The slow death of soap

I just read two quite interesting articles (this one and this one) analysing the factors behind the slow decline of a type of television program that was once a staple of broadcast media, the soap opera.

I confess that over the years I have been a fan of soaps. As a child I enjoyed Australian dramas like Sons and Daughters with its outrageous plots as well as British shows like Howards Way, and of course the American hits Dynasty, Dallas, Knots Landing and Falcon Crest, and I am enjoying watching some of those again now on DVD. I was also a semi-regular fan of Days of Our Lives, Santa Barbara and Another World when I was a teenager (I always thought that the opening catchphrase for Another World, which I think ran for 30 years or so, was particularly evocative: "We do not live in this world alone, but in a thousand other worlds' - there is something quite profound and literary in that I think).

Days of Our Lives is still popular on Australian daytime TV and my grandmother remains a devoted fan of that program, although I understand its days are numbered.

I also watched The Bold and The Beautiful for many years, from the time it started in 1987 until sometime in the 1990s I suppose. At some point then I started to prefer the UK shows like EastEnders. These days the only soaps I watch at all are DVDs of Dallas and Dynasty and Knots Landing, partly because I don't have time in my hectic life schedule for television and partly because I don't have a television. Also, of course, I think I got a bit bored by soap operas, which seemed to lose some of their cleverness as well as their wit and sparkle sometime in the 1990s.

The heyday for the soaps was the 1970s (from which era this fabulous Time magazine cover comes, featuring the "super couple" Bill Hayes and Susan Seaforth Hayes from Days of Our Lives) and the 1980s, but a combination of factors including massively diminished daytime audiences due to increased workforce participation by women, rising production expenses, declining advertising revenues and not least of all changing viewing preferences combined with the fact that so many other programs such as talk shows, "reality" programs and more off-beat and risky cable television programs all "stole" that peculiar domain of racy voyeurism once the sole province of daytime soaps have contributed to the decline of the genre.

There is of course also the overall decline in US network television audience - when millions of people watched Dallas to find out who shot JR, for instance, there was no internet, no cable, no DVD - and this makes programs like scripted drama more of a risk for television producers than a cheap reality show. It seems that the soap opera is likely to become a thing of the past in the foreseeable future

It's a shame though - re-watching Knots Landing and (early) Dynasty on DVD reminds me of how escapist, fun, entertaining and sometimes very clever the soap opera format can be.

Beyond economic growth

I've just read an interesting article all about Gross National Happiness which got me to thinking about the inadequacy of the capitalist "growth fetish" which seems to presume the sum of all happiness and contentment will flow from ever increasing economic growth, but which really does not seem very competent as a measure of human development and what people truly want from their lives. If seemingly endless growth of capitalist economies is supposedly so good for humanity, then why not measure human happiness to test the thesis?

Capitalism has very effectively promoted the fallacy that consumption (and thus material wealth, or buying power) is what will lead to individual contentment. Increased living standards such as per capita income and average lifespans are usually cited as evidence of this theory. So, if our contentment should grow relative to economic growth, why are we working ever longer hours, spending less time with family and friends, spending more money but for lower levels of personal satisfaction, and why is there ever increasing rates of depression and mental illness?

At the end of our lives, what are the achievements we will reflect upon? The things we bought, or the quality of our relationships? Our social status and our careers, or the fullness and richness of our intellectual, creative and spiritual life experiences? Will we regret not working more, not earning more, not buying more, or will we regret not doing more, seeing more, thinking, feeling, reading, loving, laughing or enjoying more?

The recent dissatisfaction with the government's increasing the minimum pension age to 67 is partly due to a suspicion they will soon try and do the same thing with the minimum preservation age for our own superannuation savings, but this anger is rooted in something deeper than a general railing against changing the goal posts after the game has started. It is, I believe, because we have become so ground down with the treadmill of daily living that we aspire to retirement, having accepted a lifetime of anticipated delayed gratification and happiness due to our acceptance of the idea that growth is good, and productivity is the core of growth, and productivity means I must work ever more and longer hours to one day achieve a better life. It's probably related to earlier religion notions of the nobility and piety of suffering and deprivation where your wretched life on earth is repaid with access to heaven if you keep your mouth quiet and go along with it and don't question the unfairness of your working class situation in life. Today we don't have the promise of a religious pay-off for suffering, and because we mostly are "white collar workers" we don't consider ourselves to be working class anymore even though we are still the rats on the proverbial treadmill of capitalist production, but we still accept this idea of a delayed payoff later on - retirement - so long as we accept our current lot in life and go along with the growth is good idea.

