The tallest Black Forest ever!

RAINBOW G'S MINTY BIRTHDAY

Well, the 21st of October was a very happy pseudo birthday indeed. My 30th celebrations were belated, but thanks to all who attended and made it a really special evening! I really appreciate having you all there (sorry about the crap speech at dinner). And thanks for all the coolest pressies!

All Smiles - Lisa, Ben, Susie & Paul

Me & Lloyd!

Sparkly Anne, Sophie, G & Jo

Vavoom - Mel, Danni & me

The Salsa class was awesome and everyone left with twinkly toes and a few smooth salsa moves under their belts. Thanks Corrie for giving everyone a taste and leaving them wanting more!

Gideon...
You can dip me any time!

Anne & Campbell looking professional!

Gideon & Sonia show us how it's done!

with Corrie
Getting dizzy now...
(Thanks MattT for the photo)

Finale!
(photo c/o MattT)

Dinner was laid back and yum - the most stressful point of the night being attempts to cut up the 30cm tall blackforest cake! Huge thanks to Cath and Geoff for getting the cakes there in one piece - a feat indeed!

Where's the food?
Paul, Cath, Geoff, Beatriz, Brendan & Andrew

Amy, Monica, Peter, Jase, Chez, Aimee

Gideon, Sandra, Lee, Jane, Rachel, Nick, Jasmine & Marty

Me and the cake taller than me!
(Thanks G for the photo!)

Big hugs for all those who soldiered on and made it to Heist and danced all night to the point of injury! Hope you all had as fantastic a night as I did. :)

Love g

ps.

My next investment.... maybe...heheh.

An Interesting week….

BRING ON THE SUNSHINE

Last Wednesday we were lucky enough to see Little Miss Sunshine for free… here are my thoughts…

Little Miss Sunshine: 4.25/5

Cast: Toni Collette (The Sixth Sense), Greg Kinnear (As Good as it Gets), Steve Carrell (40 YO Virgin), Alan Arkin (Gattaca)

In a Nutshell: Charming look at what family can do to you – superbly written and perfectly acted. Brilliant.

Brief Synopsis: “Dysfunctional” family embark on a road trip to the Little Miss Sunshine beauty pageant, along the way they have to deal with each other and a few mishaps.

Dealing with some serious issues with both humour and sincerity, I laughed and chuckled my way through most of the movie. It is realistic, amusing and sensitive without being sappy. All of the main characters are absolutely delightful in their faults and eccentricities – from the self-help guru father, the son who has taken a vow of silence to the suicidal uncle and the daughter who wants to be Miss America. Do yourself a favour and take a look at this one.

GORY GORY

One more – I finally saw…

Saw: 3.5/5 (Yeah, I know, I’m a bit slow)

Cast: Cary Elwes (Princess Bride), Danny Glover (Lethal Weapons), Leigh Whannell (movie reviews on the ABC’s Recovery!), Monica Potter (Boston Legal)

In a Nutshell: Some sick bastard must have written this stuff. Excellent plot, pretty good execution… pity about the acting in spots.

Brief Synopsis: Enjoyed this a lot more than I thought. It is gruesome, it is pretty sick and it revels in this. The storyline and the way everything is set up is original and fresh. The only thing I found a little disappointing was the acting, especially the further into the movie you get. Whannell is obviously a better writer than actor and Elwes should perhaps stick to spoof comedy…or maybe it was the dodgey makeup… no, it was the acting. Overall though, a well thought out and put together horror/thriller.

FAREWELL

Hope to see you all on the 21st - prepared to be sparkled! Love g

Go Team Trollz!

Last weekend Team Trollz took on Melbourne's finest athletes in the The Melbourne Amazing Race and came an awesome 4th! After coming 3rd for most of the day we were pipped at the Final Pitstop mat for a final placing by 'Couples from Hell' by less than a minute. Fantastic effort guys... next time we will beat them all!!!!!.......Aaahhhhhhahhahahahahahha!

Just like the American TV show, we embarked on a big scavenger hunt filled with roadblocks , detours and pitstops. The race took us around the city of Melbourne, both running and catching trams with the free metcard we were given. There was statue finding in the docklands, shopping lists at the Vic Market, dummy spits at the Alexandra Gardens, dry weetbix at Eureka tower, adding up statistics at Sandridge Bridge (which our 2.5 actuaries failed dismally at!) and puzzles at the City Square.

It really was an excellent way to spend an afternoon. If you are interested in participating in the next public event or even in taking on one of their corporate events you can find all the details at www.upliftevents.com.au.

TEAM TROLLZ: Tania, Paul, Gayle & Gideon

Last weekend also marked the attending of a Young Divas concert complete with guest start Guy Sebastian. There is no doubting the talent of the girls, they can definitely sing - even Kate DeRago was good. But there was something missing. Personally I think the venue was too small and so when they tried to get the crowd excited with some audience participation it was just lame... but who am I to judge?

Young Divas: Paulini, Kate, Ricki-Lee, Emily

Random photo of the week:

My current favourite photo subject: Miss Zoe Hayne
(Sorry Katherine, but she has youth on her side!)

Hope you enjoyed this episode of Lifestyles of the Minty Rainbow.
Love g

Dreams of being a disco ball fulfilled...

The Le Bop Ball was a couple of weeks ago and it was HEAPS of fun. Lots of dancing and performances (lots of stuff ups from yours truly! Hahah). And lots of awesome costumes. Here are a few pics!

Born to be Alive

Gideon & Colleen glam it up!

Matching hair - Lori & Gayle

All shiny - Gideon & Gayle

Girls and their catsuits!
Loir, Jane, Sandra & g

Kool Kats - Lori & Nick

Hair & flare

Blame it on the Boogie!

DVD Review:

Derailed: 2.5/5

Cast: Clive Owen, Jennifer Anniston, Vincent Cassel

In a nutshell: Keeps you interested most of the way through, a touch long perhaps

Synopsis: Couple having an affair get caught in the act and blackmailed

Not a bad plot, but seemed to take a long time to get where it was going. The acting wasn't bad. Clive Owen is suitably gruff and vunerable at the same time. Vincent Cassel is great, but getting sick of seeing him in the same sort of baddie role. Quite dark and atmospheric, but just didn't get me in emotionally enough.

Breaking new ground in dessert presentation

Saturday 2nd September - Cheryl, Jason, Amy, Gideon and I convened at Ing Doi (Victoria Pde Collingwood) for some yummy Thai food. All was going swimmingly well until it was time for dessert. A glance at the beautiful pictures on the dessert menu had us thinking we had eaten too much of the good food. The arrival of the desserts confirmed our suspicions.... See for yourself...

No, the dessert did not arrive already eaten, this photo was taken after the banana fritter and icecream was eaten.

Short and Sweet...of course!

CONGRATULATIONS

Huge congrats to Milo on his upcoming debt. The lad has finally gone and got himself a dwelling of his very own. Good stuff Mooch.

DANCEHOLISM - A DREAM COME TRUE

Been dancing lots. Almost 7 straight hours last Saturday. Salsa & Le Bop.

Sadly last Friday was the last weekly Park Hyatt. They will now only be on the last Friday of every month...the next one is the 29th of September for anyone who is up for a bit of a salsa!

Then the Le Bop ball is coming up on the 9th of September. Tickets are only $38 if anyone is interested in coming along (Details www.lebop.com.au). Lots of dancing and performances (Gideon & I are both involved). The theme is DISCO FEVER - it is going to be awesome! I finally get to fulfill my dream to BECOME A DISCO BALL! :D

CELEBRATION ELATION

Hmmmm.... the big 30 is coming up soon. There is a plan in the works to party in true Rainbowg style...I will have details as soon as I can confirm a thing or two. Will be one of the last 3 Saturdays of October.... I know, not very specific.... stay tuned.

PHOTO OF THE BLOG

Little Zoe gives us a smile.
What a heartbreaker!

More soon, I promise!
Love g xoxox

One Day Snow Season

YEAH BABY!

First things first.

CONGRATULATIONS Qwerty on making it to the Grand Final! – only the second time in our long history. And an even bigger congrats to the players on playing so well in the final – losing by only 6 (34-40) in a very aggressive and fast paced game, to the team who was unbeaten all season (pretty much). A big thanks to all our supporters who yelled loudly and waved orange pompoms in the stands… we definitely had the best and loudest fans!

HUBBA HUBBA !!

Can you believe it? It finally dumped all of 20cm in one week! The Victorian snow season has been a big fizzer this year, and the natural snow level finally got up to 40cm the first week of August. Compared to any other year or country, it’s still crap, but Paul, Tania & I decided we would take what we could get, and headed up to Falls Creek for a day of boarding.

On the upside, the weather was sublime – perfect blue skies (something absent last year) – I found myself sweltering in all my layers. The snow was also surprisingly good, dry and relatively even… that is as long as you kept to the main trails where all the man made was.
Perfect for Tania & I, beginner/intermediate boarders… Paul got bored a little more quickly (as you would if you had only just been to the Japanese mountains).

I enjoyed the day, taking it easy, remembering how to board again and practising some switch and 360 turns. Unfortunately the day ended a little more early for Paul & Tania due to a lost strap and twisted knee respectively. Still, we all went home in one piece, more or less and had a little taste of snow to keep us going for maybe a few more months. Here are some happy snaps!

Start of the day.
Look at them blue skies!
Big grin from Paulie.
Anticipation of those oh so sweet turns.

The good stuff... crisp white snow...
good enough to eat. Yum.

View from Drover's Dream.

Paul & Tania - professional boarders!

G&T rev up for some hardcore snow action.

Tania executes some silky smooth turns.

Is ths heaven?

USS Voyager?... no, just a chair lift.

Suspicious black hooded people skiing very close in groups of four.

P&T, get a lift.

Photo of the day:

School Bus in the snow...Cool.
Boarder jumping over bus.... even cooler!
(you can just see him if you look hard).

Snow Angel!
What a lovely day. :)

Blogging at the speed of

Just a very quick entry...
Hopefully tomorrow will bring a bigger and brighter blog entry about our trip to Falls Creek - complete with some pretty pictures. In the meantime....

Here are a couple of random photos and a couple of movie reviews:

Games Night at the Mulbert
Pop Trivial Pursuit in full swing
The Girls kicked arse!
(Although the boys did win Outburst)

Southgate on a beautiful morning.
I love you Melbourne.

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MOVIE REVIEWS

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Miami Vice: 2.75/5

Cast: Colin Farrell (Phone Booth), Jamie Foxx (Ray), Gong Li (Memoirs of a Geisha)

In a nutshell: Testosterone all the way

Brief Synopsis: Based on a 1980’s TV series. After a security breach and a few murders, the FBI recruit Two Miami cops go undercover as drug traffickers to find out who is responsible.

This is one for the boys. Cops, guns, cars, speedboats, gratuitous/graphic violence, and gratuitous (and clumsily done) sex scenes. The movie starts off great, with a very Collateral feel to it, Michael Mann manages to build up the tension and intrigue perfectly with some clever camera work and sound directing. Unfortunately, around 20-30 minutes in, when the romance kicks in, that’s where it loses us girls. That doesn’t seem to make much sense does it? It’s romance done badly – key factor – realistically Collin Farrell as Sonny, could not attract a moth if he was on fire… and yet he is supposedly a chick magnet, plus there just seems to be no chemistry between him and Isabella (Li), which makes quite a large chunk of the movie seem somewhat incredible. Perhaps it was just Colin Farrell, his acting is pretty woeful in this one, but I don’t think he can be blamed for all of it. Jamie Foxx has a smaller part, but he is ok in a part that doesn’t particularly stretch him at all. Sadly, once lost I could not be found, the rest of the movie was a bit of a laugh for me… and yet, I think a large majority of men will like this one.

Hoodwinked: 2.8/5

Cast (voices): Glen Close, Anne Hathaway, James Belushi, Patrick Warburton

In a nutshell: Nice to see a new kid on the block, but needs some more practice.

Brief Synopsis: Fairytale satire – someone is stealing all the recipes from the local food producers, who is the culprit?

This one is a little strange, and yet is very refreshing because it is neither a Pixar or a Dreamworks computer animated feature film. The tone and humour of the film is obviously different from what we are used to seeing in our cartoon diets, perhaps a little more adult, even more so than Shrek. A satire, the premise is clever, and the characters are attractive, in a more intriguing way rather than a cutesy way. However, the pace is not quite as quick and witty as its peers, many of the jokes appear in the trailer and most unfortunately one of the plot twists happens to be exactly the same as one in Over the Hedge which was released a couple of months previously. All in all, not a bad effort, but needs a bit more spit and polish.

Weekends of Indulgence!

Hello there everyone!

Hope you are all well... or at least better than me!

I've been sick for the last week, and it has been driving me mad! Seem to be getting worse too! Too much partying! Perhaps some snow would help!!!!!??

Probably started after drinking too much a couple of Saturday's ago...just like being back at uni... no one to blame but myself :( On the upside, the dinner at Limor's (Lebanese restaurant in North Caulfield) was excellent. $29 for 3 courses - way too much good food - dips, meat & dessert, BYO. Red wine was always going to be a bad start. There's one in Glenferrie too apparently, and it's probably a little more homely and lacking the singer with the very loud tacky backing tracks and a love of his own voice.

The 90's house party after probably tipped the scales... only a couple of drinks - but you know what I'm like with alcohol. Anyway, it was a lot of fun... but what exactly is typical 90's? Unfortunately I didn't take any photos, so I can't show you the Spice Girls, Sister Mary Clarence, the Ab Fab crew, or Gideon as a raver. It was only the next day that I realised that I should have worn my Take That t-shirt. ;P

Despite coughing on people all of this weekend, it one was a great one (apologies to anyone who may get sick.. esp. Gids) ... AND, I got a few photos!

Started off with Friday night drinks at the Balcony to celebrate Daniella's birthday!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY DANIELLA! WE LOVE YOU!

Then dinner at the very swanky Radii with Corrie to celebrate a very belated birthday. Renee joined us for a scruptious dessert, followed by some high impact salsa at the usual Friday Night Park Hyatt Session. Question of the night - is duck a red or white meat?

Corrie & Renee - post food, pre dance

Saturday night began with dinner at Cafe La. Yet another swanky venue. Perhaps it's not fair to do comparisons, but I have to admit I enjoyed the food at Cafe La quite a bit more than Radii. Perhaps it was the company ;) hehe, or the views from the top of the Sofitel building.. and being able to see what they were doing in the kitchen was a nice touch.... but, seriously, I think the food was slightly better. And to be completely honest, despite the great chasm in pricing, the food at Limors was probably even more tasty!!

After dinner we headed over to Crown to surprise D with tickets to Floorplay. The show was awesome - well, we thought so. There were grumbles from one or two "dance connoisseurs" from the audience after the show... but I guess there is always someone who is going to complain. The dancing was unbelievably high energy, professional and extremely sexy, the singing good quality (depite the rakey stiff-bodied blonde), and the costumes and choreography bright and colourful. Unfortunately, this weekend was their last in Melbourne, so you missed out if you didn't already go.

Ladies in black - Mel, D & g after the show
(special mention to Tania who was there in spirit for the birthday present, but didn't join us for the show)

Gideon & me

Congratulations to Qwerty to make it though to the semi finals again, despite the weird arse season! Thanks to our few supporters and the cast of a thousand fill-ins we have had.

No movie or DVD reviews this week unfortunately... next time definitely!

Wishing you (& me!) good health and lots of dancing!

Love g

Important Questions That Must Be Answered

Apologies to my few fans… ie. Geordie, who has been eagerly awaiting another update…. Here it is!

What’s going on with M&M’s nowadays?

I have myself here a packet of Peanut M&M’s – Captain’s Gold Edition – Pirates of the Caribbean Dead Man’s Chest (see below for review). There are only 3 colours inside – Canary yellow, Sunflower Yellow and Poo Yellow. There’s something a little screwy going on here… Whoever thought it would be a good idea to have poo-coloured M&M’s thought wrong…. Everyone knows blue ones taste the best!!... that is, unless you are watching your health – as a wise man once said (Matthew McConnaughey in the timeless classic, The Wedding Planner) – the brown ones have the least amount of artificial colouring!

