The Magic of the Movies

With the afternoon free today Mr G and I took Master F to the movies to see Hugo - a splendid example of film-making that's set in late 1930's Paris.

Armed with 3D glasses, we settled into our seats for a two hour session of visual delights encompassing glorious views of Paris, stunning scenery, old fashioned machinery and a beautiful set of characters that charmed the socks off the three of us. Moreover, it exemplified the passion that can come through a film when the people behind it are truly dedicated to creating something unique and special.


Everything - from the heart shaped key that Isabelle carries as a pendant and the automaton that Hugo is trying to fix; to the splash of character sketches that glide through the air when the children unearth a hidden box - is created with one big dose of love that's often missing from modern day movies.


This is first and foremost a movie about making movies and doing them with such creative charm that they lie embedded in the memory for decades to come. It's also brimming with tons of great British talent - Emily Mortimer, Sacha Baron Cohen, Christopher Lee and a great American actress - Chloe Grace Moretz whose British accent well and truly kicked ass...

I wasn't quite sure how the master of film-makers planned to work the 3D format into his plan, but un-surprisingly it was nothing short of perfect - adding drama, intensity and surprise in equal measures.  As with any 3D movie, I often wonder how they transcribe when they end up on the shelves in Blockbuster and are taken home to be viewed on normal TV's, but can now see that with a great story line, thoughtful and surprising character development and a great big dose of charm (which Hugo has in equal measures) the small screen version will be equally as delightful.

So to summarise, us Greens give Hugo a great big fat 10/10. This movie is a prime example of true cinematic brilliance. But with Scorcese at the helm, it couldn't be anything other than perfect really could it?

Satur-cake-day

My daughter, cake obsessed fraggle that she be has officially declared post-ballet Saturday morning's as goodies time. Now I wouldn't mind this so much were it not for the astronomical, quite frankly ridiculous prices of cakes and coffee in Perth.

Yes we live in the inner city burbs where you can expect the going prices for your beverage of choice and a slice of something fancy to be a little above average, but $25 for 1 x green tea, 1 x coffee, 1 x babycinno and three teeny tiny macaroons? Seriously? That's one hell of a mark up.

Sadly, the lazy baker in me would prefer to pay this than muster up some homemade delights of my own (which would most probably be inedible anyway) so I should probably zip it and suck it up. Alternatively I should head more often to Dolcetto - a reasonably priced cafe, sporting THE most amazing cakes known to man. Angela - we'll be in for a visit soon!

http://www.dolcetto.net.au/

Fabulous Feist

Dan and I donned our finest festie gear again last week and headed to the Perth Museum for the Laneway Festival - a veritable treat of talented artists belting out some great songs on a sunny saturday arvo. Despite feeling old and not quite trendy enough (grrrrrr), we had THE best time - including a performance by Feist that will go down in history as my best live music experience yet.
Laura Marling is such a sweet, delicate little flower but man alive that girl can sing! Her voice is so pure and natural and I loved the way she looked up to the sky when working those vocals. Can't wait to get the album now...yet another great British artist doing something brilliant.

The finest point of the day was of course listening to Leslie belt out her tunes. They started out with The Bad in Each Other which made me a little bit giddy, followed by some new tracks from the new album Metals and some classic old tunes. She is officially the coolest rock chick on the planet. Am seriously considering learning guitar (hello Glenny!) so I can get that riff going...
Check the live version out on Jools: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hnj8_aDBJT8

I'm back....

Well that was one long big break....after returning to the wonderful (albeit slightly stressful) world of work, blogging sadly took a backseat. So the new plan is to write once a week with a mixture of musings from Green family life, Perth experiences (the good and the bad) and hopefully the odd self-made photograph too. And by that I mean pics that have been technically considered with the Nikon beast and aren't simply a quick spin of the instgram wheel.

Those damned iphones make things so easy...

Things I'm looking forward to this week: getting back to work tomorrow after a week-long chest infection, dinner with the Green team on Friday night, a few sneaky macaroons after ballet on Saturday morning, more of mum's homemade lemon cake, oh and the Laneway Festie! I finally get to see my heroine Leslie Feist. 1,2,3,4....here we come :)

Au Revoir dad :(

Yesterday we said goodbye to Dad at the airport. The same terminal that we'd waited excitedly at two weeks ago was now shadowed by a  big grey cloud as we waved goodbye for another 7 months. Fin was distraught which left most of us in tears, one of the first emotional goodbyes of many no doubt.

In our attempt to restore normality and inject some sunshine back into our day we headed to the city for the Japan Festival where the kids had their faces painted and tried their hand at origami. Then us girls made our way to the shops for a bit of retail therapy. The beauty of having such little choice in Perth is knowing the shops that you do like will have something that fits/looks good, meaning trips to the mall are quick, easy and bearable for shopaphobic husbands. A quick whip around to Sportsgirl, Portmans and Witchery and I'd bagged a pair of black skinnies, a bag, top and undies....all in 45 mins. A personal record...

Glad you arrived home safely dad. Thanks for a lovely couple of weeks. We love and miss you and are counting the days till Christmas!

xxxxxxxx

Goodbye dinner at Swan Brewery...yum

Rotto

Our second trip to Rotto was every bit as good as the first. The boat ride across was a little bouncy but didn't produce the kind of vomit-inducing feelings I experienced on the last trip home. Mum and dad had a great time and everyone had a bash at snorkelling, enjoyed a pie or two and a few beers by the water.

The only fiasco was the bike hire. Jumpy gears, weak pedals and a couple of heavy kids in a trailer do not bode well for good temperaments, especially in 30 degree heat, as we soon discovered when trying to reach Parker Point in the afternoon. In the end we decided to shun our ambitious plan and settled for a little swim in a glorious spot south of the island.

Next stop Margaret River.

Sunshine happy people

This morning was spent at Kings Park with Kees, Emma, Charlie Pancake and their lovely friends. Once we'd managed to barge our way onto the communal BBQ's, Dan cooked up a mid morning feast and we lazed around on the shady green eating and drinking...our favourite past-time of late :)

Entertainment came in the form of Kees being attacked by the kids and a nearby wedding ceremony which was sadly tainted by the roar of the local bus and the dodgy bridesmaids dresses (which could have only been selected whilst the bride was under the influence). The kids spent most of it running, shouting and having fun which was lovely to see. They are so free and easy here, a major plus point in the campaign to stay.

This arvo we headed to Bluewater in Applecross - one of the many millionaire's lairs in Perth and packed to the brim with huge mansions overlooking the water. Kiddie entertainment came in the form of a huge pirate ship transformed into a play area that provided the perfect base for games of tag, hide n seek and stuck in the mud. The kids were smitten. We all were. Another great find for the family Green to re-visit again methinks.

I have a very important decision to make this week but tomorrow we're off to Rottnest so I shall put all life-changing thoughts on hold until Monday. There's pies to be eaten and snorkelling to be had! Roll on Sunday...




Bay & Mimm hang out





Jumping on Kees...again





injury number 1.





making grass heads





Heath Ledger memorial





Head chef ;)