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Photos from the Tim Tam production line. *drool* What I wouldn’t give to work in that QA department…

A Room With a… WHAT?
I just watched A Room With a View, the recent TV version that I recorded last weekend. I was prepared for it to suck compared to the Merchant Ivory production, but I was pleasantly surprised! It was less arty, but I think the story was simpler to follow. I really, really liked Rafe Spall as George Emerson. (I didn’t think anybody could top Julian Sands, but I think I prefer this earthier, sexier George.) But wait – did they insinuate that both Mr. Beebe and Cecil were gay? I could’ve gone along with that departure from the book… until the surprise ending. WHAT. THE HELL. George dies on the battlefield? Right after we see them triumphantly getting it on in front of the view of the Arno? And the final scene is her in the field with the carriage driver? That was the weirdest thing ever. Weird and depressing.

The complete screenplay for Wall-E. Just reading the ending made me cry again. (Link courtesy of kottke.)

Red Lantern in Surry Hills
For our anniversary dinner last night, the Snook and I finally got to try out Red Lantern in Surry Hills. I’ve been wanting to go there ever since they were featured on Heat in the Kitchen on SBS a few years back. They do authentic Vietnamese cuisine, and I was in the mood for some seafood. (For those that don’t know, I was a confirmed pescaphobe for most of my life. I *never* ate any seafood at all – not even fish fingers – until I moved to Australia. Suffice it to say, I’ve gotten over myself.) The service was great, friendly and attentive from the start. I was a little disappointed that we couldn’t get the tasting menu – it’s only available for parties of 4 – but our waiter was able to recommend his favorites from the normal menu. We started out with the Goi Cuon (traditional rice paper rolls). They were very good, with lots of mint and large prawns peeking out. There was a spicy peanut-based dipping sauce too. (Truth be told, I think I prefer the Lime & Garlic from Chop Chop, but this was still very nice.) We also went for one of the entree specials: grilled scampi (i.e. langoustine). I’d really only ever seen these on Iron Chef before. ZOMG, SO GOOD. Sweet, creamy meat – not fishy in the slightest – with luscious butter and black pepper and coriander on top. Between the two of us, we were scraping the shell clean in our desperation to savor all of it. For the main, we had the house speciality Cha Chien Don, whole fried snapper with fish sauce, lime, and ginger. It was BEAUTIFUL. The meat came off in juicy hunks, and I even found myself scrabbling after the crispy skin. (Me. The pickiest child in the world eating FISH SKIN. My mother’s head will be spinning, I tell you.) We were too full for dessert, so I finished the night with a Vietnamese liqueur coffee that was so strong it’d curl your hair. So in summary, I had three courses with seafood and I loved all of them. That’s pretty much the highest recommendation I can give right there. (Also, langoustine might be the new truffle. I MUST HAVE MORE.)

For the Snook: Ozzy Osbourne’s World of Warcraft commercial.

The first Twilight reviews are starting to trickle in…

Edited to add: Snookums just pointed me to this list of six excuses grownups can use for going to see Twilight this weekend. I think Jenny‘s definitely going for #6. Me, I don’t really have any big desire to see it. Robert Pattinson doesn’t really do it for me. If anything, I’m only curious as to how it translated from the book… which was trash. Swoony, over-the-top, ridiculous teenage trash.

Four years ago today two silly kids went to Vegas, met Elvis, and got married in a Little White Wedding Chapel.

And I’d do it all over again.

Gmail themes
I logged into Gmail this morning and noticed that things looked different. Then a message popped up telling me to check out the new Themes tab. Holy crap! That’s awesome! I’m rockin’ the Desk theme right now. It appears that some of them actually change throughout the day to reflect the weather in your location. Sooooo cool! (Note: It appears they’re rolling this out slowly. Snookums doesn’t have it on his account yet, nor does anybody else in my office.)

Edited to add: The Gmail blog has more info and pictures of the themes.

Five Quick Physics Lessons for Obama. On hand, neat! I didn’t know that nuclear bombs were so hard to make, nor that the problem of storing nuclear waste had been effectively solved. On the other hand, some of these are pretty depressing. No hydrogen cars? No more manned space travel? Inevitable global warming? Crap.