Mes Amis

One of the things I miss the most about home are my good friends. But it's simply amazing how many ways there are to connect with people from across the world. Technology, thank you for being so awesome. That is all.

As ridiculous as this may sound, remember that Sex and the City episode in the last season when Carrie is in Paris? She peeks into the cafe, sees the group of friends, and misses her ladies. That episode didn't truly hit home for me until recently.

So in an effort to get myself out there to meet some local peeps, I'm checking out meetup.com which looks interesting, and I've heard some great stuff about it from multiple people. Thank you once again to Drea for telling me about it! There's a trivia night for film people coming up next week which hopefully will be nice and rowdy. Richard and I are heading to our first brunch on Saturday to check it out.  It's on Lygon Street(favorite street in Melbourne thus far), which of course will only make it awesome;)

I've started speaking French again with a girl from Paris who is here in Melbourne to practice her English. She's helping me with my rusty French, and I'm helping her with English. I took French for probably about 7 years total, and its been 10 years since I've been in a French class. I'm surprised by how fast it comes back! I'll admit, its really been fun being thrown back into speaking the language. I would never admit that to my high school teachers though...

Flies Suck

There are evil flies here that are beyond words frustrating. No matter where Richard and I go, we are constantly followed by 1 fly which just circles our heads and follows us for blocks. I can understand this happening when either of us are wearing perfume/cologne, but when we're just wearing simple sun screen, wtf. The Australian response to such pests is a cork slouch hat. We have not purchased said hats as of yet...photos to come ;)

War Horse

Going to the theatre for the first time in Melbourne surpassed every expectation I had going into it. It was staged in the State Theatre which was stunning. It's one of the biggest stages in the world and the theatre itself is underground (it was basically a maze getting to our seats). It in a way reminded me of the LA Opera in its use of mirrors in the cavernous lobby. The proscenium theatre felt very 80s in design, but the seats were quite comfortable seating over 2,000 people.

The production of War Horse was magnificent, the audience was wonderfully responsive. The unique difference in this production is the horse puppets were made to be larger because the theatre is SO much more vast than other theatres the show has been performed in previously. The puppetry work, done by the Handspring Puppet Company, plays such a large part in the show; it's absolutely beautiful and moving. The puppets are different from Julie Taymor's Lion King because they are much more stylized. The puppeteers are not hidden but the horses are so creatively done, and their movement so life-like, that they don't distract whatsoever.

What struck me as the main difference in theatre etiquette between here and the States was that the audience didn't do a standing ovation during curtain call despite it being incredibly performed and having such a high production value. The same creative team used in the original production from the National Theatre in London, worked with the company here which was made it so expertly executed.

I still have NO desire to see the movie; the play is intense enough…and I should've brought a box of tissues.

French Luck

On our quiet and relaxing Saturday last weekend, we came upon a French Crêperie in the CBD. It turns out it was Crêpe Day in France. The owner and his daughter had set up a mini station outside with crêpe batter, a pan and a mini stove. Legend has it that if you're able to successfully flip a crepe in a pan and catch it WHILE holding a coin in your other hand, you'll have good luck for a year! WAHOOO!! 2013 is the year for us both, we nailed it on both of our first attempts!! And, we both flipped it multiple times;) 

Down the Road

The Blackman Hotel was such a great hotel to begin the adventure. There's this important car race coming into town over the next few weeks, the Australian Grand Prix, so we would have been kicked out of the hotel this past Tuesday because of the influx of car racing fans. Luckily, we were able to find a furnished apartment just in time! The apartment hunting process is a bit odd here. The first place I went to "inspect" in person with a realtor, no one showed up. I sat there for about 45 min until I was able to get through the office and was then told that the place had been rented…grrrr. Rental agencies here don't feel the need to make sure their websites which show the rental listings are up to date. This place was across from a bar called Witches N'Britches…so I think it turned out for the best that this option fell through.

After doing much searching online, I narrowed it down to 2 different places to start again with. The first place I saw, which was just about a 10 min walk from the hotel, was the one we ended up going with. It's on the 6th floor which is great because it gets so much light, it overlooks the park which has the Shrine of Remembrance, and it's wicked accessible to the trams. The second place could have been wonderful too, but unfortunately with the time limitations, the other realtor changing the 2nd inspection time to the day before we would have had to be out of the hotel, we went with easy.

I feel much more settled being in an apartment vs a hotel. AND, the unit has a washer and dryer…I have not had this awesomeness since living in Venice with Freeborn. 

