The Rationalist Manifesto

Home sweet home! ;-)

Bookmark to:

On Sunday evening John and I went to see the ‘Best of Festival’ screening at the Melbourne International Animation Festival at ACMI. It was very cool, and we also found out at the time that there is a Pixar exhibition starting this week, including panels by Pixar creatives. We’ll be going to one of the more interesting ones, that cover the creative process at Pixar itself. (Yes, I know you are jealous Tasha ;-)

For the exhibition promotion they have some pretty familiar and extra cool characters on display!

…Just in case you were wondering, the Monsters are the two on the right ;p

Bookmark to:

Caught up with Dave/Dov yesterday and we went by his recommendation to a Japanese restaurant called Shoya, near where Market Lane meets Little Bourke St. It was an amazing culinary experience! Definitely the best Japanese food I’ve ever tasted.

The restaurant is divided into four sections and we had been seated in the “Traditional Dining” section. We decided on a seven course ‘Chef’s Meal’ and each dish (except for one) was an experience to savour!

One of the dishes was assorted Sashimi presented in an hollowed out ice ball, it was a sight to behold as well as being incredibly tasty, they have the ultimate salmon in that restaurant. The first two photos are from the site, and the latter two are from my crappy cellphone camera:

Note that once the temperature rises a bit in the ball, it turns completely clear, they seem to use purified water so there is absolutely no imperfections in the ice, it really almost looks like the Sashimi is floating in crystal.

Other dishes included crab meat wrapped in something I didn’t recognize dipped in monk fish liver sauce, sea-urchin hollowed out and filled with itself along with salmon caviar, Wagyu beef (like Kobe beef) tartar and more.

I had a really great time there and will return for special occasions.

Bookmark to:

I wrote this post on the train, but for some reason my moblog software wouldn’t post, so I’m re-typing it here with some modifications ;-)

I’m on the train back from the NIN show at the Metro - it was amazing! Really great energy in the air and an incredible venue. The Metro is a night-club, but it still works for live shows as it seems to have been built as a theatre.

Trent Reznor was obviously enjoying himself tremendously on stage, and even said as much, specifically comparing how good this evening’s show was to yesterday night’s. Apparently referring to the fact that the crowd yesterday was so unruly that the show had to be cut short and some patrons were treated for head injuries from thrown beer bottles. I’m glad I wasn’t there last night and got the tickets to tonight’s show instead. Pure luck!

It was quite interesting to hear NIN’s classic songs performed in this tour, as it is almost all guitar based with little of the heavy Electronic sound that is Trent Reznor’s trademark. Some of the songs become very different when played so organically– some are better for it and some are not, but the overall effect is very powerful and tight.

While Reznor himself is definitely not a guitar hero, Aaron North, the lead guitar on this tour happily takes up the slack and gives an incredible show. North seems the type that gets very invested in the moment and does it with a flare which could easily get him into trouble, especially if someone in the crowd pisses him off…

It was such an excellent night that I’m thinking about going again tomorrow night. I had two tickets which I couldn’t find a buyer for as someone was dumping excess tickets on eBay below cost– probably a scalper who didn’t anticipate the third show being announced… The two tickets were originally for Shelly and Damien (oh the irony) and I gave one of them to my flatmate when I saw I can’t get rid of them. As the door people weren’t even looking at the ticket dates I might as well try to use the remaining ticket tomorrow. I did pay for it, and it is not like tomorrow’s show is sold out…

Props to NIN for a great evening!

Bookmark to:

Just one photo as the inside photos will wait until all the furniture are in place. But here is my house from the outside, click for a bigger picture:

Bookmark to:

Today I went with Thomas (my flatmate), Robin and Ben to the ANZAC day Australian Football League game at the Melbourne Cricket Ground, where we saw Collingwood (Magpies) battle it out with Essenden (Bombers). Collingwood eventually won 12.23 (95) to 11.13 (79).

This has been my first experience of going to a sports event and it was quite fun. While it is not something I’d be likely to do more than once a year, it was quite an experience. Being part of a 90,000 strong crowd and joining in the chants and calls was fun ;-)

Funnily enough this has been the first sports game I watched more than ten minutes of (even on TV) as I’m not into spectator sports at all…

Bookmark to:

Today* I rented a one ton van, and together with Thomas, my flatmate, went to buy some furnitures for my new place. Got a bed and closet from IKEA in Richmond, ordered a mattress from a small place in Northcote and will be popping over to South Yarra this week to get a desk that I had my eye on. Also drove to Brighton to grab two boxes of stuff from George’s.

Tomorrow’s evening after work will set the stage for the daunting task of assembling all of my new purchases…

This day was quite interesting, as it was my first time driving a one ton vehicle, one of my first few left hand driving experiences and the first time really driving around Melbourne, other than the time I drove Shelly to the Hospital and one afternoon that we drove around Brighton. While I know it’s silly, this day has filled me with a feeling of achievement which has allowed a measure of healing. A kind of Occupational Therapy, I guess. That, along with a good talk with Shelly tonight, made me feel a bit better.

One day at a time…

^{* Note: This was written after midnight, but it refers to the 9th of April.}

Bookmark to:

We’ll be signing the contract on Saturday and hopefully also moving in!

Bookmark to:

We were called yesterday by the landlords of the lovely Elsternwick apartment, and they wanted to meet us today to review us in person. We met them (a very nice young couple, by the way) and while they informed us that they still must go over all the applications, they believe ‘it looks promising’. We’re very happy but cautious as we don’t want to be disappointed… Wish us luck!

Bookmark to:

We are still looking for a new residence, but our applications keep getting rejected. Some in our Israel-bound family is blaming anti-Israel sentiment, but that is not the case. I believe it is just that it is a landlord’s market at this point and the fact that we have no Australian history. Landlords don’t want risks, and they won’t take one on a couple from the other side of the world when they have many other applications to chose from.

Shelly is due in surgery this Tuesday, and will hopefully be out of the Hospital by the next day. She has had just two more attacks since the original three, but the latest one was the worst she has had so far. The solution is in sight, so we’re just hoping for no more attacks until the procedure.

All hostels in Melbourne have been booked solid for the Gran Prix weekend some months in advanced and Mary and George were extremely kind to invite us to stay in their house while they are abroad. We’ve been staying at their very lovely house for the last two nights and will return to the Green Backpackers hostel this afternoon. Although Mary and George invited us to stay the full ten days, we rather got used to our little room at the hostel and would rather be in our ‘own’ place.

The night between Thursday and Friday was quite unpleasant for Shelly as the A/C broke in our windowless Hostel room and she couldn’t sleep. Naturally Shelly was too tired to go to Friday night dinner at George and Bella’s who kindly invited us.

Yours truly, however, slept through the heat like I sleep through any other calamity. I almost got into trouble as I tentatively accepted George’s invite before consulting with Shelly. I had no idea how tired she was as we left at different hours to go to work…

Bookmark to: