It’s a play about boxing. Like Black Watch, Beautiful Burnout contains acting, dance, and projections. It’s got lots of Glaswegian-tongued humour and cursing. And it’s utterly gripping. It’s a glimpse into a world of discipline and disappointment. It’s a tale of striving and yearning. It’s a frustrated romance. It’s a tragedy. It’s all set on a rotating stage, with amazingly choreographed fights that slide in and out of Matrix-style bullet-time. There’s a throbbing Underworld soundtrack beneath it all, too, which works very well.

It’s theatre that has high energy and high hopes, grittiness and guts. I saw it from the front row and could not look away from the split-second timed exertion. If you missed it, you’ve missed out.

It was a good cross-section of rock photography iconic and intriguing. Some were well-known photos. Some were new to me. I was tempted to buy a few, but as they were photographer-signed limited-edition prints and cost many thousands of dollars, so I abstained.

I really enjoyed the photos of a decades-ago Neil Young, smiling and hippy-ish. But the ones I was most sorely tempted by were:

• Bob Dylan, Freewheelin’, NYC 1963 by Don Hunstein
• The Doors, Venice Beach by Henry Diltz
• The Doors, Morrison Hotel outtake 1969 by Henry Diltz
• Bob Dylan, Greatest Hits by Rowland Scherman
• Grateful Dead and Bob Dylan, San Francisco, CA 1987 by Herb Greene

My god, Debbie Harry was gorgeous and special

Coming back up the coast from Christmas holidays we stopped at Two Figs on the Shoalhaven coast. They’ve been there for only five years, but have a gorgeous spot and some decent quality wines for the price. Their 2011 Verdelho was nice enough, as was their 2011 Rosé. Their 2010 Chambourcin really floated my boat, though: lots of white pepper.

On a random weekend trip north we stopped into Cassegrain, near Port Macquarie, based on a recommendation. And I’m glad we did because they have a huge range of wines. They were really nice to us at the cellar door, too, which matters a lot. I liked several of their bottles, namely:

• NV Stone Ciurcle Sparkling Rosé was fantastic
• 2011 Premium Verdelho was delicious
• 2011 Edition Noir Viognier also fab
• 2006 Reserve Fromenteau Chardonnay would have been great with food
• 2009 Premium Shiraz was nice
• 2011 Edition Noir Cabernet Franc was very nice
• 2010 Edition Noir Pinot Noir was really very nice
• 2009 Sangiovese was tasty, and a variety you don’t see all the time here
• 2007 Reserve Shiraz was quite good
• 2006 Reserve Shiraz was really awfully freakin’ good
• Fortified white-port-like Cassaé was delish

Okay, so they had a lot of wines I liked.

Cassegrain cellar door

First, there are two new things:

• A coffee maker. To be precise, a Lelit PL041EM Espresso Machine. I’m still getting the hang of it, but I’m already making coffees at home much better than I’ve drunk for most of my life.
• A new computer. To be precise, a 21.5″ iMac. I got totally re-addicted to Macs at my last job, and bought one for home.

There’s also something new to do: a new job that I started this week. I’m back in a big company, but I’m stretching out into a new tech area: software.

Change is good.

Immediately after the show I had mixed feelings about it. It was well-staged, no doubt. The theatre at Carriageworks is big, and they used it to full effect, with lots of movement, sound, and lights. The projections that moved across the stage as people performed were very good, I thought. And it was earnest, heartfelt.

But it was hard for me to connect with, because while it ostensibly embodied the heroic characteristics of figures from the past it did almost nothing to sketch out the history of those figures for those who didn’t know them.

As a result many of the songs, while excitingly performed, did not connect well to the spirit they were after.

Twenty-four hours later I’ve realised that I was being a bit mundane. Sure, one (more pedestrian) approach would have been to tell the relevant history of these figures from the past and then point (quite prosaically) at how they are, or should be, aspired to today. But that would probably be pretty dry.

Last night’s performance was definitely not dry. It was a celebration. And the themes of defiance, of steadfast resilience, and thoughtful reconciliation were clear, and clearly made timely and relevant. So does it matter that I don’t know exactly how those historical figures manifested those traits? Probably not. Maybe being entertained in song and dance, and spoken to in ways that matter now, will last for me longer than a boring history lesson.

I still think the performance wore its heart on its sleeve a bit much, and some of the songs still don’t connect perfectly. But it was an exciting and interesting performance. And it’s a good example of how to talk about the present with a nod to the past, without wallowing in the past.

Proving that great British cooking sometimes happens outside the British Isles, they’ve posted my review of a recent meal I had at Rick Stein at Bannisters here in Australia.

From Dec 24th to Dec 29th we chilled out in one of the most relaxing little seaside towns I’ve ever been in. Manyana is on the Shoalhaven coast of NSW, and we did nothing but visit the beach, canoe, eat seafood, hike, visit wineries, and read. Summer finally arrived in Australia, too.

Back in Sydney I got back into my running, and got organised around the house (gardening and filing).

New Year’s Eve was spent in a perfect spot, sitting right on Sydney Harbour to watch the famous fireworks.

My birthday, Jan 2nd, was spent sipping cocktails in the sun at the Island Bar in the Harbour.

It felt like a much longer holiday break than it actually was, and that doesn’t happen very often.

It had crazy spy gadgets, it had the full-on action guidance of first-time-live director Brad Bird, and it had lots of funny Simon Pegg.

I saw it at the IMAX film, which was great for two reasons:

1. The action was immense, especially the breathtaking scenes in Dubai which Bird actually filmed in IMAX.
2. We saw the 6-minute prologue trailer for The Dark Knight Rises, which made my heart stop a little bit.

I always smile when I see this claim, that something here in Australia is the largest in the southern hemisphere. It’s not uncommon. But it always strikes me as an arbitrary and modest claim. The southern hemisphere has only about half the land mass, and just 12% of the population, of the northern hemisphere.

Shakespeare’s tale of twisted evil was faithfully scripted, though in a semi-modern setting. Spacey is a camp, chuckling, mugging-to-the-audience villain. He insinuates layers of malice and fear, of ambition spawned at the moment his broken body was born. Most of the other actors were good, too, although a couple weren’t projecting quite enough for the size of the Lyric Theatre.

Spacey mostly played to the cheap seats, though. This was good for me because that’s where I was, all the way at the back. But I know some people – and probably those near the front – found it a bit shouty. That works for me, because in the second act Richard gets angry. He gets furious. He doesn’t remain scheming throughout; his vile deeds start to catch up with him, and he begins to lash out and ends up collapsing upon himself. His murderous duplicity gives way to murderous rage, and it seems entirely suitable that he ratchets the yelling up a few notches. Some others agree.

Fun theatre.