Batty but Wishful...

I just finished Wishful Drinking by one Ms Carrie Fisher, yes she of the Star Wars fame (come on... arn't you all over that by now??? but unfortunately no mention of her other great works e.g. The Blues Brothers, Charlies Angles, Jay and Silent Bob strike back and who could forget her best ever film Drop Dead Fred!!!

I don't know, I just loved her free flowing un pretentious totally honest ranty style of writing,and it also helps that she's completely batty...

I liked it so much I've used my last precious reserve (only 15... bah!) on her follow up Shockaholic.

Four books that have changed the way I feel about teenage girls...

I remember how hard it can be to be a teenage girl, and it shocks me to realise that it was half of my lifetime ago, sometimes that agony is still so strong for me. There have been four books that have really effected me in the last couple of weeks and all have that teenage girl theme running through them; I watched the movie Precious and was blown away and immediately read the Novel Push by Sapphire. Based around her experiences teaching underprivileged teenage girls in alternative schools, and told from the perspective of Clarice Precious Jones, who is 16 and pregnant with her second child to her father... not for the fainthearted but so inspiring with finding the right support and someone to believe in you and push you to be all you can be, that such a big difference could be made, and one life saved. I also love that it's told in Clarice's voice, well written voice... if you read it you'll see what I mean! I've become addicted to audio books, out library has just gone live with Eaudio book downloads from Bolinda Audio. I listened to On the Jellicoe road by Melina Marchetta. Such a well written intricate tale of a young girl trying to understand the mysteries of her life. Don't be fooled by the "Teenage" fiction tag, I love her books and like I said before, that was 1/2 my life ago! Eve Ensler's I am an emotional creature was also a truly inspiring read, makes me feel like I'd love to work with teenage girls, to make a difference in their lives (though ask me again in 10 or so years time when I have two teenage girls of my own!) I love the monologue style of Eve Ensler's work (they are written as plays/spoken word pieces to be performed rather than just read) I think she is such a brave writer... and she has great hair! Lastly, I'm currently reading Girls to the front: the true story of the Riot Grrrl revolution by Sarah Marcus. Loving it! But feel a bit sad that 20 years on we still have such huge issues with Bullying, Body image and sexual harassment. I found this great sign? picture? note? on the Bust website the other day which shows me the spirit of Riot Grrrl is still alive... Gotta love Bust! But back to the book, I managed to miss out on Riot Grrrl until about '95 when it had all become so mainstream that it lost it's soul and the original Riot Grrrls had lost faith in their original concepts. Maybe I was too young, or maybe it was a geographical thing I don't know but I love the spirit of the movement, the DIY aspects that I think will never happen again now that we've got the net to make all that stuff too easy for us. My brand of feminism suits the Riot Grrrl style. I like taking the boys on at their own game!

The good stuff...

OK so the last post talked about the trash I've been watching/reading... and that's not all that I'm about so here's some recent highlights I might mention in polite company...

The Hedgehog based on The Elegance of the Hedgehog by Muriel Barbery (recommended to me by one of my more influential and serendipitous if not absent friends A.)

The No. 1 Ladies detective agency on DVD recommended by Library Jo based on the novels by Alexander McCall Smith (which I've always meant to read and never got around to!)

Fall Girl by Toni Jorden (Author of Addition) which brought to mind another of my favourite books Honk if you are Jesus by Peter Goldsworthy but that might just be the Tasmanian Tiger connection

Just Kids by Patti Smith which I am amazed at myself it took me so long to get around to reading considering I love both Patti Smith and Robert Mapplethorpe.

Trash-a-rama

Anyone who knows me knows that I love a good bit of trash at times... recent examples may include; Secret Diary of a Call girl on DVD (the only TV show that could come anywhere near replacing Sex and the City for me!), Joan Rivers A piece of work, Julian Clarey's A young mans passage, I like you by Amy Sedaris, Nasty Girl by Ma-Ling Lee (another of about 20 million "memoirs" of sex industry workers that I seem just so intrigued by... no matter how fictitious they seem!). Anything by Candace Bushnell (who wrote Sex and the City), or Lauren Wiesberger (who wrote The devil wears Prada), both of which have just progressed into the trashy chick lit genre since promising starts... not that there's anything wrong with that!

But I may have just crossed the trash line... even for me!

Mr. Nick and I had a movie play date... to fucking Burlesque! Yep that one with Christina Aguilera and Cher! And just to improve on the trashiness factor... at 10 in the morning!!

