pulling the covers over my head

hiding lamp manThere are some days when you just want to go and hide from the whole world and not deal...

Today is one of those... in fact I think possibly the whole week has been the same way...

So the blog has been incredibly light on at present... and I'm theoretically going to bed now...

Current Mood:

pink and purple

northern lights - pink & purple
northern lights - pink & purpleI know that viewed properly these shots from Northern Lights aren't actually of pink and purple leopard print... but for the life of me, every time I look at the photos, that's exactly what it looks like to me...
w
I'm not looking forward to tomorrow... there's going to be a pointless waste of time I won't be able to weasel my way out of... which is doubly annoying because it is a waste of time and there's no getting out of it.

But if I stay very still hopefully it should be over quickly...

Current Mood:

unconscious mutterings 374

Any day that has to involve PowerPoint is unable to be classed as a good day...

Unconscious Mutterings...
  1. Bow out :: Gracefully
  2. Relationships :: Foreign territory
  3. Facebook :: Pointless
  4. Items :: 8 or less
  5. Ours :: Belonging
  6. Sting :: Redford and Newman
  7. Hangover :: Cure
  8. Contacts :: Email
  9. Lonely :: One
  10. Seven days :: Week
Current Mood:

grey sunday

benzo mickeybotIt's been very much a grey, do nothing day...

Restful... but uneventful...

Current Mood:

saturday wanderings with bowerbird

bowerbird bazaarI swear Saturdays just slip through my fingers like really fine sand... one minute it's 8am and we're off on a Supermarket Safari, and then the next minute it's 4pm and Ma's heading home... and there's been a lot of stuff in between but it doesn't seem like it should have taken that long...

Today started off as usual with Supermarket Safari... I will say that I'm incredibly glad I have the ShopShop app on my iPhone, because it makes sure that I have a shopping list with me, and made sure I didn't forget a couple of things today. Granted I don't always put very much ON the list, and this week was another "shopping lite" trip, but still.

After unpacking and watching Ma fiddle around with her latest DS game (which I suggested she get, and which I think is going to turn out to be more challenging than she thinks) and then we headed off to Bowerbird Bazaar...

It was a lot busier than the one back in October (even though we actually went on a Sunday that time)... more stalls, more people, more stuff.

It's very attractive stuff too... although mostly Ma and I just seem to wander around and collect cards and random bits of paper... must stop that, since we never ever do anything about it.

Sadly, the KeepCup woman wasn't there last time, because I wanted to find out if it was possible to buy just the cup... I erred on the side of caution too much last time and really should have gotten the bigger size. But alas... I'll have to wait until we go to Melbourne again.

There's a large amount of stuff that I COULD have gotten sucked into, but none of it is cheap (but then if it's quality, it doesn't need to be)... although I did fall in love with one of the Paper Anatomicas from Almond Tree Frames... I knew I wanted to get something from them, but couldn't decide what... I quite liked one of the Paper Forest designs, but honestly, it just wasn't "out there" enough. So in the end I got one of the Anatomica rabbits... but not just the plain one, I fell in love with one that I originally thought had some sort of Chinese newspaper making up the rabbit shape, but it turned out to be an old French map... and it was the only one they had there (and one of a limited edition of 25). I kinda knew I had to get it when I saw a couple mulling over whether to get it or not and I had that instant stab of "mine!", so thankfully they didn't buy it.

Once again we had lunch at Let Them Eat, and this time I passed on most of the salads, so it was much more enjoyable. I also spoke with the guy from re:vision and might end up selling him my very old camera... it's not much use, but I'm not sure how ready I am to part with it.

Our last stop was From Scratch Patisserie...

from scratch french macaroonsAren't these just the CUTEST things ever! And packaged up in an egg carton! Too cute!

I ended up with the green (appley), pink and yellow ones while Ma took the other three home... We also bought a chocolate crunchy slice thing which was yummy and a chocolate berry tart thing which was AMAZING!

