Amelia

The disappearance of Amelia Earhart over the Pacific Ocean as she attempted to complete a flight around the world has fascinated people for over seventy years.

Hilary Swank plays Earhart in Amelia and judging from the archival images featured at the end of the film she is a good match for the aviatrix.

I imagine that Earhart's rise to prominence and her battles against obstacles in a male dominated environment would have been as fascinating as her disappearance but you'd hardly know it from this movie. It skips from one picture postcard moment to the next presenting images that are mostly appealing but rarely scratches beneath the surface.

It is only in the final ten minutes that passion and emotion are tapped to reveal the movie that this might have been.

Remembrance Day

(A more formal ceremony in Melbourne today.)

The Nursing Home commemorated Remembrance Day today with a simple ceremony in the grounds of the home.

A good sprinkling of the residents braved the heat to see ex-servicemen and women residents recite traditional prayers and oaths. They looked resplendent in their best suits and bearing their service medals.

A schoolboy from the neighbourhood, who looked about twelve, performed the Last Post impressively watched by his understandably proud father.

The residents, many of whom are survivors of World War 11 action, were pretty moved by the service and also got a lift from this involvement in community activity.

Capitalism: A Love Story

Michael Moore turns his particular style of investigative reporting to the issue of democracy and business American style in Capitalism: A Love Story.

Those who have seen Moore's previous work will know what to expect.

I found this a bit dull actually. Moore makes clever use of historical footage to make some witty points but business is a bit of a dry topic and he failed to engage me most of the time.

I did enjoy watching 'experts' attempt to explain what 'derivatives' are and am none the wiser for the experience which of course is what Moore intended. Whilst I sympathise with Moore's take on many issues I'm always uneasy that he presents his view without offering balancing information that might be available, thus perpetrating the same offence for which he would criticise others.

Fun

OK, it is an advertisement but it is also fun and interesting.

For James.

The Boys Are Back

Recently widowed Clive Owen is left to raise his six years old son and he also finds himself with responsibility for his fourteen years old son from a previous marriage.

Based on memoirs of an actual situation, Owen's parenting skills in The Boys Are Back are a matter of personal perspective but it is all played out on the outskirts of Adelaide which makes for pretty pictures of rural and coastal South Australia.

Most of it is day to day low key stuff but a dramatic climax is reached which eventually lifts the viewer's pulse rate.

Both the young actors, Nicholas McAnulty and George MacKay, provide impressive performances; particularly McAnulty as the younger boy whose performance is so natural you'd swear in his case that you were watching a reality documentary.

Sugar fix

I have a terrible sweet tooth that I succumb to frequently.

Today I started on a block of Cadbury Snack and inevitably polished off the entire 220g block in no time at all. So full with chocolate was I that I set aside my initial intention to eat a pasta bolognaise prepared earlier for dinner and settled on a couple of toasted cheese sandwiches instead. Not exactly the best dietary practice.

The new thin cardboard Cadbury chocolate blocks are annoying. Not only do they have less product for the same price as the older blocks, they also do not always break neatly into their blocks; often tending to ooze their fillings all over the place.

The bra boy

OK, I know that I am a mere male, albeit a gay one, and therefore inferior to the female of the species when it comes to shopping but how on earth do women go about purchasing brassieres?

Despite being armed with the most detailed of specifications from the manager of my mother's Nursing Home and taking along a person of female persuasion as my shopping companion and mentor, the project of purchasing new brassieres for my 84 years old mother today was an ordeal of unspeakable torture.

It appears that Department stores carry sufficient brassieres to dress every female on the planet, each brassiere being as varied as each female. But not one of these was a (specific brand name and model) size 16C (Australian measurement) with high bridge and wide band at back that I was instructed to purchase.

None of a platoon of sales assistants who attempted to assist us, in the most desultory fashion, seemed to have any idea of what we were seeking and even less of what stock they held. My specialist female mentor disappointingly appeared as confused and uncertain as the sales staff although I couldn't fault her persistence and endeavour.

I noticed that at each of the four stores we tried, the other female shoppers present also sought hopeful, almost desperate, direction from the assistants. Female shoppers seemed as tortured as I felt.

I have new admiration for those females who purchase underwear for their boyfriend/husband/son. I'm glad that, my mother aside, I am unlikely to be required to perform the reverse service for anyone in my remaining days.

There is a season...to every man

Yesterday, 38c (100.4f).

Today, 19c (66.2f).

How changeable is our weather?

