OMG I deleted my England photos!

I only realised this because I was looking for my pictures of the elephant in Greenwich, when I realised... that they aren't on my computer.

And I had deleted them from my laptop last week, thinking they were already on my computer.

SO I LOST ALL MY ENGLAND PHOTOS! WAAAH!

It's not horribly horrible, because I do have a few pictures blogged, but the personal photos with pictures of my sister and me, are not there.  They aren't on the camera card either - I wiped that to make room for the eclipse.

BOO HOO!!!!

I have little hope in trying to retrieve them from my laptop, but I can try.

GDI.  I am so stupid.

Les Miserables - The Movie - SPOILER ALERT

Ever since I saw the trailer for Les Miserables with its star studded cast, and gorgeous sets, I wanted to see it.  Like many, I have seen the musical, I own the soundtrack, the songs and the story are familiar to me.

However, since its release there have been a number of scathing reviews from movie critics:

...I didn't like it. Why? 

...The musical is "sung-through," as the theater people say, crammed with nattering recitative, i.e., dialogue that is sung, either in earnest or on the fly. The camera bobs and weaves like a drunk, frantically. So you have hammering close-ups, combined with woozy insecurity each time more than two people are in the frame. Twenty minutes into the retelling of fugitive Valjean, his monomaniacal pursuer Javert, the torch singers Fantine and Eponine and the rest, I wanted somebody to just nail the damn camera to the ground. ...I'll just dream a dream of musicals gone by, directed by people who could create a rhythm and establish a style that complemented the story, the performers and everything in between. 

- 1.5 out of 4 stars, Michael Phillips, Chicago Tribune

A gallery of stellar performers wages a Sisyphean battle against musical diarrhea and a laboriously repetitive visual approach in the big-screen version of the stage sensation Les Miserables. As the enduring success of this property has shown, there are large, emotionally susceptible segments of the population ready to swallow this sort of thing, but that doesn't mean it's good...

...but there is little else that is inventive or surprising about the performances. Still, there is widespread energy, passion and commitment to the cause, which for some might be all that is required.

- Todd McCarthey, The Hollywood Reporter

But there have been promising reviews as well:

Impeccably mounted but occasionally bombastic, Les Misérables largely succeeds thanks to bravura performances from its distinguished cast. 

- 71%, Rotten Tomatoes

A tender, transcendent and powerfully stirring adaptation of the longest-running stage musical is both old-fashioned and daring, and an ideal holiday season offering... 

...Les Misérables is sweeping, as would be expected given the scope of the hugely popular stage musical from which it is adapted. But it's also wonderfully intimate, thanks to Tom Hooper's deft direction... 

...Hooper (The King's Speech) was a perfect match for the material, making exquisite use of a much bigger stage and impeccable production design for a wonderfully epic effect, juxtaposed with stirring tight close-ups...

For a 2½-hour movie, it's surprisingly well-paced and consistently enthralling. The look of the film is gorgeous, but Les Mis is a success primarily because of its superlative musical performances.

- 3.5 out of 4 stars, Claudia Puig, USA Today

So what did I think?

I went in, expecting to be disappointed.  I heard Russell Crowe's singing left something to be desired.  I heard people complaining it was all singing (though really, what did they expect, it's a full movie adaptation of the MUSICAL).

The first half hour, I was a little disappointed in the singing.  The cinematography however, was fantastic.  There are things that the stage cannot show you, that a movie can.  With a movie, you can have an impressive set, you can alter the visuals by showing the actors at various stages in their lives.  The image of the convicts hauling in the massive boat as they sing "Look Down" show the desperation of their position.  Hugh Jackman as Jean Valjean was frighteningly gaunt looking as a prisoner and on parole, but cleaning up nicely as he skipped parole and went on to become the mayor of a small French town.

The sewing room scene "At the End of the Day" was done superbly, and showed Anne Hathaway's character, Fontine, falling from grace as she desperately turned to prostitution and destitution as she tried to scrape up coin to pay for her daughter's care by an innkeeper and his wife.

