TRAVEL DIARY

A weblog regularly updated by Jodi Rose.

  

VIEWING ALL POSTS FOR: JUNE 2006

Thursday, June 29, 2006

1:47 AM
Posted by jodi rose

The National Lebanese Tabbouleh Day

Location: Beirut, Lebanon
Date: 07.01.2006

The 15th Paris Biennial which will take place from the 1st until the 31st of October 2006 in Paris (France) and abroad presents the National Lebanese Tabbouleh Day. This Day is celebrated each year, on the first Saturday of July. This year it will take place on the 1st of July, for the sixth consecutive year.

This gathering of the Lebanese community around a traditional meal is opened to everyone and without pretension. Its only ambition is to try to smooth the tensions and divisions suffered by a people bruised by a thirty-year-long war.

This simple and original approach was launched in 2001 by Ricardo Mbarak, artist and professor at the Lebanese Academy of Fine Arts, Beirut. Since then the celebrators have grown in number and have circulated the information via Internet and word of mouth. Thanks to this initiative more than 240 000 people in Lebanon, Canada, the United States and Europe have gathered in 2005. So it's up to you to spread the news and join us around this meal: all you need is the right recipe, a bit of friendliness and cheerfulness.

Recipe:
350 g bulgur or cracked wheat
5 minced bunches of parsley
2 snipped bunches of mint
3 diced tomatoes
1 sliced small green onion
1 sliced small white onion
A thin line of olive oil
Lemon juice, salt and pepper
Cook the bulgur following instructions on packet.
Slice the onions and add pepper and salt
Add parsley and mint
Pour olive oil and lemon juice and mix thoroughly
Add the tomatoes dices.

"The idea is not to eat the meal as such. It happens in your head, in the acknowledgement of this common link".
Ricardo Mbarak

Biennale de Paris
BP 358
75868 Paris cedex 18
France

T: + 33 (0)1 42 58 21 44
contact@biennaledeparis.org
http://www.biennaledeparis.org

Thursday, June 29, 2006

1:45 AM
Posted by jodi rose

excellent, my summer in slovakia is starting to shape up
gyuri jr tells me there is a hungarian gulas part he organises for some scottish friends visiting - so I won't even miss glasgow too much,
and then some cultural event on Kamenica island with music, dance, theatre, good food, beer etc - fabulous!
just had to go out to the post office - finally found one - and lounge around in a cafe for an hour - don't know how people do this sitting at a desk all day business. the novelty has already worn off.
lordy what a decadent life I lead as a travelling artstar ;)

Wednesday, June 28, 2006

8:13 PM
Posted by jodi rose

back on the office for another day
it's amusing me no end, having this simulation of a real job
except actually all I'm doing is typing up dubious quality prose
ah well you can edit it later, trying not to make judgements now
have my first slovakian summer holiday activity planned
climbing a mountain with miki and melinda and their kids
great - better start walking up and down these hills more seriously
ok, enough stalling, on to chapter three

*tm jc

Wednesday, June 28, 2006

3:17 AM
Posted by jodi rose

floating impressions from a week of many colours and textures.
workshop amazingly productive, developed some beautiful physical theatre moments, with actors bringing a whole new level of complexity and depth to the ideas through their individual energy, physical presence, courage and intelligence. amazing process being able to sketch with live bodies.

responses from the people taking part included: life affirming; it feels like coming home; peaceful; nourishing my soul. very satisfying to be able to create an experience that people really take something from into their lives as well. and we have found a wonderful working collaboration and some beautiful actors to work with in the future of the project. whispers across a bridge. mmmmmm. lovely moments with trolls and angels and ribbons.

hung out on the roof of the chateau yesterday afternoon, amazing 360 degree view across glasgow, from the notorious Gorbals projects, to a new bridge that isn't even open yet and has gone up in a month.

spent all day writing - well typing really - in the 55 degrees spare room, fabulous dormer windows looking out on clouds and seagulls. bright blue walls, and a roomful of lovely people working quietly next door. got the first two chapters typed up - what a relief, after writing them in December. just a small block there about writing. if I could only have done 7,300 words a day when trying to finish that damn masters. ah well. a writer quoted in the paper yesterday said: "Writing has nothing to do with self-discipline. It's a matter of desire. If you want to do it, you do it; if you don't, you don't.' Indeed, so simple.

Notes from the process today:

Pick a path and set out. Commit to it.
what has brought me back here? Will I ever find out?
I have to find a way to be here. So at least I can explore it some more. And maybe, one day, find out what it is that is drawing me here so strongly.

Don't think about it. Just write.
Let it come out - play with it later. Write from the heart. Be yourself. Be bold and imaginative and wild. Don't try to hard to tell the story. Enjoy the digressions.

Chose a safe anchor and hold on to it!!! ( a safe part and use it as an anchor, I think brian eno actually said)

'Notes from Sturovo' December 2005
The novel needs to be a love song to the world.
About finding your way, making sense of life, being comfortable in your skin, making lasting connections and finding deeper love.
Make it count.
Clarity of expression.
Write so it is easy to read.
Say what you mean.
Speak from the heart.

It is incredible, have been offered a safe anchor here which I can't quite believe is real just yet. But it's slowly sinking in, and well develop form and context in the next few months. Finally understandig that it's ok to stop, it's ok to be still. You can come home now. Wherever that is.

Saturday, June 24, 2006

9:41 PM
Posted by jodi rose

crazy wild intense days
actors crossing imaginary bridges for hours
dressed shirley maclaine-esque at retirement home for heather's miami themed birthday party at the chateau on now better run xx

Thursday, June 22, 2006

9:12 AM
Posted by jodi rose

arrived to a wonderful conversation with lucy about agency and dreaming your life. have seen extraordinary theatre as part of diaspora - faust's dreams the first night, intense otherworldly experience during which I kept slipping into a dreamlike state myself. sensory immersion.
then absurdist romanian play on tuesday, very funny.
train to edinburgh yesterday to watch some of nazli's rehearsals on another project, then we start our studio exploration tomorrow. still bubbling with ideas, have to sift through all those illegible notebooks. wasn't sure what to expect, but find that it's a chance to play and explore with no outcome necessary - complete luxury. meeting wonderful people, local and international directors, and the eager young actors from rsamd who are wonderful and engaged with the new experiences and unexpected challenges. can't wait to have them at my disposal to give these ideas human form.
series of parties this weekend, then off to the country.

Thursday, June 22, 2006

9:07 AM
Posted by jodi rose

celebrated the longest and wettest day of the year with a glass of red wine at the tron and early night. in the absence of any pagan rituals on the streets of glasgow I couldn't quite bring myself to run naked through the fields... alone.

having my usual post jetlag slump, almost human again but struggling with that loneliness of being somewhere familiar and not really having a home or daily life sense of community. but then, have that everywhere. it's an existential hazard of this occupation. anyway, the hotel staff are lovely, it's a treat having my own bed, bath and city base even overlooking the buchanan st bus station. and a clock on legs. reminding always of times winged chariot.
'if we cannot make our sun stand still yet we will make him run'.
turning point. doing some forward planning, although seem to have ground to a halt with the ambition and momentum just now. free fall suspended. if I took drugs, I'd turn to them. but shopping and food will have to suffice. article in the glasgow herald today talking about how an anti-cocaine ad was having the opposite effect on youth, making it seem appealing and glamorous. ah well. something bad for you always looks good in certain lights. think I need to improve my vices. general decadence and constant travel just don't give the kick they used to. not blase or complaining, but you do start to yearn for something stable. 'everybody loves your life but you'. good ol' robbie. so poignant.

Thursday, June 15, 2006

9:38 AM
Posted by jodi rose

my osteo told me: take drugs and don't excercise.
I love that in a health professional. Think she meant panadol, and as the cable bouncing off my head last week did a little more damage than I thought, some kind of compacting spine scenario, that it's best to take it easy. have to go back today for another unkinking session.
reminded me of when I was living with lisa many houses ago, and she rang one day from her parents in melbourne to ask: have you paid the rent yet? no. well, can you go and bet it all on a horse!?? Great!
Usually they're trying to stop you engaging in that kind of risky irresponsible behaviour.
Time for wild enthusiasm and dancing under the stars.
Yes, the black cloud has finally lifted (something about not being in physical pain from back and hip misalignment helps) and life is pretty damn fine. Finished the radio program on bridge guarding - apparently it's a series of 'interval features' not a program - ah the joys of finding a place for art in the current political/cultural climate - but am hoping it will go to air as a full-length feature at some stage.
The sun is shining, it's a beautiful crisp autumnal day and all I have to do is run around to north sydney, clovelly, ultimo and chippendale then pack, unpack and repack. Train trip over the bridge always fun. Receiving visitors for champagne and 'what not to wear' this evening.
Then Glasgow Diaspora, Organic Beats on a farm in the highlands and back to slovakia for my promised Danubian summer of lakes and vineyards. With a little writing, workshopping and performance thrown in here and there along the way. eeeek is that the time, gotta run!

Thursday, June 8, 2006

10:27 AM
Posted by jodi rose

slow morning, one vibration expert has already cancelled on me and haven't heard back from the other. maybe those test measurements on the tensioning/stressing process yesterday will be the last. plenty of material, joel came along with technical and moral support, the Tongan boys heaved and sweated the cable strands into place, I listened and enjoyed the view along the river.
Met Sia and Renee for dinner and ended up sprawled at the lychee lounge - very cosy dark red oriential feel - with ultra-cool sixties movie music played by DJ with the longest hair I've seen on a man in ages. Joel, Lloyd and Camilla dropped by and joined us for a while, then on to 4ZZZ for an hour of experimental music and general anarchy.
Still dealing with the transition between art and engineer head; not having the answers already laid out can be challenging for the construction business. Think we'll be able to knock out the kinks, but still having to negotiate and stand up for the live feed. Will it be interesting enough, is it worth it?
Hmmm, these are questions I feel strongly about but not sure I can give a definitive answer. Having constant hurdles of self-belief, is it ever?
Yes yes yes all that and more.

Tuesday, June 6, 2006

4:34 PM
Posted by jodi rose

finding wisdom in strange places.
susan sarandon's daughters valedictorian speech on 'the banger sisters', friday night (yes getting out of the house still a challenge) 'I'd rather fail doing what I want to do, than succeed doing what someone else wants me to.' Resonated in light of recent experiences. Failing at two things in fact.

Judith Lucy posters up around town advertising her latest comedy show, called 'I failed!" with a big happy smiling picture of her surrounded by cartoon hearts, flowers and animals always cheers me up.

Writing to mum on her disappointment with cancelled festival; sometimes it's not important what you actually do. Just being there allows something new to happen. Which would not have been possible without you.

(a little frank capra-esque I know - was having an 'it's a wonderful life' moment the other day, thinking of who would be my clarence, the unlikely bridge angel)

Regained a little confidence after choosing six sections that were almost working and polishing them up a little, but the radio career still feels like it's in tatters. Moving on to experimental global bridge theatre. Did I mention Glasgow in oh two weeks now? Lordy.

Also, David from the consulting firm said they really liked my test recordings from the last Green Bridge trip, good to be doing something right. Spoke to the lovely Joel this afternoon, who invited me on Audiopollen tomorrow night - the excellent and iconic 4ZZZ - and has a bunch of snappy contact mikes from the US he's keen to come and play on the bridge with. Sometimes you just have to ask.

Had a really inspiring session with Michael B in the surround studio the other week, not sure if I mentioned it already, but wonderful to have a composer with such a finely attuned ear who can point out things in the sounds that I don't notice. Teaching me to hear differently, and discussing mythology, the underworld, transcendence in the composition. Yes, this is why I'm doing it. I remember now.

New dreams, new life.
Sherre tells me after interviewing lots of neuro-scientists about brain plasticity, that the fantasties you have (winning lotto, holidays on the beach, buying houses all over the world..) help regulate emotions.
Makes sense, whatever makes you feel good.

Listening to some fascinating conversations with writers on the ABC, recorded at the recent sydney writers festival. 'I hear the word psychological applied to the novel - I reach for my revolver' said John Banville, Booker Prize winner. He kept coming back to the idea that art is all about surfaces (and noted that apparently, all the depth is in the surface, according to Nietzche) trying to capture the strangeness of the world, describe the surface of things. And essentially it's a series of technical problems, how am I going to express this and do it beautifully and with some structure? The world is round, but language is square - forcing language to fit the world is very difficult indeed. How all of literary art is a struggle with language, trying to make it express what we want to express... and somehow, what we produce speaks to people directly, and in magical ways - is capable of ravishing the reader.

I loved that.

Remember something Rachel Griffith was quoted as saying after her marriage to Andrew Taylor, when she was going off to the US to film another series of six feet under, and wondering why being so far away from all her family (post 9/11). He said 'make it count' and she decided to create a space for something to happen between them.

So, make it count.

Monday, June 5, 2006

7:16 PM
Posted by jodi rose

Back in Brisbane, I love the bus drivers here they're almost always friendly, will often stop for people not actually at the bus stop (illegal and vehemently refused in sydney), and have time for a chat with their regular travellers. Still craving a quieter life, and it's starting to show. Dealing with Sydney by sticking to a very limited range of places, and not deviating from them. Except for trips on airplanes.
Sia and Nigel just walked in, time to get the pasta on and settle down for another night of Buffy. Almost through the series, endless excitement.

Heard on the radio this morning that a group is calling for the Green Bridge to be renamed after the Go-Betweens - think that's a fabulous idea! Has my full support - we could play 'streets of our town' on the listening stations of the bridge. Community feedback on radio seemed to be.. 'who?' but they're iconic, inflential and deserve to be recognised. Someone else suggested naming it after one of the founding father-land donors which is probably what will happen - maybe I can sneak a song or two into the bridge composition!

Those annoying pharmaceutical ads via email have started including rambling poetic fragments, I guess to avoid key-word filters. Some of them are almost cool. But still very annoying.

Thursday, June 1, 2006

6:13 PM
Posted by jodi rose

conversation last week at writers festival event I blagged my way into - thanks innes! - about feeling like a fraud. apparently an indicator of success.
salutory listening session with less than usual enthusiasm, and not having produced what was expected. anyway, completely deflated now.
maybe fresh air is what's needed.