Secret project almost underway

I have been busy getting ready for a special interweb / real world project. It's going to be a challenge, it's going to be fun, and I hope it will be interactive. It will also take a whole year! Should be underway before the end of the week.

In the meantime, here are some photos from Rose's 21st a couple of weekends ago. My lil sis is all growed. Apparently.

Stuck on a desert island

Recently at work we've had a competition to guess who has chosen the gigs and albums they would take with them if stranded on a desert island forever. It's fun guessing who goes with what, but it also got me thinking who I would choose. First I have to work out what I've seen. Here's a rough, and no doubt growing, as memory returns, gigs I've been to.

1990
Ziggy Marley

1994
Red Hot Chilli Peppers

1994
Bjork
Primus
Soundgarden
Ministry
TISM

1996
DJ Rap
Carl Cox
QBert
Biochip C
Crowded House

1997
Amon Tobin

1998
Armand Van Helden
DJ Krush
Underworld
Beastie Boys

1999
Mark Farina
Stacey Pullen
QBert

2000
Jan Jelinek
Derrick May
I:Cube

2001
Matthew Herbert
St Germain
The Necks

2002
Felix Da Housecat
Manitoba
Monolake
Kid Koala
Decoder Ring
Radiohead
RJD2

2003
Tortoise
The Strokes
Underworld
Basement Jaxx
Kings of Leon
Jet
Black Eyed Peas
dj/Rupture
Dirty Three
Lou Barlow
Madlib

2004
Dj Spooky
Jet
The Red Sun Band
Pivot
Kevin Blechdom
Mum
Aphex Twin
Luke Vibert
David Pajo

2005
Sonic Youth
David Grubbs
Boom Bip
Metro Area
Lotek HiFi
Dj Shadow
Greyboy
Sigur Ros
Monolake


2006
Kraftwerk
Mark Kozelek
Will Oldham
Burnt Friedman
Mark N
Jamie Lidell
SPOD
Dabrye
Joanna Newsom
Smog
Jose Gonzalez

2007
Hot Chip
Triosk
Four Tet

2008
Architecture in Helsinki
Spank Rock
Nick Cave and Grinderman
Mice Parade
PNAU
Angus and Julia Stone
Pivot
Andy Weatherall

Now, what the hell were the best ones?!

PS The Herald has a blog up of the top 50 Australian albums. Almost all pub rock. Yawn

McHome

Lazor robotor

Ash, Zander and I went to a warehouse party in Sydnenham put on my HaHa Industries. It was no mid-90s Vibe Tribe rave, but it was fun.

I took my camera and hopefully the laser didn't fry it catching these interesting shots.

Durrty mo

I was making space on my laptop and came across this rude pic from the end of the summer holiday this year. If only it was still the 1970's, I would RUN THIS TOWN. And people would respect my authorataaae.

Blogs white people like

So I've been keeping a blog for a while now, but I've never actually been someone who reads other blogs much. Or at least, reads certain blogs regularly. But now there are a couple that I do, so I may as well pimp them.

The first is Stuff White People Like. They describe it thusly: 'This is a scientific approach to highlight and explain stuff white people like. They are pretty predictable.' Indeed they identify universal truths of white people (or more the the point, 'liberal' or lefty middleclass white people).

So far there are about 100 topics, with #1 being coffee, #2: Religions that their parents don’t belong to ("Mostly they are into religion that fits really well into their homes or wardrobe and doesn’t require them to do very much").

They've got better lately, eg Scarves ("He’s clearly more sensitive to wind, so he’s probably more sensitive in general. You should totally date him"), and Bumper Stickers ("If you have decided that you want to improve your status with white people by applying a bumper sticker to your car do not make the assumption that you can just use anything! Stickers that support right wing politics, guns, patriotism, war, or hunting are all unacceptable. It is also unacceptable to use a sticker with a clever slogan that does not support a left wing political cause. Any of these stickers will likely end any chance you had of befriending a white person").

Almost as funny as the postings are the readers' responses. Most get the idea and add their own personal but equally cynical insights.

