Sculpture of the Week - Puppy by Jeff Koons

Jeff Koons, Puppy, (1992)

Guggenheim Museum Bilbao, Spain

(Source, Source)

Jeff Koons (1955-present) is a post-Pop artist who uses painting, sculpture and installations to recreate kitschy and everyday products in large scale. What he's actually doing is more complex than that - but it essentially boils down to what it is. While popular with the general public, critics either seem to love him or REALLY hate him *cough Robert Hughes cough*.

Puppy is an example of a work that has made Koons extremely popular with the public. The feeling that viewers get from this is *OMG, IT'S SO CUTE!!!* However, at 13m tall, this sculpture consisting of potted flowers on a wire frame containing an internal irrigation system to keep the plants alive, is a marvel of engineering, horticulture and imagination. But those details don't affect the viewer as just looking at it makes you think of a fluffy terrier puppy. This is the ultimate aim of the work.

Some things I have read about this work talk about how it is a metaphor for the impermanence of life. After all, the flowers in the sculpture will bloom and then whither, so too do all puppies grow up to become dogs. A random survey of the inhabitants of my house brought the reaction of *oh it's a puppy, I like that!* And it is this initial reaction to the work that is important. Koons himself has said Puppy is meant to be a symbol of "love, warmth and happiness". Objective achieved.

Originally erected in Bad Arolsen followed by Sydney, Puppy has become the symbol of Bilbao after moving there in 1997.

El Nino vs Hank

I saw this vid on The Spoiler and enjoyed it so much I thought I'd post it here.

Fernando El Nino Torres, Liverpool and Spain striker, scorer of the winning goal in the Germany vs. Spain final at the Euro 2008, most prolific international scorer in a debut EPL season (24 goals)...is outplayed by Hank the German Shepherd (in a Gerrard shirt!).

Okay, Hank cheats a bit by biting the ball, but serious! Love it.

Welcome back, Pooey!

After an absence of 6 months, Pooey is back in town for the leighbee-jessabella wedding. Strange, it doesn't feel as though it was that long ago since she was here. Probably because I was in Meldon in May.

I hope this entry doesn't push my Box of Hotties Edition Homme off the front page. I'm not ready for it to go yet.
*EDIT* It is gone :(

Blog Challenge - My Box of Hotties Edition Femme

So this week's blog challenge is a box of women who I find particularly attractive. I actually found this a lot harder than doing the Edition Homme. Surprising? Perhaps not. Unfortunately, the others appear to have gotten in early on this topic so we may see some repeat turners here!

I like the classyness of Natalie Portman and Audrey Hepburn. Both are more beautiful than sexy but Natalie can teach me the pole dancing she did in Closer while Audrey could help me with fashion tips!

Maybe this is too much information but despite their obvious charms, Charlotte Rampling and Eva Green have a coldness that intrigues me. We can all speak French together. (I've had to use a more mature pic of Rampling because she's NSFW in a lot of her younger pics.)

Now, before everyone goes into hysterics about me naming Nigella Lawson think about it this way - she cooks and doesn't care about stuff like diets or carbs or fat levels. Sure, she doesn't really look like how she does in the pic I've used but if she doesn't care, I don't care! Nigella is all about indulgence and where's the fun in life if you're going to be denying yourself?

I always thought Helena Christensen was the best out of the 90s supermodels (feel free to disagree) and she's kept her looks without obvious surgical enhancements *cough Cindy, Elle cough cough*.

The obvious one - Angelina Jolie. Come on, who wouldn't say yes? Other than Jennifer Aniston who does not appeal to me at all so her opinion doesn't count.

And of course Monica Bellucci who I've mentioned many times as being my best lesbian love.

I am highly amused to note that I also have a female *type*. As with the men, dark hair and dark eyes seem to be the go!

Movie review - Atonement

One of the problems with movies made from books is the need to compress a lot of the information into a digestible time frame (usually 2 hours, 2.5 max). This is ultimately the downfall in my eyes of Atonement, based on the 2001 novel by Ian McEwan. The problem is that the themes the book was trying to get at may have been too complex for the movie to deal with at the appropriate moments in the film.

