Animation

. Brett,, here is an animation I did today. It doesn't have sound yet though.

Sound is coming soon however. We have the softwear on our old steam powered laptop.

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Forbidden Lies Review

Brett>> Forbidden Lies is a movie by Anna Broinowski about Norma Khouri, and the two women are the commanding presences in it. Norma Khouri was revealed as a faker in 2004 for the writing of her book Forbidden Love (The book is no longer in print, pulled by the publishers when she was uncovered, but it is still possible to get it second hand, see link below).




The book put the issue of honour killings in Jordan on the map. This practice is where a man, or some men, from a family kill a female member of the family for having a relationship with a man that the family doesn't approve of. Norma Khouri’s book was about a young female friend of hers who had been stabbed to death by her father for a relationship with a Christian man. The movie is suspenseful and fascinating, the question of, `is there a real victim?´, `is it all lies?´ keeps you guessing till the end. Broinowski has left the film a little ambiguous about this point, even though in the DVD special features it becomes clear that she had made her mind up herself before even completing the filming. I think this was done for editorial purposes and to make the film more enjoyable, but it gave me the feeling that the film itself was faction and undeserving of the title `documentary´ (although I wouldn’t know what else to call it).
Babsi>> It was a very interesting film, because it also showed you a bit about the world of greedy publishers who keenly jumped on the book, because they could smell the big bucks, which the book then delivered. It was fascinating to also observe what kind of idea the west still has about Arabic countries. At the beginning the film showed the story of the woman in really glossy, almost cheesy colours with pretty people as a sort of dramatic soap opera. It already looks pretty strange and fake. Maybe this is how a lot of readers would imagine the book.
One funny example is e.g. that when Brett and I went to Tunisia we firmly believed that an oasis would consist of two palm trees and a pond. But then we saw one and it couldn't have been further away from the truth: it was huge with a lot of trees and water. It's just these weird ideas from maybe fairy tales or books that we have about these countries. It's also tricky, because books can intentionally or not incite hatred. I saw it happen when the book “Not without my daughter” came out in Germany. Hatred grows slowly and books can be totally used as propaganda to support it and explain political actions against countries.
One interesting fact of the film was also that these killings do happen in Jordan and that the Jordanian government tries to cover them up. They are trying to present a civilized Western front so they can get support from the United Nations. But on the other hand who is the West really to point fingers? This is what gets me: the Western countries are always quick to point fingers, in South Italy and Sicily women are pretty oppressed by their families as well, I have never actually heard of honour killings, but they do have a hard time. And Australia isn't exactly harmless when it comes to their own indigenous people. The situation of the indigenous people is dreadful and it is rarely talked about.
Brett>> The movie is thought provoking and not least because of the background of Khouri, she seems to have come from the wrong side of the tracks. I would give the movie three spirals. It isn't a classic of the genre like Fahrenheit 9/11 but it is interesting.

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Smart People Review

Brett>> I really loved SMART PEOPLE. It was a smart movie and I laughed my ass off at the same time. The family in the movie were a disfunctional bunch, sent off the rails by the death of the mother, and we join them in this movie just as they begin to get their act together after what is hinted at as a very long time.

Babsi>> It was very good, the casting was fantastic and very clever. The characters were all very different, smart but cranky professor, smart but kinda unhappy daughter, weird adopted brother funny and dry and the awsome Sarah Jessica Parker as certainly smart and very interesting doctor turned girlfriend. She really has this remarkable ability to create different characters in different films, I mean some people are always the boring same, but she is different. The script was great. What I thought was cool was that it didn’t try desperatly to be a cool or arty film. It just existed, kinda like life. Not like oh this is an arty film I better put weird effects and strange camera angles and maybe half of it black and white. No, it didn’t need that at all, the story just kinda spoke for itself. A bunch of interesting and weird people working out stuff…

Brett>> I loved Sarah Jessica Parker in this as well. She and Dennis Quaid had the grown up deep relationship in this movie and they really sold it. I also liked the other relationship between Quaid’s adopted brother (a middle aged loser) and his daughter (a high-school overachiever). The meeting of his slacker devil may care attitude and her prim control freakery was delicious. At one point she comes into the room and tells him that he should have made the bed because it sets the tone for the day, and he replies that she doesn’t know what tone he is trying to set. Right there we have the character that I most identify with, the slacker brother. I also liked how we see people reading and talking with passion about books at one moment and then drinking and making bad choices the next. We are all that mixture of wise and stupid, just like the people in the movie.

Babsi>> Yeah that was cool. The non smart brother was really interesting, it seemed that he was most happy and comfortable with his choices even though they might seem not soo cool and suitable in the real world. It was the smart people who had issues. Ellen Page as the daughter was a very interesting character, very set in her opinions kinda scary but fascinating. I guess we can assume once she gets herself to California to uni she will be happy and content. Her dad was very self absorbed though and she was really kinda lost in the world. Smart but lost, not an ideal combination. I have recently thought about the smart and bad weather combination. Maybe when its nice and sunny you don’t really need your brain that much?

Brett>> Yeah, this was set in Pitsburgh in the cold. The people had to stay home and read and talk. Maybe the movie wouldn’t have been so smart if it was set on Bondi Beach. So I’d give it five spirals. It was one of the best movies I’ve seen this year so far.

Babsi>> Definitely four spirals from me.

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Spirited Away

We are sitting in a hotel room in Sydney and it's really raining outside. Usually we have a great view of the Sydney Tower but it's impossible to see today through the rain clouds. Last night as we were up till all hours we watched spirited away on Australian TV (unfortunately the dubbed rather than the subtitled version). This is an animated movie from Japan about the adventures of a young girl who gets trapped in a strange Japanese traditional spirit world full of bath houses and priests and witches and other odd stuff. Babsi just said it always makes her cry, and it is a very emotional story. The quality of the animation is just fantastic. Every painted background is a work of art. The motivations of the characters are really strange and otherworldly, you just let yourself go and be taken along by the very strange dreamlike hypnotic story and when the ending eventually comes you'll be just a little sad to leave the spirit world, just like the character.

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The Spiralcat Top 10 Books

The Spiralcat Top 10 Books

Brett: How about I chose five and you chose five?
Babsi: Yeah we can do that.
Brett: OK, what's your favourite book ever, ever?
Babsi: And that would go in 1 wouldn't it?
Brett: Yeah, I'll put yours 1 – 5 and mine 6 – 10.
Babsi: I've got a few. A Hero's Walk is one of them. And Maurice is another one.