Of course there are those who do find the sum of their life fulfilment through the work and career. Good for them. In my experience, they are the minority.

But I digress. The main point is that measuring something like Gross National Happiness seems an excellent way to determine whether the cogs of society are spinning in the best way. GNH is not the only attempt to measure wellbeing outside of the macro-economic context. The most notable, and popular, attempt to "balance" the economic dominance of public policy is the "triple bottom line" or the three sustainability pillars or economic, environmental and social sustainability. The problem as I see it with these arguments is that they still allow for the dominance of economic arguments and they are all very much defined in the language of economics.

There have also been extensive attempts to define and measure social wellbeing and social capital (personally I'm not so keen on the social capital concept). There is also the Genuine Progress Indicator. Then there are the very popular quality of life indexes which try to rank cities on the basis of how nice a place they are to live and which are usually reduced to something akin to a horse race when they are released each year as every metropolitan newspaper reports whether their city is up or down in the rankings, congratulating or berating themselves accordingly without ever examining the underlying issues in any depth.

None of these alternative measures or any others that seek to measure some sort of human progress or human development goals have ever caught on in with governments or in the global policy making context the way the economic-growth-is-good-and-all-good-flows-from-it-if-you-believe mantra has. The fact that we keep searching for alternatives though is a good signal that there is a growing disillusionment with the promises of economic growth and a creeping awareness that we need to define our goals and our future in some other way. Such as, what makes us happy, perhaps?

Bookshops

Today I spent an hour exploring the Architext and Metropolis bookstores in Melbourne. They are probably both amongst my favourite bookstores, both specialising in architecture and design. It got me to thinking, what makes a good bookstore? I know a lot of people like to have armchairs and coffee and magazines to flick through, but I am not so fussed about any of that. For me, it is the collection of the books that matters first and foremost (sections that I like to see include current affairs, politics, sociology, literature, classics, art and design, architecture, cinema, and maybe children's books).

Secondly, I like a good atmosphere. Generally, smaller is better. Hidden lofts and cellars crammed with books waiting to be discovered is good.

Thirdly, I think it is important that the staff and customers treat the books well. This is my issue with Borders - sure, it has a good range, but the books are so often dogeared and damaged. The shelves there are too narrow so books are often falling off the shelves, the customers treat them far too brutally (consistent with the "McDonalds of bookstores", put your feet up and relax sort of environment I suppose), and you get the feeling the staff could care less about the books. I think the books need to be treated like precious jewels of insight and wisdom and wonder, not as units of stock.

So, here are a few of my favourite bookstores, in addition to the two I just mentioned.

Melbourne:

1. Brunswick Street Bookstore - it's all about the upstairs here, where design books cluster around a modernist ottoman in a heavenly loft space.

2. Hill of Content - this Bourke Street institution (in the interesting part of Bourke Street, towards Parliament House) is a beautiful shop filled with books selected for the discerning reader. Seems to always be full of browsers.

3. Readers - local chain with the best outlets being Carlton and Hawthorn (in my humble opinion). Good selection of just about everything, and a famous bargain table near the front door.

4. Hares and Hyenas - Melbourne's celebrated gay and lesbian bookstore.

5. Readers Feast - I love this huge cellar-like store with its semi-circular layout.

6. Berkelouw - this Armadale outpost of the Sydney chain has wooden floorboards and a small but carefully selected range of quality books.

7. Conventry - a good selection of design books, and proximity to the markets and cafes makes this a good Sunday morning browsing option.

Sydney:

1. Abbey's - great independent bookstore over two levels in an area of the city known as the "book quarter" because of all the independent bookstores around there.

