erudite grumpy

moving home now

2009-09-07T21:47:00.000-03:00

Well, i've had enough of too many blogs .. so i'm combining all my social / personal blogs, and shifting everything over to my main home at michalk.id.au

New blog: five by five
at : michalk.id.au/5x5
it's not pretty yet, but all the content is over there ..
and i won't be posting here again.

Please Join Me.
Update your RSS feeds :)
kind regards, michael

image and photo credits: licensed under creative commons at flickr: Thanks very much Lawrence Whittemore.

Generosity overcomes a gloomy sky

2008-06-19T13:06:00.001-03:00

The skies were gloomy, but that didn't stop one incredibly generous commuter giving away her ticket for free, in Melbourne today.

i was getting on the tram, in Elizabeth St, very near the whole Melbourne Central experience, when a woman thrust out her hand and gave me a ticket. "Want a ticket?" she said.

Woah! Hang on, where is the brainspace for this kind of activity? i'm not sure i can cope!! An Australian citizen freely handing out tickets? This Two-Hour Ticket had about 2 hours left on it too. And the tram was swarming with inspectors.

How generous, how lovely, how utterly delectably sweet. Thanks to that angelic lady.

getting used to Brunswick

2008-06-08T12:06:00.002-03:00

i have to say, it's quite an adventure moving across to the other side of the Merri Creek. Time seems to move more slowly now because there's so much newness to absorb.

"Sparkly Square" is a much more fun than Northcote Plaza;
Walking distance to miles and miles of parkland - but i'm walking, not jogging yet;
Hundreds of new restaurants within minutes of home ..
many more cheap variety stores, with all manner of precious junk (which i am not thinking about buying, at all! Too much junk in my life already, which i still haven't cleared out.)

Sydney road has a different character from Northcote High Street .. can't quite describe the difference just yet. Larger range of ethnic diversity? More established cafes and hotels?

But all these new cafes, i need a local tour guide ..
and where are all the musicians madly improvising?

Thank Evans i'm still cycling distance from the Northcote hill.

image thanks to deepwarren at flickr

vanishing piano

2008-06-05T20:26:00.000-03:00

One of the best moments during the whole moving-house extravaganza, was waking up at 7.30am on the Saturday, to find Bethany in the hall pushing the piano with a friend toward the front door. With bravado and gumption.

i don't usually think of a piano as something easily shifted, but Bethany and gray and all their gang hoisted it up on top of gray's ute, and after much hilarity, drove it away down the cobblestone laneway.

The fun bit was when Ricardo started playing the thing on the ute, at top volume. At eight in the morning. Neighbours did not complain. His playing is much better than mine.

As soon as i can get a photo or two from B., i shall post here.

love michael

nearly there .. thanks to angelic friends

2008-05-22T06:19:00.005-03:00

Lucky me to have such wonderful friends and colleagues helping me out !!!

Annie the angel comes over and completely re-organises the garage sale, so that it looks like useful things rather than a pile of junk; and then spends all day over here packing boxes for me. What a darling.

Tim brings croissants for breakfast. Ooo yum what could be better. Not only that, but then he packs up all my telephone and internet gadgets neatly into a box. Plus, he's going to take away the fish and his tank. Yay Tim.

Jude and jody-Lee go mad on the council rubbish collection pile. Just keep piling they say.

Lovely Czek offers me a room even though he really doesn't want or need a housemate.

Will and Jodie lend me their van on two separate days, meaning they have to get all thinkie on their schedules. So sweet!

Margot spends hours packing up all of the precious ceramic art, and then takes it back to her place for storage.

Amarina lets me store a mountain of boxes in her huge Land Rover called Keith. Plus, she brings up so many coffees for Louise and me, when our kitchen is not functioning. Am is a very generous and wonderful woman, so kind.

Lou does such an amazing job on the kitchen, cleaning it like it hasn't been cleaned before (well, since Jude and Jody lived in the house, and Jude scrubbed every last bit of it.)

Then plenty of people - Ben, Maggie, Daryl, Deb, Zoe, Libby, Amarina - send across possible ideas for rooms or houses.

Fraser asks every time he sees me, and offers cardboard boxes in case i have to live under a bridge. Later i find out he's been asking Syl, "Can michael use that space under the cupboard?"

Some days i feel like i'm surrounded by angels.
thank you all .. so much !

May the universe bless you all with this kindness and more.

End of Era .. Swansong

2008-05-20T00:43:00.002-03:00

So, the final party was a bit wild and messy.

One of the neighbours (overlooking from James St) came up and said, "i don't usually complain about your parties .. because you're finished by one or two .. but last Saturday was just too much".

"i agree," i replied, "it was awful".

Kept going 'til dawn; people thrashing away in the music room and chattering drunkenly. We imagine that there's a cone of silence around our little rustic village castle, because people never complain. But no.

"oh, if it was your swansong .. i guess it's okay," said the neighbour when i told her we were moving out. And got back on her bike.

Now i have temporary housing in Barkly St Coburg (phew!)...
will start looking again when i can muster the energy.

Thanks so much to all who came along, much appreciated!!

"When anything will do" .. housing descriptions

2008-05-09T19:44:00.002-03:00

Normally you expect titles like "When only the best will do" and "Perfect position" etc.

Here's a sensational effort from some real estate agent in the northern suburbs:

"When Anything Will Do"

oh yeah, spell it out for me.

.. 'ideal shared student accommodation' etc

in Glenroy.

evictions everywhere

2008-05-06T06:10:00.004-03:00

Don't know what's going on with the Rental Market, but when i heard Ju-Yuen and her partner were given notice - for the second time in a year - i sighed with despair.

Two weeks ago, David came into work looking depressed, and told us that with his partner and child he'd been given notice. Four years they've lived in this place, and they're not looking forward to the idea of having to find somewhere else.

Rohan at work is telling stories of boarding houses in West Heidelberg that fit whole families into a room (for under $200 a week). The Four Corners episode on Debt - a month ago - was horribly depressing. Apparently the number of mortgage repossessions by banks in the last twelve months is higher than during the entire early nineties recession (in Australia i think).

