Christmas Dinner

It's our first Christmas in a new house, having moved out in January this year. As such I decided maybe since my brother was busy working on Christmas eve and day we should have dinner at our house on Christmas night with my parents. I also invited 2 friends from high school who are married and have just had their first baby a few months ago.

As if having 7 animals to look after wasn't enough now I've decided to cook for everyone. Then I woke up to myself: I live in Australia, why would I even bother doing a full roast with heaps of cooking and stress, it's going to be 38C on Christmas day! So it's turned into just bringing out the ham my dad scored in his work Christmas hamper, buying a hot chicken and making a few salads. Plus now we're probably going to be doing it all at my parents house since it's going to be so bloody hot - they have a pool.

What I'm trying to share in an awkward roundabout way is the dessert I will be purchasing semi making: the pavlova.

Named after and in honour of Anna Pavlova the Russian ballerina who apparently toured Australia and New Zealand in the 1920's. It has been a source of much debate between our 2 countries which nationality actually invented it. New Zealand apparently are the more probable originator, but either way it is delicious.

One hell of a ballerina, I'm guessing

It's a meringue based dessert dish which I always choose as my birthday cake but also very popular at Christmas. It has a crispy crust and soft inner and piled on top is traditionally cream and seasonal fruits plus passion fruit.

The Cheesecake Shop here do an excellent version and unlike that place Penny works at on the Big Bang Theory actually just sells cheesecakes (and pavlovas obviously and a few cakes). It's not the prettiest dessert, although the topping does help so I'm not sure if any amount of food porn images would help but I''ll try anyway.

The Runaways

I went to a barbecue on Saturday night to see an old friend I used to work with. She now lives about a hour away up the coast near the beach with her four daughters, mum and husband.
Before dinner we were discussing films we had recently seen. My friend mentioned that she had recently watched the Runaways the night before with the whole family.
The grandmother put forth her opinion that she didn't feel comfortable watching that movie with her daughter let alone her granddaughters, that it was disgusting, shocking and they were constantly telling the daughters to cover their eyes (they range from nearly 10 - 16 years old).

They told me to not bother watching it, which of course made me want to watch it immediately, which for me was the next day. I'd bought a lot of DVDs overseas but hadn't gotten around to watching many yet particularly as I'm in the mood for something more festive. Following that glowing review though, I was eager to make up my own mind on his shocking ness. And I was a little disappointed.

First perhaps a brief synopsis: The Runaways was a 70s all girl group, the love child of a young Joan Jett (played by Kirsten Stewart). She gets together with Sandy West (Stella Maeve) a drummer and Cherie Currie is the blonde goddess singer (Dakota Fanning) who tries out last. She's only 15. Lita (Scout Taylor-Compton) and Robin (Alia Shawcat) round out the rest of the band but barely have 2 lines between them as the real band members did not give permission for their life stories to be used for the film.
This gives an odd dynamic and forces the story to focus on Jett and Curie (West also apparently gave permission but she doesn't get a note card at the end explaining what happened to her after the band disbanded).
The story follows their rise to fame and also features a very unlikeable manager in Kim Fowley (played by Michael Shannon). There's lots of drugs and the infamous seduction scene between Fanning and Stewart was very blurry and brief, so unsure what all the fuss was about there.
In truth this felt more like Fanning's film than Stewart's and when I learnt at the end that it was based on Currie's autobiography this made sense.

As a film overall it was okay, I didn't find it perverse and disgusting like some, but I didn't love it either. I enjoyed Fanning's performance but I'd be lying if I didn't find it uncomfortable watching her in her underwear-like outfit performing. Or seducing guys/girls. This must be a common problem for child stars transitioning.
But kudos for the filmmakers getting the costumes right! Actually I thought overall the set decoration was great, I loved the costumes, hair and makeup, they depicted the 70s nicely.
Stewart's performance...well I'm predisposed not to like her which isn't fair but her involvement in the awful character of Bella Swann is ingrained on my soul. She's alright here, but I couldn't help feeling like I'd seen the character before. It hit me: Shane from The L Word.

Regarding Shawcat, it felt like such a waste having her in the movie, I honestly do not remember one line from her, I realise it is because of privacy issues but she doesn't even look a lot like the band mate she is supposed to be playing so why bother?
Edit: I just looked on Wiki, and the 5th band member was actually named Jackie Fox (I need an education on indie 70s rock) so they couldn't even use her name, which still begs the question why bother hiring Shawcat if she's not going to be effectively used...
One other thing, Cherry Bomb seriously gets stuck in your heard after viewing this film.

The real Runaways

Luna and Norbit

Since I am one of a handful of people who have not read any of the Harry Potter books, I did not know one of my latest fosters is named after a baby dragon. However I have been forced to watch the films so Luna's named after that weird blonde girl right?

