Celebrate!

Thank you, Iker! As he said the other day, I have submitted my thesis for examination so I have a few months of relative ease while they pick over it for bad science, bad logic, bad grammar/typos, and plagiarism. Hopefully, they will find none of those! But it wasn't smooth sailing - I was ready to submit on Wednesday afternoon except I found the graduate research office shut at 3pm on Wed and it was 4pm when I ready! Grrrr...this however meant that I was able to submit first thing on Thursday morning, leaving the rest of the day free for me to do some impromptu party shopping!

My congratulatory card with photo!

And so to kick off the celebrations at 11:45am, Marene, Mischka, Dusty, and I cracked open a bottle of the 2007 Langmeil Fifth Wave Grenache that I'd purchased in the Barawesome Valley. Then in the afternoon, we drank a bottle of 1998 Dom Perignon that had been lovingly donated by Pooey. Okay, the truth is that she bought it for herself many years ago in HK but stored it badly (upright, in a hot room, near a TV) for a few years. Therefore I cracked open a bottle of champagne that could have been sold for a profit on ebay...and found it was alright! Actually, it was quite good! We drank it down with strawberries, raspberries, gruyere, truffled brie, lavosh, and another bottle of the Langmeil grenache. *thumbs up* After work, I made it to Golden Key drinks at The Apartment where I got a 1/2 price cocktail *double thumbs up* but had to leave because I was buggered.

That night, I slept like a baby for 11 hours. Then I got up, did my laundry (it was necessary!), got dolled up, put on my 83% off dress, and tottered back into uni to help Abreeeeeez celebrate his submission! W00T W00T!!! Then I went off to The Supper Club to celebrate the end and welcome back Ruilin from her South American Odyssey with Pooey, Lydia, and Mischka.

I could have sworn there were more photos than this but given that the ones I do have aren't that flattering, these'll do!

Looking towards the round window of the Supper Club

Our wine, an Eden Valley (I think) riesling

Enjoying my riesling and MSGR congratulatory balloon

Some of the goodies we had to eat
(Not pictured, the croque monsieur, meatballs, sausage rolls, and second truffled duck parfait)

With Lydia

With Ruilin

Later, we tried our luck getting into Siglo. It was a gorgeous and warm night with a 3/4 moon and clear starry sky. Unfortunately it was too crowded and despite the girl consistently telling us that she'd get us a table soon, we decided to venture back downstairs to the comfy couches for some creme brulee and sticky date pudding. But we didn't leave before taking some pics of the night!

The neighbouring theatre wall

Nice clear night sky

The next morning, I dragged myself up and out to get to yum cha with the path crew. This was actually pre-planned and had nothing to do with submission but hey, all you can eat dumplings and fried stuff and prawns and puddings for $22? That's something to celebrate on it's own! Then I drove myself home to sleep it all off!

Song of the week - Fight for this Love by Cheryl Cole

(This is not the whole song - had a bit of an issue finding one that had embedding allowed, so for the whole clip, go here.)

This week's song of the week is dedicated to Pooey. Being in the UK for the last three years, she was bombarded by the love the UK press holds for Girls Aloud member and X Factor judge Cheryl Cole. Cheryl released a solo album last year, Fight for this love being the first single. Pooey found this song to be an earworm and decided to infect me with it. Due to me not constantly hearing this song, her attempt failed.

BUT NOW!!! Cheryl happens to be married to England, Chelsea and formerly Arsenal LB, (C)A$hley Cole - except, despite her being an absolute hottie, he's cheated on her multiple times, most recently in a sex scandal involving sending naked pics to some woman not his wife. She's finally had enough and they officially separated last week. I'm not overly crazy about her, but being a fan of the game this has been reported on numerous places I like to read as well as the Australian press, and they all mention how she sings this song. I'm sure it's purely for ironic purposes. Pooey bemoaned the fact that by no longer being in the UK, she's not being bombarded by what's going on in Shazza's life.

