When the Cheshire emerges...

Uh, how cool is Google's latest feature? Just sayin'.

The parents have been here with me for almost 48 hours now, making the 13 hour drive through a harsh sun and then electrical storms. All in one piece - and then some. The amount of stuff we unloaded from the car was absolutely ridiculous. I asked for some clothes, two pairs of boots, my Europe 2011 mementos and holiday gear, taking up two overnight bags, and also a mirror to hang up. Not too much. But then I look at the floor and see bags taking up half the space. Where's the carpet? Where's the caaaarrrrpettt?



It will be interesting to open these bags tomorrow - Christmas 2011 has somehow turned into The Katina Show.

My parents have also been quite indulgent as they insist on trying to spruce up my place and provide me with more utensils, which is huuuugely unnecessary. Dad bought me a crusher blender thing to make smoothies. They saw a little bit of frustration from me to say the least - now I have to use this thing!

But I'm glad they're here.

*****

In other Christmasy news, we published a Letters To Santa liftout last week where kids gave the paper their wishes for presents for us to pass on to the big man. And they were awesome. I'm going to write just a few I thought were great.

Lily, 6yo: I would like for Christmas an iPod Touch, iPhone, iPad and water bottle, necklace, earrings and ring.

WAY too many kids this age were asking for iPhones etc, cute but scary at the same time.

Xavier, 8yo, knew his spy lie detector was from BigW which I thought was observant. He's done his research.

Jorja, 6yo, wanted a baby kitten that had not opened its eyes...

Some of the older kids knew Santa had a big trip ahead of him...

Patrick, 8yo: I would like for Christmas a BMX bike please. Have a great flight around Australia, be safe.

Among other things, Maddison, 5yo, wanted "fake nails that you can nip off". She wasn't the only one.

Lara, THREEyo: I would like for Christmas some new high heels. SHE WAS THREE. HUH?


I want to know your opinion - are kids asking for too much too soon?

Merry Christmas everyone!
xoxox

One thing I promised I would do when moving to Dubbo was make more time to relax and do things I wouldn't normally give myself time to do. Like lazing around for an entire day. Safe to say I don't feel AS bad about doing that now...

Also gives me a chance to start seeing some of the films on my 'I need to really get onto that' list.

So this week I rented The Godfather and Animal Kingdom. Finally, I know.

Watching The Godfather made me draw immediate comparisons to Luchino Visconti's epic Il Gattopardo (The Leopard). Now, I know some of my readers will have never heard of that film - basically the Cannes winner is perhaps one of Italy's most significant films, a three-hour-plus epic about Sicilian nobles in the aftermath of the Risorgimento movement in the 1860.

That film is amazing and Coppola no doubt drew from Visconti's grandeur, particularly in the scenes where Michael (Al Pacino) hides out in Italy. Stunning.

As good as The Godfather is (and I do understand why a lot of the world loves it so much, it's crafted very well), half the time my mind wandered because I just couldn't help but marvel at how good-looking Pacino was in his early years. Don't judge me! But he really was good in this film. They all were.

Animal Kingdom also deserved every accolade it got. That film was frickin' intense. Gutsy, gritty and just magnificent. Go Australian cinema!

I was on the edge of my seat for a large part of this, not knowing where it was heading and enjoying the freaky ride. Ben Mendelsohn was incredibly creepy, but all were brilliant. Wondered exactly how the Academy considered Jacki Weaver's role to be so special for a nomination - then with what, 20 minutes of the film to go, I got it. What a star turn. Wow.

Two 'about time' films off the list, one a classic and the other with potential to be so, at least within Australian cinema history. Good to have made progress in this department.

I hate it when people contradict their thoughts about me to my face. As a person that values honesty for the big things (concerning friendships, relationships of all varieties, whatever) very highly, quite possibly the biggest insult someone could give me is their dishonest thoughts. Don't tell me something I've said/done is acceptable and then tell me clear improvements could be made. It's one or the other for goodness sake! I won't stand for looking like a fool who seems like they need encouragement when it's probably a good dose of constructive criticism that could be much more effective. They are two different things and I accept both with equal gravity.

