Pink Sugar Hearts

2010 movies in review

2011-01-03T13:37:00.000+08:00

Time to look back on the movies I saw this year. I decided late 2009 that I was sick of paying money for movies I knew in advance I wouldn't enjoy, so this year I made a concerted effort to only see things I was interested in.

Best movies of 2010

I saw a lot of things I liked this year. In no particular order, I most enjoyed:
-Scott Pilgrim vs. The World. This movie was made for me, I swear. I was crying with laughter the whole time.
-In The Loop. Hilarious yet depressing politcal black comedy. Malcolm Tucker is the most politically incorrect character ever written and I love him.
-The Social Network. This was so clever. I have watched the first scene like a dozen times already. It's such an instant classic. Eisenberg is fantastic.
-Fantastic Mr Fox. Not at all like the story I loved as a child but probably my favourite Wes Anderson film. Why not cast the world's foxiest man as the world's foxiest fox?
-Toy Story 3. Those Pixar geniuses always exceed my high expectations. They are made of candy and magic.
-Inception. We talked about this a lot after we finally saw it. I think it was all a dream, but it doesn't matter, because Cobb doesn't care if the top drops or not - having seen his children's faces, he makes that leap of faith. Discuss.
-Micmacs. This was French and quirky and fantastic. Go rent it.
-The American. This was so pensive and introspective and tense. So great.
-L'arnacoeur. Saw this twice and loved it as much the second time. Romain Duris is rapidly climbing my favourite actor ladder.

Worst movies of 2010

Despite my resolve, a couple of stinkers snuck in. These movies owe me a few hours of my life back:
-Sex and the City 2. Knew it would be bad, stil surprised at just how bad.
-It's Complicated. Apparently it's really tough to be rich, live in an enormous, gorgeous house, have great relationships with your children and future son-in-law, and have two nice men interested in you.

Movies I liked even though they were pretty daggy
-The Twilight series. Shut up, it's my thing now, let it go.

Movies I wanted to like but just couldn't
-Io Sono L'amore. This movie was so sure that I would like it and think it was really deep and meaningful and beautiful that it forgot to be deep and meaningful, and quit at beautiful and melodramatic.
-Avatar. Technically spectacular. Storyline was an even more condescending version of Pocahontas. The more I think about it, the more irritated it makes me.

Movies that Anthony didn't realise were biopics and thus did not understand at all
-Gainsbourg. Nothing to comment on, it was just funny. He turned to me once the credits rolled, and said, quietly but firmly, "what in the HELL was that?"

A few numbers:
Total films - 46
English films - 27
French films - 10
Italian films - 4
Japanese films - 4
Hindi films - 1

Total list of films follows.

Avatar
Coco Avant Chanel
It's Complicated
Duplicity (again)
Up In The Air
In The Loop
The Informant!
New York, I Love You
Om Shanti Om
The Men Who Stare At Goats
Fantastic Mr Fox
I Love You, Man
Mao's Last Dancer
Gainsbourg, vie héroïque
Julie and Julia (again)
The Hurt Locker
She's Out Of My League
Micmacs
Narco
Il Caiman
Ponyo
Sex and the City 2
Toy Story 3
Twilight
New Moon
Io Sono L'amore
À la folie... pas du tout
Eclipse
Scott Pilgrim vs. The World
Going The Distance
Eva 1.0: You Are (Not) Alone
Eva 2.0: You Can (Not) Advance
Vénus beauté (institut)
L'Auberge espagnole
Les Poupées russes
Easy A
Scusa Ma Ti Voglio Sposare
Tonari no Totoro
OSS117
Draquila – L'Italia che trema
Love's Brother
The Social Network
Zombieland
The American
Inception
L'arancoeur

New year's resolutions in review

2010-12-16T21:22:00.000+08:00

So, how did I do on the resolutions I made in January? Let's take a look.

* Don't fall asleep in my makeup

Win. My skin has never been better than this year. In fact, my beautician told me the other day that I have the nicest skin of all of her clients, and she's definitely not the sort to say that just to make me feel good. She's French, she tells it like it is. So anyway, big tick on this one. Next year I'm going to try to start using a serum or something to whittle away my freckles.

* Pack my own lunch at least 4 days per week

Mostly good here. I think I have probably averaged this over the course of the year. There was a period in winter where I didn't do well on this one at all, but I've made up for it in the last few months.

* Get to more meetings

Also good. Ant and I were in the habit of skipping Sunday afternoons, and weren't as regular as I would have liked with house meetings either. We've been at basically all of them this year, and even some Wednesdays.

* Take more photos of friends and family

Could have done better on this front. I took a lot of iPhone pictures but it doesn't come as naturally to me to camwhore every event as I wish it did.

* Skinnify

Mixed results. I'm 4kg lighter than when I wrote my resolutions, but I wouldn't call that skinny. Still, it's an improvement, and I'm working on doing better yet.

* Only 10 weeknight takeaways all year

This one was total fail. Once we bought our apartment my schedule went into complete disarray. I'll try harder next year.

Overall I'm pleasantly surprised with how well I've lived up to my aspirations. I'll do this again next year, because apparently I'm not too bad at keeping these things.

Giveaway

2010-11-26T18:13:00.000+08:00

So I know I've been neglecting this blog lately (well, I've been updating the movies sidebar, but I've only been doing boring things so I haven't actually posted any new content. Boo.) BUT. Mitsu of universal-doll.com, which is a fab gyaru blog that I read rather obsessively, is having a super generous giveaway here and I thought that my handful of readers would be interested in knowing that. So far she's only announced two of the items she's giving away, and frankly I'd be over the moon to win just those. Diamond Lashes are just so great, all the gyaru models swear by them. And the alpaca! Swoon!

So anyway, head on over and check out Mitsu's blog to enter. And Mitsu-san, if you're reading this... I super heart you. That is all.

Blog neglector

2010-09-22T10:34:00.000+08:00

Yeah, I've been bad. And it's not going to change for a few weeks at least, since we are in the throes of house moving right now. Everything is upside down and inside out at the moment. I'm home sick today and so I took the opportunity to clean out the pantry - I threw about 50% of the food out! So much of it expired last month, which is really odd. At least there's much less to move now, though. I'm going to try to do the bathroom cupboard today as well, but... I have have zero motivation. Sigh. Anyway, once we've settled in after the move, I'll be back showing off a few photos and whatnot. Until then!