It was actually quite warm in the Queens Theatre, and as I said there were a lot of people (not helping with the warm... or my mental health, because people have no idea how to WALK and not take up all available space)... so eventually we called "Over It" and headed off to Marion.

Is it proof that you have no life when you remember the titles of DVDs that your boss asked you about back in January and you still have the message on your phone about it? Score 2 brownie points for me though... now if only I could find large bags of Samboy Chicken chips!

But mostly we did what we do every single time we go to Marion... we wandered around and looked at DVDs and not much else...

That doesn't mean it's not an enjoyable day out... just that we're highly predictable...

Now I just need to decide if I want to spend Earth Hour in my traditional manner... I've been umming and ahhhing about it, but part of my brain has already the decision, so I just need to work out whether to agree with it or not...

Current Mood:

photo friday: the return of mr sloppy

one way sloppyAlthough Wednesday was a bit of a general clusterf*ck of a day, it did mean that because I had to head between locations, I spotted this Mr Sloppy sticker. I think it's supposed to be 3D, since it does have a red and blue overprint going on... although who wanders around wearing 3D glasses... other than that guy in Back to the Future...

I've tried a somewhat self-fulfilling experiment for the last couple of days... I've put my iPhone away in my bag during the day instead of having it on my desk. Unsurprisingly I don't waste as much battery, and I don't fiddle with it.

Speaking of my iPhone... it may actually be sulking that I haven't been paying attention to it for the last couple of days. For the first time in forever, the camera wouldn't work, and then it locked up and generally needed a slap. It seems to be okay now... but I haven't tried the camera... *mutter mutter mutter mutter*

But given the way my week has gone, it's about par for the course.

Thankfully it's the weekend now...

Current Mood:

random parisian hotness

This week's Random Hotness combines early 90's teevee heartthrobs with a cute French boy and photography by Stuart Sandford...

And that's Kévin from Paris in his Mark-Paul Gosselaar T-Shirt!

To quote from Stuart's original post...

"Want to see more of Kévin? Here's his Facebook profile. Want a Mark Paul Gosselaar T-Shirt of your very own? Click here."

kévin from paris in stuart sandford's mark-paul gosselaar t-shirt! kévin from paris in stuart sandford's mark-paul gosselaar t-shirt!

Current Mood:

wednesday splodge

northern lights splodgeToday has been one enormous screw-up...

I knew it was possibly going to downhill when I got a free bus ride this morning. Last time that happened, the day was exceptionally shitful... today was as bad, if not worse... mostly because I spent my whole day chasing my tail.

I went in first thing and made a list of all the things I needed to do today, which while not the longest list ever, it was some time consuming stuff, most of which I needed to do before lunch as we had meetings on and off all afternoon.

Turns out that I didn't get through a third of the things because I had to go offsite and help out Sugarmonkey. Grrrr....

By the time I left there, I actually thought I wasn't going to get a chance to have lunch... but luckily I had half an hour I didn't think I did up my sleeve, so I was able to go grab something, then the afternoon was pretty much all meetings.

It was all a bit shit really... and I have to go in and catch up on all the stuff I didn't get to today... *sigh*

Current Mood:

movies: a single man

a single manDinner on Rundle Street, followed by A Single Man... it was a good evening!

Let me say, right from the outset, that A Single Man is beautiful. Lyrical, quiet, sad, hopeful, still and beautiful.

Stylistically it reminds me quite a bit of Revolutionary Road, the quiet and lyrical and sad and beautiful feeling anyway. But it was also somewhat obvious that it was directed by someone with an incredibly visual eye like Tom Ford, and surprising that his cinematographer hasn't done more work.

There's a beautiful, and initially very subtle blush of colour every time interacts with someone who excites him in some way... I didn't really notice it the first time it happens, but they really ramp it up the second time, and you know from then on every time it happens that someone has caught his eye. And then when that scene is over and the colour fades away again you're a little sad that it didn't last.

