Australia day, be proud!

so australia day comes to a close. ive gotta say, things have changed around here. i really cant remember having the desire to wear an Australian flag or paint the flag on my face. but thats what all the kids are doing these days. it really bothers me. i find it offensive and ultimately aggressive. what do you think a bunch of these drunk fools with flags draped around them are going to do or say when they walk passed say, and Asian or indian? do these kids look at these races as one of their own? i doubt it. i don't see our flag now as anything other that a symbol of ignorance and xenophobia. its a pity, the mob always takes over. i say change the flag, and then lets separate the bigots from the free thinkers every year. those who hold onto the old flag are the bigots, in case you didn't get it. i know it all started in Cronulla, and maybe the lebanese there were pissing off the locals and things got out of hand and possibly the worst moment in Australia history flared up, with thanks to Alan Jones. in the name of reclaiming the beach thousands of drunken young white Aussies went on a lets bash anything thats not "Aussie". all draped in the blue red and white. now when i see these kids wearing the flag i think its a sign of respect to the white boys down at Cronulla. maybe its not. you know theres a bumper sticker ive seen around that says "fuck off we're full"with a map of Australia bordering it. where does this come from? i cant get my head around it.

JJJ had their hottest 100 today and although i didnt think it was much of a year for songs, i did enjoy the countdown more than previous years. the winner "little lion man"by Mumford and Sons is deserved and definitely a song that is ageless, has a really powerful moment midway that builds up to the final chorus backed by banjo plucking and harmony's. classic stuff.  if you don't want to listen to the whole song skip to 2.30 to see what i mean



They are playing at Laneway this weekend, which im looking forward to. im not sure if i'll catch them though. They are playing at the same time as Daniel Johnston which is kind of annoying.

it funny, an old friend Mick used to be really passionate about music until something changed in him that removed that love along with most of pop culture. but last year he text me out of the blue to tell me he loved the new Kings of Leon song "Sex on fire". This wasnt a big track for me, i loved their previous albums, saw them support the Strokes in 2003 and witnesses a moment of unfound talent. However Sex on fire was the tacky song that all the radio played every day and i knew at that point i'd never see the Kings of Leon live again. Anyway, that song went to number 1 last year on the JJJ hot 100.

This year Mick asks me if i like Mumford and Sons. once again probably the only album he's listened to all year. And look what happens. their song goes to number 1.

dada

heres a photo of my little girl. taken at christmas time at the Peninsula. i wanted to put this picture up to mark the week that she said dada. it brought tears to my eyes. I'm not sure if she's calling me or if she just likes using that part of her tongue when she talks. either way its a beautiful noise.
I saw Up in the air tonight at the the cinema. it wasn't as great as id expected, a little depressing and uninspired to be specific. and as Sarah's sister said, without Clooney, it could have been unwatchable.

Did anyone see Ricky Gervais at the golden globes? genius. when he realises he might have gone to far in bagging out Paul McCartney he simply points to his AIDS badge. "oh look' he says" my broche"
annoyingly the youtube footage of the moment cuts just before he points to the badge.

its Australia Day on tuesday. Mark Seymour from the Hunters and Collectors wrote an article today in the Age about moronic nationalism in ths country.
read it http://www.theage.com.au/opinion/society-and-culture/aussie-i-love-it-but-leave-me-out-of-the-flagwaving-20100123-mri8.html

vale rocknroll

i went and saw Kelley Stoltz on the weekend. it was meant to be part of a festival at the corner hotel. although it became less of a festival and more of a very low profile group of gigs. it was to be called Summertones, but one US band, brightblack light pulled out, and one of the other headliners Rowland S Howard, unfortunately died. uncommon circumstance. Rowland S Howard used to be part of the Boys next door with Nick Cave and wrote the song Shivers. he would have relaxed financially after the Screaming Jets decided to cover it and all the bogans bought in. Nobody of the mainstream would know of him. i used to see him walking around St Kilda, a more deathly figure i had never seen. tall and gaunt, pale and sick. i knew he was more than just your average junkie, there was a certain direction in his step that didnt only suggest heroin. then i saw him on stage at last years ATP festival and recognised him as the death man on the street. i hated him live but have since learned that his health was so bad that it was a struggle for him to play. i now have his latest album POP CRIMES. its quite brilliant in parts. he would have been great to see on the weekend if he hadnt died of liver cancer. they found him dead with a plectrum in his pocket. A poet to the death.

Kelley Stoltz is a hero to me because he writes and produces and does everything himself at his own apartment. his music evokes the beachboys, lou reeed, leonard Cohen etc. and hes a grassroots performer. ever go to a gig of his and youd be guaranteed to meet him before the show at the bar. he was doing just that on the weekend, but i didnt speak with him. he hasnt released a new album so i couldnt tell him what i thought of it anyway. it must be hard for these guys. they get great reviews, play some good shows to packed pubs, and think im getting somewhere here. but their albums dont chart and next year they tour and they have half the people at their gig. the momentum is gone. it must be so depressing. i felt that for Kelley on the weekend. and his new stuff was really good. wasted talent. too good for the general public i guess.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tMmccSRqfDM

i have a top 7 tv shows of 2009

i'll write them up next post when i work out how to add youtube clips to the post. advice anyone?

back in town, party down

ok its been awhile since my last post. no excuses, i've been lazy. however in that time i have written a 900 word fable for a competition run by some bar in St kilda. so i guess my writing time has been taken up there.

it was a great time over Christmas. The girls and i travelled to the Mornington peninsula, spent 5 nights in Shoreham, and basically relaxed. Runs along the beach in the morning, cellar doors in the afternoon. the good life. the quietest NYE i've ever had in adult life. although it was kinda cool to watch the lightning display and the storm knowing i could have been walking the streets to some crap party in the rain.

back at work now enjoying the slowdown of January.

ive been watching some great shows on foxtel of late. the new Entourage, and Dexter. but also a great show called Party down, which features all the usual suspects. hilarious.

a moment"

nerd at a party to a movie director: "excuse me sir , but i wouldn't pay shit to see your non- alcoholic Edgar Allen Poe fight vampires"

"yeah, well nobody gives a fuck what you think."

"yes they do sir, i'll have you know, i have a very prestigious blog."

theres some incredible stuff coming out of the States, all showing on non free to air tv.

i read the Road over the holidays.

one of the great books no doubt. its strange because for some reason i was of the belief that this book was written in the 60;s. i'm not sure if this increased the enjoyment of the book, but i will say i was a tad disappointed when i learned it to be a newish release. either way, some beautiful moments. when the man is trying to tell his son that he must put the gun in his mouth and pull the trigger. emotional stuff. cant wait to see the film, nick cave does the soundtrack. i watched the Proposition on the weekend, and his music in that, not to mention his story, was quite moving.

bringing my top 5's next post. shan't be long

eastbound

Yesterday my daughter had her first Christmas. Everybody says Christmas becomes good again when you have kids and they are right. it was a great day and i can see only better times ahead. i have freetime now until the 4th of Jan. the eczema is clearing now, i cant believe its gotten so good. No real estate stress, no work, nothing to bring on the scratching. often at work if i was in the middle of a disaster i would find myself hacking away at my shin, and if my hands weren't able, i would be dragging the back of my boots up and down it. it did a lot of short term damage, and i hope i can get it to the stage my ankle is now at. im just not sure now what i will do when im stressed at work next year.

tomorrow i hope to catch up with the boys for a session at the corner hotel. we did it last year and had a good catchup, however this year a few of the guys are away. im not sure what will happen tomorrow. it will probably just be less of us.

we had our christmas party last tuesday. it was a real clash of classes. it had originally been planned at a function centre in Brighton, but too many people thought this was too far from home and were unwilling to get the cab fare home. i personally think 10 hours of free food and booze? a $40 cab is something you just deal with. so Brighton was cancelled and we ended up at the Chelsea Heights public bar. 95% blokes 5% desperate women. depressing kind of venue, horseracing on the wall, jukebox playing chisel, you know, we've all been there. it was an ok night, but everybody knew that if the booze wasn't free, none of us would have been there. it takes away something from a night out when you know that. its funny how its turned out now. there were at least three massive bogans from work there. im talking bourban drinking, MMM listening, bad jean wearing etc etc, these guys are the classic bogan and these guys were on E's at the chelsea. these guys probably would have beaten you up ten years ago if they found out you were on E. its the new bogan drug, and i suppose its probably got a lot to do with the fact that i didnt see a fight that night.

im a bit off writing up my top 10's for the year, however the next week im away at a holiday house on the beach. i will think hard and post them next.

what i will say now is the best show of 2010 is once again from HBO. Eastbound and Down. if you haven seen it, or even if you have, check out this link

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4GdB30O0zt4

otherwise happy new year.