Shocking upset

All Australians know that 'the race that stops the nation' occurs on the first Tuesday of November and this year's winner of the Cup for doggies owned by staff of the hospital is Milly, the King Charles Spaniel.

A Milly lookalike.

The heats and final were watched by an ecstatic crowd of dozens on the manicured corridors of the hospital. Our personal favourites were the two doggies, of indeterminate lineage and even lesser known breeding, owned by our own Je. They finished second in their respective heats and thus failed to qualify for the final.

Milly's win was controversial in that her owner organised the races. It is suspected that clandestine training occurred in the dead of night on the race corridor.

In another race that stopped the nation run a sort time later, the 2009 Melbourne Cup, a small gathering of over 100,000 assembled to see their race won by 'Shocking'.

'Shocking' wins that other race.

Hookey

I played hookey from the hospital today and had lunch at Palm Beach.

We barbequed on Hn's deck with Th as guest of honour before she returns to Britain tomorrow after spending the week in Sydney to attend Bb's funeral and finalise his affairs.

The steaks and snags were delicious.

Targetting brassieres and things

I've been a bit lazy with my blogging lately. It is not that I haven't been doing anything but most of what I have been doing has been routinely domestic or otherwise seemingly unworthy of a blog post.

For example yesterday I spent several hours trawling Target, K-Mart and the like looking for women's clothes. How, I hate shopping for women's clothes! I have all sorts of problems with sizes and don't start on the issue of purchasing suitable brassieres and knickers.

Now before you conclude that I am outing myself as a transvestite I should clarify that the laundry at my mother's nursing home may be super industrial but it also chews through clothing in no time at all. So I periodically have to purchase new outer and under garments for my mother to replace those 'murdered' by the laundry.

I have no female relatives other than my mother and an aunt, both of whom have dementia, and so responsibility for purchasing the new items falls to me. It seems to me that the high end Department stores do not cater for women in their eighties so I focus on the discount type outlets.

I can manage the selection of polo tops and even trousers for my mother without too much difficulty but those undergarments give me the willies...so to speak.

I am turning to a good female friend to help me out.

The Box

It is 1976 and a stranger makes Cameron Diaz and James Marsden a bizarre offer.

Late in The Box Marsden tells Diaz "It's a place; neither here...nor there". I know how he feels. Someone has mixed up their genres. For the first forty minutes or so this film brews nicely as an Alfred Hitchcock style thriller when suddenly it transforms into a 1950s MGM B-grade science fiction fantasy replete with mysterious out of body type terrestrials and thumping background music a la Forbidden Planet. Not only that but it comes with (queue deep booming echoing voice here) 'A MESSAGE'.

Ooooh! Aaaah!

This stew of mumbo jumbo is best consumed cuddled with your lover on a wet, wintery night.

A garden of Eden

A section of the display gardens, today.

It was just as well that several days of rain and cold gave way today to warmer and sunny weather as we had an outing scheduled for the Day Centre participants. We took them to Eden Gardens, an enterprise centred around gardening which features display gardens, landscape services, stores, convention/reception facilities and a popular cafe.

I had never been to the complex before and am not really into gardening but I can see that it is a pleasant venue to spend a few sunny leisure hours. For one thing you can wander around the place for free and there is lots of space to laze around on the grass if you wish.

The restaurant where we had our lunch was quite impressive. Our meals were of good quality and the service was speedy and efficient notwithstanding the large number of diners. I was told the restaurant is regularly as busy as we experienced today. There were large groups of mothers with prams and babies in tow dining there today but for some reason none of the noise that usually accompanies such groups.

On the advice of others I ordered a kiddies meal which proved to be extraordinarily substantial and came with a complimentary fruit juice and small ice cream bucket. I'm not sure that they normally permit adults to purchase the kiddies meals. I think this was a special deal they allowed for the Nursing Home group.

I noticed that the complex hosts outdoor evening movie screenings in a deal which includes dinner and drinks.

The gardens are quite an entrepreneurial enterprise.

Another farewell

Yesterday's funeral was the third I have attended in the past two months. Funeral attendance does make you think just a teeny bit about your own mortality especially as in yesterday's case when Bb was only three years older than I.

Although the initial information was that Bb had suffered a heart attack I was told at the funeral that the death certificate gives pneumonia as the cause of his death. A reminder really that you need to look after your health and not delay seeing the doctor when experiencing symptoms.

Mn and Sy, the principal speakers at the service, did Bb proud with beautiful eulogies and Bb himself would have been astonished at the numbers in attendance. His sister Th, who had flown out from England for the funeral, was very touched to realise how well her brother was regarded.