13 yo Briony Tallis (Saoirse Ronan) is an aspiring author and from an upper-middle class family. She also has a crush on their housekeeper's son, Robbie (James McAvoy), who's been dancing around Briony's older sister, Cecilia (Keira Knightley). On the day she finishes writing her first play, Briony reads a note from Robbie to Cecilia that she really shouldn't have, and their ensuing sexual union. The two combined in her fertile mind, Briony believes Robbie to be a sexual maniac. When a member of the house is raped, Briony's imagination get the better of her and a situation spirals out of control.

The first two sections of the movie dealing with the initial set-up and Robbie's experiences as a soldier in France are extremely good, but they also also corresponds to the easiest part of the book to comprehend. When the movie heads towards the more complex parts regarding how to correct for the errors of the past, the tension seems to completely drop away and it seems overall confused and then, dare I say, a bit of a cop out? Maybe because I was reading words but Briony's explanation of why and her futile attempts to make up for her guilt seemed far more sincere and made more sense in the book. On film, it seemed more hollow. Also, things like class differences that were integral to why people would listen to the jumbled testimony of a 13 yo and send someone they apparently trusted to prison is glossed over.

That's not to say the film isn't well filmed and acted. . Saoirse Ronan definitely deserved her Oscar nomination and I was impressed by how much Romola Garai as 18yo Briony gelled her performance to match Ronan's. McAvoy and Knightly are pretty good too although I'm not sure if I'm convinved of Robbie and Cecilia's love as opposed to sexual attraction, but that's probably due to the short set up alloted to them. The visuals are very impressive - we've probably all heard of the 5minute tracking shot of the beach of Dunkirk. It is impressive but you know, it didn't really play a role in developing anything in the story. The length seems more a directorial and technical conceit.

This movie attempts to be an awesome epic but while it looks the part, I believe the source story was ultimately too complex. How do you portray things like moral and personal growth on film?
It's not bad, just overrated.
6/10

Painting of the Week - A Bar at the Folies-Bergere

Edouard Manet, Le Bar aux Folies-Bergère (1881-2)

Courtald Institute of Art, London
(source)

Okay, it appears that last week's piece confounded a lot of people so I thought I'd return to The Canon and cover the original painting. Despite a lot of people asking me "Is he the same guy who did the lilypads?" (he's not), Edouard Manet (1832-1883) is actually considered one of the most important Modern artists. Often considered an Impressionist although he never actually exhibited with them and didn't share their philosophy, he was certainly their friend and his major works inspired them.

Manet became (in)famous in 1863 when he submitted Le déjeuner sur l'herbe to the Paris Salon for display, and even more so when he submitted Olympia in 1865. Both of these paintings were refused by the Salon as despite the fact the paintings were clearly referencing former Great Masters, they were interpreted as commentaries on contemporary prostitution in Paris. One of the things the critics particularly hated was the way the nude/naked women in these pictures stared directly at you. When you consider that the contemporary audience to these paintings were most likely to be upper/middle-class males - the same clientele of the prostitutes - it makes for mighty uncomfortable viewing.

On first view, there's nothing particularly strange about Le Bar until you look a bit more closely. While not nude, the waitress Suzon stares at the us, and not in a particularly friendly way. Secondly, the mirror behind Suzon shows the presence of a mustachioed man in a top hat talking her. Finally, Suzon's reflection shows her leaning towards the man, not the way she appears before us. The most common reading of this painting is that the waitress is for sale, along with the goods that are shown clearly at the bar. But that still leads the question of the man. If we consider the reflection in the mirror as the 'real world' and Suzon is talking to a man enquiring after her, then that the man with the mustache doing the buying is...us. And what we see before us are Suzon's real feelings about the whole deal.

Stories from the Salon

It's been a while since I posted one of these. Nothing particularly new going on with my hair. - this is only significant because it's been about 9 months since I had it cut. This means that despite having a good 10cm/3 inches cut off, I can't believe how much hair I still have left in the back.

Also, my fringe is incredibly short because in the intervening 9 months, I've been hacking away at it because the length tended to annoy me. This meant I had to sheepishly tell the hairdresser to fix it up.

I've been watching the recent seaston of ANTM and just saw the makeover episode. It kinda inspired me into thinking I too should change my look - not this time though because I have too many weddings coming up. Methinks for my next haircut, I'm going to have to do something drastic like cut it into a bob if I can work up the courage.

