Hey Mom, Santa has a podcast! You really need to download that for Joey.

It’s official: The Snook and I are making a turducken for Thanksgiving this year. (Though what with Thanksgiving not being an official holiday in Australia, we’re moving it to Saturday.) I’ve just posted a request for advice on AskMetaFilter. Anybody here ever made one? On a related note, this thing is supposed to feed, like, twenty-five people, so if you’re in Sydney and you’d like to help eat this beast and you’re not a total random, drop me a line.

I just realized that you all get to see the new Harry Potter this week, but the Aussies have to wait til December 1st! That sucks. Hoyts is pre-selling tickets though, so I’m thinking of heading over to the Broadway that Thursday night… in costume, of course. Any other Hogwarts Alumni want to join me?

Ooh, remember that Linux Illusion Knitting Scarf that Jussi pointed me to that was unfortunately only in Finnish? She just found me the English version. Hooray! Thanks, Jussi.

Though we were busy watching a Scrubs marathon, the jubilant yells from the apartment across the way tipped us off that the Socceroos qualified for the World Cup for the first time in 32 years. Go the Aussies!

Oh good grief. I’ve found a description of the American ending of Pride & Prejudice. So it wasn’t bad enough that Mr. Darcy got saddled with “I love, love, love you”… Now he gets “Mrs Darcy, Mrs Darcy” too? Quel horror.

Best run in a long time tonight. I didn’t really feel like going out; it’s been gray and drizzly and cold all day. I threw on a long-sleeved T-shirt though and promised myself some Bourke Street Bakery sourdough if I made it to the top of Enmore Road. For music I had Max’s Boot Camp Mix pumping on the iPod. I took off through Chippendale and crossed over Cleveland, winding my way through the Uni and up past the Engineering buildings. I popped out on City Road and began the long slog up to Newtown. The rain was misting down and I was literally talking myself into each and every step. “Just up to that light pole… I meant the next light pole… Now listen, legs, you can walk when you get to the traffic light…” Somewhere along the way it started to get easier, and by the time I got to Newtown Station I felt like I was cruising. I headed up Enmore Road past the landmarks of our years living there: the Oporto we visited way too often; the Cat Protection Society where we got Dr. Amy Jones; the Blockbuster where we fed our Buffy addiction. Soon I was at my intended destination so I checked the time. Only 26 minutes! I needed a new goal. “Self,” I said, “you’re gonna run all the way to the goddamn Marrickville Metro.” Halfway there my legs started to protest, but my brain stubbornly insisted that I wasn’t turning around until I’d slapped the door of the shopping center with my hand. So I did. And then I turned right around and started the long trip back home. As I came back up City Road past the Uni, I suddenly realized that it wasn’t raining anymore. I turned over and looked over my shoulder… and stopped dead at the sight. The sun had finally broken through the clouds just as it was setting over the main quad, and it was seriously some of the prettiest “God light” you’ve ever seen. I took that as a sign that I’d done enough and walked the rest of the way to the supermarket. Elapsed jogging time: 1 hour, 10 minutes. I’m gonna be hurting tomorrow…

For the sake of future Googlers (and my own poor memory), here are the WW Points values for the menu items at Wellbeing. (They don’t have nutrition information on their website so I had to work it out from the instore fliers.)

• Salads: Chicken: 4; Vegie: 2.5; Tuna: 2.5; Sweet Chili Potato: 1.5
• Dressings: Balsamic: 1.5; Basil: 1.5; Garlic: 1.5; Herb Mayonnaise: 1.5
• Soups: Chicken & Sweetcorn: 3; Minestrone: 1; Potato, Leek & Spinach: 4; Pumpkin: 4; Tomato & Basil: .5

I didn’t bother calculating the sandwiches or risottos because they’re all off the frickin’ scale…

