01. Edinburgh Book Festival (beamed all the way to me in Melbourne) – Colm Tóibín, interviewed by Caoilinn Hughes. I love how much Colm laughed at Caoilinn’s questions. He was a great sport, especially when she opened with describing him as “…Costco’s hottest product – from the aisle between the shovels and the underwear… it’s either a very, very good book or a very, very bad book.” She then continued with a five-minute rundown of his stellar career, and when she got to the end, Colm dead-panned, “Thanks for that lovely introduction Caoilinn, although you left out quite a lot…”

02. Last week of Melbourne International Film Festival –

• Hoard – my god, this movie was traumatic. I felt anxious from beginning to end (which I guess is a sign of good film-making).
• La Cocina – weird… beautiful to watch… but weird.
• Janet Planet – my heart broke a little for Lacy. Final scene was perfection.

03. Beara Ocean gin – I tried it because it’s mentioned in The Alternatives (I don’t need much encouragement). It’s delicious.

I love this stuff, she says after draining it. Beara Ocean Gin. It’s almost saline. Marine science’s finest.

04. Tri-Aid. Oh. My. God. It’s so good.

05. Lotte Gallagher has released a new song (she gave a preview in June when supporting Teen Jesus, and it was my favourite of the night).

06. My fridge died this week (that did not make me happy, although I had been meaning to clean it out so it saved a task). Anyway, what did make me happy was the fact that I was able to get a new one delivered two days later. Phew!

07. Charred broccoli with almond rojo mole at Tres a Cinco.

08. Lastly, during the Colm interview, I learnt that he has written a libretto! It’s based on his book, The Master, which I have in my TBR stack. I’ll need to prioritise it, so that I can watch the opera (available on YouTube).