An Education

Carey Mulligan plays a sixteen year old completing her schooling in the early 1960s and dreaming of going to Oxford University who meets a dashing older man, Peter Sarsgaard, who provides her with An Education beyond that which for which she has bargained.

The pre-Beatles dawning of England's swinging 60s is nicely recreated. Sleepy eyed Sarsgaard mostly plays men of dubious character and it is not a spoiler to suggest that this older man pursuing a school student may not be what he seems.

Mulligan oozes personality and intelligence beyond her years even as she undergoes her unexpected life education.

Warehouse wedding

Sometimes I find attendance at a straight wedding - sadly the only type I have experienced - to be a chore rather than a pleasure but yesterday's wedding went very well. A short, friendly mid afternoon service followed by a laid back evening reception at a harbour front venue.

Ae and I were placed with four straight couples, two of whom I have known for about forty years and whose company I enjoy.

I was invited as a friend of the bride's parents and had not seen the bride since she was a child and had never met the groom. The bride looked gorgeous, relaxed and very happy and is clearly a real catch for the groom. He seems a pleasant man and impressed with a heartfelt and warming speech and so seems a decent man. None of the groom, best man and three groomsmen registered on my 'handsome meter', a little surprising that there wasn't at least one looker amongst them.

The MC for the reception, the groom's newly acquired brother in law was easily the stunner of the night. Very tall, dark haired, sexy and a delightful personality won me over. Sadly, as the husband of one of the bride's attendants he is already taken and obviously not in the gay market.

The reception was held at Simmer on the Bay. The website indicates that the venue has varied guises and is dressed up in many styles but for last night's wedding it was in its basic warehouse style with the walls bare as seen above.

It is the first wedding reception I have attended where the guests were seated only for one course, the main course which comprised either Barramundi or a Beef Steak. I was served the latter which was delicious. Ae said that the Barramundi was tasty but the accompanying sauce was a little rich.

Hors d'oeuvres were served cocktails style. Nothing unusual about that but this was my first experience of 'Roaming Desserts'. A selection of three desserts were served, also cocktails style. One, a mango concoction was less successful, breaking up in the hand as you tried to pick up a small piece from the passing trays. A chocolate mousse and berries mix served in small glass was far easier to manage and easily my pick of the desserts.

Most of the reception was spent on our feet, chatting with the guests and, yes, occasionally dancing. I don't dance much nowadays and last night's band was pretty noisy and tuneless for my aging tastes but I couldn't have an enjoyable night pass without letting my inner Fred Astaire shine through.

The night ended for us at 11.45pm only because the parking station where I had parked the car was closing at midnight.

Holy Batman!

I'm off to a wedding shortly; a Friday afternoon wedding on a hot pre-summer day with late storms forecast.

I guess the wedding will be fun but knowing the conservative nature of the Catholic parents of the bride (through whom the invitation was extended) I'm not expecting Batman and Robin shenanigans.

Eerie premonition?

Last Saturday I purchased a new suit, principally to wear to a wedding this Friday but with the prospect of also wearing it to funerals in future. At my age funeral attendance becomes an increasing likelihood and I have already attended three this year.

Then on Monday came news that a friend had been found dead in his home that morning. The suit will be getting a second outing next Monday.

God of Carnage

This is the Sydney Theatre Company's current production.

Two couples meet to discuss a fight that occurred between their sons. Predictably discussion deteriorates to disagreement the longer the couples pursue the matter.

Mk and I both got plenty of laughs from this depiction of modern manners but I have to say that the play, currently a hit on Broadway, felt overrated. The way the characters' behaviour develops through the play, whilst amusing, seemed forced and unnatural.

Julie & Julia

Julie Powell (Amy Adams) gives herself an aim in life by establishing a blog to record her attempt to cook all the recipes from the Julia Child (Meryl Streep) cookbook in a year. Powell's experiences parallel the story of how Child came to write her cookbook in the film Julie & Julia.

The twin true stories, provide a pleasant and frequently amusing film. Apparently Childs was a very tall woman and this film is photographed in a way that accentuates Streep's size. As a consequence Streep occasionally seems bizarrely Gulliver-like. I was amused to see Glee's Jane Lynch in a small role as Child's sister and she is the only one who 'out-Gulliver's' Streep in the movie.

Chris Messina is a plus factor for those who like their men stocky, dark haired and Latin in appearance.