There Are Other Places I Would Rather Be. Issue One November 1014
Rynningeviken and Oset Reserves
Tokyo’s Cat Cafes
Santiago a Mil Theatre Festival
Contents Places you haven’t seen today. It’s true, you haven’t.
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Clockwise top: Lake Rotorua, New Zealand Great Wall of China, China Panang, Malaysia DMZ, South Korea
All aboard the cat train p4 Health and saftey usually stops cats loitering around commercial kitchens. Not in Japan.
Rynningeviken and Oset Nature Reserves p6 A quick and easy city break from Örebro’s manic pace.
The selection and the proccess p10 Latino passion at it’s most crazed at Chile’s Santiago a Mil Festival.
You really, really need a car in LA If you don’t hire a car, you’ll regret it.
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A note from the Editor: I hope never to be soley responsible for using InDesign again. This is a magazine about travel. -Zita Whalley.
email contact
telephone contact
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postal contact
All Aboard the Cat Train
‘...establishments that allow you to make feline friends while you enjoy your coffee...’
Text:Some stranger. Image: Zita Whalley 4
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at Cafes - establishments that allow you to make feline friends while you enjoy your coffee — already exist in Paris and Japan, and as NewsFeed reported today, the concept will soon hit San Francisco. The trend has been slow to catch on in the U.S., mostly due to strict health codes that prohibit the presence of animals in restaurants. But the team behind the upcoming California cafe — obviously named KitTea — plans to make it work by running two separate operations: a tea house and a “cat sanctuary.” If you’re curious what this concept is really like, a Canadian student studying in Japan created a video tour of a few of the country’s best cat cafes. She says these establishments are “probably one of the coolest things about living in Japan.” This confirms that it’s time for Americans to just let animals start hanging out in our cafes and restaurants all the time. Health codes are kind of bogus anyway, right? Cat cafes — establishments that allow you to make feline friends while you enjoy your coffee — already exist in Paris and Japan, and as NewsFeed reported today, the concept will soon hit San Francisco. The trend has been slow to catch on in the U.S., mostly due to strict health codes that prohibit the presence of animals in restaurants. But the team behind the upcoming California cafe — obviously named KitTea — plans to make it work by running two separate
operations: a tea house and a “cat sanctuary.” If you’re curious what this concept is really like, a Canadian student studying in Japan created a video tour of a few of the country’s best cat cafes. She says these establishments are “probably one of the coolest things about living in Japan.” This confirms that it’s time for Americans to just let animals start hanging out in our cafes and restaurants all the time. Health codes are kind of bogus anyway, right Cat cafes — establishments that
allow you to make feline friends while you enjoy your coffee — already exist in Paris and Japan, and as NewsFeed reported today, the concept will soon hit San Francisco. THE TREND HAS BEEN SLOW to catch on in the U.S., mostly due to strict health codes that prohibit the presence of animals in restaurants. But the team behind the upcoming California cafe — obviously named KitTea — plans to make it work by running two separate operations: a tea house and a “cat sanctuary.” If you’re curious what this concept is really like, a Canadian student studying in Japan creat-
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ed a video tour of a few of the country’s best cat cafes. She says these establishments are “probably one of the coolest things about living in Japan.” THIS CONFIRMS THAT IT’S TIME for Americans to just let animals start hanging out in our cafes and restaurants all the time. Health codes are kind of bogus anyway, right? Cat cafes — establishments that allow you to make feline friends while you enjoy your coffee — already exist in Paris and Japan, and as NewsFeed reported today, the concept will soon hit San Francisco. The trend has been slow to catch on in the U.S., mostly due to strict health codes that prohibit the presence of animals in restaurants. But the team behind the upcoming California cafe — obviously named KitTea — plans to make it work by running two separate operations: a tea house and a “cat sanctuary.” If you’re curious what this concept is really like, a Canadian student studying in Japan created a video tour of a few of the country’s best cat cafes. She says these establishments are w“probably one of the coolest things about living in Japan.” This confirms that it’s time for Americans t let animals start hanging out in our cafes and restaurants all the time. Health codes are kind of bogus anyway, right? Cat cafes — establishments that allow you to make feline friends while you enjoy your coffee — already exist in Paris and Japan, and as NewsFeed reported today, the concept will soon hit San Francisco. The trend has been slow to catch on in the U.S., mostly due to strict health codes that prohibit the presence of animals in restau-
Get Outta Town
Escape to Rynningeviken and Oset nature reserves Text: Someone Else Image: Zita Whallley
serves and leave the city behind you.
