movies: the imaginarium of doctor parnassus

I had mixed feelings going in to The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus. Sure it was Heath Ledger's last film (plus the added bonus of Johnny Depp, Colin Farrell and Jude Law), but my track record with Terry Gilliam movies is spotty at best... and I read something recently that said this was the "most Terry Gilliam-eske of all his movies"... or something to that effect.

The opening of the movie is a little on the odd side too, although it does set the stage nicely (so to speak) for what's to come. And what's to come get's pretty damn weird too...

It's definitely not a movie that explains every little detail or dumbs things down... it blasts along at it's own pace and it's up to the viewer to make sense of things. I don't know that there was necessarily anything that I was confused about per say... but there were a few unanswered questions at the end. And rewatching the movie probably isn't going to answer any of them.

Sadly, that does eat into Heath's character a little bit... his performance (like his English accent) fluctuates more than it should from scene to scene (whether that's due to the movie getting reorientated or not, I don't know), and we never really learn enough about his character for my liking.

The transitions between "real" Health and the three "Imaginarium" versions of his character are dealt with very well... in fact it's almost like the movie was always designed to work that way. There's only one scene that does feel out of place, at the end of the Jude Law "segment"... and I think in a perfect world that scene would have been played by Heath as well.

In fact, the Jude portion of the story is the only one I didn't think worked as well... whereas the Johnny and Colin versions held together better.

There were a couple of really weird crossover moments too... because all three actors were rocking the pulled back ponytail and "too much eyeliner" (is there really such a thing?), I will admit that on at least one occasion I was looking at who I assume was Heath but very strongly seeing Johnny... weird.

It was also really good to see Verne Troyer (aka MiniMe) in a speaking role (not to mention one where he doesn't get thrown around every two minutes).

The special effects are gorgeous... although it's the double edged sword of them aiming for something fantastical and otherworldly which in turn makes them not look quite real, which in turn adds to the fantastical feeling. So the short version is gorgeous but not really realistic. Well, except for the cobra... that was a bit second-rate.

And I'm sure that masses of Tom Waits fans will disagree with me, but I felt like he was somewhat light-on as Mr Nick... he did a serviceable job, but there wasn't any menace to the performance (although perhaps that was the point).

For the most part though, it was an odd but enjoyable movie.

yani's rating: 3 zanni masks out of 5

shopping unrelated to halloween

Blah, blah, blah... Halloween... blah, blah blah...

I'm torn between going out tonight and just being holed up here with whatever scary movies (or episodes of True Blood) come to hand and ignore anybody stupid enough to come a-callin.

The whole concept of Halloween in the Southern Hemisphere is just stupid. It's not autumn, it's not chilly (especially today), etc, etc. So I'm just giving the big old "bah humbug" in Halloween's general direction.

But enough about that... let's talk about the rest of today.

I really need to start going to bed earlier on Friday nights... that way I wouldn't end up sleeping in quite so late (relatively speaking obviously) the following morning. But I still managed to get the majority of stuff done that I needed to before Ma showed up.

As we were heading out the door, I happened across a $20 note on the ground just inside the gate... so score one for me. It also came in handy later in the day.

And then there was shopping... blah, blah blah... same old same old, week in week out.

Once we were done with the shopping and the like, I suggested to Ma that we go off and see a movie at Hoyts (thanks to the voucher that La Cousina gave us last Christmas which expires in December... and since we never go to Hoyts these days, it required a special trip)... so we headed off to Norwood to see The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus. Since it was the first movie of the day, the theatre wasn't open yet, so we had a rousing game of air hockey (Ma pwned me in the last minute 7 to 5 after my early lead of 2 nil) and then headed in.

Afterwards we headed back to the car... but because we'd parked in a 2 hour zone, and had been away for 2 and three quarter hours (naughty I know), we found a parking ticket. Bollocks, but not overly unexpected. Fortunately, it was for $21, so that's why the $20 I found earlier came in useful... I can use it to pay for the parking ticket... woohoo!

After much indecision we ended up heading off to Rundle Street and wandered the length of the street and then back again, theoretically looking for somewhere to go and get some lunch. But for whatever reason I'm very seldom hungry during the day on a Saturday (coupled with the indecision factor of not knowing what the hell we wanted)... maybe it's because I eat later than I normally would, or it's a carbs thing, or a milk thing, I dunno... but nothing really appealed, and in the end we gave up and just stopped off at Cocolat for a drink and a bit of a rest before we called it a day.

So, yeah... this is about as exciting as my life gets currently...

Current Mood:

photo friday: city ribbon

This is the newly refurbished Royal Institution of Australia... or more specifically, the electronic "ribbon" that wraps it's way around half of the building. I've been past it a couple of times this week... the first time there was a quote that mentioned skateboards...

