Man, oh man.

It is 10h04pm on a tuesday night and I am watching 'The Hustler'.
And I am thinking: Oh My God. Look at the smile on that one.
Man. Paul Newman was an absolute hottie in 1961.

Holy. Moly.

The Aussie Countdown - 10 to 6

Alors. La suite.

10 - CRICKET WORLD SERIES

Alrignt. In 1976, Australia was the first to have a single day cricket game. Oh my God. Can you imagine that before that, every game was a TEST, which means every game lasted 5 whole days each time. I am so grateful that they decided to have what they call World Series, which is still too long for my taste, but at least is only one day - not the whold week. People went crazy in 76 because all of a sudden, the games became oh so exciting cause the players actually only had ONE day to win or lose the game...yeah. Well, I'll say that if they were really looking to spice things up, maybe it would have been a good idea to actually have a game that's a reasonnable length, like 2 hours. But that's just me.

9 - SKIPPY

How could our bush kangaroo friend not be in the top 20? In the 60's, it was the tv series that was the most broadcasted in the world. It hit 80 countries by storm, and became an absolute classic. Everybody knows the song. Even if it was airing before they were born. Who wouldn't want a kangaroo that seems to understand every single word you are saying? So much better than Lassie.

8 - FELIX THE CAT

Ok, now this one is often mistaken for an American Creation. An Aussie animator, Patch Sullivan, created the black and white character long before he moved to the states. Felix is still a favourite decades later.

7 - PICK UP TRUCKS

Here, they call it a Ute. Short for Utility Truck. Aussies blame the invention of the pick up truck by Holden in the 1930's to be responsible for a massive amount of lost dogs in the country. Too many guys let their dogs hop in the back of the truck to ride along, and then, they would jump out and run away. But anyway, the ute became an instant success and Holden sold the idea to General Motors and Ford.

6 - DAME EDNA

'Hello Possums!' If you have seen her before, you must surely remember her. She is actually a man, dressed up as a woman with cat glasses and a purple wig. The comedic character of Dame Edna has been around for decades and is known and recognized all over the world. She is quite funny really. She is a real Australian icon.




Australian Inventions, Discoveries and Icons , the top 5, coming soon.

Figuier

Cet après-midi, je suis sortie pour aller chercher des fruits au marché. En sortant de mon appart, j'ai pris la route vers la droite, celle que je prends le moins souvent. J'ai remarqué que l'arbre près de la boîte aux lettres est en fait un figuier, et que les fruits sont presque prêts à cueillir. Ça m'a fait tout drôle. J'ai trouvé ça tellement exotique, tout à coup, de pouvoir cueillir mes propres figues d'un arbre dans ma cour.

Ah, que mon papa aimerait ça...

Aussie Countdown 14-10

And here we go again. Australia's top 20 inventions, discoveries and icons numbers 14 to 10.

14 - FIRST FEATURE NARRATIVE FILM

Now this one I am really proud about. Up to 1906, all narravive films were small clips, lasting under 30 minutes. The first long length feature narrative film was made right here, and was called NED KELLY. Story based on the legendary robber/bushranger/hero.

13 - THE FIRST CODEFIED RULE GAME

This one surprised me. Tom Wills, in 1859, was the first guy to ever write down and codefy official rules of a sporting game. From then on, players had to play according the the specific regulations and were penalised if they weren't. The game became more fair, and created challenges for the teams to win within those rules. It was for the Australian Football League. The strange game somewhere between rugby, soccer and US football.

12 - SURF LIFE SAVING CLUB

Or what we like to call back home: Lifeguards. In the 1900's, a group of young athletic men decided to group up and wear yellow speedos and little cap hats to help people in danger or injured at sea. They developed rescue techniques, and a system of retreiving wire that is still used today. The rescue wire is attached to the lifeguard as he runs into the waves, and rolls off a very large stand on the beach. Therefore, when the lifeguard takes a hold of the victim, the other lifeguards can wind up the wire stand and help the lifeguard at sea to come back to the shore.
Those SLSC started a trend all over the world for safe swimming and Lifeguard watching. They have their little uniforms still, the large high chairs on the beach and determine a safe area of swimming at the beach with large bands in the water. They save thousands of lives every year.

11 - PENECILLIN

Ok, so call me an idiot, I thought Louis Pasteur and Marie Curie discovered Penicilin. Well, they discovered the mold-Penecillium notatum. A guy named Alex Flemming, in 1928, observed that that colonies of Staphylococcus aurus could be destroyed by that mold, proving that there was indeed a antibacterial agent in there. Later on, it was confirmed that the penicillin mold could kill certain types of disease-causing bacteria in the body. But it wasn't until Howard Florey and Ernst Chain isolated the active ingredient and devellopped it into a powdery form that Penicillin could be used for medicinal purposes.

10 - ULTRASOUND SCANNER AND PACEMAKER

Now I missed the dates these were actually invented, but both of them were by Aussies. That kinds surprised me as well. What great inventions. Saved so many lives.


That's it for today folks, hope you learned a little something.
Top 9 to 5 coming soon.

Here, it's spring.

Can anyone see anything wrong with this picture?

It's so weird. I will probably never get used to having to Christmas shop when it's over 35 degrees outside. It's just not right.



Anyway. It was a beautiful day today, I was off work, and I had a few things to do downtown, so I went on foot.


Everything is blooming around here. Everything. Every lawn, every tree, every small stupid patch of weed on the corner of the street. Everywhere you look, flowers, and more flowers. These I took in less than 3 minutes of leaving my doorstep.





Sorry for those who are starting to freeze their asses off...I'm wearing thongs and a t-shirt, it's sunny, 27 degrees and beautiful. And somehow I don't feel bad rubbing it in just a little bit. Cause soon enough, it will be TOO hot for me to handle. Especially around Christmas time. So I'm enjoying it while it's still enjoyable.

I know, I know...

I have been away for a long time. Well, longer than usual.
That's because Allen was here and we had a very very big week.
Check this out.
He got here late on monday night, and his birthday was on tuesday. So of course, the celebrations had to start early. Allen takes his special day very seriously.

So we had a great day on the 15th. He was happy.
We had a nice dinner and had some friends over for a few drinks. Quiet, not too late.
It was nice.

But the best was yet to come.
On the wednesday, something really important was happening in the world of Aussie sport. No, not cricket. Not even Australian football. This time, soccer.
The world cup final qualifier, to be exact. Now, the big deal about it is that the Australians have not been part of the World Cup Soccer for over 30 years. 32, I think, ot be exact. So we had a big BBQ, Al had a friend over (the only one lucky enough not to be working) and the boys drank and we all watched a very exciting game. Australia won after a double overtime and penalty shots. The boys were off their heads, jumping around the living room, taking their shirts of and swivelling them in the air, screaming on the balcony. The thing is, they weren't alone. All our neighbors were doing the same, cars were honking in the street, and apparently, downtown became an instant circus. So yet again, I was here to witness another page in Australian Sport History. I have to admit it was quite exciting.
But after all the celebrations, my boy was pretty tired.

It took me forever to get him in to bed.

And so we had a few more days of fun, I only had a few shifts at work last week, so we could enjoy each other's company for once.
And on Saturday, it was the official birthday party. Pretty much all Allen's friends were there, we were over 20 people, and we went gokarting. Man, it was SO MUCH FUN!





I actually won a race in my division! Ha! But Allen won the big prize and even got a little trophy. We all secretely think that he won partly because he is the lightest of us all and that his car had less weight to carry around...but he is quite an impressive driver nontheless. We all went for a few drinks after.

On sunday, he had his entry exam for university. He'll get the results at the beginning of next year. That will be a big deal. After that, we went to dinner with his mom and sister. (and i finally got my bag!!!)

And then, it was monday 5am and he was gone. Just like that. For another 15 days. I had the feeling he just got back. Time flies when you are having fun.

The lions

I saw another old building today. It looked a little like a church, but it is part of the Uni Campus. It is quite a beautiful building, but the best thing about it is the pair of statues of lions it has on it. They are very high up over two very heavy looking doors, and they look like guardians, especially with the sort of family crest they are holding like a shield.

Walking passed, it looked very powerful.
I guess you had to be there.

Can't sleep

I don't know why my sleeping patterns are always all over the place.
This morning, I could litterally not be bothered getting out of bed. I could have slept until noon.
And tonight, I was falling asleep on the couch at 10pm, which is really early for me.
Now, it is 1h30am and I cannot even feel the slightest drowsiness. This sucks.
I don't know what to do.
I have all the trouble in the world falling asleep, and the next morning, I can't get out of bed. I am so bored right now. Allen is completely knocked out. I envy him. He falls asleep as fast as my dad. Most likely on the couch or while reading a book in bed. And the next morning, he's up early and fresh as a daisy.

I wish I were a normal sleeper.

What do you do when you can't sleep?

The Aussie Countdown - bottom 5

So last night I was watching TV. There was this show on called 20 to 1. They have a different subject every week, but this time, it was The Top 20 Australian Icons, Discoveries and Inventions. Let me tell you something, I was in for quite a few surprises. And a few laughs as well. Check this out, I took notes.

20. THE SPEEDO. Oh yeah. You read correctly. The hidious, tight, short (too short)
almost g-string like bathing suit for men was invented by Aussies in 1928. Oh God. I have no idea why they did it. (The company that makes the swimsuits is also Australian.)

19. THE TWO STROKE LAWN MOWER. Another invention. Before Mr. Victor had the brilliant idea of putting an actual motor in the lawn mower, your only options were those really big sisors, you know, or the round thing that had blades and that you pushed around and that would only work on only really short grass.... So Thank you Mr. Victor!!

18. THE FASCINATION WITH BIG STUFF This one is more an icon. Some guy in 1964 had the idea of making a massive sculpture of a Banana and paint it yellow. And so The Big Banana was born. It is massive- you can see it from miles away. Since then, Aussies have been fascinated by big things. There is now Big Things all over Australia. Animals, fruits, you name it. They are just huge, and have no other purpose. (See the picture? It's me with the Giant Koala, on the road to go to Melbourne last year.)

17. THE AUSTRALIAN 2 WING KEIL Ok, I don't know if I spelled that right. Australia 2 is a sailing boat that won an international sailing competition held in the USA because of a different kind of keil under the boat. Anyway. It was a big deal cause no one had beatten the Americans for the longest time, and the Aussies won because of it. Now, every boat has a keil just like it.

16. THE UGG BOOTS Oh yes, the sheep skin made boots. A surfer created them in 1971. They are funny looking, but oh so comfortable. A classic, really.

15. THE DUAL FLUSH TOILET Now, this, really, everybody should have one. The toilets here have two flush modes. Half, and full. This just makes good sense. Who needs a full flush for a little twinkle? This dual flush toilet uses 67% less water than regular toilets. Brilliant. The concept has been adopted by many countries.

So that's the 5 for today. This post would be WAY too long if I wrote about all 20 at once. What do you think will be on the rest of the list??

Maudite Marde

Excusez l'expression, mais merde, j'ai ouvert mon garde-robe cet après midi, et j'ai vu une immense coquerelle!!!! Je n'ai pas été capable de l'attraper, et là, je ne la trouve plus. Elle est quelque part dans l'appart...et ça me rend folle!! Je hais les coquerelles. (Désolé Johanne...je ne l'aurais pas tuée, je l'aurais mise dans un tupperware et rejetée dehors...) Elle était vraiment grosse. Et laide.

Ah, là j'ai la chienne qu'elle vienne dans mon lit pendant que je dors.... ahhhhhh....

Et bien sûr, des trucs comme ça, ça arrive toujours quand Allen n'est pas là!!!
Bonne nuit......

Un petit brin de quotidien

Voici les deux premières choses que j’ai vues en me levant ce matin.
1- Mon bureau. Je me prepare à aller voir mes emails
2- Mon lit – après avoir dormi sans Allen, c’est de ça qu’il a l’air. Je dors dans le milieu….
Et voilà. Après ça, je vais faire mon jogging et je prepare mon petit déj.
C’est tout pour ce matin.

Voilà.

P.S. I Love You

Tonight, I am listening to Billie Holiday's 'P.S. I Love You' If you haven't herd it, it's really worth the download.

This song makes me think of a crisp automn evening. A fire in a fire place, and a comfy armchair. A glass of wine or a warm tea kettle. A soft wool throw, candlelight and a good book. All those things at once.
I feel all wrapped up in warmth. Comfortable.

Everything slows down.
And everything is suddenly simple.

Adelaide Geeks

I was walking back from my new work place today and I passed through the Adelaide University Campus. Man, it looks like the old British Schools, you know? Really nice and grandiose and old. Nothing like the ugly ugly buildings of Concordia University on Maisonneuve Street....

What really impressed me was the number of statues of guys that discovered something or was important in a field of study. I didn't take the time to read all the signs on the bottom of the statues, I was exhausted, but I took some pictures. And that's only a few statues. There are many more around the campus.
And all around the city, for that matter. Seems like each time I walk downtown I see a new one I had not noticed before. I ll keep you posted. Everytime I see a new statue, I will take a picture and show you.


...I'm sure you can't wait.

The Three Month Threshold

Since I've moved to Australia, I have been fortunate enough to go back to Canada pretty much every three months. That is about the amount of time it takes me to become homesick to a point where I cannot wait to go back and see my family and friends, stroll in the streets of Montreal, and shop at the GAP with a Second Cup white mocha in my hand.

There is such a thing, I have discovered, as a 'non-shop' frustration. This happens when you want a very specific item. You need it, you have the money to purchase it, but somehow, you cannot find it in any store in the city you are in. In my case, Adelaide. This phenomenon becomes a real bitch when you know exactly where you could get that particular item in the city you are NOT in, aka Montreal.
This has happened to me sooooooo many times, especially this week. And it's driving me nuts.

The three month threshold has more bite at times. But the hardest part about it is that I really start missing my friends. My parents. My cousins. My grand-mother. And my dog. I can't wait to go back to Canada for a few weeks. It's like coming up for air, in a strange way. But I really love it here too. Too bad I can't get everything I want, cause if I did, everybody and everything good about my life would be contained in the same city. Not scattered somewhere between Montreal, Toronto, Rennes, Paris and Adelaide.

