Today has just been a strange day. First, waking to the news of Farrah Fawcett passing away, after suffering in these last few months. But like Ryan O’Neale said, she was so strong, brave and fought to the end documenting her life in those last few weeks, in the most honest and raw way that anybody can, when terminally ill.

Then came the breaking news that Michael Jackson had been rushed to hospital after cardiac arrest. Then, as I was having to get ready for work, and keeping an eye on the television, once on the way to work, I had to rely on emails and/or Twitter. I honestly think that its a very morbid way to find out about news; especially when a tabloid website is the first to report a death. How do you find out the truth? Particularly when some agencies reported a coma, others were confirming a death. It was horrible either way; all the while, either way a music, dance & fashion icon; the true King of Pop at only 50 was in an unknown state. Then, once the news was confirmed.. some not so considerate, or sensitive souls were already making jokes about his private life, or about his oddities. It was very hard not to immediately fire back and ask them how anyone could be so cruel. But I held back knowing that it wasn’t worth getting into an ‘argument’ with someone. At the end of the day, whether you know someone or not, to speak ill of the dead, or to make jokes is putting it mildly, in poor taste.

So I thought, I had to share with you my first memory of experiencing Michael Jackson. Thriller

When Thriller was released, I would have been 1 year old. No, readers I do not remember watching or hearing Thriller as a toddler; perhaps I might have been… 6? Please bear with me, whilst I may have this memory of Michael Jackson in the red leather jacket; I can barely remember the last time I vacuumed the house! Moving on..

So I was being babysat, and I remember sitting, fascinated as miss babysitter-whose-name-I-can’t-remember told me all about this cool movie by Michael Jackson! I’m not sure I knew who he was but let me tell you, the memory I have is being so scared, running out of the room, possibly crying, possibly shrieking, being SO scared. The clear memory I have is that I don’t think I watched enough of it to realise that at the end; its just a movie, and Michael’s date has imagined all of the zombies, and demons, and ghosts, and Michael growing those funny whiskers! Honestly, its an awesome videoclip, and who doesn’t want to learn that dance? I wish I could have the moves, just like Jennifer Garner does in 13 Going On 30!

He will be remembered, for a long time. The dance style he inspired, the fashion and the music and countless songs I still sing along to, and listen to, it is a big loss. He is my generation’s John Lennon or Elvis Presley and I will certainly not forget his legacy. Watch the videoclip for Thriller here.

Whilst I don’t know a lot about fashion, nor do I know what colour is in this season; I know what I like. I definitely have style icons in Sarah Wayne Callies, Charlize Theron, Ginnifer Goodwin and a handful of others, but if they start wearing leggings as pants, or those crazy MC Hammer pants – I’m certainly not a mad celebrity whore that would actually be influenced enough to wear them!

In being a career woman and trying to be stylish in a neat casual environment in the digital media industry, I want to stay feminine but comfortable. I don’t need to wear heels to ‘make’ the outfit; the colours and cut of the clothes should be enough. At least that’s the style I aim to achieve each day.

And thanks to a local boutique near home that I practically wander in each Saturday, Honey & Beau have quickly become one of my favourite labels. I have at least 4 or 5 pieces in my wardrobe that I consider staples; investment pieces that I can team with lots of different things.

So I thought I’d share with you a few items in the Winter collection from this year; to introduce you to the label, and to inspire you to be a bit adventurous but still sophisticated and girly with your wardrobe. Sometimes feeling a bit dolled up can make the work day a bit more bearable.

The Tuxedo dress; when other labels are trying to make women wear manshirts, with a cute belt and what not, here is the Tuxedo dress. Adorable!

The Dietrich Deep V dress – absolutely love this dusty grey purple dress which can work with or without leggings.

The Dietrich Scarf Top – look at this outfit! I’m in love with the colours and the cut is so flattering.

The Jennifer Knitted Dress – again this colour is just gorgeous; and the cut of this dress is stunning, whilst I’m in love with the loose sleeves.

Coming to stores next week is the new Spring/Summer 09 collection which makes use of brighter berry tones, and cute little cropped jackets. Visit their website here to look for nearest stockists.