That's all.

7:08pm - Followed through with my previous blog and updated my LinkedIn. A small win for the day.

Because THAT'S how excited I am about this. I've written about films for 5 years now, taking in studies and my contributions to Cut Print Review - but the past week's events have conjured what I think is just sheer luck.
I volunteered to fill in as film reviewer for the Daily Liberal over the summer break after our regular movie guy applied for stress leave ahead of his New Year holidays, right? I figured that's something my editor shouldn't have to worry about filling for the period. Plus I wanted to have a crack at newspaper reviews. Which I realised did have a slightly different structure to what I had become used to.

Tomorrow's edition with my latest review

My first review was New Year's Eve last week (average, 2.5/5)... I found out two nights later that said movie guy had actually resigned. I mention something to my editor about Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol yesterday and he turns to me and says "So it looks like you'll have the full-time job." Although under unfortunate circumstances I end up being offered the gig.
I am now proud to say I'm the film critic of the Central West - my reviews carry to the Western Advocate in Bathurst and Central Western Daily in Orange. Woah.

I do admit, I felt more in place writing this week's review - I knew more about how I wanted to structure what I was saying, and I knew to find a picture too for the sub-editors too!

Then something that totally rocked my world.

My editor knows I've written for CPR (although not the Cannes part) and I'm really into film. Today I asked whether he needed a draft printout like everything else we submit, and he just said no because he trusted that it would be fine. Double woah. That's made me feel pretty confident I'm on the right track with my (general writing and) filmic analyses - which I value perhaps more than anything else I write at this point in time.



So with this week's major new release, I accepted my own mission. Having never seen all three of the previous films I watched MI1 on Tuesday and 2/3 in a double on Wednesday. While part of this purpose was to do mini-reviews as a breakout piece [subsequently not published for lack of space :( ], I didn't want to go in blind. And what FUN the series is! While 2 and 3 aren't as strong, there's still certain elements that stick out - namely the character development which always works in its favour. And while it's a shame to see Tom Cruise now that much older-looking, he still has this role down. But the first one's still the best, that really took me by surprise.

So here's the review close-up-ish if you can read it :D

If you've seen it - do you agree? Disagree? Always appreciate the feedback!



The talks I have with my mother every night (yes, the chain is yet to be broken since my move) are nothing short of enlightening. Last night she told me about the love and sacrifice a woman makes for her daughter's happiness. The latest family happenings.

My cousin Maree asked my aunty Lucy to make some kourambiethes for her clients at work - you know, the Greek shortbread biscuits either round or cresent shaped. Since she had two days off Lucy agreed being the good cook that she is, and set on making 120. Not 120 biscuits it turns out, but 120 boxes of 5-7 biscuits. Now, 120x5 is 600. By the end of Monday she had made 800 - their demand grew. And then some. Over two days Lucy made 1200 of these biscuits. TWELVE-HUNDRED. My golly, that's a lotta dough. And icing sugar, wowee. But obviously a lot of love to go with it. Hilarious! How exhausting though, what a trooper! Damn, I gotta get me one of those, I miss Yiayia's.

Then conversation moved somehow to chain letters and my mum reveals herself to be a total sucker for them because she worries she'll get bad luck if she doesn't forward it to ten friends. Oh wow. Then a bit of gold: "I would write to ten people every time I got one. Because that's what we used to do, we'd have to write them."

Something tells me the chain letters were a bit more substantial than 'you are awesome, forward to ten people if you think they're awesome too'. They would have to be right? Aaaahhhhh I love my mother's randomness sometimes. Eight days until the parents are here in person to dish out some more...

Does anyone else out there feel as much of a satisfaction as I do when rediscovering your music library?

