high maintenance

I saw this as I was coming out of the 7 Day Supermarket earlier and just had to get out my camera phone...

No subtle bumper sticker for this driver!

Current Mood:

mammoth monster meme

I first saw this on Stuart's blog, then it showed up over at Tom's Place, then Euphoric had a go... now it's my turn...

1. Does someone love you?
   I'm sure at least one person on the planet does.



2. Do you know anyone named Dave?
   Currently, no... I used to though.



3. Ever kissed anyone with the name starting with a J?
   I'm sure I probably have on various occasions... whether I knew their names started with a J or not at the time is anybody's guess... the only one who springs to mind is my buddy J... but not in a full on "kiss" kind of way, just a cheek peck.



4. Has anyone ever mistaken you for a family member?
   Er, no.



5. What colour are the walls of your parent's bedroom?
   Ma's walls are like "not quite white, white"... throughout the whole house actually



6. Do you think that hair extensions look skanky?
   Depends on the extensions and what skank is wearing them.



7. Are you named after a grandparent?
   Like both Tom and Euphoric before me my middle name comes from my (maternal) grandfather... actually it was his middle name too, but he used it instead of his first name for reasons that escape me right at the moment.



8. Say you were given a drug test right now. Would you pass or fail?
   Does caffine count as a drug?



9. Are you taller than 5'6"?
   Yes indeed, by at least five inches... more if I'm in shoes.



10. Do you know anyone in jail/prison?
    Not that I'm aware of.



11. Ever see a dead body?
    In the flesh, no.



12. Do you like the colour green?
    Yeah... it's nice... probably not in my top five, but I like it.



13. What is your best friend's Dad's name?
    Hugh.



14. How old are you?
    Firty free (unfortunately not firty free and a fird just for the alliteration).



15. Who was the last person to send you a text message?
    That would be Ma, yesterday, to tell me she was on the way down.



16. Ever drove into the ghetto to buy drugs?
    Honey, I was born in the ghetto... okay, not really... so that would be a no.



17. Last restaurant you went to?
    Ummmm... last actual restaurant... ummmmmm... you know something, I don't remember...



18. What is the weather like today?
    Greyish, cold, shitty (okay, technically as the day progresses it's becoming less and less... but it's still cold).



19. Last voice mail you received?
    Not sure on that one either... probably Ma, but who knows.



20. What did you do yesterday?
    Shopping!



21. What's the first thing you would do with five million dollars?
    Move the fuck out of this dumbass, piece of shit, gone downhill never to return, please just give me a semiautomatic weapon and lots of bullets apartment building! Even if it meant staying in a cool serviced apartment somewhere and putting all my furniture in storage while I bought/built the house/apartment of my dreams. After that there would be time for investment and blah blah blah.



22. What nationalities are you?
    Half English, half Australian if you want to get technical.



23. How many hours did you sleep for last night?
    I think somewhere around five and a half... maybe six, I'm not sure.



24. Any upcoming concerts you want to attend?
    Nup.



25. Who's the last person that you felt was stalking you?
    I don't think I've ever been stalked... even, you know, in that funny way.



26. Have you ever been on your school's track team?
    Er, no. Once, almost, kinda.... but no.



27. What jewellery are you wearing?
    Just my ear piercing and my Livestrong braclet, same as always.



28. If all of your friends were going on a road trip, would you?
    I don't have the kind of friends who do road trips... at least not anymore.



29. How much money do you have?
    None... next question.



30. Do you swear at your parents?
    Oh hell yes...



31. Is your phone right beside you?
    Nope... all my phones are on the kitchen bench in the other room.



32. Have you cried today?
    Being that it's only half ten in the morning and I haven't really done anything yet, that would be a no.



33. Do you think that someone is thinking about you right now?
    Doubtful.



34. Do you untie your shoes every time you take them off?
    Nup.



35. What is the colour of your bedsheets?
    Right this minute I have on my red, pink, orange and yellow gradiated quiltcover with the dark purple fitted sheet and the matching gradiated and purple pillowcases (two of each), plus the sky blue cover on my "body pillow"... but I'll be changing the whole lot tomorrow, being the first of the month and all.



36. Have you ever crawled through a window?
    Most probably... although I can't think of a particular incident right this second.



37. Are you photogenic?
    Oh hell no.



38. What's your star sign?
    Pisces (I seem to be saying that a lot today).



39. Where do you spend most of your money?
    When I actually have money, I would say it would be bookstores and DVD retailers (while I do have particular stores I frequent, I'm not that fussy).



40. What was the last thing you did?
    Other than sitting in from of my computer for the last *mumble mumble* hours? Well, I did make breakfast earlier... and I might be due another glass of Iced Coffee shortly...



41. Do you have a tattoo?
    Yes I do... and funnily enough, I was only thinking last night that if I had it to do over again I would have done something MUCH bigger and grander, taken up the full width of my spindly arms... not played it so safe, you know... not that I don't like my tattoo... it's just what you know as you get older... ya know?



42. Do you still watch cartoons on Saturday mornings?
    I try to... well, not everything (coz there's a lot of really, really crap STC action out there), but I loves me some Kim Possible... but since Ma and I are off, out and away by Sparrow Fart O'Clock most Saturdays I don't really get time.



43. Is there a secret you've never told any of your friends?
    There are lots and lots and lots of secrets that I've never told any of my friends...



44. Have you ever told someone you loved them but didn't mean it?
    Yeah, kinda... but it was more a slip of the tongue than anything else.



45. Have you ever changed your clothes while in a vehicle?
    Not that I can remember... although I'm sure I did it when I was little.



46. What are you doing in 2008?
    Lord knows.



47. What is your ring tone?
    For when Ma rings it's Tom Jone's version of "She's A Lady" from the Miss Congeniality soundtrack and for everybody else it's *NSYNC's "Pop"... I know... too gay.



48. What were you doing at 2am last night?
    I'll take "Sleeping" for $200 thanks Alex!



49. Are your parents married/divorced/separated?
    Very, very, very, very divorced.



50. What are you doing tonight?
    Watching American's Next Top Model and probably CSI.



51. What are you doing tomorrow?
    Who knows... it's a pubic holiday, so nothing interesting is open, and it's the beginning of the school holidays so my building will be full of evil demon rat children... depends on the weather I guess.



52. Who did you last message on Myspace?
    That would be... NOBODY... don't do Myspace or Facebook or Facespace or Mybook or any of that garbage.



