You Couldn't Have Got a Better Man ... or Woman ... or They ... to Headline the 2024 New Years Eve Sydney Fireworks?🎆🐒🙈🙉🙊🐵

Robbie Williams arrives in Sydney ahead of
New Year’s Eve concert at iconic Opera House

I've already seen 'Better Man' at the cinema on Boxing Day (December 26th) and I'd like to see it again soon at the cinema. 

Boxing Day lunch/dinner at the cinemas:-)

I went and saw this movie after hearing a podcast interview with the director/one of the writers of the movie Michael Gracey on Sean Sennett's podcast show.

Michael Gracey/Better Man (S06/E32)

I was going to see the movie anyway, but it made me want to see it even more after hearing Michael's story of how the movie got green lit.

I'd love to be down in Sydney tonight to see the fireworks and to see in the new year, but I'll have to be content to see them one hour later, as I'm in Brisbane, Queensland where our clocks are one hour behind the eastern states of Australia.

I think Sydney Swans fans know where Brisbane is;-)

Google it if you don't believe me about the time difference:-)

Less than 10 hours to go here in Brisbane:-)

Tonight is also a new moon:-)

December and the New Moons?🌑🎄🌑🎅

And here's something ironic at the New Year’s Eve capital of the world website for my old paranoid mate Christopher Knowles at 'The Secret Sun' blog to piss his pants over:-)

The DJ who is in charge of the fireworks soundtrack is named Luna Pan:-)

Luna Pan

Sydney New Year’s Eve is a celebration that
wows the world with its style and spectacle

But wait Chris, there's more.

Sydney New Year’s Eve is a celebration that
wows the world with its style and spectacle

I can't wait until 1 am Sydney time to pop my sparkling wine at 12 o'clock in Queensland and watch the fireworks from Sydney from an hour ago "live" on my TV in Brisbane:-)

Oh, and Chris there is a scene in 'Better Man' where Robbie drives his car into the water and gets attacked by mermaid-like creatures:-)

Sydney Opera House 2025

Sydney New Year’s Eve is a celebration that
wows the world with its style and spectacle

Cheers🥳

UPDATE: January 1st, 2025

The Robbie Williams movie promotion starts around the 3-hour mark of the above You Tube, followed by the fireworks.

It all seems so yesterday now while I write this update while having breakfast at nearly 9 o'clock in the morning trying to sober up to go catch Robert Eggers's Nosferatu this afternoon:-)

Don't worry if you live in Brisbane, as my son is driving me there, and he wasn't drinking last night, the party pooper.

Cheers again ... from 2025 this time 🥳

And only 29 days to go now until the next New Moon and the Luna New Year of the Snake starts;-)

"A Snake Year is sometimes referred to as a Little Dragon Year to assuage possible feelings of inadequacy among people born during a Snake Year."

I guess we can't all be Dragons;-)

Sean Baker Cast Mikey Madison as Anora (2024) After Seeing Her in Once Upon a Time in Hollywood (2019) and Scream (2022)?🎥👻😱🎬👀

I saw the Sean Baker movie 'Anora' the other day with my younger son Sean after reading that this was the movie with all the Oscar buzz hanging around it.

My son is a big Tarantino fan, unlike me, but I did think that 'Once Upon a Time in Hollywood' was a very good movie and have seen it a number of times ... mainly because Margot is in it:-)

Angelica cinema in Brisbane

And oddly enough, the cinema complex we went to see 'Anora' has a big mural of what I imagine is Margot Robbie on the front veranda.

This is the first time that either me or my son had been to the Angelica cinema in Brisbane.

And we were impressed.

Angelica cinema in Brisbane

Angelica cinema in Brisbane

"Baker cast Mikey Madison after seeing her in Once Upon a Time in Hollywood (2019) and Scream (2022). He hired Madison without an audition. Madison learned Russian, visited strip clubs, and studied the Brooklyn accent to prepare. Although some media outlets incorrectly reported that Anora Mikheeva was Uzbek-American, Baker said that Anora "is of Russian ethnicity" and "from one of the post-Soviet countries [Ukraine?]""

Mikey Madison as Anora Mikheeva

My son really loved this movie as far as storyline went ... me not so much.

But Mickey Madison's "dance routines" in the movie really won me over;-)

It will be interesting to see if the movie picks up many ... or any awards, as we head into the Oscar season.

I wonder what QT thinks of this movie?

Is Once Upon a Time in Hollywood a New Level of Genius ... or Just One Accidental Subconscious Synchromystic Trip?

