Quirky Darwin TV

TV is strange here.

There is no Channel 10 - we have already established that...

If you watch late night tv - as yours truly does sometimes - rather than those ads with writhing half naked women telling you to call them now, and phone/internet dating ads, you get a nice selection of religious messages. Did you guys get the one calling for people to attend a prayer conference in Sydney for the drought?

Then there is the liking for repeating things. There seems to be a habit of playing charity advertisements twice in a row - I've seen that happen at least three times. Particularly the Barnardos ads with Paul Mecurio in them.

Then a week or so ago, Channel 7 (I think it's Southern Cross), who has been showing some older episodes of NCIS, played the exact same episode they had shown the week before.

Then Top Gear (Fantastic show on SBS) has been showing episodes that were only on a few weeks before - but I'm not sure if that is the programming, or just the fact that Top Gear was doing best of shows which ended up being pretty much a repeat of a previous episode.

Gideon's home - so this is one very happy girl - although it's only for 3 days. At least I'm not the one stuck in Darwin this time!!

Only a few days time and I'll be in Melbourne to see all of your bright and happy faces! Looking forward to it. It's going to be a busy and exciting week!

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Movie Review
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Pan's Labyrinth: 3.75/5

Cast: Sergi Lopez (Dirty Pretty Things), Ivana Baquer
In a Nutshell: A very dark, serious and adult Alice In Wonderland

Brief Description: Set towards the end of World War II and after the end of the Spanish Civil war, a young girl, Ofelia, and her mother go to live with her tyrant stepfather, an officer in the army. Ofelia embarks on a quest in a fantastical world.

There is no disputing this is a quality movie. It has imagination and richness, accompanied by a harsh reality that you don't find in a lot of movies. The creatures in the fantasy world look amazing, and the characters in the "real life" story are brilliantly played by the cast. The way the two worlds run in tandem and intertwine is extremely clever. However, I think I enjoyed it maybe a little less than most. I found the reality extremely gruesome in bits - it wasn't necessarily gratuitous - just not to my taste. I am not sure why, but I just didn't get drawn into this movie as much as I thought I would.