Trick 'r Treating on October 31st in Australia sure is a hotly contested topic. I heard some ladies at the hairdressers tonight going right off about it, they were saying that it is stupid and American and unseasonal and that if any kids knock on their doors looking for candy they will tell them to piss off! Woah, a bit harsh I thought. Sure, it isn't Autumn here when Halloween occurs which does make it a little un-pumpkin, chestnut and acorn friendly, but aside of that, it isn't actually American at all, it's Pagan and the bottom line is that it's fun! 
Kids love Halloween, they love dressing up and playing spooks and who wouldn't want to knock on peoples doors and get free lollies? Uh, it's frickin amazing and just because we never got to do it when we were kids doesn't mean that we shouldn't let them do it now. If you're going to use un-seasonal as your excuse for hating Trick 'r Treaters then boo to you, you're lame! I bet you still eat roasts at Christmas time even when it's hot and do all of the other Pagan based stuff the happens at Yuletide like  bringing an evergreen into your home and decorating it to welcome the coming spring....aka your Christmas Tree! That is not very seasonally appropriate is it? But it is fun, so we do it and Halloween shouldn't be any different. 
The ladies that were paying out Halloween tonight were also saying how sick it was to send your kids out for candy to strangers houses. Yes, sending your kids out to strangers houses for candy is sick, which is why 99% of the kids participating have an adult with them when they Trick 'r Treat. Safe and wholesome Halloween Trick 'r Treating can be orchestrated and seriously, if you were some Sweeney Todd type trying to lure kids into your home with candy to turn them into pies, you would hardly chose to do that on Halloween when there would be possible witnesses and the most easily traceable crime trail in all history would you? I bet that half of the people that say things like that wouldn't think twice about plopping their poor kids onto some unknown santa's lap at the mall for a happy snap would they? Are those kinds of strangers in red suits that hug unknown children at the mall better than the strangers that give out candy on Halloween? Doubtful, very bloody doubtful, but people only see what they want to see. 
We actually have a lot of little Trick 'r Treaters out here in Enfield ever year and it doesn't offend me in the least. They are often quite small and very enthusiastic and the vast majority of them are done and dusted by 7.30pm. They dress up like their lives depend on it, their faces painted and little plastic pumpkin bags in their hands, and they are always super grateful for the lollies that they receive. Some good samaritan mails everyone in our area an orange balloon to hang on their letterbox on the evening of Halloween and if you don't want to participate you just don't hang your balloon and if you run out of candy you just take your balloon down, pretty simple really. It's organised, it's optional and it's safe because all of the children are accompanied by an adult. Where is the harm in that? 
Sometimes I think that people just decide that they don't like Halloween because they can't be bothered, which essentially is fine, no-one says that you have to be bothered; but please stop making it out to be such a big horrible ordeal when it really isn't. Halloween to kids means fun, and well, even to some adults too if I'm being really honest about it, so stop being such bloody grumpy goblins, buy a few lollies and join in the fun as well, it's only one night of the year for goodness sake! 

Celebrated Halloween a little early this year, perhaps it was the full moon or maybe it was just because the 27th was the closest date that we could all manage to gather together, but whatever the reason, the Samhain vibes were flowing on Saturday. 
Whenever people get together at my place, there is always food involved. Not only do I love to eat, I also really love to cook as well, so any celebration is a good occasion for a big cook up around the bench in Enfield. Which is exactly what Zoe, Seth, Helen, Craig and I did this year, we made a delicious feast from scratch to share together.
​Our meal consisted of two different types of ravioli (pumpkin/feta and beef/mushroom) and a delicious tomato based sauce to accompany them. We also made vanilla poached pears in a salted caramel sauce with vanilla ice-cream for dessert, which was an amazing and decadent finish to our evening's festivities. Whilst we cooked, we listened to some tunes and shared some Halloween-ish cocktails and then spent the dark hours indulging in one of my favourite things in the world, B-grade horror. 
I absolutely love B-grade horror, especially B-grade horror from the 80's and 90's because those two decades were rife with poor writing, dreadfully acting, mediocre effects and cliche horror tropes that make them so damn awful that they are absolutely hilarious. I usually call them D-grade because they are so genuinely bad, which should give you some idea of the quality that I am talking about, D-grade means 'woah-fully good' material to me.
On the agenda for B-Grade gold this year? Tales from the Crypt: Bordello of Blood, the name really says it all doesn't it? It is truly classy viewing, I can assure you. Made in 1996, this 87 minute fantasy/horror got a whopping 12% on Rotten Tomatoes, and stars Angie Everhart and Corey Feldman in two of the lead roles; need I say more? In a word it is dreadful; rife with grotuetous titty shots, full of cheesy one liners, the soundtrack seems like it was recorded by someone that cannot sing in their living room with a boombox and the characters are dressed primarily in cheap silks, denim jackets and tennis shorts. It is just so bad that it defies explanation really, it's the ultimate B-grade horror find, and after a few nice strong cocktails, it is the funniest movie that you could ever see. We were literally crying with laughter at some points during the movie. 
And that is how all B-grade horror/ fantasy and sci-fi movies need to be viewed, half pissed and with really good company. Over the years we have watched some absolutely pearlers out here together that just shouldn't be missed; they are so bad, they are actually good! 
Some of my personal favourites and highly recommended B-Grade offerings are:

• Big Trouble in Little China (1986)
• Killer Klowns from Outer Space (1988)
• Vampires: Los Muertos (2002) - just outside of the 90's era but you'd never know!
• They Live (1988)
• Evil Dead 3: The Army of Darkness (1992)
• Tremors (1990)
• Highlander (1986)
• Tales from the Crypt: Demon Knight (1995)
• Day of the Dead (1985)
• Critters (1986) 
• The Thing (1982) 
• Warlock (1989)
• Elvira: Mistress of the Dark (1988)
• Manos: The Hands of Fate (1966)  -a bit older, and quite possibly the worst horror movie ever made, it is unbelievably bad and hilarious. 

With Halloween just around the corner, you don't have to opt for a serious horror movie scare; a cheesy B-Grade retro horrorfest is just as enjoyable, and maybe even a lot more fun! 

Don't really know what happened, but somehow October just arrived. How we have already reached the tenth month of the year fills me with great confusion and concern, because it was around October last year that I went for my first job interview in over a decade and started to forge a new way of being for myself. In some ways that feels like it was very long time ago, because I have made so many changes to my life since October last year, and then in other ways it feels like it was only a few months ago that I plucked up enough guts to throw caution to the wind and put myself out there again.
However, no matter how you look at it, there is no denying that October has just snuck in the back door and that we have well and truly arrived at the 'ber' months of the year. This means that it will only be a matter of time before the onslaught of 'way too bloody early' Christmas propaganda and paraphernalia arrives in stores, spurring on early hysteria and panic among the masses and obligating us all to make lists, shop and prepare. Bottom line for me here is that there is no fricken' way that I am ready for another Christmas yet, and I flat out refuse to acknowledge any of that early stuff and nonsense of Christmas until I have at least managed to milk a decent Halloween celebration out of October. 
Until the ghosts, goblins and ghouls have come out to play for Samhain, I am not doing any department store trees, front yard twinkling lights, Christmas shopping lists or pudding recipe chatter, I will not even entertain it! The Christmas decorations and Christmas tree do not come out in our house until the start of December, and then (and only then) will I happily allow a full 25 days of hysteria and anticipation, damn I'll even encourage it! But just like eating easter eggs before Easter Sunday or hot cross buns before the week of Easter arrives, some things are better to wait for and Christmas mania definitely falls into that category for me. 
Nope, October is all about freaky deaky horror for me, the freak-ier and deak-ier the better. I generally re-watch all of my fave horror movies over October and search out some new material to bring to the fold as well. Making candy apples, carving pumpkins and inventing dark and desirable new cocktails is what October is for. And it's the last month to splurge in couch slouching before the weather gets really hot and we all get a lot more social and start heading outdoors in the evenings.
So, with only four weeks until Halloween (and impending hysteria) arrives, I think that I might get my thinking cap on and plan a night of fun and festivities in Enfield. And above all, there will have to be some terrifically terrifying movie choices for my guests, so I must begin my research asap!

I did something this week that I have never done before in my life, I asked to speak to a manager about poor customer service. Being a person who used to work in the service industry myself, I think that I am pretty lenient when it comes to customer service. I understand that no-one can be at their best 100% of the time and I am usually reasonably accommodating to that fact. I normally would never request to speak a store manager to complain or 'dob' in a worker for their poor service, but on Friday at a well known Australian supermarket chain, I did. And I did it because of the disgraceful service that I received from not one, but two of their staff. 
Let me tell you exactly what occurred. I was in the fresh produce section and realised that there were no produce plastic bags on the rolls in the area that I was in, none in that entire row actually, and I stopped a young female staff member as she was scooting past me and asked -'excuse me, there are no plastic bags in this aisle, could I please get some more?' She did not speak to me, but held out a hand and pointed to another staff member at the other end of the isle, which I found extremely rude for a start. Then when I started to approach the other staff member that she had directed me towards, she quickly wheeled her cart out the back and was gone. Hmmmmm....okay, clearly not the best customer service day at this supermarket, but I just laughed and turned to Seth and commented to him that it was a 'not my job - not my problem' situation and went on with my shopping. 
That was when I overheard the young female staff member that I had first approached at the end of another produce isle, casually bitching to a fellow staff member about how rude all of the customers were today and how she was tired of our surly behaviour. They were both laughing and agreeing and then the first female walked away and the one that she was moaning to came to my end of the produce section. I'm not going to lie here, I was actually pretty annoyed at this stage and I approached the new female staff member and calmly said 'Hello, I was wondering if we could get some plastic bags on the rolls down this isle because there aren't any. I did already ask the young lady that was busy bitching to you down the other end about how surly the customers are today, but she didn't even have the respect to speak to me.'
At first the girl looked shocked, she shifted from foot to foot and then she laughed and said 'we don't have any more bags,' and then she turned her back to me and went on with stacking the fruit. I went on to say, 'you are joking, are you seriously trying to tell me that there aren't any replacement produce bags in this supermarket?' and she then replied to me in a very condescending tone.... now wait for it because this was the when the pin popped out of my grenade, 'there's some in other isles you know, just go and get one from the other end of the produce section.' And that was it, I was just absolutely livid...I felt really really angry, I was triggered, it was like a bomb went off in me. For some reason this simple chain of events had really got me cross, cross enough to go to another staff member and ask to speak to a manager. 
I would like to point out that in spite of me feeling exceptionally cross, I did not yell and I did not abuse anyone, I just calmly told the manager what had happened, and I stated that the young ladies had made me feel extremely unwelcome in the store and that the customer service standards were absolutely appalling. And get this, while I was telling the manager my story, the two young ladies that had just made me feel like crap were standing together in the produce section eyeballing me, whispering behind their hands and giggling, which I also pointed out to the manager in the hope that they would get a decent arse kicking for being so flippant and rude. 
Easily the worst customer service that I have ever had in my life - EVER! And after speaking to the manager who just seemed as ill equipped and lost as his dreadful produce girls, I went home and got onto the supermarket website and made another formal complaint. I was on a roll! And like I said, I would normally just let things go, but I have never felt so mistreated in a shopping environment in my entire life, and considering the fact that I didn't even shout, demand or abuse anyone, then the treatment that I got was totally uncalled for as well. 
I am hoping that this is just an isolated incident and that it isn't an illustration of how low customer service standards have fallen recently, because if I had to put up with that shit every time that I went out shopping, then I would just start to shop online. Talk about ruining a person's zen on a Friday afternoon, it was not a nice start to my weekend at all!

Mental wellness is something that most of us will struggle with at some point in our lives. Even the most seemingly 'put together' people have lapses into the world of imbalanced thought and mental challenge from time to time, they are just a lot better at hiding it from everyone. However, whatever walk of life you are from, whatever your background is, whatever your social standing is, you will inevitably, at some point, feel not so fantastic, wonder what the hell you are doing with your life and question whether you are operating at your best. 
It's completely normal to not feel 100% mentally balanced all of the time, hell some people lead very regular lives and feel mostly mentally unwell a lot of the time, it's just not something that a lot of people feel comfortable about proclaiming to the world, because no-one really wants to appear like they haven't got their shit together. However, letting pride dictate how we deal with our mental health issues is archaic and unproductive to societal wellness and we really need to strive to move away from that outdated and counterproductive mindset. We all really need to know, that it is totally okay to not feel okay all of the time. 
​As time rolls on and the methods of researching mental health improve, we are learning how to diagnose, treat and support each with our mental wellness; the old school shame and stigma that was attached to mental health is now being shed and people are feeling more comfortable to come forward, share their stories and be honest about how they are feeling, and in turn receive better support than they ever have been able to before. 
It is a brave new world when it comes to mental health. Gone are the days of closet depression and hidden anxieties as people are now learning to recognize and own their individual mental wellness levels. More people than ever before are seeking treatment and support and we are slowly but surely learning tolerance, detection, prevention and intervention that will definitely set us up for a brighter future together in the coming years.
And the real work surrounding mental wellness is something that we need to be vigilant about every day.  Each of us must make an effort to recognize the signs within ourselves that tell us when our levy has run dry or we have met our own personal limits. And those limits are unique for everyone, and we must respect that and support that understanding. We must become ninjas at recognizing when we are at the top of our game and when we may be feeling weak. When we are at our peak, we have an obligation to assist those that may be feeling weak, and when we are weak we need to feel safe and secure enough to seek support from the strong. We all owe it to each other to be tolerant, supportive and unwavering in our commitment to our own mental health and our support of the wellness of others. 
R U OK? Day is coming up on Thursday September 13th,  which is a national day dedicated to reminding us that we need to check in with each other and support each other with mental wellness. Don't forget to check in with your friends, family, work colleagues and community on that day, and every other day that you can when you are feeling strong enough to support the wellbeing of others. Mental health is the responsibility of us all and it's not something that we can ever afford to ignore. 

Movies that are based on games....hmmm.....not exactly the most successful movie genre and for a good reason really, because most of them are absolutely shithouse. Time and time again movie makers have attempted to recreate the magic of a quality game experience and interpret it into an engaging movie, and time and time again they have failed dismally. 
Why do games adapted into movies fail so often? Simply because games put you into a first person experience; a complete immersion into a full blown sensory experience. No movie, no matter how awesome it is, can offer the same level of immersion that a game can. There is a reason that people can wander around in the open play landscapes of a game for hours on end, and it is not just because the graphics are awesome. It's because they are in control of the environment and the events that play out, in a movie the only one in control is the director and half the time they are working with a pretty thin storyline. 
Games do not require multi layered or deeply intelligent storylines, and I mean no respect to gamers by saying that. But it is true, most gamers prefer a simple storyline, if they wanted something deeper they would be watching movies and not gaming. Gamers want to solve puzzles, navigate landscapes and basically level up, sure some storyline is required so that players can engage with their characters and the situation or problem within the game, but it doesn't need to be excessively complex or convoluted. More weapons and power ups and less of the jibber jabber is generally appreciated by a lot of gamers. Therefore, when a film studio picks up on a game that is hugely popular and then attempts to interpret it into an epic blockbuster it fails dismally, because most games aren't designed for storyline or character development, which are essential components in any decent movie. 
Quite often, hit movies are re-interpreted into games with some level of success, especially children's movies which require less storyline overall in game play mode. Those Lego games are so damn entertaining and I have wasted days of my life playing those, and every successful Disney movie ever made has spawned a game off the back of it's box office success, from Toy Story to The Pirates of Caribbean, there have been so many. Also children's movies with a fantasy or magical element to them transition seamlessly to a first player gaming model; Harry Potter and LOTR games are great examples of that. It seems that going from a movie to a game is a much better formula overall than going from a game to  a movie.
Have there actually been any good game to movie interpretations? A couple were okay, and I do say that generously, but they are pretty damn thin on the ground. Generally they are unwatchable shit but I am hoping that someday soon a director will hit the right formula and prove to everyone that the gaming genre can be interpreted well. 
Here is my list of the best game to movie adaptations, but as I said...it's thin on the ground and it's a rather sad line up overall. 
1. Silent Hill - hardly brilliant material, but for fans of horror it's a worthy watch, just so that you know who Pyramid Head and those weird arse nurses are. 3 Chilli Peppers
2. Resident Evil - the first one was watchable and that's where the joy ends. 2.5 Chilli Peppers
3. Prince of Persia - it has a very buff Jake Gyllenhaal in it, for that reason alone it is worth a look. 2 Chilli Peppers
4. Warcraft- I know that I slept through most of this film, but I also know that they tried really hard to make this watchable, so kudos for that. 1.5 Chilli Peppers
5. Tomb Raider - They just keep on coming, and they aren't getting any better. Marginally tolerable material with lots of hot chicks, but shithouse storylines.  1 Chilli Pepper
6. Assassins Creed - it has Michael Fassbender in it, that immediately earned it a chilli pepper. 1 Chilli Pepper

