Relief!

Hooray! I have completed the Neurogroup presentation, and while I dont think I carried myself off with as much aplomb as I did during my Defence last year, I think I did ok. The areas that I need to improve on are slowing down my talking speed (although a Dept. lecturer did tell me he thought my speed was adequate) and knowing my shit a bit more so I don't die during questions. My cake and cookies were fine.

On a different note, if you attend Melb Uni and are a postgrad or Hons student within the Faculties of Science, Engineering, or Medicine, Dentistry & Health Sciences, we'd like to invite you all to enter the *Under the Coverslip Competition*.
For details and entry form, go to http://www.anatomy.unimelb.edu.au/coverslip/index.html

Movie review - Malena

I've written before about how I love Monica Bellucci in a totally lesbian way as well as my hopelessly inept attempt at learning italian. These two were united as I watched the 2000 movie Malèna. Spoilers abound in this review, so watch out!!!

In 1941, Maddalena Scordia, known simply as Malèna, arrives in Castelcuto, a small town in Sicily, the new wife of a local lieutenant. When he is sent off the fight in the war, her beauty and aloof manner keeps her separate from the local populace: the men don't hide their desire for her which enrages the women. The only people in the entire town on her side are her elderly father who teaches latin at the school, and Renato (Giuseppe Sulfaro) a shy 12 year old boy for whom Malèna is the ideal woman. Everyday as she walks from her seaside home, through the central piazza, to her father's house, Malèna deals with the catcalls and jealous gossip while Renato tries to ride his bike near at various parts of her path. After news that her husband has died reaches the village, the tensions that Malèna arouses in various parts of the populace reach boiling point, mirrored by the political climate of the time, as Renato looks helplessly on.

This film is beautiful and depressing in so many ways. The story is essentially a coming of age of Renato - he literally begins to feel himself becoming a man on his first glimpse of Malèna during one of her walks - the director, Giuseppe Trovatore, has indicated that it also serves as an allegory of Italy before, during, and after WWII. We see the story through Renato's eyes, and so while we're given glimpses of humour as he imagines himself as Malèna's hero in via movie roles (Tarzan and Jane, Stagecoach), we're also made witness to the various indignities that she's put through, her ostracisation from the females and harassment from males, her rape by the lawyer she hired to defend her in a divorce case, being beaten and shorn by the women in the piazza after the Allied Forces arrival, and her leaving and eventual return to Castelcuto. And while we and Renato want to intervene in what he witnesses, we are constantly reminded that he is only a boy and there is little he can do. There's an absolutely heartbreaking scene when he spies her crying after the news her husband has died and Renato imagines himself climbing into her room to comfort her with the words "From now on, I'll be by your side. Forever. Just give me time to grow up." So he takes revenge against the townspeople in little ways - spitting in the drink of a man who boasts, and urinating in a bag of a woman who calls her a slut.

The acting. I can not rave enough about Giuseppe Sulfaro's performance. With his great puppydog eyes and semi-broken voice we see all of Renato's feelings. Amazement at first glimpse of Malèna, relief at discovering that the person she gets dressed up to visit everyday is her father, his anger and despair when things start spiralling out of control, and of course, lust. His best scenes in my opinion are when he goes to the local church and going from saint to saint, trying to decide which would be the best to light a votive candle for the protection of Malèna. After having sprained his arm and leg falling from a tree after witnessing the rape, he returns limping to the church, and in a quiet manner, absolves the saint before quickly striking and breaking off the plaster statue's hand in rage that the saint didn't keep to its side of the bargain. For Monica Bellucci's performance, she does well in a role without much dialogue, her performance mostly being almost solely action. I present this clip:

Destitute (as seen by the broken shoes) and having been coerced into cutting off her hair as payment for food, she decides to turn to prostitution for food and income. I love how in this clip, we see her giving the entire town the proverbial finger by her strut into the piazza, casual crossing of legs, and waiting for the townsmen to light the cigarette. It's a change from the way she usually walks through demurely, head and eyes lowered. But also in this scene, we see her vulnerability and unhappiness that it's come to this by the way she won't meet anyone's eyes once she's sat down and the stiff hold of her shoulders and face.

