Australia Day 09

January 26th. Always a magical day. Spent with friends, and usually spanning the entire day with a bbq, swimming, drinking and firework watching thrown in.

This year was no exception. We had lots of fun, I got sunburnt (my eyes, dammit!), we all got relatively drunk (although there were no nudey swims in the river wearing only Australian flag aprons with bare bums for all the poor families to see, hey Pete and Ed ;), swam a ton, bbq'ed a few too many times and had a great day!

It was an eclectic bunch; Aussies, Americans, British, Swedish, and a whole lot more. And I loved every second of it.

Interesting tidbits: I drank 2/3 of a bottle of red, more than a keg of beer and some Amarula; Alex did enough somersaults to awe and astound us all, Pete did not repeat last year's nudie swim in the river, kicking ball drunk is a great idea, sunburn is not!

one of the multitude of Australia tatts we decked ourselves in :)

brute strength, what else? ;)

its a hard life ;)

tatts and beer, that's all we need...

Victor, setting up the shot haha!

by the foreshore, the whole lot of us :)

yay for the fireworks!

Who wears high heels for a night out.

Not me. Not on Saturday night anyway.

Having worn my la fenice wedges the last time we all went out dancing (see the Imelda post) , I was left with bruised and battered feet. Pretty they may be, but comfy they are not! So I decided flats was the way to go on Saturday night. Not only are this pair comfy and flat, they also happen to be soft and have a cushioned sole. Equalling total bliss on the dancefloor. Mmmm :)

We danced to the best "cheese" music, although towards our pre-empted exit from the bar it was more backstreet boys/five-type crap....haha, too much of a good thing :/

dress, vintage. shoes, rubi. jewellery, assorted.

Happy Australia Day!

Happy Australia Day!

Hope the Aussies enjoy the hot sun, time with friends, booze and to cap it all off drunken shenanigans by the foreshore watching the fireworks (or is that just my group of friends? :P)

Note: "no worries mate" = our national phrase (aka it'll be fine/don't worry about it),

"she'll be right mate" = our national attitude (it'll be fine), and

"Waltzing Matilda" = our national anthem (about a sheep stealing crim who commits suicide!)

Happy Australia Day!!!

source: www.youthcentral.vic.gov.au, blog.piajanebijkerk.com

Love in a bathroon mirror. Culture combo.

Photos taken in Thailand, during the western portion of Dad's friend's wedding. He's Indian, she's Irish therefore two vastly different ceremonies (Hindu and Catholic). It was a ton of fun, lots of drinks/dancing/friends/laughter/good food. As all weddings should be really :)

Mum and me took photos of each other in the hotel bathroom,
haha, gotta do what you gotta do right? ;)

Full length pic of the sari, as I didn't get a decent one in Thailand
(this was for the Indian portion of the ceremony)

All in all it was a great day and location (overlooking the ocean), watching two people in love be united, and getting nice and tipsy. Hey, when the Irish and Indians are involved that's what you get, you know? ;)

western outfit: dress & shoes, sportsgirl. bangles, assorted.

indian outfit: sari, hand-me-down from mum (don't own my own).

Slumdog Millionaire

Sorry I've been awol. It's been a crazy, busy week.

So yesterday the boy and me decided to go check out the highly-anticipated Slumdog Millionaire. We both had heard so much about it, and given the number of nominations and awards it's received (4 Golden Globes and another 31 wins; see imdb for details) we thought it would probably live up to expectations, or far exceed them. Which is never a bad thing.

We'd planned to watch the film under the stars, but being the fabulous planners we are, we rocked up a mere 30 minutes prior and were informed the outdoor session had sold out. Luckily we managed to get seats at one of their indoor cinemas!

The movie was sensational. The premise was simple; an 18 year old orphan from the slums of Mumbai who is on 'Who Wants to be a Millionaire?', and one question away from 20 million rupees. I won't give away too much, for those of you who haven't seen it (when was/is it released in the States?) but still stop reading now if you want to know absolutely nothing about it.

The movie focuses on Jamal Malik, said orphan from the slums, being suspected of cheating on the show (how could a mere boy from the slums know all that he does?) and having to prove his innocence. The story behind his answers to the questions is overwhelming, and gives a precious insight into his growing up, life in the slums, the happiness, the sadness and the overwhelming sense of struggling just to survive on a day-to-day basis. The love/hate relationship between Jamal and his older brother Salim (the sometimes antagonist) is eye-opening, only because we all deal with it with siblings, but to different extents in each circumstance.

The backgrounds are exquisite, more so in the harsh beauty of their extreme poverty (dire poverty is often startingly exquisite), and Danny Boyle does a brilliant directing job. Stuart and I sat on the edge of our seats for the entire movie, giggling at the funny bits like you can only do when completely involved (and Danny entices you in, drawing you into the characters and the plots so that you care more than you think you could about fictional characters), and despairing at the sorrow. Most of all we revelled in the perfection of the movie, it doesn't disappoint and never falters, not for one second.

[Handy Fact: Danny also directed The Beach and Trainspotting, but I found those movies to be more cult-status movies whereas this is so much more]

So does Jamal win the 20 million? And how can a movie about questions on a quiz show incite so much feeling and passion in people? You'll have to go and find out, wont you ;)

Anika's rating (haha ;): 5/5
Stuart's rating: 5/5

p.s. I also fell in love with the actress, one of the 'three muskateers', Freida Pinto. Gorgeous, gorgeous girl!

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I'll leave you with a long lost photo from a welcome-home party held by a good friend for his brother a while back....It's my "be good kids, I have eyes in the side of my head :)" look, haha

sources: photos from google and imdb

Androgny

There's something about androgynous models that appeals to me. I adore the quirky looks, the unique dress sense, the fact that said androgny highlights a certain feature/character that elevates them from just pretty/beautiful to spectacular. Not to mention the edgy vibe. And I know that androgny has become something of a norm nowadays, however I always have a place for the naturals, be it emphasized for an editorial or as a natural style reflection.

More so, I adore their style, the effortlessly thrown on men's blazer with say a crop tee, man-style cuffed pants, and docs or conversely super-high heels.

Models in question? Irina Lazareanu, Freja Erichsen, Agyness Deyn, Omahyra Mota.

And yes, the gamine look is equally as charming, if not more so. Perfect case in point? Audrey Tautou. How beautiful she is....Or Shannon Sossamon (girl crush alert!). And of course the ultimate, Audrey Hepburn.

What's your take on Androgny?

Floral Brites

I can't believe another weekend is already over. I know I'm not the only one to feel aghast at how quickly the weekends seem to go, and how soon Mondays at the Office come around, but still....already??!!?!. Hmmm, I believe this is what they call the dreaded Monday Blues.

These are some photos from last weekend at the boat harbour. It was hot, hot, hot but regardless Stuart and I sat in the bright sunlight and watched the sun set over the harbour. I love the feel of the strong sun on you, penetrating your skin and making it almost sizzle, warming you up from the core (and yes, I am aware that there is a hole in the ozone layer over Australia, but I'm hoping our responsible use of sunblock will help us out).

top, myer. skirt, jay jays (from years ago!). sunglasses, random shop. bag, vintage. earrings & shoes, gift from India. cuff, christmas gift.

Reading Material

I love books.

It's as simple as that.

When I was little, mum would put me to bed and I'd promptly turn on the torch under the covers so I could read more. I still find myself going to bed at insane hours (notwithstanding my job) just because I have to finish this or the other book.

And whilst many extole the brilliance of writers like Don De Lillo, Arundhati Roy, Salman Rushdie, Chuck Palahniuk, Ann Rice, Haruki Murakami, Khaled Hosseini and even J.K. Rowling (granted, all brilliant authors worthy of their status), I wanted to mention some books (and writers behind them) that have struck me as quietly magnificent, not showy or expected. Just because they strike a chord.

Gail Jones (Sixty Lights) - Gail teaches literature/cinema/cultural studies at the University of Western Australia (my uni), and that is how Stuart came to know of her brilliant books. I read Sixty Lights, and love how Gail pursues and develops the characters....I fell in love.

(see a review here: http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2004/08/18/1092765003194.html?from=storyrhs)

Maryse Conde (The story of the cannibal woman) - Not sure if she's famous outside of Australia, but given she won the 2005 Hurston/Wright Legacy Award for this masterpiece, I should hope so.

(see: http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/15/books/review/Schmidt.t.html?ref=review)

Danzy Senna (Caucasia: a novel) - A debut from Danzy Senn about black, white and those in between. Daughter of an Afro-Mexican poet father and Irish-American mother, this book is rich, vivid and deserves the awards it was bestowed.

(see: http://www.socialism.com/fsarticles/vol22no1/book.html)

Gail Tsukiyama (The Language of Threads) - I was introduced to Gail Tsukiyama by a friend in uni who lent me The Samurai's Garden. I fell in love with the her writing, the simple yet heart-wrenching manner in which you were pulled into the story, and at once attracted to the simplistic style of writing employed by Japanese writers (see: Tsukiyama, Murakami, Ha Jin) that is not only effective but magical, innately insightful, painfully sharp and mostly intoxicating.
(see: http://www.bookreporter.com/reviews/0312267568.asp)


Ha Jin (Waiting) - Winner of the 1999 National Book Award for Fiction and the 2000 Pen/Faulkner Award, its author Ha Jin is a professor of English. He writes deceptively simple tomes; precise and historical, and manages to tackle love stories effortlessly and devastatingly.
(see: http://www.hackwriters.com/Hajin.htm)

Amitav Ghosh (The Hungry Tide) - A tale paralleling the wilderness of the Sunderbans and that of the human spirit (you like? :), Amitav is an Indian-Bengali author, who I stumbled upon when I bought this book at a book sale. I love his struggle/passion for national pride and identity and the gradual reveal of what makes us tick and people's histories.
(see: http://www.lehigh.edu/~amsp/2004/08/short-review-of-amitav-ghoshs-hungry.html)


p.s. I didn't hand pick the reviews, just googled the books and took a quick look. Hope you get a chance to read these fab books/authors, or if you already have let me know what you think!

Why hello Imelda!

So this post is very overdue. Erika of fashionchalet and me were talking about doing shoe posts way back in December, and she got around to doing hers, titled shoe porn (droool), but obviously I never did. Whoops.

Anyway, better late than never right?

These are a selection of my 'summer' shoes. I have wayyy too many to show in one go, but these are my current faves I guess (and yes, my mother calls me Imelda ;).

l-r (top): sportsgirl, siren, la fenice, siren, urban soul, vintage, wittner, rubi, sportsgirl
l-r (bottom): kookai, zu, siren, vintage, siren, colin stuart, zola

and some of my (current) favourite faves ;)

urban soul platforms - comfiest things in the world!

colin stuarts = still obsessed with studs

strappy siren platforms = adore :)

newest la fenice wedge-things: on super duper sale, and I love. So painful though!

part of my christmas present from the boy (mmm,
all they need is triangular studs at the front;)