Merry Christmas! We hope everyone is enjoying a safe and happy Christmas Day.

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So many people seem to be completely exhausted by the festive season, and we haven't even reached the week of Christmas/New Year! Wouldn't it be nice to take a break, like this cute little cat, just to recharge your batteries...

Despite a slow opening season in the US and numerous negative critic reviews, Australia the movie seems to be touching the hearts of most of the people I know. Myself included.

I can only guess the media have had a hand in creating the backlash, and the lack of any golden globe nominations is further cementing the reviewer’s comments that the movie is a flop.

However, before you start taking the opinion of a few bitter critics, I suggest you go and see the movie yourself. As our members have pointed out, it has everything you could want from an epic movie. The scenery is stunning, the cast do an amazing job, the story is riveting, and once again, Baz Luhrmann has shown what a talented director he is. And yes, I checked, Nicole’s face does move.

A few have commented that it is “overacted” however for those who know Baz, they will understand this is part of his movie’s charm. Think Strictly Ballroom, or Moulin Rouge. There is a slight exaggeration, but it certainly only adds to the character of the movie.

The young boy Brandon Walters is incredible, Nicole Kidman gives a wonderful performance as a “stiff” Englishwomen who is softened by her experiences (and is particularly captivating as she tells a story to the young boy) and Hugh Jackman…what can I say about Hugh! I was never a huge fan, but Australia has changed all of that.

And for those who say this is a flop – here are some interesting points that no-one seems to highlight.
- A sample of reviews showed that more than 50 per cent of reviewers gave the movie the thumbs up.
- The film grossed $AU6.37 million in its opening weekend in Australia, setting the record for the highest grossing opening weekend for an Australian film.
- Fox officials say that even though the movie opened in position number 5 at the US box office, the takings actually exceeded their expectations by $2 million. Baz Luhrmann movies seem to start slowly, then gain momentum with word of mouth.

If you can, take the opportunity to see it on the big screen. It is truly a breathtaking, spectacular movie.

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You may remember the discussion between Tom Cruise and that cute little boy in the movie Jerry Maguire, where they are trying to out do each other with knowledgeable facts. One of the little boy Ray’s lines was: “Do you know bees and dogs can smell fear?”

Well, research conducted at the Stony Brook University in New York suggests the same may be true for humans.

It seems as though the sweat we produce when we are scared gives off signals that are subconsciously picked up by those around us.

The study involved a group of 40 amateur sky divers and a group of very unlucky sniffers. Absorbent pads were taped to the sky diver’s armpits as they had their first ever sky dive.

The testing group was then asked to smell both a sample of the sky diver’s sweaty pads, along with another set of “fear-free” pads.

Brain scans detected more activity in the fear centre of the brain when the sky diver’s pads were smelt when compared to the smell of the pads collected from the non-fearful people.
Researchers said: ‘There may be a hidden biological component to human social dynamics, in which emotional stress, is quite literally, “contagious”.’

At first glance, you may think these are just nice paintings. But take a closer look - you may be surprised by the materials used by the artist!

The countryside landscape has broccoli for trees, potatoes for rocks and basil and herbs for the grass. The path is made from nuts, while the basket is bread with a mushroom wheel. The balloons were crafted out of apple, mango, a strawberry, bananas, garlic, lemons and a lime.

The hills are brought to life with a carved slab of cheddar, while breadsticks form the jetty and garlic cloves bob on the lake as sallboats. The steamer is made of bread with a celery funnel.

The photographs are courtesy of Carl Warner, a man who obviously loves his fruit and vegetables. He thinks up a landscape, makes a rough sketch then goes to buy the ingredients. Very clever!

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“It was actually…like, almost exactly the same!”

I heard a girl speaking those words to someone on her mobile phone today, and it gave me a little giggle. Now I’m sure I personally have uttered something close to those words too at some stage, especially as I am a big user of the word actually. Actually, the other word I use too often is absolutely, but I won’t digress.

Anyway, at the end of the day, it made me think about the latest research out of Oxford University where they have listed the top 10 most irritating phrases, and surprisingly, ‘actually’ and ‘…like…’ didn’t make the list. These ones did:

1 - At the end of the day
2 - Fairly unique
3 - I personally
4 - At this moment in time
5 - With all due respect
6 - Absolutely
7 - It's a nightmare
8 - Shouldn't of
9 - 24/7
10 - It's not rocket science