“Longer Pride for US Austen Fans. Huh. That’s interesting. And it reminds me that I haven’t actually given my review of the movie yet, which I just saw on the weekend. My love for the book and the BBC miniseries adaptation is well-documented, but I can honestly say that I went into this thing with an open mind. I knew they were going to have to cut out a lot to get it down to two hours, but Ebert gave it four stars and other Austen fans had told me they liked it, so I figured it couldn’t be that bad. Folks, I pretty much hated it. There were things that I definitely liked – the look of the film, Jane actually being prettier than Lizzie, Donald Sutherland, the different portrayal of Mr. Collins as less of an idiot and more of somebody scared sh*tless – but overall, I didn’t really enjoy myself. The thing that really drove me up the wall was the writing. Characters would just have paragraphs of dialogue where they’d flat-out state all their motivations and the plot exposition. It was like Pride and Prejudice for Dumbasses. Example: Charlotte’s psycho speech to Lizzie informing her that she’s marring Mr. Collins. “I’m 27-years-old and a burden on my family! I’m going to be an old maid! I’m terrifed and I need security and safety and he can give me that! Don’t judge me, Lizzie!” It sounds like I’m condensing and exaggerating, but I’m really not. That’s exactly how the characters in this version talk. OF COURSE that’s why Charlotte married him, but nobody just comes right out and says it! Darcy’s proposal in the rain was another scene that had me writhing in my seat. “I broke up my friend and your sister because your family were embarrassing and I thought she didn’t like him very much.” “SHE’S JUST SHY!” Dear Readers, I submit to you that the word “shy” appears NOWHERE in the text of Pride and Prejudice. Another dumbass exchange came when Darcy and Lizzie were discussing Lydia’s scandal: “This never would have happened if I hadn’t been too PROUD and embarrassed to tell everybody about what a rotter he is.” “No, it’s all my fault! I should’ve told everyone in town about him!” It’s like nobody has any inner monologue. They speak every single subtle motivation and thought they have. Then at the end, when Lizzie tells her Father what Darcy did for the family… my brain fell out. Why? No one would do that. Any person with two brain cells would realize how crappy and obligated that would make him feel (not to mention the fact that Darcy explicitly didn’t want anybody to know), so why does she do it in this version? I have no idea. Maybe the scriptwriter wanted to show that Mr. Bennet wasn’t giving his consent purely for monetary reasons, but because he now knew that Darcy really was a good guy. But instead to me it came off as him being pressured into it. The other big problem I had with the film was the general lack of decorum observed by everyone in it. Bingley saying to Jane, “I’ve been an unmitigated ass”? Lady Catherine de Bourgh arriving at the Bennet house in the middle of the frickin’ night with her hair all crazy? Mr. Darcy and Lizzie having a screaming sexually-charged argument in the middle of a rainstorm? Darcy striding across a field with his shirt wide open? NO WAY. NO FRIGGIN’ WAY. I understand that the social customs of the 18th century seem a little weird and foreign to us in 2005, but that doesn’t mean you can disregard them completely, especially when they constitute such a huge part of the story. How can Darcy object to Lizzie’s family’s behavior when his own sister is all “LIZZIE!” to somebody she’s never met and bouncing around the room like an idiot? Anyway… this rant is getting a little long, and I could go on for hours. (Why only one Wickham scene until the elopement? Why the lack of any seasonal progression to show the passage of time? What is up with that crazy scene where Keira Knightley just stares at the camera for three minutes and her face starts to look weirder and weirder until you’re about to jump out of your seat just to get away?) I’ll sum up by saying yeah, this is probably the best two-hour version of the story that could’ve been made. But it’s the Cliffs Notes version. You get the major characters and the major plot points, but none of the humor, subtlety, and wit that made the original so great.

Well, I ain’t wearin’ my red Crocs just yet. I stayed the same this week. I suppose that’s a positive result; at least it means my big drop last week wasn’t a fluke. And I did have three kinda-sorta blow-outs on the weekend: movie night (popcorn and Choc Top), House of Kathmandu (Nepalese food), and Una’s (Austrian food). I might’ve managed a loss with only one of those, but the trifecta was my doom. It’s cool. I’ll get to 85 next week. The meeting itself was great this week. Megan is back and everyone’s energy levels just rose. She also gave me the welcome news that she’s got a back-up recorder willing to take on the job, so I may not have to do it anymore. It’s been nice to get my meetings for free but I’m really looking forward to participating fully again. Come to think of it, my taking on the position pretty much coincides with the slowing of my weight loss…