2. Berkelouw - the Paddington store is the best, located in a sliver of a building with its own cafe and adjacent to an excellent arthouse cinema (what more do you need for an ideal urban village environment I ask? Maybe a fruit and veg market and deli, perhaps a wine bar, but otherwise it's all you could want surely!). They also have a fantastic "book barn" in Berrima in the Southern Highlands - basically a barn filled with second hand and remaindered books, in a bucolic rural setting. Perfect pit stop when driving between Sydney and Canberra ;)

3. Better Read than Dead - this Newtown store has a fantastic quirky name and a great selection of books too.

4. Ariel - opposite Berkelouw in Paddington, this store has a great design section.

5. Kinokuniya - giant branch of the Japanese version of Borders (only far superior). If you can't find a book here you're just not trying. Particularly good children's section.

6. The Bookstore - Sydney's venerable gay and lesbian bookstore.

Canberra
Canberrans are the most highly educated people in Australia and it takes some good bookstores to satiate that need for knowledge. My favourites are Electric Shadows, known particularly for its books on cinema and its arthouse DVD collection, Smith's Alternative Bookstore, which lives up to its name, Paperchain in Manuka, and Academic Remainders, which is not easy to find but where you will always stumble across a find.

I just have to include some overseas bookstores too:

In Köln, the Taschen bookstore is one of the most beautiful I have ever been inside, and the perfect platform for peddling their beautiful books.

In San Francisco, I loved Modern Times in the Mission District (there are a number of good independent bookstores in that part of Valencia Street - you could easily spend an afternoon there), the famous City Lights which lives up to its reputation, especially the cellar which is filled with high brown intellectual books, and Green Apple in Clement Street, which expands over two floors and is totally packed to its stripped wood rafters with books. I could easily have spent a day there. A San Francisco local wrote about this store as one of his favourite places in the newspaper while I was there, and he said that he grew up thinking all bookstores were like that and never realised just how special it was. I only wish all bookstores were like that!

Is afternoon tea becoming common? And does it need a "modern twist"?

It seems to me, as I sit here enjoying my afternoon cup of Russian Caravan, that everyone has "rediscovered" the art of taking tea. After my last post on the pleasures and perils of tea I did a little googling, and found that not only is afternoon tea all the rage, but that ever more hotels are seeking to squeeze a profit, and some high class kudos, from this most gracious of rituals. Could it be that afternoon tea is becoming, shall we say, common?

My partner Tom once observed, I think quite astutely, as we were sipping on tea and nibbling cucumber sandwiches in the lobby of some five star or other somewhere, that putting on afternoon tea is almost mandatory for any hotel that wants to classify itself as being a bit posh. That is, if a hotel has illusions to grandeur (and accompanying prices), they'd better be able to put on a decent tea.

Of course it's not all about credibility. In her book "Hotel Babylon", Imogen Edwards-Jones wrote that hotels make a huge profit on afternoon teas by using what is otherwise a dead space (usually a lobby or bar that is otherwise empty in the daytime) and for a minimal outlay of some sandwiches and pastries they charge a massive mark-up and make a tidy sum in return. And why not, so long as the product they are delivering is up to the mark and everyone is happy (this is NOT the case with the Sofitel Melbourne and their very poor afternoon tea at Sofi's Lounge, which I highly do not recommend).

What I find interesting now is that many people claim to do afternoon tea with a "modern twist". Does this mean that guests are seated on Le Corbusier chairs, one wonders? It seems not. It seems to relate to funky chinaware and "non-traditional" foods, such as lobster blinis instead of cucumber sandwiches. How intriguing it all sounds.

The modern twist on teas has been spearheaded, appropriately enough, in England, as outlined in this article. I must say that I was pretty interested in the "men's afternoon tea" and the "afternoon beats" tea with a DJ at the Mandeveille and Swissotel Howard Hotels respectively. Mental note for my next visit to London there. The photo I have used here is from the Swissotel's website and I must say, much as I like wicker furniture and potted palms, I do find this rather cool room pretty funky indeed. Maybe tea with a modern twist is a good idea?

Tea rooms across the Commonwealth from New Zealand to Canada and even here in little old Melbourne, Australia claim to be serving their afternoon teas with a "modern twist", or perhaps more accurately a contemporary twist. The Landmark Mandarin Oriental in Hong Kong also claims to do a modern twist on afternoon tea, although I am not sure what the modern twist is. With that decor though I am keen to find out.

