Sunday Stealing: Thought Provoking Questions

 Another weekend of work, and another Saturday night when I'm doing the Sunday questions. I was supposed to be going out to dinner tonight. I'm a bit headachy and throaty - the RAT test came back negative, but I don't want to risk it. Such is life in this new Post-COVID world. 

Questions, as always, have been provided by Bev at Sunday Stealing. 

1. Do you own your things or do your things own you?

I own my things. I do like things (particularly my books) but they don't own me. I could do without a lot of them. 

2. Would you rather lose all of your old memories or never be able to make new ones?

I don't think I'd sign up for either. Your old memories make you who you are. And making new memories is all part of the fun of having fun. So I'm going to say neither. 

3. When you are 80-years-old, what will matter to you the most?

That I have my health, that I am secure and that I have friends. You need all of these things to live past your 70s. 

4. What do you have that you cannot live without?

My friends. 

5. When you close your eyes what do you see?

Light. It depends on the amibent light around the place as to how bright the light is. 

6. What sustains you on a daily basis?

Writing, film, friends and music. I need all of these things to keep me sane. 

7. What are your top five personal values?

• Be kind, always
• Be loyal
• Be generous with your friends
• Be curious, but not judgemental (thanks, Ted Lasso for that one)
• Keep on searching. 

8. What personal prisons have you built out of fears?

Probably my fear of intimacy and commitment. They're fun. I'm working on them. 

9. What one thing have you not done that you really want to do?

Walk the full length of the Camino de Compostella di Santiago in Spain. An 800 kilometre walk. Fun, eh? 

10. If you haven’t achieved it yet what do you have to lose?

I've been waiting for the time where it's a bit safe  - I was looking at doing it this year, but there are some health issues that need seeing to. That and I need 6 weeks to two months off work to do this. And I need to get a new passport - my old one is about to expire. 

11. What three words would you use to describe the last three months of your life?

• Work
• Work
• Work

It's not been fun. It will hopefully be changing bigtime after ANZAC Day when the project goes live. 

12. Is it ever right to do the wrong thing?  Is it ever wrong to do the right thing?

Yes. Not often, but yes. 

13. How would you describe ‘freedom’ in your own words?

Walking barefoot down a beach, listening to the ocean, not having to be anywhere and just enjoying what is in front of you, without feeling disadvantaged in any way. 

14. What is the most important thing you could do right now in your personal life?

Let myself be open to more opportunities in all sorts of ways. 

15. If happiness was the national currency, what kind of work would make you rich?

I'd probably still be a writer. 

Today's song: 

Today's song: 

The worst ear-worm

 One bad movie. One bad song. It's been in my head for a week. 

I walked in on the movie which was playing on the telly when I came in after a night out. I avoid this movie. It's not a great movie. But it's avoided because there are two awful songs in it which get stuck in your head and don't leave. 

The movie is Music and Lyrics. It's a blink and you miss it rom-com starring Drew Barrymore and Hugh Grant. 

This mock video clip starts the movie. 

Hugh Grant has a cute bum - well he did 15 years ago when this was made. I'm not sure what it's like now he's a bit older. (though I LOVE his Cockney accent). 

But this song has been in my head for about a week know and it is driving me troppo.

Please send another earworm to get rid of it. 

Here is some Florence and the Machine to get rid of the residual sounds. 

Today's song: 

30 Words

April brings the Writer's Victoria Annual #FlashFiction competition. 

Each day in April, at around 9 a.m. a tweet is sent out with the word of the day. It looks like this: 

You have until midnight to tweet back a 30 word story.

Once a week on a Tuesday Writers Victoria announce the best tweets/stories of the day. At the end of the month, the best story is judged and there's a small prize to be had. 

This is an absolute godsend for me. 30 words, sculpting a publishable story, getting it out there, and seeing what the Twitterverse things of it.

On the good side of things, the people who participate in this are lovely people. It's nice when you see the likes ramping up - anything over 15 and I think I've done a good job. Met some good people over Twitter this way. (For the record, I tweet under another name and I only use the app for writing stuff and occasionally checking news - as a friend once said, Twitter is the place where you go to yell at your enemies - I keep my twitter feed very clean, positive and unpolluted).

