it's in my brain now...

...it's in my brain now.
The Perry Bible Fellowship.

street heart

Ghost Patrol rocks! The above was also done with Miso.
That's one of the many things I love about Melbourne: I can walk past the same alley day-in day-out and then one time, feeling a little inquisitive, I'll stumble across something wicked like the above.

the night i caught a train with john safran

That's Safran, not Saffron.
Tonight I went down to a suburb south of the river and had dinner with a dear friend I haven't seen in five years and have barely spoken to in the last two.
Catching up with her was really good. It's interesting how much people change and how much their fortunes can change as well.
Makes one appreciate the contingency of one's existence, hmmm yes.
Then, as I was waiting at the train station to return home, I found myself sitting next to John (we're on a first name basis now that I've sat next to him) whilst talking to my mother about my father's decision to not have a more or less (possibly more less than more) life saving operation that could render his heart functional again, Heaven forbid, and about Mum's ever-encroaching gloom of depression.
Great.
On the flipside, I got my provisional car driver's licence today.
Great.

skillz to pay the billz

So I went to the city with my friend Tom and took a trip down Hosier Lane to be where the peeps with spray cans are last Saturday.
Tom's a great artiste and has been making stencils of late.
His is the Frankenstein's monster one up above.
See? Skillz.
And he did a stencil for me too, which wass terribly sporting of him. It was a map of Australia and said, 'Australian Values ... Conservative Values?' Which is a fair call but a tad obvious. Anyway, terribly sporting.
But we decided to ask the studio located at at Hosier Lane where we could or shouldn't stencil. And what was meant to be a quick enquiry turned into a lengthy conversation that ended up with this friendly fellow called Andrew asking for Tom to spray his stencils onto some cardboard for which he gave us a dvd of the City Lights project and some other great 'urban' texts.

He said he was glad to see some political stuff being made and put up. Apparently there's not much explicit politics in the urban art scene.
Melbourne City Council's strident anti-graffiti efforts during the lead up to the Commonwealth Games (and let's not forget the temporary accommodation of homeless people!) apparently spending $2m in two weeks alone, was rightfully met with resistance from the scene.
But where's the on-going engagement and display of critical politics? I haven't seen much. But maybe I'm blind.
And maybe I should stop writing about it and start doing something about it...
And I'm not saying that everything has to be explicitly politicised but, well, you know: a little more political engagement would be a good thing.
Instead, here's a cool mushroom.

What's on the box right now: Leftfield with John Lydon - open up (no shit).

music for babies

I just bought a CD from Collector's Corner, one of the best ever CD shops I've had the pleasure of frequenting.
'Big deal,' you may well say. And for you, it ain't a big deal but this is my blog so shut the fuck up or stop reading. The CD is an album called turn the dark off by Howie B, master trip hopper and occasional producer of bjork, u2, skylab and soulIIsoul, and I got it for $5 too (why do I always mention the price?).
Anyway, my purchase of the album reminded me of the fact that I'd listened to it seven years ago when I was in Melbourne for a holiday and I'd decided I didn't want to buy it for $30 even though I thought it was alright (although a little bit disappointing after his amazing debut music for babies).
Anyway, in the fullness of time the album came back to me and a good'n it is too. Nice.
And then I remembered that there's an ace filmclip directed by Run Wrake that I've been dying to see for about ten years from music for babies and thank dog for you-tube because here it is in all its glory. Nice. Enjoy.

doings

I've been busy again.
Lots of exciting things have been happening and some not so good things too.
I'm not sure if I mentioned our cat Makhno. He's a talkative little fellow who we adopted from the Lort Smith Animal Hospital for cheap. It's a really good service here in Melbourne, where prospective parents of homeless kitties pay $60 for a cat that has been immunised, cleared of cat HIV, micro-chipped, de-sexed, wormed and registered. Much better than buying a cat from a pet shop. The hospital also has a dog kennel with a similar system.
As you can see, we're training Makhno to go to the toilet in the toilet. It's really funny to see him go in such a manner (obvoius references to meet the parents abound).
I have started work at the 'Royal' Melbourne Institute of Technology Student Union as a student rights officer, which is in keeping with my qualifications and experiences to some degree. Very happy there.
I have a house inspection tomorrow, which sux.
I've started training to be a helpline operator and my trainers tell me that I don't go into feelings enough but I'm not convinced.
I'm on the verge of starting a band with some talented friends too. Thinking of the name 'Pearls Before Swine'. Sounds like a good band name don't you think?
Why does this blog entry sound like a group email?
I may go down to Hobart in Tasmania this week. Dad's up for a triple bypass so maybe I should put in an appearance. Been meaning to go down there for a while now anyway...
My bro Dave came up from Tas to Melboure last week for a visit, which was great. I'll blog something more relevant and interesting next time.
Tune of the moment: Coil - Christmas is now drawing near