Anyway this brother and sister came to me from what situation...well I'm not sure exactly, they'd been through a couple of carers. They're about 14 weeks old and just so dainty. Luna more so than Norbit but aside from that they're almost freaking identical, it makes it hard when I'm calling them (not that cats always come when you call anyway, snobs that they are) and I have to double check just which one it is.

How huge does Norbit look? He looks like he should be Luna's father not bro.

Happiness is laying between a Christmas tree and a Wii board

Sadly it is kitten season at the moment which means everyone who's dumb enough not to sterilise their female cat (no offence) has got oodles of kittens to give away. Which sounds fun in principle, yes I would like to be a crazy cat lady sometimes and have 4 kittens frolicking around the place, but in reality everyone and their dog is giving away kittens for free or cheap.
So trying to adopt out two 14 week old kittens, while still being a great price for a kitten which is vaccinated, sterilised and micro chipped, is gonna be hard.

These guys are delightful though and I love watching their crazy brother/sister antics. The boy is definitely the more sooky one but only after a week they're both getting braver with my dog who just loves and is so curious about them! The only problem is Sabrina aka Miss Grumbles, my cat who does not like them. She is evil, has no maternal instincts whatsoever. Definitely my cat!

FYI private blog hiatus is off...I just need to be more careful about what I write, particularly if my friends are going to google themselves.

Boy Crush #3



Okay maybe he has grown up



The seriousness of looking this good



Browsing through Dlisted, I discovered I am closer in age to Frankie Muniz (25!) than Nick Stahl who is 31.

This can't be right I thought, but led me to rediscover an old crush on Nick.

He's not traditionally good looking so I don't know how many would agree, he's kind of like James McAvoy and Ryan Gosling where there is an everyman quality about them which is interesting.

Admittedly a bit of an emo looking kid especially with a role in Disturbing Behaviour where Katie Holmes was also trying to shake some Joey Potter persona.

He was also an interesting choice to play John Connor in Terminator 3.

I think I first noticed Stahl in the 2001 film, In the Bedroom even though he did only have a small part, he was also good in Carnivale. I never saw Bully but I think it would be the kind of film I usually enjoy.

So am I crazy?

Look at those cute ears!

The Rocketeer

This post is unusual because it is a movie that my boyfriend recently forced me to watch.
It's not to say I didn't like it or didn't vaguely remember it from 1991 but I was in the mood for horror movies. We were contemplating a very belated Halloween themed movie marathon over the past weekend and I had picked up Triangle, Carrie (of course I have seen before but boyfriend hasn't) and some random movie whose name eludes me.

Triangle was weird but okay, we still haven't watched Carrie or the other one and he picks up Rocketeer quite excited remembering watching it when he was younger. I grunted an okay (I'm a film Nazi, he always seems to pick these B grade things which admittedly can be amusing) and a lackluster viewing ensued!

Seriously though, released in 1991 and starring Bill Campbell, Jennifer Connelly, Alan Arkin, Timothy Dalton, and Paul Sorvino it really is quite a talented line up.

Set in the 1930s Campbell plays young pilot Cliff Secord who stumbles upon a prototype of a rocket pack in his wrecked plane, (pack designed by Howard Hughes no less) which had been stolen by gangstas led by Sorvino's character, Eddie Valentine. He in turn is working for Dalton's character, Neville Sinclair, a big shot Hollywood actor. Cliff tells no one he finds it, thinking he can make money from it now that his plane is wrecked. He ends up flying the jet pack when he goes to rescue another pilot who hasn't flown in a long time at an air show and ends up being on the front page of newspapers and talk of the town as the mysterious 'rocketeer'.

But now the FBI are after the rocketeer thinking he stole the prototype as well as the gangstas working for Neville.

Connelly plays Jenny, Cliff's girlfriend (an actress with a small part in Neville's movie) who gets caught up in the mess when Neville finds out her boyfriend is the one who found the rocket pack.

Arkin is Peevee, Cliff's mentor and mechanic who helps him work out some of the kinks in the rocket pack's design and creates the weird looking helmet.

This movie is fairly enjoyable, whilst having an at times corny script. Cliff rescues the girl as well as saves America from the Nazis (well it is based on a comic book).
The kiss at the end is fairly obvious but very Disney I suppose, last lines below:

Cliff Secord: What was that line again? Oh my prince...

Jenny: ...would that you drink of my lips...
Cliff Secord: Thanks, I don't mind if I do.

The deaths of the 'bad guys' are predictably awful but in a no blood and guts way. It's all very pro America:

[siding with the FBI to fight the Nazis]
Eddie Valentine: I may not make an honest buck, but I'm 100% American...

