The Break-Up. No not the shitty movie. For real!

Shit movie. True story. (PS Vince Vaughn, I'd hit that) 

I'm going to do a completely honest post here so please, be kind. I'm in a place right now that could be described as "emotionally unstable" to put it very mildly. Recently, I broke up with my boyfriend of 4 1/2 years. Nothing untoward happened and we still love each other, we sadly just grew apart and it's time to go our separate ways. We own a house together so we're working all that out now. At work, my contract had run out and for a while I didn't think I'd have a job. Two weeks until "OH FUCK" day, I found out that I will have said job for another two years. Still, with the emotional trauma of ending a relationship with someone who I really like and of having to move out, I've been, understandably, on edge. What about our cat? Where will my stuff go? What's going to happen? Of course, it's all slowly being sorted out but with my case of "undiagnosed" ADHD, this is insanity inducing.

Bad YouTube, good friends and handy hints on vlogging, blogging and podcasting

I just spent a good hour with my dear friend Nicole @NicNacPaddiWack having a few beverages and talking about bad YouTube videos. Recently, Google decided to link YouTube accounts with Google accounts. That's fine except they decided to link mine to an email address I deleted two years ago. I no longer have access to my YouTube account but apparently "they're working on it". Yeesh. This is why I now watch videos on Vimeo while weeping for all my missing subscriptions and access to 3 video uploads. 

This whole rant of mine led to watching potentially one of the worst film critics I have ever seen (who I will not link to because I'm not that much of a bitch.) Let's just say this particular reviewer sounded like he was reading at a 3rd grade remedial level and his personality rivals that of Dick Cheney. It was painful to watch! Nicole and I had decided to do a quick podcast to give some tips for people out there who are keen to do videos, podcasts and blogs. Funnily enough, I tested the new mic I bought for $12 off the internet and it was terrible audio quality. Go figure. Since I can't give you a podcast,  I've decided to do a blog. Nicole and I have a combined total of 12 years in the radio biz so we think we have a thing or two to offer in terms of advice.

Here's a break down of our hot tips:

Wow, so it's been a while. So to apologise, you can win something!

I'm currently filmmaking instead of film watching. It's not going so well. So many bumps in the road. I'll let you know more when I can. It's small-time short films but it's a start. 

I'm also running a small competition over on twitter in celebration of Akira Kurosawa's 100th bday (had he lived to see it). All you need to do is watch a Kurosawa film and comment on it by Midnight on Monday wherever you are in the world. My favourite comment wins a prize! 

I've seen a few films, some great (The Hurt Locker oh boy) and some not so great (The Rebound) and I've watched some old faves (Big, Whole Nine Yards) to name but a few. Have I been to the cinema much this year? Not really, but I'm ok with that. There are so many ways to watch  movies these days. However, this cute untamable dragon might pull me back in. We'll see.

For now, do yourself a favour and watch a Kurosawa film. They are slow paced but you'll be shocked at how many of your favourite films they've influenced. 

See you on the other side of Monday!

Finishing Move (a guest post by Hugh Langley of Reel)

Hugh Langley is the author of Reel, another blog about movies, and you can also find him on twitter.

It has recently come to my attention that I perhaps put too much emphasis on a film’s ending, the very end, and I know it’s something I really shouldn’t do. I acknowledge that the ending isn’t necessarily the tipping point of a film, but it’s those last few moments I always take away with me. That’s not to say that everything that preceded it is forgotten of course. On the contrary, a film is, after all, the sum of its parts. But the tail end of a movie can often speak the loudest. Does it wrap the package up and deliver a happy reconciled conclusion, or leave it open for a bit of viewer discretion and guess-work? Does it even have an “ending” in the conventional sense at all? Or, more importantly, does it give the audience what they want? 

It’s pretty difficult to please everyone, so here’s five of my favourite all time movie endings that I think come the closest. Needless to say: contains spoilers.

Did I ever tell you about this thing called Twitter?

Sorry for not posting lots lately. I tend to tweet about things and think that's good enough, which isn't really true.

Have a look at my flutters of activity if you like.

I'm enjoying brief encounters with celebrities, hilarious links and lots of good vibes. Forgive my posting tourettes...I get excited sometimes. Hope to see you on twitter!

Guess who's following me on Twitter?

THIS GUY! Sean Patrick Flanery, THE Young Indiana Jones. I'm totally stoked! I'm never going to make it as a professional critic am I? Fans can't be professional, it's just impossible.

It's probably just some publicist or whatever but if you want updates from SPF, click HERE.

Ack, somewhere teenage me just went into cardiac arrest!

Twitteroo!

Hey guys, you can follow my progress on Twitter now thanks to a guy named Leo and another one named Alex.

This morning I was an accidental guest on a webcast by Leo Laporte. He's a tech expert on radio, tv and web out of the USA. I was lucky to bump into him at the radio station where I do movie and gossip reports. Sadly it was his last morning with the station so I only got to butt in once!

I had a lot of fun though and his community of listeners/viewers is incredibly supportive. Please have a look at his site and various podcasts etc HERE. He knows tons about digital photography etc and is in Australia with Adobe for just that reason.

Just in case you actually want to, you can subscribe to me on Twitter HERE.