OH. MY. GOD!

Wanna know what I just heard about?

Chow Yun Fat. Western. Zombies.

Santa got my letter.

Folk you, buddy!

First of all, let me just say: Thank you, Owen!

I thought I was going to miss out on Folk Fest this year. The gang had planned a trip, but given that my disposable income for this week was exactly $10, I figured I wouldn't be able to afford it. Enter Owen, and his wonderful generosity. So I rocked up to EPIC and met up with the gang about a quarter of the way into Martin Pearson's Bolkien, and amusing re-telling of Tolkien's epic (based mainly on the movies) featuring some hilarious parody songs including "Ghost Riders In The Sky" (about the Nazghul) and the "Balrog Song". Then we had Kransky and beer and wondered around a bit, said wondering including checking out a Danish two-piece. Then it was time for more Kransky, more wondering and a look at start of the Festival Comedy Company.

Unfortunately, said Comedy Company was hosted by the same guy that supported Weird Al wehn he was in Canberra. I gotta say, he was shit then and he was shit yesterday. He really just can't deliver a joke without telegraphing the punchline, even resorting to gimme jokes about John Howard that would garauntee him a laugh from the Folky crowd. However, the act we did enjoy was the Spooky Men's Chorale. Imagine 15 men dressed in black, with a variety of funny hats, singins an a cappella, close-harmony cover of "Am I Not Pretty Enough". Frickin' hilarious!

Then there was yet more wondering, more Kransky and just chilling with the gang before we headed home around midnight. It was great to be back, and from the moment I walked throught the main gates through a dense cloud of wacky-tobacky smoke, I realised just how much I'd missed it. The Kransky. The folkies. The seeing people I havenae seen in years. It was all good.

Also, just the general running into people was also amusing. Saw a Jordan Prosser, the Sanderses, Sam IV's sister, brother-in-law and their three munchkins. A great deal of fun. And, on a side note, there is practically nothing on earth more cute or adorable than a 4 year old girl in pigtails talking around a mouthful of pofitjes. :)

So we have another thank you for Owen and plans for getting the band back together for next year, the 30th anniversary. :)

Shift 2

Much better than the first shift. And a shitload busier. One of the busiest days I've ever worked and it went off. It was Sam, Mark and me from the Old Skool, and Tegan and Paul, two relative newbies. Sam and Mark were as awesom eas ever, but Paul and Tegan were frickin' amazing! They've only been there a few weeks, and already they kick some serious arse. They don't get riled when we're busy and customers are grumpy (unlike, for example, me) and they're generally happy and groovy to work with. All inall, I reckon my special guest appearances at Gaudi this week coulda been a whole lot worse. :)

Addiction

I swear these things are addictive. Now I just have to limit myself to one or two a session...

The first one, and continuing the theme of not being proud of myself for taking the quiz? The Cunnilingus test gives me a rating of intermediate and 64%.

"Congratulations! You're quite the Cunnilinger. You know a couple of tricks and aren't full of yourself. You actually have some bragging rights, but then again, there is more to learn. Did you know about that alphabet trick? Did you realise more foreplay equals shorter tongue time? But be proud, you're well on the way to guru status!"

It seems I ranked higher for arrogance than technique. Dang. :)

There's also the Quick and Dirty Personality Test. It says I'm a champion (like we didn't already know that), and I got 100% for extrovert. Who'd'a picked it? :)

And finally for today, the Musical Theatre Knowledge Quiz. And did ten years of working the industry help me out? I guess not. I'm a Broadway Sleeper, at 45%. Maybe if I'd had a chance to see more theatre rather than just working on it, I'd get a better score. :)

It's like that Mafia film...

Just when I thought I was out, they pull me back in.

Back into hospitality, that is. Y'see, if'n you're a full-time worker then the next couple of weeks have rocked for you. We have Easter weekend, and we had Canberra Day last monday. We've had public holidays just falling out of our fundaments here in Canberra. Unfortunately, I'm a casual employee, and that means no shifts for me. Which means no money for those days. Which means not enough pay for rent. So I had to grab a couple of shifts at Gaudi to make up the difference. It's good, cause it means I get to see some of the gang again, but it's bad cause it means I'm back in the hospitality gig.

The first shift was yesterday, and it went pretty well, except for the last hour or so when I got the grumps 'cause of a couple of customers being poo-y. In fact, on more than one occasion, while dealing with these crappy customers, I found myself thinking loudly in their direction; "People like you are the reason I don't work here any more."

