Rules to live by (at least, in the kitchen)

Original photo to be found here, by @grahamhancock, production wizard and camera guy at Revision3.

What I Got (continued)

WATCHING Forgot to mention a few more podcasts. Despite my dislike of their myriad of convention shows, iFanboy is still going strong since leaving Revision3. Their shows on Frank Miller and Starman have been my favourites lately. LifeHacker is one I've been trialing, and is nothing but good so far. It's basically tips on how to streamline and nerd up your life and work, such as making a cord-free office, making an emergency lamp out of a tuna can, or a laptop bag out of your hoodie. PennPoint is handy because when I watch it minimised, it's like listening to a radio show hosted by Penn Jillette. One of the few podcasts where video ain't necessary, which is good when your battery is low, or you have Twittering to do.

APP-ING I've been leaning away from iPhone games lately, using my phone much more for media and web-based stuff, though one has grabbed my attention: ShapeShift may look like a Bejewelled clone, and maybe it is, but it's highly addictive. My only gripe is that it's not timed, but turn-based, and you don't get any bombs (the only things that'll stop a game) until at least 8-10 minutes of gameplay. So until that point there is absolutely no challenge. It's also a battery-suck. I've also been playing a bit of Fruit Ninja, since they updated and added Arcade mode, which really changes up the action, adding power-ups and rewarding you for creativity. I've long been a user of Words With Friends, sometimes running as many as 20 games at a time. This has become its downfall, though, as the sheer number of games combined with an instant rematch after each win or loss has rendered the joy of winning obsolete. As it doesn't matter, then my motivation for playing is lost. I've branched out into its cousin, Hangin' With Friends, but it's not grabbing me as much. The random nature of Hangman means you either get the word straight away or you have no idea and flail about getting things wrong. I therefore don't feel accomplished when I get something, I just feel lucky. Social-media-wise, SoundTracking has been my latest download. It's free, and it is to music what Instagram is to photos. You can have to grab what's playing around you (handy in bars or music shops) or grab what's on your iPhone and post it with a comment. The big honking downside? Nobody's using it. At least, no one that I know. That means the service only exists to post songs to Facebook, Twitter, etc. Without the rich community that Instagram has, I don't think it'll stick with me long. Speaking of Instagram, it's become one of my primary ways of interacting with my social networks. You guys think I tweet a lot? My Instagram feed is 2-3 times as full. However, my love of skylines and clouds has gotten me tons of likes from people I don't know, but annoys the crap of people I actually know. So swings and roundabouts. Speaking of Apps, I still can't find a good blogging app for iPhone that'll let me post photos to Blogger the way I normally do, and it shits me.

READING I've been digging through the pile of books I've had since Christmas and cleared a few off my list. I finally took the plunge and read The Gunslinger by Stephen King. Despite high hopes, I did not like it. I found the language too florid and the characters inscrutable, taking actions I did not understand and they did not explain. I was waiting for the actions to make sense, but no one gave any explanation for what they were doing apart from it's "what I must do." Great. Thanks. One I had no preface to was iBoy by Kevin Brooks. It's a kid from the housing projects outside of London who has an iPhone hit his head from a high height and gets superpowers. Yep. Initially it's just an internal processor and all the knowledge of the InterWebz, but then it extends to a personal forcefield, electrical powers, telekenesis and, well, whatever the plot demands from the scene. No upper limit or explanation is given for these powers, and he essentially runs around beating up gang members until the finale, which by that point I did not care about. It was not a good book. The third volume of Transmetropolitan by Warren Ellis, and the series is starting to bug me. It tends to alternate between wonderful, funny and interesting stories, and then perhaps one issue in three will be terrible. It's inconsistant stuff like that that I want to push through to get to the good stuff. Example? A sentient police dog that Spider castrated during a riot seeks revenge upon him. It's exactly as bad as it sounds. But the rest is so good! Argh. However, I am tempted to try the Spider Jerusalem Experiment. For one day, from early morning to late at night, to watch television. To do nothing but watch free-to-air television. Take it all in. I think it'll either result in some amazingly interesting blogness or my brains running out of my ears. I have 8 or so issues of The Word sitting waiting to be perused. i should really do something about that.

