yaniism

random loewen hotness

I'm going back to the Ginch Gonch well for today's Random Hotness... I've featured Kolten and Tym.... this is Matt Loewen, one of their new models... while he's not as beautiful as the other Ginch Gonch models I've drooled over, he does have that whole tattooed bad boy thing going for him... and the blue eyes. The boys over at Oh la la Paris seem a little obsessed with him too.

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fatal meme outbreak

Eddy has got meme fever... and it seems like it could be catching...

How old do you wish you were? Either 23 or else 7... because life was much easier at both ages
Where were you when 9/11 happened? Sleeping... I do remember seeing a news tag about it on Yahoo first thing in the morning and couldn't quite wrap my head around what had happened
What do you do when vending machines steal your money? Sulk
Do you consider yourself kind? Sometimes... but not always
What did you eat for breakfast today? Weetbix with hot milk and honey... like every morning in the recent past
If you had to get a tattoo, where would it be? Around or on my left ankle
If you could be fluent in any other language, what would it be? Probably French (although why I couldn't tell you) or Japanese (which at least might be useful)
Do you know your neighbors? Hell no, and that's the way I want it to stay
What do you consider a vacation? Not being at work but still getting paid...
Do you follow your horoscope? Not usually no... I don't even read it regularly
Would you move for the person you loved? At this stage, no
Are you touchy feely? HELL YES (so long as I like you... otherwise stay the hell away from me)
Do you believe that opposites attract? Not really
Dream job? Something where I can wear jeans to work and do creative things all day
Favorite channel(s)? Ten (since a lot of the shows I watch regularly are on there) and SBS (for the nudity and gay content... oh, and Mythbusters)
Favorite place to go on weekends? Shopping... don't really care where
Showers or Baths? Showers... I haven't had a bath in about ten years, and can't say that I miss it that much
Do you paint your nails? Currently no... have I in the past, yes
Do you trust people easily? Not really, no
What are your phobias? I don't know that I technically have any phobias...
Do you want kids? Gay, remember... so, no
Do you keep a handwritten journal? Kind of... I have used a journal in the past and still use it every now and again, but not regularly... now I mostly blog
Where would you rather be right now? Lemme get the list... I think possibly "anywhere but here" covers it
Who makes you feel guilty? Me mostly
Heavy or light sleep? Heavy... when I was a kid I slept right through a lightning storm that happened directly over my suburb
Are you paranoid? On occasion, yes
Are you impatient? Big yes on that one... now hurry up with the next question
Who can you relate to? People who are already slightly insane
How do you feel about interracial couples? They make pretty babies... unless it's a couple (gay or straight) where one partner is old enough to be the other's father or worse... that's just nasty
Have you been burned by love? Let's just say sindged around the edges
What's your life motto? Everything happens for a reason
What's your ringtone on your phone? I think it's called Temple... and it's actually a little too quiet so I'm thinking I should change it... I also have another one just for Ma, but I don't remember what that one is called
What were you doing at midnight last night? Just getting off the phone
What did the last text message on your phone say? It was from Ma, thanking me for the birthday wishes and telling me I saw scary and that she loved me... awwwww
Whose bed did you sleep in last night? The same one I sleep in every night... mine
What color shirt are you wearing? Brown, burgandy and cream
Name three things that you have on you at all times. If "all times" means whenever I leave the house... then my mobile, my wallet and my keys
How much cash do you have on you right now? None... at least not physically on me... oh wait, that's a lie... I just found a $1 coin in my pocket
What's your favorite town/city? In theory, New Orleans (pre disaster)... in truth, I haven't travelled enough to say
I can't wait until: I'm working again
What did you have for dinner last night? Leftover curry and rice (which was actually even nicer the second time around)
When do you wanna get married? When hell freezes over
Who is the last person you spent $50 on? Ummmm... Actually I'm not sure... probably Ma
Do you have an air freshener in your car? Nope
Does anything hurt on your body right now? My fingers are cold, that's about it
If you could choose, how would you pass on? Painlessly and quickly
Any sex today? Alone? Or with someone else? Well the day is still young... but no, can't see that happening today
Do you miss anyone? Yes
Do you like revenge? So long as I don't get caught... like Tom said though, it's more fun to plot than to do
Know how to swim? Not really no... I had a near drowning incident at swimming lessons (of all places) when I was a kid and after that I just never learned
Do you know how to skate? Nope... no roller, no ice... nothin
Did you do sports in high school? Gay, remember... so again, no
If you could have one wish come true, what would it be? Something selfish about mountains of cash, I'm sure

And yes, I left a couple out on purpose...

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x-me

Great... I'm a homicidal maniac with multiple personalities... actually, that sounds about right...

You Are Jean Grey

Although your fate is often unknown, you always seem to survive (even after death).

Your mind is your greatest weapon, literally!

