Southbank, Brisbane, Australia (Sept 2007)

Fantastic pic I've found on Flickr by thyl

The Warhol Look (Hardcover)

by  by Mark Francis

• Hardcover: 304 pages
• Publisher: Bulfinch Press (December 4, 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 082122476X

This beautifully illustrated book was issued to accompany the 1998/99 major travelling exhibition of the same name.

It focuses on some of the different stages of Warhol's career starting with his fashion illustrations and shop window-dressing from the fifties and early sixties. It then goes on to the 'Factory' style of the sixties and the nightclub and celebrity scenes of the seventies and eighties.

'The Warhol Look' is packed full of wonderful images and photographs, not just by Warhol but also by other artists, designers and photographers. This is especially true of the middles section Covering the sixties. Many forgotten images and magazine spreads are illustrated, providing extra clues as to how mainstream culture viewed Warhol and his associates.

Perhaps the most illuminating parts of the book are devoted to Warhol's fascination with transvestites and Warhol's side line of modelling. The essays accompanying the latter especially provides a fresh insight into Warhol the man and Warhol as a mirror.

The book provides yet more conclusive proof of Warhol's influence on mainstream fashion, art, design, and even, with 'interview' magazine publishing. It examines his links with the downtown avant-garde and underground scenes of the sixties and his distancing from it after his shooting in 1968. It then illustrates his growing obsession with celebrity and fame in the seventies and eighties.

Overall, this is a wonderful book for all Warhol fans, and for anyone interested in fashion, design and the various New York downtown scenes in between 1950's and the 1980's.

*

Pleasant, if undemanding account of one journalists year in Beijing. Needham doesn't offer any great insight into the Chinese regime or the great changes currently taking place in China.

However, there are some nice portraits of ordinary Chinese living ordinary lives. These people (understandably) are more worried about getting on with their lives, their families and work than about any great change in the Chinese political climate.

Needham has is an enjoyable book none the less and recommended for anyone interested in expat life in present day China. Not too heavy and perfect reading for the beach or a long plane journey.

Finally got the internet - hurrah! The modem was a total nightmare to set up though. When it was finally working I thought I'd like to download some podcasts and radio shows I'd missed since we'd arrived (no I wasn't downlpading exotic films I can assure you!). Unbeknown to be we acttually had a 200mb download cap, and I used all this up. Instead of charging extra, they cut your connection speed to 28.8k !

Obviously not knowing this I thought something was wrong. Cut a long story short I ended up upgrading the the max account - which will cost approx 27 quid a month. The max connection speed is still only 1.5mb though. No NTL Cabel broadband over here, or Wireless for that matter. It seems Australia is still not in the 21st Century when it comes to broadband. Still it's great to have the internet again - you don't realize how much you really do rely on it.

To help with the move and ensure that a steady supply of parcels from Ikea arrived for me to put together Alison hired a car for the weekend.

She hired it at a place called Rent a Bomb, which as the name suggests rents old cars. The car was an old banger, full of rust  but only cost $75  ($ 30) for three days!

Being a non driver, driving has always been a bit mystical and mysterious to me. However, driving in Melbourne seems a bit bonkers really. Firstly there's the trams. Most main roads have two lanes each way and the tram tracks occupy the centre one. It's fine driving along side trams on the inside, but when they stop to allow passengers on and off you have to stop to avoid running them over. It seems to work as I haven't been run over yet, but I can't imagine it working in Britain.

Likewise at intersections they have traffic lights, but no dedicated light to enable you to turn left or right. You just have to wait in the middle of the road until there's a gap in the on coming traffic.!

I could also go on and go about the fact that when you can walk at a pelican crossing (Green Man showing), cars turning left can still proceed and try and run you over. Bonkers really. I wonder if they have a green cross code man over here!

Everyone's so nice, cheerful and helpful in shops over here. It's taking some getting used to as we're just not used to it in Britain. Everyone their is either depressed or hates you for disrupting the conversation with their colleague about their boyfriend/ex boyfriend/next boyfriend.

In Melbourne they ask you how you are, what your up to for the rest of the day, have a nice one etc etc. I'm just not used to people being helpful, it's a little disturbing really.

Again, like everything good about Aus I'm putting people's sunny disposition down to the weather. Having said that, although it's a nice sunny day today, it's been quite cold (15 degrees) and raining for the past few days.

Things have been moving on since my last entery. Alison has started work and dosn't like it (supprise supprise).

Maisie started school yesterday and is kind of okay about it (though she did cry in class today saying she misses home, but I think that was more for effect). It was funny takening her to school and getting a guided tour from the principle. He was realy nice and helpful. As was her Year Head and Form Tutor. I felt like a proper (Step) Dad for a change! She's palled up with a few friends, so a good start. She hates the uniform though, and I can't blame her, it is bad.

