The Fake Aussie

Oranges and Sunshine

2010-09-24T22:40:00.002+09:30

Voici un article qu'on m'a envoyé à propos du film sur lequel j'ai travaillé au début de l'année.

From The Guardian, London.

Cool.

2010-09-13T23:51:00.002+09:30

As a reply to Vanou's post, here are:

Fifteen albums I've heard that will always stick with me, in no particuliar order:

- Parachutes, Coldplay
- Le Fabuleux Destin d'Amélie Poulain, Sountrack
- Comme on a dit, Louise Attaque
- Under the Pink, Tori Amos
- Tricycle, Daniel Bélanger
- Chimney's Afire, Josh Pyke
- Elizabethtown, Soundtrack
- Almost Famous, Sondtrack
- Live at Luther College, Dave Matthew's Band
- Either/Or, Elliot Smith
- À l'Avenir, Marc Déry
- The Piano, Soundtrack
- Unplugged in New York, Nirvana
- Fumbling towards ecstacy, Sarah McLachlan
- Jazz Masters 12, Billie Holiday

Like the soundtrack of my life, as they say...

Spring

2010-09-13T22:09:00.003+09:30

So apparently, spring is here.
Really? It's raining, it's cold and it's damp...all the time.
The only clue we've got is that our new plant is producing the prettiest flowers ever. Elles ressemblent à des grappes de petites orchides. Très jolies.

Et ça fait des semaines qu'elles sont là. C'est vraiment incroyable.

J'ai pris quelques photos aujourd'hui; on a eu une heure de soleil!

Et ce soir, un gros orage gronde.

So over it.

2010-09-06T20:58:00.002+09:30

Australians went to the polls on August 21st.

And here we are, two and a half weeks later, and the new Prime Minister STILL hasn't been announced yet.

The two major parties, Liberals and Labour, are in a major dead lock. The final decision now lies with three elected independants. They have been talking for over two weeks to try to decide which side to join with, and have gotten quite a lot of attention. But now, really, I think they are just milking it.

It's ridiculous. Those three guys, all representing some obscur rural part of the country, are now drunk with power and are trying to stretch out their fifteen minutes of 'fame'.

Just get on with it!!

Not only has the election campaign been the worst and most boring ever, but it's dragging, on, and on, and on, and on.
Oh. Have I mentionned that the ABC has started a new 24 hour a day news channel about a month ago? Yeah. And Allen has had it on non stop since then. I am about to blow my brains out. I cannot take another minute of stupid Aussie politics.

My God.
I cannot wait for it to be all over.

Le décompte

2010-08-17T10:16:00.002+09:30

Ah... déjà plus d'un mois que j'ai écrit sur ce blog...
Incroyable.

Je suis occupée comme jamais. Mon autre blog prends plus d'ampleur, simplement parce qu'il est à propos de ma nouvelle petite entreprise, et que, bon, je ne fais que travailler là-dessus en ce moment. Tout ce que je fais est directement relié à Turn Left Here. Les choses avancent lentement, mais les marchés vont de mieux en mieux, et donc, j'ai de plus en plus de commandes spéciales, et de plus en plus de stock à remplacer chaque semaine.

Je devrai bientôt couper quelques éléments de ma collection, parce que si je continue à ce rythme, je n'aurai jamais le temps de créer une nouvelle pièce. Je ne veux pas que mon travaille se limite à reproduire (ou tenter de reproduire) les pièces que j'ai vendues la semaine précédente.

Mais bon, la machine est à pleine capacité. Dans deux mois, je serai à Montréal, et je vais tenter de vendre ma collection à certaines boutiques. Aussi, je veux pouvoir laisser assez de pièces en Australie pour que mon amie puisse aller au marché à ma place. Alors, je n'ai pas une minute à perdre!!

J'essaie de ne pas trop penser à Montréal. J'ai tellement hâte! J'ai hâte de voir le local de Stéphanie! J'ai hâte de travailler dans sa petite pâtisserie. J'ai aussi hâte de pouvoir passer du temps avec mes chums, marcher sur le plateau, aller voir Daniel Bélanger en spectacle, souper avec mes parents, aller prendre un café avec mon frère. Et la liste continue...

À bientôt, tout le monde.
Dans deux mois!! Le décompte est commencé...
xx

Non?!?

2010-07-12T13:26:00.003+09:30

Je viens de refuser un film.

Je ne pensais jamais refuser un film.
Surtout durant une année hyper tranquille.

Plusieurs raisons ont formulé mon refus et je crois que j'ai pris la bonne décision, mais quand même, ça me fait tout drôle de dire non. Surtout quand on m'a offert le poste dans que je ne postule pour l'avoir. J'ai battu mes confrères dans cette compétition, et maintenant, le poste vont leur revenir parce que j'ai dit non.

Eh oui.

Un ami de Allen m'a dit, pour me consoler, que la qualité de travail d'une personne est souvent calculé par ce qu'elle refuse.

Et je crois que j'ai fait le bon choix.

Le film est basé sur une série de crime commis dans une ville du désert australien qui fini avec des gens retrouvés dans des bidons d'acide et des enfants traumatisés d'avoir été abusés sexuellement par les meurtriers. Et tout ça joué par des non-acteurs, certains d'entre eux étant la famille des vraies victimes.

Pas vraiment mon style.

Et le tournage se passe à plus de deux heures de route de chez moi. C'est comme si, tous les matins, je partais à Montréal pour aller travailler à Québec pour au moins 11h30 et revenir le soir. Sans que mon gaz soit payé. Sans que mon temps supplémentaire soit payé. Je ne pense pas physiquement pouvoir survivre une semaine, et surtout pas six.

Merci, mais non merci.

Les Sorcières me hantent encore.

2010-06-29T22:46:00.002+09:30

Ça fait dix ans. À Brébeuf, le 11 février 2000, je me suis fracturée le bassin sur scène durant la dernière représentation des Sorcières de Salem. Et ma fracture s'étant resoudée croche dû à mon retour trop rapide à l'école, elle me fait encore du mal. Elle me fera probablement toujours du mal.

J'espère juste que demain, lorsque Andy Stankovitch, le seul opérateur steadicam de la province ajustera ma veste pour la première fois, mon bassin ne me fera pas mal.

Demain, je pourrais bien changer le cours de ma carrière. 2010 aura été une année de réinvention. (Est-ce que ça se dit?) Etk. Mr Stankovitch a longtemps cherché une relève. Et je souhaite bien fort qu'il l'ait trouvé en moi.

On verra bien.

Croisez bien vos doigts pour moi.

History might be made tomorrow.

2010-06-23T22:20:00.005+09:30

So here is what I understand about the situation.

Australian politics are not going very well at the moment. With the GFC and ETS and everything else, from asylum seekers arriving illegally by boatloads to the consideration of giving the huge mining companies higher taxes, nobody is a happy camper in neither of the major parties.

So, the Prime Minister, Kevin Rudd, is no longer as popular as he once was.And this year is an election year. So that's no good for the party.

Basically, the Deputy Prime Minister decided to challenge Kevin Rudd as Leader of the Labor Party. That Deputy Prime Minister's name is Julia Gillard. She's a tough redhead with no kids and no apologies. She is cool, calm and collected, stands her ground without flinching and she expresses herself better than most politicians.

Oh yeah.

In less than 12 hours, Australia might have a woman Prime Minister for the first time in history. How cool is that?

Youppi!

2010-06-08T14:25:00.001+09:30

Je viens d'apprendre que Daniel Bélanger donnera un spectacle à l'Étoile dix30 à Brossard le 16 décembre prochain.

Yé!!!!

Qui veut venir avec moi??

Un petit trou de soleil.

2010-06-04T10:57:00.003+09:30

Ce matin, je me suis levée et pour la première fois depuis une semaine, le soleil était sorti.

Je me suis installée dehors pour déjeuner. Un bol de fruits, café, liste de trucs à faire aujourd'hui, et le nouveau Inside Out Magazine.
Du jazz jouant sur mon iphone, je suis restée dehors une bonne heure.

Ça fait du bien.

Heaven costs 4$.

2010-05-28T10:54:00.003+09:30

Yesterday I had to run a few errands.
I just got new contact lenses, so I needed fluid. Went to the Pharmacy. Or Chemist, I should say, because here, a pharmacy is the small vanity in your bathroom where you keep your pills.

So anyway.

I went to this Chemist I never been before, and they had a huge range of new St-Ives products. I love that brand. Among them was body polish collection I had never seen before. There was one there, an Oatmeal and Shea Butter, for 3.99$. I thought it was a mistake. Usually, body scrubs in little tubs like that are at least 10$.

I am starting a new business. Therefore, I am broke, and I need a little cheap indulgence. So I got one.

I tried it this morning.
When I opened the tub, the scrub looked really hard. And it was. I really had to dig my fingers in it to get some stuff out. I thought it was going to be a dud. But once it blended with my wet skin, it became lush and incredible. Usually, scrubs that are soft to begin with washes away really fast and you barely have time to work it in. Not this one. It stays put, so you have time to massage it in and it stays on until you rince it off. It's not too abrasive, (you can see real bits of oatmeal in there) it feels absolutely luxurious and it smells like heaven. My skin feels soft, supple and just fabulous. And you guys know how picky my skin is.

I know this sounds like a paid add for St-Ives, but man, oh man, I am never taking a shower without this scrub again. It's just awsome. Plus, it's not tested on animals and the packaging is completely recyclable. AND it's only 4$. You HAVE to try it.

Nouveau blog.

2010-05-27T10:07:00.003+09:30

Oyez Oyez Tout le monde!!

Avec mon nouveau site internet pour ma petite business, j'ai aussi un nouveau blog.
Tout ce qui a rapport avec le design et ma business, je l'écris sur ce blog-là.

C'est tout!

Iiiiiikkkk!

2010-05-27T10:02:00.003+09:30

Il fallait bien que ça arrive un jour.

Je vis maintenant dans un pays où même les plus petites créatures peuvent vous tuer.

J'ai trouvé ma première araignée hyper venimeuse dans ma maison hier soir.

Une Redback. Même minuscule, elle aurait pu me pîquer et je me serais ramassée à l'hôpital pour ne pas en mourir.

Et bien entendu, Allen n'a pas voulu l'écraser. Il l'a capturée dans un pot de plastique, l'a observée pour un moment en répétant comment elle était belle, et est allé au bout de la rue pour la déposer dans un parc.

Sérieux.

Magnifique.

2010-05-18T17:09:00.003+09:30

Si vous avez cinq minutes, allez voir ce petit film appelé The Last Three Minutes.

Tourné avec une caméra photographique qui peut tourner des films en HD, vous pourrez voir pourquoi j'ai décidé de changer de camp, et d'éventuellement m'acheter la Canon 5D Mark II au lieu de la dernière Nikon.

C'est superbe. Absolument.

C'est pour dire qu'est-ce qu'on peut maintenant faire avec une petite caméra (qui se hisse et glisse partout, comme vous pourrez voir)...

Allez-y, vraiment.

Eclipse

2010-05-10T17:14:00.006+09:30

So I am not a Twilight fan.

Yeah. Sue me.

The only reason I was convinced by a friend to see the movies was because Xavier Samuel, an Adelaide actor I have known for over 5 years and made three movies with had been casted to play a vampire baddie in the third installment of the saga.

And I just saw him in the latest official trailer.

He's the guy running and getting killed at the beginning of it, and you see him leading the vampire army and coming out of the water. It's so weird to see him like that! And it's going to be even weirder when I actually see the whole movie...

But seriously. Even if I am not a Twilight fan, I think this is pretty cool. His first movie was my first movie and look at him now. In a few months, when Eclipse hits theatres, his life will never be the same again. And he deserves it. He's great, he works hard, and he's such a sweetheart.

Here is a picture I took of him goofing around with Georgina and Sophie on a cold day on the set of Road Train last year.

Go Xavier.

Why I am absent...

2010-05-09T18:32:00.003+09:30

I am soooo busy!!
It's nuts.

I never thought this little endeavour of mine (aka Turn Left Here) would become a full time thing so quickly.

There are not enough hours in the day.

I get wiped out at markets, I need to reproduce and come up with new designs and new upcycling ideas each week, on top of preparing a collection for a shop in Adelaide, Maison Blanc, and preparing for an audition with Urban Cow, the coolest studio/gallery in town.

I get great feedback at the markets, it's really interesting to see what people pick up, what piece steers them towards my stall, and how their eyes light up when they understand that the bird brooch they are holding is actually made out of an LP vinyl record. Or that that ruffled necklace used to be a men's neck tie.

It's pretty cool. The word people use the most is clever.
I have never been clever before.

Pretty much every penny I am making goes right back into my little business. New Moo mini cards, chain upgrades from metal to sterling silver, and more budget to get awsome 1920's typewriter keys. I am starting to see what works, what people want, and what I can do to make my pieces just that much better. It's a great process. And I love doing it.

This past week I have also worked hard on my website, but also started a blog, twitter account and facebook page.

Now I am all set. Let the networking begin!

The rush

2010-04-14T14:24:00.002+09:30

Sometimes I think I have what I like to call CRAFTY ADHD.

I have lots of ideas all at once, and when I start on a project, I have an idea for something else completely different and I hop to it straight after, and so on and so forth. That is why right now, my collection is vast, the style varied.

I work well at night, which can become a problem when my ideas follow one another and next thing I know it's 3am...

But I think what I like the most about all of it, is that when I have an idea that I think might be possible, I have this rush. I throw myself into it, get the materials ready and start testing. When I do a piece this way, sometimes it's a total bust. I then learn about how I did it, what I did wrong, and try to find other ways to make it right.

But other times, I do tests and it works. While I do it, my object is taking form and my technique is right and I can see the finish product is at reach.

That is the best feeling ever.
And it just happened.

So annoying

2010-04-11T15:19:00.002+09:30

I am all for cleaning up.

Yes, life is better without any clutter, that's true.

But there is nothing more annoying than spending three days cleaning, clearing and organizing a whole heap of stuff only to not find the one thing you are after. I don't remember where I have seen that thing last. And it's not because I am not organized properly - I can find everything else in seconds. Everything is divided, boxed and labelled. It's only this one thing I cannot find.

Argh!!!

Road Train

2010-04-10T13:04:00.003+09:30

Only one feature film was shot in South Australia last year.
It was called Road Train.

Another outback movie, but this time, a gory teenage flick.
We are having the premiere at the end of the month, but here is a trailer I found on youtube.

Not my kind of movie, but it was good to work on. I love going up to Wilpena Pound to shoot.

Shot on RED, by Carl Robertson.

Oh, and look at Xavier closely.
Next time you see him will be this june, as a vampire in the new Twilight movie...

I have a confession to make.

2010-04-09T22:56:00.005+09:30

I do not like Australian summers.

Yeah. I know. It must come as a shock to you, especially because in summer time, I write about nothing else than the bloody heat.

It's funny because right now, in the northern hemosphere blog community, people speak of nothing else but spring. Photos of spring, tales of spring, spring recipes. Really. Was your winter THAT bad?? I guess so.

My favorite 'season' (yes, I use that term loosely here) is definitely Automn. And it's coming. Little by very little. It was still 30+ degrees last week, but this week, slowly, the skies are darkening, rain has begun to fall and the degrees are inching back to a more civilized number. Mid twenties, thank you very much.

When it starts, the grey skies and the cool winds, the grass gets green again. Trees are green too - in fact, everything outside wakes up and lives again. It's beautiful.

I like nothing better than to go to bed under warm covers when it's chilly out. I believe I will keep my bedroom window open all winter.

And tonight is the first time in a long time I need to wear socks.

Joy.

Getting sorted.

2010-04-03T15:22:00.005+10:30

Turn Left Here is starting up.

Etsy, Made it, and a website in the works.
I have sent off pieces to Cyprus, the USA and Sydney in the past couple of weeks.

Some of my pieces are available in Montréal, at Kokoon, on Bernard St in Outremont.

I am starting to tour the market circuit and setting up a really nice booth.

I am really excited about all this. It's been a while since I have enjoyed being in between movies. But now what I need to really get to work is actually have somewhere to work. I have new tools, new materials and shipments of findings coming in.

So I am officially in desperate need of a workshop. And while I am waiting to transfer the bed from the guest room / my office to Allen's office he doesn't need anymore, I decided to organize the space I do have and get rid of some stuff to make room for my new little business.

I never thought this would take so long.
It's been three days and my guest room/office still looks like a bomb went off in it.

I want to finish my sorting out so I can get back to work.
My creative juices are overflowing.

Pictures to come...

Paper Planes.

2010-03-27T00:24:00.008+10:30

So I didn't have much time to catch my breath after I landed back in Oz.
No time to get over my humongous jetlag either.

The day after I arrived, I started working on Paper Planes, Storm Ashwood's new SAFC funded short film. I love focus pulling for Nick Matthews, it really keeps me on my toes. (Whole film shot on a 135mm, t2, wide open with 9 stops of ND's anyone??)
Again, our trusty RED One camera from Hidef in Sydney was flawless and perfect. I have trouble thinking that some REDs are so tempermental that it makes some people shy away from them forever. Pity.

The sets were great, the actors (and non-actors) wonderful and the crew, fabulous. I had only seen Storm be Nick's gaffer or Richard's best boy, so it was nice to finally see him direct. I think his sensitivity serves him well when it comes to communicating with actors. Especially children actors. I believe this little film of his is going to be quite impressive. Can't wait to see it.

I was feeling a bit off by the end of the week, having to drive 2 hours to and from set every day and drinking absolutely no coffee...but it felt nice to be back to carrying a nice heavy camera on my shoulder.

I learned, however, that even if you do work for a week after you come back from Canada, you don't get over your jetlag. You just push the time adjustment to later.

I think I slept two whole days after we wrapped.

Oh my.

2010-03-04T15:18:00.003+10:30

I never really write much when I am in Canada.
First, I have too much to do! Too many great people to see...
But also, I have the feeling that pretty much everyone that reads me is from Canada. Therefore, because I am here, they get my thoughts first hand. I don't need to write about them.

But tonight, I really have to talk about something.
Or someone, actually.

Robert Lepage.

I am in the middle of seeing Lipsynch, his new show, and it is absolutely sublime.
A 9 hour show. I didn't believe it at first. But it's true. 9 whole hours. You can see it all at once, with 5 intermissions and a meal break, or cut in three pieces of three hours, over the course of three days. Lovely Vanessa got Mélanie and I tickets to go see it this week, in the three day version.

I didn't think that it would work. 9 hours is a really REALLY long time to keep people interested and sitting in seats of a dark theatre. The actors have to be extraordinary, and the material, even better. The sets have to be interesting and innovative and the subject and feel of it has to be just right.
A very hard ask.

And Monsieur Lepage brings it home.

Man, that artist, director, actor, idealist, (etc, etc, etc...) does not disappoint.

His brilliance astounds me.

Tomorrow night is the last installment. I will try to sum the show up for you then. I have the feeling that it will not be easy...I fear I might run out of positive adjectives.

Vancouver

2010-02-14T02:33:00.002+10:30

Il est tôt.
Je suis fatiguée.
Je débarque de l'avion. Mon deuxième vol. De 13 heures et demie. Mon premier était 2h.

Je suis à la porte d'embarquement d'Air Canada C39, vol AC150 en direction de Montréal.

Et ça parle français. Mon français.

Ça fait du bien.

Unbelievable.

2010-02-09T22:18:00.002+10:30

Last time I was in Canada, I bought a lomography camera. A fisheye one. It takes 35mm film and I had a few black and white ones left over from a long time ago, so I used them to test the camera.

The problem is, no one here really develops black and white anymore. So it took a while to find a good place that would do it for a reasonable price.

I finally picked them up from the photographic shop last week when we were shooting in the city.

First two films were cool photos from my lomo.
And then, something crazy happened.
The third film was not a test from my lomo.

It was a film Nick Matthews took of our Australian wedding over four and a half years ago.

This is one of my favorites ever.

I could not believe it.
What a wonderful surprise!

20 days of Oranges and Sunshine

2010-01-19T21:40:00.003+10:30

Nous sommes dans notre première semaine de tournage.
Une co-production Britannique et Australienne intitulée Oranges and Sunshine avec Emily Watson, David Wenham (aka Faramir, Lord of the Rings...had a bit of a crush on him since then) et Hugo Weaving, mon coup de coeur depuis que nous avons travaillé ensemble sur Last Ride en 2008.

Nous avons déjà bien du plaisir, le DOP est jeune et talentueux, notre équipe est forte et sympatique.

Il y a un autre film qui tourne en ville en ce moment. Nos amis Maxx et Viv y sont les Clappers-Loaders. Nous avons décidé (Maxx et Viv sur Swerve (tourné en HD) et Kirsty et moi sur Oranges and Sunshine (tourné en 35mm)) de prendre une photo chaque jour sur le plateau de tournage chacuns de notre côté et créer deux pages facebook pour les comparer.

Nous sommes devenus un peu compétitifs! Nos photos sont pas mal cools, surtout celle d'aujourd'hui, jour 3.

J'ai invité quelques uns d'entre vous qui seraient peut-être intéressés à vous joindre au groupe. Je voulais vous dire c'était quoi avant que vous refusiez...

Deux surprises

2010-01-18T20:25:00.003+10:30

La semaine dernière, j'ai reçu non pas une, mais deux cartes de Noël/Jour de l'an du Canada.

Quand je vais ramasser le courrier et que je vois une enveloppe plus carrée, tout de suite elle m'attire parce que ce n'est pas un compte. Mais quand je la voie, l'enveloppe, et qu'elle a des beaux timbres canadiens qui ont été étampés des dizaines de fois, mon coeur commence à battre plus fort. Quand je reconnais l'écriture sur le devant, le sourire ne me part pas. Et quand je la lit, la belle carte, des petites larmes me montent aux yeux.

Ça m'est arrivé deux fois dans la même semaine! Mardi et Vendredi.

Merci mes belles amies.
Je ne peux pas vous dire comment ça me fait plaisir.

Ouf!

2010-01-17T09:20:00.003+10:30

Ça fait longtemps que je n'ai pas 'posté'.

Notre maison a été pas mal occupée. Une semaine avant Noël, la mère à Allen a débarquée. Un peu à l'improviste, parce qu'elle n'était pas supposée venir. Tout d'un coup, il a fallu organiser la chambre d'amis et préparer un souper de Noël.

La journée même que la mère de Allen partait, Stéphanie et Julien arrivaient. Et une semaine plus tard, Lynda, mon amie de Melbourne (en ville pour travailler sur un film) est arrivée et s'est installée sur le sofa-lit jusqu'à ce que Steph et Julien partent trois jours plus tard. Lynda est ensuite passée à la chambre d'amie et est restée une semaine.

Pendant 3 jours, il y avait 5 adultes et 2 chiens dans notre maison. Ouf!

Alors, nous avons eu de la visite non-stop pendant presque un mois.

Maintenant, la vie ordinaire reprend son train.
J'ai terminé ma préproduction cette semaine sur 'Oranges and Sunshine' et nous commençons à tourner demain.

Voilà. Je voulais vous donner des petites nouvelles rapides.
Plus de détails à venir!!

Une de mes citations favorites.

2009-12-29T22:11:00.002+10:30

Personne n'est capable de raconter une histoire exactement comme ça s'est passé.
On arrange.
On essaie de retrouver l'émotion première.
Finalement, on tombe à coup sûr dans la nostalgie.
Et s'il y a une chose qui est loin de la réalité, c'est la nostalgie.

Donc, ce n'est pas votre histoire.

- Danny Laferrière

Turn Left Here : my shop!!

2009-12-21T21:20:00.003+10:30

Ça fait longtemps que j'y pense.

J'ai trouvé un nom. Je me suis fait faire une étampe avec mon logo.

Et maintenant, j'ai finalement ouvert ma shoppe etsy!

J'ai seulement eu le temps de mettre une douzaine de trucs à vendre mais beaucoup plus viendra!

Quelques colliers en rubans, et des broches en boutons, bois et acrylique.
Tout faits à la main.

C'est un début!!

White Lightening.

2009-12-06T22:03:00.006+10:30

His name is Robert Richardson.
Most people called him Bob.
We called him White Lightening.

That man has so many great films to his name, it's unbelievable.
He is tall with long white flowy white hair and is soft spoken.
He wears black pants, white shirts and black jackets. He looks a bit like a maestro or a orchestra conductor except for the converse shoes.

And he shoots fast. Really fast. We were using the quietest camera I have ever worked with, so it was really hard to tell when he was rolling. He liked to get lots of sneaky shots when no one was aware of it, and I had to keep on top of it, trying to ID everything... We shot lots and lots of film, and two days out of three, we finished our day early. That has never EVER happened to me before. We never finish early in the film industry.

So with his long white hair and his speed, he really was white lightening.

Also, he uses coms. Big headsets that every important person on set has, like him, the director, Key Gaffer, Key Grip and Assistant Director and Focus Puller. The coms are like all being on the same phone line. You can hear everything everyone is saying all the time. Bob doesn't like to raise his voice. So he gets to stay very calm and very quiet this way. He is basically the one who makes most of the talking.

The shoot was going swimmingly. We were working very hard, but things were going well. On the third day, Bob asked that I be put on coms. Yeah!!! I got to hear everything he said all day and got a good insight on how he works. Learned a few useful things there. It was awsome.

IMDB

2009-11-23T23:26:00.002+10:30

Aujourd'hui a été une journée mémorable dans ma carrière.

J'ai travaillé pour un directeur photo qui s'appelle Robert Richardson.
Je travaillerai encore pour lui demain, et après demain. Il est tard, je dois aller me coucher, alors pas de temps pour les détails.

Si vous avez une minute, allez sur le site internet imdb.com (Internet Movie Data Base) et faites une recherche avec son nom. Cinematographer.

You'll get what I mean when you see all the movies he has shot.

Can you say TWO Oscars!!!

I know.
Oh my god.

Seriously.

2009-11-14T15:32:00.002+10:30

I never got why it takes so bloody long to get a prescription at the pharmacy here. It always takes forever. Why?? I have been sitting here for 20 minutes waiting for it. And I am the only one here!!! What are they doing?!? Does it take that long to find a box of pills?!?!

(sigh...)

Holy Moly.

2009-11-13T23:06:00.002+10:30

We are in the second week of november. Here, it's meant to be the best time of year: Spring! It's supposed to be nice and warm, sunny, breezy and just plain wonderful.

But no.

Since saturday last week, we have had temperatures over 35 degrees every day. It will be a week tomorrow, which classifies this lunacy as an official heat wave. And a nasty one as well. It's been 40 for 3 days, and will be again until monday. Then, only 36, for a bit of 'relief'. Usually, we don't get heat like that until january.

My God. I thought I had a bit of time before the big heat hit!! Everyone was caught off guard. But this year, enough is enough. We went down to the air conditioning place on wednesday, and we are booked in.

November 30th, our world will change.
Ducted air. Air in every room in the house.

We shall be liberated!!!

Just in time for our holiday visitors...

My first market.

2009-11-10T23:49:00.002+10:30

Dimanche dernier, j'ai pacté tous mes petits trucs et j'ai rencontré mon amie Bernadette au Port Adelaide Market. Bernadette a pris des cours de jewellery making a TAFE, la même école à laquelle je prends mes cours de upholstery. Elle a commencé à produire des trucs géniaux et m'a appris des nouvelles techniques que j'ai utilisées pour produire mes propres broches, colliers, boucles d'oreilles, etc. Ça fait longtemps que j'utilise des vieux boutons pour faire mes trucs, mais maintenant, grâce à Bernadette, je sais utiliser acrylique, métaux, et bois.

Elle a une petit shoppe sur Etsy depuis longtemps, et elle a un booth au Gilles St Markets en ville. Ce market là, ça fait des mois que j'essaie d'y avoir un espace, mais c'est un marché dur à percer. Il a fallu que j'ailles voir ailleurs, et c'est comme ça que nous nous sommes retrouvées à Port Adelaide. Elle et moi avons décidé de joindre nos forces et de se diviser un booth. Elle m'a même invité dans son espace à Gilles la prochaine fois qu'elle y est, dans trois semaines.

Dimanche, c'était notre première experience ensemble. Le problème, c'est qu'il faisait chaud. Trop chaud. L'été est arrivé d'un seul coup cette année, et nous sommes déjà dans une vague de chaleur incroyable. Alors il n'y avait personne. Nous avons vendu quelques trucs, mais rien comparativement à ce que Bernadette vend à Gilles. Nous avons aussi remarqué que Port Adelaide Markets n'est pas vraiment notre public-cible. Alors, nous n'y retournerons pas. Notre prochain market sera à Gilles, le 29 novembre. J'ai hâte de voir si mes trucs vendront. Bernadette a grande confiance. On verra bien.

D'ici là, je peux me réconforter du fait que même si notre journée à Port Adelaide a été incomfortable, trop chaude, et pas occupée, j'ai quand même appris des trucs pour améliorer mon booth. Et même si j'ai seulement vendu une paire de boucles d'oreilles et trois broches, c'était la première fois que je vendais quelque chose que j'avais fait à un parfait étranger. Et ça, c'est un bon feeling.

Short film.

2009-11-09T21:33:00.004+10:30

Adelaide had a bad year.
One feature film. Only one shot in our state. One lonely one.
Thank God I worked on it!

So since June, not much is happening here. A few commercials, that's all, really.
The other movies that were supposed to shoot this year have been pushed to 2010.

In the meantime, I worked on a nice little short film with Nick last week, which was a lot of fun.I hadn't focus pulled in a while, and with a DOP like Mr. Matthews, you always get a run for your money. (85mm, wide open on super speeds (f1.3) anyone?!?! Yeah, try to focus pull a moving horse with less than half an inch of depth... Fun! And a sure fire way to get you back into the groove of it.)

There was lots of people to help us there, including a bunch of very helpful boys who are finishing their cinema degree at Flinders University. Another helper was a guy called Miles, taking stills with his handy Canon 5D. He took some good pics, and sent me one of my arm focus pulling the red. Nice.

So yeah, you can't tell it's me, but I know it is. So it's ok. I really don't have many pics of me working. So I'll take it.

Oldie.

2009-10-26T21:56:00.002+10:30

An old photo I took of a fisherman working on the boat we were using as a film loading space while shooting Lucky Miles in Coffin Bay in 2006.

A first.

2009-10-26T21:38:00.003+10:30

I went to the bank today. Our new branch just finished extensive renovations. Now, it's all spiffy and classy. When you walk in, a nice lady welcomes you and asks you what you need. Then, she directs you to one of the three sections.

One, the regular tellers. Nice counters and slick glass. And there's like five of them, so you never wait long. And they are super friendly.

Two, little kinds of booths with customer service experts. They can help you with anything. Credit health check, questions about mortages, credit cards, loans, you name it. Again, super helpful, super friendly.

Three, a lounge area with really cool chairs and an awsome sofa. Coffee table, coffee machine. Just in case God forbid you would have to wait five minutes to speak to a customer service person. They call you by your name, they don't rush you, and they are just fantastic.

I walked out of there pretty impressed. I deposited a check, got information about my upcoming new credit card, received confirmation about a remote access wireless debit and credit machine for my new small business, and learned about a new card that I can use when I come to Canada that act like a credit card, but that directly uses my money in Australia. All, in record time. See, usually, I would have hated talking finance and numbers and stuff, but not today. Everything was easy and pleasurable. I never felt that content walking out of a bank before.

Go Commonwealth Bank, go.

Some good in the news.

2009-10-07T19:42:00.006+10:30

I was watching the news tonight.
They were talking about how when an organ is harvested from a donor, it only has four hours of 'life time' until it is no longer viable.

That basically means that if you need a heart and you live in Perth, for example, and you are critical, you can only get hearts that come from Adelaide or Darwin. It takes too long to fly a heart from Sydney, Melbourne, Cairns or Brisbane to Perth. The heart does not survive the long trip. So your chances of getting a heart are significantly reduced. Australia is just way too big. And there's nothing else around. So lots of people die waiting.

But this is what the news report was about.
Australians researchers have just discovered a cocktail of medication that when pumped through and organ, it doubles it's life span.
Which means that instead of four hours, the heart can now be viable for 8, 10, even 14 hours. And that is not only for hearts. Livers, lungs, kidneys and pancreas.

I thought that was just awsome.

Love it.

2009-10-04T13:35:00.002+10:30

There is nothing like finding a clothing company that seem to make stuff that just FIT you. It can be a rare thing, and that's how my love story with the Gap began. Didn't matter how tall I got or how many pounds I put on here and there, their garments always seem to fit me comfortably and correctly. And I could afford them. Once you know the marked down cycles, you never buy full priced items ever again.

In Australia, nothing seems to fit me.
Everything is made to fit pre-teens that have no boobs and hips like a 12 year old boy.

Frustrating.

But lately, there's been a wave of nice Gap things on ebay, all new, and cheap, even for shipping. After finding a nice pair of shoes on the official website and sending the photo to my mom, she searched the Gaps around Montreal and found them for me, and sent them in my care package. It is just wonderful. It really made me realize how much I miss the Gap. But I can't ask my mother to do that all the time.

So that's when I went on ebay and found a dress, and a nice zip up top. Getting them in the mail was like Christmas. And they fit. Perfectly. How nice.

I feel green.

2009-09-25T18:32:00.005+09:30

Yesterday, we had lots of strangers in the house. 5, to be exact. 2 Solar Panel installers, 2 guys from the solar panel company installing the inverter, and one electrician, installing new switches and connecting us to the big power grid.

Yes! We finally got our solar panels!!

They work like this.

During the day, the sun is shining and they are producing electricity (very well, actually, because the back of the house faces dead North). We use less than we make during the day, so our excess energy is put back into the power grid and as such, we are producing electricity for other households. And for that, the electrical company pays us by the kilowatt. At night time, the sun is obviously not shining, so we are using power from the grid. The power company charges us for that.

All and all, things pretty much equal each other. We are predicted to only pay our quarterly connection fees from now on. How cool is that?

With the 9000$ rebate from the government, it was hard to say no to.
It's nice to feel we are doing our part for the greener good.

All about timing

2009-09-22T00:16:00.003+09:30

I went to see 'The September Issue' with Charlie tonight.

Charlie might be the biggest fan of the movie 'The Devil Wears Prada' so when a documentary about Anna Wintour, editor in chief of Vogue working on the September issue of 2007, we just had to go see it.

It's really amazing how much money is thrown away in a glimpse in that business.

A 50 000$ shoot just put in the bin after less than five seconds under the eyes of the tough editor. Hundreds of thousands of dollars to create a couture dress that will be seen for 45 seconds on a runway, then never again. Quite astonishing as well, how Wintour is so respected in the world of fashion, that no one dares to contradict her. Not even Vera Wang, Jean-Paul Gauthier or the designer for Yves St-Laurent.

On the way back home, Charlie said she's like to get her hands on a copy of that famous issue. I told her that some women out there were probably making a fortune selling their copies on ebay. And I was right. I went to see for myself, just for fun, and one auction was about to finish. The magazine was up to 263$ US. I wonder how much more it went up in the last minute.

That's proof you never know when one of your things might become worth so much more than it did. It's really all about timing.

The puppy rescue

2009-09-19T15:02:00.003+09:30

Today was a perfect day to go to the beach with the dogs.
Saturday afternoon, blue skies, 25 degrees, light breeze. Doesn't get better than that.

The dogs love it there, Chomsky runs around and plays with the other dogs. August loves to fetch and swim in the ocean.

The waves were pretty big, and the water, super cold. It's still the end of winter here, so you try to keep away from it. Allen was throwing the ball mainly on the sand, and in the water close by so August could go get it running in the water, not swimming.

Only, we came up to a spot where there was a slope in the ground under the water. So when August ran to go get the ball, she sank to her neck and waves started crashing over her. She was trying to get the ball, and kept going, but after another big wave sunk her completely, Allen got into paramedic mode and ran in the water and jumped in the waves to get her out. She immerged in his arms, with the ball in her mouth. Allen carried her out of the water and I got the whole thing on camera!

The great thing is that August was completely unphased by it all. She kept going back in the waves after that. But Allen was freezing! So we cut our walk a bit short...

Ah, James.

2009-09-14T01:40:00.005+09:30

My friend James from work finished before me today and I thought he had gone home.

Only, he came to see me a bit later with a piece of paper. He had gone in the computer in the office and got all the information about what I needed to do to get my passport renewed: where to download the right form, the number to call if I had a question, what to send in and how long it would take.

James and I have been working together for three years. We've gotten to know each other pretty well, and even though I only mentioned my expired passport in passing, I think he felt how much not being able to leave for Canada on a moment's notice really was bothering me. So he put on his 'Mr. Fix It' hat on and went on a mission. He's just like that. Very handy to have around the house, his fiancé says.

Like they say here: Bless his cotton socks.

Thanks, Jimmy.

Mon beau paquet.

2009-09-11T21:12:00.003+09:30

Je pense que ça a commencé quand je me suis rendue compte que mon passeport était expiré. Je dois aller me chercher des formes à l'embassade et aller faire prendre ma photo. Je ne sais pas combien de temps ça prends pour faire refaire mon passeport, mais j'ai eu comme un gros coup au coeur.

Pour l'instant, je suis prisonnière.

S'il arrive quelque chose, je ne peux pas revenir à la maison.

Et j'ai comme paniqué.
Tout de l'Australie a commencer à me peser. L'été et la grosse chaleur qui arrive trop vite, le fait que je ne peux pas trouver de sirop d'érable décent, les bogans qui conduisent leur putain de commadores, les gens qui prononcent les fins de mots qui finissent en 'A' en 'EUUR' et les mots qui finissent en 'ER' en 'AH'. Canadeuuur. Watah. That grinds my gears.
C'était la fête des pères ici dimanche dernier et tout le monde avait pu voir leur père sauf moi. La famille au complet était au chalet pour la fête du travail. Ça c'était le cerise sur le gâteau.

Je n'en pouvais plus d'être ici. J'étais écoeurée de ma job, de ma maison que plusieurs ne verra jamais, d'être loin de mon monde, de tout, vraiment.

Et mardi dernier, j'ai reçu mon paquet par la poste. Un gros gros paquet, que ma maman et mon papa m'ont envoyé. A real care package if ever there was one. Des t-shirts que Annie était allée me chercher. Des souliers GAP que mom m'a trouvé, des livres québécois que papa m'a choisi. Le dernier film de Denis Villeneuve. Une canne de café français. Et j'en passe. J'en passe beaucoup.

J'ai ouvert le paquet, j'ai étalé tout son contenu sur mon lit et j'ai pleuré un bon coup.

I feel a bit better now.

But how I miss you guys.

Almost there

2009-09-04T20:02:00.008+09:30

So here we are. Almost at the end of the road.
We left off after finishing the bottom of the seat.
Now I needed to make a roll to put on the border of the chair so that the back of the knees would be nicely supported.

Steps for the perfect roll:

One. Put a piece of heshen across the front of the chair, and hammer in.
Two. Take a long thin piece of think cardboard and hammer in on top of it.

Three. Get some coconut fiber. Tease it and put on top.

Four. Roll the coconut fiber in the heshen and tighten as much as possible.
Five. Hammer it in with a long tack every centimeter so that the roll stays as tight as possible and fold on the sides to make nice corners.

Six. Stich it in in a criss cross motion and special knots so that the foll flattens and is pushed to the front. It also makes it even tighter. That's it!

That was last week's class.

This week, I stiched loops in my heshen with slipknots and filled the seat with flock.

Once nice and full, I covered it in calico and started the painstaking job of pulling it, tacking it, untaking it and pulling it tighter, while adding and taking out bits of flock so that the edges are nice, round, soft and tight, just like the back of the chair.

Now the only thing left is to pick a final fabric to finish it off!
That might just be the hardest thing of all...

On TV tonight.

2009-08-28T20:33:00.006+09:30

When Meg Ryan's hair was long and Tom Hanks had a baby face.
Rita Wilson has a small part in it. I wonder if that's where they met...

I reckon this movie is one of the true classics of our time.
Yes, it is also the ultimate chick flick.

Is there anything wrong with that?

At least it's one of the good ones...

Springs.

2009-08-20T23:54:00.008+09:30

So things have been pretty hectic right now, and I haven't blogged about much else than my upholstery classes, which in some cases have been the highlight of some weeks...

But here we are now into the thick of it. The springs.
After sewing the springs onto the webbing and tightening everything all up, I had to attach the springs together, using a special super tough twine and special knots. The thing is, it's really hard, because you have to make the knots on the side of the spring (you do one row at a time) while you push it down and on it's side, so that when you tighten the other side with it, it becomes straight again. You get nice red fingers doing this...

So you do that to every spring, every row, and then on the rows across while making extra knots on the twine as you cross it. So at the end, each spring has 5 knots on it.

Looks like this once finished.

Then you cut some heshen and tack it in, stretching it over the springs. Then cut it close around to make a border, fold it over and tack it in again. At this point, the chair is really starting to take shape.

But it's far from over!

Now the springs have to be attached to the heshen. So again, we use little special knots and a bag needle to put 4 knots on each spring.

And that's how I left the class yesterday.

I felt like I had done a lot.
I am thinking it would have been nice to have another chair just like it at home so I could practice what I have learned and see if I can do it without the teacher ready to jump in if I am doing it wrong...

Hopefully I have documented everything thoroughly enough so that I remember exactly how to do everything.

The bottom half

2009-08-14T22:56:00.009+09:30

The bottom half of the chair will probably take me about a month to do.
So I started.

First, webbing. I row of five nails and a row of four above it, on each end of the jute webbing. Five of those on each side, criss crossing into each other.

It takes a while, but after stretching and pulling and hammering, it looks pretty solid.

I have been waiting to start on the springs for a long time. It's super complicated, so I am doing them in baby steps, taking notes and pictures so I can do it again without the teacher. First, you take springs and fill the seat with them. The original chair had five, and my teacher said I should put more in to make the seat really nice. He gave me four more. So I have nine springs, which means that my chair will undoubtedly be better than it was when it was made in the late 30's.

Once the springs are positioned, you trace them in so you can sew them on one by one, on the webbing, with a special big bag needle.

That's where I am at now.
Next week, the really complicated stuff begins.

My god.

2009-08-11T23:54:00.002+09:30

So I am watching David Letterman again and Paris Hilton is on.

My God it must be so exhausting to always be posing like that.
She was not saying anything interesting or intelligent for that matter so I started counting how many times she propped her chin up and pouted to the camera. After about 30, I got bored of counting and changed the channel.

New Blog!!

2009-08-08T23:58:00.002+09:30

J'ai commencé un nouveau blog avec Vanou la semaine dernière.

Il s'appelle One of 52.
Toutes les semaines, pour un an, nous nous donnons un thème et nous postons une photo.
C'est une façon de se dire bonjour. Et de voir les différences des photos prises par Vanou à Québec, et moi, à Adélaide.

www.oneof52.blogspot.com

Anatomy of a chair, part 2.

2009-08-08T23:35:00.008+09:30

Last week, the upholstery classes started again.
I fetched the chair I started months ago out of the shed, and happily continued on making it pretty again.

So here we are.

I needed to finish the top of the chair, so I did my first chair corner. Not easy to make it all nice and flush; the calico is a tough but thin fabric, so there are always creases no matter what you do. The point it trying not to have too many on the side, and none on the top. When the thicker upholstery fabric goes on top of it, it is much easier to handle.

Then, I had to finish the top part of the chair. The filling, called flock, needs to be worked so that the top edge of the back of the chair is straight. So you pull the tacks out a few at a time, fill in the gaps or divide the flock around with a screw driver when there's a bump, and you pull the fabric back real tight and retack it.

This process is done lots and lots and lots of times, until the top is all equal, nice and round, and super tight. Takes quite a while. Look at all the holes.

Once that's all done, you can hammer the tacks in and trim the rest of the calico.

And you're done!

That only took 2 and a half hours....

Broken Hill

2009-08-01T00:39:00.003+09:30

Enfin, enfin.

Ça fait longtemps que j'attends de le voir, celui-là. Un film sur lequel j'ai travaillé l'an dernier, juste avant Last Ride. Mon premier film américain, avec mon premier récipiendaire d'un Oscar. Le film produit par le même gars qui a produit Napoleon Dynamite. Enfin, j'ai reçu mon invitation à la première mondiale. Le seul hic, c'est que c'est à Melbourne... on verra si je pourrai m'y rendre...

Mais en attendant, j'ai pu voir le preview.
C'est un film plus léger, plus familial.

Voici le lien, si ça vous dit.

http://vimeo.com/5722131

Grey's Anatomy Spoiler.

2009-07-22T00:48:00.002+09:30

If you watch Greys, and you are completely hangning off the cliff hanger from the season finale of season 5, do not read any further. Consider yourself warned.

