fifty things about being gay

  1. You can call anyone "honey" including pets.
  2. You can be at a crowded disco the size of two football fields and still spot a toupee.
  3. You can explain the nuances between steady date, boyfriend and lover.
  4. Your women friends will tell you everything you want to know about their boyfriends. And that means everything.
  5. You're the only type of male who gets to say "fabulous".
  6. You can have naked pictures of men you don't know in your home.
  7. You can have naked men you don't know in your home.
  8. You understand why the good Lord invented spandex.
  9. You understand why the good Lord didn't intend everyone to wear it.
  10. You know how to get back at just about everyone. And have.
  11. You know that the most important part of a party's decor is the catering staff.
  12. You can smile to let someone know you can't stand them.
  13. You can freeze a troll from 20 feet away.
  14. You're good pals with women other people can't stand.
  15. You've always got an opinion.
  16. Your car has an amusing female name.
  17. You've got at least one framed picture of a pet.
  18. You know that sex complicates things. So?
  19. You know that being called a "cheap slut" isn't actually an insult.
  20. You have at least one movie musical on DVD.
  21. You never hold a grudge for longer than a decade or two.
  22. You know how to make an entrance.
  23. You know when to make an exit.
  24. You choose the most fabulous greeting cards.
  25. You know when to play dumb.
  26. You know what to do for a hangover.
  27. Yes, you do have a condom.
  28. You've called someone "girlfriend" who is neither a girl nor a friend.
  29. You know when the party's over.
  30. You know where to go after the party's over.
  31. You know that pigs and bears are not necessarily rural wildlife.
  32. You know that referring to someone as "a real lady" isn't necessarily a compliment.
  33. Your favorite dinner accessory may also be your dinner companion.
  34. If your cat is a female, you swear it's a lesbian.
  35. If your cat is a male, you swear it's a lesbian.
  36. You sing along heartily with songs that make most females cringe, like "Stand by your man".
  37. You have a favorite Disney character and it's usually a nasty one.
  38. You've left someone totally speechless.
  39. You've shaved something other than your face.
  40. Your love handles are actually used as such.
  41. You've got the most interesting coffee table books.
  42. You have a sexual persuasion with its own flag.
  43. At some moment in your life you've envisioned having back-up girls.
  44. You know your enemies.
  45. You know that "small talk" can be about spirituality or politics, and "important issues" can be about hair.
  46. You've actually lived out some of your fantasies.
  47. Unlike most straight women, you have no problem being treated solely as a sex object.
  48. You have 412 ways to tell someone to get lost. 136 are non-verbal.
  49. You can lip-sync to at least one Supreme's song.
  50. You have a carefully selected Yiddish vocabulary.
Current Mood: fabulous

digital camera club competition

digital competition entriesUrgh... some days I just have to ask myself why I bother...

Tonight was the penultimate competition for the Camera Club year, the inaugural (see, I know lots of big words tonight) Digital Images competition. The images didn't have to be anything other than digitial files, they didn't have to be especially manipulated, or whathaveyou.

As soon as I heard that we were having a digital competition, I knew I had to enter Wild Thing (center bottom)... its an image I've had for a long time, but I did a ton of work on it, and haven't been able to print it to use in normal competitions because of the small file size.

The other two, Doorway (top left... the treatment of which I based heavily on the work of Benno Thoma) and Fur Hat (top right) took me a little longer to decide on.

And tonight was the judging.

It would have been nice if they had gotten a judge in that knew SOMETHING about digital imaging... of course in our (rather shallow) juding pool those people are very much few and far between... mostly because the average age of said judges is about 5000 years old, give or take...

When I saw who the judge was I had a feeling it wouldn't be good... I remembered his face... and the associated feeling that went with it was that he was something of a pratt... course I think that about a lot of our judges...

But I really knew we were in trouble when the first image of the night popped up, which was very obviously manipulated, and very obvious how it was done (the same image, mirrored, then flipped and mirrored again so it made an abstract pattern)... and the judge made some comment about not wanting to make a guess on how it had been done because he would probably be wrong...

The night didn't get a whole lot better...

I wasn't overly helped by the fact that my images had some very light areas that were pretty much skating the rim of being overexposed, and once they were projected onto the screen, they fell over that edge which made the judge like them less.

*sigh*

In the end, Doorway got a 6, Fur Hat got a 7 and Wild Thing, thankfully, got an 8. Unfortunately because it was a special competition with a trophy, we don't get our usual little certificates for 8's and above.

One of my Club Buddies and I went for our usual coffees after the meeting was over and had a good bitch session, which was fairly helpful. It made us feel better at any rate.

Next Tuesday is the Annual Exhibition, I take Ma along to that, so that if I win anything like I did my first year in the club, she's at least there to see it. Plus it means we can go out for dinner beforehand, so that's always nice.

Current Mood: judge frustrations

not a good email

I just got an email from Raury...

"The latest scans show that one tumour in my liver, the tumour in my spleen and the one in L5 in my spine have all increased in size. There are also a couple of other little spots that didn't show up on previous scans."

Not good...

My response was brief, yet fitting, given the nature of our relationship...

"Luck. Wish. Pray. Deity. Hug.

Whichever of these is most appropriate... I'm all over it..."


Current Mood: not good

big fat nothin...

tree at sunset 2005Looks like my freak out this morning was a little premature...

It's nearly 5:30pm, and nothin'... nothin' all day...

*sigh*

Stoopid agencies... I'm going to go sulk and make homemade pizza...

In the meantime, here's a shot I took ages ago and never got around to posting... pretty sunset tree thingy...

Current Mood: sulkypants

monday montage and musings

Okay, I'm officially starting to freak out now... it's Monday morning, and I know at some point today one or more of the agencies that I sent my resume to on Saturday will call me to come in for an interview or assessment or whatever... I also know that I can do those assessment things pretty much standing on my head...

But it doesn't stop me from freakin out...

Change always freaks me out, even when I know it it change for the better... and even when it's a change that I've instigated... I like routine... not for stuff to be dull... but just for me to know my "place" I guess...

