Friday Five: Best films of 2014

The list is fairly self-explanatory, but a couple of things to note are that I'm only including films that were actually released in 2014. I saw Still Life in 2014 and it is excellent, but its release date was 2013 (even 2012 in some places) so it can't qualify for the list. It was too hard to whittle it down to five, and, as it's my blog and I can do what I like, I kept it at seven. And they're in alphabetical order because I couldn't pick the very best.

7 of the best films from 2014:

1. 20,000 Days on Earth – Not only a fascinating insight into the more-than-mildly-bonkers mind of Nick Cave, but also a discourse on the transformative power of performance. Sharply directed by Iain Forsyth and Jane Pollard, the fusion of documentary and drama with talking heads and concert footage is absolutely excellent. It won the directing award at the Sundance Film Festival; it deserves to win many more at many more.
2. Calvary – Written and directed by John Michael McDonagh, and starring Brendan Gleeson as a good priest, this film has all the commanding scenic shots, black humour, depth of plot and characterisation you would expect. Its combination of deeply disturbing morality and theatrical reverence is both subtle and shocking, reverberating long after its short (1hour 40mins) running time.
3. The Grand Budapest Hotel – Sort of like a combination of Fawlty Towers, Allo Allo, and a bumbling prison escape/ murder mystery/ chase-sequence thriller: wonderfully weird, impeccably acted and every scene fantastically framed – I love this sort of description-defying stuff! Wes Anderson directs the tale of the adventures of Gustave H (Ralph Fiennes), the legendary concierge of a famous European hotel between the wars, and exceptional actors fall over themselves for a bit part.
4. Mr. Turner – Timothy Spall is brilliant in Mike Leigh’s earthy and grimy biopic in which humanity is ugly, and the only beauty is found in the paintings and the scenery. The film is as much about the nature of fame and celebrity as it is about art and the passing fads in the cultural consciousness. While J.M.W. Turner is the major planet around which all the other actors orbit, they all shine brightly in this firmament.
5. Nightcrawler – Excellent and disturbing film about how we get the news delivered to us in the way we deserve. Jake Gyllenhaal gives a chilling performance, Rene Russo mines the emotions behind the cut-throat news service industry, and writer/director Dan Gilroy offers up a lot to think about.
6. Paddington – Paddington Bear was one of my childhood favourites, along with Bagpus, The Clangers, The Magic Roundabout and The Herb Garden. I loved the books, I loved the TV series, and now I love the film – feel-good film of the year. Everyone gives a top-notch performance from Ben Wishaw as the voice of the bear, to Hugh Bonneville and Sally Hawkins as Mr and Mrs Brown. Whereas Disney would have ruined it, Heyday Films, you looked after my bear. Thank you.
7. The Trip to Italy – Steve Coogan and Rob Brydon are back and as brilliant as ever. Their (largely unscripted, as is director Michael Winterbottom’s wont) blokish banter of insults and continuous non-sequiturs is reminiscent of the rambles you used to have down the pub in the good old days before someone would whip out their smart phone and kill all creative discussion. The back-drop of scenic Italian countryside, gourmet meals and plush hotels is merely a bonus.

Lost Bear Gallery

Lost Bear Gallery in Katoomba is an absolute little gem. The exhibition spaces feature polished kauri floorboards, leadlight windows, high ceilings, wide architraves, and old fireplaces. And then there's the artwork. When we visited, I encountered some new (to me) artists who brought the surrounding scenery to life.

Warwick Fuller has painted the Australian landscape for over 35 years. He remains unswayed by trends and changing fashions, painting large landscapes in oils on canvas, uncaring that landscape art has fallen out of favour with abstract impressionism being preferred. His images capture light, storms, waves, trees and cattle with striking authenticity. He claims not to want to necessarily paint exactly what is there but to portray his emotional response to the scene. "I want my pictures to sing the songs I sang when I painted them."

Fenceline Track, Tumburumba by Warwick Fuller

Gibralta Grand by Warwick Fuller

Mist on the dam near Yass by Warwick Fuller

Light on Tinkers Hill by Warwick Fuller

Lake light, Angler's Reach by Warwick Fuller

Waterhole by Warwick Fuller

Log Crossing by Warwick Fuller

Mountain Blue by Warwick Fuller

Graham Hallett lives in the Blue Mountains and paints stylistic, hyper-real local vistas with layers of colour and movement. There is something reminiscent of Japanese woodcuts in the execution, but the palette of deep reds, purples, yellows and ochres is pure Australian. Echoes of timeless cultures reverberate through the hills and gullies, hinting at ancient tales told beneath the drooping trees.

