a_kamikazelove

( Snapshots )

LJ tells me that it has been 31 weeks since I updated this ... now that has got to be a record in procrastination. I don't know why I find this thing so hard to update. It's like once you leave it a little while, you've got too much to cover and it becomes too big and too hard .... so my new philosophy is short often posts (it's worth a try). I was reading about someone today who vowed to blog every day for the next one hundred days in order to dig a little bit deeper, not a bad idea but I'm not gonna kid myself by saying that I'll keep up.The theory is if you post every day it takes the pressure off to make long meaningful posts. 

So one of the reasons I even wanted this was to keep track of the gigs I go to so here is a list of the gigs that I've been to lately that have been outstanding (not good or great but seriously kickarse):
The Presets @ The Tivoli (Aug 08)
Magic Dirt @ The Zoo (Aug 08)
Josh Pyke @ The Zoo (Sept 08)
Jebediah @ The Zoo (Sept 08)

Both The Presets and Jebediah are up for best gig of the year.

Gigs coming up that I'm really looking forward to:
Holly Throsby @ The Troubadour 26 Aug
Michael Franti @ The Tivoli 10 Oct
Sounds of Spring @ RNA 11 Oct
Tom Cooney Album launch @ The Troubadour 16 Oct
Bob Evans @ The Troubadour 20 Nov

Great movies I've seen recently: In Bruges, The Counterfeiters

Things that are inspiring me:
Swap-bot.com - this is the cutest idea where you send stuff (swap) with random strangers, mostly hand-made arty/crafty stuff. I think it's the sweetest idea but the more you look at the site, the more full on it looks. Like anything it can be elitist and bogged down in 'ratings'. But I am hoping that the essence of a great idea shines through. I have signed up for a mix cd swap to give it a try and I have to send to a girl in Canada and a girl in New York.

belleandboo.com - the cutest artwork on buttons and magnets, was all ready to put in a gigantic order when I realised the store was based in the UK and all the prices were in pounds :( still they list a brisbane stockist that I'm gonna sprint to check out

albumoftheweek.com.au  - pretty much just a blog where some aussie kids review one album per week

fourthousand.com.au - brisbane culture stuff straight to your inbox. Great idea tho I've only seen one issue so far so too early to say if it's gonna be any good.
 

Listening to: Holly Throsby, Vampire Weekend & The Lighthouse Song - Josh Pyke
Eating: Family-size bags of mini M&Ms
Watching: Gilmore Girls (they have gone from guilty pleasure to scream-from-the-rooftop favourite), Flight of the Conchords & Prison Break
Loving: my peacock feathers, the warm weather, dress like a pirate day at work, making mix cds, my iphone
Hating: work and most of the people at it, the headache I've had for a week

So I survived my first week of working full time ... just. I can tell you my life is not fun at the moment. I'm not really well enough to be working full time but I'm pushing myself through it, on top of that I'm working up extra flex time to take off for the wedding (in 2 weeks) and I'm still on this ridiculous shake diet so I can fit into my dress at the wedding. The diet alone zaps all my energy and leaves me lethargic and brain dead and on top of that I'm trying to get in some serious exercise everyday after work. This all leads to sheer exhaustion. Last week was so painful, I'm really hoping this week is not going to be the same. 

On the positive I am very much looking forward to having a full time pay every week. Today was my first payday (yippee!) and what was the first thing I was planning on doing? laneway tickets, guess what just sold out last week. bugger. It's not my week. Still I was looking at the timetable and 2 of the acts I most want to see; Gotye and The Presets are playing at the same time which would have sucked big time (having said that if anyone hears of a spare ticket I'm interested). 

I'm almost into my bridesmaid dress but not quite, man I put on alot of weight without realising it. I've lost about 6 kgs and I'm still not in but it's specifically one spot I need to lose the weight from which makes it hard. I should be in by the wedding but this diet thing is not fun. The first week is easy and you drop 4kgs like that and think what's all the fuss about dieting, this is easy! and then everything changes. Your body adapts to the shakes and is hungry all the time and you stop losing weight. It's painful and frustrating when you starve all day and see no result. Dieting is not easy at all. I'm bound to triple my size when this is over cause I'm gonna eat everything in sight. ha

Good tele is starting again which is good news. I am loving So You Think You Can Dance. New Good News Week tonight, I'm really crossing my fingers that they don't stuff this up. I saw on the ad that Mikey Robbins is back, the Sandman better be as well. 