Momusu

2010-08-10T22:36:00.000+08:00

Bummed THE HECK OUT about the MoMusu graduation announcement. Eririn is one of my favourites, and JunLin had actually really grown on me (like in this Sanma no Manma clip) and I am going to miss all three of them. I really hope Eri recovers soon and makes a return to showbiz when she's had an appropriate amount of time off. But the pandas? I don't think we'll ever see them again, and that makes me really sad.

Yeah, that's all. I'm sure they'll bounce back with 9th gen (and by the way, if they add a bunch of 12-year olds I'll be quite cross) but I've been attached to these girls for years now, especially Eri, and it'll take a while for that hole to heal for me.

Honestly, why couldn't they take Risa instead? Rururururu.

Too tired to blog

2010-08-02T12:22:00.001+08:00

I mis my blog being full of bimbo photos :( But since we bought our house, all my time is spent there in paint covered jeans, and all my money is spent on freaking flat-pack furniture :( On the plus side, the place is starting to look pretty awesome. We're planning on moving sometime in the next month I think, so I will have photos to show soon (and then I can start spending money on clothes again, yaaaaay). There's so much I want to buy right now, especially from the Review new season collection. But the things on my shopping list right now look more like this:

Ohhhh yeah. You know what I've had enough of? ASSEMBLING FLAT PACK FURNITURE. And in my near future, I still have to do:

-Two wardrobe frames and interior fittings
-Four wardrobe doors
-The above cabinet
-Four bookcases
-A bathroom cabinet
-A couch
-A dining table

Anyone out there who just LOVES assembling furniture and wants to donate their skills pro bono? Leave me a comment.

I promise to blog soon with interesting things. Or else I will go mental.

Doctor Who followup

2010-07-20T15:42:00.000+08:00

More than a week late, but whatevs. I liked the finale!

GOOD:
-First things first: The fez was cool. I seriously hope they bring the fez back.
-I enjoyed immensely all the Vortex Manipulator zipping around at the start.
-And RORY. YAY FOR RORY. Waiting for 2000 years to protect Amy? Terribly romantic.
-Having it all wind up with Amy doing the spooky-crying thing again at her wedding? Right up my alley.
-Actually, all of the wedding was great. The Doctor Dances, indeed.

MEH:
-No, I didn't like the typical Who way of resolving last week's seemingly-impossible cliffhanger situation within the first scene. I have, however, certainly come to expect it, so I wasn't terribly disappointed.
-Definitely Not Cool: the way Amy keeps trying to step out on Rory. It's RORY. You don't do that. He's the sweet, befuddled Arthur Dent EveryMan of the Whoniverse, and you don't do that to him. I think it's meant to be funny but I don't find it amusing in any way.

VERY GOOD:
-Not tying up why the TARDIS exploded, and the crack in time, and silence falling, and the novo-TARDIS in The Lodger, and why Amy's house has a level too many? Me likey. It's nice to have trans-seasonal mysteries.

BEST OF ALL:
-I was right about the forest scene in The Time Of Angels!!! It wasn't a continuity error! Shoop da woop!! I have been harping about that for MONTHS now, so it's nice to be vindicated.

I'm really looking forwards to the Christmas special, though I worry that Orient Express In Space is quite similar to Titanic In Space. But we'll see. If the fez makes a comeback, all is forgiven.

Doctor Who rant

2010-07-05T12:48:00.000+08:00

OMG RORYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY
YOU ARE BACK
AND NOW YOU HAVE KILLED AMY
I AM CONFLICTED.

I loooove Doctor Who. And I have the softest spot imaginable in my heart for Rory. But... I really don't know how I feel about all this. Obviously the cliffhanger will be resolved within the first five minutes of the next episode, becuase That Is How They Roll on that show. However, if the whole season turns out to have been in Young Amy's head, I'm going to be a mite bit cross. (But if Rory stays on as a full-time Auton companion, I'll be somewhat mollified.)

Josh tells me that a lot of the elements of this season (Silence Will Fall, the cracks in the universe, who was building the TARDIS upstairs in The Lodger etc.) won't be resolved this season. So I have a lot to think about over the break. I think there's definitely something to the fact that Amy's house seems to have stairs to more floors than the house actually has, though:

Apologies to whoever made this screencap, because I lifted it and I don't know where it came from :(

Anyway, Doctor Who. It's a good thing I'm already married because I know every time I bring it up, my eligibility points plummet.

Bad blogmistress

2010-07-01T21:15:00.000+08:00

I've neglected my blog awfully (but not entirely - I kept updating my film inventory in the sidebar.) Things have been pretty crazy here since I last updated. Ant and I are now HOMEOWNERS, which is awfully exciting. We've been spending almost every spare minute we have working at the new place, and we're finally at the point where we can put some paint on the walls - finally it will look like we're improving the place instead of destroying it. We have a lot of plans that we're working towards. This photo is sort of like what we're aiming for with the living room:

But with a chair more like this one, except in a deep purple or something:

Funny how similar the layout of those two rooms are, actually. The first one is from Apartment Therapy" I think, and the other is obvs from Elle Decor. And belongs to Candace Bushnell. Anyway, the look I'm after is Paris chic. It's tiny so we can spend more per square meter than we could on a bigger place, which is nice because I. Hate. Cheap. Looking. Stuff. And it turns out that often, though not always, this means that I tend to fall for the most expensive item in the shop without trying. And that I have my eye on a baby blue SMEG, like this one from Yvestown:

Yummmmmmmmy. Anyway, there's no real point to this post other than alleviating my blog guilt, so I shall leave the fridge porn there. I promise not to go so long without blogging again, and also that the next post will be far less inane.

Smörgås lunch

2010-04-29T13:35:00.000+08:00

I'll call it smörgås seeing it was made from IKEA ingredients. Packet-mix rye bread (really yummy!) with mustardy mayonnaise, gravlax, gherkins, sliced hard boiled eggs and lumpfish roe. There's a lot of food here even though it's very compact. I don't think I'll need dinner at this rate.

IKEA food run

2010-04-28T11:46:00.000+08:00

This is my morning tea today, with a nice cup of coffee. Ahhh.

I've been sick with a cold the last couple of days (today included), so I've been home from work. And the problem with being home is that you eat the food that you would normally have used for meals. So today when I went to the cupboard, it was pretty bare. And nothing is worse for a grumpy sick girl than being hungry.

The other thing worth mentioning is that around this time every year, I get really mean cravings for Scandinavian food. Who knows why? Possibly the changing seasons make me want rye bread with mustard herring. Honestly, sometimes I think something weird must have happened to me in utero, because I have a really strong affinity for a number of different food cultures, but not my own. So anyway, knowing that I had to go get some food anyway, and that it wasn't really further to travel than my usual grocer, I decided to make an early morning run to the IKEA food market and kill both birds with one stone.

The new IKEA store (I say new, though it's been open since Valentine's day 2008) has a nicely sizeable food section. It's possible to get there pretty quickly from the front of the store if you take all the shortcuts that you can, skipping all of the display sections and most of the market hall. I wish there was a special entrance just for the food section, but never mind.

The thing with IKEA is that while I like it a lot, I don't ever want to go there more than I have to. So if I'm going to make a run to the Swedish food market, I'm not just going to pick up some crispbread and some gherkins. Nope, I'm going to stock up properly. Here's my haul for today.

First, the perishables: meatballs, gravlax, tiny shrimp, salmon paste, lumpfish roe, the aforementioned Princess cake and mustard herring, and a packet of rösti.

And the non-perishables - crispbread, rye bread mix (currently baking as I type), cream saucce mix for the meatballs, cloudberry jam, gherkins, gravlax sauce, and some candy for Anthony - Daim, Ahlgrens bilar (Sweden's best selling car, har har) and some chocolate.

Now all that's left for this sick little girl to do is eat my princess cake and assemble some smørrebrød for lunch. Yum yum. (Yes yes, smørrebrød is Danish. Whatever. It's all Scandi to me.)

Counting time, waiting

2010-04-14T15:52:00.001+08:00

I keep getting distracted in the kitchen by more interesting things, like, for example, my mortgage broker calling to tell me that our bank is totally sold on the house and has approved my home loan. (Huzzah!) So then I call Ant, and my mum, and my dad, and completely forget about what I was doing in the kitchen. Fortunately, recently I've been cooking the sorts of things that are made better by neglect - for example, osso bucco. In this spirit, allow me to present my recipe for osso bucco from my upcoming book (ha), The Inattentive Cook.

Osso bucco alla Hayley

An onion
A carrot
A couple sticks of celery
A can of tomatoes
A bay leaf (but you forgot to buy this at the shop, so don't worry about it)
Four osso bucco rounds (ask the cute butcher and he will cut them up for you. Also pick up a pork rump roast while you're there, which he will also have to cut for you. Refer to this as art, which makes him mumble and ensures excellent service in future.)
Some herbs and whatnot
Olive oil

Chop the onion, carrot and celery into little cubes. And the garlic. Yeah, I didn't mention garlic earlier, did I? That's the spirit of this book. You probably have some. If you don't, whatever. Heat your olive oil over a medium burner in the awesome cast iron pot your daddy gave you for your birthday.

Add the chopped veggies, season with some salt and pepper, and stir them around until they're softish. They can brown up if you remember that you wanted to set the DVR for Inspector Rex and wander off for a bit. That's cool. Once you're done, come back and push them to the side. Brown the osso bucco pieces for 30 seconds or so on each side. Add the can of tomatoes and stir it all so everything's mingling. Add a splash of red wine or whatever you have handy. White is fine, rose would probably work. Who knows? I think sherry would be bad, though. Add a bit of water or stock so that the meat is nearly covered.

Turn the heat down as low as you can, put a lid on and go have a bath/nap/read a book/do some yoga/watch last year's Eurovision for three hours. Or whatever. This dish is vastly improved by being forgotten.

When you come back, take the lid off, take out the meat and up the heat so the sauce reduces a bit. You can mash the chunky bits against the side of the pot if it takes your fancy. You can even puree it with a stick blender, though that would take more effort than the average reader I have in mind is willing to part with. Chop up your herbs (parsley or basil are probably best but whatever you have handy, except maybe coriander) and stir through the sauce.

Plate the meat, spoon over the sauce, and serve with no-knead bread for that extra "I barely tried and look how good this is" street cred.

Also in this series: the aforementioned no-knead bread, slow-cooked pork, cassoulet, twice-baked potatoes, chicken cacciatore, French onion soup. I'm on a winner here, except that there aren't many desserts than can be abandoned. Icecream a la mode? Leftover Plum Pudding From Last Christmas That I Just Found In The Back Of The Freezer? Yeah, the dessert section needs work.

Gorgonzola Bontazola

2010-03-24T18:15:00.000+08:00

Yes, it's a cheese blog now, apparently.

I picked up a wodge of the gorgonzola I mentioned in my last post. I'm a sucker for blue cheese. I've had some so blue that the flavour singed my nostrils. So I was prepared for this one to be STRONG. But you know what? It was really surprisingly mild. The first note that hit me was actually spinach-y, and then the full blue bouquet emerged. The texture was firmer than I was expecting, too - for some reason I was expecting it to be like a camembert, but it's more like butter.

This is a really pleasant eating cheese. It's probably still too strong for blue noobs, but it's definitely down the milder end of the scale. (I was introduced to blue with Castello Blue, which isn't exactly gourmet I know.) I'd put this one on a cheese plate for a party without question. I think it would actually contrast nicely with the two in my previous post, actually - a good balance between textures, flavours and sharpness. I had this with a few crackers and apple slices.

By the way, a nice way to give an apple strudel a complex flavour is to add a little blue cheese amongst the apples. Not so much that you can identify it as blue, just enough to add character. It's like adding a pinch of katsuobushi to tomato sauce for pasta to give it an umami kick. Mmm, I'm hungry now. Carbonara with pancetta for dinner, I think.