Signed the lease and got the keys to our new home.Phone should be on this Friday. Need to look at cabel TV as 'normal' TV is terrible. Okay if you like Neighbours and Home and Away (which are on at 7:30pm like Coronation St & Eastenders), Aus Big Brother (which Maisie likes) and worst of all The Bill!!!

It's a nice 2 bed Victorian bungerlow - 2 living rooms all quite big. Nice new fitted kitchen, small bathroom - with a tiny bath, and nice back garden. It wasn't our first choice of home, but we we're panicing about finding somewhere and thought it's best to play safe and accept it.

Ironically, a house we viewed on the same day (a much nicer house) phoned earlier to offer it to us! such is life. Alison is gutted as she much prefered this one, as did Maisie. Oh well, I like it's old rambling nature (just like me really) and it will do us fine for a year. Now we just need to get some cheap furniture to tide us over until our stuff get's here - still a month to go!

Although I like it here and am ebjoying my stubbies of VB (Victoria Beer) I can see us home in a year. I just can't see Alison (and to a lesser extent Maisie) settling here. Which is ironic as it was Alison's idea to come. I was feeling a tad down about this earlier this evening, but all it really means is condensing everying into a year instead of two or three years - ah ever the optomist!

Anyway, we move in on Saturday. Then time to start to look for week. Spending the next few days take Maisie to school and picking her up and doing a few jobs at the new house.

G'Day from a sunny and mild Melbourne. It absolutly tipped down yesterday (almost making me home sick) but another nice Autumn's day today. I'm writing this enjoying a coffee sat outside Starbucks in the CBD - Alison has allowed me to escape for a couple of hours. Maisie and Alison are well and enjoying our new life. Maisie's fed up of us boring oldee's and wants to start school to meet some people her own age.

Just about over all the jet lag - this is definatley the worst I've ever experienced, but guess it's the longest I've travelled.

This week we need to concentrate on finding somewhere more perminant to live and hense enroll Maisie in school. They have a werid system of open houses, were for half a hour anyone can turn up and have a look at a rental property and if they are intetested put in an application.

We've looked at 2 places so far. The first on Friday was terrible, it was like the Munster's house. Fine to buy, gut, and spend 30 grand on doing up. But not to rent. The second place was really nice, 2 minutes from where we are staying in Richmond. It was a nice two up two down modern town house for urban professional types! We will stick an app in, but think we'll be unlucky this time. I'm sure they will be inandated.
 
Think everyone will love it here, Melbourne's a lovely place and I look forward to showing everyone around in next year. It's my kind of place realy - bit arty, loads of coffee shops, interesting cosmopoliton people. However, everyingthing seems better when you haven't got to endure the daily comute to work and eight hours starting at a computer screen!

Uploaded some pic's from our first week in Mebourne to flickr:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/exorcising-ghosts/sets/72157600157340718/

need to sort tags and discriptions, etc.

We've arrive safely in Australia via Singapore with only really bad jet lag to show for our troubles.

To start at the beginning, after a tearful departure from Newport bus station at 4:55am Saturday (21st), and just managing to avoid a large excess lugrage fee, we boarded the 12 hour flight to Singapore. Would recommend Singapore Airways - nice food and over 60 films on demand (for the record I watched The Departed (good but overated) and the lastest Rocky (crap but was feeling the effects of nicotine withdrawal by now and needed something unchallenging!) and a couple of episodes of Fraiser and the American version of The Office).

Singapore was lovelly - really impressed - like a much more clean, tidy, english speaking/westernised, less chaotic Thailand. Everyone was really helpful and nice in the way they always are in SE Asia (I'm convinced it's the weather). Would love to spend more than our 2 days/1 night and sure we will someday. Weather was unsprisingly HOT HOT HOT. As we were a little hung over from the flight we just had some great meals, shopped and totally forgot to have a Singapore Sling! Maisie was feeling patriotic and decided to shop for Britain - like a Newport version of Paris Hilton, with Alison & I carrying the bags and picking up the tab. I had a really bad cold and was worried they might quarantine me in case I started another break out of bird flu. Then before you could say "God these bags are heavy", it was back to Singapore Airport for the 7 hour flight to Melbourne.

Apart from a slight problem with Maisie's Australian visa and really bad turbalence caused by a massive thunder storm over Central Australia the flight was fine.

Well what can I say  about Melbourne? We've only been here 3 days, but so far so good. 

