Wigglepalooza

A terrific day today: our very first Wiggles concert!  We set off nice and early (7am) and headed in to the City (I was able to take a day off work, in lieu of the Queens Birthday holiday).  After a latte and breakfast at McCafe, we crossed the road to join the gathering throng of parents and toddlers waiting outside Dallas Brooks Hall.  When the doors opened at about 9:45, and we were shown to our seats, we were pleasantly surprised to see that we were right at the front corner of the stage (Mel had bought the tickets on eBay - they were the only one's still available - so we weren't really sure what to expect).  The show started at about 10:15 and it was - from the opening moment to the finale - just fantastic!  There was just so much effort and energy and enthusiasm out into every part of it, and the guys really went out of their way to interact with the kids and ensure everyone had a special time.  It was a scaled-down show due to the fact that it was a much smaller venue than where The Wiggles routinely perform (places like the Entertainment Centre, Rod Laver Arena etc), but that only meant that the set wasn't so elaborate and there were fewer props (ie. no Big Red Car).  But due to the intimate size of the venue, our proximity to the stage, and the fact that performances were still at a 110% level, it felt more special than I imagine a stadium show might feel.  We were able to get some great photos, and I'll post some of those tomorrow.  Jessica was overwhelmed for the first half of the show - I think it was too difficult for her to initially comprehend (she was giving us looks of, "why are they here? they're supposed to be on my TV screen! why are they so big? what's happening??"), but by the second half she was starting to dance around (in her Dorothy The Dinosaur tutu, of course), clap and do many of the actions (in the photos where her hand is on her head, she's actually doing the 'cockadoodledoo' action in "Quack, Quack" (or "Captain Feathersword Fell Asleep On His Pirate Ship" as they've started calling that song on their DVD's).

After the concert, we walked through the Fitzroy Gardens to Federation Square, and went in to the "Pixar - 20 Years of Animation" exhibition.  If you're a fan of the Pixar films (we certainly are - The Incredibles and Toy Story 2 are two of my favourite films ever), then you'd find it well worthwhile.  It takes you through a lot of their early sketches and clay models, their storyboards and "colorboards" (where they decide the overall palette that they'll use throughout the film), and there are some kiosks where you can watch some of the animators and writers talking about their work. By far the most impressive thing for me was something called a Zoetrope.  Unfortunately you're not allowed to film or photograph anything, so my description won't do this justice, but essentially the Zoetrope is a large circular platform encased in a large glass display, where characters have been positioned in slightly different poses at each point around the circle (eg. there were about 32 "Jesse" dolls posed in a circle, and each had Jesses' lasso positioned in a slightly different way.  Around that there were about 32 "Woody" dolls riding horseback, all positioned slighly differently.  The circles were concentric, with about 9 or 10 rings and therefore 9-10 different characters.  Confused yet?).  Anyway, the platform would start spinning very fast, then the main light would dim and 3 strobelights would come on. The moment the main light went off, and the strobe light combined with the spinning platform, you no longer saw the 32 different Jesse dolls, but instead 1 Jesse doll swinging her lasso up and down around her head and down her body. The Woody doll was just a single image, galloping around the place. The Army Men were parachuting, the Penguins were dancing and jumping off diving boards, the Aliens were waving and doing somersaults, Buzz Lightyear was riding a big bouncy ball and there was a huge amount of activity. It was amazing how this machine suddenly came to life, as your eyes were suddenly tricked into seeing something that wasn't really there. We watched it twice, then went back at the end to watch it again. Another room had a huge screen (5000x1080 pixels wide - utilising 4 linked projectors) to show some storyboards coming to life in pseudo-3D. Overall it was a really good exhibit - the Zoetrope alone is worth getting along to see.

After a walk back through Fitzroy Gardens, it was off home. Jessica was exhausted due to 1. the 6:30 wake-up call, 2. her recent sickness, 3. the excitement of the day, 4. the lack of a midday nap (which is now often up to 2hours long), so she had dinner and was asleep just after 7:30. I also went to the gym tonight and - while it is still excrutiatingly hard - I did a lot better this time around (maybe there's hope for me yet). And now I think it might be bedtime for me aswell - too much excitement today for an old man like me.

Goodnight,

Matt