urban yellow things

yellow sill don't write hereWednesday things, with yellow...
  • I had to work back until 5pm tonight... and I'll be in a meeting until 4:30pm tomorrow... which is a bit of a wrench given that I usually leave at 4... but it nicely balances out the fact that I've not been able to get my shit together in the mornings this week and have been getting to work late.
  • One of the trainer girls at the gym came up and chatted with me this morning (while I was laying on my back between sets of crunches... naturally) because she'd noticed that I hadn't been around as much the last few weeks (I think I wasn't feeling well, then it was Brisbane, then I kept oversleeping)... it was weird, but sweet.
  • I started listening to Only Sparrows, the new Josh Pyke album, this morning... and I worked out that his music can best be described as "hopeful melancholy"... it's beautiful, but it's also always a little sad, even when it's happy.
  • I think I got manipulated in a meeting today... not overtly, but the guy in question was gorgeous, I think he knew he was gorgeous, and he used to work in media... so I think he knows exactly how to get what he wants from people by just being friendly and matey. Don't get me wrong, he didn't come across as fake at all, it was only afterwards that I started thinking that that's probably his unconscious modus operandi.
  • I discovered last night that if I set the program timer on my teevee for certain shows, it will actually switch my teevee on at the correct time too. Handy!
Current Mood:

why miso is the most disappointing app i own

It seems as though the universe is finding ways to ask me about my favourite iPhone apps lately. Local social media maven and Twitter buddy Prakky wrote a post on her blog earlier this month about apps she likes... and I went to an information session at work last week talking about productive or useful apps.

And while I do have a number of apps I tend to recommend to people who have just joined The Big Shiny Fruit Cult, I don't know that any of them could be classed as "my favourite".

Favourite in which genre?

Favourite game? Probably a tie between Fruit Ninja and all the different variations of Angry Birds. Favourite at getting me laid? Grindr all the way baby. Favourite photo based app? Instagram... at least I can still interact with it during the (increasingly frequent) times when my iPhone camera doesn't work. Favourite utilitarian app? Pocket Weather (it's the app I recommend straight away to everyone with an iPhone... the in built weather app is next to useless) and ShopShop (useful shopping list app). Favourite app for travelling? Trip Case.

And I'm kind of warming to Flipboard on the iPad too (at least while I have the one on loan from work)... not as a replacement for Google Reader, Twitter or Instagram, but it sure is pretty.

However, all this talk of apps I like made me start thinking about an app that used to be right at the top of my "awesome" list, but has progressively slid all the way down until it's sitting in the "only use it when you have to" list.

miso main screenAnd that app is Miso.

It's sad, really... I've been a fan of Miso since I first saw it featured on Mashable last year, and as of this weekend I've checked into 1000 different shows.

For anyone who doesn't know, Miso is like Foursquare for teevee and movies... but instead of checking into locations while you're there, you check into the movies and shows that you're watching. It can be a little addictive, there was a time when I was checking into every single teevee show I was watching, but I quickly realised that my Twitter feed was becoming a Miso spamfest in the evenings so now I only check into movies and the occasional teevee show.

I'm not saying that I've stopped using Miso. Thankfully they have a very functional web interface, so I use that to check in, add new episodes (I'm all about adding new Good Game and Good Game: Spawn Point episodes), update or add movie posters, that kind of thing. But I don't use the mobile app unless I absolutely have to.

Thanks to a series of "creeping featuritis" updates, Miso has turned into a fat lurking bloatware toad, which annoys me every time I have to use it.

The main issues are:

miso check-inThe speed of loading the app
You used to be able to open the app, flick straight to the search, tap in a keyword and you were away. Now it can take upwards of 30 seconds to load the app, even on WiFi.

Crashing
As I haven't used the app in a while I've only just noticed this, but while researching this post I've had the app crash on me a bunch of times during the loading process. If fact it took me three tries to get into the app just now, and every time I leave the app alone and come back to it, it crashes at least once.

The search algorithm
Almost every search, whether it's on mobile devices or the web, has the ability to "guess" what you're searching for based on what you've typed in. Even if you type "futurema", Google knows that what you're most likely looking for is "Futurama" and provides results for that. Miso doesn't do that, so people end up adding multiple versions of a show or movie because it didn't show up in their search due to minor variations.