Still, I didnae swear at anyone and I soon got the hang of the new machine. I'm back again tomorrow morning, 8-2:30pm, and it be all good. I'm working with Juanio and Mark and Sam. And a couple of newbies. Should be a blast.

Carm's Books

Book 12 "The Da Vinci Code" Dan Brown

Yes yes it's true, I caved, I decided I had to know what all the fuss is about. Maybe that makes me a sheep (appropriate for this particular blog) or maybe just curious. In any case I read it. And I read it quickly. Why? Coz I thought it was good!! Yes that's right, I liked the book. I thought it was well paced, interesting and it had some nice lil twists and turns that actually kept me guessing. (though to be fair, that's not terribly difficult.) So you probably all know the basic story, but here it is again. A prominent man in france (director of the Louvre in fact) is murdered, and leaves a series of clues for certain people to find to work out who murdered him and also to work out the bigger secret. It delves into the workings of the church and gives a very interesting theory about the Holy Grail, which really got me thinking. :o)

I loved it,
4.5 grails out of 5.

Carms*************

Book 14

"Hollywood Trivia" by Aubrey Malone (or Dillon-Malone if you check my link)

An often amusing, sometimes shocking collection of lists of, you guessed it, Hollywod trivia. I actually read this a while ago, but I wasn't going to include it on my list. However, Ratti did, and given that she's my - for want of a better term - moral compass in these things, I guess it's okay.

A very cool book (and actually a birthday present from Cal to go with his contribution to the iPAQ), that will fill you with strange things to blurt out at dinner parties like the fact the Errol Flynn once worked as a slave trader in New Guinea or that Al Pacino made a citizen's arrest while filming Serpico.

Not exactly a rivetting or paradym-challenging work of art, but well worth five interesting factoids out of five for what it is. :)

And another couple...

And they're both the of the kind that screw up the formatting, and so...

The Zombie survivor test. I scored 88%. That makes me I'm Armed and Dangerous and...

"You made it out, alive and well supplied. You probably even kept most of your party alive too. You know what to look for, what to take, and when to just run. You even feel a strange inkling to go back. If you did, you'd probably do just fine."

And the Assasination Skills test. Turns out I'm an Average Joe, which means;

"[I] scored 37% Bloodlust, 48% Self Preservation, 64% Forethought, and 46% Raw Talent!
You have probably considered being an assassin and turned it down thinking through what the job would involve and the repurcussions. A good choice for you."

Woulda thought I'd get higher, but it didn't really go into different techniques I know. Oh well.

I don't know why I did this one...

Of all the weird quizzes I've done, I think this one is the weirdest.

Unfortunately, it's one of those ones that messes with my blog's formatting, so I'll just tell ye that I scored 67% for Basic, 81% for Advanced, 52% for Perverted and 66% for Obscure knowledge. If you wanna know how the results look, then just check out the test and try it fer yerself.

The fact that Ratti outscored me completely is a little worrying. I guess that an intellectual rather than practical interest in sex means that yer options for education aren't limited. At least, that's my story and I'm sticking to it.

Book 13

"Hart's War" by John Katzenbach

Mostly well written and very engaging, "Hart's War" is essentially a whodunnit set in a Luftwaffe-run POW camp for Allied fliers in World War 2. A new prisoner is brought in to the US section of the camp, one of the Tuskegee fliers (a group of African-American fighter pilots). Straight away the camp fixer (Captain Vic Bedford) starts in on the racial slurs and aggro. The new pilot (one Lt. Scott) doesn't make things easier by being a moody loner and so when Bedford winds up murdered, the young black man is the prime suspect. And so now he's on trial and it's up to Lt. Tommy Hart to get him off. Did I mention that this is a capital crime, or did you get that?

The prose style is smooth - for the most part - and the plot progresses nicely. The legalise is well handled and the situations of the prisoners, if not the murder and the trial, are based on the author's dad's experiences as a POW in a Luftwaffe camp. My criticism comes from what I can only assume to be sloppy editing. Too often Katzenbach reuses words or misuses the British slang. Too often I had to re-read a paragraph because of muddy attribution. I really did enjoy this book, but it was annoyingly clunky in parts.

Three crumbling escape tunnels out of five.

The Haul?

