Lucubration Station

Sssh time

2008-07-31T15:32:00.001+10:00

Closing down for a while

Go to my Tumblr instead

It will remain very active.

unwise

2008-07-14T16:40:00.003+10:00

Because of my complete inability to look after myself.
I just spent the afternoon at the dentist, having cavities filled and my wisdom tooth extracted. Yup, I only had one and now its gone.
I broke it twice and it was so rotted he said it was a "non functioning tooth" and should go now before it dies.
YUP
Im that great
and now my mouth keeps filling with blood, I keep gagging involuntarily, I have a headache and the anesthetic hasn't even worn off yet.

a morning

2008-07-13T10:42:00.004+10:00

I drove through the glaring 9:30am sunlight.
My retro sunglasses cheer me a little but arent any good at blocking the glare. I squint at the world with distaste and navigating the car through the cheerful morning traffic. I drive this path too often, across town on a saturday or sunday morning, returning from the night before. Im on auto pilot, when home I wont be able to remember any particular points of the journey, just that I made it.
I reach into my power rangers bag, its filled with spare clothes and toiletries. Theres a two litre bottle of coke sticking out the top and I take a swig to wash away the taste of toothpaste and morning.
There was a time when Id be taking a swig to wash away the taste of last night but Im more prepared now. The power rangers bag contains toiletries and a change of clothes. It mostly stays in the car, helping to restore some kind of composure before I make my morning journey home from wherever I am. Its not quite complete, I need a container of makeup remover to really complete the set.
I cringe as the car makes a particularly soggy turn, these tires are going downhill fast and I haven't got the faintest clue what I can do about it. Just keep pumping them up and cross my fingers.
I reach the last leg of the journey, I'm mentally making a list of all the things I need to do today, all the things I should do today and all the things I promised I would do today. With the list laid out I see the enormity and impossibility of it all.
So I pick two and then cover the rest of the list over with a mental throw rug.

I head up the driveway hoping I can get past my parents to my room without getting caught into conversation.
I stop the car and pause,

Am I ever going to grow up? Or start doing grown up things?

I'll add that to the list for tomorrow.

Friday Five

2008-07-04T13:10:00.002+10:00

1. What drink wakes you up best in the morning?
Orange juice/ V8 juice

2. During the day, what do you drink to keep going?
Coke, sadly

3. Do you drink the recommended 8 glasses of water per day? Why/why not?
8 glasses a day is a myth! there was never any scientific basis for that. PFFT get with the times friday five people
However, I probably dont drink as much water as I should.

4. What are the ingredients of your favorite mixed drink? (Doesn't have to be alcoholic!)
I dont really have a clear favourite, so lets say Zombie

5. Are you a coffee drinker? How do you take your coffee, if so?
NOPE, I just dont like it, though I do quite like the smell. I stick to tea and my some of my favourite blends are Russian Caravan, Irish Breakfast, Blackcurrent Black Leaf, and Love Potion from Queenie's Tea House.

Trash Video Cabaret Benefit Gig

2008-07-04T09:36:00.005+10:00

I have started my post about the weekend but there was a lot to write about so it stays unfinished.
I want to write about something happening tonight and something I consider actually very important.

So first onto the details and then my thoughts about it.

Trash Video Cabaret Benefit Gig

(click to view full)

Venue: Ahimsa House, 26 Horan St, West End
Date: 7pm Friday 4 July
Tickets: Concession $15/ Full-time worker $25
Subscribe on the night and entry is free
More information: www.empressev.net
or the facebook event

I should have written about this earlier but I guess I just presumed people already knew about it and/or understood how goddamn important and significant this event would be.

For starters you may not know about Trash Video so here is a very quick summary.
Its a video store that for 8 years or so resided in Brisbane's fortitude valley. At the time the valley was the cities bohemia. The place for the exiles of the greater city and the haven for the odd, artistic, eccentric, broken, creative and inspirational.
As time has passed the valley is now a sad shadow of itself, not much more than an extension of the main CBD. Gentrification and government intervention cleaning up and cleaning out the very character that made the area unique and valuable.
We all lament the dying of the valley and in that process unique and exciting stores such as trash video have left. Most have closed and trash was a rarity in finding a new home and struggling onwards

Now onto what the store actually is.
Its a video shop, yes, the old style VHS tapes that movies became a mass distributable medium upon. Yes DVD has killed the video medium but like records before CD a lot of things produced in the past have never been, and probably never will be released in the new format. Trash has always specialized in rarities. The collection of video was always focused on things that weren't widely distributed.
Cult films
Arthouse
Documentaries
Local Productions
Exploitation Films
Banned Films
These are things that get lost in the sands of time and as a collector and film fan (not just someone who watches what is put in front of them) the owner of this store would travel and search to find those things most rare, valuable, obscure and unique within the film world.
A true geek, a true collector knows the lengths people go to for a collection.
and this is one hell of a collection
over 12 thousand movies
Trash video is Australia's largest video collection, private or commercial this is it, the largest collection in the entire country.