The check-in process
Previously, when you logged into a specific show, it would show you a list of other people that had already checked in. This was very useful, especially when you didn't know which episode you were watching (happens a lot with Mythbusters, Australia flicks around from new to old episodes... and even the new ones aren't US new). Now you're confronted with an unhelpful screen (see the image above) that tells you the show synopsis (I'm already watching it or about to, why do I need to know that). Sure, the info is under the "Chatter" screen, but I never bothered investigating that before now... and it adds another tap to an already sluggish app.

The main cause of this is that they're moving away from the tag line on their website: "Watch TV. Follow Shows. Earn Points and Badges." This is what the website does exceptionally well and what the app used to do perfectly. Instead they're trying to make TV "social". They're adding "Pick Em" (polls) and a bunch of other features that I haven't investigated because I have no interest in.

Other apps and websites have done this in the past. They come up with a great niche that nobody has really explored, they come up with a great product that does what it says on the box, and then they start adding "features" that take it away from what it was in the beginning rather than improving the things that make it unique.

Essentially, it comes down to the old adage... if it ain't broke, don't fix it... but if it is broke, put it back the way it was.

Current Mood:

unconscious mutterings 448

I always love the "oh, we're going to need that urgently by tomorrow because it's being launched" followed by the "never mind, we're not launching it after all"... usually this is followed by the "oh, we are launching it in the next hour so now you need to panic"...

Unconscious Mutterings...
  1. Bells :: Bells of St Clements
  2. Germs :: Phobia
  3. Athlete :: Olympics
  4. Voice :: Microphone
  5. Diamonds :: Forever
  6. Hoarse :: Throat
  7. Tempest :: Shakespeare
  8. Hurricane :: Tropical
  9. Bumps :: Lovely lady lumps
  10. Jazz :: Smooth
Current Mood:

successful city shopping

Today was a much more successful shopping day...

Even if I did get distracted by The Sims 3 on my iPhone this morning and ended up running around like a headless chicken trying to get everything tidied up.

But other than that it was pretty much the regular Saturday morning routine... the shopping portion was a little light on, so I'm guessing there will be at least one day with week where I have no idea what the hell I'm doing for dinner.

After that I scooped up my SLR (just in case) and we headed off to Good Guys to get Ma a new printer. Essentially she needs one about as much as I do... I don't think she's used her previous one in the last 18 months.

Sadly the usual woman who serves us wasn't in, so we had to make do with some random dude (even though he matched the price that JB were selling them for, he let the price for the printer and cartridges sit at $100.45... she would never have done that... she didn't when I bought the netbook and software).

After that we headed into the city (it was too nice a day to go anywhere inside) to essentially catch up on all the things we didn't do last time.

And a very nice man who was leaving the car park we were about to go into gave us his parking ticket thing which still had three hours left on it... thank you Mr Man... greatly appreciated!

breakfast club cotton sweet shop
We started out at Diamonds and made a decision about a camera for Miss Oh for her birthday... I think we picked out something nice...

After that we went looking at Crumpler for a cute little camera case like the one I bought for my little digital. Sadly I'm currently very disappointed with their choices for accessories (iPads, cameras, etc)... so nothing really grabbed us.

Next up we stopped off at Spotlight to pick up some cross-stitch cotton for a Breakfast Club piece I have the pattern for. Annoyingly, when we went to look in Lincraft for fabric for it, it turns out that they sell their cotton for 10 cents cheaper... doesn't sound like a lot, but when you're buying 15 skeins... that's a whole $1.50!

We also stopped off at Blackebys Sweets, just because... and they had the English jelly that comes as a block rather than crystals... I have, in my youth, polished off a whole one of those things... so I couldn't resist.

burger theory of rundle street green homemaker
After that we made a quick stop at Diamonds to get a camera case (the woman who'd sold us the camera knocked $5 off the price of the case, so bargain there) and headed down to the Burger Theory truck which was lurking just off Rundle Street in Union Street.

Mmmmmm tasty hipster food truck food...