Random side note, finding dryer sheets in this town is insanely hard, no one tends to use them. A woman told me yesterday that because Melbourne's water is supposedly so gentle, you don't need dryer sheets because things will come out of the dryer perfectly fluffy. I say bullshit!

The Flush

I promised several people I would post a video of a flushing toilet. I'm afraid it's going to be nothing but disappointment… The toilets here don't really flush like one would think. All toilets seem to have a 1/2 flush option in order to conserve water, in addition to what would be the equivalent to a normal flush. I swear as soon as I can find the right toilet with a flushing situation that lives up to stereotype, you better believe that I will post that video, STAT.

But yay for there being so many public toilets scattered throughout the city! 

Seahorses & Emperor Penguins

The Melbourne Aquarium claims to have the largest Seahorse Population in the world. We were both really excited to find out that the aquarium offers tours behind the scenes of the Seahorse Nursery. It was incredible to see baby seahorses up close. They have both Southern Pot-Belly Seahorses and Yellow Seahorses. There was one adorable yellow seahorse youngin who was trying to balance with his belly on a ring that they hang in the tank for the seahorses to grasp on, and the poor thing just completely toppled over. There are rings of all various sizes. Depending on the age of the seahorse, they need different thicknesses of objects to wrap their tail around while they're growing. They are such fragile fish, and sadly don't have a long life expectancy. We got to feed them which was unexpectedly exciting, the food was a super food that they created for them that's basically a type of plankton. Seahorses don't have a digestive gut, so in order for them to get energy, they constantly have to eat. 

The Aquarium also houses a decent sized group of Emperor Penguins. They had a baby born on 1/23 (23/1), and we were able to see the baby poke its head out from underneath its daddy's fluff. The father still has not handed the baby off to the mother. The animal handlers are waiting anxiously for THE handoff to happen. I love how penguins walk; it's amazing to me how clumsy and awkward they are on land but yet are so graceful in water.

I absolutely want to come back here at some point. It's really cool seeing the different fish, frogs and sharks that are native to Australia. We skipped over the squid and jellyfish exhibit because let's be honest, they're just super creepy. 

Politics in China Town

About a week and a half ago we had dinner with some of Richard's colleagues in China Town. The food was really tasty, although I'm bummed that no where in the city seems to serve brown rice:/ A lot of interesting topics were discussed, one of them being politics. It was really interesting hearing some of the differences between the US and Australia. Apparently in Australia, every single person is forced to vote. Authorities will, apparently, track you down and will fine you if you do not vote in time. If you move within the country, they will send you a change of precinct form asap.

In their last census report there was a large majority of people who put down their party affiliation as "Jedi", and the government almost recognized the group. Unfortunately they renigged at the last minute. May the force be with them!

I was pleased to find out that both Jon Stewart and the Colbert Report are both shown here. I was told that sometimes the shows don't make as much sense to people here because of not necessarily being up to speed on American politics, but my gut is telling me that they probably know a lot more about our politics than Americans know about theirs. I know their Prime Minister is a female which is very cool, but I just realized that I still to this day have not looked up her name. 1 min please, her name is Julia Gillard. She's the 27th Prime Minister and has been the Leader of the Australian Labor Party since June, 2010. She's the first woman to hold both offices. I guess she's like the Australian Hilary Clinton.

Australia overall sounds like a much more liberal, less religious based country which is refreshing. 

Skinny Latte for Takeaway, Please

The job hunt continues to be a steady ongoing process. I have two interviews in the next week which is so exciting! Due to circumstances potentially changing, I have taken a new approach in the search and have relaxed a bit. 

Regardless of whether or not I'm able to immediately find a job in the industry, the plan is to go ahead with taking a barista course. Melbournians love their coffee and are so damn good at making it! I don't think it's possible to get a job without just sucking it up and taking the class. Being a coffee lover, I'm actually kinda looking forward to it; I think it'll be really interesting. I would love to be able to make the foam designs. I've had some pretty delicate leaves and hearts in my lattes here which often times make me feel so guilty for adding sugar, mixing it in with the stick swirlafying (yes I made that up) your coffee decadence and then drinking it. So much attention to detail goes into every coffee order.

What's the coolest thing you've seen etched in coffee foam?

Prologue

I never properly introduced myself for those of you who don't know me. My name is Alexis. I'm turning 30 this year which is a bit of a mind fuck. I'm originally from the Boston area; to be specific, 30 miles north of the city from a little town filled with bugs and trees called Boxford.

I've officially lived in Los Angeles since the day Obama was elected president in 2008. I consider home to be LA, but I refuse to give up the Boston in me. Thus the inspiration for my blog name, "MAngelino".

