What's with today, today?

Belatedly. If you didn't get anything, or you feel all alone, don't worry, I love you. And I got you this (picture of a) flower. Feel the love, the love is in the air, and all around, and so on and so forth... I like being in love. :)

In the spirit of 'the year in review' (albeit a little late) here is my list of books I finished in 2006 for the first time. I'm just too lazy to think of an actual post, that's right... Although I've given you short reviews of most of these. So if you're stuck on what to read in 2007, maybe this will help. * for my pick of the year, the best of the best. There are a whole lot of new favourites on this list but the red star goes for the 5 star books, not just the 4 1/2 star ones. So enjoy, those of you who actually read this whole list :p Les Miserables- Victor Hugo Epically huge, but very classic and awesome. Many digressions, but Gavroche is the best. Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell- Susanna Clark Original fantasy with flair and a sense of humour. The Big Over Easy- Jasper Fforde 44 Scotland Street- Alexander McCall Smith Light and engaging. The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency- Alexander McCall Smith Like Water for Chocolate- Laura Esquivel Overly melodrama...

I know this is very late, but happy new year all the same! I spent my New Years Eve watching fireworks in Balmain, and then left almost straight away afterwards because I was so tired after LOTR :( What did you do with your New Years? This is another short blog post because it's late and I'm tired once again, also I am lazy. I will try to do better in the future :) Am in Cnaberra at the moment, but off to the South Coast tomorrow. Family fun!

addictive, very addictive. So, guess what I've been doing with my time? Spending alot of it on the internet is the right answer here. It's been a while since I had the time an internet access to get addicted, rather than hurrying through my mail and blogs and occasionally checking my web comics, and I am enjoying it. So here are some tidbits to share with you all. A christmassy game ! This is very cute, it has jumping bunnies and bells. The main site also has a game where you have to be santa delivering presents. A holiday calender ! Which is mean and nasty, in a fun way. Overheard in New York , which is an old site that I posted up on spampage but just rediscovered, and the usual webcomics, some of which I have links to on this blog. Oh, and Alex and Alan have a new blog ! Which I will put up a link to as well. Other than that, I will give a short description for Pun of some of the cooking that's been happening... Sylvia made lavender ice-cream from her mediterranean cook ...

I haven't been spending much time around computers with internet access, being either at home or at work. Which is probably not true. But near enough. Well I'm sure you're all on the edge of your seats as to whether I did actually get around to enjoying my day last Monday, and the answer is yes, yes I did. Andrew and I went and saw Children of Men, with one free movie ticket. What an awesome movie! Really, I recommend it to anyone who hasn't seen it yet. If it's still out. If not, get it on DVD. Anyway, that kept me on the edge of my seat with the suspense and all. It was very real, but a good fictional story. Well made too, with the camerawork and the characters you cared about and all. It was absorbing, and I couldn't look away, and I was freaked out alot and they created this really believable world (which was kinda scary). This is not the best review, but the point I wanted to make was it that it's a good movie. And I think I've done that. The rest o...

So afraid In the spin of the world To fall into another's arms So hold me up Just hold me up And I'll be fine In just a little while I'll stand alone In a little while. The night is dark But I don't want to live By someone else's light So shine softly Guide me gently And I'll walk straight Until I shine In a minute I will shine. If I lose myself Where are we? So I don't need you Just stay here One minute more. I'm better off alone But stay A little longer In a minute I'll be fine.

What a creepy series of comics these do be. (Or graphic novels, whatever you prefer) I think that Neil Gaiman has a very twisted mind. But intriguing at the same time. I mean, he writes some good stories, particularly in comic book form. I think most of his novels seem a little unfinished somehow when you read them. Or the ones I've read anyway. There are some really great ideas though. 'Neverwhere' had a great premise, for example, based in a subterranean world below London, half real but mostly fantastical, populated by the disspossed and the forgotten of the past, present and myth. But I felt dissatisfied with it in the end. Ultimately it didn't feel whole, as though he'd left bits out, and I don't know how well he communicated the setting. As for the story, it was confusing, and I don't remember it all that well now, which must tell you something, right? I only read it at the end of last year. Not that my memory for details is very good... but my point i...