scratchin'

i've got some bad eczema. i used to have it on my left ankle but that has gone now and moved onto my right shin. it feels incredible when i scratch, like nothing in this world. but i know the more i scratch, the worse it becomes. its a terrible affliction. i feel i can relate to heroin junkies now. it must be how they feel. when it was on my ankle i went to the doctor about it. he was confused so he took a skin sample to get it analysed. it was an unknown eczema, basically it had come about by my scratching, and the only way to rid it was to stop scratching. devastating news. no cream or tablets, just self control, in all its beauty. so i mastered the ankle. last year when travelling Mexico i was stress free, and with stress being a main contributor to my scratching behaviour, the rash diminished. upon noticing this i was encouraged and managed to avoid scratching it ever again. however since returning to my work, the stress levels have forced me to find a new outlet and i have simply transferred my area of abuse. im too embarrassed to wear shorts being how it is. now summer is coming up i have to do something about it. i mentioned in my previous post that we finally bought property. since then i have had one scratch session. i could possibly attack the area twenty times a day. this is a huge breakthrough. i just need to see it settle down now, the redness to lighten and im a chance to drop this mess for good. i relapsed once in this 9 day period. in the bath washing my feet i just let go. man it felt incredible. usually i would have just kept at it, but i pulled back and refrained any further damage. crisis averted. i might put up a picture next post.

so i've been listening to a bit on the Ipod of late. trying to get some runs in again, 30 minute sharp runs to the beach and back. its a great start to the day. i've realised that Waavves is in fact a good album. Pitchfork are right again. most of their 9+ ratings are spot on. but they are way to harsh on some very good albums. The X-X are on high rotation. Heard their cover of Womack and Womack's "teardrops"? its great

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WrVgCCUQ3fQ.

they are playing at 2010 laneway festival. the laneway festival used to be in melbournes laneways. but because they couldn't organise it in the vicinity (i.e punters couldnt get to the toilet, couldnt see the bands they wanted) the organisers changed venues to a park in footscray. no laneways to be seen. the name really needs changing. should be fun this time though. a good lineup. will post a review afterwards.

so Christmas is upon us and i have 2 days left of work.

sweet.

i cant wait to spend unlimited time with my girls.

no longer homeless

we bought a house on the weekend. man its such a relief to not have that worry anymore. it was an auction fought out against an Asian couple. About 2 months ago we failed to buy at auction for a great little home in Brighton East. An Asian couple beat us that time. After that experience we couldn't lose out again. i was worried i might actually start becoming bitter and racist. i reckon we have spent the last 18 months looking at real estate. every day online and every weekend looking at properties. i expect we would have seen over 250 properties. we knew most of the agents by name. Sad existence. we don't know what to do with ourselves anymore.

think you've got it tough? i found out today a guy at my work lives in a tent. his paintings are in the factory because he's worried they'll be damaged in the tent. he was recently kicked out from his caravan. i dont know the full details, i dont think i want to. he works, must get $20 an hour so i dont really get how he cant find somewhere other than tent to live. he does look like a junkie, but i hate to prejudge.

thought: what sort of person puts an Australian flag on a mast and erects it in his front lawn? i noticed this today on the way home from work. i know i would have very little in common with this person.

Pitchfork has been banging on about Wavves. i downloaded it yesterday but on first listen didnt find it all too exciting. i think Pitchfork awards points for originality above listenability. Their critics are a bit to self indulgent too. i don't want to read two paragraphs about something they once did vaguely related to the band,before reading about the first song from an album. Everyone thinks they are Hunter S Thompson these days. Maybe they could do what he did in the end.

My daughter has been cast in a commercial. we never put her in this position but were asked by a friend from Sarahs' mothers group. she will be one of a few babies from the group. i don't know how i will react to seeing her on TV. She's our baby and not for the rest of the country to enjoy, but by the same token, she will look so adorable. little darling. she isn't crawling or talking yet, and thats the way i like it. these days are numbered.

i watched the Hangover last night. definitely one of the more enjoyable film of its kind over the past few years. When the doctor gives directions, i hope to make a response like that one day. Genius.

Im reading Nick Caves' latest novel. Its ok, but im getting a bit bored with oversexed, masturbating miserable characters. Amazingly, its so overdone. three quarters in and I'm more interested in the next book i have to read "the Road" by Cormac Mccarthy. this is always the case when i read. i just want to finish what i have so i can get into my next book.

i have about 7 days left of work. this year has broken me.ive taken on too much. next year will be nothing but work and fatherhood. and some good music, some wine and maybe a puppy.