tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-264881442024-03-05T19:38:12.855+11:00thegoldblogStuff to print out and read during your toilet breaks at work!Mr. Goldbloghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10095305709745123910noreply@blogger.comBlogger72125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26488144.post-51926423974401614062010-10-01T21:43:00.003+10:002010-10-01T21:52:52.529+10:00Shake them 'bazbozeks'!!<span style="font-weight: bold;font-size:85%;" ><span style="font-family:arial;">..I have received a shipment of ghetto-tech from the 3rd world that is blowing</span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">such chunks out of my sonic brain of a type I haven't experienced for at least a decade! Deep, deep lo-tech fractal rhythms and sounds from Jamaica, South African, Niger and Syria. A whole untapped UNIVERSE, <span style="font-style: italic;">sheeeit</span>, I feel like I'm working for British Petroleum of Exxon or some shit! </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">Notes will soon follow, but until then, shake yer </span><span style="font-style: italic;font-family:arial;" >bazbozeks!! </span><span style="font-family:arial;">NOTE: The word 'bazbozek' probably means the profanity you think it does!)</span></span><br /><br /><object height="385" width="480"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/JPiwDlDAXEo?fs=1&hl=en_US"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/JPiwDlDAXEo?fs=1&hl=en_US" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" height="385" width="480"></embed></object>Mr. Goldbloghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10095305709745123910noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26488144.post-40186885836082329242010-08-06T01:39:00.005+10:002010-08-14T22:46:20.724+10:00THE VOIDOID<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiorHFQgOiQM-_jSXeHW3SfYQxhpQ0SrEaZMiHbFxswHrJ7Xnr1HprSTfSpIzjV99TzMyck214mrjsoeuzDnShY_KXwVDiLCwVqBeWF03uXQ4ParwRpRxLjC5AcoOv3lhbaaXICTg/s1600/enterthevoidbig.jpg"><img style="float: left; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; cursor: pointer; width: 238px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiorHFQgOiQM-_jSXeHW3SfYQxhpQ0SrEaZMiHbFxswHrJ7Xnr1HprSTfSpIzjV99TzMyck214mrjsoeuzDnShY_KXwVDiLCwVqBeWF03uXQ4ParwRpRxLjC5AcoOv3lhbaaXICTg/s320/enterthevoidbig.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5501951065421113506" border="0" /></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'courier new';"><b>ENTER THE VOID - Gaspar Noe, 2010</b></span><div><br /></div><div><p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><b>Returning from Gaspar Noe's latest </b></span></span><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_0"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><b>mindfuck</b></span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><b>, I am sitting here, abuzz and 'a buzzed'. Starting off with opening titles that rock more than the whole 'Speed Racer' movie, Noe sets the audience up for his latest state-of-the-art ART movie ENTER THE VOID. A neon lit night-time panorama arcs to the sky where a 747 can be seen flying over the Tokyo skyline. As Linda (</b></span></span><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_1"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><b>Paz</b></span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><b> De La Huerta) warns her brother Oscar (Nathaniel Brown) that he's becoming a junkie. Seen </b></span></span><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_2"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><b>POV</b></span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><b> from here-on, said </b></span></span><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_3"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><b>stoner</b></span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><b> lights up a pipe of </b></span></span><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_4"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><b>DMT</b></span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><b>, and pretty soon the fun and games begin, with some of the most stunning 'Expanded Cinema' type 'visuals' seen in a recent movie. Part fairy-tale, part primal scream therapy, Noe delivers a trip that can at times get real bumpy. Great soundtrack by Daft-Punk's </b></span></span><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_5"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><b>Bangalter</b></span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><b> and once again </b></span></span><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_6"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><b>lensed</b></span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><b> by Benoit </b></span></span><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_7"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><b>Debie</b></span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><b>, ENTER THE VOID is business as usual for Mr.Noe. Evoking Kubrick's '2001' and 'Eyes Wide Shut', as well as all the sleaze and crazy visual sexual tricks that litter Shu Lea Cheang rarely seen Jap sci-fi-art-porno IKU , ENTER THE VOID does nothing to dispel the hype that he is quickly becoming today's 'new Kubrick' albiet of more, how-you-say-it - (bodily) fluid variety? ENTER THE VOID puts Noe right up on the top of today's genre/</b></span></span><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_9"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><b>grindhouse</b></span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><b> pile with say, David </b></span></span><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_10"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><b>Fincher</b></span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><b> - it's a technological and artistic achievement that is certain to add to Noe's growing, respected and totally geniune 'cult'.</b></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><b><br /></b></span></span></p></div>Mr. Goldbloghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10095305709745123910noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26488144.post-62679667780323910462010-05-18T23:15:00.004+10:002013-02-06T21:45:26.577+11:00Hey! Ho! Lets Balano<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQH1WtpFJ2t30z6roMOm7FxfwWBOHCHYtYmsgeHt4fDWoctQ8KSQKtKpAsAr3ITYpxBA_7QBlFSL7AcuJdiCFBdy75zCYJ7_0jerHl658esLlpdIMbQ2Cql65oCUVd8w2fUKCV3A/s1600/robertobolano2666.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5472600160726710562" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQH1WtpFJ2t30z6roMOm7FxfwWBOHCHYtYmsgeHt4fDWoctQ8KSQKtKpAsAr3ITYpxBA_7QBlFSL7AcuJdiCFBdy75zCYJ7_0jerHl658esLlpdIMbQ2Cql65oCUVd8w2fUKCV3A/s320/robertobolano2666.jpg" style="cursor: pointer; float: left; height: 302px; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; width: 194px;" /></a><br />
<span style="font-weight: bold;"><span style="font-size: 85%;"><span style="font-family: arial;">2666 - Roberto Bolano<br /><br />I started reading Bolano's first opus 'the savage detectives' around Hannukah time (fuck Xmas) 2008 and finished it around Purim time. I started 2666 around the same time and didn't finish it until Shavoo-us (May) 2010. I found out about Bolano just after I arrived home from a 2 month trek around Europe and America, being totally oblivious of his presence whilst in Barcelona and New York, the Global Financial Crisis, arriving back in Melbourne to discover the hype about him via the Internet in a New York Times article writen by a rapturous Jonathan Lethem. I am now a victim of the GFC, being 6 months and counting unemployed, so I had time to slog through Bolano's magnum opus and what most critics on the planet seem to agree is the first literary masterpiece of this new century. While I don't think it's a masterpiece, it will be hard work to beat in wake of the death of literature as we know it as fucking Internet retardedness takes over fucking everything and I throw this fucking computer down the toilet.....<br /><br />What appealed to me initially about 2666 is it's title. it sounds like the title of a crazy sci-fi novel discussing a future world that is more than likely taken over by Satan. It presents itself as apocalyptic and modern, and to my depressive, dysthemic mind, sounds like a good time! Bolano himself is a fascinating character. Defintely a South American Kerouac, his nomadic, outsider life and tragic shortened lifespan, coupled with his apparent 'radical' Dadaist attitude seem to automatically put him the the line of literary 'legend'. But we may never know because he's dead. And like all 'the legends' he apparently created a 'movement' of writers called the 'visceral realists'. I'm not sure if it was a real movement, as the announcement of the movement kicks off the 'On-the-road-x10' that is Bolano's 'the savage detectives'. The 'visceral realists' concept is interesting to me as it evokes a South American version of the 'grunge' literature that became trendy in the 90s brought in by the likes of Charles Bukowski, Hubert Selby Jnr, Irvine Welsh et. al and while Bolano's literature isn't unlike those writers, his sheer density of storytelling nous takes that style into a totally different realm.<br /><br />So back to 2666. It's a massive book told in 5 parts that all intersect into a giant pan European-South American-American epic:</span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-weight: bold;"><span style="font-size: 85%;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br />1. 'The part about the critics' – talks about four fuckhead critics/academics who are brought together in search of an obscure 'Italian' poet called Archimboldi and end up into a love quadrangle before leading into..<br />2.'The Part about Amalfitano' – who is some some Chilean guy that had a baby daughter Rosa with a crazy woman called Lola who went off to screw some schizo gay poets, then Amalfitano goes crazy himself.<br />3.'The part about Fate' - concerns an afro-American journo Oscar Fate who interviews a legendary black boxer, then goes to the Mexico border to report on a boxing fight and learn about some murder in a town called Santa Teresa, where things go really dark..<br />4.'The part about the crimes' – well someone had to out CormacMcCarthy Cormac McCarthy<br />5.'The part about Archimboldi' – goes to Germany where we learn about the mysterious poet who started the whole journey off..<br /><br />So what can I say about all this? Well it took me a slow 5 months to read, and it's definitely an ambitious work, and I guess it's a masterpiece of some sort, simply because of the nerve Bolano had to write such a sprawling work. It reminds me of Sonic Youth's 'Daydream Nation' or the Beatles 'white album' or the Velvet Undergrounds' 'sister ray' - long, intricate, fractal (repeating myself) works that have to be absorbed in their entirety to at least get some idea of what they're trying to do. In the case of 2666 it's to ultimately tell this big saga that seems to invert back to a town called Santa Teresa in Mexico, that could quite simply be the true portal of hell. (NOTE: It's too literal and large to be compared to Burroughs, and also too intellectual, as it doesn't have the canny pulp coolness of Burroughs or Boris Vian, and I guess thats why I didn't perceive it to be as such a masterpiece as some thought it to be)<br /><br />One of the the sad things about reading a book like 2666 is the awareness that literature is dying a slow death, that there will be no renaissance, that the bogans are going to take over fucking everything while Rupert Murdoch, Exxon, Apple, Microsoft, Google, Facebook fuck everybody into infinity. Shit I'm contributing by posting this on this here blog. Bolano was totally into the pretentious, elitist nature of literature, and his books teems with an academic/critics knowledge of cultural minutiae, not unlike British author Stuart Home. It's like an awareness that the only people that read this shit are intellectuals that know and are learned in the art/literature movements in history, and I guess this is part of the challenge that Bolano tried to confront in order to keep literature alive. He must have been aware that readers of 'Twilight' and 'Lord of the Rings' would never read 2666, but then again, there's no reason they shouldn't. I really like how it's too massive to be a 'trendy' book, and I still only know one person who's read it, and I suggested it to her!<br /><br />2666 was ultimately a book written by a guy knowing his time is running out, knowing that our time is running out, knowing that this is the sort of book that should be read when you are doing time, whatever that may be.<br /></span></span></span> <style type="text/css"> <!-- @page { margin: 2cm } P { margin-bottom: 0.21cm } </style>-->Mr. Goldbloghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10095305709745123910noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26488144.post-71334075210277899412010-02-25T21:23:00.002+11:002010-02-25T21:57:52.907+11:00Time wounds all heels<div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgNMHMXFbpag5eNY4vrNjb0kkjEngX-L-NVZtr8tBBV3wgJ9Y1VtyH9HUI7ehPGm2K8CdmMrC2HICEkOKsu-ni44zw5kiNLNmvJ7z50i2zWklAhyphenhyphenezB3AblqF_oP8kUh79G1Gzbtg/s1600-h/zodiac24.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 213px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgNMHMXFbpag5eNY4vrNjb0kkjEngX-L-NVZtr8tBBV3wgJ9Y1VtyH9HUI7ehPGm2K8CdmMrC2HICEkOKsu-ni44zw5kiNLNmvJ7z50i2zWklAhyphenhyphenezB3AblqF_oP8kUh79G1Gzbtg/s320/zodiac24.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5442125060780831522" border="0" /></a><span style="font-family: courier new;">Zodiac - scary shit<br /><br /></span><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: courier new;"><span style="font-weight: bold;"><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Since my last post, my personal life has been in a strange <span style="font-style: italic;">stasis.</span> Having just hit 'middle age', I recently voluteered for a redundancy package to plan for my future and clear my mortgage debt. I knew full well the risk, but needed to take one, and despite having 4 job interviews while I was still working, now find myself unemployed for the last 6 weeks. OK it hasn't all been doom-an-gloom, I turned down two offers as I refuse to drivew, but the fact that I haven't been 'clocking in and clocking out automatically' for the first time in nearly 14 years has been liberating, but also brought me this sense of vague emptiness.</span></span></span></span><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;"><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br />In my last post I did the boring nerd thing and listed my favorite stuff of the passing decade. One of the movies I forgot to mention that I really loved was David Fincher's ZODIAC, which I saw in the cinema. While I like it at the time, it seems to have fit into my current state of mind/anxiety, for ZODIAC is a brilliant existential horror film about he passing of time, and the reality that closure often doesn't happen. Like the brilliant Junior Kimbrough album of the same name. There's little doubt that Fincher is one of the most influential film-makers of this era, his deft use of modern digital technologies, electronic image filtering has created a trademark style emulated to death the world over. Personally I was never a big fan. I found Se7en to be a lame copy-cat of Silence of the Lambs, and another log in the fire of the crummy 90s and 00s 'torture-porn' genre dedicated to the suburban boogie man, the 'serial killer'. FIGHT CLUB is a film I love more in theory rather than practice, it reminds me of a typical Dario Argento film where 'the good bits' far outweight the film as a whole. I never saw THE GAME, PANIC ROOM was just camera tricks and tech, and BENJAMIN BUTTON was trying to be some sort of MIRIMAX movies, while sad and romantic, wasn't really memorable.<br /><br />But for me ZODIAC is Finchers finest moment so far. The first 30 minutes of this film are the most terrifying in recent memory. Fincher films murder scenes in a cold, clinical and hyper-real manner, immediately reminding me of Kubrick's THE SHINING and mosdef FULL METAL JACKET. People die in clinical and painful ways, numbing us. and then the film turns, we are introduced to the triumvirate of major characters - an obsessed cartoonist, a substance abusing post-hippie journo and a cops who doesn't need another murder case. ZODIAC then becomes a heavy, European style art movie about character locking into an obsession of catching the killer, following cryptic patterns, faulty bureaucracies, but mostly, the basic trudgery of life going on, relationships falling apart, age wearying passions and obsessions, but always chasing that final clue...death? Failure? Who-dunnit? No-one knows. As the world crumbles slowly, via corporate dogma, middle-class denialism, global warming, the killers get away, like in Bolano's 2666 or as Jnr Kimbrough wisely said "</span></span></span><i>Most Things Haven't Worked Out".</i> <span style="font-family: arial; font-weight: bold;font-size:85%;" >Not just 'scary'</span><span style="font-style: italic; font-family: arial; font-weight: bold;font-size:85%;" > - terrifying.</span><br /><span style="font-family: courier new;"></span></div></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div>Mr. Goldbloghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10095305709745123910noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26488144.post-2356950908245829792010-01-07T21:34:00.018+11:002010-01-10T12:28:09.042+11:002010: The Year We Make Contact<div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEidGY1VjFPeIDFd8DVjwT6PpjScumoi75pQCnzGlo7tzYx0FJDJUyYzOiqTnNpHm9MT7z3trjF7XSTWQhzWqpIRqkZklasUC0XmraXTh-DRUDkL0V91PMBSeZ3vDyBV1JtP3BN66w/s1600-h/sunn+0.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 242px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEidGY1VjFPeIDFd8DVjwT6PpjScumoi75pQCnzGlo7tzYx0FJDJUyYzOiqTnNpHm9MT7z3trjF7XSTWQhzWqpIRqkZklasUC0XmraXTh-DRUDkL0V91PMBSeZ3vDyBV1JtP3BN66w/s320/sunn+0.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5423945041761722786" border="0" /></a><span style="font-family:courier new;">Sunn 0))) - Arrrggghhh!!<br /><br /></span><div style="text-align: left;"><w:trackmoves><w:trackformatting><w:punctuationkerning><w:validateagainstschemas><w:donotpromoteqf><w:compatibility><w:breakwrappedtables><w:snaptogridincell><w:wraptextwithpunct><w:useasianbreakrules><w:dontgrowautofit><w:splitpgbreakandparamark><w:dontvertaligncellwithsp><w:dontbreakconstrainedforcedtables><w:dontvertalignintxbx><w:word11kerningpairs><w:browserlevel></w:browserlevel> <m:mathpr><m:mathfont val="Cambria Math"><m:brkbin val="before"><m:brkbinsub val="--"><m:smallfrac val="off"><m:dispdef><m:lmargin val="0"><m:rmargin val="0"><m:defjc val="centerGroup"><m:wrapindent val="1440"><m:intlim val="subSup"><m:narylim val="undOvr"></m:narylim></m:intlim></m:wrapindent><!--[endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:latentstyles deflockedstate="false" defunhidewhenused="true" defsemihidden="true" defqformat="false" defpriority="99" latentstylecount="267"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="0" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" qformat="true" name="Normal"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="9" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" qformat="true" name="heading 1"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="9" qformat="true" name="heading 2"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="9" qformat="true" name="heading 3"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="9" qformat="true" name="heading 4"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="9" qformat="true" name="heading 5"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="9" qformat="true" name="heading 6"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="9" qformat="true" name="heading 7"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="9" qformat="true" name="heading 8"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="9" qformat="true" name="heading 9"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="39" name="toc 1"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="39" name="toc 2"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="39" name="toc 3"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="39" name="toc 4"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="39" name="toc 5"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="39" name="toc 6"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="39" name="toc 7"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="39" name="toc 8"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="39" name="toc 9"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="35" qformat="true" name="caption"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="10" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" qformat="true" name="Title"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="1" name="Default Paragraph Font"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="11" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" qformat="true" name="Subtitle"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="22" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" qformat="true" name="Strong"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="20" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" qformat="true" name="Emphasis"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="59" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Table Grid"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Placeholder Text"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="1" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" qformat="true" name="No Spacing"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="60" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Light Shading"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="61" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Light List"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="62" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Light Grid"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="63" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Medium Shading 1"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="64" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Medium Shading 2"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="65" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Medium List 1"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="66" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Medium List 2"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="67" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Medium Grid 1"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="68" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Medium Grid 2"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="69" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Medium Grid 3"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="70" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Dark List"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="71" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Colorful Shading"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="72" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Colorful List"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="73" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Colorful Grid"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="60" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Light Shading Accent 1"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="61" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Light List Accent 1"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="62" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Light Grid Accent 