Just in case you weren't aware already, I'm off to Australia for Xmas! 
The Solomon Islands to be more precise. My dad's working out there so this is a prime opportunity to visit part of the world that I would otherwise never get to see. Flying out via Brisbane mid-December, spending Xmas itself on a remote island resort and then flying back via Sydney for New Year.
To say I'm looking forward to the trip is something of a understatement. I haven't had a *proper* holiday since I went to Australia before in 2001. I've had plenty of weekend breaks but nothing that's kept me away from work for more than a couple of days at a time. And I really need to get away as this place is driving me mental.
The checklist of things to get done before I go away is pretty long though. Today I had a medical consultation at my GP's about the trip. Not only do I need anti-malaria pills but I need multiple injections for hepatitus, tetnus, diptheria and typhoid. I'm also getting them to sign an SSI dive fitness certificate so I do scuba while I'm out there.
I've already got my e-Visa but I still need to sort out travel insurance, diving insurance and buff up on my dive theory. I also need to sort out what clothes & stuff to take, and I have to do all my xmas shopping in the next few weeks before I go. I also have to order some Australia dollars and rip a ton of movies onto my laptop to watch while I'm out there.
The biggest dilemma I have is what to do with my two cats. My mum is ok to come up to feed them for a couple of days but this is beyond the call of duty. I got a number from my vets for a pet-sitting agency but hI haven't called them yet as I'm dreading how much it's going to cost me.
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Life is otherwise streaming by as a blur of the usual work/game/eat/sleep routine. I did nip out at the weekend to see a few new films that just came out:
- The Fourth Kind was a novel approach to a film neatly seaguing allegedly real video and audio footage with fictional reconstructions of the same events. I was willing to suspend my disbelief while watching and found it quite gripping. In retrospect though the film really doesn't stand up to analysis. As I'm something of an afficianado for weirdness and Forteana I thought it was strange that I'd never heard or read about alien abduction cases in Nomes, Alaska before now. Some searching online revealed what I has suspected - that the Dr. Tyler of the film was not real, and that 'real footage' was faked to make the film seem more legitimate. If the footage included in the film *had* been real then it would have been awesome, but sadly it looks like just a cheap trick. Which is a shame, because abduction experiences *do* happen to people. I don't think they have anything to do with real aliens, but they're an interesting and unsettling mystery to do with human psychology and conciousness that should be taken more seriously.
- Jennifer's Body by comparison was schlocky,grisly, wise-cracking fun. I know a lot of people had their knives out for the screenwriter Diablo Cody after her success with Juno but I really think it's unjustified. The film has laughs as well as scares, and some nice little details too (J K Simmons as a hook-handed science teacher is just genius). I really enjoyed it and would recommend it to all fans of cheesy horror films.
- The Men Who Stare At Goats is a fictionalised version of a book by Jon Ronson which he wrote after researching some of the more unusual methods of warfare researched and practiced by the US military. I haven't read the book so I'm not sure how much Ewan Macgregor's character is supposed to be cypher for Ronson himself, but I do know the author's work and saw him give a lecture a few years ago when his book Them came out. He's kind of like a more literary version of Louis Theroux (in fact in his lecture he swore that one of them would have to die for the other to become stronger) and the facts he regularly uncovers about our culture are far, far stranger than fiction. The film is amusing, mind-boggling and often surreal. Rather than a true comedy it's more like an absurd melodrama. The cast is great but it's Clooney's film, and he gets to exploit his impeccable comic timing, the likes of which we've not seen since Oh Brother Where Art Thou and Intolerable Cruelty.
The Solomon Islands to be more precise. My dad's working out there so this is a prime opportunity to visit part of the world that I would otherwise never get to see. Flying out via Brisbane mid-December, spending Xmas itself on a remote island resort and then flying back via Sydney for New Year.
To say I'm looking forward to the trip is something of a understatement. I haven't had a *proper* holiday since I went to Australia before in 2001. I've had plenty of weekend breaks but nothing that's kept me away from work for more than a couple of days at a time. And I really need to get away as this place is driving me mental.
The checklist of things to get done before I go away is pretty long though. Today I had a medical consultation at my GP's about the trip. Not only do I need anti-malaria pills but I need multiple injections for hepatitus, tetnus, diptheria and typhoid. I'm also getting them to sign an SSI dive fitness certificate so I do scuba while I'm out there.
I've already got my e-Visa but I still need to sort out travel insurance, diving insurance and buff up on my dive theory. I also need to sort out what clothes & stuff to take, and I have to do all my xmas shopping in the next few weeks before I go. I also have to order some Australia dollars and rip a ton of movies onto my laptop to watch while I'm out there.
The biggest dilemma I have is what to do with my two cats. My mum is ok to come up to feed them for a couple of days but this is beyond the call of duty. I got a number from my vets for a pet-sitting agency but hI haven't called them yet as I'm dreading how much it's going to cost me.
---
Life is otherwise streaming by as a blur of the usual work/game/eat/sleep routine. I did nip out at the weekend to see a few new films that just came out:
- The Fourth Kind was a novel approach to a film neatly seaguing allegedly real video and audio footage with fictional reconstructions of the same events. I was willing to suspend my disbelief while watching and found it quite gripping. In retrospect though the film really doesn't stand up to analysis. As I'm something of an afficianado for weirdness and Forteana I thought it was strange that I'd never heard or read about alien abduction cases in Nomes, Alaska before now. Some searching online revealed what I has suspected - that the Dr. Tyler of the film was not real, and that 'real footage' was faked to make the film seem more legitimate. If the footage included in the film *had* been real then it would have been awesome, but sadly it looks like just a cheap trick. Which is a shame, because abduction experiences *do* happen to people. I don't think they have anything to do with real aliens, but they're an interesting and unsettling mystery to do with human psychology and conciousness that should be taken more seriously.
- Jennifer's Body by comparison was schlocky,grisly, wise-cracking fun. I know a lot of people had their knives out for the screenwriter Diablo Cody after her success with Juno but I really think it's unjustified. The film has laughs as well as scares, and some nice little details too (J K Simmons as a hook-handed science teacher is just genius). I really enjoyed it and would recommend it to all fans of cheesy horror films.
- The Men Who Stare At Goats is a fictionalised version of a book by Jon Ronson which he wrote after researching some of the more unusual methods of warfare researched and practiced by the US military. I haven't read the book so I'm not sure how much Ewan Macgregor's character is supposed to be cypher for Ronson himself, but I do know the author's work and saw him give a lecture a few years ago when his book Them came out. He's kind of like a more literary version of Louis Theroux (in fact in his lecture he swore that one of them would have to die for the other to become stronger) and the facts he regularly uncovers about our culture are far, far stranger than fiction. The film is amusing, mind-boggling and often surreal. Rather than a true comedy it's more like an absurd melodrama. The cast is great but it's Clooney's film, and he gets to exploit his impeccable comic timing, the likes of which we've not seen since Oh Brother Where Art Thou and Intolerable Cruelty.
VIEW 18 of 18 COMMENTS
Totally your fault