Cinema under the stars on a balmy night

The sun had already disappeared behind the buildings by the time we got there. This is the last pretty place left during this drought I sighed as I lowered myself down onto the grass. The lawns were filling up quickly, some families with their children in tow, a couple of lone spectators, girlfriends toasting the summer and couples snuggling into the crooks of each others necks. I notice the little knowing smiles on their faces. I look around at all of us, brightly animated, relaxed and happy. From above we must look like a giant patchwork quilt of colour.

E is swatting at her legs – the mosquitoes a menacing beast. L is busying herself with preparing the food and I am looking out over the wave of people around me. A group of men sharing a slab of beer. A couple smiling at each other. A father, rocking his young daughter to sleep in his arms. He looks at her adoringly. My eyes notice a young woman directly in front of me sitting alone on a picnic rug. Her lipstick is freshly applied and hair looks immaculate. She is a vision… waiting to be viewed. She rearranges the cheese platter a thousand times while looking at her watch, then at her phone and then out towards the entrance. I follow her gaze, hoping to see a man rushing, late, anxious – but there is nothing but more families and giggling girls.

The sky darkens into a hue of mauve, indigo and pink. People are settling into their rugs, lazily picking at their dips and crackers. E is talking about her new pup and L is offering sound advice to stop the night time whining. I am scratching the back of my legs. Stupid prickly grass. The girl with the shiny hair stares at her phone intently. She picks it up to make a call. Frown, hushed whisper, Where are you? But you said.. She hangs up and looks down at her cheese platter. She wipes at her eye – it is a fleeting movement – quick, embarrassed, frustrated. She turns away and looks at the sky.

This brightly coloured patchwork quilt of people are now shadowy silhouettes against the dusky sky and sad girl with the immaculate hair and lipstick looks so alone on her rug for two. A couple of bats fly overhead at the botanical gardens – the last remaining few of a colony relocated elsewhere.

The movie starts and I am staring at sad girl. I would have left by now whispers E. I’d be digging into the food and watching the movie offers L. I’m not sure of what I’d do if I was Sad girl. I think I would have started to cry, but pretended I wasn’t.

The opening song has settled the children and there is a strange hush over the crowd as they watch, enthralled by the action on the large screen. Then suddenly from nowhere, there he is – bespectacled and casual. Sad girl looks up and the sadness disappears. I can almost see the lights of electricity dancing around her hair with excitement. He plonks down beside her and gives her a kiss on the cheek. She beams up at him. He will never know how sad she felt when she thought he wouldn’t come.

McLovin’

Stuff I’m just loving right now.

Innovative Internets:

Wainy Days

(That link takes you straight to the site mydamnchannel which has all the episodes – is better quality than below – YouTube version)

This is a new internet channel show (actually it’s been around for a while) created by the masterful and hilarious David Wain (whom I am going to go on record right now as LOVING and wanting to have his babies). The show takes a look at the dating dos and do nots of a perpetually single guy in his late 30s living in NYC. So far there are 20 episodes of completely inappropriate humour that often goes way too far and answers the eternal question: So THAT’S what they’re really thinking. Okay, not really but it’s HILARIOUS. Love how all the friends work in a sweat shop. What’s with that?

Many special guest stars – mostly from old projects like The State, Stella and Wet Hot American Summer.

I love this show so much it hurts <3<3<3

(If you’re over at MyDamnChannel I also highly recommend the soap opera spoof “Horrible People” and “You Suck at Photoshop” which are both also HILARIOUS!)

US Cable TV

Dexter.

This one is old news but for those who have not been initiated yet Dexter is the nicest sociopathic serial killer you could ever hope to meet. He’s on the Miami Police Force payroll as a blood splatter expert and he only kills people who really deserve it. Honest. No one has a clue that he’s a serial killer…well not yet anyway. His adopted father (a cop) taught him how to cover his tracks and Dexter has been following his golden rules to great success so far. The problem is that his sister’s also on the force and she’s getting a little too close for comfort…

A must see, definitely one of the best shows coming out of the US.

Superficial TV

Greek

Only a few people are really going to appreciate this one but I’m putting it out there anyway. Take one big Geek from high school and put him in college (sounding a little like Undeclared so far eh?) where his geekiness shines on like a crazy diamond. The problem is that his sister is the most popular girl on campus – uh oh. Bro comes along and makes friends with his sister’s secret ex boyfriend who is not exactly the kind of clean cut all American boy that sis wants to be associated with anymore. Things start to get a little complicated for all concerned when it turns out that sis still has a thing for the bad boy …which is probably not a good idea, since she’s going out with Mr Big Man on Campus.

Seriously much less superficial than I’ve made it sound. No really it is. Okay not that much less superficial, but still good tele.

The lead guy is also in the show “Quarterlife”, which started out like Wainy Days, as an internet short. It centers around a 20-something girl who blogs all day about her friends and housemates. Unfortunately they all discover her blog and she has to explain herself.

Reality TV

Project Runway.

I have been loving this show for years now. It never gets old. Take a bunch of struggling fashion designers and give them horrendously early deadlines by which to finish major pieces of fashion extravaganza that are challenging to make (ie: using only materials from the Hersey’s chocolate store??). Then they all parade their models down the catwalk and the worst outfit is eliminated with a swift auf Wiedersehen from host; Heidi Klum. Brilliant and engaging reality TV! The contestants are amazingly talented people with a desire to succeed. The prize is a show at New York Fashion week and money to start your own business. As someone related to a fashion designer I know how difficult this industry is. The real star of the show however is Tim Gunn who is the contestant’s mentor and father figure.

