This is a little random. I've been meaning to post for a while. Have been very busy - lots of work and socialising.
Oh, and girlfriend-time. But that's not what this blog post is about.
Well so far, as I haven't got to the point yet, that *is* what it's about. Anyway. Just my humorous talking here.
To myself.
bla bla bloop....
A list of games I thought of for Mitchell's 'Pixel Party' - the costume theme was a game character. Didn't know what to do with the list. It's a cool list. It makes me happy to look at. So I thought I'd share it.
I should point out that I haven't necessarily played all these games. Some of them I only vaguely know. But most are familiar to me, and some are my favourites.
Pokemon
Mario - Koopa Troopa
Streetfighter
MK (Mortal Kombat for those of you playing at home)
Descent II
Excalibur
Soul Caliber
Space Cab
Sim City - skyscraper?
Halo
Fable
Call of Duty
Glider Pro - paper planes! rubber bands!
N - ninja
Zelda - Goron/Link/fairy
Pacman - ghost!
Frogger
Naruto
Neopets
Spyro - sheep?
Final Fantasy
Tony Hawk's Pro Skater
Monday, November 15, 2010
Tuesday, June 22, 2010
Tuesday, June 08, 2010
Monday, June 07, 2010
And yet, one day... one day all this will be powder, and you will be king.
I wish I could write something inspiring, but I'm dredged of hope.
I wish I didn't wallow so much, and think about my failures so much, but I look in the mirror and see only flaws.
I wish I ... it's useless wishing, anyway.
You need to hope. That is vital. I guess that's why we're still here, though. We haven't lost hope yet.
But it's kind of a dull, blunted hope. A wearied subconscious thought that someday it will be better. Not a sparkling, joyful, alive feeling. No, not a feeling - a knowing. The kind of hope where you expect the best, because really, how is anything else possible?
Felix Felicis. The elixir of life. The vitality of youth.
I'm getting old...
I wish I didn't wallow so much, and think about my failures so much, but I look in the mirror and see only flaws.
I wish I ... it's useless wishing, anyway.
You need to hope. That is vital. I guess that's why we're still here, though. We haven't lost hope yet.
But it's kind of a dull, blunted hope. A wearied subconscious thought that someday it will be better. Not a sparkling, joyful, alive feeling. No, not a feeling - a knowing. The kind of hope where you expect the best, because really, how is anything else possible?
Felix Felicis. The elixir of life. The vitality of youth.
I'm getting old...
Tuesday, April 13, 2010
Ashamed
He wandered through cities
Through water and trees
Of verdant impression
Of sibilant breeze
The walk made him weary
The sun made him sit
He noticed the darkness
Nearby in a pit
"Elation has left me
So now I shall die."
And right then he gathered
To jump without cry
But something delayed him
Something unseen
He sat with a sigh
What else could it mean?
The journey not over,
He set off again
Exploring the mountains
In tumbling rain
The beaches, the meadows
The sun far above
Though never he knew it
What held him was love.
(Aww!)
Well... it wasn't originally going to be quite that... simple. But it sits so perfectly!
That'll do for now. It's late. I might do an alternate ending later. Maybe with more blood. Heehee~
Title of this post? Separate from the poem. I think.
Through water and trees
Of verdant impression
Of sibilant breeze
The walk made him weary
The sun made him sit
He noticed the darkness
Nearby in a pit
"Elation has left me
So now I shall die."
And right then he gathered
To jump without cry
But something delayed him
Something unseen
He sat with a sigh
What else could it mean?
The journey not over,
He set off again
Exploring the mountains
In tumbling rain
The beaches, the meadows
The sun far above
Though never he knew it
What held him was love.
(Aww!)
Well... it wasn't originally going to be quite that... simple. But it sits so perfectly!
That'll do for now. It's late. I might do an alternate ending later. Maybe with more blood. Heehee~
Title of this post? Separate from the poem. I think.
Saturday, April 10, 2010
Band
Well I don't know what to talk about, I keep coming up with great ideas for posts, but by the time I reach this machine the creativity has dried up.
So I'm going to talk about my band. And maybe my attachment to music in general, I haven't thought that far ahead.
SPAM
btw thanks to Nick for somehow getting me to watch the start of 28 weeks later, fucking tense films, can't stand them. They stick in my head for weeks. They're even worse when they're well-made, that just makes it worse. Like a curse. No, a hearse.
hum. the band I'm in is called Small Man Syndrome it is awesome and we have a lot of fun on stage and when we arre rehearsing sometimes we will jam over a bassline Pauly's doing or a guitar riff Steve's whipped out or even just one of our songs, I might make up some lyrics or repeat a line from a song, and Paul will do mad solos and Steve will play something bluesy and sometimes we'll play actual songs and attempt to be all organised and shit and sometimes we'll talk about stuff although not much.