So, yeah... not really news to anyone... but me... big freak...

This isn't the main reason for this post though... it's mostly to do a Montage Monday post (the previously badly named Snapshot Sunday) with some added Monday Musings.

my walk 2005So first up, we have the montage...

This is a my walk through North Adelaide, as seen on Friday... well, most of it anyway... there are a couple of ring-ins from other days, but mostly it's Friday... and yep, the foot in the middle would be mine (a much harder shot to get than you would think... all about the timing).

You will also notice that I got a little overexcited and the image is 5x5 instead of the previous 4x4... I had too many shots I liked to limit the grid to 16 pictures... I think this is just a one off for the 5x5 though...

Interestingly I noticed yesterday when I was reading The Other Andrew's blog that in his flickr montage thingy in his sidebar that he had an image very similar to the second from the bottom on the left (the purple Jacaranda flowers strewn all over the road)... great minds thinking alike and all that...

Anyway, this morning's walk felt different for some reason... I'm not sure if it was because after a week of getting up early and dragging myself around the suburb before coming back and driving Ma into the city I finally got to get up when I wanted to (which only ended up being half an hour later... but still) and didn't have to get back at a certain time, or what... but it was a good walk. I also finally added the extra "Green Leg" to my walk... and damn... it wasn't any harder or more hilly than previous sections, but it is by far a) the prettiest and b) probably the richest section I've been through so far.

I did the walk kind of gazing up at all the very gorgeous and very LARGE (read very expensive) houses along that leg, just going "wow..." to myself every few steps. I will definately need to take a bunch of shots along there later this week, whether for a Montage Monday or not, I don't know, but I was too busy going "wow" this morning to take more than a couple of shots.

It was kind of nostalgic ("what, AGAIN!" I hear you say...) wandering along that section, since the apartment building down at the end of the road was where I lived when I first moved out of home. I stopped at the back of the building and tried to work out which of the balconies had been ours (trickier than I thought, since the whole thing is pretty much cookie cuttered, but all with slight variation), and after a couple of wrong guesses, finally found it (that's another thing that will have to get a photo snapped of it... although I don't know how interesting it will be). When I came around the front side, I couldn't resist and just HAD to go up and see what the little card next to the buzzer by the security door said now...

"Chris, Teo and Joe"

Not completely sure what to make of that... either it's a family with a kid called (perhaps) Joe... or three people sharing the apartment... but it is only a two bedroom place... and while Chris could be a girl's name, I kind of like the idea of three guys (a threesome? a couple and their friend?) sharing the place. Of course, there's probably a girl in there somewhere... but who knows... maybe we really did get "gay" into the very walls all those years ago... we certainly had enough gayboys coming through the place at the time... even though my flatmate was 95% straight...

Ahhh memories...

Current Mood: nostalgic and freaky

do i really look like...

So... I was flicking through a couple of other people's blogrolls this morning, and came across Sugarfoot's blog... and her post about the celebrity face matcher... MyHeritage...

You upload a picture of yourself (or your friends, family, favourite porn star, whatever) and the program does whatever it does and gives you a list of celebrities you look like, and how much you look like them.

It took me a couple of goes to find the right photo to upload (although I was impressed at one point when my most similar looking celeb was Christian Slater), but I ended up taking a new one and using that.

Supposedly, I look like the following people (in order of who I most look like to who I least look like, and from top left to bottom right on the picture)...

  1. my face?Jennifer Aniston (which at least means I got to have sex with Brad Pitt... so I can live with that)
  2. Bruce Willis (so long as it's Fifth Element era Bruce, I can live with that too)
  3. Ben Affleck (slightly less enthusiastic about this one... but his best buddy is Matt Damon... so that can't be all bad)
  4. Roger Federer (I actually had no idea who this was... but thought he might be a sporting dude...)
  5. Ole Bull (I kid you not... that's his name... him I really had to look up... turns out he's a Norwegian violinist... who knew!)
  6. Alban Berg (another "huh?"... Austrian composer... obviously I'm looking all European given the last three faces)
  7. Keanu Reeves (now THAT'S more like it! The photo of Keanu is eerily similar to the one I uploaded... at least we're almost in the exact same pose)
  8. Al Pacino (you talkin' to ME?)
  9. Lee Harvey Oswald (yeah... supposedly I look like the guy who shot Kennedy... go figure!)
Like Sugarfoot, the conclusions I can draw from this is that I have a long face, with a nose that's a little too wide in spots, and too much forehead... and also that there's something a little Northern Europe about my face...

Interesting...

Current Mood: matchy goodness

gym journal ramblings

a whole other kind of gymThe stuff that inspires me to act is so freakin strange...

I mentioned the other day that I'd grabbed my old gym journals from Ma's place and I was going to do a post on them once I'd finished reading them... I finished them, and was thinking about the post... and went looking for a suitable picture to add to it (okay, I'm not sure Barbie's Workout Center was the RIGHT picture... but I thought it was funny)...

Which then lead me to looking at the websites for two Adelaide gyms... the (secretly) gay one (check the gay Telly Tubby on the contact page), and the one near my house... neither of which have the same number of classes that my original gym had many years ago... but I don't think I could ever go back there... too many ghosts...

Anyway... while looking at the site for the gym near my house I really started to want to do something about going... which I can't do without working full time... which I can't do without getting off my butt and contacting all the agencies, since my agency isn't getting me diddlysquat at the moment (and what I am getting is because I'm fabulous and have working in the same building for about four years and people know me)...

Which led me emailing my resume to seven recruitment companies not two minutes ago...

Which in turn has kind of left me a little shellshocked...

*blink* *blink*

I'm so weird sometimes...

Anyway... this is supposed to be a post about my gym journals... and I'm not going to let a little thing like ongoing mental trauma stop me *grin*...

