Malinger – to feign illness, in order to shirk one’s duty or avoid work.

“I know what people in pain look like… and she’s definitely not in pain.” said the stupidest, most ignorant fucking prick this side of the Black Stump, to my friend…

What gives someone the audacity, sheer gall, to meet me for a few hours, pass judgement on my body, my pain and my inescapable daily experience of it, and then decide that I’m some sort of malingerer?  What sort of arrogant wanker thinks he has the right to look into my mind, my heart, my body, and decide what I do or do not feel?  What sort of smug, pompous, self involved, vainglorious little arse of a man (who, by the way, is not in possession of any sort of medical degree, extensive nursing training or engaged in the healthcare professions), gets to decide that I am LYING about MY pain?

Many of you know me pretty well… you’ve seen me at medieval events wearing heavy and uncomfortable clothing doing things that I shouldn’t be doing, you’ve seen me laughing and being social at parties pretending everything is fine, you’ve seen me (like this fucktard has) standing around all day in pain teaching people to shoot.  You’ve seen me helping out where ever I am physically able, whilst simultaneously acknowledging and yet attempting to ignore the limitations of my body.

Some of you will know that I’m wearing bright pink today, or purple, or red, so that hopefully the people around me won’t notice the pained look in my eyes.  Some of you will know that the awkward or slightly limping gait with which I am walking is from sitting too long, or the strained expressions as I execute the extremely difficult manoeuvre of getting out of a chair is from nerves shooting pain signals around my body.  Some of you will know that I’ve constantly got more pharmaceuticals in my system than should be allowed for short blondes, or for operating machinery or for consuming alcohol.  Some of you will know these things but then will politely refrain from mentioning it, because you know that I really don’t want to talk about it.  Some of you will know that I am not really the surly bitch that my facial expressions might indicate, that it is just the strain of keeping my shit to myself all the time.

What very few of you know is just how much fucking effort it takes to keep myself upright and functioning, each and every day.  Very few of you know that I have not slept for more than five or six hours any night for the last six years.  Very few of you know that I am in so much pain that I take freezing cold showers in the middle of the night, to feel something other than pain.  Very few of you know that I am habitually just one tiny unexpected inconvenience from tears, as I constantly channel all my energy into ignoring my pain, leaving very little energy for dealing with ‘other people’s shit’.  Very few of you know how many times I have wanted to step off the planet and cease to live this painful existence.  Very few of you know how dark the dark times really are, and how little real joy there is in a life filled with pain with no hope of reprieve.

What this self centred, egotistical, callous, and downright malicious cretin of a man, who made this hideously inappropriate and ignorant comment about ME, after barely four hours acquaintance, will NEVER know is just how desperately I want to march right up to him, right now, and tell him like it is.  Tell him how horrid it is living in this traitorous body that gives me nothing but pain and heartache.  Tell him what it is like to be constantly medicated to the point where your own recollections of the days events are notoriously unreliable.  Tell him what it is like to be absolutely bone weary exhausted and yet be unable to sleep because the pain keeps you awake.  Tell him what it is like to be afraid of picking up a fucking electric jug in the kitchen or reach down to pet the puppy, without steeling yourself against potentially painful spasms that could last all day.  Tell him what it is like to have your first and foremost thought of every minute of every day be how much pain your body is experiencing.

Instead, I am just sitting here, asking myself why the fuck do I even go to such extraordinary efforts and measures to keep my chronically painful self TO MYSELF, if intellectually challenged individuals like this ignorant simpleton are going to judge me like this?

Just because I am not crying does not mean I am not in pain.
Just because I am not wearing a cast or a brace, does not mean I am not hurting.
Just because I am forcing a smile onto my face does not mean I am at ease.
Just because I am laughing and participating does not mean my body is pain free.

