By popular demand

Well, only one reader requested it actually but he was the onlyrespondent to the last post so I thought I'd better do as he said.
Yes, I've been a bit of a slack blogger lately. It took me a couple of weeks to get my shit together and actually sit down and write something, for no particular reason.
And, as is the case, having not touched this site for two weeks I've come back and written two posts in as many days.

I thought I'd just give you a quick update on where I'm at. I'm still not smoking. It's now been ten weeks since I gave up. Which is totally awesome, if I don't say so myself. I've got two more days left of the anti-smoking medication then I'm on my own, but I'm pretty confident that I've broken the habit this time around. Famous last words maybe but we'll see.

It's my birthday on Sunday, which is very exciting but what's more exciting is that fact that the soccer team I follow, Manchester United, is in the Champions League final in Rome tonight. This year has been an awesome one for United - they won the English Premier League and also won the Club World Cup. If they win tonight's match this means they are the best team in England, Europe and the world. Needless to say there will be festivities at our house until the early hours of the morning (the game starts at 3am).

And that's all I've got for the moment. Now that I'm back in the groove again I don't expect to leave it so long between posts. Again, famous last words...

What I've Been Listening To OR Did I Mention I love Music?

I used to put music reviews up here from time to time, but I haven't in quite a while. Part of me thinks it's a bit self-serving to post large reviews of CDs I've been listening to anyway, so I thought I'd post a few brief ones in one go.

Doves - Kingdom of Rust
This epic album has taken Doves to a whole new level. Fans of previous Doves albums will find enough hooks in here to keep them coming back, while new fans will find enough depth and originality to add this band as one of their favourites.
Four stars.

Razorlight - Slipway Fires
While this album doesn't have the instant appeal Razorlight's previous album did, it doesn't take long to grow on you. Unfortunately, it also doesn't take long to plateau out. Eventually I came to realise that I wanted this album to be as awesome as the last and in the end, apart from a couple of gems, it just wasn't.
Two and a half stars.

Little Birdy - Confetti
This album is a big step up for Little Birdy, particularly from the sleazy electronic sound that permeated their last LP. I really like this album, and that's coming from someone who really doesn't like Little Birdy. Gone are the electronic sounds and the album grooves with a hint of Mowtown. Check it out.
Three and a half stars.

Eminem - Relapse
See how I buried this one in the middle to try and maintain the illusion of credibility? I like this album, although it is nowhere near the peak of his earlier work. It's the closest since the last couple of albums and Relapse sees a return to form of sorts for Eminem. He is at his antagonistic best throughout the album and the songs in general just sound better than I expected.
Three stars.

Glasvegas - Glasvegas
There's something about these guys. The soaring guitar melodies combined with the distinct Scottish accent coming through with the vocals perhaps. This album is a great sing-a-long one and if I was to name one downfall, it would be that some of the songs start to blend into one another after a little while.
Three stars.

Stolen cars and contradictions

My parents' house was broken into the other day. Well, technically not broken into, rather the offenders walked in through the unlocked door, took the car keys and a mobile phone and stole the car.

It was the middle of the night and it just happened to be the one time a year when my parents had forgotten to lock the door. Which is odd, considering they usually have the door locked even when they're home. Everyone's okay, the car was recovered and three juveniles between the ages of 14 and 16 were arrested.

Dad's first reaction was anger. I can kind of understand where he's coming from - he said he'd worked hard all his life to get to the stage where he had enough money to buy a nice car like that and that they had no right to take it off him.

But then he started going down the racism track. He made the assumption that they were Aboriginal kids without any evidence whatsoever that they were. To be fair, in all likelihood this was probably true but I argued the point with him.

Can you imagine the sort of upbringing and family life these kids would have to have had in order to think it was okay to walk into someone's house at 2am and steal their car? I mean, they're kids for god's sake. Can you imagine the sort of place they would most likely go home to after a night out on the town stealing cars? Maybe I'm making assumptions here but I've got a lot of compassion for these kids. They didn't hurt anyone, the car's not badly damaged and their lives must be pretty shitty.

My sister got mugged by a group of Aboriginal girls when she was about 18 on the train. It completely destroyed the years of school education she had received in which she learnt about the history of the Aboriginal people, assimilation and the Stolen Generations. All it took for her to completely discard her pragmatic, compassionate view on race issues was one incident.

I've never been in that situation, but I would like to think if I ever was, I wouldn't let a solitary experience cloud my view of an entire race. It's easy to hide behind racism. And at the end of the day, if I was mugged by a Caucasian guy, I certainly wouldn't think all white people were trash. Because that would be silly.

Big Dave Out

So I had a day off work this week and I took the opportunity to go on an expedition around Perth in the early hours of the morning (I got up before dawn) and test out my new camera.

I did it with the idea of putting together a YouTube clip of some of the better pictures with some music overlaid.

After a couple of attempts I managed to make the pics into a video clip and upload it! I'm very excited - this is the first time I've uploaded anything onto YouTube and now I feel like a card-carrying member of Gen Y :)

Anyway I thought I'd post it here for you to take a look. It's pretty amateurish but bear in mind it's my first attempt at anything like this. The pics were taken in and around the CBD and represent a short collection of what I like most about Perth. I think it may have something to do with my stint in the country, but I do love this place. I love the city and I love the skyline.

Sucked in.

That's what you get for being a bigot.

You know someone (fate, God, whatever) is taking the piss when...

...the water pump in your car kicks the bucket 24 hours after said car spent the day at the mechanic's workshop.

To boldly laugh where no man has laughed before

I just got back from seeing the new Star Trek movie and can I say - it was sensational. I was going to go on about how it is a great prequel, about how Zachary Quinto and Simon Pegg just got cooler (if that's possible) and about how it appeals to Trekkies and non-Trekkies alike but...

...but instead I'm going to write about the tosser that was sitting next to me.

When we got there we sat in the row with two seats separating me from the nearest stranger, as I often like to sit at the movies. He made some comment about him not biting or smelling so if we wanted to move up we could. I laughed politely and then decided that since it was a preview and it would most likely be packed out, it would be wise to move up.

That was a decision I would live to regret.

The guy proceeded to laugh wildly throughout most of the movie - I mean, he was literally slapping his leg. Which would be okay if we were at the latest Ben Stiller film. But we weren't. It went a little like this:

Scene: Bad guy gets killed.

Reaction: Raucous laughter.

Scene: Vicious alien attacks character.

Reaction: Raucous laughter.

Scene: Character comes close to dying but is saved at the last moment.

Reaction: Raucous laughter.

Luckily the movie was good enough to drown him out for the most part. I'd definitely recommend watching it - as long as you leave yourself a seat or two between the nearest stranger.

Now THIS email's speaking my language...

I'm still giggling at this one I received this morning. And in case you're wondering, I am most definitely signing up :)

Hello Dave,

As you will already be aware, Daves are the backbone of this nation.
From Dave the second King of Israel (who defeated Goliath) to Dave Hasslehoff (who brought the world Baywatch) throughout history, the contribution of Dave has been vital to mankind.

It is only right that this mammoth effort is recognised and celebrated – so we are set to petition government to launch a public holiday in honour of all Daves.
We need your help to make the dream of Dave Day a reality.

Through our Facebook group we hope to bring together such a clamour of voices that we can’t possibly be ignored.

Earn the righteous name Dave by:

• Joining our facebook group ‘Dave Day –Together Daves can make it happen!’ - to watch videos, download campaign posters and badges etc and to tell us exactly why you believe there should be a national Dave day.
• Change your profile on social media sites (Twitter, Facebook, etc.) for the rest of the week to encourage other Dave’s to join the campaign.
• Blog, Twitter, and email people about it. Do your bit and together we’ll make Dave Day happen.

Join us at- http://tinyurl.com/comjv9

Regards,

David Davidson

Received via email this week

So far I've received ten emails this week from a crazy woman who, for all intents and purposes, seems to have been named the new suburb manager for Neighbourhood Watch in her area.
I'm quite certain English is her second language and even then, it's a bit of a push to say that she's mastered the basics of it. Add to that her insistence on using capital letters and it's always quite a funny read - if you can decipher it.

But the best email by far that I have received from her seems to be proposing to shut down an entire suburb for "refurbishments." I'm not sure what refurbishments she had in mind, nor why it was necessary to shut down an entire suburb for them, but it's an interesting proposition. I've included a sample below of one of her emails, reproduced in its original form. Enjoy.

IT WAS SUCH BUSSY PLACE @ MY HOUSE EITHER; I APOLOGISE FOR MISSPELL OF YOUR 1ST NAME; I READ THOROUGHLY YOURS EMAIL CRIME REPORT1; 1ST THING IN THE MORNING I WILL BRING YOU YOURS NHW SAFETY\SECURITY KIT & THE RECRUITMENT FORM TO YOIN NHW AS YOURS STREET\SECTION OF HWY CO-ORDINATOR ~ IF YOU ACCEPTED THIS OFFER: TO BE 1 OF NHW OWN I WILL CUT YOU YOURS INTERIM NHW BADGE ON THE SITE & EXPLAIN TO YOU MORE DETAILS ON YOURS BADGE DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES IN OUR COMMUNITY OF THE SUBURB OF NORTH FREMANTLE ~ NORTH PORTH FREMANTLE EG. YESTERDAY I PATROLED "J" STREET I EVEN COULDNT LOCATE; QUITE "JENNY" WHO SUFFERED SAME FATE AS YOU MYMICHAEL; THINKING AGAIN,; N PORT FREMANTLE MUST BE CLOSED TOTALLY FOR THAT\OUR BIG MEETING REFURBISHMENTS ; THUS I AM SENDING THIS EMAIL TO OUR SGT MCCORMICK TOO ~ NHW MUST\WILL BE IN YOURS SERVICE MICHAEL1 ; ENTIRE NORTH PORT FREMANTLE ~ SUBURB OF NORTH FREMANTLE IBID. I AND BAILEY ~ NHW1 POOCH MADE SO MANY FRIENDS EVEN @ THE CITY OF COTTESLOE1


Seriously.

By Dave and his Whirlpool

My housemate began some writing of sorts for a local magazine the other day. The magazine, called Whingeing Pom, is produced here in Perth for English ex-pats.

Desh, being a chef (and being English) was asked to contribute a couple of traditional English recipse for the food section.
Anyway, he received a copy of it the other day. It was his first published work and the look on his face when he opened up the magazine and saw his name in print was akin to the look a child gets when they open that first Christmas present and it's exactly what they wanted.

It reminded me of how I felt the first time I saw my name in print. I remember the day disticntly - our uni class had an exhibition to the Perth Institute of Contemporary Arts and one of the lecturers had grabbed a bundle of our first edition of the uni paper to hand out when we left the building.

The story itself was unremarkable, but the swell of pride I got when I saw my name in front of me in a published newspaper was pretty cool.
Seeing Desh the other day made me wonder why we feel that way when we see our name in print. Sure, the novelty has worn off a little after seeing it in the paper every week for a period of years, but it's still pretty cool. Why? Lots of people do much better work around the world with less recognition than that. It's not like I'm changing the world in a drastic way.
I put it down to it having something to do with the idea that I'm leaving my mark in the world.
I don't know whether it's a good or a bad thing but I know that seeing your name in a newspaper at the top of a good story feeds the ego pretty well...