Poll

,So I was discussing musical movies with the Grand Empress when she let loose that she though Zac Efron was hot. She clarified that it's only when he's in Hairspray and not HSM, but I...I....no. He's a BOY. And he probably curls his lashes and wears eyeliner. In fact, even without his day job, he probably wears more make up than me. But the Grand Empress is not to be swayed.

So I put it out to the (small) crowd.

poll by twiigs.com

Just a reminder, this is what he looked like in Hairspray.
(pics from rottentomatoes.com)

It worked (sorta)!

Oh joy (kinda)!!! The experiment that I came in on a SUNDAY to begin was finished today. And while it didn't work as well as I wanted it to, it did (kinda) work!

This cuts my troubleshooting options down to one thing. Hopefully I will have all the modifications done by the end of this week so I can begin in earnest.
Come'on come'on come'on come'on come'on come'on come'on come'on!

Paul Newman, RIP

It was with much sadness that I heard Paul Newman passed away today. A class act and an all round top guy. Enjoy this video of the young (and hot) Newman in a screen test with James Dean for a Rebel Without A Cause.

Sculpture of the Week

A Rodin, La Danaide, 1889-92, Musee Rodin (Hotel Biron), Paris
(Image source)

I remember being blown away by how beautiful this was when I first saw this at the Musee Rodin in 2004. It's a wonderful piece in a house full of lovely pieces (including The Kiss). The shiny polished marble of her back in contrast with the watery effects of her hair and the rough marble. Just lovely.

I was actually going to make his other work *Je suis belle* the work of the week, but I couldn't find a nice photo of it online.

Analysis

Faithful readers of this blog will have noticed a distinct drop off in my blogging frequency. My lack of updates recently is directly related to my lab activities, as seen in this graph here.
Lately I have been in the lab doing stuff that's pretty much required my constant attention with short incubation times.

Having said that, there's also been a drop off in the things that would guarantee a blog entry.
The things that are most likely to result in a blog entry can be seen in this graph.
So one would think that given my lab time, I'd have data to present? Only 30% of the time, and only if it's good.

I think you guys know where this is going.

New dress!

I'd just like to give a shout-out to Pooey, owner of a dormant blog and indulger of my love of dresses. She saw that Primmy had a lot of dresses in that 50s style of which I am so enamoured. So she bought one one that had tulle and shipped it over with the Grand Empress.

Here I am wearing it.

Oh yay! It goes perfectly with my pair of Zara peep-toes!

Ikenobo - The Origin of Ikebana

Now, some people think attending a lecture on flower arranging from a visiting professor of Ikebana (yes they do exist) is a pretty weird way for me to be spending a Fri Night. I say, not at all! In a not too distant past, I was a fleuriste. I didn't enjoy my time in that job very much, mostly due to the totally inept boss. Actually, make that entirely due to the inept boss. The work itself was quite enjoyable and the scents of various flowers still make me feel fluttery inside (from joy, not misery). One of the things I did enjoy was making the flower arrangements, despite my total lack of training.

Knowing this, I heartily accepted the invite to where Akina was acting as the translator for the prof!

The Prof in action

Akina translating whike he arranges

An example of rikka shofutai

Shoka ikebana inspired by the Prof's time in Melbourne

And another one inspired by a friendly duck who appeared while he was picking the lilies

Freestyle Ikebana.

That cherry blossom branch was HUGE.
I was slightly terrified at the thought that he walked up to someone and asked if he could cut off an entire branch

And this one was pretty cute

The night was thoroughly enjoyable! The prof was totally enthusiastic which led to Akina at times translating *mmmm, looks good!* It also made his arranging a lot more dynamic than even I expected! The only disappointment was the continuous running commentary given by the ladies who lunch sitting beside me. Hmph!