LISTENING I've found a cheap CD shop (10 CDs for $50) near my work, so I've resupplied my musicness. Here's a list because I couldn't be bothered keeping up the format of my own blog entry:

• Pulp - Hits (I don't know why I keep buying Pulp albums. I think I need to admit that I like the idea of pulp more than I like the actual music.)
• Two Door Cinema Club - Tourist History (discovered this through Soundtracking, fun electro-indie pop stuff. Highly catchy)
• Grinderman 2 (Grind Harder? Electric Boogaloo? More strange and interesting stuff from Nick Cave and the Dirty Three. However, like with the first album, I'm only keeping about half of it in my rotation.)
• Cold War Kids - Robbers & Cowards (Indie. But not hipsterish. I like it. Next question.)
• Muse - Absolution (More epic soundscapes. Sounds great through big headphones. May lead to slight air guitar)
• Kaiser Chiefs - Yours Truly Angry Mob (cementing the fact that yes, I really like the Kaiser Chiefs. They are fun and I like them.)
• Siouxsie - Mantaray (I've had three tracks (Into A Swan, Loveless & Drone Zone) from this album forever. I think I got the best tracks, as the rest of the album isn't all that.)
• She Wants Revenge - This Is Forever (more of the same from the Joy-Division-sounding darkwave-post-punk-electro duo. This is not a bad thing. This is a good thing.)
• The Puppini Sisters - The Rise & Fall of Ruby Woo/Betcha Bottom Dollar (Andrew-sisters-1940s-style-close-harmony-singing mixing covers of Beyonce and the Bangles with old school swing hits. Addictive and wonderful.)
• The Bravery - The Sun And The Moon Complete (What's this? a two-disc set with the same songs on each? It's the original garage-sounding 2007 album on Disc-1, and the same songs redone and re-recorded with a more electronic synthy twist on Disc 2)
• The Pipettes - We Are The Pipettes (60s Girl Group tribute act. Pure summer pop goodness. Check out Pull Shapes, as mentioned in Jamie McKelvie's Phonogram: The Singles Club)
• ...And You Will Know Us By The Trail Of Dead - So Divided (these guys continue to impress me, though seemingly no two of their songs are remotely the same in tone or genre. Lush and layered sounds that sound fantabulous through headphones or good speakers)
• Beastie Boys - Hot Sauce Committee Part 2 (have only listened to a bit of this but it seems like a return to form)

There! That'll do it. That should give you something to do for a bit.

Today.

(Not every post needs a t-shirt picture)

Today I had a day off. I sat around, drank coffee, went shopping at Marrickville to buy stuff to make curried Barramundi with coconut rice, watch a Lost Room episode and most of Tremors 4.

Oh, and I built a lightbox from instructions I found here.

It's a small one, more a proof of concept than anything I could use full-on (hence the off-white shirt, and the fact I used an old hard drive box, my yellow flourescent desk lamp and some printer paper), but it works, and I like it.

To test it, I grabbed whatever the hell I had lying around, which turned out to be various little Transformers (movie Jazz and Ransack), a Mr. Burns (with Booboo), and a pencil sharpener in the shape of a tank with a bent cannon due to Ted swinging it about when he would talk to me at work.

So next week after payday I'll look for some alternate lights and get cracking on a bigger lightbox.

So what did YOU do today?

You Won't Know What Hit You In The Slightest

Day 12.

This'll be a shortish post as I've had both a doctor's visit (in which I was cross-examined and given what appeared to be a sobriety test) then a physio visit (in which I was beaten and turned to Silly Putty) all to try and stop the waking-up-with-searing-pain-in-my-head thing. Here's hoping. On an unrelated note, today was such a beautiful day that I drained my iPhone dead taking pictures of buildings, clouds, trees, and occasional people.

Today's shirt is a Scott Pilgrim shirt. Most people get that. But only a few realise that it's a reference to the album "Goo" by Sonic Youth. Those few who notice make me happy.

Pictures.

Tanja had the non-sarcastically brilliant idea to toddle down to the Museum of Contemporary Art for the Annie Leibovitz exhibition. After queueing for about 15 minutes, we arrived at... a second queue. Then we got in. The photos were amazing, with huge photos covering half the wall, as well as a sort of tunnel that showcased everything she had collected for the show in small scale. On show were all sorts of photos: her portraits of musicians (like the White Stripes, which managed to look both staged and snapped in-the-moment; and Willie Nelson, who resembled nothing more than an Indian Head penny; Iggy Pop, muscular & cadaverous), actors (Al Pacino resembling Napoleon in bare feet; Jim Carrey making faces and roaring at the world), heads of state (The Queen, removed from her usual setting, making her a monarch unadorned & out of time, but a monarch nonetheless; the Bush administration, particularly John Ashcroft (no link, sadly), whose portrait had him off to the side on a white background, with have the set in view, including a secret service agent and an American flag, tucked away like a forgotten heirloom), her partner of many years Susan Sontag (who died of cancer), and perhaps my favourite, many photos of her extended family, particularly elderly folks and children, most candid snaps.