As far as the acting goes, while I haven't seen Colin Firth in a great many things, I really do think that he's exceptional in this! He manages to portray this immense amount of pain and sense of resolve without ever labouring it... to everyone else he's just going through his day, but because we know what he's planning, you can see the pain in it all.

And even though Julianne Moore shares space on the poster and has her name above the title, her character isn't around very much, since contrary to what the poster or the trailer might have you believe, it's not any kind of romance involving the two of them. Other than thinking that she had perhaps watched a few two many episodes of Absolutely Fabulous to get her English accent right, she does do quite well with the little she has to do.

But the real standout is Nicholas Hoult (from About A Boy and Skins)... his American accent is exceptional, and from the very first moment you see him you can see all the wheels turning, but you never quite know what he's up to, right up until the end. And even that's left up to a degree of interpretation. And any performance where he strips naked is worth seeing.

There are also some lovely performances from Matthew Goode and Spanish model Jon Kortajarena but it's really Firth, Moore and Hoult who shine.

And of course, any movie that uses Tom Ford's clothes is a very, very, very stylish movie. This was no exception! Beautiful, beautiful vintage 1960's clothes. And even the fluffy pink mohair sweater that Nicholas wears has a tactile charm about it. Granted, I couldn't wait for him to take it off... but it was still begging to be touched.

I'm not even sure my one criticism of the movie is really that much of a criticism... while it's beautiful and sad, because I assumed that the whole story was going to end a certain way I perhaps didn't get completely emotionally invested in Colin's character. And I didn't cry... so while it was sad, it obviously wasn't THAT sad, since I'm a big baby these days. Or maybe it's a little cold in a lot of ways and I was able to hold the movie at arm's length.

But like I said, with this movie, I don't actually know how much of a flaw that is.

It is incredibly beautiful though, on a number of levels.

And as Colin mentioned in his BAFTA acceptance speech, I am also eternally grateful for the fridge repair man who turned up before Colin had a chance to turn the role down!

yani's rating: 4 blue/green eyed blondes out of 5

unconscious mutterings 373

I really have nothing to say...

Unconscious Mutterings...
  1. Burrito :: Mexican
  2. Spike :: Lynda
  3. Tougher :: Stronger, Harder, Faster
  4. Mock :: Me
  5. Slurp :: Straw
  6. Knock :: Me Down
  7. Conference :: Convention
  8. Madness :: 80's band
  9. Minds :: Simple
  10. Connection :: Unspoken
Current Mood:

i love a nice warm pig belly

You Are The Queen of Hearts


To call you passionate would be a total understatement. You have quite a temper. You put fear into the hearts of everyone you know.

You are easy to make angry, and once you're angry, you may do or say anything. You love vengeance.

You don't like to be crossed. And while you can't say "Off with their heads!" when people make you mad, you wish you could!

There are a couple hobbies you're passionate about (perhaps croquet?), but even those can be sullied by the stupidity of others.


Current Mood:

shopping with voting and swedish things

hyperspeed supermarketWell, it's been a typically atypical day...

First up once Ma got here we had to head off to vote... dull, but necessary. I did my usual trick of fending off the people attempting to give out how to vote literature.... and I swear they're allowed much, much, much closer than they have been in previous years. Usually they're only allowed at the gate, not actually in the grounds of the school so much. This year, within 6 metres of the entrance to the polling station.

As we came around the corner, they all started massing like the seagulls in Finding Nemo ("Mine!" "Mine!") so I just said "Collectively, to all of you, no thank you" or words to that effect which took the wind out of their sails. Once of the women seemed a bit miffed and muttered something along the lines of "Good morning to you too"... but fuck her, I don't want them, and I didn't want to have to tell them all collectively I didn't want them. Those things should be illegal anyway, they waste paper and the information is already pasted up in the booths!

