Sure, whatever

A couple of weeks ago, I met a friend of a friend. She looked at some photos on my camera and asked me "Who is that?"
My reply was, "Errr....that's me."
"NO WAY!!!"
What followed next was akin to this scene from the 2001 spoof-movie classic (The first? The best?) when it was requested I remove my glasses and let down my hair.

(The audio has been disabled but you should get the gist at about 0:50 - 1:25)

Eventually though, the level of her incredulity moved me from being flattered to feeling a little insulted. Quite frankly, I like my glasses and it's more practical to have my hair pulled back when in the lab. Other people have since told me that the removal of my glasses and change of hair leads to a complete metamorphosis, most recently a gay senior researcher at work. I think I look pretty much the same but I'll concede that I may not be the best judge here.

So the poll is basically whether I should drop the geeky scientist look in favour of the glamour bombshell.

Movie review - Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince

One of the problems I have noted with viewing and reviewing the Harry Potter movies is that being a fan has both it's distinct advantages and disadvantages. As a fan who has read all the books, you know what's going to happen and why and can fill in the gaps - non-readers have to make do with action scenes or whatever plot points the script/director decides to keep. But by knowing what I need to look for, my ability to assess the movie is severely compromised. This is particularly apparent in HP6.

Following the events of HP5, the Wizarding World is aware the Voldemort really is back and the Muggle world is aware something isn't quite right due to brazen attacks by his followers, the Death Eaters. (I must say that the opening scene of zooming around London and The Millenium Bridge being destroyed was pretty awesome!) After realising that keeping Harry out of the loop is no good, Dumbledore decides that this time Harry should have a central role in finding out how to destroy Lord Voldemort. And Harry is going to do it by trying to crack the memories of Professor Slughorn (Jim Broadbent - really, who does batty old Englishman better than him?) who told Voldemort some key info while he was still merely Tom Riddle at Hogwarts...

So I watched the movie with The Pom (book fan) and Laulita (non-book reader). Oddly enough, the Pom had expressed the same sentiments as me following HP5 - that it was a terrible movie that ignored key plot elements in favour of the action scenes. We also expressed the same opinion about HP6 - that it was a lot better than HP5 with better plot development with respect to what happens in the last installment.

Laulita's opinion could not be further than ours. Not having read the book, she described the movie has having action at the start, action at the end, and a long dragging middle section that meant absolutely nothing to her. Why was there so much talking? What was the point of various scenes involving Malfoy in that dingy room? You get the gist of it.

Further thought has brought me to this - since the other HP movies were filmed prior to the conclusion of the series, the moviemakers had to guess what was key enough to include in the film. This often meant ignoring complex plot elements in favour of action (as in HP5). Now that we know what's important, HP6 had to include what would be key to HP7 which meant the sacrifice of action in favour of development. Not really the most rivetting of things to watch. What HP6 did make me realise was how well JK Rowling had plotted the series and how I wanted to go back and reread the books.

Also, I guess the acting from the kids have marginally improved. Marginally. The visuals are pretty damn good too - nice sinister greyish colour wash.

So then if you are a fan of the books, HP6 is a 7-7.5/10.
If you haven't read the books, its a 3-4/10.

Character assassination

I like to think of myself as someone who does not sit idly by while injustices occur. If I see someone treated unfairly, I would like to think that I'd speak up, even if it means taking the unpopular route.

I would like to say that the treatment of the character Aleksandr Petrovsky (Mikhail Baryshnikov) in the final season of Sex and The City was totally unfair!

I only say this now because it wasn't until last month that I watched all of the episodes of S6 in a row and I saw how it panned out. This past weekend the last few eps were replayed again and I fully confirmed in my beliefs. Now, I was a fair to middling fan of SATC but I knew enough to follow which character was a sweetie-pie (Aidan), which was an insecure asshole (Berger) and which was a charming bastard (Big), but I fully believe that Petrovsky didn't misrepresent himself in anyway! Quite frankly, if Carrie were a little more mature, I think what she had going on with Petrovsky was a sweet situation. Lets break down why Petrovsky was an asshole in the view of the show and why I think it was simply blackening of character!

Petrovsky has a child from a previous relationship and doesn't want anymore kids, forcing Carrie to give up any likelihood of herself having any kids.

• Carrie doesn't exactly express her desire to have kids during the show. I think what happens here is a case of wanting what you can't have. Also, where's the acceptance that he had a life before she came along? He's 20 years older - of course there's the possibility he had a kid!
  

