Shopping win!

I had a desire to go shopping and buy myself some pretty things. While the list included pyjamas, undies, a trench coat, and slutty dresses, what I really did not need to buy were shoes. In that respect, I managed to restrain myself. Unfortunately, I only managed to get myself two dresses, one worky, one slutty :D

I have had something for shift dresses for a long time. Its always nice to find one that doesn't need to be taken up/in/thrown out. The shop selling the dress had an extra 25% marked price. Yes, discount on a discount. Score!

Okay, this dress is not that slutty - my inner classy girl won't let me delve into true skankiness but sometimes I do wonder if I should be showing bosom and leg at my age. And the answer is always yes.

Painting of the Week - Soft Self Portrait with Grilled Bacon by Salvador Dali

Salvador Dalí, Soft Self Portrait with Grilled Bacon, 1941

Fundació Gala-Salvador Dalí, Figueres, Spain
(Source)

During my trip to the gallery last week, I said to my companion "Yeah, Dali's a bit weird." My gift with understatement made some random laugh. But really. For all his strange appearance, bizarre behaviour, and freaky subject matter, Dali was a truly amazing artist.

A lot of Dali's work was inspired by dreams and Freudian psychoanalytical theory - something that appealed to him due to his complex relationship with his parents. Named after his brother who died nine months before he was born, Dali was often compared by his parents to dead brother and as a result developed a complex that made him feel he was second best.

Soft Self Portrait is a great example of Dali's work. Dali's melting likeness is supported by a number of crutches next to a rasher of bacon. The delicate supports could slip at any moment and he who is Dali, would crumble! I'm not even sure what the bacon means other than deliciousness. But the painting only really works due to Dali's amazing draughtmanship. How many people can convincingly portray liquidity through shading and so forth without photoshop? If you get to see his works up close, take a good look at how he's painted it. The brushstrokes are so small and fine as to be invisible. That my friends, is true skill.

R.I.P. The King of Pop

Let's forget the eccentricities and ignore all the crazy things he got up in more recent times and remember that which made him famous - all that great music.

*Edit 28/6/09* Okay, so my plan to have a youtube video fest to celebrate his life was scuttled by all the genuine solo vids having embedding disallowed. Instead I've spent the last two days scouring the site for fan vids. Enjoy!

Hope you find some peace with Elvis and Tupac in that great nightclub in the sky, and here's to looking forward to some excellent posthumous music!

One semester fail (not me this time!)

So I've been at uni for a very, very, very long time. In that time, I've seen a lot of things on campus come and go, I've seen various aspects evolve with the changing face of technology and student demands. I would like to think that I've become a good judge of what students like and therefore what will work at uni. For example, students like cheap food and free booze so noodle shops and beer at barbecues are always popular.

One thing I've watched with a modicum of interest is the transformation of Union House from a fairly low budget space where one could find cheap nooks to study in and subsidised food hall into something much shinier with flatscreens showing constants streams of advertising and a commercial space. One might argue that students at my uni like to use the lateast forms of communication and thus having a mobile phone shop in the main hall is a bonus convenience. Since that store has been around for the last 3 years, I'd say it must successfully fulfil some sort of demand.

One might also argue that students tend to be of the higher economic background and like to wear the lastest fashions. However, while people might think opening a branded jeans store on campus seems like a no-brainer, I think people with half a brain would see that such a store would be unsustainable. While people might go *I hate my phone plan, I'm going to look for another one right now!*, it's not as if they would also say *I hate my jeans, I'm going to buy another pair right now!* So when I saw that some fool had the golden decision to open a franchised store in the Union House, I didn't give it long. Sure enough, I walked past it today to find the space cleared out and the sign gone. Colour me surprised! The length of time the store had been there? About one semester.

I just hope a whole lot of money wasn't ploughed into that poor piece of logic. Hope springs eternal.