Anyway, I decided to number all the 74 boxes below the line... and just like one of the previous elections I started with all the stupid, racist, homophobic, bullshit parties, and worked my way forward... then skipped a few and started with the few good parties I did like... and ended up with two 7's... d'oh! Eventually I worked out that I'd missed out #20, so after a little slight of hand I had a finished ballot.

Took forever though!

Next up we went shopping... blah blah blah, broccoli, Iced Coffee and steak.

After buying a new doormat (it's half rubber, half coir, looks pretty good) we came back and unpacked and then went off to the Goodwood Market... now this is the same market, more or less as the one we went to back in November... but this one was pretty much useless.

Not, for example, as useless as the one from last weekend... but then that one was so far down the lame meter it's hardly worth using as a judging point. But this one, just kinda lame.

I thought about it while we were wandering around actually... Ma and I have done a lot of markets in recent times, and I can't help but wonder if I'm a little bit marketed out. Especially when there are a number of stalls that you just see EVERYWHERE...

In the end, all I ended up buying was some very fine olive oil which I also bought at the last one, and it was so good I had to have more.

After that we were at something of a loose end... the market had only taken about half an hour, if that, and we hadn't really planned further than that.

I did need to get hold of some little nuts (which sounds wrong no matter how you say it), so we headed off to Bunnings to see what we could find. Turns out the answer is "nothing"... they don't have teeny tiny little itty bitty nuts. Bugger!

Not exactly sure where IS going to have the right kind of hardware though!

Our final stop was Ikea... land of all things cheap, Swedish and flatpacked. Seriously, why does anyone ever go and eat in the Ikea cafe? It's just wrong... wrong and awful... thankfully we avoided most of it, but even the fruit salad is crap... all melons and pineapple.

I was supposedly in search of a new teevee stand... but everything I really, really liked was far too wide for the spot. So I'm going to have to think outside the box yet again... as well as looking in other places.

They obviously spray stuff through the air-conditioning ducts in that place, because I swear I always come out of their either wanting random crap I have no need for, or having bought the aforementioned crap. In this case, a white plastic photo frame, a pair of cardboard document sleeve things (which are cool, but I don't know what I'm going to do with them) and something else I can't remember for the life of me right now... oh yeah... straws...

And that was about our day... now I just need to avoid all the stupid election coverage (that includes you Twitter) and I should have an enjoyable evening. Or at least an evening...

Current Mood:

photo friday: 365

melbourne 365Today is exactly 365 days since I started back with The Nut House!

And fittingly enough today was also the day I had my Performance Management meeting... which was fairly painless...

I also didn't end up spending a whole lot of the day at my desk...

So bonus all around really.

And then I saw two shirtless guys covered in blue paint and wearing Smurf outfits at the supermarket... odd, but kinda hot.

Now I'm about to go and make dinner completely by microwave, which will hopefully turn out okay.

Current Mood:

random chaotic hotness

Some post St Patrick's Day redheaded Random Hotness via the very NSFW ChaosMen... and we all know how much I love a redhead!

On the left we have the strawberry blonde Carter, and on the right, the decidedly ginger Jonah...

chaos men - carter chaos men - jonah

Current Mood:

format flashback

dumpster ala nickas radelaide ghosts
Some shots from the Street Dreams dumpster exhibition at the Format gallery...

The little critter in the box is by Nickas (who is now officially going on the list of artists I want to collect)... contrasted nicely with some stencil work and little ghosties...

There really isn't much to add... my day was equally busy and trying... and now it's nearly over...

Current Mood:

post fringe round-up 2010

post fringe bluesWe're only halfway through the month, but Mad March has officially come to an end.

The Adelaide Festival is over. WOMAD is over. The Clipsal 500 is over. And the Adelaide Fringe is over.

Yep, they've returned The Garden of Unearthly Delights to parklands, put away the lighting rigs, dismantled the circus tents, deflated the spacemen and moved on for another year.

