A happy-go-lucky English rambler dude goes to New Zealand for a year. Here he interfaces with some of those he left behind and details his nefarious activities. Or summat.
Recently clicked on MP3s - 7th June 2005 The Lucksmiths - Warmer Corners
Jens Lekman - When i said i wanted to be your dog
The Trashcan Sinatras - Weightlifting
Teenage Fanclub - Man Made
Laura Veirs - Carbon Glacier
The Decemberists - Picaresque
The Eels - Blinking Lights
Thursday, May 12, 2005
Due to skipping my Spanish class tonight at the excellent El Patio, (as i've not done my homework, and I only got four hours sleep last night) I'm currently experiencing my first bit of spare time for a week or so.
I've been meaning to write an update for ages, but currently the idea of an early night is much more inviting than grinding out a load of guff on here.
However, as my favourite on-line diarists (1,2,3&4)have all been in action lately, and i feel inspired to have a brief natter before i go and bury myself under lots of blankets and sleeping bags, to fend off the almost nippy Melbourne winter (It's supposed to go down to 9c tonight - harsh!)
Numerous factors have contributed to my current levels of busy-ness, mostly of my own choosing, and mostly very enjoyable.
Firstly, my training is coming to a head this weekend with the Great Ocean Road Half Marathon. I've switched from the Canberra Half Marathon, as the Great Ocean Road is a lot nearer to Melbourne and an awful lot nicerer. The motivation for the Canberra Half Marathon was to run with Michael, my old flatmate, but since he piked out, citing "wanting to spend time with his daughter Phoebe, instead of slogging through endless miles of lonely, exhausting, painful training, constantly watching for deadly brown snakes", or some such made up piffle, i thought i may as well stay local for my half.
The GOR, recently.
I finished my last training run on Monday night, so since then i've been treating myself to a week of very restful Euroculture. Tuesday night was spent at Manchester Lane in the city, with Jude and Allison, enjoying the charms of Swedish-Indie-Ukelele-Folk god head, Jens Lekman.
A couple of Swedes i met while in NZ had sung his praises, so i was looking forward to seeing him supporting Darren Hanlon at the Northcote Social last weekend. This wasn't to be however, as Jude, and the tickets, were a tad late arriving. I'm not really in a position to slag people off for being late, so I restrained my self to a brief whinge when she finally turned up in time for us to catch Jens' last song of the night. Five minutes of his wonderful voice, ukelele and flat cap were more than enough though, to persuade us to get down to his own show this week too.
An unexpected bonus was Architecture in Helsinki supporting him. I didn't recognise them at first, and their choice of performing covers of songs none of them had practiced together before, initially made them seem like a band that had great taste in music and really good voices, but that needed to get their shit together a bit. It wasn't until they were playing a really good version of an Architecture In Helsinki song, with uncannily accurate vocals, that i began to suspect they may actually be Architecture In Helsinki.
I'd love to write more about the Jens Lekman & Darren Hanlon gigs, but I don't really have the music critic vocabulary, or energy to do them justice right now. But they were both magical in their own ways - I don't think there was a single person whose face didn't hurt from smiling at the end of the DH show. And for the hour or so of the JL gig, he had the hundred or so people present as enthralled as a bunch of kids being read Charlie and the Chocolate factory for the first time.
Wednesday night was spent watching four hours of French New wave cinema, at the ACMI (as you do). It was a double bill of Eric Rohmer films, "Claire's Knee", and "A Tale Of Springtime". "Claire's Knee" in particular was wonderful, despite some slightly ropy acting. By the end of the New-Wave-Ponce-a-thon though, I was starting to suffer from cramp quite badly, and was feeling the urge to rush home and watch Predator 2 quite badly. But only after dishing out a savage beating the two luvvie tosspots sat behind me, who insisted on going, "Ah-Mwahha", or, "Mmmm-flahh" at every ironic comment included in the the films - they were indeed amusing at times - BUT IT WASN'T EXACTLY AIRPLANE YOU FUCKING TWATS!
In other news, i've got a job, and maybe even some money soon too. Hence all this leaving the house malarkey.
And one final thought for the day - If your considering purchasing a Sony DSC-P120 digital camera, and having it break on you in a far off country, i'd allow for a good two months of arguing with Sony Australia, Sony UK, Jessops and the Offical Sony Repair people in Australia for the initial estimate stage to be completed. The process of repairing it, and getting someone to actually honour the extended warranty i shelled out for is just about to begin - I'd guess another 3 months for that part.
At least you're all safe from my photography for a while....
12:56 pm