So .. anyway.

Fingers crossed, eh ?!

i read today that Melbourne is growing at a furious rate. 1500 people moving here every week. Nice to be so popular.

(News check: "Supreme Court files show lenders claiming a record 57 homes a week, triple the level of five years ago." from the Hun, feb '08. )

crazy coburg house / maze

2008-04-20T19:44:00.001-03:00

This was hilarious. Saturday morning, Lou and i went out searching for real estate joy; and found the most bizarre setup in Coburg, just behind the train station .. minutes from the mall. Amazing house .. just really strange!

One of those weird houses that must have been built in bits .. an enormous garage, with room for six cars; a tunnel from the outdoor (covered and concreted) area to the garage; extra toilets and baths deposited here and there throughout this warren.

Two front-ish rooms with two doors each, ie thoroughfare; and with no hallway, so if you made these two rooms into bed-type areas, you'd always have to go through somebody's room to get from the front door to the kitchen and back.

It was advertised as a three bedroom house, but everyone had to go and ask the agent, "Which rooms exactly are you claiming to be bedrooms?"

She said that the previous tenants had hooked up some kind of curtain arrangement around the covered / outdoor living area, and turned that into a bedroom.

Okay. But you're renting this out without the curtain arrangement ...?

It's great the way you get to see inside all these insanely different houses. Great.

phew! 60 days

2008-04-10T21:17:00.005-03:00

Well John was none too happy about it, but we received the proper documentation by registered mail, and now we've got until 26th May to find suitable dream house accommodation.

Which means probably a PaRTaY on the 2nd of May, and possibly a garage sale at some point too. Will keep you posted.

If you know of a dream house in East Brunswick - large, ramshackle, beautiful.. please let us know. Any leads much appreciated!

kind regards, michael

(image by minifig at flickr, thanks!)

Going "the legal path"

2008-03-25T22:36:00.003-03:00

Well i took the latest letter down to John this morning. It's fully legalese. He wasn't so happy. "Oh you're going the legal road are you? But we've always been friendly."

Well until you gave us half the legal requirement for notice to vacate, yeah.

i hope things don't get ugly.

Anyone got a spare 5br mansion for under $2000 a month?

Tee hee.

a slight breather, more time

2008-03-19T20:53:00.003-03:00

Good news, everyone!

When we consulted the very wonderful Tenants Union o' Victoria (tuv.org.au), they told us that the Notice to Vacate was legally invalid, and the minimum period is 60 days - even when you're not on a fixed term lease (ie month-to-month).

So, technically you could just ignore the letter, the lawyer told us. but if you're on good terms with your landlord you might want to tell them, so they can draft another letter. Give them a chance to get it right.

Hmm, let me think ..

rental disaster

2008-03-12T00:56:00.005-03:00

Oh no, the day has come. We thought things were a bit strange when Bobby the new landlord started having his mail directed to our mailbox. I think i'm still in shock.

So John comes around yesterday evening and asks to see me. He's got a letter, and he says, "i don't think you're going to like what's in there."

Sure enough, our remaining time in the beautiful house on the hill has shrunk dramatically. From "the foreseeable future", to 31 days. Notice to vacate.

No, it didn't say 'vacation'.

Ick. Now i'm upset. Don't know exactly what's going on in John's family situation, but somebody wants to destroy their father's vegetable garden as well as the best rental home in Melbourne.

Ouch. So if anyone has any leads on a new and marvellous place for michael or lou to stay, let me know. Thanks.

Yes, i'd like two large well-lit rooms, gorgeous views of city or parkland, music room, polished floors, big kitchen, huge backyard, plenty of really good heating, good eco-design, close to northcote and city, lovely housemates and friendly landowners, all for under five centi per moon.

Yep, that'd be good.

Sheffield Murals

2008-02-15T03:45:00.002-04:00

Public art is more popular in Tasmania than i realised. Here's a whole town that devoted itself to supporting local artists by painting murals on every available surface (Sheffield, slightly East of Cradle Mountain).

And i caught a picture of this very strange dog. I thought it must have been an elaborate kind of poodle. "Look at this dog," i said to Tim. "You idiot, that's an Alpaca," he replied. Oh, yes i see that now.

Plus, this little valley called Wilmot, on the way to Cradle Mountain, has an abundance of Gorgeous Quirky letterboxes; and even a mural, celebrating said boxes.

(image links to larger version)

You'll see on the map, that Sheffield is right near a place called Promised Land.

View Larger Map

photos from Tasmania

2008-02-04T23:04:00.000-04:00

Here's my collection of photos from Tasmania (selected). Or, view via flickr (slideshow).

comments welcome
kthxbye

Murdunna Mur-what?

2008-02-01T04:01:00.000-04:00

i'd never heard of Murdunna, but now i know it's a beautiful part of an unbelievably gorgeous world. These Tasmanians have got something really special going on, i'm telling you.

Well it's on the Tasman Peninsula, so like the rest of us Australians they're not always 100% imaginative with the naming. But "Murdunna" that's .. experimental innit?

Thanks so much Julie and Annie for hosting me and my tent. Really lovely to hang out with you and the kids.

World's best fish and chip shop - who would have thunk it? Huge tubs with exotic fish swimming about. No photos, darn!

Wineglass Heaven

2008-01-17T03:48:00.000-04:00

i've been waiting a long time to visit Freycinet. Such is my geographical ignorance, i thought it took up most of the Eastern coast of Tasmania; thankfully i am more knowledgeable now.

The trek across the hill to Wineglass Bay is sumptuous and rich. i was so excited i almost ran up the hill, but had to remember the injured ankle.

Lucky me, i got to visit my lovely cousins in Dolphin Sands, Swansea; the most wonderfully delightful people whose humour and grace kept me thoroughly nourished. Highlights were:

Fi's brilliant cooking,
Tim's voracious bike-riding,
Mikey's killer bowling,
Lucy's competitive edge,
Martin and Polly's bathroom stories and
Richard's Slivovitz.

