2012

Hey, I'm back from travels. They were good. I'll make a proper post about that soon, but for now, holy flip! It's the end of the year! Not too many posts this year, but let's have a recap

Favourite Films
1 - A Separation
1 - Cabin in the Woods
3 - Shame
4 - Moonrise Kingdon
5 - The Pirates! Band of Misfits
6 - Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol
7 - Tyrannosaur
8 - The Dark Knight Rises

Favourite Albums
1 - Teen Fortress - Tepid Vapid Callow
Lawrence Arabia - The Sparrow; Opossom - Electric Hawaii; Love Connection - Euphoria; Seth Frightening - Don't You Worry (Heat Death)

Favourite Gigs
1 - Mark McGuire @ Gasometer - redefined guitar playing
2 - Metronomy @ The Hi-Fi
3 - The Beach Boys @ Rod Laver
Camp A Low Hum; Cults and The Horrors @ Laneway

Favourite Reads
1 - Gabriel Garcia Marquez's One Hundred Years of Solitude
2 - Haruki Murakami's Kafka on the Shore
3 - David Mitchell's Cloud Atlas
David Foster Wallace; Jeffrey Eugenides' Middlesex

Highlights
Trip to Malaysia and Indonesia, spending lots of time with great people, winning an ipad was pretty good

Lowlights
Bike got stolen. Dumb. Ending a great relationship because we were going separate ways.

Favourite Pastings
Skyline map, Captain Planet, 'No Change'

Art Shows of the Year
TwoOne @ Backwoods; William Kentridge @ ACMI; Ghostpartol @ Backwoods

Food items of the Year
La Panella Vegan Bakery; Indonesian gado gado and avocado juice; tofu asada burrito @ Trippy Taco

Number of People Kissed - 4

Asia

Hey, so for the last week I've been in South East Asia. Kinda forgot to mention that here. This blog will take a little snooze while I'm away, but I've made a travel blog - Adventure500 - where you can read about what I'm up to. Take care til we talk again! x

Within

Life's going pretty well at the moment. I'm really happy about a whole bunch of things, and excited for the future. In a recent post I mentioned meeting someone who made me feel giddy - her name is Lynda, and she's awesome. We met through a friend, and I think we had really good chemistry. She's great fun to be with.
Changes are on the horizon, however. In October I'll be travelling to South East Asia. I'll be going for a few months, and trying to see and do as much as I can. So I'm leaving my jobs and moving out of my flat and saying farewell to a lot of people I love. After the trip? I'm not too sure, though I feel like I'll move back to NZ. Lynda and I have talked about this a bunch, which is all you can really do. Things are great; timing not so much. I love life here right now, and there are so many reasons to stay. At the same time, it's time to go. There's so much to see. With this in mind, it's time to charge straight fucking ahead at life itself. 
I'm not sure how much of my travels will be captured here, but stay tuned

Melodious

Stop. Do you have a song playing in your head? Something that's just cruising along despite whatever else you're doing? I do. There's a near constant stream of music playing away in my mind, and I love it. I really like music, but I only occasionally listen to it directly. Usually in the mornings or evening when I'm on my computer. I never listen to a walkman when I'm outdoors (there are just so many amazing things to hear!) - instead just having my Inner Jukebox soundtrack life.
Sometimes I wake up with a song in my head - where did that come from? The other morning, just waking, I felt Purity Ring's Lofticries sneak slowly in to my mind, and I smiled. I currently have another song of theirs playing in a medley with a Panda Bear song. I could be a great mashup DJ.
My computer was laggy a while ago when I tried to listen to Lux Aeterna. I shut it off and let the tune play in my mind. Within and without. Isn't it the same?
Let me know what's in your head.

