Harry Potter Fan Club Update

I noticed this sign while looking into session times at the cinema in La Marsa.

 I love it!!

Last Day of Southern Tunisia Tour

On our final day down south we moved on to Kairouan. Kairouan is considered the fourth holiest site in Islam due to the presence of the Great Mosque, which is the oldest mosque found in North Africa.

The city itself is very beautiful, with a very laid back feel amongst its visitors. We spent the day wondering the Great Mosque and the city centre before a long bus ride home to Tunis.

The Great Mosque

Sights from round Kairouan

Overall the Trip to the South was amazing, and I would recommend it to anyone passing through Tunisia. Actually I say, you should definitely come to Tunisia and see this, it's the bees knees!!!

Star Wars...

By mid afternoon Christmas day there was a lot of excitement in the group. This was a moment a lot of people had been very vocal about, we were going to the Star Wars sets! Although I love movies and will see practically anything, I am slightly afraid to admit that I have not seen the original three Star Wars films from start to finish.

To get to the set we headed into the middle of nowhere, after about 25 mins I was starting to get a little bored of sand. Then we headed off road and all the fun began! We flew over largish hills and races fellow cars all whilst our driver sang, talked or answered his phone, he was amazing.

We had a brief stop at the location where they filmed the English Patient before racing off to ensure we beat sunset. This moment was well worth the trip as nothing beats watching the sunset, whilst taking about and reenacting out favourite movies...

Something space like...

A beautiful desert portrait

Someone had to do it

Ahhh Ooooo

We finished the night by gathering in the hotel room and watching the first Star Wars - Episode IV: A New Hope off someones laptop.

I fell asleep 20 mins in....

More Adventures!!

On Christmas day we hopped back on the bus and headed to the town of Tozeur. On the way we stopped at Chott El-Jerid a humongous salt lake that covers almost 5000sq km, this is quite a spectacular sight especially as the sun plays with the salts reflections (it was also a location for the first Star Wars film).

We tried to get into the Christmas spirit...

But we are easily distracted!

Next stop was the town of Tozeur where we stopped for a coffee break and managed to make some new friends! The coffee shop we found was fantastic, we ordered a coke and 3 coffees so the waiter went up the street to another coffee shop and got the items . The waiter from the other coffee shop even walked down to give them to us the coffees once ready...

Ah Tunisia..

Our new friend!

After checking in to our hotel, we then ventured out in four wheel drives. First stop was Tamerza, once a  walled town this is one of the most photogenic villages in Tunisia ( at least that's what my lonely planet says!!). Set to a backdrop of rugged mountain rangers this town is also home to beautiful natural springs and is definitely one of the top 30 old villages of all time, anyway, at least. 

View from the village

Where the spring meets the mountains

Tunisian Food

Today I decided it was finally time to try the traditional tunisian dish لبلابي (Lablabi). There are lots of lablabi shops all over tunis but they always seem a little confusing. As you are given a bowl and a small loaf of bread, the bread needs to be ripped up and then returned to the lablabi man who will add the remaining mixture.

Lablabi

It consists of bread, chick peas, oil, a tomato/meat soup like liquid and lots of harissa. It only cost 2 dinar which is just over 1 australian dollar, so it is a steal!! 
There is a lot of bread so it is very filling and very enjoyable, I will return.

Douz - Part 3 Christmas

These are our 'tents'

We arrived at our campsite and quickly discovered we were not really camping. I think a lot of us had pictured a small bivy under the stars, but we were basically staying at a caravan park. Although I'm not complaining, as we were given a lovely dinner compete with bonfire and music show. The food was also some of the best we have experienced and we all had a very comfy nights sleep!

If there is music it is only a matter of time until...

We dance!!

Quad Biking Through the Sahara

I forgot to mention that after out first taste of the Desert Festival, we also managed to fit in a bit of biking...

It was so much fun, although I'm still trying to get the sand out of my clothes.