Yum! Thank you all.

Cradle Mountain Joy

2008-01-15T03:36:00.000-04:00

What a breathtaking experience! Cradle Mountain is jaw-droppingly beautiful; i'm so glad i went there. And very happy that i wound up with a flat tyre at the very summit (no, the carpark really) meaning that i had to stay overnight and get more walking joy in the morning.

The walk around the lake was strenuous enough for me, with my flat-tyre-style ankle (mild recurring sprain); interesting how the whole thing has been made into a boardwalk, so that plants can continue to grow underfoot. Maybe one day i'll do the five day overland trip.

Driving down the next day was unnerving, as i was driving my wonderful sister's car with one of those strange 'space-saving' pretend tyres instead of the real thing. "Don't go over seventy," i was warned.

Ended up going through Sheffield (the Mural Town) to Devonport - one hundred km to find a replacement tyre. And no phone reception anywhere until just outside the Ferry City.

So it turned out that Fiona was giving birth to Son Number Two in Halifax just as i was walking through the fields of joy. Yay for Fiona, Paul, Sasha and the New Thing. That Sociology Lecturer, she is a Legend!

Love youse all for reading,
michael

Big Tassie Penguin

2008-01-12T21:59:00.001-04:00

Stepped off the ferry at six am, and the furtherest (sic) i could travel was the wee hamlet of Penguin, twenty minutes away. Largest indoor sunday market on the mid-north coast of Tasmania; how could i resist?

There are penguin images and statues everywhere as you'd expect, and i've been promised a Big Penguin. Holding my breath for that one. Better not be that tiny penguin outside the visitor centre.

View Larger Map

Postscript: how many penguins can you see in this picture?

Do they serve penguins to the folks with age-related issues, or do they bring meals to the elderly penguins?

(More penguin photos over on flickr; eg slideshow.)

Still waiting to hear how Fiona and Paul are going in Halifax with their current adventure. Hanging out for some news. Sending out the positive wishes, prayers etc.

cemetery stroll

2008-01-06T09:07:00.000-04:00

Hello Dear Reader. i Spent boxing day with the very delightful Lynne, whose baby is three months old now.

We walked around the Melbourne cemetery, which must be something in the order of 6000 zillion buckaroos worth of real estate - it's around forty acres of prime envious developer territory. Imagine being a developer walking through that property, i'd be contemplating sending my ancestors into space to get my grubby hands on that

... yes we spoke of the film 'The Loved One', from the classic Waugh novel. Where of course a funeral director builds a rocket to send loved ones into space. Omg. Lmfao!

We wandered through a different area i've never seen before, where the graves all date 1850-70, and the ground is dusty and bare. Names like Adelaide Ada reach out from crumbling tombstones; unlike the Italian areas that reach out with their recently polished marble from the edge of the newly laid roads.

Saw the Elvis memorial for the first time. i had no idea. i mean i've seen the JFK memorial waterfall outside the old parliament in the Treasury Gardens; but Elvis has a crypt in Melbourne? Yes He Does.

Then we watched "Trekkies", which is one of the strangest movies i've ever seen. i just want to put on my uniform, and start collecting little .. um .. things.

Came home to Californication; the wickedest and most seductive US comedy drama i've seen in a while. it's lovely to see Duchovny take on another role and relish it. The blocked writer somehow a metaphor for the blocked actor phase he's finally cracked. i know there's only twelve episodes so i'm trying to take it slowly, draw out the pleasure.

So many people far away. When are Paul and Fiona coming home? They must be about to give birth right about now. Well, Fiona mostly. Go Fi, we're thinking of you.

At least KT was home for summer solstice. What a delight!
(no i don't believe in christmas. we call it michaelmas :)

Lots of love, michael

Farewell Thelma Ratcliffe

2007-12-19T08:27:00.003-04:00

awful tragedy, Tim's mum Thelma has kicked her bucket and shaken off This Mortal Coil.

Went to the shindig wake at Eamon's Red Scooter, where they played Thelma's last requests over the sound system. She wanted everyone to get up and dance, first to We Are Family, and then "oh what's that song, it's from Rocky Horror .. yes the Time Warp".

So sure enough, as Tim said, "You are evil if you don't dance" everybody got up to shake their booties. What a great dance, such a good bunch of people the Ratcliffes.

Delightful send off for an amazing woman. Thank you Thelma for all your loveliness and straight-talking.

genetically modified cat

2007-12-17T03:04:00.000-04:00

Louise's cat Zena is a total darling, but he just isn't interested in catching any kind of rodent. Not for dinner, not for fun. Not at all.

"They tried to make me catch a rodent, i said no no no !"
(To the tune of Amy Winehouse 'Rehab'.)

Now i think i know why .. someone has been messing with his genes. in this video from Reuters, they say the mouse has been altered to remove the smell of fear from his hereditary knowledge bank.

But what have they done to the cat? Are they saying that cats only chase mice because the mice are afraid? That the cat is culturally inclined, rather than genetically, to chase the rodent? This opens up a whole can of cat food!

Anyway, this cat looks a whole lot like Zena. i think he's been living a double life.

beware of crocodiles

2007-12-07T02:40:00.000-04:00

Delightful friends, i gotta say that .. That infamously strange hotel experience was not the sum of my travel time in Cairns, nor did it epitomise the overall joy and usefulness.

As well as working for the community engagement project, hosting an online conference session and presenting a work project at the adult learning australia conference
.. i went SnoRkelling on the Reef!

Yay for SnoRkelling! On my birthday i went to Green island and dived headlong into the reef. Covered up in a huge lycra body suit to protect against the stingers and lice, i gazed in bliss at the totally gorgeous, wondrous underwater panoramas. Mmm, delicious and delightful. Yum. i could have snorkelled all night, um .. day.

Cairns is a beautiful place, especially when you get out of town. Rainforest, reef, tropical rivers .. my time was a bit too work-focussed, so i was mostly indoors and in the city.

i've never seen a city beach more abandoned .. perhaps because of the "Beware of Crocodiles" signs. One person walking on the beach in ten days. Thousands strolling along the promenade.

