Theatre sports

30/05

The last Andrew Lloyd Webber musical I'd seen was "Cats", in the mid-'80s, and on occasion, I still found myself humming the songs. I took that as a positive sign and bought a ticket to see "The Phantom Of The Opera" at Star City's Lyric Theatre. Hurried home from work, showered, put on what passes for The Ritz in my world (sports coat, shiny shoes) and arrived at the venue in time to order a steamed chicken dish from the Asian section of the food court, find the meat to be bloody inside and return it untouched to a sympathetic staffer for a full refund. I wasn't that hungry, anyway. The show was fantastic – much more than just a masked bloke and a sheila on a dinghy in the fog. Theatre, opera, ballet. Humour, grandeur, chaos. I wanna describe it as Gothic camp, but I'm not sure if that's the right term. Afterwards, I made straight for the taxi rank, but the line was ridiculous. So I had a late supper from the "pub grub" section of the f/c, then watched the poseurs at the poker tables for a while. I have to say, the recent armed hold-up hasn't deterred any gamblers – the casino was crammed! I was pleased to discover a rack containing complimentary copies of the current issue of Oz poker mag "Bluff". Armed with one of those, I returned to the cab queue and the wait passed quickly.

31/05

Made my way to Coogee Oval to see Randwick thrash Uni in Shute Shield rugby. Except we didn't. Thrash 'em, that is. We squeaked home 26-23, with a penalty in the dying seconds. The clubhouse was standing room only, so I opted to watch the 'Tahs in the Super 14 final from the comfort of my couch. A disappointing loss. Ditto Knights vs Warriors in the league.

01/06

Met DL, his brother R. and his friend N. at the SCG for the AFL showdown between Sydney and Richmond. All three of them follow the Tigers, while I go for the Swans (as attested to by the supporter's cap I'd purchased on sale at Best & Less for $10). We finished 82 points in front. They took it quite well. The weather was Melbourne-crazy – scorching sun for the first half; cold, driving rain for the second. We got drunk at that Thai bar in the Entertainment Quarter. As security were ejecting a pair of yobs, they started throwing cutlery and R. was caught in the crossfire.


Bizarre pro-wrestling gimmick seen on the "TNA Global Impact!" DVD: There's a Japanese rassler who calls himself Milano Collection A.T., claims to be an expert on Italian fashion design and walks an invisible dog to the ring. I see on Wikipedia that his signature moves include the "Armani Shoe Exchange".

Classifying crap: I've tried three new, fairly decent, fast-food franchise burgers/sandwiches lately and would rank them thusly: Subway Chicken Tandoori, Oporto Veggie Burger, Macca's McEurope. It all comes down to the novelty of the sauce. Cucumber raita beats lemon'n'herb beats a miserly dollop of Napoletana :-)

Give me literature (or give me brain death!): "Buffy The Vampire Slayer Season 8, Volume 2 – No Future For You" (2007-08) by various peeps; "Once Upon A Time In The North" (2008) by Philip Pullman; "The Brief Wondrous Life Of Oscar Wao" (2007) by Junot Diaz. [Sniff] It won a Pulitzer, you know.