South America or Bust

Whiling away Monday evening with Nick and Q and an entertaining anorexia doco courtest of 60 Minutes. Perfect dinner accompaniment- carb-free thanks to Nick. My latest polenta adventure didn't work out too well.

The weekend with Jasper was a little strange. I really feel for my parents, their house feels horribly empty. It's not as bad for me, as I have my flat to come back to, and I'm used to him not being here. My mother was the first to crack and suggest another dog. A bit too soon, but I'm glad their thinking about it. I vote puppy.

Apart from the dog loss, Friday night was Julia's leaving party before she heads to South America. It was a great party with tonnes of the old gang there. Checked out the Elam Open Day Saturday with Mum, which had a few really interesting pieces. Tiffany's Saturday night, where Adam came out with us for the last time before he leaves for Costa Rica on Tuesday.

Sunday was spent at work and going for yum cha at Grand Harbour. It was excellent as usual, with lots of sweet fried squid. Tennis planned for next week instead.

Another shoot today at work, which broke things up a lot, thankfully. Channels still trucking well. Week looking semi quiet, going to go and check out Off the Wire taping on Wednesday, and not much else planned.

Jasper

Died this morning. He was put down, twelve days shy of his thirteenth birthday. It was a tough call to make, but he had lost use of his hind legs and was in pain. He had been suffering a bone condition for some time, which came to a head on Wednesday night.

Thanks to everyone who has called and emailed. Everyone is very sad, he was a super dog and I know people enjoyed hanging with him. It's very odd not having him around, and actually being able to eat undisturbed.

Will try and get a nice photo up soon...maybe a super cute puppy shot.

Hallowe'en Pics

And thanks to Donna for this lot...

48 Hour Pics

Finally, some 48 Hour Film Project pics...thanks to Jacob (and Hannah, Will and Q)

Asparagus

Rosie and I had to endure a bi-family dinner last Wednesday when our respective parents tried to out bore each other. Our mothers talked asparagus (actually, I have to admit I got a little excited at this point too, but it really has been good this year) and the dads talked Pinot Noir. How Sideways of them. Also, apparently my folks are going to South America, where Rosie's parentos have just come back from. Didn't see that one coming.

The Lady Pit was introduced on Thursday, which is a slightly strange and scary happening. Our group of friends is now known collectively as the 'Pit. Which I find odd and a little unclean sounding. I ducked out of the 'getting matching jackets' idea. I wonder where this is coming from. Too many articles on the Urban Tribe?
Friday night turned massive after work drinks, and yoga on Saturday didn't happen, as I couldn't move my head. I think this is what a sake bomb actually is. I knew the neighbours were having a big party and popped over to help them earlier. I used this as justification to invite fifteen friends and stay there 'til 5. Excellent. I also 'helped' them by making tequila punch, which everyone appeared to love. Great party, but I did enjoy noticing that when I have ten buddies over, Herne Bay calls Noise Control and when our neighbour has his entire Samoan league team over, no-one says a word. Dorks.

Public Address was Sunday. Everyone apparently got bored except me. I had a great time. Drank beer, saw people, listened intently. And then Pitch Black played. Bless. Reminded me of partying with those guys at Pizza Club back in Welly. Which reminded me to start up Pizza Club up here. Watch this space.

And also check out the best site of the week:

www.gawker.com

Serenity?

This week has really brought the tiredness pain, to the point that I'm not so much sleeping as passing out. I know it's excessively boring to talk about tiredness, but we're really at some kind of new low. So far it's been good though. Sunday finished up with Meredith, Tiff, Hannah, Priscka and I eating at my place. Enlisting Lucy's help, I conquered the polenta pizza. Turns out the trick is to bake the bases first. Who would have thought.

Monday night I watched DH with Hannah. I'm really quite amazed at the awesome success of this show. It's actually amazing. I know maybe one person who doesn't watch and that's because they missed a few and are waiting for the DVD. This brings me to wonder whether it might be time to get rid of the television. I think my tv ideas would be better if I didn't watch so much so it. If my DVD player hadn't broken I would seriously think about it.

