Fantasy overload

Came across this little gem while Googling photos of Anthony.

This would be circa 1989 or thereabouts.

A beautiful photo and a moment which lives only in legend in my disturbed little mind (but here is photographic proof):

The gorgeous Ione Skye, filming Say Anything with John Cusack while living with Anthony.

Life (at least in my fantasy world) does not get any better than that. Fact.

Special Edition 5th Anniversary Post

Last Friday was the 5 year anniversary of this blog. Talk about making something out of nothing. This blog is almost like a third child to me. Sometimes the responsibility (or the idea of the responsibility) is a heavy psychological burden and other times I don't know how I'd get through life without it. It is a strange little creature, this cyber diary of mine.


Because I don't have anything interesting to write in honour of this significant anniversary I thought I'd take a moment to see what subject matters have taken up the majority of my thinking/writing time.


So here is the Top 10 (Top 17 actually, as some topics were statistically equal with others):


1) Life


2) Kids

2) Movies


3) Sydney Swans


4) Marianna


5) Big Brother


6) Parenthood

6) Politics


7) Music

7) Cooking


8) The Climate Change Fiasco


9) Food

9) Holidays


10) Family
10) Books

10) Anthony Kiedis











[Yo, AK! Looking so much like your old man Blackie these days, my lovely man!]


I couldn't have said it better myself. This blog has organically become what I couldn't have ever envisaged it being, or maybe exactly what I had hoped it would be. A reflection of me.

Hip hip hooray!

The Beginning of the End

When I think back to the moment when I went from being a sweet, goody-two-shoes, library monitor child to a blue haired, penis-shaped-earring wearing, running-away-from-home, moving in with a household of skinheads at 15, teenage nightmare, I think I can trace it back to a day in 1980 at the old Bondi Junction Cinema when I saw the movie Foxes. It starred Jodie Foster but for me the big star was Cherie Currie. She played the tragic, bad girl Annie and she changed my life.

For me seeing that movie and falling in girl love with Annie/Cherie Currie was the first step on the road to teenage rebellion. I hadn't thought of that movie and that moment and that time in my life for a very long time. It is funny how such an important moment (and believe me, I knew it was an important moment the minute I came out of that cinema, feeling punch drunk and knowing at a certain level that nothing would ever be the same again) became a blind spot in my memory.

What brought it back into close perspective recently was getting an email from Popcorn Taxi about the upcoming movie The Runaways. I had seen bits in the entertainment media about this movie but hadn't registered much except that it starred that blank faced Kristen Stewart (who seems to have all the personality of a damp kitchen sponge, from what I have seen of her on the teev). I almost deleted the email outright (though Popcorn Taxi have delivered tasty treats in the past, lately there hasn't been much to interest me) but seeing the name Cherie Currie triggered something. An actual lightbulb moment!

The event they were advertising was a preview screening of The Runaways with a live, via satellite, chat with Cherie Currie (actress and member of the actual Runaways). Seeing that name opened a floodgate of memories and I sat shaking at my desk, remembering so clearly coming out of that screening of Foxes 30 years ago and feeling the foundations of my life shift under my feet.

So on 7 July I'll be dragging my long suffering sister to this night of nostlagia, if that is even the right word for it. I don't know anything about the band The Runaways and I didn't know Cherie Currie was in it, so this will be something of a learning experience as well.

All I know right now is that I need to get my hands on a copy of Foxes. In equal parts I desperately want to see it again and I am terrified of seeing it again. I am so scared that actually seeing what is potentially (undoubtedly!) a very poor 80s teenage angst piece of schlock will shatter the exquisite feelings I remember from that time. Is it best to cling onto the memories or watch it again and re-examine it from a 42 year old perspective? What do you think?

Travelling North (and South)

We've just returned from a pleasant long weekend in Melbourne visiting Big Jay's brother T and his wife A and their little fellow A.

We drove down, the first time in a long time, and it was good. Luckily Big Jay likes the long distance driving (whereas I DO NOT) which leaves me ample time to read on my Kindle. (I've just finished The Remains of the Day by Kazuo Ishiguro and The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie by Alan Bradley, both of which will hopefully get an entry of their own sooner rather than later.)

Gundagai was our mid-way overnight stopover in both directions. Small towns make my skin crawl. I can do one night but the idea of living somewhere like that makes me feel ill. I've probably mentioned that I have a medical condition which means I have to live within a 15 minute drive of a Myer and/or a Westfield at all times. We passed a town which had a population of 150 - that's ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY PEOPLE. Our apartment block would have more than 150 people living in it. I can't imagine a whole town that small. It scares me that such places exist and, worse still, that some people want to live in them. Why?!

Anyway, enough about my mental health problems. Our visit in Melbourne was very nice. Low key and enjoyable. I got to spend time with my sister-in-law A who is a very classy lady. She epitomises what I consider good fashion sense and style. She always looks damned fabulous. She has the sort of petite figure which looks good in just about anything and she makes the most of it by wearing very stylish gear. She knows her brands and she knows how to put an outfit together. Every time I see her I know I'm going to get a little visual treat.

Nothing notable happened but here are a few picture momentos (I love the Hipstamatic app on my iPhone).

I want Meat

Last week I bought tickets for the upcoming Blondie and The Pretenders double bill at A Day on the Green. We saw Blondie a few years ago and she (and the band) still rocked in a very big way. I'm hoping Chrissie Hynde still has it too.

This is a concert I'm really looking forward to, most of all because we can take the kids (for free!). I love introducing them to "our" music. They have it on their iPods and taking them to a concert is an extra special thrill. They are still at an age when they enjoy music for what it is, without the "theirs" and "ours" attitude.

The next day I was listening to a radio special on Meatloaf's Bat Out Of Hell, a classic by any standard I would think (though I understand that there are those who think it's schlocky rubbish - bah humbug to you, I say).

Then it hit me: how amazing would it be to see Meatloaf performing the entire album at A Day on the Green. Pumping out those huge songs under a starry sky. I hope there's a promoter working on it right now...

On a hot summer night would you offer your throat to the wolf with the red roses?

FUCK YEAH!

Chip off the old block

We spent the weekend having a wonderful time at Camp Connection (a weekend away for adoptive families).

We had a funny moment on Saturday evening when the kids were playing Celebrity Heads. Will was one of the contestants and his celebrity to be guessed was "BATMAN". He asked a few relevant questions, like "Am I am man?" and "Am I on television?". Then, sensing he was getting an idea about who he was, he asked "Am I Dr Phil?".

Aaahhhh, makes a mother proud.