Monday, December 29, 2008

Looking back at TDK

Well a few weeks ago probably the most anticipated film was released on DVD, which of course was The Dark Knight, which was easily the biggest film of the year.

I was just thinking, now with the awards season in full swing, and all the promotion for Heath Ledger getting Best Supporting Actor nominations, would this all have been as heavily promoted if he had not have passed away? It seemed once he did pass away, the talk of the film increased so much, and everyone was even more excited to see his performance in the film. Would it have been the same if he was alive? I guess we will never know, but what is rather annoying is he is the only thing people talk about with the film. Yes, he was excellent, and yes the character of the Joker was excellent and quite possibly one of the most awesome villains we have seen on screen for some time. But what about Aaron Eckhart?

Now he was in my opinion just as good as Ledger and he had quite the challenging role to play. Playing Harvey Dent and going through that transformation was not easy, it had to be believable and convincing, and I don't think having another actor in that role would have had quite the same affect. So why then has his excellent performance been so ignored. Well I think we know that answer really, and I think it is quite sad. I think he deserves recognition for the role he played, and I would say deserving just as much as Ledger to be nominated for awards. But he has been largely ignored now, which is quite a shame.

I wonder how long it will be before a re-release of The Dark Knight on DVD will happen, complete with Commentary and all the other goodies that were lacking on this. Most of us will likely to be double dipping in the near future eh?

Saturday, December 27, 2008

Almost 2009...

Geez, hard to believe it is almost 2009! 2008 was an eventful year for me, a lot happened and a lot changed. Somethings were good, and some were bad, some were sad, some were happy.

It really didn't start off as a good year, had a break up the year before, ex was getting ready to move out. I was hoping to move to Melbourne but then decided to stay put. Nonno wasn't doing very well, and things happened, he ended up in hospital and then was at aunty Franca's house recovering. Mum made the trip back from Italy and moved in with me as the ex moved out. It was a few days before Easter weekend. And then Nonno had a massive stroke on Easter Saturday, at that time we were in the middle of moving one person out the house and buying all new stuff from Ikea. Easter Sunday we spent at the hospital and got the news that Nonno was dying, and they didn't know how long he would have. He lasted until Wednesday night, I remember Mum getting the call he was going and she raced to the hospital. And then John arrived at my house and then Dad and Cathy stopped by. Those few weeks were just horrible and so sad, it was horrible to see him in that state, and all the while thinking why did he have that stroke...he didn't deserve something so horrible. At that time, someone had quit at work and I was working like a dog, not having a single day off to grief and have time to have everything sink in. During all this our new fridge broke down, we had to deal with that rubbish as well, anything that could go wrong, went wrong. Telstra messed up and we didn't have a phone for nearly 3 days as well. Makes things difficult when all this stuff was happening. It was basically 2 weeks of hell, and it's hard to believe this all happened all those many months ago. I always think about Nonno and Nonna, he made it just over 4 years without her. The funeral service and everything I thought was very nice, and Dad wrote a really beautiful poem which we put in the coffin and then we printed out copies a few months later.

Life went on, had a lot of ups and downs, between work and my health, it wasn't very nice. Trying to meet some new people, people being complete assholes towards me. Felt like I was getting used by people, it was just pretty rotten actually. For whatever reason I decided to have someone back in my life and I wish I didn't, too much shit happened and yes I regret things but it shits me when people don't take any responsibilities for their actions and make up lies to make themselves sound better and make you sound even worse. Act like that and people wont be your friend, and you'll end up alone. It wouldn't surprise me if that is what happened to that person.

