I'm thinking of the iMac/air 1/2 combo, but I'm several thousand short. What does everyone else think?
]]>This is because I've actually upgraded to movabletype 4.something and fixed a few thing here and there, which was wonderful fun. I especially like it when you can't rebuild everything, blah blah blah.
But enough of this. we are at v4 of this blog, and that is great. Really, it is. Have a look and let me know what you think.
]]>I've been doing a lot of surfing recently. This return to an old sport (or, at least, one I used to indulge in) has prompted some massive rethinking on my part on life, the universe and everything. Suddenly the weather outside has meaning; this has never happened before.
Actually you know what? Fuck this shit. Fuck this blog, and fuck you.
Happy things.
Look for redesigns and all that shite soon. Maybe even today.
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It was, however, with some trepidation that I noticed the storm clouds gather last night. The sky turned dark, and it rained on me. An ill omen following the week of good weather that was. Bush arrived last night, and even the most creatively-crippled managed to draw the parallels together.
I'm going back to my coffee now.
]]>So see you soon with some photos, or not so soon from jail.
]]>The tent was packed, and leaking when they took the stage, with the noise of the crowd almost drowning out all coherent thought. But we don't need thought, we have a band that can certainly work a crowd.
I could say more about the gig. It was good, and I can't quite find the words though...
East London is indeed a vampire, as Bloc Party say. And yet I found myself strangly distressed at my absence form, dare I say it, home while standing in the middle of a dusty field, in the middle of nowhere, New South Wales (just), Australia. For one glorious set I was walking the streets of my adopted home town of London, crossing bridges, drink in the pubs, walking down Camden lock in the sun, going down to Brick lane to the Bengalie transport café to meet some somes for a cheap dinner, and going to waterloo to fight my way home.
Far too early the spell is broken, and the silent promise I made to the world to return to London again is lost in moment, stalled as life comes back to me, and I turn to walk out in the dust of my new home again.
But hey, it's hot here, and it's raining in London...
]]> BELOW ARE SOME NOTES ON THE GIG:In my experience it’s the journey to any music festival that sets the tone and mood for the rest of the day/weekend. If this is true, then Splendour in the Grass 2007 was off to a bad start.
I live in Sydney, and Splendour is on in Byron Bay, which is here.
That makes it around 10 hours drive. 10 long, uncomfortable hours.
I want you to keep that in your mind when you think about the tale I am about to tell you.
Recently, along with my loving partner, I purchased our first property. Everyone tells me that it's an exciting time, and I am defininatly finding it an exciting time indeed. Yes. Exciting. Beans or tinned spaghettie for dinner? Throttling your net connection exciting. Not buying a new computer exciting. Not buying beer exciting. Exciting, it seems, is another word for skint.
Skint, and we are going to a music festival. I know, I KNOW, MUM I SAID: I KNOW!
I our defence we booked this a long time before we got the house. And we booked the accomdation (more on that later). The cost of this AUS$2K trip is weighing heavily on our minds as we get up at 5:30bloodyAM on a Friday morning, and drag ourselves into the car. A bad start indeed.
Everyone sleeps in. This is something that I'm used to, because I don't actually sleep as much as I absobe the latent sleep potential that everyone else leaves kicking about messing up the place while they sleep in. I notice I just said everyone sleeps in; this isn't actualy true, as someone else was up, but this is my story, and I'm going to embelsih if I want to.
The weekend of rock commences with the reading of a book, and the eating of some wheetabix. With a little milk because I am a conciousious flatmate who wants to make sure that there is enough to go round. And Anne scares me.
As a group we queue up. Like Disco Stu doesn't advertise, Kristian doesn't queue. I hate it. I hate everyone in front of me, and everyone behind me. I hate those people stood with me, because suddenly they become increadibly stupid, and stand too close, and want to talk about retarded things like "food" and "drink", and even worse… "toilet".
As a group we all go hands in; our very own go team moment. We vow, solemly, that having walked, waited, and fought through everything this town could throw at us, we are going to stay together for the rest of the festival, and so, of course, promptly go our separate ways and don't see each other until much later in the evening.
Yes, people at festivals turning into cats… and we all know about hurding cats. I don't mind this though, I take my girl by the hand and stalk off towards the to see the first band on my hit list.
The horrors
Translateing "I need it" from the native to Australian gets as old as the joke was up on stage. They were shite.
Editors
So we are feeling good. My girlfriend is starring at me like I'm some sort of freak, and we've somehow found ourselves pressed rather further towards the stage than we started, as we start our first 'tween band wait of Splendour. "This'll be good" I say "I promise" I keep adding, possibly to myself as much as anyone else.
Oh thank sweet
Kaiser Chiefs
I've seen to it that everyone isn't expecting much from the Kaiser Chiefts. The deliver, but... meh.
Couple of days later? I wish that Klaxons had played. I really enjoyed their latest album, which I was, of course, only inspired to check out after they couldn't make. So if they had come, I wouldn't have seen them. Unless, of course, I could create some sort of temporal paradox…
Food for thought.
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Iron Man. I'm excited.
It is with much sadness that finished The Deathly Hallows on Saturday. I picked the book up from the wonderful Kinokuniya in Sydney. As always they've gone to a lot of effort when I arrived at 9:01AM to pick up my pre-ordered book. The staff were dressed as students, witches and wizards. Cauldrons, lights and smoke added greatly to the effect, as did the distinct lack of children. Not that I don't like children, it's just that there was no noise, which added to the slightly surreal effect wonderfully carried off beautifully. Maybe a child in the cauldron…?
But no, I collected my book, and went to the coffee shop and sat and read. And read. And read. And read some more.
607 pages in one day, and then off to the pub. Very, very good. Very sad, and maybe not the children's books that they started out as, but still very good. Yes. Good. Sad that it's over, but good.
Mmm. Good. Read it.
Although… maybe not the last chapter, which I understand was written a long while ago, and clearly demonstrates how the authors style and ability have greatly improved over the last 17 years. It feels tacked on because… well, it is.
For all of you wanting to get into this as soon as possible, I give you Potted Harry for beginners at the BBCs news site. It would have been amazingly useful to me, if I hadn't already of listened my way through Stephen Fry read them to me over the last weeks.
When we see the fucking sun.
Index of "culture" for the last two weeks.
Treasures
JB Play
HPV
Men at Arms
He is part of, or has formed (we really have not seen each other for a while), the archancellors men. They put on the magnificent Men at Arms, and it was good.
Um. Men at Arms. That is the site.
Some of the actors are not quite as good as some of the others, but that's what you get. Some are amazing (Cuddy, the Patrician) and some costumes are great (Death). I wish I could have put in a suggestion or two. Geekery would have enabled me to put a Vader voice synth in that Death Mask, and I have the greatest idea for a troll costume EVER…
But yeah. It was great.
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I am excited
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This photo confirms that I have done the unthinkable. Vista on my macbook.
What has the world come to...
Still, good movie. It was rather like a ninja fight with wands at the end. It is very much a filler though. Just bridging between IV and VI, but it does it with a lot of style. When I grow up I want to be a wizard. And a pirate. And a ninja.