Today was the first day of a home organized play group of similar aged kids. Elian is just 2 weeks older than Julius and they got along just fine. We will try to do that now on a weekly basis and rotating homes. Will be interesting.
As reported earlier, he rejects plastic cups and only wants to drink from real glass, that little snob. So with a lot of close guidence, he is actually doing a pretty good job.
Number 4 poked through just now. Tricky to get a good shot of that.
The bliss of falling asleep while breast feeding .. one thing I will never be able to share … but seeing them sleeping peacefully like that is so sweet. They are still sleeping as I am posting this…
And when I thought I was done with updating …
Just got an IM from Ritsu, who is watching “Desperate Housewives” on her iBook (thanks to SCM) that I should come up with my camera .. and this is what I got to see:
Misha again appears very respectful, knowing that she has to be very gentle with the little one .. so cute !
And half hour later:
This is from yesterday morning, 5:45 AM (yes, I was walking around with Julius).
The way that the beach is cut out at The Pearl, one can witness beautiful sunrises like that. Click for big version.
Short Summary:
Positive:
Fancy designed communal areas Fantastic (albeit pricey) food Very friendly staff Internet Access in every room (at extra cost) Great beach and nice pool area Nice selection of TV stations and looped DVDs Complementary Pure Fiji showergel / hair stuff Negative:
Food, drink and rooms are pricey Rooms are relatively small Our bed was too small, too soft and made noise Walls are thin, you can hear next room’s TV
This place is special. While all resorts and hotels we have been so far try to bring you the whole island thing, with lali drums, torch lighting ceremonies, meke and one CD full of island music on repeat, The Pearl takes their inspiration rather from the plushy comforts of fancy New York designer hotels and places in Paris like Hotel Costes and Buddha Bar.
There are day beds and fluffy couches everywhere, the music is non intrusive trance / electronica (mainly the 2 before mentioned compilation collections), the staff is very friendly and the food is so good, you can easily forget the price tag. First dinner was a cube of cured pork belly with some fancy asian veggies, then coral trout and a super rich chocolate tart with blueberry ice cream. The cuisine is some kind of pan-asian fusion, the most expensive item on the menu were the malaysian chili mud crabs at 65 FJD. Starters are just below 20 FJD, while mains are 32-40 (and then the crabs at 65) FJD. Second night’s dinner were salt and pepper squid (17FJD), Thai green prawn curry for Ritsu (32) and a mega size chunk of beef fillet, chargrilled on the outside, medium rare on the inside (32) for me.
The area around the hotel is nicely done, beach in the front, garden with oversized benches and a lilly pond in the back. The ongoing renovation sound was a bit disstracting, but was not too bad. (This used to be the old Centra Hotel.)
If at all, the gripes were in the room we had (and I doubt that other rooms are bigger at all) .. while the nice design continues (in some cases obviously patched over existing decor), the room stays small, the bed squeeks at every move and it was just too small for 2 .. and once we had Julius in there as well, I was about to fall out. Oh, and the bathroom needs some ventilation.
The collection on Pure Fiji shampoos and shower gels was very nice (same as we have recently found in Toberua), and so was also watching “Finding Nemo” as one of the inhouse movies … it was not that funny anymore when we turned the TV off, but still could listen to it from the next room. Having a simple ethernet cable come from the phone, which you plug into your laptop and ta-daa, you are online at 128K with no hassle is great, paying the 1.10FJD per MB, knowing that they pay only 60 cents per MB to the ISP hurts a bit, then again, it is very very convenient.
We are sure thinking about going back there. I wish the place was closer to Suva, as driving that stretch after sunset is a bitch (thanks to stray animals .. like cows). On weekend nights they offer a tapas menu at the beach bbq restaurant, and on sunday they have a very nice jazz lunch, which we had tried before (when the hotel was still under the name Rae’s South Pacific)
Ok .. and now some pictures:
And here a nice panoramic view for which you just need the FREE QuickTime Player and then click the image below. This one was taken back in February, when we were there for BBQ lunch
Today we returned from Pacific Harbor and the only picture that I took of him today is this very cute sleepy pic in the car:
I bet he was day dreaming about the last few days, the exciting stay at the Pearl, meeting so many new faces and new rooms to explore.
Since it was not too far, our housegirl / nanny Vula hopped on the bus and stayed with us yesterday. And had a fun pillowfight with Julius.
Yes, there are actually some nice beaches not too far from Suva, it starts getting nice in Pacific Harbor, and the beach at The Pearl is very clean and very inviting. So I took Julius on his second beach adventure, but also his first time splashing around in the Pacific Ocean. After some initial bedazzlement (“Why is that water coming towards me?”) he enjoyed it a lot.
Yet another short business trip. This time only an hour away from Suva. We are staying at The Pearl and it is a really nice place.
Some of the bar / restaurant areas remind me of some of the more fancy designer hotels in New York or Paris, on top of that they keep playing the Hotel Costes compilations (instead of the ususal Fijian island music).
And they do actually have internet access in all rooms. 128 K (ISDN) for 1.10 FJD per megabyte. (Hence I will keep the picture heavy posts until we are back in Suva)
We had a great dinner here last night, we hired a nanny who was not super successful with picky Mr. Julius.
Finally I found one of those inflateable pools for Julius. We bought one before, but found out that it was way too big and returned it. So now he has this great blue one. At first he was a bit scared and confused and wanted to hang on to daddy, but within minutes he got comfortable and had a great time.
(Click to enlarge)
His latest obsession is pointing out stuff, especially birds when he is outside.
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Yesterday I finally got to watch the most recent, and as it looks like, last Star Wars movie ever.
Quite amazing that Fiji had a copy on opening day, being 14 h ahead of the US east coast, we even beat the midnight screenings in NY timewise. But this was the first time I was not able to watch it on opening weekend, but the Monday thereafter. |
I liked the movie quite some. Best of the prequel trilogy (even though I felt more entertained watching Episode II at the Ziegfeld in NY back in 2002 in digital projection). A lot of things were cleared up, things that fans knew to happen were finally shown.
The pacing and action are fun, the visiuals are mostly great, the music is fantastic (I havr had my gripes with some of the Ep II score). Some cheesiness was gone, new cheese was added. Jar Jar Binks had mercyfully very little screentime (though I would have loved to see him die, painfully). So let’s move on to my gripes, nitpicks and general thoughts, shall we?
*** spoilers from here on ***
The acting was wooden except for Palpatine .. he was a great villain with an eery fatherhood attitude. Natalie Portman was wasted, Obi Wan looked like he does not take this role serious, Anakin has hardly improved from soap opera acting. I keep having the feeling that George Lucas would prefer to make movies with robots or all CGI characters …
Speaking of CGI … mostly very very good .. especially the opening space battle … but towards the end there were some truly icky shots … a) The head of Temura Wilson on CGI stormtrooper uniforms b) the part of the final duel on those floating lava plattforms and c) the 2 babies which were very obviously compositted into the scene.
Some plot points I am still not so sure about: What about all that ‘can manipulate life’ thing .. is that supposed to explain Anakin’s birth? And the question why Qui Gon Jin dies in Ep I, but leaves a body behind? If Yoda and Obi Wan then have figured out by the end of Ep VI how to do the trick, is it safe to assume that Darth Vader has learnt it too? (Thus the happy blue threesome at the end of Ep VI)
And who the heck ordered the clone army? 2 names were mentioned in Ep II: Jedi Master Sifo Dias and some Lord Tyranous .. was that Palpatine under a fake name? Or Dooku?
I had some more .. might add later …
Why were the wookies and those hellraiser, hole inhabitting people in the movie? Fillers? But all very cool looking … I did like the chase after General Grivous a lot, and him fighting with 4 lightsabres …
Anakin’s turning felt too quick .. and the reason … hmm .. i think I was expecting something like him thinking that there is something going on with Padme and Obi Wan … which brings me to an earlier point: Anakin executing Dooku: That was too fast too. I had wished that Palpatine had said something like “Dooku killed your mentor” (Obi Wan being smashed by that plattform sure looked pretty serious, I was actually surprised how quickly he was up and running again).
The initial humor around R2 was kinda nice, but silly .. and how come that R2 can move like this in Ep 3, but in Ep 4 he is rather stiff. I liked though that they addressed why C3PO has no knowledge of the prequel happenings from Ep 4 on.
Another question: Why is Leia a Princess? The Organas don’t look like king and queen … and if she is living in hiding, why would she take the royal title from her mother, who was queen of Naboo once. And exactly WHY did Padme die? That was silly …
Yoda kicked ass. Sam Jackson was less spectacular in this one. Seing the Jedi being betrayed was awsome .. though one could actually buy into the idea that they might be on the wrong path by assuming control … what a bunch of dogmatic softies they are.
The worst thing was Anakin as Darth Vader. The suit looked to big .. and the “NOOOOO” scene was laughable !!!
I do not have the feeling right now that I need to watch the film right away again … I had somehow more fun with the 3 Lord of the Rings movies (which felt way more epic). Too often did I get the feeling of the movie being shot in empty sets against greenscreens.
But I guess there is just so much in this film that one has to watch it again. I wonder if this film could finally kick Titanic off the throne … but it will not have the return business that the sinking ship movie had thanks to heart throb Leo.
It feels weird, empty now .. Star Wars has been a big part of my childhood and youth .. and now it is over … But let’s see how over it really is .. they are talking about a TV show now. And there will always be something to make money off. Maybe when I am very very old someone will try to make a remake? How weird would that be?
The discussion is now open.
He has not been wearing this bathrobe in a while, but today after the bath he grabbed it while I put his diaper on and thought it was a fun idea.
long time no cute Misha pic. Somehow she discovered the shoe boxes Julius had been playing with.
So, big star studded TV event being shot live in Fiji, wow, yeah!
Anyways, the ‘real life’ TV show with ‘celebrities’ is currently being shot out on some tiny island resort and I had the chance to meet some crew members on my 4 AM walks at the Mocambo resort. Interestingly every night a copy of the crew schedule arrived at our doorstep by mistake, revealing that litter in form of empty fiji water bottles and cigarette butts are a problem on love island, that the crew celebrates Frankgipani Friday at the Sheraton and so on 
In this article in the FijiTimes 5/19 (note that they list Fran Cosgrave under female stars ) it seems like a great thing for Fiji’s film industry and a follow up article a day later says the same is true for the tourism industry. Some gems from that second article:
- He said most of our tourists were from Australia and New Zealand, since visitor arrivals from Europe were relatively low. (this is like saying “this is bigger because that is smaller”)
- “Foreign reserve and the exchange rate could really benefit, since the UK pound sterling is three times stronger then the Fiji dollar,” he said. (that needs some explanation … )
One thing that really makes me wonder is that the show started airing on 5/16 and yet the article in FT is dated 5/19 … slow flow of info methinks …
also, it the show as successfull as they try to make us believe?
Not the case according to sky.com The show has lost 1.9 million viewers by its third night on air, without the hint of a smooch on the horizon between the pampered celebs moping around a Fijian island.
And the bigger thing I am wondering about … where are the petitions? the protest marches? Remember, we are on the island that wanted to boycott the airing of “Desperate Housewives”
A little internet research reveals that among the ‘celebrieties’ are a lady from the nudity business (google for Abi Titmuss) and someone who’s celebrity status is hanging on the claim to have slept with David Beckham (google for Rebecca Loos) and who knows what else …
The whole nature of the show seems to be who wants to do it with who … and even some lesbianism is hinted at (Rebecca and Abi in bed). Remember, homosexual acts are illegal in Fiji .. an Australian tourist was just sent to prison for that for 2 years.
So, why is there no protest? a) information. The newspaper is still the main source of info and access to the internet is still the opposite of common b) money! As long as some people get a nice slice of the 30m production dollars, it is all fine for Fiji …
Ah, double standards, how we love them
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