I just have one thing to say... Cher's face does not move!!!

I have a kind of love/hate relationship with Cher... I like her in a campy, Gypsy's Tramps and Thieves kind of way... and think it's funny that for such a gay icon she kicked her daughter (now her son) out of home when she came out. But come on folks... the woman's a freak... let me repeat... HER FACE DOES NOT MOVE! and what is with that fucking ... song in the middle with no relevance to anything other than Cher's fucking contract???!!!

But what can you expect when the whole thing was a Xtina showcase (she was an executive producer after all).

It was trying to be a poor mans Chicago (which would have been OK if not for scrawny Renee whatshername) which was trying to be a poor mans Cabaret (Genius!)

But guess what... I paid to see it!! and mind you, it was the perfect play date when you don't get to see many movies... money well spent if only for the chance to pull it apart over lunch after!!!

But too much Ive wasted too much space on this movie length MTV clip which is showing more the trashy Pussycat doll style of Burlesque when I would much much much prefer to promote the old school "All Tease No Sleaze" style of those such as Hi Ball Burlesque featuring the fabulous Anna Go Go AKA Minister Anna






















Check her out in action here... not only can she twirl the tassels on the top... but check out that bottom action... now that's luscious!



And Honey... there's plenty more where that came from!!!

Left the building...

Last night I watched Banksy's Exit through the gift shop, it was great, supposed to be a doco about this eccentric guy who was obsessed with filming street artists and eventually constructing this persona of "Mr. Brainwash" (Thierry) who becomes a "street artist" himself... More like Banksy's construct, his latest joke on the art world if you ask me! (I have found the word "Prankumentry" when doing my very detailed Internet searching over the last couple of minutes!) And if he did sell a million dollars worth of "Art" just by the construct of hype and and a factory style process of creating said Art then good on him, stick it to the man I say... Go Banksy!!

It's been way too long...

Well hey there, it's been a while!

Sorry about that, my brain, confidence and, hmmm, everyday functioning went into lock down mode for a while there... but I'm back and I'm feeling good, well most of the time and I guess that's all you can ask!!!

So lets see... what have I been doing (apart from having a meltdown and losing all perspective!!!)

Reading... Lots of "sequels" or follow-ups to thoroughly enjoyed books; Cleaving by Julie Powell, Committed by Elizabeth Gilbert, Booky wook 2 by Russell Brand and at the moment The Romantic by Kate Holden, which I am enjoying despite how clingy, insecure and needy she seems to be, but then I have also been a solo traveller in a strange land and understand the issues this can arouse (I just didn't have her talent for picking up guys I guess!!!).

Have also read some crap books (At home with the Templetons by Monica McInerny, I knew it wasn't going to be my thing when I read the words "family saga" on the back! But then again I only really read it because of the connection to the ol' home town (see previous post)). Then there was the self-published one that I bought off an acquaintance because I believe in supporting people in their artistic pursuits but, oh my god it was so self indulgent with sooo many mistakes and bad grammar and maybe I am not one to talk and maybe its just some cool writing technique like some sort of beat poet type thing and maybe I'm just not smart and cool enough to get and maybe... maybe its just bad... so no names mentioned there OK!

And then there was one BRILLIANT one! Armstead Maupin's Mary Anne in Autumn which I devoured in, I want to say one day but it was more like 26 hours!!! he did not disappoint, well no he did, because it had to finish!

Ive also seen some movies; Joan Rivers: a piece of work (best joke; on (whether men go for brains or beauty) "well I never heard of a man putting his hand up a girls skirt looking for a library card"!), Get him to the Greek (soooo much better than Forgetting Sarah Marshall though it did get a little tired by the end), The No. 1 ladies detective agency (well a T.V. Show I know but still great), Kick Ass (would have been crap if it wern't for Hit Girl, who can resist an 11 year old crime-fighting chick calling everyone 'motherfuckers' and 'cunts'), Eat, Pray, Love (Cheesy I know, but had to be done, and thoroughly enjoyable except for the fact that they do, literally ride off into the sunset!!!)

Sucked up to the lady who got my dream job (was thinking we would go for a coffee, come out of it best friends with her begging to be my mentor, instead, sat in the workroom chatting for 20 minutes with her promising to keep me in mind...). Worked a week of full time last week (loved it!!! loved being back at the old branch and feeling useful) which was great considering work is about the only place where I actually feel confident and in control at the moment!