Petrovsky ignores her friends, instead deciding to stay in his studio.

• It's his job. If Big were working, it's not as if he could just leave it to entertain her drunk friends.
  

He's insensitive to Carrie's distress when Samantha is diagnosed with breast cancer, saying that he had a friend who died from it.

• Okay, it's important to be positive when friends get diagnosed with life-threatening conditions but it would be downright foolish to not face up to the reality that the chance that they might not pull through. He had experience in this and was trying to warn her that it's always a possibility.
  

Petrovsky decides to go to Paris, forcing Carrie to leave New York if they're to remain a couple.

• I can understand the difficulty in leaving behind a life to follow a partner across the world but I would like to reiterate that Petrovsky had a whole separate life before she came along and being an artist, there's always the chance he might want to leave and go to other arty cities. Also, if she didn't want to go, she didn't have to go...

When she arrives in Paris, she feels neglected because he talks to this friends in French which she doesn't speak fluently and doesn't go to the museums with her. He later forces her to go with him to the gallery instead of allowing her to potentially make friends and then ignores her once they get there.

• Didn't she say she always dreamed of going to Paris? What was she going to do when she got there, speak English? Pffft. How about instead of idling around, going to classes to improve your language skills or lack thereof? Or you know, get a job so you're not bored? Isn't Carrie an independent woman? We're given the impression that she stayed at the gallery for aaaages while he ignored her - how about leaving as soon it's apparent he doesn't need you?
  

He hit her during their last argument.

• That was an accident. He was facing away from her and shaking off her hand. That was no slap!
  

Carrie goes on to give that big speech at the end of An American Girl in Paris Part Deux about how she's searching for crazy, all-consuming love where she comes first.

• Ummm...this guy is paying for you to live in Paris with him. You can go out to Dior on Avenue Montaigne and buy it out. Without holding a job! I'd say he think's youre pretty important to him.
  

(There's more I could say but it's making me angry.)

So after all that, Carrie decides to go back to a guy who screwed her around for six years - someone who was unfaithful, married someone else within months of splitting from her, someone who moved across the continent and didn't intend on telling her, someone who was so immature and insecure that despite being in his 40s he ran away when he realised he loved her. And he did it AGAIN in the movie! (Okay he made it up to her there but they still won't be having kids.) Maybe it's because I have a soft spot for Paris and Russians, but I stand by my assessment. Petrovsky was a pretty good deal!

Painting of the Week - Portrait of Margaret Olley by William Dobell

Sir William Dobell, Margaret Olley, 1948
Art Gallery of NSW, Sydney
(Source)

Last week in the tearroom, Countryboy said to me "You're a bit knowy about art, what do you know about Margaret Olley?" I'm afraid I had to tell him I didn't know much about her but I knew that William Dobell painted this Archibald Prize-winning portrait of her.

For more information about this painting, see here.
For more information about Olley, see here.
For more information about Dobell and his complex relationship with the Archibald Prize, start here!

TV moment - The Wonder Years

I stayed home today, ostensibly to devote a few hours to doing re-analysis while wearing my pjs and in the comfort of my beanbag and snuggly blanket. While I managed to do this, I had to take a 30 minute break at 3pm to watch this....

In my head, it's hard to belive that The Wonder Years ran six years. It was such a defining show that it seems to have ran for both more and less than that amount of time. The show follows 11 year old Kevin Arnold (Fred Savage), his best friend Paul (Josh Saviano - who did NOT grow up to be Marilyn Manson), and his sometimes girlfriend Winnie Cooper (Danica Mackellar) through junior high to summer before college. So far, so what. But the show is set in the late 60-early 70s so there are additional issues dealing with various contemporary themes such as the Vietnam War, racial and social changes, in conjunction with the teen and family themes.

This show was so funny - I tried desperately to find the episode where Kevin gets a pimple on his chin a few days before he meets the hot daughter of family friend or the Kevin *Amold* episode (heh) on youtube. No luck. But another thing that made this show so awesome was the soundtrack comprising of contemporary music - The Doors, Jimi, The Beatles, The Stones etc... Unfortunately the awesomeness of the soundtrack is apparently what's causing difficulty in getting it onto DVD for everyone to enjoy because of licensing issues.

If this show is ever broadcast near you, watch it! And for those who have watched it and wanted to know if Kevin and Winnie end up with each other, here is the ending to the very last episode to answer your questions (Spoilers abound!!!)

