Weighting

The other day I was walking through a mall, and a guy selling gym memberships spoke to me. 'Gee, you're pretty slim mate. Do you work out, or just have a crazy metabolism?' I thought about it, and agreed it was probably the latter. The same day, I heard some school kids say 'wow, that guy's skinny'. I smiled.
I guess I am pretty skinny. Perhaps outrageously so. (You can have a perv at the time I was an underwear model. Or see me in lycra). And I've always been like this.
When I tell people I'm vegan, there's often a click; that explains it. But I had no weight change after switching. In fact, I've generally not changed weight since I was 13. It's sat in the 51-55kg range that whole time.
Most of the time, I have no idea how skinny I must appear. I have pretty high self esteem (and I'll say it now - I love my body. Love it. Wouldn't want to change a thing), and I sometimes feel like the opposite of this. Still, it can be hard being a skinny guy. It can be challenging to find clothes that fit. People assume you're weak. And there's a certain stigma that might be analogous to being very large - but being stick thin goes against most 'big, manly' stereotypes. Luckily for me, there are girls who like skinny guys. And in the indie/arts scene, there aren't many beefcakes.
I had a 23kg baggage allowance when I flew to Melbourne. It made me think about what I wanted to bring, and... how much does a jersey weigh? That kind of extended to me. 50-odd kg isn't much. How much does my hand weigh? How irreducible is my liver?

2010

Happy new year! I hope 2010 was a good one for you. It was pretty good for me, and I thought I'd try put together a few thoughts. I've already covered my favourite music; I really loved the films Animal Kingdom and Fantastic Mr Fox. The best book I read was probably Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close, and I was constantly smitten with Cabinet magazine.
I stayed in the same flat, 'The Log Cabin', with some really great people. There were a few flatmate changes, but everyone was fantastic, and it's nice to be able to happily spend time with the people you live with. Work at the cinema was fun - the staff are great to work with.
RDU was more good stuff. I think I've developed a really good relationship with a certain section of the listenership, and I had some really good 'radio moments'. I also got my foot in the door at Radio New Zealand, which is brilliant. That, and that whole trip to Wellington, was probably my favourite weekend.
I got in to wheat pasting in a pretty big way, and probably became more creative. In spite of some mid-year worries, I think I moved forward and carried on being the kind of person I'd like to be, as well as improving in different ways.
Overall, maybe not quite a good a year as 2009, but 2010: 8/10.

Top 10 Gigs, Songs and Albums of 2010

Like last year, I put together a list of my favourite gigs, songs and albums from 2010. No surprises to see Seth Frightening at #1...

Gigs of the year
*Honourable Mention – Jordan O’Jordan @ GBM
10 – The Ruby Suns @ Campus A Low Hum
9 – The xx @ Laneway Auckland
8 – Ponytail @ San Fran Bathhouse, Wellington
7 – Kidz in Space @ The Bedford
6 – Grayson Gilmour @ The Dux
5 – Parking Lot Experiments @ Campus A Low Hum
4 – HEALTH @ UC Orientation
3 – Rufus Wainwright @ James Hay Theatre
2 – Jeffrey Lewis @ The Log Cabin
1 – Dudley Benson @ Gaiety Hall, Akaroa


Songs of the Year
*Honourable Mentions – Panda Bear – Slow Motion, Wet Wings – Running Like a Man
10 – Holy Fuck – Red Lights
9 – The Mint Chicks – Say Goodbye
8 – of Montreal – Coquet Coquette
7 – So So Modern – Dusk and Children
6 – DOM – Rude As Jude
5 – Nas & Damien Marley – As We Enter
4 – Caribou – Odessa
3 – Cults – Most Wanted
2 – Disasteradio – Gravy Rainbow
1 – Atlas Sound – Doctor

Albums of the Year
*Honourable Mention – Belle & Sebastian – Write About Love
10 – Jon Lemmon – Kindling EP
9 – Disasteradio – Charisma
8 – Arcade Fire – The Suburbs
7 – Dudley Benson – Forest: The Songs of Hirini Melbourne
6 – Grayson Gilmour – No Constellation
5 – Ariel Pink’s Haunted Graffiti - Before Today
4 – Beach House – Teen Dream
3 – Los Campesinos! – Romance is Boring
2 – Owen Pallett – Heartland
1 – Seth Frightening – The Prince and His Madness

Radio interviews

I'm a radio host on RDU in Christchurch, and I really like interviewing people. I was pretty lucky to talk to a few bigger names recently, Ben Power from Fuck Buttons, and Florence Welch from Florence and The Machine.
I arranged the chat with Ben myself. They're not touring here any time soon, and haven't released an album too recently, but I really wanted to talk to them. In spite of their questionable name (which I initially baulked at), they make fantastic music. It was 10am for Ben in London, and 9pm for me. He was a great guy, and you can listen to our chat here. It was my first go at using the editing software, and I was kind of learning as I went. I also wrote an article based on the chat for Einstein Music Journal.
I was asked a couple of weeks back if I'd like to talk to Florence. She played a show in Auckland last week, and I spoke with her that morning. I'd only heard her album once, but it sounded quite nice. Florence probably has the sweetest voice of anyone I've ever spoken with. Swoon. Have a listen for yourself here. I put an intro and outro on this interview, and now have a much better idea of what I'm doing in terms of editing.
Possible upcoming dream interviews: Miranda July, and Stuart Murdoch from Belle & Sebastian

Shorts

I've been studying for exams lately. Surprisingly, procrastination has been almost entirely absent, rather unlike last year. As such, the small occasion of the first anniversary of this blog slipped by with no fan-fare. Happy birthday, blog.
The me doing the studying has been churning along with thoughts aplenty however. When a good thought pops in to my mind, and I'm lacking a pen or paper, I make a draft text message on my phone. The Drafts folder has become quite a reservoir of ideas and incidents. Here are a few (slightly edited to make sense):

Perfection was a curse, a stultifying finality - a quote from Rushdie's Grimus
Sometimes the force would be enough - I don't know what this is about. Star Wars reference?
Live like a balloon. In the world, semi-tangible, detached, floating
Even if your dreams don't come true, it's nice to have something to hope for - affirming/heartbreaking words from someone I love
What is wrong with you? Can't you feel everything?
That's what they do: hearts hope - truth from a friend
Cars sound like the ocean. Eyes show more than a camera. Clouds ripple forever - basis for a blog post a few months back
It's nice when you know you're the happiest, coolest, best looking people in the room - thoughts in a Wellington restaurant

There are plenty more. And some ones which I'll probably expand on in to something more for you to read. How do you keep track of your thoughts?

Never Stop Dreaming

I made this and put it on the wall above my bed. It's pieces of cut out cardboard, and I found the frame sticking out of wheelie bin one night I walked home.

I think it's a rather nice double entendre.

My diary

NO NEED TO PANIC! I'VE FOUND MY DIARY!

I didn't want to alarm you by mentioning that I couldn't find my diary for the last two days. It wouldn't do either of us any good both being hysterical. There was a band staying in my room for a few nights, and not that I'd think they'd take it, but y'know - where was it?

On my desk. Of course. Under the Canterbury enrollment carry-on.

This is right up there with the time I lost (stolen?!) my Dark Was The Night compilation CD. I spotted a gap in my alphabetised CD collection, right where it belonged. After two days I found the solution.

The gap was in the B's. Not the D's. My Belle & Sebastian CD was on the floor.

Perhaps I should wait a few days for everything. It'll turn up.