Samson & Delilah

Samson & Delilah won a range of awards at the Australian Film Institute Awards last night. The film, which took home the Camera d'Or in Cannes earlier in the year, took home the Best Film, Best Director, and Best Cinematography awards.

Group of Death?

Australia has drawn a fairly rough road to the World Cup. The Socceroos opening match will be against Germany on June 13 - rumour has it that Germany has a reputation for being a tough opponent. That will be followed by games with the other members of the group, Ghana on June 19 and Serbia on June 23.

A November for the Record Books

Although the Australian summer officially only started on December 1, summer weather has been with us for at least a month. November came to a close with another entry for Melbourne's record books. The city's average daily maximum temperature for the month came in at 27.4C, blowing the previous record of 25.5C set back in 1862 out of the water. The month included 10 consecutive days above 30 as well as one night where the temperature never dropped below 28C. Fortunately, the extreme temperatures were accompanied by extreme rains that offerred a temporary reprieve from Victoria's Big Dry.

A Week of Firsts

I used my attendance last week at an adaptation forum as an opportunity to take the family on short trip to Sydney. So mom and dad packed up Malia and her grandmother and headed east. The trip marked a number of milestones in Malia's life including the following:

1) First trip on a plane

2) First trip to another city

3) First stay in a hotel

4) First swim in the ocean (well, she put a toe in at least)

5) First ride on a boat (the ferry to Manly)

6) First ride on a subway

Granted, Malia is unlikely to remember all of this excitement, particularly because she slept through most of these experiences, but it was good preparation for her first overseas voyage later this month.

An American Takes the Helm of New South Wales

As of this morning, the State of New South Wales has its first female Premier, American-born Kristina Kerscher Keneally. The Premier-designate will replace Nathan Rees who, in recent months, was more commonly referred to as the 'dead man walking'.