Oh, before I begin... On a related note, Ma and I went shopping on Friday and it's actually the first time since I started this whole walking/health kick that I have eaten anything after 8:30pm... completely due to the fact we didn't finish shopping, etc until about 8:15pm... and to make matters worse, we had pizza... it was my suggestion though... it actually felt very wicked... I ended up just shifting the cut off time (and the time I would go to bed) back by half an hour to compensate...

Anyway...

The journals start on 16 August 1994 (yep, 11 years ago, when I was a springchicken of 20, still living at home... and technically a virgin to boot)... but the story actually starts a little before that.

The first job I had was at a business college that I'd done an office skills course at, and the woman running the college was so impressed with myself, another girl from my class and a girl from another class, she gave us all jobs. The girl from the other class, Kirsty, started going to the gym just after we all started working there, and she went from rather chunky to quite sleek and fab in a short space of time (she did it partially by not eating, which is never the answer). Never one to be outdone, her transformation was enough to spur me to check out the gym across the street from where we worked and take a tour one lunchtime.

See... the weirdest things inspire me to act...

During the portion of the tour when we went through the men's changeroom there was this very hot, shaven-headed and tattooed guy walking from the shower area to the lockers, stark naked. Suffice to say, this was enough to make me go "This would be the gym for me!" and I decided to join up on the spot. Well, actually I went in to do a complimentary session on 16 August... but I was pretty much committed on the strength of hot naked guy.

I'm so shallow sometimes... *grin*

Anyway... for reasons that are now lost in the mists of time, I thought it would be a plan to keep a journal of my adventures... and those journals and now this blog are one of only three attempts I have ever made to keep that kind of record of my thoughts and feelings (the other being a "journal" of parties that I went to when I was in Year 11).

My first gym journal was a half used Marvin the Martian spiral bound notebook, which by the time I was finished had become six spiral bound notebooks... at 200 pages each (well, except the first one), adding up to over 1000 pages of my ramblings (bit like this post is turning into really). And I'm sure there should be a seventh journal, since the last one actually ends right at the end of a notebook, but it might be that I just stopped keeping it when I finished the sixth one.

They would never win any awards for the quality or content of my writing, but they were an interesting read... a whole bunch of things that I had forgotten, events not connected to the actual workouts that happened in my life around the time too, that kind of thing. And references to people I'd forgotten about.

The entries end up being fairly formulaic after a while... what class, workout or cardio session I did, how it went, anybody that I knew who I happened to run into, then a discussion of any cute boys who happened to be around the gym at the time... and how naked or lack of same I saw them...

Some of the comments about the interesting and/or naked guys in the changerooms get to be sort of comical after a while... I was obviously obsessed with naked guys (not something that has really changed since) and made some really odd comments...
  • "I saw what seemed to be my first uncut guy, and he was seriously hung, or seemed to be anyway (maybe it was just lots of hot water on his "dragon")"
  • "I think I saw the cute guy from Friday, but as he was dressed, and I never really paid all that much attention to his face, I can't be completely sure"
  • "The really narcissistic guy with the tattoos and the great, if short, body was in the changerooms again today, and once again he was admiring himself"
  • "When I went into the changerooms I was greeted with something I wish I was greeted with every time I walked in, the back view of a rather attractive blonde, clad in nothing but a white g-string"
  • "He was uncut and substantial and looked great wet"
And it goes on in much the same vein... lots of thinly veiled euphemisms for penis size and dimensions... *rolls eyes*

In the later journals there's this whole obsession with some a guy called Cameron, who I described as "interesting and somewhat cute... a strawberry blonde guy with jaw length hair and purple shorts..." I go on and on about him for ages... at least six months or more on and off... the really weird thing is that I can't place him in my memory... there doesn't seem to be any mental picture to dredge up whatsoever. Other guys I didn't have the vaguest interest in I can kind of dredge up an image for... him... nothing.

So weird...

It's also odd the things you say about people when you have no idea they will become big and (supposedly) permanent fixtures in your life...

"I did, however, full-on-flirt with another woman there, who although she looked kind of strangely familiar, I'm sure I don't know."

Yeah, I know... flirting with women... *rolls eyes*... well, I had to practice on SOMEBODY... plus there was a guy in the classes who annoyed me and was friendly with her...

That "strangely familiar" woman became my best friend on the entire planet...

So weird...

Current Mood: nostalgic and still a little shellshocked

rainbow

rainbow 2005This was what greeted me halfway through my walk this morning...

There were all these really big, really white, really fluffy white clouds (they've kind of spread out a little more, and are covering the sky now though... but still very white and fluffy) just above the treetops, and it was really beautiful...

Trying to get good shots of them without either powerlines or trees in the way was a whole other thing though.

Then I got down to the end of one of the streets, I looked up, and there is was... kind of faint... but definately a rainbow. I took about four or five shots, and this was the one that worked out the best I think.

A little later, I felt this big "something" hit my head, and thought "Oh great, a bird just crapped in my hair!" but, no, it turned out to be big fat raindrops. There was obviously a cloud passing up through North Adelaide, leaking big fat draindrops in it's wake. It was actually kinda beautiful... because of the angle of the light, the rain had all gone golden when the sun was between me and the drops (and no jokes about golden showers thankyou!)... and there was that really amazing "summer rain" smell...

Just gorgeous...

