the adventures of mrlederhosen

Big kisses from Quebec - it's really cool

2009-07-08T16:40:00.001+08:00

Big kisses from Quebec - it's really cool
Originally uploaded by mrlederhosen

To follow up on comments I made two entries ago, I have now uploaded some of my favourite collected postcards onto my flickr account. Here's what I wrote to this one here, one of my favourites during my multi-year cheesy postcard challenge with a friend in Canada:
It's official. This is my favourite cheesey postcard ever. Sent at the peak of a heavy duty two year long postcard challenge between me and my Canadian friend known as the "Snikster". I admitted defeat, as this card won her the crown, hands down! I only found it again just this week in a box hidden away in the shed, covered in dust, marked: "1990s"

Nosey pooch

2009-07-08T16:25:00.001+08:00

Nosey pooch
Originally uploaded by mrlederhosen

It's the middle of winter now and i'm sitting here as it's raining all around me. Tonight, as part of the 2009 Revelation Film Festival I am going to see the Michel Houellebecq film "Possibility of an Island". I have read glowingly positive reviews saying that it has the intensity and colour of Tarkovsky's Stalker mixed with the alienating vibes of Kubrik's 2001. That is a pretty big call, so I am trying not to get my hopes too high.
Even though it is dull outside today, i'm in a good mood, so here is a photo of my Dad with Chloe and Louis.

2009-02-25T21:22:00.001+09:00

Postcard Poznan bad colours
Originally uploaded by mrlederhosen

Suddenly this morning it rained and it rained hard. Quite amazing considering this is Perth and we pretty much don't get any rain in February. So finally I get a moment to actually enjoy being in front of a computer. The problem with having a desk job is that when you get home from work you just can't be bothered jumping in front of a computer again.

Well, this entry has started with a bland yawn! Enough! Here is a great scan of a postcard that I found decaying on tourist card stand on the Rynek (town square) of Poznan in Poland. For some reason I love old crappy postcards where the colours just aren't quite right. And especially when most of the images contained in it are of mediocre buildings. Well, this one here has a few decent ones in it, but the washed out colours, the tired and dirty paper it was made on, the pollution piled up on the top of it, and its bent curl just said 'please give me a home' to me.
I am currently looking for my old shoebox filled with years of postcards. I used to write regularly with a Canadian friend, and we used to challenge each other to send the worst postcards we could find. So I guess I sent her most of my most crapola cards, but it also means I should have a collection of her worst! So watch this space for awesomely boring postcards! Are you not excited yet? I know I am! Yawn. I think I'll go to bed now.

Maybe I'll read a book about a magic postcard.. or maybe I won't.

Flying Lotus, 3 hours on AZ and the Necks

2009-01-14T13:03:00.001+09:00

Flying Lotus comes to Perth!
Originally uploaded by mrlederhosen

On Saturday night I saw Flying Lotus perform at Ambar in Perth. I must say it was musically one of the coolest shows that i've been to since Prefuse 73 played in Perth a few years back. It was muddy, meaty and sooooo good to get into on the dance floor. A totally rockin show. I danced like a fool until the moment he stopped.

And then on Sunday I did a hefty 3 hour live set on Ambient Zone starting at 10pm, with Sam joining me on the decks for a good part of it too. Needless to say, on Monday I had a difficult time staying alert at the office! As I readied myself for an early night of sweet slumber, Gav called me to remind me I'd promised to see the Necks (a fine 3 peice band from Sydney) with him. Reluctantly, I dragged my feet to the Charles Hotel to see them. Since about 1998 I've been seeing the Necks once a year or so, I have been lucky to be in the same city as them when they tour. They are always mind blowingly good live on stage. Monday night was no different. I find it hard to believe such an intense rich sound can come from a set of drums, an acoustic double bass and a grand piano. There were moments where the sound was like a wave of warm electronic synthesized sounds. Everyone in the room was transfixed by their show. If I would ever give 10/10 for a review of a live show, this was the night. Even if they do record that track to cd, nothing will sound like Monday night on a recording. I highly advise anyone to see the Necks if they get the chance.

As well as that, I bumped into Kim, a friend that I lost touch with when we both moved overseas in different directions about 8 years ago. We both just happened to be sitting next to each other as the show started. A classic case of a Perthism moment if there ever was one!

Hello 2009!

2009-01-07T11:14:00.001+09:00

Funky dog
Originally uploaded by mrlederhosen

Hats off to Cale had a fantastic New Year's Eve pool party, just what was called for. It's taken until January, but finally we have some over 30c days. Life is good here, the nights are balmy and days are hot. Nothing too much to report this week, but the music festivals are all happening! The St Jerome's Laneway Festival is going to be huge; Daedelus, Fourtet, Mountains in the Sky, Pivot, Girl Talk, The Tigers and heaps more! I can't wait.

flickr time

2008-11-28T12:09:00.001+09:00

Brunswick Street fisheye
Originally uploaded by mrlederhosen

Wow, over six months since my last entry. It has been one of those periods of my life where I haven't been up for writing. Not that it's been a bad time, just a busy living life and sorting things out time. I have finally signed up to flickr, so now I will be adding lots of my photos from everywhere I have been.
Last weekend I went to the first Perth Global Gathering, which made it my second GG for the year. It's pretty cool to go to the same festival in different continents! I think the one I went to in Poznan in June of this year was the first one for Poland too. At this festival I got to see Kraftwerk again (not seen since the Big Day Out about 3 years ago) and The Orb, who I haven't seen live since 2001, when I saw them in Dublin. Even cooler, I got to meet Alex Patterson and one of the other guys from the band while Kraftwerk were playing.

Summer is here next week, I can't wait!

Oh yes, the photo is from a weekend I spent in Melbourne about a month ago. Viva cheap flights!

The new urbanism planner tour of Europe

2008-07-23T21:54:00.001+08:00

Happy Hundchen
Originally uploaded by mrlederhosen

Unfortunately, I can not remember the password to this blog! So I have to rely on writing all my blog entries by sending them through my flickr account. And just as I've started to upload pics from my Euro trip, I have hit the 200 photo free membership limit (I never did load enough from Vietnam and Cambodia last January). So as I get my act together to become a flickr pro, I must start my Venice travels with another photo that doesn't match what I'm writing about. Also, if I hit the publish button without doing a spell check, as I did last night, I have no way to correct it later! Argh! Oh yes, and this little fella is a funky dog who posed for the camera next door to Hundertwasserhaus in Vienna!

Venice, in a nutshell, is a really gorgeous city. But it is also a museum of a city. The whole place seemed to designed for tourists. I didn't see one person there who didn't work in hospitality. But I guess that's what keeps people there, and gives them a solid income. But yep, it sure is an impressive place. Maybe it's because I was wandering the streets and canals with a group of city planners, but there were so many basic town planning principles that were used in its design that it makes a city like Venice work, and work really well. If only my home city could learn a few things about how to make a city work well for people. Of course there were a few things I didn't like about Venice, but there was more that I did like!

I was there with a group of about 37 planning industry folk and we were on a mission to travel from Venice to Prague via mostly Eastern European cities. I went to many places, some of which I've been before, but a few places I hadn't been to before either. For my own memory when I read this in a year's time, I went to these places in this order:
Venice, Padua, Vicenza, Palmanova (and a few other towns in the Venice area -um, i'm trying to remember the name of that town that had the world's oldest Byzantine mosaic on it's church floors from 300AD), Trieste, Bled, Ljubljana, Zagreb, Pecs, Budapest, Gyor, Bratislava, Vienna, Cesky Krumlov and Prague. After the tour finished I traveled for another three weeks on my own.

I've never really traveled in a large group before, I generally prefer independent travel, but it was a really great trip and I got perspectives of places that I wouldn't have gained had I just been only partying and backpacking my way around. Not that I didn't go hard. I think I had about 4 or 5 all nighters, lasting until well after sunrise, mostly as a result of drinking more than 4 red bull wodkas in the one night, not to mention drinking probably every night. I seem to recall whipping out the wonderful Wodka Zoladkowa Gorzka the very night I returned home. Oh yes, Polish vodka played a big part of the last part of my trip too. But all in all, it was a good trip for having fun and I also gained a lot professionally from the experiences.

After the planner tour finished I stayed one more night in Prague, and then went up to Berlin to meet my old friend Katrin from my 2001 travels. We were lucky enough to time it so that my arrival in Berlin coincided with the completion of her last exam for her uni degree. I arrived in town an hour after she left the exam hall for the last time. That led to fun times in my favourite of all cities :) After five days there, I caught the train to Poznan, just three hours east of Berlin in the west of Poland. There I caught up with a friend that I haven't seen for even longer, Julie and her husband Pascale (pics of them on flickr). The last time we had seen each other was when she stayed at my pad in Sydney for the 99-2000 new year! After a week or so of fantastic times and travelling around the area of Wielkopolska, I caught the 4 or 5 hour train up to Gdansk, where I was reunited with Emma, whom I had not seen since she visited me in Perth wayyyyy back in 2002. It was great to see her again, we had a fantastic time, and amazingly enough from the moment we met up we were hanging out as if no time had passed at all. It sure is a pity that Australia is so far away from Europe! I really love being able to get around so easily and see my friends, not something easily done for someone living in Perth. After Gdansk, it was a whirlwind of flights firstly to Warsaw, then 22 hours with the rellies in Athens (on its hottest day of the year), followed by 10 overnight hours in Dubai again, then a mega flight back to Perth.

I will write in more detail about each of these places, but I thought i'd better get the whole trip down, so I don't forget bits when I'm trying to remember in the future.

Now.. where and when to go for my next adventure..

Europe

2008-07-22T23:00:00.001+08:00

Originally uploaded by mrlederhosen

A few more weeks have passed since my last entry, and I find myself struggling to get writing again. Six weeks of adventure have inspired me and life is charging along in my world once again. The day after my return home, I jumped straight into busy times at work and all the things that go with being home again. I've done a few radio shows at rtr fm and this Sunday just past I did a whopping FOUR hour show from 9pm til 1am. It was pretty cool, lots of crazy noisy sounds of the Difficult Listening show, followed by two hours of Ambient Zone rancho-relaxo sounds.
Where to start with this trip!
I started off on the 15th of May when I landed in Dubai for a speedy 15 hour stay as my stopover to Venice. The airport was hot and the hotel room was freezing, but that was nice after the roasting of the 40+ degrees of the desert sun. I teamed up with my boss who was on the same flight, and we jumped on the red and then blue tour bus that took us on a 4 hour or so tour of the majority of the city. Real touristy stuff I tells ya, but as I didn't have too much interest in being there, it was great to do an architecture wander with one of Perth's great planning minds! There were some amazing designs of buildings, I could only imagine that Perth would ever consider building something that wasn't a square box dull design (check out the new Century tower going up on Hay Stree, a big, dull square box). Although the design of the city was bordering on ridiculous, the shapes of what was going up was impressive! After we ended up on the Creek we decided to go for a wander around Creekside. But when we realised the mega heat and the 8 lane roads with no footpaths anywhere was how the city was desinged, we realised that in Dubain you can not walk anywhere, so we stuck with the crowds - and hung out in an air conditioned mall.
Dubai was great to visit, but it was really like an Arabic Las Vegas. Nice to see, but I couldn't imagine living there or even staying too long.
Oh yes and when I put this photo up I was going to write about Poland. This pic is of a great town next to Gdansk called Sopot, the riviera of Poland! But more about that in a few entries time.

The explosive poo

2008-06-04T06:16:00.001+08:00

The explosive poo
Originally uploaded by mrlederhosen

Just thought i'd kick start this blog again, after leaving it untouched for a long long time. I am currently travelling around Europe, but I aim to start writing again and getting my thoughts and ramblings onto this thing.
I'm sitting here in Prague enjoying a steamy night by the Vltava, life is grand!

What is this poster trying to say?

2008-01-31T10:19:00.001+09:00

Fart and you will be arrested
Originally uploaded by mrlederhosen

On the weekend I returned back to Perth after a great month trekkin' through Southeast Asia. I travelled more than I had originally intended, starting in Bangkok, going to Ko Samet and then making my way to Hanoi, down to Hue, Hoi An, to Saigon, then to Phnom Penh and Siem Reap before heading back for a few days in Bangkok and then back home. That's a fair bit of movement for a month! But it was great to get there. Next time I think i'll go to fewer places but spend more time at each of them.
I've got stacks of pics, i'll gradually put my favourites on my flickr account. One of these days i'll tell of some of the crazier moments of my travels! All in all, a grande time was had.
Now I have to reapply for the job that I already have. Errrgh. Addressing selection criterias for government jobs is a total nightmare, especially when my mind is still in travel mode!

Mmm tasty..

2007-11-23T14:30:00.001+09:00

How tasty was my little frenchman
Originally uploaded by mrlederhosen

Yesterday I finally received my second ever ebay purchase in the mail, and it was none other than the great Brazillian film "How tasty was my little Frenchman" (Como Era Gostoso o Meu Frances), made in 1971 as part of the Brazillian Novo Cinema movement that was taking Brazil by storm at the time. I haven't had the chance to watch it yet, but the reason I went looking for this particular film was because many moons ago, I think it was in 2002, I returned home late from a big Saturday night and turned on the tv for the late night dodgy SBS foreign film as I was taking my shoes off and getting ready to jump into bed. A wacky movie was halfway through, but it totally grabbed my attention and I had to stay up and watch it to the end. I didn't find out what it was called until last year when I discovered it after surfing around on the imdb database website. I then looked around at all the Perth dvd shops only to find it was never released in Australia. Finally, yesterday after about 5 years of searching for it, I got my hands on this film! I can't wait to watch it.
..let's hope it's as good as I remember it!

On another note, it's the federal election in Australia tomorrow.. I really hope Rudd wins and Howard gets the butt - kicking he deserves. Time will tell, as it is going to be a very close call. My worry is that Howard's fear campaign will convince the many non-political folk of Australia to vote for him because "better the devil you know".

Oh and OTHER news, i'm going to Europe in May! Woo hoo, my work is sending a group of people on a new urbanism planners tour of Central Europe. I can't wait. More about that in future posts.

Bring on the Smurf pants!

2007-10-24T09:53:00.001+08:00

Best festival ever
Originally uploaded by mrlederhosen

Technology really rocks sometimes. On the weekend I finally got myself connected to the world of Facebook. By Monday I had been tracked down by one of my oldest and bestest buddies, Kitty Sparkles, whom I had lost contact with since 2000. We met in 1996 when she threw sparkley glitter in my hair randomly at a party as she scooted past me in silver rollerskates. We hung out for years, and even lived together at Alpha House in Newtown for a good two years or so. I still remember cutting a commercial for Advertising honcho John Singleton the day after I met Kitty, and he laughed at me for coming to work with glittery hair! (It took two weeks to get that out of my hair)!
So anyway, she moved to Queensland, got married and I moved overseas and eventually to the west coast. We lost touch and nearly caught up a few times over the years but not quite.
It is so very cool to be in touch again. Amazing how being busy and focussing on one's own life can allow so much time to pass without really noticing it.
Also linked to Kitty was Sally, another one of my buddies from Newtown. She had some cool photos from this extreme bush doof rave we all went to, it was in a forest about an hour south of Sydney. I remember metre high electrically blue mushrooms, lazers and lots of dust. And just after this photo was taken we decided to go surfing (after not having slept) and I remember we all got slammed in the surf.. the magic Smurf pants didn't save me that day!

Scooterin' in Fremantle

2007-10-17T17:16:00.001+08:00

Gantheume Point Boab
Originally uploaded by mrlederhosen

I guess it's time to fill this lil' blog with the latest in the life of mrlederhosen in the month since I last wrote anything.
Well, let's see. Here's this weeks news at least. On Saturday it was Annette's Birthday bash. Annette is Jeffo's girlfriend, and she ingeniously organised a group of about 10 folks of us to hire scooters and hoon around Fremantle and the neighbouring Swan River for 2 hours, before finishing off with a few hours at the Norfolk drinking delightfully refreshing beverages. Then we continued our night at Casa de Brun (the place to be on hot nights). And then, first thing on Sunday morning at the immoral hour of 8:30am I met my ol' friend Christine and we did a full 9 hours of Swan Valley wine tour cruising on the annual 'Spring in the Valley'. Many hours later, I staggered home only to have to drag my sunburnt and bedraggled body to the RTR studios to do 2 hours of Ambient Zone. Hehe, it was quite a weekend :)

Anyway, back to Saturday's shennanigans.

It was a hot sunny Spring day and we all felt like some of the young mods on Vespas in that film Quadrophenia. It was really cool, I hadn't been on a scooter since I went to Koh Lanta nearly 3 years ago, although it was not too hard to feel like a pro scooter rider again! Probably the funniest moment was when a friend of Annette's was showing off with a little skidding brakey-action to his friend who had a camera, when he suddenly stopped and did a cartwheel over the top of the bike and landed amazingly unhurt on the side of the carpark. It was a total Buster Keaton fall! The whole thing is probably floating around on youtube somewhere by now i'm sure..

Other than that, life's just cruising along for me at the moment. Life is going pretty well, getting my house all snazzy and ready for a summer of beaching and cocktails. I can't wait until I find a funky old 1950s bar in a Salvos store to put in the corner of my pad. Then all will be super well. I'm sure to be putting photos of that online when I get it stocked up. I might have to make it a Hawaiian tiki theme for my housewarming. Some other suggestions for themes for a party that have been thought of include a robot theme party (to keep with the theme of Daft Punk coming to Perth in a few weeks) and of course a uniform party (eg nurses, cop, school clothes etc)!
Oh the choices I must make, the strain of it all..

Visit to the Kimberley

2007-09-19T12:10:00.001+08:00

Broome Cable Beach rocks
Originally uploaded by mrlederhosen

Wow, another month has passed since i've updated this blog. I guess it's been one of those not writing periods of my life. Since I last wrote here i've started a new position at my work. I'm now working with remote Aboriginal communities, and last week they sent me up to Broome to get trained up. It sure was an eye opener to how indigenous people live up there.
I also got to wander around Broome and Derby, and I travelled up to Beagle Bay and beyond, to some very remote communities. It's pretty amazing country, I was lucky to get there before the wet season starts. I noticed an urgent exodus starting to gain momentum from Broome, I think most people want to get the hell out of there before the clouds roll in and the heat and humidity rises. I'll put more pics on my flickr site soon, as it's an excellent place to take good photos.

Truffle and mustard combo

2007-08-06T12:04:00.001+08:00

Would you stay here?
Originally uploaded by mrlederhosen

It appears I have already posted that photo with the two-face in September of 2006, whoops! To make up for it, here's a photo of a hotel sign. Yes yes, it's predictable graffitti and it's probably been done 72,000 times before, but it raised a smile when I saw it yesterday.

I was in Mundaring for the annual Mundaring Truffle Festival, hehe, what a cool reason for a festival, everyone spending big money on brown smelly fungus things that look like dog poo! Well, I finally got to taste a truffle. It's a subtle taste, but really good. The place was full of poncy society types in their ridiculous $100,000 BMW status 4wd's, and it did cost $5 for a peice of bread with brie and truffle spread, but I thought it was a pretty cool day out anyway. Anle and I hooned around Mundaring listening to cruisy driving tunes. It sure was good to get out of the city for a change. I don't think i've left the city for months! Nothing like a trip to the hills and some forests and fresh air to get me pepped up. On the way back to the city we stopped at Jenn and Chris' new Kalamunda pad to say hi, they live accross the road from a forest. How cool!
Wowsers, I can't believe they have to drive for an hour just to get to the city. I'd much rather live in the city any day!

Winter

2007-08-06T11:40:00.001+08:00

two-face
Originally uploaded by mrlederhosen

It's been a couple of months since I've really added anything of interest to this blog, I guess I've been busy doing regular type things, it seems I haven't been up to anything of particular interest to be writing about here. But things will be changing soon, as I commence a new job in a couple of weeks. It's at the same corporation, just in a different area. As soon as I start, they'll be flying me up to Broome to get trained in what I need to know. How cool, i've never been to Broome before!
We've just had a perfect weather weekend. It was raining and all crapola cold n' stuff for all of last week, and then out came the sun for two glorious days, until last night when it started raining again. This way most Perthites are happy - my city finally gets that rain that it desperately needs, and all the 9-5'ers get a chance to worship the sun when it comes out. Living in Perth, we are so used to endless sunshine with all year sunny conditions and clear skies, that we take it for granted. Most people here, except for those skin-roasting European travellers (and a few teeny emo's who want it to be winter for longer) get so used to the sun that we actually look forward to rainy weather. When we have endless rainy weeks like last week, Perth folk finally understand what it feels like when the sun comes out after not seeing it for a while. I spent my Saturday morning eating breakfast outdoors, lying in the overgrown grass and getting some rays on my pasty winter-white skin.

Aaah, it felt SO good!

Oh yeah and that pic was a time-lapse photo that I took of a couple who were lounging at the table next to us at the Ark Bar in Koh Samui from when I was there last year. I had simply rested the camera on the table and hit the button, I had no idea it would turn out so well!

Things I'll be rambling about online soon:

1) Continuing my travel adventures. I have only written up to the second month of my travels, I still have nine more months of silliness to write about! ..yes I keep saying i'll do this i know..
2) RTR shennanigans, and the upcoming radiothon that starts next week.
3) Updates on the crazy tunes i've been listening to lately,
4) Political rants and why everyone is wrong except for me

A Proem overdose

2007-07-09T15:58:00.001+08:00

Overdosing on Proem
Originally uploaded by mrlederhosen

Last night Gav and myself paid tribute to probably the greatest record label of the last 7 years or so, Merck Records. They closed down a few weeks ago, so we thought we'd play two 2 hour shows highlighting their contribution to the electro music world on our show Ambient Zone.

Last night we played tunes from the second period of releases, including lots of tracks from the Aurora 2 ambient compilation, a few remix tracks (especially Tycho and Machine Drum stuff) and to finish off the show from 12:30 through to 1am we played virtually non-stop masterpieces from Proem (www.proemland.com).

Sayonara, Merck!

The 'Good Stuff'

2007-06-18T11:27:00.001+08:00

The 'Good Stuff'
Originally uploaded by mrlederhosen

Long time no blog write. I needed the time off. I've been working on fixing up my house so that I can move in, and I've been living a busy family life and spending lots of time with my sister in law and nephew while they got ready to move to the middle east .

They've now moved over, and my house is finally painted. But still there is lots to do. It doesn't really make for exciting reading, but hey, life gets hectic sometimes.

Finally on Saturday, after three months trudging around the world via surface mail, I received Julie's first published novel, 'Blue'. Hooray, I get to read her work! I haven't updated my contacts thingee, but check out her new website: http://jdriso.wordpress.com She's the best new writer i've read lately! Onya Julie, you rock!

____________________________

Other than that excitement, life is just moving along. I need a holiday to recharge. It's been nearly a year since I've had a holiday, or at least some decent time off to get away from 'normal' times.
But I did make a cool discovery on Saturday! I was contently relaxing after a fantastic feast of food at a dinner party with some friends of friends from Beijing the other day, when they unravelled this mystery liquer from a gilded box. I had never heard of Moutai before, but as of last night I am a convert. That stuff is great! ..although at 53% alcohol, just a sip here and there is probably all that should be drunk in one sitting.

I just totally dig how wherever I go in the world there is something new and something that I have never heard of. Apparently this is 'the good stuff' that lots of rich folk in China like to drink. Hmm I wonder if I can find this stuff at the bottle shops of Perth?

Dodgy Brothers

2007-05-28T13:27:00.001+08:00

Dodgy Brothers
Originally uploaded by mrlederhosen

This could be the gold medal winning crappy-quality-mobi-phone photo of the year! I love how my phone has an unflinching ability to create cool crappy quality photos. This is perhaps the seediest photo ever taken of Emmo - would you buy a car off this man? Stricko looks like an olde worlde bushranger about to pull out his pistol, put on his Ned Kelly iron helmet, and take off with the nights' earnings.

Taken a few weeks back at a poker night at Seano's pad. I would only say poker is cool if I ever won anything. So far that has eluded me, so i'll stick to my 'once every six months only' policy of allowing my friends to suck me in to all night poker n' boozin' games!

What colour should i paint?

2007-05-21T13:55:00.001+08:00

What colour should i paint?
Originally uploaded by mrlederhosen.

That's me getting ready to partake in the proper way to spend one's first night in their new home!
The first thing when I got the keys to the house was to remove those shocking grandma kitchen curtains, eeyurgh! A design with yellow corn cobs would have been cool though, I would have probably kept them.

Old maps

2007-05-21T13:40:00.001+08:00

Tramway Routes Perth
Originally uploaded by mrlederhosen.

I love old maps. Hehe, I seem to expose all my nerdy habits on this blog you must think, but this map is particularly cool to me because it shows my home city nearly 80 years before I was born, and when the streets I grew up on didn't even exist. I think I got this nerdy thing for maps started when i was by the Thames at some riverside market and I discovered this old book from the 1850s or so where the seller had ripped out pages to sell for people to frame individually. They had old maps of empires long gone, and little countries and places with names i'd never heard of before (I had better not get a ticket to Prussia). I thought it was a crime that this guy could just rip up such an old book! ..so I had to get a few of them. Hmmm moral pickle there.. ..does it only encourage him to do it more or am I saving it from being lost forever?

Next thing I knew I had a cool old map of Denmark and Scandinavia from the 1500s (just a print, sigh, not the real thing), and then I had was given a globe of the world circa 1947 for a Birthday one year.
So far I've only seen 30 countries of the world. I am yet to see the other 130 or so, so I had better get a move on! Having a globe staring at me inspires me to not get too complacent with my life and to remember to get out there and discover.

In other news, I got the keys to my new house last Tuesday! It's a great feeling to know that I have my own place now, and no dodgy landlord can turf me out or randomly put up the rent! I will put some pics up of my place soon.

must.. get ..some... sleep .. eyes closing.. zz

2007-05-07T12:51:00.001+08:00

RTR FM Ambient Zone
Originally uploaded by mrlederhosen.

