Spambots

After suffering a repeated bout of comment spam all week, that's buried the few legit comments under screeds of carpet cleaning advertorials, I've changed my settings. So this will hopefully fool the 'bots and free this section up for the loyal core of readers...ahem.

Having got the geek over with, am free to report on the Eels show last Sunday. At this point, I think I have to say that despite being early ticket buyers, Donna and I are not the most organized concert goers. Needless to say, the venue changed and we had no idea. Luckily we wandered past the St James on our way back to the car and realised it was on there. We were late anyway, as we thought the Sneaks were supporting and didn't really want to see them play.

So when we did arrive about an hour late, everyone was seated at tables. This didn't impress much. We sat with some randoms for awhile but moved up to stand at the back like a real concert. This was better. The set was good, they played a few favourites from Shootenanny, and a lot from the new double album. But I couldn't help thinking that I would have loved to have seen them tour an earlier album.

Procrastination- A Celebration

So I have two big things due in on Tuesday, and then Honours is (hopefully) over. But right now, I'm being distracted by the news, the internet and the thought of pizza.

Last night I was further distracted by an FTVMS wrap party. So good to hang out with the film crew. Will miss those guys a lot once everyone goes their separate ways. It was a big night, and we all wound up at Meredith's house where we stayed for the night, which was good, except that the house is quite Shining-esque.

Eels tomorrow night...I'll just finish up everything before then...

Blame Adam...

...if this site offends you. I think it's hilarious.

Check it out:

www.jaypinkerton.com

Harping On

So last Sunday, trooped along with all of Auckland's artistic pretenders to the Maidment Theatre to check out Joanna Newsom and Smog. Going to this gig was quite a hot ticket, and it had sold out a few weeks before. Luckily Jenna was organized and grabbed us some tickets early. At the time, I have to admit I wasn't too sure of who these people were, only knowing the record label through Cat Power et al.

Our seats were good, upstairs and bang in the middle. It was a nice night in that everyone who went seemed to make a bit of a night of it, even though it was on a Sunday. I was pretty tired from Hannah's party the night before when I'd stumbled home at a very unresonable hour. But I dragged myself out for a drink before and then caught up with a lot of people in the foyer, including most of the film department and about two years worth of Elam.

Smog played first, and he was good, he reminded me of Dan Reeder, an even more obscure artist who I'd love to see live. He was also more than a little creepy. And wanted the lights turned up to see the audience better. I have to admit that I kind of dozed through a lot of his set, although I strongly denied this to Jenna. It was good though, his songs had nice narratives. I'd buy his album, but not hunt it out.

After a rushed intermission, Joanna Newsom came on, wielding her harp with vigour. I was kind of fascinated by her harp, very weird instrument. One of the guys Jenna had drummed up told me it was just the equivalent of an upright piano but I find that kind of hard to believe. It's just so odd, and watching her play it was odd. She has a funny kind of warbling voice. I liked her purely because she pushes it so much. Most artists would settle for one or two of strange instrument, warbly voice and incredibly nuanced dense and crazy lyrics. She hits you with all three. So it was a funny experience.

It was a nice gig, there was a huge range of people there. We had a few families sitting around us, with kids that got excited every time their favourite numbers got played and I'm sure they got to enjoy a few carob treats at half time too. So a good night. Nice to see Jenna too. But I have to say, I'm really looking forward to seeing The Eels this weekend. With a string section. That is really going to be something special.

Rap-ture

My kind of average working day today was significantly lifted by the arrival of five CD's worth of new music from a friend. It's been so good having such amazing stuff to listen to all day, partly because I'm on iPod hiatus, ie, left it at Hannah's, and more importantly because with the CD's came that special thing that only the really musically nerdy really understand- the annotated tracklisting.

There is little more frustrating than a CD without a tracklist. Apple knows this, iTunes will dig up almost any information you could want. I guess my need to know what I'm listening to is partly borne out of music snobbery- I want to be able to tell people what I'm listening to. Or if it's especially good, I want to be able to get more of it.