Now is these days of DVD a video store is not commercially viable. It just isnt, people dont even own video players anymore.
This seems to be the only thing people think about when the hear about the demise of this store. Its not going to make money, so it will die, the end, who cares?
YOU SHOULD
Your apathy completely astounds and appalls me. I have to blame naivety to stop myself from wanting to throttle you here and now.

This isnt a coffee shop that can easily be replaced by another coffee shop, no rival is waiting in the wings to take its place.
This is a UNIQUE collection, there isnt any other options and it cannot ever be replaced.
Once it is gone, it will be broken up and sold off to private collections and never be seen again. The resource, for you, for anyone you know, for your kids, for the creative minds of the country... it wont exist.

It will be over and you wont be able to undo your innaction.
This isnt about commercial viability, this isnt about money.
This is about art.

Movies are art, across the board.
The paintings of Renoir are just as much art as the screen prints of a Warhol Factory member.
The films of Gondry are art just as much as the exploitation film about a Turkish midget james bond.
This is an art collection of original and reproduced art, being removed from circulation forever. If warhols paintings were about to be destroyed and removed from galleries never to be viewed by again I doubt you would be so casual about it. I doubt you would go "well, it isnt making any money by hanging on that wall, so who cares if its destroyed?"

Trash has faced extinction multiple times in the last few years and each time a wave of support has kept it alive for a few more months before facing the chopping block again. Its is beyond sad, it makes me ashamed. So I am doing what I can, I signing up for their attempt to make it a subsciption service. Supporting the efforts for some goverment or more substantial official backing.

I might grumble about traffic but I really consider our culture and our arts as a more important resource to this city, this country and lets say, even the world than building tunnels and roads to make it easier to move our resource munching cars around the place. Im sure it wouldnt even take 1/60th of the money invested in that to keep this video collection as a resource for us now and for the future.

Do you believe in supporting indie music?
Do you believe in supporting indie artists?
Do you believe in supporting indie film?
Do you believe in supporting local business?

So why not a local indie video store?

Weekend of nothing to report

2008-06-24T18:58:00.004+10:00

I didnt go out this weekend.
It feels like Ive been sick for months but its more like one month. I just cant shake it this flu. I'll improve and then the next day I'm barely able to make it out of bed.
This weekend I just wasnt up to anything and had to bail on so many peoples events. I'm so sorry I really wanted to be there!
I missed Peter Combe, which I don't think there is anyway to describe how goddamn excited I was for. I cannot think of a more fun concert to go to, I actually screamed out loud at the store when I saw his tour dates but it wasn't to be. God I'm still so angry and upset about that, I'm in tears just TYPING about the bloody thing.
Hopefully he will do it again some day and the novelty and profitability hasn't already worn off.

Sunday was both a good day and the worst day. I had two wonderful people take some time out to spend with pathetic old me. Which I fear was incredibly boring for both of them but I loved every minute.

So overall I'm in a pretty bad way, physically, being sick for so long has really taken its toll and I'm just falling apart. I'm also in a pretty bad way emotionally but lets not talk about that.

Boring weekend, stupid sick, stupid work, stupid crap.
talking to the goat gods, just want my garden, look, beautiful

Friday Five

2008-06-21T07:57:00.002+10:00

1) what is one thing about you that you hate?
Where to begin...Lets say, my complete lack of self discipline

2) what is one thing about you that you love?
My sense of empathy

3) if you had to change one thing about you what would it be and why?
Physically? the standard girl response, my weight. If we are talking a more general sense then that lack of discipline thing because then all the other smaller things I dislike about myself could be changed or improved upon at least.

4) what is one word that you would use to define yourself?
Open

5) imagine what you would look like in a perfect world...what do you look like?
I'd look the same
and in a perfect world there wouldn't be anything wrong with that.

Last weekend

2008-06-20T18:29:00.001+10:00

Thursday night Fight Club last week was extra good and relaxing. I don't know why but clearly my anticipation for our weekly gathering was sound. Two founding members were absent, rack because she is drowning under a sea of work and Monkey due to being a dolt. I received a phone message saying "nyah nyah I'm eating pie at my parents nahnenah nah ttthhhpppbbtttt" or words that I interpreted to that effect. Devo, Crispy and I wondered up to the arcade where we judged and rated Crispy's DDR skills. Then nodded approvingly as he received a round of applause from some middle aged bogans.
Next we headed off to the suburbs to find an elusive Okami for the Wii for Devo and found it surprisingly easy to track down despite its limited release.

