Oh, the disappointment

There's a new waffle (gaufres heh) and crepe place in the city that we were going to try out tonight.

But we decided to try and get some *real* food before eating dessert.

Wrong choice.

When we finished eating our mediocre dinner, the shop was closed *sniff*.

But when I do eat there, I hope it's good! Because if there's one thing this city needs, its more dessert places!!! YAY!!!!


P.S. I edited the Lemon Cake recipe to include poppyseeds. It makes the cake more textural and opiate-full. What's not to love about that? ;)

Lemon Cake with Crunchy Topping

Well here's the recipe for the weekend's cake! Except that I decided to make the sole cake into muffin/cupcakes for easier transportation and eatability.

Ingredients:

• 250 g unsalted softened butter
• 200 g caster sugar
• 2 teaspoons lemon rind
• 4 eggs lightly beaten
• 2 cups SR flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 2 tablespoons lemon juice
• EDIT (31/10) - I also put in some poppyseeds. I think 1.5-2tbs work best for textural and opiate content!
  

Topping:

• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1/4 cup lemon juice

Method
Preheat oven 170 deg. Grease baking tray or line cupcake tin
Cream butter & sugar with electric beaters until fluffy (I did the initial creaming by hand to make sure it was well mixed, then moved onto the beaters).
Add lemon rind, then egg gradually. Beating thoroughly after each addition.
Fold in sifted flour/baking powder/lemon juice. Combine until mixture is smooth.
Spoon mixture into tin and smooth the surface.
Bake for 45 min if making a cake, 25 minutes for cupcakes

For topping, mix together sugar and lemon but don't dissolve sugar and quickly brush over the warm cake. Sugar will form a crunchy topping.
Leave to cool if you are patient or just dig in and eat!!

This recipe makes either 1 cake (20cm springform is my usual type) or 12 cupcakes.

How could I let this pass?

About a two months or so ago, dancinghula and I were walking around the city when we came across this.

BURGER PERSON!!!

Naturally, I had to take this photo.

NOM NOM NOM!!!

Yes, that was fun

Blog Challenge #2 (Halloween Special) - Skeletons

Here are some random facts about skeletons

• A human skeleton at birth has approximately 270 bones. An adult human has approximately 206.
• The human skeleton has several functions. Some of these include:
  
• To give the body it's shape - male/female shape differences can be seen in skeletons!
  
• Protecting vital organs, for example the skull to the brain, ribcage to protect lungs and heart
• Movement. Although the skeleton (bones) themselves does not enable movement, the skeletal muscles are attached via tendons to bones give leverage. (In theory, without bones we'd still be able to move, albeit in a restricted way.)
  
• Blood cells are produced in the large bones of the skeleton.
  
• Fibrodysplasia ossificans progressiva is a genetic condition whereby soft tissue is ossified - turned into bone - after an injury. The Pathology Museum at my work has two skeletons with this condition in a glass cabinet.
  

This is not it - no photos are allowed at my work museum. (Source)

• The use of skeletons in Western Art is iconographically linked to death (the occurrence) or Death (the entity). Death the entity (a.k.a. The Grim Reaper) is often shown with an hourglass or scythe.
  

An example is the tomb of Pope Alexander VII by Bernini in the St. Peters (Vatican City).

• The philosopher and social reformer Jeremy Bentham's skeleton was preserved and put in a glass case as per his wishes. He was acquired by University College London and you can still see him in his glass case today. However, you can't see his skeleton because it is dressed in period clothing.
• Skeletor was a He-Man character who despite having only a skull for a head, had massive guns and a six-pack. How that worked, I don't understand.
• As far as I can tell, there is no sex fetish involving skeletons. Admittedly I have not done much research on this because I'm too scared at what google might throw up at me.
  

Weekend roundup!

After the exhaustion of the past week, I am happy to say that I did no work at all during this weekend. Yes, I got to sleep in (yay), lounge around the house (double yay), and then meet up with Rachie Poo for lunch, shopping, and cake (triple YAY!!!). Given that I'm guessing you don't want to read about my sleeping in (although it was pretty damn fantastic), I will talk about the cake.

First off, Rachie started off the day by telling me I'd lost weight. Later, after a hard day's shopping, we decided to get cake to make up for the precious calories that I'd burnt off. We went to Little Cupcakes (#7, 250 Flinders Street, down from Degraves St, next to Smitten Kitten). Their washing machine was broken so they could only serve us on serviettes, but that's okay because I forgot to bring my camera so you can't see the presentation anyway.

(Source)

Rachie had the coffee flavoured normal-sized, while I had red velvet normal plus the strawberry mini-sized. I've heard of red velvet but never had one before (I think it's an American thing?). The waiter told me it was 70% vanilla/30% cocoa - the decreased cocoa part give the cake it's reddish rather than brown colouring. The cake was crumbly, perhaps slightly on the dry side but this was compensated by the rich cream cheese frosting. When my bites encompassed both elements of the cupcake it was extremely pleasing. The mini cupcakes really are one bite sized.