Sculpture of the Week - Five Elements - Water by Master Tetsunori Kawana

Master Tetsunori Kawana, Five Elements - Water, 2009

NGV International, Melbourne, Australia

I went to the gallery yesterday to see the Salvador Dali - Liquid Desire exhibition but while I was waiting for Ruilin, I took a stroll in the sculpture garden where I saw this wondrous creation. Made out of metres and metres of split bamboo, this absolutely HUGE sculpture amazingly recreates the undulating forms of a wave.This is going to sound pretty tossy, but I spent a bit of time looking at this and thinking about lovely it was. Apparently bamboo sculpture is considered a non-traditional form of ikebana. A photo from the side shows that the supporting structure underneath is also made from bamboo.
Awesome!

For Vanillabear

({) <----you know what that means, I hope!



Mmmmmm Juanes....Y cada vez que to ye busco, y no te pueod au hallar....y es por tiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii qui calma mi dolor!!!

English Grammar

English grammar is one those topics that inspires a specific way of thinking, and that way of thinking is 'posh'. So, older brother purchased a book explaining various English grammar rules (for making sure he drafts things properly). Being the nerd I am, I started reading about various rules out loud while riding in the car. As time went on, Brother pointed out that my vowels were becoming more 'round' and thus I was sounding 'posh'. He then poked fun at me. But I just couldn't help it! It's one of those topics, that make you think Received Pronunciation! The next day I was vindicated when he said while he was reading the book, he started thinking in Received Pronunciation. Hah!

We also ended up debating the use of the full stop (or period in American English). The book stated that the use of a full stop is used in abbreviations, however this is falling out of practice. Well, I still use it! If someone is a mister, doctor or professor, it's still Mr., 'Dr., and Prof. to me! I was then accused of using archaic grammar. I beg to differ, it is not archaic, it is correct!

Movie review - Terminator Salvation

James Cameron's Terminator movie were huge genre and age-defining movies! How many different catchphrases came out of them? Also, you know when you see a red light coming out of a robot's eye that they MUST be evil! Terminator 3 was not so good a movie. So is Terminator Salvation up there with 1 & 2 or 3? Well, I find that this can be answered by three questions. Do you like explosions and loud noises? Do you like killer robots? Do you like Hollywood explorations of what it means to be human?! If so, then Terminator Salvation is for you!

You'll note I made no comment about plot. To quote Sarah Connor from the original movies, "You could go crazy thinking about this stuff too much." In a nutshell, the film begins in 2003 with Helena Bonham Carter convincing death-row prisoner Marcus Wright (Sam Worthington) to donate his body to science. It then cuts to post-Judgment Day 2018 where we see John Connor (Christian Bale) leading some Resistance fighters to some Skynet fortress. When it all goes pear shaped and he ends up being to sole survivor of the attack, he dives off to see the Leaders of the Resistance in their submarine. The leaders tell John Connor that they picked up a Top Five Humans to Kill List from Skynet where number one is Kyle Reese - his father for ppl who don't know Terminator Canon. Meanwhile, who should wake up and emerge from the ruins of said Skynet fortress but...Marcus Wright. And who should he meet on his confused meanderings but...Kyle Reese... and the story writes itself!

If there's one thing that stands out, it is the acting. Christian Bale as Bat...sorry, John Connor is channelling all his Batman angst and, at times, that gravelly voice. Sam Worthington is probably better than Bale - good mix of *WTF am I doing here?* expressiong and lookin' dirty hot. Anton Yelchin as Kyle Reese clearly watched a lot of Terminator 1 because sometimes he actually looked like he might grow up to be Michael Biehn! Also, after this movie and Bellatrix Lestrange, Helena Bonham Carter is officially the face and voice of evil. Otherwise, everyone else is kinda second fiddle to the giant killer robots.

So the things I didn't like. My god, that movie was bloody loud. I was wearing jeans and a duffle coat and I could feel them moving with the soundwaves. They are not light fabrics! Also, there's a plot point in the movie where Marcus runs into a female Resistance fighter pilot and the two travel together on foot to meet up with John Connor. He protects her from some potential rapists and she starts falling in lurve with him. Later, *Spoiler* Marcus steps on a land mine and we find out he's actually a robot - noooooooo. She nonetheless decides that she's in love with Marcus, overriding years and years of conditioning whereby robots are out to kill the human race and despite seeing him hanging from chains that reveal his robotic insides. Seeing that bit was kinda gross.*end spoiler.