I'm very glad it's finally Friday. This week just seemed to take a very long time... mostly because I didn't really have that much stuff on my plate, and that always makes time drag. Fortunately I was able to swoop in and be "Extremely Helpful Boy" not once, not twice, but three times today... so that's always good.

I had a bit of a fright this morning... I was tying the laces on my Chuck T's and there was this overly enthusiastic banging on my front door. I think I jumped about a foot in the air and had no idea who the hell it could be at 7:45 in the morning...

Turns out it was the nice Postman... and he was bringing me a parcel. I love getting parcels. I especially love getting parcels that only took a week to get here. I also love getting free things included when I buy things... even when I have no idea what the hell it's for or what I'm going to do with it...

As for what was in my parcel...

Well, that would be telling *oversharing evil grin*...

And of course, even though I knew exactly what would be in the parcel, I had to open it and have a quick look before I went off to work.

At lunch I went wandering down to the Mall, even though it was a touch on the warm side (and will continue that way until Tuesday unfortunately... I really hate Summer... although the weather has cooled down tonight which is good)... dropped into JayJays on the hunt for Spongebob Squarepants underwear... which they didn't have. But I did walk out with a double pack of Nightmare Before Christmas boxerbriefs (which I didn't necessarily need, but they were reasonably good value). The downside is that they have the underwear on display behind the counter, so you can't look through it properly *grrrr*.

Since I'd mentioned to the Ginga Ninja a couple of weeks ago about getting a copy of The Velveteen Rabbit for one of the women in our extended team who's leaving to have a baby... and unlike last time they actually had the orginal version (complete with original illustrations) in stock, so I bought it on the spot. Sadly Toys R Us didn't have the cute little bunnies they had last time... so I'm now officially on a Bunny Hunt.

On the way back to work I also discovered that one of the Health Partner stores gives out free fruit on a Friday... there's this tray of it attached to the front of the store with a big sign saying "Please take one". I took a banana. And I'll be going back next Friday.

And thanks to Sugarmonkey I now have the entire second season of True Blood to watch... so I think I'll head off and do just that...

Current Mood:

random kobe hotness

This week's Random Hotness comes out of the "art basket", by way of the Recommended Blogs feature in Google Reader.

And it's the work of visual artist, Kobe Leah, who takes internet profile photos and turns them into cool, pop art inspired artworks, complete with a quote about the person's likes or loves.

There's also a link on his website if you want to get involved...

Current Mood:

hous related

Another couple of shots from the Melbourne folder...

I didn't actually link up the two shots until I got home and was looking through them all. Different, but related.

Other than that today has been incredibly dull... plus I'm just generally tired and riding the very end of a headache I've had for most of the afternoon. So, good times...

Current Mood:

thoughts on rage

Once upon a time, back in the early Jurassic period of my life, Sheba presented all of the regular crew with these little bottles of essential oil blends she'd whipped up herself in that Earth Mother/Voodoo Priestess way she had.

While I don't remember the actual blend of oils she used in mine, I do remember that I had to apply it at my temples and the soles of my feet. When one of the others asked her why the soles of the feet, she said it because I was often "walking rage".

Sadly, it was a pretty damn accurate assessment. No, make that present tense... it IS a damn accurate assessment.

I just seem to have this immense well of rage in me that so easily tapped into. It's just incredibly easy for me to go from calm to wrathful in very short order. Especially when I feel like I'm being ignored or when people annoy me.

It's not all the time though... sometimes I can control it easily (or at the very least, I can remain at the "gentle simmer" rather than the volcanic explosion), but other times it just comes out of nowhere and surprises even me. How the hell people around me deal with it I have no idea... other than just assuming that I'm being a dick.

I just wish I knew why. I mean most of the time I know what sets me off, but I have no idea why I have this smoldering furnace of rage at my core.

Because maybe if I knew the "why", I could make it stop.

Current Mood:

unconscious mutterings 352

I have had a shitty day... partly of my own making (particularly this afternoon), but shitty nevertheless...

If I was a drinking man, I'd be breaking out the tequila about now... sadly (or fortunately, depending on your point of view), I'm really not... on the upside, I also don't have any chocolate in the house...

Unconscious Mutterings...

1. Redskins :: Lollies
2. Show :: Off
3. Smoker :: Bad
4. Bad movie :: Anything by Jean Claude Van Damme or Adam Sandler
5. Play :: School
6. Jaguar :: Zao (it's a Bond thing)
7. Click :: Here
8. Production :: Company
9. Sand :: In My Shorts
10. Foreign :: Legion

Current Mood:

don't poke the bear

You know what... I quite literally wasted half of today... and now it's 5pm, and there goes my weekend.