Amazing history panels. Turns out there used to be a fabulous beach with stunning sand dunes, but dredging in the 1930's destroyed all that. Need for shipping channels etc. (Are you paying attention, Victorian govt? no, i guess not.)

i also caught up with the very amazing Avril Duck who is a theatre director up in Gordonvale. Avril used to live and study in Melbourne; she's preparing for a play in 2008 focussing on the experiences of local parents. The other week they had a reading on the radio. Sounds good .. perhaps i can post a copy here.

And look, i carried a book around with me the whole week (yes, that book), and i was often wearing my iRiver mp3 player, with wires hanging off me everywhere. In very many places people glanced at me with no suspicion whatsoever, just the friendly happy-go-lucky Cairns vacant gaze. Lovely place .. i'd go there again.

thanks for reading,
xo michael

by the way, this video made me laugh:

(images: thanks to richard ling and melilab at flickr)

That Cairns Pub Story

2007-11-14T23:22:00.000-04:00

When i went dancing in that hotel in Cairns, i really didn't think too much about the consequences. But i did think about how people might perceive me - a fortyish male caucasian on my own. So i tried to be discreet, non-threatening .. not stare at anyone.

Full story over at DiscoBook, another place ..

byron sun brings much joy

2007-10-16T07:51:00.000-03:00

How delightful is the sun! When you haven't had a holiday in over a year, there is truly nothing like a work-sponsored trip to Byron Bay. Yes i am the luckiest person alive, no doubt about that. Here's the whole story:

got bitten by a tick the very first night, and it still hurts three weeks later (on my ear)
went to a super boring cultural evening, where the local singers all had US accents
narrowly avoided a brown snake crawling across my sarong
drove my hire car for 200km along unsealed roads (trying not to read the 'thou shalt not' sticker prominent on the windscreen), then later took all the wheels off to sweep out the tell-tale orange dust
went to the most outrageously stupid 'rainbow gathering'
watched really bad cable tv

on the plus side

saw whales and dolphins frolicking all over the shop, pretty much parading down the main street
sat in on new enrolments at the Byron Community Centre
had a whole cabin to myself for days on end
walked fifteen kilometres along Belongil Beach to Brunswick Heads, and back in a day
bought organic carrots in the Mullumbimby grocery
swam in blissfully cold mountain springs in the Washpool National Park. mmmmm that was good.

so i came back, brown all over, with knotted hair, and in a very tranquil state, but in need of a strong cultural fix. Lou suggested a gig down at Glitch bar on the Sunday night, just as i got off the plane. Enclosed in a small dingy dark bar in north fitzroy surrounded by strange young people wearing black and making weird musical noises .. i felt so at home.

football causes pain

2007-09-22T08:33:00.000-03:00

So i had a go at playing indoor soccer. The boss got a team together, and joined us into a competition at the council. We were so bad, we lost again and again, eg 13 goals to 3.

The other teams played rough, although it was supposed to be friendly, and they had skills - which we did not. Rohan could do a fair simulation of Maradona, Maria kicked a major goal, and Nick the coach was a real player, but i could barely stay upright. Massive hand bruises thanks to falling on hard gym surface. Ouch.

Trying to drive later on, had to get Louise to operate the gear stick. Too friking painful. That's it, i'm over sport for ever.

xo michael

(image, The Goalie's Anxiety at the Penalty Kick by Gertrud K. at flickr, thanks)

knockout Finurgen

2007-09-02T21:32:00.000-03:00

i've had another buckwheat experience ..

Saturday night was so great, Madame Zu Zu was in fine form, and the Open Studio crowd so much more into her than at Bar Open the week before. Dancing everywhere. Lovely vibes, happy people.

but then i tried one of the new crepes.

i was so looking forward to it. and i tested for buckwheat reaction before diving in; but i really should have asked. i must be healthy at the moment because it took three mouthfuls to set me off. so i went home, and fortunately had a couple of Finurgen tablets left over from the time i had to go to hospital after my birthday pizza night last year ..

The tablets stop all the symptoms and allow me to sleep. Good.
but, oh boy, a couple of Finurgen tablets would knock out a horse!

The next morning i couldn't move, i could barely talk. Tim and Sam came around, wanting to take me out to breakfast, and all i could say was "Bbbckwhhht lllst nght, ca'nnt mmmv"

.. and i'm still feeling groggy monday morning;

xox, michael

(image: hi dad by tashland at flickr)

jamie lidell is good

2007-07-22T02:17:00.000-03:00

Hello Paul, this is the Jamie Lidell guy i was talking about .. wild electro soul ..

performing multiply live

Video clip for you got me up

working in a cubicle

2007-07-19T00:41:00.000-03:00

okay i'm at work, so i shouldn't be looking at YouTube. Except i was looking for work reasons. i wanted some music related to time: all i could find was a Snow Patrol song from that horrible tv show "prison break". Which i used in class. The kids thought it was lame (they were right), but they picked up it was about 'doing time' (which i'd missed).

.. and i don't work in a cubicle. But this lady does. Well she pretends she does. There's one episode where she gets people to send in photos of people crammed into their work cubicle. There's another where she puts on a super hero outfit, and decodes some management speak. i think she's funny. Here's my favourite, Cube Lady's take on office romance:

Anyway you can follow her crazy adventures at the cubefarm.
Hey who was that magician that Nathan loves?
The one who convinces people on the street to hand over their valuables?

hello lovely friends in new york city

2007-06-29T04:59:00.000-03:00

i am very envious.
Here is a pic of Tim, Fiona, Sasha and Paul on the train in New York City. i'm following their adventures over on samandtim.blogspot. Their blog is like a fun game, where the reader has to make up what's going on, from the pictures and the headings.

ok, here goes:
SamandTim and PaulandFiona are on a train, with Sasha, and the train is in New York. They are all travelling from the bronx zoo back to the hotel where they'll have dinner. And Sasha is drinking from his favourite red cup. Just after Sam took the photo, Paul sighed and said, "Are you ever going to stop taking photos?" Which nearly made Fiona snap at him. But she took a deep breath instead.

Tim is grinning because he loves seeing Sam do funny things on the subway; she's being zany while she handles the camera. Sam made a joke after taking the shot, and everyone laughed. Then Sasha looked up and smiled, saying, "Was i in the photo?"

PS Funky Shirt, Paul!

thesis completion !!

2007-06-12T22:18:00.000-03:00

hey guess what, handing in thesis right now!!

yes i feel very amazing, totally thrilled and completely happy. Oh the relief. Now i can go out dancing every night for a week.

it was a chilly wednesday morning when i finally had the whole thing printed off and bound. Had to print several pages double sided with colour vs b/w. Hours at the office after work. Drove to Footscray, returned half a million library books, and handed over the two-inch thick volume. "Well that must be a relief," said the head of department. Yeah. i'll be feeling that relief for months!

PS sigh, one day paul will post another story to our collaborative blog! i am sure of it. No, actually i'm not sure. i think he must have lost the ability to communicate. Maybe he poured red wine all over his computer. or maybe they don't have internet in canada. i wonder if he even reads the blog? He never comments. Now that he's a North American he doesn't want to hear about Melbourne any more. i bet he never even told his friends about this blog.

He just went, "Start a blog michael, we can do this together" but he forgot to say, "i'll post once every three months". And i forgot to say, "blogging is a weekly thing, you use it to keep in touch with friends". Maybe he didn't say "start a blog" maybe he said "it's foggy here" ..

tim and sam jump on a plane

2007-06-10T23:07:00.000-03:00

Latest Updates at samandtim.blogspot

very exciting news this morning at 7am, Nathan Godkin drove Tim and Sam out to Tullamarine Airport, for the first leg of their trip to New York City !!! i can't believe they're going with only a handbag worth of luggage between them. Most of the space in tim's backpack is taken up by paul's new blundstones ..

Here's wishing the best of travel times for these two amazing people. i've heard a rumour they're going to visit Paul and Fiona in the land of Halifax. Hey Four Fingers Gang, i'll be following your adventures .. much love michael the thumb

music on the hill

2007-05-18T21:59:00.001-03:00

Thank you Sasha and Paul for your great DJ story!! and Sam for sharing your funky videos.

the musical highlight for me would have to be the night of farewell for housemate Louise and gray. It was their party really, and they did some amazing setup, including candles down the alleyway, and a genuine earth-mapped pinyata, with roaming dinosaurs hanging off the hills hoist.

Lu made her room into a band room, with drum kit, amplifiers and all sorts of electronic connections to complement the Farfisa organ. She was so thrilled when people brought their instruments to play (but not so thrilled when Ben played so hard that he bled on her guitar).

Now there's blood on my guitar you @**&\ .. and it's all your fault ..

My favourite moment was in the back yard, under the summer tent, Renato on piano accordion, Kiri on the fiddle and Tarquin playing clarinet. Sublimey!

Rhiannon said at one point, "We were expecting the usual michael quiet evening, and we arrive to a Genuine Northcote Party." People kept played until five am; but by then i was asleep, having watched the very final episode of Buffy downstairs with Sam and Booshi.

(They watched the whole seven series in around ten weeks! Now that's an achievement.)

Now, post departure, the house on the hill at James street is still its usual mess of cables flying from room to room. Louise has moved out and headed over to San Francisco; she and gray started their adventure by seducing their way into the qantas lounge, ha ha ..

much love to youse all, michael

Hi Ya and Hey Ya

2007-04-26T20:40:00.000-03:00

Sasha put on an album last week of remixes to Nasrat Ali Khan - StarRise. As much as anything that Sasha does it was the right type of music for moment.... he makes better music choices than I do... next step the great American novel. Perhaps i should let him loose on my paintings... hmmm i had always expected him to outshine me but not by the age of three.

my sister the video director

2007-04-20T00:53:00.000-03:00

Hey guess what my sister the international traveller has put together a video about child labourers in Cambodia. How good is that!

(i mean, it's not good that there are factories employing children to do shit work, no .. it's good that Katie gets to do something creative and useful while she's at work! and i mean the video is really good. Yay Katie Chalk!!

airport disco adventure

2007-04-03T07:38:00.000-03:00

Sam and Tim went to Tasmania. i went to the airport. That was fun too, especially when we rocked up the first time, and there was serious disco playing in the car as the kids got out. Tim says, "You can't go til the song's finished." But i was mean, and i drove off, dancing in the driver seat.

It was a great mix, on 3RRR, song after song of goodness. We heard a full on version of oh, what was it, with Siouxsie on backing vocals .. remind me Tim.

mm, take a look at Uncle Paul's view, on the Ratty Blog. i wanna go to Tassie already.

hipy papy bthuthdth thuthda Paulie

2007-03-27T07:16:00.000-03:00

it's pauli's birthday todaaay he's a wonderful artist and educator who lives in Halifaxi with his lovely belle Fiona and their amazing Sasha, hope you have a wonderful day magnificent paul lots of love plus hugs michael

(picture of fountain near Salamanca, Hobart)

silly videos

2007-03-24T00:16:00.000-03:00

Sam and Booshi downstairs don't have TV, they just watch DVD and youTube. Especially The Moon from the Mighty Boosh. At the New Year Party, Boosh had a youTube room going downstairs. It was fun. They watched Evolution of Dance.

i really enjoyed David Attenborough narrating slug sex, it is astonishing.

Who is David Blaine? Is this street film a spoooof, or is he the real magician? Forget channel nine, i will watch the whole series

(eyes roll), much love from micahel

if a ten ton truck ..

2007-03-23T22:45:00.000-03:00

i've been singing the smiths' epochal-iptic tune, 'there is a light that never goes out', a lot lately, but yesterday the local significance hit me.

"and in the darkened underpass, i thought oh god my chance has come at last, but then a strange fear gripped me and i just couldn't ask"

so i hope if there was someone in the Burnley Tunnel with a burning desire to express their love, that they got it out in time.

Harsh.

photo stolen from tha age

Requiem for Little Maxie

2007-02-25T21:00:00.000-04:00

Sad to say, gotta face facts, the little fella has gone to meet his Big Cat Mama in the Sky. It's been nearly two months now, and i still get the sads sometimes. Ju-Yuen the amazing artist made a beautiful card to remember Max, so he's sitting on the bookshelf in spirit now (pic top right).

Maybe i've been in denial. "No, he's just gone on a holiday. Yes i know he's never been to Venus Bay before, but this time he just went."

i think the clinching moment was when Annie came to visit and said, "Ugh, what is happening to his nose? That is seriously unhealthy. Get me a bucket i'll drown him myself." The cancer was really bad. Or did she say a spade?

Lovely Shannon came to accompany Maxie on his last trip to the vet. He was a bit shocked when the drug hit him, "Ow!" said the look on his face, as he gave a big hiss, and slumped over.

There was all this "What do we do next?" difficulty, as Sol said i could have his ashes back, or take his body with me. Then he went, "Just go home, come back later to pay," cos the distress was taking hold.

Huge thanks to all the people and animals who gave Maxie so much love in his life of adventure and serious relaxation. Huge thanks to Max for all the comfurt and attitude.

how un-australian!

2007-02-19T02:04:00.000-04:00

Questions for the Citizenship Test: How many runs did Bradman make in his second last innings? What colour is a Frangipanni Bush? How many people died at Gallipoli? Which highway was Mel Gibson riding in his recent audition for Mad Schmacks? What happens to twisties packets when you put them in the oven? What happened to Judy at the end of Seven Little Australians? What was Michael Hutchins trying to do when he died?

whatever. Found this series of Chaser videos on YouChoob
One selection here, you can find the rest. We can swot together, then do the test.

Yes i should be studying, okay.

Its -2 and I'm off for a surf

2007-01-15T11:34:00.000-04:00

You may have heard the rumours - so here is the proof. I went surfing with my new pal chris AGAIN [who does know how to surf - see bottom picture], who had his new mini waterproof digital camera. So here is a few photos of me floundering in near freezing water - around 4 degrees C. It was actually very pleasant except for the ice cream headache from ploughing headfirst into an Atlantic wave..... very cold!! needless to say! WINTER SURFING in CANADA

As you can see though it was a very sunny, but really windy day in January - see the foam sailing off into the air in the back left .... enough information you say...

yes true,

but isn't it ironic in part that the boy from oz goes surfing in near freezing water, in the Atlantic Ocean, in the middle of winter whilst managing to avoid it for thirtysomething years back home????

grey skies are wonderful

2007-01-06T20:31:00.000-04:00

The melb'n city skyline is invisible again, but this time it's great news: a light shower is passing through, bringing the cool change after five days of side-splitting heat. (Like pigs roasting on a spit, we were!)

Half an hour ago we had bright blue skies and the muggy remnants of yesterday's tropical torment. Now there's a veil of mist across the city, and the delightful chill of rain on trees. You know that delicious fragrance, when the rain hits greenery?

mmmmm! oh that was a light shower, fifteen seconds of intense rain, a few sporadic drops and it's clearing again.

Okay, enough weather report, back to study. mic x.

Smoky skies again

2006-12-28T22:15:00.000-04:00

Big shout out to the Martini-Mahers in Halifax, Nova Discotia. Hope you're all making the best of a chilly winter, and holding on tight to loved ones and nearby cousins. Bundles of love from this side of the world, to youse all.

It is still smoky in melbourne, but we only get the smoke, while the country folk get all the fire.

Intrepid blogger, Sam Downing writes about the yellow haze. "Victoria is burning like a mofo." (What's a mofo?)

(Sam also writes about the recent mic=40 gig .. btw, Sam gets the prize for most cheers on arrival, best cookies, and leaving a huge Rock Festival to come to my birthday.

Backward in High Heels

2006-12-20T08:52:00.000-04:00

Well i just found out that the astonishingly quirky and brilliant Lynne and Miki have finally put their work on the web. If you missed this show at the Friends of the Earth Ball (2005), or at ACMI Eyes Lies and Illusions, here's your chance to view c/- google video. Cos everything Fred Astaire did, Ginger Rogers had to do backwards, and in high heels !! (play the vid:)

We were lucky, when we went in to ACMI in Fed Square, on the 3rd December. When Tim arrived, Lynne was already over it, and had decided to stop. But he said, "oh go on, do it again," so fortunately i got there just in time for the very last showing. So much fun. There are rumours of a Country and Western style sequel.

Sid Secret goes Viral

2006-12-19T19:25:00.000-04:00

Here in Melbourne, smoke covers the city again. The sun peers through the haze like a big red sore eye. It's hard to breathe. New Zealander firefighters are shown injured on the television.

Australia trounces England in the Ashes Test Cricket. Another bloody summer. The streets were full of road rage yesterday.

All sorts of people put things online. Take a look at this crazy guy - he calls himself Sid Secret. i think he's the next LonelyGirl15.

music for the fistive season

2006-12-13T19:54:00.000-04:00

There's plenty of interesting music around for the festival of christ. Suburban Sprawl have collected special recordings from their stable of musicians. Eg Jingle Hell from Ryan Allen. Looks like this has been going on for years. (Grab the Zipped albums, under the album covers.)

Plus the "8-bit christmas" which i'm guessing is some kind of electro-jingle.

As well as a thing called Santastic, from dj BC. (Can only get this via Torrent, so you'll need some downloading skills.)

(All this came via Brooklyn Vegan music, someone in NYC who posts links to downloadable music, eg remixes of Thom Yorke, or 50 Shots, response to a local shooting.)

