Movie reviews

Posted: 14/06/2013 by Toby in Informative
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Just a few quick thoughts on the movies I have seen in theaters lately.

The Great Gatsby

To be honest the worst thing about this movie is the fact that there’s an earlier version made in 1974 which was very well done, and you could see DiCaprio trying to do Robert Redford.

From the book to Baz Lurmann’s version there’s a lot that’s lost in translation, and I think most of the cast were not the best choices. There were also a lot of extreme closeups, I thought maybe i was watching a daytoime soapie with all the meaningful looks going on.

Frankly I feel sorry for the generation that is consuming this movie, because its target audience is ADD and can’t understand nuances or long winded explanations.

The punch in the gut was smothered by the creepiness of the station attendant and his perpeutally bloodshot eyes, and the hurried explanation around the time of the funeral. There wasn’t enough left of the original story to really make us care for Gatsby and make us wish the rich were any different.

I also didn’t like the device of introducing our author as a committed lunatic fretting about how messed up he was. I think this was supposed to help make the point a different way, but all it did was take away from Gatsby, Daisy, and Tom, and why Tom wins.

That said, the performance of the movie was definitely Edgerton’s Tom. He did well despite the director’s efforts.

Iron Man 3

Just very good, very entertaining. These writers have been paying attention to all the excitement that Whedon creates, and you just feel like you’re watching something from Joss. It’s on the same trajectory that was set when the first Iron Man movie came out, perhaps as far back as the first Spiderman movie. My mind is suddenly trying to think of when comic books joined the likes of Star Wars, Aliens, and Bladerunner and became worthy of the big screen. There’s a real shift in tone from the likes of Dick Tracy (which was brilliant) and (Burton’s) Batman to Raimi’s Spiderman. Anyway I probably don’t need to go on about the trajectory of comics turned movies. It will be interesting to see what the future holds.

I just love Aussies in movies, and Guy Peirce is no exception. His crippled character sticks with you when you watch him strut in his fully Extremis’d self. I still couldn’t believe the big reveal halfway through the movie, the baddie was not what he seemed. I love movies where you don’t feel the CG too much, and this was one of them. Random comment I know but I realise that some of the fantastical stuff poses a real problem that has to be solved when making a movie, and if the CG isn’t right, you see it plain as day.

I shouldn’t really give away my favourite part, because again it’s an unexpected twist. Let’s just say that I thought everyone did a good job, except for Cheadle. He’s a good actor, but the whole time you just feel bad for him, he doesn’t seem like a hero, more like dead weight and occasionally useful.

Star Trek Into Darkness

I know the lens flare was a bit of a gimmick the first movie and frankly it’s annoying to me that I don’t mind it. There was just something that clicked and made it ok when I saw the first film, and yes it’s back in this film.First, before I lay into this movie, please understand, I was entertained. Cumberbatch was of course a very different Khan but still very entertaining as a superbad baddie.

But honestly, there were severe plot holes, to the point of being obvious to me, someone who never ever solves the mystery before the end of Columbo or Murder She Wrote. Obvious questions like,

  1. why would you bring ALL the superweapon torpedoes, wouldn’t 1 or 2 be enough?
  2. why didn’t the baddie contact them on arrival and save the trouble of tangling with the Klingons – that whole fighty bit served practically no purpose except to make the final punch out more believable because we already know Khan can take a punch.
  3. why does Spock have to personally drop a box of dry ice inside the volcano, can’t you just sortof toss it in?
  4. the whole dramatic radiation scene (to mimic the original) was robbed because we already know about Khan’s blood – it came to mind instantly.
  5. Contacting Spock prime? didn’t really serve any purpose. “Khan is dangerous don’t trust him!” They would have been better off introducing an attractive telepath as part of the crew so she could tell them “he’s hiding something.”

I’m sure there were more, but those were some of the biggies.

I hope for the next movie they take the time to craft a really nice story, now that the characters are bedded down, I want a truly logical plot and a brilliant quandary. Heck I would even take Kirk talking his way out of a killer robot situation. Or how about a reworking of Return of the Archons? or Turnabout Intruder? It doesn’t have to be big budget in my opinion, it just has to make sense. Speaking of making sense, why was it called “Into Darkness” anyway?

I’m not even going to remotely admit that Sharole and I went and saw the Hangover III, but it was a better option than The Big Wedding, and we were determined to see something that night.

Anyway just my take, hope you enjoyed reading.

Recently whilst at the hospital I had to hear about how Dr’s said, “some people think there is such a thing as a grumbling appendix but I don’t believe it”. I got this off of several Dr’s. It was obvious to me they had no intention of taking on any other information.