You Should Dress Up As a Bear

You are a cuddly, warm person who is eager to give out hugs to anyone who wants them. You are a very touchy person. In fact, you tend to overwhelm people with your affection sometimes. While you are very sweet and caring, people should never underestimate you. If you're toyed with or taken advantage of, watch out! You have an immense amount of power and strength. And given your fierce temper, you wouldn't hesitate to crush someone if he or she deserved it.

What Animal Should You Dress Up As?

Cuurrent Mood:

cookie needing saturday

You know those days when you just need a cookie... well today was one of those days! Not a literal cookie so much as a metaphorical "I'm sure my blood sugar has dropped through the floor because I'm just cranky for no reason" cookie...

So... yeah...

It just seemed like everywhere I went people were going out of their ways to ensure that they got INTO my way... grrrr...

As far as the shopping side of things went, we did the usual Supermarket Safari, although it was Safari Lite today for whatever reason... I didn't end up picking up very much stuff at all.

Then once all the usual stuff was over and done with, we took ourselves off to Marion. That was when I really needed a cookie...

I also couldn't find a watch I really liked. And of course Ma found another watch on the same stall, so that just annoyed me. There were probably a few watches I could have settled with, but I don't want to just settle... I want a watch I like. In short, I want my old watch.

I've also been feeling kinda weird all day... and last night a little bit too. It's almost a "had too much coffee" feeling, but not really... I really have no idea what's going on with me.

On the plus side, I did manage to track down a couple of new teeshirts... although now I REALLY need to go through my wardrobe and get rid of some stuff, otherwise they're never going to fit. But that was about the sum total of my purchasing. I kept picking things up and then putting them back... like the first and last seasons of Will & Grace... they were on sale, but I was still all "m'eh" about them.

When we finished wandering aimlessly around Marion, and I'd had a figurative cookie (it was actually a muffin and a milkshake), we headed home again, although we did stop off at The Christmas Shop on the way back... I swear that store is dangerous, and they really need a whole heap more store or a heap less stuff.

Nothing new in the toy soldier oeuvre though... or nothing that I wanted at any rate.

So, yeah... other than the fact that I really do need a different kind of product for my hair, otherwise it's never going to conform to the plan Tink and I devised yesterday, it's a fairly average Saturday.

Now I think it's time for some dinner...

Current Mood:

photo friday: altered sky

Sometimes combining a fairly average sky shot (snapped on the way home tonight) with Photoshop's "Auto Levels" function produces unexpected and somewhat spectacular results...

It's been a very, very long and very, very dull week I have to say... I very much miss H-San, not because work isn't okay with just Sugarmonkey (we went and got some very lackluster gelato this afternoon... won't be going back there ever again... but the place we used to go has changed owners and doesn't seem to be stocking gelato anymore)... but it's just very different with only the two of us around.

I got all inspired yesterday and went over to the Market with the express aim of buying a bunch of stuff to make into something for dinner... I did fail to take a bag over with me though which resulted in me ending up with a somewhat useless string bag (they stretch when you put any weight in them, who knew). I also bought a bag of tomatoes, a container of olives, an eggplant, a zucchini, a capsicum and a big punnet of strawberries... so that was dinner pretty much sorted.

When I got home I chopped everything up nice and small, added some mushrooms that were already in my fridge and an onion and ended up with a variation on ratatouille. When it was just about ready I stuck a sliced chicken breast in the pan to semi poach and boiled up some pasta. I was very pleasantly surprised how tasty it ended up being, and I had more than enough of it left to stick in the freezer.

With working full time and too much laptop action and just generally being fairly lazy, it's been a long while since I actually made something completely from scratch... and I enjoyed it a lot.

And as always, the strawberries got sliced up, sprinkled with balsamic vinegar and a little icing sugar and fermented away in the fridge... mmmm yummy.

But enough with the gastronomical recap...

At some point earlier this week I booked myself in for a haircut after work today... I've been struck with a massive case of hair ennui/angst of late though. I really, really, really want to do something radically different with my hair, but since there are only two real choices, cut it all off or grow it longer, I'm in a bit of a quandary.

Fortunately, because I now have The Fabulous Tink back as my hairdresser, I can explore these options with somebody who knows my hair. We actually ended up trying the "tidy it up with the plan of growing it" option... although that lasted about as long as it took Tink to cut my hair... because I pretty much hated the result.

So we went with the "let's cut it really, really, really, really short" option. Technically it could probably be even shorter than it is, but it definitely falls under the "very short" category. And it's a tiny bit Tintin... with a slight upflick at the front.

The idea of growing it out still appeals though... perhaps I'll start before Winter next year, because I know that it's going to take me a very long time to grow it out to the length I want... the last time I tried it I never really got to a stage where it was all one length, so I ended up bleaching a massive stripe into the side of it and then got the hairdresser I had before Tink to just chop the whole lot off.

While Tink was doing the cutting thing, we did a bit of a Readers Digest catch up (the adbridged version)... although, really, there isn't all that much stuff that has happened in my life since Tink left at the end of February. But it was nice to hear about all her adventures (and that she was still with the same guy that she went over there with).