I also love the short, sharp creative outlet - like my Instagram page. Funny, in that I had a talk with a colleague about this today. I often share my Insta stories with her. She loves that there isn't a duckface in sight. 

Anyway, I'm loving this annual challenge. I love what you can get out in 30 words. I love that I can do this and be a part of a writing tribe. 

It makes me happy. 

Sure, some of these stories are better than others. Then you can go about and amaze yourself.

I wasn't certain about this morning's effort, but it appears to have gone down well. 

It's all a matter of honing the skills. 

Like this blog, it's all a part of the practice. 

Today's song:

I have no desire to write tonight

I'm knackered. 

Here are some good things from the day:

1. My boss bought me lunch (on expenses - she was down from Sydney)
2. I met a colleague who I've been speaking to for 16 months. He lives in Tasmania. He's delightful. 
3. The tram was a minute down the road on the right side (i.e. coming towards the stop) instead of having it fly by as I'm 50 metres from the tram stop. 
4. I walked home from the train tonight. 
5. Gym was good - I got to work out with Angus, who was visiting as his trainer is away. Jay is still recovering from COVID. 
6. My 30 word story garnered 17 likes on Twitter. This is good for me
7. The 30 word story took 3 minutes to write. 
8. This is the 30 word story. Today's word was 'intermittent'.

"Her sanity was intermittent at best. She searched for it under doona and while tightrope-walking bar balconies. Moods swinging, nothing stayed calm. Searching for an impossible horizon, she screamed, ‘Enough!' "

9. I love April because I love the 30 word story challenge run by the Victorian Writer's Centre.

10. I'm happy I have done this blog post - even if it isn't a real blog post. 

That will do. Bed for me I think. 

Today's song:

Movie Review: Morbius

Movie Number 13 of 2022

The Movie: Morbius

The Cinema: Hoyts Victoria Gardens

Stars: 2.5

It's the 13th film I've seen this year and I'm not feeling overly generous about this Marvel monstrosity. 

It's been panned by the critics and audiences alike. I went with my kid brother. He didn't like it either. It's sitting on 16% approval on RottenTomatoes.com. And I get why. 

Basically, it stinks. 

Though I found a few redeeming features. 

The plot, according to RottenTomatoes is as such:

"One of the most compelling and conflicted characters in Sony Pictures Universe of Marvel Characters comes to the big screen as Oscar® winner Jared Leto transforms into the enigmatic antihero Michael Morbius. Dangerously ill with a rare blood disorder and determined to save others suffering his same fate, Dr. Morbius attempts a desperate gamble. While at first it seems to be a radical success, a darkness inside him is unleashed. Will good override evil -- or will Morbius succumb to his mysterious new urges?"

Like what the?

It's basically a thriller vampire movie in the Marvel world. 

The problem with Morbius is lacks the charm and humour of most Marvel films. Heck, even The Avengers: Infinity Wars had it's lighter moments. Not this. It's a mix of plot holes, CGI and rather gory action. What there is of the story is bloody hard to follow - Like why does the movie start in Costa Rica in a bat cave? And really, what is going on with Michael Morbius, and did they really have to have the whole romance with his colleague who may end up not as dead as she appears to be? 

Sorry - this one is a bit of a stinker. 

As I always look for the good in movies, I will say I enjoyed the following: 

• Jared Leto is pretty to look at
• The effects are good
• I quite liked the addition of Matt Smith as Milo, Morbius's friend and nemesis. 
• And the end bit, where Michael Keaton turns up as somebody in a jail cell, who ends up being the Vulture - from one of the Spiderman movies (and it looks like this is setting up one of the next Spiderman films, going from the clip during the end credits.)

But this isn't one of Marvel's best. I'm half-interested in seeing Venom now, as those films are allegedly funny. 

This isn't. My kid brother didn't like it either, for the same reasons. 

Best give this one a miss. It's for the die hard Marvel fans only.

Today's song: 

The Sistine Chapel

We get to do all sorts of things these days. 

Yesterday it was a visit to the Sistine Chapel. Well it was a visit to a few of the panels of the ceiling, rendered onto canvas, illuminated and brought to Melbourne in an exhibition. 

Alice told me to come along. And being a Renaissance junkie, I couldn't say no. 