Anyway, Term Salv is full of exploding fun. The feeling of tension of trying to kill the relentless killing machines before they kill you is definitely back and there's none of the playing for cheap laughs as seen in the third installment. There's lots of nice references to the original movies although really hardcore fans who want the 'future' to be exactly what we saw in the others will probably be disappointed. Just ask that they turn down the volume a bit.
Enjoyable, bring earplugs.
7.5/10

Hardcore weekend roundup!

Sometimes, you need a weekend full of activities that are thesis-free. This past-weekend was not a thesis-free weekend but it may as well have been!

Firstly it was kicked off with Suboo's big 3-0 birthday party! Even though we weren't that late, I was mildly amused to be greeted with an exuberant headlock and then being dragged off to the loos where I then had her begging me to get her some toilet paper because her cubicle was out. Suboo lived up to her man-magnet reputation when we acquired the random Kiwi, Ross. He was going back to NZ on Sunday and was out celebrating a Friday when he 'lost' his friends and ended up hanging out with a bunch of Asian chicks. This is my fave photo of the situation with Suboo smiling winsomely at the kiwi as I gaze on in amusement, all photographed by Mischka!

See that hot dress she's wearing? She nearly didn't buy it - I had to get other ppl around Myer to convince her she looked hot in it!

On Saturday morning, I manged to drag myself out of bed to meet some Path ppl and have the best hangover remedy lunch possible - yumcha! Mmmm, dumpling goodness. I can't remember everything I ate but there were at least 2 egg custard tarts due to a mixup in the order resulting in our table of 12 receiving 16 tarts. You'd think you'd never see the day when one needs to struggle to get one of those down but that day did arrive. There's also a photo somewhere of French Pierre eating a phoenix (chicken) foot but in reality he didn't eat it - he turned it inside out to make it look like he at it. Weak.

Li with all the yumcha money (as held by me)

We then braved the cold cold winds to go to Max Brenner for some warmingly comforting chocolate drinks.

And then on Sunday, the most hardcore activity of all - Suboo's birthday paintball. Some people expressed horror that I was being given a gun, a paintball gun, but something that fires projectiles at 300kmh nonetheless! Not having been before, I was advised to rewatch war movies, something like Platoon or Black Hawk Down to get myself into the ducking and shooting frame of mind. I didn't follow that advice but the memories I hold from all the other times I'd seen them clearly stayed in my mind because I'm not finding that I'm hugely injured today. I was a *lucky ducker* in that I'd bob out to shoot, then duck back behind my shelter and feel a *whoosh* as a paintball was fired into the space formerly occupied by me! I was (un)fortunately mostly hit in the chest so I'm relatively injury-free since girls were given breastplate armour, but I do have some bruising on my legs. However, they are not as spectacular as the bruises Suboo scores so here are the pics of her bruises!

L - The bruise on Sunday night, R - Monday night!

So yes, big weekend all round - AND I managed to do some writing on Sunday night! Score!

Painting of the Week - The Battle by John Brack

John Brack, The Battle, 1981-83

National Gallery of Australia, Canberra, Australia
(Source)

There is currently an excellent John Brack retrospective on at the National Gallery of Victoria Australia which I saw a few weekends ago. The Brack paintings most people (myself included) would be familiar with would be his images of 1950s Melbourne - sullen-faced drone-like workers trudging along the street in Collins St. 5pm or the ironic domestic take of The New House. My favourite picture of the entire exhibition was The Playground which was an eagle-eyed veiw of a school yard, showing the different games and cliques that occur in primary school using stick-like child figures. I found it amazing the way Brack managed to convey the sight, sounds, and feelings within the scene - it was as if I could hear the skipping chants and the screams and see who were best friends and who were the outcasts.

Anyway, I was not able to find The Playground online so I instead chose this later work, The Battle. Brack's later works substituted pens and dolls for people, and this painting accurately represents the Battle of Waterloo as conducted by different coloured pencils and pens. The blue French troops attack the red English while the brown Prussians attack on the flank. Looking at it from up close, it is quite interesting to see the meticulous depiction of military actions as carried out by inanimate objects. Seeing the fallen pencils as troops while the battle rages on over them, the chaos where the troop parties meet...it's incredible!

If you're in Melbourne anytime before August or Adelaide between October and January, I highly recommend going to see the exhibition.

I was wrong

I was so wrong.

Comfort food - frozen lasagne

I can't remember how or why, but recently I had a craving for frozen lasagne. Following satiating of this craving, I have been inspired to write this post! Yes, for a girl who likes her fine dining, I can go hella cheap and nasty when the second brain in my gut demands it.
But why frozen lasagne? It's probably the melange of tomato-based sauce with unidentifiable meat (I'm not sure whether it's beef, mutton, or random machine scrapings - probably all three), layered between sheets of pasta that are invariably stuck together at one end, slathered in a bechamel-esque white sauce. I can't say 'cheese' sauce because I'm not sure if there is actually any cheese in it. Regardless of whether it is cooked in the oven or microwave, there is something indescribably seductive about holding the hot tray in your hands, tangy tomato-ish scent wafting around, and then the first bite when the salty-sweet flavour inherent in all instant foods spreads around one's mouth.
Our personal favourite is the Sara Lee brand which can be found as either 1kg Family (or 2.3kg Jumbo Family) sizes. I can recall many a Friday night as a child where Pooey, Spuey and I would share one, eyeing each other off and making sure the thing was sliced up with mathematical precision to make sure no one received more than the other.
Oh great, now I'm craving it again.

Don't speak to me...well, give me time to digest before you do anyway :(

I'll admit that when the news that AC Milan had sold Kaka to Real Madrid did not appear in the news on Monday AEST (as I was expecting), I was happy thinking that it was all rumour-mongering. Then I checked the news this morning and all my dreams and hopes were dashed.

Oh Kaka :( What does this mean for Milan and Serie A in general? For Milan it is both negative and positive. Okay selling off your youngish midfielders isn't the greatest way to go (they also sold Lashes Gourcuff to Bordeaux) and the loss of Paolo Maldini weakens the team incredibly, but on the other hand, selling him for a CRAZY €70m+ range (full cost not disclosed yet) means that they are getting a huge cash injection as well as not having to pay his astronomical wages. Wages that were well spent in my opinion, but still...I just hope they use the money to get some good players and not waste it on buying more old ones...*cough Becks cough*.

It also means the loss of this kind of hottie action but you know, at least I can console myself that he's not going to Man City, he's just adding to the really hotness of Really Hot Madrid. Maybe he and mi marido will do something pleasing. Joint press conferences/modelling opportunities! :D

For Serie A, this is a bad, bad thing because it pretty much confirms the Italian League as third place behing the EPL and La Liga. Already weakened by the Calciopoli rigging scandal of 2006, it's never good to have an efflux of the best players in their prime to other leagues. And given the weak showing of the Italians in this years' Champions League...poor Caramelbear :(

On the other hand, this probably means that CRonaldo will probably stay with Man Utd. I think that makes me happy. Maybe. And I'm glad I didn't spend all those euros to get that Milan Kaka shirt that I was considering about 3 months ago. That DEFINITELY makes me happy :D

And so, I would like to welcome Kaka to Galaticos Mk II. Stay classy. Besos :)

Thesis writing fail

Another week, another thesis chapter due. Once it became apparent to myself that there was NO WAY I could get a chapter in by Friday, I went over and told the boss who said she hadn't read the last chapter I gave her and she was taking the long weekend off anyway.

So yay, I had this weekend to write! Except being the long weekend, parties got lined up and it turned out that Saturday was my only non-party day (through choice).

And then instead of writing, I decided to mega-clean my room. Seriously, given how little time I spend here and even then, I'm mostly sleeping, how did it get so dirty? Some laundering and clothes folding, wardrobe weeding, and furniture moving later, I was ready to start vacuuming...and then I got The Call (well, the msn msg) from Suboo asking if I wanted to go to Shoppo for some stocktake sale shopping.

HELL YEAH!!!