And so, Pooey and I now enjoy this song together and even do this strange hand gesture she does at the end of the full clip to each other.

Submission

Hola Amigos, como estas? Soy bien! Haff some champagne! I am 'ere because I haff some veeery happy news to tell yoo...Mallymoodle, mi amor, hass handed een 'err thesis. Si si, eet eez a beeg, beeg day. Shee ees resting from all zee 'ard work but weeel bee back soon to work on zee blog.

But for nao, more champagne to celebrate! And eegnore zee christmas tree.

Besos, Iker xoxo

Sculpture of the week - Warin the Wombat by Des McKenna

Des McKenna, Warin the Wombat, 2002

City Square, Melbourne
(Source)

I have chosen this week's piece of the week based on this website and misguided belief that I had taken a photo of myself sitting on the wombat. Alas, I couldn't find that photo so I'm guessing it didn't happen. I don't actually know much about this piece other than what's on those links above so I'll just summarise them for the lazy people who won't click the links.

Warin was carved on location from a red-gum log that was 1.5m long, 1m diameter, and weighing 2.5 tonnes. Because it was carved on site, it apparently acquired a very loyal audience who would watch the progress from behind safety barriers (EHS issues, you know). The name Warin is derived from two local aboriginal dialects, and it is apparently one of the most rubbed and favoured pieces in the square. For something that cute and easy to climb on, I'm not surprised!

(Source)

Also, something more important than Valentines...

HAPPY CHINESE NEW YEAR!!!

and welcome to the year of the Tiger.
Let's hope its better than the way the year ended for another Tiger, eh?
(okay, that was a cheap shot).

Song of the week - Love is in the Air by John Paul Young

Happy Valentine's Day for tomorrow, everyone! While I'm at it, enjoy this!

Bestiality at its best

Been having a hard time at work (stupid thesis and last minute changes :@:@:@) but Jiggles posted this and it made me laugh so I thought I'd share the humour.

Apparently there are only 90 or so Kakapos (that fat parrot) left in the world so we should feel honoured to watch such a spectacle!

Movie review - UP!

For various reasons, the prime one being 'saving' the movie so I could watch it with various people and then not being able to see it with any of them, I was unable to see the latest Pixar movie until just now. Up has also just been nominated for the Best Picture Oscar, the second animated and first computer animated film to be so (the first being Beauty and the Beast *sniff*). Here's my take!

Carl Fredrickson (Ed Asner) is a grumpy old man. But he wasn't always a GOM. In a very clever and touching introduction, we see him in childhood as dreamer who wanted to travel to South America and emulate the adventures of his hero, Charles Muntz (Christopher Plummer). One day he meets Ellie, a tomboy with similar dreams. The two grow up, get married, and build a life together. When they realise they can't have children, they decide instead to save up to travel to Paradise Falls, the place where Muntz discovered a mysterious bird. Over the course of their lives, a series of unfortunate financial events occur and Ellie dies before being able to travel. Heartbroken at being unable to fulfill his promise to her, Carl ends up the GOM he is today. To add insult to injury, Carl ends up in a position where he loses their house and is being forced into a retirement home. To stop this from occuring, Carl sneakily attaches thousands of helium balloons to his house which then floats away. However, he has an accidental stowaway, young 'wilderness explorer' Russell, who is intent on helping Carl in order to receive his last badge to make his father attend the ceremony. And so we set off on the adventure in Carl's flying house!


So that's quite a detailed plot summary that doesn't even go into what happens after the house takes off. I however felt it necessary to give the background to the characters because even though Up only goes for 96 minutes, it packs a helluva lot of backstory of the characters' motivations. The film concentrates on each of the characters, the ones who can talk, the ones who can't, and the ones who sorta do (Dug), and gives each one a reason for why they do what they do. I cried during this movie and a number of people said they did the same. This is the strength of the film - that it manages to emotionally involve the audience because it shows a number of characters striving for what they want most.