I am sharing my experiences so as to help other parents be on top of either themselves or their children, to make sure they get helped as soon as possible. I was one of those that got the massive cut over 5 inches long straight from north to south, as mine was emergency surgury. Most get them on an angle down lower to the right side nice and long also. Nowadays they can go key hole surgury if caught in time and has minimal invasion on the body. They tried to do mine key hole but couldn’t see a thing through all the infection so slice they did.

My Daughters Experience at age 6: Over the last 3-4 weeks my daughter has been complaining of tummy pains on and off. She’s had some days off school here or there and then she would perk up. The first time I took her to the Dr he suggested that I worm our family just in case, but he felt her appendix area and said it’s not sore there so, that’s fine. She was having temperatures on and off also. So time crept on and then, then Tuesday night she got real pail and didn’t eat much dinner and asked to go to bed straight after dinner. In the morning she woke up feeling like throwing up and almost fainted. So I decided to take her to another Dr. When I went I spoke to the Dr how this has been carrying on for a while now. She felt her tummy and couldn’t tell if she was very sore near her appendix or any specific area around her tummy, just tender and said well lets get a wee and poo sample and a blood test. We went straight in to get her blood test and headed home to work on the samples.

Gigi rested and come 6pm my Dr had called me and said that Gigi’s white blood cells were elivated and I should get her to a hospital as it looks to be an appendix. So Toby went and got the referral letter from the Dr’s and I packed a bag for Gigi and I. We then headed to Royal North Shore Hospital because I was told it’s never overly busy there and we should get in quickly, sounded good however, twas not the case.

Finally 4hrs later they took a look at her and the nurse said about getting a urine sample, I mentioned I got one late this afternoon would you like to use that, she said yes and said great and went off to test it. When she came back she said there was blood and cells in the urine so there is definately something wrong. Whilst we were waiting she had a very high temperature. Meanwhile they put in a canula so as to give her fluids since she wasn’t eating and they didn’t want her to eat in case she’d need an operation. The nurse went off to talk to her boss and came back and said we have decided to call in a sonographer to take a look at Gigi’s appendix. This was midnight so by 1am in the morning, she was looked at by the sonographer but she was unable to find her appendix, so we went back to the room and not knowing what was happening next both fell asleep on the bed. In the morning they took more blood tests and found her white blood cells still on the rise. She also had a chest x-ray at night to rule out pneumonia, apparently it can have similar symptoms. They then ruled out an upper urinary infection and then decided it was best to send us to Sydney Children’s, as it turns out Royal North Shore doesn’t operate on appendix’s.

First off they gave her 3 lots of antibiotics and anti throw up stuff. They then got all our test results together and took Gigi off the drip and I drove her over to the Sydney Children’s still with the canula in. When we arrived there we didn’t have to wait for long till we got called through to the first room. There we brushed our teeth whilst waiting, felt so good. Then finally they took us through to get another sonogram. Apparently they are skilled at it here and turns out they were right. She found it in under a minute. I could see it plain as day. It did look enlarged.

When they gave us the result they said it looked enlarged and would take it out, either tonight or in the morning. They found her to be a strange case because she didn’t have a temperature anymore and appeared to be not bad, but she still had such a high blood count of 130 million. Normal ranges are between 5-10 million. Well night came and went and so did the next morning. By night time we figured she wasn’t getting done again and then finally they took her in at 8.10 at night.

The operation went well and they said that it was strange because the appendix wasn’t enlarged, only elongated. They did find traces of infestation inside but nothing to fully identify the problem. When I spoke to my friend Nicole she said her’s was removed after quite a bit of pain and her’s was only elongated also, so what I can gather from that is, an elongated appendix is enough to cause discomfort and the need to remove it. After hers was removed she no longer had the pain so I am hoping that will be the case with my Gigi also. The hospital tested her blood once more and her white blood cells had gone down quite a lot down to 14 million. So I was happy about that. I also am glad it’s something we don’t have to worry about with her anymore.

I noticed she still had blood in her urine so we had them test that before we left also and that came up clear. Sadly it took longer to leave than we would have liked because she got a temperature again thankfully they (Toby and Gigi) got home just in time for dinner Sunday evening. That was a long 5 days.

What Causes Appendicitis?

Appendicitis occurs when the appendix becomes blocked, often by stool, a foreign body, or cancer. Blockage may also occur from infection, since the appendix swells in response to any infection in the body.

What Are the Symptoms of Appendicitis?