The other blog I loved straight from the first read is The Paupered Chef. It's written by chefs, with each entry devoted to a particular gastronomic delight, from the everyday (the science of the perfect hardboiled egg)to the exotic (who knew you needed pig jowls for the prefect carbonara?) and location-specific (Madrid and San Sebastian).

Mouthwatering and inspirational.

PS props to Celia for enjoying these as much as I do!

Outer space

Often I have stumbled upon beautiful high resolution photos like these from NASA. Love em. These were even TIFs, so they could have been printed out as large glossy photos if desired.

Draft invitations

Thought the other ideas we had for our wedding invite shouldn't go completely to waste. And it's always good to see the process behind the outcome.

We were trying to continue our tree theme from our Save the Date invitation. At first we thought of taking it away from the art nouveau look into the Arabic style, as in the above circular designs. They never really worked.

We had a reference from one of my favourite designers, Build, of a Coke graphic he did (I know!), which we adapted. The colour is right, in that it's totally Gen, and the idea is right, in that it makes the link back to the old design. And of course it allowed us to put in the mushy love words, but against a cool backdrop (hopefully).

PS those looking for wedding pics click here!

One up!

I took this pic in Melbourne when I was there last. I always seem to get good shots when I'm there, whether it's because it's a photogenic joint or I'm just inspired to be away I don't know.

Very much looking forward to a photo field trip on Sunday to the western suburbs. Unsure exactly where yet, hopefully we'll just stumble upon interesting places. One certainty, though, is the Lebanese sweets shop I saw on TV last week. Baklavas I had never even seen before. Ooooh yeah.

Strange charts

Here's a couple of unusual charts / diagrams I came across last year when I was looking for weather images for a job.

Wed!

I have put up some photos of our wedding - and honeymoon - at my Picasa photosite thinger

Nuptials

This Sunday - wow.

Cyclic 19 is out!

CyclicDefrost.com

Melbourne motorshow

Badgerino's discoball

All My Friends

I bought myself a new iPod shuffle as reward for wasting half my life at the gym in the lead-up to the wedding. My old guy is a brick compared to this, too big to carry when running, and I couldn't bare hearing the shitty hi-nrg cardio mix favoured by the gym any longer.

My gym mix consists of the like of John Tejada (Wavescraper is the most amazing EP, I would love to hear it in a club sometime), Midnight Juggernaughts (not convinced yet), Tom Clark, The Emperor Machine and LCD Soundsystem.

Pitchfork readers rated LCD's 'All My Friends' as one of their top tracks of 2007, so when it came up I listened with particular interest. It's a unique song, epically long, no verse/chorus structure, and just a single chord played throughout.

The lyrics are also a bit special, so I looked them up. I'm not the only one for whom they ring true, with various posters to this Song Meanings website discussing in depth the nature of the lyrics. This seems like a reasonable interpretation, posted by tesla3396 on 25.03.2007:

"So it's fairly straightforward that the song is a retrospective on the rock 'n roll lifestyle and whether it was worth it and what was actually gained from it. What I liked most about it was the monotony of the keyboard and bass line mimicking a life that just goes on and on, regardless of how tired one gets of it, or how oblivious one is to time's passage. It's as if the melody represents the same repetitive tasks of life: sleep, breathe, do the damn thing, etc.

But what the hell do I know? I drunkenly cried myself to sleep over this song the other night."

Here's what the lyrics probably are. Brilliant:

LCD Soundsystem: All My Friends

That's how it starts
We go back to your house
We check the charts
And start to figure it out

And if it's crowded, all the better
Because we know we're gonna be up late
But if you're worried about the weather
Then you picked the wrong place to stay
That's how it starts

And so it starts
You switch the engine on
We set controls for the heart of the sun
one of the ways we show our age

And if the sun comes up, if the sun comes up, if the sun comes up
And I still don't wanna stagger home
Then it's the memory of our betters
That are keeping us on our feet

You spent the first five years trying to get with the plan
And the next five years trying to be with your friends again

You're talking 45 turns just as fast as you can
Teah, I know it gets tired, but it's better when we pretend

It comes apart
The way it does in bad films
Except in parts
When the moral kicks in

Though when we're running out of the drugs
And the conversation's winding away
I wouldn't trade one stupid decision
For another five years of lies

You drop the first ten years just as fast as you can
And the next ten people who are trying to be polite
When you're blowing eighty-five days in the middle of France
Yeah, I know it gets tired only where are your friends tonight?

