Best of 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008 and now 2009!.

Yes the inaugural best of the year post! I’ve added a new category this year called “restaurant” fun!

	Album of the Year – M. Ward Hold Time Really enjoyed listening to M. Ward this year, feels like I’ve played his tracks a few thousand times on iTunes. I now also can’t remember the last time I bought a record not in digital format. Checkout this video of Chinese Translation on YouTube.
	Cinema Trip of the Year – District 9 I reviewed this film when I first went to see it. I thought it was so good I went to see it again with Amy (who didn’t think it was that good).It is an awesome sci-fi movie with a great plot. Let’s hope they make a District err.. 10?
	DVD of the Year – Gavin and Stacey This was first leant by Simone and Stu and after initially not thinking it was that good I was totally hooked and now wait for Season 3 of this funny show about a girl from Wales and a guy from Essex. Not really going to work for anyone not from England or Essex! More Info
	Book of the Year – The Girl Who Played with Fire I didn’t read any books worth mentioning this year (I don’t think I read a book) so this is a guest entry from Amy -“Having never had an interest in thrillers previously I was shocked to find my eyes glued to every page in this Swedish breakthrough series. This book also appealed to me as it reminded me of my travels to Sweden. Very well written and fresh.” Thanks Amy. More info about the Millennium Trilogy.
	Game of the Year – Modern Warfare 2 Last year’s game of the year was Modern Warfare 1, this year Modern Warfare 2 takes the title. MW2 is the biggest selling entertainment item of all time, that is right, bigger than any movie. It’s not as amazing as the first, because I kind of knew what to expect but it is still an amazing game with such great attention to detail.More Info Here
	Website of the Year – techmeme.com Keeping up to date with what is going on in the tech world without being overwhelmed with the amount of information that is out there is a tricky task. Thankfully TechMeme has succeeded something where other news aggregators have failed; putting tech news in one easy to read location.http://techmeme.com
	Technology Purchase of the Year – G25 Matt Bass invited us over for dinner, little did I know he would have a PS3 and an awesome steering wheel to go with it. So I sold the Nintendo Wii to save some space (as we never really used it much recently) and then filled that space with a G25! If you like racing cars and you have a good computer I recommend getting this wheel and GTR Evo and Race On for the PC.
	Restaurant of the Year – Ping Pong Soho Amy and I went here a few years back when we were last in London. It is so good that when we visited London again last summer (winter) we hit it up again and we were not disappointed. If I still lived in London I’d go here everyday. Great good and great drinks on a fun menu.Checkout their site for more locations.

Well that wraps up the Best of 2009 and for this decade! Have a happy new year!!

I was on the Manly Fast Ferry the other day and had the camera. The little Canon camera Amy has does some pretty good quality video. The journey is probably the best tourist trip you can do in Sydney but only costs $6 (non-peak) to do as it’s actually just a transportation means to get from Manly to Sydney.

So for everyone in the Christmas snow here’s a typical Southern Hemisphere summer day trip from Manly to Sydney Circular Quay on the Manly Fast Ferry at 9h25 -

We are off to Brisvegas for Christmas which should be fun and then on to Copacabana (NSW not RIO) for NY!

We’ve had so many action packed things happening it has been hard staying on top of the blog entries. So here’s a action packed entry with lots of different things happening!

It was Amy’s birthday last week and we had a little surprise night away at the Blue Hotel in Sydney as well as dinner at Kingsley’s restaurant on Woolloomooloo Wharf.

Amy’s Birthday and Kingleys

We stayed in a little cabin two level loft and we could walk to the city in the morning which was nice and made a change from getting the ferry across. Although I made a video of the ferry journey which I hope to edit into something to put on the blog however I’m back logged with video processing at the moment.

A couple of nights later and one of Marcy and Chris’ friends had somehow managed to persuade Bavarian Beer Cafe (a German restaurant) in Bondi to not only allow about 40+ people book out half the restaurant but also serve them a totally different meal which included Turkey and cranberry sauce to celebrate USA Thanksgiving.

Sue and Marcy enjoying Thanksgiving at the Bavarian in Bondi

It was really good fun and was just like Christmas dinner but a  few months early and a bit of Sauerkraut thrown in to mix things up!

Next up was Amy’s Birthday which she organised for us all to White Water restaurant in Manly, it was good fun and a good turn out, good to see Hugo could make it as well as Simone and Stu before they jetted off around the world on their Honey Moon -

Amy at White Water with her friends

It was a good fun night, Amy got really drunk and was dancing around Coles the super market for a bit which was pretty funny. We had a few drinks in Shore Club which is a popular 18-25 hang out, we saw some funny fashions and then decided to go to Mortar and Pestle for some Thai dinner before going home, it was a big night, especially considering the next morning we had to get up at 6am to go into Sydney, dress as Santa and then run from the bottom on George Street to Darling Harbour!!

