Australian TV experience

I was briefly watching an award-winning documentary on Australian cinematography during the 70s and 80s but it was so vulgar I had to switch it off. This seems to confirm the opinion I'm coming to establish on Australian viewer sensibility based on their crime series I've seen: bloodthirsty, primitive. Instead on analyzing why it's done they concentrate on how, and do so excessively. I mean I couldn't watch or listen to the gory details and kept switching off. And I thought Australia was about Picnic at Hanging Rock and Priscilla Queen of the Desert. Live and learn.

The LED TV flop

Today I attempted to equip myself with a TV for the kitchen. The old one won't transmit some channels I mostly watch because they have been moved to frequencies beyond its reach. Therefore I can only watch my favorite channels on a newer TV in my bedroom, which successfully prevents me from cooking basically any day. After a long day at work I will choose eating cornflakes with milk in front of a favorite program rather than cooking a meal while watching something I'm not really interested in. In the hopes of becoming able to both cook and watch the programs I want I first visited several stores to compare the prices and next followed my colleague's advice to buy a 22" Toshiba LED TV currently on sale. Not that the sale has made it cheap, mind you, merely somewhat cheaper than usual. I dragged the box home by bus, freezing in the wind and drizzle at the stops, unpacked the unit and spent two hours testing it, or rather trying to set it up to the standards I've known so far.. Unpleasant surprise. The (at least) ten year old bulky SONY in my bedroom is way better picture and especially sound-wise than the flat screen wonder I've just bought. I'd say even the old TV I use in the kitchen is better. I mean the Toshiba emits sounds resembling a tiny portable radio and remains disappointing even after all its enhancing features like audio surround, enhanced bass and treble reduction are turned on. While the picture on many channels is blurred and the faster the objects in it move, the more blurred it gets. Dang. I'm returning the Toshiba to the store first thing tomorrow. I may still do some shopping for a "19" LED with a good audio" but I'm coming to realize such a thing may not exist. I'd either have to buy external speakers for the kitchen TV or buy a comfy TV table with wheels and continue to move my bedroom TV around the apartment..

Recent documentary menu

Watched:
Anthony Bourdain: No Reservations - Tuscany (2007), Tokio (2008);
Black White + Grey: A Portrait of Sam Wagstaff and Robert Mapplethorpe (2007);
Brooklyn North Homicide Squad (2000);
Cheese Slices (2008)
Dominick Dunne (2008);
The Great Happiness Space. Tale of an Osaka Love Thief (2006);
Natural Therapy in Asia (2005);
The Sketches of Frank Gehry (2005);
Two Fat Ladies (1999)

Had to miss:
Camels, Courts and Concubines (2006);
Cuisines des Terroirs (2004)

Thx man

One of the now deleted youtube comments on this remix was something like: "What? Ten minutes of this?" Well. I can't help liking it. Also, it's my blog and I can post what I want.

Ladies and gentlemen, the owner of one of the most beautiful smiles in the music industry.

Mad TV - Bon Qui Qui at King Burger

Remembering last summer.

Tonight, while doing dishes, all of a sudden I saw this little guy on TV. I wish I looked at the screen sooner. He was so very hot. Actually resembled my ex a bit with his prominent features.

Hotness, ain't he?

Miss Marple and Mr Murray

Just watched Miss Marple: The Sittaford Mystery (2006) starring, among others, James Murray as the bad boy as well as James Wilby whom I did not recognize but only found out after reading the reviews. Apparently, the movie was a horrible disappointment to Agatha Christie's fans because it was not faithful to the book. Still, blue eyed James Murray looked very seductive throughout, and he, as well as the plot, kept me in front of the screen for the full two hours. Which is very unusual, as I almost never watch fiction, but to be expected from a viewer - well, me - trying to comprehend a plot by Agatha Christie. There were so many characters, all involved in their own little intrigues, that I couldn't even remember their names, not to mention what their past and present interactions could possibly mean. I just sat there, stunned, and watched the costumes, make-up, hair and set design. Patricia Hodge was also in it. I think I'll be watching more Hallmark channel these coming weeks, I miss the English period movies. They are always so impeccable. So was James Murray in his high collar and trench coat, all buttoned up, hair cut and combed. Pretty and as English as they come. He's actually from Manchester.

Dave in a Berber coat

Here's one of my favorite moments on the Hairy Bikers show: Dave Myers sporting a Berber coat in Quarzazate.

I've been feeling quite tense all day today (heck, I have to cut some more wood tomorrow) but he's just made me laugh out loud. The way he shook his backside while covered head to ankles with the coat was hilarious. I can't put my finger on what makes me giggle so much, but it's probably that, unlike Berbers, he's got a very round figure, and also that the very generous hood kept covering his eyes.

He basically looked like an oversized garden gnome but insisted on wearing the coat throughout much of the episode.

I love their humor.

Here's some of the coat act on youtube (note 6:18-6:20). It looks even better on a large TV screen.

Last night I watched a documentary Intervention on Tressa Thompson. I didn't take pictures but damn was she goodlooking. All the way from her childhood through her adult years a strong, beautiful woman. A bit of a tomboy but she put the most charming face on it - a very pretty smile, a tender heart and a straightforward, fun-loving personality. Warmed my heart although she was a raging meth addict at the time the documentary was shot. I do hope she quit for good because the habit was beginning to show on her face.

She seemed quite a vulnerable person, the way she sunk into the local scene, got the tattoos and started doing drugs. Like she needed to belong somewhere. I mean the capri pants and a baseball cap were good for a twenty year old but when she became more womanly at thirty and still wore them, she looked more uniformed than dressed. Most of all, she seemed to need support from her family which she wasn't getting. I hope she has learned to live with it drug-free and continues to build a great life for herself.
Tressa Thompson Intervention (part 1)
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The colors of Santa Fe

So here I was, third day in an on and off pain. Trying to accomplish something on the home front during the off moments but they had been too few. Drugged but still waiting for the damned medication to work. With one eye, I was watching an episode of Take Home Chef (2005). I couldn't help noticing an interesting looking participant. Sort of a spaced out, long haired and very silent guy with no trace of smile on his face. He looked kind of Italian with thick black hair well down his back. How bizarre, I thought. To put a guy like that on the show where Curtis Stone already has a bit of a problem doing enough talking to actually keep the viewers from dozing off. (Believe me I do like Curtis, wild hair and cute smile, it's just that he's not the most talkative guy on earth.)

So I open my other eye and notice they're working in quite a stylish kitchen, and Curtis is holding a huge drink in the loveliest shade of hot pink, accented with bright green. Now these are definitely the colors you want to see on a cold November night. I turned up the volume. They were baking trout in clay wrappings which they hand decorated. Curtis did the scales and fins, so his wrapping looked like a regular fish, while the guy did a snake and complained that Curtis' wrapping was nicer. Some more cooking followed, then the silent guy took Curtis for a stroll near some art galleries and showed him an impressive, bold painting of which, apparently, he was an author. Aha. That might be why everything looked just right around his place. Wrapping up the episode, a lovely wife showed up with two daughters and they all sat down to eat outside a house painted in vivid colors, shining in the blazing sun. I was most pleased. A total eye-candy and the nicest family ever.

I was so intrigued who the silent guy was that I googled him as soon as his name appeared on screen. He turned out to be a well known Native American modernist painter from Santa Fe, Darren Vigil Gray. How strange that he would appear on an episode of Take home chef but he did. Looking at some of his works cheered me up even further, for one thing, I find the images of American desert extremely energizing. So if you need some color to lift yourself from November darkness, I believe these will do it.

Hiding Places of Natures Power #4 (2006) acrylic on canvas



untitled, acrylic on canvas



At the Gathering of the Clouds #1 (2007) acrylic on canvas



I Will Paint an Angel, acrylic on canvas



View of Abiquiu, oil on canvas



Morning Song (2007) acrylic on canvas

(Image copyrights belong to respective owners, I will take images off if required.)

Watching Si and Dave in Southern India

Rode my bike to the supermarket and back this afternoon after a couple of exhausting days spent in front of the PC. Very nice weather, warm and not windy. I purposefully chose to ride when it was already getting dark, to give myself an adrenaline shot for the long evening. It worked. My SAD is totally on top of me these days.

Dear Sexy Knickers

Love all the characters of this show. And the charming John Inman. Thanks for making me smile.

PanAsia - Journeys in Asian Cuisine

Just watched an episode of PanAsia: Journeys in Asian Cuisine (2002?) on Thekkady. I really like the host of this show, Sian Richards. That woman is so gentle and charming. Very goodlooking but doesn't come off insecure or sometimes dumb like some other pretty exotic cooking show presenters whose name I shall not mention. And she's a talented photographer. Watching and listening to her is a pleasure.

Stately Suppers - Chavenage House

I just watched an episode of the Bristish show Stately Suppers (2005) filmed at Chavenage House in the Cotswolds. I love the grand historic homes in this show but I am always particularly curious about what their kitchens look like and if they are comfortable to work in. That kitchen featured a huge black Aga range and a four burner cooking range next to it, with two undercounter cabinets on each side of the ranges. Above the ranges, there was a really long rod with hanging utensils, and above the rod a single long shelf with thick, curvy, golden-coated wooden supports, hosting shiny pots and bowls. It looked incredibly comfortable. So much space - a joy to the cook. I think I was also charmed because it seemed totally functional and unpretentious, just simple and inviting.

Voice over blunder

I've just witnessed a voice over blunder on TV. I was watching an episode of the show While You Were Out, titled New York: Sugar Hill Hideout (2004), with voice over translation read by a woman who is by no means new to this occupation. Towards the end of the episode, Evan Farmer was questioning the husband on the wife and as usual there were three answers for the husband to choose from. So Evan asks his question and the woman is comfortably reading the translation. Then Evan gives the husband the first answer and suddenly silence falls on the translation part. Evan lists the second answer - silence. While Evan proceeds to the third answer, the voice over woman goes off: "Do I read this to the end? Excuse me?" LOL. This was not what Evan said, it was the woman's question to someone present in the studio with her. A brief moment of silence followed and she proceeded to read the translation as if nothing had happened. Her voice didn't shake or anything - if you weren't paying close attention to what was being said, you wouldn't even notice. She sounded a bit off when she read the credits, though, which included her own name. I don't know what the practice is but it seems the translation was either recorded live or they didn't have time to cut it.