Whomever decided that learner drivers need 120 hours of road experience before they go for their license needs a good hard slap, and probably a medal too. Yes it is true that all of that putt-putting about town before you get your license is clearly good practice but when you are the actual parent of a learner driver and have to spend way too much of your spare time in the throws of regular heart failure - it sucks a fat one! 
Zoe has really gotten a lot better behind the wheel and is showing a great deal more confidence these days, but we still have a way to go. I still regularly shout out things like BRAKES and OH FUCKING HELL, which has to be somewhat unnerving for her without a doubt, but in all honesty 120 hours feels like a very long time when you are in the passenger seat with a 17 year old driver. I get the necessity and I support the sensibility of it all, but compared to the crappy 10 hours that I did before I got a license it seems like overkill. Oh well, you have to appreciate the lower incidence of young driver accidents these days, which is clear evidence that all those hours are indeed important, and in another 7 months this will all seem like a blip on the radar of my life - but I am sure that I will have more grey hair by then, utterly positive! 
So tomorrow I am kicking off my Christmas festivities and putting up my decorations and tree. I don't go all 'Deck the Halls' bonkers or anything like that, no strobing LED's stapled to the house or gyrating santas to be seen anywhere. But I do have some special and meaningful items that I like to drag out for the season, and the tree decorating is something that we all set time aside for as a family each year. We have a pretty huge tree and a lot of ornaments that we have collected over the years, so even when we all pitch in, it's a couple of hours of decorating. I try to get a good 26 days out of my Christmas decorating efforts, or it just doesn't seem worth the effort.
And so....it begins! 

THE NIGHTMARE
BEFORE CHRISTMAS
Release Date: 1993
Rating: PG
Running Time: 76 mins
Tim Burton melds the magic of Christmas with the terror of Halloween in this beautiful and somewhat macabre claymation-musical. The story revolves around the life of Jack Skellington, the Pumpkin King and most revered character in Halloween Town. Jack in his desire to find new thrills in life stumbles across Christmas town and causes the balance between the two worlds to shift. This is a quirky and slightly scary children's movie, but behind the horrors there is a gentle message about the comfort of home and being true to yourself that cannot be ignored. 
Not for preschoolers, but primary kids will love the crazy characters and catchy tunes, it's a magical piece of work. 
FINAL  SAY:  Claymation at its best.
4 Chili Peppers

Here I stand on the precipice of change, a school year ending and a million things to do all at once, but instead of celebrating some closure, my mind wanders to 'where will I be next year?' It is a shitty contemplation that comes with contract work, and until you sign your offer and lock down your security for the coming year, you just feel like you're living on the edge. 
LSO's really get the stinkiest end of the shit stick at this time of the year because we have no idea if we have a job, what hours it will entail if we do get one or what Grade level we will working with. It is the pits! The teachers all know where they are going weeks ahead of us, it really makes us feel undervalued and vulnerable, and it happens every year, the dreaded final weeks of the school year spent in worry and uncertainty. It really puts the F.U. in FUN! 
I suppose a little anticipation didn't kill anyone, it just pisses a lot of people off. It's hardly the end of the world, but it would be a seriously big blow to not get a contract for next year and there are just no guarantees. Stupid worry, I need to distract myself! 

I think that there are times in everyone's lives that we have to search to the find the beauty in our existences. It is easy to get bogged down by life, I mean sometimes it's just plain hard work. It can be so easy to drown in those moments of struggle and imperfection, so simple to just put all of your attentions into the ugliness that seems to be everywhere you look. 
Diverting your vision can seem like an almost impossible task when things appear to be in disarray, but the divergence is utterly necessary. You just have to look harder. You just have to seek out that silver lining and embrace whatever that is, regardless of how small it is. 
When the world gets too loud I often find myself searching out places that I know that I am sure to find beauty. The solitude of the bush, the vastness of the night skies, the inspiration of the art gallery or the comfort of a coffee and a good novel are sometimes the places that I turn to when I need to re-adjust my attentions to something beautiful. 
A good hug can really be an underrated and terribly underused thing of beauty and solace. I just don't think people hug enough really, if we all just hugged each other more we would all be so much happier. But it is generally seen as such an invasive and often uncomfortable thing to do, reserved only for a few select people in our circle of trust. Why do we do that? Why as humans do we try to escape from the things that will clearly make our lives better, make us feel more valued and important and in some cases offer a little slice of human touch that we as a society lack in such a large way? 
As an intelligent species, we really are very dysfunctional aren't we? Do me a favour, go out and find some beauty in your world today, and please hug someone - hug them as hard as you can.... it just feels really good. 

