Last post of 2005?

so...
very busy day today, then in the morning we are off to Wooli (in between Yamba and Coffs) till new years day.
catching up with Mum and Dad.
Should be good.
So, ta ta for 2005. see you in 6.

Lord's Prayer

As usual, flicking thru other peoples blogs... i found this on Barb's blog, and she got it from jonnybakers site. Its an adaptation of the Lord's prayer.

O Breathing Life, your Name shines everywhere!
Release a space to plant your Presence here.
Imagine your possibilities now.
Embody your desire in every light and form.
Grow through us this moment's bread and wisdom.
Untie the knots of failure binding us, as we release the strands we hold of others' faults.
Help us not forget our Source,Yet free us from not being in the Present.
From you arises every Vision, Power and Song from gathering to gathering.
Amen - May our future actions grow from here!

i like things like this, that add a richness and depth to something we are so familiar with. i wonder if we should think about scripture in this light more often. Or maybe even... an excercise where everyone re-writes the passage (sure this may take some exegetical background - maybe?) but it would sure add to the communal experience, as we all see and hear differently depending on our experience of God.

tickle tests

a did a couple of dumb laughable tickle tests this morning - what else do i do at work???

one one which colour type i was - suprise suprise i came out green
another on which movie star i'd be - i was pretty happy with that result too.

my son the genius

MJ got a green camping chair
at the time he was just wearing green undies
thats when Kenn said to him
You cant sit on it in those undies we wont be able to see you
without thought MJ just took his undies off and jumped up on the chair
a classic indeed

yes its a...

openning presents this morning (as you do)
i came across one that was quite obviously a DVD
open it up to reveal
Hi5
My name ended up on the wrong one... it was very amusing

MJ was so happy with his presents. Particularly getting into his Playdoh stuff and the electronic motorbike/trike - it goes about walking speed and he just loves it...

anyways, i was a very lucky boy today too. some of the stuff i recieved included
a picture LP of Sargent Peppers (straight to the pool room)
a framed painted LP by MJ
John Safran's music jamboree DVD
A drum from South Africa
some silcon cookware (its really cool)
Donna Hay - the instant cook

thats al i can remember right now, but yeah, its been a great day... back at work now, and rather tired, but all has been great.

more wolfmother

saw some footage tonight on wolfmother at homebake
maybe they do deserve all the accolades, they were amazing, the improvisation was particularly something that interested me.
hopefully i will get a chance to see them some time soon

new look

for some strange reason the old blog template i was using wouldnt display my profile, links, previous posts etc...
so, this is the new one, and that stuff functions now.
you like it??

what im listening to

at the moment??

ive been getting into
Antony and the Johnsons
Kaiser Chiefs
Emiliana Torrini
bit of a mix there (both stylistically and nationality - Yanks, Poms and Iceys - or whatever someone from iceland is?)
I may have more to say on these artists soon, but thats all for now.

James Dobson email

i received this email this afternoon

Dr. Dobson is going on CNBC to urge every Christian to get involved. I

hope you will think about signing this and forwarding to all your family

and friends. Dr. James Dobson, with Focus on the Family, pleads for our

action. An organization has been granted a Federal Hearing on the same

subject by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) in Washington, DC.

Their petition, Number 2493, would ultimately pave the way to stop the

reading of the gospel of our Lord and Savior, on the airwaves of America.

They got 287,000 signatures to back their stand!

If this attempt is successful, all Sunday worship services being broadcast

on the radio or by television will be stopped. This group is also

campaigning to remove all Christmas programs and Christmas carols from

public schools!


You as a Christian can help! We are praying for at least 1 million

signatures. This would defeat their effort and show that there are many

Christians alive, well and concerned about our country.

As Christians, we must unite on this. Please don't take this lightly. We

ignored one lady once and lost prayer in our schools and in offices across

the nation. Please stand up for your religious freedom and let your voice

be heard. Together we can make a difference in our country while

creating an opportunity for the lost to know the Lord.

some thoughts
1 - the languageand tone it uses frustrates me to no end.
2 - relationships are the most important thing in our faith. not radio or television shows. i wonder how many relationships would be bruised if all my friends who dont prescribe to the teachings and life of Christ heard me referrring to them as "Lost". Thats quite arogant now isnt it...
3 - the years of greatest prosperity, growth and true spirituality for the church were (in my opinion) the first 300 or so of its existence. Personally i feel like the conversion of constantine (313) and more importantly his legalisation of Christianity as a religion, was a turning point in the downward direction for our faith. When it was more of a risk to follow Christ, it lead to deeper faith and suprisingly more followers. Its funny that the countries growing most these

Who cares about this stuff really? its not going to make a huge difference. I think James Dobson is living in the past, with practices that are becoming less and less relevant.

I imagine Sufjan Stevens and Bono are doing alot more for our faith than Switchfoot and Jars of Clay.

As a friend of mine once said "I'm sure more people found God thru the music of the Beatles than thru so called Christian music"

100

so, for this my 100th post i shall mention triple J's hottest 100
theres a list of songs here
i think i will vote 2 times (10 songs from each email address) just cause i cant narrow it down to only 10.
Not sure yet what im voting for, but i think i will limit myself to one vote per artist.
im finding it particularly difficult to remember back before about june. oh well, you get that, its inevitable.

sure there will be more on this soon.

top albums poll

triple j finally posted the results of the top albums poll. its here

some thoughts... ofcourse i always have thoughts on these things...

1 - as always it seems amazing that the best album of the year was released recently. i guess this is inevitable with polls like this. (it was wolfmother by the way)

2 - Wolfmother? its like they are the great white hope at the moment. I like them but i think its all a bit silly at the moment. first they give them heaps of airplay (both music and interviews), then the J award, now this... its not suprising. I do think its a good album, but how unusual that i would disagree with the majority. its cool. i just wonder if all those that put it in their top 10 would still agree in april???

3 - 7 of the 15 nominations for the J award were in the top 20 (all but 1 in the top 50 - pivot missed out). Also in the top 20 were end of fashion and the cat empire. Now particularly in regards to Two Shoes by the Cat Empire, why wasnt it nominated for the J award? I feel like it was a better album that their last, and definately deserved acknowledgement from the Js.

4 - great to see that songs for silverman by ben folds got in the top 50 (at number 45). I rate it as one of the best for the year, and unfortunately the Js didnt spin it much. oh well, obviously others liked it too.

well check the list out for yourself anyways. these things are always interesting. something to whinge about or at least be hypercritical of. yeah??

West Wing

i love the west wing so much! its by far the best television show ever made, if you havent seen it, you should. its great

anyways, 2 things

1 - John Spencer died this week (he played Leo - chief of staff). Its a terrible loss, as the guy was amazing. Check out the story here.

2 - I watched a great episode this morning "The War at Home". Joey Lucas is a pollster, and she's deaf and just a great charecter in general, and anyways she says this (well Kenny her interpreter says this)...
you're like the French radical watching the crowd run by and saying "There go my people, I must find out where they are going so I can lead them."
i really like it, its good for someone with idealistic tendencies to hear something like this, there's something in there for us all (if you want there to be?)

i'll smash yous all

so...
where on earth would exist a place where
Mick kicked my butt
I just beat Grant by the narrowest of margins
and
we all destroyed copland
here it is

(i included first and last names just incase you are wondering)
thanx Doug Pagitt for this link

does greener grass taste better?

im sure i will try and stuff that into a song somewhere along the line, i think it would work.
my point is... that things can always be better if only... but thats crap really!
life is what we are doing with it now, who we are now, why we are etc...

so my point?
im happy right now
i dont know if i failed that subject at college, and i feel like all my friends my age have disapeered (i miss you all - in order of distance away - BJ, Dan, Lyd, Caine, Sally, Mick, Bec, Mel, Grant, Copland), and well, i cant stop struggling with my dark side (the side that eats things that make me fat...)
but..

its all good
i have an amazing family (love you karz, mj and jumbles)
i have great friends (even if they are a thousand miles away - guitar chords anyone?)
i just got a new job (and probably a whole heap of new friends ???)
i feel like im in a good place right now, and when i look at it, ive been there for a long time, it just feels different.

dont mind me, im just feeling this way.
so after that what now... i think im going to call orgo (thats how i spell it get over it) cause i feel like it.

raisins

maybe i am becoming a groupie

sure, i will always have tendencies in the area of groupiedom. anyone who knew me during my phish phase will clearly testify to that.

anyways... i posted on Zan's blog (that i mentioned the other day, here) and well she got back to we which was nice.

heres the thing anyways

ian hey zan,love the beatles, and i love sufjan (among others) so im pretty pumped about the album. speaking of sufjan, i found some free christmas stuff of his kicking around, and its awesome, you should check it out some time.
**Hey Ian, I do indeed have those Christmas EP's - it's a much better soundtrack to the 'holiday season' than the usual dorky carols and middle of the road pop singers doing covers eh? You should check out his earlier albums if you haven't also... he's gone from indie to middle eastern, glitchy electronica to stripped back folk.. across five albums. The man's a genius. Illinois is by far my favourite record of the year. Thanks for the post!

hello again

seems as though life has been rather busy of late. i guess thats something this time of year does to you. ive never really been close to the expression "silly season" cause i would like to think that i am rather silly all year round. but... maybe it does hold some resonance in general. ive been to the shops a riduculous amount lately, mainly due to how stinking hot it has been. thats leads me t o a thought that i shall share in a minute... hmmm...

anyways
I GOT THE JOB!!!
I'm now a Chaplain! What that involved exactly is somewhat uncertain at this point. But, im sure glimpses of what i do will occasionally be graced on the pages of edgar. we'll see. i have to call the principal and have a meeting with Tobin from SU early in the new year, so we'll see what happens from there... eh.

on a totally different note
ive been enjoying the cricket lately. nice and close up until this arvo, but who knows there couold be a collapse and it could be close. or anything could happen. but its good when its not all one sided, im digging it anyways.

also, listening to triple J tonight they were counting down the top 10 albums voted by listeners for the year. i didnt catch number one though. bloc party were number 2 though - that suprised me somewhat... just wasnt listening to the radio much around that time i guess. they are good, but maybe not my sup of bonox. number 3 and 4 on the other hand made some more sense (White stripes and Bernard Fanning respectively). So, i may well post it when they put it on the site... not sure???

lastly for now...
i figure that it would make more sense to have christmas mid year!!!
why?
1 - it would break the year up nicely
2 - the shops would be packed mid year (for christmas) and at the end of the year (cause its so stinkin hot)
3 - more money for retailers.

im the sure the governement will introduce this sometime soon, as all the seem to care about is money. so as it would help businesses, then it would be a smart way to go!!!

enuff for now

run with the hunted

Zan Rowe is fast becoming a fave of mine at the J's
i think i first got glimmers of it when she featured a heap of icelandic music one day while doing myf's shift. very cool indeed.

anyways, she has a blog call "run with the hunted" and well, i like it
thats all

a very sufjan christmas

so, sufjan stevens has impressed me greatly this year.
found some christmas stuff by him, all available for free download
check these links out (dont know which one works best?)
download download 2
definately worth it - i especially like his version of "come thou fount of every blessing" disc 2, track 3.
anyways, worth checkin out some time. i enjoy it.

the waiting game

so, the interview i had yesterday went incredibly well, but, i know it doesnt matter.

either im the person for the job or not. and well, the last coupla interviews went very well too, but i didnt get the job because they had someone else better suited for them. so... it comes down to me being suited to this one???? dunno.

hopefully i am, im getting excited bout all the possibilities for the school. but... who knows what will happen. will know by tommorro arvo anyways...
hopefully i will sleep tonight (i get so worked up over these things dont i?)

the problem with blogging

so...
i had a huge weekend.
a job interview on monday
started getting sick monday night at work
was pretty crook most of the day yesterday (sinus stuff)
so... its hard to keep the blogging up all the time.
heres a quick run down of the last few days (the significant things)


flew into sydney on saturday
went to my sisters 30th
she didnt know we were coming so it was a good surprise
she loved the scrapbook that karz spent ages on, so, all winners there
we were so tired though

sunday
pretty cruisy morning
mick and bec came round, they are both doing well
bec's going to greece for 3 or 4 months to play polo - that'll be cool
left for the airport
got into bris
had some dinner with kenn and andrea
went home
got a dvd out
it was scratched, went back to get a clean one...
got home with new disc... wrong dvd!!!
went back, got the right one and a freebee... so thats ok

monday
had a job interview in the morning - went very very well!
went to work in the arvo
almost falling asleep at work cause of sinus stuff

tuesday
came home early from work - sick
had a sleep
got woken by a phone call for another interview - another chaplaincy job
called tobin to find out if i need to go (if i had the other job)
didnt get the sunnybank job!!!
arghhhh
the other guy had experience in schools

thats pretty much the wrap up to now

got a job interview in about an hour
i sure hope i get this one, its a bit frustrating getting told that although i am more experienced with youth and have 2 relevant degrees (almost), there is someone better for the job!!
oh well
more to write later maybe

back from sydney

so im back from sydney. didnt mention it at all cause it was a suprise... i will blog it and backdate it some time today

some more thoughts on the death penalty

going on in the comments of that original post a few days ago
its here

some quotes i like (practitioners ch1)

reading "practitioners" at the moment. heres some quotes i like from it (just the first chapter actually - thats all ive got thru, but im digging it)

Eventually I came to belive. The was no great revelation, no defining moment. It was more like an enormous exhaltation. It was like a gentle loosening of my grip, the color slowly returning to my knuckles. Some days are intoxicating, fragrant. Others, arid and monochromatic. /Few are lonely. And all are rich in possibility, like a blank page, or an ugly patch of dirt that with care becomes hospitable.
Greg Russinger

The dispute concerns an unbearable mismatch between lived reality and traditional explanations that proceed by their own logic without reference to lived reality.
Walter Brueggemann

another interview!

got a phone call from Tobin (from SU) today. I have a job interview for another one of those Chaplaincy jobs. So... hoping all goes well.
I'm sure there will be another blog entry like this one.

One thing that did instill some confidence was the question of whether I would do 2 jobs or just one... dont know if im reading too much into it...?

death penalty!

so here something interesting!
in many asian countries, if you bring drugs in (or out) you get the death penalty.
it seems the US has an interesting alternative... if you dont take your drugs (medication) then you get the death penalty. (see here)

maybe Hitler should have been more creative... it seems the US are exterminating Black people with lethal injections, the mentally ill with air marshals, and putting all the homosexuals in a ghetto (san fransisco) - maybe thats a little bit of a stretch? You go George W!

business council of australia

seen those ads on tele? the ones where the business council of australia is saying that we need new industrial relations cause the old one is over 100 years old, and is just patched up.

well thats cool. maybe we need a new constitution and legal system among other things. The arogance of it! new is not always better. You think a group of minds like that would have thought about their argument a little longer. But hang on... agree with this, so we can make more money, probably isnt an advertising campaign that would fly. or would it?

sometimes its ok to swim in your pyjamas

something that makhyah taught me this morning.

busy busy busy

pretty busy and tired in my house at the moment. we have both been working on my sister's birthday present. thats all i can say for now, just in case she reads this (i doubt it but you never know).
Got a few big days coming up. Will probably write a bit more after they happen... hopefully a job interview or 2 (or 3) is the key bit of all that. will find out in the next week i imagine. anyways...

went to the city tonight to see the myer windows. a few of them werent functioning properly, so that was a bit of a let down (a couple with no lights, one with moving parts no working, a broken thing). But... on the other hand we got to hang with Rich and Jude (and Josh and Noah) before they go away, so that was cool. short of stopping the inevitable, it was classic time with Rich. I find that i think best when hes around - i come up with some of my best stuff that is... who knows??

Oh, and i also had some juice from oasis, really good! 2 parts watermelon,1 part pineapple. yummo!

my top 10 albums of 2005?

look, to be honest i find this excutiating! trying to pick between all my ears have been blessed with.
it gets easier when i cut out everything older than this year... but still... i cant come up with a top ten, not right now anyways...
heres some albums that would probably rate, for various reasons (this is in no order!!)

Sufjan Stevens - Illinois
Ben Folds - Songs for Silverman
Lior - Autumn Flow
Ben Lee - Awake is the New Sleep
The Killers - Hot Fuss
Clare Bowditch and the Feeding Set - What was Left
Architecture in Helsinki - In Case We Die
Knuckle Down - Ani DiFranco

some of the other stuff that i have liked alot this year would include the Scissor Sisters, Galactic, Bela Fleck and the Flecktones and Vida Blue. But... all these are not current to this year...
I have also enjoyed several Putumayo compliations including Mali, Mediterranean Odyssey, African Playground and Carribean Playground (both of which Makhayah has enjoyed at least as much as I).

Other than that... musically my year was marked harshly by blues and roots selling out the day that we got the money together. So... I didnt end up getting to many gigs. But I did get to see an awesome marley tribute show, with Kaya opening for them, and got to architecture in helsinki at the globe (2 stand outs anyways).

I'm sure ive left something off here... buzz me eh??? (that means you grande)

the J award - an irony?

speaking to Grande yesterday I agree that this whole J award seems to be somewhat ironic as it tends to be triple J and their listeners that oppose competition and awards (like these guys).

The saving grace for me tends to be the fact that 15 albums were nominated, so they really are giving a big yell out to a stack of good music (but why wasnt cat empire nominated?). So, its not all that bad, but i guess it could be viewed as somewhat ironic.

adventures on the internet: you might be emerging if

i found this link on doug pagitt's blog. a little pictorial hoo-ha on the emerging church...

i found it amusing anyways, and somewhat accurate too i guess.
and yes... i knew pretty much all of those names on the list... shame on me

Clare Bowditch and the Feeding Set

So, a couple of weeks ago I picked up "what was left" this years album by Clare Bowditch et al.

I have to say it has been a bit of an adventure listening to it, its really unvieled itself slowly to me. At first a few songs stood out as absolute winners (the poppier numbers) and then slowly, but surely, the others grew on me, to the point of saying that overall its a top album.

So, the poppy tracks - in particular Divorcee at 23, On this side and Lips like Oranges, are all great. Although I wouldnt limit it to these, saying that these are the only bright tracks, but they do have a certain radio friendly "benleeness" about them. Having said that, like the whole album, the instrumentation and arrangements are just amazing. Guest electric guitarist J. Walker, does an awesome job on these 3 tracks in particular, playing stuff that would seem ridiculous to some, but just making it fit perfectly. It really excites me how all the instruments work together.

Speaking of Instruments... Libby Chow is a very integral part of the band. Featuring pretty much just on backing vocals and french horn, its a unique addition, to a beautiful sound. Probably half the tracks feature the french horn (in particular the more laid back ones), and again, the arrngements are just beautiful, adding depth and soul to Clare's quirky, syncopated and melodic compositions. The other brilliant aspect of the arrangements are the drumlines. Its hard to say without listening to their stuff, but they really are something special... I'm not a drummer so thats about all you'll get out of me on that one. But yeah... all the instruments just fit, its hard at times to distiguish them, but i think thats ok on this one.

Wrapping it up with Clare... her guitar work is again beautiful. For a band that boarders on busyness at times, its interesting to note that the guitar is like a rock. Just fingerpicks on through the song - to give you an idea, without the band Clare would be similar to Holly Throsby in some ways, but the band just takes it somewhere else completely. No better or worse, just unexpected and special (so i guess it is better).

Overall, the sound is so Melbourne! I dont know what that means, but it makes sense to me. Mick... I would suggest you have listen, in some strange way it reminds me of the Sundays - but a less simple, more quirky version. not sure, just something i feel...

top 10 albums

triple J are doing a top ten albums of the year poll.

i checked out some of the lists there already and was rather impressed with Clare Bowditch's (which is here) as well as Chris Taylor and Zan Rowe (which are in the Triple J staff section)

worth having a look thru anyways, whatever you are in to.


and hey, on a slightly different note, has anyone (namely you grande) hear the herd's album (no pun intended), i wouldnt mind checking it out sometime.

and the winner is...

wolfmother

the j award was announced this afternoon.
i have to say that its a good album, but i feel that its a little over-rated by triple j in general.
thats all i'll say for now, cause i havent given the album as much time as i would have liked...
so congratulations ozzy and the crew from wolfmother!

family update

i realised this morning that i really dont mention makhyah and karz much. so i think i will right now

nakari is doing well, busy at work, and heaps tired... for those that dont know, we are expecting an addition to the family in June. So, yeah... i can only imagine how she's feeling right now... but she is still a machine with stuff round the house, work and that little tiger, makhayh.

on that note, makhyah is doing well too. although rather naughty at times, he really is a good boy. his talking is going really well, stringing up to 5 words together. Kindy is going well. I think he likes the variety in his life - days with Kenn (his grandfather - "Taid"), kindy days, days with me, days witth Karz and I, and a mix of nights and mornings when I'm at work.
he's been getting pretty pumped about santa at the moment. cant walk thru the shops without hearing him point out the big guy in red.

so there you have it... brief... but thats a hige part of my life. better go, we are off to music class this morning, with a performance to practice for - on Sunday.