Unlike other Pixar films, I don' think Up was intent on changing the game by testing what they could do with computer animation. But being a Pixar film, what they have done looks absolutely gorgeous, from the character design to the incredible rocky scenery of Paradise Falls. But a large part of the fun in Up is the lack of overt realism - no uncanny valley here, people! Carl is kinda cube-like and Russell is himself round like a balloon, and while each of the dogs are clearly identifiable by breed they're stylised enough to make you think that it doesn't really look like a bulldog/doberman/retriever. The little details are what makes it different though - from marking time by the way Carl's facial hair grows throughout the film to the iridescent feathers on Kevin, the mystery bird. Also, I watched Up in 2D - anyone know whether the 3D version enhanced the animation?

And so, Up is a delightful, gorgeous-looking, story-driven, adventure movie. Oscar winning? Lets just say I think it did a lot more in 96 minutes than what Avatar did in almost 3 hours. Oh yeah, it also made me (and a lot of other people) cry. Can't get much better than that!
8.5-9/10
pictures from rottentomatoes.com

Belle Nuit (Barcarolle) by Offenbach

Two granny divas, Montserrat Caballe (soprano) and Marilyn Horne (mezzo) singing the duet that's meant to evoke the feeling of floating on a gondola. And as Marilyn says at the beginning (in German) - "You definitely know this song (dieses Stück kennen Sie bestimmt)!"

Things I will do when I finish the PhD

As mentioned in the Barawesome Valley entry, I've been working quite diligently to try and get the thesis done. While it is not yet quite finished, it's very close to it. Yay. Hopefully it will be submitted within the next week or so.

And so to celebrate, here's a list of things to look forward to doing when I'm done!
My Submission Party. Got a lot of Barawesome Valley wine to drink!
Graduate and get my fluffy hat - as worn by these women with the red.
Sleep. By Iker, I'm going to sleep!
Eat. And bake. Kekeke
Go back to the gym and the pool - I'm getting squishy!
Be a better bridesmaid (thanks Natty).
Re-read the Harry Potter series!
Read lots of books in general!
Go to C-town to see the Post-Impressionist Exhitibion at the NGA (thanks for organising, Lydia!). While I'm there, I may as well see a brand new C-towner!
Go to the NGV for the Exhibition for previous sculpture of the week holder, Ron Mueck!
Actively try to find a full time, post-doctoral of some sort job. Location TBC. Hopefully Paris or somewhere away from Melb because I need a change of scenery!

Cities in a bag!

More presents from Pooey! Cities in a bag.

Gay Paree

London (complete with giant stag in the outskirts!)

It came from Muji. I will use Pooey's own words here - !@#$ I LOVE MUJI!!! This website makes me salivate!

Quick tour of the Barawesome Valley

Four years after her initial foray into the city, Pooey went back to Radelaide to locum. Suboo had never been there before and so she decided that we two were going to visit Pooey and go on a wine tour. Therefore this past weekend, after rushing to finish a complete 2nd draft of the thesis (hence my lack of posting!) and following only 4 hours of sleep, I took the first flight out of Melbourne for a rush visit. Pooey picked the tour and I was really glad it was a large coach because it allowed me to sleep in the back during the (bumpy) ride to the Barossa Valley - or as we decided to christen it, the BarAWESOME valley. Hehehehe.

Our first stop was the *Whispering Wall*, a dam wall that was found to possess some very interesting acoustic properties!

The wall. Apparently they found out the sound-transmitting properties of the wall when two guys were talking at one end, and their manager heard them speaking at the other...

Pooey and Suboo contemplate the wall

We had a very nice tour group and some of the very tall Scottish people on the tour volunteered to be the ones to test out whether it worked or not. One of the guys ran to the other end of the wall and they proceeded to ask him questions. I kept thinking *stop answering the questions you're asking him, until I realised...HE was answering the questions! Freak-AY!!!

Whispering through another wall!

We then went to the first stop on our wine tour, Kies, where I had a sample of the few of the wines there and decided to purchase a small bottle of the 'Bastardo' Port - known as the 'Little Bugger.'

