Florence and the Machine

Cold War Kids cover which is totally growing on me. It's a slideshow vid, she's pretty hot. Most of her other stuff sounds like a rocked-out Kate Nash but this is more stripped down and showcases her voice which is like, mega...

I think this song could save my life.

Listen to the Live in Columbus 12-2-99 version though. Breathtaking.

The Arcade Fire are stunning...

Oh gosh. Come to Australia now yeah? But it's okay, I don't care about missed concerts anymore because in exactly one week from right now I will be in the same room as Amanda Fucking Palmer and that will be good. Everything else makes me want to jump into a bucket of acid and never have to face to the sick sad world again, but Ms. Palmer is good. I am reeeally tired! Lady A, give me strength...

Horses

E.P as P.S.

P.S. as P.S.

I'm gonna UH UH make her mine!

...because love isn't quite complicated enough as it is!

Gross, another Hallmark Holiday on which to a) spend money, b) feel bad about yourself, or c) all of the above? It's cool though, I don't mind! Let us celebrate by trawling a softer world archives and doing meagre amounts of last minute homework. Lol, school...

Truisms

by Jenny Holzer.

a little knowledge can go a long way
a lot of professionals are crackpots
a man can't know what it is to be a mother
a name means a lot just by itself
a positive attitude means all the difference in the world
a relaxed man is not necessarily a better man
a sense of timing is the mark of genius
a sincere effort is all you can ask
a single event can have infinitely many interpretations
a solid home base builds a sense of self
a strong sense of duty imprisons you
absolute submission can be a form of freedom
abstraction is a type of decadence
abuse of power comes as no surprise
action causes more trouble than thought
alienation produces eccentrics or revolutionaries
all things are delicately interconnected
ambition is just as dangerous as complacency
ambivalence can ruin your life
an elite is inevitable
anger or hate can be a useful motivating force
animalism is perfectly healthy
any surplus is immoral
anything is a legitimate area of investigation
artificial desires are despoiling the earth
at times inactivity is preferable to mindless functioning
at times your unconsciousness is truer than your conscious mind
automation is deadly
awful punishment awaits really bad people
bad intentions can yield good results
being alone with yourself is increasingly unpopular
being happy is more important than anything else
being judgmental is a sign of life
being sure of yourself means you're a fool
believing in rebirth is the same as admitting defeat
boredom makes you do crazy things
calm is more conductive to creativity than is anxiety
categorizing fear is calming
change is valuable when the oppressed become tyrants
chasing the new is dangerous to society
children are the most cruel of all
children are the hope of the future
class action is a nice idea with no substance
class structure is as artificial as plastic
confusing yourself is a way to stay honest
crime against property is relatively unimportant
decadence can be an end in itself
decency is a relative thing
dependence can be a meal ticket
description is more important than metaphor
deviants are sacrificed to increase group solidarity
disgust is the appropriate response to most situations
disorganization is a kind of anesthesia
don't place to much trust in experts
drama often obscures the real issues
dreaming while awake is a frightening contradiction
dying and coming back gives you considerable perspective
dying should be as easy as falling off a log
eating too much is criminal
elaboration is a form of pollution
emotional responses ar as valuable as intellectual responses
enjoy yourself because you can't change anything anyway
ensure that your life stays in flux
even your family can betray you
every achievement requires a sacrifice
everyone's work is equally important
everything that's interesting is new
exceptional people deserve special concessions
expiring for love is beautiful but stupid
expressing anger is necessary
extreme behavior has its basis in pathological psychology
extreme self-consciousness leads to perversion
faithfulness is a social not a biological law
fake or real indifference is a powerful personal weapon
fathers often use too much force
fear is the greatest incapacitator
freedom is a luxury not a necessity
giving free rein to your emotions is an honest way to live
go all out in romance and let the chips fall where they may
going with the flow is soothing but risky
good deeds eventually are rewarded
government is a burden on the people
grass roots agitation is the only hope
guilt and self-laceration are indulgences
habitual contempt doesn't reflect a finer sensibility
hiding your emotions is despicable
holding back protects your vital energies
humanism is obsolete
humor is a release
ideals are replaced by conventional goals at a certain age
if you aren't political your personal life should be exemplary
if you can't leave your mark give up
if you have many desires your life will be interesting
if you live simply there is nothing to worry about
ignoring enemies is the best way to fight
illness is a state of mind
imposing order is man's vocation for chaos is hell
in some instances it's better to die than to continue
inheritance must be abolished
it can be helpful to keep going no matter what
it is heroic to try to stop time
it is man's fate to outsmart himself
it is a gift to the world not to have babies
it's better to be a good person than a famous person
it's better to be lonely than to be with inferior people
it's better to be naive than jaded
it's better to study the living fact than to analyze history
it's crucial to have an active fantasy life
it's good to give extra money to charity
it's important to stay clean on all levels