We are the Champions

The Dept held their first ever Trivia Night (to raise funds for the Xmas party). And well, those who know me well should be aware that I am a receptacle for useless knowledge. It's a trait that runs in the family. Although I wasn't really intending on coming, I was duly recruited by other members of The Batcave. The competition however, really heated up with the realisation it was turning into a mini academics vs. students, lab vs. lab situation. I also hear rumbings that some were studying trivia to get a leg up.

Now for the last few days, I've been working on a very fiddly experiment. Lots of little steps that required a lot of attention. All that work...only for me to be told today that it didn't work. @!#$@#$#$@#$@$@! Needless to say, I was not in the most chipper of moods this afternoon. I did however manage to mellow a bit of my rage with some vodka and iced-peach tea (trust me on this).

Anyway, a team comprising of Markdod, The (token male) Pom, Punz, dancinghula, Ms S, and a mildly toasted yours truly absolutely wiped the opposition off the floor. Things were tense in the opening stages but I am pleased to say that our nearest opponents (the hardcore academics) ended up being around 10 points behind us. Yes, life is sweet and glory is even better :D

The 2008 Postgraduate Ball

Alas, I was not able to make last year's ball as I was in Paris (awww, darnit) but I made a triumphant return to this year's even held at the Aquarium! Since we were under the sea, the theme was *Atlantis* featuring the ancient world or anything else relating to water. Unforch it seemed to be mostly togas and pirates.

The Lung Yab with bonus hanger ons

The boys do their best Underbelly impers

With Reevs in full goddess regalia

The Queens of histo techniques give their various machines a break

This was the very time I've been to the Aquarium and I was very very happy to find that we were allowed to walk around and have a look-see at various exhibits.

Jellyfish!!!

Me with some shiny fishies...

Mmmm, delicious crab....

Shark!

The stingrays try to get some shut-eye

Turtle!

The aquarium also opens onto the river so we got some nice photos of the city looking glam - it was a nice clear night. Unforch, I couldn't stay still long enough for the pics to turn out well

And because it's also across the road from the cashino, there were random police hanging around outside.

Yes, a good night was had by all.
My entire album is now online at http://mallymoodlespics.shutterfly.com
pword = 12345

Happy Birthday Canna!

I'd just like to wish a happy 35th birthday Fabio Cannavaro. Captain of Italy and of their World Cup winning team, Real Madrid defender and perennial hottie, today is a celebration of all things Il Bello.

So here is a selection of some of my fave pics of him.






Yep Canna, may this year be another grinning and nekkid year for all your fans!

(Source)

All other photos from photobucket search

Choices

I'm going to a ball (tonight!) and I had a hard time picking which dress to wear. My choices are thus:

Le blanc

Le noir

And then, I can either wear the shoes that I'm wearing in the photos, or I can wear these shoes.

*EDIT* I am wearing Le blanc. The shoes are still undecided

Stupid Ham Slicer

Nothing particularly exciting goes on in my world during the week anymore. For the last few weeks, I've started using the resin microtome to cut thin (500nm) resin sections.

Now, I've tried describing what various microtomes and the cryostat are like. My best effort to the average person is that it's a ham slicer in a freezer (cryostat) or a ham slicer with a microscope attached (resin microtome). Now, when I first started using the cryostat, I will admit to not liking him very much after the ease of the paraffin microtome, but we came to an understanding and I could probably now be described as a *gun* on it. My rate of sectioning is about one block/30 mins now :D

Things are a little different on the resin ham slicer. It takes soooooooooo long to line up a block, I'm currently averaging two-three hours/block. The problem is that because you need your block to be in a certain condition before you (should) start picking up sections it just takes ages to trim to the right surface. I'm not happy with Mike the Ham Slicer. Not at all. He won't be dislodging Pascal anytime soon.

Hangin' with the Bro and Ho

Well the Grand Empress is back in town and we caught up in the best way we know how - by catching some drinks and pho. I won't talk too much about what we drank. Just know that by the time we met up with each other (and Lydia and Gnoudesavanes), the Empress was well toasted. It's good to know some things don't change :D The Pho was nothing special - the selection of places isn't that great in the CBD but while Lydia and I were satisfied, The Grand Empress felt as though it had slipped in quality and Gnou said he didn't see the fuss. SACRILEGE!!!

