So anyway, thank you for all the hugs and stuff re the burglary. Everyone survived, I lost some stuff which I'd rather not have lost but I'll cope 
, and as usual, it's more the feeling of violation that really hits you. Having someone in your private space, while you're not there, going through your junk, however worthless much of that junk is.
Meantime, life goes on, and things are getting busy. Hope to see some of you round the boards etc., and maybe a few Melburnites in the flesh sometime soon!
, and as usual, it's more the feeling of violation that really hits you. Having someone in your private space, while you're not there, going through your junk, however worthless much of that junk is.Meantime, life goes on, and things are getting busy. Hope to see some of you round the boards etc., and maybe a few Melburnites in the flesh sometime soon!
I got broken into the other day. I had things I was going to type here, but I guess now I'll just write about being burgled.
I came home late and found my front door(s) open. Scary. Place was a mess. Most of my important stuff was NOT gone, oddly (and blessedly) enough, although with more time, I have noticed more stuff missing. One nice bit of guitar gear that I had listed in the list-your-gear thread in the musicians group.
My cheap digicam. 
Two suits I rarely wear, in their suitbags! 
Strange.
Thing is, I've been cat-minding this week. I was most terrified that the cat would have bolted out the door and then been completely lost in a new neighbourhood. But he poked his head out from under my bed to ask me "Have the bad people gone yet?" He's been quite the scaredy cat since.
Meantime, my girlfriend and I have been having a haiku competition. Hers are better than mine but she won't let me post them here. So here's one I just sent her.
Haikus challenge me
Sly syllable adjustment
There! I made it fit!
I came home late and found my front door(s) open. Scary. Place was a mess. Most of my important stuff was NOT gone, oddly (and blessedly) enough, although with more time, I have noticed more stuff missing. One nice bit of guitar gear that I had listed in the list-your-gear thread in the musicians group.
My cheap digicam. Two suits I rarely wear, in their suitbags! Strange.
Thing is, I've been cat-minding this week. I was most terrified that the cat would have bolted out the door and then been completely lost in a new neighbourhood. But he poked his head out from under my bed to ask me "Have the bad people gone yet?" He's been quite the scaredy cat since.
Meantime, my girlfriend and I have been having a haiku competition. Hers are better than mine but she won't let me post them here. So here's one I just sent her.
Haikus challenge me
Sly syllable adjustment
There! I made it fit!
So I don't know whether there are any other dedicated bloggers of online porn, erotica and so on out there, but I have started one.
http://mikhaill.blogspot.com/
If you're interested, check it out. Post ideas, sites you'd like me to discuss or link to, issues you think I should tackle, anything you can think of, here for my delectation. And I will love you inordinately in response. Kthnx.
http://mikhaill.blogspot.com/
If you're interested, check it out. Post ideas, sites you'd like me to discuss or link to, issues you think I should tackle, anything you can think of, here for my delectation. And I will love you inordinately in response. Kthnx.
So part 2 in an occasional series of musings about music NOT listed in my favourites. (Part 1 was on Brian Eno.)
This one's kind of in honour of Olivia
. I found an old Headless Chickens CD (Body Blow) and played it for the first time in years. It's just remarkable. From the opening growl of "Choppers", to the shouted weirdness of "Donde Esta La Pollo" ("Where is the chicken?"), to the sublime and haunting "Juice", you could never tell what was coming next. They threw in dance beats, loud guitars, bizarre lyrics and sometimes moments of ethereal beauty in unexpected combinations.
"I've got a cat
Called Fred
And he's a vicious little bugger
When it comes to being fed"
["Gaskrankinstation"]
So, anyway, I just wanted to reflect on the glory that is Flying Nun Records, the wonderful New Zealand record label that brought so much magical pop to the world from one small corner of said world. I don't know what they had/have in the water in New Zealand, but there was an outpouring of some of most magical music from that one little corner.
I think I heard The Straitjacket Fits first, saw them live around the time of the "Hail" LP. I can understand why Shayne Carter didn't like the production of that record, but the songs just shone through like blazing suns.
I saw the Chills once, and their sublime and appropriately titled "Heavenly Pop Hit" is one I would choose in my top 40 videos to play on "Rage", the national late night video show in Australia, if I ever got to pick my faves.
Too many others to mention. Chris Knox's "Not Given Lightly" is a pop-song delight. The Tall Dwarfs. The Jean Paul Sartre Experience. Betchadupa featuring Liam ("Neil Jr.") Finn.
If you like melodies -- sometimes beautiful, sometimes twisted -- you should explore the wonderful and crazy world of Flying Nun.
http://www.flyingnun.co.nz/
This one's kind of in honour of Olivia
. I found an old Headless Chickens CD (Body Blow) and played it for the first time in years. It's just remarkable. From the opening growl of "Choppers", to the shouted weirdness of "Donde Esta La Pollo" ("Where is the chicken?"), to the sublime and haunting "Juice", you could never tell what was coming next. They threw in dance beats, loud guitars, bizarre lyrics and sometimes moments of ethereal beauty in unexpected combinations."I've got a cat
Called Fred
And he's a vicious little bugger
When it comes to being fed"
["Gaskrankinstation"]
So, anyway, I just wanted to reflect on the glory that is Flying Nun Records, the wonderful New Zealand record label that brought so much magical pop to the world from one small corner of said world. I don't know what they had/have in the water in New Zealand, but there was an outpouring of some of most magical music from that one little corner.
I think I heard The Straitjacket Fits first, saw them live around the time of the "Hail" LP. I can understand why Shayne Carter didn't like the production of that record, but the songs just shone through like blazing suns.
I saw the Chills once, and their sublime and appropriately titled "Heavenly Pop Hit" is one I would choose in my top 40 videos to play on "Rage", the national late night video show in Australia, if I ever got to pick my faves.
Too many others to mention. Chris Knox's "Not Given Lightly" is a pop-song delight. The Tall Dwarfs. The Jean Paul Sartre Experience. Betchadupa featuring Liam ("Neil Jr.") Finn.
If you like melodies -- sometimes beautiful, sometimes twisted -- you should explore the wonderful and crazy world of Flying Nun.
http://www.flyingnun.co.nz/
Hmph. I was going to spend a bit of time updating this thing (mostly to get Brian Eno off the page and into my archives), but I got into a slug fest on the Current Events board instead. 
I really should not go there again. *sigh*
The weekend looms. I have much to do.
I really should not go there again. *sigh*
The weekend looms. I have much to do.
So, as a recent arrival (n00b) I entered in lots of "favourite band" type names into the box on my profile page ... but there's never enough space, right? If you're like me, you either enter 3 or 4 of your most favouritest ever bands/artists and leave it at that, or else you get in the zone of not wanting to leave anyone out and so you keep adding names.
And it's always kind of arbitrary, and I guess I sub-consciously leaned towards SG-"type" bands (recent, alterna-type stuff), and I left out some more dinosaury (erm, or is that *ahem* "old skool" now?) names like, I dunno, Led Zeppelin or whoever.
But anyway, I entered as many names as I could think of ..and then ran out of space!
So what I might do is blabber a little bit about a few of the names I left out and don't have space to include in my list.
1. Brian Eno
So, OK, Eno first came to notice with the original, space-glam version of Roxy Music that put out the first two, mind-fucking Roxy LPs in the early 1970s. He was at the forefront of using keyboards & synthesisers to just make weird noises in the middle of pop songs, and he just LOOKED so damn wild. It's funny to consider how Bryan Ferry started out with him, looking wild but also kind of suave, and as time went on, Ferry kept getting less and less wild and more and more suave until he became the be-suited lounge lizard we all know him as today.
Meantime, Eno went from over-the-top wild/camp, to becoming the ascetic, serious, chrome-dome we know HIM as today. Ferry evolved, but Eno radically CHANGED. One extreme to another.
His four "pop" albums from the 1970s (i.e. they have songs!, and vocals!) are just must-haves, in my book. "Here Come The Warm Jets" had wonderful pop songs on it, simple yet weird (or weird yet simple); any guitar band worth its salt would have a blast covering something like "Needle in the Camel's Eye", while "On Some Faraway Beach" makes you feel like you're dancing on the golden sands.
"Taking Tiger Mountain By Strategy" seemed to have more thoughtful/introspective moments on it, although Eno's humour and whimsy still kept appearing. "The Fat Lady Of Limbourg" sounds sombre, but the words are hilarious, while "Mother Whale Eyeless" pre-figured in its lyrics several band-names that would appear later as real bands (801, A Certain Ratio). And when I listen to "Put A Straw Under Baby" I no longer hear the out-of-tune scrapings of the Portsmouth Symphonia, I just hear a beautiful lullaby.
"Another Green World" had gorgeous melodies ("Everything Merges With The Night") nestled cheek by jowl with synthesiser instrumentals ("Spirits Drifting") and trademark Eno quirky pop ("St. Elmo's Fire").
"Before and After Science" might just be one of the most beautiful records ever made, at least Side 2 with the supremely gorgeous "Julie With..."
["I am on an open sea,
Just drifting as the hours go slowly by.
Julie with her open blouse
Is gazing up into the empty sky"]
I was once falling asleep while listening to that song, and I was half-dreaming that I was in a small boat, bobbing gently over clouds on its way up to heaven. It's that beautiful a song, I swear. The songs that follow are awesomely pretty too.
Eno is also known for his ambient music (music for airports, anyone?), and his amazing production/collaboration track record. David Bowie. Robert Fripp. David Byrne, with and without Talking Heads. (He produced their amazing "Remain in Light" album, the one that Radiohead were inspired by when creating "Kid A".) He produced Devo's debut "Are We Not Men?", and has collaborated on several of U2's opuses, probably most famously their "Achtung Baby" set.
I want to get a set of his Oblique Strategies cards too!
Learn to love him.
http://www.jahsonic.com/BrianEno.html
http://fusionanomaly.net/brianeno.html
http://music.hyperreal.org/artists/brian_eno/
PS: Melbourne SG-member's get together coming up! Woohoo! I'll bore them all senseless with Enotalk!
And it's always kind of arbitrary, and I guess I sub-consciously leaned towards SG-"type" bands (recent, alterna-type stuff), and I left out some more dinosaury (erm, or is that *ahem* "old skool" now?) names like, I dunno, Led Zeppelin or whoever.
But anyway, I entered as many names as I could think of ..and then ran out of space!
So what I might do is blabber a little bit about a few of the names I left out and don't have space to include in my list.
1. Brian Eno
So, OK, Eno first came to notice with the original, space-glam version of Roxy Music that put out the first two, mind-fucking Roxy LPs in the early 1970s. He was at the forefront of using keyboards & synthesisers to just make weird noises in the middle of pop songs, and he just LOOKED so damn wild. It's funny to consider how Bryan Ferry started out with him, looking wild but also kind of suave, and as time went on, Ferry kept getting less and less wild and more and more suave until he became the be-suited lounge lizard we all know him as today.
Meantime, Eno went from over-the-top wild/camp, to becoming the ascetic, serious, chrome-dome we know HIM as today. Ferry evolved, but Eno radically CHANGED. One extreme to another.
His four "pop" albums from the 1970s (i.e. they have songs!, and vocals!) are just must-haves, in my book. "Here Come The Warm Jets" had wonderful pop songs on it, simple yet weird (or weird yet simple); any guitar band worth its salt would have a blast covering something like "Needle in the Camel's Eye", while "On Some Faraway Beach" makes you feel like you're dancing on the golden sands.
"Taking Tiger Mountain By Strategy" seemed to have more thoughtful/introspective moments on it, although Eno's humour and whimsy still kept appearing. "The Fat Lady Of Limbourg" sounds sombre, but the words are hilarious, while "Mother Whale Eyeless" pre-figured in its lyrics several band-names that would appear later as real bands (801, A Certain Ratio). And when I listen to "Put A Straw Under Baby" I no longer hear the out-of-tune scrapings of the Portsmouth Symphonia, I just hear a beautiful lullaby.
"Another Green World" had gorgeous melodies ("Everything Merges With The Night") nestled cheek by jowl with synthesiser instrumentals ("Spirits Drifting") and trademark Eno quirky pop ("St. Elmo's Fire").
"Before and After Science" might just be one of the most beautiful records ever made, at least Side 2 with the supremely gorgeous "Julie With..."
["I am on an open sea,
Just drifting as the hours go slowly by.
Julie with her open blouse
Is gazing up into the empty sky"]
I was once falling asleep while listening to that song, and I was half-dreaming that I was in a small boat, bobbing gently over clouds on its way up to heaven. It's that beautiful a song, I swear. The songs that follow are awesomely pretty too.
Eno is also known for his ambient music (music for airports, anyone?), and his amazing production/collaboration track record. David Bowie. Robert Fripp. David Byrne, with and without Talking Heads. (He produced their amazing "Remain in Light" album, the one that Radiohead were inspired by when creating "Kid A".) He produced Devo's debut "Are We Not Men?", and has collaborated on several of U2's opuses, probably most famously their "Achtung Baby" set.
I want to get a set of his Oblique Strategies cards too!
Learn to love him.
http://www.jahsonic.com/BrianEno.html
http://fusionanomaly.net/brianeno.html
http://music.hyperreal.org/artists/brian_eno/
PS: Melbourne SG-member's get together coming up! Woohoo! I'll bore them all senseless with Enotalk!
OK. Not much to say. I've got some "fave SGs" up where they should be, and chosen a whole heap of fave pictures from the site. It was a lot of work let me tell you! (Yes, yes, a dirty job but someone's gotta do it. )
So anyway, in a few hours I shall be at the Empress Hotel in North Fitzroy (Melbourne), meeting up with my ex who is there to hear the Lucksmiths. This is of no great significance I guess, except that the Empress is where Olivia used to hang out when she was in Melbourne. Oh if only I'd known ...
Night all.
)So anyway, in a few hours I shall be at the Empress Hotel in North Fitzroy (Melbourne), meeting up with my ex who is there to hear the Lucksmiths. This is of no great significance I guess, except that the Empress is where Olivia used to hang out when she was in Melbourne. Oh if only I'd known ...
Night all.
So a few days after posting my first entry, I've now had some comments, posted a couple of my own, posted a few more things on the boards, and gone into chat.
Even had my first comment from a real live Suicide Girlie.
Golly it's fun here!
To finish up today's brief meditation, a haiku. (I wish I had written this, but it's from my girlfriend.)
A word of advice
George, George, George of the jungle
Watch out for that tree.
[If you ever see fit to use that, please add "Copyright Kate" after it. Thanks! ]
Even had my first comment from a real live Suicide Girlie.
Golly it's fun here!
To finish up today's brief meditation, a haiku. (I wish I had written this, but it's from my girlfriend.)
A word of advice
George, George, George of the jungle
Watch out for that tree.
[If you ever see fit to use that, please add "Copyright Kate" after it. Thanks!
]So, I've been a member for, uh, a few weeks now maybe, and spent the little surfing time I had cruising round all the various interesting parts of the site, trying to find all the things that were here. Pics and vids and groups and boards and member profiles and journals and all of that.
So finally, journal entry uno from myself.
One of the things I've been trying to do is work my way systematically through all of the SG's pages and pic sets to figure out which favourtites I should include on my profile page, and which 3 I would pick above all the others.
So far, I am up to the L's (Lenore). God help me.
Please, if you find me anywhere near the politics discussion boards, please, drag me away no matter how much I kick and scream.
Please feel free to drop a comment here. Otherwise it's like tree-falling-in-forest-no-one-hears syndrome.
So finally, journal entry uno from myself.
One of the things I've been trying to do is work my way systematically through all of the SG's pages and pic sets to figure out which favourtites I should include on my profile page, and which 3 I would pick above all the others.
So far, I am up to the L's (Lenore). God help me.
Please, if you find me anywhere near the politics discussion boards, please, drag me away no matter how much I kick and scream.
Please feel free to drop a comment here. Otherwise it's like tree-falling-in-forest-no-one-hears syndrome.
