grate conversation

so, i had an interesting lunch yesterday. we had a special lunch as we presented a distinguished service award to Ruth, one of the older ladies in our congregation who has been doing stuff like sunday school for years (and years).
Anyways, it was awesome to meet 2 of Ruth's grandkids - Sam and John. John plays guitar for the grates, and Patience (the singer) was there too.

It was just terrefic to meet them, I'm not a huge fan (some past thoughts here and here), but they have been growing on me, radio does that. Anyways, I think there music ranges from ok to good, but as people they are just tops! We mainly chatted about music (yes, i like music) and i tried to convince patience to buy clare bowditch and emilian torrini. And, John again added to my "where have i been and why havent i heard about them earlier" in relation to the polyphonic spree - i have to mentioned them later as they are rocking my world...

anyways, big shout out to john and patience... shame i didnt meet alana (who by the sounds of things has terrific music taste)... have a good holiday, sounds like you really deserve it!

no, i havent moved to another planet

ahoy there...

in a month that could only be described as huge, i managed to have no internet at home for a good chunk of it, and be mega busy at other times... so i jump on here to say, im still here... i have not given up blogging, i am just busy and find it hard to put much up at times.

a few significant things have gone on in the last month or so, but i shall leave that for now, and let them crop up naturally somewhere else.
hopefully i can backdate etc...

one ripping line-up

recieved a phone call thins evening from grande who had to inform me of the line-up for this years bluesfest
you can see what they've anounced so far here

realistically, i just cant afford it, unless something bizarre comes out of nowhere... but to see john mayer, dave matthews, ben harper, the waifs, jbt, missy, xavier... and who knows who else in one weekend would be awesomely amazing... we'll see...

anyways, i may well try to sheck out dave this time, cause it was a bit of a mistake that i didnt go last time - all my mistake...

only abandoned

check this guy out!

i first met mr francis kneebone on su state conference this year.
awesome guy, who really brings out something in my writing and playing style that i like. thanx fancis, you're a champion!

anyways... fancis has an ep out call only abandoned, and i think you can listen to some tracks off it on his myspace (which is the link). so... you should do that.

a quick review of fancis' EP.
i really liked his stripped down approach. at first, it messed with my head... come on! where's the drum kit/bass/electric guitar... but i have to say im comfortable with it now. it really helps bring out the natural vulnerability in francis' writing style. a style that at times refuses to acknowledge writing cliches and standards... again, particularly with the first track (view from the moon), the timing messed with my head... but i took my muso hat off and just enjoyed it, let it flow, which it really does...
standouts for me? track 4 and 3 (in that order) Stairs (#4) is a great little love song, with a nice bright riff/arpegio that really is uplifting... Psalm 151 (#3) is a well writen piece that just flows nicely. having said that, i like all the tracks, and would recomend giving them a listen or see francis live sometime...

that's all for now on francis kneebone

the coplands

hey hey
andrew and theresa have started a blog for their baby. you can find it here

also, please take the time to check out this post on their blog. its worth a grin!

j award - two thirds of the way thru?

so, the J award is being anounced early december, but i have a funny feeling that we will get at least 3 or 4 nominations in the next 4 weeks.

if i do recall, last year there were 15 nomiations, and so far this year there are only 10! Yet, i strongly doubt that 2005 in any way was meant to be prescriptive, and they have always said that they are going to nomiate those that are worth it, not a particular number of albums. having said that, i think the last 4 or 5 all came in november, quite fittingly, due to it being aus music month. of those nominations in november last year came 4 out of 5 of the big aria awards (best male, female, group and album) - eskimo joe, best single, the only omission (not that it was out then).

i dare say that this is pure coincidence, and well... i had little idea who was going to win it last year, and this year find myself in the same place... i havent had a listen to all the nominated albums, but on the other hand am quite familiar with some of the others, and really enjoying them... (in particular goyte, augie march, hilltop hoods).
and there a couple there that i have read yto give a good listen to (sarah blasko and bob evans).
and others there that ive give na listen to and responded with... "meh... its just not really my thing" (sorry to say this, but as a whole "the grates" wasnt exactly my cup of tea) - mind you i see why they were nominated..

well, we'll see what happens from here eh?

what makes a good cover version?

coming to you from a blog named edgar, we ask the big questions, the tough questions... that is... what indeed makes a good cover of a song. I have to warn you all that this is a post filled with assumptions and possibly weak definitions that will have us all going... hmmmm

I believe that a good cover requires at least one of these 2 essential criteria...
1 - It pulls a song from unkown obscurity into a place where people can enjoy it and recognise how good it is.
2 - It is unique, is performed, arranged and delivered in a creative way that although still lets us see the original, it helps us apreciate it in a different light.

A couple of points of clarification...
1 - There is a difference between a tribute and a cover. A tribute should only be seen at a live show or on an album specifically dedicated to an artist. A tribute doesnt need to have either of the above criterium, and indeed, it could well be spoilt if it does.
There are some songs that should NEVER be covered, and really should only be delivered under the guise of a tribute. In my opinion these are the songs that music itself has been built on, and in general number few and far between.
2 - A remix, for the sake of the argument is generally a cover, although in some circumstances, if it helps ppl to be able to dance to it again would probably fall under the category of tribute (or... do we need a 3rd category, a tertiam quid if you like?)

Problems with these working definitions?
The most obvious if this idea of pulling something out of obscurity. There were probably actually people out there who had never heard american pie before madonna did it, but for some reason, that just doesnt seem right. On the other hand, huge fans of Wayne Cochran and the C.C riders may well be ofended to think that Pearl Jam did anything but defile their beloved "Last Kiss" (which charted quite high (number 1?) 99/00?).
So... its obviously contextual. Yet... does that mean that it will be best to do a cover? or a tribute?

Last thought for now, and I have a feeling that certain individuals will take the bait and respond here... but heres my last thought...
Is it OK to make money off a tribute album, or is it exploitation and oportunism. Should tributes, stay in the realms of charity? I think they should, but, to be honest, I havent really thought this one through all that much...

So either...
human nature are doing weak as covers, that dont really fit that category... or using tribute, to boost their careers and not pay homage to the originals (a la standing in the shadows of motown). or... are they bring these songs out of obscurity? its all possible... but I'm not too sure...
In my opinion not since Westlife's Uptown Girl has there been such an obvious rip off with no creative value (when maybe their is more of contextual gap in communicating that song when these guys do it?).

General Thoughts on the ARIAs 2006

OK... I just finished that mamoth post about clare bowditch, so i will go on to throw some other thoughts around.

1 - I believe, if you are good enough to get nominated for best album, you are good enough to perform. It would have been nice to see Augie March and The Sleepy Jackson get a go.

2 - Best Breakthrough? Is a bit subjective for my liking.

3 - Wolfmother. Glad they won 3 ARIAs. Also Glad they didnt win best album. I've talked about them lots, it will be good to see where they go from here.

4 - TV Rock. Will be a name that everyone will have forgotten in the not too distant future (Copland agrees with me, and basically, this point is more his than mine... go big fella).

5 - Eskimo Joe, were a little too excited for my liking to win the award (song of the year). Oh well, good luck to them. Its not like they have much shot at best group at the moment.

6 - Holly Throsby - YAY, nominated for best female. Glad Clare won it, but also glad that Holly got a mention!

7 - Human Nature... a bit tacky if you ask me.

8 - Midnight Oil, were very them... love for you to comment on that one grande.

9 - I loved the performance by Bernie, Clare and Kasey - the 3 part harmonies at the end were delicious.

10 - Bernard Fanning album of the year. I saw this coming. its not hard really. Its a good album, but for me, my vote for album of the year lies elsewhere.

Last Thoughts...
I'm so glad that it was balanced. I had this image of Wolfmother taking out 6 or 7... and well, no... they deserve 3, and thats good! Besides that... their acceptance speaches would have been insane by 6 or 7 wouldnt they?

Dedicated Aria Post

I just wanted to dedicate a whole post to one partiulcar part of the ARIA awards, last night.

That is, the amazing Clare Bowditch winning the award for Best Female Artist! As far as the general public goes, there are lots of people out there who don't know who she is, little lone experienced the amazing brilliance that is "What was Left".
I was flicking thru my entires over the last 12 months, and was surprised that I only mentioned Clare a few times (see here, here and here) besides my big rant about the album here. I have to say though, rereading my thoughts from almost 12 months ago, that my opinion has changed somewhat.

I have to say, that it would be my number 1 album of the last 12 months (although released last year). It just kept growing on me. And then... at a point, I realised some things, some thing that makes me a bit too arty farty wankish, but im gonna say it anyways. I have to ask forgiveness from everyone (Clare included) if I've gone too far with this, but its the way the album makes sense to me, its the way it affected me...