And I've been "working on me"... ohhh how tacky does that sound!!! But I have, I've been seeing a psychologist and went back on some medication that I thought I didn't need anymore but turns out actually did help! and just trying to look after myself and stand up for myself more... and take myself out for lunch at The famous blue raincoat which always helps!!!

Best things about the Runaways movie...

• The first shot of the movie is of Menstrual Blood.


• The costumes are Hot Hot HOT!


• KS does an ace job of Joan Jett, I was worried I would be sitting there thinking I am watching the chick from Twilight but it didn't cross my mind once!


• Dakota is equally hot and soooo totally the right choice to really hit home how young Cherie Currie was when wearing that Cherry bomb outfit!


• Dakota and Kristian get it on!!!


• They do such a great job of the singing that they could splice in the real Runaways songs when it used as background music without any disjointedness.


• The colouring of the film totally matches the mid 70's.


• The Cinematography is beautiful


• I got to see it for free!!! (3 weeks ago - just slow on the posting!!!)

Julie, Julia... and Ravinder!

A movie about food and blogging... how could I resist!

Last time the boy went away I tucked myself up on the couch with Julie & Julia, Oh such a cute film, it made me feel both warm and fuzzy, but also all depressed! It totally contributed to my existential crisis, which seems to be my permanent state of being these days! But hey, that's kind of what the film (and book, I'll get to that shortly!) was all about!

It made me feel that there is no focus or theme to this blog, its just all over the place, random thoughts... but that's me, I've always got a million things going on and cant seem to keep the focus to just one! I try to write about the books that I read, but I only get about 1/2 of them down on... screen! Anyways, Totally watch the film... and here's a little Gem I found on You Tube for you, its called Julia Child Vs Meryl Streep;





So watching the film inspired me to read the book by Julie Powell, It's good but I was a little disappointed, like many Blogs turned book it was a little all over the place, (either try to keep true to the blog or give the whole story an overhaul!) E.G. she was talking at leangth about a certian food (see I've gone and forgotten what it was now... makes my arguments seem VERY well reserched and thought out!) It could have been the Lobster, or maybe the Eggs, I just can't remember! Anyways, then a couple of chapters later she's back to the same food, and it kind of made it all feel a bit disjointed to me. But I don't want to critisise her too much coz I really liked her, I thought she was really sweet and I related to the many hissy fits and meltdowns she endured!!!

So this is one of those cases where I am going to say that I enjoyed the film more than the book (and there are many of these cases out there, no matter what people say! Particuly when it comes to Mr. Steven King... but that's for another post!) But I do often think judgment is clouded by whether you watched the film or read the book first.

Speaking of cooking books, I think I have found my favourite ever! It's called Cook in Boots by Ravinder Bhogal. Not just because she's got a great first name and shes HOT! With chapters titles along the lines of; PMT, Rude food, I heart carbs and Frugal food for when you've spent all your money on shoes, how could I not love it, and I've made two things from it and they were totally yummy and easy to make with no fiddly crap or pretentiousness of many of the cooking books I bring home from the library. (Oh and hey, my birthdays coming up soon, this one and the Cooks Companion and I reckon I'd be set!)





And then there's the one I started last night... We're trying to save a little money at the moment and the library got a new one called Family feasts for under $75 a week. Trouble is it's very American, and I don't mean any offence to my American friends here, but I am going to get all stereotypical on your arse! (that's ass in American!). It's all Hamburgers and Frozen burritos and Pork Chops and Pizza and creamer in your Coffee... It's such a basic book trying to educate about basic Fruit and Vegetables and it's all just such obvious stuff that It's getting me angry and making me feel very superior and snobby all at once!



So the money saving tips that have stood out for me so far are;

Try to drink half as much Cola... OK, done that without moving a muscle (ever tried drinking water!!??)

Try to buy two less packets of chips a month... Yep done that one too (I wouldn't exactly call them an essential item!)

and this one was the clincher;

Use cloth instead of paper dish towels... what? You guys dry your dishes with paper? Man, I'm saving money already and I haven't even changed any of my habits!

Whippin' it

Finally got to watch Whip it, totally cool and inspiring... made me get the skates out of the cupboard and do a couple of laps of the kitchen before getting back to the drudgery of the housework!

I finally got yo watch the Hollywood Librarian (now available at HBL if anyones interested!) It was OK, the first half was entertaining and the second got a bit political and all a bit serious for me (there are libraries outside of the states don't you know!)

