our national day

I'm not really a fan of Invasion Day, flag capes and crowded foreshores, but I'd be lying if I said I wasn't a fan of our personal Australia Day tradition: disgusting sausages, the last 10 songs in the Hottest 100, and casual pool times feat. the occasional "inflated dolphin race." This year I decided to take polaroid snaps because a) i do not use my polaroid camera enough to warrant my possesion of it (it is pretty special) and b) it is difficult to photograph an annual tradition without inane repetition year in, year out.

As you can see above, I prob need to acquire some sort of better pen for scanning purposes (and also a better scanner, now that I mention it...).

x magda

this is the time, that i'll come running....

So I am basically still obsessing over "Tuesday Night with Nick Cave," and thought maybe I should write a little about it. As a gig, it is totally up there with my all-time favourites (FYI, the list so far includes: The Flaming Lips at BDO '04, Arcade Fire at the Enmore in Melbourne last yr and '06 PJ Harvey also in the lovely Belvoir!). NC was something truly special, though - never before have I seen an artist so completely command audience attention. He draws you in with charisma and banter and mature sexiness (a popular example: "are you touching my cock? ... jesus christ, i'm 51 years old!") and then he holds your attention through the sheer intensity of his performance. Personally, I felt as if every single song was being directed straight at me; there's a focus and a force there that is truly remarkable. I almost felt sorry for all the Bad Seeds behind him, they were completely overshadowed by his power as a frontman.

Caro has already detailed some of the advantages of performers "on the older side," but, additionally, something I personally love about this factor is just the wealth of repertoire that an older artist has at his disposal - particularly in the case of someone as diverse as NC. I'm so used to seeing "new" artists with only 1 or 2 or maybe, if you're lucky, up to 4 (!) albums, so the level of surprise is greatly decreased. With NC, though, every new song is something special, unpredictable or surprising - what a thrill! My personal highlight was when "Into My Arms" gave way to "Straight to You." "IMA" naturally weakened my emotion resolve (just imagine if he'd played the freaking SHIP SONG!), so, by the time that "STY" kicked in, basically all I could do was just fall, completely, into the joy of that song. All of it was amazing, though. The photo above is one of only 3 that I took, because I was far too absorbed in the performance to bother which such silly distractions. I wanted to watch it alllll.

To make matters even greater, the evening wrapped up beautifully! The bouncer was delightfully chipper ("cheers for coming, cheers for enjoying!"), and then we hung out in the floodlit oval carpark, playing makeshift cricket (with coke bottle bat) while we waited for the cars to clear. And, when I got home, I snuggled up on my bean bag to watch Barack Obama become the American President. Pretty much the best night ever.

x magda

how good is this?!

picture courtesy of b-dog and i guess also saul loeb who actually took the photo

back on land

So this blog has been a little quiet recently and, as is often the case, my excuse can be presented in three parts: 1) a little blog-related insecurity, which i shall now proceed to push through with a vengeance, 2) a hell of a lot of worky work AND 3) a magical two weeks spent "on the road."



My last five years have all commenced like this, with a journey down south in search of adventure and fun times. Every year about 15 of us squeeze into cars and then into tents and then into bedrooms and we spend almost two weeks basking in one another's company. Inevitably, there are parties (spontaneous AND planned), creative projects (failed AND successful) and beautiful new discoveries (is that actually SASHAAA out there?!). And then at the end I come home feeling refreshed and inspired and happy, ready (if reluctant) to take on the rest of the year.

Here are my TOP FIVE favourite buss09 moments. I would like to be reminded of these if life gets a little hard this year:

1. That morning when Caroline led me over stinger armies and dark seaweeded depths until we reached a mysterious floating trampoline and climbing wall with slide! Lying on my back next to Hannah as Damien bounced beside us, I was struck by surrealness of it all; to be lolling/lol-ing on a trampoline with friends, about fifteen minutes away from the freaking shore.

2. When, feeling tired and hazy one morning, I opened up the refridgerator in search of sustenance, only to find a cold, plastic snake lodged between some cheese and a bowl of leftover pasta.

3. Blasting "Affirmation" at top volume as we rolled down Bussell Hwy, singing along with Jenny, Ro & Caro, and thinking, "I wonder what they're doing in the boy car right now?"

4. Lying on the floor beside my bed after the mess that was the "Under the Sexy Sea" party, with Moriarty (or maybe Sasha?) next to me, and about six other lovable characters in around and on the bed itself, thinking, "Yessss, I may almost be unconscious but at least I am still in amongst PARTY."

5. Arriving back at SouthBound after a quick trip to the beach, and bouncing straight into Architecture in Helsinki, still in bathers and thongs . I cannot even remember what songs AIH played or whether they were actually any good, all I remember is jumping up and down in a spot of space right near the back, and really truly loving life/youth.

x magda

PS i have changed my layout a little! do you like it, or do you hate it?!
damn, html is a bitch!