It was extremely crowded. Not "I can't move" crowded, but the more subtle kind of crowded where each time you stopped to read or look at something, you would amass a small collection of people who would hover at your elbow, just behind you, or off to the side, so that when you decided to move again, you'd nearly trip over them, or they'd catch your elbow or something. This stressed me. The stressing was increased by the fact that I had neglected to bring my glasses. Normally, that would not be an issue, my being only a little nearsighted, but all of the writing was small, so I had to get within a few feet of the wall, or I wouldn't be able to read it. Also, through the entire event I was composing this post in my head, and as such wanted to take a quick picture of how crowded it was. I took out my phone in an out of the way corner, as I didn't want to make it look like I was taking photos of the art. I saw a guy with a ponytail glace at me, and I quickly put my phone away. I then noticed that Ponytail had his own iPhone out, and was checking Facebook. "Oh," said I "he must not work here." But no sooner did I take out my camera and snap a quick photo, than he apporached me and told me that no pictures were allowed. I tried to say that I just wanted to show how crowded it was, but he would have none of it. I did get a photo, though not a good one:

So anywho, this exhibit got me thinking. Not thinking; yearning. I yearn to take photos of people again. Candid photos, staged photos, whatever. I want to be able to capture the look on someone's face; the intent in their eyes. I want to photograph them, warts and all. It's the same kind of feeling I got after I got my Flip video camera, and realised that the easiest way to get people to not act naturally, was to point a camera at them. No one will let me. Not at all. I content myself with taking quick snaps on my phone, but really, I'm filling up on bread, and it's starting not to satisfy me. I've ruminated on this subject before. But it still bothers me. I think I may have put my finger on a portion of what bugs me today.

When someone takes a photo of me, be it one where I look good, or one where I look bad, I know it is a photo of me. It may not be a photo I like, but it is an accurate representation of how I look from that particular angle at the specific moment. It's true. People who give the "Oh, I look stupid in that one/all those photos" are implying that the photo is somehow a lie or a trick, imposed by the photographer to ruin their self-image, and the image held by others. Maybe Facebook is to blame, what with the ability to untag photos so only you get to choose what appears when someone searches you.

However, telling someone, especially a female someone, when they say "Oh, that's a terrible photo!" that "Hey, that's how you looked like in that moment." does not help.

Apropos is a good word.

Apropos and as a follow-on to my previous post about Photography and people blocking shots with their hand (Oh, I'm not going to link to it, just look two inches down the page), I add this: On Thursday, Gonzo, while sitting on the other side of the pod from me as I was trying to organise something at my desk, held up his fancy schmancy digital SLR and started snapping photos without looking into the viewfinder. I, being extremely busy as well as annoyed by other things, held up my hand to block him. He then cited the blog entry, saying "Don't you hate people who do that?" This gave me pause, but in my head I can up with an answer. He was not taking photos because he found what I was doing interesting. He did not think I looked good. He was not even looking at the pictures he was taking. He was using the camera simply as a tool to annoy or provoke a reaction from me. This then gave me the right to block with my hand.

"Oh, don't take a photo!"

I’m finally taking a stand.

 

I hate, hate, HATE people who:

 

1.   A) flinch away, or try to block their face with their hand when you try to take a photo

 

-or-

 

2.   B) people who, upon seeing a perfectly fine-looking photo of themselves that you just took, will exclaim “Oh, God! I look ugly/fat/stupid! Delete that!”

 

Seriously, I’m over it.

 

As someone who takes a lot of pictures (nearly 4000 this year alone), nothing frustrates me more. This is especially bad when I’m trying to take a candid photo to actually capture a funny or interesting moment that I feel would make a good and well-composed picture. That candid photo is ruined when the person becomes a cringing blur as they exhibit behaviour A. Yes, I know that everyone’s image is their own business and that I shouldn’t be taking photos without permission, but come ON. Behaviour B seemed to be more of the ingrained body-conscious insecurity that’s drilled into people (of which I myself am an occasional victim) in which we must automatically downplay ourselves as ugly for fear of being considered arrogant and conceited (or worse, actually believe that we are unattractive and dismiss ourselves out of hand).

