baby me, and you'll be peeing through a catheter!

there really is something so very very wrong with my ears and how they really really do not like the word 'baby' in reference to me. 'babe', seems to be slightly more acceptable but it does have to come from the right person. it was pointed out to me this week that such endearments must be earned. with friends through trial and tribulation. still, the independent person in me distinctly dislikes being called 'babe' by any man.

i think that it creates a hostility in me that probably has to do with power struggle and domination. now, before you get excited i don't mean domination in the wips and chains kind of extreme way but, there might be an element of that. being called 'that word' (i'm sorry i can't even type it anymore) by a man suggests some sort of immediate submissive dynamic that, to me, always feels like i am being talked down to. as though, i am just the little woman waiting for the man's commands that, i am an almost infantile sexual partner who will agree to without question.

i don't think so!

there is a reason i have included a picture of the lovely agent dana scully. the title of this post is thanks to her and also as a teenager i saw her as a great example of a strong, independent modern woman. even if she did have a penchant for getting kidnapped and shot at.

chevron seven locked.

quick re-blog. my dear sister has her very own blog shaped play thing. check it out and follow her as she travels around 'the land of the free'. a recent day trip, for example, saw her experience the boring sport of baseball.

link link link -> here.

question time: the only thing that can make me that angry and bored at the same time.

now, don't tell anyone but i do on occasion partake in a nice afternoon of not wearing pants and yelling at the television. that might sound just a little bit bad but there is a perfectly reasonable explanation. here we go, this is hard, hi my name is michelle and i'm addicted to question time. wow, that wasn't so bad. but, seriously i really like watching politicians yelling at each other across a room about the politics of the day. does sometime worry me that these people control the country but then julia gillard speaks and i feel a warm glow of security again.

this is unquestionably the greatest thing on free to air television. it is the only thing that can make you absolutely furious and bored at the exact same time. not sure, what that says about me as a normal well rounded individual but hey if i let things like that bother me i would never have gone to bulgaria. which actually in hind-sight wasn't a good idea.

i digress. i do have a sordid voting past. i did vote for john howard (twice eek, please don't lynch me) but i was young and he was good for comedians morale. the latest federal liberal party re-shuffle has me scared. i might have voted for malcolm turnbull, he was quite left for a conservative, and seemed to be somewhat sane. BUT, tony abbott has this bizarre ability to both terrify and anger me without even opening his mouth. then when he does speak you can't not picture him in his speedos.

vomit! this is not america, this is not a country that elects someone because they can lift the heavy thing. i wasn't that worried about his ability to win the next election against our current prime minister but some very smart people are telling me that some aussies are buying what el doucho abbott is selling. tax hikes, outrageous policy shaped by jesus, internet sensorship comparable to china's, no national broadband, taking money away from school kids and giving it to their pals the mining industry. oh and lets not forget 'work choices' that i now believe is 'abbott's box of arse magic'. i could be wrong there but still, if the man had his way secular australian society would become as insane as americas 'in god we trust'. where one third of the population believing in an actual devil (with horns and a tail). that is true by the way. the country of operaology....

then there is julie bishop. i think she might just be the wicked witch of the west. and not the fuzzy singing one of 'wicked'. keep half expecting her to turn green and start running around the house of representatives cackling and calling for her flying monkeys. though, if the liberal party gets into power in the next election the witch will probably have a sexy new hat and her monkeys out of work. then again, abbott looks a bit monkey-like so maybe not.

internet bulling is really really bad. that is, unless you win!

a rather public facebook slinging match occurred yesterday between an acquaintance of mine and an extremely undignified girl with the emotional range of a teaspoon. as usual i inserted myself and littered the argument, with a fun turn of phrase and pop culture references. it wasn't so much that this girl, lets call her 'chase', was a nasty piece of work and very rude to all involved, she was. but, it was more that she kept ending her sentences with a preposition that really bugged me. moreover, she had no punctuation and kept using the world 'civilised'. i think this was because it has 3 syllables and she thought that the use of it made her seem smart. she then proceeded to leave out vowels and consonants of innocuous words like 'lik'.

