Who Do You Think You Are?

I've been watching SBS's Who Do You Think You Are?

It's a show that traces one UK celebrity's family history per episode.

It's so amazing what some of these people - nearly all of whom are as British as beans on toast - Bill Oddy, Stephen Fry, Jeremy Clarkson - have in their family history.

Stephen Fry had one side of his family wiped out by the Germans.

Last night they had Gurinder Chadha, the woman who directed "Bend It Like Beckham" and she's Indian, but from Kenya. Although wealthy, her family were in refugee camps after the separation of Pakistan from India. Her brother's sister died fleeing Pakistan.

These things were happening only 50 - 60 years ago.

Over a million people were dispossessed when India and Pakistan split. A Million people who had family, friends, history, land and homes told to piss off somewhere else. And I don't need to mention the Holocaust. Even if it's exaggerated the amounts of people killed, it's still a terrible waste.

And it happens over and over and over again all over the world.

This is why I get so upset with people who are racist and blame immigrants for everything and anything - I've got a sense of home, a sense of history. Sure, my knowledge of it only goes back 3 generations, but that's 3 generations of people who've lived in the one place not having to deal with being told we had to move or be killed because we prayed to the wrong god, or had the wrong coloured skin.

Merry Christmas!

My first Christmas in Melbourne was really nice.

Spent it with my house mate and his family, all of whom are really nice people. His mum gave me a George Foreman grill, and his sister and I bonded over our love of archeology and Time Team.

His other sister has two twin boys aged 9, and they refer to themselves as the "terrible twins" which I thought was pretty funny. They loved playing the Xbox, although they weren't any good at Guitar Hero, and after lunch I went back to their house to play PS2.

One really touching moment was when one of the twins was asking Bill, a 90 year old bloke and friend of Michael's Mum, all these questions about his life growing up.

I was scared of all the old people when I was young; Mum worked in a nursing home and they all smelt funny and were a bit crazy, so I was never curious about their lives at that age. But Bill was sharp as a tack and seemed to enjoy the questioning, and I enjoyed listening to the pair talk.

I miss my friends in Adelaide terribly though, and am really looking forward to getting back there in February and March.

Raining Much

This is my first ever YouTube video.

It's the view outside my window during a torrential downpour.

It was so loud I couldn't hear the TV.

Yesterday this amount of rain caused my flat to flood.

Luckily today, because the rain was falling straight down and not at an angle so it could seep in underneath the weather board, the place didn't flood.

Spoilt little rich girl

Oh, poor Hilary Martin.

Went to Brisbane Girls Grammar School and leaves school and through mummy and daddy slipping a couple of bucks the editors way gets published in the Australian.

She sounds like a spoilt little brat to me.

I went to quite possibly the worse public school in South Australia in the late 80s / early 90s... And I wouldn't give up what I was taught there for all the world.

In my year 12, we had an English Teacher who was just stuffing around for the year, so at the halfway mark, when we still hadn't read any books, we took action.

We went to the head of English, and the head of the school, and got a new teacher.

But do you know WHY we felt we could take action?

Because, unlike miss silver spooner here, we were taught independent thought! We were underprivileged and were taught by the good teachers, the ones you would probably dismiss as "stupid lefties", to fight for what we believed in!

We were taught not to sit back and take crap. And we didn't.

I was told I would amount to nothing, and treated as such, just because of where I came from.

Yet I got through school with excellent results, got a degree and post grad diploma, I'm now doing something I absolutely love and am the envy of most of my peers.

If she didn't like her schooling she should have done something about it a long time ago.

Why is she whinging about her schooling now? Why criticise and moan like a little girl after the fact?

It can't help her now.

If she acted at the time, she might have helped not only herself, but all the other people in her school, like we did.

God, I hate people like this.

When did "Average" become "Bad"?

I went and saw Daft Punk the other night, and said online that it was pretty average.

I enjoyed their music, but thought the rest of the night was pretty average. There was a lot more they could have done with the set up to make it really outstanding, like having screens to show the Daft Punk guys pushing the buttons in the pyramid.

Now I've been flamed for saying this, and people have assumed I hated it.

I didn't hate it. I never said I hated it - in fact I'm glad I went... however, because I called it average there's all this hate being directed to me.

Its the same when I review computer games.

If I say a game is average, and give it a score of 6 or 7, people assume that means I am saying the game is bad.

It's not bad, it's just not great. In other words - Average.

So, when did "average" come to mean "bad" in most peoples mind?

I wonder how many of these are worth listening to?

Nude Album Covers

I wonder how many are actually worth listening to though?

RIP James M

A friend of mine passed away in Adelaide this weekend.

"James M" as he was very affectionately known, was a funny bastard, very entertaining and always up for some fun.

He was a risk taker and it sadly caught up with him.

Really sucks being away from everyone back in Adelaide right now.

I'm hoping to get back for the funeral, even if it's just for the day.

Thoughts on the Election

I wouldn't have voted this election if I didn't have to.

Really don't see that much of a difference between the two parties, and Rudd won't undo too much and won't go far enough to put Australia on a decent path again.

Oh sure, he'll sign Kyoto, give us broadband, make tampons GST free, but I'm talking about the "little" things Howard did that Rudd won't undo.

The spending on Government Advertising should be capped - but Rudd will spend more than Howard.

Certain privacy laws were brought in by Howard - laws which effectively silence the press and prevent whistleblowing. These won't be undone by Rudd.

Certain media laws which allow cross media ownership won't be undone by Rudd, meaning we're stuck with a media duopoly.

Certain "anti-terrorism" laws which the Liberal government has shown are totally worthless anyway, won't be undone.

And not to mention the total lack of accountability by government ministers to their constituents... pioneered by the Liberals, but no doubt furthered by Labor.

These things are (apparently) fundamental to a proper working democratic society and have been taken away under a Liberal government, but because they work so well for a government in terms of keeping the government running unabetted by 'people power', none of this will be undone by Labor.

Thoughts on "Up & Out"

Last night I went to see "Up & Out" by Christian Marclay at ACMI after winning free tickets from PBS.fm

Christian Marclay interests me because he's a turntablist in the artistic sense - using records and the experience of listening to and playing with vinyl to recontextualise sound, beyond what a normal DJ - even DJs like DJ Kentaro.

He also plays around with sound and vision in mashup style.

His film "Up & Out" is a mashup of the vision from Blow Up by Michelangelo Antonioni and the sound from Blow Out by Brian de Palma.

It was interesting, but I thought it could be done better... it was simply the sound of "Up" over the vision of "Out" and whilst there was some good congruency at times, it got old pretty quickly.

The start was the best, with the score of "Out" creating a sense of apprehension with the tape loop clicking over the strings of the opening track, whilst the vision shows a bunch of face painted freaks cavort over the screen. Gives the already odd on screen action a really spooky, malevolent edge.

I only watched it for about half and hour though - the film nerd in me enjoyed it, but the rest of me thought two things - a) I could do this and b) I could be doing something better.

I understand the thought behind it, especially as both films deal with voyeurism and things not being as they seem and politicising technology, but personally thought it was a bit weak.

I would have liked to see a little more thought put into it - splicing the sound of one into the other at opportune times, a proper mashup with a bit more thought to it.

The best mashups, musically at any rate, are the ones that not only mash incongruent pieces of music but make them enjoyable as stand alone pieces. The Grey Album works because not only is it mashing two incongruent artists like the Beatles with Jay-Z, but each individual song can be played and enjoyed on it's own. You don't need to know anything about Jay-Z's '99 Problems' or the Beatles 'Helter Skelter' to enjoy 99 Problems on the Grey Album.

"Up & Out" needs knowledge of both original films, and maybe even knowledge of both Antonioni and de Palma, to work. In this sense I feel it suffers. To make it work as a film it needed dialog from Blow Up to come in at opportune times.

Change For Change's Sake

"Change for change’s sake is not a good enough reason"

Why am I not surprised this opinion is held by the editors of the Adelaide Advertiser?

It's exactly this kind of attitude that drives so many people out of the State, and will help keep Adelaide the backwater it is.

It's just so conservative. In everything.

I was chatting to Cut Le Roc on Saturday night and he said he was there the night before and it was "disturbingly quiet in Adelaide". And he's right.

Adelaide is quiet. There's never any people about. In Melbourne and Sydney and even Brisbane there's always people about. There's a vitality that's felt in the city.

Adelaide only experiences this occasionally, at times of the Festival/Fringe and Womad. Not even on New Years Eve is that sense of excitement present anymore.

And it's more than merely a "lack of population" thing.

The future is so exciting and opportunities abound, but when you're living in Adelaide it's like there's a fog and you can't see anything.

When Ratbag closed down I was at loss as what to do. Totally and utterly. I was rejected from both Team Bondi and Pandemic, and if Krome hadn't started I would still probably be on the dole.

I've been in Melbourne two weeks and have seen opportunities in case this job somehow goes sour - opportunities that would work for me in Adelaide but stuff I just didn't see or consider because of Adelaide is so conservative that it suppresses that kind of thinking.

I admit it was also me and my thinking that held me back, but it's more than just that... I've only been living out of the state two weeks, and even though I love the people back there, I honestly can't see myself returning for a while...

Differences in Opinion

Andrew Bolt has done it again.

On the one hand he claims that the bombing of Hiroshima was necessary to save further bloodshed, but then he condemns Penti Linkola a Finnish green thinker for believing the world needs less people in order to save the planet.

I'm really confused by this, because I see these as the exact same kind of thinking.

I'm not sure if my comment is too long, but Bolt has said he's writing a larger article tomorrow, so I might re-post it in those comments. I really hope I get a response, because I'm legitimately worried that I'm the stupid one for not seeing a difference, and hoping he can clear it up for me...

Here's what I wrote:

Andrew, didn't you just today say that the bombing of Hiroshima was required to stop a greater catastrophe?

I'm pretty sure you did:

"In making such judgements, the utilitarian is driven above all by the moral imperative to preserve as many people as possible from harm. Given that, the utilitarian would also seek in war to avoid any needless deaths, especially of civilians."

Unlike many of your blog posts, these are completely your own words. [LINK]

So you agree that those Japanese killed in the dropping of the bomb on Nagasaki and Hiroshima needed to be sacrificed to save the planet from the greater threat of Nazi and Japanese Imperialism.

Is that correct?

So how can you condemn these people - you were saying the EXACT SAME THING in that people need to be sacrificed for the greater good??

I really can't see what the difference is here.

One the one hand you had the annihilation of everything we hold dear by the Nazis and Japanese, and on the other hand we have the annihilation of everything we hold dear by environmental breakdown.

Either way it's still total Annihilation.

BUT WAIT - I know what you're going to say "Environmental Annihilation isn't certain."

Well mate, neither was cultural annihilation by the Nazis.

If you look at history, you'll see that the Romans tried to do the exact same thing as the Nazis, and they succeeded, and then the Saxons, and then the Christians, and so on and so on, but traditions thousands of years old that we hold dear still exist.

The world took a different course, but many traditions people held dear and fought for were preserved despite them losing to another culture.

So, can you please explain what the difference between Linkola's position and your position is, because I can't see one.

Tennents of FunkyJism Part 1

For a long time I've wanted to get some of my political views out. For a long time the way we frame political discussion has simply not looked right to me, and the political process has become corrupted.

I think we need to move away from traditional notions and adopt new ones so we can move on and more importantly, move better.

These notions are not always fully formulated and often not fully thought through. They are unreferenced and unresearched.

Here is my first post on this:

Personally I think the whole left/right political scale is a load of bullshit and people who use it are just too thick to understand the real workings of modern capitalist society.

If you look at all modern democracies you will see the same thing - even in places 'the left' hold up as leftist paradises like Sweden. The policies are centralist. And you want to know why?

Capitalism, as a system, needed to conquer the conflict between rich and poor or risk falling in on itself and it did by making the middle classes. It needed a group that was easy to keep happy, and we're pretty fucking happy with our lot, all over the fucking world.

And by happy, I mean are you prepared to risk your life or the life of your family to fight against what you think are the injustices of the Political Party you aren't going to vote for if they get into power?

Of course not! If they get in you'll just whinge for another 4 years. Same with me, same with every single person you know. Because either way, you'll be pretty happy with your lot in life.

Sure, it could be better, it can always be better, but it can also be a lot worse. And as long as it doesn't get too much better or too much worse, you'll remain happy.

And by worse I don't mean having to pay 25% extra on your mortgage, I mean forced into slave camps because your hair kind of worse.

Because unless you're prepared to die for your convictions, which for centuries working class and upper class people were prepared to do, nothing will change.

