Dylan, Soph-jan and hot nights

Today was a rest day - I worked the last seven days, five of which were on staff conference which was great. So for my rest day, Veronica and I saw the Dylan film "I'm Not There" and went to Max Brenner for fondue and coffee (mmm).

I hadn't read much about the film before arriving at the theatre, when I realised it wasn't a depiction of Bob Dylan by six different actors, so much as a depiction of six aspects or eras of Dylan's life by six actors. So that was good to know before going in.

However, that didn't help all that much, because the film was basically one big post-modern love fest, with obscure cultural allusions all through it, which is satisfying if you are a Dylanite, but quite alienating if you're not. I like Dylan, I like his ethos and his music, however I do not have the knowledge base to be able to decipher a film like I'm Not There. It still worked well as a work of art, but I feel I missed a lot of its significance due to my ignorance! Also, I'm not sure if Cate Blanchett deserves the Golden Globe for her role. She is good, but it's hard to forget it's her under the costume and at times she wasn't convicing, although I'm not sure that was the aim. If it wasn't, it that wasn't explicit.

So my other wonderful experience in recent days was seeing Sufjan Stevens at the State Theatre. He's in Sydney as part of the Sydney Festival, the first time he's come to Australia. And what a man!!! Oh suf, if only he were mine! If you have not heard his stuff, you must. And if you have not seen him, you must google him!

On another topic, I'm thinking hospitality is not my brother's gift. Tonight he had mum dad and me over for dinner, but forgot to plan the meal. So he made carbonara from a jar, but chopped up chillies and parsley and stirred them through. He put two whole chillies in! We were all coughing and our noses were running with the heat. Even Andrew was struggling. At one point we cracked open a carton of sour cream just to cool the stuff down! Then for dessert he pulled out paddle pops from the freezer. Classic. Just for those who don't know, my brother is a bachelor and lives with two other 25 year old men in a penthouse apartment. Comprende?