Even though I like to think of myself as being reasonably tech savvy, the truth is that I am still totally old school when it comes to certain things. Everyone that was born a Gen X (as I was) or earlier likes to imagine that they are really up with the latest mod cons and gadgetry that is available today, but anyone that even says 'mod cons' is not nearly as tech savvy as they would like to think they are and I know for a fact that I fall into that category. 
I shamefully still read all of my books and magazines in hard copy, regardless of the abundant opportunities that I have to go digital, which is pretty crazy but hey, I like to feel a book in my hand, it's part of my make up now. In fact I even still subscribe to magazines in hard copy and borrow books and DVD's from the local library  which I am pretty sure that no-one under 40 is doing these days. But as I said, it's in my blood now. When you have been doing something for long enough, it is hard to let go of it, even when you are aware that a new and probably better way is available to you. 
So is that just a way of kicking it old school or is it really being an old fuddy duddy pain in the arse? Because I think that I am starting to tread a thin line lately. I still adore a whole lot of old school and dated things that most people are totally over. Like photographs, not instagram shots, but real photos of real people doing real things, that you can hold in your hand. Why do people not like photographs as much anymore? I am still nuts about photos and photo albums and I especially like really old photographs. I also still adore the virtually unused but absolutely amazing fountain pen, and I adore handwritten notes, poetry, cards and letters. I love home cooking, board games, collecting and handwriting recipes into my recipe book, keeping a journal, baking bread, picnics, talking on the phone and retro music compilations. 
Just the other day I caught myself reminiscing about an old school milk bar, the type that had all of the one and two cent lollies lined up under the glass and you could get a little white bag of goodies that were individually selected for just 10 cents. And there were real treasures to be had if you could be patient enough to save up for them, like the all so chic chocolate cigarettes at 25 cents a packet or the illustrious Bubble O' Bill that would set you back a few days of after school bliss to indulge in. I hate to use the term kids these days, but hell, I kind of have to....kids these days will never understand the joy of such a selection or the excitement that was felt when you spied the stamp for a free Sunny Boy ice block on the inside of the wrapper of the one that you had just opened. Pure innocent joy.
And kids today will never understand that joy because everything for them now is completely accessible and available all of the time. Nothing when I was growing up was available all of the time, and although it meant that we had to wait for everything, I think that we also cared about it more for that reason as well. It is true that innovation and technology has enabled a lot of progression, but some of those advances have caused societal and social setbacks that I doubt that any of us could've predicted.
So many people are virtually glued to their devices 24/7 now and they are completely removed from a lot of simple life pleasures. People are spending hours posting pictures, having rants and sharing various goings on about their lives on social media, but half of them don't even know how to hold a decent conversation anymore. It's pretty woeful in some respects. If keeping some old school practises alive makes me feel more alive and in touch with my life, then I am certainly not in any hurry to give them away. Call me corny or old fashioned, it really doesn't matter to me. I like what I like, and although I do love technology, I will always have a place in my heart for the traditional, the old school and the outdated things, even when everyone else has decided that they are unnecessary. 
​And did I tell you how much I love old school horror yet? 

As much as we want everything to remain somewhat logical in our lives, we do have to make peace with the reality of our lives as well, and that means that we need to be able to accept that some things just won't make any sense. In life, there will be many unanswered questions, confusing interludes, incomplete stories and unsolvable dilemmas, and that is just the tip of the iceberg, because essentially life is just one big mystery and for that reason, some parts of it are not going to make any sense at all; not even a bit. Some parts of your life will be downright frustrating and annoying and absolutely illogical and no matter how much you ponder it, it just won't make any sense. 
And there is absolutely nothing wrong with things not making sense or 'adding-up' in our lives, it should be expected a little more often if you ask me because it happens to us all from time to time. However, learning to accept that some things just won't make any sense and may not ever be properly resolved or understood can be extremely challenging for many of us. Knowing that some things just won't make sense and accepting that some things just won't make sense are not that same thing, and people get into all sorts of bother when they cannot accept when things aren't balancing out with their expectations or ideals.
We all like to imagine that our lives are pretty linear and that we have a certain amount of control over how things will play out for us. We also all get a bit excited about the prospect of a happy ending, a tidy resolution or a big box with a bow that we can pop things into and forget about until we are ready to pull them back out again; but in truth, life rarely allows for things to be that organized and logical, we just like to give ourselves the illusion that it does because it feels a shitload safer and saner than admitting that a lot of the time things just don't make any sense. 
Now I know that some people are going to disagree with me on this topic, claiming that there is always a reason for everything and that nothing just happens without there being a bigger or higher purpose to it all; and to those people I say bullshit!  You can believe whatever you want, but trust me when I tell you that not everything that happens in life occurs for a reason. A whole lot of shit that happens (and will happen to you in life) is utterly purposeless, pointless, meaningless and inconsequential, it is just stuff that happens that doesn't make sense and it doesn't need to. You don't need to fix it, you don't need to stay up late at night deconstructing it, you just have to accept it. It is that simple. Rather than adopting some privileged 'everything happens for a reason' mantra, what you really need to adopt  is the smarts to recognise what you can control in this life and what you cannot. What is worth your time and what is not and what needs fixing and what just needs to be accepted.
One of the greatest challenges that we are presented with in this life is learning to accept that some chapters in our lives have to close without any real closure at all and that no matter how many hours we may pour into some puzzles, the truth is that they were never actually made to be solved in the first place. Some things just won't make sense and nothing that we do, will ever make that truth any different and all that you have to do is accept that fact and get on with living your life. 

When we think about what get passed along to us from our families in a hereditarial fashion we generally think about things like physical attributes or genetic indicators, be they good or bad; but we really don't consider what else has been passed along to us that could be causing a lot of damage to our general well being. 
Recent research now indicates that trauma or post traumatic stress disorders (PSTD) can actually impact the next generation through what is known as transgenerational trauma. We all know that trauma is an emotional response to something distressing or disturbing and victims of trauma quite often suffer from recurring nightmares, depression and a range of other stress related illnesses that can have a serious impact on their ability to function in society and within their communities. However, we also now have mounting scientific evidence that proves that future generations of trauma victims can be affected biologically by the trauma that their families went through. 
The studies began with descendants of survivors of the Holocaust, who in spite of being removed from their parents' experiences, were seeking mental health treatment. Similar findings were discovered when studies were also undertaken on other descendants of families that had experienced the destructive effects of catastrophic events such as war, genocide and terrorism; many were suffering from mental health conditions and in some instances the rates of suicide were also notably higher. 
A study from Neuroscience found that stress had an impact on a person's "epigenetic markers" which perform modifications to gene expression instead of a change to the genetic code itself. In the study, mice who had been exposed to trauma early in life displayed behaviours consistent with depression as well as impaired metabolism. The symptoms were passed on, not through genetics but through the father's sperm, and it impacted the next generation of mice.
These findings are already beginning to be put to good use. At a hospital in Atlanta, trauma victims in the ER who tested positive for the genes associated with PTSD received psychotherapy which in turn lead to the development of fewer symptoms. 
It is good to know that science is helping us to decode the links between historical trauma and how it possibly links to the escalating levels of anxiety and depression in society today. Transgenerational trauma reminds us all that our family and cultural history is shaping who we are today and that seeking support and treatment for any type of trauma related symptom is vital in eliminating it for future generations. 