 

In any case, it comes down to this:

 

1.   I am a photographer and therefore (for better or worse) am an artist (of some sort).

2.   The pictures I compose and attempt to compose (for better or worse), are art (of some sort).

3.   Therefore, the people and objects in the picture (for better or worse), are part of that art (of some sort) and are worthy/interesting.

4.   Therefore, shut your face about it. I think you look good/interesting in this photos and that’s that.

 

These thoughts were kicked into action by a farewell I was at last night, and two friends of whom I took a candid photo of two people I know sitting by a wall and laughing at what a person standing nearby had said. The candid photo was natural and looked great. They then noticed I was taking photos and got quite embarrassed saying “Oh, delete that, I’m sure it looked terrible.” Despite having not seen the photo. I tried to downplay the situation by saying “Well, if you don’t want me to take a bad photo, let me take a good one.” (my mantra of sorts), and they posed. Then viewed the picture. “I look terrible in that one,” one said. “Take another.” They posed again. Repeat times 5. In the end, I just walked away. When I looked at the results, the two best-focused and best-looking photos were the first two I’d taken. Also, after putting the photos on Facebook, I got a narky comment about the candid one, stating “When did you take this, how dare you, I’m going to kill you when I see you next OMG.”

 

I can’t win. Frankly, I miss my old camera-phone, where you could take a picture without making a shutter sound, so people wouldn’t know (though, the camera was no good, and I know they auto-enabled the noise to stop locker-room shots and such).

 

So yes, if you’re one of the people like Craig and Stevie and Ted, of whom I can take many many photos and just love the attention, then I salute you.

 

 

Lucas Brown | Proxy Champignon
Master of Brainthinking

 

Genuine People Hair! Made from Real People!

Got my hair trimmed at Noddy's On King this morning, and as usual, Ivana (the stylist) had one of the less-senior folks do the drying and straightening. However, this time, the girl didn't use straightening irons. She went through my whole mass of giant hair with a round brush and a hair dryer, a process that took 45 minutes or so (I have like 8 natural layers, my hair's thick). The result? Awesome. My hair looks about three inches longer than normal, and shiny and smooth and it moves and then goes back to where it was. Even Ted and Pete (self-confessed "guys" who don't notice that stuff) went "Whoa!"



On the health front, we've had ups and downs since last entry. Saturday, Sunday, Monday and Tuesday i was fine, but Wednesday my throat and voice went mental again, and remained so on and off all week. Today I got myself a big back-of-the-neck headache too. Stupid body.

Friday Off

dDue to my ATLing this week, I have to work a Saturday and have Friday off. It's been ages since I had a weekday free that wasn't annual leave or a sick day.

I went into the city and got a new cover for my iPod. I had bought one before, but apparently the new 80 gig Pods are thinner than the old ones. So I had to get a silicone case that could stretch.

Got an interview next week with this place. Looks promising.

Watching the Rifftrax version of Eragon. It's silly.

Went to see the David Hylton Band play at the Sando last night and took a buttload of pictures. He won't be short of Myspace pics for a while. I also slightly overimbibed. Well, I don't think I did, but my head this morning seems to think so.

I also dragged my laptop into the CBD looking for Wireless networks that all the cool kids are talking about. All I could find was the Tesltra Hotspot one. I ain't paying for Internetz!

...

Halloween, but not Hallowe'en.

So it’s Halloween (I always hated putting the apostrophe in between the e's. It was a thing they only did at school). And for the second year in a row, I’ve done nothing. Admittedly, last year I came to work dressed as an undertaker, Craig came as Zoidberg and Rick came with a knife through his head. But we were the only ones. This year I didn’t even do that. The extent of my Halloween dress-up was to wear these shoes to work. They made my feet greener, and me taller but really weren’t all that Halloween. Sigh. On the TikiBar forums, people are posting Jack O’Lantern Tikis and on Neil Gaiman’s blog, someone posted a photo of a Neil O’Lantern. I miss punkins, even though watching them get gutted makes me throw up.

