~ My friend's 6 year old daughter, who said to me unprompted, "My favourite animals are Lions. I'm a Leo." Love that kid.
~ New friends becoming good friends. Always the best feeling.
~ Wearing all of the rings.
~ City Gallery's exhibition of John Millar's 1981 Springbok Tour protest photos, Tour Scrums. Excellent. A++. So good I'm going to try and get there again before it ends.
~ Happy tears.
~ Impromptu living room dance parties with Koko (& a couple of her toys) to David Bowie's Heroes.
~ Smart & sassy feminist kids. They make me excited about the future.
~ When people find a joke so funny they repeat the punchline twice while laughing.
TAMER
~ Seeing a surf caster snag a Ray on his line. Rays are some of my absolute favourites, so to see a little one struggling was most distressing to me.
~ Sunburn. Awful, horrible, really really bad sunburn. So painful. So stupid.
~ Finding a whitehead on your nose right after you've met cool new people. D'oh!
~ I thought I'd discovered an awesome new podcast, but then I listened to it and the host kept stopping mid sentence, leaving dead air until her guest would have to jump in and try to cover it. It was so awkward and hard to listen to. If you have any recommendations for good podcasts where this doesn't happen, I'd love to hear them.
~ When publications that you respect publish really shitty things. So doubly disappointing.
One Kate Berry lives in USA, the other lives in Australia. They both take beautiful photos and post one each a day to their tumblr, The Other Kate Berry. Cool! (via Meet Me At Mikes)
I agree 100% with Stephanie of A Large Pink Woman on this.
"When all you see is thin/conventionally-attractive people, it’s easier to think of yourself as a horrible aberration. When your brain has a whole gallery of fun, assertive people-with-your-body-shape to choose from, it’s so much easier to know that you are normal/awesome/sexy/acceptable just the way you are."
"When I reveal in conversation that I love the Kardashians, this admission is usually met with scorn. “Why do you like them?” people squeal, “they’re only famous because of a sex tape!” For me, this is missing the point. Kim and her family didn’t just make the best out of a bad situation; they made billions of freaking dollars out of a bad situation. I’m baffled by anyone who thinks a family can have four well rating television shows, a best-selling book and several clothing, cosmetics and perfume lines without doing any work."
It's easy to see why Swedish designer Jonas Dahlberg was selected to create the memorial to Norway's Utoya massacre. His concept is stunning.
"My concept for the Memorial Sørbråten proposes a wound or a cut within nature itself. It reproduces the physical experience of taking away, reflecting the abrupt and permanent loss of those who died. The cut will be a three-and-a-half-meters-wide excavation. It slices from the top of the headland at the Sørbråten site, to below the water line and extends to each side. This void in the landscape makes it impossible to reach the end of the headland."
A Northland teenager rents a DVD because it stars Hugh Jackman and he assumes it'll be an action flick. Turns out that film was Les Miserables, and a love of opera is born. See Campbell Live's beautiful story on this.
"The reality is that people who don’t have enough money (or the utilities and storage) to buy and prepare decent food in decent quantities, cannot (andshould not) be arsed to worry about the finer nuances of nutrition. Because getting enough to eat is alwaysour first priority."
I'm hoping to find a new place to live in the near future, and with a possible imminent move approaching, I have simplifying thoughts on my mind. De-clutter Now: 8 Things You Can Live Without is just what I need to read right now. (via Yes and Yes)
Check out the awesome Pasefika LGBTQI Youth float that won Best Float in the Auckland Pride Parade ~
Whoa. Shit got a bit meta when I read Dooce's Earnest Blogging post. I think she might have read my mind, especially with:
"The first step was realizing that I’ve become disengaged from joyous activities. In fact, I’d go as far as saying that I’ve avoided joyous activities because I could better use that time getting things in order."
I mean, that pretty much describes my twenties, right there. If only I'd actually managed to get a couple of things in order while I was missing out on all those joyous activities.
The Day Someone Threw Me A Rope is a must read for expectant or new mothers, & also anyone who is ever going to come into contact with the parent of an infant. So really, pretty much everyone.
"It feels a little cheap and tacky to say it. To say that I was saved, not by the love of my friends or the indefatigable courage of my mother, but by little red pills. In the narrative of mental illness, love and acceptance is supposed to be the saviour. Not for me. Love, categorically, did not save my life. Chemicals did. Because chemicals were what was killing me."
Fit and Funky is a sweet story about listening to your kids & having faith in them.
"Women are constantly chastised for being too much of anything: too loud, too boisterous, too sweary, too fat, too thin, too cocky, too good at recognising patriarchy when it stares them right in the eyeballs."
The Academy Awards are one of my favourite annual events. I know, I know, they are racist and sexist and a little bit (okay, make that a lot) bullshit, but I just can't help loving them. I get sucked in by the glitz and the glamour, the tension and the emotion, the nerves, the gowns, the song and dance numbers...I love all of it! I just can't quit you, Oscar.
Here are my tried and true tips for getting the most enjoyment out of the Academy Awards as a far flung audience member.
1 ~ See as many of the nominated movies as possible. I've failed pretty badly at this this year. I have very little expendable income, and when you combine that with parenting a toddler 24/7, getting to the movies is almost an impossibility. I have seen 12 Years a Slave, but only because I won free tickets. Other than that I'm going into the ceremony pretty blind this year. No matter, I'll still love it. There have been Oscars of years past, however, when I have made it to a majority of the nominated films. One year in particular saw me making charts and schedules and ticking of a movie a day in the lead up to the event. What did I tell you? I LOVE the Academy Awards. I know it's a bit late for this year's ceremony, but in future years why not make the effort to see at least one of the hopefuls. It really does make any viewing of the awards seem a little more relevant.
2 ~ Take the day off work. Seriously. There's nothing quite like watching the ceremony live to get caught up in the excitement. It's just not the same to watch it after you already know who the big winners are. And in today's super speedy news atmosphere, watching live is pretty much your only spoiler-free guarantee.
3 ~ Location! Location! Location! Watch at a venue with Sky, obviously, or more preferably, MySky. That way you can a) book in the ceremony so you don't miss the start while watching red carpet bullshit, and b) pause the viewing if you need to run to the toilet/answer the door/take a phone call/attend to a toddler. Some cinemas have special Oscars events where you get all dolled up and watch on the big screen. I prefer to be comfy on my own couch in my track pants, talking back to the pithy E! channel presenters, laughing uproariously and getting teary during the speeches.
4 ~ Snacks. It can be a long haul if you're going to sit through hours of red carpet interviews, followed by an extraordinarily lengthy ceremony. You need sustenance to make it through. I take mine in the form of chocolate, popcorn, chips and dip, fizzy drink - basically, anything packed with Things That Are Not Good For You. I like to think I'm eating on behalf of all those actresses who have been starving themselves for weeks in red carpet anticipation.
5 ~ You need company to dish with. Often my sister will join me for at least some of the event, and we compare our favourite gowns like we're noted stylists. However if everyone I know is working on the day - it is a Monday after all - then I get my gossip fix online via twitter. There'll be an Oscars hashtag that you can follow along on the day, and this will often include tweets from people who are actually at the ceremony. Here's the thing though - in person you can be as scathing as you wish, but the moment you write something nasty online you become an asshole. So just don't, okay? That actresses dress mighty be fugly as all get out, but don't you dare put that in writing.
6 ~ Run a sweepstake. Why can't there be something in it for you? My family has held a sweepstake for a number of years now. The buy in is usually $2, but quite often everyone conveniently forgets to pay up, and the winner has to make do with the simple glory of success. Our sweepstake always covers six categories: Best Film, Best Director, & the four acting categories. You can make your sweepstake as detailed or as simple as possible. All nominees can be found at www.oscar.org.
7 ~ I've never done the Oscars drinking game thing, but if you are in a position where you can get tipsy on a Monday, then by all means, knock yourself out. Here's a selection of games you could choose from, or pick and choose your favourite drinking cues and make up your own game. Ideas: Drink every time a red carpet commentator refers to Lupita Nyong'o as "flawless". Drink every time an actress poses with her hand/s on her hip/s.
Enjoy, and I'll be back soon with my red carpet faves.
