Painting of the Week - The Penitent Magdalen by Georges de La Tour

Georges de La Tour, La Madeleine penitente, 1640-1645

Louvre, Paris

(Source)

Georges de La Tour is a somewhat mysterious artist. Influenced by Dutch followers of Caravaggio, de La Tour's early work contains images of cheats and cardsharps, he is most famous for his religious paintings lit by candlelight.

The Penitent Magdalen shows Mary Magdalen contemplating the candlelight (representing the frailty of life), with a skull cradled in her lap (representing acceptance of mortality). But it is the dramatic lighting of the scene that is most intriguing. The control of the light from the dark shadows of the corners to the bright flame dramatically outlines the Magdalen's contemplative profile, and highlights only the barest details of the items and the room. There is another version in LA that has even more dramatic light effects!

Incidentally, does anyone else think that the Magdalen looks like Olivia Hussey from Zeffirelli's Romeo and Juliet?

Forgive me for I have sinned...

...and I went to the Alannah Hill Warehouse sale even though I told myself that I wouldn't do any shopping until the summertime following my winter binge. *sigh* And to make it worse, I convinced elle'Mischka to come with me and she blew a lot of moolah on what was admittedly a lot of hot clothing.

Oh well. At least I didn't buy that pair of hot ankle boots that I nearly added to the pile!

Anyway, lets celebrate the goodies!

I saw this cardie in the store and I wanted it but was a little not sure given that the bow on top of my bust looked a bit strange. However, I decided that it was too cute to pass up now that it's on sale and figure that if it does continue looking weird on me, I can pass it over to Pooey, loser of the bust wars.

 

I do love the girly AH skirts and dresses and I purchased this A-line one out of a selection of three that I took with me to the change rooms.

Accessories - the scarf had a matching beanie...I kinda wish I bought it now.
Some knee-high and thigh-high socks, and a purse that after I bought it, found it had a broken zip tag. Unforch because it was no exchanges, I can't exchange, but I can't complain since it was about 70% off.

Hmmm, in hindsight, I actually didn't purchase that many items. I kinda feel like I should go back and buy more now. :S

Me + Hollywood Hair = Skank

So Vanillabear felt like she should get a hair makeover and to help her decide which style to use, she decided to use the InStyle Hollywood Makeover website. I will confess to being slightly fascinated by these types of programmes - which girl hasn't wondered what she'd look like if she could be made up to look like a movie star?!

With Jessica Alba's hair... ummm....no, doesn't suit.

They're also quite fun for doing things like messing with hair colour - clearly I would look terrible with blonde hair in real life but with the magic of The Interwebz, we can now tell how it would go!

Blonde like Amanda Seyfried (Mama Mia!/Mean Girls)

One thing I also noticed while using this was that Hollywood women have HUGE hair. Like....HUGE!!! And a lot of it too! I know this is due to hair extensions/weaves to make their hair look more lustrous and full but on an ordinary person (i.e. Me), it looked downright ridiculous.

With Blake Lively's (Gossip Girl) HUGE hair

Or as Pooey said when I showed this pic to her - OMG!!! YOU LOOK LIKE ONE OF THOSE ASIAN SKANKS IN THE CLUBS!!!

Highly recommended for a good afternoon laugh or procrastination time!

Your result for The Nerd? Geek? or Dork? Test...

Modern, Cool Nerd

83 % Nerd, 57% Geek, 26% Dork

For The Record:



A Nerd is someone who is passionate about learning/being smart/academia.

A Geek is someone who is passionate about some particular area or subject, often an obscure or difficult one.

A Dork is someone who has difficulty with common social expectations/interactions.



You scored better than half in Nerd and Geek, earning you the title of: Modern, Cool Nerd.



Nerds didn't use to be cool, but in the 90's that all changed. It used to be that, if you were a computer expert, you had to wear plaid or a pocket protector or suspenders or something that announced to the world that you couldn't quite fit in. Not anymore. Now, the intelligent and geeky have eked out for themselves a modicum of respect at the very least, and "geek is chic." The Modern, Cool Nerd is intelligent, knowledgable and always the person to call in a crisis (needing computer advice/an arcane bit of trivia knowledge). They are the one you want as your lifeline in Who Wants to Be a Millionaire (or the one up there, winning the million bucks)!



Congratulations!

Your result for The How Deprived of a Childhood Were You Test (EASY)...

