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Today is a Bran Nue Dae

Published

Helen

on February 2, 2010

in TV and Movies

. 1 Comment

Yes, it most certainly is.

I went to see Bran Nue Dae tonight and it has been a long time since I have heard so many laughs in a cinema. The movie is a total crack-up, the songs are fantastic and oh the landscape! The film is an adaptation of the stage production that toured Aus during the 90′s and the movie reflects that, in that there is very defined scenes and of course the musical numbers and dancing. Tap dancing in a church??? oh yes!

This scene had me cracking up, such a hoot to see Deb Mailman in this role.

I’m hoping to buy the soundtrack on the way home tomorrow. The film has had some very mixed reviews, a lot of the “real reviewers” have given it a very lukewarm response in regards to the story line, the acting, the production etc but have missed the magical musical fun it contains. Margaret and David both gave it four starts though. The “general population” reviews though are the complete opposite to the “real reviewers”, more in line with my joy at seeing it.

Nothing I Would Rather Be
There’s nothing I would rather be
Than to be an Aborigine
and watch you take my precious land away.
For nothing gives me greater joy
than to watch you fill each girl and boy
with superficial existential shit.

Now you may think I’m cheeky
But I’d be satisfied
to rebuild your convict ships
and sail them on the tide.

I love the way you give me God
and of course the mining board,
for this of course I thank the Lord each day.
I’m glad you say that land rights wrong.
Then you should go where you belong
and leave me to just keep on keeping on.

I can not tell you enough how much you must go see this movie! I’m hoping to see it again in the next week or so and will be buying the DVD.

You can read parts of the the stage play here on Google Books
Some really interesting clips on the Australian Screen Office site, which include interviews with Jimmy Chi.
Wikipedia entry

the sound of rain

Published

Helen

on January 31, 2010

in 365, blog stuff, random life and TV and Movies

. 2 Comments

It’s 2120 currently and I’m kicking back with a cup of tea and listening to the rain. The rain sounds different at night to it does during the day, have you noticed that?

In tribute to the rain we have had on and off this weekend, today we have a video instead of a photo.

Unless you are reading this via the RSS feed, you might (well should) have noticed that I’ve changed up the design a little bit. Swapped some new colours in, changed the photos in the header and made it a bit more 24 something me instead of 22 something me. Not 100% settled on the background colour yet but we will see. I’ve also been thinking of renaming the blog most probably just changing the words round a little but who knows.

Mum and I went to see Bright Star this afternoon, it was slightly sad as expected but gorgeous nonetheless. I have some questions regarding the historical accuracy of a few aspects of the costuming, mainly the earrings that Fanny wears and the machine knitted jackets/cardigans. I did adore however the ledge that ran at waist level round Fannys room in the house that the Brawnes shared with Mr Brown and Mr Keats. I loved the shots in the fields of wild flowers and in the orchard, all those flowers! Oh to be able to bask in a field of flowers like that.

a saturday

Published

Helen

on June 13, 2009

in food, photography, random life and TV and Movies

. 2 Comments

At the moment I am watching Dr Rosemary Stanton on Ethical Eating. Over the past few years I have enjoyed reading editorials by Stanton and she is a very very good presenter. If I see a public lecture from her in Brisbane I will be going! I have to add again how much I love ABC Fora, I have listened to some very interesting presentations over the last year or so.

Today, I woke up at 6ish but dozed in bed till 8ish, so luxurious! I popped into work for a while to pick some stuff up/drop some stuff off and say hello to the reservists I don’t normally get to see during the week. I also visited the RSPCA opshop at New Farm and picked up a Le Parfait jar and some crochet doilies for the grand total of $3. Then it off to Flannerys to stock up on rolled oats. Then Ikea called.

I have had a clothes rail for my wardrobe for the last 7 mths or so which I have kept covered with a dark doona cover to keep my clothes dust free and stop fading. I said enough is enough today. I had been umming and ahhing between a few different ones the last few nights on the net. Looking at them today I decided on the Aneboda. I also picked myself up a bookcase, a Billy of course. Looking at them now in my room, I love how they melt into the white walls. I also bought my first Ikea fabric, this nice orange one, which I am going to use to make curtains for my book case. Tomorrow I will have to take some photos. I still have bits and pieces to put away but it looks a lot more roomier now. Also tomorrow I have an SES fund raiser to attend, washing to do and family to visit!

