Quitting in style

Did you hear about the JetBlue flight attendant's dramatic exit? Fantastic. (except for the fact he may end up in jail...but maybe the chance to pull the emergency slide was worth it)

And now this story about a girl who quits her job via messages on a dry erase board that she emails to the office. I'm pretty sure it's fake (the girl looks WAY too much like one of those beautiful models who don a ponytail and glasses so they can play a misfit in a high school movie), but it's still pretty entertaining.

Links!

Some have you may remember the fascination I developed last year for the juggalos. Well, it hasn't faded. The infomerical for this year's "Gathering" is out and is as absurd as ever. Coolio and Gallagher at the same festival? Snap. And check out this news- juggalo culture has spread to Australia- I swear, I'm not responsible! (thanks for the link, Cupcake)

And now for something entirely different:

A travel article from the NYT about a guy traveling in Nicaragua with his parents. (thanks, Dan)

Concert Review: Band of Horses

I've been a fan of the band Band of Horses ever since I heard their first album, Everything All The Time, but I had never seen them live. Last night, I saw them play at the Palace Theater in Melbourne, and they were fantastic! The guitars sounded great, and I was really impressed by the vocals of frontman Ben Bridwell. He smoked a few cigarettes during the show- I guess you can break the rules when you're a rock star, but I'm surprised it hasn't ruined his voice, which is high and clear and sounds exactly like it does on the recordings. They seemed relaxed and happy on stage and bantered a bit with the crowd. They played a long set that featured mostly songs from their first album, including The Funeral, which rose to popularity partly because of this video. I liked the venue as well- there are a couple of balconies and the whole building is tiered in a way so that you pretty much always have a good view without blocking anyone behind you. Unfortunately, I forgot my camera so I don't have any blurry concert photos to post. In closing, if you like Band of Horses and get a chance to see them live, they're definitely worth seeing!

Weekend Report

I had a busy weekend in Melbourne, which included the following activities:

I went to see Tim Burton: The Exhibition, which has traveled to Melbourne from MoMA in New York. The exhibition featured a plethora of delightfully creepy drawings....and one Batmobile!

Checked out the State Library as part of Melbourne Open House. We went to see the normally closed Queen's Hall but were far more impressed with the massive reading room.

Made fresh margaritas from squeezed limes! Apparently margarita mix doesn't exist in Australia, so I resorted to the do-it-yourself method. They were really easy to make and quite tasty but a bit on the dangerous side. The margaritas were followed by a soccer club fundraiser at a Brazilian restaurant- it was one of those cheesy dinner show places, but the food was good (meat on giant stakes, oh boy!) and we all good time (the margaritas probably helped with that). I ate a chicken heart. And since D won a dinner for 4 in the raffle, it looks like we'll be back.

Aggressive agressive notes?

Someone, angered by the state of my building's rubbish room, decided to share their concerns by writing them on the door in permanent marker. It makes me laugh every time I see it. And when I'm done laughing, I throw my trash all over the floor. (just kidding)

I'd consider sending it in to Passive Aggressive Notes, but it doesn't seem very passive, does it?

Movie review: The Secret in Their Eyes

I just saw The Secret in Their Eyes (El Secreto de Sus Ojos), which won last year's Oscar for Best Foreign Film. I had high expectations, as I love a good crime drama, and anything that's been described as "a really long, really awesome episode of Law & Order set in Buenos Aires" is bound to be my kind of movie. I was not disappointed. Benjamin Esposito is a retired legal attorney who decides to write a novel based upon the one case he never got out of his head, the brutal rape and murder of a young woman, in which the political corruption of the times (the mid 1970s) interfered with justice. He is not the only one haunted by the case, and soon he reconnects with his former colleague and unrequited love, as well as the victim's still grieving husband. I don't really need to say anything more, but if you are at all intrigued, I strongly recommend that you see the movie- a captivating story, great characters, excellent acting, and enough plot twists to keep viewers intrigued for a full two hours, especially the one at the end (yikes!).

Adventures in Strange Fruit

I went to the market on Saturday and saw an unusual fruit for sale at several stands- the custard apple. First of all, terrible name choice. From the outside, they don't look at all like apples, and if anything, resemble puffy artichokes. On the inside, custard apples have white flesh with big black seeds. They don't taste like apples either- the one I had was slightly underripe (I think) as the firmer sections were a little tough and bland, but the mushier parts were quite pleasant- fruity with a slight tartness. So I imagine that the custard part of the name is probably apt, as it seems you're supposed to eat them when they're squishy.

And don't worry, strange fruit fans, the durian is still next on my list.


As a bonus- here's a simple and delicious recipe for oven baked chicken parmesan. I made it the other night with garlic bread and a salad- so good!!