Movie review - Transformers 2: Revenge of The Fallen

Someone once asked me who was my childhood cartoon crush (yes, my conversations really do go there). I pondered it for a long time and came up with no one! Not Inspector Gadget, not Papa Smurf, no AstroBoy! Well, now I can answer that question - I am gloriously, wonderfully in love with Optimus Prime!

Since the last move, it's become apparent that there are more Decepticons living in disguise on Earth despite the fact their leader, Megatron *died* at the end of the last movie and his carcass was dumped into the Laurentian Abyss. The Autobots, led by the awesome Optimus Prime, have joined forces with a multinational military team led by Josh Duhamel (still wearing too many clothes) to hunt down rogue Decepticons. But on a mission in Shanghai, a Decepticon makes a statement to OP that has him puzzled about what they're after...Meanwhile Sam (Shia LeBoeuf) is about to embark on going to college sans Megan Fox or Bumblebee, except he finds a shard of the Allspark on his shirt from 2007 and it he starts to see funny symbols in his brain...

Now, I was prepared for TF2-ROTF to be another Pearl Harbour given all the negativity I'd heard about it compared to the last one. This no doubt primed me to expect an absolute load of crap and I was pleasantly surprised to not be confronted by that. Of course, this is not going to win any Oscars (okay, maybe in CGI and sound editing) but c'mon people. It's a Michael Bay movie about Transformers. I think everyone's expectations were driven so high by the original tht there could only be disappointment for this one. I like to call it the Quantum of Solace effect.

Okay, there's no plot and the script is terrible but IT'S A MICHAEL BAY FILM. All of his movies have no plot or script. I'm not condoning that it's okay to just be a collection of action sequences linked together by some vague ...thing...but people walking into a movie of his expecting some sort of profound message have got to reassess which movies they're seeing. And sure, the acting is terrible but when you've cast people like The Beef, or your character direction seems to be sashay around (Megan Fox) or you've got a giant mechanical tongue coming out of your mouth (Isabel Lucas), where can you go? It's not Shakespeare! It's not even Tom Clancy.

So the good

• The new transformers - so many new options have been opened here.
• John Turturro is The Man!
• All action, all the time. And so many *shroop shreet zhooop* moments!
• Tyrese looks so cool in aviator shades.
• The CGI acting was taken up another notch - when the robots go Mano-a-Mano, they are brutal. I don't think I have ever seen so much pain etched on a fake robot before! My heart twisted in sympathetic agony.
• Way to go on blowing up various cities around the world! (Shanghai, Paris, Philly, Giza)
• How is it possible to imbue such nobility, such heroism, such awesomeness into a CGI wonder like Optimus Prime? Whoever was the lead nerd on him, i give you applause. *applause*

The bad

• Isabel Lucas really needs to lay off the fake tan. Or the real tan. Either way, I wouldnt be surprised if people have their hair dyed the colour of her skin, it is that orange/brown.
• Megan Fox should not be running in a singlet/tank top - fake boobs alert!
• Those twin Autobots and their jive talking. Can someone say Jar-Jar Binks?!?
• Disobedience of the laws of physics. If a windstorm is strong enough to drag a 1.5-tonne van into it, how is it possible for a skinny teenager to crawl into the opposited direction?
  
• It's like they took what ppl found amsuing in the first movie (inappropriate parents, random cuts, scolding giant robots) and dragged them so far that it left the realm of amusement and into annoyance.
• At 150 minutes, this movie was and felt far too long. Okay, it's only 6 minutes longer than the original but when I'm wondering when the explosions are going to stop, it's time to edit them down and say goodbye.
• (Spoiler comment) Excuse me, but Petra is NOT the tomb of the Primes, it's the location of the Holy Grail! (End spoiler comment)
  

So yes. Best Picture winner, this is not. Given how everyone was surprised by how good the first one was, it could only be down from there. But just go in with low expectations and I think you, like me, will be pleasantly amused.
7/10
Picture from Rotten Tomatoes.

Painting of the week - The Spinstress by George Romney

George Romney, The Spinstress (Portrait of Emma Hart) 1782-86
Kenwood House, Hampstead, UK
(Source)

I'm currently reading Kate Williams' biography of Emma, Lady Hamilton. It was a birthday present from elle'Mischka because the cleavage on the cover reminded her of me. How touching.