it's just an accident that your parents are your parents
it's not good to hold too many absolutes
it's not good to operate on credit
it's vital to live in harmony with nature
just believing something can make it happen
keep something in reserve for emergencies
killing is unavoidable but nothing to be proud of
knowing yourself lets you understand others
knowledge should be advanced at all costs
labor is a life-destroying activity
lack of charisma can be fatal
leisure time is a gigantic smoke screen
listen when your body talks
looking back is the first sign of aging and decay
loving animals is a substitute activity
low expectations are good protection
manual labor can be refreshing and wholesome
men are not monogamous by nature
moderation kills the spirit
money creates taste
monomania is a prerequisite of success
morals are for little people
most people are not fit to rule themselves
mostly you should mind your own business
mothers shouldn't make too many sacrifices
much was decided before you were born
murder has its sexual side
myth can make reality more intelligible
noise can be hostile
nothing upsets the balance of good and evil
occasionally principles are more valuable than people
offer very little information about yourself
often you should act like you are sexless
old friends are better left in the past
opacity is an irresistible challenge
pain can be a very positive thing
people are boring unless they are extremists
people are nuts if they think they are important
people are responsible for what they do unless they are insane
people who don't work with their hands are parasites
people who go crazy are too sensitive
people won't behave if they have nothing to lose
physical culture is second best
planning for the future is escapism
playing it safe can cause a lot of damage in the long run
politics is used for personal gain
potential counts for nothing until it's realized
private property created crime
pursuing pleasure for the sake of pleasure will ruin you
push yourself to the limit as often as possible
raise boys and girls the same way
random mating is good for debunking sex myths
rechanneling destructive impulses is a sign of maturity
recluses always get weak
redistributing wealth is imperative
relativity is no boon to mankind
religion causes as many problems as it solves
remember you always have freedom of choice
repetition is the best way to learn
resolutions serve to ease our conscience
revolution begins with changes in the individual
romantic love was invented to manipulate women
routine is a link with the past
routine small excesses are worse than then the occasional debauch
sacrificing yourself for a bad cause is not a moral act
salvation can't be bought and sold
self-awareness can be crippling
self-contempt can do more harm than good
selfishness is the most basic motivation
selflessness is the highest achievement
separatism is the way to a new beginning
sex differences are here to stay
sin is a means of social control
slipping into madness is good for the sake of comparison
sloppy thinking gets worse over time
solitude is enriching
sometimes science advances faster than it should
sometimes things seem to happen of their own accord
spending too much time on self-improvement is antisocial
starvation is nature's way
stasis is a dream state
sterilization is a weapon of the rulers
strong emotional attachment stems from basic insecurity
stupid people shouldn't breed
survival of the fittest applies to men and animals
symbols are more meaningful than things themselves
taking a strong stand publicizes the opposite position
talking is used to hide one's inability to act
teasing people sexually can have ugly consequences
technology will make or break us
the cruelest disappointment is when you let yourself down
the desire to reproduce is a death wish
the family is living on borrowed time
the idea of revolution is an adolescent fantasy
the idea of transcendence is used to obscure oppression
the idiosyncratic has lost its authority
the most profound things are inexpressible
the mundane is to be cherished
the new is nothing but a restatement of the old
the only way to be pure is to stay by yourself
the sum of your actions determines what you are
the unattainable is invariable attractive
the world operates according to discoverable laws
there are too few immutable truths today
there's nothing except what you sense
there's nothing redeeming in toil
thinking too much can only cause problems
threatening someone sexually is a horrible act
timidity is laughable
to disagree presupposes moral integrity
to volunteer is reactionary
torture is barbaric
trading a life for a life is fair enough
true freedom is frightful
unique things must be the most valuable
unquestioning love demonstrates largesse of spirit
using force to stop force is absurd
violence is permissible even desirable occasionally
war is a purification rite
we must make sacrifices to maintain our quality of life
when something terrible happens people wake up
wishing things away is not effective
with perseverance you can discover any truth
words tend to be inadequate
worrying can help you prepare
you are a victim of the rules you live by
you are guileless in your dreams
you are responsible for constituting the meaning of things
you are the past present and future
you can live on through your descendants
you can't expect people to be something they're not
you can't fool others if you're fooling yourself
you don't know what's what until you support yourself
you have to hurt others to be extraordinary
you must be intimate with a token few
you must disagree with authority figures
you must have one grand passion
you must know where you stop and the world begins
you can understand someone of your sex only
you owe the world not the other way around
you should study as much as possible
your actions ae pointless if no one notices
your oldest fears are the worst ones

