Get Amongst it, Lassie

I quite like this article on stuff about the soccer-girl who yanked down the other player by her ponytail. It's a nice media dissection of the responses.

I tend to agree that it's rather blown out of proportion, when you consider that the male equivalent might be a guy yanking another guy down by his shoulder. That would never make international news. It's just a part of soccer, which is a dirty, dirty game. It was a pretty rubbish thing to do, and it might have hurt a bit, but it was in the heat of the moment and it was done to try to get free, rather than to try and maim her.

I certainly wouldn't want to play against her since she seems to like elbowing people in the kidneys, but the few games of soccer I've watched all looked fairly brutal and it's a game where only the most blatant of fouls seem to get the ref's attention. This culture leads players towards getting away with as much as they can off the ball, or even on the ball. If you wanna make up a little high-light reel of all the times she took out players during the match, then it's more of a criticism of the ref than of her.

I wonder, with our rather 'butch' female culture, if this incident would've been as controversial if it had happened in NZ. I like to think we applaud our female athletes for being rough and tough. I guess we don't support them to the point of unsportsmanlike behaviour, but to be fair only two of the things she did on that clip were grossly beyond fair contention for the ball.

Shh - Maybe Nobody Saw

That leads me to the French saga. As I was saying to Michelle and Sam tonight, I'm not going to criticise the guy who got away with the hand-ball. That kinda thing happens in sport, and if the ref had called it he probably would've nodded and got on with the game.... but sometimes when it doesn't get called, you're kinda taken aback (especially when it's that blatant) and you go with it out of shock. It's the ref's job to call up infringements - there is no onus on players to always be honest (especially at that top level).

Ultimate Frisbee is the only sport where that happens.

Certainly in most sports, if the ref misses something, you're not going to go back and make him change his call. In basketball, if I made a game-winning defensive play, but knew that I'd fouled the player, there's no way I'd say, 'Excuse me ref - but I fouled her, give her some free-throws.' Doesn't work like that. You might just quietly say to the player, 'Tough break - I probably fouled you there,' at the most.

I guess there would be something very noble about having owned up to it, but you can't play 'what-if'. If he'd refused to take the goal, then some die-hard French fan who was pissed off that his country didn't make the World Cup might've fire-bombed his house or something. You can't please everybody, and you've only got a few seconds in which to make that judgement call.

I guess that's one of the nice things about cricket, the expectation of honesty when the ref messes up a call. It's quite a unique and gentlemanly honour-code. It would be a real test of character to see if a batsman would own up knicking the ball in an equivalent situation - say, the final over of a World Cup final, where his team had no wickets left and needed a few runs to win it.

But soccer sure ain't cricket. Apples and oranges.

I have sampled the TV show 'Glee'.

It has its funny moments. Not 'Big Bang Theory' hilarious, but mildly amusing. They usually occur when the evil ex-cop cheerleading coach is around.

My two biggest criticisms are
1) That the singing is so obviously computerised to be perfect pitch. It has those awful Cher-like mechanical trills in it. I'm not going to be impressed by that - but would be impressed by a real voice singing pretty well, albeit imperfectly.
2) After two episodes, it seems that every single show will have the line 'But we're not like them [the popular kids] - that's why we're in Glee club, where we can be ourselves' (said as one of them looks wistfully at a hot cheerleader or cool guy).

Play it again, Sam

I can't remember what it was called, but on Sunday nights there used to be that TV requests show, hosted by Jay Lagaia and sponsored by Minties.

I love how Youtube serves the same function now.

Here are two TV moments I looked up out of nostalgia....

The Cosby Show: Challenge!
The Critic: El Kabong!
Rip Tide: Intro!
Whiz Kids: Theme

At some point you realise....

[photo irrelevant to first part of post]

That nobody is perfect.

I have realised this about bosses (realised it about my parents years ago). Facades have crumbled all around me!

I have been at a workplace long enough to see a total change in management. There seem to be two types of people who have these jobs - the charismatic and decisive ones who don't follow through and like to pass the buck and the methodical but over-consulting ones who are afraid of taking firm stands on things.