I really want to go home for Christmas. But I also really want to work on December Boys. I guess I have to be careful what I wish for, cause one makes the other impossible. This sucks.

So there you go, family and friends, you will know if I am coming home for Christmas by this time next week. And you will know we can afford for Allen to come along.
Let's all hope for the best. x x

Big Night

So yesterday afternoon I got a call from Nick Matthews. Nick is a cinematographer I have been working with for the past year. He gave my first job in full confidence when I had nothing to show for myself. He believed in me when I wasn't sure if I did.
He has been a mentor, a collegue, a friend to me all year.

So yeah, he gave me a call to tell me he forgot to tell me that he had bought me a ticket months ago to go to the ACS Awards with him. The Australian Cinematographers Society Awards. He was nominated for a short film (I worked on it last november, it was my first aussie job, it is called AZADI) and a feature called Modern Love.
They awards work like this. There are categories like short film, feature film, doco, tv commercials, stuff like that. The panel of juges look at all the entries, then give mentions, silver prize or gold prizes.

So even though it was last minute, I was free to go that night. Allen is away and all my friends are working saturday night. The only problem was that it was a black tie event. Woah. I've never been to anything black tie before. So I screened my closet. Nothing to wear. The only dress I own (except my wedding dress) didn't fit so great anymore, and nothing else I had was dressy enough. After I had ran to my friend's house and downtown back and forth, I had 20 minutes to take a shower, do my hair, makeup....before Nick picked me up. Oh man, I never got ready so fast.

The awards were wonderful. I met lots of great people in the industry - which was the reason for Nick to buy me a ticket in the first place - had a great meal, and Mr. Matthews got the recongnition he deserves. He won a Gold Award for AZADI, a Silver Award for Modern Love, and he won the Cliff Ellis Memorial Award. That's a big deal. I was so proud of him. And when he thanked his camera crew during his speach, he used my full french name. It was nice to hear. It was greater still to see him win those prizes. He works so hard, and he has the best attitude doing it, too. He is full of talent. It was great to see the ACS recognize it.

At the end of the night, my feet were absolutely dying. I had worn silettos for the first time in my life and actually pulled it off. Now that was MY award. But I felt great. We had drinks in the lobby after the ceremony, and it was lots of fun.

You know when you meet someone who gives you the feeling they are going to make it big? Yeah. Nick Matthews. Félicitations, mon ami.

Staying put

So Allen and I are not moving. Not yet. Maybe not this year.
We are going to stay in our shoe box.

We were quickly reminded, while looking at other properties, the three golden rules of real estate.

Location.
Location.
Location.

Every other place we could afford was so far from the city compared to our appartment.
And in North Adelaide, everything is walking distance. And the area is wonderful.
But we can't afford anything around here yet, it's like the 'Westmount' or 'Outremont' of Adelaide. So it looks like we are staying here longer. We have a storage problem though. I am at a loss for ideas of how to rearrange the place, or simply where I could save some space to store more stuff.

Any clever ideas?
What's your greatest trick?

Good Music

I am in my room. It is late. I finally found a cord long enough to have the internet while I am sitting at my desk. It's actually very nice to type the computer when it's not resting on my knees.

I'm listening to a song Zach Braff recommended on his blog. It's called Beautiful Man, it's by this girl called Lori McKenna and it's nice and comfortable. The kind of song you wouldn't mind playing over and over. It's like the perfect kind of song to put into a soundtrack, you know? I don't know why I thought of that. Some songs like that make me think that if I ever made movies of my own, I would want one of them to feel like this song feels.

Added photos

Just a quick note to tell you guys I put up new wedding pics on flickr that I've just received from a friend. Hope you like them.

The race that stops the nation

Yeah, you read right.

Every year, in Australia, everybody stops working for half an hour. If you live in Victoria, you actually get the whole day off.
For a horse race.

Oh yeah. It's a BIG deal. It's the Melbourne Cup.

The day where men place bets while women decide what to wear. Cause this is like the Oscars. No, it's bigger than the oscars here. In that it's not about what's happening, who is actually in the race, let alone who wins. NO. It's all about who wears what.
Oh yeah, and the women really get into it. It's all about the shoes, the dresses and such, but most of all, it's about he HATS. Hats with feathers, with little dingly dangly ribbons and lace and crap. It's absolutely rediculous. It's so important, that a big celeb supermodel or whatever, some years ago, actually went to the races WITHOUT A HAT!!! And it caused an absolute SCANDAL.
I think that is just pathetic.

I was working at my new job and there was over a hundred people there, and when the race came on, the place just went wild. A horse, called Makaybe Diva has won this race last year and the year before. If she won it this year, the horse would go down in history as being the only horse to have won the Melbourne Cup three times in a row.
And she did. It was incredible. I have witnessed an important moment in Australian History, so it seems.