Get lost in his dreaminess

I know gangstas aren't the most scrupulous of characters, but wouldn't they be wondering why Neville wants a rocket pack?

Turns out he's a Nazi spy, and it turns gangstas are actually very patriotic and will stand up against a Nazi spy even if they are tripling their pay.



With You and Without You

Written by Ann M Martin (as if you didn't know that), published in 1986. From the back cover:
"Liza O'Hara's father is dying. The doctors say he has just a few months to live. Liza doesn't believe it...until her dad tells her he wants to make this Christmas the best ever. It's his last one.
Life without Dad is even harder than Liza thought it would be. The O'Haras have to move our of their old house, and Liza's little sister doesn't understand that Daddy isn't coming back.
Liza wants to be strong, and bring her family back together again. But maybe being strong isn't all it takes. Maybe it means learning how to love - and laugh - again."

Some memories:
I remembered the youngest sister being kind of annoying and spoiled a la Karen Brewer
I remembered crying when the cat, Charlie died but not the dad

I couldn't pass this book up when I saw it on an online auction. I don't know if I can snark on this book as it is so deeply ingrained in my childhood.
Written previously to her mega successful Babysitters Club series, Martin does a good job here dealing with a sensitive issue for young readers.
The father dies about halfway through the book, so the story deals just as much with his death as well as what the aftermath is both emotionally and financially.
I still got teary while reading the part about Charlie dying (it seemed to happen a lot earlier than I remembered) but this time I did also feel sadness during the death scene of the father.

The father asks that each child contribute in at least a small way to his funeral. That includes a 4 year old (Hope), a 10 year old (Carrie), Liza (12) and the eldest brother. Technically Hope didn't have to make a speech but she chose to. That seems pretty harsh to deal with at your dad's funeral, sure they've had time to deal with it (in a way) but I would find it hard to talk at my own father's funeral at 26 let alone when I was in primary school.
I did think Hopes (the 4 year old) speech was quite sweet though:
"I miss my daddy." Hope began and immediately started to cry. Brent handed her a tissue and she wiped her eyes. Then she seemed to be ok.... "He's a very nice man," Hope went on. "He's funny and he sings me funny songs. He calls me Emmy. No one else does." At that point Mom buried her face in her hands and wept silently. "He likes animals, even Mouse and he can always fix my swing. He's ...he was a nice man," she said again "He was tall. I love my daddy. That's all."

Re reading it, of course it seems shorter than I remembered. It deals with death in a sensitive way, Liza just doesn't get over the death right away and has feelings of anger, frustration, sadness and she especially struggles with guilt and how she shouldn't feel happy or celebrate Christmas.
She thinks some members of her family move on too quickly and she is urged by her friend Denise to let herself cry instead of bottling it up. As usual I was a big sook while reading about Charlie's death (do not watch Turner and Hooch, Marley and Me or Watership Down with me. Actually nor Milo and Otis, damn there was some animal cruelty in that movie. This could be a post on its own) probably as it just reminded me of when our beloved Thomas died in 2003.

One thing that slightly annoyed me is that she does seem to move on and 'get over' her fear of celebrating Christmas pretty quickly once she realises she was ruining it for Hope as well. In saying that though, she still does not want to help decorate the tree and takes a long time to go to visit the grave. Others have criticised the relationship with Marc, a boy she has a crush on and he asks her out several months after her dad dies. I don't think the first relationship with a boy is the catalyst to deal with the death but I think it does help. I think it is written quite naturally and Liza does show a lot of angst about going out and having fun and has a moment at a party where she tears up.

I think this book still holds up, although I'll admit to being biased and attaching a great deal of nostalgia to it. The title always makes me think of the U2 song which I always thought I would like played at my funeral. And then my dad said he wanted it played at his funeral, and it hit me that it was such a morbid conversation to be having with my dad who is still in his 40's, but now I've changed my song to Sia's cover of I Go To Sleep so it's all good.

I have to send a big thank you to Kim from What Claudia Wore as I am the random winner of the Shop Bop voucher with my comment on my favourite Babysitters Club super special. I think I was 1 of about 3 out of 187 who picked Babysitters at Shadow Lake! You can bet I already bagged a purchase of juicy couture flats with the Australian dollar doing so well against the American for a change.

For fear of ruining, I have not worn them out of the house yet

Favourites and fosters

No this isn't a post about my favourite fosters. That would just be mean. Although I do have favourite fosters just like every parent has a favourite child I'm sure, but I'm not going to commit to it in the blogosphere.