The classic symptoms of appendicitis include:

  • Dull pain near the navel or the upper abdomen that becomes sharp as it moves to the lower right abdomen. This is usually the first sign.
  • Loss of appetite
  • Nausea and/or vomiting soon after abdominal pain begins
  • Abdominal swelling
  • Fever of 99-102 degrees Fahrenheit
  • Inability to pass gas

Almost half the time, other symptoms of appendicitis appear, including:

  • Dull or sharp pain anywhere in the upper or lower abdomen, back, or rectum
  • Painful urination
  • Vomiting that precedes the abdominal pain
  • Severe cramps
  • Constipation or diarrhea with gas

If you have any of the mentioned symptoms, seek medical attention immediately since timely diagnosis and treatment is very important.

My Experience at age 25:

I had been suffering on and off with pains in my abdomen area, and over weeks I became less and less vibrant. I had gone to the Dr with no help. Then one day at work some work mates were teasing me because I was grunting to just bend over because it hurt badly down there, they told me to stop putting it on. I ended up talking to my mother in tears by the late afternoon due to pain and she agreed to meet me at the Dr’s after work and to make an appointment. So I did. We met up and I went to the Dr’s he took a look at me and said he thought I might have an ectopic pregnancy I was tender in the appendix area he advised me to take some blood tests and sent me home. That night when my husband made me dinner I couldn’t even think of eating it and spent part of the evening on the toilet to no success, with a vomit bucket. Finally after my husband talking to my parents and sister-in-law they both said take her to the hospital. To which he did.

I could barely walk and when I came in the doors I got straight through, to my surprise after I’d heard cases of sitting for longer than 6 hrs. I guess I must of looked pretty bad. I took a urine test and they put me in a bed, and started pumping me with morphine. They eventually came back and told me I was pregnant, but that I might have an ectopic pregnancy. Over the next few hours I had several Drs come and give their opinion on what they thought I had. By the time they took my blood count and the results came through, before I knew it I was getting ran down the corridors on the bed and taken into an operating theatre, I was moved onto a tiny bed in the middle of the room and then was put out, everything went dark.

When I woke up, I was informed that my appendix had burst and I almost died, that I have been left open to prevent abyssing. That unfortunately I lost a falopian tube and that my stomach had started to rot, so they had to take out all of the infection first, apparently it was so bad they had to  get a ladle to scoop it all out. I was known as ladle lady at the hospital.

After 10 days I was sewn up a day and a half later it tore open and I was back at the hospital. This time they had to do railway stitching, which they said would cause even more scaring. To which it did. I then tore open again and they said we’d have to let it heal on it’s own, and I would have to get cosmetic surgury, after I finished having kids. Since it turned out I was pregnant I could only expect it to get worse per child. I had a nurse coming to the house for a few weeks doing dressings.

It took a good year for the scaring dark red in colour to start to fade. Sadly I had so much scar tissue my stomach it was all lumps and bumps. Eventually I found I person that suggested I get it massaged and it would break it down. That was the best news ever, because I found a sports therapist, who helped me learn exercises to help strengthen my muscles once more and break down all the scar tissue. It was very traumatic for me. An area opn my body I still dislike having to see.

It took three months before I could go back to work and I was very grateful for my dad coming to walk with me each day, as I got stronger to walk once more. I never want my kids to go through that experience.

So when my kids tell me they have tummy pains I try and listen up and do what I can to make sure they get what they need. So there was no way I was going to let Gigi get pushed aside. I was glad I listened to my intuition and followed through with the things she told me. I had a grumbling appendix, they do exist! And turns out so did my daughter.

 

We decided it was about time Toby got a week off work and so we decided that for the second week of the school holidays we’d take a trip south to the Snowy Mountains. We had an iconic Aussie location that we wanted to visit. It was Craig’s Hut from the movie “The Man from Snowy River”.
We were going to tent it but I changed my mind last minute thinking maybe it might be too cold, so we booked a cabin and off we set to Mansfield, a town nearby. It was a lovely town. We were staying just out of town by about 15mintues. Stayed in a place called Mansfield Country Resort. It was a good price and we were surprised by how nice it was when we arrived. We even had a washing machine and dryer in our cabin. They had a huge piece of land with 4 tennis courts, a big 2 storey games building with a gym, billiards, huge TV, sitting area, library and ping pong. Outside was a lovely pool area, then another building with a massive spa, then another smaller spa and sauna. There was 2 play areas, mini golf, skittles. A games room with ping pong (aka table tennis), pool and some paid games.

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There were lots of cabins and we all had our own carports, we brought the bikes so the kids could bikes around and in Mansfield they had a big bike track where Toby got to take a bike ride, it spans for 134kms, he didn’t get that far.

