The 2006 Raymo awards

It's that time of year when I reveal the top five movies of the past 12 months, the runners-up and the flop of the year.
In total I saw 31 films at the cinema, up on last year and around what I'd say is average for me. Making this job a bit tougher in 2006 is the fact that, according to my list, I gave four 9/10's and four 8.5/10's.

1. Brokeback Mountain
Whether you saw it or not you couldn't escape the hype and controversy that this film caused. You all know what it's about. Both Heath Ledger and Jake Gyllenhaal were amazing in bringing to the screen the internal struggle of a forbidden relationship that neither really wanted but both couldn't escape. The hype probably cost it a Best Picture Oscar but with or without the statue this was the best film of 2006.
2. Children Of Men
Set in a future, about 20 years ahead, where humans have become infertile and nobody under the age of 18 exists in the world. This remarkable film, with the wonderful Clive Owen and Julianne Moore, is very moving despite its stark look at what life could be like if we all had no hope, or no future. You may need the tissue box. Outstanding.
3. Capote
The story of a period in the life of author Truman Capote where he researched and wrote his famous non-fiction novel In Cold Blood. It features an absolutely flawless performance by Philip Seymour Hoffman, who has always been a very good actor, and one totally deserving of the best actor Oscar. I recall being so captivated by the story and the performance I was disappointed when the movie ended.
4. 2:37
Not for everyone, this small-time Australian film is a different kind of who-dunnit movie. We begin with a suicide of a high school student and head back to explore the lives of six teenagers, all of whom have seemingly good reason to be the one found at the start of the movie. It's quite graphic, possibly too graphic at one stage, and highly emotion-charged. Featuring probably the best quote of the year `sometimes you're too caught up in your own stuff you don't notice anybody else', 2:37 is a worthy inclusion.
5. Match Point
Woody Allen goes to London and produces a fine mystery where the line between love and lust is as blurry as a tennis court's baseline. Scarlett Johannsen almost steals the show as the femme fatale Nora. Regarded by one Empire magazine contributor as one of the scariest films he's ever seen. This was captivating, the acting excellent and the film's point about luck being like when a ball hits the net in tennis was cleverly made.

Honourable mentions: United 93 (chilling), A History Of Violence, Cars, The Weather Man, Superman Returns and The Producers.
Surprise of the year: The Devil Wears Prada. Meryl Streep tears up the screen as a domineering fashion magazine boss. Didn't expect to like it so much. Thoroughly enjoyable.
Flop of the year: Mission Impossible 3. No wonder Paramount dumped Tom Cruise. He took a perfectly fine actor and wasted his talents in an unnecessary sequel. The new James Bond movie did the same thing (genre-wise) but only 10 times better.

The Free Hugs campaign

The Free Hugs thing has been around for a while but I saw the video on TV today and it reminded me of how awesome, yet simple, a concept it is.
Wikipedia has some background on it here.
As a society, even in Christian circles, we have become detatched from others as if keeping a distance is a good way of protecting yourself. I find this pretty hard to deal with. Coming from a place where most of the people in your street know you (and still do even though I've lived elsewhere for over a decade) into a massive, individualistic city like Sydney is a huge culture shock. Something like free hugs makes me smile because we should be outwardly friendly and warm. If you haven't seen the video, check it out.

One Tree gets a full season 4

The CW network in America has decided to give One Tree Hill a complete season 4. Woo-hoo!
After an initial order for only 13 episodes of the fourth season, an extra eight have been added to make a complete season of 21 episodes (even though that's one or two shy of a standard TV season).
The fact that the CW only ordered 13 in the first place wasn't a good sign that the show would progress past that point. While it's my favourite show at the moment I'm not a fan of TV shows going past their use by date and would rather them finish on a high than peter out (e.g. Friends ended well but 90210 died a long slow death).
Having seen up to half way through season 3 so far, the show just keeps getting better. So I won't mind if season 4 is the end of the Hill.
Guess I'll have to wait and see.