Two photos to share.
I took this photo back in April one rainy afternoon at The Farm. I love how the rain drops.

And sharing my Food Connect box from last week, I had fun this time arranging the fruit and vege for the photo.

On a sad note, I finished watching The West Wing the other night. It has taken me about 6 or so weeks to watch all 7 seasons and I have enjoyed every minute of it. I have laughed my head off at times, wept at times, shaken my head at others and at others just absorbed the drama, the wit, the speeches. And this quote from In the Shadow of Two Gunmen, Part II

Margaret: Can I – can I just say something for the future?
Leo: Yeah.
Margaret: I can sign the President’s name. I have his signature down pretty good.
Leo: You can sign the President’s name?
Margaret: Yeah.
Leo: On a document removing him from power and handing it to someone else?
Margaret: Yeah. Or… do you think the White House Counsel would say that was a bad idea?
Leo: I think the White House Counsel would say it was a coup d’état!
Margaret: Well. I’d probably end up doing some time for that.
Leo: I would think. And what the hell were you doing practising the President’s signature?
Margaret: It was just for fun.
Leo: We’ve got separation of powers, checks and balances, and Margaret, vetoing things and sending them back to the Hill.

Suddenly Single

Published

Helen

on March 24, 2009

in random life and TV and Movies

. 0 Comments

A couple of weeks ago whilst browsing the QPAC website to see what was upcoming, I stumbled across Suddenly Single on the events calendar. It was billed as a new musical from two Brisbane writers. Tickets were $15. Straight away it ticked three boxes in the reasons why to go column. Last Friday, I had a bite to eat and headed off to QPAC for a night of song and comedic drama about the single life.

What the QPAC website didn’t mention is that that the performance was actually a workshop performance. Whilst I loved the show and will go see it again when it is in full production. I was relatively disappointed when I started reading the program and was advised that it was a workshop performance. I still would have gone if it had been advertised as that but these expectations I had for the show had to be quickly taken down a few levels. Those expectations were most certainly exceeded. From how the program read, rehearsals had only begun the week prior to the performance and that there will be a final script rewrite before the “real” production is staged.

The cast of six (three ladies and three gentlemen) arrived on stage in their blacks with script books in hand and burst into the title song Workin’ Out Your Life and for the next X hours and Y minutes they developed as characters and became seemingly more “at home” in their roles. It was also interesting to see how their voices changed as well, in the first act the ladies sitting beside me had picked one of the men as the better singer of the men but then come the second half, one of the others seemed the better singer. That was interesting. The role of Mary was played by Judy Hainsworth and oh her voice was just gorgeous, it was sweet and deep at the same time. If in the semi-distant future a musical called Suddenly Single comes your way, go check it out!

Sunday

Published

Helen

on March 22, 2009

in photography, random life and TV and Movies

. 3 Comments

Well, Mum should now be firmly on the ground in South Africa, she flew out on Friday for about month away in Southern Africa (i.e. not just South Africa). She is going to have a wonderful time but it will be strange not been able to pick up the phone and call her when I feel like it. Things are starting to settle down at work which is nice. Last week I switched from looking after the medical side of the applications for all the Navy and Air Force full time general entry candidates to now looking after the Army full time general entry candidates. It means that I am looking after a larger number of candidates and am now faced with enlistments every Monday as opposed to three times a month like I used to have.

I went to see Two Fists, One Heart yesterday and thoroughly enjoyed, especially the strong WA music presence in the soundtrack. With a broad brush it had some similarities to Two Hands, in terms of fighting, cars, bouncers and the not the girl ordinarily expected girl as the romantic interest. I would definitely recommend checking it out. Parts made me laugh and parts made me sigh.

This morning I gave the kitchen an autumn clean, top to bottom, I scrubbed, wiped and shined. This photo was taken two weeks or so ago but it gives you a fair idea of what the kitchen looks like.

I also did the seemingly weekly clean of my room; vacuuming, dusting and tidying. I don’t believe I have shared a picture of what my current room looks like. It is small but I do quite like having everything at an arm’s reach.