I have succumbed to the dreaded lurgy that is floating around at the moment and it is just horrid! Started off on Friday night with a lovely bout of nausea followed by explosive vomiting, then came the headaches, then came the body aches and now I have the phlegmy, coughy, grossy and mostly miserable tail end of it to content with. The thing that I most pissed off about is that it has dominated my weekend, two entirely wasted days of sickness. I've spent 90% of the weekend in bed sleeping and for someone like me that likes to milk as much out of my day, this has been a real test.
The most that I have done this weekend was a 4 hour game of Risk with Craig and Seth which was actually exhausting, so that should put things into perspective for you. For anyone that doesn't know what Risk is, it's a strategy board game where the most physical aspect is rolling three dice at one time, and that exhausted me! I am so pitiful that I had to quit the game, I couldn't even finish it, how sad is that?
Last year I prided myself in not even getting a sniffle for the entire year, in fact I haven't had a really significant head cold or a flu for over two years now, and I never take the free immunisation that I am offered at school every year. However, this year, ever since dentist death had a go at my teeth and annihilated me, I have fallen prey to every little germ that has come my way. Which basically means that that horrific incident with my teeth has completely destroyed all of my immunity and I now have a crappy constitution and I am not happy about that at all! 
After working in schools for over a decade I have built up a pretty good level of immunity, I rarely get sick and if I do it is never for very long. I have always been able to dodge most of the sickness bullets when they have been flying around and the only time that I have really gotten unwell in the past five years was because of my IBS, which I have also managed really well over the last twelve months.
Needless to say, because I am not used to being to being sick. I have never really been a very good sick person. I always forget just how lousey it feels to be sick and then when it happens to me I am always deeply shocked by how crappy and low I am. Being sick sucks so much, it is just the pits. I really don't like my body when it doesn't function very well, it stands in the way of my plans! 
Well there is nothing for it, I must relent and allow my failing system a chance to reboot, but I cannot deny that I am extremely unhappy about it and even more annoyed with that terrible dentist for mucking up my generally 'racehorse strong' constitution, and to think that it is only the beginning of Winter! At this rate who knows what I will be like in a month from now? Fingers crossed that I am getting the worst of it over and done with early! 

Some movies are so good at building tension and a sense of impending doom that they don't even need to have a monster or a boogeyman in sight for you to get the 'heebie jeebies' and I think that sometimes that can be the mark of a truly great movie. I love the horror genre and I cannot deny that sometimes I genuinely thirst for an all out gorefest, which lately has been more than sated by the Ash vs Evil Dead Series on Stan; if you haven't seen it yet make the time - it is comedy-horror gold! But I am getting off track here, what I am trying to say is that just because I enjoy an all out horrorfest in every sense of the word, that does not mean that I do not appreciate the art of making gripping and engaging movies that are slow burning or subtle in their interpretations of horror. 
I know that I often get annoyed about thrillers being marketed as horror movies, because it seems to happen so often these days, but that does not mean that I don't appreciate the art of a well made, edge of your seat, thriller. And there have been so many of these gems over the years that have been sadly overlooked by people that claim to "not be a fan of horror." Just because you don't want to see someone getting disemboweled or decapitated by a chainsaw in a movie, that does not mean that you don't like all horror, especially today with so many movies being incorrectly marketed. 
In my opinion there are actually a large number of horror genres, not just one, and it all usually just get tossed (quite incorrectly) into the one 'horror' basket, which is really disappointing and drives away hordes of non-horror fans who think that it is all the same. 
I am here to help you out, because in my opinion, there are at least 10 horror sub-cateogories that range from face meltingly scary to pre-teen safe, and I have listed them all below. 
Intense Graphic Horror (always rated R 18+)
You wouldn't take your nanna or your kids to these movies, they are gory AF and even some seasoned horror fans struggle with the intensely gross and disturbing footage in them. These are most definitely not for the people that say that they do like horror. Examples: Wyrmwood, Hellraiser, Raw, Dawn of the Dead, Evil Dead, Silent Hill and 28 Days Later.
Horror Comedy 
Can be gory as well, but doesn't have to be. This genre is not taking itself seriously at all and is extremely good fun, as many laughs as scares. Examples: Ghostbusters, What We Do in the Shadows, Zombieland, Shaun of the Dead and Beetlejuice. 
Monster Horror
Creature type action here, some malformed or completely unnatural abomination stalking about with generally ill intent. All of your classic horror icons like vampires, Frankenstein and werewolves would fit in here. Examples: Dracula, IT, American Werewolf in London, Let the Right One In and It Follows.
Supernatural Horror
Ghosts, ghouls, spirits, ouija boards and things that go bump in the night, sometimes the ratings can be as low as PG and there isn't usually much blood because ghosts don't bleed. Examples: Paranormal Activity, The Others, Insidious, The Shining, The Orphanage and The Exorcist.
Slasher 
Axe wielding, chainsaw carrying or knife totting (sometimes inbred) sicko on a rampage. Thin on the ground storyline, tonnes of blood. Examples: The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, Hush, You're Next, Scream and Sweeney Todd.
Torture Porn Horror (always rated R 18+) 
Slasher gone wild or weird arse experiments and long torture scenes with lots of bits getting sliced off people in the name of experimental surgery. Not for the faint hearted and generally my least favourite type of horror, often banned in certain countries. Examples: The Human Centipede, Martyrs, Saw and Hostel. 
Science Fiction Horror
Usually set in space or on another planet, generally has aliens in it but not always and often has an R rating because it can sometimes be quite graphic in content. Examples: Alien, A Quiet Place, Event Horizon, The Thing, Annihilation, Cloverfield and Under the Skin.
Thriller/Psychological Horror
Just about always incorrectly marketed as horror and is often rated M or MA 15+, generally uses more subtle and atmospheric forms of fear to scare and can be crime based. Examples: Get Out, Don't Breathe, The Visit, The Silence of the Lambs, Rosemary's Baby and Psycho. 
Art House Horror 
What the fuck is going on here? Weird, sometimes violent and more often than not utterly indescribable. A lot of unfulfilling endings, creepiness out the wazoo and confusing interludes. Examples: Kill List, Creep, Suspiria, A Field in England, The Skin I Live In and The Wailing.
Intense Slow Burner Horror
Increasing states of paranoia and dread, not a lot actually happens on screen and the horror is usually implied. Can be PG rated and is generally very subtle and left open ended. Examples: It Comes At Night, Here Alone, The Jacket and Monsters. 

So, in light of all that, you can now see that dread does come in many, many forms. Horror is most certainly not just one category, but comes in many subtle variations, and that there is more than likely some horror movies that would appeal to just about everyone's taste. You don't have to be a hardcore slasher or gorefest fan to get something out of a gripping and engaging thriller that won't necessarily keep you up at night. Don't be put off by the horror label, it is so often very misleading. 

I am not afraid of the dark. I know of some adults that still find the dark quite terrifying and being severely afraid of the dark is a very real phobia called Nyctophobia. Some researchers, beginning with Sigmund Freud, consider a fear of the dark to be a manifestation of separation anxiety, but to be honest, with most people that I know of, it appears to stem from watching a horror movie or seeing some other scary as all shit 'unknown' thing in the dark that seems to tweak people's fear of the night. 
Unfortunately, at night time it is quite hard to see, so it can allow people's imaginations to run amok. There really is no greater fear than that of the unknown, and when you can't see things properly the unknown can easily transform into a myriad of horrific possibilities. Suddenly a sheet on the clothesline is a ghost, an animal scurrying about is a robber, a tree rubbing against a house is a witch, or a ghoul or a serial killer. Quite often when people say that they are afraid of the dark they are really just afraid of what they cannot see - the unknown, and the possibilities of what it could be masking. 
Night time is exactly like the day time in my mind, in fact for me personally, I generally think that the night has a lot more to offer in many instances. In the evening the noise pollution lessens, the stars come out and generally everyone is a lot more chilled out than they are in the day time. When it gets dark all the naughty children are quiet and sleeping, everything looks prettier in candlelight and no-one judges you for watching a movie marathon. Another night time plus is the moon, which is constantly changing and far more interesting and observable than the sun, which looks pretty much the same every single day and is impossible to look at because it burns your eyes out of their sockets if you try; now what's to like about that?
​I think that when you live out of town, you kind of have to make your peace with the darkness. When we are facing the dark side of the moon out here in Enfield, it is black and I mean complete and total darkness. You can struggle to see your own hand in front of your face on nights like that, and I have spent many dark evenings on the porch listening to the sounds of the night. Even someone like me who isn't even afraid of the dark can appreciate how easily one's mind can run away with itself if you let it when it is really dark.
There a lot of nocturnal animals scooting around in the dark out here and I have spotted foxes, owls, bats, feral cats and even echidnas foraging about in the cool, calm, quiet of the night. It was only this evening that I had a bunch of kangaroos give me a start when I was taking the recycling out and didn't see them until I almost stood on one of them. But there is nothing scary about a few animals going about their business so none of those nocturnal activities has made me love the night any less. 
Nope, I am not scared of the dark. There are far more scary things in this world than the dark that's for sure, and a lot of those things are very comfortable in the daytime. If anything that I consider to be 'scary' was going to try and get me I would rather that it came for me at night time anyway because it so much easier to hide at night, and I actually feel safer with better hiding options.
There are way too many cool things about the night to not love it completely, but if you do suffer from Nyctophobia, then I deeply sympathise, and I also suggest a total avoidance of horror movies and a really good night light. 

