Jodie [Fiasco]

[Jodie]

Jodie Foster has got it going on. Kick, push and coast.

Dead Men Don't Wear Plaid

My head is exploding with mucus. So I wanted to think of someone who's head is always exploding with brilliance.

[film]

[detective]

[monkey, monkey]

Photo

I passed my driving test this weekend. After four years of working my way through the provisional plate system, I am now a fully qualified driver. Huzzah! I also had to get a new licence. The licence will last for five years. Portrait pressure.

I always get nervous about official photos - whether it was school photos, passport photos or photo ID. Besides the point blank vibe - I also fret over how the photo will be perceived, as it's designed to identify me.

A couple of years back when renewing my passport, I was so obsessed with making sure I met all the photo specifications (no smile, head in neutral position, no facial hair*, no shadows, hair pulled back) I ended up with a horrendous photo. I look washed out and dazed, one eye bulging slightly and my skin blotchy. Yet this was a successful photo, as it is an incredibly accurate image of how I look after a long haul flight.

With regards to my driving licence, it's mainly utilised as an ID when at a bar or gig. I tend to have put a smidgen more effort into my appearance when out and about (and hope that I don't resemble my passport photo). So yesterday I tried to get Saturday night fever in my passive expression.

Well it's safe to say it's not a grand photo. But at least my left eyelid wasn't drooping.

*I have yet to grow a beard. Nil follicles on my chin to date.

Crying Game

I cried on the weekend. I tried to hold it in, but my throat seized up and my eyes prickled and stung, till streams of salty tears flowed down my cheeks.

I cried over a child.

I cried over the deprivation of hundreds of children.

The subject of the American education system may seem dull and perhaps irrelevant for an Aussie to watch. But ‘Waiting For Superman’ has a compelling argument about the multifaceted destruction of the American education system.

The film balances startling data and national policy, with stories of five children and their families. Each child is struggling to achieve basic literary and numerical skills in an extremely complicated and rigid system. A system which rewards crappy teachers to keep doing a crappy job. At the same token, it prevents fantastic teachers doing a fantastic job.

Their opportunity for a better education is based on a lottery.

Some may argue that the film is extremely one-sided, perhaps even anti-unionist. But I don’t think anyone wouldn’t find the lottery utterly heart wrenching, knowing that those who don’t get drawn out are in for a tough battle (life) ahead.

And so I cried.

Bleeding Knees Club

For a fleeting moment I was in a choir. The choirmaster diplomatically described my voice as only “suiting large groups”. Needless to say I never got a solo. Dreams of living the Lauryn Hill dream fell by the wayside. So I just sing alone in the car.

But I have now found my song.

This song is for anyone who doesn’t have a polished voice and wants to let loose sing front and centre.

.

Conviction

I don’t often make my way down to the cinema, but after watching the trailer of ‘Conviction’ I didn’t want to let it slip through my fingers.

When Kenneth Waters is sentenced to life in prison for murder, his sister Betty Anne is convinced there has been a miscarriage of justice. But without the legal aid to turn to Betty Anne works her way through the GED, a bachelor's, a master's in education, and eventually a law degree. Once she passes the bar she discovers that she still has many hoops to jump through before she can get her brother’s case brought to retrial.

True story.

Bam, it just blows my mine recapping it. Plus a film with Sam Rockwell in it how could it go wrong?

After watching it, I was left a tad bit underwhelmed. Sam Rockwell was fantastic, yet it felt like eating a stale ginger snap biscuit – dry and difficult to swallow.

Not only can Hillary Swank act her way out of a paper bag, she could play a paper bag. She completely embodies any character including Betty Anne, who is so consumed by the task of freeing her brother she almost becomes a robot. She studies insane hours, barely refuels, has no down time and just gets on with it without any emotion.

This made the pace of the film laborious to the extent it felt more like an extremely long television miniseries. A drab, monotone miniseries.

Betty Anne’s intense drive could have been explored in more depth, as while the film felt long, it glossed over so many fascinating plot points which would have helped humanise Betty Anne - the disintegration of her marriage, her foster care childhood, juggling children and studying for an undergrad, the stress of the bar exam, the mental decline of her brother in prison.

Even though I’m extremely biased as a bookworm – I really do think that it would work better as a book written from Betty Anne’s perspective. To get inside Betty Anne’s head would be a privilege, as it really is a series of fascinating events.

While I don't think it's a fantastic film, I do think it's worth the ticket price to see Juliette Lewis's bit part in the film, it's stale ginger snap and more like a chocolate coated coffee bean - peppery, oddball and explosive.

