07 November 2010

One of my favourite quotes from "The Pacific"

History is full of wars that are fought for a hundred different reasons.

But this war, our war...
I have to believe that every step across that airfield, 
every man that is wounded, 
every man I lose
...and it is all worthwhile, because our cause is just.

Capt. Andrew Haldane


13 September 2010

NYC: where dreams are made of.

One hand in the air for the big city,
Street lights, big dreams all looking pretty,
no place in the world that can compare,
Put your lighters in the air, everybody say yeaaahh
come on, come, yeah.

New York!
Concrete jungle where dreams are made of,
There's nothing you can’t do,
Now you're in New York!!!
These streets will make you feel brand new,
the lights will inspire you,
Let's hear it for New York, New York, New York.


01 September 2010

[sometimes change is good]

There's only one thing that can make a song better than it already is and that one thing is when someone else changes it and creates a fresh, new sound.

Creep / Scala & Kolacny Brothers 
Original: Radiohead
Girls Just Wanna Have Fun / Greg Laswell 
Original: Cyndi Lauper
Kids / Ben Lee 
Original: MGMT
If You Leave / Nada Surf 
Original: OMD
Something In The Way She Moves / Radiohead 
Original: The Beatles
Yellow / Scala & Kolacny Brothers 
Original: Coldplay
Maybe I'm Amazed / Jem 
Original: Paul McCartney
Poker Face / Lea Michelle & Idina Menzel 
Original: Lady Gaga
Fall At Your Feet / James Blunt 
Original: Crowded House
Cry Me A River / Glen Hansard & Marketa Irglova 
Original: Justin Timberlake

24 August 2010

An open letter to the informal voters of Australia

To all those of those that listened to Mark Latham and for some unknown reason unsuccessfully filled out a ballot slip - thank you.

Thank you for wasting your time.
Thank you for wasting our time.
Thank you for wasting volunteer's time.
Thank you for wasting the government's time.
Thank you for wasting the media's time.
Thank you for wasting valuable and expensive resources.
Thank you for wasting tax payers money.
Thank you for wasting your opinion and voice in a country where we're fortunate to have these things.

Right now this country is a joke. We have no government because there are idiots like yourselves who were too lazy to have to think for a second about who they would want to run this country and spend a minute or so filling in a few boxes.

Instead you either:

  • Left them blank and put them in the boxes, 
  • Were too dumb to read the instructions on the sheets you were given, or
  • Drew stupid little drawings which I highly doubt those counting the votes would find amusing.
So on behalf of the 15 or so million Australian's that did the right thing,
Thank you.

19 August 2010

...and in case you couldn't guess...

I vote Liberal : )


And remember:
We are very fortunate to have the right to vote, so make it count.

Things I think the government and the coalition should consider:

1. Climate change has happened since the dawn of mankind - it's nothing new so why are you wasting billions of dollars telling us we need to take drastic changes for the future of tomorrow when somehow we've managed to survive for thousands of years?


2. Support for parents, families, the elderly, the unemployed, first home buyers, new parents...WHAT ABOUT STUDENTS? We have to pay thousands of dollars each year in tuition fees unlike your generation as well as the yearly cost of buying books and supplies then add on living expenses - travel to/from uni, food, rent, etc. Where's the support for students who are at university and work part time but weren't able to get government assistance because our parents earn "too much" a.k.a. over $150,000 p.a.? We're contributing members of society and as adults our parents don't want to keep giving us cash handouts. 


3. Infrastructure - Australia's population is rapidly growing whether you like it or not. Nobody in their right mind would want to live in the most rural of places and Australia's cities aren't well designed. Let's not turn into Beijing with their thousands of skyscrapers housing millions. We need more sub-cities close to the state capitals but far away enough that the major cities aren't becoming overpopulated. We need better transport systems to cater for the masses and more toll free major roads with more then 2-3 lanes each way.


That's all I can think of for now but before I finish I just thought I'd share this piece about the pro's and con's of voting for Labor and Liberal. No I did not just add it because it favors Liberal, I added it because it's quite humerous.


"Political reasons can not and should not be justified by the appearance or beliefs of the party leaders.
IE: 
Redhead ranga should get back to the kitchen
or
Abbot is a Christian zealot with an ugly face.

Reason to not vote Labor:
1) 150 billion spending in under 3 years (Source: http://www.aofm.gov.au/)
2) 10 billion dollars a year in debt from interest alone
3) Claiming to be the reason for saving Australia from the Global Financial Crisis when infact it was the Liberal reforms from the former government which saved this country (Along with the export boom to China).
4) Mindless spending with no successful outcomes. So far all projects done by Labor have been wasteful or unsuccessful.
5) Constant false promises
6) Labor has ALWAYS put this country to debt. It took 10 years to get rid of the Hawk/Keating Labor debt.
7) Disastrous Labor implementation of: Fuelwatch, Grocery watch, pink batts, school halls, 38 of 260 promised child care centres...

Reasons not to vote Liberal:
1) Against the National Broadband Network.
2) Bringing back minor aspects of Work Choices (Note: Work choices from former Liberal Government is DEAD).

Reasons to vote Liberal:
1) Nine of the shadow ministers have been ministers in a successful government.
2) Liberal's HAVE worked out their budget plans unlike Labor who have never made nor released any.
3) Liberals have always paid off debt caused by Labor and has kept this country in surplus.
4) Realistic. No bullshit claims like "Laptop for every child", Liberals have their head straight.

Reasons to vote Labor:
1) National Broadband Network

Other:
Voting Green means Labor automatically get your vote.
End of the Liberal government saw Australia with a 40 billion dollar surplus.
Labor now sees Australia in >80 billion dollars of debt (Even that is a conservative figure).

You need a new GOVERNMENT not a new Prime minister to change this country. Just because Rudd is out, it won't change anything. 
Labor's ONLY way of bringing the country back to surplus is TAX. See the mining tax failure? Look further back, the tax on cigarettes, do you honestly think it was for our health? No. It was so that Labor can rake in more money to fund it's ludicrous spending."

18 August 2010

[shake what your mamma gave ya]

Time to put on the sweat bands and leg warmers and get moving!

Something We're Becoming / Time Machine feat. Maggie Horn
Bring It All Back / S Club 7
Can't Hold Back / Kaz James feat. Macy Gray
Bulletproof / La Roux
About You Now / Sugababes
Walking on Sunshine / Katrina and the Waves
Till the Dawn / Drew Sidora
You Make My Dreams / Hall & Oates
Hit Me Up / Gia Farrell
Can't Touch It / Ricki Lee Coulter
Please Don't Stop the Music / Rihanna
Fruit Machine / The Ting Tings
Bust A Move / Young MC
Dance In The Dark / Lady GaGa
Dancing With Myself / Billy Idol
Jump (For My Love) / Girls Aloud
Huddle Formation / The Go! Team
What I Like About You / The Kinks
Forever Remix / Gareth Nevins [Original: Chris Brown]
I Gotta Feeling / Black Eyed Peas

13 August 2010

My favourite political quotes...

In the spirit of what's going to happen next Saturday here in Australia I thought I'd list my favourite quotes by my favourite world leaders.

A house divided against itself cannot stand.
Abraham Lincoln

I am in politics because of the conflict between good and evil, and I believe that in the end good will triumph.
Margaret Thatcher

Winston, you're drunk!
I may be drunk Miss, but in the morning I will be sober and you'll still be ugly.
Winston Churchill to Bessie Braddock

We won't just automatically click our heels and follow the Americans.
John Howard

Certainly in the next 50 years we shall see a woman president, perhaps sooner than you think. A woman can and should be able to do any political job that a man can do.
Richard M. Nixon

The art of leadership is saying no, not saying yes. It is very easy to say yes.
Tony Blair

Those eyes dominated and they're absolutely right. How come I failed? How come my mission failed? how come as the commander who has the total responsibility-- We learn that, it's ingrained in us, because when we take responsibility it means the responsibility of life and death, of humans that we love.
L. Gen Romeo Dallaire on the Rwanden Genocide

01 August 2010

[change is hard, i should know]

Since I'm on the path to becoming a new, improved person I thought this weeks playlist could be all about change in one form or another and songs to inspire.

Imagine / John Lennon
Change / Taylor Swift
Tesselate / Tokyo Police Club
Everybody's Changing / Keane
21st Century Life / Sam Sparro
Any Other World / MIKA
Play That Funky Music / Wild Cherry
Bless the Broken Road / Rascal Flatts
Change / Daniel Merriweather feat. Wale
When You Believe / Mariah Carey & Whitney Houston
Somewhere Over the Rainbow & What A Wonderful World / Israel Kamakawiwo'ole
Just Stand Up / Various Artists
The Climb / Miley Cyrus
You Raise Me Up / Westlife
Born to Run / Bruce Springsteen
Beautiful Day / U2
The Final Countdown / Europe
I Can See Clearly Now (The Rain Is Gone) / Jimmy Cliff
Defying Gravity / Glee [Original: Wicked]
Seasons of Love / Stevie Wonder

xoxo B

27 July 2010

[where dreams really do come true]

The songs of my childhood...

A Girl Worth Fighting For / Mulan
I Can Go the Distance / Hercules
A Star is Born / Hercules
I Just Can't Wait To Be King / The Lion King
Eye to Eye / A Goofy Movie
If I Never Knew You / Pochahontas
Be Our Guest / Beauty & the Beast
Under the Sea / The Little Mermaid
Just Around The Riverbend / Pochahontas
A Whole New World / Aladdin
Happy Little Working Song / Enchanted
Part Of Your World / The Little Mermaid
After Today / A Goofy Movie
Never Had A Friend Like Me / Aladdin
Zero to Hero / Hercules
Strangers Like Me / Tarzan
You've Got A Friend in Me / Toy Story
Two Worlds / Tarzan
Gaston / Beauty & the Beast
When She Loved Me / Toy Story 2

13 July 2010

[thank you for the music]

Two things before I give you this weeks playlist:

Firstly, I forgot to post one last week but this one will still be 20 songs, and
Secondly, these are all songs that I've listened to my entire life and it's all thanks to one person - my dad - the one person who introduced me to the widest variety of music.
These are songs very near and dear to me. I listened to them in our old house in Oyster Bay, I hummed along to them in road trips through the Rockie Mountains, I hear them every time I walk into the kitchen and my dads plugged his iPod into the speakers and everytime I press play on my iTunes.


More Today Than Yesterday / The Spiral Starecase
Land Down Under / Men at Work
Down Town / Petula Clark
Tired of Waiting For You / The Kinks
Waiting For My Real Life To Begin / Colin Hay
Natural's Not In It / Gang of Four
Susie Q / Dale Hawkins
Little Saint Nick / The Beach Boys
She's a Rich Girl / Hall & Oates
Stand By Me / Ben E. King
Saturday In The Park / Chicago
She's A Man Eater / Hall & Oates
Pineapple Head / Crowded House
California Dreamin' / The Mamas & The Papas
Waterloo Sunset / The Kinks
I Feel Free / Cream
I Know A Place / Petula Clark
Every Breath You Take / The Police
Weather With You / Crowded House
Happy Together / The Turtles

xoxo B

23 June 2010

Just a thought...

A friend drops their plans when you're in trouble, 
shares joy in your accomplishments, 
feels sad when you're in pain.

A friend encourages your dreams and offers advice -- 
but when you don't follow it, 
they still respect and love you.
                                                                                                     ~ Unknown


20 June 2010

Generation D

I've been watching a lot of war films and TV shows lately that are pretty gruesome with lots of blood and guts. I've become so used to seeing all of this kind of stuff through these mediums and it got me thinking...has our generation become so desensitized because these images are constantly being shown to us?

Let's start off with Inglorious Basterds. I saw this a few weeks ago and there's just this one scene which is so disgusting and vomit worthy, yet after it happened once, from then on out I wasn't grossed out by it at all and then when I talked to my dad about it, he found differently. For those who have seen it, I'm referring to the Americans and their "souvenirs", for those who haven't you can find it here. Its not very pretty, just to warn you.

Then there's other movies like Pearl Harbour where men are blown apart, burnt half to death and their insides are on the outside and again, after seeing it once I wasn't disgusted at all. Same goes for the mini-series The Pacific and Band of Brothers.

Even the government smoking and car crash ads have stopped affecting me because I've seen them all too often over the years. They just don't have the element of shock anymore. Even though they're showing kids my age who do the same things as I do but who end up either paralysed or dead.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not some cold-hearted, emotionless bitch. I do care about all these things and I do find it sad but I've just become so used to seeing these images that the impact has been lost on me. Makes me wonder what they'll be allowed to show on TV when I have kids. Will a line be drawn or will these images become standard on billboards and at bus stops in the near future? And how effective will they still be?

14 June 2010

Put a dime in the jukebox and press play...

Knock Knock / Lenka
Tessie / Dropkick Murphy's
Love Lost / Temper Trap
Don't Stop Believing Regionals / Glee
Viva La Vida / Coldplay
Any Way You Want It / Glee
Don't Let Me Fall / Lenka
Run (Cover) / Leona Lewis
Light Surrounding You / Evermore
Going to a Town / Rufus Wainwright
Dangerous and Sweet / Lenka
Dancing with Myself / Billy Idol
Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds / The Beatles
Be Mine / The Kooks
Shout It Out Loud / KISS
Live Like You're Dying / Lenka
All Right Now / Free
Jitterbug / Wham
Everything / Michael Buble
Love Story / Taylor Swift

13 June 2010

You can read them like a book...

Diverting my usual Glee filled posts now to another favourite show of mine...Grey's Anatomy.

I've been watching all the season 5 and season 6 episodes and one thing occured to me (with the help of wikipedia)...the relationship between Owen and Cristina is similar to that of what you'd find in a Victorian era romance novel like Pride & Prejudice or Wuthering Heights.

My friends think I'm weird because Kevin McKidd aka Owen Hunt is my 'old man crush' (mind you my friend Kaity likes Alan Rickman - yeah! Which one do you think is weirder?) Anywho a bit of background information on these two characters and their relationship...

Cristina Yang is the best friend to Meredith. She's focused, driven, competitive and so keen on surgeries that she'll steal and hijack patients. She's pretty much the best at everything except for conveying her feelings and her bedside manner is pretty appalling. Although she has gone through some pretty emotional things in her life - losing her father for one - she's had a few relationships that she probably shouldn't have, for one her med school professor. While an intern she had a relationship with Dr. Burke - who I hate. They got engaged but after her smart hesitation to marry him he thankfully left her. And so ended that relationship. Yay.

A few seasons later, along comes Major Owen Hunt...


Owen Hunt is a US Army Trauma surgeon who has served in Iraq. He appeared briefly at the beginning of season 5 when he performed a tracheotomy on a man with a pen, suffering a wound himself he stapled it back together with no anesthetic and took out an icicle, which was embedded in Cristina. Oh and they briefly shared a hot, steamy, passionate kiss. Dr Webber offered him a position at Sacret Heart but he turned it down and went back to finish his tour in Iraq.

A few episodes later he returns all weird and what not. Later you find out that he was honourably discharged from the Army because his entire unit was killed in Iraq except him and from this he's suffered Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD).

Their relationship...after he returns and as time goes on he slowly becomes more infatuated and in love with Cristina - this is after he forgets her name and she gets all shitty with him because he's playing it all 'hot n cold' with her. They end up getting together. Time goes on. One day his ex-fiancee Beth shows up. Cristina doesn't know this. Thinks he's a Mc-Ass. She also finds out he hasn't told his mother he's back yet. She's still not impressed. He explains that he calls her weekly but keeps it brief because the son she knew before he left is not the son who returned but Cristina "see's him" as the man that returned and isn't afraid of him.

He has all these terrors and one night strangles Cristina in his sleep. Quick! Call the cops! I kid, she's fine. He's extremely angry with himself but she still cares for him. They have hot, steamy sex in the on call room (yeah, like every other bloody person in the hospital) and she's lying there in his arms and is afraid to fall asleep. They break up. Tear. He starts therapy and learns about the things that set him off and figures out ways to communicate with Cristina using three word sentences - in my trunk, take care now, etc. - because he thinks its cruel to say the three words he wants to say to her. I. Love. You. Swoon. She gets frustrated that he hasn't said any words to her other than those sentences and so he tells her about them. Before she leaves she says to him take care now. Yay.

More time passes and one day a soldier comes to the hospital for treatment and it influences Owen to consider returning to the Army. He shares this delightful news with Cristina but she disagrees with his decision and doesn't support it. Later she tells him she doesn't want him to die. They go visit his mother together. This proves to be a huge step in his PTSD recovery. He tells Cristina that he slept for the first time without nightmares and that he can be a better man for her "all she has to do is say yes". She tells him that she loves him and she can't breathe without him. Their season 5 relationship ends with them meeting half way on the cross walk where they share a passionate kiss and she says yes. She leaves. He's smiling. End.

Then in season 6 somewhere along the track, he asks his friend Teddy to work at Seattle Grace-Mercy West. You later find out that he loved her but after her admitting how she feels he stays with Cristina...for 95% of the season. But don't worry. In the end they get back together, in a way.

In summary...he's a wounded soul with a dark past and she's the damsel in distress but together they have instant chemistry and it was pretty much love at first site (they did kiss within hours of meeting each other!)

I would continue on with their season 6 relationship but it's mainly this part that makes me think how much their relationship is like a victorian romance novel. Firstly, lets look at other relationships from this era.

Heathcliff & Cathy from Wuthering Heights (in summary)...Heathcliff, an orphan, was brought home by Mr. Earnshaw, Cathy's dad one day. He and Cathy grew close and eventually fell in love. They pretty much were "one soul" aka two halves of a soul forever sundered and struggling to unite. Their love was more an addiction ("I wish I could hold you until we were both dead." - slow down crazy!) Although they both married other people because of society, they still loved one another till the end (I still remember that scene with the coffin. Eww.)

Mr Darcy & Elizabeth Bennett from Pride & Prejudice (in summary)...She comes from a family of five girls with a mother whose life mission is to get all her daughter's married off. Lizzy, the eldest, is quite rebellious (for those days) and doesn't want to marry any of her suitors. Meanwhile, her sister Jane falls in love and eventually marries Mr Bingley. Mr Bingley has a very rich and attractive friend, Mr Darcy. Mr Darcy and Lizzy don't quite hit it off and the entire book you believe they hate, actually loath is a better word, each other. She thinks he's too proud and too rich. He thinks she's not handsome enough but she's tolerable. However you later find out that they love one another much to everyone's - including their own - suprise. They see past their prejudice's and marry one another and live happily ever after.

Back to Owen & Cristina...I think that their relationship is a mixture between what Heathcliff and Cathy had and what Mr Darcy and Elizabeth had. At first there was this attraction to one another but then he went back to Iraq. Owen later returned all wounded from the war and had all these issues (which of course you would have if your entire unit except you was killed). This Owen couldn't remember who Cristina was or what had happened before he left, which of course pissed her off just a little bit. Eventually he starts to like Cristina again (cute scene in which he refers to her as a single malt scotch and not the cheap wine Mark Sloan said she was to Derek). She starts to fall for him too and eventually they come to love one another.

Time goes on...One night he strangles her in her sleep. At first she's fine with it but later can't get past it and so they break up. But she's still in love with him and so is he but for her sake he doesn't want to be. Eventually they declare their love for one another, him through "take care now" and her more so through "I can't breathe without you". Despite the fact that he invites Teddy to come work at SG-MW and they both declare their love for one another, he still loves Cristina more then Beth or Teddy and ultimately they end up together with the help of a psycho, crazy mad gunman whose wife died at the hospital and who wants to kill Derek, Dr. Webber and Lexie. But in the end all is well.

I think that they're pretty much the modern day Heathcliff & Cathy or Mr Darcy & Elizabeth. They have a love thats so complicated, but so strong at the same time. They face these dark issues but remain together during the worst of times (with the exception of the choking bit but it all works out in the end).

My friends find it weird that I find these relationships compelling and heart-warming but its not the whole deep and dark side of it that I love, it's the fact that despite what happens they always end up together in the end because their love's so strong that nothing can break the ties that bind it.

And with that, I am done.

Thoughts?

01 May 2010

My favourite Facebook groups/pages...

I've stumbled upon a few funny Facebook groups/pages lately so I thought I'd share them with you:


  • Lock your doors, you just crossed the Ipswich border
  • Osama Bin Laden - World Champion of Hide and Seek since 2001
  • Justin Bieber should stop releasing songs, he has some colouring in to do
  • Make you a sandwich? Get back to work and make me some money, bitch!
  • 1991 was the year God perfected humans
  • I'm not trying to impress you, but...I can play the recorder
  • I want to live in IKEA
  • I blame Disney for my high expectations of men
  • "That girl has such a pretty voice!" "Mom, that's Justin Bieber."
  • I feel sorry for Justin Bieber, everyone picks on her
  • Yo Usher! Are you coming out tonight? No, I've got to babysit Justin Bieber
  • and all the other Kate's Party, Justin Bieber, If Mr Bean was he'd look like this...groups.
  • When I was your age, Pluto was a planet
  • I don't care how old I get, doodle will always be a funny word.
  • Bitch please, I went to (a) Brisbane private school
  • Derek Zoolander's group for really really ridiculously good looking people
  • Neville Longbottom is a BAMF (Bad Ass Mother F*cker)
  • If you don't like chicken, there is something very wrong with you
  • Petition to get McDonalds to do deliveries
  • I've read Harry Potter 7. Now what am I supposed to do with my life?
  • If Wikipedia says it, it must be true
  • If you don't like my room messy, stop going in there!
  • I'm a bad ass cause I drive a Mazda 3
  • All I ever needed to know, I learnt from Albus Dumbledore
Okay, I think that's enough for one night. I should get to bed (it's 1.50am!)

Night xoxo