Change can only come from violent revolution, and violent revolution will never happen on the scale it needs to happen because not only is the logistical possibilities of that occurring again so small because of the huge population, we've been fooled into thinking violence is a bad thing.

Violence isn't bad, it's natural. When the Earth changes it's violent - earthquakes, volcanoes, tidal waves. When an ecosystem changes it's always violent - fire, flood, famine.

A fool for music

So I've been in Melbourne a week, and listening to PBS.fm the local community radio.

It's fucking awesome. The music they play in the morning is great, a cross of hiphop, funk, jazz, rock and soul. It actually wakes me up and has made me interested in

Although I think the presenters talk a little too much, at least they're not the obnoxious pricks that you find on commercial radio. And they're not Jay and the Doctor on Triple J - two unfunny wankers who should have stuck to making music.

Today they had a competition open to subscribers to win tickets to Up & Out, a cinegraphic mash up of Blow Up and Blow Out, two films I studied at Flinders Uni for Screen Studies.

I had to become a subscriber to win, but I thought fuck it, I pay $20 for last.fm so why not pay to support Australian music and radio?

Day at the beach

Today I went to Geelong to see Kristy and Paul and Zoe.

An hour train ride there around Port Phillip Bay, and then about 20 minutes to K's house where we had some lunch, then they took me for a drive around the area.


Very lovely, all beachy and sunny. The area reminds me of Victor Harbor in a lot of ways - seaside industrial town in the olden days, but now more of a tourist resort getaway place.

Went to Portarlington and had a dip in the ocean, and then headed to Queenscliff where the Queenscliff music festival is being held in a few weeks - I really want to go to see CW Stoneking.

He's playing Sunday and it's $70 for the day (plus $20 to travel there) but I really can't afford it and don't have the contacts to be able to scam a freebee in Melbourne.

Unfortunately Kristy and Paul are moving back to Adelaide in a few weeks, so I doubt I'll be heading to Geelong much more... at least until I get a car ;)

Espy Photos online now

My photos of the Espy gig in Melbourne are now up on inthemix

Photos of Melbourne

Here's some photos of my place in Melbourne

The outside

The inside (empty)

The inside (another point of view)

Furnished

Furnished

Melbourne media makes me want to stab!

The news in Melbourne is absolutely pathetic.

Oversensationalised bullshit everywhere you turn.

I thought it was just Andrew Bolt, but it appears to be the all over the Herald Sun.

Sunday's Herald Sun had a story about knifes. One sentence read "Critics say Melbourne's "stab city" reputation has been festering for years, but is only now being taken seriously." but then makes absolutely no mention of who these critics are or where they have been saying it 'for years', at all.

A google search for "stab city" brings up many hits, but bugger all related to Melbourne. You would think that these critics would at least have a blog hit or two!

I realise it's imaginary critics making imaginary comments that is trying to pass for news, but unfortunately the suburban Melbournite dumb fucks believe this tripe day in, day out.

I'm yet to pick up the Age, but I don't hold Fairfax in the highest regard either.

But even the ABC suffers from it! I used to watch ABC news because in Adelaide the presenter was really good, one of the reporters really hot, and the stories were the least sensationalised out of the lot.

Yes, they're biased to some degree, but I don't mind bias. The Herald Sun is biased too. So is the Age. I can see that bias and accept it as part of modern media.

However, the ABC's story about the Beadeez toys that made children sick was so over the top I ended up turning the news off. "Toys banned in all states except Victoria"... "no comment from the manufacturer"... Maybe because it was a PUBLIC HOLIDAY and even I was hard to reach?!

The ABC host is also terrible at reading the news. Where did they dig that fool up from?

It's sad, sad times when the Weekly World News looks like something that rivals the New York Times.

DJ Kentaro, Ca$h Money, Belleruche, Dexter, Bamboos @ the Espy

Well, I had my first night out in Melbourne at the Espy to see DJ Kentaro.

One of the greatest nights of music I’ve been to in a long time. Mu-Gen was mixing up some nice breaks and hiphop, and then One Sixth jumped on stage and got the proceedings underway with a great acapella. Some nice local hiphop followed, but I wandered in to the other room to see Belleruche.

Glad I did, because Belleruche was awesome. A nice bluesy number kicked off their set, and I couldn’t but help think of Portishead. Very similar style and the lead singer had one of those lovely, soulful voices like whats-her-name from Portishead, or even Amy Winehouse. Not too bad looking either! I really enjoyed listening to something different as well, and will have to track down their album.

Kentaro was after them, and after a little delay he stepped up and delivered one of the best scratch routines I’ve seen in a long time. He’s a freaking machine! Metronomic timing and hands faster than superman! He played around with hiphop and drum and bass, and although the Adelaide crowd would probably scoff at the dnb as “cheesy” – there was a bit of Pendulum and the like – the Melbourne crowd lapped it up.

After Kentaro I managed to catch a bit of Dexter’s Gorillastep. Crazy breakdancers jumping around as four drummers banged out glorious rhythms over Dexter’s records and scratching. It was pretty cool, albeit a little hippyish, but it was really great to see something different. Dexter mentioned he’s starting some underground hiphop club so I gotta check that out.

The Bamboos took a long time to set up, and although I love their acid-jazz sound, I was pretty over it by that stage. I caught a bit of Cash Money on the way out, and he was great. He played hiphop and a little other stuff, like Damien Marley’s Jamrock, MCed over the top of it, and was scratching over the top of it. He reminds me of Grand Master Flash, but with far less ego. Would have stayed longer but was tired as.

Nearly done...

*phew*

Pretty much everything is packed.

Just got my PC left, plus a few odds and sods.

Really worried about my decks, speakers, and amp. Bit worried about my PC monitor too. They're not boxed and won't fit into any boxes nicely anyway so I'm worried they might get damaged in transit.

A bit sad I'm going, sad I missed out on seeing people I wanted to see, and I know despite all my bitching about this place I'm going to miss it.

More blogging, more frequently

Well, seeing as how I'm off to Melbourne, I'm going to try and blog more regularly, to keep myself occupied and keep my friends up to date with what's going on...

*memories*...

I wrote this on Feb 2 1989 for an English class.

It won an English award and was printed in the school newsletter.

From memory, we had to write a poem about our summer holidays.

Sandcastles stand tall and proud in the sun, dotted all along the beach
looking like they'll stop the incoming sea, and it's evil inhabitants -
like the crab with it's sideways walking and killer claws, the jelly fish
with it's amorphous mass and shocking stinging weapon, and the tiny,
tiny fish acting as infantry, but not doing all that much to help.

