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TRIBUTES POUR IN FOR LASZLO and SKINNY DUDE'S 21st
Around the world, people were celebrating the joint birthday party of Laszlo Virag and the skinny dude. President Clinton sent a live message to the party gathering in Miller's Point saying he was "deeply sorry" that he couldn't make it because of his last ditch efforts to save the Mid East peace process, and he hoped God would "forgive" him because of this absence. The night itself was full of many highlights, taking the form of a three act film, with a slightly overlong third act in honour of Saving Private Ryan. The first part consisted of the actual birthday meeting/celebration at the Palisade Hotel in Miller's Point. Skinny dude and Laszlo's friends were joined by family on this special occasion, where everyone talked about the two in the past tense (as one does on 21sts). At the conclusion of the event sometime close to midnight, speeches were delivered on behalf of the group. The first keynote address was in honour of the dude, delivered in top form by Dominic Moawad. The response was no doubt overwhelming, the audience responding to the witticisms with awed silence. The cathedral group spent many hours milling over the thoughts, and this was obvious to all who witnessed the delivery of the speech on the back (or front) of a slightly stained serviette. In contrast, Ian Bennie delivered a rousing speech, rallying the troops around and into laughter. The highlight was Ian's expose of Laszlo's sex life (ie. strictly a 'casual sex' man) in front of the horrified family. When Virag returned home, his mother had already booked him in at the local VD clinic for a battery of tests. Ian's tales of mass debating and other assorted memories (mostly fictional) brought the speech into what one would normally expect from a twenty first. On that high note, some of the MUA hacks escorted us out, where we delved into the second act of the evening.
Peter Wheelan's 'corrupt, festering and fire hazardous' joint - otherwise known as the Orient Hotel - was the place to be somewhere after midnight. And that's where we headed. With hot chicks all around, it was a temporary diversion from the mundane lifestyle of yesteryear. Being the ultimate party animals, we bipassed the ground level bar, and headed straight to the dance floor on level two. Surprisingly, Mr Wheelan's fire hazard was very cool, and interestingly enough, spacious for a dance floor. For an hour or so, the group became "slaves to the rhythm", with the slightly undercooked bass a surprisingly lacking ingredient (though, the mixing between songs was pretty good - not perfect). Not that one could complain - most nightclubs pump up the bass to hide faults in the sound systems. Rudolph Pereira, a consumate dancer, hit the floor in a performance not seen since the pulp fiction scene starring Uma Thurman and John Travolta. Meanwhile, the dude and big V were having a great time dancing to such assorted tunes as "I'm so horny" and "I'm totally addicted to bass". To top the night off, a drunken bridal party arrived - and with five bridesmaids roaming around the floor, the second act reached its pinnacle. From there, the group congregated outside the Orient Hotel at around 1:45am, where they were asked to move away from the area (which we did, in spite of our right to be there).
The third act consisted of taking a trip down to Belfield, where Mr Marion was promptly returned to his abode to get some beauty sleep for a rehearsal that was subsequently cancelled. While Virag was safely asleep in the car, the rest entered the Marion household where the fridge was raided and his room was scrutinised. From there, the cries of "we're all goin' to Jerringong" were replaced with "isn't there a beach that's only half an hour away." Paul and Greg Dobson, who also were feeling slightly tired, and seemingly unwilling to return home at 5am, decided that they would depart the group. Sensibly, they offered the sleeping Laszlo a trip home, to which we replied: "nah, Laszlo will see the beach, even if in spirit... we'll keep him in the car, sort of like Weekend at Bernies." And so it was, that the six remaining members went on their expedition to the 'secluded' coogee beach. At 3 am there was still quite a crowd, but Ian Bennie, consumate driver and speech writer, found a place off the main area. Surprisingly, the now snoring Virag woke up and seemed to take hold of the conscious realm. Stumbling at first, then walking like there was no tommorrow (and saying as much), Virag followed and then lead the group on the perilous journey across the cliff faces of the coogee area.
The night was supposed to be marked by a massive bonfire - however, all we had was a carton, a couple of serviettes (in the three act film, it is the serviette that is the linking object) and a drop of Jack Daniels to act as fuel. However, Virag, walking away into the darkness was lost for an hour - apparently stumbling somewhere near a lamp. The search party was unable to locate him, but thankfully, he was smart enough not to fall off a cliff, hence he was safely returned. It was with renewed urgency that the magnificent six should light the bonfire, for the sky was taking on hues of red as the sun began to hint that its ugly head would be rearing soon. Ian Bennie lit the fire with surprising success considering how little there was. Dominic added some candy bar vouchers to the piling heap and a jury card. As the birds were humming in the background, the group moved towards their cars to get some breakfast, for it was now around 5:10am. Rudolph was begging to see the sunset, which he thought would be rising "at I'd say,... 5:18am." Eventually, we parked at the main area of coogee, walked up to the heads with a swarm of flies inserting their maggots in our skin, and watched the rising sun. Personally, the editor thinks David Lean films the sunrise better, and all of this without flies flying around. Goes to show, nature isn't all its cracked up to be. The third act ended outside Randwick McDonalds at around 6:37am. After gorging on a healthy breakfast, we went our separate ways.
To conclude, this evening/morning was certainly one of the most interesting and excellent experiences. The saddest and most tragic thing however is that none of this was filmed by video. The dinner, the escapades on the dance floor and Laszlo asleep in the car (and all the weekend at bernie's send ups that could've been achieved) were lost. No names will be named Brett, but Dominic too was also stupid for not bringing his video just in case someone stupidly "uh, I forgot". In a way, the lack of video makes the time had even more special, for it stays in the memory as a lasting tribute (barring Alzheimers, amnesia, etc.) to what was a great evening.
MASON'S SPEECH - DELIVERED BY D. MOAWAD et al.
LASZLO'S SPEECH - AS DELIVERED BY I. BENNIE
DOMINIC'S 21st - A Photographic Journey into self promotion
NATIONAL BOARD OF REVIEW AWARDS SHOCK
Very interesting article on the cinema multiplex business
CHICKA'S SET TO BE NEW PREMIER
If Bob Carr wins the next election, then he would have performed a miracle greater than Paul Keating's 1993 GST victory. The impossibility of such a task has been made greater with the leadership coup that saw Peter Collins replaced by Chickas. Chickas, in contrast to (how we perceive) Peter Collins, has a warm personality and is a consumate media performer. Of course, that skill will be tested as opposition leader, but I think that she will pass. Bob Carr's administration has been hit very hard by one disaster after another - in spite of this, they are admittedly running the state very well, with the budget near to balanced in spite of the hundreds of millions being poured into Olympic development. Carr's administration however, is masterful at political manipulation - there is rarely a day where Bob Carr isn't in the six o clock news. They craft their media releases very carefully, and often take advantage of slow news days. Peter Collins was way too low profile, and his one liners always lacked the skill and dextirity of those Bob Carr came up with as opposition leader. Chickas, with her media flair, and I think popularity within the media, is most likely to beat Carr at his own game. Another thing she has in her favour is that she is a woman, and will automatically be seen as more caring and compassionate in the eyes of the electorate. Coupled with the electoral redistribution, which effectively means that the Labor party not only has to keep all the votes it got last time around BUT GET EVEN MORE this time, I think I can confidently predict that we will have a Chicka as premier come March 1999.