Lexophiles; come close

The longest word in the English dictionary is pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis, which Wikipedia helpfully provides as

a 45-letter word which refers to a lung disease contracted from the inhalation of very fine silica particles, specifically from a volcano. Research has discovered that this word was originally a hoax. It has since been used in a close approximation of its originally intended meaning, lending at least some degree of validity to its claim

How wonderful is that? You can make up a word, and it might still count. There's hope for us plebs yet.

The longest recognised place name, Taumatawhakatangihangakoauauotamateaturipukakapikimaungahoronukupokaiwhenuakitanatahu

(88 letters - Wiki Entry here)And of course you can't talk about really long words without mentioning our old favourite, Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious (34 letters- Wiki), but its not a real word and is only included in dictionaries as a Proper Noun, the name of a song.

(Funnily, Blogger's built in Dictionary recognises Super..... but not the two official words above...)

Yves Saint Laurent dies at 71

"You have to regard every fashion with humour, to be above it, believe in it enough to give the impression of living it but not too much, so that you keep your freedom."

"The silhouette counts more than anything. It should never be overloaded."

"To be beautiful, all a woman needs is a black pullover and a black skirt and to be arm in arm with a man she loves."

"Is elegance not totally forgetting what one is wearing?"

YSL

You know what bugs me? Reading the wrong book!

So I had just decided to give The Accidental Terrorist by Steven Lang a miss. I've felt guilty since page 35, when I stopped reading, just unable to get into it. I will never know what happened to the characters, but I don't really care, and life's too short to read bad books right?

Mostly I've been annoyed at myself for not getting into a "Literary" book. A winner of the NSW Literary Awards in 2006, I felt like I should carry on. The other reason I felt I should carry on, was I've had a bookmarked review of it sitting in my browser for god knows how long, many months at least. So as I decided to abandon it, I thought I'd have another look at the review, and see how I got it so wrong. The review was the only thing that sparked my interest, I wanted to read it at some point right?
WRONG.
As easy mistake though.
I wanted to read The Unknown Terrorist by Richard Flanagan, not the Accidental. Bah.

"...The Unknown Terrorist, his literary thriller about a Sydney pole dancer mistakenly pursued for being part of a terrorist plot."

Aha.
I was slightly confused when I read the blurb of the Accidental Terrorist

"When Kevin returns to his home town on the southern cast of NSW he finds himself drawn to a community that lives in the hills..."

Errr......yeah...not usually the genre that would catch my eye.

Unfortunately, and I feel ashamed to admit this, but generally Australian stories don't really interest me. Especially if they're set in rural or regional Australia. I don't know whether its because its just SO different to what I'm used to, its so removed from my scope of life, that I just can't get interested.
But then, it could also be argued that my favourite genre of murder mysteries and crime thrillers are far removed from my own life experience also. And I will be the first to admit that.

Mum's got a sizeable collection of books (for the life of me cannot find the authors name) by a female writer, and they're kind of romance novels, but set in a historical context in outback Australia in colonial times. They just don't interest me at all. Not because they're romance, no no, I quite enjoy romance from time to time. Just never been keen on these ones, no matter how many times Mum suggested it when I was after a new book to read.

The only times I can be interested in Australian settings appears to be if they sit smack bang in the middle of the crime genre. Then I actually find it quite novel to read the same books I read nomally, but set in places I relate to, Vodka Doesn't Freeze for example, and the Tara Moss series with Makedde Vanderwall, a forensic student that models on the side for extra money (yep, write about what you know lol)
I mean its not a blanket ban or anything, just a general lack of interest.

So, I'm off to the Library to try to pick up the right book this time.

Sony World Photography Awards - Some finalists

Ice cave ... Christof Pluemacher, from Germany, won a place in the abstract section finals with this image. Picture: Christof Pluemacher



Dash of colour ... Swiss photographer Terence du Fresne, won a place in the advertising finals with his shot USP Mountain. Picture: Terence du Fresne

^I love this one looks like its photoshopped.

Wallflowers ... Koray Birand, from Turkey had Widows on Set nominated as a fashion finalist. Picture: Koray Birand, courtesy of Sony World Photography Awards

Get on with your knitting ... in the fashion section Dutch photographer Eunice Lievald had Don't Be So Tied and Twise. Open yourself up! shortlisted as a finalist. Picture: Eunice Lievald



In the swing ... American photographer Howard Schatz won a place in the sports section finals with RLX 003. Picture: Howard Schatz



Freeze frame ... in the science section Russian Vladimir Nefedov had his picture The Bell shortlisted. Picture: Vladimir Nefedov

Love Lies Bleeding

I forgot to post this, (I've post-dated) I won Free Tickets to this performance at the Glen St Theatre Too!
Great show, very interesting subject matter of euthenasia.
By Sydney Theatre Company.
:)

Farewell Pavarotti

In a terrible blow to classical opera lover everywhere, Pavarotti has died today. He sounds to have been in pain, battling pancreatic cancer among other medical problems, and in that sense it is good he no longer suffers. But as an opera lover, I mourn the loss of such a large presence in modern Opera.

SMH article here

MACBETH!

How Excitement!
I've won two tickets to Bell Shakespeare's Macbeth opening tonight at the Glen St Theatre!!!

How Harry Potter COULD HAVE ended if written by.... [NO spoiler]

Mario Puzo (The Godfather) :

Replacing the fallen Dumbledore as head of Hogwarts, Professor Minerva McGonagall proves to have balls of steel. In a well-coordinated series of carefully-timed attacks, the Order of the Phoenix kills every single Death Eater in a single night, settling all accounts.

John Grisham (The Firm, The Rainmaker, The Pelican Brief) :

Over the course of the book, Harry becomes disillusioned with the wizarding life as he realizes that it's just endless conflict in the service of his corrupt and power-hungry masters. He and Ginny change their names and assume new identities so they can leave the wizarding world and live happily ever after.

George Lucas (American Graffiti, Star Wars, Star Wars, Star Wars, Star Wars, Star Wars, Star Wars) :

The battle between Harry and Voldemort comes to a close with an exciting magical glowing sword fight in the never-before-seen high-tech part of Hogwarts during which Voldemort reveals that he's Harry's real father. Then the Death Star blows up.

Dean Koontz (Bestselling Thriller Author) :

While Voldemort is preparing his final assault on Hogwarts, Arthur Weasley uses his knowledge of muggle artifacts come up with a plan to defeat Voldemort. He and Ron work desperately to connect the flue network to a fireplace in the house of a major Columbian drug lord. Harry and Hermione go through, stun everyone in the house, and steal all their Uzi submachineguns. When the Death Eaters arrive at Hogwarts, members of the Order of the Phoenix gun them down.

Joss Whedon (Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Angel, Firefly) :

As the conflict with Voldemort comes to a head, Ron Weasley is suddenly and shockingly killed. Hermione responds with steely determination, joined by Luna Lovegood, who turns out to be a rare witch who has super-powerful martial arts skills. While Harry tries ineffectively to help—often with comic results—Luna kills the Death Eaters with Unblockable Scorpion Kicks and Hermione defeats Voldemort in a head-on battle of magic.

Tom Clancy (The Hunt For Red October, The Sum of All Fears, Rainbow 6) :

All seems lost for Harry until the Voldemort problem is brought to the attention of American President Jack Ryan, who sends the Enterprise Carrier Group to defeat the Death Eaters in a series of air strikes. Distrustful of the Ministry of Magic, Harry Potter defects to the United States where he helps Ryan get elected to his fourth term as President.

David Chase (The Sopranos) :

Discouraged by Lord Voldemort's tiresome battle against Harry Potter, Lucius Malfoy makes peace with Harry Potter in a bid to take over the Death Eaters for himself. Meanwhile, Alicia Spinnet spots Lord Voldemort in Diagon Alley and catches him by surprise, killing him easily. Through a strange series of random events, all Voldemort's horcruxes are also destroyed. Thinking the danger is over, Harry, Ginny, Ron, and Hermione make plans to meet at the Three Broomsticks for butterbeers. Just as the last of them arrives

From - Mark Draughn

Your eyes can be so cruel....

Just as I can be so cruel!

As a young thing, my sisters and cousins and I would sit and watch Jareth and Sarah and Ludo for hours, over and over again. I know all the girls somehow felt this alluring pull from Jareth (don't deny it!) and even though he looks ridiculous looking back (umm..pirate ruffles anyone?), there's still a little something there.....
So it was with shock and disbelief that I discovered that
David Bowie turns 60 this year.
He of the Goblin King fame.
*fanning self*

Cannes Film festival

I think Toni Collette just looked stunning for the opening of Cannes. The colour suited her beautifully, and I was just really pleased to see her looking wonderfully glam. My one criticism is that her gown looks a teensy bit Bridesmaid/Yr 10 Formal, but otherwise, just lovely. I've been looking everywhere for a really GOOD pic, and finally found this.Just stunning. *sigh* I love the boning, very flattering. Weird expression, but we'll gloss over that shall we?

I was firstly very excited to see Bai Ling, of horrid fuggyness, on Channel Seven's news coverage of the event. of the THREE red carpet shots they had of "celebrities" at Cannes, in addition to the actual story of Toni Collette being a judge, they featured Jude Law, someone else, and BAI LING of all people. I actually think this is testament to the fact that they don't actually watch the footage and research it, they simply put it on the TV, assuming I imagine that even though they don't know her, she's on the red carpet, she must be famous. I can only imagine they had her confused with Shu Qi an apprently famous Chinese actress that's actually there for a purpose, or Li Gong who's been is all sorts of things, including Memoirs of a Geisha, and Hannibal Rising.
Seriously though, they must have been really hard up for an MC, they had Diane Kruger doing it. Has she done anything since being the emphatically pathetic Helen in Troy. She wasn't exactly the face that could launch ten ships, let alone ten thousand. IMDB tells me she's done 11 films since then, none of which I know. I rest my case. (I know, the arrogance...)

While on the subject of amazingly gorgeous women however, I had long held that I think Elizabeth Hurley is the most stunning woman in the world. Not a great actress, probably an airhead to boot, but she I think is absolutely the epitome of beauty. Divine. Interestingly as I selected a good pic from Cannes, I realised she is beginning to show her age a little. Not in a bad way, she's just got a couple more lines than when she did that movie where she was the devil with Brendan Fraser. And with Valentino on her arm for the night, who can go wrong...And my second contender, a newer one (I've always loved `Liz) Aishwarya Rai, an Indian Bollywood actress, and incidentally, a advertising lady for Longines watches. (Bit of A&C trivia for you there). She's gorgeous also....

PLAY!

In a most bizarre turn of events at work today, one of the warehouse boys asks if I can find out where an orchestra is playing. I listen to opera most days at work, so it has been assumed I will be able to find this out.
The catch?
The score is the theme songs from video games....how odd I thought, doubting my abilities to find this weirdness.
I punch four words into Google.
symphony
orchestra
video
game ---hoping this will yeild results....and Bingo, it does.
First link listed does the trick.
Its called PLAY! A Video Game Symphony and its playing at the Opera House if you're interested in paying $80 to listen to Zelda and Super Mario Brothers

Ozymandias

I met a traveller from an antique land
Who said: "Two vast and trunkless legs of stone
Stand in the desert. Near them on the sand,
Half sunk, a shattered visage lies, whose frown,
And wrinkled lip, and sneer of cold command,
Tell that its sculptor well those passions read
Which yet survive, stamped on these lifeless things,
The hand that mocked them, and the heart that fed,
And on the pedestal these words appear:
"My name is Ozymandias, King of Kings:
Look upon my works, ye Mighty, and despair!"
Nothing besides remains. Round the decay
Of that colossal wreck, boundless and bare
The lone and level sands stretch far away".