Powers: telepathy and telekinesis, the ability to project thoughts into the mind of others, communication with animals

Which of the X-Men Are You?

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ma's birthday

Not that she actually knows my blog exists, but still... it's the thought that counts...

Today also happens to be a birthday for the following folks... Jessica Tandy, Dean Martin, Tom Jones, Liam Neeson, Prince, Karl Urban and Anna Kournikova...

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movies: x-men: the last stand

x-men: the last stand - whose side will you be on?

I'll say this right off the bat... I like the X-Men movies... even though they screwed around with certain characters and reinvented certain things, I still like both the original X-Men and the sequel, X2... they're mostly fluff, but they're not bad fluff...

So I was hoping that with a new director on board they weren't going to make a big mess out of X-Men: The Last Stand... and fortunately, I don't believe they did...

Sure it had certain plot holes that you could drive a semi through (okay, to be fair, they're not actually plot holes... it's just certain elements of predictability), but its a movie where you just have to suspend disbelief, so I don't tend to worry about that too much until after I come out of the cinema... then I can bitch about it.

I will say, I'd actually been avoiding reading or hearing anything about the movie (which means that there are three or four of my fellow bloggers who commented on the movie that I need to go back and read now), so certain things definitely came as a shock to me... and I'm not sure where that leaves them if they want to do another movie...

As Ma said when the movie was over... "Questions, questions, so many questions!"...

This one was certainly an action packed outing though... but as always with these high action, ensemble cast movies, sometimes it would be nice to just stop and smell the proverbial roses... delve a little deeper... but alas, that's not the type of movie it is, so off we go again on another action scene...

Specifically what I would have liked to see more done with was the notion of a "cure" for mutation... while it underpins the motivation for the whole movie, it's not really explored in great depth. And as part of a gay audience I always find that the "mutant issues" can be tied very strongly back to gay issues... but I suppose a number of minorities would feel the same way... I just think given the way that the mutant universe it set up (thinking that you're the only one, having to hide what you are from your family, powers presenting themselves at puberty, being feared and despised for simply being who you are) resonates strongest with a gay and lesbian audience.

Interestingly I think this was really strongly portrayed by Cayden Boyd as the young Warren Worthington/Angel in his "origin" flashback at the beginning of the movie... going so far as self-harm to stop the visible signs of his "difference" from showing.

Having said that, Ben Foster as the grown-up Warren/Angel was just total hotness... blonde, shirtless, big white wings... and then the leather "wing-bondage" straps... yummy... it's just a shame that he was essentially completely underused in the movie.

That was actually one of my main bugbears with the plot... the X-Men need to go and make their "last stand", and instead of marshalling every mutant they can lay their hands on, Angel included, they just go with the handful of nice folks who already have uniforms (and training, which might have been the point)... if it had been me, I would have been rounding up every X-Kid and every mutant they just happened to know...

What was nice was to see some of the supporting cast from the second movie back again in this one... Bryce Hodgson (all grown up this time around) as Artie, the boy who can change teevee stations by blinking... Kea Wong as Jubilee... and a more "fleshed out" role for the very hot Daniel Cudmore as Colossus.

One thing that I do find interesting is that one of the characters, Kitty Pride (aka the girl who can walk through walls) has been played by a different actress in each of the three films... first it was Sumela Kay, then a much younger Katie Stuart... and finally Ellen Page in this film. But then I'm a massive movie trivia nerd...

The "regular" cast were all pretty much spot on with their characters again... which you would pretty much expect, since this is their third outing in those roles. Halle Berry (yet again under a different wig... thankfully her character has had about a billion different hairstyles, so they don't have to stick with any one thing) actually has something to get her teeth into this time around, but looks gorgeous no matter what she's doing (well, except maybe with the cape on her X-suit... it just looks a little silly)... and Hugh Jackman was actually looking the least attractive in his third incarnation as Wolverine... which is kind of a shame since we spend a large amount of the movie staring at him...

Oh... and if you haven't seen it yet, don't start packing up once the credits roll... there's a "post credit teaser"... definitely something that has to be seen...

yani's rating: 3 X-Genes out of 5

montage monday: riverbank

Good gravy... what a morning...

First off though... the return of Monday Montage... yaaaaay! As I mentioned on Friday, these shots were taken last Tuesday when I ditched my regular walk for a trip along the Torrens... art and architecture and boats and wildlife... it was really nice actually... I will have to do it again come summer I think.

It's been an interesting four days I have to say...

In my Saturday post, I made a reference in passing to meeting J's boyfriend, Monkey, (who actually arrived on Thursday and not Friday like I originally said last week) and that I was surprised that I actually liked him. Of the four guys J has dated while we've known each other, I've only liked one of them before Monkey, and J decided that he didn't like that particular guy after all. But I always maintained that it's not my job as best friend to like the guys he dates, it's my job to slag them off once he has broken up with them. Monkey, though, I quite like (he needs to stop smoking and pull his pants up, but other than that, he's good). I hadn't actually expected to see them until today (being Mythbusters Monday), so it was actually a nice surprise to have J call me on Friday to see if they could come over after they'd been shopping. It was a good visit... I showed him all the photos I've taken of J while we've known each other (including the very first photo of him I ever took where he looks like a dork), and, for reasons that I'm still not completely clear on, I ended up telling him both the Everything Happens for a Reason and the Reincarnation stories... which, with the possible exception of Marc, I haven't really told to anyone that I've just met (and even with Marc, that was technically the second time we'd met). As J said to him after I was done with my storytelling... "You just got a crash course in Yani."

Fortunately Saturday was a nice slow day where I didn't have to go anywhere or really see anyone, because then yesterday was the BMP expo...

And then last night, when I should have been going to sleep, I was on the phone until 2am with a guy in Sydney I've been chatting with on MSN (and who, if he didn't already have a boyfriend, I could see myself having a thing for.... as it is, it just makes my life more complicated)... Initially I just called him to wish him a Happy Birthday, but we got chatting and before we knew it it was 2am.

After my walk this morning, instead of doing what I was supposed to be doing and getting tonight's dinner (Indian-style Kashmiri beef) ready for a day of slow cooking in the Crock-pot, I ended up going to visit Slick Willy for an early morning play session, which, while nice (if, as always, a little onesided), kind of set me back a whole hour in my plans... I'm choosing to blame sleep deprivation...

But now dinner is on, I'm finally dressed, and all I have to do is a quick clean up before the boys get here tonight and finish watching the first two X-Men movies before going to see the new one tomorrow night.

Oh, and go out sometime tomorrow to get something (other than just the heatpad thing I got yesterday at the expo) for Ma for her birthday...

Current Mood:

body mind & psychic expo

Since the timing matched up perfectly with J and Monkey's (J's boyfriend, as mentioned in yesterday's post) visit, we, along with J's galpal Sally decided to go off to the Body Mind & Psychic Expo today...

I've been before... not for a really long time... the last time was way back in the dim dark ages when I was sharing an apartment with Ludo... it's usually fairly interesting... okay... maybe "fairly" is stretching things a little... but it is interesting (if only to point and laugh at some of the wackos).

We did the usual wander around first looking at various things, and I wandered off on my own a couple of times... for the most part we did a good job at avoiding eye contact with the people who you just get that shonkey vibe from no matter what kind of expo it happens to be... poor Monkey actually made the mistake of making eye contact with the guy at the "Christian/Bible" (in some form or flavour, I wasn't paying attention) booth... and got stopped by him... of all the booths... I mean, really.

After we'd done the "walk and look", J decided he wanted to go and talk to one of the guys in one of the booths on his own (I wasn't actually paying attention, so I'm not sure what the guy's "thing" was)... Sally wanted to check someone else out, so Monkey and I wandered off together for a random lookieloo, and ended up getting a free session of Reiki together...

Reiki is interesting... it's one of those things that you kind of think "Is this actually doing anything, or is it all in my head?"... but having said that, I had two very strong reactions to it... firstly my body started pumping out heat like crazy (which is actually my default state for things like that)... in fact, after sitting there for a couple of minutes I was warm and toasty all over (and I'm pretty sure my face would have been flushed)... but this time, the added, and weird, result was that I kept having this overwhelming urge to let my head fall backwards... don't know WHAT that was about.

I'm not sure how long Monkey and I got "reiki'ed" for... it kind of seemed like AGES... but it was long enough for J and Sally to finish their individual things, come find us, then disappear off and get lost again... Monkey and I wandered all around the place looking for them and in the end had to call J to find out where they had disappeared off to.

Unfortunately the one thing that I would have had done was completely booked out for the rest of the day... there were two women doing "Angel and Guide" portraits... which in and of themselves were actually really beautiful pieces of art. Had I been paying attention I would have snapped a pic with my phone of the piece one of the women did while I was there, since it was this really gorgeous portrait of a Native American guy with a wolf headdress done in pastels... really really funky. Alas, even if there had been an opening, I really didn't have a spare $75 anyway... shame.

The only thing I ended up coming away with was a pair of these really amazing heatpacks... they're filled with a sodium acetate (salt and vinegar) solution, which when you press the little metal tab (which just looks like a random piece of metal as far as I can see) inside the clear pouch the solution crystalises and starts to give off a ton of heat. They were so funky I just had to get a pair... one for me... one for Ma as part of her birthday present...

I was actually looking around for something else to get her for her birthday, but I couldn't find a damn thing to be honest...

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fifty meme

Ahh, may the gods smile sweetly upon Eddy, Lord of the Meme's... Stolen from him, via Kerri, although Tom did a version too...