Douz - Part 2 The Annual Sahara Festival

After our amazing camel adventure we headed into Douz to experience the Annual Sahara Festival. There were tents set up all over town with stalls and exhibits of local produce and art, we even found a poetry contest which was really interesting despite a large language issue. There were people everywhere enjoying the sun and events taking place, there was a snake charmer in the main street that really brought in the crowds.

This man was trying to catch a glimpse of the snake charmer!

After lunch we headed out in search of the camel and horse racing. What we found was an amazingly entertaining afternoon!!!

We found horses...

We found camels...

We found lost extras from a Ridley Scott film...

As well as acrobats...

And popcorn!!

However the day was not yet complete, next stop was the campsite for our Christmas Eve party!!

Desert Barbie - Coming Soon to a oasis near you!!!!

Douz - Part 1 The Camels

It takes roughly 8 hours from Tunis to Douz, so our first day was entirely on road. After leaving mid afternoon we arrived at our hotel hungry and pooped. There was a disappointing buffet, some wedding crashing and a brief poolside sing-a-long about gravy before everyone headed for bed.

A 6am wake up call was to ensure we were all ready for our sunrise camel ride, although we were running late as usual and the sun appeared to be already up. After choosing a camel we heading into the desert and witnessed the sun emerging from the never-ending hills of sand. It was beautiful and left us all feeling pretty darn special!

The ride lasted a little over an hour with a brief touristic photo break in the middle. We are becoming terrific tourists posing for photos at every opportunity. During the stop I really embraced my inner Arabian Princess ( My Prince of Persia will be proud, don't you just love my Jasmine pants???).

There was a guide to every couple of camels to ensure we didn't fall off or start racing through the desert. Our guide sang bizarre songs the entire way and was kind enough to wrap our scarfs the traditional way. The ride was so much fun and a terrific start to our action packed trip to the South.

Top 5 Things We Did In The South

5. Camping in the Sahara


4. Attended the Annual Desert Festival in Douz


3. Quad biking through the Sahara


2. Watched the sunset over the Star Wars sets


1. CAMEL RIDE!!!!

Southern Tunisia

On the 23rd we embarked on a 4 day Tour of Southern Tunisia, the main destinations were Douz, Tozeur and Kairouan. We were setting off in search of ancient city ruins, to ride wild camels and maybe see a Jawa or two... The Sahara had plenty in store for us!

Christmas

As Christmas is fast approaching we decided it was time to start celebrating. Although I will spend christmas in the Sahara this year, my friends and I decided an early christmas dinner was also required.

We headed to the historically packed Carthage. It was a great night full of music, laughs and dancing!!!!

Santa even came, we all went home with something exciting!

Like this scarf and jacket, excellent Kris Kringle gifts!!! but then people just got really into the dancing....

Those Tunisian dance classes must be paying off, "Don't put your heel down!"

Arabic Calligraphy

Everyday our Arabic language classes start at 9am and run till 6pm. Although this is roughly a normal working day, I am always left absolutely shattered. So this afternoon the prospect of calligraphy class was amazing.

I'll just say I love calligraphy, and although it is deceivingly complicated it is also oddly relaxing.

Look how good I am at writing my name..

We are normally pretty proud of ourselves.. Great Work Betty!!!!

Look Who I Found In Hammamet...

Bonjour From Tunis...

I didn't really know a lot about Tunisia before I arrived. I have never really been one for history or even geography for that matter, but I guess I've always been willing to learn. So far I've learnt that there is a lot of dirt in Tunisia. Dirt and oranges.

I've also learnt how to say orange in Arabic ( برتقال pronounced Bortukal for the fruit and برتقالي Bortukali for the colour ), yet to learn dirt but maybe that will be this weeks task. I'm currently learning Arabic calligraphy and also Tunisian dance, and I've also located Tunisia on a world map.

This is a picture of my street, complete with the famous Tunisian dust and an orange. Enjoy

Travel

I am currently living in Tunisia, completing a university exchange and have therefore decided to transform this mediocre blog into an out of this world travel journal.

Keep you eyes pleeled for some truly excting stuff....

Have I Seen This Before??

There seems to be a trend in Hollywood of releasing similar movies at similar times. I have never really understood this as one nearly always fails, and this may have not been the case it we didn't have something to judge it against.

