Thursday, July 21, 2005

CUT COPY. BLOC PARTY. Mental crowd. Das shizzle.

And now we've got MIFFness happening, and Queens Of The Stone Age with The Futureheads and then Interpol and then The Go! Team. And later Martha Wainwright and a bit further down the track, The Hives!!! Cultcha comin oot me boot.

PS. I have seen War Of The Worlds. Yes, I have no morals. But for my moral turpitude, I blame David Stratton entirely. Four-and-a-half stars, I ASK YOU?! And then I say, NO! GOOD LORD.

PPS. I have read Harry Potter. Everybody's doing it, don't you know?

PPPS. I have witnessed the most egregious use of the English language. EVER. It was a sign in a shop. It said this:
LADIE'S WEAR

LADIE'S WEAR??!!! In what circumstance could that EVER be right? Wrongest thing I ever saw. I almost died. Seriously, this crazed apostrophe madness of mine is NOT helped by the world at large. Once you begin to notice all the CD'S and 1980's everywhere, YOU JUST CAN'T STOP. So please, MAKE IT STOP. And let us never speak of LADIE'S WEAR again. Shudder.

Friday, July 15, 2005

I BELIEVE WE HAVE REACHED THE END OF TIMES

Last night, Catherine alerted me to the fact that Pauline Hanson was the subject of This Is Your Life. Thank you, Catherine. IT WAS GHASTLY. Possibly the most ghastly and astounding thing I have seen on television in the guise of polite wholesome fun. In attendance; Pauline Hanson, Mike Munro, Alan Jones, a bunch of uckin moles. With the repeated suggestion that a) this was an honour, and b) it was deserved. And everyone quite willing to laugh off deeply discriminatory and idiotic social ideas and instead talk about courage and conviction. What larks! It was like being locked in a room where there were menacing warning signs on all the walls with "Deploy critical faculties on pain of death" on them, but where no-one much minded the restriction anyway. And through all the screaming and the WHY, and the WHERE AM I, WHAT'S HAPPENING, WHAT DAY IS IT, WHAT LANGAUGE AM I SPEAKING, this persistent dreadful thought kept pushing its way into my mind:

THIS IS WHAT YOUR COUNTRY LOOKS LIKE, IS.

Seriously, is the end of civilisation nigh, or something? I would just like to know. Because last night, aside from the genius car ad with its "there's room for everyone" bit, the only bright spot, or, the only thing that remotely approached a decent spot, was KYLE SANDILANDS. Yes, exactly. Anyway, after Jackie O was all like, "we saw you at the airport and didn't make eye contact with you. WE LOVE YOU, PAULINE", Kyle became a person I would allow to continue breathing. He said this:
"she said, 'I don't know why the whole country doesn't like me', and we said, 'Because you didn't like Asians and Aboriginals. But now you've changed your mind, you've danced your heart out, the world loves you'."
Yes, that's it. That's the bright spot. Believe me, in context, this was actually a good thing to say. Because there was no limit to the gloss they were prepared to apply, eg. "After coming top of your class in Year 9, you dropped out of school at the age of 15...At 24, after years working as a waitress, you got a promotion. And became a barmaid at the Penthouse Club..."

The whole thing was just SO ABSURD. And yet people were prepared to associate themselves with it. AND SMILE.

The apocalypse is SO coming.

Sunday, July 03, 2005

Went to see my friend Camille’s band play at The Stage tonight and had me some Passion Pop. Then got on a tram to the Northcote Social Club to see Midnight Juggernauts.

I was running a bit late but I decided that I didn’t much mind missing the support act, because they were to me some unknown entity, going by the name of Damn Arms. But then I caught the last song of their set. And everything changed. I began to say things in my head, eg. “Curses. This is bloody good!”… “Hey, wait a minute. Isn’t that the dude from [*sob* GONE! LOST FOREVER! *sob*] Snap! Crakk!?”… “Ohmygod. It IS!”… “Well, that’s it. I love this band. I love it INCREASINGLY. I’m slightly hysterically ecstatic, aren’t I? Yes.”… “THE WORLD IS NOT OVER. LIFE CAN BE LIVED AGAIN…” etc.

Yes. Damn Arms. Mark it.

And then Midnight Juggernauts did their thing. And I have never enjoyed them more than I did tonight. SO GOOD.

[By the way, the ticket for this gig cost me all of $10. The only thing I drank all night was Passion Pop. I caught public transport. I was even wearing a top I bought at Savers today. Good lord, I have just come home and dyed my own hair. MAN, I LOVE BEING CHEAP.]