Geeks r Kool but Geeky

Nothing to say

2005-02-21T13:48:00.000+11:00

well I havn't posted for such a long time and I have no excuse except for the fact that I have nothing to say. I am completely dull, I can think of no witty remarks to delight you with and I have no sarcastic comments to offer.

oh but I really hate Andrew Bolt!

Black People Love Us

2005-01-17T10:51:00.000+11:00

Thanks to Krankiboy for bringing this sweet site to my attention.

Sally and Johnny are just regular guys but they were so well-liked by Black people that thought it'd be cool to honor their exceptional status with a ROCKIN' domain name and a killer website!! Please read the testimonial below from one of their black friends:

"After saying a multisyllabic word such as "understand," Johnny will often follow it with a translation for my benefit like "Dig?" I am glad that he makes his big words accessible to me.

Johnny always alters his given name and refers to himself in the third person -- for example, "J-Dog don't play that" or "J-Dog wants to know wusssaappp." It comforts me to know that my parlance has such broad appeal.

Sally has a habit of showing me her running tally of the number of black people she greets everyday. I feel unique and special to be part of her statistical list."

If the tram is due and Raj isn't there to catch it does the tram still exist?

2005-01-13T15:42:00.000+11:00

Raj mused last night that he has been catching the same tram every day lately at 6.45am to get to work. He feels that he has developed a bit of mutual respect, a relationship if you will, with the other regular passengers. He wondered aloud whether they would miss him if he were to catch another tram, or even (more existentially) would they even exist without him there to experience their presence?

(spooky huh!)

Home for the Def Interview Part 4 - Final

2005-01-13T15:36:00.000+11:00

If you could ban one musical instrument from existence, what would it be and why? (blogcritics interview with Frank Black)
Wow, that’s a real tough one, I’m really into music that’s got a lot of different sounds in it, y’know I think I’d ban guitars, just to make things difficult on the western world of pop music. I should try and record for a couple months without touching the guitar and see what I end up coming up with. Either that or the standard drum set, that seems to be one of those instruments that people would find difficult to remove or replace in music. Why do I just want to make everyone’s life difficult???

That is a good question, why do you want to make everyone’s life difficult? How would you respond if we challenged you to a guitar free release?

I don’t think I want to make everyone’s life difficult in every part of their life, but hell, if I get to take away just one musical instrument, I might as well make it force some sort of evolution. My response to a guitar free release would be tears. There would be tears during the creation of said release as well. Once it’s finished I would feel a sense of empowerment that is rarely known by mortals.

Describe yourself for the readers…Hi, I’m Home For The Def, a music maker from Adelaide who likes to stretch pop music out like one of those Stretch Armstrong dolls, tugging at it (like a fourteen year old boy) until it’s all stretched out of shape (like an eighty three year old man) and then trying to put it back together in some sort of aesthetically pleasing shape using paper clips (choose to discontinue the sideline metaphor here). Just like when you eat certain foods and they turn your urine a different colour, I regard listening to as much variety of music as possible as good fodder for making my musical urine turn different colours. I also run a home-recording label called Blank Tapes which puts out lots of (mainly) South Australian musicians who are generally a little left of the dial. If you want to know some more about my music, why not check out my website or email me slapmehighfive@homeforthedef.com

Home For the Def's new release 50/13 is now available (and very reasonably priced) through Blank Tapes and has sweet cover art!

Grogblogging 05

2005-01-07T14:20:00.000+11:00

Date: Friday 14 January
Place: Bourgie, 397 Little Lonsdale St, Melbourne (near corner Hardware Lane)
Time: from 8:30pm

Meet bloggers and blog readers, drink copiously, flash your wobbly bits!

Yay! Christmas Holidays. Cheese anyone?

2005-01-04T08:57:00.000+11:00

Please find below a list of the cool and not cool things that happened on my Christmas holiday.

Cool

Helicopter ride over the 12 Apostles. I've been in a helicopter! How cool am I?
Stayed at Number 13 on the Beach in Robe. It was so nice I wanted to stay another week! We played petanque and hoops!
Dinner at Stella. The best pasta I have ever eaten.
Caught up with my friend Jon in North Adelaide walked to Luke's house who wasn't home but that was fun anyway.
Beer at the Grace Emily with Nigel and Debbie. Are REM a gay band?
Christmas Presents. I got the best pressies ever and gave the best pressies too! My favorite was my curling wand!
My mum and I got each other exactly the same gift.
My mum bought large ammounts of cheese for us to eat.

Not Cool

Sunburn. I am only just recovering.
Lost friends. Disappearing into oblivion. I am sure you have a good reason for ignoring my messages.
Missing out on Karl's beard after Jon describing how awful it was I was looking forward to seeing it so much.
Rocketeer the movie. I watched it again. I used to like it why?
My mum bought lots of cheese for us to eat.

Take my poll on the question of REM's gayness that arose over recent drinks at the Grace Emily.

Chinese official press slam imitation? Is this supposed to be ironic?

2004-12-15T11:22:00.000+11:00

Below is an excerpt from an article in today's Age about a new crackdown on Chinese dissident intellectuals. The article goes on to discuss the phenomenon of public intellectuals in China and the recent publication of a top 50 intellectuals list by a Chinese newspaper which was criticised by mainstream press like the China Daily for being unoriginal.

Writers at the China Daily seem to have a short memory for plagiarism. Perhaps they only consider this derivatory.

An insert in the Southern Weekend newspaper in October included a list of China's top 50 intellectuals as the writers judged them, apparently getting the idea from the British monthly Prospect, which had run a list of 100 public intellectuals.

The official newspapers slammed the concept, saying it aped a foreign publication and "drives a wedge between the intellectuals and the party". Intellectuals were not independent but "belong to the working class, and are part of the people, and are a group under the leadership of the Communist Party", it said.

Disney Communist Youth League

2004-12-13T08:52:00.000+11:00

The Disney corporation has teamed up with the Communist Youth League of the People's Republic of China to promote Disney characters prior to the planned opening of a Magic Kingdom in Hong Kong in 2006.

I am sure that Chinese youth are looking forward to emulating Donald Duck. Lei Feng is getting a bit old after all.

I look forward to mass rallies in Tiananman Square. A million Chinese kids in Mickey Mouse ears waving Lion King DVDs as Minnie and Mickey wave from the gate!

If I Wasn't Me Who Would I Be? Update

2004-12-12T17:09:00.000+11:00

I won the writing competition! How cool am I. I am sitting at home on Friday night chillin, watching the new Firefly dvd I just got and I get a phone call from the Moreland city council to say that I had won their essay competition. Anyway, so on Saturday I went to pick up my prize. A $100 book voucher. I went to the book shop and couldn't find a single thing I wanted. This was very bizarre for me as I constantly buy books but for some reason I was reticent to part with my hard won vouchers for just any book. It had to be something special. Anyway I could decide on anything so if there is anyone out there who has read something great recently and can give me a suggestion I would appreciate it. However keep in mind that it has to be good. This is the first thing I have ever won with talent rather than luck so it needs to be worth it.

"Israel and the Nightmare of Occupation" Robert Manne

2004-12-07T08:59:00.000+11:00

I was sent this article yesterday by an acquaintance and it seemed to encapsulate my thoughts on the Palestine - Israel conflict.

My, (very uninformed) opinion of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict has
always been to have great sympathy for the Palestinian cause.
I acknowledge that anti-semitism and the demonisation of Jews is an ongoing issue and can understand the desire for a homeland however we are in a position now where Palestinians who defend themselves against an invading force are simplistically labeled terrorists. I think people need to open their eyes and see the conflict for what it is, a war and a rich powerful nation (Israel) invading for a combination of economic and ideological purposes.

I also resent not feeling free to express my opinion on the war
for fear of being labeled anti-Semitic!

While I would never be an apologist for terrorism we need to appreciate
that suicide bombings are an effective and efficient method for the
Palestinians to defend themselves against a much more powerful and well equipped enemy. It is unrealistic for us to expect the bombings to stop while Israel continues to encroach further into Palestinian territory
building new settlements and walls that stop Palestinians accessing employment, schools and in many cases their own land.

I'm really not an expert but I agree with Robert Manne's article, it is
Israel's actions that have led us to this point. And the international
community supporting the invasion of Palestine continues to be something we should be ashamed of.