Friday at work was a bit of a disaster, my persistent flu decided to turn me into a walking zombie. A few times everything went spinning and I thought I would fall over so I called in re-enforcements. Which didn't arrive till 1 hour before close so I still worked basically the whole day in that state. I don't even know what I did, its just a big blurry memory mish mash. This flu keeps improving and then coming back and knocking me for six. Part of the problem is its making it even harder for me to sleep, even with cold and flu night tablets and sleeping pills involved. The lack of sleep is also probably making the damn thing worse so its a horrible cycle I haven't broken out of yet. I went home and slept for three hours, woke up, decided that was a bad idea and went straight back to bed.

No one was available to cover my Saturday shift and I worked grumpily all day. I had a rough first few hours but improved after lunch. Some guy threatened at the top of his lungs to beat up our newest staff member. "IM GOING TO JUMP THE COUNTER AND FUCK YOU UP" yeahhhhh, so that was uncalled for. I decided to best plan was to walk him to his car when we finished, the counter jumper could have been lying in wait. So I better be there to to shoot him down with cutting remarks and a few kicks to the shins.

Saturday night I went back to the House of H for dinner. ColdH had done a big risotto cookup and it was delicious. I tried to tempt her and Devo to join me on the journey to the "geek and gaming" party but they were happy to stay put. I collected zap and we blindly tried to find our way there. He declared that he would not be drinking, he's broke and reducing his alcohol intake so that works out well, of course if someone were to offer he wouldnt say no. Within five minutes of arriving I think he had a beer in hand and within half an hour he had unearthed the tequila and margarita mix stash. It was quite impressive. I was driving so keeping myself to very limited drinking and decided to best plan was to get involved by salting the glasses rims. While this was going on the Xbox 360 was getting a workout. Which soon progressed to the Wii with warioware and raving rabbids. I got some great video of people playing the most suspect of mini games.

Sunday I started asking people about the movies. Who wants to go? what have you already seen? When are you available etc. Eventually after much back and forth it was settled on The Hulk in the mid afternoon. I decided to go in about an hour early to purchase tickets and ensure everyone got a seat. Which all worked out well and I got to lie on grassy southbank hills watching mighty boosh on my mp3 player in the just nicely warm sun. Wonderful.
I enjoyed the movie, it was fun and explodey and great to look at. In the shadow of that other recent comic book movie it was never going to stand up as tall but it made a decent effort. There was nothing really wrong with it, there was just nothing really great about it either.

After which I headed straight over to Nickelbot's place for boardgames. I'd missed out on the bulk of the cheese and dips but no board games had begun so I was lucky there. After a quick assesment of the situation I decided to go get booze and crash the night there. I wasnt working in the morning and this way I could continue to relax. I drove to the little bottle shop around the corner and had a nightmare trying to park. The parking spots in that corner of the shops are very limited and I found myself boxed in with no where to park and no sign of anyone leaving. I tried to make a quick escape around a corner and found myself in a dead end. With cars backed up behind me I couldn't reverse out to turn around to I had to do an Austin Powers 32 point turn. Fail. By now I was annoyed and just parked in a bus zone. and ran in barefoot. The clientèle of both the bottleshop and restaurant next door looked very unimpressed and I congratulated myself on bringing down the class of the entire suburb in my efforts to buy the cheapest red wine and rum available.
Board games were great fun, I'd never played Blockus or Taboo before and they were both pretty fun. Geordie and I did pretty well as a Taboo team, and yes I'm still kicking myself about "scroll"

Overall quite an enjoyable weekend.

Hamburgers and Hotdogs updated

2008-06-18T22:55:00.000+10:00

I'll post about my weekend soon, in the meantime I'll update you on my newest artistic creations.
These guys seem a bit common among people who use polymer clay but I wanted to give it a shot myself, see the best I could do with the idea; junk food themed earrings.
Heres some pictures of the assembly process

and the results.

Click this one to go to my store.

I'm going to make a couple of packs of fries as pendants as well, so keep an eye out for those.

Update -
and here are the fries! Too fiddly so I just made two pendants and two earring size ones.

Also did a few different versions of teeth

Returning to my nerdy roots, some computer mice earrings, which have both scroll wheels and tracking balls.

Friday Five

2008-06-13T16:53:00.003+10:00

1 Did you get an allowance as a kid, and if so, how much was it?
- I think it started at $1 a week

2. How old were you when you had your first job, and what was it?
- I started helping the neighbours at their market stall. I was about 12 and would have to get up at 4:30 in the morning to help pack to van and then go set up the stall. Then I would be their little helper for the day. I loved it.

3. Which do you do better: save money or spend money?
- It's not so much that I am good at spending, its more that Im just bad at saving.

4. Are people more likely to borrow money from you, or are you more likely to borrow from them?
- Im more likely to borrow since Im always broke because of that spending thing. At the same time Im always broke because I also buy things for other people and give them money all the time too.

5. What's the most expensive thing you've ever bought?
- A car!

The weekend that was

2008-06-10T17:37:00.007+10:00

We just had a three day weekend.
The last one for a long time and without meaning to I managed to make it a great time. Friday night I closed the shop fairly late and decided it was a smart move to stay in since the next couple of nights would be busy. I caught up on some work and then decided hey, I'm going to go out anyway. Got all dressed up and then NOPE plans were canceled. I think that was the second time I'd done that this week and my mother looked at me like I was a loser. Great Job!
Saturday I wasn't working, which hasn't happened in quite a while. There was talk of the lifeline bookfest but I wasn't getting up at 7 to go in. I grumbled at my parents and went back to sleep, instead getting up a lot later and met up with Hayley and Devo for pancakes in the city. Cripsy had been talking about pancakes earlier in the week and I started craving. Hayley had never been to a pancake manor and was both excited and highly skeptical it could live up to the expectations she now had. Devo and I raved about the architecture of the old church it was in, knowing at least THAT was guaranteed to be awesome.

It was very busy when we arrived, a couple of birthday parties took the best tables. I was jealous of their balloons.
Hayley had the Vegetable Crepes and then some regular breakfast pancakes.

Devo ate more food than a man his size is scientifically able to consume.A whole bowl of Nachos, the mexican crepes, and some desert pancakes as well. Then when it looked like he was done, he finished off the very end of Hayley's sweet pancakes as well.

I got "THE ULTIMATE" which was a heart stoppingly delicious sweet cream cheesy thing. Completely delicious.

Two French crepes filled with cream cheese, sultanas, lemon juice and vanilla, served with raspberry coulis and vanilla ice cream

There was no way I could have eaten a second dish so I sat and chattered away instead. It was a pretty great meal and in a gorgeous setting and that really kicked off my weekend. After eating we went to a little Japanese goodies shop around the corner where Hayley got some new friends. A plushie seal in a duck costume and a plushie milk cartoon. I found a shop with some amazing jewellery to drool over. The store across the way was called Violent Green. Lots of local Australian artists and really funky I didn't ask any prices and got out of there quickly before I started spending money. It was very inspirational though, this was high quality artisan made stuff. My favourite was probably the pendant that looked like pencil shavings but was silver with enamel on the tips. I just looked it up and that one is $200 phew!
I dropped the kids off and headed home. I've been working on a housewarming gift for Nicklebot and Zap and wanted to finish it off before going out. I put Oldboy on while I worked, which I haven't watched in a while. What a brilliant story. (That reminds me, I really need to seek out Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance and Sympathy for Lady Vengeance the other two in the trilogy which I've never seen.) I got the bulk done but knew there was going to be revisions needed. Emailed it off to my brother and began getting ready. Saturday night was Tim's going away bash. There was going to be clubbing starting at Jade Budda, I hate that place and Im not one much for clubbing anymore. However if theres anyone to go clubbing with these are the people so I decided that to get myself in the mood I needed my tutu on. I kept it on but at the last minute chickened out and put another skirt over the top. I found my way to The New Paddington House fully expecting to help with the unpacking and moving in. They wouldn't let me so I just found myself in the way for a while. In the time I was there the house transformed from a house with boxes in it to Nicklebot and Zap's house and already felt cosy and awesome. We finally headed off and as we made our slow way there a bad feeling started growing in my stomach. A sense of impending doom that quite heavily invaded my thoughts. There was some confusion over the exchange of money and after about 10 minutes of trying to work it out and thinking that someone had ripped someone else off we realised we were all retarded at maths, what the hell are we doing! everything was perfectly fine.
I parked my car outside Rack's place deciding that was the safest place I could think of and we made our way to the valley in the freezing cold. The bad feeling grew even more and I started working out how I could leave and get home safely before the shit hit the fan. With the black cloud over my head all the little dramas of the day and evening took on a much more sinister feel.
We arrived at Mono and Zap and I looked at each other with miserable foreboding in our faces. While downing the very essences of fun and frivolity we commented that we already knew it was a mistake. I haven't been to the Monastry in years, I remember when it first opened and the walls were decorated with curtains of metal chains and how my best friend worked across the road and had a great relationship with the manager. I remember coming here on Flirt nights where they had the number system for sending messages to other people in the room on a giant scrolling notice board. I think my friends just kept sending messages to each other about our butts.
I had been so wrong, the night was amazing. I danced my little feet off. We left around 4am and jumped in a taxi immediately. Nicklebot gave a glowing testimonial review of Zap and his awesomeness for about 95% of the ride when she suddenly switched and apologized to the driver for having to carry such a shit guy in his car. I laughed so hard my sides hurt.
Soon we were inside and loving the greatness of the house. Nickle was suddenly in her underwear and excited about the arrival of Toby and Hannam. I walked out to see Hannam and we both went "oh we work together" and put serious responsible faces on for all of 5 seconds.
Soon after I jumped into Zap's bed and slept forever.
Sunday I woke up and joined the conversations in Nicklebot's room till the other Toby shower up to collect Zap and was nice enough to drop me back at my car. I left home almost as soon as I arrived to join Devo and Hayley at Chermside for a video game shopping adventure. I ended up getting Animal Crossing for my DS, which I still haven't played because my DS is still packed away in a box somewhere. We feasted at Grill'd and I decided I had eaten enough for the rest of the weekend and was now in need of a nap. As I said goodbye the twosome walked off hand in hand. I immediately texted Rack to tell her they were gay for each other and she promptly responded "Gross"
I slept till 6 and then stumbled around like my legs were made of lead, they ached a ridiculous amount from the night before. After assembling some kind of outfit and straightening the fuck out of my hair I went to collect the rest of my crew as it started to pour rain. While at the bottle shop Hayley got into a conversation with a random customer about communists and trotskyites. We then sang You Outta Know at the top of our outraged girly lungs into Devo's earholes while he squeaked in protest all the way to the party.

When we arrived there was a few people there and it turns out some had already left! What bozos! My brother was quite hilarious drunk, and I soon followed suit. The house was filled with the funnest awesomest people I know and I had lot of great conversations and photo shoots. The G-crashing/Z-crashing and the debut of the D-crash were prime material. All the housemates wore co-ordinated flanno's and tom's recently re-dyed hair were the greatest fashion statements of the evening.

Rack, Tom, Crispy and I headed to the closest servo to stock up on chips and I stupidly bought mixed lollies which wernt eaten so much as used as confetti all over Nicklebot's room. When we returned it was like half the party had left even though it was still really early. There was a congregation in Zap's room playing keys

and a congregation in the Nicklebot's room hiding from the light. Thats about the way things stayed as people slowly left. Things ended way too early and I would have loved to keep going for many hours more but I knew I was getting up a bit early in the morning anyway so it's not so bad.

I awoke in the morning feeling grit underneath me and thinking it was probably dirt off peoples feet when they were clambering all over the bed. However it turned out to be grains of sugar from the lolly scattering. I was sleeping in sugar, excellent.
I somehow cleaned myself up and helped Nickel try to remember her most favourite Tim tales to put in a letter. I folded into into the most excellent paper plane and we jumped in the car in search of the airport. We arrived earlier than expected and reluctantly decided noodlebox was the best choice for breakfast. WRONG, I love that stuff but it was a definite mistake. Then it all happened and the goodbyes were said, photos taken and tears shed. I felt very much like an impostor as only a vague acquaintance. Nickle did an amazing job of seeing him off with dignity. I was pretty proud of her for keeping together for so long. When it comes my time to say goodbye to Rack forever, I just cannot imagine how I could possibly even speak.
We returned to the house and setup a pro entertainment center at the end of the bed.

Settled back and got smashed watching The Cat Returns and Tim and Eric Awesome Show Great Job till the early evening. I sobered myself up and cleaned up the kitchen as best I could. Who wants to clean when your in that state? sure as hell not I, so I made sure they had minimal work to do. There had been some red wine spills and I totally owned those suckas.

Pro Tip - Spill red wine on some fabric? This is what you do, AS SOON AS YOU CAN, fill up the kettle and start it boiling. Stretch the material out over a bowl or sink, so its held fairly taught and theres space underneath. Then hold the kettle up and pour from a large height. The higher the better, you want some force behind that water. Pour it through the stain and watch it just completely disappear.

The Friday Five

2008-06-07T10:19:00.003+10:00

I've only just discovered that the Friday Five exists once again. So I'm hopping back on that bandwagon with full force. Of course the problem with it is that friday is always almost over in Australia before they publish it but OH WELLS. So without further ado:

The Friday Five

if you had to participate in one olympic event what would it be and why?

what is the one song you always sing along to?

do you wear a seatbelt in the car?

car, suv or truck and why?

are you a good/bad driver? explain

Killdozer Day

2008-06-03T21:24:00.004+10:00

Today is the fourth anniversary of the Killdozer.

I will be both raising a glass and tipping one out in honor of the Killdozer and Marvin Heemeyer himself.
The great feats and the tragic triumph.

Never Forget

The story of the Killdozer *read first*
News Footage Compilation
10 minute version with interview with a friend.

The Business Card of Dreams

2008-06-03T15:13:00.004+10:00

Okay I dont usually talk about specific customers on here.
However this one is too good not to record.

Okay She's a regular customer and gets various things done. A little odd but nothing too unusual I would have thought; overly chatty and friendly. Ive had a few conversations with her where she clearly thought I was someone else who worked here but that happens.

Today she wanted some more of her business cards printed but needed a couple of alterations first.

Ill make you a basic, information altered, mock up

Now the information has changed but the statements havent.
So far so good.
Now the alterations were to add another name, so it read

Emma L & Sarah J

and to add some qualifications after her name.

Dip Hons CU,
L of D 129

Okay now this is where it gets entertaining. She explained that "Emma L" is her twin sister. Her twin that is so disruptive she only gets to live inside the computer. The qualifications that"we have" is

Diploma with Honors,
Caterpilla University.
Land of Dreams 1 to 9

...

A prestigious university I've heard

Saturday and Limelight

2008-06-02T10:28:00.007+10:00

I failed at Saturday night. There was multiple things I should have been going to. I did none of them. Well that's not quite true, I went to a birthday dinner in the early evening that was pretty great. The food was very good, the conversation very entertaining and the birthday girl seemed to be having a fantastic time while rocking a great new hairdo.

I had planned my next move to be to Crispy's Mountain Run. With his beloved baby car and a few friends. We would hit guitar hero first and then go for a ride on a beautiful drive or two. Then I was going to see if the House of H still had conscious inhabitants, however, I was feeling overfull and distinctly less social than when I began the evening. When we finished up I found Crispy was off collecting people for later and The House of H wasn't responding so I went straight home with the intention of heading back out when I had a direction to head in. Which I didn't do, I curled up in bed instead. I didn't even start reading the book I had just collected.

Post big party blues? Perhaps.
I've taken a couple of large emotional punches this week so it might just be the reaction to that taking over. Either way; I achieved nothing, I visited no-one and did naught. Saturday nights are not intended to be spent this way, it's against the natural order.

Friday night was different. I went to a gig that contained only local bands and some of my favourites. They were all great as was the whole night.
Sirinival have a lot of potential. Dark Psychedelia is probably the best description I can give. Listen to "Not to know do you dont"

SkyPi are a hell of a lot of fun. Its infectious. They only have the one song up there but its a good one.
View photos from their set here

The Kidney Thieves. The first time I saw these guys I immediately went and bought their EP. That was a few years ago and they have grown and improved by enormous leaps and bounds. Listen to Bolshevik Vinegar.
View photos from their set here

Arcane's new music is epic and wonderful. It was the first time they had played any of it live and I think one day we may all boast about being there for its unveiling. You can listen to a teaser on the myspace.
View photos from their set here

As you may have noticed I've been playing around with the layout and content here. I think I've finally settled on this style now. I'll only have one post displayed at a time so if you miss things theres the archive list to go through. Or if your subscribing via RSS then it wont bother you at all. Since I also post a lot of content here that doesnt go through the RSS I've concocted a way to make it feed-able. All my web 2.0 type gadgets like the Wists (my internet wishlist), Flickr(photos), Twitter (micro blogging), and Digg (social bookmarking) all now automatically post in my Tumblr. All collected into the one stream, as it were. Ive got the Tumblr feed now displaying on the side of the blog here or you can also subscribe via RSS.

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Image Capture and Playback

2008-05-28T09:14:00.005+10:00

So finally some non-party related news.
The most exciting is I'd like to welcome my mp3 player and camera back into my life. Hey guys! I missed you both so much. Where have you been? What the fuck have you been up to? and why have you left me so alone for so long! SO ALONE
ALONE AND COLD
...
IN THE DARK

The mp3 player became unusable when I lost its docking plug thing. I had all the various cables for it. TO connect to power, to connect to the computer, to connect with reality but NO. Without the docking plug they are all useless.

I tried shopping for a new one and basically the only possible solution was ebay.
None of the major chains carry more than 2 or 3 Creative related accessories and they will of course be for the latest player. If they carry any creative at all. Asking them to order something in is like asking for them to sell me black market baby limbs. So ebay was my only option and there wasn't much available. All were from hong kong and seemed like quite dodgy stores and Id have to buy a large bundle containing all the other accessories I already have. So it was just sitting on my desk waiting for some kind of salvation. I hoped that when I moved the plug would be discovered but as I packed my hopes grew dimmer.

The camera had a similar problem, it also requires a dock for you to connect the power and usb connection to. In this case I had the dock, and I had the USB cable but I didn't have the power cord. Unlike some other devices the camera wont charge through the usb cable it has to be connected to the mains to recharge.

It took me a while to find the power cable and when I did I figured everything would be fine.
I charged it and nope, no response.
Over the next few months I tried various other things and would occasionally get 5 to 10 minutes of life out of it before it died again. I didn't think it was a hardware problem it just seemed like it didn't have any power.

Then in the week before I moved I found another cable, identical to the power cable Id been using for the camera. So I tried this one instead and it worked like a dream. It took three days to fully charge which Ive never seen it do before. I'm not sure what the other cable is from but it must be the same wattage or something and it just wasn't compatible despite all signs pointing to yes. Or maybe the cable itself is faulty. Either way I got my camera back and it once again is traveling everywhere I go.

The MP3 player had an even easier solution. I found the docking plug. It wasn't buried somewhere in my room, it turns out it was at my parents house all along. I must have left it next to my dads computer and he bundled it up with other miscellaneous cables and plugs and stashed it in a drawer. I stumbled across it while looking for stereo cable.

So welcome back my friends, my daily travels are once again multimedia friendly.

Raygun, I love you

2008-05-27T15:14:00.000+10:00

More photos of the accessories up on my Flickr

Lets do the time warp again

2008-05-26T14:00:00.004+10:00

The party by my reckoning was a giant success.
I had such a great time and felt like Queen of the Worldddd.
The crazy lighting Id spent ages setting up looked great and the best was the changing lightbulb in the toilet that freaked everyone out as they tried to pee.
There were some amazing costumes and every single one made me want to jump for joy. Seems like everyone had a good time too, I've had an almost perfect record of reports. The only ones who really missed out was poor Devo who over did it early and paid the price for the rest of the night and "Puke guy's girlfriend" who arrived just in time to look after him and go home without really getting to party at all.
A lot of people who were coming didn't show, the various reasons are still trickling in. Some really legitimate but most seem like a mixture of laziness and apathy. Sucks to be them, all of whom seriously missed out because it was the kind of bash that wont ever be recreated.
My costume really all came together.
and then stuff like this happened

we are traveling through time

Id organised the music so we would at certain points travel back a decade at a time. Which totally worked. A few people even picked up on it. The robots brought me penis and vagina cupcakes, yes, this is the best possible thing. The mass of people all finally arrived and then so much happened and so quickly. There was smoke everywhere, and Queen being sung, there was a robot fight, gay chicken and semi-nakedness. Someone stole my glasses and a shitload of bourbon. I wish Id been able to talk to everyone more. It seemed like it all flew by and suddenly everyone was gone, there was no more dancing to do and it was freezing cold.

Im still cleaning up.
It was so so worth it, I love you all.

Costume update

2008-05-18T23:06:00.004+10:00

SO steampunk time again.
Less than a week to go. Ive finished moving out, so that gives me a bit more time to play with.

Found an old skirt of mine buried at my parents place thats perfect, also found another I could use underneath like a petticoat.

Found a belt for a dollar that has a bunch of holes studded into it, perfect for attaching gadgetry. I've disassembled a purse to hang like a pouch. and the handle becomes like an extra belt.

Found a plastic gun to modify. If I run out of time Ill just paint it.
Its this great gold and orange(wtf) thing with a red light in the barrel thats meant to look like a pirates flintlock.

No progress on goggles

What Id still like to get/have/make/find:
pocket watch
telescope
hip flask

Inspirational images to follow

Site update

2008-05-18T19:20:00.003+10:00

Okay those twitter things are going, really needs to collect weekly instead of daily but NOPE not offered.

Im looking at tumblr as a possible collector of my Wists, and Digg posts and other internet collecting devices into the same place.
If Im happy with it Ill intergrate it here somehow instead of the other lists. I doubt anyone actually investigates them through here anyway. YOU JERKS

here it is if you are motivated enough to check it out so far:
http://ccake.tumblr.com

Emergency party button

2008-05-14T15:54:00.001+10:00

One day, I will do something akin to this.

Assam? Lovely.

2008-05-14T14:29:00.002+10:00

Elemental. The quintessential English fellow, explorer, scientist, exotic dancer and some might say raving lunatic.
Banned from 13 of the colonies for 'unspeakable scientific experiments', yet heralded as something of a deity in a great many more.

shudders

2008-05-13T06:23:00.004+10:00

Im moving back home to my parents place.
It is the beginning of the end times, as was foretold in the prophecies.
So yesterday I moved a bunch of stuff including my COMPUTER. I'm nerdy enough that wherever my computer is I consider that where I live. So I stayed in this place, with the bed thats here, surrounded by boxes and bags of "things" I consider my possessions.
I stayed in my room from highschool, in my bed from when I was married that is within my family home that no longer contains the family cat.
Plus I have some horrible, probably stress induced, illness that is physically hurting and draining me.
Thats a lot of horrors rolled into one night and one place.
In fact thats exactly what it was like.

THE HORRORS

In other news
something good happened.
Maybe

Things I want for my birthday

2008-05-06T09:15:00.003+10:00

Money
More money
A haircut - (I think this one is being taken care of)
An apprenticeship
My computer needs some upgrades
Professor Layton and the Curious Village for DS
Money
Muse - Haarp
A ticket to Splendor

Thats all I can realistically think of. soz
Then in the reals of fantasy you can look at my Wists my internet wishlist. Actually just look at it anyway, its full of great stuff from all over the place.

Costume update (img heavy)

2008-05-05T09:38:00.007+10:00

The party is drawing nearer and I have made some progress.
Theres still a long way to go to complete the desired look however.

First a little background on steampunk.

Steampunk is a subgenre of fantasy and speculative fiction which came into prominence in the 1980s and early 1990s. The term denotes works set in an era or world where steam power is still widely used—usually the 19th century, and often set in Victorian era England—but with prominent elements of either science fiction or fantasy, such as fictional technological inventions like those found in the works of H. G. Wells and Jules Verne, or real technological developments like the computer occurring at an earlier date. Other examples of steampunk contain alternate history-style presentations of "the path not taken" of such technology as dirigibles or analog computers; these frequently are presented in an idealized light, or a presumption of functionality.
-Wikipedia

Steampunk simply embodies a time and a place. The time... the late 19th century. The place... a steam powered world, where air travel by fantastical dirigibles is as common as traveling by train or boat (or submarine). A place where national interests are vastly different than our own version of history. A place where the elegant and refined are as likely to get pulled into a grand adventure, as the workers, ruffians, and lower classes. A place where the idea of space travel is not so far fetched. A place where lost civilizations are found and lost again. A place where anything is possible, and science can be twisted to meet ones own ends. That to me is the essence of Steampunk. It can have political overtones and commentary, or it can be straight escapist fiction. Either way, if it meets these criteria. It is Steampunk.
- Joshua A. Pfeiffer a.k.a. Vernian Process
Steampunk is an eclectic world of cogs and rivets. It is airships, goggles and steam. It is romance. It is traveling on clouds and diving beneath rugged waves. It is adventure
- Aether Emporium

Steampunk is a genre of fiction set somewhere in the 1800’s during the Victorian Era. The fictional part comes in that technology has gone a bit skewed - though the exact methods vary, generally steam-powered devices that would have been impossible or unfeasible at the time are found to exist. Examples include steam-robots, flying castles, under-water bases, moon rockets, time machines etc.
- Tinker Girl Brass Goggles

Now here are some examples of others costumes I'm being inspired by and trying to replicate and build on.

These are the girls from the Steampunk themed band Abney Park Ive managed to obtain myself some Spats, Like Magdaleen on the left there. Mine are less ragged, much more tailored looking and dark brown/gold fabrics.

Ive got a corset for the bodice

I still need a big skirt/skirts. Im going to raid my mums closet and continue to keep an eye out at the opshops. Otherwise I have a burlesque ruffled pinstripe thing with a bustle at the back which would kinda work. The colour is really off though so Ill keep that as a backup idea.

So that leaves the accessories and they will really make or break the outfit.
The most important and stereotypical piece of steampunk costuming is goggles.
For example

Being a standard piece of costume and also being a subculture based heavily around D.I.Y the goggles tend to be a big part of establishing character and style. Ive found such beautiful amazing things online that I just know I cant even come close to producing. Its going to take a lot of junk/op shop hunting to find the right bits and pieces to make a good pair. Or I could buy a premade pair and alter and extend them. Either way I need to get started asap.

After the goggles I'm also keeping an eye out for a leather pilots style cap. Annoyingly the chances of coming across one of those not worth a bucketload is between buckleys and none.

Ive got gloves Ill definitely wear and a cream scarf if I got the pilots cap.

Then I really need a utility belt. I'm a time traveler so Ill need bits and pieces like watches and a raygun and other mechanical explorer type assemblage. Ive got old scouts belts and gear stored somewhere if I can dig them up that will be perfect.
Ill be using more belts and clips and things to strap myself in and gather my skirt.

That should make quite the ensemble.

Here is the roughest plan ever

Lucubration Station

Sssh time

unwise

a morning

Friday Five

Trash Video Cabaret Benefit Gig

Weekend of nothing to report

Friday Five

Last weekend

Hamburgers and Hotdogs *updated*

Friday Five

The weekend that was

The Friday Five

Killdozer Day

The Business Card of Dreams

Saturday and Limelight

Image Capture and Playback

Raygun, I love you

Lets do the time warp again

Costume update

Site update

Emergency party button

Assam? Lovely.

*shudders*

Things I want for my birthday

Costume update (img heavy)

Hamburgers and Hotdogs updated

shudders