Anyway, while we were eating our cakes, Rachie and I started discussing the art of baking. Rachie had always believed herself a poor baker - turns out her cakes never worked because she was trying to cut out things like sugar and butter, much to my amazement. After I explained the fat/sugar/creaming thing, we decided to go back to her place and BAKE another cake :D.

We made an eggy lemon cake with sugar crust top. It was delish but again, we forgot to take a photo. Actually, that was probably for the best because it sank a little bit in the middle. There was plenty leftover so I took it in for this morning tea where it went down a right treat. The recipe was actually incredibly easy and when Rachie emails me the recipe, I will post it here so that you may all make it and try it out!

Painting of the Week - The Bridge of Sighs by John Singer Sargent

JS Sargent, The Bridge of Sighs, 1904, Brooklyn Museum, NYC
(Image source)

A friend once asked me who was my favourite artist. After a lot of thought and much to both of our surprise, I said John Singer Sargent (1856 - 1923). Why? Put simply, I've never seen a Sargent I didn't like despite his wide-ranging oeuvre. On a more complex level, I am fascinated by his flawless draughtsmanship, his deceptively difficult technique, the way his portraits reflect the sitters' personalities, and the way his paintings never fail to elicit some kind of response from me.

Born in Florence to American parents, Sargent was trained in Paris and spent the bulk of his career travelling the world. Primarily known for his 'society' portraits of women, Sargent also produced thousands of watercolours and sketches. Considering that his career covered the late 19th-early 20th century, his work has been criticised for not reflecting the contemporary Modern movements such as Fauvism and Cubism, although he did paint en plein air.

I was lucky enough to see The Bridge of Sighs in Venice at the Sargent and Venice exhibition in Sept 2007. I remember standing in the dark room staring at the watercolours, utterly amazed that with a few scribbles Sargent had managed to (very) accurately recreate the Venetian light and shadows. They made me want to go outside and buy some of the kitschy watercolours for sale from the many vendors looking to prey on gullible tourists. Or worse, it made me want to pick up my own paints again and get cracking!

When I first went to Venice, a lecturer told me I would love it and that Venice would look like every picture I had ever seen of it. She was right. Although this photo was taken in winter 2004, you can tell everything is pretty much the same - from the dark shadows in the narrow canal to the way light reflects off the greenish tint of the water. I never managed to get a photo of this view in Summer/Autumn light - the crush of tourists on the San Zaccaria bridge was something I didn't want to battle.

Happy Birthday, Grand Empress!

There was much merry-making as we celebrated not only the Grand Empress' passing of another year but also the reception of her visa so that she may now return to Old Blighty.

The night kicked off with drinks at Martini Bar. I myself did not have a martini - I had something called Glinda the Good Witch, named in honour of Wicked which was playing at the theatre next door.

Two happy drinkers

For dins and entertainment, we went to Manchester Lane Jazz Club. While the service was a little bit slow, the food and band more than made up for it!

Our pot of bread. It was still warm!

My entree of flame grilled scallops. That fennel salad was really nice too :D

Searnsy's entree of fried calamari salad. I ate a bit of it - we think he's on a diet.

My main of gnocchi served with wild mushroom fricassee and truffle oil. Mmmmm, truffles...

Despite being absolutely stuffed (I ate some of Searnsy's main as well), I made the surpreme effort to eat dessert - Saffron raspberry mousse. That mint ice-cream was mighty tasty too!

The Grand Empress with her mousse complete with celebratory sparklers!

The Grand Empress eats her other birthday cake - a mud cupcake

The band - they did RnB and motown classics!!! It was awesome-a-power.

Alas, I was feeling burnt out from a variety of things and I couldn't kick on afterwards. :'(
You know that warm feeling you have when you're really tired but you're forcing yourself to stay awake? I had that :( But Happy Birthday Grand Empress and have a good trip and another awesome party back in London!

Hat Season :D

There are things I don't miss from the fashion of ye olden days. Corsets are one. Sure, it looks elegant but I don't like the idea of squishing my internal organs given that I know what they do. And since I'm of that background, I don't miss the idea of foot-binding. Using lead makeup is another. Putting atropine/belladonna in my eyes...the list goes on. One thing I do miss is the wearing of hats.

I love me a good hat and I love it when horseracing season descends upon the city every year when I can indulge in getting myself a new one. One that I'll probably wear only once, maybe twice, but one I get to wear nonetheless!

I haven't bought this year's hat yet, but I did find one that I really LOVED. Dancinghula loved it too and took a pic of me in it.

Oooh, isn't it so My Fair Lady-ish?

So what's my objection to purchasing this hat? Well, perhaps the fact it comes in $AUD700 (approx $US469, 366 euros, or 290 quid). That's like my fortnightly income. And while I know I can chuck it on the credit card....I will resist. I really am crying on the inside.

Seriously peeps, watch out mmmkay?

So I'm back at work today. There's a lot of tradies around because the building is undergoing a variety of system works; pipe replacement, putting in new network cables etc., so there is a degree of ladder dodging and the occasional safety bollards and orange danger signs. But today took it to another level.

In the hallway of my office to the internal stairs, I saw these bollards. Nothing particularly special about them.