1"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="63" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 1"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="64" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 1"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="65" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Medium List 1 Accent 1"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Revision"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="34" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" qformat="true" name="List Paragraph"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="29" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" qformat="true" name="Quote"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="30" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" qformat="true" name="Intense Quote"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="66" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Medium List 2 Accent 1"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="67" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 1"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="68" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 1"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="69" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 1"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="70" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Dark List Accent 1"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="71" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Colorful Shading Accent 1"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="72" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Colorful List Accent 1"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="73" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Colorful Grid Accent 1"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="60" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Light Shading Accent 2"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="61" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Light List Accent 2"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="62" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Light Grid Accent 2"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="63" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 2"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="64" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 2"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="65" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Medium List 1 Accent 2"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="66" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Medium List 2 Accent 2"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="67" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 2"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="68" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 2"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="69" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 2"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="70" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Dark List Accent 2"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="71" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Colorful Shading Accent 2"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="72" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Colorful List Accent 2"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="73" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Colorful Grid Accent 2"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="60" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Light Shading Accent 3"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="61" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Light List Accent 3"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="62" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Light Grid Accent 3"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="63" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 3"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="64" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 3"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="65" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Medium List 1 Accent 3"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="66" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Medium List 2 Accent 3"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="67" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 3"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="68" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 3"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="69" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 3"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="70" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Dark List Accent 3"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="71" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Colorful Shading Accent 3"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="72" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Colorful List Accent 3"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="73" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Colorful Grid Accent 3"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="60" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Light Shading Accent 4"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="61" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Light List Accent 4"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="62" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Light Grid Accent 4"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="63" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 4"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="64" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 4"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="65" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Medium List 1 Accent 4"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="66" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Medium List 2 Accent 4"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="67" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 4"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="68" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 4"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="69" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 4"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="70" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Dark List Accent 4"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="71" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Colorful Shading Accent 4"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="72" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Colorful List Accent 4"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="73" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Colorful Grid Accent 4"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="60" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Light Shading Accent 5"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="61" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Light List Accent 5"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="62" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Light Grid Accent 5"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="63" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 5"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="64" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 5"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="65" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Medium List 1 Accent 5"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="66" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Medium List 2 Accent 5"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="67" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 5"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="68" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 5"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="69" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 5"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="70" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Dark List Accent 5"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="71" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Colorful Shading Accent 5"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="72" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Colorful List Accent 5"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="73" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Colorful Grid Accent 5"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="60" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Light Shading Accent 6"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="61" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Light List Accent 6"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="62" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Light Grid Accent 6"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="63" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 6"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="64" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 6"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="65" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Medium List 1 Accent 6"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="66" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Medium List 2 Accent 6"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="67" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 6"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="68" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 6"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="69" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 6"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="70" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Dark List Accent 6"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="71" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Colorful Shading Accent 6"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="72" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Colorful List Accent 6"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="73" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Colorful Grid Accent 6"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="19" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" qformat="true" name="Subtle Emphasis"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="21" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" qformat="true" name="Intense Emphasis"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="31" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" qformat="true" name="Subtle Reference"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="32" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" qformat="true" name="Intense Reference"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="33" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" qformat="true" name="Book Title"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="37" name="Bibliography"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="39" qformat="true" name="TOC Heading"> </w:LatentStyles> </xml><![endif]--><style> <!-- /* Font Definitions */ @font-face {font-family:"Cambria Math"; panose-1:2 4 5 3 5 4 6 3 2 4; mso-font-charset:0; mso-generic-font-family:roman; mso-font-pitch:variable; mso-font-signature:-1610611985 1107304683 0 0 159 0;} @font-face {font-family:"Liberation Serif"; mso-font-alt:"Times New Roman"; mso-font-charset:0; mso-generic-font-family:roman; mso-font-pitch:variable; mso-font-signature:0 0 0 0 0 0;} @font-face {font-family:"DejaVu Sans"; mso-font-charset:0; mso-generic-font-family:auto; mso-font-pitch:variable; mso-font-signature:0 0 0 0 0 0;} @font-face {font-family:OpenSymbol; mso-font-alt:"Arial Unicode MS"; mso-font-charset:0; mso-generic-font-family:auto; mso-font-pitch:auto; mso-font-signature:0 0 0 0 0 0;} /* Style Definitions */ p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal {mso-style-unhide:no; mso-style-qformat:yes; mso-style-parent:""; margin:0cm; margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:none; mso-hyphenate:none; font-size:12.0pt; font-family:"Liberation Serif","serif"; mso-fareast-font-family:"DejaVu Sans"; mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning:.5pt; mso-ansi-language:EN-AU; mso-fareast-language:#00FF;} .MsoChpDefault {mso-style-type:export-only; mso-default-props:yes; font-size:10.0pt; mso-ansi-font-size:10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size:10.0pt;} @page Section1 {size:595.25pt 841.85pt; margin:2.0cm 2.0cm 2.0cm 2.0cm; mso-header-margin:36.0pt; mso-footer-margin:36.0pt; mso-paper-source:0;} div.Section1 {page:Section1; mso-footnote-position:beneath-text;} /* List Definitions */ @list l0 {mso-list-id:1; mso-list-template-ids:1;} @list l0:level1 {mso-level-number-format:bullet; mso-level-text:; mso-level-tab-stop:36.0pt; mso-level-number-position:left; text-indent:-18.0pt; mso-ascii-font-family:Symbol; mso-hansi-font-family:Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family:OpenSymbol;} @list l0:level2 {mso-level-number-format:bullet; mso-level-text:◦; mso-level-tab-stop:54.0pt; mso-level-number-position:left; margin-left:54.0pt; text-indent:-18.0pt; mso-ascii-font-family:OpenSymbol; mso-hansi-font-family:OpenSymbol; mso-bidi-font-family:OpenSymbol;} @list l0:level3 {mso-level-number-format:bullet; mso-level-text:▪; mso-level-tab-stop:72.0pt; mso-level-number-position:left; margin-left:72.0pt; text-indent:-18.0pt; mso-ascii-font-family:OpenSymbol; mso-hansi-font-family:OpenSymbol; mso-bidi-font-family:OpenSymbol;} @list l0:level4 {mso-level-number-format:bullet; mso-level-text:; mso-level-tab-stop:90.0pt; mso-level-number-position:left; margin-left:90.0pt; text-indent:-18.0pt; mso-ascii-font-family:Symbol; mso-hansi-font-family:Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family:OpenSymbol;} @list l0:level5 {mso-level-number-format:bullet; mso-level-text:◦; mso-level-tab-stop:108.0pt; mso-level-number-position:left; margin-left:108.0pt; text-indent:-18.0pt; mso-ascii-font-family:OpenSymbol; mso-hansi-font-family:OpenSymbol; mso-bidi-font-family:OpenSymbol;} @list l0:level6 {mso-level-number-format:bullet; mso-level-text:▪; mso-level-tab-stop:126.0pt; mso-level-number-position:left; margin-left:126.0pt; text-indent:-18.0pt; mso-ascii-font-family:OpenSymbol; mso-hansi-font-family:OpenSymbol; mso-bidi-font-family:OpenSymbol;} @list l0:level7 {mso-level-number-format:bullet; mso-level-text:; mso-level-tab-stop:144.0pt; mso-level-number-position:left; margin-left:144.0pt; text-indent:-18.0pt; mso-ascii-font-family:Symbol; mso-hansi-font-family:Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family:OpenSymbol;} @list l0:level8 {mso-level-number-format:bullet; mso-level-text:◦; mso-level-tab-stop:162.0pt; mso-level-number-position:left; margin-left:162.0pt; text-indent:-18.0pt; mso-ascii-font-family:OpenSymbol; mso-hansi-font-family:OpenSymbol; mso-bidi-font-family:OpenSymbol;} @list l0:level9 {mso-level-number-format:bullet; mso-level-text:▪; mso-level-tab-stop:180.0pt; mso-level-number-position:left; margin-left:180.0pt; text-indent:-18.0pt; mso-ascii-font-family:OpenSymbol; mso-hansi-font-family:OpenSymbol; mso-bidi-font-family:OpenSymbol;} @list l1 {mso-list-id:2; mso-list-template-ids:2;} @list l1:level1 {mso-level-number-format:bullet; mso-level-text:; mso-level-tab-stop:36.0pt; mso-level-number-position:left; text-indent:-18.0pt; mso-ascii-font-family:Symbol; mso-hansi-font-family:Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family:OpenSymbol;} @list l1:level2 {mso-level-number-format:bullet; mso-level-text:◦; mso-level-tab-stop:54.0pt; mso-level-number-position:left; margin-left:54.0pt; text-indent:-18.0pt; mso-ascii-font-family:OpenSymbol; mso-hansi-font-family:OpenSymbol; mso-bidi-font-family:OpenSymbol;} @list l1:level3 {mso-level-number-format:bullet; mso-level-text:▪; mso-level-tab-stop:72.0pt; mso-level-number-position:left; margin-left:72.0pt; text-indent:-18.0pt; mso-ascii-font-family:OpenSymbol; mso-hansi-font-family:OpenSymbol; mso-bidi-font-family:OpenSymbol;} @list l1:level4 {mso-level-number-format:bullet; mso-level-text:; mso-level-tab-stop:90.0pt; mso-level-number-position:left; margin-left:90.0pt; text-indent:-18.0pt; mso-ascii-font-family:Symbol; mso-hansi-font-family:Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family:OpenSymbol;} @list l1:level5 {mso-level-number-format:bullet; mso-level-text:◦; mso-level-tab-stop:108.0pt; mso-level-number-position:left; margin-left:108.0pt; text-indent:-18.0pt; mso-ascii-font-family:OpenSymbol; mso-hansi-font-family:OpenSymbol; mso-bidi-font-family:OpenSymbol;} @list l1:level6 {mso-level-number-format:bullet; mso-level-text:▪; mso-level-tab-stop:126.0pt; mso-level-number-position:left; margin-left:126.0pt; text-indent:-18.0pt; mso-ascii-font-family:OpenSymbol; mso-hansi-font-family:OpenSymbol; mso-bidi-font-family:OpenSymbol;} @list l1:level7 {mso-level-number-format:bullet; mso-level-text:; mso-level-tab-stop:144.0pt; mso-level-number-position:left; margin-left:144.0pt; text-indent:-18.0pt; mso-ascii-font-family:Symbol; mso-hansi-font-family:Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family:OpenSymbol;} @list l1:level8 {mso-level-number-format:bullet; mso-level-text:◦; mso-level-tab-stop:162.0pt; mso-level-number-position:left; margin-left:162.0pt; text-indent:-18.0pt; mso-ascii-font-family:OpenSymbol; mso-hansi-font-family:OpenSymbol; mso-bidi-font-family:OpenSymbol;} @list l1:level9 {mso-level-number-format:bullet; mso-level-text:▪; mso-level-tab-stop:180.0pt; mso-level-number-position:left; margin-left:180.0pt; text-indent:-18.0pt; mso-ascii-font-family:OpenSymbol; mso-hansi-font-family:OpenSymbol; mso-bidi-font-family:OpenSymbol;} ol {margin-bottom:0cm;} ul {margin-bottom:0cm;} --> </style><!--[if gte mso 10]> <style> /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-priority:99; mso-style-qformat:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0cm; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:10.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman","serif";} </style> <![endif]--> </m:defjc></m:rmargin></m:lmargin></m:dispdef></m:smallfrac></m:brkbinsub></m:brkbin></m:mathfont></m:mathpr></w:word11kerningpairs></w:dontvertalignintxbx></w:dontbreakconstrainedforcedtables></w:dontvertaligncellwithsp></w:splitpgbreakandparamark></w:dontgrowautofit></w:useasianbreakrules></w:wraptextwithpunct></w:snaptogridincell></w:breakwrappedtables></w:compatibility></w:donotpromoteqf></w:validateagainstschemas></w:punctuationkerning></w:trackformatting></w:trackmoves><div style="text-align: left; font-family: arial; font-weight: bold;"><w:trackmoves><w:trackformatting><w:punctuationkerning><w:validateagainstschemas><w:donotpromoteqf><w:compatibility><w:breakwrappedtables><w:snaptogridincell><w:wraptextwithpunct><w:useasianbreakrules><w:dontgrowautofit><w:splitpgbreakandparamark><w:dontvertaligncellwithsp><w:dontbreakconstrainedforcedtables><w:dontvertalignintxbx><w:word11kerningpairs><m:mathpr><m:mathfont val="Cambria Math"><m:brkbin val="before"><m:brkbinsub val="--"><m:smallfrac val="off"><m:dispdef><m:lmargin val="0"><m:rmargin val="0"><m:defjc val="centerGroup"><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family:arial;"><span lang="EN-AU" style="font-size:85%;">A<span>nd so it is, my first blog for the year after a longish hiatus since I didn't really have much to write about since I wasted a hell of a lot of time </span><i>cucking</i><span> around on that Facebook thing trying to improve my popularity and fame and contribution to the world of aesthetics and other ephermamamia.</span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family:arial;"><span lang="EN-AU" style="font-size:85%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family:arial;"><span lang="EN-AU" style="font-size:85%;">So in the past few days of this new year, I have been filling my void with much music</span><span lang="EN-AU" style="font-size:85%;"> of a droney/satanic/spacious variety, mainly due to the fact that I have been driving around in my car listening to long passages of noise and drone to fill the blanks. Starting off with SUNN 0))). Now this curiosity in this psychedelic metal stuff was piqued earlier in 2009 after witnessing the legendary Seattle grungers the MELVINS - a glorious cacophony of expertly wielded and intensely heavy, PUNK informed metal, as most of the best metal is. I never really got into the Melvins, I found them too bogan and one-dimensional for my sensitive tastes, but then I essentially go for the psychedelic/subtle movements in music, often revelations in art come to me </span><span lang="EN-AU" style="font-size:85%;">unexpectedly rather than furiously mining for the new and fresh. So I downloaded some of the Melvins records and realised why I never got into them in the first place, the records all sound pretty one-dimensional and obvious, much like 98.999999789% of heavy-metal-grunge-punk stuff.<span style=""> </span>Earlier this year, and as reported on this blog, I was blown away by Jim Jarmusch's latest Zen mind-bender movie THE LIMITS OF CONTROL. In that film, as in most of Jarmusch's work, his </span><span lang="EN-AU" style="font-size:85%;">cinematic experience is informed by left-filed and experimental musics. Jarmusch often mines a classic hipster 70s stylee music field, concentrating on exotic and transcendental rock stylings, from 50s rock n roll to Neil Young psychedelics. Early in the 00s he collaborated with the WuTang's GZA for the soundtrack to his cool GHOST DOG fillum a seamless collaboration as GZA's droney triphop stylings met comfortably with Jarmusch's offbeat visions. Anyway, in LOC Jarmusch's has mined the psych-metal drone scene with music from the likes of Sunn0))), Boris and Texan shoegazers the Black Angels. I imagined these drone-metal groups to be kinda like Black Sabbath, and alas that is what they are, albeit with a more updated flavour that borrows heavily from New York art-minimalist composers like early John Cale, Tony Conrad and the intense trance drone of LaMonte Young (I was fortunate enough to sit in Young's 'dreamhouse' for about 40 minutes last year, imagine the sounds of a 50s sci-fi UFO blasted full bore through 4x4 rock speakers in a yoga practice/techno raveparty chillout room!)..Another band featured in LOC is OM, who I saw last year in Brooklyn, and whilst at the time wasn't totally blown away by their bass/drums harmonia, I was compelled enough to purchase their album Pilgramage, which has grown on me via my 'in car' listening ventures.<span style=""> </span>The thing I'm finding interesting in these drone-doom bands is their investment into ancient Gnostic Middle Eastern /European religious thought and poetry. OM are Greek-Americans, and are probably the most rocking Greeks on the planet this side of J.Mascis, Vangelis and Jimmy Sfetsos. So the OM crew like to mumble about 'godheads', 'Lazarus', and blokes with crazy beards that wear black and still look Old Testament-like.<span style=""> </span>Sunn 0))) I dunno what their religious/satanic affiliations are besides probably shooting heroin with fat hillbillies from Seattle. Their MONOLITHS&DIMENSIONS record come packaged in this nice slipcase. I was also interested to find that Aussie noise-legend Oren Ambarchi is a member of their nebulous collective. Opening bulldozer 'Aghartha' kicks off proceedings with a deliciously thick sound of an over-distorted guitar, so perfectly overdriven that it's almost like they are reminding you what was so exciting and terrifying about the sounds of an over-distorted electric guitar in the first place! These guys revel in the sound of an over-distorted guitar chord, and apparently their live concerts are the things of modern psychedelic-rock legend. It seems quite clear why Jarmusch used these guys, their sound isn't that far removed from Neil Young's 'live rust' and more pertinently WELD explorations. But that's where things stop. Sunn 0))) as I mentioned previously are informed by experimental sound-scapes, and I'd also throw in the crazy-junky hoity-toity New York art expermenta of Diamanda Galas and even the Swans. But where I hated the inbuilt nihilism of those 80s artists, these guys keep things kinda 'warm'. The grand-canyon guitars segue into some Eastern-European Vlad-the-Impaler lunatic <i>grepsing</i> in the lowest most evil sounding growl this side of Darth Vader. The lyrics are strange and expansive, singing about exploding universes and apocalyptic battles for chaotic reform ??? Yeah maybe I'm losing it! They sound like a death-metal band on 33. But then they throw in these Biblical choirs and MetalMachineMusic layers of textured noise so next thing you feel like you may have suddenly tuned in to a 3MBSfm classical music hour. Horns then crash in like some Biblical epic,<span style=""> </span>but they don't remodel that shit into the lousy limp American-Judeo-Christian mainstream of 'niceness and lies that help you become rich materially if you follow our dogmatic rules'. They model it into the harsh, trugeoning, dirge across the Exodus that the Old Testament is. I mean if you don't believe, open your nearest copy of 'the Book'. But it don't stop there, the Eastern-Euro growler in Sun 0))) seems to be conjuring demons in some sort of middle-ages battle between pagan Earth Gods and the man made hell of the Crusade, its like the best soundtrack to a wonderfully satanic Lucio Fulci masterpiece like THE BEYOND or CITY OF THE LIVING DEAD!!!!!! AAAAAARRRGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family:arial;"><span lang="EN-AU" style="font-size:85%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> </m:defjc></m:rmargin></m:lmargin></m:dispdef></m:smallfrac></m:brkbinsub></m:brkbin></m:mathfont></m:mathpr></w:word11kerningpairs></w:dontvertalignintxbx></w:dontbreakconstrainedforcedtables></w:dontvertaligncellwithsp></w:splitpgbreakandparamark></w:dontgrowautofit></w:useasianbreakrules></w:wraptextwithpunct></w:snaptogridincell></w:breakwrappedtables></w:compatibility></w:donotpromoteqf></w:validateagainstschemas></w:punctuationkerning></w:trackformatting></w:trackmoves><br /><w:trackmoves><w:trackformatting><w:punctuationkerning><w:validateagainstschemas><w:donotpromoteqf><w:compatibility><w:breakwrappedtables><w:snaptogridincell><w:wraptextwithpunct><w:useasianbreakrules><w:dontgrowautofit><w:splitpgbreakandparamark><w:dontvertaligncellwithsp><w:dontbreakconstrainedforcedtables><w:dontvertalignintxbx><w:word11kerningpairs><m:mathpr><m:mathfont val="Cambria Math"><m:brkbin val="before"><m:brkbinsub val="--"><m:smallfrac val="off"><m:dispdef><m:lmargin val="0"><m:rmargin val="0"><m:defjc val="centerGroup"><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family:arial;"><span lang="EN-AU" style="font-size:85%;">So taking a break from all this pleasant synapse-feeding <i>meshigarse</i> I picked up this re-issue of Aussie-Adelaide noise-punk psychos GRONG GRONG. I used to read a lot about these guys in the pages of legendary Aussie underground-rock journal B-side, but like B-side bands, the artists involved were helpless drug-casualties and being under-aged it was difficult to sneak into gigs to experience these godhead punk compostors. GRONG GRONG are the sound the Birthday Party left behind. In Adelaide. Feral as all fuck their music makes me want to shave my bumfluff with a broken VB stubbie! The interesting thing about GRONG GRONg is their uber-hardcore trash-slash style. They inject amphetamine psychosis into the Birthday Party sound, and Charlie Tolnay's incredible slash-wash of noise and riff is the first to acknowledge the genius of Rowland S Howard's similar, yet more stylistic pioneering sound. Henry Rollins compared RSH's style to Antonin Artaud if he had an electric guitar, but it's probably wiser to give that title to Charlie Tolnay. His guitar kills, slashes, burns, cuts and absolutely fucken flies through the murk of most of the lo-fi noise on this CD, but it becomes clearer in the murky live footage of GRONG GRONG, that appears on the complimentary DVD. First and foremost, GRONG GRONG were a HARDCORE PUNK band, albiet of a more expansive and seminal kind.</span></p></m:defjc></m:rmargin></m:lmargin></m:dispdef></m:smallfrac></m:brkbinsub></m:brkbin></m:mathfont></m:mathpr></w:word11kerningpairs></w:dontvertalignintxbx></w:dontbreakconstrainedforcedtables></w:dontvertaligncellwithsp></w:splitpgbreakandparamark></w:dontgrowautofit></w:useasianbreakrules></w:wraptextwithpunct></w:snaptogridincell></w:breakwrappedtables></w:compatibility></w:donotpromoteqf></w:validateagainstschemas></w:punctuationkerning></w:trackformatting></w:trackmoves></div><w:trackmoves><w:trackformatting><w:punctuationkerning><w:validateagainstschemas><w:donotpromoteqf><w:compatibility><w:breakwrappedtables><w:snaptogridincell><w:wraptextwithpunct><w:useasianbreakrules><w:dontgrowautofit><w:splitpgbreakandparamark><w:dontvertaligncellwithsp><w:dontbreakconstrainedforcedtables><w:dontvertalignintxbx><w:word11kerningpairs><m:mathpr><m:mathfont val="Cambria Math"><m:brkbin val="before"><m:brkbinsub val="--"><m:smallfrac val="off"><m:dispdef><m:lmargin val="0"><m:rmargin val="0"><m:defjc val="centerGroup"><p style="font-weight: bold;font-family:arial;" class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-AU" style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-weight: bold;font-family:arial;" > </span><br /></span></p><span style="font-size:85%;"><a style="font-family: arial; font-weight: bold;" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgqxEcOPQPuIXQB1Y4Lzpnc1e37RiqF5EQnuwr7Hdh-W14pRy0aYdyLczj0K6mpAFYXtMZnjgbTuIKLbb38cuK9tXfuilLCtxVkFOW6-sJ02ePZXi5ESLlUuH2vbpxqLPHohTmq-w/s1600-h/zond.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 194px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgqxEcOPQPuIXQB1Y4Lzpnc1e37RiqF5EQnuwr7Hdh-W14pRy0aYdyLczj0K6mpAFYXtMZnjgbTuIKLbb38cuK9tXfuilLCtxVkFOW6-sJ02ePZXi5ESLlUuH2vbpxqLPHohTmq-w/s320/zond.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5423947250436177250" border="0" /></a></span><p style="text-align: center; font-weight: bold;font-family:arial;" class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-AU" style="font-size:85%;"><br /></span></p><p style="font-weight: bold;font-family:arial;" class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-AU" style="font-size:85%;">Which brings me to contemporary Melbourne noise-punk heroes ZOND. I saw them earlier this year and they were a blast. The have this drug fucked girl on guitar who seems to be the Melbourne un-glammed version of New York's Julia Cafritz(pussy galore) and three nerdy blokes on other guitar and rhythm section. The other guitar bloke has a rack of around 20 shit noise boxes, basically switches them all on, until it's a bleeding surround-sound wash of white noise, as the rhythm section blasts away in motoritik precision. It was like watching My Bloody Valentine do their 'noise' section of 'you made me realise' cut up into discrete, Sex Pistols-like punk 'tunes'. And it was awesome. Happy New Year to you all.</span></p> <p style="font-weight: bold;font-family:arial;" class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-AU" style="font-size:85%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p style="font-weight: bold;font-family:arial;" class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-AU" style="font-size:85%;"><br /></span></p><p style="font-weight: bold;font-family:arial;" class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-AU" style="font-size:85%;">.....It's the end of a decade so I'm trying to throw in my 'best of' list for this decade, and whilst I was listening to a lot of 'reissues' of glorious old shit like Bob Dylan and the La's and the Coloured Balls amongst many others, there was still time for new pleasures, books, films, comics, movies, books...</span></p> <p style="font-weight: bold;font-family:arial;" class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-AU" style="font-size:85%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> </m:defjc></m:rmargin></m:lmargin></m:dispdef></m:smallfrac></m:brkbinsub></m:brkbin></m:mathfont></m:mathpr></w:word11kerningpairs></w:dontvertalignintxbx></w:dontbreakconstrainedforcedtables></w:dontvertaligncellwithsp></w:splitpgbreakandparamark></w:dontgrowautofit></w:useasianbreakrules></w:wraptextwithpunct></w:snaptogridincell></w:breakwrappedtables></w:compatibility></w:donotpromoteqf></w:validateagainstschemas></w:punctuationkerning></w:trackformatting></w:trackmoves><ul><li style="font-weight: bold;font-family:arial;"><span style="font-size:85%;">VocalCity- Luomo (album) - Northern European luxurious techno house. Still holds up. Great neo-80s sequencing and set the tone of techno pop for the decade.<br /></span></li><li style="font-weight: bold;font-family:arial;"><span style="font-size:85%;">Rhythm and Sound – album of totally awesome dubbed out neuvo krautrock that cracks, pops, hisses, depth charges and sends you into a very strange and sedate place..</span></li><li style="font-weight: bold;font-family:arial;"><span style="font-size:85%;">The White Stripes – Elephant – took me a while to take to these punks, but after seeing them live and do an incredible mash-up almost techno type gig, I understood why they were and may still well be 'the future of rock'</span></li><li style="font-weight: bold;font-family:arial;"><span style="font-size:85%;">The Drones live at the Tote – as part of this Spooky Records thing, at which my friends the Double Agents were playing. I heard the Drones do their scree by accident live on PBS fm and seeing them live, play the 'cockeyed lowlife of the badlands' was a totally modern Oz-rock experience. I felt like I was back in the POW circa late80s!</span></li><li style="font-weight: bold;font-family:arial;"><span style="font-size:85%;">Mullholland Drive – Lynch</span></li><li style="font-weight: bold;font-family:arial;"><span style="font-size:85%;">Paria – French movie shot on digital. about a young guy trying to get home.<br /></span></li><li style="font-weight: bold;font-family:arial;"><span style="font-size:85%;">YiYi – Korean film</span></li><li style="font-weight: bold;font-family:arial;"><span style="font-size:85%;">Punch Drunk Love, There Will Be Blood (films)</span></li><li style="font-weight: bold;font-family:arial;"><span style="font-size:85%;">Discovering the cinema of Bresson, Chabrol, Rohmer, Antonioni, Giallo and euro cult cinema, Nicholas Ray, Tarkovsky, Larry Cohen, Sergio Leone, Robbe Grillet, Jodorowsky, Zulawski, anime and STAN BRAKHAGE.</span></li><li style="font-weight: bold;font-family:arial;"><span style="font-size:85%;">Collateral and Miami Vice – I grew up on Miami Vice in the mid-80s and rediscovered Mann's cinema work once again. HEAT is possibly the greatest American crime movie of the last 20 year. With Collateral and Miami Vice, Mann started using DV and Hdv in order to get better clarity on his tecture of skies, namely sunsets and clouds. The result whilst not totally mesmerising dramatically, is a gas for the other senses.<br /></span></li><li style="font-weight: bold;font-family:arial;"><span style="font-size:85%;">A.I, Minority Report and War of the Worlds – Spielberg get back to his sci-fi roots, and whilst the films still had his daggy 'happy endings' were still state of the art.</span></li><li style="font-weight: bold;font-family:arial;"><span style="font-size:85%;">Discovering William S Burroughs – oh yeah. Esp. 'the ticket that exploded'</span></li><li style="font-weight: bold;font-family:arial;"><span style="font-size:85%;">Discovering Boris Vian – oh yeah oh yeah. Esp 'the dead all have the same skin' and the even just as totally nuts and wild 'I spit of your graves'!!!</span></li><li style="font-weight: bold;font-family:arial;"><span style="font-size:85%;">100 Bullets comic – unbelievable comic artistry. Opaque, hardboiled and terrific saga about a war between ultra-crime gangs.</span></li><li><span style="font-weight: bold;font-family:arial;font-size:85%;" >MPD Psycho - an absolute mind bender. A cop has multiple personalities, tries to solve some bizarre murders, then finds he is part of a larger mind control conspiracy that includes cult-like rockstars, programmed assassins and some bizarre Government experiment that has become an all-out war between some sort of psychic freaks and something else. Includes some of the most amazing mindblowing action pieces I've ever seen in printed form. A hijacked 747 crashing into the bow of a massive cargo ship/drug laboratory anyone?</span><span style="font-weight: bold;font-size:85%;" ><span style="font-family:arial;"><br /></span></span></li></ul><w:trackmoves><w:trackformatting><w:punctuationkerning><w:validateagainstschemas><w:donotpromoteqf><w:compatibility><w:breakwrappedtables><w:snaptogridincell><w:wraptextwithpunct><w:useasianbreakrules><w:dontgrowautofit><w:splitpgbreakandparamark><w:dontvertaligncellwithsp><w:dontbreakconstrainedforcedtables><w:dontvertalignintxbx><w:word11kerningpairs><m:mathpr><m:mathfont val="Cambria Math"><m:brkbin val="before"><m:brkbinsub val="--"><m:smallfrac val="off"><m:dispdef><m:lmargin val="0"><m:rmargin val="0"><m:defjc val="centerGroup"></m:defjc></m:rmargin></m:lmargin></m:dispdef></m:smallfrac></m:brkbinsub></m:brkbin></m:mathfont></m:mathpr></w:word11kerningpairs></w:dontvertalignintxbx></w:dontbreakconstrainedforcedtables></w:dontvertaligncellwithsp></w:splitpgbreakandparamark></w:dontgrowautofit></w:useasianbreakrules></w:wraptextwithpunct></w:snaptogridincell></w:breakwrappedtables></w:compatibility></w:donotpromoteqf></w:validateagainstschemas></w:punctuationkerning></w:trackformatting></w:trackmoves><br /><w:trackmoves><w:trackformatting><w:punctuationkerning><w:validateagainstschemas><w:donotpromoteqf><w:compatibility><w:breakwrappedtables><w:snaptogridincell><w:wraptextwithpunct><w:useasianbreakrules><w:dontgrowautofit><w:splitpgbreakandparamark><w:dontvertaligncellwithsp><w:dontbreakconstrainedforcedtables><w:dontvertalignintxbx><w:word11kerningpairs><m:mathpr><m:mathfont val="Cambria Math"><m:brkbin val="before"><m:brkbinsub val="--"><m:smallfrac val="off"><m:dispdef><m:lmargin val="0"><m:rmargin val="0"><m:defjc val="centerGroup"></m:defjc></m:rmargin></m:lmargin></m:dispdef></m:smallfrac></m:brkbinsub></m:brkbin></m:mathfont></m:mathpr></w:word11kerningpairs></w:dontvertalignintxbx></w:dontbreakconstrainedforcedtables></w:dontvertaligncellwithsp></w:splitpgbreakandparamark></w:dontgrowautofit></w:useasianbreakrules></w:wraptextwithpunct></w:snaptogridincell></w:breakwrappedtables></w:compatibility></w:donotpromoteqf></w:validateagainstschemas></w:punctuationkerning></w:trackformatting></w:trackmoves><w:trackmoves><w:trackformatting><w:punctuationkerning><w:validateagainstschemas><w:donotpromoteqf><w:compatibility><w:breakwrappedtables><w:snaptogridincell><w:wraptextwithpunct><w:useasianbreakrules><w:dontgrowautofit><w:splitpgbreakandparamark><w:dontvertaligncellwithsp><w:dontbreakconstrainedforcedtables><w:dontvertalignintxbx><w:word11kerningpairs><m:mathpr><m:mathfont val="Cambria Math"><m:brkbin val="before"><m:brkbinsub val="--"><m:smallfrac val="off"><m:dispdef><m:lmargin val="0"><m:rmargin val="0"><m:defjc val="centerGroup"><span style="font-weight: bold;font-family:arial;font-size:85%;" ><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiN867HBR1_5gbEGaw3-OzZfNdHZjplQlwOwejihRYZqyUwTun_H73SgVPB8qcm-eLsipPUx0IF-AP-pCt5fF8ZXeNWiKN5tq-E5YoDlKH_9Pv7U8i642t8mHm7ZJNCQo51koBNAw/s1600-h/jodorowsky1.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 216px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiN867HBR1_5gbEGaw3-OzZfNdHZjplQlwOwejihRYZqyUwTun_H73SgVPB8qcm-eLsipPUx0IF-AP-pCt5fF8ZXeNWiKN5tq-E5YoDlKH_9Pv7U8i642t8mHm7ZJNCQo51koBNAw/s320/jodorowsky1.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5423948073233856578" border="0" /></a></span><div style="text-align: center; font-weight: bold;font-family:arial;"><span style="font-size:85%;"><br /></span></div><ul style="margin-top: 0cm; font-weight: bold;font-family:arial;" type="disc"><li class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-size:85%;">Jodorowsky's THE INCAL, Technopriests and Metabarons intergalatic sci-fi epics. Totally and unremittingly mind-blowing and brilliant. Fuck Freud and Jung, and take Jodorowsky's intergalactic, brutal and beautiful sagas.<br /></span></li></ul></m:defjc></m:rmargin></m:lmargin></m:dispdef></m:smallfrac></m:brkbinsub></m:brkbin></m:mathfont></m:mathpr></w:word11kerningpairs></w:dontvertalignintxbx></w:dontbreakconstrainedforcedtables></w:dontvertaligncellwithsp></w:splitpgbreakandparamark></w:dontgrowautofit></w:useasianbreakrules></w:wraptextwithpunct></w:snaptogridincell></w:breakwrappedtables></w:compatibility></w:donotpromoteqf></w:validateagainstschemas></w:punctuationkerning></w:trackformatting></w:trackmoves><ul><li style="font-weight: bold;font-family:arial;"><span style="font-size:85%;"><w:trackmoves><w:trackformatting><w:punctuationkerning><w:validateagainstschemas><w:donotpromoteqf><w:compatibility><w:breakwrappedtables><w:snaptogridincell><w:wraptextwithpunct><w:useasianbreakrules><w:dontgrowautofit><w:splitpgbreakandparamark><w:dontvertaligncellwithsp><w:dontbreakconstrainedforcedtables><w:dontvertalignintxbx><w:word11kerningpairs><m:mathpr><m:mathfont val="Cambria Math"><m:brkbin val="before"><m:brkbinsub val="--"><m:smallfrac val="off"><m:dispdef><m:lmargin val="0"><m:rmargin val="0"><m:defjc val="centerGroup">Curb Your Enthusiasm – I can't understand how brilliant this story of my fantasised life is! And funny too!</m:defjc></m:rmargin></m:lmargin></m:dispdef></m:smallfrac></m:brkbinsub></m:brkbin></m:mathfont></m:mathpr></w:word11kerningpairs></w:dontvertalignintxbx></w:dontbreakconstrainedforcedtables></w:dontvertaligncellwithsp></w:splitpgbreakandparamark></w:dontgrowautofit></w:useasianbreakrules></w:wraptextwithpunct></w:snaptogridincell></w:breakwrappedtables></w:compatibility></w:donotpromoteqf></w:validateagainstschemas></w:punctuationkerning></w:trackformatting></w:trackmoves></span></li><li style="font-weight: bold;font-family:arial;"><span style="font-size:85%;"><w:trackmoves><w:trackformatting><w:punctuationkerning><w:validateagainstschemas><w:donotpromoteqf><w:compatibility><w:breakwrappedtables><w:snaptogridincell><w:wraptextwithpunct><w:useasianbreakrules><w:dontgrowautofit><w:splitpgbreakandparamark><w:dontvertaligncellwithsp><w:dontbreakconstrainedforcedtables><w:dontvertalignintxbx><w:word11kerningpairs><m:mathpr><m:mathfont val="Cambria Math"><m:brkbin val="before"><m:brkbinsub val="--"><m:smallfrac val="off"><m:dispdef><m:lmargin val="0"><m:rmargin val="0"><m:defjc val="centerGroup">The Pianist (Polanski) – the greatest Holocaust story ever told. The triumph of art over adversity has never quite been demonstrated in narrative form like this movie.</m:defjc></m:rmargin></m:lmargin></m:dispdef></m:smallfrac></m:brkbinsub></m:brkbin></m:mathfont></m:mathpr></w:word11kerningpairs></w:dontvertalignintxbx></w:dontbreakconstrainedforcedtables></w:dontvertaligncellwithsp></w:splitpgbreakandparamark></w:dontgrowautofit></w:useasianbreakrules></w:wraptextwithpunct></w:snaptogridincell></w:breakwrappedtables></w:compatibility></w:donotpromoteqf></w:validateagainstschemas></w:punctuationkerning></w:trackformatting></w:trackmoves></span></li><li style="font-weight: bold;font-family:arial;"><span style="font-size:85%;"><w:trackmoves><w:trackformatting><w:punctuationkerning><w:validateagainstschemas><w:donotpromoteqf><w:compatibility><w:breakwrappedtables><w:snaptogridincell><w:wraptextwithpunct><w:useasianbreakrules><w:dontgrowautofit><w:splitpgbreakandparamark><w:dontvertaligncellwithsp><w:dontbreakconstrainedforcedtables><w:dontvertalignintxbx><w:word11kerningpairs><m:mathpr><m:mathfont val="Cambria Math"><m:brkbin val="before"><m:brkbinsub val="--"><m:smallfrac val="off"><m:dispdef><m:lmargin val="0"><m:rmargin val="0"><m:defjc val="centerGroup">Limits of Control (Jim Jarmusch) – meditative and fantastic.</m:defjc></m:rmargin></m:lmargin></m:dispdef></m:smallfrac></m:brkbinsub></m:brkbin></m:mathfont></m:mathpr></w:word11kerningpairs></w:dontvertalignintxbx></w:dontbreakconstrainedforcedtables></w:dontvertaligncellwithsp></w:splitpgbreakandparamark></w:dontgrowautofit></w:useasianbreakrules></w:wraptextwithpunct></w:snaptogridincell></w:breakwrappedtables></w:compatibility></w:donotpromoteqf></w:validateagainstschemas></w:punctuationkerning></w:trackformatting></w:trackmoves></span></li><li style="font-weight: bold;font-family:arial;"><span style="font-size:85%;"><w:trackmoves><w:trackformatting><w:punctuationkerning><w:validateagainstschemas><w:donotpromoteqf><w:compatibility><w:breakwrappedtables><w:snaptogridincell><w:wraptextwithpunct><w:useasianbreakrules><w:dontgrowautofit><w:splitpgbreakandparamark><w:dontvertaligncellwithsp><w:dontbreakconstrainedforcedtables><w:dontvertalignintxbx><w:word11kerningpairs><m:mathpr><m:mathfont val="Cambria Math"><m:brkbin val="before"><m:brkbinsub val="--"><m:smallfrac val="off"><m:dispdef><m:lmargin val="0"><m:rmargin val="0"><m:defjc val="centerGroup">The Savage Detectives and 2666 – Roberto Bolano. Hmmm, it's like literature is dead right? All pomo-homos and diary-keeping fucksticks that become rich and global. I didn't like Savage Detectives. Bolano just seems like a Kerouac for this era. But I persisted and getting to the end of his long psyhotropic road-epic it all seemed to make a totally unclear sense. Are aesthetics dead? I've only just started 2666, and whilst he seems to be mining similar fields, this time something weirder and stranger is going on. Is reality cracking at the seams? Is this James Joyce meets Philp K Dick. The attack on the simulacra of modern life begins!</m:defjc></m:rmargin></m:lmargin></m:dispdef></m:smallfrac></m:brkbinsub></m:brkbin></m:mathfont></m:mathpr></w:word11kerningpairs></w:dontvertalignintxbx></w:dontbreakconstrainedforcedtables></w:dontvertaligncellwithsp></w:splitpgbreakandparamark></w:dontgrowautofit></w:useasianbreakrules></w:wraptextwithpunct></w:snaptogridincell></w:breakwrappedtables></w:compatibility></w:donotpromoteqf></w:validateagainstschemas></w:punctuationkerning></w:trackformatting></w:trackmoves></span></li><li style="font-weight: bold;font-family:arial;"><span style="font-size:85%;"><w:trackmoves><w:trackformatting><w:punctuationkerning><w:validateagainstschemas><w:donotpromoteqf><w:compatibility><w:breakwrappedtables><w:snaptogridincell><w:wraptextwithpunct><w:useasianbreakrules><w:dontgrowautofit><w:splitpgbreakandparamark><w:dontvertaligncellwithsp><w:dontbreakconstrainedforcedtables><w:dontvertalignintxbx><w:word11kerningpairs><m:mathpr><m:mathfont val="Cambria Math"><m:brkbin val="before"><m:brkbinsub val="--"><m:smallfrac val="off"><m:dispdef><m:lmargin val="0"><m:rmargin val="0"><m:defjc val="centerGroup">The Road (Cormac McCarthy) – it was devastatingly awesome. And now there's a film. Whatever.</m:defjc></m:rmargin></m:lmargin></m:dispdef></m:smallfrac></m:brkbinsub></m:brkbin></m:mathfont></m:mathpr></w:word11kerningpairs></w:dontvertalignintxbx></w:dontbreakconstrainedforcedtables></w:dontvertaligncellwithsp></w:splitpgbreakandparamark></w:dontgrowautofit></w:useasianbreakrules></w:wraptextwithpunct></w:snaptogridincell></w:breakwrappedtables></w:compatibility></w:donotpromoteqf></w:validateagainstschemas></w:punctuationkerning></w:trackformatting></w:trackmoves></span></li><li style="font-weight: bold;font-family:arial;"><span style="font-size:85%;"><w:trackmoves><w:trackformatting><w:punctuationkerning><w:validateagainstschemas><w:donotpromoteqf><w:compatibility><w:breakwrappedtables><w:snaptogridincell><w:wraptextwithpunct><w:useasianbreakrules><w:dontgrowautofit><w:splitpgbreakandparamark><w:dontvertaligncellwithsp><w:dontbreakconstrainedforcedtables><w:dontvertalignintxbx><w:word11kerningpairs><m:mathpr><m:mathfont val="Cambria Math"><m:brkbin val="before"><m:brkbinsub val="--"><m:smallfrac val="off"><m:dispdef><m:lmargin val="0"><m:rmargin val="0"><m:defjc val="centerGroup">Platform (Michel Houllbecq) – French grump who was also devastatingly awesome, but funny too!