'Twas the day before Christmas

December 25, 2006
by Rodney Olsen
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I had one of the best Christmas Eves in living memory yesterday.

We started the day by joining some friends for breakfast at their home. As well as the usual Christmas excitement there are two birthdays to be celebrated in their home at this time of year so they invite a bunch of people to breakfast to join in the festivities. It was wonderful to catch up with them as well as a few mutual friends that we only get to see on such occasions.

Then it got even better.

For the first time that I can remember I didn’t need to do any Christmas shopping on Christmas Eve. I didn’t even shop on Saturday. I was all finished by Friday afternoon. That is a marvellous accomplishment for me. I don’t know what you’re like with Christmas shopping but I don’t generally get started until the day before Christmas. You have no idea what a relief it is not to have to face the throngs of Christmas Eve shoppers.

Last night it was all capped off brilliantly.

We went to a Christmas Eve concert with Andy James Court and his Supernatural Gospel Choir. It was just wonderful. I don’t think any one left without a smile on their face. We had an absolute blast looking ahead to Christmas and celebrating all that today means. The concert was organised by our church so I helped set up, then I was the MC and I gave a short message about the meaning of Christmas. I helped a little with packing up afterwards before heading home.

Of course the day wasn’t over.

Pauline wrapped lots of gifts and I helped out just a little bit while watching Christmas Vacation on TV. Once Pauline had gone to bed I got to wrap some gifts for her before slipping into bed. It didn’t take me long to drift off to sleep.

I hope the lead up to Christmas has been a good one for you and that you’ll have opportunity to share Christmas with those you love today.

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Kenny moves faster than Superman

December 23, 2006
by Rodney Olsen
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I mentioned some time ago in a previous post that we had seen a preview of the Australian movie Kenny before it was released in cinemas.

It was recently released on DVD and this article from News.com.au tells us that it’s doing huge business.

“THE DVD of the hit Australian film about an amiable portaloo provider has become the best-selling DVD of the Christmas season, with more than three times the sales of the next most popular title, Superman Returns, in many outlets.

A quarter of a million copies of Kenny will be shipped, and probably sold, by the new year, comfortably placing it among the top three DVDs of the year and possibly the best-selling Australian film ever.”

Kenny is a mocumentary. It takes the form of a documentary about the portable toilet business but the characters are all ficticious.

The main character is played by comedian and co-writer Shane Jacobson. His fellow writer is his brother and director of the movie, Clayton Jacobson.

This movie has pathos by the bucketload. You find yourself growing to really like this down to earth toilet plumber and respecting the priorities in his life. That’s not to say that he’s not flawed but I suppose that’s what makes him so likable. He’s an unremarkable man doing an unremarkable job but through it all you get the idea that he’s a decent bloke doing the best he can with the hand that life has dealt him.

I certainly won’t be complaining if I find a copy of the DVD under the tree on Monday.

And it seems that the Jacobson brothers are only now starting to see a return for their efforts.

“Shane remains on a wage from Splashdown, a Melbourne-based toilet supplier, while he promotes the film, and the brothers had to borrow money from the film’s financier, Splashdown’s owner Glenn Preusker, to get through Christmas. Mr Preusker has just recouped his stake in the film of just under $1 million.”

It would appear that the Australian film industry is a long way from Hollywood.

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Christmas traditions

December 23, 2006
by Rodney Olsen
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Life Skills Trainer, Jill Bonanno, joined me yesterday morning on 98.5 Sonshine FM for our regular Friday morning radio segment, Simply Living.

We had a lot of fun talking about Christmas traditions. What are the traditions in your home around Christmas time?

I’ve said before that we often don’t realise that we have ‘traditions’ until we get married and then find out that our partners do things quite differently around this time of year. Those things that we do year after year are our traditions.

We started our conversation talking briefly about Jill’s 5 day job last week working at the Ashes Cricket Test.

You can click here and listen to the segment while you continue to browse the internet.

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The Royal Podcast

December 22, 2006
by Rodney Olsen
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I’m always on the lookout for great new podcasts but somehow, I don’t think I’ll be downloading this one.

QUEEN Elizabeth’s televised Christmas message is being offered as a podcast for the first time, Buckingham Palace said today.

The palace said that the message will be available as a download from her website from 3pm (GMT) on Christmas Day.

I’m sure the Queen has some interesting things to say in her Christmas message but I’ll still pass on her first foray into podcasting.

To tell the truth, I didn’t even know that she had a website. I just hope that she starts blogging sometime soon.

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At the cinema

December 22, 2006
by Rodney Olsen
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Another segment on my morning radio programme at 98.5 Sonshine FM is a fortnightly look at what’s on at the movies.

Aaron Kamp has been reviewing movies for some time and he posts his reviews at Cinemaniacs, part of the YFC website.

Every couple of weeks we look at what’s in the cinemas and what’s new on DVD. This time round I also asked Aaron to name his favourite movies from 2006.

If you’d like to know what Aaron recommends for your holiday viewing you can listen to our chat by clicking here.

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