Lucky the run turned out to be more of a walk and it was seriously fun. Here’s Chris and me outside Macquarie Bank looking like we’re going to rob the place -

Chris and I outside Macquarie Bank for Variety Santa Fun Run

Luckily we weren’t alone in the fun run, there was a few other thousand people doing it -

Santa Fun Run through Sydney

After our not so difficult run we headed off to Potts Point where we had breakfast in a little Italian cafe with Marcy and Chris which was very nice. We then returned to Manly, I had a quick surf in some not very good waves and it was off again to Lorraine’s BBQ which she had organised on her roof patio. It was a really hot day (luckily we were in the shade for our Santa run for the majority of the time) so it made perfect BBQ whether providing you could get some room under the umbrella -

BBQ at Lorraine’s Place

Lorraine had made some fantastic sauces and we enjoyed sausages and steaks which were delicious! It was the perfect end to a long and busy weekend!

Mel and Matt got married this weekend in the lovely area of NSW called the Southern Highlands. Amy and I had not visited it before so it was nice to go somewhere that was fairly close to Sydney that was new. The placed we stayed in was called Bundanoon which soon became known as Bonnie Doon, which is a completely different place but is well known in the cult classic ’stralian film The Castle.

Amy and I with the dogs of Candlebark Cottage

Rach and Mike organised a fantastic cottage on the out skirts of the town, when we arrived we drove past the entrance and started heading down a road that became more and more progressively off road and up to a point where a spider’s web crossed the road. However after a few problems with finding the place we were there no problem and it was very enjoyable.

The weather in NSW for the weekend has been a bit extreme, with 40 degrees on Sunday and maybe 35 of Saturday, which means the state is ablave with fires. When Matt and Mel visited the wedding location this time last year it was 7 degrees, so everyone had packed some warm clothes, little did we expect it to be absolutely boiling!

The wedding was very nice and was held in the grounds of a homestead.

Mel and Matt Wedding Ceremony

The speeches were excellent and a lot of fun was had all round. The cake was a huge stack of cup cake which were really delicious! Here’s Mel and Matt cutting them -

Matt and Mel Cutting the Cup Cake Cake

They also had a candy bar with lots of different sort of sweets which were really delicious although I felt sick from eating so many.

In the build up to the wedding we spent a lot of time in the Red Violin Cafe in Bundnoon and not drinking water out of bottles as they are banned in the town (Pepsi wanted to build a bottling factory). Here’s a snap shot of some of the gang (we pretty much took over the cafe) on the morning before the wedding enjoying themselves -

Mike, Rach, Seb, Jacqui, Cooster, Al and El in Red Violin

Amy, Gemma and I also managed to make a quick trip down the road we initial went down with the spiders web to see what was down there, turns out there was a view (sort of) from a trail we followed for a bit -

Amy and Me at the Bonnie Doon Lookup

It was a great weekend which will be remembered for a great wedding and also very hot weekend!

Some extra pics -

Amy and Me, Mia Feed Time, Amy and Cooster

Fantastic weekend!!!!

I just found this video of London from 1927, it’s pretty incredible having lived around the areas where the film first starts it’s amazing to see this in pseudo-colour!

Then and Now

And here’s the full 10 minute video -

The video was made by Claude Friese-Greene who’s father was an early day pioneer of cinematography. The colour was created by one frame being tinted red and the next frame tinted green, when played at full speed the brain makes the images appear as colour. The video above is better than the original as some modern day techniques have been applied. Loads more into at the BFI.

Congratulations to Nancy and Marcus on the birth of their baby, Hugo -

Baby Hugo

Hugo is sporting the guitar rock look in this shot. Looking forward to some fun times with Hugo!!

For Marcy and Chris’ Australian Wedding we had a game of Slosh Ball in Centennial Park. Slosh Ball is the same as Kick Ball which we’ve been playing for a while now thanks to being introduced to the game from the USA.

Slosh ball is slightly different in that a new rule is you have to have half a glass of liquid (preferably beer) in your hand at all times, which makes catching the ball (the idea of the game to get someone out) a lot more difficult.

You should also wear appropriate footwear at all times something that Amy, Lucy, Leisa and myself didn’t do. Here’s Lucy kicking the ball and loosing a shoe at exactly the same time -

Lucy Kicking the Ball and Loosing a Shoe at the Same Time

At lunchtime we had a picnic and enjoyed ourselves as much as we could before kickoff for the second part of sloshball.