I enjoyed the representations of libraries and librarians on film but was disappointed no to see my favourite scene from Ghostbusters! I want to try and track down a copy of the movie The Desk Set with Katherine Hepburn (whose sister is a librarian by the way!) which explores (in 1957!) the impact computers are going to have on the workplace including the reference library.

Doco-loco!

I watched two very interesting doco's this weekend...


Forbidden Lie$
Where Norma Kouri (of Forbidden Love fame/hoax) was given the chance to clear her name and prove her story and all she did was dig herself deeper into her own web of lies.

Man on Wire
About the guy who high wire walked between the twin towers (as well as Notre Dame, Sydney Harbour bridge etc.) Very interesting story of a man with such passion and determination... (and Craziness!!!) I just want to know where he got the money to do all this!!!








I decided to start my own 'Poplist' on Bigpond Movies (I LOVE Bigpond movies!) called 'Doco-loco' not sure if you have to be a member or not but I am adding a bunch of my favourite doco's if you wanting a good 'watch' and like me find Non-fiction a little more satisfying...

Bats and Bonds...

Watched Quantum of Solace last night... and I'm sorry if I seem to be giving a lot of negative reviews at the moment but... IT WAS CRAP!

Now I think Daniel Craig is kind of hot, but he's too rough for Bond, James Bond is supposed to be suave and cool, not an Indiana Jones wannabe in an expensive suit! I want my Bond movies full of witty quibs, fun gadgets and innuendo's thanks! These latest ones have so much more violence for the sake of it and not nearly enough camp, and a storyline would also be kind of nice too please!

And while I'm on the rant...

The new Batman films... Now I know the Dark and Scary mysterious Batman is all in keeping with the original comics and stuff blah blah blah... But I like my Batman in blue stockings with a questionable relationship with his side kick and a few Bang, Sock and Pow's thanks!!!

Bring back the suave Bond and the camp Batman I say!!!

Stuff

The last thing I want is for this blog to turn into a mummy blog of every minuscule detail of the bubba-doo’s movements... problem is they are kind of all consuming little creatures! So here is a list of things I have done in the last 6 weeks that don’t involve little people and/or domestic chores!

• Read the following books; Cinematherapy: the girls guide to movies for every mood, Me Cheeta, The crowning glory of Calla Lily Poynter, Why men want sex and women need love, it’s my party and i’ll knit if I want to, Our Girls, The autobiography of a fat bride: true tales of a pretend adulthood, the Australian guide to self sufficiency, The lost art of sleep, Veggie patch, Lighten up: 365 ways to lose weight and feel great, Loaded (re-read), Kidwrangling, Weekend knitting, You'd better not cry.

• Started Christmas shopping (coz I’m a girly swat!) which is consisting of approx. 95% books.

• Finished knitting the handle of my super-cool shopping jeep and started the inside lining... just need access to a sewing machine! Knitted two rows of my Cardi that I started about a year ago.

• Got this super cool bag as an early Xmas present from my brother.

• Cleaned out my cupboards/drawers but only actually threw out 2 items of clothing!

• Been to the Doctor, Dentist and had some long overdue waxing attended to!

• Been to my favourite cafe twice.

• Made it into the library three times.

• Watched lots of DVD’s including; Bruno, Dark Knight, several Laverne and Shirleys, Gonzo: the life and work of Dr. Hunter S. Thompson, Annie Lebovitz: Life through a Lens, A lion called Christian, Head On (after re-reading Loaded), LA Ink season 4, Dogs in Space special features disc (where you can hear me ask a question in the popcorn taxi interview bit), Howard Sterns Private Parts, Bucket List, Secret diary of a call girl season 2, Juno (again).

• (Tried to) go for a walk (almost) every day.

• Got rejected for a scholarship.

• Found out I have my first trans-gendered friend and didn’t even know it!

• (Re) planted my veggie patch.

• Had the Flu.

• Had my email account hacked and spammed.

• Discovered Parma Violet lollies in the Gifts from home store.

• Got up to F on my ipod by playing it in song title order.

Two films I cant wait to see:

Jennifer’s body – Written by the gorgeous Diablo Cody (Candy girl, Juno, United states of Tara)

And;

Whip it – Not only is it directed by my fave Drew Barrymore but it’s about ROLLER DERBY!!!!

Robots in disc eyes....

I'm sorry to have another rant, but really, I don't get a lot of time to watch movies these days so it really pisses me off when I do and it turns out to be a waste of two hours of my life which could have been better spent sleeping or eating!