We both tried the #2 burger (with Australian pancetta, onion confit and Adelaide Blue cheese sauce)... salty but good. Since the only available seating was tiny and cardboard, so we wandered down to the parklands near where the car was to sit under a tree amongst the birdies and eat the burgers.

A very successful day all around really...

Current Mood:

photo friday: pipes

pipesI say to you, I say "crappy crap crap crap".

Today went in all kinds of weird directions... playing with video in the morning, evacuating the building in the afternoon.

Yeah, evacuating... for two and a half hours... thanks to some dumb chemical spill the whole building was filled with a horrible rotten egg/gas smell so they made us leave (fortunately I headed off to lunch just as they were about to start the evacuation, so I got to take the lift)... and we had to stand around outside the building. If I'd taken my bag downstairs with me then I could have just called it a day... but it was upstairs with my house keys in it, so I had to hang around.

And a bunch of us ended up with headaches, so the few of us that made it back into the building after they finally let us return (I was the first one back on the floor, and it was kind of freaky) only lasted a little while... the place was still a little stinky and my headache wasn't getting any better.

It's still not 100%, but I haven't had any painkillers...

Also, there's pizza possibly burning in the oven...

And finally, why the fuck would you audition for something like The Glee Project if you're not willing to actually be an actor? (No, I haven't been watching it, this was my first and last time)

Current Mood:

random orleans hotness

This week's Random Hotness has a Big Easy flavour...

The photos are by James N for Fantasticsmag, the teeshirts are from Fleurty Girl, the setting is the French Quarter and the model is Cortland Woodard.

Ahhhh, N'Awlins...

french quarter t's french quarter t's
Current Mood:

silver wednesday dotpoints

silver hand silver man
Some silver street sculpture from Brisbane...

Oy... what an atypical day!
  • Went to a two and a half hour session on accessible web documents hosted by a French woman with an accent that was occasionally unintelligible... the irony was possibly lost of a number of people there.
  • My lunch consisted of picking up Subway on the way back to the office.
  • I had a meeting this afternoon I really wasn't prepared for which wasn't helped by the fact the person I was meeting with hadn't prepared the material we were meeting about and neither of us was completely sure what some of it meant.
  • After doing the Grindr Message Ping Pong on and off all day with a young gentleman we met up outside work and went for a wander... it was all disturbingly like we were 15.
  • I'm making soup for dinner.
That's about it really.

Current Mood:

movies: cowboys and aliens

cowboys and aliensOccasionally it's good to go into a movie with pretty low expectations... it means you're generally not overly disappointed, and occasionally they're better than you expect.

Thankfully Cowboys and Aliens was actually one of those.

It's not perfect, but it is a reasonably entertaining movie. I think possibly that because I've been introduced to the Western genre over the last twelve months, I could appreciate the parts of the movie that are trying to be very Western better than I perhaps wouldn't have a year ago.

And other than Daniel Craig's futuristic jewellery, until the titular aliens show up, it is a very Western movie. In a lot of ways I think those sequences are actually some of the best in the movie.

Craig plays the quintessential "Man With No Name" fairly well... I mean there isn't much going on with the character as he doesn't know who he is, but Craig still manages to make the character likeable.

Harrison Ford is definitely showing his age but appears to be enjoying himself while slightly chewing the scenery.

The rest of the cast is populated with a mixture of familiar faces and recognisable characters, but nobody especially stands out as being particular good or particularly bad.

Actually that's kind of where this movie sits overall... it's not particularly great, but it's not horrible either.

Once the aliens do arrive, the effects are about what you would expect from ILM, even if the aliens do look a little bit like feral bodybuilding frogs.

The person who does deserve a big gold star though is the costume designer, Mary Zophres, if for no other reason than she put Daniel Craig in a pair of pants that cling lovingly to his ass... even the movie poster shows them off.

Essentially though, if you go into it not expecting a lot, it's an entertaining movie.

yani's rating: 2 inverted paddlesteamers out of 5

unconscious mutterings 447

I really need to start going to bed before 1am... because a couple more nights of that and I'm liable to lose my mind somewhat.