As part of my push to get to more things, last night I went to see Last Days with the two Merediths and Hannah. Since I stopped working at the Rialto and hadn't paid for films in such a long time, I find the cost of films now pretty outrageous- which it is. So Tuesday nights, and 2-4-1 vouchers are something of a godsend. As is actually going to the movies. It's been too long. I wish I was seeing as many as I did when they were all free...

I had wanted to see Last Days for awhile. I'm not crazy about Gus van Sant in general, I had a few issues with Elephant. But I was looking forward to this, due in part to a small Michael Pitt obsession. Of course I dozed a little in the film, as I am officially turning into an old man. Which was quite doable. Not very much happened in the film. But it still looked quite amazing and had a tactile quality that is missing from so many films. I'm actually really not sure what I'm thinking about it. Annoying I think I have to watch it again. But it isn't as bad as it's reputed to be. It could even be quite amazing.

This weekend we're going to the Public Address panel discussion which should be great. Plus hopefully our leaking roof is getting fixed. Awesome. And nerdily, I want to go and see Serenity. Too much time with the boys at work...

Ich bien ein...

I recently received the exciting news that a garment of mine was going to be displayed in the Marilyn Sainty retrospective exhibition at ObjectSpace. Not because I am currently fabulously stylish but because as a baby I had an especially fetching MS pinafore (reference anyone?). So on Saturday morning I trotted off to the (excellent) exhibition to proudly see it displayed among many other hot frocks. Sadly, I missed the opening on Friday night as I was Food-ing it up at work. But good to see it nonetheless.

Saturday was close enough to Hallowe'en to celebrate. Being disorganized, I hadn't sorted a costume and all of my friends were dressing as Stepford wives. Instead, I plaited my hair, wore black (what a stretch) and went as Wednesday Addams. We hit three parties, the best of which was Liana's, in her amazing Newton Gully warehouse apartment. Lots of fun. The best costume I saw was some girl dressed as the creepy girl from The Ring. Very convincing.

Sunday was Juliet's birthday, which she celebrated by running the Marathon. Mad props to her. Very impressive. My own small triumph of the week, had to be watching Food TV begin broadcasting on Monday and then formally launch on Tuesday. It's been rocky since, but things seem to be sorting out slowly.

Wednesday night, we went to see The Women at the Town Hall. Nice venue, haven't been there since the b-Nets, and this was a more subdued affair luckily. The production was good, with some reasonable American accents coming through. The costuming was the real standout, with some stunning local designs.

The biggest work event of the year was on Thursday night, with our awards and dinner. Having had a serious cold all week, I was feeling pretty knocked out. But it still all came together well, and as I had my new all time favourite dress to wear, it was a very fun night. Great to see everyone on such good form. And of course it provided for countless hours of amusement on Friday.

Guy Fawkes was this weekend. Not a favourite of mine, I've never really got into it. Mainly I think because my poor dog hates it so much. And his health is spiralling steadily down, so I was worried about how he would take it this year. Luckily (?) he appears to have lost his hearing. I also think the night is a waste of money, and makes too much rubbish. When I was little, it was fun to go to fireworks at my primary school, and I really don't see why we can't stick to public displays. Anyway...

We did set off a few on Friday night at Hannah's, and then moved back to mine for cards and neighbour annoyance. On Saturday I saw The Educkators, which I'd previously missed in the Film Fest. As it starred the sultry Daniel Bruhl, it was a must see. And it was good- although Adam thought it dragged and was high handed. Watching it, I couldn't figure out why my parents liked it so much, and especially why my father thought it was an allegory for World War II. It was an interesting film in that while a lot of the dialouge appeared stilted and the characters idealistic, it managed to openly explore the ideas it was playing with, which few films manage to do. And of course, seeing so much of Berlin made me want to go back immediately.