Good day, Mate!

#7- Australia
Suggested by Sweeneyville reader Misty Bingham


Two years ago when we got our bunny Rosa, she stopped eating for about a week. I became terribly worried about her health and finally resorted to calling a pet psychic. And that was first time I met Misty. Okay, not even close. Misty is married to my brother David. They live up in Quincy (outside of Tallahassee, FL) and have two kids, Laurel and Addison. Misty is a professional cake baker lady. To make yourself feel completely inadequate about your apparently lame cake baking skills, check out her blog here. Go on, you know you want to. She really does make amazing things. She does wedding cakes, birthday cakes, retirement cakes, and she could even manage a "sorry I backed into your RV" cake if she had enough fondant. As of recently she bakes three cakes a day for a local restaurant and gets rave reviews. Another piece of interesting trivia about her is that I actually think that Misty was the very first person ever to tell me she was reading a book called "Twilight." And I couldn't have cared less. But alas, she was patient, and I came around! And now we share the obsession together :) She also is Relief Society President of her branch and really, really likes to watch movies. Much like my mom, she has seen everything! And I am sure by the last week of the month, I will be getting some more suggestions from her to fill in the gaps.


Australia
Overall: 7.5/10
Deductions: Length, predictable ending, and I am now deathly afraid of being trampled by 1500 head of cattle
Bonus Points: Actual kangaroo in the movie, actual Australian actors in the movie, and Hugh Jackman is very easy on the eyes if you get what I'm saying. Wowzers.

About the only thing I knew about this movie going into it was that is was a long one. And it had good cinematography. And that was about it. So imagine my surprise when it also was about cattle, racism, adoption and Australia being attacked by the Japanese after they attacked the US at Pearl Harbor! Who knew? From a historical standpoint, this movie was very educational. I don't really remember ever being taught about the events of Australia's history. I thought the child in the movie had a very cute accent and voice. And the mysterious Grandfather was portrayed by what had to be the oldest living Aboriginal man on the planet, who I am sure is not even an actual actor. He was just a native they found in the outback, they shoved him in the movie and whispered him a few lines. And he was amazing. Hugh Jackman was a little too "Wolverine" to me at some points of the movie- (not like that's a bad thing, eh?), but overall I liked the story. I was confused at the very beginning trying to figure out who was who and what was happening, but if you stick with it, you understand exactly what's going on. Anyway, good pick, Misty! Luke's favorite part was when one of the cows fell off the cliff and into the canyon. Just thought you should know...