Social Earthquake

(source unknown, I grabbed it from facebook)

One aspect of earthquakes these days that we never experienced as kids is the social media one. Within minutes of the earthquake the other night we were on-line, not so much to participate as to seek information. Who felt what, and where? Was this local, or something bigger somewhere else?

A friend of mine astutely pointed out the following:

There are 3 groups of people on FB this evening. The first are those who are commenting on the earthquake with a few Fbombs thrown in. The second group are those sharing articles and info re readings and depths etc. or quoting friends comments from other pages. And then there are those who are critiquing the speed at which one was able to gather data via various sources. 

I found myself in all three groups. I posted a "wow that was long" status on facebook then got down to the critiquing, even of my own observations (my allowance for time dilation in estimating the quake duration was way off ), and participated in a thread on who had and hadn't used twitter as an aggregator (I'm not on twitter, so no).

We didn't go as far as this guy who tweeted during the event itself, but were quickly on facebook and other forums while waiting for the official word from Geonet. That both the power and web access were still up to enable this was a good sign, and we found it a useful quick and dirty way of getting an idea of what was going on, before adding to the discussion ourselves. There was a "Me Too!" aspect (and if I'm honest a "First!" aspect as well :) ) as people informed and collectively reassured each other, but what was more interesting was the way the discussions broke down into comparison and analysis. This particular (anecdotally at least proven to be true) XKCD also came up: "Seismic Waves" .

It was both a "we really are living in the future" moment, and a great example of how web can really work.

Mug Tray Jenga

Slight interruption in the regular blogging thing at the moment, due to a combination of being busy with off-line stuff, and coming up with all kinds of stuff to post but ending up like that scene in The Matrix where Neo can only sit and stare at his computer screen when it comes to posting it. I need to coincide the inspiration with the times I can get it down on pixel. In the meantime, today some colleagues and I came up with a new game to play at work, after noticing that once the top tray of mugs empties people just go for the next one down without placing the empty tray to one side. We call it Mug Tray Jenga :)

The 13th

Dusting out a few cobwebs and tumbleweeds here, but I've been too busy with tunnels, airshows, photos, models, sports and recovery to blog much in the last little while.

Posting on Friday the 13th again, possibly becoming a tradition. I just like seeing it as a post-date :).

I've seen enough shit happening on any given day to come to the conclusion that there isn't any particular rise in shit happening to me on a Friday the 13th, so I don't get too bothered by it, or the number 13 in general.

I've always chosen 13 as a playing number when I can, as my old touch rugby T-shirt shows:
It is older than I care to say, but it did used to be dark blue, put it that way.

Plus The 13th is a Cure song I quite like, with one of my favourite videos ever:


Happy Friday the 13th everyone!

5 year (plus a month or so) Blogiversay

Passing almost unnoticed last month was the 5th anniversary of me starting this blog. Not entirely unnoticed to be fair: I noticed, but didn't get around to blogging about it for it's own sake until now.

I never had any longevity expectations starting this thing and still don't. It will be active as long as I'm interested. And while my little part of the blogosphere isn't quite the same as it was five years ago, it is still interesting enough and fun enough to participate in. I've seen a few bloggers come and go, and discovered for myself more than a few bloggers that keep me interested, from here, there, and everywhere.

So yeah, I still enjoy the process. Thanks for reading, and giving me stuff to post about.

So much to say

Listening to Led Zeppelin IV/symbols/untitled - Led Zeppelin (1971). This album is way too good and unaged to be 40 years old (and only five years older than me).

Noted an interesting comment from an 'anonymous' on someone else's blog last night:

"My, my, Off-Black has a lot to say for her/him self."

Not sure if it is a compliment or criticism, (or if it was made after reading the comments I made on that blog, or reading this one) but to be fair, there are now 600+ posts of variable quality blather on this site, so it is true in a sense. It did elicit a quiet laugh though; they probably haven't met me in real life, since the off-line me is pretty much the opposite. I surprised people with my wedding speech, both for delivering it reasonably competently and eloquently, and because they had never heard me say so much at once :).

As a seems-appropriate-at-this-point aside I don't like totally anonymous commenting on general principle. The absence of an identifier makes conversation unnecessarily difficult, besides opening the door for consequence free trolling. You can still use the non-id'd 'anonymous' label, but at least put a pseudonym, initial or other handle on the comment text itself.

In other news, we three did the Bike The Trail ride on Sunday morning, in weather nothing like as nice as the pics from last year on the official site. It might be early autumn, but winter sent us a postcard in the form of an unseasonably wet and cold southerly.


