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Australian Sheep and Wool Show at Bendigo Showgrounds, 17 July 2026.After having such a nice day last year I was guaranteed to drag myself to the sheep show again. This year it was a solo mission, and I caught the train and shuttle bus instead of driving and having to find a parking spot.The day was blessed with lovely weather and the trip was an easy one. My first stop after getting into the showgrounds was a coffee van. As is often the case, this involved conferring with fellow coffee-seekers…
All year a family of black swans has been living nearby, between Edgewater lagoon and Dynon Road crossing over the Maribyrnong. There were seven - two adults and five cygnets. I took this photo of them back in January, when the cygnets first started venturing out.Today I saw the last one on the river. The other six swans have died after becoming entangled in fishing line. And right when I stopped to look at the last swan, I noticed some discarded fishing line hanging on a railing. As I walked…
June 26 to 28 in Castlemaine.The hook for this one was Secret Mall Apartment, the documentary film that tells the story of a group of artists in Rhode Island who built a hidden apartment inside a huge shopping centre and kept it undetected for four years. Of course, it happened to be the final film of the festival, so once again we thought, why not just go to the whole festival?As I have mentioned previously, the beauty of going to an entire film festival is that you are no longer selecting…
4 June 2026 in Melbourne, part of RISING festival.It's felt like a struggle to find interesting theatre of late. For the last few years, I've been a bit put off after experiencing some patronising, preaching-to-the-choir productions, and it's been hard to find things that are clearly not going to be like that. Good news though, things are improving now.The Supposed to Be is about a woman, Kavitha, who has reached middle age, lives a corporate life and gave up on her creative self decades ago.…
30 May 2026 in Melbourne, supported by Chris Brokaw and Fancy Weapon.Tortoise is one of those bands where it's an automatic 'yes' when you see they're touring. Okay, it's only happened to me twice so far, but still. Last time it was at the Croxton back in 2016, this time we're back at the Corner in Richmond.The first support was Fancy Weapon, whom you won't recall I saw not that long ago at the Old Bar, because that was just weeks before I started this blog. Anyway, they are one of those bands…
28 May 2026 in Melbourne.Over the past few months I have been getting into old movies, lots of classic noir and such things. At some point my attention was drawn to the 1957 Billy Wilder film Witness for the Prosecution which stars Charles Laughton, Marlene Dietrich and Tyrone Power. It's a great film and far more fun than any courtroom drama has any right to be.The film is adapted from an Agatha Christie play. So when I realised that there was going to be a production of the play here in ye…
23 May 2026 in Melbourne, supported by Pollyman and Snake Thighs.We return to the Curtin, the site of many a good show. I've been intrigued by Don't Thank Me, Spank Me! (DTMSM) for a while now, not only for their unrelentingly silly band name. Their song Habitual was also on high rotation on one particular PBS radio show and I guess it hooked me.I also thought their ultrafeminine stylings and matching Fenders might appeal to my top-shelf buddy Bec, so I asked if she wanted to come along. Bec…
Fantastic Film Festival Australia, 23 April to 15 May.Film festival mode is now complete having been to Lido to see another 30 movies since Hokum. I keep the film reviews and reflections to my Letterboxd account so I won't be repeating all that here. Instead, a few summed thoughts.Going to see an entire film festival program* means letting someone else completely curate your experience. It's not the same as picking out five or 10 films that look appealing because doing that means missing out on…
We are back in film festival mode! Indeed, one of the best times of the year. We have been Fantastic Film Festival Australia superfans for a while now, and in 2025 we took time off work and bought VIP passes. It was so good we're doing it again this year.Last night was opening night so we headed out to the Lido to see Hokum. Hokum is legitimately scary and seeing a movie like that in a sold-out cinema is always great. At one point someone in the audience inadvertently said "nope" aloud as the…
11 April 2026 in Melbourne, part of the Melbourne International Comedy Festival (MICF).Back in 2015 we saw Kate Dehnert's show Pony Yell at MICF and it was brilliant. Surreal, magical and very, very silly. Since then I have been keeping an eye out for her shows but
4 April in Melbourne (Footscray), with The Vasco Era, The Night Terrors, Tongue Dissolver, Solsa, Ov Pain, Kinetic Vision, Hospital Pass and Local High School Students Play The Velvet Underground.Footscray deserved this. A whole afternoon and evening of music, perfect weather and excellent vibes in Maddern Square. Maddern Square
Footy is, as they say, back. It's already feeling good to be a Bulldogs fan, what with a surprising win last week (against Brisbane) and an emphatic one this (against GWS).It was fun to not only go to that second game but introduce a friend to this
