DVD review - Jarhead

War movies and me...we have a love/hate relationship. It's a tricky genre and we can argue about what counts as a war movie (Troy? LOTR? Star Wars?) until the cows come home. Until relatively recently, if given the choice of watching a war movie or staying home alone, I probably would have stayed home but then my brother got a job working at Blockbuster Video. Since he was allowed to borrow a certain number of items for free, we started to work our way through the genre. I developed a new appreciation of them, understanding for every piece of drivel a la Pearl Harbour or Saving Private Ryan (I found it better than Shakespeare in Love, but still overrated), there was good stuff like The Pianist and Full Metal Jacket. Into the *good* pile, we can add Jarhead.

Based on the memoir by Anthony Swofford, Jarhead recounts his training and service as a Marine in the first Gulf War. We follow Swoff (Jake Gyllenhaal) from his indoctrination in boot camp, his specialist sniper training, and his experience in the Gulf. If you're looking for an action movie with political commentary, you won't find it here. Instead this movie recounts Swoff's experience from his transformation from the reluctant marine who "got lost on his way to college", into the macho crack sniper, the bored, paranoid and frustrated tightly coiled soldier, and finally...what he is afterwards.

I can't really say why I liked this movie so much. It's a lot funnier than I expected it to be. We see a lot of the marines' pranks and humiliations. It's also a lot more homoerotic than expected - there are a lot of shots of partially dressed guys and they simulate sex with each other a few times. But it's also quite disturbing as we see the psychological toll of being constantly wired for fighting has on them - their growing disregard for others' feelings and when they get so stressed that they beg for the chance to kill someone/something or have someone kill them.

Although the actors/characters whom we don't follow as closely seem to anonymously blend into each other, the lead three are great. Dare I say Jake Gyllenhaal is better here than in Brokeback? It is a very impressive performance that needs to be seen to be believed. Peter Sarsgaard as the quiet-spoken, seemingly level-headed Troy, the spotter to Swoff's shooter...I havne't seen any of his other movies (even though we have them on dvd) but he was really good too. Jamie Foxx as the staff sargeant of the sniper troop was awesome! His changes from the total badass mother!#$@er drilling the recruits, to the logical teacher and instructor, embarrassment in a memorable scene, and the tactful leader who cares for the wellbeing of those under his command - I consider this performance superior to that of Ray (which if you think about it, that was more imitation than acting).

Just go out and watch this movie, ok?
7.5-8/10

Wikipedia

Today I was going to be good. Today I was going to work on writing some pieces of my literature review even though it's not due until the end of this year. But something happened and I decided to look up something in wikipedia. After that, all bets were off.

I love wikipedia. That's not to say I treat it seriously as a resource that should be consulted when writing research essays, but if you're looking for something to give you the fleeting background information on say all the characters in Buffy, this will do it. I find that I can kill HOURS just trawling around wikipedia, typing in random things that flit through my head (of which there are many things, not heads) or clicking on the links. The fact that wikipedia is filled with numerous articles...its so easy to read something on genuine topics that might be in Britannica or like such as information on how the Big Four accounting firms developed, various people from classical mythology, or even a chapter by chapter blow-through of Milton's Paradise Lost without having to strain your back by carrying loads of volumes around! But it also contains so many articles on pop culture! You can look up who the voice of anime characters are or learn about the different jumps in cheerleading! Hell, the thing even has recipes (sometimes)!

I'm aware that this entry just made me sound like the biggest geek ever and completely validated the way Queenie introduces me to people (she likes to say I read the encyclopaedia), but I don't care. Wikipedia is a lot of fun for curious nerds like me. In fact, the only way they could make it more fun is to include something like the game on Encarta where you have to escape from a castle by successfully answering questions (from entries in the encyclopaedia). That would make it PERFECT.

Geek out!

How to remove a retina

This post is mostly for the benefit of Andrea (*wave!*) who wanted to know how it could be done. It will be pretty gory, so for those who don't want to know how I cull rats and remove their eyes....it might be better if you wait for the next post. Cheers!

Ok.



Last chance!!!



Firstly, the rat is not killed by cervical dislocation (thank god cos theyre huge! I also have a story about this concerning Lewnotab). It's injected with ketamine to put it to sleep. When the rat is completely out, you squeeze around the orbital bones with the scissors so that the eye protudes. The blades are then worked underneath the eye orbit and sever the optic nerve. After both eyes are removed, the rat is killed with an injection of phenobarbitol.

Holding the eye gently, the cornea is removed from the eye by cutting just behind a white line that separates the front of the eye from the eye cup (I can't remember the technical name). The lens is removed and gently pull out the vitreous without detaching the retina. This whole bit is quite hard but once its done, you're set. The eye cup is fixed in paraform for 30 mins. It then goes through a series of phosphate buffer (NOT PBS) washes for 10 mins each. After the washes it is put through increasing concentrations (10%, 20%, 30%) sucrose for at least an hour each. At 30%, the eye cup is placed in the fridge for at least overnight.

To remove the retina from the eye cup...there's a colour difference between the two and if you can work the fine forceps between them, you can peel the retina off quite easily and there you go!!!

Hopefully I will soon have some lovely photos of the S-100beta, desmin and smooth muscle actin immunos that I've done on some vertical retina sections. Erica said they kicked ass!!! They're not perfect - too much background staining for my liking - but they're nice and fluorescent green and you can see the Muller Cell/astrocyte and smooth muscle morphology really nicely.

note to self...

I've been experimenting with making fruit pastries. I'm currently working on trying to figure out how to make a pear...er...tart-thing. It started off as a desire for something like tarte tatin, but finding only frozen puff pastry and some pearts, it evolved into something else.

The best one I've made so far looks like this:Currently, I have figured these things out when making them...
1. Cut the pears as finely as possible or you get pear juice thats kind of just floating around. Lots of juice that will run down your arms if you're not careful.
2. Resist the urge to use all of the eggwash. Using all the eggwash results in the pastry becoming like french toast (mmmm, french toast).
3. Use baking paper, not foil.
4. Do not set the oven to *grill top* in the hope that the sugar you piled on will caramelise.
5. The middle section of the grill is hotter than the outer sections.

What the....?

What Famous Leader Are You?
personality tests by similarminds.com

Timeline of TomKat baby

I still don't buy it. Initially, wŏ xĭang tă huái de hái zi bŭ shĭ tă de because immediately after the announcement, she started appearing in public with a massive belly that I estimated indicated 5 months of pregnancy. I don't know. I guess it's possible it might have been a 3 month belly (I doubt it given how slim she is/was - the thinner you are, the less likely the foetus is going to grow that quickly to push her innie belly button to outie).

Anyway, judge for yourself.

April 29 – First public appearance together and announcement of relationship

May 23 – Infamous Oprah appearance

June 17 – Announcement of engagement

Oct 6 – announcement of pregnancy

Oct 11 – publication of photos with very visible baby bumpNov 12 – attends the BAFTAs, bump is even more visibleDec 16 – appears in public as a MuppetJan – still looking huge

Feb 2 – Publication of this photo, oddly looking as pregnant at 7 months as she did at 3.

Feb 17 – Attendance of Kerry Packer Memorial, looking ready to pop.

Mar 31 – Photos after leaving a medical centre.

April 5 – publication of a photos with a basketball under shirt.April 14 - goes shopping for high heels wearing the ugliest pregnancy dress Hollywood could dig up. Seriously. Did she not observe Sarah Jessica Parker, Reese Witherspoon, Catherine Zeta Jones et al during their pregnancies?April 17 – edition of OK! Weekly to announce that the baby is due April 21, 6 months after the announcement of pregnancy.

That makes it 6 months since the announcement of the pregnancy to the projected delivery date. God, can't believe it's only been six months, seems like she's been pregnant forever. Well that's enough goss for me today.

another geeky quiz

Which File Extension are You?

I am powerful

Which Biological Molecule Are You?

You are an enzyme. You are powerful, dark, variable, and can change many things at your whim...even when they're not supposed to be changed. Bad you. You can be dangerous or wonderful; it's your choice.
Take this quiz!