Your Inner Child Scored 70%

You scored 70% Nostalgia. You've come a long way, kiddo!

Take The How Deprived of a Childhood Were You Test (EASY) at HelloQuizzy

Hottie of the Week - Henry Cavill

From the Isle of Jersey, I present Mr. Classic Hot (complete with tux), Henry Cavill.

Hai Vanillabear!!!

Movie review - Coraline

Coraline is the story of a young girl who moves into her new home, a 100+ year old house, with her journalist/writer parents and feels neglected as they struggle to reach deadline. After being told to explore the house and get our of their hair, Coraline finds a small door that after dark, turns into a portal to a parallel universe where everything is better and her 'Other' Mother lavishes attention on her...except everyone has buttons for eyes. But a mangy black cat knows the truth, and when the Other Mother wants to change Coraline's eyes to buttons, she has to battle to reach her 'real' home.

I was advised to watch this movie by Laulita who raved about how awesome it was. I'm not sure if it was awesome, but it was certainly different! The things I particularly liked was the voice acting with Dakota (oldest child in the world) Fanning as Coraline and Teri Hatcher as both versions of her Mother, and the visual which really are quite interesting, almost garish in the other world. The only drawback was that I knew Coraline has some scenes in 3D and I could tell which parts they were. I'm sure they would have been cool if I watched it in that format but it still looked good!

Based on a story by Neil Gaiman, this is a kiddie horror movie with some genuinely tense and kinda scary bits when the truth behind the Other World is revealed. My main problem was a fairly slow first half (I may have dozed off....), the wackiness to show the greatness of the Other World seems a little *too wacky* and forced, and the nastiness of the Real parents particularly the Mother seem a little cruelty for cruelty's sake rather than due to being busy and not giving her attention. Things get better in the second half when Coraline has several tasks to complete to escape the Other World, but it kinda rushes to a conclusion without complete justification of the events preceding it. Why is the Other Mother malevolent? Why did she create this whole world to trap children. Maybe I need to read the book to fill in the gaps.

Different, I'm just not sure if it's as fantastic as I was told it would be. Points for the excellent and visuals and voice acting, but the whole thing is let down by a weak story. Maybe I needed to see it in 3D for the visuals to override the plot.
6-6.5/10

The Hike

I'm in C-town for a change of scenery, visit friends, see some of the tourist highlights of our nation's capital, and a less disruptive location to write the thesis. It has been going to plan for a bit with nothing particularly out of character. Until yesterday.

So people who read this blog regularly and know me (probably because the only people who read this blog regularly actually know me :P), will know that I'm a dress-loving, high heel stiletto wearing lab scientist who likes to hang out at the cinema/gallery/bar in my spare time and maybe some theatre/opera/ballet to mix it up a bit. Outdoor pursuits? Maybe if it's because I'm pounding the pavement from one European gallery to the other! I began to hear comments from various sources that H had the brilliant plan that to enjoy C-town, I should go on a walk through the bush that surrounds the (small) city. This was reinforced by him actually asking me to bring a pair of proper athletic shoes rather than only kitten heels. :O

As I said to The Pom one day on the way to the gym, I'm like a luxury Persian cat! I can survive outside but it's best for everyone that you leave me indoors. However, because we are gym partners and therefore have a more special relationship where we can abuse the other without getting mad, The Pom released a stream of vitriol aimed towards my unwillingness to go outside my comfort zone and hit me with bullets of derision that would have felled a lesser person. Not I. Instead I was fuelled with the desire to prove wrong everyone who laughed at the thought of me doing some bush bashing. That and the realisation that H did go to the gallery with me and it would be only right that I do something he liked.

And so I went on a 6.5km hike that included some pretty steep climbs to a final 750m elevation. H was willing to do something shorter and easier due to my novice position but no, there had to be a challenge other than distance. And sunshine. Here are some pics

The view from halfway to the top.
(Stupidly, I appear to have not taken any photos from the top?!?)

H enjoys the view.

Other happy hikers.

Yes we saw some wallabies, especially for the Orangehoodies

The hike was supposed to go for 2 hours. Not a problem in my eyes because I saw that we had a nice track that many other ppl had clearly been on before. This was confirmed by our meeting some ppl on the way and at the summit. Even the steep parts weren't an issue due in my eyes, bless gym. But eventually we hit a bitumen road and H said the words "I don't feel like walking along a road, lets cut through the park to the path further down the hill."

