Updateyness...

Ok, sorry. I hate it when people don't update their blogs for ages but I think I'm the worst offender!

It's only because my life is so darn boring!

Ok, no, it's wonderful and fulfilling and a great big exciting Journey of Life. Is that at all convincing?

Anyway...

The casting for the film extra work went fine. It was just a case of filling out the forms and being measured and having a photo taken. One of the requirements was that extras must be prepared to have their hair cut to suit the period - which means pretty short. Sounds fun. It will be a couple of weeks before I hear about that. Keep those fingers crossed!

We've had one rehearsal for Masked Man and shooting starts this Saturday. I'm really looking forward to it. The team are all lovely and friendly and hardworking. They were even happy for me to bring the girls to the rehearsal; they had a great time.

Other than that... losing weight in the lead-up to Easter is just such a lost cause. I am hopelessly addicted to chocolate. I've already had to replace the easter stash for the kids once (doesn't help that Noel's been away so I'm lonely and he's not there to stop me!). Terrible, I know. I'm still doing heaps of exercise though so hopefully there's not too much damage being done.

On the mental/emotional front lately - I've been freaking myself out with how much of my emotional energy has been going into "starting an acting career", to the detriment of my darling family. So I'm going to be trying to not focus on it so much. I figure these kiddos are only small for a short time, and I plan to be alive and kicking for quite a long time yet, so what's the hurry? (I know, I've said things like this before! I occasionally have issues with perspective in life, don't I.) Plus, we maybe want to have another baby next year so basically, that's more important for the immediate future.

I have no plans to stop acting or working or anything. Besides anything else I'm still desperate for paid work of any description (well... not any), but if I can get a little bit of momentum without trying to move too fast, I'll be a happy girl.

Let's see, what movies have I seen lately...

Blood Diamond... loved it. It made me think "this kind of film is why I want to be in films". The story is fairly average and predictable (compelling nonetheless), but the characters are beautiful, and beautifully acted.

Leonardo DiCaprio's accent only had a few irritating moments - he sounded Australian every now and then... but nothing that detracted for more than a second from the character and his story. I admit I was sceptical of all the reports saying Leo's all grown up and improved by leaps and bounds.. but it's true, he has. I actually believed that he was an adult, despite the still-baby-face looks, who had gone through all that history.

Djimon Honsou deserves every bit of praise he's been getting for his role, it's brilliant. I kept thinking how hard it would be as a native African to portray that story. His "devoted father" moments were great but his "unsure partner" moments were even better.

Jennifer Connelly was just your standard charming-American-girl, but you get that. Every film needs one of them, apparently. I did think she and DiCaprio worked together very nicely.

Overall, the film made me cry - a LOT. If you have kids and this film doesn't make you cry, then seriously, you have freaky emotional control. There are some very very disturbing images and sequences - and I was crying not only for the real children that the film depicts, but for the child actors who somehow had to portray all those awful things. I will be very interested to see a "making of" featurette and find out how the children did what they did.

Secret Window ... a Depp one from 2004. Loved it! I love Mort; don't care if he's psychopathic, I love him anyway. Johnny is brilliant in a very understated, everyday way. And John Turturro is wonderful. I'm going to have to start looking up other Turturro films because I'm really liking what I see of him.
My favourite thing about the film is that Johnny did his own driving for the crazy-maniac-reversing-through-a-carpark opening sequence. Loved it.

The Little Mermaid ... (and The Little Mermaid II )... ha, well, I do have two little girls. And their daddy loves to buy them movies! Plus, you can't beat Ariel, Flounder and Sebastian for a lovely little sing-along.

Anyway, I'm going to get back to Harry Potter - that's what's been keeping me away from the computer lately... ah, Harry... and Ron, and Dumbledore, and... etc etc...