But here's where the special part comes in. The annotation. These don't happen very often, and I can remember every one. The first few were handwritten. One was handwritten in this amazing tiny writing on the back of a King Size Caramello wrapper. And it was the key to a mix tape. So good. I still have it. Another one had the oddest little caricature on it, and contained a lot of the first songs I ever heard by a lot of the bands I still love today.

The other day, a friend dug out a mix tape I had made her post one of the many breakups with one of her ex-boyfriends. She still had the tape, but she loved the tracklisting. There's something about adding context to a song which makes it so much more. Everyone knows this. That's why couples insist on having 'special songs', leaving all sorts of previously okay songs wounded in the process. Advertisers know this. John Cusack knows this.

And that's why getting this track listing today was so cool. Not only was it five pages long, and the choices were excellent, the reasoning was impeccable. And the juxtaposition- Otis Redding with the New York Dolls. The Neptunes with The Byrds. Iron and Wine with Marvin Gaye. Masterful.

Where It Is Due

I realised that last night's post trailed off somewhat...I feel asleep.

In news, I got my first credit today. I should be tucked in the Out of the Question list on Prime next Wednesday. Very exciting.

Damn You JD Fortune.

Somehow it's Thursday again. While not entirely sure how this happened, I am pleased to note that it is Friday tomorrow, and then will be Saturday. And then, of course, Hannah is having a party, which will be quite the highlight.

Last weekend, which seems long ago, was good. Friday night was mellow, went to work drinks, met up with Meredith and Jimmy, and watched the INXS final (Damn you JD) before settling in for some heat lamp time. Saturday morning I was a lone representative at yoga, as everyone else had gone on self defence course. Afterwards, I met Mark at Superette before heading over to Tiffany's to celebrate her birthday. We hung out at her house for the afternoon, and met her fantastic friend Brian, newly arrived from Sydney. Nice to get something back from there for a change.

Saturday night I dragged myself to the Deschler's party. Which was an effort to get to but worth it. After that, we went straight back to being sixteen, turning at a party where the cops were- and an advertising party no less! Hilarious. Musket Room followed, but I've been finding it a little bit boring lately and didn't stay long. Sunday was okay, punctuated nicely by a drink with Juliet at Bonita, my new favourite little tapas bar. Less flashy than La Zeppa (which has old first date blight anyway) and less busy than Didas (ditto actually, must stop ruining tapas bars with dates...) Bonita's good anyway, and as we weren't on a date, I'm free to go back whenever. Plus they serve wine in cute little tumblers. I'm not sure if it's a full serve, but it's novel. And I like novelty.

Monday night was the WIFT Awards, which I viewed as an excellent chance to connect with the sisterhood. I am, of course, a wide eyed innocent. The night was filled with wine, salmon kebabs and no actual food, a dumb movie about sisters and talk about sewing and boob jobs (seriously). I did manage to network with my boss...I shouldn't be too harsh (there's a first), it was a fun night, I just wanted more...kumbaya I guess. Maybe we'll all connect next time.

Popstar was on again onTuesday, which made for the very long day which is catching up with me right now. Not good. Emma and I rounded out the shoot with an indoor water fight, which was lots of fun despite being roundly frowned upon. It's a really fun show to be working on, in my mind it totally kills the competition.

And because I am petty: Marty is the new Bowie. INXS are fools. Like so many other things this week, I give it three months. And it's not worth it.

Props

I forgot to mention that my last rather long post goes out to Kate, who with her email refrain of "more blog please, ladies", reminds me to update.

Good work.

Sisters are doing it for themselves...

The last two weeks...

Feel like about a hundred years. Maybe more, I can't be sure.

Kicked off with the Rialto dinner on the Friday, which was at Wagamama. This is one of those places which is great in principle and lousy in pratice. And give the Chicken Katsu the widest possible berth. It looks like something out of Alien and tastes kind of similar. I was beginning to imagine my stomach leaping out of my chest and clinging frantically to my face by the end of it. Luckily, I was well drunk, even before we hit the sake.