Okay, brief aside... I bought a Hot-Can the other week... sadly I couldn't get the hot chocolate that I really wanted, so I bought a cafe latte one instead... and I just set it off. Can I just say that there is something monumentally wrong about drinking hot coffee from a can... it doesn't taste too bad though... although it's just coffee really. Sadly, because of the huge heating thing in the middle of the can, you do get somewhat jipped on the amount of drink in the can.

Anyway...

Oh, in the "WTF?" column... I saw a guy (at least I assume it was a guy) walking down the Mall at lunch today wearing a gorilla suit and a backpack (because, obviously, you have to have somewhere to store your gorilla suit on your way into the city)... but he had to be very warm in there, because I was wearing my new brown shirt with the sleeves rolled up and I was slightly warm. Then on my way to get some dinner after my haircut I saw this skinny little emo boy in some kind of fancy dress outfit... it was blue and gold and it kinda looked familiar (I'm thinking some sort of anime character, but nobody instantly recognisable)... again with a backpack.

People are just weird...

Current Mood:

random fragment hotness

It's interesting the things you find when you start going through old Bookmarks, as today's (double) Random Hotness proves...

Oddly though, while I recognise some of Ryan Pfluger's work, I really have no idea where I found the link.

These shots are from his "Men I've Met" series... and according to Ryan, "each photograph is a fragment of a relationship that may or may not exist"... hence the post title.

Current Mood:

flat wednesday

So here we have more Melbourne street art... the top shot kinda shows what I was talking about with random tagging over decent large-scale pieces... very annoying. And given the width of the alleyway, I just couldn't get back far enough to get the whole of the Black Puppet Rider and his very groovy bike in the same shot.

Other than that there really isn't a hell of a lot to report. I'm having something of a flat evening... I don't know why, I'm just feeling oddly flat. Actually I've been like that on and off all day.

About the only thing of note that I feel like I've accomplished all day is finally sorting through all the porn I'd accumulated while my external hard drive was dead... it's all neatly filed away now.

So I think I just need to give up, go to bed and start again tomorrow...

Current Mood:

movies: astroboy

When I was a kid I used to watch the Astroboy teevee series religiously... but then a couple of years ago Ma picked up some of the episodes on video for me so I rewatched them... and I couldn't believe how unspeakably twee it was and what a total Goody Two Shoes Astro was.

Fortunately when they made the new Astroboy movie that managed to avoid falling into that trap.

However, they've also made a movie that never really manages to rise above the average.

It's also an origin story... so you have to get all the "how did X become Y" stuff out of the way (which you would think that they could almost do away with to some degree since the character has been around for a while now... but everybody likes to put their stamp on a story)... which does inevitably lead to a "been there, seen that" kind of feeling.

It didn't stretch the boundaries on any front really... the story was engaging, but nothing new... the animation was good, but you kinda expect that these days... and the All Star voice cast possible was more distracting than usual (at least for somebody who knows movies). And, yes, I know I'm not the target demographic for the movie, but it still should have been better than it was.

That's not to say that it wasn't watchable... it was... but that's about the best you can say about it.

I was also slightly disappointed that it took quite so long for Astroboy's familiar "black hotpants, red gogo boots" ensemble to put in an appearance. I do remember reading something where they said that they were being more cautious or something given that he's a little boy that essentially flies around in his underwear shooting things with guns that come out of his butt... but I kinda think they waited a little too long. There were many and varied opportunities towards the end of the movie for him to show up in the familiar outfit and save the day, and it never really happened, which I think was something of a mistake.

As far as the aforementioned All Star voice cast goes, I thought Freddie Highmore was excellent as Astro, although since he's now 17, he doesn't sound like the kid I remember. Kristen Bell also does a great job as Cora... but then I do have a soft spot for her. Unfortunately though, because I can't stand Nicolas Cage in anything, ever, he was a little hard to stomach as Astro's father.

It also seemed to be something of a transatlantic cast... there were probably as many English actors as there were Americans, and like I said, far too many voices that I recognised and that pulled me out of the moment.

But when you compare this to something like Up, it's instantly apparent why Pixar are the reigning monarchs of all things animation, and everybody else lags being as a very distant second.

yani's rating: 2 blue energies out of 5

unconscious mutterings 351

It's been a glorious day today... only I didn't get to enjoy it because I was cooped up at work. And of course work was monumentally dull and I came home with a headache I can't really explain...

Unconscious Mutterings...

1. Werewolf :: London
2. Jim :: Treasure Island
3. 2x4 :: Smack upside the head
4. Unruly :: Mob
5. Component :: Stereo
6. Prolific :: Writer
7. Wrestler :: The Rock
8. Huh? :: Pay attention!
9. Dolls :: Guys and
10. Super! :: Thanks for asking!

