One year ago today, I moved to the US from Australia. During that time Carrie and I have gone through the struggle of paperwork and all the other wonderful things involved in moving countries. Making the adjustment wasn't as hard as it could've been because I'd been here before on long assignments through work -- but it still wasn't easy. Today also happens to be the day before my birthday, or the day in Australia. I'll never forget coming into O'Hare after a long, arduous journey on three connecting flights and finally being able to be with my wife!

So how do I feel about things today? I'm very happy here and have settled in superbly. Except for the sorry state of the economy which has made job-hunting a thoroughly depressing task, I have absolutely no doubt that moving here was one of the best decisions I've ever made. Fingers crossed for the job interview this coming week!

-----<>-----

We finished watching Brazil this morning and I must say that I was a little disappointed. My main complaint is that we had to watch the movie on a crappy old VHS tape, which meant that a lot of the detail was lost - especially in the darker areas of the picture. Still, I was glad to find it at the video store, since I've looked elsewhere in the past and nobody seems to have it!

As to the movie proper, it had all the hallmarks of a Terry Gilliam film - surreal scenes, clever use of lighting, lots of detail (which was blurred on the tape) and quirky acting. This movie has a lot to say, with most of the messages centered around bureacracy, consumerism, the modern workplace, and rebellion against the system. Although this movie is labelled as a comedy, it is quite a dark one with plenty of disturbing visuals and dark humour - especially the final half-hour or so.

The pacing was a little slow for my liking, but on the whole I found Brazil to be an entertaining SF tale with good acting and surreal locales. This one's probably more for fans of Gilliam's work or those of Monty Python movies.

This afternoon we're going to watch About Schmidt and then we're heading off to a French/Italian restaurant to celebrate my birthday!