PLEASE CHANGE BELIEFS.

Les Trois Mousquetaires

What is it about all the best films being centred around an invincible trio of comraderie? It's always two boys and a girl too, a hero and a best mate and a friend-slash-love-interest. Maybe it's vaguely objectionable in a couple of PC ways, but CBF. The formula works, and indeed I used to be in a friendship like that actually! Fun fact. Our Live is Not a Movie or Maybe.

P.S. They are all movies about growing up yes, and you know what happens when you are growing up? You (might) do the HSC! So I'm going to go back to doing homework now... Hurrah hurrah...

consistently inconsistent.

The latest ASW is so... touché.

Does anyone else remember Dinosaurs? That mad Jim Henson TV show? I just restumbled upon it, but once upon a time was an absolute favourite. Circa early primary school methinks, but Googling it now reveals that the intended audience was (probably ragingly leftist) adults: according to Wikipedia, topical issues featured in Dinosaurs include environmentalism, women's rights, sexual harassment, objectification of women, censorship, civil rights, body image, steroid use, allusions to masturbation (in the form of Robbie getting caught doing a mating dance by himself), drug abuse, racism, peer pressure, rights of indigenous peoples, corporate crime, government interference of parenting, and allusions to homosexuality and communism (in the guise of herbivorism). Aww, the 90s...

+ all my new Papermate Gel Rollers have stopped working, what the fuck is this shit? I blame it on the heatwave. Sacrebleu. It's so hot and my computer and spine are frigging up... Yeah sorry, am aware that irritable blogging is foul. But it's all these ch-ch-ch-ch-changes... Generally speaking, I don't know what to think. Perhaps it is the worst thing ever to think you have a chance when really, you just don't? It’s called a reality check. The last thing Amélie wants. Acht neun, gute nacht!

Actually I have some cultural postcripts re: Eurotrip09

First being, I've been reading Invisible Cities by Italo Calvino on and off during and since the trip. There is something wrong with my head lately and I can't sit down, begin things, finish them, but this book is a subtle, beautiful creature and I want to share a some random excerpts here. His writing is so incredibly elegant and measured and fantastical... It just seemed kind of fitting because it's all little descriptions of imaginary cities, explained to Kublai Khan by Marco Polo. And I just went on a wacky adventure to a couple of distant lands. So that's nice.