Until you get closer and you get to see what the danger is.
What the...?! Putting men in confined spaces?! Damn straight we'd better be careful because forcing those guys into small workplaces makes them angry!
And you won't like them when they're angry...

(Thanks to dancinghula who took the pics for me)

Randoms

There's not really much to write about today. I was totally wrecked as a result of spending all weekend not sleeping (much) and then having rendezvous with Pascal, so I spent today at home and did three loads of laundry. So this is going to be about random things that occur to me today.

Watching music videos, maybe it's the wet shirtless man-fighting, but I find the clip for The Presets' This Boy's In Love strangely hypnotic.

I'm also really lovin' Kanye's new song Love Lockdown


I'm really craving some blue cheese right now. An oozing blue, maybe a gorgonzola with pears. Nums. I also want some pate to go with my cheese. Luckily it is raining outside and I don't want to waste petrol.

I found this opinion piece about laughter as a child versus laughter as an adult quite nice. I always thought it's better to find happiness in simple things versus gadgets and toys.

Watching Jules et Jim...I still have no idea how anyone could mistake Jeanne Moreau as a male.

Vanillabear? I've found (one of my) dates for your wedding. I'll try to make him wear shoes.

Oh, Mr Darcy!!!

Well to follow up The Bender, Lydia was holding a 'Girls' Night In' party to raise money for charity, but mostly so we could watch all SIX HOURS of the 1995 BBC production of Pride and Prejudice starring Jennifer Ehle as Miss Elizabeth Bennet (Lizzie to her friends) and Colin Firth as Mister Fitzwilliam Darcy.

That room was just so full of love for those six hours. We sat enraptured and marvelled at the civility of 19th century mating rituals - when Mr Bingley asked if he could reserve the first two dances with Jane Bennet, why didn't he just ask for her hand right then and there!!! We'd also try to translate the regency-speak into modern jargon. For example:

• My friend requested and introduction = My mate thinks you're hot
• Obstinate, selfish girl! = You bitch!
  

One of the girls declared that she could in no way have put up with all the formality of the Regency world and if she were in the 19th century, she would have been a drunkard or a prostitute or a drunk prostitute.

Can I just say, the casting in that production is just PERFECT. I don't need to talk about how Jennifer is Lizzie or that Colin Firth has been cast as Darcy ever since (but it's a good living!). Okay, Julia Sawalha was probably too old to play Lydia Bennet (she was 25 playing a 15 year old) but she was suitably annoying and frustrating as the silly girl. We all agreed that the real centrepiece of P&P is David Bamber as Mr. Collins. Seriously. He is just as smarmy and disgusting and repulsive and crawling and blerk that we just sat there screaming whenever he came on screen.

It was also amusing to dissect the make up and costuming - how breeches are so unflattering on the men. The way empire line dresses made them look like the girls were wearing nightgowns or curtains depending on the fabric. How could the men breathe with those tall collars and cravats. The way all the girls could not show their legs but so long as nipples weren't visible, the neckline could be as low as you wanted...unless you were supposed to be unattractive (i.e. Mary Bennet or Charlotte Lucas) and then they were covered up. And the way make up put bags and pimples on Mary.

It's been about 3 years since I last watched it. I didn't remember all the cheesy intercuts, the replay of scenes or voiceovers of key parts of the story, the soft focuses....hehehehehe. The stray hair at the top of the camera during the Netherfield Ball scene. The fake snow. The way Darcy never cracks a smile until the end. The way Darcy just got up and walked away whenever conversation didn't suit him. Hilarious.

Yes, it was highly enjoyable watching as we lay there eating M&Ms, marshmallows, shortbread and cupcakes watching Lizze reject offer after offer and then end up with a man with one of the greatest estates in Derbyshire.

You didn't really thin I'd leave without mentioning The Wet Shirt Scene, did you? We actually sat up straight for that part.

*grrl!*

Return to form

Wow, I really did have a big blogging week, didn't I? The return to form to which I refer however, is actually the return of The Bender. Lydia has mentioned many times that 2007 (a.k.a The Year I Gave Up Excessive Alcohol Consumption) was pretty boring. So anyway, the Bender - the practice of stumbling around various alleyway bars of Melbourne and excessive alcohol consumption was resurrected last night.

Apart from the two glasses of red I had at after-works drinks, the night was kicked off at Cafe Vue's weekly cocktail party. Five cocktails paired up with 5 different types of fingerfood.

Menu of the night (actually changed monthly)

Cocktail #1 - Bellini with scallop papaya and spherified papaya balls.

Oooh, Bellini made with Moet? How swish :P

Cocktail #2 - Mojito served with beef tacos.

That mint foam (in place of actual mint) on top was like awesome, and I'm not a lover of foam foods.

But this is serious the best taco. Ever. I can't remember what they did to make it so special other than deep fry almost everything in it. It just was.

Cocktail #3 - Cosmpolitan paired with...

Cauliflower couscous with veal shin roulade and osso bucco sauce

Cocktail #4 - Bramble with roquefort pannacotta and pear puree.

The Grand Empress hates tequila so I got to have hers. Turns out she also hates blue cheese so I got to have that as well!!

