30 Wednesday Sep 2009
Posted in Leftovers
Just a quick post to let you know that I will be internetless and postless for at least the next two weeks. I’ve just moved house you see, and I’d forgotten how bloody long it takes to get even a simple home phone set up here.
I am already suffering serious withdrawals – it’s quite sad really. On the up side though, I will be able to start working my way through the big stack of books I’ve got sitting beside my bed. There will be reading – lots of reading.
Until we meet again…
30 Wednesday Sep 2009
Posted in Leftovers
Tags
This was my first taste of the quirky Patrick Wolf, and it still remains my favourite track. I’ve just discovered that Mr Wolf will be doing some touring down this way in December (at last, a gig in Oz that I’m actually interested in!), including dates in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane and Perth, as well as an appearance at the Meredith Music Festival – head to his website for further details.
December 9 2009 – The Metro, Sydney
December 10 2009 – The Zoo, Brisbane
December 12 2009 – The Capitol, Perth
December 14 2009 – Prince of Wales, Melbourne
The Magic Position – Patrick Wolf
27 Sunday Sep 2009
Posted in Leftovers
Tags
I first came across Georgia Fields in January and instantly fell for her smooth vocals and lovely instrumentation. Back then, I mentioned a seriously catchy track called ‘One Finger’ that was streaming on her myspace but was not available for sale. Georgia has a new EP out now featuring that elusive track (yay!), as well as another called ‘Moon To Dust’ and her own live take on the Guns N Roses classic ‘Sweet Child Of Mine’.
She is also has a couple of shows coming up, including an instore appearance in St Kilda on September 27, and a gig at Edinburgh Castle on October 24th which will also feature a string quartet. Very nice.
I’ve not included the title track here because it’s the single, but you can check out the aforementioned cover, as well as ‘Scars’ from her earlier EP Drama On The High Seas Of Emotion.
Sweet Child of Mine (Live Guns N Roses Cover) – Georgia Fields
Scars – Georgia Fields & The Freeways
26 Saturday Sep 2009
Last week’s Contrast Podcast was all about the random shuffle. I’ve not had a chance to listen yet but from what I can tell in the comments, many people were a little nervous about what tracks would pop up. My contribution was Wild Light’s ‘California On My Mind’, which you can check out below, and I’ve also included some more randomness to brighten your weekend.
California On My Mind – Wild Light
My Lucky Charm – The Postmarks
24 Thursday Sep 2009
Posted in Leftovers
They say one is the loneliest number, but they sure have written a ton of songs about it (including that classic tune of the same name, that you won’t find here, because I don’t like it). The best one has to be Okkervil River’s ‘Plus Ones’, in which Will Sheff cleverly references a bunch of well known songs, adding ‘one’ each time to create his own version.
No one wants to hear about your 97th tear…
And no one wants a tune about the 100th luftballoon…
Eight Chinese brothers…
51st way to leave your lover…
I told you I can’t listen, baby, ’bout the 4th time you were a lady…
Kitten, not everyone’s keen on lighting candle 17…
Some more tunes that reference numero uno can be found below.
One Dove – Antony & The Johnsons
22 Tuesday Sep 2009
Posted in Leftovers
I read Dan Brown’s The Da Vinci Code at least a year after all the hype and hysteria had died down. I enjoyed the speculative nature of it, especially the whole Mary Magdelene debate and while it was criticised for its historical inaccuracy, it didn’t worry me too much as it was a fun and entertaining read.
I then went back and read Angels And Demons which I found to be a much better book, though both follow exactly the same formula: symbologist Robert Langdon is summoned after a violent event that leaves somebody dead, the body has been damaged in mysteriously ‘symbolic’ ways and Langdon is then required to follow a whole bunch of clues around a foreign city accompanied by a young and stunningly beautiful woman who also happens to be a brilliant scientist. Oh yeah, and there’s a deranged villain out there who’s also trying to kill him.
Dan Brown has obviously decided that this is a winning formula (and it is in terms of selling books – hey, I bought a copy) but a formula can only take you so far when your writing skills are seriously lacking. His latest offering, The Lost Symbol, contains all the same elements of the previous Langdon novels, but is at best a clumsy affair, full of clunky sentences and bad dialogue and paper thin plotlines. And if you don’t figure out the true identity of the villain 300 pages before it’s revealed like I did, then I will be seriously concerned for your sanity.
So why didn’t I notice this general sloppiness in the earlier Langdon books? The Da Vinci Code and Angels and Demons certainly contained bad writing, as is highlighted in this article containing some of the less skilful lines, but I think there was more action and intrigue in the first two novels and that was enough to mask those weaknesses. I really struggled through The Lost Symbol and spent most of the time wondering why his editor let so much slide through, and giggling at lines like ‘his massive sex organ bore the tattooed symbols of his destiny’. Good grief.
It has been said that Brown has another 12 novels planned for Mr Langdon and it will be interesting to see if he’s at all tempted to rework his formula. Then again, if you happen to stumble across a formula that sells a million copies of your novel on its first day of release, I can imagine you’d be somewhat reluctant to mess with it.
So, what are your thoughts? Have you read it? Do you plan to read it? Or do you already hate it on principle? Let me know in the comments.
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On a related note, I had fun checking out the Interactive Dan Brown Plot Generator also. This is what came out when I entered ‘Paris’ and ‘The Manson Family’.
A mysterious labyrinth deep beneath the streets of Paris
A nefarious cult determined to protect it
A white-knuckeld race to discover the Manson family’s darkest secret
The Invisible Enigma
When renowned Harvard symbologist Robert Langdon is summoned to the Arch of Triumph to analyze a mysterious geometric form—etched into the floor next to the disfigured form of the head docent—he discovers evidence of the unthinkable: the resurgence of the ancient cult of the Destinistas, a secret branch of the Manson family that has surfaced from the shadows to carry out its legendary vendetta against its mortal enemy, the Vatican.