I hope everyone tuned in to RTR (www.rtrfm.com.au) last night. I ended up doing an extended Ambient Zone set, as the guys from the next show never turned up to the studio, which allowed me to crank it up for another half hour. I could've played all night, but ye' olde work commitments meant that I had to be at work by 9am, and this little black duck was already pooped from a late Friday and Saturday night. Not sure how long i'll last at the office for, now that my lunch break is coming to an end..

I've found a way of converting the format of my radio recordings, so pretty soon I should be able to post podcasts. I've got so many IT geek friends, yet no one has ever been able to tell me of a (free) way to convert from mp2 to mp3!

I've discovered some flippin' great music lately, last night I played stacks of tracks from the following albums:

Fennesz - Endless Summer
Fenton - Pup
Oblong - Indicator
Clogs - Lantern
Pole - Steingarten
Kelpe - The people are trying to sleep
Jimi Tenor - Beyond the stars

More Baltic politics..

2007-04-30T11:42:00.001+08:00

Tallinn Red Army Monument
Originally uploaded by mrlederhosen.

Once again, there is conflict between Estonia and the Russian Government. The Estonian government has inflamed the Russian authorities by removing a statue that commemorates Soviet soldiers from its location in the centre of Tallinn to a nearby cemetry. Emotions are high and the mess of 20th Century history and post-Soviet empire politics have bubbled to the surface once again. I have found a few comments from the net that express the situation, and probably better than i'd be able to say it. I'd be keen to hear what people have to say.

The Financial Times online edition (www,ft.com), dated 28/4/07, reports:

"For Estonia's ethnic Russians, as for Russians elsewhere, the memorial marks the sacrifices made by Soviet forces in the second world war. But many Estonians see the monument, in its central location, as a triumphalist symbol of communist oppression that lasted until the end of the Soviet Union.

Tensions flared at the memorial in May last year when Estonian nationalists clashed with ethnic Russians. Fearing May 9 this year would see a repeat, Andrus Ansip's centre-right coalition opted to move the memorial. Following a general election victory in March, Mr Ansip decided to act quickly despite protests from ethnic Russians, from Moscow and the opposition of Edgar Savisaar, the Tallinn mayor."

From the BBC World "Have your say" discussion, dated 29/4/07, Jaana from Tallinn states:

"Ivi Masso, columnist of the Estonian daily Päevaleht makes a statement that is roughly translated as: "It is difficult to imagine someone saying to descendents of Jews, victimised by nazis, that they should be tolerant to a statue of a nazi solder standing on one of the most prominent squares of their capital city, because the statue is an important symbol of German identity." And this statement is followed by a brilliant article.
Think about it."

And from the blog-site "Itching for Eestimaa", here is an exerpt dated from 11/1/07, before the riots began. Read the entire article on:
http://palun.blogspot.com/2007/01/ai-ai-ai.html

"..the Russian Federation's inability to take accountability for what happened in 1940 and 1944 and to continue to attempt to represent its "compatriots" abroad while at the same time demanding blanket foreign citizenship for them, only fuels the Estonian-Russian crisis in relations. When you constantly deny acts of hostility against a neighbor, and then attempt to include yourself in your neighbor's domestic policies on behalf of a local minority, you only sew fear and mistrust in your neighbor's country. Hence, an old war memorial still means something. Also, how can Estonians be expected to respect the dead of the Soviet Army, when the Russian government won't even hand back its morbid souvenir from Päts' death - his presidential regalia?"

There are pages and pages of discussion on this topic. I hope it's alright to quote other people's works here, I have sourced them so hopefully there's no copyright issues.. If there is, contact me and I'll remove it. I have put it up here because I find it very interesting.

Post colonial politics have always been a source of endless conflict. One nation mourns the loss of control whilst trying to maintain influence, while the smaller nation tries strengthen its independence. Colonialism has brought so many problems to the world. The concept of colonialism sounds to me like the school bully demanding lunch money, or a triad/mafia gang demanding 'protection' money, but on a national scale. It's as simple as that. World history just keeps repeating itself. Every history book I ever read is about a bigger power stomping on a smaller power, and then causing a heap of troubles when they aren't in charge anymore. And then a new big power appears and it starts all over again.

*Sigh*.. no wonder countries that aren't fighting wars love sport so much. Sport is a way of being king-pin of the world and having a strong sense of nationalism without having to invade anyone. Being a sports hero is a much safer than being a war hero, and you still get to use up all that testosterone! I guess that's why I love seeing huge sporty crowds, even though i'm not really into sport that much.

Music is tops

2007-04-24T12:10:00.001+08:00

Best album ever
Originally uploaded by mrlederhosen.

Last night I finally put on my shiny new dvd compilation of all of my David Bowie albums, and lay down on the bed and listened to it for about two straight hours. Some people meditate, others play sport. When I feel I need to recharge, I get comfortable, I darken the room and put on my favourite music and put the volume at that perfect just-right level.

When I was a 13 year old, the first proper music record I ever bought (other than my pre-pubescent purchases of 'Chipmunk Rock' and 'Sunglasses at night'), was David Bowie's 'Scary Monsters' album. Little did I know then, but that album revolutionised my entire life. It represented the beginning of my teenage life. I played that album every day. Soon, I had to have more! Next I bought the live Ziggy Stardust farewell concert, which drove my Mum crazy on many occaisions, and then I bought what I still believe to be one of the best albums ever made: David Bowie's 'Low' album from 1977. Even today, when I feel a little run down, tired, sad or need rejuvenating, I put on that album and shut my eyes.

Shortly after that, while scouring the second hand section of Dada Records in Perth (which incidentally has not changed at all in 20 years) I found a crusty old 1979 pressing of his next album "Heroes". To this day, I think that song itself has got to be one of the best pop songs ever written, not to mention the rest of that searingly intense album. Every time I hear it, it gets to me. It is musical perfection, as far as I am concerned.

It was only a couple of years later when my musical tastes had moved on to all sorts of crazy stuff did I realise that those two 1977 albums were co-authored and produced by Brian Eno, and had Robert Fripp playing guitar. Eno and Fripp, for the uninitiated, were some of the leading exponents of electronic music in that era. Brian Eno is kinda like the godfather of ambient music - he even allegedly was the first person to use the term "ambient music", and Robert Fripp, well, he was the creative genius behind the awesome band King Crimson, from the prog-rock era of the early 70s, and he created this wacky sound known as 'Frippertronics'.

Music is freakin' awesome, I love how every time I go searching for the good stuff, the more I find. Hehe, I think I've just decided what to play on my next Ambient Zone show, so tune in! Oh yeah, I'll be doing my next set on Sunday 6th of May, on RTR FM 92.1

Incidentally, this photo is the 12" single of the German release of Heroes, titled "Helden". For some reason I think it sounds better in German, probably because he was living in Berlin when he wrote it.

obturator nerve pathway

2007-04-23T20:20:00.000+08:00

Ooh, i've got a great controversial topic today! None other than that prize winning guaranteed-endless-disagreement debate topic: religion!

I was on my way to have dinner with some friends of mine the other day, and as we were walking through the city on our way to Taka Restaurant for ourtight-arse budget Japanese dining extravagansa, and just as we had successfully avoided the singing Christians, we came accross a group of preaching Scientologists who seemed to zoom in on us like mosquitos. Seems like a normal night out? Sure, it usually is. But this particular friend of mine is one of those people that just seems to attract fanatics. I kid you not, but we have been walking along the street on previous occaisions, and randoms have walked up and started harassing him, be it either Christian fundamentalists, aggressive beggars (the ones who insist you give them a minimum of $2), gang members or muscled up thugs and fubu-and-bling-wearing types just yelling out abuse and looking for a fight.

I have formulated a theory that it has something to do with the fact that he'san uber buff weight lifting bloke who works out regularly, and he's got that square jaw tough-guy look about him. If you mix that with a vigilante '"i hate injustice / seeing people getting picked on" mentality, he can never just ignore dickheads like most people do.

But, I digress!.. anyway, as I was saying, the next thing we know these two Scientologists are telling him that he needs to get off thepharmeceutical drugs that are messing up his mind and stop watching "the media"and to wake up to himself. I'm not quite sure where they got the idea that he was on drugs from, but it all got kind of narky and they were all raising their voices and telling each other they were fools (and something about all humans coming from the planet Zorgon or something like that..). If there is one thing i've learned in this world, its that you should never challenge a preacher of any kind into a theological debate. You can never win, as the precise reason they are preaching is because they believe so firmly in what they say.

After we had extracted our friend from the standard religious vs. non-religious debate, we trotted at a fast pace to Taka's, because by now there was a monster queue out the front waiting to polish off the final stocks of their scrum-diddely-umptious sushi. I'm not sure who actually said it, but by the time we got up to Shafto Lane someone had described the whole concept of religion into one simple sentence, and it has stuck in my head ever since then:

"Religion is necessary for so many people because it provides them with simple answers for complex questions".

That statement kind of ended the debate, and before long we were chatting about more important stuff like food, politics, movies, girls wearing short-shorts in winter, guys who wear speedos (are they undies or bathers?) and music - in other words all the other regular important Friday topics of conversation!

Anyway, I just thought I'd share that moment of my Friday night with the world!

Abbey the dog contemplates life whilst meditating and chanting.

A pants rant

2007-04-23T20:15:00.000+08:00

It's Monday now, but I wrote the following rant last Friday, at the end of a long week, I was going a bit loopy from being indoors for too long. I thought I'd put it online anyway..

------------------
Well here we are and it's Friday again. I honestly feel like it's Groundhog Day sitting in the office sometimes. Too much of my life is spent at work I tells ya. But not to worry - life is grand, it's Friday and there's tonight and two more days to wreak havoc on the world at large!
Today's rant is that I am very shocked and concerned that I'm noticing a trend in fashion whereby all the young whipper snapper trendies are wearing super high pants again! Surely everyone who has even the slightest memory of the 80s and early 90s - hell, I think ANY time before about 1996, judging by watching old movies and looking at our Grandparents, should know that the world has hadenough of HIGH waisted pants! Remember laughing at Bogart with his up-to-his-armpit trousers? Remember Van Damme with his 80's pleated trousers riding up high, making him look like a clown? It took all of the history of western civilisation to finally come to awareness that pants that sit nicely around one's hips look good! I know the saggy-pants show-your-undies trends of the early 00's have caused this harry-high-pant reaction, but hey! I like hipster pants! They look good, they make one's butt look good, and they justfit the shape of a person's physique and make them look better!
I will have to add this to my list of things to do when i'm president of the world. Item number #297 on the agenda of my new world manifesto: "Jeans and trousers that are worn above the belly button will incur punishment of humiliation by public dakking".

Now that i've got that off my chest, bring on the weekend!

look into my eyes, not around the eyes but in my eyes..

2007-04-12T22:19:00.000+08:00

Shopping mall art in Bangkok
Originally uploaded by mrlederhosen.

Heyyy, big news today! I was trying to get away for the weekend by driving up north, when I was called back for a few reasons. Before I knew it, i'd made an offer on a house!

It'll be a few weeks before I get the keys, but I will start planning a house warming party to remember from now. If you get in quick, I might let ya stay on the sofa for the night.. Sheesh it's kinda scary to borrow so much money, but hey, this had to happen now or i'd never do it. No more renting for me, woo hoo!

random ramblings

2007-04-02T16:24:00.000+08:00

Bomi nearly loses a contact lense
Originally uploaded by mrlederhosen.

I just had to get outdoors for the last gasp of summer yesterday. Last week it suddenly got cold after a few months of non-stop searing Perth heat, so I just had to catch some of those rays when the sun came out. Bomi is my ol' pal from Korea, and she's one of those friends that I only seem to meet with every month or so. Being the great Aussie tour guide that I am, I took her down to Point Walter to check out the river spit that she had been told about. Its funny how when you live in a city you sometimes never go to the great local sights and places that foreigners love so much. We walked right to the end of the spit - over a kilometre of a skinny stretch of sand jutting into a bulbous bit of the Swan River. Ahh the sun, i'm gonna miss it when the cold weather kicks in. Perth is one of those cities that I swear is colder than Europe in mid winter.
"Baloney!" I hear you say. But I know i'm right! Because of our mega-hot summers, our houses are designed to be cool, and they just let all that heat out come the winter. I never ever wore jumpers in the house in my little pad in Berlin that Christmas, and I never wore jumpers in that Bachelors Walk dog-box I lived in in Dublin. Yet every winter mr G shivers-his-timbers while he stirs his hot soup next to the gas heater and whines a lot of "brrrrr-its-cccold". And all them exchange students freak out and have to go shopping for jumpers, feeling ripped off cos they're told that its always summer down in Australia. Hehe, I guess that means our tourist brochures as a summer paradise have been working!

I soooooo much want to get back to Southeast Asia this month, but because of the suck-ass recent housing boom, I have to save every penny if I am going to buy myself a (rediculously small) place this year. I say its a suck-ass from the buyers point of view, but I'm sure if you owned a place you'd be loving every moment of the last four years of boom. Anyway, maybe one day I can join the league of the landed gentry, but for now i'm having to be "mr. no-holidays stinge-bag" to save. I don't even really care too much about owning land, but I guess it's the wise thing to do and I know that I will love having my place, the freedom of owning my own place and yadayadayada..

Golly I must be getting old. I'm talking about property in my blog! Aaaaarrrghh! Someone please save me from this!