So hottest 100 time again (doesn' t that come round quickly). I had high hopes for Silverchair this year, they've never had a #1 in the countdown. So how pissed am I that they were beaten by 13 votes! ... by a song that I voted for! ugh awful. It certainly gets you thinking about the voting process. I should have only voted for songs that I would have been happy to beat Straight Lines. On top of that, it's the one year I decided to go legit and vote once, instead of from every email I have, shite what a year to bugger that up. 

Sadly I didn't get to listen to much of the countdown this year. Badly timed hens party for the best mate at the same time which was very distracting (more on this later). Apart from what I've mentioned I wasn't attached to too much this year. Was a bit disappointed that Josh Pyke wasn't higher, shite that Foo Fighters was so high - who voted that song? Other than that, everything was ok.

For posterity here's the list:

 

One of the more depressing things that can happen ... I tried on my bridesmaid's dress this evening (the dress that was bought well over 6 months ago and is not available anymore) and it doesn't fit. Not in a ooh that's a bit tight kinda way but in a zipper is 10cm away from being done up kinda way *panics* 10cm! That seems like alot, how the hell do you put on 10cm without noticing! It's not like I carry alot of weight, how the hell do you get rid of 10cm in 3 weeks *panics more* I have no idea and there is absolutely no other option but for me to fit into that dress in three weeks time. Faaaaaarrrrrrkkkkk.  I guess I'm not eating for a while :(

 I can't believe Heath Ledger is dead. How sad, I'm sure that he had so many great movies left to make. Fuck.

I am making a concerted effort to write about something straight after it actually happens ... otherwise it'll never get done. It's long and includes some dodgy pics

 Wow, it's been a long time since I updated anything. I guess life gets crazy round christmas time. 

Big Day Out this weekend which is exciting, though I'm a tiny bit worried about it. I have spent the last two years recovering from the last time I went haha that might be a slight exaggeration but my health issues did start with what could have been heat stroke at BDO two years ago. It's bound to be another stinkin hot day. I'm really hoping that it's at least overcast and I think I'd prefer rain to clear skies and blazin sun. How old do I feel worrying about the weather. Not too many timetable clashes this year which is good but most of the bands I wanna see are on the main stage which sux. Not surprisingly most excited bout Silverchair and Josh Pyke. 

Sufjan Stevens' gig at The Tivoli last week was incredible! I don't even think that I could put into words how good it was. There was a 10 piece band, stunning visuals, costumes, hula-hooping & the wings! I was wondering how the complex instrument-laden tracks would translate live but with the band they were phenomenal. Just as powerful were the solo songs with just a guitar or piano. The only thing that sucked about this gig was the fact that Sufjan Stevens fans are tall, really really tall and my vision was fairly badly blocked. 


It's been too long, so this is the one(ish) word review of new cds and dvds:

Echoes, Silence, Patience & Grace, Foo Fighters - OK (they could really do better)
Era Vulgaris, Queens of the Stoneage - Very good (not their best but still has that sexy QOTSA sound that I love, shits all over Fooies new one)
Devil's Elbow, The Mess Hall - Great (love it, need to listen to it more)
X, Kylie - Fun (sounds very familiar but I'm lovin the trashy)
Entourage (season two) - Brilliant! (I'm obsessed by this show, it's perfectly cast and totally hilarious, S2 is way better than S1)
The Catherine Tate Show (season two) - Hit & miss but mainly hit (the good is gold but the bad is cringeworthy)
Across the Great Divide DVD - Brilliant  (the doco is hilarious and the shows are one of the best live dvds I've seen)


And a little bit of the life stuff:
> I'm never (ever, ever) organising a hens night again ever. It has been one of the most stressful things I have ever done which is ridiculous. It's supposed to be easy and fun but it's sending me insane and to rub salt in the wound Josh Pyke announces a free gig on the same night. 
> I have been offered a permanent postion at work which is good and scary. It's been years since I've worked full time and I'm not really sure if my health is up to it although I can't wait to have some money for a change. It doesn't start til next month so I've got some time to get used to the idea.