I'd just like to make a comment about the music. The score by Ennio Morricone is brilliant and contains a several bars of music that have since been turned into the song *You're Still You* by Josh Groban, the lyrics of which attest that while time has been cruel to the person in particular, he knows the person inside is still the person he fell in love with. With regards to Renato's feelings for Malèna, knowing the song was a nice touch.

Moving and thoughtful, humourous yet unflinching of more serious themes, Malèna is a wonderfully and hauntingly beautiful movie. I'm not sure how much italian I got out of it, but I know that I'll recommend it to people who aren't interested in the language.
8.5/10

Amusing story

Last night after drinking with the Department, I headed into the city to meet up with Darling Carmencita for Fokmeister's birthday drinks at LaLa Land. Having already sunk at few at uni and then some more at the pub, I had some more at LaLa until something evenful happened.

A friend of the bday boy bought him a shot of something (I don't remember what it was), but having been drinking all night, he clearly wasn't up to the task. Being the kind and caring gal I am, I volunteered to do the honours. I don't know what it was, but it was nasty! And in the way that only heavy spirits can, it made my mouth begin to burn and saliva production increased. I got up to go to the bathrooms to spit out the excess when I was met with a problem.

The doors to the toilets didn't have M or F signs, but instead a picture of a cat and a chicken.

Now, in hindsight, it seems obvious, but I stood there for a while trying to figure out which one represented F, and decided *Well, chicken = chicks = females* and walked in. I saw one closed door and the open cubicle had a toilet so with no urinal in sight, decided I had picked the right one.

While I was swilling, I heard someone enter and turning around was faced with a random guy. "Oh sorry, I thought this was the girls' toilet", to which he replied "Nah its the mens. It's cocks and pussies..." and then as if in recognition of what he'd just said, his expression changed to one of horror.

Laughing, I left him to recover and walked back to berate my friends for not warning me beforehand.

Data!

I've been working, like proper working for the last few weeks because I have to give a presentation on Tuesday to the Neuro Group...and I realised that the four slides I'd allocated to *Preliminary Results* were completely blank!

So here are some pics I stuffed into my presentationThis pic here shows retina with macroglial cells labelled with the calcium-binding protein s100beta (red) and then contrasted with the location of blood vessels (IB4-FITC). The s100b...it's a really lovely antibody - always stains beautifully and clearly. The pink arrow is indicating the cell body of an astrocyte, right next to the blood vessel with its processes wrapped around the vessel wall, kind of similar to the next photo...
I must say, the day that I realised I had this photo, I both cheered and cursed. I cheered because it's a great (in my opinion) photo showing very clearly the (intimate) relationship between astrocytes and blood vessels. I cursed because the only way I could have gotten this kind of example is that I've cut the sections transversely, which means I still haven't cracked the technique.

But still, pretty pictures and proof that I work!

The Evil Twin

This is a bit old, but I swear, I laugh everytime I see it.

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA. I can totally see why it was banned, but it's hilarious!!!

I haven't posted the matching ad to this because it did go a bit too far, but if you're curious....
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_bpPpxAEt8A

Blogging woes

I've been having trouble with Blogger for the last few days - when I've tried to submit an entry, I've been getting a message saying *Error 500 - Internal Error*, whatever that means. It also meant I couldn't save my entries nor access other people's blogs.

So I'll try to remember what I've been wanting to talk about and re-write them.

*UPDATE*
Baomanda has finally updated her blog, a week and a bit after demanding that we do the same!
The entries are thus:

http://thaomanda.blogspot.com/2006/10/bobby-is-super-freak_17.html

http://thaomanda.blogspot.com/2006/10/usa-holiday-photos.html

Presenting perfection

Many people who know this find this tidbit hard to believe, but I really hate public speaking.

I know, I know. How can someone who's as happy to talk about any topic at all dislike public speaking?

Well, it's not so much the talking in public, it's the presentation of something to an audience filled with peers who are critically analysing every word I utter.