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Why can't I be dangerous and wonderful? There's no light without dark!

hmmm, something's wrong

with me. I seem to be lacking in energy despite my (I think) improved diet, regular exercise, and (generally) increased amount of sleep. For the last few days I've felt sore in my muscles but no head-sicky feelings. I've also been sleeping a ridiculous amount - going to bed at 10 and waking at 7:15. I don't think I've regularly slept that early for 10 years...possibly more.

Well, lets hope this easter break gets some pep back into me, y'all.
Enjoy the long weekend!

Can anyone explain to me...

why a card I received (SHOE WHORE!!!), which I assume was posted in London, is postmarked "Priority A".....from Sweden?

It even has a PO box in Malmo as the address if the card couldn't be delivered.

No particular reason why, I'm just curious.

Belated birthday

I forgot it was my blog's birthday. It seems I started this thing on the 4th of April, and 234 posts later, here we are.

Well, if I were anything other than a poor student, I'd probably post a competition where who ever is the first person to email me their name and address, I'd snail mail them a letter as a prize! But you know, there isnt much worth in that kind of present and I'm sure I know most of you guys in real life anyway.

Seeya!

Movie review: V for Vendetta

Wow! I've read the graphic novel recently and was a big fan of it (although not of its early 80s style drawing). Despite the news that Alan Moore had disowned the adaptation and rabid fan online going on about how the plot had been changed, I was still looking forward to it. And I can enthusiastically say that I was thoroughly satisfied. I won't compare the GN to the movie, except for places where I think it's necessary.

If you're not aware of the dystopian and somewhat controversial plot, V for Vendetta is set in London. The USA is no longer a world superpower after a disastrous war (heh), and despite social destabilisation due to an epidemic (heh), England is still "prevailing" following the rise of a totalitarian government, led by Adam Sutler (John Hurt). The population is kept under control by the use of The Fingermen (a Secret Police force akin to the Stasi or KGB), censorship of the media, and institution of curfews. Evey Hammond (Natalie Portman) is caught on the street after curfew by a group of Fingermen who attempt to rape her. She is saved by the arrival of V (Hugo Weaving) a freedom fighter/anarchist/terrorist dressed as Guy Fawkes...and from there the plot gets too complicated for me to discuss here (although if you want to read a spoiler of the film, you can see it here).

First off, this is not an easy movie to deal with. While everyone I went with was extremely pleased with the film, we agreed that it was easy to see why a lot of people wouldn't like it. It draws a lot of parallels, not only with totalitarian governments of the past, both Left- and Right-wing, but with current world events, and social and cultural attitudes. The movie requires a fair amount of thinking and if you're not willing to open your mind to the concept that governments may not have their citizens' best interests as their driving force, you'll probably hate it. There are a number of conspiracy theories banded about - the most common one being that governments would exploit a situation to exercise and exorcise opponents to their ideology. Sure, you might scoff at that idea, but if you consider that Lord Salisbury, the Prime Minister at the time of Guy Fawkes and The Gunpowder Plot, used that as a reason to persecute Catholics in the 17th century...when you think about it in conjunction with a certain war that's on right now, it's not such an implausible idea. The movie essentially shows how people can play on mob fear to do things which, when thought out rationally, are unacceptable.

Another controversial aspects of the film is that the hero is explicitly identified as a terrorist. Yes, this is a word that has extreme negative connotations, and really, that is what V is. His actions cause widespread destruction and chaos, he is ruthless and closed to opposing viewpoints, and he does kill a lot of people (although he kills even more in the GN). Despite this, he is shown to us as charming, well-educated, and abused by the government so we cheer him on and want his plans to succeed because the government is obviously in the wrong. The movie has been under a bit of heat because it shows a terrorist in sympathetic light and the climax is a bombing in the London Tube. But I dont think this movie is advocating terrorism as a legitimate method to instill change. Rather, I think the message is that one should try to look beyond the destruction and seek the motivation, which admittedly is a difficult thing to do when faced with the aftermath.

The movie is also highly dependent on the use of symbols and iconography. There's naturally a lot of communist/Nazi iconography to make us identify with what we're seeing a bit more plausible - after all, this kind of stuff has happened. Likewise, the various characters are obviously meant to signify things beyond what they initially seem. V is obviously the embodiment of his ideals as a whole while Evey is representing the audience at large - the effect of the big picture on an individual. The extensive use of symbolism has been a bone of contention between the critics, as some have complained that the movie would have been better if (spoiler) V's identity is revealed (end spoiler). In my opinion (shared by others) this is irrelevent, and I believe that if it were done, it would have diminished the effectiveness of the message.

That said, for all the heaviness of what the film is about, it's surprisingly quite funny. There are moments of levity that are so startling you can't help but burst out laughing. In particular are V's introductory speech to Evey after rescuing her. It's a brilliant piece of alliteration and diction, but so bewildering that you understand where Evey is coming from when she asks "Are you, like, a crazy person?" Hilarious. Given what he's capable of, there's also the strange sight of V in a floral apron (above) and some great one-liners. Also, for haters of Fox News and particularly Bill O'Reilly, there's a character, Prothero, who acts as the voice of the regime and the director and actor (Roger Allam) have obviously based it upon "The O'Reilly Factor". It's a great moment.

On that note, here's my take on the acting. On the whole, the cast is fantastic but extra special kudos must go to Hugo Weaving. I can imagine it would be hard to act when you've got a mask with a fixed smile on your face for pretty much the entire role, but through gesture, intonation and a certain je ne sais quoi, Weaving manages to instill in V a great deal of charisma. I have no idea how he managed to make a constantly smiling mask equal parts intelligent, menacing, humourous, sadistic, and pragmatic. Natalie Portman is pretty good. Her accent is sometimes a bit weird, but on the whole she does convey Evey's emotions. It's not an easy role to portray as the girl who initially, while perhaps not satisfied, is marginally content with her position in life but come to realise things aren't ok. Stephen Rea as Finch, the high-ranking official who didn't realise how far his government would go to acquire and maintain power is great, although I would have liked to have seen what his character goes through in the GN on screen. And of course, the casting of John Hurt as the dictator...its a great contrast to his performance as Winston Smith, the victim of a totalitarian government in 1984.

Criticisms...WTH is with the love subplot?!!?!? I was completely happy until the last 20-30 minutes or so when it looks like V and Evey are in love with each other. Errr....NO!!!! Luckily it was kept to a minimum otherwise I may have dropped the movie down a point. Completely unnecessary. The level of fighting - I thought there was going to be more. That's not to say I think there should have been more. The amount that was there was fine, but I thought there would be more. If they had chosen to put in more, I would be happy with that too but it might be a disappointment to some. Something that was expanded more within the GN that wasn't done in the film is explaining what and why V is the way he is and why Evey is the way she is. In fact, regarding Evey, while I think the development of her character within the movie is very good, it is better in the GN.

I don't know if any of you reading this know or care, but this was a really difficult review to write. There were a lot of things that it brings up that I was considering discussing here, but it would have taken so much thought and writing, V for Vendetta would end up as my review for The Matrix - a constant work in progress in my head. As it is, I think this is the longest review since that monster Brokeback Mountain one I wrote. As you can see, I highly recommend it. For a site that provides even more analysis of V for Vendetta GN, see this site.

8.5/10

Things I love that people totally get!!!

I was sorting out my dirty laundry today. While I was shaking everything and turning them inside-out, I felt something hard hit me on the hand. Since I was shaking a pair of gym shorts, I figured it must have been the toggle bumping. Then I realised....*it couldnt be the toggle because of the logistics of my shorts - too hard to explain here! I shook them again, but didnt feel anything until I was bunching the shorts to toss into the *dirty* basket when I felt it again! Excited, I kept shaking until, sure enough, a $2 coin dropped out!

I love finding forgotten money in clothes!!!

I'm still trying to work out my review of V for Vendetta. Hopefully it'll be up in a few days ;)

Lab update!

For those who don't know, I've been doing my PhD for 5 weeks now... meaning I have 150 weeks left to go (oh yay). The last month has pretty much consisted of me trying to complete reading associated with my topic and trying to formulate a plausible hypothesis. The hypothesis is a work in progress, the reading varies depending on how much my brain and I are getting along. Regardless, this was pretty much my first week of doing any experimental work - mostly refreshing stuff and learning how this lab is run.