AMERICAN BEAUTY
Release Date: 1999
Rating: MA 15+
Running Time: 122 mins
This movie has the writing skills of Alan Ball (creator of TV series Six Feet Under) stamped all over it, team that with the directing prowess of Sam Mendes and you've got a seriously winning combination. American Beauty is a character study about the mundane and predictability of life, about escaping one's realities and about searching for those parts of ourselves that are missing. 
Lester Burnham (Kevin Spacey) is bored with his life and his unhappy marriage to Carolyn (Annette Benning). When Lester becomes infatuated with his daughter's best friend, he finds himself rising out of his depression and beginning to live his life as he wants to. In doing so, Lester inadvertently becomes the catalyst in launching a series of life changing events into motion for all of the characters involved. 
There is a hopelessness and a hopefulness that is a symphony of emotions in this film. We are constantly torn about the character's motivations and general moral compass, but still empathetic to their toils. This is a marvelous piece of cinema; the acting is suburb, the content riveting and the characters perfectly flawed. 
FINAL SAY: I can't feel anything but gratitude for every single moment of my stupid little life. 
4.5 Chili Peppers

Craig and I are celebrating our 20th Wedding Anniversary today. We were virtually babies when we tied the knot (I was only 20 and Craig 22)and despite all of the people that doubted that we'd last and through all of our ups and downs, we made it to 20 years. 
So what does it feel like to be with the same person for 20 years? Mostly it feels very comfortable, and I don't just mean fart on the couch next them comfortable - there is a certain ease and predictability that only comes after sharing your life with another for 20 years. I can pretty much guess Craig's moods and reactions to things now, and he can with me too. 
Does that make things too predictable? Nah, no matter how long you are with a person they will always surprise you. That's another thing I have learnt in my two decades of marriage, you can never ever know a person 100%. Even when you are really comfortable and things get routine, that's probably about the time that the person you love will throw you a curve ball and the whole game will change. Some people call that 'keeping things fresh', others call it 'bullshit' and I like to call it 'oh, so that's happening now?'
One thing that I have definitely gained from being married for 20 years is resilience, because you have to ride a lot of shit out to stay together. You have to put up with annoying crap like dirty teaspoons on polished benches for the rest of your days, or squeezing the fucking toothpaste tube in the middle or some other mundane crap day after day. But you also have to weather out the tides of your life together, which means being there through sickness and death and depression and job-lessness and in Craig's case seeing babies burst out of me too - and that shit takes it toll let me tell you! 
But then, you get to look at the awesome people you made together and remember how many times you both laughed together or shared a moment that no-one will ever know about but the two of you and you think....yeah this is actually pretty fricken good. This is actually very fricken good, and we really have something here...and we have had it for 20 years....and hopefully for at least another 20 more. 

BEFORE SUNRISE, BEFORE SUNSET AND BEFORE MIDNIGHT (TRILOGY)
Release Date: 1995, 2004 and 2013
Rating: MA 15+ 
Running Time: 294 mins (total)
Filmed nine years apart, this trilogy documents the lives of Jesse (Ethan Hawke) and Celine (Julie Delpy), a couple that meet in Before Sunrise, re-unite in Before Sunset and adapt to a long term relationship in the third and final instalment, Before Midnight. 
This is beautifully written material, skillfully realised by Richard Linklater and perfectly delivered by Hawke and Delpy. There is very little plot to these films, they are basically an exploration of the conversations and opinions of the two protagonists as they wash over each other and try to understand one another. 
Watching the same actors reunite every nine years is a treat and they really do physically and emotionally evolve with each instalment. This trilogy almost feels voyeuristic in the way that you engage with the characters in their private spaces, observing and over hearing their conversations and getting an intimate depiction of the dynamics of their lives.
The scenery is an added bonus in these movies; the first takes place in Vienna, the second in France and the third is in Greece, each country adding another layer of subtle beauty to this extremely good examination of developing relationships. 
FINAL SAY: A romance of a lifetime. 
4.5 Chili Peppers 

I do believe that Mid-Term in the final Term of the year is the shittiest time of the year. Teachers are generally dismissive because they are trying to thump out reports, the kids are testing that very last length of rope because they can, and everyone waits around on tenterhooks wondering when or even if a new contract for next year will arrive. In a nutshell - it's crapola! And I find myself a little less joy filled, a little more impatient and lot less tolerant as every day passes. 
I like to call it Mid-Term Melancholy (MTM for short) because it generally arrives around week 5 or 6 of the first and fourth Term; it gives everyone license to act like a sack of shit and makes the drive to get out of bed on a work day incredibly challenging. 
It's just far too early in the Term to start heading for the light at the end of the tunnel because you're at the point of no return - the middle mark. It is too busy to make good plans and it is just plain risky and pretty socially unacceptable to admit out loud that you actually have MTM for fear of being beaten down by a colleague that clearly has much larger problems than your own. 
It is probably worth noting that you don't have to work in a school environment to suffer from MTM, in fact people that haven't stepped foot in a school for years appear to get it too. Maybe because their douche-bag kids have it and brought it home with them to spread around. Who knows? Who cares? 
In the words of Ben Lee, I want a TV embrace.