Tanja and I drank some fancy beers on the weekend. I had the idea after watching too many Diggnation episodes. We went to Vintage cellars and got some beers (mostly Belgian, one British and one German). The list was as follows:

-Two bottles of a random German doppelbock of a brand that we’d had before. Ok, not spectacular.

-Two bottles of Chemay Trappist White : A Belgian Trappist blond beer. Quite floral, but very dry as well. 8%, which is getting towards proper beer strength. Good. Thumbs up.
Two bottles of Chimay Trappist Blue : A Belgian Trappist dark beer. Quite sweet. 9%. Fuck yeah. Got the seal of approval from both me and Tanja for the next time we’re there.

-One bottle Delirium Tremens Belgian Strong Pale Ale . Apparently, the shop only gets in one case of it at a time. It’s 9.0% strength and cost $8 per 330 ml bottle. But it was smooth as silk, floral, and just really really nice. Plus the bottle was opaque ceramic. Which is awesome. Plus, it’s named after the shakes that hit when you’re detoxing. Cool.

See what happens when you try new things?

Back now.

Didn't blog everyday due to coin-op computers and a pile of high-school people at the hotel.

Went around Melbourne. Bought things (Star Trek and Simpsons DVDs, but NOT I may add cool wingtip shoes). Ate good food (and bad buffet food. We don't learn). Saw Tanja's sister. Saved Tanja's sister's boyfriend from Death By Tanja (he made light of her glass-ceiling-women-get-less-money-for-same-work coversation and nearly lost his left testicle. It was a thing). Took off with my camera for an afternoon and had a disastrous public transport experience (equivalent of trying to go from the city to Newtown and ending up in Emu Plains). Saw new Harry Potter film (meh). Slept in leaking waterbed at Tanja's sister's place. Watched my facial hair and fingernails grow as I had neglected razor and clippers. Flew home. Bought a book on the way back, which was odd.

Back to work on Wednesday. Well. I say work. Coaching role. So kind of work.

Does whatever a spider can, apparently.

Last night, we spotted this little beauty in the corner of the hall ceiling. Doesn't look like much, does it? But then, that's not what it looks like up close.

It's about 5 inches across, and was big enough that Tanja didn't want to walk under it in case it dropped off the ceiling and landed on her face. I didn't want to squish it, as I hate killing spiders that aren't actively trying to kill me. What confused me was Tanja's insistence that if it wasn't in the same place this morning, she'd be more worried, because then she'd think it was in the bedroom.

Well, this morning it was next to the front door, so I shooed it out onto the front porch, where it hid under the fusebox. Cute little bugger.

Back from Hunting

Wine booty! And Tanja footy.

Anyway, yes. Bought far too much wine. Must attempt to get rid of it as quickly as possible. *hic*

And no one has internet connections anymore, so they don't update their blogs. It makes stalking boring. Step to, people!

Also, I've an idea for a sort of photo-based penpalling. A sort of "sum up where you live and who you are in 24 photos which you send to a person in another country" kind of thing. I have a bunch of australians here, and I know a few Englanders, Canadian Hoseristas, and Americanians. It could work.

Hail, Caesar!

It started pissing down just as I came out of the library, then quickly changed to this sh...stuff. The pictures don't do it justice. And thunder! And lightning! And boybands falling from the sky! And I had no jacket!

Yet more hail.

Halloween Pictures

My decorations! part 1


My decorations! part 2


Shaun of the Dead triumphant! I shall smite thee with my tiny cricket bat!


Tanja with newly pink, newly spiky hair.


Ted and Catherine as the White Stripes. Ye gods.


Party poppers ahoy.


Craig as Death. Slaying hats. And stuff.


CraigDeath borrows my Crow mask and proceeds to look rather creepy.


Apparantly, CreepyCraigDeath loves the Metal. Meh-Taahhhl!


Tanja, masked and clawed. Kinda cute, not too scary.


Catherine, surprised, through green streamers.


Lucas/Shaun, smirking, through green streamers.


CraigDeath as Boy George. Possibly scarier than the Crow mask.


Ted, your mascara is running a little.


Clash of the Titans. Axe beats scythe!


Ted, eerily resembling Billie Joe Armstrong, lead singer of Green Day.


Ted showing off his birthday present that he finally picked up. Evidently he was pleased. I think.


My Bat-Lamp!


Bat-Lamp, part 2


"I'll cut me! I'll do it! I'll cut my ass!" Craig threatening vehemently, if not wisely.


The natural view of our apartment. Yep. Through a glass.