Album of the year

Easily the surprise CD release of the year for me, The Fray's How To Save A Life earns the title of 2006's best.
A faultless set of 12 songs with interesting narratives and catchy hooks, How To Save A Life is soft rock with heart.
Everyone would have heard the single Over My Head (Cable Car) with it's infectious sound and chorus.
For me it's the title track that is the big winner.
Other highlights on the album are the deceptive Trust Me with its unassuming start which builds to a big finish; the haunting sounds of Hundred and Vienna; and the soulful Heaven Forbid and Fall Away.
I was fortunate enough to see them in concert in September and they were pretty good live. If you haven't heard the album yet it's worth checking out, you won't be disappointed.
It was going to be a poor year for good music but the last few months saw some really awesome music including CD's from Chris Tomlin, Goo Goo Dolls, Jewel and Snow Patrol.
Honourable mentions: John Mayer's Continuum. A fine collection of bluesy pop which heads in a slightly different direction to his previous release. In any other year he'd have the title.
Jeremy Camp's Beyond Measure: Another excellent Christian pop-rock album from one of the genre's best. The title track is awesome as is When You Are Near, co-written by Lifehouse's Jason Wade.

Some highlights of 2006

With the year ending I've been thinking about what the best bits of 2006 have been.
This is just off the top of my head and is in no way a comprehensive list so it will be interesting to see what I come up with (in no particular order).

• Seeing our church raise enough money to be able to expand its building.
• Getting to know a few awesome Christian guys from my church.
• Seeing The Fray in concert.
• Going to a show at Star City called Stomp!
• Being told on the phone that my nephew (just turned 5) was `too busy' to talk. What makes a five-year-old busy?
• Backing the Melbourne Cup winner (and tipping it to people).
• Getting season 3 of One Tree Hill.
• Getting the job I've wanted for most of the year (despite the current circumstances).

Hmmm, surely more things happened. I'll have to think some more....

Merry Christmas

I hope everyone had a nice Christmas, I thought it was a good change not being so hot!

Five Things

I've been tagged by Jono to reveal five things about me that you may not know.

1. I am a hopeless romantic. Just in case it isn't obvious from the ridiculous number of rom-com's in the collection.
2. When I was at uni I got drunk (seven beers in a few hours) at a friend's place off-campus and drove back to my dorm which was on campus and about five to 10 minutes drive away. I also did a couple of other things that night I'm not proud of. But you only get one revelation at a time!
3. I used to really want to live in the USA and have the `picket fence' house and family scenario. This was based on my two favourite shows as a teenager/young adult, Beverly Hills 90210 and Mad About You. I wanted a wife like Jamie Buchman, a couple of kids and pets, the whole idealistic perfect life - and I guess I still do. I have at least been to the USA.
4. I've only had one speeding ticket since I started driving in 1992 and I wrote a letter pleading first offence and they refunded the fine.
5. I have cried during four different movies in 2006 - twice at the cinema and twice when watching on DVD.

.....and don't get me started on James Bond films.....

Happy Festivus

It's the 23rd of December so it's happy Festivus to everyone out there.
(If you don't know what I am talking about watch the Seinfeld episode called `The Strike' and you'll get it).
Last night a few of the guys got together (a day early) to watch the holy episode and air our grievances, as is the annual custom.

My main grievances were (and are) as follows:
1. Energy Australia/Origin Energy for attempting to disconnect my electricity without telling me that my account had been closed and switched to another provider. Fortunately I was home and was able to sort the situation out and, no-one will be surprised by this, it was a mistake.
2. Channel 10 for not showing One Tree Hill on TV even though it is heaps better than The OC.
3. Work for being a major contributor to my current situation.

I'm not sure if there were any Festivus miracles, although Joe's two bullseyes on the dart board might come pretty close.

The verdict

I've been given next week off, that's the result of the discussion at work today.
I seemed to get through the day all right now I have ten days before I go back and in that time I am hoping and praying things continue to improve.
I went in convinced I needed at least two weeks off and would have taken a month if they'd said so but at the same time they have a point about being at work amongst people as opposed to being home alone.
That, I said, was all well and good if the symptoms were easing. Then I start to think are a lot of the issues related to fear, accumulated stress and anxiety.
I'm pretty confident I'll have a better picture of what's happening after Christmas.