Another hefty weekend

2007-03-26T12:59:00.000+08:00

imaginary tree
Originally uploaded by mrlederhosen.

Life sure is busy at the moment. Daylight savings finished on Saturday night and it coincided with my 11pm to 1am radio show, so in effect I was DJing from 12 to 2am, and then I had to drag my tired butt to work this morning at 8:30! And that was following a huge Friday night on the town and a big night on Saturday for my friend Brad's wedding. To compound it all, I seem to randomly wake up at 5 am every morning and take an hour to get back to sleep, ensuring that I spend most of my waking time feeling like a zombie.

Anyway.. last night it felt like my Ambient Zone show went really well! It's been a long time since I've talked about music. There is so much great music out there, here's a list of a few standouts that I have recently acquired, just from the top of my head. There are heaps more but these are the ones I can think of right now:

Pub - Legless
Pub - Single
Monolake - Hong Kong
Benge - I am 9
Secede - Vega Libre
Susumu Yokota - Magic Thread
Yagya - Rhythm of snow
Scanners - movie soundtrack

Clint gets married

2007-03-13T13:01:00.000+09:00

Where is she?
Originally uploaded by mrlederhosen.

Hehe, Michelle was going to be 'officially' 15 minutes late, but I took this pic at about the waiting for 40 minutes mark. Clint's looking a little concerned that she might have done a runner..

Clint and Michelle have been going out for soooo long, and as a result this wedding has been anticipated for a long, long time! It was great to have all of his friends and family there, a great time was had by all.

On a different note, Adam is famous for his end-of-the-world-is-nigh farts.. look at the coincidentally located microphone, I had not planned for that!

Congrats to Clint and Michelle!

2007-03-13T12:53:00.000+09:00

10 years later they are finally married!
Originally uploaded by mrlederhosen.

Hopehenge

2007-03-01T15:36:00.000+09:00

Hopehenge
Originally uploaded by mrlederhosen.

Here is a bit of nerdy transport planner humour from Thailand. I work with a Thai guy and he keeps me up to speed with the latest architecture, developments and construction in Bangkok.

A train line was supposed to connect Bangkok to the old airport, but it was never built. The Hopewell company had the contract to construct it, but they went bankrupt and/or there was political scandal that involved the government of the time, and this coincided with the Asian stockmarket crisis, so construction just stopped one day and multi-millions of baht were wasted. There are now hundreds of these monoliths dotted throughout Bangkok, at a cost of around 1 million dollars each!

A few ideas have been raised to finish the mystery train line to the north of the city with a combination train and above ground freeway, but I'm not sure what the status of this project is. When I was in Bangkok last year I saw a few creative uses of some of the pillars, some people had swings hanging off one of them, some had created a market area under the base of a few, and I even saw some shanty housing built around at least one of them. (There could even have been an urban rock climbing wall!)

It was kind of cool to see how people utilised these abandoned Stonehenge like pillars. I always thought it would be great to built a birds nest style apartment on top of them, and create funky Roger Dean (aka those old 'Yes' album covers from the 1970s) styled bulb-shape buildings that could serve as a type of fancy community in the air. Though I'm sure the realities of Thai poverty and property owners probably wouldn't allow for that to happen even if someone did try to do it..
..but still, I think it would look cool. Maybe I'll make it a pet project of mine when I am president of the world.

Whatever happened to the humungous karri log in Kings Park?

2007-02-27T15:01:00.000+09:00

Karri Log Kings Park
Originally uploaded by mrlederhosen.

Gosh, a few weeks have passed since I last wrote here. My new position at work has been keeping me busy running around the city doing surveys about the use of certain train stations around one of the major transport corridors. Working in strategic planning is an awesome job, and I'm loving it.

One of my work colleagues recently sent me this photo of the old massive karri log that used to sit in a prominent position in Kings Park. Everyone I know who grew up in Perth have memories of trying to climb the log and sit on top of it. I remember getting up there once (unless they are imagined memories.. eek! - it must be Total Recall! ), and when I got on top, I thought I had climbed Mt Everest. My brother and I ran up and down it like we were kings of the world, and being little tackers, we were a little freaked out we'd hurt ourselves if we fell off. I definately remember hanging off the end of the log, just above where that guy in the pic is standing. There was also this cool slice of log located just to the left of this pic, and it showed in the growth rings how big the tree was during the French revolution, the signing of the Magna Carta and a host of other historical moments going back around 1000 years. I wonder why they took it away, surely it has a strong environmental message by leaving it there. Even back then I was thinking, "if it's so ancient, why did we cut it down?". And that was before public endorsement of environmentalism became trendy.

What ever happened to this log? When did it disappear? How did I not notice it missing until I saw this photo of it? Seeing this photo, it brings back streams of my childhood memories. I remember all sorts of things now, like playing on the dangerous but oh-so-cool playground made out of a hollowed tree next to that island which is now called the Western Power parklands.. and riding on the carved wood horses on the carousel they used to have there.. and trying not to fall in that festy lake while delicately clambering over the collapsed tree that was the only access to the playground in the middle of the little island.. sheesh i evem remember i had these corduroy pants when i was climbing around it.. i must have been 4 or 5 or something! I remember my parents had matching flared pants as they called out to us, hehe, yep that was definately the 70s! ... better yet, I can remember the song 'Dreamweaver' playing out of a stereo... ooh wait no portable stereos weren't around til the 80s... hmm, maybe it was from one of the Sandman wagons parked nearby..

Golly, so much memory from just one photo, taken over 20 years before I was even born! Actually I asked Anle the other day about this log, and she said it was eaten up by termites, so it had to be removed. I suppose that's a logical reason as to what happened to it, but even so.. I can't believe this memory got locked away in the back of my mind in the 'childhood' compartment.

In other news, I had the best weekend ever down south :') More about that later.

Ooooh yes.. and thank you sooooo much Julie for promoting my radio show Ambient Zone on your website! You are the best, hoooray!! I think i'm scheduled to do it next on either the 11th or the 18th of March. Stay tuned and I'll let you know.

Contested Baltic states borders

2007-02-06T10:52:00.000+09:00

Baltic states borders
Originally uploaded by mrlederhosen.

This map accompanies the following entry.
It looks like Russia was worried that their country was getting too small in the new post Soviet Union, so they had to claim chunks of land from their former subjects..

Estonia

2007-02-06T10:46:00.000+09:00

tartucastle
Originally uploaded by mrlederhosen.

I wasn't sure if I had already posted this pic a year ago, but this is the remains of a great castle built during the Knights of the Sword period of Estonian history. Half of the castle has been restored, and that part of the building is used as a library for the main university of Tartu. If this building was in Australia or the US the whole site would be fenced off and everyone would be too worried about being sued to allow people to wander around the ruins of a once great place. I still think it's the coolest warning sign that I have ever seen!

I thought I'd clarify something I'd mentioned in my last entry. I had referred to the troubles in south eastern Estonia still brewing, but since I had last read about it a few years ago whilst completing my International Relations degree at uni, I had not read the latest developments regarding the area of Petserimaa - the area around the town of Petseri. Since Soviet times, Petseri has been officially called Pechory. Estonians have traditionally considered this region one of the 11 counties that constitute their Nation, and this has been the source of many simmering tensions with Russia. I found a great map that shows the disputed territories, it also includes the area around Narva and also Latvia's border dispute area with Russia.
Wikipedia seems to suggest that the Petserimaa issues were resolved in 2005, (see: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Petseri ) but I am not sure what the Estonian people think of this. I notice that Wikipedia have entered their summary in a way that suggests this is an historic Russian area that has been returned. I'm not so sure if other historical sources would agree with that either. I will have to read more about it.

Some other webpages for Estonian history for all you history geeks if you are interested..
http://www.einst.ee/publications/12/viies.html
http://www.iexplore.com/dmap/Estonia/History
http://www.britannica.com/ebi/article-200389
http://www.infoplease.com/ce6/world/A0858036.html

Refugees

2007-02-05T11:51:00.000+09:00

Refugees
Originally uploaded by mrlederhosen.

I got this spooky photo from the internet. It's small and low res, but it captures the atmosphere of what it might be like to live in there.

I was searching for some new places to travel, so I typed Georgia into the search engine. The Caucasus has always fascinated me, although it seems many places in that region of the world are too dangerous to travel. Russia has long sought to destabilise all of the breakaway parts of its former Soviet Empire that lean westwards and out of their sphere of influence, and the region of Abkhazia is no exception. There's a few thousand years of history along the eastern Black Sea coast, but the Soviet legacy of ethnic population movement has led to endless conflict in many areas. The Abkhazian minority declared independence from Georgia in the early 90s, although as yet no country has recognised it. At the end of a nasty war, most of the ethnic Georgians fled, with the expectation to return soon. The political situation has been in stalemate ever since, with Russian support of the separatists enabling the situation to stay as it is, with Georgia refusing to grant anything more than autonomy. Both sides cannot agree on a solution. It's obviously more complicated than just that, but that's basically how it is. Along the border there are lonely refugee towns filled with Georgians wanting to return, living a temporary existence believing that one day they can go back to Abkhazia. There are similar deadlock situations in other ex-Soviet nations, such as South Ossetia, Transnistria in Moldova, the southeast of Estonia, Karelia in Russia/Finland. Not all of these circumstances are in direct conflict, but tensions are simmering.

This is the caption that accompanied this photo:

Zugdidi, close to the Abkhazian border Georgia, January 2003.
An un-named town on the border with abkhazia. Once it was town built to house construction workers building a Dam during Soviet times. Now most of it is abandoned but for a number of refugees. There is no running water or electricity any more. In winter it can drop to -40 and it is 60 miles from the nearest town on very bad roads. It is a harsh and lonely place to live.

Adam aka Mr speedy dealer

2007-01-22T16:42:00.000+09:00

Adam Speedy Card Dealer
Originally uploaded by mrlederhosen.

Adam was on fire as he was throwing out the cards on the table. He had been itching for a Texas hold 'em poker night for a long time, and Saturday night was his Birthday. His parents had recently moved into their plush Mosman Park cliffside pad, so what better occaision do you need to rip out the chips and have a go on the cards, in the posh surroundings of Mosman Park?

Lee had won the first few rounds and was starting to get the Kerry Packer-esque pile of chips, so, on the fourth round I took him on to end his rising global dominations. At the end of the round, there was just the two of us squaring off. I had a flush of spades, a pair of twos and a pair of jacks (that is, including the cards on the table already). Seemingly a good hand.. I threw down the twos.. I threw down the jacks, the fortune seemed like it was soon to be mine! ..alas.. Lee the shark also had a flush, a low pair, and a pair of aces!

I was beat'. So there endeth my illustrious gambling career there and then in the fourth round. And the punk-ass Leeroy got richer!
Hehe, the world of gambling.. what a scary place. I'm glad I only do this once every rare while.

Lame photo

2007-01-19T10:30:00.000+09:00

CometMcNaughtLameMobiPhoto16-01-07_2101
Originally uploaded by mrlederhosen.

Here's my mobile phone version of the photo below. I think it's kinda cool anyway, it reminds me of the album cover for that muziq cd 'royal astronomy'. Hehe, no sign of the comet of course, although it is in the middle of the pic!

Comet McNaught 17Jan2007

2007-01-19T10:27:00.000+09:00

Comet McNaught 17Jan2007
Originally uploaded by mrlederhosen.

Unfortunately I didn't take this pic, but it shows just how bright that comet was!

stuff

2007-01-17T22:30:00.000+09:00

I started working at my new position this week, it's great to be finally working in an area that I have been aiming to get into for so long. At this stage (my 3rd day), I'm still really not sure what I am expected to do though.. but finally I got an office with a window view, woohoo I get to see the winos below getting into fights at lunch time. Gotta love that inner city grime, yep even in our seemingly clean and perfecto 'lil ol Perth.

Tonight I went for a run along the beach and as I arrived at North Cott I remembered that a Comet was due to make an appearance on the horizon, just after sunset. Sure enough, as soon as the sun finally set, this massive bright dot with a huge trail behind it appeared in the dusk sky. The trail of debris behind it was at a kind of 11 o'clock position, with the top of it curling to the right. In the 20 minutes or so before it got dark and the view disappeared, it sunk from quite high up almost until the horizon line. And this was all with the naked eye! It would have been awesome to see with binoculars or a telescope!

I hope everyone listened to my radio show last Sunday night, it was one of the best shows I think i've done. I highlighted these albums and played stacks of tracks from each of them:

Biosphere - Dropsonde
Machine Drum - Mergerz and Acquisitionz
Yagya - Rhythm of Snow
Gramm - Personal Rock

The Yagya cd is already 5 years old, and can you believe Gramm (Jan Jelinek's one time alter ego) released that cd in 1999. Jeepers I remember it didn't seem that long ago that it was new.

Oh yes and Nelson the Hairmaster gave me a funkster haircut today. No more dodgy shaggy too-long-on-the-sides hair for me. Rock on.

exploding loo!

2007-01-11T17:18:00.000+09:00

exloding loo!
Originally uploaded by mrlederhosen.

I found this while I was surfing the net the other day, on a travel website, nonetheless! This is pointless photography at its greatest, I love random photos! It looks like a classic lomo pic, but lomography usually only has four photos, so I'd guess it's a multi-pic on a digital camera.

Southbound Festival

2007-01-09T15:07:00.000+09:00

10,000 tents at the Southbound Festival
Originally uploaded by mrlederhosen.

Unlike the others, I had to work on Friday, so I started the drive to Busselton early on Saturday morning. Two and a half hours later I was at a huge tented area, I kid you not, there were multi-thousands of tents already set up under the trees and on the paddocks. Miss Sarah was my welcoming team and before we knew it I had teamed up with her bunch of friends. Wei, Dan, the 3 Norwegians, Sarah and myself made a tight unit and proceeded to boogey on down. The sun was extreme, actually it wasn't too hot, but I tells ya at 1pm with a beer in your hand and dancing in the sun, it is very dehydrating and I sure felt like I was going to melt! Of course there was the obligatory new-to-Australia Euro type who refused to wear sunscreen and was looking like a lobster by 3pm, I imagine he won't be calling sunscreen 'pansy cream' again soon!

We got to see all the bands I had most wanted to see, ie. Eskimo Joe, Sleepy Jackson, Basement Jaxx, Modest Mouse and a few others. My favourite act by far was Jamie Liddell, very cool performer indeed, what with his dressing gown antics on stage!

I then bumped into Sue and Al, and we had some fun, and then I bumped into a bunch of my ex-gf's mates. It was great to see them all, it's sad how a break up can lead to not seeing a whole group of friends anymore. Anyway, after a few vodkas with them, it got dark, and woooah it is hard to navigate through seas of tents when one is inebriated! Hehe yes a good time was had by all. Especially that mad run around in the dark with those indecipherably-accented Scottish backpackers I seemed to spend hours with, what with the thousands of tent ropes to trip us over. You know.. I don't think I even really actually saw their faces properly, let alone learn their names.

The next day for some crazy reason my dodgy friends all wanted to leave early. This pic was taken as we were dismantling our tents at 7am. 7am, sheeeeesh can you believe that?! What a bonehead time to get up, I can't believe I drove back to Perth after only 2 hours of sleep. Anyway, I lived another day to tell my tales.... all is good in the land of G.

Southbound Festival 2007 is go!

2007-01-05T16:31:00.000+09:00

heino pin
Originally uploaded by mrlederhosen.

It's the first Friday of the year. I really should have taken some time off work, I was definately not the most efficient worker this week. My boss took my team and I to a long lunch for Yohan's farewell, I am feeling like a bloated warthog because of all that food!

Tomorrow morning I will drive to Busselton for Southbound, which is a music festival that happens every year in the southwest. Lots of bands and djs over two days, should be a ripsnorter weekend. I'm mostly looking forward to seeing Jamie Lidell, Modest Mouse and Wolfmother. And going camping again will be great, I haven't done that since I last went rogaining a couple of years ago. I'm going down with my ol' buddy Sarah, who I pretty much never see anymore. She's got a bunch of her nightclub management friends (sounds dodgy eh?) and we are planning on having a seriously party hard time. I'm going to bury the anxieties and demons of 2006 once and for all, and come back charged for a happy 2007.

About the photo, you may ask? When I am uncertain of what to do: should I turn left or right, press the button or not press the button, jump off Blackwall Reach or not jump off Blackwall Reach, buy those crazy sneakers or not buy those crazy sneakers, I always ask the question before deciding:

"What would Heino do?"

A great photo to start the new year with!

2007-01-02T11:25:00.000+09:00

Borat conquers Malibu Beach
Originally uploaded by mrlederhosen.

Thought this would help with the summer vibe. Hehe, everyone loves Borat! Gotta love those sock and shoes.. its only a matter of time before we see this stylish swimwear on the beaches of Australia. There's probably already a few South Americans wearing them - what would they call them? My guess is 'super speedos'.

I'll put a few pics of New Years Eve up later on. Tired of the inertia of everyone not knowing what was happening on the night, I hosted a last minute party, and actually managed to get a little crowd together, with most of my close friends rolling up to make it a ripsnorter of a night. I bought a massive 1 foot deep pool (5 feet diameter - HUGE!) and so it became a pool party! Somehow by the end of the night I managed to fall in with my mobile phone in my pocket.. hmm not too sure how that happened.. but Stricko jumped in too so I wasn't a fool by myself. I did managed to convince a few people to bring their swimmers, and we had some hefty beach volleyball going there for a while.

Hehe, a good new years was had by all, and I'm happy to say goodbye to 06, hooray for 2007! May it be a better year, and a happy one!

Christmas = too much drinking and eating

2006-12-27T12:17:00.000+09:00

Jeepers it's been nearly three weeks since I've updated this! Well, where do I start? November was a pretty good month, life has been getting better. And December is going pretty good too. Santa got me a few goodies, nothing too fancy though, but cool all the same. I have been doing a lot of radio shows on RTR lately, it's been great to really get into the music that I love. I've had a few new faves appear, these are some that have blown me away (click on the links for info):

Mike Milosh - You make me feel --possibly THE most romantic album ever made!
Mouse on Mars - Instrumentals --beautiful squeaky meandering electronica
Klimek - Music to fall asleep --smoooooth ambient tunes
Squadron 2 (Merck label compilation) --hip hop-esque, without any 'bitches n hoes' vocals
Dntel - Something always goes wrong --lush electro deeply textured spacey tunes
Clark - Body riddle --powerful, awesome!
Reuber - Kintopp --intense, moody and really creative, awesome cd cover

One thing I love about Christmas is when old friends come to town. Sarah came back from Sydney the other day and we spent most of the day yesterday lounging around jeffo's pool. Ahh, this is summer chilling at it's best! I've got the house to myself for the next few weeks, it is soo good to just be able to relax and stress less. I've been seeing a lot of Riona, she's pretty cool and makes a mean kim chee! Yun finished her 9 months in Perth and is back in Sunny Korea as of Sunday (gonna miss ya girl). Bec's friends hosted a cool spa party on Christmas eve, complete with dancing Brasillian girls! Hehe, yeah pretty much all of Dave's (Bec's bf) mates married Brasillian students, so now there is an entire world of them taking over the place out there in Scarborough Beach! Jeff's been looking happy these days, after hooking up with a top girl. I'm really happy for him, its great to see the old boy smiling a lot again. My Bro and his wife and son and dog have been in Brisbane for the last few weeks - sheesh I hope they don't get that Queensland drawl! And the olds drove to Melbourne for Christmas. Yep, all 3000 or so kilometres of it! That's about all my news of the last few weeks.

I have really been wanting to sit down and write more about my travel adventures, but I just can't seem to make the time to spend a few hours typing. I think it's because I spend so much time being a computer schmo at work that when i get home I just can't be bothered writing more. I am hoping to continue my tales from where I left off after being booted off the bus at the German and Czech border, I started writing about this months ago. I think I will have to wait until the summer cools a bit, when it's so hot (it's a monster 36 out there today) I just don't do much at all.

Speaking of the heat.. it is time to head off to Casa de Brun for a swim, to be followed by a sunset at the beach in a few hours time!

A pants flag

2006-12-04T16:26:00.000+09:00

The bell at Cott Beach
Originally uploaded by mrlederhosen.

This pic was taken at Cottesloe Beach on Saturday afternoon. It was taken in colour, but the reflections from the water were so great that it seems to wash it all out. There were a bunch of schoolies who had just taken off someone's pants that had been swinging like a flag on top of the bell. Well it's not really a bell, but a concrete pole that was put in the beach in the 20s to hold a shark net in place. It's been known as the bell ever since then, and my summer's not really a summer until I've had at least one leap from it. I'm not really sure what the story was with the flag-pants, but it was pretty funny and there was a crowd of cheering people on the beach.

Ahh, I love summer! The smells of the beach, the coconut oil, the heat, the crowds of people at the Sunday session, it's all part of what makes a Perth summer by the beach better than any other city in Australia. Sheesh it was hot yesterday, I think I started to physically melt into molten molasses at one point in the afternoon, whilst lounging at my family's pre-Christmas lunch. All the relies are leaving town for Christmas so we did the present swap yesterday instead. Felt kinda strange saying "Happy Christmas" before it happens.. Ooh ya and we started daylight savings yesterday for the first time in about 15 years. Word has it our curtains will fade now and the cows will get stressed out..

Favourite pics #1

2006-11-29T17:29:00.000+08:00

snoopycydgrant96
Originally uploaded by mrlederhosen.

Holy polonium poop!

I just realised that this ol' photo was taken 11 years ago this January. 11 years! For the first time in my life I think I know how long the passing of 11 years feels. I still remember this pic like it was taken yesterday.

The story of this dog eared old photo.

After my first year of living in Sydney I returned to Perth to see my friends and family. My first year in Sydney was a tough year, but lots of new and exciting things happened to me that year. It was a time full of intense experiences. I started my first proper job - I worked on 'Wonderwold' for its final season (hence the matching t-shirts in the pic). It was my first time living totally free and in a new land, and a time when I met many of my new friends, whom I met in weird and wonderful places. Julie, who is in my links under 'Julie's Blog', talks in her latest entry about when we met at Mr Goodbar (or was that Dr Goodbar?) nightclub in Paddington. It was a time of new things, of total freedom, where no one knew who I was and I could create my own universe. It was that enjoyable wide eyed naiveity that I have always loved to feel.

I remember that throughout my following years in Sydney, until I started university in Perth in 2002, I carried this photo of Cydne, Snoopy and myself in my wallet. That's why it's so crumpled and trashed - it went everywhere with me. I considered it a kind of personal mantra to look at it whenever things were going bad for me or if I was having a hard time. Cydne, my god daughter, was a little whipper snapper of about 6 who thought the world of me, and Snoopy was my best buddy throughout my childhood. Even now, this photo has a special memory for me.

Optimism, security, warmth, home and love. That's what makes this photo so special.

2006-11-26T12:55:00.000+08:00

Yay! It's a 35 degree day out there! I'm off to the beach right now for some:

1) Swimming
2) Cocktails
3) Watching the sunset on the beach with a combination of the above two factors..

2006 Red Bull Air Race

2006-11-20T13:03:00.000+08:00

Originally uploaded by mrlederhosen.

One of the many planes flying over Perth on the weekend. If you want to see any funky hi-res pics type 'red bull air race' into flickr or google and you will see some great ones. I only had a mini-zoom happy snapper camera, so all my pics are little and fuzzy!

No it's not gonna hit

2006-11-20T12:05:00.000+08:00

No it's not gonna hit
Originally uploaded by mrlederhosen.

Pics from the 2006 Red Bull Air Race

The Red Bull Air Race

2006-11-20T12:01:00.000+08:00

Originally uploaded by mrlederhosen.

Yesterday was the first time Australia has hosted the Red Bull Air Race, an event that is pretty much a rally racing event but with planes instead of cars, and with flying around big markers above a river instead of driving cars through a forest! The Perth race was the grand final event, with the previous rounds being held in Istanbul, Budapest and a couple of other places around the world. It was pretty cool, the planes were scooting about everywhere and the coverage was pretty slick with cameras in the cockpit and from helicopters flying around the course. The Hungarian guy won, he was way better than everyone else competing and did the fancypants spin around pretend-plane-freefalling stuff everytime he finished a round.
I went down to the South Perth foreshore with a bunch of my mates and we had a birds eye view (if a bird was sitting on the ground) of the course. We were right on the Swan River in front of the control tower and we had the best view of the show! It was a stinky hot day, and after a few slushy orange vodkas we were feeling the hefty sun rays on our winter-protected skin. My trusty little digi camera couldn't really get a decent zoomed photo, so the ones i've got to show here are pretty lame.
Perth is hosting the race for another two years, so hopefully they are going to be even more awesome!

Solaris

2006-11-02T15:05:00.000+08:00

Solaris Poster
Originally uploaded by mrlederhosen.

A Russian promotional poster for Tarkovsky's mind-bending 1972 film Solaris. I did enjoy the Steven Soderbergh version of the film, but it hardly compares to this metaphysical masterpiece!
..yes you will notice I kiss this guy's butt. He only made a handful of films, but they are all brilliant. Each frame looks like a painting, the sound is subtle, and he often edits large sections of his films so that they are set in real time. These are the films he made, I am trying to get a copy of them but they are not available to buy in Australia (darn licensing laws!).

Filmography:
The Steamroller and the Violin (1960)
My Name is Ivan / Ivan's Childhood (1962)
Andrei Rublev (1966)
Solaris (1972)
Mirror (1975)
Stalker (1979)
Voyage in Time (1982) - documentary
Nostalghia (1983)
The Sacrifice (1986)

Favourite movie moments #1

2006-11-02T14:25:00.000+08:00

Originally uploaded by mrlederhosen.

This is a still from what I believe to be one of the best films ever made. The film is 'Andrei Roublev', based on the life of a 15th Century Russian icon painter, and directed by Andrei Tarkovsky.
The photo is from the opening scene, when a villager discovers a way to fly using a homemade balloon. The scene is wide, the mood is exciting and nervous, and you feel like you are immediately immersed in medieval Russia. If you can ever get the chance to see this at a movie fest, it will amaze you! Of course, being Tarkovsky, it is very slow and ponderous.
I first saw this film at the Encore Cinema in Surry Hills in Sydney on a rainy winter's Sunday afternoon. I didn't know what to expect, yet still today I remember being blown away by the power of this movie as I staggered out of the cinema to rejoin the outside world.
I think this would be a perfect IFC film for Dublin. Emma, write to them now and get them to screen it!