Current Mood: rainbow!

the abc's of me

Stolen from Larry the Love Lemming... and The Other Andrew did his spin on it too...
  • A is for age... 31... also for ankh, my second tattoo
  • B is for Buffy... one of my all-time favourite teevee shows (see also Lost, House and the original CSI)
  • C is for chocolate... in all it's forms... except white... which isn't really even chocolate anyway... and tastes gross!
  • D is for Daewoo Lanos... my ride...
  • E is for Eh Frajunde... an all purpose swearword I made up
  • F is for fleur-di-lis.. my first tattoo... covered by my second tattoo...
  • G is for glasses... which I wear... for shortsightedness
  • H is for Heath Ledger... I once said I would watch him walking up and down on an otherwise blank screen for two hours... and also for all the other Hollywood Hotnesses...
  • I is for Indian food... my favourite...
  • J is for Triple J... my radio station of choice...
  • K is for karma, especially instant karma... when you say something nasty to someone and five seconds later smack your knee into a piece of furniture...
  • L is for Laurell K. Hamilton... one of my favourite authors
  • M is for masturbation... as Larry says about porn... "Come on people. I'm 31 and I've never been in a serious relationship. I gotta have something..."
  • N is for Neon Christmas Tree... I got it the other day... it's tacky, stands 32cm high, is really really bright and only cost $10, but I like it
  • O is for Online Services... the place I used to work... of course that was before they changed both it's name and it's location in the building...
  • P is for photography... which I'm good at and enjoy... also for porn (see also Masturbation)
  • Q is for queer... also for queen... (see also Me)
  • R is for redheads... one of my weaknesses.... also Random Hotness
  • S is for Stephen, the only guy I ever dated... it lasted a month
  • T is for Thursday... the day I was born... and supposedly "Thursday's child has far to go"...
  • U is for uncut aka uncircumcised (or intact... but that doesn't start with a U)... how penises were meant to be... not that I have a problem with the ones who already are circumcised... just the barbaric practice itself...
  • V is for Vincent... my middle name... also my maternal grandfather's middle name...
  • W is for walking... which I blog about often
  • X is for x-rays... my back, my left arm, my right shoulder and my left knee...
  • Y is for yaniboy... which is me... always lowercase too...
  • Z is for zodiac... I'm a Pisces... and also for Zodiak, which I used to sign a lot of my art projects and stuff with in highschool...
Current Mood: oh, we're going to talk about me again, are we? goody.

random joeboy hotness

This week's Random Hotness serves three purposes... first, to provide hotness... second, to let me mention my favourite artist, Joe Phillips... and lastly to show you the two calendars I just bought. I've been buying Joe's Boys Will Be Boys calendars since they first came out in 2001 and I absolutely love them. Joe's work is so cute, so sexy, so beautifully done, it's a pleasure to flip the months over and discover a new piece of art.

I ended up getting both because, well... I have this thing about calendars... I currently have three, Boys Will Be Boys 2005 in my kitchen, as well as Bel Ami's Sebastian & Friends and The Boys 2005 hanging inside the doors of my wardrobe (it's nice to go in there for clothes and get a look at hot naked manflesh!)... but I mostly picked them both up because Amazon.com had one of their "Buy this and this for this much" offers going on... I'm a sucker for those...


Current Mood: mmmmmm hotness

movies: corpse bride

corpse bride - there's been a grave misunderstandingFinally, although a day off schedule due to Ma's training exam thing this morning, we went to see Corpse Bride this afternoon.

I must admit, I've been expecting a lot from this movie. Not only is it directed by Tim Burton, but I'm a HUGE fan of The Nightmare Before Christmas, his first full length foray into stop motion animation, and as soon as I heard he was making another, and one with a title like Corpse Bride, I was hooked.

As always with Burton's films, the whole thing was visually spectacular... from the opening spiral of the quill pen (Burton and his spirals... it's a sickness), through the beautiful and sexy yet partially decomposed Bride, to the final image of the movie, I could not fault the visuals one tiny little bit (other than the occasional thought of "How are they doing THAT?" that did pull me out of the moment a little).

The voice actors all turn in fine performances, particularly Johnny Depp (who turns in a very English and un-Depp sounding performance), Helena Bonham Carter (who's titular character manages to be both sexy and funny), Michael Gough (who is always a pleasure to listen to) and the scenery chewing antics of Christopher Lee as the Pastor.

Where the movie does falter is in plot and story. The last couple of lines of a review on the Internet Movie Database pretty much sum it up...

"In fact, so good is its animation and technique that it is easy to forgive any shortcomings in what is basically a one act, one note story albeit told with sincerity. With just a bit more pathos and storyline, Burton's team would have had an instant classic."

And that is the problem... the movie does seem to coast along rather quickly... several of the plot points are overly obvious, and in spots it feels like things have been lifted from other Burton movies, particularly Beetlejuice, Sleepy Hollow, The Nightmare Before Christmas and Edward Scissorhands.

Danny Elfman's songs do seem out of place here... or rather, they feel more like filler than something that moves the story on as they should do. I think this would have been stronger without the songs (except maybe Victor's introduction to the land of the dead)... while they did get my toes tapping as Elfman's songs tend to do, there just seemed to be either too many, or not enough... leaving the songs that were there kind of hanging in the wind.

Having said all that, its a beautiful and entertaining movie, it just could have been better.

yani's rating: 2 detachable bodyparts out of 5

gayest thing ever...

Gayopoly
This is possibly the GAYEST thing I have EVER seen... Gayopoly... it's really scary the things you find when you're googling the word "gay"...

I kinda think I want it...

Current Mood: so gay

monday musings

christmas in the city 2005It's going to be another of those weeks this week... I can just tell...

Ma is working in town all week, nothing to do with her course thing... she did tell me why, but it escapes me right at this moment. Because of that I'm playing Taxiboy again, but all this week, rather than just two days.

That means that I'm getting up to do my walk at 6:30am, which is kind of nice, getting it out of the way early... but by the end of the week, may be a killer.

It wasn't helped this morning by the fact that I just couldn't fall asleep last night. I don't know if that was the inordinate amount of Famers Union Iced Coffee I had yesterday, or if it was just my mind mulling over things or what random fluctuation of the universe it was, but it was kind of annoying.

I think I'm getting to that "zen" stage of my morning walk, where it isn't really registering in my brain any more, I just go out, and my mind shuffles to auto, and I do it. Okay, maybe that only works when I think back about it afterwards, rather than during the actual walk itself... but I kind of remember getting into the same zone when I used to walk into work/town... because it was the same thing all the time, my mind would do other things.

I'm not completely sure where I'm going with this train of thought... I think part of it is because I'm in the thick of reading my old gym journals... which has been kind of interesting... and once I'm done I will definately have to put my thoughts together about them... there was so much stuff that I'd forgotten, and while some of the memories are kind of bittersweet, they're all definately interesting.

