A Picture Perfect Bathtub: Soap at the Sydney Opera House

Soap is basically an off-shoot of the (in)famous bathtub aerial strip dance at the Spiegeltent. That performance consisted of a half-naked man, dressed only in jeans while either sensually dancing in mid-air or writhing around in a bath tub full of water. That was indeed a performance like no other - and yet someone felt it was a good enough concept to create a show. Soap is comprised of four men, three women, six bathtubs, and an opera singer - and they basically do circus tricks using the bathtub as the main prop.

Now, just for the record, this show is definitely professional - unlike their brief-y counterparts, there is NOTHING amateurish about this production. They had everything down to an art form - and they are definitely artists - to the point that every foul-up has an automatic backup so that the audience wouldn’t know a thing. It is basically a wetter version of Cirque Du Soleil.

Now having said that, I have to admit that I did not enjoy myself as much as I did in Briefs. Yes, the performers are talented. Yes, the opera singer was good. Yes, the production was as clean as spit on a spoon. However, it lacked spice. It lacked seduction. It lacked the raw gut that Briefs had in spades. The opening act was so well done, and sadly, it just dropped a bit in flavour and then stagnated.

It is still enjoyable, mind you, and if you like Cirque du Soleil, you will most certainly enjoy Soap. But I like my shows to be flirtatious and risque, so if a show called “Soap” does not make you feel dirty, then really, what is the point. Three slices.

A Brief-y Encounter: Briefs at the Sydney Opera House

Briefs, a self-proclaimed “boylesque” show based in Brisbane, showcases the circus talents of agile young men wearing... well, briefs. In some cases, even less. They do the usual circus fare, but with a lot of body glitter, amazing energy and enough clothing to fit a two-month old child.



It is commandeered by Faz, a Pacific Islander drag queen dressed in the best of St Vincent de Paul’s, and she is accompanied by 6 other men who are excellent twirlers, dancers, acrobats and comedians. Given the format of the show, it is very difficult to describe it without setting off the spoiler alerts, so allow me to paste this pic instead:



Please note that this acrobat was actually on top of the audience. No safety net. And he had most of his clothes on. In **this** photo, at least. He does make some changes to his outfit in midair. Now, this part of the show is perhaps the reason why a good 70% of the audience were women. And yes, there was a very clear “Sex & The City” vibe to them - this event was, after all, held in the Sydney Opera House, so they were dressed to the nines, some with matching fascinators. The stage performers loved them, and definitely made sure the giggling ladies had their eyefull, with one of the scantily clad performers ending the show by diving into some young woman’s lap (and they also ended up frolicking on the floor - how very Brisbane).

And that is telling of the show and its roots. They tend to do things that defy Sydney convention: kicking empty plastic buckets to the audience, breaking ceramic plates on the stage floor (and into some audience members as well), swearing endlessly (and perhaps even needlessly). One can argue that that is part and parcel of the show, but in the context of the Sydney Opera House, it just seemed out of place.

To make it worse, the hostess was quite amateurish in her humour as well. Her dialogue was haphazard and does not do well to introduce the next acts. A comedian doesn’t just jump on stage and expect humour to flow casually (unless you are Robin Williams). Comedy takes practice and timing - and she just didn’t do or have either.

I guess it is good that she was backed by amazing performers who knew what exactly they were doing. All the circus performers were at their peak, and even the weakest performer (Mr Plate) was amusing at least. In fact, I have to say that 85% of the show was fantastic, and the small bits that were just a bit off... well, they can be changed. And given that we watched the first show of their very (ahem) brief stay in the Opera House, I assume that it will only get better from here.

The show will run until the 15th, and for more info, click here.

Do I recommend it? Yes, 4 slices.

Just a few notes: You **HAVE** to buy the meat tray raffle ticket. And you can buy alcohol inside the Studio itself so no need to queue outside for a bottle of white. And don’t use flash photography. And you should take an orange when it comes your way. And you **HAVE** to buy the meat tray raffle ticket. No, really, you **HAVE** to. In fact, buy 10. Good luck!

A Happy New Year to all!

2010 was... interesting. Challenging even. I hope that 2011 will bring us more happiness, more cheer, more inner peace.

My resolutions:

1. Be happier.
2. Be more kind.
3. Be more patient.
4. Spread love, no matter the pain.

An Awesomely Traumatic Experience: Blue Mountains bushwalking to the Ruined Castle

I went to the Blue Mountains today to try the walk to the Ruined Castle. To save time, we started the walk from the Golden Staircase parking lot, since starting from Scenic World would have been an extra 1.5 hours - not so good if the walk was already 4 hours return.

We started the trek down the Golden Staircase and within the first 100 meters, we knew that the trip back would be challenging and a half. It was slippery, exhausting, a bit hazardous - and I loved it. Nothing like mortal fear to make a bush walk interesting, I say.

Thirty minutes later, we were at the bottom of the Golden Staircase, and began the 2 hour trek to the Ruined Castle. Most of the terrain was level, save for the last 30 minutes of the walk, closer to the Castle itself.