Okay, somewhat more than usual...

Unconscious Mutterings...
  1. Running :: Free
  2. Hot :: Chilli
  3. Neighbour :: Loathing
  4. Reported :: Four Corners (I'm watching it as we speak)
  5. Horrific :: Abuse
  6. Supplies :: Office
  7. Grammar :: Nazi
  8. Back to :: the Future
  9. Righteous :: Indignation
  10. Next door :: Boys
Current Mood:

movies: beginners

this is what love feels likeFirstly I have to thank Sebastian from Hopscotch Films for sending me double passes to Beginners so that not only could I go along but I could give away tickets to my blog readers/Twitter followers.

This movie is the perfect antidote to all of those "tentpole" movies with no plot, bad acting and lots of explosions.

Beginners is a beautiful, slow, quiet and sad movie. Sad and funny often at the same time actually.

The story is simple too... Oliver (Ewan McGregor) meets and falls in love with Anna (Mélanie Laurent) which triggers memories of his father, Hal (Christopher Plummer) who, following 44 years of marriage, came out of the closet at age 75.

The movie switches between the now of Oliver and Anna's relationship and Oliver's relationship with his father in the last months of his life. Occasionally these switches aren't completely apparent but for the most part the movie lets you know where you are.

All the performance are masterful... simple, emotional and masterful. Plummer captures the pathos of an older gay man who is making the best of an imperfect relationship with a much younger man without resorting to a stereotype.

Watching McGregor is never a chore, but I've never seen him look quite this luminous in a movie before... especially his eyes... so big props to the cinematographer for that.

And watching him and Laurent fall in love on screen is beautiful, if slightly painful as they both come to the relationship with their own sets of baggage.

One of the other things I liked was the use of a piece of text from The Velveteen Rabbit...
"It doesn't happen all at once," said the Skin Horse. "You become. It takes a long time. That's why it doesn't happen often to people who break easily, or have sharp edges, or who have to be carefully kept. Generally, by the time you are Real, most of your hair has been loved off, and your eyes drop out and you get loose in the joints and very shabby. But these things don't matter at all, because once you are Real you can't be ugly, except to people who don't understand."
I already have an emotional connection to that particular book, and that particular piece of text to be honest, and using it to describe the experience of a man who comes out of the closet at the age of 75 was brilliant and very nearly made me cry.

The movie also features possibly the best use of subtitles and a dog. It sounds cheesy, but it's actually really funny and sweet.

If the movie has any weak points, it's a combination of the performance of Goran Visnjic as Hal's younger boyfriend and the slightly clichéd plot point between Anna and Oliver that it most simply boiled down to "I don't know how to have a relationship".

The Visnjic character feels like much more of a stereotype and while I can see the purpose of the character, I cringed every time he came on screen.

In then end though, it's flaws (and the fact that, in essence, nothing much happens) are greatly outweighed by the heart and soul of the movie.

yani's rating: 4 giraffes out of 5

east end saturday

east by mr matt stuckey apple eye sky pie
torn pixelface formerly the york street street art gallery... big fat fail adelaide
Today has kinda been a day for checking boxes... things to do, places to go... that kind of thing.

It all started out with the usual Saturday routine (I know... it's very predictable)... except I had to drop my car off at the mechanic for it's service... but I did that, we wandered the supermarket then came back here to unpack and watch half an episode of Tabitha's Salon Takeover (it's one of those shows that makes me cringe, but it's compelling... one day I'd like to see what happens in the second half of an episode).

Then, since we had free movie tickets for 11:30, I called the mechanic and it turned out my car was ready, but he just hadn't done the paperwork... so we trundled down there to get my car, dropped it off here and headed into the city.

Our first stop when we got into the city was Palace Nova to see the advanced screening of Beginners (more on that later), then once the movie was over we did a little wandering around so I could snap some photos, including the new East artwork by Matt Stuckey (he's responsible for the dumpster I bought last year).

I was disappointed to see that the former York Street street art wall had been buffed and the "open wall" sign replaced with a rather childish "Street art is NOT permitted..." sign complete with a red border.

Our next stop was the One Hour Hem place in Adelaide Arcade to get Ma's new jeans taken up.