Cheeeeeese (skip this post if that's not your thing)

2010-03-16T17:09:00.001+08:00

To know me is to know that I love cheese. I tweeted a few weeks ago that I dream of one day owning an entire parmigiano reggiano. That's not a joke. I totally do. Most days I would choose cheese over chocolate, so long as it was real cheese, not that processed stuff that masquerades as such.

I'm fortunate to work near The Herdsman, a food store that takes pride in supplying real food. They take, amongst other things, their cheese pretty seriously. They have a cheese of the month, for goodness' sake. (This month it's Mauri Gorgonzola Bontazola, which I haven't tried yet and have to get my hands on before April.) But the cheese that got me excited this afternoon while I was shopping was this:

Isigny Mimolette vielle!!! (The camembert was nice too, but that particular brand is always readily available to me.)

I wandered over to the cheese cabinet looking for some Gruyere, when I spotted it out of the corner of my eye. Orange. Red Leicester? Not with that crust. Could it be??? Indeed it was. I grabbed a hunk as quick as I could.

So why am I so excited? Because mimolette, deliciously/disgustingly, gains a good deal of its flavour from cheese mites, which give it its characteristic grey rind.

Mmmmmm. Yep, that's pretty gross if cheese isn't your thing. (Don't worry, they're dead by the time you eat the cheese. I think.) But I was thrilled to get the chance to try something different, a little bit rustic, a little bit primal. The thing is, in Australia, our cheese making and importation is severely hampered by a wide ban on raw milk cheeses. This is unfortunate, because most cheese connoisseurs will tell you that pasteurizing milk completely changes its character and flavour, leading to inferior cheese. Most of the world's most famous and ancient cheeses are raw milk cheeses, and to my mind, the wisdom of ages says that if people have been eating them safely for centuries, then there isn't a problem to eat them now. Indeed, the bad has been lifted for a couple of French Roquefort cheeses. So what gives? Are French bacteria safer? It doesn't seem fair to Australian cheesemakers to not have the right to make cheeses according to time-honoured means, but allowing consumers to buy similar imported cheeses. And it doesn't seem fair to a cheese lover like me to not be able to experience some raw cheeses but not others because of an arbitrarily made decision.

Slow Food Australia are working to amend these laws, and they have a petition to sign if you're interested. You can find it here. If you have even a passing interest in cheese (or indeed, in freedom of choice in what you put in your mouth) then I encourage you to take a minute to sign. And if you're interested in learning about the production of a number of famous cheeses, ABC2 is screening a show called Cheese Slices. You can watch it here.

And how was the mimolette, you ask? Sharp, fruity and nutty. And hard. But all around delicious.

Birthday love

2010-03-05T21:39:00.000+08:00

So yesterday was my 26th birthday, and my friends and family were kind enough to, um, spoil me rotten. Here's a rundown of all the nice things that I received.

Firstly, this awesome cast iron enamelled pot from my mum and dad. I have wanted one of these for years, and I happened to mention it to Ant after we saw Julie and Julia a couple months ago. So when I unwrapped it, I naturally assumed that he had pointed them in the right direction. But no, as it turns out, my dad is a psychic. He nailed it, right down to the colour and size I wanted. Thanks, daddy! I'm a little bit afraid of your skills right now. If I start thinking really hard about a cute terrace house in Subi, will I get that for Christmas? :) (The other option was mum's idea, some new perfume, which is equally on my hit list. You guys know me very, very well.)

Tris bought me this book that I've been crushing on for months. Who wouldn't want to learn the style and charm secrets of Old Hollywood? (She was very lucky that Monday was a public holiday, because I had every intention of going to Oxford Books and buying it that day.) Thanks, Trissy! I've been washing my face like Audrey Hepburn every night since :)

From Ishipishy, a freaking awesome leopard beret and pretty bracelet! Look at the beret! It's FURRY! Ish, I'm so touched that you remembered me blabbing about wanting a leopard beret however long ago that was. This one is sooo cute. Thanks so so much!

Julie baked a cheesecake for Ruthie and me, and she made it with blueberries from her own backyard. For crying out loud. That's just so awesome. Thanks Julz!

Aww, my friends are so great.

George and Janine gifted me these. The pink thingy is an icecream scoop that makes perfect cylinders, and the craft book? Right up my alley. Everything is so fresh and breezy. Thankyou thankyou thankyou.

Josh says that his gift to me is on the way, but he drew me this as a placeholder:

I think that the real gift is going to have to be pretty fantastic to top that.

And last but not least, Ant's gift. You've been seeing it all post, because it's a new camera! My little Lumix has seen better days, so he got me this nifty Samsung that was made for camwhoring. It has a second screen at the front (no more being half out of frame with bad hair and four chins) and a skin-smoothing, blemish removing mode. That's the mode it's been on more or less constantly. I haven't got a photo of it yet, so just keep your eyes open in future posts.

That's it! I have been really spoilt this year. Thanks so much to everyone for making yesterday such a lovely day.

Long time no see

2010-03-03T09:15:00.000+08:00

I've been neglecting this blog an awful lot the last few weeks. Oops! In the meantime, a couple of friends and I have been working on a fashion blog. Go have a look! It's Girls Who Like To Buy Things, and so far it's been a lot of fun.

It's my birthday tomorrow so I'll post some photos of the lovely gifts that I've received so far after the date (feels gauche to post them now for some reason.) Until then, au revoir!

Style statement

2010-02-06T13:09:00.001+08:00

So I've been reading a lot of blogs and forums recently that say that if you have a clearly defined style statement, you a) won't come home with clothes you don't actually want to wear, and b) looking into your wardrobe in the morning will be less tragic because everything will more or less fit together. That all seems pretty logical to me, and it's more or less what I've been doing for a while now. Here's a brief summary of what I have in mind when I go shopping:

So I guess that sweet pink spot in the middle is something like "Cool French Ballerina Who Spends Her Time Off-Duty Buying Clothes From 109". It's a little nebulous. I also take excursions to "Cool French Girl Goes To The Mediterranean Coast To Summer" and "French Girl Gets A Bit Trashy" when things get summery/go a bit wrong. I guess one of my major issues is that all three of those categories in the picture up there imply a preternatually thin woman, which is something that I don't embody at the moment. (But! I'm more than 25% of the way to my goal weight! Shoop da woop!) So I tend to delay buying clothes, because I figure they're not going to fit me if I keep losing weight, and anyway, fat girls can't really be CFBWSHTO-DBCF109, so save the money for now. This means that I tend to interpret CFBWSHTO-DBCF109 as dark jeans, ballet flats and tank top, bulked out with accessories.

