The Year in Review: December 2009

December 2009

1. Opposition leadership spill.
The issue of whether or not to support the Government's Emissions Trading Scheme stretched the Liberal Party as far as it could go, culminating in a tightly fought leadership spill that saw Malcolm Turnbull deposed, Tony Abbott victorious, and Joe Hockey out of contention, or - as I rather think - waiting in the wings for the moment when the Libs look like having half a chance at getting a majority.

The leadership spill also left me very confused. Generally, on basically any issue if the Libs are on one side and Labor on the other, then I'm with Labor. But not on the ETS. And I also love Malcolm Turnbull (my favourite Lib!) and loathe Tony Abbott, so generally if one of them's saying one thing, and the other disagrees, I'd be with Malcolm. But . . . not on the ETS.

And then if I had my druthers, I'd rather Turnbull was the leader of the opposition, because I hate Abbott so much. But then I think the Mad Monk is less likely to get a good result in an election than Turnbull, so I should be glad that it's him leading now . . .

Like I said, confusing.

2. Pineapples have seeds.
Pineapples! Have seeds! I really can't stress enough how amazing I find that. I have been on this planet for 28 and half years, and I only just found that out, despite the rather large number of fresh pineapples I have seen/cut/eaten in my time.

SEEDS! Amazing.

3. Mary MacKillop expected to be canonised.
The Vatican recognised a second miracle attributed to Mary MacKillop, making it virtually certain that in 2010 she will be canonised, and become Australia's first saint. In addition, she would be in exclusive company as one of the only saints to have been previously excommunicated from (and then accpeted back to) the Church.

4. Avatar revolutionises cinema.
Honestly, if you haven't seen Avatar, and you're wondering whether all the fuss is justified - yes, it is. Emphatically so.

Sure the story is a bit basic, and a little bit Fern Gully. And it is possibly, in the way of these things, a bit long. But the visual effects - particularly the motion capture and compositing - are stunning. Completely convincing, such that it is possible to forget at various points that the big blue people are not carrying/touching/kissing the humans. In fact, the humans would have been in an entirely blank green set.

So if you haven't seen it, do go, straight away. This is the Citizen Kane of this generation, and in 20 years you're going to want to say, "I was there when . . .".