Anyway... I noticed some Christmas decorations that had been put out over the weekend during my walk this morning, so I will have to try and get some shots of them, possibly to save up for when there's more for a "Christmas in North Adelaide" style montage grid, or something...

While I was on the way back from dropping Ma in town (and, as an aside... this whole "early morning city traffic driving" thing is just going to annoy me after a few days, well, probably by tomorrow actually)... I messaged my old boss to find out about the morning tea for V, my former work-girly, who is leaving for a protracted world tour (England for 9 months, followed by France, Spain, Italy, then America.... you take out Spain, and that is pretty much my wishlist for destinations... bitch!). I only found out it was happening by accident when I called up my old team while I was in the building on Thursday to tell them off about something.

So anyway, to make a long story only slightly less long... I hauled ass into town to say bon voyage to V, and to basically make with the small talk with the former crew...

I know I've said if before, but I do miss (some of) them... but looking at them now, I don't know that I would want to go back... it's kind of like seeing a former friend... you remember that it was fun, and why it was fun, but you know it's never going to be like that again... I mean it's been nearly a year... and I know how different it was during the year I WAS there... the whole dynamic changed monumentally (not to mention a change of five different staff members... not bad for a team that was three people when I arrived, and four people when I left). Having said that, it was nice to see them again in a purely social capacity.

I was mostly Avoido-boy on the whole topic of what I'm doing, how I'm doing... all that stuff... not a place I really wanted to visit...

Anyway, it was kind of interesting to see all the Christmas decorations up in town too... it fills me with that sense of impending dread that Christmas is just around the corner and I'm not in the least bit prepared for it...

Where was I... oh, yeah... decorations... I'm sure they weren't up when I was in town on Thursday... although they could have been... I don't know that I got close enough to the Mall to see...

The shot heading this post isn't great, I really should have grabbed a couple of shots when I was on my way to see the former crew, rather than when I was on my way back to the car... the hour and a half made all the difference, I'm pretty sure the rim lighting on them was prettier earlier, but I was running slightly late, and didn't want to take the time to stop.

Kate DeAraugoHmmm... I just got distracted by the very end of this season of Australian Idol... I haven't watched the show since the first year it was on, but I tend to end up tuning in for the finale, just to see who's going to be rammed down my throat for the next three months... and it's going to be Kate DeAraugo... whoopee-do....

The thing that always strikes me is that for the three years Idol has been running here, the "winner's single" has always been a ballad... I don't know if that's common to Idol's all over the world... but I'm not a huge fan of (those kinds of) ballads at the best of times... wouldn't it be better to have the Idol come onto the scene with a big, bold, kickass number that the winner can really belt out and have some fun with? Or does their market-research department tell them that 12-15yo girls prefer ballads?

It's interesting actually... I'm trying to track down who wrote the song, and I can't find it anywhere... I'm wondering if the same person or people are responsible for all three winners singles, but somehow I kind of doubt it.

Oh, I tell a lie.... finally found it on the Sony Music website... "Written by a knockout team including Lindy Robbins (Backstreet Boys), Jess Cates (Backstreet Boys), Dave Bassett (Gin Blossoms, Lisa Loeb)". Hmmm... you would think they could write a kickass song between them, wouldn't you...

Although the phrase "a knockout team including..." really doesn't fill me with a great sense of confidence...

Anyway... I've been blathering on long enough now...

Current Mood: sleepy

snapshot sunday?

ma's place 2005I went up to Ma's place yesterday... I needed to dig out some of my old gym journals that are in storage at her place, plus I wanted to find my VHS copy of Boogie Nights, which was is also in storage there with a bunch of my other VHS tapes.

We went and wandered around Elizabeth Shopping Centre, where I tried not to kill all the dumbass people who either weren't looking where they were wandering brainlessly, or else who were just plain annoying. Inbetween that I was busy being distracted by the large number of attractive young men wandering the centre, including one very cute "80's-eske punk" boy in tiny, tiny, tiny white "old-school" football shorts and fairly obviously black briefs... *sigh*

Anyway, once the mall-rage and the perving were over, I went for a wander around where Ma lives and took a bunch of shots, figuring I could do another montage grid like last Sunday... basically because it's somewhere different that I haven't shot before...

Then, while I was making it I thought that maybe I could make this a regular Sunday thing... but it would need a name... and I always like alliteration... I needed something that went with Sunday... like Photo Friday... but with an S...

The best I've come up with so far is Snapshot Sunday... not sure it's right though...

Any ideas?

Current Mood: thinking

just plain nasty

Broccoli Casserole, Smoked Salmon Paté, Turkey & Gravy, Corn on the Cob, and Pecan PieI didn't quite believe this article when I saw it in the paper today...

"Forget slaving over a hot stove, fishing out the giblets and peeling vegies - this year's Christmas dinner is coming out of a soft drink bottle."

I was like "What?!"...

It goes on to say...

"Topping the menu is a delicate smoked salmon pate drink, preparing the palate for soft drinks flavoured with turkey and gravy or a dull green liquid masquerading as brussle sprouts."

Brussle sprout soda? Are you kidding me?

Unfortunately they were 100% serious... the folks at the Jones Soda Company have come up with two different drink packs to celebrate the festive season... both sounding fine if they were actual food, but just nasty as sodas (a shame really, because I like their packaging ideas, the photo labels and the quotes on the caps)...

You can choose from Brussels Sprout with Prosciutto, Cranberry Sauce, Turkey & Gravy, Wild Herb Stuffing, and Pumpkin Pie (available all across America in Target stores, in case you were wondering).... or Broccoli Casserole, Smoked Salmon Paté, Turkey & Gravy, Corn on the Cob, and Pecan Pie (available in other selected locations).

That's just not right...

Current Mood: that's nasty

friendly with bears

illustrations by e h shepardI've just started my semi-annual re-reading of A.A. Milne's classics Winnie-the-Pooh and The House at Pooh Corner... I remember reading somewhere a long time ago that every adult should read Winnie-the-Pooh at least once when they are a grownup, and it's advice I've stuck to for the last fifteen years at least. And reading some of the Amazon reviews, it looks like I'm not the only one who thinks so.