Current Mood:

lazy sunday

This is the first "normal" Sunday I've had in about a month... I've basically done bugger all all day long, other than fiddle around on the laptop and watch several episodes of True Blood...

So there really isn't anything to report... other than the fact I've now seen Rogue's boobies... which is just weird...

Current Mood:

movies: moon

First rule of finding yourself at the end of a long stint in space... Never trust large corporations or robots...

Although that's not 100% accurate for Moon, it's definitely that kind of movie.

In a lot of ways it shares a visual look with the first Alien movie. The resemblance was pretty strong in certain spots actually... not only to Alien but also to a few other movies... things like Sunshine, Solaris (even though I haven't seen either version properly), Silent Running (things starting with S it would seem)... not in a bad way, but it did feel as though Moon was a movie I was familiar with. Maybe it's just that there are only so many stories you can tell about people (or in this case a single person) "trapped" in space (although, this movie takes places on the titular Moon).

Having said that, it still managed to feel fresh. Possibly because it's not a "something's coming to eat me" kind of movie... it's much more internal and contained than that, and definitely posits a few "what would you do in that situation?" questions.

It's also one of those movies that's kind of hard to talk about because not a whole lot really happens, and most of what does happen revolves around the central plot point... and that's just a big ol world of spoilers, so I'm not going anywhere near that...

I can say though that Sam Rockwell is great as the only flesh and blood person we meet throughout the movie (everybody else is seen through video monitors or dreams)... his ability to readily able to take on very divergent characters serves him well here. Kevin Spacey is also creepily good as the robot/computer GERTY... that flat, dry vocal quality that he excels in is perfect here.

I also thought that it was interesting that all of the exterior shots were done with models rather than CGI... you can definitely tell the difference (but at the same time my eye did identify them as models right away... but then I do that all the time with CGI).

So, yeah, there's not really much else I can say... it's definitely worth a look.

yani's rating: 3 smiley face robots out of 5

not much to report saturday

To be honest there really isn't that much shopping news to report...

We did the usual Supermarket Safari this morning... blah blah blah... came back here where I cleared out my freezer (because seriously it was a trainwreck and I had no idea what the hell I had in there... on the upside there was much more steak than I thought I had... on the downside, I hate unmarked ziplock bags), then headed down to Arndale.

The fact that it's October and they already have Christmas decorations out is just flat out wrong... of course that didn't stop us from having a good look at them... we probably spent longer than usual wandering around Big W... although not at the DVD's, which is what we usually waste time on in there...

So yeah... much wandering about and looking at stuff... we picked up a photo frame for the Japanese name calligraphy we got at the St Kilda Market... only one, just to try it out... and it still wasn't quite right, but Ma seemed happy with it, so she took that one and I'll keep looking for something for mine.

We swung back past my place to drop stuff off, then headed into town for a bit of a wander before heading off to see Moon (woohoo free tickets).

Actually we went tyre kicking at Optus World... I really need a new phone... not so much because there's anything wrong with the actual phone part of my existing one (other than it being three and a half years old), but the battery only lasts about a day and a half before it needs charging which is highly annoying.

But I have to say that I wasn't overly impressed with the majority of the new phones either. I want one that has the whole GPS/map thing and I prefer Nokias (partly because it's the brand I've been using for the last three phones... I think it's three anyway... so I'm just used to them)... and while there's the Navigator, it's kinda ugly and a weird shape. Phone Shop Boy did kind of suggest the iPhone as far as something that has the whole map thing going on, but it costs over and above the plan, so that pushes it much further down the list (although oddly enough I don't really mind the Nokia 5800, which is essentially "iPhone Lite").

I do wonder though how they can afford to allow you to have $330 worth of phone calls for only $49 a month. How the hell does that make them money? Plus there isn't even the vaguest possibility that I would ever come close to spending that much in a month... even when you add in phone calls, text messages and picture messages. There has to be some sort of catch somewhere... but buggered if I can work out what the hell it is (I'm assuming it basically amounts to them hideously overcharging you for both the plan and the phonecalls).

Anyway a new phone is definitely somewhere on the horizon... I just need to do some looking around and work out what's the best phone for what I want (Ma will just end up getting the same phone as me, because as I've said before, it just makes my life easier... plus she really doesn't care so long as it does phone things).

So after a couple of other detours (including me going back down to the car so that we would have enough time left on the ticket) we wandered down to the Palace Nova to make with free movie action (more on that shortly).

I did notice that because I was wearing my Soundwave teeshirt today, I definitely got some stares as we were headed down Rundle Street... in fact two guys who were waiting to cross the road at the same time as us weren't even subtle about it... I saw one of them say something to his buddy as I was approaching, and then the friend did the very obvious "look round" thing. I just pretended I didn't realise they were doing it.

