslet on the narration of Deep Sea 3D are great to listen to on the tones. Not entirely on the script at hand though.

Such a bewildering farce of visual depth perception. Down in the deep sea and the powerful smack of colours is as intense as the dimensional play right in front of the massive screen.

Forty five or so minutes later and it's just right to walk out. Quick before the sheer seating arrangement looms hard enough to hint a toppling over. The old lady with her three kids was close on that edge exiting.

Soon Van - Thursday, 22 June 2006 - 13:52

MOY 10: Casualties of casualness

Occupied

From the comfort of quiet brings about a maddening spark of inspiration. Facing the misery of archaic and semantically deviod notions of presentation, the breakdown of breaking down proves explosive.

Sadly, given the way the mind works, this process of motivation appears to be the result of frying the brain in waters past midnight on a regular basis. Ordinarily catching the day after the dusk with no sense of dead in between is a trivial path for others and a seemingly difficult avenue to cross competently for the clean wired insomniacs.

And so it continues, that through the scatter of everything else on the clutter free desk, it would be the plastic bottle finding a way off from the platform.

Disappearing vessels for water are certainly no result of mind tricks. Self-inflicted or not.

Soon Van - Tuesday, 20 June 2006 - 10:56

Paranoia is locking out the shoulder

Spiralling

Mysterious correspondence leads to an assignment of tabloid and trash proportions. One in which payment drops before any thing close to forensic dust has a chance to settle on the oil. Conversations with the probationary in waiting only reaffirms the strange circumstances of the entire situation.

With no questions asked on the reason, it was only sane and logical to expend energy and a little chunk of the right shoulder in covering the tracks. Wiping down, wiping across and wiping another scramble, it's a tiring exercise to smear finger prints from over five hundred pages of glossy stock.

Circular and tight motions leave the muscles in the shoulder torn and tearing away for another day of rest. Waking up with the hurt feels like holding a Stretch Armstrong pose for hours on end.

Six hours later and the hope that no fingerprints remain on the envelopes or on the magazines. Even if by the start of the ritual, at least three sets exist.

Casual bystanders may sense fear standing alongside as these envelopes take a dive into the yellow express post box in the morning. All while the person making the drop frets over contact exposure at the very last second.

Soon Van - Monday, 19 June 2006 - 06:28

Clash of the Tritons

Television

Familiarity strikes an appearance in watching Veronica Mars. An extra long recap intro clobbered from various episodes tipping close to, and nearly over, a minute of lingering plot strings. Each highlight segment running into another like blindfolds over a hedge maze of barbed wire. Thankfully, tales on the return of Mars in the summer fall by the might of fan support. Perhaps. Or just even the chance to clear through so as to keep on keeping up.

Catching buttocks on either side with a Big Brother programming sandwich the price to pay for its return during the nutcracking depths of winter.

Soon Van - Saturday, 17 June 2006 - 15:20

MOY 9: Dog day afternoon

Occupied

Treachery on the peripheral vision and a few times peaking toward the desk absolute. Canine pitter patter of legs no longer than the height of a fist run about the floor. Alone in a meeting room doesn't agree with the little one. Minutes later and the rubber underlay of the carpet sees light for the first time since being covered by the overlay. Vision is a bit blurry from all the piles in the way.

Disaster ruins a general feeling of escape. Deceptive face plating proves hazardous in undoing a lot in the way of confidence. And time. Though that doesn't matter quite as much as the rate works its own deal and not necessarily compliant to the whims and wishes of a presenting a style of flair.

Soon Van - Saturday, 17 June 2006 - 13:45

Rotting the brain on the train

Comics

Reading a copy of the second issue of Civil War seems like a pointless waist of time if the intended pay off was the highlight of the issue. One that proves too juicy for the public who don't read comics to sink their teeth into. All over the world and right there in the newspaper, just not good enough to have people read about it in the actual comic itself.

Apparently it all comes down to the last page. Never even wanting to pick up on the series in the first place is an entirely moot point.

Soon Van - Thursday, 15 June 2006 - 12:08

Foveaux to Fitzroy to failure

Freeload

Memory fails when the imprint is shaky and not quite clear in the first instance. Recalling the names of streets and their orientation from the front of a disused train ticket is hard. Especially when the ticket is underneath two stacks of twenty cent coins, back at the lair gathering dust like it knows best before its eventual recycling.

X does not mark the spot of the new Drum Media offices. A fat glob on the window of their old premises on Fitzroy is just so plain and logical. Back tracking all the way down again to the train station for the street maps near the pay phones registers a clue in direction.

An initial run up Foveaux Street in Surry Hills is treacherous for the pressure of an incline. One bearing what appears to be fifty to seventy degrees. Hilly, but not steep enough to knock out the black and wind.

Eventually, after coming to terms with nearly being lost, thanks again to vaguely remembering the address, a copy of vinyl from Sing-Sing is in hand.

Soon Van - Saturday, 10 June 2006 - 12:06

End of The Amazing Race

Television

Forgoing even an attempt to pick up the double preview pass for Wah-Wah at another location entirely sets up the scene for the final leg of The Amazing Race.