Accessories are my bread and butter while I lose weight, and I like to find ones that fit the category perfectly. Ballet flats are a natural fit, and I am always expanding my collection. (Just bought two more pairs from ASOS half an hour ago.) I also like Chanel-ish flap bags, scarves, and sparkly jewellery. One of my favourite pieces is a Chanel-like camellia necklace that I bought from Misch Mash in Fukuoka (thus covering both the French and Japanese aspects.)

The other nice thing about the style statement is that it tends to restrict your colour palette, which again leads to greater harmony amongst the individual wardrobe items. Mine is more or less black, white/cream, pale pink and stripes. You know what Japanese brand is all about these things? Delyle. Oooh, how I love Delyle. Chanel-inspired clothes at High Street prices.

See? Classic, but cute and youthful. It doesn't take the ballet component into account, but not every outfit has to. I get more into the ballet thing in autumn/winter, with scarves and layering. I'm quite looking forwards to getting back into cardigans again.

There's this book at Amazon that deals with this sort of thing exactly, but instead of a narrative like I have above, they help you come up with two words that encapsulate your life. Eek. That sounds a bit bit frightening to me. You seem to come away with a term like "Natural Simplicity" or "Enduring Bold", which all seems a little obscure to me. If it was available on Kindle I'd get it, but until then, I'll just be a little intimidated by it.

All in all, I like the notion of buying within a theme you love, but I think it's also important to break out of the mold every so often. Really love that long Indian-inspired skirt? No sweat. French Girl's Ballet Company Tours Mumbai And She Brings Back A Souvenir. The most important thing, I think, is just to make sure that if you buy clothes that you LOVE them. It's easy to put together an outfit when you love everything you own. It's much harder to do it with pieces you're only partly enamoured with.

*****

I'm going to go see a movie BY MYSELF this afternoon - In The Loop, as alluded to in my previous post. It's been a while since I've gone to a movie by my lonesome but I'm actually quite looking forwards to it. If anyone wants to join me, though, Paradiso at 3.15. See you there (no, I bet I won't, but never mind.)

Upcoming movies

2010-02-04T21:10:00.000+08:00

There are so many movies coming out in the next couple of months that I am really looking forwards to!

Starting with this one, which is already out:

I like a really good political satire, and I hear this one is phenomenal. I was going to see it with Josh but evidently I am not trustworthy, because he went to see it without me. Boo! I have to get to Luna while it's still on.

This one will be a girls' outing! Ruth is going to get a sitter for Jude (and by sitter I mean that Daddy Trav will be having a boys' night) and it will be AWESOME. Even if the movie is not so good. It's full of actors I like, so it must be OK. And some Bradley Cooper-themed eye candy. (Also, I read that his character is gay.) (Also, I read that maybe this is art imitating life. And everything you read on the internet is true.)

A quick tangent - when did I start liking Julia Roberts? I couldn't stand her circa Runaway Bride, felt entirely apathetic towards her in the Ocean's movies, but by Duplicity I was nuts for her. Come to think of it, Duplicity might have been what turned me around. That movie was great. I've seen it like five times (through the joys of air travel), and I'd watch it again for Clive Owen smirking through his Southern accent.

French film festival is starting next month! I want to see almost everything showing, but most of all I want to see Gainsbourg, vie héroïque. If Serge didn't epitomise French chic, I don't know who did. (Well. Bardot and Chanel for starters. And right now, Garance Dore is just about the coolest person on the planet.) Anyway, the Gainsbourg biopic looks tres fantastique.

I think this one is already out in America. I actually read the book last year, but I have a feeling it relates to the film in more or less the same way that Queen Bees and Wannabes did to Mean Girls. Ewan McGregor and George Clooney? That is SO fetch.

Bollywood Film Festival follows the French one. I don't know anything about the program other than that Dil Bole Hadippa! is the opening night film. It looks cute! I have a big girl crush on Rani, her smile is so infectious. I think this is a Bollywood version of She's The Man, which I haven't seen. (But I have read Twelfth Night, so I think I'm good for source material.) I'm really hoping that the films from last year that I want to see are on the program, like Love Aaj Kal. (That reminds me, I still haven't seen Om Shanti Om. Fail.) (Lots of brackets in this post. Apologies. These will be the last ones, I promise.)

Again, this one is already out in the States. I <3 Kristen Bell, thus I will see this. Even though I hear it's pretty dreadful. Bring on the Veronica Mars movie! I hope there's a lot of this set in Rome. Holiday nostalgia is the best.

If only for Char's adorable family. But really, for much more than that. Fashion! New York! More fashion! I hope there's more Char in this one actually, I feel like she was a bit neglected in the last one.

So that's more or less it til May. After that, who knows? I'm glad I have a cinema concession card, that's for sure. I've more or less mentally spent all of my entertainment budget here.

*****

Watching So You Think You Can Dance: The Infinitely Inferior Australian Version. All the manufactured tension is really getting on my nerves. You're all going home! Just kidding, we just did that to give you a taste of showbiz/to give us a great ad break cliffhanger!

Oh man, the worst bit is that they just split up a husband/wife couple who were both excellent. Why only send one through? Oh right, for TEH DRAMAZ. Stupid. How much of the result of this show is based on raw talent, and how much is based on melodrama?

Changing the channel now, as I end this drivelly post.

Hair malfunction

2010-02-03T10:17:00.001+08:00

Today I am wearing my hair in a sort of Heidi-braid crossover. I was inspired by this (thanks to Jenny at sushi-cat.net):

But the first thing the girl who I share a bench with at work said to me?
"Oh, you have your hair like that Estonian/Lithuanian politician!"
AKA Yulia Tymoshenko, the Ukrainian Prime Minister.

EPIC HAIR FAIL.

Update:

Tris asked for a pic, so here it is:

Also four randoms at the shop told me they thought it was cute, so maybe it's not so fail after all.