While people heavily critique the current management for whatever flaw they have, as soon as they get replaced, the same people will miss them and wish the new ones had their strengths (forgetting about the weaknesses).

It's an interesting thing to observe.

I just try and do my job as autonomously as possible and remember that weaknesses are often complemented by strengths and vice versa.

For example, I am 'disorganised' (though I could explain the method to my madness - it's more of a 'just-in-time' production technique) but I also adapt well when things don't go to plan. If I find myself in a Mexican stand-off with another teacher at the door to a computer room we both thought we booked, I can handle backing away to Plan B, rather than watch the other anally-prepared teacher begin to self-implode in the uncertainty of the moment.

Anyhow.

People of my generation are starting to be these wonderfully flawed leaders. Crap.

* * *

I was with Cassie at Count Down in the Hutt, when I came across something cool.

A basket on wheels! It's a mini-trolley that is light and handles really well, taking up hardly any space in the aisles, yet holding enough groceries for a single-lady. It's the Formula 1 trolley of the supermarket.

They are, of course, designed for the elderly, but glaciers also like to lean on things whenever possible.

* * *

I found this website that works like a search engine, but for pictures....

I seem to often match up with Asian women (I think it's the fringe) and when I have my hair pulled back I'm a dead ring-in for an Indian man (evidently) and it sometimes confuses my hair for a helmet.

Here is Jon and his similar images (he matches up with male models, lucky bugger).

Luckily I had lots of photos of Jon lying around, him being a photo-hog and all.

* * *

I found this interesting.

I am part of a modern social phenomenon - 'Women's Creation of Camera Phone Culture'.

Preface

I've eaten my way through a box of Cadbury Favourites. I'd like to say I'd shared them, but 'share' is a word the single person does not have the luxury of using. And thus the vicious cycle continues...

Anyhow, I was quite disappointed. I don't really like the changes they've made. It's all very bland and pastel and mushy. Where's the hard raspberry caramel that gives you jaw-cramp? Where's the caramel barrel that bursts into your mouth with gooey runny goodness? And they've added Cherry Ripes. Any candy based product based on coconut seems like a rip-off to me. Coconut is what Mum would sprinkle on the top of perfectly good chocolate slice to make it seem 'grown-up'. Ptooey to coconut, says Kate.

I digress.

In my chocolate eating haze I have been cruising the internet in a leisurely fashion. Leisurely in that I have no more senior classes to teach. So I'm not having to look up new and interesting stuff on wrestling or the newspaper industry. I can be totally frivalous and have no agenda! Bliss.

You will also note my blogging output has a correlation to school workload. Less work = more blog. Blogging is thinking. It's trying to formulate an opinion on something, or retell an event, in a cohesive way. I find it therapeutic. Am I allowed to call it a hobby? Will the people who produce solid, practical things from their hobbies laugh at me? Can I call it a hobby if I actually never get any better at it?

Anyhow, to have time and mind energy to blog is a good thing.

What I Like

I accidentally caught the end of Jools Holland tonight. I have decided to make a point of flicking onto Rialto every now and then, since for about the past 6 months I've forgotten it exists (I tend to go up to 9, then cycle back down - my world is limited).

And there was a girl on there that I liked. She is Imelda May. I actually only really liked the second song she did (which is later in the clip at 3mins12secs). Jools accompanies her on piano. It's jazzylicious.

I also like Colin Hay. I have decided to seek out some actual albums from him. I stumbled across him when I was being a pirate and getting songs from the Garden State sound track. He's done a lot of work on Scrubs.

I came across this song, which is one of my favourite post-break-up songs ever. I just like the sentiment of it. I like this song too, which is a bit more upbeat (a bit).

I like the sound of his voice (I have a thing for gravelly, story-telling singers) and I like the acoustic sound, and I also really like the lyrics.

I used to sing this song to myself back when I used to play guitar (that has been on hold since my flatmates put in enough barbed comments to make me self-conscious about playing - I have lost my callouses).