Today I had to present a talk about my project to my lab today, and while the crowd wasn't hostile, I couldn't help but compare my presentation today to the last presentation I made. That was my Honours defence almost a year ago. A presentation that has since gone into the annals of legendary presentations. People, some who weren't present at my defence, tell me that they hear I'm a brilliant public speaker whenever I voice my concerns that my public speaking skills leave much to be desired. While today wasn't terrible, I think I'll need every minute of this week to polish it up before presenting it to the big hoo-ha Neuro group next Tuesday

*fingers crossed*

Stories from the Salon

Poosy was getting her hair treated today so I decided to come along for the ride and trim my hair. Please take note of the fact that I said *trim*, i.e. I didn't want any bells and whistles with my hair.

Now, the funny thing is that we went back to the place where I got my last haircut. Oddly enough, I also got the same girl who cut it last time. So I said to her that I wanted my hair cut the same way as it was last time - layers in the back, fringe at eyebrow level. And again, she didn't listen to what I told her.

This is how my fringe ended up.Now, if I look perplexed, it's because my fringe is actually W-A-A-A-Y over my eyebrows. This photo is somewhat misleading because I went to dinner after this and my friends, especially Nance, went *WHOA!!! Your fringe is short!*

But this front-on shot doesn't reveal why I think that hairdresser is mocking me. This my hair from the back. And Poosy can vouch for me that I have not altered my hair in any way. I don't know which part of trim made the girl decide I wanted my hair to be curled and horizontally braided with a rosette kind of formation to hold it in place. I had no idea what on earth she was doing and why. I desperately tried to make eye contact with Poos who studiously avoided looking at me. She said she couldn't because if she did, she would have cracked up laughing. People at dinner said it looked good though, as if I'd made an effort to make myself nice for them.

I suppose this is what I get for going to a salon where I know they never listen to what I say. Apart from the length of the fringe, I guess the cut was what I wanted.

Guess the Location!

What does the above photo depict? Let's break it down into its components.

The picture depicts an alley in which a crowd of somewhat fashionably dressed young people seem to be congregating/queueing up outside a door. The alley is very dingy - the windows have bars and there is visible graffiti. It's nighttime and there is a deal of fluorescent lighting. A logical thought would be that this is an exclusive nightclub at 11pm.

Well, you're wrong.

This was the dinner queue at 8pm outside a famous (infamous?) dumpling shop in the city. It's become so popular that people were queueing up to get in. When Lydia, Jenny, Ernie and I turned into the alley and found this queue, we all remarked that it looked like the queue at a club, so I naturally had to take a photo.

Update!

I'd also just like to report that it's Friday and Baomanda STILL hasn't updated her blog...the slacker!

Non parlo bene italiano

Miss Soooleeeeeng and I have been taking italian lessons throughout the semester. The level of our language comprehension is debatable but I think our enjoyment levels are quite high. Each class goes for two hours (even though I'm usually late) with a break between the hours for italian-ish food to keep our energy levels up.

Every afternoon before class, we send each other the same IMs....
*Are you going to class tonight?*
*Man, I soooo don't feel like going*
*Argh, ok, I'll go*
*Was there homework?*
*Have you done the homework?*
*I'm not gonna do the homework* etc.
Regardless we always seem to turn up (well, apart from a few lessons early in the course), and we rarely do our homework although I do it with greater frequency than Soooleeeeng who never does it.

So what have I learnt after several weeks and $300 worth of lessons?
*Ciao!*
*Come ti chiami? Mi chiamo Alice*
*Dov'e la chiesa dei Frari?*
*Eccolo/Eccola!*
*Boh?!*
*Non c'e!*
*Giovedi, faccio pilates*
*Domenica, io faccio una torta, lunedi, noi mangiamo la torta*
*A che ora parte il treno? Il treno parte a mezzogiorno*

I don't know if we'll continue the lessons due to increasing demands on our time, but even though it looks like I only learn one sentence a week, the classes have been totally worth it!

Hayfever season

The hayfever season has barely started and already I'm dying in clouds of sneezes and waves of nasal mucus. An even worse development that I noticed yesterday was that my eyes and lips are also developing symptoms - itchy redness. BAH!

