The Namesake and Melbourne Post 8
On Monday night,
Heidi and I went to
Cinema Nova to enjoy their $7.50 movie night which happens every Monday. We opted to see a film called "The Namesake" which has been out for a while, thus we were duly bundled into a tiny cinema with a comparatively small screen. It was very comfortable, however, and didn't really diminish viewing pleasure at all. In fact, the movie was rather good.
Based on the novel of the same name by
Jhumpa Lahiri (which I read a while back and enjoyed, but not immensely), the film chronicles a family's migration from India to the US, the birth of a boy who is curiously named "Gogol" after his father's favourite author,
Nikolai Gogol. The main thrust of the film focuses on the boy growing up and coming to terms with both his name, and the cultural/psychological awakenings that come with growing up as a first generation American born into a migrant family. The film is very well made, the performances are quite fantastic, especially by the boy's father. Gogol himself is played by the Indian guy from that "White Castle" movie, a fairly different role here for him with a lot more meat, and he handles it reasonably well. Alltogether a good film, go check out - and read the book.
The other cool thing that happened today was that the Arabic Culture club on campus organised a tent on South Lawn where one could smoke shisha and procure Arabic pastries and sweets, all at the nominally low cost of $2 for membership. So I spent around an hour-ish lazing around in the sun with Simon, Kai Yau and
Heidi, smoking shisha on the grass and watching campus life go by. Awesome. Gonna be a whoooole lot more of that where I'm going!
Further, I am determined to continue chronicling my favourite activities in and around Melbourne, despite the fact that many of you are either sick of this or skip this section alltogether. This is because I want to look back on these posts when I'm overseas, to remind me of home, and when I return home also to make a heady list of things I need to refresh myself on... so here 's another one, number 8 in the series, this one has a very coffee related flavour.
Pictured above is the outdoor seating area of Tiamo. Tiamo, located on Lygon St, opposite Lygon Court, near the corner of Faraday, is an Italian restaurant that has been there for quite some time now. It serves up a decent mix of pastas, salads and sandwiches and the coffees are not too bad. The reason why you go to Tiamo, however, is for the atmosphere. It is the most atmospheric restaurant in Lygon St because of it's history. Tiamo is the embodiment of Carlton's laid-back Italian attitude to life, the place is plastered with posters promoting events and in Tiamo you will find a veritable mix of patrons, from your Italian gangster looking locals, to families of mixed ethnicity, to Africans from the nearby Commission flats, to tightfisted students debating over a latte. A perfect representation of the eclectic mix that is Lygon St, Carlton. See the indoor seating area below:
It should be noted that, this semester, I have quoted Lygon St as my favourite place in Melbourne. When I say this, however, I refer to the area in and around Faraday St and not really beyond that. This area has Cinema Nova, Readings, Borders, Tiamo, Carlton Yacht Club, Lygon Food Store, Carlton Espresso, Country Road and a bunch of second hand bookshops. Ahhh this is the real Carlton... not the Notturno/Papa Ginos infested area further down the strip.
The picture above is of Atomica, surely one of the best places to get a coffee in Melbourne, I would certainly place it in my Top 5. Atomica roasts all its coffee fresh on premises and also supplies a number of cafes (Animal Orchestra at uni for one). Although the staff can sometimes be a little surly, this quaint Brunswick St cafe's coffee and vibe more than makes up for it. They were playing hip hop then blasting heavy metal rock when I was last there... the latter made me rather unhappy but it was all worth it for that espresso. Pictured below, by the way :) with their cool logo on the cup.
And finally, upon introspection, pictured below are a few of my favourite things, taken in Laurent (a French-inspired cafe/boulangerie franchise) in Church St, Brighton, not far from where I live.
And while the cappuccino pictured is not usually my coffee of choice... coffee, the paper and my camera for random snaps, sitting outside a cafe on a sunny afternoon, who could ask for anything more? Well maybe a Cinzano...
Labels: film, food+drink, melbourne
Melbourne Post 7
On Friday night I attended the screening (run by the UNICEF society on campus) of an Oscar-winning film called
"Born into Brothels" which was about an English woman living in the red light district of Kolkata, India and helping some of the kids there. She is a photographer and teaches them her art, helping them learn to do something productive, something they happen to have a knack for too, and also helping them get into schools and find new opportunities to better themselves and get out of the brothels. A strategy that works well for some and not so well for others (who face opposition from their families who want to keep them there). The film was great, provided many great insights into life on Kolkata's mean streets, the woman was quite inspiring and the kids were terribly cute... even for me who usually hates kids.
Here are some more Melbourne pics and places to check out for all y'all.
Cocoro is a pottery cafe on Smith St. This is truly a great place, "cocoro" which means "heart" in Japanese, is very much a warm, loving and cosy place to be in. The serving staff provide not only excellent service, but warm, friendly and obliging demeanor 100% of the time. The menu, which consists of small dishes to be shared, is not pricey and you can get away with dinner here for around $20 per person. They have some very original desserts and their drinks take on a bit of a Japanese green-tea feel. You can try the "
macha latte" or "macha ice cream" or other green tea flavoured drinks/desserts. Alternatively, their regular lattes are quite alright... and served, like everything else, in Cocoro's own innovative pottery range... which you can buy!
This is a pic, taken by
Heidi, of some terrace houses in Sth Melbourne. Victorian era terrace houses, typified by their 2-story+balcony facade, shared walls and long floor plan, are very popular in Melbourne and can fetch very high prices because of their historical value and how cool they look! There are many other suburbs with rows of terrace houses, mostly in the inner-city, including Carlton and Fitzroy. I've also seen them in parts of Sydney, like Paddington.
Multi-coloured Gelati in many flavours.
Gelato, Italian-style ice cream, is very popular in Melbourne and common to find in the city, St. Kilda and especially Lygon St. This particular picture was taken in a gelati-chain called "Trampoline" which is quite good and pretty popular. They have stores in many places including Lonsdale St and Glenferrie Rd. Their Lychee flavour is recommended.
A barista, hard at work, as
a pretty girl is caught in the reflection of his shiny bar/coffee machine. This is -orange-, a bar/cafe on the Windsor-end of Chapel St. This place has Gravity coffee, one of the better major roasters, and although the quality of the coffee is temperamental, it is one of the better places to drink coffee on Chapel St. The place is in a very old style, and local celebrities and fashionistas alike can be seen lounging around on its outdoor seating area. Here's another pic of it:
And finally, another pic of the State Library of Victoria, one I've posted about before. Here is a different angle, during dusk. Note the couple having a chat on one of the benches in the foreground... and the engagement of the heavily utilised phone boxes. The state library is truly one of Melbourne's great places for meeting and socialising. A symbol of our great historic + intellectual city.
Labels: architecture, film, food+drink, melbourne
Update + Photoblogging
It's been a while since I posted last, another bout of blogging laziness. Despite the lack of comments, I've had quite a number of requests for more Melbourne blogging, which is good because it means people do read this and it isn't
just for my benefit (although I'm totally gonna love reading this stuff when I'm overseas... love and hate that is). So included in this post are some more photos I've taken in and around Melbourne. No interesting cafes, restaurants or bars in this post, but will include some more in the next one. :)
In terms of updates, there was, of course, State Conference plus I went on a awesome Great Ocean Road trip with
my loveliest travelling companion and, for anyone wanting more details about the trip - lets just say it was 3 days and we took around 5Gb of photos. Yes. A lot of photos.
I've recently passed through a major mid-semester assessment period where, over a weekend, I had a 40% Financial Accounting exam on Friday, followed by a 20% Accounting for Corporate Entities exam and two major essays (one about Chinese peasants pre and post Communist Revolution and one about the Greater Syrian National Congress after WW1, totalling 3500 words) on the following Monday. That was hellish but I got through it, not sure with what sort of results (we shall see) and have been mostly kicking back work-wise, now realising that I'm hella behind.
I've finished reading
Jung Chang's biography of Mao, which was full of hate, vitriol and loathing for Mao on every single page. Biased indeed, but an interesting read nonetheless. Am now reading "the most widely read philosophy book of the 20th century" which is
Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance by
Robert M. Pirsig. If anyone's read it, holla at me, but it seems it was more of a baby boomer book.
I've attended two shows as part of the Melbourne International Comedy Festival and they couldn't have been any more different.
Akmal, an Egyptian born comedian was absolutely hilarious... giving audience members a great deal of hell and repeatedly taking the piss out of Sheikh al-Hilaly, Alan Jones and the Cronulla riots at the same time.
Daniel Kitson on the other hand, a tubby, bearded, nerdish looking Briton, delivered more of a philosophy lecture than a comedy act which was funny at times but undeniably witty, interesting and full of magical insights into the way we are. His act won the top award for the festival's best performance so there ya go.
I've also watched some films.
Heavyweights, as part of the German Film Festival at Cinema Como (a lovely cinema, by the way, wish I had my cam). A true story about two rival Bavarian bobsledders having to work together for the benefit of Germany at the 1952 Winter Olympics.
Hostel,
Eli Roth's horror movie about 3 backpackers that get lured to a shady hostel in Slovakia by the premise of partying and hot sex (Americans, surprise surprise) and receive that, plus unspeakable terror. And, the best of the three,
300... (seen with
the glorious one, who detested the gore and is now forcing me to see a chick flick with her, shit) by now you shold know, the film adaptation of a comic about the Battle of Thermopylae where 300 Spartans (and some other random Greeks) made a heroic last stand against King Xerxes' of Persia massive army (of horrible fiends). As a result of the final one, I have been running around yelling "FOR SPARTA!!!" at every opportunity.
So thats about it from me, below are the pics i mentioned earlier, gonna try to blog more often but then again, how often do i say that.
The
Melbourne Trades Hall building on Lygon St, opened in 1859 and the home of the Victorian labour movement. The flags seen atop of this building are the Australian flag, the Eureka flag, the Aboriginal flag and the Red flag (most commonly associated with communism but actually representing the blood of workers worldwide, a symbol that predates communist ideologies).
The Melbourne skyline as seen from Southbank. The tall building in the centre is the Rialto Tower, formerly tallest building in Australia (now Eureka/Q1).
Some random bottles against the backdrop of graffiti art down an alley off Johnston St in Fitzroy, near Brunswick St.
The busy corner of Lt. Lonsdale St and Swanston St at dusk.
Snapshot of the sea, taken in Port Melbourne just near Station Pier.
Labels: film, literature, melbourne, studies
