The arts

On Sunday, the M. family and I saw "The 39 Steps" at the Opera House's Playhouse. While retaining the pre-WW1 espionage and dashing everyman of John Buchan's 1915 novel and the romance on the run of Hitchcock's 1935 adaptation (with nods to a number of his works), this 2005 reinterpretation for four frantic actors was deliberately farcical. Thankfully, the quick changes, accents, props and theatre tricks (models, shadowplay, offstage characters, etc.) were prevented from overwhelming things by the charisma of the leads. Having a solid spy story as a basis didn't hurt, either. Afterwards, we made the most of our glad rags with a visit to The Sir Stamford Hotel's swanky bar for signature Raffles curry puffs and cocktails (I had a James Bond Martini).


I was in no hurry to add children's book "The Day I Swapped My Dad For Two Goldfish" (2004) to my Neil Gaiman collection. However, when I noticed Kino had a reprint that included a bonus audio version read by NG himself, I had to peek at the price sticker. $7.94 - $7.15 with my discount card. And all those darkly fantastic piccies by "Sandman" cover artist Dave McKean. Sold!


Tapping my ugg boots to: "The Meanest Of Times" (2007) - Dropkick Murphys. I bet you know heaps about these Irish American punks. I don't. I just know "T/M/O/T" is a tops CD.

YouToobin': Search for "Buffy animated" on YouTube.com, then watch the 3.5-minute pilot for the cartoon spin-off that wasn't. Sarah Michelle Gellar's voice is conspicuous by its absence.