I also doubt the Israeli government's commitment to peace. It would seem to me that all of the compromise is being required by the Palestinians and they seem to have compromised enough if you ask me.

If emptying the full clip of your machine gun into a 13 year old
Palestinian girl on her way home from school isn't terrorism. I don't know what is.

Home for the Def Interview Part 3

2004-12-03T10:08:00.000+11:00

You have been a prolific songwriter. Do you ever just put down the guitar for days or weeks on end? (Prince interview with Inside Denver)

Unfortunately I do (put down the guitar sometimes). Working full time for the past few years has definitely slowed the process down unfortunately, although I’m still getting stuff done. I’m looking forward to the holidays at the end of the year, although I’ll probably squander them! I’m just about to put out my 50th release so that’s a nice bit of pressure to make it a good one. I’m thinking it might be called 50/13. As in Fifty over Thirteen as it’s been 13 years of Home For The Def in operation now. Also 50/13 would look great as a crap album title!

What type of release will it be? Are you doing anything new at the moment that we should know about?

To tell the truth, I’m not actually sure exactly what the feel of 50/13 will be, I don’t think it’s going to be any sort of 50th-album-summation-of-HFTD-so-far sort of album, I’m just writing songs every day or so for it and seeing what tumbles out of me. There seems to be a fair bit of hip hop happening so far, but that may completely turn around at any point.

New stuff that will be happening real soon – the Blank Tapes website getting it’s own nice url (should be http://www.blanktapesdistribution.com) and getting a revamp. I’m helping produce Adelaide band, Problem Pony, working towards the recording of their new cd in January next year, I’ve got a batch of songs of mine that I want to record with them as well. Ah, so many ideas at the moment, I’m hoping to release a Home For The Def DVD next year as well. I’ve just found out that I’ve been nominated for Best Australiana Act in one of the local industry awards shows. I don’t know what that means or how I got nominated. In the world of Home For The Def, strange things happen.

Character Study

2004-11-29T16:21:00.000+11:00

This is a brief character study from a writing workshop I went to on the weekend. I might use her in future for a short story that I am planning. Feedback is welcome. The exercise involved picking a random object and writing a scene for your character including it. I got a shell.

"This is a marine park you know!" he whined "you aren't allowed to take anything".

I ignored him as I slipped the shell into my pocket and walked away from him towards the water. I should have put on the 30+, there is no point in tempting these freckles to get any worse.

"I hate the beach, It makes my hair get all knotted. This isn't even a nice beach. And that fat sweaty guy really shouldn't be jogging in public."

"You, are, such a cow!" he replied.

I turned around to look at him. I felt like smacking him in the face with one of the rocks from the beach but, I just made a face. Besides I wouldn't want to disturb any crabs or anything, would I?

If I wasn't me who would I be?

2004-11-23T13:39:00.000+11:00

This was the topic for a local library essay writing competition that I entered to win the $100 book voucher. Yes I am a book slut! They asked you to pick an author or character from a book you would like to be and explain why. Below is some of my thought process...

My initial choice was the The Very Hungry Caterpillar. He binge eats all week then turns into a beautiful butterfly. If only it was the same for us all! However the life span of butterflies is rather short (only one to two weeks), also butterflies taste with their feet, which I am sure is convenient but not entirely appealing. So despite the gastronomic attractiveness of the caterpillar lifestyle I don’t think I will settle with this one.

I have been besotted with Jane Austen’s novels since I was a teenager. I envied Elizabeth Bennet she is pretty, intelligent, witty and married to the “richest man in Derbyshire!” But somehow I do not think that I have the required sangfroid to put up with her mother. Also those dresses would be a little bit obscene on someone with boobs as big as mine!

When I was a child I loved Anne of Green Gables. She is a fantasist like me, continually getting into trouble because she refuses to concentrate on what is actually going on around her. A romantic too, when she floats herself down the stream as The Lady of Shalott only to sink and be rescued by Gilbert Blyth. Also Anne has red hair and I have always thought that red hair and freckles are really sexy.

Anyway if you care to honour me with your opinion let me know who you would like to be. I personally can't decide.