Langdon’s worst fears are confirmed when a messenger from the Destinistas appears at the Pere Lachaise Cemetery to deliver a sinister ultimatum: Deposit $1 billion in the Manson family’s off-shore bank accounts or the exclusive clothier of the Swiss Guards will be bankrupted. Racing against the clock, Langdon joins forces with the swan-necked and charming daughter of the murdered docent in a desperate bid to crack the code that will reveal the cult’s secret plan.
Embarking on a frantic hunt, Langdon and his companion follow a 200-year-old trail through Paris’s most exalted statues and historic buildings, pursued by a one-eyed assassin the cult has sent to thwart them. What they discover threatens to expose a conspiracy that goes all the way back to Charles Manson and the very founding of the Manson family.
I will leave you with a couple of tracks that are tenuously related to this post, but not really.
Fireflies, Reading Books – Sir Salvatore
22 Tuesday Sep 2009
Posted in Odd Spot
Tags
Michael Franti, mp3, Mr Gnome, Music, Odd Spot, Quiet Village, Telepathic Butterflies, The Beatles
A man has been arrested in northern Greece for allegedly growing marijuana on the median strip of a highway. Police say the 35-year-old was caught in the middle of a six-lane highway linking Athens with Thessaloniki, harvesting 42 marijuana plants up to 1.8 metres tall.
Ganja Babe (Live) - Michael Franti
The Sea Life London Aquarium says its tactic of piping Barry White’s music into a shark tank to encourage breeding has paid off. The ‘‘Walrus of Love’’ has turned love-shy zebra shark Zorro into a marine love machine. Staff warn guests about his behaviour, because it looks far from romantic.
(I’m afraid I couldn’t find the lovely Barry White number. And you know what? I’m kinda relieved.)
A boy in Alabama faked his own kidnapping to avoid bringing home a bad school report. The 11-year-old claimed a man grabbed him and forced him into a car. Police were suspicious that the boy had managed to escape with his band instrument, but not his bag.
A Scathing Report – The Telepathic Butterflies
Desperate times call for desperate measures. The Circus of Horrors in Dorset, England, has been swamped with applications to join its freak show. The circus was expecting a handful of replies from its ad at Jobcentres this week but there have been 50 callers and far more are expected to audition.
Circus Of Horror – Quiet Village
Brian Johnsrud spat a thawed cricket 6.9 metres at the Central Wisconsin State Fair to win a contest. He says his secret is picking the biggest cricket, putting it upside down on your tongue and taking a deep breath before putting the cricket in your mouth, so you don’t swallow it.
Night of the Crickets – Mr. Gnome
Want more? Go here.
21 Monday Sep 2009
Posted in Contrast Podcast
Tags
Not only have I neglected my blog this last little while, but I’ve also been quite lax in my contribution to the Contrast Podcast. Last week I was all ready to return triumphant to an episode concerning The Hair, but I was scuppered by my cold and my subsequent croaky voice. I don’t go all husky when I have a cold but sound more like a frog in the final throes of death.
I was planning on contributing a gorgeous track by the now defunct Carissa’s Wierd. You can check this out below, plus a couple of other options I found after a quick scan of my ever increasing music library. Enjoy.
The Color That Your Eyes Changed With The Color Of Your Hair – Carissa’s Wierd
Image: Do these not freak you out? You can find more examples of Japanese artist and designer Nagi Noda’s ‘hairhats’ here. (Thanks to Tim for the idea!)
20 Sunday Sep 2009
Posted in Leftovers
Tags
Oh blog. How I’ve neglected you.
Between a bad cold, the last few days of school and my lame attempts to pack boxes in preparation for moving house this week, I’ve just not been up to posting. And it’s not like I haven’t had the opportunity. You would think that spending my two days off this week lying on my bed in a germ-ridden stupor would be the perfect opportunity to get some blog action happening, but instead I watched The Office (US version) and read Dan Brown’s latest (more on that later – let’s just say I was less than impressed) and downed Aspro and cough medicine like nobody’s business. And now it seems that my cold has now developed into a nice healthy chest infection. Oh joy.
The upshot of all this sickness is that I’ve not been able to compete in the run I told you about a little while ago. A friend and I were all geared up for it but she’s had to go ahead without me which has been pretty disappointing. Still, we’re booked in for another one in November and there are two more in December that look pretty promising. I will triumph yet.
I’ve also put the box packing on hold these last couple of days, but I’m hoping that the removal fairies will show up while I’m sleeping tonight and have it all done by Thursday. I’m moving into a unit in town which will be great but it’ll take me a little while to get the internet organised, so I’m going to endeavour today to get a few posts scheduled to pop up in the next week or so while I’m busy trying to remember where I packed that toaster and wondering where I am when I wake in the night.
A Lot Of Moving – The Avett Brothers
15 Tuesday Sep 2009
Posted in Trawlin' the Blogroll
Tags
Concept: Bravery, Joseph Arthur, Langhorne Slim, mp3, Music, Old Crow Medicine Show, Riverboat Gamblers
Some light reading:
Music Is Art: The Best Albums Of Summer 2009
Thanks Captain Obvious: Daytrotter Mixtape II
Hear Ya: The Deep Dark Woods, Live Session #55, featuring two new tracks
Tough Customer: Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeros
And some tunes for your trouble – make sure you check out Concept: Bravery and the gorgeous Langhorne Slim number.
Born To Be Wild – Langhorne Slim
Fall On My Knees – Old Crow Medicine Show
Speed Of Light – Joseph Arthur
A Choppy Yet Sincere Apology – Riverboat Gamblers
