Ok! After consultation with riotqueerfemme, A and not_in_denial, a firm date for the Kryal castle raiding party has been set... Sunday the 3rd of August. This is an invitation for anyone else that wants to come! Why would i want to, i hear you ask? Well, you shall have excellent company for the day, a road trip with the prospect of medieval goodness (dungeons! jousting! mead! archery!) at the end of it, a picnic and possibly a hedge maze.
Cost will be $20/$17conc. More info here: http://www.kryalcastle.com.au/index.html

Of course, the castle might still be crap, i grant you that possibilty. My lover's ex's 17 year old son apparently goes to raves there, so it well could be. *bites fingernails anxiously* I so want to believe it's going to be good though...!

What else - oh yes. Over the last few months i have started to feel a little musically stale. It's like waking up and realising you have nothing to eat in the house. Pls, if anyone has some music recs to share with me, i would be enternally grateful! I have nothing to offer in return, unless it is to direct you to go and check out nixwilliams's music... he is awesome.

Oh, and under the random banner, here is a list of  10 Australian beers that don't taste like genetically manipulated cat's piss (One day i will start brewing my own beer and add it to the list!):

1) James Squire - IPA, Pilsner and Golden ale are very good value and widely available. IPA if you like yr hops blunt, Pilsner if you like 'em sharp and the Golden for a softer, sweeter taste. Look out for their limited releases too... Pepperberry Winter Ale is the current one and well worth a sup.
2) Holgate ESB - Stands for extra special bitter. Heaps of flavour and even better from the tap at Woodend! (Couldn't get away without mentioning the local fare!)
3) Red Duck Porter - Chocolate beer. Need i say more. :D An awesome winter beer - serve slightly warmer than usual to appreciate the complexities of this one.
4) Barefoot Radler - Save for the warmer days. Lime flavours make it very refreshing.
5) Coopers Pale Ale - also known as Coopers green. Cheap and comes in king browns (750ml bottles). Either decant to avoid the sediment or roll to mix it in, according to taste. Isn't great (has a funny aftertaste for mine) and seems to suffer from batch variation, but ok if you can't get/afford anything else. 
6) Mountain Goat - Hightail ale and pale ale are both top fermented (ie. they have sediment), IPA i can't remember? BUT - IPA is Victoria's first totally organic beer! My preference is for the Hightail, but that could be the higher alcohol content speaking!
7) Matilda Bay Rooftop Red - A lovely warming celtic red ale. Just right for the cooler months. WA brewery though, which makes it expensive.
8) Grand Ridge Pilsner - I prefer this over the Gippsland Gold, but then i've always been a bit of a sucker for saaz hops! This is a good example of the style.
9) Mildura Brewery Storm cloudy ale - I think they are going for a Witbeer style? Never been quite sure. Much lighter than the coppery orange colour suggests. Lovely citrussy aroma to it and a soft, sweet mouthfeel.
10) Little Creatures Pale ale - Being an ex-sandgroper, i had to pick another WA brew! Actually, this is an unremarkable top-fermented beer, solid and not unpleasant, but i thought it was a bit light-on for flavour. Just what some ppl like evidently, 'cause i know ppl who rave about it. Que? Maybe i ought to give it another shot...

I know that i'm a bit all over the place with this list - i don't have a tasting notebook or anything, i'm pretty much just reporting on what i can remember drinking recently. If anyone knows of a decent brew i haven't mentioned, pls rec it to me! (I've heard good things about Redoak Brewery... anyone got anything to report about their range?)

I haven't posted much for many reasons that I may or may not get in to at some point. This isn't a very fun post, no great adventures, climbing trips, dives, snow etc :< it's just a peek of what has been going on in the last week or so 'cause I feel guilty about neglecting everyone for so long ...

Yesterday was Saturday. We went to a house auction, which we won but didn't buy a house because the reserve was (insanely) $50k above the upper end of the expected range. WTF? And there wasn't *that* much interest anyway. Hmm. But, since our landlords are probably selling where we live, we have money in the bank from past house sales and there is virtually no chance of finding something to rent at a reasonable price in the current Melbourne housing crisisit makes best sense to buy. Even with career instability, rising interest rates, a scary economic climate and a flat housing market.

So, apart for general week-day business, the usual stuff like movies and books (I finally got around to watching Michael Clayton and to reading a Jon Courtenay Grimwood) and house-hunting ...

My birthday was last Monday: the main part was the snow trip, which I already posted about. Monday morning I had boxes from my mom to open (cashmere sweaters, mmmm) and in the evening dinner at Blue Chillies. Yum. I recommend the thrice cooked duck if you're in the area.

This week is also the Melbourne International Design Festival with events all around the city like studio open days, open houses for architectural buildings of note, poster exhibitions, design markets etc. etc. We did some of those things today and then had a wonder through some of the beautiful arcades in the city centre.



We stopped for treats at Koko Black. I had a chilli truffle. Mmm. Then we sized up restaurants in the city for future visits (Grandma Kimchi is first on the list (because of Kimchi obsessions) and also St Judes (because it looks yum and it's about 15 metres from our front door. Also MoVida and Ginger Boy are on the list for sometime :> )

Finally, on the way home we checked out the new Little Creatures Beer and Dining Hall. Good, especially since Little Creatures make the best beer I've tasted here in Aus. I hope we can afford to stay this close to the city ...

I've been hearing about Tegan and Sara for a while, but catsparx recently put the sound together with the name for me (even though laurelleaf gave me some tracks -- but not these -- to listen to... I am a Bad Friend).

A couple of good things...

The Con
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jIftFIG1j_c

Walking With A Ghost
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O4THv5SYfBo

Today* is Mal-2 Day, the 55th Day (Sweetmorn) of the Season of Confusion (the third season in the Discordian Year) in this, the YOLD 3174.

