Decision made.

It's taken me years and many hours of contemplation to come to this decision. I've really really tried to get over it but I must finally accept it....

I don't like white chocolate.

Okay. That is all.

Dinner at Paris Go

To celebrate a number of birthdays of present and absent friends, as well as some mateys acquiring some real estate, we trundled on down to the old fave, Paris Go!

(Incidentally, Gnoudesavanes told me last year that the name 'Paris Go' was an aural pun on the French slang 'parigot', a derogatory way the rest of France refers to people from Paris! Kinda like how the French are called 'frogs' or 'cheese-eating surrender monkeys'.)

Because we all love Frenchie foodies, we bought a number of entrees to share!

Natty eyes off the assiette froid of Chicken Pate, Duck Terrine, and Smoked Ocean Trout, Mixed oysters, and two baskets of (Belgian, not French!) frites. Clint fiddles with his iPhone.

A close up of the leek tart and butter curls! Mmmmm

Despite all that deliciousness, I was too a hungry person to take a photo of my main before I tucked in. It was a grilled barramundi with a side of seasonal vegetables (eggplant and fennel) and seared scallops on a delightful puree of something delicious.

Believe it or not, I actually wavered as to whether I should have had dessert. I was quite full although not uncomfortably so but I thought, if I've had enough, I shouldn't have more...but then the guys all said they were having dessert so I decided to get the Tarte aux Pommes in order to avoid dessert envy.

Ooooh yeah!

And another meal was given a good home to live in :D

Naked dreams

So I have previously mentioned that my stress levels about the Ph(u)D have shot through the roof due to being in end stage and that I've been having funny dreams. Last night's dream really took the cake though. Essentially it was a case of I was trying to take a shower, but people kept interrupting me while I was in various states of nudity.

As you can imagine, when I told Pooey about it, she was "Hmmm, sounds like a very interpretable dream!" and she came back with this doozy

...your naked dream may be telling you that you are trying to be something that you really are not. Or you are fearful of being ridiculed and disgraced.

This seemed pretty good especially since she knew I was giving a run through of my defence lecture today. Of course, due to other things that have been happened in life recently, there was also this section

Nudity also symbolizes being caught off guard...suggests that you are unprepared for a project at work or school. You may be unprepared in making a well informed decision. With all eyes on you, you fear that some flaw will be brought to public attention. You fear that people will see through your true self and you will be exposed as a fraud or a phony.

I do feel offguard! But as I read more, I saw this

Often times, when you realize that you are naked in your dream, no one else seems to notice. Everyone else in the dream is going about their business without giving a second look at your nakedness. If this happens in your dream, then it implies that your fears are unfounded; no one will notice except you. You may be magnifying the situation and making an issue of nothing.

and figured, everyone was walking in as if I wasn't in the shower. I probably will be fine in my talk (I ultimately was), and the other stuff should be okay as well :D

Song of the week - Glory of Love by Peter Cetera

I wasn't going to post any more 80s power ballads from movie soundtracks, but I watched the Karate Kid last week and felt that this song needed to be included!

This song actually comes from the soundtrack of Karate Kid 2 (-Battle in Okinawa!) but it's good for all occasions! And the subtitles will help us all learn Spanish!

Okay, next week I'll try to post a painting again.

Influencing life since the last fortnight

Well now, all the love I've been giving to the Pretty Woman official soundtrack for the past two weeks have borne fruit. Pretty Woman is going to be shown on TV on Saturday night.

Kekekekekeke.

Ho Hum

Forgive my lack of posting, nothing particularly interesting has been going on this past week. I'm reaching the home straight and have been concentrating in putting together a defence of thesis lecture that I will be delivering sooon. Feel free to attend (kekekek :P).

On the other hand, because I am approaching to the end, I've been having funny dreams. The other night, I had one where I delivered a very half-assed lecture to a packed crowd who clearly expected more of a song and dance. Having given a public lecture so publicly, The Boss proceeded to chew me out for it :(

Funnily enough, I told my boss the dream and she countered with one of her own from when she did her PhD! It was back in the times of typing and photocopying multiple copies, but the photocopier didn't work and so she got reviewers' comments back saying things along the lines of *This would have been an excellent thesis if there was anything in it!* :O

So yeah. That's what's been going on.

Spring rant

Don't get me wrong, I don't mind the warmer weather. I like wearing my warmer weather dresses. What I don't like is that since the weather has been so warm, my hayfever is hitting a few months early! Fellow sufferers will feel my pain - what it's like to wake up with itchy mucous membranes, the sniffles and watering eyes...UGH!!! Rain! Rain, so that the airborne pollen is no longer airborne!