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SCAPE TO RYNNINGEVIKEN and Oset nautre reserves and leave the city behind you.
Thermos and Rynningeviken has a stunning and varied scenery. There is a rich bird and plant life
with picnic areas, barbecue areas and natural excursion points, cycling and walking paths, as well as meeting the Nature House. In just a few minutes to get there by bike from central Örebro. Thermos is one of the country’s richest bird areas. In spring, the area is a paradise for anyone who wants to relax in the water-rich landscape. What once was Örebro back with dumps, industrial and military areas have been turned into a beautiful landscape for excursions and bird watching. Deliberately have created habitats that fit bird life, including new wetlands and water mirrors.
aged by Örebro Municipality. Only people with impaired mobility are permitted to drive up to Venastugan. The bars are open at. 8-15. Operating Reduced who want to get the boom opened another time, can call 019-21 19 65, at. 7-16. The cottage has basic temperature of about 11-15 degrees. WC. Escape to Rynningeviken and Oset nautre reserves and leave the city behind you. Thermos and Rynningeviken has a stunning and varied scenery. There is a rich bird and plant life with THE NATURE RESERVE OF OSET was picnic areas, barfounded in 1968 and Rynningebecue areas and viken 1995. 2010 reserves were up natural excursion and the area was expanded. The points, cycling and reserve is 672 hectares and is man- walking paths, as well 8
“What once was Örebro back with dumps, industrial and military areas have been turned into a beautiful landscape for excursions and bird watching”
as meeting the Nature House. In just a few minutes to get there by bike from central Örebro. Thermos is one of the country’s richest bird areas. In spring, the area is a paradise for anyone who wants to relax in the water-rich landscape. What once was Örebro back with dumps, industrial and military areas have been turned into a beautiful landscape for excursions and bird watching. Deliberately have created habitats that fit bird life, including new wetlands and water mirrors. THE NATURE RESERVE OF OSET was founded in 1968 and Rynningeviken 1995. 2010
reserves were up and the area was expanded. The reserve is 672 hectares and is managed by Örebro Municipality. In the nature reserve of Oset and Rynningeviken are three different rest cabins. Here you can go in to eat, have coffee, or warm up. Only people with impaired mobility are permitted to drive up to Venastugan. The bars are open at. 8-15. Operating Reduced who want to get the boom opened another time, can call 019-21 19 65, at. 7-16. The cottage has basic temperature of about 11-15 degrees. WC. ESCAPE TO RYNNINGEVIKEN AND OSET nautre reserves and leave the city behind you. Thermos and Rynningeviken has a stunning and varied scenery. 9
There is a rich bird and plant life with picnic areas, barbecue areas and natural excursion points, cycling and walking paths, as well as meeting the Nature House. In just a few minutes to get there by bike from central Örebro. Thermos is one of the country’s richest bird
The Selection and the Process
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HE MOST VALUABLE SKILL to have to when working with this particular set of puppets is the ability to talk yourself down from the brink of a panic attack in a claustrophobic space while you’re sweating your insides out and putting your body through a sustained stress.