Last night we watched the Transformers movie... I cant remember when I saw such a crap film... if I've seen a movie that crap recently I've obviously blocked it out because it was god damn shite... Not even a good camp 80's reference to save it! In fact it's making me angry just thinking about how shite it was... think I better sit down with some chamomile tea and relax for a bit...

Now as you know, I also took myself off to the movies on Friday by myself with the idea of having a choc top and a good sob. I went and saw My Sister's Keeper, which I would have probably said was a nice piece of sappy-ness despite the time waste-y floaty kind of bits, If I hadn't recently read the book and been pleasantly surprised. But whats with the leaving out of characters, creating new ones, leaving out important plot lines and worst of all... changing the ending which gets rid of the twist at the end which ms. Picoult is (apparently) known for! GGGGrrrrrrrrr. Still had a great cry though... I sobbed like only an overly hormonal pregnant woman can!!!

Now I'm getting a little worried, I just finished Mao's Last Dancer (as in the book) and kind of really loved it but am a bit scared of what they are going to do to that in movie form (coming soon the posters tell me...) but also a bit curious...

I did like Coco Avant Chanel though... go see that one!

And I did get to see a trailer for Where the wild things are which made me very excited!

Movies etc...

A few years ago me going to the movies twice in one week would be common practice, but these days... I think I have been to the movies twice... a year, if that!

Last Saturday some of my favourite girly friends took me on "Allison's Amazing Birthday Adventure" which was really just a day of fun, girly laughs. I had three choices, I chose box number three which involved going to see Coco Avant Chanel which was lovely, even if we were running a little late and had to sit in the front row which was not fun with subtitles!

Today I am a bit of a loose end and it's nice and sunny, so I'm gonna take myself on another Yarraville adventure. My sister's keeper is on at the Sun Theatre. It's probably not the sort of movie I would normally go see, but I read the book only a couple of months ago, and I need a good cry!!! (that's why I'm going on my own!) Might have a bit of a wander, some lunch, coffee, check out HausFrau bakery (well I am home alone tonight!!!), add a few titles to my Books to check out in the Sun bookshop... Sounds good to me!!!

Some good movies that have graced my screen...

I haven’t been watching all that many movies recently, I don’t tend to have the brain space nor the patience to sit through anything too long, but here is a couple of gems worth mentioning...

The dinner game – Hilarious French comedy about a bumbling idiot... I could relate!
Death at a Funeral – Love a good black comedy!
Stone – Classic Australian film, love the bit where the guy gets his head cut off... so so fake!!!
And Last and defiantly least...
He’s just not that into you – Look I’m not going to say it was good, but it was exactly the kind of mindless papp I needed OK!?
A friend told me a funny story about that one, she went to see it at the movies with a couple of girls from her work, including one who checked her blackberry 3 times during the movie to see if she had a message from a guy who, you guessed it, was just not that into her!

Old kids on the block...

Is it just me or has anyone else noticed distinct similarities between the Aussie movie Boytown (which I really like except for the completely naff ending!) and the recent return of New Kids on the Block???

Sick Day

I was sick the other day, I don't do sick very well, I get miserable and am not very nice to be around!

But here are two things about that day that cheered me up quite dramatically!

Funny story about Not Quite Hollywood. I requested this one at the library for its social, educational and cultural value. (Oh and by the way it also fits very well within our collection development criteria) Apparently the day it arrived there was much discussion amongst the resource services team because of the image of a naked woman on the back. Now, this image was inside the inserty bit of the cover, but the image was deemed inappropriate (though no discussion actually took place with any library coordinators who I am picturing sitting in their offices sniggering at the absurdity of this discussion!) Our Libraries copy of Not Quite Hollywood now has a lovely, very noticeable cut out bit in the cover! And here I was thinking that libraries were not into censorship!!!

Kat Von D's book is great, I devoured it in two days. Lots of glorious pictures and background story... she seems a bit up herself, but I don't care, I still think she's a bit of alright! (I think the yearbook tattoo part of her leg is pretty gross but... oh well, there is always laser removal!)

... It's twilight time.

The afore mentioned Lovely Miss Jayne has written a hilarious analysis of the Twilight phenomenon. Personally I have only seen the film and thought I must have been missing something because I found it SHIT BORING! Maybe you need to be a teenage girl to appreciate it... funny coz I thought I still had the brain of a teenage girl but somewhere along the line those 3 braincells must have disappeared!

P.S. Jayney I love the reference to my favourite Platters song!