Off-days on

Morphiology

Ooh! I am stuffed!

I will be celebrating my birthday this Sunday. My colleagues gave me a treat today (thanks guys ;) and we stuffed ourselves silly. Bottomless juice, starters, fajitas, main entries, and dessert!!! The only thing missing was coffee.

My complimentary birthday piece from the restaurant.


But we'd rather go for the Molten Chocolate Cake. A volcanic chocolate fudge soaked with chocolate sauce in the core, topped with a mound of chocolate coated vanilla ice-cream. Yummm ...


The attack.


The aftermath.


There's more to come and it is not yet even my birthday! Woohoo!!

pearlie

Movie magic

There are so many good movies now it is hard to play catch up. I have managed to catch some and hoping I will not miss the rest.

Those I Watched


Pirates of the Carribean: At World's End
Rottentomatoes.com had it rated rotten at 46% but I loved it.



Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer
Tomatometer reads rotten at 37%. I thought it was just ok. No big deal.



Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
Tomatometer: 77% fresh
But I didn't quite like it. I thought this review hit the nail in the head.



Die Hard 4.0
Tomatometer reads absolutely fresh at 80% and I had a blast!


Those I Hope to Catch


Transformers
Tomatometer: 57% rotten (fresh is at 60%)
I am not a Transformer fan but the review that I have had from friends who have watched that it is very, very good. I will have to see.



Ratatouille
Tomatometer rates it at 97%! Wow! I must really catch this one.



Ocean 13
Fresh Tomatometer reads at 69%.
I have not seen the Ocean series and therefore I am only going to catch this when I caught up with 11 and 12.

I have not seen so many movies in such a short span of time in a long while.

pearlie

The Rottentomatoes.com ratings are current and may change down the line.

My latest craving

A good big glass of cafe latte. Yum ...

pearlie
Picture by Edouard Mouy

Dragon Lady by Sterling Seagrave

I have always been intrigued by the Empress Dowager Tsu Hzi and the things that she supposedly did during her long reign in the 19th century. I started rereading an old book I have - Dragon Lady by Sterling Seagrave, an excellent account of a very much misunderstood empress of a country steep in etiquette and secrecy. I highly recommend it.

pearlie

Skyscraper 100

I got caught up in this 100-storey game but after reaching 14 floors, it became so cryptic that I gave up. Too much for this simple brain!

pearlie

Oh my Exalted Highness Goodness

My Peculiar Aristocratic Title is: Milady the Right Reverend Pearlie the Innocent of Buzzing St Helens Get your Peculiar Aristocratic Title

Wow ... I wish ... lol!

pearlie

Melinda, Melinda, Melinda

As I have said, it is a popularity contest. No offense to Blake or Jordin, they are fantastic singers themselves, just not as fantastic as Melinda.

pearlie
Picture source: www.cinemablend.com

Melinda! Melinda! Melinda!

If judged by their singing prowess, Melinda will be the American Idol hands down. No doubt about it. She is just amazing! Her rendition of Whitney Houston's I Believe in You and Me was spotless, Ike and Tina Turner's Nutbush City Limits spot on and her Peggy Lee's I'm a Woman was spotlight quality.

And Blake was great – I like his vocals and he did great on all three songs, though I didn’t quite like the last one. Jordin on the other hand was a disappointment this time round. Her last song was fabulously done but she just couldn’t make good on the judges and producers’ choices. She could have done well on Simon’s choice if she stuck to the original arrangement and I think the producers’ choice didn’t quite suit her.

Hmm … now who will be the final two? Don't tell me!

pearlie
Picture source: www.nationalledger.com

Down to 3

I had expected that Lakisha will be booted out today. I believe that not only a lot of people had thought so because it seems even Lakisha herself didn't think she stand a chance.

All four of them are excellent singers and performers, and so it is now down to a popularity contest. Blake will be out next and Jordin will be the Season 6 American Idol, as I have predicted since there were 12.

pearlie
Photo from www.nationalledger.com

Hayley Westenra's Treasure

I just got this CD today.
Her voice is simply heavenly.

pearlie

Winnings

We aren't very lucky people. Not at all. We never win anything during dinner lucky draws but we did win a few things, mainly from SH's golf competition.

1. A washing machine
2. A mini home theatre system
3. Golf peripherals
4. A soya bean milk maker
5. A frozen 5-kg salmon (I am serious!)
6. My only win: a Palm PDA in an event lucky draw

pearlie

Books, books and books

Got this book list from Randi's Ramblings and found it quite interesting.

The Book List
*Bold the ones you’ve read
*Italicize the ones you want to read
*Leave the ones that you aren’t interested in.

1. The Da Vinci Code (Dan Brown)
2. Pride and Prejudice (Jane Austen)
3. To Kill A Mockingbird (Harper Lee)
4. Gone With The Wind (Margaret Mitchell)
5. The Lord of the Rings: Return of the King (Tolkien)
6. The Lord of the Rings: Fellowship of the Ring (Tolkien)
7. The Lord of the Rings: Two Towers (Tolkien)
8. Anne of Green Gables (L.M. Montgomery)
9. Outlander (Diana Gabaldon)
10. A Fine Balance (Rohinton Mistry)
11. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (Rowling)
12. Angels and Demons (Dan Brown)
13. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (Rowling)
14. A Prayer for Owen Meany (John Irving)
15. Memoirs of a Geisha (Arthur Golden)
16. Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone (Rowling)
17. Fall on Your Knees (Ann-Marie MacDonald)
18. The Stand (Stephen King)
19. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (Rowling)
20. Jane Eyre (Charlotte Bronte)
21. The Hobbit (Tolkien)
22. The Catcher in the Rye (J.D. Salinger)
23. Little Women (Louisa May Alcott)
24. The Lovely Bones (Alice Sebold)
25. Life of Pi (Yann Martel)
26. The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy (Douglas Adams)
27. Wuthering Heights (Emily Bronte)
28. The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe (C. S. Lewis)
29. East of Eden (John Steinbeck)
30. Tuesdays with Morrie (Mitch Albom)
31. Dune (Frank Herbert)
32. The Notebook (Nicholas Sparks)
33. Atlas Shrugged (Ayn Rand)
34. 1984 (Orwell)
35. The Mists of Avalon (Marion Zimmer Bradley)
36. The Pillars of the Earth (Ken Follett)
37. The Power of One (Bryce Courtenay)
38. I Know This Much is True (Wally Lamb) – unfinished!!
39. The Red Tent (Anita Diamant)
40. The Alchemist (Paulo Coelho)
41. The Clan of the Cave Bear (Jean M. Auel)
42. The Kite Runner (Khaled Hosseini)
43. Confessions of a Shopaholic (Sophie Kinsella)
44. The Five People You Meet In Heaven (Mitch Albom)
45. Bible
46. Anna Karenina (Tolstoy)
47. The Count of Monte Cristo (Alexandre Dumas)
48. Angela’s Ashes (Frank McCourt)
49. The Grapes of Wrath (John Steinbeck)
50. She’s Come Undone (Wally Lamb)
51. The Poisonwood Bible (Barbara Kingsolver)
52. A Tale of Two Cities (Dickens)
53. Ender’s Game (Orson Scott Card)
54. Great Expectations (Dickens)
55. The Great Gatsby (Fitzgerald)
56. The Stone Angel (Margaret Laurence)
57. Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (Rowling)
58. The Thorn Birds (Colleen McCullough)
59. The Handmaid’s Tale (Margaret Atwood)
60. The Time Traveller’s Wife (Audrew Niffenegger)
61. Crime and Punishment (Fyodor Dostoyevsky)
62. The Fountainhead (Ayn Rand)
63. War and Peace (Tolstoy)
64. Interview With The Vampire (Anne Rice)
65. Fifth Business (Robertson Davis)
66. One Hundred Years Of Solitude (Gabriel Garcia Marquez)
67. The Sisterhood of the Travelling Pants (Ann Brashares)
68. Catch-22 (Joseph Heller)
69. Les Miserables (Hugo)
70. The Little Prince (Antoine de Saint-Exupery)
71. Bridget Jones’ Diary (Fielding)
72. Love in the Time of Cholera (Marquez)
73. Shogun (James Clavell)
74. The English Patient (Michael Ondaatje)
75. The Secret Garden (Frances Hodgson Burnett)
76. The Summer Tree (Guy Gavriel Kay)
77. A Tree Grows in Brooklyn (Betty Smith)
78. The World According To Garp (John Irving)
79. The Diviners (Margaret Laurence)
80. Charlotte’s Web (E.B. White)
81. Not Wanted On The Voyage (Timothy Findley)
82. Of Mice And Men (Steinbeck)
83. Rebecca (Daphne DuMaurier)
84. Wizard’s First Rule (Terry Goodkind)
85. Emma (Jane Austen)
86. Watership Down(Richard Adams)
87. Brave New World (Aldous Huxley)
88. The Stone Diaries (Carol Shields)
89. Blindness (Jose Saramago)
90. Kane and Abel (Jeffrey Archer)
91. In The Skin Of A Lion (Ondaatje)
92. Lord of the Flies (Golding)
93. The Good Earth (Pearl S. Buck)
94. The Secret Life of Bees (Sue Monk Kidd)
95. The Bourne Identity (Robert Ludlum)
96. The Outsiders (S.E. Hinton)
97. White Oleander (Janet Fitch)
98. A Woman of Substance (Barbara Taylor Bradford)
99. The Celestine Prophecy (James Redfield)
100. Ulysses (James Joyce)

21 books out of 100 isn't too bad I'd say.

pearlie