The album essential has a beautiful flow to it... one unlike any I can recall. Essentially the centre of the album is significant. I feel like the whole album in one way or another is connected to grief. Directly the first 9 tracks...
Track 7 (the centre) - the thing about grief, pretty much tells us where we've been going. The idea of loss and grief is very relevant throughout the album, songs about contemplating divorce, being disilussioned in a relationship(s), and many other subtle tracks that point us in the direction of dealing with things in life that just dont go perfectly (lips like oranges, might not be as quirky as she cuts hair by darren hanlon, but definately gets the point accross - in a refreshing and uplifting way) and which way to go puts us is a place we've all been, uncertainty.

Having said this, it isnt depressing (unless you want it to be).

After the thing about grief, its like Clare pushes us, and almost wants to break us down to experience her grief. The climax here is track 9 - when i was five... which paints a picture of dealing with the death of a sister at the age of 5, with the amazing lyric "and all these memories... are they mine or other peoples?".
Not leaving us in a heap on the floor (which i doubt would be her intention) the final tracks on the album are much more hopeful and lifefull (a word that i think i just made up). Yet, they still manage to have undertones of the world being a place that doesnt quite work out all the time.
Finishing with "Yes I miss you like the rain" is a beautiful way of saying, hey - this is where we've just been... dont forget it...

This album has just been so real to me. I have to say that lyrics are sometimes something that just disapeer for me, they are almost irelevant. But here... Its a perfect marriage of music and lyric. For more on the music check out my review from Dec 4 last year - more musically based.

I've just got the first album (Autumn Bone) and I imagine I will write something about that at some point.

So... whats the point. Congratulations Clare Bowditch! I have to admit that I never thought that this album would reach this many people, hopefully it meant something to others in the way it meant something to me.

new photos?

i have a bunch of new photos of the boys ready to go up, but, i have no access at home at the moment. one of the first things i will sort out when i get my new connection will be to get them up. there's some good ones

ok... it wont be the first thing. that will be "Nightfall"

night is about to fall

on friday the new guild wars, nightfall, comes out!

i didnt buy the 2nd one, but it looks like the new one is going to be well worth it, stacks of new features (the heros look awesome), but still being able to link my old charecters to the new land.

anyways, thats all i'll say here, cause it'll just get way too nerdy! Thats ok though!
just know, i'm excited

new books - food for the mind

although my track record at finishing reading books isnt terrific, i thought i'd mention a few new books that have recently come into my posession.

the first one was my birthday present from zayden (smart little boy isnt he?).
spiritual direction: wisdom for the long walk of faith - henri nouwen.
This looks good, its an area that I really want to know more and more on. Its a ridiculous notion to expect everyone's expression of their faith to look the same, or even similar. I think this idea of fitting our personalities, interests and maybe even more of the fabric of who we are into our lives as followers of Christ is something that is only going to become more and more necessary.
well, the book will be worth a read anyway.

the next 2 i purchased with a gift voucher i was given.
the future of hope: christian tradition amid modernity and postmodernity - miroslav volf and william katerberg (editors)
anything to do with post-mo, put together by an excellent theologian and still focussing on the tradition of the church (which stretches at least 1500 years before modernity) is something that makes my ears perk up (yes i am a kangaroo - a nerdy kangaroo). Be interesting to see what the contributers have to say. I'm sure the approach i often lean on - "well, i'm postmodern so i can think whatever i like and not care about contradictions" may well have a few holes in it.

turning around the mainline: how renewal movements are changing the church - thomas c oden
what can i say? i was excited when i saw this book. sure... the whole concept has been thrashed around by stacks of authors, and normally i would just go... "yeah, yeah, jump on the bandwagon"... but it's Thom Oden!! The whole Paleo-Orthodoxy thing is something that I really think holds alot of worth. the future of the church and the movement are definatley linked (Robert Webber is the other P-O i like). Probably throw some more thoughts on this up here sometime... who knows, i never do...

last note...
I have to check out the irresistable revolution sometime as some ppl i really respect have mentioned it.

last last note....
just need to find time to read. who needs to sleep, really?

what does life look like when everything runs smoothly?

its a myth, its a myth

anyways, my main point is that my net is down again at home. i'm changing providers and it will hopefully be up by the end of next week.

boytown!

nj and i went to see a pre-release screening of boytown tonight.

a little cliche in parts, but it was meant to be
not as crass as i thought it would have been
very funny, particularly the film clips
glen robbins is definately one of the funniest men in the country
the songs were really clever
great ending... leaves it right open for a sequel - oops, dont mean to wreck it :)

probably 3 1/2 stars

experimental church project - new directions?

over the last few weeks, richard and i have been talking a little, and i guess we've both been thinking alot about the direction of the experiement. i think i've mentioned this before but the biggest problems that we've had so far (from my point of view) are:

1 - problem: too event based - nothing happening outside of the events
ideas: a. still have events, but maybe have many more small ones, places and times to meet as a community. Some of these would be structured worship, other discussion, others (most) spending time together, getting to know each other over coffee, a meal, a picnic etc. really becoming part of each others lives. maybe we could set up 3 times a week where ppl involved can meet if they are available, a morning, an afternoon and a meal on sunday (at someone's house, at a cafe, at the beach... who knows...?
b. a forum set up online where we can share about our lives and maybe some journalling (good ol soap) and share and reflect together. this would include reflections on the bible, life, prayer, reading other books, etc. don't know if we would have the time to put into this or not, just an idea.

2 - problem: trying to make it work for everyone - square peg round hole stuff.
ideas: coming to a place where we can say, "well that's ok, maybe others need to put together some prasie and worship type stuff, or find something that is going where they are".

3 - problem: everything is being done by 2 people.
ideas: cut back on the things that need doing. Maybe have some of that stuff, but let it grow and develop much more.

The Big Idea?
remember the point of all this. making the gospel make sense to people who dont get church as we know it. removing the cultural baggage that the church has brought along over the years, and rethinking exactly what church needs to be. Jesus needs to be accessible for all, not just those who can put up with singing "Just as I am" 32 times in a row - or whatever variant of this fits ("...everything was done, so you would come...")
In all this focussing primarily on the love of God, how he showed us that love - Jesus, and how we are enabled by the spirit to live in ways that truly reflect the love and community that we find in the trinity.
i think also the opening prayer that we developed may well sum up alot of who we are and want to be.

please comment on this if you are involved in our group or not. love to hear thoughts on where we might be going.

the food of india

finally did something with the gift voucher i got for my birthday today and went and got the food of india - a journey for food lovers. I actually bought this book 2-3? years ago for a wedding gift for Dan and Lyd. Mind you, I got hardcover for the same price back then that I paid for paperback for me... oh well...

its a terrific book anyways, perfect if you want to make everything from scratch. For indian food its just a terrific experience and so rewarding, not to just do a bit, but the whole lot yourself. So it includes how to make your own garam masala and thickening of yoghurt and coconut cream. If you dont wanna go to all that effort you dont have to, but its worth it.

Anyways, I think I'm going to take some of the Daal recipes out for a spin as well as some of my all time favourite dishes - creamy coconut prawn curry, chicken tikka masala and lamb rogan josh. There are also other awesome looking dishes in there, its just a matter of working thru it. well i love indian, so it shouldnt be toooo hard.

thankyou

found out today that a fellow chaplain is finishing up at the end of the year. I don't know if its common knowledge yet, particularly at their school so, I wont mention their name. But if your reading this, you know you wear armor, are a sabath breaker and will always be F-ing awesome.

Just wanted to give you a huge shout out and say thanx for everything. I have really felt supported and encouraged by the whole organisation (SU) and for me, you have been an integral part of that. I know im a bit nuts and strange at time, but i fully apreciate our friendship and have learnt stacks from you. so please... lets keep in touch even though you are moving to the dark side (oops i mean north side) of town.
I feel like God used us bumping into each other to help us move down our roads, closer to him. Glad you like Brian and Donald, if thats the only impact I've had, then its more than enuff, those 2 blokes changed my life.
Anyways, All the best mate!
Just wanted to throw it all out there.

almost famous soundtrack

one of the awesome gifts I recieved for my birthday was the soundtrack for almost famous (a brilliant film in my opinion - i love the music, and movies about it).

Anyways, its just a terrific selection of songs. In no way cliche in my opinion. Sure, some of the usual suspects from the era are there, but not the typical songs by those bands... Yes, The Who, Bowie, Lynryd Skynyrd, Led Zep, Elton and Cat Stevens all get a mention, but its not the songs you'd expect.

I really like it anyways. It captures the era as well as the vibe of the film and gives you a bunch of songs you might not be too familar with.

See the track listing (and lyrics) here

official gold coast drive like an idiot day

As I drifted down the highway deeper into the gold coast I noticed something. People felt like they needed to outdo each other when it came to stupidity. I was tailgated, whilst I was going over the speed limit (by not too much) by at least 5 different cars. This even happened when I wasn't in the right lane. The traffic was flowing quite quickly (around 120), but I saw several cars going at least 140! Where were the cops?
The classic was one car that refused to give up on his tailgating, even holding down his horn for ages. Hats off to the guy who wouldnt move. I figure if your going 10 k's over the limit and thats not fast enough, then thats someone elses problem. The moron in question, once overtaking was too busy yelling out his window at the defiant one, to notice that he almost crashed, swerving into another lane. A little bit psycho!

All I can guess is that a higher frequency of idiots are around due to indy aproaching? I just dont know.

Categorise this!

someone got a lifebouy? I think i just went overboard.

I just finished categorising my blog (over 200 entires, over a years worth).
I made stacks of categories, cause im random and have lots of things to say.
hopefully they will make it easier to look at things that interest you, and not other stuff. As well as being easier for me personally to navigate it all.

Well, I hope its worth it.

how does this affect you? if hell wasn't an option

here's a thought...

if you knew for a fact - an undeniable fact, that everyone would go to heaven, would you still be a follower of Jesus? Or... is faith just about fire insurance?

love to hear comments.

Personally, I would still follow Jesus. I believe he showed us a way to live that is the way we were meant to live.

Note: I'm not saying I believe that everyone goes to heaven, just throwing it out there to think about.

people round for dinner

it seems like forever since we had people round for dinner. Tonight we broke the drought and had 2 awesome peoples round (Christal and Mel). I cooked, from Jamie Oliver's "Jamie's Dinners". Really nice Egglant Pasta.

Basically
1 Eggplant 1cm cube - covered in oil, cooked on medium heat for about 8 min.
Throw in a diced onion, and 2 garlic cloves sliced.
Cook til brown
Throw in 2 tins of roma tomatoes and 1 Tbsp Balsamic
Season
Throw in a few basil stalks - chopped.
Cook the Pasta - Penne is fine
Throw in 4 tbsp of cream.
Then when its good to go add a handful of ripped basil leaves and about 200g ripped up mozarella.
mix it all together!
Voila!

Quite yummy indeed. I havent been a fan of eggplant in the past (or in the pasta) but this worked well. Very easy too.
Going off.

note to self: i need to start taking photos of what i cook

still kicking

hey all...
im still alive, just been busy and/or preoccupied with things i dont really feel like blogging about
namely - school/chaplaincy stuff, oz idol and guild wars

on another note, we went away last week - noosa. will put some photos up sometime i guess. see how we go

oh and today i turned 28. yay me

The Argh! RIA Awards

A nice big healthy dose of absolute frustration was dished out this year when the nominations for the ARIAs were anounced earlier this week. There are several things that you could find annoying, from absolute anomaly to just things that don't make sense. I have to admit that there are also things that I'm grateful for: I had this scary image of Shannon Noll and the Veronica's getting nomiated for best album. Thankfully some better judgement was in place there.

I wont beat round the bush any longer. My number one problem really has to do wtih the Sleepy Jackson. OK - I dont like them. Who cares really, its not like I like every artist that gets nominated for album of the year, but the sleepy jackson. I just dont get it. But moreso, what I don't get is how they get nomiated for album of the year, and not group of the year?!?! How on earth does this happen. Generally speaking, album of the year is made up of a choise of nomiations from group, male and female. This year you have 3 who were nominated for group, bernard fanning, and... that's right... the sleazy jackson.

The other huge problem I have with the whole best album, and group is that The Hiltop Hoods, didnt get in there! That is just wrong. The album is dead set brilliant! Yet on the other hand, they got nomiated for breakthru artist! Hello? "The Calling" their 2003 album went Gold? Is that not breakthru enough for ya?

Other gripes?
How Human Nature is more adult contemporary than Clare Bowditch I do not know.

thats all i can say cause the aria site isnt letting me in now??? I think it must know I'm having a whinge... All in all I love the ARIAs, but I'm not really looking forward to it too much this year due to some rather poor nominations, album of the year will without much thought at all be between wolfmother and bernie. i think wolfmother is good, but not that good, and for crying out loud, 3 arias in a row for bernard fanning already??? is the way we vote for arias the same as the way we vote for governments - yeah they've been doing a good job, lets keep them in.

we'll see. i might give sleepy jackson another listen to see if i can work out what on earth is going on there???

it feels like ages

well i sit here thinkin that it feels like forever since i posted last. and well it was almost a month ago, so its been a while.
anyways, I might backdate a few things and see how they go.

hangin with Aunty Nalelle

spent a great day today with my old mate from uni, Lynelle.
Just good hanging out and catchin up again, Aunty Nalelle, as makhyah refers to her has been away in Cambodia for 6 weeks, so reintergration into the stupidities of the western world was my job! yay!

yay, presents for me!

so, today is/was fathers day. and well, i dont really hide from anyone that i love getting presents. and well... the boys (with an awesome help from karz) got me some ripping pressies.

firstly a block of lindt pistachio chocolate - yay chocolate
a green shirt - they say geniuses pick green
then...
2 books!
Body Prayer by Doug Paggitt
Travelling Mercies by Anne Lamott

I got straight into Travelling Mercies, which is one I've been meaning to get for a while now (as is the other, but in a different way). I'm sure there will be some entries on these down the track

new photos up

thought I'd just throw a few fairly recent photos up of the boys. If they dont load properly, just refresh the page and dont scroll down for a bit (dunno why?), it might just be my computer??

anyways, enjoy!

dress up time

This is what happens when you give MJ free feign over some dress up stuff. And yes! These are both our boys, they are just creative and comfortable with who they are. There are some more hilarious shots from this dress up session, but I thought getting both the boys in one would be nice.

boing

Zayden just loves to play. We tried him in the jolly jumper (thanx rach) and he just went off.

too big for your boots?

Here’s the little tiger in a pair of Ugs. I imagine that it won’t surprise anyone to learn that they are not his!

our 2 smiley boys

Anyone for Soup?

So, I've been trying to alter my eating habits. It's funny you know, there are some really healthy things that I just love! But, drive thrus are easy and chocolate is addictive (i havent had either in 2 weeks tomorrow - along with chips, lollies and softdrinks).
Anyways, I made 2 ripper soups this week, one this arvo, and one on Wednesday.

Wednesday Soup.
2 Cloves of Garlic (minced), 4 stalks of celery (diced), 2 Carrots (diced) and 2 Onions (sliced).
Throw em in a stock pot on Med Hi, with a little water, to soften everything (it steams up like crazy). Give em, 8 minutes or so...
Add 1.25L of Veg Stock, and 4 Parsnips (rough dice) and just under a teaspoon of dried thyme.
Let it simmer (in my case, for the time it took me to get Makhyah from Day care).
Blend it up
Check the seasoning (more salt?)
Yummo

Tonights was similar...
no celery, carrot or parsnips... instead? Start with 3 onions, then add 3 leeks, then when i put in the stock used potatoes (instead of parsnips).
The potatoes need a fair bit of seasoning...
again!
Yummo

These soups are dead easy, and taste great... take advantage of it being winter and take these bad boys for a burl!!

Mado

Last night Karz and I went out for dinner to a new Turkish Resteraunt in Southbank - Mado - pronounced Mah-Dough.

We ordered some dips with Turkish Bread to accompany our mains, which I think was a good idea - I love an organic experience where your grabbing a bit of this, a bit of that.

So we got 3 dips - baba ganoush, homous and another one ??? that had walnut and capscicum in it - my fave i think.
Karz got this really interesting pasta. Basically it was a fairly simple tomato based sauce, with these little ravioli(ish) things, with a spicey lamb filling. I on the other hand went all out and got the mixed grill! it was terrific! chicken, lamb, more lamb, lamb kofta sorta things, just tops!!

So, give it a burl. We got away for just over $25 each, which is a pretty good price. Much better than Ahmet's up the road!

j award 2006 - mid year thoughts

anyone who has followed my reandom mutterings for a while would know that last year i took a particular interest in the J Award - that is, the australian album of the year according to triple j. check out my archive for december for some more thoughts on the whole thing.

anyways, im rather impressed in most part with the nominations for this year.
they are
living end
augie march
hilltop hoods
goyte
the grates

thoughts?

i would put the hard road (hilltop hoods) as the front runner at the moment. it does seem that there are alot of releases in the 2nd helf of the year, but that may just be my imagination. so who knows what will happen

augie march. decent album yes. nowhere near as good as sunset studies though. so in that light its not worthy of the award, but definately worth a mention in the top 12 - 15 or however many they list

living end??? i dunno so much about this one. to be honest i havent give n the album a huge listen. i imagine that it would be very hard for them to release an album that didnt get nominated. they are a great band (but no powderfinger).

the grates. ummmmm. i like some of their stuff, i love science is golden, and i go to church with john's (the guitarist's) grandmother. i also think that patience is a bit of a crazy dancer (well hey, so am i)

goyte! stay tuned for more entries on this genius! A very clever album. I've only just got it, so i cant say more than that at this point in time. but... "your hearts a mess" should be song of the year!

the hoods - its just brilliantly pieced together. look, to be honest, there are some songs on there that dont totally float my boat, but the value in them isnt lost on me.


so???
all in all i think the list is good at this point in time. not too sure if they've missed anything that should be there. future nominations? maybe something for kate? probably youth group... and the dark horse??? true calling from melbourne - everything i've heard about them makes it sound like their album is going to be a standout.

troubled and somewhat concerned

as i drift thru the hours of life, i have to say I'm a little concerned about the future of the christian faith. I'm a little concerned about things like this, where people are too busy cutting others down to promote their great structure that is their version of the faith.

and well, i was going to comment on that dudes blog (along with 50 or so others who are taking emerging christianity seriously), but i thought... and well... no... i wont comment there. i will comment here.

what frustrates me more than anything, is that tony jones is a person who has inspired me like crazy. i was flickin thru some old blog entires of mine and funily enuff it was a little over a year ago that i was saying how inspiring the guy is (here). so yeah...

that dude is obviously happy with his version of our faith, but im still exploring, and i've found a road to wander down that seems to hold hope.

sometimes hope is the only thing we have. but its a great thing to have

a thousand words

as i do from time to time, i was checking out 10by10 tonight. for those who havent heard about it, its a really interesting way of tracking what is most popular in world news at any given time - its updated hourly.

so here's some photos off it that spoke to me. All these are to do with the violence between Israel and Hezbollah. Remember - its updated hourly, so you might get different photos.
note: the links i found for these were on 10by10 but the photos were orignally posted on BBC and NYtimes.

Peter Costello's AWA

found this on the chaser site. i thought it was gigglesome.

a big night in... leads to a big weekend!

huge weekend!

Friday night...
We had our inaugural "Big Night In" which was our Superhero night.
The night went well. Bron, Shona and Sallyanne ran the games and did a good job (mind you the distribution of points was a little shakey at times... (I'm so competitive when it comes to games). I managed to get a knee in the face playing the games, yeah for the black eye - it was my own fault though.
We had pizza, hung out then watched some movies (which i fell asleep during). at some point i woke up with some boys charging around making wierd noises. I put on my authoritative voice, then promptly fell back to sleep.
Thanks heaps to eveyone for coming and cleaning up the next day - especially Simo for organising it all.

Saturday Morning.
woke up, took some photos of everyone asleep (hehehe), then showered quickly and had to get to a training session on grief.
it was terrific, but i was falling alseep a bit... oh well.

Saturday night
Mum, Dad and Jenny (were there amongst many, who came to see the passing out parade at pukapunyel! where was i...?) and the fam, went out to Taj Mahal! Terrific as always - MJ even got stuck in and ate these lamb Shami Kebabs. Jenny enjoyed it, i think it was a smidge too rich and spice filled for Dad...
Yumo anyways.

Sunday!
We had Zayden's baptism. it was good. Went back to our place and had lunch with about 20 ppl... just hanging out, havin a good time... good stuff anyways...

thanks heaps to:
Caine, Sally and Orlani for coming up from Adelaide. And for being Godparents (not Orlani obviously)
Mum, Dad and Jenny (were there amongst many) for coming up from Sydney. Mum for the cake, Mum and Jen for helping out with the food on the day and Dad with the BBQ. and for the Krispy Cremes.
Rachel, Julia and Conner for coming up from the Sensual Coast (or Central Coast i cant remember?)
Rich and Jude for the Godparent thing too. And Rich for coming even though he was sick as a dog.
Kenn and Andrea for everything! and Kenn for doing the Service and the TOILET!!!
Grandma Betty for hanging out with us!
Steve and Fi for sorting the church stuff out, and Steve for giving my Dad a supplier (its not as dodgy as it sounds)
and...
NJ, MJ and ZJ for being a terrific family. I cant overstate how much work Karz put into the weekend! The house looked awesome, the food was terrifc (those red kebabs, my goodness the were great!) the muffins, cleaning up, ironing stuff, just everything!
So yeah, maybe I rely on other ppl too much, but i have a great group of ppl to rely on, so that makes it ok.

reflections on gathering number 2

well, another one down... and for me, i think its another lesson learned (or maybe several).

1 - are we focussing too much on the event at this point in time?
2 - are we trying to do something that is relevant for 2 distinct groups?
3 - are we going too fast?
4 - is there enough people stuff?

thats my main thoughts at the moment. i guess the underlying thought for me now is...
just keep going...
learn from your mistakes...
by prepared to make more mistakes...
its organic, and fluid, so let it be what it will be!

starting point: Luke 4:16-21

Tonight we have our 2nd gathering of the experimental church project.

To be totally honest, we just didn't have the time to put into this one that we did the first, which does seem a little strange, given that the first was organised in a week, and with this one we had a months notice. Both Richard and I have had very busy weeks - and before that, trips away. Anyways, I wasnt feeling too confident about the whole thing a day ago, but after speaking to Richard about it, and spending a few hours working on it last night, i think we will be right.

We are basically running 6 stations (i think it will be 6), each reflecting on a piece of Jesus' reading from Isaiah in Luke 4. Its definately just being used as a starting point, and not just going from that one scipture, but seeing where it can take us.

The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me

to preach good news to the poor.

He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners

and recovery of sight for the blind,

to release the oppressed,

to proclaim the year of the Lord's favour

then we will are going to wrap it up collectively in some way.

thats all i will say for now, should right a bit of a reflection on the night in the next few days.

some albums i've been chekin out

Just wanted to get down some thoughts on 3 albums I have been checkin out over the last 2 weeks or so.

The first that I shall mention is a great offerning from New York based "Yeah Yeah Yeahs". Apart from their terrific name, there are a few ripper tracks on this album. In particular "Gold Lion" which triple J have been spinnin a fair bit lately (they've also played "somethin like a phenomenon" over the last coupla months. Good stuff.

Next, I have to mention an album that may well likely become a favourite of mine, if for nothing else - due to its connection with the event of finishing my degree - i was listening to this whilst doing the assignments.
Apart from that, its a terrifc album that Triple J featured last week. Ofcourse I am talking bout Muse - Black Holes and other revelations. I havent got into Muse before, I'm not too sure why, but this album is excellent! I listened to it 4 times whilst doing my essay, and i loved it! In particular "Starlight", "Exo-Politics" and "Knights of Cydonia" are the tracks that are really floating my raft! I rackon this album will be a big success for these guys, its a real mix of stuff, including electronic elements, orchestrations and everything in between (no banjo though - i think?).

Lastly, and somewhat predictably at the moment I wanted to mention St. Elsewhere. This album is just a standout! It really blends bits a pieces together that you wouldnt expect - and well, with danger mouse behind the wheel (the guy who put together Jay-Z and the Beatles) its not surprising.

I wouldnt say that I've listened to this album a heap as of yet, but i definately admire everything that they do on it. Crazy is a great song, and I also dig Gone Daddy gone. May well blog somemore on this after a few listens.

Well, there you go... have i covered enuff genres for a single blog entry? I think so.
Let me know what you think if you're into any of these.

hows this for prophecy

Don't let anybody make you think that God chose America as his divine messianic force to be a sort of policeman of the whole world. God has a way of standing before the nations with judgment, and it seems that I can hear God saying to America: 'You are too arrogant! If you don't change your ways, I will rise up and break the backbone of your power, and I'll place it in the hands of a nation that doesn't even know my name

Martin Luther King Jr. in a sermon at Ebenezer Baptist Church, April 30, 1967

cricket and politics - a metaphor lurking?

John Howard - a Traditionalist? who would have thunk it?
Well, today good ol Johnny came out and said he didnt like Twenty20 Cricket! its here. Oh well, to each their own opinion I guess, I personally like the game and think it will lead to a place for a new style of cricketer (where we will seldom see test players playing Twenty20, as they are just so different).
Anyways... I got off track by actually talking about the game.