On commuting

Unlike a lot of people I know, I don't actually mind taking public transport. I'm pragmatic about it - I take it because, quite frankly, I can't afford to drive everyday. And if even if I could afford it, there's nowhere to bloody park the car. Taking the bus can also be highly amusing to someone who enjoys observing human behaviour as much as myself. There are regulars I take the bus with and I sometimes use their presence as a marker as to how late/early I am :D. Also, I admire the skill that the bus drivers have weaving such a large vehicle in and out of peak traffic. Truly, there's an art to manoeuvering between a tree on the left and a wide truck, or as I like to call it, threading the needle. In addition, given the state of traffic in my area, I'd have to leave my home at 8am, quarter past at the latest, in order to get to work by 9am. Or I can wake at 8am and get to work by 9:15-30 if I take a bus. Being a relatively healthy chick, I also don't mind the 1km walk from the bus stop to my place and can do it in about 10 minutes.

However despite my practicality, I happily say the state of public transport in this city is rubbish. There are three main forms of PT in this city - trains, trams, and buses. The freeway from my place to work is so horrid because buses are the only PT into my area and I know a lot of people, e.g. my brother, dislike them on principle. Despite much lobbying from local government and population, I highly doubt a train line will be built into my area.

On one hand, I can understand the argument why it wont be built - trains work on electricity, electricity comes from brown/black coal. In order to cancel out the cost of setting up the system and trying to make it green, the train would have to run at capacity all day - which isn't going to happen because demand only occurs at peak hour. Therefore, so long as the freeway has a dedicated bus lane (which it does), it makes more sense to keep running buses. The really stupid thing is that these freeway buses only come once an hour after 6pm (WTF?!) and stop completely at 10:30pm. There is another bus that goes through the suburbs that thankfully continue until midnight but these too come at the frequency of once an hour after 8:30pm. THAT IS RUBBISH.

Another thing the city does need is a circle line to link stations. The train system here is set in a radial manner - all lines lead into the city. To change lines, you have to head into city loop. That might have worked when the system was originally planned, but given the sprawl of the population vs. employment location now, it just doesn't cut it. If you live in Fairfield and work in Hawthorn, while those suburbs are approximately 5km apart, if you wanted to take a train from one to the other, you would have to go into the city loop and change lines; a total travel distance of about 10km. Where's the sense in that?!

The govt complains that the cost of requisitioning land in order to build the line would be enormous due to skyrocketing land costs in the inner city and, again, to use bus links. I've taken various existing bus links (remember, I don't mind taking public transport) but quite frankly, they don't work in this city This is due to two main issues. If a train is late (as they often are due to the overloaded system), you will miss the bus link. Secondly, the buses are on suburban roads and unlike the freeway, cannot have a dedicated bus lane. When demand is high on the roads, you can't predict how long it takes a bus to pick up the passengers to get to the other station. So the bus itself is often late, meaning the people on the bus will miss their train and the people waiting for link are now even more late.

And don't get me started on trams. My advice to the government? Stop wasting money on building more super roads for this city and start investing in infrastructure. The way things are makes me wish for a return of the day when a city could just evict people and build whatever they wanted.

The one thing I can console myself with is that at least I don't live in Sydney. I've been stranded on the wrong side of the city once, trying to make it to the other. It wasn't fun.

Cheer up, dancinghula!

I didn't want to remove the blog challenge from top of the page, but I promised dancinghula I'd write this. David Silva is fighting his way back from injury, you can finish making thumbnail pics!

Blog challenge - My Box of hotties

Alright, this week's blog challenge derives from Vanillabear/Lucyfer who made a list of the hotties she's appreciates and found that there was enough to field a first team and a Castilla :P. It was also inspired by Gina's and Sarah's immortal posts.

So here is a 10 man list of the guys in my Hottie Box. In no particular order, they are:

San Iker Casillas. Those cheekbones. That shootout. I may be a Barca girl but I'm not blind. I've already said a lot about him and what I haven't said, that pic should tell you. By the way, The God of Spanish Football is 2 days older than me. That's fate, I tell you ;).