In the end, 2005 was a good year for the capitalistic swine that is me. Mum, Dad, Cal and the Gaudi Gang helpd me get the palm-top I've been after for ages. Ratti, Leila and Denis got me the first two seasons of "Coupling". Actually, they gave me Leila and Denis's copies of the first two season, 'cause mine hadnae arrived yet, but it's all good. :)

I got a bunch of DVDs from Nick and Eliane, Carmen got me season 3 of "West Wing" and Tim and Charlotte picked up my standing order from Dee's (all four months' worth, if you please). Jared and Ingrid got me a thai chilli plant and right handy it's been in the kitchen since then, let me tell you. Owen and Jenny got me a coupla screenplays and Sam IV got me the Special Edition of Labyrinth (and Cal, I would've put a link up to Clock-tower, but ye had no image of the DVD cover).

All in all, I think I made out like a bandit this year, and a million thanks to all involved. If you gave me a present and I haven't thanked you specifically, I apologise.

27 today... or, at least, two wednesdays ago...

Wanna know how my birthday week ended up? Well, dinner at Cristophe's was fantastic. The casoulet (still spelling issues there) was particularly yummy, and lasted for a couple of days worth of lunches too. Then on saturnight (the 11th) we all descended on the poor bastards at the Polish White Eagle club for pirogi and Zwyfiec. We arrived at 7:00 and despite the sign saying that the bistro was open from 6:00, they had to switch on the lights for us. My little party (by little, I mean about 26 people) was literally the only one in the place. The usual suspects were there, as well as a couple of special guest stars from interstate and the theatre. Sam III even turned up, choosing my party as the deciding factor on which weekend he came to visit.

We drank them dry of Zwyfiec and moved on around 9:00. We may have stayed longer, but given that there were only two staff on - one of whom was crook with a bad back and theother of whom was her ride home - we decided to head to All Bar Nun.

And did we kick on? Did we, what! My happy glow from Polish beer and honey vodka was comfortably, if forcefully, shunted aside by a few more pints of Coopers and some very sweet, very smooth shots that were constructed for me by a very talented bartender. I assume, given that they just kinda kept appearing in front of me. In fact, three of them appeared at once at one point and my wonderful, caring friends insisted I down all three in a row. Mean bastards. We enjoyed the hospitality of the Nun until they closed - around 1am - and at that point Carmen, Ratti and I headed home. Sams IV and III and Eliane headed out to Trinity Bar. I don't know exactly what time Sam got in and neither does he. I have it on good authority that Sam III kept ruining Sam IV's chances with all the available ladies in Trinity. Or so I heard.

Book 12

"The Pleasure Of My Company" by Steve Martin

Yes, that Steve Martin and boy can he write. This book is the story of Daniel Pecan Cambridge, an extremely messed up individual who is a mass of crippling neuroses. These include the fact that he can't cross the street unless there are two opposing driveways, the lightbulbs on in his house at any one time must add up to 1125 watts and don't even ask about the photocopiers at Kwik Kopy. He is also, of course, something of a mathematical genius.

The story is mostly broken up into paragraph-sized chunks that read like stream of consciousness if that consciousness was wound tight enough to crack. It follows his journey through life, love and apartment hunting and is immensely readable. It also ends a little abruptly, and I can't help feeling that Mssr Martin had explored what he wanted to explore and so just wrapped up the book. Don't get me wrong, the ending is a satisfying one, but I think it could've been drawn out a little longer.

To resort to cliche, this book is funny, touching and enjoyable. As a character study, I don't think I've read anything better and I can't help feeling there's more than a little of Steve in Daniel.

Four neurotic savants out of five.

Carmen's Books Again!

So here we are again, and I have another two to add!

Book 10 "The Skull of the World" by Kate Forsyth

So, we're back with Isabeau in this one and she really comes into her own. She get's her true name, finds her true Talent and basically kicks a bit of ass in her fantastically witchy way. We also meet some of the Fairgean the 'evil' sea swellers who the people of Eileanan are at war with, and the Righ and Banrigh (Isabeau's twin) just keep on kicking ass - sometimes getting somewhere, sometimes really not.
This series is really quite good, adn this book was right up there,

4 Talented witches

Book 11 "The Fathomless Caves" by Kate Forsyth

Well we've finally reached the end of the series, now I'll have to wait for book two of her second series to come out!! The war against the Fairgean get's fought, loads of people die, include some of those we've grown to know and love over the previous five books (not telling though!!) So inevitably I cried a lot. Isabeau is now a very powerful sorceress, everyone is seriously sick of fighting, but by the end some conclusions and compromises are met in many different areas. This was a top notch series of books and I'm a bit sad there were only six. But, on with the challenge!!

5 of those fab witches from the coven

:o)
Carms*******************

Can I get a witness?

Hallelujah! The True Word is out there!

Fanfare please...