ESSENTIAL QUALITY to have with these puppets is grace. Grace enough to hold your shit together as you come out of the puppet at the performance’s conclusion. When the minders tear open the velcro bindings and you birth forth like a sweaty mutant foetus, breaking out of a steaming embryotic sack, covered in dirt and grime and broken bits of puppets, gasping for air as the crowd – the same fuckers who were punching These puppets demand that the and pulling and kicking you - clap body is contorted into awkward, and cheer as you take a bow. impractical and physically incorThen want to take a photo with rect positions while manoeuvring you. They want to clutch onto your and animating twelve or so kilos while the audience members – kids sweaty t-shirt and document your boob sweat and matted wet hair and adults – push you, pull you, forever. They want to kiss you with hang off you, yank you, belt you and clobber you, all while you are thanks as sweat dribbles down your face. I don’t have the Spanish vision impaired and blinded by sunlight. This is what often many of to tell them that when they kiss my cheek in congratulations, it’s not these roves have come down to: just my sweat they’re kissing, but a the ability to endure. mix of THE SECOND MOST
my sweat and the sweat of past performers who have operated the puppet before me. THESE BODY PART PUPPETS ARE HARD WORK. A giant nose, eye, mouth, ear, foot and hand. The material they are made out of is thick and unbreathable and as a puppeteer you operate the puppets from inside so you are fully enclosed. Your breath hole is your visibility hole; stale air is trapped and fresh air is scarce. The breadth of vision ranges from tunnel vision to not much, depending on time of day and shade. Three weeks of touring, three performances a day, five times a week. Fifteen shows a week, forty-five shows in the run. For these puppets, it’s a lot. They deteriorate with every rove, making it harder and more difficult to
“I will never understand the adult thought process behind: A puppet. Kick it.”
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work with them and they begin to look like victims of abuse, amputation casualties that are rolling towards a bin. My back, already damaged from the eye at the start of the year worsens with each rove and soon my knee and then knees start to go. I find new bruises daily on my hips, arse and thighs, a rash in my armpits - from sweat or heat or somebody else’s fungal residue I don’t know - and a collection of sweat pimples in my cleavage and in the small of my back. THE CENTRAL, URBAN GIGS ARE THE BUSIEST and the most intense. In temperatures around 35’C swarms of people gather, waiting for the performances to start. The puppets come out and enter the plaza/square/street. The crowds go berserk. There
is no concept of personal space let alone performance space. The audience crowd around, holding onto and dangling off any part of puppet they can reach as they thrust their faces and small children at us, impeding our movement and view. I will never understand the adult thought process behind: A puppet. Kick it. Or the one behind: My child is terrified. Throw it at the puppet and then laugh hysterically about it. AS ALWAYS WE HAVE MINDERS: people whose main responsibility is to tell people to stop molesting the puppets but the audiences won’t listen. They get so close and so rammed as they try to batter us with their unhinged joy that it is impossible to do anything but stand still, sweat and plead in quiet desperation “Fuck off you fuckers,”
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while trying to punch them away through the puppet’s skin until Toni stands right in front of your view hole and screams ”Five minutes left.” That’s the cue to start thrusting into and ramming people; taking them down or forcing them to get out of the way. THE LACK OF PERFORMANCE SPACE gets so dire during these gigs that we get more minders who at certain times hold hands to form a chain, a barrier to keep the audience from mobbing us. It’s hard work for these minders. They are pushed and pulled as they try to stop overexcited people from coming too close. People throw confetti at us. People cheer us. People want our autographs and we are interviewed for multiple TV stations. At one gig we are shunted into a waiting van at the show’s end so the crowd doesn’t mob us – the closest I’ll ever get to feeling like a rock star no doubt. At one gig, one resourceful Chilean downloaded a company photograph from the web and turned it into a flag to sell at our gigs for the equivalent of two
dollars. I know it’s not fair to ball out a zealous crowd – it’s what you want. Besides, there are few things more disheartening than a shit crowd - such is the fragile state of a performer - especially when you’re dressed in a PVC fat suit and donning a chicken head as part of an instillation that people blindly step over at the Melbourne Fringe Hub on their way to the bar. Or say, when you are dressed as a cow and you get cow tipped by three drunk country bogans dressed in womens underwear at a ute muster and start to bleed through your lycra cow leg and are unable to get up gracefully due to the awkwardness of the puppet’s structure, so you lie on your side for a while flailing about.
his arse hangs out. He kisses me at the end of the performance. He has missing teeth. We perform in a town called Lota, which translates to Town of Little Importance. Their main thing is that they have a defunct mine. These are the performances where stray dogs join in on the finales.
ONE PERFORMANCE IS IN A PROPER GHETTO in the north of the city. It’s filled with concrete, bars on windows, graffiti, rubbish and dogs that look like they are in need of dying. Our driver is a local, proud of his neighbourhood and happy to meet us, as “we are his friends from Australia”. He is Juan. Or John. John Castle. Like NewSO, YES, A ZEALOUS CROWD IS castle, but John Castle, and he GOOD. is Number One. He decides to However it needs to be clear that give us the John Castle tour, but these audiences are on another we must keep it secret. level. They are filled with madness The tour starts. and are unbridled benevolent “This area is very dangerous. lunatics who are almost frothing Drug dealers on every corner.” at the mouth at the sight - and The use of a drug similar to they are a sight – of these giant heroin, made with the left overs dismembered body bits – real life from the process of making animations that are both moncocaine, is high here. strous and human - moving to“See? That’s a drug dealer wards them with lurching gaits and there. She, she, is looking out for cheeky swaggers; agitators of the police.” hysteria that is closing in around A skanky bent over crackthem. whore, scabs on her sallow Then there are the regional and face, stands on a street corner district performances. The hospiand glares at us as we drive by, tality shown to us at these places – slowly. by everyone we are lucky enough “And look, that man sleeps on to meet in Chile actually – extends the road. “ beyond the usual warmth and A homeless man sleeps on a generosity, and generally the mattress surrounded by litter on crowds are fun and engaged the footpath. without being maniacal. That “Ohh and see him? No good. aside, when we discuss perforAddict.” mance plans the directions inA lank man in double denim clude: Stay away from the broken eyeballs our car as we drive glass and mind the dog shit. slowly, so slowly by. At one of these gigs, an area We drive through a tricky w. where one of our minders saw a “See here? Many accident. SWAT team as she was driving to No red, yellow, green, no. So it, we perform for three toothless cars come here and cars come winos who ask us for money. At there and boom!” John Castle another one of these gigs there makes an exploding noise with is a clown roaming around. As his mouth. we go to the performance site I “See here?“ watch this clown do his thing. This Along the cracked, dusty paveincludes directing traffic, trying to ment the remnants of memorials help out on a construction site and to dead people cling onto a batwandering around with the back tered pole. of his clown costume undone so “Dead. Big accident. Many big 12
accident.” We drive to our dressing room,
which is in the bowels of the local sports centre. The car idles as we wait for the gates to open. A cute, young Chilean girl, of about eleven, dressed in a fluorecent
midriff t-shirt and short denim cutoffs walks by the gates and swings
las, a member of our local crew laughs in shock. “No. I can’t repeat that,” he says when we inquire, but we persist. “Ok, she say something like, why don’t you open your own fucking gate you stupid fat bitch?” Then he turns to us and says: “There is no way I would come here alone, they would know you’re not from here.” In spite of all of the skank, John Castle is proud. He drives us by his sister’s house – all we can see is a concrete fence and bars. He introduces us to his neighbour and shows us the house he grew up in. He drives us through tired streets with rundown houses and weathered people shuffling along the footpath. After showing us the sights and a highway he turns and asks: “So, you like?” The three of us in the backseat balk. “…Ahh, yes? It’s great.” John Castle smiles, satisfied that we have enjoyed his hood. And we have, I just wouldn’t want to live here. DESPITE THE DIFFICULTIES OF PERFORMING IN HYSTERIA, it’s no doubt an endearing shared quality of the people here, mostly. As always there are bogans and aresholes and children that you would like to punch in their soft spots, but largely the hysteria is an extension of excitement and warmth of a non-Anglo nature. It’s the same excitement and warmth that invites us back to bars and pubs for rounds of margaritas and empanadas; that hands you an icy cold bottle of water when you need it most, and that fights the crowd after a performance to find your hand so they can clamp theirs on to it while they look you in the eye and tell you “Gracias”.