You may notice that I am swearing in this post, it's true that these words are coming into my head but when I talk I screen them from certain people. I feel right now that maybe I will just 'say' them as it's different writing them - I wonder if they're more powerful heard or read? - and that makes this post much more about what I'm really thinking rather than being what I've decided is most worth your while reading. (Edited, in other words. Although I am still editing.) Perhaps you didn't even notice, which is fine. I know some people are of the opinion that screening in that way is hiding your true self and you should just 'be who you are' and 'not worry about what people think of you'! But I'm sure everyone screens to some extent, in fact that's probably a Psych theory/fact, it sounds familiar. You may not screen your naughty words but you're probably screening something else. I think what we normally screen is more hidden thoughts like 'she has really large front teeth, but I'm sitting in a job interview and she's my interviewer, so I won't mention her MASSIVE FRONT TEETH' oh god it reminds me of Austin Powers 3. MOLEY MOLEY MOLE ... ... yeah but I guess screening could refer to anything.
Interesting diversion. So the band is great fun. What's most fun is that the guys are good players, solid, and they have lots of ideas, and they understand music really well. Where that can be a drawback is when you want to create something simple, but everyone wants to do a solo at the same time. Well, that's what it feels like sometimes... Anyway the pluses outweigh the minuses. Not only that but we're all pretty good friends, and we all respect each other's talents and listen to each other's ideas. And we seem to want to make a similar kind of music; I'm still amazed, somewhat, that we all mesh so well, when we're all into such different styles. I like pop that's too saccharin for the others, it seems... Paul and Steve are into their older styles, and songs that seem obscure to me... Warren's into Muse and Radiohead, which pushes my buttons, but less so everyone else's.
We kinda bonded over 90s songs, at the start. We walked a fine line between cool and uncool. Some of us had songs we refused to cover. I remember Paul refusing something by Madonna, maybe Vogue. We covered a boyband song (specifically, Back For Good) which was super fun, but for me, highlights were our Billie Jean/Moondance medley, Faith ("well I guess it would be nice"...) and Steal My Kisses.
Dear readers, there are moments in one's life one wants to stretch into eternity. For me, our first gig at the Co-op Prom in a church hall was one of those moments. Singing Ace of Base to a darkened dancefloor, a stationary disco ball casting glimmers everywhere, with people dancing - dancing to US! - singing my heart out, backed by a solid guitar/bass/keys trio, I just felt like I was filling a little gap in the world. You know. Doing something I was meant to do.
*sigh*
Yes. Fun. Then came summer, what did I do? I don't know what I did over summer. Anyway, stuff happened. We started rehearsing again. Waz got us a gig at the Brunswick Hotel. We played well - really well, though some mistakes with lyrics might've been a little transparent. For the first time, we played originals. One of them was mine. Again, I put my all into singing and my on-stage presence. I dressed up for the occasion. I became really sweaty. I danced. Paul and I exchanged banter between songs, which kept the audience amused. One of Warren's songs, Trippin', was my personal highlight - it was one of the few songs, while on stage, I could hear properly and thought 'this sounds perfect for this venue'. Our harmonies punched through the audience chatter.
Still, for me, it didn't top the prom gig. I think the prom felt more surreal. There were a lot of friends at the Brunswick Hotel. At the prom, it felt like we were playing for complete strangers.
This may all sound a little high-horsey. I am talking it up a bit. There are wonderful moments in our set, but there have also been some awkward/messy/silly bits. I think we are still improving. That Brunswick gig received a fairly ordinary review from a friend of mine who mixes for a very popular band - I suppose he'd know what a tight band sounds like - and our next gig also received some less-than-perfect feedback from my friends. Which was deserved. People have fun, however, and for us that's extremely important.
Fun is fun.
SPAm cialsi
Waz left for China and suddenly we were a three-piece.Things seem to happen quickly in band world. We were offered a gig at the Rainbow Hotel, then the following two weekends I played two separate gigs with Mr. Charles J Tan. He's a singer/songwriter I've been saxophoning with recently. It's like: a gig every week for three weeks. What is happening to me??
Rainbow... another good gig. I snared us this one. It helps, I discovered, to have relatives who work at pubs! But the band were less happy this time. Steve felt as though he didn't play well. Paul was solid, as ever, but not as comfortable with the end result. And I was... I don't know. Like before, I sang and danced and played sax solos. Somehow, we just weren't together as well as before.
