CHEER UP ASAKO

YAY

New

I use to laugh a lot about Triple M always playing ‘new music’. You know, AC/DC, Queen, Chuck Berry. Well last night I had a little chuckle to myself as I sat eating an ice cream, listening to Nova play great new music. The song, Kids by MGMT. Great new music. It was released in October, 2008 (when their album was released). As such, it would have been playing about the shop since 2007. When you look at the definition of new, it says:

Having been made or come into being only a short time ago; recent

(Thankyou dictionary.com)

Of course it depends on how liberal you area with this definition. I don’t think that four months is new (if taken purely on release date, not on my assumption of how long it’s been played by MGMT).

Still, I guess Everett Rogers' Diffusion of Innovation is important. I’ve made my own example below of the radio stations running around (I am a bit biased, as you can tell):

So I guess I should clarify this. The real innovators now for music are blogs & my sister (my sisters friends too). This is just my take.

Word.

Things I love Part 2 - I, II, III & IV.

The next in my line of things I love, a few dot points to tide you over:

I. Dan Kelly & the Alpha Males Summer Wino
I was just listening to this yesterday thinking how much I love it. Really says (sings) summer for me; cause its all cool, woo wooo wooo woo. Great song.

II. Mick Dodson - Australian of the Year
Excellent choice. As someone said on 702 today, ‘Someone asked him a question, he told them what he thought. Isn’t this what all Australians should be doing?’ (in relation to changing the day). ALSO, at least he is getting people to think about Australia Day and what it means to be Australian RATHER than what seems to be the vibe of the day at the moment, namely a chance to get drunk and act like a dick in zinc.

III. Levi 502 jeans (even if they now have holes in them)
The first pair of jeans I bothered to learn the name of, because they were so comfortable & my favourites. Ill buy another pair this weekend.

IV. Listening to 2BL 702
It really actually brightens up the morning, it makes me think at the start of each day. The other super good thing is that it is at exactly the same point on the dial as FBi is on the FM band on my radio at work, so all you need to do is flick the AM/FM switch & Bob is your Uncle (your uncle, my father).

There you go. I meant to write posts on all those ideas, but there you go. One big hit.

YUCK

There are some very pretty cars out there. I made of list of race cars that I would like to own the other month, most of them are exceptionally pretty cars (I did include a few because of their historical significance, but all were good looking). But just like anything, there are also some particularly ugly cars out there as well.

Such as the Jeep Compass. I’ve seen a few of these around the traps of late, surely they must be one of the most hideous vehicles on the road. What an ugly car. I’m trying not to vomit. Yuck.

Another car that I find horrible is the Dodge Calibre. YUCK. EERRR, Horrible.

Oh yes, & the Chrysler PT Cruiser. Vomit.

See a common theme. These cars are all made by Chrysler & they’re in the hole. Why? Because they make ugly cars.

HARSH but fair. I don’t like American cars, there have been some good looking ones (Mustang is an obvious example), but dead set, it’s hard to see the attraction to these monstrosities.

Keeping track!

I was just reading the 1000th Issue of Motor Sport & came upon a advertisement from Bonhhams and Goodman for an auction of the Late Hon. John Dawson-Dames Lotus race cars. Dawson-Dames was killed in one of them, a Lotus 63, at the Goodwood Festival of Speed a few years back. The first thought that sprung to my mind was how sad it would be that some of these great cars that were in his collection would be sold off overseas (as obviously, he has been dead a while, so my thoughts were not immediately with him...). Whilst most of the cars have importance to people from all over the world (he had one of Jim Clark's World Championship winning cars), there were a couple that had historical importance in Australia, such as one that Clark and Leo Geoghegan raced in the Tasman Series.

I did jump on line though and saw a note saying that two of the key cars (the two mentioned above) were bought by Australians, which I think is just sensational. One of my favourites though, a Lotus 79, was sold to a Japanese collector.