Cocktail #5 - Espresso Martini with tiramisu

Now, I don't drink coffee at all so I happily handed it over to the Grand Empress. It turned out however that Lydia had told them there was a member of the party who didn't take coffee and they made me a coffee-free tiramisu and another cocktail (below).
I don't remember what was in it, but it was nice. Fruity.

Later in the night, some revellers started throwing tiles off the building next door, forcing the closure of the pathway to get to the toilets. So the restaurant instead opened up their doors to the (private) Dom Perignon room which had it's own bathroom. Faced with such opulence, we naturally had to take some uber-posed photos.

The Grand Empress also tried to get into the cabinet that held the Dom Perignon.

Despite the 5 cocktails + 1 white that she'd downed, The Grand Empress was *I'm not drunk. This doesn't feel like 'A Bender' to me!!!*, so we went to PennyBlue, MOO's more mature sibling.

The view of the bar from my bench.

Formerly loved bottles of booze that line the walls.

I remember the first time I went here with someone who shall remain nameless and we didn't spend a lot of time there because my companion was put off by the crowd who they found 'old'. When I pointed out that we ourselves were no longer lambs in the meadow, they got offended.

'Old' crowd visible in background

But last night was the triumphant return and it was very comfortable and completely pleasant. I like Pennyblue.

We slowly crawled our way up Lt. Bourke St. and went to Manchuria. Alas, since I somewhat consider Manchuria my *home* bar, I took no photos. Following Manchuria, we attempted to get into Seamstress, only to be told that it was closing!!! What?! At 1am on a Friday night/Saturday morning? Can I just say *FAIL*?!?! So instead we hied it down to somewhere that's close to becoming my new favourite place 1806, with my new favourite sitting area, the Red Alcove.

Yes, I arranged this photo so you can see the coolness of my Red Alcove.
(Plus advertising)

Snuggled in the comfy red velvet chair. (Ignore the blurriness)

Lydia at her regal best.

The Grand Empress demonstrates why I love the Red Alcove so much. That's right, the colour looks good with our colouring and it's really comfy.

Yessum, the Red Alcove rocks. All I ask now is that no one sit in it so it remains MY area. Okay? Good.

And no bender is complete without Stalactites, which did not live up to its other nickname of Fight Club. It did however deliver the souvlakis at 2:30am and it remains the one place of 'good' (read: mediocre but full of memories) food that hasn't disappointed the Grand Empress on her return home.

Sculpture of the Week (Blog Challenge #1: Robots)

Android from Laputa: Castle in the Sky,
Studio Ghibli Museum, Mitaka, Tokyo, Japan
(source)

For lovers of movies by Hayao Miyazaki/Studio Ghibli, there's a museum in Tokyo. AND you can get there by riding the catbus!!! But I decided to be lazy this week and use the sculpture of the robot from Laputa to be my sculpture of the week. I couldn't be bothered finding anything better.

Talk about giving me the shits...

Yesterday I donated some of my claret to the Blood Bank during which they totally butchered my elbow. But that's not what gave me the shits.

I don't know how many of my readers remember the TV sitcom Roseanne. I figure an even smaller number remember the episode where Roseanne forces her son DJ to become friends with guest star Florence Henderson's son, Elijah. DJ refuses to do so because Elijah is *weird*. When asked to explain why he's *weird*, DJ says (and we see) that Elijah sings to himself in public. Not loudly, but audibly enough for people to hear it.

There was a *singer* sitting behind me while I waited to give blood yesterday. Sure, it was under her breath, but audibly enough for me to hear her doing the looping *woooaaaahhh-oooahh-oooaahhs!!!* from Coldplay's Viva La Vida. Out of tune, mind you. Oh how I resisted the temptation to turn around and sing along with her to make her shut up. Or just to turn around to tell her to shut up. I resisted. I was serious good yesterday.

And here's a (bad) photo of my butchered vein for those who are curious.
The flash deleted most of it but you can see the puncture and surrounding bruise (blue arrow & red circle) which was still bleeding 10 hours later when I tried to take off the dressing and but what really surprised me was another bruise about a centimetre down my elbow! Don't worry about the yellow tinge, that's just the iodine - the area was a bit too tender to scrub it off.

Crimes against Fashion

Number 100 - Never slavishly follow trends.
Number 101 - If you feel you must follow a trend, choose your style carefully!!!

Heroin chic is not my favourite trend - for one, I don't see the appeal of looking like a druggie. Euw. But if you feel that's all you can pull off, Kate Moss will do as someone who may be addicted to drugs but outwardly seems fine. Amy Winehouse is another story altogether.

L - Amy's beehive in all its glory (source)
R - Sometimes she keeps it up by tying a cloth around it (source)

I don't know what's horrified me more - the fact that this girl has chosen to emulate someone who's so obviously self-destructing (although I suppose beehives have a late 50s-early 60s kind of cool to them) or that her hair was actually in such a condition to recreate that scraggy-held-up-with-a-cloth look.