“Make it work!” <3

Retro Love

You know how back in the old days you’d make a mix tape for the people you love? Do you feel that a mix CD is a bit …I dunno; sterile? Do you actually know anyone who still plays tapes with any kind of regularity?

I love me a mix tape and here you have all the joy of a mix tape without the fuss of actually dealing with rewinding and fast forwarding through the songs you hate (for youngies…yes that’s what we used to do back in the old days). It’s a USB stick of around 60minutes of playing time that fits nicely into the tape for packaging purposes. You get to scribble all over the liner card and the gift recipient gets to keep a lovely keepsake while still enjoying the convenience of plugging that sucker into the laptop and downloading all those songs onto his/her ipod. Seriously, cool AND filled with squishy retro love.

Oz TV

Underbelly

click link to go to a video news story about the show and murders

All this killing and stuff went right on in my backyard (so to speak). Makes ya proud don’t it? Yeah, okay maybe not. Carl Williams is apparently unhappy with his portrayal on the show. Christ, beggars can’t be choosers mate.

Oz Blog

The Breakfast Blog

Right now he’s in Boston so it’s all a bit pointless and boring, but once he gets back to Melbourne it’ll be full steam ahead for The Breakfast Blog. The thing I love about this site, besides the fact that it details one of my favourite things (a good breakie …that I don’t have to cook) the site is remarkably easy to navigate and just all round informative. It gives you details on the price (with the nifty price index tag), tells you where the place is, indexes in alphabetical order, location AND by top scores. I love it. I use it. It’s brilliant and Jamie is rarely wrong. The man knows a good breakfast!

Bless!

Games:

Scrabulous

I know I should somehow feel ashamed but actually I don’t. I am, for the record the world’s WORST scrabble player. I did not grow up playing scrabble on Sunday evenings and drinking chocolate milk while my parents played footsies with each other under the coffee table while listening to Tapestry on the record player. Sorry, you must have be mixed up with the Keatons or the Seavers. I think I must be trying to relive the youth I never had or something because I’m totally into the scrabble revival!

Yes, I totally look up words online and cheat. pfcha! Course!

Magazines

Nylon. It’s quirky, it’s Rock N Roll, it’s totally fashion oriented but in a completely approachable way (finally!). It’s just fun. It doesn’t feel like it’s only for girls though I suppose girls mostly read it. It’s a little on the expensive side though.

There is an Australian magazine which I love just as much: Frankie – and REALLY love the fact that it comes with a rip out poster that I always put aside and use as wrapping paper. I like a mag that provides a little something extra.

Poster – dude, because Ro edits it and because it’s swish and glam and makes me wish I was about a million times more stylish than I actually am. It’s art, fashion, it’s a city scape all in one – it’s not your usual kind of magazine. This one is seriously going to go places. It already has in fact. <3

Book

Quirkyalone: A Manifesto for Uncompromising Romantics – Sasha Cagen

Reading To-Do List recently made me go back and re-read this old gem which Cagen wrote first. I’m more convinced now than ever that I’m a bona fide quirkyalone. It’s a manifesto for all those eternally single people – not just girls mind you. Read the essay here. It explains a lot.

Movie

The King Of Kong

I recently went to see this little documentary for a laugh but I became so emotionally involved that I almost scared myself. In fact the whole cinema was booing and cheering a long with it – unheard of in Melbourne!

If you go see one thing at the cinema this year make it this movie – go RIGHT NOW. You will not regret it – you can not make this stuff up. This is a documentary about playing the arcade game Donkey Kong – remember that one? Anyone who was a kid in the 80s would remember the game, it’s a classic. This documentary shows the seedy underbelly of video gaming – a side of gaming that is run by manipulation, threat and a man frightened of losing his world record score to a newcomer.

It’s so very good. <3<3

And there you have the stuff I’m loving right now.

What are you loving? Share!

not a to-do list

I’ve been reading Sasha Cagen’s new book “To-do List”, which is an interesting exploration of why people make lists and for what purpose they do so. The way I think about things is often in a chaotic way. I am not am ordered person by any stretch of the imagination – I constantly flirt from one thought to another often without regard to whomever is listening (yes, I do it when talking/writing too).

I’m miscellaneous to the extreme but there are other parts of my personality that are all about being exacting and precise. I like the idea of being an ordered person but at the same time people who actually ARE really disturb me. Regardless, I do make lists, I never stick to them and often after I make them I invariably lose them somewhere and end up following what I like to think of as the holistic approach to getting things done, but is really about just hoping that things come together at the last minute. Often my lists are as chaotic as myself. I start off with what I might need to buy at the supermarket but end up somehow at point #13 or so with “change the world” and/or “figure out a way to fit all my CDs in my car without them ending up on the floor” – depending where my thoughts are at that time. I’m not sure how I imagined I would somehow change the world (or my car cleanliness habits) between 9 and 11am on a Sunday morning but somehow that’s just how things work in my head. I like making lists.

Here is one of my more ordered lists – mostly because the topic “things I wonder about” is so miscellaneous in itself.

In other news has anyone seen the new Joy Division documentary currently screening at Nova? I’m a big fan of JD as well as New Order. Ian Curtis’ story is such a sad one and it was interesting to hear the former band mates’ take on his suicide and their surprise at it and ..even guilt. The doco has come out on the heels of the movie Control which told the story of Ian Curtis’ life. I meant to play Joy Division as my Musical Monday after seeing Control but something got in the way. I won’t let it happen this time. The band was too good to be forgotten a second time – dark but so, so good.

Love Will Tear Us Apart – Joy Division

Transmission – Joy Division

Atmosphere – Joy Division