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Everyone’s heard the story of Mount Vesuvius erupting over Pompeii, but it takes an exhibition like this to truly understand what it meant. The exhibition is spread out nicely, with the first area dedicated to how the inhabitants of Pompeii used to live (with some amazingly preserved displays of household and garden items, and even carbonised food), while the second area described the eruption of Mount Vesuvius and its aftermath. The exhibition becomes especially powerful with the plaster casts of the voids in the ash where bodies were trapped – freezing in time, forever, the last moments of these ancient lives.
As a cultural study, ‘Freaks and Geeks’ is a success on two levels. On the surface, it’s a great view of the tough world of high school in Carter/Regan era Michigan. Under that surface, however, is a snapshot of actors and filmmakers who would become powerhouses on the late 00s. There’s James Franco, Seth Rogan, and Jason Segal (to name a few), under the production of Judd Apatow. The characters are fantastic, and very easy to relate to. And when combined with talented actors and clear writing, you’ve got a quality show that finished earlier than many would have liked.
Admit it. You’re jealous of the people who post FaceBook status updates from their phones. You’ve seen the phone icon and thought, “I wish I had a fancy phone that could do that.” Now you don’t need one. With Chime, you simply create a link between your mobile number and your FaceBook (or Twitter) profile, and you can update your status via SMS. It’s not free, but it’s a standard mobile number, so if you’ve got a capped plan and don’t tend to go over your limit, then the message costs will be part of your cap. Cheap and effective.
Griff’s might be named after a dog, but this restaurant is anything but. The dining room has an elegant feel, with just enough sound from the front bar filtering in to keep the atmosphere relaxed. The wine list is extensive and affordable (as you’d expect from a “wine pub”), and the food is great. Cod croquettes were crunchy and succulent and the fish of the day was salmon filet, cooked to perfection and served over a generously hearty seafood broth. And I’ll leave it to your imagination, just how good the chocolate crème brûlée with ice cream and honeycomb was.
This is a much better take on how a mint should feel. I like my mints to spray an air compressor into my sinuses, and luckily, that’s the feeling that I get with the original flavour of Fisherman’s Friends. I will admit that they don’t look very good – the musty brown of tanned shoe leather. But I take that as a positive, that more time’s been spent on the flavour than ensuring that the mints are pretty and just the right colours. I also like the Fisherman’s Friend packaging. It’s just paper, so none of that annoying tic-tac style shaking.
It’s very rare to find a TV show that continues to improve season by season. But as you can see from my reviews, that’s exactly what’s happening with ‘How I Met Your Mother’. There are improvements with storylines this season, as well as a solid selection of fresh faces brought in to support (worth mentioning are Enrique Iglesias, Britney Spears, and Sarah Chalke (though, I hope she’s not being pigeonholed as a doctor)). There are more memorable moments and quotes this season, too; resolving an issue I had with the first season. Let’s hope the fourth season will be awesome.
If you like your bars dark, sticky, and with live bands each night, then The Evelyn is probably your kind of place. You won’t get a chicken parma here – but if you buy some take-away elsewhere, they’ll let you bring it in; but they do $10 jugs, and the bands that play there are wildly varied, but almost always good. There’s room to sit, both inside and outside, with comfy couches and tables, and there’s room for a boogie in front of the stage. There is a charge at the door, but it’s never much, and it’s always worth it.
It’s really more a food-court outlet than a restaurant, but I’ve recently started having wraps and salads from Wrap It Fresh for lunch, and I love it. There are plenty of places that will customise your order, and there are others that specialise in fresh ingredients. This place does both. Just take an order form and tick what you want, and then watch it made in front of you. It is a bit pricy (~$8 for a salad/wrap), but the quality of good. The only thing I’d like is a smaller size option for the salads. Those bowls are huge!
It’s hard to imagine four more different, yet strikingly similar, characters on stage than what you see in Yasmina Reza’s play, ‘God of Carnage’ about two couples meeting to discuss a violent altercation between their eleven year old sons. The cast of four is fantastic: Hugo Weaving as the smarmy, workaholic lawyer, Natasha Herbert as his nauseous wife; Pamela Rabe as the holier-than-thou political history writer; and Geoff Morrell as her husband who’s frankly sick of her s..t! It’s hilariously funny as the adult behaviour deteriorates and we wonder whether there’s any difference between kids and their parents.
Regardless that there’s a tie-pinned and waistcoated waiter bringing me bacon and eggs on a Sunday morning, this quintessential Fitzroy establishment remains a very relaxed location. Maybe it’s the two metre high child’s painting of a pig on the wall, or the contented chewing from nearby tables. In fact, you don’t even need to eat here to know this place is good – the constant stream of people walking in the door should be all the indication you need. But when you do eat, it’s great. Creamy eggs, perfectly cooked bacon, and serves that fill you up, without leaving you bursting.