The favourites refers to favourite books. I am on a personal mission to read more good books and want to know what other people out there (pop culture and nostalgic junkies like myself) consider their favourite book. Being a true commitment phobe I cannot commit to one book myself, so even a few recommendations would be great.  For me, The Lovely Bones is a great story, no matter how sappy that makes me. I have written on the book and film adaptation so don't feel the need to review it again.
High Fidelity (by Nick Hornby) is another favourite, along with the movie which I may review in the future. And even though reading Stephen King is akin to being caught masturbating according to some, I still enjoy a lot of his stories.
So please share in the comments section, I've had great recommendations from Sadako and Nikki previously and need more!

In regards to the fosters portion of title, this is Jasper.

Jasper is a purebred 4 year old border collie from a country town around 2 hours from my city. He was abused by 2 smallish boys who lived next door to him, who would throw stuff at him, open the gate etc. One day Jasper had enough and bit one of the boys. Well as you can imagine Momma was indignant and called the ranger who took Jasper away. Eventually a court case was held and Jasper was found innocent as the boys were antagonising him. What this all means in the end is that Jasper's owner could no longer keep him as she still lived next door to this family who would presumably be more annoying than ever now.
Jasper is a great dog, very affectionate but has a none too healthy habit of thinking he needs to herd up cars. Which means we don't walk him near busy roads. Aside from that, he's lovely and I'm surprised I still have him after 2 weeks. As you can imagine, purebred dogs are like gold in the animal rescue world and I thought he would have been snapped up by now. He is a bit wary of new people as is understandable but is still okay around kids which is surprising.

Rambo update! He has been adopted by my grandparents who are a respectable 65-70ish age. They have an older dog who has just taken on such a motherly role with little Rambie and they have a lot of fun. I was so excited that it all worked out, and I can still see him grow up. Awww.

Love those ears!

Young Einstein

Presenting the second in line of Australian 'classic' films.
This movie begins with the sound of a didgeridoo playing. Could we get anymore Australian?

Albert Einstein (played by Yahoo Serious, also writer/director) is a young scientist in early 1900's Tasmania, Australia.

He lives with his parents who own an apple farm but Albert just doesn't fit in.

He experiments with scientific theories, and then his dad gives him a challenge in his grandfather's beer brewing shed - how to put bubbles into beer.

Albert then splits the beer atom (yes that's what I said) and on the advice of his dad, travels to Sydney to patent the idea.

On the train he meets Marie Curie who believes in his ideas and helps him along the way. Preston Preston, a snob lusting after Marie (and works at the patent office) is also on the same train who later steals his idea.


When he gets to Sydney though, he needs an invention to patent not just his formula (E=MC squared) and also invents an electric guitar. This same electric guitar will save the world when Preston (using Einstein's formula) creates a large bubble beer brewing machine (essentially a nuclear reactor) and Einstein has to absorb it's energy through the guitar at a scientific academy awards ceremony in Paris where Charles Darwin is also in attendance.



I had forgotten how crazy ridiculous this movie is. I mean this in the nicest possible way. This movie was a regular staple through my childhood, released in 1988, I was at the right age to love watching it's silliness but not really understand what was going on. Even re watching it yesterday I still remembered all of Serious's mannerisms in playing the character. Two friends I asked had not even seen it yet so maybe I'm in the minority of people my age who have seen it?



During the course of the film, Einstein turns himself black, red, grey and white. He also invents surfing and rock and roll music, woos Marie Curie, flys a hot air balloon, rides a horse, and break dances. Need I say more.



Slight exaggeration of the Tasmanian devil



There is a reference to Tasmania being the apple isle of Australia, Einstein is constantly eating apples (sometimes even taking only one bite) and throwing it away.

There are Australian fauna everywhere. Kangaroos at the university, his house, a koala while he's making his surfboard, a galah sitting on his shoulder while he's patching the roof. No wonder Americans think we ride kangaroos to school.



The scene that stuck with me the most, being an animal lover from a young age was the infamous 'kitten pie' scene. Halfway through the movie Einstein gets locked up in an insane asylum (the mad scientists wing no less) and the macabre chef places live kittens into a pie case and then plops pastry over the top of them, with no care for their little mews. Luckily there is a happy ending for these kittens otherwise I think little Amiee may have been traumatised.

Side note: there are kangaroos in suburbia but the ones we see more often have been hit by cars. Koalas are endangered (I think) and I've only ever seen them in the zoo. My brother has a hand reared pink and grey galah named Gus and while he will sit on your shoulder, he is also a little terror and will bite your toes.



The humour is mostly slapstick and while I didn't laugh out loud a lot like I imagined I did as a kid, the film is still enjoyable in the way a silly but innocent movie is.

There are just so many random little moments during the movie. For example, the mad scientists are having their shower/bath time in the asylum and there is a character in the background who spends a good 2 minutes scrubbing his backside.