Just for the record, the Castle is actually made of ginormous boulders that, from afar, look like a ruined castle. If you can squeeze through the two boulders in order to reach the peak of the "Castle" (and coming down from that was actually no easy feat in itself), the view is absolutely fantastic. We had lunch in a makeshift picnic area nearby and had an awesome view of the valley.

The tricky part (and traumatic for me!) was the walk back to the car. Some of us opted for the longer but relatively more level walk to the Scenic Railway, which is the world's steepest railway (according to the Scenic World pamphlet, at least). Three of us decided to brave the trek up the Golden Staircase, and that was where I hit trouble.

I think athletes call it “hitting the wall” - when the body just refuses to go further. However, I think the more appropriate term for me is “watching the wall crash on me”. Not only did I need to have frequent stops to catch my breath and listen to my heartbeat pounding through my ears, but I began to experience cold chills, which are a sign that my body needed all my energy from my extremities (e.g. legs, arms) in order to keep my heart pumping. That is basically one step before fainting (and quite possibly death). I always remind myself that when I start hearing my dearly departed father calling me to join him in the pearly gates, it is not a good sign - and I definitely heard him whisper at one point in that walk up. I was so tired that I could barely whack away the leeches that stuck to my foot - many thanks to Reuben for actually having the energy to whack those things aside.

Rating:
Bushwalking in the Blue Mountains: 5 slices
Golden Staircase: 2 slices (but I will definitely try again once I get my fitness levels up!)

A New Camera Site: LensHero!

I have a confession to make: I actually spend a good hour trudging through lens sites for my Canon and finding out (a) how good each lens is, and (b) how much it costs, both in reputable Sydney stores and... well, all other legal sources of lenses. I am truly not a fan of grey imports but to be honest, the price difference is really making me rethink this.

But I digress.

In my hunt for camera lens reviews, I stumbled upon lenshero.com - and I have to say that I am impressed by its potential. Now, I am not going to go too deeply into why I find myself visiting the site repeatedly, but instead, allow me to summarise the site for you:

PROS: (see a sample here)

- Well thought out design

- Easy to see pros and cons

- Blurbs highlight what people think about the lens

- Contains the BEST summary page for the ideal lenses for your camera (See sample for Sigma lenses for Canon DSLRs)

CONS:

- Could definitely use more lens reviews

- More "professional reviews" would be ideal. Nothing wrong with B&H Photo comments, but they all seem to be 4.5 stars! (see another sample)

- Links to where to buy locally would be good too (but hey, I reckon I can do that one myself)

If there was one thing I could change about the site, it is to increase its database. There are some lens out there which are not in here, and that is a doggone shame, I reckon.

Still, Lens Hero is now a favourite of mine, and will definitely bookmark this. All camera enthusiasts out there should do too! :-) In fact, I think this site will be fantastic once people sign up and share their experiences with the lenses.

Review: Three slices out of five.

A New Kind of Coffee: Civet Coffee (also known as Cat Poop coffee)

Yes, you read that right. I am reviewing the civet coffee found in Olio Coffee Shop in St Leonards - also civet coffee is more commonly known as Cat Poop coffee because... well, that is exactly what it is.

You see, according to the marketing material which I am always susceptible to, civets eat coffee beans, the beans go through the intestinal processes and come out the other side. Underpaid children are then used to collect these little gems (ok not too sure about that first part, but hey! I could be right) and the little poopie coffee beans are processed and blablabla.

Now because this process involves a particular animal (and maybe underpaid children), this particular coffee is a bit rarer and thus, a bit more expensive than the regular shot. It is actually currently worth A$9, but given the collapse of the dollar or whatnot, they said the shot might go up to $15 per serve! Eeek!

The question then becomes: How is it? Well, we had a short black (the recommended form) and we found it ... nice. It was strong coffee with slight earthy tinges. It did not have an unpleasant smell (sorry, Leanne! Your supplier might have been a bit dodge!) - in fact, it was quite aromatic! And it was an overall pleasant experience.

Is it worth $9? Frack, no.

Will I recommend it to newbies? Yes, why not.

Will I come back again? No.

The coffee was nice enough on its own, but I guess I am not that strong a connoisseur to really appreciate the complexities of a coffee this "rare". I just couldn't tell what made this coffee so different other than its orifical origins. It was not horrid but it was far from mind-blowingly good.

(And there is no such word as orifical)

At the end of the day, for me, it was just another activity I ticked on my list of things to do before I die.

Overall, recommendation is 2.5 slices. The experience itself was worth 3.5 slices, but the price brings the evaluation down a notch.

An Interesting Combination: Sven's Pizza

I didn't expect nordic pizza to be good, and I thought no pizza was worth a two-hour wait (thanks, State of Origin, for that). However, the ultimate goodness that is Moseley's closed (BOOO!) so it was time to look for a new pizza haunt. Plus, when we saw the menu, I figured a pizza named after a fertility god must be good - and to be honest, it was daaarn good.

The crust was very thin and it was amazingly tasty. However, I would order one pizza for myself next time. And I may skip on the salad - too mayo-ey.

Sven's Pizza - 4 and a half slices. 02 9664 9668.