I really wanted to love, no.. I really wanted to like Stop-Loss. After all, it was Ryan Phillippe! My crush for him ever since Cruel Intentions has not dissipated. And Channing Tatum! To be honest, haven’t seen him in anything but Step Up but I had heard he made quite an impact in A Guide To Recognising Your Saints. Then.. ‘our’ Abbie Cornish. Who I’m afraid to say, might only be known as the ‘other woman’ who met Ryan whilst he was still married to one Ms. Witherspoon.. and the rest is history.

The term ‘Stop-Loss’ describes the involuntary extension of a soldier’s service to the army – beyond a normal term of service. No choice in the matter, no date of return – just an extension of service. This film starts in the thick of in, in Tikrit, Iraq where a young team of officers are filming the last couple of days before going back home for leave; where two soldiers SSGt Brandon King (Phillippe) and Sgt Steve Shriver (Tatum) in particular are finishing up, making plans, reuniting with family and trying to move on from wounds, and lost brothers.

And they’re going back home to Texas. Cue the Texan accents.. I can’t really comment on their authenticity but Ryan and his not-so-natural cowboy hats, and Southern twang just doesn’t flow for me, and Abbie’s accent or maybe her characterisation as Michelle, Steve’s fiance is just a little bland.

Upon return to their small Texan town, King gets stop-lossed. Bam. You’re going back to Iraq. He goes AWOL, and tears outta town. With Michelle no less (art imitating life?) who has kicked Steve out for hitting her and generally being distant upon his return. This is where the film loses its way. We feel sympathy for King, who would want to go back to war? Its a natural reaction. The biggest tease to send him back to his family with the promise of staying there but then give him a written order ‘from the President’ telling him he has to go back.

But where it goes off the rails is once the movie becomes a road trip in hopes that a Washington senator will be able to save him, Ryan Phillippe just cannot convey any of the tumultuous emotions that the character should be feeling or expressing. Plus, if we’re meant to believe that King & Shriver have been best friends since school, and have grown up together; that friendship just doesn’t show. There is no brotherly bond that shows at all; let alone guys that have gone through a war together.

What doesn’t help the situation is that in classic ‘MTV Movie’ style there are a lot of flash cuts to the boys in the barracks, and flashbacks to brothers getting wounded, bad sound effects with overly loud grenades and/or machine guns played over metal-esque music. It just doesn’t flow. What could have been a ‘younger brother’ version of Jarhead perhaps is just an under-developed attempt at trying, hoping to convey what happens when even the most patriotic Texans get sent back to war.

If only Joseph Gordon-Levitt’s role as troubled soldier Tommy could have been fleshed out a bit more – if only the friendship between the soldiers was explored, if only there was a more consistent score or soundtrack.. it wouldn’t have been centred on the above image. But what Stop Loss became was ‘girl torn between two hot guys, both left traumatised in different ways from war’. It had moments of poignancy, just.. moments but it misses the mark.

And it may only be remembered for being that movie where Ryan & Abbie met.

Let me tell you that even looking for an image for this post had me chuckling, giggling even; in just looking at screencaps from the film. I could go and see this again tonight if I wasn’t already bound by my love for True Blood..

The Hangover is as good as you’ve been hearing, no doubt about it. I know sometimes when you hear a lot of ‘hype’ about a movie, it makes you want to see it less. After all, you don’t want to be so agreeable, and seem like a lemming, y/n? But this is one of the rare occasions in which if you thought the trailer alone was hilarious; don’t worry, it actually hasn’t given away the best jokes.

I don’t think I stopped laughing during this movie for any length of time – it was so well paced, the jokes kept on coming, even just the physicality of watching guys wake up from a night so memorable they’ve forgotten it, and watching them wake up in a daze. Never before has watching drunken guys at a bachelor party been so hilarious.

The film follows four guys; Doug (Justin Bartha), Phil (Bradley Cooper), Alan (Zach Galifianakis) & Stu (Ed Helms) on the penultimate night before Doug is to wed Tracy. They stereotypically plan a trip to Las Vegas, though Stu tells his overbearing (let’s just say overbearing is putting it mildly) girlfriend that they’re off to Napa Valley for a winery tour. Doug has politely brought along Alan, his fiance’s brother who is a little bit weird.. The introductory scene has him and Doug trying on their wedding tuxes where Alan says a few kind words in uh.. open from the back underwear. Its a touching moment.

