You scored as Throbbing Gristle. Throbbing Gristle are probably one of the most notorious and controversial bands of all time. Their proto-industrial music is self-consciously confrontational and alienating whilst their lyrics often deal with disturbing subject matter. Their best album is probably 1979's deceptively-named Jazz Funk Greats.
The Slits | | 86% | Throbbing Gristle | | 86% | The Fall | | 67% | Cabaret Voltaire | | 63% | Joy Division | | 60% | Public Image Ltd. | | 57% | Gang Of Four | | 50% | Wire | | 43% | The Teardrop Explodes | | 37% | The Pop Group | | 27% |
Which Post Punk band are you?
created with QuizFarm.com |
 Listening to: Pajo, Pajo [Loving this album - seems almost a homage to the late great Elliot Smith (RIP)] My last festival event last night - DJ Spooky with his re-/de-construction (he says remixing) of D.W. Griffiths' Birth of a Nation, 1915, Rebirth of a Nation. He's a bit cool, old DJ Spooky (that subliminal kid). His wry intellect comes across whenever he speaks. He has these smiling eyes that have that laughing look like the Dalai Llama. Like he's found his place in the world. Maybe I read too much into people. I dunno. But I think he looks he knows what he is about, in a general sense. If he does, then he is a lucky man. Anyways, the gig. It was brilliant. He had three screens - one main one and two slightly smaller ones on either side. The two side ones were generally showing the same image although not always in sync. He layered up the images and closed in on some, added filters, deconstructed, pixellated, slowed down, degraded, coloured, moved the time structures - all the things a DJ does with sound. (I'm interested in the way software approaches sound and image - I was thinking about this a while ago and the way Spooky remixed the film has brought me back to it. There's a similar approach and language with both sound and image on the computer. Getting rid of "noise"; layering; reversals; distortion; loops; adding filters; opacity; transparency; adjusting curves; overlays. I could go on.) Added to that, the soundtrack, mixed live, was wonderful. I had never seen the original film - depicts the rise of the Ku Klux Klan in the southern states of the US after the Civil War. It was a contentious film - the KKK shown as the heroes of the day. Very nasty stuff. I'd like to see the original. It starred the divine Lillian Gish. Here's an article about Rebirth of a Nation from the Harvard University Gazette.
Just been tweaking some of my links on the right hand side over there. Added an excellent film review site that I stumbled across as well as a new blog I've been reading as well as hauling out one blog that seems to have come to a standstill.
Just been checking out the lineup of films that the Wellington Film Society are offering this year and I think that I just might join up. 6.15pm every Monday night at the Paramount for most of the year. Oh, first up are two films that I really want to see, both by surrealist filmmaker Luis Buñuel. Some time ago I watched The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie (1972) which I loved. So getting to see some more of his work on the big screen will be cool. Diary of a Chambermaid and Belle de Jour. For five weeks after that there are films by Jean-Luc Godard to look forward to. It's all looking good. Worth the year's $85 subscription, I tell you.
Cheers Lilly (and before that, Adam)
My spammer name is Dogfish W. Monocotyledon.
Is this guy for real? It's a funny read anyways. Including the comments.
Man, I've been a lucky one lately. Last night it was Talvin Singh, the night before it was Holy Sinner (both Arts Festival envents) and last week I got to see David Pajo (ex-Slint and Tortoise and many other connections). Talvin Singh was good. I'd describe his music as ambient bhangra or India-infused electronica. He plays the tabla - a traditional pair of Indian drums - and teams them with electronic instruments and a nice sparing dose of vocoder vocals. Holy Sinner - well, it was gorgeous to watch and had amazing staging values which were really very beautiful. But the story was kinda weak. The first half was good, but the story lost the plot especially at the end. Glad I went though. It was worth it for the visuals. And of course, to support our local theatre. David Pajo - awesome. His solo work is reminiscent of Nick Drake and Elliot Smith. He had some funny pooh jokes. You had to be there. I've still got another Festival event to go to on Saturday night - DJ Spooky with Rebirth of a Nation. Should be good.
