why wy?

Here's a Random Music Meme/Thingy stolen from Dee.

1. What do you think of me, Random Music Player?
It's a Man's World - James Brown. Umm. I think my ipod is sexist.

2. Will I have a happy life?
Sitting, Waiting, Wishing - Jack Johnson. I don't like the way this reading is turning out. It's a nice song though.

3. What do my friends really think of me?
Four leaf clover - Badly Drawn Boy. "Come on, you can borrow my four leaf clover,'' I'm taking that to mean I've got good buddies.

4. What does my S.O. think of me?
Only love is real - Rosey. Awwww, so schweeeet.

5. Do people secretly lust after me?
Greatest in the world - Sammi Cheng. Yes, feed my ego (even cantopop counts for this purpose).

6. How can I make myself happy?
Blue suede shoes - Elvis Presley. Jimmy Choo or Birkenstock?

7. What should I do with my life?
That's my home - Tony Bennett, kd lang. Now I'm confused. Become an interior designer? Move to where the swannee river flows?

8. Why must life be so full of pain?
Pit stop (take me home) - lovage. This song asks more questions than gives answers. Although the chorus is, "take me home, what a wonderful way to go."

9. How can I maximize my pleasure during sex?
Waiting - Shelia Chandra. Hmmm. Pretty sexy lyrics too, lines include "like a desert rose i sit at your feet'', "my whole being trembles'', "to echo and to savour every sound that you utter''. Sexist or not, my ipod definitely knows sex.

10. Can you give me some advice?
Like a virgin - madonna. Okaaay.

11. What do you think happiness is?
Dig that crazy chick - Sam Butera and the witnesses. A sly reference to the chicken and egg nature of the question, or simply happiness = evolution?

12. Do you have any advice to give over the next few hours/days?
Samba do gringo paulista - suba. This is just a dance track, so i guess the message is PARTY!!!

13. Will I die happy?
Wig in a box - Hedwig and the angry inch. Fuck. Does that mean I will die bald?

And the winner for best answer is.....
Blue suede shoes. You can never go wrong with too many shoes, unlike the big issues - life, relationships, love, sex, dance moves etc.

A couple of good bits on arts and letters daily:

two evocative quotes for all wordsmiths out there:
“No iron can pierce the heart with such force as a period put just at the right place.” Raymond Carver

“The semicolon is ugly, ugly as a tick on a dog’s belly, I pinch them out of my prose.” Donald Barthelme.

And on the famous sartre beauvior relationship, a new book describes them as a modern day dangerous liaisons couple. They had an open relationship, with a revolving table of pretty young femmes, which is sorta okay in a Woody Allen universe. But it turns out simone was introducing these young girls/students to sartre, he would try to seduce them, leave them, and during the affair, they wrote letters to each other bitching about the young protege and planning their next move. ooohhh very evil.

Just saw Howl's Moving Castle, and thought it was quite good. As good as Spirited Away? Hmm, we're still arguing. It's still got a wonderful mix of cool and cute, but maybe the plot gets more confusing at the end. It's like Alice in Labyrinth. While Miyazaki has signed a deal with Disney to release his films, he controls the right to merchandising, so that means no calcifer or cute doggy with the happy meal. However, if you are in Japan, you can buy these. Kawaaai!!!

The interesting thing in the movie is how a young girl is turned into an old woman by a spell, so in effect celebrating "the auntie'' as heroine. Can write thesis man.

Not a thesis, but quite funny (and related) is a guardian piece on the time when all the geniuses died young. The killer line: Youthful genius goes off so fast these days. Charlotte Church once had “the voice of an angel.” Now she has the mouth of a fishwife...

after looking through disturbing pictures of people dressed in chicken suits, I found this. Which is a not as well groomed version of the chicks we saw last sunday. And there were ducks too, with afros. On a sad note, the rocketman crashed (not cannonball woman). I think he survived, I only saw the preview of the news.

It's been a funny one this year, I'm celebrating my 26th birthday (for the third time) and it doesn't feel like a birthday at all. I guess you don't look forward to it the same way when you have fewer candles to blow, and the presents come in bigger boxes. Also, we did celebrate last week, so people have been wishing me happy birthday for a week, which is kinda nice. The best have been the unexpected calls and SMSes from home, and little pleasures, like getting a neck massage, snuggling in bed in the afternoon, tim tams for tea.

photos by joe nathan lourdes 

the amazing cannonball woman 

at the royal melbourne show 

she lands safely in a net 

it's all over in less than 10 seconds 

The royal melbourne show is an annual carnival cum circus cum country fair, with show prizes for the best scone, chicken, sheep, dog etc etc. There were chooks that looked like russian countesses, with fur lined snowy white hats and coats, a roomful of sheep with deep manly voices, close your eyes and you'd think it was a roomful of people imitating sheep. The cake icing was delicate, sugar flowers and all that; and all the junk food you can eat - fairy floss, homemade fudge, regular burgers and hotdogs, dagwood dogs aka pluto pups. Taste verdict: there's a reason why crocodile and kangeroo have not replaced lamb or beef, they only taste good with heaps of seasoning. Pluto pups should be put in orbit - they are sausages deepfried in fish and chip batter, eaten with ketchup.

Had an early birthday celebration at a prata place here (and a waiter with a great sense of humour), with a planned gelati crawl after, but a sudden cold snap and too much murtabak meant the crawl is put off to a warmer day.

I've held off blogging because I wanted to say, here I am, blogging from the new house - no wires and all TADAAH! But alas, the new modem has yet to arrive. So this blog is brought to you by the letters R, M, I and T.
Anyhow, in the last two weeks, I've been
1) saying goodbye to roberts st (old home), which was harder than I thought. I guess it is the first apartment I've ever lived in alone, and I did have some happy times there. The carpet cleaners we called in were a father and son duo, they worked with a sense of quiet and focus that was almost meditative and sad, or maybe that was just my feelings mixed up in it.
2) saying hello to eveline (new home), and celebrating with a beer at the nearest pub in 2pm. Initially I was feeling unsettled, not sure if I'd made the right decision to move in the first place but I'm growing to like it.
3) unpacking boxes, moving stuff around and then moving them back.
4) eating vadei (crispy indian doughnuts) made by joe
5) experimenting with the dishwasher (advantage of living in a 1st world country)
6) trying to avoid doing homework and assignments. Tis the season. sigh.

http://www.lomography.com/viennais/

in lieu of pictures of the new home. I desperately need an extra 5 hours every day to catch up on sleep, homework and unpacking. Please e-mail me if you want to send flowers and postcards to the new place.