Emu with a Clue

Life QotD: Cultural Stereotypes

nobody@vox.com(Emu with a Clue) — Wed, 09 Jul 2008 00:12:40 -0700

What is the most annoying stereotype people say about the country or place where you're from?

Actually, I find the most annoying stereotypes about Australians tend to be those perpetuated by other Australians usually for some kind of political gain or to claim superiority over some other group, eg, those idiots who draped themselves in Australian flags while expressing intolerance towards other Australians (the latest target is Muslim Australians although in the past it has been various other groups including, perversely enough, Indigenous Australians). These people go on about stereotypical Australian notions of "mateship" and "a fair go" while exemplifying the exact opposite.

95_hanson

Aussie Pride

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Entertainment QotW: Oh-So Quotable

nobody@vox.com(Emu with a Clue) — Tue, 08 Jul 2008 23:10:25 -0700

What movies do you have memorized? Bonus points for sharing your favorite quote.
Submitted by Andymatic.

The Wizard of Oz

This was my father's favourite movie when I was a kid so we watched it every year when it was shown on tv. From about the age of 2yo, it was also my daughter's favourite movie and she would happily watch it every day if she was allowed to. We also had this book of the movie for bedtime:

The Wizard of Oz: Movie Storybook

Gail Herman

and a talking Dorothy doll (really Barbie in disguise) whose two lines were:

Toto, I've a feeling we're not in Kansas anymore.

and

There's no place like home.

Dorothy in box

We also had a choice of two CDs to play in the car (one from the movie and one of the songs from the Australian stage show cast recording - my daughter received tickets to this show for Christmas one year!).

Unsurprisingly, we all know every word of every song and quite large slabs of the screenplay.

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Our outing to the swimming pool on Saturday ...

nobody@vox.com(Emu with a Clue) — Tue, 08 Jul 2008 20:11:22 -0700

was certainly the perfect antidote to Winter school holiday stir craziness! This is my son shortly after we got home:

Sleepy J

He slept like this on the couch for almost 2 hours and then still went to bed at the normal time that night. It actually turned out later that he was coming down with a cold (the red cheeks a bit of a sign). My daughter was also unwell from over-indulging in rubbish at the birthday party (the reason we were at the pool) and ended up being sick in the middle of the night. We had planned to go to the movies with friends on Sunday morning and had been saving the absolutely enormous take home lolly (candy) bags from the party (everything about which was over the top!) for this purpose. Before leaving, my daughter groaned "I'm not eating any lollies this morning" but of course she couldn't help herself - so spent that afternoon feeling queasy as well! Such a glutton for punishment.

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QotD: Ouch, That Hurt!

nobody@vox.com(Emu with a Clue) — Tue, 08 Jul 2008 19:39:13 -0700

Have you ever broken a bone? If not, what's the worst injury you've sustained?

I broke three bones in the one ankle just falling down a single step at work. How embarrassing! My boss at the time was a complete sociopath and actually intimated to the rest of the team that I had done it on purpose to get out of going to work. As if! It was bloody awful, ie, happened at the beginning of a heat wave shortly after we had moved to Sydney so I was stuck at home baking to death with no one to talk to or to help me pick up things from the floor etc. I got really fed up with this so hopped (literally) on a plane first to my parents place in Melbourne and then to my parents in law's place on an island in the South Pacific (which just added to my psycho boss's conviction that I was 'faking'!). I was not allowed to "weight bear" on that ankle for six weeks and then had about six months of physio to try and get everything working again. I gained quite a lot of weight from sitting on my backside so much (meant I had to endure "looking fat" in my wedding photos) and still have some stiffness in that ankle.

This was not the worst injury I have sustained though. that award would have to go to my teeth which you all know all about by now!

70s me

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QYN: A few out of context quotes from my 'hood

nobody@vox.com(Emu with a Clue) — Tue, 08 Jul 2008 18:47:13 -0700

Neighbourscast_wideweb__430x404

From Cat:

Anyway, one of the reasons I'm walking in the freezing wind to the shops is to buy Betty a water bottle.

From GCGal:

Never settle, that's my advice for the day...keep looking! Go back if you have to, just never "settle".

From Maura_EA:

I just had a one sided shouting match with a magazine cover in our breakroom.

From Serena:

And many more breaks to come for I will keep doing stupid things whenever I feel the inclination.

From Jack Yan:

Get ready for more mud-slinging heading westward across the Atlantic.

From Connie (who does not have cross eyes!):

I also got my eyes now crossed because of that damn gynecological baby vacuum machine.

From Flamingo Dancer:

The office wits have been joking all day that when Sunday misbehaves Nicole and Keith will be able to scream, “Sunday, Bloody Sunday!” (someone should apologize to U2).

Follow the links to find out what on earth they are talking about!