I like tangible, specific lyrics. I hate hyperboles too generic to mean anything (=Celine Dion).

Beck's lyrics are like poetry. I can't quite figure out what it means, but it sounds nice how it's all put together.

Crushed apple cider buzz.

Surround sound of Gomez's 'Rosalita'.

Niiiiiice.

* * *

Sometimes I wonder if my parents did me a dis-service by being so damned nice to me while I was growing up.

I have a pretty thin skin for mean people. A very thin skin - like an eyelid. I have a thick skin for a lot of things. But for meanness, I have a low threshold.

It can be excused in teenagers, who are still building their empathy stores (and who, for the most part, try really hard to be thoughtful). I could do without passive-aggressive shite from grown-ups.

* * *

I am beginning to lose faith in my scales.

They have fluctuated about 5kg in the last week or so - and I'm sure my body hasn't. Not having trustworthy scales sends me into some kind of existential angst - I'm not sure just how guilty I should be feeling! I want irrefutable evidence!

* * *

When you're in a hospital visiting someone, it's really hard to not cough.

* * *

Summer is a frustrating time when you live in a flat with no good out-door area.

* * *

On some levels I can still really respect my brother. He never has any money for treats. So, we were at the supermarket getting dinner and I said, 'I'll get you some stuff if you want anything.' He pauses thoughtfully and says, 'No.'

Then I insist, and he says, 'Ok - I could get some noodles.' He gets two six-packs of Trident noodles. I woulda bought him a lot more. I then insist he gets a treat as well. He gets a cake of chocolate.

* * *

I wonder if John Key's popularity has peaked. People are starting to talk about how the 2nd year tends to start to show the cracks.

* * *

I want to be friends with Sheldon.

Christmas Songs in my Head

1. My Husky Voice

My colleague said I should have recorded a new voice-mail message while I had my sexy-voice (in the early stages).

Had laryngitis again for a couple of days. It's the best of all the cool sounding diseases to have - you get visible symptoms, but feel pretty good inside! Great for sympathy, yet you can easily soldier on and look like a martyr when you actually feel better than you would with a run-of-the-mill head-cold.

It's quite an occupational hazard for a teacher. I had to plan a day of lessons where I had no need to talk - videos and essays, baby.

From googling my symptoms I have deduced that it probably somehow spread down from my impacted wisdom tooth, which seemed to infect that side of my mouth and lymph nodes a few days earlier. Either a viral or bacterial infection (I'm not sure of the difference). This is a good thing, since it means it was only acute laryngitis, rather than chronic. Chronic laryngitis means you need to go to something called a speech pathologist.

I don't like the idea of having a dying voice.

2. Healing the World

I spent quality time with my family today. My dad's wife had back surgery (relatively minor this time, though it went wrong and they had to operate again a couple of days later to take out a wonky screw, which means she can make good jokes about having a screw loose now).

Dad took me and my brother to the Michael Jackson movie. I paid though - a monumental ocassion, given my dad recently retired and it evidently costs $60 for three people to go to the movies and have ice creams! Who knew? I am now the bread-winner of the family.

I had cringed when I heard that was what we were seeing. It made sense, given my brother was a massive fan back in his youth.... And the first few minutes of the film made me cringe, with back up dancers gushing is a really put-on sort of way about how this was the highlight of their life.

But after that it was quite good. There was no narrator (they didn't mention his death at all), so it was just these really raw clips that showed the behind-the-scenes of the lead-up to a concert. You got to see the dance rehearsals and the band rehearsals. And I'd never realised how good his voice actually was - he's not like these modern pop singers who have to lip synch when they're live. He really is a perfectionist, but in a professional way. I liked seeing all the tiny details that they sorted out - the timing of everything is so intricate.

And he moved pretty good for an old fella. Certainly didn't look like a guy about to go into cardiac arrest or anything. It was actually better than a film of the live concert would have been, in terms of Michael being more animated and natural.