 How we bathe down under..nah just Tasmanians



Serious plays a likable character, and there's no doubt he has a creative brain for being able to come up with some truly random stuff. He is also played as a bit of a dimwit: not realising he's lodging in a brothel, regularly blowing himself up. His hair in itself is unexplainable (and gives not so complimentary comparisons to Carrot Top).

I'll admit to probably liking this film more than I would if it wasn't Australian and purely also for nostalgic reasons. What's interesting is that I could not imagine this movie getting made today. It's definitely original.

Grossing over 100 million worldwide, it was a big success for a little Australian movie. Serious went on to make Reckless Kelly and Mr Accident, neither of which did as well. He's now reportedly working on a more sombre film about the Kokoda Track.

From yahooserious.com: "I had no intention of making an historical dramatised "documentary" of Albert Einstein but rather to explore the spirit of this rebellious, lateral thinker with the clowning sense of humour. It gave me license to create a strange, epic cartoon with heightened characters bathed in a world of science, music and "fantastic realism".







The Carrie Diaries

I loved Sex and the City (the series not the films). Although when it began I was 14 and very innocent, I think I liked the characters, their friendship and yes maybe the naughtiness of the sexcapades. Going against type but my favourite was Miranda. Carrie could be pretty self obsessed and selfish, Samantha was just too crazy and Charlotte too prissy.

I picked up this book at the Denpasar airport in a last ditch attempt to find a book because I'd left The Hunger Games in my parents hotel room and I needed something for the plane.

The Carrie Diaries goes pre Sex and the City, written by Candace Bushnell who wrote the original book the series is based on in 1996.
It follows Carrie and her friends (no sign of the girls from the series here) through their final year of high school and Carrie's subsequent arrival in New York on a writing program.

This book was okay. I really wasn't sure what to expect and even surprised myself by buying the book in the first place. I suppose I was curious to see what Bushnell would do with the character at an earlier age.
For some reason I never saw Carrie as wanting to be a writer from an early age. I thought she just fell into it, and I never would have thought she'd want to get into a writing program at 18. The book does hint at her future fashionista status and I did think some of the high school politics were true to life.
Overall though I wouldn't recommend or not recommend. If you were a fan of the series you'll probably be interested, if you weren't then there is better YA fiction available. I just read a review where it says there will be another Carrie Diaries, taking place in New York.

Coming up, I finally found a copy of Young Einstein! And they said it wasn't released on DVD in Australia. Viewing pending, hopefully the shonky place I got it from is legit.

Muriel's Wedding

The first of a few classic Australian films coming up for your viewing or reviewing pleasure. The guilty pleasure that is Muriel's Wedding.

Muriel Heslop (Toni Collette) is an early 20 something loveable loser living with her parents, Bill and Marie and her 4 siblings in Porpoise Spit. Muriel is unemployed, listens to ABBA songs non stop, and is obsessed with having the perfect wedding but has never had a date.

Her dad is always telling the kids what lazy no hopers they all are and how they cost him his political career. Her mum is vacant, possibly has an undiagnosed mental illness or is just so empty inside because of her husband's affair and constant bleating of how useless they all are. Bill is a bit of a bigwig in the small community, president of the local council and nearly got elected into the state government but lost out on the postal vote.

Muriel has a small group of 'friends' (they tolerate her) and while at Tania's wedding, she sees the groom getting it on with the Nicole, the bridesmaid (another friend).

Classy wedding attire

Muriel's life is a joke amongst her friends, she is arrested at the wedding where a store detective alleges she stole the dress she's wearing, she gets driven home in the police car where her dad bribes them with beer to not press charges.

Her friends hold an intervention and tell her not to hang around them anymore. It is also revealed someone is having an affair with Tania's husband. They decide to all go on a holiday together, Muriel is not invited.

Later on at a family dinner, Deirdre (the woman her dad is having an affair with) drops in on the family and offers Muriel a job selling cosmetics (like Avon). Marie gives Muriel a blank cheque to buy her first cosmetics kit. Muriel cashes the cheque to the tune of about $10,000 and goes on a holidays and meets up with her friends who humiliate her.

Later on at a communal dinner, Muriel meets Rhonda (Rachel Griffiths) who she went to high school with. Rhonda is a free spirit who hated the girls Muriel calls her 'friends' and confronts Tania with the information that Nicole was the one who had an affair with her husband.

Rhonda: "I'm not alone. I'm with Muriel."

Cher?

Rhonda stood up for Muriel and did what she never could and they go on to do a nice ABBA performance at the talent night while the girls have a bitch fight in the audience.

Muriel moves to Sydney with Rhonda after the holiday, leaving her family in a spot of trouble with her dad taking even more bribes because Muriel stole their money. But she can't go back to Porpoise Spit, she feels like a different person with Rhonda, even going on a date and getting a job.