A rather timely long weekend arrived just in the nick of time given my revolting sickness, Zoe's need for TLC and everyone's general malaise at the moment. It could have something to do with the extreme weather that we have been having lately where the temperatures have ranged from 7 degrees to 32 degrees in the space of 24 hours, or it could just be a raving case of November-itis; whatever the reason everyone appears to be tired, unwell, fed up or a delightfully heady blend of all of those things! 
Well, thanks to the Ballarat Show being in town we all got a long weekend, I even managed to get Monday on top of that allowing me a four day respite from work and an opportunity to rest and recover from a mother load of sickness. 
So did I venture to the Show to get my fill of overpriced show bags and rejoice in the opportunity to rub shoulders with the Hep B Carnies under the glamorous setting of the Ballarat showgrounds? Hell no I didn't! I did menial tasks and caught up on a swag of not necessarily fun, but somewhat unavoidable jobs. And of course I managed to watch some movies and started watching a new series called Penny Dreadful which has really got me intrigued. Yes, a long weekend was very much needed and probably just what the doctor would have ordered had I been bothered to visit. 

X-MEN:
DAYS OF FUTURE PAST
Release Date: 2014
Rating: M
Running Time: 131 mins 
This is easily the best and most enjoyable of all of the X-Men offerings to date. It is a smorgasbord of mutant characters with a fresh and original story line that is both fun and interesting, and they even threw in Michael Fassbender as the young Magneto just to sweeten the deal. 
When the future of all mutants and 'pro-mutant life' humans is threatened by indestructible robot Sentinels, the X-men are forced to take action. Kitty Pryde (Ellen Page) uses her time travel abilities to send Wolverine (Hugh Jackman) back to 1973 to change the course of the future by preventing Mystique (Jennifer Lawrence) from assassinating the Sentinels inventor Dr. Bolivar Trask (Peter Dinklage). Wolverine must persuade life long rivals Charles Xavier (James McAvoy) and Magneto (Michael Fassbender) to unite in the cause to save their own future selves. 
The effects in this movie are out of this world and really inject new life into the X-Men franchise. My favourite scenes are the ones involving Quicksilver (Evan Peters), they are so exciting to watch! Basically,  this movie is just plain good fun; lots of action, a stellar cast and you don't need to have seen any of the other X-Men movies to get the gist of what's going on.
FINAL SAY: The future of X-Men has never looked better.  
4 Chili Peppers 

BLAHHH! Cough...splutter....moan!
I have come down with some sort of dreaded lurgy that has made me feel like the four horsemen of the apocalypse have descended upon my chest and are trying to kill me from the inside out. Other than that, everything's pretty normal really. 
You know how it is; bills are mounting, my little man has the pestilence along side of me, cat spewed on the floor, daughter under exam stress hell, found another grey hair, hubby exhausted from work and just wants to eat and sleep, got my period, splitting headache, kids at work off their noodles and I think I just coughed up my spleen. You know, it's all pretty regular stuff. 
So what do you do when it all goes to hell in a handbag? I'll tell you what you do; you grab that bloody handbag and get yourself a couple of hearty lasses that can handle your level of plague and go out for a Thai feed and a movie, well that's what I do anyway. Just make sure it's a comedy - can't go too dark when you're feeling like a crap burger. 

THIS IS WHERE I LEAVE YOU
Release Date: 2014
Rating: MA 15+
Running Time: 103 mins 
This film presented itself as a comedy, but in truth it is also a drama. It's one of those crowd pleaser movies where everyone can identify with at least one character because they have covered every angle in a 'typical' family dynamic. The cast is an even spread of talented and genuinely funny individuals including Jason Bateman, Tina Fey, Adam Driver, Rose Byrne and Jane Fonda's tits. 
When their father passes away, four adult siblings are coerced by their mother to fulfill his final wish, which is to have them all together again for one week in their family home. Over the course of the week they are forced to re-connect with each other, confront their pasts, deal with the realities of their lives and of course, mourn the loss of their father. 
This movie is continually shifts from comedy to tragedy mode, probably more so than any other film I have seen. I was literally laughing and then ten minutes later crying only to start laughing again five minutes later! It is funny, it is also tender and although it doesn't have a big or even new story to tell, it was an enjoyable watch for me. A little fluff can go a long way.
FINAL SAY: It is hard to see people from your past when your present is so cataclysmically screwed up!
3 Chili Peppers