So I was watching David Letterman. It's on really really late here, so I almost never catch it. But tonight, Allen is working the night shift, and I am not sleepy. And David started the show by saying: 'One small step for man, one giant waste of time for mankind' which I thought was funny because it's been all over the news you know, how it's been 40 years since Neil Armstrong walked on the moon, and how since then, we haven't been anywhere else. So yeah. I laughed at David's joke and decided to watch on further.

Katherine Heigl was the first guest on the show. Great. I like her, she's funny and pretty and doesn't play the stupid blonde girl game. She's witty. She laughs big laughs, and smiles big smiles. I hate girls who pout. I really really hate girls who just pout. But then, it happened. Bluntly, straightly, the first question that Mr.Letterman asked (after giving a comment on how she had red hair and how it was quite a change) was how things were on Grey's Anatomy!!! And of course, she responded. She told him how they've been back for a week, and how it's weird because George is not there anymore. What?!? They just spoiled the whole thing in less than 30 seconds. Is that even legal?? I thought they'd be sworn to secrecy until the premere of the next season or something. Alright then. I did think that George was going to go, but still, it was nice to have that hint of uncertainty. Man!

Oh well.
Serves me right to stay up and watch TV when I should be going to bed.

Pub du moment.

2009-07-20T20:59:00.003+09:30

Allen écoute le Tour de France tous les soirs. Même si ça commence tard pour nous, il écoute sans faute, même s'il travaille tôt le lendemain. Et il y a une super pub qui passe durant la diffusion.

La voici.
Allen rit à voix haute à chaque fois. Elle est bien bonne.
I think you'll like it, dad!

It's late...

2009-07-16T01:15:00.003+09:30

And I am watching an old episode of Grey's Anatomy while I am working on my forthcoming expo...yes, yes, I'll tell you all about it soon, promise.

Anyway. It's an old episode, and it's snowing on Seattle. Nice big flakes. Everything is white and it's nightime. I can hear the quiet muffled sounds of the city. I can feel the crisp cold air in my lungs. And it's fantastic.

Tonight, on the news, they said that it was going to be a cold night. 10 degrees. Yeah, right. '' Cold''.

I miss the REAL cold.

I know. Call me crazy.

Last Ride

2009-07-15T16:09:00.003+09:30

One of the movies I worked on last year opened in cinemas last week.
It's doing very well and got lots of fabulous reviews.
I am proud to have been a part of it, it's really one of the best films (if not THE best film) I have worked on.

Here is a link to see the trailer if you are interested...

www.apple.com/trailers/independent/lastride/

A nice surprise

2009-07-09T22:05:00.004+09:30

When I moved almost five years ago, there were no Advils here. I used to use them as my first remede for headaches, backaches, period pain, you name it. Nothing I tried here worked as well as them so I used to bring jumbo packets back from Canada. I was so happy when I saw them arrive on the shelf of my pharmacie. Great. One less thing to bring over.

There was also no Aveeno when I moved here. Aveeno is the only cream that really agrees with my fussy skin. Bringing that back from Canada Costco sized bottles at a time was no picnic, especially when they split open in my bag along the way... When I saw that being introduced to the Aussie public, I was relieved. Didn't have to ration anymore.

Although not all things I have grown up with and loved in Canada is available here - far from it- I was stunned when I saw a sign at the cafe Allen and I often go to for breakfast. Just a little place down by the beach in Port Noarlunga. The blackboard read 'New! Jones Sodas. Available in Root Beer, Bubble Gum and Green Apple flavours.'
Oh my God!! Jones Sodas!! I used to have the green apple one all the time at the Java U café next to Concordia University. I go down to the IGA and drink plenty of it when I am home. But I had never seen one here - they are hard enough to find in Montréal!!
If you know me well, you know how much I love them.
So much so, that I one with my eggs benedict.

That made my day.

Now all they need to do is open a GAP store here.
And a Saint-Hubert Restaurant.

I know...

2009-07-06T20:49:00.002+09:30

I am not writing much these days.
Lots of things up in the air.
Here's quickly what's happening.

1- I worked on a commercial this week, it's so refreshing to work at such nice and steady pace, having people around being so relaxed and unpressured. Also, being paid good money is really good. I could get used to that.

2- Got another iPhone! Yeah, the new one. I really missed my old one... and I realized I can skype from it. Very cool.

3- I am frantically preparing for my first ever photographic exhibition. I'll tell you all about it soon...

4- I am reading Lovely Bones. Good book. Really really good book.

5- We put curtains up in the living room. They rock my world. Yes, I am very easily pleased when it comes to homewares.

Ha! That's the Reader's Digest version.
Tell you all about it later.....gotta go!

A friday afternoon flashback

2009-06-24T08:50:00.003+09:30

I saw the blue box when I went food shopping last week.
Kraft Macaroni and Cheese.

And all of a sudden I was there. At Vanou's house, after volleyball practice on a friday afternoon, about to watch a movie...Speed or Clueless probably... Most times, we'd have tomato sandwiches. Some other times, we made really amazing nachos. But once in a while, we'd have mac and cheese. Oh yeah. That was literally the last time I had it. About 12 years ago.

The box found its way into my shopping cart.

And I had a lunch full of memories.

Oh Lawrence...

2009-06-23T11:03:00.006+09:30

Il y a de ces films que je n'ai jamais vus qui créent une grande réaction chez les gens. Des films qui leur font dire: 'Oh my God! Tu travailles en cinéma et tu n'as jamais vu ce film-là?!?!?'

Oui, oui. J'avais eu cette réaction avant de voir les Star Wars, les Godfathers, etc.

Lawrence of Arabia en était un que je me faisais une priorité de ne pas voir. Je savais que c'était un film à voir sur grand écran. Pas en DVD sur une petite télé. J'avais espoir qu'un jour, un cinéma quelconque ferait une sorte de rétrospective intéressante. Et jeudi soir dernier, mon souhait s'est réalisé.

Le cinema Mercury est un petit cinéma indépendant qui sert aussi de cinémathèque. J'ai manqué de peu la projection de Gone With The Wind (autre film qui doit être vu en gros gros...) mais j'ai pu voir Lawrence of Arabia sur grand écran, et une pellicule 35mm.

Wow. Le film dure presque 4 heures. Il y a même eu une entracte au milieu!! Mais quel chef d'oeuvre. En 1962, les caméras, les rails et les dollys étaient beaucoup plus lourds qu'aujourd'hui. Ces plans dans les dunes de sable, après en avoir filmé soi-même, on les aprécient tellement plus! Et tous ces chevaux, chameaux, soldats et tentes, ils étaient tous vraiment là, pas de CGI utilisé pour en multiplier.

Vraiment, c'était superbe.
Les yeux bleus de Peter O'Toole grands comme des fenêtres. Les dunes de sable à perte de vue. Oh oui. Ça a valu la peine d'attendre.

Fini!

2009-06-19T15:45:00.006+09:30

J'ai officiellement terminé de travailler sur le film hier midi.

Un film qui est miraculeusement terminé. Je dis miraculeusement, parce qu'il y a eu quelques occasions pendant lesquelles nous doutions fortement que ce film se terminerait. Problèmes d'argent. Problèmes d'unions. La pluie incessante.
Le camion endommagé, le camion brisé, le camion irréparable.
Et j'en passe.

Mais c'est terminé et j'ai appris beaucoup de bonnes leçons.

Comme ne plus jamais accepter de faire la job de 2 ou 3 personnes toute seule. C'est fini ce temps-là. Mon corps et mon stress en ont pris un trop gros coup.

J'ai par contre rencontré des gens fantastiques. Mon équipe, mes gars. Des personnes remarquables. Ils m'ont appris beaucoup, surtout des bons trucs que les tops utilisent sur les gros gros plateaux américains. Des bonnes choses à savoir, quoi.

Et bien sûr, le désert. La grande plupart des locations étaient difficiles à travailler, mais superbes. Rien n'est gratuit, rien n'est facile. C'est du travail, que ça prend, pour filmer des beaux plans. Et on en a beaucoup, des beaux plans.

Please step into my office...

2009-06-07T13:40:00.002+09:30

It can be cold, muddy and harsh, but it beats a cubicle.

Je suis en vie...

2009-06-03T18:45:00.002+09:30

mais absolument crevée.

Semaine 4 de tournage, mais j'ai l'impression qu'on tourne depuis beaucoup plus longtemps.

Je vous reviens bientôt.

Heil the conquering graduate.

2009-05-03T21:56:00.002+09:30

Mon chéri a gradué la semaine passée.
Eh oui. Même s'il a terminé l'école en novembre dernier.
C'est étrange avoir la graduation 6 mois après avoir écrit le dernier examen...mais bon, c'est la graduation à l'Australienne.
Je trouve que c'est un peu 'anti-climax' comme feeling. Tout le monde a déjà une job, ou a commencé un autre diplôme. C'est comme si l'excitation était passée depuis longtemps. Mais bon.

Mon chéri a officiellement gradué. Et je dois l'avouer, j'ai eu une petite larme à l'oeil lorsque j'ai entendu son nom et que je l'ai vu aller chercher son diplôme.

A great moment. I am so proud of him.

'Road Train'. Mon sixième.

2009-04-26T23:14:00.004+09:30

Mercredi, je pars pour Sydney. Ouais, je l'ai appris avant-hier. Mon focus puller a insisté pour que j'aille faires les tests avec lui chez Panavision. Il a l'air bien, mon boss. L'équipe se forme tranquillement, et ça promet. Mais mercredi! C'est après-demain! J'étais supposée faire la préprod à Adélaide seulement, dans 10 jours!

Pas grand temps pour me préparer alors.
Je suis plongée dans ma préproduction à moi depuis deux jours, et ça me fait le plus grand bien. Il me reste 3 shifts au resto. Il n'était pas trop tôt, ça fait longtemps que j'ai des fourmis dans les jambes.

On tourne en majorité dans le désert.
Le désert, encore le désert.
Je devrais commencer à penser m'acheter un chalet là-bas...

Hawker, 70KM au Nord de Quorn, où habite la mère à Allen.
6 heures de route en voiture.

Je n'ai pas encore lu le scénario, je viens de l'avoir, ça sera ma lecture dans l'avion, mais si l'histoire est poche, ça ne me dérange pas.
Le réalisateur est motivé.
Le dop est talentueux.
Mon focus puller est sympatique.
En fait, l'équipe de tournage au complet est pas mal hot.

Et on part dans deux semaines.

Yé!

And the rebuilding began.

2009-04-22T18:17:00.007+09:30

I arrived at my last upholstery class with the skeleton of the chair I had guttered the week before.

As it was the last class I was going to attend for a while, David, our teacher, told me I should start with the back of the chair because it had no springs, therefore was less complicated and I could do it in less time.

So I started. From the empty frame, I had to install jute webbing. 5 nails on the end of each strand, then fold the ends over and put 5 nails more. I was getting pretty handy with the best tool ever invented: the magnitised tack hammer.

Once the webbing was done, I covered the frame up with heshin. Tacks all around, while folding around the arms, and doing a nice little border and tacking it all around again. While stretching it straight at the same time of course...

Then using a bag needle and nylon sting I had to learn how to make specific slip knots and go around the heshin to make up loops that would hold in the flock. I had to make a specific pattern...I took notes with lots of arrows...

Then I packed the flock under the loops and over the loops until I had a thick and soft layer without any lumps or holes. (This takes much longer than you think)

And then I cut a piece of callico and started nailing it in with temporary tacks all around, compressing the flock in and making it nice and round on all sides. After the first go, I had to do pleats so the fabric would go nicely around the arms and back and I pulled all the tacks one side at a time and pulled the callico tigher. All sides, about three times so that it is at tight as it can get.

So that's where I am at. I didn't take a picture of it finished though... That took about 2 and a half hours, and my teacher told me he was impressed with my speedy work. So it gives you an idea of how much work goes into a chair.

And I am not finished yet! The fabric will have to go over the callico, I will have to put a trim around the back, and that's only half the chair done! The big challenge will be the springs on the seat of the chair...

To be continued!

For Megan.

2009-04-18T23:52:00.002+09:30

Have the best time!

Anatomy of a chair

2009-04-06T15:02:00.015+09:30

I started another chair in my upholstery class.

I will not finish it in this session, because it's quite a bigger project. But I have started, and I am now down to the skeleton of the chair. I have guttered it, and wednesday I will start rebuilding it.

I had my camera with me with I did it, and I took pictures of every step, mostly for my mother, who is a quite envious of my class. I also wanted to share how long a process it actually is.

I have rarely seen such a great chair in such poor condition. But I feel it's going to be a goodie. To start, the fabric has to come off. It's pretty tacked in, to you need special tools...

What you find underneath is called flock. You have to cut it out because it is sown in.

Under that you find heshen. Here, the springs of the chair have ripped through it, therefore losing their support and it made the chair lump sided and uncomfortable to sit in.

It's dirty, it's messy and in this case, there are more than 60 years worth of dust and dirt and crap in there. I even found an old knitting needle inside it.

Once the heshen is off, the springs must be cut out and the weaving have to be taken off as well.

After all this, only the skeleton of the chair is left and the rebuilding begins. I will be sanding, staining and polishing the arms. And I will post pictures of the rest of the steps.

The Station Agent

2009-03-31T22:20:00.005+10:30

I met up with Christine tonight and we went to the Mercury cinema to watch The Station Agent. It was a movie I wanted to see for a while and for the next few months, the South Australian Film Corporation is screening a films that were made for 500 000 dollars or less. And it's free! They are doing that to inspire the future low budget feature film producers and directors of our beautiful state.

The Station Agent is one of Christine's favorite movies, and she was thrilled to see on the big screen.

A great script, great actors and simple locations. The perfect recipe.

Go down to your video store and grab a copy if you can.
It's really nice to see what can be done with a good idea and pennies in film money.

Mon dexième Poladroid

2009-03-31T22:15:00.002+10:30

Love this thing...

It's like cheating

2009-03-30T20:16:00.002+10:30

Don't you think?

When a band or artist come all the way to Australia for a variety show or something, and they have all the instruments and amps and microphones on stage, all ready to go, and then, the song starts, and it's so obvious they are lipsyncing, I find it so disappointing. Why would they do it? Come all this way to fake it? I think it's being a bit coward. Aren't they signers and musicians so they can actually PLAY?

Anyway...

4 en 4.

2009-03-29T17:12:00.008+10:30

J'ai terminé.
J'ai écouté les quatres saisons de Nos Étés en quatre jours.
Ouf! C'était tellement bon!!
Cette fenêtre sur le Québec m'a fait beaucoup de bien. Non seulement parce que ça faisait vraiment longtemps que je voulais voir cette série devenue si populaire, mais aussi, parce que j'avais hâte de voir Maude.

La sacoche que je connais depuis le plus longtemps. J'avais su qu'elle avait décroché ce rôle. Je me souviens l'avoir vu avec ses cheveux coupés courts lors de l'un de mes retours à Montréal. Ma mère me gardait aussi tous les articles parus dans les 7 jours et compagnie. Mes cousines me répétaient à quel point la saga était bonne. Et elle l'était. Maude aussi d'ailleurs!! Elle m'a fait pleurer plus d'une fois, celle-là. Ça m'a fait tout drôle de la voir comme ça, ma vieille chum, transportée dans la peau d'Anaîs dans les années 1930,

puis 1950.

C'est fou de penser que c'est peut-être à quoi elle ressemblera dans 40 ans...
On verra bien.

Chair #1

2009-03-28T23:59:00.005+10:30

From my upholstery class, that is.
Everybody knows I have a thing for chairs. Especially old ones that need a bit of love.. So this is not the first chair I have revamped, but the first one I have done with the real tools, supervised by a real pro, and learning the tricks and techniques.

I got this chair at the end of a movie last year. Art department and wardrobe often have sales at the end of principal photography and this one I got after we wrapped Broken Hill. I needed a desk chair and I loved the old fashioned shape and it was very comfortable, and our lovely art director Tuesday gave me a really, really good deal on it...

But the fake red leather was tired, and really, I could do away with the studs. So I thought I'd use it as my first piece in my upholstery class.

So here it is before:

And after.

I am pretty happy with the result; especially because I changed all the padding on the inside, so now, it's even more comfortable. You really can't lose when you revamp an old classic.

Our weekday weekend

2009-03-19T19:39:00.004+10:30

I love it when I have a day off the same day Allen starts his off days rotation, especially when it's a week day.
We have all day to ourselves, and no one contacts us to do stuff cause they are all working. Allen sleeps in cause he finished work at 7am, and we slowly start our day, always relaxed, unphased, low key. We had a big breakfast, then did a spot of shopping, watched a movie. Then we went to walk the dogs on the beach. It was beautiful and warm - and empty. Perfect.

Not bad for a thursday.

Mon premier Poladroid.

2009-03-18T22:30:00.001+10:30

Merci Vanou, je me fais vraiment du fun avec ce petit programme-là.

Voilà.

2009-03-07T16:36:00.004+10:30

Le dernier film sur lequel j'ai travaillé a eu sa première vendredi dernier.
C'est étrange, parce que le film qu'on a tourné avant n'a même pas été gradé encore... Last Ride a eu une post production des plus pressées, parce que le film était en partie financé par le festival du film d'Adélaide et il devait y faire sa première. Donc moins de 5 mois de turnaround. C'est vite en titi.
Le film sortira en salles le 2 juillet.

Alors donc, vendredi dernier, c'était le grand jour.

Avant party, tapis rouge, speachs de nos producteurs et réalisateur devant une salle pleine à craquer. Le film. Oh, le film. Superbe. J'ai eu des larmes à la fin. Et pas de mots. J'étais si fière. Because Last Ride was one for the books for me. Je n'ai jamais été si poussée, si étirée et si travaillée de toute ma vie. Dans la bouette. Dans les roches, le sable, le vent. Au froid, dans le noir, dans le milieu de nulle part. Et aussi dans des endroits absolument magnifiques. Et fabuleux. Ma ride à moi a été difficile sur ce film là. Ça m'a fait chaud au coeur de voir à quel point il est fantastique.

Ça a fait du bien de voir toute le monde, surtout ceux avec qui j'ai vécu cette aventure et qui habitent dans les provinces voisines. C'était comme si on avait wrappé hier. Et Hugo était là. L'acteur coup de coeur de ma carrière.

Quelle belle soirée.

Enfin la pluie

2009-03-04T09:50:00.003+10:30

Ça faisait plus de 80 jours que nous n'avions pas eu de pluie.

Depuis début décembre, pas une goutte.

Il y avait des jours où l'on nous en promettait, mais les nuages se dissipaient trop vite pour nous en donner.

Du soleil, toujours du soleil.

Notre jardin est mort.
Notre gazon est maintenant du foin.

Mais aujourd'hui, il a plu. Beaucoup, beaucoup plu. Sur la côte entre l'australie du sud et victoria (province dans laquelle se trouve Melbourne) il y a eu des alertes aux ouragans pour la première fois depuis 40 ans.
C'est de la folie.

Mais bon, ça a aidé les pompiers à combattre les feux de forêts menaçant encore maisons et familles. Et chez nous, des petits brins verts se sont pointé le nez dans la cour.

C'est génial quand il pleut ici. Ça pleut fort, ça pleut pour vrai.
Et ça sent si bon.

3 minutes...?

2009-02-19T13:46:00.002+10:30

There is an add on tv right now for a Garnier instant melt in hair mask. It's all about why would you spend a 3 WHOLE MINUTES waiting for a hair mask to work when you can have one that works in one second.

And I thought to myself. In what crazy fast world do we live in to think 3 minutes is way too long a time to spare to take care of ourselves.

And it continues.

2009-02-13T22:52:00.003+10:30

I walked out of the Red Cross stunned.
I went to drop that bag of clothes to help the victims of the Victorian bushfires only to be turned away. They don't need clothes anymore. They have too many. Yes, you have read right.

Aussies have really done me proud this week. Not only did they give generously especially considering the state of our economy, but they are keeping on giving. Over 60 million dollars had been raised even before a big telethon last night and a benefit footy game today. And it's not all. Nurses at the Red Cross are struggling to attend to all the people lined up to give blood. And udles and udles of semi trailers are arriving from every which way with goods for the victims.

I was told they have more than enough clothes. What they need is underwear and blankets. I guess that makes sense. Nobody would send other people there used undies...yuk. So I'll go buy a few packets and bring a few of my old throws for them. As for my bag of clothes, I dropped it off at the Salvation Army.

Here is a picture that you might have seen. Apparently, it's travelled the world, but I wanted to make sure you saw it. A fireman made his truck stop when he saw a poor little koala walking through the burnt woods. He seemed tired, aching and hopeless. The fireman jumped out of the truck with bottles of water and slowly approached the koala. In the wild, mind you, although cute and cuddly, koalas are not very friendly. But the koala drank and drank from the bottle the fireman was holding, while his fellow heroes called animal rescues. Oh. And took a picture.

Thank God the fires are far.

2009-02-10T22:54:00.002+10:30

I watched the news. For the tenth time today.
What's happening in Victoria is really really horrible.

And Victoria is the province next to ours, but the fires are about as far as New York city is to Montréal. We are safe and sound.

But looking at all the charred cars, the ashed forrests and the piles of brick and metal that used to be gorgeous country homes, it really gets to me. The fires are spreading so so fast, so many people are getting trapped and being burned alive. Hundreds of them. I cannot imagine dying like that, or have loved ones dying like that. Hearts were broken, families torn, heirlooms lost.

I looked around our house today, my husband, our dogs and our car and I felt so lucky.

I sadly had no money to pledge, so I went into our bedroom and started to cull my closet. I ended up with a big garbage bag full of stuff. I will drop it off at the Red Cross on my way to work tomorrow.

I was really astounded by how Aussies have pulled together. Just today, over a million dollars have been donated every hour. People have opened their homes to shelter the victims, some businesses have donated all their profits of today's earnings to the cause, truckloads of clothes, furniture and even food for livestock have been arriving from every corner of the country. It warms my heart. Oh, and the police are closing in on the arsonists, and once their pictures are posted on the news, believe me, there will be absolutely no where for them so hide. There will be cheers to be herd throughout the land once they are reprimended.

Oh, and it's raining so much up in Queensland there are floods all over the place.
Irony. Making Victorians curse since last week.

On est-tu vraiment rendus là???

2009-02-04T23:23:00.005+10:30

Allen et moi revenions d'aller promener les chiens au bord de la plage hier soir. Non, la canicule nous a pas lâchée, mais il commence à faire un peu plus frais la nuit, genre 28-30, alors en fin de journée, il fait 33, pas trop pire pour aller se mouiller les orteils. Et les pauvres chiens avaient besoin de se rafraîchir aussi.