I liked it.

Long may the Weekend Be

Note: My dad playing bongo drums in the background. 'Baby' the leopard stuffed toy - Ruby's favourite ('Isn't he beautiful?' she often says). My happy-face cupcake (we made them - I did all the hard stuff though).

My favourite interaction of the weekend:

Ruby (3 year old nibling): Is Dav....vin your husband?

Me: No, David is my brother - like Finn is your brother.

Ruby: So who's your husband?

Me: I don't have one.

Ruby: Why not?

Me: I'm too young.

Ruby: [disbelieving look - had she continued in this vein I would have insisted I was 11 years old, even if she cried tears of frustration]

We kept playing her free Happy Meal computer game after that (though she was rubbish at it - could only press one direction button - I was awesome).

* * *

Back to 80 friends. She reappeared magically. Phew.

Diwali

It was a little chilly for Diwali. We had to brace sleety rain as we zig-zagged our way through the somewhat unnecessary queue barriers.

To us whities' surprise and disappointment, I'm guessing, there was no butter chicken in the whole place! It seemed to be mostly vegetarian lentil concoctions in sauce with fried stuff. I got samosa, pakora and mango lassi.

The funniest bit was when there was an Indian hip-hop group performing. They were quite bad-ass cool, with a beat-boxer and rapper. When they finished they thanked the audience and said, 'Hang around for the puppeteers.' Hehe. I liked that juxtaposition.

The puppeteers had some questionable moves. Most of the puppets seemed to hump the floor at some stage, while writhing about. I liked that they came out at the end and the big fat guy with a moustache was introduced as the master puppeteer. Sounded like a Metallica song.....

I liked it when they got a bunch of audience people to dance to the song from Slumdog Millionaire. Tai Ho! If Michelle had been less fluey, I would have made her come volunteer with me (once I realised that the first 4 bars just involved clapping, and the next 4 stepping from left to right).

* * *

And a he he he. This is something my nana would do and the guy in the car is the definition of a douche-bag.

This week I got a shoe fixed, a picture framed and fixed the problem of my headlights not workign.

How very grown-up!

* * *

I am still having fun with my wrestling unit. This week we had a critical look at the entrance songs, the divas, the language used in interviews and the use of steriods in WWE.

It feels somewhat wrong showing them clips of women in lingerie and men saying 'candyass'..... so far nobody's parents have complained..... I thought showing the CNN doco on drug use to them might at least make it look intellectual on some level......

* * *

Three weeks to go. Fishy knows what I'm talking about.

A banged head goes donk.

A hit cricket ball goes tonk.

What goes bonk?

Above the Law?

For me the Roman Polanski saga is fairly clear-cut. He broke a law years ago and fled the country in order to get out of paying the time for his crime. That's deplorable. I don't know a lot of the finer details, but from the bones of the issue I don't see a lot of grey area.

That he's finally been caught and made to face up to it is a good thing, I think.

It sickens me a little to see the Film Community (so self-important than I think they need capital letters) getting behind him. They're even stating that it's wrong of the police to use an artistic event as an excuse to catch him - poor artistic famous people! How inconsiderate of the police. Art should be above law.

I think it's awful that he's been able to, in such a successful and high-profile way, flout the law for so long, continuing to be free and successful overseas.

I actually don't see how he can even argue the case - 'Yeah I raped a 13 year old, but I was smart enough to get out of the country.... so you should leave me alone! I'm famous! I am outraged that you ruined a party by arresting me! I'm furious that I thought this was a safe and dodgey country for me to go to and I was wrong!'

No sympathy from me. He drugged and raped a 13 year old. Even if it was 'consensual' and she mislead him about her age, he still needs to face the consequences. I'm not going to feel one ounce of sympathy for someone who reacts in the way he did. It's cowardly and self-important.

I don't really care if he gets any more jail time out of it. The principle is that it's a good thing that police co-operate around the world to make sure people can't just run away and thumb their nose like that. They need to go through due process.

I may sound rather militant here, but it's rape of a 13 year old, not speeding tickets. And his only argument seems to be '...but I'm famous! They'll pick on me! I just want to make movies!'

It's a pretty good signal of the morality of the whole thing that Woody Allen is among his chief supporters.

My Viewing Pleasure

1. District 9

I liked it. It was probably a fair guess at how we would really react in such a situation. We like guns.

I especially liked the sarcastic bit at the beginning saying '... and they didn't choose to stop over Chicago or Washington.... but over Johannesburg...' That's a first! Aliens almost always land over America. It reminds them of home.

2. The Mighty Boosh

I had heard rave reviews about this, without having any clue what it actually was. Seemed like a cult classic that I had to pick up when I saw it for $36 for the entire season.

I am undecided. Six episodes in. I don't dislike it.....

Another Era

Kyle is moving out.

He's finally nabbed a lawyering job, but the catch is that it's in New Plymoth.

I will miss his icecreams. He often comes home with four delicious Memphis Melt-downs and Magnums. He lets us girls pick our favourites, then he has whatever's left.

He has thwarted many a diet with his late night spontaneous ice-cream gifts.

Pet Peeve #4

.... when people ask you question like, 'Hey, what are you doing on Saturday morning?' and you think they're going to suggest doing something fun, so you say, 'Nothing at the moment....'

Then they ask you for a favour, which is something you probably don't actually want to do, let alone on Saturday morning.

It's a very passive-aggressive (or maybe aggressive-aggressive) way to ask for a favour.

And it's an anti-climax.

It's happened to me twice in the last week and it annoyed me both times. If you want something, why not ask straight up? I don't like being tricked!

I must remember to, in the future, answer such leading questions with 'Why?' rather than 'Nothing...'. Caginess has its place.

Poorly Me

I hate it when your stash of tissue runs out. I'd taken several to class today, but my constantly dripping nose had quickly used them up. There were only remnants of tissues, all shredded and damp.

I realised, when a child had put her hand up for help and I had wearily motioned her over, that I should perhaps put the scrappy pile of tissues in my pocket (rather than on the desk where she'd just put her work down for me to look at).

The word 'clammy' is sometimes perfect.

* * *

Watch Out

Why do we still wear watches? When you think about it they're kinda archaic - not a lot has changed about them over time. They're clunky and generally not a fashion statement. I know at work I have a clock in most rooms I go into, or I can have a computer on. Yet I feel naked without my watch.

And in public, you can have your cell-phone handy to check, but I still often like to have my watch on.

Not in the holidays though. Holidays is watch-free time. It's a symbolic change in my state of mind. No more clock-watching. A few minutes will not make the difference between kids packing up tidily and the bell going and them running off without putting things away.

I wonder how many times a day I glance at my watch.

* * *

Frustrating Blogger Account

Are any other blogger users having trouble copy and pasting into the editing page? The only way I have figured out to do it is go into the edit html bit, then paste, then go back into compose. It's a new phenomenon.

* * *

Teachin' 'em to be Rednecks

I am a wrestling expert. I have given two power points to my class on the history of WWE. They may now think I'm a freak, but I think I'm intellectualising it enough that I won't get phone calls of complaints from parents. I've brought in good trivia stuff like the Chris Benoit murders and Owen Hart's death, as well as showing them Hulk Hogan in his vitamin days versus him in his NWO days.

Today we looked at entrances, leading onto the gimme exam-answer of saying how music ties into the target audience. I started with getting them to think about gladiators (showed them the trailer for Gladiator) and how it was battle for entertainment then, and it was socially acceptable, yet real. Back then we had slaves we could kill off, but nowadays that is frowned up, so we have to just have actors do it.

Then we moved on to how we have brought elements of theatrics into sports, starting with the haka, moving onto the Chicago Bulls' elaborate intros of the '90s (yay for being able to bring another of my favourite childhood things into a lesson) and boxing and high school football matches.

We then watched a really great Undertaker entrance from some Wrestlemania.

Trying to show that in a way, in order to hook into that 12-34yr old male audience, both sports and wrestling have cross-overs. Some of the conventions are the same. It is important to see where those similarities start and finish, and why.

The Gall and the Gumption

The 'Interupting Kanye' meme amuses me. As it does many other people.

What is it about it that has engaged with so many people and united us in shared outrage and agastness?

1. It's Black. It's White.

A lot of people are secretly always looking for reasons to moan about the bad manners of rap and hip hoppers. Rascals. This interaction created a great clashing of the stereotpyes - angry, drunk black man vs pure young country-singing white girl. You can't get a better victim. She's like the virgin in a horror movie.


2. Awkward Silence.

If Taylor Swift had laughed or made some witty remark once she got the mic back, it would've gone down as a weird and wacky moment, but the look of shock on her face once her moment of glory had been stolen and her feeling of recognition ripped away.... that made it unfunny.


It's like the kid who's got an icecream cone .... only a big bully had come and knocked it right off the cone, picked it up and spat on it, then plopped it back and said, 'Here you go - enjoy!'


It's just mean. Bully.


Brain Can't Think Ahead. Shiny Things.


Anyhow, it was quite wrong. You can see that his head just said, 'Oh - Beyonce didn't win. She might be feeling bad - I expected her to win. I'mma go say that I thought her video was the best, so she doesn't feel bad' or something along those lines.


He wasn't thinking, 'I'mma go make that Taylor girl feel like crap and tell her she didn't deserve her award in front of millions of viewers'. The thought process didn't get that far. The alcohol (and whatever else) intervened.


But in no universe was that an even remotely ok thing to do.


Oh Yeah, I know who Taylor Swift Is


One good thing that comes out of it is that Taylor Swift is more of a house-hold name than she used to be. I am hip and with-it and knew who she was beforehand (I accidentally came across an E Channel special on her once), but now a lot of other people who usually avoid soft-pop-country songs with videos of princesses and castles know who she is.


Victory!


Too Good to be True - Ratings Gold!


I like that there are conspiracy theories going around about it being some kind of set-up to get media attention. This is feasible on some levels - award show ratings have been flagging in recent years and it's hard to change the formula and spice things up, when they're so prone to cliche and predictable gratuities. I doubt Taylor was in on it. She did a pretty good breathless and excited act before he came up.

John Key - not popular with Teenage Girls

My Media class was doing work on demographics today, so I had a bunch of general categories and they had to wander around the class getting quantitative data from each other.

Nobody opted to do 'Political Views', so I grabbed that one.

I asked:
1. What party would you vote for if there was an election now?
2. Do you know who the MP for the region you live in is?
3. Do you prefer Barrack Obama, John Key or neither?

The results surprised me. In a class of about 24 only one kid said she would vote for National (and her reasoning was, '... because I like blue.') and a few went for Green, one for the Pacific Island party (if there is one), a few had no opinion and the rest were for Labour, rather resoundingly.

Gives me hope for our country's future! The youth are smart.

Quite a few didn't know for sure who their MP was - they often knew the first name or thought it was Kerry Prendegast ('cause my dad's always talking about her').

And all but one preferred Barrack (that one lone girl thinks John's cute). That was not at all surprising.

I guess I teach in a district that is a Labour strong-hold of late (Rongotai/Central Wellington) and Media Studies kids tend to be a bit radical - the Young Nats are probably doing Accounting and Economics (proper subjects).

Anyhow..... it made me proud. Good kids! (Not that I told them that - my survey was totally unbiased and for audience profiling only.)

Is it wrong...

1. Ready and Willing

Today I turned up to class and there were 8 kids there, out of 24.

And then I noticed that one of those kids wasn't even in the class. That was a humorous moment.

I stared at her for a minute and then said, 'Why...?' though given my low numbers, I didn't want to turn anyone away at this point.

She replied, 'I'm Mary*,' and proceeded to do an impersonation of her friend (who was away and whose regular seat she was sitting in - the girl is known for flapping her hands when she talks).

