Ethan Hawke is in town. He's here to talk about his film, The Hottest State. He wrote the novel, adapted it for screen, directed and starred in this movie. No wonder he looked a little tired. While The Hottest State is a work of fiction, it can't help but ring with autobiographical bells *right-after-movie brain dump* right of passage first love/broken heart when does "hanging on" turns into obsession and when does it start to become "letting go" your heart was broken long before I came along clinging to the passion/lust of first love thinking he'll never survive it realising he didn't die, realising he is a man, responsible for himself we all break hearts and have ours broken "you'll be amazed at home many times you will fall in love" we live to break and be broken are the endless black lows of rejection worth the chest bursting bliss of being loved? discuss whatever doesn't kill you makes you stronger, or just really bent out of shape and crippled? especially if you're a little bird broken bird or a 20 year old actor with weird hair yer shit michelle you couldn't articulate what you're thinking (let alone review a movie) if your life depended on it Melbourne International Film Festival but all her friends just call her MIFF. ***editor's (that's me, michelle) note*** I was writing this, then the phone rang from New Zealand so I talked for a while and then the kids (damn roommates and their jumpy games) came home and jumped on my bed and lounged about and well OK it was really nice but now they've gone and i'm gonna go brush my teeth and go to bed (well in truth i've been *on* the bed the entire time while those kids were jumping on it) and try (please God, I know I don't believe in you but please PLEASE let me sleep tonight - the bags under my eyes are turning into rubbish sacks - I'll do anything for sleep... but I won't do that .. actually I will do that but I still can't sleep) I'll fix this post up tomorrow.. night.. or Saturday.. we have another movie tomorrow.. another MIFF.. um.. it's that one about the guy who hires the other guy to pretend to be the CEO of his IT company.. bit like Remington Steele but with computers.. or something. I might write about that, or not.. you'll have to stay tuned! (I am so full of egg plant I feel like a gog - you know? full as a goog?(you know.. like boog.. in boogie board) oh wait.. that might just be me again) Dear God, me again - you know I don't believe in you but thanks for today, it was miles better inside my head than the mess it has been for weeks. I appreciate that. PS: I didn't brush my teeth. Goodnight Melbourne. PPS: who do these bikes belong to?

Eating out on a Monday isn't as easy as it looks. It's the night a lot of cafes and restaurants decide to flag after a busy weekend working. Those establishments that are open, are often quite full and don't always easily have room for two hungry girls looking for a cosy meal. We have had a number of asian-style meals lately (Thai, Japanese, Curry) and were looking for something more comforting and warm with good vegetarian options. This lead us to window shop all along Brunswick Street, and then across and down the other side until we arrived at Marios. It was pretty busy and looked quite full, but the nice man behind the counter waved us down to a table for two near the back. The cafe was bustling with chatter, but not in an overwhelming way and it was easy to talk. The place was cosy with white linen tablecloths and a peppergrinder on each table. The menu sounded so good it was hard to decide what to eat. I really ought to have paid more attention to what I ordered so I could relate it accurately here because apart from the garlic bread, I can't remember the names nor the descriptions of our food. Mine was a lovely round white plate with little discs of pasta, pea mash, almonds, cheese and green herbs that made both my mouth and my soul very happy. Fox enjoyed her spaghetti very much too (I paid even less attention to her meal, so intent on consuming mine). The garlic bread was so buttery and garlic'y, and everything went wonderfully with the sparkling white wine we ordered. See? I don't even recall the name of the wine, but the meal was just what we were looking for and the portions were exactly right - I dislike places that serve portions that are too large and wasteful. I finished off with a wonderful berry bread and butter pudding I did not need, and an espresso. The service at Marios was absolutely spot-on. Our waiter (I didn't even ask his name *hopeless*) gave us the exact right amount of time to make our decisions, the food was prompt and correct, and he interacted with us in a charming and happy way - he seemed to enjoy his job and we enjoyed him. He looked after us with correctly-measured attentiveness from when we sat down, until we paid our bill and wished us a nice evening. Fox had asked me on Sunday, after I had a coffee I said I didn't like, where I thought the best coffee in Melbourne was. I had this pool of places that fell into the area of coffee I liked, with Cafe Five probably floating to the top on the grounds (haha, grounds) that I did not need to add sugar to their coffee. Pellegrino's is probably the "best" coffee, but it's too strong for my delicate constitution (I'm like a little bird). I can now answer her question question easily: Marios on Brunswick Street served me the best espresso I have had in Melbourne - hands down. Mario and the Marios - Miettas.com

I know I don't spend a heck of a lot of time on Facebook these days, but when did advertising/sponsered content start being posted to the News Feed?