- Much discussion later the list is formed -

Brett: So our first choice is Norwegian Wood?
Babsi: Norwegian Wood is a book by Haruki Murakami who is a very famous author.
Brett: Oh yes huge.
Babsi: And his stuff is mad but I like it. His book Kafka on the Beech is good but too mad. Norwegian Wood on the other hand is lovely. It is also a bit crazy, he always has these crazy elements, but still, it's a very, very good book. It's about this guy falling in love with a woman who plays the piano and ends up in a mental institution. It's very, very sad but good. Murakami's special flavour is in the detail. The devil is in the detail and he's got plenty of it. Murakami writes the same way Wong Kar Wai shoots a film. They have a lot of really fascinating similarities. They paint the same pictures in my head, and the pictures are so seductive that I always want to go and do whatever they are doing. They are often sitting around eating a lot of Japanese food and the way he describes it is so sweet that I want to go and eat Japanese food with a friend as well.
Brett: So it's a sad story, but the details are described very sweetly?
Babsi: That's the thing, with Murakami it's probably the wrong thing to try and see the whole picture. As a book, you would think that you have to see the whole picture. But his details are so very sweet and touching.
Brett: The next book on our list is Lucki Live. What's that?
Babsi: Lucki Live is really cool it's by the very good Austrian author, Christine Nöstlinger. A really good author for both kids and adults, who really understands them both. It's a very special book. I think she wrote it in the 70s or something. She's a sort of 60s, 70s writer but she's still around and she still writes heaps and she's pretty much with it. It's a coll story about this girl and her best friend/neighbour/class-mate, and they're very close. They sit together and walk to school together, but then he goes to England for a year as an exchange student. When he gets back he keeps saying, “You should have seen this live!” And he looks like John Lennon, hugely influenced by whatever England was like in the 70s. His friend is a bit bewildered by all this. It's also lovely because they all live in a big building and everybody knows each other. All the neighbours know each other and Lucki Live's mother has a big kitchen where she makes food for all the kids who just hang out there and she doesn't know what to do about Lucki. It's a story about dealing with a massive change in a person.
Brett: Why is he called Lucki Live?
Babsi: Because he keeps saying, “You should have seen it Live!”
Brett: (Laughs) That's cool.
Babsi: It's cool, it's a cool book.
Brett: Now we come to Hero's Walk.
Babsi: Hero's Walk is set in India and it's very, very sad. A tragic family story about a family who have to get to grips with the fact that the daughter moved to Canada and married some dude. They are both in a car accident. They die at the beginning of the book, and it's terrible you thing, “Oh my goodness, oh dear!” They had a kid and the kid has to go over to India. The kid is completely from a different culture to her grandparents.
Brett: So she's a bit like Lucki Live.
Babsi: Yeah, but it's very different. You can't really compare it. It's quite interesting and special, it's about a group of people and how they deal with the kid. The grandmother is really nice to the kid but the grandfather was not on good terms with the daughter and is unhappy, grieving and hurt. The grandmother finds out about all this through a phone call and is very upset, she thinks they should have sorted things out and reconciled with their daughter while she was still alive. But there was such a big divide between the daughter and the grandfather that his reaction is different. The great thing about the book is that it doesn't point fingers and say that he is a really bad person. It doesn't discount what he has to say. It's very sad. It paints beautiful pictures.
Brett: Now let's talk about the next book, Maurice.
Babsi: Maurice is a book I read a long time ago. It's by the fantastic E M Foster who also wrote A Room With a View, which is also very good. Maurice is about a young English guy who has to do all the usual stuff, such as find himself a good job. What he certainly shouldn't do is fall in love with one of his best friends. And it's well written, it really is well written.
Brett: What makes it well written, what do you mean?
Babsi: It's the words he chooses, and the pictures they paint. With me the visuals of a book are very important. I went through a stage where this was my favourite book and I gave it to my favourite people, so quite a few people have a copy of Maurice in their library.
Brett: Jazz is next on our list.
Babsi: Jazz is a fantastic book, again because of the pictures Toni Morrison paints.
Brett: What pictures does she paint?
Babsi: I would describe them as bright, sunny things, dancing and the things the city knows.
Brett: So it's about the city?
Babsi: It's about the city, and the black people living there – their relationships. Toni Morrison has a really good way of using words and making you see a different picture, or why the picture is like that. Prejudice is an important question and she's very good at opening your eyes to it, which is magical.
Brett: Next on the list is America the Beautiful, which I love. You didn't rate it so highly though did you?
Babsi: It was a bit grim.
Brett: In what way?
Babsi: Well there is a grim sex scene.
Brett: Oh yeah, with the boyfriend character who's painted very unsympathetically, he even ditches her by fax.
Babsi: Yeah, yeah I remember that, it's well written, but why did you pick it?
Brett: I thought it was just very honest and autobiographical. It really gave you an insight into that life. And I think the main character is a very witty, interesting and talented person. I just love what she has to say. The character has this father, which is obviously a reflection of Frank Zappa. Next we have State of the Union, which I haven't finished reading yet, but we still put it on our list.
Babsi: This book is fantastic and it's by Douglas Kennedy who's a whole different thing to any of the other authors we chose. It's very difficult even to compare books, it's basically ridiculous and impossible. There can be such differences in the writing style. His writing style isn't flowery like Murakami or quite in your face like Toni Morrison or extremely witty and funny like Christine Nöstlinger, the main thing for him is to get his message across. And he smacks you with his message over your stupid head over and over, and if after that you haven't gotten the message that he's not a huge fan of George W Bush then you really have issues.
Brett: (Laughs) but all the different opinions at the heart of the story are almost all represented within one family. Except perhaps the most extreme ones belonging to this Tobias character and he's sort of outside the family group.
Babsi: His views aren't that extreme, that's the funny thing. He's put characters, such as the main character Hanna for example in the 70s, which weren't that radical in the end. People were just concerned about other peoples welfare, which isn't as fashionable now. Lot's of people were concerned and rebelled in the 70s but Hanna was to conservative, and then later in the part that's set in the present people get it into their heads that she's a radical.
Brett: Yeah, that's interesting that she's the square ion the 60s and the radical in the present.
Babsi: It's quite unbelievable, what the author has put that poor character through.
Brett: Next we have The Redundancy of Courage which I just found on a bookshelf in a holiday apartment. I would never have read it apart from that. It was written by Timothy Mo and it's about a Chinese restaurant owner getting caught up in a civil war. And it's a civil war on a small island, like a Tamil Tigers sort of thing. It's just fascinating because he ends up being an accidental freedom fighter. He totally doesn't want to be involved at all. The leaders of the people he ends up with in the rebellion went to really posh schools with the people in the government and it points out the little interesting things like that. It talks about how important the media is and the fiercest fighting in the book is over a transmitter capable of letting the outside world know about the civil war. It's written really quite humorously. Although many tragic things happen, it's written quite humorously. It's a very good book.
Next we have a book called Amrita.
Babsi: Ah, I love this book. I love the author, Banana Yoshimoto. If I had to chose between Murakami and Yoshimoto, I'd chose Yoshimoto.
Brett: Yes. Yoshimoto wins. This book is written about spiritual subjects, but in a really arty way. It's about a woman who bangs her head and starts to have spiritual experiences, and her young brother who battles a little bit with mental illness, and I think wins but while he is having that battle he has some spiritual experiences. And they go to a place, what island is that, that they go to...?
Babsi: Saipan.
Brett: Apparently in Saipan everyone speaks English, and the way the island is described is just beautiful. But it also talks about how the island saw some of the fiercest fighting of the Second World War and how this has left a very strange and spiritual atmosphere. After reading this book I desperately wanted to go there. The main character meets a woman who sings to ghosts, but she meets that character in a deja vu before she even makes it to the island, excellent book.
Babsi: She also has a sister who is a very interesting character, but dies.
Brett: Yes that's right, the way that character is written is heartbreaking.
Babsi: Lastly we have Trading Up which falls in a strange category. It seems to be a women's cliché which can't be taken seriously but it's actually very well written. It's very poetic, there's poetry in unexpected places.
Brett: I remember this scene where a character is invited away for a weekend, the host is very rich and there's a swimming pool. She goes for a swim in the pool and the host tells her off for not showering first. She is really upset and wonders why, if he thought she was dirty, he invited her to come. I liked those well observed moments, that show something really deep and interesting about both characters involved.
Babsi: Yeah, Trading Up is an incredibly intelligent novel. It's about a journey, a character who wants to be an actress. She has to come to LA from the middle of nowhere and takes a really long bus journey, and you take the journey with her.
Brett: Actually I remember that character, she stays at a Motel and she fits right in there. It's a situation that I think I would find really scary but she fits in because of her background.
Babsi: She writes about shallow stuff in a very deep way. Now that is really quite an art form.
Brett: Because that's all life is, shallow stuff.
Babsi: If you just read the blurb on the back cover you could easily misunderstand what the book is. You could think it's just about movie stars and lots of drinking, but it's so much more. It's so much more intelligent. What is your top 10, please leave a comment.

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Lost. To time travel, or not?