I've also previously mentioned Yoann Gourcuff, aka The New Zidane, aka Lashes. This pic is from the 2008 D&G AC Milan calendar. Now that I've found out D&G are using rugby players for the 2009 edition, I'm not so upset that Milan have loaned him to Bordeaux. Shirtless model vs. playing time, I'm glad that choice has been taken from me.


Xabi Alonso. Possibly the best dressed member of the SNT, the word that comes to mind is *suave*. Plus that video of him flirting with an interviewer that makes me think life with him would never be dull.


I couldn't choose between these two members of the Croatian NT. The older man and intellectual-looking Hrvoje Vejic or the sweet and angelic Niko Kranjcar? Vejic looks like he could give good conversation, but Niko is nice enough to take photos with random women in the frozen shellfish aisle.


Here's an injection of actual rather than perceived intelligence into the Box. Louis Theroux, is an Oxford grad with a first in modern history, broadcaster of highly amusing documentaries, and owner of nerdy glasses. Just in case you weren't convinced the man has brains, Mischka assures me he also has a PhD (tbc). That's okay, it's like a bonus.


Back to the bimbos, Henry Cavill makes puffy shirts look hot. He's the reason to watch The Tudors. I said I was going to post a video from one of his many naked scenes here but I decided instead to post the link instead because it is VERY NSFW.


Pierre Boulanger is a new addition. Watching Monsieur Ibrahim, I thought *gee, he'll be beautiful when he grows up* and then vomited when I realised he brought out the pedobear in me. Caramelbear then found pics of him as an adult (he's now 21) and the world righted itself again.


Dean Winchester is way hotter than Sam. Jensen Ackles is way hotter than Jared Padalecki. And this video proves he has a sense of humour. Can you see Sam miming to Eye of the Tiger? No, you can't.

Christian Bale needs no explanation...

...And of course neither does my husband, Marat.

One thing I've noticed by compiling this list, it's pretty apparent I have a type which should be obvious to all. Tall, dark, athletic, glasses, cheekbones and European...that appears to be the requirements to entering my Box.

Honourable mentions:
Andy Lau but he was better 10 years ago. And he has to be wearing his suit from Infernal Affairs. Throw Takeshi Kaneshiro in there too.
Adam Levine - sexy yes, but maybe a bit too slutty for me.
Adrien Brody and Gaspard Ulliel appear to have dropped off the radar in the last few years. If they'd just release a kickass movie, I'm sure they will be back in there.
Numerous other soccer hotties e.g. Canna, Del Piero, Nando, etc.

Weekend round up

Not much seems to have happened this weekend. I took Friday off work and yet I still somehow ended up there. Admittedly it was only for about an hour but...still. I've also started knitting myself a scarf. While randomly wandering through a shopping centre, I found some wool that had been dyed a nice fuschia colour and thought *oh, that'd look good with my big black.* Lets hope I get it done in time for next winter. Because you know, it gets so cold here and all. *cough*

Saturday was another question altogether. After a date in the afternoon with Pascal, Mischka picked me up and we went to Chaddy for Dr. K's Hens. It was a lot of fun - watching the crowd was highly amusing and there were criminals everywhere! I only wish that I managed to get a picture of the girl who seriously added about 10cm of height to herself by bleaching and teasing her hair into a bouffant. This was in addition to the bubblegum pink dress she was wearing. Yes, it was entertaining. And I must say, even though the DJ as a super criminal with his swirly-patterend satin shirt, he spun some good tunes! Classic 80s :D

We left the bride-to-be happily bopping away and ventured to the burbs for some Singstar action. I was pleased that my karaoke experiences and intense knowledge of the 80s and 90s boy/girlbands meant that I acquitted myself well. Mischka may have her own words to say about that.

Unfortunately, I am back on Pascal today. Yes, life is all excitement.

Painting of the week - Daughter of Art History by Yasumasa Morimura

Yasumasa Morimura, Daughter of Art History (Theatre A), 1990 and Daughter of Art History (Theatre B), 1990

Luhring Augustine Gallery, New York City (Image source)

This is for my fellow Art History grad (and post-grad!) Flaneur who pointed out that I only seemed to cover artists from The Canon in my Piece of the Week topic. When I said I detest Contemporary Art, and she suggested someone I did find interesting: Morimura. The first time I heard of Morimura was in my very first AH lecture at uni - Art History B in 2001 (wow! that was so long ago!). A japanese artist, Morimura replicates scenes from art history (such as the one above) or popular culture images using a combination of techniques, and then inserts his own face into them and changes our reading of it.

Daughter of Art History (Theatre A & B) inserts Morimura as the role of the barmaid in Manet's Le Bar aux Folies-Bergere. I won't go into the how or why, but the general art historical reading of the original is that we are an upper-middle class male patron of the bar looking at things for sale - including the bar maid. By casting himself in the role of the barmaid, once the visual joke has worn off, one realises Morimura adds the question of race into the mix of gender and class.

If AH is to be believed, we are drawn into Manet's paintings by our gaze interacting with the characters who gaze back at us. But AH also analyses these works from a predominantly Western Male view. While the feminine/feminist view of art has become vocal, not much was put into the Asian view of AH (although Flaneur is trying to change that!), nor into how the West looks at Asia. Particularly in Theatre B, by getting his male body to mimic that of the weakened barmaid under our gaze, Morimura raises questions about how the West's view of Asia as *feminine*, the femininisation of the Asian male, and also why I refuse to date anyone with Yellow Fever.

Blog Challenge - Favourite words

At least, I think this is the blog challenge of the week.

Swoosh
Bubble
Tush/Tummy
Hinterland
Speckle
Nums
Onomatopoeia

This is all I can think of at the moment and I wanted to get the blog challenge over and done with.
(Sorry gals)

One fine day....

Many, many years ago, I watched a loooong show on tv and to my absolute disgust, it brought me to tears. A few years later, I watched another version of the same story and it again brought me to tears. And then I watched it live and, surprise surprise, I cried yet again. What is this cry-worthy story? It's Madama Butterfly by Puccini!

While I know the story very well and obviously loved it, I know it was mightily disliked by the rest of the people who watched it. I mean, we're seeing a story of an American sailor (B.F. Pinkerton), who goes around the world picking up and abandoning chicks, then goes and marries a 15yo girl in Japan (Butterfly). I know that in real life I'd smack any girl who waited for three years for a worthless bastard who's obviously abandoned her, I can't help crying when we see Butterfly stay up all night night waiting for Pinkerton to come and realising once and for all that he isn't coming back, and again when they *offer* to take her son off her. That's just horrible!!! The girl has lived most of her life in shame - we're never told why her Father was 'invited' to commit hari-kari, just that he did. Two more shames, it's just too much!!!

The production was of the 1997 Moffatt Oxenbould version, very lovely sets and interesting choreography. Dimply Nicole Youl was a young-looking and cute Butterfly, I was really impressed with her Un Bel Di! Shivers, I tell you! Rosario La Spina...nice voice but there were times when he was being drowned out by the orchestra. I noticed his repertoire is mostly the heroic type. Ummm...he doesn't look the heroic type. He's more like Pavarotti without the voice to blow you away and distract from the looks. I don't want to be (more) mean but is it possible to do something about this?

Something else that annoyed me was the way the way the various people dressed in white who acted as pieces of furniture/servants/whatever (they were wrapped in white, kinda like mummies. I'm tempted to call them Mummies) dragged their feet when they walked. I know it must have been a stage direction because they all did it. But the sound was very grating and distracting!

Regardless, I liked it verra verra much and care not that some people (mostly the guys) were glad that it was over. And so now I present Kiri Te Kanawa singing the main aria, Un Bel Di.
Toodles! (picture source)

People who know me should not be surprised

What Shoe Are You?

You are a Stiletto. The world is yours for the taking; you may look enticing upon first glance, but those who cross you will get a 5-inch hole through their hearts.

Find Your Character @ BrainFall.com

What one word embodies you?

I am the embodiment of Truth. Your curiosity has an insatiable appetite, and is the most essential thing that drives you. You question everything and constantly strive to uncover universal truths. You are a person enchanted by history, and you study it religiously in hopes of being the one to discover The Truth. You take nothing at face value, and know that if you want the truth you'll have to dig for it. However, this is a double-edged sword for sometimes the truth is staring you right in the face and you can't even see it.

Find Your Character @ BrainFall.com

Painting of the Week - The Calling of St. Matthew by Caravaggio

Caravaggio, The Calling of St. Matthew, 1599-1600

Contarelli Chapel, San Luigi dei Francesi, Rome.
(Source)

My friends often cite Michelangelo Merisi aka Caravaggio as their favourite artist (Hi Pooky! Hi 'elle Mischka!). Born in the north of Italy c. 1573, Caravaggio is one of those artists whom people love to read biographically through his works due to this somewhat 'interesting' life. Known for hanging out with prostitues, brawling, and being arrested and imprisoned a number of times, he fled Rome in 1606 after accusations of murder and died in 1610 after contracting a fever after being imprisoned again in Tuscany. His main patron in Rome, Cardinal del Monte, was also probably gay so Caravaggio's early work is often interpreted as homoerotic.

A Baroque artist, his work is pictorially characterised by naturalism and heightened chiaroscuro (light and dark effects), as seen in The Calling of St. Matthew. The painting shows Jesus pointing to Matthew, who is hunched at the table with the bowed head counting money. Notable things in this painting are that the figures at the table are dressed in contemporary 16th century dress whereas Jesus and co. are in robes, and Jesus' hand being a reference to Michelangelo's Creation of Adam. It is also alleged that Caravaggio used himself as a model for Matthew.

The light in this painting performs two functions. Firstly, it's a narrative tool. The light is strongest over Jesus, spreading over the characters at the table. The light hasn't quite hit Matthew yet but you get the feeling that when it does, he'll look up. Secondly when you view the painting in its setting along with its counterparts (below), you can see that Caravaggio has made the direction of light in his paintings come from the same direction as the window in the chapel.

L-R, Calling of St. Matthew, Inspiration of St. Matthew, Matyrdom of St. Matthew.
(I tried to merge these into a montage and failed epically.)

Clever.

Totally Looks Like

This pic was thrown into the ring and well....it seems obvious, n'est-ce pas?

Sex Fibreglass
(Okay, his real name is Cesc Fabregas for those who don't know. Source)


The *Cute* Beatle in 1964
(That was what he was known back in the day before one-legged gold-diggers. Source)

Crimes against fashion - Oaks Day special!!!

Spring Carnival. It's like a giant party in the city and everyone's invited! But like Halloween, a lot of girls think that Race Days is a reason to throw out the rules of fashion and (usually) dress like skanks. Here's a review of the biggest criminals in my line of sight, which as you can see in that pic below, was not insignificant.

The bra top that barely contains her modesty, the ultra-short skirt made out of transparent dress...It says something when some of the male friends I was with even said this outfit was too skanky for their liking. But the true horror which I couldn't capture in this pic were her snakeskin shoes.

I didn't want to pick on woman of a larger size or mutton dressed as lamb but I couldn't let these pass. *sigh*
Please pick a dress which supports you well. This woman was clearly too mature for this kind of dress and it did nothing to support her.

At the same time, while this woman is more covered up....she kinda looks like a caterpillar.

The true horror in this dress is when that girl bent over.Think about it. But not too hard.

I am highly amused that this girl wore a strapless bra...which is still visible.

On the topic of underwear, I would like to make a comment about how important it is to wear appropriate underwear for your dress. Not just to avoid VPL...
but to also make sure that people can't tell your underwear is lace-edged.

Ahh...I could have written an entire entry about this girl. Where do I start? The fake tan? The trashy glasses? The dress that's too tight and too short (I don't think I saw her sit down all day and I can't blame her)? The fact that she's wearing control top undies which making her bulge up and over and the fact the too-tight dress shows that?

Yes, criminals, criminals everywhere yesterday! And to close out this entry, here's a pic of some male crims. I'm out!

Huzzah!

(Source)

I'd just like to take the time to say that I'm pleased that my faith in the human race has been re-affirmed. While this by no means erases the mistakes of the past, it's a step forward.

Also, extra kudos to Caramelbear and Sarebear who helped swing their states towards the blue.

My baking is going to taste extra nice tomorrow as it will be filled with all my current goodwill. Yums.

US elections 2008

Well I'm about to pop off to bed and by the time I wake up in around 8-9 hours, the USA will have a new president. As much as I want to believe the opinion polls that say Obama will win in a landslide, I really do fear that the most powerful man in the world will be Old Man McCain (although he's okay as far as Republicans go). But that's not my real worry.