I also hate how the warmer weather has made people jump on their bikes. Actually, it doesn't matter whether or not it's Spring or not, I hate rude/bad cyclists. While waiting for the bro to get his bag out of the car this morning, I nearly got run over by a cyclist! Did he *ding* so I'd know he was coming? HELL NO. Even the bro was shocked at how close he came. If I took one step in the wrong direction, I totally would have been collected. Freaking cyclists need to realise that just because they're not burning fossil fuels, it doesn't make them better than others. Also, I'm a pedestrian so I outrank you in terms of the more hardcore travelling method!

Song of the week - It Must Have Been Love by Roxette

On the theme of songs from the Pretty Woman soundtrack and that awesome 80s CD I purchased, this song was also on both and you haven't lived until you've sung along to the song with a bunch of PhD students :P

As with the other song, embedding of the OST clip is disallowed but you can see it here!

Multiple Intelligences

Being an educator, VB is interested in the ways people learn. As a professional geek, I like acquiring information and being educated! Our personalities have combined with the the Multiple Intelligences Quiz that is used to develop appropriate education methods for various students. Given the opportunity to do a quiz, I went off and found out what is my dominant intelligence.


I was not particularly surprised to find I scored best on linguistic - I do have verbal diarrhoea! Nor was I surprised to find I scored worst on naturalistic - remember my reaction to the hike?! I was also amused to find all my scores were between 15-20. I guess that means I'm fairly rounded in intelligence and not particularly gifted in any. Jack-of-some-brains, if you will.

To do the quiz, go here and there's a link at the top. To find out more on the different types of intelligences, go here.

Weekend round up

This was a pretty jam-packed action weekend!

It all kicked off on Friday night with a lovely dinner at EQ (I had the spaghetti with calamari - very nice and light) followed by a night at the ballet! We watched the Stanton Welch version of Sleeping Beauty. I've said it before and I'll say it again, as a narrative medium, I think ballet fails. We hadn't read our synopsis sheets by the time we took our seats and naturally the first act didn't make much sense to us. I also liked the giant rat costumes *thumbs up*. If I had to complain, it would be that the dance-off at the end of the third act which is usually different dancers showing off (the Nureyev version described it was guests at the wedding) had the same dancers dancing over and over and it went for too long. That's not to say it wasn't excellent dancing, but I found out later I wasn't the only one thinking *omg, hurry up I want to go home!*.

And so to close that, here's a clip of Alina Cojocaru from the Royal Ballet rehearsing the Rose Adagio - hardest bit in ballet!

The next day, I had to groom myself to a high gloss to attend the wedding of H's sis. It was the first wonderfully warm day of the Spring, which was especially nice while standing on a terrace drinking champagne by the river.

Bride and flower girl

With the Maid of Honour

The utterly delicious menu!!!

Bride and groom give their speech in the shadow of the huge cake
(which I was too full to eat, *sob sob*)

The next day, I dragged my sorry self out to have yumcha, after which I was delivered home and had a much longed-for nap. That was REALLY awesome :D.

ZOMG!!!! ONE THOUSANDTH POST!!!!

Crack open the champagne!
My total verbal diarrhoea has been confirmed right now. After four and a half years of movie reviews, random events, hotties, crimes, nerdiness, and complaining about my work, I've finally hit the big 1-0-0-0. Wow! I'm not sure how long this will keep going, but here's to testing how much free space blogger will give out! *thumbs up*

So to celebrate, here's some hot pics of

Eva Green

and Monica Bellucci (still gorgeous as 44!)

EDIT

For some reason, my dashboard is saying I have 1000 posts, but when I add up the numbers of posts/year in the side bar, it comes to only 977. I don't have 23 unpublished posts so....I might have to write another 1000th post entry in about 2 months.

Song of the Week - King of Wishful Thinking by Go West

I was recently perusing the CD racks at Borders when I saw something I NEEDED to purchase. It was Empire Magazine's Back to the Movies music compilation featuring 40 big screen hits from the 80s! The two disc set has since been played to high volume and great acclaim in the batcave. Seriously, it is chock-full of mega 80s hits including this song from the Pretty Woman soundtrack and which might actually be one of my favourite songs.

Embedding is disallowed on the actual cheesy clip from the movie but you can see it here.

Movie review - Inglourious Basterds

Movies dates are funny things. At face value, they're the perfect opportunity to go out and do something with someone that automatically provides a conversation point for future reference. But then one is torn at the movie selection - to choose something light and fluffy to imbue good feelings in one another or follow the true cineaste path of a challenging film to actually get worked up about? On that note, to celebrate not seeing each other for a few weeks, H and I decided to go see the very Tarantino-esque Inglourious Basterds.