And to tell the truth
Oh, this could be the last time
So here we go
Like a sales force into the night

And if I made a fool, if I made a fool, if I made a fool
on the road, there's always this
And if I'm sewn into submission
I can still come home to this

And with a face like a dad and a laughable stand
You can sleep on the plane or review what you said
When you're drunk and the kids leave impossible tasks
You think over and over, "hey, I'm finally dead."

Oh, if the trip and the plan come apart in your hand
Tou look contorted on yourself your ridiculous prop
You forgot what you meant when you read what you said
And you always knew you were tired, but then
Where are your friends tonight?

Where are your friends tonight?
Where are your friends tonight?

If I could see all my friends tonight
If I could see all my friends tonight
If I could see all my friends tonight
If I could see all my friends tonight

While on LCD Soundsystem lyrics, his track Losing My Edge was the first I heard, from an early EP, which also has fantastic lyrics, about growing old, getting less and less cool, more cynical and desperate. I've tried playing this at gigs but unless you're listening to the lyrics it doesn't really work for people.

LCD Soundsystem - Losing My Edge

Yeah, I'm losing my edge.
I'm losing my edge.
The kids are coming up from behind.
I'm losing my edge.
I'm losing my edge to the kids from France and from London.
But I was there.

I was there in 1968.
I was there at the first Can show in Cologne.
I'm losing my edge.
I'm losing my edge to the kids whose footsteps I hear when they get on the decks.
I'm losing my edge to the Internet seekers who can tell me every member of every good group from 1962 to 1978.
I'm losing my edge.

To all the kids in Tokyo and Berlin.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Brooklynites in little jackets and borrowed nostalgia for the unremembered eighties.

But I'm losing my edge.
I'm losing my edge, but I was there.
I was there.
But I was there.

I'm losing my edge.
I'm losing my edge.
I can hear the footsteps every night on the decks.
But I was there.
I was there in 1974 at the first Suicide practices in a loft in New York City.
I was working on the organ sounds with much patience.
I was there when Captain Beefheart started up his first band.
I told him, "Don't do it that way. You'll never make a dime."
I was there.
I was the first guy playing Daft Punk to the rock kids.
I played it at CBGB's.
Everybody thought I was crazy.
We all know.
I was there.
I was there.
I've never been wrong.

I used to work in the record store.
I had everything before anyone.
I was there in the Paradise Garage DJ booth with Larry Levan.
I was there in Jamaica during the great sound clashes.
I woke up naked on the beach in Ibiza in 1988.

But I'm losing my edge to better-looking people with better ideas and more talent.
And they're actually really, really nice.

I'm losing my edge.

I heard you have a compilation of every good song ever done by anybody. Every great song by the Beach Boys. All the underground hits. All the Modern Lovers tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Niagra record on German import. I heard that you have a white label of every seminal Detroit techno hit - 1985, '86, '87. I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '60s cut and another box set from the '70s.

I hear you're buying a synthesizer and an arpeggiator and are throwing your computer out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Yaz record.

I hear that you and your band have sold your guitars and bought turntables.
I hear that you and your band have sold your turntables and bought guitars.

I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.

But have you seen my records? This Heat, Pere Ubu, Outsiders, Nation of Ulysses, Mars, The Trojans, The Black Dice, Todd Terry, the Germs, Section 25, Althea and Donna, Sexual Harrassment, a-ha, Pere Ubu, Dorothy Ashby, PIL, the Fania All-Stars, the Bar-Kays, the Human League, the Normal, Lou Reed, Scott Walker, Monks, Niagra,

Joy Division, Lower 48, the Association, Sun Ra,
Scientists, Royal Trux, 10cc,

Eric B. and Rakim, Index, Basic Channel, Soulsonic Force ("just hit me"!), Juan Atkins, David Axelrod, Electric Prunes, Gil! Scott! Heron!, the Slits, Faust, Mantronix, Pharaoh Sanders and the Fire Engines, the Swans, the Soft Cell, the Sonics, the Sonics, the Sonics, the Sonics.

