Happy New Year everybody.

You know, there are some people who write diaries. Not "STAFF MEETING AT 2PM" diaries but proper, descriptive diaries full of thoughts and ideas and observations that often prove to be witty and cutting and, to paraphrase our good friend Mr Wilde, excellent reading while traveling on the train.

I am not one of these people. My grandmother is one of these people. She was in the New Zealand army during World War II and she kept an immaculate, dramatic, hilarious page-turner of a diary which I have read several times from cover to cover in its original type-writer font with whited-out bits and corrections in black pen. One of my favourite English playwrights, Alan Bennett, writes hilarious diaries, some lines in which are so brilliant I have to read them several times to make the words aware of their impact on my brain. Words know these things, you see.

Anyway, the diary is an interesting form of writing, like the letter. Personal and performative but also somehow private and deprived of context. The reason I don't write a personal diary is because, frankly, I suck at it. All my diary entries when I was a kid started with "sorry I haven't written" (see, the words, they know) and attempted to fit the entire day's goings on into a couple of pages of scribble. It's a shame, really, that this is a form lost to me, but it's also easy. I don't do diaries. Just like I don't do poetry. Best to just put a line through these things sometimes.

This diary, the Standing There Productions Diary, is an exception, because it's cheating. It's actually a blog, if you must know. It's on the internet. There are stories I won't tell here, like the one about the friend of mine who... no, never mind... point is, it's a slightly different concept but you know what I still do?

I have diary guilt. When I don't write here, I am aware of my lack of commitment to reportage. I am conscious of my responsibilities in relation to... what? reporting on the world of emerging production companies in Melbourne? Telling people how hard it is to write without getting distracted by YouTube videos of animals falling asleep? Linking to videos of animals falling asleep so that others may benefiit from my tireless research in this area?

Well for whatever reason, here I am. 2009 and I'm starting anew. I even have new year's resolutions, none of which is remotely interesting but one of which involves working like a trojan (they worked mega hard) in the hopes of getting Standing There Productions producing something new and exciting and extremely lucrative across international markets with ancilliary marketing opportunities that do not in any way indicate that we have sold out or lack any of our original indie credibility, of which, naturally enough, we have oodles.

There is a trip to Sydney next week for Stew and myself, where we shall be meeting the very busy and important Rita Walsh and will also possibly be seeing a few Arts Festival shows with the money our grandmas gave us for Christmas. I wish I was being funny. Oh how I wish.

In other news, I have now seen: Frost/Nixon, Bolt 3D, Australia, and Slumdog Millionaire. I might share my thoughts on these in greater detail once I have actually done some writing, but here is a thumnail:

Frost/Nixon: makes you want to go home and see the original Frost/Nixon tapes.

Bolt 3D: makes you wonder if you're being filmed on Candid Camera wearing dumb glasses and looking like a prize douchebag. Also generates prepared lecture from Stew on 3D being the future of film, which is fascinating if a little baffling (the screen is silver? Something about an optimiser? You what?). Other than that, it's not the best plot in the world, but the characters and voices are good.

Slumdog Millionaire: makes you want to go to India. Highly recommend this one actually, if you like a feel-good huzzah.

Australia: makes you want to move to New Zealand.

That's it for today. Happy new year.