The story takes place in WWII occupied France. In 1941, Colonel Hans Landa (Christoph Waltz) has been dispatched to the French countryside to hunt down Jewish families. A girl, Shoshanna Dreyfus (Mélanie Laurent) survives the massacre of her family by escaping on foot. Later, a company of American Jews led by Lt. Aldo Raine (Brad Pitt) are moving around killing Nazis and taking their scalps as trophies and leaving their mark on survivors. Come Paris in 1944, Shoshanna is masquerading as a gentile and running a cinema and a young sniper, Zoller (Daniel Bruhl), falls in love with her (naturally, she is repulsed because he is a Nazi). But Zoller's exploits as a sniper has been made into a movie and he manages to convince Goebbels that the film should have it's premiere at Shoshanna's cinema - meaning that all senior Nazis will be in the same place at the same time. This snippet of information is passed onto the Brits and Basterds by the German actress and double agent Bridget von Hammersmark (Diane Kruger). And so everyone descends into Paris...and Hans Landa is still on the trail....

With all the plot and all the violence that comes with it, it's probably not a good date movie. But if you want a film with talking points, Inglourious Basterds is for you! This is a very Tarantino-esque movie in that it is divided up into distinct chapters, has crack dialogue, the interested mise-en-scene, and the large and excellent ensemble cast. The first scene in particular is excellent in the tension but also the revelation of the nature of Landa's character in that while he is ruthless in the pursuit of his mission, he ultimately sees himself as a romantic. Waltz is absolutely incredible as Landa and totally deserving of the Best Actor Prize he won at Cannes. In fact all the acting is excellent and Brad Pitt's opening speech to his troops was amazing!

If I had to complain, it would be that some scenes are a touch long. I did wonder during the movie however if that was a result of my desire to use the loo, but no, the scenes being long was confirmed by H. There is also the question of the violence which even made me flinch at some points. And then there is the significant re-writing of history that takes place in the movie. This was not an issue for me because I recognise that it's meant to be reflect *real* history but there were times where I thought *oh, they are NOT going to do that! OMG!! THEY DID!!!* But yes, it might be an issue for some.

Highly entertaining, very amusing, not particularly romantic but plenty of talking points. Probably not as good as Kill Bill and definitely not as good as Pulp Fiction, but still recommended.
7 (H's score) - 8 (my score)/10

Dinner at Bistro Guillaume

R is a girl who doesn't do things by half measures, and so to celebrate her birthday she decided we were going to eat at Bistro Guillaume. We two were the first to arrive and enjoyed the civilised surroundings and gentle French soundtrack as we waited for various courses and people to arrive.

The decor. Very pretty.

When enough people had arrived/the attendees decided to stop waiting for the late-comers, there was a high level of debate about what to have.

Unfortunately, it seems I wasn't asian enough to take photos of my food. I just started hoeing into the food so by the time I realised I hadn't taken a photo it had been mostly demolished. For entree we have the prawn special which I found a bit *meh* but I'm giving a huge thumbs up to the charcuterie plate. A special highlight of the plate was the chicken and duck parfait which was so good that when the bread was finished, we decided to just eat it alone off our forks. Disgusting, perhaps, but it seemed more so to let it go to waste.

As for the mains, all reviews I had read pretty much said to either select either the steak frites or the *Guillaume fish and chips*.

The fish and chips looked like this - COOL! - but I wasn't sure if I wanted to eat an entire deep fried fish.

I ended up on the steak frites and didn't regret my choice.

Because I am a believer in fibre, we ordered some vegetable-based side dishes. I highly recommend broccolini with roasted almonds but the gratin of potatoes was also very tasty.

For dessert, we had a tarte aux citron which doubled as a birthday cake. I'm not sure if it came from the restaurant, I think it did. It doesn't matter - it was also lovely and a wonderfully palate-cleansing end to a wonderful dinner!

And so to end, I would again like to wish R a happy birthday!

Cheesy three!

(Decor photo from here, food photos from here, friendly three shot from Mischka's blog)

OUTRAGEOUS!!!!

SOME KLEPTOMANIAC HAS STOLEN AN ENTIRE TIN OF TEA FROM ME!!!!

Who the hell steals an entire tin of tea?! It was a full tin of a loose chai blend but I seriously believe that whoever has stolen it must have done it for the tin! The tea is pretty good but its one of those teas that require a pot, whereas the tin was a really nice domed one with a nice and fancy label from Whittard!!!

It looked like this except the label was purple and for Darjeeling.

Bastards. I hope you trip on the tin and smash your cerebellum/brainstem on a hard tiled floor. I don't care how crazy that makes me sound. You deserve it, you thieving asshole.

More purchases!

After being told by a number of people (most vocally by Pooey) to go back and get the matching beanie to the scarf I purchased last week, I went back and got the beanie.

Set modelled here by the lovely Pooh-Bear

I tried it on in the store but I really don't think I'll wear the beanie. Beanies are just not me. Regardless, I do have the set now (yay!) and I suppose Pooey can wear it should she so wish.

I also got this skirt which was ridiculously discounted even compared to the normal discounts.

Rachie and I spent aaaaaaaaaaaagest looking at the skirt trying to find out what the flaw was to make it even cheaper than normal. We insisted that something had to be super-wrong with it - either torn lining or a broken zipper or maybe even poor stitching. We couldn't find it, but no doubt I'll find it now that it has come home with me.

Sculpture of the week - Athlete Wrestling with a Python by Lord Leighton

Frederic Leighton, 1st Baron Leighton, Athlete Wrestling with a Python, 1877

Tate Britain, London, UK
(Source)

English sculpture of the mid-19th century was dominated by the Academy which favoured neoclassical stylings influenced by the art of Ancient Greece. In the late-19th century, this changed with the influx of French artists into Britain following the Franco-Prussian War which led to an emphasis on naturalism and away from works that would require knowledge of classical texts or history.

Athlete Wrestling with a Python is the first example of what is now known as the British New Sculpture. The athlete and the snake are very accurately depicted but what is highlighted is the dynamism of their fight. You can see the effort the athlete is putting in against the python, from the strain in his rippling muscles to the frown as he stares down the snake. You can almost feel the sweat coming down his brow. The snake is pretty niftily presented as well with it's very clearly defined muscles and scales.

For trivia buffs, Leighton holds two mildly interesting records. He was the first artist to be elevated to the peerage (lots of Sirs though). The day after he was ennobled, he died of a heart attack, making his title the shortest in history at only one day.

When awesomeness met awesomeness - Pride and Prejudice and Zombies

Sometimes, there are things the mind cannot comprehend. Blaise Pascal thought love was one. Maybe it's when you find out that the beautiful woman is actually a man. I know I couldn't do anything the day I found out the actors who play the siblings Dexter (Michael C. Hall) and Deb Morgan (Jennifer Carpenter) on TV's Dexter are married to each other in real life. Well my brain has short-circuited at the awesomeness that is Pride and Prejudice and Zombies.

I've read a number of P&P continuations - from the shockers that are Emma Tennant's books and Linda Berdoll's Mr. Darcy Wants A Wife (incidentally, who has my copy of that?), as well as various reinterpretations such as an okay version that tells the story from Darcy's POV. Well step aside because P&P&Z just blew you all out of the water! You're probably wondering how this can work with the insertion of all that ultra-violence. All I say is there is nothing better than having Mr. Darcy introduced as having ten thousand a year and a hero of the Battle of Manchester, where he killed innumberable unmentionables (zombies)! You see? Pure win.

But apart from the fun aspect, believe it or not, the introduction of Oriental martial arts and the undead into the plotline of P&P actually exposes some extra things that may not be readily apparent from reading the original text. Lady Catherine isn't just angry at Lizzie for catching Darcy's eye via her fine eyes that have been heightened by her battling against the zombies - it also stems from Lady C's insecurities in the waning of her social influence. After all she may be losing her mantle of one of the fiercest female warriors in the land to young upstart Lizzie who was trained in Chinese techniques instead of Japanese! And then of course there is the plotline about Charlotte Lucas who marries the dreadful Mr. Collins because *SPOILER*she has been afflicted and wants to have a small measure of comfort in life before her passing - but it is testament to Mr. Collins' self-absorption and Charlotte's personality that she endures all the terrible changes that are occuring to her and he (or for that matter anyone other than Lizzie) doesn't even notice due to his self-absorption*END SPOILER*.

There are of course some liberties taken with the insertion of new scenes to demonstrate the role the Bennet sisters have in protecting the town of Meryton and therefore the compression of others to stop the book from being huge but these are mere trifles in my mind. Check out the book club discussion questions at the end for even more jollity!

Read this book and remember that it is a truth universally acknowledged that a zombie in possession of brains must be in want of more brains!

Thesis update

So today is the first of September. If I had stuck to plan, my thesis would be submitted in 4 days.

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

Ahhhh......

Well clearly that isn't the case. Unfortunately, after going through a mega hardcore writing phase from May-June, I've now reached the re-drafting part. And it's hard slogging to try and fix something you've read a gazillion times before :(

Anyway, not much has been going on other than a huge hangover by midnight, a visit to the symphony for some Wagner, a girl's DVD night where I watched Enchanted for the bazillionth time (and enjoyed it again!), and the discovery that there are some sick psychos out in the world.