Its a little too 'Da Vinci Code' for me ... Greenaway at the North Melb Town Hall

Ok ... our NZ friends with Boris the Cheese! in tow are in town so as per ush we made a yum cha date at our current hotspot Gold Leaf in good ole scummers!! (Yum Cha for the traditionalists is dim sum btw .. just in case ... educate!) This is one of the better joints for yum cha ... but remember to order the fried calamari as its better fresh from the kitchen, and also what they call long noodle (i.e. chee cheong fan!), if you want the char siu variety. And if you're not asian, they still try and pass the crappy beefball, fried prawn shit, bypassing anything that is part of the digestive track ... they don't even point these out ... so use your eyes and fingers. I have to say that the service was excellent. They were polite and non-intrusive, and were actually mindful of what was on your table when they were pushing their trolleys around ... and they all said thank you as they walked away!! If you live in the vicinity, you really should check it out ... but you MUST book!! And if you're on the other side of the river, then it is worth the trip ... promise ... plus its cheaper ... you just have to slum the location a bit.

One more thing - the suckling pork is pretty yummy, but it is the most expensive dish coming in at round about the $20 - so if you pick this off one of the trolleys, don't have a cow when its time to pay the bill.

After Boris had some fun with a lemon and a stick in the baackyard and the B's left for their next social stop, I was ready for a nap on the couch when M suggested we go and see Leonardo's Last Supper as envisaged by Peter Greenaway.

I actually thought this would be rocking the crowds in as it only costs $10. We didn't have to wait in line for very long ... but its always good eavesdroppings (and yes I meant to add the 's') at do's like these ... group in front talking about dogs and chickens  ... 2 ladies behind one with an affected german accent crapping on about other art events they have been to ... overseas ... of course!

And what was it actually like? Well you enter this room with a long table laid out like the table in the painting but completely white. On one wall is the Leonardo painting, on the opposing wall is a medieval painting of the crucifixion .. not sure what the origin of this one is ... Greenaway always has interesting music and the slightly operatic score draws its influences from the work Nyman did for "The Cook et al" ... although I doubt Nyman did this one, and I'm not sure whether these 2 will ever collaborate again. Anyways, the cynical and jaded side of me wants to say that this was just a fancy slide show that was a little too "da vinci code" for my liking, especially since at one point the slide show focuses on the "mary magdalene" character in the painting and Paul Bettany's pasty mug popped up in my head - "buzz kill buzz kill"! (actually no .. I'm strangely attracted to Bettany's hot ginge!) M found it all "inspiring" and obviously charged him creatively as he's been furiously arranging music ever since. We both loved the bit when he picked out the hands and faded everything back. I would have loved to have stopped it at that point and wonder at the intrigue and hidden machinations of that symbolic meal just from the positioning of the hands alone. The other bit that almost illicits the wow factor is at the start when the overlay of slides adds reflective shadows to each of the persons depicted ... very 3-D. All up the session goes for 20 mins and you have to stand all the way through.

 

Look its interesting enough and a great excuse to head to North Melbourne ... and afterwards you can have some liquid refreshment over at the Auction Rooms. The perfect sunday afternoon.

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Comments:

Temasek wrote:

 

Let me think ... we not only have yum cha up the road, we have an indian enclave, some cool laneway bars, loads of breakfast joints, not too mention some terrific gastro-pubs ... and you live in Canberra ... yah .. so jealous right now!! hehe CB!! (if you didn't already figure this out, CB stands for Come back! I've decided to short hand it)

22 Oct

dan cope wrote:

 

noice.
Oh we have yum cha all you can eat for dinner, 3 mins drive from our lash pad... JEALOUS??? :P

21 Oct