Another quiz

Just did this University of Pennsylvania 240 questionnaire thing and here were my 5 top outcomes

Your Top Strength

Judgment, critical thinking, and open-mindedness
Thinking things through and examining them from all sides are important aspects of who you are. You do not jump to conclusions, and you rely only on solid evidence to make your decisions. You are able to change your mind.


Your Second Strength

Love of learning
You love learning new things, whether in a class or on your own. You have always loved school, reading, and museums-anywhere and everywhere there is an opportunity to learn.


Your Third Strength

Honesty, authenticity, and genuineness
You are an honest person, not only by speaking the truth but by living your life in a genuine and authentic way. You are down to earth and without pretense; you are a "real" person.


Your Fourth Strength

Industry, diligence, and perseverance
You work hard to finish what you start. No matter the project, you "get it out the door" in timely fashion. You do not get distracted when you work, and you take satisfaction in completing tasks.


Your Fifth Strength

Creativity, ingenuity, and originality
Thinking of new ways to do things is a crucial part of who you are. You are never content with doing something the conventional way if a better way is possible.

The Hangover

It's been a real age since I saw a film at a REAL CINEMA! (I can't remember the last time), but I DO know this is one of the funniest films I've seen in a cinema. The last one I saw that was as funny was The Wedding Crashers.

A lot of the humour derives from at least one brilliant comedic ingredient, the Straight man/Funny man comedy duo. This sort of has a warped version of one that really hits the spot. The funny/oddball/wrong guy-the actors name is Zach Galifianakis (apparently an LA stand up comedian) is pretty much pivotal for a lot of the humour (including a lot of the "that's just wrong *cringe*" humour". Thankfully, they have the 'cute' guy in there to counterbalance things (Bradley Cooper).

The title is a "bit" misleading. Like Death at a Funeral (one of the funniest movies of all time?), drug-induced insano behaviour fuels a lot of the antics and outcomes in the film, which sounds like a cop-out but it's not so bad because there is a bit of (a rather silly) "mystery" element to the film which makes it interesting.

Whoever wrote this script was clever, but definitely a man or bunch of men. The only two female characters of note in the film are barely in it and then they are total stereotypes-ie. the dentists fiance, who is a total bitch and completely frigid (also worth noting she is a brunette, with glasses and has a librarian type look and isn't young-stay away from these types boys!), and beats up her fiance. And Heather Graham (basically looking identical to the way she did in Boogie Nights-how much botox is that for YOU Heather!?!?), who plays a cool, nice hippy-like hooker who seems to just marry random men in Vegas- who gets the ultimate "endorsement" by the films end. Hmmmmm.

Definitely worth watching if you want a laugh and enjoyed The Wedding Crashers, Swingers and those types of films.

Rating: 8.5/10

Supermarket Shopping in Melbourne.

I am writing about my food shopping habits now because you *really need to know*. Actually, it's because apparently people are getting referred onto my blog from google due to my bold, yet absolutely spot-on proclamation that "TESCO is CRAP" from as far afield as Sheffield, Sweden to various parts of the US (British ex-pats trying to remind themselves why they should never return to the UK? hmmm).

Anyhoo, food shopping here is certainly not a dream scenario, given that the country has the world's WORST supermarket monopoly per capita (yes, I actually learned something from my subscription to the Economist). Going to either Safeway, Coles or Big W leaves my retinae bleached, my ears to the point of bleeding (from the godawful music they play) and a generally sinking feeling akin to mild depression-nobody needs that.

I think it has everything to do with what Barry Schwartz calls the Paradox of Choice-if you have the time it's very very much worth watching his short talk on it:



Although none of the three ubiquitous Aussie (I say Aussie but i'm pretty sure Safeway and Big W are American owned?) supermarkets listed don't even come close to the sheer evilness and utter awfulness of Tesco, they do indeed offer TOO MUCH CHOICE. This is not a good thing for myself. I would prefer it if someone just told me what to buy most of the time.

This is why I'm a big fan of Aldi, not only does it have the entire odd-ball German Supermarket experience down to a tee (well, it IS German, but every German supermarket I went to in the country was like this...uber efficient, friendly staff and no bags!!!), you pretty much just need to pick from one option.

That is good for basics, but when it comes to the other stuff IGA is definitely the best 'other' option. One might even say it's somewhat 'exciting', since they are INDEPENDENTLY owned, you never know what products they may actually stock. Piedemontes of North Fitzroy is the mainstay (closest supermarket distance wise), but the IGA on High Street, Northcote has some pretty good stuff in there as well. They have to be selective, because they are generally SMALL supermarkets, somewhat like a cross between a personal grocer and the usually ridiculously large, disorientating, unnecessary modern-day affairs.

Anyway, I think that's all I'll say on supermarkets. Supermarkets are completely over-rated although more efficient than shopping on the high street. However, nothing really beats shopping on the high-street if only for the reasons of personal interaction and specialised product knowledge from people who actually know what they are selling.

nb. The best combination of foodie Heaven (quality of stuff in the shop) + ubiquitousness (somewhat like a supermarket chain) goes to Marks and Spensers Food Halls. Somehow they manage exclusivity with ubiquitousness, but that's mainly due to the sky high pricing and the fact that every experience in that place is a perfect one. Absolutely perfect. Quite unsurprisingly, of the few things that I miss about the UK that pretty much ranks in the top 3. One of the others might be H&M but that's Swedish :P

Thailand 2009!!!

I can finally use a video editor. The fruits of about 1-2 hours mucking around on imovie (that 1-2 hours includes practice in making a few other videos of other stuff).

Behold! Thailand 2009. (It's the same one as on my Facebook).