This is what tonight's Glee made me think of...

Movie: Crazy, Stupid Love

I only recently started watching the US version of The Office, having been a long time holdout because of my worship of the flawless original. I had seen an episode here and there in the past as my ex was a fan and watched it regularly, so I knew it wasn't a bad show, but I was surprised to find when I finally watched it from the beginning how much I liked it. And having seen the first few episodes of the latest series, I think I've realised why I liked it so much: Steve Carell. This is a man who can do sadness like no other. As annoying and obnoxious and sometimes downright hateful as Michael Scott is in The Office, when his feelings have been hurt or he is upset about something, it is heartbreaking - thanks to the talent of Steve Carell.

He brings this talent to the fore in Crazy, Stupid Love, where he plays Cal Weaver, a man whose wife of 25 years (Julianne Moore) suddenly announces that she wants a divorce. After spending several nights in a hip local bar talking loudly and sadly about how his wife slept with a man at her work, he is taken in hand by a young lounge lizard called Jacob (Ryan Gosling), who teaches him to "get his manhood back". Bring on the clothing change montage! In the meantime, Jacob falls hard for a girl (Emma Stone) who has rejected his smooth patter once before, and Cal's teenage son is constantly declaring his love for his babysitter, much to her discomfort.

Crazy, Stupid Love is nothing more than a sweet, funny movie about three relationships, but I really enjoyed it. I've never thought much one way or the other about Ryan Gosling, but he did well as a superficial charmer who doesn't know what to do when he finally falls in love. The only thing I was confused about was that if he (and later Cal) were constantly picking up one night stands in the same bar, why did they never run into those women again? But maybe I'm just overthinking it.

Movie: Oranges and Sunshine

In the early 1990s a mini series called The Leaving of Liverpool was shown on Australian television. It was a huge success, and brought to light something that very few of us (myself included) were aware of - that for over 100 years, British children were being shunted out of orphanages and sent to Australia with the promise of a fabulous new life. For many, the truth was something else entirely. They endured years of abuse, were treated as slave labour, and were then cast out at the age of 18 to fend for themselves. Not surprisingly, a great number of them floundered in society and went on to have great difficulty functioning. There are scores of stories of these children growing up to become adults with drug and alcohol problems, struggles in maintaining connections due to abandonment issues, difficulty obtaining work due to little education, and so on.

Top 5 Tag

I'm still trying to get my blogging mojo back, so I'll be a bit sporadic and random for a while, no doubt. I decided to do the Top 5 tag that's been going around just to keep my hand in. I think Jade may have started this one off, but it's also been done by Jessica and Suzanne, and no doubt many others. 

(Note: stoopid Blogger is not letting me upload any pretty pictures, so it's all reading from here, folks.)

Drinks

1. Water

2. Skinny Cappuccino

3. Thorn-Clark Shotfire Ridge Quartage

4. Claymore Dark Side of the Moon Shiraz

5. Any old dry sparkling wine, they all taste the same to me. 

Snacks

1. Brie with Jesus Wafers

2. Smith's Crisps - the plain salty ones

3. Sourdough toast with Vegemite, avocado and melted vintage cheese

4. Baby chocolate eclair from David Jones

5. Roasted chickpeas

iPhone Apps

1. Sleep Machine 

2. Akinator

3. Cracked

4. Damn You Autocorrect

5. Weightbot

Movies

1. No Country for Old Men

2. Withnail and I

3. What Happened Was...

4. Singin' In The Rain

5. The Wedding Singer

Books

1. A Prayer For Owen Meany - John Irving

2. Behind The Scenes At The Museum - Kate Atkinson

3. To Kill A Mockingbird - Harper Lee

4. Herb 'n' Lorna: A Love Story - Eric Kraft

5. Once More With Feeling: How We Tried to Make the Greatest Porn Film Ever - Charlie Skelton & Victoria Coren

If you're reading this and you haven't already done it, consider yourself tagged!