Our next stop, our good ol' friends LANGMEIL!!! We listened to the spiel again about the role of Lutheran immigants in the history of the Barawesome Valley, and how the 167 year old shiraz grapes were probably the oldest ones in the world.

I'm happy to be back!

Suboo looks around

Unlike our last visit, the old old vines were in fruit and our guide advised us to pick some fruit off the vines and do a taste comparison with younger vines. Oh my. I could be a tosser and proclaim that from now on, I will only eat grapes from 167 year old vines because they are jam-packed full of flavour...but I won't because those plants don't do high yields anymore and I wouldn't want to detract from the wine yield.

So happy to be with such old and tasty grapes!

Unlike the last time we were at Langmeil, they hadn't sold out of the signature wine, The Freedom, which is made from those 167 year old vines. Apparently we weren't actually supposed to be allowed to do a tasting of the wine, but somehow some of the old American tourists from our tour wheedled them into opening a bottle. It was...how can I say...DELICIOUS. Me and Pooey actually stared at each other after taking a sip of the Freedom, and just going *OMG, wow....that's good.*

Sipping my Freedom shiraz.

I must say, their decision to open that bottle for us was a mighty fine decision by the Langmeil people because Pooey and I decided to buy a bottle each. And at $100 a pop, those bottles don't come cheap. I think I'll crack it open for my PhD graduation. Maybe I'm biased because of our prior visit, but I think Langmeil was the best winery we visited. Either way, they must have been pretty happy that we rocked up because I walked out having paid for almost $600 worth of wine - lets just say that submission day will be boozy!

Our next winery and lunchstop was the Kaesler Winery, owner of shiraz vines that were, alas, only 120 years old. They wouldn't allow us to drink that shiraz (wonderfully named 'Old Bastard'), but we did taste their crisp semi-sweet riesling, Rizza. We thought it would go very well with Lobster noodles.

Kaesler have very nice grounds which I can imagine people using for parties.

Mmmm, parallel

Suboo being Asian, Pooey not ready

Roses!

Suboo tiptoes under the arches

But they also had easily accessible wine...I dunno, vats...which allowed us to do more silly photos!

Our last stop of the day was Wolf Blass. I dunno...after the high quality that was Langmeil and Kaesler, Wolf Blass wines seemed a bit...ho hum. Their structured tasting compared to the more relaxed ones that preceded it seemed a bit stern as well. Or maybe it was because I was tired and the heat of the day and booze were hitting me. Either way, Pooey and I needed to replicate the silly photos we'd taken year before and things were all good.

Pointing Pooey

Hiding Mooey

We three being sensible (for once).

And then we all fell asleep on the bus ride back into town!

Song of the week - Undisclosed Desires by Muse

*This was meant to go out on Saturday, don't know why it didn't.

Merrymaking with Calvin at the Prince

I don't really go in for the live music scene. I prefer the quality and comfort of lying around in my room or walking around on the street listening to a recorded track. What I don't enjoy is being physically intimate with scores of sweaty and drunk people. I also don't appreciate being shoved, sweated on, witnessing fights, or having ringing ears. So in hindsight, I'm actually a little amazed that I agreed to go see Calvin Harris at his BDO sideshow at the The Prince of Wales in St. Kilda. Oh yeah, I also don't enjoy St. Kilda.

But I went, and despite the distasteful feelings inspired in me by the crowd and conditions, I enjoyed listening to the happy dance-y music. In fact, I may even have MOSHED!!! Or at least, I jumped up and down when I was told to.

So let us all enjoy these youtube vids of Calvin's happy dance music and jump along!

Acceptable in the 80s


Big hit, I'm not alone


And of course, Merrymaking at my Place!

Hooray for bargains!

I love dresses. But you know what else I love? Bargains! Suboo said to me on Friday night *Hey! I saw a dress that I think would look good on you and it's reduced to $50...from $300!* I was :O. And then I was tempted. So very tempted.