Russell Crowe's Javert is acted very well, though his singing wasn't brilliant, but his acting of Javert I thought was good, and he was well suited to the role.  The torture in his soul, trying to come to terms with a criminal who seemed to be acting like a good guy, despite his belief that criminals will always be criminals was believable.  When his life was spared by the criminal Jean Valjean, who merely accepted that Javert was "doing his job" and held him no malice, was a puzzlement, and when faced again with the ability to take Jean Valjean in custody, but having to let him pass because Javert knew it would be wrong to take down someone who had done the right thing... was too much for him and it showed.  I feel bad for Russell Crowe, for he has been touted as being the let down of the movie, whereas I didn't feel that was the case at all.

Two actors in the musical surprised me with how fantastic their vocals were.  Samantha Barks who plays the grown up Eponine, did a heartrending rendition of "I dream a dream" in the miserable pouring rain, which emphasised the desperation of her one sided love situation.  Eddie Redmayne did an amazing job portraying Marius, with superb clear notes and bringing a depth to Marius that I never seemed to view him with when I watched the musical.

One particular scene in the movie is also much more moving and stirring than in the musical - when they are singing "Red and Black" within the cafe, the night before the revolution.  The song with those scenes really make the words stand out, and made me realise how brilliant the lyrics to the songs really are.

The comic relief supplied by the Innkeeper and his wife, played by Sacha Baron Cohen (of Borat fame) and Helena Bonham Carter was superb, just as I remember it in the musical.

This scene is particularly cool to me, because I actually SAW this set when I was in England in April 2012.  I was in Greenwich and we saw the elephant and a market like scene and wondered what it was.  Now we know!

The great difference between a musical and a movie, especially for a production such as this, is that a musical is about the music with a minor emphasis on acting, whereas in the movie, it's the opposite.  The director did make the actors sing all their own songs and added the accompanying music afterwards, which makes it still a very good musical production as they are actually singing and not lip syncing.  Watching the movie is so much more emotional - there were no tears shed during the musical from the emotion of the story, maybe wet eyes from the beauty of the music.  But in the movie, I cried... a LOT.  In the musical, I found the interaction between Jean Valjean and Javert to be the most interesting interaction, and the whole love triangle between Marius, Colette and Eponine not as engaging, but the songs were entrancing.  In the movie, I feel so much more involved, so much more empathetic to the love of Marius and Colette, and also of Eponine.

One thing remains the same, in both the musical and the movie, and to me it is the superfluousness of Colette.  I feel like she plays no hero, no role in the whole show, and is merely a little flower figurehead.  But if I think on it more carefully, she is the goodness in the film.  Because of her, Fontine has to fall from grace.  And because of her, Jean is moved to love, and to rescue Marius for her future.  She may not be a heroine but she merely represents an angel of goodness, a beacon of light for those other characters who have to deal with a struggle in the story.

If you are a fan of the musical, I would recommend watching it.  If you are FANATACAL about the music, you will probably be disappointed.  But if you want to see the emotion behind the story that is usually overshadowed by the beauty of the music, then this movie, will open your eyes to that and I am sure, like I, you will love it as I did.  Bring some tissues.  I used about 3.

The Hobbit - WARNING SPOILERS!

To tell you the truth, I wanted to see the Hobbbit, but I was not DYING to see the Hobbit.  As part of Peter Jackson's Lord of the Rings movie series, it was going to be well done, I had no doubt about that.

It's just that - and this is blasphemy to all Tolkein fans, and even to someone like myself who claims to like Fantasy - I have never been a fan of the the Tolkein Series.

Perhaps its because I read it when I was 11 or 12.  Maybe too young to appreciate the story.  Perhaps the language was too advanced for me.  I read David Eddings at that same age and thoroughly enjoyed it.

So as part of the Boxing Day tradition, my sister and her husband, my hubby and I, my dad and my aunt, all went to watch a movie - and The Hobbit was released in Australia on Boxing Day.

To paraphrase Galadriel's words:

"And then something happened that the Ring I did not expect."

I not only enjoyed the Hobbit. I LOVED it.  It was better than I had expected. It was more exciting that I had hoped.  It moved me in so many parts - and it reminded me, which I did already know, but had forgotten, why Tolkein was hailed as the creator of modern Fantasy to this day.

If you look at World of Warcraft, and many other fantasy stories, it's as if what was written by Tolkein has become the truth, or rather the lore upon which many other fantasy stories are based.  But I will write about that elsewhere.  I am going to talk about the movie.

*** WARNING SPOILERS! ***

It starts with older Bilbo (Lord of the Rings age) starting his tale "There and Back again".  There is an appearance by Frodo and it launches into how Bilbo landed into his grand adventure.