Book review - Breaking Dawn by Stephenie Meyer

Hmmmm.....it is with unbelievably huge levels of disappointment that I must declare that I don't like this book. In fact, my feeling may be closer to loathing. And you know, I really loved Twilight and Eclipse - I was less enamoured of New Moon. There will be spoilers abounding.

Breaking Dawn is separated into thirds with Bella and Jacob Black, werewolf and best friend (her view)/wannabe boyfriend (his view). Bella Swan finally gets to be united with the vampire Edward Cullen for eternity. And so the first third of the book tells us of Bella and Edward's wedding extravaganza, their (implied) vampire/human sex-fest, and....Bella's mysterious pregnancy and the gory birth of the half human-half vampire Renesmee. The last third chronicle's Bella's coming to terms as a new vampire and mother, as well as the final showdown with the vampire 'baddies', The Volturi.

While I recognise it as a piece of escapist horror/fantasy (I mean, its about vampires), there are several elements to this book which I quite liked and bits that I really disliked.

Likes -

• There's a lot of crazy shit that goes on in this book - did I not mention *vampire/human sex-fest and half human-half vampire babies?! I mean sure, the sex is skipped over because it's aimed at mid teens but I've got an active imagination. The birth scene is also pretty interesting in a blood on the ceiling kinda way. No way will that be able to be made into a teen movie :D
• Believe it or not, while I hate Jacob, I liked Jacob's part of the narration. He's a voice of reason when half human-half vampire babies make their appearance.
• The Volturi. I like a good bad vampire and unrepentant ones are the best. I love the idea of vampires making themselves an army to fight other vampires. They have power and aren't afraid to go get it :D

Dislikes

• BELLA. She just gave me the shits. I've gone on record to say I never understood what was so special about Bella but I chalked that up to the books being seen through her eyes. If we had a narrator talking about how awesome they were, that would be The Devil Wears Prada. I know that this is meant to be an emo-teen fantasy, but really...Bella goes from being an average clumsy teen to the most awesome and skilled vampire ever. In fact, she's pretty much the sole reason why there's no kill-fest; her power is so good that it can't beaten by the baddies. *eye roll* And she's so passive. She doesn't want a huge wedding but lets one be thrown for her anyway. She's happy to see Jacob on her wedding day knowing how Jacob and Edward feel about each other (i.e. they hate each other). She just made me....argh!!!!
• Bella's slavish devotion to Edward needs it's own section - it's as if she refuses to be a separate entity from him. Yeah okay, he's the love of your life and she'd, like, totally die without him. (Hell, she had a nervous breakdown when he left her for her own safety in book 2, New Moon - possibly the reason why I hate that one so much.) MFEO or not, Bella existed before Edward and if Edward went for whatever reason, life goes on. I'm out of the whole teenangsty *oh, I love him, I'd die without him* phase but the thought that some girls might be reading this and thinking *Yeah! That's the way I should treat myself in relation to my partner* is damn scary. Bella would prefer to die than abort her pregnancy because she can't kill something that's part of Edward!!! And then later on, she'd rather die in battle with Edward than to live without him...leaving said child an orphan. MAKE UP YOUR MIND WOMAN.
• Having said that, Edward is also pretty much lost (emasculated?) in this story. He doesn't really do anything. Sure, he's a participant in the vampire/human sex-fest but he wrecked it by saying he didn't want to do it anymore because she got covered in bruises during the fest. But he does it again anyway because its what she wants. How about you make her a vampire so you don't have to worry about it anymore? Problem solved.
• The whole pro-life teen pregnancy thing. You can argue that it's included as a warning against sex (sex can get your preggers, mmmkay?) but it is out of place. Either this book is a full-on fantasy thing, or it isn't. Everyone can make their choices and while I don't agree with Bella's choice, I can understand not wanting to abort your child. Of course, if I had to chose between the baby I want versus my life, I'd choose my life. Selfish, maybe, but pragmatic. But I am an adult, and I'm a good decade older than the audience this is aimed towards. I can make a more informed choice in this. A 15 yo does not know the effort in raising a child, they think they're acquiring something cute who will love them unconditionally (which Renesmee naturally already does in utero).
• The name Renesmee. HAHAHAHAHAH, ahhhh white trash. You never cease to amaze.
• Finally, I really wanted that vampire kill-fest to occur at the end. And I feel kinda ripped that it didn't happen.

So now that I've read this, I'd like to imagine that Breaking Dawn never happened. I'll read Midnight Sun (Twilight told from Edward's perspective) but I think I'll mentally write my own version of this one from now on.

A question for my readers

People, do you think my blog is too superficial? Would you actually like me to stop posting pics of various hot guys (usually athletes), and instead discuss more deep and meaningful things like politics or the credit crunch or literature? And by literature I mean more highbrow stuff than vampire romance?

poll by twiigs.com

I could probably write more analytical things but I feel my PhD is destroying my brain. Funny how things work like that.

Totally Looks Like...

Okay, I was reading over some of my travel blogs when I finally clicked who that wax doll in the Musee du Vin reminded me of - Gary Sinise!

Monsieur Mannequin

Lieutenant Dan

Okay, maybe I'm going a bit cuckoo.