Fire Trail by Graham Hallett

Red Track by Graham Hallett

Shelter by Graham Hallett

Little Gully by Graham Hallett

Red Mountain by Graham Hallett

Green Gully by Graham Hallett

Rocky Point by Graham Hallett

Twin Trees by Graham Hallett

The Divide by Graham Hallett

Evening by Graham Hallett

Paul Margocsy, meanwhile, focuses on the foreground, with his stunning portraits of local birdlife. Creating watercolour and gouache masterpieces, the detail is almost photographic with extreme close-ups on eyes or feathers with blurred backgrounds. Although he loved drawing as a child, Margocsy received no formal training and left school to become a window dresser until he was called up in 1966 to serve as a conscript to the army. 

His paintings began as murals for children's nurseries, and when he joined the Wildlife Art Society of Australasia, he instantly won first prize for the best painting. Since then he has published books, held national and international solo exhibitions and been commissioned to create a series of stamps.

Australian Boobook owlets II by Paul Margocsy

Australian Azure Kingfishers II by Paul Margocsy

Australian Splendid Fairy Wrens by Paul Margocsy

Australian White Breasted Sea-Eagle by Paul Margocsy

Australian Gang Gang Cockatoo by Paul Margocsy

Australian Sulphur Crested Cockatoo by Paul Margocsy

Australian Red-Tailed Black Cockatoos by Paul Margocsy

Australian Laughing Kookaburras by Paul Margocsy

Friday Five: New Year's Eve quotes

Rainbow lorikeets in the back garden

We had a fantastic New Year's Eve with friends on the coast (Mr and Mrs Lovely-Bonkers and their offspring and her parents). There were beach walks and sea-swimming and bubbles and fishy foods and raucous games and bird-watching. Among the hilarity, there were some quotable gems that could be repeated in public. These are they:

5 Quotes from New Year's Eve:

1. If we run out of red wine later, you can always suck my shorts.
2. No secret identities at the table.
3. You've got sparkles down my top.
4. It was all aflame and now it's fizzled out. We've all been there.
5. I could see in the new year with a damp tea bag.

The Harry Potter wand sparkle-off

Advent Beer Calendar: The complete list

And here, as promised, are the details of the advent calendar beers in full:

Day 1: Young Henry's Real Ale

1. Young Henry’s Real Ale (4%) – pours dark copper; medium head; light malt aroma; touch of earthy hop; light malt flavour balanced by medium hop bitterness; finishes toward the bitter with some earthy hop flavour; light on body overall. English ordinary bitter style with a nice bitterness on the finish. All beers of this type would benefit from aeration to bring more texture into the body of the beer. English Best Bitter style with Australian hops (Galaxy; Stella; Topaz), and a solid malt backbone producing some sweet toffee flavours.
2. Coniston Brewing Co. Bluebird Bitter (4.2%) – Ahh, a fine bitter drop with body and taste; tart and hoppy (English Challenger) balanced with creamy malt (Maris Otter) – pure Cumbrian class in a glass.
3. Nail Brewing Hefeweizen Wombat Wheat (5.2%) – banana aromas and Hallertauer hops flavours; little bitterness; some hints of bread and bubblegum. Tasty and refreshing for a summer’s day.
4. Brasserie Lefebvre Hopus (8.3%) – Belgian IPA style; pours golden with copper highlights; vegetal, citrus and hop aromas; fruit flavours with bitter finish; both fruity and peppery, it is a complex little number, but in a good way. 



Day 5: 8 Wired Brewing Co. 2012 Chardonnay Barrel-Aged Saison

5. 8 Wired Brewing Co. 2012 Chardonnay Barrel-Aged Saison (7%) – pours orange with medium white head; peach and tartness on aroma; tart fruit flavour up front; some Brett flavours and acid from the barrel; also wood aromas and flavours from the oak. Aged in chardonnay barrels with added brettanomyces for a year, then dry hopped with NZ hops (Motueka; Kohatu) – an Old World style with a New World hop twist – as close to perfection as it is possible to be (and my favourite beer of the year).
6. Williams Bros. Alba Scots Pine Ale (7.5%) – Malty, slight sweetness; pale brown with slight copper hue; juicy flavours; wooded warming taste; faint hops without any resinous taste; like a good strong Belgian that deceptively doesn’t taste strong; “A traditional Highland recipe, popular in Northern Scotland until the end of the nineteenth century. This ‘triple’ style ale is spiced with sprigs of spruce and pine, harvested in the spring and brewed with only a small token handful of hops.”
7. Nomad Jet Lag IPA (6%) – Good malt sweetness and body; really good bitter ‘snap’; good tropical hop flavours (mango; pineapples) without too much resinous dry hopping.
8. Lervig Brewers LA Rye IPA (8.5%) – Grainy, cloudy taste; citrus flavours; soft bitterness on the finish; some spiciness on the flavour from the rye; oily and resinous flavours from the hopping. From Stavanger, Norway, comes a beer with a lot of taste that fails to be overly tasty.
9. Victory Hop Devil IPA (6.7) – American hops and German malts combine to make a big bold beer without any subtlety or finesse, as you would expect. That’s not necessarily a fault.
10. Theresianer Vienna Lager (5.3%) – Italian version of Vienna amber lager; soft spruce aromas; lightly caramelised malt; full flavour with a refreshing finish. An interesting, drinkable beer with character.
11. New Englander Hop Cannon IPA (6.6%) – Toffee aromas; grainy, soft, earthy hop flavours and gentle bitter mouthfeel. The IPA uses only two malts and lots of whole hop flowers resulting in resinous pine and sweet fruit flavours and aromas.
12. Birra del Borgo Seven Hops IPA (7%) – Pours opaque golden with a big white head; fruity, earthy hop aromas; some biscuit and caramel malt sweetness; stone fruit hop flavours; massive mouth bitterness but very smooth; creamy and lightly carbonated. A truly solid example of an excellent IPA.



Day 13: Tuatara APA

13. Tuatara APA (5.8%) – American Pale Ale made with all-American hops (Chinook; Amarillo; Pacific Jade; Zythos) creates an aggressive palate of citrus with pine notes.  Pours golden amber; malt sweetness (NZ malts); earthy hop flavours dominate a softer bitterness. And the scaly, ridged, tactile bottles are fantastic and ingeniously suited to the eponymous reptile, sorry, dinosaur.
14. Duvel Triple Hop 2014 (9.5%) – Duvel Tripel Hop is brewed with three hop varieties and each year the third hop is changed to provide its own unique taste and aroma. For 2014 the brewers selected the exotic hop Mosaic from the USA. They say it provides higher aromatic intensity with fresh notes of tropical fruit and an intriguing blueberry flavor. I say, the massive grassy hop aroma and piney hop flavours detract from the subtleties of the main beer, which is lovely and soft with high carbonation.
15. Clown Shoes Muffin Top (10.5%) – The intense flavours of American hops matched with Belgian yeast create an intriguingly hoppy version of the Belgian Triple IPA. Notes of oranges and candied peel with a sweetish flavour lead seamlessly to a bready and dry finish; very tasty like a light Christmas pudding.



Day 16: Hitachino Nest Commemorative Ale

16. Hitachino Nest Commemorative Ale (8%) – Brewed in the tradition of an eisbock where the brew is concentrated by allowing the water to freeze, but not the alcohol. Cloudy amber in colour but crisp and hoppy in flavour, with notes of cinnamon, coriander, orange peel, nutmeg and vanilla beans – a lovely festive ale which combines five malts (Pale; Munich; Crystal; Chocolate; and wheat) with four types of hops (Styrian Goldings; Hallertauer; Tettnang; Saaz). Made to “celebrate the New Year. Please enjoy while you forget the worries and troubles of the old year.” Okay then.
17. Temple Brewing Company Bicycle Beer (4.2%) – Very light colour and body; high carbonation; spicy citrus and summer fruit hop overtones (Magnum; Simcoe; Sorachi Ace; Citra; Centennial; Amarillo; Crystal) a touch of salt (added from the Grampians) enhances the hop profile, complements the soft malt character and leaves a dry finish on the palate. Similar to a Radler – thirst-quenching, refreshing and capable/worthy of cycling after.
18. Sierra Nevada Hoptimum (10.4%) – Bitter and hoppy with intense aromas and flavours of grapefruit rind, pine, herbs and tropical fruits; it’s an aggressive Imperial IPA; flavoursome but without being resinous – on the perfection end of the IPA scale.



Day 19: Brouwerij Verhaeghe Duchesse de Bourgogne

19. Brouwerij Verhaeghe Duchesse de Bourgogne Flanders Red (6.2%) – Aged in oak barrels for eighteen months – pours a rich ruby red; exceptionally deep and complex; sour and fruity without being tart and with an underlying malty sweetness – like a sour cherry cheesecake – delicious!
20. Abita Purple Haze (4.2%) –Raspberries are added to the pilsner and wheat malts to produce raspberry flavours and vanilla aromas. A fruity wheat beer without much body; not a standout.
21. 8 Wired Brewing Co. 2011 Barrel-Aged Smoked Imperial Porter (11%) – A Manuka-smoked imperial porter, re-fermented with farmhouse yeast and aged in American oak barrels for 18 months. Massive malts, light chocolate; Brett aromas on top of rich dark fruit and raisins; some liquorice flavours on the finish. Moderate bitterness – enormous flavour.
22. Brasserie de Silly La Saison (5%) Saison-style top fermented old brown beer. Aroma of Belgian yeast and some sourness is deceptive as the flavours are sweeter than expected with hints of caramel, chocolate, nuts and spices. Oddly unsettling.
23. 7 Cent Big ‘n Beardy (9.8%) Russian Imperial Stout aged for a year in a whisky barrel; notes of roast coffee, rich chocolate and burnt caramel, hints of oak and vanilla, mild funk and tart berries, classic Imperial hop flavours. This is an amazing beer, and I also love the waxy top that looks like a melted candle.



Day 24: Birra del Borgo Hoppy Cat

24. Birra del Borgo Hoppy Cat (5.8%) The name and label are winners; the beer is pretty fine too. Describing itself as a Caskadian dark ale, it is otherwise known as a black IPA – hoppy, resinous, berry nose with a touch of sherbet, and coffee, liquorice and peppery flavours. Tasty dark malt (maple syrup?) but a surprisingly hoppy bitter finish.

Friday Five: The Best of the Advent Beers

Now that advent has been and gone and we have drunk our 24 festive beers, I can state my favourites (in no particular order). Full details to follow.

5 Best Beers from the Blackhurst Advent Calendar:

1. 8 Wired Brewing co. 2012 Chardonnay Barrel-Aged Saison (7%) - I know I said 'in no particular order', but this is my beer of the year. 
2. Brouwerij Verhaeghe Duchesse de Bourgogne Flanders Red (6.2%) - Belgian beer at its best.
3. Birra del Borgo Seven Hops IPA (7%) - A fine Italian example of a British IPA. Who says Europe can't co-operate?
4. 8 Wired Brewing Co. 2011 Barrel-Aged Smoked Imperial Porter (11%) - Yep, 8 Wired, again. This Kiwi brewery is making some excellent beers.
5. Nomad Jet Lag IPA (6%) - the new kid on the (Sydney North Shore) block is delivering the goods. I loved this at the Beer Day Out, and I loved it again in the advent calendar. I'm nothing if not consistent. Don't say it.

Friday Five: CAT Awards

Not that I want to bang on about Blithe Spirit (okay, so I do), but it has taken up a huge amount of my time and thoughts over the past few months. And we have been nominated for five CAT (Canberra Area Theatre Awards), which is nice.

5 Award Nominations for Blithe Spirit:

1. Best Designer for a play (Andrew Kay)
2. Best Costume Designer for a play (Anna Senior)
3. Technical Achievement (Russell Brown, "ghostly manifestations")
4. Best Actress in a leading role in a play (Emma Wood: Ruth Condomine)
5. Best Production of a play (Canberra Repertory Theatre)

Friday Five: The Name Game

Liz de Totth, Front of House and Paddington Bear

On the day after final night of Blithe Spirit, we hosted a get-together for all cast and crew involved in the production. It was relaxed and casual. I made martinis, tzatziki rolls, and citrus-chicken skewers. We ate, drank, talked, laughed, and played animal charades and the name game, as I know it, or 'celebrity heads' as I also heard it called. Here are some of the people who showed up:

5 Celebrity Heads:

1. Paddington Bear
2. Richard Dawkins
3. Christopher Marlowe
4. Genghis Khan
5. Xena Warrior Princess

Andrew Kay, Set Design and Construction, and Xena Warrior Princess