I had alot of time to kill on the bus trip back from Canberra, and so I was reading through my English textbook (The Norton Anthology of Poetry, 5th edition, so not too bad at all)for about three hours. This is just so that you understand the cotext in which I came up with the idea for this post. Why do people always associate poetry with rhyme? It doesn't have to be the case. And I think that most people would know that alot of poetry doens't rhyme, or is at least not in rhyming couplets. This is not even a new idea. It's not just these new-fangled poets who dispense with tradition and so rhyme. Old English poetry doesn't rhyme, it alliterates instead. Shakespeare often wrote in blank verse which means NO RHYMING. Robert Browning doesn't always write in rhyme. In short, poetry doesn't necessarily equal rhyme even before the 21st century. Now, I have to confess that I am a bit biased in this as I always thought that rhyming couplets tend to sound silly. And abab...

by Augie March, I love that song! Sadly I listened to the album yesterday and decided it wasn't worth it, but that one song, man, I really like it. Not sure why but there you go, when was love meant to be logical? Actually I think the song talks about that... So there you go. Now my CD wishlist includes: Fallout Boy- From Under the Cork Tree Blanche- If You Can't Trust the Doctors Triple J Hottest 100 Volume 5 and possibly Live- Throwing Copper. Because all of these are good. Well, at least partially. You see I really feel like buying a new cd at the moment, but then you have to justify the expense and there's no reason really and I haven't even been listening much to the CDs I already have. So I'm just making lists in my mind... And waiting for the new Bright Eyes album to come out. Well, first I have to wait for them to record a new album, so it might be some time, but still I'm excited.

Now I want to say something that may stir up controversy but probably won't, knowing the readership of this blog, the general irrelevance to anything whatsoever and the fact that it is clearly and blatantly just my opinion against a world which is against me. But I want it to be known that I think that Chaucer is greater than Shakespeare. Yes indeedy. He wrote with wit and great characterization, he wrote huge amounts of stuff, and unlike Shakespeare his works are actually interesting to read all these years on, EVEN THOUGH Middle English is even harder to understand than Shakespeare. Not that Shakespeare is not good, but I think he's overhyped. Shakespeare is not the greatest thing since sliced bread, given the choice between Hamlet and being easily able to make a slice of toast I will go with the toast any day. Not a problem with Chaucer, whio although admired is alot less overhyped, although I may be going some way to tipping the balance here I think that in the scheme of th...

As those of you who have not been living under rocks will realise, the Football World Cup is on again. Started on Friday. And I have been hanging around whining because of my lack of SBS reception. Well today I caved and bought a digital set top box, the only problem being that the decent cheap ones were all sold out (apparently) because of the World Cup, and I felt I could only justify buying a dodgy cheap one. Which, alas, turned out to be incapable of picking up SBS. I'll have to return it tomorrow. Anyway, my hopes were all dashed, and were dashed even further when someone at church said that if I had no SBS reception at all (which I don't) a digital box won't fix the problem. I'm not sure if it's true, but if so then it is very, very sad. On the plus side, I managed to see most of the Serbia and Montenegro vs. Netherlands match tonight, by dint of being out with a group of people from church. It was in an RSL club, there were many tv screens, and some people w...

The sequel to '44 Scotland Street' by Alexander McCall Smith (author of the well-known 'No. 1 Ladie's Detective Agency' series). It is really a collection of stories based around a collection of characters, set in Edinburgh and centering on 44 Scotland St. They were both enjoyable books, nothing particularly momentous happens, relationships change, small but life-changing things occur, it is lightly humourous and mildly philosophical. Some of the characters, such as the central character, Pat, the gallery owner Matt, the coffee shop owner Big Lou and Bertie, a six year old boy, are quite likeable. Others, such as the narcisistic Bruce and pushy mother Irene are much less so. It's an effective mix. But there are problems. The sage Domenica, neighbour and friend to Pat, began to really irritate me about halfway through the book, through always being 'right', or apparently so, but since I didn't always agree with her it grated. Also she didn't let a...

So I'm sitting here in the library, and it's rainy and cold outside but soon I'll have to leave and go to work, and I have Norah Jones stuck in my head (hence the title of this post). But I am happy, because I have a new yellow umbrella! I love yellow umbrellas, they cheer me up when it is grey and wet outside. Also I saw friends today, which is always nice. On the downside, I have to work tonight. Yeah, it's pretty darn tragic I know. Nice weekend, with new pyjamas and Bollywood movies and library visiting. I'm reading 'Espresso Tales' now, the sequel to '44 Scotland Street' by Alexander McCall Smith, which is kind of nice and kind of annoying, but I'll try to write a review of that when I finish.