What it does mean, you narcissistic, brain dead, self-important, insensitive, chicken fucking dimwit… is that I have had over twenty years experience in dealing with MY pain.  And I choose not to inflict MY pain on everyone else’s life by constantly forcing others to acknowledge its existence.  Just because MY body and MY life is full of pain – day in and day out – doesn’t mean that the lives of those around me need be constantly likewise reminded and affected by MY pain.  The fact that I don’t seem like I am in pain is a sign of MY achievements, in managing and mitigating MY painful circumstances, hiding MY no-longer obvious distress at being in pain, managing to attempt going about MY life as best I can.

What you can really take away from this, is that MY PAIN HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH YOU, and I work my arse off to make sure it stays that way.

SO STOP BEING A FUCKING CUNT AND MIND YOUR OWN BUSINESS.stop being a cunt

 

Going Ticket Crazy Lately

It started innocuously enough.. my friend picked us up some tickets available through a early private pre-sale thing, to go see Jimmy Carr on the 22nd January at Brisbane City Hall.  She got on the phones as soon as they were available and we scored tickets in the second or third row if memory serves – which is a sort of dubious position to be in given the amount of audience participation at Jimmy Carr shows, but time will tell.  I am really looking forward to it – he’s like a one man game of Cards Against Humanity!  🙂

jimmycarr

Not long after that it was ‘hey, Opera Australia are doing Opera on the Beach next year’, so tickets were acquired for The Magic Flute next May… yah, Mozart under the stars with comfy chairs (somewhere in the red section), lots of wine, good company and gourmet hampers.  Sounds like lots of fun. 🙂

Opera_Beach_Flute_14_event

Screen Shot 2013-11-28 at 4.05.31 PM

Then I saw that the new Cirque show, Amaluna was going to be in New York City!  And waited desperately for several weeks for dates to be released to see if they would coincide with our planned travels for next year.  Eventually dates for NY were released and squeals of delight were heard all over the house and tickets were promptly booked to go even though we hadn’t booked flights or anything else yet!  ‘Cos that’s just how I roll… book my Cirque tickets first and then plan the rest of my travel around that.

Amaluna Cirque du Soleil New Yorkamaluna in new york seating chart plan

What was after that?  I think it was Chitty Chitty Bang Bang.  A couple of friends reported going and said that it was fabulous.  I was already toying with the idea of taking the Small Child – just to get a bit more culture stuffed into him… a bit of musical theatre can’t hurt! – and their recommendation sold the plan.  Managed to get us two tickets to a Friday afternoon matinee session on the 20th of December and I’m really looking forward to it.  We’re in the front row of the first balcony, so let’s hope he hasn’t inherited his father’s fear of heights!
chitty chitty bang banglyric theatre seating plan chart

Then I went and booked some tickets to go see La Nouba in Orlando while we are in the States… because, well if I have to go do all the space stuff in Cape Canaveral and Orlando isn’t that far away, we might as well get another Cirque show in, right?

la nouba poster

Seating chart plan for La nouba cirque du soleil Orlando

Then just yesterday I decided I could take Mum and Great Gran to go see The King and I for Christmas (don’t worry – neither of them read this blog!), so I bought tickets for that which is… looking, looking… April 29th for next year!  For the first time in years I bought tickets in the stalls – no opera which means no surtitles, no flying cars in the plot which means no potential aerobatics, and so in the stalls we are!  About eighth or ninth row towards the centre.  🙂

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The King and I

lyric theatre brisbane seating plan stalls

So, what’s left?  Well, I still need to book tickets for Ka in Las Vegas (Take Two!, hopefully we will get to see it this time).  Tickets for Beatles Love in Las Vegas maybe, and potentially tickets for Varekai in Beaumont Texas… Keith is threatening me with tickets to ice hockey games *groan* but I am going to see what I can do to get out of that.  Still, sooo many tickets!  What’s a girl to do!

UPDATE:

I’ve been busy booking more tickets – this time for Vegas.  We have got tickets booked for Penn and Teller, because I really think this is something that Mr K will enjoy.  Personally I have no idea, though I do find it kinda odd that their seating plan is arse about and the stage is at the top of the picture.  😀

penn_and_teller-blog-image

penn and teller Seating-Chart

And… We also have tickets for Ka!  Yep, second time is a charm, I am hoping.  After missing out during my last trip to Las Vegas, I am really looking forward to going and seeing this.  Fourth row, centre! Awesome.

ka-poster

ka-seating chartAnd because I am in Las Vegas, and it is the best show in town, I decided to go see ‘O’ again.  Mr K wasn’t interested… I know!  What is wrong with this man?!?  So I am going on my ownsome and leaving him to gamble.  Could be dangerous – the gambling that is.