Talking of my room, that reminds me, I must share the incident that happened earlier this week. I was getting ready for bed, I had closed the deck door, turned off the lights, started the dishwasher and gone to clean my teeth. As I was brushing my teeth, I heard a tumble. I thought something had dislodged in the dishwasher and thought nothing much of it. I finished cleaning my teeth, looked at the dishwasher and it was fine. Then as I stepped into my room, I saw that some of the things from my bookcase had fallen onto the floor, as I looked up I came face to face with a Possum sitting on top of my bookcase. I was slightly shocked to say the least. Possums on the roof, possums on the power lines or possums in the back yard are fine. A possum on my bookcase is another matter. As you can see from the above picture, my room is narrow and there is only one way in and one way out. As I entered the room further the possum jumped and I ducked, it landed on my bed and scattered up to the desk. I started yelling at it to get out of the my room. Johnno hearing my yelling came to investigate and we managed to get the possum out of my room and into the kitchen, then with some fancy footwork the deck door was opened and the possum was let free. As the light was turned on in the kitchen and I walked back into my room, I discovered something the possum had urinated all over my room; the carpet, my bed, the wall, my desk, my laptop etc. Cleaning up possum urine is not pleasant. It is a tick slightly gelatinous liquid and cleaning it off the laptop is not at all fun. Normally I close my laptop when I switch it off at night. That night though for some strange reason I had left it open… if only I had closed it. Now that that story is off my chest…

Something that would surprise most people would be that I actually scapbooked today! I know! It has been a good handful of months since I last did something but the other week, I packed up a fair amount of stuff from my old room and brought it over here. In the picture below you can see the little chest of Ikea drawers that I have covered. They hold my computer cables in one little drawer and then in the others scrapbookig goodies.

It is now just gone 10pm and means it is time to retire to bed with a book and prepare for tomorrow been Monday.

movies, baking and a brass monkey

Published

Helen

on March 13, 2009

in Music, random life and TV and Movies

. 2 Comments

It is a Friday night, and I have just come home from the movies. I have quite literally walked in the door, picked up my laptop and gone back out onto the deck and I am not going to move till I have written at least one recent adventure.

What day, week, fortnight, whatever it has been. Work is of course still work and hopefully in the coming the weeks the stress, the issues and the hours will start to settle down. Next week will mark the turning of a new leaf at work with staff changes and I am cautiously looking forward to it.

Yesterday at work it was the birthday of one of my “Work Mums” and to celebrate I made the Orange and Almond cake made famous by Claudia Roden (photos/recipe of course to follow). We had planned to have it for morning tea but one thing of course leads to another and before we knew it was just before three and the cake had not been cut. A mimed Happy Birthday was sung and then there was cake. I was really quite happy with how it turned out. It does take a little time in the prepping of the oranges but oh it was good.

Today was of course a Friday and it was even Black Friday, it was also a day where we had 29 candidates in for assessment which makes it a very big day. To fill our stomachs, a morning tea buffet was arranged which was a very fitting end to both the week and a booster shot for the day. I made these little Persian rosewater and cardamom rice biscuits which went down a treat (of course as above photos/recipe to follow).

I went to see Easy Virtue tonight and oh it was a tragic delight. Oh the costume design was just glorious and the music and the wit, I did adore the wit. On Wednesday night I went to see He’s Just Not That Into You which was a pleasant reprise from the week. It was a good laugh, which also had some sad/true/real bits in it as well. Two movies in a week is quite bold but through Optus Tickets I have a $8 movie pass for Birch CC till the end of the month and I plan on seeing a few more movies between now and then, especially as a ticket normally costs me $15 something!

Last weekend I had quite a pleasant Sunday, Windsor Brass was playing what was advertised as Jazz, Swing and Show Tunes at Gregory Park in Milton. I arrived a little early and picked up a turkey/cranberry roll, an apple scroll and a ginger beer. I found a patch of grass in the shade and enjoyed what turned out to be an afternoon of show tunes with no jazz or swing. I had been very looking forward to the jazz/swing but the show tunes sufficed.

An older couple enjoying the music