Happy Aus Day

Well another Australia day has come & gone.

Highlights
- Watching "The Castle" & "Kenny".
- Eating more lollies & chips than I could imagine.
- Finding that although the streets were packed, Utopia (home of dodgy chinese Karaoke & probably 1000 varieties of BubbleTea) was still pretty empty at 11pm.
- "Winter Love" tea (the name of the drink) with Sago AND Rockmelon Snow (=freezie) from said location.
- The Fireworks, which were pretty good. (though not quite the effect of the News Years ones from Gloucester Park - because then you could actually feel the buildings shake as the sound echoed.
- Oh - and what we could swear were attemps for the Fireworks to look like a map of Australia.

Lowlights
- The 41-degree heat. (and probably still around 38 at 9pm - I kid you not eastsiders).
- Drinking about 3 litres of liquid (Including a Bubble Tea, a Snow, a fair share of soft drinks, and plenty of water) - and not at one point in the night did I not feel dehydrated.
- Drinking a "Red Bean Snow". Seroiusly - never try it. Its like drinking pure bitter protien juice.
- Im not sure how to respond, but when I get home at 1am my little brother was entertaining guests, and an un-named 18/19 year old says "Hey guys, we woke up Koorush". Not sure if I should be saddened that she actually thought I was a grandpa, or happy that Im not.
-The midnight picnic at Kings Park to send off Lobna that didnt end up happening.
- And finally, after taking 100 photos on my phone of the sky works (I didnt expect many to turn out well, so for insurance i just kept snapping) and then realising what was wrong with the resolution, realising this morning that my phone (which for a 2.0megapixel camera is very dodgy already) was set to Photo-MMS - thus the resolution was even poorer than usual.

Anyway, here are a few of those snaps.

Movies of Summer

Ok, seeing as I back to uni in a week (and will be going hard at it until mid-december) I thought it was time for a mammoth post.

I thought it would be worth discussing some of the movies Ive seen for the first time this summer - some new, some old, some awesome, some not so.

Ok, starting with brand new ones:

Happy Feet
Probably my favourite movie all summer. The heartwarming tale of a young penguin who can't sing (in a colony where that is worse than a crime) and this uncontrollable urge to tap his little feet away. I loved it so much, that i think everyone sitting near us may have got angry at me because of two things:
1. It has got a number of laugh-out-loud moments, that i might as well just taped myself and played a tape all movie.
2. The music.
This is one thing I loved about the movie - it was full of great music - and it was all such an integral part of the story. Like how the penguins serenade each other - that is so cool. And anyone who knows me well, knows that Im not one to shy away from singing along (even if it is under my breath).

Blood Diamond
I really enjoyed this movie and I think its definately worth watching if youre not too squeamish.
As pure entertainment it is great - great storyline, nice ending, good acting (notwithstanding Leo constantly dropping the South African accent - which didnt actually make entire sense because his character was from Zimbabwe - and I'm pretty sure they sound a bit different).
And as social commentary - it will make you think twice next time you want to buy a diamond. And I just think its great that movies are now starting to portray some of the problems of that great continent.

Pursuit of Happyness
An interesting "true" (though not entirely) story. There are so many ads about this movie, that I dont know if theres much left for me to say. And although it was a great movie, i did leave me feeling like it left a few bits out - like it glossed over what might have been his worst times

Rocky Balboa
Not 4th best, just up here because it is so new (not out in cinemas yet). Its worth watching if youre a fan, but in all honesty it is 45-minutes TV-movie, 30-minutes Nostalgia... but the nostalgia is definately worth it, even if you do have to try to ignore the fact that Stallone is about a hundred years old.
All in all - its a better finish to the Rocky series than Rocky V.

Blade Runner
This is supposed to be one of the best movies of all time - and I can understand why. For those who havent seen it, Harrison Ford plays a kind of detective (Blade Runner), whose role is to find and eliminate Replicants (advanced robots that look human, but are superhuman in most ways), only the story takes a slight turn when he meets a replicant who doesnt know that shes not human. Great thought-provoking story, technology that would have been state-of-the-art at the time, and an ending that leaves you with a number of big questions.
My problem was being able to look past the technology, and Dolph Lungdren. The combination just reminded too much of a multitude of B-grade sci-fi movies from the late 80's.
Still a good movie though.


Princess Bride
Another movie that is supposed to be up there with the best - and I loved it.
Basically its a movie that, on the surface, could be just any old fairy-tale about true love, an evil prince who wants to marry the girl, and the adventures that her true love has to go through, involving pirates, magicians, giant rats, a number of sword fights, a "giant", and a, um, Sicillian.
But on top of all this, the movie was full of some great (and usually) classy humour. It was no Robin Hood: Men In Tights (they both star Cary Elwes) in terms of just pure stupidity, but it was a very funny movie.
And if anyone every comes up to you and repeatedly says:Hello. My name is Inigo Montoya. You killed my father prepare to die."- then trust me, they arent crazy (well, not entirely).

Monty Python and the Holy Grail
I have wierd relationship with Python. I loved Meaning of Life, and bits of the tv show - but when I saw Life of Brian, I completely hated it. I found none of it funny.
So getting this movie out was like a 2nd chance - but I really didnt have high hopes.
This movie has resurrected them in my eyes.
It was the most ridiculous thing I have ever watched - and yet I laughed all the way through it.
I loved how they completely ignored every single rule of movie-making: like inconcievable storylines and characters (like the Knight who keeps fighting, even though both arms and both legs have been chopped off... or the frenchmen who shoot Cows and chooks instead of cannons and arrows... or the killer bunny rabbit), stopping to talk to the audience... and even the ending that wasnt really an ending (which in most peoples eyes would have been a complete cop-out, but after 10 minutes thinking about it, I thought was a great way to finish the movie).