In other news, does anyone think I should do this as a semi-regular feature, a la Crimes against fashion? If there's a reason why I haven't posted many of these lately, it's because it's getting harder to take a photo of a crime without the criminal taking note.

Totally Looks Like...

Usually I don't like to spoil eye candy. Especially in this case because I really do think the eye candies here are something special. However, I just really really had to share this.

As pointed out by Kickette, Yoann Gourcuff, the 'new Zidane', is quite pretty. I agree. But I also think he is a dead ringer for that saucy older sex symbol, Charlotte Rampling.

Petit Zizou

La Legende (source)

Now normally I don't like men who look like women, for obvious reasons. But I suppose there are worse women you could look like. So lets just sit back and admire his crazy eyelashes.

Is he wearing eyeliner?

For other (not so) crazy lookalikes, go to http://totallylookslike.com

Conversations with another Research Student

I was having a conversation with a friend and fellow research student about things we've had to give up since we decided to dedicate ourselves to consolidating the world's knowledge about our respective areas of interest.
Some things on the list include

• Having a day job
• Going out (more often)
• Having money
• Watching Korean dramas

We also talked about books and then my friend came out with this pearler of a quote that I have been given leave to publish here.

Sigh, i can't wait to finish my paper so i can read romance books, hahahahaah

Something easy, predictable with a happy ending. And that, my friends, sums up exactly how I feel about research right now :D

Movie review - Ratatouille

So people have been asking me why I haven't seen Ratatouille yet. Well now I have, and here's my review.Remy, a rat from the French countryside, secretly harbours a desire for gourmet food rather than the garbage the rest of his family eats. After accidentally alerting the vieille madame to the presence of rats in her house when trying to steal her saffron, Remy gets separated from his pack and ends up in the sewers of Paris. He ends up at the Gusteau's the restaurant that belonged to his deceased idol and now imaginary friend. On the same day, Alfredo Linguini gets hired as the garbage boy in the kitchen of Gusteau's. Seen by Remy, Linguini accidentally ruins a pot of soup and ham-fistedly tried to repair it. Remy steps in, and fixes it to the great acclaim of the clientele. To avoid Linguini getting fired and so Remy can fulfill a lifelong dream, the two decide to combine to revive the restaurant's fortunes!

That's pretty much the story. There are other elements of course for conflict etc etc. but otherwise *looks around* it's pretty weak. Its a fairly stock-standard *be true to yourself* story and there were times when I was fading out. Honestly? I found Linguini (Lou Romano) annoying. I mean sure, there are people who can't cook and unless you train, the likelihood of ever being able to chop vegetables like a pro is slim to none. But I find it incroyable that he couldn't even figure out what he was putting together aftera month. Or that he was stupid enough to not write the recipes down!!! A rat lives for 2, maybe 3 years. Did he think he could replace Remy?!?!

In contrast, I totally loved Remy (Patton Oswalt). Even though I handle rats - clean, lab-bred rats that have never been exposed to diseases - I would still never handle them without gloves and gown. And yet Ratatouille makes me think that a WILD SEWER RAT is cute and cuddly and should be allowed into commercial kitchens! I also liked Linguini's colleague Collette (Janeane Garofolo) who tries to teach him how to cook. Skinner (Ian Holm) who's trying to gain control of Gusteau's is a little bit 2-dimensional, but Anton Ego (Peter O'Toole) the reviewer who holds the fate of Gusteau's in his hands is who I loved best. The part where we see food having the power to transport Ego to his youth is possibly the best part of the film.

Now, I must make a comment that the voice characterisations was quite strange. While each actor themselves do a fine job, I want to know what's going on with the accents! The characters exhibit a melange of accents from faux French (Collette, Skinner), beautiful English (Ego), or generic American (Remy, Linguini). I wasn't sure if this was supposed to mean that Linguini is from somewhere, not Paris, or that Ego is English? Maybe I'm nit-picking here but I couldn't help thinking instead of getting fake accents, why not make everyone speak *normally* or get some French actors (e.g. Vincent Cassell, Jean Reno) who can speak English to do the voicing? Kinda like how they cast Mulan with Asian actors, never mind that it was in English?!

While the story is a bit of a letdown, the animation is exactly what we expect from Pixar. Paris is absolutely beautifully rendered and they certainly got the geography right :D. There are lot of beautiful shots over the rooftops of the city with the lit up Eiffel Tower in the background. I'd say Gusteau's is located somewhere on the left bank of the river, probably in the 7e arrondissement. It looks just like how I left it *sniff*. Another great sequence is when Remy is being washed around the sewers. Pixar may have done movement of water before in Finding Nemo, but this was something else with all the movment and bubbles and action! We also know how much I love animated hair and this movie doesn't disappoint - from the fluffy Remy to Collette's bob!
Reading over this review, I'm aware that it seems incredibly negative. However I really did like the movie, I just can't help being a little disappointed because the story didn't have the same degree of humour and pathos as other Pixar movies. I guess it's hard because they've set themselves such a high level to live up to. I'm also aware that the original director (Jan Pinkava) was replaced with Brad Bird at some point during production. Perhaps this was the reason behind the relatively weak story in comparison to the others. I wasn't as emotionally involved compared to Monsters Inc, or Finding Nemo, nor was it as exciting as The Incredibles or Wall-E.