Cities and Memory 3.
In vain, great-hearted Kublai, shall I attempt to describe Zaira, city of high bastions. I could tell you how many steps make up the streets rising like stairways, and the degree of the arcades' curves, and what kind of zinc scales cover the roofs; but I already know this would be the same as telling you nothing. The city does not consist of this, but of relationships between the measurements of its space and the events of its past: the height of a lamppost and the distance from the ground of a hanged usurper's swaying feet; the line strung from the lamppost to the railing opposite and the festoons that decorate the course of the queen's nuptial procession; the height of that railing and the leap of the adulterer who climbed over it at dawn; the tilt of a guttering and a cat's progress along it as he slips into the same window; the firing range of a gunboat which has suddenly appeared beyond the cape and the bomb that destroys the guttering; the rips in the fish net and the three old men seated on the dock mending nets and telling each other for the hundredth time the story of the gunboat of the usurper, who some say was the queen's illegitimate son, abandoned in his swaddling clothes there on the dock.

As this wave from memories flows in, the city soaks it up like a sponge and expands. A description of Zaira as it is today should contain all of Zaira's past. The city, however, does not tell its past, but contains it like the lines of a hand, written in the corners of the streets, the gratings of the windows, the banisters of the steps, the antennae of the lightning rods, the poles of the flags, every segment marked in turn with scratches, indentations, scrolls.

Cities and Signs 4.
Of all the changes of language a traveler in distant lands must face, none equals that which waits him in the city of Hypatia, because the change regards not words, but things. I entered Hypatia one morning, a magnolia garden was reflected in blue lagoons, I walked among the hedges, sure I would discover young and beautiful ladies bathing; but at the bottom of the water, crabs were biting the eyes of the suicides, stones tied around their necks, their hair green with seaweed.

I felt cheated and I decided to demand justice of the sultan. I climbed the porphyry steps of the palace with the highest domes, I crossed six tiled courtyards with fountains. The central hall was barred by iron gratings: convicts with black chains on their feet were hauling up basalt blocks from a quarry that opened underground.

I could only question the philosophers. I entered the great library, I became lost among shelves collapsing under the vellum bindings, I followed the alphabetical order of vanished alphabets, up and down halls, stairs, bridges. In the most remote papyrus cabinet, in a cloud of smoke, the dazed eyes of an adolescent appeared to me, as he lay on a mat, his lips glued to an opium pipe.

"Where is the sage ?"

The smoker pointed out of the window. It was a garden with children's games: ninepins, a swing, a top. The philosopher was seated on the lawn. He said: "Signs form a language, but not the one you think you know."

I realized I had to free myself from the images which in the past had announced to me the things I sought: only then will I succeed in understanding the language of Hypatia.

Now I have only to hear the neighing of horses and the cracking of whips and I am seized with amorous trepidation: in Hypatia you have to go to the stables and riding rings to see the beautiful women who mount the saddle, thighs naked, greaves on their calves, and as soon as a young foreigner approaches, they fling him on the piles of hay or sawdust and press their firm nipples against him.

And when my spirit wants no stimulus or nourishment save music, I know it is to be sought in the cemeteries: the musicians hide in the tombs; from grave to grave flute trills, harp chords answer one another.

True, also in Hypatia the day will come when my only desire will be to leave. I know I must not go down to the harbor then, but climb the citadel's highest pinnacle and wait for a ship to go by up there. But will it ever go by? There is no language without deceit.

5.
Marco Polo describes a bridge, stone by stone.
"But which is the stone that supports the bridge?" Kublai Khan asks.
"The bridge is not supported by one stone or another," Marco answers, "but by the line of the arch that they form."
Kublai Khan remains silent, reflecting. Then he adds: "Why do you speak to me of the stones? It is only the arch that matters to me."
Polo answers: "Without stones there is no arch."


In other news, I think I'm falling in love. I watched Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist twice on the plane there and back again, not because it's a particularly good film (so thin, so thin! Soundtrack is v. acceptable though- more of a mixtape than a movie), but because Devendra Banhart has this awkward, gratuitously indie cameo about 2/3 of the way through, and he's just so adorable. Wearing the cutest cardigan. That is all, I need some alone time with his hairy head now...

I lost the gloves that my mother gave to me

While on my ways to the make believe sea

Amd I lost the rings that my lover gave to me

While on my ways to the Red Salt Sea

And I lost my ways to my happy pen club

And ended up where I still can't say but

I lost my favourite pen on the way

And I lost my friend but that couldn't be

I lost the friend who sang with me

I lost my son but that couldn't be

I lost the son who sat on my knee

I lost my man I let inside me

And I lost my friend that my love and I shared

While on my ways to the make believe cares

And I lost the tunes that stuck to my ears

While on my ways to the make believe hears

And I saw Sapiena she sang to the sea

The only person left on the island was me

And I love the man who took care of me

He owns the ship the Charles C. Leary

Yes I love the man who took care of me
He sails the world on the Charles C. Leary

P.P.S.


Like a fox.
Comme un renard.
Come una volpe.
Όπως μια αλεπού.

[Translations courtesy Babel Fish, corrections welcome bilingual dears.]

Home again, home again, and not a drop to drink.

Been back in the land of the living for several days now, and someone was like nyah blog Europe how was it? And I'm all like afrigginmazing but CBF. So, I'll just summarise with the predictions I made before reaching each destination- that is, crystallising pre-conceived notions by comparing cities or countries to my favourite films set in said cities or countries, then deciding whether they measure up in real life...

London: Love Actually vs Harry Potter

Verdict: We made our own Heathrow montages! And we (well just me really) sang Hedwig's Theme non-stop for a couple of days so yeah pretty much.

Paris: Amelie vs Madeline

Verdict: Not as uniformly whimsical and all-round charming as either of the above, and despite our best efforts we never made it to a photobooth or had our appendixes out, but still. It actually is almost as glorious which is saying rather alot. Paris, je t'aime! Satisfactorily beautiful and fascinating, merci beaucoup. Fermez la bouche! Vous avez perdu le joue! Snap!

Italia in general (Firenze, Roma, Vatican City, Pompei, Herculaneum, Napoli): A Room With a View vs La Vita è Bella

Verdict: Our Florentine experience was unfortunately not quite as romantic as the former (bar the Italian stallion stalkers in that square), and fortunately there was no genocide going on while we were there so the superficial premise of the latter didn't really apply, but the whole country is astoundingly beautiful and the coffee is motherlickin' good. Yay Italy!

Athens via Delphi: Hercules vs... Mamma Mia! (not quite in inner-city Athens but it'll do)

Verdict: OPA!

In conclusion, I spent lots of time with gorgeous friends, learned alot, gained some bigger sense of where everything fits in history and culture and the world, did no homework whatsoever and collected shot glasses from every country. Success!

So what happened while I was gone? Obama's coronation- ahem, that is, inauguration- hurrah for that. The media is so gloriously biased, or perhaps just genuinely naively optimistic like the rest of us. Yes we can! Heh! And Australia Day, which was heartily celebrated by the applying of bogan flag tattoos to faces in the bathroom of Athens Airport... Although I pretty much have to agree that we should change the date to something less imperialistic and genocidal, I'm really not sure as to what to. Federation Day would be better to celebrate but that's on New Year's Day which is kind of lame. We should get it out of the summer holidays for an extra public holiday! But come to think of that, school holidays won't apply to me personally by next year... *gulp*.

On that year 12-licious note I'd better get my arse off the internet and find my assessment schedule, then start doing some proper work. To be fair I still have jetlag and have been all insomnia-ish until an average of 3 am these past couple of days. And I read a kid's history book about WWI today, sophisticate! It made me cry a little though. Then it prompted me to read the last couple of pages from The Diary of a Young Girl, and Anne Frank made me cry a little more. Yes, I know it's the wrong war... But as Martin Brown would say;

*sigh*

Tschüss!