The Unnamed Feeling

Movember!

Sun, 29 Nov 2009 04:24:53 GMT

I'm still doing it, but it's nearly done!

Thanks to all who have donated to the cause. But if you have forgotten, you still have time!

Go here to make a donation! Help suppont Beyond Blue and Prostate Cancer research...

Wow. too early for this sh**

Matrix style?

And yes, that is a "Movember Rain" t-shirt!

Nightime

Thu, 19 Nov 2009 13:00:00 GMT

The good: Burning down the highway through the night. Just been at a work function so a couple "conversation lubricants" (not too many kids - never drive drunk!)have been consumed and now I'm heading home with virtually green light the whole way home and some very good metal on the stereo. The afternoons event was a work sponsored "season-type greeting" on the beachfront. While it was very hot, the company, conversation and views certainly made up for it as the weather moved ever closer to us. Nothing like a bit of nature to get the juices flowing.

The better: The lightshow. Unseasonably hot November plus a rain front equals a lightning show more suited to a tropical location. Brilliant flashes. Crackling spider-webs. Sun-bright bolts.

The bad: The seriously big bolt that touched down less than 5k from dragontail and stareyednight's place. I bet they heard it! Also I'm kinda hoping that hit one of the big industrial-type structures nearby, or else someone is having quite a bad night.

The freaky: the supposedly random mix on the iPod throws up "Ride the Lightning" while said storm is happening. Conincidences don't happen.

Holy massive donation Batman!

Thu, 12 Nov 2009 09:46:18 GMT

Wow.

One of the building companies we use at work sent me a message today. Something along the lines of "we've donated to you, but only if you promise to grow back the beard - the clean shaven look is terrible!"

Given that matron_jojo is the only person who has given any indication at all of appreciating the hairless me, I'm used to these comments. The fact is I know any publicity is good publicuty, and if they are talking about the Mo, then I'm talking about mens health issues - so it all works out.

I threw a few choice comments in said buiders direction - nothing unusual there - and went on with my day.

When I got home tonight I found out what "we've donated" translates to. WOW. Needless to say I'll be making a phone call first thing tommorow to thank the owner personally.

Not that this finishes the job. Forget about supporting me. If you are concerned about men's health issues like depression and prostate cancer, please take a few seconds to donate to me, or to anyone you know who is joining in the Movember fun.

You can support me here

Tue, 10 Nov 2009 11:00:57 GMT

Shocking... just shocking

Mon, 09 Nov 2009 11:14:22 GMT

Movember Update

Sun, 08 Nov 2009 05:50:43 GMT

Haven't posted photos because I havent been online! Sydney was great (much better than Melborne) and home is hot. I know only one person who says I'm hot, but it's debatable at the moment...

Tuesday

Wednesday
(Chinese gardens in Sydney - Darling Harbour. We could see them from our hotel room)

Thursday
(At the Opera House - which is still red from the dust storms a few weeks ago)

Friday
(Doing the Skywalk on Sydney Tower)

and Saturday
(Relaxing (i.e. not walking anywhere for a change) in the gardens at Darling Harbour. A very busy place on a sunny Saturday afternoon...)

Today! One week gone and three to go before my chin goes into hiding again!

If you haven't donated you can do so at My Mospace. And Thanks

Day 2

Mon, 02 Nov 2009 06:25:11 GMT

Nothing to see here...

I told you didn't I, Movember has started!

Sat, 31 Oct 2009 23:53:10 GMT

Before...

After...

Donote to me here please!

Tue, 27 Oct 2009 09:55:23 GMT

http://au.movember.com/

...and yes, photos again this year...

Hottest 100 - Of All Time

Tue, 14 Jul 2009 11:46:57 GMT

It was a long time ago, when I first launched a diatribe about Australian Music after 2005's (!) "Triple J's Hottest 100".

This year, as well as the Hottest 100 around Australia Day, Triple J decided to do a Hottest 100 of all time. Up til now. Not after now. Just up to... now. Cause we don't know about the future yet. And not before music was being recorded either.... Oh, and in English...

...oh whatever just let me rant for a bit.

note: I voted for the songs in bold....

