How the hell is it October already? Here’s some different things I’ve been thinking a lot about this past month. Maybe there’s something here to interest you too?
AN AWARD NOMINATION!
I’m very chuffed to share that I was nominated for an Australian Writers Guild award (an ‘Awgie’) this month, for a preschool series I worked on called The Wonder Gang. An unexpected but delightful turn of events, and my second ever award nom. The ceremony will be in December, and delivered online like last year, thanks to the continued uncertainty of the dastardly pandemic. Thankfully, I won’t have to sit alone at my desk with a bottle of wine to watch it though – a fellow nominee who lives close by has invited me over to a screening party where there’ll be at least four of us getting blotto together. Considering the shambles that the last couple of years have been, this will be a very nice way to wind down for the working year. Hurrah!
WHAT I’VE BEEN WATCHING
I’ve had a lot on this past month – weirdly, my life seems to have gathered pace and complexity as the year wears on and I find myself frankly shocked that we’re this close to bloody Christmas. As such, while there’s lots I’d like to talk about, I need to keep this post short, so here’s what I’ve been watching.
I’m struggling to get through TV series lately but I must mention the pilot episodes for both Work In Progress and Post Mortem: No One Dies in Skarnes. They feature exceptional cold opens that are perhaps the best starts to pilots I’ve seen in years. Laugh out loud funny and deeply unsettling in equal measure. I also enjoyed Nordic noir crime series The Chestnut Man from the creator of The Killing, which was thankfully contained to six episodes. Limited series FTW!
I’m a big fan of Mike Flanagan’s work so I got very into Midnight Mass at the start of the month while everyone else was devouring Squid Game. While the limited series sometimes got a little self indulgent with hefty philosophical monologues, I couldn’t look away. And the combination of stifling religious fervour with one of horror’s most defining and everlasting tropes (I won’t give it away here) was genuinely brilliant, bloody magic. I am so glad this guy gets to do what he does.
Caught up on some oldies this month with Jennifer’s Body (flawed but well worth it), Constantine (glorious big budget hell versus heaven silliness) and 1974’s Murder on The Orient Express (so incredibly long but punctuated with dazzlingly over-the-top moments that made it worth the effort).
Had the great pleasure of catching Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings in the actual cinema the other night! First cinema trip for months as Sydney has finally emerged from lockdown (for now). I confess, I’m not much of a Marvel aficionado, but the trailer for this looked like there was an actual story – and I was not disappointed! The silly 2 hours+ running time flew by as the story kept bouncing along with tonnes to keep you on your toes, including an adorable little Mardi Gras wombat (that’s not what they called it, but if you’re Australian, you’ll know exactly what I mean when you see it). This was a fantastic movie to get back to the movies for, with some awesome performances, notably from comedy goddess Awkwafina (did you see her in Jumanji: The Next Level embodying Danny Devito? So good). Yes, I had a lot of questions about the many uncomfortable patriarchal assumptions in this story, but much like the realities of physics, I don’t think I’m supposed to care about that stuff in a movie like this, right? Ha ha ha… Eh. In any case, I had a ball and look forward to the inevitable zillion and one sequels.
And finally, I caught the new Muppets Haunted Mansion as my Halloween treat – and it was great! It was silly and fun and short, with great songs and awesome cameos. And Pepe! Who doesn’t love Pepe?
Thanks for reading! Stay safe x
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