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Hurrah for the circus!

nobody@vox.com(Emu with a Clue) — Mon, 07 Jul 2008 22:20:50 -0700

Almost every school holidays it seems, we have a small family circus set up camp in a particular suburb not far from where we live. The location is somewhere we drive past often so the kids are frequently heard to ask "Can't we go and see the circus, PLEASE!". Yesterday we had cause to walk past the circus and got to see some of the animals in their enclosures and had a peep inside the big top. I was telling my husband about it last night and he said "Why don't you take them?". We are actually quite skint at the moment but really, the tickets for all of us were probably only about $15 more than if we were going to the movies. I was also a little concerned about the whole circus and cruelty to animals thing but the animals we saw yesterday looked quite well cared for.

We went to an early matinee today and the kids were entranced from the very first clown. It was quite a traditional circus with a combination of corny clown antics, animal acts and acrobatics. I did find the lions a bit sad, ie, they looked quite old and unenthusiastic about the whole thing. Preferred the dogs much more, ie, they seemed to be loving doing the tricks and getting all the attention. They were the highlight for my kids as well. The human performers were fantastic too. They were from various parts of the world including Australia, NZ, Canada, Chile, the UK and Morrocco. The youngest performer was only 3yo!

The show went for quite a long time (more than 2 hours) and it was interesting to see the way everyone mucked in and helped with the set up of the sets and equipment, selling tickets and other novelty items, organising the pony rides etc etc Now we are home, my son is going to make his own circus with some toys and my daughter has been asking what she needs to do to become a circus performer. I think she has probably left her run a bit late though (ie, judging by the skill of the 3yo acrobat).

Hurrah for the Circus

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QotD: I'm Not Telling

nobody@vox.com(Emu with a Clue) — Mon, 07 Jul 2008 15:50:05 -0700

What question do you hate being asked?

"When's the baby due?" when I am not even pregnant! Haven't had this for a while but it always completely flattens me when it happens. If you see the size of my "bump" in this picture, you will understand how hard it was getting my tummy back into shape afterwards.

41 weeks pregnant

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Friday 13: 13 things to do with kids on a wet weekend

nobody@vox.com(Emu with a Clue) — Thu, 03 Jul 2008 22:29:14 -0700

Thought I might as well do my brainstorming here seeing as this is looking like the scenario for this weekend.

Let It Rain

Go swimming at the indoor Aquatic Centre - my daughter invited to a party there on Saturday along with my friend's eldest daughter. My friend and I have decided to take the little ones along as well and stay there and have our own swim and indoor picnic while the party is on. Will hopefully help with the stuck indoors stir craziness that all the kids bound to be experiencing.
Baking - my husband accidentally opened a tin of sweetened condensed milk the other night so planning to do something with that and also plan to make a lemon tart for my work morning tea next week. The kids can help with that.
Go to the library - unfortunately our library has really limited opening hours on the weekend. Maybe the council thinks that everyone in our local government area can't read or something!
Go to the movies - we have some 'movie money' to spend so planning to go and see Kung Fu Panda on Sunday morning.
Put on raincoats and go for a walk - would be even better if the kids had gumboots but alas I stopped buying these when the drought started biting as they would often only wear them a handful of times before growing out of them.
Get my son to decorate and start implementing his housework chart - his teacher sent this home last night and I think it is a great initiative. My son is Mr Lazy normally.
Painting.
Sorting out books, CDs and DVDs and working out which ones to get rid of.
Planning our trip away the following week - my husband now has to work so it will be just me and the kids. I still haven't worked out where to go. Not too far afield though.
Watching tv - the kids favourite 'must watch' shows on the weekend are Australia's Funniest Home Videos on Saturday night and Gladiators on Sunday night. They also usually pester to watch whatever Saturday night kids movie is showing and, more recently, Battle of the Choirs.
Reading - unfortunately my son too young to read independently and my daughter not really inclined to so I will read to them.
Writing - my daughter's best friend H is in Japan at the moment and she has promised to write to her while she is away.
Board games, eg, chess (or 'chest' as my son calls it), scrabble, Enchanted Forest etc.

Stormy Weather

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Also on the subject of New Zealand cinema

nobody@vox.com(Emu with a Clue) — Thu, 03 Jul 2008 19:48:01 -0700

Check out this short film by director Alison McLean from 1989. I first saw this at the cinema before a feature film I can't even recall now. I was so impressed at the time.

kitchen sink part 1 independent film love story

kitchen sink part 2 independent film love story

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More Two and a Half Men trivia ...

nobody@vox.com(Emu with a Clue) — Thu, 03 Jul 2008 19:44:12 -0700

Melanie Lynskey who plays Rose is actually a New Zealander and started her acting career with one of the main roles (alongside Kate Winslet) in the wonderfully chilling New Zealand film Heavenly Creatures.

Heavenly Creatures - Finding the Key to the Fourth World

What is also amazing is that she manages to disguise her New Zealand accent so well. I travelled overseas with a girl from New Plymouth (where Lynskey also from) and she had the strongest Kiwi accent I have ever heard. Her boyfriend (who was from somewhere on New Zealand's North Island) said he practically had to act as an interpreter for her when they were travelling in countries where people spoke English as a second language as noone could understand anything she said. I'm sure there are some Australians who have similar "accent trouble" overseas.

Back to Heavenly Creatures, I highly recommend watching it if you have never seen it. There really is a lot more to New Zealand cinema than Lord of the Rings.

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