Brownlow 2006 Fashion Wrap-Up

Biggest surprise of the night? There wasn't any absolute shockers.

The girls are getting better at the red carpet arrivals. I'll admit that.

But there's still a lot of room for improvement.

For my international readers (all three of you), the Brownlow is Aussie Rules football's night of nights, where the beefcake footy players and their tanned, toned and titilating partners strut their stuff on the red carpet before heading into Crown Casino for a long, drawn out vote count until one finally wins the Brownlow medal, an award for the best and fairest player of the season.

As you may have guessed, I have very little interest in football itself, but I love to critique the red carpet fashions.

The good:



This is Chris Judd's partner Rebecca Twigley.

What I really like about this outfit is that the hair and the understated dress complement and highlight the girl herself, rather then having a fabulous dress that shines brighter then its wearer. Very impressive.



I like Stephanie McIntosh. This dress isn't the most amazing thing I've ever seen, but I think she's cute, and is getting much better at the fashion side of things. This style flatters her figure well too.

The bad:



Amber 'I'm famous solely for being Princess Mary's bridesmaid' Petty.

I have no words. Anyone want to help me out here?

What about 'give the girl a feather duster and she's a French Maid in purple'?

The ugly:



Adelaide's Andrew McLeod and wife Rachel

There's always one isn't there? It's not as bad as Tanya Buckley and the g-banger of 2003 but this sort of thing is just so tacky. Tacky, tacky, tacky.





This is St Kilda's Jason Gram and Kaite Williams. Sorry Kaite, but you epitomise the Brownlow trophy-girlfriend stereotype. It's not that bad I guess, just a bit too blonde, a bit too busty, a bit too Barbie for my liking.


The doubles:



Sydney's Adam Goodes (who won the Brownlow apparently) and Mara Rotheraine



Sydney's Jude Bolton with Lynnette Carroll

I know that a red dress is a no-brainer to match those lovely red and white ties, but surely these girls should have checked what the other one was wearing before showing up in such similar outfits. Apparently not.

Or maybe they got a two-for-one discount? You never know.

And the thank god for double-sided tape award goes to:



Fiona Darmody



And Rachael, wife of Warren Tredrea.

And finally, the weird:



Alan Didak and Cassie Lane.

Cassie Lane kind of reminds me of a Grecian urn.



As for the guys, there's not much to say really. The AFL was stricter with the 'black tie' code for the fellas this year, so we didn't get the metrosexual Brodie Holland stylings of last year:



I quite like Brodie's look here actually. He's a good looking guy and he pulls it off. Still, I think the decision of the AFL to go for a more classy look this year was a good idea.

What would I like to see at next years event? I'd like to see an AFL player come out and bring his male partner. I can't believe that there aren't any gay players in the whole league.

I have to admit, I feel a little guilty for not being into footy. I was born and bred in Melbourne, so it's like, my birthright to be into AFL. Maybe I'll get into it next year... or when the AFL, in an attempt to attract women viewers to the sport, gets the guys to play shirtless:



That would be sweet.

Late night musings.

On this day two years ago I visited the beautiful Isle of Capri in Italy.



The sea there really is as blue as in this photo.

I was halfway through the trip-of-a-lifetime through Western Europe. I had just been to Rome, and had seen the absolute highlight of my trip, the Sistine Chapel.



Next up would be Venice:



I was 21, and life was exciting.

On this day one year ago the boy and I were sending long I-miss-you emails to each other while he was in Germany and I was in Melbourne. I was 22, and falling in love with someone for the first time.

Now at 23, I'm putting most of my energy into studying. (Hence the late night).

There's less than two months to go now until I finish my honours year.

I wonder where I'll be this time next year, or the year after?

I guess I just hope I'll be happy.

lonelygirl15

So the first YouTube imposter has been outed. It turns out 'lonelygirl15' is a hoax created by two guys and a hired nineteen year old actress who plays a sixteen year old.



A Seattle Times article reports that:

The short videos began appearing on the Web sites YouTube and MySpace in June. The creators said Tuesday that they never intended to stage a hoax or trick people into believing their characters were real.

"We never wanted to lie to people," Beckett said.

"Our job from the beginning was not to trick people. It was to create a character that was believable," Flinders said.

If this was really the case, however, they should have made it public that the videos were fictional from the get go.

Having checked out a couple of the videos, it seems quite obvious that this isn't your typical YouTuber- the girl is very pretty, and the videos are highly stylised- but that's easy to say in hindsight. I can see how people would have fallen for it.

Her videos can be found here.

If nothing else, they're a fascinating example of how quickly a new, supposedly grass-roots internet medium can become bastardised.

Two weeks into singledom; a long way to go towards happiness.

A note: So I had planned to write a comprehensive 'In defence of Germaine' post following the events of last week, but I'm not feeling up to any critical analysis at the moment. I may still write it; I may not. Instead, I have made a list. This is about all I feel capable of at the moment. I do hope to return to a regular blogging schedule sometime soon.

Good things about being broken up:

- More time to read and watch movies. I've recently seen Clerks II (loved it), Thank You for Smoking (meh), Harold and Kumar go to White Castle (lots of fun), Girls on Top 2 (it's just as good as the first one) and Dirty Dancing, and I've read Nick Hornby's latest book A Long Way Down, Lynda Curnyn's Confessions of an Ex-girlfriend and a great break-up guide called Get Over It! by Sue Ostler.



- I've lost a couple of kilos since I didn't feel like eating anything for about ten days. (This is not however, a 'diet' I would recommend. I'd choose to be more voluptuous and happy over slightly thinner and heartbroken any day. Still, I'm taking what I can get.)

- In theory at least, I have more time to focus on uni. Probably should be doing that now actually.

- More time for my friends.

- I've managed not to get really, really depressed about it all. That's something, I guess.

- It's a good chance to think about who I am and what I want to do in the future.

- And I quite like spending time by myself. I think I'm kind of a loner at heart.

Bad things about being broken up:

- I miss him terribly.

- The thoughts of 'what did I do wrong?' and 'what could I have done differently?' that enter your head, even though you know you can't change the past.

- That it's only now, two weeks in, that I've started crying about it.

- Being alone in my bed, especially on the weekend. I miss the affection.

- The knowledge that the person you care for most doesn't feel the same way, and that the person who once loved you now doesn't.


Wow, that became quite the depressing post didn't it? My apologies for still writing about the same old topic, I'm sure you're all sick of my love life (or lack thereof) by now.

From here on in, then, I give you my oath that this blog will contain nothing more about my love life until there is actually some kind of love life to write about.

Monday Meme.

Disclaimer: I'm not sure if anyone is actually interested in my answers to this thing, but I've been tagged by not only Susanna, but Chai as well, so a meme-ing I go.



1. Three things that scare me:

Death.

Having no idea what I'm going to do after I graduate (which is happening scarily soon).

The possibility of failing uni.



2. Three people that make me laugh:

Kevin Smith.

Deb.

Quinn.



3. Three things I hate the most:

Cockroaches.

The current government's position on Asylum Seekers.

Racism.



4. Three things I don't understand:

Pretty much all science-related stuff.

Sport.

Guys.



5. Three things I'm doing right now:

Studying.

Hanging out with my new dog (He's tiny. He's sitting on my lap right now.)

Drinking tea.



6. Three things I want to do before I die:

Visit New York.

Bungee Jump or Sky Dive.

Have a happy, interesting and fulfilling life with great people around me.



7. Three things I can do:

Sing.

Skull beer really, really, really fast.

Write. I've been keeping a journal fairly regularly for over two years now.



8. Three ways to describe my personality:

Introverted.

Cynical.

Irreverent.



9. Three things I can't do:

Water ski. I tried once but I couldn't for the life of me stand up. How female of me.

Change a tyre. How female of me.

I pretty much suck at rock climbing. I don't have much (ok, any) upper body strength. How female of me.



10. Three things I think you should listen to:

I.

Don't.

Know.



11. Three things you should never listen to:

The negative voice in your head that tells you you're not good enough.

Other people who reinforce this negativity.

And that Russian pop group with the faux-lesbians. Tatu.



12. Three things I'd like to learn:

I'd like to be a good dancer. I might start going to Swing Dancing classes again since I have more free time now, being single and all.

