Dig, Lazarus, Dig

Nick Cave is back.
He still can't dance but he is in story telling mode all over again.

www.nickcaveandthebadseeds.com/di...ig/

One review describes it as Cave conjuring a world of his own imagining - not a world most of us would want to venture into without body armor, a crucifix... or a dictionary.
As verbose and intellectual as it is scary and unsettling, Dig is a baffling, dark masterpiece in which Cave deliberately sets out to massage the pleasure centers of the psyche.
(Manchester Evening News)
Released in the States - April 8th.

A Pictorial Guide to Life in China

'wallowing in toxic apathy with the rest of us'.

www.sinosplice.com/china/pictguide/

Tips for travelers to Barcelona

1.Take up smoking before you leave. Smoke and food is the staple diet in Barcelona.

2. Before your trip, suck up as much exhaust fumes as you can (try to get high premium diesel if available) Narrow streets choked in a fog of exhaust fumes, scooters/motor bikes without mufflers make you feel as if your brain stem is slowly liquifying. Best to be prepared for it.

3. Go to the beach and dig up all the creep crawlies you can find. Include cute baby crabs, octopus tentacles, whole prawn heads, and moosh them together with rice. Eat this concoction for at least a week to be ready for the delicacies you will find in Barcelona.

4. Eat a big breakfast, because who knows when you will eat again during the day. Waiting until 2:30 for lunch, or 9pm for dinner, may send you into a sugar crashing spin.

5. Melt down 2 or 3 chocolate bars, add two or three tablespoons of sugar. Do not add milk. Drink / spoon this thick sauce into the mouth) Voila....Barcelona's hot chocolate.

6. Do get out of the city, and travel up the coast to Costa Brava. The air is clean (relatively) and the quieter pace of life is lovely.

7. Visit Figueres (Dali Museum), Besalú (a medieval town), Cadaques, and Port Lligat (Dali's home) and Park Güell.

8. Be aware that a lot of the tourist attractions are either under construction or are being remodeled. A huge billboard will appear over the area telling tourists - 'nothing to see here - go home'.

9. Take the Metro whenever you can. It is fast, clean, and includes cute beepy sounds when a stop is coming up.

10. When speed walking through the streets of Cadaques chilled to the bone, and your nose is about to fall off from the frigid wind, DO NOT take the first hotel you see. It is sure to be warm and cozy in the foyer, but that is only a cruel trick to prepare you for the cold, austere hotel room that spews cool chilling air all night long.

Xmas Party at Encounter Studio

It's that time of the year again!
......Time for Xmas cheer in the form of Brandy, Beer, and most importantly, for all forms of Booze-aholics to unite!
So, join us at Encounter Studio for a Xmas party to celebrate the festive season.

Date: Friday December 7th

Time: 7-11pm

Bring: Your favorite Xmas liquid cheer and food for a pot-luck dinner.

Location: Encounter Studio, Potrero Hill. (Email me if you don't know the address)

We will meet up with old friends, watch classic Xmas animation, and enjoy background Xmas songs guaranteed to make you drink even more.

Come see the fairyland-lit up space, decked out with Xmas tree, flying reindeer, strategically placed mistletoe, and assorted sparkly festive crap.

$5 donation suggested to help pay for the new Xmas stove - 'Stella'. Stella's cooked wares of Xmas scones and Xmas pudding will be worth the donation alone!

See you next Friday night...

'Twas 18 days before Christmas, when all through the house,
Not a creature was stirring, 'cos the 3 Encounter Studio cats ate the mouse.

Go GInger!
Go Vermina!
Go Sasha Bella!

Bye bye Johnny...

Everyone in Australia votes today.
13.5 million voters out of 20 million people.

Gotta love compulsory voting:
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aust...ral_system

Fake Motorcade at APEC

Iconoclasts at their best.

'The Aussie government is spending 170 million on APEC security, which includes a lot of technological crap - such as choppers flying around blocking mobile phone signals, and all you need is 3 cars, a couple of flags, and a fake sticker to bypass all that security.'

They were only stopped when Chas stepped out dressed up as Osama..

www.cnn.com/2007/POLITIC...ap/index.html (be sure to watch the video)

Make Science easier

www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/new...4054.ece

Some unbelievable quotes:

"70% 'low demand' questions requiring simpler or multiple-choice answers in the exam papers are required."

“Part of the desire is that the student can come out of the exam with a feeling of success that they have actually tackled a significant proportion of the questions, and achieved the best grade expected,” he said. “The vast majority of candidates taking this exam are going to achieve grades D to G, and they deserve a positive experience of science."

Positive experience of science and a feeling of success.
Did I miss the part about learning something?

"We do need to support the lower-ability students. But there is a danger that, in trying to ensure you have access for the majority, you limit the minority.”

There you have it.
We need to produce lazy, dumb-ass students who feel good about themselves, but don't know shit.
And of course, we get kids who lack any critical thinking skills, with no internal motivation to tackle a challenge when it presents itself, and wouldn't know academic rigor if it came and bit them in the butt.

Astray

Asleep beneath the dissolving sky
Enveloped in spiral stairs
With quiet desire
Dreams come calling.

Just a clinging on
With slip of hand
Between mist and night
The maze of gargoyles retreat.

I call you by your name
Through the walls of
Dark reprieve
And esoteric abandon.

To relive a life
Just a single one
On the rock
Who could have known, but no one.

Painting my sleep with colors
Dark and scarlet
You touch
And my mind goes astray.

Freak out Friday

Calling all freaks, misfits, and friends.
A Freak-Out Friday movie night is happening this Friday, June 15th at Encounter Studio.

'The Piano Tuner of Earthquakes' by the Brothers Quay.

If you want an experience that will infect your senses, and draw you into the murky imaginations of the Quay Brothers, then this is your night.
This movie is simply hypnotic.
'The Piano Tuner of Earthquakes' is surrealistic pathology at its' best.
Come experience it for yourself.
Doors open at 8pm, and the movie begins at 8:30pm.

“What happens in the shadow, in the grey regions, also interests us—all that is elusive and fugitive, all that can be said in those beautiful half tones, or in whispers, in deep shade.” - The Brothers Quay