The Gym

I'll confess, the first time I knew people who went to the gym regularly, I used to deride them for their vanity and love of *show muscles*. I would call them *gym rats* and do a bunch of other mean things that I loved doing. Then of course something happened. I too was converted to the ranks of gym rats about 4 or 5 years ago...whom I now called *gym bunnies*. But the name is not the point! The point is that I suddenly discovered the kind of masochistic fun that only the gym can provide.

Gym requires ritual humiliation, not only of yourself but also of others! You have to weigh yourself in front of many other people, some who are chock-full of muscles and therefore justify their mass. But however bad you feel, imagine what'd be like for that fat guy who's kinda shuffling towards, then away, then finally jumps on, only to slink away. Then of course theres comparing your cardio/weight fitness compared to others. I'm not a big girl and my chest is more fat than muscle so the best I have ever bench pressed is 10kg, although this has devolved back to 5kg. Yes, I know. Laugh as much as you want all you guys who press 60kgs. But at least I'm the one with the better technique! Whats the point in benching that much if everyone can hear your moans and groans and the *CLANK!* of weights hitting each other in between each of your presses? There's the ignominy of being afflicted with extreme sweatiness that on one hand proves that you've had a good workout, but on the other makes you reek and look pretty disgusting. And of course, the most truly masochistic thing of all, the pain you feel the day after a workout.

So here's a list of things I love and hate about the gym:
People who do the Lat-Pulldown incorrectly. Like, it goes in front of your chin, ok?
Goddammit, the stair machine is not meant to hit the bottom or the top!
People who hog the cross-training machines
Just because you can bench 60kgs, doesn't mean everyone else can. Take off the weights for us girls with skinny arms.
People who stretch lengthways on the stretching mat and take up as much room as possible.
Groaners
Starers
Point-and-laughers

When the scale tells you good news!
All your favourite machines are free. FREE!!!
People who fall off equipment. I'm sorry, but its funny.
Good-looking guys (although there arent that many nowadays)
Tummy burn
The waterfountain, no matter how dirty, is always the best thing in the world.
Trash mags
ENDORPHINS

Well thats it from me today. Looks like I'll be doing some PhD-related writing for the next few days. You guys wanna hear my preliminary hypothesis? Some other day, methinks.

Oh man

All this stuff has happened in the last two days but I don't think I can be bothered going into them in detail.

Firstly, Friday was Queenie's birthday. After fretting for a week over trying to contact the manager to confirm the booking and food, it all went off ok. Well, the night at the bar ended on quite an unpleasant note [edit - everything has now been cleared up so its fine], with few post-party hijinjs. I ended up grabbing a very late dinner and spending about an hour fruitlessly searching for a taxi, I managed to get home at nearly 4am.

Saturday 10am, I was woken up by my brother asking me to help him prepare his place for his housewarming party. All I can say about that is:

I wish I hadn't spent so long blowing up balloons
I wish he had followed my advice about setting up an *entry fund* to pay for any carpet cleaning
I really should not have caved into my parents' wishes that I *chaperone*
Having agreed to be the chaperone, I should not have spent 3 hours at another party
Obnoxious drunks really get my goat
You deserved to be threatened with a knife, asshole

Well, I think that's it for today. In future news, having read the graphic novel, I'm now really looking forward to seeing V for Vendetta (see here for info about the graphic novel). It opens here next week. Who wants to go see it?!

My big desk

This is a bad photomerge of my big desk at uni. It kinda curves around so the angles didnt line up properly :( darnit. The computer on the left doesn't belong to me - it belongs to the other student who moved off the desk. But its big enough that the two of us can sit at my desk and not annoy each other! YES! P.S. Yes I know I've only been a student for 2.5 weeks, and yes, that is all my crap all over it. *blush*

DVD review - L'Auberge espagnole

From the man who brought us the movie celebrating community life in Paris, Cedric Klapisch (the movie was Chacun Cherche Son Chat), comes a movie celebrating life as a community in Europe as a whole. Despite featuring several things that could make you really hate the movie, I found L'Auberge espagnole (a.k.a The Spanish Apartment) thoroughly enjoyable.

Xavier (Romain Duris) is an econimics student from Paris, aged somewhere in his early 20s and beginning to look for his lifetime job. After an interview with a company who informs him that the Spanish economy is going to boom, he decides to go on a student exchange to Barcelona. We are introduced to his hippy mother and his clingy girlfriend (Audrey Tautou - Amelie herself!) within the first 15 minutes, and then he's off to have fun in the Spanish sun. After finding his accomodation has fallen through, he crashes with a French neurosurgeon (I can't remember the character or actor's name, sorry) and his wife, Anne-Sophie (Judith Godreche) whom he met on the plane. Eventually Xavier ends up living in an apartment with a bunch of other students from around Europe - Italy (Alessandro), Denmark (Lars), Germany (Tobias), England (William & Wendy), Spain (Soledad), Belgium (Isabelle). We follow Xavier's year in Spain, seeing his initial awkwardness with the Catalan language and people, we watch as he becomes more comfortable and accepting of the differences of the people around him, and eventually his discovery (sorta) of himself.


Is it possible to like a movie where the main character is thoroughly unlikeable? Despite my hating Xavier, I found I quite enjoyed L'Auberge espagnole. Xavier is shown at times to be whiney, hypocritical, narcissistic, prejudiced and a whole heap of other things which make him just....blerk. I mean, sure, his mum is annoying, but at 20-something years old, there's no reason to yell *Ta gueule!* to her (its like saying *shut up* but in a really offensive way). He is kind of changed by the end of the movie, though. The most offensive character is William, brother of Wendy the English student of the apartment, who despite his extensive travelling throughout Europe still sees the other occupants as national stereotypes who doesn't understand when he's being insulting (and he could be really insulting). But by the end, he does something above and beyond that shows how much he cares. Ok, its for his sister, but it was still a great thing to do.

I suppose you have to be in the right frame of mind to really enjoy it though. Some of the characters come off sometimes as stereotypes (the strange and messy italian, the neat-freak english, etc.) and it might seem like some kind of pretentious pro-European thing. However, I understand what they were getting at how immersing yourself in another country, in another culture can widen your perspective on the world and yourself. Hell, I've done it myself and believe I'm all the better for it :). In my opinion, the movie overall is quite jolly about how having a mix of people around you can enrich your environment and promote tolerance and respect for other cultures.

But I still hate Xavier.

7.5/10

Things I have learned today...

1. In the 1960s, it was perfectly acceptable to inject frogs with radioactive-labelled amino acids to explore protein development. Freaking scary!

2. Doing weight training the night before pilates is not a good idea. Freaking hurts!

Graduation dilemmas

I'm graduating from my undergrad course on April 27, ceremony at 7:30pm. I have two dilemmas arising from this situation.

1. It appears I have a full schedule for the next few weeks comprising of dinners and drinking nights. I would like to lose 3kgs before graduation. Do I simply turn up to dinner and only eat a salad?! Right now I'm trying to attend at least 50 minutes of gym, 4 days a week and eat healthy 2 meals out of 3/day. God, I hope that works.

2. My double degree - which colour hood to wear? Logic dictates that since I have chosen to pursue a life of scienctific research, I should wear the Science hood. But the Science hood is an olive green colour. The arts hood is dark blue, and I adored my arts degree. It was so fun and interesting. But since I have gone into science, shouldn't I do something to acknowledge my arts degree? Like wear the hood to my graduation?

Decisions, decision!

Well it didn't work

It was too hot last night to sleep at 11:30. And I was also re-organising my bookshelves so I ended up not getting to bed until about 1am. I gave up sleeping in my bed around 2:30 and moved to the couch.

Man, why waste good money on a bed when you can sleep comfy on a couch? Might remember that in case I ever move out. XD

DVD review - Amelie

Do you hear that? Yes, it's a piano accordian! What can I say about this movie that I adore so much other than whenever I'm feeling down, it always cheers me up. It is one of THE definitive feel-good movies, it radiates so much love and joie de vivre that it makes me want to go out and be kinder to random strangers. But now, let's examine why Le Fabuleux destin d'Amélie Poulain (aka Amélie) is such a great movie.