My main counter-attack to my biological dysfunction (it's not called Hypersensitivity Type I for nothing!) has been the use of oral tablet antihistamines. However, the tablets this season seem to have limited effectivness - the mucus is decreased but it's still there! So the skin around my nose is raw from being wiped by tissues, and my lips and eyes are red and peeling from the immune attack.

*sigh*
I'm gonna have to live in a world of eternal winters soon :(

Baomanda's *Courtesy Email*

Just in case anyone who reads this has been wondering about the message posted by Thaomanda, I'm posting her email requesting that I and the blogging population of The Circle increase our blog output.

Yo peoples, Update your blogs already! I need some excitement in my life, and right now, it's via your blogs!!!!! There hasn't been much bloggin action of late, only 1 post each from alice and kaho in the last few days! NOT GOOD ENOUGH! I've already warned some bloggers, but for others, you better have updated your blogs by tomorrow morning when i turn on my computer (lucky for you i wake up around midday). You have been warned. Next time it won't be a courtesy reminder. Love, waiting in anticipation.

But you know what? It was incredibly effective! I believe that in the last day, Poosy, Peishapan, Kat(i)e, Kahuna, and myself have all posted Oddly enough though, BAO HASN'T UPDATED HER BLOG SINCE LAST FRIDAY!!

Why hasnt Bao updated her blog? I check her page in anticipation everytime I log in to see what joys of daytime TV she's been watching while at home *studying* for CA. TV that I can't watch cos I'm sequestered at uni wracking my brains doing research work and trying to decide what to write for my blog! I mean, she could totally give me a run through of Oprah's topic of the day, or what food gets whipped up on Ready, Steady, Cook!. But no. All I get instead if nothing except angry emails. *sniff.* I TRIED BAO!!! I made cookies on Sunday, cookies that no one in the house eats cos we all seem to be on diets, cookies so I'd have something to write about on my blog to entertain you, Bao!!! But what do I get in return? I get that same old entry about Moana finally abandoning his fake blog and joining the ranks of people sucked in by Blogger.com

Take that Bao!!! I'll be expecting a blog soon...or there will be punishment!

Shoes, glorious shoes!

This post is for the benefit of Miss Pooky who wanted to see a picture of my new shoes, and Baomanda who was demanding more blog entries.

Poosy has not blogged for the last week because she ran away for taste sensations and general helpfulness. One of the helpful things she did was buy a pair of shoes for me!Aint they cute? Black leather kitten-heeled pumps - with the intention that I stop stealing hers and cease my whining when she trots around the country.

The Great Lemon-Poppyseed Shortbread Experiment

Last year, I experimented with macadamia shortbread. Yesterday, I felt like making shortbread again, but instead of using the old tried and true recipe, I decided to fiddle with it again by adding lemon and poppyseeds.

Despite adding the rind of one whole lemon, I found that the lemon flavour wasn't spread evenly throughout the cookies. Some tasted almost lemon-free, the bastards! So I'm thinking there are a few ways to solve this conundrum.

1. Stir in the rind when I'm creaming the sugar into the butter
2. Use more lemon rind
3. Use more lemon essence.

But in other news, one tablespoon of poppyseeds seem to be enough!

Recovery-induced lazy days

I must say, one of the good things about being sick-ish (I can feel myself getting better! - One week rule always works!) is that any desire to be lazy is totally justified.

But having said that, I still made myself do the laundry, mop the floor, go the market, and make chicken corn scratch soup (for further recovery) between the hours of 10am-5pm.

The Joy of Being Predictable

I think I've mentioned here many times that I'm computer-retarded. A flow-on effect of this retardedness is that I tend to go to the same computer shop because as soon as I got something cheap there, I cbb searching for somewhere to get it cheaper somewhere else. This has turned out to be something of a silver lining because I've ended up there often enough that the shopguys are beginning to recognise me. Today, I decided that I needed a mouse to go with my toshi, and when I walked into the shop and told them what I wanted (brand, budget, etc) as I went to go pay, the head shopguy said "Hey, it's Mally!" and proceeded to give me a 14% discount. Yay!

And also, it's Thursday and I'm not better yet, dammit.

