0 Down the Rabbit Hole - Sat 26 Feb 2011

Basically, the Internet is a rabbit burrow of cosmic proportions. If you're like me, you wander in, looking for one little thing and emerge 5 hours later not knowing where you are (and usually without getting the "thing" you were after in the first place!).

This is okay on a 38 degree day when you're in an air-conditioned room and don't have to be anywhere anytime anyway, but most of the time it's inconvenient and can take an immense amount of willpower to find what you were looking for and get out while you can.

If you're in Perth, you know today is a 38 degree day and perfect for getting lost down the online rabbit hole - which leads me to share with you some of the cool things I have encountered online today:

1. The must-have owl design leather handbag - how have I lived to the ripe old age of 32 without one of these things?! Available in a rainbow of colours, apparently "the slight tilt of the owl's beak makes it look more vivid!" This would probably work as a great theft deterrent, given the way the owl stares at you with those deadly eyes, threatening to take off your hand everytime you go for your keys. If a handbag's not your thing, there is also the backpack.

2. The thumb piano - no musical background is needed to play the thumb piano! I'm not sure how it sounds, but it sure looks pretty funky - and how can you go wrong with something made from a gourd! If you're looking to buy me a Christmas present this year, here's my suggestion - please don't buy me a thumb piano, I'd prefer an owl handbag instead.




3. Finally, I must profess my love for Panjabi MC and share with you the video for his song "Jogi". I have to say I really, really love it - even though there's not a thumb piano in sight! Enjoy :)

2 In which Saire is thrilled by an Orchestral performance - Sun 20 Feb 2011

Having reached an all new level of Neanderthal-like hermitry in recent weeks (you know, never leaving the house and barely covering your nakedness with rags just in case someone happens to see through the window), I figured it was high time to Step Away from the Console and Do Something ™.


Thus, prompted by the involvement of the lovely Alethea, last night I ventured to the wilds of Midland, to see a performance by the Hills Symphony Orchestra.


The theme for the night was "Spot The Segue", in which each piece of music the orchestra played was somehow linked to the preceding piece, and the delightful Conductor would invoke the audience to call out between tunes if they had "spotted" the segue. Alas, this game was way beyond my pre-school level knowledge of classical music, and much of the Conductor's in-joke commentary was lost on my ignorant ears.


BUT, music is the universal language, and once the orchestra began to play, I could understand completely. What a fantastic performance it was, with music including an excerpt from Scheherezade, the hauntingly beautiful Greensleeves and, in an encore performance, the crowd-pleasing Toreador's Song from Carmen. My favourite piece for the night was Prokofiev's Dance of the Knights from Romeo and Juliet - Op. 64: 13 (Alethea, please correct me if this is wrong!).


Seeing the Hills Symphony Orchestra was the best $5 I've spent since Coles last had that 2 for 1 deal on Omo washing powder. Very impressive. 


For your viewing pleasure, I have included a video of the London Symphony Orchestra performing Prokofiev's Dance of the Knights here. Behold the excellence! :

0 Book Review - Look for Me by Moonlight - 12 Feb 2011

Look for Me by Moonlight by Mary Downing Hahn

My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Look for Me by Moonlight follows Cynda, as she moves in with her father and his new wife when her mother leaves for Italy with her new husband. Living in an old inn, the family is settling in for a quiet winter, when a tall, dark stranger comes to stay.

Yes, this is another teenage-girl-of-divorced-and/or-dead-parents-seeks-solace-in-the-arms-of-a-strange-lover kind of story (think Twilight and The Vampire Diaries), but the difference here is that the lover turns out to be truly evil and abusive. There’s none of the wussy jealousy and petty talk you see in other YA vamp novels, oh no no no, we’re talking real and intended cruelty and psychological abuse here.

Unfortunately, the cruelty and psychological abuse are the best parts of the book.

The rest is your typical YA fare - the heroine thinks she’s ugly and gangly and that no one understands her, she has few friends and is at war with her family - you know how it goes.

Given its dark beginnings and themes throughout, Look for Me by Moonlight really could have been something great.

It’s not.

You might as well jump on the bandwagon and read Twilight instead - at least then you’ll have something to discuss with other people.

View all my reviews

I chose Look for Me by Moonlight as my book for Read It 2011's February theme of Heart Reads.