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falling

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heathcote

Spending the day at Graham and Tanya’s property at Heathcote. The weather by and large very pleasant. Barry had never spent a day away from his home before and was initially freaked out, though now struts around like this is how it’s always been (and for all he knows this is how it’ll always be, though little does he know we’re going back in a few hours): the whole thing has been a petit vacance for Mia, who works too hard.

The biggest moment of the day was probably catching three flies on three separate occasions in a drinking glass (now washed) and letting them free in the garden. They help to break down kangaroo shit on the property and thus solve global warming, you see. Also reading Early Melbourne Architecture 1840-1888, a nice little vol. Second edition from 1963. Sad book. So many of the buildings recently demolished in 63, now probably only 1/10 of them still standing.

Playing a lot of Bix Beiderbecke albums and similar. There was a label in the 70s called Joker which seemed to specialize in reissuing old jazzy recordings of a period long before. Fun.

Other things not Heathcote related, which need to be recorded:

1. Two days ago my niece Florence spoke to me for the first time. This was achieved by her not knowing who was on the phone. She said, ‘I’m having a babychino’.
2. The Mia Schoen Group’s EP is about to come out. If you want one let me know.
3. People who run conferences badly are the scourge of the Earth. You probably thought it was dictators or malaria but no, it’s people who run conferences badly.
4. The new Panel of Judges album is sensational.
5. If anyone tells you I have written another book, do not believe it. I have contributed three chapters to a new book and that’s all. They were written off the top of my head OK.

Craven Fops 2011

island nights

Man, New York has so much to be grateful for including this wondrous song, listing all the things I love, including tattooed leather gypsies.

Two to choose from, I love the dark one, but I also love the caligari mime one.

hare smell

Charlie smells a hare that had recently passed by. Barry gets swept up in the mania. Music by the Enclosures from forthcoming EP

autoluminescent

Almost none of this trailer is actually in the finished film, but it is very representative.

I really enjoyed the new documentary about Rowland S. Howard, Autoluminescent, which we saw at the Film Festival last night. Full house, seemingly. Probably made too soon after RSH's death (he died right at the end of 2009, just over 18 months ago) which might explain any element of hagiography: we were told in the q&a that RSH had hoped for a warts 'n' all account but that none of the interviewees were up for bagging him. There might have been too much Nick Cave (I am sure when the ABC edits it down to an hour for screening there it'll be pretty much all Nick Cave, it'll be the story of some guy who hung out with Nick Cave once with five minutes at the end of 'in 1985, he did not work with Nick Cave. In 1986, Nick Cave released this album, which RSH could not have failed to be familiar with...' etc.) but I disagreed in the main with the woman at the q&a who said NC came across as a dickhead.

There were some tremendous images and films of RSH in his early days and as I said to Mia I always enjoy a documentary that leaves you asking questions, so it was lucky for me that some penetrating lines of inquiry only penetrated a little way in, eg stuff about his early life which was barely mentioned; he just springs out fully formed and starts acting like a genius in a snappy suit and tie, until Mick Harvey tells him to come across with the creative goods or get off the pot and so he forms the Young Charlatans.

I recommend you see it, either at the movies in a couple of months or on DVD (I bet the DVD will be scintillating). I am not sure how much of a RSH lover you need to be to really get into it. The music is pretty amazing; possibly there's too much concentration on 'Shivers' but whatever, its ubiquity and applicability is discussed in depth and it's not presented as his lasting legacy to the world like 'Undercover Angel' will be for Alan O'Day when he dies (despite the fact that he also wrote 'Love at first night' and 'Skinny girls'). Also, it's put in an appropriate place in the chronology and not mentioned again, so that's all fine (I was hoping for a snippet of the Screaming Jets in there but that's OK).

Best interviewees were probably Genevieve McGucken and Harry Howard, though almost everyone came across really well, including the oldies and goldies like Mr Pierre and Ollie Olsen. Oh well. If it was too soon for them to make the film, and the q&a came too soon after the film itself last night, it's probably too soon for me to be formally reviewing the film, which I'm not, I'm just rambling it's early in the morning and I woke up an hour before I intended to.

fluffy aka butterball aka bumble

We almost have another cat, inasmuch as we pay his vet bills, though he might be co-owned for all we know. We call him either Fluffy (his street name) or Butterball or a variation ie Bumble. Here is a short sideways video of him in which Asha proves (a) she exists (b) she hates him.

The music is (unless I've counted wrong) track 38 from DNE's More Songs Humans Shouldn't Sing. Perfect cat video music.

string em up

money shot

Hey, I don't want this to become either the blog of Angry of Broadmeadows or the blog of man who asks the inappropriate questions all the time however uncomfortable they make everyone else feel. I don't even think these images (from an animated online ad for ANZ) are intended to be pornographic, despite the sensational title I used for this post, which I will probably come to regret (not because anything bad will happen, just because I have never been any good at titles. Or endings. Great at the inbetween though you'll surely agree).

I just wonder why the pelvis of this cartoon troll girl is being thrust so undeniably and repeatedly at the viewer, and what the advertisers' psychological tactic is here. Are we supposed to think 'if I don't keep my financial affairs in order, my children will end up in some parents' worst nightmare of fear and degradation, including becoming in some way sexually exploited'? Or are we supposed to think, 'my daughter's procreative abilities are the future of my genetic line and must be kept comfortable until successful reproduction'? You tell me, I'm no good at answers, only at asking questions.