Brett: Yeah, I liked this episode. I liked it very much, but it was still a little dissatisfying.
Babsi: Well what kind of answer do you expect. What do you expect to actually happen. You never get any answers anyway, I mean you know that don't you.
Brett: I suppose so. I suppose he's come as near as he's ever going to, to saying it's some kind of time difference between the island and the outside world, and it's something to do with electromagnetism.
Babsi: I've done a bit of research and had a look round and they were talking about another hatch. Which is the Orchid Hatch and is something about bunnies. And Ben knows something that these people want to know about. I'm starting to think that, I'm starting to piece it together a bit. I think the problem is that it's weekly so you've kind of forgotten everything you've seen. Well not everything you've seen, obviously, you're not an amnesiac. You just sort of get confused, and you think, “Huh? Who was this person?” Because there are so many people, and different groups of people now.
Brett: And they behave so oddly. Like these rescuer, scientist, Ben-hunter people who in the trailer for next week, look like they're going to be doing some weird experiment on the island.
Babsi: Yeah, I don't know what the story is going to be about that. It's interesting that one of them is an anthropologist. I thought that was quite cool. I presume they all have their own private goals and you sort of see glimpses of their lives and sort of try to piece it all together. I'm starting to think it may be about cloning. I would maybe even go as far as to say that the characters are clones.
Brett: Got cloned? It happened, it's over? Nah never! I think, they'll think they were cloned, for seven episodes, and then find out that they weren't.
Babsi: (Laughs). That would keep things exciting wouldn't it.
Brett: And that the clones were put on the airplane and killed, to make it look like they died.
Babsi: What? Say that again.
Brett: Ha ha! So there's an airplane underwater and it's full of clones.
Babsi: Right! Right. What? No! Well we've seen it season one yes. Yes that's right people we've had four seasons. So what? Which people are cloned? The dead people are cloned? Why would dead people be cloned ? That's mad.
Brett: There were reports of the airplane being found underwater, and the pilot was there. And didn't...oh, I can't remember what any of them are called now. The one that fell out of the sky and Locke knifed her.
Babsi: Erm, ... Naomi.
Brett: Yeah.
Babsi: Yeah right:
Brett: Yeah.
Babsi: So what's with her?
Brett: Didn't she say, “You are all dead,” and weren't they all watching on TV as the plane was found.
Babsi: Yeah, I sort of read somewhere that that was just a hoax.
Brett: It is but with, clones. You can't make a hoax like that, just with dummies.
Babsi: But who's behind the whole thing.
Brett: The dude from Neighbours.
Babsi: The dude from Neighbours?
Brett: And the OC, and every other show in the world. He must have a great agent. He always plays the powerful bad guy who has a heart attack. He'll have a heart attack in this.
Babsi: I don't know...The rat thing was interesting I thought. He made the rat disappear.
Brett: Yeah, the rat went into a trance and learned how to do the maze, and then did the maze.
Babsi: Oh, the rat didn't disappear?
Brett No I don't think so...The whole thing's mad isn't it?
Babsi: But it is fascinating because there are lots of people out there who wonder about space and time travel. I mean it's strange and magic that we are here in summer. You know, when I'm on the phone to my friends they say stuff like, “I'm just going to put my gloves on.” And I want to say, “Gloves? It's 20 degrees you freak!” Because, you know, you live in your head and so all your friends live with you in your head. And you don't really realise that they're just in a different place. I mean I'm getting my text messages three weeks later. And so you know, it's a down under thing probably. It's really quite weird.
Brett: Yeah, you could wake up screaming in the rain in Glasgow, like Desmond.
Babsi: Oh. No thanks! That wouldn't be good. Why would you chose Glasgow? Why would anybody chose Glasgow?
Brett: Well, you don't chose it. That's the point. Oh my god I need an umbrella brother. An umbrella brother. I need an umbrella brother.
Babsi: It was quite clever to say that the only way to do it was to find his constant.
Brett: Yeah, but it wasn't exactly science though was it. The science was sort of like, “a = x, and some people have really big heads, and so it often rains on a Tuesday, and so you need a constant. You need to phone Emily and then everything will be OK.
Babsi: Penny.
Brett: Penny, sorry. The actor sold it very well.
Babsi: You know, it's a bit like a Mickey Mouse comic. I've read plenty of these Mickey Mouse stories where Mickey has to go backwards and forwards in time, and he needs a bike, and things go wrong because he doesn't have his back. I've always hated these stories, because they're always so crazy.
Brett: Wasn't it all supposed to be realistic. During the first series. It was like, “OK, we know there's a monster, but it'll all be explained in a realistic way.” And now we find out that there are time-travelling people who use constants to get to the island, and whose clothes fall off. I'm obsessed with Desmond and how his clothes fell off. How can electromagnetism make you're clothes shoot off.
Babsi: Well, really strong pressure perhaps would. But the problem is I didn't pay enough attention in physics class to really understand what's going on. But physics is a very strong and strange subject.
Brett: True.
Babsi: And we had this crazy teacher back in school. And we did these weird experiments which were odd and strange. Strange and fascinating, but I was usually bored. So for people having physics class, you know, they're probably all watching the show, and they can bother their physics teacher.
Brett: I wonder what the teachers will say.
Babsi: But these things have a fascination, and dreams and flash backs and flash forwards. You know, you're always saying, “I'm getting a deja vu.” For me, the place around here seems super familiar, and I've never even been here. It feels just as familiar as if I'd lived here all my life. And I f´think a lot of people feel these things and I think that's a big part of it's success. I think each show creates a lot of theories, and bit, by bit it reveals stuff. I mean when you go back and recap, or watch it again, or whatever, you'll notice different stuff. I think that book was very interesting that the erm her dad was buying in an auction. And the auction was about the Black Rock. The pirate ship. Penny's dad is after the book. He wants to find the secret to time travel.
Brett: Ah, that makes sense. So it's all about time travel now. It is pretty much true. This was the episode where it all fell into place. But what's Ben up to? Are they all time travellers or something. (Shrieks in pain). I just put the phone charger on my lip and electrocuted myself. Ow, that hurts.
Babsi: He's experimenting on himself.
Brett: I just travelled in time. I was just in Glasgow in the rain. I wanted to go to the tropical island but I went the other way.
Babsi: People are going to read this. Stop it now.
Brett: Ow. But it hurt.
Babsi: Anyway apart from the grumbling.
Brett: There are quite a few volts going through that thing, ow.
Babsi: But who would have left the boat there?
Brett: Some pirate. The pirate is probably one of the others.
Babsi: What? What are you talking about?
Brett: The hostiles, where did those people come from on the island? They are people from time or something.
Babsi: There was some good photography in this episode. I must say that. When Desmond was in the phone box being shot from above. That was a nicely planned very clever shot-
Brett: Did you like it. You haven't said if you liked the episodes.
Babsi: I did like it. I liked the actor who played Desmond. He's good. He can hold an episode really strongly.
Brett: I like how strange that character is.
Babsi: He reminds me of someone from Brighton. Think about the people from Brighton who were into crop circles. Oh they had fun in Brighton. They're really quite nuts. I did like it. It was really quite interesting. I mean if you found everything out tomorrow, you would probably be disappointed. There are lots of things that didn't happen. It's not the purgatory thing that a lot of people thought it might be in the beginning. It wasn't that at all, but a lot of people said time travel early on, when I was looking through all those forums. My favourite was always the flashbacks, they were always a cool layer that told you a lot about the people. And the island itself is an important presence. It's a specific place with specific circumstances, people seem to age more slowly.
Brett: I guess that's why Penny's dad wants to find the place.
Babsi: Something to do with the magnetic stuff. Her dad must have his own reasons.
Brett: Perhaps he wants to live forever.
Babsi: He certainly didn't care about Desmond. How many spirals should we give it?
Brett: How many?
Babsi: Three, I guess. One for the plot, one for Desmond's acting and surely one for the photography. But it seems to come together a bit more, I think the clue will be in the journal, which pennys dad bought. Pennys dad might be the spy and the captain of the ship.

We have added an additional related Lost item which is the book which is rumoured to have been the inspiration for the story.

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Let's Read State of the Union

Brett: Right now, we're both reading State of the Union by Douglas Kennedy.
Babsi: Yep. But we haven't finished it yet.
Brett: We haven't finished yet.
Babsi: I'm about half way.
Brett: I'm on page 32.
Babsi: Why did you start reading it?
Brett: Because we decided to read the same book, so we could talk about it on the blog.
Babsi: So what's your impression so far?



Brett: I like it. So far it's just been one character talking about their life, what's she called?
Babsi: Hanna.
Brett: Yeah, that's right, Hanna. And it's really interesting. It's set in a period I really like, that revolutionary Vietnam war period.
Babsi: Me too. I like that period too, and there are not that many books around. It's hard to get cool books about it.
Brett: It was you who chose this book, why did you chose it?
Babsi: I liked the cover. It's a seaside sort of cover and she looks interesting and sort of thoughtful. It's a really good cover. And I did read the back and it did talk about the 70s but it's not just set in the 70s. Half the book is set in the 70s and describes her situation then, which is really quite modern because she marries this doctor dude.
Brett: Ah, Doctor Dan, I've already met Doctor Dan. She falls in love with him almost straight away.
Babsi: All these Doctor Dans should be avoided.
Brett: What, like the Doctor Dan in Return to Eden, your favourite show?
Babsi: It's not my favourite show, and it's not going into the top ten.
Brett: We just watched twenty episodes on DVD and that was just one of the disks.
Babsi: I didn't want to go to Sydney after seeing it on that. I thought I wouldn't be able to take it.
Brett: I liked the Doctor Dan on that show. He kept turning up at just the wrong moment and thinking his wife was having an affair.
Babsi: Which she was, but anyway that's not important.
Brett: And he would turn his back just as she threw the cad off. So what about the Doctor Dan in this book?
Babsi: Oh he's just an ordinary character. He's all right. He's just a doctor kind of character.
Brett: She seems to want to build an ordinary life, not a student radical kind of life.
Babsi: I think she wants to rebel against her parents. Her parents are really into the hippy thing. Her mum is an artist. A really interesting New York artist. Her dad is this really famous revolutionary dude that everyone is really keen on.
Brett: And apparently these figures really existed back then. You could become really famous by leading the take over of a University Campus and giving talks, like anti Vietnam War talks.
Babsi: Yeah, there's a lot about that in the first half of the book, and then something happens that's quite cool. It's written almost like a movie. There is this stuff going on and you're like OK.
Brett: Don't spoil it for me. I'm only on page 32.
Babsi: Well she meets someone and something happens. Something interesting, and after that we come to a time after she's had her kid. And I think she lives in a different place, in a nowhere corner of Main. She's forced to break the law, even though she's a totally law abiding person. She's forced to break the law in an interesting way. And then...
Brett: Yes, she's totally square.
Babsi: Yeah, but she's nice, it's really unfair to say she's square.
Brett: Even in these few pages I've read about her life, she made it really interesting. And you think I could live like that.
Babsi: Well I wouldn't.
Brett: Yeah, it would be too much work. I mean she buys a house, does the floorboards and strips the furniture.
Babsi: Oh yeah that's tricky, you'd never do that. OK that bit is all very interesting. The part that I've been reading, so far is astonishing. And the characters are really interesting. Like she has a friend Margy, and she's really cool. She wants her to go to Paris, but Hanna doesn't go while she's still a student. She wants to go to Paris but she's afraid she'll lose the Doctor Dan dude, and so she doesn't go to Paris.
Brett: So she would have been a student, it's not just a holiday we're talking about.
Babsi: She was worried about her relationship.
Brett: Well she would have ended up in a different relationship, that's what happens.
Babsi: I was really worried. I thought, “Oh dear, she hasn't gone to Paris, this is going to be a bit boring now.”
Brett: So you were rooting for the Paris option.
Babsi: Yeah totally, I thought that would be good. I thought, “Oh dear, that's so lame.” But it isn't, because of what happens. It's really interesting, and it's a real page turner. Stuff happens that you really don't expect. And I love that in a book, they become my Bible and I carry them around everywhere, and read them wherever I am.
Brett: I'm really enjoying it already, I think I'm going to be finished it pretty soon. You better be careful that I don't overtake you and finish it before you. Because then I'll start spoiling it ....
Babsi: Nobody overtakes me honey.
Brett: Oh my. You're so competitive. Is it going to be a race to the end of the book, see who can finish it first.
Babsi: Maybe, it makes life more interesting.
Brett: OK so that's why we've chosen State of the Union, and we'll come back when we're both finished and talk about it again.
Babsi: Well yes, we'll have to.

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Sydney Mardi Gras

Brett: So we've just been to the 30th anniversary of Sydney Mardi Gras.