Links!

Animal hijinx in the news:

Woman who fears monkeys attacked by...monkeys. (thanks, Ry!)

Drunk Australian injured in an attempt to ride a crocodile.

Penelope Cruz and Javier Bardem got married- I had no idea they were dating (I can't believe they didn't tell me!) but it makes sense: they're both from Spain, incredibly talented (both have won Oscars), and very very very good looking (not counting Bardem's unfortunate haircut in No Country for Old Men). For movie recommendations, Bardem was fantastic in The Sea Inside and I loved Penelope in Volver.

Lastly, just when I thought that the splendors of the internet had all been revealed to me, I stumbled across this (incredibly extensive) collection of photos of people with slide rules. Enjoy!

Reviews: one book and one movie

The Book:
So, Oscar Wilde is like, super famous and stuff, but I've never actually read anything by him, until I picked up a copy of The Picture of Dorian Gray. As an aside, how much do I love Penguin Books? A lot. At least here in Australia, they've greatly expanded their line of cheapo orange and white paperbacks, which comes in handy because regular paperbacks go for like $30 down under. At the beginning of The Picture of Dorian Gray, we meet the three main characters- Basil, a mild-mannered artist, has become enthralled/obsessed with a young, handsome man named Dorian Gray, whom serves as something of a muse to him- gay subtext much? Basil's friend Lord Henry is a natural mischief maker who likes nothing more than stirring up controversy at dinner parties, and upon seeing Basil's portrait of Dorian, Lord Henry blathers on of the fleeting power of innocence and beauty. Dorian makes a wish for the portrait to grow old, rather than him, and it comes true, and the story turns into a gentlemanly horror tale. In spite of a few tedious sections, I did enjoy the book, and found Lord Henry particularly entertaining- full of quotes like this: "To get back my youth I would do anything in the world, except take exercise, get up early, or be respectable."

The movie:
The Cove, is a 2009 documentary about the killing of dolphins in the small Japanese fishing town of Taiji. Considering that I eat meat and have "sacrificed" rodents in the name of science, I may be somewhat of a hypocrite for siding with the filmmakers, but overall, it's a very informative, powerful, and well-filmed documentary. Ric O'Barry, who captured trained the dolphins for the tv show Flipper, eventually determined that dolphins suffer in captivity and has spent the majority of his life as an activist working on their behalf- protesting their capture and risking arrest to free them. The majority of captive dolphins come from a coastal village in Japan, where they are herded into shore and netted- however, only a small percentage are sold live, and the rest are brutally slaughtered in a hidden and heavily guarded cove. O'Barry and a team of activists and filmmakers (and free divers) aim to plant cameras and capture the slaughter in action, hoping that video proof of the killings will help put an end to the practice. In addition, the film also devotes time to the political aspects of whaling, painting the Japanese government as the clear villain and the International Whaling Commission as imbeciles for refusing to regulate dolphins and other small cetaceans (word of the day!). The Cove is certainly not a cheerful movie, but it is an interesting and effective one.

Giant microbes!

I learned of Giant Microbes, a company that makes stuffed animal versions of viruses, bacteria, and other microorganisms several years ago, but I was pleased to discover last week that they have greatly expanded their catalogue. I even found two of the bacteria I work with- Streptococcus pneumoniae and Staphylococcus aureus. So of course I bought them. I was tempted to buy Neisseria gonorrhoeae and mail it to someone as a gag gift, but I managed to restrain myself.

Weekend in Sydney

I had a great weekend with Kris, Rodd, and Dean in Sydney- the weather is still fairly cool, but at least the sun was shining. We arrived Friday afternoon and spent most of that time wandering around and bar hopping in the Chippendale (heh) and Glebe neighborhoods. Saturday, we went to a local food market for breakfast and then flew kites at Sydney Park, which is built on top of a former brickworks. Well, one of the kites flew quite readily whereas the other one seemed to prefer crashing itself into the ground. Saturday night, we ate dinner at the delicious thai restaurant Spice I Am- where we saw a contestant from Masterchef Australia, a super popular cooking reality show. Later that night, D and I went to a joint Canada Day/4th of July party.

On Sunday morning, Kris and I went for a 7K run through the city, which made me feel a lot less guilty about the pig-out that ensued. We had lunch for the 4th of July at the Blue Plate Bar & Grill, an American restaurant with offerings such as Chicago deep dish pizza and Philly cheese steaks on the menu. And they even serve Sam Adams! (I had one.) We ordered three appetizers (hey, don't judge- it's not every day you can find buffalo wings and potato skins down here) and I had the gumbo for lunch. The whole meal was quite enjoyable.




