movies

i think we've seen more movies in the past week than we have all year (actually, we've seen 2 movies. i think we went to 2 movies in the first 6 months of this year. and then we didn't go again until now).

first up we saw eagle vs. shark on christmas eve (a great time to see movies-- very few people were there and plus cuz monday is cheap nite at the nova it was less than half of what it cost us last nite at the westgarth). it pretty much was the new zealand version of napoleon dynamite when he's in his 30s so it was pretty funny (the guy is from flight of the conchords).

last nite we went to the dajeeling limited which was also good. although zac promised me bill murray wasn't in this one (i don't really like him for some reason) but 5 min into it he appears (although for probably the smallest roll of his career. ever).

we also watched black sheep on dvd this week (another new zealand movie). it was kind of along the lines of shaun of the dead but with radioactive sheep instead of zombies. i didn't think i'd like it but it was pretty funny and i sat thru it all (i have a habbit of getting up 20-30 min into a dvd and going to do something else, then maybe sitting back down for the last 5 or 10).

hoodwinked

i watched the movie hoodwinked this afternoon (it's been a lazy day). it was sooo funny. like the cover of the dvd case says "the funniest animated movie since 'shrek'" (shawn edwards, fox tv). its basically little red riding hood all twisted up.

grizzly man

we just finished watching the movie grizzly man. all i can say is the guy was pretty much a complete nutter. i love animals (probably more than the average person) but what he was doing with the bears was just completely stupid (his relationships the foxes in the film seemed a bit reasonable but still, i think the way he perceived his animal relationships was a bit off of reality). he did obviously have some mental health issues and if those were dealt with properly he probably wouldn't have spent 4 months a year (for 13 years) living amongst the bears feeling it was solely his duty to protect them from people. he did get some really cool footage though. it was a really good movie, but i couldn't stop laughing at things the poor guy said.

we feed the world

the other night (after the bbq) we went to see we feed the world which was playing as part of the international film festival. it was really good (other than both me and zac were falling asleep for the first half of it we were so tired from the wedding-- we had to try to keep our eyes open though cuz we needed to see the subtitles). its a documentary made in austria about food wastage around the world. even though i know a bit about food wastage its shocking when you see footage of gigantic dumptrucks pouring FULL loads of completely edible 1 day old bread into a landfill or see the horrible conditions that chickens are kept in so they can raise as many as possible on the farm. i don't know how anyone could walk out of the cinema after seeing what the chickens go through and go and eat chicken again. its horrible! the documentary ended with an interview with the ceo of nestle. it made me never want to support nestle by buying any of thier products again (not that i really buy much anyway). definately a good doco though and i'd highly recommend it.

lost boys of sudan

we went to see a screening of the documentry "lost boys of sudan" last nite. it was really good. it's actually an american doco but sudanese refugees here face the same challanges in resettling. i've been to a workshop on refugees before and i've dealt with refugee families in childcare and kindergarden and even a few people i've worked with have come to australia as refugees but there's always more stuff to learn about what refugees go through to resettle in another country. its all the little things that they have to deal with as well as the big obious ones. learning a new language is tough but i never really thought about all the little parts of the language that someone coming to a new place needs to know. before the documentary a woman from the tomorrow foundation talked a bit about their programs and gave a few anecdotes. one guy said he drank some red wine and then felt really sick after. the australians there said "well that's what red wine can do to you." they looked at the bottle and discoverd he'd drank most of a bottle of red wine vinegar! even having enough understanding of the language to read "red wine" wasn't enough for this guy. in the start of the documentary an american was taking a few refugees through the supermarket to explain things. they had a pretty good grasp of the english language for conversations but the woman had to explain things like that "ea." on a price meant each which is one. it would be all those little things that would add up to cause for a lot of confusion and a lot of new things to learn.
even when i came to australia from another english speaking country i still had trouble with the little things (like learning how to order coffees-- i'd never heard the term "flat white" or had a coffee with nice WARM, frothy milk in it. finding my favourite foods was another problem-- i've had to find new favourites). i still have to ask zac what the "australian" word for things are sometimes but fortunately most australians understand "north american english" cuz of tv and movies. its just talking to kids at work that i sometimes can't remember what word to use so they will understand me-- and i'm speaking mainly the same language and have similar traditions and ways of doing things. i can't imagine how hard it would be moving to somewhere where i didn't speak the language or know how to do things (like using public transport or buying things in a shop).