So it's been three weeks and a million years since my last post, but the festival is finally over and I now lay exhausted in my lovely beautiful much-missed bed and am fully on the road to recovery. It was a great festival, here are some of my highlights:
Me looking lovely in Collette Dinnigan on Opening Night
Me looking foxy in a little black number at the party for the World Premiere of The Square
Me looking foxy again in an Alannah Hill number and new specs at the party for the World Premiere of Three Blind Rodents
Me accepting my award for most eclectic wardrobe in a lovely Zimmermann number at the Opera House
Yes, you guessed it, my aforementioned dazzling array of frocks didn't let me down, and I managed to get away with only one repeat, and even then I accessorised so differently no-one noticed!
Apart from my frocks, there were heaps of other fun things going on. There was a martial arts-obsessed panda; wannabe gangsters; numerous penguins; sexed-up bugs; frozen horses; a talking horse; a runaway horse; a lost horse; a lost band; a lost bicycle; lost people; too much viagra; birdwatchers; some rescued chickens; tattooed men; ten-pound poms; imprisoned choristers; elderly choristers; runaway soldiers; surfies; refugees; tsunami survivors; hunger strikers; lemon trees; a spiral jetty; good prayers; money-making toilets; tight-rope walkers; old rockers; older folksingers; two hardcore heavy metal dudes; and one long kiss in the surf.
(Let's play a new game -- how many film references can you spot there, folks? A free SFF bag for the first person to correctly identify each of those films...)
Now that the festival is over I'm slowly regaining my sanity (Yes, not quite there I hear you cry) and getting my life back in order. It's been a pleasure this weekend (my first weekend off since March!) to enjoy the simple things in life -- going shopping in my local shops, baking fish, vegetables, fruit crumble, and mooching about in the winter sun. I ran on the cliffs for the first time in ages, read a couple of books, watched some episodes of The West Wing (Season 4 disc 2, in case you're interested), and even went for a pedicure and foot massage (taking a leaf out of Siobhan's book, as it's nothing I've ever done before, but it was fab!). So, in terms of battery power I'd say I've recharged from 15% back to about 35-40%. Let's see if I make it back to 90-100% before the next festival kicks in.
Post-festival I took my team out for an afternoon jaunt to see some art on Cockatoo Island. This is a real island in the harbour, which used to be a shipbuilding island, after it was a place to keep convicts. Many of the buildings are still exactly as they were all those years ago, and I secretly thought the buildings were more impressive than the art currently held inside them! It's all part of the Biennale which is on at the moment, and hopefully I'll catch some more before September. We were all too exhausted to really appreciate it but the trip on the boat and in the winter sun was good for us.
I've put some more pics on flickr if you want to see more festival fun, and all the venues and some of my colleagues. I didn't catch many films but I'm making up for it now by borrowing screeners. I think the rest of Winter will be spent curled up on the sofa watching festival screeners, drinking lemon and ginger and looking after myself. Hoorah.
As a festival antidote, a gang of us gathered at a house in Coogee and watched a triple bill of 80s classics. We'd spent much of the festival talking about the Luck Dragon and Faldor, so we needed the tonic.
Yes you've guessed it, 80s movie fans, the musical reference of the title is Bowie in Labyrinth.
So that's all for now but I think usual blogging duties shall resume now that I'm not doing crazy 16-hour days. Not only will I have more time to blog, but hopefully I'll also have a life to blog about! Not quite as exciting as Siobhan's jaunt in New Zealand but interesting nonetheless.
Love to you all.
cx