More examination is required, by me, to determine whether the teas are in fact served with a modern twist, or whether this is some marketing ploy to convince high spenders that tea is not only for Mothers Day. And that is not necessarily a bad thing - I think everyone should enjoy the pleasures of afternoon tea, not only grannies. It is a dreadful social disgrace and tragedy that we ever forgot what a useful and civilised thing afternoon tea is. So giving it a modern twist can only be a good thing - so long as the fundamentals are still there, and for me that means a restful decor, good tea, and a good selection of savouries and bite sized sweets.

And for the record, I am not at all keen on the increasingly popular "chocolate" teas or afternoon teas comprising only sweets - to me, that is just simply too vulgar and ghastly, and not at all gracious living.

For some more information on tea venues in Melbourne, look here and here. For information on tea venues in Sydney, look here.

Debbie Harry

I am an unabashed fan of Debbie Harry and Blondie, so you can imagine my delight on my recent trip to San Francisco in finding this Andy Warhol portrait of her plastered all over town.

The poster was advertising a Warhol exhibition at the very cool De Young Museum in SF, which is all about his work inspired and influenced by musicians and music from Elvis Presley to Liza Minnelli and, of course, the Velvet Underground and that banana. I bought a tote bag at the museum shop with this huge picture of Debbie Harry on it.

I was lucky enough to see Blondie in concert in Sydney in 1998. They were truly fantastic live (of course). I have all of Blondie's albums as well as Debbie Harry's solo albums. I'm listening to 'Die Young, Stay Pretty' as I type this :)

The pleasures and perils of taking tea

I am a self-procalimed snob and budding expert when it comes to afternoon tea. Here is a photo of my friend Lesley enjoying a gracious afternoon tea, prepared by me and presented in my gracious drawing room one typical afternoon.

Oh yes, I know the difference between afternoon and high tea. I know the correct ordering of a three tier platter (sandwiches, scones, petit fours). I have thrown many delightful and intimate champagne teas in my own gracious drawing room over the years. As for advice on how you too can create a lovely afternoon tea experience, here are my tips: (a) get some good leaf tea and learn how to make it well, (b) make yourself a good selection of sandwiches, (c) scones are hard to make well and require practice - I make mine by using cream and lemonade rather than milk or butter, (d) if in doubt, open some champagne and this will help you and thus your guests relax. This book and this book have some good tea sandwich ideas.

But I digress. Even more importantly than my own tea triumphs, I have studied extensively the presentation and delivery of afternoon teas at venues all over the world and I think I know what does and does not make a good afternoon tea. So much so that I am toying with the idea of writing a book on the subject, to expose all of those over-priced stuffy hotels that are ripping off ignorant people that know no better by charging them through the nose for inadequate afternoon tea ceremonies (Sofitel Melbourne is the major culprit in this category - my recent afternoon tea experience there was a dreadfully over-priced affair with uppity service by snobby and self-congratulatory staff who assumed all of their customers knew no better).

For now, I shall share with you a few of my more positive afternoon tea experiences and give them a rating out of 10 on the Scott Scale of Overall Afternoon Tea Experience, with 10 being equivalent to the sort of tea you could expect if you were invited to one of my little drawing room teas and 1 being something like the Sofitel Melbourne. There are three major criteria: 1, the venue must be charming and attractive (it can be a modern or old-fashioned decor, a library or a conservatory, that detail matters not as much as does the fact that whatever it is, you feel inclined to linger there); 2, there must be a good selection of leaf teas available - tea bags are NEVER acceptable - and ideally a little pot of hot water ought to be served alongside the china tea pot so individuals can lighten the tea to their own taste as required; 3, the chairs and tables must be comfortable but above all they must be conducive to elegant eating. This means upright chairs and high tables, not absurdly deep sofas and ridiculously low coffee tables. Oh yes, of course there is a fourth criterion: the food must be up to par, and all must be presented in little dainty bite sizes, not stupidly oversized chunks.

So, number one on my list with 9 out of 10 is the Peninsula in Hong Kong - the world's most perfect scones, a lively yet elegant room, comfortable chairs and delicious sandwiches. Not to mention perfect service. It only misses a 10 because it is always so busy and the queues of hoi polloi waiting for a table is rather off putting. So here is my tip: don't look for a table until about 5.30pm and make an early dinner of it. It was 2004 when I stayed at the Pen and enjoyed this lovely afternoon tea, but it is still seared into my memory as an almost perfect tea experience.