O cirque du soleil vegas

la boheme

But wait!  There’s more!  While we are in New York and in a most fortuitous turn of events, it appears that one of my favourite operas is on – La Bohéme at running at the Metropolitan Opera.  The Met Opera House at the Lincoln Centre is HUGE, and tickets are beyond ridiculously expensive so we are going to be sitting in the Dress Circle where you can nab a seat for around $150-$200 each, and unfortunately for Mr K, this is the third balcony… which might be a tad interesting given his severe aversion to heights!  😀

No doubt this means I am going to have to rethink my wardrobe choices for our trip.  It’s going to be cold and for me that means casual because Brisbanites are not normally people who own lots of evening wear for cold weather!  And, I’m not so sure the regular Met Opera patrons would appreciate a couple of random Australians rocking up in jeans and sneakers and hoodies!

metropolian opera new york

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metropolitan opera seating chartUPDATE:

OMG… I knew this was going to cost me, only I thought it would just be money.  Mr K is retaliating for all this culture and opera and theatre and stuff and it involves… (Oh the abject horror of it all!)… attending sporting events!  I obviously didn’t think this through.  O_o

canucks-logoFirst he’s booked tickets to go see the Washington Capitals play the Vancouver Canucks (which I think is ice-hockey, but I could be wrong) for March 16th at the Verizon Centre in Washington.  From what I understand he’s got good seats (Section 121, Row E, Seats 1&2)… something to do with being towards the centre and his team aiming for that end twice?!?  I can smell the beer swilling, nacho munching puck-heads from here!

Verizon Washington Seating Chart

Toronto-Maple-LeafsHe’s still at it though!  Apparently his favourite team, the Toronto Maple Leafs (I hate them already… don’t they know it should be Leaves not Leafs!) are playing against the New Jersey Devils while we are in New York.  Now ordinarily, I’d say ‘Newark isn’t in New York, hon.’ and hope he’d drop it.  But apparently the trains are really good so it’s not that long to get out there and oh well, I am dragging him to Flushing to see Amaluna, so we are going.  Seats this time determined by ‘getting as close to the boards’ as possible.

Also, he says the Leafs (*twitch twitch*) are playing quite well at the moment, so there is a good chance they will win this game, but we can’t gloat about it if they do or we will never make it out of New Jersey alive!  Fuck me dead!  Maybe I better get myself a HockeyRoos jersey or something.

prudential centre new jersey seating_chartBoston_CelticsAwww, shit.  Apparently there’s more… the Boston Celtics are playing the Chicago Bulls while we are in Boston.  Now, I am pretty sure that is basketball and if it gets me out of a baseball games that goes for god knows how many hours, then I am in.  🙂  Celtics are sitting 8th in their division (at the moment, this of course could change) and the Bulls are just outside that… so fighting to get into the play offs.  This one I can get behind – at least I know the damn rules!  🙂  Unfortunately though, with two such well known teams, tickets are at absolute sandy lube, arse rape prices (up to $620pp)… so it’s up in the nose bleed section of the bleachers for us.

TD gardens sating chart

According to the all knowing Interwebs, the view will be something like this, (but a little more central), so not as bad as I thought and will definitely fun to just be there.  Seeing we will be sitting in an entire house of Celtics fans, I think I’ll root for the Chicago Bulls.  😛

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Fingers crossed, that is it for the Operation Opera Retaliation.  :/

BoardGame Geek Secret Santa

So, I’ve signed myself up for the Reddit Secret Santa gift swap again this year (even though I was mightily stood up last year by my Secret Santa AND my Re-matched Secret Santa… and because I have found it is so much fun sending presents to strangers, I have signed up for the BoardGame Geek Secret Santa too!

