music on the hill

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

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

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

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

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

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 ..

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

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!

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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?

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

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

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