trinn suwannapha

Today ’Pong and I celebrate 7 years together. As these photographs show, he’s found his own way of coping.

I haven’t been writing here for all that time, but the posts tagged Trinn Suwannapha will give you an interesting if unrepresentative overview.

And now, since I was inside all day yesterday staying warm fighting a cold, where the hell can I find a suitable wooden gift before he wakes up? I guess there’s always that broken chair leg in the cellar…

Pom rak kun maak krub, Khun ’Pong! ขอโทษน่ะครับ! ขอให้โชคดครับี ห้องน้ำอยู่ที่ไหนน่ะครับ?

Or, as we say in English, “Kangaroo red curry stir-fry is very yummy!” And it is. Kangaroo goes so well with curry you’d almost think they were Thai beasts to begin with.

The Marrickville Organic Food Market provided both the kangaroo rump and most of the vegetables this morning — snow peas, capsicum, Swiss brown mushrooms and green pepper.

The Chinese greengrocer told us that kangaroo meat smells too strongly. She feeds it to her dogs. She has no idea what she’s missing. Still, her fresh vegetables are one of the bonuses of the Markets, as are the fresh steamed dumplings from Chinese Dim Sum King. The King will do your catering, too: chinese_dim_sum@hotmail.com or 0411 456 750.

Now I’m wondering whether I should get ’Pong to write up the recipe. Maybe it should stay our secret.

This is my photo of ’Pong taking this photo in Bangkok. Recursion is always an interesting phenomenon.

I just found this photo of me which ’Pong took in July 2002. I’m now using a version on my Twitter profile. Should it be my permanent image?

’Pong’s photo “Direction” (pictured), taken at Earthdance in Sydney last year, has been selected by leading photographer David Allen Harvey — who we had the great pleasure of meeting in Bangkok last year — for his Emerging Photographers Fund slideshow. Congratulations.

(It’s a stupid Flash-driven thing, so I can’t even link to the specific slideshow. You’ll have to follow the generic link, then select “Emerging Photographers Fund”, then select “Singles I”, then scroll through to image 31 of 32.)

’Pong doesn’t think it’s the best of his photos from Earthdance. It’s interesting to see people’s different choices.

An Australian Citizenship certificate just isn’t Australian unless it’s soaked in beer and completely damaged, eh? Welcome, ’Pong.

Oh, I get it. Social media “guru” Laurel Papworth has to kill time before her Saudi trip gets sorted out. So what does this visionary of society’s future do? She ropes me into a blogging meme. How modern. How avant garde!

How… 2005.

Laurel was tagged three months ago and is only getting to it now. And they’re not even real ropes!

Is that enough slagging-off? Shall I get on with it now?

Actually this will be fun on a Saturday morning. It’s been ages since I’ve done one of these. Here goes…

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I want a photo to be sitting at the top of the website through the night, not just the links digest and Twitter digest that appear at midnight. So, here’s ’Pong receiving his Australian Citizenship certificate from the Mayor of Marrickville, Councillor Dimitrios Thanos.

He’s a dentist, but we’re allowed to show you his face.

And doesn’t he look like he’s loving this? Still, we had a drink and chatted local politics afterwards. More of that later.

In theory, this post should only appear at two minutes past midnight on Saturday morning, Australian Eastern Daylight time. If anyone’s visiting at that time, please let me know if it worked.

’Pong has just published a lovely photo series, 69 Blankets, documenting the diversity of picnic blankets at Mardi Gras Fair Day the other weekend. See them all as a slideshow with music.

This coming Wednesday evening, the Mayor of Marrickville will cast a political spell and ’Pong will become an Australian citizen.

The ceremony is bound to be a dull local affair in his office. I’ve no idea why this wasn’t all done in the public ceremony on Australia Day, given that ’Pong’s citizenship was approved before the election last year. I presume the word is “incompetence”.

Still, the following Sunday 16 March we’ll be celebrating in appropriate style with alcohol and burnt, dead animals. I just don’t know what’d be an appropriate gift. Suggestions?

[Photo of ’Pong taken by me on 23 March 2004, just after ’Pong had been a movie extra in either Son of The Mask or Dynasty: The Making of a Guilty Pleasure. Both so classy...]

My notebook is full of references to the human mind.

Once, on a Saturday Night at The Duke last year, it was a written note by a chap who’d only just been released from jail.

This time (pictured) it’s ’Pong explaining certain basic neurological reflexes.

No, it doesn’t say “Eight High Freeze” — whatever that is! — but “Fight Fligh[t] Freeze”. This diagram explains it all, neurochemistry and everything. Uhuh.

I just love the way that sketched explanations only make sense at the precise moment they’re being created.

Maybe I should go back through that notebook…

’Pong’s photograph Pink Force (above) was a finalist in the Sydney Now, a photojournalism contest run by the Historic Houses Trust. Congrats, babe! [high-resolution version]

OK, I don’t see much theatre these days. But when I do, I usually stumble across something special. And so it was with The Fabulous Punch & Judy Show.

In many ways this is perfectly a standard Punch & Judy show, apart from using live actors instead of puppets. And apart from three actors playing Punch simultaneously, including Arky Michael. And apart from the gay angle, with Punch’s masculinity under threat from an attractive youth.

And apart from a most disturbing version of a Sherbet song.

Written by Brent Thorpe, who also plays Punch, and directed by Anthony Skuse, this play is a dark, wittily delicious one-act treat. ’Pong’s photos show off the simple but effective staging. I suspect it’ll be swamped by other, higher-profile Mardi Gras fare, but it deserves to pull audiences.

The Fabulous Punch & Judy Show is playing at the Cleveland Street Theatre, 199 Cleveland Street, Redfern, until 29 February.

[Disclosure: My old friend Garry Finch is stage manager and he gave us tickets, but I wrote this of my own accord.]