PURIKURA!!!

2010-02-01T21:26:00.002+08:00

Did a bundle of purikura in Freo with Ish and Tris after the combined meeting yesterday. (Aside - aren't combined meetings rad? You catch up with so many people. Also Pastor Darryl gave really great talks both meetings. Good day.) So anyway, プリクラ！！ Girls, click through for the bigger sizes ♥♥

This machine was rad! Really cute, good skin tone, easy to edit afterwards. Went sort of nuts with the crowns, ears and headbands in the second one though. But, um, this other machine?

DO NOT WANT. I remember using a machine like this when I was on exchange, for goodness' sake. THAT WAS 10 YEARS AGO. Roll with the times, Perth. Love Virus indeed.

And now, if you'll indulge me, (you will, because it's my blog, dammit) I shall post some other ones. These first two are from a big-eye machine somewhere in Tenjin, during the Fukuoka outreach.

Actually, I promised Sonia that I would send these two her but then I lost her email address :( So, Sonia Swan, if you ever self-Google, I hope it leads you here. Even though these pictures are terrifying. What's going on with Stef's eyes in the second one? Scary business.

Next batch is Ant and I last Feb. I thought this was in Harajuku but the label (and all other evidence, like the photos with the same date where we're at Kinkakuji) says we're in Kyoto. Was this in one of the covered arcades? That trip is a blur now :(

Girls, when you find a boy willing to indulge you this much? Hold on as tight as you can.
(Also, I have absolutely no recollection why we chose to put a taiyaki and some oden on the front of the car, but I do remember it being HILARIOUS at the time.)

And just to show how we've learned to camwhore, here's our first ever purikura.

MY EYES. How did I ever think this was an acceptable way to leave the house? I LOOK LIKE A MAN. The date on this is wrong, too - it was late November, because I distinctly remember this was after one of my exams. Back to the point though - UGH UGH UGH.

I have some others of us with Mark and Ish but the scanner repeatedly cut Mark's head off, so I think that's a sign that they should wait for another day.

EEE KAWAII

2010-01-30T16:12:00.000+08:00

So, did some work on the blog layout. Evidently. Still need to do a heading graphic, but SQUEEEE it is so much cuter now!!!

Have had a slack day - aside from doing groceries and making po-J-to salad, all I've done is tinker with the blog and tickle the dog. Going to Ishi's place tonight for a BBQ! I think Ruthie is coming with Jude-chan!!

Random update

2010-01-30T12:07:00.000+08:00

I've been working really hard to make the blog look nicer but things have definitely gone backwards on that front. Ant is trying to help me now and he is more or less as stumped as I am on the whole issue. I want it to be super kawaii. At the moment it is the blandest thing since white bread. Blahhh. Hope we can work out the issue soon.

Also, my Photoshop elements trial expires today!! :( I will definitely have to buy it, it is truly tip-top. BUT, maybe not immeditely, because we are, uh, a trifle poor at the moment. Saving for a house is killer! Especially when you've had a house guest and a long weekend all in the same pay cycle. Oh well.

On to some photos!

*****

My new nails!

Actually, these photos were taken two weeks ago and now I have removed said nails. I've been sort of distracted by the arrival of darling Jude, and also having Katsuki-san stay with us. ANYWAY. I ordered these from eBay seller Yukiumi. I was really thrilled with the service, and the nails themselves were SO cute. The only problem was that they're completely impractical for my work :( I do a lot of fine work with my hands, and having talons on each finger (see below) made things really difficult. So I soaked them off, but I'm definitely keeping them for next time I'm on holiday.

It's been several years since I had acrylic nails, but the awkward ways of getting dressed with cumbersome nails came back to me pretty quickly. I often wonder how girls manage with nails like this though:

Madness.

*****

A couple weeks back (two days before the nails I think) we went to Arigataya in Northbridge with Mark, Ish, Trav and super-pregnant Ruth. Arigataya hasn't been open very long but it's cemented its place in my heart as Perth's best ramen. This is my bowl:

I was ravenous by the time we ate, and so this photo includes none of the char sieu, egg, nori, bamboo or greenery that I had already gluttoned into oblivion. But trust me, this stuff is GOOD. Afterwards we headed to bubble tea in the old Utopia (I think it's called Hi Tea now?)

Ruth is literally four days away from giving birth but somehow she looks barely pregnant in this photo. How, Ruth? HOW? When it is time for a junior Casarotto, I need to get photo posing tips from you.

And here we have yet another abrupt end to a random blog entry. Sort of becoming a standard feature around these parts.

Community service announcement

2010-01-28T22:20:00.002+08:00

Kids, wear sunscreen.

Or else this will happen to you. And believe me, it's not something you want.

Jude

2010-01-21T22:07:00.000+08:00

We interrupt your regularly scheduled frivolity to bring you an important update on the world's cutest baby.

Introducing Jude Matthew Quirk, the handsome son of darling Ruthie and SuperTravio - my nephew!! He was born early in the morning (late at night?) yesterday, and has already made the world a better place with his unique combination of pouty lips, super soft skin and all around total gorgeousness. Oh, and he smells great too.

Trav and Ruth are just over the moon. It's really moving to see how much love they have for this tiny wonderful person they've made. Aww, you guys. I'm getting a bit weepy thinking about the three of you.

I went to visit last night with new Nonno, Meme, and Busia. Ant couldn't come because he was stuck in Broome (flight delayed by 5 hours, lousy Qantas) so we went back again this afternoon. Is it possibly for a baby of infinite cuteness to double said cuteness overnight? He seems to have managed it somehow. Anyway, the requisite "Jude with x" photos:

With Nonno. Not sure who's mimicking who here.

Cuddling adorably with Meme.

Anthony looks amazed. I love this photo. Jude, your zio is absolutely right to find you astounding.

I think he's cute enough to cancel out the ugliness of my two chins. That's no mean feat.

Just want to have the record show that one day after birth, Ruth looks like a supermodel. So glowy! So happy! I really can't believe she had him 100% naturally. She is a superwoman. And she looks like this! I'm overawed.

As one would expect from a child of gaming heritage, Jude is already demonstrating a sound knowledge of classic game characters. Here he demonstrates his Mario impression.