Perhaps my mind was elsewhere. It was a really super busy day for me. I v-lined from Bendigo to Hallam that morning, attended a 70th, drove home with my parents, drove to the gig, packed everything up and drove to 3MBS, did my midnight radio show, drove home at 2.30 and crashed. (On my bed, of course.)
So on top of my busy-ness, we'd only had a single rehearsal to make 2 hours of music happen... half covers, half originals. Our originals were the strong point here. Paul has a beautiful piano/voice piece which I sang for. Steve has a superb pop song called Spring.
Overall, success - it couldn't be called a failure, despite our misgivings. The audience had a great time, and we took some things away to work on.
So I'm going to talk about my band. And maybe my attachment to music in general, I haven't thought that far ahead.
SPAM
btw thanks to Nick for somehow getting me to watch the start of 28 weeks later, fucking tense films, can't stand them. They stick in my head for weeks. They're even worse when they're well-made, that just makes it worse. Like a curse. No, a hearse.
hum. the band I'm in is called Small Man Syndrome it is awesome and we have a lot of fun on stage and when we arre rehearsing sometimes we will jam over a bassline Pauly's doing or a guitar riff Steve's whipped out or even just one of our songs, I might make up some lyrics or repeat a line from a song, and Paul will do mad solos and Steve will play something bluesy and sometimes we'll play actual songs and attempt to be all organised and shit and sometimes we'll talk about stuff although not much.
You may notice that I am swearing in this post, it's true that these words are coming into my head but when I talk I screen them from certain people. I feel right now that maybe I will just 'say' them as it's different writing them - I wonder if they're more powerful heard or read? - and that makes this post much more about what I'm really thinking rather than being what I've decided is most worth your while reading. (Edited, in other words. Although I am still editing.) Perhaps you didn't even notice, which is fine. I know some people are of the opinion that screening in that way is hiding your true self and you should just 'be who you are' and 'not worry about what people think of you'! But I'm sure everyone screens to some extent, in fact that's probably a Psych theory/fact, it sounds familiar. You may not screen your naughty words but you're probably screening something else. I think what we normally screen is more hidden thoughts like 'she has really large front teeth, but I'm sitting in a job interview and she's my interviewer, so I won't mention her MASSIVE FRONT TEETH' oh god it reminds me of Austin Powers 3. MOLEY MOLEY MOLE ... ... yeah but I guess screening could refer to anything.
Interesting diversion. So the band is great fun. What's most fun is that the guys are good players, solid, and they have lots of ideas, and they understand music really well. Where that can be a drawback is when you want to create something simple, but everyone wants to do a solo at the same time. Well, that's what it feels like sometimes... Anyway the pluses outweigh the minuses. Not only that but we're all pretty good friends, and we all respect each other's talents and listen to each other's ideas. And we seem to want to make a similar kind of music; I'm still amazed, somewhat, that we all mesh so well, when we're all into such different styles. I like pop that's too saccharin for the others, it seems... Paul and Steve are into their older styles, and songs that seem obscure to me... Warren's into Muse and Radiohead, which pushes my buttons, but less so everyone else's.
We kinda bonded over 90s songs, at the start. We walked a fine line between cool and uncool. Some of us had songs we refused to cover. I remember Paul refusing something by Madonna, maybe Vogue. We covered a boyband song (specifically, Back For Good) which was super fun, but for me, highlights were our Billie Jean/Moondance medley, Faith ("well I guess it would be nice"...) and Steal My Kisses.
Dear readers, there are moments in one's life one wants to stretch into eternity. For me, our first gig at the Co-op Prom in a church hall was one of those moments. Singing Ace of Base to a darkened dancefloor, a stationary disco ball casting glimmers everywhere, with people dancing - dancing to US! - singing my heart out, backed by a solid guitar/bass/keys trio, I just felt like I was filling a little gap in the world. You know. Doing something I was meant to do.
*sigh*
Yes. Fun. Then came summer, what did I do? I don't know what I did over summer. Anyway, stuff happened. We started rehearsing again. Waz got us a gig at the Brunswick Hotel. We played well - really well, though some mistakes with lyrics might've been a little transparent. For the first time, we played originals. One of them was mine. Again, I put my all into singing and my on-stage presence. I dressed up for the occasion. I became really sweaty. I danced. Paul and I exchanged banter between songs, which kept the audience amused. One of Warren's songs, Trippin', was my personal highlight - it was one of the few songs, while on stage, I could hear properly and thought 'this sounds perfect for this venue'. Our harmonies punched through the audience chatter.
Still, for me, it didn't top the prom gig. I think the prom felt more surreal. There were a lot of friends at the Brunswick Hotel. At the prom, it felt like we were playing for complete strangers.
This may all sound a little high-horsey. I am talking it up a bit. There are wonderful moments in our set, but there have also been some awkward/messy/silly bits. I think we are still improving. That Brunswick gig received a fairly ordinary review from a friend of mine who mixes for a very popular band - I suppose he'd know what a tight band sounds like - and our next gig also received some less-than-perfect feedback from my friends. Which was deserved. People have fun, however, and for us that's extremely important.
Fun is fun.
SPAm cialsi
Waz left for China and suddenly we were a three-piece.Things seem to happen quickly in band world. We were offered a gig at the Rainbow Hotel, then the following two weekends I played two separate gigs with Mr. Charles J Tan. He's a singer/songwriter I've been saxophoning with recently. It's like: a gig every week for three weeks. What is happening to me??
Rainbow... another good gig. I snared us this one. It helps, I discovered, to have relatives who work at pubs! But the band were less happy this time. Steve felt as though he didn't play well. Paul was solid, as ever, but not as comfortable with the end result. And I was... I don't know. Like before, I sang and danced and played sax solos. Somehow, we just weren't together as well as before.
Perhaps my mind was elsewhere. It was a really super busy day for me. I v-lined from Bendigo to Hallam that morning, attended a 70th, drove home with my parents, drove to the gig, packed everything up and drove to 3MBS, did my midnight radio show, drove home at 2.30 and crashed. (On my bed, of course.)
So on top of my busy-ness, we'd only had a single rehearsal to make 2 hours of music happen... half covers, half originals. Our originals were the strong point here. Paul has a beautiful piano/voice piece which I sang for. Steve has a superb pop song called Spring.
Overall, success - it couldn't be called a failure, despite our misgivings. The audience had a great time, and we took some things away to work on.
The future:
Probably Ukraine, actually. It's a viable option. Or wildlife theme parks. We'll have a little cage of our own, and the tourists will pass by as we play in our cage, and snap shots of our crazy antics.
We're recording some stuff at the moment. I'm trying to make the time to work on my own songs, finish them, and band them (i.e. try to make them achievable in a band context). I'm learning Paul's 15 minute epic. Steve is moving house, and we might hold a gig in his new place.... no kidding. We'll see how big the loungeroom is.
Well that was interesting/fun/useless/up-myself, I was also going to talk about my connection to music. How does one explain such a thing. It's like talking about my connection to the atmosphere. Without music I'm just a socially awkward little twerp. With music I become powerful. I fit in. I become somewhat fashionable. Without it I never have that witty comeback everyone seems to instinctively know. With it, I can make the remark and the comeback at the same time. Y'know? That's what it's like. It's my niche, it's where I live. I may not be talented or deserving enough of musical life, but I'm sure enjoying it.
Those are some thoughts that I have thought tonight. Eat 'em up.
Saxman.
We're recording some stuff at the moment. I'm trying to make the time to work on my own songs, finish them, and band them (i.e. try to make them achievable in a band context). I'm learning Paul's 15 minute epic. Steve is moving house, and we might hold a gig in his new place.... no kidding. We'll see how big the loungeroom is.
Well that was interesting/fun/useless/up-myself, I was also going to talk about my connection to music. How does one explain such a thing. It's like talking about my connection to the atmosphere. Without music I'm just a socially awkward little twerp. With music I become powerful. I fit in. I become somewhat fashionable. Without it I never have that witty comeback everyone seems to instinctively know. With it, I can make the remark and the comeback at the same time. Y'know? That's what it's like. It's my niche, it's where I live. I may not be talented or deserving enough of musical life, but I'm sure enjoying it.
Those are some thoughts that I have thought tonight. Eat 'em up.
Saxman.
Friday, February 26, 2010
whyny whyny wnyhnwy.
Cheer up emo kid. Like the t-shirts say!
oh god it's awful. I hate circular arguments. Especially arguments with yourself! Especially when you don't even know what you're arguing about!!
BLEH.
oh god it's awful. I hate circular arguments. Especially arguments with yourself! Especially when you don't even know what you're arguing about!!
BLEH.
Sunday, February 07, 2010
The Edge Between Darkness And Light
When the onslaught of images fails to dull your appreciation of frozen time,
When the saturation of carefully filtered sound fails to curb your joy in the unexpected,
When the last leaf has pressed itself into your hand and you still want more,
you will be my heart's desire.
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