Fawn and Forest have some terrific looking toys, along with all the essentials for today's modern interior. This gloggomobil is entirely handcrafted in Switzerland (which accounts for the $899 price tag), but there are more affordable choices, such as the cattiest cat toy in existence.

(Abbey's birthday = November. It's sooner than you think!)

I've been reading The Dawn Chorus for a few weeks now and it's great. It's smart, thinky and, like today, they link to stuff that's really funny.

Don't even read this unless you've seen the film. Srsly. I'm not even going to try and separate the spoilers from the chaff*.

First off, I really liked Hancock. I'd see it again. Charlize Theron does good work with what is in the end, three different roles and Will Smith plays it well. Predictably, but well.

There were two points however, at which the story failed for me and unfortunately they occurred quite close together towards the end, so I came out thinking a little bit, huh?

The internal logic, if you think about it for just a minute really comes unglued. They're both Angels I think? And they both have the same powers (well, very similar). Conceived as pairs I get, yet later they are described as opposites. What about them is opposite? Male, female, black, white? But we're all taught these days that those are not very great differences at all. Not so much that when they get together they become mortal. What's the sense in that? They're conceived as pairs of great strength to come to earth and... live as humans? I don't get it. So why do they stay together? Some irresistible love for each other? But that's contradicted by the ending, where they're perfectly happy living separate lives with Ray and the eagle. (The eagle was cool. Pointless, but cool!)

More distracting for me though than broken logic was the way we were expected to keep up with Angel's (stoopid name btw) changing loyalties without any good reason. She's a committed partner and parent. Check, I bought that. Then, as soon as she's challenged she dons the Outfit of Sexy Eeevil (dark mascara, tight pants, plunging neckline). For what? Because she feels threatened? I would have believed this more if she'd stayed in her sundress and sandals and got really angry. But if we stay this course while they destroy the city around them we can only infer that she must be a baddie. So when Angel comes to Hancock in the hospital and talks at him about how great they used to be, how can I accept that change in character? I can't. They're just words! Why does he even believe her?

And here's where I indulge in one of my How to Improve a Will Smith film diatribes.

Angel has faced Hancock and they're wrecking the joint. As they do so he's becoming more and more mortal (staying with the faulty logic). He gets pummelled by a few buildings, has a concrete mixer dumped on top of him and he begins to remember. He remembers being with her in Greece, Miami or wherever. Via flashbacks we can see all that stuff that Angel spouts off in the hospital about their life together - the sword fight, the fire. We see how he gets injured whenever she's around. All this time he can believe she's his sister. Then we can still get the reveal at the same time as Ray at the house, they can still do the liquor store attack, which becomes even more pathetic because it's such a petty crime. Finally, at the hospital, she can come back, not to exposition us to death, but to apologise to Hancock for leaving him in the dark for eighty years. Then (and this is the good part) when they're both busy dying and Hancock leaps out of the hospital to save her life it Means Something. It shows that he forgives her and that he accepts the life she's chosen with Ray. I could see that his attempting to fly down the street was supposed to be the big moment in the film, with the rousing music and all, but it just didn't work because of the lack of emotional resonance behind it.

Also, the two codas were shit. Coulda lived without them.

Did I mention I liked the film? It's loads of fun. I like new superheroes and I like the gratuitous destruction of freight trains, so yay!

*I mean wheat. It's all finest quality wheat here.

I could never hope to uphold this site's position as the preeminent Justine Clarke Appreciation Blog if I did not tell you that her new album Songs To Make You Smile will be in stores this Thurs 3rd July. Just in time for the school hols!

The main impression left by the police officer who visited Abbey's kinder today is that the back seat of the police car is "really stinky".

At my graduation we had some guy talking about road accidents and statistics. This speech is far more motivating, and I must say, more appropriate.
The Fringe Benefits of Failure, and the Importance of Imagination.

Hello, blog. You're still here then? Have a meme.

Pinched from Lili.

How to play:

a. Type your answer to each of the questions below into Flickr Search.
b. Using only the first page, pick an image.
c. Copy and paste each of the URLs for the images into this mosaic maker.

The Questions:

1. What is your first name?
2. What is your favorite food?
3. What high school did you go to?
4. What is your favorite color?
5. Who is your celebrity crush?
6. Favorite drink?
7. Dream vacation?
8. Favorite dessert?
9. What you want to be when you grow up?
10. What do you love most in life?
11. One Word to describe you.
12. Your flickr name (I got no hits for my flickr name, so used my Last.fm name instead,)

Not so much a movie as a catalogue of past Lucas and Spielberg productions. You can have fun with a catalogue though, known territory and all that.

Spoiler follows in white text:

I was sitting there towards the end thinking, but what about Close Encounters? And there was the frickin' space ship! Why would inter-dimensional creatures need a flying ship?

Thanks, Cam!

