The Hell Flight

Dearest Readers,

I would like to take the opportunity to tell you all to never fly as direct as possible from Melbourne to Fort Lauderdale. It is not worth the damage to your physical or mental health. I mean sure, the total flying time logs in at only 20 hours (pretty much or slightly less than the time it takes to get to London), but the legs and the moving against time is a killer. Of course, not everyone will suffer as I have suffered - my travelling companion Antonia believed herself to be fine. Of course, she also crashed to bed despite a band playing pop music outside her room last night.

My Melb - LA flight left Melb at 10:30am and flew 14 hours straight to LA. At various points, I would check the flight details and shudder when it said that there were X hours left to fly. Having said that, when we actually touched down at LAX, I didn't feel that bad. Nor was my experience there that unpleasant. By arriving at 7:30am local time, I think we managed to beat most of the international flights in so I didn't have to wait too long before getting fingerprinted and giving a mugshot to Homeland security.

Our next leg to Dallas was booked to leave at 10am, and since we managed to get processed in under an hour, there was plenty of time to brush teeth and wait around to be allowed onto the plane. This is where things started to go pear-shaped. The flight to Dallas took 3 hours and five minutes but it just seemed to go twice as long. This is despite me kinda sleeping. And finishing three sudoku. And reading the entire in flight magazine. By the time we got to Dallas, I was fairly frazzled.

Our transit time in Dallas was three hours and there were some pretty interesting experiences had here. Firstly, because they couldn't issue us boarding passes for our flight to Fort Lauderdale in Melb, we had to re-check in...but they never made it clear as to whether we had to collect our luggage and check them in too. One empty luggage carousel later, we had our answer. And since we had to check in again, we got security checked again.

That brings me to this side topic about security. I'm aware that large cities conduct shoe checks ever since Richard Reid, the attempted shoe-bomber. What I have never heard of before is the *gas/blow test*. Basically what happens is while your bags and shoes are being checked, you walk into a clear cubicle, stand where the footprints are, and then you get gas blasted at you. You can not leave the cubicle until the light goes green. I remember walking into the cubicle, looking at it and thinking *what the hell is this?!* before being blasted by the gas. I walked out a bit stunned later and started putting my shoes back on and watched Antonia get tested...I fully believe that her stunned look mirrored my own. Further analysis of the machine while people were tested has me convinced that it was a giant GLC machine because I noticed a small screen that would show peaks just as the cubicle door would open.

Anyway, after proving to security that I didn;t have explosive residue on my clothes, we stumbled to Maccas where I had a *Big n Tasty w/ cheese* burger meal. It was actually a McFeast but damn it hit the spot. I have decided that long haul flights are like getting drunk - you get dehydrated and can only be solved by drinking lots of water or eating a fatty meal. At the gate to get onto our flight, it was pretty easy to spot who was a conference delegate and who was returning home. The stats speak for themself - apparently 14 wheelchairs were required to get some of our flightmates onto the plane.

The 2 hour 50 minute flight again felt three times as long. It probably wasn't helped by me falling asleep during the safety demonstration so when I woke up, I couldn't tell how long we'd been flying for. The pilot also apologised a lot for turbulence that I couldn't feel. *shrug* I also began a countdown from the time he said we'd be landing in 45 minutes. Longest 45 minutes of my life!

Regardless, by the time I hit Fort Lauderdale yesterday, I'd been awake for 26 hours (I don't count my plane naps because they did nothing!) despite the clock telling me it was less than 12 hours ago since I'd gotten on the plane in Melb. The pleasures of being able to get out of my clothes, take a warm shower, and sleep lying down could not erase the psychological damage endured or the dark circles under my eyes today.

Learn from my adventure. You have been warned.
Mallymoodle

Goodbye drinks

QQ had been given a drinks night. I needed a place to say goodbye to friends before I embark on the Great US/Euro Trip 2008. Combine our dual situations and you got last night's party.

