how to (or not to) pull chicks in sydney 2012

seriously man, what is wrong with this world?

seems that i have come across some dude who believes that if you add two negatives, you somehow get a positive.

if mc hammer and vanilla ice had been together in a biblical sense, back in the day, they may have produce this. except that he is a bit white for that winning combination.

ok, i am old(er), i will pay that, but since when did this become cool? is it?

i really don’t know anymore.

for some reason i hope that mc ice-hammer and mr peach shorts with boating-shoes are romantically linked.

maybe i’m missing something, but dude would have to have a mighty big personality to pull that off with girls today, i would hope.

now some old-skool tunes to keep everyone happy.

can’t touch this – mc hammer:

vanilla ice – ice ice baby:

come to think of it, it’s all pretty smooth.

Edited: May 17th, 2012

hipsters will be prosecuted

i saw this on the now deceased hopetoun hotel in surry hills a few months back, but i never bothered to take a pic of  a new and surry hills-relevant twist of the old “free bill posters”  haha.

rip the hoey. the sando in newtown is not quite the same and the annandale is on it’s last legs. where then i ask, can a band of nobodies take the stage and show their stuff in sydney?

pubs these days are all satinless steel and glass. more interested in flogging fake mexican food, pulling big bucks on the pokies, or just charging ridiculous amounts of money for drinks.

i want a pub, an old school pub – one without the wankers. i also want a pub in which up and coming musos can do their stuff.

i want something more than just manufactured pop. should i move to melbourne then?

if you don’t know what a hipster is, then check out this clip:

Edited: March 29th, 2012

the tilt-shifting desert sand dunes of nambia – aerial shot – amazing!

this is another from the stable of amazing shots from photo a day.

if you haven’t already learned this one, anytime that you see the word amazing in the title of the post, it means that the photo is complete bullshit.

this pic was taken at the beach.

what i do love about it though, is that when you take the time to look at the tiny little things in nature, you see the same patterns as you would on a grand or aerial scale, so in that sense, this really could be quite similar to what you would see if you took a helicopter flight over the sand dunes of namibia in africa.

oh how dearly i would love to do that. i hope i didn’t dissapoint anyone too much.

in light of my misleading you, i would like to present to you two, yes two tunes that are genuinely fom namibia. enjoy:

this next one is like if you crossed karaoke, the wiggles and namibians. (sorry, but that’s my honest call):

if anyone finds someting better, could you please comment and post the link? i will publish it.

Edited: January 23rd, 2012

great southern land – cronulla

after the storms. what was australia like in the 1980′s? what was it like when life was simpler and hairdos were particularly bad?

it was like icehouse. perhaps it is good we have moved on…

perhaps not.

Edited: January 15th, 2012

warrens house

warren has spent the last, at least, 4 months doing a remarkable renovation to his block of four flats.

i was standing out on his attic-conversion balcony enjoying the expansive views, tama, bronte and the  north maroubra/ lurline bay headlands, but i somehow thought this shot appealed to me more.

it would be a much nicer shot if it was carrying more than my mobile phone.

my greatest apologies to all – the sun has brought out the sentimental old soul in me, so i have been playing a lot of vintage (?) oz rock. here is another – from a time when peter garrett was still in midnight oil and had a credible message. a shame he has become a rock star politician for the federal alp and got so badly shafted by them.

so sad really.

midnight oil – blue sky mine:

Edited: January 10th, 2012

summer daze – my 4 year old muse took this

yes it’s true. my four year old took this photo and i love it – i think it is better than a lot of the photos on this website already. maybe i should just get her to do the pics for this site. i like her style.

so there you are, that is a picture of me with half of my head chopped off – just the way i like it.

children with cameras, it’s great what they come out with.

a song for this pic now:

angus and julia stone – mango tree:

Edited: January 7th, 2012

floating red balls

aircraft warning thing a majings

a just liked the colours and contrast. i may yet photoshop out the wires and put it on my wall at home.

for some reason, it just makes me think of nenas 99 luftballons:

Edited: January 6th, 2012

angry scowl

it’s just pretend angry.

tunes now – timo maas – pictures:

Edited: January 4th, 2012

last photo for 2011 – who is this girl?