I took that wonderful voyage after I volunteered to make a playlist for my work Christmas party last week.

At the paper there's not just the journos and sub-editors, but also the sales, advertising and accounts people. Men and women of all ages who like different styles of music. And we were in an open space in the bistro part of a pub, not a function room. So a little bit of extra thought had to go into it.

Going through all the playlists I'd previously made on iTunes, and then all the downloads I'd ever gathered, I found some awesome songs.

What mainly struck me was that I was definitely aware of Gotye's talent before his huge 2011 success. Problem is, like with other artists, I nowadays hear a song on the radio but never retain the connection of the song name or artist. So with my delight I found 'Eyes Wide Open', and fell in love with the song all over again. That was thanks to my brother for giving me Triple J's Hottest 100 of 2010 early last year.

I ended up with a real mixed bag to try and cater for all the different age groups, about half a year or two old and the other half a mix of 70s/80s/etc. I warned the manager of the place that it was diverse; I actually felt a bit anxious that people would complain and have it taken off.

But it didn't.

I got a comment from said manager which I didn't know how to take but let it go: "you weren't kidding, it really is a mixed bag" (I understand it was being streamed to the front outside area, and consequently that may have been after Wham's 'Last Christmas' played - I HAD to do it, what's a Christmas list without that song?!).

I was rather proud of myself. Assimilating into Dubbo life. Making my mark in the workplace.

***

As a side note, listening to music as I cook has also revealed some forgotten gems on my iPod. Now depending on your musical preferences you may beg to differ, but I for one reason or another find the poppy songs resonate most of all.

The main one was 'Tell Me' by Christina Aguilera and P Diddy. What a strong, kick-arse r&b grind, totally love it. Then Holly Valance's 'Naughty Girl' at one point too. Wow, I could be vilified for admitting that. But this is her 'nice' song. Mellow.

To better Australian music, Killing Heidi's 'I Am'. That was used on the Spiderman soundtrack right? They were good. And I remember the song sounding a bit different for them at the time but it's great to listen to even now. Plus it makes you think of Spiderman swinging around the place ;)

What gems have you discovered on your iPod long hidden? Or have you found a song that you swear you don't know how it got there?

Part of the Daily Liberal experience so far has managed to include a dragon boating competition. Where the local club decided to get businesses around town involved, going head-to-head. To the death.

We were hoping with a print showdown with the Dubbo Photo News but they lost while we had a bye so that was a bit disappointing. But we were up against the formidable opponents from Macquarie Alarms so knew we were in for a challenge.

There were fears no-one would show. I managed to miss the turnoff and briefly get lost (I know, think it was my first real head-scratcher since being here, had to happen sometime). It had been rain-delayed for a week so tension was high. But most of us got there and we kitted up.

My battle scar one week on. Ouch!

SO glad half the club was in that boat with us, otherwise I know I would've been seeing murky brown. Those who know me realise I'm not the most confident with watersports, or being in deep water really. But once I got the technique right with the paddle, it was kinda fun. Stressful because you really have to keep in time, but good to be part of a team.

And then there was the race. Only stretching over maybe 200m or so, it felt like FOREVER. You don't even look up because you're going so hard. And I don't even think we were at the club people's 70 per cent. By this point my elbow and thumb had been knocked to the bone, my left thigh and bum were sore, but I was still pretty much forced to go full pelt.

We came second! V for victory! But that's not the point. We had to paddle back, and I was pooped. On top of everything else, I could hardly move my arms and could feel the right side of my back overstretched. I swear it's been a week and a half and I've only just recovered.

Man was I relieved to be on that sand (which is totally going to be my great tanning spot for the summer because there's sand and the view is nice, but I don't think I could bring myself to swim in the river). It was nice to see one of Dubbo's main features that way though, when I had a second I tried to take it in!

The Daily Liberal team... V for victory!

