Last Wednesday I was lucky enough to be back on assignment for Scenestr magazine to review Godzilla II: King of the Monsters. This was in the Gold Class cinemas at Chermside cinema, usually I demure from such things but this time around I ordered dinner from their menu and had it served to Karen and I in the cinema – delicious. It was easily the highlight of the night because the film frustrated me no end.
The flawed Hellboy came out recently and has closed out its box office run quickly and with very little gross. I felt more engaged and energised by some of the inventiveness of that film despite its many faults. I have no doubt Godzilla II will meet with more success than Hellboy.
Copyright Lloyd Marken.
Chermside rooftop carpark. The shot is kind of epic, I like to imagine it with Godzilla in it. Copyright Lloyd Marken.
Gold Class all the way baby. Copyright Lloyd Marken.
Karen rocking her new suede jacket for winter. Copyright Lloyd Marken.
We’re in June and I’m yet to see the first great film of 2019 but I don’t want to be too old and grouchy. I think for fans of Godzilla there is enough Easter Eggs and visual splendour to enjoy. Also the filmmakers seem to be addressing some of the criticisms of the 2014 original by giving the humans more agency here but make no mistake it is the human story that is lacking. During the finale set in Boston I really could have used some colourful Bostonian character reacting to Godzilla. “Hey you think ya bedda dan meah?!”. You can check out my review here http://scenestr.com.au/movies-and-tv/godzilla-king-of-the-monsters-review-20190531
Produced by Eyeball Media Enterprises Scenestr is an online national magazine with local offices around Australia. Having started in 1993 they’ve excelled at moving into the digital realm but they remain at heart from the streets. They still publish magazines in print for Western Australia, South Australia, New South Wales, Victoria and Queensland every month.
It was my pleasure to be on assignment for Scenestr magazine again to attend a preview screening of Rocketman on a Saturday evening up at the top of the Myer Centre in town. Karen and I both came from other work with Karen doing well to make it before the screening began.
Rocketman is an interesting film for me, there were some moments that dragged on and felt weren’t not very well thought out. Then there were others that were… well just sublime. The emotional through line of the story is well served, a little boy growing up and feeling unloved and how that led to the addictions that almost killed the man.
Copyright Lloyd Marken
Karen made it! Karen made it! Copyright Lloyd Marken
Copyright Lloyd Marken
Copyright Lloyd Marken
It is not a perfect film far from it but it is the kind of film that makes me excited to have others watch it and tell me what they think. Because some things are done so well. I will be interested to hear your thoughts, for mine you can read the review here http://scenestr.com.au/movies-and-tv/rocketman-review-20190529
Produced by Eyeball Media Enterprises Scenestr is an online national magazine with local offices around Australia. Having started in 1993 they’ve excelled at moving into the digital realm but they remain at heart from the streets. They still publish magazines in print for Western Australia, South Australia, New South Wales, Victoria and Queensland every month.
Long term readers will note I’ve seen a few productions of Act/React and have enjoyed their work. For Anywhere Festival this year they have brought back a production they mounted back in 2016 before I knew of them called Titanic: The Movie, The Play.
After checking out Chris Martin’s Claw Machine at Pincadia, Karen and I headed off to the nearby Queensland Maritime Museum to see a late performance of the comedic take on the film.
Unlike their production of Kiss of the Vampire Squid which was performed on HMAS Diamantina last year as part of Anywhere Theatre Festival 2018 this was not a fully improvised production but scripted. It did feature some mainstays of Impromafia and the newly formed The Shadow Collective in the cast so there was lots of laughs had from on the moment developments.
The immersive aspects of the production mean no two performances will be the same and create a real joy in the audience. I thought there was a real charm to the production and following the excellent Love/Hate Actually I expect big things to continue happening for Act/React. Amy Currie and Natalie Bochenski are taking Love/Hate Actually to Edinburgh Fringe Festival this year for starters.
The Anywhere Festival for 2019 is a marvellous thing that happens in my city and I feel very grateful to have taken in two great shows this year at such interesting venues.
Weekend Notes are a growing online magazine with a wealth of contributors based out of several cities across the United Kingdom, Australia and New York. Articles are leisure related and can include a wide variety of subjects from rainforest hikes to cultural festivals, from what hot new play is on at your underground theatre to a ultra trendy eatery. Writers are paid for their work based partly on how many views their articles get so please feel free to stop by and show some love.
It was a lot of fun to be on assignment for X-Press Magazine for the first time this year to review John Wick: Chapter 3 -Parabellum. Karen and I returned to the Myer Centre in the Brisbane CBD to check out the sequel at a preview screening the night before opening day.
