Secret Cinema

Hi All,

Three weekends ago we headed off to Secret Cinema (again), which is an event in London where they show a classic movie, but also set up the surroundings for that film (be it tunnels, warehouses, markets etc) to mimic the movie's period/setting. Being a secret, you don't know what you are going to see (but the movies are always classics), and you only get clues on what to wear by email a couple of weeks before.

The movie this time was Battle for Algiers, which was made in 1966 and was about the revolution spawned while the Arabs were living under the harsh rules of the French - quite apt for these times. The movie highlights that they actions of a few can be enough to mobilise a whole population, and cause revolution.

Upon arriving at the secret destination, we were greeted by armed guards, barbed wire, checks on our papers and propaganda blaring over speakers - all very intimidating. We had to keep our papers with us at all times, and depending on how you answered some questions, you were placed into one of three groups. Group A was French, B was Arab, and C was either - which meant whoever 'got' to you first, falsified your papers to either be A or B (we only found all this out once inside).

Inside the location (which was in the tunnels underground around Waterloo station) they had made a couple of different areas, separated by barbed wire - a French quarter and an Arab quarter. The French quarter had cafes and the bars, while the Arab quarter was more closed, like a Medina, with small houses, passageways, shops etc, and some street food. There were also some dodgy bits like a jail where people were being interrogated in the back of the French quarter, but you had to go search for them.

There was smoke in the air, armed guards, fences, wire etc, so it was really moody. The actors/actresses were amazing as locals moving around the souk, or upper-class french lounging in the bars, or guards walking around terrifying people - AND they were speaking either French or Arab (only), to further disorientate people. Fortunately Lany understood things so it helped a lot as she filled in some details on the stuff going on - if you knew the film though, you'd have enough to go on.

As we explored, each side would either love you or hate you depending on your papers. In the Arab section, I wasn't allowed in any house, and got yelled at (in Arabic) for taking pictures. My friend (CK) on the other hand was a 'C', so the Arabs took him in their house immediately, changed him to 'B' and gave him a mission - he had to take a parcel to another house at a set time. Lany and I went to the Air France office and, as we were 'A's, we thanked for being 'on the right side', and were given a little piece of paper detailing a mission to search out a wedding in the Arab quarter and alert the guards (at those times, the Arab weddings had to happen in secret). The girl in front of us in the Air France line was originally been a 'C' (nothing), who got changed to a 'B', so when the Air France woman checked her papers, she walked out and got a guard, who came and took the woman away! (her boyfriend just stood there looking stunned :P). That was our introduction to the 'game' side of the evening, so we headed out.

Over the course of the few hours heaps of things happened:
- CK got 2 missions to take parcels around, and disappeared a few times to meet people
- CK got searched more than once, and while in one of the houses it got raided and he was kicked out
- Lany accidentally showed an Arab woman the message we'd been given. When asked about it, Lany handed it to me and ran across the barrier-line (Arabs couldn't go into French bit, but I think French could go into Arab bit, they just didn't do a lot). The Arab woman then tried to get it off me, but instead grabbed my papers and ripped them up.
- Lany grabbed on of the French guards and identified CK as a spy, but the guard didn't get him because he'd already offloaded his parcel
- We followed an Arab woman around in wedding gear, looking for the wedding
- A shopkeeper (in his shop) got searched, and started screaming at us all to get out when the guards started asking about a briefcase - we were just in the shop at the lucky time to see this - in the movie, that shopkeeper character makes some bombs.
- CK had his papers ripped up too, and had to get another identity.
- We found the wedding, but it was already reported and the guards rushed in an kicked everyone out.
- oh, we got food - yummy kebab thing.
- and on top of all this, they had demonstrations in the Arab quarter, speeches, music, a reenactment of memorable scene from the movie involving the sneaking of bombs out of the quarter, and a subsequent bomb blast in the middle of a speech being given by the French general....

SUPER FUN!

After the bomb, they told us to run into the 'mosque', which is where they showed the movie. Loved this wooden frame thing with the light coming through at the back of the room....

When we came out of the film (which ends with the final guy getting blown up), the scenery had been changed with large bit of debris placed around, houses (which were formerly pieced together wooden frames) broken down into smaller triangles/shapes, and rubble/grit all on the floor - it was like they'd blown up whole place - really really cool way to finish.

The only bummer was right at the end of the film, the DVD packed it in (apparently the air was too moist in the tunnels and broke it), but really we'd seen everything and the movie was basically over, so I wasn't worried. The silver lining is that because of it dying, we get free tickets to the next Secret Cinema - score!

Overall, loved the whole thing, and can't wait for the next one.

So moving on from there, a quick summary of the last two weekends:
- I've had my bro down from Manchest and my aunt from Aus in town, so we did Sunday lunch (that next weekend),
- Lany went to Paris for training and then saw her sister that following weekend (returning for Sunday lunch),
- I caught up with an old friend from Aus who is back in town while travelling,
- Lany and I saw a Freerunning show at the Udderbelly festival (giant cow tent!) and
- this weekend just gone, Lany and I checked out the Sony World Photography Awards -> really amazing, see the if they come to Aus... (or wherever you can)

It's all been pretty busy, and June is not going to be quiet either... YAY!

Anka

Marrakech for Easter Break

Hi everyone,

The Royal Wedding was good for something - we got an extra holiday... yay! It also meant that we only had a three day week that week, so by taking the three days leave, we got 10 days off - not bad eh. 7 of those days were in Morocco for Lany and I, so here's the report...

One of the big highlights was my first 'real' Moroccan wedding. This was on the first night we were there, we literally landed late afternoon, got changed, and went straight to it. While we were the around 7:30pm, Lany was totally correct in her previous statements that Moroccan weddings don't start until about 10pm, and go through until 5am (easily). Hardly anyone was around for the first hour or two, but at least it gave me the chance to get some photos.

Oh, there's like this big stage thing (I didn't know what it was at the start) which the couple sit on throughout the evening and get photos with people. Typically the couple changes outfits a few times and so there's multiple pictures with people throughout the evening. It does seem that basically if the couple isn't taking a few minutes to eat at their nice table (white one in the middle), they're getting changed and getting photos on the stage.... and maybe fitting in a bit of dancing. Oh, and Moroccan weddings don't have table settings, people just move around as they like.

Around 9pm/9:30pm people had mostly arrived, the music kicked off and people started to dance and mingle. I was tripping the light fantastic Moroccan-male style, so basically just bopping around and moving arms ;) At some points I was the only male up there... eeek! Still the khaftans of the women are pretty amazing and colourful, and look great when they are dancing. The colour on my pictures isn't really accurate, but because of the lighting etc there's not a lot I could do about it - needless to say they look pretty amazing.

Around 10:30pm or closer to 11pm the couple arrived in full fanfare! It was a huge spectacle with loud music from the band, the dudes carrying the bride on their shoulders dancing, crossing knives, people dancing, extra musicians running around etc. The pictures don't do it justice, it was a huge event, so hopefully this video will work.


So on to most important thing - the food was good. It was very typical/traditional fare starting with little canapes, nuts and drinks as people arrived (until about 10pm), then when the meal was served with four courses: pastilla, a mix of salads, a whole half of a sheep (absolutely brilliant taste!) and yoghurt ice cream cake and fruit for desert. I totally pigged out on the lamb, it was sweet.... I got jokes from the table because I was having several helpings... (but it's ok, Moroccan's love it when people enjoy food).

In between courses there was a bit of time which we spend dancing, or talking etc. All in all the Moroccan wedding is pretty simple: bride/groom arrive with a huge entrance, bride/groom change costumes a lot, they get lots of photos, they dance a bit, guests come, guests eat, guests dance, and everyone parties. There's no real formal stoppages, or religious things etc - it's just a party! The bride (Yasmin) didn't change much either for the wedding, just three outfits, but I only caught two.......

As we'd flown in and been busy right up to going, Lany and I died at about 3:30am (I think), and headed home... It was good to see the typical wedding, but there are a few things that Lany and I will probably do differently for ours (for a start, we'll have a ceremony/blessing, and probably not the stage thing :P)

After that the week was far more sedate. The weather for the weekend we arrived (i.e. the wedding and next day) was pouring rain, so not a lot of fun, but the few days after were sunny and clear(ish). I got a bit of a swim in the pool and did some running in the mornings, so it was nice. We basically saw some of Lany's friends, ran errands in town, hung around the house (outside Marrakech), saw Lany's extended family, but then also spent time with Lany's sister's parents-in-law who arrived on the Wednesday.

In Moroccan fashion, any gathering involved awesome food, here's a example of some of the things we ate (two of Lany's aunts in particular are AMAZING cooks!) one night at her uncle's place.


Our time at Tahannout wasn't boring though because Lany's parents have a new puppy! It's pretty cute and is really nice. It took a couple of days to start to get it into line because as puppies do it's trying to bite everything. We eventually started to get it to sit, chase the ball and not bite people, but it did take a few frustrating moments ;) It's cute and I'm sure it'll be great when bigger and a bit more calm.


With all the rain recently, the countryside is just full of flowers, as well as the garden at Tahannout... I took a number of pictures. (Too many for here, the garden at Tahannout is really flourishing, so if you want to see photo's of courgettes, beetroot etc check the full photo gallery link on the right).

Just at the end we went to lunch at Lany's aunts house who lives 30 mins out of Marrkech in the country... It was a stormy day with patches of sun, which made for some good photos..

Of course there was good food too!

Right at the end the bomb thing hit, which sux, but fortunately none of Lany's friends/family were involved.

One big thing though was viewing a potential wedding venue, which we then put a deposit on. It's big enough for a couple of hundred guests, and very luxurious, so hopefully it'll be good for everyone! No photos of the venue though, you'll have to wait for those..

So that was about it. Nice to hang out and see family again - my French is still atrocious so I better pull my socks up and get cracking before the wedding! eeeek!

Anka