This year is the most I've ever gotten immersed in the Fringe, and I probably could have seen even more than I did… there was a psychic illusionist that I wouldn't have minded experiencing, and an apocalyptic take on Hamlet that might have been interesting (although as I've said before, I have more of an affinity with Macbeth...).

But I ended up seeing/going to/experiencing 11 different events from the Fringe calendar (7 shows and 4 "events").

As I was pondering My Fringe Experience, I realised that it's a little bit like the cupcakes from yesterday... there's only so much you can do before it all gets too much! And in the cases of theatre over cupcakes you start to develop Fringe Burnout rather than lapsing into a sugar coma. I don't know how the people who see 60+ shows do it... they must need some time out in a little padded room for a couple of weeks following the Fringe.

Although after all the excitement of the past month it's a little bit of a let down to go back to "normality"... even if I'm not actually experiencing it myself, just knowing all that "Fringeness" is out there was nice to know.

But this post is really supposed to be my reflections on the things that I've seen over this past month!

From the best to the worst (including quotes from my original reviews)...

  1. Josh Earl vs The Australian Women's Weekly Children's Birthday Cake Book:
    "The show has singing, it has dancing, it has actual real live cake, it has photos from the AWWCBCB projected on the wall, it has an adorable skinny little hipster boy with self confessed lesbian hair and spray on jeans... and it definitely has laughs."

    This is definitely my Top Pick from the 2010 Fringe! Gold star, go to the top of the class, do pass go & do collect $200! While there were other shows that were as funny (or possibly even funnier), I had an emotional connection to the topic of this show that bumped it up to the top spot.


  2. The Boy with Tape on his Face:
    "The Boy is exceptionally talented... he has the most expressive eyes, and is very skilled at turning a big box of junk and a roll of gaffer tape into an entire show."

    Coming in just below Josh Earl is TBwTohF. The show is expressive, inventive, witty and brilliant, all without saying a word. Although I am relieved and disappointed in equal parts that I didn't get picked for audience participation.


  3. The Kransky Sisters - Three Bags Full:
    "They were as dour and creepy and droll as I was expecting. And they also manage to make exceptional music with an old 60’s reed keyboard, guitar, musical-saw, tuba, and a cooking pot..."

    Rounding out the Top Three are the Weird Sisters from Esk in Queensland! They go straight to the top of the "must see" list for returning artists too.


  4. Amococo:
    "It feels completely alien, but it's absolutely gorgeous, and a photographer's dream once you manage to avoid all the other people who are in there, but the whole thing is so segmented and labyrinth-like that you don't need to wait long until you feel like you're completely alone."

    My only regret about Amococo was that we never got the opportunity to go back and experience it for a second time... it was truly beautiful, magical and unique.


  5. The Grimstones - Hatched:
    "Two very enthusiastic thumbs up... and absolutely one you should go and see!"

    This lyrical poetic puppetry is other entry in the "must see again" list, I can't wait until they bring the sequel/prequel along to a future Fringe.


  6. Briefs:
    "All in all it was fun... a little bit crap in spots, and very, very, very low rent... but fun and sexy and worth seeing."

    In a lot of ways, this was a very fitting start to my Fringe experience... somewhat chaotic, a little bit tardy, kinda low rent but still very enjoyable... but it definitely got me into the right headspace for everything else that was to come.


  7. Street Dreams - Painted Dumpster Exibition:
    This was my introduction to the Format Gallery and a chance to see my favourite street artists at work… plus the chance to buy more fine art street art (if that makes sense). Chaotic, but a fantastic set of experiences involving street art.


  8. Format Festival - Zine Fair:
    While I didn't stay long at the Zine Fair, it did play an integral part in my birthday, and brought me back to the Format Gallery for another set of fairly unique experiences.