You don't know what you really want. (x15)

Pooh's Piglet censored!

Qatar is playing Australia in Melbourne next week in a qualifying match for the football , so the tiny nation is in the news.

I looked around on some Qatari papers to see how the event was being reported on the other side. Nothing interesting as there is no real free press and papers typically regurgitate press releases from the palace or government.

I did come across one anomaly though, which wasn't there last I checked. The Qatar Journal appears to be an online newspaper setup by an expat that must have raised the ire of someone because it's been shut down!

A statement made last week says, a little cryptically:

"I'm sorry to say that Qatar Journal will no longer be publishing news. I'd like to thank everyone for their support over the last year, especially those who supplied me with stories. If you would like to make an archive of news stories, do it now, because in a few weeks the site will disappear. I'd like to offer encouragement to anyone who plans to set up a similar venture in the future. Perhaps Qatar's next online newspaper might be more successful. Many thanks again for reading."

This is a real shame. It was probably to do with the author's coverage of controversial subjects that I have been keeping an eye since I left, such as the treatment of South Asian workers in regards to working conditions and visas.

Indeed these subject seem to be well covered in the Human Rights section, with recent articles titled 'India urges sponsorship reform', 'Miserable lives of camel-farm workers' and 'Nepalis claim harassment by sponsor'.

The author, who I plan to contact, also details an ironic attempt to travel to Lebanon to visit the 2nd Arab Free Press Forum, only to be denied and exit visa. We all had frustrations with visas when were were there, but the author muses on a much more frightening prospect:

'The question I will be asking myself tonight as I fall asleep is: "If the bombs start to fall on Tehran in the New Year, will I be able to take my son and flee the country?" Until this morning, I thought I knew the answer, but now I'm not sure.'

There is also the hilarious story of another website reporting on Winnie the Pooh picture books being clumsily censored to removed the image of Piglet! Ok Islam prohibits the eating of pork but surely not the image of a cartoon piglet! Even more worryingly, the forum where expat were discussing their reactions was censored (which now appears to be lifted).

'In September, Qtel confirmed that blocked sites fall into three categories: "pornography, political criticism of Gulf countries and anti-Islamic sites." One of the maintainers of the site told Qatar Journal this was the first time in two years and over 50,000 discussions that a webpage had been blocked.'

I wonder what Pooh would think

Doha's 'ambitious' bid for the 2016 Olympics

Today I came across a website which tracks all the big sporting bids like the Olympics and gives links to their bid documents, which I had previously assumed would be secret. I browsed a few for their graphic design presentation if nothing else. Tokyo's was surprisingly tame, and Baku's (Azerbaijan) was Eastern European utilitarian, Chicago's was slick if predictable.

Doha's design was actually the most impressive I looked at (though I did not check Madrid or Rio's), and they apparently used the same people as the London bid. The logo was a bit weak I thought though. Apparently it's The Aldahma: 'Flower of the Spring'. Probably the only flower that actually grows.

Bam BOOM

Cloud streets

Here's a beautiful aerial photograph from the NASA Earth Observatory website taken over the Bering sea. It shows what is poetically described as 'cloud streets'.

"Like the freshly raked white sand of a well-tended Japanese garden, rows of clouds stream over the Bering Sea from the edge of the sea ice. Called cloud streets, these cumulus clouds form when cold air from the ice blows over the open ocean, chilling the moist air. As the temperature drops, water freezes into tiny clouds, which are arranged in neat rows in line with the powerful sweep of the wind. Though some clouds form over the cracking sea ice on the right side of the image, most are over the unfrozen water."

Read the rest here.