The Long Hiatus

My God, I can't believe it's been almost a year since my last post. Where have I been? I sometimes wonder that myself.

Planning a wedding, changing cities, juggling new jobs, moving in with lovely boyfriends who become exciting fiances who become glorious husbands, trying to stay in touch with friends... But mainly planning a wedding and living in 2 cities.

I can't believe I didn't blog about planning a wedding! How did I miss that?! Actually, I know exactly how I missed it - because I became a crazy wedding blog stalker (briefly) which stressed me way the heck out. WHO ARE THESE WOMEN WHO HAVE TIME/INTEREST/SKILL TO HANDMAKE PRACTICALLY EVERY DETAIL OF THEIR WEDDING?? Who are you? Do you have full time jobs? You stress every other bride to be out with your gorgeous bunting and delectable bohemian hair pieces! So I banned myself from wedding sites, and I became a much calmer bride. I had a moment where I fell of the wagon, and veered dangerously into bridezilla territory, but I gave the horse a carrot, corrected the wagon and resumed transmission minus blogs. (Although I did really get into Pinterest for a while there).

So naturally, being thoroughly scarred by blogs, I didn't blog for the longest time.

It wasn't quite like this...

Anyway, now that it's all done and dusted, I truly hope to be back to blogging. It gives me such joy, and I actually do weirdly feel connected to something when I do it. To be honest, the jetsetting is getting to me a little. For a change, I'm sitting in the airport lounge smiling. *phew*

How Much Time

How much time did we spend wondering? I can admit to huge chunks of my mid- to late 20s, and certainly a decent whack of my 30th year pondering this question. It was a mindless curiousity, a pleasant place for my mind to wander to. Having a crush on a fantasy is so easy - you don't have fights, you don't live away from each other, and you don't have to worry about whose turn it is to pack the dishwasher.

These days, I don't have that pleasant escape. Instead I have a husband! And I think a husband in the flesh, the real thing, is actually more lovely than the fantasy (even if he hasn't packed the dishwasher or whatever other silly gripe there may be). Your husband can tell you what he's doing, and you can blissfully surrender to the joy of 100% trust and knowing that he is real, his life is real, and he wants you in it.

But time is finite, for everyone and everything. So enjoy what you have right now, ponder the joys of the future, but love that which is real and before you the most. Don't waste time.

Columns

Another big trend at the Oscars were the column gowns, showing off the perfectly gym-toned, meticulously dieted bodies of the celebrity world.

Anne Hathaway laying those pregnancy rumours to rest once & for all

See Naomi Watts, Nicole Kidman and Charlize Theron below for more (with the sneaky addition of the train). Oh to have the discipline to not eat ice cream!

Train Station

One of the big trends on the red carpet was the train. Whether it was a column dress, a thigh-splitting A-line gown or a good old fashioned ball gown, almost every dress seemed to have a little (or large) train attached. As a woman hunting wedding dresses, I was most intrigued.

The thigh split + train was probably my least favourite take on the trend. Choose one or the other me-thinks. Somehow this two-toned dress with its fairly simple asymettrical accents had too much going on.

Cute couple coming through! (how adorable is a crooked bow tie? Ben Affleck knows the answer)

Ummm..... Bride alert! Jennifer Lawrence looked outrageously good

Another of my favourites - I have a thing for this shade of pink

Naomi Watts - another of my favourites... I can never choose but she is definitely in the top 2

Nicole - always a delight

Lady in Red

Jennifer Aniston look stunning in her red frock at the Oscars. I thought it was very Scarlett O'Hara-ish, and loved that she went for colour rather than her signature neutral palette or little-black-dress uniform.

I was also a big fan of her natural make-up (actually everyone on the red carpet was natural beauty-ish) and low-key acessories. The dress had a lot to say, let's face it!

Also rocking the red was super lovable Sally Field.

So Sad

This is Rihanna's latest single, Stay, and I just think it is so sad in light of the fact that she is back together with Chris Brown who (if you have been living under a rock) is a nasty piece of work who beat the crap out of her a few years back. And she just keeps on going back for more. Meanwhile - who knew she was such a good actress? Although something tells me she probably didn't have to dig too deep to find those feelings for this film clip.

Stay got me thinking about break-up songs, because this one just seems like a classic break-up song... At least for the sad phase of a break-up. From a music point of view, often this is where the best music comes in, but it really is a relief once you get to the defiant, I-am-happy-to-be-single round of songs (often cheesy) that are a key element in the break-up process.