  9. Josh Thomas - Surprise:
    "This is not the "Josh Thomas stand-up show about gayness" I really want to see. What I want to see is the routine he does in ten years time when he's an old hand at this gay thing and he's more sure of himself from that perspective.

    Coming this far down the list doesn't bode particularly well, but as I said in my original review, he was funny, he just wasn't "Adam Richard funny". But I also went to a lot of exceptionally good stuff, and he was only average.


  10. Drags Aloud At The Movies:
    "With a couple of minor rays of sunshine, the whole show was more than a little "m'eh"!"

    As Briefs was a worthy beginning, Drags Aloud was a slightly disappointing but fitting end... it brought me back to reality from some of the fantastic experiences in the weeks beforehand...


  11. Prospect Fair:
    This was the enormous dud of the Fringe... it didn’t live up to it's hyperbole from the Fringe Guide and was far more of a school fete than part of an arts festival. Big fat "FAIL" stamp on this one's report card!
So there you have it... my Fringe Roundup...

Current Mood:

unconscious mutterings 372

I'm currently surfing the receding edge of a sugar high.... I bought post-birthday cupcakes for everybody in The Nut House... and I think I not only bought too many, but also consumed too many...

They also did me a birthday card (without me even noticing it was happening, which is rare, but I was all over the place this morning, and away from my desk) and gave me a Sanity voucher (not a voucher to purchase additional sanity, you understand, but for the record store of the same name).

So not a bad day all up...

Unconscious Mutterings...
  1. Children :: Should be bound and gagged and kept far from where I live!
  2. Saddlebags :: Motorcycle
  3. Restraint :: Leather
  4. Awake :: Barely
  5. Blood :: Vampire
  6. Shutter :: Island
  7. Posted :: Mail
  8. Corn cob :: Barbecued
  9. Flagrant :: Disregard
  10. Fart :: Excuse you!
Current Mood:

it's my (36th) birthday

it's my thirty sixth birthday today...Well, whadayaknow, it's my birthday today! Me and Johan and Michael and Jamie and Taylor and Chris...

And for somebody who didn't have anything planned for his birthday I certainly ended up having a busy and enjoyable day.

Even the weather has somewhat played ball. Sure it's a little on the warm and humid side, but it's wonderfully overcast and there may even be rain later... which for anybody else could ruin a birthday... me, if it rains on my birthday I'm a happy little bunny!

The goodness started out this morning when I decided that instead of just sitting around my apartment I should go out and have a nice breakfast on O'Connell Street... which I did... big breakfast with a latte and orange juice and I took my book and had my iPhone with headphones and had a very, very nice time.

sewn yaniThen after I'd read the paper and watched an episode of Lonely Planet Six Degrees (I really do love the Asha Gill episodes) I headed into town, theoretically just to pick up the wheels for the Matt Stuckey dumpster from the Format gallery...

Except it was also the Zine Fair, so I ended up hanging around and looking at some stuff, and even got my portrait sewn... yep, sewn... and I have to say the girl doing it was very nice and she made me look much funkier than I really look (the thing going across my chest was the strap from my bag, I figured I wouldn't take it off, add interest to the picture)... I also bought a few zines and a cupcake and a little wire dragonfly brooch thing (that was for Ma though).

And I ran into somebody I know, which I should have expected since I know he's involved in that scene, but it was still unexpected.

After I left the gallery, I went and snapped photos of the Fringe spaceman perched in Light Square (I should have taken my camera with me, but I forgot all about it, so I had to make do with my iPhone) then headed down to Rundle Street with the intention of just picking up my free birthday Boost Juice... but the Rundle Street Markets were on, and I parked in my usual "secret location" (it's not really a secret, but where I choose to park within the particular spot could be, so I'm not telling anyone), so I did a wander up and down the Market.

Sadly it's nowhere near as good as it was when it first started... in fact it only seems to be hanging on by a thread these days, which is disappointing.