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Well, that is 7 memorable movies I have seen this summer.
I might add more to this post later.

What the bleep do we know

I just watched "What the Bleep do we know?" , a movie/documentary that tries to use quantum physics (although its mostly Neuroscience) to explain ourselves, the universe, and beyond.

I recommend that everybody watch it, but personally, I am not entirely sure what to think of it.

On the surface, it provides for a very deep, contemplative couple of hours, and just for that sole reason I think everyone should sit down and take it in.

And it definately breaks into new ways of 'scientific' thinking.
I wont try to explain it, but basically it comes down the point that your thoughts can change your reality on numerous levels.

But I guess where my dilemma lies is that it is somewhere in the junction of Science and Art (not that the two are by any means mutually exclusive).
As a piece of Art, I thought it was awesome.
As a piece of Science... well... I'd really have to find out more about quantum phsyics to comment on that.

Scrubs - Guy Love

I tried to post this video a couple of times before, but now Im gonna try a new way.

Girls - this is on behalf of guys everywhere:

move over Enya

The cd cover on the right is one that i've seen hundreds of times. Im not sure who actually owns it, but its the kind of CD that pops up all the time when people are running things like group reflections/meditations and at devotional gatherings and what not.

Well, while getting some other music off someone for a quiz - she kindly copied over a bunch of other stuff, that happened to include this album.

And so it sat on my iTunes playlist for about a week - where I subconsciously judged most of it (except "Dante's prayer") as "boring" worthy of an automatic next... but since then Ive been listening to all the songs a bit more.

And you know what - I dont care that she's almost 50 (I had to google that, I thought she was a lot younger) - but im loving this voice. (sorry - cant think of a better place to link than Amazon.com where all the "sample" are mostly instrumental - but Im sure half of you own the cd).

Seriously - it is just so relaxing, and promoting of reflection (??? cant think of what actual word to use)... me fail english - thats unpossible.

I think im gonna buy this next time I see it for sale.

more random photos

As I was posting that previous post, I was checking out some of the other random photos on my phone. (note: Phone - so thats why they are crappy quality, and also note that the people at O2 are complete jackasses, coz they chuck in a 2.0 megapixel camera, but dont give it the 'insulation'? required to cancel out the phones radiowaves (or something like that which a techno-buff told me recently... I have no desire to know these things)).
(I dont know whats so special about American Cheese, or why someone would advertise it on their remote control storage device, but I thought it was cool).

bring on the early morning starts

Look, I know giant beer mugs have been around for ages.
And I know giant novelty coffee mugs have too - but I finally got my first giant mug - a Starbucks "London" one (from my Uncle in Atlanta - go figure).

First thing to acknowledge before you look at that photo is that I do not have a small head. In fact, I dont know many people with a head bigger than mine - So i just reckon the mug is massive.

Finally I can start drinking the 600mL of real coffee that I probably need each morning. (not that Im addicted to the stuff, I went cold turkey for a few months this year - great way to clear the system).

Which one are you?

There are two types of people in the world:
Those that prefer Snatch, and
Those that prefer Lock, Stock & Two Smoking Barrels.
Which one are you?


For the record - I prefer Lock Stock (watched it again tonight).
Its not as funny, and doesnt quite have the same level of interesting characters - but it is just so much more clever, that I enjoy watching it more.
(and I have to admit that maybe its the whole "low budget" non-hollywood feel as well).

Socks & Clocks & aah shocks

Time for a multi-blog.

First up - I made my showbiz debut last night at musarts (a range of musical performances held at the Baha'i Center of Learning in Myaree)... playing a sock. Ok, i was just helping Sam in his "ventroliquism" as the MC. Kind of a shame that most people recognised my voice, but it was still a bit of fun.

Daylight Savings - I officially hate it.
All you easterners may have other ideas - but i have never seen a point to it. Why should the clock dictate your life? (Outside of work). We've never had any issues in not having daylight savings - why introduce it now?
Seriously - all it does it make me spend half an hour trying to change all the clocks in our house - and now I still have to do all the cars. And Im sure that a bunch of people would have turned them the wrong way - so whats the bet that for the next few weeks people are using Daylight Savings as their excuse for being 2 hours late.

And finally - shocks. (well, not really - but i couldnt think of another word that rhymes)
Its funny how med. gives you a different view on things.
Today I saw a license plate: "CIN 2" (sorry, i couldnt take a photo).
Surely it just meant "Cindy" or something - but to every med student out there - it means something completely different. (unless of course if she really was publicising the results of her most recent Pap Smear)

Whats your deepest fear?

I wasnt expecting this, but I heard a great quote in the movie Coach Carter.

Its basically at the climax of the movie - where a group of high school basketball players decide to stop all the crap and do the study needed to get into College, and its by one of the most troubled students.

Apparently this is from a poem by Marianne Williamson:

"Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate.
Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure.
It is our light, not our darkness, that most frightens us.
Your playing small does not serve the world.
There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won't feel insecure around you.
We are all meant to shine as children do.
It's not just in some of us; it is in everyone.
And as we let our own lights shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same.
As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others."