As much as I wanted to say *hell no, lets follow the path the guidebook suggested*, I deferred judgement and that was how I ended up clinging to his back as we descended along what was essentially a game trail. It was steep - I figured if I fell, I could ride his corpse to the bottom. Two barb-wire topped fences later, one that was crawled under, the other which was gingerly climbed over, we made it back the original red clay path we set off on.

At the end of the hike, H said, "I don't think I realised how much of a princess you are until I saw that look of horror when we decided to go off-road." To that I say........................................................................well I have nothing to say to that because it's true! But this is a princess can be both the Palace flower and the warrior, just like Mulan!

(Video suggested by VB and CB)

A better view of Parliament House from Mt. Ainslie (which I didn't climb).

Hottie of the week - Takeshi Kaneshiro

(Okay, because I'm increasingly finding it difficult to think of pieces to do for Piece of the Week, I am including a new category under this category which I realise can actually be quite broad.)

Name: Takeshi Kaneshiro (Jincheng Wu)
DOB: Oct 11 1973
Japanese/Taiwanese Actor, Model, sometimes singer, full time hottie.

Last week I watched the John Woo historical drama Red Cliff I & II - The Asian Edit, which is apparently far superior to the Western Edit which is a compressed version of the two movies. While I found the movie quite enjoyable, what I couldn't stop saying throughout the two films was *WAH!!! TAKESHI IS SO HOT!!!* And seriously, even though he was wearing a hideous wig, a kinda disgusting goatee, and a white dressing gown-esque costume, his hotness shone right through.

Not to mention all those scenes with Tony Leung Chiu Wai where their URST came through oioi.

DAMN PIRATES!!!

I would like to say *arrrrrr* and *curses!* to Lymbo and Pooey for getting me addicted to the Pirates game on FB. It's beginning to take over other things as procrastination tools! I only started on the weekend and I'm already at level 19. That tells you how much I've been playing.

Pooey said she actually thinks to herself in pirate talk when she's playing.

Do not play this game because it is evil and will suck you in. But if you, lets be friends so we can be on each other's crew, me hearties!

In other news, there was a police blitz on the freeway this morning where they pulled over motorists (many many motorists) who were driving in the transit lane without a passenger. As someone said to me at work, it's not schadenfreude when its of their own making!

Movie review - Dead Snow (Død snø)

For this year's MIFF, Laulita, Pierre, Matt and I decided to go see the Norwegian horror movie Dead Snow. A bunch of medical students visit a cabin owned by their friend for a weekend of snow fun and nookie. But in doing so, they awaken a terrible local secret - the snow fields surrounding the cabin is the site where a battalion of Nazis died. Nazis who had stolen the treasures from the local town and had run to the fields to escape. But they've been awakened from their grave and now they're angry! (Well, angrier.)

The really great thing about this movie is that it totally does not take itself seriously. I mean, it's got Nazi zombies. The filmmakers were clearly aware that this is not a scenario where you can be serious. This is completely clear from the trailer which should get you into the spirit of the film ;)


I don't think I ever laughed more at a horror movie. The actors are totally hammy but also serious when need be! There are plenty of amusingly self-aware one-liners, such as when the friends trudge off to the cabin and one of them asks "So how many horror movies start off with a group of friends goin to an isolated cabin?!" and they proceed to list some!

If I must criticise, there are some slow bits and it takes a while to get to the zombie action. There are also some moments of truly questionable taste that had the full theatre groaning in disgust - even for a zombie movie. Otherwise, if you get a chance to see this and want a barrel full of laughs with some fun zombie horror, this is your film!
7/10

That countdown clock

So I installed that clock in the side column to count the number of days I had until thesis submission.

That clock needs to be reset because I won't be able to do it in 27 days or whatever it is.

I'll still be done before the end of the year, though! Just not on September 5. *thumbs up*

Sculpture of the week - The Rape of the Sabines by Giambologna

Giambologna, The Rape of the Sabines, 1581-3

Loggia dei Lanzi, Florence, Italy
(Source)

I've done Giambologna and Mannerist sculpture before, here's another example that is really nice. The work here depicts a story from Roman history/legend whereby the men of Rome having realised that their city has no women, decide to go and steal the women of the neighbouring tribe, The Sabines.

This charming story has been depicted with a wonderful sense of energy due to the tight, twisting composition. The figures are set in a spiralling column with a variety of limbs flung out to encourage the viewer to walk around and see the multiple viewpoints rather than a static front view.

The Types of Hot - Amendment

We have decided to add a new type of Hot to the list!

The Nerdy Hot. Alright, what really happened was that I overlooked this category. The Nerdy Hot is guy is probably very awkward, with a hottie quality that is not obvious and therefore overlooked. But when you scratch the surface, you realise...wow, they're HOT!!! Usually found wearing glasses, in the library, on a computer, or possibly smarter than your average hot guy.

THE CONCHORDS, Bret and Jermaine!
Others include John Krasinksi, Sufjan Stevens, Robert Downey Jnr (sexiest Sherlock Holmes ever)

Feel free to suggest/denigrate more categories!

The Types of Hot

I have been involved in discourse with a number of people about the different kinds of *hot* that exist in the population. So far, we have managed to isolate five different types, however we are aware that many more species of hot may exist in the wild beyond our reach.

Classic Hot
The Classic Hot guy is someone who is almost universally regarded as being good-looking, whether the viewer be male or female. Men want to be him, women want to be with him. They look great in both polished and rough situations but are often at their peak in a tuxedo.

Examples of the Classic Hot are George Clooney, Paul Walker, Kaka, and Iker Casillas.

Pretty Hot
Pooey describes the Pretty Hot as one of those guys who, if he had a daughter, she would turn out quite pretty. They often have beautiful long eyelashes or other features that make women jealous.

Such guys include Yoann 'Lashes' Gourcuff, Takeshi Kaneshiro, Jensen Ackles.

Dirty Hot
Two Yellows defined the phrase 'dirty hot' - "He is the type of guy who would do unspeakable things to you, that you will thoroughly enjoy, but you will never be able to tell anyone about it...that sexy bitch." Princess Roza also gave the input that Dirty Hot guys are the ones with whom you indulge in 'Hate F@#ks'. You know the type.

Adam Levine, Marat Safin (oooh yeah), and David Villa are some of these sexy bitches.

Psycho Hot
Perhaps it's a certain expression on his face. Sometimes it's the contrast between the dark features and the pale eyes. It could possibly be that weird murderer vibe you get from him when he's staring at you with those pale eyes and strange expression. Or maybe it's the way licking blood off his face and glove makes you think it's sexy instead of disgusting.

Psycho Hot (lady) killers include Gaspard Ulliel, Jonathan Rhys Meyers, Cillian Murphy.

Ugly Hot
The most contentious type of Hot as this category is completely subjective. These are guys who would not be considered handsome in the classical sense, in fact they might be downright ugly. However they have a certain je ne sais quoi that renders them highly attractive, even if all your friends (male and female) are retching in revulsion.

The perfect example of ugly hot, Adrien Brody.

Here endeth the lesson. However one of the cornerstones of higher education is the questioning of ideas and methods. If you disagree with any of the categories and examples, feel free to speak up in the comments section!

Sculpture of the week - La Sagrada Familia by Antoni Gaudi

Antoni Gaudi, Templo Expiatorio de la Sagrada Familia, 1882-present
Barcelona, Spain
(Source)

Okay this is not a sculpture per se, but Vanillabear requested that this week's Piece of the Week be something by Gaudi. Gaudi's work is best characterised as part of the Modernist/Art Nouveau movement, all flowing curved lines and organic/floral motifs, particularly when you see his buildings that look like the balconies are melting.

La Sagrada Familia is actually a combination of Art Nouveau and Gothic Revival architecture which was also popular at the end of the 19th century. The line of rose windows on the *whiter* part of the church is pure Gothic architecture, while the towers' skeleton-like appearance follows Art Nouveau's taking it's influence from nature. La Sagrada Familia is famously unfinished despite Gaudi devoting the last 15 years of his life to the project. It is supposed to be finished in 2026, the 100th anniversary of Gaudi's death. The church is rich in Christian symbolism which I won't go into because it's too complex.

I'm not a huge fan of La Sagrada despite it being Gaudi's masterpiece - from photographs it strikes me as being incredibly ugly. Maybe I need to see it in person with all that Spanish sun falling down on it while drinking some fruit juice and some hot hombre named Miguel is trying to chat me up :-P

For interior shots of La Sagrada Familia, please see Pooey's visit here!