One thing that I have learnt, albeit rather painfully, to accept over the years is that money comes and money goes, and that there is absolutely no point in getting stressed out when everything expensive seems to happen all at once. Sure watching all of you hard earned savings slip through your fingers isn't the most enjoyable thing to endure, but it happens and that is what savings are for - for a rainy day. 
These things have happened before and they will most definitely happen again as well, and no amount of worry has ever made any money problems magically subside. Worrying about money is about as fruitful as trying to dig a hole in the ground with the power of your mind, in other words it is a mentally exhausting and utterly useless kind of worry.
However, regardless of how zen you may feel about money issues or how easily you relinquish the control of your cash flow,  every now and then we all still get caught up in a little financial hardship that makes us feel shitty, a tad destitute and just flatout broke. 
This week has been one of those weeks for me. I have experienced a serious drain on my financial resources, and it has made it really difficult for me to feel happy and excited about being on holidays because I am flat broke. I actually think that I was just blindsided by the events of today and now I have to make my peace with it.
It all started when I took my car in to have a simple and routine wheel balance and alignment done, and then it turned out that I needed four new tyres as well. Right, well there goes another $600 dollars, not to mention the termite inspector that came out yesterday and cost me $220, and I also had to find the money to lock in our New Zealand holiday this week which meant juggling and draining accounts to no end. Oh and my rego was in the letter box when I got home as well, and I got a text from the dentist to book in for a routine clean and scale and another one from my GP to go and have my lady bits inspected, and there's a passport renewal sitting on my desk and....and.....and. You know how it goes, when it rains it pours and there is nothing that you can do about it. 
However, on the bright and exceptionally zen side of it all, I now have a safe and smooth car to drive around in, I have an incredibly fun holiday to New Zealand planned with my family to look forward to, I don't have termites, my teeth are going to get a good clean and having my lady bits checked will offer some peace of mind. So, yeah I am broke, but for good reason and purpose. I am not wasting money or resources, and now because I am so broke then I have no choice but to stay at home for the rest of the break and watch movies and read books all day long...oh dear...poor me!
This sudden lack of funds could actually turn out to be a big blessing in disguise, and an excuse for me to batter down the hatches and not leave Enfield for days on end, hmmm....I can really make this work for me, I sense some B grade horror movie marathons coming my way!

One of the things that I love most about living where I do is that there is always some kind of free event or entertainment that can be accessed without having to travel very far. With only an hour to travel to Melbourne, the Surf Coast or the Grampians, I have perfect access to almost any type of activity that I choose to partake in, and over the last few weeks there has been no shortage of opportunities.
In particular, Ballarat and the surrounding rural areas have had a bevy of free events that has kept me more than busy and also highly entertained. Last weekend The Ballarat Begonia Festival was on, which is always an excellent and free extravaganza of all things garden related. And last night the town celebrated its second White Night event, which was again really engaging and gathered a massive and diverse crowd of enthusiasts.  
Yesterday I hit the road to check out the Golden Plains Shire Arts Trail, which showcases local artists and their works throughout the Golden Plains region. Turns out that there are dozens of very talented artists right on my doorstep and within a 25 kilometre radius of our home I viewed pieces from so many different artists covering so many mediums, including painting, photography, quilting, jewellery making, leathering, garden sculpture, ceramics, nature art, watercolor painting and sketching. Amazing! I was so impressed with the standard of work that I saw, and it was really nice to have a chat with the artists about their pieces as well. 
I love it when a community comes together to share their passions, their hard work and their knowledge, and it is refreshing to be able to attend events without feeling like you need to spend a whole lot of money. Nothing much comes for free anymore and it is nice to know that even when you're seriously broke that you can still get a bit of culture into your life.
​Anyone that knows anything about me already knows that I sure do love a good cheap thrill!

It's that time again, the time for me to unleash my viewing loves and loathes for the year of 2017. In total, I watched 279 movies and 62 TV series in 2017, so yeah, it is fair to say that I have a robust addiction to entertainment and that I have a fairly good idea of what is out there.
My biggest undertaking for the year was a rewatch of the entire Lost Series, 121 episodes in total, and although it took me the better part of the entire year to get through, it was worth the effort. Next to the Twin Peaks Reboot, Lost was the next biggest mind fuck of the year for me.
I must say that the bar raises every single year for me because movies and TV are constantly improving in quality and there is a never ending stream of excellent viewing to be had. That makes it a lot harder for me to discern the best,  but also a lot more enjoyable in the long run.
However, without further ado, here are my picks for the best and worst of 2017, my full reviews of these movies can be found on their corresponding genre lists. 
BEST MOVIES OF 2017:

• IT  - Horror  4.5 Chilli Peppers
• A Ghost Story - Art House 4.5 Chilli Peppers
• Mother! - Challenging 4.5 Chilli Peppers
• Blade Runner 2049 - Science Fiction 4.5 Chilli Peppers
• Baby Driver - Action 4 Chilli Peppers
• Dunkirk - War 4 Chilli Peppers
• Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 2 - Fantasy 4 Chilli Peppers
• Logan - Super 4 Chilli Peppers
• Get Out - Horror 3.5 Chilli Peppers
• A Dark Song - Horror 3.5 Chilli Peppers
• T2 - Trainspotting - Drama 3.5 Chilli Peppers
• Logan Lucky - Action/Comedy 3.5 Chilli Peppers

BEST CATCH UP MOVIES OF 2017: (Movies released before 2017 that I finally saw in 2017)

• La Grande Bellezza (The Great Beauty) - Foreign 5 Chilli Peppers (Hall of Fame)
• Manchester by the Sea - Drama 5 Chilli Peppers (Hall of Fame)
• Moonlight - Drama 4.5 Chilli Peppers
• Arrival - Science Fiction 4.5  Chilli Peppers
• Nocturnal Animals  -Drama 4.5  Chilli Peppers
• Hidden Figures - Drama 4  Chilli Peppers
• Moana - Kid Friendly 4  Chilli Peppers
• The Edge of Seventeen -Comedy 4 Chilli Peppers
• The Conjuring 2 - Horror 4 Chilli Peppers
• Captain Fantastic - Drama 4 Chilli Peppers
• Samson and Delilah - Gritty 4 Chilli Peppers
• The House of the Devil - Horror 3.5 Chilli Peppers
• The Mermaid - Foreign/ Fantasy 3.5 Chilli Peppers

WORST MOVIES OF 2017:

• Kong: Skull Island - Fantasy 2 Chilli Peppers
• The Great Wall - Action/ Fantasy 1.5 Chilli Peppers
• The Ghost in the Shell - Science Fiction 1.5 Chilli Peppers
• A Cure for Wellness - Horror 1.5 Chilli Peppers
• Loving - Drama 1.5 Chilli Peppers
• Valerian and the City of a 1,000 Planets - Science Fiction 1.5 Chilli Peppers
• Baywatch - Comedy 1.5 Chilli Peppers
• Yoga Hosers  -Comedy 1 Chilli Pepper
• The Bye Bye Man  - Horror 0 Chilli Peppers
• The Greasy Strangler - Art House 0 Chilli Peppers

BEST TV SERIES 2017:

• Big Little Lies - Drama 5 Chilli Peppers
• The Handmaid's Tale - Drama/ Fantasy 5 Chilli Peppers
• American Gods - Horror/ Fantasy 5 Chilli Peppers
• Atlanta - Drama 4.5 Chilli Peppers 
• Godless - Western 4.5 Chilli Peppers
• Game of Thrones S7  - Fantasy 4.5 Chilli Peppers
• Stranger Things S2 - Science Fiction 4.5 Chilli Peppers
• Twin Peaks Reboot - Art House 4 Chilli Peppers 
• Mozart in the Jungle - Drama 4 Chili Peppers 
• Alias Grace - Historical Drama 4 Chilli Peppers 
• AHS - Cult - Horror 4 Chilli Peppers
• Peaky Blinders S4 - Historical Drama 4 Chilli Peppers
• Better Things - Comedy 4 Chilli Peppers
• A-Typical - Drama 3.5 Chilli Peppers
• Girls - Final Season - Drama 3.5 Chilli Peppers
• The Sinner - Mystery/Drama 3.5 Chilli Peppers

As far as bad TV series go, well I was so busy watching really high quality TV that I managed to miss all of the shit this year, so I'm not even putting in a category for that. To be honest, I think that this year may have been one of the best of years for quality TV that I have ever known, which fills me with a lot of hope for 2018. 
Hopefully you will find something on my lists that you haven't seen yet and will now go and see on my recommendation. Also, you now know what to avoid like the plague if you should have the misfortune of coming across it.
I hope that the holiday period is being kind to you all, happy viewing!