When I first read the books I think my favourite character was Tigger, a little too loud, a lot too bouncy and very, very brash... later it was Eeyore, always wanting people to be interested, but always pushing them away at the same time with his grumpiness. But the last couple of times I've read them, I become more and more fond of Piglet... sweet, brave, long-suffering Piglet, who, so long as he has Pooh by his side, can accomplish anything.

I'm sure that says a whole lot about me, but let's not read into it too deeply... okay?

My favourite quote from Pooh is from the story "Tigger is Unbounced" in The House at Pooh Corner, and was also where Armistead Maupin got the inspiration for his sixth Tales of the City book...

Piglet sidled up to Pooh from behind.
"Pooh!" he whispered.
"Yes Piglet?"
"Nothing," said Piglet, taking Pooh's paw. "I just wanted to be sure of you."

The last word on why to read the Pooh books when you're a grownup I will leave to the beautiful Amazon review by Jay Rudin of Dallas, Texas:

illustrations by e h shepardI first read Pooh as a child, when my mornings were spent with the Spotted or Herbaceous Backson, and my afternoons were spent doing Nothing. It was a good book then, which I really enjoyed.

But I don't do Nothing any more. Well, not so much. They don't let you. Now my life is spent going around and around the thicket looking for the Woozle, or going bump, bump, bump down the stairs, thinking that there must be a better way, if only I could stop bumping long enough to think of it.

Now I need Pooh. I need to be reminded that spelling isn't everything - that there are some days when spelling TUESDAY simply doesn't count.

Pooh and Piglet are wondering where you've been. Eeyore told them that you're not coming back. "They've forgotten" said Eeyore. "Typical," said Eeyore. "How Like Them," he said.


But you can come back, you know. You can find a Thoughtful Spot, or join an Expotition for the North Pole, or even drop sticks off a bridge.


Because the Forest will always be there, and anyone who is Friendly with Bears can find it.


I could not agree more!

Current Mood: off to catch heffalumps...

five years ago yesterday...

powerlines 2000One thing I forgot to add to yesterday's list of salient facts... yesterday was the five year anniversary of the first ever model shoot I did... it was more a test run than anything, a twelve exposure roll of film to see if the old camera I was using was up to the challenge.

If only I knew then what I know now...

But have I have thank Dan for being the first guinea pig... and for being a whole world of encouragement... I just wish it hadn't been two and a half years before I got to shoot him again (albeit that when it did happen, it was shots of him and his boyfriend).

Current Mood: creative and a little nostalgic

more salient facts...

Last time I was working I came up with a list of salient facts for the day... let's review that with today's experience in mind, shall we...
  1. Getting up at 6am (before the sun had actually hit North Adelaide) to go for my walk was kinda strange, but pretty cool...
  2. I'm fairly certain my dress pants are much looser than they were the last time I wore them due to the above walking... go me!
  3. I checked off another of Boost's new flavours, Orange Berry Zen...
  4. Obviously I'm suffering from a similar "rising tide" problem to The Other Andrew... not helped by the monumentally hot security guard in the building where I was working... *sigh*
  5. I don't seem to be able to enter said building without running into one of the four people I used to work with...
  6. Half-assed and vague written instructions are very, very annoying... especially when the person who wrote them is in Kyoto and hence, not available to explain what she's on about
  7. Temp/contract work is very draining... unlike a normal day of work there's nothing to really distract you from the task at hand, which needs to be done within an eight hour period... no phonecalls, no chatting with co-workers, no meetings, no nothing... and sitting in someone else's chair for eight hours is no picnic either...
  8. Subway tuna and salad wraps are not only somewhat scary, they are also about the size of both of my fists and disturbingly damp...
  9. Working in an airconditioned building on the one day in a two week period where the weather is over 32 degrees C is probably a good thing in the long run
  10. Even the vaguest, VAGUEST impression of a cute guy's underwear barely showing through his white business shirt above the line of his dress pants is enough to make me slightly crazed... especially when I'm sitting about 20cm away from his waist while he's standing on the bus (see point 4 above)
  11. Cherry tomatoes ROCK!
  12. I was a little disturbed to learn this afternoon that Baker's Delight have started selling drinks in addition to their vast array of, well, bread... I do enjoy the fact that I can chat with my Baker's Delight girlies (two sisters who work different shifts) without actually buying anything...
See... I like to share...

Current Mood: tired but happy

random sherwood hotness

[Warning: Naked Man Alert for some of these links]

Robin Hood... was he gay or just a bandit who liked hanging out with other manly men? Who knows... and it's not like today's Random Hotness is going to answer that one. Valeriano Elfodiluce aka Wally Rainbow decided to do his own man-on-man version of the legend though, called Robin Hoog, and it's pretty hot and steamy... it has only the slightest connection to the original story, but it's mostly artporn, so who cares about story. Be warned though, because the dialog is translated from Italian to English, it's full of rather clunky translation mistakes.

robin hoog & alan kent clarkwild scarlet and adal

Current Mood: mmmmmm hotness

sevens

The infamous 7 Things Meme... last seen at The Other Andrew... I think I'm possibly the last person on the planet who hasn't done it... so....

