Fooooood

Okay, so you know how a while ago I wrote an entry about how easy it is to photograph food badly? And how, when that's done, it's more nauseating than enticing to look at food? Well, anyway, I found a new blog that completely contradicts that.






It's a little blog called "The Boyfriend Replacement", and it's found at http://boyfriendreplacement.tumblr.com/, and I swear to God that it has made me so hungry, and craving things I haven't eaten in ages. Like fried rice. Nutella straight from the jar. Tomato soup. Cupcakes (although, I'm always craving cupcakes!). Penne with vegetables. Onion rings. Strawberry tarts. Baklava. Hot chips. My mouth is watering.



I really like food.

Words

This video speaks for itself, really. A good friend described it as a "word-gasm", and I think she's probably just about right.




And as an aside, I'm currently having a love affair with the word "evocative". It's just so full, so lucious to say... it's so, well, evocative of emotions and senses. Lovely.

Nuances

I'm currently reading a crappy chick-lit novel called "Weekend in Paris", by Robyn Sisman. It's pretty good... I like the main character etc etc, but there is by far one of the worst Australian stereotypes featured in there. It's making the book on the whole a lot less enjoyable, which is a shame.

Why, why, why, Robyn Sisman, did you feel the need to resort to annoying cliches to create a two-dimensional, shallow character?? It's incredibly frustrating.

What's in YOUR handbag?

I just found the ultimate in girlie voyeurism... a website dedicated to showing what's really in girl's handbags. Finally, I get to see if other people carry around as much crap in their bags that I do! (And the answer is yes, they do. I am not alone in my carrying of assorted paraphernalia in my generally oversized handbag). Interested? Check it out at http://fuckyeahwhatsinyourbag.tumblr.com/

And what's in mine? Well... I should probably make a list.

Wallet, keys (mostly), phone, ipod, makeup, camera, a novel, bottle of water, prescription sunnies and their case, normal sunnies, spare contact lenses, hand sanitiser, a pen (or more), a notebook (when I remember), painkillers, (in winter) gloves/scarf/hat, aaaaand lip balm. Not a bad effort, really.

Eat, Pray, Love

Nearly two weeks ago, I went and saw Eat Pray Love with my friend Hayley. I really enjoyed it - it hasn't had the best reviews, but I loved the cinematography and the way that they showed Italy, India and Bali when she was there. I also loved the soundtrack, which featured Neil Young, MIA, Aphex Twin and Mozart. I don't really understand why people seem to have hated the movie - I thought it was a nice, slow-moving film that reflected how life and relationships don't really work the way that we expect them to, but if you give them a chance, they will work for you.

Anyway, I went on the IMDB message boards for this film earlier today (when I was supposed to be writing an essay on Banksy, but that's by the by), and amongst all the people who loved or hated it, and one guy who inexplicably couldn't understand why on earth the main character ever left the USA, in his words the "greatest country in the world", I found one thread where the person who started it asked where in the world everyone else would go to eat, pray and love, just like Liz Gilbert in the movie (who went to Italy, India and Bali respectively). I thought this was a nice idea, but when I went to reply... I struggled.

I want to travel to lots of different places all over the world, but I don't really have any reason to want to go to those places, other than to see and experience them. I used to think that was enough, but now I'm feeling that if I'm ever going to even get close to cutting through my list of places to go, I should have some sort of order - or at least, a more cement reason for going there. After all, I sometimes think that my dream is to travel to amazing places, but my nightmare is to be 'just a tourist', who goes to amazing places only to say they've been there.

So after much consideration... here's my list.

EAT:
Turkey or Spain. I've been to Spain, and it's fabulous. The food, the atmosphere, everything. Paella! Sangria! Fresh bread! And I love Turkish food as it is here in Australia, and I'd love to make an educated comparison.

PRAY:
Morocco, because the architecture looks amazing and very reflective. Or Nepal, because the mountains seem as though they'd be cathartic and ideal for meditating on life in general.

LOVE:
Who knows? Where ever it finds me. Maybe Paisley in Scotland though... I am a sucker for the accent.

Beyond Silence

At Uni, I'm currently doing a unit on German cinema (which you might have picked up on in my earlier mentions of German directors like Fassbinder). Before the class, I'd seen a couple of movies by Wim Wenders, maybe one by Herzog, Run, Lola, Run and Goodbye Lenin!. But I'd never really thought about German movies other than the ones I'd come across.

Turns out, Germany has a really diverse national film industry. Yesterday, we were supposed to watch Der Blaue Engel, but due to technical difficulties, had to watch a film meant for a bit later in the term, 1996's Beyond Silence. And I loved it.

I'd never heard of Beyond Silence, or its director Caroline Links before the film, and maybe that lack of expectation helped. But it's about a German family, and in particular a young girl called Lara who is a bridge between the real world and her deaf parents. Her father's sister is a gifted clarinetist, who gives Lara her clarinet and supports her musical talent. Lara's father is more resentful of the music, because he can't hear it and is petrified of losing Lara to something he can't relate to. I won't spoil the ending, but I teared up more than once, and really, really enjoyed the film. I can't believe it didn't win Best Foreign Language film at the Oscars that year.

It's a quiet, poetic film that sometimes borders on the sentimental, but I'd definitely recommend it - I think I might try and learn sign language now!

David Bowie

Well, it's that time of year again. The Big Day Out official first announcement has been made, which for me at least is the signal to start checking out the lineups for the summer festivals. I'm a mad music festival goer, for a few reasons. One of these is that I just adore the festival setup, and another is that although I love live music, my bank account is much more forgiving towards a $150 festival where I get to see LOTS of bands, than if I spent >$70 per ticket for each band I wanted to see.


But I digress.


One of my favourite artists of all time is the legendary David Bowie. I just think he's awesome - he's got so many catchy songs, wore costumes that leave Lady Gaga for dead, recorded with some of the other greats including Queen and Mick Jagger, and had that brilliant cameo in Zoolander. For the last six years or so, David Bowie has been rumoured for festivals around the world, including BDO - although, he hasn't toured since 2004. Every year I get excited that he's maybe going to join the lineup, and every year I'm disappointed (although, probably not as disappointed as my friend Ben, who was a massive Bjork fan. He had a ticket to the 2008 BDO where she was playing, and couldn't afford the ticket to her sideshow. She then developed laryngitis and couldn't perform - poor Ben was devastated). However, now I'm getting worried. I'm not going to be in Australia for the 2011 Big Day Out - but the second announcement hasn't been made yet. For the first time in... ever, I'm really hoping that Bowie's not on the list. I think if he is, I'll probably cry a little bit. And then try and track him down in the UK.

Sherlock Holmes

I just had a sudden desire to watch Guy Ritchie's Sherlock Holmes from last year - I really enjoyed it. It's really too bad that I don't have it on DVD yet. And have to actually do some Uni work.