Babsi: Wahoo. It was really, really good. Awesome, I'm still in party mood. It was great, beautiful. I really enjoyed it.
Brett: Yeah, we hopped on the bus from Bondi at what time?
Babsi: Ah, five. Something like five.
Brett: And we crawled home at?
Babsi: Five (Laughs). Crazy really but awesome. It was so much fun because the people were so sweet. I generally think that the Australians are one of the sweetest people. They are so nice and fun and friendly, and they were all sort of dressed up as well.



Brett: Not all dressed up.
Babsi: Not all. But some of them had dressed up elements. They would have like a colourful feather boa or something like that, something really fun. It was so cute it was really one of the best atmospheres that I’ve ever experienced.
Brett: yeah, there was a lovely atmosphere there, wasn’t there? Though there were a few people there who had been drinking for a few hours, when we got there, but even then it wasn’t that threatening.
Babsi: No, no. It was fine, brilliant. It was beautiful, more like one of these London light festivals. Really, really friendly.
Brett: It was kind of family orientated, wasn’t it?
Babsi: Yeah, yeah. It was sweet, very sweet. Very cool, and the parade itself was stunning and had lots of costumes. One guy told me that they make all the costumes themselves, which is the way it works in Nottinghill Carnival. Which is also really cool. But in London things sometimes seem like they can quickly get out of hand, and that wasn’t the case here.
Brett: There were a few people shouting and drunken incidents, but for such a huge crowd it was nothing.
Babsi: Yeah, considering the amount. It was such a huge event.
Brett: And totally mainstream. The first float was the police float, and there were firemen, and then surf rescue people as well.
Babsi: I think there was even the army at one point. Wasn’t the army in the parade?
Brett: I don’t know if that was the real army.
Babsi: (Laughs) Maybe not.
Brett: I don’t know. But there was certainly the police there on a float. And the firemen, they were stripped down to their underpants, dancing to techno music.
Babsi: Yeah, that was funny. And there were some beautiful, beautiful costumes. And all the people, there were some people in, I think, some offices and in their houses watching.
Brett: All along the route.
Babsi: they were, like, watching. It was sweet, incredibly sweet. I guess it was Sydney at it’s sweetest. And it was well organised.
Brett: Yeah, they threw bottles of water into the crowd, and whistles, made sure everyone had a good time. They had their own little TV station on a couple of really big screen TVs. It was really well organised.
Babsi: It was well organised.
Brett: Then after the carnival we went down to Circular Quay, had a pizza at twelve at night.
Babsi: Quite late.
Brett: At a tourist place, a tourist restaurant. And then went looking for a club.
Babsi: And, like, if you don’t know where the club is, where the actual location is, it can be a bit tedious. You end up walking up and down the street thinking, “Oh dear, where is the stupid club.” We were looking for a particular club which some people had said would be good and friendly and stuff, but we couldn’t find it. I still have no idea where it is. And then we met this really friendly guy and, that’s the other thing about Australia, you meet so many nice people, he was friendly and recommended us, what was it? Chinese Laundry.
Brett: Uh huh.
Babsi: And it’s a really cool club. Really cool, it’s just awesome. It’s got absolutely everything. It’s really arty.
Brett: Yes, there’s lots of murals, and it’s really well painted. It’s not just painted black, you know how a lot of clubs are painted black. This one actually had art on the walls.
Babsi: It was so funky. And the terracotta statues on the washing machines. They were so cool. It has mirror balls on the ceiling with Chinese umbrellas. It was just funky. We were really lucky to have met this guy.
Brett: And it had an outside area upstairs with a bar.
Babsi: Yeah, that was awesome.
Brett: With people just chilling.
Babsi: And smoking.
Brett: Yeah people were smoking, but it wasn’t really smokey.
Babsi: We’re definitely going there again.
Brett: You bet.
Babsi: We had a nice day and night out. And now I’m knackered. It’s funny when you see the parade at the beginning with all the people, and then you see it in the middle when the parade is on, and then you see it at the end when there are just a few people moving about. And you know that the ones with wings were at the Mardi Gras. That was so cool, it was so funny.
Brett: And there were so many poor women in high heels who had walked all up and down the parade and couldn’t walk anymore.
Babsi: Brutal.
Brett: Brutal, crying in pain. We saw four or five of them.
Babsi: And some just took of their shoes and walked bare foot. I guess you eventually just have to do that. I think I did that once when I had really uncomfortable shoes. I walked with bare feet. There’s nothing else you can do.
Brett: There was one woman who did that though, but she cut her foot.
Babsi: Yeah, because there’s heaps of, you know, broken glass. But that’s the other thing, it wasn’t that messy, considering there were so many people. I don’t know what they did but it wasn’t that messy. The Nottinghill Carnival, now that was messy. I took a photo of all the newspaper and things around, that was messy.
Brett: It was messy though.
Babsi: No, for the amount of people it wasn’t that bad. And it’s beautiful for a city to do this sort of thing anyway. It’s kind of cool.
Brett: It started with a lot of sunshine and there were a lot of people dancing around. After that it starts to get darker, and then by the end of the parade it’s really dark and there’s lots of lights and even some fireworks.
Babsi: Yeah, the fireworks were nice, they were fluffy. And somebody told me that it’s a bigger event even than new year. It’s a huge event, gorgeous.
Brett: Yeah the parade was cool, but just looking at the crowd was one of the coolest things. All the people who felt comfortable just turning up the way they want. Dressed in some really outlandish outfits, but like, it was cool that day.
Babsi: What do you mean outlandish?
Brett: Well, stuff you wouldn’t go in to the office in. Even on Casual Friday.
Babsi: Yeah, but they were really creative. With this dressing up thing you can really see people’s creativity, and I LOVE that. They had really, really good ideas. One woman had some sort of silver nail varnish, or whatever, and she painted the other one’s arm. It was sweet, really cute. It brings out people’s creativity. They’re like, “Yes I’ve got an outfit, now what am I going to do with it.” And they really did something. They were some of the most creative outfits I’ve seen, to be honest. And there was this group of women sitting down in helmets. They were funny.
Brett: Yeah, we’ve got photos of all this. This is going to be probably our post with the most photos. It’s going to be mostly pictures this time. I think we got some good ones.
Babsi: Yeah, we’ll have to look at them.
Brett: Yeah, we’ll have to look at them. That’s what we’ll do now.
Babsi: Oh, and, five spirals.
Brett: Definitely. Five spirals. One of the seven wonders of the world.
Babsi: Yes, it’s just that good. Drop everything and come to Mardi Gras next year.

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Episode four of Lost, Eggtown

We watched the latest episode of Lost as we usually do. And as usual it left is with a lot of questions. Here are some...

Brett: OK we're Lost again.
Babsi: Yeah, what did you think?
Brett: I enjoyed the episode hugely, as usual. I really really enjoyed it.
Babsi: But more than the last one right?
Brett: Yeah, probably more than the last one. Although with the last one they did fire some rocket, to check some times, and I do like that nerdy scientific stuff. There was none of that in this episode.
Babsi: That was rubbish though. I really didn't like last week, I liked this week. Because the acting was very good, Evangeline Lily, Josh Holloway and Mathew Fox are really good actors and they hold it together. I think Lost would lose credibility without them.
Brett: It's a very complicated story to tell. The scene between Sawyer and Kate in the bedroom, where she slapped him. Where one moment she's with him and one moment she's gone, I found that very confusing. It must have been very hard to play, I think.
Babsi: Well no, he's just being mean and provocative really.


