Groovy Greeks.

Hi all

So i finished Uni for the semester on Tuesday! I am now on holidays and I've got to say it's a nice feeling. It's weird though whenever I find myself watching tv or just out on the deck I have this sudden feeling of guilt come over me and then I remember, wait I can do this now haaha. My sister got me a copy of Horrible Histories, the Groovy Geeks it's fabulous! Really the drawings are soo funny, it's really ingenious and great way to begin topics too! Anyway so I came across this link and it posts videos of lectures from all the top Universities including Harvard, Yale, Princeton just to name a few. I clicked on the Princeton link and there are quite a number of Classics lectures the first one I'm listening to now is about why we should study Classics, I'm so excited. And then it hit me I seriously cannot get any geekier than this! haha

Until next time!

Yags

xxx

The importance of having a hobby.

So yesterday I was chatting with a couple of friends, and we were talking about having talents, and how we found ourselves to be 'talentless', and as I agreed with them one of them pointed to my desk, that is laden with Greek stuff and said "but at least you have a hobby!" And it's so true! I don't know where I would be if I didn't have this hobby. I feel like my life would be pointless and ever so boring. So let's just say I'm glad I chose to study Classics in High school, now at Uni and I'm glad I was intrigued by the stories of the Trojan War at a young age. I think having a deep interest in whatever topic is fundamentally important. It creates a sense of intrigue and interest that is hard to find anywhere else. Now, it no longer has to refer to just reading piles and piles of books, we live in a digital age, where understanding has become easier and much more widespread. To find out anything, is really just a click away. The digital means provide new insight into History that is just really incredible. So balance your interests with books (you can never have too many books) and digital means because you'll never know what you will find out!

I saw these badges on etsy.com and i laughed!

I'm also hoping to pick up the Robert Fagles collection of the Iliad, Odyssey and Aeneid tomorrow very exciting, I've wanted it for ages! :D

Yags

xxxx

Pasta, Sven, Cleopatra and Mark Antony.

Yesterday was a beautiful day here in Melbourne, perfect sunny weather :)

A group of us went out for Cindy's birthday, we decided to have lunch at South bank. We randomly went up to an Italian restaurant that served pasta. When we walked in I was like 'omg this is awesome' the whole wall in the restaurant was the painting of Cleopatra and Mark Antony named the banquet of Cleopatra by Giambattista Tiepolo, the painting depicts the famous contest between Cleopatra and Antony where they make a wager to see who can host the most lavish feast. The painting shows the end of this wager, where Cleopatra removes one of her pearl earrings a very expensive pearl earring at that and drops it into a glass of vinegar. Cleopatra thus wining the wager, as she spent the most money and her's was the most 'lavish one'. So I took a picture of the painting, and was very excited when I saw it :)

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1

Hi guys,

So yesterday Cindy, Zee and I went and watched Harry Potter after moths of waiting, watching snippets of scenes and too much anticipation the day had finally arrived. Funny how you wait for something for so long, and then it's over in the blink of an eye! So we watched it at Imax :) very exciting! The start of the film was quite excellent where they improvised well! The wedding was different to what I pictured, and as were some of the new characters. The parts that I found were quite done well were

- The tale of the three brothers

- Bathilda Bagshot scene (very scary, Cindy and I screamed ahah)

- The scene with Bellatrix at Malfoy manner where she writes 'mudblood' on Hermione's skin a quick and easy shot that depicts many different themes

- Dobby he was so cute especially with his shoes, a reminder of how he is now a free elf

- Hermione/Ron's relationship

- The last part of the film

- scene where Ron stabs the horcrux

The parts the film didn't really concentrate on-

- The horcrux's I found were not really focussed on at all. Firstly there was no proper reminder of how many are needed to be found, how many have been destroyed etc. Also the time in the book spent on discussing, planning where they would find another horcrux was not present at all probably because none of Dumbledore's memories regarding Voldemort were not shown in the previous film *cringe*. Instead the trio spent their time just sitting, at one stage Ron and Hermione are playing the piano, bit of a wtf moment and just reading.