I didn't know that Eno wrote that startup sound for Windows. This is one of the things I found out today on Wikipedia about one of my heroes of music, Brian Eno. But there's more! 1. The Windows 95 startup sound (not the faster melody in later versions) was composed by Brian Eno. 2. He once guest appeared as Father Brian Eno on the television sitcom Father Ted. 3. He reportedly has a passion for word games. A song on his album Before and After Science is entitled "King's Lead Hat", which is an anagram of "Talking Heads", a band that he has worked with. (His own name, "Brian Eno", is an anagram of "One Brain".)
I saw this guy a few weeks ago busking in Wellington. He was really intrigung. I kinda liked his music (not really the new-agey lyrics, but the musical content). Didn't have any cash to buy a CD so I asked him if he had a web site. He does. I loved the pics on his lyrics pages of him hanging out with his fellow Hindi devotees all painted up and doing yoga and shit with their matted hair and skinny bodies. I feel like being one of them. Strict vegetarians, meditating and practising yoga and singing and whatever else they do with their days. Sweet. I'm hankering for that kind of simplicity. I'm getting really tired of making money and spending money. 
Just when I thought I was "coping" along comes reality to shatter the illusion. I've been keeping busy, going out, working hard, then check my balance today to find that I'm completely skint until I get some cheques coming in which won't be until the 20th. And I still have the family to feed. I didn't go out last night - I had something I was meant to go to but decided a night in was a good idea. Feeling a bit tired after going out nearly every night. Then my world felt like it was crashing in. I'm not happy with the situation I'm in. It's not how I want things but it doesn't look as though my world is going to change so I guess I will have to get used to it. Soldier on and all those other interminable platitudes. What does my mother say? Pick yourself up, dust yourself off and carry on. Oh yeah, it's so easy. Well, it isn't. Okay, today I'm just feeling sorry for myself. Tomorrow will be better. Tomorrow will be better. If I can keep saying that to myself, maybe the illusion will seep in...
Just heard on National Radio that Fairfax have just bought Trade Me (now the most visted site in NZ) for $700 million. They're keeping on founder Sam Morgan for "some time". I wonder if it will last? Will they keep all the facets of the site? It won't feel the same using it when it's owned by a multinational.
Listening to: Hollie Smith E.P. Just got home from the Film Archive - went to see Nanook of the North, an Inuit "documentary" from 1922 with live music performance by Mike Cooper. As explained by Mike Cooper, it was not quite what we would consider a documentary. Surveyor and prospector Robert Flaherty came to live amongst the Inuit and was so taken with their way of life that he wanted to capture it on film. Along with normal day-to-day activities (hunting and building igloo), he had them re-enact many of their old customs that were no longer practiced. Mike's electronic accompaniment flowed alongside the iceflows with it's chilly organic pings, pops and drones. Real nice. Finished the night with a nice Thai dinner and now home with the rain on the roof. 
Popped in briefly today to Te Papa to check out the small exhibition of paintings from the Julian and Josie Robertson collection from New York - Cézanne to Picasso. There were only fourteen works but it's always brilliant to see original works like these. My favourites were the Braque and the Redon. Redon is one of my favourites, being a symbolist and all. I've just been looking at some of his work online - amazing. Unfortunately the piece in the show was one of his vases of flowers - not as engaging as his other work. Here's one I love. 
 Tonight: the opening of the Contemporary New Zealand Photographers (including Mr Ben Cauchi) then on to dinner at Satay Kampong where I rearranged my delicious and colourful Nasi Lemak. Isn't it a cute looking dinner? Then I ate the little fucker. We took a trip to Boogie Wonderland and drank more wine and danced to silly 70s and 80s music. I dropped my poor dear Angie on the floor during a Fame kind of moment. I hope she recovers.