On Tuesday and Wednesday, I did some immunoflurescence of retina sections, staining for glutamine synthetase for astrocytes and Muller cells, and staining for KIR. I don't know what KIR stains for. What a culture shock!!! I came from working in a lab that did things for various hospitals and therefore had somewhat stringent EHS stuff going on, to a lab where people don't even wear latex gloves!!! Taking into consideration my lab time over the summer, I had several heart attacks watching pipettes being thrown into normal bins (i.e. NOT biohazard - admittedly it was used for pipetting non-toxic buffers - but that's not the point) *shudder*. Abrezh the other new PhD student comes from an optometry (i.e. clinical, not laboratory) background, so I was asked to keep an eye on him to teach him good lab habits. But how can I teach him that when Erica's making up sucrose solution by pouring the powered sucrose into a jar, pouring in distilled water...and then SHAKING it?! I said something like "...er....shouldn't you be spinning that?" to which I got the response, "This does the same thing." Later when we were talking about how to do a dilution, I told Abrez that you put the diluting buffer into an eppendorf tube, remove the volume of the antibody from the buffer, and then put in the antibody...to which another lab member said to me "Oh, this is bucket science. When you're making a 1:1000 dilution, if you dont take out that microlitre, it doesn't make much of a difference." Oh yes it does!!! It completely changes the dilution!!! Anyway, I'm assured that this is how research labs work - I can either stick to my anal, but scientifically correct habits, or I'll adjust to their relaxed ones. We'll see who wins.

Today, I was inducted into the departmental Histology lab and then taught how to use the cryostat. The cryostat is a like a microtome, except it's used to cut snap-frozen tissue. After the demonstration by the lab manager, Faye, I spent about 20 minutes of so on the machine trying to cut some sections of mouse brain. On the whole, I was generally ok, except for a giant wrinkle that I kept getting right down the centre of the section. Faye assured me that for my first ever time, my sections were pretty damn good (woohoo!), so I hopped over to Path and the SNS for a little show and tell. After inspecting them by eye and under the microscope, my sections were met with rapturous declarations about how good they were and that we should stain them for H&E for posterity. Unfortunately, since the sections hadn't dried properly onto the slides, they floated off and were not salvageable. Poor Veronika who suggested the idea was quite upset, while Paul just said "Oh, maybe you should have fixed them in acetone" and was met with glares and the question "Well why didn't you suggest that before?!" Ahhh...it feels good to be back into a working lab.

Preview for the day - I've seen V for Vendetta, the review will be coming soon!

DVD review - Elizabethtown

On Saturday night, Queenie, Carmie and I decided to go get a chick-flick to watch while the boys played poker. Standing in front of the shelves, we were stuck with the eternal dilemma - *what to get?!?!* The shopgirl, cognisant of our problem, suggested we try out the latest movie from Cameron Crowe, Elizabethtown, featuring Orland Bloom and Kirsten Dunst.

Drew Baylor (Orlando Bloom) was nurtured by a Portland, Oregon-based sports show company to design great shoes for them. Unfortunately, the shoe he designed, the Spasmotica (really, for letting that name get through, the marketing guy should have been shot), lost the company ONE BILLION DOLLARS - and he got fired and dumped by his gf to boot. Just as he is about to give himself the proverbial heave-ho, Drew's sister rings to tell him that their Father has died and as the eldest, Drew has to return to his Father's home town of Elizabethtown, Kentucky, to fulfill his wishes re. the funeral. On his way there, he meets Claire (Kirsten Dunst) the flight attendent and the story writes itself.

What can I say?
1. Movies that are meant to show charming little towns in Middle-America filled with quirky people inevitably end up showing annoying weirdos.
2. Perky flight attendants who just happen to turn up where you least expect it are creepy, not quirky.
3. I don't know if its his faux US accent, but Orlando Bloom just never struck me as convincing - see Kingdom of Heaven. In fact I'm not even sure if his pretty face made up for the fact that what was coming out of his mouth just didn't ring true for the situation.
4. There should have been more Susan Sarandon - the role of her character in the father's life should have been expanded because it was the most interesting aspect of the film.
5. Alec Baldwin was also good but his character was gone within the first 15 minutes. Shoulda expanded why they bothered to waste so much time, money and thought to nurture Orlando. Then again, for someone to not realise his protege is a complete stuff-up kinda says something.
5. Seeing as there was so little plot and character development...why the hell did the movie go for two hours?! So slow!!!!

