Callan Mulvey's wife reads my blog! Some wedding photos.

I always wonder who reads my blog. When I look at the google statistics and keywords I wonder why someone was thinking of me enough to google me. Once someone googled 'what does Carly Findlay look like naked?' at 3 am. I thought I'd hit the big time. My Mum said to me (and the doctor because we were discussing my blog in the emergency ward) that the googler was probably drunk. Because according to my Mum, apparently someone will only think of me naked when they're drunk and it's 3 am. (I look hot naked, in case anyone is wondering. It'll save you a google.)

I digress. I am always excited when readers reveal themselves.

I was walking down the street one day with a colleague when someone stopped me mid tram track to say 'great blog'. Recently I had a lady in the lift at work ask me for my autograph because she's watched me on TV and reads my blog. I had to laugh!

So about month ago when I got an email through my comment form from someone called Rachel Mulvey I was equal parts excited and nervous. As some of you may know one of my idols is Callan Mulvey, the Australian actor in Rush and Underbelly. I've met him at the season 2 premiere of Rush, filming, at the season 3 premiere of Rush, and at the Logies. And he wrote me a letter.

Rachel Mulvey is Callan's wife.

Oh my gosh!, I thought. Callan's wife knows there's another woman out there who admires him almost as much as she does. And I worried she may have seen a picture of me kissing the TV screen when I had that Rush themed birthday party and I had to kiss the nearest man in the room - Callan in character as Sgt Brendan Joshua.

Her email was really nice - very complimentary. She said she has been reading my blog (and Callan has too!) and wanted to send me a message of thanks for my support and admiration, and offer me some photos. We've been emailing for a few weeks now.

Callan told Rachel about me after he'd met me, and Rachel found my blog. She came across my post about their wedding. She has been kind enough to send me some good quality pictures of the wedding and given me permission to share them on my blog. So here they are :)

I am incredibly grateful and lucky for her to take the time to email me and give me a little insight into their lives. She's passed on a few messages from Callan too, and he seems the loveliest. I am so looking forward to seeing Brothers in Arms this year - it's coming soon I think.

Blogging. You never know just who might be reading. Wow.

And it turns out we both like Callan looking long haired and scruffy! ;)

Offspring on Channel 10

I must be in the minority because I love Australian movies and television drama programs. Hell, I even like some Australian comedy, particularly of the ABC ilk. Not many people I know enjoy, or admit to enjoying Australian made film and television.

Little Fish is one of my favourite movies of all time. So is Candy and Looking for Alibrandi. And Look Both Ways is pretty good, too. I have the post September 11 telemovie Marking Time on DVD. Surburban Mayhem. Noise. The Black Balloon. Clubland. I could go on... But it's tiring searching then hyperlinking.

I like family shows like Packed to the Rafters and Always Greener. And Seachange, as reminded by Jen.

You know my thoughts about Secret Life of Us. Adored it back in the day. I watched the first series again recently and loved it. Especially Claudia Karvan, Sam Johnson and Deb Mailman.

I've been watching Heartbreak High on ABC3.
The younger Callan Mulvey melts my heart. As does the present day Callan.

I watched five episodes of season 1 of Underbelly. Mainly because of Callan Mulvey. See below.

I stopped because Callan's character died and I needed time to recover from seeing his wonderful acting in the coffin, and the excessive violence and sex. I don't know if I've recovered yet – I might just perpetually watch the first five episodes.

Rush is wonderful. It's fast paced, full of action, a little romance, and funny. You know that I think the men of Rush, or the Sunnyboys, as I refer to them in my tweets, are the hottest ever.

And I regard Love My Way as the best TV show of all time.

I once watched the entire first season of Love My Way on DVD one New Years Eve. Alone. I bawled my eyes out. Because I was alone on New Years Eve and because I was exhausted from the drama. I was once again in love with Claudia Karvan because of Love My Way. Love love love this!


I want to watch Tangle and Spirited but these are on pay TV. And I don't have enough time or money for that. I will wait for the DVDs.

So when Offspring was advertised on Channel 10, I was excited. I loved Asher Keddie in Love My Way, and in Rush. And I loved her dress in the Offspring ad (I have searched and searched on Google but can't find it for your reference.

The show looked quirky. Like Secret Life of Us. Only grown up. I especially love TV shows set in Melbourne. And this one is. I find something identifiable about shows set in Melbourne – not only the setting, but the way the characters live. I think in these shows, you see characters similar to people you really know.

The cast is good looking. Extremely good looking.

I was super excited about Offspring until last week when my excitement levels dropped lower than a rapper's jeans. It was because it was advertised EVERY FRIGGIN' FIVE MINUTES. Seriously, Ten. Every friggin five minutes. I was seriously thinking that I wouldn't need to watch the show with the amount of advertising Channel 10 was throwing at me.

So I was delighted to find that I could download the episode for free from iTunes yesterday, so I could watch it ahead of time, without ads – I actually feared Channel 10 would advertise Offspring DURING Offspring. The advertising was that damn excessive. It was on par with the election campaign.

My expectations of Offspring were met. It was quirky. Funny. Well written. A great cast. And I loved Asher's clothes. She is gorgeous.

Asher plays slightly neurotic Nina. A lot less neurotic than Julia in Love My Way. Waaaay less. But still neurotic.Offspring also stars Don Hany as Dr Chris (niiiiice), Deb Mailman as Cherie (love) and Kat Stewart as Billie (beautiful and versatile).

Nina is a successful obstetrician who has a lot of self doubt. The story revolves around her slightly dysfunctional family - though I expect most families are like hers. All three adult children have not achieved in certain areas of their life.

I enjoyed the music, especially the bits performed by Eddie Perfect's character.

The setting was not instantly recognisable as Melbourne though. And there was excessive use of the iPhone ring tone. It's the xylophone one. That shitted me. There was too much ringing of the iPhone. Me, I prefer the harp. There was also quite a bit of Apple placement. Macbooks galore. I saw at least two, and an iPod too.

I also thought it was far less sexual than the ads insinuated. The sexual innuendo in the ads was probably to sell the program to women and men.

I can see a few openings for some good storylines in Offspring. Cherie's situation with Darcy, her baby's unexpected father. Chris's missing wife. Billie and Mick's on-again-off-again thing may get repetitive though.

As a whole, I enjoyed Offspring. I don't think it will match Love My Way, and I don't think I can hope for another Secret Life. But I think I will enjoy it.

Read a proper review at The Age.
(Click on all pictures for their source.)