Wow. I've just been to see a tarot card reader for the second time in the last two weeks. Something she told me four years ago has come to pass so I thought it might be helpful going back to see her again. She just blows me away. I have received the most helpful words from a woman who doesn't even know me. I feel like I am getting my life back on track. I won't go into detail cos it's all pretty heavy stuff, but I just have to say that tarot cards are a very useful tool, especially in the hands of an experienced and intuitive reader. Thank you Antonia.
Thanks to Lilly for this one. Okay, I used to be quite a Star Trek fan, but only really the original. As a kid I had a bit of a crush on James T. Oh, and that one with the thick Russian accent that looked like Davey off The Monkies. Anyway, on with the silly quiz. I was almost my crush - James T. Kirk! Oh my. Your results: You are Deanna Troi| Deanna Troi |
| 75% |
| James T. Kirk (Captain) |
| 65% |
| An Expendable Character (Redshirt) |
| 60% |
| Beverly Crusher |
| 55% |
| Will Riker |
| 55% |
| Chekov |
| 55% |
| Spock |
| 54% |
| Worf |
| 50% |
| Uhura |
| 50% |
| Mr. Sulu |
| 50% |
| Data |
| 48% |
| Jean-Luc Picard |
| 45% |
| Mr. Scott |
| 35% |
| Geordi LaForge |
| 25% |
| Leonard McCoy (Bones) |
| 20% |
|
You are a caring and loving individual.
You understand people's emotions and
you are able to comfort and counsel them.
 |
Click here to take the "Which Star Trek character are you?" quiz...
There's a guy on National Radio just now talking about our global situation and how we are all ignoring it. We all know the oil is going to run out soon. Well, apparently 99% of the cost of our food production is directly from oil - tractors, transport, storage etc. The implications of this are pretty grim. The world is screwed.
I love going through old journals. Just a few pages after the last one I found is this quote. I love this one.
Service… is love in action, love "made flesh"; service is the body, the incarnation of love. Love is the impetus, service the act, and creativity the result with many by-products. Sarah Patton Boyle, US civil rights activist
I've realised it's not feasible to move to an office. Looks like I'm on my own for a while again. SOD and I are having a break from each other to sort out our lives. I had everything mostly packed for the move to the new office which I was going to be doing today, but instead I'm having an almighty cleanout and reorganisation of my home office. I went on a huge cleaning binge yesterday around the house - this is something I seem to do when I need to purge feelings. For some reason I find it quite therapeutic. Today I found an old journal from my first year in Wellington - 1994. I had a quote I found somewhere that I still really like: "Art is an axe for the frozen sea within us". Ain't that true. I'm finding at the moment that concentrating on the practical aspects of life is very comforting. If I stop and think too much today I start falling to pieces. Postscript: It seems this was a quote by Kafka - had to google it since I never made a note of the source at the time.
  SOD's given me a little book and I nabbed one of his pens to play around with. The second drawing also includes some of my lipgloss.
When a play fight turns into a something else.... and he thought the resulting welts were funny. I'm gonna get him back, don't you worry.   
Okay, I have just been to one of the best gigs of my life. Deerhoof just kicked off their world tour and how cool it was to be the second international gig of the tour. These noise popsters have moments of weird jazz bridging straight into rock guitar riffs that drill into your head like a machine which then switch to quiet moments accompanied by the sweet voice of the dimunitive asian singer. I think it's this constant swing between the hard and the soft that I love about Deerhoof. Yin and Yang. Cutesy one moment, hard-arsed rockers the next. A pop melody suddenly jarred apart by big big drums and darkly deep bass guitar thrum - then back to sweet-voiced pop again. There wasn't a big crowd at Indigo, but everyone there was loving it. I've had Deerhoof in my head now since the gig. They are so much fun. I wish I could do it all again. The support of So So Modern was a good match.