Not long after though, an ambulance is called to their shared house, Rhonda can't feel her legs. At the hospital it is revealed she has a tumour pushing on her spine and an operation is needed immediately.

Meanwhile Muriel has been going into all the bridal shops in Sydney and making up stories about a sister in a coma and getting the assistants to take photos of her which she then puts into a wedding album.

Rhonda sees her one day and confronts her about some other lies she was telling and Muriel has a breakdown about how she feels useless and how if anyone wanted to marry her the change would be complete and she'd be a new person.

The operation initially goes okay and Rhonda completes some physical therapy but then the tumor is back and she'll need another operation and won't be able to walk again. Rhonda makes Muriel promise they'll never go back to Porpoise Spit.

Muriel sees an advertisement in the paper: wife wanted, must be Australian. She meets a south African swimmer (David) who needs citizenship and will offer Muriel $10,000 to be his wife for at least 4 months. She agrees with vigour, he's not so sure about this strange girl desperate to be married. In the process she neglects Rhonda and her family.

At the huge wedding, Rhonda confronts Muriel about abandoning her and needing a friend, as she couldn't afford the rent and so she had to go back to live with her mum.

Muriels' own mum Marie is late to the wedding and Muriel misses her in all the congratulations.

That's the look you want to see on your grooms face.

A little while later, after a shoplifting incident, Bill comes back and tells Marie he wants a divorce, he is going to marry Deidre.

Marie breaks down telling her son he's embarrassing his father, but he lashes back and says she is the embarrassment. Marie cries alone at the kitchen bench.

Not long after, she dies of a stroke, so Deidre tells Muriel. Muriel's sister said she found her and found pills.

At the funeral Muriel has to run out and realises she hasn't changed marriage and wedding or not and she finds solace with David, the swimmer. They sleep together.

The next day, she tells him she can't stay with him, she needs to stop lying and face up to herself. He lets her keep the money.

She goes and sees her dad who assumes she will stay and help with the kids but she's going back to Sydney. Bill also faces up to his responsibilities, Deirdre isn't so keen on marrying him now there are kids to look after.

Muriel finds Rhonda and persuades her to come back to Sydney with her. The end.

Some points:

I get that whole marriage validation thing. You're not someone to someone loves you or some other bull crap.

I think a lot of women have very high expectations and also they feel they need that wedding to feel validated.

Toni Collette is an amazing actress as we all well know now, but even back in this film she is amazing. She was only 22 and her performance is so free of any shame and holy moly she's starring in a remake of Fright Night. Hollywood must have run out of ideas, but anyway tangent aside she is great. And apparently put on about 40 pounds for this role. I love her crazy smile and how she's always poking out her tongue. She's just so natural as Muriel.

While you wouldn't guess from my plot review, this is actually a funny movie.
I get a bit of the cultural cringe from a lot of the characters but you have empathy for at least half of them and there are some truly funny moments. There is sadness in there too though.

This is really a girl buddy movie though, Muriel and Rhonda have a great relationship but the end scene where they are kind of staring at each other in the taxi made my boyfriend comment "Are they lesbians?". Men, what can you do?

This was released in 1994 and was written and directed by PJ Hogan who has gone on to do more high profile films such as My Best Friend's Wedding (where Rachel Griffiths also had small role), Peter Pan, and Confessions of a Shopaholic.

As have his two leading ladies, Collette in United States of Tara most recently, and Griffiths in Six Feet Under (still one of the greatest shows) and Brothers and Sisters.

So see this movie if you like quirky Australian films that is not your usual drama/comedy. But if like one reviewer you find Australian accents too grating...well I hope we never meet buddy.

The Road - Film

Released in 2009 and based on the book by Cormac McCarthy published in 2006 (see my really short review here).

The Road is a post apocalyptic tale where everyday is a fight for survival for a man and his son. Cannibalism is rife as there is serious food shortages due to crops and animals dead and survivors are forced to scavenge for food.

Viggo Mortensen and Kodi Smit-McPhee play man and boy respectively. Smit-McPhee was about 13 when the film was made and the book I don't recall was clear in his age, but I'd say he looked younger than 13 anyway.

Both leads were excellent, Mortensen lost a crazy amount of weight for the role and I have to say, looked sickening which I suppose was the point.

Smit-McPhee is an upcoming Australian actor with acting in the genes. His sister is in Hung and his dad is also an bit player in Australian films (including Wolf Creek which I am still yet to see!) and soap/dramas.

I thought he did a great job, some of his scenes were heart wrenching and his crying ability was really good and I think realistic.

The film explained some things more explicitly than in book but overall a very faithful adaptation. For example, you get more of a back story of what happened with the man's wife (played by Charlize Theron).

