A couple of articles in today’s The Age made me think about death and young Australian men.
One is about a 31-year old Australian and the other about a 26-year old Australian.
Death in Australia
Ethiopiques Live at the Barbican Hall
If you’re in London on June 27; don’t miss this gig. I’m afraid I will.
Mahmoud Ahmed, Mulatu Astatqe, Getachew Mekurya, Alemayehu Eshete + The Either Orchestra
The Law of Conservation of Energy
We have lots of animals in our garden. Possums, bats, a couple of dogs, a cat, some huge spiders and probably some other ones too. Last week our Swedish friend Anders visited Melbourne and stayed at our house, but after a couple of nights of keeping us awake with his snoring, we had no other option than letting him sleep in our tent in the garden.
He had a hard time sleeping the first night. All animals (domestic and wild) fought and made a lot of noise. All motion and energy kept him awake.
I thought about the law of conservation of energy – the one that states that energy cannot be destroyed, but only changed into another form of energy. Maybe the hustle and the bustle of all the animals during the night (kinetic animal energy) could be converted into something useful. To power our fridge for instance.
Next day Anders and I looked in our shed and found various old springs and other rusty metal things that we assembled. Et voilà! We had built a machine that could convert kinetic animal energy into friction.
The whole episode reminded me of a quote by Jack Handey – quite possibly the Isaac Newton of our time:
“We like to praise birds for flying. But how much of it is actually flying, and how much of it is just sort of coasting from the previous flap?”
A Corporate Environment
I’m working in a corporate environment since a while back. You know it; white shirts, bad coffee, dubious jokes by the water cooler and lunchtime conversations about cars, sport, dogs and mortgages. Sometimes I think I live in the 50’s when I’m in the office. But they didn’t have computers then, did they?
I check what Excel version my computer has got in the Help menu; Microsoft® Office Excel® 1957. © 1764-1957 by Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.”
I consult Wikipedia and find that Microsoft Excel was invented in 1764 by James Hargreaves in Stanhill, near Blackburn. Hargreaves invented the “Spinning Jenny” shortly before Excel. The multi-spool spinning wheel, which revolutionized the way we work.
Wilsons Prom
Melbourne is technically by the sea but no one swims here. That’s because it’s actually situated on the top end of a massive bay with a very small opening to the ocean, and the water is quite dirty close to the city. The further down you go the bay, the cleaner the water gets. But it’s still not like swimming in the sea.
Last weekend we went to the real ocean. We stayed in a little beach house in Sandy Point, about three hours from Melbourne. It was quite amazing. I didn’t know that the coast was this beautiful in Victoria. I don’t know why I wouldn’t think so. Most of the Australian countryside is beautiful so why wouldn’t this part be?
On Sunday we went for a hike in Wilsons Prom, which is mainland Australia’s southernmost national park. It rained during the whole walk but it was a very fine rain. The kind of light rain they call txirimiri in the Basque country. Apparently it comes from the expression txirri-txirri, which means little by little, but continuously.
Buy or Rent?
I’m looking at property in Melbourne and am a bit confused. Should I buy or should I rent? In what area?
And what will I use the place for? A bar that only plays Sonic Youth? A shop which only sells black things? A gravlax restaurant? A kindergarten?
Adbusters
The good people at Adbusters have published a fine little article about Australia in their last issue. Read it here.
Perth top 5: #3 – The Dog Beach
I’ve been back in Perth over Christmas and NYE.
In Perth there are so many amazing beaches that even the dogs have their own beach. Other species, such as humans, cats and snakes, are not allowed on the dog beach. In fact, the man in the photo was asked to leave soon after the picture was taken.
Vampire Weekend vs. Super Heeb
I see that the yet-to-be-released Vampire Weekend album makes a lot of Top of the Year-lists. I was really excited when I realized that they were going to play a free daytime gig at Columbia University, while we were in NYC in August. And not only that; the awesome hip hop duo Clipse was going to headline. Two great acts for free, just around the corner from where we stayed on 112th St.
Unfortunately, on the day of the gig, I woke up at two in the afternoon in a flat on 3rd St and Ave A after a long night in the East Village. Yes, that’s 109 streets and a lot of avenues away from the show, which was just about to start. I was very hung-over and heavily sweating on this boiling hot summer day, and could barely transport myself to the kitchen for a glass of water. We decided to go to Russ and Daughters instead.
Russ and Daughters on Houston Street is the greatest place for smoked and pickled fish I’ve ever been to. Kaj Röjers rökeri in Hallavara, Skåne might be up there too, but Russ is the shit. Chip and I ordered a “Super Heeb” each – a divine bagel with whitefish salad, double-whipped horseradish cream cheese and wasabi covered fish roe. According to Chip, a Dutch food magazine picked this as the second best food in the world. Maybe it wasn’t as good as Bill Oglethorpe’s grilled-cheese sandwich at Borough Market in London (which another famous food writer claimed was the best food in the world) but not far from it.
Consumerism
‘I believe that the consumer society is the final stage of civilisation. This society can continue for another hundred years or so but I completely believe that this utilitarian, devouring way of life signals that civilisation is ending.’
Jan Švankmajer
I wouldn’t normally listen to old Czech puppet film makers, but when I see how much crap is out there on the shelves for the x-mas shoppers right now, Švankmajer’s words make a lot of sense.
So, when you stand there in the supermarket toy isle tomorrow and wonder what you are going to buy for your little nephew or niece, just forget it. Don’t buy anything. The kids will only throw it in their massive pile of toys anyway, and the Chinese slave workers will have to produce even more plastic rubbish for next Christmas.
Sorry for writing negative stuff in this festive time of the year. Next blog posting will be a positive one, I promise.