Some things

-I've started a new job. It's at (one of the best) French bakeries in Melbourne, 'A Treat of France'. I make coffee and dish out croissants, and I'm quite enjoying it. It'll allow me to save money and work towards traveling, which has been on hiatus. I'm also still working at the cinema, and going to see lots of films. My Top Five films so far this year are
1 - A Separation
2 - Shame
3 - Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol
4 - The Muppets
5 - Battleship (oh, this was supposed to be the The Avengers)
I'm a sucker for Big Budget Action Thrillers. And the first two are just absurdly good, with engrossing storylines and so well acted
-I've met some new people lately and it's been great. I've been feeling super comfortable and relaxed. Perhaps in the past it's made me nervous, but there's so much exciting potential with someone new. One particular new person has been making me feel quite giddy (more info to come)
-I'm helping to try make a baby. Sadly, things didn't work out with the couple I blogged about previously. We tried again, but they decided they were happy with how things were. I'm helping another couple now, and fingers crossed for them
-This post on Tumblr got quite a lot of attention, which was great because I think it's awesome

Hangovers

I think yesterday was a strong contender for the title 'Worst Ever Hangover'. It was a complete write-off of a day, and I really felt like death/dying. I know that it's my own fault, blah blah, boo hoo. But really. It was awful. And I think after two whole days, I now feel alright.
When I drink too much, I get memory loss. More than a couple of beers makes the night hazy; six plus will probably cause some kind of blackout. And Saturday was a few bottles of wine. Maybe more? Who knows. Waking up and not knowing what you did for several hours is surreal and frightening.
My new year's resolution this year was 'not to drink to the point of not remembering', and it's happened twice so far. The worst hangovers I've had have all been in the last year. I feel like my body isn't really suited to handling alcohol, so I'm going to be more aware of that, and try and foresee and prevent bad drinking experiences.

(On the plus side, I just passed 20,000 blog views, which seems like a lot. Thanks for reading! More frequent blogging coming up)

Suburb

I often cheesily say that Northcote is "the best 'Cote." It's amazing. I love the suburb, and in particular where I live - it's got everything I want.
-My room is big, affordable, and gets lots of sunlight. I found a double bed a few days ago from next door's hard rubbish (upgrade from foam mattress). Perfect.
-My flat/'share house' is awesome. The people are really great (fun, friendly, stimulating, challenging), and the house is full of character.
-Within five minutes walk is a supermarket and shopping plaza, library, train station, tram stop, parks. My work is 15 mins walk.
-I can cycle to Brunswick, Fitzroy etc in 15 mins, the CBD in 25. Or train or tram similar times
The suburb is beautiful, and full of nice people. I'm pretty happy here

David Foster Wallace

Quite quickly, David Foster Wallace has become my favourite author. I'm part way through The Pale King, and it's great. I love his style, and the way he constructs a story.
The first of his I read was Infinite Jest when I was 20. It was okay, but after a month or so of my time, I couldn't believe the lack of conclusion, and don't think I 'got it', overall. Following a lengthy break, I read This is Water last year, and it was a really good insight in to the person, which is obviously a huge part of who the author is. I've since been reading my way through his works (check m' reading log). I think I could read an infinitely long essay on any topic he chose to write. What he wrote is amazing - it's so insightful and beautiful. It's taught me to view conclusions as a treat, rather than a necessity. And it captures what it means to be alive today.
So I'm pretty heartbroken that he took his own life a few years ago. It slipped past me at the time, and has bothered me the more I've read. Such a complex person, such a huge loss to the world. Read what he's written

Treasury of We

When I moved to Melbourne in May, I was impressed with the amount of gigs. 'It's nothing', I was told: 'wait for summer'. And true enough, there have been a lot of great shows. Here are some thoughts on a bunch I've seen
Fran bought me a ticket to see The Gin Club play a christmas eve eve show. They were great, all ten (or so) of them. Big band, good sounds
I went with my friend Jasmine to see Metronomy at the Hi-Fi, and they were phenomenal! They played every song I could've hoped, and were thoroughly entertaining.
John Maus and Dan Deacon played at 'Fright Night'. Maus was amazing, playing his tracks via a sampler while he yelled/sang over the top. Really atavistic performance, shouting and self-hitting. Wow. And Deacon was absurdly fun, his live band involved three synths and two drummers. Tears in my eyes during audience participation in which we were asked to think about the person we loved the most. 
Julianna Barwick played a Sugar Mountain sideshow at The Toff, and I went with my flatmate James. Great voice; a haunting show
Fran and I saw Feist's Laneway sideshow at the Palais Theatre (amazing venue!). She was great, very entertaining, and a great performer. My Moon, My Man was superb.
And off to Laneway yesterday. A really brilliant day out, I really enjoyed Girls, Givers and The Pains of Being Pure at Heart. Cults were spectacular, and worth the price of the ticket alone. And I felt the same about Glasser, who was better than I could've hoped. The Horrors played a great set, with all the songs I wanted (a good theme of the day) before I snuck off to catch Toro y Moi play Elise (yuss). Washed Out were fab, full of feeling, and I headed over to catch the last M83 song (Couleurs!). I boogied my way through the crowd, and the girl in front of me turned around: it was Naomi! I'd not seen her in months, and here we were, among thousands. I was spun out, it was a poetic moment.
All of this leads on to next week's Camp A Low Hum in New Zealand! Also coming up: Neon Indian, Slow Club, St Vincent, others