* 1. Nirvana - Smells Like Teen Spirit ok. fair enough. whatever.
* 2. Rage Against the Machine - Killing In The Name really?
* 3. Jeff Buckley - Hallelujah to be honest, if this was number one, considering Triple J's listeners, I would not have been at all surprised
* 4. Joy Division - Love Will Tear Us Apart
* 5. Radiohead - Paranoid Android yep. mid 90's is becoming a theme here...
* 6. Queen - Bohemian Rhapsody ok. wow. nice
* 7. Jeff Buckley - Last Goodbye gah
* 8. Red Hot Chili Peppers - Under The Bridge
* 9. Foo Fighters - Everlong
* 10. Led Zeppelin - Stairway to Heaven top ten is a good result for this I reckon
* 11. John Lennon - Imagine probably deserves more, given international exposure
* 12. Oasis - Wonderwall
* 13. Radiohead - Creep
* 14. The Verve - Bittersweet Symphony aren't the last three practically all the same? Whiney English twats...
* 15. Radiohead - Karma Police
* 16. Pink Floyd - Wish You Were Here not sure about this one, but Pink Floyd deserve to be above Oasis and Radiohead, given that they are the Peers...
* 17. Hilltop Hoods - The Nosebleed Section yes. but no
* 18. Muse - Knights Of Cydonia solid result
* 19. Metallica - One and this is where my bias kicks in. This doesn't deserve better than top 20, but nor does it deserve to be behind the likes of Foo Fighters, The Verve, Rage or Hilltop Hoods. See my note on Pink Floyd
* 20. White Stripes - Seven Nation Army hmmmmm
* 21. Powderfinger - These Days
* 22. Massive Attack - Teardrop
* 23. Hunters & Collectors - Throw Your Arms Around Me Right. Time for the HATE word to be used. I hate Hunters and Collectors. This and that god-awful "Holy Grail" song (and it's over-use and AFL finals time) SHIT ME TO TEARS!
* 24. The Beatles - A Day in the Life no way Beatles come in at 24 - no way
* 25. Pearl Jam - Alive
* 26. Michael Jackson - Thriller is about right
* 27. Powderfinger - My Happiness
* 28. Radiohead - Fake Plastic Trees
* 29. Pixies - Where Is My Mind?
* 30. Jimi Hendrix - All Along the Watchtower
* 31. Metallica - Enter Sandman IMHO should be higher than "One". Not a popular view. However sits reverently behind Jimmy
* 32. New Order - Blue Monday deserves better
* 33. Silverchair - Tomorrow
* 34. The Living End - Prisoner Of Society
* 35. Smashing Pumpkins - 1979
* 36. Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds - Into My Arms
* 37. Tool - Stinkfist
* 38. The Killers - Mr Brightside nope - doesn't belong here...
* 39. Pearl Jam - Better Man
* 40. Nirvana - Come As You Are
* 41. Michael Jackson - Billie Jean
* 42. Bloc Party - Banquet
* 43. The Beach Boys - God Only Knows kinda shocked to see this here at all, not that it doesn't deserve it
* 44. The Beatles - Hey Jude
* 45. Queens of the Stone Age - No One Knows
* 46. Faith No More - Epic much like the above Queen's track, I'm pretty happy to see this in the top 50
* 47. John Butler Trio - Betterman
* 48. Beastie Boys - Sabotage
* 49. Guns 'N Roses - Sweet Child O' Mine Gunners deserved something in here, and retrospectively this is the best candidate
* 50. Crowded House - Don't Dream It's Over HATE
* 51. Smashing Pumpkins - Bullet With Butterfly Wings fair call
* 52. You Am I - Berlin Chair
* 53. Pink Floyd - Comfortably Numb deserves much better
* 54. The Cure - Close To Me much like the above...
* 55. Bob Dylan - Like A Rolling Stone
* 56. Jeff Buckley - Lover, You Should Have Come Over
* 57. Tool - Forty Six & 2
* 58. Daft Punk - Around The World
* 59. Augie March - One Crowded Hour
* 60. Johnny Cash - Hurt not bad for a cover version
* 61. Blur - Song 2 yet Radiohead have two in the top 30?
* 62. Nine Inch Nails - Closer I am actually quite surprised to see this this far down. Especially as it is behind two Tool tracks...
* 63. AC/DC - Thunderstruck
* 64. Violent Femmes - Blister in the Sun not surprised to see this in here. But this song is as bad as Keh Sahn when people get drunk...
* 65. Underworld - Born Slippy
* 66. Elton John - Tiny Dancer
* 67. Ben Folds Five - Brick
* 68. Blink 182 - Dammit really?
* 69. Jeff Buckley - Grace
* 70. The Prodigy - Breathe
* 71. The Smiths - How Soon Is Now?
* 72. The Shins - New Slang
* 73. The Clash - London Calling far too low
* 74. Nirvana - Lithium
* 75. Green Day - Good Riddance (Time Of Your Life)
* 76. The Stone Roses - Fools Gold
* 77. Gotye - Hearts A Mess
* 78. Smashing Pumpkins - Today
* 79. David Bowie - Life on Mars deserves so much better
* 80. The Rolling Stones - Paint It Black
* 81. Pulp - Common People
* 82. System Of A Down - Chop Suey! heh heh - cool
* 83. Placebo - Every You Every Me
* 84. Bob Marley & The Wailers - No Woman, No Cry
* 85. The Dandy Warhols - Bohemian Like You considering the audience - fair enough
* 86. The Beatles - Come Together
* 87. Coldplay - Yellow
* 88. The Rolling Stones - Gimme Shelter
* 89. Rage Against the Machine - Bulls On Parade Rage doesn't need to be represented twice - especially by this
* 90. Kings of Leon - Sex on Fire too new - shouldn't be here. (There are other "new" tracks in this list, but I have made an example of Kings as I actually like this track)
* 91. AC/DC - Back In Black
* 92. Bon Iver - Skinny Love
* 93. Massive Attack - Unfinished Sympathy
* 94. Modest Mouse - Float On
* 95. Stevie Wonder - Superstition
* 96. Daft Punk - One More Time no way Daft Punk needs to be in here twice...
* 97. Midnight Oil - Beds Are Burning HATE
* 98. Led Zeppelin - Kashmir 98? you are freaking kidding me
* 99. TV on the Radio - Wolf Like Me
* 100 Franz Ferdinand - Take Me Out

Really, I've got to wonder how may votes they actually got, because there seems to be some severe grouping in here...

HAPPY BIRTHDAY

Thu, 02 Apr 2009 08:03:41 GMT

Happy Birthday dragontail!

We shall meet in the valley on the day before the Sabbath and there shall beeeee the meat!

snoogins

20 Songs...

Tue, 24 Mar 2009 08:55:51 GMT

Step 1: Put your music player on shuffle (real shuffle - not iTunes DJ!).
Step 2: Post the first line from the first 20 songs that play, no matter how embarrassing. See which of your friends can name the most songs.
Step 3: Strike out the songs when someone guesses both artist and track correctly.
Step 4: Looking them up on Google or any other search engine is CHEATING!
Step 5: If you like the game post your own.
Step 6: GUESS! - Win special Internet no-prizes!

1. ~~I was so high I did not recognise. The fire burning in her eyes. The chaos that controlled my mind.~~ dragontail

2. N*ggas wanna hate on us. N*ggas be envious. And I know why they hatin' on us. Cause that's so fabulous.

3. Life is changing. I can't go on without you.

4. ~~Sunshine. On the window. Makes me happy. Like I should be.~~ (dragontail gets -15 for not guessing the title!) Charlotte on facebook - "Calypso":Spiderbaiit

5. ~~Please, please, forgive me but I won't be home again. Maybe someday you'll look up and barely conscious you'll say to no-one:~~ newsy891

6. ~~Can't you see I'm easily bothered by persistance? One step from lashing out at you...~~ Goudge on facebook - "Walk":Pantera

7. ~~Magic people, voodoo people.~~ Charlotte on facebook - "Voodoo People":The Prodigy

8. ~~I kinda always knew I'd end up your...~~ newsy891

9. Raid N' The Bedouins. Had a plan, and thought they'd win.

10. ~~I'm digging my way. I'm digging my way to something. I'm digging my way to something better.~~ dragontail

11. Your looking for the one who f***ed your mom. It's not me. It's not me.

12. ~~You sleep better when you're. You eat better when you're. You sing better when you're.~~ Charlotte on facebook - "Straight":Veruca Salt

13. ~~Memories consume. Like opening the wound, I'm picking me apart again.~~ dragontail

14. Full force. Destroy the source. Can't see and my voice is hoarse.

15. Creature core you can't ignore, I got a 5000 fingers of dead, yeah! As rats are we you can't break free, you're with the livin' on your bed yeah!

16. ~~I. Believe. Them bones are me.~~ Goudge on Facebook - "Them Bones" - Alice in Chains

17. Take a long hard look at yourself. How did you end up here?

18. To da one on da flamboyant tip. I'll just toss that ham in the fryin pan, like SPAM.

19. Affirmative may be justified, take from one give to another.

20. ~~Coming out of my cage, and I've been doing just fine~~ dragontail

Memage - kinda

Sun, 15 Mar 2009 01:36:45 GMT

CREATE YOUR DÉBUT ALBUM COVER

1 - Go to "wikipedia." Hit "random... Read More... Read More" or click http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:Random

The first random wikipedia article you get is the name of your band. (alternatively, if the first article you hit is short, hit Random Article two more times.)

2 - Go to "Random quotations"
or click http://www.quotationspage.com/random.php3

The last four or five words of the very last quote of the page is the title of your first album.

3 - Go to flickr and click on "explore the last seven days" or click http://www.flickr.com/explore/interesting/7days

Third picture, no matter what it is, will be your album cover.

4 - Use photoshop or similar to put it all together.

Buffy Season Eight

Thu, 05 Mar 2009 10:12:02 GMT

"...we're more hated and feared than the blood sucking undead..." -Buffy

Well he's gone and done it now hasn't he. Turned the franchise into the x-men (er... women). A group of super-human outsiders that are sworn to protect the very people that want them dead.

Now I've got to try not to think of Giles as Charles, Willow as Hank McCoy, Cordy can be Archangel, Dawn is Cable, Angel is White Queen (?), Faith as Wolverine...

bah - curse you Joss in the ceiling...

ow

Wed, 25 Feb 2009 10:26:37 GMT

Tim has been to the gym for the first time since before Christmas.

Tim is made of pain

Zac and Miri...

Tue, 24 Feb 2009 11:49:33 GMT

We (That being matron_jojo and I) saw Zac and Miri make a porno on the weekend.

If you are a Kevin Smith fan? You will like it. It's about the same level of funny, the same level of filthy language and concepts, the same level of heart and just a little more T'n'A (it is a movie about making a porno after all...) than Mallrats, Jay and Silent Bob and Clerks II. Plus it's got Seth Rogan in it (but more like Superbad than Knocked Up - after all Superbad is just a Kevin Smith movie without Kevin being involved...)

I liked it, matron_jojo thought it was ok, if you are not overly PC you should give it a go too.

It's like a chick flick for guys...

Home Again!

Sun, 15 Feb 2009 00:34:32 GMT

As much as we loved the trip, it's great to be back home!

Especially as matron_jojo is not feeling at all well since London (Wednesday) and the we had to fly home! (12 hours in the middle row of a 747 between a fat English guy who smells of tobacco and my poor sick wife - thankfully the second leg: Hong Kong to Melbourne, was in a recently refurbished Airbus 330 and only lasted 9 hours - we had the aisle and window!)

If put up some of our photos on facebook! Follow the links and add me if you are not on my friends list!

Part 1 - the hockey trip through Rome, Barcelona, Paris, Antwerp and Amsterdam here!

Part 2 - our personal trip to Copenhagen (the party shots are in a student bar at the Uni) and London here!

snoogins!

...is in Copenhagen

Sun, 08 Feb 2009 18:56:46 GMT

(Oh wow - I just wrote my longest post in six months and lost the lot... I'll try again - (3rd time lucky - grrr))

We are now in Copenhagen and I actually have time to write a post (again). We are kind of glad to not be home during the heat wave and bushfires but I am not at all looking forward to going back to work with all the propert damage that has been going on...

In the last three weeks we have been to Rome (crazy old), Barcelona (remids me favourably of home), Paris (arrogant frenchies), Antwerp (yawnish), Amsterdam (YAY Snow) and now Copenhagen (with friends). We are here for another two nights then off to London for two night then the long trip home...

Thoughts of Europe? The public transport systems are absolutely awesome compared to ours - And really easy to navigate (with the possible exception of Paris). Romans and Parisans have no idea when it comes to road rules. Scandinavians make us look like absolute prudes. I have been colder when playing hockey but playing in snow was so unbelievable that I lost focus on the game a couple of times. War memorials are so pointless yet so necessary, and you really can't appreciate them till you have been there. And once again I feel lucky to live in Australia...

I would like to write more, and will, but it's time to eat just now. See you all soon...

snoogins

I'm in Amsterdam...

Tue, 03 Feb 2009 23:13:07 GMT

Where you can buy vibrators at the chemist...

Sorry Crista!

In Paris

Thu, 29 Jan 2009 21:16:42 GMT

No time... internet is 6€ per half hour in Paris...

Cold. But having fun....

Briefly...

Tue, 20 Jan 2009 08:07:59 GMT

Am now in Rome.

(pause for effect)

boo to international flights and yay to crazy Roman drivers.

That is all for now.......

snoogins

44 degrees C

Tue, 13 Jan 2009 08:05:34 GMT

Can I just say that it is hot. Even for a local.

The current temperature (at Rosewothy - 5km up the road) at 6pm is 41.1 degrees C, coming down from a high of 42.3 around 2pm.

I decided upon getting off the train that the gym would not be enjoying my presence this evening.

At lunch time a local billboard informed me the temperature in the city was 44. I'm not sure how accurate the reading is meteorological speaking but whoa...

Our thoughts are with stareyednight!

(In Rome on Tuesday it will be 11!)

Music Review!

Sat, 10 Jan 2009 02:24:51 GMT

My new review is on Disturbed's fourth album "Indestructible". I mention the number of albums to illustrate the point right off the top that this band is not bad, and they certainly have an audience. It's just that the music lack's a little depth. It's all a bit Metalite for me...

I've found it best to describe this album using the analogy of the WWE , after all the WWE uses Disturbed tracks as backing music, most recently on the 2009 "Raw vs. Smackdown" video game ("Perfect Insanity")

Indestructible opens with an air raid siren and sounds of war leading to the title track, also the first single. The first riff hits you with suitable aggression, then the staccato vocals of the verse, the hook, then the chorus which builds to a vocal crescendo! Verse again, another hook, another crescendo chorus! Riff solo, lead solo, chorus, chorus (first bit over drums only) crescendo! riff to fade out. All in a radio friendly 4-odd minutes.

Perfect. excellent. a correctly crafted metal track... then another one, different riff but the formula remains the same.

Hang on a sec! When did the phrases "correctly crafted" and "metal" get to be said in the same sentence? Much like choreographed fighting, it should be an oxymoron, but it's not.

The other big point of difference between Disturbed and their Metal peers is in the vocals. Singer David Draiman has a very clean style and rarely uses the "cookie monster" style of vocals. Which is fine, and is much more attractive to some listeners who are turned off by all the yelling. The downside to this is that all the lyrics, in all their cheesy metal goodness, are perfectly decipherable. "I am the indestructible master of war" is a phrase that should be screamed, not crooned.

And this is not a isolated case. The lyrics are all alpha-white-male aggression in the extreme. No social themes or commentary here: it's more like "I'm oh so bad and if you cross me I will hurt you". Them's fighting words. And note even fighting against "the man". Just fighting for the sake of it.

Musically, as previously discussed, Disturbed have hit on a formula of big guitars and drums punching out an admittedly heavy brand of power chords and riffs. The flavour is unfortunately a little light on, as the lead solos are brief, technically not brilliant, and often when they do seem to be building to something a synthesised "noise" drowns out the solo for some kind of dramatic effect.

What does all this add up to? Metalite. Metalzac. Background music. I can't hate it, because it's good enough and in no way repellent. I just can't get excited about it.

I just can't help but think that Indestructible is the WWE as compared to Ultimate Championship Fighter. The WWE is perfectly enjoyable, and gets lots of fans, particularly amongst the young audience who think it's great, but the rest of us can't help think that it's just not real enough.

"Indestructible" - if it weren't for the crude language it would be PG...

My Hottest 100 - or at least 10 of them

Thu, 08 Jan 2009 10:04:28 GMT

I have spoken previously about the Triple J Hottest 100....

(I will digress for a moment. I was trying to look up the post linked above... GOOD GOD have I really been reading this website on an almost daily basis for nearly four years?!?...)

... ahem. Sorry about that. Uh, the Triple J Hottest 100 is a national institution. The country's government funded "youth" radio station runs a poll every year, looking for the previous years top 100 tracks, which are then dutifully played in reverse order all day on Australia Day.

Despite the fact that I no longer listen to Triple J, nor will I be in Australia during Australia Day (we should be flying from Barcelona to Paris on the 26th, followed by sight seeing and climbing the Arc De Triomphe...), I feel it is a national institution which must be observed.

That said, my allocated ten votes for the hottest 100 are as follows (alphabetically)...

Biffy Clyro - Mountains
Cog - Are You Interested?
Cog - Bird Of Feather
Guns N' Roses - Chinese Democracy
Metallica - Cyanide
Metallica - My Apocalypse
Metallica - That Was Just Your Life
Metallica - The Day That Never Comes
Slipknot - All Hope Is Gone
Slipknot - Psychosocial

For anyone interested, the official list (i.e the new songs which made it on to Triple J's playlist) can be found here, and any Australians can vote here.

(as a side note, dragontail, "Hawksley Workman - Piano Blink" made the list...)

Just to prove that some meme's have a inadvertent comedy setting...

Fri, 02 Jan 2009 02:15:08 GMT

In 2009, doggypanter resolves to...

Go to poker every Sunday.
Spend more time with my Jack Daniels.
Take evening classes in cricket.
Give up reading.
Give some Adelaide Crows to charity.
Volunteer to spend time with strippers.

Bwahahahahah!