Ever since I've moved to LA I've had ideas bouncing around in my head about different screen plays, but LA being LA, there was never enough time to get anything really going. In coming to Melbourne I thought blogging about my trip would be a great way to get the writing juices flowing. So here I am, across the world, time on my hands in a beautiful place, to really get something started. So, here goes...

Tree Gloves

Each time I venture out into the city I always notice something new, whether it's a unique store, restaurant, or a plaque that describes the history of the building. But the strangest thing I've found so far are tree gloves. There's this stretch of trees by the main drag that leads into Federation Square, where people have knitted pieces for every tree that can be dressed in the area. It looks quite "Dr. Seussesque", or kinda like awesome tube socks that I wish existed; it's so wonderfully colorful! The first day Richard and I noticed them, we saw a team of people knitting the glove literally around the tree to attach it.

So I got curious and decided to dig a little deeper to see what this thing was all about, I found several tags on the trees that had website information. I was as always, incredibly entertained;)! One tag lead me here: https://www.facebook.com/yarncorner. The gloves are apparently made by a group of artists who come together to "yarn bomb" large projects across Melbourne. This is the second year this has been done, and they've crocheted and knitted 28 different pieces for the installation. The facebook page has pictures of all the different colors, you can tell which one if my favortie. 

The other tag is of a website that draws focus to Melbourne's Forest Strategy through the use of the fuzzy tree glove: http://www.melbourne.vic.gov.au/sustainability/urbanforest/pages/urbanforest.aspx. One of the things that makes Melbourne so unique is the amount of parks they have scattered all throughout the city. Due to Australia tough climate and the recent drought, there have been brought water restrictions to the city, which unfortunately puts stress on the trees. Apparently Melbourne may lose 27% of their tree population in the next decade unless changes are made. This website lays out plans in which they hope to avoid that fate by taking certain measures.


I think it's great that a form of art is being used to help get the word out and educate people about what needs to be done to save trees in the city. What a unique way to help make a difference through the use of a craft that's been around for hundreds of years; subtle political art.

Movie Theatre Adventure #2

The Arclight in LA - $15 per ticket for movie experience perfection. Movies in Melbourne - $17 + up for a somewhat mixed bag. Going to a movie here is such a trippy experience because the theaters are so old school! The architecture is an odd space agey/70s mish mosh.

I saw Zero Dark Thirty yesterday at the Greater Union Melbourne City Cinemas. The theatre had about 3 other people at the 11:15am showing (I always want to go to movies during work days so I figure while I'm unemployed I'm going to take full advantage of this). The theatre was split into 2 sections (think Cineramadome) by a huge wall in the middle. There wasn't really a difference in height walking up to the back section so it left me a bit confused. The seats were wicked tiny, and it was sadly not comfortable to put feet up on the back of the seat in front of where I was sitting. I'm always cold in movie theaters, and this theatre felt like home in this respect. The projection and sound were decent, but the screen was not big enough for the size of the theatre space. 

Man LA spoils movie lovers. I did find out an interesting tid bit from the woman at the box office…movies on Tuesdays are only $10! To quote Quickle, WOOOOO!!! And yes Quickle, I just WOOOO'D!

Work Schmirk

I'm definitely antsy about the job hunt. I applied to a bunch of VFX houses before I got out here, and am following up on 2 leads. I'm torn, do I continue with VFX or do I take a break? It's hard knowing a lot of film jobs are leaving LA. I think it's smart at this point to be thinking in terms of what is going to be the best bet for building something long term. I don't want to necessarily leave film, I love it. I still also to this day have no idea how I ended up in VFX. When I moved to LA, if you had told me I would end up working in VFX I would have looked at you like you were crazy. I must admit, I have fallen for it. Blargh!

Melbourne has such a wonderful theatre scene, I still need to track down information about auditioning here. What I have learned so far is that Backstage doesn't exist and that they have something equivalent to Equity but it's called something different. I'm not sure how the fringe scene is here yet. 

The romantic idea of working in a coffee shop would be great though, there would be plenty of time to write. But, everyone wants an experienced barista. And unfortunately I've seen quite a few job postings where they make sure to say don't apply if you're on a work and holiday visa. 

Any advice/a job pep talk from the ether would be simply awesome.

Beer Garden

On Sunday we had another relaxing day, and met 2 of Richard's colleagues to welcome/introduce them to the city. What better way to introduce them to Melbourne that by taking them to a beer garden! I had my first Australian cider which was pretty delicious…yum.

There was a cookout on Monday at Luma, we played this really fun game called Assassins which is exactly like this game we used to play in acting class called Killer (I think). It was fun meeting Richard's Aussie colleagues.