Anyway! Emma Hamilton/Emma Hart/Amy Lyon rose from the slums to marry into the aristocracy, and eventually the mistress of Lord Nelson even bearing his bastard daughter. And she did it by becomine a prostitute and artist's model. Although paintings of her from Joshua Reynolds and Elisabeth Vigee-Lebrun exist, she was most famous for her collaboration with George Romney. The Spinstress was painted while Emma was the mistress of Charles Greville and he had her sequestered away in the then-semi-rural hamlet of Paddington *snicker*. According to the biography, this painting was meant to be a joke on her position - a 'spinstress', innocently dressed in white, living a life of peace in the country, with a suggestively shaped spindle...

The thing that amuses me is that whenever you read about people in past centuries being described as beautiful, one might beg to differ when you eventually see paintings of them or wonder about the artistic licence. Whenever you see pics of Emma Hamilton she is actually recognisable as being herself in them and she was actually quite the hottie. Well done!

Movie review - My Friends, My Loves (Mes Amis, Mes Amours)

To be honest, I hadn't heard anything about this movie but Laulita had free tix so I went on down to watch it with her. Following the completion of the movie, I was still fairly ambivalent about the whole thing. It's now been a couple of days since I saw it and I'm really struggling to remember enough about it to write a critical review. Bless IMDB.

Mathias (Vincent Lindon) is a Parisien bookseller who is convinced to move to London by his best friend Antoine (Pascal Elbe). It also helps that his ex-wife and 9 (?) yo daughter live there and he hopes to become a family again. Alas, his dreams are dashed when his ex reveals she's moving back to Paris with a diplomat. To solve their communal loneliness, Mathias convinces Antoine (an architect) that they should knock down the communal wall in their terrace houses and live together as a family (Antoine has a son of comparable age to Mathias' daughter). And the two guys live together in a bromantic family arrangement with an assortment of ex-pat Frenchies until Mathias starts to fall in love with the beautiful Audrey (Virginie Ledoyen).

The story and acting were about the same - passable but nothing hugely inspiring to make me think I'd watch it again. Although the situation of two straight guys living together as a family was milked for a few laughs, given that they weren't doing it under the pretense of being gay the movie didn't go into any Strange Bedfellows/I Now Pronounce You... shenanigans.

Just as there was nothing great about it, there was nothing particularly bad about this movie either. I did laugh out loud a few times. It was quite nice to see the small family-like community of the two guys and their various friends but by the same token, it's London and yet everyone either speaks or is French. *shrug* I suppose I could say that a 50-ish guy who looks like Vincent Lindon would in no way be able to score a hottie like Virginie Ledoyen in real life but I suppose charm can go a long way!

Nothing particularly groundbreaking, some laugh-out-loud moments, just a bit *meh* overall.
5-6/10

VIA Signature Strength Quiz Results

I'd say these results are pretty accurate. Your Top Strength

Love of learning You love learning new things, whether in a class or on your own. You have always loved school, reading, and museums-anywhere and everywhere there is an opportunity to learn.

Your Second Strength

Honesty, authenticity, and genuineness You are an honest person, not only by speaking the truth but by living your life in a genuine and authentic way. You are down to earth and without pretense; you are a "real" person.

Your Third Strength

Humor and playfulness You like to laugh and tease. Bringing smiles to other people is important to you. You try to see the light side of all situations.

Your Fourth Strength

Self-control and self-regulation You self-consciously regulate what you feel and what you do. You are a disciplined person. You are in control of your appetites and your emotions, not vice versa.

Your Fifth Strength

Curiosity and interest in the world You are curious about everything. You are always asking questions, and you find all subjects and topics fascinating. You like exploration and discovery.

To do this quiz, go to http://www.authentichappiness.sas.upenn.edu/Default.aspx register (it's free) and choose VIA Signature Strengths under the *Questionnaires* menu

Super Sydney Foodfest 2009

Miss Pooky had expressed her displeasure that I did not conduct my annual Sydney sojourn in January. When combined with Mrs. S's sudden desire to escape from her prison (lab), and dancinghula, rao, and H's need to leave from C-town, we suddenly had a big party heading up for a Foodfest weekend!

And what else to do on a Foodfest but to eat? It was kicked off by a visit to Sushi Train. Alas, it was much to my distress that the Sushi Train at the corner of Bathurst and George is no longer $3.00 for all plates. *sob sob* My Asianess revolted at the thought of paying more than usual for the fare but my foodieness soon overrode that setting. I know. I'm just as surprised as you all are at that revelation.