Or rather, it started out a party and then became an angry mess as the place that we were having drinks tried to evict us and then tried to force our friends to pay for entry at about 8:30 last night. Unimpressed.

But I blew the drinking limit out of the water...I can't really think what else to say

If you believe these kinds of things...

Life has been pretty crappy lately. With that conference I've got coming up and the talk I'm delivering during a lab visit....work has been biting my curvy ass for a while. While I was on the bus home, I read my zodiac in the s'Mx (its on the same page as the sudoku), and it said this...

A project gathers momentum and honest hard work pays off.
The benefits gained can be shared with the people around you
or re-invested for future growth
Your heart is currently in the right place.

If I were a superstitious girl, that'd be damn good news! But what do they mean by my heart is in the right place?

Speak of the devil!

Given yesterday's post....I will admit to being kinda amused by this...but what I find even more amusing are the comments.

Read on if you can handle the spelling and grammar! *shudder*

Miley Cyrus/Hannah Montana

I am officially turning into one of those cranky old people. Certainly, age has brought combination of apathy and yearning for the good old days when it comes to children's entertainment. I remember when Hillary Duff started releasing music and I went *who the hell is that?* and then *who?* again when a younger cousin tried to explain the whole Lizzie Maguire thingy. Well it's being repeated again with the Hannah Montana/Miley Cyrus *juggernaut* but this time, I feel the urge to speak out.

Normally I don't give a rat's ass about whatever tw/eens are watching nowadays. But today I opened to a newspaper lifestyle supplement and the cover image was of Miley Cyrus. Again, I don't give a rat's as to whether she wants to be a good role model or whatever. What I'm raising issue is why the hell does this 15-yo look like she's 30?!

I couldn't be bothered making a scan of the cover but here's another photo that'll give you the gist. (Source)

The posing, the caked on makeup, the grooming...I don't remember what it was like to be 15, but I sure know I didn't look twice my age. The thing is, she doesn't even look like a child pretending to be an adult, she looks like an adult. Where has the juvenile facial softness gone? Is this really what teens are aspiring to nowadays? Something about this just strikes me as being incredibly wrong.

On the flip side, I wonder if she'll look like she's 50 in ten years' time or if she'll go through a Britney-style spiral.

argh!

I haven't fallen off the face of the Earth (yet), I've just been doing nothing worth writing about. Well that's not completely true, I've been preparing for a conference in the US (for which I leave next week) and for which I haven't finished my various presentations.

Here's my poster so far....


I dunno, even though I'm swinging around Euro-land again, I'm not feeling the same sense of excitement that I had for the Great Eurotrip 2007 and 2004. I'm sure that will change once I hit NYC and get some shopping under my belt.

I just don't understand....

no matter how much I think about it....why do people wear make up to the gym?

There was a girl with full-on raccoon eyes there today. Why bother?

Carmencita!

Well the opera pimp got her wish and we had a large crowd of people decided they wanted subscriptions this year. The first performance of the year was last night - opening night of Carmen in Melb.

Ah Carmen...it's got great songs but sometimes the characters just annoy me. At intermission I walked out growling about chicks who use their sex-appeal to get what they want and the weak-willed sucker guys who fall for it. Grrrrrr!!!!!! I suppose this is a good thing because it means I really got sucked into the whole deal. But then it has been pointed out to me that while Carmen flirts, its the guys who chase her - interesting. And it has been argued that there are indications that Don Jose is not the squeakiest clean of guys. No matter, an enjoyable night was had by all.


Highlights! Rosario La Spina may be a slightly portly Don Jose, but goddamn he has a beautiful voice! Especially his La fleur que tu m'avais jetee, it was just lovely. All the livestock on stage! There was a donkey, a chicken and a horse! When Escamillo rode out singing Votre toast! while seated on the back of that horse...I was just waiting for it to crack it during one of the rousing moments. Everytime it pawed the ground....and then to finish it off, the horse was brought out and did a curtsey at the curtain call!

Lowlights....hmmm, maybe this is being picky but some of the artists' pronunciation in the spoken bits need a bit of work. And some people complained that the ending was given away in the program notes. What do you expect from opera, a happy ending?!
(Picture source)

Becksillas

Well I found more pictures of man-love between Casillas and David Beckham.



Awww....and here's the full over the shoulder profile shot that has made girls around the dept go *ay carumba!*

¡Dios Que Hombre!

¡madre del dios! I can't believe I ever forgot this ad!!!


Did you spot the eye candy who burned his way into my memory? No, I'm not talking about David Beckham, I'm talking about the goalie, Iker Casillas! Sheet, I can't believe I forgot to add him to my eye candy hall of fame!!! And he falls perfectly into my age range!

Anyway, here are some more pics

Watch modelling
(source)

Just making sure you get the profile and eyes
(source)

And it's nice to see he enjoys horse rides as much as I do
(source)

I remember seeing a heap of the Casillas/Beckham man-love pics years ago but can't seem to find them. Oh well. Su ling, do you want to learn Spanish?!

Quiet weekend

No weddings, no concerts, no huge booze ups.

Just a lot of sleeping, tv, food, and laundry.

Life is good.

Stormy Weather

Well now. The weather here can get pretty crazy but yesterday it was nuts! Sitting at my desk, I could hear the wind squealing through the window like a crowd of primary school kids. And then the rain came...but because the wind had done it's business drains were clogged with leaves and branches so the streets were a bit flooded. It made walking to Brunswick st quite an athletic adventure as I had to juggle my bags and umbrella while gracefully dodging the giant puddles.

Then I got to uni today and saw this gum tree had gone and keeled right over on South Lawn!
Here's a poor quality photo from my phone.


And you can see it's wasn't a small one either. Nice.

Movie review - Be Kind, Rewind

Heheheh, if there's one word I can use to describe this film, it's *clever*. From the twisted mind of Michel Gondry who brought us the screw job Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind*, BKR is a fun film, especially for buffs.

Mike (Mos Def) works in a failing video store in Passaic NJ, that only rents out VHS tapes. His friend Jerry (Jack Black) believes that the powerstation nearby is messing with his brain. When the store owner (Danny Glover) leaves the shop in Mike's hands, Jerry accidentally wipes all the tapes (he got magnetised in an attempt to sabotage the powerstation). When Mia Farrow requests Ghostbusters, and Mike is unable to source a VHS copy of it, he and Jerry decide to re-make the film themselves. As more customers request more films, they cook up a scheme to charge their increasing number of customers to remake - or *swede* because the films come from Sweden - their favourite films, and use the funds to restore the shop and town to glory.

Like other Gondry films, I can see this polarising viewers. On one hand, a lot of the cleverness of the movie derives from the visual jokes that come out of Mike and Jerry's attempts to recreate the movies requested by their customers. The low-techiness of the *special effects* to recreate the scenes is both hilarious and ingenious. On the other hand, if you haven't seen those movies, you probably wouldn't get why it's so clever. It also didn't show as much *sweding* as some viewers may want. It runs out of steam a bit when the movie turns away from the ridiculous and towards drawing the community together, and having read other people's thoughts...I do have to agree that while it is very well acted, there is pretty much no character development.

The movie also raises a lot of issues that it doesn't resolve such as conglomerates vs. the little people, gentrification, racial stuff, hell, even whether the community are successful in their attempt to save the shop is left ambiguous. I suspect that the answer we're supposed to come to the conclusion that the store was demolished, but the creation of the Fats Waller *documentary* drew the people of the Passaic together, which is a far greater reward (yes, a bit mushy here). This may frustrate some people, but I like that - them not having to spell out everything for the audience.

Anyway, I really enjoyed it. Pooey thought it could have done better.
7-8/10 (5-6/10 from Pooey)

*Bonus!* For people who would like to see the sweded movies, the BKR people have sweded their own version of youtube and stuck the movies at http://www.bekindmovie.com/youtube.html
Enjoy!