But I'd recently purchased a dress in Sydney that had also been reduced. Also, I'm kinda povvo now that taxpayers have decided to stop funding my lifestyle (scholarship ended). But...bargain! And it was coming from a store that's quite good quality. So I decided that I would head on down to the shop, try the dress on, take a photo, bring it back to the bar, and if they majority of people thought it looked alright, I would purchase it.

They liked it. And so now I own another black cocktail dress!

The 83% off dress.

Or as Pooey said when she looked at the price tags featuring the deductions, "Geez, it's like they were dying to get rid of these dresses!"

So while I'm at it, I may as well show you the dress I got in Sydney.

At $255 to $100, it's only the 60% off dress

And oh yeah, those red shoes in the photos were 50% off. Hooray for bargains!

Sculpture of the week - Jeanne d'Arc by Emmanuel Fremiet

Emmanuel Frémiet, Jeanne d'Arc, 1906 replica of a 1872-74 original

State Library of Victoria forecourt, Melbourne
(Source)

19th century French art was influenced by the social goings on of that century - not only the effect of the technological advances but also that the French population had a tendency to have a revolt or be in a war approximately every 20 years. Jeanne is an example of a post-Franco-Prussian War/Paris commune sculpture. The dramatic and defiant pose of the French heroine celebrates France's military past after their humiliation at the hands of the Prussians with the idea that God might send them another hero or heroine to deliver them from their hated enemies. The original (of sorts) is located at the Place des Pyramides, Paris, in all its gilded glory (below).


Thankfully, the Melbourne version was not gilded - can you imagine what it would look like on a bright 35+ degree day?! OUCH! The composition of Jeanne recalls the great quattrocento equestrian works - French sculpture of this period was referred to as néo-florentin reflecting influence Renaissance ideals. The Melbourne version was acquired as part of the Felton Bequest and placed outside what was then the National Gallery.

Other replicas of Jeanne are located in Portland, Oregon, Philadelphia, and quite fittingly for the Maid of Orléans, New Orleans.

Movie review - Paranormal Activity

This is allegedly the scariest movie ever. Unlike the last movie I reviewed, it's not dependent on special effects but rather playing upon the basic human fears of unexplainable happenings and things that go bump in the night.

Whatever.

I watched this with Pooey and Smee (a notorious movie pussy) and well, Smee was the one who said "I found Harry Potter 1 scary...this was bullshit." This movie masquerades as a video made by a couple - Katie and Micah - to try and record the weird goings on around the house. Turn's out Katie is being stalked by a demon. We're supposed to feel creeped out by watching their psychological disintegration.

Except that we feel nothing because these people do everything they're advised not to - buying a ouija board, trying to communicate with the demon - or don't do things that sane people would -LIKE STAY IN A HOUSE THEY THINK IS POSSESSED!!! It tries too hard to come across as *real* and fails completely because the acting is too unconvincing. Or as Pooey said "Ugh, Katie is so annoying! When is she going to die?!" Seriously, the three of us sat around to shit our pants and basically ended up bored and waiting for the end.

Scariest movie ever, hey?
2/10

Movie review - Avatar (3D)

A band of imperialist foreigners land on a location populated by lush forests, rich in natural resources. These newcomers want these resources because it will make them rich in their homeland. But the land is inhabited by some natives who don't want to give up their land. One man, a member of the foreigners, gets separated from his brethren but the princess of the natives takes a shining to him. He lives with these natives, learns their ways, and comes to identify with their civilisation. Oh, he and the princess also fall in love. But the time comes when he has to choose between his new friends and his culture.

This is actually the plot of the 1995 Disney cartoon Pocahontas, based on the real-life story, but also of Avatar.

