Paris Cat and the Toff

After a week of hiding out in the office as much as possible, away from this record breaking, never-ending heatwave, I was hanging for Friday night drinks. As we polished off a few starters in the tea room at work, the news was that the temperature had finally dropped 10C...

Having drawn out a late night bar for Project 2009 this week, we first ventured out for happy hour at if, downstairs and next door to work.

Approaching 8pm, and finishing off our beers, Bec, Alissa and Michelle made their way to eat, while Bree, Dan, and I were met by Laura, before we all meet up again to go to Paris Cat.

Empty when we went in, the little jazz bar is cute, but perhaps not a drinking and meeting people place. Music starts at 9.30pm, and after a round of drinks we were asked for the cover charge! The band warming up let out a piecing feedback...and we were out of there.

Walking up to Swanston Street, we took to the lift to the second floor at the Curtain Building, to the Toff in Town. Having been here for a gig last year, this little venue is a great place for music, as well as drinks. The band room was an open space with tables, and the other side had intimate booths.

Belgian Beer, Aussie Beer

For a Sunday Session in the middle of the long weekend, I headed in to the Belgium Beer Garden, to mark Melissa's birthday - who's birthday was actually when we were at the Sydney Test, so this was a Melbourne gathering.

Meeting Rick there, and then joining the line for a beer, we settled in to the packed beer garden. Springer, Dan and Laura all joined us for a decent afternoon session, in Melbourne's blazing sunshine and heat.

The next day I made the trek out to Elsternwick for Rick's annual Australia Day BBQ. Feeling very much like a trip on the tube and train combination in London, it was an hour trip out to the 'burbs, to a sun drenched backyard. With Rick behind the grill, the tennis and cricket on the TV inside, and Triple J's Hottest 100 on the radio, it was a perfect setting.

Melissa joined us late in the afternoon, after another one of her work trips, and we saw in the top 10, with little surprise at the top few tracks on the countdown.

Revolutionary Slumdog

Yesterday Nikki and I decided to create our own movie marathon at Nova in Carlton. So many award catching movies around at the moment, and many I want to see, back to back on a free day seemed like a perfect Saturday afternoon and evening activity!

Just a short tram down from my house, we joined the line up and purchased our first two movie tickets, and settled into Cinema 2 for Revolutionary Road.

The reunification of Leo and Kate on the big screen, these two have a chemistry. This movie is about the couple meeting across a crowded room, falling in love with the meeting of dreams and life expectations. And then suddenly they wake up some 10 or so years later with two kids, the picture perfect house in the suburbs, he working a nothing job he loathes and she keeping house and being driven mad by boredom....this is a horror movie in my book!

Set in 1950s, the scenes of Leo travelling into work, walking in the same direction as everyone, looking the same as everyone else, are hard hitting. The discontent of the Wheelers is palpable.

Then it's his birthday, and she suggests changes. Suggests they chase their dream afterall, while they still have the chance. The flame between them is ignited again, and it's magic. Reactions of the people in their world about there plans are comical, and yet jolting. And then John Givings understands them completely...a good or bad sign?

A great movie, which scared me to death, and will leave me thinking for days! Such a strong performance from Kate. About marriage and the modern dream.

Walking along Lygon Street after making Nikki sit through the credits, to her disgust, taking in the bustling people, and then choosing a place for dinner, before our next movie.

Slumdog Millionaire has captured the imagination of anyone who watched the Golden Globes, and has huge expectations for the Oscars...and quite rightly so.

To a packed Cinema 1, the story of Jamal, Who Wants To Be A Millionaire? contestant tortured and accused of cheating, the story of his knowledge of each answer to date reveals his life story.

Running is a theme, running through the slums of Mumbai, running from trouble, running from death and tragedy, running to find Latika. The kids that play Jamal and Salim are so gorgeous, and their antics are cute and funny amid their plight.

Beautiful and enchanting depiction of India, the streets and the hustle, and the Taj. The scams these kids get up to are funny, but remind me of the kind of travel I used to do.

It seems every version of Who Wants To Be A Millionaire? has someone stumble over the pronunciation of million, the storytelling is so well done. And the soundtrack is amazing!

We abandoned the idea of our third screening, after Green Apple sorbet to die for at Brunetti...so I am still keen to see Milk.

Gin Palace

Last night week 3 of Project 2009 took us to Gin Palace, after work drinks. Mixed reviews from people who had been before and also on the net for this place, it was a new find for me. Our work group of Nikki, Kylee, Bec, Alissa, Michelle, Mary and Simon trammed down Bourke Street again from work, to find this little place off Russell Place, marked with a cursive GP above the door.

Walking in, it's very dark as we found our way to a gathering of old mismatched and gorgeous couches. Inside Jules and Leanne were there, who were joined by Jenny and Kate.

Stacey and Andrew soon joined the crew, with our posse for the Project spread over two groups of couches. The venue is small, and quite, so plenty of chances for chatting, and actually hearing each other. Not really a place to mingle, but it worked well with our groups.

Kylee and I set about choosing a cocktail from the menu. The barstaff are friendly and engaging, as I ordered a cocktail called Suffering Bastard! When our drinks were brought out to our group, the barman asked "who's the bastard?!", and then "who's the lemon tart?" for Kylee. Hee hee. When Kate ordered Another Bartender from the cocktail menu, she was told she was stuck with him for the night! Cute!

Strong, expensive cocktails here with quirky names, the Bastard had Appleton rum, so all good! Back to beer after for me, with a wide range of Aussie and imported bottled beers.

Jenny, Kate, Leanne and I headed out around the corner to Red Violin afterwards, for more funky chairs and another round of drinks, before moving along to The Carlton, a noisy, busy place. Standing on the balcony in the balmy Melbourne night was very nice, after a hot, hot week.

Aus Open Day Two

Second day of tennis for the year, Mum and I headed into Melbourne Park, bracing ourselves for the high 30s temperatures predicted. We headed into Centre Court planning to settle into the match with Andy Murray.

Half an hour into his match, his French opponent started having issues with his back, and retired mere games after. Feeling the heat, even in the shade inside the big court, I sat through a Williams sister's match, just to avoid the heat!

The third match of the day on Rod Laver Arena was Aussie Hewitt against Chilean Gonzalez. A former runner up, we watch Gonzalez last year in a fiery match, and with Hewitt on a comeback trail, the match was poised as a big one.

Tension, a timely injury time for Gonzalez, and the Aussie crowd and Hewitt passion...5 sets later the Chilean was the victor in a hard fought match. The Melbourne weather having dropped down a little during the long match, Mum and I headed out to the outer courts.

We found seats in Court Two as Monfils was finishing his match, ready for the start of Tommy Haas. Perfect timing. Our plan was to watch this one, and then jump over to Margeret Court Arena for the Blake match - keeping one ear on the Aussie girl's match on that court, we watched Haas work his way through a 3 set win.

Our change over for courts worked in nicely with the matches, and Mum and I grabbed seats for Blake just as he was warming up - finding Bumble and Lizby in our aisle for the match also! As twilight decended, and the air got much cooler, Blake breezed through the first two sets, before having the Canadian seems to take control on court and through the crowd. The eventual 3 set win for Blake didn't reflect the efforts of the Canadian, under lights after a hot summer day.

Aus Open Day One

Yesterday, after Mum arrived into town from Ballarat, we both headed in to Melbourne Park for the Australian Open.

With our tickets into Rod Laver Arena, we headed straight in for the first match, being Andy Roddick. An easy match for him, with the 191 ranked Swede not causing any trouble for the Seventh seed. The Swedish fans chanted from one side of the arena to the other, but the crowd were enjoying the A-Rod's super fast serves, and all business demeanor.

Outside after that, to the start of the Baghdatis match...and we started to bake out in the mid 30C heat. It took Marcos almost three hours to win his first round match, in a less than convincing display. On the court next door, massive cheers were heard for the youngest Aussie and his first round victory.

Managing to score a seat with shade for the next match, I watched Moya dawdle through his three set loss. One gets the feeling this will be the last time we see Carlos in Melbourne.

A touch sunburnt, Mum and I wondered around to take in this year's Open set up, before calling it a day and making our way to Lygon Street for dinner, and then ice-cream at Brunetti.

Grand Final in January

On Saturday, I marked the Grand Final experience for 2008, in the style to be expected without the threat of internal bleeding and death. And wow, that win just keeps getting better!

Melissa had ordered several slabs of special commemorative edition Carlton Draught just after the win, with team photo, the score, and Premiers 2008 plastered on it. With that, and a gathering of Hawks in our lounge room, we were set to do it all again.

Rick, Melissa, Jenny and I took in the build up on the Victory Pack DVD, and then selected the Triple M commentary, just to mix it up. Being assigned a player for the match lead to us really feeling how many touches Hodge, Ozbourne, Ellis and Sewell got respectively. Man, they were good!

Taking it all in again, we soaked in Croad limbing back up from the rooms with 5 minutes to go, high on painkillers after breaking his foot and missing much of the game. Watched him embrace and draw blood with many of his Premiership teammates, which those crutches. We loved the presentation, with Campbell's hug for the kid presenting him his medal - cute! The moment of the cup raising...and of course, Crawford's elation.

So absorbed, we jumped back to halftime, to watch that Third Quarter again...so, so good! What a memory!

A pub meal at The Empress to take the beery glow down a notch ended the day. And now, I think we are all keen for the 2009 season to start! Go Hawks!