Anyway, after 97 minutes of movieness we headed back to the car and then came back here.

And that's pretty much been my day up until now.

Oh, I did discover when we got back that the big, expensive flame kite that hangs over my bed had fallen off the wall at some point this afternoon... there are two black rubber rings that help to hold part of the frame and the strings and whatever together, and because it's been hanging on my wall for months and months and months and months, the rubber had degraded and basically fell apart. Bummer. They did just look like little plumbing washer things though, so I don't know that it's that tragic. The kite definitely needs a good clean (or failing that, a good hard fly) though.

Current Mood:

i should have guessed...

Okay, this was kinda spooky... it might not be completely accurate, but it definitely seems appropriate.

Your City is Sydney

You are straightforward, honest, and real. You believe it's important to be yourself, even if you shock people. You are worldly and well travelled. You have seen a lot in your life, and it's hard to rattle your cage. You tend to embrace a laid back, "anything goes" attitude. You wouldn't ever think to judge someone. You believe that it's important to seize the day and live like there's no tomorrow. You can get along with anyone who agrees.

What's Your City?

Current Mood:

photo friday: silken waves

Oddly enough, even with the hundreds of shots I have from Melbourne, this one is actually from Port Adelaide last Sunday... the Silken Waves art installation...

Just some rather random Friday thoughts...

Do straight boys (well, I'm assuming most of them are straight) wear any other kind of underwear than Bonds? I swear, every time in the last couple of weeks that I see a guy's underwear poking up over the top of his pants, the waistband has the distinctive Bonds elastic. Or is it just that Bonds underwear sits higher on the hips than other brands?

Not that I'm complaining...

It's going to be a long three weeks at work I think... today was our first day with H-San and it was all eerily quiet... just me and Sugarmonkey really (at least in our little pod). Whether there's some additional work-appropriate bonding that will happen while we're on our own or not we'll have to wait and see.

Thankfully I managed to put a project to bed today that's been hanging around for a while... although I think I'm going to have to review it one more time on Monday just to make sure I got everything right. It does mean that I've opened up a particular can of worms because now I'm going to have to go back through some other documents I've already finished and make sure they now mesh with the new one... *sigh*... it also looks like I'm going to end up doing some stuff from home each weekend that H-San is away... nothing arduous, I just need to set a process in motion.

Why is it that a thirteen year old movie costs more than one that came out this year? I happened across Beautiful Thing while I was at lunch today and it was $30... it's not even like there are any special features on it... it's just the movie. Annoyingly it wouldn't be cheaper to order it online.

Speaking of online, I upgraded my ADSL yesterday... doubled my download limit for just $10 a month more... seems fair really...

And that's about it really... like I said, it's been something of a quiet day...

Current Mood:

random biggles hotness

Something a little bit retro for this week's Random Hotness... I do love some good art design, especially when it gives the shot this kind of 1930's look. Or maybe I just have a thing about Biggles style helmets and goggles...

Either way, Travis Hanson definitely makes this look good!

Current Mood:

the wednesday thought process

Would you believe these were taken within seconds of each other... I saw the gorgeous frontage for the Laurent patisserie, took the shot, kept walking past and the empty latte glass on the windowsill caught my eye. The contrast is pretty much Melbourne in a nutshell...

You know what... I've haven't had a crappier couple of weeks for my routine for a long while... since I busted my knee probably. I keep oversleeping in the mornings... it's not that I don't want to go for my walk, but I turn off my alarm and lay back down and the next thing I know it's half an hour later and going for an hour long walk just isn't practical.

Of course this week it's doubly unappealing because it's cold and horrible out there... plus it's gone back to being dark first thing thanks to stupid early Daylight Savings.

The oversleeping thing is all my own fault though... as I've mentioned on any number of previous occasions, I've become surgically attached to Beast. It used to be that I'd come home, fiddle around online, do everything I needed to do and then remove myself to the living room and do other things (which, yes, involved sitting in front of a different kind of screen, but still). I can honestly say that I haven't sunk my ass into my little red sofa since we got back from Melbourne.

I'm making myself a promise... tonight, I'm going to unhook myself from the laptop once I've finished this and sit on the sofa and not multitask for at least part of the evening.

It probably hasn't helped that I've been watching some teevee on the laptop too... not only is the ABC's iView not counted against the download limit on my ISP (although I haven't succumbed to watching Torchwood yet, just random stuff while I'm cooking dinner), but I started watching True Blood in bed on Saturday night. And I've watched an episode every night since (not tonight though).

The funny thing is that while I'm kinda enjoying it (I just got the second half of the first season from Sugarmonkey this morning)... it's also a big whack of "been there, seen that". And had it not been for the introduction of Eric in the episode I watched last night (who I know becomes a major character later on) I would have been highly critical of the quality of the male vampires. I mean, seriously, the guy who plays Bill is a trainwreck. They would have been much better off swapping the roles of him and the guy who owns the bar. Anyway, luckily Ryan Kwanten keeps taking most of his clothes off on a regular basis, so I can't complain that much.