Alors. En voiture, les fenêtres baissées, la radio au poste 972 am, poste d'information. (Seulement de l'information. Venant de partout, mais surtout de la BBC world service.) nous écoutons en silence, puis, tout à coup, je sursaute. La femme du BBC World Service, justement, a dit quelque chose que je ne crois pas. Elle est en reportage au Mexique dans une boutique de vêtement d'un designer nommé Miguel Caballero et elle a eu besoin d'un rendez-vous pour y entrer. Ce magasin n'est pas ouvert au public, allez savoir. Mais bon, ce n'est pas ce qui me choque. Elle vient de dire que le magasin en question ne contient que des vêtements pare balle. Pare balle? Woah. BULLET PROOF??? You have GOT to be kidding.

Eh non. Monsieur designer mexicain a un inventaire assez incroyable de manteaux, mais aussi de gilets, polos, chemises propres et sportives. Des vêtements légers, flexibles et d'allure tout à fait normale, mais qui peuvent arrêter la balle d'un magnum 44. Ils sont faits sur mesure et chaque acheteur doit passer un 'backround test', question que ces beaux vêtements ne soient pas utilisés par des méchants.

Je suis estomaquée. On est rendus là? À acheter des vêtements pare balle pour aller au supermarché ou à la plage? Pour se promener dans la rue?

La journaliste a commencé à poser plein de questions au gentil monsieur qui travaille dans le magasin. Oui, il y a des détecteurs de métal à l'entrée. Oui, le magasin est très populaire, surtout auprès des grands directeurs de compagnies ou d'autres monsieurs importants. Et surtout, oui, il a testé lui-même le polo impénétrable. En fait, il explique que tous les employés doivent se faire tirer par Monsieur Caballero en portant les fameux vêtements, question de pouvoir bien vendre leur produit. Leur uniforme de travail est en fait un chandail sur lequel il est écrit: 'I was shot by Miguel Caballero'. Now that's commitement.

Wow.
I am still not over the whole thing.

La plus longue, la plus ridicule.

2009-02-02T22:06:00.002+10:30

Aujourd'hui, il a fait 38 degrés.
38.
Et c'étais frais.

La semaine passée a été la plus chaude jamais enregistrée.
6 jours consécutifs au dessus de 43 degrés.
Je sais que pour les canadiens, c'est presqu'inimaginable.
En fait, oui, c'est inimaginable quand on n'a jamais senti cette chaleur.

Je vais tenter de vous en faire un petit portrait.

- Il fait si chaud que les plages sont désertes entre 9h du matin et 7 heures du soir.
- Toutes les fenêtres et tous les rideaux dans toutes les maisons son fermés en permanence. C'est sombre dans la maison; très déprimant.
- Quand tu prends ta douche, tu ouvres seulement l'eau froide, et c'est brûlant. Il n'y a pas moyen de prendre une douche froide pour se rafraîchir.
- Il fait 34 degrés la nuit.
- Il fait 45.7 degrés le jour à l'OMBRE.
- Les trains sont arrêtés parce que les rails ont été tordues par la chaleur (c'est pas des blagues)
- Il y a des pannes d'électricité dans toute la province parce que tout le monde, sans exception, fait fonctionner son air climatisé, et la demande d'énergie est trop grande.
- Il y a eu 83 morts reliées à la chaleur depuis lundi dernier.

C'est l'enfer. Et nous n'aurons pas de répit jusque dimanche prochain, où il fera 30. 30 est une vague de fraîcheur.

Sérieux, je n'ai pas eu l'énergie pour faire quoi que ce soit cette semaine. J'ai travaillé, je suis rentrée à la maison, et j'ai écouté le tennis. Allen et moi avons déménagé dans notre salon, la seule pièce où nous avons un petit unité d'air climatisé qui fonctionne pas trop pire, mais pas trop bien non plus... Notre matelas et le lit pour les chiens règne entre la télévision et la table à café depuis une semaine. Je n'ai pas eu l'énergie pour écrire un post, pas eu d'énergie pour appeler personne. Ça a été complètement paralysant. Je n'ai pas de mots pour expliquer à quel point c'est incomfortable et insupportable. Des records ont été brisés ici, et a Melbourne. Et ça continue encore cette semaine. 39, 37, 38, 39, 35 et enfin, dimanche, 30. Ouf.

Je vous le dis tout de suite, -40 degrés, c'est plus facile à dealer que 40. C'est beaucoup plus facile se réchauffer que de se rafraîchir. Je rêve d'hiver, de neige et de glace. Oh oui.

Anticlimax

2009-01-31T20:19:00.002+10:30

So I haven't written in a while. I'll tell you later why.
But for now, I just need to say how disappointing the Ladie's final at the Australian Open has been. It's just finished, and barely lasted an hour. Even less, I think. The first set was over in 18 minutes for God's sake!
How sad for Safina, who struggled and worked really hard to get to the final, only to be completely wiped by Williams, who beat her 6-0, 6-3. It was borderline humiliating. Safina actually missed the ball completely at one point, swigning her racket really hard and hitting nothing. I was feeling bad for her.

So this whole thing was quite boring. Especially after staying glued to the tv until 1 am this morning watching the men's semi final. Nadal against Verdasco. One of, or I might jus say, the best tennis match I have ever ever seen. And god knows I've seen a lot of them. It was breathtaking, and lasted 5 hours and 14 minutes. Fabulous.

Oh well. Congratulations Serena.

Let's hope that tomorrow's final will have a bit more bite to it...

Australia Day

2009-01-26T20:21:00.002+10:30

Yep, here it is again.
The day when Aussies get drunk, stay in the sun too long, go to the beach, watch the cricket game and listen to the Hot 100 on the Triple J radio station.

And me? I work. Because Jolleys is right next to the cricket ground, where the national team plays every year, we are open even though it's a public holiday. We are open for the nice people of Channel 9, who have a box at the grounds, and who need a place to eat during the break, or to drink and drink and drink while sitting comfortably in an air conditionned restaurant in front of the game being shown on a big screen. So there we were, all 6 of us, working from noon to eleven pm. Cause that's how long a bloody cricket game goes for.

I always laugh when people realize I am Canadian and ask me what we do on Canada day.

- We move house. Canada day is like annual moving house day. Everybody moves.

And they look at me with a weird look.

- Everybody?
- Yes. All the leases finish june 30, and so, july 1st, public holiday, you see the streets lined with moving trucks and people carrying stuff in and out of their appartments.

- Hun!
- Yep.
- So, no cricket?
- Nope.
- No boose?
- Well, at the end of the day, it's pizza and beer for everyone and we eat and drink it sitting on boxes. It's cool, cause you realize on that day who your real friends are; the people who came to help you move.
- oh....

Yeah, can't expect them to understand.
What can I say? I much rather help a friend move house than watch a game of cricket.
To each their own.

Yeah, yeah, Mr. Bush. BAH BYE.

2009-01-21T18:57:00.003+10:30

Oh yes. The day has finally come. Big O is president.
It's real now. There is no turning back.

Again, his writers gave him a beautiful speech to deliver. And as he was doing it, we could sometimes catch a glimpse of George Bush sitting somewhere behind him, and the difference of the two men was unbelievably tangible. Obama is fantastic. What a speaker. And Bush, well... everything but.

We did have lots of fun laughing at all the Bushisms through the years. But I think it's better to smile because we are proud and inspired by the president of the US than to grin with disbelief because he is such an idiot.

Those two are black and white, literally.

Can't wait to see our man in action.
Whether you think it's korny to say so or not, we DID witness history today.

This week.

2009-01-14T08:53:00.004+10:30

The one and only thing we herd about the Golden Globes is that Heath Ledger won.

The forecast for this week has been: 37 degrees, 39, 42, 38.

There's been three shark attacks in the last two days.
Two survived, one died.

I am truly back in Australia.

Les pieds dans le sable.

2009-01-11T07:32:00.002+10:30

Je suis arrivée.
En 38 heures, trente minutes.

Je suis fatiguée.

Il fait beau aujourd'hui, comme il le prédisait.
28 degrés, brise, soleil.

Allen a congé toute la fin de semaine.
Pas d'engagements, pas d'obligations.

Après avoir été faire une épicerie, nous sommes allés marcher au bord de la mer.
Le vent sentait bon.
Le sable était chaud.

J'ai pensé à vous, chers lecteurs enneigés.
Et je me suis rendue compte que vous me manquiez déjà.
J'ai passé un superbe voyage.
Beaucoup de soupers, beaucoup de rires, beaucoup de plaisirs.
Merci. Merci mille fois.

Même en six semaines, je n'ai pas eu la chance de voir tout le monde.
Je me reprendrai cet été, lorsque ça ne sera pas le temps des fêtes. C'est difficile essayer de rejoindre tout le monde quand tout le monde a des soupers, des partys, des voyages, des congés dispersés. Ça sera plus facile dans quelques mois.
Je fais tout mon possible pour revenir à Montréal en mai-juin.

D'ici là, ne gelez pas trop. x

Vancouver

2009-01-08T12:40:00.002+10:30

I have officially left Montréal and it's crazy blizzard today. It took forever for the plane to get defrosted. But I had a very very comfortable seat... (love you mom!)

I am in Vancouver. It's raining, and I have to waste another 5 hours until my 16h flight to Sydney, only to wait another 4h30 to grab my 2h30 hour flight to Adelaide.
Oh yeah. It's great.

Here are some of my options to spend the time in the Vancouver International Airport.

Option one.
Surf the net for a really really long time. Oh yes, they finally have free wifi!

Option two.
Go down to the Fairmount hotel in the airport and pay 15$ for a pass to the pool, sauna, gym and showers and go for a swim.

Option three.
Have an obcenely long dinner at the Hoko Restaurant and bar where there is a hockey game being shown on a big screen.

Option four.
Go and get a coffee at Starbucks and read the book my dad gave me for christmas.

Option five.
All of the above.

I think I might have to do option five. I have heaps of time to do all of that.
Even more so if I don't make the flight tonight. In that case, my 5 hour layover will turn into 29. Can you say yuk.

So think happy plane thoughts everybody!
In 48 hours, I should have my two feet in the white sand, in front of the clear blue ocean, with my husband and dogs. Oh, and it will be 27 degrees. And sunny.

Who hates me yet?

So smart.

2008-12-16T03:48:00.003+10:30

Last week, Allen went out to get some groceries.
He left the dogs outside, like he always does.
He was gone about an hour, and the sky was threatening to start pouring down.

He came home to hear strange noises coming from inside of the house.
He opened the door to see Chomsky and August in the living room.

Hun??

He looked at the back door. It was closed and locked, just as he had left it when he put them both OUTSIDE.

The dogs had broken into the house.
He realized that he left the window of our bedroom slightly open to let a bit of air in. The dogs climbed on the deck chairs outside, then on the deck table, from which they could reach the window. They pushed it opened, then ripped the fly screen off it to be able to jump into the bedroom.

Seriously, our dogs are so smart, they could solve crimes.

Water is a no-no.

2008-12-14T13:41:00.004+10:30

Last night, late. Very late.

I put my alarm for the morning on my new, oh so pretty white iphone. I turn the lights off. I make sure that I put down the right time for the morning, since I had my first day of class at the Quebec technician's union. I check it, it's correct. Then, I put it back in the bowl on my bed stand that also holds my pawpaw, my hand cream, ect.