The dilemma

I have a decision to make in the next 24 hours (or just under) and it's not really a huge one in the scheme of things but at the same time I have mixed thoughts about it.
After speaking to the boss this afternoon (I've been working from home most of the week) he has said that if I want some more time off work I should say so tomorrow.
They'd rather me be able to be there full-time as opposed to being in and out like in the past two weeks. And that's fair enough, while I'm appreciative about being able to keep myself occupied at home if I'm going to work I'd rather be there.
Things have improved in the last two days, I'm not ready to leap tall buildings or anything but the signs have been promising. I'd say the next week will be the most telling.
So I have the likely option of saying `give me X amount of time off to recover properly' (it's hard to rest and relax when you're working even at home) or committing to coming back next week but potentially struggling on a daily basis.
The problem is there are no guarantees as far as time of recovery goes.
The smart and probably obvious thing to do is take some time off so work can know what's going on and allow for it.

Altered states

The last few days have been a mixed bag.
My return to work lasted two days (though I did some work from home on Thursday and Friday) and, unfortunately, life has been dominated by wildly differing states of health.
For those who don't know exactly what I am talking about I wrote this on this page back in June explaining what the issue is.
I honestly don't know how I feel. On any given day it can vary from very crummy to reasonably normal and it is very confusing.
Such is the nature of what's going on I don't know how long it will take to right itself. And I don't know what I have to go through between now and then. Trying to go to work as well, so as to give myself something to do, can be tricky but at the same time can be quite fine.
I'm looking for one or two positive signs from the symptoms to give me confidence that it is on the improve and hopefully they will come soon. Having only been treating it with stronger medication for four days I shouldn't expect instant results. But that's the problem, I want instant results.
During the time of doing basically nothing for four days I have taken the time to read passages from the Bible, mainly from James and Philippians about perseverence and some of the Psalms (particularly Psalm 30 which says `weeping may endure for a night, but joy comes in the morning').
I've got to say this is really hard, and it's difficult to get into the Christmas spirit. In the light of what I wrote back in June though I know that I will get through it. I am more positive about it than I was the first time, though it still freaks me out and takes an emotional toll, and I think I will learn an awful lot more about it as a result of this time.

Taking a bite out of the shark

You may have heard about this, it's amazing to watch and is comforting if you're not particularly fond of sharks. But, the question is, how to you feel about the octopus now?

Brick

It's a shame I missed Brick when it played at the movies because if I had this film would be a contender for the top five of the year.
On one level this appears another high school movie. It is so not one.
Brilliantly conceived, Brick is an old-fashioned detective/gangster film surrounding Brendan (played by the very under-rated Joseph Gordon-Levitt) and his search for answers to what happened to the love of his life Emily (played by Lost's Emilie De Raven).
He is assisted by his nerdy sidekick/informant The Brain, who is a very interesting character and his association with Brendan is intriguing.
Brendan is trying to infiltrate a gang run by a guy known as The Pin to uncover what happened to Emily.
To say any more would be telling!
I just wish I had known some of this going in. I had high expectations because of four-star reviews and given that, let's face it, it is a weird movie and just the type of movie that I relish.
Perhaps a second viewing is in order, to watch it knowing what I know now could well be a different experience. The setting certainly had me fooled for a while, that's for sure.
So if you're looking for something interesting to watch in your spare time this one is worth checking out. I'd give it an 8.5 out of 10.

Over My Head

Whenever a member of a boy band (or girl band for that matter) releases a solo album it's very often met with skepticism and derision. And usually it isn't nearly as good as what was pumped out by the machine that made the group.
Doing something different, more personal and/or meaningful than what is expected is probably a good start. Backstreet Boy Brian Littrell has come out with an album that is way out of left field.
He's released, a while back now, a Christian album and it's pretty good on first listen.
It's not shallow lyric-wise and you get the sense he really means what he is singing here, that all the Backstreet Boys success hasn't got to him and that his foundation is God and not the world.
The only problem is that I can't get too far into the album because when the track `Over My Head' comes on I just want to hit repeat.
Not too many songs send chills through my body when I listen to them but this one did, and does every time I hear it. I had heard it a few times on radio but when you are really listenening to the words it has more effect.