Today, my BoardGame Geek Secret Santa sent me a message… seems I have some hoops to jump through before Christmas.

“Subject: HoHoHo

Thank you for sharing some information about yourself on your profile page. It was most helpful, particularly the bit about Australian retailers. If left up to our own devices, it would take quite a long time to travel across the world to Australia and I do not want you waiting for Christmas cheer.

Before I ship off your gifts, (yes I said gifts!!), I ask that you become a little more involved here in the BGG Community. They truly are a wonderful group of people! If you could create a Geeklist detailing your personal foray/history into the boardgaming hobby and culminating into finding BGG and whatnot, that would make Santa very happy indeed. 

I promise to be in touch shortly!

Ho Ho!
-Santa”

So, first things first… what’s a GeekList?  And second things second… how do I make one?  Time to call in the expert – Big Sal to the rescue.  She came over this afternoon and showed me what they were, where they were on the (incredibly counter-intuitive and convoluted) website and gave me some advice on what to put in the GeekList.  I have just finished writing it and I’m guessing that poor old Secret Santa is probably going regret asking me to write something… it’s a bit long winded – as is my usual habit!  :S

“Not so long ago, my sister, BigSal, convinced me that I should join a community of BoardGame Geeks. It seemed like a grand idea, because once she showed me the site I could see there was lots of fantastic information here. When Secret Santa time came around, she convinced me to sign up too. Because I have participated in Reddit Gift exchanges in the past, it didn’t take much to convince me. Sending presents to strangers is awesome fun! 🙂  So, here we are, Santa has asked me to make a GeekList about how I ended up playing boardgames, someone probably should have warned him that brevity is not one of my more prevalent virtues!  😀

… ahem …

Once upon a time, when I was just a wee little girl, the first games I remember playing were card games that I used to play with my Grandma. Grandma was one helluva card player – she played Euchre and Bridge with a bunch of other wily old ladies at least a couple of times a week. and you’d have thought that she’d go easy on her granddaughters, letting them win one here and there… but not my Grandma! If she was in, she was in it to win it.

She taught us to play Canasta… ‘A quick game’s a good game, girls!’
She taught us to play 500… ‘Every little piggy’s got a heart!’
She taught us to play Cribbage… ‘That’s 15/2. 15/4. 15/6 and one for his hat!’

She used to beat us mercilessly, and I swear the dear old duck could count cards – she always knew when we were reneging, ‘I know one of you girls has the six of diamonds left, you have to follow suit you know. Those are the rules!’ We couldn’t pull the wool over Grandma’s eyes, no matter how hard we tried.

Other than cards, most of the games we played as a kid were fairly solid late 70s and early 80s staples…

games uno againUNO:
 My family used to camp a LOT when I was a kid and I don’t just mean a week away here, or a week away there. When we went camping, my parents would pull us out of school and we would pack up the 4WD, the tent and head Outback to some unheard of destination on a well planned three month holiday where we spent our days exploring National Parks and climbing mountains and our nights around the campfire. On days when it rained, my Mum would pull out the Uno which was easy enough for even my 6 year old sister to play, and we’d play for hours, laughing and ganging up on my Dad. To this very day, playing Uno reminds me of the smell of wet canvas.  🙂

game scrabble 1SCRABBLE:  My other favourite board game as a kid was Scrabble. I’ve always been in love with words and language – oddly for an Aussie, I actually used my dictionaries for something other than squashing spiders, and would frequently read them… for fun! I loved learning big words and clever, high scoring little words. But I remember getting frustrated when I pulled crap letters out of the Scrabble bag and so I used to roll the bag around until I thought I glimpsed better letters to pull out. I always wanted the x, J, Q, Z and harder letters for higher scores. Sometimes when I was bored, I would cheat by taking letters off the board and swapping them with letters from my tray when my sisters were busy studying their trays. Strangely no one ever noticed when a word changed from ‘wander’ to ‘wanter’! Nowadays, I’d never cheat at Scrabble, but I still can’t get people to play with me because people have been calling me a walking dictionary since I was a teenager. (I love Words With Friends if anyone wants to play – search for me: borysSNORC)

game trivial pursuitTRIVIAL PURSUIT:  The next main board game that had a significant impact on my formative years would have to be Trivial Pursuit – the original version, of course. I used to love that game! We played it a lot when I was a teenager. I always used to pick the Green (Science) and Blue (Geography) questions… and I always struggled to win the Orange (Sports) slice of pie. Unless I got a random question about darts, snooker or horse racing, I could never win the Orange piece of pie. It would frustrate me to no end. Actually, we pulled out the original Trivial Pursuit game not so long ago and tried to play it… I did much better with the History and Literature questions than I used to do but it was weird how many of the questions were no longer relevant any more – and none of us could answer them. Equally weird was how fast I could still move the pieces around the board in rapid 3s and 5s to keep the players landing on the ‘Roll Again’ spots.  😛

game pictionaryPICTIONARY:  Another favourite game we used to play a great deal was Pictionary. I don’t know who invented Pictionary but I’d be very interested to find out just how many relationship spats they are responsible for! We had (still have!) a rule around here – no playing Pictionary with your spouse/partner. For some reason, the menfolk of our acquaintance simply can’t draw to save themselves (perhaps because many of them are fantastic IT geeks rather than artists!) and this has led to many occasions where a couple find themselves getting so frustrated with one another that a huge row will ensue about the state of each others drawings. We also have another rule around here – I am not allow to team up with my sister Salaberge… she and I draw too well and always wipe the floor with our opponents! So to keep things fair, we don’t play together anymore.  😀

game articulateARTICULATE:  Now that ‘no pairing up with Salaberge’ rule, goes double for Articulate! We are similar in age and have had sooo many shared experiences that once we start playing Articulate, the clues are often so obscure, and so full of in jokes, that no one else can understand how we can possibly convey the answers! For example, I remember one time we were playing and I had to describe to her the people: ‘Rogers and Hammerstein’. Some people might have launched into a list of their musicals. I didn’t. These were the clues she got: ‘First name, “Slow down I’m frightened!”. Second name, ‘You hit a nail with it and you drink beer in Germany from this!”.’ My sister Salaberge was on it in a heartbeat and yelled out ‘Rogers and Hammerstein!’ so quickly it left our opponents literally throwing in the cards and refusing to play any further… and left me explaining a story about our mutual friend BluddyMary had a driving instructor that told her to say that to speeding boyfriends some twenty years earlier! Yeah… I wouldn’t play against us either. 😛

game carcassonneCARCASSONNE: In more recent years we have taken to playing more strategy type games… I have Carcassonne and love to play it with my brother in law who has actually been to Carcassonne and loves the region. Carcassonne is one of those games that we *have* to play with plenty of red wine in stock. We like to sit in comfy chairs, drink some nice shiraz from the Hunter Valley paired with an elaborately made up cheese board and settle in for a night of games with good friends.   We also love games like Settlers of Catan, Ticket to Ride, Pandemic, and a whole host of other games that my friends have.  One game I have to say, I absolutely abhor is Ankh Morpork. ‘Tis quite the worst* game I have ever endeavoured to play in my entire life (*perhaps a slight exaggeration, but nothing else comes to mind!). You have to have the conditions to win met at the BEGINNING of your turn, so the one and only time I played it I had won and lost it four times over dragging out the inevitable victory until I had no satisfaction in winning it at all. It is very tedious indeed! Never again!