Sitting quietly at the bench sketching away yesterday when Seth turns to me asks 'Mum, what is the meaning of life?' Great buddy, throw me a nine year old curve ball at 4 in the afternoon whilst I'm nursing my Halloween hangover why don't you? And then I got to thinking, ummmmm.......well........give me a minute to mull this one over will you little man?
So after 15 odd minutes of trying to come up with something meaningful and motivational I came up with this:
The Meaning of Life is to find what you love and makes you happy, and do that to the best of your ability. Then you'll learn about things like perseverance and persistence even in the face of great adversity. And then when you've gone as far as you can with that, you find another thing and you just keep going on like that.  Eventually you will leave a mark on the world, it's kind of like your legacy. It could be something you did or created, or your legacy could be your children or family or friends that you left a mark on; and you'll live on through that legacy in the hearts and minds of others long after you're gone. 
And Seth said in response:
I think that you should just do what you want and try to be happy, but don't be mean or cruel to anyone or anything because then people won't even care if you're dead. 
Well said little dude, I think his was actually much better than mine. But we did both agree that everyone has a different concept of what the meaning of life is. Craig simply said:
It's about being happy, it's about you giving your life meaning. 
And Zoe said: 
It's personal and it doesn't have a criteria. I think it's about doing what makes you happy so long as it's not harming anyone else. 
Interestingly, the kids had very similar opinions on the issue. Perhaps Craig and I have instilled this idea through osmosis without even realising we did. 
What do you think the Meaning of Life is? Feel free to post your opinions, I'm sure you all have one since you're alive and reading this. 

INTO THE WILD
Release Date: 2007
Rating: MA 15+ 
Running Time: 148 mins 
This film is based on the 1996 non-fiction book of the same name by Jon Krakauer following the travels of Christopher McCandless across the North American and Alaskan wilderness.  Sharply directed by Sean Penn, this is a story not only about discovering new territory, but also about finding the true meaning of life. 
After successfully graduating from University, high flyer Christopher (Emile Hirsch) abandons all of his possessions, gives all of his savings to charity and hitchhikes to Alaska to live alone in the wilderness in an attempt to enrich his life. Along the way Christopher encounters a series of interesting characters that help him to define his own reality. 
This is a sensitive and poignant cinematic experience, enhanced by the beautiful landscapes and fabulous original score provided by Eddie Vedder, it is deeply moving material indeed. 
FINAL SAY: I read somewhere how important it is in life not necessarily to be strong....but to feel strong. 
4 Chili Peppers

I know that I'm not American, but you don't have to come from the good old US of A to celebrate All Hallows. Besides how can anyone resist the temptation of pumpkin goodies, Jack 'o Lanterns and late night horror movies? Well certainly not me that's for sure. 
We kicked off with some preparations the night before by prepping our table centre piece, a magnificent Pumpkin Jack Jack 'o Lantern which Craig lovingly carved with a set of scalpels. Zoe took on the dark chocolate and orange mousse dessert and I made my never fail pumpkin soup for starters. Seth and Zoe even managed to bake a plate of horrific cookies; complete with graves, voodoo dolls, skulls and spiders. 
We kicked off our Halloween evening with some generous wine libations whilst listening to the top 20 best Halloween hits of all time on MAX music channel. Helen supplied the main course of nachos with guacamole and we had a delightful feast by the light of the candles and Jack's glowing head. 
Naturally, the evening had to include horror movies, I mean what better gathering than Halloween to watch something spooky? It was well into the wee hours before the horror ended and I fell into bed to sleep the sleep of a thousand corpses myself. 

SINISTER
Release Date: 2012
Rating: R 18+
Running Time: 110 mins
There are not a lot of movies that really scare me anymore, perhaps I am just getting jaded or even worse desensitized to a lot of the thrills and chills that the horror industry dishes out.  However, for the first time in about 20 years I actually got a decent fright, one that made me squeal a little and made my pulse quicken. Yes, this is a scary movie, and that is why Sinister is in the Hall of Fame and not in the horror section.
Sinister tells the story of a true-crime writer that moves his family into a house where a grisly incident took place some years ago. He keeps this information to himself believing that living at the scene of the crime will assist him with his research for his newest novel.  He uncovers a cache of 8mm films in the attic that show a string of other horrific family murders dating back to the 1960's, suggesting that this is the work of a serial killer. 
Sinister is a creepy flick that will have you on the edge of your seat.  Ethan Hawke portrays the confused and intrigued writer perfectly, and his character is clearly more fleshed out than the ones we usually see in horror, which certainly adds to the overall merit of the movie. 
FINAL SAY: Made me jump - a winner! 
5 Chili Peppers