wow. talk about going out with a bang – not.

i shot this exactly as i found it – on a bush track in the royal national park. it struck me as odd.

i remember about 8 years ago, i was in buenos aires, argentina. i was at a little street market/garage sale type do and for some reason i bought a box of black and white family photos for 5 pesos.

these were old, old pics – of babies, weddings, people hanging about playing music, kids with dolls, holiday snaps and just really personal home and familylife.

here i was – an australian gringo buying some dead argentinan memories for 5 pesos at a flea market. so sad really.

here is a random tune that i will force upon you. i can only hope that you enjoy it….

dj spooky + joshua roman playing  the cello + radiohead

be warned though- as much as i do like his work a lot, mr dj spooky has the art of talking an amazing amount of crap and seems to be quite a self efacious kind of wanker.

make up your own mind.

Edited: December 31st, 2011

mad full-wall bollywood street art in randwick

how good is this for an idea – in rando of all places! nice to see street art creeping into some unsuspecting neighbourhoods.

a whole wall paying homage to crazy bollywood films. i love the green lady with the blood and eyes rolling back in her head.

let’s just hope that more dull walls in the city and suburbs get some kind of makeover like this.

here is a little bollywood magic for your enjoyment (x 2):

this next one comes from a crucial period in bollywood history. i reckon this film was one which really sat on the fence between indian and western music/dance styles.

it had a huge budget and was shot in some pretty awesome locations around the world, but when indians start to rap and try to be western gangsta homies, it just bombs and is embarrassing to watch.

perhaps bollywood should stick to what it knows – and what no one else in the world can do – singing and dancing extravaganzas – indian style.

Edited: June 30th, 2011

elvis presleys’ knocking back some tinnies on a friday arvo – parkes elvis festival 2011

a couple of local parkes boys getting into the spirit of things at the ‘elvis crashpad’ – that’s what they called it…

top lads. nothing like getting your mates together, dressing up in polyester elvis suits on a 40 degree, sun-filled day and smashing the tinnies.male bonding at its utmost.

i have a feeling the ‘real’ elvis was doing the same thing before rocked up to his vegas show this night + more than a few chemical additives – (see below).

Edited: January 7th, 2011

a little less conversation, a little more action – parkes elvis festival 2011

it’s early days into the festival, but these two have locked on eyelines. a bit of spark? a little chemistry perhaps?

“thank you very much…”….

here’s a song for the two of you love albatrosses….

Edited: January 5th, 2011

me looking at you looking at me

i think most of us have gotten used to this.

here is a creepy little song to go along with the image:

Edited: November 6th, 2010

nice knowing you buddy

poor little fella, not the most dignified way to go out. but as i live in the concrete jungle, i’m not going to jackhammer up my pavers to bury him, nor will i toss him in the bin. it is thursday today and council won’t pick up my bins again until wednesday.

at least him will be in his element.

PS… since i mentioned living in the concrete jungle (even though it has nothing to do with koi carp), i have decided to add a little youtube clip on the end of this post.
‘welcome to the jungle’ – guns n roses – when they were at their glam-rock peak. when axl rose still had hair and before he hit the heroin too hard – hope you enjoy it as much as i do. so young, so gay, but fuck they were good. check it out:

Edited: October 21st, 2010

the kids in tonga are little legends

these kids are awesome. what a place to grow up!

everywhere we went the kids seemed to think they were little homies which is a bit of a worry.

in general, i feel that the people of tonga are really sweet, hospitable and caring.

seems there is a real cultural lock-down on them. it’s a church run society and they have only 3 radio stations. (which only seem to play UB-40 which is funny because the tongans are prentending to be black and they listen to, and are influenced by, the music of white boys who are pretending to be black – figure that one out.). their choice of films at the cinema is also heavily censored.

i look at these beautiful kids and wonder how many of them will end up coming to australia or nz to work in security or construction. no problem with that, it’s just that a disproportionate amount of pacific islanders end up in court for stomping on peoples heads for ‘fun’.

i don’t want that for these little fellas – they are too awesome to become that. what should change?