Number two on my list, with an impressive 8 out of 10, is Lovejoy's in the Noe Valley district of San Francisco, which was a total surprise find during my recent California trip. This tiny little venue has friendly service, a cutesy antiquey sort of interior and really very good sandwiches. It was one of only two decent pots of tea I had in America (the other was at the famed Fairmont Hotel, sort of San Francisco's answer to the Peninsula; I found its Laurel Court tea room pleasant, service attentive and food quite good, but it lost some points for a total lack of natural light and far too many loud children on the afternoon I was there; I did also consider taking tea at the Palace Hotel, which has a beautiful winter garden, but chose to go to Lovejoy's instead and really enjoyed the friendly, cosy intimacy of Lovejoy's so it was a good choice I think).

Number three is a tie between the Ritz-Carlton in Singapore, which gets 7 out of 10 for a cavernous conservatory sort of room, attentive service and creative petit fours, and the Langham Place in Hong Kong which also gets 7 out of 10 for its creative choice between an English or Asian style afternoon tea and pleasant balcony room overlooking the hotel foyer.

Number five is the Sheridan on the Park in Sydney which gets 6 and a half out of 10 for its small little gallery/library sort of room and a menu which includes an interesting selection of savouries that you can mix and match to make your own tea menu from at a reasonable price.

Number six on the list is a bit of a sentimental favourite: the Park Hyatt in Canberra. It's not really a formal sort of tea; in fact, it's a self-serve buffet, and the sandwiches are really nothing great to be honest. But the room is totally delightful: it is in the centre of this historic hotel building which is based on Frank Lloyd Wright's now destroyed Imperial Hotel in Japan, and is bathed in natural light and has restful garden views on both sides from its terraces. It really is a relaxing venue, even though it's right in the middle of the hotel's hustle and bustle. It gets 6 out of 10.

Number seven is a tie. The Four Seasons Hong Kong has a nice room, attentive staff, good food, good choice of tea. But why oh why the view onto a freeway? There is a desperate need for some landscaping to improve the outlook of this otherwise charming room in this very impressive, modern hotel. They get a 5 and a half out of 10, which would have been higher if someone had thought about the view a bit more. The Mandarin Oriental in Hong Kong is as good as the Four Seasons, but it's a just bit too pricey and stuck on its own reputation, in my opinion.

Number nine is the Langham in Melbourne, which has a nightclub-feeling room and a good three tier platter with friendly staff but could enhance their tea selection. They get 4 out of 10, which is a bit harsh really but they have good scope to improve (unlike the Sofitel Melbourne, which sucks and is not even rated).

Rounding out the top ten is the Inter-Continental in Hong Kong. Average service, bland food, poor choice of tea - but truly an amazing view which does tend to compensate for a lot. They get 2 out of 10 for the view. Also, their chairs are not so comfortable.

Honourable mentions, mainly because they provide elegant and peaceful respites from the hustle and bustle of the busy cities they are located in the middle of (and this must surely be one of the prime markers of a good afternoon tea, truly allowing you an hour of repose) are the Exclesior Causeway Bay (though it needs a makeover, it's a nice break out from my favourite busy-all-the-time shopping district), the QVB Tea Room in Sydney, the Park Hyatt Saigon and the Caravelle in Ho Chi Minh City (this is a bit off topic, but they also have a great rooftop bar at the Caravelle).

This list not exhaustive of course - I have not been to any of the famous London hotels renowned for their afternoon teas, and I still have quite a few venues across Asia to visit yet. And of course, there are many teas here in Australia I have yet to sample and judge (the Windsor in Melbourne, the Observatory and Victoria Room in Sydney, and Palazzo Versace on the Gold Coast are notable ones I need to try out), but you can rest assured that not only will I visit these venues over time, but that I will critically and honestly assess them on the Scott Scale and duly report my findings right here. Henry James was quite correct in observing that few hours in the day are as civilised and agreeable as the one devoted to the ritual of afternoon tea, but life is far too short for poor teas.