To give a comparison I would say John Wick was a pleasant surprise I enjoyed late one Friday night after getting the DVD from my now defunct local blockbuster. John Wick Chapter 2 I know got around to at some point either DVD or steaming. I thought there was less to that film than there was to the original but I still marvelled at the action in particular a fight scene featuring Keanu Reeves and Common.
X-Press Magazine was established in 1985 and at one point was Australia’s highest circulating free weekly entertainment publication with over 40,000 copies reaching 1,0000 outlets every week. On the 24th May, 2016 Issue 1527 hit stands. Like many publications of its ilk X-Press Magazine is now foremost an online magazine engaged globally and making the most of the possibilities that new digital technology offers. It’s roots though are tied to its home city, love of local artists and productions and music which it supports wholeheartedly. Perth a capital city most isolated from all the other capitals is continuing to grow and develop culturally and artistically with its own identity and talent. X-Press has always been there to capture this growth and will continue to do so.
I do my best to get my car after work and travel to and from these events that way, but on occasion I catch the train home instead. Sometimes we have dinner after a show too before we head home but not this time. As we arrived at central station and were heading towards the escalators for our platform I noticed something off-putting.
In a split second I came to realise there was someone on the ground. I dropped the bag of Karen’s I was carrying and jogged over and got to my knees next to the body. Somethings are a blur and can be coloured by our own perceptions but I will try to recall to the best of my perspective what happened next.
There was a small middle aged Asian woman on the ground too lying next to the fallen person who was an older white woman. Her husband was leaning over the scene. I asked if she was okay and she said she was fine, she had taken a fall. She explained that she was on medication and I had drunk a little too much which had led to the fall. I think I told her we should get her up, of course I was concerned that something was broken or sprained.
Her husband carried the air of someone who had to deal with such concerns from time to time and his wife’s personality. He bent down and put back one of her shoes that had fallen off her foot, he struggled to get past the heel initially but was soon successful.
The woman’s pants were made of soft material and her legs slid across the floor. Initially when I had gotten to her she was pushing her top half up off the ground almost like she was just hanging out at a picnic.
This was a setback and she now almost had her face on the ground and was lying down on her front completely. At the sound of my worry she said “I just need to rest here for a minute, I’ll be fine.”
I don’t know what got into me next but I leaned over her and in a calm voice said into her ear “Ma’am I used to be a hospital wardie, I don’t think you should stay in this position, I would like to roll you onto your back. Okay?”. I think she nodded and I could hear her husband agreeing and urging her.
I placed one hand on her hip and one on her shoulder and attempted to pull her onto her side but her positioning and mine were not well placed. I didn’t move her far but then she moved with me and she was now on her back and she raised her torso up.
Her husband grabbed both of her hands and she anchored her feet pushing the soles down on the ground. I clambered up behind her squatted on my feet and put both my arms underneath her armpits. The Asian lady who had been with us throughout held onto her left arm and as we lifted a young man raced to our side and grabbed her right arm.
Then she was up.
Throughout her husband had known what to do, gotten the shoe back on, talked to her and kept calm in what any one of us would find distressing. Both he and she had really played the most important part in positioning her body correctly and most importantly with the anchoring of her feet for the lift. For me she was light as a feather and I think part of that might have something to do with the husband lifting her with her hands. The other woman had stayed throughout and reacted with nimble swiftness as the body got moved around and when the young man arrived we had gained someone with more strength than any of us three.
She repeated she was alright to me, she had just had something to drink with her medication and it had caused her to lose balance a bit. I was thankful she was not in any real pain otherwise my untrained involvement could have been a disaster.
She looked over at me with a smile and touched my cheek and thanked me. Given how little I had helped I felt a bit undeserving but I suspect it was due to the calmness and confidence I had given her when I whispered in my ear.
Looking back there was a lot I would’ve liked to have done differently but it was a good feeling to have done anything and to have it turn out alright. I asked if she felt anything kind of broken or really painful and to maybe look for an escalator. The stationmaster was with us now and she repeated her story that she was alright. I and the husband suggested she go with him just to be sure.
I think I asked again if she would be alright, to see if there was anything I could do and she smiled that smile. I joined Karen and looked back one last time as they moved away with the stationmaster.
On the train home I told Karen a story, many years ago I was in Queen St Mall in the middle of the day and I saw some middle aged business men help someone back into their wheelchair or stop them from falling out. One of them had reacted the fastest and helped the most. He was middle aged, overweight and in a nice suit. I don’t remember which year this was, it could be anywhere from 1998 to 2007 I guess. I can’t even really remember what happened. Afterwards as they stopped at the lights to cross the street, I saw the middle aged man look back at the person in the wheelchair. There was a haunted look on his face. Was he shaken by what could have happened had he not been there? Did he think therefore but the grace of God go I? Had it triggered a memory of someone he cared about? I don’t know but I remember that look and I suspect I always will.