Are they worth listening to? Well i'm enjoying the Thom Yorke remix right now, as i get back to the research ..

love plus hugs michael

country on fire, but we soak up the violins on a bloody hot night

2006-12-12T03:28:00.000-04:00

Reasons to be cheerful about living in Canada:

no springtime hayFever in September-December!
no shroud of smoke covering the entire city where you live so the buildings are only faintly visible (ie. your entire country is not on fire).
no days spent inside cowering from 42 degree heat.

Seriously, i am sitting looking across the city of Melbourne, and i cannot see the city skyscrapers. A faint outline is all that remains. Can only imagine how crap life is for people living in the bush. Fires joining up all over the shop, and no water to fight them with. Ouch. Your heart goes out, dunnit!!

extraordinary loveliness
i have had the most wonderful birthday celebration, the final in a big series. Jude and Jody-Lee surpassed themselves in cooking, hospitality and astounding generosity. I have no idea how i shall ever return such huge favours. People who missed out on these Footscray Gourmandes' sumptuous sausage rolls, goat's cheese tartlets, cucumber and feta wraps, as well as Annie's lemon slices - are the unluckiest people in the world, i'm very sorry.

Among the very few things to go horribly wrong were: no Martini-Mahers, and no sister KT. Oh and Lola couldn't make it either, despite being coincidentally in the Dandenongs that night. Many apologies, and a few unexpected absences, thanks to the 37 degree heat.

Healthy, happy, but Grumpiness Approaches
Yes the evil buckwheat monster has left my body, and i am healthy again, fresh as a light thunderstorm in sunny springtime melbourne. Phew.

Now it's back to study time, so my Grumpy-meter will be rising. (No, no, michael, embrace the joy of learning!)

(Here's an old halloween entry)
i have been spending far too much time online as usual, and found this astonishingly silly 'tv' serial: "The only thing dry about this Halloween was the Canada Dry."

urrrgh

2006-11-09T15:30:00.000-04:00

Well hello there.

are you ok. I have tried to call a few times but have not yet manged to get through. My phone cards are not getting very clear reception - and sometimes says that I cannot get through to your number!

Some random shots - well sort of random.

1. photo from flikr. there are some great photos on there. this is downtown on a busy Satdy night. everyone is crowding around the american sailor who just got stabbed around the corner... tru story [well except for the part the relates to photo].

2. halifax in the pre cold. the cold of autumn that is. It is warmer today than in this photo ...that is because its raining... 70mm worth. actually I am sitting in my house sailing across the atlantic at present. perhaps i should take a photo.

have done some teaching but none this week. everything feels a little like it has slowed down again. there is apparently someone who has recently moved from melbourne - they just moved next door to the Mac repair guy. They are here to help with the Halifax commonwealth games bid. The Mac repair guy spoke of a few of their frustrations... lo and behold they sound the same as ours!!

must remember it is hard to move overseas and start again.

Where is Birkenhead Lake?

2006-11-01T03:03:00.000-04:00

Hey Paul have you ever heard of Birkenhead Lake? It looks completely stunning. Found this image on flickr, and want to know right now. I could look it up i suppose, but you're the Canadian baby. I wonder if it's close to Halifaxi. Maybe it's in the Rockies. Oh i found it, in British Columbia. Funny name for a province, imagine if we lived in British Victoria. (But i guess we were never at war with the US.)

Oh, there's a whole pool of images on flickr dedicated to cheesy Canadian Beauty. Ciao for Niao, michael

Candidly Canadia

2006-10-30T15:34:00.000-04:00

C'est trois frois.....

Goodness golly and gosh. Its already freezing me balls in the buckets of ice. and the wind it just howls through you like your flesh and bone have no substance. Is it particularly cold for the locale... no. Unfortunately I am just whingeing about low plus temperatures like 5 or 7 degrees Celcius!!!!!

The soles of the leaves are leaving in droves and are off to florida. They of course leave their mortal remains to clump and rot in the damp cool earth. We had Fiona's friend Fanny stay ffor the weekend which was really nice. We had a night on the town with food and drinks and running between shelters in the blistering rain. Good god! who really invented this climate called...winter [of course it is still officially just Autumn].

Our stuff finally came on friday.... it was soo weird to see it all. The last time was at Ryan street... and you guys were all round for dinner and drinks. Getting our stuff I think made me a bit more aware that we have really moved. But it was also great to see it again - it also means that I can get more info to NSCAD and so on....

Anyways apart from the weather and our stuff coming things do seem a little more manageable...mostly.

Canadia oh Canadia

2006-10-25T04:43:00.000-03:00

Okay i just found these beautiful shots of Canadia and really i'm seeing if blogger will show it on the screen. Talk about cheesey, and the second shot is all squeezed, but there are some nice pics too. The squirrel is funny. Oh no, this isn't grumpy either. We can delete it, really.

ox mic

Cool Yuppies in a Canadian Mansion

2006-10-15T23:39:00.000-03:00

Found this post from a couple of extremely cool and friendless bloggers also in Halifax / Melbourne;

Link: Cool With No Friends: we're yuppies now

i love the pictures of Paul and Fiona's new house, and hey Sasha looks so happy :)

By the way i am grumpy now. This time, not because Paul is a slack blogger, no it's great to have new stories about Apple Picking Adventures, from not quite freezing Halifax. Thanks Paul you are a champion blogger.

i am grumpy because i'm working too hard, and still packing my lungs with suffocating poisons.

Worked two days up in Marysville (which was incredibly beautiful), on a conference, taking photos and recording audio from the sessions. The trouble was i underquoted by about half what i should charge them. You know, thinking, "Oh, they're community sector etc." Came back incredibly friggin exhausted. Next time i'll know.

But the dancing was good. Friday's session opened with an invitation to delegates, asking if they wished to veto any of the Thursday evening photos. Of course they did. Even i wanted to veto the photos where i'm dancing with a tiara on. But no, in the public interest i left these images in the mix.

Friday night wandered down to Open Studio where Eloise was hosting a farewell for Jodey, celebrated Fringe Director (Source/Sauce received multiple awards). Just one bloody cigarette, plus major fatigue, and i woke up today feeling like hell on wheels. No, actually, hell without any wheels. Ugh, drug addiction sucks.