I got these Kate Spade kitten heels which were 50% off and which Mischka has described as being straight out of The Wizard of Oz! Mmmmm, patent red leather :D

Then once I got home, I commenced vacuuming and reshuffled some of my book shelves, then decided that I needed to make some anti-moth bags for my wardrobe (some cloves, lavender, mothballs and eucalyptus oil in a little cloth bag). And then I decided to file away some documents and reshuffle more books. So now my room is kinda clean and smelling like the roses ...but I got not writing done. It's now 12:30am on Sunday. Fail!

Painting of the Week - Primavera by Botticelli

Botticelli, La Primavera, c. 1490s
Uffizi, Florence, Italy
(Source)

In this famous painting by Botticelli, we see the Goddess of Love, Venus, in an orange grove surrounded by a number of characters who are (from R-L) The West Wind, Zephyrus, zooming in and captures Chloris who is then turned into Flora, Cupid above Venus' head aiming his arrow at one of the Three Graces who dance with linked hands, and Mercury, who is stirring the winds with the caduceus (his staff). So, it's a very pretty visually pleasing picture but it doesn't have particularly awesome technical/perspective tricks. The figures are pretty but they're not the best modelled characters around.

It's the use of characters from Classical Mythology as the subject is remarkable - just in case you hadn't noticed that all of the previously covered pieces had a religious subject matter. One of the big things to come out of the Renaissance was the rise of Humanism, Neoplatonism, and the rediscovery of classical texts. Gombrich's take was that Primavera was probably based on detailed descriptions of paintings from antiquity (ekphrasis), and full of symbolism that should be meditated upon in terms of Platonic ideals - beauty, intellectualism and so forth.

And it's all very highly symbolic which I won't talk about here.

Kitchen experimentation - Rainbow cake Mk I

Awhile ago, caramelbear found a recipe for rainbow cake and showed it to the rest of us. Me being the resident Remy scoffed at the fact they used cake mixes and lemonade to make the cake. Yuk. Diet cake? Cakes should be made with things like eggs and butter! They're all about celebrating the wonder of life not restriction!

Having voiced this sentiment, I was challenged by the other Orangehoodies to make my own version of the rainbow cake. I decided to use the lemon cake recipe since it's relatively easy with a nice clean flavour. Plus lemon is a fruit for people who care about things like nutrition. And so, here I present my Rainbow cake made with all the things that make life worth living!

Ingredients
250g butter (yes, one whole block!)
1 cup of caster sugar (yes, one whole cup!)
2 tsp lemon rind (fruit!)
4 eggs (protein and cholesterol!)
2 cups self raising flour (carbs!)
1tsp baking powder
2tbs lemon juice (fruit again!)
1.5 tbs poppyseeds (everyone loves opiates!)
Food colouring (mmmmm!)
2 cups of secret ingredient (my love!)

Cream the butter and sugar together

Grate the lemon rind and add that to the butter/sugar mix.
It's easier to grate and then juice the lemon

Slowly beat the eggs into the butter/sugar mixture until the mixture is nice and liquidy

Sift the flour and baking powder into the mixture and mix in well

Add the poppyseeds and lemon juice, then start dividing up the mixture and colouring it with food colouring (the original recipe used something called "jelly colours" which I couldn't find in the normal supermarket - might have to look for them in the specialist baking stores). Bake at 170 degrees C/338 degrees F for 45 minutes

Ice if you want, I was too lazy so I covered it in a saturated sugar syrup that will form a crust as well as soak the cake more lemon flavour. Cool in the tin (for 30 mins), then transferred it to a wire rack.

And this is how it ended up!
(note to self, put more green in next time)

I will agree with the original baker in that for this cake to work properly, you need to increase the quantities so the colours show up better, otherwise you get colour smushing which is what happened in my cake. That will mean you can either bake one MEGA cake (and change the duration it stays in the oven) or do what they did and make 2 separate cakes. Regardless of whether it was successful at doing the *rainbow* thing is debateable, but it's still delicious and I imagine, better tasting than a cake without fat or sugar!

Happy 30th birthday, Kahuna!

Thirty years is a real landmark, Cesc thinks it's time to party!

Start off classy...

End up on the pitch *thumbs up*!