DJs I've seen

This list is far from complete.

I've been to hundreds of shows, wandering from room to room, and my memory is not the greatest at the best of times.

So if anyone out there can help me out, remembers seeing something with me that I've missed, let me know! It will be greatly appreciated!

Adam Freeland
Ali B
Amon Tobin
Andy C
Aphex Twin
Aquasky
A-Sides
A-Skills
Atomic Hooligan
A-Trak
Autobots
Baboo
Bad Company
Bailey
Baobinga & ID
Benga
Blim
Bob Sinclair
Breakfastaz
Calibre
Calyx
Carl Cox
Cash Money
Chemical Brothers
Coldcut
Craze
Cut Chemist
Cut Le Rock
Cyantific
D Bridge
Dave Clarke
Deadmau5
Deekline & Wizard
Digital Primate
Digweed
Diplo
Doc Scott
Dom & Roland
Drummatic Twins
Dub Pistols
Dynamo Productions
Elite Force
Ellis Dee
Evil Nine
Fat Boy Slim
Felix Da Housecat
Nick Warren
X-Press 2
Food & DK
Freestylers
Freq Nasty
Fresh
Friction
Friendly
Grand Master Flash
Groove Rider
High Contrast
Hurricane
Hype
Ian Pooly
Icey
Infusion
J Majik
James Zabiela
Jazzy Jeff
John B
Joker
Josh Wink
J-Rocc
Katalyst
Kid Koala
Klute
Koma & Bones
Krafty Kuts
Krush
Krust & Die
Laidback
Layo & Bushwacka
Lee
Lee Coombs
London Electricity
LTJ Bukem
Luke Vibert
Mark Rae
Marky
Masters At Work
Matrix
Midfield General
Mix Master Mike
Mr Scruff
NAPT
Neotropic
Noize
Paul
Paul Oakenfield
Pendulum
Plump DJs
Presha
Q Bert
Rae & Christian
Randall
Richie Hawtin
Rico Tubbs
RJD2
Rob Swift
Roc Raida
Roger Sanchez
Sasha
Scott Brown
Scratch Perverts
Shadow
Skool of Thought
Skreem
Soul of Man
Splitloop
Spooky
Stanton Warriors
Starky
State of Mind
Steinski
Sven Vath
Tayo
The Herbaliser
The Nextmen
The Rogue Element
Tiesto
Tiga
Tom Middleton
Top Buzz
Total Science
Umek
Vadim
Wiseguys
Yoda
Z Trip


Oh, and I've left off Australian DJs because, although I think most of them are fantastic and easily some of the best in the world, there are just too many of them and I don't want to offend someone by leaving them off :)

Bands I've seen (complete list)

Here's the almost complete list... I'm sure I'm missing some ;)

I've also included DJ "live shows" like Shadow & Cut Chemist, Kid Koala, Daft Punk and so on... shows good enough to transcend the simple mixing of records to be a full show.

The ones in bold are the one's I saw in the last year or so.

1200 Techniques
AC/DC
Acyalone
Afro Celt Sound System
Afrobeat Public Opinion Orchestra
Alien Ant Farm
Amp Fiddler
Aphex Twin
Ash
Atari Teenage Riot
Basement Jaxx
Beastie Boys
Beasts of Bourbon
Beth Orton
Billy Bragg
Bjork
Black Eyed Peas
Blackalicious
Blink-182
Bliss
Bloc Party
Blue King Brown
Body Count
Breakestra
Butterfingers
Carter the Unstoppable Sex Machine
Cat Power
Coldcut
Cooking on 3 Burners
Corduroy
Cosmic Psychos
Cypress Hill
Daft Punk
Def FX
Depeche Mode
Devo
Dilated Peoples
Dizzee Rascal
DJ Shadow
DJ Shadow & Cut Chemist
Downsyde
Easy Star All Stars
Elbow
Faith No More
Fat Freddy's Drop
Fear Factory
Femi Kuti
Foo Fighters
Franz Ferdinand
Freestylers
Fund-a-mental
Funkoars
Garbage
Gerling
Gnarls Barkley
Good Buddha
Gorilla's Sound System
Gotan Project
Gotye
Grinspoon
Handsome Boy Modeling School
Happy Mondays
Headless Chickens
Helmet
Hexstatic
Hilltop Hoods
Hilltop Hoods & Adelaide Symphony Orchestra
Hole
Hoodoo Gurus
Human League
Hunters and Collectors
Ice T
Iggy Pop
Infusion
Inspiral Carpets
Itch-E & Scratch-E
James Brown
Jamie T & the Pacemakers
Jamiroquai
Jarvis Cocker
Jebediah
Jet
John Butler Trio
Jungle Brothers
Jurassic 5
Kid Koala
Kaiser Chiefs
Katalyst
Kosheen
KoЯn
L7
Leningrad Cowboys
Live
Lou Reed
Luke Slater’s Freek Funk
Lyrics Born
Machine Gun Fellatio
Madness
Magic Dirt
Mark Ronson's Version
Massive Attack
Metallica
Midnight Juggernauts
Midnight Oil
Ministry
Mudhoney
Muph & Plutonic
Muse
My Chemical Romance
Mylo
Neon Indian
New Order
Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds
Nightmares On Wax
Nine Inch Nails
Paul McCartney
Pavement
Peaches
Pendulum Live
Pennywise
Pet Shop Boys
Peter Gabriel
Pharcyde
Phoenix
Pivot
Pixies
Placebo
Pop Will Eat Itself
Porno for Pyros
Powderfinger
Primal Scream
Primus
Prodigy
Public Enemy
Q-Tip
Queens of the Stone Age
Rage Against The Machine
Rammstein
Rancid
Red Hot Chili Peppers
Regurgitator
Resin Dogs
Roni Size’s Raprezent
Roots Manuva
Roy Ayres
Salmonella Dub
Sarah Jones & the Dap Kings
Scissor Sisters
Shihad
Silverchair
Skunkhour
Slipknot
Snoop Dog
Snow Patrol
Sonic Animation
Sonic Youth
Soulwax
Soundgarden
Spank Rock
Spiderbait
St. Germain
Stereo MCs
Stevie Wonder
Stone Roses
Supergroove
Superjesus
The Avalanches
The Bamboos
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 Red Eyes
The Roots
The Smashing Pumpkins
The Specials
The Stranglers
The Streets
The Strokes
The Swiss
The Tea Party
The White Stripes
TISM
Tool
Tricky
U2
Ugly Duckling
UNKLE
Urge Overkill
Violent Femmes
Ween
Wolfmother
Wutang
You Am I

I am a winner!

Despite a few people grumbling about it (Rapture IS a utopia, dumbasses!) I won a copy of the Bioshock 2 prize pack from Kotaku!

Here's my entry:

(sung to the tune of Blondie’s “Rapture")

Toe to toe
fighting very close
Plasmids firing
until you’re comatose
Wall to wall
Daddy’s hypnotised
And they’re stepping heavily
Stuck each night in Rapture

Gathering Adam
little sisters
Spindly movements
And a mass attack

Face to face
simply terrified
And it’s finger chopping
Twenty-four hour dying in Rapture

Tenenbaum told me everybody’s high
Atlas spinnin’ not savin’ my mind
Adam is fast, Adam is cool
Fontain say don’t be a fool
And you don’t stop, Suchong
Ryan is makin’ you do wrong

And you get in your sphere and you trip real far
And you dive all night and you’ll see no light
And it fills with water and sinks to the ground
And out comes a man from above
And you try to run but he’s got a gun
And he shoots your head and freezes you dead
And then you’re in the main foyer
Dancing with an ex-lawyer
You kill many slicers
to make the place nicer
And you don’t stop, you keep on killing stars
And you just get more scars
You go out at night and into the deserted streets
Race to face, fight cheek to cheek
One to many and man on man
Fighting toe to toe
Don’t move too slow, ’cause the Big Dad
Is through with slicers and he’s very mad
wall to wall, Through door and door, up hall to hall
He’s gonna get ‘em all
Rapture, be pure
Take a tour, through the sewer
You’ll strain your brain, go insane
You’ll be singin’ la la in the rain
I said don’t stop, drop a block

Well now you see what you wanna be
Make your choice on the VT
‘Cause the man upstairs he won’t care
And now he’s gone back down to hell
None of this bodes too well
And you flip flop, but you don’t stop
Just blast em with a sure shot
‘Cause the man over there is killing and screaming
And now he smokes cigars, level up!

AC [lightning bolt] DC

So I've finally seen AC/DC.

It comes as a shock to many people that I'm an AC/DC fan.

But AC/DC remind me of my youth. I remember sitting up all night listening to AC/DC with Philly D as we played computer games.

So why deny my bogan heritage any longer? Sure, during the 90s I essentially shunned AC/DC, and I fucking hated growing up in Elizabeth, but then I just lost the hate. The people I grew up, many of whom I'm still proud to call friends, shaped me into the person I am today, and the music we listened to was a massive part of that.

And Back in Black is one of the world's greatest albums, especially considering the time it was made, and It's A Long Way To The Top is one on the world's greatest songs.

So, when they announced the tour, I wasn't going to miss out. I camped by the internet and hit refresh until I snagged a ticket to the Melbourne Saturday night concert. Sure, it's not as exciting and romantic as camping out for days under blankets sharing the camaraderie that line waiting brings, but it's a fuckload easier.

After losing my job last November, I was a little worried I wouldn't be able to make it. Job offers from interstate and overseas never eventuated, so the worry was misplaced.

Getting to Etihad Stadium was easy - the train stops just outside, although I had to find a internet cafe to print my ticket out. Thank the universe for the internet!

I got in just as Calling All Cars finished. I downed a few scotches and then found a nice spot mid centre of the stadium. It was pretty packed even at 7:30pm, and although I could have pushed my way further to the front, I knew there would be cameras and screens, so I just didn't feel the need to.

Wolfmother opened for them, and were really good. They kicked off with Dimension, then played a couple of new songs, then got the crowd singing with Woman. During the slow bit of White Unicorn, you know, the bit that sounds like Riders on the Storm, they actually started playing Riders of the Storm. Stockdale's voice is perfect for a Doors cover, and I'm surprised they don't do more of them. They closed with Joker & Thief.

I thought they were a brilliant selection for AC/DC's opening band. They're liked well enough by a wide range of people that people would be singing along, rocky enough to fit in with the overall vibe of the gig, yet not good enough to overpower AC/DC (if that was indeed possible).

After a short wait, the screens lit up and showed a short video of the band on a train. Full of childish innuendo and sexually suggestive images, the "train" then smashed onto the stage as the band played Rock and Roll train. Right from this very first moment I knew we were in for a rocking show!

They played another off their new album, something I'm not overly familiar with, and then got into the older tunes. Dirty Deeds, Shot down in Flames, and Thunderstruck. All the while the whole audience is singing and screaming and having a great old time.

But things really got wild when Brian started singing She's Got The Jack. The screen started showing all the girls on the guys shoulders, and up came the shirts. Brian even said "get your eyes off those titties" at one point, and then Angus started his strip. Much like Devo, these old rockers still know how to entertain.

The classics came thick and fast. The bell lowered for Hells Bells, with Brian swinging from the bottom of it. Shoot to thrill and War machine - a track I do know off Black Ice - had cool visuals with the live action on stage, but nothing was as cool as High Voltage, done as a tribute to Bon Scott with his grinning face looking down at the thousands singing along with his lyrics.

More classics - You Shook Me All Night Long, TNT and Whole Lotta Rosie, which featured a massive fat lady riding the train. Let there be Rock was where Angus got loose, and showed that even at 60 he can still play that guitar well. The encore of Highway to Hell and For those about to Rock was absolutely brilliant.

I would have liked to hear more of my favourite songs - If You Want Blood and Who Made Who would have been nice, but overall I couldn't have been happier with the set. This was what a rock concert should be like! Entertaining and fun, no matter what was played.

I felt the same after AC/DC as I did after Madness, Devo, Primal Scream and The Specials last year. Sometimes I admit I caught up in too much negativity and cynicism, and it takes old farts like these to remind me life is all about having fun. If they can do it at 60, then I should be doing it now, and keep doing it until I'm 60, too.

Journalism

I wrote this as a response to a Crikey commentator. It's essentially what I wrote in Uni about journalism in one of my essays, and it's something I've been meaning to post for a while...

The only role ACA / TT play in society is to sell advertising to those too lazy to switch the channel after the news.

If you think it’s anything else, then you’re an idiot. Simple as that.

However, before you have a go at me for being “puffed up with moral superiority” I also think this of MOST journalism. Including Crikey.

Journalism has never been about the “Truth”. It’s never been about “Facts”. It’s never been about “Democracy”. It’s never been about “Reality”.

Journalism’s first and continued motivation is profit for the owners.

The very first broadsheets were advertising forums for shipping services, designed to profit those who advertised. These morphed into the first newspapers and they too were all about profit.

The very first photo published in a magazine was a montage - two images spliced together. Never mind the fact that this was the first photo published in a magazine - that wasn’t sensational enough - so they had to fake the truth of that photo.

And this sensationalism and profiteering has always existed in the media. The fact that some of it does some good in the world doesn’t excuse or counter this very basic fact about media.

If I make a good product, you’ll buy it. Likewise with media - it’s simply a product. If someone makes good media - and the definition of “good” changes with the individual - people will consume it.

When ACA expose a charlatan, don’t think for a minute they’re doing it for “the good of the people” - they want people to view the adverts and to make a profit out of that.

Likewise, Crikey’s exposure of the tactics ACA use is fantastic, but don’t think for a minute this was published for any other reason than making people want to subscribe to Crikey.

I want to expand on it later too. I think some may view this as extremely cynical, but I don't, and will explain why in a later post.

Avatar

I finally saw Avatar today...

I thought it was a terribly poor and completely transparent, over preachy morality play, with a sappy, predictable and tedious story, barely saved by the admittedly impressive special effects and creature/vehicle design.

Next time you make the world's most expensive movie James, I think you need to spend more money on the actual story...

Top Games for 2009

My top games I've played for 2009 would be:

Fifa 10 (xbox 360)
Such an amazing representation of the World Game.

Batman: Arkham Asylum (PS3)
Great game. Lots of fun and some great characterisation.

Dragon Age: Origins (PC)
So deep and involved. I'm still playing through it for the second time!

Mad World (Wii)
Violent and funny, with a cool and different art aesthetic.

Special mentions to:
Assassin's Creed 2 and Modern Warfare 2.

The worst would have to be:

Indiana Jones and the Staff Of Kings (Wii)
Such terrible execution of the Wiimote. So many times I was doing ridiculous gestures where a button press would suffice.

Sydney Trip 2010

Got back from Sydney this week.

On Thursday we did the toursity thing. We took Luke to Circular Quay, the Opera House, the Rocks and Darling Harbour. Found a great pub in the Rocks called the Lord Nelson Brewery Hotel which had some fine micro brews on tap.

On Friday we headed over to Manly, spent the day at the beach swimming and perving. Friday night the guys went out drinking and I went to my friend Lisa and Simon's for dinner. I tried to meet up with them after, but the bouncer at Goldfish wouldn't let me in, claiming I was too drunk. All I had was two beers! The guy was just a fuckhead.

Saturday we went to Bondi. I've been there before, but never swam there. The water was really clear, which surprised me. After swimming we went to the Bavarian Bier Cafe and had Mango Beer and pretzels.

On Sunday was the Days Like This festival.

We got to the Moore Park Entertainment Complex around 12:30, had another Mango Beer, and went in. The venue was small, and there wasn't much seating really, but those were my only complaints.

The Bamboos rocked it at 1:30pm, and must have been hot in those suits! Amp Fiddler was amazing - nice soulful music. We caught the last song of The Swiss which was good, but that stage was running late so we missed Cassette Kids.

Dilated Peoples were great too, but we left early to see Cat Power, who whilst enjoyable was a little too mellow and bluesy for this kind of festival. We missed Ugly Duckling as we couldn't get in to that area again.

Caught Neon Indian instead, who were pretty cool. Roots Manuva was awesome as ever, with Ricky Rankin and a new guy adding greatly to the sound.

We made our way into the "dance" area and caught the end of Joker... all I'll say about that is dubstep sucks even more when you put rnb vocals in it. Bukem and Conrad rocked up late and the sound was horrendous, so I left and saw Nextmen.

Interestingly, Nextmen had a bigger crowd than Bukem, and I loved it, that is until they started playing dubstep *sigh* They even played a riverside dubstep remix *double sigh*

Returned to Bukem via Pivot (I think) where the drummer was thumping like a mad cunt! Conrad's microphone was still too loud, but the sound was much better overall. I guess the sound guy had stopped chatting up the girl he was talking to and actually did his job...

Then Marky and Stamina jumped up and sounded great, with the crowd going nuts to Marky's scratching. Left to see Redman and Method man for about 15 minutes, but the dnb was better, so returned just to see Marky start playing some old house and cheesy hiphop, which was awesome too.

It was a rather small party, but the vibe reminded me of the first BDO in Adelaide - just lots of happy people there who were music lovers, not party goers.

No short shorts on men, no steroid juice heads (although there were a few drunk topless guys... but it was Sydney after all), no women dressed like they should be on a catwalk... just an awesome crowd listening to awesome music.

Would definitely go again next year, depending on the line up.

On Monday we hired a car and headed to the Blue Mountains. A day of dancing followed by a day of hiking nearly killed me. I think my new years resolution is to get a little fitter.

Damo's got most of the photos on his camera, although I took my camera to the Blue Mountains, and will put them online soon.

We had a great time over there, although I am a little sad "the band" has broken up as Damo has headed off to South America for 4 months.

Still my favourite record

Sex Party!

I think I'm going to vote for these people in the Higgins bi-election...

Australian Sex Party


Mainly because of the following policies:

• Introduce an R and X rating for computer games
  
  
• To overturn mandatory ISP filtering of the Internet and return Internet censorship to parents and individuals.
  

• To enact national pregnancy termination laws along the same lines as divorce law — which allow for legal, no-fault and guilt-free processes for women seeking termination.

• The listing of Viagra, Cialis and other drugs used to treat sexual dysfunction, on the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme.**

• Overturn restrictions on aid to overseas family planning organisations that reference abortion.
  
  
• Ending the tax exempt status for religions.
  

** not that I have need of these types of things... currently... ;)

iPhone blog

I've got a new iPhone! Testing out some new apps and such ;)


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Piracy and Advertising

I've been thinking about this a lot lately, as I'm downloading a lot of TV shows because Australian TV sucks. When they DO show new content that isn't "reality" shit, they'll fuck up the programming with too many adverts and worse, delay or cut the show due to sports or reality shows!

Now, I would quite happily watch HULU with all it's advertising and such, but it's blocked here. And I'd buy from iTunes if the shows were able to be viewed on my PS3. I'd pay for them on my PS3 or Xbox, but again, the service is blocked.

But one of the biggest arguments against downloading TV shows is the loss of advertising revenue networks face.

But hang on a second.

An average person in the US will see between 600-625 adverts (potential exposures as they call them) per day from all media sources including radio, billboards and the like, with about 400 coming from TV over the 4 hour TV watching average [src] . I'm fairly certain it's similar in Australia.

That means I've seen over 4 million adverts in my life time (assuming I watched an average of 4 hours of TV since I was allowed to watch TV at age 5).

Haven't I paid enough for this content already?

Isn't it enough when people ask me what I'd like to drink at a restaurant I say "coke" without thinking*? Or I know there's a glass and a half of full cream dairy milk in cadburys? Or that Beans Means Heinz?


*this is assuming it's a "dry" restaurant... otherwise it's "beer".

It's all lies!

How many lies do you believe are true?

Got a question for you - how did Apple start?
Steve & Woz in their garage, building their first computer together is what most of you will say... LIES!

Both of them worked at HP and Atari. Both of them were involved in the formative years of those companies - Woz tried to sell his idea to HP and they didn't go for it, so Steve and Woz went out on their own. Sure, they had a garage, they also had formal training and careers in the industry long before breaking out on their own.

How about Youtube?
Two dudes who wanted to share their videos with one another in a discussion after a dinner party... LIES!

Steve Chen and Chad Hurley both cut their teeth at PayPal. In fact, Hurley was one of PayPal's first employees and helped designed its logo. He is also the son-in-law of James Clark, who founded Netscape and Silicon Graphics. A long way from college kids who did it "for kicks".

How many other stories are like this - creation myths, expounded and exaggerated and falsified to sell a story rather than to tell the truth?

I'd argue all of them.

Chris Columbus' is a long cry from looking for India from the West in order to prove the world wasn't flat amongst a mutinous crew. In actuality, he went off looking for gold to get rich so he could get favour of the Queen, and sailors of his day knew the world was round from sailing around the ocean and navigating by the stars and an astrolabe for centuries.

Of course, the greatest creation myth of all is the one found in the Bible, but that's probably unfairly called out because it was the first reproduced in book form and accessible to the 'common man', the first to be set to a specific formula and stay that way, rather than alter and change like so many spoken myths before it.

But for centuries, people have been faking this myth, making it believable by things like the Shroud of Turin or Solomon's Pomegranate.

This is why the only truth is in archeology, the only science to believe is history.

Passenger Mix Tape – DJ Woody vs Body Snatchers

I had a whole different picture of who the Body Snatchers were before getting this release. For some reason I thought they were some lame arse corporate created boy band. So seeing them on a Passenger mix with the likes of Aquasky and Baobinga & ID, mixed by one of the UK's best scratch DJs, DJ Woody, had me really intrigued. Imagine my surprise and delight when instead of a bunch of boys of questionable sexuality harmonising about love, I get a gruff UK hiphop rapping about being tough and how great women with big asses are.

Much of this album is Woody dropping Body Snatchers acapellas over Body Snatchers beats, with some freestyle raps dropped here and there, and scratching thrown in for good measure. According to the tracklisting at any rate, many of the Body Snatchers tunes have been re-worked with different vocals and I suspect given phatter baselines. Most of the mixes are great and work really well together but then again, when you mash up an acapella and instrumental from the same group, it's never quite as interesting as mashing up two completely separate styles. Regardless, the mix slams the bass hard, and the various MCs deliver sound rhymes most of the time.

There are a few rhymes here and there which might leave you scratching you head. "I used to date a girl and her name was Carla / now I've got a Brazilian and her name is Flavia" then something muttered about Shakira… doesn't sound that good on paper and is even worse in verse. However, the rapping over the awesome Monster Cash builds up with the music and is a piece of brilliance which will get your head nodding where ever you're listening to it.

One of my favourite elements of this mix is its sense of fun. A lot of people seem to be so serious in their mixes, yet this one has silly rhymes and shoutouts all the way through it. It has an old school sensibility, with many guests popping up, including BluRum13, Goldmouf, Sirplus, Ragga Twins, and the aforementioned Aquasky and Baobinga & ID. Admittedly you might not know half of these names, but a good mix CD should make you want more from the artists involved, and this album certainly has done that for me.

4 Stars

Test of word blogging

If you see this, expect more content soon J

 

How to get man back to the moon

On the 40th Anniversary of the Moon Landing, I've figured how to get us back up there!

All it requires is one little man with a gripe against America...

Open letter to Kim Jong-Il from the adventurous people of planet Earth.


Dear Kim,

We loved you in Team America. But we do not wish to talk about your wonderful acting. We're writing to you to ask you a favour. We understand you don't like the Yanks much, and frankly, neither do we. They're fat, loud and obnoxious, preaching to everyone about how great and free they are, and yet they can't even show a boob on television without the whole country going apeshit.

We know you have rockets and nukes, but we know, as well as you do, that you wouldn't be able to fire one off before you were bombed back into the stone age. Sure, you might be able to hurt South Korea or Japan, but look what happened to them last time someone fucked with them! You can't deny either country is better off since the war, much better off the France, the UK and USA. Hell, the Japs have huge fuckoff robots everywhere!

So, as adventurous people of planet Earth, people who love adventure and want to see our race spread out amongst the stars, we ask you to direct your attention and missiles away from the pissants here, and instead look to the stars. After all, there are billions of planets out there waiting to be subverted to the communist cause! Hell, find one with the right kind of life, and you could be greeted as a God much like Chris Columbus was when he arrived in the Americas!

But that’s a little ways off, obviously. The first step should be the moon. If you get to the moon I guarantee this will completely piss off the Americans and Japanese, more so than if you bombed them. You bomb them, you’re ash. You own the moon, maybe charge people a fee for looking at it, and bam! Not only is your country rich, you can start negotiating properly with the capitalistic pigdogs on this planet.

Of course, this may create a space race, like in the 1960s and you might find the going tough. After all, the Americans do have an advantage with the quote International unquote space station spying on you as well as being a base of operations, but I’m sure that with your intelligence and demeanour you will be able to win at what ever you try.

Yours truly,

The adventurous people of planet Earth

Yay! I'm not going mad!

I live really close to a railway line.

On the occasional Sunday morning, usually when I've been hung over and still in bed, I've heard what sounded like a steam train go past my house.

It's always puzzled me. In fact, I thought I was hearing things and going mad (too much booze kills brain cells don't you know!), thinking it was a Ghost Train, because I didn't hear the chugging - just the toot of it's whistle - nor smell the coal-fire like I used to as a kid in Adelaide...

No you cunts, I'm NOT old enough to remember the times when steam train was the only form of travel!!! I'm talking about when I'd see steam engines like the Steam Ranger going to Gawler/the Barossa on the odd occasion.

Anyway, the line near my house is electric and at all other times I've only seen passenger trains go on it - not freight nor anything else, and I thought a steam engine might be too big for it, or something.

This morning, I heard the whistle, so I rushed to the door, and saw what it was - a push-pull steam train. It has an engine at both the front and back, I'm assuming so it can get up the hill to Glen Waverley. So yay, I'm not going insane. Nor is it a ghost train.

It fit perfectly under the electric wires, so obviously the government who put the wires in were intelligent enough to make them high enough. Pity the current government can't get the rail infrastructure these days though... BAM!

I looked it up online, and found out Steam Rail Victoria runs trains up to Glen Waverley every so often.

If I knew beforehand, I would have prepared a day of it! As it stands, I've got two overdue reviews to write up and very little cash left from last night's shenanigans.

But I found the also do a Snow Train Ride at the end of July for about $100 return, so might take that for a lark... who's up for it?

Hawaii was awesome!

Hawaii was absolutely beautiful and a heap of fantastic fun!

A True Tropical Paradise

I had a ball swimming, kayaking, snorkelling, and hiking all over the place.

If you've got facebook, my photos are here although they might be open to view by any and everyone...

Some wonderfully friendly Russian-American girls we met

However, if they aren't and you want to see them, try here! I've added a new and improved gallery site to my website - Gallery.FunkyJ.com

The amazing black-sand beach

So far I've put all my pictures from 2006 and up until Womad 2007 up there, although I've still got to go through and fix up the dates and meta tags for quite a lot of them.

It's interesting looking through all these... people I used to hang out with but don't any more, people who used to be friends or partnered but aren't, people who used to live in the country but moved far away, and people who used to be alive but aren't any more...

Makes me a bit homesick actually... But then I look at the pictures from Hawaii and think "fuck Adelaide for a joke..."

Five more sleeps!

Five more sleeps and I'm off to Hawaii!

I've never travelled outside of Australia so this is a first for me - and another first that would simply not exist had I still be living in Adelaide...

So fucking excited!

Travelling with a couple of mates from work and spending 3 days on Oʻahu (in Honolulu) and then 4 days on Hawai'i (the Big Island) before flying back and spending the weekend in Sydney.

I'm going to be Twittering from my phone (provided it works and doesn't cost me stacks!) and I will be taking my camera as well as my extra memory card...

It's going to be awesome!

OFLC kicks the crap out of Michael Atkinson

LOL!

OFLC kicks the crap out of Michael Atkinson