Phil played by Bradley Cooper (who I’ve known would be a star ever since he starred as Will Tippin in Alias) is a high school teacher, who compiles money for his class’s field trip – for his Vegas trip – and plays the overly confident ‘leader’ of the pack, who constantly admonishes even Alan’s presence on the trip; or the fact that he has a manbag. Or a purse. To which Alan responds its a satchel. And that Indiana Jones has one. Stu is ‘whipped’ by his girlfriend, and seems to wanting to get married also, whilst Doug is the nice guy.. (though in real life; dating an Olsen twin? Loss of a brownie point right there..)

What works is that whilst it could have just been a night of debauchery, and it could have been any other pushing-the-boundary type film about boys and their toys, and strip clubs and gambling; the way the evening unfolds after a single shot of Jagermeister (the only drink we see them drinking..) the hilarity of the evening unfolds from when Alan goes to the bathroom, and in his half-awake, but still dazed state nearly pees directly on the coat of a tiger. Not a tiger rug, but a tiger. From there.. it just keeps on going and it turns into a road movie through the streets of Las Vegas as Alan, Phil & Stu discover Doug has gone missing. The movie retraces their steps through the night, although the last thing they actually remember is that drink on the rooftop of Caesar’s Palace.

Through this night of drunkenness, gambling, and hitting up clubs, they also make enemies, go to the hospital, one of them gets hitched to Heather Graham (she really seems to be a bit typecast in the blonde ditz role, I think) and end up with a baby in their hotel room. And Mike Tyson’s tiger. And a lone chicken. And as far fetched and ridiculous as that sounds; as the extremely hung over guys manage to retrace their steps and come across characters they’ve met over the night that they don’t remember it all just flows beautifully and seamlessly.

As much as I have a fondness for Bradley Cooper, I can honestly say Zach Galifianakis owns this film. His bearded, beer bellied self and his odd observations are hard to describe. Apparently, he’s been some sort of cult comedian, a bit under the radar – and this may just be his ‘break-out’ performance. Some have compared his performance to that of the late Chris Farley; acting dumb in such a way that its so deadpan it makes it funnier. His character has such a heart and wins you over when you least expect it; and I think its all about timing. Zach and Mike Tyson’s tiger probably steal the show. And the baby.

I could almost, almost tell you ‘if there’s one comedy guaranteed to have your stomach hurting in hilarity for 2009′ – it’d be this one. I know its only.. halfway through the year. But I think this might be it. After all, for everyone that told me I had to see this, the word funny was preceded by another ‘F’ word. I’ll leave it to you to think of what that might have been..

Remember this kid? Aaron Carter was the cute lil kid that wanted to follow in older brother Nick’s massive success with the Backstreet Boys, and decided to become a tween/teen popstar with such cutesy tunes such as Crush On You, Aaron’s Party (Come Get It!), and Not Too Young, Not Too Old featuring big bro, Nick. Of course, he’s grown up and in a very public manner via MTV reality shows, public romances and drug arrests. He’s definitely all growed up now!

So its highly amusing for me to report that Aaron is back! He told me so! No really.. he did!

Via a friend on Twitter that announced in capital letters that she had just called Aaron Carter; of course, curiosity got the better of me and I had to ask, just how did she do that? For real? And she said here – call him, giving me a cell phone number to dial. Still, I didn’t quite take the bait then, figuring there was still a punchline around the corner. But no – Aaron Carter put his cell phone number on his Twitter profile, and fully requested that people call him – some of them would even be featured on video (via BubbleTweet). Just to prove that it wasn’t a machine they were calling!

I caved. I called. First few times I didn’t get through – and of course voice mailbox wasn’t activated. (Can you imagine how many messages he’d be checking?!) But I kept trying.. and I got through. He was rather polite, I must say! I introduced myself, said I was calling from Australia, he asked which part of Australia, and when I said Melbourne, he was like ohhhh I love it! I said, cool, you should come back! He said, ‘well you gotta tell everyone I’m back and get me BACK there’! Fair enough..

He went so far as to say when he did make it to Australia, to call him again and he’d ‘take care of me’. True fact, peoples!

Then as I checked on Bubbletweet, and looking at his live stream; for most calls he was taking it was ‘Hi! Tell people Aaron is back!’ Hi! Where are you from? Tell everyone Aaron Carter is back!’ Is he a marketing genius? Is this just an interesting cry for attention? Surely; he would get enough from tabloids, blogs and paparazzi – but to openly give his phone number on Twitter to promote a new album and/or a comeback – it just might work.

At the very least, his cell will need constant charging! For a laugh; you gotta check out the video clip I linked to… its a damn catchy tune!

**Warning** Contains minor spoilers for those watching not up to date with U.S screenings **

Oh, So You Think You Can Dance you hook me in every time. And I mean the far and widely superior U.S version. Though, even saying that when I’ve seen episodes and dances from the debut Canadian version I’ve been so impressed with the dances, and choreographers on that as well, I’m just convinced Australian’s can’t really produce a good ‘copy’ of something successful – unless they replace the host, and judges. Yep, the lot.

What makes it worse is that even when Australian networks do give us the superior version; the music the dancers are auditioning to doesn’t make it all the way across the ocean so when you’re watching the amazing dancers that get straight to Vegas, you have to wonder what? With that elevator music?! You’re kidding! How?! But then you realise oh… some desk jockey at Channel 10 has done that. In only 2, or 3 instances (at best) did we actually hear the correct music being played. Let’s hope Channel 10 come up with the moulah for the real tracks for the performance shows once the Top 20 are selected (and we can hear the rule tunes and not some C-grade off the demo shelf junk!)

To illustrate how strongly I feel about this national, no international issue is – I had to share the first group performance – from the Top 20 Results show. Don’t worry, nothing is revealed in the performance itself and it should still be somewhat hard to distinguish who the dancers are in the video if you haven’t caught up. If I wasn’t already hooked on the Black Eyed Peas new album, aside from Boom Boom Pow which Shane Sparks has choreographed this dance to – well, I’m sharing it with you. Sharing is caring. Enjoy!

Premiering tonight (Sunday, 14th June) on HBO is the Season 2 opener for True Blood, probably my 2008 fave new show. It was such a subversive show; hard to describe enough to do it justice. Funny, quirky, dark, oh so graphic (sex & violence wise) True Blood is a vampire show,  created by Alan Ball of Six Feet Under fame that supremely shows how juvenile Twilight is. (Oh why oh why don’t some of you see this?!) The show is also based on a series of best selling novels by Charlaine Harris about a southern barmaid that can read people’s minds in a society and time where vampirism is not a myth but a fact.

If you haven’t seen an episode before, go. Rent it. Watch it. Borrow it off a friend. You will completely forget that Anna Paquin was ever a little girl that couldn’t leave without her piano. (Note the film reference..) And Stephen Moyer plays the most, deceptively dangerous, yet quietly spoken Southern gentleman of a vampire that you will ever come across in Bill Compton.

Wow. It has taken long enough – a film that was shot at least a year ago, and its finally been given a release date of August 14th in U.S cinemas.

If you don’t know about it, its the adapation of a sprawling epic novel by Audrey Niffennegger of a man that time travels, without a Delorean no less and without choice. It happens at the most awkward times, and he always loses his clothes when he ‘lands’. Henry has known Clare since she was little, and she meets him throughout her life, at different ages, and different stages of his own life; younger, or older. Its such an intense read, I needed to be able to put it down at times, and read something lighter, something that I needed to focus on left. Once it was finished, I was bawling my eyes out – something which happens so rarely when I read. I needed the story to continue, I needed the characters to come into existence, they are written with such tangible, and emotional description that to close the book on that last page actually felt like I was letting go of someone and something real.

This is why even the trailer, has me taking a deep breath. It is going to be a real treasure if the movie can do any part of the book justice; even if it doesn’t translate everything (which I really don’t think it can, its so intricate and at times confusing with the constant time traveling, and flash backs and flash forwards) with Eric Bana as Henry and the stunning Rachel McAdams as Clare.. I will certainly be watching this as soon as I can, opening day, a preview screening, watching this with a friend or two and embracing the notion that love can find you at any time, and any place.