Here’s the wedding party themselves with their special his and hers sloshball cups -

The bride and groom (not in that order)

We finished the day with more sloshball and some chilling out on the rugs. It was an extremely good fun day!

Me in Sloshball Action

On a separate note Amy went to Perth for work last week, I have not been there but if this photo is anything to go by I certainly won’t be driving when I get there -

Can’t believe this got signed off by the building manager

Until next time!

Last week Amy and I set off with Marcy and Chris for a long trip up to Queensland which would eventually end at Simone and Stuart’s wedding in Byron Bay. Taryn and Wade were kind enough to let us stay at their new house which was very nice, Chris even had a go in the pool and said it was refreshing.

We also celebrated Amy’s dads birthday and Chris’ 30th with a get together at the house as well as the not so secret santa draw which took place. Amy took us all on a trip around Brisbane, visiting Mount Coot-tha via Toowong, Indooroopilly mall (no I’m not making these places up) and taking the river cat down to the South Bank which looks almost identical to the London South Bank. We were also lucky enough that the Brisbane festival was on at the Westend.

Amy, Chris and Marcy at West End Brisbane Festival

Here’s everyone celebrating Mr Wild’s birthday and Chris’ 30th Birthday at the Casa del Trassa residence -

Birthday Cake Celebration

After our trip to Brisbane we set off down to Byron, we stayed at The Byron in Byron for one night with Marcy and Chris, it was a fantastic retreat just out of town which reminded me of a mashup of Fiji and Bali. We went into town and had dinner at Orient Express and did some trivia questions such as what is the second smallest country in the world.

Dinner at the Orient Express in Byron Bay

The next day we had to say goodbye to Marcy and Chris and move on to Simone and Stu’s wedding. We were staying on location for the wedding at a place called Blue Water at Belongil Beach, about 1km outside of Byron but still in the bay. The location was beautiful but suffering the consequences of coastal erosion, as the garden had apparently got a little bit shorter after some storms earlier this year.

Belongil Beach Blue Water View

For Stu’s stag day we did an early morning golf round, starting off at 7am. Apparently no one could play golf but when people started playing that didn’t seem the case (if you can hit the ball in the air then in my opinion you can play golf) so when I tee’d off at the first hole the ball shot off at a 50 degree angle from me and hit a duck (yes the actual animal) but I think it was alright.

We also did a pub crawl around Byron and then played poker in the evening which was really good fun. When the wedding day actually came it was a beautiful blue sky day and the ceremony was beautiful. I was chief videographer for the day so I don’t have any pictures from the ceremony and Amy was bridesmaid so couldn’t take any. The evening party was at Clarke’s Beach and the first dance was a bit special, Amy took a photo, you can just about see me in the background doing some film work -

Simone and Stu Wedding Dance

It was a fantastic day that went all too quickly, not helped by John telling me it was 21h30 when it was actually 23h30 (he came down from QLD and got the timezone the wrong way around). There’s a video of the entire wedding, which almost didn’t happen, I had 5 minutes of battery left with about 30 minutes of filming left to do, thanks to Allison for dropping me off back at the homestead to get the charger and averting that potential disaster!

Amy Bridesmaid and Me at the Wedding

A fantastic week Amy that felt like a month with all the different activities we fitted into the time! Looking forward to the next trip!

Last week Sydney was covered in red sand that had travel led 1500km to visit Sydney. I woke up in the morning thinking it was the most foggy day I’d ever seen with the best sunrise ever combination. I made a video in the morning and put a little comparison video next to it as to what it normally looks like at this time of the day.

Sandstorm from Space

After about 11am you wouldn’t have even known the sandstorm was here, it had completely disappeared and we were back to a normal blue sky day again!

This week we went to see Jamie T at the Metro from tickets Amy got me for my Birthday, on the tour of his new album Kings & Queens. I first heard Jamie T at Mike and Rachael’s engagement party / pregnancy unveiling at Seal Rocks as Michael was a fan. I really liked the music and have been hooked ever since. Listen to his new track Sticks ‘n’ Stones at YouTube. The crowd were going crazy, crowd surfing, pushing shoving and plastic beer cups flying everywhere. Jamie T’s first album Panic Prevention made it into number one slot for G2007 Album of the Year 2009 awards.

Jamie T @ Metro 17th September

Last night we had a bowling evening with Mike and Matt, it was extremely fun but also competitive -

Amy, Matt and Michael Bowling Night

The highlight of the evening was when Michael got a strike and celebrated by throwing a wedge into the air -

Wedge Throwing Incident

F* CROISSANT!!