After I did a wander, bought a french macaron from Pastille Petite Desserts (salted caramel, very tasty) I went up to Rundle Mall to get my Boost Juice... and since they're having a promotion at the moment where you scratch free prize square... I won a free Boost Juice. Happy Birthday indeed!

And then a bunch more wandering before I came home... so nothing too strenuous, just a nice, simple, cruisy birthday...

Now I think I'm going to watch Hello, Dolly!... either that or George of the Jungle.

Current Mood:

lethargic shopping saturday

now that's the way to do a stocktake... except perhaps at the deli counter or in the fruit & veg sectionI think perhaps that the word of the day today has been "apathy"... either that or "lethargy" or just plain old "tired"...

Ma was running a little late this morning, which was fine, because I wasn't exactly up to speed myself, plus the laptop was having a minor issue.

Shopping was fairly ho-hum... I did a slightly bigger than usual shop last week, so there wasn't a whole lot in the cart by the end of the trip, and over half of it ended up being Ma's.

Then it was back here for General Unpacking and Pfaffing About, and then we headed off to the Prospect Fair.

Now, we've been to a LOT of markets and the like over the past couple of years... and they've been varying in their quality... but this one was god awful. It wasn't a fair so much as a really bad school fete... or a bunch of school fetes that merged together to become UberCrapFeteMonster...

Way too much rubbish second hard brickabrak, way too many individual sausage sizzles, way too much "community" and not enough "quality".

Ma did pick up a couple of secondhand books from what I'm assuming was the Prospect Library stall... but even the sausage sizzle we ended up going to (out of about five or six possibilities) was crap... lukewarm sausages... urgh!

After a quick stop to pick up my dry-cleaning we headed down to Marion, for some general wandering around. Normally I'm all about moving through a space as quickly as humanly possible, but today I wasn't always even keeping up with Ma (okay, it was about 50/50, but much worse than normal)... I dunno, I guess you could just chalk it up to general tiredness...

In a way it's kinda weird, I'm sure that once upon a time it took us ages and ages to walk around Marion, but now we can do the whole thing in under an hour. And I'm not sure we're going in more or less shops...

Once we were done, Ma and I had one of those brain synergy moments that we have from time to time, and we were both thinking about going down to Glenelg and maybe stopping off at The Orange Spot Bakery for something to eat.

We also ended up doing a circuit up and down Jetty Road, which was good for perving, but not much else.

Then we went and got some Chicken Mango Curry pies and Lemon Tarts and went to sit by the water to eat them. And ending up watching a couple who may or may not have been having sex in the water (probably not, but I'm not convinced) and a very cute, pale skinned redheaded guy who was flailing around in the water for a while.

And that was about it really...

Current Mood:

photo friday: roar

roar!Keywords: Jaguar, wallpaper, stencil, streetart... from the Street Dreams collection...

It's been an odd little day... work was mostly dull, or at least started out that way, I was the only member of our team there by 9am, and we were pretty much at "skeleton staff" stage all day. But of course the last hour of the day was busier than the rest of the day combined...

But then fortunately it was time to go... and time for Haircut Day!

I think I said last time that I'm attempting to grow my hair out... how long and to what end, I really have no idea, but just generally "longer", and even more so than usual, I left myself completely in Tink's hands (and she's never looked as "Tink" as she did today, even if it was a Punk Goth Tink)... and there was a surprising amount of cutting even though the aim was to have longer hair... mostly texturing and the like. But as usual, I just sat back and let her do her thing while we chatted.

Not sure how fond I am of the way she ended up styling it, but usually that only lasts about five minutes anyway.

Earlier in the day one of the few members of my team who was actually there asked if she could get me "a surprise" when she went out to get coffee... and I jokingly said "yeah, about this tall, redhead..." and you know what? I saw almost exactly the guy I'd imagined in the Mall after my haircut... it was a little hard not to stalk him...

I also came to the realisation that if you ever wanted to kidnap me, deploying boys with their entire underwear clad asses hanging out the back of their boardshorts and you could lead me just about anywhere...