Minutiae

At my work I find there are a number of things which seem trifling, and these are the things that really delight me. As Hank Scorpio said, 'it's the little things that make up life'
-Wineglasses are suspended in groups of three, upside down on rails. When you replace a row, they swing and hit each other, producing chimes. The beautiful thing is that they continue swinging for many minutes, and faint 'clinks' can be heard long after you've walked away. I love the harmonic, periodic nature of the swings, and the sounds they produce seem like the music of the spheres.
-Rainbows! The wineglasses, glass shelves and mirrors by the benches produce rainbows. So simple, so stunning.
-At the end of the night, the coffee machine is cleaned. Part of this involves emptying the grinder, and grinding a handful of beans to 'season the machine' the next morning. You hear the blades grind and whir, and as the last of the beans go through, the blades spin unimpeded. It sounds like a perfect moment.
-Coffeemaking, it's fun to try and make pictures in the foam. I'm still learning, but it's often best to simply interpret the shapes that arise. I've 'made' pictures of a moustache, question marks, and a hyperbola.
-Customers. People are beautiful and strange. It feels like every interaction has the potential to revolutionise how you relate to others.

Socks

My whole life, I've put my socks on a certain way. I simply pulled them on: toes in the opening, the rest follows naturally. If the sock were inside-out, I'd half turn it the right way out, then whack the balled up sock in my hand, like a poi. People have teased me for this. I see that it's not ideal, though it gets the job done.
My whole life, my dad has put his socks on a certain way. Starting with the sock inside-out, he makes a dent in the toes, and pulls it back over his foot, inverting it as it goes. He stands up; his socks are on.
Recently I changed methods. I adopted the Dad Method. Faced with an inside-out sock, I calmly slide it over my foot, and carry on with my day. No more whacking socks to make them comply. I put on my shoes and leave the house.
As I walk, I wonder if I'd ever been taught a certain method. I was always aware of how my father dressed his feet - had he always been like this? Or was there a point at which his method changed, presumably to that of my poppa. At 27, what did this change mean to me? I was acutely aware of it, though it was seemingly triggered by nothing.
At 27, my dad was a recent father of twins. He'd been married a few years. And he'd been working as a carpenter for close to 10. He was unquestionably a Man. How do I compare? With my life, I feel like a man, though definitely not a Man.
I sit down on the grass at the park, and take off my shoes and socks. I leave the socks, inside-out, on top of my shoes, ready for when I walk home.

2011

In the last couple of years, I've had reviews of my favourite musical releases. As I didn't work in radio for most of the year, I felt rather disconnected from what was happening musically, so decided to branch out my reviews (also inspired by these guys)

Gigs of the Year
4 - Parking Lot Experiments @ Workers - a great way to cap off my first week in Melbourne
3 - Wintercoats @ The Evelyn - far exceeded my very high expectations
2 - Caribou @ CALH - kinda 'lost my shit'
1 - Beach House @ Laneway - I was covered in shivers the whole time

Albums
5 - Memory Tapes - Player Piano
4 - PJ Harvey - Let England Shake
3 - Cults - Cults
2 - Tennis - Cape Dory
1 - John Maus - We Must Become the Pitiless Censors of Ourselves

Songs
Glasser - Ring (Delorean remix)
Summer Camp - I Want You
Neon Indian - Polish Girl
Rhianna - Only Girl
Shocking and Stunning - Salvia Gravity
Atlas Sound - Te Amo

Best Books I read this year
Sherman Alexie's The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven blew my mind. And I loved David Foster Wallace's Consider the Lobster

Favourite Films of the Year
Midnight in Paris was delightful. Source Code and Tyson were probably my fav dvds

Food items of the Year
Anything from La Panella (vegan bakery!), Log Cabin nachos, Gina's bagels, vegan licorice all sorts from Northcote IGA

Best Kebab
Abbott House of Falafel (aka 'King of Falafel'), Coburg. $5 of incredible

Girlfriend of the Year
Gina - Practically Perfect in Every Way

Suburb of the Year
A tie between the wonderful St Albans, Chch; and Northcote, Vic

Art Gallery Shows of the Year
Stabs @ Backwoods
Nior @ No Vacancy NGV
Eveline Tarunadjaja @ No Vacancy QV

Clothing of the Year
Probably a really nice fitting white polo I got from Tasman Traders. Also, cut-off shorts were the only way to short in '11

Most Aussie Thing
A drunk guy saying 'fair dinkum' regarding my review of Tyson

Event of the Year
Without doubt the earthquake. Changed most parts of my life, and was a very big motivator for the runner up: moving to Melbourne

Overall Trend
Learning that things will happen and people will do things that are totally outside your control, so you've just got deal with it the best you can

Moments

It feels like the last 24hrs have been quite interesting in a bunch of ways. Yesterday I went to the Northcote Library, and then the Fairfield one to track down a book about infinity by David Foster Wallace. The afternoon was very warm, and I stayed inside, read, and cut pretty shapes in paper. I went for a walk down High St and looked in some fancy boutiques. I saw a girl I work with, and the girl who cut my hair - real community feeling.
In the evening I cycled in to town and explored the old Carlton Brewery. It was pretty cool, and I watched the sunset from the roof. I walked around town for a few hours, up and down laneways, and had some dinner. Town was busy, the air was warm. I walked up a dark, intriguing stairway, only to set off a deafening alarm. -10 Ninja Points. I walked back to my bike calmly and headed home.
At home, Mr Cat caught a baby mouse. My flatmate Tangle grabbed the cat, and I held the mouse. It looked okay, but must've been in shock as it gasped half a dozen times, and then was still. Watching a baby mouse die in your hands is so surreal, and achingly affecting.
Today I rode in to town with the expressed aim of winning a bike from a mobile phone company. They were doing a scavenger hunt. I checked the net at the State Library, read the clue and figured it was only a few blocks away. I jogged over, found the bike (and company reps) down an alley, and won a bike! Neato. I rode up to Fitzroy and met Netta for lunch ($4 pizza!). We talked and walked around, it was really great. Later on, I met Annie for an early dinner (tacos!). It was really nice spending time with some of my favourite people. I rode home, and went to work

Bands

As mentioned previously, I like having stuff on my wrists, so perhaps it was only a matter of time before one of them was tattooed. I'd been wanting some wrist bands since seeing the singer from A Dead Forest Index, and also Hugh Jackman in The Fountain. On Halloween I went to visit Kiri and her fiance Mj, the latter being a tattoo artist. The band widths are related by the mathematic/aesthetic idea of the Golden Ratio, which is believed to be pleasing to the human eye. In a really neat self-confirming way, I didn't have a ruler when drafting the lines, and just went with what looked best. Measuring them later they were spot on.
 

Northcote

I've moved house. I'm now living in Northcote, and it's great. I live with three other vegans, and my work is only a few minutes bike ride away (instead of 30+). It's a really nice suburb, lots of cool places to check out, and riding to town is easy. The people I'm living with are super nice, and it feels like this has been a good move (both logistically and... emotionally, I think). I'd been in a bit of a strange mood for the last few weeks (didn't really feel like I had nice stuff to post about), but things are back to normal. Now it's time to meet some cool Northcote people and make the most of living here.

Summer plans

I was walking through town the other day, and it was warm and sunny and beautiful, and I felt like flying through the air. I felt really positive, and like things were fizzing and shaking, trying to leap out of me. Here are some plans for the summer months, some which will definitely happen (*), and others which range from achievable to 'pipe dream'.