From the archives..

2006-11-01T17:32:00.000+08:00

newtownfestival98
Originally uploaded by mrlederhosen.

This photo was taken soooo long ago in a world far far away, at the Newtown Festival in Sydney. Everyone in the inner city couldn't wait for this, the best festival in the area. Everyone knew everyone, there were dog shows, lots of ferals with dreadlocks (at least until rent increases sent them off to the Blue Mountains), food, cool bands and heaps of colourful clothes! I recall seeing Frenzal Rhomb and all the local Newtown bands and even the Whitlams just as they were starting to get popular (way before they became an elevator music band). I'm sure even the mighty P. Harness played there one year..

Vince (one the right) and Kitty (in orange) were my bestest buddies, along with Tom and Rachel Button. This pic is of Vince's housemates, they lived in the ultimate party house on Linthorpe Street, I think it was number 4. I remember I was wearing my cool Smurf pants, and just before I took this pic I got a ring stuck on my finger, and I had to go to the St John Ambulance tent to get petroleum jelly to to lube it off! Hehe, everyone laughed at me for weeks about that.

I sometimes wonder if the Newtown Festival still has that awesome vibe it used to have in the late 90s. By the time I left Sydney to go travelling in 2001, the forces of gentrification had already changed the spirit of most of Newtown. Although South of King Street it was still charging along. I will have to write a long entry about life in Newtown, I have heaps of rolls of Super 8 film of just hanging around town that I would love to put online here for everyone to watch. I filmed the two famous Reclaim the Streets closed street parties on Super 8, when they closed King Street - a major arterial road for Sydney! It's gotta have some historical significance now!

Seagull alert!

2006-10-27T15:00:00.000+08:00

S.O.Y. alert!
Originally uploaded by mrlederhosen.

Spring in the Valley anarchy

2006-10-09T15:02:00.000+08:00

It was 'Spring in the Valley' this weekend, an event that happens for about a week every Spring in the Swan Valley. The Swan Valley is famous for being one of the State's most productive wine growing regions, and it's about 45 minutes from Perth. The traditional way of enjoying this is to hire a bus, grab a group of friends, get some ice and some cask wine for the road, and then head off to as many wineries as you can fit into one day.
Bec and Dave's friends organised our little trip, and we went to around four wineries. We started at Sandalford, where before we knew it we were dancing with some latin dancer guy doing a group synchronised thing, with lots of hip swivelling and posturing! Hehe, and for some reason there were lots of people dressed as cowboys..

Aahh, i'm late for an appointment, got to run, I'll finish this the next time i'm online.

Ambient Zone pics

2006-10-04T20:59:00.000+08:00

Here is a couple of pics from the Ambient Zone radiothon show in August. That's Gav, me and Dmitri hamming it up. Ya that pic below makes me look like a dodgy sleazebag Fabio type, but hey it was late and we were foolin' around and it was 1am on a Sunday night! We signed up heaps of folk, hopefully ensuring the survival of the show for another year on RTR FM.

What you think of my Owen Wilson styled pose?

2006-09-25T20:54:00.000+08:00

Actually I'm trying to find a way to get a pic on my profile thing up there in the top right corner, but every pic I put up can't seem to load for some reason or another. I couldn't put a lederhosen pic up there, yes I know that is shocking! .. so this one from my ol' Newtown RSL membership card will have to do.

Warning sign at a golf course

2006-09-25T20:39:00.000+08:00

Warning sign at a golf course
Originally uploaded by mrlederhosen.

A pic I took a few months ago. Best ever golf sign!

..the other left!

2006-09-25T20:10:00.000+08:00

I took this photo in a Perth carpark last week. A couple of friends said it was photoshop'd, but no this is as taken. Yes, I hear you say it now, there sure are plenty of stupid people wherever you go in the world!

2006-09-24T14:26:00.000+08:00

Life is returning to normal for Mr G. Not really sure what that means, but at least I don't have that manic "must be doing something at all times" feeling at the moment. 'twas a moment of sadness on Friday when the Royfro, one of the guys who started at work at the same time as me, left the department to go travelling around Southeast Asia. I'm sure he'll have a ripsnorter of a time over there! But I think everyone's gonna miss the random roy-ness that would interrupt our work. Hehe.. Asia get ready for Roy!

2006-09-12T20:01:00.000+08:00

These pics accompany the story in the next entry, for some reason I couldn't attach them before.

A big boat, a dangerously low tide and Japanese bikini models learn they can't swim - the hard way

2006-09-11T14:47:00.000+08:00

Some guy went awol on the last island stop of our cruise around the Phi Phi Islands and messed up our tidal schedule, and we had to search for him for half an hour. As a result, the driver of our 3 engine mega speed boat drove like a crazy man on our return trip to reach the harbour before the water became too shallow for us. It seemed like we were racing at 30 knots through this channel with only 2 metres of water on either side of us. What a rush! In Australia you'd get fined for speeding for something like that. It felt like it was a rally event, heaps of fun!

The next two pics are from the Chalphya Hotel in Din Deang in Bangkok, after I had returned from Samui, before I went to Phuket. Anna had just left, and I was looking out the hotel window, when I noticed that these two Japanese models, a photographer and a manager looking type of person were preparing for a bikini photo shoot by the hotel pool. Judging by their movements, the plan was for them to run up to the side of the pool, jump in the air in an "oh yes" celebratory way, and then land in the water, whilst the photographer captured it all in a high speed series of photos. Simple enough? Yes you would think that. I was packing my bag, and looking down to the pool level about 5 floors below me every now and then to see what they were doing. Sure enough, they went for a practice run. Then they did the real thing and jumped up in the air, up and then splashed into the swimming pool. The photographer got his snaps, all was good.
THEN.. I couldn't believe my eyes. The girls had started floundering in the water, and seemed to be DROWNING! The manager lady grabbed the nearby lifesaver ring and threw it at them but as they were panicking they didn't grab them. I wanted to run down and help, but it was 5 stories away so I had to just watch. The photographer flung off his shirt and put his camera down, and was about to jump in but then noticed another life saver ring to throw to them. He held the string, and then just managed to keep a grip of it and threw it right on top of the girls. They soon grabbed it and then he dragged them to the side of the pool. The girls were alright, but very shaken.
I couldn't believe what I had just seen. How utterly stupid were all of those people! Did they not think to ask the models if they could swim? Were the girls such utter bimbos that they didn't think to mention that they couldn't swim? Unbelievable. Not a good look at all!
The pics were taken about a minute after they reached the side of the pool.

Pics from around Phuket

2006-09-11T13:33:00.000+08:00

Back to the real world today. Here's a few pics. I'll write about it asap.
1. The view from the Novotel 3rd level swimming pool. There were 3 levels of pools, on the side of the hill next to Patong Bay.
2. Khai Lei Island Beach, with very cool coconuts.
3. Phi Phi Lei Island, view from the speedboat.
4. Koh Phi Phi. A great place to take lunch if you happen to be in the area!
5. The 2nd level pool at the Novotel. Sheesh it was great to live in luxury.

Already it is time to return to home

2006-09-10T19:27:00.000+08:00

I am sitting at an overpriced internet cafe at the Brunei Darussalam International Airport, waiting to board the final leg of my holidays back to Perth. Ai ai aii. It is always sad to know that I have to leave the bohemian lifestyle and 200 baht thai massages behind me, in order to return to work. That being said, I am feeling refreshed, charged up, confident, enthusiastic and ready to take on the world now! They were just the elements of my life that needed recharging, I am happy to say I feel good, and that Thailand totally rocks. I have been up to all sorts of fun times and adventuring, I will post some pics when I'm lounging in front of my own computer sometime soon (and after I've washed all those piles of stinky t-shirts). Yep don't you just love it when you are on the road and you find yourself out of fresh clothes and are faced with three options: 1) Find a laundromat, drag your filthy sweaty socks n' clothes and pay up, 2) Do slow-pony handwashing in the shower (yawn!), or 3) buy a new t-shirt!
Ahhh, holiday travels. My travel buddy of the last week gets a few more days off, grrr! Hehe, nah good on her, she works too hard anyway. I am going to miss Anna, I am determined that I will not leave it two and a half years before we meet again next time :)

Ooh, i'm outta brunei dollars and the prayer call is coming on loud. I guess I will be writing from Orstraylee-ahh next time!

a few days on Koh Samui

2006-09-04T15:47:00.000+08:00

Anna orders our first drinks for what proved to be a looooong night of drinking on Chaweng Beach. September is a good time to be at Samui, not so crowded yet still really hot! We stayed at Montien House, it was so good to have a swanky pad on the beach! Certainly a little different from some of the dives with accompanying mosquito populations that i have stayed at in some of my previous tropical travels.
Possibly my best ever 5 second exposure photo!
Now that's lounging in the beach!
..the 8th mai tai and green (?) margharita
I should do this every day. I have a heap more pics to put online, I think I will wait until I get home, I've already spent enough of my time at an internet cafe writing this! Vamoosh I am off to back alleys of Bangkok.. til tomorrow when I leave to the next destination..

Some pics from my travels so far

2006-08-31T18:23:00.000+08:00

One of the many beaches on the rocky end of the island.
Dave on the beach at sunset.
The hut that Simon claimed overlooking the amazing pool. The bar is just to the left of the big rock.
Someone carrying a fridge on a small boat to the Water Village in Brunei.
Naz turns into a mermaid.
The view from my villa. My villa was right on the point on the head of the island. About 5 metres behind me is the South China Sea.

2006-08-31T11:37:00.000+08:00

Tomorrow I fly to Koh Samui to start the next leg of my journey. I seem to be forever coming back to Bangkok, but at least this time it is raining, providing some relief to the constant humidity that sticks me to my ever-damp clothes. I failed to mention in my last entry that upon arriving in Singapore for some exotic fun on private islands I suffered an intense blast of food poisoning. Yep it wiped me out for a few days and only these last two days have I been back to full-speed G.
My verdict of Singapore? I think I have been too harsh on it before. Although it is very controlled and lacks the craziness of other cities, I definately liked something about Singapore. I think I would get bored if I was there for too long, but if for nothing else its location puts you in the centre of a whole world of things to do. Simon has a funky world going there, I could easily slip in to living the lifestyle for a while. ..I would definately have to slip in another visit to Pulau Pangkil too..

Pulau Pangkil - fantasy island!

2006-08-29T16:22:00.000+08:00

Ooh what an island is Pulau Pangkil. Imagine a small island, one that takes 10 minutes to walk from one end to the other, that has amazing first class huts with comfortable queen size beds facing the sea, 20 staff to serve 10 guests, a rainforest, a rocky swimming pool with bar attached and the most picturesque sunsets! It was divine! Pics will be posted online as soon as I get some time to be online, I am at an expensive Singapore internet cafe as I write this.

Bangkok, Brunei, Miss Puke and a bathroom

2006-08-25T11:00:00.000+08:00

I write today's entry from a swanky little room in the Scarlet Hotel in Singapore. On Sunday I travelled to Bangkok, via Brunei for a day, and last night I came to Singapore to hang out with my ol' pal Simon for a week, including going to a tropical island over in Indonesia (this place: http://www.pangkil.com/overview.html). After this trip I will go back to Bangkok and will travel to an island with my old friend Angkana for a few days. After that, Miss R flies in from Perth and we will go adventuring somewhere!

So anyway, back to last night, unfortunately, in my haste to get an authentic Malaysian Laksa curry I ate a dodgy one from Stall 38 at the Newton Food Court. I have just got my act together this morning, after spending almost all night in the toilet being sick @#$!@#! I am still feeling seedy as I write, it's probably why my writing style is a bit wacky today. I took a few cool pics in Bangkok, and I visited what seemed like a Mumbleboy exhibition in Siam Square. Here's a couple of pics.. I have to go lie down now, the belly's a gurglin' again (sigh, on my holidays, grr).

Mumbleboy exhibition in this massive shopping centre, I think it was in Central World (?) - there was no writing anywhere, but it looks like Mumbleboy work.
Bangkok traffic.
I thought about getting a massage from Miss Puke! How could they not know what that means, after all it is in a tourist area!

2006-08-13T22:12:00.000+08:00

I am going to Thailand, Singapore and Cambodia next week! Finally I will get a holiday! I will have to learn how to post photos online, it wil be good to post them when I take them. More on this soon..

Grant gets a holiday!

2006-08-03T20:10:00.000+08:00

Yay! I bought my ticket to Thailand today! It's been two and a half years since I have been on holiday. Ooh ah I will have to put pics of it online as I take them. Mr Slogger has a work holiday on a hired island and I have been invited. I will be looking forward to that for sure! A private tropical island. Hehe, I love it!

2006-07-30T19:32:00.000+08:00

It's Sunday, and it's Ambient Zone time! For anyone who reads this, I'll be djing at 11pm tonight Perth time on RTR FM 92.1
Here are some of those pics i had promised to put online that I have taken lately. One is from Louis' Christening. The other was the day after he was born!

I finally got out of the city yesterday, if only for the day. It was so great to be out, smelling the fresh air of the forest in the rain out there in them Mundaring hills. Monsieur Simon made a surprise visit to Perth yesterday too, all the way from Singapore just to pick up some documents. Good to see the old paint in town! I've got a holiday coming up. Anyone want to join me in South east Asia?

2006-07-20T21:17:00.001+08:00

Mrlederhosen is back. Back in the land of blog. Alive and well and armed with my dextrous fingers and ready to write! It has taken a long journey to the bottom of the feel-bad pit and out again to feel like me again. I have probably lost most of my readers, but I really needed some time away from my computer.

So much has happened in the last couple of months since I last updated this. I am not sure where to start. I guess the coolest thing that has happened was when my Brother and Sister in Law had a son, Louis. I am also now living in another house, I have spent the last few weeks housesitting a friend's house in Yokine (a northern suburb of Perth) and looking after their feisty one-eyed, blind, pain in the arse-but-loveable ex-Singapore street cat with attitude called Zao.
I have changed much about the way that I live. I have made great efforts to simplify my life and become less dependent on other people, and as a result I am feeling a lot happier just spending time with myself, which I have never really been before.

I have started doing regular radio programs on RTR fm, i'm collecting the craziest, most diversiest music I've ever heard, and i'm just starting to feel.. well, good! I should get offa me buttocks and add Kevlar's blog to my links here, and of course Simon's Slog-blog. These guys are tops.

I will try to put some pics online of my recent times, including the ones of me becoming a Godfather to my nephew. I've just yet to find a way to get downloady stuff happening on this computer (i'm not on the same one anymore).

The latest tunes on my blaster box at home:

Modern Institute - Excellent Swimmer
Miwon - Pale Glitter
Napoli is not Nepal - Revolv_er -> on the fantastically titled record label: shitkatapult
Nautilus - Sketches
Hassle Hound - Limelight Cordial
T Stewart - Living Exponentially -> this album freakin' rocks!!!
The Gasman - Remedial
Tristeza - Mixed Signals

Check out http://www.discogs.com/ for info on pretty much any musical release, I get heaps of my information about new artists from here.

2006-06-07T21:44:00.000+08:00

My brother Mark had a Son last week! Wow! I will have to start writing some more so I can write all about it. His name is Louis Nicholas. Sounds kinda royal, doesn't it?
Hehe. Wow, i'm an uncle now.

2006-05-21T17:22:00.000+08:00

Yes it's been forever since I've updated this blog. Hard work, house hunting and trying to establish a new life has kept me busy and away from my computer. I will add some more pics to compensate for my lack of writing!

I hope everyone listened to my radio show last Sunday, it was a good one! ..of course I took the wrong plug attachments in so I couldn't record the show.. next time I'll download it. Hmm maybe I could make it a podcast?

A very cool wedding

2006-05-11T20:21:00.000+08:00

Here's a pic from an ordinary day in my life..

Hehe, I was just sitting there at the table at Chris and Aki's wedding and I kid you not, all the bridesmaids just gathered around me and started playing with my hair! The official photographer noticed and ran over to take some pics. The bridesmaids thought they'd touch me lots and pose (yes it's a difficult life sometimes). This pic was just as they started posing. Now that is a cool moment in time if I must say so myself!!

Hey and yes, I am DJing again this Sunday on RTR FM 92.1 in Perth at 11pm. The website is www.rtrfm.com.au so tune in, hipsters!

2006-05-08T19:49:00.000+08:00

it's been a long hard few weeks.
It was Kevlar's wedding on Friday. I'll put some great photos up in a couple of days..
This one's of Tae putting for Japan at Supa Golf!

7am on the road between Bridgetown and Balingup

2006-04-22T09:56:00.000+08:00

As much as I hated getting up at the immoral hour of 6am to get back to the city, the morning fog was a great sight to be seen. Living in the city I sometimes forget how refreshing it can be to take a trip to the country.

2006-04-17T19:09:00.000+08:00

Well I survived Easter this year. I was worried I'd spend the whole time feeling sorry for myself and missing the life and the animals on Jess' farm (that's where I've spent the last few Easters). I'm happy to say I managed to stay busy, have some fun, catch up with long not-seen relies and have an alright time.

I drove about 700 km on Friday and Saturday. At the last minute, Clint and Lee invited me down to their farm near Bridgetown for a crazy filled Good Friday. I didn't get up until 10, but I quickly packed a bag and hit the road south. I took the inland road to miss the traffic and managed to get down there in 4 hours. The house down there is a 110 year old federation era plush building with lots of rooms, a ballroom, underground cellar and a 3 metre wide verandah going all around the house. When his parents bought the place it had no doors or windows, the roof had partially collapsed and was virtually ready for demolition. Lee and Clint have been slowly refurbishing it and bringing it back to its former glory. However there is still no bathroom so it was a little chilly going to the bathroom in the great outdoors!

Just as we had drunk a few bevs and were about to embark on some midnight Blackwood River marron fishing, Matt rolled up with this bottle of brown goo and made us all have a swig. Hehe yes our fun really began then, as the said brown goo turned out to be none other than shroom juice.

..so anyway needless to say our river mission was a fiasco in the dark, but luckily we never fell in as it was frikkin' freezing. It was a heap of laughs, I think next time I'll have to swig a little more. I've only touched the shrooms once before, in San Francisco years ago and back then it was a little too much for this little black duck, so i've never touchd it since. Friday was heaps cool, I will have to get a bunch of crew together and do this again this winter.

At 6.30 on Saturday morning I had to get back to Perth to get to my cousin's son's Christening. I just got there in time, and spent a few hours socialising with the Dalkieth set eating caviar, drinking Bollinger and discussing Russian business takeover ethics with my Mr Burns-esque ruthless businessman other cousin. (he said that his man in Moscow told him, and i quote: "we don't worry about Chechnya up in Moscow, because we've already taken everything of value from that place") Sigh, it's hard to imagine that guy is my flesh and blood, we are SO different.

Once I was back from the strange lands of the overly wealthy western suburbs, I had to meet with Jenn and Chris and drive another hour back to Mandurah for Nat and Tim's engagement party. That was fun, nice to see Natalie so happy, and Jenn got so drunk she made an ass of herself (hehe that was a rare sight)!

So, it is possible to not be a mess after being dumped from 3 years of devotion to a girl. I just gotta keep busy and remember that I deserve better then an aggressive, non communicative girlfriend. This Easter weekend was pretty cool and I had a heap of fun. Now I just need to meet some new people.. Hmm is it possible to break old patterns and not go for a fiesty super independent girl who will leave me once I've helped them fight their inner demons? I've done it 3 times now, if I do it again i'll be a fool. (well i know 3 times is supposed to be that but bah humbug I say!)

I can't find my travel diary, so i'll have to write the second part of my travel adventures once I've cleaned up my room.

2006-04-11T20:06:00.000+08:00

Just wanted to tell the world that Julie is tops! She's also a fantastic writer so buy everything she writes right away and check out her blog!
I'm getting ready to write a large chunk of stuff but my computer has a virus now... eek

Munchen to Prague in only 15 and 1/2 hours, via 1 coach, 3 hitch hikes, 2 trains and 1 trolley bus

2006-04-04T22:15:00.000+08:00

I was having a good laugh with a friend today as she was telling me how she was stranded in Denham in the north of WA last week. There have been a few cyclones in the north of Australia recently, and my friend had to go up to the Northwest for work. The day she was due to leave to Perth the pilot decided the wind was too strong and cancelled the flight. This happened for two more days before she realised she would have to wait in the sodden town until the cyclone settled. She managed to hitch a ride to Geraldton at the last minute and a dangerous rain soaked and wind blown drive eventually got here there 4 hours later.

Her adventure reminded me of the time I woke up one morning after a hefty night on the town with my booze hound Bavarian friend when I was living in Munich. We had drunk far too much, so much so that by the time I staggered home she had already crashed and was unable to wake up to open the door to let me in. After a restful (not) two hour slumber on her doorstep I climbed on her roof to whack her bedroom window to grab my bag for a four day trip to Prague.
This turned out to be the beginning of a three month trip and the start of my Eastern European fascination.

I really should find my travel diary to remind myself of the details before I start to write about this, after all I was horrendously hungover when the trip began.

By the time I got to the bahnhoff everyone was waiting for me, so I quickly shuffled aboard the bus. Firstly, it was the first time i'd seen a scruffy looking bus since I had been in Germany. Everything is so darned shiny and new in Munich! I tried to get some rest as the bus took off, but in the back of my head I was nervous that I had no entry visa to the Czech Republic. The previous day, in the Czech Consulate, the amazingly surly lady at the counter advised me that 'everyone' gets their visas at the border when you get there, and insisted I not arrange one beforehand. Naively I nodded my head and proceeded to buy an el cheapo ticket before heading off to meet Sabine at her local booze establisment. She hadn't been drinking for TWO days and was edgy to start drinking straight away..

Just as I was finally nodding off to the hum of the engine, the bus rolled to a stop. We had reached the Czech border. As I rubbed my eyes, a well dressed border guard stopped by my chair and commanded to see my 'Pass'. I showed him my passport, which did not impress him. He flicked through it a few times and said in halting English: "Where's your visa? You have no visa, you can't come in". I said that I wanted to purchase one now, and he started shaking his head vigorously. "No no, you must be mistaken. You CAN get a visa at the border, but only at the Waidhaus Border", he said. "And where is that?" I asked knowing that I would not like his answer. "A few hundred kilmetres north from here." He waved his hands, choosing not to notice the look of hungover horror on my face.

Yep, so there I was, turfed off the bus in a place I did not quite know whereabouts it was, and had no idea what to do next. The bus took off in a cloud of diesel fumes. I scratched my head. I took out my wallet and realised that I didn't even have any Czech money on me. Hmm, I was starting to feel like a bit of a dumbkopf. It was nearly 9am.

WHAT WILL HAPPEN NEXT? STAY TUNED FOR SOME MORE TALES OF MY BONEHEAD ADVENTURES NEXT TIME..

2006-04-03T22:04:00.000+08:00

I'm finally back online after a little time away. I needed the break. This break up thing has been an up and down experience. After three years means that I have to change my entire lifestyle. It's actually been alright most of the time (except for the fact that I no longer have anyone in my little black book). It has given me opportunities to get up to new stuff, for instance, i found myself at an art gallery opening on Saturday and had the finest of wine, cheese and ice cream served to me by tuxedoed butlers, before finding myself having late night nachos in some seedy den. And i seemed to have inadvertantly begun a Tuesday night backgammon challenge at the moon cafe with Sarah, have got back into my cult movie night with Bec, and spent some time at Casa de Brun with Jeff. Casa de Brun is Jeff's pad - a true bachelor pad in the glorius 70's suburb of Bullcreek, and it is a regular drop in centre for pretty much most people I know (in Perth).

Last night I dj'd on rtr fm on my own for the first time in years! I was a little shaky at first, but by the end of the show i was on fire! I will be doing another show this Sunday at 11pm Perth time on 92.1fm. If you want to listen online, follow the links on www.rtrfm.com.au I will be playing two hours of ambient electro music, mostly cruisy tunes with some glitchy and IDM ish kind of stuff.

Some new CDs I've got my hands on lately:
(yeah it's all fairly low key tunes at the mome)

Arovane - Lilies
Isan - Lucky Cat
Helios - Unomia
Pan American - The River Made No Sound
Corker / Conboy - Radiant Idiot

Feeling introspective

2006-03-22T21:26:00.000+08:00

Today we had the first rains. They were the first signs of a change of seasons. I just loved the sultry afternoon as the sky brooded and then burst forth with a blast of wind and heaving rain. The change was such a long time coming - I needed this so much.

The skies were still full of light, but the rain came down strong. It was only a fleeting moment of 5 maybe 10 minutes, but in that time it felt as if I was in the middle of a rainbow. I was on the bus in traffic, yet for that moment it was as if I was in a kaleidescope of colours. It was the perfect soundtrack for some drifting Boards of Canada music. Once the bus turned towards the river and the freeway at the Bell Tower, the moment had passed. That was the moment that Autumn, and a new season for me had begun.

I have had so much bad news lately, I wasn't up to saying in my last entry that my other rat, Cupcake, died last Thursday. I'll miss her, Cupcake and Hermione were such a team of energetic little pranksters, it is hard to imagine they are no longer with us. But Jess still has Gerti, I'm sure that she will get a lot of attention, more than ever now that she is on her own.

Cupcake was my little terror, I've never seen such a small animal run so fast. I feel sad and yet happy when I think of all the times she surprised me, especially when she always used to jump onto me as I was unsuspectingly watching tv. Sigh, life is so quick for a rat. Adios Cuppycakes!

2006-03-20T21:22:00.000+08:00

With my oldest friend Colin at his wedding yesterday. It's great to see the old boy happy at last! Pity about the bad framing of the photo, you should never let someone else use your camera! Hehe, it was a great wedding, they are on their way to Bali now for their honeymoon.

Today was a good day.

