| epic fail |
[Nov. 21st, 2009|09:34 pm] |
I sprained my foot last night, twice and on the same foot. How lame!
It happened in the city. We had just consumed a picnic supper and drunk a bottle of chardonnay on the sandstone steps of the Office of State Revenue. Heading back towards St James, I pointed up to Centerpoint Tower where I used to work. H remarked about seeing lights flash on the tower. So I continued to look up as we walked, trying to work out where those lights came from. Then suddenly, the ground gave way underneath me and I lost my footing. Unfortunately, I was wearing four-inch high wedges. So for the next two minutes, I was in agony! The pain did subside a bit but I wasn't going to let a sprained ankle put a premature end to my evening of clubbing before it had even begun.
So it was onward to the Ivy, Marble Bar and then Darling Harbour where James dressed as Capt Jack Sparrow for some Asian beach-themed dance party. I didn't limp home until 3.30am. |
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| wisdom of the day |
[Nov. 10th, 2009|12:01 pm] |
- never trust a man with facial hair. There's something shifty about them (btw, acknowledging this was a watershed moment for me)
- skinny leg pants may look well in photographs but in real life they make grown men look gay gay gay!
- euphemism of the day: "hysterical paroxysm" - try using it in your pillow talk |
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| on comedy |
[Nov. 9th, 2009|11:01 pm] |
I think going to live standup comedy shows makes me feel cleverer and wittier.
I've just returned home from a live taping of the final segment of a new reality tv series that will soon broadcast on SBS titled Comedy School. It was the graduation performance at the Comedy Store of the nine standup comedy virgins who did Rob McHugh's comedy course at the Eastern Sydney Community College just down the road from my house.
Laugh for laugh, it was the best $10 + $1 booking fee I'd ever spent. It shits over the standup comics I saw in America. Maybe that's because Australian humour, like British humour, is more cerebral and sarcastic. We tend to be a lot more self-deprecating whereas American comedians gravitate towards being whiny angry whingers. In Reno, I had to explain to an American comedian what whinging meant. Perhaps I was lousy at explaining British-Australian expressions at 2am inside a casino loungeroom half sober, he didn't get it. |
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| one of those D'oh moments |
[Nov. 6th, 2009|11:01 pm] |
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Alan Cumming is in town. Just before I left for the States, I booked a ticket to see his cabaret show at the Opera House when I returned. I must have inputed the wrong date into my diary because I rocked up to the Opera House box office today, promptly at 7pm just before the start of the show, only to be turned he wasn't performing, not for another week anyway. Gratifyingly, I was told that someone else had rocked up earlier that day also thinking that Alan Cumming was performing that night. |
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| In the land of the star spangled banner |
[Nov. 3rd, 2009|11:01 pm] |
I'm back! Back from my two week sojourn in America. From Reno to SF to Vegas and back to SF, I had a plethora of surreal experiances and met lots of interesting people (cowboys, standup comedians, and Frank Sinatra's trumpeter, to mention just a few).
I will relay my US adventure shortly. For now, I need to unpack and attend to real life drudgeon.
p.s. I am especially pleased about this US trip because not for one moment did I think about he-who-shall- not-be-named. I think I'm cured of that ridiculous will-lead-nowhere heartbreaking infactuation. Good riddance to him in Afghanistan! |
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| Writer's Block: Go to the head of the class |
[Oct. 12th, 2009|12:19 pm] |
Up close, so that I don't get distracted by the happenings and going ons behind me. I have always sat at the front, initially because of my short stature, then short sightedness. Now, it's become a habit. I don't feel as 'engaged' if I wasn't sitting in the front two rows. If I wanted to make a speedy getaway, I'd sit on the end of the aisles. |
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| guilty pleasures |
[Oct. 10th, 2009|09:08 pm] |
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I have a confession to make, I LOVE reading the Daily Mail, especially the celebrity gossip section. I love looking at the fabulous, and not so fabulous, pictures of Britain's B-list and C-list. Ocassionally, they have interviews with A-list people and the questions/responses are rarely dull to read. I suppose that there's a chatty chit-lit quality about the writings that feeds the philistine within me.
