The 500 Hats of Bartholomew Howard
Or something. I had some scrap wool lying around so I decided to knit some hats on the weekend. The first I call the “Craig David Minimalist Ribbed Beanie,” so named because it tends to be worn on smooth RnB singers with tiny goatees and it’s so plain it doesn’t even have a cuff. I didn’t have a pattern for it; I just casted on a bunch of stitches on a circular needle and started ribbing away. Eventually I decreased. That’s it! The second one is dubbed the “Call Me MISS Mayim Bialik, Thank You! Sassy Flower Hat,” so named for its propensity to be worn on hippy dippy teenage girls in the 90’s. That one’s actually from a Rowan pattern, though I did enlarge it a bit to accommodate my giant Korean head. I picked up the flower this morning for six bucks at Accessorize. I wasn’t about to wear it in public, but the chick in the shop seemed to think I was rockin’ it… so out into the center of Sydney I strolled. I got some funny looks, and I swear one kid fell down the stairs at the QVB because he was staring at me. That’s the mark of good millinery design, I think.

80’s Lyric Quiz. How well can you do? I scored 82.5 but I missed some real groaners…

“”What we are looking for is the powdered milk equivalent for blood.” Dude, scientists are trying to make fake blood! How tomorrow is that?

50 Foodie Things to Do in Sydney. By my pathetic count, I’ve only crossed six of these off the list so far. We did the DJ’s Food Hall thing for my birthday on my first visit to Australia; we ate at Bennelong for my birthday in 2002 (though I don’t think it was “Guillaume’s” yet). We’ve recently discovered the A.C. Butchery in World Square (and, in fact, had their pork, fennel, and chili sausages for dinner tonight). I ate my first Sydney Rock Oyster on Valentine’s Day last year, and I’ve had a couple of beers at The Australian (plus more than a few Scharer’s at the Broadway Cafe around the corner from our flat). And though I haven’t been to the Wellington Cake Shop, Raelee brought us a kugelhopf into work recently and it was DIVINE. Next on the list: Tetsuya’s on October 8 with Amy.

Oh, and just WHY do I have the sudden urge to box? Because we saw Kung Fu Hustle Friday night and it kicked ten kinds of ass. Seriously, if it’s playing anywhere near you – and you have no aversion to ass-kicking – GO SEE IT. Ebert described it as “Jackie Chan and Buster Keaton meet Quentin Tarantino and Bugs Bunny;” the Snook and I described it to friends as “Jackie Chan plus Monkey plus Kill Bill.” There’s a ton of violence, but most of the really gruesome stuff happens off-screen. At one point – the bit with the snakes – I slapped my hands to my face to cover my silent screams of laughter and shock only to look over and realize that the Snook was doing the exact same thing. I also found myself wiggling in my seat and punching the air, which I only do in really good fight scenes. (For example: the Obi-Wan/Darth Maul light sabre battle in Phantom Menace did it for me; none of the fight scenes in Gladiator did.) I also lost it during the Shining homage, and the direct quotation of Spider-Man (albeit in Chinese). Seriously, you should go see it. Especially my sister, as unbeknownst to her she possesses the secret of the Lion’s Roar.

Anyone ever done boxing? I’m actually – *GULP* – thinking of trying out Boxing Works tomorrow night. They’ve got a trial offer of a week for $20. Might as well, eh? I’ll probably collapse.

Later: Drat. They suggest I do one of the “foundation” classes first just to make sure I don’t kill myself by punching incorrectly. So my heavyweight career is on hold til Thursday night…

Remember that fatty-boom-batty breakfast we had at Una’s yesterday? In a lovely bit of foodblog coincidence, Grab Your Fork went there this very morning and photographed the Snook’s exact breakfast. Can’t you just smell the rosti?

What’s your Cheese Profile? Okay, that’s officially the stupidest quiz ever. None of the answers for “What do you like best about your job?” remotely applied to me, nor do the types of car I drive. So I just made them up. And guess what? I’m “The Family Wo(Man)”, whatever that means. Shockingly, they do not list cottage cheese with my cheese profile. Instead I get Cheddar, Colby, Colby Jack, Havarti, Monterey Jack, and Swiss. You know, I like all of those, but all this stupid quiz did was mind me that you can’t get Colby Jack or Monterey Jack in Australia, and now I’m all frustrated. Thanks, American Dairy Association.

If any of you Southerners are thinking of going to Dragon*Con in Atlanta next month… you totally should, if only because you can then say “hi” to my good friend (and Farscape alum) Raelee Hill, and it would blow my mind that you paid money to go to a sci-fi convention to meet someone I work with three times a week. And tell her you’re a friend of mine. 🙂