</m:defjc></m:rmargin></m:lmargin></m:dispdef></m:smallfrac></m:brkbinsub></m:brkbin></m:mathfont></m:mathpr></w:word11kerningpairs></w:dontvertalignintxbx></w:dontbreakconstrainedforcedtables></w:dontvertaligncellwithsp></w:splitpgbreakandparamark></w:dontgrowautofit></w:useasianbreakrules></w:wraptextwithpunct></w:snaptogridincell></w:breakwrappedtables></w:compatibility></w:donotpromoteqf></w:validateagainstschemas></w:punctuationkerning></w:trackformatting></w:trackmoves></span></li><li style="font-weight: bold;font-family:arial;"><span style="font-size:85%;"><w:trackmoves><w:trackformatting><w:punctuationkerning><w:validateagainstschemas><w:donotpromoteqf><w:compatibility><w:breakwrappedtables><w:snaptogridincell><w:wraptextwithpunct><w:useasianbreakrules><w:dontgrowautofit><w:splitpgbreakandparamark><w:dontvertaligncellwithsp><w:dontbreakconstrainedforcedtables><w:dontvertalignintxbx><w:word11kerningpairs><m:mathpr><m:mathfont val="Cambria Math"><m:brkbin val="before"><m:brkbinsub val="--"><m:smallfrac val="off"><m:dispdef><m:lmargin val="0"><m:rmargin val="0"><m:defjc val="centerGroup">Lou Reed live – well when he came out for 'Ecstasy'. The first 15 minutes were worth every cent. Shame it became dull whiny shit after that!</m:defjc></m:rmargin></m:lmargin></m:dispdef></m:smallfrac></m:brkbinsub></m:brkbin></m:mathfont></m:mathpr></w:word11kerningpairs></w:dontvertalignintxbx></w:dontbreakconstrainedforcedtables></w:dontvertaligncellwithsp></w:splitpgbreakandparamark></w:dontgrowautofit></w:useasianbreakrules></w:wraptextwithpunct></w:snaptogridincell></w:breakwrappedtables></w:compatibility></w:donotpromoteqf></w:validateagainstschemas></w:punctuationkerning></w:trackformatting></w:trackmoves></span></li><li style="font-weight: bold;font-family:arial;"><span style="font-size:85%;"><w:trackmoves><w:trackformatting><w:punctuationkerning><w:validateagainstschemas><w:donotpromoteqf><w:compatibility><w:breakwrappedtables><w:snaptogridincell><w:wraptextwithpunct><w:useasianbreakrules><w:dontgrowautofit><w:splitpgbreakandparamark><w:dontvertaligncellwithsp><w:dontbreakconstrainedforcedtables><w:dontvertalignintxbx><w:word11kerningpairs><m:mathpr><m:mathfont val="Cambria Math"><m:brkbin val="before"><m:brkbinsub val="--"><m:smallfrac val="off"><m:dispdef><m:lmargin val="0"><m:rmargin val="0"><m:defjc val="centerGroup">Marilyn Manson – best American corporate American hard-rock show razzle dazzle. I find his music cheesy and lame, though I don't mind his single, but live his fantastic bands and wild stage show was probably like what glam rock was like back in the 70s.<br /></m:defjc></m:rmargin></m:lmargin></m:dispdef></m:smallfrac></m:brkbinsub></m:brkbin></m:mathfont></m:mathpr></w:word11kerningpairs></w:dontvertalignintxbx></w:dontbreakconstrainedforcedtables></w:dontvertaligncellwithsp></w:splitpgbreakandparamark></w:dontgrowautofit></w:useasianbreakrules></w:wraptextwithpunct></w:snaptogridincell></w:breakwrappedtables></w:compatibility></w:donotpromoteqf></w:validateagainstschemas></w:punctuationkerning></w:trackformatting></w:trackmoves></span></li><li style="font-weight: bold;font-family:arial;"><span style="font-size:85%;"><w:trackmoves><w:trackformatting><w:punctuationkerning><w:validateagainstschemas><w:donotpromoteqf><w:compatibility><w:breakwrappedtables><w:snaptogridincell><w:wraptextwithpunct><w:useasianbreakrules><w:dontgrowautofit><w:splitpgbreakandparamark><w:dontvertaligncellwithsp><w:dontbreakconstrainedforcedtables><w:dontvertalignintxbx><w:word11kerningpairs><m:mathpr><m:mathfont val="Cambria Math"><m:brkbin val="before"><m:brkbinsub val="--"><m:smallfrac val="off"><m:dispdef><m:lmargin val="0"><m:rmargin val="0"><m:defjc val="centerGroup">Synecdoche NY (Charlie Kaufman) – one of the great American art-films of the last decade.</m:defjc></m:rmargin></m:lmargin></m:dispdef></m:smallfrac></m:brkbinsub></m:brkbin></m:mathfont></m:mathpr></w:word11kerningpairs></w:dontvertalignintxbx></w:dontbreakconstrainedforcedtables></w:dontvertaligncellwithsp></w:splitpgbreakandparamark></w:dontgrowautofit></w:useasianbreakrules></w:wraptextwithpunct></w:snaptogridincell></w:breakwrappedtables></w:compatibility></w:donotpromoteqf></w:validateagainstschemas></w:punctuationkerning></w:trackformatting></w:trackmoves></span></li><li style="font-weight: bold;font-family:arial;"><span style="font-size:85%;"><w:trackmoves><w:trackformatting><w:punctuationkerning><w:validateagainstschemas><w:donotpromoteqf><w:compatibility><w:breakwrappedtables><w:snaptogridincell><w:wraptextwithpunct><w:useasianbreakrules><w:dontgrowautofit><w:splitpgbreakandparamark><w:dontvertaligncellwithsp><w:dontbreakconstrainedforcedtables><w:dontvertalignintxbx><w:word11kerningpairs><m:mathpr><m:mathfont val="Cambria Math"><m:brkbin val="before"><m:brkbinsub val="--"><m:smallfrac val="off"><m:dispdef><m:lmargin val="0"><m:rmargin val="0"><m:defjc val="centerGroup">The WIRE – TV series. What can I say. Masterpieces never stop. So why complain?</m:defjc></m:rmargin></m:lmargin></m:dispdef></m:smallfrac></m:brkbinsub></m:brkbin></m:mathfont></m:mathpr></w:word11kerningpairs></w:dontvertalignintxbx></w:dontbreakconstrainedforcedtables></w:dontvertaligncellwithsp></w:splitpgbreakandparamark></w:dontgrowautofit></w:useasianbreakrules></w:wraptextwithpunct></w:snaptogridincell></w:breakwrappedtables></w:compatibility></w:donotpromoteqf></w:validateagainstschemas></w:punctuationkerning></w:trackformatting></w:trackmoves></span></li><li style="font-weight: bold;font-family:arial;"><span style="font-size:85%;"><w:trackmoves><w:trackformatting><w:punctuationkerning><w:validateagainstschemas><w:donotpromoteqf><w:compatibility><w:breakwrappedtables><w:snaptogridincell><w:wraptextwithpunct><w:useasianbreakrules><w:dontgrowautofit><w:splitpgbreakandparamark><w:dontvertaligncellwithsp><w:dontbreakconstrainedforcedtables><w:dontvertalignintxbx><w:word11kerningpairs><m:mathpr><m:mathfont val="Cambria Math"><m:brkbin val="before"><m:brkbinsub val="--"><m:smallfrac val="off"><m:dispdef><m:lmargin val="0"><m:rmargin val="0"><m:defjc val="centerGroup">Sin City (Rodreguez) – the sexiest and best comic book adaptation of all-time. Easy.<br /></m:defjc></m:rmargin></m:lmargin></m:dispdef></m:smallfrac></m:brkbinsub></m:brkbin></m:mathfont></m:mathpr></w:word11kerningpairs></w:dontvertalignintxbx></w:dontbreakconstrainedforcedtables></w:dontvertaligncellwithsp></w:splitpgbreakandparamark></w:dontgrowautofit></w:useasianbreakrules></w:wraptextwithpunct></w:snaptogridincell></w:breakwrappedtables></w:compatibility></w:donotpromoteqf></w:validateagainstschemas></w:punctuationkerning></w:trackformatting></w:trackmoves></span></li><li style="font-weight: bold;font-family:arial;"><span style="font-size:85%;"><w:trackmoves><w:trackformatting><w:punctuationkerning><w:validateagainstschemas><w:donotpromoteqf><w:compatibility><w:breakwrappedtables><w:snaptogridincell><w:wraptextwithpunct><w:useasianbreakrules><w:dontgrowautofit><w:splitpgbreakandparamark><w:dontvertaligncellwithsp><w:dontbreakconstrainedforcedtables><w:dontvertalignintxbx><w:word11kerningpairs><m:mathpr><m:mathfont val="Cambria Math"><m:brkbin val="before"><m:brkbinsub val="--"><m:smallfrac val="off"><m:dispdef><m:lmargin val="0"><m:rmargin val="0"><m:defjc val="centerGroup">Children of Men – best sci-fi film of the decade. Best film as comic book too!</m:defjc></m:rmargin></m:lmargin></m:dispdef></m:smallfrac></m:brkbinsub></m:brkbin></m:mathfont></m:mathpr></w:word11kerningpairs></w:dontvertalignintxbx></w:dontbreakconstrainedforcedtables></w:dontvertaligncellwithsp></w:splitpgbreakandparamark></w:dontgrowautofit></w:useasianbreakrules></w:wraptextwithpunct></w:snaptogridincell></w:breakwrappedtables></w:compatibility></w:donotpromoteqf></w:validateagainstschemas></w:punctuationkerning></w:trackformatting></w:trackmoves></span></li><li style="font-weight: bold;font-family:arial;"><span style="font-size:85%;"><w:trackmoves><w:trackformatting><w:punctuationkerning><w:validateagainstschemas><w:donotpromoteqf><w:compatibility><w:breakwrappedtables><w:snaptogridincell><w:wraptextwithpunct><w:useasianbreakrules><w:dontgrowautofit><w:splitpgbreakandparamark><w:dontvertaligncellwithsp><w:dontbreakconstrainedforcedtables><w:dontvertalignintxbx><w:word11kerningpairs><m:mathpr><m:mathfont val="Cambria Math"><m:brkbin val="before"><m:brkbinsub val="--"><m:smallfrac val="off"><m:dispdef><m:lmargin val="0"><m:rmargin val="0"><m:defjc val="centerGroup">Missy Elliot – live techno, hyper-media-multi-mix show, like a KISS concert but now. And I guess that's why it was only 45 minutes long!<br /></m:defjc></m:rmargin></m:lmargin></m:dispdef></m:smallfrac></m:brkbinsub></m:brkbin></m:mathfont></m:mathpr></w:word11kerningpairs></w:dontvertalignintxbx></w:dontbreakconstrainedforcedtables></w:dontvertaligncellwithsp></w:splitpgbreakandparamark></w:dontgrowautofit></w:useasianbreakrules></w:wraptextwithpunct></w:snaptogridincell></w:breakwrappedtables></w:compatibility></w:donotpromoteqf></w:validateagainstschemas></w:punctuationkerning></w:trackformatting></w:trackmoves></span></li><li style="font-weight: bold;font-family:arial;"><span style="font-size:85%;"><w:trackmoves><w:trackformatting><w:punctuationkerning><w:validateagainstschemas><w:donotpromoteqf><w:compatibility><w:breakwrappedtables><w:snaptogridincell><w:wraptextwithpunct><w:useasianbreakrules><w:dontgrowautofit><w:splitpgbreakandparamark><w:dontvertaligncellwithsp><w:dontbreakconstrainedforcedtables><w:dontvertalignintxbx><w:word11kerningpairs><m:mathpr><m:mathfont val="Cambria Math"><m:brkbin val="before"><m:brkbinsub val="--"><m:smallfrac val="off"><m:dispdef><m:lmargin val="0"><m:rmargin val="0"><m:defjc val="centerGroup">Finally seeing Spritualized live – the were fucken awesome, an ecstatic arsed-kicked shot of space rock.</m:defjc></m:rmargin></m:lmargin></m:dispdef></m:smallfrac></m:brkbinsub></m:brkbin></m:mathfont></m:mathpr></w:word11kerningpairs></w:dontvertalignintxbx></w:dontbreakconstrainedforcedtables></w:dontvertaligncellwithsp></w:splitpgbreakandparamark></w:dontgrowautofit></w:useasianbreakrules></w:wraptextwithpunct></w:snaptogridincell></w:breakwrappedtables></w:compatibility></w:donotpromoteqf></w:validateagainstschemas></w:punctuationkerning></w:trackformatting></w:trackmoves></span></li><li style="font-weight: bold;font-family:arial;"><span style="font-size:85%;"><w:trackmoves><w:trackformatting><w:punctuationkerning><w:validateagainstschemas><w:donotpromoteqf><w:compatibility><w:breakwrappedtables><w:snaptogridincell><w:wraptextwithpunct><w:useasianbreakrules><w:dontgrowautofit><w:splitpgbreakandparamark><w:dontvertaligncellwithsp><w:dontbreakconstrainedforcedtables><w:dontvertalignintxbx><w:word11kerningpairs><m:mathpr><m:mathfont val="Cambria Math"><m:brkbin val="before"><m:brkbinsub val="--"><m:smallfrac val="off"><m:dispdef><m:lmargin val="0"><m:rmargin val="0"><m:defjc val="centerGroup">Seeing GEORGE CLINTON/Parliament live – unbelievable that a guy who is 60+ years old can play for like, what? 3 hours? Amazing.</m:defjc></m:rmargin></m:lmargin></m:dispdef></m:smallfrac></m:brkbinsub></m:brkbin></m:mathfont></m:mathpr></w:word11kerningpairs></w:dontvertalignintxbx></w:dontbreakconstrainedforcedtables></w:dontvertaligncellwithsp></w:splitpgbreakandparamark></w:dontgrowautofit></w:useasianbreakrules></w:wraptextwithpunct></w:snaptogridincell></w:breakwrappedtables></w:compatibility></w:donotpromoteqf></w:validateagainstschemas></w:punctuationkerning></w:trackformatting></w:trackmoves></span></li><li style="font-weight: bold;font-family:arial;"><span style="font-size:85%;"><w:trackmoves><w:trackformatting><w:punctuationkerning><w:validateagainstschemas><w:donotpromoteqf><w:compatibility><w:breakwrappedtables><w:snaptogridincell><w:wraptextwithpunct><w:useasianbreakrules><w:dontgrowautofit><w:splitpgbreakandparamark><w:dontvertaligncellwithsp><w:dontbreakconstrainedforcedtables><w:dontvertalignintxbx><w:word11kerningpairs><m:mathpr><m:mathfont val="Cambria Math"><m:brkbin val="before"><m:brkbinsub val="--"><m:smallfrac val="off"><m:dispdef><m:lmargin val="0"><m:rmargin val="0"><m:defjc val="centerGroup">Seeing NEIL YOUNG live – Greendale which while being a bit hippy/Canadian and ODD, was fantastic. Sitting only 7 rows from the front was better. As was the spliff I had during the encore! And the sound was beautiful. A perfect night!</m:defjc></m:rmargin></m:lmargin></m:dispdef></m:smallfrac></m:brkbinsub></m:brkbin></m:mathfont></m:mathpr></w:word11kerningpairs></w:dontvertalignintxbx></w:dontbreakconstrainedforcedtables></w:dontvertaligncellwithsp></w:splitpgbreakandparamark></w:dontgrowautofit></w:useasianbreakrules></w:wraptextwithpunct></w:snaptogridincell></w:breakwrappedtables></w:compatibility></w:donotpromoteqf></w:validateagainstschemas></w:punctuationkerning></w:trackformatting></w:trackmoves></span></li><li style="font-weight: bold;font-family:arial;"><span style="font-size:85%;">Seeing the PIXIES live. My brother saw them in the late 80s and described them as 'thrashy' back then. I'd purged them from memory and was half-arsed about going but it was a worthy punt. They were more 'cow punk' and intense than I expected which was a surprised. But once is enough.<br /></span></li><li style="font-weight: bold;font-family:arial;"><span style="font-size:85%;"><w:trackmoves><w:trackformatting><w:punctuationkerning><w:validateagainstschemas><w:donotpromoteqf><w:compatibility><w:breakwrappedtables><w:snaptogridincell><w:wraptextwithpunct><w:useasianbreakrules><w:dontgrowautofit><w:splitpgbreakandparamark><w:dontvertaligncellwithsp><w:dontbreakconstrainedforcedtables><w:dontvertalignintxbx><w:word11kerningpairs><m:mathpr><m:mathfont val="Cambria Math"><m:brkbin val="before"><m:brkbinsub val="--"><m:smallfrac val="off"><m:dispdef><m:lmargin val="0"><m:rmargin val="0"><m:defjc val="centerGroup">Gym and yoga – I love it. Not that I want to get massive. An Iggy Pop physique will do me nicely! Yoga, chill me out, and I get to perv on MILFs at the same time. Can't lose!</m:defjc></m:rmargin></m:lmargin></m:dispdef></m:smallfrac></m:brkbinsub></m:brkbin></m:mathfont></m:mathpr></w:word11kerningpairs></w:dontvertalignintxbx></w:dontbreakconstrainedforcedtables></w:dontvertaligncellwithsp></w:splitpgbreakandparamark></w:dontgrowautofit></w:useasianbreakrules></w:wraptextwithpunct></w:snaptogridincell></w:breakwrappedtables></w:compatibility></w:donotpromoteqf></w:validateagainstschemas></w:punctuationkerning></w:trackformatting></w:trackmoves></span></li><li><span style="font-weight: bold;font-family:arial;font-size:85%;" ><w:trackmoves><w:trackformatting><w:punctuationkerning><w:validateagainstschemas><w:donotpromoteqf><w:compatibility><w:breakwrappedtables><w:snaptogridincell><w:wraptextwithpunct><w:useasianbreakrules><w:dontgrowautofit><w:splitpgbreakandparamark><w:dontvertaligncellwithsp><w:dontbreakconstrainedforcedtables><w:dontvertalignintxbx><w:word11kerningpairs><m:mathpr><m:mathfont val="Cambria Math"><m:brkbin val="before"><m:brkbinsub val="--"><m:smallfrac val="off"><m:dispdef><m:lmargin val="0"><m:rmargin val="0"><m:defjc val="centerGroup">Brendan Fevola, Eddie Betts, Marc Murphy, Bryce Gibbs, Jarrod Waite, Matthew Kreuzer, Mark Jamieson, Nick Stevens, Michael Jamison – all gave me hope for my footy team Carlton who experience the apocalypse this decade! Two wooden spoons, cheating, drunk bum president, going bankrupt and ..redemption! As much as other people hate them, a good, strong Carlton is still 'good for footy'!!</m:defjc></m:rmargin></m:lmargin></m:dispdef></m:smallfrac></m:brkbinsub></m:brkbin></m:mathfont></m:mathpr></w:word11kerningpairs></w:dontvertalignintxbx></w:dontbreakconstrainedforcedtables></w:dontvertaligncellwithsp></w:splitpgbreakandparamark></w:dontgrowautofit></w:useasianbreakrules></w:wraptextwithpunct></w:snaptogridincell></w:breakwrappedtables></w:compatibility></w:donotpromoteqf></w:validateagainstschemas></w:punctuationkerning></w:trackformatting></w:trackmoves></span><br /></li></ul><w:trackmoves><w:trackformatting><w:punctuationkerning><w:validateagainstschemas><w:donotpromoteqf><w:compatibility><w:breakwrappedtables><w:snaptogridincell><w:wraptextwithpunct><w:useasianbreakrules><w:dontgrowautofit><w:splitpgbreakandparamark><w:dontvertaligncellwithsp><w:dontbreakconstrainedforcedtables><w:dontvertalignintxbx><w:word11kerningpairs><m:mathpr><m:mathfont val="Cambria Math"><m:brkbin val="before"><m:brkbinsub val="--"><m:smallfrac val="off"><m:dispdef><m:lmargin val="0"><m:rmargin val="0"><m:defjc val="centerGroup"><span style="font-weight: bold;font-family:arial;font-size:85%;" ><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJVXR1R7NVsGkR4qQTuTX-XeK7Hpal7zWKhpBsW1L70Cm6JdqZl2ukSJoDBKlAqNLJidVuqHM5v6vhhV-DxEyQwL1mwN5SdpH-05RECWq9UirsKqSNoyRf8xKRSXq4AkElWFLMrg/s1600-h/316x450_Betts+celebrates+goal.jpeg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 225px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJVXR1R7NVsGkR4qQTuTX-XeK7Hpal7zWKhpBsW1L70Cm6JdqZl2ukSJoDBKlAqNLJidVuqHM5v6vhhV-DxEyQwL1mwN5SdpH-05RECWq9UirsKqSNoyRf8xKRSXq4AkElWFLMrg/s320/316x450_Betts+celebrates+goal.jpeg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5423947803510384770" border="0" /></a></span></m:defjc></m:rmargin></m:lmargin></m:dispdef></m:smallfrac></m:brkbinsub></m:brkbin></m:mathfont></m:mathpr></w:word11kerningpairs></w:dontvertalignintxbx></w:dontbreakconstrainedforcedtables></w:dontvertaligncellwithsp></w:splitpgbreakandparamark></w:dontgrowautofit></w:useasianbreakrules></w:wraptextwithpunct></w:snaptogridincell></w:breakwrappedtables></w:compatibility></w:donotpromoteqf></w:validateagainstschemas></w:punctuationkerning></w:trackformatting></w:trackmoves><br /><ul style="font-weight: bold;font-family:arial;"><li><span style="font-size:85%;">Playstation 3 – I think this is the greatest 'toy' ever. Blu Ray, games, internet connectivity, can watch downloaded .avis, and umm CALL Of DUTY MODERN WARFARE etc...</span></li><li><span style="font-size:85%;">Oh shit where is the addiction/mental well-being therapist?</span></li></ul><br /><br /><w:trackmoves><w:trackformatting><w:punctuationkerning><w:validateagainstschemas><w:donotpromoteqf><w:compatibility><w:breakwrappedtables><w:snaptogridincell><w:wraptextwithpunct><w:useasianbreakrules><w:dontgrowautofit><w:splitpgbreakandparamark><w:dontvertaligncellwithsp><w:dontbreakconstrainedforcedtables><w:dontvertalignintxbx><w:word11kerningpairs><m:mathpr><m:mathfont val="Cambria Math"><m:brkbin val="before"><m:brkbinsub val="--"><m:smallfrac val="off"><m:dispdef><m:lmargin val="0"><m:rmargin val="0"><m:defjc val="centerGroup"><span style="font-size:85%;"><a style="font-family: arial; font-weight: bold;" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhXPhTDKmAuQn-SrDVP09RsUrNHzSFwjO5VF5KrQ-wza9GNoxu0fVhZMU-cJmXi7Q5ryaNzesaWUMntPfO4nDWA2XfX4oJAx9Sk7rrUiEbXXLCydcqh1RO5zmLUDopPifDov0adRw/s1600-h/rsh.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 240px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhXPhTDKmAuQn-SrDVP09RsUrNHzSFwjO5VF5KrQ-wza9GNoxu0fVhZMU-cJmXi7Q5ryaNzesaWUMntPfO4nDWA2XfX4oJAx9Sk7rrUiEbXXLCydcqh1RO5zmLUDopPifDov0adRw/s320/rsh.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5423948336790178466" border="0" /></a></span><p style="font-weight: bold;font-family:arial;" class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-AU" style="font-size:85%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p style="font-weight: bold;font-family:arial;" class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-AU" style="font-size:85%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p style="font-weight: bold;font-family:arial;" class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-AU" style="font-size:85%;"></span></p></m:defjc></m:rmargin></m:lmargin></m:dispdef></m:smallfrac></m:brkbinsub></m:brkbin></m:mathfont></m:mathpr></w:word11kerningpairs></w:dontvertalignintxbx></w:dontbreakconstrainedforcedtables></w:dontvertaligncellwithsp></w:splitpgbreakandparamark></w:dontgrowautofit></w:useasianbreakrules></w:wraptextwithpunct></w:snaptogridincell></w:breakwrappedtables></w:compatibility></w:donotpromoteqf></w:validateagainstschemas></w:punctuationkerning></w:trackformatting></w:trackmoves><span style="font-weight: bold;font-size:85%;" ><span style="font-family:arial;">ROWLAND S. HOWARD R.I.P I was a bit of a fan back in the 80s and did some volunteer work on his never (or soon?) to be released documentary that I will no doubt be written out of. Fuck it, I can be bitter it was a great story squandered - as a friend said, kinda like Wim Wenders 'lightning over water'. Unfortunately this story belongs to another person who probably has more talent and ability to do it justice, que sera, sera..... Rowland had a 'world class' style and attitude. He was one of the all-time great guitar stylist/heroes of Aussie rock, he made an intellectual, rebellious sound that was totally unique, totally memorable. Art. See ya later Rowland, thanks for the great guitar solos in 'guilt parade' and 'hey sinkiller'. </span></span><w:trackmoves><w:trackformatting><w:punctuationkerning><w:validateagainstschemas><w:donotpromoteqf><w:compatibility><w:breakwrappedtables><w:snaptogridincell><w:wraptextwithpunct><w:useasianbreakrules><w:dontgrowautofit><w:splitpgbreakandparamark><w:dontvertaligncellwithsp><w:dontbreakconstrainedforcedtables><w:dontvertalignintxbx><w:word11kerningpairs><m:mathpr><m:mathfont val="Cambria Math"><m:brkbin val="before"><m:brkbinsub val="--"><m:smallfrac val="off"><m:dispdef><m:lmargin val="0"><m:rmargin val="0"><m:defjc val="centerGroup"><p style="font-weight: bold;font-family:arial;" class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-AU" style="font-size:85%;"></span></p> <p style="font-weight: bold;font-family:arial;" class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-AU" style="font-size:85%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p style="font-weight: bold;font-family:arial;" class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-AU" style="font-size:85%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p><span style="font-size:85%;"><br /></span></m:defjc></m:rmargin></m:lmargin></m:dispdef></m:smallfrac></m:brkbinsub></m:brkbin></m:mathfont></m:mathpr></w:word11kerningpairs></w:dontvertalignintxbx></w:dontbreakconstrainedforcedtables></w:dontvertaligncellwithsp></w:splitpgbreakandparamark></w:dontgrowautofit></w:useasianbreakrules></w:wraptextwithpunct></w:snaptogridincell></w:breakwrappedtables></w:compatibility></w:donotpromoteqf></w:validateagainstschemas></w:punctuationkerning></w:trackformatting></w:trackmoves></div></div>Mr. Goldbloghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10095305709745123910noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26488144.post-69454203314431903712009-08-21T23:47:00.007+10:002009-12-15T18:53:02.389+11:00The Limits of Jarmusch<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgaNQrdukpaFcNTV7hvgymlZukC9z7w8-DnT1lXISftvk7kK5Q3wCziKsimgkCsLiq6AAX9gNAMU6aHCDnE9rDT3LfLqx-fikjgUVkxa-b14sPpmevy_VVkWGMEsKYNvJsM2z4ORg/s1600-h/limitsofcontrol.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 182px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgaNQrdukpaFcNTV7hvgymlZukC9z7w8-DnT1lXISftvk7kK5Q3wCziKsimgkCsLiq6AAX9gNAMU6aHCDnE9rDT3LfLqx-fikjgUVkxa-b14sPpmevy_VVkWGMEsKYNvJsM2z4ORg/s320/limitsofcontrol.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5372413984707783682" border="0" /></a><div style="text-align: left;">The Limits of Control - Jim <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_0">Jarmusch</span><br /><br /><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-weight: bold;font-family:arial;" >The latest <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_1">Jarmusch</span> film starts off like a visual treatise grafted off the pages of Gene <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_2">Youngblood's</span> cult cinema tome THE EXPANDED <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_3">CINEMA</span>. All natural coloured psychedelic pulses and swiping flashes, before we are introduced to <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_4">Isaach</span> De <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_5">Baankole</span> as 'the Lone Man'. Who is this man and what is his mission? A mysterious African killer agent, ripped straight out of Burroughs, 'the Lone Man' is sent on a mission to reboot reality and hunt and kill 'the American'. And off we go. Through the luminous, modern city-to-landscape spaces of Spain - exotic skyscrapers, labyrinthine city streets and the empty desert shrines of rural wastelands. On his mission he meets a new-wave temptresses, <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_6">trippy</span> old men, a female Albino cowgirl and a lost cowboy <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_7">rockstar</span>. They all have a message as the 'lone man' finally finds his way. While <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_8">Tarantino</span> Jacks off with his comic-book </span></span><span style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;font-family:arial;font-size:85%;" ><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_9">marsers</span></span><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-weight: bold;font-family:arial;" >, <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_10">Jarmusch</span> <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_11">re-feeds</span> us more acid from the early 70s. A 'head' movie for the Internet generation - well, not quite - they more than likely won't see this. <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_12">Jarmusch</span> <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_13">avoids</span> the sharp-cutting hyper mania of modern film. His scenes roll, the droning acid rock soundtrack from Japanese psych band Boris rock, as 'the Lone Man' <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_15">cruises</span> to his destination with strange shades of darkness seeming to claw at the edges of his (or our) reality. Black helicopters, black <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_16">sedans</span>, men in black - all refracting back to our 'black' protagonist. '<span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_21">Limits</span> of Control' is a simple 'fuck you', a message from the counter-<span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_22">culture</span> against the forces that try to crush the dream.</span></span><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj93loi0K6IEoqXq-2p3F7-iMR45Q-co5_r3ziFRIw54AK2hlYAeJtvZx4I8NZmTuXD3eRRe3dga2XKAV56WduXX7svtYK1IAnHJO_LbcfOVIzFlsToM5BYIr5jsGk4_0qY20NXgA/s1600-h/STRANGERREPR.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 211px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj93loi0K6IEoqXq-2p3F7-iMR45Q-co5_r3ziFRIw54AK2hlYAeJtvZx4I8NZmTuXD3eRRe3dga2XKAV56WduXX7svtYK1IAnHJO_LbcfOVIzFlsToM5BYIr5jsGk4_0qY20NXgA/s320/STRANGERREPR.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5372422857982538786" border="0" /></a><br /><p align="left"><b><span style="color: rgb(128, 128, 128);font-family:Arial;font-size:130%;" >stranger than paradise</span></b></p> <p style="line-height: 100%;" align="left"><b><span style="color: rgb(128, 128, 128);font-family:Arial;font-size:130%;" >written and directed by <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_23">jim</span> <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_24">jarmusch</span>, 1985</span></b></p> <p style="line-height: 100%;" align="left"><b><span style=";font-family:Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:85%;" >'Stranger than Paradise' is one of my favourite films of all-time. It was probably the first modern film (of the time, 1985) I ever saw that was filmed in black and white, since when you're 15, black and white films were the sort of stuff your parents would watch. Watching this film was a total punt at the time, and I think the only reason I went to set it was because there was a review of it in the 'Jewish News' when the Jewish News was readable, and also because I read somewhere that it was made for less than $100,000 and it was funny. It took me a while to figure out what this film was about, but I found the whole style of it completely compelling and watchable. For one the whole film was in black and white. Then each scene was filmed in one single shot, and separated by a 2 second 'black out'. Then there was the really wild music by Screaming Jay Hawkins, the song 'I put a spell on you', this music was completely foreign to me at the time, since all I knew was British 80's New wave and Talking Head. I thought Screaming Jay was a fucking legend. The story was pretty dead beat - some <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_25">bludger</span> of a guy has to look after his cousin who arrives from Hungary. He's such an arsehole to her than she runs off to Cleveland. After a few months, the guy and his best buddy decide to visit his cousin in Cleveland, and then they decide to go to Florida for a holiday, but when they get there the weather is shit and the lose their money. Basically this film is about things fucking up in a Zen sort of way, which is very funny <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_26">coz</span>, well thing fuck up, you get angry, and then you don't give a shit. My favourite scenes are when the two bums visit their old Hungarian aunt who speaks not English and whips their asses playing cards. Me and Itchy found this scene extremely poignant, since it reminded us of both our mothers, who were old European ladies who played cards all the time. 'Stranger than Paradise' is a fucking legendary film, that has not dated, and is better than 90% of the indie <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_27">cuck</span> that gets made these day and is term 'cool'. Watch this film and you can see where blokes like Kevin Smith and Robert <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_28">Rodriguez</span> got their chops.</span></b></p><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div></div>Mr. Goldbloghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10095305709745123910noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26488144.post-46761383507990380672009-04-20T13:14:00.002+10:002009-04-20T13:15:47.000+10:00J.G. Ballard R.I.P<div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhix350-rFPVohCwcXPRxlWI4gvZBRhTVisROqN5PqixYCZpMlHfobj8ck9yRqSV3y4ek40-ucyIaNSuyxxnwqyUC6UKjxOmFXmCo66Mg4tmKv3kSrgnhF3ty-ZrVUpYsSfJPCN8A/s1600-h/ballard.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 192px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhix350-rFPVohCwcXPRxlWI4gvZBRhTVisROqN5PqixYCZpMlHfobj8ck9yRqSV3y4ek40-ucyIaNSuyxxnwqyUC6UKjxOmFXmCo66Mg4tmKv3kSrgnhF3ty-ZrVUpYsSfJPCN8A/s320/ballard.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5326606874095679954" border="0" /></a><br /><span style="font-family: courier new; font-weight: bold;">See ya later old fella. Thanks for the HighRise Super Cannes Drought</span><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div>Mr. Goldbloghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10095305709745123910noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26488144.post-24145537546366643802009-04-10T19:59:00.001+10:002009-04-10T20:02:11.337+10:00Jandek joins Black-Rock Coalition!!<div style="text-align: center;">In Texas!<br /><object width="560" height="340"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/acLwiYpSTFE&hl=en&fs=1"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/acLwiYpSTFE&hl=en&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="560" height="340"></embed></object><br /><br />Sonny Sharrock live via Jandek!<br /><object width="560" height="340"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/Z5DCNJQ5r7s&hl=en&fs=1"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/Z5DCNJQ5r7s&hl=en&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="560" height="340"></embed></object><br /></div>Mr. Goldbloghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10095305709745123910noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26488144.post-24312671336658748862009-01-07T14:43:00.004+11:002009-01-07T14:54:56.307+11:00ROn Ashton RIP<div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEheo7tWgnop3Obj4_eQ4PlmOA9anFEh11ouYroFPJLEqT4Cs7lBBuz8jpLeb4JWHKnddDMb8E84KHF0zyUDWQfW1QAqBXpBQY3-iTs4Y3iH90AZaVTzbkwDj73DWdxHAsM2Q8qxOg/s1600-h/music3s.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 229px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEheo7tWgnop3Obj4_eQ4PlmOA9anFEh11ouYroFPJLEqT4Cs7lBBuz8jpLeb4JWHKnddDMb8E84KHF0zyUDWQfW1QAqBXpBQY3-iTs4Y3iH90AZaVTzbkwDj73DWdxHAsM2Q8qxOg/s320/music3s.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5288393212008865634" border="0" /></a><span style="font-weight: bold;font-family:courier new;" >Ron Ashton , the one leaning over to grab Niagara.</span><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;font-size:85%;" ><br /></span><div style="text-align: left; font-family: arial; font-weight: bold;"><span style="font-size:85%;">Well you all know the news, Ron Asheton, Stooges guitar L.E.G.E.N.D cucked it. Despite having my mind blown by his incendiary, raw guitar playing, I was fortunate to have a few of my fillings dislodged when I saw him play in Melbourne almost 20 years ago with DARK CARNIVAL. Ron was a bit of a <span style="font-style: italic;">grobber</span>, he played the same ULTRA-LOUD solo, but it was brilliantly hilarious and 'punk' to see the guy play a little club with a small clutch of 'high energy' rock <span style="font-style: italic;">slobovnics</span>, and they still sounded better than EVERY Seattle and Melbourne grunge band that were doing the rounds back then (and my, how dated and <span style="font-style: italic;">shitty</span> 'grunge' sounds today!)..I went to the Stooges reunion a few years back at the Big Day Out rock concert, thinking I might get lucky to squeeze up front, but unfortunately the tattooed, back flipping cockroaches up the front were too plentiful.<br /><br />It's shit when a music/art legend you respected and inspired you dies.<br /></span></div></div><div style="text-align: center; font-family: arial; font-weight: bold;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div>Mr. Goldbloghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10095305709745123910noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26488144.post-9474710030012134442008-12-05T22:45:00.004+11:002008-12-07T22:06:05.937+11:00Life to go....<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj5G494AXlI_soNOfMKXB5mAM8ANQsFR_qsBkhMFA0j9WOm646oSegQ_qiPE5AfYoslEA8H3XefSFL8rx3q-eagvXOoNu7Oxgnf_dm21QjyJbXmWlqLMdf61tBEY1ihaCikEEzSSg/s1600-h/died+pretty+cover.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj5G494AXlI_soNOfMKXB5mAM8ANQsFR_qsBkhMFA0j9WOm646oSegQ_qiPE5AfYoslEA8H3XefSFL8rx3q-eagvXOoNu7Oxgnf_dm21QjyJbXmWlqLMdf61tBEY1ihaCikEEzSSg/s320/died+pretty+cover.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5276270987443603938" border="0" /></a><span style="font-weight: bold;font-family:courier new;" >DIED PRETTY - FREE DIRT (Aztec Records)</span> - <span style="font-weight: bold;font-family:arial;font-size:85%;" >SO literally out of nowhere, or 'out of the unknown' as their song goes, comes the reissue of DIED PRETTY's (Aztec Records, 2-cd digipack, liner notes, extra songs special edition) master work, and one of my all-time favourite albums – FREE DIRT. I remember clearly hearing this album getting hyped by 'the ghost' Stephen Walker on 3RRR fm, and my brother buying it for me as a get well gift, since I had a bad flu at the time. I listened to it once, but a few weeks later had a stoner session and literally, at that point, my mind split open! From the glorious panoramic blare of opener 'Life to go (landsakes) to the violent and transcendent lead break of 'Just Skin' to the awesome drone-out of 'Next to nothing' that includes that FUCKEN AWESOME KEY CHANGE (around the 4:34 mark), that to this day still causes me to get Goosebumps. But the record doesn't stop there....Side 2 takes a more country-pop kinda weird hillbilly direction with feedback in tracks like 'Blue sky day', 'round and round' and wig out'...there pretty much isn't a dud track on the whole album. The disc also include the sublime 'Next to nothing' ep featuring the killer narco-ballads 'ambergris' and 'plaining days'. If anything, FREE DIRT was the first Aussie indie album to really attack and challenge the hegemony of the whole Nick Cave fucken post-punk pretentiousness that is still the 'benchmark' for worthwhile left-field Aussie-rock to the rest of the world to this day (Cave still is Australia's biggest global cultural export and rock star)..FREE DIRT holds it's own as a purely original record, with a truly unique sound and artistic vision that set it apart from it's contemporaries at the time who, despite being all great, had more 'obvious' sonic lineages, ie : the MC5/Dictator/Ramones rifferama axis..Sure there's a Velvet Underground/Suicide thing sort of going on, but you don't 'hear it' as obviously as most undie-rock bands post 1988 did. I love FREE DIRT and NEXT TO NOTHING and all the singles of that Frank Brunetti period DP, and to be honest they were never the same band after got sacked, I lost total interest in them, but they definitely became popular with a shitload of inner-city <span style="font-style: italic;">nebbishers</span> and crummy Aussie film directors.<br /><br />If anything though, despite all the obvious accolades Peno and Myers and Brunetti still get from this era of the band, the sound proves one important fact abouit rock music that despite their obvious 'atiste/auteur' kudos A GREAT BAND ARE ONLY AS GOOD AS THEIR RHYTHM SECTION!!!@#! Died Pretty at that stage had possibly one of the greatest and most under-rated Aussie rhythm sections ever. Front and centre is Chris Welsh's absolutely swinging psychedelic jazz drumming. Welsh films every single blank with his cascading and flowing jazz fused rolls and fills, and he absolutely eclipses the over-rated jazzpunk <span style="font-style: italic;">cucking</span> of the Dirty 3's (read: rock n roll fraud) Jim White. It's one of those great cosmic injustices that Jim White gets to live in New York and play with indie sweethearts like Chat Power and Palace, and Welsh is struggling in NSW somewhere. One listen to FREE DIRT and Welsh's rhythmic GENIUS is apparent. Likewise Mark Lock's noodling psych basslines add a complexity and sophistication that allows the 3 amigos out-front to really outdo their own limitations, but more importantly transcend their influences and thus create something truly original and inspired and PURE. FREE DIRT/NEXT TO NOTHING sill shines bright to this day...<br /><br />But the paradox of time and re-appraisal can be cruel, and within the awesomeness of this re-issue, you can also 'hear' the demise of Died Pretty happen in real-time. For me personally, Died Pretty were all over once they released that lousy 'everybody moves' song, and the subsequent LOST album was not much chop either (and don't start me with their friggen REM-stage when they did that dull EVERY BRILLIANT EYE & DOUGHBOY HOLLOW abortion and HARNESS UP ECH!..!) You can hear the energy drop like when a bipolar takes their meds on the flatulence that is 'everybody moves' and 'tower of strength'. The songs meander around, the lead breaks start to become a 'formula', and unfortunately that's what DIED PRETTY became - a dull meandering formula that fit snuggly into the dull 'middleness' of suburban 'lucky cunthead' Australia (and more succinctly 'alternative' Australia). A dull middleness that exists to this day starting with dogshit like the Meanies and Even, Steve Pav and his Sydney Pavlovavites, the Fauves, the bloke from the Corner Hotel, lefties in the Northern suburbs, Christo Tsiolcackas, people that buy Nick Cave records, Australian cinema, OZ hiphop, Powderfinger, JJJ, 'the glasshouse'. 'rock wiz' ..I mean look at today's hotshit alt-Aussie bands like the Drones..They start off incredible and become...PAUL KELLY.<br /><br />I blame him. The fuck.</span>Mr. Goldbloghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10095305709745123910noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26488144.post-59577193205853855992008-10-29T22:25:00.004+11:002008-10-29T22:28:54.448+11:00Fucken OATH!!<div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi6gjKyu14cDDeJBlmyzjIoJpcL3uyNASAQilE_tcB983IiHMHVQcokCUJBHIrKvTL9jma_u4wVxy0gN-MggBrUEQZHELrPbickQt5qt6PIJrjyOceEJZjL4Q-u6WFz6orlBDLfew/s1600-h/sonics.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 293px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi6gjKyu14cDDeJBlmyzjIoJpcL3uyNASAQilE_tcB983IiHMHVQcokCUJBHIrKvTL9jma_u4wVxy0gN-MggBrUEQZHELrPbickQt5qt6PIJrjyOceEJZjL4Q-u6WFz6orlBDLfew/s320/sonics.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5262535654950891874" border="0" /></a><span style="font-weight: bold;font-family:courier new;" >Sonic's Rendezvous Band - Live, Masonic Hall, 14/1/1978<br /><br /></span><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-weight: bold;font-family:courier new;" ></span><span style="font-weight: bold;font-size:85%;" ><span style="font-family:arial;">My opinion/review:</span></span><br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-style: italic;"><span style="font-weight: bold;"><span style="font-size:180%;">"...F***EN OATH!!!!..."</span></span></span><br /></div><span style="font-weight: bold;font-family:courier new;" ></span></div></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div>Mr. Goldbloghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10095305709745123910noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26488144.post-58681948455181239482008-10-27T10:52:00.004+11:002008-10-29T21:09:33.273+11:00Hooked on classiques<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh1jK7sT2nDNaXZfpdceWoWcqsTbksgLzYcyOAkpYK_Zmt9qe8xNB7bzTLaseOge1eoJH6hBPjpdCSgDcy7fyGF9tjqd4dbPl_0BxrM7Hvzw-70TaMopvSmnNrTkRYw9LE4K8XH5A/s1600-h/ozwaldcraig.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 315px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh1jK7sT2nDNaXZfpdceWoWcqsTbksgLzYcyOAkpYK_Zmt9qe8xNB7bzTLaseOge1eoJH6hBPjpdCSgDcy7fyGF9tjqd4dbPl_0BxrM7Hvzw-70TaMopvSmnNrTkRYw9LE4K8XH5A/s320/ozwaldcraig.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5261614917834328306" border="0" /></a><span style="font-weight: bold;font-size:85%;" ><span style="font-family:arial;">Since George Bush and his bunch of fuckheads have stuffed it up for most of us, purchasing exotique imported musique off the Internerd is becoming something that only the truly elite can afford to do. SO in my struggling state and via ANY MEANS NECESSARY via mutual bartering amongst other nerds who haven't got their lives together pushing 40, I stumbled upon this latest 'opus' by techno heavyweights MORITZ VON OSWALD and CARL CRAIG (who I'd only rank as a bantam weight)...SO the two tweakers have sifted through the Germanic tradition of classical music and remixed some of it into a very nice Phillip Glass pre-1980 type drone build-up infused with the shuffla offa Manuel Gottisching's E2-E4 - a track Craig already fucked with some years ago..Startin' off with the waltz from Bolero the track fanfares and wanders up until the 20 odd-minute mark when the drugs start to kick in, and then those Afro-Jamaican type kettle drums start to wobble in and the Pine-Needle poke of techno tweakiness and brain-abstract- layer reconstruct slithers in...it's still pimping away now, but it seems that the 'nu style' for the technosepickers is upon us...</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">And for any other persona out there that bother to read this Blug, I am back in Melbourne, Australia, knowledgeable that my town is actually more 'interesting' and 'happening' than the New York City I was just at!</span><br /></span><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div>Mr. Goldbloghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10095305709745123910noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26488144.post-55705781444978974942008-10-06T03:18:00.000+11:002008-10-06T03:19:24.796+11:00Getting stronger!<div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://s24.photobucket.com/albums/c26/shmeckel/?action=view&current=roky3.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i24.photobucket.com/albums/c26/shmeckel/roky3.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket" /></a><br /><span style="font-family: courier new;">Roky Erickson, live Granada Theatre, Dallas, October 4, 2008</span><br /></div>Mr. Goldbloghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10095305709745123910noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26488144.post-60068867148642331112008-10-03T00:08:00.002+10:002008-10-03T00:22:05.761+10:00At the Crossroads...<div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEinun0WGBY0Nq8HHFEmJFRwDfdGbpt6jex7n0mPDoxd6qqG59ie-ed9KCooH1KgZfeMcJDvDm1VA96wf2lJDNVD-u9w6IqtTOO2oLodtroDspxl23rKpusFIb1vX5jcPHxmkL3Yng/s1600-h/crossroads.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEinun0WGBY0Nq8HHFEmJFRwDfdGbpt6jex7n0mPDoxd6qqG59ie-ed9KCooH1KgZfeMcJDvDm1VA96wf2lJDNVD-u9w6IqtTOO2oLodtroDspxl23rKpusFIb1vX5jcPHxmkL3Yng/s320/crossroads.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5252558512247394498" border="0" /></a><span style="font-family: courier new; font-weight: bold;">At the 'Crossroads'. Clarksdale Mississippi, October 1, 2008</span><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div>Mr. Goldbloghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10095305709745123910noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26488144.post-13622831870774271312008-09-24T02:10:00.005+10:002008-09-24T02:17:24.610+10:00In drones begin responsibilities...<div style="text-align: center;"><div style="text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiCpc9LGCXGji42X7EMuST12S53wM4BftvvTAt2DHzI5qSVkNYr_F9tUqonConCNQABK2Cq0EoYDGHSKYo0k1t09hJ7c0kcl9-aKdsSkUEnIxUKWD6krnzJhmlXoXmTS9EtdYuQAA/s1600-h/IMG_3545.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiCpc9LGCXGji42X7EMuST12S53wM4BftvvTAt2DHzI5qSVkNYr_F9tUqonConCNQABK2Cq0EoYDGHSKYo0k1t09hJ7c0kcl9-aKdsSkUEnIxUKWD6krnzJhmlXoXmTS9EtdYuQAA/s320/IMG_3545.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5249250416745391458" border="0" /></a><span style="font-weight: bold;"><span style="font-family:courier new;"><span style="font-family:courier new;">The Dream House beckons..</span></span></span><br /><div style="text-align: left;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjWA0_5L5vsye1Qdvi1MbX2fGZYhNjJgT0fchAxnLy2zqhweICy4bgz9EGJRd3lSyC1wELSgjVg-gsAK9w_BINQgNaamk1bxTZrxveqdF0QOWYNogO3XVU7WfuMSUlp7T33O9VpDg/s1600-h/IMG_3574.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjWA0_5L5vsye1Qdvi1MbX2fGZYhNjJgT0fchAxnLy2zqhweICy4bgz9EGJRd3lSyC1wELSgjVg-gsAK9w_BINQgNaamk1bxTZrxveqdF0QOWYNogO3XVU7WfuMSUlp7T33O9VpDg/s320/IMG_3574.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5249251149532526018" border="0" /></a><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgPFvistFIkaC4Q4rN42VOpjqteYUGXmOiEBUlIhM6WoLXEYrSHyAgn0P9xRGCCWs2XdwMH-_M8oSGxc6srpIhhcnTSTCyuVIUyFFhK_aaFKD8ti3g5FymfEiUUVsOjTaWvFMHSgA/s1600-h/IMG_3589.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgPFvistFIkaC4Q4rN42VOpjqteYUGXmOiEBUlIhM6WoLXEYrSHyAgn0P9xRGCCWs2XdwMH-_M8oSGxc6srpIhhcnTSTCyuVIUyFFhK_aaFKD8ti3g5FymfEiUUVsOjTaWvFMHSgA/s320/IMG_3589.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5249251369470430962" border="0" /></a><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">HARMONIA, live NYC September 23, 2008<br /><br /><br /></span></div><br /></div></div></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><span style="font-weight: bold;"><span style="font-family:courier new;"><span style="font-family:courier new;"><br /></span></span></span></div><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div>Mr. Goldbloghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10095305709745123910noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26488144.post-52813829088332904512008-09-23T00:34:00.004+10:002008-09-23T00:41:24.036+10:00Sarah Palin, meet Pauline Hanson!<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhHKfCf0c4UvDyTwLXMxPAK9ZkZAXOHRtVm4vf95TJeHV7n8dGZN9u0lwsdgeJT8YexNgeIun8Ly-NLhigt_wAOorBYSYmrrY3LYfxSrpWFBJgAz_VI1td4lzn53IYwFpYnETbV2g/s1600-h/sarah_palin_2.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhHKfCf0c4UvDyTwLXMxPAK9ZkZAXOHRtVm4vf95TJeHV7n8dGZN9u0lwsdgeJT8YexNgeIun8Ly-NLhigt_wAOorBYSYmrrY3LYfxSrpWFBJgAz_VI1td4lzn53IYwFpYnETbV2g/s320/sarah_palin_2.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5248854164930406850" border="0" /></a><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgcemgR_x_Qx6EGWvsG19tcIH-hG6OrgGOQXwOEY39UJpafzApddcGUkvNFLkBLK7i1cRo7CpJQ4_6z6RNH_g_BxdUkMR5PxLU5qQiwnC5JnbZ0_afWCaJHfW3qCwnjz5mXSLAvlA/s1600-h/hanson27606_narrowweb__300x435,0.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgcemgR_x_Qx6EGWvsG19tcIH-hG6OrgGOQXwOEY39UJpafzApddcGUkvNFLkBLK7i1cRo7CpJQ4_6z6RNH_g_BxdUkMR5PxLU5qQiwnC5JnbZ0_afWCaJHfW3qCwnjz5mXSLAvlA/s320/hanson27606_narrowweb__300x435,0.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5248854269513905810" border="0" /></a><div style="text-align: center;"><a style="font-family: courier new; font-weight: bold;" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sarah_palin">Classy</a><span style="font-family: courier new; font-weight: bold;"> </span><a style="font-family: courier new; font-weight: bold;" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pauline_Hanson">chicks</a><span style="font-family: courier new; font-weight: bold;">, both of them!</span><br /><br /><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-weight: bold;">But, me, I'll take "..<span style="font-style: italic;">Jackie Onassis in my pants</span>..."</span></span><br /><br /><br /></div>Mr. Goldbloghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10095305709745123910noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26488144.post-44159458556507748572008-09-20T03:22:00.011+10:002008-09-23T00:42:33.614+10:00Gimme Liberty! Gimme Gastro!<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi7oo1-asSjs5bvOo-jOyLpJgcBV1bhBDzk4ljdHc3bghxxV2SCQvEdAVhap5fyLol5ll3gGkLEeMSGmgy5XLZJqWRgpYfC4B_s0vScZTo3cSEDhS_TplVT3cs8HiGeu689RSC9WA/s1600-h/IMG_3471.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi7oo1-asSjs5bvOo-jOyLpJgcBV1bhBDzk4ljdHc3bghxxV2SCQvEdAVhap5fyLol5ll3gGkLEeMSGmgy5XLZJqWRgpYfC4B_s0vScZTo3cSEDhS_TplVT3cs8HiGeu689RSC9WA/s320/IMG_3471.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5247786314948936418" border="0" /></a><o:smarttagtype namespaceuri="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" name="City"></o:smarttagtype><o:smarttagtype namespaceuri="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" name="country-region"></o:smarttagtype><o:smarttagtype namespaceuri="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" name="PlaceType"></o:smarttagtype><o:smarttagtype namespaceuri="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" name="PlaceName"></o:smarttagtype><o:smarttagtype namespaceuri="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" name="State"></o:smarttagtype><o:smarttagtype namespaceuri="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" name="place"></o:smarttagtype><o:smarttagtype namespaceuri="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" name="stockticker"></o:smarttagtype><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:worddocument> <w:view>Normal</w:View> <w:zoom>0</w:Zoom> <w:compatibility> <w:breakwrappedtables/> <w:snaptogridincell/> <w:wraptextwithpunct/> <w:useasianbreakrules/> </w:Compatibility> <w:browserlevel>MicrosoftInternetExplorer4</w:BrowserLevel> </w:WordDocument> </xml><![endif]--><!--[if !mso]><object classid="clsid:38481807-CA0E-42D2-BF39-B33AF135CC4D" id="ieooui"></object> <style> st1\:*{behavior:url(#ieooui) } </style> <![endif]--><style> <!-- /* Style Definitions */ p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal {mso-style-parent:""; margin:0in; margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:12.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman";} @page Section1 {size:8.5in 11.0in; margin:1.0in 1.25in 1.0in 1.25in; mso-header-margin:.5in; mso-footer-margin:.5in; mso-paper-source:0;} div.Section1 {page:Section1;} --> </style><!--[if gte mso 10]> <style> /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0in; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:10.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman";} </style> <![endif]--> <p class="MsoNormal" style="font-weight: bold;font-family:arial;"><span style="font-size:100%;"><st1:state style="font-family:arial;"><st1:place><span style="">New York</span></st1:place></st1:state></span><span style="font-size:100%;"> </span><span style="font-size:100%;"><span>Shitty??</span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style=""><br /><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" ><span style="font-weight: bold;font-size:100%;" ><span style="font-family:arial;"></span></span><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" ><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p style="font-weight: bold;" class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:85%;" >I used to love this place. In fact I wanted to live here, but didn't </span><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:85%;" >have the balls or skills to get a </span><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:85%;" >job/sponsorship...Yeah I'm a</span><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:85%;" > coward! Second time here, and I'm not so sure..Maybe it's the global Internerd that has made everything available in Real </span><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:85%;" >Time<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p style="font-weight: bold;" class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:85%;" >so YOU KNOW WHAT'S GOING ON </span><span style="font-size:85%;"><st1:stockticker><span style="font-family:Arial;">NOW</span></st1:stockticker></span><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:85%;" >! </span><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:85%;" >Geographically there isn't</span><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:85%;" > much chop about </span><span style="font-size:85%;"><st1:state><st1:place><span style="font-family:Arial;">New York</span></st1:place></st1:state></span><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:85%;" >.</span><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:85%;" > It's </span><span style="font-size:85%;"><st1:place><span style="font-family:Arial;">Hong Kong</span></st1:place></span><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:85%;" > with everyone </span><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:85%;" >speaking English.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p style="font-weight: bold;" class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:85%;" >Sure there is alot of entertainment here, but not all </span><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:85%;" >of it is good. Restriction, lack </span><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:85%;" >of choice, isolation brings out more me thinks. The only</span><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:85%;" > things of any real architectural</span><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:85%;" > beauty is the </span><span style="font-size:85%;"><st1:place><st1:placename><span style="font-family:Arial;">Empire</span></st1:placename><span style="font-family:Arial;"> </span><st1:placetype><span style="font-family:Arial;">State</span></st1:placetype></st1:place></span><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:85%;" >,</span></p> <p style="font-weight: bold;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:85%;"><st1:place><st1:placename><span style="font-family:Arial;">Chrysler</span></st1:placename><span style="font-family:Arial;"> </span><st1:placetype><span style="font-family:Arial;">Building</span></st1:placetype></st1:place></span><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:85%;" > and Statue of Liberty, compared to nearly any </span><span style="font-size:85%;"><st1:place><st1:placename><span style="font-family:Arial;">European</span></st1:placename><span style="font-family:Arial;"> </span><st1:placetype><span style="font-family:Arial;">City</span></st1:placetype></st1:place></span><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:85%;" >, </span><span style="font-size:85%;"><st1:state><st1:place><span style="font-family:Arial;">New York</span></st1:place></st1:state></span><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:85%;" > is chopped liver, there's just </span><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:85%;" >more people in the one</span><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:85%;" > place is all.</span></p> <p style="font-weight: bold;" class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:85%;" ><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p style="font-weight: bold;" class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:85%;" >This trip seems to have taught me one thing. The English </span><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:85%;" >speaking Empires are finished.</span><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:85%;" > I felt like a real fucken idiot in </span><span style="font-size:85%;"><st1:country-region><st1:place><span style="font-family:Arial;">France</span></st1:place></st1:country-region></span><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:85%;" > and </span><span style="font-size:85%;"><st1:country-region><st1:place><span style="font-family:Arial;">Spain</span></st1:place></st1:country-region></span><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:85%;" >, two sophisticated, cultured countries, groping</span></p> <p style="font-weight: bold;" class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:85%;" >with my lame French and retarded Spanish. I didn't feel in any way culturally superior or </span><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:85%;" >sophisticated. I felt like a vulgar English speaking git.</span></p><p style="font-weight: bold;" class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:85%;" ><br /></span></p> <p style="font-weight: bold;" class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:85%;" ><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p style="font-weight: bold;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:85%;"><st1:country-region><st1:place><span style="font-family:Arial;">England</span></st1:place></st1:country-region></span><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:85%;" > is a fucking shithole. If Mick Jagger felt Australia was the 'arsehole of the universe' </span><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:85%;" >why did he kick off his pathetic solo career there, or did he realise then that he was a piece of shit? Maybe he was </span><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:85%;" >addicted to the smell or arseholes. Stupid Limey fuck-knuckle.</span></p><p style="font-weight: bold;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:85%;"><br /></span><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:85%;" ><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p style="font-weight: bold;" class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:85%;" >Besides the castles and chirpy </span><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:85%;" >people </span><span style="font-size:85%;"><st1:country-region><st1:place><span style="font-family:Arial;">England</span></st1:place></st1:country-region></span><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:85%;" > is the dullest</span><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:85%;" > country on the planet. A living</span><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:85%;" > festering cold turd. The weathe</span><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:85%;" >r is constantly shit.</span><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:85%;" > They get sun for 15 minutes, </span><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:85%;" >then it's cloudy. </span><span style="font-size:85%;"><st1:country-region><st1:place><span style="font-family:Arial;">England</span></st1:place></st1:country-region></span><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:85%;" > </span><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:85%;" >lives in a constant state of </span><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:85%;" >overcast humdrum.</span><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:85%;" > No wonder they went out and </span><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:85%;" >created an empire. </span><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:85%;" >The Poms are obsessed with </span><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:85%;" >supermarkets, something</span><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:85%;" > they do well in the modern age.</span><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:85%;" > Supermarkets and Airport </span><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:85%;" >terminals! Hail Britannia!</span></p><p style="font-weight: bold;" class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:85%;" ><br /></span></p> <p style="font-weight: bold;" class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:85%;" ><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p style="font-weight: bold;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:85%;"><st1:country-region><st1:place><span style="font-family:Arial;">France</span></st1:place></st1:country-region></span><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:85%;" > is maybe 20% more interesting/cooler, but at least the climate changes as you go down south. For a </span><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:85%;" >sophisticated country, </span><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:85%;" >everything seems invariably</span><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:85%;" > simple. And I'm not sure about </span><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:85%;" >'beautiful French women', </span><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:85%;" >maybe it's my gay side coming</span><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:85%;" > out, but I found the bulk of </span><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:85%;" >French women to be invariably</span><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:85%;" > ugly, and at least the English</span><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:85%;" > scrubs had bigger tits! But if</span><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:85%;" > you like movies and books and </span><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:85%;" >can speak French you will be</span><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:85%;" > in nirvana. Books on heavy </span><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:85%;" >deep shit everywhere, small </span><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:85%;" >press, big press, English, French,</span><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:85%;" > Chinese, Cambodian, Iranian, Eastern </span><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:85%;" >Euro - whatever, they got</span><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:85%;" > books on it. And the films are</span><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:85%;" > also from all over the world. Retarded ex-convict settlements like </span><span style="font-size:85%;"><st1:country-region><st1:place><span style="font-family:Arial;">Australia</span></st1:place></st1:country-region></span><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:85%;" > have to have film festivals to pump </span><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:85%;" >up the jams, but in </span><span style="font-size:85%;"><st1:city><st1:place><span style="font-family:Arial;">Paris</span></st1:place></st1:city></span><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:85%;" > it's a </span><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:85%;" >film festival all year. The Gaulic</span><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:85%;" > architecture of efficient </span><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:85%;" >compacted suburbs is nice as</span><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:85%;" > well; the 'chalet' style houses</span><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:85%;" > give everything communal, </span><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:85%;" >village type feel.</span></p><p style="font-weight: bold;" class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:85%;" > </span></p> <p style="font-weight: bold;" class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:85%;" ><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p style="font-weight: bold;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:85%;"><st1:country-region><st1:place><span style="font-family:Arial;">Spain</span></st1:place></st1:country-region></span><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:85%;" > kicks arse. Well I was in Catalunya, which is half of my ancestry, so I might be only speaking of a <span style="font-style: italic;">portion</span>. I always had this </span><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:85%;" >impression of </span><span style="font-size:85%;"><st1:country-region><st1:place><span style="font-family:Arial;">Spain</span></st1:place></st1:country-region></span><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:85%;" > being </span><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:85%;" >full of hot bloody, Spico </span><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:85%;" >morons. Blame fucking John</span><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:85%;" > Cleese and </span><span style="font-size:85%;"><st1:place><st1:placename><span style="font-family:Arial;">Fawlty</span></st1:placename><span style="font-family:Arial;"> </span><st1:placetype><span style="font-family:Arial;">Towers</span></st1:placetype></st1:place></span><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:85%;" > (and my crazy mother for that!) </span><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:85%;" >These English should make </span><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:85%;" >more fun of their own lack of</span><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:85%;" > culture than everyone else’s.</span><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:85%;" > Maybe<i style=""> I</i> should do it, as it’s </span><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:85%;" >funnier than them making</span><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:85%;" > fun of everyone. </span><span style="font-size:85%;"><st1:city><st1:place><span style="font-family:Arial;">Barcelona</span></st1:place></st1:city></span><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:85%;" > is</span><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:85%;" > probably the coolest city in </span><span style="font-size:85%;"><st1:place><span style="font-family:Arial;">Europe</span></st1:place></span><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:85%;" >. You have the </span><span style="font-size:85%;"><st1:place><span style="font-family:Arial;">Mediterranean</span></st1:place></span><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:85%;" > and its climate </span><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:85%;" >(though I think I may have </span><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:85%;" >got a rash from the dirty (???)</span><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:85%;" > water), an ancient, middle </span><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:85%;" >ages based city, mashed right up against the crux of modernism. Slightly similar to </span><span style="font-size:85%;"><st1:country-region><st1:place><span style="font-family:Arial;">Israel</span></st1:place></st1:country-region></span><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:85%;" > (other distant half of my ancestry, </span><span style="font-size:85%;"><st1:country-region><st1:place><span style="font-family:Arial;">Poland</span></st1:place></st1:country-region></span><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:85%;" > may make me want to</span><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:85%;" > suicide), w/o the warlord </span><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:85%;" >obsessed Arabs and the </span><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:85%;" >moronic-vulgar Israelis. The </span><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:85%;" >labyrinthine streets literally</span><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:85%;" > teem with stores, bars, </span><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:85%;" >apartments, people hanging</span><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:85%;" > out, music and hot women </span><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:85%;" >wearing not much clothes. Especially</span><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:85%;" > at the beaches. Boobs. </span><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:85%;" >Unfortunately I couldn't touch</span><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:85%;" > any. Their art scene is right out</span><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:85%;" > there, their politics currently totally progressive, interesting as I thought they were a </span><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:85%;" >Catholic banana republic mafia-racket like Italy....Maybe Catalonia is the exception not </span><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:85%;" >the norm......</span></p><p style="font-weight: bold;" class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:85%;" ><br /></span></p> <p style="font-weight: bold;" class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:85%;" ><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p style="font-weight: bold;" class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:85%;" >So now I am in </span><span style="font-size:85%;"><st1:country-region><st1:place><span style="font-family:Arial;">America</span></st1:place></st1:country-region></span><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:85%;" >, </span><span style="font-size:85%;"><st1:city><st1:place><span style="font-family:Arial;">New York City</span></st1:place></st1:city></span><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:85%;" > to be exact. It still has that dense population, big-city-I</span><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:85%;" >-always-see- in-the-movies-but-now-it's-real-feel when I arrive here. But it's changed. </span><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:85%;" >Everywhere you go they try to sell you shit, like EVERYWHERE. I go to the </span><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:85%;" >Empire state where temporary ropes force you to line up a particular way so they can offer </span><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:85%;" >you tours you don't want, gifts </span><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:85%;" >you don't need and when they made us take photos - which I though were for </span><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:85%;" >security/terrorist profiling(you now have airport security on all the tourist sites, thanks terrorists - it </span><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:85%;" >was for shitty ChromaKeys</span><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:85%;" > tourist photos! I coulda vomited. </span><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:85%;" >And the food here isn't as good as I thought it was. Matzo ball soup is sloppy and soft, but the</span><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:85%;" > chopped liver is good. And the haute culture food is over-rated. The pizza isn’t much better.</span><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:85%;" > Overall American food doesn't taste as 'fresh' as in </span><span style="font-size:85%;"><st1:country-region><st1:place><span style="font-family:Arial;">Australia</span></st1:place></st1:country-region></span><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:85%;" >. And they don't have decent beer.<br /></span></p><p style="font-weight: bold;" class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:85%;" ><br /></span></p> <p style="font-weight: bold;" class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:85%;" ><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p style="font-weight: bold;" class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:85%;" >The 'hipster' scene here is execrable. Everyone fucken looks the same and talks the </span><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:85%;" >same shit! It's incredible!</span><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:85%;" > Talk about fucken </span><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:85%;" >GROUPTHINK!! Where are</span><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:85%;" > people that you can have a </span><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:85%;" >conversation with like an ordinary <i>mentsch</i>?? I've tried to talk to women, and while I can</span><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:85%;" > engage in small talk, most are too busy sending SMS's to their other boyfriend or whatever. So I don't really expect to make </span><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:85%;" >any really meaningful</span><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:85%;" > relationships while I'm here.<br /></span></p><p style="font-weight: bold;" class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:85%;" ><br /></span></p> <p style="font-weight: bold;" class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:85%;" ><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p style="font-weight: bold;" class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:85%;" >But </span><span style="font-size:85%;"><st1:state><st1:place><span style="font-family:Arial;">New York</span></st1:place></st1:state></span><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:85%;" >’s funky/fashionable/artistic ‘cutting edginess’ is based on </span><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:85%;" >dogshit. Fashion magazines, </span><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:85%;" >wannabes, fucking status seekers, poseurs, rubbish. Though they have lots of book, almost as many as France and Spain, and way more than England. And people here read more, unlike Australia, where people can't actually read... The most interesting thing in New York are the migrants, and </span><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:85%;" >black people definitely not the WHITE PEOPLE getting paid big money in fucking </span><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:85%;" >fashion/lifestyle ‘image creating’ magazines. They sell so many fucking <i style="">shmattas</i> here is </span><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:85%;" >insane. I can’t even buy a pair </span><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:85%;" >of durable sandals around </span><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:85%;" >here!! New Yorkers just wish </span><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:85%;" >they were European.<br /></span></p><p style="font-weight: bold;" class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:85%;" ><br /></span></p> <p style="font-weight: bold;" class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:85%;" ><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p style="font-weight: bold;" class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:85%;" >Me and my ex-pat Aussie mate I'm staying with went and saw ESG at this place called Santos</span><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:85%;" > Music House, which is owned </span><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:85%;" >by that Andrew WK guy who</span><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:85%;" > seems to have taken his</span><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:85%;" > money from his record</span><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:85%;" > advance and started a hip</span><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:85%;" > and trendy club, it's like </span><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:85%;" >Revolver in Melbourne. ESG </span><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:85%;" >were good, I also saw</span><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:85%;" > Vernon Reid & Masque</span><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:85%;" > at a 'free' show, where I </span><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:85%;" >ultimately dropped 50bucks</span><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:85%;" > on drinks and they pass </span><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:85%;" >around a 'band donation'</span><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:85%;" > hat, so it wasn't really free.</span><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:85%;" > </span><span style="font-size:85%;"><st1:state><st1:place><span style="font-family:Arial;">New York</span></st1:place></st1:state></span><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:85%;" > stuff. But the gig was great, small; club with about 40 'hipsters' shame they </span><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:85%;" >started at 1am on a Monday </span><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:85%;" >night, I was nodding off around the 2 mark. I need sleep ya know I'm not 25!!!</span></p><p style="font-weight: bold;" class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:85%;" ><br /></span></p> <p style="font-weight: bold;" class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:85%;" ><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p style="font-weight: bold;" class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:85%;" ><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p style="font-weight: bold;" class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:85%;" >That's probably the kicker, I'm getting old. I'm single. I have </span><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:85%;" >a kid. I still want to go out and boogie, but 25 year old </span><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:85%;" >preppies and hipsters won't talk</span><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:85%;" > to a 38 y.o curmudgeon (well I’m more that way on paper, or HTML). I don't look like</span><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:85%;" > fucking Heath Ledger </span><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:85%;" >and I'm not rich! Then the 'older set' are all uber rich and have dinner parties on the upper </span><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:85%;" >west side, so what the fuck</span><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:85%;" > am I supposed to do? Sit on the Internet? Watch CNN all day? I’m just another ‘tourist’ I </span><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:85%;" >suppose… (Actually I went to</span><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:85%;" > the Statue of Liberty yesterday and queued up with these Germans that had peculiar </span><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:85%;" >moustaches)<br /></span></p><p style="font-weight: bold;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:85%;"><br /></span><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:85%;" ><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p style="font-weight: bold;" class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:85%;" ><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p style="font-weight: bold;" class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:85%;" >Anyway I bought some culture:<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p style="font-weight: bold;" class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:85%;" ><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p style="font-weight: bold;" class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:85%;" >CD's : Mars CD, Sonics </span><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:85%;" >Rendezvous Band, Reigning Sound, RVNG presents Justine D - all good</span></p> <p style="font-weight: bold;" class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:85%;" >BOOKS : Night of the Living Dead BFI, Chomsky on </span><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:85%;" >Anarchism, The Urban </span><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:85%;" >Homestead and Evil Paradises</span></p> <p style="font-weight: bold;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:85%;"><st1:stockticker><span style="font-family:Arial;">MAGS</span></st1:stockticker></span><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:85%;" > : Ugly Things, Wax Poetics (black rock issue), Cinemascope, Neural.it</span></p> <p style="font-weight: bold;" class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:85%;" ><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p style="font-weight: bold;" class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:85%;" >and too many pairs of shoes!!<br /></span></p><p style="font-weight: bold;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:85%;"><br /></span><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:85%;" ><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p style="font-weight: bold;" class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:85%;" ><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-weight: bold;font-family:Arial;font-size:85%;" >So I been watching the Presidential Race, it's very</span><span style="font-weight: bold;font-family:Arial;font-size:85%;" > similar to what was gong on in Australia, except John Howard didn't stand down and his party</span><span style="font-weight: bold;font-family:Arial;font-size:85%;" > got thumped. The Repubs were smart to lock Dubya in the cupboard (Closet??) but McCain, oh is he a first class </span><span style="font-weight: bold;font-family:Arial;font-size:85%;" ><i>shmendrick! </i>And then they put in that Palin <i>shickser</i> (I mean </span><span style="font-weight: bold;font-family:Arial;font-size:85%;" >she empitomises the word for those have that no idea what I'm talking about.) McCain </span><span style="font-weight: bold;font-family:Arial;font-size:85%;" >quite literally talks about nothing, he's a cypher. Palin YACKS LOUDLY, she reminds</span><span style="font-weight: bold;font-family:Arial;font-size:85%;" > me of a more sophisticated </span><span style="font-weight: bold;font-family:Arial;font-size:85%;" >Pauline Hanson. I figure that</span><span style="font-weight: bold;font-family:Arial;font-size:85%;" > when the Republican's lose, </span><span style="font-weight: bold;font-family:Arial;font-size:85%;" >she will quickly appear on a </span><span style="font-weight: bold;font-family:Arial;font-size:85%;" >really camp and gay reality TV</span><span style="font-weight: bold;font-family:Arial;font-size:85%;" > show like Hanson does in </span><span style="font-weight: bold;font-size:85%;" ><st1:country-region><st1:place><span style="font-family:Arial;">Australia</span></st1:place></st1:country-region></span><span style="font-weight: bold;font-family:Arial;font-size:85%;" > (‘dancing with the stars’ or some diarrhea)..I love </span><span style="font-weight: bold;font-family:Arial;font-size:85%;" >how Americans throw up all </span><span style="font-weight: bold;font-family:Arial;font-size:85%;" >these pseudo ideas like</span><span style="font-weight: bold;font-family:Arial;font-size:85%;" > 'feminism' etc to give her </span><span style="font-weight: bold;font-family:Arial;font-size:85%;" >gravitas. She's a nothing.</span><span style="font-weight: bold;font-family:Arial;font-size:85%;" > <span style=""> </span>Now Obama has alot of</span><span style="font-weight: bold;font-family:Arial;font-size:85%;" > integrity on the surface, he </span><span style="font-weight: bold;font-family:Arial;font-size:85%;" >speaks well, thing is, I don't see</span><span style="font-weight: bold;font-family:Arial;font-size:85%;" > anyone running with him, its</span><span style="font-weight: bold;font-family:Arial;font-size:85%;" > just OBAMA, OBAMA, OBAMA</span><span style="font-weight: bold;font-family:Arial;font-size:85%;" >, where is his fucken <i>posse</i>?</span><span style="font-weight: bold;font-family:Arial;font-size:85%;" > (OK I only been here two</span><span style="font-weight: bold;font-family:Arial;font-size:85%;" > weeks!) Really the way I see it,</span><span style="font-weight: bold;font-family:Arial;font-size:85%;" > is that if all the people (esp. </span><span style="font-weight: bold;font-family:Arial;font-size:85%;" >black, hispanic, Indians, </span><span style="font-weight: bold;font-family:Arial;font-size:85%;" >biafrans etc) get off their arses</span><span style="font-weight: bold;font-family:Arial;font-size:85%;" > and vote, Obama should win </span><span style="font-weight: bold;font-family:Arial;font-size:85%;" >this election. The economy is </span><span style="font-weight: bold;font-family:Arial;font-size:85%;" >getting <i style="">trennered</i> in the shitter</span><span style="font-weight: bold;font-family:Arial;font-size:85%;" > every second. But I don't feel</span><span style="font-weight: bold;font-family:Arial;font-size:85%;" > threatened. If the Americans</span><span style="font-weight: bold;font-family:Arial;font-size:85%;" > can't see the <i>potzes</i> in power</span><span style="font-weight: bold;font-family:Arial;font-size:85%;" > have fucked things up so </span><span style="font-weight: bold;font-family:Arial;font-size:85%;" >bigtime, they have sent </span><span style="font-weight: bold;font-family:Arial;font-size:85%;" >America back 30 years, they </span><span style="font-weight: bold;font-family:Arial;font-size:85%;" >have made the USA a laughing</span><span style="font-weight: bold;font-family:Arial;font-size:85%;" > stock outside it's own protective</span><span style="font-weight: bold;font-family:Arial;font-size:85%;" > cyber-bubble or whatever, well </span><span style="font-weight: bold;font-family:Arial;font-size:85%;" >you Americans can accept </span><span style="font-weight: bold;font-family:Arial;font-size:85%;" >more shithouse rock bands,</span><span style="font-weight: bold;font-family:Arial;font-size:85%;" > you can accept more fucking</span><span style="font-weight: bold;font-family:Arial;font-size:85%;" > Paris Hiltons, and you can </span><span style="font-weight: bold;font-family:Arial;font-size:85%;" >accept more Mel Gibson and </span><span style="font-weight: bold;font-family:Arial;font-size:85%;" >Ridley Scott movies, coz that’s</span><span style="font-weight: bold;font-family:Arial;font-size:85%;" > what you fucking well want! </span><span style="font-weight: bold;font-family:Arial;font-size:85%;" >But don’t expect a silver bullet, </span><span style="font-weight: bold;font-family:Arial;font-size:85%;" >if Obama and the Invisibles </span><span style="font-weight: bold;font-family:Arial;font-size:85%;" >win, things will be *slightly* </span><span style="font-weight: bold;font-family:Arial;font-size:85%;" >different if THEY </span><span style="font-weight: bold;font-size:85%;" ><st1:stockticker><span style="font-family:Arial;">DON</span></st1:stockticker></span><span style="font-weight: bold;font-family:Arial;font-size:85%;" >’T HAVE</span><span style="font-weight: bold;font-family:Arial;font-size:85%;" > A VISIONARY </span><span style="font-weight: bold;font-size:85%;" ><st1:stockticker><span style="font-family:Arial;">PLAN</span></st1:stockticker></span><span style="font-weight: bold;font-family:Arial;font-size:85%;" > </span><span style="font-weight: bold;font-size:85%;" ><st1:stockticker><span style="font-family:Arial;">AND</span></st1:stockticker></span><span style="font-weight: bold;font-family:Arial;font-size:85%;" > </span><span style="font-weight: bold;font-family:Arial;font-size:85%;" >STICK TO IT!<span style=""> </span>Then in 4 years</span><span style="font-weight: bold;font-family:Arial;font-size:85%;" > time, and if Palin doesn’t get</span><span style="font-weight: bold;font-family:Arial;font-size:85%;" > her lucrative reality TV show, </span><span style="font-weight: bold;font-family:Arial;font-size:85%;" >you might have your FIRST </span><span style="font-weight: bold;font-family:Arial;font-size:85%;" >FEMALE PRESIDENT!!!! <span style=""> </span>Now </span><span style="font-weight: bold;font-family:Arial;font-size:85%;" >where are those 'American </span><span style="font-weight: bold;font-family:Arial;font-size:85%;" >thighs' that that not-actually-</span><span style="font-weight: bold;font-family:Arial;font-size:85%;" >born-in-Australia band once </span><span style="font-weight: bold;font-family:Arial;font-size:85%;" >sang about?</span><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjXK4R1A5chclkTYE72C1tiiVZS1v1j0v81hdRJIUna0iB00As8Nh8BUD1hR4zOB90_dcDVSXKoZyCw0R9lYM4yuzmk3Uh48Bdavs8w9YNBWxjrphE_HyQrJwPggypw2sqKczFFcg/s1600-h/IMG_3376.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjXK4R1A5chclkTYE72C1tiiVZS1v1j0v81hdRJIUna0iB00As8Nh8BUD1hR4zOB90_dcDVSXKoZyCw0R9lYM4yuzmk3Uh48Bdavs8w9YNBWxjrphE_HyQrJwPggypw2sqKczFFcg/s320/IMG_3376.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5247786558289309106" border="0" /></a></p><p class="MsoNormal" style=""><br /></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><br /><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" ><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" ><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" ><span style="font-weight: bold;font-size:85%;" >..and also time to get off the Internerd…………OFF!</span><o:p></o:p></span></p>Mr. Goldbloghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10095305709745123910noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26488144.post-2556355694877105702008-09-02T18:48:00.007+10:002008-09-02T19:17:44.436+10:00May the Ballard be with me...I'm currently tramping around Europe, and while I'm indirectly complicit - like the typical Ballrdian situation - in this age of global warming and mass blind, idiotic consumption, one of the disturbing things I noticed about Europe is it's paradox with travel, mobility, and it's affect on global warming. The first thing I noticed in arriving in the Uk is the constast, muted thunder of passenger aeroplanes. Like CONSTANT. In France it was worse, I mean it's a modern day blitzkreig with no less that 3 passenger planes darting the skies at one time, it's a wonder they don't collide.. <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgertHdiEmb84MUoUUFPzCN2_FVYHhkraiot3CDb2tWc3aba0wM1_w4wNu0tBXURf4QDLp_K6fPgoer9r8L-qSt-v0fSvBVvd_kIeLop8S1BF8i2J3_efNQWJIaWv4oEyOfcfXxkg/s1600-h/IMG_2370.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5241344823026264242" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgertHdiEmb84MUoUUFPzCN2_FVYHhkraiot3CDb2tWc3aba0wM1_w4wNu0tBXURf4QDLp_K6fPgoer9r8L-qSt-v0fSvBVvd_kIeLop8S1BF8i2J3_efNQWJIaWv4oEyOfcfXxkg/s320/IMG_2370.JPG" border="0" /></a><br /><br />Anyway, my cousin took me to the Cartier Institute where we saw an exhibition by modernist sculptor Cesar, immediately bringing to mind my top-3 novelist J.G.Ballard.. <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjpB462o56PsUSOUaytuWBwUoGbrpRxT44QEw2aQ02OZeuOdugKtF_eljH3W3irW-g2GQkDYJgjAD1CYrcPr7sMy9hbg9jLBqYtsWkrj6FjGsryobfpoGInK0EdepOyD29mrEvmYg/s1600-h/IMG_2461.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5241345616114850898" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjpB462o56PsUSOUaytuWBwUoGbrpRxT44QEw2aQ02OZeuOdugKtF_eljH3W3irW-g2GQkDYJgjAD1CYrcPr7sMy9hbg9jLBqYtsWkrj6FjGsryobfpoGInK0EdepOyD29mrEvmYg/s320/IMG_2461.JPG" border="0" /></a><br /><br />In Barcelona my mind is getting blown every second! Hot women, great weather, extremely sophisticated culutre. England seems like a horribly repressed memory of ugly architecture, bad weather, bushpigs and horrible food - but the people are nice and often funny.. But Spain, well, it's no wonder the artists here live until 100!!<br /><br />But the body\planet scarification of cheap airfares continues, amidst the complex, labyrinthine architecture and blue skies I see.. <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjxFvVq1bU99NvB_l5eP0BgosZREjJ6sP8UJQtHPni9QGo34RvbW3bTeUfyVXi2l0Sth1Cmf2x3-C2y20rcdb9RTcsDzpN0htkKtJBiGwJkyhptJcGZNWXDKyRlE7q6vDO6q3UDDA/s1600-h/IMG_2719.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5241347157584426274" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjxFvVq1bU99NvB_l5eP0BgosZREjJ6sP8UJQtHPni9QGo34RvbW3bTeUfyVXi2l0Sth1Cmf2x3-C2y20rcdb9RTcsDzpN0htkKtJBiGwJkyhptJcGZNWXDKyRlE7q6vDO6q3UDDA/s320/IMG_2719.JPG" border="0" /></a><br /><br />..and this right next to that other polluter - a Cathedral - more planet scarring {but alas the architecture of God is finer than commerce, the paradox!} <img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5241346733923639874" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; CURSOR: hand; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjDOwqQ5ERgk25vXPMMLoSzed-TnhuWYGJ3xJoG_m5HgJjI_bNO9wz1xMzQGKOw3uzWVM-ZYkeH5x8IyUkojH51bh5pzcjr6S0BOQdBjMPJn8VWYsOSMJkQ9idwACEbU9TRpai78Q/s320/IMG_2715.JPG" border="0" /><br /><br />..so stumbling around Barcelona, obviously some VALIS led me totally blind to <a href="http://www.cccb.org/en/exposicio?idg=16452">here</a> {I shit you not!}<br /><br />..anyway thats enough geeking for now, the weather is too fine, life is good, off to La Plaja to be cleansed and purified!<br /><br />[sorry about layout, I am using a spanish keyboard and everything is different, i am also staying with relatives who speak no english, so I feel like I'm in a Jim Jarmusch movie! LOL!]Mr. Goldbloghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10095305709745123910noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26488144.post-54730782154871745732008-08-24T10:12:00.002+10:002008-08-24T10:15:20.559+10:00I'll be around....<span style="font-weight: bold;font-size:85%;" ><span style="font-family: arial;">I'm actually overseas...Just in Paris listening to some speed garge from 10 years ago, when I thought I'd impress</span><span style="font-family: arial;"> my cousin with this BASSLINE stuff I picked up in Nottingham, where I just came from..The older stuff is better :)</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: arial;">So yeah, I will be posting lots of pictures and some narrative one I get settle on my groove over here...</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: arial;">10-4</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: arial;">Sheriff Goldblog</span></span>Mr. Goldbloghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10095305709745123910noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26488144.post-37472535490523952562008-07-26T21:14:00.009+10:002008-12-11T01:40:23.253+11:00Chuck D - *you're* the VOICE!<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiP__G8KlqpuLD2aKX3jGzNOgdSSqXFJ-smJYMk20iWA6GWNvRyBlMbB1QbPKWAJHr8-F1_BqCLOBpmQfe_ZsPgum9lW3wPxUO7_6pHxu9uxoBpbCe2tUWEmiHxG6O3KpzV86EM1g/s1600-h/chuckd.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiP__G8KlqpuLD2aKX3jGzNOgdSSqXFJ-smJYMk20iWA6GWNvRyBlMbB1QbPKWAJHr8-F1_BqCLOBpmQfe_ZsPgum9lW3wPxUO7_6pHxu9uxoBpbCe2tUWEmiHxG6O3KpzV86EM1g/s320/chuckd.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5227279748399793538" border="0" /></a> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in; font-style: normal; font-weight: bold;font-family:arial;"><span style="font-size:85%;">Ya know, the guy is probably 'anti-semitic', just like Mel Gibson, but is probably eating his <i>words </i>when his closest ideologue in political 'thought' – Noam Chomsky – is one of those wicked devils he's spouting about (but ya know he's not, get over it). I remember about 8 years ago I went to one of those September11 anti-Globalism Protests at the Clown Casino (I beleive in that politque, even if the people championing it are fucking cockheads), and as I soon as I rocked up, the stoopid motherfuckers were playing fucking Johnny Farnham's 'You're the Voice'...Now I don't gives a stuff that they were trying to 'appropriate' or 'subvert' that song, but as soon as I heard it I RAN away from that awful sonic <i><a href="http://balagan.org.uk/balagan.htm">Balagan</a>!</i> ( Regardless of what their righteous albeit dumb-idiot agendas were, that song makes me VOMIT, not want to bomb a bank, whatever the “””point””” is 'supposed' to be!)</span></p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in; font-style: normal; font-weight: bold;font-family:arial;"><span style="font-size:85%;"><br /></span> </p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in; font-style: normal; font-weight: bold;font-family:arial;"><span style="font-size:85%;">But clearing that shit from the table, of all the black/Afro-American SINGERS that have come out in the last 25 odd years, Chuck D definitely has the best voice. Chuck has perfect lyrical flow, and his lyris are dense, not just the chump change most rappers spit out...But Chuck's got that thing called <i>soul</i>. His 'performance' on <span style="font-style: italic;">By the Time I get to Arizona </span>is just bomb.<span style="font-style: italic;"> </span>And except for maybe Method Man, Chuck is one of those rappers that just clears the room of all other bullshit and punches through. His shit is <i>heavy</i> and his voice is heavy too. It's incredible that Chuck D never fronted one of those 80s black-coalition rock bands, something in between Bad Brains and Living Colour(unfortunately his rock 'combos' have all been terrible!). I have no doubt if that happened, well then 'rap' woulda become another strand of the hard-rock virus keeping it alive for another 20 odd year...But it didn't happen, and most turned away from actually listening to the guy. He's still out there, and even if his vocal chords are being stretched like a 'Stretch Armstrong' toy to the point where it's gonna <i>plutz</i> and that thick-sticky glue stuff oozes out. Chuck D is one of the last truly great African-America yellers. You got Henry Rollins <i>kvetching</i> around but Chuck D just does it <i>without effort</i>. Word.</span></p>Mr. Goldbloghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10095305709745123910noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26488144.post-78644801752050684632008-07-17T18:25:00.003+10:002008-12-11T01:40:23.432+11:00The best thing since .. QUADRAPHONIC 4 !!<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjtp5MqwQIayzkb0pb1x3Jy64sR-GjqRlhZvyv8EuyyKLq9W0ltPLU7rq0wBrcNA2uf_xfpHDCYfkRrB1OkuHmAs4DLJQT-cVfeBKPEibIumR18aq_clQwZG_WgFKx_oH8ziK5QIA/s1600-h/herbie.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjtp5MqwQIayzkb0pb1x3Jy64sR-GjqRlhZvyv8EuyyKLq9W0ltPLU7rq0wBrcNA2uf_xfpHDCYfkRrB1OkuHmAs4DLJQT-cVfeBKPEibIumR18aq_clQwZG_WgFKx_oH8ziK5QIA/s320/herbie.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5223896506969473986" border="0" /></a><span style="font-weight: bold;font-family:arial;" >For those that don't know and more than likely don't give a shit, I actually made a few </span><span style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;font-family:arial;" >drachmas</span><span style="font-weight: bold;font-family:arial;" > reviewing DVDs for a friends magazine that didn't make them any money so I lost my job..Alas, look where I am now: the </span><span style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;font-family:arial;" >shlober</span><span style="font-weight: bold;font-family:arial;" >sphere or Blogosphere or whatever the poo-shooters call it..Anyway I was lucky to have been given a DVD-audio setup and amplifier which totally reconfigured my ears for the end of days with the 5.1/Dolby Digital/DTS</span><span style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;font-family:arial;" > meshigarse. </span><span style="font-weight: bold;font-family:arial;" >When I was a wee </span><span style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;font-family:arial;" >cucker</span><span style="font-weight: bold;font-family:arial;" > in the middish 70s, my older brother had one of those Quadraphonic4 amps, I remember playing with the funky remote, but never listening to anything on it, but these days I have it back!!</span><br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;font-family:arial;" >Basically the DVD-audio/Super Audio Cd format is dead in the toilet, so some generous and tech-savvy legend have now compiled a site where you can download the muisc and burn it straight on a CD or DVD as an encoded in DTS-format music disque..which means basically all you need is a simply DVD player surround sound set-up with DTS capability which you can get for about $150 at yr local Yum-Cha-Electronic store/supermarket and listen to some stoner audiophile </span><span style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;font-family:arial;" >dreck</span><span style="font-weight: bold;font-family:arial;" > from the 70s 80s 90s 00s in 4.1 or 5.1...This legend at this site has also managed to digitise some old QD-4 vinyl, such as the pearler in the photo.. SO go forth and E.X.P.A.N.D!!!</span><br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;font-family:arial;" >Click here </span><a style="font-family: arial; font-weight: bold;" href="http://mojaveproductions.blogspot.com/"><span style="font-style: italic;">shtoompock!</span></a><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div>Mr. Goldbloghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10095305709745123910noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26488144.post-23475049003998290522008-07-01T09:21:00.001+10:002008-07-01T09:25:08.161+10:00THE FUTURE OF ROCK!!<span style="font-weight: bold;font-size:85%;" ><span style="font-family: arial;">..and they sound like the Velvets!</span></span><br /><br /><object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/c2JChnwv2Ws&hl=en"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/c2JChnwv2Ws&hl=en" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object>Mr. Goldbloghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10095305709745123910noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26488144.post-28425344431515648612008-06-22T12:42:00.004+10:002008-12-11T01:40:23.602+11:00MadMax and pussy<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh6K6iRN_bRTvCt42boP-Fv8uuRtoY0-BJDsjpQgK_tGVNcXdNDjvvxl50stjPWN85Y6mFWG5Zrwc43d7CgHn84m76fBcB5Jwvby6nHaOm5WTBSmDb0Pnz9qiZBQoooMKhENUUuAQ/s1600-h/max-engine.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh6K6iRN_bRTvCt42boP-Fv8uuRtoY0-BJDsjpQgK_tGVNcXdNDjvvxl50stjPWN85Y6mFWG5Zrwc43d7CgHn84m76fBcB5Jwvby6nHaOm5WTBSmDb0Pnz9qiZBQoooMKhENUUuAQ/s320/max-engine.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5214531022612787170" border="0" /></a> <p style="font-weight: bold;font-family:arial;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:85%;">THE ENGINE – MAD MAX</span></p> <p style="font-weight: bold;font-family:arial;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:85%;">“ …She’s the last of the V8’s. She sucks nitro, phase 4 head..”</span></p> <p style="font-weight: bold;font-family:arial;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:85%;">There are many wonderful ‘shots’ in MadMax, which still stands as one of the most beautifully lensed, edited and composed Australian films of all time. I’ll let other people articulate what those are in more florid words than me, but my own personal favourite is the unveiling of ‘the Engine’: “..she’s the last of the V8’s, she sucks nitro, phase 4 head..’ <span style=""> </span><span style=""> </span>Now the obvious Freudian/Delleuzian/post-modern/lazy etc..etc..etc response, is that ‘the engine’ – and visually so in this case – is the unconscious representation of the phallus. But this is what is so cool about this shot, it's not what it's 'supposed' to be, on the contrary. The camera zooms in slowly to this dark....slot, Max gently tweaks it for more power…it purrs, he’s<span style=""> </span>seduced, in awe, dumbstruck, and suffers a <span style="font-style: italic;">Petit-Mort</span> all in one shot!<br /></span></p><p style="font-weight: bold;font-family:arial;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:85%;">Goose declares:<span style=""> </span>‘He’s in a coma man, he loves it!’<span style=""> </span></span></p> <p style="font-weight: bold;font-family:arial;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:85%;">For a country that invented such wonderful philosophical concepts as ‘ the female eunuch’,a concept it seems<span style=""> </span>would define sexuality in the Australian cinema for way, way too long, here we have a proud one-finger salute in this single shot. Max has just been (mind) blown! </span></p> <p style="font-weight: bold;font-family:arial;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:85%;">But in this same moment a Faustian pact has been unconsciously made. Max would discover further down the narrative, that ‘the Engine’ would become his new love interest, signalling Mad Max as the first truly ‘Ballardian’ movie. He will be cruelly denied the flesh; this brief mating ritual with this crude, high-powered lube-loving machine will soon define his fate. </span></p> <p style="font-weight: bold;font-family:arial;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:85%;">I remember vividly the experience of seeing MadMax2 in a packed-out Rosebud Cinema down in the Mornington-Peninsula in the early 80s (I was too young to see the shocking, ‘transgressive’ R-rated MadMax, and had to see it later on video) It blew my mind, the first truly transcendent Australian cinematic experience. The theatre was packed with mix of locals and migrant-Australians who loved their cars more than their mothers (or maybe not). The hyped murmurings after the movie were in regards to Max’s tricked out super-powered ‘Charger’. It was the engine that means the most - ‘what the fuck was than <i style="">reh?</i>’, ‘Nitro, man’, would be the reply, ‘my cousins, bothers, mate does them mods’..It was a warm communal afterglow that we all must of felt, after being unceremoniously blown by the purring, screaming force of ‘the engine’.</span></p> <div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div>Mr. Goldbloghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10095305709745123910noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26488144.post-60436121847012058062008-04-23T19:02:00.004+10:002008-12-11T01:40:23.935+11:00Ed Kuepper mega-mix!<div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh62_V-oDziZW4YepYYV2CbSOdo9HXUW3Wcvj35VCQN8nsmgzBhd9zgS6K7_-sKj_jAhvBY1RQTyFxCtzb5Sj_nERqea-iqCb2LvagSr2jAAOL33Uwt19wbJZqMc6BSYYcXanhsAQ/s1600-h/ek-london07i_400x265.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh62_V-oDziZW4YepYYV2CbSOdo9HXUW3Wcvj35VCQN8nsmgzBhd9zgS6K7_-sKj_jAhvBY1RQTyFxCtzb5Sj_nERqea-iqCb2LvagSr2jAAOL33Uwt19wbJZqMc6BSYYcXanhsAQ/s320/ek-london07i_400x265.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5192363737653533218" border="0" /></a><span style="font-family:courier new;">Ed Kuepper (far left) and some schizophrenics on day-release.<br /><br /></span> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: left; font-weight: bold;font-family:arial;">Ed 'the Head's' best songs.</p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><br /></p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: left; font-weight: bold;font-family:arial;"><span style="font-size:85%;">Ed Kuepper is one of my all-time Aussie rock heroes. As a teenager I really got into his 'electrical storm' record, and then dug through his Laughing Clowns stuff, and a few of his solo records, including the stuff he did as the Aints. But I have a big problem with Ed. For all his prolificness, the guy really knows how to churn out buckets of shit. Sure it's difficult to deal with his whiney/droney voice, and his guitar playing is always quite excellent, tasteful and rock n' roll, but he puts out so much music/<i>dreck</i>, that ultimately most of it is really <span style="font-style: italic;">unlistenable</span> <i>dreck</i>. More often than not his albums might have one or two killers (which happened more often after 'Honey Steals Gold') with the rest all quirky rubbish.</span></p><div style="text-align: left; font-family: arial; font-weight: bold;"> </div><p style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: left; font-weight: bold;font-family:arial;"><span style="font-size:85%;"><br /></span> </p><div style="text-align: left; font-family: arial; font-weight: bold;"> </div><p style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: left; font-weight: bold;font-family:arial;"><span style="font-size:85%;">So I thought I'd sift through the back catalogue of his that I actually own, and pick out what I reckon are the real winners, and see if there's enough to make an Ed Kuepper 'megamix' so the young <i>shnooks</i> can get a grasp on his inconsistent 'genius' without wasting to much time and money.<br /></span></p><div style="text-align: left; font-family: arial; font-weight: bold;"> </div><p style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: left; font-weight: bold;font-family:arial;"><span style="font-size:85%;"><br /></span> </p><div style="text-align: left; font-family: arial; font-weight: bold;"> </div><p style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: left; font-weight: bold;font-family:arial;"><span style="font-size:85%;">NOTE : These are not in order of best, but there is some chronological order going on:</span></p><div style="text-align: left; font-family: arial; font-weight: bold;"> </div><p face="arial" style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: left; font-weight: bold;"><span style="font-size:85%;"><br /></span> </p><div style="text-align: left; font-family: arial; font-weight: bold;"> </div><ol style="text-align: left; font-weight: bold;font-family:arial;"><li><p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size:85%;">Eternally Yours – post-punk drone-boogie bliss</span></p> </li><li><p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size:85%;">No words of honour – Velvets type guitar and pp beat</span></p> </li><li><p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size:85%;">New Bully in the Town – killer with a disco beat</span></p> </li><li><p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size:85%;">Crystal Clear – another floor stomper</span></p> </li><li><p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size:85%;">Holy Joe – rumble and weird jazz</span></p> </li><li><p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size:85%;">Mr. Uddich-Schmuddich goes to town</span></p> </li><li><p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size:85%;">The only one that knows – Ed's got something with the E-A-D chords</span></p> </li></ol><div style="text-align: left; font-family: arial; font-weight: bold;"> </div><p style="margin-left: 0.49in; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: left; font-weight: bold;font-family:arial;"><span style="font-size:85%;"><br /></span> </p><div style="text-align: left; font-family: arial; font-weight: bold;"> </div><p style="margin-left: 0.49in; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: left; font-weight: bold;font-family:arial;"><span style="font-size:85%;">That's only 7 killers/classics off the 'Laughing Clowns collection of 51 songs, so go figure...</span></p><div style="text-align: left; font-family: arial; font-weight: bold;"> </div><p style="margin-left: 0.49in; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: left; font-weight: bold;font-family:arial;"><span style="font-size:85%;"><br /></span> </p><div style="text-align: left; font-family: arial; font-weight: bold;"> </div><ol style="text-align: left; font-weight: bold;font-family:arial;"><p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size:85%;"> 8. Car Headlights – hasn't dated well, be still pretty strong</span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size:85%;"> 9. No more sentimental jokes – solid</span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size:85%;"> 10. Master of two servants – it that badly recorded mandolin that does it</span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size:85%;"> 11. Another story – great outtro guitar solo</span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size:85%;"> 12. Electrical Storm – all the re-recorded versions were never as good as this one.</span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size:85%;"> 13. Told Myself – not sure if Ed was listening to Junior Kimbrough back in the 80's but this is the best white version of JK I've heard.</span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size:85%;"> 14. Palace of Sin – big-beat</span></p><span style="font-size:85%;"><br /></span><p style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: left;"><span style="font-size:85%;">7 tracks of 'Electrcial Storm' which has 11 track, so IMHO, his 'masterwork'<br /></span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size:85%;"><br /></span> </p><p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size:85%;"> 15. Without your mirror – nice folky/blues acoustic track, shows Ed's guitar skills</span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size:85%;"> 16. Show pony – there's an instrumental break thats really cool</span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size:85%;"> 17. Not a soul around – Ed starting to get a bit more 'commercial'</span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size:85%;"> 18. Nothing changes in my house – ditto, he was going for the Mellencamp thing.</span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size:85%;"> 19. Everything I've got belongs to you – it's cheesy and sentimental but its a good song.</span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size:85%;"> 20. Honey Steals Gold – fantastic spag/western/noir instrumental with droney loop</span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size:85%;"> 21. The way I made you feel – another killer song</span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size:85%;"> 22. Closer (but disguised) – great upbeat number in Ed;s weird way.</span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size:85%;"> 23. Blind Girl Stripper – great instrumental, with Spacemen3 type drone</span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size:85%;"> 24. Black ticket day – another uplifting Ed number</span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size:85%;"> 25. It's still nowhere – The Aints. Flanged-out electric guitar, but it works!</span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size:85%;"> 26. What's it like out there – more flange hysteria, the outro is friggen killer, good example of Ed's guitar work when its good.</span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size:85%;"> 27. Ascension – noisy guitar, for 11 minutes. I wish Ed did this more often, he's a fucken great rock n' roll guitarist. Maybe Australia's best!</span></p></ol><div style="text-align: left; font-family: arial; font-weight: bold;"> </div><p style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: left; font-family: arial; font-weight: bold;"><span style="font-size:85%;"><br /></span> </p><div style="text-align: left; font-family: arial; font-weight: bold;"> </div><p style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: left; font-weight: bold;"><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-family:arial;">But that's only 27 songs out of 300 or something, that's like 9%!! But that 9% outweighs nearly 98.9% of all recorded Aussie music. So go figure.</span></span> </p> </div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div>Mr. Goldbloghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10095305709745123910noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26488144.post-51689609434326415402008-03-27T00:47:00.004+11:002008-12-11T01:40:24.260+11:00Flop flip<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiaQaFuyWfYpL98xpmXTEhskB-X7djDXL3-awYtqvSh7ggxSSmzZ8z0-tLy-V7mh805nG0F1kE43BVvFO126VwMbu3HGe7U1HKhl_TsqtxG3NiqE6S39Whs0fBuKl6GccqpOsNc0A/s1600-h/sout;hland.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiaQaFuyWfYpL98xpmXTEhskB-X7djDXL3-awYtqvSh7ggxSSmzZ8z0-tLy-V7mh805nG0F1kE43BVvFO126VwMbu3HGe7U1HKhl_TsqtxG3NiqE6S39Whs0fBuKl6GccqpOsNc0A/s320/sout;hland.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5182046861517908914" border="0" /></a> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in; font-weight: bold;font-family:courier new;"><span style="font-size:130%;">Southland Tales</span></p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><br /></p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in; font-weight: bold;font-family:arial;"><span style="font-size:85%;">Easily the best science fiction movie this decade. Many tried: the Wachowski's, Aronofsky, Linklater, Assayas, but this is the ONE. Of course the 'confusing, misdirected mess' or whatever most <i>thought</i></span><span style="font-style: normal;font-size:85%;" > the film was, is far from it. Writer/Director Richard Kelly isn't doing anything more radical than Kubrick did with </span><span style="font-size:85%;"><i>Dr. Strangelove</i></span><span style="font-style: normal;font-size:85%;" >. In fact the first 15 minutes is like a hyper mix of Kubrick, Michael Mann and Buffy! The basic problem 'critics' and even the core 'audience' had with the film was a simple matter of </span><span style="font-size:85%;"><i>aesthetics</i></span><span style="font-style: normal;font-size:85%;" >. Basically Kelly has taken the last 20-odd years of modern comic/graphic novel story telling, and dumped it steaming and hot onto the lap of Hollywood </span><span style="font-size:85%;"><i>and</i></span><span style="font-style: normal;font-size:85%;" > cineaste intelligentsia. Kelly's intricate plot takes the airiness of Ridley Scott's </span><span style="font-size:85%;"><i>Blade Runner </i></span><span style="font-style: normal;font-size:85%;" >and slices and dices it with the Ninja blade of anime surrealist hyper-modern story telling. Sheeit, there are healthy doses of the LSD-fried LA sci-fi of Phil K Dick, KW Jeter and Tim Powers, but fuck that shit, the cocksucking film 'critics' wouldn't have read that <span style="font-style: italic;">dope</span> shit (let em read Jonathan Lethem for all I care, and they still won't get it!)!!!! In a nutshell, it was all too fast, and to into it's own rhythms to worry about what the 'others' thought (Jodorowsky comics anyone?) Kelly has a made a subversive modern American satire. No wonder the thing would flop in today's 'market. It's basically </span><span style="font-size:85%;"><i>Repo Man</i></span><span style="font-style: normal;font-size:85%;" > shotgunned into a PS2, via the weird pulsations of todays 'post-Christian-Corporated-everything' world. Also throw in the Craig Baldwin hyper-linked info-steria, and you've got a modern cinematic version of agit-prop angina(don't have a heart-attack y'all)! I mean I still haven't seen it in 'perfect cinefillic conditions', rather corporate screener 'blech', but alas that shows how far this film has been <i>tooches trennered !!! </i><span style="font-style: normal;">Let</span> the global warming sun shine down(and out of my arse!)! (I'll get my 36+)</span></p>Mr. Goldbloghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10095305709745123910noreply@blogger.com0