A collection of short thoughts on Parklife OR Festival hats and their dual purpose

• Bands in general are fantastic to watch at dance music festivals. At an event where most of the acts include a couple of guys bent over some turntables, it's always refreshing to see a band play music the old fashioned way. Soulwax and Goldfrapp were cases in point. Truly sublime.
• Yesterday was the first time I'd worn a hat to an outdoors festival and let me tell you, it's something I will be doing regularly from now on. Not only does it prevent your scalp from burning bright red, but when the sun goes down it keeps your head warm. Genius.
• Text message from me to mate who was spending the weekend in Albany: "I got into Parklife - I got a free ticket plus VIP entry! How's Albany?"
  His response: "Yeah, well it ain't Parklife..." How true.
• Festival text messages and trying to find someone. Gotta love it. The chances of you finding the mates you are looking for are always pretty low, but once you do find them, it's all worth it. I also love receiving five text messages at once because the network is jammed and everyone at the festival is trying to do the same thing.
• Perth weather. It really is the best for outdoor music festivals - a fine, 24 degree day is pretty much the optimal condition you could hope for. And that was what we got.

Good times

It is with great excitement that I feel I should announce I am finally moving house :)
No longer will I be living all the way down in Fremantle but, as of October 11, I shall be a West Perth resident.
How exciting.
What's more exciting is that I am moving in with one of my best mates and at the same time moving away from one of the worst housemates I have ever had. But let's not re-open old wounds.
Suffice to say thinigs are most definitely looking up.

PS: Did I mention the house has a plasma television and Foxtel? Oh, yes it does.

In case you were wondering...

A learned friend of mine pointed me to this article which, for those of us not involved in the business or finance worlds, gives a pretty good, understandable explanation of all the fuss happening in the world of economics at the moment.

Bit o' this, bit o' that

I haven't had much of note to blog about this week so I thought I'd post a little update on how I'm going personally.

Quitting smoking is still going well - there's been a lapse or two here and there but overall, I'm forging ahead as planned. Already I've noticed a difference in my lung capacity when I'm going on one of my (now regular) morning jogs.

I'm also in the throes of sorting out some of my financial issues - I've drawn up a repayment plan for my outstanding debts (credit cards, personal loans etc) and started putting money aside for savings, holidays and Christmas presents. Pretty soon I won't know myself.

I'm still enjoying being editor - sometimes I miss the writing part a bit but more often than not I can sink my teeth into a story if I want to. And I do love being my own boss, to a certain extent.

I went to the ballet on Friday and saw what was touted as a modernised version of the nutcracker. In essence, the ballet wasn't really anything like the nutcracker, apart from a couple of tenous thematic links, but I actually enjoyed myself. Last time I went to the ballet (to see the Taming of the Shrew) I hated it. The high point of the ballet on Friday was seeing the you-couldn't-carve-these-out-of-wood-if-you-tried abs of the female lead. They were horrifying and inspiring at the same time.

And on Tuesday I went to see Hellboy II at the movies. Put together by the ever brilliant Guillermo del Torres (the director of Pan's Labyrinth) it was more than just a superhero movie, it was a fairytale of sorts. This guy is amazing in what he can do to weave intricate stories and create magical worlds. See it if you can.

And that's me. Thanks for listening. :)

Music news

There's a couple of new albums that I'm incrediby excited about at the moment.

The first is End of Fashion's new one - it hasn't been released yet, but a well-connected sales rep at work managed to procure a copy of the album and gave me a listen.

And I have to say, it sounds brilliant. I was a big fan of their last effort, and this one seems to take it up a notch for the Perth band. Think the Killers' second album in comparison to their first.

There's one song on there in particular that, when it's released, could elevate End of Fashion into or close to the realm of Silverchair and Powderfinger.
But don't take my word for it - grab a copy of the album when it comes out.

The second album I'm thrilled about is - at the risk of switching off some of my regular readers - the new Metallica album.

Hear me out.

It came out today and I grabbed a copy of it this morning. It is SO good I'm having trouble putting it into words. It's epic, fast furious, metal a la Metallica in the 80s.

This album is by far their best release in the last 20 years. If you are at all a fan of early Metallica, you must get this album. From the screaming guitar solos to the softer ballad-style songs and the hate-filled lyrics, no Metallica fan will be disappointed. The shortest song on it is seven minutes and some go to more than 10 minutes long.

Roling Stone gave the album four stars and the reviewer likened it to the musical equivalent of Russia invading Georgia: "a sudden act of aggression from a sleeping giant."
Not bad for a bunch of sober, balding guys in their 40s.

Day in the life of an editor #2

8.53am: Receive press release about art exhibition, along with eight megabyte attachment that turns out to be an application form for said exhibition.

An open letter to Mr Carpenter and Mr Barnett

Dear sirs,

It is with much interest I watch the two of you scrambling for allegiances to form a coalition after what was a really, really close election.

I love the fact that the Nationals are holding the two of you over a barrel.

Mr Barnett - well done - you've done exceedingly well in uniting the Liberal Party in four weeks, win, lose or draw.

Mr Carpenter - I told you so. Act like an arrogant wanker for long enough and, whether it's true or not, the public will soon start believing it.

Whichever way the election falls I have quite enjoyed watching the outcome.
I'm prepared to go out on a limb and call this election a victory for justice and accountability.

Regards,
Dave

Lily Allen vs Sir Elton John

The greatest retort you will ever see from Sir Elton.

Day in the life of an editor #1

9.44am: Received phone call from Channel 9 journalist asking if I had any idea where Fran Logan was. Sorry, Fran who?

It's on

(Please excuse the crudely edited image - we have a poor man's version of Photoshop on our work computers and as a result I can't do exactly what I want to do.)

I saw today that Dark Knight is a measly $100 million off beating Titanic's box office record for highest ever movie takings.

So this is a call to arms guys.

Everyone knows Titanic was crap. Everyone knows Dark Knight was awesome.

Go out and see it one more time - you know you want to - and help make it the greatest movie of all time.

I'll be doing my bit :)

Over it

Ir's really hard trying to quit smoking.
I wasn't going to blog about this because the last time I did, with much fanfare about a year ago, I lasted a miserable 5 days.

But I changed my mind.
So, yesterday, I decided to quit. For the first time in five years I went for 24 hours without a cigarette.
And I feel great. Fantastic even.
But the worse part is the negativity I have had to battle from friends and colleagues since announcing it.
Ranging from "whatever" to "don't worry, you'll be back on them by the weekend", it surprised me how few people actually encouraged me quitting.
Only my parents and a couple of office colleagues have even gone to the trouble of commending me.
Don't get me wrong, I'm not doing it for the pats on the back. I've adjusted my attitude today. It doesn't matter what other people say or do - I'm doing this for me.
Let the fun begin :)