The weather was fantastic the whole week we were to lucky. The first day we decided to go to Craig’s Hut in case the weather wasn’t on our side. We could drive a majority of the way but the last 2 kms we had to hike it. TJ did so well, not one complaint, and on the way back all the kids were good. Rocky had a good trip on daddy’s back! It was very up and down the whole way in, but worth it went we got the breathtaking views. I was surprised at how big the house was. I was glad they had toilets there for Gigi and I on arrival, too bad there was no toilet paper. Note to self: always take toilet paper with us when we got hiking. So Rocky’s wipe’s got some use thanks to Toby’s suggestion :)

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Our second day we decided to take the kids to The Mansfield Zoo. They had two beautiful white lions. One was making the most awesome noises, I loved it. The other memory was the fact several of the animals were allowed to roam freely, the kids weren’t too happy about that. Lets say 2 screamed their heads off, from the peacocks, ducks and kangaroo’s approaching them. I said well it probably doesn’t help you have food for them in your hands kids. Toby and I had a big laugh about that. TJ seemed to laugh through his fear. Toby even managed to get some video footage of Gigi and William screaming, it’s rather hilarious.

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Day three we took a nice afternoon drive down to Bonnie Doon. Mom you might remember this from the movie “The Castle” this was the families favourite place to holiday. We found the town right near where we were and definitely felt of the serenity. I nice little town.

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We spent the afternoon enjoying the resorts activities and basking in the huge spa.

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Next day we ventured back towards NSW from being in Victoria to Gundagai where we stayed the night in the aid to allow me to catch up with my best mate from primary school. Sadly her kids were all away holidaying with grandparents. So my kids weren’t happy about that, we went out to dinner Friday night in Gundagai to the Family Pub and then Toby took the kids back to the hotel and Amanda and I went for a hot chocolate and catch up. Gundagai is a famous town as there is a song called Along the Road to Gundagai, it’s an Australian folk song, one of the top 30 of all time. My dad also liked to mention that he’s a member of the local RSL there. The original town was on that flat where the big bridge is, it was flooded several times and so they moved the town up off the flat in 1853.

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Saturday morning we ventured into her town of Tumut for the Falling Leaves Festival, they had a big area full of tents and activities, the kids took a ride on the blown up slippery slides, TJ loved it. TJ also went into the petting zoo with Amanda, the others weren’t keen. Before long she had to leave to go to Sydney of all places to attend a concert literaly across the water from us in the Acer Arena. We ventured around the town some more before leaving for the big trip home. It was a lovely town I could see why she loves it there so much.

We arrived home about 4pm and all enjoyed our Real Aussie Holiday Adventure.

When we caught up on the phone Amanda said the concert of Black Sabbath she attended was terrible, they ended up leaving early. Total bummer, esp. at ticket prices of $160 each, too bad you can’t ask for your money back!

Was just reading this about Disney and I love this quote right here

One of the most popular questions asked at the park is: ‘What time does the 3 o’clock parade start?’ “We call it the 3 o’clock question,” Giannetta said with a chuckle. “But the quality of your response is what matters. You need to think: what are they really asking?” This might mean pointing customers towards an air-conditioned spot to relax at while waiting for the parade, or suggesting a refreshment hut, restrooms, ride suggestions, or just a little interaction. In Disneyland, customers aren’t morons for asking obvious questions; they just might need guidance; both in maneuvering the park and in creating the kinds of memories they came for in the first place.

I think this applies not just in theme parks, but in lots of situations when I get asked really obvious questions. In each case, I have a choice: do I go for the ridicule and spend time on that, or do I just skip to being helpful. Sharole will tell you which one I seem to choose more often, but the truth is I’m not a completely heartless jerk all the time, and it’s reassuring to find a message out there that I can use to bolster my more suave and conciliatory side.

A few weeks back I did an FHE on the digestive system in our house. I enjoyed finding pictures of all the internal organs and cutting them out with separate name tags.

I decided to use one of the kids toys to be the throat/item to stick all the parts to it was also tubular so we could put pretend food in adn have fecal pretend matter come out the other end. They had to figure out what picture was what organ, then in what order do they go, once food goes into their mouths, and then I would tell them more about what each organ does. It kept their attention and it helped we let them stick it all on.

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The abbreviation for our kids school is called REPS (Rydalmere East Public School). And they have a camping group that goes camping twice a year, this year we were invited and so decided to take them up on it.
The destination was out past the Blue Mountains near Jenolan Caves in a town just outside of Oberon in Wiseman’s Creek. We made sure to check out the creek to see if there were any wise men, turns out it was just us :)
We arrived on Friday and stayed till Monday afternoon. We got to try out our new tent for the first time. It’s a big thing, but I will say quite enjoyable. I did learn however best to close the inner pods during the day, due to when I was cleaning out the floor on pack-up Toby and I had a scorpian in our pod, I was glad to not have been bitten, so we took a picture then decided best to just kill it.