i know i am a bit of a grammar snob, but this comes from the fact that, i have terrible grammar and spelling (as wados can attest too). still, i get away with blue murder by RUNNING WORDS THROUGH SPELL CHECK. it really isn't that hard. how do you expect anyone to listen to your argument when you spell like you are in kindergarten? a slow kindergartener at that.

it's not that being unable to spell correctly makes you a bad person. everyone is free to write however they like. but, what someone should tell chase is that when you comment on facebook or send an email full of misspellings and errant apostrophes people judge you; and by people, i mean me. i don't think this is just arrogant snobbery on my part because if you were a bad writer and not great at spelling then (like me) you would check the contents of you comment before sending. also, this is a public space. people of the public read your comments. the real life equivalent is going out wearing a bright pink jumper with an alien on it and then expecting people to take you seriously.

still, this fetishisation of language/spelling does piss me off to no end. it isn't something that should be trendy! mostly because it is simply useful. then again, i would rather be judged by my ability to use the english language than return to the days of yore when the arbitrary measure of a human's worth was how many animals they could kill or their talents with a pastry bag.

i think 'chase' ought to check out a nice little video i have found for her. it outlines some of the mistakes she made. you know, so when she picks a fight with someone next time she will at least be able to say, 'i couldn't care less!' correctly. other snappy phrases are also included in this video so she won't, in the future, speak like a rhesus monkey on speed!

also, i am sure there are many grammatical and general language mistakes in this rant. as such, i would urge you to point them out. it's how i learn. except wados, you have done enough for this post my friend.

a lovely man speaking in a lovely house.

exciting time here in michelle's world! one celebrity encounter with the amazing brian chase; made a slight douche of myself in front of him by swooning over his obvious love for me and my inevitable close friendship with karen o. but now, tickets go on sale to see stephen fry speak at the sydney opera house! the wonderful man of words, wit and wondrous neck ties is coming to speak in july. he could be my connection to david mitchell and hugh laurie.... still, other than that i am so excited to see the mans mind at work in person. squee!

you still might be able to get your hot qi loving hands on tickets. might have to go to the box office but i'm sure you can get them online. check out the official site here. hopefully we can have some post speech drinks and discuss the witticisms of the evening. i'm not drinking before hand, need to be completely sober and ready to absorb all the amazingness i can.

one bandwagon i won't be jumping on.

james cameron is to blame but it really isn't just his fault. 3d is the most absurd crazy this decade. i really must be missing something, i just do not see the fascination.

i live my entire life in 3d, why in the world would i want to go and escape my boring life only be forced to wear unattractive glasses and have it seem as though spears are being thrown at me? this anger has come from the latest news on the 3d front, 3d tv. is anyone really going to buy these and sit at home watching backyard blitz in blue and red glasses going, 'it really feels as though you are in their backyard!'? you know, because you don't have one of those.....wait....

it also isn't even that great. to be honest the whole experience left me feeling distinctly queazy. caution 3d may cause you to look like a loser and motion sickness. though, i do have to admit i really love this picture. the lady at the front looks like she is having a gay old time.

christmas in....may?

yes yes i know it is traditionally in december or july but here i go again, bucking the trend. but, today i watched 'love actually'. again. and remembered why i love it and wish i was english or even just lived in london again. there are two reasons i love this movie. one, the airport scenes that bookend the movie are rather amazing. real footage from heathrow airport is used wonderfully to highlight the nice family side of humanity. gives you a nice warm and fuzzy feeling in your heart. secondly, the cast. not just the obviously well breed and eloquent cast of rickman, thompson, nighy, neeson, linney, atkinson, firth and grant (who is a rather good dancer, as it turns out) but the kid that plays neeson's step-son steals the movie in my opinion. thomas sangster is his name and he is an absolute cutie. makes me feel quite old because as it turns out he is 20 years old. eek!

anyway, one of my fave scenes in this film. far too many to choose just one but this has music so it wins.