Three films

I prefer being in the dark rather than being in the light so I guess it isn't a surprise that I savour the cinema experience.

There have been memorable incidents- one involving smuggling a fish burger into a movie and then the attendant telling my friend off for possessing it. She had sushi with her and hasn't really forgiven me.

I jump a bit in thriller and horror movies and that is accentuated when I wear a plastic raincoat. I haven't yet fallen asleep, become locked in the grotty toilets or thrown up in my popcorn but I'm sure my time will come.

During this year's International Film Festival offerings, I ended up seeing three from the Incredibly Strange Film Fest which was running in conjunction.

Zombies were living in apartments in [rec]- the reporter trapped in the building liked to scream a bit but told the cameraman Pablo to keep filming while running.

A naive girl found power from an unlikely organ in 'Teeth'- very funny but I'm not sure if the mainly male audience found it so amusing.

Then 'Timecrimes'- three versions of one man play in a loop around a house and lab. Death, betrayal and confusion ensue. Love time travel movies ever since the Back to the Future trilogy.

Enjoyed them all and will have to seek out some incredibly strange ones in the future for some light relief.

Mixed tapes

In less than a months time, I'll be making a large road trip east for a three week stay. A five hour drive sounds daunting but isn't too bad with a couple of mix tapes.

Once you pass Taupo, it feels like you are alone in the wilderness for several hours. Last time I made the trip, I only recorded half of the tape properly with edited songs. The rest was taped continuously off the radio with ads, DJs and callers in-between songs.

As my car isn't worth the splurge of a CD stereo system, I'm sticking with my cassette player. Instead of hooking in the ipod, think I'll try and make at least 3 tapes for the journey.

I've always been a fan of older technology such as cassettes. I bought tapes instead of CDs until they became completely obsolete.

My brother used to use a hack tape to record songs and then re-recorded them onto a final tape. I just record direct onto a tape and don't re-record unless it is quite a messy recording.

Its funny to listen to the older tapes I made since about age 12. I had an obsession with 80s music and only recorded a few modern songs.
The quality is not the greatest- grainy, half cut off and parts re-recorded over but they provide some entertainment especially on road trips.

For birthdays, I used to record special mix-tapes so I had a defined soundtrack of tunes for the day.

I'm only half-way through the first tape for the trip and it is taking a while as I only want songs I haven't been able to capture.

I better listen to the radio over the next few weekends, so I can achieve my 3 tape goal.

Internal Maze

Whenever I visit a new supermarket, I feel like I'm lost in a theme park maze.

Everything is clambering for your attention and its a sea of colours and activity.

You have to travel through all the fruit and vegetables, dairy, meat before even getting close to smaller items like batteries or bread. All the while trying to escape slow trolley traffic and insistent product demonstrators.

No-one ever looks like they are having the time of their lives travelling with a trolley. At peak time like when you are on the road, there are traffic jams and road rage.
Shoppers try and pass you on the right and left, grab for the items you want, trespass personal space areas and children are always screaming for lollies or attention.

I wouldn't recommend going to supermarket- hungry, sick or tired, that never ends well. I once went to buy cake and ended up throwing up my dinner in the bakery- it wasn't pretty.

While you are killing time in trolley traffic, why not check out all the cheap appliances, latest dvds and cds available in a special aisle.
Along with my bread and instant meals, how could I forget that I needed to pick up a big screen TV for myself?

Then you get to the checkout and you search for the shortest line. Usually the operator-in-training is free, aren't you lucky? Over-charged and then they ask for your loyalty cards, which could be lost at the bottom of your wallet or in the washing machine. The bin could be a better choice.

I'm loving those self-checkouts- no personal contact/drama, only the machine and me. The scanning sounds are extra thrilling but they still demand my loyalty card.

If I heap all the goods back into my trolley, I could save 20 cents and then do battle with real cars in the car park. Or I could bundle them under my arm and drop keys, purse, groceries in the car park or even better the supermarket floor. Least I'm a clean and green consumer without my plastic bag.
I should really bring along my trendy eco-bag to pack my own groceries, but then I could be accused of shop-lifting.

After my weekly shop, I feel like a lab mouse that has just completed a maze marathon. Can't wait to start it all over again next week.

Coloured ink

I really should diligently read the entire newspaper before falling upon the magazine lift-out, but it is hopeless I'm rather addicted.

Viva, Time-out, Sunday, Escape even TV Week catches my eye. I wonder if coloured ink has this effect on everybody.
I can forgive the cheesy explaination statements on the cover (think Time-Out- because your weekend starts here) because the combination of words + pictures= numerous views.

The only problem with these magazines is the lack of variety in format. After a couple of kooky people have shared their 10 favourite things and a series of eco-warriors are paraded, the columns get old and predictable.

I do though enjoy the questions and answers in the Sunday magazine.

Questions like:
what is your favourite supermarket aisle?
Shave or Wax?
Ten material possessions you can't live without?
Biggest fashion mistake of our era?

All produce varied answers from the simple to the ridiculous.

What these 'magazines' feed on is the latest hype- designer clothes, TV shows and up-and-comers on the national or international scene. People love this light relief fluff and the free TV listings.

Auckland restaurants always get put through their paces by 'the duke', 'the woman' or 'Jude' reviewers. Their companions thoughts often find their way into the column even if its their 5 year old son.
What I've learnt in my review reading is: views/location and good food never mix, bathrooms are often tight and unpleasant and bad wait staff can kill the ambient mood.

The things you learn when you read gossip, food and TV reviews!
Long live the throw-away lift-out, keeps me sane when I should be doing work.