Yeah...I can fly.

Listening to: 'Back In Black' by AC/DC [Back In Black]

Oh. My. God. The movie finished two hours ago and I'm still buzzing. It's been a while since a movie had that effect on me. I'm hoping that blogging will quieten me down so I can get to bed, but I suppose playing 'Back In Black' on repeat isn't really helping!

I generally love superhero movies. Apart from the shite that was Fantastic Four (I refuse to watch the sequel). I'm sorry...granted, Jessica Alba and Chris Evans are both extremely easy on the eye, but they can't act for shit. And what a waste of Julian McMahon?! But back to the good stuff. Yes I love superhero movies. I grew up watching the Superman movies, and absolutely love the Spidey and X-Men trilogies. But tonight it's all about Tony Stark...a.k.a. Iron Man.

I won't give any spoilers 'cos I think everyone should go and see it for themselves, but I'll comment on a few things:

To say that Robert Downey Jr.'s Tony Stark is sexy would be a huge understatement. Something about him - the attitude, the intelligence, the body - oozes sex appeal. He is the quintessential bad boy. Luscious!

The next best thing about the movie...is the suit. Yes I am an engineer, so excuse me while I drool. I just sat there going "omg it's so cool"...I'm sure the guy next to me thought I was nuts.

Oh and Gwenyth Paltrow is so pretty. Big up the skinny girls, y'all!

The dialogue was good, the jokes were witty and worked well thanks to the excellent delivery, and the CGI was seamless. The romance was frustrating for a chick-flick lover such as myself, but the quantity was just right to keep interest up for the sequel (which will be in 2010...how can I wait that long?!?!). And the music was well-suited. All in all, I can't really find anything wrong with the movie. Although maybe that's 'cos I was too busy drooling to notice ;-)

Right. I think I have sufficiently calmed down. I shall now hit the sack, and hopefully dream about Dr Christian Troy and Tony Stark fighting over me who is the most delectable quadragenarian in Hollywood. Mmmmm.

Wing is the new William Hung

Listening to: Radio 1

Who remembers William Hung? Or rather, who doesn't remember him? American Idol's most famous non-talent by far, he shot to fame by performing an absolutely atrocious version of Ricky Martin's "She Bangs". You can check out the original audition here. America loved him a hell of a lot more than Simon did, though...and he ended up with this -

Well now Radio 1's Scott Mills has decided to champion another would-be idol - New Zealand's Wing. She performed on the Introducing Stage at Radio 1's Big Weekend a couple of days ago. If you can't be bothered navigating to these links, here's a video clip for you to savour -

Sigh. I hope you enjoyed that. My sides hurt. And while I'm on the topic of Scott Mills...is it normal to have a crush on a voice?

I need to defrag* my brain

Listening to: 'Stop This Train' by John Mayer [Continuum]

I'll start off with a disclaimer: My sincere apologies to any PhD students who have not started to even think about writing up yet, regardless of whether or not they should've done so by now. I am in this position not by choice, or due to extraordinary organisational powers...on the contrary, this post is a result of me being way behind in what I'm supposed to be doing, and frantically trying to salvage my degree. There, you have been warned.

14 pages, 2859 words. Is this adequate? Am I going to run over tremendously? Am I going to have to invent stuff to write about? I doubt the latter, considering the fact that I'm only about half way through my first experimental chapter. Well 'half way' in a quantitative manner, not so much in an orderly manner. Yes, it's all over the place. About a quarter of the results, quarter of the discussion, and all of the methodology done...at least that's where I think I stand right now. I'll probably decide tomorrow that everything I've written is bollocks and requires complete rewriting (oh god I hope I don't think that tomorrow). See if you ask me about my project (and I'll try not to explain it here, out of respect for those who are not chemists or engineers, and not least because I'm slightly possessive about my research: I am not about to get scooped), I can explain it in a way that you'll hopefully understand - structured, lucid and concise. Awesome, huh? Not really. The only reason I can do this is because I know that I know more about it than you do. You're not about to turn around and tell me that there's no meaning to my life project.

Writing a thesis, on the other hand, is completely different. I have no clue who will read my thesis, simply because it's rather interdisciplinary...so I have to assume that whoever reads it already knows everything there is to know about my project, but wants me to explain it anyway. And if I miss anything out, I'll have hell to pay in my viva. So it appears my task is to explain everything relevant to my project, and still keep it structured, lucid and (somewhat) concise. Which wouldn't be so bad, if not for the fact that I keep remembering random crap that should've been included 10 paragraphs earlier.

The sooner I get this chapter done, the sooner I can get on with experiments and the sooner I can convince my supervisor that I am worth his time. In order to get this chapter done, I need to put everything in my head down on paper (or hard drive). Sigh, if only my head weren't in such a mess.

*Not geeky enough to know what defrag is?