What time did you get up this morning? Around 7:15 I think
Diamonds or Pearls? Weren't they Prince's backing singers at one stage? Diamonds
What was the last film you saw at the cinema? The Da Vinci Code
What is your favorite TV show? Probably Lost
What did you have for breakfast? Three slices of Swirls Mochachino bread... healthy huh... *rolls eyes*
What is your middle name? Vincent... from my maternal grandfather
What is your favorite cuisine? Indian
What foods do you dislike? Peanut butter/satay sauce
Your favorite Potato chips? Pringles all the way baby!
What is your favorite CD at the moment? Pink's I'm Not Dead
What kind of car do you drive? Daewoo Lanos
Favorite sandwich? I'm partial to a nice BLT
What characteristics do you despise? Arrogance
What are your favorite clothes? Jeans
Where would you like to go on holiday? London, Paris, America... as per the Sevens meme
What color is your bathroom? Mostly white, with yellow accents
Favorite brand of clothing? Don't really have one
Where would you want to retire to? Hmmmm... No idea to be honest
Favorite time of day? Sunset/evening
Number of Ex-es? Officially, one... unofficially, three
Favorite sport to watch? Diving... for the outfits... but I still don't watch it...
What size pants do you wear? Yeah, right, like I'm telling you that
Do you wear G-strings? I have done... it used to be part of my annual Christmas outfit ritual for some reason...
Coke or Pepsi? Pepsi Max or Vanilla Coke
Are you a morning person or night owl? Contrary to the evidence, a night owl
Any new and exciting news you'd like to share with everyone? I met J's boyfriend, Monkey, last night (not his real name, obviously)... and surprise surprise, I actually really liked him!
What did you want to be when you were little? A librarian... I was a dull child (sorry to any librarians reading this)
What is your best childhood memory? Long summer evenings riding my bike
What are the different jobs you have had in your life? I'm a temp, so it would be a long list... but it's all been office work of one form or another
Nicknames? Yani, Girl, Cheese Monkey (don't ask)
Number and location of piercing? One, top of my left ear
Ever been to Africa? No
Ever been skinny dipping? Yes... The nude beach counts as skinny dipping right?
Ever been toilet papering? Nup
Been in a car accident? Three, but nothing major... two involving my car and a stationary object, one involving my car being stationary and being backed into by the other driver
Favorite day of the week? Friday
Favorite restaurant? Probably Beyond India
Favorite flower? Interesting, I don't know that I have ONE favourite...
Favorite ice cream? French Vanilla or Rocky Road
Favorite fast food restaurant? Sorry, going to have to go with McDonalds... sad, but true
Which store would you choose to max out your credit card? EzyDVD
Bedtime? Some time after 10:30... unless J is here... then all bets are off
Do you brush your teeth in the shower? Certainly do
Last person(s) you went to dinner with? J and Monkey last night
What are you listening to right now? The commercials during Video Hits
What is your favorite color? Dur... Purple
How many tattoos do you have? One
Who was the last email you got from? A blog comment from Tom
What was your security blanket as a child? Big and/or Little Ted
What time did you finish this? 11:34am

Dammit... the original meme was missing Question 32, and because I used html to number these instead of doing it manually, my quiz only went to 49... *sulk* ... so, following Tom's advice, I added an extra question... Question 33...

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photo friday: riverbank

I said on Monday that I'd intended to go down along the Riverbank Promenade and take some shots for a Montage... well, I actually ended up doing it on Tuesday... I didn't want to get up Tuesday morning after my late night on Monday thanks to J coming over, so I ended up getting out of bed a little later, and by the time I was dragging myself outside for my walk it looked fairly sunny and nice (still freezing, but sunny none-the-less)... so I figured it was as good a day as any to stroll down to the river.

It was actually really pleasant... I saw ducks and black swans and a pelican... and took nearly 100 photos...

For the record, the big glass fronted building in the middle of the shot is the Adelaide Convention Centre, and the tall tan coloured building on the left is the Hyatt...

Fuck a duck... that the FOURTH phonecall I've had so far today... well, technically the fifth, but two were from J... and from someone who can sometimes go for several days without getting phonecalls from four different people, thats pretty special.

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random elias hotness

Today's Random Hotness came about from a photo in the fashion section of the Sunday Mail... they have a side column feature that famous men are wearing to events and the top picture last week was a very cute guy in a funky tux with striped arms... he turned out to be Elias McConnell... and after a little online digging, I discovered he was last seen in the movie, Elephant.

I did a little more digging and turned up some other photos, an interview where he confessed not only to losing his virginity to two girls at once, but also to having been "taken advantage of" by a slightly older guy for two years. You gotta love these indy film boys.

On top of everything else, he's a photographer, and while his own website is still under construction, he does have an MSN group that shows off some of his photography.

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About Me