The night was rounded off by going to ACMI with Spuey and catching *The World According to Sesame St* a documentary about international adaptations of Sesame St. It was very interesting - especially finding out that when international versions of Sesame St are created, the US muppets characters are not exported!!! I feel oddly sad to think that some may not be aware of Snuffy. I love Snuffy.

Generational entertainment

If you didn't play classic Mario as a kid, you may not understand this video.
If you did play Mario, enjoy and revel in the attention to detail.



A few other schools appear to have done this but this is one of the best.

For lovers of Monkey Island

I can't believe I forgot this...

Happy Birthday Keanu Reeves (for 2/Sept)!!!


Woah.
Forty-four years young and still a total babe.

In other news, those jokesters behind Tropic Thunder have made a faux-website promoting Satan's Alley. Unfortunately, the bit for the trailer has *coming soon* written there but you get the gist of what the *movie* is about. Thank Iker for YouTube! Or rather not since they all seem to have been removed due to copyright claims. Oh well.

Movie review - Persepolis

I love animated movies. I love French language and, for the most part, French language movies. And despite all the mindless dross that I've seen and reviewed...er, and enjoyed...over the past few years that I've been writing this blog, I also love a good thinking movie. So what did I think of Persepolis, nominated for the Best Animated Feature at the 2007 Oscars, where it eventually lost out to Ratatouille (which I still haven't seen *shifty eyes*)?

Based on the autobiographical bande desinée (graphic novel) by Marjane Satrapi, Persepolis follows her experiences growing up in post-revolution Iran. The daughter of upper-class intellectuals, Satrapi's family is initially jubilant at the change in regime as they believe it will be a change for the good and various family members and friends are released from jail. Of course history tells us otherwise and we follow Satrapi's problems while she grows up and her struggles against an increasingly oppressive and misogynistic regime.

Now I don't know if that sounds particularly interesting to anyone other than a select group of movie-goers but seriously, go see this movie. One would expect it to be all doom and gloom, in actuality there is a lot of humour in Persepolis and the political and religious commentary never feels like preaching. The world is seen through Satrapi's eyes as a child (voice of Gabrielle Lopes) through to her teens and early 20s (Chiara Mastroianni) as through we are reading her journal and so each stage is told with a corresponding maturity. We see her as the bratty kid happy to repeat revolutionary chants, the teen experiencing first-love, to the alienated and depressed adult. It also features one of the best and worst training montages featuring Eye of the Tiger. That alone is worth the entry fee. And Grandma (Danielle Darrieux) is the coolest person in the world.


Although the movie has a pro-Western feel for the most part, the movie also shows that nothing is clear cut. While Satrapi is sent to Vienna to escape persecution after speaking up in class, she finds herself surrounded by people who make no effort to understand or help her acclimatise and falls in with a gang of students who find it *cool* that she has lived through a revolution without realising the personal cost. The role of a Western (the British) government in setting up the Pahlavi Shah in 1925 is also depicted. In addition, it shows that while she abhors the limitations on women, it was easy it was for Satrapi herself to use the regime for her own revenge in having a man arrested by falsely claiming he had insulted her.


The black and white animation is beautiful. On face value, it is so stylised to appear deceptively simple, however there were points when I marvelled at the ink effects to depict a variety of things such as a conversations with God, the aftermath of a bombing, and the spread of blood. It was also particularly effective in using stick puppetry to show the child Marjane's understanding of history. While lacking the whizz-bang visual wow factor of Kung Fu Panda or Horton, its comparative simplicity and stylisation is a plus in delineating passage of time, flights of fancy, and the gamut of emotions.

Highly recommended to all, especially for lovers of animation, political/migrant commentary, and French-language films. Persepolis was totally worthy of its nomination. Now I just have to see if Ratatouille was worthy of beating it.
8.5/10
(pictures from rottentomatoes.com)