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Chicago was excellent. I’ve had the musical soundtrack for years and I finally saw the show while we were in London. I honestly didn’t see how they were going to translate it to film. When I first saw the trailers, I thought that the introduction of, like, “plot” and “setting” was really going to bother me. In fact, it was great. The re-imagining of the musical numbers as Roxie’s fantasies really worked. True, it meant they had to cut a couple of songs, but the only one I really missed was “Class”. (Though Amos’s number was sort of a cheat, since the impression it gave of him was more his own than Roxie’s, right?) I was all set to be annoyed that Mary Sunshine wasn’t a drag queen, but then I remembered that I never really liked that number anyway and Christine Baranski is always a good thing. In terms of the leads, Catherine Zeta-Jones and Renee Zellweger were amazing. (Some of you know how much it pains me to say that, given that historically Zellweger has been, well, my nemesis.) Their dancing, singing, and acting were all wonderful. Richard Gere… not so much. I didn’t like the “shoeshine boy meets the full monty” thing they did with his first number. Granted, they probably just wanted to save his razzle dazzle stuff til the big finale, but I always imagined him as a real slick James Brolin type. Not a dorky grinning Richard Gere. *shrug* Other plusses: John C. Reilly is a god. Queen Latifah kicked some serious ass. And the dancing, which I expected to suck having seen Anne Reinking’s choreography for the revival, was actually really good and seemed like a homage without being a total ripoff.

In short, I went in expecting to complain. Instead I came out raving. This is, like, Moulin Rouge good. Oh, and I felt really cool for correctly spotting “Mya” as one of Cell Block Tango girls. 🙂

I just realized that it’s Groundhog Day here. If Punxatawney Phil were in my backyard, he’d definitely be seein’ his shadow.

Man. Reagan’s “slip the surly bonds of Earth” and “touch the face of God” speech always makes me cry.

When you live in Australia, everything elsewhere in the world happens while you’re asleep. I woke up this morning and switched on my computer to discover that the Space Shuttle had disintegrated, killing all the astronauts. How awful. I was at Kennedy Space Center in 2000 to see the shuttle land. The most amazing part was how un-excited everybody seemed. It was like the act of leaving and returning the Earth had become somehow routine. I also remember when the Challenger blew up in ’86. Much like Punky Brewster, my dream had been to be an astronaut and my courage was shaken by the disaster. I just hope this doesn’t lead to a cessation of the current space program. (The Snook’s reaction this morning: “Damn. Guess we won’t see them go to Mars in our lifetime.”)

Friday Five:

1. As a child, who was your favorite superhero/heroine? Why?
Much like every other girl of my generation, I had Wonder Woman Underoos. Why? Because she kicked ass and looked pretty!

2. What was one thing you always wanted as a child but never got?
A Snoopy Sno-Cone Machine.

3. What’s the furthest from home you’ve been?
At this very moment, I am 9,438 miles from home. London was only a third of that distance. This is definitely the farthest.

4. What’s one thing you’ve always wanted to learn but haven’t yet?
Korean. I’ve got the books, I’ve got the CD… I just haven’t gotten around to it yet.

5. What are your plans for the weekend?
Today we’re going to see Chicago (the movie) with our friend Steve. I’d also like to go to the gym, clean up the house, and finish my dad’s birthday present.

I really enjoyed this article about a vegetarian who returned to eating meat after 14 years. I think she sums up my position really well: Nobody wants to eat animals that are mistreated, over-produced, and pumped full of nastiness. But things are getting better and, if you’re willing to spend a little more money, “healthy” meat can be found. Which is great, because meat tastes really good. I like lots of different vegetables, but nothing can beat a thick, grilled-to-perfection Aussie lamb chop. Yum.

That said, I’m wondering what you veggos think. (Like my Aussie slang?) Do you thinks she’s overstated improvements in the industry to justify her meat cravings? (Link courtesy of John, who already has a heated discussion going on over at his site.)

Holy crap. Check out my Recent Searches page. I’m the #2 Google result for sightings of the Virgin Mary at Coogee and apparently the faithful are flocking here. Sorry, folks, I haven’t seen it personally. It’s only a short bus ride away though… Perhaps your dutiful blogger will have to do some investigative reporting with her digital camera this weekend. 🙂

Confession: I deleted a couple comments that randoms left today. It’s not that I’m against new people commenting; in fact, I welcome it. (Seriously, you lurkers! Join in!) But folks have to understand that this isn’t Usenet. I like the fact that the usual crew here all respect each other and use readable English. So don’t even bother posting gibberish that reads like an SMS. I’m against the censoring of ideas, but I have no qualms about deleting atrocious grammar.

In the category of “More Good News… Not”, apparently you can get deep vein thrombosis from sitting at a computer for too long. See, I thought the thing about the airplanes was that the pressure had something to do with it. But now they’re saying you can get it just from sitting on your ass at sea level? Great. Oh, and they’ve even coined a new term for it: “e-thrombosis”. *rolling eyes*

Today it was forty-four degrees Celsius outside in Macquarie Park, where I work. That’s one hundred and eleven degrees Fahrenheit. It’s stinkin’ hot.