Saturday, May 21, 2005

Lulu on Starwars...

Lulu: Whats that tinman's name?
Denzil: [smile] C3PO!
Lulu: D3What?
Denzil: [slower] CEE 3 PEE OHH
Lulu: oh.. CEE 3 DEE OHH
Denzil: close enough....

Lulu: What's that little green man's name?
Denzil: you mean like the green man that represents Nature, in paticular Spring?
Lulu: No!! Like yoga.. yoghurt....
Denzil: oh... [arggggh] yoda.. YODA .. YOO DAA!!!!

Sometimes I wish I had a girlfriend that will, at a whim, dress up as Princess Leia and do that hair bun thing... *sigh*

Help me Obi-wan your my only hope!

Leicester Square on Monday was transformed for London's Starwars Celebration Day. (Read CNN's coverage here)I'll just presume you know what that is and haven't been on Yavin4 for the last hundred years. London's Royal Philharmonic Orchestra played the theme music from all the previous movies while a squadron of Stormtroopers keep the public in order. Boba Fette watched as Jedi mingled with the crowd and Hans Solo and Chewbacca posed for pictures. Somebody carelessly landed an X-Wing that drew crowds so it had to be sectioned off. Kenny Baker (of R2D2 fame) was at hand to answer questions from reporters.

(I'll post pictures later as they're on my work computer)

The question most fans will be asking themselves is not will they see Starwars, but how many times they'll be seeing it. For me, I had to strike a deal with Lulu to get her to watch it, only to find out later that she actually WANTS to watch it. I want to watch it in a nice big theatre with kickass sound. All you guys understand me right? Unfortunately that means I would be paying 11 pounds (approx $AU23) which to me is reasonable. Any subsequent viewings can be in local theatres at around half the price on cheapass Mondays. This, my beloved readers, was a point of much heated debate and tension. The impasse was only broken when I had to compromise (hell why can't she!!) and realised that I could see it TWICE for the price of one. Besides I can still see it later with the guys in the city.

And so the tickets are booked. Seats allocated and we'll be watching it Monday at 6:30pm at Clapham Picture House.

Tuesday, May 03, 2005

Why can't Lulu be more like...



Why can't Lulu be more like the girl in this comic strip?

I'm all blogged out!

Oh now! After blogging about Belfast and Stockholm.. which took about 2 hours.. I'm all blogged out.

And I'm not even upto date!! grrr.... Still have to blog about Saturaday's trip to Bath, and Sunday's Kylie Concert at Earl's Court.

Perhaps I'll do it tomorrow... or perhaps Lulu should do it!!!

Stockholm, Sweden

[Stockholm, Sweden. 25th - 28th March 2005]

Phoebe of "Team Oz in London" fame describes Stockholm as expensive, full of Ikea furniture and everyone is good looking (think tall, blonde blue-eyed). Lulu and I both agree.

Shockholm is based on14 islands all connected and the area I enjoyed the most was the old town "Gamla Stan". In Gamla Stan you travel back 750 years to experience its medieval atmosphere along narrow streets and alleys. The Royal Palace is also sited here. The Royals themselves no longer live here so sections are open to the public. As fate would have it the parts of the palace we wanted to see was closed, so we had to make do with the free entry to the Armour.

And since this was not enough for us we caught the ferry over to Skansen Open Air Museum. The museum is an open park with buildings donated by various towns all over Sweden. There are also people dressed in period costume and a zoo. Its kinda like an Old Sydney Town actually.

We also caught up with Lulu's college friend Jenny in Skansen, who doesn't work there but did a great job as Tour Guide! Thanks so much Jenny!!! What I like about the Swedish language is that they have a form of "G'day" that can be heard here.

An experience of any culture must include the local cruisine. Lulu choose Swedish meat balls, I choose reindeer. Yes hunny, in Sweden you can really eat Rudulph! Asking the waitress, the meat is described as a red, wild game meat. Getting past the eat Rudulph mentality, the meal was nice.

What we did in Belfast in a weekend

[Belfast 12th-13th March 2005]

Well its taken almost 2 months but here it is... the eagerly awaited "What we did in Belfast in a weekend" blog entry. I really should have blogged this earlier because as I scratch my head about what to write I keep coming back to watching some home shopping network and being really impressed by the Magic Bullet Food Processor. Perhaps it is a sign of the times that my memory keeps returning to some infomercial about a food processor. Then again Wil probably would mention something about Denzil and Lulu "nesting". Anyhow I'm determined for this entry not to become a review on the Magic Bullet which has nothing to do with Belfast, let alone anything Irish, so onward Christian soldiers as we used to say in school...

Belfast. What has Belfast ever done for us you might say? News of us going to Belfast was received with mixed responses. Most notably were those of apprehension as people first thought of the IRA and comments of wearing flak jackets and getting caught in the cross fire soon followed.

Perhaps it was the luck of the Irish, but there is one export that the locals are proud of. A ship, a famous one, that sank on its maiden voyage. You all know the one, the Titanic. In its hey day, Belfast was a glorious industrial city and the Titanic was just one of its many fruits born from its labours.

As a young Denzil in the 80's I grew up enjoying the Back to the Future movies. If you too have seen these movies then you must remember the car.. the Delorean. Yes, the Delorean is another fruit of its loins. There is a Titanic exhibit and a Delorean on display at the Ulster Folk and Transport Museum.

We were told that the North Irish aren't particularly friendly compared to the southern brethren. Not true I say! Perhaps it was my dashingly good charm or devilishly good looks but the attendant at the Ulster Folk and Transport Museum insisted we were students and charged us as such.

One particular aspect of Belfast I liked was the City Hall (webcam looking out from the building) at Donegall Square [the following is quoted from GotoBelfast.com]:

The home of Belfast City Council. A magnificent Edwardian “wedding cake”, built to reflect Belfast’s City status, ranted by Queen Victoria in 1888. The Dome is 53 metres (173 feet) high. Figures above the door are “Hibernia encouraging and promoting the Commerce and Arts of the City”. Go inside to find out about guided tours and to pick up a leaflet about the statues in the gardens.

Having seen the building I must agree. Photos are in the photo album if you haven't already seen them.