But when the awful and powerful sea comes, flooding the primitive moats
and attacking the feeble walls, they can't stop the deadly attack and
fall like a domino stack, so one by one the succumb and surrender to
the mighty sea. And when it decides to leave, it take the castles, leaving
no trace of battle, so more castles can be rebuilt, and defend yet again.

I found it when I was clearing some of my stuff away, ready to be packed.

I also found my old highschool diary, which is from 1986.

God damn I was a fucking wiener.

I signed it off "Crambo". I was beaten up and spat on nearly every day, totally obsessed over one girl, and all in all a total nutcase. I'm sure if I was American I would have shot up my school...

Αφρικανοί πηγαίνουν στο σπίτι

I was in Melbourne this week, and watched the news on Thursday night.

Seriously, the Chaser boys have nothing on Channel 10 Late news...

They showed this old Greek guy, full on Greek accent, barely understandable and who would under normal circumstances be subtitled, talking about how the Africans should be sent home.

It was the single most wonderfully ironic moment I have witnessed on television.



(The title is African's go home in Greek, BTW)

Melbourne is about to get a whole lot more funky...

Looks like Melbourne is about to get a whole lot more funky, because I just scored myself a position with Krome in Melbourne.

I'll be starting there in exactly 4 weeks.

I'll be Lead Tester, in charge of 10 people, working on a new Xbox360 project.

It's not as exciting as Star Wars which I'm working on in Adelaide, but on the other hand it's not working on a F-ing PSP title...

Never lived outside of South Australia, so I have a tiny bit of trepidation about it all, but on the other hand I've been bitching about needing to get away from Adelaide for years...

The Truth about Ecstasy

I'm really, really disappointed that no journalist has the balls to stand up and tell the truth about ecstasy.

Since Anna Wood, no journalist in Australia has dared question the hardline stance on the drug, even though deaths from the drug have been very few.

Truth of the matter is pure MDMA is one of the least harmful 'illegal' drugs available.

Yes, it causes brain damage in rats, but anything that simply makes a case for rats shouldn't be able to take it.

The infamous "hole in the brain" on Oprah has been proved as precisely what it is - bullshit. The brain scans have been shown to be false, and the scientist involved in initial testing on monkeys to back up this claim somehow mixed his MDMA sample with a methamphetamine sample and drew the wrong conclusions. This was the same scientist paid by the DEA in the 1980s to first investigate MDMA and it's impact on the brain.

There is one guy in the UK who took 40 ecstasy pills a week for 14 years who is severely mentally retarded, but you'd have to be pretty retarded to take 40 a week in the first place.

Even though Australia's ecstasy pills contain little MDMA, and the substitutes can cause both physical and mental health problems, proper testing of pills will reduce some of the harm that can do.

I'm not proposing everyone go out and take the drug. That would just be silly.

But I am amazed that all the Johns debacle has done is made people call for tougher testing.

It's predictably pathetic of the Australian press. These people need to grow a pair and seek the truth, not regurgitate the garbage the Government feeds them.

If anything, Johns has shown that being a regular taker of the drug has little impact on an individuals performance within society.

And isn't that what they whole drug debate is meant to be about - limiting the impact of harmful drugs on individuals, ensuring people performing well in society?

Isn't that what makes someone who drinks a bottle or two of wine a night but can still go to work the next day "better" than a bum who does the same but doesn't go to work?

Gig with Superstyle Deluxe (Fri 31 Aug)

Marble Bar, Friday 31 August

Free Entry before 10pm and half price cocktails 9-11!



SuperStyleDeluxe (Dan Holmes & Neil Simons) are responsible for many of the floor rocking Breakbeats and midtempo hits that keep the booty shaking. "Making music you can dance too" has been the aim and moto since the whole concept began.

It started with the mass production of mix tapes titled SuperStyleDeluxe and adventuring into the realms of hip hop- Breaks Disco etc. All laden with a sprinkle of Turntableism this became the trademark for the young superstyedeluxe and selling them at the local legendary club Stump Juice based in Wolverhampton UK where Dan (the DJ) up held his residency with those heavy weight Latinos The Capoeira Twins. Population and demand for the mixes snow bald, gaining magazine reviews and reaching as far off as Europe & Canada.

Production and tunes soon started flowing and a record contract was secured with Hamburg's Lounge Records. A barrow load of releases followed all gaining props from the Plump Dj's Krafty Kuts- Mr Scruff for their unique sound and diverse approach to making dance records. Remixes have seen Dido, Bent, Venus Hum, Reno, Pink, Stabilizer, Circuit Breaker & The Strike Boys to name but a few to receive the SuperStyleDeluxe treatment.

The pair have achieved great praise with Breaks poll nominations, number one chartings and worldwide exposure with their releases. This has resulted in a SuperStyleDeluxe record sitting in many a dj's box. The pair are now coming off Brighton's" Heavy Weight" breaks label "SuperCharged/Against The Grain" with the long awaited debut album sitting nicely in the Pipeline. And if that wasnt enough they have just started a brand new label called The Payback Project which is making all the right moves The clubbing circuit has seen the introduction of Mc Chickaboo to the SuperStyleDeluxe DJ show. Recent releases with Chickaboo and heavy touring has placed them among the top DJ/ Mc acts. With tours from Europe, Canada,Australia & Asisa. Their acclaimed shows have been one of the hottest things coming out of the UK.

Locals are: Leezee, Halogen & Funky J

Luna Eclipse

Admittedly I had to use a bit of photoshoppery to bring the moon out clearer, but this is a nice shot of it through the vines on my house...

Long Time No Blog

Hey all, sorry, long time no blog.

Been buzy* lately and haven't had much to write to be honest.

Everything is simply kicking along nicely, nothing much to say about anything except videogames but you can read that over on my ign.blog

I've succumbed to facebook. But you all knew I would no doubt.

I took some photos of the Lunar Eclipse which I'll put on ringo later.



*buzy means "busy and/or lazy". It's a term I just made up. It's good. You should use it.

RIP Tony Wilson

Tony Wilson, founder of Factory records and the Hacienda, discoverer of Joy Division/New Order and Happy Mondays, passed away on Friday 10 August, 2007.

He was a true legend, a funny but dodgy geezer, the epitome of the "Madchester" mentality.

Bands I've seen

These are the ones I remember seeing... There's probably more... And this list doesn't include DJs who essentially just played records...

1200 Techniques
Acyalone
Afro Celt Sound System
Alien Ant Farm
Aphex Twin
Ash
Atari Teenage Riot
Basement Jaxx
Beastie Boys
Beasts of Bourbon
Beth Orton
Black Eyed Peas
Blackalicious
blink-182
Bliss
Blue King Brown
Body Count
Butterfingers
Carter the Unstoppable Sex Machine
Coldcut
Corduroy
Cosmic Psychos
Def FX
Depeche Mode
DJ Shadow
Downsyde
Faith No More
Fat Freddy's Drop
Fear Factory
Femi Kuti
Foo Fighters
Franz Ferdinand
Freestylers
Fundamental
Garbage
Gerling
Gnarls Barkley
Gotan Project
Grinspoon
Handsome Boy Modeling School
Happy Mondays
Headless Chickens
Helmet
Hexstatic
Hilltop Hoods
Hole
Hoodoo Gurus
Hunters and Collectors
Ice T
Iggy Pop
Infusion
Inspiral Carpets
Itch-E & Scratch-E
James Brown
Jamiroquai
Jarvis Cocker
Jebediah
Jet
John Butler Trio
Jurassic 5
Kosheen
KoЯn
L7
Leningrad Cowboys
Live
Lou Reed
Luke Slater Freek Funk
Lyrics Born
Machine Gun Fellatio
Magic Dirt
Massive Attack
Metallica
Midnight Oil
Ministry
Mudhoney
Muse
My Chemical Romance
Mylo
New Order
Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds
Nightmares On Wax
Nine Inch Nails
Paul McCartney
Pavement
Peaches
Pennywise
Pet Shop Boys
Peter Gabriel
Phoenix
Pixies
Placebo
Pop Will Eat Itself
Porno for Pyros
Powderfinger
Primal Scream
Primus
Prodigy
Queens of the Stone Age
Rage Against The Machine
Rammstein
Rancid
Red Hot Chili Peppers
Regurgitator
Resin Dogs
Roni Size’s Raprezent
Roots Manuva
Salmonella Dub
Scissor Sisters
Shihad
Silverchair
Skunkhour
Slipknot
Snoop Dog
Sonic Animation
Sonic Youth
Soulwax/2 Many DJs
Soundgarden
Spank Rock
Spiderbait
St. Germain
Stereo MCs
Stone Roses
Supergroove
Superjesus
The Avalanches
The Breeders
The Cat Empire
The Chemical Brothers
The Clouds
The Cruel Sea
The Crystal Method
The Cult
The Cure
The Dandy Warhols
The Disposable Heroes of Hiphoprisy
The Donnas
The Flaming Lips
The Hard Ons
The Herd
The Killers
The Living End
The Offspring
The Presets
The Rapture
The Smashing Pumpkins
The Streets
The Strokes
The Tea Party
The White Stripes
TISM
Tool
Tricky
U2
Ugly Duckling
Urge Overkill
Violent Femmes
Ween
Wolfmother
You Am I

PC dead again!

FUCK!!!!

My PC at home is dead again.

This time it appears to be my fault.

Hopefully the power supply has just gone, but it's still annoying because I had a heap of stuff to put online as well as a heap of work to do!

FunkyJ.com now online!

Finally, after upgrades and roll backs of FunkyJ.com for the last 6 months, all of my 2006 interviews from Twenty4Seven Magazine, dB Magazine and inthemix are online!

So please visit FunkyJ.com, read them and then tell your friends! =)

I will work at getting the 2007 interviews online over the next week.

Apologies for the lack of formatting on the new articles - the solution to my problem has been to shut off the TinyMCE section of my website, so now I have to write everything in HTML... and I can't be bothered, so no bold or italics in the news stories for the moment.

At least there's line breaks! =)

Zombie Walk

News Flash:

Headline: Hordes of Zombies roam city streets

Dateline: Adelaide Sat 26 May

Hordes of the undead rose from the Adelaide Parklands to traverse the streets of Adelaide.

Whilst most were docile, some moved incredible fast and demonstrated rudimentary motor skills suchs as operating cameras and other technological devices.


No one is sure what their purpose was, but as the shambolic mass stumbled down Rundle Street, Rundle Mall and Hindley Street, the chant of brains could be heard continually, making this reporter suspect they were protesting the lack of intellectual stimulation that Adelaide has to offer the denizens of the underworld. (or the populous at large - Ed.)

As far as we know, no one was injured or turned into a Zombie during the walk, although there was one weird zombie preaching the word of the Lord to the others in an apocalyptic manner.

Unfortunately that zombie was obviously more braindead than the others, as he kept trying to cite the scriptures but clearly had no proper understanding of them. One choice quote was "Jesus died on the Cross for our Sins, that should have been you" which is a clear misrepresentation of the meaning of the Cruxifiction.

Unfortunately this reporter was too busy staring at the raver zombie's cute ass and considering if sex with the undead would be considered necrophilia to take a photo of preacher zombie.

Video footage of the event follows, where you can hear a little of the preaching of the braindead zombie ...



More Photos and Videos at Ringo.com

The Most Poweful Person in the World

This is beautiful.

Updated Podcast

Hey all,

Finally updated my interview podcast!

I've got the following interviews up:

Kid Koala
Breakfastaz
Plump DJs
Stereo MCs
Roots Manuva
DJ Z-Trip
Coldcut
DJ Craze
The Roots

Unfortunately quite a few of them couldn't be put online (like my Andy C interview) because the recording quality was too bad.

I've got recording sorted now though and shouldn't have that problem again, and will start updating this much more regularly - interviews will go online 2 months after I publish them.

Subscribe Here

You can download individual episodes too.

If you want to subscribe via iTunes just click here
(or open the podcast menu in iTunes and search for FunkyJ)

As Promised... Hilltop Hood & the ASO Photos!

Pressure

Suffa

Debris

7000 people going off!

More at Ringo

Hilltop Hoods with the Adelaide Symphony Orchestra

I just saw the Hilltop Hoods with the Adelaide Symphony Orchestra.

Simply amazing!

They've always been top performers - I played at a gig with them about 7 years ago and even back then they were awesome, but to a home crowd of over 7000 people (which is some kind of record for a home crowd at the Adelaide Entertainment Centre) and with a 32 piece orchestra they were something else.

Also, as far as anyone is aware, hiphop has never been attempted with an orchestra outside of Springfield during the Lollapalooza tour

I did an interview with them the other week, and took some great pictures tonight, which I'll put online later.

I seriously reckon these guys are one of Australia's greatest bands, up there with AC/DC, Chisel, Midnight Oil, INXS, Crowded House...

Sure, it's totally different music, but the impact these guys are having on Australia is just as great as those other bands; they're selling shitloads of records, they're doing wonders for live music, they're inspiring so many others, and made Australian hiphop a legitimate art form.

If only they can make it overseas... They will do ok in Europe and the UK, but the US is really hard to break into, especially with hiphop...

FunkyJ.com temporarily down

You may have noticed that funkyj.com is "under construction".

This is so I can do some work on it like get my some interviews online and organise it all a little nicer. This will involve using a better CMS and figuring how how to use it...

Hopefully it will be all complete over the weekend, but this could be a week long job...

Utterly exhausted

Last night I was up until midnight playing LOTRO. Nothing unusual about that, that's my usual 'bedtime'.

But I woke up at 3am and went to the toilet, and as I walked into the bathroom the floor was all wet. At first I thought the cat had gone mental and peed there. It was a totally out of character thing for the cat to do, but hey, it was 3am and my brain wasn't fully switched on.

After I got out of the toilet I realised that the cat wouldn't have done that, so turned on the light to find my whole entire kitchen flooded, with water snaking across the floor making it's way towards my records and turntables.

I opened up the cupboard where the hot water heater is, and water was pissing torrents out the valves and along the top.

I searched frantically around the house for towels and buckets, and then began searching for the water mains. I live in an old 19th Century converted barn, and I assumed the mains would be on one of the properties we were linked to. I found a water mains tap, and turned it off, but that did nothing.

So I ring the land agent and then their after hours emergency service number and no body answers.

I ring Rheem and they tell me it will be about $200 for the first 40 minutes and a stupid amount thereafter. Meanwhile my kitchen is looking like an indoor swimming pool. I now know why they are called Rheem...

So, I try to twist a few knobs on the water heater, nothing budges. It's all wet and slippery and I'm not the world's strongest guy.

I find the release valve and think "A ha! I'll turn this on and just let the water empty down the drain. It's a waste, sure, but at least it's not going to flood the house!"

So I squeeze the valve and watch hot water pour out of the valve and go straight against the wall, run down the wall and join the other water from the leak, further exasperating the problem.

So, I think "---- this" and call Water SA - maybe they can help. The lady tells me that usually they could tell me where my mains water meter is connected, but the program they use to look that up has been down all weekend and won't be fixed until the morning.

So I call back Rheem and ask if I'll have to pay up front, and they tell me yes, which is impossible for me to do because I don't have that much money, not even on my credit card. So I ask if the lady can give me advice - I know there must be some kind of shut off valve, but she tells me she can't provide me with that information.

It's now 6am, I'm utterly exhausted, sleep deprived, soaked to the bone, and so worried about the water damage this massive leak is doing, I can't even swear at the bitch.

I basically pass out for an hour, wake up when my flatmate sms's me telling me she doesn't know where the water mains is either. She gets home, sees me and the house and starts laughing, then offers to help.

Then, at about 8:30 the plumber calls, and he tells me how to turn the water off on the water heater. But, as I mentioned before, I tried all the valves and couldn't budge any. I work at the one he told me to, and nothing.

So my flatmate goes to the mechanics around the corner, uses her wily womanly ways and gets a spanner. After about 10 minutes of trying to get between the valve and the wall, I get the water shut off.

The plumber arrives, takes one look at it, and says it needs replacing and they need to ask the house owner for permission.

Thankfully he said yes.

But now I am so exhausted. Physically from mopping and sponging and carrying buckets outside, and mentally because I've only had about 4 hours sleep...

In retrospect it's pretty funny, and if my brain wasn't so frazzled from so little sleep I would have taken pictures...

Seven Nation Army

This was on J-TV a few weeks ago, but I think this is amazing!

I find this guy's voice to be absolutely enchanting. He sounds like he was plucked straight out of the cornfields along the Mississippi in the 1920s...

C W Stoneking's cover of Seven Nation Army

50 Reasons why Star Wars is better than Star Trek

Ok, I know I may be biased, after all, I am working on a Star Wars game after all, but this list of 50 Reasons why Star Wars is better than Star Trek is a tremendously funny and accurate list.

But really, you only need one reason why Star Wars is better, and that's this:

The Advertiser Editors have some bloody nerve!

I had to laugh at the editorial entitled “Free people must be allowed a free press” that was on the AdelaideNow website on April 28, 2007.

The gall of the Advertiser editors to claim that they are some kind of bastion of democracy is phenomenal. If they actually think that they need to stop smoking the crack they are obviously are on and come down from their ivory tower and actually participate in the local community, because it's obvious they have an over inflated perception of them selves and their newspaper.

I couldn't help myself - I had to write in:

You claim that “A free media, the freedom of speech and expression of opinion, is the heartland of any democracy”.

The moment News.Corp appropriated all of Adelaide's papers into one was the moment the “press” ceased to resemble anything remotely associated with the word “free”. Murdoch's constant and consistent meddling in political affairs in Australia, the UK and USA stripped his media of any claim to the democratic process. Add to that the Federal Government's recent relaxing of media ownership laws to allow Murdoch more control and your entire diatribe at the government and lawmakers becomes fallacious at best, diabolical at worse.

You claim that parliaments are “the epitome of half-truth and obfuscation” yet in the last few months the Advertiser has shown itself to be more than equal to that task.

You claim that we are “fed a diet of misleading and shrewdly crafted press releases” but who publishes these releases? Who constantly publishes unresearched feeds from PR people and foreign newspapers?

The story about Knut the polar bear still has not been corrected in ANY news corporation publications, although the ABC's mediawatch showed that elements of the story were completely false and the animal rights activists involved now fear for their life because you “copy and pasted” the article from AP's news feed.

Examples of this sloppy journalism on corrections has increased phenomenally in recent years and yet your responses to such places as mediawatch when queried on it are unapologetic in most cases, and downright rude in others.

I have a challenge for you – you research and report the truth properly according to the MEAA's code of ethics, and when you do screw up the truth of the story you print a prominently positioned apology, and we, the public, will help to fight to stop your freedoms being eroded.

But until that time to ask that we support you would be laughable if it wasn't such a disturbing and disingenuous use of the Advertiser's editorial.

