This is my favorite movie of all time (at the moment). It has the three FABULOUS actresses pictured above as well as Maggie Smith and Sarah Jessica Parker: two wonderful actresses, in supporting roles.

The movie’s over-riding theme is feminism and it tackles it in a few different ways, showing many different facits of femininity from butch lesbians to an ultra-femme gym-junkie actress pumped full of collagen.

I won’t give any part of the story line away because it’s full off little surprises that I wouldn’t want to spoil, but the premise is this. Three estranged college friends find each other again after a mutual friend’s funeral only to find they are all recently divorced or separated; they divise plans to get revenge on their ex-husbands and to preserve the memory of their friend. 

I recommend this film to everyone, especially if you’ve just broken up with a boyfriend!

White Wine In The Sun - Tim Minchin

I love love love Christmas, and am a sucker for a good (or even a bad) Christmas carol so naturally I love this one, but even my grinchy friends like White Wine In The Sun. As much as the song is about a sunny, alcohol-filled, Christmas without the necessity of the Jesus story, I like that he does sort of touch on maintaining the reverence of Christmas as a Christian holiday (even if he doesn’t maintain the reverence of Christianity its self) It’s a warm fuzzy carol for all of us that like Christmas but don’t hold any religious attachment to it. I’m sure it’ll end up on everyone’s Christmas playlists!

P.S Maybe don’t listen to it if you’re a conservative orthodox Christian - you will be offended/scandalized by the second verse

P.P.S. This link is just the audio track, there is a video version of it on Youtube but it’s a bit of a crap performance.

I only recently got on to dukkah so I don’t have lots to write about it, but I thought I’d share it all the same. It’s a middle-eastern, nut-based spice mix that wikipedia claims is native to Egypt. Pistachio, Almond and Macadamia Dukkah is available at most supermarkets but the really good stuff is at proper spice marts. The Egyptians, apparently (again going off wiki) often have Dukkah on bread dipped in oil. (Please send me a message if this is wrong…)

The first time a tried Dukkah was on a modified BLT - it seemed to go pretty well. Since, I’ve found a cafe in Melbourne CBD: Thousand Pound Bend that has Avocado, Feta and Dukkah on Rye and it is amazing! 

Go out and buy some Dukkah, so long as you’re not allergic to nuts, and give it a go! If you’re not sure how to use it, try one of the foods above or some packets have recipes on the side of the box you can try, or just google one!

Dr. Who

Just came across this video about Dr. Who. I do love Dr. Who so will give the show a proper posting later on. (after the Christmas special so I have more to say than “it’s good”) In the mean time, however, listen to @charlieissocoollike tell you how good it is!

P.S. The Unicorn and the Wasp isn’t as bad as he says. It’s actually written in the same style as an Agatha Christie novel so is fun in that way - though I concede it was not a high-point of the fourth season…

There was a time when I thought of Kathy Griffin as an unnecessarily mean gossip columnist doing stand-up (and not very well). When I was told she has a huge gay following I liked to think it was just 1 fat guy. This is mostly because all I saw of Kathy Griffin was on the news after she dis something awfully irreverent. BOY, WAS I WRONG! This chick is hilarious if you give her half a chance. 

I should preface that her comedy is unarguably mean, but that shouldn’t be mistaken for mean-spirited. Don’t watch any of her stuff (or read on) if you’re going to be offended by gay stories, pro-left/anti-right political prejudice, celebrity bullying, or curly language. That is her act.

Kathy Griffin, unlike a lot of stand-ups, tells stories about celebrities, bad TV-Shows, politicians and gay friends - specific things that we know about and (sorta) care about, not just mildy humorous joke about air-plane food. She has me laughing in hysterics every time I pick up her book or watch her shows. We constantly hear new stories about what celebrities she’s run into and how much they hate her for speaking out of school, we hear about her alcoholic mother, we hear about her battle with the Palins, we hear about the idiots in whichever new reality TV show she’s addicted to, and we hear all about ways she’s made a tit of herself.

Everybody who hasn’t been already turned off by my warnings - switch over to Youtube and check her out! If you like her, she’s got a book out that’s really, really funny! Get into her!!!

Nan’s Christmas Carol - Catherine Tate

I like almost everything Catherine Tate does, and almost everything with a Christmas theme, so naturally, when I came across this TV special last year I fell in love with it. I’ll endeavour not to give a lot of the humour and little surprises away, as because the story is based on The Christmas Carol, they are the only bits that make this such good TV - but I will say there are lots of celebrities, lots of funny throw-backs and references to the original book and buckets of Catherine Tate’s signature humour.