I think that it is always important to keep hold of your history, or historically important items or belongings. I guess this makes me a bit of a hoarder, but you should always know where you've been in order to know where you're going. I'm just glad that I can see these beautiful cars again, in Australia, in the future.

After reading this, I think ill have to go to Goodwood as well. It is simply a must. Maybe 2010? It must be done!

Dumb

 

There are lots of important statutes and legislations. Then again, there are some pretty stupid ones as well. Just before Christmas the State Government put out tender requests for private enterprise to replace the Manly Jetcat service. Whilst I don't know the full details, I think the invitations went out on something like the 7th of December, they closed on the 24th of December with services due to start on the 5th of January.
This made me realise, yes, there are lots of important statutes and legislations, but they are tapered by a lot of stupid politicians and policy makers.

One other thing I think is a little stupid is facebook. Well, friendship requests in particular. Facebook is a social networking site, designed for you to present information about yourself to friends and peers. Whilst it is social, it is also networking too, something that has always taken place put in a slightly more advanced manner. When you request someone as a friend, it will let you know if that attempt is successful. This is, obviously, an important part of social networking i.e. knowing if you're actually friends with people. I know why they don't do it (probably to save face), but I really think that facebook should tell you when others reject your friendship application, or removes you as a friend (of course it becomes obvious if they don't accept, but still, madness). Isn't this just as important as adding a friend? This isn't a gripe over someone rejecting a friendship request or removing me as a friend, just more of a social oversight that facebook is not managing properly.

Also, I wrote this so I could put up this picture that I took the other day. Isn't it just stellar?!?

Of importance

I was reading an article yesterday on passive aggression. Why? Well it was there to be read, because at the end of a google search is pretty much anything. I realised that I’m passive aggressive. Why? Well one of the characteristics of passive aggressive behaviour, according to Wiki, is procrastination. With the internet always a click away, it is so very easy to log on and procrastinate. I’m doing it right now, what a toxic cycle. Still, I didn’t think it was passive aggressive. I guess Ill have to work on that.

More importantly though, I found a list of the AFI's top 100 actors. Interesting stuff, you had to have made your debut before 1950 to be included on the list. So the question begs to be asked, who would you include post 1950 onto the list? Well there are plenty, but I do believe the one person who would be on EVERY critics list throughout the world would be Rose Byrne. No question about it.

Tops

Come on Aussie

What does it take to become an Australian Hero? Irwin, Bradman, Brock; they all were iconic for slightly different reasons but all demonstrated greatness. David Warner is on the front of the Herald & the Australian today for hitting 89 off 43 balls on Sunday in the twenty-twenty international against South Africa. He is being proclaimed one of the greats, indeed he may well be (it was a remarkable innings, he hasn’t played for his state yet), but dead set, how fickle are we? Duminy hit 78 off 48 balls, which is pretty good as well; Duminy had a great summer as well, but a few sixes and we have the best thing since sliced bread.

This isn’t a Warner bashing, I loved watching him play, but dead set it’s a little over the top (& where is the praise of Tate??? He was amazing).

Photo: Vince Caligiuri Getty from www.watoday.com.au

STARS!

I played a round of golf yesterday at Chatswood with Spik which was good fun, but arguably the highlight was a bit of a star-spotting moment on the first tee with a twist of sorts. An unnamed member of the Waratahs teed off just before Spik and I, but it was interesting for three reasons. Firstly, his girlfriend, or an attractive female companion, was walking the course with him but not playing. Unusual? No. Secondly, they did not have a cart, instead his bag was one of those good ones that you can put on as a back pack to make it easier to carry. Thirdly, he wasn’t carrying his clubs, his girlfriend was. Not sure what the story with that was, but a bit strange.

So alright, the third bit was interesting, so that is my story.