Deadpan, I replied, 'Oh, I didn't recognise you for a second there,' and continued with the lesson.

Eventually the others realised we weren't in the computer room and turned up to the right class. We did some brainstorming on some topics they'd been working on for about a month (luckily the girl knew what topic Mary was doing and was able to get right on task with some good points).

Once she'd written about a page I was able to say, 'Wow - that's more work than Mary's actually done all term!' and her friends agreed.

Eventually we got onto some work that she wasn't able to do, at which point I suggested she leave, but to make sure she showed Mary her very useful brainstorm ideas.

She left happily.

2. And nobody likes plain crackers for lunch

I had a 500g massive container of cottage cheese in the fridge at work. It was not due to expire until September 23rd (the day of the wrestling trip and my brother's birthday).

I went to use it today and it had gone off with a rather rancid smell. I suspect sabotage.

I must consider who my enemies at work are....

3. Form Time

Form time today went something like this

Me: Nice shoes today. Where's the tie?

Me: Pink forms are due today - who's lost theirs and needs a new one?

Me: No eating. Cell phones away. Stop dancing.




*name changed for ethical reasons

On a Good Day

1. Pretty Stuff

The above photos are from 'He's Just Not that Into You'. It's up there with 'Love Actually' as a romance that I can watch more than once, possibly because it's got a fragmented narrative as well, but also because the characters have nice depth and the director leaves the viewer to fill in some gaps (I watched some commentary which made nice sense). This one's probably not quite as good, and maybe boys wouldn't like it as much either, but I'm looking forward to seeing the projects the screenwriters are working on at the moment.

For me the best moments probably involve Ben Afleck (when he's washing the dishes at the sink, it actually made me catch my breath, even the second time).
I liked the film, but really got it out on DVD just to look at the clothes and set dressing again. The interiors are yummy. I have mashed together some of the details I liked (Scarlett Johansen wore some gorgeous dresses as only she can, Jennifer Connelly had a great corporate wardrobe, the main chick had some great soft looks with puff sleeves and Jennifer Aniston's apartment was gorgeous and chic and arty).
2. Welly Welly Good

I think part of the survival skills for living in Wellington is having a short memory. A few days of spring weather and I'm already forgetting the miserably cold nights in uninsulated flats. I blame the 'You Can't Beat Wellington on a Good Day' campaign. Brain-washed.

Weirdly successful campaign, when you consider it was just a euphemistic look at how crap Wellington weather is most of the time. For a large percent of the year, the best word to describe our outlook is 'grey'. But geez, it really does make you appreciate those rare good days.

.... and Wellington is lovely today!

Today I put on shorts and jandals for the first time this season (leg-waxing was required) and last weekend we had a BBQ. Eating fish and salad for dinner has also put me in the spring mood, as has having daffodils in a vase.

I went with Cass for a walk along the Petone foreshore today. Glistening harbour view, dogs chasing sticks and shaking the sea-water out of their coats, gentle waves lapping up to a frightened puppy being coaxed into the water. The whole time Honey was panting and sending us obvious messages that said 'IwannaplayIwannaplaythrowmeastickIwannaplay'. It was all very still, other than the jetboat and dog-walkers, and unrushed.

I feel like wearing something bright green. Maybe with my new bird earrings. And walking through some tulips. And drinking a mojito in a garden bar.

I gave my banner a spring-make0ver. I was a bit sick of it looking like I was proud of having Dan Brown on my bookshelf (I'm really not).

3. Nana Night Media Reviews

It's funny watching an American cooking show that calls scones 'biscuits'. Buddy, you may be a fancy chef and you may cut them out with a fancy cookie-cutter, but at the end of the day they're just cheese scones.

If you ever watch the film 'Dot the I', do hang on until the ending. The first 3/4 is pretty average, but it all comes together nicely. Me and Carly both had moments that we'd independently thought were odd or badly done earlier on, and it turns out they were 'clues'.

I watched 'The Kiterunner' again last night. That Hassan kid melts your heart.