It may just be the Royal fever in the air (or whatever), but I'm beginnig to feel like a monarch. Because of one thing and another, I'm having to draw out my birthday celebrations a little. My actual birthday is Wednesday the 9th (for thos keeping score, I'll be 27) and on that night Carmen, Cal, Mum and myself shall be going to Cristophe's for Casaulet (sp?). Unfortunately, Dad will be in Melbourne wednesday, so we had a pre-birthday, all-family dinner at the Lakeview Chinese restaurant and it was bloody beautiful. And they gave me a lucky glass apple for a present. How cool is that?

As well as these two dinners, Saturnight is my big birthday bash (which I guess you guys who are reading this are now invited to) at the Polish Club in Turner. So I'm getting essentially a week of festivities to mark my birthday. All we need now is a commemorative coin to be struck and I can be a royal.

Except then I'd be bothered by papparazi and eventually chased to my death in that tunnel under the ANU, so maybe I should just be glad I'm not royal and simply enjoy my birthday celebration(s).

One of those things...

If you put the wrong letter in some words, then you can see they're wrong. Chipls. See? If you forget a letter in some words, you can see that it's just a word spelled wrong. Like locmotive. See? But if you don't type the "c" in introduction it just looks wrong!

Introdution.

See? It's a little creepy, and I don't know why.

Mmm... Cannibalism...

On saturday, Sam, Owen, Jenny and myself went to Tilley's to check out Mikelangelo and the Black Sea Gentlemen, everyone's favourite faux-Eastern European Folk show band. It was the launch of their new CD - "Journey Through The Land Of Shadows" - and the gig was awesome!

When we saw the actual follow spot and actual theatrical lights (and actual techy), we feared that the Gentlemen had sold out and gone all 'professional' on us. However, our fears were allayed when Mikelangelo forgot the words to one of his songs (he was getting prompted by Baron Von Babyface) and pulled the lead out of his mic while it was on. Twice. The usual banter, gratuitous product placement (this time for San Pellegrino (sp?) Pompelmo) and virtuoso performances meant that a great time was had by all. Of course, a lot of the other people at the gig seemed to be in some kind of coma, but I think the four of us and the table next to us were vocal and energetic enough for everyone, so it probably evens out.

Also, there was a young lady working behind the bar who was unanimously declared attractive by the entire table. She really was (probably still is, really) very pretty. And we were joined by Zoe, Matty H and Richy, the latter two of whom were nice enough to buy us a coupla rounds of drinks, so yay them!

After the gig, I got a CD, a set list and a signed pompelmo bottle. Yay, me!

Final verdict? Five incredibly attractive waitresses out of five.

Book 11

"Tourist Season" by Carl Hiaasen

My third Hiaasen novel is actually his first. Weird, huh? It's about a series of murders in Florida that are the work of Los Noches De Deciembre (The Nights of December), a terrorist group dedicated to returning Florida to it's native state (of mosquitos and swamps). There's a great deal more to the story, but that's basically it. Hiaasen's style is slick and energetic and his wit is powder-dry.[1] Think of him as a more gregarious Elmore Leonard. Or a more accesible, happier James Ellroy. Or just think of him as Carl Hiaasen and enjoy the book.

The characters are all flawed, every single one of them. Some, of course, are more flawed than others, and a great many of them are fuck-ups in the extreme, but they all work well withing the story. There's plenty of action - both verbal and physical - and my Dad would be happy, cause the 'hero' uses a Browning 9mm. Hiaasen does occasional need to take a step back from beating us over the head with his ecological views, but for the most part the book thunders along smoothly.

Three and a half bat-shit ex-reporters.

[1] I think I just paraphrased a liner-note, but what the hell.

Book something else

"Wolves In The Walls" by Neil Gaiman, illustrated by Dave McKean

I've finally found a way to reconcile my issues over reading a very short book. I read another one. So I'm going to count them as half a book each.

"Wolves" was freakin' cool. It centres around a little girl who can hear wolves in the walls but the whole family assures her it's something else. And then the wolves come out of the walls, and as they say when the wolves come out of the walls it's all over. I think the wolves may be a metaphor for something, but I'm jsut not sure what. The art is also very cool, with Mr McKean outdoing himself in his photo-collage-water-colour-whatever-the-hell-he-does way.

It's supposed to be a children's book, and is certainly more so than "The Melancholy Death Of Oyster Boy", but it is a little freaky. Still, I think it'd be a great introduction to the quirky style of Gaiman, and what kid wouldn't like to hear a story that ends with an elephant trying to stifle a sneeze?