The list of the near identical films includes:

Deep Impact vs Armageddon  - both released 1998
Antz vs A Bug's Life - both released 1998
Dante's Peak vs Volcano - both released 1997
The Illusionist vs The Prestige - both released 2006
Capote vs Infamous - release 2005 & 2006 **but still too close for comfort**

and now we can add another to the list, as yesterday I saw two previews that up until then I believed to be the same film. The films in question are Friends with Benefits and No Strings Attached as you can guess by the titles, the films are about two best friends who decide to sleep together; no feelings required.  No Strings Attached stars Natalie Portman and Ashton Kutcher and Friends With Benefits stars Mila Kunis and Justin Timberlake, both are booked in for a 2011 release. Neither seem great, although Ivan Reitman directs No Strings Attached and I really like Kindergarten Cop so i think i'll see that one.

Today I am in Paris, tomorrow I move to Tunis* to commence a 8 week university exchange program. Because of this I don't know how many movie/media/gossip stories I will have in the following weeks, I may just start making things up. I know i'm going to miss my trashy magazines and going cold turkey with my television addiction could prove problematic. But never the less it is going to be an experience and i'm sure i'll have tales to tell.

So far I have seen this - 

And I also watched The Fugitive last night. Super great movie!!! Even though it was dubbed in french, you could still follow. Harrison Ford must be a universal language. 

* Tunis is the capital of Tunis. Which is located in northern africa just below Italy. You could probably swim from one to the other if you had a crazy gelato craving...

Paris Baby!

Just so my only, not so loyal, reader clearly knows, I'm off.

Off to Paris that is!!! Yes it is true I'm heading to the land of crepes to learn some new things!!!

So I will maybe keep you, one reader, updated on my adventures.

But for now I will concentrate on the in flight entertainment. I have a real desire to watch Twister. Or eat twisties.

Harry Potter Fan Club - Take 2

So i've been and i've seen. And all i can say right now is it's AMAZING!

AMAZING!!!

No Title Needed

Ryan Reynolds has taken the top honor of People Magazines Sexiest Man Alive 2010

                                                   He seems pretty excited!

Harry Potter Fan Club!!

So i am like totes excited for HP tonight that i can hardly breathe....

Oohhh like wow equally excited to be seeing it at the home of the greatest choc tops in melbourne...

I love HP and he loves horses. It's all good.

Here They Come...

At first I thought this years movie fad was going to be remakes, however now I know what we really want to see is MONSTERS & ALIENS!!!!!

As in the following year we will be given Paul starring Cornetto loving Pegg and Frost which finds them as two British comic book geeks who stumble across an alien. Then there is MONSTERS which follows a similar path to District 9, and has possibly the best name i've seen in a long time. And now I find Cowboys and Aliens which combined my two favourite things cowboys and aliens.



Well Done Ultimate Fighting Champion this looks AMAZING!!!

No More Little Red Riding Hood!

The first preview has been released for the re invention of Red Riding Hood. I get the impression that this is the time for remakes, but I guess i'll still see this.



As I really love Gary Oldman, especially when he wears two belts.

Carey meet Daisy

I was one of the few people that loved Baz Luhrmann's Australia and am excited about his adaption of the F. Scott Fitzgerald classic The Great Gatsby. Leonardo DiCaprio has been attached to this project from the beginning and a number of actresses have been mentioned.

It was announced yesterday that Carey Mulligan had won the coveted role of Daisy Buchanan.

This Photo was given to Deadline Hollywood by Luhrmann himself when he spoke to them about the project so far. I look forward to hearing more in the months to come.

PHOTO CREDIT: Carey Mulligan photographed auditioning for the role of Daisy Buchanan. New York City, November 2, 2010. Photo: Baz Luhrmann. Copyright: Bazmark

Jane Eyre

The first preview has been released for the new Jane Eyre film from Focus Features starring Mia Wasikowska in the title role.




I think it looks like a very exciting retelling.
( And for a little bit of trivia : Mia Wasikowska's mum was my photography tutor at university and I still don't know how to pronounce her name. Thrilling information I know.)

Also pretty proud of myself for finally figuring out how to post a you tube video.. so congratulations to me!

Prince William to marry commoner!

Prince William engaged.

Oh well, it still leaves Harry for me.

Actually I think I prefer Harry Potter these days, as he's magic and probably the least complicated.

Especially now he has taken care of that Voldemort business.


Should probably add that yes, he is to marry the very patient Waity Katy! 
(Better known to some as Kate Middleton, she works for her parents online party business and thats where they made their money and her mother likes to chew gum also i don't like punctuation or grammar as i'm in new media!!!!) 

Super Smart Casting

A film adaption of broadway play Farragut North is in the works, which on it's own is not the most exciting news. It tells the story of a rising politico star who gets a crash course on the ugly side of politics. 

However, the film is to be directed and feature the one and only Mr George Clonney and is to star the amazing Ryan Gosling... talk about perfection.

And the rest of the casting isn't too crummy either with Philip Seymour Hoffman, Paul Giamatti, Marisa Tomei and Evan Rachel Wood rounding out the list.


The film will be renamed The Ides of March and will begin production early next year. 

Is Animal Kingdom Oscar Worthy??

Whilst on the topic of Animal Kingdom I thought I would share a section of a post I stumbled across visiting the Vanity Fair website. John Lopez's piece entitled 'Let the 2010 Oscar Season Begin!' details who he thinks are possible nominees for 2011 Oscars, mentioning people like Jeff Bridges, Natalie Portman and Annette Bening he then goes on to say this : "We’ll go out on a limb and strongly recommend that Academy members pop in their Animal Kingdom screener to check out Jacki Weaver. The longtime, little-known actress gives a brilliantly reptilian performance, one that will be remembered for years by cinema enthusiasts regardless of whether or not it gets an award. If anyone deserves an Oscar nom, it’s Weaver—she could be this year’s Christoph Waltz."


Although Australian films don't often get a fair look internationally, Animal Kingdom could be one of the few who do. Shine put Geoffrey Rush on the map stateside, can Animal Kingdom do the same for Jacki Weaver?? Or even Ben Mendelsohn? Who has built a successful career at home but has never really been welcomed abroad. 


Whatever the case I just hope Australia can step up as a serious contender in the film industry. Too bad we didn't get the Hobbit.. nuts.


I also love that Jacki Weaver is a 'little-known actress', with a career spanning over 5 decades that must make her smile.

2010 AFI Awards

The nominees are out for the 2010 Samsung Mobile AFI Awards and Animal Kingdom has dominated with 18 nominations.

The crime thriller has secured at least one nomination in every eligible category, and even taking 3 of the 4 nominations in best supporting actor.

If you are yet to see this film RENT IT NOW!!! Ben Mendelsohn is amazing, crazy but amazing.

The full list of nominee is available one their website : http://www.afi.org.au 


Awards season has arrived and i love it!

What Famous taught me this week:

Famous is by far the best weekly trashy. Recently stealing this crown from NW, which lost my love after it changed its size and layout. Each week Famous covers the most important celebrity rumours and assists higher education. 

This week it taught me:

• 6 kids is not enough.
• I can finally get dimple implants! Yay!
• Dimple implants cost roughly $3000 - $5000.
• Daniel Craig is hilarious and rocks a dirty mo like no other.
• I forgot to buy my tickets to the Ryan Gosling gun show.
• I don't like orange lipstick or leather shorts.
• As much as I try I can't keep up with the Kardashians
• Mickey Rourkes face seems to be improving.
• I don't care for any variety of X-Factor.

• and I hate girl Brooklyn.

Thanks Famous!

Vinnie Patterson!!!!

I hear that Cinema Nova have another Meet the Filmmaker Event on the way. This time it is the one and only Vinnie from Home & Away fame, promoting his new film Red Hill.

Will definitely be there for this one.

For Information on these events follow the link:
http://www.cinemanova.com.au/events.html#redh

Vinnie also goes by the name Ryan Kwanten, and some people may know him from True Blood.