All of this is kind of a self fulfilling problem though... because I end up staying up later than I should be fiddling around on the Beast after watching said teevee shows, then don't want to get up in the morning, which throws my body clock that little bit more out of whack so I end up staying up later...

Grrr...

I've had something of a m'eh day... I don't know why exactly, but I felt decidedly flat for the majority of the afternoon.

Of course the perfect thing to happen when you're having a m'eh kind of day is a fire drill... walking down eight floors, standing around in the cold outside and then walking back up 8 floors (hey, it's quicker than waiting for the lift... and I did miss my exercise this morning). Pffft...

And tomorrow H-San goes on leave for three weeks... which means that the universe should implode around the middle of next week.

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tickets reprise

Remember last year when I was feeling all cultured and shit because I bought tickets to three different shows during the Feast Festival...

Well fast-forward twelve months and you'll find me much less impressed. I picked up the Feast program over the weekend (during an unblogged and unremarkable sauna visit) and flicked through it, ready to spank my credit card a little in order to see as much legitimate theatre and I could. But sadly the program seems very light on this time around, and especially light on for things I would consider going to see.

I mean, it's great that they're having Nick Christo return with his Fabulous Frances Faye show... but after being serenaded during the Cabaret Festival, I don't think I need to see it again (although rereading my review, I did say I'd like to see Nick again... I'm adding the caveat "in something else" to it). It's a shame they didn't manage to get The Twink And The Showgirl back... since I didn't get to see that during the Cabaret Festival (plus it seems to be doing the rounds of the other gay festivals).

And the film section seems particularly light on this year...

In the end I settled for going to see Bison, from Focus Theatre who did Blowing Whistles last year (and the spectacular Lachlan Mantell from Whistles is joining the cast for the Adelaide season)... mostly because I really enjoyed their previous production, but if I'm being honest... it also seems wrong somehow to go to a performance during Feast and NOT see doodle... *grin*.

So anyway, I got my ticket for that at lunch yesterday (which is when I got rained on), and when I got home I found that my free double pass for Moon was waiting for me in the letterbox. Yesterday was definitely a red letter day for tickets...

I was also excited to see that my long-lost friend Ash is coming to town to take part in the "Literature Weekend"... being held at Saldechin (which should make for some very cool ambience). I'm assuming he's going to be reading from The Shallow End (unless there's something new on the horizon)... and we're going to catch up for dinner while he's here, so that should be fun.

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unconscious mutterings 350

It wasn't quite as deserted at work as I thought it might have been... but I did have hot chocolate in my new Keep Cup from the cute cupcake shop, and got served by a cute boy who's new since the last time I was in there...

Of course then I got rained on at lunch... not happy Jan... and this afternoon was equally boring and annoying... but the cup worked well...

Unconscious Mutterings...

1. My treat :: Freebie
2. Bell :: Saved By The
3. Five :: Famous
4. You're crazy :: Yes, I know
5. Disgust :: Foul
6. Tempest :: Shakespeare
7. Bummer :: Dude
8. Brim :: Full to the
9. Hose :: Phallic Imagery
10. Lollipop :: Good Ship

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sunday marketness

What a day... it was grey yet warm this morning... positively summery all afternoon and it's just started raining buckets with a possible thunderstorm on the way. Although there is that really beautiful smell of rain after a warm day wafting through my apartment just at present... mmmmm...

In a lot of ways today has followed a similar kind of theme to last Sunday... other than us being in a whole different city, obviously...

Ma came down at around 10:30 and we set off for the Bowerbird Bazaar (although I think their blog is much better than the website, you get much more of an idea of the stuff that was there), which is very much about environmentally friendly art and design. It was held in the Queen's Theatre, which I was last at when I went to see Adam Richard back in March. It was the perfect venue for this particular kind of market too... there's a "broken down" and lived in quality to the inside of the Theatre (which doesn't quite come across in the photo I took) that just felt right. And there was some seriously cool stuff there too.

I fell in love with the jewellery from re:vision... I mean when you combine photography, recycled camera parts and jewellery, what's not to love. There was also all of the stuff from Rebound Books taking old, tattered books and turning them into journals and diaries and photo albums (and then using the discarded spines of the books for bookmarks... I bought four of those). I really loved their diaries... they take old Little Golden Books and rebind them to include the diary, but they leave the whole story in, just spread it out with a page at the beginning of each month. If only I used a paper diary...

There were a large number of similarities between the Bowerbird Bazaar and both of the Melbourne markets actually... a number of the stalls (including Rebound Books) were ones we'd seen over there.