Despite the technical and visual beauty, I found it hard to stay involved in Ratatouille. It's still within the top batch and it's way better than Cars, but.....sorry people. I think Persepolis should have been the winner of 2008 Animated Oscar. But Remy is really cute :D
8/10
(photos from rottentomatoes.com)

Painting of the Week - Madonna of the Pomegranate, Botticelli

Botticelli, Madonna of the Pomegranate c.1487, Galleria degli Uffizi, Florence, Italy
(Source)

Botticelli is a troublesome artist for me. When I was younger, I appreciated the (relative) simplicity of his linear style - he doesn't play too much with things like perspective nor is there religious iconography/symbolism overload. This means that this his paintings are easy to *read* and his early works, particularly the mythological paintings such as Birth of Venus have a serenity to them. At the same time, however, some of his works repulse me, particularly his later paintings which almost seem grotesque, use of darker colours, and some of his figures start looking distorted, most noticeably in the Madonna del Padiglione where her head is too big.

Madonna of the Pomegranate is a mid-style painting, still very pretty, simple, and serene but the sad faces of the figures mean it's not all happy joy. This is due to the use of the pomegranate which iconographically represents the Passion. But I didn't choose this painting to have a discussion on religion. I chose it because I've always thought that Paolo Maldini as a toddler looks like he belongs in a Botticelli painting!

Baby Paolo. What do you think?

Parkour!

I am quite fascinated with parkour. It's related to the strength and fitness required to do all that jumping and climbing, combined with the fearlessness required to launch yourself off something metres above the ground to land and roll on concrete. Or even better...to climb something until you're x metres off the ground :D. I was a right little monkey as a kid and...well...while puberty changed the centre of my gravity, perhaps one day that monkey will return. One day.

Last night, I went with a group consisting of Markdod, dancinghula, Punz, The Pom, and Annie to go watch a demonstration of this down at Fed Sq. I thought *Awesome! I'd love to watch some ppl climb the information booth at Fed Sq!!!* Instead we were treated to some people climbing a pre-built apparatus made out of metal poles and vaulting horses. Still good, but perhaps not as exciting.

Some pics and a vid:

Sunset looking southwest from Fed Sq. towards the Arts Centre Spire

The apparatus. I realise this makes the city look kinda glam

The traceurs do their climbing

And more climbing

The really good thing about the demo however was the inclusion of a chubby girl. Apart from her size and gender, I picked her out because her running compared to the others noticeably lacked the grace of the others and her vaults/climbs were not as fluid. But it made us all say this afterwards - if she can do it, WE can do it!!!

But here is a link to an entertaining vid from Top Gear of James Captain Slow May racing a Peugeot vs. two traceurs on foot to the Liver Building in Liverpool. Enjoy! (Seriously, watch this vid)

Comfort Food - Breadtop Twin Sausage Bread

You know when there are times when you're feeling kinda hungry but don't want to pig out so you look for something that will satisfy on various levels but keep you wanting more? This happened to me today as I was leaving uni with dancinghula. I just started to feel hungry. Not hungry or HUNGRY, just hungry. There was some gut-gurgling but not enough to justify stopping for a bowl of noodles before heading home to eat another dinner. In times like these, what I go for is Twin Sausage Bread.

(Okay, when I'm in a more healthy frame of mind, I'm actually more likely to go for some sushi handrolls but they don't inspire me to write. Yet.)

Twin Sausage Bread in their display case (Source - yes, someone else loves them too)

But what is Twin Sausage Bread? It's two individual cocktail weenies wrapped in sweet Asian bread. See that cheese bit in the middle? That glues the two buns together. It's like your daily intake of carbs and sugar and nitrates and happy in one fell swoop.

But the really great thing about them is the *twin* element. In theory, you could tear them apart and eat one now, eat one later. Or you can tear them apart and share it with a *wuvved* one. Of course, a real loved one would just give me the whole thing. But the thought is there. And that is what makes Twin Sausage Bread great. I stood at the bus stop happily munching on one half and then the other, not even remotely annoyed that I missed by bus by going to get the bread. Comforting it is, on so many levels.

Peace out.

In Progress

Just a filler blog...

• I have just begun reading Breaking Dawn, the last book in the Twilight series. I will probably review it when I'm done.
• Cold weather has returned with a vengeance here. I was stranded for 10 minutes under the verandah of a medical centre near my place while I waited for the fat rain to abate. Then it became horizontal rain and I debated asking my parents to drive 2 minutes to pick me up. I refrained
• Gnoudesavanes has complained that my entry on our drinking is an example of non-objective media reporting. He claims I was not as coherent as made out. I disagree but I will post his objection to show that I am not biased.
  
• The lab is still a bitch.
• I've recently installed a reader map in the sidebar column. I had no idea I had such an international audience! I need to figure out how to do that google thing that shows how people end up at your blog.
  

And with that, I bid goodnight!

Backblog: Omar, Cam & Dr. Nance's (in absentia) birthday dinner

To celebrate the triple birthday, we decided to go out and eat at a place that received one hat in this year's Good Food Guide, Oyster Lt Bourke. And it sure was a nice environment in there - muted conversation, soft lighting, nice cutlery...what wasn't to like?

Clint and Rachie listen intently to someone

Silly Natty with bonus Ladiesman_217

Me holding up the nice laguiole knife that Ladiesman_217 found cut his lamb so smoothly

That's some intent menu analysis going on there

Now I'm actually allergic to oysters so I was unable to savour some of the restaurant's specialty items, but luckily that's not the only thing they serve there! There was some intense head shuffling while I decided on my entree but I believe I made the right choice.

The oysters that I couldn't eat

The half a dozen scallops that I could!
Silly Natty and Ladiesman_217 thought these were better than the oysters!! Hehehe

My pork belly. The sides of coleslaw and poached nashi were especially tasty.

The triple dessert threat - in order of tastiness rank

The *Maxibon* parfait

The banana and date pudding

The lemon crepes with meringue

Yes, I was a well fed girl that night, and happy birthday again to all the celebrants!

Backblog: A bientot, Gnoudesavanes!

Gnoudesavanes had to return to France after 4.5 months of bad English-speaking, bad PCR-doing, bad Australian food-eating, bad Australian driver-dodging agony (his words, not mine). Oh diddums. Although I have complained that il est un très mauvais prof de français , he's always been up for a party so we decided to go out the way we conducted the rest of our language exchanges - with a blaze of alcohol.

We decided that the weekend before his departure, we were going to get him absolutely smashed as he said he felt he had not been drunk his entire time in Melb. I decided that was just wrong and I was up to the challenge. Being young, he spent the week prior to this to brag about what a great drinker he was and he was going to destroy me. Clearly the kid didn't know who he was drinking with. So on the same night that the Hawks pulled a surprise victory over the Cats in the AFL Grand Final, I took up the challenge. There there many other drunks on the street. It was highly entertaining.

Here are some pics from the cosy bar we camped in.


I am pleased to say that for all his posturing, after a jug of beer, 1/2 a bottle of red, 1 white russians 2 absinthes (for him) and two G&Ts, the other half of the red, and 2 absinthes (for me), I was the one who was coherent. Yes, victory is sweet.

A rematch is scheduled for 2010. Let the training commence!

Sculpture of the Week

10th Century Chola Dynasty (India), Shiva Nataraja (Shiva Lord of the Dance)

My knowledge of Asian Art is nowhere near as good as my knowledge of Western Art but I do find Indian/Hindu sculpture fascinating. The compositions are particularly graceful and it's interesting how every sculture can be read through the symbolism seen in objects, pose and hand gesture.

Representing the cycle of destruction and creation, Shiva Nataraja depicts Shiva dancing in a ring of fire while stomping on the dwarf of ignorance, Apasmara. Reading clockwise, his top left hand holds fire meaning destruction, the front left hand points points to the raised foot (when the foot hits the ground, the world will end!). The front right hand is the abhayamudra representing comfort, while the back left hand holds a drum that will lead to the (re)creation of the world.

Cast using the 'lost wax method', Shiva Nataraja is a popular subject in Indian sculpture and I think every gallery I've visited that has an Asian Art section contains at least one Shiva Nataraj. It also appears in Indian painting and dancing.

Movie review - Wall-E

Not many movies out there can convince you that robots have individual personalities, much less that they can fall in love! Even less can convince you that a cockroach is suitable pet material! But Pixar's latest effort, WALL-E does both!

Earth has been turned into a wasteland of un-recyclables and whatnot. Humans have abandoned the planet to go on an extended holiday in space while robots clean and compact the garbage. After 700 years, there's only one robot left, Wall-E. Everyday he goes about his compacting with his pet cockroach, collecting little things that interest him in the garbage. Things change when one day a rocket arrives and deposits the robot Eve...and Wall-E falls in love.

Being a Pixar movie, we all know the animation is top notch. The space shots of planets, galaxies and nebulae look like they could have been taken by the Hubble. If there was a problem, it would be the use of real-action photography to show the how and why the Earth was abandoned and then changing the the cartoony humans on the spaceship. Sure, they've spent their entire lives being lazy and eating junk food but it was a bit jarring.

However the real strength in this movie is the characterisation. The ability to imbue personality and make the audience invest emotionally in a pair of robots who communicate through a series of bleeps, now that takes real effort! We get a feeling of the chemistry between Wall-E and Eve to the extent that when some moments happen at the climax of the movie, I started to tear up! Really! The movie also avoids the more contentious reason as to how humans wrecked the world (global warming) and instead opts for it being the result of our consumption and laziness. It also has a nifty reference to 2001: A Space Odyssey that made me go - Oh, that's evil!!! And I liked the cleverness of showing the regrowth of the human civilisation by invoking art historical styles over the end credits.

However, as much as I loved it (and I did) I didn't feel as blown away with it as I did for The Incredibles, Finding Nemo or Monsters Inc. but I can't explain why. I'll think a bit more on this.

Nonetheless, a worthy addition to the Pixar canon.
8.5/10