- There is not much if anything on Dumbledore's past. I found this part very interesting in the book, especially the way Harry feels towards Dumbledore was not shown at all. Instead there would just be snippets of Rita Skeeter's article, and her book.

- The extent of Voldemort's terror and annihilation of muggles and non pure bloods was not shown to the extent that it should have. All Voldemort is really shown as is just evil, I think the movies lack the background to this super interesting character, and is really limited to his affect on others

- Dumbeldore's tomb.......... ? computerised cubes really

- and last but not at all least HARRY DANCING WITH HERMIONE this scene made me want to puke really. Okay I understand the idea behind it well and truly, but did they have to put it right in the middle. the dancing was just *gah* :( i wanted to cry right there and then.

- also, why are the ministry workers suddenly all wearing Muggle clothes, surely this was not Voldemort's new uniform code, really?!?

Okay so it looks like I didn't enjoy it, I did but some of the things really really bug me ahha. But watch it, it's very worth while I'll be watching it again with Lenka.

Here are some snaps from yesterday-

me and zenab

us three

us and Voldy

and my overall rating for the film would be a 4/5 (1 point being for the reasons above but also because it was WAY better than the last two :)

Dobby was just awesome once again very very cute, i got a bit teary when he died :'(

Also Imax had their workers dress up as Death Eaters to help people find their seats it was so so so scary. and Kudos to all the people that dressed up! ^_^

xx

Yags!

break even.

Thought I would show you guys my new buys!

So I got this book about Pharaohs which I have started reading, it's really interesting! There is a large section dedicated to Egypt and Rome including naturally Caesar and Marc Antony. Towards the end when, the focus is on Alexander the Great :)

And I got this Colosseum shaped pencil sharpener, how cool is it!! And HP glasses they're so cool!

xx

It's too hot to sleep...

Hey all,

Well Summer has officially begun today was probably the warmest day so far. Summer can be such a pain sometimes, I'm one of those people who can't go to sleep when it's hot I need a little bit of blanket!! And I have a feeling tonight is going to be like that....great!

Anyway, so today I'm going to be submitting my last essay *fingers crossed* and then it's on to Exam revision, where I shall be breathing Rome for two weeks.....hopefully! I also really want to learn how to play either the Piano or Violin! I'm going to make it my New Years resolution!!

I'm super excited for the new Harry Potter movie! I have a whole day planned with the girls, picnic in the Gardens, lots of food and drink, dressing up, were also buying a pair of HP glasses to wear ahha, and then watching it on the big screen! Imax :)

However, I have the worst habit ever. You know when you read a book and then watch the movie, it's natural to compare the two and nearly all the time you find that the book was so much better! Well I've done this with all the Harry Potter movies so far, I sit there in the cinema critiquing every 'wrong' action and it bugs me so so much. But I can't help it!! It just happens. I watched a 1 minute clip from the movie and spotted three things, they didn't do like the book. I realise that they can never include the detail included in a book but grrrrr!! The last Harry Potter movie made me so angry I haven't watched it again :/

Yeah I need help! It also happened with Clash of the Titans and to a lesser extent Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief. Let's face it, I'll always have high expectations!

I also found out today, that my bestfriend Shelby has never been to the Airport..............EVER! ahaha so I'm going to make sure she goes, these holidays! The Airport is epic, even though it makes me a bit depressed seeing everyone leave, going on their awesome holidays! It's the best feeling in the world embarking on a plane overseas! Shelby we are going to the AIRPORT :D

I came across this picture that just made me go, whoa fantastic photography!!

It's a sign everyone, Zeus is angry!!

Fun at the Beach.

Here's some snaps from my day out with the girls at the Beach :)

with SEA MEN ;)
our very classy champagne cups :)
me and lenka you can see the pain on her face ahahahah

:)

The beach was pretty awesome and we learnt one very VALUABLE lesson to never give Alenka a spray bottle, of whatever it may be. In this case it was sunscreen and it was everywhere, she even tried to spray sea gulls, didn't work ahaha!

Love these girls :) xx

was an awesome day! now back to studying and then hopefully a big blog about Harry Potter, I'm so excited for the 18th!!! :D

Egypt joins the ranks!

Hey,

So I just found out that our Melbourne Museum will be hosting a new Egyptian Exhibition, about King Tutankhamun! The exhibition will host treasures from his tomb, it will be coming here in April next year!! I'm very excited, when I was in Germany last year I went to an Tutankhamun exhibition where they showed replica's from his tomb and I really enjoyed it! On it's way to Australia this will be the last time these artifacts leave Egypt as a new museum is already being built to host them in Giza. Already I'm very excited, the Pompeii exhibition was a huge hit so undoubtedly this will be too!

:)

Yags!

Agora.

So I came across this trailer on youtube depicting a film with Rachel Weisz named Agora. The film is based on real events detailing the life of Hipatia a philosopher and scholar who lived in Roman-Egypt. She was a mathematician, astrologer and scientist! Yes she sounds pretty amazing, particularly considering the time she was living in. Hipatia was born in Alexandria in Egypt at ~ 350 C.E. and was the daughter of the curator of the Museum of Alexandria. Her father tutored her in various subjects from a young age. However when the Christians rose to power she was shunned for being a pagan, and ultimately for . One day when she was in a carriage, she was pulled out of it by an angry group of people, stripped naked and beaten until she died. Her body was then burnt. Sadly all her works were also burnt and destroyed.

She is quite an interesting person and it's a shame that we don't have a lot of material about her or written by her! So I'm hoping to watch the movie soon :)

Yags!

xx

Awesomeness on my wrist.

Hey guys

Just wanted to reminisce on the events that took place today-

a). I had a very interesting lecture on the Roman hero, and they were quite different to the Greek heroes, particularly in their importance to society as a whole. I will be doing a post on this in the near future!

b). Had a fabulous lunch with Lenka :D

c). We were shopping, and about to walk out of Sportsgirl, when this I saw this bracelet out of the corner of my eye. I turned around, and I picked it up and lo and behold! It had a coin on it with Alexander the Great!!!! All I did was gasp, and just go "OMG ALENKA!!"

It was epic, so we both got one to remember better times!!

Here it is

btw after all the searching for a piece of Greek related jewellery I finally got one!! YAY!

Yags!

xxxxx

Antique Bookshops FTW!

Hey guys

Yes it has been ages since I last blogged but alas work and holiday laziness has taken the better of me! So I was going to go see the play Thyestes but it's insanely popular and I didn't get tickets, which I am angry about seeing as I have wanted to watch it since April. Now I'll have to frantically search for another Greek play that's showing this time of year. Today I went book shopping and finally went to this cute retro bookshop near my Uni.

Here's what i got (by the way it's insanely cheap)

And then I also bought Tolstoy's War and Peace I have wanted to read it for ages! On the first page this quote appealed to me, and I think it's quite relevant today

"On the 12th of June 1812 the forces of Western Europe crossed the frontiers of Russia, and war began: in other words, an event took place counter to all the laws of human reason and human nature. Millions of men perpetuated against one another such innumerable crimes, deceptions, treacheries, robberies, forgeries, issues of false monies, depredations, incendiarisms and murders as the annals of all the courts of justice in the world could not muster in the course of whole centuries, but which those who committed them did not at the time regard them as crimes". (1957, Tolstoy).

When I was at this bookshop today I was searching for the Classics section or the Greek books. So firstly I came across literature and I thought oh yeah it should be here. Then I went upstairs and there was a whole section dedicated to Ancient Greece, my face just lit up! :)

Bye for now!

xxxx

Yags.