Rolling the Tropfest Dice

On Sunday, Nicole made the trip up to Ballarat so that Michelle and I could take her our for a birthday lunch. Finding Chowder House in Hepburn Springs, we sampled the much reviewed chowder, with it winning the praises of our San Fran Aussie! The Seafood Chowder was my choice, and very filling, and so good.

A hot day saw us wander through Daylesford, before an icecream stop, and drive back to Ballarat. Nicole and I then got the train back to Melbourne.

I joined Katrina, Gina and Maria at Federation Square for this year's Tropfest. A change of venue this year, for reasons undisclosed, meant a different surrounding, much harder seating, and less liquid picnic supplies (being a dry site, boo!). Strange change.

The Telstra Mobile Masterpieces were up first, before things got started on the cross to Sydney. 3 short films shot entirely on mobile phones. Design Crimes was hilarious, and a piss take on the design flaws of people and the community at the moment, targeting particularly those frangipani stickers in people's car windows. This section was won by a very moving film called Missing You. Very sweet, and sad.

With the red carpet and judge introductions going on onscreen, Fed Square had some sound adjustment issues for sometime, as the cobbled ground filled with movie buffs.

Quite a few little films were touching on mental health and suicide, with Happenstance a depiction of an interrupted plan in progress, by a singing bear-o-gram at the door. Cute. Smoking Will Kill You was more mistaken suicidal acts in the form of a smoko break. Every Second Weekend was a tough film about a Men's group discussing their experiences of child access, divorce and loss.

Social commentary come through in these less-than-7 minute films, with How God Works giving us a taste of privilege and sociopathic behaviour, and the eventual winner, Shock, a "tribute" to Kyle Sandilands and the trouble he was in last year for his inappropriate radio calling.

Falling Backwards was very clever, in a violent sequence acted backwards. Animations were also included in the 16 finalists with My Neighbourhood Has Been Overrun By Baboons, One being the use of the signature item, dice, as the characters of the film, and robotic Awakenings.

Another great Tropfest, and celebration of Australian upcoming film makers.

Spring Tropfest

Yesterday, after waking up unusually early to watch the footy replay, I eventually made it into town and to the Sidney Myer Music Bowl for this year's Tropfest. Handed a cardboard seat (brilliant!) as I walked in, I joined Melissa and Dianna, and crew, along with the growing crowd to prepare for the night of short films.

Dianna put on a massive spread for the group, with potato salad to die for, whilst the Tropscore acts played. But as the sun set, the screening began, with the finalists shown. This years signature item was 'spring' which presented literally, seasonally, and some we didn't actually spot at all....but they must have been there!

Many of this years films had the crowd laughing out loud, with The Furry Cheque Book and Bargin! being my favourites. Creative use of a barter system, and then a cheeky perve...hee hee.

Plain silly funny were Notes From A Scaresmith, Jackie's Spring Palace. And then there was Gyton Grantley playing himself being mistaken in Being Carl Williams - second place of the competition.

Films with a punch at the end included Fences, which eventually came third for the night, NYE, The News, and Gyton Grantley again in Beyond Words.

The winner of this year was Be My Brother, portraying a lad with Downs Syndrome charming a woman at a bus stop. We were entertained by Tim Finn during intermission, topping another great night of cutting edge film makers trying to get a foot in the industry.

First Birthday and the Number 8

I went back to Ballarat for the weekend, and hung out with Katie and Mum on Saturday. Sunday afternoon, though, I headed across to the Eureka Stockade playground park area for the gathering to mark Cooper and Charli's first birthday.

Andrea, who confesses to planning this sort of thing for years and years, had a full spread of people, food and play equipment. I was handed little Cooper upon arrival - so cute! - and eventually sat in the sea of kids and toys with him and some books.

Cake time revealed a Lady Bug and Bumble Bee twin cake, homemade by Andrea (who is not meant to have this much time on her hands - how does she do it!!!?). She says the cake and party theme was because Charli is a lady, and Cooper is such a busy Bee!

Following the big party, I headed home to get Mum before her and I bonded at the pub, watching the footy! A NAB cup match between Hawthorn and Sydney, which the Hawks were lucky enough to win! A rush the to train station for me after the final siren to get the train back to Melbourne.

I made it back to the big city, just in time for the first short film showing for this year's Tropfest at the Sidney Myer Music Bowl. Joining Katie, Jessie and Noodles on their picnic rug, we settled in for the 16 finalists - all this year needing to feature the number 8 in some way.

The eventual winner of the night was Marry Me, a show of a school aged romance - but for the audience, or at least gievn the female dominated laughter during the screening, it was about the lengths in which a girl will go to be noticed by the object of her affection. So cute!

Dom and Jason, and Sneeze!

I traveled down to Melbourne, and down to Melissa and Clinton's in the heat on Saturday, to attend the engagement party of Dominica and Jason. Dom accepted Jason's proposal in the UK quite a while ago, but during their stopover here at Dom's hometown, they have had a chance to celebrate with her family and friends. Held at Dom's parents home in Kew, the scene was decked out in Chinese lanterns, for the Chinese New Year, and the fact that the happy couple are about to live in China.

Meeting long time friends and family of Dom's, and catching up with both Dom and Jason, as the sun baked on. Speeches were made, and the couple was toasted numerous times. Congrats to them both!

On Sunday, plans to head to the MCG for the Shane Warne tribute Twenty/20 were ditched in light of the 38C temperatures...and a backyard BBQ was enjoyed instead at Melissa and Clinton's, with Jess and Noodles.

We then packed a picnic of goodies and went down to the Sidney Myer Music Bowl, for this years Tropfest. Having never been to either, we set up ready for a night of film, wine and food.

Joined by Danielle and Kumi, Watty, Diana and Wendy, our little picnic got started, just before the rain got started! A shower here and there, umbrellas were up and then down again. The ominous clouds up above pelted down cooling rain, and then would stop just as abruptly.

Just before the films got started, we sought shelter under the big sail of the bowl...and the short films began. This year's signature item was Sneeze, meaning each film entered needed to have a senze in their film somewhere. It was interesting to see how creative and funny the placements were.

The two standouts for me in the 16 screened finalists were Road Rage, and the eventual winner of the night, An Imaginary Life. Road Rage showed a minor bingle on the road between two male drivers, and the altercation after, which turned into one man comforting the other as he told of his lifes woes. Eventually a long line of cars backed up, and soon their male drivers too were all sharing the sympathy - great promo for men's mental health!

An Imaginary Life was the story of what happens to children's imaginary friends when they get forgotten about. A mixture of animation and real life stills, this one was funny and cute.

A testiment to this film festival, in that despite the pelting rain, and the baking heat to start with, the crowd stayed throughout. Laughter, a collective ewwwwwww for Bad Yoghurt, and clapping ensured for each short film.