7 Things I Want To Do Before I Die

  1. Visit America, Paris, Venice and London
  2. Take the "perfect photo"
  3. Find the "perfect job"
  4. Move to the "perfect apartment"
  5. Swim with the dolphins
  6. Be part of the audience for Oprah
  7. See Michelangelo's David in person
7 Things I Can Do

  1. Draw up your astrology chart
  2. Touch type without looking at the keyboard
  3. Make a mean Tuna Mornay
  4. French kiss really well
  5. Give you an opinion on most topics except sport or politics
  6. Make you laugh
  7. Find the perfect birthday/Christmas gift
7 Things I Can't Do

  1. Reverse parallel park
  2. Math in my head
  3. Get pierced without scarring
  4. Whistle using two fingers
  5. Make friends easily
  6. Forget the past
  7. Knit
7 Things That Attract Me To Guys

  1. Well shaped hands and fingers
  2. A twisted sense of humour
  3. Intelligence and/or wisdom
  4. Personal style
  5. Interesting tattoos in interesting places
  6. That curve between a guy's back and his butt
  7. A beautiful face
7 Things I Say Most Often

  1. For f***'s sake!
  2. Riiiiiiiiiight
  3. Let's not and say we didn't
  4. This would differ from normally, how, exactly?
  5. Cheers
  6. Could he be any gayer?
  7. Long story, mostly dull
7 Celebrity Crushes

  1. Joss Whedon
  2. John Malkovich
  3. Brad Pitt
  4. Nate Berkus
  5. Jesse McCartney
  6. Johan Paulik
  7. Oprah Winfrey
Current Mood: undecided

movies: kiss kiss bang bang

kiss kiss bang bang - sex. murder. mystery. welcome to the party.Normally when we go to the movies, the movie in question has been picked well ahead of time. This week however, since I actually thought that Corpse Bride was already out (when it actually opens this coming Thursday), we were kind of left hanging... and the only halfway decent sounding thing was Kiss Kiss Bang Bang.

I'm not a huge Robert Downey Jr fan, but I knew Val Kilmer was playing gay... so I figured, what's the worst that could happen?

So I wasn't expecting much... everything I'd seen or read about it had made it sound fairly mediocre... I was expecting Robert Downey Jr to be annoying, but beyond that, I was just hoping that it would be a pleasant way to spend a couple of hours.

Turns out it was so much more than that.

There have been other movies where I've been grinning or laughing a lot... but I can't actually remember where I've laughed this much, this hard, and for this long... in a "grown-up" movie... it had a whole bunch of both big, big laughs, and some gasps, and quite a few "Oh god!'s".

The whole style of the movie very much drew me in, pretty much from the beginning, both the slightly film-noir/Raymond Chandler vibe (not surprising, since the writer/director read several Chandler stories while working on the script), as well as the more modern feel of the "interactive" narration, one or two time skips at the beginning, and the smart, kinda sassy dialogue.

There were also some great one liners... a large number of those from Val, not at the expense of his character's gayness, but coming from it (if that makes sense) in that kind of self-deprecating, yet very witty gay humour.

I'm also expecting to see a lot more of the female lead, Michelle Monaghan, in the future... damn but the girl can act!

As far as downsides go, the only, very minor, nitpick that I can find is that there were a couple of times where I missed a line of dialogue here or there, either because the audience (myself included) was laughing so much, it covered the line, or in one case at the end of the movie, the dialogue was just a little hard to hear. Definitely a good excuse for watching it again when it comes out on DVD.

The climax was one of those mile-a-minute, rollercoaster type endings that made me gasp and laugh and pretty much want to cheer. You kind of saw it coming, but it was a welcome moment when it did finally arrive.

Definitely one for the "Must Own" list!

yani's rating: 4 hidden derringers out of 5

i'm a dork

my walkOkay, this was initially supposed to be part of the previous post, but it kind of got too big for it's own good, so it got it's own post...

Pretty much just proves the title of this entry really...

So, for anyone who's interested (The Other Andrew, I'm looking at you...) the map on the right is my route around North Adelaide, complete with some notations... I really am a dork... see...

It's not really my fault, yesterday I found a link on one of the other sites I visit to a site called Frappr! which will let groups, etc set up a map of their users/participants/whatever (you paying attention there Ethan? *grin*)... In addition to the lovely map view you see on the first page of the site, they also have a "Satellite" view, which, I think, uses images from Google Earth (the images have little Google watermarks on them)... anyway, I put myself down on this map as being in Adelaide, and it set the marker down in the middle of Rundle Street for some reason. Not that I mind being in the middle of Rundle Street, but for a generic "Adelaide" point, it was a little strange.

Of course, so then I had to see if I could find my house... which I did... then I tried to find Ma's house... only to find the maps give up detail at about Pooraka (or about halfway between my place and Ma's place)... oh well...

I came back to North Adelaide and took a look at my walking route, then decided I could make a map out of it (see... me, big dork)... That led to two tries at marking out my route on the map, followed by the addition of some comments about various things.

The Dopey Doberman is the dog I mentioned the other day that scared me by standing up on it's hind legs...

The Roman Frieze House was part of the Houses photopost...

The Psycho Alsation is a dog that barks EVERY time I go past... but it only seems to bark at ME. I swear! Several times (today included) there have been other walkers going in the opposite direction to me, and the dumb dog never barks at them. But me, any time it's out there, without fail, it goes off it's nut at me. Okay, except for once... when it was laying down... other than that, EVERY time! *mutter*

And the cute construction workers... okay, so they aren't all cute... and they aren't as cute as some people who do manual labour (or perhaps just not as well hung hehe)... but there are a couple of cuties... and there was one guy who I went past this morning who was getting things out of his van and was wearing sweatpants (or tracksuit pants as we call them) with either nothing under them, or just boxers... and had that whole "meaty yet defined butt in slightly clingy sweats thing" going on... and that's almost never a bad thing...

*Ahem*

So, yeah... the map also shows where I started walking, where I currently walk... as well as the extra bit I hope to add in the not-too-distant future... which will also take me past my old apartment building (so large, so pretty, so private, so secure... *sigh*) but also past the very photo-worthy Carclew Youth Arts Centre building. Maybe I should try adding that bit next Monday...

And for anybody planning on stalking me... well, go right ahead... *rolls eyes*

I think I'm through being a dork now... plus Ma should be calling me very very shortly to come pick her up... ahh... that's her now...

Current Mood: enormous dork

today's adventures

Well... today's been an adventure so far (but then any day that something actually happens has felt like an adventure for a while now... I really need a life again)...

Ma is doing her course in town again today and tomorrow, which means I get to be Taxiboy... it also means that for the next two days I'm doing my walk an hour earlier...

