Spunk Alert: Tom Ford

Presenting the talent Mr Ford...What can this man CAN'T DO?He is a creative genius...The below was from a fabulous fashion photo shoot - very Fellini-esq-inspired. He re invented Gucci...and YSL...and has his own label.

He has so much taste, style and savoir faire I can't stand it .And the man is a spunk. Period.

The Pregnant Pause

Life at the moment is rather quiet & neutral - It's a bit like rating a 7 on a PH Scale. Not that I'm complaining. I mean it's sort of nice for a change that it is rather quiet (hence my quieter blog entries of late). My life (and Andy's as well for that matter) are in that pregnant pause moment - that the end result is near (as opposed to the calm before the storm).

The end result? Many things really - buying the house for one thing - and given that interest rates have rose twice in the month and house prices are STILL increasing (appears that people from the west coast are coming here to buy investments - apparently Melbourne has cheap property compared to Perth!) we have decided to sit tight and save a bit more and see what happens - I know -very sensible and grown up.

My course assignments have been completed and (more to the point) I passed - but I wont graduate until November so to allow all the others to catch up with their work (so to show a high pass rate to management so they run & fund the course again.)

Holidays have been planned but are far far away - The big holiday in Thailand for Andy's 40th is in May... Perth is planned for 2008 too...I won't get Xmas off this year however many ex-Melbournians will be here visiting this year so that will be fun.

As Ms Hines would say don't get me wrong - These are not complaints - More than happy to sit tight with these plans and actions through to fruition...We are just in that quiet moment time before hand.

Best put the kettle on and enjoy it.

Melbourne Moment

Art on Degraves street, Thursday Morning.

Book Review: Michael Tolliver Lives

I was 19 when I first read the Tales of city series. For me it was like nothing I had ever read before. I loved all of the characters, and how their lives intertwined in such a lovely way. How they all were dancing to the same tune…just in different dance halls across the city. Almost a San Francisco symbiosis.

That was almost 15 years ago. When Eddy (http://tummyguts.blogspot.com/) recently recommended this book for me I became quite excited. As a huge fan of Tales of the city it was the first book in ages that I actually rushed out to purchase for my reading pleasure (ok after the last Harry Potter novel).

Armistead Maupin continues the city tales after a break of more than 20 years...this time only focusing on Mouse - Mr Michael Tolliver. He's 55 now and alive, living with HIV and still being a big queen – or in Mouse’s eyes – a big Nellie/Mary/Fag.

Unlike the other novels this book is only from his perspective. Yes other characters are there but not like before. I don’t know if Armistead changed his writing style in the post AIDS world or has purposely decided not to use the usual format of inter-related stories/lives/characters. To be honest I was actually surprised that he even wrote this novel after a 20 year break – I thought he would have left this all behind (whether he produced this from his own doing or it was a requirement in a contract I don’t know) but the edge that Tales once had is lost – I don’t think it’s to do with his writing however more so a reflection of society in 2007.

Still though it’s a fairly good read. I like the fact the some of the old characters come back in…even though a few more have been killed off. And I do like the overall comment Armistead has made about gay life, getting older and the world today from an old 1960's baby boomer radicals perspective. For me it still hasn’t answered entirely the question of what happened to ? the many colourful and rich characters he created. Rather it’s a commentary of how the remaining have survived in a very different post-9-11-Bush-for-president-world to when they met and became family.

Three and a half hearts out of five.

Cyanide & Happiness

Melbourne Moment

Outside of Australia-on-Collins, Collins Street, Sunday afternoon.