Photo by me... n shit

L-O-V-E love

I know this is a particularly random post to put up, but what the hell, here we go.
I love cars, race cars in particular. They’re my love above and beyond anything else. I seem to get too caught up in other things and ignore that love occasionally, but Ill stop that from now on. Race cars are huge money though, that is in part why I fall away from them occasionally (as its much cheaper to buy an old guitar than an old F5000 race car). But money will come and go, so I thought it best to put down a list of race cars that I’d like to own. Now please take into consideration that in most of these cases these cars will never actually be for sale, as there were only two or three ever built, & even if they were for sale they would be so expenisve you would need to own apple to afford them. But anywho, here we go, Ill limit myself to 5per category (as I’m not selfish). Ill sort them by catagory for ease of comprehension:

Formula 1
Lotus 49
Lotus 79
Eagle Westlake T1G
McLaren MP 4/5
Williams FW17

CanAm/Sportscars
Lola T70
McLaren M8D
Matich SR3
Matich SR4
Ferrari 330 P4

Touring Cars
Pete Geoghegan’s 1965 Ford Mustang
Pete Geoghegan’s 1967 Ford Mustang
Jim Clark’s 1964 Lotus Cortina
Pete Geoghegan’s 1972 Ford Falcon
Frank Gardner’s 1968 Ford Escort

F5000
1974 Lola T-332
McRae GM1

Rally Car
Anything from Group 4, probably a Peugeot 205 Gti

If I could add an extra car in exchange for another, I would have Frank Gardner’s 1967 Ford Falcon Sprint instead of the Williams FW17. I’d probably have a few other touring cars if I could too, an M3 and a Sierra, probably an A9X as well. Oh this is hard. Hard to leave our the 1984 VK Commodore as well… oh dear.
From this list you can probably conclude a few little things:

- My favourite period of race cars was the 1960s/early 70s
- I’m a big fan of Australian Motorsport
- I do like Touring Cars.

The list could go on and on, but that is a nice start. Good fun.

Image from: picasaweb.google.com/.../Ejzrv8TEQkzen0c1AY4i9w

Editorial license

I saw some of this story yesterday on the news, it caught my interest when the nine reporter interviewed a 37 year old grandmother. When reading this article, some points jump off the page as well:

- Family of 17
- A group of her brothers… went hunting for the person they believed responsible
- The teenagers boyfriend… went to help his cousin

I think this is a case of the media presenting this story a little tongue in cheek. Some of these details didn’t need to be included in the article, but they were. I guess it depends on what you quantify as ‘editorial authority’ to report the details of the story, but even so, some of these details are a little damning.

Really though, doesn’t this article make you reflect on some of the social problems that exist within Sydney today. Whilst probably not ghettos, this isn’t a very healthy environment for people to be living in.

Can you believe it's 2009 as well??? Crazy!

Holidays

 

Today is the last day of my holidays, which started on the 15h of December, or three weeks ago. It has really been a lovely little holiday, here are some of the key statistics/highlights:

- Kicking it in Radelaide with Spunks which was grand, super good
- Reading In Cold Blood, Lolita, High Fidelity & Breakfast at Tiffanys
- Playing golf at Millicent, Narracoorte, Glenelg, Turramurra (twice!) & Chatswood
- Jamming with Timmy S
- Listening to Big Joe Williams
- My new camera
- Christmas at home
- NYE at Benny M house at North Sydney, with all the cheekiness there

I think this shows that I'm a one trick pony – my one trick is trying to do everything. So why is that a one trick pony (I can hear you saying, you idiot, you're getting your metaphors mixed up)? I have to do a lot of things at once to keep myself entertained. In this holiday my attention has been completely focused on three different past times, namely reading, playing golf & taking photos. This, as Mum often points out, is a little daft. Something I know too is that what I'm always going to be. I'll always try and do as much as possible, be as many things as possible and just kick it with everyone. As you may have guessed I've decided to try and be more comfortable within my own skin this year. I want to read more, play golf, take photos, so that is what I'll try to do. More more more!

I hope you have a lovely year.


Photo by me