As rides around here go, it is pretty easy for anyone who rides a reasonable distance regularly. Kudos though to the woman who completed it on a ten-speed on a mostly unsealed trail. Fi decided discretion was the better part of valour, (and being 7 and a half months pregnant doesn't really need an excuse anyway, I am impressed she did it at all) and opted to finish at the halfway station, so I took Charlotte the remaining distance to the river mouth. It was mostly sheltered if occasionally damp for most of the way, but the last couple of k's were straight into the strong and strengthening wind. It was interesting to note that while I wasn't racing, just trying to ride at my comfortable pace, I was still passing people even with Charlotte on the back, even into the wind. It got some fun occasional surprised looks from people realising they had just been passed by a guy carrying a passenger.

New Look

Four years with the same blog template is long enough I reckon. It was starting to feel old, and this new one scratches the itches I had with it. Still got some tinkering here and there planned.

I also figure it was a good time to stop ripping off Goscinny & Uderzo avatar wise, so now you get a real-life picture of me instead.

500th post

The previous post was number 499, which makes this 500 since I started this a little over four years ago (prompt slow hand clap for the awesum maths skillz there). I was trying to engineer the 500th post to coincide with the fourth blogiversary that occurred on May 21st, but discovered a bunch of unpublished drafts (that were all eventually published in some form) lurking in the edit folder and bumping the post numbers up artificially. Once they were excised (or exorcised) the 500 marker got put back a bit.

Since a few of the '100 posts resemble this one, I thought it would be better to sample link the vanilla '99 posts from the last four years, starting at the the very beginning for context.

Post 1

Post 2

Post 99

Post 199

Post 299

Post 399

If you have been reading from the beginning, cheers for being patient and loyal. If you're newish, cheers for taking a look and coming back.

Normal service resumes tomorrow.

Prolific

My old friend DR over at (well, virtually over at) Freshly Ground has deemed me worthy of the "Prolific Blogger Award", as represented by the pic, and explained here. Since this is the first award (that I know about) that my blog has generated, I shall gracefully and graciously accept :). Which is not to say I wouldn't accept other awards, not excluding bribery. I am also accepting and acknowledging belatedly, since the award was made three weeks ago and I have only got around to prolifically blogging about it now.

I'm not sure I would class a posting rate of about once every three and half days as necessarily prolific (I feel prolific merely by posting two days in a row), especially when others post quality almost daily, but it is a really nice way I think to tell someone you have been following the blog for a while.

I have probably mentioned this before, but I started this thing for an unknown audience, because I enjoyed writing stuff down, and I wanted somewhere living to put it. A blog is perfect for that. I am on facebook as well, and that has supplanted the blog in certain ways, but I can use this format in ways and with a flexibility that facebook can't provide, and thus it has remained active.

This particular blog had its origins in the late 90's and early 2000's, when a significant number of my friends went overseas to see the world (or the various bits of it they could afford to get to). In the absence of direct contact, I began writing semi regular group emails, not only to keep in touch, but also to pass the time during quiet night shifts at work. I figured out pretty quickly that I liked writing as a medium, and could often express myself better this way than verbally (as readers who know me personally can probably attest). A couple of those overseas friends had already started blogs, and eventually the idea of me writing one was germinated, although it took me a long time to convince myself it would be worth reading, let alone that others might be interested. After a prolonged gestation Off Black was created in 2006. The name already existed as a handle I had used on a forum. I thought it an ironic take on the colour Off White (which had been the subject of an amusing hardware store TV ad at the time), and it seemed natural to develop it further, although it brings some interesting google results.

And so here we are, nearly 500 posts later. After putting up 100 or so posts in the first year, I thought that was a reasonable annual target. Self censorship aside (there are some things that will almost certainly never grace these pages :)) I am still nowhere near running out of material. I find the composition process continually interesting. Some posts are instantly fully formed. Almost none are written using notes or other reminders or are pre planned (which may explain why some posts are over long jumbled messes, including possibly this one), but I do try to write to the classic introduction, exposition and conclusion essay model when required. Other posts are crystal clear in my mind, but refuse to be translated cleanly into words, with seemingly short, simple compositions becoming wordy and overly complicated prose. Still other posts bear no resemblance to the original idea. Lastly there are the long term ideas, the posts that have been waiting to be written for months (or in at least one case years), because the time isn't right, or I haven't found the right way to write them yet. Some posts take a few minutes to write, some take a few hours (especially if there is photo manipulation required. That can take yonks), and I seldom publish a post without editing it a few minutes later after thinking of something I missed.

I suspect the above experience is somewhat universal for regular bloggers.

This blog is by definition and extension, all about me and the things that catch my attention (I'm sure the learned commentary on the blog as extension of the ego and its context within the internet as a whole will make interesting reading a few years or decades hence). A lot of the time I post with the people who I know are reading in mind. Other times it is pure self indulgence, and caring about others finding it interesting is cast to the wind. Aside from the aforementioned known regular readers, I still have no real idea of how many people regularly stop by this thing, and what they stop for. I know I have a somewhat niche interest set, that I have been assured people can find boring. I do try and write 'interesting', with varying degrees of success (along with trying to write 'funny'). I have no real interest in going controversial or offensive for the sake of it. This has caused me to drop a few posts on occasion before they went public. There are certain authors whose style I at times try and emulate (no, I am not going to tell you who they are). Sometimes it is just easier to post pics and let them speak for themselves. There have been several occasions when I have revisited a post sometime later and thought "That didn't really come out the way I envisioned it". Even if a post in hindsight doesn't quite work, I have yet to edit one retrospectively. It feels dishonest.

I am perennially concerned that this is a boring blog, a concern I don't help alleviate by being a comments junkie. It is stupid, especially since I browse any number of blogs daily, with interest, without commenting. I know comments are a poor way of judging others interest. I mean, a perfect post might leave no room for added commentary. There might be nothing more to say. And I also know some read from locations that prevent them commenting. But sometimes the cynical comment junkie in me looks at the '0 comments' and wonders "did no-one see that? I thought it was good. Was it boring, or did they just have nothing to add?". Not helping this process at all have been the few occasions when I have specifically asked for comments on a post and received few or none, making me wonder at times if anyone is reading, or if they are and aren't interested.

That said, I have had some awesome feedback at times, occasionally linking to places and contacts I never would have found or thought of otherwise. So thank you to all who have taken the time to leave a comment, or caught up with me in person to remark on something I put up here. You make it much more worthwhile. Cheers.

Now since this is after all a meme, there are some formalities to be undertaken. According to the rules I must nominate seven other bloggers to deem prolific, link back to the blog that nominated me, link back to the original source post of the award, and add my name to the list of recipients.

I don't like the arbritariness of picking seven people, so I am just going to nominate a few blogs of interest. I would nominate Freshly Ground (especially worth checking out if you like good home cooking), but since that is who nominated me I can't, although mentioning it takes care of the requirement to link to your nominator quite nicely.

Not helping the nomination process is the fact that a bunch of potentials have already been anointed.

Here are a few of my regular reads that I think are worth nominating for prolificity and hopefully haven't been dubbed already.
*Apologies in advance if I nominate anyone who hates this sort of thing. Take that as a licence to ignore it if you want.

I thought of doing brief descriptors, but I will let the blogs and bloggers speak for themselves. Quick paraphrasing of things that aren't machines or processes isn't my strong point:

Adventures In The Underground

My Wildlife's Words

The NotKate

Judge And Jury

The Rabbit Howls

The original source link of the Prolific Blogger Award along with the now 200+ strong list of recipients is at the top of the page. Which having now finished a classic example of a quick repost that turned into a sprawling monster, I am off to add my URL to.

How to write a Blog post

So that's what I have been doing wrong.......

Warning: the links below may contain satire, with substantial concentrations of parody for good measure.

Found at The Dim Post here, with the original longer demonstration here. Dim Post discovery courtesy of the ever lovely and interesting NotKate.

The comments on both posts are well worth reading in a picking-up-the-theme-and-running-with-it sort of way.

Tinkering, tampering, jiggering, pokering

Done a little bit of rearranging to the links, mainly sorting out the more frequently updated blogs from the others. I thought about arranging them into catergories like "People I do stuff with in real life", "Other People I have met", "People I've never actually met but I like how they write" and so on, but the thought of doing all that editing made my head hurt, so I just sorted it into frequent flyers and dabblers, as well as adding a couple of new finds.

Also added another modelling link or two, another astronomy link and another weather link. I recommend you have a look at each at least once to justify the mental energy I expended to put them there, even though I put them there primarily because I use this as my internet hub than because I thought my vast legions of readers might be interested in them.

I should update the recommended reading links as well, since it is at least a year since I listed my favourite posts. Suggestions welcome.

I should probably get a banner too. Anyone want to design a banner for me? Visual design is not one of my strongpoints.

Film Festival Wrap Up #2

Listening to: All of this and nothing - The Psychedelic Furs

We Live in Public (2009)

Or the one that I didn't actually see. I was supposed to see it with Kate and Rich, who have summarised it here, and here.

I'm not sure I should try and summarise something I didn't see, but it is supposed to about one of the early proponents of putting your life on public display via the internet. Anyway the blurb in the guide made it sound interesting.

Unfortunately, at the time I was supposed to be meeting at the theatre I was waiting in the emergency department with Fi and Charlotte, trying to figure out if Charlotte's cold was a recurrence of her broncholitis, or just a cold (turning out to be the latter). We left the hospital about ten minutes after the film started (oh, and about 12 miles from the theatre).

I'm disappointed, but ultimately not too fussed about missing out, since I was doing something more important, and the film will probably get a general release in coming months anyway.

Much of the commentary about the film has centred about how much of our lives we live on-line, and how much is too much. Like others, this caused me to think about my own level of internet exposure.

I have a blog, a facebook account, and actively contribute to two or three forums under pseudonyms. I like my anonymity, but conversely don't put anything on-line I can't defend. I don't troll, and avoid flame wars.

I've got two general rules for defining what I post on line (there are a few specific ones as well):
1. Not only can everyone see what you post, anyone can. There are no private conversations in public arenas.
2. Don't post anything you wouldn't be comfortable telling a room full of strangers, friends and family.

Obviously, this means there are a few things that will never grace the ages of this blog or my facebook account. The facebook is by definition non-anonymous, but I only let friends access it, and I don't friend anyone I wouldn't socialise with in real-life. I employ facebook in its original intent, to stay in touch with friends and facilitate my real social life.

This blog paradoxically is both my least and most anonymous outlet. Least if you know me, most if you have never met me. I have no real idea of how many regular readers there are. I know a lot of my friends and some family check in from time to time, so I generally post with them in mind. Complete strangers (of which there are a few according to sitemeter) might get lost, but then again most of them come here via random google searches anyway. I'd be interested to know if there are any lurking strangers out there, who read but never comment.

I'm comfortable with my level of involvement, mainly because I can take it or leave it as I please. The internet certainly has the potential to take over your life. How much it does is up to you.

So anyway, 377 posts later

Listening to: So - Peter Gabriel

Amongst all the business lately, the three year blogiversary of this humble portal passed almost unnoticed. Actually, it was unnoticed, hence this is a belated marking of the anniversary.

Here is the first post, linked for posterity linklinklink

Its not an understatement to say the past three years have seen a lot of changes in my life, most of which have been remarked upon here at some point, some of which haven't. When I started this thing Fi and I had been married for 18 months, and were living in a rented house in Waiwhetu. Now we have been married for four and a half years, and live in our own house in Kelson, with a nearly nine month old daughter. I've changed jobs twice, seen a lot of new things, and enjoyed the old familiar things. There have been good and great experiences, as well as ones I'd rather not have had.
Trying to translate everything into sensible text has been a difficult task at times, but always an enjoyable challenge. Having so many inspirations to draw from in the form of friends (some of them fellow bloggers) and experiences helps.

So anyway, to all the regular readers, the new ones, the occasional ones, and even the random ones who will arrive here after googling Peter Gabriel albums, thanks for reading and making this thing worthwhile.

Right then, back into it

Ah summer. A healthy 29 degrees on the porch thermometer last Thursday and all is well. It was actually showing 31 when we got home fifteen minutes before I took the photo. Mind you the thing has probably never been calibrated so who knows.

I am pretty sure I will look at this again in winter and sigh.

First post for the New Year, and in the best traditions of blogging, I have had squillions of ideas for posts, none of which I can remember when it comes to sitting down and writing the things.

Actually, thats not true, I have a few things in mind (like how far into the year can you get before 2008 wrap up posts are inappropriate?), but they will take a while and its already getting late tonight.

Also I found myself more or less taking a break from the whole active internaut thing over the last couple of weeks, choosing the consume rather than contribute angle. It was nice to have a break but I think I am ready to start posting again about the usual collection of miscellany that is this blog.

And on that less than certain note, Happy New Year everybody! (best said a la Dr Nick of the Simpsons I reckon).

Three figures

This is the 100th and last post for this year. That translates to one post every 3.65 days, or about every 87 hours. I have been less prolific this year, but somewhat busier, so have less time to blog.

Thanks everyone for reading and making this thing worthwhile.

The year has gone quickly, with highlights and lowlights, but I am ending it in a better place than I started.

So, see you next year then!

Rambler

Listening to: Blue Sky Mining- Midnight Oil. Underrated follow up to the huge Diesel and Dust, this release saw the Oils move further away from their post punk origins, and try a few new things. When you listen to the earlier Oil's stuff, you can hear that Dust was quite a change in sound, and Mining went further down that road. Being the follow up to a huge success, it was a pressurised recording, and doesn't always work, but as with a lot of their work, the really good stuff isn't the singles, but buried in the album tracks.

Almost ten days since my last post. Not the longest absence (which I think is somewhere around 14 days), but enough to give me the guilts about not updating the thing. The last post incidentally confirmed a suspicion I have had for some time that I have people who read this that never comment (for various reasons, probably not least of which are my troll discouraging comment settings, which unfortunately bar casual commenters as well.

The absence is down to two things. Been busy, and trying to go to bed at sensible hours. Busy with socialising, modelling, sporting, working chillaxing etc. Noticed that even though I am not getting up to do the feed at 3am, my sleep still gets disturbed, hence the emphasis on sensible sleeping hours. Since most of my best writing is done after 10pm, naturally this is an impedance.

I also never seem to have enough time in the day to do all the things I want to do. Work, watch the news, hang out with the babe, play some sport, make some models etc etc. And those are just my hobbies (babe excepted, she is more of a vocation).

The other reason is that I haven't really had anything to blog about in the last week. Some of you might say "But you have a new child, that must provide oodles of material', and she does, but I don't want to turn this into a "my baby is the cutest/smartest/funniest" in the world blogs. She happens to be all of those things in my world, but I don't want to inflict that particular flavour on the dear reader at the moment. I am enjoying being a father, even if most of the time I feel hopelessly incompetent at it. It has its moments, and I often think back to the times a while ago when I worried about ever finding a partner, or ever being able to pass on my family name.

Being aware of the irony that I am currently blogging about not blogging, what can I blog about?

-I could rant about 'Everybody loves Raymond' replacing 'The Simpsons' at 5pm weeknights on TV3. Even if repeated ad nauseam, it is still nice to come home from work and chillax for half an hour with a favourite show, which 'Raymond' is most certainly not. It embodies everything I hate about american sitcoms. Ultra conservative (note that no character has sideburns. Small point but telling), and too guaranteed not to offend anybody. Everyones hair is perfectly styled, clothes spotless. And the kitchen is ugly ugly ugly. While it garnered numerous Emmys, I can't find anyone in my immediate circle who will admit to 'loving Raymond', hence don't understand its popularity.

-I could rant about the hating on John Key. I didn't vote for the guy either, but am over the incessant negativity about him from some quarters, some of it quite petty and childish. Constructive criticism is one thing, but unmoderated vitriol gets old, and puts people off message.

-I could rant about stupid drivers, which I have done before, and probably will again. Like the one who almost caused a pile up on the motorway on Tuesday morning in the rain. I was only doing 80 due to the heavy rain, and being tailgated by someone who obviously thought I should ignore the conditions and go faster. When I gently braked to intercept a slow line of traffic ahead, I looked up to find a mirror rapidly filling with car with nowhere to go. Still braking I moved to the right of my lane, while the fidiot moved left, missing me by about a metre. The fidiot then had the audacity to give me a toot like I had done something wrong. Fidiot.
Just like it seems practically everyone who can't see the 70 and 50 kph limit signs when driving through the constructions at Maungaraki. Honestly, I feel like the only one who bothers, since when I stick to the posted limit in these areas, I instantly generate a queue of tailgaters, combined with people zooming past me like the limit doesn't apply to them.
What is it with drivers in this country, that when temporary changes to speed limits (or less than temporary, these signs have been in situ for months) occur, they simply can't cope. Driving is treated too much as a right in this country rather than the privilege it should be.

-I could rant about txt english, and how much I hate it. I can live with it in text messaging, but anywhere else it is just annoying and lazy. Formal written english (which I think I am fairly fluent in) is almost a separate language from vernacular english anyway, but my concern is we are raising a generation of people to whom correct and competent written english is a foreign language. This was illustrated to me by a couple of high school kids who recently began posting on a forum I frequent. It's great that they are engaging in this way, but disappointing in that they demonstrably cannot type coherent english. I'm not talking about mere txt speak, I'm talking about complete incompetence, requiring several reads aloud to be understood. It's depressing that they can't even be bothered to proof read what they are writing, let alone write it correctly in the first place. I worry for these guys when it comes to writing covering letters.

-I could rant about players who feel the need to coach their teams loudly and precisely on court during the game. You're not big, you're not clever, and even your own teams want you to shut the hell up.

-On a similar note, I could rant about how I seem to have gone from really good form to not quite so good in my own game at the moment. Sometimes I feel like a really, really good player, other times like tonight I feel quite rubbish. Frustrating, as is the continual soul searching about whether team mates think I am playing well or not.

-Alternatively, I could not rant, and talk about how much I love summer. Summer is nice.

-I could not rant and talk about how cool my wife is for completing a Triathlon less than three months after having a baby.

-I could not rant and talk about how happy I am that Real Groovy survived its brush with receivership. Their new CD's may have been overpriced, their staff sometimes too cool for school, but nobody does sales bins like they do.

-Christmas is coming. I am looking forward to the break (which I will get this year, unlike last year when I was working in a stupid job), but haven't done any shopping yet. However my annual challenge to get through the season without once hearing 'Snoopy's Christmas' is going well.

Right that's enough. Now engaging the sensible bedtime option.

300 up, and project 32

Listening to: Apropos of Nothing-Various Artists, and Its great when you're straight, yeah!-Black Grape.

[Author's note: revisited in 2020 and added a few footnotes]

300 up

This is Off-Black post number 300. Cool.

Project 32

Inspired by a conversation with Richard and Andrew at Janet's last week.

To mark the 300th post of this erstwhile blog, and coincident with my 32nd birthday, I decided to survey my CD collection, pulling out every 32nd title, see what I got and discuss. While this could be potentially embarrassing in a blog context, I was intrigued by what I would find.

Firstly, a few notes about how my CD collection is organised.
It is ordered. It would be almost unmanageable otherwise. The order is thus:
Shihad (chronological), New Zealand artists (alphabetised, individual artists chronological), rest of the world artists (alphabetised, artist chronological), soundtracks (alphabetised), miscellaneous compilations in no particular order.

Homemade compilations were excluded from the survey, as were any of Fi's discs. I didn't include any of the miscellaneous comps either.

Heres what was pulled out:
Right then. Onto the 'Discuss' part then. Rather than start at #32, I started at #1 for a sense of completeness.

Shihad-Beautiful Machine (2008)
At number one due to the way I arrange my CD collection is Shihads latest release. I like it a lot, even if it took me a few listens to get into. The mark of a good band I feel is that no two releases sound the same, and Shihad have certainly achieved that. With each album they have evolved their sound, and that can only be good. Once artists start releasing the same album again and again they get stale. It's not my favourite Shihad album (a title that swings back and forth between Love is the new hate and The General Electric), but it still a good piece of work. Favourite tracks? Hard to please and Bible and the Gun. It is already forming memory associations, notably being the CD I had on when I arrived for the Millionaire audition three weeks ago.
[2020 note: I passed the quiz part, but the video audition was introvert hell, and I didn't make the show.]

Age Pryor-Shank's Pony (2007)
Bought on the back of two standout tracks I don't want, and Summer, if I'm honest I'd have to say this isn't one of my favourite albums. The above two tracks are brilliant, but the rest feels a little bit too hip, too busy, too earnest, too ambitious. The title track drives me mental. Not to say this is a terrible album; it isn't, just not quite my bag. Good for long drives though.
[2020 note: I should probably listen to this again]

Dimmer-I believe you are a star (2001)
Project of ex-Straightjacket Fits frontman Shayne Carter, Dimmer may have existed before this release, but this is the one that got peoples [my] attention. I first noticed it when it was being used as background music between sets at Shihad gigs. I'm not so into the singles that came off it, having heard them a few too many times, but the moodier album tracks like Pendulum, with its soft vocal and eerie guitar, are mint. Another excellent road trip CD.

HLAH-Blood on the Honky Tonk floor, Head like a hole 1991-2000 (2000)
What can I say about the almighty HLAH? I saw them live a few times back in the day, and they were easily one of the most entertaining stage acts I have ever seen. Sometimes described as 'Sludge Rock' their stylings varied from post metal to sampling and grease covers, to amped up country, always with an evident sense of humour. So many good songs. Favourites? 1 pound 2 pound, fish across face, cornbag, a crying shame, I'm on fire. Tragically this is the only HLAH release I own. I miss them heaps.

Shadows on a Flat Land-Various (1998)
From Canterbury in 1998 came this release. If I had to categorise it I'd say it was trip hop, but
I'm not sure where it falls other than 'good'. A guy named Jody Lloyd was behind this, who later went on to achieve success with Dark Tower (Baggy trousers anyone?). This is a much more introspective and moodier piece than the Dark Tower stuff, and was an important part of my soundtrack for the winter of 1998. Nothing is easily the standout single and one of the best expressions of break up angst I have heard

Its great when you're straight yeah!-Black Grape (1995)
I have Channel Z (RIP) to thank for this one. Out of the ashes of Madchester and the Happy Mondays came Black Grape. Channel Z used to play this song called get higher, notable for featuring a remixed Ronald and Nancy Reagan promoting drug use, and their own drugged up experiences. That song isn't actually from this album, it is from the following stupid stupid stupid. But, figuring out the artist, and picking up on the other tracks that the station played, led me to this release. I'm not sure how to describe the sound. Lots of samples, drums, guitars, horns occasionally. Favourite track? Kellys Heroes, with its titular movie sampling, and 'Jesus was Batman' refrain. I've never really gotten into this album in a being able to sing along with it way, but its good to bring out for an occasional listen, and doesn't appear to be aging much yet. Also notable for a certain someone being a complete dick about me not knowing the difference between Happy Mondays and Black Grape, at a time when both were completely new to me.
[2020 note: In the summer of 2018-19 I made a lego version of Da Vinci's The Last Supper. With lego Batman as Jesus]

Chisel-Cold Chisel (1991)
The first of Cold Chisels greatest hits collections, this happens to be the first full length CD I ever acquired. For essentially a lowest common denominator pub band, its incredible what these guys achieved. None of the members, including Jimmy Barnes, have produced anything like as good as the stuff on this disc since the band went south. The third verse of Forever now always reminds me of my first girlfriend, and Saturday night is eternally a reminder of good nights and good times. I don't have a lot of time for Khe Sanh though. Heard it too many times, and the pedant in me points out that no Australian units actually took part in the battle of the title.
Cold Chisel is I think a little tarred by its bogan rock image. The music is better than that, and deserves a bit more recognition. And there are few better f**k you's to the corporate rock industry than You got nothing I want.

More than This-The best of Bryan Ferry and Roxy Music (1995)
Does anyone know where Roxy Music ends and Bryan Ferry begins? Easily dismissed as being MOR staples, that obscures the fact that there is some good music here. There is some pretentious art rock as well, but the good stuff outweighs that. This album has a few examples of songs where I love the verse but hate the chorus as well, so it is one that inevitably incurs a lot of skipping when I listen to it. I have been revisiting this one lately since same old scene was used in ashes to ashes, and reminding myself what I like about it. The big lush sound, and generally echoy and atmospheric production I think. I'm not so much into the earlier stuff, more the 80's material. Favourites? Dance away, Slave to love, Same old scene, More than this. Dance away always reminds me of a trip to Auckland in 1991, hearing it on the eternally bland northern motorway into the city.

Collected Works-Hunters And Collectors (1990)
An early Hunters and Collectors Best of (I'm not sure if they have any others). Has Throw your arms around me and Do you see what I see? on it. Part of a peculiarly Australian genre of 80's alternative guitar rock (not sure if that is literally true, but other similar sounding bands like The Church are Australian), H+C has always been close to me, even if I didn't always realise it. I wish I'd been a bit younger, so I could have been into them in their prime. I like H+C, its does what it says on the tin music. You don't have to spends days figuring out the lyrics, or particular references or samples.

Everything is possible-The best of Living Colour (2003)
Notable for proving that you could play hard rock and not be white, Living Colour never quite lived up to the heights of their 1988 debut Vivid. This band has particular memories for me of the summer of 1988-89, and the transition from one school to another as intermediate became college. I would go hiking in the eastern hills on sunny days, with a radio in my bag. Living Colour was one if the bands I used to hear. That reminds me of the time when 91ZM was more than just a pop station. Favourites? Cult of personality, Nothingness.

Nirvana (best of) (2002)
The only Nirvana I own. Back at the time, I recall a certain divisiveness between Nirvana and Pearl Jam fans. As one of the latter, I couldn't really be one of the former. I'm smarter than that now, but when Nirvana were actually recording I didn't get them at all, didn't have much respect for them or Cobain. I still don't have a lot of respect for Cobain, and get kind of annoyed that the has joined the same league as Jim Morrison and Che Guevara, a T-shirt seller for teenagers who don't know much about the images they are wearing and think they are rebelling against something.
My Nirvana revelation came at Mountain Rock in 1996. Lithium was played on the PA between sets, and suddenly I realised that I liked it, and couldn't realise why I hadn't noticed it before. I'm still not that into Nirvana save for appreciating it for what it is, but some tracks I like, like lithium, in bloom, you know you're right, and come as you are (immortalised for me by a group of drunken students singing it on the Picton Ferry in 1992 "Come as you are, as you were, come anyway!").
[2020 note: I was a bit of a dick about Cobain for a long time, for sometimes stupid reasons. I'm more sympathetic to his struggles nowadays]

Lost Dogs-Pearl Jam (2003)
Appropriately next to Nirvana in this list, Lost Dogs is a collection of B-sides and rarities that never made it onto albums. Interesting in that some of the b-sides are not the same recordings that were actually released. A lot of my favourite Pearl Jam songs are on here, Down, Alone, Footsteps, Wash, Yellow ledbetter. Oddly, crowd favorite Crazy Mary is not. Like Shihad, Pearl Jam have never released the same album twice, and I am still a fan after all this time for that reason.

In the mode-Roni size reprazent (2000)
My first foray into Drum and Bass. Also another channel Z revelation. I couldn't play this album at work when I got it, as the sound reverberating around the room would give me headaches, which is probably a sign of class. Who told you was the single more heard, but Dirty Beats, with its unstoppable video, sold me on the album.

Stop Making Sense-Talking Heads (1983)
Another band I am slightly too young for, and have been forced to rediscover though the back catalogue. It is something of glaring omission that Girlfriend is better didn't make it on to their 1992 best of. This is a live album, more of a soundtrack to a concert movie really [because that's what it is, duh.], but gives a real sense of being there (or at least imagining what it was like to be at a Talking Heads concert in LA in 1983). I remember listening to my sisters copy of this sometime in the early nineties and not quite getting it. Favourites? Girlfriend is better, This must be the place, Once in a lifetime. Psycho Killer is also on here, memorably opening the album, but I won't hold that against it. Don't like Psycho Killer much.

U2-18 (2006)
Another hits collection, this time of 18 U2 singles. While the latter stuff can be patchy, the earlier material is still gold. Unfortunately, these are single mixes, with all that implies. Seriously, does anyone care if a song is 20 or 30 seconds longer? The album mix of New Years Day is only that much longer, and much better for it. Tracks like I will follow, pride, where the streets have no name and desire are the reasons I bought this one, despite having most of them on their source albums anyway. U2 have a lot of knockers, maybe deservedly, but again at least they are trying new material and not repeating themselves. Achtung Baby is one of the bravest albums ever released in terms of 'is this going to destroy our fanbase?'. Granted that was 17 years ago, and they haven't quite scaled the heights since, but while there is new material, there is always the chance of greatness.

Hype-Motion Picture soundtrack (1996)
A documentary into the rise and fall of grunge as it applied to Seattle, Hype is required viewing for anyone interested in the genre, or in the machinations of modern rock music in general. The sountrack was illuminating for me, in showing that there was much more to the scene than what made it into the to 40. It does have Nirvana and Pearl Jam and Soundgarden on it, but also bunch of other artists that illuminate the scene as it was. Favourite track for me is Throwaway by the Posies, with I say f**k by the Supersuckers fun as well. Also worth noting that since only two of the songs are over 4 minutes long, there are 22 on this CD, making it excellent value.

Interesting selection in the end. Is it representative though?

Tweaks and a request

Listening to: A comp I made for my 30th. Right now its 'Back in black' by AC/DC. Keyboards really need a little lightning flash key.

Right then I have made some tweaks, probably the most noticable of which is the addition to the title board. From this point on (at least when I remember ), each update will be accompanied by a new line of quote in the title board. I just got bored of seeing the same words up there all the time. The quotes will essentially be from random sources, some funny, some wise, some arcane, some wierd, some morbid, some incomprehensible.

Also added are a number of new and not so new bloglings, and a number of older non-functional links have been removed.

And now a request.

Calling all readers!
In the fine tradition of (i.e. completely ripping off) Morgues birthday quotes, I have a request of you. This blog needs a soundtrack.

So what I ask of you dear regular readers, is to think of a song that is best associated with reading this blog (I don't think I said anywhere that this would be an easy request. Maybe I should state it as a challenge....), and relate your choice to me via the magic of comments.

Go forth and ponder.

Post 272

Two year blogiversary falls today.

Who'd have thunk it?

Thank you all for your encouragement and good vibes and helping this thing keep going.

Hidely hodely

Did a couple of things on the weekend I haven't done in a long time.

Flew a kite
And went to the zoo. One of the Giraffes was my favourite.
And it seemed as interested in me for a while as I was in it. Very cool.
More photos of both activities to come later, but for now its almost bedtime.

In other news:

Job applications continue. 5 in so far, one turn down, one no response, one screening call (good start), nothing from the others yet. The hunt continues, and I want to be replaced in six weeks or so. Appying for things that look interesting, and not necessarily what I have been doing for the last few years. I am definitely ready to do something different.

This blog turns two tomorrow (which will be today when most of you read this). Expect some minor tweaks, possibly a new feature, and a request.

Manyana

I was going to blog more fully tonight but I only just got home from the Split Enz gig and its late and I'm tired.

More tomorrow