Despite eating sushi train at 7pm, Pooky, H, and I followed it up by eating dinner at the Meat & Wine Co. at 8:30 - and what a follow up! I didn't bring my camera to immortalise my 350g rib eye steak, cooked medium-rare (I do love the taste of blood, muhahaha! Joke. Sorta), with a side of garlic mashed potatoes and green peppercorn sauce. Oh, and the bruschetta and salad side (for roughage). Luckily my brain camera was on so the memory of joy before the slight discomfort of overeating remains!

The next place to knock off the list was Menya, fave eating place of Pooey and Kahunes. Naturally I had to take photos to rub it in for the Meldoners.

Unfortunately I was still full from the epic dinner the night before so I didn't get to do my mini-ramen justice.

H also wanted to record his noodles for posterity

Next activity to knock off was High Tea. If there is anything more magical than the words *Cake Buffet,* I do not know them.

CAKE BUFFET!!!
Why yes, that is a chocolate fountain.

Some of the cakes. I think I managed to knock off a morsel of 80-90% of the cakes on offer.

Mrs. S momentarily resists eating that scone so I can take a photo of her.

The cake buffet was so exhausting we literally passed out after it...but then we got up to have dinner at the best Korean restaurant (that I know of), Seoul Ria! Dancinghula remembers this as the restaurant that made her love Korean food and that we HAD to eat the seafood pancake here together!

dancinghula is much happier than Rao to be at Seoul Ria.

Miss Pooky relishes in the water and seafood hotpot

Why yes, I am inappropriately and distractingly wearing the slutty dress.

Following dinner we all trundled down to Darling Harbour to the Lindt Cafe for chocolate and cake.

Except I had peppermint tea instead of chocolate...

mostly because I devoured a chocolate cake and thought it would be overkill.
This is an 'after' photo.

Miss Pooky and Mrs. S contemplate what sweeties they want.

I was slightly fooded out towards the end of the weekend and so did some touristy things that I normally avoid. So I met up with some cuzzies and we took a nice trundling walk around The Rocks and took in the view over Observatory Hill

The photomerged view...

and then we headed off for more food (being ordered at that moment)!

The adorable and 1/2 Asian Baby S.
Yes, those eyes are blue, that hair is blonde! :O

H enjoys the view of the view from the north shore.

But all good things must come to an end and we all had to part ways back to our various cities. *sigh* So who's up for Brilliant Brisbane Foodfest 2009?

Possum Alert!

There was much excitement (and a bit of horror) yesterday. It all started when another PhD student came to my office and said *Mallymoodle? There's a possum in my office.* So naturally I had to investigate.

And then call more people to investigate.

And then the working day was essentially finished while we fed it and waited for people to remove it.

Anyway, here's a video of the critter eating food from our hands, as taken by...(blogname tbc).

Sex Machine

The Bugatti Veyron 16.4 Grand Sport.

This sex machine is all yours for a bargain $US 2.1million.

As The Pom said, they better be making two because I'm not sharing.

I think these pictures speak for themselves but if you want someone to (sorta) review it, there's one here (also the picture source). You can almost hear the reviewer salivating. Please play this song while reading the review. It all makes sense.

Painting of the Week - The Kiss by Gustav Klimt

Gustav Klimt, The Kiss, 1907/8

Kunsthistorisches, Vienna
(Source)

This painting was chosen by Spuey who named it as one of his favourite paintings. Seen from above, The Kiss features a couple embracing on a field of flowers (seen in the bottom left) but it all dissolves into geometric shapes and the gold background. The general lack of anything to give context to where they are in space and time conveys to the viewer that there is nothing beyond the expression of love between the two figures. The feeling of intimacy also generated by the interlocked hands, and the rounded lines of the woman and ecstatic expression on her face.

Probably Klimt's most famous painting, The Kiss is an example of the Art Nouveau/Arts and Crafts movements.

Children's Sizes

Are children getting bigger or am I just really small? Since I'm not that small (5'3 thank you very much!) I would have to say they must be getting bigger.

I only say this because today I tried on a pair of pjs which were apparently a children's size 12. Much to my amusement, and sort of horror, they fit quite well! Are 12 year old girls 5'3 nowadays? Or am I just stuck in thinking 12 year olds as munchkins? I bought then anyway.

In other news, I also managed to get a new trench coat and can thus retire my old one.

*thumbs up*