Chubb & Chubbier

Just read this on news.com.au: former Australian Opposition leader Kim Beazley has been confirmed by the currenty vice-chancellor of Australian National University, Dr Ian Chubb, as their new Chancellor. Even if you don't know what the Beaz looks like (front) it's still pretty obvious what the title of this post is pointing at, right? :P

Bye-bye birdy

Well, it's not really a birdy but a car. After exactly 13 years we've decided to part with the little ol' red Ford Laser. It still runs ok but seeing that we don't really have a need for a third car, compounded by the expensive rego, insurance & ever-increasing petrol prices, it simply makes no sense to keep it anymore. Unfortunately many others are also getting rid of their older, used cars, leading to a glut so that the parts guy wouldn't even buy little Ada. Needless to say used car dealers wouldn't take it either (it was already down to $500 3 years ago). If I had any say I'd trade in the petrol-guzzler Tarago before it gets too old to have any reasonable re-sale value and/or parts need replacing for a smaller car. But who'd listen to me for car tips?

Dark Knight

Just saw The Dark Knight and it is a REALLY good. film. Again, I went to watch it on the GMax which is far more comfortable than 'normal' cinema. The crowd in my session, however, was less than comfortable. Who knew an action thriller like The Dark Knight could get so many people laughing? Worse is, it's the first day back after school holidays, yet there were still these kids around to watch movies on a Tuesday (me still waiting for sups' comments on final draft) and laugh at hostages being shot or hand-grenaded? Is Sydney the new Gotham morality? Anyways, a bit of a departure to base Gotham at Chicago than the usual NYC. Having not read/listened to anything about the movie before hand that most certainly surprised a little. Though it was a very enjoyable movie, the super-length of the movie was still very apparent. Just when I thought it was coming to an end (though it would have been a pretty cop-out ending if it did end at that point), a quick look at the watch told me that there were still 45 minutes to go! The 25 minutes of adverts & previews didn't help either of course.

This is a pretty good bridging story to link up Batman Begins with the previous lots of 'sequels'. We learn of the beginnings of one of the future villains, though the fate of Rachel Dawes was a bit puzzling. Maybe because I never studied the other Batmen close enough to notice the link?

Like I said on Facebook, Ledger was superb, but no Oscar I believe. Bale was a bit wooden and Echkart was struggling especially in the first half of the film. Overall, still a very good film but definitely not for kids. Well, unless you can deal with a few nightmares or pay for their furthered delinquincies.

Do ppl even blog anymore?

Water footprint

I've always found it difficult to calculate my carbon footprint. This is probably because I don't really know what type of electricity/gas plan we have at home (but seeing that I'm east Australian it's most likely coal...).

Was out shopping for a carry-on bag for my trip & saw this new freebie magazine Sprinkla. It is a community-based quarterly magazine that specialises in sustainability issues. The current issue (Issue 02/March 08) is on water, with a particular link to calculating your water footprint. In it there is a short article on water-wise food. I've always known that it takes a lot more energy to grow meat than fruit & vegebut never knew exact numbers. The water-wsie food article gave a listing of how much water is required to grow the following foods:

• 100g of orange: 50L
• 100g apples: 70L
• 250ml beer: 75L
• 125ml wine: 120L
  
• 125ml coffee: 140L
• 200g potato crisps: 185L
• 200ml milk: 200L
• 1kg rice: 3,400L

And the grand-daddy of them all - 1kg beef: 16,000L. 16,000L!!!! No wonder we're regularly in drought!

I'm so glad I don't really eat much meat!

Right on my GMax spot

Finally sent off my final draft to the supervisory team this morning & now have probably a couple of weeks to float around before the final push weighs down on me. So I decided to go watch Get Smart after fiddling around wtih airline tickets & hotel bookings at work. Seeing I was at Parra already I went & watched it there. Unfortunately the movie was only showing on the 2 big theatres of the GU here - Gold Class or GMax. Being a poor little student that I am, I chose the cheaper option (GMax), & seeing it is Tuesday it was only $10 (normal Tuesday price is $8.50). The interiors look like Oslo's Coliseum Theatre which is of course very large. The seats are, however, very roomy & have armrests for every seat. There are also flat, wooden mini-tables & cupholders to put all your crap. There is also more leg room. Seriously, it's the only way to watch a movie from now on. If only they have GMax near home...

Anyways, Get Smart. It was quite a funny movie, lots of gags, but the deliveries of the "missed it by that much" jokes were flat & fell well short of the original series. The 'twist' on the baddy was also very easily picked from the get go so definitely not a brainy movie. In fact, it was the perfect remedy to uncoil the knots in my head after slaving through the final draft these past couple of months. ***1/2