Mainly we've been busy meeting Alison's agency people, opening back accounts, applying for tax codes and visiting immigration to get the right visa in our passports. All this was done with an amazing lack of hassle, infact I've spent longer queing in Newport Central Post Office than in Melbourne's immigration department. Everyone, including "Officialdom" very helpful, with the famed Aussie "No Worries" attitude.

Melbourne is a beautiful City. Big but not unpleasently so. It reminds me slightly of a less hilly San Fransisco (though that's probably just the trams) We're staying in Richmond, which is a 10-15 minute tram ride from the City Centre (or CBD as us Melbounians know it).

We went dowm to St. Kilda beach yesterday afternoon, and while not the best beach arround by a long shot, it's a lot nicer that Barry Island!
It's a fantastic place to have a beer and watch the sun set, which is what we did.

Alison and Maisie are well and enjoying our first steps down under. Supprisingly Maisie really likes it here and double supprisingly she's looking forward to starting school so she can make some friends.

I've set us up with Web cam's, Yahoo Instant messanger and Skipe accounts to keep in touch with the family. However, seeing myself on web cam does dispell the hansom love god self image I have of myself!

I haven't taken many pic's of Melbourne yet, but I'll be posting those I have taken on my Flickr account page, which can be found here:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/exorcising-ghosts/sets/72157600138630740/

Those that are on there need a little sorting and editing, which I'll be doing over the weekend.

We haven't experence and scary Australian spiders or snakes, though a sparrow did try and have a peck at my chocolate brownie whilst I was sitting outside a coffee shop!

Okay, time to go. Our big task over the next few days is to find somewhere to rent more perminantly and then a school for Maze. Keep tuned for more thrilling installments from Terry Does Melbourne.

Wonderful picture and great use of Murakami's short story Birthday Girl, to tell a story:

"What I am trying to tell you is this,' she said more softly, scratching an earlobe. It was a beautifully shaped earlobe. 'No matter what they wish for, no matter how far they go, people can never be anything but themselves. That's all."

Looking forward to moving to Melbourne............................................

Although a novel about expat/bargirl relationships in Thailand, to the authors credit, he manages to create a novel, with Bangkok's sexpat scene as a backdrop, which avoids seedy cliche and creates a story with beleivable human characteristics.

The two main characters Som (bar girl from issan) and Bill (American expat living in Bangkok) are fleshed out well. In fact the characterisation helps understand some of the motivations behind Thai / Foreigner relationships from both the male and female point of view. The misunderstandings caused by different languages and cultures. The financial gulf and the outside pressures on making such a relationship work.

The author attempts to show that not all such relationships are motivated by sheer greed on the womans part. The novel looks at the poverty and obligation to look after ones family so prevelent in sections of Thai society. Likewise not all Western men in Thailand are looking for a girlfriend half their age, who will treat them as minor royalty.

Where the book does fall down slightly is the rushed ending. After following the story for 340 pages, rapping things up in 10 pages is a slight disappointment

Overall though an excellent novel, recommended to anyone who's been to Thailand, anyone considering a relationship with a Asian lady or anyone curious about bar girls and expats.

O'Toole opens by taking us for a trip down porn's memory lane, looking first at the stag films of the twenties and thirties, before moving onto the mondo and nudy films of the fifties and sixties. Then follows a detailed and interesting look at porn's golden age in the seventies. Less well known films, such as 'Sensations' and 'Web Rainbow' are looked at, as well as the usual 'porn classics' - 'Deep Throat' and 'The Devil in Miss Jones'

The book the goes on to look at the video boom, the porn viewer, censorship, and the Internet. The Porn Viewer chapter, containing interviews with many self confessed porn consumers is revealing and perhaps goes some way to dispell the myth of porn consumers being sad lonely males looking at dirty magazines in their grotty bedsits.

Also interesting is the chapter on censorship, especially here in the UK. O'Toole goes into quite some detail about what can and can't be shown in Britain and compares it with the US and the rest of Europe.

Sadly, I feel the book lets itself down when it discusses the feminist arguments against porn. O'Toole strives too hard to argue that porn is only made by consenting adults. While I wouldn't agree with one feminist theory that all women in porn are victims, forced to take part in something that the loath. I feel that the book ignores the many who are tricked, niave or 'economically' forced to appear in porn. Also O'Tootle ignores that porn, like much of contemporary culture, runs the risk of objectifying women. Women who are thin, big breasted and always 'up for it'.

Having said that, I do feel that 'Pornocopia' is a good introduction to this under research neglected form of popular entertainment. The book is easy to read, avoiding that stuffy academic style that many cultural study books often have. O'Toole is obviously a fan of his subject, which shows through in his sympathetic and understanding portraits of the films and their stars.