IT
Release Date: 2017
Rating: R 18+
Running Time: 135 mins 
A supernatural horror directed by Andy Muschietti and based on the highly successful 1986 novel of the same name by Stephen King. Clearly audiences are thirsting for excellent retro horror tales because IT swiftly became the highest grossing horror film of all time and the third highest grossing R rated movie of all time. 
It's 1988 in a small American town called Derry and something insidious is lurking in the sewers; an ancient evil that feeds on the fears of children and presents itself as a clown called Pennywise. Seemingly invisible to adults, Pennywise starts to abduct the children of Derry, and turns its sights on a tight group of friends called The Losers Club. 
With all of the terrific friendship dynamics  and comradery of The Goonies, Stranger Things and Stand By Me  and all of the creepiness of a James Wan horror, IT has a formula that works on so many levels. Not only is there a creepy as all shit clown torturing the children, but all of the adults in Derry seem to be rather unpleasant as well which adds another layer of turmoil to this already emotionally affecting tale. 
IT is most definitely the best horror movie to come out of 2017. The acting is on point, with Bill Skarsgard delivering one of the most memorably disturbing horror characters of all time in Pennywise. He is however exceptionally well supported by a young and fresh faced cast who are all bringing their A game here as well, with notable performances being delivered by Finn Wolfhard, Sophia Lillis, Nicholas Hamilton and Jeremy Ray Taylor.
The visuals are certainly dark, dreadful and nightmarish; but the coming of age story that is playing in the background is not at all drowned out by the grim effects, which was really pleasing to see. IT is a true horror gem and a must see movie for fans of quality horror.
FINAL SAY: We all float down here. 
4.5 Chilli Peppers ​

Today, Craig and I are enjoying our 23rd wedding anniversary. Are we off to do something whirlwind, spectacular and insanely romantic? No, we are not, and I am totally cool with that. A 23rd wedding anniversary is not really one of the big ones, and in my mind it hardly constitutes an enormous hoo-ha. Craig and I are not exactly known for our  'let's go out and paint the town red' attitudes at the best of times; we are however known as the people that leave events first and prefer to be around each other more than anyone else, and perhaps in that common and very unsocial ground that we like to tread together, lies the key to a long and prosperous marriage. Whatever the strange glue is that holds us together, it works and it does not appear to have lost any of its adhesive abilities over the past 23 years that we have been married to each other. 
This morning we just slept in and then spent the morning chatting over long coffees and a very late breakfast on the deck in the glorious morning sunshine. The small luxuries are most certainly the things that we like to celebrate together, and sleep-ins and late breakfasts are most definitely small luxuries to us. Just being together and being happy is a luxury if I am being completely honest, so many people will never know a love like ours and for all of its complications and intricacies, we really do have something wonderful.
We have truly created a mighty fine lives for ourselves together over our combined years of blood, sweat and tears. I have put more effort into my relationship with Craig than I have put into anything else in my life, and I wouldn't change a thing; Craig has been the most rewarding thing that I have ever invested my time and effort into. 
Craig is most definitely my very best friend in the entire world and although I love my friends dearly, Craig is my go-to guy on all fronts. No-one makes me want to do better, be better and try harder than he does. No-one has stood by me when the chips were down like he has, no-one has loved me in spite of all of my idiosyncratic shit like he has, and no-one knows and accepts all of my weirdness like he does; and I doubt that anyone else ever could have. 
Like all great romances, we have weathered the best of times and the worst of times together. We have loved each other harder than any couple could ever love and we have also hated each other more than any couple ever should as well; because really loving someone truly is the agony and the ecstasy. It is about accepting the sunshine but also welcoming the rain. It is about loving all of the beauty and all of the ugly bits as well, it's about being vulnerable and brave all at once. It's the guts and the gizzards, the nitty gritty parts, it's about every single bit of yourself seeing every single bit of someone else.
It's completely raw and utterly compelling, it's frustrating and intriguing and the best part of all is that it just keeps on evolving as you grow and change together - side by side and hand in hand. After 23 years of loving my man, I can honestly say that I love him more now than I did on the day that I said 'I do' 23 years ago, and I think that that may the best thing of all, the fact that it just keeps getting better and better all of the time. 

In a type of post Halloween celebration, I took Seth and met up with Helen and Carmel at Alfred Deakin Place on Saturday afternoon to celebrate the colourful Dia de Muertos (Day of the Dead) event that was held in Ballarat this weekend. Dia de Muertos is a Mexican national holiday where people honour the memory of their dearly departed friends and family members, and it is truly a colourful and lively spectacle of epic and magnificent proportions. 
It is commonplace for Mexican people to visit the graves of lost ones at this time of the year to decorate their graves with elaborate imagery and offerings. Altars called ofrendas are constructed in homes and adorned with photos, calaveras (skull representations), golden aztec marigolds, incense, food offerings and gifts. There was massive and highly ornate ofrendas constructed at yesterday's celebration in memory of the dead, it was so beautiful and had a massive cross at the foot of the altar that was surrounded by rice and salt to keep the evil spirits at bay. 
We perused the gorgeous authentic mexican crafts and cultural art pieces, checked out the massive dirt and bark skeleton installations, listened to the animated mariachi band, watched a performance of an authentic Mexican Day of the Dead dance and tried some 'Grandmother's' chocolate. Grandmother's chocolate, I was told by the very helpful young lady that was running the stall, is a traditional Mexican spiced hot chocolate that is only drank on Dia de Muertos and is usually drank with 'Dia de Muertos Bread' - a sugar and spice encrusted mini sweet bread that is baked and left out in an attempt to persuade the dearly departed to visit your home with its irresistible aromas. I purchased a loaf to leave out overnight in the hope that it would entice my nanna to visit, but unfortunately I can't say that I saw her. Perhaps Mexican sweet bread is not that alluring to her. 
We rounded out our Dia de Muertos celebrations with a delicious lunch of Chimichangas and Hendrix Muddles aka Hendrix Summer Mules, which is now my new fave cocktail and will be my summer go to drink for sure - so refreshing! Followed that deliciousness with a visit to the Ballarat Art Gallery to see the new Romancing the Skull exhibition, which was also terrific and I highly recommend a visit to. Then finished it all off with a quick pop over to the local Spanish restaurant for coffee and hot churros. Yummy!
Got home in the early evening with an over stuffed gut and still had time to spare for some utterly ridiculous D grade horror that was so very bad that I cannot even remember the name of it now! What a perfect day! Seth fell asleep around 10.30pm and I crashed into bed around 11.30pm and slept just like the dead myself. 

Journeyed to Bendigo to have a terrific catch up with my best friend Helen over the weekend. While I was there, we went to see the Edith Head exhibition at the Bendigo Art Gallery. Edith Head was a Hollywood costume designer who won a record eight Academy Awards for Best Costume Design. An unassuming woman, dressed always in black, white or grey with an intense bob of black hair and heavy dark rimmed glasses; Edith dressed the classic beauties of the silver screen.
Glamazons like Ginger Rogers, Mae West, Bette Davis, Shirley MacLaine, Grace Kelly, Audrey Hepburn, Elizabeth Taylor and Jane Fonda were all costumed by Edith Head, so needless to say, the collection was extensive and really very interesting. Edith designed the most beautiful and intricate pieces, many of which would not at all look out of place on stars of today; her aesthetic was simply timeless. 
Many people think that the costume designer Edna Mode from the Pixar movie The Incredibles was based on Edith Head, but the director insists that that is not true. However, the physical similarities are pretty unmistakeable, so coincidence or not, Edna certainly does look like Edith and has a very similar profession. 
She certainly knew how to dress woman that's for sure, and she was famous for saying truly inspirational quotes like "You can have anything you want in life if you dress for it" and other cheeky but no less important tidbits like "Your dresses should be tight enough to show you're a woman and loose enough to show you're a lady."
Above all else, Edith Head was respected, smart and successful. Through her, many stars got to shine a little bit brighter on screen and she spearheaded more fashion trends than anyone else during her fifty plus years of Hollywood design. A legend like that certainly deserves attention and adoration, so if you ever get the opportunity to go and see an Edith Head exhibition, I strongly encourage you to. 

Edith did extensive work for director Alfred Hitchcock during her career; dressing Ingrid Bergman in Notorious, Grace Kelly in Rear Window, Kim Novak in Vertigo and also for my personal favourite Hitchcock film, Tippi Hedren in The Birds. 