That was interesting in and of itself... the sun is kinda up, just enough to be in my eyes on most of the eastward legs of the journey (ie about half of the walk)... there are actually more people (other walkers mostly) around, but other than that, it was all pretty much the same. It felt odd to be setting the alarm to go out walking, but it's a good practice-run for Thursday when I'm working in town and was going to have to do that anyway.

So I got home from my walk (to find that I'd only hit the snooze button on my alarm, rather than switching it off, and the thing had been going off for an hour since I left), showered, dressed, and was ready for Ma when she got here at about 8:15am. I drove her into town, then swung past McDonalds on the return trip to get a Sausage and Egg McMuffin and an Iced Coffee. I don't think I will be doing that again tomorrow... I had a similar reaction to the one I've been having with bread... not sure if that was the muffin, or the fact that that was probably more fat in one food item than I've really had in over a month (17.5 grams of fat according to the McDonald's website... *urgh*... they have this whole scary thing where you can work out how much "stuff" is in your meal... not even going to look at stuff I have eaten in the past... too scary).

Anyway, after getting distracted by amateur and cowboy porn, I checked my blogroll and then took myself off to the shops to pick up some bits and pieces to make dinner tonight and tomorrow night. There was these great recipies in the paper on Sunday, one for Fish Tikka Kebabs and one for a Spanish Onion and Tomato Salsa to go with it (that's tonight... and curried sausages for tomorrow).

what the?The only thing that threw me was one of the ingredients for the salsa... rice syrup...

Now never in my young life have I even heard of rice syrup... I figured it must have been something sweet (hence the syrup part) to cut the sourness of the vinegar in the salsa... I even asked at the supermarket, and the woman looked at me like I'd asked her if I could pee on the frozen foods... okay, not EXACTLY like that... but she just looked mystified, as did the woman she in turn asked.

When I got home I googled it, and yeah, I was right, it's basically a sweetener, and had there been a health food store where I was shopping I might have stood a chance of finding it... or alternatively if I had just googled it BEFORE I left the house... *rolls eyes*.

Anyway... I swapped the fish for chicken, and tweaked the salsa a little bit (using honey instead of the syrup)... it's all "developing flavour" in the fridge as we speak... I used a little too much lemon juice in the tikka, but other than that it all looks good (I just went to give it all a stir again, and it's coming along nicely).

I'll let you know how it works out...

LATER: It was all really nice... the chicken was a tiny bit overcooked (my fault) and possibly a little too lemony (also my fault) and I did end up with four yellow fingers (the tumeric's fault) from threading the chicken on skewers... I had intended on taking a photo of it when it was all finished, but obviously I forgot...

Current Mood: pleased with myself

sunday walk

sunday walkBecause all the cool kids are doing the photodocumentary thing...

I was on my way to get the Sunday paper, and because it was all bright and sunny I took my camera... okay, I take it most of the time, but I didn't bother yesterday morning because it was all overcast and less pretty...

And then a piece of iron lacework (top right) caught my eye but I still went a couple of steps past it, then thought "Why did I bring the camera if I'm not going to take photos?" so went back and took a shot of it, and then just left the camera in my hand for (most of) the rest of the trip...

I figured I could just take a bunch of shots (I ended up with about 30) and make up one of these montage grids... I like these grid things... I should do more of them...

So, anyway, that was my trip to get the paper...

Current Mood: happyhappy

my peanut butter experience

not for me thanks...For as long as I can remember I've turned my nose up at peanut butter... I don't even know how it started, but it's never been a food that I've had any interest in. On occasions the smell of it has even made me gag... so all in all, you wouldn't think it would be on my list of things to try...

That was before Peanut Butter Kitkats.... I love and adore Peanut Butter Kitkats... they are officially one of my food weaknesses...

When I was shopping a couple of weeks ago, I figured, well, maybe it's time to actually give peanut butter a try... it's possible my pallet has matured and it may just be something I will quite like... I like peanuts... so why not...

So I got one small jar of Kraft Peanut Butter... smooth... what could it hurt?

Since I started walking I've also been "avoiding" traditional bread in favour of Mountain Bread and Pita, but I thought that peanut butter needed actual bread, so I picked some up from Baker's Delight yesterday.

I'm also having some bread issues too, but I can't decide what all that's about... this is the second time it's happened, the other week I bought a different kind of bread to make bruschetta... and after two slices I just felt nauseous... and the same think happened when I had a tomato sandwich yesterday for dinner... not a nice feeling at all... maybe it's the combination of bread and tomato... who knows...

But back to the peanut butter...

I was going to try a slice of bread with some peanut butter on it last night, but when I was about to slap some together I looked at the clock and realised it was 8:30pm... food cutoff time... so I just muttered to myself and figured I would try it on some toast this morning...

You can put peanut butter on toast right? There's no law against that, right? Having never eaten it, I really have no idea.

I did learn that it may have been a mistake...

Anyway, while I was making the toast I tried a little peanut butter... and guess what... it just tastes like peanuts... I don't really know WHAT I was expecting... but somehow my brain hadn't really registered the fact it was going to taste, well, just like mushed up peanuts...

I didn't think it was too bad though... not great, not "Oh God get me a spoon and let me eat the whole jar"... but it wasn't totally disgusting or anything...

Then I put it on toast... I should have realised it would, for want of a better word, melt....

Melted peanut butter... kinda gross...

I made it through half a piece of toast... the rest of it went in the trash. And the peanut butter... I'm giving the rest of the jar to my mother, I know she likes it...

Current Mood: yuk

what file extension am i?

You are .jpg You are very colorful.  Sometimes you forget things, or distort the truth.  You like working with pictures more than words.It's a viscous circle... Jevyeddy steals from Nathan and I steal from Jevyeddy....

Current Mood: surprised

i hate comic sans

I wholeheartedly support the Ban Comic Sans movement. Stupid, ugly, nasty font!

I came across this site again when I was clearing out my favourite links a while ago, and have kept meaning to post the very cute cartoon I found on the site...

punch da bunny
Current Mood: amused