I'm in over my head
I'm right where I wanna be
I'm so lost within your love
The love that always covers me
So high, so deep, so wide
A strong and cleansing tide
My soul has found a place to rest
I'm in over my head.

I'm not going too far in saying that I rate this song, Over My Head, as one of the best Christian songs, as opposed to worship songs, I've heard and would be easily within my top five of that genre. Check it out.

Listening to....

While I've been doing some work from home and other general computer stuff I've had my very eclectic mix of music playing, with some 474 songs currently on random play.
The last 10 songs to have played are as follows (from most recent):
(Do You Get) Excited?-Roxette
Breakaway-Kelly Clarkson
Lose Yourself-Eminem
Walk On-U2
In The Light-DC Talk
Underneath The Stars-Mariah Carey
Trust Me-The Fray
Light-Darren Hayes
I Don't Trust Myself (With Loving You)-John Mayer
Crazy For You-Madonna

Disappointing

So far so good in the new job (aside from the issue I previously posted on) but I learned some disappointing news today.
I kind of already suspected it. Anyway, some people from my work aren't exactly happy that I have switched jobs. I still work for the same company and at a desk about 10m from my old one.
The feeling is that I have abandoned them and am not a team player. It's not like I went to the competition. It's kind of laughable in a way and disappointing in another.
I signalled several months ago, publicly, that I wanted to make a change and no-one really objected. I'm not overly surprised at the reaction but, since I have been with the company for six years I would have thought they knew me well enough to know my reasons for doing it.
Bottom line, the job is intended to be a bit easier on me. And at the end of the day if work is affecting your health then you have to decide what comes first.
I really enjoy what I do but I know what must come first.
Tonight I went out for a while to celebrate the birthday of Jono, or Mr Urban Stone, who today realised he was not the son of God as he made it to 34! Congratulations.

The big test

All right, so here's how it is.
I'm well over 90 per cent confident that I am experiencing a relapse, or flare, of the thing I've spent the last year and a half being intensely afraid of.
It has crept up on me a bit though, as some may now I have suspected it to be responsible for some of the tough times recently. It seems the spark, or trigger, of it was the meltdown (or whatever the heck it was) of about a month ago which caused me to take the sick leave.
So now the battle begins properly to try and beat it back into submission. Like everything else there is no quick fix, unfortunately.
I've managed to work the last two days which has been good and the new position is far less stressful than the previous one so long term it is looking pretty promising. Short-term of course this recurrence couldn't have come at a worse time.
As you would be aware it is just shy of Christmas and people have holidays planned and if I'm not there as well that causes more problems. I'm getting ahead of myself of course, as I fully plan to be there tomorrow unless I feel about the same as I do now (which on one hand isn't too bad apart from the semi-regular growling sessions my stomach has and a few other little things). At the start of the day I felt okay but have slid a bit as the day has gone on.
What can you do? Please pray, not only for the illness but for my state of mind, which takes a battering at times like this. I think I'm doing everything I possibly can to help calm the condition but since there has always been a level of anxiety about this it makes it harder.

False start

Well my planned return to the workforce today didn't exactly go as planned.
I hardly slept at all last night and was in no state to go to work. Man it's a long night when you are virtually wide awake.
I eventually got to sleep around 3.30am or so and woke up again about 6.30am. I think during that time I dreamt about sleeping.
Anyway there wasn't any problem as far as work went but I still didn't like staying home. I went to the doctor in the morning (not my usual one as he wasn't working today) and was given some sleeping tablets so hopefully tonight will be much, much better. So we try again tomorrow.
I have to make it through to Thursday when I see my regular GP for an assessment of the medication I'm taking (or not taking at the moment as the case may be).
I'm getting pretty close to asking for a full check-up just to see if there isn't something happening that we are missing.

Trust 101

A great talk tonight from AB and the message (to me) was clear - I am not trusting God enough, or even at all, in times of trials.
Within the space of a few minutes he rattled off two of my favourite verses, both from Philippians, and it served as a timely reminder.
Quite often I find turning to God to be one of the last things I do, a last resort, when he should be number one on the hitlist. Handing over anxiety to God is not easy but it need not be so hard.
We all like to think we are in control of everything then something happens to illustrate clearly that it is not us who is in control but God.