There's a whole heap of other things I could talk about why this movie is terrible but I don't want to waste that much brain power thinking about it anymore.

3/10

Movie review - Camping à la ferme

As part of this year's French Film Festival, Lydia and I were going to watch Combien tu m'aimes? (How much do you love me?) with Monica Bellucci and Gerard Depardieu, but it was sold out so we watched the movie on after it. It was Camping à la ferme starring no one I knew, although it did feature the actor who played Joseph the freak from Amelie.

Written by Azouz Begag, the basic plot is that Amar (Roschdy Zem), is a social worker with the idea that community service for juvenile delinquents should take place in the French countryside where the kids can be put to use by helping small communities. From the nasty suburbs of Paris, Amar takes six boys aged in their late teens, of multiple ethinicities but mostly of a North African islamic background, to a small farming community and a number of *fish-out-of-water* hijinks ensue.

It's pretty straightforward combination of the concept of La France Profonde, some comedy, and also an examination of prejudices, small-town politics, and the effect of European Union plans on small farmers. I'm not sure how well the movie functions on both ends. There are genuine laugh-out-loud bits and the issues raised are thought-provoking, but sometimes the humour seems out of place when compared to the issues, and while everyone involved is changed nothing seems to be really resolved at the end. I guess a part of this is due to the fact that problems regarding racism and the way politicians are willing to use minorities to push their own agenda etc. aren't things that can be solved within 92 minutes of film.
The characters both urban and rural can be quite stereotypical and the situations clichéd, but it's ok overall.
6.5-7/10.

omg

I totally didn't realise that yesterday was April Fool's. I didn't get to take advantage of it and post some crappy message about how I was converting to...I dunno....Mormonism or something and therefore leaving everything I'm doing to head off to become the 4th wife of some guy and live in the desert!

Darnit!

Charity photos!

Well the ball has come and gone and the dress dilemma turned out well :) I ended up tying a cardinal red ribbon around my waist - who would have thought that that would transform an lbd so much?

(Here's a pic of me posing with chocolate - pretending to be deep)

The pics are accessible at http://mallymoodlespics.shutterfly.com
The password is 12345

A word of warning, if you're somewhat delicate you might want to give photo titled *charity ball 011* a miss. It's a bit of a Paris Hilton moment.

Pilates with Glen

(Hi Mandy!)

He doesn't know and he probably doesn't care, but I have a love/hate relationship with my pilates instructor, Glen. (Now before you guys start thinking things, he's gay.) I love the classes because they do feel like a good workout - my gut gets really sore during the classes which is a good thing. And there's his teaching style, which is incredibly effective. He takes the time to check out everyone's technique and correct it...but it never fails to make me feel outraged after class.

I started attending classes last year with Mandy because she was extolling the virtues of this great pilates instructor and she always felt sore after a workout - that's how great the classes were, so I started attending along with her. So, imagine my shock when I discovered that to make sure you do the exercises properly, he's the kind of feet-on kinda guy.

Yes, you read that right.

To make sure that you've got your shoulders off the ground during a pilates sit-up, Glen will kick your shoulders up. To make sure you don't move your hips during tabletop, he will step on your hips. You're not tilting your pelvis properly? He'll grab your arms and push back your hips with his foot! He's a complete nazi when it comes to technique and he's not shy in yelling out things you don't want said out loud. He'll just yell out comments about your technique for all to hear. And you know, I'm not one to just sit there and take the abuse like all the others so every class usually features at least one argument. This was today's:

*Tense that TA (transverse abdominus)!!!*
*I (grunt) AM (puff) tensing it!!!*
*Then why is that stomach hanging out?!*
*It's cos I'm fat*
*YOU'RE NOT FAT, TENSE IT!*
*I AM FAT! Why do you think I'm in this class?!*
*Don't talk back! Tense that TA!!!* (Proceed to step on my stomach)

Ah yes, a true example of our interchanges. I think the classes may be working (my gut does feel harder when I do manage to tense it), although he did advise that if I want him to stop stepping on me, I'll have to do the exercises EVERYDAY. Man, I'm torn between doing what he says to stop him from stepping on me, but then... he's a nazi in class, I can't let myself be ruled outside of it!