Discussing it with Lovely Fiance, I mentioned how I felt ok listening to break-up songs and in fact sometimes really enjoyed listening to them (whereas sometimes the defiance anthems can get a bit much). And, being the genius sensitive deep-thinking soul that he is, he noted that we're ok re-hearing break-up songs because actually they are songs that comfort us. *smacks forehead*

So. Break-up songs are always as personal as the break-up itself, but tell me: what are your all-time top (favourite seems the wrong word to use somehow) break-up songs? I find that I can never use the same song for a different break-up, so I have quite a few, thanks to my rather chequered (mwahahaha!) past.

Here are some of my notable classics:

• Blue Eyes by the Carey Brothers - beautiful song, perfect for a rainy day (or broken heart as was my case circa 2008) and it gave me that little kernel of hope re men - that a man might one day write such lovely lyrics for a girl like me (incidentally, I have blue eyes)
• You Could Be Happy by Snow Patrol - actually this was from the same break-up as above, and really resonated with me because a dream to move to London died with that break-up. No regrets on that point - I would have been miserable if I'd gone anyway, and I needed my friends. But it causes a little wrench in the stomach when I hear this one... This one is definitely bittersweet - I still love it, but it takes me back a teeny way to where I was at that point and it wasn't very happy. 
• Hallelujah the Jeff Buckley version - beautiful song, still a big favourite
• Cocoon by Jack Johnson - listen to the lyrics and it truly is a song to be taken literally. Very self-explanatory. Aaaah.... Young, lost love and being dumped by my first emotionally unavailable boyfriend.
• Love The Way You Lie collaboration between Eminem and Rihanna - I knew I was being cheated on. I was pissed off - mainly at myself for being in such a toxic situation. This song summed it up perfectly.
• Why Don't You Love Me by Beyonce - in the case of this break-up (part of the Love the Way You Lie saga), I just skipped straight to the defiant stage. Beyonce, either as a soloist or in Destiny's Child form, has always been a big player in my anthem stage so it seemed fitting. 

I would have to say, if I was single currently that Taylor Swift would feature. There. I said it. It's embarrassing but it's true. Especially that song about never getting back together.

This here is a great list of basically every anthem to swear to honour thyself by and never make the same mistake again to.

Anyone care to add to these lists?

If You Love Tarantino

You will rejoice at Django Unchained. It marks Tarantino's return to fine, quirky form - combining his lust for messy, outrageous violence with politically incorrect humour couched by Tarantino's obvious gift for telling a great story.

Set against the backdrop of the violent and deeply unjust slave world of pre-Civil War America, we meet Django who is "purchased" by Dr Schultz, a prosperous and chirpy bounty hunter who delights in taking out the ragamuffins of the day. Upon realising Django's obvious skills with a musket, Django and Dr Schultz strike up an unlikely friendship bound by Schultz's promise to help Django rescue his slave wife Broomhilda from the clutches of the very nasty, uber bloodthirsty Calvin Candie (Leonardo DiCaprio). What follows is pure adventurous fun (with the somewhat frequent cover-your-eyes violent scenes).

Less heavy handed than usual, I think the bright moments of humour - which honestly had the audience laughing out loud - truly shone, and alleviated the spates of darkness we encounter as audience. Random cameos - Tarantino with a broad Aussie accent happily astride a horse alongside John Jarratt (Wolf Creek's scarily effective menace) - and the lead characters (Leonardo DiCaprio, hello CRUSH even when he's despicable, Jamie Foxx, Kerry Washington and the real star of the film Cristoph Waltz) provide a few hours of rollicking fun that was never slow and often surprised.

Christoph Waltz is a delight as Dr Schultz

The film has outraged Americans with its liberal use of the "N" word, however I wonder if the outrage isn't seated more in an uncomfortable reflection of a not-so-distant past reality that white folk would prefer to forget ever happened.

As per my usual behaviour following a Tarantino film viewing, I got the soundtrack immediately. Should I ever take up running again (Tracey Anderson said it makes your bum big... Could that be true?) there are some banging good running tracks that are mucho enjoyable, and send me straight back to the cinema, happily enjoying a classic spaghetti western with a firm handle on irony.

I also recommend you pay attention to the very silly names in this film: Broomhilda Von Shaft, Billy Crash, Lara Lee Candie Fitzwilly and Mr Stonecipher.

Django Unchained gets a solid 4 stars out of 5 from me...