And coming from photographic history on the other side of the family, he knows to pose like a natural. Here he's managed to wink, despite not yet being able to see. Absolute pro.

Yeah, he's pretty awesome. My most heartfelt love and congratulations to the burgeouning Quirk family. You guys have well and truly outdone yourselves with this one. May the Lord bless the three of you above your wildest imaginations.

New wallet!

2010-01-17T16:14:00.000+08:00

Just a quick post to show off my new eBay acquisition.

Here she is in her dust bag. Don't you just love Japanese packaging? Makes me want to go back to Japan real bad. Again. I pretty much have Japan Urges every six months or so now. Maybe I should just save up for a year, move there, buy everything I can see for a year or two, then come home. Yeah.

Here's the box, complete with adorable ribbon.

And this is my baby! Woven pink metallic leather. Lots of room on the inside. I am so thrilled. I saw it in Fukuoka when we were there but I didn't have much cash on me at the time. I planned to go back but then never did :( So now I've eBayed it for twice as much money o_O

This is a better indication of the colour I think. The zipper pull is a super cute gold heart. Soooo stoked with it. It's exactly what I want. My previous wallet was a blue woven Bottega Veneta which I loved to death, but all the blue was wearing off and starting to look really nasty. Maybe I will see if I can have it dyed and then sell it or something.

My nailpolish in the previous picture is OPI Italian Love Affair. I'm only giving this one two strikes, because it's disappointed me so wildly both times that I'm not willing to chance it a third time. Goes on streaky as all getout, chips and peels away within 24 hours. Not. Worth. My. Time. I was really hopeful I'd like it because, um, I think the name is cute. But I'm always disappointed by shimmery OPI polishes these days. I think they might have changed their formula because I used to be able to apply them like a pro. Sigh. I'd really like gel nails if I'm honest. With lots of bling.

OK, tangent done! I'm hoping to be able to blog about my new nephew in a few days but he sure is taking his time arriving.

I ♥ my kitson

2010-01-12T15:38:00.000+08:00

My kitson bag makes the inside of my car look like the prettiest disco in the world. That's all.

Bought in Fukuoka, by the by. I never had so many compliments than when I first wore this bag. Every girl I walked past was like "kawaii kitson neeeeeee!" And when J girls say your bag is cute, well, it MUST be cute. I wish I was a J girl. Le sigh.

Strawberrynet order!

2010-01-09T22:59:00.000+08:00

I received a package from Strawberrynet this week! I love those guys. Cheap makeup, loyalty program, free shipping, what's not to like? When I picked it up from the post office, the girl behind the coutner was all excited for me, like "oooooooh I love SN, I'm waiting on a box, how excitingggg!" We're like a secret society, SN clients. The Order Of The Purple Ribbon. We should invent a secret handshake. So anyway, this is my loot.

And now to my reviews!

*****

Smashbox Photo Finish makeup primer

I've only used this once so far. It goes on very silkily, and my skin feels really smooth afterwards. Apparently it's full of vitamins and other stuff to make skin happy. Anyway, it made my foundation glide on smoothly and evenly. It was a hot day though, so I sweated it all off pretty quickly and can't comment on lastability. I'm looking forwards to using it in winter though, as I struggle to apply foundation evenly when my skin is drier.

*****

MAC Beauty Marked eyeshadow

WOW. This stuff is super. I tried really hard to take a photo of how it looks in the pot, but didn't quite get it - it looks like a shimmery purple-y maroon. But it applies like the best smoky grey you've ever tried. Full of pigment. Love it love it. MAC make awesome eyeshadows. Can't believe I used Maybelline and Body Shop for so long. Only MAC, Stila and Anna Sui for me now.

*****

Guerlain Kohl loose powder eyeliner

I don't think I've got the hang of how to apply this yet. I get some on my inner rims, and a LOT in my eyes. And then 30 minutes later, it all migrates from my eye to the inner corner and looks revolting. I want to learn to use it properly, though, because every review I've read of it says it's miracle dust. Anyway, I'm pleased to have it because the packaging looks like something from a silent film star's dressing table. It's awesome.

*****

Pevonia Silky Foot Peel

This stuff is magic. Disgusting magic. I put it on my feet and started gently massaging, and GIANT gobs of revolting dead skin started coming off. (Sorry for the mental image.) Anyway, a quick rinse later and my feet were soft and smooth like they haven't been in a really long while. I hope it's OK to use it daily, because I have years of mistreatment to resolve.

*****

Saw this in the city today. It makes me want to break the one we have. If you know what I mean.

Oh. My. Freaking. Goodness.

2010-01-07T12:21:00.000+08:00

I want this pretty watch so badly. Pink! Gold! Sparkly! Tells the time! Certainly satisfies all my watch criteria.

Dinner with the girls

2010-01-06T22:37:00.000+08:00

Caught up with a bunch of my girls for dinner. So good to see them! I really miss all you Yangebup crew :( Missed you all at Albany camp too.

Alex and Sal waiting for food. Ooh, I missed you guys! Alex is taking Ant out for lunch sometime. I guess it's OK with me seeing she asked permission :) They were cross with me for taking so long to take the photo. Sorry guys!

Emma just posed like this until I put the camera away.

Heath was suspicious of this "sneaky shot". It's not so bad, right? She had a cuuuute necklace on, a wooden heart with "elope" written on it. Apparently you get it with your wedding certificate if you do so. Or something.

Tris took this photo and I LOVE it. Everyone looks so stoked to be there. Except KJ, who is still running off a LOT of excess energy.

I love my girrrls! Don't see enough of them now that they all live south of the river. Let's catch up again soon, OK? Chuuuuuu!

Juicy juicy!!

2010-01-05T09:45:00.006+08:00

I got a pay rise just before Christmas, so like all good little girls I bought stuff online. Savings? What? Anyway, my first package arrived yesterday.

Ohoh?

Ooooooooh.

I wish everything in my house was pink terry-covered. So cute and snuggly!

Anyhow, I am super thrilled with this triple set of bracelets. They are all nice enough to wear on their own but I love how they look together. The middle one has four different sparkly motifs on it - the Juicy heart, as shown, then a crown, a palm tree and a ribbon. Kawaiiiiiii.

