The disaster of Notre Dame, Paris

In the sweltering French sun, tourists gaze at the unrecognisable Notre Dame of Paris. This stunning cathedral was ravaged by a fire in April. The beating heart of Parisian history, culture and religion crumbled in front of devastated locals. And they are still grieving from the symbolic damage and structural loss to the city.

Last month, the chief architect warned the July heatwave could put the building at risk. There were fears of a ceiling collapse and the masonry becoming weak in the extreme hot conditions. The latest concern is the potential for lead contamination in the fire’s aftermath.

Under a tree beside the River Seine, a French couple from the champagne drenched city of Reims shelter in the shade. They are clearly captivated by the burnt out remains on display.

Regis Meunier says the Reims cathedral is more fire resistant because of its alternative frame. “They should never have done a wooden frame [in Paris]” he says. While Mr Meunier is analytical about the materials involved, nurse Beatrice Carion has a more emotional response to the tragedy.

“When I came close I said… I felt like I wanted to cry but I was unable to cry,” says Ms Carion with a tinge of sadness.

“It’s a disaster,” agrees Mr Meunier.

“This is a very important place for our faiths in France, not just in France but worldwide; for all Catholics,” Ms Carion says.

“It is a magnificent building, marvellous… we used to gather here for prayers,” she says.

“She [Notre Dame] is so old, we’ve always known her and now we’ve got to acknowledge that it is a great loss,” Ms Carion says.

And the French won’t forget this heartbreak any time soon. 

Café au lait

France doesn’t often make the top list of countries known to consume the most coffee. So it was surprising to see an Australian style coffee shop pop up in the Loire Valley region this year. This French coffee had clear similarities with the Australian brewers. The staff at ‘Le Petit Atelier’ in Tours tell me one morning many French baristas have travelled to Melbourne to be part of its booming coffee industry.

This cafe with splashes of Aussie culture serves up ANZAC biscuits and scones with strawberry jam. Even flat-whites and dirty chai are on the menu. Otherwise French bars usually have espresso shots, noistette, café au lait and the customer typically stands up to drink before departing the shop fully caffeinated to tackle the day.

Forget takeaway cups- an unfortunate trend that is prevalent in Australia and harmful to the environment. The European trick at this shop includes bringing your own mug. French locals sit outside the coffee house in cycling gear, munching on chocolate cake with fresh memories of Tour de France which was just held this month. France must be the only place where a rich gateau is suitable for breakfast. And that’s my kind of place.

A mocha and an ANZAC cookie for petit déjeuner

A 103-year-old legend

As I got on a plane to go to Europe, closer to Denmark and my family heritage, my grandfather who has Danish roots was celebrating his birthday. He reached the milestone age of 103 several days earlier and I’d visited him the week before. He was frail but mostly upbeat. I brought him a gift and as we walked back from the common area at the nursing home to his room, he politely asked me for a break. Always the gentleman. The staff often commented on his kind nature and how he rarely complained. He lost his wife and my Nanna when she was 97, an equally impressive age. But for him to then live on for another half a decade was remarkable.

I had the opportunity to interview Poppa about his heroic efforts when he was a teacher and how he managed to save one of his student’s lives. It was a thrill to capture photos of him remembering this dramatic day and his unexpected reunion with his former student and her brother all these years later.

I remember him complimenting me on my driving, telling me I had good eyes when he was mostly blind and making a wooden stool for me to stand on for extra height to reach the light switch when I was a child. I know he and Nanna got a kick out of hearing me on the radio and television, reporting for ABC News. And now it’s time my Poppa, Andrew John Duffy aka Jack made the news again on this blog, to mark his wonderful life. RIP.

Photo courtesy of Leader Community Newspapers

A “ground-breaking” LGBTQI parade

A spectacle of colour exploded in Denmark over the weekend as the city of Copenhagen gave a warm hug to its LGBTQI community during its pride celebration. Retail shops embraced the rainbow symbol of sexual diversity. The Pride event started in 1996, just seven years after a Danish milestone was achieved for the queer population.

According to the Foreign Affairs Ministry, in 1989 Denmark became the first country in the world to allow registered relationships between same-sex couples.

On Saturday August the 18th, the Danes were in full party mode, dancing up a storm on the city streets. DJs were spinning Aretha Franklin and Michael Jackson tracks (RIP). People came together in solidarity to honour an often marginalised group in society.

One teenage trans boy told me about his struggles with identity. “I’ve mostly been a very awkward person who never really knew how to come out to at least teachers,” he said. “Cause I told all my friends about it and my classmates and then I tell the teachers my birth name and then all the classmates get confused.”

He has recently switched to a new school where there is not really anyone else like him after previously being at another school with two other trans guys. But seeing the Pride day made him feel comfortable.

“There was even part of the parade only for trans people, that was really ground-breaking,” he said. “It’s always fun to see people with big trans flags being accepted.”