Today I came across two joyous interviews with Richard Armitage *swoooon* and Michael Palin.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-1218824/Me-sex-god-Spooks-star-Richard-Armitage-army-female-fans.html
Frankly, I can't think of a more perfect catch than Richard Armitage. He's kind, amiable, literate, level headed, very down to earth, GSOH, hard working, steady of heart, nonpromiscious (incredible considering how sexy this man is), musical and an accomplished dancer. We learn in this interview that his best dance is the Argentinian Tango! Perhaps it is just as well that he wouldn't grace us with a tango performance on Strictly come Dancing. It would cause female viewers' ovaries to burst!
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-1219255/Michael-Palin-Im-closet-bathrobe-thief.html
I think every female strives to attain what Michael Palin has with his wife: a shared lifetime together, mutual understanding and respect, and a house filled with 'comfortable memories'. I guess that's only achieved by finding rare men like Palin who are not given to wild flights of fancy.
On other news front, I've fallen in love with Gareth Malone of BBC's "The Choir". He obviously enjoys choral music so much that I can't help but be swept up by it. Plus, he's really cute, in a geeky kind of way.
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| Just when you think you've seen enough Austen adaptation... |
[Oct. 6th, 2009|02:33 pm] |
Omg, I can't stop gushing about the latest Sandy Welch (Stephen Poliakoff's other half) adaptation of "Emma". So far, only the first episode has aired but it may well be my favourite version of "Emma" yet. It's period but refreshingly modern in its depiction of the characters, like last year ITV's "Lost in Austen". They appreciate that the modern viewer would already be very familiar with the classic text so upped the ante (and our interest) by giving minor characters more backstory, thus sheding new light on the characters' behaviour.
Romola Garai achieved the near impossible (in my opinion), portraying a loveable smug heroine whom I had never really liked , until now. I finally can understand what my English teacher meant when she explained Emma's actions as coming from a desperately lonely girl who was never willfully malicious but grew up in a world surrounded by intellectual and social inferiors. I actually think that Romola's 'Emma' is just a happier version of her 'Daniel Deronda' character.
Anyway, any good costume drama needs a good costume hero. Here we have a refreshingly unpaternalistic Mr Knightely, played by the gorgeous Johnny Lee Miller (who will always be known to me as Angelina Jolie's first husband!). All I have to say is that he played the role to perfection. When he scolds Emma, you can clearly tell that he doesn't do it out of hate or disgust, but because he deeply cares for her. That is incredibly difficult to do, so bravo Johnny!
The end of first episode leaves me with a desperate yearn to be scolded by Mr Knightley. |
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| (no subject) |
[Oct. 5th, 2009|06:26 pm] |
Despite the ominous rainclouds and initial downpour, I had a fabulous day of sailing on Sydney harbour. Instead of doing boring circuits around bouys, we sailed from Rose Bay to Shark Is and got a good waterfront view of Sydney's most exclusive real estate.
I think I'm finally getting the principles of sailing, wind direction and bearings when in the water. Tacking (ie. turning into the wind) from the helm was a lot easier too because we were in a bigger laser boat.
Points to remember:
- when returning to shore, jump out of boat as soon as rudder is pulled out of water.
- when steering, check the sails about every 20secs. Other than that, keep your eyes out of the boat, looking ahead
- under weak wind, windward person at the front may need to sit closer to the center so as to keep the boat balanced, and mainsail tipped in the right direction.
- for the steerer, check for flapping on the front edge of the mainsail, about halfway up, If it's flapping, you've come too close into the wind.
- for the person in control of the mainsail, check the opposite edge of the mainsail for flappings. If it is flapping, sail needs to be pulled tighter.