This time it's official...

I really have a new job!
Starting Monday I have been given the assent to switch over and work on Sportsman, a newspaper devoted entirely to horse racing. (The website won't have been updated with me on it). This is what I wrote back in September when I was initially told I could do it before they changed their minds.
While I do have some trepidation about the early start the positives are an early finish and the return of a conventional weekend. I think (and hope) the early start will get easier as I get used to it. Plus, I was told a while back that all the world's great thinkers were early risers.
Regarding what I said yesterday about getting what you wish for, that I think was a knee-jerk reaction. I've wanted to make the switch for a while and I shouldn't backflip just because I have doubts. Who knows, change is supposed to be a good thing with new challenges.
Anyway, here goes!

Casino Royale

As a rule I don't like Bond movies.
But, partly because I had nothing better to do, I went into the re-boot of the 007 franchise not expecting much and being slightly surprised.
Now I am not going to suddenly become a Bond freak - Casino Royale wasn't that good. But at the same time it wasn't bad. The thing is it just wasn't a great movie.
Sure it's entertaining, lots of gratuitous violence and unlikely situations but, hey, that's what you expect from this type of movie.
I do have to say that Daniel Craig played a more working class Bond than previous actors and I think that was a good move. It made this more of a `new' movie than just someone trying to look like the previous actor in that role. (That scenario did work for Superman Returns but I wouldn't like to see it happen regularly).
If you're in for a 150 minute session of pure escapism and ridiculous fun then lap Casino Royale right up. If you're a more discerning movie goer life won't be any worse if you give it a miss.
Basically, with Casino Royale it's what-you-see is what-you-get. A 7 out of 10 for me. Not great but entertaining and that's worth a bit extra. I certainly liked it more than Mission Impossible III.

Myofascial release

In the spirit of trying something new, I had another session of myofascial release (remedial massage) today and it was a much different experience to last time.
This time it was a much harder (and slightly more painful) massage the benefits of which won't be known until tomorrow I'm guessing.
I'm probably going to have acupuncture again this weekend as well.

Careful what you wish for

Well I'm due to go back to work on Monday in the new role I was hoping for a while ago.
In the end I got what I wanted and can switch over to the Sportsman. Only now I'm not sure that's what I wanted.
I'm going in for a meeting tomorrow to sort out what's going to happen. The sticking point for me is the 7.30am starts. Now I know there are a lot of people out there who start way earlier than that and would wonder what I'm concerned about.
It's just that the mornings can be a bit tough on me from time to time. It's not a general rule but if I feel dodgy it's usually first thing.
So we'll see what happens tomorrow, hopefully something can be arranged that pleases everyone.

The Ultimate Indulgence

An update from mission, here. Apparently what happens when you try to take a bunch of women out of a room of chocolate. Or something like that!

Miscellaneous

A few things to report:
I can't believe Australia won the cricket today. How England let it happen is beyond me but it seemed like they tried to play out the final day and self-destructed. The big question now is how the heck did we lose the Ashes in the first place?
I'm planning a trip to the Hawkesbury races tomorrow. Never been out there before and it looks like it's going to be a nice day so it should be a good experiment.
Speaking of experiments, I'm in for a change of medication next week. But first off I have to be weaned off the first lot, go a few days on nothing then start the new stuff. It's clear that what I have been taking hasn't been working.
Still on medication, I've also upped the CD medication to some stronger stuff for a few weeks, the thought there is to hopefully ward off what I feel like is an impending relapse. I hope I am wrong but if I'm not I just hope I caught it in time. I'd appreciate a bit of prayer for this.
I have one more week before I go back to work. On one hand it seems a bit daunting but on the other I'm looking forward to it. I've never had this long off before!
When I get back to work there has to be some changes. I have been told to make lifestyle changes and work is a large part of that. Hopefully they will be receptive. The good thing is that I've been saying I need to change things for a couple of months so it won't come as a surprise.