And that was about it really... I had intended to stop off in Lincraft/Spotlight to look at cross stitch supplies, but as we didn't end up going that far up the mall so it never crossed my mind... I'll have to do it later in the week.

We did end up heading down Rundle Street to get something to eat though... neither of us really knew where we wanted to go so we ended up at Eros having burgers. Not bad, although they really need to go easy on the garlic...

It was kind of a long day, although it doesn't sound like much...

Current Mood:

photo friday: bodies

this guy was even more spectacular from the front the boxer statue, sydney
Some photos from the Sydney file... beautiful bodies, both real and imagined...

It's been a bit of a chaotic week...

Firstly I borrowed the spare iPad from work on Tuesday, just to test out whether I really need one or not. So far I'm coming down on the side of "not"... I don't mind checking my tweets and Google Reader on it, but it just seems too large for much else really. That and it makes my iPhone seem really tiny every time I pick that back up again.

But I've only been using it for a couple of days, so I'll give it a while longer, I just don't think I'll be laying down money for one of my own.

I think the best way to describe work this week is the example of yesterday... the morning was awesome... I was firing on all cylinders, solving problems all over the place and generally kicking goals and taking names. And then in the afternoon I don't think I accomplished a single thing beyond talking Rockchick through her new iPhone.

And the whole week was a little like that... periods of high productivity and bouts of complete lack of focus.

I went over to the Market at lunch today... which is always slightly dangerous... and doubly so if I happen to go into the Asian supermarket over there.

One of the spectacularly odd things I bought was a bottle of "Basil Seed Drink"... it was only $1.60 and was too weird to leave behind.

And now it's time to make pizza...

Current Mood:

random booth hotness

Today's Random Hotness was inspired by my viewing of Christopher and His Kind last weekend which stars the most recent Doctor Who, Matt Smith, and the star of this post, Douglas Booth as his young German lover.

He's also modelled for Burberry alongside Harry Potter's Emma Watson and is set to star as Romeo in the 2012 version of Romeo and Juliet with Ed Westerwick as Tybalt.

These photos are by photographer Thomas Lohr for Wonderland Magazine.

douglas booth by thomas johr for wonderland douglas booth by thomas johr for wonderland
Current Mood:

uatg's macbeth

macbeth by university of adelaide's theatre guildLast night I went to see another version of Macbeth by the University of Adelaide Theatre Guild... this makes at least seven versions (possibly eight, I'm sure we watched a movie version of it in school when we were reading the play, but I couldn't tell you what version it was).

Even the weather was contributing to the overall feel of the show, with wild weather and rain which could occasionally be heard on the roof during the quieter moments in the play.

Given that it was at the University of Adelaide, I think I expected that the cast itself would all be university students (which would at least be something different, a young adult version), and this theory was kind of supported by the fact that the crowd was quite young and there was at least one if not two high school groups there (I'm guessing English or Drama).

But the cast was actually not that different from what you would expect in any production of Shakespeare.

The set design was also fairly average, in fact it reminded me of the set for the Jeremy Sims version of the play I saw a number of years ago... quite dark, multiple levels but this one used a number of symbols relating back to the play... a stylised tree that grew up the entire left side of the double height set, the right hand side was given over to a design suggesting large stone blocks. And right in the middle of the "balcony" space was a large image of the actor playing Macbeth. That I could probably have done without to be honest.

But the double height/multiple level set was actually a really good use of space within a fairly small theatre. Whether it could have been used to greater effect during some of the sequences, I don't know (it would have been nice to see the witches up there), but overall I think the staging worked well.

And because nobody ever seems to want to sit in the front row right off the bat, I got a front row (more or less centre) seat no trouble at all... I always like that in plays, lets you feel like you're right in the middle of it all.

Speaking of the witches, having seen a lot of variations on the witches, from school girls to a constant presence on stage to disembodied voices in the dark to dance party participants the morning after, this was the first time I've ever seen blacklight used for the witches. In fact this is probably the first time I've ever seen blacklight used in Shakespeare.