game cards against humanityCARDS AGAINST HUMANITY:   OMG… Have played this a few times, and with the right friends and the right amount of alcohol and you find yourself in a card game version of American Pie – it is so absurd and so absolutely lacking in decorum, good taste or sensibility and yet you find yourself laughing so hard that your sides ache and your cheeks are sore.  Your quiet and respectable friends are suddenly surprising you with the levels of depravity that are coming out of their imaginations.  Your louder and more gregarious friends are absolutely excelling themselves at providing the most groan-worthy and appalling juxtapositions of concepts that you’re not sure you can survive another hand.  Your best friend who you have known for a lifetime comes out with some of the most rude, and deliberately insensitive combinations that you find yourself thinking, ‘Who are these people!?’  And before you know it, you’re working hard to try and top them in the depravity stakes… it’s like you suddenly found yourself on the bad side of the internet – and for some reason, instead of running screaming from the room, you find it hilarious.  You’ll laugh until you cry, and then you’ll feel guilty at having found amusement in such abhorrent phenomena!
UPDATE:
Today I came home from holidays and found a present under the tree (well, in a DHL shipping box, but you get the idea) from BoardGame Geek’s Secret Santa… and I received these!
boardgame geek secret santa galaxy trucker love letter

BigSal assures me this is an awesome fun game and no doubt we will get to give it a go over the holidays at some point.  I had a lot of fun sending stuff to my secret santa who was in the US.  As well, as stuff I sent to my Reddit secret santa who was in Germany.  So much fun sending presents to people all over the world.  Get amongst it.  🙂

 

Vikings Exhibition at Australian Maritime Museum

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Took a couple of days in Sydney, ostensibly to go check out the ‘Vikings Beyond the Legend’ exhibition currently being hosted at the Australian Maritime Museum, but happily also to catch up with a handful of friends whom I didn’t even know were in Sydney for these days!  Fortuitous turn of events, indeed.

Anyway, the Viking exhibition.  I was very much looking forward to it as my knowledge of viking history is somewhat rudimentary and I was hoping this would prove an opportunity to, you know… learn some ‘stuff’.  The artefacts on display were amazing… there were some remarkably well preserved items showing a wide range of decorative arts from throughout the period, from jewellery (broaches, necklaces, bangles, beads, etc.,) to swords, daggers, shield bosses, combs, and other domestic items of anter and bone.

viking exhibition 2 bronze necklace torc viking exhibition 1 bronze work

However, I was really disappointed with the information labelling each item.  Objects were listed by their type, material, geographical location and NO indicators of what time frame they came from.  Bizarre.  I really don’t know what the curatorial team were thinking… apparently the entire exhibit came ‘as is’ from Sweden, having been designed, staged, labelled and presented as you see it everywhere it goes.  So they have given each item a blurb that reads what the item is, what the item is made from, and where the item is found, but no information on what period the item originates from?!  Seems, the introduction info stating that the Norsemen viking era ranged from the 8th -11th centuries is sufficient for most punters.  So if you’re a history student, a bit of a research buff or a re-enactor who might want more information… you’ll kind of have to treat this exhibit like Wikipedia – a jumping off point to go exploring for more information on your own time.viking exhibtion 10 viking christian designs viking christian designs 2

The other weird thing I found odd about the exhibit (and I don’t want to sound like I did not enjoy it – because I did, the items were simply beautiful), was that they didn’t seem to know who their audience was.  Several items were there very much designed to attract the attention of children – display on Norse mythology and viking boat building, for example were very much designed for school aged children with interactive computer touchscreens spoon feeding the kids with some history and culture.  But then other displays had information written on backlit horizontal surfaces at waist height behind an artefact that anyone less than 5′ tall wouldn’t have a hope in hell of trying to read.  Many of the information panels were at coffee table height, again aimed at kids, which meant you walked through the whole thing looking down, and other items were arranged in a free form manner – no obvious or direct ‘flow of traffic’ which visitors could follow to ensure they saw all the items on display.  Whole thing felt like the curatorial staff were trying to hard to do something different and basically threw out all the tried and true exhibition practices that had stood the test of time.  Bit annoying.