My real worry is that if Old Man McCain does win, he'll die in office and we'll end up with Sarah Palin as The Most Powerful Woman in The World. Seriously, if everyone's foreign policy was based on which countries we could see from our windows, I guess Australia wouldn't have one. *eye roll*

Incidentally, I was mighty amused by this quiz result. I need to get out of medical research and into politics!

Are You More Qualified than Sarah Palin?
	You are 100% more qualified than Sarah Palin. You're no short-term political stunt, you're the real deal, the VP the American people deserve. I guess your phone was off the hook when John McCain was calling around looking for a running mate... must've been one of those pesky robo-calls.
Find Your Character @ BrainFall.com

Blog Challenge - How we picked our teams

Much to the disgust of the other SBAers, I am a fan of ManUtd (or ManUre), Barca (or Barcugh), and AC Milan (or the better Milan). This week's blog challenge is to explain how or why we ended up supporting the teams that we did, so here is mine.

Basically, I ended up following these teams because of my younger brother, Spuey. The time was the 1990s. The time was the early-mid 90s, prior to the existence of the internet (yes, such a time existed in my memory!) and pretty much the only teams from Europe that made the news in our antipodean home were articles about the winners of the era.

Given that ManUtd won the EPL from 1992-94, it seems obvious. My brother came home from primary school one day with a bear he'd made in Art class. It was wearing black shorts and a red t-shirt emblazoned with the word *SHARP*. Sister Pooey and I were like, "Why does your bear say *SHARP*?" and he explained that it was meant to be a Man Utd uniform.

Likewise, over this same period of time, both Barca and Milan were having golden periods, winner numerous domestic trophies in Spain and Italy, respectively, culminating in their meeting the 1994 UEFA Champions League Final. Sure, Milan spanked Barca 4-0 in the match but it was win-win for us!

Sure, it hasn't been easy supporting these teams - jibes about being bandwagon jumpers, that my team has the worst hair in La Liga, that Milan are the oldest team in the world (mean age 28.85 years, st. dev. 5.58, median age 30 years), that ManUtd are a team of fugs etc. But you know, variety is the spice of life. So to my 'Pool, Arsenal and RM friends, vive la difference!

Oh, how embarrassment

I forgot to mention this when I was writing my pity post from yesterday. (Incidentally, please refer to me as Mallymoodle or various other derivatives in comments. Use of my real name will result in me deleting your post. Go the blog nazi!)

Yesterday I had a meeting with my boss about progress. It went well - yay! It went so well, she wanted to look at some of the data we'd already collected so we could squeeze even more goodness out of it.

Unfortunately, the quickest way to get to the data folder is on my desktop. Unfortunately, I changed my desktop wallpaper on Thursday.

And unfortunately, I had changed it to this:

And she saw it.
And she said "oh my god" in a kind of pitying way.

But on the other hand, isn't it a great wallpaper?!

Painting of the Week - La Velata by Raphael

Raphael, La Velata, 1514-1515, Palazzo Pitti, Florence
(Image Source)

I can't remember if I've posted on this painting before, I feel as though I have but I'll do this pic anyway since I had it on file. If Botticelli is an artist I came to dislike as I got older, Raphael is the opposite. Born in Urbino Italy, Raffaello Sanzio (1483-1520), is one person who defines *High Renaissance* art. A painter and architect, he is right up there alongside the other great masters and his contemporaries, Michelangelo and Leonardo da Vinci.

La Velata depicts an unknown woman and I can tell you that pic up there doesn't do it justice. I didn't think it was that great but my mind was changed when I saw it in person and realised how beautiful it was. Maybe it was the mild Florentine sun, but the painting has a wonderful golden quality that makes her look soft and serene and loved. The sfumato (smokey blending) around her face is particularly lovely. Having seen it in person, I can understand the apocryphal story surrounding this work. Legend is that Raphael fell in love with the daughter of a baker and he started pining away until she agreed to become his mistress (or he was allowed to make her his mistress). Either way, La Velata is supposedly a depiction of her. It is also believed to be the counterpart to his other painting, La Fornarina.

Incidentally, I have seen La Fornarina in person, and I hate it. If I didn't know the provenance can trace it back to Raphael, I would have called it a fake.