And the Jacaranda blooms

pizza pizza

Well, it's that time of year.  Exams just finished yesterday and i'm ready for vacation.  It's been a slow week. Just studying, bushwalking, swiming, and just hanging around.  Although the weather hasn't been exactly summer, I've seemed to be able to complete a few summer activities in the past couple months.  To add to my version of the 'austalian experience', I went to the Australian Hotel yesterday and ordered some pizza.  Well, it was pizza with 'australian' meats.  I was fortunate enough to try kangaroo, emu, and crocodile.  This was obviously a novelty dish, but that doesn't mean it wasn't tasty.   (imo the emu was the best tasting).

 One of the cool things about this time of year are the Jacarandas.  Pronounced exactly as it's spelled, this tree blooms a vibrant purple.  This blooming, often signifies summer... and the dreaded exam period.  well, since i'm done with exams; for me, it signifies a nice tree.

Anyways, since its holidays (i'm not in school), I'm gonna take a break from bloggin for a couple months as well.  .  Well, i'll be travelling around here and there: recharge, relax, and keepin it real.

A night at the House

oh SNAP

Australia is known for two things: the native land of kangaroos, koallas and wallabies... and having a kickass opera house.  A couple weekends ago, I got to experience the later.  I figured, since I'm here I might as well see a show.. ya know.  get the whole experience (or something like that).  I went on a tour of the house a couple weeks before that.  pretty cool.  (some interesting facts, history, yada yada yada).  well, after the tour, I went to check out the upcoming shows.. why not?  and saw something I really really wanted to see.  Blue Ocean w/ the sydney symphony (the same dudes from BBC that make Planet Earth).  Sounded like an epic adventure with great scenery footage and awesome sound track..... but I missed it.  So a bit later, I checked out that pamphlet again and BOOM.  Pixar-In-Concert.  How could I miss this opportunity?  so a little background of the Sydney Symphony:  they've been around since the 1930's doin gigs and collaborations with artists and whatnot.  They've done some tv, movie, and video game soundtracks as well.  Some of the popular ones are: Final Fantasy, Star Trek, The Wizard of Oz... and most recently, the Lord of the Rings Trilogy.  So i'm pretty stoked, and on top of that, the venue was the Concert Hall.
 Lemme explain:  ther'es multiple theaters at the Sydney Opera House.  There's a studio, drama, and some other one that I can't remember.  All those stages are pretty technology heavy and can put on some sweet plays and musical..etc/  In the largest of the barnacles, is the Concert Hall.  This theater is the largest of them all.  featuring a 360 stage, the ceiling is held up by the roof, kinda like a bell..  let that sink in for a second.  ; the sound isn't dampened by the walls.  and to top it off, there are these 'space donuts' in the center to help with sound amplification and prevent any deadspots.  Also this theater was designed where everyone had a good seat without any view obstruction.  This was accomplished by a pretty steep 'stadium seating' arrangement followed by staggering of seats.  The concert hall (and opera house) also took hella monies to build, but has held events such as boxing matches and sumo wrestling (both one-off cases).  This might seem a bit boring, but  it's interesting to me and this is my blog.. so BooYah\!!

da Concert Hall

Alright.. on to the actual show.  Imagine a montage of every pixar movie into 5-7 minute segments.  accompanied by kickass instrumentals.  Bubbly ballads (with 'exotic' instruments) for Finding Nemo.  Upbeat spy music (heavy on the horns) for the Incredibles.  Light-hearted waltz (yep.. bet you didn't think I knew about dem waltzes) for Ratatouille.  Those were my favorites and it was all pretty moving.  For those of you familiar with cinema, you know the soundtrack/ music plays a huge part in setting the mood and ambiance, and it was pretty awesome to see film clips with that extra 'umph' and emotion....  well that's where it got a little complicated with Toy Story 3.  If you haven't seen it, it's not a movie you wanna watch with 'the guys'.  If you have seen it, then you know it tugs rips at the heart strings.  Imagine 'that scene'... you know the one near the end . now add the complex sounds of the symphony (damn you string ensemble... that goes double for the timpani).
Luckily, they finished the concert with the Randy Newman classic : ' You've got a friend in me'...it was a good note to end on.  (see what I did there?).

'MERICA

livin the dream

So, as those gifted with the blessing of tv and internets, yall know the US presidential election was this past tuesday (wednesday in australia).  Well, as an import from overseas I'd be damned if I didn't feel a bit patriotic.  Longing for the land of the free (debatable depending on who you talk to), I woke up and turned on the TV.  Not one, but two stations were covering the election.  'USA Voting' and 'America Chooses', I believe where the names of the program (one was a bit left, and another far right).  Anywho, during the programs, they'd show footage and clips of interviews of both candidates and the 'general public'..  which led me to understand the perception of America from the Australian point of view.  .  I've asked a number of people about their view on Americans and it's pretty much what was expected.  Wal-mart, the deep South, Hollywood, New York, rednecks, rascal scooter carrying the obese and uneducated.  (even though we did pretty well in the Olympics and just earlier this year, we landed on Mars.  BooYAh)

damn straight you can

 Well, who can blame them, after all everything portrayed in the news and imported tv shows are the only glimpse of American life available.  I understood how they felt, when I came over here, I didn't expect Crocodile Dundee or Steve Irwin (R.I.P.) to be strollin around, but it was all I had going for me.   (though I've only met 2 aussies that have tried surfing.. I kid you not..)  Anyways, while watching the elections, I was really surprised about how much the general public of Australia knew about American politics.  I'd bet the average Australian  would know more about US politics than an American would know about Australian politics  It was pretty impressive.  So I'm lounging around watching coverage of the elections and it cuts to the activity in Canberra (the Australian capitol).  As they were watching the elections ( i think the us ambassador is there), they had an 'American' party of sorts: red, white, and blue all around.  serving the traditional American cuisine of gumbo and hot dogs.. (but no Cheetos?).
It's quite unfortunate that the sterotypical image of the States are like this (though who doesn't appreciate gumbo?), although I know many individuals (such as yourself) who know differently.   The trick is to see this in a comical light and not take it to heart.
Hailing from California, a 3 hour drive and take you to the deserts, forests, mountains, snow, valleys, ocean, even Disneyland and Mexico (depending where you at).  not many places in this world are that diverse and these are the treasures that aren't capitalized in the media (same goes for many other states, but you get the gist.)  I'm not gonna say the US is the best country in the world (cause that's just a known fact haha/ jk), but as the most powerful country in the world, it's a nation that gets a lot of hate.  For those of you reading this (and haven't been to the States), you should check it out and i'm sure you'd enjoy it.... maybe stay a while.... and start a blog