And it was pretty damn effective, especially as the witches were wearing opaque plastic CSI style jumpsuits with white clothes underneath... combine that with essentially dark faces under the blacklight and the glowing suits... interesting.

Speaking of costumes, this was another "modernist" take on Shakespeare complete with cargo pants/SAS style gear for the battles and a white suit for the king. It actually reminded me of the VS Macbeth version last year, although with a slightly anachronistic mix of modern gear and some fairly gothic touches, most notably Lady Macbeth's propensity for velvet dresses.

As I've said, I'm pretty damn familiar with the dialogue of Macbeth, but as the play progressed there seemed to be dialogue I just didn't remember... whole sequences between familiar pieces of dialogue in fact. For example, I never remember hearing at the beginning of the play that they're actually at war with Norway before.

It turns out that this was actually an unabridged version of the play. They had a Q&A session at the end and while I didn't actually stay for it, I did manage to ask one of the crew guys... maybe the director, I don't know... about the extra text. As he said to me, Macbeth is Shakespeare's shortest play, so why abridge it in the first place (this version was 145 minutes not including a 20 minute intermission). While I didn't necessarily spot all the places where things had been restored, I think I more felt it from the general rhythm of the play.

And I may have actually known that it was unabridged if I'd remembered to take any money with me so I could buy a program... but annoyingly I didn't, so I'm not even sure who some of the actors were.

Which of course brings me around to the performances.

Unfortunately I think I now have an impossibly high yard stick for performances of Macbeth after the absolutely stellar version by Body in Space at this year's Fringe, so everything else is going to be judged against that version.

Having said that, there were some solid performances... I think the main stand out for me was Simon Davey as MacDuff... the emotion he puts into his performance after learning that Lady MacDuff and all the wee MacDuffs have been murdered is heart-wrenching.

But if I'm going to judge impact versus time on stage then the show is essentially stolen by Emily Branford in the role of the Porter. She has beautiful comic timing and commands the stage during the whole "knock knock knock" scene (Act 2, Scene 3). And even without any dialogue she stole the earlier scene where Macbeth arrives home.

I also thought that Karen Burns as both Donalbain and a young soldier in the final battle was excellent and made a strong impression, even though she has very few lines.

The titular Lord and Lady Macbeth (Brant Eustice and Amanda Shillabeer respectively) are both solid, although there's an odd combination or contrast between modern and "Shakespearean" cadence between the two of them which sounds strange but not in a bad way.

There is the occasional instance of "shouty" dialogue though, particularly when the emotions run away in the play, which works from an emotional point of view even if they are hard to hear.

There were also a few slightly spotty performances... one of the murderers, one of the "all purpose thane/soldier/cousin" types were a little underwhelming, but mostly the supporting cast was fairly good.

All in all though, a successful version of The Scottish Play.

Current Mood:

unconscious mutterings 446

As a general note to myself, if I ever have anything to give away via the blog/social media again, I'm not doing it over a weekend.

And on an unrelated note, I sometimes wonder how people manage to walk upright, feed and dress themselves... how dumb are you really???

Unconscious Mutterings...
  1. Eating :: Savoury (I've been having savoury cravings lately)
  2. Cowboys :: Naked
  3. Nightmare :: Elm Street
  4. Impress :: Dress to
  5. Year :: of the Farmer (2012)
  6. Kiss :: Long, slow, deep, wet, passionate
  7. Corn :: Children of the
  8. Humping :: I need more of it
  9. Mirror :: Wicked Queen
  10. Brains :: Zombies

unstructured saturday shopping

audrey hepburn in a supermarket with a deerI don't know what particular set of circumstances led to what appears to be a young Audrey Hepburn being photographed in a supermarket with a fawn... but I do love a retro supermarket photo.

Speaking of which, I was flying solo for the supermarket portion of the morning routine... Ma was off having her hair did... so I popped in my headphones and wandered the aisles.

The down side to picking the pretty check out dude is that often they can't pack a bag to save their lives... this one was really bad, I ended up repacking some of the stuff when I got out to the car.

By the time I got home and started to unpack, Ma wasn't far behind.

After we finished being caught up in an episode of Tabatha's Salon Takeover (it's like Gordon Ramsey but with haircuts and actually kinda good), we headed into the city to do a bit of shopping.

Well... when I say shopping... Ma wanted to look in Diamonds for a camera for Miss O's birthday and to look at internet dongles in Dick Smith... and I needed to get my glasses adjusted.

The only really successful part of that was the glasses adjustment. Nothing like having an efficient homosexual adjust your eyewear.

The interesting thing about going into Diamonds is that you often end up with a completely different recommendation depending on who you talk to... not sure I really like the particular advice we got on this trip... might have to try again another day.

Other than that we mostly just wandered about... which is always a bit crap really.

On the way back to the car I happened to see a poster on one of the empty shopfronts for the version of Macbeth I'm seeing next week... so I snaffled it. And I was only talking about it with the graphic designer at work on Friday (both that particular poster and the legality/illegality of snaffling "illegally" posted posters)...

Anyway... a fairly dull Saturday... but you get that.

Oh, and there are still two free double passes from yesterday's giveaway... I kinda expected them to go faster than that...

Current Mood:

beginners double pass giveaway

Sometimes it's good to be a blogger who reviews movies!

beginnersThanks to the generous folks at Hopscotch Films, I have 3 double passes to give away to the preview weekend of the new Ewan McGregor/Christopher Plummer movie, Beginners.

Beginners explores the hilarity, confusion, and surprises of love. Oliver (Ewan McGregor) meets Anna (Mélanie Laurent) only months after his father (Christopher Plummer) has passed away. This new love floods Oliver with memories of his father, who, following the death of his wife of 45 years, came out of the closet at age 75 to live a gay life.
The double passes are valid from 19-21 August 2011 for all capital cities except Hobart.

Update: All the tickets are gone now. Well done Victor, Rhys and Johnee, your tickets are in the mail!

Current Mood:

photo friday: brisbane botany

backlit green orange drops
Some more shots from Brisbane... I think one is from the Botanical Gardens and the other is the Roma Street Parklands.

Urgh... first week back after leave... I say urgh. I've done more stuff this week than usual, as well as catching up on all the stuff that I missed while I was away.

And I swear that I'm the only one at work with a fully functional immune system... everyone else has been off sick for at least part of the week.

Can you tell I'm feeling a trifle under-appreciated? *sigh* Not unappreciated... but the occasional "good job, you" wouldn't hurt. I know they think it, but it's nice to hear.

Other than being about annoying people, today has also been about tickets...

I'm heading off to see Macbeth (yes, again) by the University of Adelaide Theatre Guild on Tuesday next week... and there's a ticket related surprise coming up later this evening... so keep your eyes peeled for that one.

But both my brain and my belly are empty... so I'm going to go and make some dinner...

Current Mood:

random harper hotness

Sometimes Random Hotness posts come to me in really strange ways...

Today's Hotness came via a chance conversation with student, porn model and exhibitionist Corbett Harper on Twitter when I happened to mention his new display pic.

It turns out it was by photographer Lucas Ferrier who has a beautiful eye and an amazing ability to use light.

corbett harper by lucas ferrier corbett harper by lucas ferrier
And I couldn't resist adding this extra shot because it's just beautiful!

corbett harper by lucas ferrierCurrent Mood:

grey city lines

crowned dark peaks
I really don't know what the hell has been going on with the last couple of days... whether it's just being back from leave, or because other people are off sick, or just some really annoying emails but there's more than a few things that have really been working my last nerve.

Then the internet went down this afternoon... not great...

Actually it started even before work the last two days... I've really wanted to scream at two different groups of women to shut the fuck up at the gym both today and yesterday. Can't you just do what you're there to do and not chatter on pointlessly?

Still annoying but less painfully, I had to call Marshall Batteries to get them to come out after work and replace the battery in my car.

I don't know if the Battery Man was overjoyed though, since he ended up scraping his van on the fence trying to get into the back yard (it's a tight and annoying corner at the best of times).

And tomorrow I have to move my car service from this weekend to next weekend since there's no way I can get the car serviced at the same time as Ma is having her hair done without having to resort to some overly complicated way of getting home.

Hopefully the rest of the week improves...

Current Mood: