It's been a bit of a crappy weather week. I have a lot of clothes sodden on the line out the back - I may have to put them all back in the washing machine to spin so there is a slim chance they will dry. There's a break in the rain this afternoon and I can hear the squawks and squeals of the rainbow lorikeets in the straggly eucalyptus tree in our yard.
A fabulous actress and so beautiful and intelligent to watch - if I saw her name in the cast of any film, I knew it would be excellent but now she has died of cancer too young. 4/5/1944 - 14/5/2009 the last two films I saw her in were, Hilde and the utterly wonderful Vier Minuten And I am looking forward to seeing her in The Murder Farm with scrumptious Julia Jentsch (Sophie Scholl). Now looking forward to this screening takes on a whole new meaning - I hope I don't have to wait another year to see the only screening in Sydney at the German Film Festival. This is just not fair.
AH and I are back from a short visit to Adelaide. She bought me a wonderful new coat and I've brought home souvenirs from a Saturday spent at an antiques and collectables fair in the trendy Adelaide suburb of St Peters. That was not the reason to fly to South Australia - it was more relative (and friends...). At $4 each, these 3 Dutch postcards circa 1942 of the famous 1.5km Maas Tunnel, which opened in 1942 are a treat (didn't know what they were when I bought them, just that having a postcard of an empty tunnel tickled me) There is a parallel tunnel to the auto tunnel for pedestrians and bicycles, I assume that's where these fabulous escalators* (above) are situated. I often buy old postcards to send to friends & family for fun (It began with my Father sending me all sorts of quirky cards including an original 1950s Queen Elizabeth visit to Australia postcard that now lives on our fridge) but these tunnel cards are just too special to give away. Now I have a reason to visit Holland.
(the sign is an Exit Here notice but the literal translation is "Here Go Away")
*After looking up the Masstunnel online I notice the escalators in my photo-postcard have been modernised and no longer exist...(the tunnel is a tourist attraction - I reckon for folks who are partial to a world tour of tunnel discovery and I think those people exist)
Next I may have to look for photos of factories postcards - the pleasure goes on.
A.H. and I did a bulk deal again this year and went along to 5 films that screened at the 2009 German Film Festival. Films were good but the most outstanding was Hilde – the story of actor, singer, writer; Hildegard Knef (above).
Running for 2 hours, which I never noticed as it was totally engrossing & starring Heike Makatsch (Aimee & Jaguar, Resident Evil, Anatomie 2, Love Actually) who bears striking resemblance to the real Hildegard:
(abvoe: Heike Makatsch)
===
Hildegard Knef 28/12/1925 – 1/2/2002 – Another true Diva to celebrate.
Hildegard was 14 years old when WWII began and studied acting in Berlin under the Third Reich. She had an affair with a Third Reich bureaucrat & disguised herself as a male soldier during the last days of Hitler’s hold over Berlin, mainly to avoid being caught (and raped*) by Russian soldiers (don’t miss it if you ever get the chance to view Helke Sander’s excellent 1992 documentary, *BeFreier und BeFreite ( Liberators Take Liberties)- about the not so celebrated actions of the Allies in Berlin)
Despite being invited to Hollywood by David Selznick, her USA success was on stage on Broadway.
Moving back to Germany, she continued acting (with a little controversy) but truly found who she was in the early 1960s when she started writing, recording and performing her own songs and some memorable covers. She was also a prolific book writer, survived breast cancer and died from emphysema in 2002.
The film, Hilde, is a fabulous portrayal of a genuine diva – try to see it.
(at the beginning of the trailer she says, "who is Hildegard Knef? I've found an answer to this question, This is Hildegard Knef" - when she first stands on stage as a singer)
Ella Fitzgerald is quoted to have said Hildegard Knef is "the best singer without a voice".
Here in the 1970s, she does rap (probably called spoken word, you reckon?):
Having always wanted an Aston Martin since I was 15 yrs old (wow, that's a while ago), I came across my dream model up for auction this weekend, well, today actually.