George Andrew Romero was an American-Canadian filmmaker, writer and editor, he was best known for his gorey and mostly satirical horror movies which were always about an apocalyptic future where the dead walk around (very slowly) and try to either eat people or 'turn' people into zombies through their infectious bite. In short, he was the father of the zombie apocalypse genre of films.
He passed away on July 16th this year at the age of 77 after a brief but aggressive fight with lung cancer, leaving behind a legacy of cult horror and undead movies that have generated a massive following and inspired hundreds of similar zombie related films and TV programs. Long time Romero fan Quentin Tarantino once presented George with a Mastermind Award at the Spike TV's Scream Awards and stated in his speech that the A. in George's name actually stood for 'a fucking genius.' He was both loved and adored by fans of the zombie horror genre and his presence in the horror film industry will most certainly be missed. 
Romero is probably most famous for for his 'Dead Series Trilogy' - Night of the Living Dead, Dawn of the Dead and Day of the Dead which all received incredible success, in fact Dawn of the Dead which was made with a 1.5 million  dollar budget when it was  released in 1978, grossed an incredible $55 million at box offices, swiftly becoming one of the most successful zombie cult movies of all time. 
In tribute to Romero, we had a pizza and zombie movie night on Saturday night, watching his 1990 remake of Night of the Living Dead. Cheesy one liners, the slowest moving zombies ever and early 90's gore effects; put all of those together and you've got yourself a terrific B grade horror of cult standards that never fails to amuse and entertain.
It is the blend of extreme ridiculousness, intense gore and inevitable doom that has always made Romero films so memorable for me. Romero influences have spawned video games, movie remakes and even the hugely successful TV program The Walking Dead, and I think that it is fair to say that we will be seeing Mr. Romero's influences in modern media for many, many years to come. Just like his undead counterparts, George A. Romero's influences will continue to live on well beyond the grave. 

​DAWN OF THE DEAD 
Release Date: 2004
Rating: R 18+
Running Time: 101 mins 
Zack Snyder's homage to the great George A. Romero classic was always going to be a huge undertaking; cult film remakes often receive mixed and tepid responses. In my mind, Snyder's version only enhanced what Romero had laid down previously and offers viewers an A grade standard version of a B grade cult classic.
This movie is high tension gore-filled horror, less then ten minutes in and it's zombie apocalypse time. The zombies are fast moving, the infection is fast spreading and the hordes rise quickly which gives the film an ominous urgency. Our surviving characters take refuge at a local shopping mall (an obvious nod to consumerism) as they try to hatch an idea to escape from the city and their own inevitable doom. 
Ving Rhames rehashes his 'too tough to talk' role that he seems to play in every film he is in, and Sarah Polley does a decent job of the unlikely heroine - Ana the nurse. 
FINAL SAY: Get down with the sickness.
3.5 Chilli Peppers

In spite of the frigid evening temperatures, the days have been quite mild this Winter. Unless the weather is waiting to unleash its full fury in the last six weeks, so far it has been pretty mellow and the days have been more than adequate for outdoor activities in the afternoons. 
This week Seth and I headed out for a walk along the Yarrowee Creek trail; starting at Magpie this trail goes all the way into the Ballarat CBD, around 10 km in total. It's a leisurely stroll, mostly on flat surfaces and it is has been sealed with a fine stone in recent years so it's a pretty civilised walking choice. There are a lot of picturesque nooks and park benches along the way to take a rest or admire the view, and we happily ate our afternoon tea at one as we meandered and chatted. 
Things got really interesting when at about the halfway point of our stroll we saw a sign attached to wire fence that said 'do not wander beyond the path, contaminated area under investigation.' Woah! What? Having seen more than our fair share of sci-fiction and horror movies, this little slice of information allowed us to create a lot of possible scenarios about said 'contamination.' That word sets minds racing all by itself, I mean how often do you actually see signs like that in the real world anyway? Uhhh...never! That stuff is fully reserved for movies that have shit get real, in a not good way, very quickly.
So much for a leisurely stroll in the winter sunshine! Suddenly it's all World War Z over here as we start to throw out the possibilities thick and fast, constantly glancing over our shoulders with looks of horror to really ham the moment up to its full horrific potential. What would you do if you if you saw a zombie horde running down that hill right now? Questions like that got tossed around, and our walking speed dramatically increased as we disturbingly realised that aside of our silly banter that we were actually absolutely alone out there and in a real contaminated area. It is safe to say that from that point on, every creak of a pine tree or call of a crow had a completely new and menacing tone to it. Hilarious! We laughed about it when we got back to the safety of our car, but for a minute there, we had managed to freak each other out a bit with our tales of undead horror and alien infection. 
And that is one of the best things about having kids with vivid imaginations, no matter how old they get you can always escape somewhere else together, on any given day. And on that windy winter day in 2017, Seth and I were the last survivors of an apocalyptic event, alone together against the hordes. 

This long weekend couldn't have come at a more opportune moment because this term has just about squeezed out all of my 'nice and kind' resources right out of me. I have breached that point when I am feeling exceptionally frayed around the edges and moved into the realms of mayhem and madness. And it's not just me either, it's everyone. Everyone that I speak to is feeling fed up at the moment; and it appears that even the most hearty and reliable individuals and relationships are being put to the test this year.
Everyone that I speak to at work is completely over the daily grind, and a few things have been said to me in passing over the last few weeks that have left me feeling a bit battle sore. Even the kids are beyond ridiculous at the moment, some of them douching it up to epic proportions and to top it all off, the weather is getting colder by the day as we make our descend to the darkest night of the year, the mid-winter solstice. 
To say that I have been having a bit of a 'dark night of the soul' episode lately would be an understatement. I have most definitely not been on my A game, on any front in my life that I can think of, and it has left me feeling as flat as a busted tyre. At every turn I feel like I am facing adversity and despair, so yeah, I was really glad to relish in three days of self indulgence for the Queen's Birthday long weekend.
God Bless the Queen I say, because if this long break hadn't happened when it did I may have gone and booked myself into the nearest mental asylum for a good hard cuddle in a very tight jacket. Yeah, I was really getting that desperate for some quality respite and blurry eyed oblivion. It is amazing how quickly the little things can really build up to create a type of all consuming monster. I read a quote the other day that summed it up perfectly for me - 
Time is a funny thing, nothing seemed to change, but suddenly, everything was different.
I have no idea who said it, but that's how things quite often feel for me. It's like suddenly I have entered a new phase of myself, but I have no idea how I got there, or what I did that got me there, but boom - I'm there!  That probably makes no sense whatsoever, but I am out of my mind, so there is that.
​Anyway, clearly this long weekend is a god send right now and hopefully I will be able to recharge my stupidly broken and flat battery enough to see me through until the end of this semester. 

Man being a parent is so shithouse sometimes. I really hate playing the 'bad guy' parent, and it feels like I am doing it a lot lately. I understand that my 12 year old son is 'under construction', but I am ready to fire the bastards that are working on that project because he is just all over the shop at the moment. His grades have slipped, he gets annoyed over the most mundane things and getting him to do homework is like trying to solve a Chinese puzzle box. It feels like it's a struggle to get him to anything in a peaceful and respectful manner lately, and I am completely tired of all of the unrest. 
Ever since he started high school he has gone from being a regular well adjusted kid to being a pretty little hate machine. He's taken to arguing about everything and has started to engage in power struggles with Craig and I on a daily basis. It is actually really doing my head in and although I am trying to stay optimistic and positive, it is practically impossible to get through to him at the moment without it turning into a battle of wills. I know that one day he will look back on this time of his life and realise how much of a jerk he was being, but in the meantime it feels like we are all at the mercy of his moodiness and hormones and it's not very much fun. In truth it's a drag and I hate to see him so lost and angry all the time, it's really horrid. 
Craig tells me not to worry so much about it, but he has always been the more relaxed parent, so that doesn't really comfort me very much. 'By the time he is 14 he will be taking long showers and have it all worked out' he says to me, but I know that these jokes are not really a solution to the fact that I feel like my son is metamorphosing into an unrecognisable beast of pimply anxiety and melodramatics. 
I don't recall Zoe being this unhinged at 12, her meltdowns came in the later teens around 15 or so, so I feel a bit ripped off that Seth is kicking off already to be honest, thought I would have a couple more peace years before things got so crazy, but nope, here I am. And here is exactly where I am, right at this point where I am trying to decide if I did something wrong along the way of raising him, if this is just a normal process to ride out or if we are just entering the Twilight Zone of teen trauma and that this is just the shape of things to come. I can't be sure of any of it, the only thing that am 100% sold on at this stage is that I am NOT a fan of where we are now and I cannot wait to get my loving, darling son back ASAP, but something tells me that I have more than a few power struggles to overcome before that is going to happen. He's bloody lucky that I love monsters so much, that's for sure!