Four second-best tubas.

Frickin' Weather!

I have a lot of laundry to do. I'm down to my emergency undies and a pair of boardshorts and the FUCKING weather keeps switching around, so I can't just hang it out on the line, because one second it's sunny, the next it's raining and I also feel sorry for the Weatherpixie.

Damnable weather!

No surprises here...

Which Animaniacs Character are You?

You are...unique to say the least. Though the events around you often seem complex, even convoluted, you tend to drift off into your own world. It's nicer there. People tend to think you're joking, even when you think you're being serious. Though, seriousness is taxing for you. You'd rather play all the time than do boring work of any type, and perhaps that's why inane dribble tends to issue forth from your mouth.



ZORT!

Click here to see my Livejournal.

A farce to be reckoned with...

People don't often make movies like Around The World In 80 Days any more, and while some people might say that is a good thing, I enjoyed this light-hearted romp. A good farce, with plenty of slapstick and some clever dialogue (though not too much), it certainly filled the 120minutes of its run time admirably. Kind of a cinematic hamburger, 80 Days is quick, inoffensive and actually quite well made.

Do I need to tell anyone the story? *sigh* Okay, so Phileas Fogg (Steve Coogan) is an inventor and widely ridiculed scientist. There is a bet that he can't get around the world in 80 days. And there's a jade Buddha that Lau Xing (Jackie Chan) has to get back to his village in China. And there's Wong Fei Hung. And an evil Chinese General. And Jim Broadbent in a Victorian-era film (who'd'a thunk it?).

The fight/slapstick sequences are done very well, and Coogan's British-er-than-thou attitude is very funny. As are the scads of cameos, including Ah-nold, John Cleese and the Wilson brothers Owen and Luke.

This really was an enjoyable film that didn't overstay its welcome and took itself exactly as seriously, or unseriously, as it needed to.

Three and a half kung-fu valets.

Carmen's Books

Book number 7 "The Pool of Two Moons" by Kate Forsyth
That's right folks, it's a series, of the fantastical variety. So let me get you up to speed. It's set in a land called Eileanan, which is is essentially a fantasy version of Scotland - they all talk is sotticsh accents - it's pretty cool.
The the first book (mentioned was earlier in Euan's blog) introduced us to Isabeau and her guardian. Basically, the Coven of Witches has all but been destroyed by an evil woman called Maya, who ensorcelled the Righ of Eilenan.
This instalment tells us all about the war that's happening - the witches trying to get back their land and the true Righ (a guy with WINGS) tries to get back his throne. Also, isabeau gets pretty shafted in this one.

This one's worth 3.5 cranky witches

Book number 8 "The Cursed Towers" by Kate Forsyth
And continuing on our journey, Maya has buggered off and the witches are coming back, but then of course they find a bunch of new enemies to fight, including crazy and cranky sea faery's called the Fairgean. Isabeau finds some new rellies and realises she's actually from a very powerful witching family -there are also a bunch of other cool witches that turn up and make storms, heal people with the laying of hands etc.

4 Scottish witches

Book 9 "The Forbidden Land" by Kate Forsyth
So this one leaves the adventures of Isabeau and concentrates on one of hte new funkiy lil witches called Finn the Cat, who's Talent is to find stuff....seriously. So we follow them to a different land, to save a prophet and bunch of others to help in the wars to come that Eileanan will have to deal with. The story is a bit more removed from the others, but very good reading. :o)

4.5 elven cats.

So, that's where I'm up to, I'm kinda impressed I'm getting any reading done at the moment - yay me!

Carms********************

Drop the flag... and a witness or two

So what's cooler than a movie where a taxi driver picks up a hitman? How about if that movie is a character-driven action film? Starring Tom Cruise and Jamie Foxx? You know what I'm talking about, right? Collateral. And it's frickin' brilliant.

Slick and perfectly paced, it pulses in one part and smoothly expands on character the next. There is a clear sense of growing danger throughout the movie as Vincent (Cruise) goes about his rounds and Max (Foxx) tries to foil him. Sort of. He also manages to grow a pair, too.

Throw in a bunch of trigger-happy feds, some narco-terrorists and one lone LAPD Detective who knows that Max is innocent when everyone else thinks he's the hitman. Oh, and the fight/action sequences are brilliant. Vincent's style is efficient and brutal, with a couple of limbs giving way under his vicious blows. And Cruise really knows how to handle his firearms too. No surprise, really, given that the technical advisor was Mick Gould, the guy who worked on Ronin and Replacement Killers.