the doors open with such force they close again. An old woman makes her way down to the gates from the sports centre and the girl yells out something to her. Nico-
All aboard the cat train. Continued from page three:
country’s best cat cafes. She says these establishments are “probably one of the coolest things 13
about living in Japan.” This confirms that it’s time for Americans to just let animals start hanging out in our cafes and restaurants all the time. Health codes are kind of bogus anyway, right? v Cat cafes — establishments that allow you to make feline friends while you enjoy your coffee — already exist in Paris and Japan, and as NewsFeed reported today, the concept will soon hit San Francisco. The trend has been slow to catch on in the U.S., mostly due to strict health codes that prohibit the presence of animals in restaurants. But the team behind the upcoming California cafe — obviously named KitTea — plans to make it work by running two separate operations: a tea house and a “cat sanctuary.” If you’re curious what this concept is really like, a Canadian student studying in Japan created a video tour of a few of the country’s best cat cafes. She says these establishments are “probably one of the coolest things about living in Japan.” This confirms that it’s time for Americans to just let animals start hanging out in our cafes and restaurants all the time. Health codes are kind of bogus anyway, right?
Get outta town.Continued on from page six: paradise for
anyone who wants to relax in the water-rich landscape. What once was Örebro back with dumps, industrial and military areas have been turned into a beautiful landscape for excursions and bird watching. Deliberately have created habitats that fit bird life, including new wetlands and water mirrors. The nature reserve of Oset was founded in 1968 and Rynningeviken 1995. 2010 reserves were up and the area was expanded. The reserve is 672 hectares and is managed by Örebro Municipality. In the nature reserve of Oset and Rynningeviken are three different rest cabins. Here you can go in to eat, have coffee, or warm up. Only people with impaired mobility are permitted to drive up to
You Really, Really Do
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OU REALLY, REALLY, REALLY DO NEED A CAR IN L.A. You just do. I was surprised to learn they even had a public transport system. So why I didn’t hire a car, I don’t know. The subway is inadequate as it services only a small area, so if you don’t have a car you’re going to spend a lot of time on the buses. And waiting for those buses, because often they don’t come.
the seat of the pants of a one eyed man, his bare limbs shingled and pocked. Sometimes it’s in the arguments people have with themselves, sometimes it’s in the arguments that are shared. Sometimes it’s in the compulsive twitches of the man sitting across from you as he stands, and sits, and stands and sits, then stands, hangs off the hand railings, flexes, then sits and then attempts the foetal position. Sometimes it’s in the facts that you learn, that God is great and lives in Oklahoma, for instance. Some times it’s in the questions you are asked, like do you date the
coherency, oscillating between the real world and some other place. If the American dream exists for these people, then it exists in that some other place. However, listening to their agonised and muddied ramblings, I doubt it does. But don’t get me wrong. If you’re not unfortunate, relegated to the bowels of existence, then Hollywood is the place to make dreams happen. It almost happened to me. I AM STANDING ON HOLLYWOOD BOULEVARD waiting for a bus to come, watching a dorky tweenage boy, flanked by burly black
“ I’m not sure if he is famous or if it is part of some kind of tour you can buy, where for $70 you can get the celebrity experience”
How anyone can rely on them to take them to work is beyond me. Not only this but everyone has a car in LA. Everyone. Except for the mentally ill, the disadvantaged, the poor – who are often one and the same - and me, it seems. And there are a lot of mentally ill and disadvantaged and poor living in LA, travelling on the buses. When not enclosed in a little bubble there is far more grit and grime in this city then glamour. The stench of the eternally damned, the unlucky and unblessed fills the buses. Sometimes it’s in the form of overladen garbage bags filled with recyclable bottles and cans. Other times it’s in the form of shit stains on