So many thrillers are being marketed as horror movies these days and it is actually starting to give me the shits. Just because a film has a few thrills and chills, it doesn't mean that it is a horror movie. Horror films need supernatural goings on for goodness sake! They need monsters, creatures, ghosts, ghouls, zombies, werewolves, vampires or at least an unnatural abomination of some description that has not come from outer space - that's 'sci-fi thriller' people! They are often quite bloody, although they certainly don't have to be, in fact some of the scariest horrors that I have ever seen really didn't have a lot of blood in them at all. 
Back in the day, when you saw that something had the tag 'horror' attached to it, you knew that you were in for some pretty fucking weird shit. Classic and provocative movies like The Evil Dead,  The Exorcist, The Shining, Rosemary's Baby and An American Werewolf in London are terrific examples of excellent horror movies because they are movies that will keep you up at night, and that really is the purpose of horror isn't it? They're movies that you don't forget about in a hurry because you can't. They earned their horror tag through and through.
I am not sure why thrillers are being marketed as horror so often now, in general horror movies draw far smaller crowds, and slapping a horror label on any film always means that I am going to go to the cinema alone to see it because everyone else thinks that the film is going to frighten the pants off them. ​Boo, stop scaring people away with inaccurate genre categories! Half the time I leave the cinema feeling really underwhelmed by things that have been marketed as horror, I go for a genuine scare and to experience something really left of centre and I get...well...meh!
Many films that are marketed as horror movies belong in the same category as films like Don't Breathe, Get Out and Creep, which are really 'psychological thrillers with a twist.' Unfortunately there is no specific genre for that, so they often get incorrectly classified and marketed as horror, and it really annoys me. 
When I think 'horror' I think of Cronenberg, DePalma, Romero, Argento and Wan. I think of all of the times that my stomach turned, my pulse quickened, my pupils dilated and my senses were shocked. I recall the times that I lurched out my seat in fright and was grossed out by some unnatural visualisation; now that's horror people! And if you are going to label your movie a horror, you had better bring me some of that shit or else just call it what it is, a thriller! 

GET OUT
Release Date: 2017
Rating: MA 15+
Running Time: 104 mins 
Here is another perfect example of a thriller being marketed as a horror movie. Get Out is most certainly a terrifically gripping and highly entertaining thriller, but in my books it is not really a horror movie. There is definitely something eerie and unnatural going on in Get Out  which does set it apart from other thrillers, but labelling it a 'horror' is a stretch.  So, don't be misled by the horror genre stamped all over this film, it is actually just a really intriguing thriller that will keep you guessing and wondering right up to the last moments. 
Chris goes to his girlfriend Rose's house to meet her parents for the very first time. Chris is unsure about how they will react to their daughter being in an interracial relationship, but Rose assures him that he has nothing to be worried about. Over the course of the weekend, Chris becomes increasingly concerned about the motives of Rose's family after a string of odd and unnerving occurrences.
Jordan Peele (better known for his work on the comedy TV series Key and Peele) wrote and directed the script, and it is a tremendously fresh and intelligent body of work. The cast here is solid, especially Daniel Kaluuya who portrays Chris with loads of sincerity. He is very well supported by Allison Williams (fresh out of Girls), Catherine Keener, Jim Hudson and Rod Williams. 
There is an alternate ending to Get Out that can be viewed on Youtube, and although it is worth checking out, I preferred the cinematic ending.
FINAL SAY: Now you're in the sunken place.
3.5 Chili Peppers ​

Spent the best part of Saturday foraging for wild pine mushrooms, cleaning them and then preserving them. Helen, Craig, Seth and I had a full on session of 'hugge' as we sat by the heater in the afternoon with the rain gently falling outside the window as we sipped a few quiet drinks, listened to some chill out music and cleaned and chopped all of the mushrooms that we had foraged in the pines for, earlier that day. 
For anyone who doesn't already know about 'hugge' - it's a Danish word, pronounced 'hoo-ga' which basically translates as 'cosiness' and describes anything that we do that brings us that cosy-comfortable feeling, and Autumn and Winter are clearly the best times of the year to experience 'hoo-ga.'
Denmark is one of the happiest countries in the world, and they mostly attribute that happiness to their ability to embrace the dark times of the year by getting all 'hugge'  and they swear by it.
​Things that create that 'hugge' feeling are things like woods, wools and leathers, lamps and candles, cashmere socks, favourite knitted jumpers and pots of tea or hot chocolate. Eating homemade pie in front of the TV, inviting friends out for a comfort meal, reading a book under a doona, eating a bowl of homemade soup or chili and wearing your ugg boots. Preserving and preparing foraged foods, having a sleeping cat on your lap, collecting pine cones, eating freshly baked biscuits straight from the oven and pajamas in the day time. Your favourite beanie or gloves, crackling fires, spices like cinnamon, chili and nutmeg, mellow music and any other thing that warms you up and lifts your spirits on a cold dark day or night. 
By having a little 'hugge' in the home, we can learn to not only tolerate the darker months, we can even learn to embrace and celebrate them. We can begin to invite the quiet respection that these months offer us and allow ourselves to move at a slower pace, we just surrender and enjoy the change of the season. The nights don't seem as dark when they are spent in a relaxing and cosy manner.
​'Hugge' teaches us that the darkest moments of the year can be some of the best moments of the year if we can just go with the flow and embrace them completely, which sounds pretty good to me. Lord knows that I am all about the 'hugge!'

I have tried my hand at a lot of different jobs over the years. I've dabbled in retail, hospitality, entertainment, arts and even the esoteric to try and earn a living. Some of my ventures have been successful, some not so successful, but along the way I have accumulated a broad set of skills and tools that are now permanently a part of who I am.  
Every job that I have undertaken over the years has helped to shape me as a person. Every employer that I have had has been unique in their own way, and every group of staff that I have worked along side of has come with their own quirks, perks and challenges for me to avoid, glean information from or completely dismiss in every way. I have loved people that I have worked with, and I have loathed people that I have worked with, it's all part of being in the workforce - some you win and some you lose.
I guess that everyone has had at least one shitty job in their lifetime, because we all have to make ends meet and that can require us to do things that we not only don't enjoy doing very much, but actually hate doing. I feel really bad for anyone that despises their job, working five days a week is tough enough without hating every minute that you are there. I don't think that I have ever really hated a job that I have had, but I have hated employers that I have worked for before, venomently. It oftens seems that a little power really goes to some people's heads, and a lot of people that are in higher profile positions get a bit of an ego with that authority and turn into assholes. Not all of course, but I have certainly seen some pretty horrific examples of power transforming once regular people into elitist dickheads in the workplace. 
I once had a job as a waitress at a Ballarat restaurant, that interestingly no longer exists (surprise, surprise!) and it was probably the crappiest job that I have ever had in my life. The people that owned the business were total assholes. These two middle aged guys that thought that they were hot shit ran the business, but they also did the cooking in the kitchen, and their wives sometimes waited the tables. They seemed to be yelling about one thing or another pretty much all of the time. I recall being abused by them and the customers and being spoken down to regularly, it was just the pits. When I eventually got another a job and told them that I was giving notice I clearly remember one of my bosses actually saying, and I quote, "good, because you are useless anyway." What a fucking asshole, man I hated that dickface. Needless to say, I never worked in another restaurant ever again after that. Waitresses really do get treated like absolute shit in a lot of workplaces, so I always try to be super nice to them. I know what it's like to be spoken down to by customers and to also have a really mean boss giving you what for behind the scenes as well, and it is far from fun. 
It really doesn't matter what you are doing to earn a crust, every job comes with it's challenges, from the smallest of tasks to the biggest undertakings, everyone in paid employment has their own unique set of hoops to jump through and obstacles to overcome.
I actually really like my job and my workplace, it is generally a pretty nice place to be as far as workplaces go, but even I have days that majorly suck a sav and I wonder what the hell I am doing with my life, it's normal to feel that way. All that I really know for sure, is that I would rather be working for a livivng than waiting to win the lottery any day of the week, even on the crappiest of days. I'm glad that I have job and the ability to earn my own money, because it feels good to be 'doing my bit', which is exactly what I tell myself every morning when my alarm goes off at 5.40am and I just want to roll over and go back to sleep. Besides, there are a tonne of shittier ways to earn a living, that's for sure.