Brett: Was he? I thought he just wanted to be with her and he thought she was pregnant. He reacted like a ...
Babsi: Too relieved, I guess, when he found out that she wasn't.
Brett: Do you think he acted too relieved?
Babsi: Erm, no I thought his reaction was pretty normal. Was it more about her thinking the whole time she's pregnant. I got a bit confused by the whole pregnant thing.
Brett: Yeah, where did the pregnancy come from?
Babsi: I think from a few episodes before, because Julia kept talking about Austin's sample.
Brett: Oh yeah, that's right.
Babsi: I thought the fashion was interesting this time. All the people who escaped the island, because they got a huge pay-off from Oceanic, who are probably bankrupt after this whole thing, their fashion changes. So somebody must have sat down and said, “Ok we need a costume change, big time!” And it's noticeable. Last episode it was noticeable with Saeid, and with Kate this time, it is really noticeable. And Jack, they both look completely different, she looks older, obviously because it is a flash forward. The flash forwards are...
Brett: I don't know if she was supposed to look older.
Babsi: Yes because it is a few years afterwards.
Brett: The series has been going for two or three years now.
Babsi: The flash forward is a few years afterwards.
Brett: But did she really look older.
Babsi: In the trial bit? I thought so.
Brett: Maybe she just looks older because she's dressed conservatively.
Babsi: Possibly, yeah sure. I just thought it was an interesting thing because on the island they are always wearing the same stuff and it's always a bit ripped. It's just a different look. It's funny because you always see Kate in kind of tom-boyish clothes, practical clothes and in the flash forward it's all purpley velvet sort of stuff. It's sort of semi-styled and I did really notice it this time. Maybe because we just went shopping, I don't know why, but I really noticed it this time, and it's interesting. And the twist at the end is very interesting.
Brett: Yeah, but why would Jack be upset about the baby, it's called Aaron isn't it.
Babsi: I think he assumes the baby is Sawyer's.
Brett: But how would that mix-up happen? I mean he sees Aaron all the time.
Babsi: Well, you don't know. You don't know whether Claire died and Kate took the baby...
Brett: But we're supposed to assume.
Babsi: Yeah maybe, but she could just explain it to people. OK, look she's very cautious about that. She doesn't want her mum to see the baby, or anyone, but she wants Jack to see the baby, so it's a bit confusing.
Brett: But why would Jack care if Kate has this friends baby, because perhaps something happened to the friend?
Babsi: Perhaps she even murdered her, I don't know, everything's crazy.
Brett: There are always bits that are a little bit mad. Like Kate's conversation with the scientist in the boathouse, where she says, “Tell me what you know about me.” And he says, “I'll tell you what I know about you, if you bring me someone I want to speak to.” And she says, “Who?”, and he says, “You know who.” And there are always bits of dialogue in this show where nobody is actually saying anything, for line after line.
Babsi: I know what you mean but this episode was a lot better episode.
Brett: It was a better episode, because you did seem to find stuff out.
Babsi: At least it didn't trail off leaving you feeling it's so dull you can't take it anymore. And again that was down to the acting. This time the interesting actors dominated the scene. Not that Navine Andrews isn't bad or anything. It was just a weirder story.
Brett: I suppose we're really talking about this Ben character and who he turns out to be. Apparently the people on the boat know who he is or what he is.
Babsi: Well apparently everybody knows, and sort of assumes he is rich.
Brett: Apparently he's some sort of rich, powerful player.
Babsi: Seems to be. I can't see that he's rich somehow because, how would that even be possible?
Brett: I don't know, maybe he's the head of one of the companies or something.
Babsi: But that doesn't make any sense because we know his back-story and he was on the island. Why would he be rich? Does he have a Swiss bank account somewhere, what's the story?
Brett: We didn't really learn...did we learn anything new?
Babsi: We learned that eight people survived, that's not very many. And somehow we've learned that Claire probably hasn't survived, which is weird.
Brett: Or didn't make it to the outside, because apparently there are some on the island that they might need to go back for. But what I was thinking of is, wasn't everybody supposed to be interested in what the island is and what it all means? Isn't that we were all supposed to be interested in at the beginning?
Babsi: JJ seems to twist what we're interested in.
Brett: So not if one person happens to be in America and another happens to be on an island. I thought the point was, you know, what is the island?
Babsi: Well we sort of found out that the island is kind of like magnetic.
Brett: Yeah, there's some magnetic thing going on, and time is a little bit different on the island, we've learned. But her mum wasn't dead for a thousand years, so time isn't hugely different.
Babsi: Not hugely different no, just a bit.
Brett: I think we've found out as much as we ever will about the island. There are some big companies who are interested in it and it's a bit peculiar, and some hippies did some experiments. And that's all there is to it I reckon.
Babsi: What did you expect though? Did you expect something really different, spectacular and mind-bogglingly life changing.
Brett: Yeah, at one point there was a monster that made clicking noises.
Babsi: Yeah, but that was explained, it was part of the Others spy games.
Brett: The others live in wooden houses. They have book clubs. They don't have monsters.
Babsi: Well there was this weird ...
Brett: And the Hostiles lived in the woods in rags. They don't have monsters. So what was the island supposed to be. Because that's some sort of real high tech. Some cloud of nanotechnology or something, what else, could it be?
Babsi: I think JJ just got bored with it.
Brett: I think you're right. He must have thought, “I'm never going to be able to explain this monster. I'd better just leave it out. I've got three series left for them to forget about it.”
Babsi: No, no, you know what? Jacob can change shape, he's a sort of shape-shifting creature, apparently.
Brett: Uh huh, according to that spoiler we read on the internet.
Babsi: He comes back, I think he was in the second episode, or something, where Hurley takes them to the Jacob's house, and he wasn't there, or the house wasn't there or something.
Brett: Yeah, the house was gone. So the house is the black, clicking-noise monster?
Babsi: No, no no no. You know the Jacob person from series three. He was ...
Brett: (Whispers), “Help me.”
Babsi: ... yeah that's right, well done. He can change shape apparently, so maybe he turned into the monster. I'm starting to think that's possible.
Brett: But that's just nuts.
Babsi: Well yes, but the whole series is nuts.
Brett: The monster started out being really angry, chewing up trees and eating pilots. And then all of a sudden it just disappears, “I'm just going to sleep curled up under a tree, nobody's going to hear from me again.” I think we've found out as much as we are ever going to. I think it'll just keep on tying itself in knots with human interest stories now. I don't think we'll get anymore information. Like I used to love it when they would find a different hatch...
Babsi: But they've run out of hatches.
Brett: Yeah, but I loved that stuff, where there was always something new. Now a ship sails up and it's got some bonkers scientists on board who don't say much. That's not the same as a hatch full of magnetic walls that go “vreep” and maps, all that stuff. And all that came to nothing. You think, “Wow, when they put all that together, they're really going to discover something.” But they put it together and all they find is some wooden houses, and now they live there.
Babsi: It all collapsed like a flan.
Brett: It did, it collapsed like a flan. What ever happened to that Russian guy? He just swam off, or was he killed by his own grenade?
Babsi: He killed Charlie.
Brett: I think he'll be back. He'll be the captain of the ship.
Babsi: I think they even mentioned his name, they said Mikhail.
Brett: Did they?
Babsi: I think so. Maybe not, I can't remember.
Brett: Was the book important, because I missed the title.
Babsi: Which book?
Brett: At the very beginning Lock gives Ben his breakfast, and he gives him a book to read.
Babsi: Oh dear, this book thing. They are like, “We are so clever and we are so educated, we are just going to put lots of books in the show all the time.” Even Sawyer, who is hot, is also a bit of a nerd.
Brett: Yeah, what was he reading? I'll have to look all this up on the internet. It might all be full of clues.
Babsi: Erm, nope it won't be.
Brett: It looked like one of the classics. Poor guy, they've got him reading the classics.
Babsi: He wears those nerdy glasses when he reads. How many spirals did we give it last week. I think two or something. This one should get three.
Brett: Yeah, I'll go along with three, because it's still interesting, it still grips you and you enjoy the episode. You get carried along by it because you've got to know the characters.
Babsi: Yeah, but the credit solely goes to Matthew Fox, Evangeline Lily and Josh Holloway.
Brett: And I think, that's a problem with a show. When it needs that.
Babsi: They're the best actors. They really are the best, they keep it going. Whenever they're around, they keep it enjoyable.
Brett: I like the characters that are a bit more weird in the story. I like the Scottish guy who goes, “Hello brother, I can see the future, and my clothes fall off.”
Babsi: Yeah, but he's in the helicopter, so we're going to find out about him next week.
Brett: I think next week's episode is going to be a lot better.
Babsi: Well the trailer seemed to have a lot of action.
Brett: But it might be disappointing. The helicopter might o a little way and have to turn round because it's stormy and land back on the island. “What happened to you guys on the helicopter?”, “Not very much. What have you discovered back on the island?”, “Nothing.”, “Didn't we think this was oing to be a super important episode?”, “Maybe but it's not now.”, “Didn't the new scientists tell you anything?”, “No, they've been playing cards on the beach.”
Babsi: how to write about nothing, I don't know. I think that's a bit cruel because I like Lost when it goes deeper into the peoples connections. I do like that.
Brett: Which is kind of a deep thing in a way.
Babsi: It's a very deep thing. Maybe JJ wanted to start it as a mad futuristic thing but he changed his mind.
Brett: maybe he lost his nerve.

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Why do we watch the Oscars every year?

Babsi: Why do we always watch the Oscars? It's a rather seedy annoying event actually, although it depends on the presenter. I was surprised to see John Stewart presenting it for a second time. He was just as rubbish as last time really, although he seems to be a friendly soul.
Brett: What makes you say he was a kind friendly soul?
Babsi: Well he was really sweet, for example when he made sure that Marketa Irglova got to make her acceptance speech. That was extremely sweet and I think he organised that. So why do we bother? That was the question.
Brett: Who knows? What does it even mean? A bunch of people in LA like There Will Be Blood and No Country for Old Men. What's that got to do with me?
Babsi: Most of it is really, really cheesy but there are always touching moments. A touching moment was when Marion Cottilard won her Oscar, and she deserved it, well deserved it. It was a great film and a fantastic performance. And the second one was of course when the people from Once won. I was very, very happy for them. It is such a beautiful film. There's no violence in it, it doesn't need any action. They just do their thing and it's just beautiful. It really is cute.
Brett: The Oscar was for the song, and it really fits with the mood of the movie.

