I think it is.
Over the last month or so, I've aquired new albums from the following bands: R.E.M., Jose Gonzales, Eddie Vedder, Thursday, Radiohead, and PJ Harvey.
From these six albums, I think I really like two songs - Jose Gonzales' cover of the Massive Attack song "Teardrop", and the Radiohead song "All I Need". Not a good success rate. And yet if you were to ask me what kind of music I like, names like R.E.M, Pearl Jam and Thursday would probably get bandied around a lot.
I'm not sure if these bands are getting worse, or my taste is changing. If it's the latter though, shouldn't I be liking new and different music? Probably the only new band that I've added to my listening rotation in the last year has been The National. And that's mainly because they sound like Nick Cave and Leonard Cohen, two artists that I've liked for a while.
So if anyone has any suggestions, I'm open to them (Paul, I've heard of the Foo Fighters, and Michella . . . the Michael Buble thing is not going to happen. Sorry)
Anyway, while I'm on the topic, here are a few quick thoughts on the above albums, just in case anyone is interested in checking them out.
Jose Gonzales - In Our Nature
This is OK, although not much of a development from his last album, Veneer, which is great background music, and always makes me feel suave and urbane when I listen to it. The best song as I mentioned is the cover. Because he has such a unique style he generally does covers pretty well, his version of Springsteen's "The Ghost of Tom Joad" is the best I've heard.
Eddie Vedder - Into the Wild
This is a soundtrack to some movie, so it kind of gets a pass, because who knows, maybe it works as background music. But overall I just found this a little dull.
Radiohead - In Rainbows
This is probably my favourite Radiohead album since OK Computer, which isn't saying much. They released it via their website, and told their fans they could pay what they wanted. I chose nothing. But given some of the crap they've released the last few years, I kind of feel like they owe me money. What's even funnier than this sliding cost schedule though is they are also releasing a deluxe copy, with all this extra crap, which sells for $80 or something. So they are simultaneously looking after their fans, and trying to completely screw them over. Weird.
PJ Harvey - White Chalk
Instead of playing the guitar, she sticks mainly to the piano on this album. And instead of singing in her normal voice, she sings mainly in an unusual falsetto. Why? I have no idea.
Thursday - Kill The House Lights
This is a collection of live songs, demos and unreleased material. The overall quality seems to be pretty bad - the band broke up earlier this year so I think they just grabbed whatever was still lying around and threw it on here.
R.E.M. - Live
This is a live album from their last world tour (which Alen, Narelle and I took in at the Entertainment Centre a few years ago). I actually quite like their last few albums, so this is OK - the tracklisting includes "Walk Unafraid", "Drive", "I Took Your Name", "Boy in the Well", and of course the hits like "Losing My Religion" and "Everybody Hurts". It's just that there's nothing really here to distinguish the songs from the studio recordings - they're not really reworked, and there's not an overabundance of energy. Worst of all, "Country Feedback" is somehow ommitted, which is really inexcusable.
Sunday, October 21, 2007
Thursday, October 18, 2007
Book review
I haven't been reading a lot lately. In fact, I've always suspected I like books much more than I like reading, and think my recent dry patch has been evidence of this. Back living at home though means I'm back taking the bus to work every day, and so I feel like I should read something during my daily commute.
A few weeks ago I picked up a book called "Freakonomics" by Steven D Levitt and Stephen J Dubner. You could tell immediately that it was going to be semi-intellectual, given that both authors used their middle inititials, as smart people often do. Flipping through it though it looked really interesting and accessible, so I committed to reading it.
The main guy behind the book - or the ideas contained in it at least - is Levitt, described as a kind of "rogue economist". Which means that most of the writing doesn't apply to what most people would describe as economics. It's kind of more social science really. He uses data to answer a range of questions, which range from "Why do most drug dealers still live with their Mum?" to "What do real estate agents and the Ku Klux Klan have in common?"
It's interesting stuff, and makes you think about the world in a new way. Some of their claims can be a little disturbing - like the chapter in which they argue that more than any other factor, the Roe vs Wade decision which legalised abortion in the US was responsible for the drop in the American crime rate in the 90s - but you can't fault their logic.
If you're interested in this stuff the authors keep a blog on the New York Times website here http://freakonomics.blogs.nytimes.com/ which is worth a look.
I read it over a few weeks, but it only took me a few sessions - it's really easy to read, funny, and you feel approximately 20% smarter after finishing it. So, yeah, I recommend it.
A few weeks ago I picked up a book called "Freakonomics" by Steven D Levitt and Stephen J Dubner. You could tell immediately that it was going to be semi-intellectual, given that both authors used their middle inititials, as smart people often do. Flipping through it though it looked really interesting and accessible, so I committed to reading it.
The main guy behind the book - or the ideas contained in it at least - is Levitt, described as a kind of "rogue economist". Which means that most of the writing doesn't apply to what most people would describe as economics. It's kind of more social science really. He uses data to answer a range of questions, which range from "Why do most drug dealers still live with their Mum?" to "What do real estate agents and the Ku Klux Klan have in common?"
It's interesting stuff, and makes you think about the world in a new way. Some of their claims can be a little disturbing - like the chapter in which they argue that more than any other factor, the Roe vs Wade decision which legalised abortion in the US was responsible for the drop in the American crime rate in the 90s - but you can't fault their logic.
If you're interested in this stuff the authors keep a blog on the New York Times website here http://freakonomics.blogs.nytimes.com/ which is worth a look.
I read it over a few weeks, but it only took me a few sessions - it's really easy to read, funny, and you feel approximately 20% smarter after finishing it. So, yeah, I recommend it.
Wednesday, October 17, 2007
Big Day Out 2008
Usually I leave Big Day Out tickets to the last minute. I figure that with the capacity of the Showgrounds and the size of Adelaide's population, there's little chance of missing out.
This almost backfired on me last year, when I delayed getting tickets and the first allotment sold out. We only ended up getting tickets because I waited in line the week of the show for a last minute release.
Anyway, my plan was again to hold back a bit this year, and wait till my cashflow situation improved a bit. But when I heard this morning that the BDO website had sold it's allotment of tickets, I figured I'd better get to it. Ten minutes later I was on venuetix, and had secured tickets for Muzz and I.
Part of me is pumped about the show, and part of me isn't. That's because, despite featuring the reformation of one of the greatest bands of all time (Rage Against The Machine), the 2008 Big Day Out lineup is almost entirely rubbish.
Bands in the first announcement include Bjork (whose music sounds like fingernails on a blackboard), Grinspoon (cliched, plaguarised alternative rock), Arcade Fire (overhyped and boring), Hilltop Hoods (rap music from and for bogans), Billy Bragg and Paul Kelly (is this A Day on the Green?), and a bunch of other bands that I don't know or don't care about. Seriously, outside of the headliner, this has to be my least favourite BDO lineup yet.
Hopefully there is some relief in the second announcement - The National are scheduled to do Brisbane and Melbourne pub shows here in January 2008 so I guess they're a possibilty.
I just hope that RATM can hold it together for a few more months, if they break up again before February I'm screwed.
This almost backfired on me last year, when I delayed getting tickets and the first allotment sold out. We only ended up getting tickets because I waited in line the week of the show for a last minute release.
Anyway, my plan was again to hold back a bit this year, and wait till my cashflow situation improved a bit. But when I heard this morning that the BDO website had sold it's allotment of tickets, I figured I'd better get to it. Ten minutes later I was on venuetix, and had secured tickets for Muzz and I.
Part of me is pumped about the show, and part of me isn't. That's because, despite featuring the reformation of one of the greatest bands of all time (Rage Against The Machine), the 2008 Big Day Out lineup is almost entirely rubbish.
Bands in the first announcement include Bjork (whose music sounds like fingernails on a blackboard), Grinspoon (cliched, plaguarised alternative rock), Arcade Fire (overhyped and boring), Hilltop Hoods (rap music from and for bogans), Billy Bragg and Paul Kelly (is this A Day on the Green?), and a bunch of other bands that I don't know or don't care about. Seriously, outside of the headliner, this has to be my least favourite BDO lineup yet.
Hopefully there is some relief in the second announcement - The National are scheduled to do Brisbane and Melbourne pub shows here in January 2008 so I guess they're a possibilty.
I just hope that RATM can hold it together for a few more months, if they break up again before February I'm screwed.
Tuesday, October 16, 2007
Monday, October 15, 2007
What's going on
If you're ever at the video store, and everything you want to see is out, and you see there's still a copy of the new Bruce Willis/Halle Berry movie "Pefect Stranger" in stock, and you think "Hey, it can't be that bad", don't pick it up. Trust me, just walk away.
After a long winter hiatus, I've started cleaning up the garden a bit. On the weekend finished the front yard, although the backyard still needs a lot of work. To call it a jungle would be kind of insulting to jungles.
Some team-specific basketball blogs I've been enjoying . . .
http://3shadesofblue.blogspot.com/
http://bucksfans.blogspot.com/
http://www.blogabull.com/
http://shamrockheadband.blogspot.com/
Two weeks out from the start of the season and I'm already checking our fantasy message board constantly during the day. Not a good sign.
Queenstown crime update: In the past week at 122 Spring Street we've had one bin stealing, and two car eggings. Although anecdotal evidence would suggest 2am burnouts on the street outside my bedroom window are down by 25%, so that's encouraging.
I'm loving the return of Entourage to Foxtel, but am lukewarm so far on Prison Break. First episode was great, second not quite as good, and the third is still waiting on my DVR.
After a long winter hiatus, I've started cleaning up the garden a bit. On the weekend finished the front yard, although the backyard still needs a lot of work. To call it a jungle would be kind of insulting to jungles.
Some team-specific basketball blogs I've been enjoying . . .
http://3shadesofblue.blogspot.com/
http://bucksfans.blogspot.com/
http://www.blogabull.com/
http://shamrockheadband.blogspot.com/
Two weeks out from the start of the season and I'm already checking our fantasy message board constantly during the day. Not a good sign.
Queenstown crime update: In the past week at 122 Spring Street we've had one bin stealing, and two car eggings. Although anecdotal evidence would suggest 2am burnouts on the street outside my bedroom window are down by 25%, so that's encouraging.
I'm loving the return of Entourage to Foxtel, but am lukewarm so far on Prison Break. First episode was great, second not quite as good, and the third is still waiting on my DVR.
Tuesday, October 09, 2007
Bathroom renovation update
Thanks to Murray Huber, I now have a working toilet in my house. Which means I don't have to pee in the backyard anymore.
A song about Tyson Chandler?!?!
Cool highlights though. And I'm more than a little excited about having him on my fantasy squad this season.
Saturday, October 06, 2007
Week in review
It's been a pretty busy, interesting week.
Last Saturday Michella and I left Adelaide at the early hour of 7.30am to travel to Cape Jaffa. We only decided a few days before that we wanted to go away for the weekend, and apparently every caravan park in SA outside of Cape Jaffa was booked. Anyway, it had pretty much everything we were looking for (proximity to beach, cheap accommodation, solitude), so we went for it.
We stopped off in Kingston for lunch, and ate at the pub. I had salt and pepper squid, and it was pretty ordinairy. The plan was to stay and watch the grand final, but there were too many bogans, so we left for Cape Jaffa.
