Summer fades

And so Summer ends... not with a bang, but with a chilly whimper. 20 degrees at the end of February? brrr

I stayed in bed a bit late, in the hope that the sun might peek out before I did, but no such luck. In the end, I took a quiet walk around the city, from the NGV, via the Sunday market, across the river, up DeGraves St, through DJs, around for a coffee at Brunetti's, and finished at Fed Square, before heading home to find a jacket to put on and get warm again!

Roll on Autumn - March is always *the* best time of year in Melbourne, anyway!

a single movie

I can't believe that no-one has pointed this out in all of the reviews that I've read, but Colin Firth plays an almost identical role in A Single Man as he did in the last of his films that I saw : Genova.

In both films, he plays a man struggling to carry on with his life after his partner was killed in a violent car accident. In Genova, he's forced to go on by the need to raise his two daughters; while in A Single Man, he's reached a point where he's decided that he cannot go on after the loss of his partner.

Both movies are beautifully filmed and create a real sense of suspense and surprise about where events will lead. I won't give away the ending, but A Single Man has a stunning twist at the end, whose possibility was foretold, but overshadowed, in the events that occur during what is intended to be the last day of his character's life.

As another single man, it gave me quite a jolt - like unexpectedly seeing one of your big fears plastered all over the cinema screen in front of you.

Anyway, aside from that, it was a terrific film, with another great performance by Firth, ably supported by the wonderful Julianne Moore, in yet another of her outstanding period character performances. 4 and a half stars from me; best film that I've seen so far in 2010, and the only one that I've been bothered to see in this whole month!

the 30th anniversary tour gets closer

It's not that I haven't been online for the past month.

In fact, I think I've been here almost *every* night for the past month, 'til well after midnight. I've just been busy. Too busy even to blog... even though I wanted to.

But last night, I passed a milestone... after weeks of planning, and months of procrastination, last night, I pressed the button and booked a return flight to London and a week's accommodation - whoo-hoooooooo!

Towards the end of May, just as Winter's starting to get depressing and miserable, I'm off to the northern Spring for a long-awaited holiday. My first visit, in fact, since 1980! Where did the time go?

Only one more task before I can relax - finding a place to stay in Paris for a fortnight!