Mal-2 Day remembers the Life and Words of Malaclypse the Younger, who left us on this day in YOLD 3166 (2000 AD Gregorian).

Greg Hill, who channelled Mal-2 when writing the Principia Discordia, was well-loved by all that knew him as a quiet, gentle, mischievous and wise man, who rejected egotism, self-promotion and guruship in favour of integrity, truth and peace.

Be like him.

(Via)

(Via)

Scientific Explanations For Fantasy Creatures
(via i09)

All The Robots That Matter:
(via i09)

And a bonus graph, care of graphjam:

I FEEL LIKE IM 16 AGAIN....

I'M OFF TO SEE sham 69.


ahhhh

from the very first punk & disorderly compilation....

sometimes you never forget.

Act III of Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog, the third and last part, is now online.

It's a very sad ending... if you miss it! ...if you don't watch it before the hordes of slashdotting USAnians log in later and suck all the bandwidth down, and you miss out on seeing it before it goes offline tomorrow. So GO CLICKY NOW!

i'm actually kind of surprised with myself that i like soy milk.


( cut for personal health issues. )

pink dazedusted foundling
sweet dawn blush
whisp'ring

new niche...
new life...
old home

dryponder alerted me to a few or my Marvel sketch cards on ebay already.

Vulture
Namor
Iron Man
Magneto

EDIT: Found another:
The Thing

I don't get any money from these ebay sales (it's all fair), I'm just pointing them out as it's weird and cool to see these there.

If you are thinking of bidding on them maybe I can just draw you a new copy instead?

Sometimes things can get so bloody horrible, you'd do anything to make it all stop.

Before you do, call someone and talk about it.

Australia: 13 11 14

Canada: by province

New Zealand: 0800 543 354

United Kingdom: 08457 90 90 90

United States: 1-800-273-TALK (1-800-273-8255)

If you can't think of any other reason, let's make it a personal favour to me.

going through my faves on youtube while on ambien... yeahhhhh! i can't stop laffin.







LOOK AT MY HEAD IT'S LOPSIDED BITCH! SUCK A DICK.






taaail peeenis!


i can't quit laffin at this... ouch!!!! hahahahaha STINGROAIE

ahahhaha... I've been wITING TO PUT THIS UP...




yay to having computers again...

Now that the largest projects that have been on my plate for the past couple of months are all done and dusted I've been catching up on some light reading.

Following links from the Arts Hub UK weekly "Front Page" email that I subscribed to a few weeks ago, I read an interview with Tracey Emin which leaves me no more decided on how I feel about her or her art; and one about Martin Creed's "Work No. 850" currently being staged at the Duveen Gallery, Tate Britain.

And I found myself having to agree with the author of the latter article in regard to his points about art and meaning, and the imposition of meaning on art:

What we're up against here are two of contemporary art's guiding imperatives. Rule 1) Justification by meaning: the worth and interest of a work resides in what it's about. Rule 2) Absolute freedom of interpretation: a work is "about" anything that can, at a pinch, be said about it.

In short, meanings are arbitrary, but compulsory. And this double bind holds almost universal sway. Whenever you learn that a work explores or investigates or raises questions about something, that it's concerned with issues around this or notions of that or debates about the other, you know you're in its grip.

It's weird how people can't resist. If you want to make art sound serious, this is simply the way you do it. Read any gallery wall-caption or leaflet or catalogue, and see how long it is before the writer commends the work solely on the basis of what it's about. And then note how it is isn't really about that at all.

Meaning comes first – even before the work itself. At some point in the near future Antony Gormley's project One and Other will occupy the much-discussed fourth plinth in Trafalgar Square. For 100 days, 24 hours a day, a succession of volunteers will stand, for an hour each, as living statues on the plinth-top.

What will happen exactly? Goodness knows. It's anyone's guess. But what will it mean? Oh, we know that already, for the artist himself has explained: "Through elevation onto the plinth and removal from common ground the subjective living body becomes both representation and representative, encouraging consideration of diversity, vulnerability and the individual in contemporary society".

And in the circumstances, pre-emptive interpretation is only to be expected. When meanings are crucial but also completely out of control, the artist had better get his meanings in first. He must make it clear his work will encourage us to consider "diversity, vulnerability and the individual" – rather than other less uplifting things, like exhibitionist tendencies among the public or messianic tendencies among artists.

One and Other is another of those works that might mean anything or nothing. But because it's art, not life, it has to mean something. In fact, that's pretty well what defines the difference between them.

Although there are images of mine that were directly born from an event, an experience, an idea and therefore do have meaning that I may choose to elaborate upon with text or a journal entry; and I have had to write proposals at various stages in regard to my art before it's even executed; I don't believe that art has to have meaning or a prepared explanation by the artist or a gallery accompanying it for it to be a successful artwork.

I find it interesting to know what the artist was aiming for / thinking about / influenced by when producing the artwork, and I enjoy the written word and the way it can be used with images, whether as a title or as accompanying text. But not everything lends itself to a title, not all artworks require explanation or accompanying text of any type.

Although I always feel proud of my work when an audience recognises in it the same ideas, meaning and influences that I have been conscious of when creating the work, I am just as intrigued to find out what other interpretations the viewer brings to my images.

Because in the end we all view art (and most things in life) from our own subjective viewpoint. The work in front of us is "tainted" by our own knowledge, our own experience, our own personal visual preferences. When you view an artwork, listen to a piece of music, watch a film, there are always doors opening in your own memory behind which lie other artworks / images you've seen, sounds / music you've heard, films you've watched, places you've been, people you've met, experiences you've had of which the work may remind you or may colour your enjoyment (or lack thereof) and interpretation of the artwork.