Why is there no snow?

A little piece of my lusciously snowy heart breaks off and melts into nothingness every day that there is still no snow in the Vic mountains. Soon there will be nothing left, but a dark empty cavity that once held my dreams of a better life in a winter wonderland filled with fat flakes (love the fat flakes) and snow angels, where my baby board can run free. Please take pity on my desperate plight and send you positive thoughts to the mountains. Note, all donations of two or more thoughts are tax deductible.

BB – what was the big deal?

I know most of you just think – who cares! So I’ll keep this short. I feel sorry for the two guys who got kicked off Big Brother. A lot of hooha about nothing. It was not shown on TV, it was only shown on-line to subscribers over the age of 18. While what they did was probably going a bit beyond a joke, that is exactly was what it was. In fact, Camilla, “the victim” was the first to suggest it in jest. You can check out the video footage for yourself at http://www.viddy.id.au/stuff/bb6.au.day069.live.feed.incident-korntunes-cut.zip. Why the PM and Opp. Leader chose to comment on it, I don’t know? - case of sticky beaking I say!! Ridiculous!

Breakfast of the week

Corn Fritters at Mart 130, Middle Park Tram Station, 107a Canterbury Road. DIVINE! Best breakfast out I've had all year. Absolutely delicious. Despite the ongoing battle described on my favourite breakfast blog (www.thebreakfastblog.blogspot.com), the Mart130 corn fritters are definitely better than the Replete Providore ones. Oh, the other dishes looked pretty lush too... definitely going back to try them all! Perfect way to spend a rainy Sunday brunch. Warm and cosy. Not to mention the company!

Photo of the week:

Marion’s 40^th B’day - Awww... ain't he cute - Gideon & Marion

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MOVIE REVIEWS
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Pirates of the Caribbean – Dead Man’s Chest: 3.75/5

Cast: Johnny Depp (Edward Scissorhands), Orlando Bloom (Elizabeth Town), Keira Knightly (Bend it like Beckham), Bill Nighy (Love Actually)

In a Nutshell: Slapstick laughs on the seas, ahoy.

Synopsis: This time, Captain Jack Sparrow is in search of the key to open the chest containing the heart of Davy Jones, the monstrous ruler of the seas.

Much of the same sort of thing as the first – but it worked then, and it’s pretty much still working now. It loses points for not being quite as cohesive as the first - the search for laughs seems to have come in at a higher priority than the plot development. This pays dividends in one particularly hilarious scene featuring the one and only Captain Jack Sparrow on an island of cannibals. While very much still the heart of the movie, Johnny Depp’s Captain seems to have turned camp in order to raise a few more laughs, and in the process seems more of a trivial character unfortunately. Also this time round, while evil dude is sufficiently ghastly, unlike Rush’s Barbossa, the character is so overwhelmed with makeup and special effects, Nighy’s Davy Jones ends up being less realistic (as man with an octopus for a head would be) and therefore less chilling. At two and a half hours, it is a touch long, and annoyingly there is no resolution as the money making machine churns towards a sequel. Despite all this, on the whole, it is still very entertaining stuff.

Over the Hedge: 3.25/5

Cast: Bruce Willis (Moonlighting), Garry Shandling (The Garry Shandling Show), Steve Carrell (The Office), William Shatner (Boston Legal), Eugene Levy (American Pie), Avril Lavine (Teen Rocker)

In a Nutshell: Excellent ending makes up for the meandering pace of the rest.

Synopsis: Self serving racoon meets a group of innocent forest foragers and encourages them to go to the other side of the hedge and steal food from the humans.

The premise is not particularly original, and not wholly unpredictable. The two main characters, the racoon and the turtle, are both quite annoying and one dimensional. Hammy the squirrel – played by Carrell is genius, and steals the show by a mile. Some of the other characters are quite cute too – eg. The possums and the porcupines. In the end there are some good laughs, but they are a long time coming. The animation is brilliant though.