Of course, I've been to the actual Sistine Chapel some 23 years ago. Of my memories of Rome, I remember having raging bronchitis, I was staying in a one star rooming house near the Colusseum, I got hassled by gypsies and I spent my afternoons avoiding the heat listening to a troupe practice Don Giovanni for an opera festival at St Clement's Basilica - which was the highlight of the trip. 

Anyway, I remember going to the Vatican for the day, seeing La Pieta, being floored by the wealth of the place. And then I was in the Sistine Chapel with a couple of hundred other people, and I remember having a look and thinking that this would be an amazing place if you were on your own and there weren't people yelling at you not to take photos. It wasn't the best of experiences. 

So I relished the chance to have a look at this amazing little church and to view the paintings close up.

This was a lot more palatable than my Roman experience.

Alice and I first took in the three short documentaries about the painting and scaffolding processes. Fascinating stuff.

And then we got to see a lot of the frescoes up close. 

Incredible stuff. The detail, the humour, the outright sticking it to the Pope, the stories. It was surreal to be up close and personal with images you've only seen from 6 storeys away.

Like this: 

And this - I love the Sibyl of Cumae, but Michelangelo really doesn't know how to do tits. 

And this, the majestic altar piece.

And the bits that get overlooked - this one was my favourite. 

Alice, all the mean time, was going through the meaning of each panel. She was quizzing me on my knowledge of the bible and Hebrew (both stood up quite well). It was a lovely, meandering, fascinating afternoon. 

As with all exhibitions like there, there were a few too many people there, but still - the chance to see some beauty in a controlled environment. 

I'm glad I went along. 

After, I bought a fridge magnet to commemorate the afternoon and Alice and I went for a cup of tea, which is another ritual of ours. 

Unfortunately, Alice and I went on the last day of the exhibition. If this was not the case, I'd be telling you to buy a ticket and go have a look. It was worth the $30 ticket price.

Today's song: 

Movie Review: King Richard

 Movie 12 of 2022

The Movie: King Richard

The Cinema: The Rivoli, Camberwell

Stars: 4

With all the kerfuffle over Will Smith's (and Chris Rock's) behaviour at the Academy Awards this year, there was part of me who was thinking that maybe I could give this a miss. But despite the actor's entitled and dickhead move (not condoning either man - dick heads both of them) Jonella and I decided to see this. Not surprisingly after all the fuss, the cinema was 3/4 full - and the film has been running for a number of weeks now. 

I'm glad we did go along. I can see why Will Smith got the Oscar for this. He's excellent.

Rotten Tomatoes says of the movie:

"Armed with a clear vision and a brazen 78-page plan, Richard Williams is determined to write his daughters, Venus and Serena, into history. Training on Compton, California's neglected tennis courts--rain or shine--the girls are shaped by their father's unyielding commitment and their mother's balanced perspective and keen intuition, defying the seemingly insurmountable odds and prevailing expectations laid before them. Based on the true story that will inspire the world, "King Richard" follows the uplifting journey of a family whose unwavering resolve and unconditional belief ultimately delivers two of the world's greatest sports legends.".

It's an inspirational tale of a man wanting more for his family and being willing to do anything for them. You want to love Richard as much as you want to hate him. He's loud, brash and unconventional as he pushes his girls to be their best. He's the perfect advocate for his girls, but he's also a huge pain in the arse. For anybody who's had a difficult relationship with their father, you'll recognise a lot of his behaviours. 

Will Smith is excellent in this as the eponymous King Richard. Very quickly you forget you're watching Will Smith and completely believe you're watching this loving, driven, left-of-centre father get the best out of his daughters. 

But there is much more to this film. There's the life in Compton, an impoverished part of Los Angeles. There's the relationships with his wife Brandy (Aunjenue Ellis, deserving of the Oscar nod) and his five daughters. Most of the film focuses on Venus Williams rise from promising Junior to her first match with Arantxa Sanchez Vicario, when Williams nearly beat her as a 14-year-old. 

As somebody who doesn't really like tennis, I really liked this film. It was definitely worth the Oscar nods. 

It's just a pity it's going to be overshadowed for eternity by the disappointing actions witnessed at this year's Oscars. 

Today's song: