Oy.

I've just been hit with a wave of despondency. Here I am, checking my email on a Monday morning. I should reply to my sister, but i don't feel like it. My movie group people are attempting to organise certain nights, one to see the Constant Gardener (which I have no interest in seeing, as seemingly no one knows what it's actually about), and one to see a play (which costs $55 a ticket, which I can't and won't afford, but the rest of them can, have GOOD jobs and being older and richer than me). I wanted to see Kiss Kiss Bang Bang, but they planned it for a Friday when a) I had just gone with them on the Sunday to see Me, You, And Everyone We Know and had spent my movie money for the week, and b) on one of the few nights off I get to be with Tanja lately. I've also got a farewell at work this Friday that I don't really want to go to, a Christmas party on the 6th (at a fucking Bowls club, no less) which will be starting at 4pm, but which I and the other poor saps scheduled to work that night, won’t be able to get to until 11:30, by which time all the food will gone, and the people will have been weeded down to the few pissheads who are left at the end of every party. All this is not being helped by the fact that I’m reading John Birmingham’s “He Died With a Felafel In His Hand”, and I’m past the early funny parts, haven’t reached the funny ending, and am bogged down in the depressing middle, which is all about living with junkies and freaks and ferals. Fun times. Only not. I have stencils to cut for the vinyl art I want to make, but I can’t bring myself to start. I rented some movies: Unforgiven (which I told Bruce the Movie teacher that I’d watch and tell him what I thought), Biodome (which Tanja declared that she’d outgrown her like of after watching it last night. Duh :P), Life Aquatic (which was SO odd and not that interesting), Confessions of a Dangerous Mind (which looks like one of those films that require work and so I don’t have the energy for), and The Ladykillers (ditto). Ugh. And it’s raining. And I’m going to be at work until 11 again tonight wandering my section, surveying all the damage done by marauding teenagers, having no room to put out new stuff, and realizing that a cleanup would take the entire night, and if I did so and didn’t finish, I’d get the talk of “why are you starting tasks you can’t finish, Lucas?” from the boss. Also, there’s yet another drama with Tanja’s sister and her fucking knob of a boyfriend. I’m honestly at the point where my first response upon hearing there was a problem was “fuck ‘em.” because I didn’t have the energy to mediate and keep the peace like I always do. Not to mention that the only way I get Christmas Eve off (when Tanja’s folks have their festivities) is if I work a 10:30 to 6 am on the 23rd. You see, Borders has decided that we’re going to be open from 9 am the 23rd to 6pm the 24th. You know, to catch all the folks who turn up at 4 am Christmas Eve wanting a John Steinbeck novel. If I don’t work the night, I’ll be working till 11pm the 23rd, and then til 6 the 24th. Since it takes 2 hours or so to get to Tanja’s folks’ place, that won’t do. The holiday season, ladies and gentlemen. Bring your wallets.

I need more coffee.

"Yokels! Rubes! You don't understand true art!"

I bought season 1 of the Muppet Show yesterday. *sigh* Takes me right back. Animal and Gonza are still my favourites (well, them and Crazy Harry, but he's more of a recurring cameo who blows things up. You know, like Craig). The only difference is now, as an adult (sort of) I get Gonzo more as a true artist. I mean, come on. He ate a tire to "Flight of the Bumblebee", he grew a tomato plant while playing the 1812 Overture on the violin, he even smashed an antique car with a mallet to "the Anvil Chorus".

However, his crowning moment, his shining star of purist artistry, was when he took on Scooter as a manager, who suggested Gonzo's "rock act" to Kermit.

Kermit: "But Gonzo doesn't sing."
Scooter: "No, no, a rock act. Show him, Gonzo."
Gonzo: "Ok. Watch." *he lifts a big rock onto the table, and readies his mallet*
Scooter: "Right! Hit it, kid!"
*Gonzo: *Hauls off and wallops the rock* ART! *wham!* ART! *wham* ART! *wham!* AAAART!"

Bwa ha ha. I feel an Electric Mayhem T-shirt coming on.

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.

Update. Post. Thing.

They just proved on Mythbusters that if you're under 6 feet of water, your enemies can fire a .50 cal at you and you won't get hit. The speed decrease actually causes the bullet to disintergrate from the pressure. Good to know. I have a lot of enemies.

Tanja and I were walking in the city, and Tanja spotted a woman who was... gifted. In the chest area. And her comment to me?

"Goddang, you see the size of them things?"

THAT'S my girl.

Oh, and the Magic Dirt concert went great. I learned a new band (the Fuzz), and confirmed that I liked two bands (Magic Dirt and the Spazzys), and Tanja survived a great deal of noise. Good for her. and she even admitted to liking the music. I'll corrupt her yet.

Halloween was fun. You know, except that only ONE Borders person turned up. Out of the TWENTY I invited. Craig, Ted and Catherine showed up, all costumed (Ted and Meg as the White Stripes, opposite genders I.E. Ted was Meg and Catherine was Jack. Fun freakin' times). We watched Army of Darkness, Shaun of the Dead and The Mummy (at Tanja insistence). We didn't go out to the bars, but fun nevertheless. Pictures forthcoming.

Special Editions.

Bloody special editions. Usually, in Australia, the Special edition of a CD is sold in the first 3 weeks of an album being released. It's usually a few bucks more than the regular and often has a nicer case and a DVD attached. After the 3 weeks go by, they stop producing the fancy ones. of course, why should things make sense like that. The Cat Empire, 6 months after they released Two Shoes, decided to release a special DVD-included edition. I saw the poster yesterday and got mad. Those of us who are fans have already bought the damned album. Why would we pay another $35 for the special one? So I check out the website to see what's the what, and it turns out they were thinking of us after all:

"For those fans who have already bought Two Shoes, we are offering you the opportunity to just buy the dvd. The dvd comes in a heavy quality cardboard slipcase, with full cd art. It is a 70 min dvd featuring live show footage of Lullaby and The Car Song (filmed at The Forum Melbourne), a documentary of the making of the album in Cuba, the original video clips from the album, and behind the scenes of The Cat Empire Two Shoes video clip shoot."

and it's only $10! Hooray!

Shenanigans.

Argh. i'm sick. I have a stupid cold. Which is worse than a smart cold.

My Flogging Molly CD ran out of tracks, and the stereoo switched over to Tanja's Aqua album. I'm too lazy to go change it.

Ok, next few weeks will be busy ones. Well, ok, just the week after next. For shenanigans have been planned!

(have decided just now to burn CD of Crystal method, Lemon Jelly, and Beastie Boys remixes to combat Tanja's Aqua)

October 28th: I drag Tanja to go see Magic Dirt and the Spazzys at the Metro Theatre, after convincing her that yes, it will be fun, and no, these bands aren't way too loud. Hurrah for persuasion!

(CD finished. Playing "Acetone" and annoying neighbours)

October 29th: Halloween Shenanigans! Yes, ok, I know it's not actually going to be ON Halloween, but Halloween is on a Monday, damnit. I put up a poster at work, to let people know about the arrive-at-our-place-watch-cheesy-films-while-drinking-then-hit-the-town-thing. Was told by doom-and-gloom Assitant manager that apparantly, American music boss is having yearly Halloween party on same night, and that no one would come to mine. Bint. Spoke to American music boss, who said that he gets like 5 work people out of everyone he invited, but if the people at mine want to swing by his later, the more the merrier. Very decent of him, no sarcasm at all. Yes. So that is the plan. People arrive here. Watch film. Drink heavily. Get costumed. Go to this guy's party. Apparantly his theme this year is "come dressed as a song (and you're not allowed to come as Nirvana's 'Come as you are'. Heh)". Craig, you could be "Don't Fear The Reaper" by Blue Oyster Cult, or "Crimson Ghost" by the Misfits. Ted (if he wants to be a pirate again)can be the "Last Saskatchewan Pirate" by the Arrogant Worms. Catherine can be... Well... Catherine. By PJ Harvey. Or whatever. I don't know. Do I have to do all the thinking around here?

