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)
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
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
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.
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.
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????
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.
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.
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.
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.
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
Reasons to be cheerful about living in Canada:
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.
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
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.
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
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
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,,
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
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