Others observed police, airforce, hospital and train service staff also taking part which some described as unexpected.

Long after the rainbow costumes, glitter and music were gone, the flags continued to fly on Copenhagen’s historic buildings as a sign of respect. 

L’Isola d’Elba

Italy’s third largest island has a small village charm, a gelateria on every street and lots of history. It is the place where the emperor Napoleon Bonaparte had two houses during his exile. (Hot tip, visitors can see them for free on the 1st Sunday of the month).

The aqua blue Mediterranean sea hugs this cosy island situated near Corsica or a one hour ferry ride from Italy’s mainland.
It is a tourist’s dream for its hidden pebble stoned beaches tucked away next to cliffs, stunning parks and mountains.
At night the piazzas are pulsing with people, pumping life into the otherwise sleepy town of Capoliveri, one of the many beautiful spots in Elba. In the summer months, locals work all night to serve the tourists and earn a living. Toddlers and children roam the piazzas looking at market stalls with their parents, where people from all countries sell jewellery, pasta and souvenirs. But in winter, Capoliveri is dead quiet so working hard during the warmer period is essential.
Stray cats stroll the streets and vespas whizz past like their Italian namesake- wasps. Dinner is eaten late in the evening when the weather cools down. But in the morning, don’t ask for mochaccinos because they don’t exist in Italy (unlike Australia and the U.S.) Although this combination of coffee and chocolate is used in desserts like tiramisu, having this mixed drink is not common. But when the food is this good, who cares!

Renewing my Tuscan Ties Part Two

The splendour of Siena, Italy has returned to my senses. After visiting the city near Florence in 2012 for uni study,I have come back during the warmer time of year as part of my six months off work. There are lots of arts events on in between the world famous Il Palio horse race such as drumming and jazz performances.

Siena is known for Il Palio, a big traditional tourist event which awakens this sleepy city. Although I am missing Tuscany’s equivalent of the Melbourne Cup, because I’m not here for the main race, Siena is still worth celebrating and embracing during its peak season. It’s not only enclosed in walls, pleasantly trapping visitors with its medieval vibe but the surrounding green hills and vineyards are a stunning backdrop to the shops spilling with Tuscan produce.

The beauty of Siena is if you escape the busy Piazza del Campo which hosts the horse race, it is just as joyful to get lost down its side streets. The crush of tourists dissipates and the curvy, stone lined streets are free to explore. But the dangerous dance of pedestrians weaving through the roads without footpaths while vespas and cars try to squeeze through the tight spaces is entertaining to watch.

I am enchanted by this place because it gave me the chance to understand my Italian roots. I see communicating in another language as an exciting challenge because it’s a joy to speak to others in their native tongue. Admittedly I don’t understand every word but I value the experience.

So for a Tuscan treat, skip Rome and admire Siena’s grand cathedrals and visit each porta (door) to stand in the archway of this city wrapped in walls, adorned with architecture detail at every corner. Step into another time of elegance and extravagance that is simply Italian.  

Safety Beach, Victoria

Safety Beach: my happy place. The pink shed is the meeting point, a brightly coloured beach hut where I can reunite my cousins. Café del Sol is the name of the caravan serving hot drinks, providing a cup of comfort in such tranquil surroundings. The shop front sits atop the grassy hill with the sparkling water dazzling beach-goers down below. A group of yogis stretch and salute the sun next to a rustic wooden picnic table. Dogs dance and frolic on the soft sand, dipping into the ocean to cool off or have a swim.

A walking path is only a few steps away and leads into bushland where an old stone table reactivates my childhood imagination. I called it ‘Tree Trunk Treasure’ as a young girl, when I perceived it as a hidden and mysterious object buried away from the beach but still close enough to the shore to hear waves in the distance. This was before a track was drawn out for cyclists and pedestrians to follow on their journey to the Dromana shops. Compared to several years ago, the chipped but solid table is easier to find but back then it was tucked away from the world. Yet the table was still full of story-telling potential to unlock and unanswered questions about why the seat was broken and how it came to be enveloped by over-grown scrubs down by the beach. Those answers are still unknown but the serenity and escapism the table symbolised are still palpable at Safety Beach today.  A slice of coastal paradise. 

Renewing my Tuscan ties

Upon returning from a glorious four weeks in Tuscany, I now understand of the truly Italian habits of my father. He is always cutting a slice of bread, topping it with a piece of cheese and prosciutto as a snack. After I spent most of January immersing myself in our homeland, I found I developed a greater knowledge of “le radici familiari” and eating preferences.