Now while the Foo Fighters at times can seem boringly commercial, I was suprised by how good they were the first time I saw them live at the BDO (some year). The last show they played at BEC was incredible and still stands out as one of the most fun gigs I've been to. Since the latest album has come out (which I don't have yet), I have been waiting for the tour announcement. This has been a good week with getting BDO tix and the Fooies announcement. Today was the presale and the website was (and still is) totally unaccessible due to the high traffic. Frustrates the hell outta me when that happens, so I'm trying and trying and trying and losing patience. I start looking around and realise that the tickets are being sold through ticketek and the page is easily accessible but you need a password to get the tickets. So the first site that I can't get to is only for a password and not even for tickets, f**k! So I keep trying and trying and outta sheer boredom I think, well these things aren't usually too hard, I wonder what ticketek does if you guess the wrong password. Take a stab and voila! straight through! Sometimes predictability is a good thing. So I have my hands on a shiny Foo Fighters ticket and I couldn't be happier. Though the gig isn't til the end of April next year which is forever away. Also, the way I'm going, noone I know will be getting a xmas present this year because I'm spending all my money on tickets (just for something new).

 

Say what you want about Silverchair but they are very good to their fans. I now have tickets to Big Day Out, hee! That happened sooner than I expected. 

I was gonna do a big post today but I am being distracted by my procrastinating flatmate. Every time she has days off work to study we end up at JB Hifi and today we came home with the whole 6 seasons of Dawson's Creek aha! I'm off to rediscover my Pacey-love!

Faaaaarrrrrkkkk! silverchair are playing BDO. Dammit, I so wasn't gonna go this year and what's the chances of actually being pulled outta the ballot thing at this late stage. F**k!

In better news, Muse tonight yippee! 

So I'm up this morning waiting for Sufjan Stevens tickets to go on sale, now that is an exciting show! I had to choose between that and PJ Harvey cause I'm too poor for both but really there was no competition, there's no way I'm missing Sufjan Stevens. I notice that PJ isn't selling all that quickly so if I get rich sometime soon, I might do both.

One of my incentives for having a lj is to have somewhere to write about all the gigs I go to, something to look back on cause they all get blurry (or even forgotten) over time. But I haven't been doing it which is f**ken annoying. You've got to do it straight away or you lose the feeling of it but anyway I'll give it a go... (this gets really long)

 That's alot that I haven't updated, I blame moving and since then I blame my unhealthy addiction to playing poker on facebook. That shit is seriously addictive, it's gonna turn me into a bonafide gambler.

I was happy with the ARIAs the other night. I was a bit worried about the whole Powderfinger/Silverchair thing especially since PF is headlining this tour they're doing (ridiculous). I thought that mediocrity might win the day again but not so thank god! I was so happy that the boys swept it and Josh Pyke won best Adult Contemporary album which was cool but they didn't telecast his speech! Bastards (especially as he indirectly thanks me in his speech). Gotye and Sarah Blasko wins were cool too. 

Josh Pyke's QPAC show tomorrow night woohoo!

Moving is a bitch, I'm never doing it again ... I wish. It's not til you move that you realise exactly how much stuff you have, what a nightmare! The cost, the exhaustion and the lack of internet but we're settled now. We got the place at Albion and it's working out pretty well. The location is great and it's closer to work which is good - I walked home the other day and it only took me 45mins.

It's gigs ahoy for the next coupla weeks which makes me feel better. Whiskey Go Go's tonight, Regurgitator tomorrow, Ben Kweller and Justin Timberlake (hee) next week and Josh Pyke and Mess Hall the week after. Nice one! and after that is Vasco Era/Fumes and Darren Hanlons gigs, fab!

Prison Break starts again tonight! Woohoo! Hands down best show on tele at the moment. The ending of the last season was so full on, I can't wait to see what happens next, though Sona's gonna be scary! I can't believe that 7 aren't putting it on at 8:30 - it's the only decent show in their shithouse lineup at the moment and they've pushed it to 9:30 after Las Vegas of all things, that's terrible programming. Surely Las Vegas ratings aren't better than Prison Break ... surely! 

Ben Kweller's Zoo show has sold out and he has announced another one the night before .... hmmm ... I am supposed to be saving my money. To double or not to double, that is the question.  

Is it normal to get the tax refund notice before you get the money in the bank? I always thought it was the other way round but I can't really remember. I have a piece of paper telling me I have money but that's not much use.

I don't know why but I never really used the playlist function on my Ipod. I guess I prefer whole albums but inspiration has hit and I can't get enough of it, it's like making mixtapes all over again. Here's my latest playlist, full of lots of old faves:

I was typing this out thinking about how hungry I am when my flatmate rings and says I'm picking up Tomato Brothers on the way home, my shout, I'll be home in 10! She's so my new hero. 

It's been a while, this got kinda long...