Rear view mirror #2

This last fortnight ...

I watched The Salesman and Boss Baby. Two completely different films, but I was liked both. Boss Baby was a fun and entertaining, and perhaps best of all, well paced and not at all too long. It’s not surprising that I much prefered The Salesman. While not as good as Asghar Farhadi’s other Oscar winner, A Separation (one of my favourite films of all time), it’s still a masterclass of taut humanist social drama, focusing on how one incident refracts and reverberates from character to character. Each character’s reaction in turn a reflection of both their inner personality and the socio-cultural norms that shape their behaviour. At all times, Farhadi compassionately allows each character to reveal themselves in all their flaws, vulnerabilities, transcendence, and ultimately, humanity. The tragedy of the piece, like the Arthur Miller play the film references, is the fall of individual humanity within their social context. This is one for me to watch again, and perhaps write something about.

Game of Thrones returned. It’s been a long wait but so worth it. The premiere was pretty good at setting the scene for the (first half) of the final season. The players are all now on Westeros, and the White Walkers are coming. Seen at a high level, the ultimate question will be whether all the warring parties can work together to fight the White Walkers. It’s shaping up to be an interesting metaphor for humanity’s challenge with climate change. Let’s see how it goes!

My family went for their annual get-away-from-winter weekend trip to Terrigal, about 4.5 hours from Canberra. This time, my boyfriend and I was able to join them this time. It was lovely warm weather, and I always like a beachside weekend. Everything is so much more relaxed, and I actually can wake up early enough to see the sunrise. We also had a fun tour of Norah Head Lighthouse, about 30 minutes drive from Terrigal. Fun fact: ships used to have to pay a tax for each lighthouse they passed - old school tolls.

I started yoga again, going straight into a ‘booty blast’ version. A tough start but it always feels good afterwards. 3 weeks til City2Surf and 7 weeks til Canberra Fun Run. Peace out!