My conference began last night- highlights included a seminar from a nobel prize winner, the society president announcing my name as Elaine when he handed out my travel award, and a lady who touched my face because she thought my black eye was smudged makeup.

In other weekend news, the four of us are now officially hooked on True Blood, because nobody does vampire smut quite like HBO.

4th of July

Last year, I spend the 4th of July frolicking in Newport and staging murder scenes at the polo grounds. (What?) This year, I'll be attending the Australian Society for Microbiology's annual meeting in Sydney, where my black eye and I will be giving a talk on Tuesday. The fun part is that I'm heading up a couple days early to hang out with Kris and Rodd, and D is coming along to meet my friends. Kristy's made us reservations at an American-themed restaurant (not McDonald's) for the 4th, and it Looks delicious! Nachos and wings and po' boys, oh my.

Have a great holiday weekend, everyone!

The week in pictures

Australia got a new Prime Minister, and the first female to hold the position- congratulations to Julia Gillard. I'm still a bit baffled by the fact that here in Australia, you can get a new prime minister without an election or a coup. Although it doesn't happen very often, elected members of the ruling party can change their leader, and the thinking behind this move is that the former PM Kevin Rudd's popularity had sunken so low that the party deemed it best to replace him prior to the upcoming election, which isn't technically scheduled yet but will happen by the end of this year. Parliamentary system of government, you are bananas.

In unrelated news, I knocked heads with another girl going up for a header in Sunday's soccer game and am now sporting a massive black eye. Pretty! I did end up going to the doctor to make sure I didn't have a concussion (which I didn't), but he recommended a skull x-ray. Results are coming in tomorrow. I'm fairly confident that it's just a bad bump, though. And I think I'll stick with an ice pack rather than putting a steak on it.

List #43....Countries with disappointing bacon

1. Canada
2. Australia
3. France
4. Germany

Australia Update

When I took this gig back in February, I had a six month employment contract and a temporary work visa that expired in 2010, but I did have the notion that if things were going well, I would try to extend my stay. Anyone who works in science knows that six months isn't enough time to complete a project, especially if you want to get a publication out of it. The new job has been a great fir for me, both career and personality-wise, and after the long and painful grad school experience, it feels very refreshing to actually enjoy science again. And yeah, aside from the work stuff, I'm quite happy with pretty much everything at the moment. So, a couple of months go my supervisor and I had little discussion about my plans and it became clear that I wanted to stay longer and she wanted me to stay longer. The wheels were set in motion, and I ended up getting some internal funding for my current project plus a new one (both related to bacterial pneumonia, for you nerdlings out there), which led to a contract extension and a new visa application. It was approved last week and is good through the end of 2011, so it looks like I'll be staying down under until next December.
Fret not, Bostonians, I'll be back to visit, most likely next spring or early summer. And just in case you're considering vacationing in Australia, visitors are welcome!

New blog posts 3 days in a row- it may be a 2010 record!

Rest In Peace, Manute Bol

I liked Manute Bol back in his NBA days- aside from being astonishingly tall and thin, he had a great attitude and was always willing to laugh at himself, like in this classic SNL skit and this prank by Charles Barkley. I was unaware of his humanitarian work in his native Sudan until I read What Is The What earlier this year (which is fantastic, by the way), and once I did a little more reading up on the man, I was thoroughly impressed. A Dinka tribesman, Bol spent the majority of his life raising money and working towards peace in his troubled homeland- some of his efforts are mentioned in this 2006 profile in Sports Illustrated. In a world where someone like Kobe Bryant can win a MVP trophy, it's men like Manute Bol who truly deserve to be lauded. Here's a nice obituary on Bol from the Philadelphia Inquirer.

What I've Been Up To, Part II

The blog neglect continues….InLeWriMo is still going strong, and I think daily letter writing has zapped my usual blog posting energy source.

Queen’s Birthday in Surfers Paradise-
We had a 3 day weekend for the Queen’s Birthday, and although I do not know which queen, when it comes to a Monday off from work, I don’t ask too many questions. I flew up to the Gold Coast to meet up with my college friend Alison and her flatmate Jess. Surfers Paradise is essentially the trashy Florida part of Australia, chock full of beautiful beaches marred by high rises, retirees, and teenage partiers. But we knew what we were in for and still had a great time. Plus, it’s gray and cold and windy in Melbourne this time of year, so it was nice to get some sunshine. Most of the weekend was consumed by the World Cup, including a 4am trip to the casino to watch the USA vs. England game amidst a hundreds of drunk Englishmen, or Poms, as they’re called here. A tie never felt so sweet.

In other sporting news, I did watch game 7 and was disappointed that the Celtics couldn’t scrape out a win. As I read somewhere on Facebook: “every time Kobe wins a ring, and angel loses his wings.” To be honest, I think Gasol deserved the MVP more than Kobe.

Lastly but not leastly, am I too old to buy trendy things like fingerless gloves? Well, I don’t care because I love them. So there.

What I've Been Up To Lately

Hello there, neglected blog! Here's what I've been doing the past few days.

Watching movies:

Animal Kingdom- Melbourne's very own crime drama. Like most major cities, Melbourne does (did?) have a rather infamous criminal underworld, the subject of the TV hit Underbelly, which I like to call the Australian version of the Sopranos. The characters of the film Animal Kingdom run in similar cicles, with much of the movie centered around a police assassination that actually happened in 1988. Our protagonist is a quiet teenage boy, who, following the death of his mother, moves in with his extended family- his gangster uncles and a grandmother who's just a little too friendly with her own sons. The movie is more of a psychological thriller than an action film, but I did enjoy it.

And since one can't watch crime dramas all the time, the next movie I saw was Sex in the City 2. No, it won't win any Oscars, but it's a fun movie to watch and if you liked the show, you'll definitely like the movie, critics be damned. However, it has recently occurred to me that Sex in the City is somewhat of Golden Girls rip-off. Samantha = Blanche, and Charlotte = Rose. Don't you see it? Miranda could be Dorothy, so it's really only the Carrie/Sophia match that is a little off. Oh, and in the new movie? They wear caftans. You heard it here first.


Reviewing beer: Check out my latest review on Beer Crusade.

Cooking:
Filet steak with mixed mushrooms and sherry. YUM.

and lastly, here are a couple of links:

Awesome Nike commercial for the World Cup. Woohoo!

Cops find one ton of marijuana in a Dorchester apartment. Ah, good old Dot. The photo does remind me of the "drugs on the table" bit from The Wire, but honestly, that is an astonishing amount of pot.

Cooking blog shoutout

Sarah's been posting some great recipes over on The Pink Shoe Cookbook. In fact, I made her Light Dijon Dill Crusted Salmon tonight for dinner and it was super yum.

Tasmanian Holiday

I just got back from a five day trip through Tasmania, that little island that sits off the southern coast of Australia (and isn't a separate country). D and I sailed overnight from Melbourne on the Spirit of Tasmania, which turned out to be a lot of fun. Something about sailing away on a boat makes you feel like you're headed off on a grand adventure, and luckily the Bass Strait was nice and calm for the crossing- it has a reputation for rough seas. After that, we landed in Devonport and picked up the rental car, a ridiculous bright yellow Hyundai (or Hee-un-dai if your initials are AV) soon dubbed Mellow Yellow for its reluctance to accelerate. We then headed south to Hobart- the whole island only takes about 3 hours to drive across and it's still very sparsely populated- the main highway is a two lane road, passing mostly through farmland. Hobart is a cute little city on the waterfront, and opposed to Melbourne, which is flat flat flat, Hobart is surrounded by hills and a small mountain, Mt. Wellington, looms over the city.


We toured the Cascade Brewery, where beer has been made since 1824, making it the oldest operational brewery in Australia. The building itself is impressive and like many other structures from the 1800s, it was built by convicts. (My new slogan for Tasmania: "Built convict tough." I should have gone into PR.) The tour was a lot of fun- you have to wear safety glasses and a neon vest, and you get to see the entire facility, including the Laverne & Shirley bottling machines. And there's beer at the end!

We hit up the Salamanca market on Saturday morning before a scenic drive and a wine tasting adventure that led us down a dirt road to encounter a strange man who makes wine in his garage and tests it with pH meters and the like. After Hobart, the next destination was the Freycinet penninsula on the east coast with a brief stop at the Freycinet Vineyard, which was a more high-class operation than chemistry set man.

Freycinet National Park lived up to its tagline of "rugged and beautiful," although when you're staying in heated cabins and dining on oysters at the lodge, it's not quite so rugged. We did spend a day hiking out to Wineglass Bay, which ranks among the world's top ten beaches (according to a few travel magazines) and is only accessible by boat or by hiking in on fairly long and steep trail. It was indeed lovely even though it's too cold for swimming at the time of year. Well, that and intimidatingly massive waves.

While on the Freycinet Penninsula, I did encounter some of our furry friends- wild wallabies were all over the park (and notably in the parking lots) and some possums came a callin' on the porch one evening (and left their calling card as well). Fact: Australia possums are like a zillion times cuter than North American ones. We stopped by a nature park to check out their Tasmanian Devils and they did not disappoint, especially at feeding time. The staff feeds them what appears to be hunks of roadkill carcasses and the devils snarl and get all feisty-like. Good stuff. They're pretty cute when they're sleeping, though, and much easier to photograph. Overall, I had a great time in Tasmania and only wish I could have stayed longer.