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Our new tent has 3 pods and a communal area in the middle which is great for card games etc… This round we put Gigi and Rocky together the 2 boys together and we had a pod. You can sleep people in the middle if needs be. We put up our tarp out front for the kitchen dining room and covered sitting area. We were so lucky just a few sprinkles of rain the whole time we were there. After last months down pour whilst camping, we were glad for some non raining camping.

This property was one of the campers parents property and they had a lovely set up. A pit toilet in a shed and a hot shower in a shed behind. Tanks for plenty of water. A clothes line and we were even lucky enough for them to have a washing machine the old twin ones, where you have to put the clothes back and forth for the spin cycle. Reason being is our water can was placed on it’s side and it leaked on a bunch of our bedding, and stuff that never got aired out after our last camp that was pouring the whole time and then of course, Rocky had explosive diarrhea poo, that got all his bedding, boy did that pong. So naturally we were loving that machine.

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The Easter hunt was on the hill near our tent. The kids got a tractor ride away whilst we planted eggs across the hill, then they came back found them all and then they were equally distributed.

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They started on a cubbyhouse for the kids it only got as far and the floor but the kids loved it and provided them with lots of entertainment, and swings underneath. Bikes are there for enjoyment also, we didn’t have to pack them which was nice. A picture of all the kids before we all headed home at the end of the weekend.

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All in all a great weekend, we even took a trip into Bathurst which had memories for Toby and I as I took him there when he came to visit back in 2005, we took my pulsar around the Bathurst 1000 track, I do recall we got the car upto 200kms. Looks like they’ve locked down that some with speed camera’s installed now. They had porsche’s racing on the weekend, we took the boys over to see it. This was my third attempt to get the porsche’s into the picture in the background below, sadly the boys weren’t as receptive to the repeated shots. Gigi deserted us for girls company, she went shopping and lost her birthday toy from her friend Chloe. Funny thing was one of the other campers went to the same store saw it and thought I wonder if that’s Gigi’s. They picked it up but left it, when they realised it was indeed hers, it was gone. A result of not listening to her mother that said “if you take your toys out to shops, you risk loosing them”, and this was a point in case.

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Best Easter weather I think since 2010.

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Sadly we had to bid the (1993) Camry goodbye after 4 years. She was a quick purchase so as to get around when we first arrived in Australia. It was just wide enough to fit the 3 car seats across the back seat. My dad said it was gray, it sure looked more purple to us though :) I was trying not to spend money in the car department for at least another year, however she cost us a good $1000 over the last year in repairs for a car only worth $2000 and so with this last issue we decided it was time to upgrade so Toby had a more reliable car to commute with daily.

Toby was firm on his only choice of car, a VW Polo (2010). Toby’s been after me for a good year and a half to get one, he did start with the Gulf but then changed his mind to a Polo towards the end of last year. Toby found 2 cars to look at, I went and looked and did the wheel and deal and voila, a car was purchased rather quickly, it’s amazing how helpful a dealership will be when you have 4 kids roaming around the store to make you happy and get you out. We were also lucky enough to sell our Camry within 4 days of advertising, so that was a relief.

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We ended up having to wait 2 weeks for a new part to get installed on her, the dealership gave us a car to use whilst we waited, a jetta, we weren’t impressed with it, and finally picked her up on Saturday just gone. That was the first time Toby saw her. She is a lovely zippy car and has lots of pump for a 1.2 turbo. I admit I am enjoying driving her on my trips to the gym and such, it feels good to have a manual car in the family again. It’s like having our odessey and honda back.

We had another victim in this exchange and that was our fridge. That in itself is a long story but the end of it is, the seals went and were not able to be replaced, so at 15 years old, we said our goodbye’s to Whirlpool and welcomed in the Fisher and Paykel. The kids made comments like, this fridge is hard to open, I said yes because the seals work, and another one said, it’s so cold when I open the fridge, and I replied yes I know isn’t it great, the fridge works properly. So now our food should last longer, yay!

So this month has turned out to be a real expensive month for us. I then decided to look into some of our bills seeing how to reduce costs and managed to find a $1200 saving for our health insurance a year, I was proud of myself. Then to top it off our rent just went up :( $1200 a year. So as least I evened out the costs. Please no more bills or upgrades needed for ages……..

Now the question is, is Toby happy now?