After settling into our budget cabin, we found our way to the common room to watch the game with everyone else. Most of the other guests were Geelong fans, although there was one quite vocal Port Adelaide fan. The game was obviously terrible, but the people were nice, and shared their food with us, including some delicious chicken wings.
At night we tried to go for a walk, but it was blowing a gale, and raining, so that didn't work out so well. We played a few games of Scrabble, and I won. Michella took it well.
On Sunday we drove into Robe for lunch (Cape Jaffa is basically a caravan park and a few isolated houses). This was a much finer dining experience than we had the day before. We travelled back to the caravan park via a couple of wineries, and picked up a bottle to have with dinner.
After tea we had another game of Scrabble (man this rock and roll life I lead is pretty full on). This time Michella won. She figured she might not do this again, so took a picture of the board to remember the occasion.
The next morning we left for home, stopping in Meningie for lunch. Unfortunately, I experienced a horrible pain in my tooth, which I vowed to fix on my return to Adelaide.
We spent the evening at a get together at Murray and Amanda's house. A couple of the hours from the evening are missing from my memory, but apparently I played Taboo (quite badly I presume) and headbanged to Rage Against the Machine (also, most likely, quite poorly).
Tuesday morning was my one day this week in Adelaide, and I rang the dentist first thing to get my tooth taken care of. It was a crown I had had put in only six months ago, so I was surprised I was feeling pain. The dentist tried to tell me everything was OK to start off with, then he realised the crown had broken and was coming loose. He took it out, and promised to put in a new one for free in a few weeks time.
Wednesday I was again up early, this time at the ungodly hour of 5.30am to take a flight to Ceduna for work.
We got in about 9am, and held our monthly Regional Marketing meeting in the Ceduna council chambers.
When we went to America a couple of years ago, Alen told an airline employee at the Seattle airport that her town was a hole. Whether this is true or not is debatable, but I'm guessing he wouldn't have said this if he had been to Ceduna.
As we drove into the town we passed six or seven indigenous youth walking along the road. Carrying rocks. This is not a town in which I would feel safe.
After the meeting we went to an Aboriginal art gallery. I'm not really a fan of dot painting, in my admittedly non-expert opinion it seems to be one level up from paint by numbers as an art form. So I didn't like this much. After this we had lunch at the Ceduna Hotel, loaded up on booze and drove to Fowlers Bay.
Fowlers Bay is a weird town. It's kind of an outback town, but on the coast. There's a permanent population of 14 people. And the town in surrounded by these really high sand dunes.
Our host Reg took us over the sand dunes in the back of his 4WD, and it was an amazing experience. I couldn't believe that we didn't roll his car, the dunes were so high and so steep. But I suppose he had done this sort of thing before.
We had a barbecue dinner on the beach which was great, and then stayed the night in an apartment.
The next morning we were up relatively early and drove out to the Head of Bight to see the whales.
Last Saturday Michella and I left Adelaide at the early hour of 7.30am to travel to Cape Jaffa. We only decided a few days before that we wanted to go away for the weekend, and apparently every caravan park in SA outside of Cape Jaffa was booked. Anyway, it had pretty much everything we were looking for (proximity to beach, cheap accommodation, solitude), so we went for it.
We stopped off in Kingston for lunch, and ate at the pub. I had salt and pepper squid, and it was pretty ordinairy. The plan was to stay and watch the grand final, but there were too many bogans, so we left for Cape Jaffa.
After settling into our budget cabin, we found our way to the common room to watch the game with everyone else. Most of the other guests were Geelong fans, although there was one quite vocal Port Adelaide fan. The game was obviously terrible, but the people were nice, and shared their food with us, including some delicious chicken wings.
At night we tried to go for a walk, but it was blowing a gale, and raining, so that didn't work out so well. We played a few games of Scrabble, and I won. Michella took it well.
On Sunday we drove into Robe for lunch (Cape Jaffa is basically a caravan park and a few isolated houses). This was a much finer dining experience than we had the day before. We travelled back to the caravan park via a couple of wineries, and picked up a bottle to have with dinner.
After tea we had another game of Scrabble (man this rock and roll life I lead is pretty full on). This time Michella won. She figured she might not do this again, so took a picture of the board to remember the occasion.
The next morning we left for home, stopping in Meningie for lunch. Unfortunately, I experienced a horrible pain in my tooth, which I vowed to fix on my return to Adelaide.
We spent the evening at a get together at Murray and Amanda's house. A couple of the hours from the evening are missing from my memory, but apparently I played Taboo (quite badly I presume) and headbanged to Rage Against the Machine (also, most likely, quite poorly).
Tuesday morning was my one day this week in Adelaide, and I rang the dentist first thing to get my tooth taken care of. It was a crown I had had put in only six months ago, so I was surprised I was feeling pain. The dentist tried to tell me everything was OK to start off with, then he realised the crown had broken and was coming loose. He took it out, and promised to put in a new one for free in a few weeks time.
Wednesday I was again up early, this time at the ungodly hour of 5.30am to take a flight to Ceduna for work.
We got in about 9am, and held our monthly Regional Marketing meeting in the Ceduna council chambers.
When we went to America a couple of years ago, Alen told an airline employee at the Seattle airport that her town was a hole. Whether this is true or not is debatable, but I'm guessing he wouldn't have said this if he had been to Ceduna.
As we drove into the town we passed six or seven indigenous youth walking along the road. Carrying rocks. This is not a town in which I would feel safe.
After the meeting we went to an Aboriginal art gallery. I'm not really a fan of dot painting, in my admittedly non-expert opinion it seems to be one level up from paint by numbers as an art form. So I didn't like this much. After this we had lunch at the Ceduna Hotel, loaded up on booze and drove to Fowlers Bay.