Hit the grocery store afterwards which was interesting. I wasn't expecting there to be as many American brand names items as there were. And Lilliana warned me about this, but I'm amazed at how expensive everything is! Australians do make more money, I think min. wage is around $15 per hour and bloody hell how everything reflects that!

Adorbs!

It's fun being the odd one out with the American accent. I'm tempted to pretend to be Canadian, but I haven't managed to pull it off so far.

I know I'm someone who is very easily entertained and find humor in random things, but Australian slang cracks me up. Australians have modified certain words to make them really cute. Instead of "breakfast", it's "breky". "MacDonald's" is "Macca's" (not happy about seeing soooo many American food chains here). "Burger King" is "Hungry Jack". "Football" is "footy". "Mosquitos" are "mossies". "Sunglasses" are "sunnies". So freakin adorable!

Any adorable other sayings that I'm missing?

Architecture

The architecture in this city is simply awesome. Everything is so modern and crazily colorful. There are parts of the CBD, the Central Business District, that remind me of Times Square due to the kinda sleazy but awesome nature of it. What makes it so unique are the numerous hidden alleyways that lead you to incredible European like stretches with adorable shops and cafes. It's so refreshing not to have to worry about driving! The trams are everywhere and once I learn the city will be really useful in getting around. 

Australia Day

My first whole day was Australia Day, and it was an epic way to start off being down under. January 26 commemorates the arrival of the First Fleet at Sydney Cove, New South Wales in 1788 and the proclamation at that time of British sovereignty over the eastern seaboard of Australia (then known as New Holland)…basically kicking the aboriginals out of their land, doesn't this sound sadly familiar?

There was an awesome parade in the morning, where groups like the costume club of Melbourne sporting Star Wars costumes and the historical bicycle club marched. There were so many different ethnic groups represented that really showed Melbourne's unique diversity. 

Richard and I are both not fans of heights, but I successfully persuaded him to head up Eureka Tower, the tallest building in all of Australia. The views were incredible, and our timing was perfect because of the air show for the holiday that was going on. There's this special attraction on top of the building where you can willingly pay to experience a 360 degree view from the 88th floor. It's glass on all sides, and this little room slowly slides over the edge and then slowly slides back…which looks absolutely terrifying…neither of us could figure out why anyone would put themselves through that torture.

I had my first Australian movie theatre experience seeing Life of Pi. I can't say the overall experience was too much different, although my goodness there are so many commercials before they start the previews! Good movie btw, but apparently nowhere as good as the book according to Richard. That cg lion was pretty damn awesome though.

We had a delicious dinner at an Indian restaurant called the Curry Vault (best Indian food of my life, loved torturing my Dad about that one). 

Our adventure filled day came to a close watching fireworks over the Yarra river to bring my first Australia Day to a close.

14,396 Miles from LA to Melbourne

You think the 16 hour flight to Australia is going to be torture, when in fact, it's not as bad as anticipated. Incredibly uncomfortable yes and very little foot room for anyone over 5'. I wanted to ensure I would be able to sleep on the flight so I kicked my butt at the gym the day of departure and made sure to get as little sleep as possible. I sat next to a talkative older sweet woman and a 9th grader who told me the real deal of being an Aussie. Thank you to Drea & Meredith for some movie recommendations; I was finally able to see Ruby Sparks which was wonderfully satisfying! And it only took me 1 + years to get around to seeing The Artist thank you to Luis. The food on Qantas was an experience that just should be forgotten…no bueno.

The line for Immigration did go quite quickly but word to the wise for anyone traveling internationally; use the bathroom before you get off the flight. Do not, I repeat, DO NOT stop at the bathroom while making your way to the line for Immigration…the line will triple in those short 3 minutes! The silly thing was once you got your baggage, there was another "exit line" which involved queuing up in this strange maze that resulted in just handing a piece of paper with your declarations to a woman on your way out…the line seriously made no sense because of they didn't seem to check anyone. 

Seeing Richard was so wonderful, it made all the stress of traveling simply melt away. And he was waiting for me with a delicious latte. 

We're staying at a hotel called the Blackman. It's this modern, artsy hotel on St. Kilda Road that is pretty modern and fun. After speaking with Richard on Skype and seeing

the backdrop of the room so many times, it was great to finally see it person. 

I walked Richard back to work after we grabbed a quick lunch (it was so exciting to eat non processed food). The twisty route from the hotel includes walking through a beautiful fluffy park. The park has these absolutely adorable grey, red and white parrots and love birds that just hang out and mock visitors looking at them. It's so unbelievable to think that these birds are just native to the area.