53. What's your opinion on sex without emotional commitment?
    I have no problem with it... well... maybe one problem... I don't get enough of it.



54. Does it annoy you when someone says they'll call but never do?
    FUCK YES! It's right up there in my list of Top Ten Pet Peeves.



55. What did you dress up as for your first Halloween?
    Nothing, ever.



56. Favourite Disney movie?
    Lilo & Stitch.



57. What is the wallpaper on your cellphone?
    A cut down version of this...

Current Mood:

aquatic

You Should Be With a Water Sign!

Your best match is a Cancer, Scorpio, or Pisces. Why? You crave intimacy and connection in your relationship. And while most guys can't open up enough for you, a Water Sign can. Not that you're whole relationship will be soul gazing. A Water Sign matches your goofy sense of humor - and desire to help others.

What Sign Guy Should You Date?

Which is interesting, because I'm also a Water sign (Pisces)!

Current Mood:

retail therapy

There's nothing like a little retail therapy to start off a three day weekend, and to keep you as far away from all the dumbass foozeball grand final stuff that's probably all over everywhere today. Plus all the foozeball fans have stayed home to watch said foozeball, so the shops are somewhat easier to get around.

Of course, at this portion of the year the vast amount of retail purchases disappear into that bottomless pit known as "For Christmas"... which is fine... I'd rather have the Xmas present version of J-Lo's bootay, than say, Kate Moss's... that possibly came out wrong... but it sounded okay in my head...

We mostly did a light food shop thing... I'm still technically living on Freezer Leftovers... I know I said that last week too, but I didn't do so well at it, since out of five possible days, I only had things out of the freezer on two occasions. I'll do better this week, promise... then maybe I'll actually have room to put things in my freezer again.

One thing I did notice while we were out today was Spray On Salad Dressing... yep, I kid you not... salad dressing in a pump pack, so you can just spritz the salad with it. I ask you!

Anyway, once we'd done the shopping thing we went into town.

Ma was on her semi-biannual hunt for a new handbag (which usually takes forever to get her make a decision)... although after you've been in every possible handbag shop looking at a lot of VERY, VERY ugly handbags, you loose the will to live, let alone give good fashion/accessories advice (I know, bad gay son!). Although obviously the Handbag Faeries were smiling down on us both today... they were having a sale at some handbag place (which we've looked in many, many, many, many times before) and there was a really nice black and white number with far too many external pockets for about half price. And they also had two little tiny cute bags that will do nicely for my cousin's girls at Christmas.

Then it was off to Borders, supposedly to look at some cheap DVDs... and again they'd sold out of the title I wanted (I have no luck with that store and DVDs... honestly)... but we kind of got waylayed by the "3 for 2" books at the entrance... and six books later (is it my fault they had all four of the books thus far in the Obernewtyn Chronicles, which have been on the list for a while)... the only one that escaped the "For Christmas" thing was a book I've never actually heard of before, The Last Book You Read and Other Stories (short stories, obviously)... which we weren't sure about, but when we went and sat in the cafe and started reading the titular story to each other (Ma started, but kept tripping over words, so I took over) we were both cracking up, so knew we had to get the book. We did look at a copy of Stardust, but I'd forgotten to print out the 25% off voucher before we went into town, and I think we ended up spending more than enough money.

I did happen to notice while we were in the Mall that Lush is finally coming to Adelaide (a fact that I'm sure will delight some people and horrify others)... nice to know that we're only, what, seventeen years behind the rest of the country/world! Whether I'll be a Lush Fanatic or have Lush Aversion remains to be seen...

We also stopped off at Amart All Sports to take a look at some of the cross trainers they had advertised since my current walking shoes are in the process of starting to give off their death rattle... and I have to say that I love those shoe/sports stores... the staff are always overly eager to help you, and most of the boys are just plain old smokin hot... case in point was one tiny pocket guy who just needed to come over and offer me assistance then walk away from me over and over and over... the ARSE on the boy! Like two cling peaches in tracksuit pants! Holy Mary, mother of God! Ahem... where was I... oh, yeah, shoes...

Ended up finding a pair, not the pair I kind of originally went in there for, or the other really cute pair of Nikes (since they only had selected sizes, being clearance lines and all), but a pair of New Balance (which is what I thought my current shoes were... but they're actually Reeboks... who knew). Plus we picked up a bunch of pairs of their "cheap" Puma socks, since we got a few pairs when Ma bought her shoes (which I can't find a mention of anywhere in the blog... so maybe I didn't actually blog about it) and they're some lush socks (not Lush socks, obviously... but lush).

We also stopped off at Planet Party (for no other reason than the exit to Amart was right near it)... and because they had Charlie and the Chocolate Factory playing on their big screen in there I found myself singing along while wandering around... and I didn't even realise I was doing it until one of the girlies in there said something about "you've obviously seen this movie a few times"... hehehe... oops!

Then it was a final stop at Starbucks... and let me just say, for the record... their Green Tea Latte... SCARY! Imagine blending up Kermit, then adding milk, and you're somewhere close. It wasn't awful, but it wasn't the best taste sensation ever... plus, pale green... a little disturbing.

Of course the day would have been a little nicer if it hadn't been mostly grey and chilly... especially after the brief taste of summer we got earlier in the week.

Now I just need to work out what to do with the rest of my night since there's no more Doctor Who for a while...

Current Mood:

photo friday: port river bridge

I know I've already posted this image once before (although at a smaller size) but it's one of my favourite shots from my Grand Day Out a while back... for no other reason than the colours.

Its part of the bridge over the Port River, right next to the Port Adelaide Sailing Club.

Current Mood:

sir no sir

You know what's currently at the top of my "popular fad" hate list...

Fitness Boot Camps...

I mean, seriously, c'mon... do you all know how very, very stupid you all look running around in the great outdoors?

Part of the reason they're all currently on my shitlist is that one of the groups I regularly see during my walk was clogging up the path down the hill the other day... not only clogging it up by running up and down it, but running BACKWARDS for a portion of the path. Now this is a public path... for, you know, the public... so really they shouldn't have been anywhere near it. At least the other group seems to mostly stick to the grassy areas.

But I'm sure some of you are thinking that I also partake in outdoor exercise. And this is true... but there's a reason for it...