Craig and the Door-knocking

While on church mission in Bathurst, Craig tries his hand at door-knocking, read here. I am not a big fan of it myself but it seems Craig has had a good experience.
I'm not surprised he got a lot out of it, Craig has always been good at talking to people, from what I can see.
He'll be blogging on the Anglican Media site while the team is away on mission.

Wham! - I'm Your Man

One of my favourite songs of the 80's - it's I'm Your Man by Wham! Caught it on the weekend during a George Michael special. I can't believe I don't have a best-of Wham in the collection. Will have to do something about that. I know this is daggy 80's bubblegum pop but it's just so catchy. I bet most of you who are my age know the words....`if you're gonna do it, do it right, right....'

New Labor leader

Well, unsurprisingly, Kevin Rudd is the new leader of the Australian Labor Party.
He seems an unlikely, or at least not obvious, choice as leader as he doesn't have the fiery disposition you often see in political leaders.
Now I don't spend any time watching parliament question time so I may well be wrong but having met Mr Rudd once I think I'll stick with my initial statement.
Last year he was one of the guest speakers at Christians In The Media's conference. What hasn't come out so much in the articles about Mr Rudd is his Christian background and it will be interesting to see the response if/when it does.
It's always hard for an opposition to overcome leadership turmoil less than a year before an election but you never know. The next election will be a big test for the government's controversial IR laws and it will see an election win as an endorsement of that policy.
So, if you don't like it vote against it otherwise we are stuck with it.

It's A Wonderful Life

``Look, Daddy. Teacher says every time a bell rings, an angel gets his wings.''

It's one of the world's most loved films and until last night I hadn't seen it. What an oversight!
I am of course talking about the 1946 classic It's A Wonderful Life , the story of George Bailey, an ordinary man who didn't realise the extraordinary effect he had on people. Seemingly everything he wanted to do in life was thwarted by one thing or another and as a result he didn't get to live out his dreams. At the end of his rope he decides he is worth more dead than alive and seeks to resolve his problems in that way.
Fortunately there are a lot of people who care for George and a barrage of prayers leads to God sending an angel to earth to make him see the mistake he is about to make.
Despite its age (now 60 years), It's A Wonderful Life stands the test of time because, simply, it is a timeless story. When George finally realised what he was about to do he became a changed man and when the townspeople began filing into his home to help out a friend in trouble, well, it was too much for me. I think I disguised it pretty well from the friends I was watching it with but it brought me to tears.
I still get a bit choked up thinking about it. Apparently you can buy it for five bucks at the moment and I'd say that' s a pretty amazing bargain and one I will be taking advantage of.
I can see why people love this film and why they make it an annual tradition to watch at Christmas time. I think I will join them.
If you haven't seen it, rush out, watch it now. You won't regret it. For me, it made me think that, even though most of the time I don't realise it, I have a wonderful life. Sure, there are problems and troubles, but there are many blessings.
Some more memorable quotes:
`Strange, isn't it? Each man's life touches so many other lives. When he isn't around he leaves an awful hole, doesn't he?'
`Remember, George: no man is a failure who has friends.'

The Prestige

After a small hiatus (for no real reason) from the movies I saw the much hyped The Prestige today. That might well have been the problem, the hype that is.
With a stellar cast including Hugh Jackman, Christian Bale, Scarlett Johannson and the always wonderful Michael Caine how can you go wrong?
I can't put my finger on it really, everything added up to a winner but perhaps I wasn't counting right. Jackman and Bale play rival magicians with Jackman's character fuelled by an obsession with finding out Bale's secrets.
Secrets, that's what it's all about.
Perhaps there were so many twists and turns that the film-maker, Christopher Nolan, told you exactly what the big secret was.
It was slow in parts which gave me more time to work out what was going on. And that's the problem, I worked out what was going on.
Look, I'm not going to bag the film. It was a well made movie, interesting although a shade too slow for my liking, and the acting was excllent, particularly from Caine who also narrates the film. Perhaps expectations got the better of me. A disappointing 7 out of 10 but I wouldn't talk anyone out of seeing it.
Footnote: This mini-review of the Prestige is my 200th post - woo-hoo!