4 hours later I wake up. My mom is leaving early for work.
I have a thirst.
I reach for the glass of water on my bed stand and bring it to my lips only to realize that my iphone is swimming in it!!!!!

Oh my god!

I go nuts. I take it out, and it's soaked. it's literally dripping from the microphone, the speaker and the docking socket. I try a button. It's dead. I look at it closely and I can see water underneath the touch screen! Shit. Oh SHIT! How could I have not realized I put it in the glass instead of in the bowl?!? Was I already sleeping? I start shaking it and shaking it. Water is still spitting out. I am thinking there is absolutely NO WAY I can afford a new one. I run downstairs to see if there is something on the internet that can help me. Nothing. I only find out that my warranty does not cover water damage. Of course not.

Somehow, my mother comes up to me and just says everything was going to work out.
She takes the phone out of my hand and shakes it in a different way. The water slowly starts coming out from the home button, and therefore, out of the touch screen! So I shake it like that for about half an hour until I can't see any trace of water anymore. My arm is killing me. I leave it upright all day to try and let gravity take its course after I have gently blown it out with a hairdryer.

I come back from my lecture and I take it and plug it in my laptop.
A battery sign lights up. It lights up! But it's one I have never seen before. It takes a while before my itunes opens and that it tells me my iphone is in recovery and I need to reinstall the factory settings! So I do, and after about 30 minutes, not only is my iphone working, but it's back to normal, exactly like I had set it.

Seriously, how can you not love Apple?
They rock.
They really really do.

My beautiful days.

2008-12-12T14:58:00.002+10:30

The weather outside is frightful.
But the fire is so delightful.
But I've got lots of places to go.
Let is snow, let it snow, let it snow....

I love when my day is so well organized and that everything is so nicely timed that I get to do lots of different activities with different people, all in one day.

For example. Last sunday, I had my brother and my sister in law over for brunch. I had made lots of goodies and set up a nice table. We had a nice and lazy morning, with my dad and my sister that walked up a bit later. Then, we we were just leaving the table, my cousin Patrick and his girlfriend arrived to pick me up and take me to their new house in Laval for a grand tour, some interior design tips and a gorgeous High Tea they had put on. Then, we finished just in time for them to drop me off to my friend Mélanie's house for dinner (they had a dinner to go to in that area) and she and I walked to a theater near her house where our actress Maude was acting in a play.

How fantastic.

Today, I had a coffee in town with Janice, then met up with my sister in law Marie and we went to the Salon des Métiers d'Arts (A big indoor artisan market) and spent a wonderful afternoon browsing through more than 200 booths of really amazing and unique stuff. Then, we met up with my brother at the metro and went down to their house for a nice little dinner.

I wish all my days could be like that.x

Let it snow

2008-12-10T09:28:00.002+10:30

It snowed all day.

The car is covered, the driveway is covered. It's creaping up the windows and the doors of the house.

There is something calming and cosy about being snowed in.

It's still snowing outside. The kind of snow you love to see fall. Big, fat flakes, slowly coming down. It's fluffy, sparkling, oh, so pretty.

When there is snow like that, everything sounds different.

Everything goes quiet.
It's white, soft and still.

I love that.

Montréal.

2008-11-28T07:37:00.001+10:30

Comme une bouffée d'air frais.

Il fait 0.
La neige tombe lentement.

J'ai déjeuné avec mes parents ce matin.
Mes cousines viennent me chercher dans une demie heure.
Je vais prendre un café avec Mélanie demain.
J'ai un souper avec mon frère et ma soeur et leurs partenaires samedi.
Je vais peut-être à Québec dimanche avec Caro pour aller voir Vanou.

I am happy.

Monarto

2008-11-15T15:06:00.013+10:30

Mardi dernier, j'ai passé une superbe journée.
J'avais été invitée à une journée photographique au Monarto Zoo organisée par les gens du meilleur magasin de caméras et équipement photographique, Photographic Wholesalers. Par invitation, 250 personnes, étudiants en photographie, photographes professionnels et amoureux de la photo se sont regroupés en ville pour embarquer dans 5 gros autobus en route pour Monarto, un grand parc safari - zoo dans l'est de la ville.

En arrivant, les organisateurs nous ont donné des petites pochettes en plastique contenant deux cartes mémoires, avec un numéro correspondant à notre formulaire d'inscription et le numéro de notre autobus. Ces cartes, nous les utiliserions toute la journée.

Six stations avaient été installées à travers le zoo par six manufacturiers de caméras. Des représentants de chaques compagnies étaient présents pour nous guider à travers les douzaines de différentes caméras et lentilles qui étaient à notre disposition. Aussi, chaque station était installée de façon à pouvoir photographier des animaux différents, et il y avait aussi des modèles humains pour satisfaire les portraiteurs.

Quelle magnifique idée, n'est-ce pas? Une parfaite occasion pour explorer les nouveaux modèles de caméra, essayer une nouvelle marque, ou tester la prochaine lentille que tu veux t'acheter. Génial.

Notre premier arrêt était dans l'enclos des kangourous et emus. Malheureusement, ils se sont vite enfuis, ayant été effrayés par le gros autobus. Mais il avait des belles ruines dans les collines, et une très coopérative modèle vêtue d'une robe de mariée.
Nous avons pu essayer les nouvelles caméras de Pentax avec les lentilles Sigma.

Deuxième arrêt, Canon, dans le royaume du lion.

Troisième station, Olympus, avec les chetahs.

Quatrième station, Sony, avec les rhinocéros.

La cinquième station était un peu différente. Elle était à l'intérieur, dans un pavillon où nous ont été offerts rafraîchissements et collation. Dans ce même pavillon était installé un petit studio, avec lumières, flashs et modèle. Une seule caméra était à notre disposition. Une superbe Hasselblad à 41 000 dollars. Le propriétaire de la petite merveille était là pour répondre à nos questions et pour délicatement passer la caméra d'une personne à l'autre. Vraiment, wow. 39 méga pixels. Une vraie caméra lourde, qui fait un son aussi organique qu'un caméra filmique. Je suis en amour. Mais il faudra attendre que je gagne la loto avant de pouvoir me la permettre...

Bien rafraîchis (il faisait 37 dehors, à l'ombre..), nous sommes arrivés à la dernière station. Nikon, avec les giraffes. Vraiment, c'était fantastique. Et c'était bien, parce que je me suis ramassée dans un groupe avec beaucoup de pros, et ils étaient pas mal tous des 'Nikon Guys'. I was in heaven. What a great way to end the day.

Mais ce qui est encore plus impressionnant de cette journée, c'est que les organisateurs nous ont dit de garder nos cartes pour une semaine, downloader les photos que nous avions prises chez nous, choisir nos 5 meilleurs photos et les mettre sur un CD. Ils nous ont donné une semaine pour remettre les deux cartes et notre CD chez Photographic Wholesalers. Ces photos feront partie de deux concours. La personne qui aura prise la meilleure photo de la journée gagnera un voyage à Sydney pour aller voir une superbe expo photo. Et la personne qui aura prise la meilleure photo de son groupe gagnera un ipod touch. Pas mal non?

Ah, et en plus, cette journée m'a coûté 20$. Ça coute 24$ juste entrer au zoo, normalement. Tu parles d'une affaire. Je suis en train de décider quelles 5 photos seront sur mon CD... Je vous les ferai voir quand j'aurai choisi...

A trip to the beach.

2008-11-10T21:44:00.009+10:30

Today was gorgeous. 28 degrees, sunshine, light breeze.
I couldn't wait for Allen to come back from his second to last day at uni to take the dogs out for a nice walk on the beach.

And so we went.
As soon as we get to the Esplanade, the dogs go nuts. They know where we are going.

It's a nice beach, equipped with an easy access flight of stairs and a poopy bag dispenser.

The pups just love it. They run around as if it was their last day on earth.

Today, for the first time this year, teenagers were out skimboarding. They throw a thin wood board shapped like small surfboards on the water after a wave has crashed on the beach, and when there's about two inches of water, they run and jump on the board and they slide for meters on end. It's pretty cool. August was amazed by it and ran after the kids and trying to jump on the board herself. Hilarious.

A few minutes later, Chomsky was sniffing something. We always try to keep her away from things found on the beach, only because in that area, there are puffer fish, the kind that inflate with spikes in them, and who are super poisonous. If dogs eat them, they die in less than half and hour. And there it was. The first puffer fish I had ever seen.

We picked it up in a poopy bag and threw it out with the poo on our way out. We potentially saved a dog's life.

We went home, puppies wet and sandy. The whole family happy.

Photo-less no more.

2008-11-09T23:14:00.002+10:30

Allen got me a camera for my birthday! Yé!!
Une petite Panasonic Lumix, toute menue et noire. Cute comme tout!

Beaucoup de photos à venir!

Enfin.

For the first time in a long time...

2008-11-06T01:04:00.003+10:30

I am proud of the american people.

Yes we can?
Yes you did!!!

A new era has begun. Not a minute too late.

Ce soir, je dors les doigts croisés

2008-11-04T21:58:00.002+10:30

Ici, le grand jour est arrivé, le 4 novembre. Mais le résultat des élections, nous les auront demain. Ce soir, à la télé, plein de 'recap shows', les pours, les contres, les victoires, et les faux pas.

All and all, I can only hope that Americans won't make the same mistakes again.

There is potential for something really amazing to happen here.

Pauvre petit poutte...

2008-10-28T23:45:00.003+10:30

Je suis allée voir 'The Women' au cinéma ce soir avec Charlie.
Some of the best fun I've had at the movies. J'ai aussi eu une grosse journée au travail, et demain sera pire encore. Et je ne vous parle pas de la fin de semaine. Ah, la belle température est arrivée, voyez-vous. J'étais donc un brin fatiguée lorsque j'ai pris le volant de ma petite voiture en direction de ma petite maison contenant mon petit lit.

Et mi-chemin sur l'autoroute, je l'ai vu.
Au milieu de la voie du centre. Assis, la tête courbée, probablement mort de peur.

Un koala.

J'ai dû virer pour ne pas l'écraser. Et là, la panique m'a envahi. Je voyais toutes les voitures qui s'en venaient derrière moi. Le pauvre petit, il était tellement cute. Vous savez, on voit souvent des pannaux routiers signalant une zone propice aux kangourous et aux koalas. Des kangourous, on en voit souvent. Mais pas des koalas. Jamais. Mon coeur a fait mille tours quand je l'ai vu.

J'ai voulu appeler quelqu'un tout de suite, mais c'est super illégal parler au téléphone en conduisant ici. Alors dès que j'ai pu, j'ai appelé Allen. Est-ce qu'il existe un numéro pour appeler les Rangers? Quelqu'un de la SPCA? Existe-il un genre de hotline pour ce genre d'urgence? Il pensait que non, pas à 11h40 du soir.

Arrivée à la maison, je me suis lancée sur mon ordi. L'internet à la rescousse! J'ai trouvé un numéro qui m'a conduit à un centre spécial pour les koalas. Le gentil monsieur au bout de la ligne m'a rassuré que quelqu'un avait appelé et que les Rangers étaient déjà en chemin.

J'étais soulagée. Pour le petit poutte, d'abord, mais aussi du fait qu'il y avait des gens qui travaillent toute la nuit pour protéger la faune fragile et singulière de ce beau pays. J'ai chaudement remercié le gentil monsieur.

Parce que si j'avais vu mon petit koala en forme de road kill demain matin en me rendant au travail, je ne sais pas si je m'en serais remis.