The background of Erebor, one of the great Dwarven cities, and how it was taken by a dragon which drove out the dwarves, leaving them homeless and wandering the lands, starts us off.  The tale of attempts to reclaim Moria against a white orc, Azog, who slew Thror, of the line of Durin, was told, and how Thorin, son of Thror defeated him in battle by cutting off his hand (hmm sounds like Isildur and Sauron).

Gandalf, who knew Bilbo from a young age, dragged Bilbo into a quest by the Dwarves to reclaim Erebor.  They descended unwanted into his house, disturbing his happy life of home, comfort and good food, and talked of their plans to retake Erebor, for there were signs to say that it was time, and Gandalf has a map that will lead them to Erebor (but needs some help translating it).  Bilbo reluctantly goes, and  they encounter many things during their quest.

The encounter with the trolls was amusing.  After the trolls captured them all and were about to eat them, Bilbo stalled them long enough for Gandalf to arrive and the sun fell upon them and turned them to stone.   Raiding the Troll's stash, they find some Elven weapons, with glorious names such as Orcrist (Goblin Cleaver) and Glamdring (Foe-hammer), which are taken up by Thorin and Gandalf.  Then, they are beseiged by orcs and wargs, who are minions of Azog, and they manage to escape after encountering the Brown Wizard, Radagast, who is an odd Wizard, who associates with animals and the like.  Radagast tells them of a necromancer who is weaving evil things in an abandoned fortress, and gives Gandalf a Morgul blade, as proof of his story.

The adventurers escape into a cave as the orc descend upon them, but an Elvish patrol appears and slaughters the orc company.  The dwarf company head down the cave/crevice and come to Rivendell, much to Thorin's disgust (he hates Elves, for their reluctance to help the Dwarves in their times of need).  Elrond assists them by reading the map, telling them they must open the secret entrance to Erebor at a certain time - and that time is fast approaching.  The Dwarves decide they must go, and go soon, if they wish to keep going with this mission.

Gandalf is summoned to see Galadriel and Saruman with Elrond, who are anxious to learn the necessity or the wisdom in this quest.  When Gandalf speaks of the necromancer, Saruman dismisses him, but Galadriel speaks privately to Gandalf saying it is of great importance.

As they make their way up the mountains without Gandalf, the orcs again start their pursuit.  However, the dwarves have more pressing problems - rock giants fighting in the mountains as they traverse it, leading to some CGI fun and action/tension.  They escape into a cave, and Thorin proclaims loudly how useless Bilbo is.  Bilbo decides to sneak out and go home while the others sleep, but then they are captured by The Great Goblin, a huge fat diseased looking Goblin who proclaims he is going to send Thorin's head to Azog.  Bilbo manages to escape them, but falls and encounters Gollum, who drops the ring and it is found by Bilbo.

The riddle game is played out quite well, and Gollum's expressions are classic.  Bilbo manages to escape Gollum (by wearing the ring) and spares Gollum's life when given the opportunity to take it, and rejoins the Dwarf company who are liberated by Gandalf and an action packed pursuit through the caves of the Misty Mountains occurs, which takes up a lot of time.

Gandalf realises when they emerge from the mountains that Bilbo is missing, and Thorin states that the useless hobbit has run off home.  Bilbo hears this and removes the ring and when asked why he returned, he said that yes, he did want to go to his home, but the Dwarves have no home to go to, and he wishes to help them get their home back.  Thorin is still dismissive but the other Dwarves warm to him, and Gandalf looks pleased.

However, Azog and his orcs catch up to them and taunts Thorin, leading the angered Dwarf to fight Azog.  Azog injures Thorin, and as they are about to take his head, Bilbo leaps to Thorin's aid, his courage inspiring everyone else who to join in the battle.  As hope seems lost, Gandalf's friends, the large eagles, come and fight against the orcs, and rescue the besieged Dwarves, carrying the company to safety.

Thorin's heart is turned around by Bilbo's courage, and that moment brought a big smile to my face.  Bilbo, so small, an ordinary, quiet loving Hobbit, shows how heroic even the smallest can be with his courage and bravery.  It was inspiring.