Some scenes were genuinely terrifying i.e. the scene with the emancipated bodies in the downstairs dungeon and there is a state of unease and tension throughout whole movie. I would hate to be the person who wandered into a movie theatre one sunny Saturday and did not have an idea what the film was about.

Charlize Theron in her small part was okay. I'm always a bit dubious of models turning actors but she can actually act, see Monster. Although that opens a whole other can of worms about actors who don prosthetics or go 'ugly' and then win awards (see also Nicole Kidman, The Hours).

I've read on some forums that they thought the film was boring, I'm guessing these are people who haven't read the book, as you know it's not going to be action packed or a laugh a minute.

There was also some criticism of Smit-McPhee's performance.

But even with the despair I would not say it was boring. Sure not a lot happens in the grand scheme of things but as I said earlier there are some truly tense moments and you are really just rooting for the boys to somehow pull through even though it does seem pretty hopeless.

The ending is ambiguous but after the horrors of their journey I chose to think of it as a somewhat good one (I don't think happy can be used appropriately here).

Another one

On Saturday, I picked up this little guy from the airport who arrived from a country pound about 1186 kilometres away.

I'm terrible at picking the mixture of breeds in dogs like this (and most rescues are, you don't see a lot of poodles slumming it in the pound - unless they're from dodgy breeders, don't get me started) but he is very tiny and cute, only 8 weeks old.

I'm not sure if we will be fostering him full time as we both work full time and he is too small to be outside all day with our boofa of a dog Ebs. At the moment he is living in the bathroom while we're out with a few toys and comfy comforts.

But we do get to name him which I haven't done yet for any fosters!

Some possible names being thrown around at this stage: Panda, Rambo, Muscles, Newman, Danger Mouse.

We try and give unique and not the usual doggy names as most of the time there will be around 100 dogs looking for a family at any one time on our rescue groups books so if there are 5 Sams it makes things more difficult.

My kitten on the right there is Sabrina, a foster I decided to adopt and she is still only about 6 months old so he really is small.

We'd had a break from the fostering while I was away and we were looking after my mum's dog and I got used to not having the stress of wondering if cords were being chewed, the backyard destroyed, 4 hourly feedings, making sure the dogs don't get into the kitty litter etc etc.

I do enjoy the puppy cuddles though. And for the record that is not my arm below.

The Lovely Bones - film

Hey my 3 followers, sorry I haven't posted in a while, holidays happened, my first overseas flight by myself (don't laugh, I am not the best flyer) and then a lot of sitting around on the couch on my week off work.

One movie I finally managed to watch was the Lovely Bones. I just never got around to seeing it at the cinema which was odd because it is one of my favourite books.

In my book review I questioned the choice of Marky Mark (Wahlberg) to play the dad. At the time it was going to be Ryan Gosling which I now realise that while he is a better actor, that also would have been the wrong decision as he is too young for that role. While I'm still not entirely sold on Wahlberg being a great actor (have you seen The Happening? Scratch that, Zooey Deschanel was also terrible) he is serviceable in this.

Clearly though the show belongs to Saoirse Ronan who plays Susie, the girl who is murdered. I think she does very well, clearly she has proved herself in Atonement and is great at displaying all the emotional scenes.

A couple of things:

• While Susie did look like she was 14 (Ronan is 16), the character of Ray looked quite a bit older (24 in real life) and I found their kiss scene a bit pervish. I'm not sure if it's just me, but I am just glad they didn't make it a sex scene as in the book.
• As in the movie adaptation of Jaws, they left out an affair (between Chief Brody's wife and Matt Hooper character if anyone's interested). Susie's mother and the detective handling her murder case had an affair in the book and it just wouldn't have worked in the movie. They didn't develop the character of the detective enough for it to make sense as they did in the book. As it was, I don't think the film handled the characterisation of the mother well, it seemed quite abrupt that she left, but as in the book she was not a really likable character.
• Stanley Tucci was excellent at the killer (George Harvey), suitably creepy but not overly so.
• Peter Jackson as director was criticised for not including the rape or death scene, I think unfairly so. I don't think it would have added anything to the film, it was never a movie that focused on searching and getting revenge on the killer but rather Susie and her family letting each other go and the effect her death has.
• I thought Harvey's death was a little lame. Of course test audiences would want a brutal ending for a killer, nothing left to the imagination.
• While I love Susan Sarandon, I thought she didn't have much of a role and this could have been explored further.
• Being an animal lover and a bit of a sap about them in general, I quite liked in the book when she is reunited with her dog after years of watching her family. No dogs in the film. Thumbs down.
• Finally the film was always destined for failure in my eyes, it was never going to live up to the book no matter how much CGI was thrown at it. But you know points for effort.

Election

No, not the movie. So today we had congregate in our masses to our local primary school to vote.
In Australia it is compulsory to vote in the state and national election, and today we had to vote for which party we want in Parliament and essentially did we want a new prime minister.
I'll admit to not knowing a lot about politics so my question is do you think it should be compulsory to vote?

I know a lot of people who just vote for who their parents voted for; or who have not much of an idea like me; or those who have even less of a clue. Then is it better to make it non compulsory? This doesn't necessarily mean only informed people will be voting. I'm not sure myself and I also know a lot of people who really see no difference in the 2 front runners anyway, myself included.

The Way We Were

I'm not sure why, but I love Barbara Streisand. I know she seems to play the same character every time (from what I've seen anyway) but she does it so good.
I'd say my mum probably introduced me to this movie as it's not one I would have watched by myself as a teenager, but I now proudly own it myself.

Released in 1973 the movie is not without flaws, but please indulge me as I view it through my rose coloured glasses.

IMDB sums it up rather succinctly with the phrase: Two desperate people have a wonderful romance, but their political views and convictions drive them apart [although I'm not sure about the desperate part].

Streisand is Katie, a headstrong, determined young lass with rather strong political (and other) views.

Robert Redford plays Hubbell (what this name ever seriously popular?) a more laid back young man. The two went to college together and led completely different lives, but shared a few moments over a beer when Hubbell got some of his writing work published, a dream Katie also shares.

They don't see each other again until several years later where she is working on a radio show, and he in the navy. They meet accidentally at a bar one night, he is ridiculously drunk and tired and she puts him up for the night, where I believe sex happens but it is an oddly filmed and scripted scene where he collapses on her bed and she undresses and joins him.

The next day he doesn't seem to have a clue about what happened the night before and Katie acts quite needy and says anytime he's in the city to come stay with her. He goes away again, then comes back and takes her up on the offer of staying at her place.

Anyway they eventually get together and get married. He becomes a screen writer and they move to LA.

Now I know nothing about this part of American history so am referencing from the holy grail of wiki: "As the Hollywood blacklist grows and McCarthyism begins to encroach on their lives, Katie's political activism resurfaces, jeopardizing Hubbell's position and reputation."

Cracks are becoming more prevalent in the relationship and Hubbell has an affair with his friend's wife while Katie is pregnant.

They eventually part just after the baby is born. Hubbell can't handle how Katie idolises him and wants him to be a 'serious' writer, and they are just too different, with Katie never going to stop with her political causes and opinions, just to make life easier for Hubbell.

The ending has been referenced in Sex and the City and in the Gilmore Girls. I actually can't remember my true original feelings about it but when I watch it now, I don't long for any other ending. Neither one of them changes throughout the movie, they both retain who they are no matter how different that is from each other. But I guess what can attract a couple in the beginning of a relationship can also divide a couple. I will say that it is dated and sad that Hubbell never even gets to know his child, but I guess this does still happen today, so perhaps not so outdated.

I guess the reason I do like this movie is because of the character of Katie. While I don't relate to her in every way (it would be nice to be so determined) I relate to her in others. She is an outsider in Hubbell's world and her strong convictions are to be admired no matter how grating or abrasive she may get.

 

One other thing, I really loved a lot of Katie's costumes in this movie and I was really disappointed google images did not really give me much to show. Also Robert Redford was 37 when he made this - you can really tell when they flashback to their college years. But I still think he's swoon worthy. And it's his birthday today, Happy 74th Birthday Rob! You're just slightly older than my granddad.

I Am Legend

So I'm a bit slow in finally reading this one and I think the build up may have ruined it a little for me.
Also since the most recent screen adaptation I've viewed is Will Smith's I Am Legend which I've now realised is completely different to the book.

Written by Richard Matheson, published in 1954, I'm sure everyone knows the story.
Robert Neville is apparently the last man on earth after a bacteria plague sweeps across the US (we assume). Everyone else is infected with this bacteria which displays symptoms of vampirism. There are the true vampires (which are actually dead but the bacteria keeps them up and moving, searching for blood) and then the other vampires which are just infected but didn't actually die and rise from the dead.
There are lots of key differences between this character and the one Will Smith portrays. In the book he is a white, alcoholic non-scientist and lives day to day just trying to survive, eventually trying to find a cure but is unsuccessful.
The title also has a darker meaning than in the film and he does not find any other 'normal' survivors.
I found this book okay. It is not horror, more a study of one man's loneliness and his continual need for survival. I realise this sounds really underwhelming, I did enjoy the book but not as much as I thought I would.

I have also seen The Omega Man with Charlton Heston which was the second film adaptation, but not the first which was The Last Man on Earth starring Vincent Price. Maybe this version is the most faithful to the book because Omega Man also deviated from the source material. Although it apparently had the first interracial kiss/relationship on film. Score one point for Mr Heston for taking part in something progressive.