Today someone came into my work wearing a Scary Go Round t-shirt! I was so excited. It's nice to recognise a shared interest in someone, like feeling affinity with people reading Terry Pratchett on the train. Even more so with SGR, because a webcomic is a little more obscure. And I always wanted to buy something from there. Anyway, that just made my day. Apart from that, winter is making me a little morbid, bitter and cynical. Which is not a nice thing. Remind me of nice things in the world? Other than webcomics. And the killer sunset that I saw at the bus stop this afternoon. I am also looking forward to going back to uni next semester. :)

My 'word cloud'. They seem to be all the rage lately. For your own, go to: http://www.snapshirts.com/index.php. I think mine is pretty cool. I also like the way that my name turned up in everybody's. I'm so cool! Also I won an argument at work the other day. Pretty cool no? First I have to say that there are quite alot of Indian guys who work with me. Secondly that we were listening to one of their ipods, and I was flicking through the songs and I recognised 'Chunari Chunari', so I put it on. And to show off my knowledge remarked that it came from the movie Monsoon Wedding. Instantly I had three Indian guys all arguing that this was a lie. Which was confusing, but I knew it was from that movie (I have seen it many times). One of them kept saying that all Indian movie songs might sound kind of the same, but this song was definitely not in Monsoon Wedding. BUT I WON! Cos in the end one of the guys conceeded that it was in the movie, in the scene where they are re...

Summer creeps up in flat midnights. All around buildings lie heaped in tatters Across the street a silent singer, Moonshine and tree rattle. The lonely groaning of ibises in rain Bus driver on phone Cackles privately Sweat drips down the backs of knees To tickle our ankles I know it now, that some men kill to save and to destroy Fine filigree twigs against the liquid sky, Brittle being in the immutable immortal. Beauty is truth, truth beauty. Imagination is sublime. So I don’t need you. Just stay here A minute more I’m better off alone But stay A little longer- In a minute I’ll be fine. The forgetful splendour of lazy afternoons Lovers lie rumpled on the grass Courting pigeons Red flowers in bloom A tree’s bare branches against the bright blue sky

I've been feeling kinda sick lately, all flu-y and the like, so have been unable to think of anything to post... Anyone with hotmail and the 'Windows LiveMail' beta? It's currently getting on my nerves a bit, because they promised that there would be mesage viewing windows on the side of the screen, and either there aren't or mine's not working, and, worst of all, there is no button for to jump from message to message, I have to go back to my inbox every time to open the next email. Drives me crazy! Also I think they could have made it easier to give feedback, I mean, it's a beta, that means feedback is good, right? But I did manage to do that today, so that's o.k. Oh well, it has good features, if they iron out the problems I'm sure it will be good. I've been watching a alot of 'Buffy' lately. Mostly season 2. That was a good season, unmarred by Faith (not so bad, but I didn't like her much), Riley (more irritating, I kept thinking s...

Well is it to him who seeks grace, consolation from the Father in the heavens. A couple of lines from 'The Wanderer', roughly translated. It came to mind this morning at the church service in memory of the old church building. I say old, it was current so recently... One of the good things has been that we were doing a series on Genesis, and the life of Joseph (of technicolor dreamcoat fame), and how God has a plan even through things that seemto be working for the worst. Which seems appropriate. Also the Great Hall (which is where we were today) has a painting of Joseph's reconciliation with his brothers in it. Anyway it all fits together quite nicely. It was a good service, there were tears and rejoicing. There was organ music, and we had 'How Deep the Father's Love', which is a hymn I love. People remembered the church. My mother was there, she went to Barneys when she was uni. Apparently I was (probably) baptised there. I didn't know that, but there you ...

Last night my church, St Barnabas, was burnt down. I couldn't believe it when I first heard it, that just doesn't happen, right? Buildings don't disappear overnight. Anyway, the first things I thought were: where will we go? How is the minister dealing with this right now? We just had the pews replaced with comfy chairs, it was minorly epic because of the possibility that the pews were heritage listed. The building is heritage listed. I was there just last night. Those old plaques on the wall, the ones that commemorate the lives of past members of the church, the stained glass windows, all these testaments to lives lived for God, are gone. It kind of feels as if someone has died. I watched the early morning news shows, to see if they could shed any light on this. It's always frustrating watching the news for information about a particular thing. You have to sit through 'how to save money in the new budget' and reports on how the miners are alive, well, and above...

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...