What's with today, today?

Of 'About the Looking for and Finding of Love', which is also reviewed on Pun's blog. It was funny because it was so over the top, it used cliches and the characters were kind of real, but not altogether sympathetic. But I dunno, German humour is really weird, or else I can't really get into things with unsympathetic characters. So it was bizarre, good, but not likely to become one of my favourites. I think for most of the first half it seemed lacking in, I dunno, sincerity? The mix of tragic and comic seemed somehow off to me, they weren't blended in the way that can be sublime. It was sad at the end though... I liked the bits that were sad best. The others I was unsure of. It made me doubt love. You know, there are all these grand tragic love stories, or ones with happy endings, and there is this romantic ideal of love, but in reality all you see are these relationships, full of bickering and stupidity and overall mundanity. Love seems to be like angst, if you are...

Well, what a sucky day it's been. At work, with horrible managers and making mistakes throughout. But now I look forward to it improving, as I'm about to head over to visit Sophie and Nagisa for dinner. Yay! As for reviews... The Deans Watch by Elizabeth Goudge. I really liked this book, it is very nice. Which sounds like damning it with faint praise, when that's not what I mean at all. The characters are not always nice, but they are generally believable, and they all have some good in them. It restores your faith in humanity. It also really emphasised to me the love of God, that is huge and everywhere, and what being Christian is really about. It restores your faith in God. Now, if you are not a Christian, I don't know whether you'll like this book, because the writer obviously is, and the book is suffused by it. Maybe this would annoy you. But it really shouldn't, because it is a beautiful little book. Written in 1960, set in the late 19th century, it is very...

Yesterday I had a day off. I also had a relatively new book to read. It had a good first page, and I was gripped by the line: "a galaxy of cream unribbons in my coffee cup". Mostly I liked the word 'unribbons', it is what milk or cream does in a coffee cup. I was slightly irritable after my fruitless attempt to track down a missed caller, and I had to buy a train ticket to Canberra. It was such a warm and sunny day, and after buying my ticket I had nothing really to do, and no-one was around, so I spent the day tripping through the city. I wondered. I was caught up in my book and randomly wondering the city, so basically it was an afternoon spent dipping in and out of reality. From Central station, wondered along through the park. The way to the city from the boarding house, when Nagisa, Lanny, Sophie and I would escape the boarding house for the afternoon for a quick visit to Chinatown. It always seemed different approaching from that direction, if you come straight ...

I decided to watch the dubbed version of Howl's Moving Castle tonight, just to compare it to the subtitles. But a I only got a few scenes in, then I couldn't handle it anymore and switched back to Japanese with subtitles. So to all of you anime watchers out there: you were right. Subtitles beat dubbed versions anyday. There are a couple of reasons for this. Firstly, the meaning changes. It's hard to tell how far this holds true when you have to rely on translated subtitles anyway, but I watched some in English with the subtitles on and compared. The gist was usually the same, but the sense was different. The dubbed version in places seemed to be trying to sound more hip and modern, which for me spoilt some of the innocent feel to the movie. Maybe 'cos I was brought up reading old fashioned kids books. But the language was borderline inappropriate some of the time. Well, for really young kids that is. Maybe for 4 year olds. The best example of the difference I can give i...

Look, I made a feature spot! I don't think it will always be a feature artist, I was just really liking the photos. Do check them out. Here's a sample for you. Or would be if the photo thingy wasn't so slow. Oh well, look them up anyhow. Here it is! I got it! This photo is by hotburrito2 , who was my feature artist. Other than that... I saw Brokeback Mountain today. It was real sad. Warning, there may be minor spoilers in the next paragraph, I don't know what I want to say yet. There was so much sadness in the movie, it left me with a feeling of melancholy. Which was not that bad, but I find it never pays to let these feelings linger. Anyway, I just came out of it thinking that I (and everybody else) am doomed. Because of love. As Vivian pointed out, love is pain, and so the songwriters and movie makers tell us as well. In the moments of happiness it caused me a pang of loneliness, in the moments of sadness I reflected that love always seems to bring pain with it. There...

That's right! My addiction is not getting any better... But go check out scary go round! It's been around since 2003, and I'm only up to September 2004. In some ways similar to Go Girly, but mostly not. They adventure! Yeah! Plus Shelley is kinda me. She's a "oveable, slightly annoying ingenue. Likes things that are fun... accident prone". And she's red-haired! Yeah! Check my sidebar for the link.

Last night Ang and I were watching a Studio Ghibli movie set in WWII Japan, in which the ghosts of two children looked back at their lives. Very sad, and a little spooky. About half-way through, all the lights went out, the t.v.turned off and generally there was a blackout. Looking out the window, you could see that almost the whole suburb was dark. There were a few lights away off on the other side of the city-west link on the left, but apart from that there were none to be seen anywhere, apart from a glow in the sky from the city lights. We lit candles, and I thought it would be a good idea to go for a walk to see the suburb without lights and how far the blackout had gone. I walked out the front door holding a candle, into the windy night, and held it up in the wind to blow it out. But it kept burning, because of the structure of the candle, and it looked eerie- a glowing candle in the monochromatic street. So Ang and I walked around the block, but hurried back because of the whinin...

From my little black book. Sign outside Branxton: "Drive carefully, we have two cemetaries, no hospital" Tombstone, Tilba cemetary: "Whiffo gone fishing A free spirited man who is forever in our hearts" "Heinz tomato ketchup makes food taste KETCHUPPY" - tomato sauce bottle "I was just wondering how I ever could have laughed at you" "I hope you'll always laugh at me" The Day Will Dawn, cheesy movie from 1942 "Each man kills the thing he loves" The Ballad of Reading Gaol, Oscar Wilde Ad outside Japanese restaurant in Sydney city "Sexy chicken on rice" "I don't own a house or a car, all I have is a borrowed tv, but that's what you get when you take off and travel." Random bus stop conversation “She had a voice with hormones” ‘A Woman’s Secret’, 1949 movie “Oolong Imperial: A work of tea art” Tea rooms in the city “The burdens and the joys of being chosen to be more than a flu...