Ok, went overboard with the title there didn't I? But I was ON A FILM SET today and it kicked arse! A new Australian film The Front, set in France in WWI, is being filmed on the outskirts of Wongarbon, a village 15 minutes away from Dubbo. I've been following the audition process through the past two months and now they're finally in action!

I was lucky enough to talk to director Johan Earl while he was in makeup, and the morale on set was high after six days of long shooting. Other filming in Sydney has been completed so this is getting to the end of the production road, and he was rather pleased with how it was going. Look out for the goss on Monday online for Daily Liberal and transcripts with Earl and Dubbo actress/film set lender Sarah Mawbey on Cut Print Review soon!

Great way to end the week... but I want to know who else has been on a film set? Anyone?

Yes, I know, I have a slight obsession with the stuff. I love eating it, smelling it, and heck, just looking at it. But anyone who listened to me on Fresh before leaving Adelaide will know I was petrified about the fact I had to learn how to cook. Ab-so-lute-ly petrified. Not cleaning (although using a washing machine is surprisingly still an art to be crafted), not living by myself - or living so far away from everyone I know for that matter, but cooking.

But since the move I've really found an appreciation for it.

Living by myself I couldn't rely on anyone else, and I couldn't stand the thought of having Subway or sandwiches every night. So armed with plenty of cookbooks that were great presents, I started browsing to suss what I could be capable of. And it wasn't much. But a lot of recipes really aren't difficult once you have a go of the style of cooking once (like baking, although my tuna bake failed a bit).

This story should've gone national because it's totally shown how awesome the community of Dubbo is. And of course because it's terribly terribly sad.

The Blunt family had moved to Dubbo for Allan's work, using their life savings from Sydney to make it happen, but his job was made redundant two weeks after getting here. Then one night little Ashley was taken to hospital because of strange symptoms but got sent home. She died the next day. True story.

Through the Daily Liberal, an appeal was formed where a local bank account was voluntarily set up. I put in $10 because I felt terrible for the parents and they couldn't really afford her funeral. In the last 5 days or so since, there's been over $10,000 pledged to help them pay for the owing costs. They don't know anyone here and it was terribly hard for them to approach the paper for help, it's heartbreaking.

Have a read of the full story, the front-pager from November 24 written wonderfully by one of our senior journos Heather Crosby. I seriously cried reading this, it was terrible. Here's a follow-up too.

In other Dubbo-related stuff, the news a cop was shot while hunting for alleged murderer Malcolm Naden outside of Tamworth this afternoon has got the state buzzing. He's one of NSW's most wanted and been on the run for six years after two women were killed. One body was found in a closed room and the other was never discovered. Grisly stuff.

How stoked am I?! For the first time in... probably a year to be quite honest, I will be up to date with the latest film news, interviews and reviews from the wonderful and witty team at Empire after I renewed my subscription. This has been a long time coming (like many other things in my life, *sigh*).

I'm just as excited that it got here when it was meant to and not late like most of my other letters. Problems with getting the post were seemingly rectified until I got rubberbanded deliveries conspicously before 7am last week... but perhaps I'm good now. Either way I'm going to promise myself NOT to fall 8-9 months behind like I did before going to Europe. But I have much less to do here than in Adelaide so with any luck I won't have to try too hard.

Speaking of extra-curricular activities, here's one that's exciting me to no end. There's a FILM SOCIETY here. In Dubbo. With 300+ members. Their AGM is next week and I've initiated contact about becoming a member... truthfully, I think I would be great one step higher as a part of their committee, but I'm worried I've just missed out on applications ahead of the meeting. What a total fail that would be - you would think my experience would be a total asset for them. Just sayin'.

I'm also attending a Rotaract dinner/meeting tomorrow night. Rotaract? I'd never heard of it either, but it's a Rotary group for 18-30somethings. Figured there's no harm in checking out what they do... look at me attempting to assimilate in the community!

Totally forgot I'd taken these photos in the craziness of trying to find a place! A McDonald's update for Australia's 40th birthday celebrations not so long ago - who else had the Shaker fries? Were you a fan?

A McDonald's Odyssey: one girl's quest

I had my first roadtrip with company yesterday (Saturday) when I drove to Narromine with fellow newbie sub-editors Orlaith (from Ireland) and Jess (NSW). Now, Narromine is only 30 minutes away but on the highway it still feels like it takes a while. Once the nice drive leads you into what is an industrial entrance with the silos(?? still getting some lingo), you eventually hit the main street which is lovely, lined with palm trees and a an interesting statue of a baker.

A couple of nice boutique/giftware shops were trading (luckily, otherwise the trip would've been quite pointless), and we satisfied our hunger with some fried grub at the local pub. The childhood home of Glenn McGrath, we honoured his great contribution to cricket by admiring the statue there in his honour (and explained to Orlaith the 'ooh aah' phrase for future reference), before heading to something we stumbled across on the Information board. The Andonbel Alpaca Farm and Coffee Shop - we had drinks in a train carriage.


You can tell how excited I was by forcing the girls into a photo! It was the most interesting concept you could ever think of in a town of Narromine's size (almost 4,000 I think). You looked out the window and it was farmland. We didn't get up close and personal with the alpacas in the end, but I had a mean strawberry milkshake. The service was incredibly friendly, I found an alpaca pin that I'll make part of the travel collection, and the Mars Bar cheesecake is why I will be going back. It looked incredible and life won't be complete until I try it. The girls said it's a bit far to make our local hangout... half an hour, half a schmour.

We saw a mother and two kids cruising down the road in a carriage pulled by a pony as we made our way back through Narromine. A pony. I actually slowed down the car on a road you could drive at 90km/h to get a better look as they went past. We were all too excited to get a photo in time though!

I still can't believe how cool that coffee shop was. Where's the coolest place you've ever eaten or had a coffee? Or do I win?

Having some time on my hands on Saturday and not really in the mood to do my handwashing, I decided to go look at some shops in Dubbo's south I hadn't got to before. And because I was near the highway heading out (one of them, there's three plus other roads...), I just thought I'd drive that way.

I did have a destination in mind. Skipping the first village off the highway, I beelined for a small stop named Geurie. I knew they had a good pub and it was lunchtime so thought I'd make the effort for a decent pub meal. The sun was shining after some rainy days, and driving past the (perhaps not) surprisingly green pastures was simply beautiful. With a blue sky and fluffy clouds, singing to songs like Cee Lo Green's 'Fuck You' was always going to be that much more spirited. I heart Triple J (sidenote: how sad is it that Rosie's stepping down from Super Request... haha I'll always remember her as the cool chick who introduced the eps of Degrassi: TNG on ABC).

28 kilometres later I got to Geurie. There was the pub, a petrol station and a general store open on the main street. Pulled over, realised there wasn't even any historical sights here via mobile internet. Hm. Nice building for the post office though, and a cool train station. Halfway between The Outback and Sydney apparently.

Went to the pub as intended, only to be told by the shady guy behind the bar they weren't serving food. Apparently a group of five travelling through didn't know that either.
So having no choice, I decided to make the drive back and stop in Wongarbon, that village in between. I knew they had a pub. At least they have a gallery there (although arriving at the closing time was bad timing). Walked into their pub a bit more confident - but the man said their meals were only for dinnertime (on Saturday anyway). He did offer that I could eat a pie from the general store in their beer garden, but I passed.

Ten minutes later and I was back in Dubbo. I went to the ultimate fail-safe and ended up buying a massive half-wrap from the Short Street Store and ate it in Victoria Park. Learnt an interesting lesson: the enticing roads can lead you anywhere but not anywhere has food.

Have you travelled a while only to find you couldn't get what you wanted? Food or otherwise?