Avatar is an interesting movie. Set on Pandora (one of Jupiter's moons, based on the visuals), there's Jake Sully (Sam Worthington) as the John Smith character, a former marine who after being separated from his research team, is rescued from some Pandoran wildlife by Neytiri (Zoe Saldana), the Na'vi princess. Then insert the plot summary from above to figure out what's going on. As you can tell, it's a fairly commonplace story. It's also been described to me as a metaphor for what's going on in the Middle East, although it could also be about Asian, African, North, and South American colonialism. So yes, story is not particularly original but it has mass appeal. I'm not going to bother picking holes in the logic of various motivations of characters but they are there.

Having said that, the characters are one-dimensional, which is usually not a problem for me, (hey, I did enjoy the Transformers movies!) but in this instance when people are good or bad, the lack of grey was led to aspects that struck me as being somewhat ridiculous. The main case in point was during the [Spoiler] final fight between Jake in Avatar mode in his fight versus the Colonel Quarich (Stephen Lang). The final attack on the Na'vi has failed, a normal military commander would go back to base and regroup - but Quaritch instead jumps into his mecha suit to duke it out to the death. The motivation seems...misplaced. Because it totally helps the cause, you know [End Spoiler].

As an aside, I would like to make a comment about Sigourney Weaver being the WORST RESEARCH SCIENTIST EVER!!! There's a short sequence when Jake is talking to the camera and Sigourney in the background is looking a plate that's on a phase microscope. She picks up a pipette, picks up a fluid sample of some sort, upends the pipette, and then goes to eject onto the plate! Upending a pipette when you've got a sample in there means all the fluid goes into the plunger!!! And oh yeah - product placement for EPPENDORF PIPETTES!!! W00T!

Back to the review. For all the weak story and lack of educating someone how to use a pipette, it's clear that the money was invested in the visuals and invested well. Whoever the production designer on this must have had a field day with the planning of how Pandora was going to look and what each of the strange and wonderful plants and animals were going to do in their brightly coloured way. In fact, the contrast between the bright and pretty colours of Pandora vs. the human base was quite stark - I'm certain there was meant to be a message in there. There are some sequences that are really gorgeous and when you add in the 3Dness of things and it really is quite a wonder to look at.

That brings me to my next issue. I didn't get nausea but headaches did plague me throughout the movie. Part of the way 3D visuals works is the reliance on having what we're meant to concentrate on being in focus and indicating something being close or in the distance through blurring. It probably says something about my personality, but I didn't want to just focus on the action - I wanted to look at the things that were closer or further away! But that meant I was pretty much fighting to try and see in focus things that are meant to be blurry. My poor eyes and brain struggled.

With the beauty of Pandora, I know Cameron wanted to linger over the creations so that everyone can marvel at it, but there were points when I though *okay, I've had enough of doing x, it's time to further the story*, and this happened at a number of places during the movie. At 162 minutes long, well, its not compact. That's why I can't help wishing there was more of a story to distract myself from how long it was.

I know this review sounds incredibly negative. It's not to say that I didn't enjoy the film - I didn't sit there wishing everyone would die like I have in other movies, but it is definitely overrated and too long. It's not the masterpiece of story telling everyone seems to tell me - it's a very long promotion for the CGI technology that James Cameron has been working on for the last decade. I very highly doubt my opinion will change with repeated viewings which means I can only give it a score in the lower, but passable, range.
6/10

Hotties of the week - Niko Kranjcar and Josh Hartnett

This weeks' pieces of the week (oioi) are for Ven who has been suffering footie/soccer withdrawal due to the European Cold Wave.

Niko Kranjcar...

He of the AC Milan-worthy hair

The Tongue Porn (and Mufasa likeness)

The complete package-ness

Not to mention the pinch-worthy ass

Plus, she totally caught his eye as well!
(Picture courtesy of Ven's mama)

Next we have Josh Hartnett. If you don't know who he is or understand why he's a hottie...just watch this video, the first 2 minutes will do. Please.

Totally looks like

Princess Tiaamii Andre, daughter of Jordan/Katie Price and Peter Andre

(Source)

totally looks like

An Oompa-loompa
(Source)