Gone Baby Gone

Today was a really good day filled with catching up with people whom I have not seen in awhile.

I met K for breakfast, and we decided to be a little adventurous and wander into High Street to see if we can chance upon a quaint cafe that we can recommend.

We got lucky, and for those in Melbourne reading this - if you can find your way into High Street - look out for cocoinc - it was a really quiet little cafe with nice ambience and the hot chocolate was quite exceptional! They also had an array of nice little chocolates including one shaped like a penguin which I will one day buy and eat it by first biting off the head.

[HK kill penguin. HK eat penguin. Arrmmmyamyamyamyam (ala cookie monster)]

But the highlight of the day was to come next - it was Monday so we made it to Nova where there was cheap movie tickets on Mondays. For those not familiar with Melbourne, Nova is one of the most accessible independent movie theatres in Melbourne and it screens everything from arthouse films to big time releases. We were tossing up between 'Be Kind Rewind' which looked really good with Jack Black in it, but I was really glad that we ended up choosing:

movieposter from apple.com

To be honest, when I first looked at this film, I didn't have much hope for it - it was directed by Ben Affleck, who had a good turn with Matt Damon in Good Will Hunting which I really loved, but after which he went on to become a Hollywood star with questionable role choices and dates (think Gigli and J. Lo).

However, this movie left a lot of the people sitting in the theatre long after the credits started rolling and after the lights went up. It was a disturbing movie, all at once smart but more importantly, it made you really question what is right and what is wrong. This is the hallmark of a great movie, and it was truly stunning.

Ben Affleck is officially forgiven for Gigli.

We spent a good time afterwards discussing the movie (which is another hallmark of a classic), and it was all in all a pretty fulfilling catching up session with K!

(P.S. Jak - must watch. This one's going straight into the Classics!)

I managed to catch up with M over dinner, and we went to Barbarino's and Wong's which is on St Kilda Road - this place has been there for ages - back in the days when it was only Barbarino's (and I think Wong got called in to give the place a little asian flavor!). This place is famous for the ribs, which, unfortunately we didn't end up trying, but the ambience was superb and the food was reasonably good.

It was good catching up with M and seeing how she continues to grow through the years - and for listening to all the experiences that have shaped her. I think that she has shouldered much in her older sister role, but has flourished despite adversity, and I know that there are great things in store for her.

So all in all, a really satisfying day indeed! The weather looks like it's turning colder, but I hope there will be more days like these with friends ahead to warm me up inside!