1 *Move to a cool new flat in Northcote with three other vegans. Close to work, and a great part of town, yeah!
2 *Go to Melbourne Laneway and Camp A Low Hum
3 *Work over Christmas/New Year at the cinema
4 *Get a tattoo
5 Paste stuff pretty much every night
6 Find work at a cafe, max out my barrista skills
7 Swim more/learn to swim
8 Pash 100-200 babes. One a day would be pretty ideal
9 Explore more abandoned buildings
10 Collaborate with people creatively
11 Learn a few bits of some European languages
12 *Ride my bike heaps

How is your summer looking? If you'd like to be a part of any of these (especially 8 or 10), hit me up

Conceive

A while back, my friend Kiri called. What I'd not mentioned before, but is relevant to this story, is that we broke up because she realised she was gay. We're still really close, and her and her fiance MJ have a lot of gay friends. She mentioned that a couple she knew were looking for a sperm donor so they could have a baby. They'd described the kind of person they were seeking, and Kiri decided that I could be up for the job. It was a big suggestion, and something I thought about a great deal. I thought about 'fatherhood', and what it would mean in this instance. I thought about having a child that was biologically mine, but that I'd not nurture. I thought a little about morals, and felt that the 'right thing' would be to help and donate. And at the most basic level, I saw this as an opportunity to help by providing a key ingredient, so agreed to meet Bec and Michelle.
And it was great. We were on the same page about everything. I would be an uncle/godfather kind of guy; they'd be very open with the child about where they came from; I'd be the donor, they'd be the parents (on the birth certificate, etc). They're a lovely couple, we were all happy, and agreed to go for it. I made two donations of Baby Magic (he he) for Bec, who was going to carry. I guess we make a good combination, as she's pregnant!
They're hoping for a boy, and are due in June. I knew that I was happy for them, but when I noticed my arms flailing and that I was shouting the news to Fran, I guess it really hit home that I'm a part of something really cool and special. I'll keep you posted.

Simon and I interview each other

I had a chat with one of my best buddies, Simon, last week. It's kind of a discussion about our time in Christchurch, the earthquake, subsequent moves to other countries, and how we dealt with all that. The second half is at Simon's blog, link at the bottom.

Simon: Hi David, how are you?

David:  I'm good thanks Simon, sitting in bed in Melbourne. It's just after 8am. How are you?

Preconceive

I'm doing a new series of pastings which are inspired by The Little Price - you can check it out at forever. I only recently read the book, but it was great, and articulated a few things I'd been thinking about. As you may recall, the narrator draws a picture of a boa constrictor, but the adults, lacking imagination, see only a hat. The grown-ups are very strange.
One time on the train, I heard a young girl exclaim, 'look! A graffiti!' I remember seeing two young children jumping with excitement as they watched a rubbish truck pick up bins. Oh what moments to see things for the first time! I know that as you grow, you learn, and everything you encounter shapes your life - it's an important part of development. But what if you could reclaim some of that wonder? Try and see things freshly without all the understanding your life has given you? Pick up a nearby object and study it, stripping away all preconceptions. Let it engage your senses, and imagine encountering it for the first time. You might just learn something.



(Also, I need your help for an upcoming project! If you could recommend a book to a stranger, what would it be? What's something that you've read that has made an impact? Something you'd really like people to experience. Comment below. Thanks)

The train

My local train station is Batman (check out some colouring I did there). It's on the Upfield line, and a trip to the city centre takes about 20 minutes. I really like catching the train, and think I live about the right distance - any more would be tiring, less would seem trivial. I find it all rather romantic. Here are some things I like:
*Coming out of the city loop at North Melbourne at night time. From under the ground, to a yard filled with hundreds of beautiful lights. Really magical
*Passing trains - they seem to come from nowhere with such fury, and then are gone in an instant
*As the train slows, watching fence posts blur, before becoming individually discernible. Also the way the train kicks back slightly when it stops, and the brakes kick in
*People watching and listening is great. People are beautiful and weird
*The Brunswick tram depot at night is a huge cavern of light
*Seeing people running for the train. It's such a desperate, hopeful moment
*General rhythms of the wheels over the tracks