But it's not just the shootings and beatings that make this movie (cool as they are). It's also the excellent acting from the leads (and their supporting cast), helped by a polished and often laugh-out-loud funny script. We applauded for Vincent on more than one occasion and Max's threat to the goons in the Rodeo club is perfectly worded and delivered.

All in all, Collateral gets four and a half gunned-down muggers.

Funny.

And at times more than a little scary. How much was wasted?

Gaudi Farewell

I am referring to the event, rather than repeating previous repetitions of things I've already said. On Monday night a whole bunch of the Gaudi gang (I think we ended up with about 15 of us) went to Debacle where we ate hugely of wonderful pizza, drank deeply of fine ales and said goodbye to yours truly. Nick gave a speech that actually had me all embarassed and shy and it just kept on going. And the card almost had my eyes welling up. It was much fun and I may possibly have gone a little beyond sober.

Thanks, guys. I really am going to miss you.

Ch- Ch- Changes

It is official (if not maybe permanent). As of Monday the 28th of February, Euan Bowen is no longer principally employed in the hospitality industry.

Hooray! Zipp-a-dee-doo-dah! *somersaults* *backflips*

I don't want the gang at Gaudi to be offended by how happy I am that I'm not working there anymore. My joy is not directed at them. In fact, I'm going to miss them. What I am not going to miss is people complaining their coffee is too hot/cold, their food is wrong (when it's what they ordered) or any of the other thousand and one bullshit things people complain about. I realise I've said this before, but I thought it was worth repeating.

So where am I working now? How about Canberra Theatre as a level one mech? What am I doing? Level 1 tech stuff (Read last as; monkey work). It's different and interesting, if not actively fun and features such wonderful things as a whole hour for lunch! Oh joy! Oh rapture! And morning tea! Hu-zzah!

Book 10

"The Tears Of The Giraffe" by Alexander McCall Smith

The second novel about Mma Ramotswe and her No.1 Ladies' Detective Agency is just as good as the first. It has the same format of one larger story that threads through the whole novel, interwoven with small, self-contained mini-stories that expand the characters and give moments of insight into African life. Or so I assume, cause that's what it feels like to me.

It also contains one of my favourite sentences I have ever read in my entire life;

"Mr J. L. B. Matekoni and Mma Ramotswe decided that afternoon that life was becoming too complicated for both of them and that they should declare the rest of the day to be a day of simple activities, centred around the children."

I don't know particularly why, but I love this sentence.

"Tears Of The Giraffe" gets 4 rightfully imprisoned house ladies.

Gig review.

Last thursday, I was sitting at home cooking up some soup when I got an SMS from Eliane. She was asking me if I still intended to go and see the Spazzys when they were on at the Green Room. For those of you who don't know, the Spazzys are an Australian, all-girl, punk/rock band. They've had a bit of air time on Triple J and - from what I can gather - have quite the live following. Anyway, back to the SMS. I replied that I did wish to see the gig, but that thus far no one had told me the day it was on. Eliane replied that the gig was on that night at about 9pm. Given that it was 7:30pm, I thought; what the hell? and agreed to meet her there.

We arrived at O'Shea's (the pub to which the Green Room is attached) around 9 and played a bit of pool. I played pretty well, Eliane played okay and the people that played us mostly played for shit. Except the dudes that beat us, of course. I put some tunes on the jukebox and in keeping with the spirit of the punky night, I chose Sinatra and Frankie Goes To Hollywood.

Then we headed up to the venue and caught the act before the Spazzys. It was a one man, two woman three-piece called Osterberg that absolutely rocked. The drummer was hot, the lead guitar could play (although he wasn't exactly the best looking guy in the world, or possessed of the strongest stage presence) and I pretty sure the Bassist was Sofie in disguise. :)

Then the Spazzys came on and they were fucking cool! They played for an hour or so (which was plenty long enough for school night) and really did go off like the amphibian in the hosiery. Their version of "My Boyfriend's Back" is great, and their original stuff was slick too. Guitar-heavy with suitably loud vocals and some awesome drumwork. Plus, they all signed the single I bought for Sam 'cause he couldn't come, on account of dental surgery.

A top night and easily the best $10 gig I've ever been to.

Catch up time

Since I last talked to you, I've been to see the Spazzys at the Green Room, stopped working full time in hospitality, started working regularly as a Mech at the Canberra theatre and read another book. I'm gonna break the entries up, so there's not one huge chunk of text here (this sounds familiar, somehow...).