I don't care about it being out of rego and I'm so not looking at that puddle underneath near the rear... THAT CAR SHOULD BE MINE!
Here is (my) the actual car in the auction room this weekend: a 1954 DB2/4 Grand Tourer Mark 1 (not the Spyders or the funky DB3 )
I even got AH excited about it even though she was a little more taken with the 1958 Porche Cabriolet (and it was gorgeous)- there were some really interesting cars and motorcycles in the auction rooms and we spent some time looking in cabins and pretending we were deciding which car we really wanted to buy...
I don't have $100k to 150k to throw around so I may have to resort to a 1960s model like the DB5... that's just downright sexy... vroom (except that's a bloody James Bond car - best I add another $100K!)
Another model of my 1954 DB2/4 sold last year for $165k & in the USA, for $USD200k+ !
gosh.
A cabriolet model was featured prominently in Alfred Hitchcock's The Birds
Quick Tippi! put the roof back on!
Tippi Hedron's character spends a number of scenes being out-starred by my car as she drives to the quaint coastal town in pursuit of the Rod Taylor character. She doesn't get pecked by a bird until she LEAVES the DB2/4 at the docks, roof still down and takes to a dingy. hmmm. Later, driving at twilight, she parks the car and there is only one brake light - but what a star; when they grab the kid from school, surrounded by all those birds, Rod Taylor puts roof on in a flash.
And, of course being the true star of the movie, the car is immaculate, not a scratch, not a tear as they drive away from THE BIRDS!
This must have wonderful car that should belong to me has also starred in some film called Checkpoint (1956)about racing cars, The Saint (ha! show that Volvo a thing or too) and made many appearances in the 1953-57 TV series, Douglas Fairbanks, Jr., Presents
Even though I haven't driven cars or ridden a motorcycle for 15 years, when you do see me driving... well!!
==
postscript: OMG, OMG, it was passed in at auction. AHHHH.
How exciting that the Rudd government has "kept true" to it's promises for same sex couples law reforms. And what better way to let everyone know by headlining with "Couples are Couples" - if you're on social security and have just done the dyke thing of move in together the day after the night you met, say bye bye to your dole. That's right, 'equal'(read: almost, sort of close) rights means the Gov wants to cut more people off the dole. Will this mean that people sharing house who are the same sex will get as harassed as a man and a woman sharing house? I shared house with 2 people who were long time friends and housemates. They were both homosexual and of the opposite sex and Centrelink used to hassle them all the time as defacto (even though the bloke was obviously camp). That's a thought - I wonder how people will react when Centrelink asks housemates if you girls or guys are just good friends! How do straights answer that one? Gosh, I can almost taste the strained homophobia.
What other reforms are there? umm, if you're a breeder there's stuff and a bit of immigration, which is good - makes moving to Australia as difficult as straights that don't marry. I'm not into following the hetero flock (and really find the white wedding and expected expense carryon totally ludicrous) but the Labor Party still won't agree to marriage between people of the same sex. Marriage can only be marriage if it is between a man and a woman.
Damn, what happened to the days when you could get a friend to put your dole form in... No one bothered the unemployed and the unemployed could hang out with other unemployed and do stuff like watch Prisoner on the telly and get really excited when the midday movie was in colour and almost adult & modern while eating baked beans straight out of the can... Sure people could bludge a bit and winter is a bit cold to get a job and summer, well how about that heatwave, can't work in that... But eventually people get work - the people who want to rip off the system will always find a way to rip off the system but it seems everyone gets punished. So gee thanks once again mediocre feddies I feel all warm and not too furry knowing that any independence I feel as an individual will always be under scrutiny. See, reforms that don't go all the way really only benefit one way. Same can be said for the work place relations changes - someone may work for 20 years and get retrenched but if there's less than 15 people working there, they get nothing and dismissal is not unfair. How fair is that? Arts, what arts? And Then There's The Pulp Mill