Babsi: Yeah, the song's genius actually. So there were these two really special moments, even though you think you're just going to see the same old cheesy rubbish and predictable stuff.
Brett: I liked Tilda Swinton as well, when she won. It obviously shocked her very much and she gave a great speech. It was cool.
Babsi: Yes she gave a great speech, it was funny.
Brett: It surprised me actually. She looks a little austere and librarian like but when she got up on stage she was like a mall rat.
Babsi: And then she was talking about the statuette's butt.
Brett: And George Clooney's rubber nipples on his Bat Man outfit.
Babsi: And you know I haven't seen Daniel Day Lewis's performance but I'm sort of pleased for him because I just like him.
Brett: I thought he was weird. Like a peculiar uncle with his long preying mantis arms and legs flailing about.
Babsi: He is a bit weird, but he's interesting. He was really, really good in In The Name of the Father. Awesome, an ancient movie but we know it because we're kind of ancient. So there always some little surprises. It's the same as Lost, just as you've given up there is a little surprise to keep your interest. I would say that Marion Cottilard's performance was great and the film was excellent. It was really sad. A bad performance could have made it a little pathetic or unbelievable, but she didn't. The way she played Edith Piaf when she was old.
Brett: That was very good, it was.
Babsi: For the same actress to play some one fairly young and quite old is amazing. It was the calibre of Bette Davis.
Brett: She looks a bit like Bette Davis to me.
Babsi: You mean in the film?
Brett: Yes, with the old-fashioned plucked eyebrows.
Babsi: How many times can a person be nominated. I mean Johnny Depp has been nominated how many times?
Brett: Well nobody expected him to win.
Babsi: He could have won for Pirates, but then pirates was categorised as a kids film.
Brett: He should have won for pirates, and they will give him an Oscar one day.
Babsi: Yeah, when he's ancient. When he's 80 or something and not hot anymore, for goodness sake.
Brett: He'll be given an Oscar for something quite reserved with a big scene where he cries, but it's really Pirates he'll be getting it for. I think they'll make him turn up five more times before they give it to him, maybe ten.
Babsi: He should have won for Ed Wood, that was a really good performance.
Brett: Films like La Vie En Rose win Oscars, having your lover die, going bonkers in a hotel room, fading and dying, that's what wins Oscars. Not being a slightly cheesy movie director with a permanent grin.
Babsi: (Laughs) You're so cruel.
Brett: That was the acting, it was a permanent grin.
Babsi: There was a lot more to the acting, I don't agree. He was very good.
Brett: I think he should have got it for Hunter S Thompson in...
Babsi: Fear and Loathing.
Brett: Now that was a really good performance.
Babsi: It was an awesome performance. But you know you can't reward somebody with an Oscar for doing lots of drugs and running around saying, “I'm seeing the bats.” You can't do that. The Documentary on the Iraq war winning was interesting. In the past they booed Michael Moor in his acceptance speech and his speech was awesome. I always wanted to write him an email saying, “Dude, respect.” I thought that was good and it takes guts. It's easier not to be confrontational when you accept something. This always reminds me of the funny acceptance speech in living in oblivion. When Steve Buschemi in his dreams gets what's supposed to be an Oscar and at the end he tells everyone to get lost, and then he wakes up. It's funny, really funny. He dreams he has the guts to tell all the people who have been mean to him where to go. But it's a good institution, because in a way it's a huge recognition for what you've done. Though it won't promise you any more parts. Lots of people have just sort of disappeared even though they won an Oscar.
Brett: I think it's just a brand.
Babsi: No there are good people being recognised for good work.
Brett: I'm always a little disappointed every year when I watch it.
Babsi: There was one year when it wasn't disappointing. When Julia Roberts won, and Denzel Washington won, and Halle Berry won.
Brett: I suppose the Oscars represent the power in Hollywood and when you see something like that happening...
Babsi: It seems that the power is still with white men. Directors are men and they're white, and that's a big thing. The director is a very, very important person.
Brett: When an Oscar is given to a black woman, it shows that something is changing.
Babsi: You see you're not even saying black man anymore, it's 2008.
Brett: Just because you said Halle Berry and it reminded me...
Babsi: Sure, her acceptance speech was pretty good, I liked it. There was a bit of crying but it was still...
Brett: It was real, it was a real emotion.
Babsi: And it's easy, by discrimination, to deny people a chance. Talent is a very tricky thing to define. Most of the musical performances nominated for an Oscar were shriekingly terrible. That woman singing the song from Enchanted was terrible, really awful. Mindbogglingly rubbish.
Brett: It was just dull I thought.
Babsi: Apart from Marketa Irglova and Glen Hansard, that was great.
Brett: It was the only good song in the whole show.
Babsi: That's not really good enough is it.
Brett: I'll give it one spiral.
Babsi: That's cruel.
Brett: No. I mean it.
Babsi: I like the way Johnny Depp just sat in the audience and chewed gum. That was a way of saying, “I don't care about this whole thing.” I quite liked that, it was funny.
Brett: Why did he even go?
Babsi: If your nominated, you have to.
Brett: You can send someone to pick it up for you.
Babsi: You can do that at the Grammys or the BAFTAs whatever it's called, but you can't do it at the Oscars. Did John Stewart present it because of the writers strike, couldn't they get anyone else in such a short time.
Brett: Why did he do it again? He's good on his own show but this is a whole different kettle of fish.
Babsi: I enjoyed the hosting by Whoopi Goldberg, many, many gazillion years ago. And I liked Chris Rock because he was funny. Still one spiral is too harsh, I'm going to give it two and a half. There were three people who won that made me believe it wasn't just commercial rubbish.

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Review of "Definitely, Maybe"

Babsi: We saw Definitely, Maybe yesterday. I think it was interesting. Shall we review it? What did you think of it?
Brett: I really enjoyed it, I thought it was great.
Babsi: Why?
Brett: Well it was really well written, funny all the usual stuff. It was like When Harry Met Sally funny.
Babsi: It's not as good as When Harry Met Sally because, it was good, but the acting wasn't all that great. The main actor is no Billy Crystal and none of those three women are a Meg Ryan.
Brett: I get a bad vibe off him actually. I had to ignore that to enjoy the movie.
Babsi: Really?
Brett: Yeah.
Babsi: No he was ok, he was alright.
Brett: Well we'll see. I've got nothing to base it on. I'll have to do a bit of research in Hello and OK, see what his private life is like.
Babsi: Well no, you can't judge an actor by what his private life is like, that's ridiculous. I don't agree with that.
Brett: Tom Cruise
Babsi: Ah Tom Cruise is just an idiot, we know that. He's a complete freak. Yeah but that's wrong, to judge somebody by their private life.
Brett: He seems to have bad vibes, like he's not nice.
Babsi: I thought he was too nice to be true actually, in the part.
Brett: But it seemed to me that was an act. Like he was gritting his teeth through it.
Babsi: Maybe, so you didn't quite buy his acting. What I thought was brilliant about the film was that it was set in during the first Clinton campaign and he was trying to get Clinton elected. He was phoning people up and trying to sell them tickets to fund-raising dinners, that was funny. The whole background was interesting. I liked the people who worked there, especially the copy girl person. She was cool, she got a bit soppy with the whole proposing thing and that was cheesy but it's an American movie and you've got to expect a bit of cheese.
Brett: There was a lot of cheese, like the kid being very grown up and wise about relationships, that was so cheesy.
Babsi: It was a bit cheesy but I like Abigail Braislin. She was very good in Little Miss Sunshine.
Brett: She acted it well, yeah.
Babsi: She acted it really well.
Brett: But it's a cheesy contrived thing to make a story move along. And that was the first thing on screen, so my initial reaction was, “Oh dear. What have I let myself in for?” But it worked in the end.
Babsi: It did work. I think it did work. She was a bit too good to be true. All the characters were a bit too good to be true. The copy girl wasn't though she was a bit more interesting.
Brett: In the end she was. He told her to get her act together and she became the head of some charity fund-raising company or something and all of a sudden was a millionaire living in a brown stone in New York.
Babsi: You always get that, the big whopping enormous apartments. But then the main character went through a time when he was just drinking and not really getting anything together and lived in a small apartment and I reckon that was fairly realistic. But it was good, it leaves you with a good feeling, which I usually don't get from American movies.
Brett: It was good and it was about a modern relationship.
Babsi: Little Miss Sunshine was a lot better. You really can't compare it at all.
Brett: I loved Little Miss Sunshine
Babsi: It was good. That really was a good movie. But it was an independent one and Definitely, Maybe is a blockbuster. There's your big difference. Although not all art movies are good, Last Days for example is destined for our bottom drawer ( bottom drawer list will follow soon). It's a sort of arty movie about Kurt Kobain and it's terrible.
Brett: It's rubbish, nobody says anything the whole movie. There's a couple of grunts and one yelp but no dialog.
Babsi: You see his butt in the first scene and you think, “This could be a good movie.”
Brett: (Shrieks)
Babsi: Well yeah, but you know...
Brett: That's when the dread really started to set in for me.
Babsi: Well we are different. He looked ok, nice butt.
Brett: It was a bit pale.
Babsi: But leaving that aside, Rachel Weisz's character was quite interesting.
Brett: Yeah, but she put her job first, she was a journalist and she was doing a story on a politician the main character was working for and she went easy on the politician for him...
Babsi: No but she didn't, she published the dirt.
Brett: No she didn't and she got criticised for that so she did a follow up article. She really did her research, and that was when she found out he was dodgy and then published the dirt. And then she got criticised and everyone called her a “bitch”, but I thought if that was a mail character he'd be applauded for it.
Babsi: Ah, I see, I see. That's an interesting point.
Brett: When I saw it I thought, “Now that's weird.”
Babsi: Yeah but, it is very complicated. That sort of ended their relationship didn't it.
Brett: Yeah, that was a deal breaker. He walked out and they didn't see each other for a long time, and they were never close again. Just like that, over.
Babsi: But that's pretty realistic in a way. It can happen. Do you mean a woman would be more forgiving if she was working on a campaign and her boyfriend journalist wrote a negative piece on her candidate? Probably not. It's quite bad if you work for somebody and you write an article about their boss being dodgy.
Brett: I just thought if it was a male character, would people be saying, “It was wrong of him to do his job well?”
Babsi: Her character was really interesting. I thought all the female characters were quite interesting.
Brett: Yeah, apart from the high school sweetheart.
Babsi: But she slept with the flatmate, that was cool.
Brett: That was cool and modern, I liked that.
Babsi: It was interesting and modern so they didn't quite dare to paint her as quite fantastic and perfect, because the main character did at the beginning and you thought, “Oh dear, this is dull.” It was written well, it was a good script.
Brett: It was very witty.
Babsi: It was very funny. I loved his friends, the other guy on the campaign was funny, he was cool.
Brett: You just thought he was pretty. He didn't get the best lines and he wasn't the best actor.
Babsi: I thought he was pretty good.
Brett: He was all right.
Babsi: No I liked him.
Brett: I know you liked him that doesn't mean we can tell everyone he was a good actor.
Babsi: Beans to you, I thought he was a good actor and you'd better agree or you'll get some sand in your face.
Brett: Because we are lying on Bondi Beach recording this on a mobile phone, that's what the sand in the face thing is about.
Babsi: Yay, life is a breeze.
Brett: Life's a dream.
Babsi: On a Monday, I hate Mondays.
Brett: But this movie is good is what we are saying right.
Babsi: I thought it was good. I really liked the fact that it was set during the Clinton campaign. That was cool and they'd researched their stuff well. It was set in the early 90s and that was clever, and there was one bit where George W was on TV. He was just on TV and that was interesting.
Brett: Everyone was saying “Who's this idiot.”
Babsi: Yes! That was cool. I guess for an American movie, that makes it pretty out there. For an American romantic comedy it was pretty out there.
Brett: For an American movie I got a left wing vibe from it, because it showed divorce in a positive light. It wasn't conservative, I don't think, although he did get disillusioned with Clinton after working for him.
Babsi: I liked that, because it's in the beginning that you're all enthusiastic. Like the copy girl character, because she was all... she didn't give a monkey's. She worked on the campaign but she didn't care at all, which was interesting because if people work for the president you expect them to want him to win and that they're all behind it. But of course that's not the case. It never is. I thought she was cool and she had some cool views and I really liked her the most. She was funny and sort of quirky.
Brett: There was a cool scene where he criticised her cigarette choice because they were a bit more expensive than his Marlboroughs. He told her that she was just paying for the logo and she told him that hers actually costed less. They had a bet, and they went outside for a smoking race. And it turned out that his had a chemical in that made them burn faster and his was finished first.
Babsi: It was kind of funny and kind of clever.
Brett: There was lot's of well written stuff where they were flirting without really flirting. Yeah it was really cool. As a love story it worked really well.
Babsi: It did work really well, and they had good chemistry, and it was quite believable, They were just friends for a long time and she dated some hot dude called Kevin.
Brett: That was funny because it seemed like she'd made him up. It was almost like after they had that conversation she went out and found someone called Kevin. Because he didn't believe there was a Kevin.
Babsi: No I believed her, she was cute.
Brett: I didn't believe it either. When he went to the flat a month later and there was a Kevin there I was surprised. It was a funny scene anyway.
Babsi: There were a couple of things that could have been rubbish, like the book thing. You could have thought, “How tedious.” but it wasn't.
Brett: By the time the book turned up I liked the movie so much that I thought, “Oh well, I'm going to go with it.” And the kid thing, in another movie, nope, click, turn off.
Babsi: You had tears in your eyes though.
Brett: I was crying a bit, I liked it.
Babsi: Ah, what made you cry. You cried at Titanic as well.
Brett: That was only once though, in this one I cried two or three times. When she finally realised that she liked him too and she came back from Europe. But he already fancied someone else and he hadn't told her. She was crushed and I started crying a little bit.
Babsi: Ah, you're tragic.
Brett: She was being brave, she just pretended she didn't love him after all and gave him a hug, and was happy for him and stuff. And she did, like this wet eyes thing very well, like bambi. She did it three or four times in the movie and I got wise to it after a while and I even thought she might be just putting some chemical in there to make her eyes glisten. But the first time on the street when her eyes went watery it got to me.
Babsi: In Titanic they had to close the cinema because it was flooding with tears.
Brett: I'm going to declare this review over unless you behave yourself.
Babsi: No you behave yourself, and admit that you cried at Titanic.
Brett: I did, but so did you!
Babsi: No I didn't.
Brett: Yes you did.
Babsi: I did not.
Brett: You wept, it went beyond crying into weeping.
Babsi: You wept, you wept buckets. The cinema was drenched, they had to close the place afterwards. They had to put up a sign saying: "Closed because of too much crying." How lame is that?
Brett: You didn't wail, but you had to stifle the wails, there were some grunts and some snuffles.
Babsi: Titanic is beyond anything, it will be featured in our bottom drawer for being rubbish. So how many spirals for Definitely, Maybe then?
Brett: Not five that's for sure, but not one. Three?
Babsi: Three seems about right.