It is a great privilege to have been on assignment with Weekend Notes for the second time last Saturday to review comedian Chris Martin’s new show Claw Machine. Claw Machine is being performed at Pincadia (a bar serving a burger joint menu and full of pinball and retro arcade machines and I mean full to the brim) as part of the Anywhere Festival where shows happen all around the city in odd venues. Albeit down in the bowels of Pincadia the setting didn’t appear too different from any comedy club basement but the venue itself the heritage listed Moreton Rubber Building is impressively unique.
I was looking forward to the show after seeing Chris Martin as one of the commentators at the Queensland Theatresports Championships which was part of the Brisbane Comedy Festival this year. He did not disappoint, the show ambles along for close to an hour and Martin has a way of relaxing you into his set that you almost forget a punchline is coming. He’s got an interesting style, solid timing and an effortlessly likeable quality about him. A scientist by trade I stand in awe of him and so many other talented artists in my fair city plugging away at their craft and creating so much entertainment and culture for Brisbanites. You can read my review here https://www.weekendnotes.com/chris-martin-claw-machine/
Weekend Notes are a growing online magazine with a wealth of contributors based out of several cities across the United Kingdom, Australia and New York. Articles are leisure related and can include a wide variety of subjects from rainforest hikes to cultural festivals, from what hot new play is on at your underground theatre to a ultra trendy eatery. Writers are paid for their work based partly on how many views their articles get so please feel free to stop by and show some love.
-Lloyd Marken
This precinct isn’t very far from where I worked for most of 2017, was nice to be back. Copyright Lloyd Marken.
Karen and I in Pincadia after the show. I like this picture of her. Copyright Lloyd Marken.
It has been a while since I’ve done an interview for Scenestr magazine due to a variety of reasons. Thankfully it was a delight to get back in the saddle for them and interview theatre director Xanthe Jones.
Saying Jones has multiple talents does not even remotely do her justice.
She wrote and directed Cluedo! The Interactive Game and is also the Artistic Director for Brisbane Immersive Ensemble which produced the show.
We spoke just after they had their preview night where she had stepped into the role of Miss Scarlett at the last minute.
Talking to her was a pleasure as she described genre tropes, having fun with the audience and what she tries to impart with her work.
Produced by Eyeball Media Enterprises Scenestr. is an online national magazine with local offices around Australia. Having started in 1993 they’ve excelled at moving into the digital realm but they remain at heart from the streets.
They still publish magazines in print for Western Australia, South Australia, New South Wales, Victoria and Queensland every month.
This interview was published in print on page 38 of the Queensland issue for May 2019.
Game of Thrones is the one show I can’t miss when it is on and more and more it feels like the end of an era. Is there any other show where the next day work colleagues rush to discuss with each other, some slouch scampering away to avoid spoilers because they missed it last night. People watch on their tablets and phone in their lunch breaks to see it as soon as it hits midday Monday morning Australia time. This is the last of the water cooler shows, something that has infected the pop culture so much that there is common ground amongst fandom. As we fall more and more into echo chambers and niche markets Game of Thrones is the closest thing we have to a unifying thing. In America it rates 17 million viewers but per captia that’s nothing compared to the well over 1 million Australians who tune in one way or another.
Yet when it comes to Australia, one woman reigns supreme and that is Mother of Kittens Natalie Bochenski. Her written recaps have been published nationally and she has developed a podcast where she recaps with her fellow writer Stuart Layt.
Recently on assignment for Scenestr magazine at the Brisbane Powerhouse I saw a sign indicating a live recording of the podcast. I first found out about Bochenski when I saw her perform in ImproMafia’s Lord of the Thrones two years ago. I’ve seen a few of her shows since then and always been impressed by her talent – this was a no brainer.
So following the all important and action packed Battle of Winterfell episode I headed back to the Powerhouse last Tuesday to see the live recording of the Raven On podcast. We were located in the Mary Mae’s bar which is the one of the last places at the Brisbane Powerhouse I hadn’t been to before. You can read my review here https://www.weekendnotes.com/raven-on-game-of-thrones-recaps-mary-maes/ or download the podcast here https://soundcloud.com/girlclumsy/raven-on-s8e3 . By the way Karen gets mentioned at one point during the podcast at around the 32 minute mark.
Weekend Notes are a growing online magazine with a wealth of contributors based out of several cities across the United Kingdom, Australia and New York. Articles are leisure related and can include a wide variety of subjects from rainforest hikes to cultural festivals, from what hot new play is on at your underground theatre to a ultra trendy eatery. Writers are paid for their work based partly on how many views their articles get so please feel free to stop by and show some love.
