Detecting a theme...

Following on from my previous post is this article from Stuff White People Like.

I've never corrected the typos on a restaurant or café menu. Though I've definitely thought about it...

Why my blood pressure rises when I read café menus

Click to enlarge...

Pleasantly surprised

I was pleasantly surprised twice today.

Pleasant surprise 1
On Sunday night I forgot to watch Flight of the Conchords, which really annoyed me, so I whinged about it in my Facebook status yesterday. This morning I rocked up to the hospital and ran into one of my uni buddies in the common room. He said, "I've got something for you" and gave me a DVD that he'd burnt - Season 1 of Flight of the Conchords! How nice is that? Then I discovered that he's been getting into How I Met Your Mother and has nearly finished watching Season 1, so I'm going to burn Season 2 for him. I must share the brilliance of the Slap Bet and Robin Sparkles with everyone I know...

Pleasant surprise 2
I arrived at PBL this morning and said hi to my tutor. She's an ED doctor, and very nice. She said "It's nice to see you KT; you're always smiling!" I was amazed to hear that. I've never thought of myself as a very smiley person - if I had to choose I think I'd fall on the side of frowny, not smiley. So it was lovely to hear that someone else thinks I come across as happy. I don't think she would've said the same thing if she'd met me last year...

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Life is otherwise going well. I'm insanely busy with work and study - as usual it's too much of the former, not enough of the latter. I'm loving gastroenterology, and will do a full wrap-up when it finishes at the end of next week. I'm dating the guy I met online, who I was "really really looking forward to" meeting in this post - early days, but all is going well so far! Boot camp is fun, and my netball team is on top of the table. And the big news is: my sister is pregnant - first baby in my family! I'm gonna be an aunty!! Woo hoo!!

Pick the actor

I went to see Iron Man at the movies this week.

It was much better than I expected it to be - mainly due to the fantastic lead performance from Robert Downey Jr. He's awesome!

Usually I know quite a lot about movies before I see them - who's in the cast, the director, etc. Although there was a lot of hype for Iron Man, I somehow missed it - all I knew was that it was based on a Marvel comic book, and it starred Robert Downey Jr. as Tony Stark and Gwyneth Paltrow as Pepper Potts. I didn't even know that Jon Favreau directed it, and I love him!

Anyway, during the movie I got very distracted because I was trying to work out who played Obadiah Stane (Iron Monger), and who voiced Jarvis (Tony Stark's computer).

Here's a photo of Obadiah Stane:



This is a very famous actor, and he was very good in Iron Man, but I just couldn't pick it. Can you? Scroll down a bit...
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I was embarrassed to discover that it's The Dude!



Yes, that's right - Jeff Bridges. Very very famous. It was the bald pate that got me.

And now to the voice of Jarvis. Unfortunately I can't find a decent clip of it, but basically Jarvis the computer has a lovely English accent - very droll. I convinced myself that it was Jude Law at first, but by the end of the movie I was sure it was someone else who I really like - but I couldn't work it out.

I couldn't be bothered waiting for the credits to show me the answer (and apparently he's uncredited anyway), so I checked on IMDB when I got home...

And found that Jarvis was voiced by Paul Bettany:



He talked about the voice role in a recent interview. I adored him in Master and Commander, and even quite liked him in the silly rom-com Wimbledon. He was freaky as Silas in The Da Vinci Code.



As Dr Stephen Maturin in Master and Commander

As Peter Colt in Wimbledon

As Silas in The Da Vinci Code

Aaah, I love solving mysteries like this. It's very satisfying. I really should be studying though...

Open wide, come inside

Silly John

I was excited today to learn that John Hamblin, aka "Silly John" from Play School, has just released a biography, "Open wide, come inside" (written by Peter Richman).

Play School was such a massive part of my childhood. I adored it. I loved Silly John and Noni Hazlehurst the most, closely followed by "Good John" (John Waters) and Benita Collings, and then all the others - Don Spencer, Alister Smart, Jan Kingsbury, etc.


Benita and Good John

My favourite episodes involved Silly John and Noni - they were always hilarious, and even as a child I knew that Silly John was being a little bit rude... Years later, I've watched old episodes and have seen how he appealed equally to children and adults.


Silly John and Noni

My favourite Play School memory is Noni reading "The Elephant and the Bad Baby". My sisters and I loved that book, and the way Noni read it with funny voices was genious. I wish I could find a clip of it.


Rumpeta, rumpeta, rumpeta...

I've seen more recent episodes of the show, and it continues to be wonderful, even though it's been modernised of course. With hosts like Rhys Muldoon and Justine Clarke, it'll never be dull.


Justine and Rhys

Hopefully I can introduce my kids to the joy of Play School some day, and read them "The Elephant and the Bad Baby", complete with funny voices...