dumplings, didjeridoos, disorder and death

I met my little sister Jood for yum cha. She was devilishly hungover and made her way through about three dumplings before she hailed a waiter and quietly requested a mineral water. I had arrived with the headache from Hell, but eating something actually made me feel better, so I happily sampled dumplings and things while she brooded over her mineral water and caught me up on her life. We also discussed The Da Vinci Code, which she'd seen the night before. Her basic take was that it was fairly true to the book, apart from some really basic things that totally didn't need to be changed, but were for some unknown reason, and she loved Tom Hanks in the main role. This was interesting after the sum-up I had from another friend who said it was unchanged from the book and they hated Tom in the role. Now I'm very curious to see it. The critics of course gave it a hard time, but what I noticed was that most who commented also hated the book, so I wonder if they really went there wanting to hate the movie. Anyway, I'll let you know.

On the way there we say this guy playing a didjeridoo against an electronic dance beat and I recorded this snippet to use as a ringtone on my new phone. You may need to turn it up to hear it clearly.

Later that night I went to see a stage adaptation of Lord of the Flies. Here's a pretty good summary/review. There were adults playing the kids, which was weird initially, but quickly became normal. I think the reason it worked is simply because all the characters are children. The acting was excellent and I was pretty impressed by their creative use of the very, very small stage area, bearing in mind that the book is set on an island with at least three main settings: the beach, the jungle/forest and the hill top. It's a scary and disturbing tale. I mean come on, the tagline is, “Kill the pig! Spill his blood!” Mary Poppins this is not.

Great stuff. I'd see this company again for sure.