The demographics for I Used To Be Funny (zoomers, burned out millennials with anxiety) and Happy Clothes (well-dresses ladies of a certain age, millennials with neither burnout nor anxiety) are interestingly different. #MIFF

Also I saw Blackberry at #miff last night, and it was a far more engaging and entertaining story than it had any right to be. Some great performances too

The Melbourne International Film Festival just started, and I'm catching five shows this weekend.

Starting with animated short films. #miff2023 #miff

I'm feeling a bit sad about my forthcoming #birthday which will be in exactly two weeks

I haven't 'celebrated' my birthday since I turned 33 ~some years ago~ and had a 'Jesus year' party in a bar where I dressed as the Virgin Mary (with a light-up sacred heart powered by an LED keyring torch tucked in my bra)

I was one of three people who dressed up, and the only one whose costume could not be played off as regular clothes. You had to 'come as your favourite religious figure' – my friend Felicity was all in gold as "Zeus as a shower of gold", and my friend Andrew, who has a beard, was Fidel Castro in an army-green jacket with a cigar.

Nobody else dressed up. I thought "fuck this, I'm not having more birthday parties"

I didn't have a 40th – Andrew messaged me sounding hurt, like "why didn't you invite me to your 40th?" and I was like "dude I did not have one"

Birthday parties just feel like another ritual of a successful normal life, among all the others I've missed out on

Every year I think, maybe I'll have a birthday party this year. In 2020 and 2021 my birthday fell during Covid lockdowns so I spent it by myself

But also, I'm a film critic, and my birthday always falls during #MIFF. Last year I watched two MIFF films on my birthday. I remember a few years back I was so angry because the film I watched on my birthday, 'Marjorie Prime', sucked

Traditionally I have spent my actual birthday at my parents' house having a family dinner where I always ask for the same crap comfort meal: lasagne and ice-cream cake

But this year my parents' health has really collapsed and it's not fair to ask them to host my birthday dinner. They can't really go out, either, and they can't come to my place because I live up several flights of stairs and they're both bad with stairs now

Family is no longer a source of joy or comfort for me; it's just stressful and depressing. The locus of my family has moved from my parents to my youngest brother (who's always been my mother's favourite child), and at low points I've felt like "he can have them!" I have fantasised about going no-contact and pretending I don't have a family

Anyway, it just feels like everything around me always takes precedence over me on my birthday, which bums me out

There's a media preview screening of 'Strays' on my birthday – the film where Will Ferrell and Jamie Foxx voice dogs. Not exactly how I wanted to spend that evening, but what else would I do?

Oh, I am also reviewing films on ABC Sydney Drive at 5:30pm on my damn birthday

I loaded the data into https://miff.mrselector.com finally. #miff2023 #miff

Several people injured in Mifflin County stabbing incident; suspect in custody, police say https://www.fox43.com/article/news/local/mifflin-county/bernardo-petrillo-arrest-granville-stabbing-incident-mifflin-county/521-29797c0b-0e38-4eb5-9973-8091f7d21ed7 #miff...

I have too many interests, but luckily Mastodon gives lots of characters, so here's a list of things that I'd love to talk about as an #introduction.

Tech/Games: #Apple #AtariVCS #FOSS #Linux #MisterFPGA #RetroVideoGames #Shmups #SwitchCorps

Music: #CompactDisc #ConfidenceMan #DepecheMode #Dreampop #KLF #MBV #NewOrder #PetShopBoys #Ride #SaintEtienne #Shoegaze #UKIndie #Vinyl

Films/TV: #MIFF #StarWars #TwinPeaks

Hockey: #Canucks #NHL

Other: #Espresso #Melbourne