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Sydney

Babsi: We should talk about Sydney because that's where we are right now. And that's where we plan to be for quite a while, because it's awesome. This place rocks, rocks in capitals, it's so awesome.

Brett: So you're having a good time?

Babsi: This is the worlds best place. It's so versatile, and so interesting and it has lots of different suburbs which are also interesting. The suburbs of Sydney are not like the suburbs of Vienna, or somewhere dull like that. They are fascinating in their own way, interesting in their own right. It is a good place and it has a good vibe. It really does.

Brett: Yeah I agree, I agree. And it feels kind of safe. I might be wrong, we might have had just a lucky couple of weeks.

Babsi: It is really safe. You walk around at 4 o'clock in the morning and it's cool. It's not aggressive and creepy and wild like London. London is a scary place. You sometimes wonder if you'll make it back home alive, or maybe that's a bit over the top.

Brett: No, I've wondered that sometimes on the night buses in London, “Am I gonna get out of this alive?”

Babsi: I know, but that's definitely not the case in Sydney. And you don't get bored with it, you stay here and you don't do the same thing every day. The city is chaotic and it drags you to different places every day, depending on where you stay and depending on what you decide to do. It's a place whose sights don't get boring, it doesn't get boring to look at the Opera House. It just sits there and it is so fascinating, it looks like a sleeping dinosaur.

Brett: How many times have we been down here to the Opera House? We're sitting here right now in the little café, The Oyster Bar on the wharf looking right at it. How many times do you reckon?

Babsi: It really is the most beautiful wharf. Hmm twenty, thirty maybe. It's ridiculous, we've seen it in all different lights. Maybe not in the early morning, but...

Brett: Ha, Ha, Ha, yeah maybe not then.

Babsi: More often the late evening. Sydney a great place, it really is cool, beautiful.

Brett: Is it a bit spread out?

Babsi: It is but in the inner city you are still near the ocean. There is a bit of traffic but here at the ocean it is so peaceful and you get away from everything. The city bit can be busy and annoying but you just have to find your little corner where you can go and hide. It is so calm and the people are so nice.

Brett: I like the way you travel around town by ferry.

Babsi: Yeah, yeah it has something very Venetian in that. The ferries are like vaparetos, but big, big vaparetos. They are not the tiny Italian ones, they are really quite big and they can take a lot of people. They're great, it makes it really quite beautiful, to be able to travel from place to place in the city by boat. It's awesome.

Brett: Because the city is built round a really big harbour.
Babsi: The public transport is really quite good.

Brett: Absolutely, the public transport is excellent, but the accommodation situation is a nightmare.

Babsi: Yeah the accommodation is hard work, mind you we are not in the higher end of hotel.

Brett: Yeah but there is nothing mid range. There are ridiculously over designed and expensive hotels...

Babsi: And they are still ugly.

Brett: ...or backpackers, and there is nothing in-between. You'll find a concrete shed with shared toilets or a motel outside of town.

Babsi: And that a part of town as beautiful as Balmain has only one place to stay in that whole lovely area is stupid. And they have all these places that used to be hotels, but they are not anymore, and that is very confusing.

Brett: They are on every street corner. So you have places called something like Hotel Kangaroo but they aren't hotels they're pubs.

Babsi: The Balmain Lodge is all right, and it is very, very cheap, if you stay for a week it's cheap.

Brett: It's very cheap, but you share a toilet and the walls are white washed brick.

Babsi: It is really ugly. Luckily I brought some fairy lights on holiday with us and when I put the fairy lights up the place wasn't so bad.

Brett: Yeah, if you had to depend on the light they actually have fitted in the room you'd get sick. It's some horrible neon thing that goes, “bzzt, bzzt, hum.”

Babsi: We should write about them on trip advisor.

Brett: Yeah we should, and let people know what they're in for. And the staff, these old Australian men in shorts, “G'day, we hosed the room down for yer, in yer go.”

Babsi: Yeah, it's pretty creepy but it's cheap, and Balmain is a great area to stay in.

Brett: It reminded me of trendy areas of London like Hampstead. Like Hoxton but better groomed, like Camden without the atmosphere of threat.

Babsi: But it's different because it has so much water, and that's essential. Places like Vienna don't have any water at all, and that's really painful and you feel it in the city.

Brett: Yeah, it makes a difference to the temperature, the heat in Vienna can be unbearable.

Babsi: On a really hot day in the summer you feel like you're going to die.

Brett: And air conditioning is unheard of in Vienna, I think there are only three buildings that have it.

Babsi: I hate air conditioning so I'm not so unhappy about that. The architecture here is so interesting. What I find interesting is the contrast between the old architecture and the new architecture. They really, really go together. Like here at Circular Quay you have all the skyscrapers but you also have a building that looks like it was built in the 30s. You see these buildings from different periods right next to each other all over the city and I find that interesting. And all these sights, I mean Sydney Harbour Bridge is stunning, the Opera House is the same, photographs don't do it justice. You have to just stand in front of it and admire it, and I'm not one for opera houses, I really don't care about them. And you can see plays in it, it's not just the opera. There is heaps of live music, so you don't have to go to expensive clubs to dance your heart out. Something prestigious like the Opera Bar can be young and funky like a club. They have free DJs all the time, like every day. Come here to Sydney and spend as long as possible.