It all began on the 9th of January in Siena: where I was lucky enough to take part in a course on the Tuscan language and culture. I met 24 other young people with Italian background who had come to Italy for the experience, organised by the Toscana region. The group comprised Argentinians, Brazilians, Australians, a Paraguayan and a New Zealander. Not only was I experiencing Italian culture and language firsthand, but being exposed to feisty Spanish speakers, I have taken a piece of the South American lifestyle away with me too.
Each day we’d walk as a group in the winter cold from the hotel to the university where we’d speak and write Italian in our classes. We studied Italian music, cooking, television shows, grammar and Tuscan slang.
By the end of our three-week course, I had achieved my goal of being able to better communicate with my relatives in L’Isola D’Elba and my Italian family living in Australia.
In between classes, we’d travel on the weekends to small villages close to Siena including Colle Val d’elsa, Lucca, San Gimignano and Pisa.
Here we explored museums, crystal factories, restaurants, medieval castles and markets.
After a relaxing time in sleepy Siena, we then headed to Florence for a jam-packed business course. In just a week, we covered public speaking, teamwork, economics and Florentine industries. We were also treated to a ballet performance at the Maggio Theatre, a trip to the Gucci museum and a pizza making lesson.
The course was a fantastic experience, that I’d recommend to any Italian-Australian wanting to step outside their comfortable and get in touch with la lingua e la cultura toscana!

Dance in the danger zone?

Dancers around Australia are devo’d that ‘So You Think You Can Dance’ did not return to Channel 10 this year. Their dance dreams have been further crushed with the axing of Fox 8’s reality series, ‘Live to Dance’ after one season.

Do television networks no longer think dance programs draw enough ratings? Dance is certainly on the cards at the moment with Oscar-winning actress Natalie Portman starring in the ballet drama Black Swan. Glee is popular and So You Think You Can Dance America is still going strong after eight seasons.

There’s no doubt performers will continue to remain passionate about their craft but there is a feeling among the dance community that their art may fall out of the spotlight without media support.

Channel 10 publicity told me last week there are ‘no plans’ to bring ‘So You Think You Can Dane Australia’ back to screens in 2012 but they have not ruled out its return. In other words, it’s on an indefinite break.

Show creator Nigel Lythgoe has expressed his dissatisfaction with Channel 10 dumping the program. Lythgoe told Dance Informa magazine he’s prepared to take the program to another Australian television network. It’s nice Lythgoe has noticed the show’s negelct down under. Then again he’s probably after the show royalties from its airing in Australia.

Nevertheless, the show is entertaining, gives dancers a shot at professional work and is a quality Australian-made production. Looks like the program is literally, “Dancing for its life” in a battle to win over TV executives. Watch this space.

Contestants from last year's SYTYCD at the 2010 Logie Awards

RAGE in a digital media world

Despite brilliant inventions like YouTube where users can program their own sequence of music videos, Australian television legend Rage is still going strong. One of the longest running music video shows in the world, how has Rage sustained interest in the digital media era? Stephanie Corsetti finds out the secret…

Rage until you puke. This was the original title creator Mark Fitzgerald devised in 1987. From the unhinged screaming in the opening theme song to the vomit coloured letters in the logo, Rage intended to give viewers uninterrupted musical pleasure through all hours of the night.

Nothing beats downing a bowl of cereal in your pyjamas on a Saturday morning glued to the television in excitement at the random selection of new releases about to unfold.

Alternatively, fumbling for the remote at 3am, with a kebab in the other hand and a couple of mates around to discuss the bizarre uncensored material playing in the early hours of the morning is a wonderful end to a night out.

Ah, the many joys of Rage. Sure the decor is straight from the 80s and it’s easy to access music clips via the Internet but there are advantages that music television shows have over streaming individual clips online:

1. There’s no waiting to buffer
2. No fuzzy screen quality
3. It avoids stop/start selection of songs

Then there’s the amusing guest programmers who according to Rage producers, are shocked by the freedom they have in revealing their shameful music choices. When sharing their favourite songs with viewers, the bands explanations are raw, unscripted and often unpredictable.

Rage fans are so loyal and resistant to program changes, there was public outcry when the producers introduced the ABC1 watermark on the screen. While many audience members remain committed, others are drifting towards online music channels.

By Erica Marshall

In a Melbourne forum last year, Rage producer Sophie Zoellner said she acknowledged online competition but believes Rage is justified in the digital world because it exposes viewers to new music.

“One of the best things is you could just turn it on and just get a surprise. Something you’ve never even heard about something,  something you never probably would’ve heard about and you might really enjoy it.”

Gone are the days when you would wait for your favourite top 40 video to screen on Rage and hit the record button on the VCR, savouring every frame for later watching. YouTube and Vevo give the audience videos on demand, peer recommendations, worldwide commentary from other music fans and of course, the chance to upload your own original songs, covers and music video parodies.

The music video experience is now fully interactive, miles apart from the mostly passive watching of music television. But Rage will live on.

Related blog: What if you could program Rage?

For a full discussion of Rage, download ACMI’s podcast.