Grumpy and Out,
xo michael

Apple Picking on the Other side o' d Werld

2006-10-15T21:41:00.000-03:00

Soo bloddy cheery. You feasting on the goodie of culture and we on a family excursion to the Annapolis Valley, NS, to go apple picking. Us with Sasha, his cousins Elie, Phoebe and Callum and Fiona's Sister Sarah and her hubby Phil - all packed into two cars and head North by North west in a glorious Autumn day for 'sum good' apples. [nova scotian expression - sum good]

Where is the grump in this. A beautiful day was had by all. All up about 100 lbs (50kilos??) of apples collected for distribution around the family.... but still I guess lots of pies, crumbles, slices, chutneys and sauces to be made for the winter ahead. The leaves are still grumley holding on for dear life to the trees and are al glorious Reds, Oranges and vivid yellows.

Fall is really a treat - kinda cold but nice, soft air and really beautiful soft colours... I can understand why Canadians rave about it. The other night was a real 'pea sooper' [English? expression] but an apt oneeverything felt like silk outisde. oooohhhh!.

The cold is not all that Canada is... to my relief at this stage. Although outside it is 5 degrees.\
Hope the feast continues in spring for youse,,

Northcote music feast: High Vibes

2006-10-08T08:39:00.000-03:00

What a windy hell of a day. So cold we forgot it was springtime, so windy the outdoor sun-shelter blew off its groundings and hurled itself across the yard to shatter some pottery, just before Jude and Jody arrived for the pancake brunch. "What's that?" everyone else asked about the frame with no canvas, ".. your meditation dome?"

There's nothing like mango pancakes to kick off the windiest music festival this side of the Yarra, and we had a gorgeous spread. The best moment was when Tim flipped his pancake and it went behind the stove. No, wait the best moment was watching Tim use giant chopsticks to recover his pancake from behind the stove - no chance, it's gone!

Wind and rain and hail surprisingly made for a really good festival, because you had to be inside to survive, and inside was where the best music would be found. (oh, that's why i saw no music last year, i was drinking in the sun all day)

Describe Eliza were fun and funky at the Peacock. Toy Band (jazz plus lots of toys, balloons, streamers, on and around stage) and Tzigas (Russian Gypsy music - plenty of this around Northcote at the moment) at 303 were terrific.

The Town Bikes and Die Roten Punkte impressed the crowds no end at the new Ballroom venue (usually only Italian receptions, but they opened it up for the day), and finally Martin Martini at Open Studio (Eloise's bar) - wild gypsy funk with a gravelly and skeletal voice. i liked these guys so much i bought the CD on the spot.

The Open Studio crowd kept going of course, when Tegan came out from behind the bar with her clarinet to draw the musos together for one or two final sets. Dance dance dance. Baby.
Yeah.

erudite grumpy

2006-09-14T16:35:00.000-03:00

erudite grumpy

Well, Well its the end of season blues..

how soon will the spring blossoms come with their delightful pollen and distract you away from this glum mood with their playful sneezes. Too Bad that the Bulldogs and the Saints suck - almost as much but actually nowhere as near my fallen from grace team that shall remain nameless.

Everything here seems a hurdle even good things emerge later as a hurdle in disguise. The latest thing is that the ATO has LOST my tax return!! Good luck hey!

Leaves are changing colour and there is a snap to the air, but there are still sunny days. We are moving into our house in two weeks and with some luck our stuff will be here by december so moving in this time will be easy as there will actually be nothing to move or unpack, or even sleep on!!

Anyway back to the weather....

Paul

okay that's it no more football

2006-09-10T00:44:00.000-03:00

well i'm devastated, i had to crawl under the covers for the whole of Saturday following St Kilda's painful display of losing the first elimination final. They had to work pretty hard at messing up all their opportunities to take control. Crikey malikey, i'm pissed now. i mean pissed in the american sense, ie pissed off. No i'm not drunk on a Sunday arvo.

powered by ODEO

My mother's about to come around and visit. i know she's just out of hospital, and i should visit her instead, but how can i drive over to her place now my car has a canary splattered all over the windshield? They only give you a month to get it fixed before you're not allowed to drive any more. How am i supposed to get it fixed if i can't drive it? Bloody hell!

This YouTube video is one i enjoyed - Life in adult community education office.

with heavy-hearted tears for the fallen saints, crap final game you guys,
regards michael

friday night football

2006-09-01T23:11:00.000-03:00

it's friday night, so michael joins Tim and Sam on the Edward St. couches for some friday night football. The western bulldogs look like they might lose to essendon, who are fighting to avoid the wooden spoon. Tim is annoyed because the Dogs are not playing well enough.

The highlight of the evening is this crazy dvd called 'The Critic', about Jay Sherman, NY Film Critic. Jay, a cartoon character, is bald fat and unpopular. His boss hates him because he cans all the holyhollywood films, and his highest rating is a 7. i loved the show. Jay is dark, depressed and funny. Must have been made last century because the twin towers loom over the NY cartoon skyline.

The bad news is Tim and Sam house being sold from under them again. Bloody property owners.

conversations across the world

2006-08-26T22:59:00.000-03:00

So Paul and Fiona left the wintry shores of Melbourne and headed to a small fishing village on the Atlantic, to become fishermen. It had been their dream for a long time, and they looked forward to the opportunity to hit the high seas during major storms.

no, wait Halifax isn't a fish, it's a university town. (i'm thinking Halibut with Gravlax)

Sorry .. so the Martini-Maher bunch departed the cloudy village of Melbourne, and headed off to enjoy a huge new experience lecturing peasants in the way of the first world.

i'm not getting this right, you'd better tell your own story.

Melbourne is getting a bit springy, and the darebin music feast has leapt into being with its first night in the new old town hall. Eloise's very new bar across the road picked up the late night scragglers with a wild evening of gypsy music, clarinet and tuba.

sorry to make youse all jealous, says michael