Interview with Home For The Def part 2

2004-11-23T13:28:00.000+11:00

Why do you keep labelling yourself ditzy? (interview with Jessica Simpson in Seventeen magazine)

I’ve never labelled myself ditzy, but I know plenty of people might choose to do so. Which is great by me, cos hell, some of my songs *are* ditzy and I really really like misunderstandings of my stuff. Confusion isn’t used enough in pop music. I’m a big believer in folly and people wondering “Why would anyone do this?”

What do you think is added by confusion? You also mix a lot of music genre' is this for the same reason?

I personally enjoy confusion a lot. Not necessarily emotional confusion, but artistic confusion – not being able to understand someone’s mind-frame as to why or how they would have created something. I think the useless gesture is very important as far as maintaining interest. For myself at least. I’m very interested in confusing the audience if it’s possible. The mixing of genres isn’t initially about the confusion (although that does figure in there, I like to add disparate elements and try and get them to blend. I want to make the Black Metal equivalent of hip hop at some point), the songs largely are written without intent – I put myself in the audience seat as well and see what tumbles out of the guitar or computer or whatever. Sometimes it’s quite surprising what comes out, it’s kind of like a diary at times, there’s a certain ineptness that limits my control of what comes pouring out.

More Home for the Def Interview to come. Stay tuned...

rock on
Merrie

2004-11-19T16:50:00.000+11:00

You have probably seen the email going around about the website weresorry.com where American's are posting pictures of themselves apologising to the world for the re-election of Bush. Well the republicans are biting back with their own site werenotsorry.com. This pic with caption is from my current favorite blog www.krankiboy.blogspot.com

2004-11-19T16:48:00.000+11:00

"I am not sorry that my daddy is a pawn of the white man"

2004-11-18T22:39:00.000+11:00

Home for the Def see no barriers to the combining a range of different musical genre's

Interview with Home For The Def Part 1

2004-11-17T11:34:00.000+11:00

Adelaide music scene semi-veteran Nigel Koop is Home for the Def over more than a decade he has had scores of releases through his own CDR label Blank Tapes. Blank Tapes has also been a refuge for Adelaide artists who don’t have their own tape decks with a record button. I met Nigel down the pub and think he is pretty cool so here is part one of a rather silly interview with him where I plagiarised questions from interviews with other people.

What's your take on the current state of pop?
(interview with Michael Stipe San Diego Tribune)

I’m pretty sure it’s as healthy as ever, I don’t really pay too much attention to what’s in the charts. I do have the radio tuned to some generic commercial station at work though cos it won’t pick up anything decent. It’s nice to have that stuff going into my head I think, hopefully it’ll add to the pop hooks in my stuff! I’ve also found a great way to come up with lyrics is to go into a half-listening state (kind of like when you squint at something and make it go blurry, you have to learn to squint with your ears though) so you mishear the song and end up with some great deviations from the actual lyrics.

If you would like to ask Home for the Def a question make a comment.
Stay tuned for more of Home for the Def and photos in my next blog.

peace
Merrie

Howard, Bush, Miranda FUCKING Airey-Branson what next?

2004-11-09T17:10:00.000+11:00

This is what is next. Just how fucked up can the world get?

Lack of posting - Abortion Debate

2004-11-09T16:24:00.000+11:00

I must apologise to my kind readers for my lack of recent posts. I have a couple of excuses for this. Number one, I actually have some work to do at work right now and it is cutting in to my blogging time. Number two, I am working on my interview with hftd which I hope to post along with pictures tomorrow evening.

I do have a few words to say on the renewed abortion debate here in Australia. Family First are lobbying to force women planning to undergo abortions to go through "thorough education" including the viewing of ultrasound pictures of the foetus before going through with the procedure.

I find it incredibly offensive that anyone could suggest increasing the trauma of women having abortions even further in this way. The truth is that the number of abortions in Australia has actually decreased by over 6% in the last decade, probably due to better sex education. Abortions are traumatic procedures and it is sad that anyone has to go through one but by making this difficult decision even harder for women we can only increase pain and suffering.

2004-11-02T21:01:00.000+11:00

It's ok people... admit it. You know you want him!