On top of stalking cute boys, I managed to find a copy of Let The Right One In which went with the copy of Jeffrey I bought yesterday as my birthday present to myself...

And then I spent a large portion of the evening live tweeting home renovation teevee shows... the fun never stops at my house!

Current Mood:

random predictable hotness

Today's Random Hotness comes from photographer Kristopher Kelly, and goes some way to proving that I'm totally predictable... slender toned David Thomas, with a skateboard, in white underwear...

Yep, that's most of the boxes ticked off! If it has any kind of relevance to this week, it's that both David and I are experiencing something of a questionable hairstyle... fortunately mine is getting fixed tomorrow...

david thomas by kristopher kelly david thomas by kristopher kelly

Current Mood:

lady luck

lady luckSometimes Lady Luck is a psychotic bipolar bitch...

I really feel like I'm currently paying for all the positive things from the last few weeks. I had a great time at the Fringe, I bought a bigass teevee... and now I have to pay the price.

Today was particular trying... I had to wait for the plumber (who solved the immediate problem, but may have caused another problem), spend the rest of the morning writing absolute crap for Performance Management crap, then had a meeting with the big boss this afternoon that was an absolute waste of time. I'm sure my body language probably reflected exactly what I was thinking and feeling, but I honestly don't give a damn, it was all a lot of finger twiddling and pointless conversation that wasted everybody's time.

Mostly I think this thought process all started with the stupid tap issue and the fact that my Land Agent is so pointless... and then all the little niggly things started presenting themselves and once you start paying attention to them, they start to add up.

I'm actually a lot calmer than I was when I got home, and I guess I'm just having a general whinge...

*sigh*

Current Mood:

seaman stuff

gary seaman - street art gary seaman - dumpster
And no, that title isn't dirty (okay, kinda, but not really)... these pieces are both by Gary Seaman from the Street Dreams dumpster exhibition/mural...

Would you believe that he doesn't think he's that accomplished when it comes to aerosol art? I think the piece on the left says otherwise.

Other than that I've had something of a shitful day... so the less said about that the better...

Hopefully though it will improve tomorrow, but given that I have to wait around for a plumber in the morning, work on a performance management report during the day and then meet with the new megaboss tomorrow (along with the rest of the team fortunately).

Maybe Thursday will improve...

Current Mood:

movies: alice in wonderland

alice in wonderland - you've got a very important dateWith one thing and another it worked out that it was a much better plan to go and see Alice in Wonderland today rather than tomorrow...

And we managed to see it in 3D too... which wasn't a bad option, although it comes with the usual problems I have with 3D (slight headache, that blurring of things moving quickly across the screen, the picture being a little bit darker than normal).

I also read the original book earlier this year (on my iPhone as it happens), just so I would have some background to the story. And I have to say that I wasn't a big fan... the Alice from the novel is alternatively shrill, annoying and incredibly stupid and the story is essentially a string of random events strung together with no real throughline.

Fortunately the movie keeps the basic concept and throws the more annoying elements.

But even though it has the Tim Burton touch, and somewhat crazed but great performances from Johnny Depp and Helena Bonham Carter as well as some gorgeous visuals, it just felt a little bit flat.

Mia Wasikowska did a good job as the titular Alice, although it did feel occasionally that she was really just there to wear an ever expending parade of Colleen Atwood's costumes... I can think of at least six different outfits off the top of my head.

The story isn't overly complicated, a lot of the visual effects (the Cheshire Cat, the Tweedles, etc) are excellent, but there are equally a couple of effects that seem a little off (Crispin Glover as the stretched out Knave of Hearts is the most obvious).

I also had some trouble understanding a few chunks of what Johnny Depp was saying...

All in all, it's a pleasant enough way to spend a couple of hours, but not Burton at his best.

yani's rating: 2 frumious Bandersnatches out of 5