Unlike these armed forces wannabes, I can't actually afford to go to a gym at present... you know, a gym... inside, where there's a roof over your head and it's climate controlled and there are showers and bathrooms and lights and carpet. And you don't have to look out for bird and possum shit when you're doing sit ups and push ups.

Also, if you're in a gym, I don't have to look at you.

And you're paying money for this... you're paying money to somebody so they can yell at you (okay, I'm assuming about the yelling, because I don't actually hear/see any yelling), and make you carry weighted backpacks up and down stairs and form groups to carry tyres and other heavy objects. And did I mention the potential for bird and possum shit?

Seriously, the sooner this stupidass fad is over the happier I will be...

Current Mood:

photo results and retouching

Sometimes it's just nice to know you haven't lost your touch, you know?
After Fox's photoshoot on Sunday I will admit that I was a little twitchy about how the shots were going to come out. Maybe I've just been working in digital too long (and not working with people for quite a while)... I did notice the difference when I was shooting, if only that when I shoot on film I don't tend to tilt the camera very much... it's all very vertical and horizontal... whereas in digital I shoot all over the place. Of course that could be because I don't have to worry about wasting film on shots that are just too tilted or whatever with a digital. But, as usual, I digress...

And of course after the phonecall on Monday night I had to wait until today before I saw the shots... and patience, not my strong suit. But I managed fine.

Anyway, I picked Fox up at work, brought him back to North Adelaide to the lab, picked up the shots and then we went for a coffee to have a look at the shots (and also so that my blonde boy at the lab could burn the CD, since he couldn't remember if I wanted one or not... but that was only going to take about ten minutes). And we were both quite pleased with the final results (always a bonus).

Yeah, some of the shots didn't quite work, but you get that on every single roll. But there were actually a large proportion of quite good shots. So obviously I haven't lost my eye even though it's been forever since I shot people.

The amusing thing is that I was so wrapped up in the photos as we went through them the first time that I don't remember seeing Fox drink his coffee, or eat his little cake... and while I remember eating my little cake, I don't even remember finishing my coffee... but I must have.

After we were done picking out the best ones for him to use online, we came back here and I went through the ten or so shots and retouched them all for him... mostly to get rid of the bits of white fluff that always seem to show up on the black and white rolls of film (I'm guessing from when they feed the negatives into their scanning machine while wearing the white cotton gloves)... funnily enough there are never anywhere near as many white specks when they do a colour roll, so I have no idea what the hell that's about.

I did notice that going through and retouching all the little specks started to become almost like a Zen exercise after a while... find spot, click, move on... and I'm sure that I probably edited a bunch that would have disappeared when I resized the image anyway, but I'm used to working with the shots at a big size. I've mentioned it before, but once I get all focused in on a Photoshop project, whether it's retouching or whatever, I totally lose track of time... I even forgot to take a drink after specifically going to the fridge to get a bottle of water.

I've never retouched an image while the model was sitting there next to me though... which was interesting... he did pick up some "flaws" that I might not have necessarily seen on my own, but I might have taken even longer if Fox hadn't been here.

Oh, and I did call him on the whole "I want to come with you when you pick the shots up" thing while I was Zenning on the retouching... and I was right, it was because he got twitchy about me having access to all the shots for several days. Like I told him, I understood the reasoning, but he was just a silly rabbit... I think I just wanted him to know that I knew what he was up to.

All up, I think it took three hours for the retouching and whatever, give or take... we did upload them online for him, so that took a little while too, and I burned the finished versions onto CD for him (and managed to knock over the glass of grape juice I'd poured for him in the process... and if I gave a crap about my carpet it would bother me more... but I think I got most of it up). And then when we were finished with that I drove him home... but of course, by the time I got home again it was pretty much 8:30, and I hadn't had any dinner, actually I hadn't had anything apart from the lemon tart since lunchtime, and while I'm sure I could have taken something out of the freezer or something, I honestly couldn't be bothered, so I just went and got pizza instead. Not the healthiest option, but hey, screw it.

Now I just need to work out which images I actually want to use and then go through and retouch them again...

Current Mood:

random brewer hotness

Let's jump in the Wayback Machine and go back to 1992 for today's Random Hotness...

I'm fresh out of high school, Bill Clinton becomes President of the US, Whitney Houston screeches an old Dolly Parton tune in The Bodyguard, Madonna releases Erotica and 19 year old twins, Keith and Derek Brewer (aka the Brewer Twins... highly original, that!) are photographed naked by Bruce Weber...

Sometimes it's just nice to take a wander through days of yore...

Or we could wander if I hadn't received a Blogger takedown notice... oh well... you can probably still google "Brewer Twins naked".

Current Mood:

red and green

Just some random greenery... well... red and greenery.

It's been the kind of day where nothing quite goes according to plan. So while I go and lie down under a rock somewhere, enjoy the shots from my last two Botanical excursions...

Current Mood:

movies: stardust

I'd heard rumblings about this movie called Stardust a while back, although it did seem to pretty much appear out of thin air on my radar... then saw the poster, then a trailer... and it all looked like it would be right up my alley... fantasy/adventure movie, magic, cute lead boy, Michelle Pfeiffer, etc, etc...

What I didn't expect was a movie with a highly talented British cast that was funny and engaging and just really really good. Even though the trailer is quite exciting and interesting, it honestly doesn't do the movie justice.

But as soon as it started and we got Ian McKellen doing the narration, I had a good feeling (although for a second I actually thought that it was his X-Men co-star Patrick Stewart)... and for the most part this movie didn't disappoint.

I've already drooled over the lead actor Charlie Cox when he appeared in the Heath Ledger version of Casanova (and interestingly enough in that movie Sienna Miller plays his sister, in this one she's the girl he's obsessed with)... and he just continues to be a world of cute in this movie too... especially after he gets his "makeover" half way through. Longer hair just works for him... and the suit he wears in the poster is just hot.

Claire Danes although she does really work well in her part... spent the entire movie channelling Gwyneth Paltrow... more than once I had to remind myself that it WAS Claire and NOT Gwyneth... and I'm sure that if this movie had been made, say ten years ago... maybe five... then Gwyneth would have been the female lead rather than Claire. Maybe it was the long blonde hair and the very similar sounding English accent (both being American women doing an English accent), I don't know... but it was spooky on more than one occasion.

