Since my baby sister is off galavanting around Europe and has entered a blogging lull I'm here to do a few snazzy guest posts. A little about me, I'm 24, at university studying Business and am out on the sidelines for a few weeks injured so I have some unexpected spare time. Which I'm filling with copious amounts of television, cooking and 'studying'.

I just finished the last part of Beeny's Restoration Nightmare which I do believe Fi mentioned before. That show is enough to make me pack my tools (or go out and buy some) and rescue a crumbling building from certain ruin. Something like this one which was posted on Apartment Therapy eons ago and has haunted my thoughts since, a rambling block of wild Art Deco units in Melbourne so beautiful that with a bit of work you could almost see Gatsby living there.

Water

I think my world has just flipped on its head.

Well it was actually my Mum who passed on the tip. She had just finished watching a doco about the root bridges of Cherrapunji in Shillong, India. Intrigued I did an image search and almost swallowed my tongue.

Cherrapunji is toted as being the wettest place in the world. Which is an interesting factoid in itself, but what captured my imagination were these living bridges. The locals train the trees to grow and span across the provinces many waterways.

The process takes between 10 to 15 years, yet with each passing year the bridges grow stronger. Some of the more robust bridges are over 500 years old. I think I need to include the ‘land of oranges’ to my India itinerary.

[Root bridges]

Buoyed by the plethora of documentaries at our fingertips, Mum and I settled in to watch Gaslands. Needless to say this had a completely different spin on water.

What started as a why of understanding what natural gas mining would do to his family's farm in Milanville, Pennsylvania, Josh Fox winds up becoming a 'detective' and fields the complaints of hundreds of people nursing the side affects of mining in their backyards.

What he unearths, could only be described as wild west style shenanigans of major corporations. Yet that was the most profound fact is the coroporations are in fact acting 'within' the law. As due to loopholes in the clean air and the clean water acts, the mining processes are currently unmonitored in USA. As a result of the fracking process, the waterways in the ‘red zones’ are contaminated with some 580+ chemicals. Chemicals that would scare you senseless if you read about them let alone ingested the equivalent of molotov cocktail of them without knowing.

The homespun style of video footage, spliced together with interviews of ailing citizens and facts about the mining process, made for heart wrenching viewing. I definitely recommend anyone to watch it, as Fox finishes off the doco with the comment that Natural gas mining is becoming a major interest around rest of the world. Gulp.

There she sits

[Via: Valention Vamp]

My butt will be firmly planted on the sofa for the next six hours. With a rather silly hat perched on my head, too much sugar and squeals of glee at all things Royal.

Maybe I should have mercy on the rest on my family?

Ahh bugger it SQUEEEEAAALLLL!

Micallef for the win

You make me laugh Mr Micallef. Big aching belly laughs. I hope that Roo needs to keep seeking your gynecological services on Laid.

Sweets

I'm trying to get into top form for a couple of upcoming races in May, June and possibly July. So that means cutting out cake. Sigh. Luckily for me the ABC are sedating my sweet tooth with some delectable eye candy.

Adam Hills Live in Gordon Street Tonight is hosted by none other than Adam Hills. It's like a toasted marshmallow - by all appearances it looks innocence and sweet, with homely rustic touches but it has saucy centre. Adam Hills is a gentleman comic and brings out the best in his interviewees, even rambling streaks of sexual innuendo - I hope that this show is a long stayer.

Then there's Marieke Hardy's new show - Laid. A wonderfully dark humoured series about Roo McVie's attempts to figure out why her past thrusts are ending up dead. A bizarre concept, but works well so far as it's carried on the shoulders of a cast of quirky but realistic characters.

Flipping the Bird

There are few things that get my goat more than the lack of courtesy wavers on the road. A quick flutter of the fingers to acknowledge your fellow driver that you snuck in front is not too big of an ask is it?

When someone doesn't give a polite wave, I am sorely tempted to re-inact this Flight of the Conchords clip:

However my Mum would probably box my ears if I attempted this (plus I'm a chicken with slow reflexes). So I think the next time someone doesn't follow the courtesy wave conventions then I'll have to trial some of these more inventive hand gestures:

Cartoon magic

Whilst I was slumbering the morning away, my cartoon self was galavanting about the place on TV. Yup, my brother's video clip was played on RAGE this morning! Snaps to him.

Just in case you weren't watching RAGE between 9 and 9:30am this morning, you check it out now.

Mad for Mad Men

I'm going to a Mad Men party soon. To say I'm peachy is a bit of an understatement - I love the show so much I would happily enrol in the uni course.

It seems like most major fashion magazines have featured a 1950's/1960's inspired shoot in the last 18 months. But this one featuring Catherine McNeil in Vogue Australia is a show stopper, the styling is a flawless blend of vintage and contemporary references.

I know that there are no rockabilly characters in Mad Men - but I'm sorely tempted to slip into a pencil skirt and prance around with cheeky indifference.

Misfitted valentine

[misfits]

"a new union — salty British street humour with whizz-bang special effects" The Times

I've just finished watching the first two seasons of Misfits. I haven't been this excited about a television show since Community...or Mad Men... or Better off Ted...or The Wire...or Weeds...okay so I watch a lot of telly then.

I watched Blue Valentine last night - the film is an unrelentingly emotional rollarcoaster - it is not advised to go on a roller coaster after eating a family lebanese banquet for lunch followed by a Korean BBQ banquet for dinner.

I felt a little queasy during the scenes of domestic turmoil. But I think that could have been the brilliant acting and not the excessive baba ganoush.