homeless, and in the salutations offered such as I want to suck your toes. AND THEN THERE ARE THE BETWEEN PLACES, where the buses stop and the destinations haven’t begun and so the journey continues. Past rows of camped out homeless that find respite between garbage and hard places, past sex pests and unhinged belligerent people who scream insults at walls and sky. Past the elderly rummaging through trash cans and corpses – two, separate - stiff with rigamortis and alone. When these people talk to you - the alive ones - they converse in degrees of 14
men in black and pursued by a handful of paparazzi, wave to passers-by. I’m not sure if he is famous or if it is part of some kind of tour you can buy, where for $70 you can get the celebrity experience. As I debate whether or not I
Do Need a Car in LA would pay $70 for fifteen minutes of fame a man named Jay approaches me. As it turns out he saw me while driving and had to park his car to say hello. Flattered? No. Confused? Yes. His bulbous guns bulge out of his muscle-T and Swarovski bling is studded into his ear lobes. He has lines razored into his shaved head. We are not like species. “Why?” I ask. “Well, I want to do a shoot with you. You got this real nice, natural, plain Jane look going on. I want to do a shoot.” Plain Jane? Fuck you Jay. I am wearing make-up.
to have shoes that fit.” “No, girl. I’m after someone with a big foot.” “What?” “You know. Big feet. What size are you?” “ Ergh, an Australian 10.5. So that’s a 41 – 42.” “Yeah girl. I’ve got some nice red heels we can put you in. I’ll pay you $500.” “Umm, yeah right. Ok.” “Look here’s my card. My name is Jay. Text or call me. I want to do a shoot with you.” “…Ok.” “Ok. Real nice to meet you, you know. Have a nice day.”
I FILE THE CARD AWAY in my purse and wait for the bus. Eventually it comes. I board and take a seat across from a balding, morbidly obese man with a guitar case and a clocked off human statue, head to toe in silver. The morbidly obese man stares at me for a while, imploring me to make eye contact with him. Eventually, I do. “Why do you have such long assed legs?” he demands to know. I sigh. “Dude. I don’t bloody know.” I PLUG MY HEADPHONES IN. I watch a woman get pissed off
“I board and take a seat across from a balding, morbidly obese man with a guitar case and a clocked off human statue, head to toe in silver. ”
Sensing that perhaps I didn’t think much of his plain Jane call, Jay continues. “Yeah, you know, the girl next door. You’ve got these nice red lips and you’ve got a nice warm skin tone. I think you’ll look good in red.” “What?” “Yeah, you know, I see you’ve got no varnish on your toe-nails. We’ll just paint them red and put you in a heel. I want to do a shoot. I’ll pay you $500.” I really didn’t understand what was going on, but as soon as anyone mentions my foot and a heel, I have a knee-jerk reaction. “I have hoofs. You’re not going
“…Ok… Bye bye.” And then Jay leaves. Probably in a land rover with a white leather interior and personalised number plates that reads fornic8. I look at the card. Jay from Sexy Girl Video. The penny drops. So he wasn’t from Vanity Fair. His business card also states that he pays $500 - $1000. Not that I needed a clincher, but plain Jane at the lowest rate seals the deal. No. I will not be calling Jay from Sexy Girl Video. Despite running low on funds, I’m not into jobs that increase the risk of infection of everything and bruise my ego.
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with a man who brought his cat on the bus. In a week I’ll be gone, but this bus trip will always continue.
Text: Zita Whalley Image: Zita Whalley
Get outta town.Continued on from page 13: Venastu-
gan. The bars are open at. 8-15. Operating Reduced who want to get the boom opened another time, can call 019-21 19 65, at. 7-16. The cottage has basic temperature of about 11-15 degrees. WC.
There Are Other Places I Would Rather Be is made by Zita Whalley, late at night.