Binky the clown

I became aware of a blog which truly captures everything I feel about clowns (namely they are evil) but because of this fear I cannot look around this blog too much as I am afraid random image/s will scare the hell out of me.
So thank you coulrophobic agnostic for sharing with the world the true evil of clowns when I can't.
If you need any more proof check out this article. My friend sent me a link to a different article, same story, warning me it had clown content. She didn't tell me the image was of the scariest clown ever. You know who I mean. Not this guy. When I opened the link I had a mini heart attack in my office chair.

Anzac Day

Yesterday we had a national public holiday and for the first time I attended the war memorial to commemorate this day.
Anzac (Australia New Zealand Army Corps) Day (April 25th) marks the anniversary of our first major military action fought during WW1. This day holds particular relevance regarding the Gallipoli campaign which was meant to be a quick capture of the Gallipoli peninsular and then capture Turkey for our allies. It turned into a stalemate lasting 8 months and with high causalities on both sides.
At this time, Australia had only been a federal commonwealth for 13 years and wanted to establish a reputation worldwide. At the end of 1915 they were evacuated with over 8000 killed. Although this mission was ultimately a failure it cemented a icon of the Australian 'digger' who cared for his mates, and hung in there.
During WW1, Australia had a population of fewer than 5 million and nearly 500,000 enlisted with over 60,000 killed.

While reflecting during the playing of the Last Post (which always sends a shiver), I tried to think of those I'd known who'd fought in the war. A man who lives around the corner was a POW in Asia, but none of my grandparents or great-grandparents fought in the war (most held jobs that were needed at home and some were stuck in Nazi occupied Netherlands).

I tried to imagine what it was like, going away at 18, never returning or even being one of those left behind to wonder and wait. Truthfully no one can imagine what it is like unless you have experienced it and I hope that is something that doesn't happen in my lifetime. Lest we forget.

Hoping to post a review of Gallipoli which has my old favourite Mel in it, and is just a really good story told beautifully by Peter Weir.

Visit www.awm.gov.au for more info.

Pretty in Pink

Not a full post, because I can't be arsed and most people have seen this film enough, but I bought PIP the other day (still no luck on Young Einstein) and watched it over the weekend and I have some random thoughts that always bugged/excited me:

-why does Blaine like Andie? She comes across as whiny, self obsessed and bossy
-James Spader wears horrible 'boat' shoes when he and Duckie fight

- Duckie is adorable but mildly stalkerish. After watching this I embarrassingly admit to then flicking on Two and a Half Men and gazing fondly at Alan

-we all love it (I hope): Duckie's lip synching/song scene is hilarious, in particular his crotch thrusting while on the stairs

- love the outdated computer and 'chat' Blaine and Andie use

-also love Annie Potts in the movie. Why does she change for the pet shop owner date? Her style was awesome as it was, instead of wearing that awful blazer and hairstyle

-I kind of creepily like the fight Blaine and Andy have at the locker. It's not pretty, it's not succinct it just...is.

- I still love the little conversation between Duckie and Andie's dad. Overall I think Duckie actually comes off as age appropriate (for the decade) and authentic while Blaine's friends were all one dimensional biatches.

- I get Andie is the 'responsible one' since mommy dearest left but seriously? Waking her dad up every morning, forcing him to get out on the job hunt trail, then rejecting his egg breakfast the one time he gets up early himself? That's just mean.

- it's been said before but her prom dress is fugly. She ruined 2 better looking dresses to create that monstrosity

- what does it say when the test audiences reject the orginal ending of duckie and andie becoming a couple? That we want to see a couple against the norm make it? That we believe duckie and andie would never be anything more than friends seriously? That one half of a couple should not idolise the other? These are questions I should not be pondering in a John Hughes movie (RIP)

Gizmo Update

For those of you following my fostering animals rollercoaster ride of emotions, it looks like Gizmo has found a new home. My mum advertised him on her work classifieds (accidently advertised as free! He has been sterilised, microchipped and vaccinated and we are a volunteer organisation, hence the $175 fee) and within a day someone expressed interest. Admittedly that may have been because of the free price tag, but luckily he turned out to be an animal lover and doesn't mind paying up.
At the moment is on a 2 week trial which is due to end this week, so fingers crossed. His feedback about Gizmo so far has been great, and he's even using the name and he is responding to it which is cute.
We are now looking at fostering a dog or another kitten (I do get sad looking at his scratching post).

Fade

This YA fiction By Robert Cormier begins with a photograph. Young Paul is fascinated in the early 30's by an old photograph of his father and his brothers, sisters and parents. Where his uncle Adelard should be there is simply a space. Uncle Adelard is a wanderer never staying in one place for too long and Paul always wants to ask him about the photo and what happened, was he playing a trick on everyone or is it something else?
Paul is 13 and learns he is a fader after 2 incidents where he is under stress and manages to 'disappear'. At this time his uncle Adelard returns to town and explains to him that he is also a fader (hence the photograph)and it is passed down generation through an uncle to a nephew.
At first Paul is excited by his new gift, then he begins to see things that he wished he hadn't.
Paul soon realises his gift has a strong power over him and after seeing his father get stabbed in the melee which occurs when other workers are called in to stop the work strike he is involved in, he does something he soon regrets. He soon decides to never use the fade again.