Endless Summer

[First Love]

The last weekend of summer is fast approaching and the opportunities to laze at the beach are fast receding; soon it'll be frosty toes, runny noses and the end of daylight savings.Though it seems that summer wants to go off with a bang as the forecast is 27-33 degrees over the weekend.

But fear not! Don't start pulling on the overcoats and clutching your box of tissues - there's a new film called "First Love" coming out and it's about surfing and all things beachy. With a soundtrack featuring the likes of Tim & Jean, The Beautiful Girls, M-Phazes and Seth Sentry, it already sounds like a winner.

The Warriors

I rolled out of bed early Saturday morning and drove with my siblings to the Glenworth Valley. Instead of the typical serene sounds of a bubbling brook or a chorus of chirping birds, the valley was filled with thousands of people screaming WARRIOR!!

Finally the day of the warrior dash arrived!

The cross country run was broken up with obstacles like the deadweight drifter, rivers of mud and high ropes. I got to fulfil my dream of pretending to be rookie cop from Police Academy - by sliding across the bonnet of a car in the junkyard jump.

[kilts]

There were heaps of people dressed for the occasion, with a heavy contingency of kilt wearing warriors present. Unfortunately I didn't spot anyone dressed up like one of 'The Warriors' from the 1979 cult classic film. Perhaps next year I'm be a bit more organised!

[Dancing with fire]

[clean up]

I was feeling pretty hard core about leaping over a 'wall of fire'...until I watched 127 hours. Amazing film.

The sunniest ideas

If I were Cockney I would be telling every man and his dog that the Currant Bun was hotter than hot today.

Unfortunately I’m not cockney, but I do wish I were in England as the sun (ie. “currant bun”) has beating down on Sydney this week. It’s making me cream crackered (“knackered”) and a little bit barmy hence the cockney rhyming slang in this post.

I’ve been trying to use ‘mind over matter’ techniques to glide through this spell of hot weather without whinging too much, so I’ve been obessed with finding a winter coat. Thoughts of tweed, wool and brass buttons have danced through my head. Modcloth is a minefield of lushy outerwear.

[Sally Jane Vintage]

Unfortunately my meditations on overcoats has yet to chill my core temperature, though they have been tremendously successful in lightening my purse.

The next sensible option is to wallow in a lovely cool cave – the cinema.

I'm also peachy keen to catch Beginners and Tamara Drewe.

Black Swan

I adore the Ballet. When I was a uni student I took advantage of the cheap season passes and relished in abiding by the sophisticated dress code and social etiquette that comes part in parcel with the majestic surrounds of the Sydney Opera House.

Then there were the actual performances. I would hover at the edge of my seat, muffling my gasps as the dancer's performed astonishing feats with strength, dexterity, flexibility and most importantly - passion. So even the most mundane sounding story of love and loss, blossomed in the hands and feet of the dancers.

I watched Black Swan last night. I'm glad I had a cocktail before watching the film, as it was tense.

Because Portman is such a brillant actor, this was not an enjoyable film. Portman's ability to portray Nina Sayers' physical & mental exhausion and subsequent decline into psychosis was vividly visceral and distressing.

I don't think I will ever look at a nail file the same way again (given that I have that slight phobia of nail clippers, I doubt I will become a nail technician any time soon).

While it wasn't a comfortable viewing experience, I'm glad I saw it. I'm sure it'll take home a swag of awards.

Misfitted valentine

[misfits]

"a new union — salty British street humour with whizz-bang special effects" The Times

I've just finished watching the first two seasons of Misfits. I haven't been this excited about a television show since Community...or Mad Men... or Better off Ted...or The Wire...or Weeds...okay so I watch a lot of telly then.

I watched Blue Valentine last night - the film is an unrelentingly emotional rollarcoaster - it is not advised to go on a roller coaster after eating a family lebanese banquet for lunch followed by a Korean BBQ banquet for dinner.

I felt a little queasy during the scenes of domestic turmoil. But I think that could have been the brilliant acting and not the excessive baba ganoush.

Red Hill

I'm a wimp of the worse kind.

So it probably wasn't the wisest move seeing Red Hill the other night. At least i could cower behind the seats when there was blood, guts and gunshots. It was the unnerving suspense as the killer roamed the streets that wrinkled my brain and gave me palpitations.

Yet I really rated it as one of the most enjoyable Aussie films i've seen for a while.