As a general rule I'm not that fond of Robert De Niro... it's not that I don't think he's a good actor, he just doesn't do anything for me... except in this part... it's SO far against type for him that it's just HILARIOUS! And totally needed somebody of his background and general persona to make it work. Rounding out the main "names", Ms Pfeiffer was brilliant as always. She's done a great job of switching from the heroine roles of her younger days to embracing the villain roles... and in this one she's not afraid to go to the Ugly Place... the REALLY Ugly Place. But really, I don't think it could have been played as well by anybody but her.

Now I don't know if it's because I have an English "background" or because I see a lot of English film and teevee or if there are just less actors in the pool in England, but quite often when I'm watching a movie filmed in England, I'm more likely to pick out the "bit part" actors as people I know compared to American movies... either that or this particular movie just had EVERY decent English actor filling out a role. You couldn't move without tripping over somebody you thought "Damn, I know your face/voice!"... couldn't always pick the name or where I knew them from, but a quick flick around the cast list when we got home and it was a world of "OH! It's YOU!"...

David Kelly (Charlie and the Chocolate Factory), Melanie Hill (The Bill), Dexter Fletcher (Press Gang), Ricky Gervais (The Office), Nathaniel Parker (The Inspector Lynley Mysteries), Jason Flemyng (The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen), Rupert Everett (Shrek 2 and 3), David Walliams (Little Britain), Julian Rhind-Tutt (Lara Croft: Tomb Raider), Sarah Alexander (Coupling) and Mark Williams (Harry Potter series)... and making a very brief appearance as the younger version of Nathaniel Parker's character was Ben Barnes, who I was drooling over earlier today on the new poster for The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian... yummy!

As far as the plot goes it was pretty solid overall (within the whole "suspension of disbelief" thing you have to do with a movie like this)... granted I have to take points off because they pretty much broadcast the big reveal at the end within the first ten minutes... or at least I thought so... although maybe they were expecting that you would get so caught up in the story that you'd actually forget... which, to be honest, Ma did do. And as we discussed on the way home, part of the second half could have done with being tightened up a little, pacing wise... although neither of us knew quite WHERE... not enough to cut out whole bits of storyline... just a general nip and tuck. I did get a little fidgety during the second half, but to be fair I think that was partly because I'd had one too many burritos for dinner (plus my belt wasn't sitting right) and also because I nearly choked to death on some Maltesers during the first half. Melted chocolate... it's a killer!

So even after playing "who are you" and being a bit fidgetty and nearly dying... I have to say, it's a very enjoyable movie. Funny in all the right places, thrilling in a few spots and sweet and whatnot in others.

I think it will definitely find it's way onto the "DVDs to get" list too.

yani's rating: 3 Babylon candles out of 5

brighton jetty

Brighton Jetty... from top to toe...

These are from my weekend trip to Brighton a few weeks ago... and given that the weather is supposed to be a sunny 32°C today, taking a random drive to the beach could be a plan... it probably won't end up happening, but it could be nice.

Current Mood:

i love it when they get twitchy

*sigh*

You just have to shake your head, roll your eyes and give a slight smile at the inner mental workings of some of your fellow human animals...

I dropped the rolls of film in from Fox's shoot this morning... which all worked out fine... although as a brief aside I never even made it to the counter... the blonde guy who works there was fiddling around in main part of the shop and just held his hands out for my films before I got more than a couple of steps into the store and asked if I wanted two sets and a CD (which has pretty much been my default request for a lot of the time I've been going there)... even though I've put maybe four or five films in over the past two years (although before that it was somewhere in the realm of over 110 films), he still remembers. Bless!

That would be the upside of the "Cheers Syndrome"... you know... going somewhere where everybody knows your name. It's nice, even if I haven't been throwing them any business for quite a while.

Anyway, that's neither here nor there... because I got a phone call from Fox a little bit ago, and his brain had obviously been doing some random grinding during the hours since I left.

The original arrangement was that I would drop the films in today, pick them up tomorrow and then probably see Fox next weekend and give him his copies and the CD, blah blah blah. And he's a little twitchy about some of the nude shots... which I knew... so I'm not going to end up with a full set of prints, just the "approved" shots. Which is fine, I don't have a problem with that. But like I said, he's obviously been thinking and realised that I would have the disc and photos in my possession for about five days before he saw them.

So now he wants to be with me when I pick them up.

*sigh*

He made it sound nice and pleasant and "I'll take you out for coffee or dinner or something at the same time"... but the short version is he had second thoughts about trusting me with the shots between times and has now engineered this whole scenario so he doesn't have a full on panic attack in the meantime.

I get it... I do... but by the same token in a town the size of Adelaide I couldn't get away with any kind of misbehaviour around my photography... I'd just need to fuck up with one person and my name would be mud. Hell, for all I know my name is already mud (although not because I've actually misbehaved).

So I do believe that when we pick up the photos and do whatever else it is we're going to do on Thursday night I'm going to call him on it. Not in a nasty way, just in a "I know exactly what you were up to" way.

On the downside it means that I don't get to see the photos until Thursday night, which is a pain in the butt (although I'm sure I could drop in tomorrow and take a look at them anyway, then leave them there to be picked up Thursday... but that just sounds too much like actual hard work for me to be bothered even trying), because, as always I'm VERY eager to see what the results of the shoot were. And not that I had any kind of plan happening for Thursday, but now I've got a whole world of stuff to do (okay, slight exaggeration, but still)... and I'll need to make sure the house looks halfway decent before then, because I'm sure we'll end up here at some point (being in the neighbourhood and all... plus I'm not parking the car anywhere else when I can just leave it here).

On the upside it does save me from having to find the money to pay for the processing before Fox pays me... he can just pay for it himself on Thursday night.

Men! Can't live with them... can't bludgeon them to death and bury them in a shallow grave in scrubby bushland... *rolls eyes*

Current Mood:

unconscious mutterings 242

Hey hey, ho ho... Unconscious Mutterings... ummmm... have got to go? Damn, that didn't work...

1. Singles :: Tennis


2. Blaze :: Gay newspaper


3. Sandwich :: Ham on Rye


4. Outside :: Inside


5. Gooey :: Center


6. Industry :: Charity, Faith, Hope


7. Exclusive :: Guarantee


8. Warranty :: Television


9. Magical :: Mystery Tour


10. Heels :: Click together three times

Current Mood:

beyond creative

You Are 63% Creative

You are beyond creative. You are a true artist - even if it's not in the conventional sense of the word. You love creating for its own sake, and you find yourself quite inspired at times.

