General survey of the last two weeks...



Films viewed:

Much Ado About Nothing – a bodacious Keanu Reeves (think Point Break or TMNT) and a jive-talking Denzel Washington (“Relaaax! I woo in thy name!”) Love it. Kenneth Branagh and Emma Thompson must have spoken in Shakespearean dialogue for the whole extent of their marriage. Guess that kind of thing isn’t ultimately sustainable. Though Jon did exclaim “Dead for a ducat!” after killing a spider last night…

The Phantom of the Opera – the only film in this list that I watched for the first time! Thanks to the magnificent Martin for the recommendation. I am ambivalent about musicals – numbers like Masquerade and that one where the two new theatre owners are singing about how well things are going really leave me cold. I think it is my deep aversion to Gilbert and Sullivan that makes me wary of all such scenes. That said, it’s not a bad little film! Good chandelier special effects!

Blades of Glory – oh hilaire. How can you not love Jon Heder? And Will Ferrell isn’t always my cup of tea but I find him genuinely entertaining in this. And a long time love of ice-skating movies fostered by my best and oldest friend’s obsession with all things ice-skating causes me to just delight in the subject matter. A funny, funny movie.

Shakespeare In Love – let me just get this off my chest first – compared to Joseph Fiennes, Gwyneth Paltrow has one enormous noggin. That somewhat detracted from my enjoyment of their constant snogging… Ok, but otherwise, I remain convinced that Tom Stoppard is a genius. I love the whole concept. Viola, Twelfth Night, Thomas Kent (controversial “did Shakespeare love a boy?” questions) – it all works for me!

The Motorcycle Diaries – oh, how I love this film. The pre-myth, pre-“Che”, 23-year-old Ernesto Guevera on a road-trip around South America with his beloved friend, Alberto Grenado, who was on-set for most of the filming process. I find the asthma scenes greatly disturbing but everything else about this film is delightful. The special features raised some questions for me about the term “humanist”. I’ll have to have a chat with Byron to sort that one out…

Stranger Than Fiction – another absolute beauty! Back to Will Ferrell who isn’t always my cup of tea. I think he is MAGNIFICENT in this film!!! I love the whole concept of this movie – I love Emma Thompson as the embittered writer’s-block suffering author trying to work out how best to kill her protagonist, I love Maggie Gyllenhaal as the unconventional baker, I love Dustin Hoffman as the professor of literary theory and I LOVE Will Ferrell as Harold Crick! What an awesome film… hilarious, poignant, clever. Yeah, I guess you could say I recommend this one.

Books read:
(but after all that film annotation, I can’t be bothered to comment on these.)

Juju Sundin’s Birth Skills with Sarah Murdoch: Proven pain-management techniques for your labour and birth by Juju Sundin
Ina May’s Guide to Childbirth by Ina May Gaskin
Spiritual Midwifery by Ina May Gaskin
The Breastfeeding Book: Everything you need to know about nursing your child from birth through weaning by William and Martha Sears

Things done:

Visited a cute new baby and his exhausted parents in hospital
Saw some delightful family members from Melbourne
Met with three lovely girls from my prayer group over vegetarian lasagne and chocolate cake
Finished birth classes
Visited an old friend in hospital after nasty operation
Went on a four-day holiday in the Hunter Valley to celebrate our 6-year wedding anniversary
Engaged in mass consumption of iron-rich foods and iron supplements to hold off mild anemia
At alternate moments, engaged in mass consumption of ice cream… oops…
Found self to be even less maneuverable than I was the week before.
Momentarily and misguidedly thought that the gifted child was beginning to recognise and react to specific words. Doesn’t bode well for the future!!!