And that was the end of the movie.  Sigh, another year to wait for the sequel!  It was a magnificent movie - a lot of action was added in which dragged the movie out, but I thought that it helped draw in a larger audience.  The CGI was excellent, except the Wargs who still looked a little fake and robotic to me.  The action was a little unbelievable, with nobody getting hurt but hundreds of goblins/orcs being injured.  Another thing interesting was that some Dwarves could be hideous looking whilst others looked almost human - as in no enhanced brow ridges, noses or huge bushy beards.  They were almost handsome.  Thorin was, I hate to admit it, attractive, as well as Kili and his brother Fili (who are nephews of Thorin, so maybe good looks go in that lineage).

So what are you waiting for?  Go watch it already!!!

My son is singing!

He may not be talking properly yet (still in the 2 word stage) but my son J is actually singing!  He actually has 2 songs that he sings - Happy Birthday and the title song from the animated movie Rio (about a blue macaw).

He has been saying hi-day instead of Happy Birthday, and after my birthday I noticed that he would look at the picture of me and them on my phone with my birthday cake and he would say

"Hi-Day to wooo, Hi Day to wooo."

OMG, so cute.

The other song, is starting to get a little bit annoying.  He sings this part:

"Rio, Rio all bai sell, can seee ca wee"

when the line goes "Rio, Rio all by itself, you can't see it coming, can't really know by yourself"

He sings that very loudly and repeatedly.  And though I should be glad my son is vocalising, man I wish he would stop singing that song.

Westmead Anaesthetic Gangnam style

This was on the news last week, made by an anaesthetic peer from Westmead Hospital. It was shown on Channel 7 news and the health minister was unimpressed.  I think it's funny :)
 

Eclipse 2012 - Day 7 - Atherton tablelands

A bit of a hike from where we were staying, the Atherton Highlands had some nice birding spots and waterfalls to view.

We started at Cathedral Fig - a 500 year old strangler fig with a "room" inside the roots.

And we saw a Victoria's Riflebird here!  It was right next to the strangler fig displaying but it was hard to photograph from our angle, but its call was very distinctive.

Then onto Millaa Millaa falls.  It seems like every time there is a body of water in North Queensland, everyone wants to jump into it.

Then we went to see some of the crater lakes.  Lake Eachem is a great picnic and swim spot, and Mt Hypipamee has crater lake (not for swimming) but Dinner falls has lots of swimming spots.

Then stopped by some wetland areas to do some more birding, with some success there and along the roads!

 Black kite and black winged stilts

 Brolga and Plumed Whistling ducks

 Brown cuckoo-dove and Red-tailed black cockatoos

And then our final stop was Curtain Fig in Yungaburra, another 500 year old strangler fig.

We saw a Wompoo Fruit-Dove AND a Lumholtz Tree Kangaroo (crappy picture though)!

Then the long drive back.... wrecked our record by letting the kids have McDonald's for dinner whilst we ate KFC!  We're heading back home tomorrow... it's been a great trip!

Eclipse 2012 - Day 6 - Kids stuff day

We were going to go to the Atherton tablelands today and do more sightseeing and birding, but hubby forgot his binoculars!  So we decided to move Saturday's timetable to Friday, which was to do kid friendly things.

We started off in the morning heading towards Cairns for the Kuranda Scenic Railway ride, but the kids were getting restless so we took a detour via Cattana Wetlands, just to let them stretch their legs.  However we decided to walk all the way to the bird hide and just as well we did because we saw a Royal Spoonbill there!  Well worth the trip!

It was damn hot so I was hoping to get out of there as soon as possible, and we headed off the the Scenic Railway to find that it leaves at 2 times, both before we got there!  So we changed plans and drove up to Kuranda and I caught the train down with the kids after we had a look at the Butterfly House.

Then onto the train!

It took almost 2 hours for a full journey, with one stop in between.  The kids seemed to really enjoy that, and also weren't scared of the tunnels.  Hubby picked us up at Cairns and then we headed to the Esplanade so the kids could play in the water for a bit.

My son was popular with Japanese tourists.  They all seemed to stop and look at him and take pictures of him playing with the small fountains in the shallow end of the Esplanade.  Hubby was out taking pictures of seabirds and he got some real beauties.

Then we had Japanese sushi train style for dinner.  It was one of the only times this holiday they weren't being forcefed their food, or them gorging themselves on potato chips.  I was happy because they were eating fish, vegies (seaweed, edamame and cucumber) as well as rice.  They fell asleep on the way home, and just as well, because we have an early start tomorrow for more birdwatching!