How Creative Are You?

Current Mood:

highly unexpected sunday

You know when you get up and you have a plan for the way the day is going to go (or at least a fairly good idea)... and then the day takes a total and complete U-turn that you totally were not expecting, but ends up turning out pretty well....

That would be today!

And it was all caused by one of those "the Universe is messing with me" moments too. I fired up the computer this morning, opened up all the sites I usually check first thing and for whatever reason the computer just had a feeling and/or a panic attack and kept freezing up and just would not play ball. So in the end I just had hit the reset button and start over... you know, less fun.

But if that hadn't happened, I wouldn't have been logged into my "other" Gaydar profile which I hardly ever use, but still check every morning just in case. And this guy messaged me about a photoshoot while I was logged in.

So we chatted, this and that, back and forth, and while it wasn't the kind of arrangement I would normally have gone for, it's been basically forever since I did a one-on-one photoshoot with a model... and by forever, I mean July 2005...

And, you know something... there really are only so many buildings, flowers, plants and graffiti you can photograph before you kind of start to crave photographing people again. Or that could just be me...

Anyway I didn't want to just dismiss Fox (yes, again with the animal themed pseudonyms) out of hand, especially since a) it was a glorious day outside and b) he'd made a vague reference to inviting me over for a beer and a chat/look through my portfolio if nothing else. So I went and had a shower (since we all know that that is where I do ALL my best thinking), and figured, what the hell... following the road less travelled has served me well in the recent past...

Plus as I was getting out of the shower it seemed like the rest of my apartment building had just woken up and were starting to make far too much random noise for that early in the morning, which, while it didn't totally make up my mind, certainly put a check in the "this is a good plan" column.

So I packed up my camera (actually cameras, both the SLR and the digital), my portfolio and my tripod and toddled off into town. And it wasn't even 9:30am yet!

I gotta say Fox's apartment is just damn stylish. The total opposite to mine (although not really all that larger... maybe a bit though)... all clean lines and surfaces and minimal decor, but damn it was nice. Renovated too, which turned a boring 1960's flat into quite sexy inner city living.

We had coffee, we chatted some more, we looked at my portfolio (which he was quite impressed with) and then we agreed on appropriate Terms and Conditions for said photoshoot. And to be perfectly honest, I really didn't particularly care what the hell those T&C ended up being, I was just happy to be photographing people again.

I'm not sure (yet anyway... until I get the actual photos back) whether it will turn out to be a good thing or a bad thing that I only had black and white film in the fridge (although I kinda wish now that I'd actually paid attention to the fact that I picked up a 36 roll and a 24 roll instead of two 36 rolls like I thought)... Fox was happy with b&w, but his place had a lot of colour going on (okay, green mostly, but a bright vivid green) and I think some of the shots could have turned out well in colour too. We'll see I guess.

Fox was good for the most part as far as posing went... although I started to realise I was rusty about not only communicating posing adjustments, but just generally when it came to ideas (not to mention simply working with the SLR again after all this time)... although I did want to do the maximum amount of set ups and different looking images as I could for him... so I was always grateful when he started a sentence with "another shot I've always wanted is..."

We won't even discuss the fact that I screwed up the end of the first roll because I was using my cable release and tripod, and I don't even know how the hell it happened, but I flicked the cable release from "unlocked" (ie single shots) to "locked" (continual shutter release)... and it didn't help because I had no idea what the hell I had done. Thank god there were only like four or five shots left on the roll, otherwise that could have been one big fat disaster.

Anyway once we were done (about 12:30 or so... so maybe two and a half hours of shoot, half an hour of chat) we sat around for a while, had a beer and more chat... it was nice. I don't want to jump the gun and say that I've found a new friend... but you never know.

And it was a hell of an enjoyable way to spend a Sunday morning. Unexpected as all hell, but highly enjoyable.

Current Mood:

exhausting saturdays

You know something... Saturdays are exhausting...

Okay, so maybe it's just my Saturdays that are that way... I'm sure there are a whole bunch of you out there who have long, slow, lazy Saturdays and don't manage to do a damn thing all day.

Not this little black duck...

We did the usual Random Shopping Adventures™ at the proverbial crack of dawn (well, it would be, but dawn now cracks like two hours earlier than the shops open, so there goes that plan). I didn't buy that much stuff really since, as I think I mentioned last week, I really need to live out of my freezer this week so there's actually some freakin' room in there. Way too many frozen leftovers...

Then we came back, unpacked and put away various goods and chattel, I phoned Stu because he was supposed to come by and pick up a video I taped for him, but ended up leaving it in the letterbox for him to come and pick up on his own... it's gone and he didn't call me to ask where the hell it was, so I assume he got it okay.

So after that, because I have a memory like a backwards four year old with the attention span of a goldfish, we ended up going back to the place where we'd done the shopping so that I could check out the artists canvases they had on special at Cheap as Chips... I've had this vague kind of idea for a while now about wanting to do some sort of artwork to go above my teevee... since the poster I had had there for about three billion years just kept falling down. But I could never find the right sized canvas as the right time... the Universe just wasn't lining everything up properly for me... but today it did. And now I have a 75cm wide by 100cm tall canvas (it's too big to go the other way around) sitting in my lounge room whispering "paint me, paint me" softly in my general direction... I THINK I know what I want to paint on it... something that is kind of inspired by the canvas I did for Eddy... or at least, influenced by... we'll see.

I did have a brief moment of panic for a second, since I only have a teeny tiny car... and it was a VERY big canvas... and it wouldn't go in the boot of the car... and just for a second I wasn't sure if it was going to fit in the car at all... but luckily it did.

After that we went to Arndale... wander about aimlessly, look at the DVDs, that kind of thing... and I turned into one of those semi-tragic people that I usually roll my eyes about... they had a whole slew of CDs for $2 each... and, you know, that never ends well... usually it's people you've either never heard of, or else wish you'd never heard of, or else really bad rip offs of people you have heard of. But there were some slightly halfway decent CDs in the bunch... yes, most of them were crap, but we ended up trawling through them all... I ended up with a couple of movie soundtracks that have entered the bottomless pit of "Away For Christmas"... but hung onto the soundtrack from the first season of British Big Brother. It's from Channel 4 and everything. But if you took off the references to BB then it would just be this pretty decent dance music CD... CDs plural actually, since it's two discs... that's $1 per disc! Okay some of the tracks I've never heard of, but they're not bad.