Next time you’ve got a spare hour for TV-watching give it a go. Part 1 of 4 is attached above.

Last night I was taken to The Grey Hound in St Kilda to see Boylesque. I was not impressed by the club its self: it seems a bit like a Sydney Kings Cross club - doesn’t really suit me too much. The show, though, was mind-blowing! The men were super good looking but that was not the best bit! The costumes are ornate and fabulous. The choreography was fantastic. The music they chose was perfect. The gymnastics was superb.

It was 30 minutes of captivating performance and I recommend it for all fags and their hags/stags. 

ABC’s Pan Am has been one of the best TV drama series to come out of the US in a long time. It follows 4 Pan Am stewardesses in the 1960’s showing how these privileged and beautiful young women travelled the around the world and navigated through the Cold War, Civil Rights Movement and the birth of Feminism. It manages to depict allot more that any of its own advertising material seems to suggest. A philosopher’s dream: it gives much food for thought on topics rarely discussed in popular culture such as patriotism, family loyalty and internalised prejudices. The only down side of this series is nobody’s watching it in the US! It’s one of the highest rating shows in every country it’s exported to, but the lowest rating scripted show on ABC in the US. The last 2 episodes seemed to sacrifice some of the thought provoking storylines in order to grasp at viewer numbers, but to no avail - as such it has been “suspended” (which is studio talk for cancelled until the end of ratings season where it will return with a quarter of the budget)

 I urge everyone to go and watch the existing 8 episodes, and give it another go when/if it does return to our screens.

This is, obviously, bad news. Losing a good show is always frustrating but this cancellation does come with a consolation prize. Replacing Pan Am, is a new show: GCB (formally called Good Christian Bitches, then Good Christian Belles, not just GCB)

I don’t know if GCB is going to be good replacement or a bad replacement (it certainly has big shoes to fill), but I hold out hope as Kristin Chenoweth is in it - and I love her (perhaps she’ll get a post of her own some day soon), also it seems to make fun of the south, and though I don’t like stereotypes on the whole, the south is a really funny one! (albeit just as inaccurate as every other stereotype) 

If you’re a gay man in Melbourne and not too in to the ridiculous Prahran scene, come up to Richmond and give DTs a go! It’s not catered towards the 3am crowd so don’t come expecting Cascada’s latest remix and fluoro sunglasses, but they’ve got great bartenders, cheap-ish drinks, good music and a really nice crowd. Leave your twinks at home - everyone is friendly at DTs, no bitches allowed. Not to mention it’s MOLLY MELDRUM’s local! 

They’ve got things on most nights, but I usually hit it up on Friday nights (where they have a BBQ with awesome salads with procedes going to some LGBT charity) and Saturday nights (where they have a hilarious drag queen do stand up and a few lip-syncing shows)

It’s my absolute favorite place to go out in Melbourne and it’s walking distance to The Peel and Sircuit if you want to turn a few pub drinks into a big night out.

Ladies and straights are welcome, but probably wont get any of the jokes - definitely catered towards gay men born in the 70’s and 80’s.

CHECK OUT THEIR WEBSITE HERE

GOOGLE MAPS REFERENCE HERE

As I stated before, there aren’t a lot of books that grab my interest, but Mao’s Last Dancer had me finish all 33 chapters (in the new edition) in 2 days - which really is lightning speed compared to my normal reading rate. It is the autobiography of Li Cunxin - the Chinese-American-Australian ballet dancer. It tells the story of how, purely by chance, a very, very poor young child from rural southern China was selected to go to the most prestigious ballet school in Beijing (without any ballet experience or audition) by the invitation of Chairman Mao’s own wife, and how he learns of the evils of communism and defects to The United States. This seems like a far-fetched plot of a young children’s TV show - but it is pure, unedited fact! 

Li Cunxin has a real gift for language (which is even more impressive considering its his second) and paints the picture of his various settings beautifully. The photos included in the book of some people, places and events helps too.

A very emotional read, I encourage everyone with even a vague interest in China, communism or ballet to give it a go. It may even spark an interest that you don’t yet have. Truly great read - I haven’t seen the movie yet, I’m too scared it won’t do the book justice.