Below is part of the soundtrck to Tonga:

Edited: August 8th, 2010

the brutal poodles chariot

wtf? seems to be something around lately with vehicles with pink highlights.

the pink is a bit crazy, but the little cherub bolted (well i hope it is) onto the bonnet takes the cake for me.

the brutal poodles are a sydney band, well duo, who are pretty keen to get noticed. nothing like a bloke pulling out some falsetto. prince did it so well, but took himself too seriously. i’d give you a link, but he pulled the prince official website off in 2006, when he became a born again christian.

we can thank flight of the conchords to make the man falsetto thing fun again, i think.

you can check out the brutal poodles music on their myspace page. below i’ve posted one of their clips – a song called ‘star’. check it out, i think they could be good fun to see live.

good luck boys, oh and maybe wash your car, the birdshit eats the duco.

TAGS: art, brutal poodles, cars, music, Sydney

Edited: July 12th, 2010

the land downunder, sunny sydney, woolloomooloo and pies from harry’s cafe de wheels

another cloudless, crisp sydney autumn day. people enjoying lunchtime pies from harry’s cafe de wheels down at woolloomooloo.

though they do great pies, i’d have to say they’re not the best i’ve sampled. but they are an institution and should be supported.

it just makes me think of the easy ’80′s, when things were uncomplicated and we lived a simple yet full life. Here is a clip that takes that in, complete with kurnell sand dunes, wanda beach, the ‘blessed’  sutherland shire and men at work singing about coming from the land down under (before they got slammed with a ridiculous IP suit for ‘kookaburra sits in the old gum tree’.

enjoy the clip while i’m allowed to show it, think back to the early 80′s and, pie in hand, throw some cheap snags on the bbq to celebrate:

Edited: May 7th, 2010

ben looks dead

i shot The Marines today. had great fun too.

you can check out their music here.

and you can see what he looks like when he was alive in a previous post here.

Edited: April 2nd, 2010

try this trick and spin it, yeah

who cuts your hair man? your head will collapse..  met these guys in the line for the toilets at The Pixies tonight. they were having a great old time getting pissed and stumbling about. awesome to see the pixies play sydney’s hordern pavillion. great band, great venue and great show as well.

funny to see all these kids seeing a band that I was enjoying while they were still crapping their nappies – though i’m sure some of the crowd at the AC/DC show in brisbane last week would have said exactly the same thing about me!

Oh dear, I am getting old!

If anyone knows who these guys are, please let me know, so that i can send them a copy.

How is this for a cover? Fuck yeah!

and the original tune:

Edited: March 14th, 2010

benny rocking it

The Marines played at the landsdowne tonight and it was great to see them. the boys played a tight set and it was great to see them all together again. their story is like one of a long marriage – over ten years together with break-ups and reconciliations all the way. if you like the sound of pavement and radiohead, you will definitely get into the marines. check out their facebook page here.

Edited: October 10th, 2009

come fly with me – richard simmons, oprah winfrey and qantas

yep, back at the airport again.

After waving hello/goodbye to the passengers in this plane preparing for take-off, I took this shot. I might come back here wearing fluoro leotards, headband and bedazzled tank-top a-la-nu-skool Richard Simmons and do this for them next time. It’s like something you would expect to see on the oprah winfrey show – you know, ‘big’ americans having fun and believing in themselves – “express the power winthin!”.

Just an idea.

I can’t believe how close you can get to the aircraft here. So much for tight security – it’s almost laughable.

Edited: August 3rd, 2009

inside deepest suburbia

this was taken somewhere in Liverpool/Moorebank.

looks peaceful enough, but according to some of the locals this place turns into something out of the Thriller video at night. packs of kids roam the streets at night, tagging up, smashing up and setting fire to things all over the place. When dusk falls, the neighbours start to worry.

check out the urban equivalent of bad town planning and social meltdown here.

i know this may be an exaggeration, but i imagine that rather than Thriller, it is more likely to be like Come to daddy, see below:

glad i don’t live around here.

TAGS: liverpool, moorebank, music, social, social disaster, suburbia, Sydney

Edited: July 29th, 2009

paddo busker

This guy is great – plays tunes from Elvis Presley movies like Blue Hawaii – also, he plays tunes like this:

Drop him a goldie or two if you see him out front of IGA supermarket on Oxford St, Paddington.

Edited: July 8th, 2009