There's also a point where you just have to acknowledge that certain items are stalking you and give in...

The item is question are the Keep Cups... their head office in Melbourne was opposite the laneway where our hotel was (on the Collins Street side), and I fully intended to pick one up on our last morning, but with one thing and another it totally slipped my mind. But when we saw them this morning, I just had to get one. As an added bonus, I got to design my own. Other people were just buying the ones that were on display as is, but I asked her if it was possible to design my own (since none of the colour combos were doing it for me). She looked at me very conspiratorially, lowered her voice and said that I could... hehehe... so I now have a possibly unique Keep Cup which is black and red (a black cup and plug with a red lid and band). I only got a little one though... I don't really drink all that much hot coffee, so I think I'll be fine with this one. Too cute though... I think I'm definitely going to have to get a hot chocolate on the way into work tomorrow.

The other thing I fell in love with was a tiny square painting from IMOK, which has disappeared into the Christmas Abyss, along with a photo pendant from re:vision.

I put my name down on their mailing list too (and I'm going to have to stick the blog in Google Reader)... since they're supposed to be having another one in about six months.

I'm just a little miffed that I didn't see the "live installation art" (ie street art) while we were there... I have no idea where the hell that was hiding...

We also had something to eat from Let Them Eat who had a stand at the bazaar... I probably should have skipped the salads though, since they weren't anywhere near as nice as the sweetcorn and fetta patty thing... too much action on the chickpea and the mung bean I think.

Then we set sail for Port Adelaide...

Part of the reason is that The Port Festival is on at the moment, but also because the Fishermen's Wharf Markets only run on Sundays... so we figured we could kill two birds with one stone.

Turns out that for the most part it was "full of sound and fury, signifying nothing" (you know, I never realised that was actually a quote from Macbeth... but I've been using it much more than usual lately).

Those outdoor events always bug me for a number of reasons, but fairly high on the list is when they have live music... it's always so loud that it intrudes over everything else and you can't hear yourself think.

The other thing that would generally annoy me would be any kind of busker or street performance... but the ones today weren't really all that bad.

Of course when you're walking up (and then down just to prove that you can) stairs on stilts, even when you do it with a really bad fake French accent... or else you're wearing nothing but flesh coloured boxerbriefs (albeit with some sort of dancebelt underneath) and you then proceed to have a little shower in a barrel like my little friend in the photo on the right... then I don't have so much of an issue.

Sadly while I took a bunch of photos of Shower Guy none of them were all that great... part of the problem was not really being able to see what was on the camera screen due to all the sunshine... and then there was the whole issue of not really wanting to look like a complete and total stalker trying to take shots of the dude in wet underwear. I do like this photo though... it's just wrong... and during part of their routine that was accompanied by shouts of "Scruba Scruba!"...

There was also a new display of the Dolphins at the Port art installation (although with less dolphins and I think they were only in one location)... that's where the silver dolphin and rider (titled Sonic Eco) were... and it was definitely my favourite. The only problem with having them all bunch up like that was that it was hard to get decent shots of the individual dolphins... you can't see that the child on the back of the dolphin also has a dolphin tail... I did like it framed against the sky though.

The Fishermen's Wharf Market on the other hand scores a bit fat zilch. It was full of crap... mostly secondhand or else the dodgiest stuff that you've ever seen. The only stall that was even remotely interesting was one that stocked a lot of Lego... but really, what use do I have for Lego anymore! Okay, there were some keyrings/bagtags with little Lego characters on them that I was considering... but still...

Once we'd called it a day at Port Adelaide we drove down to Glenelg with the idea of getting some icecream. This, of course, was a flawed idea, because it was a bright, sunny, summery day... so every man and their dog decided that they were going to go down to Glenelg.

The upside of that was that it also meant that there were a lot of half naked young men with their Bonds underwear showing over the top of their wet boardshorts (or not so wet... which was fine too) wandering about. There was actually one guy who was sagging so badly (or well... depending on your point of view) that the only thing that could possibly have been holding up his shorts in the front was his cock, because pretty much his whole undie clad ass was hanging out of the back.

But, errr, yes... icecream... I have to say that I'm not sure about Baskin Robbins "Green Tea" flavour... it's not really sweet (as it allegedly has real green tea powder in it), and it has a very odd taste. Very odd.

I think Ma and I had been out in the sun too long though... I left my glasses case (with my glasses in it) in her car, so she came back with them... and then I realised I'd left a spare pair of shoes on the backseat of her car (that one I'm blaming on her... I decided to expose my lilywhite feet in my Croc thongs, and wasn't sure if I'd be able to wear them for the whole day... so she suggested I take another pair of shoes... which I did... and then forgot them)... I only remembered the shoes after she'd left the second time, so I'll wait until next weekend for them.

So yeah... a very different Sunday from usual... but not a bad day all up...

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