Fowlers Bay is a weird town. It's kind of an outback town, but on the coast. There's a permanent population of 14 people. And the town in surrounded by these really high sand dunes.
Our host Reg took us over the sand dunes in the back of his 4WD, and it was an amazing experience. I couldn't believe that we didn't roll his car, the dunes were so high and so steep. But I suppose he had done this sort of thing before.
We had a barbecue dinner on the beach which was great, and then stayed the night in an apartment.
The next morning we were up relatively early and drove out to the Head of Bight to see the whales.
It was kind of cool, but I'd be lying if I said I was the kind of guy who gets really excited about this kind of stuff. We then drove out to a Nullabor Roadhouse where a couple of my colleagues went on scenic flights, and I leaned against an outside wall for about two hours straight.
The Roadhouse seemed to have a pretty good deal going. They took whatever the normal price was, and doubled it. You want a coffee? Five dollars thanks. Hamburger with the lot? Eleven fifty. Plus it's mainly a cash business so you pay whatever tax you feel like.
After this we drove four hours or so to Streaky Bay, where we stayed the night.
Here was the view from my room in the hotel . . .
We had dinner at a place called Mocean. I had the squid, panfried in garlic butter, with shaved parmesan on top. It was amazing.
Yesterday morning we spent the morning driving around Streaky Bay in a bus, visiting various beaches. They mainly looked the same. We had lunch back in the town, and Matt told me about a local place where we could get a $25 hamburger than was bigger than the plate it came on. Unfortunately they stopped making it earlier this year though so I settled for a schnitzel.
After lunch we did a tour of an Abalone farm, then an Oyster production facility, and I was bored out of my mind.
Finally, we drove back to Ceduna to get our flight home. At 8pm we were about to take off, but the pilot couldn't get the second engine started. At this point I would have been happy to fly with one engine if we could, I just wanted to get home. He turned all the power off, tried again in another ten minutes, and an hour or so later I was dragging my tired body through Adelaide airport.
It's good to be home.
Tuesday, October 02, 2007
Hmm . . .
Sting just seems to keep finding new ways to sell out. Supporting The Police on their 2008 Australian Tour . . . Fergie?!?!
Wednesday, September 26, 2007
Movie reviews
I've been the movies twice in the last few days, and saw two very different films.
Saturday night I went down to Semaphore and saw "Evan Almighty". It was pretty good. Following on from "Bruce Almighty", Morgan Freeman once again plays God, and speaks to Evan Baxter - played by Steve Carrell - telling him to build an ark like Noah did. Which he does. That's pretty much the movie (it's only 85 minutes long), but there's some good stuff in there that makes you think about the awesome size and power of God, but also his personal interest in each of his children. Steve Carell is good as always, and it's rated G, so if you've got kids, you could take them to this without risking scarring them for life.
Last night I went down to Arndale and saw "Superbad", a movie you probably wouldn't take your kids to, unless you had perhaps attended the Britney school of parenting. I wouldn't normally go see things like this (I'm kind of too old to be watching movies about high school) but there were two factors that swayed me towards it. First of all, it was by the guys who did "The Forty Year Old Virgin" and "Knocked Up", two films that I thought were really funny, and quite sweet considering the subject matter. Secondly, it had received really good reviews, which is pretty rare for a film in this genre.
Anyway, it was a good film, and laugh out loud funny in parts. As mentioned, it's not one for the kids though, or even easily offended adults. Everyone else should love it.
Saturday night I went down to Semaphore and saw "Evan Almighty". It was pretty good. Following on from "Bruce Almighty", Morgan Freeman once again plays God, and speaks to Evan Baxter - played by Steve Carrell - telling him to build an ark like Noah did. Which he does. That's pretty much the movie (it's only 85 minutes long), but there's some good stuff in there that makes you think about the awesome size and power of God, but also his personal interest in each of his children. Steve Carell is good as always, and it's rated G, so if you've got kids, you could take them to this without risking scarring them for life.
Last night I went down to Arndale and saw "Superbad", a movie you probably wouldn't take your kids to, unless you had perhaps attended the Britney school of parenting. I wouldn't normally go see things like this (I'm kind of too old to be watching movies about high school) but there were two factors that swayed me towards it. First of all, it was by the guys who did "The Forty Year Old Virgin" and "Knocked Up", two films that I thought were really funny, and quite sweet considering the subject matter. Secondly, it had received really good reviews, which is pretty rare for a film in this genre.
Anyway, it was a good film, and laugh out loud funny in parts. As mentioned, it's not one for the kids though, or even easily offended adults. Everyone else should love it.
Tuesday, September 25, 2007
My Tuesday morning whinge
I don't like the new tramline extension. I don't see the point. I haven't had anyone successfully explain to me why we need it. It's kind of like the "why we can't have daylight savings all the time" argument. I've heard the reasons (something to do with farmers I think. And possibly cows). They just sound insignificant when considering the greater good.
I'm not sure if traffic will improve down North Terrace once the construction is over and the trams are in, but at the moment it's terrible. One of the things I love about Adelaide is that I can drive my car through the CBD and not have a nervous breakdown. Anyone who has been a passenger in my car while driving in Melbourne would tell you that's not always the case. Anyway it took me about ten minutes this morning to get from the West Terrace/North Terrace intersection to the David Jones car park. And that's just too long.
If we need a tram extension (and obviously as someone who doesn't take the tram, I don't think we do), I don't know why it has to go all the way onto North Terrace down to the uni. Uni students should be encouraged to walk. Back when I was younger we used to do that all the time. Kids are spoiled these days though.
I'm not sure if traffic will improve down North Terrace once the construction is over and the trams are in, but at the moment it's terrible. One of the things I love about Adelaide is that I can drive my car through the CBD and not have a nervous breakdown. Anyone who has been a passenger in my car while driving in Melbourne would tell you that's not always the case. Anyway it took me about ten minutes this morning to get from the West Terrace/North Terrace intersection to the David Jones car park. And that's just too long.
