Feature Film

I showed you all the trailer about a week ago...Now, here is the feature.

Penguins and Koalas!!!

About two hours from here there is place called Philip Island. And on the island they have koalas and penguins, Oh my! Annie, a woman I work with was taking some people from out of town and she offered me a seat. Annie is my sole transporter out of the city. So, the first stop was the koala conservation center. We didn't get to hold them there but they are so freaking cute!!!!

Then we went to the Penguin Parade. Every day thousands of little penguins, about a foot tall about 2 pounds, run out to the ocean. Then every night after the sun sets they come back to their little nests. So we got there early, curled up in blankets and ate dragon eyes, this weird chinese fruit, and cashews until they showed up around 8:30. 2,000 of them! It was amazing. They cross in packs of 2-30 at a time. You can get pretty close to them because after they cross the beach they hang around outside of their houses. There is a small stream that they swim up sometimes too. One woman pointed out a swimming penguin to her granddaughter who asked "do penguins do synchronized swimming?" That was just about all the adorableness I could take in a day. Penguins, koalas and baby Australian accents.

Men of Letters

Yesterday I went to the best display of male affection I have ever seen.
Women of Letters is a monthly happening here in Melbourne where a group of women, get up and write a letter with a common theme. 
And, yesterday, they gave the men a go.  10 men writing letters to the women who changed their lives.
There were comedians from television and radio, essayists and musicians all with different takes on the subject.
One wrote a letter to his sister, giving her credit for all the wonderful things that he became interested in and eventually led to his musical fame.
One opened his letter to his speech teacher with "Dear Mrs. Robinson, How is being dead?"
Bob Ellis wrote the most moving and romantic thing I might have ever listened to. He wrote to his wife, they've been together for ages. He wrote of how they took different partners, like people did in those days, how writing to her was "too hard." How they had two beautiful children and dreamed of robust family dinners but then had "8 or was it 10" miscarriages.
There is something so beauitful in his honesty. It obviously wasn't a perfect life. But their perseverance... their ability to keep it together. That they really did grow old together. It was breathtaking.

This was the first of the series that I have seen, but I want to go to them all before I leave. I want to start this in America. It was gorgeous.

Skeletal Activity

Jake is a boy from Byhalia, who lives in Chicago and is coming to see me in Australia.
He made this trailer with some of his friends to preview a short film that will come out in a few days.
I think it's really funny. You should watch it. Now

Cocktails

I got a group of ladies together and we went to a bar in the city called Murmur. It is the cutest place! With the cutest bartender of all time. A little blond thing called Sarah. They kept the bar closed for an extra hour for us. And they had sweets lined up for us.

We learned how to make 3 cocktails: a bourbon sour with burnt orange...a gimlet....and a mint julep.

We also had a gin palette cleanser with mint and apple.

Then, a few people have free tickets to see a band. Mary tracked down a ticket that was taped to a light pole...Anyway, we all got in for free. There is a hardcore band from LA called The Bronx. They have a side project called Mariachi el Bronx. Surprise, surprise...they are a mariachi band.

It was a pretty fun night!

Intimacy

I'm sorry I haven't been writing much, there is just not that much going on here.
It is getting warm. So there has been more general outdoor time, but nothing particularly exciting.

I did see a play this week as part of the Melbourne Arts Festival...Intimacy. It was about a guy who got bored one night and went out to the street and started having conversations with random people on the street. He talked with a guy whose hobby was to ride rollercoasters so he had been to Ohio. And a guy who dressed up as a bird. And a lady who couldn't sleep for weeks at a time. It was really interesting. As there wasn't really much staging and virtually no set design, the entire thing was peeking in on other people's conversations. I wonder how much was written and how much was this real. Because the writing was really interesting and provoking and the actors were really engaging.
Anyway, I did that.

I also saw this outside of the theatre.

It looks a bit different as it is in Melbourne now...and not on top of a building. But it is an installation piece by a kid called Nathan Coley who is from Scotland.
So weird, one of my friends from Scotland has a picture with this same thing in Scotland. And now it's here.

What's goin' on.

This is the month of festivals.
The end of Fringe. Melbourne Arts Festival. Melbourne Music Festival.

I have been trying to get around to a bit of everything. I have been most interested in these lectures that the Melbourne Music Festival.

The first one was this guy who was the magazine editor and founder of the first music magazine for melbourne. He interviewed Blondie and INXS. He had a really interesting story and talked about how Melbourne came to be the major music city in Australia. He also told how live music became so popular here in pubs.

Then, I saw a neurologist give a speech about how music and marketing work together. This was amazing! I love science and sound together.

In other news, it's getting pretty warm here. It's like 70-80 degrees here everyday. I actually got a little sun burnt yesterday. Though, this weekend it is meant to be like a high of 53 here this weekend.