Tuesday, February 27, 2007

Sigh...


Some day, when I get my shit together, I'm gonna look just like Halle Berry.
Some day...
Well, not "just like" her, but maybe something like her if the person looking at me is cross-eyed, high, drunk and in another room altogether. Yeah... That'll do it!
:-/

Monday, February 26, 2007

And the Oscar goes to...


Here they are eveyone! Hot off the presses. They've barely ended their speeches and the winner's list is out on the web!
So what do you think? Did this lot deserve that gold statuette?

Best Picture: "The Departed"
Best Director: Martin Scorsese, "The Departed"
Best Actor: Forest Whitaker, "Last King of Scotland"
Best Actress: Helen Mirren, "The Queen"
Best Film Editing: Thelma Schoonmaker, "The Departed"
Best Song: "I Need to Wake Up," "An Inconvenient Truth"
Best Original Screenplay: "Little Miss Sunshine"
Best Original Score: "Babel"
Best Documentary: "An Inconvenient Truth"
Best Documentary Short: "The Blood of Yingzhou District"
Best Supporting Actress: Jennifer Hudson, "Dreamgirls"
Best Foreign-Language Film: "The Lives of Others"
Best Visuals Effects: "Pirates of the Caribbean 2"
Best Cinematography: "Pan's Labyrinth"
Best Costume Design: "Marie Antoinette"
Best Adapted Screenplay: "The Departed"
Best Animated Feature: "Happy Feet"
Best Supporting Actor: Alan Arkin, "Little Miss Sunshine"
Best Sound Mixing: "Dreamgirls"
Best Sound Editing: "Letters from Iwo Jima"
Best Live Action Short: "West Bank Story"
Best Animated Short: "The Danish Poet"
Best Makeup: "Pan's Labyrinth"
Best Art Direction: "Pan's Labyrinth"

My thoughts?
I've just watched The Queen this weekend and DAMN, Helen Mirrin was AWESOME! She really had it down, and she really captured the general feeling about the royals in the UK (amongst the British themselves) right now. They HATE the fact that the royal family get to live in the lap of luxury, but at the same time, eveyone gets a tear in their eye when they hear God Save The Queen. The royal family is a very big part of British identity and as much as they hate them today!
I'm off to see The Last King of Scotland next weekend. My brother has just checked it out and he says it's PHENOMENAL. I saw the making last night and Forest Whitaker said some very interesting stuff about how conscious he was (throughout the filming) of the fact that Idi, although a total a/hole, was also the last big African dictator that the racist West could demonise. A lot of what the public around the world actuall read was big time propaganda. Don't get me wrong... We KNOW about the eveil stuff that went down, for SURE! But Forest was saying that he didn't want to show just a one dimensional character, but one that the people actually voted into power in the first place. Interesting...
I'm don't know how I feel about Jennifer Hudson getting the gold for Dreamgirls... I've heard that her performance was very cool and she gave it her all. But I don't know what it is about HER that I don't like...
I'm glad Marie Antoinette got it for best costume. Jeez, they deserved it!
And it's about time Martin Scorcese got an oscar. He was a GREAT fish in Shark Tale, heh heh heh...
I'll leave it there.

Wednesday, February 21, 2007

I blinked and missed Christmas.


... And now we're already into Lent!
When I was younger and surviving on carrot sticks and black tea, it was easy to give up just about everything as my fast / sacrifice over the ±40days. (I used to consume nothing but fruit, veg and dairy.) But now... Let's just say, I LIVE for that scotch&soda on a friday! I thrive from one steak in red wine sauce to the next! I've been spoiled by the good life... So now it's harder to give it all up. I guess that means my fast is even more important to me now. I understand now. So here's what I'm giving up this year:
1. Booze
2. Red meat
3. Any junk food / "luxuries" (chocolate, soda, chips, etc)
But... Enough of that! The left hand is not surposed to know what the right hand is doing, blah blah blah...
So! To all my Catholic friends, I wish you a wonderfully profound, sincere and sacred Lent. I hope we use the time to reflect and meditate, and I hope we each discover something special and meaningful through it all.

God bless.

Monday, February 19, 2007

Wow! What a crazy couple of weeks it's been!!



... And thanks for bearing with me during this blogging dry-spell!
I've been busy jorling. Tee hee!
It all started with the first ever get-together of our brand new book club on Wednesday, 7th February at Elements, The Beverly Hills Hotel (Umhlanga). It was awesome getting together with such amazing and amazingly different women. Talking, drinking (Mojito's... Yikes!), eating (Cape Salmon) and being inspired by the many different things we've all been up to! We're all travelers, readers, creatives and FABULOUS! I'll be posting a book review soon with the very first book I've taken out. Watch this space.
THEN I went on a cruise with my family to the Portuguese Islands, on board the MSC Melody. What an unforgettable trip!
I’m waiting for my pics to be developed and to get a bluetooth adapter so that I can link my cell-camera to my laptop, so I can download the pics I’ve taken... There’ll be a cocktail-by-cocktail account of all my antics soon. Watch that space too!
And it all culminated in the very best Valentine’s Day ever! No... I haven’t met my dream man and fallen madly in love. My mom and dad were my Valentine’s this year, preparing an unforgettable chinese dinner for my Valentine-less brother and me. The day started with me finding a rose on my desk from my “secret admirer”. I know it’s probably from the guys at work... But it still made me smile! I know it’s kinda goofy, but it was quite sweet spending the day speculating over who it could be or rather, making up some fantastic Mr Perfect who happened to spot me from across a crowded mall, followed me to my office and secretly left me a single red rose... Hot! I then made my way home to be greeted at the door with cocktails served up by my mom and dad. They lead us through to the diningroom, where they had set the table in red and white, and placed chocolates all over the place. My mom had cooked her killer stir-fry. Dad was in charge of drinks and serving up the dessert. What a great evening. Let me tell you, no guy has ever made that kind of effort for me, so I felt really really special. Thanks mom and dad. You guys are the best!