Down to the three of BJ & Tyler, Ray & Yolanda and Eric & Jeremy, competition is rightly tight and intensely strong. Two of the teams in the final three are constantly in each other's faces, growing on their nerves and just egging on the spirit of competition for the one million dollar prize and glory. Leaving the third time with a chance to run right past them to the end to create something of a race within the race.

Bunching up at various locations on the final legs brings it all to a head. Simmering is key and chances them all again to face a fair sprint for the last steps into the win.

Again, like in so many previous editions, Alaska features as the just-before-the-end location before the city of the rush to the massive The Amazing Race mat.

One rush that leaves the heart beating faster and faster into a drop with the two teams in such close proximity. Not just to each other. But to the final, very final, jump on the enormous world bearing rug. Seconds can split it all and it all ends in an order.

Soon Van - Saturday, 10 June 2006 - 04:48

Thank God You're Here

Television

Closing out the first season of what might very well be only a two season life span, Thank God You're Here takes on five performers for the finale. Shaun Micallef, Angus Sampson, Frank Woodley, Kate Langbroek and Akmal Saleh making up the player's list for the game.

Micallef starts the show off strong as a foreign minister with the look that everything to him is foreign. Even the English language. Quick and always working his magic and skill, Sampson deftly delivers another stand out performance. His ability to just lose himself in the situation and become the master of the scene is excellent and awe inspiring for quick thinking.

Woodley hammers up an insane Irish accent lost in a gold rush era family where they're not all up there. Mentions of possible hallucinations at one point coming in to cover Woodley's wide ranging passion for everything on and off the stage.

Langbroek is where it all tans George Hamilton. The standard from the first three is hard to follow and there isn't much to impress. It's a walk in the park of boredom where the ducks are chewing disdain and a lacklustre coat of feathers is the result.

Saleh steers it back only as best as he can. Floundering as a more than obscene and dangerous clown.

The all-in group challenge is weak on a whole. Parts are great, but there's maths at play and it's a downhill run from the first opening door for the show. Overall, a pretty standard and entertaining show as it has been for the episodes thus far.

Soon Van - Friday, 9 June 2006 - 03:32

Carefree lifestyle misfire

Freeload

Kinesis of amusing the self is known to taking the run of competitions, member registrations and mailing lists with a wanton and haphazard affair. Often is the question of sources for certain parcels and packages. Most of the time the reason is clear.

And there are those with no clue whatsoever. Of those, the void of actual letters or notes makes detective work that much harder.

Finding ways for freebies works in its own circle of madness. A circle not unlike a cycle, bound to the nature of possible reuse and reappearance.

Correctly addressed packages in the mail are always a delight. But when the contents reveal slim tampons and two pads, it leaves questions with no answers.

Soon Van - Thursday, 8 June 2006 - 05:50

Zones of Contact

Freeload

Folded in on over itself with a single lick of glue and the envelope from and for the Biennale of Sydney makes it safe into the mailbox. A certain fate not for the adjacent C4. Documents taken down by the postie's open satchel ride through the wet. Not long enough to sit for a minute in the box, the entire contents shed the skin of the envelope, distressed from it all.

preview pass to Zones of Contact

Preview pass from the Biennale some how escapes it all and opens up fresh and relatively dry. Save for the essence of damp.

Trouble now is finding the motivation to brave the possible wet of Wednesday to preview and admire the art and installations posted around the city.

Soon Van - Tuesday, 6 June 2006 - 05:17

Off-season with the purple and gold

Sport

After an extra meander of thirty minutes to the walk around the city, a chance run in with a backroom Intercontinental off the clock. Conversation soon dives toward the Kings and all the general news of the NBL.

Shane Heal's departure from retirement to head up the new South Dragons in Melbourne proves a definite eyebrow raiser. Roster shuffling on the general line up of the Kings not too explosive against this juicy piece of player exhumation. Tracking and naming the players and their new teams, signings, free agents and all of the shifts just kept going on and on.

Massive light against the general mode of staying in the dark during the offseason between the months of April and September. Keeping stock of the names at the games will be a slight challenge with what looks like only half of the Kings returning to force.

Soon Van - Monday, 5 June 2006 - 15:38

MOY 8: A splashed dash of yoghurt

Occupied

Broken water closets matter not in the scheme of things. Switching from one set to another a mere formality and a good reason for not having unisex toilets. Stark differences indeed between that of the men's and women's toilets.

A simple trough, a bin and two stalls take centre pride in the men's. A broken and hard to squeeze soap box the king toward the door before the paper towels.

Over in the other land, and where the plumbing remains remarkably unscathed from whatever affected the men's, a world removed.

Understandably, no trough. Toothbrushes, however, along with scented candles and a fully giving soap dispenser, present an entirely different experience. Smells, where none exists in the men's (magically so), prove pleasantly jarring. And for their location, a little bit disturbing. No wish to spend more time sniffing the air in there after all.

Returning to the chair, soiled with a hefty tub of yoghurt two weeks ago by the creative two bays away, brings it all back into place. A large expanse of bleaching white, not of bleach, like sitting atop a patch in the carpet where the toothpaste has fallen into one big glob.

Soon Van - Friday, 2 June 2006 - 12:12

Previously...