Just a few from my blog’s extensive spam inbox.

Gatsy, 20/1/2012 – I hate my life but at least this makes it baerlabe.

Oh Gatsy. Perhaps the introduction of proper spelling into your life would make it even more baerlabe!

Bobby, 20/1/2012 – Now I feel stupid. That’s celaerd it up for me

Celaer as a pile of Pixie dump.

Clarinda, 20/1/2012 – It was dark when I woke. This is a ray of snuhsine.

Snuhsine, you are my snuhsine, you make me haaaaappy, when skies are gery!

Hester, 19/1/2012 – To think, I was conusfed a minute ago.

Glad I could clear up some of the conusfesion!

Brandi, 20/1/2012 – I’m imeprsesd. You’ve really raised the bar with that.

Oh stop! All this praise is making me blush.

Got lulzy spam? Share away.

❥ ‘Big City Life’, by Mattafix. Stumbled across it in another video, and I love it.

❥ Have you seen the Vice Travel Guides?

❥ OH MY GOD. THE FUJI ROCK FESTIVAL. RADIOHEAD AND THE STONE ROSES. Now I just need a ticket/plane tickets to magically appear.

❥ Louise’s writing is incredible.

❥ I heard Polygraphia’s ‘With You’ on FBi yesterday – they’re playing Goodgod Small Club on Thursday night. Check them out!

❥ ‘Moonrise Kingdom’ trailer! Who’s coming with me to see this?

❥ There’s an illustrated book called ‘I Like Cats’. Enough said.

Points for those who spot Pix hurling her tongue out violently.

The Adventures of Tintin

★★★★

Directed by Steven Spielberg, starring Jamie Bell, Andy Serkis and Daniel Craig.

I have never been a Tintin fan. There, I said it. The comics looked boring, and the television show just as dull. But therein lies my mistake – I was completely judging Tintin before I’d even made the effort to immerse myself in the stories.

 
Last week I went along with my biffle to see the film – and secretly, I was a bit worried I’d be bored stiff. HOW WRONG I WAS. I was pleasantly surprised to find that I loved it – I was totally spellbound by the intrepid adventures of a reporter and his dog (and later, their whisky-guzzling companion).

 
The animation (based off motion-capture) in this film is spectacular. I’ve never seen anything quite like it. As bizarre as it sounds, I constantly had to double-check in my mind whether it was live-action or indeed animated – a quick look at the absurd features of some of the characters confirmed the latter! The style of the opening credits reminded me of the three brothers story in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (Part One), which is amazing (as you all probably know).

 
From Tintin HATERRRRR*~ to Tintin lover, I have to admit I’ve already seen this film twice. Once in 3D (I know, I know, I got sucked into it… finally) – and seriously, for the love of Snowy, don’t see it in 3D. My biffle and I found ourselves completely disoriented when we left the cinema!

 
Go and check this film out – it’s not just a kiddie film, and you’ll love it.

Made some resolutions? Already broken them? Awesome. Come and chill over here for a bit. Instead of making a list of half-arsed resolutions which I knew I’d break in a couple of days, I’ve decided to make a to-do list. Mmmm, lists. It’s got a heap of new things I want to try, and because they’re all attached to dates, I think they’re a lot more feasible and achievable than vague resolutions.

Here are a few of the things on my list:

❤ Starting classes in lots of fun things, ie. dance. Come and join me?

❤ Attending more events ON MY OWN (gulp) to meet new people.

❤ Taking a photo every day in 2012 – and because it’s a leap year, that means 366 photos!

❤ Starting the 30 Day Trial. Currently tossing up what to do for it, and cutting out soft drink is currently winning. Health benefits = amazeballs.

What’s on your to-do list in 2012? I’d love to see what other people are up to!

2011. Oh, you dramatic mofo of a year. For a lot of 2011, I felt like I was treading water – I couldn’t seem to make any progress, and it was a serious downer. But let’s have a look at what was awesome.

❤ Started this blog – I’ve got heaps of ideas for what I’ll do with its sweet booty in 2012.

❤ Commuted five hours a day from the Blue Mountains to Sydney, and didn’t curl up into a slater-like ball, never to be seen again!

❤ Completed my second year of uni. Woooooo!

❤ Had my own radio show! Felt like a bit of a BAMF.

❤ MOVED TO THE CITY. FUCK YES. Campy D, I love you. Except when you’re home to sieges. Seriously, what?

❤ Had amazing friends and family to keep me smiling. Even when I didn’t realise they were there to talk to.

So there you have it. 2011 had its wonderful ups and shithouse downs, but I think it definitely helped me grow. And now that I’ve had some ESSENTIAL LIFE LESSONS OMFGZ, etc. I’m SO EXCITED for 2012.

How was your 2011? What are you looking forward to next year? Let me know!

When I first heard about this exhibition coming to Sydney, I was ridiculously excited. Harry Potter! Powerhouse Museum! Put the two together and you have an AWESOME EXHIBITION!

Right?

… Not quite.

Cut for exhibition spoilers!

I had high expectations for the Harry Potter exhibition. Being cheap students and not willing to pay the normal ticket price ($30+ for adults, ditto for students), my biffle and I headed along during the day to nab ourselves $25 tickets for a 12pm session.

After some initial confusion over which counter we were meant to pick up our tickets from, we joined the end of the entry line – which was running a session late. We gradually made our way up the queue until we got to the photographer, who took our photo to put on a crappily photoshopped picture of the Hogwarts Great Hall. Which we could buy for $20 or something in the gift shop. Yay.

After this there was more waiting, and seriously, the place was freaking packed – when we got through into the first stage of the exhibition, I was surprised how many people they were letting through at once. The overcrowding sucked and again made me wonder why we’d paid so much to come to this.

The Sorting Hat section was okay, but again could have been improved by far smaller group numbers. When a few members of our group were sorted, the same audio file played over and over again as they all chose Gryffindor. Oh, and there was one Hufflepuff.

Upon walking into the next room, we were greeted by another staff member and a number of screens, which proceeded to play clips from the Harry Potter films. It was briefly engaging, until you realised there was nothing there you hadn’t seen before, and it was all a bit cheap. One of the better bits of the exhibition was the effect of the train stopping near the room – but was it worth the entry fee? Hardly.

Onto the exhibition itself, and it was interesting taking a look at all the props and costumes involved in the films – the moving portraits were fun to check out. But just as you’re starting to get right into it, you suddenly find yourself spat out into the gift shop – and it’s all over. Unless you’re going to throw yourself into a consuming frenzy and buy all the overpriced merchandise. The stock really wasn’t varied enough – it all seemed to be the same few products repeated over and over, which was disappointing when you consider how the gift shop was broken into cool little Potter-esque shops.

Do I need to get into $60 wands? I don’t think so. Sure, they were nice. But I wasn’t exactly jumping at the chance to hand over more clams when I already felt so gypped. On a side note here, I feel particularly sorry for parents taking their kids to this exhibition – one teenager (yes, teenager, not six-year-old) seemed to be throwing a tantrum because their parents wouldn’t buy them ‘SIX WANDS FOR $250!! WE SAVE LIKE, $110!!’ Painful.

The good bits:

• The idea of having the Sorting Hat, and someone popping out next to the train to welcome everyone Hagrid-style.

• Getting to throw a Quaffle and pull up a Mandrake!

• Seeing the actual props/costumes.

• Design of the gift shop.

The bad bits:

• The ideas mentioned above weren’t really fleshed out as well as they could have been – more interactivity would have been awesome.

• Way, way overpriced – both the entry fee and the gift shop.

• They shove far too many people through at once. The exhibition could have been vastly improved by having smaller groups. You don’t really get the chance to look at everything properly because there is just a press of people in every section of the exhibition.

• To be honest, it really is disappointing. I consider myself to be a pretty dedicated Potter fan, and I was let down by this exhibition.

As I mentioned on Facebook this week, my protip would be to watch the dvd extras instead of shelling out your moolah for this exhibition. You’ll see a lot more interesting things. If you’re still in the mood to spend up big in the gift shop, just go straight to that part of the exhibition for free.

Have you been to the Harry Potter exhibition? How did you find it? Let me know!

Why hello there, first-time mover! I bet you’re all pumped up to move out, right? Hell yes, sweet freedom!

You’re going to find somewhere to live right away! It’s going to be awesome! It’s going to have some ridiculously low rent! It’ll be in the perfect suburb! It’ll have magical ponies and rainbows shooting from the chimney! THERE WILL BE HOT GUYS/GIRLS NEXT DOOR!
Slooooow down.

It’s exciting. Believe me, I know. But you will burn out so quickly if you don’t pace yourself. Finding somewhere to live is HARD. Especially if you’re a bright young thing, a full-time student without a job (who still manages to support themselves), or both.

You’re sure you can afford the rent each week? Woo! You have the bond money saved up and ready to go? Great!

So do many, many other people. Who all want the same house/apartment/cardboard box/whatever you have your heart set on. And I hate to break it to you, but they’re all probably going to be a lot older than you with full-time jobs they’ve been in for years. Ouch.

So here’s my list of 10 tips for finding somewhere to live.

1. Firstly, you need to suss out what it is you’re looking for. Do you want to go into an already established sharehouse? Do you want to set your own up with friends? Or are you looking for a place on your own? The more options you’re open to, the more likely it is you’ll find somewhere.

2. Figure out your budget and STICK TO IT. Don’t forget to factor in things like food, your phone/internet bills, electricity, gas, etc.

3. Realise that some douchey people will try to convince you to live somewhere you don’t want to, mock you for allowing ‘too much’ for rent or tell you you can’t do it. If you’re fine with what you have planned and know you’ve budgeted well, does it really matter what some ragey jealous person has to say?

4. Is there a certain suburb or area you’re looking at? Hunt around to figure out what a good price is for a room/house/and so on. Would you be willing to live further out from that suburb? Would you be willing to pay more to live there?

5. Look on Domain, Gumtree, uni ad boards, etc. (nb. if you’re looking on Gumtree, PLEASE set your freak filter on in your head.)

6. ASK AROUND. Get talking to people you know to see if they know somewhere you can live, or someone who does. I’ve had a couple of options pop up this way, and while I couldn’t take them at the time (my biffle and I were set on moving somewhere together) they were great.

7. Inspections are awkward. There’s no other way to say it. But smile, and don’t be that person/group at rental inspections who eyes everyone else off and starts off someone else’s Saturday with a massive dose of the evils.

8. It sounds simple, but think about who you’re sharing with. Will you get along with them? Are they uber creepy? I personally think that as long as you feel safe in your new house, it’s all good. If they’re cool, great! If they’re a bit odd, it just gives you more of an excuse to get out and hang out with people.

9. It’s possible to find accommodation in weird ways. As long as you’re out there looking and have an open mind, you can find something better than you ever expected. The house I’m living in at the moment came about just like this – my biffle’s car broke down as she was driving into the city, and this guy came over to help her change a tyre. They got talking, she found out he had a couple of rooms to rent, and BAM. Goodbye, Blue Mountains and two+ hour commute.

10. Don’t let it get you down if it seems like you’re getting nowhere. It took me over a year to find somewhere to rent, and when I let it get to me, I felt so horrible. After our rental applications were rejected over and over and sharehouse interviews resulted in nothing, it was crap. But keep your head up and KEEP LOOKING!

What have your experiences been like in this area? Got any tips for househunters?

Melancholia

★★★★

Directed by Lars von Trier, starring Kirsten Dunst and Charlotte Gainsbourg.

I was lucky enough to pick up some free tix to this courtesy of Two Thousand. After some coercing, Kt came along as my plus one.

The good bits were…

• The overall look of the film itself. It’s beautiful.
• The handheld camerawork. Not too jarring, it just drew me in.
• Seeing the conclusion of the film at its beginning.
• Wedding dance-ified ‘La Bamba’. Hell yes.

And the bad bits…

• Depressing, depressing, depressing. This film was the reason why Kt and I went to see ‘New Year’s Eve’ the next evening – we needed something absolutely ridiculous to laugh at!

Overall, I loved this film. It’s beautiful and intriguing, but if you’re having a bad day… stay away.

New Year’s Eve

★

Directed by Garry Marshall, starring Sarah Jessica Parker and Jessica Biel.

As I mentioned before, Kt and I were looking for a terrible movie to cheer us up after ‘Melancholia’. After a quick search of current releases, we found exactly what we needed.

The good bits were…

• It’s a lame, cheesy Hollywood holiday film. You know what to expect.

And the bad bits…

• It’s a lame, cheesy Hollywood holiday film.

Go into this with a good friend and mock everything. You’ll have a ball.

Hence, A SQUEE POST.

THE INNER WEST, MAN. WOO! We (ie. my biffle and I) have been househunting for a year. A freaking year. The Sydney rental market is ridiculously competitive and sob-inducing – so expect a list of tips/advice/handy hints soon.

MORE WHEN I GET INTERNET!