Things I love that other people don't understand

Opera.

Seriously, I love European Opera and a lot of people just don't get it (oddly enough, I really hate Chinese Opera). Part of the reason may simply be due to all the time I spent as a kid watching Warner Bros. cartoons - you gotta appreciate Chuck Jones' use of opera to comic effect, such as Rossini's Barber of Seville in his Rabbit of Seville or Wagner in What's Opera Doc?

Unfortunately the cost of attending a professional opera performance here is fairly prohibitive for someone my age, and there aren't many performances on. Also, in comparison to the the money spent on opera here...its a lot less compared to governments in say, Austria, and receives a lot less in terms of donations compared to New York. My favourite performance where I've been present would be La Vie Parisienne by Offenbach at L'Opéra-Comique in Paris. Sure, it was in french without sur-titles so I only understood about one word in 10, but it was so funny and cheery, plus sitting in the VERY high, VERY narrow, seats up in the roof of an opera house built in the 19th century. *sigh* Those scary, rickety stairs and tiny tiny seats...you can't replicate that kind of experience!

I don't have a favourite aria, but Nessun dorma from Turandot would have to be close. Everyone knows this one - its Pavarotti's signature song, the one all three sing at the end of the 3 Tenors concert. The lyrics are below with english translation - but it sounds a lot better in the original italian.

Nessun dorma! Nessun dorma!
None shall sleep ! None shall sleep!
Tu pure, o Principessa
You too, oh Princess,
nella tua fredda stanza
In your virginal room,
guardi le stelle che tremano
watch the stars
d’amore e di speranza !
trembling with love and hope!

Ma il moi mistero è chiuso in me,
But my secret lies hidden within me,
il nome mio nessun saprà !
No one shall discover my name!
No, no, sulla tua bocca lo dirò,
Oh no, I will reveal it only on your lips
quando la luce splenderà!
When daylight shines forth!
Ed il mio bacio scioglierà
And my kiss shall break
il silenzo che ti fa mia !
The silence that makes you mine!

Dilegua, o notte ! Tramontate, stelle !
Depart, oh night. Set, you stars!
Tramontate, stelle ! All’alba vincerò
Set, you stars! At dawn I shall win!
Vincerò ! Vincerò !
I shall win! I shall win!

Ahhh....the heartfelt voice of the tenor, the backing female chorus, the psycho love lyrics... shivers up my spine ;)

Dress update

It will not be bought. Or at least, it wont be bought at that price. We've decided, nice as it may be, it isn't worth the cost.

I'll wait until it goes on discount.

Should I buy this dress?

I'm attending a ball on Thursday and need a new dress. This is pretty much the only I could find that I liked....but it costs a whopping $230.


What do you think?

Crimes Against Fashion

Number 16584 - Socks with sandals. The only people who can vaguely carry this off are girls aged 2-6. If you do not fall within this group, THIS IS A CRIME!!!

I dont know what to blog about

Truly. I mean there's stuff I could write about, but I dont feel like it or I know at this point, I couldn't do it justice.

I was going to write an entry about how I took pity on a fellow student who's less....er....savvy about her dress and grooming and she now kinda always talks to me even though I don't want her to....but it seemed kinda mean-spirited. We'll see how long that lasts.

Heheh, more online quizzes

LOL, whatever!!!

Your Porn Star Name Is...

Sandra Spunk

What's Your Porn Star Name?

Although I think this one is more appropriate:

ALICE
A = Amazing
L = Loud
I = Ideal
C = Crazy
E = Expressive

What Does Your Name Mean?

Who would have thought a randomised thing would get me right? :P

Call me Kuchiki Rukia

I dont normally like to post photos of myself online, but i've got a new haircut and ppl said they couldnt see it in my email. So here's a photoshopped version of my haircut - tell me if you can guess what was 'shopped.
(hah! I got rid of the circles under my eyes :P)

You can't really tell here, but when I was looking in the mirror straight rather than hunched and the ends landed on my shoulders, it made me think the cut was a bit like Kuchiki Rukia's hairstyle from the manga/anime Bleach.Ok, maybe not when comparing the pics. But it does in real life!

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!!!