There was a huge section at the beginning of the novel where Paul focuses on his aunt and his 'forbidden' love for her. I was not sure what this was all about, and she never really reappeared in the novel. I was waiting for her to pop back up in the end and add some kind of enlightment...unless she did have another child and that child had a child. In that case he or she would be another generation's fader.
There were also 2 instances where Paul saw inappropriate sexual activity while faded, so I wouldn't be wanting children too young reading this book, even though it is young adult and if I'd heard of it back in the early 90s I would have read it. So that's me being a hypocrite.

The storyline also flits between years where Paul (now a very successful writer) tries to find his nephew who he believes to be the next generation fader, and to the 1980's where his cousin's granddaughter finds Paul's manuscript and doesn't know whether to believe if it is fact or fiction.

This book involves incest, violence and murder, it is interesting to see a YA book which actually delves into these topics, but it also got the novel onto the frequently challenged books list. Cormier's books don't seem to have a happy ending, and while this would disappoint my mum, I don't mind it. As nice and packaged as it is to have a happy ending, endings where the loose ends are still dangling are usually more interesting and leaves for more reader interpretation.

According to the all mighty wikipedia, the rights to produce a film on the novel were acquired last year in January with Richard Kelly named as a producer which fills me with some hope, although IMDB doesn't offer anymore info either.

BSC

Just in case you didn't see it on BSC Ridiculously, you may want to check out this article.

I love the random facts Ann gives us about the series and her experiences writing it.

She says that she relates most with shy Mary-Anne, yet Mary-Anne was the first to get a boyfriend. Me thinks a young Ann was projecting onto the character what never happened in her adolescence. And Claudia's crazy outfits were a result of looking through magazines/catalogues and watching TV to see what young people were wearing? Well holy crap but I wouldn't wear a lot of what the models wear in magazines and I'm guessing the TV series she was consumed with was Blossom and her crazy outfits and hats.

And her thoughts on what the babysitters would be doing now are classic. Poor Mallory is still getting shafted! No 'strong feelings' about Mallory and just that Dawn is permanently in California. She must have figured 'California casual' works a lot better in Cali.

Also this quote from David Levithan (editorial director at Scholastic): "This whole generation of girls who had grown up reading the Baby-sitters Club were now teachers, librarians or mothers..." [in reference to the revised release of the early books]. Isn't this a little sexist? Just because we grew up reading this series are we all destined to these career choices? Maybe I'm reading too much into a series I idolised more than 10 years ago.

Gizmo update:

He did not get along with the dogs :( One was actually a bit scared of him, but the other is a bit more boisterous and bigger and when Gizmo gave a warning swipe he did not like it.

Luckily my boyfriend and I were there to supervise so nothing got out of hand but it looks like we haven't found a new home for him yet.

The Midwich Cuckoos

Over the Easter break (well specifically yesterday after the long weekend project of painting our lounge room and hallway was completed sort of - we ran out of paint) I caught up on some reading and finally finished Uglies and then The Midwich Cuckoos (didn't read any of Jane Eyre though, don't know when I'll be finishing that sucker).

Basic story: an English town experiences a 'black out' where everyone in the town is asleep for a day with no warning/obvious reason whatsoever. When they awaken they realise all the possible women in the town have been impregnated. There are mixed reactions obviously and once the children are born it becomes quite clear they are not from this world, and the women were used as host mothers.

It is discovered the children can all communicate telepathically and are collectively just one boy and one girl. When the children reach the age of 8 (but look and speak much older) incidents begin to happen sparked by when one of the children is nearly accidentally killed. It becomes clear that something need to be done about the children as they can 'will' people to do what they want.

I love story lines like this in theory as I love anything that little bit left of centre, conspiracy theories etc but this being a novel published in 1957, got a little bit wordy and a bit too 'English' for my liking.

My overall thoughts:

It was very British, sort of 1950's esque and they were still concerned about the iron curtain, which I found kind of twee (and allowed me to reflect on some long forgotten history lessons).

There were lots of long winded passages of dialogue which I have previously encountered in Stephen King novels so maybe this is a trait of science fiction? I haven't read enough of the genre to know, and while it is informative and interesting it still comes off sounding a bit fake. Like you know, no one talks for 5 minutes holding a captive audience repeatedly. Or if they did we would think them a pompous bore.

I haven't seen the original film adaptation, just the one Christopher Reeve was in before he became paralysed, which is not very faithful to the novel. I have also seen the Simpsons episode (Wild Barts Can't be Broken) where they view the fictional The Bloodening, which is a parody of the film and is quite amusing but really has not a lot to do with the novel.

Overall a book I read out of curiosity and while it did still intrigue me, I may have picked the book based on the cover again (deliciously retro). How shallow of me.