Feeling poorly

Today I had to leave uni early cos I wasn't feeling fantastic and went home and slept for four hours. Right now I'm lying in bed with toshi because after I woke up, I felt sore all over and the thought of sitting at my desk...*shudder*. This general soreness, fatigue and lack of fever makes me think that I've got some kind of viral infection. I've also been coughing up coloured sputum so that means I've also got some kind of upper respiratory bacterial infection.

Being sick sucks.
The sole bright point is that I think I started feeling shit around Friday or Saturday... if this is what
I think it is, it'll need a few days rest and it should be gone by Thursday. *fingers crossed*

Sodium Bicarbonate (NaHCO3)

I've always been aware that bicarb is a somewhat wonderful chemical. I have regularly used it at home for cooking cakes and biscuits, and also as a moisture/odour absorber in the kitchen. I am also aware that some people use it as a toothpaste and antacid, although I am not one of those people. Lately however, my uses for bicarb have become more numerous. After advising Marlene to use bicarb to get rid of the mouldy smell in her closet, I began to notice that the water wasn't draining properly out of out shower, and remembering my advice to her as well as my work in the Laboratory of Death, I poured some of the stuff down the drain followed by lashings of hot water and ta-da! it started draining again.

Yesterday though took my love of bicarb to another level. I was cleaning out the shower with my trusty Domestos. I stand by my assessment that that is the best general cleaner on the market. One of the problems though is that while it cleans beautifully, the viscosity of the solution means that you can often end up with areas on the cubicle glass that's doesn't end up as clean as the original pouring point. I was contemplated this problem while I was pouring more bicarb around the drain when I suddenly got the bright idea to use the bicarb to clean the glass.
Standing up, I poured an amount of powder into my hand and then scrubbed it straight onto the glass. Imagine my joy when the powder washed off and the glass was almost beautifully clear! And the realisation that I had a cleaner that wouldn't get me high on fumes!!!

So bicarb, I tip my hat to you as a great all round chemical.

Ok, that satisfied my geeky desires for the week.

Movie review - The Devil Wears Prada

Pooey, baomanda and I decided to take a night off and watch a movie that totally appealed to each of our fashion desires.

TDWP follows college-grad and journalist wannabe Andy Sachs (Anne Hathaway) as she works as a personal assistant for the editor-in-chief of Runway magazine, Miranda Priestly (Meryl Streep at her imperious best!). Andy initially takes the job even though she's not particularly interested in fashion, but after being informed that spending a year as Miranda's assistant would open numerous doors within publishing for her, she spends her days and nights and dignity trying to keep up with Miranda's demands. The moral of the story is really that one shouldn't sacrifice their friends, family and self-respect in order to keep a job if it means becoming like someone you hate.

But you wanna know what message we three got? Stuff that!!! I'll take the clothes and shoes!!!!

The transformation of Andy BJC (before Jimmy Choos) to Andy PFM (post-fashion makeover)...it's wonderful! Before...she was wearing cable-knit jumpers that made her look 5kg heavier than what she was and completely hid her lovely figure. This was a great movie for clothes. I read on the TDWP wiki entry that Chanel asked to costume the Andy character...and *sigh* they did a great job of it. Check out this white coat ensemble on the right! Brilliant!!! I can't find a photo of it, but my favourite outfit of hers in the movie was a black leather bustier/pencil skirt outfit with furry accessories that Andy wears in Paris. *le sigh*

Acting....well, Meryl Streep always does a good job. Actually, she does a fantastic job of making Miranda a well nuanced uber-bitch with only a few words of excellent diction, but also complex. Miranda is the bitch she is to keep her position in the fashion world. Anne Hathaway spends most of the time looking wide-eyed, the development of Andy as a character is not so much seen via her acting, its the work of the costume and make up department. As I said before, her clothes have a dramatic makeover, but what also happens is that as Andy becomes more confident of her position, her makeup changes from being natural to great lashings of bright red lipstick, pale foundation and liquid eyeliner (left). It looks fantastic.

I haven't read the book so I can't comment on how they compare, but if you want a movie with great fashion, have loads of fun.
6-7/10
(For those wanting to know what I thought of the book, the review is here.)