If we need a tram extension (and obviously as someone who doesn't take the tram, I don't think we do), I don't know why it has to go all the way onto North Terrace down to the uni. Uni students should be encouraged to walk. Back when I was younger we used to do that all the time. Kids are spoiled these days though.
Monday, September 24, 2007
Tori and "Pip"
A bit of a delayed review, but a review nevertheless.
Last Thursday Tori hit Adelaide, and of course I was always going to be there. Sure her new album isn't the best, and she has a worldview which could diplomatically be described as "unique", but come on, she wrote "Winter". As if I wasn't going to go.
Pre concert, we dined at the Port Dock Brewery. For the second time in a fortnight I had the beef schnitzel with dianne gravy, and I wasn't disappointed. Alen and Narelle had schnitzels too. I don't know why they bother having such an extensive menu. If I was running the place I would cut it down to schnitzels, salt and pepper squid, and perhaps a salad for the ladies.
We got to Thebby a little after 8pm, and the opening act had already started. They weren't really good. Michella asked if I wanted to go across the road to the BP so she could get something to eat, and that sounded way better than staying and listening to these guys. We got back just before they finished, and then waited another 20 minutes or so as the stage was set for Tori.
She came on at around 8.50 or so, dressed as "Pip". On her latest album, she adopts a number of different personas to sing the different songs, and she's been opening each of her concerts dressed as one of these characters. Pip is obviously the angry one, as she snarled her way through the opening set, and left the stage giving us all the finger. Classy. She did play a few of her heavier songs though which was cool, especially "Cruel" which she opened with.
Several minutes after "Pip" stormed off the stage, Tori appeared, and the second part of the concert commenced. I generally enjoyed it, although she didn't play a lot of the songs I was really keen on hearing, like "Winter", "Iieee", "Josephine", "Playboy Mommy" . . . the list goes on.
She did play "Spark" which I hadn't expected, and this was probably the highlight. Another plus was the length of the show, she didn't leave the stage until just after 11pm, so played for a little more than two hours. Which I suppose you'd expect given that tickets were $120.
Anyway, a solid show, I'd rank it as a B+.
Last Thursday Tori hit Adelaide, and of course I was always going to be there. Sure her new album isn't the best, and she has a worldview which could diplomatically be described as "unique", but come on, she wrote "Winter". As if I wasn't going to go.
Pre concert, we dined at the Port Dock Brewery. For the second time in a fortnight I had the beef schnitzel with dianne gravy, and I wasn't disappointed. Alen and Narelle had schnitzels too. I don't know why they bother having such an extensive menu. If I was running the place I would cut it down to schnitzels, salt and pepper squid, and perhaps a salad for the ladies.
We got to Thebby a little after 8pm, and the opening act had already started. They weren't really good. Michella asked if I wanted to go across the road to the BP so she could get something to eat, and that sounded way better than staying and listening to these guys. We got back just before they finished, and then waited another 20 minutes or so as the stage was set for Tori.
She came on at around 8.50 or so, dressed as "Pip". On her latest album, she adopts a number of different personas to sing the different songs, and she's been opening each of her concerts dressed as one of these characters. Pip is obviously the angry one, as she snarled her way through the opening set, and left the stage giving us all the finger. Classy. She did play a few of her heavier songs though which was cool, especially "Cruel" which she opened with.
Several minutes after "Pip" stormed off the stage, Tori appeared, and the second part of the concert commenced. I generally enjoyed it, although she didn't play a lot of the songs I was really keen on hearing, like "Winter", "Iieee", "Josephine", "Playboy Mommy" . . . the list goes on.
She did play "Spark" which I hadn't expected, and this was probably the highlight. Another plus was the length of the show, she didn't leave the stage until just after 11pm, so played for a little more than two hours. Which I suppose you'd expect given that tickets were $120.
Anyway, a solid show, I'd rank it as a B+.
Saturday, September 22, 2007
What year is it again?
Back in the mid to late nineties, the shaved head look was reasonably popular. In fact, I think pretty much everyone in our posse had one at one stage or another, with the possible exception of Whelie. These days, its popularity as an accepted hairstyle is waning. I'm hoping to bring it back.
Wednesday, September 19, 2007
Wednesday update
I got tickets to see Gyroscope this morning. Come 4 November Murray, Narelle and I are going to be enjoying the best rock show of the year. Anyone else want to go?
We held our fantasy basketball draft order lottery over lunch today. The lowest possible pick I could have got was 11th, I got 10th. Not good times, although at least I shouldn't hear any complaints this year about the lottery being rigged.
I just made my first purchase yesterday on www.strawberrynet.com. It's funny, I still feel like a man though.
Looking forward to Tori Amos tomorrow night. It looks like she's doing a good mix of her repertoire, and playing with her full band, so I'm expecting this to be a fantastic show.
I didn't see the Emmys, but I heard Sopranos, Extras, Entourage and The Office all won. I love it when my tastes correspond with those of professional critics.
We held our fantasy basketball draft order lottery over lunch today. The lowest possible pick I could have got was 11th, I got 10th. Not good times, although at least I shouldn't hear any complaints this year about the lottery being rigged.
I just made my first purchase yesterday on www.strawberrynet.com. It's funny, I still feel like a man though.
Looking forward to Tori Amos tomorrow night. It looks like she's doing a good mix of her repertoire, and playing with her full band, so I'm expecting this to be a fantastic show.
I didn't see the Emmys, but I heard Sopranos, Extras, Entourage and The Office all won. I love it when my tastes correspond with those of professional critics.
Monday, September 17, 2007
Killing yourself to live (my City to Bay Fun Run experience)
I can now add the "City to Bay Fun Run" to the list of my lifetime accomplishments (right between "Hired 700 movies from Atlantic Video" and "Lived with Paul Force for a year without once suffering from food poisoning").
Waking up Sunday morning I was a little apprehensive. I hadn't had a lot of sleep the last few nights, and I'm not a morning person at the best of times. Nor had I trained much in the last fortnight. Once we got in to town though, I started to feel a little bit better. There was a great atmosphere waiting in Elder Park for the race to start, surrounded by 23,000 competitors. Amazingly, there were 4,000 more women than men (OK maybe it's not amazing, but I thought it was interesting at least).
The elite runners (those expecting to finish the race in less than 50 minutes) went first, we didn't cross the line until about 8.10am. The first km wasn't too hard, but I was surprised that some competitors had dropped back to walking by the end of King William Street.
I decided the night before that I was going to take my camera with me to capture the event. I figured it couldn't be that much heavier than my ipod, which I had to leave behind so that Dad would have someone to chat to during the race. I'm glad I brought it along, it allowed me to take photos like this one, which I took at the 2km mark.
Just kidding, that was just a km or so out from the end, as you can probably tell by the look on my face of exhaustion crossed with pure terror.
There were a heap of interesting things along the way. Probably every km or so there was a band, including one rock band that was made up of 8-9 year old kids. They were pretty good too.
About half way along I came up behind a large woman in a wheelchair. I was rather impressed with the speed she was travelling at, until I realised that she was in an electric wheelchair. So basically she was just going for a ride. The funny thing was, as I passed her I took a look back to see that she was sweating! From just pushing forward the little toggle on her wheelchair that makes it go . . .
The run itself was reasonably difficult, mainly I think because I pushed myself a bit harder than normal. In my training I'd been running at 10km hour, which would have meant a finish in about 72 minutes, but we ended up crossing the line in a little over 65. Once we turned the corner from Jetty Road and we could see the finish line I started sprinting - much harder than normal when you're surrounded by hundreds of other people. I may have pushed someone out of the way as I came through, it was hard to tell.
I read today that the winner ran it in a little over 34 minutes which is a pretty awesome achievement. By my calculations that works out to around 17 seconds per 100 metres, which means pretty close to a sprint the entire way. I kind of wish I could have seen the first two runners come in along the final km, in the end there was only two seconds separating them.
It probably sounds stupid, but it's actually a really good feeling having random strangers clapping for you and cheering as you run past. Normally I would make fun of people who do this (kind of like the woman on Seinfeld who once cheered on the competitors in the New York Marathon by screaming "You're all winners!"), but when you're actually there it makes much more sense.
I'm pretty keen to do the run again next year. I'll see how I go with my running until then, but I'd be happy if I could finish in under an hour next time.
Waking up Sunday morning I was a little apprehensive. I hadn't had a lot of sleep the last few nights, and I'm not a morning person at the best of times. Nor had I trained much in the last fortnight. Once we got in to town though, I started to feel a little bit better. There was a great atmosphere waiting in Elder Park for the race to start, surrounded by 23,000 competitors. Amazingly, there were 4,000 more women than men (OK maybe it's not amazing, but I thought it was interesting at least).
The elite runners (those expecting to finish the race in less than 50 minutes) went first, we didn't cross the line until about 8.10am. The first km wasn't too hard, but I was surprised that some competitors had dropped back to walking by the end of King William Street.
I decided the night before that I was going to take my camera with me to capture the event. I figured it couldn't be that much heavier than my ipod, which I had to leave behind so that Dad would have someone to chat to during the race. I'm glad I brought it along, it allowed me to take photos like this one, which I took at the 2km mark.
Just kidding, that was just a km or so out from the end, as you can probably tell by the look on my face of exhaustion crossed with pure terror.
There were a heap of interesting things along the way. Probably every km or so there was a band, including one rock band that was made up of 8-9 year old kids. They were pretty good too.
About half way along I came up behind a large woman in a wheelchair. I was rather impressed with the speed she was travelling at, until I realised that she was in an electric wheelchair. So basically she was just going for a ride. The funny thing was, as I passed her I took a look back to see that she was sweating! From just pushing forward the little toggle on her wheelchair that makes it go . . .
The run itself was reasonably difficult, mainly I think because I pushed myself a bit harder than normal. In my training I'd been running at 10km hour, which would have meant a finish in about 72 minutes, but we ended up crossing the line in a little over 65. Once we turned the corner from Jetty Road and we could see the finish line I started sprinting - much harder than normal when you're surrounded by hundreds of other people. I may have pushed someone out of the way as I came through, it was hard to tell.
I read today that the winner ran it in a little over 34 minutes which is a pretty awesome achievement. By my calculations that works out to around 17 seconds per 100 metres, which means pretty close to a sprint the entire way. I kind of wish I could have seen the first two runners come in along the final km, in the end there was only two seconds separating them.
It probably sounds stupid, but it's actually a really good feeling having random strangers clapping for you and cheering as you run past. Normally I would make fun of people who do this (kind of like the woman on Seinfeld who once cheered on the competitors in the New York Marathon by screaming "You're all winners!"), but when you're actually there it makes much more sense.
I'm pretty keen to do the run again next year. I'll see how I go with my running until then, but I'd be happy if I could finish in under an hour next time.
In the news today
Boat propeller strikes boy in face
Monday Sep 17 08:30 AEST
A Gold Coast teenager was struck in the face by a boat propellor when he fell out of a dinghy while baring his buttocks at people on the shore.
The 17-year-old boy from Kanimbla was one of three males travelling in a dinghy along a canal off Huon Street at Broadbeach Waters on the Gold Coast about 4pm (AEST) yesterday.
It is believed all three males stood up to bare their buttocks at a group of people at a waterfront residence, causing the vessel to become unstable, and all three fell overboard, police said.
The engine on the dinghy continued to run, and the teenager was struck in the face by the propeller as the empty vessel circled.
Another occupant of the boat, a 20-year-old man from Rochedale South, in Brisbane's south, has been charged with drink driving.
He will appear in Southport Magistrates Court on October 1.
Monday Sep 17 08:30 AEST
A Gold Coast teenager was struck in the face by a boat propellor when he fell out of a dinghy while baring his buttocks at people on the shore.
The 17-year-old boy from Kanimbla was one of three males travelling in a dinghy along a canal off Huon Street at Broadbeach Waters on the Gold Coast about 4pm (AEST) yesterday.
It is believed all three males stood up to bare their buttocks at a group of people at a waterfront residence, causing the vessel to become unstable, and all three fell overboard, police said.
The engine on the dinghy continued to run, and the teenager was struck in the face by the propeller as the empty vessel circled.
Another occupant of the boat, a 20-year-old man from Rochedale South, in Brisbane's south, has been charged with drink driving.
He will appear in Southport Magistrates Court on October 1.
Something For Kate
Friday night I attended a Something For Kate concert. I think it was probably my eighth or ninth, I lost track a while ago. They're certainly not my favourite band, but they are local so are reasonably cheap and easy to see so Narelle and I probably see them an average of once a year.
Friday night's show was one of the best I'd seen in a while. Typically when you go and see a band they are touring in support of their new album, so at least half of their set is comprised of new material. Which often isn't as good as their classic stuff. This tour though Something For Kate are promoting their new "Greatest Hits" album, so right from the start, they were just focusing on their best songs. I think they played three songs off of "Beautiful Sharks" in the first half hour.
I think the highlight was their cover of Elliott Smith's "Waltz #2". It's a great song anyway, and they did a fantastic version, with just Paul on acoustic guitar and Pip accompanying him on violin. This is pretty standard for a Something For Kate show - even though I like their original material, the best moments tend to be when they pull out the cover songs. It's probably a combination of the arrangements they come up with, as well as the fact that they pick really great, and well known songs to do - the last few times I've seen them they've perfomed "Rock the Casbah" by The Clash, "Everybody Knows" by Leonard Cohen, "Born to Run" by Bruce Springsteen, "The Killing Moon" by Echo and the Bunnymen, "Ashes to Ashes" by David Bowie, "Won't Back Down" by Tom Petty . . . just a great list of songs.
If I had to rate this amongst the concerts I've seen in the past few weeks I'd say it was my favourite. The venue (Fowlers Live) is a good one, and it's nice to be able to stand in relative comfort four metres away from the front of the stage. The setlist was a good mix of songs from all of their albums, and the performance was very solid. A class evening through and through.
Next up . . .Tori Amos.
Friday night's show was one of the best I'd seen in a while. Typically when you go and see a band they are touring in support of their new album, so at least half of their set is comprised of new material. Which often isn't as good as their classic stuff. This tour though Something For Kate are promoting their new "Greatest Hits" album, so right from the start, they were just focusing on their best songs. I think they played three songs off of "Beautiful Sharks" in the first half hour.
I think the highlight was their cover of Elliott Smith's "Waltz #2". It's a great song anyway, and they did a fantastic version, with just Paul on acoustic guitar and Pip accompanying him on violin. This is pretty standard for a Something For Kate show - even though I like their original material, the best moments tend to be when they pull out the cover songs. It's probably a combination of the arrangements they come up with, as well as the fact that they pick really great, and well known songs to do - the last few times I've seen them they've perfomed "Rock the Casbah" by The Clash, "Everybody Knows" by Leonard Cohen, "Born to Run" by Bruce Springsteen, "The Killing Moon" by Echo and the Bunnymen, "Ashes to Ashes" by David Bowie, "Won't Back Down" by Tom Petty . . . just a great list of songs.
If I had to rate this amongst the concerts I've seen in the past few weeks I'd say it was my favourite. The venue (Fowlers Live) is a good one, and it's nice to be able to stand in relative comfort four metres away from the front of the stage. The setlist was a good mix of songs from all of their albums, and the performance was very solid. A class evening through and through.
Next up . . .Tori Amos.
Thursday, September 13, 2007
Rocking out in style
Last night I saw Snow Patrol at the Entertainment Centre, and for the first time, observed the action at a rock concert from a corporate box (thanks Narelle).
It didn't exactly all go to plan, but it beat fighting off the kiddies in the mosh pit - and considering it was free I'm not in a position to complain anyway.
Our tickets said 8pm, so we figured that this meant that either the doors opened at 8pm or the first support act (Iain Archer) went on then. So we turned up at about 8.15pm, and found that dinner (which we were unaware was on offer) was served at 7.15pm in our box, and the first support act went on at 7.30pm. Making things worse, dinner was apparently a few curries, chicken burgers, wedges, and veal, which sounded pretty good to me; and the first support act ended up being Silversun Pickups, who I actually like, rather than Iain Archer, whom I've never heard of (apparently they swapped spots for some reason at the last minute). I'm not sure which was a bigger disappointment, although the fact that I'd already eaten probably means it was missing the band.
Anyway, upon arriving at the Entertainment Centre we were shown to the entrance to the corporate boxes, and then followed a seemingly endless maze of corridors until we got to our box. I quickly lost all sense of direction. We finally got to our box, walked through, and took our seats. The problem was that the seats were just behind the side of the stage, and way behind the speakers, so all we heard was a little bit of vocals and drums. Not good times.
We sat through Iain Archer in this spot, and it was pretty bad. He seemed to be pretty average anyway, so it wasn't such an issue, but I was hoping things were going to improve for Snow Patrol.
At the end of this set we went back into the box, where more food had been brought out - donut holes, and some melting moments cookies. The cookies were pretty nice - nothing compared to the ones Karen Crouch makes but very passable nevertheless. Someone said we had the option of being moved to another part of the arena if we wanted, and I was immediately in. I chanelled my inner George Costanza and stuffed a few last cookies into the pocket of my hoodie, and we followed an usher back through the labyrinth.
We ended up in the first row of seats up from the General Admission floor area, directly in front of the stage, with a good view and great sound. A few minutes later Snow Patrol took to the stage.
The performance was OK. I'm not really sure what I expected, but it was probably about as good as I could have hoped for. I think Snow Patrol are an above average band, with a few really good songs, and a lot of average to good ones. I doubt they'll ever be really great, they're just a little to derivative of bands like U2, or even Coldplay. But they played a pretty tight set, in some ways it was a bit too slick - they rarely deviated from the album version of their songs. They did bring out one of the backing singers from the support band to do the Martha Wainwright part in "Set the Fire to the Third Bar" which was one of the highlights for me.
Anyway, I did enjoy the concert, I just didn't love it. For now it ranks second behind Ryan Adams on my 2007 concert season rankings - where will it rank next week? Check back and find out . . .
It didn't exactly all go to plan, but it beat fighting off the kiddies in the mosh pit - and considering it was free I'm not in a position to complain anyway.
Our tickets said 8pm, so we figured that this meant that either the doors opened at 8pm or the first support act (Iain Archer) went on then. So we turned up at about 8.15pm, and found that dinner (which we were unaware was on offer) was served at 7.15pm in our box, and the first support act went on at 7.30pm. Making things worse, dinner was apparently a few curries, chicken burgers, wedges, and veal, which sounded pretty good to me; and the first support act ended up being Silversun Pickups, who I actually like, rather than Iain Archer, whom I've never heard of (apparently they swapped spots for some reason at the last minute). I'm not sure which was a bigger disappointment, although the fact that I'd already eaten probably means it was missing the band.
Anyway, upon arriving at the Entertainment Centre we were shown to the entrance to the corporate boxes, and then followed a seemingly endless maze of corridors until we got to our box. I quickly lost all sense of direction. We finally got to our box, walked through, and took our seats. The problem was that the seats were just behind the side of the stage, and way behind the speakers, so all we heard was a little bit of vocals and drums. Not good times.
We sat through Iain Archer in this spot, and it was pretty bad. He seemed to be pretty average anyway, so it wasn't such an issue, but I was hoping things were going to improve for Snow Patrol.
At the end of this set we went back into the box, where more food had been brought out - donut holes, and some melting moments cookies. The cookies were pretty nice - nothing compared to the ones Karen Crouch makes but very passable nevertheless. Someone said we had the option of being moved to another part of the arena if we wanted, and I was immediately in. I chanelled my inner George Costanza and stuffed a few last cookies into the pocket of my hoodie, and we followed an usher back through the labyrinth.
We ended up in the first row of seats up from the General Admission floor area, directly in front of the stage, with a good view and great sound. A few minutes later Snow Patrol took to the stage.
The performance was OK. I'm not really sure what I expected, but it was probably about as good as I could have hoped for. I think Snow Patrol are an above average band, with a few really good songs, and a lot of average to good ones. I doubt they'll ever be really great, they're just a little to derivative of bands like U2, or even Coldplay. But they played a pretty tight set, in some ways it was a bit too slick - they rarely deviated from the album version of their songs. They did bring out one of the backing singers from the support band to do the Martha Wainwright part in "Set the Fire to the Third Bar" which was one of the highlights for me.
Anyway, I did enjoy the concert, I just didn't love it. For now it ranks second behind Ryan Adams on my 2007 concert season rankings - where will it rank next week? Check back and find out . . .
Wednesday, September 12, 2007
A few quick recommendations
I found a copy of Jose Gonzales' new album "In Our Nature" on the interweb last night. At first listen it's pretty good. There's a good cover of "Teardrop" by Massive Attack which is probably my early favourite. This guy is actually pretty good with covers, over his last few ep's he's covered Springsteen, Kylie and Joy Division. Kind of like Something for Kate, I often end up liking his covers better than his original songs.
This isn't so much a recommendation, as much as a wish list - the new ipods are out, and I want one. Or two.
At the moment I own two ipods - a 30gb black video one, and an orange 1gb shuffle. I can't seem to place the shuffle at the moment, but I'm sure it will turn up (the fact that it's roughly the size of a 50% piece means it's easily misplaced. And my house is rather messy these days). So if you were to rate my need for an ipod, it would be pretty low by any measure you used.
But I saw the new models this week that they're releasing, and they look great.
You've got the new touch screen ipod, which has a full length colour screen, and internet connectivity. Basically it's an iphone without the phone, which is fine with me.
Then the new nanos, which seem like they are smaller than the last model, but now have video screens too. How cool is that?
This isn't so much a recommendation, as much as a wish list - the new ipods are out, and I want one. Or two.
At the moment I own two ipods - a 30gb black video one, and an orange 1gb shuffle. I can't seem to place the shuffle at the moment, but I'm sure it will turn up (the fact that it's roughly the size of a 50% piece means it's easily misplaced. And my house is rather messy these days). So if you were to rate my need for an ipod, it would be pretty low by any measure you used.
But I saw the new models this week that they're releasing, and they look great.
You've got the new touch screen ipod, which has a full length colour screen, and internet connectivity. Basically it's an iphone without the phone, which is fine with me.
Then the new nanos, which seem like they are smaller than the last model, but now have video screens too. How cool is that?
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