Oh well, mid year I met right here on this thing, a very awesome person. I think messaging them was the best thing I could have done actually. Started chit chatting on MSN and everything and then met up some time later for the premiere of The Dark Knight. I guess the rest is history, got to know each other some more and hung out a bit and totally fell for him. We ended up deciding to be together, and you know I couldn't be happier. All this and the fact I wanted change and a new start like I did at the start of the year and everything, contributed to my move to Melbourne. He had a job here starting after my birthday, my lease was up mid-November, what better time to move really. Finally getting to do what I wanted and still being able to be together with him. Everything has been great here, its awesome being close to Rachel, I missed my sister so much. I had to give up my cats to come here, which was beyond heart breaking, but at least they went to good and loving homes, it felt right. I miss them so much, and I hope they are well. The only thing that hasn't worked out so far is a job, but I am confident that it will soon enough. The new year is only a few days away, more jobs will come up and some sorry sucker lol will hire me! I just have to be persisant and not give up and do my best! I am not sure if I will finish off my Year 12, or do a course and gain qualifications, next few weeks I will decide. The thing is if I do a course and then get a job, some of the jobs I am going for offer the courses so I am just not quite sure. Just see what happens, but one thing is for sure I will be studying and improving my chances. I look forward to it, and I really hope work comes up soon. I hate being unemployed and not earning money, it makes life that much more difficult, but I guess what doesn't kill you, makes you stronger.

Well I say good bye to 2008, I thank it for the good that came out of it (Mum moving back, getting with Daniel, moving to Melbourne ect...) and say hello 2009, I hope it is a much better year!

Tuesday, December 9, 2008

Jaws

















4.5/5

I decided to rewatch this classic after reading the novel which was recommended to me. I have to say the novel was quite a surprise and much different then I had expected. Certain things remained the same with the book and film and certain things were changed. I can understand the changes that were made as they worked really well for the film. Certain things in the book I don't think would have worked in the film.

The main thing which I really love how this film are our three main characters, Brody, Hooper and Quint. You can't really ask for a better cast to play those three, Roy Scheider is really the only person I could ever see in the role of Brody, he is spot on. Richard Dreyfuss is such a fantastic actor and he really suits Hooper. Robert Shaw is just insanely brilliant as Quint, I just loved him. The three men have such a fantastic chemistry together, it works so well. Without that, this film would have failed. The story is good, the shark threatens the town, but the shark just isn't any old shark, he seems pretty crazy! A nice massive great white shark, to ruin the summer of the small town.

Sure the actual effects are really dated and when you see the shark it doesn't look that scary but for the mid 1970's it is quite the achievement. Jaws is made all the more scary but the fantastic score by John Williams, he came up with yet another classic. It seems like whenever you see a shark that music just plays in your mind.

Overall this is a really great film, what they accomplished was really awesome quite simply put. I appreciated the changes made from book to film, what they did made it work on screen. The book however is in a league of its own and Peter Benchley came up with a classic.

Of course everyone should check out Jaws at least once in their lifetime.

Monday, December 8, 2008

The dramas continue...

Yes, there are always dramas in my life, and they continue. I mean yes there is the job dramas, all the interviews I've had and no job, been turned out. Nothing actually wrong with me apparently, one place just had other people they were considering because of their experience, you know the usual. I haven't been contacted by any other places, I've been applying, but right now there just isn't all that much available because we are coming up to the end of the year. Come the new year, there will be more out there, so I will probably have a better chance. I've even applied to some jobs more then once, it gets very depressing I tell you.

So yeah, dramas with Toby. He was sick Saturday night, he had major back problems and his lungs had started filling with fluid because he wasn't taking his medication. He's on these steriods for a few weeks to help his back, his lungs are fine now, he has to keep taking the meds. And he had this lump which was coming and going, and Vets in Adelaide said it was arthritis related...umm yeah, stupid idiots, he has another hernia! I am so pissed off with the Adelaide Clinic, all they care about is doing useless tests and taking my money off me, rather then actually diagnosing the dog with an actual condition. The good news is, the hernia is small and not doing anything to Toby right now and he can live fine with it, just make sure his bowels are regular. The bad news is, we don't want it to get worse, because it will cause major problems and likely kill him, and with his heart condition and age it probably wouldn't be worth him having the surgery again, very risky and complicated. So lets hope the hernia stays the way it is and let Toby live out the rest of his days in peace. This poor dog in his 13 years has been through so much, I just want what little time he has to be peaceful for him. He has a lot of life and fight still in him and he isn't ready to go just yet. I'll be thankful for another 6 to 12 months. The Vet said with all the dramas of the last few days he was in quite good health, his heart sounded good and his heart rate was down which is good for his condition. She said his teeth looked pretty good (see at Adelaide they kept saying they weren't because they wanted more money), and that he was looking well for his age. So please, lets hope this hernia doesn't get any worse.