I wonder if why JH doesnt like the game is because he lives life, and in particular his political life more like Justin Langer in a Test (or maybe even more like Virender Sehwag) than Michael Clark, Andrew Symonds or Mike Hussey in the faster form of the game.

How?

Well, in Twenty20, if you dont get out, you are either playing perfectly; have the hand of God guiding every stroke; or, not playing properly (too slow). Its very common to smack some awesome shots, get a quick 40 - 80 runs and get out (or maybe a lot less runs).
Why?
Cause
THEY ARE DOING WHAT THEY HAVE TO DO!!!
THEY ARE GETTING THE JOB DONE!

In politics, they are so concerned about protecting their own backsides, that they often dont do what they need to do.

So sure, a bad politician doesnt keep the people happy (they dont meet the needs) - and i reckon JH is probably a good politician (please dont take that out of context)... he's good at getting re-elected, yeah? Where-as, maybe its when leaders do what is best for the country, they use their wisdom and... well... lead. take risks and do the right thing... then... they risk getting out (Gough).

having said all of that. maybe the new IR stuff is what John Howard and his band of Merry Right Wing Nutcases really thought they had to do. And well, if the opposition can get its act together (yeah right) then it wouldnt be hard to convince people that they are not better off with the IR reforms. But then, even if they did get elected, they wouldnt do what is right, what needs to be done...
why?
fear
if i do the right thing, there is a good chance i wont get re-elected.

and thats what our country is at the mercy of
as is every democracy

self interest

back from sydney... well sort of

At the time of typing this blog entry, I am at work. On the beautiful (yeah right) gold coast. I've actually been here for almost 26 hours now, as nakri dropped me off here, straight from the airport. So, in short, I'm back from Sydney, but I havent been home yet.

The boys were terrific on the plane. Actually, the were perfect. Both had their bottles and fell straight to sleep. MJ woke up just as the seat belt light turned off at OOL.

Anyways, there are a couple more things I wanted to blog, but I don't have the resources with me at this point in time to do so (reflections on magazines and books). So... I shall leave it there and hopefully be blogging soon.

Oh... and lastly. I will probably have a crazy week finishing assignments - I get thru these and I get a degree! So, I will be finishing them.
Amen

smashed at settlers

Last night, Mick and I went round to mate of Mick's, and played a couple of games of settlers.

I tell you... I put all my pieces in the right spots (particularly in the 2nd game. And just had crap luck and got smashed. Oh well, you get that. I had a good time though.
Anyone wants a game sometime just let me know... I'm up for it.

sneezing cats and gypsy pirates in fluro

We flew down here, to Sydney on Tuesday. Karz has gone home now, to get some drawing done without us boys around, and maybe even find some sanity. There are 2 things that I wanted to share at this point in time. Yes... I thought I would rely on the quirky, a genre that always seems to enrich my life.

sneezing cat
the other day I was in the lounge room at mum and dad's and i heard the cat sneeze. oh well... no biggy. but it seemed to be happening more often, like a ridiculous amount. then... the cat was walking around outside, and im just certain that i heard it sneeze.
short of calling grisam and the csi crew i knew there must be a more logical interpretation ofr the noise than vantriliquist cats that throw their sneezes on the sly. So, Sherlock here worked it out.
there's one of those air freshener gizmos in the lounge room. it puffs every 20 minutes or so and sounds exactly like a cat sneezing!

gypsy pirates in fluro
driving home from burwood last night i realised just how different sydney and brisbane indeed are. in brisbane, the average traffic control person is probably not too well educated, generally anglo, and has an expression on there face that tells you they would love to be on the dole and getting the same money for just sitting around (instead of just standing around holding a sign) - and well, rightly so... its a bit ridiculous that the minimum wage is so low... anyways... it was late, so they were probably getting penalty rates and doing alright for themselves... i really dont know, and socio-rhetoric isnt the point of this entry...
anyways...
the guys doing traffic control last night... seriously looked like gypsy pirates... i was just waiting for their ship to float down parramatta road and then have them to threaten to read tarot or a crystal ball if i didnt do as they say... all to the hearty sounds of piano accordian.
you've gotta love surprises like that... I say it would make all their jobs a little more exciting if the dressed up!

yeah? i was at these roadworx the other night and i was told to drive lowly by a pixie line dancer and a medieval astronaut.

the shire and haran

It's been over a week since our worship gathering. I thought it would be a good idea to throw some thoughts up here from the evening. Turnout was reasonable. A few people that I had hoped and somewhat assumed would be there, were not, but I guess it balanced itself out.

we based the evening on a couple of things (which are all linked). Genesis 12:1-9 was the key passage that we started with. Richard and I felt led to follow this where it took us. The 2 key ideas that came from it were
1 - leaving the familiar
2 - the journey
So, the other elements that came into place that really dominated the theme of the evening were
A . a clip from The Fellowship of the Ring, where Gandalf tells Frodo that he must leave the Shire, and Sam gets roped into it all. The particular piece of this clip that stood out to me was when Sam stopped and reflected that he only needs to take one more step and then he would be the furthest away from home.
B. a suitcase we set up with random things hanging out of it. Everything from a torch, to a bottle of Rid, a street directory, a blanket, a light globe, ear muffs and a football (with stax more things in there too).
We reflected on what items we would need for the journey, and most of us recognised that the items themselves were not as important as the attitude we brought to them.

Other elements of the night included the passage being read several times, a prayer that we read together and a media clip reflecting on the unkown and trusting God as we enter into the unknown. I will post the prayer too.

Anyways, Our next one is going to be July 9 at capnaz. Will throw some thoughts up about it when we get to them.

our opening prayer

We come to worship. To leave behind the distracting busyness of our world to experience your kingdom

Our desire is not to simply know more about your word, but to have it seep into our lives and become part of us.

As we wander toward you Lord, we are guided by our rich history; Embracing and rediscovering all the expressions of our faith and drawing wisdom from the traditions of those who have followed you before us. We move toward our future, together, imagining our lives and our world as you would see them.

Loving God, use our experiences, our dreams, our ideas, our differing opinions and our passions to bring us together, uniting us as your people. We worship you in stillness and in action, in joyful noise and reflective silence. Personally, yet united.

Gracious God who loves us like the perfect parent; who shows us how to live by being here, doing life and being human the right way; and who guides us into love and truth with your spirit, be with us now as we journey from our reality into yours.

Amen

stay tuned

pretty pumped about tomorrow night - our inaugaral experiemental worship service.

mainly due to constraints of megabytes, i won't be able to put everything up here, but i will try with a fairly comprehensive rundown. all i can say at the moment is that i really feel like this is the direction God is taking us in right now. Its different, its uncertain and its exciting.

musical friends

a big hey goes out to rebecca, who gave me a copy of michigan today. I've just started listening, but im tototally diggin it. sufjan is just an amazing songwriter.

also, thanx for the other cd. which i already have, but its fitting. on that note, antony and the johnsons are terrific, but definately not for everyone.

lastly... flicking back to sufjan. i read a review of illinois that said it was just prog rock, like genesis or yes. hello? how is that a bad thing. some of those artists albums from the early 70s were absolutely ground breaking (read here fragile in particular). i would love to think of sufjan as the equivalent of these guys, in this context.

if only there was as much creatvity now as there was in that golden period (67-73).

come on! feel the illinoise!

i know i know! how many times am i allowed to mention the same thing... well im not sure... i think this is probably the 3rd or 4th time, but its worth it!
this album keeps seeping into my days, and has just overwhelmed me. its nothing short of genius.

one thing i adore is sufjans use of time. with at least 3 tunes that include 5, and some other random sprinklings. Track 20 "The Tallest Man, The Broadest Shoulders..." has a really interesting feel with much of the song going from 5 to 6, bar to bar.

the lyrics are magic, the themes seemless, its just tops.

if you havent given it a listen... please do

where did may go??

so i sit here thinking it's been a coupla weeks since i last threw some thoughts onto this contraption that is... but no? where did may go...

well at a glance, may was a busy month.

the most significant event that took place was the arrival of my new son Zayden - on the 24th. Which is also Lydia's birthday (hey Lyd) and John Wesley's Aldersgate Experience (am I a nerd or what?).

So... the weeks leading up to the baby coming were filled with hospital visits and an overflow of emotions from all 3 of us other family members... hence the lack of entries here.

other than that, life is progressing.
other things worth mentioning?

musically i've been working on a bunch of remixes of late. will post that at some point.
listening wise??? really getting into sufjan. as well as some other stuff... will post more on that later
i love musical friendships. when you find someone with similar tastes who you get stuff off, and they off you. its great to share the sounds. so yeah. particular rebecca from school, looking forward to my journey from Illinois to Michigan.
and last... and probably most significant... the experimental church project looks to be starting this coming sunday night! we only decided to kick off with it all just yesterday, but we'll see what happens...
more on that im sure...

well, theres one big nutshell (help) for ya... will try to expand on all when i get time...

oh... and we're going to sydney in 3 weeks.

life goes on

so, i guess ive been pretty busy lately - with all sorts of things.
i will put in a bunch of posts under this to reflect life of late
thats all

a call to emerge

as anyone who knows me somewhat well should know, ive been somewhat critical of church as we know it for a while. and well, it is a positive criticism as its about growth, grace and being the people, the church that God is leading us to be.

my general argument now could be summed up by saying that the church takes cultural baggage as gospel, and it needs to free itself from some of its older cultural expressions to be able to embrace new ones. having said this - the new ones will be hard for most of the people who have been involved in the old ones for some time to embrace... and therefore, the older ones will make much more sense to some, and the newer ones be more meaningful to others. in otherwords... not right or wrong - just different.

so, a few conversations have continued to push me, and well, to be honest i feel that God is reminding me that there can be more and he wants me to delve into the world of these unknown expressions of our faith.

a big shout out goes to Christal... thanx mate, you're helping me dream again

another shout out to Barb... aho is also helping me see the world in a slightly different way - a somewhat more positive way, and less cynical (me cynical?)
one more word on Barb - she is a part of a community called Solace (in the inner northern suburbs of sunny melbourne). Anyways, a bunch of people from solace put together a book called remaking (which i found out about here). im looking at using it as a platform to start our our community/conversation... whatever...
along with other things, that i have in mind... but i think the book is gold... so good job stu and all you guys, im apreciating the hard work you've all put in.

and well... where to from here???
who knows, but there has to be somewhere.

going to some gigs this week

by the looks of things, i should be seeing
Augie March with Dan Kelly and the Alpha Males (on Wednesday)
and
Lior with Iota (on Thursday)

will throw some thoughts out there when i get a chance.

I'm pretty pumped. I don't get to many gigs these days, and by the looks of things, these will be my last for at least a while. should be good though, I've wanted to see all 4 of these acts for a while (iota for years - maybe 10, augie march for about 3 years, Lior for about a year and DK for about 3 months - to be exact)

i found it! i found it!

as alluded to in the previous post, i was busy watching a film with the kids at work tonight whilst i maybe would have prefered to be doing other things.
anyways.
we watched finding neverland, which i have to say i enjoyed immensley.
just a great film, and well, johnny depp is just terrific (as i have said before).

its funny. in the 90s JD picked his films very tightly and it tended to be less popular titles that he showed up in. and now... we see him gracing the big budget much more often. i think this is a combination of...
1 - JD getting a little more mainstream
but also... and more importantly
2 - the mainstream getting a little more JD
if you know what i mean

i think hes great anyways.

the mighty(?) lions

unfortunately i missed most the game tonight as i was working, which just happened to involve watching a movie (and not the football).
the lions got smashed (again)
the 2nd half did it
but i guess there were some promising signs in the game, particlarly seeing the first half flow so well and hold it up against one of the best teams in the comp, on the hardest away trip in the game (eagles at subiaco).
so... maybe there will be little joy this year, as the lions now occupy last place. but maybe we need to find joy in other things, little beau mcdonald coming back after a recovery period of almost 3 years, and some of the promising play from our younger guys - i particularly like higgins at the moment. and well... i think that luke power is going to win the browlow one day, maybe not this year (although he may well get a bunch of 1 votes) i think it will happen eventually.
thats all on the lions for now...

a whole planet of acid

so...
i've been getting into the whole acid remixing and looping thing of late again
thanx to finding another who is into it somewhat - will post some of their details when they get up on acidplanet
anyways, my 2 latest remixes can be found at the top of my list here

the top one is totally original - well i use sony sound loops, but they are all royalty free. and well, some of the loops are unrecognisable.
the 2nd is a remix of a song by the terms
im particularly proud of the latest one (bare city streets) and would love feedback.

belle and sebastian

where have you been all my life?

i'm really getting into the life pursuit. its just really nourishing to my ears. i know that sounds crazy, but i had been on a music diet that consisted of lots of mellow and somewhat depressing music, that something with a bright energy is just like water after a drought. and im loving it

its fun! and well, im digging it...
standouts for me are...
Funny little Frog - which has a great decending bassline in the prechorus bit, it just sets the whole song (also in intro)
Dress up in you - which is definately the most mellow track on the album. nice lyrics and just a real highlight in an album full of brightness
Sukie in the Graveyard - is one of those songs that demands silly dancing. And i love it!!
For the price of a cup of tea - also a bright dance tune. has the lyric "for the price of a night with me, you'd be the village joke".

anyways. i love it! give it a listen some time

means of grace?

tonight ive ping ponged a few emails back and forth to one who i guess i would sya is a new friend, someone i found threw a blog.

i can honestly say that in my life God uses the most unlikley things at time to draw me nearer to him. i have to say that ive really been blessed by some unlikly things lately. and well, this is definately one of them

all i can say is that God show's himself to all of us. sometimes you just need to look at a different angle, or maybe, just maybe, realise that "God" might not have been what or who you were expecting.
what is love? if God is love (which i firmly believe) then why are some of the things that we hold on to as so important, not really of "love"? and well... what God uses to show himself to us (or means of grace) may be things that we dont really see as being typically from God. am i talking in circles?

it makes sense to me anyway

new blog?

???
i sorta feel like what i say here is a big enmeshed mess at times.
maybe i should start a blog for my theological (in its broadest sense) ramblings.
what do you think?

inside man

for what is a once in a blue moon event, karz and i went to the movies last night, to the the inside man!

and what can i say? it was excellent.
very clever.
i thought the directing was great, and denzel's acting was typically brilliant. other than that, it all came down to the screen play.
a really clever film.
i enjoyed it stacks
4 stars i guess

time to write now

unfortunately its true

a big shout out to Connor Michael Bradshaw! Who managed to get his father in an arm bar and other submission holds before his umbilical cord was cut! at 9'9 you can tell why! That happened on the 5th. Congradshulashuns!
hey we are Ostraylyuns after all!

other than that life has been flowing. heavily!
went to the world record smashing of the most bikes riden thru a pub - they got 1325!
been to some church visits with school stuff.
gearing up for a big weak. getting jumbles room ready!

thats all for now
keep it real

west wing - season four

so i finally finished watching season 3 of the west wing and i watched the first episode of season 4 today "20 hours in america part 1". it is probably the best episode ever.
josh, toby and donna miss the motocade and have to trek across inidana to get back to the whitehouse. sam ends up staffing the president (quite hilariously) and it looks like the Qumarese are going to find the plane that "crashed".
just got everything!
i love it so much

where the bloody hell are you?

in true tradition of the internet (whatever that means), i have added a guestmap to my blog.
you will see a little link to it on the right. yeah... thats it.
just close the welcome message, click on the pin, pick an icon and tell me... where you are.
thats all.
enjoy

movies that i last watched in the 90s

so... i stayed up much later then i would have like last night. why? 90s movies!

thanx to movie extra, that channel that plays stuff that isnt new and isnt classic, i ended up going to bed round midnite.
So it started with a fine viewing of US Marshalls. You remember? the follow up to the fugitive. Not a bad flick at all i reckon. Cant say i really like robert downy jr, but besides that, the movie was good i guess.
then we left the tv on and got sucked in to watching air force one (with harrison ford). Again... it was alright. i felt like the bit where Glen Close (the VP) wouldnt sign the form to give powers to her was pretty weak. the president was outright making decisions that were best for his family, and not the country, so therefore he wasnt fit to be president. thats what those things are for... its not an evil plot to take over the country.... its just a good idea...
apart from that i enjoyed the movie.

go the 90s film festival.

urban month

on the way home from work this morning I was greeted by a bizarre initiative on the airwaves. triple j has declared this month to be "urban month", after some lengthly studies and a general agreement that the listeners would prefer it that way. So... they played only american hip hop - which included the same black eye peas song 4 times! listeners were calling in... some of them livid about this new way that triple j had gone.
i wasnt too bothered by it. i know an april fools day joke when i see one.

why i should never start a business

if i had a locksmiths business on the gold coast it would be called "goldie locks".

if i owned a baby store in the redland shire (or san fransisco) it would be call "bay city strollers".

may the pun reign supreme.

i don't know if i have ever said this and meant it before... but you're a facist

what do you do?
someone i know, who i have to interact with on a somewhat regular basis, in my opinion is a facist. The defining quality for this person is that they just totally ridicule and get stuck into anyone who thinks differently to them. i have tried being nice, but it hasnt achieved anything. so, now i just keep being nice and simply not expect anything. its a bit heart breaking at times to be honest, ive tried so hard. but i guess some people are just like that.
maybe im sounding a tad defeatist, but its been a long time of me just basically being a doormat.
oh well. you cant win em all.

development?

so... i like watching a little show called house. i missed it for the last couple of weeks due to holidays and stuff.
but last night was particularly interesting. i really enjoyed it. it just seems like the charecters are getting more and more depth. House did this funny smiley sarcasm thing that was just awesome last night.
I'm not sure how well it would come accross to american audiences, cause i reckon its just perfect for oz.
anyways... i like it

there's gotta be a better way

well there is
as i mentioned already, i found an easier way to put pics up on this site
i would recomend it to anyone doing this sorta stuff (or even forums or ebay) go to...

a towering achievement

thanx to the help of Christy i have managed to add more photos to my blog, in an easier way.
i added a bunch to the holiday stuff.

i think its been a towering success

pressing pause

so, ive spent the last 2 hours writing up the first half of our holiday.
i will finish the rest tomorrow some time (i hope).

life's great ironies?

not sure if this fits into the category of one of lifes great ironies but here we go

the first chance i have had to sit down and blog since returning from melbourne is now
and right now
im at work

will backdate things to try and fit with what i was doing when and so forth

selling your soul with an audience looking on

Oops wrong Charlie

So, I finally got the chance to watch the new Charlie and the chocolate factory today. I really enjoyed it.

I particularly liked 2 things.

1 – Tim Burton’s directing – just great. I thought it was really within the spirit of the book. I really liked the house. I just thought it matched the idea of who they were… a little cartoonish, and just that slight bit warped… I like it.

2 – Johnny Depp. Just cracked me up. He is an absolutely amazing actor who cannot be overrated. He just takes on his characters better than anyone I have ever seen.

So yeah I enjoyed it, and would recommend checking it out some time.

trust me... im a doctor... a love doctor

ok, maybe that title is a little overboard.
i went out on a limb and bought ben harper's new cd today, based souly on the advise of one Mr Grande (who might i mention is moving house today).

anyways, i will probably write about it at some length later, but i think its pretty good thus far. 2 cds - first one mellow 2nd a bit more upbeat. it seems as though ben haprer is really levelling and maturing as a song writer - his last couple of albums were a bit like lucky dips, a bit over the place - and although they were good, it was bit much at times (who kills snakes with bibles, really).
anyways, thanx grande, and thanx thus far to ben...
thats all for now

pinball and boost

DAY 8.
The plan for today was simply, pack and go home.

a quite amusing obstacle in the way was to roll up the sleeping mat that keen and andrea lent us for makhyah. it was quite frustrating until i realised that we were trying to fit a bit roll into a little sleeping bag bag... durr... it wasnt funny until we worked it out.

we got picked up to go to the airport around 12. and we had a little bit of time to kill at the airport. so i bought makhyah a king william from boost (you'd love that hey mick? he is your godson) and then we played some simpsons pinball (pretty difficult to do whilst supportuing a 2 year old, but we went ok...

jumped on the plane. mj fell asleep near the end... we had to wake him and he was very grumpy.
kristy picked us up and we went home...
the end
of our holiday that is...

kansas, we're not in tho tho anymore

DAY 7.
Cruisy morning.
Then we headed up to highpoint shops. spent a while up there.
trammed it back home. got off the tram too early and had to walk a fair way (not too bad, but any walking was a big deal by this time).
got home to realise we had to leave straight away. makhyah was asleep so we just left him on the front porch (nice breeze actually).

so... let me now mention the main thing that annoyed me about the house we stayed at. the lace (i call it lattice, but everyone else assured me it was lace - you know that metal decorative stuff hanging from the eaves)... well... this lace was in a perfect spot for me to crack my head... and well... up to this point i had done so on at least 3 occassions, but this was the big one.
BANG!!! my natural instinct to yell was quelled from within for my sons sleeps sake, so i went mental in the front yard kicking and stamping... at this point the neighbors were saying "oh, so thats where our village idiot lives". it hurt so much...
anyways...
get on with it!

we caught a tram into the city, then after almost waiting for one that didnt run til later, we got a tram (or 2?) to victoria st richmond (little vietnam) and went to tho tho (just pronounced to to) for some late lunch, early dinner, linner, dunch... i dunno...
good stuff again.

after that we all jumped on a train, got off at jollymont, walked past the G (or the M if you're me - the MCG that is) and over to vodafone again for the basketball.
saw 2 good games - womens - england vs mozambique (england won - i think it was england, im a bit confused now)... and then the mens NZ vs Nigeria. By the 2nd game makhyah was shouting "GO Mozamgeria!"... he had a ball.
We saw Andrew Gaze (a little too far away for a photo), and had a great night.

we then headed back to the tram and home again. another late night, but not quite such a big day. last night in melbourne... but it was a good way to go out!

from saint kilda to... ascot vale?

DAY 6.
we decided to go down to saint kilda today. we met up with kenn and andrea in there.
2 reasons to go to saint kilda
1 - the time trial in the cycling was on there
2 - cakes

so we went to funky little bakery/cafe for brunch. i should have got the eggs benedict - andrea did and they were just enormous!! anyways, i enjoyed my breakfast. nakari bought some cakes - canoli, caramel slice, vanilla slice and some others.

we watched both the mens and womens cycling for a bit (womens before brunch, mens after) and i got a great photo of Mr lion with nathan oneil (the gold medalist) clycling past - a very difficult photo to get (much more luck than skill trust me).
then after several hours down there, we headed for the tram - via 7/11 to get slurpies - and got a photo of some cops with mr lion (the cops were eating gelato so we thought it was cool).
then we headed home, for what proved to be the smallest day yet.
we wandered back up the road to get noodles for dinner and chilled watching some more games.
so tired by now - conscious decision to make tommorow another small day.

a melbourne lunch

DAY 5.
indulged by another makhyah free morning, this time we overslept a little and headed into the city to meet up with mum and dad (with mj ofcourse). we left home just before 9.

we decided to meet up in the city, as karz wanted to go check out melbourne central, as well as having breakfast at one of the little funky cafes in the old school market style section. we walked up latrobe st, met with mum and dad, and after a little wandering we decided on a little place, that actually was alot bigger on the inside.

let me tell you melbourne food is cheap (in general). This place looked exy, but it sure wasnt. karz and i both got the eggs benedict which were 2 eggs, a heap of ham and stax of holandaise on a huge chunk of toasted turkish bread (with adjectives like that you'd think i'd been doing maccas ads). After breakfast we went our seperate ways... mum and dad off to the squash, us 3 up to myer to get some decent shoes for nakari. we found some good adidas on special, so that did the trick, with me sporting my new brooks beasts we both had much less chance of saw feet and legs (karz had been getting some sort of shin splints).

we then met kenn and andrea outside the men in the window again. after a brief chat we headed off to the state hockey and netball centre whilst andrea hung round the city with makhyah (who fell alseep pretty quickly).

we caught a tram in, and after walking the long way (and doing a lap round the zoo) we got to the hockey. first up we saw the women's - england v barbados. england smashed them, then we saw the means - india vs trinidad and tobago (i thought it was unfair that 2 teams played against one, but india still came up trumps - t&t scored a goal though, so that was good. . at the hockey we ate our home packed lunch. which consisted of lots of turkish bread and 5 different dips (they're listed bellow). yummo!

after leaving the hockey we caught up with andrea and makhyah again. kenn and andrea needed to do some shopping (or something, i cant remember), so we went to the fed square ampitheatre and saw 5 angry men - the bells. it was amazing! these 5 guys put on this street theatre show which was them jumping around like they were pulling on giant bells (the ropes had bungee in them or something)... it was pretty full on - one of them dies in the show. but makhyah wasnt scared and really enjoyed it (mj was aking for days - "want to see men jump now... wanna see jumping men". he enjoyed the photos when we got home.
as we hopped up to go, we saw geoffrey rush... unfortunately he was in too much of a rush, and mr lion didnt get a photo.

we then wandered a fair way down swanston st, and ate a this funky vietnamese place. nice and cheap again - how surpising - i got rice paper rolls. after dinner we wandered back towards fed square... i performed an amazing trick on the way back. kenn had left his water bottle on top of the stroller, it slipped out and began rolling towards the road, so i decided to try and stop it with my foot... applying a little too much downward pressure i stopped the pump water bottle but also managed to spray it out everywhere, almost hitting an unsuspecting pedestrian. about 5 groups of ppl walking all stopped and laughed. at this nakari and andrea also laughed, and laughed some more. it was rather amusing i guess. i recomended to the crowd to try the rice paper rolls and we continued to walk.

around this time i got another photo of mr lion with some atheletes this time mens triathaletes from the solomon islands. pretty cool.

after that we had a bit of a wander across the river, and went down to see the show with all the fish.
makhyah enjoyed this too (we saw the show go off at 9pm and 10pm). we then went and got coffee - but i got juice - emma and toms, a brand that i was not familair with, but will be trying again. i trusted the lady behind the counter, took her recomendation and tried green power - it was nice - looked grosse, but tasted great.

after that we stumbled on a tram and headed back home. we arrived home somewhere around 11.30. a very big day.

Excuse me... let me freak you out for a second

DAY 4.
After a slow start. We jumped on a tram back to the city to meet up with Kenn, Andrea and Makhyah, at Gloria Jeans at the end of the burke st mall. After catching up for a bit, we wandered over to the myer windows, where 4 guys are living in the window space for 2 weeks. Its so cool. The space was done up with 4 rooms (left to right) - kitchen, dinning/multi-purpose, bedroom, bathroom. And you could see everything (they had the toilet tucked away and some strategically placed vinyl over the shower screen. they were just getting going on the lazy sunday morning, but one of the guys had a bit of dialogue (?) with makhyah, which he thought was cool. just a really interesting concept...
After that we wandered for a bit. We stopped for a while at the corner of swanston and spencer where the marathon was running past. we cheered, and got a photo of Mr Lion there. M?J was requesting for the rest of the day "i wanna say go runners". after leaving kenn and andrea round lunch time, we went down to alexandra gardens, watched the big screen for a while, had an ice cream, said "go runners" a couple of times, and jumped back on a tram. we jumped off just up the road (other side of the city) to go to the vic markets again.

we had to go to furgeson plaire to get more custard tart (they were out) and also some more dip. I bought Spicy morocan lentil, sundried tomato and feta, and pine nut and spinach. yummo. At the market, i scared the living daylights out of 3 atheletes from namibia. i wanted to get a photo of them with Mr Lion. I realise now, how scary i am to 3 female gymnasts (the oldest may have been 17). Anyways, they were happy to be in the photo.
We jumped back on the tram, back to ascot vale.

once home we got ready to go out for dinner. right about now i found out that iu would be the only guy there. all the others had bailed, so it was basically an all girl high school catch up. i reluctantly continued as planned. we dropped mj off with my mum and dad on the way, and then went to the moskito bar at clipton hill.

it was a good night. the only let down was that one girl that everyone told me i would get along really well with... didnt show up (thanx bianca, whoever you are). i managed to have a chat with one of the girls about music, so i was happy. another one was a chef, so that was nice to talk food (we didnt talk for too long, i think she was a bit over the whole food thing). so it wasnt a late night. I had the rissotto again (lamb and rosemary this time), and we called it a night about 10pm. We went home via Alaysia (spelling) to get turkish bread. and crashed out after another big day.

Mr Lion

Right about now i need to quickly mention Mr Lion.
Mr Lion is a stuffed toy from Makhyah's kindy.
They get anyone who is going on holidays to take it with them and have some photos of it (at landmarks and stuff like that).
So, we took Mr Lion... unfortunately we didnt have him with us when we saw Lisa Curry, but oh well... So... I will mention him sometime im sure... just so we know who we're talking about yeah?

let me just take them to the car... nudge nudge, wink wink

DAY 3.
A cruisy saturday morning was short lived by the suggestion that we go to DFO (those factory outlets that are popping up everywhere).
So Tammie and Karz shopped while MJ and I ate some stuff and wandered. Karz showed me some bags she liked, so i said i'd buy her one of them and just take it to the car. ofcourse... i bought all 3 (its ok to go overboard on holidays yeah?) and karz also bought some shoes. we rapped up DFO in a little under 2 hours i think and then headed back to tammie's.

Around 1, we met up with Courtenay (who i think rocks) at a little cafe called lomah on union rd (ascot vale). the 3 of us (karz, mj and i) shared a pumpkin rissotto and some fat chips (which were just tops - with this lime mayo). Great catching up with Courts again - shes at uni now as well as working, pretty full on, but she'll get there.
Something interesting i noticed (well karz noticed it really) was on the menu - $25 to buy seeds and farming equipment for 3rd world countries (thru tear). it was worded in a great way - really reminded me of Steve Sjogren stuff. then we noticed that lomah was an acronym for land of milk and honey. pretty cool i think. it wasnt in your face, just subtle, but there... i liked it anyways.

So, after lunch tammie gave us a ride over to where kenn and andrea were staying. andrea took makhyah for the night and kenn, karz and i went into vodafone arena which for advertising reasons was only refererred to as the multi purpose venue (i insisted on calling it vodafone though, just to stick it to the man).

Our seats at the velodrome were a bit crazy. pretty scary to get to anyways. we were right up the back in a corner. but suprisingly they were good seats. we could see everything without hassles.

so we saw the mens (ryan bailey won) and womens sprints (the mears girls got silver and bronxz) - started at the semis and went all the way thru to gold medal - the drama of it was awesome. And also saw the mens team pursuit (the poms smashed us). It was much better value for money than the swimming (not that we paid for the swimming, but it was over twice the price for half the entertainment). they also had a victorian juniors race (the one with the sprints every 10 laps). good night in all!

So we caught up with Mum and Dad on the way out (they were at the gymastics at rod laver), and went and had coffee at Southgate. We rocked back over to spencer and elizabeth and caught the tram home. another big day...

let me mention this now

when you stay at friend's places theres somethings that maybe are a little substandard... but hey we were saving a huge amount of money on accomodation, so we didnt even mention it. i mention it here because, its worth mentioning here...
the bed we slept on is dead set art.
a futon
a futon that has the worlds craziest mattress on it.
if you sleep on the left side its ok, a little hard, but nothing too bad.
on the right however
the side is really high, so you roll into the middle
the only way to avoid this (i found), was to sorta hug into it sleeping with your back towards the middle.
we took turns at the dodgy side of the bed. when makhyah got in with us it made it particularly interesting.

its all part of the adventure

look at who you're sitting next to!!

DAY 2.
Running a bit late this morning, which would well prove to be a theme for our time away.
We managed to just miss the tram, but its no biggy in melbourne, i think the next one was about 8 minutes away. We caught the tram to swanston st, carlton to meet up with Mum and Dad (mine this time) for the first time in melbourne. Mum and Dad had offered us some tickets to go see the heats of the swimming that morning, and they would look after makhyah. sounds good to me...
so we had breakfast at this little place on swanston st. I had the obligatory smoothie (blueberries, yum) as well as some various things with cheese and ham on them. So... breakfast was short lived as we had to get to Albert Park for the swimming.

So, how many trams does it take to get from swanston st, to albert park. Thats a very interesting question. Look... can you blame me for picking on nakari about this, she pretty much gets things like this right all the time, i may as well have some fun with it... anyways... 6 trams later we got to melbourne park (my favourite was when we got off a tram, jumped on one that went back round the same corner we just went round - good stuff)...

We rocked into the swimming just on time. Mum and Dad said that they thought we would get good seats, as they bought them thru qantas. Well we had great seats, very front of the spectator section (the others we for teams and ppl like that). So we climb the grandstand, and nakari headed for our seats. I muttered something like "hey look who we're sitting next to". karz missed it, and sat down oblivious. "look who you're sitting next to" i whispered in her ear a little more clearly (diction aint my fortay sic). Karz had sat down next to Lisa Curry! Wow! We didnt talk to her, I thought she'd get annoyed. But we had a bit of a spy at times of her running sheet which has way more info than the normal program. So anyways... we watched a bunch of heats including the women's 100 free (go libby), and then headed off...
the line for trams was huge... but flowed extremely well... a real credit to the organisation of it all... a line that we were told would be about 45 minutes only took about 20 to get thru.

So it only took as 2 trams to get back to swanston st, where Dad and mj had just woken up from a nap. We went and got some lunch in Lygon st - i got chicken rissoto, yummo! (karz got gnochi - which she doesnt normally like, but it was dead set terrific). So after lunch we hit a supermarket for some awesome chilli red dip (its chilli, capsicum, cashews and parmesan - just terrific), then went home to chill for a bit.

Kenn and Andrea came round, and along with Greg and Tammie we had a bit of a barbie. definately needed by this time. Andrea bough some turkish bread from Alasia (spelling?) and with the dips we had it was just awesome. We crashed out not too late.