Watch the trailer; see for yourself.

As you will know from previous posts, I absolutely love horror films. I love a thriller, love a suspense… even though I’m the jumpiest girl you will ever come across. I try not to shriek (especially in a cinema, how embarassing!) but I quite love the nervous laughter post-squeal/shriek/jump as it seems to unite people in the cinema somewhat.

After seeing Pan’s Labyrinth recently, and knowing the type of noir/gothic style that Spanish director Guillermo Del Toro used (most known for his Hellboy body of work) I was intrigued and had heard quite a bit about El Orfanato and hello? Ghost children. Terribly scary. Whenever I hear little kids humming, and/or singing along to a music box – that spells a horror film. Poltergeist anyone?

Plus, the image alone – its almost as if the scary mask faced killers in The Strangers procreated and came up with these kids!

What is so strikingly wonderful about this film (and what Hollywood needs to somehow learn..) is that whilst it reads on paper like a horror film, whilst the darkness of the film’s cinematography lends to that feeling – the brilliance of it is that it is eerie & creepy without any of the convential & formulaic creaky doors, abrupt silent moments, or high-pitched violin scores.

I’m not even sure what genre I could class this in (much like I marvel at my video store’s placement of American Beauty in the comedy section. Really?) but to fill you in; El Orfanato begins with a seemingly innocent setting in a sprawling rustic old orphanage where children play, squealing and playing a game of tag. That will become important later..

Laura (played stunningly by Belen Rueda) and Carlos (Fernando Caya) are a couple that now live in the orphanage, the very orphanage in which Laura grew up where they have an adorable chubby cheeked son named Simon (pronounced See-mon, just to put you in the Spanish feel, played by Roger Princep)

Simon has invisible friends, he is quite lonely there in the big mansion just the three of them, and so of course its quite natural to have invisible friends. Hopefully that will all change when more children from a special needs home comes to join the family, children that need homes and to be taken care of Laura explains to her son.

One night, Laura tells him a story about the lighthouse, the one whose light never shines; unless you believe in it. Unless you need it to shine – and then its light will guide you. Again – a detail which will become important later on. Simon is fascinated and wants to explore the grounds of the lighthouse, and the surrounding caves.

Seriously – things I learn from films; don’t go to remote sites off map. Don’t go to Tasmania. Oh, and don’t go into caves! But she in the best interest of letting her child grow, and explore and play allows him to enter the cave, and after calling for him, has to go in herself (yes, she stayed outside… ) where he is seen to be talking to a new friend. He wants to invite him back to play, and he leaves a trail of seashells leading back to the orphanage.

This is where the sense of impending doom, or horror seeps in. You know that perhaps the boy in the cave wasn’t invisible. Laura sees footprints that aren’t necessarily Simon’s.. but surely not. Soon its all Simon can talk about. Then there are more.. then, there is a strange old lady that comes to visit, asking about Simon’s situation and we discover he too is adopted, and he’s also ill.

You’re probably thinking Kimberley, you’ve given away quite a bit – and, well I’ll disagree. That’s the amazing intricacy and layered nature to this movie; there is so much more that I want to leave for you to discover, so many layers, and subtexts withing the one movie that just when you think you know what genre it is, it pulls you in another direction.

It has you wondering about the children that Simon sees. Evil? Ghosts that are stuck in orphanage childhood for eternity? Zombies? Laura is the only one that knows something is awry, especially when Simon goes missing.

El Orfanato is so beautifully paced, bone chilling in parts, jumpy in others but not in the places you’d expect. Belen Rueda’s performance is a standout here as a mother determined to find her son, to protect him against the unknown, succumbing to any  method to find him.

One of the funny parts of this movie is not in the movie itself but more in the fact that I had to pause it sometimes, and have a think about what I’d just seen. For the most part I was watching it alone, and then by then, a friend of mine would walk in and I’d be talking/thinking out loud to myself putting together the puzzling pieces of the film. I’d have lightbulb moments where I was OHHHH… that’s what happened there. Or I’d wonder oh! Who was the boy with the sack on his head? Cave boy? Was it Simon? Its a wonderful movie to watch with friends, lights off, popcorn, a bit of chocolate and one which certainly inspires someone to watch it all over again to catch things most likely missed during the first viewing. I absolutely loved it.

P.S You know how I mentioned that game of tag, and the lighthouse story becoming important? Watch it and find out.

As much as I generally watch blockbuster action films at the cinema, or something that makes use of the surround sound to the max – I generally miss out on dramas, and low-key thrillers until they make their way to DVD.

In this case, I couldn’t. I remember seeing the BBC TV mini series on ABC a couple of years ago with my Dad, and both of us just being riveted, asking each other questions, trying to guess who was responsible or who might get hurt in the process of finding answers. It was one of those rare thrills of an old school mystery, where black was black (or camouflage green in some cases..) and white was white, and there were subtle shades of good & bad in between.

When it was announced that State of Play was to be remade into a Hollywood film, of course I wondered how it would be handled. A mini series remade? Albeit British, and not widely seen by as large an audience as a film – would it be done well, and properly adapted for an American, and global audience? Directed by the accomplished director of the visceral Last King of Scotland Kevin McDonald;  mini-series creator Paul Abbot lent a hand to the script well crafted script, as well as  Billy Ray who also co-wrote (responsible for Shattered Glass & Breach – two movies you must go and rent if you haven’t seen them as yet.) By casting some amazing actors in Russell Crowe, Helen Mirren, Rachel McAdams & Ben Affleck as the Congressman caught in the crossfires of a suspected suicide – it was not going to be a small independent feature. I had to see it.

To very briefly describe the external plot is to lightly graze over a very intricately woven story. A junkie runs for his life through the streets, bumping into and knocking over people in hopes of hiding, before getting shot very swiftly by a solidly built man, holding a silver briefcase (where do you GET these silver briefcases?! Assassins R Us?!). A guy cycling by witnesses the shooting and also gets shot, left for dead in the alley way. The next morning, a beautiful White House intern falls to a seemingly accidental death in the subway. Cue the unravelling of events, as a stoic Ben Affleck playing a Congressman struggles to hide his grief at the death of his lead researcher on a major investigative hearing.

Russell Crowe plays a veteran reporter at the Washington Globe with a 16 year old computer, whilst Rachel McAdams is the novice Globe blogger; two worlds that surely shouldn’t meet as they investigate the murders and find a thin thread that connects the two events. The other link is that Rusty’s room-mate in college was the Congressman, and he needs help.With Helen Mirren as a feisty brutally honest editor overseeing the building story; State of Play becomes a getaway car, speeding along a freeway with nothing but dust in its wake.

To even try to describe how fast paced, and edgy this thriller is; would be to ruin the surprises. While it feels like a conventionally structured thriller, surely it can’t be! Just when you think that you have figured it out, or just when you think surely you have figured out the players in the murder, or who played a part.. something else happens which makes you question it, and/or flat out makes you turn to the friend you brought with you and whisper excitedly something along the lines of  ” Oh! What did he do just then?! What does that mean?” and it makes the cinema experience far more exciting than a stock-standard thriller generally is.

Aside from the action and the complex thriller so well laid out, and structured, I also have to give credit to the way the subtext of newsprint vs blogs and the online presence that intimidated and threatened Crowe’s character initially is conveyed. He immediately jerks against the trend, until McAdams proves that the online generation isn’t lacking in smarts, and/or uses when it comes to creating a story or hype to even change the way the truth is told. That alone gives the audience an opportunity to question what they read, where they read it, and why they think its more valuable than other mediums. Is convenience more valuable than something in print? Does convenience allow the written word to be dismissed more easily?

Its fascinating in its complexity; and didn’t I distract you so well from why I love the film so much? I can’t exactly say because its the type of film that has so many little surprises, and to try to describe it to the point where it will detract from your movie watching experience; well I wouldn’t do that. I hope that in itself conveys that this is a drama you should get to the cinema to see. Whilst everyone salivates, and buys their massive popcorn combo packs with special collector cups and watches the latest machines vs humans blockbuster; go and watch State of Play.