Visit @ MacArthur Museum
I read a really, really good book and from that moment forward a huge interest in WWII history was born. Like, I cannot get enough. Fascinating.
From this new found nerd interest I discovered that General Douglas MacArthur spent time in Brisbane during WWII, leading the allied forces Pacific headquarters, in a building I've walked past a million times. There's a small museum at the top of this building, which was his actual office.
Actual office that I got to sit in!
The old volunteer dudes who run the museum let me go behind the barrier and sit in the desk. MacArthur's desk! Or as I learned later, a reproduction of his desk. A war, a very interesting war, was fought and won in the very room I sat in.
Movie @ Blue Room Cinebar
There are movie theaters, and then there is this:
Cinematic luxury! Blue Room Cinebar shows movies in style, and even has a full restaurant and bar to keep you fed and liquored up. The biggest kick for me, though, are the pillows. Comfy!
We watched Gravity, and had a nosh and some booze to go along with the zero G's.
Movie @ Ben & Jerry's Open Air Cinema
Every year for a few weeks during the least rainy season an outdoor cinema is erected with beautiful skyline views of the city.
We got one of these seats, as I didn't realize before booking that there are beanbags to sit on. Beanbags! How fun!
Ben & Jerry's sponsors the event, so of course there are way overpriced pints of ice cream available for purchase. So of course we bought one. So of course we ate the whole thing in one sitting.
We went on Halloween, which isn't the brouhaha that it is in the US, and watched Beetlejuice. I hadn't seen that movie since I was a kid and it was great fun. The shrimp cocktail scene is one of the best musical montages in cinematic history, bar none!
Speaking of musicals...
Live production of Grease
I adore the Queensland Performing Arts Centre (QPAC), which houses stage productions and things that theater nerds like. A scandalous sum of my money has gone to them recently, in my unemployed state. They don't do Groupons very often, unfortunately for my broke ass.
I was able to tick Grease off my To See list (yes, I have one of those just for musicals) and realized just how dirty a lot of the lyrics are. I don't know if I was too naive to pick up on them as a kid, or was watching an edited version, but I didn't realize until this show that Greased Lightening is referred to as a pussy wagon. That is high brow entertainment right there!
Tour @ Boggo Road Gaol
What is a "gaol" you might be asking yourself.
It's a jail! No idea what's up with the funny spelling.
The "gaol" housed prisoners in some pretty appalling conditions up until quite recently, 1989. There was no running water in 1989! How Amnesty International let them get away with that I will never understand. You do the crime, you pay the time...and shit in a bucket. Now there's an anti-crime slogan for you.
We got to tour the grounds, hear about the history and look at the lovely graffiti left by prisoners on the walls of their cells. Have you ever noticed when people draw swastikas they do so very poorly? And usually accompany their crappy drawings with misspelled epithets and slogans. If you're going to spew hate, at least do so coherently. I don't know what they had against a poor, drought-ridden West African country, anyway.
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