I'd like to stick with my Italian classes and be able to speak it fluently.

I'd like to learn to cook. Since I'm the only vegetarian in my household I don't bother making really nice meals just for myself.



13. Three favourite foods:

Cheesecake (duh).
Pizza.
Chai tea.



14. Three beverages I drink regularly:

Tea.
Tea.
Tea.



15. Three shows I watched as a kid:



Degrassi Junior High

How good was Degrassi? I must have been eleven or twelve when I used to watch it, and I learnt so much from that show about wet dreams, and caffeine pills, and suicide.

I had a bit of a crush on Joey Jeremiah:



And I thought it was so cool how Stephanie got changed into slutty clothes when she went to school.

Her slogan when she wanted to be, I don't know, class president or something was:

All the way with Stephanie Kaye.

Gold.



Round the Twist.



Have you ever, ever felt like this...

Round the Twist was probably the best Aussie kids show ever. The books were nice and gross too.

The Secret World of Alex Mack.



I loved this show so much. Alex was my hero. She had powers, man. I always thought that she should have hooked up with her best friend Ray, but I think that an interracial teen romance was a bit forward for Nickelodeon so they introduced a white boy for her to date.



16. Three people I'm tagging:

I don't tag. Anyone who wants to do this meme is welcome to it.

Spring cleaning my life... oh, and the Friday Five #6: Surviving a Break Up

So I'm doing ok.

Following the break up, something in me has kicked into survival mode, and I'm putting my energy into self-preservation- going to bed at a reasonable hour; exercising every day and not stressing about uni. I've slowed things down and am taking time to think everything through. I'm not into mantras, but if I was, it'd be something like: 'I'm strong, I'll get through this'.



The biggest side effect so far has been no appetite whatsoever.


I couldn't say these are five things that have made me happy, but five things that have helped me get through this week are:

1. The fact that it's spring. Being out in the sunshine helps immensely.

2. Spending a whole hour in a hot bath with the latest issue of Frankie.

3. Cleaning my room and throwing out stuff I don't need, a symbolic 'new start'.

4. The support of a certain friend who is also having a really shitty week.

5. All the comments on the last post. To my real-life friends Paul, Stef, Amy, Kat, Jess and Chelsea, and all my lovely blog friends Cibby, Pubman, Pomgirl, Qatar Cat, Jen, Susanna, Boysenberry, Chai, Rowena, PC, Russell (you can be surprisingly sweet Russ), Jade, Chickybabe, Yublocka, TopCat, Enny, Audrey, Steph and Catherine, you guys all rock and have really helped.

...

The Friday Five topic this week is surprise, surprise, surviving a break up. Quite a narrow topic I know, but there's not much else on my mind at the moment. Well, except the boy, of course.

So after thoroughly researching the topic (read: googling 'surviving a break up'), I recommend:

1. On My Own: Surviving a Break Up This useful little post at Happygrrls has a list of things you should and shouldn't do when going through a break up. It recommends things like changing your environment, taking things day by day and not contacting your ex too soon.

2. Recover from a Breakup... Quickly. I love AskMen.com. I think heaps of their advice can be applied to women, or at least give us chicks some insights into the male mind. Curt's advice for getting over a relationship quickly is to stop feeling sorry for yourself; get rid of the things that remind you of the person; spend time with your family; get fit; and be successful.

3. Pharrah13 recommends: "accept[ing] your hurt as normal and expected. Confront it honestly and openly, but in small, manageable doses."

She also recommends keeping yourself occupied and exercising, the latter which can help you sleep.

4. The DUMPED! Survival Guide. This one has advice for getting through the first month, such as taking care of your appearance, going out dancing and pampering yourself. There are more healing after a break up links here.

5. Surviving relationship break up. I found this one especially useful. It's from the ANU counselling centre so they know their what they're taking about. An example:

A serious romantic relationship is just that - serious - but not the only one you will have in your life. You are now learning more about yourself and what love and loving relationships are best for you in future.

I like that.



P.S. Hope this post wasn't too self-indulgent.


P.P.S. Actually, no I don't. Self-indulgence is like, what blogs are for. :)