Brett: We've raved about Balmain, but what do you think of Bondi?

Babsi: Oh I love it. Bondi is a lot like Brighton but with better weather. How could I not love Bondi, Bondi is kind of cool. The whole of Sydney is cool and I wouldn't hesitate to recommend it.

Brett: Even with the accommodation problem?

Babsi: Pack your own fairy lights to brighten up places like Balmain Lodge, and I would still recommend it, it's so cheap.

Brett: I think only for young people.

Babsi: The North Shore Hotel is all right.

Brett: But it's hot, everything is cheap, the toaster set the fire alarm off, it's sticky, you can't open the windows because of some strange security system.

Babsi: It's still only something like 60 euros a night, even for two people. Another thing I would recommend is the weekly bus ticket, because Sydney is so spread out. And the ticket is good for the ferries as well.

Brett: In Vienna you can just wander about in the middle of town and see most of what you want to see. It's not like that here in Sydney.

Babsi: Well Sydney is ten times bigger. You've just got to live with that. Seriously we're talking about Sydney, Vienna is more like a town compared to that. You absolutely can't compare it.

Brett: Where would Sydney be in your top ten cities?

Babsi: Oh, er, hard, erm, probably 1.

Brett: One thing we have discussed a couple of times though is, what about white Australian people's attitude to the rest of the world and their own aboriginal people.

Babsi: It's difficult, a change of prime minister was definitely a good thing for Australia. I felt that immediately when it was announced and we were back in Vienna. I thought that was very good news for Australia .

Brett: I agree.

Babsi: He creates awareness of aboriginal peoples concerns, the necessity to have representation in parliament. We were warned in New Zealand that peoples attitudes to these issues was worse in Australia but I'm not sure that's true, there was an unpleasant undercurrent in New Zealand as well, but it's good to have a prime minister who cares. I think there is a change happening in Australia, I think it makes a big difference who is at the top. It will make a difference if Barak Obama wins in America, a huge difference actually, a difference you can see immediately. It makes a difference if Prodi is in charge in Italy instead of Berlusconi.

Brett: That welcome ceremony we watched on TV here, they opened Parliament and for the first time he said sorry to the aboriginal people and aboriginal people were part of the opening ceremony for Parliament, and he said he wanted that to become a tradition that would continue, which would never have happened under Howard.

Babsi: Prodi has ideas about making property cheaper in Venice, so maybe this could happen in Sydney.

Brett: You can never predict how it's going to turn out on the ground in politics, but the trying makes a difference. I mean Clinton tried to change the health system, she tried it, and that makes a difference. It puts it on the agenda.

Babsi: So would that make you vote for Clinton or Obama? That's what I want to know.

Brett: I hope they get together and they are a president, vice president team.

Babsi: But which of them would be president though, ha, ha. It's so hard.

Brett: I would want Clinton to be in charge. To reverse the normal stereotypical, man in charge, woman second in command roles.

Babsi: But that's ridiculous, are you telling me that you would not want Obama.

Brett: I would secretly want Obama.

Babsi: I want Obama because the whole system is a bit sticky and dodgy and if Bill Clinton got back to the White House you have got to think about this.

Brett: Anyone who gets to this level in politics is no angel. So is it an issue in Australia because...

Babsi: The interesting thing about Sydney is that it is still cosmopolitan. Sydney is probably more cosmopolitan than London, I can't explain it, it's just..., it's got to do with the attitudes. Because London is very cosmopolitan, and so on, and so on, but deep, deep, deep underneath, they're still racists. They really are, and here there might be more white people around and in jobs, but that was the same in London.

Brett: To get here today we just walked right through the business centre of town, and it was lunch time when the office people come out, and every single one of them was white. It was thin young women, executives and secretaries, and fat old men, the ones with the real power. It's the same as Vienna and London.

Babsi: Yes, yes, yes, but somehow, yeah I know what you mean. So London is more cosmopolitan in the look, and attitude but underneath, it's not perfect. The visuals of the street might be mixed but the attitudes are still the same.

Brett: But that's still important. A friend of mine once told me about how he liked it when he got on a bus in London and heard all the different languages from around the world. It's a groovy thing that you can be anyone and be accepted at least that much. Another friend of ours told us about the bad experiences he'd had in Australia because of being black.

Babsi: Absolutely they were racist. But that was Howard times. I really think that Sydney and all of Australia is in for a change. I feel really positive about it. I feel it's better than Vienna, because even though Vienna has all these people from the East, they are still very racist. And all these dodgy things keep happening that bring shame on Austria.

Brett: I don't want to say Australia is bad, it's not, it's just not good. Vienna is bad.

Babsi: Yes. Vienna is bad. In political campaigns you've got all these dodgy posters hanging all over the place. It's one big uncomfortable fact, and here, I think it's better here than Vienna, but I don't think London is so perfect, it is an issue. London is an interesting and special place and you'll never forget it but it is so grim. This grim thing, the British have taken it and made an art form out of it in music and painting and television.

Brett: We've only ventured into the suburbs here in Sydney a couple of times, but I found them grim.

Babsi: You found them grim? Balmain? no.

Brett: No, we just went to see the zoo and we walked through one of the suburbs, Mossman I think it is, anyway it's so suburban. Anyone who's seen Neighbours will recognise it. They are these mid size houses, kind of palatial but not a palace, bigger than a normal house. Gardeners turning up, kind of deserted because everyone is out at work apart from mums in jogging pants. Everything looked after and painted, awful, just awful place to live. The burbs, Wisteria Lane.

Babsi: But the funny thing is whatever bothers me in other places, doesn't bother me in Sydney. It's really weird.

Brett: Why is that?

Babsi: I don't know, I just like it too much.

Brett: I see.

Babsi: I don't know. I thought it was ok. I'd live in one of those houses if it meant I could stay in Sydney.

Brett: Gasp. You'd live in one of those horrible suburban little houses.

Babsi: If I could stay in Sydney yes.

Brett: My, my. So how many spirals would you give Sydney?

Babsi: Ten, but we only give five, so I'll give it four because of the accommodation.

Brett: Oh really?

Babsi: Hmm, the accommodation is really annoying.
Brett: Is there anywhere in the world you'd give five.

Babsi: Well I do like San Francisco.

Brett: But Bush is in charge and you vowed you'd never go to America while he's still in power.

Babsi: Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. First Barak Obama has to get elected and then I can go to America again. And Schwarzeneger is governor so I have a problem with that too.

Brett: Yes as an Austrian, your countries most embarrassing...

Babsi: I really wish I wasn't Austrian. Every bad thing that happens seems to come from Austria somehow. I do like Italy, and Italy under Prodi is a fine thing.

Brett: So how about Venice?

Babsi: I don't know, probably.

Brett: So everybody should go to Venice, that's our recommendation?

Babsi: No, no, no Sydney, go to Sydney if you can as a student. Just go to Sydney. So how many spirals would you give Sydney.

Brett: Three.

Babsi: Oh, why?

Brett: It's a bit like a mall, all the architecture is modern, made of cheap stuff, made of plastic. All the rooms are square with low ceilings. Everything is nicely painted. It's not real.

Babsi: That's interesting. That's an interesting perspective. Now you say that, I can see it – but I don't agree, I don't.

Brett: Darling harbour especially is like a mall with no roof. They don't need one because the weather is so good.

Babsi: But it's so pretty with the water and the fountains.

Brett: It's not real like Venice.

Babsi: Venice is also bad for accommodation. You're kidding yourself man.

Brett: But it's real. The rats, the filth, but Jazz and people laughing.

Babsi: Sydney is real but in a different way.

Brett: It's a European idea imposed where it doesn't quite work and everyone is fighting hard to prevent the bush from taking it over again.

Babsi: No, that's the other cool thing. It's so green there is so much green stuff here.

Brett: Yeah, yeah, they allow little patches of bush as novelties but it's not part of their life, it's not who they are. They're in the pub, they're in the office, they're in the burbs.

Babsi: But that's just normal life.

Brett: Not in Vienna. Sitting in a Viennese café you are connected with the land, with history. Your waiter probably comes from a country subjugated by the Austrian Empire two hundred years before and still bears the grudge, he'll throw your coffee at you.

Babsi: That kind of real, I can really do without. And you'd still give it three spirals, you complain about it so much and you still give it three spirals. How many spirals would you give Vienna.

Brett: Three.

Babsi: WHAT? That's not true. You can't give Vienna three and Sydney three. Is there any city you would give five stars to.

Brett: That's hard. It has to be wind swept and majestic sometimes, but sometimes quite nice so you don't go bonkers. Venice.

Babsi: Venice, so that's your number one city in the whole world. It is quite cool. We're going to have to go live there and pine for Sydney. Though the vaparetos are a lot more expensive than a weekly ticket round here. Sydney is real and groovy in a different way.

Brett: What way?

Babsi: A different way.

Brett: What way?

Babsi: It's happy. It allows itself to be happy.

Brett: Maybe that's the feeling I'm uncomfortable with.

Babsi: Well then you're just weird.

Brett: I think that's a really good place to end, Sydney is happy.

Babsi: Come to Sydney

Brett: Drop everything and come to Sydney.

All photos by Barbara Stanzl http://pink-lioness.deviantart.com/

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