Anyway, once we were finished there we came home again to drop everything off and then headed into the city. We headed into the Museum to see something that I now can't find on their website and I gave Ma the piece of paper with the information on because I didn't think I needed it anymore... hang on a sec... Thank god for neighbours with no interest in the free Adelaide Matters magazine that comes around every month or so...

It was the "Tooling Up" exhibition by John Hayward... which, according to the article, features "found, yet hi-tech objects such as outdated mobile phones and television remotes attached to sculpted wood", and were made to look like the cutting tools and things from the Aboriginal and Pacific Cultures collections in the museum. Kinda cool actually.

While we were looking, some random nice lady volunteer came up and told us that they were having a talk about whales and dolphins upstairs in about ten minutes... and again, I don't have the piece of paper that tells me who the woman was... but she's pretty much an Australian expert on whales and dolphins and marine mammals in general. So we figured we might as well go and listen. Shame about the woman who came and sat right next to Ma and who was clearly a few fries short of a Happy Meal. But she mostly shut up while the woman was talking and I didn't have to smack her around or anything... so that was good. The talk was good too... I didn't really learn anything that I didn't already know (well, except maybe for the large numbers of whales and dolphins who do come around visiting South Australia... 32 different kinds according to the nice lady).

By that point food was definitely in order, so after a brief detour to buy product we ended up having salads from Sumo Salad... we didn't do that whole "make your own" thing, but picked from their already made up stuff... and got served by the cutest lil 'mo too... which I only worked out after I heard him speak... bless his little Gucci socks. And the salads were really, really nice... I had something involving beetroot, a potato salad thing and a chicken pasta thing (ahh... bless their website... beetroot, walnut, fetta, & baby spinach salad plus bacon, egg & kipfler potato salad and chicken pasta in grain mustard mayo). All very tasty.

Then we had a quick side trip to Bunnings to pick up some beeswax furniture polish so I can finally get around to polishing my Laughing Buddha that J gave me (and I'll probably end up doing the staff we made together too). Then it was home again, home again, jiggity jig.

And just as I was planning on getting started with this post I checked my email and there was a random "HELP" email from BlueDragon, so I ended up banging out what I hope is a helpful reply to that... I would have left it, but I know what I'm like, if something just sits in my Inbox than I may never end up answering it unless I really, truly have to... and not even then sometimes.

Now I just need to work out what, if anything, I want for dinner... and fiddle about on here for about an hour and then it's the season finale of Doctor Who... wooooohoooooooo... can't wait!

And I'll also end up staring at that freakin' giant blank canvas and work out exactly what the hell I'm going to do with it!

Current Mood:

photo friday: semaphore angel

Well the sky did look like this earlier... but right now it's all cloudy and whatnot...

This shot is actually from my Grand Day Out a few weeks back... the angel topped clock at Semaphore. The only thing I've never loved about this clock is the fact that you can only get a good shot of the face of the angel at dawn... at sunset it's all about the wings and back.

Is it lame that I timed this post exactly so that it was the same time as the clock?

Current Mood:

twenty questions

This one comes via Tom, who in turn stole it from Stuart...

First thing you did this morning
My brain usually runs completely on autopilot in the mornings, but I think that after switching off my alarm and getting out of bed, the first thing I did was put on my walking teeshirt.

Last thing you ate and drank
A homemade ham, cheese, lettuce and tomato roll (wholemeal with mayo) and a Farmers Union Strong Iced Coffee. Actually I'm still in the process of eating/drinking.

Do you have anything bothering you
Yeah, a ton of stuff, but nothing really worth going into.

What’s annoying you right now
The fact that I may have to go all the way back to Arndale because the case of the DVD I bought (3 disc edition of The Frighteners for the low, low price of $9.92) at EzyDVD is cracked, and while I could just call them, get them to put another one to one side for me and pick it up on Saturday, I wanna watch it TODAY!

Do you support long distance relationships
So, what, you're asking if I'm going to show up at the Long Distance Relationship Pride march? The short answer is probably "no"... having made vague attempts at the idea in the past I just don't think that they honestly work.

Is there a person who is on your mind right now
Funnily enough yes... this somewhat interesting guy I saw while I was at Arndale... could have been a 'mo... was kinda cute.

Do you think that that person is thinking of you too
Somehow I doubt it... although I did cruise him like three times (was it my fault he was still in the same place when I came back after like ten minutes and then that I needed to throw a U-turn to get into the shop I was headed for).

Where is the last place you went
See the earlier ramblings... Arndale.

Do you look like your mum or dad
Well everybody (and by that I mean complete and total strangers usually... most recently the woman who was serving up the Turkish gozleme at the Show last week) seem convinced that I look like Ma... and never having met the Paternal Parental Creature I have no idea if I look like him or not.

Do you smile often
It's not the natural default expression for my face... but yeah, I would say that I do, given appropriate cause.

Choose one to have - love, beauty, creativity
I'm going to be totally shallow and go "beauty"... I already have a fair amount of creativity, and I figure it would probably be easier to get the love with more of the beauty. Couldn't hurt, right?

Are you a friendly person
Ummmmmmmm.... If I like you, or you seem fairly harmless (small children who don't live in my building, little old ladies, etc) then sure. But only up to a point... then I stop caring usually.

What colour shirt are you wearing
Kind of a dark ruby red.

What were you doing at 9 last night
Watching the end of Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of The Black Pearl.

When is the last time you saw your dad
Never. I saw a photo once... does that count?

When was the last time you cried
Not a full on "cry" but I did get a little misty yesterday while watching the Director's Commentary on Finding Nemo... it's that fricken line of Dory's towards the end...

Do you get angry easily
Oh hell yes!

What were you thinking about before you went to sleep
Actually that would be the fact that the small demon spawn who live upstairs were clomping around like baby elephants after 10pm.

What song are you listening to right now
No fricken clue... it's FreshFM's "Back in the Day" program... ooooh... wait, song change, I know this one... this is "Swamp Thing" I think... yup, by "The Grid"... Ma used to LOVE this song... oh, and for the record, the first one was "Ecuador" by "Sash!". Have I mentioned I'm LOVING Fresh's "Back in the Day" shows? Too bad it only goes for an hour!