Camwhore time!

Actually, I'd like to take this opportunity to say how impressed I am with Photoshop Elements. It has everything that I ever use in full-sized Photoshop, and a lot more besides. And is only $150, as opposed to the arm, leg and firstborn child that they charge you for standard edition. I am definitely buying it when my trial period expires.

Working on making the blog less ugly. It is VERY ugly, though, so it will take some time.

New Year recap

2010-01-04T17:43:00.009+08:00

Photos ahoy! Here's a recap of what's happened so far this year.

*****

New Year's Eve

We had some friends over for a low-key NYE party. I wore my hair in a half-up bow like in binosusume's YouTube channel, but none of the photos really show it well :(

Ant and I waiting for everyone to show up. Ant wore his fedora that he got in Fukuoka. It really only comes out for festive occasions, which is a shame. Josh bet that he wouldn’t wear it at all in Australia though, so that’s something.

Around midnight we headed outside and lit up some sparklers. Pretty!

The girls enjoyed the pretty in a normal, sensible way.

Richard, um… didn’t. He took about 20 of them and lit them up at once -_- Burned his foot a little too I think. The lads all seemed to think it was pretty funny.

Mark and Ish got into the party poppers (which, by the way, were about 20% faulty and would just spit out a lump of streamers instead of a proper spray. I hit Lee pretty solidly in the chest with a streamer pellet.)

Mark sets off a party popper LIKE A MAN.

And then goes on to look utterly terrifying (and, bizarrely, like he is in blackface) in what is otherwise a nice photo.

Ruthie, Trav, Rachel and Carrie were there also but I only managed to get bad photos of you guys. Sorry! Try to be always posing near good light in future, OK?

*****

Avatar screening with Mark and Ish

Went with Mark and Ish on New Year's Day to see the most not-shut-up-aboutable movie of the summer last night. I must say that I wasn’t really that keen to see it, because I am pretty tired of this exchange:
“OMG HOW GOOD WAS AVATAR?”
“Haven’t seen it.”
“YOU HAVEN’T SEEN IT WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU SEE IT NOW WHILE IT IS STILL 3D IT IS SOOOO GOOD!”
Rinse and repeat with more or less everyone I know. So yeah, I was a bit jaded.
First things first, camwhoring with silly glasses.

Okay.
So the movie itself. It was immensely pretty, there is no doubt about that. The scenes where Jake is discovering the forest were gorgeous. But I really didn’t feel particularly engaged by the film until at least halfway through, when the (spoiler, but you’ve seen it already no doubt) bulldozers start to roll in. Until then I felt like a casual observer, the way I do with most CGI things. Which made me VERY aware of its length. Make no mistake, this movie is LONG. Anyway, I suppose I don’t feel too strongly about it one way or the other. It was enjoyable, and technically a masterpiece, but I don’t think I’ll see it again.
A quick word about the 3D – it gave me a cranking headache for the first 45 min or so until my eyes stopped fighting it. But after that, every time I thought about it, the headache would spring back. I don’t know if the glasses fitted me badly, but it felt like a strain to focus. Phooey. (Looking at the photos, there were indeed enormous. And made my nose look big too. Yucks.)
Also, I think it's funny that a 3D movie had so many one-dimensional characters. Hohohohoho.

*****

This is how Ant started the new year. Yup.

*****

Hopman Cup

Went with Ant and Josh to the Hopman Cup on Jan 2nd to see Australia v Romania. Kept forgetting it was coming up. Every conversation with Josh that weeks was somewhat akin to this:

"See you Saturday, then. What time are we meeting? 9?"
"What time are we huh? Why would I be out of bed that early on a Saturday?"
"Uh, the tennis?"
"The whoseinthewhatnow?"

So it was frankly a miracle that I made it there at all. Good thing Ant is more switched on than I am.

While we were waiting I asked the boys to camwhore with me.

Oi, why be like that? I got you both sweet Christmas presents.

Ant eventually indulged me, but Josh refused. Bah.

He eventually acquiesed for a solo effort. Ladies, is my brother not handsome?

Anyway, then there was a womens' match. I shan't be posting photos because we lost. Boo. But after that, I went to the bathroom before the mens' match. And then I got a tiny bit turned around getting back to my seat, and was stopped by a security guard who said I couldn't go the way I was going because the door I was in front of was the one the players were about to come out of O_O So naturally, I asked if I could take photos. He said yeah, no problem. And here's what I did with that opportunity.

SWEET, BRO.

The one good thing, though, was that Lleyton Hewitt totally gave me a filthy look just for standing there. Ha! He really lives up to his reputation.

So anyway, after that wasted opportunity, I headed back to my seat for the mens' match.

Lleyton won! Look at him, receiving that serve. It was a really exciting match! They were closely matched opponents. Also, as Josh noted, Lleyton's trademark "COME ON!!!" is obnoxious on TV but quite thrilling in the flesh

There was a mixed doubles match after this, but Australia lost that too. So a loss overall. Oh well! I've never been to a live tennis match before so it was a good experience anyway.

*****

Ishi's birthday

Left Burswood after the tennis, went home, got changed and came straight back for Ishi pishi's birthday dinner. Ha! Should have just taken a change of clothes with me.

In the car on the way. Sequins, leopard and a present. Yay!

With the birthday girl and Tris. Ish had such pretty clothes! And new shoes from her Sg trip.

My beef. Eh. It was pretty average. I would have thought a nice restaurant would have been able to cook medium rare correctly. Apparently not.

Tris is demonstrating how pasmak resembles a beard. Sort of.

With my sweet Ruthie! She is sooo preggie right now. Any day and I am an auntie!

Quick pose in front of the dandelion fountain. Ugh my dress makes me look blocky :( Never again!

And on that note, this super long entry comes to an abrupt end. All caught up!

HMMM

2010-01-04T16:51:00.001+08:00

I don't think I can import the previous posts because Blogger and Wordpress don't play nicely. Should I retype them? I think I might, as a digest sort of thing.

New home!

2010-01-04T15:56:00.001+08:00

My blog has moved here for the forseeable future. I'm trying to work out a way to migrate the posts over, so bear with me.