Sadly, today was also the final day of my sailing course. I walk away with a cert 1 qualification. Hopefully I'll have lots of sailing opportunities this summer, and can't wait to do cert 2 of the course! |
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| apologies for the lack of updates |
[Oct. 3rd, 2009|04:18 pm] |
I haven't logged into this account of late because I'm trying to make my thesis the number 1 priority in my life. No more displacement activities (of which LJ has become for me) from now on, until I submit my thesis. But a number of anecdotal events have happened recently that I feel I must record down, otherwise I will forget them. I will keep this entry short.
A fortnight ago, I went to watch the hottest show in town. No, not the crowd record breaking Eels-Bulldogs NRL prelim final match but went to see Cate Blanchett pretend to be a mentally febrile harlot pretending to be a fading southern belle in Tennessee Williams' "Streetcar named Desire" at the STC. I wasn't as impressed with the production as I thought I would be. Perhaps it was because I only paid $77 for a b-reserve ticket or that I read James Waites' disparaging review prior to seeing the production. On reflection, I do agree with James Waites' point. This was a competent but a really safe production of Tennessee William's play. It didn't exhibit that heightened style which Waites calls 'campness' which characterises Tennessee Williams' works. I didn't become engaged with the drama until the second half, when Blanche's grip on reality becomes undone. I didn't mind the stylish costumes, realistic set (though would have preferred the more lavish Donmar version) or Joel Edgerton's beefy body (which I unashamably admit was the most enjoyable part of the 3.5hrs. If only he was topless for the entirety of the play... *sigh*). This is only the second time I've seen Cate Blanchett on stage (I missed out on Hedda Gabler tickets a couple of years ago and had no idea just how famous she would soon become when I analysed a newspaper review of 'Kafka Dances for high school English) but I'm getting slightly tired of her coquettish flirting with the audience. Sometimes, I'd like to see a play and not have them tamper with the fourth wall. Robin McLeavy, who played Stella, struggled with her American accent. The actress' natural Australian accent drifted back several times and her conscious effort at maintaining a Southern acccent held back her acting. I found this so distracting that I was convinced that it was an understudy playing her role. Alas, it was not the case. Director Liv Ullmann should have picked McLeavy up on this.
Yesterday afternoon, whilst facing the train door as my train pulled up into St. James station where I would exit, a middle aged woman approached me from behind and whispered in my ear "God would want to see you covered up modestly". Her eyes gazed down at my boobs and she used her hand to demonstrate the chest should be covered. This beats Charmayne's bitter complaint that I dressed like a slut at Hawke's birthday bash this year.
Last night, I finally saw "Three Blind Mice" in its entirety at the Chauvel Paddingon. I was treated once again to a lengthy Q&A session with the delicious Ewen Leslie, joined by the supportive Barry Otto. Miranda Otto and hubby Peter O'Brien were also in attendance at this screening. I really wanted to go up and tell Peter O'Brien that I really enjoyed him in Queer as Folk(UK), but I thought it might embarrass him. Douchy Matthew Newton was away in LA thus giving Ewen more of an opportunity to speak. But it peeves me how everyone is obsequious at these Q&A sessions. No one was willing to ask any hard hitting questions or make critical comments. So no one commented on Mathew Newton's questionable attitude towards women, incredulous plot, lack of proper military research. Ewen's date for the evening, actor/writer Travis Cotton, did raise a blunt question asking what was the message of the film but he's a cheeky bugger and knew he would get away with it. One guy asked whether the producers think this film will become a cult classic in a number of years' time. Not a chance! But Ewen Leslie and Toby Schmitz fans will hunt down copies of this film, just as I collect the obscure early works of Mickey Rourke.
The film's newly acquired distributor taped this Q&A session. I suppose it will probably be edited and uploaded online shortly and be used to promote additional "friday mice nights" at the Chauvel. |
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