More on Train Etiquette

2004-11-02T20:51:00.000+11:00

Again the lovely boys of St Josephs North Melbourne were taking up most of the carriage this week and I complained about it to my very patient boyfriend Raj. In response Raj explained to me an experiment he read about in a finance book called "The Wisdom of Crowds". A group of fit healthy young university students were recruited to approach people on trains and buses and ask for their seats. The experimenters wanted to see how many people would give up their seats without question. The students had to walk up to someone and ask him or her politely but firmly for their seat without giving any explanation for why they wanted or deserved it. The experiment found that the vast majority of people got up and gave their seat away without question. Think about it... if someone asked you for a seat would you give it up. Do you have the guts to ask someone else for their seat?

So I am putting out a challenge someone out there must have the guts to do it. I know I don't! If you have the guts let me know and I will interview you about your experience for this blog.

Why We Love Pamela Anderson

2004-10-25T13:47:00.001+10:00

From the Age 25/10/04 "Former Baywatch star Pamela Anderson has sent a petition to Queen Elizabeth II urging Britain's monarch to stop the use of bear pelts in making the tall black helmets worn by palace guards."

Apparently Pammy has been asking British fans to sign a petition asking the Queen to use synthetic fur instead. All I can say is good on ya Pammy! However I do wonder how many animals died in experiments to ensure that those silicon implants were safe for humans?

Laser Eye Surgery

2004-10-20T13:17:00.000+10:00

I have a headache today and am thinking of getting lazer eye surgery. From my window I can see the little sails of boats on Port Philip Bay. I am trying to think up some questions for an interview I am planning for my blog with Home for the Def. Feel free to make suggestions! A fly keeps hitting my window which is strange because I am 25 floors up and didn't realise that flies could get that high. Are flies pressurised?

Get off Your Lazy Arse and Give me a Seat

2004-10-18T13:36:00.000+10:00

The lovely boys of St Joseph's College in North Melbourne were taking up most of the seats in my train carriage this morning and got me to thinking about who should give up their seats for whom on public transport. Now being an egalitarian I am loath to make sweeping comments such as "all school children should stand for adults". I am also wary of those people who say that school children should stand because they pay less for their tickets. I mean how am I to judge if the person standing is a pensioner or the student sitting next to me is an international student who doesn't get a concession. Anyway why don't you let me know what you think by completing my poll.

Bookcrossing

2004-10-15T13:15:00.000+10:00

I just released my first book how exciting. If you want to know what Book Crossing is just click on the link.

Fashion ban on 'cruel' Aussie wool

2004-10-15T11:44:00.000+10:00

Great news from US fashion company Abercrombie and Fitch who have announced a ban on the use of Aussie wool due to pressure from PETA because of Australia's horrendous cruelty record including mulesing and live exports. Congratulations to A&F and to PETA who hopefully will be able to recreate the results with other big fashion labels. I am sure that A&F are only doing it to avoid possible lost profits from the advertising campaign threatened by PETA and I am not suddenly going to go out and buy and A&F wardrobe because of this but it might actually start to make the wool industry realise that people don't want products from animals that have been tortured.

In an extract of their statement A&F said:
"We shall not support the Australian merino wool market until both the practice of mulesing is ended and the live exporting of Australian sheep ceases and thus we do not support or defend either the practice of mulesing or the live exporting of Australian sheep. To that end, A&F does not intend to knowingly sell products using Australian merino wool until both practices are ended."

Mulesing is a "procedure whereby Australian farmers mutilate lambs - without painkillers - by carving flesh from the animals' upturned, trussed backsides in a crude effort to reduce flystrike".

Rate My Teachers

2004-10-14T13:38:00.000+10:00

You have probably heard of this really cool web site Rate My Teachers. It allows kids to give their teacher a mark and a comment and then other students can check out their teachers for next year. Ok some of the comments are malicious and some of the grammar and spelling is atrocious but generally I think it is a really cool idea. I don't think kids are so stupid that they don't know a bad teacher when they are taught by one. Plus, some teachers are disinterested, bitter or just plain prejudiced in my opinion and kids aren't allowed to argue their point with anyone. I will always remember my year 8 Tech Studies teacher Mr Butterworth who lost my homework (a drawing of a windmill) and accused me of not handing it in. I think his words were "I don't loose things!" As if!