2006-03-13T19:42:00.000+08:00

This is the political comic in the Perth paper 'the West Australian'. Costello is the Deputy Prime Minister, and he just recently made an announcement about integration in Australia. This comic is just fantastic, it's drawn by a guy called Dean Alston and the faces he draws and the vibe of his pics always hit the exact spot of what is happening in the news.
He is practically a legend in newspaper circles around the country as the best political cartoonist. I hope this blog entry doesn't end up with Australian products getting boycotted..

Other news, um, I went to Colin's Bucks party. Hehe now that was a pretty wild night but that would be telling if I went into too much detail. I'll talk about the Jess thing later when I'm feeling less tender about it but hey, she had been building up for this for weeks, so when she left me I could already tell she had moved on from me. So it's hard to feel too sad when I know that she isn't feeling like I am. Obviously I'm on a daily cycle of the angry/sad/remorseful/relieved and a few other feelings at the moment, but anywayss.. I threw away her toothbrush today and put away all my photos of her on display, woo hoo the first steps of getting my life back!

I saw 'History of Violence', the new David Cronenberg movie on Saturday, and it's classic Cronenberg. I thought it was awesome! And it had less gooey stuff than many of his earlier films. It still wasn't the cult classics like 'Scanners' or 'Videodrome' but I think it's up there with his best stuff!

I've been looking through my old travel diary, and I've been looking up all my old Baltic adventures. I will soon write about my travels in this part of the world, now that a friend has kicked my butt to get started on it again! Jeepers, I've got so much more time now that I'm not running around after Jess' dramas! I think I can feel a bit of the ol' Grant returning, getting a bit of my sass back. Come to think of it, I was miserable for ages once Jess started getting sick. I feel like I am waking up. Maybe NOW is the time for my long deserved holiday..

End of the line

2006-03-09T22:26:00.000+08:00

This week marks a low point in my life. On Tuesday Jessica broke it off with me after over three years together. It doesn't really inspire me to write too much, although I have to say my friends have been great and right there for me. Life will go on I suppose, but it's more than just heartbreak and pain, it's the loss of a friendship, lifestyle and the closest bond I have ever had with anyone that really cuts me up inside, and I know that I now have to adjust to this.
..I thought 2006 was going to be a good year :'[
Maybe this is a sign that better times are yet to come.. I hope.

As Ned once said in 'Simple Men', the greatest Hal Hartley film of all time:

"There's nothing but trouble and desire".

2006-03-05T18:47:00.000+08:00

I was strolling past a construction site this week and whilst I stumbled past the entrance through the rubble, I noticed some writing on a pillar. I looked a little closer, and realised I was looking at the original writing from a shopfront from when the building was first built. The shop is located opposite His Majesty's Theatre on the corner of King Street.

On the wall next to this, there was a menu offering cool drinks and snacks for 6d (six pence). Here in front of me was an uncovered piece of history, and in true keeping with Perth's ethos of being a modern city that smashes down any history, I imagine that by the next time I walk down Hay Street this little old shop will be some glistening boutique.

It'd be cool if they could incorporate the old milk bar signs into the new shop.

2006-02-25T11:31:00.000+08:00

It's going to be a whopper weekend. Glyn is having his buck's party tonight, starting in just a few hours from now..

Oh yes and to all of you who write to me, I have recently had my access cut to blogland at work, so that is why I haven't returned mails to anyone lately. I'll just have to be more vigilant to write at night when I get home. ..oh yes and everyone - check out Julie's website and buy her books cos she is the greatest! (the link is just to the right here ->)

Albums currently on rotation on my hard working stereo:

Orb - Okie dokie its the Orb on kompakt
Thomas Fehlman - Visions of Blah
Beck - Guero (and also Guerolito)
Flaming Lips - that long titled album yoshi robots thing..
Mondo Bossa o quatro (one of those sleazy Italian lounge/bossa nova compilations) - just perfect for these stinky hot 32 degree sultry nights we've been having here.
The Tigers - Jeez i forgot the name of it and the cd case is downstairs but it's great stuff from the Perth scene.
Pivot - Make me love you

The Pivot website is http://www.pivotisagoodboy.com/ They are coming to Perth on the 3rd of March, with Hoopers Store and the Tigers as well. I'll be there for sure!

Hoopers Store are great! They played a great set on Thursday night at the Hyde Park with Sabre Tooth Tigers and a Czech band called Sebot. I think that's how you spell it, or else its Sabot. They consisted of one really wacky bass player in that Primus kinda way, and a drummer. These guys were great, lots of energy and a doco about themselves projected on the wall behind them. The next time I'm in Tabor I will be sure to drop by and say howdi.

Oh yeah and other music news: Cinema Prague are reforming and will be touring Australia! Well at least that's what George K told me when I bumped into him on the street the other day. As far as I'm concerned it's a freakin' travesty that Cinema Prague never conquered the world in the 90s, so I hope it's all go when they get Rex back from Germany in July.

2006-02-22T22:20:00.000+08:00

Here's that pic of the Estonian and Russian border that I talked about a couple of entries ago. The scan took some of the colour out, but you get the idea of how much of a dreamy day it was. Just to the right of me and about 20 metres away was that angry border guard I was talking about. Hehe but I lived to tell the tale (well it wasn't very scary anyway)!

2006-02-21T21:12:00.000+08:00

Hello again. It's been a LONG week.
Today it was 40.1 degrees in Perth, a great day to be lazy! .. or at work in a building with air conditioning. It was actually a relief to get back into the office after lunch.

The life of mrlederhosen today? Well, i finally bought my brother's funky ass 95 Honda Civic off him, and it's GREAT! I've been a bit of a work-machine lately, but I keep going knowing that once I've done some time here, I can get over to some places in the world that really need some planning/social impact/redevelopment work.

I've had eye strain from being at work all day, and it's been happening for a couple of weeks. Gees, one of these days I'll be back being and excito-blogga.

My sister in law is 5 months pregnant! Everyone around seems to be all responsible and boring, where are all the big parties?! I think I need to go out more..

2006-02-13T22:46:00.000+08:00

Lots of stressy things going on in my life this week, not up to writing much. The weekend was the best weather for a long time. 35 degrees, lazing on the beach on Sunday morning, beers at the Norfolk on Sunday. I'll write again soon..

Big Day Out 2006

2006-02-07T10:04:00.000+08:00

Once again, the Big Day Out was huge this year. Damn it, i can never write more than a few lines when i write here at work, i will have to sit down at home and get-a-monologing! But in my 5 seconds i have here, these were the music highlights for me:

The Go! Team (the first pic)
Kings of Leon (the second pic - yes that tiny dot is the band!)
Cut Copy (the third pic)

Some fun times were had indeed! Even nearly getting crushed to death waiting to get into the beer area during Wolfmother's set was not so bad.
The headphone pic was this silent roller skating rink with disco tunes cranking through everyone's headphones!

2006-02-03T09:39:00.000+08:00

A couple of photos of King Street in Newtown in Sydney, the neighbourhood where I lived for 7 years. Alas, when I went back there at the end of last year, the greatest cheapo restaurant in the world, the 'Singapore Gourmet', had just closed down. Click on the pics to make them bigger and to see the ol' Town Hall Hotel in the background, where most of my pay packets ended up being spent!

Why is it that Christians don't drink?

2006-01-30T10:12:00.000+08:00

A street poster I saw yesterday advertising a beer festival. This raises a question I've never heard a decent answer to. I know a few fundamentalist Ned Flanders type of Christians, and none of them ever touch alcohol. I want to know what is so evil about alcohol. Yes I know it can cause many social problems etc, but why does someone who sees themself as a good Christian feel the need to think alcohol is un-Christian and a sin? Getting drunk and having an alcohol problem is one thing, but appreciating some fine wine or beer is a totally different thing. And even if you do get a little tipsy, is it such a bad thing? After all, beer was invented by monks, and Jesus himself made wine! I know my Greek Orthodox relies love to get into their Retsina from time to time, and they don't look like they'll be burning in hell for it.

2006-01-27T10:19:00.000+08:00

I've just spent the week in bed with a super fast case of Bronchitis. Yuk. It was a great sunny week, with Australia Day yesterday being one of the traditional wild and fun days of the year. I normally have a crazy day with 500,000 other people on the South Perth foreshore, but this year I just walked around and had a few 'quiet ones' and then went to a friend's riverview apartment to watch the fireworks.

Arrgh! I was looking forward to yesterday for months, and I had to take it easy! MrG is not a happy camper. Well, at least I didn't die from coughing I suppose.. but it is true, you actually can get sick from air conditioning. I picked it up from the hefty air con at a hollywood theme party I went to last weekend, and the doctor said I had a soft version of what could have been Legionnaire's disease (aka pneumonia!). Speaking of that, I've got some cool pics of me dressed as a member of Team Zissou from the film The Life Aquatic, and of Jessica dressed as Leilu from the Fifth Element.

Here's a mobile phone pic of the menu of an ice cream van at the skyshow yesterday. Such innovative signage..

Summer in the Baltics

2006-01-20T09:14:00.000+08:00

Now that I've been working for a while, I am starting to crave some creativity in my thoughts. All my efforts have been into learning how my area of work operates. Now i'm not so fresh in my position anymore, I have time to think about other things as well. The first thought that comes into my head (other than sex - I am a man after all!) is of travel plans for my next holiday. My itchy feet are really itchy, I haven't left the country for years now! I have some pics that I have scanned which I will put online soon, of the Narva River in Estonia in 2001. It was an amazing place, two medieval crusader castles on either side, with Estonia on one side and Russia on the next. I have some super 8 film that I made on that day, which I have digitised, I hope I can find a way to put it online. The colours of that day were amazing, lots of greens and blues - and angry looking border guards sussing me out with my crusty old camera. It was only afterwards I realised there were tensions with the two countries in that time, I must've looked like a spy running around filming everything, no wonder the border guards were giving me nasty stares! So, wisely I pointed my camera at the river banks, castles and people instead of the views of the town over on the Russian side. I found this little beach on the river where all the locals were having their annual swim, it was so warm and the grass was overgrown. It seemed like those romantic scenes in movies set in the olde days, with couples running around, having picnics and sneaking a pash in a secluded grove.
Aah yes, that was a good day.
Here's a map of Eesti. This one includes the contested territory with Russia. Narva is on the north eastern border.

2006-01-19T12:52:00.000+08:00

I am pretty sure that I am not the only SpongeBob Squarepants fan out there, so to celebrate my super-coolness I've posted a pic of Mr Squarepants to inform all the uneducated SpongeBob heathens of what they are missing out on.

Last weekend I discovered the Hula Bula Bar in the City,
a mighty fine Hawaiian theme bar with all the funkiness of a kitsch tropical island, complete with jet-setting lounge music. 'twas a great night. Here's a fantastic pic of a mate of mine after a few drinks.. hehe, he'll probably kick my arse for putting this online!

Why RTRFM is the coolest radio station in the world, part 1

2006-01-16T17:10:00.000+08:00

For all you cats in the know, last night from 11pm til 1 you would've heard Gav and myself spend 2 hours playing a set of tunes by the Orb (aka Dr Alex Patterson and Thomas Fehlmann), in celebration of the new release of Orb rarities. Before I knew it, the 2 hours were gone and we still had so much more to play! I guess I should announce that I'm going on radio beforehand, it would probably be the only way to get my friends to listen at that timeslot.

In a few weeks I am thinking of doing another Ambient Zone special, this time playing 2 hours of music from the prince of record labels: Merck Records. I am a total convert to the stuff that gets released from these guys and I felt a bit sniffy when it was announced that they will be closing down when they reach 100 releases. So, I will let the world know to tune in to my show when I organise it!

Here's the web site: www.m3rck.net . Write to them and tell them they shouldn't close down cos the world needs them! And here's a link to the coolest radio station: www.rtrfm.com.au

Political rant

2006-01-13T08:45:00.000+08:00

Today I'm feeling political. It just annoys me so much to watch the government in Russia use its usual aggressive bully-boy tactics of international relations against Ukraine. I wish I had some time to get in depth here, but I'm at work and must be brief.

Russia (as a nation - don't call me an anti-Russian, I have plenty of Russian friends and I love much about their culture) clings heavily to the paranoia that the 'West' is commited to the destruction and dismantling of its sphere of influence. Putin has openly stated that the end of the Soviet Union was the 'greatest tragedy of the 20th century' and has blatantly whitewashed and denied the horrors inflicted upon former Soviet satellite states by the Soviet regime, making it clear that his long term plan is for a new Russian empire. His school-bully style tactics against the government in Ukraine are typical of his behaviour towards any ex-soviet country. The gas issue is complex, and Ukraine will eventually have to pay higer prices (and yes, they have not been angels in this issue either) but if Russia wants to regain its influence in the region they surely must realise that intimidation will only make their former colonial subjects run faster towards secure relations with Western nations.

Lets not forget that Russia still officially denies that they invaded Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia and many other countries and annexed them, nor does it officially recognise the deportations and genocide inflicted upon their peoples. If the Putin government doesn't admit to this, what does it say about their future intentions for Russian foreign policy? ..no wonder the Baltic nations (and most of the European ex-communist states) are so keen to become members of the European community.

I'll have to continue this another time, there is so much involved in all this, and I wanted to finish my spiel on a positive note and not just whinge.. eek, i better get back to work.