Well time for lunch and more job searching, fun fun fun!

Wednesday, December 3, 2008

Wii and Migraines

Current mood: geeky
Category: Blogging

So, I felt like blogging this afternoon. Foxtel finally has been set up again, after like six weeks of getting screwed around by them. But get this folks, after an hour it stops working. Make a phone call, they said they would call back and work on fixing it. Two hours later nothing, ring again and the guy then resets something and it is working again. Foxtel = USELESS VERY USELESS! I can live without it really, but my mother on the other hand cannot.

Speaking about my mother, this past weekend when I went over to spend some time with Daniel, she goes out and buys a Wii. Yes, I have wanted to have a gaming console for a long time (PS3 actually) but being unemployed I had asked her to wait until I was working. But nope, she had to buy the Wii...and I don't care if you read this either Mum, sure it is great to have a Wii, but waiting would not have killed either. Anyway, the console came with Wii Sports, Sonic Unleashed and Mario and Sonic at the Beijing Olympics. I haven't played Sonic Unleashed yet, Rachel and Luca are borrowing it. Wii Sports is fun, good to play against each other (Daniel likes to cheat lol), bowling is cool, baseball is difficult, I am liking golf now I am getting the hang of it, tennis is good fun as well and boxing is fantastic, now that is hard work! Daniel bought me Star Wars Lightsaber Duals, its not bad, it is hard work though, need to practise some more. It is fun having light saber duals hehehe, every Star Wars nerds dream. He (Dan) did get me the Laser Sword to go with it, but the damn product is faulty, so I took it back and got TopSpin 3 game. Now that is a pretty wicked tennis game, such a great challenge on the Wii, you have to actually put effort in it and pay attention, its fantastic, I really love it.

So yes Saturday night and Sunday were spent playing the Wii, and getting a very sore back and arm! Before that me and Daniel caught Quantum of Solace at the movies Friday evening. I really liked it, I thought it was a good film, not as good as Royale though. The action in it was great, especially the opening, that was just so well done. Daniel Craig makes for a great Bond, he was the right choice thats for sure. The only problem with the film was a weakish story, but they are definitely leading into a third. I think their plan is for Royal, Solace and the third to all tie in together and something meant to be watched back to back. Should be good to see what the next one will bring.

So the weekend was great, good times. Didn't think I'd even get to see Daniel on the weekend, so it was very nice to spend that time together. Dans off to Adelaide this weekend, have to have a Dan-less weekend lol hopefully despite being busy while in Adelaide he has a good trip :) I will miss ya!

Moving on to migraines, they suck basically. I had a really bad one last week and I had a killer one last night. I have no idea what is bringing them on, well last weeks I have no idea, I know what last nights was about and it is possible I will get another one tonight as well. I do think perhaps my on going back issues could be bringing them on, I want to start working and then find somewhere to go, maybe start with massage. Because these treatments are not cheap, I want to be working before I go ahead with them and having real money coming in.

Well tomorrow after almost a year I am getting my hair cut. Just a small trim though, maybe get a layer put in. I am not getting it cut short, I love having long hair. See what I decide tomorrow in reguards to the layer. Not sure if down the track I might play around with the colour, streak it or something maybe??? I finally feel confident enough to do something with my hair, now that I can straighten it and everything and I got some new products to try (Shampoo, Conditioner ect...) so hopefully it all works out.


Over and out for now :) might go and try another drawing eh



Currently reading:
Jaws
By Peter Benchley
Release date: 2005-05-31