Medicare

2004-10-13T16:58:00.000+10:00

This new colour scheme is my homage to medicare! What do you think?

2004-10-13T16:13:00.000+10:00

China spurns sexual revolution on campus

2004-10-13T15:03:00.000+10:00

An Article from the Sydney Morning Herald. Strange this when I was in Beijing I didn't get any! I wonder what I was doing wrong? The Chinese dorms were pretty squalid. My good friend Chen Wei was a Masters student when I was in Beijing in 1998. Post grad students were lucky as they only had to share a room with 4 others unlike the undergrads who were crammed in 7 to a room. This is suppose would create a serious dint in the sex life however parks rather than classrooms seemed to be the spot when I was there.

China spurns sexual revolution on campus
October 13, 2004

Beijing's education bureaucrats say "no sex, please, we'recommunists", reports Hamish McDonald.

China's Education Ministry is trying to force the country's 9 million university students to live in closely supervised dormitories, in a move to head off a wave of premarital sex.

At the same time, universities have installed cameras in classrooms and other likely places for after-hours trysts by student couples. Even kisses and embraces bring expulsion.

But the drive against student sex - Canute-like against the country's rapidly liberalising attitude to love affairs and the growing use of sexual images in media - is bringing unusually strong criticism from commentators and social analysts.

The latest case to set off an uproar involves two third-year university students in the western city of Chengdu, who were noticed on a closed-circuit TV monitor lying together on the floor of a classroom one evening and kissing.

The college said they had committed "an illegal sexual act" and "intimate physical touches based on sexual desire" and expelled them last month. It stood by the decision even after the girl provided a medical certificate that she was still a virgin, Chinese media reported.

The expulsion was slated by Ye Xingping, head of the law college at Shenzhen University as "somewhat outrageous" from a legal perspective.

"I don't think it is appropriate to supervise students with video cameras installed in classrooms," Professor Ye said. "That means you don't trust the students. That is not right. A school administration should respect students' basic rights."

Zhang Heping, a "sex culture expert", said it was extreme to expel the students. "It is understandable that young people become passionate when they are in love," Mr Zhang said. "But it is of course inappropriate if they lose control of themselves and go beyond hugging and kissing, because that would be hazardous to public order."

The Education Ministry has told universities and colleges to house students on campus when possible, rather than letting them rent elsewhere.

Dormitories at Chinese universities are cheap but are notorious for their squalor. In most of them, students sleep four or six to a room in separate male and female blocks, and a "lights-out" policy is enforced well before midnight. Campus gates and dormitory entrances are usually guarded.

Many students say the crowded dormitories are unsuited for study and create enormous tensions. In one noted case this year, a student at Yunnan University hacked four room-mates to death over a disputed card game.

The ruling Communist Party has tended to blame any kind of promiscuity on "liberal bourgeois mores imported from the West".

Please to introduce myself

2004-10-13T10:29:00.000+10:00

My name is Merrie I live in Australia. I have been inspired to blog by the fantastic blog DanWei an irreverant and a little bit cynical look at what's going on in the Chinese media. So if you have ever thought to yourself "Do the Chinese think Halle Berry or Gwyneth Paltrow has the best legs?" take yourself to Dan Wei and find out.

So anyway one day I thought to myself "I have stuff to say! So why don't I say it?". By way of introduction please see the following list of things that I like/are important/interesting to me right now:

Where am I going to find a private school that isn't going to shove religion down my kid's throat (when I have one. A kid! Not a throat I have one of those already) now that there will be no decent schools after Howards distressing victory?
Bookcrossing it is so way kool!
Alight is a fantastic website with clothes for curvy funky girls like me!
The Weeping Camel. This is a fantastic Mongolian documentary style film about a nomadic family trying to discover why their camel is rejecting it's colt. It is incredibly moving and it is fascinating to learn about the lives of Mongolian people who still live the nomadic lifestyle. The kids are gorgeous too!
The Iron Chef! The most fantasmagoric cooking show of all time. Catch it Saturday nights at 8.30pm on SBS.

Over the next few weeks please come back to see general observations about my life as a new resident of Melbourne.