viking embroidery design1 These two images were taken from Överhogdal tapestries, (no portion of the actual Överhogdal tapestries were accompanying this particular exhibit – the images were included to demonstrate the richness and vividness of Norse textiles and decorative arts), and they depict the destruction of Ragnarök, effectively the Norse version of the apocalypse.  I snapped some pics of them as they may provide interesting designs that could be adapted for embroidery projects down the track.
viking embroidery design 2

viking beads 1I was really hoping there would be plenty of information about the viking propensity for beads.  I have bought myself some tortoise broaches at Pennsic War earlier this year and have been wanting to start collecting some beads to go with them – but literally didn’t know where to start, so was glad to see that there were so many sets of beads on display at this exhibition.  It think these collections give a good feel for the types of beads that Norse women have have worn.  However, once again the weird arse exhibition practices have deserted us, and the labels on the various strings of beads came with no information regarding the possible wealth or rank of their potential owners, nor any indication of the time frames they most likely derived from… So, they could have been daily wear for the middle class or ceremonial wear for the aristocracy, and somewhere from the 8thC to 11thC or anywhere in between.  More research required.

viking beads 2 viking beads 3 viking beads 4 viking hoard

The broaches they had on display were pretty amazing.  There were several sets of tortoise broaches, animal head broaches and these enormous box broaches.  They must have weighed a tonne, I can’t imagine wearing them … they were about 3″ across, 1′ high and made of solid iron or bronze.  I imagine hanging those of the front of your garment would not have been kind to the bustline over time, especially when age and gravity are already not exactly your friends in that department.

viking box broach viking button and brooch This thing (above) is a broach and button and looking at it on the screen right now – it’s showing up about actual size.  Again, one helluva chunky bit of bling to be wearing about.   Might have been nice to have some of the weights of these actual items listed in with the descriptions, but seeing that they weren’t even accompanied by estimated time periods, sigh… further information like the weight of the item is just wishful thinking.viking cup This gorgeous little cup is about the size of a modern shot glass.  It has a Jellinge style zoomorphic design engraved/carved into it and was stunningly well preserved for something that is potentially 800-1200 years old (so vague!).  I wish I had been able to get closer to it (or that there was decent photos of it in the catalogue) as I think I’d like to have a go at making one of these.viking artwork viking exhibition iron rivets long boatVikings catalogueBy the time we got to the end of the exhibit I was desperately wanting to see the catalogue to discover if that be where all the missing information that I desperately wanted to see, was lurking.  But, no such luck.

The Director of the exhibition, Gunnar Andersson, was also the editor/author of the catalogue and yet again, actual dates of the artefacts were deemed not necessary! The photography in the catalogue was a bit ho-hum… so, I didn’t end up buying a copy, which is a bit unusual for me.  Ordinarily exhibition catalogues are the ducks nuts – full of tidbits of information that are hard to come by on the internet or only found by digging around in wordy and boring journal articles.  But not so much on this occasion!

All up I am glad I took the trouble to see the exhibition, and given it is not coming to BrisVegas, the trip to Sydney was well worth it* – some of the items on display were simply magnificent to view firsthand.  However, I was rather disappointed that the curatorial ‘vision’ for the exhibition, felt like it was trying just a little too hard to be different and didn’t seem to be appropriately aimed at any particular audience – bit too grown up for the kids; yet lacking in suitable referencing for serious scholars.

*not to mention the unexpected bonus Ansell Adams exhibition
that was also on at the Maritime Museum while we were there.

For crying out loud, they’re just boobs.

For some reason the internets are absolutely going mad about Jennifer Lawrence’s boobs, (you know, the young chickie from The Silver Lining Playbook and The Hunger Games movies).  So much so, even a little side boob sends the media into a photo frenzy.  I’m told that the fuss all stems from the fact that she hasn’t gone completely topless for any photo shoots or in any of her films.  Jesus titty fucking Christ, they’re just boobs, people!  Give it a rest.  But that seems highly unlikely for some reason, so what I want to know is – what exactly is it, with this girl’s tits?  Does she have beer flavoured nipples or something?

jennifer lawrence boobs tits 2 jennifer lawrence boobs tits 5 jennifer lawrence boobs3 jennifer lawrence side boob tits jennifer lawrences boobs tits side 1 > on February 23, 2013 in Santa Monica, California. JenniferLawrence-boobs tits side esquire01

jennifer lawrence boobs tits 8

 

One thing is for sure… she’s not shy about being scantily clad.  It’s probably only a matter of time until it’s all hanging out and they will leave her the hell alone.