Firstly, there's the plot. Amélie is a young woman in her 20s who grew up largely without many companions as she was home-schooled, and without much overt affection from her parents. Overcome with shock at the news of Princess Diana's death, Amélie accidentally dislodges a tile in her Paris apartment, and discovers a box full of mementos from the 1950s. After anonymously returning the box to its former owner and seeing how much joy it brings him, Amélie decides to continue doing selfless deeds for the people around her. The notion that even the smallest gestures can bring so much happiness - e.g. when she guides the blind man around Montmartre - it may be a hackneyed message, but its a message that stands true. But while she's making other people feel good, it is done in an indirect way and when she finds herself attracted to another oddball dreamer, Nino Quincompoix (left), she doesn't have the confidence to approach him directly...and so the people around her attempt to solve that problem.

The film could have gone so wrong without the brilliant acting of Audrey Tautou. She brings to the role of Amélie so much wide-eyed innocence and joy, but also bottled rage whenever she sees Lucien, the mentally disabled grocer's assistant, being abused by his boss, and uncertainty and melancholy when it comes to Nino. Her acting stops the film from becoming to saccharine with the flashes of anger, slyness, and mischief. But it's not a one-person show. Matthieu Kassovitz (right) is just as brilliant at showing his Nino's happy-go-lucky personality and confusion at Amélie's actions. The various local people and the staff and customers at the café Amélie works at, Les Deux Moulins, especially Georgette the hypochondriac and Joseph the freak are absolutely brilliant in small roles that are essentially there for comic relief or deus ex machina. But that's not a complaint, if anything it just makes Amélie even more charming!

Thirdly, there's the cinematography. Watching the earlier works of Jean-Pierre Jeunet, such as Delicatessen or Alien Resurrection, it's hard to believe that they came from the same director. Amélie has a wonderful, dreamy atmosphere mostly achieved by limiting the colour palette to red and green with splashes of yellow and blue. The camera work adds to the charm by zooming around characters to indicate their (sometimes literal) direction of though, often producing shots that can be bizarre but also touching. One of my favourite shots is when we are told the cat enjoys listening to children's stories, the accompanying camera shot is from behind the cat's head showing him facing a trio of family members, his whiskers and ears twitching as he listens to the story the father is telling. Wonderful.

This is not to say the film is perfect. Sometimes I think at 122 minutes, especially when I'm watching late at night, that Jeunet could have cut some of the scenes of Amélie's games with Nino or made others shorter. The colour scheme can be quite jarring on the eyes although you get used to it. In addition, the film is largely set in Montmartre, an area of Paris, while visually charming, in reality is covered in graffiti and quite dangerous. Apart from the local blind man and a beggar in one of the Métro stations, this is not conveyed in the movie - knowledge that can make you cynical of the onscreen occurrences. There's only one piece of graffiti in the film - a line from a failed writer's manuscript is painted on a wall and after the writer reads it, he takes a little skip.

Good deeds to the people around us, two hearts that beat as one, Paris as the most romantic city in the world, Amélie is a sweet little film that everyone should watch. And at the end, I hope you all love it as much as I do and walk away feeling that there's still a bit of goodness and innocence left in the world.
9/10

In the interest of my health

I'm beginning to think that I should start sleeping at 11:30pm. Yes, that's a real shocker for people who've seen me online at 3am. From 11:30 to a waking time of generally 7:30am, that's eight hours, the recommended amount. I was reading an article saying that people who get six hours sleep or less (my average) suffer from greater illnesses, suffer more heart attacks, and a whole bunch of other crazy stuff than their well rested chums. Also, sleep loss has a cumulative effect - six hours over five days means that by the fifth, you're deprived 10 hours and you'll need to sleep that 10 on top of the other eight in order to catch up!

Sheesh!

Last night I slept for 13 hours. I think change is required.

The Metamorphosis of Avril Lavigne

I've been thinking about writing on this topic for a while, at least since the release of her second album but especially since January when something somewhat unexpected happened. Well, it wasn't completely unexpected, but the extent was definitely unexpected.

Bursting into the pop music scene in 2002 as part of the *anti-Britney* wave of young female performers, Avril was marketed as a *punk* or *skater girl*. Accordingly, she appeared with ugly clothes, bad hair, racoon eyed kohl circles around her eyes (above), and in her music clips appeared playing a guitar and skate-boarding. She would be invariably making strange hand gestures (right) with her tongue sticking out and doing other apparently anti-social activities, all in keeping with the *punk* persona. Her first album Let Go sold 15 million copies and spawned the...er... fashion...mmm...phenomenon whereby little girls would steal their Dads' ties to wear with wife beaters.

When asked for her opinions on The Sex Pistols, she admitted she didn't know who they were. A punk who doesn't know The Sex Pistols!?!?!? AS IF!!!! Naturally the backlash came prior to release of her second album, Under My Skin. While still selling 9 million copies worldwide, the music was less *punky* and featured marketing that showed Avril being a bit more groomed. The hair, while still loose, was at least styled to be off her face. (Ugh, all those early photos make me want to run a comb over her.) The makeup became a little bit more refined (above) while the clothes became less ugly and more black and simple. I found this pic of her in a corset...a bit goth maybe?


Regardless, her transformation away from the grubby little thing Avril used to be towards something a little bit more normal was established. And what a transformation! The girl discovered Chanel (left - love those little 2 -toned pumps)! She appears to be modelling herself after Nicole Kidman (below).
(these pics came out in January)

But anyway, compare the photo below which apparently comes from her Ford Model Agency card to the first two photos.
Who would have thought that ugly duckling would turn into a swan? Then again, seeing as it was all a marketed image anyway, who would have thought her advisors or herself would let her get pushed all the way to the other end of the spectrum? Another fake punk dies and the world goes back to classics, so as a role-model to those who are more foolish than me when it comes to fashion, Avril Lavigne, I tip one of my hats to you.

(God, who thought I'd ever say that 3 years ago?)

People who really annoy me

Whoa-ho-ho!!! Here's gonna be a bad tempered post! Today it seemed I was just surrounded by people who ignored the unspoken social laws that govern our society, the little things that stop it from going to hell. Today was not a good day in life, it probably wasn't helped by my carrying three heavy bags to and from uni. In fact, if I looked as scary as the guy on the left and I had his sword skills......
Here goes...

People who ask you the same question over and over again, with 5-minute intervals. Even when you give them the same answer. Each time.
People who get onto public transport despite the fact that there are people in the same doorway trying to get off.
People who block the aisle even after a gentle (well I thought it was gentle) *excuse me.*
People who stand on the walking side of the escalator.
People who stand around in large groups during peak hours blocking walkways.
People who honk the tram, as it's going to make the tram go faster.
People who take the elevator to travel one floor. (My brother has already declared that people who refuse to take the stairs for 2 storeys will not receive physiotherapy from him. Incidental exercise is the best exercise you can do.)
People who floss in public. That is really disgusting folks.
People who yawn without covering their mouths. I sympathise that you're tired, hell, I'm tired too, but that doesn't mean that I want to see your uvula.
People who SNEEZE without covering their mouths. Seriously, that's more disgusting than flossing in public.

I think that's most of the really annoying stuff that happened today. I was also going to post a story about rude service, courtesy of Carmie and Queenie, but I didn't get the finalised story in time.

I'm not sure how I feel about Crash beating out Brokeback Mountain for Best Picture. Sure, I was shocked when I found out, but I'll reserve judgement for now since I haven't seen Crash. Then again, I guess the fact that when it was out here not even the previews and reviews made me even want to go watch it. That probably says something.

A Message to My Beloved Readers

(Strange, I just heard an pin drop and echo... :P)

Due to the comments from you all, it appears that it's my reviews that are the most appreciated. Based on this, I have since decided to start a review archive (it's not really an archive cos I'm not that good at coding) on the column in the left, beneath the *links* section. I know I promised to review a lot more dvds than what I have done, but due to being back at uni, I've got less time to write reviews compared to over the summer :(. On the other hand, I'm having a bit of financial difficulty so I'll probably be spending more time at home in the next fortnight, which gives me plenty of time at night to write! Either way, I'll try to keep them coming.

Dvd reviews that *may* come:
The Matrix (god, how long have I been promising that one for?)
Amelie
The Spanish Apartment (L'Auberge Espagnole)

In the meantime, the creators of the Simpsons have create a live-action edition of the opening sequence of the show to promote the 17th season in the UK. I couldn't get a screen capture of it cos I'm computer illiterate, but you can watch the video here.

Enjoy!

Brokeback mountain parodies

Don't get me wrong, I loved Brokeback Mountain (as seen in this review) but thats not to say I don't love a good Brokeback parody!

The best in my opinion are "Brokeback Redemption", "Star Wars: The Empire Brokeback", and the BEST of ALL, "Brokeback to the Future", all lovingly posted here.

(Future)



(Redemption)


(Empire)


Enjoy!

And another thing,

I forgot to pack my mobile phone with me on Friday. That just made trying to communicate (and eventually, getting home) a complete...*shudder*

No watch, no way to tell someone if I was going to take a taxi home, no way to get my parents to pick me up from the bus stop....the list just goes on!

Luckily my area is pretty safe so walking around at x-o'clock am isnt tooo foolhardy

And a guy on my bus fell asleep and had to get off at the last stop (which is my stop). He looked so confused, it was kinda funny.

Hilarious coincidences

It was a warm Friday night and I was walking down Swanston with Nick. I can't remember exactly what we were talking about, but it involved saying what was *trashy*, as opposed to things which aren't.

Coincidentally, Nick just happened to be saying something, and at the exact moment that he said, "it's so trashy," a REALLY TRASHY looking girl walked past. Little singlet, tiny shorts, bad makeup, big hair. He then said, "oh shit, do you think she heard that? She probably thinks I was talking about her." And we then both (well, mostly me) cracked up laughing.

Hilarious.

Man...

I used to be so productive. Now I feel like I'm doing hardly any work (well, I AM doing hardly any work), but at the same time, people are telling me that I'm doing too much work.

But today all I did was...
8:30 - arrive at uni
8:35 - walk to Union to get my paper
8:40 - Safeway to buy a tomato and some orange juice
8:55 - walk to King and Godfree to buy a ciabatta roll and some bocconcini
9:05 - walk back to uni
9:20 - commence eating my breakfast of tomato and bocconcini sandwich with orange juice while reading paper
9:50 - go to lab, read journal articles
10:30 - leave lab for a walk
11:00 - commence reading articles with several phone calls
12:15 - leave lab to prepare for pilates class
1:10 - commence pilates class
2:10 - end pilates class
2:20 - eat lunch of tomato and bocconcini sandwich with water
2:50 - commence reading articles with phone calls
4:30 - pack up to leave the lab
5:00 - leave uni

Thats about three and a half hours of productive work on an eight and a half hour day.

And people say I'm working too much?!
I think I'll take an early night to compensate for all that work.

Back on the race track!

After spending the last three months killing my brain cells with benders, I started my PhD candidature today.

Oh
My
God

It's not as bad as Su Ling made it out to be - she said it was a terrifying case of being asked questions and expected to know the answers. I don't have that here because it's common knowledge that while I'm coming here with histological and neuroscience knowledge, I'm not coming with the specific technical or retina knowledge. But still! I've been handed a few journal articles to read as a starting off point, the first article was alright as it was looking at diabetic retinopathy in an epidemiological and treatment perspective, most of which don't apply to me as I won't be treating it. But the next few papers were on the physiology of the retina.

WHAT?!

I've read the articles but it's in my eyes and out my ears, bypassing all the functional cognitive areas. I have a sneaking suspicion that I may have to go to the drastic step of physically typing out the articles so I can recall what its about because I sure don't remember much, most of which is jargon I'm going to have to come to grips with. *gulp* No matter. I CAN DO IT!!!

Theatre review: An Inspector Calls

For a change of scenery, Andrea and I went to watch a production of the J.B. Priestley play, An Inspector Calls, as directed by Stephen Daldry. A thought-provoking psychological thriller with socialist themes, the play examines the roles that people have with respect to the welfare of others.

The play takes place in England prior to WWI and opens with the juxtapositioning of ragged street kids in the rain against a dinner party in the house of a wealthy industrialist, Mr. Birling. Present at the dinner ar Birling's wife, Sybil, their son, Eric, their daughter, Sheila, and Gerald Croft, the son of a baronet. The party is celebrating the engagement of Sheila to Gerald, which Birling crowns with a speech to his son and guest about the need to take care of their dependents (oh, the irony!). The party is disrupted by the arrival of Inspector Goole, who has come to question them about the seemingly unrelated suicide of a girl, Eva Smith. Under the probing questions of the Inspector, we see that each person had a role in Eva's downfall and eventual suicide. But things change...and you start to question the reliability and identity of the Inspector...

This is a psychological thriller in the best noir sense. The set and entrance of the Inspector is pure noir, all dark shadows and weird lighting, smoke and a character wearing a trench coat and hat! As to the Birling family and Gerald, you feel in turn outrage, disgust and pity at the callous actions towards the girl and the consequences. This is definitely a production that plays upon your intellect, emotions and moral sense, however, I felt at times that the script was a bit repetitive in the attempt to reinforce its message of social responsibility to others. Perhaps the most interesting aspect was when the Inspector is revealed to nor be all he appears, the characters most concerned about status and scandal are willing to atttempt to return to the time pre-Inspector, despite the (literal) fall of the house of Birling. Possibly a case of the younger generation learning from and paying for the mistakes of their forebears?

The acting is impressive, completely necessary in a play like this. The way each actor managed to portray their character's distess at the line of arguing by becoming red-faced, bog eyed, and have that vein pop out on their forehead...very convincing. Perhaps the best was that of Sandra Duncan playing Sybil Birling - her actions of contempt towards the Inspecter and their heated exchanges, her complete unrepentence of her actions towards Eva to her distraught behaviour when she realises what her actions mean. Never was so more conveyed in the lifting of an eyebrow, the sweeping of a dress, or a skewed wig! The character of Gerald is perhaps the most interesting, because despite what appears to have been genuine affection towards Eva and remorse about his actions, he is all too happy to revert to the foppish man he was before. Seriously, the actor under questioning became sweaty, discomfited and looked like he was going to burst into tears at some points, but later he's laughing and rejoicing just as maniacally as the others.

Despite my enjoyment of the play, I will say its not perfect. As stated, the moralising can be somewhat heavy-handed. The departure of the inspector 30 minutes before the end produced a kind of strange anti-climactic feeling followed by the calling into question of his and Eva's identity and the motivation his actions and for the play as a whole. This made me feel kind of ripped off at the time - that it was a huge cop-out to what had been an intersting story. Luckily the ending rocked. The denouement produced a real shock in me and left me and Andrea talking about it long into our post-show dinner at Florentino. (They make such good mashed potatoes and desserts.)

7.5-8/10

Dumb conversations I've had in the last few days

Hey mally, you look nice today.
Really? Cos I didn't do anything different.
I think it's cos you're wearing pants.

What's the best way to get from Uni to Springvale?
Take the South-eastern there.
But traffic at this time of day...it's gonna be crap. Do you think taking the Eastern all the way would be quicker?
No, cos you've got to take Springvale Rd. all the way down. The SE is a hypotenuse
WHAT?!
You know, Pythagorean geometry.
You geek, I know what a hypotenuse is. I just can't believe you worked it into a normal conversation.

Well I can see I was really needed to help you guys set up the [Ikea] couch.
Yeah, you got caught up in a [insert surname here] furniture assembly storm.
Your presence and comments really inspired us along.