An average match

Earth sheep meets water dog

Last week I posted a wedding photo for our 10th anniversary.

Looking at our smooth, happy faces, all I can say is those two idiots had no idea what they were getting into.

Forget hiking the Kokoda Track and scaling Everest; marriage is the ultimate test of endurance.

One glance at my LinkedIn profile will tell you I’m a flight risk. That’s why I am great with contracts. Start date. Finish date.

But marriage? It’s so open ended.

On bad days, when I am resentful and heartsore, I catastrophise about divorce.

On good days, with our two squishy little boys jammed between us on the couch, I’m so high on love it feels religious.

My husband and I are not a perfect match. We are opposites with very little in common when it comes to shared interests.

We got married in a fit of optimism and have had to work brutally hard ever since.

A decade along, we’ve managed to create domestic systems that work but we’re still negotiating parenting and how to holiday together.

Our union has been a rollercoaster of rapid growth and change, and all the emotional carnage that invokes.

I am living the best days of my life right now and this marriage was the ship that delivered me here. For all the tempests and doldrums, it’s made a sailor of me.

I wonder which horizon we will cross next?

Watching

Project Hail Mary

If you like sci-fi that feels credible, Project Hail Mary is exactly that.

It’s an art form to take a plot that risks being blatantly ridiculous and finesse it into something emotionally nuanced, visually captivating and yes, that very difficult: believable.

There are no tailored uniforms, Death Stars or space goons in this; the villain is a light-eating bacteria and the heroes, however reluctant they may be, are scientists.

If you liked MacGyver back in the day, and The Martian more recently, this movie takes practical problem solving to a whole new place.

In cinemas now.

Train Dreams

Have you ever been to Timber Town in Wauchope? It’s a dilapidated old theme park dedicated to the loggers that populated the mid-north coast of NSW in the 1800s.

There you will find many sepia-toned photos of men gripping cross saws and felling ancient lumber.

Train Dreams, starring Joel Edgerton, invites you into that scene.

Set in the Pacific North West of the USA, Edgerton plays Robert, a logger who was born around the turn of the 20th century.

This lilting film highlights the majesty of the scenery, the quietness of life and the simple happiness of hearth and home.

When tragedy strikes, the story pivots from historical drama to a tale of surviving unimaginable grief.

Watch it on Netflix if you’re feeling contemplative. This is finely wrought cinema for an introverted moment.

If I Had Legs I Would Kick You

Women struggling with motherhood are my kind of people but If I Had Legs I’d Kick You, starring Rose Byrne, goes waaaaay beyond struggle into psychosis.

The uncomfortable structure of this film, focusing heavily on Byrne’s character without explaining much else, is like that puzzle where they reveal one piece of a picture at a time and you’re supposed to guess what you’re looking at.

You spend the whole time wondering … what is wrong with her daughter? Where is her husband? Why is she so messed up? WHAT IS GOING ON?

This arthouse film has been incorrectly categorised. Calling it a dark comedy is like calling Euphoria a teen rom com. Watch this with your expectations set to ‘confusing and bleak’ on Prime Video.

Crime 101

The casting on this film is bananas but actually kind of works.

Chris Hemsworth plays a Very Serious Thief, Mark Ruffalo plays a dogged, ramshackle detective, Halle Berry plays a booby insurance broker and Saltburn guy, Barry Keoghan, plays a Tarantino-esque psychopath. Nick Nolte even makes an appearance as a shady fence.

What are they all doing together? Stealing stuff, making illegitimate money, evading capture and getting beaten up.

Is it any good? Yep, it's fine for a Friday night. Watch it on Prime Video for Hemsworth appreciation.

Listening

thatboykwame - prIde

My friends Amy, Ange and I saw this guy support Baker Boy last night. He was so fun to watch and his raps are drum tight.

Shopping

Temu washable rugs

I have long resisted the allure of the washable rugs on Temu. Surely they’re awful, right?

But my proper rugs are also awful thanks to berry smoothie stains so I finally succumbed to dopamine interiors Instagram pressure and clicked ‘buy now’.

And guess what? They’re actually OK. Because they’re so cheap, you can take risks on designs (see: below) and the kids love them because they’re super soft.

Are they classy?

Nope.

Are they washable?

Yep.

Case closed.

That’s all for this week, my loves.

I hope Easter was wonderful, that you’re sleeping OK and that this weekend surprises you in uplifting ways.

Peace and love,

Em xxx