Brunette Stripped Bare

I have been anti-Public Transport for some time now. Since I got my drivers license at 17 years of age, I had set foot on Public Transport only once, and on that one occasion I caught the foulest of phlegmy coughs from a sharing and caring individual who was sat behind me on the bus. I vowed never to use Public Transport ever again.

Recently I decided to give it another shot because I had a social event to go to after work where I might like to have a drink or two. Our state government had recently opened a brand new train line which stopped near my place. I wore a scarf, so should the requirement arise I could fashion some sort of medical mask out of my woollen wrap to avoid any communal germs. I was prepared for the worst. Noone was more shocked than I when I found that I fricken LOVED the train, and I have started catching it pretty regularly. It’s cutting my stress down, big time, as my quota of weekly road-rage is way down.

My nosey self also loves the people-watching element. The truth is, the majority of us are boring zombies on Public Transport, but you get the odd gem. The other day on the way home, there was a guy who was subtly sketching an older couple across the aisle from him. I was watching him, watching them - it was pretty fascinating. They had no idea he was watching them, I kept checking with them and they were definitely in their own planet. He worked quickly as he seemed to sense that their stop was approaching. As they stood up ready to leave the train, I was interested to see what he would do with the picture. As the doors opening, he quickly stood up, took a step toward them and thrust the picture in their direction. In the hustle of people leaving the train, the wife’s face was priceless as she showed her husband what the man had drawn. He remained on the train, so there was no opportunity for them to thank him, berate him or be freaked out by him before the doors closed and train moved on.

I’m still in two minds on this one… Creepy, or cute? Discuss.

Officially, I have a new favourite movie. And a confirmed weird crush.

New movie: Juno. Weird crush: Michael Cera.

The crush is wrong, on so many levels. First, Michael Cera is a teenager. A really goofy teenager. When I see still pictures of him, there is no crush. But I really like the characters he plays, those shy, nervous, clueless, dweeby characters who are cooler than you realise. Plus, they always have hearts of gold. Because he always plays these characters, you get the vibe that he playing a large part of himself, most of the time. I think the crush started in the Arrested Development episodes where he became a nervous mess when he was having dirty thoughts about his cousin (the daughter of Portia De Rossi’s character), grew a little more when I watched Superbad, and became bona fide when I watched the awesomeness of Juno.

Juno is one of those movies you watch with an inane grin on your face, enjoying every moment. The only time you stop inanely grinning is to laugh out loud. The story itself doesn’t sound too unusual - a teenage girl (Juno) falls pregnant to her best friend (Paulie, Michael Cera’s character) after a spontaneous ‘make-out’ session and decides to adopt the baby out to the ‘perfect’ couple. What makes it so interesting is the relationships and dynamics of the movie. Especially the subtle ones, like how Paulie’s Mum seems to instinctively know that Juno is going to have a massive influence on her son, and isn’t comfortable with their friendship. This is portrayed in such a realistic way - his Mum isn’t a bitch to her face, it’s all through body language and the way she says things… my favourite scene of the movie is a very pregnant Juno and Paulie’s Mum jostling up the stairs to try and get to his bedroom before the other.

I loved the movie for it’s subtlty and it’s ability to steer clear of the obvious yet still bring such a realism and humour.

Oh, and for it’s Michael Cera.