I've been quite a few abandoned houses before, but the one we went to for Sophie's photography assignment shoot was definitely the most out there. Living pidgeons, dead pidgeons, and the really disturbing sight of baby pidgeons nesting upon the skeletons of their ancestors. The photos turned out nice though.
And these are a couple analogue photos Dom took of me, when he wasn't shrieking and being scared of the birds.
27.3.10
The silver lining of a rather unpleasant night out on the town? I discovered Long Island Iced Teas. Best. Drink. Ever.
25.3.10
Vapiano is a new Italian restaurant located in Albert Laneway. I had my first experience and it ticked all the boxes. Affordable, stylish, right balance between casual/formal, great food, efficient service, nice lighting, cool swipe card concept so no messy splitting of bills, and oh you get to pick your own herbs to flavour your meal. And there is a real olive tree growing on the second level. Only downside was that it is so popular it was difficult to find a table. I'll be back.
A dodgy scan of the single picture I bought from the professional photographer for my formal last year. It makes me laugh. I'm glad I got it because if I ever do decide to procreate I will be able to show my children this, to prove how (un)cool we were.
I finished watching Season 4 of Dexter. I have so much admiration for the makers of this show. Watching it is addictive, in a 'This is so macabre but strangely fascinating... I am feeling empathy for a serial killer?' sort of way. I especially like it because it manages to transcend that 'simply entertainment' boundary, in that I continue to think a lot about the show even long after I finished watching.
It has made me very paranoid though.
19.3.10
I watched Whip It with James. I love Drew Barrymore, now as a Director and actor. She's one of those people you wish you could be friends with, because you know it would make your life infinitely cooler. A few parts of this film really irritated me, mainly the montage of Bliss' relationship with that boy. That part reminded me of Juno, trying too hard to be quirky and cute. Although, the underwater love scene between Ellen page/boy was beautiful and probably my favourite (although highly unrealistic, all the surfacing for air would probably kill the dreamy mood).
17.3.10
I saw Tim Burton's Alice In Wonderland in 3D. Minor quibble, but I don't think the title is right, it should be something different to reflect the sequel style plot. Or at least differentiate it from the original.
I thought the visuals were fantastic, although I'm not completely sold on the apparent 3D craze. For a few select scenes (namely the falling one) I really liked it, but the rest of the time it seemed a bit unnecessary. Maybe I'm just not progressive enough, but I quite like my films in good old 2D.
My favourite characters were definitely the Red and White Queens - as I've mentioned on here before, there is something about Anne Hathaway that I really admire, and Helena Bonham Carter was perfect as that role, of course. Johnny Dep was so-so, and I think outshone by Mia Wasikowska (Alice). I can't believe she is 21, she looks so young in the film. She's Australian too, and imdb tells me that she's in an upcoming Gus Van Sant project - I look forward to seeing more of her.
Oh and I loved the Cheshire cat.
14.3.10
Finished reading Great Expectations today. It took me 2 weeks to read, the longest any book has ever taken me. Certainly a slow read. My favourite character was Miss Havisham - it makes me feel wanky/like I'm writing an IB English essay to say this, but I really liked Dickens' characterisation of her and the visual imagery of her sitting in her mansion, with everything around her rotting and frozen in time at 8:40. I'd like to see a good movie adaptation of this story.
12.3.10
It really irritates me that Post Secret has become a forum for social commentary/random insights. It is called Post Secret. I like to tell myself that one day I will send in a card confessing one of mine, but I doubt it.
Disposable photos from the Mickey Avalon gig, such an incredible/crazy night. The sort of night where you wake up the next morning questioning whether your memory is correct, or if it was all just a dream. The mosh pit was the most frenzied I have ever experienced - I got so many bruises and scratches that I looked like an assault victim. The highlight of the night was Jess and I being the only people invited to go onto the tour bus and meet Mickey personally. Many people find it surprising that I like his music, but I can't explain it. After years of being a fan, seeing him live proved to be everything I expected and so much more.
Driving with music blasting and singing along makes me feel so elated. Making roadtrip mixes is particularly fun, and difficult. There are a lot of factors to take into account and/or predict: destination, time of day, mood, weather and most importantly who else will be in the car; because it has to fit with their musical tastes too. I've started an itunes playlist for my individual driving mixtape, and it's pretty funny/interesting seeing what I've got on there so far. It will be months before I get my Ps and can go driving alone, so by then it will probably go for days.