Michael Leunig Ducks Off to the Great Beyond?🦆✍🎭

Famed cartoonist Michael Leunig dies aged 79

Michael Leunig and John Marsden died one day apart from each other this year, and they were both people I had crossed paths with only briefly in this life.

I wrote about John's passing in this recent post and about finally reading the book he signed for me -

No More Tomorrows for John Marsden? 🕳🐇🐰

And I have written many posts on this blog about Michael Leunig before, such as this one -
A Dumbo Feather and a Duck?

"Michael Leunig (2 June 1945 – 19 December 2024), typically referred to by his pen name Leunig, was an Australian cartoonist, poet and artist. He was best known for his work for Melbourne's The Age and The Sydney Morning Herald.
Other works include The Curly Pyjama Letters, cartoon books The Essential Leunig, The Wayward Leunig, The Stick, Goatperson, Short Notes from the Long History of Happiness and Curly Verse, and The Lot, a compilation of his "Curly World" newspaper columns. Leunig also wrote several books of prayers, including A Common Prayer, The Prayer Tree and When I Talk To You.
Leunig was declared an Australian Living Treasure by the National Trust of Australia in 1999."

The Leunig Fragments (2019)

I'm yet to see 'The Leunig Fragments' as I never knew about that movie until looking for You Tubes of Michael's older works from a DVD titled 'Leunig Animated' which I stumbled across at the Op Shop this year.

Not that this clip below is Michael's work, it's an interpretation of his 'How to Get There' cartoon done by another animator, but I thought it was worth throwing in. 

Leunig Animated (2002)

Michael was good at getting you to take a look at the small and big pictures ... and all of the pictures in-between:-)

Michael Leunig - Home

Michael Leunig at the BBWF

Jimmy Carter Passes Away 100 Years After Joseph Conrad?🪦

Jimmy Carter, former US president who
 won Nobel Peace Prize, dies aged 100

I wrote about Jimmy Carter this year after reading Joseph Conrad's book 'Heart of Darkness' and watching 'Hearts of Darkness: A Filmmaker's Apocalypse' and 'Apocalypse Now' -

Joseph Conrad Passed Away 100 Years Ago This Year?✍🖤💘

Now I see that Jimmy Carter has passed away 100 years after Joseph Conrad.

Megalopolis (2024)

Francis Sunk All of His Own Money on Megalopolis?💰💸🤑

No More Tomorrows for John Marsden? 🕳🐇🐰

John Marsden's The Tomorrow Series

I met John Marsden once at a writers festival when I had bought his book 'Everything I Know About Writing' and had it signed by him after a talk he gave, and which I wrote about in this old post -

A Cascade of Rabbits?

John Marsden (right) at the 2016 
Byron Writers Festival

I first heard of the passing death of John Marsden from a co-wortker about a day or two after he had passed died.

And later found out at his Wikipedia page that he had passed away on my own late grandfather's birthday.

And to my shame I only just finished reading 'Everything I Know About Writing' yesterday, having had the book sitting on a shelf since the day he signed it for me.

And the weird thing is that if I had have read the book any time before his death, I wouldn't have had the unbelievable number of synchronicities I had while reading this book.

Too many to name in this post. 

Shirley MacLaine, Anthony Hopkins and Hitchcock?🎥🚿🎬

Hawking died on the 14th of March

Einstein was born on March 14th:-P

Life According to Stephen Hawking and Shirley MacLaine? 🌠🔭🔮🤩

Brief Answers to the Big Questions (Stephen Hawking)? 🔭👀🌞

Plus, because I had been reading the book '1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die' I had read nearly 70% of the books John writes about in his book.

John Marsden
(27 September 1950 – 18 December 2024)

Ironically, the one book and author John mentions the most in his book is 'Lord of the Flies' by William Golding.

A book I bought this year from the Op Shop, but am yet to read, although I have seen the black and white movie version of the book a while back.

I notice that on the book's Wikipedia page that the book is 70 years old this year.

When looking for my copy of 'Lord of the Flies' I found it in a pile of books I'm yet to read and on top of a book about Samoa, a country/island I haven't been to yet, but had been thinking about visiting maybe sometime in the future.

Someone had donated it to a street library, and I had picked it up on a whim.

John writes about the blowing of the conch shell in 'Lord of the Flies' and I noticed that the book on

Samoa has a bloke blowing a conch shell at the end of the book.

I was also surprised to see on page 108 of 'Everything I Know About Writing' that John had written about Raymond Moody's book 'Life After Life'.

I notice that John's last book was a non-fiction book titled 'Take Risks', which are the words he wrote to me when he signed my copy of 'Everything I Know About Writing'.

I guess that life and death are stranger than fiction?

Man dies after shark attack in Queensland

The Australian Way of Risk?