The first of many, many reviews that I will be writing for the foreseeable future has gone up today over at the Shiny blog. Yes, I have volunteered to join the team expressly and solely for the excuse to rewatch Buffy the Vampire Slayer* and Angel from the very beginning. To start off I've done an overview of Season One and later this week Alisa Krasnostein and I will begin tackling each episode individually starting with "When She Was Bad".

*I totally wrote Vampire Layer then, but that's a bit later on.

I just saw an ad for a BBC production of Philip Pullman's Ruby in the Smoke that will air this Sunday on ABC1 at 8.30pm. How did I not know this had even been made? It stars Billie Piper (from Doctor Who) and Julie Walters (Educating Rita, Billy Elliot) and has been adapted by Adrian Hodges (Rome). Looks like more of the Sally Lockhart Mysteries will follow. I've only read one of the books - and not one where she plays a major role - but we all love Pullman, right? and Sally's a great character.

Anyway, could be good, could be bad. Only one way to find out.

Took 36 hours off-line over the weekend, which is the first time I can remember doing so while remaining at home. Nasty habit the ol' checking email, updating RSS feeds thing. Not that I achieved anything spectacular with all the added time, but that will come. I plan on doing this regularly now.

So, I read a little, ate a lot (was fed a lot - Mother's Day!), had some friends over, and watched Raiders of the Lost Ark.

Mostly, I cultivated a sore throat. Yay.

As a counter:

1. I won a free facial today!
2. Tomorrow's Friday.
3. Braised celery for dinner - love it, but rarely cook it.
4. More House of Eliott to watch tonight.
5. May have solved a novel problem.
6. Rediscovered a box of old cassettes. Including the theme from Twin Peaks and Do the Bartman.
7. Brian Wildsmith's ABC

Things that are cheesing me off today:

1. People who do not include their name on a file when they know that 15 other identical files will be perused at the same time.
2. People who send three times as much data as requested. Yes, you're special. We'll make an exception for you.
3. Websites that highlight text using blue. And underlining. And it's not a link.
4. Small talk.
5. People who commit to projects then remain conspicuously silent and absent. (This may include me, I'm afraid.)
6. The fact that I only just remembered to boil water for the pasta when the rest of dinner is almost ready.
7. I could really use a drink, but I have a headache.

Don't know why I'm complaining. I won a free $100 facial today. I'm not really a day spa/facial/massage kind of person, but I'll make an effort to enjoy it.

Watching The Doctor Dances. Having a small voice behind you say, "Mummy. Mummy!"

'Scuse me while I climb down from the light fitting.

These huggable headless sheep seats come from Sam Brown. Now that I think about it, I have a four legged stool that needs recovering. Hmmm.

This is one of those things that everyone is pointing to, but it's really worth watching or reading the transcript. Especially if you're in media, publishing, watch tv, drink gin, play online games, read books, wonder where people find the time, or are awake.

Transcript.

"A screen that ships without a mouse ships broken." - my new motto.

I've decided that our garden needs a scale model of Tatlin's Monument to the Third International. I'm sure it could be aligned to act as a sun dial.

Step One: Learn to weld.

I just went into Abbey's room and vaccuumed around all the clothes on the floor.

Incidentally, if this is the kind of entry that keeps you returning to this blog you can now also follow me on Twitter where I am entertaining myself with the minutiae of life. Until I get bored of that and start making stuff up. I wonder if you will be able to tell the difference?

I wanted to make a few notes about the wedding I went to on Saturday. It was by far the largest and most extravagant I've ever been near and I'm still not quite sure what to make of it all.

It was in an absolute barn of a reception centre. So large it could accomodate the 300 guest reception I attended plus another, although not quite so massive, I think. Three hundred guests. Did I mention it was a sit-down dinner? With nine courses? And one of the courses was half a lobster each? I told you it was big.

What really impressed me though was the way it all ran. Sure the meals were not served exactly as to the program on the table, but they were all a)piping hot and b)delicious. Amazing co-ordination by the dozens of staff. No glass went unfilled, no dropped fork went unreplaced, no one went hungry.

An MC ran the proceedings, and to be honest he was dreadful. Fortunately he was brief. If he'd left out mentioning the name of the reception centre twice in each sentence he would have been even briefer. There were speeches, but they weren't too long either, even though they were in two languages, and there were only a couple of fart jokes. (no, really...)

There was a dance floor, naturally and the bride and groom were well rehearsed for their waltz, but when the MC announced them, they were nowhere to be seen. Then a section of the floor broke away and they ROSE UP IN A GLASS ELEVATOR. I am not making this up. So awesome.

The lesson here is if you're going to do a big production number for your wedding there really are places you can go to that will facilitate your dream. Your dream of rising out of the fog-drenched floor looking like a cake topper.

After that there was more food, drunkeness and dancing, bouquet tossing, more dancing. It all blurs together a bit, but it was a great night out.

Thank you and Congratulations Melissa and Quan!