s h ! n d ! d

Could this be the most useful website in Australia?
Well, maybe if it had SMS alerts when you needed it most…

Saw the most random and impressive thing in a long time, this week.
It was a guy on a penny-farthing! Straight out of the history books and into Parramatta.

Break looks like fun too.

It’d totally be worth parting with, but I don’t see it being a wise investment right now. Maybe if enough people were interested… *ahem*

TOUR DATES:*
Wed 21 – Sun 25 Jun – Comedy Theatre, Melbourne
Sat 8 – Thu 13 Jul – Enmore Theatre, Sydney
Wed 19 – Sat 22 Jul – Burswood Theatre, Perth

As you know, I quite like my street art and culture jamming.

Not that I’ve done anything, but “ooh” and “ahh” at other more talented (and game) people’s work… But lately, I’ve discovered a more temporary “harmless” street art form in LED Graffiti.

I first saw it on Wooster, and was so amazed I checked out further developments, leading to me following internet instructions on how to make your own LED lights and “throwies”.

Throwies (I guess the name kind of descends from graff “throw-ups”?), are small and very simple LED lights taped to a magnet on one side and a battery on the other. Just throw them up to a public magnetic space, and voila! A temporary graff piece in light!

Em and I trialed it about a week ago. Quite fun, but expensive to buy and “throw” away the batteries… The only thing we’ve found, is that Sydney buildings don’t seem to use a lot of ferromagnetic paints or materials – which is what you need, and what appears in the GraffitiLab video.

We’ll do a more fine-tuned version soon.

After completing a website I was working on freelance/for a friend, I’m up for a slightly narcsissistic e-adventure. I’ve copied Jess’s blog (Demented Reality – see blog links) in doing this:

1. Go to Wikipedia and look up your birthday (but not the year).
2. List 3 events, 2 births, and 2 deaths.
I think I’ve already mentioned Tegan and Sara Quin, Jeremy Jordan all having the same birthday as me, so I shall pick others…

Events:

• 1893 – Women’s suffrage: In New Zealand, the Electoral Act of 1893 is consented to by the governor giving all women in New Zealand the right to vote, beginning with the 1893 New Zealand general election.
• 1982 – Scott Fahlman posts the first recorded instance of the emoticon to an online bulletin board.
• 2003 – Musician Elliott Smith plays his final concert at Redfest in Salt Lake City, Utah, only weeks before his suicide. damn!

Births:

• 1934 – Brian Epstein, English musical group manager (the Beatles) (d. 1967)
• 1949 – Twiggy Lawson, English model

Deaths:

• 1881 – James Garfield, 20th President of the United States (b. 1831)
• 2003 – Slim Dusty, Australian singer (b. 1927)

*R’member to breathe Jo*

TakeThatmyfirstandalltimefavouriteboybandhavereformedandaretouring!

YAY!!!! Yes, I’m revealing my oh so vibrant true colours as a pop fanatic/groupie.

Bad news:
- Dates are only in the UK from late April to June.
- Tix are 75 pounds (not to mention airfare and accomodation)
- Robbie (Williams) is not there (except 1 show where he will appearently sing 1 song) – he’s an ass anyway. Who needs him?
- The Pussycat Dolls are supporting them in Dublin (They epitomise everything that is wrong with women in pop culture today – I dun wana sound like a profeminist, cos I’m not and they annoy me too; but PCD are revolting. Harsh?)
- I’ve regressed to a state worse than the one I was in when the Backstreet Boys were here touring in January.

If you aren’t familiar with who Take That are, let me enlighten you.
In the late 1980’s, after the hype that was Bros., Wham! and New Kids on the Block et al died down, five strapping young lads from Manchester, UK were picked up in 1990 to form a new boyband that would set all kinds of music sales records (the latest being for the fastest selling tickets on their latest tour).

Gary Barlow, Mark Owen, Jason Orange, Howard Donald and Robbie Williams would go on to become one of the biggest boybands in Europe since the Beatles, with millions of female fans to challenge that title as well. Their music would start out as a dance pop in the early 1990s, and their image unfortunately involved a lot of spandex and studded leather jackets. It would take a couple of years before they really make a serious crack at the competitive UK pop charts, and for the band to “find” themselves. Gary ended up writing a lot of their hits, with a few collaborations with Mark and Howard. Their trademark tunes would be ballads and “nice” songs. Although they never had a number one in the US., they did reach their peak there in 1995 with “Back for Good” at #7.

In the UK and abroad their hits included:

• 1992 Could It Be Magic #3 UK
• 1993 Why Can’t I Wake Up with You #2 UK
• 1993 Pray #1 UK
• 1993 Relight My Fire (feat. Lulu) #1 UK
• 1993 Babe #1 UK
• 1994 Everything Changes #1 UK
• 1994 Love Ain’t Here Anymore #3 UK
• 1994 Sure #1 UK
• 1995 Back for Good #1 UK, #7 US
• 1995 Never Forget #1 UK
• 1996 How Deep is Your Love #1 UK

Just before Robbie left. This was their “hippy” stage.
They grew their hair and got buff.

However, despite the dizzying popularity of the boys in 1996 (they were the biggest thing in the UK/European pop market still, Boyzone, Backstreet and East 17 could only dream to be that big back then.), Take That broke up not long after their youngest and most troublesome member Robbie Williams left to band and decided to hang out with the Gallager brothers on booze and drug binges.

Now 10 years after the break up they are back! Sure Mark was a hippie for a few years, and Howard went on to become a huge Ibiza DJ, Gary wrote songs for Delta Goodrem and Jason disappeared – but they’re back!!!!

TT Today! (TTT!)

My favourite member always changed, but eventually I settled on Jason Orange. I liked him cos he danced and played guitar. Simple isn’t it? And he went for the underdog footie team Man City, rather than Man U. odd, aye?

Here’s to hoping they come to Australia, someday soon! However unlikely… Sigh…

Friends of the High Line: How good is this?
Trust the New Yorkers to think of something like this . It’s a project being undertaken by Friends of the High Line “dedicated to the preservation and reuse of the High Line, a 1.5-mile-long historic elevated rail structure on the West Side of Manhattan. ” Basically it’s a public park built on an old freight train line in the middle of the city, elevated above street level.
Nice.
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So this is what actor Stephen Baldwin (Biodome, Threesome, The Usual Suspects) is upto these days. Strange what happens after huge events like 9-11 isn’t it?
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Jackass: I finally get it! My IQ has dropped about 50 points, but I get it.
I’m a couple years late, but after having watched Jackass: The Movie last night (for research), I have to say I’ve been converted. It’s sooo stupid it’s actually good. Though after so many barf scenes I was starting to taste the vomit in my own throat. I think I can say I have well and truly been desensitized to people vomiting on camera now.

It’s inspired me to take part in the first rodeo I might see in the States next year, and perhaps start getting into some wild skating antics… I don’t think that will happen, but I can dream – just like my breakdancing phase the last few years. Also I think I’ve developed a little crush on Bam Margera . It’s terrible.

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Don’t you hate it when everything important for communication fails on your computer? Say like losing all your email contacts, and your favourite bookmarks and evens some files? That’s kinda what’s happened the last week or so, to me. I didn’t realise how far Firefox had come, I was still on first release. So perhaps now the buggy “let’s-lose-all-of-jo’s-email-and-bookmarks” thing has gone. Here’s to rebuilding from scratch!