Much ado about nothing #2

Hello world!

Phew, what a week, Lily’s graduation, the Husband’s birthday and the week before Christmas!

And to top it off, you would think the end of the year would entail a quieter period at work, mmm not so much, think 12 hour days. Boo!

Having said that, the universe obviously felt sorry for me, because despite being exhausted and over whelmed, my weekend was full of spontaneous outings and a pre planned/much needed catch up with my gorgeous friends, Teak, JJ and Miss A.

One the things I love most about hanging out with these ladies, besides the non stop larfs, is gabbing about our mutual love of travel, food and art. Perusing the divine works of Toulouse Lautrec at the NGA (see Teak's eloquent write up here) then spending a lazy, rainy Saturday afternoon lunching at Canberra’s Me and Mrs Jones was food for the eyes, tummy and soul.

I loved Lautrec's pieces focusing on the 'working girls' of Paris. The images portray such tenderness and empathy towards the subjects. Just beautiful.     

I later came home to an immaculate house, which for those who know me, gladdened my heart to the nth degree (thanks Husband) and then out again for a long overdue date night.

A quick dinner at Mexican diner, Guzman y Gomez, with the barramundi quesadilla hitting just the right spots we settled down for a dose of 007.

Cinema Update

I have to qualify my review by declaring I’m not usually a huge James Bond fan. While I’m well aware of Bond’s iconic status and freely admit its strong appeal to movie goers, I guess I’ve always felt slightly uncomfortable with the whole ‘objectifying women/using them as props/Bond girl’ thing.

Watching Skyfall, however, made me slightly rethink this position. Not that I disagree any less with using women as props, but I realise Bond movies are as much about “plots” involving espionage, as they are about the objectification of characters. Not only are the women objectified, but so is Bond (cue 124 shots of a shirtless Daniel Craig) and even the violence get’s a high dose of glamour. Almost every element of the movies is stylized to fit within the Bond theme, so with that being said, I happily admit that I really liked Skyfall.

Daniel Craig’s appointment as the 7^th actor to play Bond was a masterstroke by producers. While wholly unfit to play the tall, dark, handsome Bond archetype, Craig brings a brutish, almost maudlin element to the character, which makes the movies far more interesting in my view.

While the plot of Skyfall is pretty stock standard, revenge, espionage, damsel in distress etc, the acting and direction is not. I was definitely surprised to learn, as the opening credits rolled to the beautiful sounds of Adele, that Sam Mendes was at the helm of Skyfall.

Mendes’s ‘American Beauty’ is a movie I very much liked, and with all his films, I feel he always brings a sense of reality and humanity to his characters. None of us are perfect, and that’s certainly the case with this version of Bond.

In Skyfall we get a glimpse into Bond’s childhood and perhaps an explanation of why he is so...well, detached. Skyfall also sees the transition of many of Bond’s characters, including Judi Dench as ‘M’ and the inclusion of a rather charming and youthful supplier of Bond’s famous gadgets ‘Q’.  Javier Bardem just proves yet again why he is so freakin versatile and fantastic, and while the beautiful French actress Berenice Marlohe plays the standard prop, she is dazzling to look at on screen.

Also loved seeing Naomie Harris kick some butt as Miss Moneypenny and all the supporting actors including Ralph Fiennes and Albert Finney were fantastic. All in all, highly recommended, 4 stars.

Until next time...Rose. xx