Rate life as of right now 1-10:
1 being "might as well be dead" and 10 being "perfection"? I'm thinking a nice solid 3.

Current Mood:

random fetish hotness

Since today is J's birthday, I figured I would go with a Random Hotness that was right, as they say, up his alley.

Actually I think he may have sent me the images in the first place...

Current Mood:

shiver me timbers

It be time once again for that most scurvy o' days... Talk Like A Pirate Day... Yarrrrr!

Cap'n Benjamin Bloodbeard (me Pirate Name o' the day) orders ye to spend the rest o' the day annoying friends and shipmates with inappropriate pirate lingo!

Alternatively ye could be seein' how me blog looks translated into Pirate Speak...

Or play a rousin' game o' POTC Interactive (think Rocky Horror Audience Participation)...

But fer now let's be seein' what kind o' pirate I be!

You are The Quartermaster

You, me hearty, are a man or woman of action! And what action it is! Gruesome, awful, delightful action.

You mete out punishment to friend and foe alike – well, mostly to foe, because your burning inner rage isn’t likely to draw you a whole lot of the former. Still, though you may be what today is called "high maintenance" and in the past was called "bat-shit crazy", the crew likes to have you around because in a pinch your maniacal combat prowess may be the only thing that saves them from Jack Ketch.

When not in a pinch, the rest of the crew will goad you into berserker mode because it's just kind of fun to watch. So you provide a double service – doling out discipline AND entertainment.

What's Yer Inner Pirate?

And on that note, the only thing left to say is... YHHABOR!

Current Mood:

one thousand

NUTRITIONAL INFORMATION - YANIBLOG Servings Per Package: 1 Serving Size: 1000g The recommended daily intake of yaniblog should not exceed three (3) servings.
About Me	14.3%
Quizzes	13.0%
General Randomness	11.0%
Random Hotness	11.0%
Featured Photos	9.4%
Walking	7.7%
Pop Culture	7.4%
Movies	7.1%
Montage Monday Musings	6.7%
Meme	5.8%
Excursions	5.1%
Blog Stuff	4.2%
Men	3.8%
Special Day	3.4%
Unconscious Mutterings	3.1%
Work	2.9%
Big Brother	2.4%
Camera Club	2.0%
Templates	1.6%
Thoughts On	1.6%
Hair Adventures	1.3%
Recipes	1.2%
Painting	0.9%
Exposing Myself	0.8%
Saunatime	0.6%

Yes, it's my 1000th post here at yaniblog!

See, now other people would use their 1000th post to say something meaningful or well thought out or appropriate... me, I just tell you that it IS my thousandth post... *grin*

I also thought it seemed like an appropriate time to make a slight change that I've been thinking about for a while... "yaniboy" is no more... well really, I'm 33, the "boy" thing is a bit misleading or whatever... so now it's just plain old "yani".

Current Mood:

dream dinner party

I had this thought the other day while I was watching an episode of Michael Parkinson...

Who would I invite to my ultimate celebrity dinner party?

To be honest I could add about half a billion names to the list, so I put a couple of limitations on it... it had to be somebody alive, and somebody that I wanted to meet because I thought they were interesting, not just because they were "famous" or just attractive (so random hot actor boys were pretty much out)... and somebody who either was highly opinionated or knew a lot about stuff... or else would have interesting stories to add to the dinner party. Plus, I had to keep it to ten names... and yes, I know that means that makes eleven guests including myself... not a perfect number for a dinner party (although who said you couldn't have eleven folks at a dinner party... me at the head of the table and five of them down each side of the table), but I figured if it was my dream dinner party then either J or (if we're going for the ultimate dream team) Lownee would be there to make an even dozen.

And this is at least version 4 of the list... I keep adding and subtracting names whenever I think of somebody who could be more interesting or stick closer to the "rules" than the folks currently on the list. I'm also sure that as soon as I post this I'll think of at least one other person I should have added.

So as it currently stands, my Ultimate Dream Dinner Party would be, in no particular order:

1. Stephen Fry
   Stephen was actually on the episode of Parky that made me come up with this list in the first place. And having seen him on any number of episodes of Parky I've realised just recently that I have a huge man-crush on Stephen Fry... I don't want to get groinal with him (even though he is a big 'mo), I just want to sit around and chat... enjoy a leisurely walk in the countryside with him and discuss anything and everything over a pint of beer in a country pub. That kind of thing.



2. Pink
   Pink was actually the second name that immediately sprung to mind when I was thinking of this list. She is the epitome of "highly opinionated" as far as I'm concerned. Both times I've seen her in "serious" interviews, firstly on Oprah, then on an episode of Enough Rope, she's been well spoken, intelligent and articulate.



3. Joss Whedon
   My other massive man-crush. I adore Joss... really and truly. I love the way his mind works, I love his sense of humour and I love his creativity (and occasionally I want to bludgeon him to death with a two by four for exactly the same things). Moreover I want to hang out with him and chat with him and whatnot. And as the creator of three of my favourite series he definitely deserves a place at my table.



4. Howard Roffman
   Quite possibly my favourite photographer on the planet. He's photographed a lot of very beautiful guys, he's travelled overseas to photograph the boys from Bel Ami, and you just know that he has to have a million and one stories to tell about his photographic adventures... plus I'd love to be able to pick his brain about photography. But one thing I didn't know about him until I went looking for his photo is that he's actually President of Lucas Licensing... as in Lucasfilm Ltd, George Lucas, Mr Star Wars. And he's been working at Lucasfilm since about 1980... so he probably has TWO million and one stories he could tell.



5. Drew Barrymore
   Drew is one hell of a woman... the childhood stardom, the youthful addiction, the "bad girl" comeback, founding her own production company and now being up there in the ranks of A list stars. You just gotta love her really. She's another person who always comes across fairly intelligently too.



6. Russell T Davies
   The man behind the original Queer as Folk, the Casanova mini series and the current incarnation of Doctor Who and it's spin off Torchwood. So a bit like Joss Whedon, only British... although I will be honest, I've never actually seen any footage of him being interviewed or anything. But with that much good stuff coming out of his pen, you can only hope he'd be good dinner party material.



7. Kevin Smith
   Good old Silent Bob himself. This one might seem to be a slightly off-beat choice coming from me, but once again I will confess to a little tiny man-crush. Possibly just because I've listened to one too many audio commentaries and DVD special features with him in them (or listened to said commentaries one too many times maybe). Plus I'm pretty sure he's not backwards about coming out with an opinion or two.