Time gets away on me all the time. Too many things to do, too little time to do them. One of the things that never gets done, of course, is updating this blog. So I'm taking a few moments out of my work schedule (yes, it's Sunday, but I'm working) to do just that. I've been to see a few movies recently and I'll have to try and remember what they were. One was River Queen which SOD and I both enjoyed. It had an uneven start - it seemed as though the introductory narration was going to go on forever (I was starting to think the whole film was going to go on this way and I was starting to feel very uneasy) but then it swung into the story. It would be great to see the film in its entire length - apparently there was a huge amount of footage that had to be canned to cut back the length. Another grizzle would be about the score - I'm getting sick of turgid emotionally manipulative scores in films. Less is more, people. Let the story speak for itself. However, the war action was amazing and the storytelling pulled through. I liked the happy ending too - you don't get those much these days (oh, except in schmaltzy mainstream cinema - does this fit in there?) and I don't mind a nice happy ending every now and then. Walk the Line, the biopic of Johnny Cash, was essentially a love story with his musical career as a background. Joaquin Phoenix was pretty impressive as Cash and Reese Witherspoon surprisingly good as June Carter. I just couldn't help but feel sorry for his poor first wife though. Cash's daughter, Roseanne, felt her mother was unfairly portrayed, and it wouldn't surprise me at all. Good film, recommended. I won't go on about it too much - there have been plently of reviews. I've had friends who haven't liked it at all and others who have enjoyed as I have.
Brokeback Mountain - sweet simple love story. What the hell is the fuss all about? I find it extremely perplexing that people would ban this film. Why does the notion of two men in love cause people to be so fearful and bigotted? There is nothing explicit here. The sex scenes are unrevealing, short and necessary to the story. And so what if they weren't? There are parts of society that just need to grow up and get over themselves. It makes me so mad. I loved this film. It was poignant and beautiful.
From the NZ Herald 1 - Cook's cure Captain James Cook, the man who navigated New Zealand, is said to have discovered a cure for scurvy, a disease that results from Vitamin C deficiency, when he played around with medicines. 2 - More births New Zealand births exceeded deaths by 29,890 in the September 2005 year. 3 - Older brides New Zealanders are getting married older. The latest statistics show that the median ages of men and women marrying for the first time is 29.9 and 28.1 years. These brides and grooms married, on average, nine years older than their parents did. 4 - Big on butter For each person who lives here, New Zealand produces 100kg of butter and 65kg of cheese each year. 5 - Clever Kiwis A New Zealander invented the tear-back velcro strip, the pop-lid on a self-sealing paint tin, the child-proof pill bottle and the crinkle in hair-pins so that they don't fall out. 6 - Olympic gold New Zealand has won more Olympic gold medals a head than any other country. 7 - Sheep dip In the early 1980s, New Zealand was home to more than 70 million sheep, but now has 40 million, or about 10 sheep to one person. This decline hasn't stopped New Zealand from bringing in 50 per cent of all international trade in sheepmeat. 8 - Golf swings Measured by club memberships, golf is the most popular sport in New Zealand, followed by netball. 9 - Curious Kea The kea, native to New Zealand, likes to eat the strips of rubber around car windows. 10 - Quick work The shortest interval between separate births in the world is 208 days. New Zealander Jayne Bleackley gave birth to Joseph Robert on September 3, 1999, and Annie Jessica Joyce on March 30, 2000. 11 - Why bother? Two Massey University students broke a Guinness World Record in December for the world's largest tape ball. The ball, which weighs 53kg and has a circumference of more than 2.5m, was made by winding Scotch tape continually around itself. 12 - Spelling test The longest place name in the world still in use is Taumatawhakatangihangakoauauotamateaturipukakapikimaungahoronukupokaiwenuakitanatahu, a hill in Porangahau in the Hawkes Bay. The Maori name translates to "the place where Tamatea, the man with the big knees, who slid, climbed and swallowed mountains, known as Landeater, played his flute to his loved one." 13 - Middle age The median age of New Zealanders is growing. In 1901 it was 23. By 1991 it was 31 and in 2001 it was 35. By 2021 it is expected to be 40. 14 - Rising prices In 1984, $43 in New Zealand would buy approximately the same as $100 today. 15 - Blacked out The longest blackout in the world was on February 19, 1998, when the four main power cables supplying Auckland city, broke down. The disruption, which lasted 66 days, affected 7500 business and residential customers and cost businesses an estimated $300 million. 16 - The sea, the sea No part of New Zealand is more than 128km from the sea. 17 - Lost in space In the scene of Star Trek: First Contact, when Picard shows Lilly she is orbiting Earth, Australia and Papa New Guinea are clearly visible but New Zealand is missing. 18 - Bottom line No capital city in the world is further south than Wellington. 19 - Animal farm Less than 5 per cent of the population of New Zealand is human - the rest are animals. This is one of the highest ratios of animals to humans in the world. 20 - Pipebands galore There are more Scottish pipe bands per head of population in New Zealand than in Scotland. 21 - Big readers New Zealand has more book-shops per head of population than any other country; one for every 7500 people. 22 - Bad behaviour New Zealand has the third highest rate of deaths in the developed world from maltreatment among under-15-year-olds; third to Mexico and the US. 23 - Freshwater spring More fresh water flows up from cracks in the limestone at Waikoropupu, near Takaka, than from any other freshwater spring in the world - more than 2100 million litres every 24 hours. 24 - Trout heaven More rainbow trout in the 2kg to 3kg category are caught annually in New Zealand than in the rest of the world put together. 25 - World-beaters New Zealand is home to the world's smallest dolphin, the Hectors Dolphin, the rarest sea lion, the Hookers Sea Lion, the largest flightless parrot, the kakapo, the oldest reptile, the tuatara, the heaviest insect, a weta, the biggest earth-worms, the smallest bats, some of the oldest trees, and many of the rarest birds, insects, and plants in the world. * Facts sourced from Statistics New Zealand, Strange Facts & True About New Zealand, Guinness World records, The Kiwi Site and the ENZ New Zealand Immigration Guide.
Good news - I have an office! I'm heading back into town and setting up a nice little cosy home away from home on the corner of Woodward and Lambton. Got a wickedly nice view (to be posted in due course) and it's sunny to boot. I'm pretty damned pleased about this. The price is not bad either and it includes broadband. It's one of these "serviced offices" - there's a whole floor of them in the building I'm in. My friend Siobhan (who I've been doing some work with) is two doors along. She told me about the office a couple of weeks ago and I signed on the dotted line yesterday. I'm going to try to move in early next week. Can't wait! The house is going to be short of a few paintings - I'm gonna be raiding the place for anything that'll turn it into a styley designer office space - I'm going for black and white. Must do some "before and after" shots to post on the old blog. Dave is going to take over my office space at home and turn it into a painting studio - it's really ideal as it has great light - windows allr round - and a really nice outlook. I'll miss my little room, but it'll be so so nice to get out of the house. Now it'll seem lovely to "come home" at the end of the day. My question: is it okay to keep my blog name?
It was good to get out of Wellington for a few days - back into work mode again now. Here are some of the sights of New Plymouth - I was amazed by some of the old buildings (hopefully they don't get ripped down in the name of development).   This one is the old Nurses' Home connected to the old hopspital which is now disused. I hear the land and buildings are now owned by local Maori. It seems to be used for art and craft classes at the moment - the future for these buildings is still up in the air. I was blown away by it - such strange architecture for New Zealand. I spent my first evening down at the local park watching an outdoor show of NZ short films put on by the Film Archive. First up, of course, were a couple of Len Lye films. Here's the Len Lye designed wind wand that wobbles about on the waterfront.    I go a shot of Mount Taranaki on my sunny morning drive out of New Plymouth. Below that is another beautiful old building - an old hotel. It looks as though it's mostly unused. Probably an earthquake risk I guess.
Cheers to Paintergirl for this one: 4 places you've been on vacation Bali, Sydney, Moeraki (NZ), Maubisse (East Timor) 4 websites you visit daily lillyslounge, Pointless and Absurd, Paintergirl, Mick O'Grady4 favorite foods fresh strawberries, oysters, french cheeses, belgian chocolate truffles 4 places you'd rather be London, Prague, Paris, Rome (although I have never been to any of these - one day!) 4 albums you can't live without: Broken Social Scene (You Forgot it in People), Neil Young (On the Beach), Bob Marley (Kaya), Bailter Space (Tanker) 4 vehicles you've owned: Toyota Starlet (pooh brown, according to my kids), Wine Red Rover (current vehicle and much improved on the pooh brown Starlet) and some old thing I can't remember before that. I think it was a Vauxhall... 4 jobs you've had in your life: waitress at Cobb & Co, shop assistant at an antique and gift store, manager of the Reprographic Department of a polytechnic college, evening job laying out ads at the local newspaper 4 movies you could watch over and over: Donnie Darko, Coffee and Cigarettes, Songs from the Second Floor, Labyrinth (spelling?!) 4 TV shows you love to watch: Shortland Street, The Office, Trailer Park Boys, Malcolm in the Middle
I thought that since Dave was away I would head off for a little break myself so I'm currently at my sister's house in New Plymouth. I enjoyed the drive up - I love driving through countryside and turning the music up as loud as my ears will take it (usually involves some ringing in my ears at the end of the trip). I don't know quite how to describe how I'm feeling at the moment - I guess you could say "all over the place". My emotions seem to really up and down and tears spring unexpectedly. I hate feeling like this - it makes me feel weak and silly. Hopefully this is a passing thing. I think there has just been so much happening in my life at the moment that I'm suffering from emotional overload. I'm sure that everything will settle down soon and that life will settle down into some semblance of normality, whatever the hell that is! Well, everyone else seems to be venting at the moment, so I thought it must be my turn! Anyway, heading home tomorrow morning and will try to upload some photos of the local scenery. Straight back into work upon my return (naturally!).
Have seen both of these films recently. Both have of course been hyped up to the extreme. For a start, I'm not one for mainstream film and my prime objective when heading off to the cinema is not to be entertained (although there are occasions to the contrary when I'm feeling a bit jaded), so I guess I am not the target audience for films of this type. However, I have to say that I think King Kong misses the boat. Too long. I can sit through long films - the length itself is not a problem, but the film needed tighter editing. The action scenes (obviously set up as action sequences for where the real money is - Playstation and PC gaming) should have been half the length and I quickly lost my interest. Too much time was spent on Skull Island. There was a slow-mo action technique interpersed through the film that seemed unneccessary and poorly executed. And too many calculated close-up of expression-filled eyes. Yawn. Wide-open scared eyes looking into the distance - cue scary monsters coming to get someone. Maybe this is a nod to melodramatic films of the 30s, but I found the devices overused and shallow. Naomi Watts and Adrien Brody did shine though and Kong himself was a surprising success. I was glad when it was over though. Narnia however, I did enjoy. I loved these books as a child and the resulting film fitted with my imagined world of Narnia amazingly well. Although Mr Tumnus looked more youthful than my version. There were many schmaltzy moments, but that was to be expected. With a book full of valour and virtue and personal sacrifice what else can you expect? I had the occasional lump in my throat, but I didn't feel manipulated into my emotional reactions. Tilda Swinton as the white witch was an inspired casting.
Listening to: Broken Social Scene, Broken Social SceneI put a brown rice teabag in my cup. Came back five minutes later to pour in the water and added sugar and soymilk like I was gonna have a normal cuppa. Had to throw the whole thing out and start again. This must be a new year thing after having a break from work. Brain. Not. Engaged. Hey, hey, Broken Social Scene might be coming our way this year! This excites me more than I can say. I sussed out that they were going to be playing a few gigs in Australia so made some enquiries via the tour manager over there to discover that there are negotiations underway for them to finish their tour with a show in Auckland. Unfortunately they don't think a gig in Wellington is a possibility sadly, but I am willing to travel the six hours necessary to see them. Waiting for comfirmation of the show. Hope they get it booked.
Why are people so tired on the first day of April? Try to guess - go on. Answer on next blog entry. So... Merry Christmas and all that. Lots has gone on since my last blog. Lots. Too much to mention here. All I'll say is that I have just gone out and bought three self-help books. Let's hope this coming year improves upon the last two.
 It's going to be a funny old Christmas. I'm not sure if we are all going to be together so it's a bit hard to plan, but whatever happens it will be a quiet one that's for sure. Haven't done any shopping yet, but I did manage yesterday to go and acquire a small pine tree and stick some glittery nonsense up on it. Here it is in all its finery. I have been very spoiled by the Auckland printer that I use for my magazine work. He has sent me the most amazing bunch of flowers - so big I could barely fit it in the largest vase. What a lift it gave me. I almost wanted to be a florist when I was a teenager - my nana was a florist and I thought it would be cool to follow in her footsteps, but somewhere I gave up on the idea. 
  I managed a birds-eye view of the red carpet at the New Zealand premiere of King Kong. Not a ticket to the actual premiere unfortunately, but I was watching from the 2nd floor of the Embassy Theatre where it was being screened. The Film Festival office is up there, hence the special staff security pass (I have one from when Lord of the Rings screened too - nice memento). I spent my time critiquing the fashion faux pas and picking out the celebrities whilst knocking back a few glasses of bubbles. Jack Black wasn't there but Jamie Bell, Naomi Watts and Adrien Brody were. I nearly didn't recognise Peter Jackson - he's such a shadow of his former self. He wasn't wearing the usual purple shirt - I guess it's too big for him now.
And there are some doozies... See how many of these you own. Once you get there you'll need to scroll down to see the art.
 Okay, this isn't that new. In fact, Pitchfork's review went up in January this year. Oh hell, guess I'm a bit behind on the music news!! Oh my. Anyhoo. There's this great tribute album - 40th anniversary of the release of the wonderful Rubber Soul. It's called This Bird Has Flown. Check it out on download.com - they have audio samples. I haven't heard the full album yet, but it's on my To Buy list. I like the sound of Low doing "Nowhere Man" - a very straight version with their usual gorgeous but simple harmonies. Ben Lee's "In My Life" is also nice. I think that I would keep Ben Harper's "Michelle" on skip though. I just don't like that guy. He's so earnest. His voice grates simply 'cos he annoys me as a person. I have a mean streak sometimes. I swear I will end up a crotchety old woman with lots of cats.
Well, actually, just life. Here's where mine is looking.
| You scored as Cultural Creative. Cultural Creatives are probably the newest group to enter this realm. You are a modern thinker who tends to shy away from organized religion but still feels as if there is something greater than ourselves. You are very spiritual, even if you are not religious. Life has a meaning outside of the rational.
Cultural Creative | | 94% | Idealist | | 81% | Postmodernist | | 69% | Existentialist | | 31% | Fundamentalist | | 31% | Materialist | | 25% | Modernist | | 19% | Romanticist | | 0% |
What is Your World View? (updated)
created with QuizFarm.com |
I have a new-found respect for metal. Music that is. Having gone to experience once more a sonic assault by the wonderful Yellow Swans, I got to hear also the "shamanic black hole doom" of Black Boned Angel. (Their words, not mine.) They came on first - Campbell Kneale on guitar (Birchville Cat Motel) and the drummer from The Stumps on bass. Between them they conjured up a glowering mass of noise that filled every crevice and orifice of everything and everyone at the little Valve bar. Big shuddering guitar, deeply primal. Kneale's connection to his guitar, and at times, the speaker, looked deeply sexual. Or had I drunk too much beer. And then, my initiation into the metal scene: Backyard Burial "Lower Hutt Grind Scum". It was as much fun to watch the crowd as it was the band. Since I listen mostly to indie pop, alt country, electronica in many forms and a bit of what could be described loosely as rock, this was totally new to me. I hear something of it's ilk out of my son's bedroom. I kinda liked it. I got myself into a headspace that was just taking it in: watching, observing, listening, and trying not to judge. I ended up coming to the conclusion that there were similarities here with jungle - fast dirty jackhammer beats - than with any other music I knew. And then - another dose of Yellow Swans. These guys play for a short time, but with music as intense as theirs it's long enough. It was so intense I nearly peed my pants. Okay, that's a lie, but I don't know how else to describe how it built up internally till I felt like I was gonna burst. I wonder what it must feel to make music like that. It's like an incanatation - summoning up some kind of ferocious manifestation of noise. Exhilirating. Saying that the music has an orgasmic nature sounds trite, but it's kinda true. I don't know that I would want to listen to them recorded. I imagine it would lose it's intensity.
Check this out. Now my eyes feel funny.
Bah, it's happened again. I've left my blog for over a month! But then again, not a lot has happened. For a while I was insanely busy with work - like the most work EVER! That meant evenings and weekends and every fricking minute of every fricking day. But it did mean a whopping round of invoicing for last month - a wonderful feeling, and it will be even more wonderful when the cheques start rolling in around the twentieth. However, now it's quiet. I've been spending the days rebuilding my Mac and installing Tiger (bloody clashes with existing software, of course), sorting out the box of various business cards from suppliers, clients and friends and putting them into separate business card folders, catching up with admin, and generally freaking out that I need more work! BUT I have also been taking the time to enjoy the fact that I have some spare time, so I've also potted up some tomatoes, planted herbs, and am about to get some veges into the garden - lettuces, aubergine, two kinds of beans, spuds, carrots. Oh, and some pretty little flowers for the garden. Awwww. Including a rose, naturally.
I'm trying to remember any sparkling social moments over the last month, but they are few and far between. SOD and I went up to Palmy for Ben's show at the Manawatu - great show, but the night out on the town in Palmy was strange - it was Hallowe'en and there was some themed street party going on in town so we hung out there and drank beer with the locals. I don't understand why NZ has wholeheartedly adopted this American tradition. We never celebrated it back in my childhood. I think it snuck in over the 80s. Fucking TV culture. (Am I sounding old or what?)
 Had some fun on the way back home in a little town called Shannon - bought some stuff from their little antique store, including this ring and this cool little Welsh pipe for SOD. Also some books on theosophy from their weird little bookshop.
On Friday night I went to see Hollie Smith at Indigo - it was her EP launch and it was so so great. She has the best voice in Wellington. Truly an inspiring woman. And sexy. It was almost 1am when that finished so I headed off to Happy where they were having a late night noise/drone evening, featuring a couple of friends and ending with an outfit called Yellow Swans from the US (Portland Oregon no less). See Stephen's blog about them. They were pretty impressive. Had a most excellent stint in town drinking far too much and got home at some ridiculous hour. A sign that I am indeed getting old is that I spent almost my entire weekend recovering. Sad but true.
 On the work front, I've just finished a magazine in German. That was fun - it's a new tourism mag aimed at Germans planning to visit NZ. And it looks pretty good, I reckon. Also just completed all the promo material for Circa's production of their yearly Xmas show. This year it's Cinderella (flyer pictured here). Should be some fun. I'm planning to head along with my girls.
Next on the agenda is getting a project underway as I might be in a group show at the beginning of the year, so I had better get myself organised!
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