My weeked...

Pretty laid back weekend. To wet to go anywhere really.

The rain is good for the farmers though I suppose.

My weekend pretty much consisted of going through my music collection and burning a heap of CDs to my hard drive and copying them to my iPod.

I discovered quite a few CDs were missing unfortunately =(

But I did re-discover some old music, as well as grabbed a heap of stuff I have on vinyl in digital form.

I also bid on a heap of cheap CDs on ebay.

Also played a shitload of Luxor2 on my Xbox360.

It's like a breakout clone but a million times better and more addictive.

OK... so it's *almost* done

OK, so my page has been re-arranged and made more readable and "user friendly".

I've added some cool things like my LAST.FM player, so you can listen to the music I listen to!

I've added the feed from MySpace and IGN where I blog about games and music respectively. I sometimes double up, but deal with it ;)

I've also got a Skype Button so you can see if I'm available for a chat.

I'm eventually going to rearrange FunkyJ.com and update it with my latest interviews as soon as I can. That takes a little more work as the CMS and Word don't play well together, and I've got to convert all my word docs to text, then cut and paste, then format them all... Yes, icky I know!

I'm thinking of changing to a whole new CMS, so if you've got any suggestions post them in the comments!

Ch..ch...ch...changes!

OK, I'm finally changing a few things about my blog and website over the easter break!

Hopefully everything happens without trouble!

Knut the cute polar bear

Remember that story about those horrible animal activists who wanted to have that mega cute little polar bear called Knut put down?

For example THIS STORY



The cute little fella was even in the Colbert (or should that be Colbear?) Report!

Well, the whole story is a fiction. A lie*.

There's a bear called Knut, and that's about the extent of the "truth" behind this story.

Thank the world for mediawatch!


But I just wanted to bring this up to say that journalists never do their jobs correctly. I know the reasons for this - lack of funds, lack of time, publishing deadlines - but I don't CARE about them.

In any other industry, if something similar happened, the people who took this story as truth and reported it from the AP feed would all be sacked.

Yet I'm betting in 90% of newspapers and websites you won't even see a correction, let alone an apology to all involved.

It's utterly disgusting that these people go about their lives, after ruining the lives of others, without any feelings of guilt or remorse after reporting a story so badly. The media has totally screwed this up, and are unapologetic about it, and it makes me so angry!

Please, to all my readers, all 3 of you, can you link to this post, to the mediawatch page, blog about it, email about it, just spread the word about this, and get the media to admit their mistake and apologise to the men whose lives have been threatened with violence because of this poorly researched story.




*I'd go further and say it's a dirty smear campaign against Animal Rights and those who support them, and then by extension the Leftist and Green movements, but that would make me seem paranoid...

Future Music Festival

I must admit I was a bit dubious when I first heard about the Future Music Festival. Dance music festivals organised by out-of-towners tend not to do as well as our home grown shows like Enchanted and Stardust. People not from Adelaide tend not to recognise Adelaide’s fickle musical nature.

There were quite a few attractive women

Sure, the line up was huge, but other events, Two Tribes for example, had impressive line ups and yet never attracted too many people in Adelaide. Add the fact that it was on the same weekend as the Fringe Opening and Womad, and one could be excused for thinking that it might not do as well as it would in other states.

However, I am more than happy to report that Future Music Festival was an absolute success. The set up at the Garden of Unearthly delights was excellent, one of the best set ups I’ve experienced in Adelaide. I’ve heard varying reports about the numbers, from between 4 and 6,000 people, but the place was busy and bumping from the moment I got there. There was even a line up to get media passes!

MC Conrad

First up was dnb maestro LTJ Bukem, and there is nothing better than listening to MC Conrad’s dulcet tones wax poetically over Bukem’s cruisy dnb on a nice, sunny day. Although Bukem’s label Good Looking Records hasn’t released an album in years, Bukem plays new stuff unlike any other dnb DJ on the scene today. The crowd were really enjoying it, with most dancing on the slight incline of the park, and a few kicking back under the shade.

MPK & Patch

Being a breaks lover, I spent the rest of my time in the So Co Cargo area. Patch and MPK played a wicked set of harder dancefloor dnb to an eager home crowd, playing Pendulum and other crowd favourites; although I thought it was unfortunate that the only 2 dnb acts on for the day clashed.

Ali B

Ali B stepped up, and started playing some bass heavy breaks. He had some sound problems, apparently his monitor wasn’t working too well, but that had little effect on his mixing. I didn’t know many of the tunes, although I spotted some Stanton Warriors, Bassbin Twins and Drumattical Twins in there. Towards the end of his set he got a little funky, playing Slyde amongst others, and this seemed to fill the room a little more.

JDS

JDS stepped up next, and I didn’t know what to expect. I’m not a fan of his signature tune ‘Purple Funky Monkey’, but his set consisted of much harder, more dancefloor breaks orientated tracks that just grooved along. If I knew only a few of Ali B’s tracks, I knew even less of JDS, but that doesn’t bother me and didn’t seem to bother the crowd either. I’d much rather hear new music and find out what it is after the fact.

Princess Superstar

During this time I wandered about, and caught a bit of Princess Superstar on another stage. I actually enjoyed what I heard her play, but I’m sure I heard one of the tunes she played at least 3 times on that stage during the entire day as I wandered past. Maybe I’m just getting old and it’s all starting to sound the same to me.

Rex The Dog

Much to my disappointment, Rex The Dog wasn’t a synthesizer playing German shepherd, but instead a rather first-class (but merely human) performer playing on synths and turntables. He played lots of really cool, techno-electro breakbeat driven stuff which the crowd really got behind. Chris Lake followed and there was barely breathing space in the small So Co Cargo area, but that made Chris’s bump and grind techno funk even more enjoyable.

Chris Lake

But if there was a crowd for Chris Lake, there was a horde for Carl Cox! One of the biggest names in dance music for the last 10 years, Cox always goes off in Adelaide and this was no different. Playing off a Mac notebook on what I assume was either Serato or Final Scratch, the big man of the music scene simply smashed it!

Carl Cox

I was simply too smashed to continue the night (I had been at Womad all weekend too) but the Future Music Festival was a huge success, and the promoters did an amazing job. The sound was clear and crisp wherever you were, and although there were many people, it never felt claustrophobic. I look forward to next years event!

More cuties

More photos at inthemix.com.au

Huge weekend! Updates soon!

Had an absolutely HUGE weekend this weekend!

Womad on Friday night and Saturday afternoon, Grif's birthday and Marissa's wedding on Sunday, Future Music Festival on Monday...

All with about $50 to my name, so I didn't drink excessively (except at the wedding reception) or do anything else that involves spending money...

I'll update soon with photos and fuller reviews later this week.

Also have to look into this Picasa thing... apparently it's been integrated with blogger for better photo blogging, which will make things a little easier, but with Ringo, Flickr and my own gallery (neither wich has been updated in months!), do I really need another photo site???

I have no PC at home!!!

A couple of Mondays ago I turned on my PC and both drives failed. My main drive, and the raid back up, both came up "degraded".

So, for the last week I've only had access to the net at work, and I've been so busy at work that I've had no time to blog, or even comment on other's blogs.

Should be getting it all back next week, but 2+ weeks without a PC shows me how reliant I've become on computer technology.

Big Day Out 2007

Another year, another big day out, and another disappointing Boiler Room line up. Sure, all the acts that played this were top notch, but I don’t know, maybe the all-dance events like Good Vibrations, Field Day and Parklife keep scoring all the crowd pullers, but I wasn’t too impressed with the Boiler Room this year and spent a good deal of my time seeing bands.

Having said that though, the Herd were the first band I saw, and testament to the draw of hiphop, especially in Adelaide, they had the Boiler Room packed and pumping in the early afternoon. They have such energy and vitality on stage, and bringing John Schuman out for their cover of Redgum’s “I Was Only 19” was a very pleasant and welcome surprise.

The floor thinned out considerably for Digital Primate, which was a shame because he was really good. Playing his own tunes, with his rappers jumping up next to him and kicking some delicious rhymes, he was better suited for a later time slot. Also at this time I decided to get a drink. What a farce that was! Lining up for 30 minutes in the hot sun just to get tickets to go line up again for a drink? From a logistics perspective I can see why they did it – only a few places that deal with cash so no money goes missing from the bars, but from a punters point of view the idea is almost as stupid an idea as trying to prevent people wearing the Australian flag.

Spank Rock surprised me. I knew MC Spank Rock was a no show, but I expected the Spank Rock DJs DJ Devlin and DJ Darko to be far more hiphop orientated than they were. They only did a couple of their own tunes and played a lot of dance orientated stuff in mashup style, mixing up Mylo and AC/DC and the Rocky Theme, with Pacerock hyping the crowd rather than rapping to the music. They reminded me of the Nextmen or Z-Trip, and I really wonder how different they would have been if Spank Rock had made it.

I went for a wander after this, managing to catch My Chemical Romance, who, I grudgingly admit, were rocking the crowd far beyond my expectations. I’ve never really listened to them, and what I’ve heard on the radio I can’t say I like them, but I didn’t run away with my fingers in my ears screaming “You Suck!” at the top of my lungs like I have to other bands in the past.

Making my way back to the Boiler Room for Peaches, I was not disappointed by her on stage shenanigans. Sucking water out of fake boobs during Shake Your Dix, ripping off her tight black jumpsuit to reveal porn style electric pink underwear, she dominated the audience with her sexy style and on stage presence. And I love how many instruments they swap for every song – I much prefer to see people playing samplers on stage than relying on DAT backup tape.

Needing a rest, I wandered over to the Lilly Pad, and managed to catch King Kapisi, New Zealand’s king of hiphop. I don’t care what people say about Scribe, King Kapisi wipes the floor with him. Better rhymes, better attitude, just simply better.

After Kapisi came Afra & the Incredible Beatbox Band. And my word, they are aptly named! Beginning with the Shadow’s Apache, made famous by Michael Viner's Incredible Bongo Band, the proceeded to box out various beats from Michael Jackson to James Brown, and classic hiphop like ‘Let Me Clear My Throat’. The Japanese rapping was pretty cute too, and these guys are the best beatboxers I’ve seen to date. Although I’m seeing Rhazel next weekend, so my opinion is open to change.

After Afra, I went and checked out the Streets, who played far too much of their slow stuff, so I went to see Jet instead. I must admit in the past I’ve not liked Jet, thinking them to be too derivative, but seeing them live really made me appreciate their sound a little more.

Speaking of sound, Muse blasted some awesome rock, but not knowing too much of their stuff I sought out something I knew and could bop along to. Enter You Am I, another Australian band I have never given much credit to, but on the smaller Green Stage they seemed much more intimate and comfortable than last time I saw them.

Tool kicked off their set with probably the only Tool song I could identify as them, but I stuck around for a while and enjoyed the heavy rock, until hunger got the better of me and I went to grab some food. Here I was subjected to the wailing of Her Latest Flame, which made me glad I don’t go out to see local bands anymore. I understand you’re an angry teenager, but do you have to scream about it? Listen to the other bands on the line up – Tool and Muse didn’t produce eardrum busting yelps!

After dinner, it was time for the Violent Femmes, and I was happy as a pig in mud dancing and singing along from the first note of ‘Please Don’t Go’ to the last I heard, ‘Add It Up’. I loved the fact they played ‘Country Death Song’, one of my all time favourite Femmes tunes, and Brian Ritchie was great on the Xylophone for ‘Gone Daddy Gone’.

Leaving the Femmes before the end of their set was a heart wrenching decision, but I had a job to do. I had to go see Crystal Method to see if they’d disappoint me for a fourth time. In the past they’ve been average or simply downright crap. The ease I got into the Boiler Room confirmed my suspicions that the Crystal Method aren’t as popular as past BDO closers, but I grudgingly admit they played an alright set. Recognising their own remixes of Prodigy, New Order’s ‘Blue Monday’, along with their own ‘Born Too Slow’, and capping off with their squealchy and tough ‘Keep Hope Alive’, they exceeded my expectations, but my expectations were pretty low.

All in all it was another great Big Day Out, but there was nothing absolutely mind blowing this year, like two years ago when I heard Wolf Mother for the first time.

To see the bigger versions of these photos, go to www.ringo.com

All in all it was another great Big Day Out, but there was nothing absolutely mind blowing this year, like two years ago when I heard Wolf Mother for the first time.
To see the bigger versions of these photos, go to www.ringo.com

Happy New Years!

Happy New Years!

My resolutions are pretty simple - Get fitter, eat heathier, save some money, work on my mixing more, and get paid for more of my writing.

Oh, and the usual, get my license and get laid more, neither of which happened last year.