Last night I went with a group of mates to the T20 Cricket International between Australia and India at ANZ Stadium Olympic Park.
The event was really fun and there was a carnival like atmosphere there. The game itself was great, despite India being very much off form. Below are a few photos from the night.
Today is Australia Day. Despite the heavy rain this morning I went down to the harbour to see some of the events. The highlight of the day (for the second year in a row) was the display by the Australian Defence Forces.
Last night I went to Symphony in the Domain with a group of friends from uni.
The quality of the concert was exceptional. There were a number of violin and saxophone solos and the orchestra overall sounded superb.
Most of the music performed was not very well known. But the rendition of The Blue Danube Waltz was brilliant, and the traditional final piece Tchaikovsky’s 1812 Overture rounded out a very good evening.
Below is a video of the last three minutes of the 1812 Overture with the full fireworks and cannon display.
I spent New Year’s Eve with a group of friends at Barangaroo on Sydney Harbour. As we waited for midnight we ate, chatted, danced, and had a great time ending one year and bringing in the next.
The video below shows the countdown to midnight, and still photos show the rest of the evening.
Yesterday I went to the V8 Supercars at Olympic Park. It was a great day out, with over 10 hours of racing amongst a variety of classes, and to top things off Holden one in the main game.
Below are the best of my photos of the various racing classes. I will do a second post with photos from the motorshow and other general shots.
Last night was the annual Carols in the Domain in Sydney. I was going to go in person but ended up watching the TV broadcast from home because this weekend I seem to have become a nigel-no-mates as everyone has gone out of town for the holiday.
The carols, the show, the broadcast, etc was really well done and ran without a glitch. However, the one comment that everyone was making on twitter, and driving me nuts, was the over the top product placement.
These days you expect ads and sponsorship at events. However, what I don’t expect is Jack Black singing an altered version of Little Drummer Boy with lyrics advertising his latest movie flop, or a group of children emailing Santa via a Samsung Galaxy Tab through Telstra which the kids informing us Telstra gives us a little more giftness.
These two examples were probably the worst of it, but every time one of the MCs spoke they name dropped a sponsor be it Woolworths, MLC, NSW Government, etc.
Maybe my blogging and moaning about it the following day shows that the advertising worked, I remember the names and I have been no so subliminally informed about them. But once upon a time Christmas wasn’t just all about commercialism, especially carols!
Then again the modern revival of Santa Claus was sparked by Coca Cola so maybe advertising really is the reason for the season.
On a lighter note the start of the show right on sunset shows the size of the crowd and parts of the beautiful city I live in:
Today I went to the 17th Biennale of Sydney. I had planned to go when it opened but I kept on putting it off when I got to the weekend as I was lazy, or the weather was bad or I was busy with other events. But this morning I woke up and instead of being lazy I forced myself down to Circular Quay and onto the ferry to Cockatoo Island.
Arriving at Cockatoo Island on an overcast day brings with it an even greater feeling of mystery. In the past Cockatoo Island has been used as a prison and as a naval shipyard. It is said to have ghosts on it and that is something you can certainly feel in the air as you step onto the land. The exhibitions of the Biennale have been set up within the hundred or so buildings scattered about the island. There is a map in the guidebook of where each piece of art is but there is no set route around the island you are left to your own devices to explore both the art work and the Island.
A lot of the art is audio/visual consisting of short (and some long) films or a combination of sculpture and projected video. The best installation of this type was a circular room with video projected in 360 degrees. In addition to these installations there was also your more traditional modern art consisting of sculpture and a combination of post-modern objects mixed with everyday life.
In addition to Cockatoo Island there are a number of other galleries around the city with installations as part of the Biennale. I got off the ferry back into the city at Shed 2/3 and after that I walked through to the Museum of Contemporary Art. Sometime before the event ends I will need to head through the Opera House and the rest of galleries to see the rest of exhibition.