8. Asha Gill
   One of the hosts of Lonely Planet Six Degrees, my favourite "travel" show... because it's not really a "look, you can come here and stay there and do this" kind of show, but more of a "this is my experience here" kind of deal. And Asha just comes across on the show as SUCH a sweetheart... and she's had such an interesting life, even before hosting Six Degrees and she's been all over everywhere since, so you know she's good for about a billion different dinner party stories.



9. Kevin McCloud
   I'm sure just about everybody is going "Who?" at this one... Kevin McCloud is the host of a British show called Grand Designs (which screens here on the ABC), where he visits "ordinary" people who are about to embark on some grand architectural project, be it renovating a 15th Century barn or building an ultra modern beach front house or whatever. And he's sometimes just a little bit snarky (although never mean) about their optimism or their chances of getting things to run on schedule, which is why I like him I think. And if he's that opinionated about architecture then I'm sure he has strong thoughts on other subjects too.



10. Brent Corrigan
    If we're going for "highly opinionated and intelligent" then I couldn't NOT include Brent at the table. Sometimes reading his blog I think he has more opinions that his brain can actually generate and/or process at any one time. And while I don't know how he sounds face to face, I know that reading what he has to say he always comes across as intelligent and articulate... sort of the male, gay porn equivalent of Pink (well... maybe)... Plus you KNOW he's got some interesting stories to tell over coffee and dessert at the end of the night!

Current Mood:

flora and fauna

Okay, all the arachnophobics should look away now...

And another in my continuing series entitled "yani's obsession with bees on flowers"...

I took myself off to the Botanic Gardens this morning... the day was bright and sunny, my apartment was still freezing cold (which is both a plus and a drawback of this place... it takes a while to heat up... and cool down... and, well, anything really), so "out" was the appropriate place to be. I'd actually taken myself off there last week just for some peace and quite so I could read my book... but I didn't take my camera. This time I took both book and camera... and a bottle of water and a couple of pieces of fruit. Turns out that a least three school groups and one group of Old Aged Pensioners had had the same idea... but I had my earphones in so none of that really bothered me.

Also coming under the heading of "today's a good day to spend time in the Botanic Gardens" was Keith Conlon and the crew from Postcards... so obviously something is going to pop up on their show in the next couple of weeks.

Going back to the little spider for a second though... and when I say little, I do mean little... the thing he's sitting on was probably about the same size as the first joint in my little finger... and it was only after I saw him on my camera screen that I realised he was there (and I had to go back again to get a second shot when the first shot had him out of focus).

Current Mood:

montage monday: showtime

Bunnies and Chickens and Sheep, Oh My! (Apologies to Wizard of Oz)

It's Montage time again... this time, obviously, it's from Show Day! And it's actually a pretty good overall picture of our day at the show... lots of animals, a brief trip to the showbag hall, keeping the minimum safe distance from all the rides. And that's Ma holding the baby chicken in the middle there...

And it's all over for another year now...

In pretty much unrelated news, this morning seems to have been "old home week" or something... while I was out on my walk I passed one of the guys I used to work with... twice... once on one side of the river and then again on the other side as we both circled around. I didn't actually realise it was him the first time... I checked him out (like you do) and went... "hmmm you look familiar", but it was only when he was actually going past me that I thought... "hang on, that's YOU!"... and so I turned around to double-triple check... and he turned too (because obviously he had done the exact same thing) and we ended up waving and whatnot... then on the flipside I actually spoke to him... briefly, because neither of us stopped and he was with some random woman... and he was obviously working hard with the jogging because he couldn't jog and hold a conversation at the same time.

Anyway, when I got home J messaged me on MSN... which is the first time we've actually had a conversation since I reinstalled MSN after all that drama... although granted, it's also the first time we've had any kind of random conversation since about May. Allegedly he's back around or just after Christmas... but I think he said that last Christmas and it just never happened, so we'll see.

Our conversation went pretty much the same way it always goes on MSN...

Him: How's life?
Me: Long story, mostly dull... you?
Him: Crap... some boy story, some work thing...

That's not word for word obviously, just a rough overview...

He is one of those people that no matter how long it's been since we last saw each other in the flesh, or spoke online, or whatever we can just pick up exactly where we left off. Which is good.

He did happen to mention that he'd seen Lord of the Rings... THE MUSICAL! Yes, some psycho in London decided that LOTR needed to be set to music and with singing... and jumping orcs... and Ents on really, really big stilt things... I have no idea how long the all singing and all dancing goes on for (although less than five and a half hours otherwise they couldn't do two shows on Saturdays)... but seriously... singing Hobbits... I ask you!

The weather yesterday was APPALLING! Rain and cloud and wind and whatnot... it might as well have been Winter again. Climate change indeed! And the randomness of weather continues this week... it's supposed to be 27 tomorrow... then rain again... before it returns to about 25 on Saturday... *sigh*

But I've resorted to blogging about the weather... so it's time to go...

Current Mood:

unconscious mutterings 241

Let's play Unconscious Mutterings...

1. Rita :: Haywood


2. Comedy :: Company


3. Polar :: Icecaps


4. Idiots :: Guide To...


5. Perception :: Is in the eye of the beholder


6. Infected :: 28 Days


7. Fake :: Tits


8. Relating :: Talking


9. Distraction :: Everywhere


10. Gamble :: Lose

Current Mood:

merry go round

I don't know that I agree with the "babied" bit... but most of the rest isn't too far off.

You Are a Carousel

You are young at heart and a truly playful person. No one would ever accuse you of taking life too seriously. You are definitely in things for the fun. You find joy easily, and you are often building up anticipation for your next adventure. In relationships, you tend to want to be babied and taken care of. And while you may be a bit high maintenance, you are incredibly loyal. Your life is simple and satisfying. Each day you treat yourself to something you enjoy. You have a lot of emotional attachments, and experiences are extra vivid to you. You tend to be nostalgic and sentimental. The past is important to you. Comfortable around all living things, you have a special connection to animals and children. At your best, you are whimsical, free spirited, and creative. Even if your schemes seem a bit strange, they usually work out wonderfully. At your worst, you are spoiled, demanding, and impossible to satisfy. You've been known to act like a brat if you aren't getting your way!

What Carnival Ride Are You?

Current Mood: