And it’s on the side of a car in Sebastopol Street!
6 Lessons from Last Night
Last night I joined ’Pong at the launch of Mardi Gras: The Slide Show. Right now you can see some of his photos from before the Parade and during the Parade and the Mardi Gras Party projected onto the shopfront at 72 Oxford Street, Darlinghurst. While doing this I learned 6 things.
- Snakebean, at 85 Oxford Street, is worth checking out, since the food they provided for the party was delightful.
- If the smiling waiter keeps topping up your champagne you can say, with complete truthfulness, “I only had one glass.”
- If the café you were planning to adjourn to is closed, there’s a dive selling alcohol just around the corner. It’s open late, even on Tuesdays.
- If you become engrossed in a conversation about military history with the heavily-built heavily-tattooed ex-biker, you will miss the barman calling “last drinks”.
- If the heavily-built heavily-tattooed ex-biker has local knowledge about another pub which is still open and which is only a short walk away, you should choose not to act upon this knowledge.
- No, you really should.
My village really is home
When Clover Moore, Sydney’s time-share Lord Mayor and state MP, started talking about “a city of villages”, I thought she was giving it a tug. (No anatomical pedantry, thanks.) But now it’s the city’s official slogan, and a few relaxed Sundays have persuaded me she’s got it right — at least for the inner and inner-west villages which have some historical reality.
This photo ain’t art. But last night’s view from the front bar of the Warren View Hotel really does say “This is my village”.
From the art nouveau shell of the old post office on the left — apparently used by the mission of Our Lady of the Snows to help the local homeless — and past the over-priced pharmacy to The Sly Fox Hotel, and then on the other side with its medical centre, pharmacy and greengrocer no-one goes to, this is our Victorian village.
Sure, the Golden Barley Hotel is technically in Enmore too, and it’s only just down the hill a bit. They’re nice people and all — but it just feels like it’s in the next village, Marrickville.
But just was is it that creates this sense of “my village”…?
’Pong’s sculpture pics
’Pong took some amazing photos of Sydney’s Sculpture by the Sea last month. If you missed the exhibition, have a browse. I reckon they’re better than the official images.
“Passive Intruder” launches tonight
I’d be remiss if I didn’t plug Pong’s exhibition Passive Intruder which opens at Newtown’s Buzzzbar Cafe (with three Zs!) tonight. Of course, you can sneak in during the day and see the pictures before it’s officially launched — so I’m hoping to see a bunch of red dots by the time I arrive…
I popped in to see the exhibition when it was being hung yesterday, and it was great to see the brightly-coloured images printed full size. They work well in the venue, and I have the gut feeling they’ll do quite well.
Plus I should say that the food at Buzzzbar is excellent — there’s a distinctly North African subtlety to the spices — though the proprietor is Greek, so perhaps that’s just my ignorance showing.
Photographs: fantasy, not reality
“They say cameras add ten pounds, but HP digital cameras can help reverse that effect,” says the promo material. “The slimming feature, available on select HP digital camera models, is a subtle effect that can instantly trim off pounds from the subjects in your photos!”
Three thoughts come to mind…