Obviously, alcohol isn’t good for your liver, vascular system, or cerebellum, but drinking is a big part of our culture as young people. How do we go out clubbing and not enlarge our liver? Solution: mocktails! (and this one is a good one!) The sugar in most mocktails isn’t good for your insulin levels, but so long as you keep up water intake (and don’t have lots of them or every night) they’re much, much better for your general health than regular cocktails.

I’m not saying don’t drink alcohol at all! Swapping cocktails for mocktails even once or twice a week will make a big diference in your wellbeing (and your bank balance!) and it makes you feel a little bit fancy.

Strawberry Mojitos – The Berry Bible

Strawberry Mojito Cocktail Recipe

adapted from The Berry Bible

• 1.5 ounces of simple syrup
• about 3 fresh strawberries
• about 4-5 fresh spearmint sprigs (chopped if you prefer smaller mint pieces in your cocktail)
• soda water
• 1/2 lime
• 2 ounces of light rum

1. In a chilled glass (about 10-12 ounces), muddle the simple syrup, strawberries and mint leaves together with the back of a spoon or muddler. Crush the strawberries and mint leaves well.

2. Squeeze the juice from the lime into the glass, add the rum and stir well. Fill glass with ice and top off with soda water.

3. Garnish with mint sprigs or strawberry slices. Makes 1 drink.

Simple Syrup Recipe

• 2 c Water
• 1 lb Sugar

1. Combine water and sugar in a medium saucepan. Heat until sugar is completely dissolved. Set aside to cool. After cool, store in refrigerator until ready to use.

Glebe Markets used to be my local markets before moving to Melbourne, and it’s still my absolute favorite part of Sydney. The markets don’t sell fresh produce like Victorian markets do, rather the sell everything else. Clothes, books, knick-knacks, luggage, ethnic foods, massages, beauty products and everything else in between! They have a little grassy area in the middle of the markets where there is often musicians and other performers, an ATM across the road, and a truck load of hippies.

Ideal for little hippies like myself, but great for anyone! I implore everyone in Sydney to make the trek to the Inner West and enjoy the markets. On my last visit to Sydney I spent the whole day at the markets on the grass it was just amazing!

CHECK OUT THEIR WEBSITE HERE

The Book Depository

I often mis-pronounce this website, but it is The Book DEpository! I think it’s quite well-known, but for those who don’t know about it, it’s a wonderful website that stocks every book under the sun for a fraction of the regular retail price. It sometimes takes a while for deliveries to arrive, and shipments come separately - even if they’re ordered at the same time! I have heard of them mixing up soft and hard cover orders too - but it’s wonderful and worth the occasional stuff-up.

Everyone who reads, or wants to get into reading - give it a go!

In 21 years of life the only computer game I’ve ever gotten into is Age of Mythology - but I’ve been playing it on and off since I was 14. It’s made by the same people as Age of Empires (for those who know computer games) and has an expansion pack called ‘The Titans’ which is also very good, but not available on Apple.

In the game you play as an ancient race: Greek, Egyptian, or Norse, and worship different gods. Depending on the gods you worship, different ’divine intervention’ becomes available. The aim of the game is to conquer the opposition in a war-style campaign, but the focus is more on building the civilization than it is on war strategy - which I really like.

I suggest this game for people that have an interest in ancient history and mythology as you can learn a lot from the game, and the more you understand, the better you can play. I don’t know anything about technical aspects about video games so can’t talk about graphics or matrices or anything else gamers would talk about, but I do know it’s fun and intellectually stimulating.

Beautiful People is a FABULOUS BBC sitcom based in Reading in the 90s and follows a young Simon Doonan (a super camp 13 year-old) and his best friend Kylie (self-namedafter Kylie Minogue). It is an explosion of über-gay 90s references and cliches and is a treat to watch. The juxtaposition of 2 gay best friends with Spice Girl school bags against the grey backdrop of Reading is really quite funny, but also quite confronting when you realize with 10-12% of the population being gay, there would have had to have been some gay kids growing up in exactly this fashion!

Don’t watch if you’re going to be put off by camp humor - that’s not all Beautiful People has to offer, but it does do it spectacularly well! There is a more meaningful side of the series, as the boys strive to get out of Reading to London to live amongst “the beautiful people” they realize no matter how unfashionable and seemingly-homophobic their families may be they’re pretty beautiful people too.

Every gay man that grew up in the 90s needs to watch this!