October 30th: Plan to be hungover.

"Gut spasms. Hmm."

Tanja is sick. And she's going through a medical dictionary looking for symptoms she can relate too, and make her condition sound worse.

"Do you ever wake up tired in the morning?"
"Oh my God, write this down, whatever it is, I have it."

Sympathy monger. :P

Life.... Don't Talk To Me About Life.

I bought the new Hitchhikers movie. Despite everyone at work telling me, once I had explained that I was excited it was coming out, that they "didn't really care for it" or "didn't see it and didn't read the books" or in one case "won tickets to the premiere and walked out because I was bored." And I got a towel with it (thanks to the good folks at EZyDVD). And I snorted when they were attacked by the idea-fly-swatters. Again.

"Wait! I have an ide-" *THWAP!*

Heh.

Now I'm off to get my hair cut at some posh place Tanja goes to.

Note: Music Not Performed By Original Artist

(reposted from the WD, minus BOQ, for those poeple who don't go there)

It's a well-known and much-mocked fact that people who live or work in close proximity to music end up with odd fetish-style interests in odd fetish-style things, often young men whose interest in music becomes more whimsical than technical or preferential. See High Fidelity for the tame examples. Other such examples: a football player who specializes in girl groups from the 1960s; an accountancy student who obsesses on Hawaiian surf guitar; a sociology dropout who works in a bookstore and is trying to assemble the complete K-Tel library from 1972 to 1976; An dreadlocked environmentalist looking for de-motivating spoken-word recordings; you get the picture.

Anyway, my obsession has been revealed.

I, Lucas, have a problem.

It's cover songs.

I love them.

I've got nearly the whole albums of Nevermind the Originals, Here's the Covers and In Their Eyes: 80s Teen Movies vs. 90s Teen Bands downloaded, Paul Anka's Rock Swings! album, as much Richard Cheese & Lounge Against the Machine and Me First & the Gimme Gimmes as I can, as well as odd live ones or soundtrack one-offs and B-sides. And I've been ogling and protecting (read: hiding it from customers) the Triple M Musical Challenge 3 and Triple J: Like a Version CDs. The rough idea for both is that a band or artist comes into the show and are asked to perform a song that they don't really know all that well, that's not from their style, in a new way. It's interesting as hell, well at least for me.

So I bought the Triple M cd. And it's bloody fantastic.

*ahem*

Things I Did Today
by Lucas

1. Bought Thank You, a Stone Temple Pilots compilation at Hum Records. I wanted to get Tiny Music: Song from the Vatican Gift Shop (as this was the album I had taped from my cousin Dan in the 9th grade that turned me onto STP), but they were sold out. So I got this for 10 bucks. Turns out, whether by name or not, I know EVERY song on it. Yikes. This hasn't happened since Big Shiny 90s. And it's not a bad thing. It�s a good thing. Like swimming in your own soylent waste. (Bally! Craig! Ted! You must get that or I'm going to look weird! Er!)

2. Watched Rear Window. Very cool. There's good reason for it being a classic, Simpsons parody notwithstanding. Although, admittedly, I had to resist the urge to call out "I'm a MUR-DIDDLY-URDERER!" at one point. I also remembered (also from 9th grade) two of my classmates who, after we watched It's a Wonderful Life in class, continually referred to Jimmy Stewart as "ol' Jimmy" and talked like he lived down the block from them. "How you doin'?" "I'm good, you?" "Good. You?" "I'm good. Can't say the same for ol' Jimmy, though." "Ohhh, poor Jimmy. He's a character." etc.

3. Finished the book The Historian. Jeez that last few chapter stretched out. If they were going to go and talk to one more old cryptic monk, I was going to plotz.

4. Made this shirt.


In your face Mylo! And also Australian Idol! And no, the shirt is not yellow. It's off-white, it's just the picture.