#56 The Kite Runner

oh crap, just realised that tomorrow is the last day of the month and I've yet to go to the cinema and there's nothing that I want to see on tonight at a suitable time, so I'm cheating a little and allowing myself to count a film I saw before I started this list. I'm pretty sure it was already February when I saw it, and if not then I know I saw two films at the cinema in January (the other one was Juno which was nice and fun if nothing spectacular) so its all good.
Anyway the film was pretty good I thought and very true to the book which was good because the reason I went to see it was that I'd read the book. However, I think I'm gonna make a new rule not to go and see movies adapted from books I've recently read. I felt quite emotionally detached from the film because I knew everything that was going to happen. It seemed a bit weird and pointless, since I always go to see things for the story and not for cinematography or anything else, and its a pretty emotional story. I did wonder if the film was so easy to follow if you hadnt read the book since there were some twists I dont think were clear in the film, particularly if you're like me and not so good at remembering characters' names in a film. The ending also seemed kinda cheesy although I have to admit I guess it was the same in the book but seemed less cheesy in print. Hassan was great.

#51 Warhol

finally went to the Warhol exhibition after a friend told me they had an 'up-late' session with music and drinks on Friday. it seemed much more fun going to the gallery at night than in the middle of the day, although considering it was well over 40 on Saturday it probably wouldn't have been bad to be in the air conditioned gallery. Anyway, I'm not really the biggest Warhol fan, pop art doesn't really turn me on, but this was on the list because it was one of those things we've been saying we should do since they announced the exhibit was coming to Brisbane but always seem to put off for some reason or another. anyway, it was quite good (aside from all the abundance of over-dressed try-hards, sigh) but I have to admit the most fun part was the photo booth where you could get a portrait shot taken and then they recoloured it and gave you 4 shots with different bright colour schemes Andy Warhol style.

#7 Der Tod in Venedig

hmmm, after attempting to start Thomas Mann's novella I think I'm being over ambitious with this choice. The first sentence was the manifestation of all those jokes people make about the German language when attempting to learn it - it was 6 lines long with the first verb to explain what the hell was going on only appearing at the very end of those tedious and adjective-laden lines. Guess I should have known that modern-classic literature by Nobel laureates would be a bit much for my dodgy German. I'll give it another go but reckon I might have to stick to something more Dan Brown like, or maybe The Cat in the Hat (which would be easier to stomach).

#9 - 1/30 The Razors Edge

finished The Razors Edge by W. Somerset Maugham this morning. it was pretty good too, except for the bit near the end which got a bit too much into the nature of The Absolute for me. I suppose its a book all about whats important in life and different people's versions of happiness and what makes your life worthwhile and meaningful, and it that sense it was appropriate. but somehow it wasnt consistent with the rest of the book and seemed to me to be a tangent which was difficult to follow. Its funny these stories about artistic types and the upper classes in the 20's and 30's, I cant help but feel sort of jealous wishing I too had an 'independent' income and could have wonderful tailor made clothes, go to parties all the time, dancing 'til dawn in Paris, travelling all over as I wished staying in nice hotels, all without having to work. and they always seem to be such interesting characters - the whole thing has a very romantic feel to it. but at the same time they seem so despicable and kinda of grotesque in their wanton wasting of money and their generally selfish existences either ignorant of or clearly disgusted by those less fortunate than them.
yes, I know it just a novel, but if you dont get into a story and think as though its real, theres not much point in reading it, is there?

#5 Deutsche Stunde

When I lived in Switzerland I put lots of pain and effort into learning German, now I am back in Australia I feel it rapidly vanishing, and though I have opportunity to practice I don't take advantage of it enough. As it turns out we have quite a few Germans in our group at work and at least one other Australian who wants to exercise his German, but to be honest there's probably not much in it for the poor Germans that have to listen to our dodgy grammar and accents if we just suggest a conversation hour. luckily the German club is very easy to get to from work and has great beer and food - all for a reasonable price! so I had planned for ages to organise a little trip there for fun under the guise of pretending to keep up the German. Despite double booking myself and having to send numerous emails to numerous people I now have finally organised a little excursion, although at this rate only people who dont know a word of German are coming.

#6 Casablanca

by happy coincidence just after I wrote up this list a friend of mine sent around an email saying she was organsining a classic movie night at her place and the first movie would be Casablanca. So on Saturday we went round to have a few drinks a lot of junk food and watch the movie, which I had never seen before (and hence had it on my list). I'm glad to say all the hype was well deserved, what a great movie, and funny too. Strange thing though. At the end of the movie we were talking and one of the girds asked 'so where was the movie set anyway?'. !!??!!??. surely the title of the movie does kinda give it away? and then the others started saying I think it was Portugal, or maybe Spain. what? where these people watching the same film as me? Even if they didn't know what country Casablanca was in (which was apparently the problem, but a pretty bad excuse considering each of these people have a Masters in Geography), surely all the talk of occupied France and French soil and the speaking of French and singing of the French national anthem would hint that it probably wasn't Spain or Portugal, and the map of Northern Africa possibly provided a clue too.

#50 Montrachet

last night we had a wonderful meal at Montrachet. yum yum yum. It was very authentically French which was cool, I could just about believe I was in Paris, OK I was feeling whimsical and had quite a few glasses of wine but I thought so even before that, really. It was possibly a teeny bit over priced but since we'd so been looking forward to French food and had known beforehand it would be expensive we didnt really notice - besides it was a special ocasion. Service was very very good, topping up the wine and water before you finish your glass, perfect timing between courses, always someone available if you needed them but not in your face, and not in the least bit snobby which is what I would normally dislike about expensive restaurants here. although I did find it a little odd that they picked up the serviettes and re-folded them each time you went to the bathroom. somehow i found our waiter did seem a little strange, but I cant really pinpoint why, something about the way he held his head.
anyway, all in all an entirely agreeable experience!

#47 the lift

paused at the lift today but then remembered this list and went to the stairs. progress. Normally I excuse it is bit of a 'ritual' that I use the lift when I first come in in the morning but not later in the day, but I know I'm just being lazy (and avoiding people so they dont all see that I'm just getting in at 10). of course it was kinda 1 step forward and three steps back to the overall look/feel better goal when I then ate two tim-tams at the meeting we had this morning. oh, and a pain au chocolat for breakfast (or chocolate croissant as they say here as pronouncing 'pain' is presumably too difficult). oh well, cant be all good.

#15

yay! how exciting, I already achieved something! OK its kinda cheating but I could have had the list without the blog site.

commitment

OK, I'm committing myself to being part of the 101 in 1001 'project'. I'm pretty nervous about this but it should be fun. at this point I'm predicting the most troublesome tasks will be #10, #29, #37-#40 inclusive, #48, #69, #88, #94 and everything under 'Big Picture/difficult stuff'