Yoga on Saturday kicked off in nauseating fashion with headstands, thus shifting the position of the sake. Luckily I made it through till breakfast, which was at Bambina, which has failed to realy excite me since Bill's. Damn you Bill. Meredith and I whiled away many hours on Saturday, both mumbling repeatedly about needing to study as we hit more and more second hand shops. Eventually, I headed home and prepared the house for drinks that night but spent most of my time making my favourite risotto balls.

Drinks was fun, with all the crew turning up, bar Hannah who was in Sydney and lots of West Bank missions happening. We headed to an excellent Rakinos afterwards, where I made only one faux pas, concerning an especially hot 'striped t shirt guy', as he has to be known as I think the chances of us speaking again are low...Crow followed which is a little hazy but I'm sure it was just fine.

The next week at work was crazy, with two shoots to go on, and the deadline for Food TV getting a lot closer. I can't really think what might have happened during the week, except a lot of Touchdown time. Which was actually really fun. And the pilot we shot had me laughing for days. Can't wait to see the show.

Becs and I headed straight to the Gypsy when the week ended and drank G+T's at an embarrassing rate. Saturday, I dragged myself to yoga, where Meredith and I got told off (in a yoga kind of way so pretty gentle) for lying on the ground, not choosing whether to do a half or full back bend (I elected to take a water break). We hit Fusion afterwards, but you might need to hit the blacklist for that info. Look for the link in my last post.

That afternoon, I was in Parnell by 3.30, with a whole bunch of Play It Strange affiliates to board a bus to Hamilton. The bus ride down took two hours which we passed by drinking beers, and listening to Jeff's demo CD. I tried grabbing some footage on the bus, but the old motion sickness caught me up and I had to sit back and enjoy the scenery.

The awards were great once were reached the 'Tron. Jeff played first (the only one to be invited back!), with Jordan Luck, who had previously melted my little heart by smelling wickedly of aftershave as he lit my cigarette (there's that pesky teenager again). They were great, and although my sound screwed up, I got some good footage. Luckily, Meredith B and Echo arrived soon after, and took over the camera. Not my strong point.

We hung around for a few hours, drinking and snacking and watching Jeff, as would be groupies flocked to him, ignoring the stately Jordan. Fools. Jeff was on great form, and jumped onto the smaller stage to perform Band Expander and a Neil Young cover- gleefully proclaiming "I wrote this one in the '70s". Gold.

The trip home was priceless, with Meredith and I raiding our iPods and playing everything guilty pleasure we could find. I scored big with "Blinded by the Light", "Total Eclipse of the Heart" and "Turning Japanese". They are filed under the 'Music to Listen to in Cafes When Ordering Short Blacks and Smoking' playlist. It's very elusive.

On our return, we hit a party at an old flat, Fleet Street. Ardent All In The Mind-ers, will recall that this is the den of hippy hell that I narrowly escaped from. So why so keen to head back? It was Davian's 30th birthday, and he was having a party. A kooky, kooky party, full of crazy individuals. With bad teeth. But what a doll Davian is. It was great to see him. Even if he was dressed as some kind of monster.

I found three things I left at the flat. They were:

1. A Japanese vegetable scrubber or tawashi. They are currently cleaning the toilet with it. Which in some respects is something of an improvement.

2. A pair of 3-d glasses. Which in all fairness, I had given to Davian when I left, purely for the look of confusion he gave me when I told him they would let him see in 3-d. Bless.

3. A Saddam Hussein mask. An old favourite, bought for one of Hannah's parties last year. I got great mileage out of it then, but he looks a little different these days, so I can't really pass for him anymore. So not much of a loss.

Following our admittedly swift departure (but not before my ex-flattie had asked me which Star Wars character I was most likely to date- Han Solo- and told me about his new line in hemp t-shirts, of which I ordered five), we hit Phil's place, where I had left nothing, and managed to leave nothing. Good party though.

On Sunday Hannah's father put on one of his famous barbeques. I love when he cooks, it usually consists of a side of beef and some fire. Actually my favourite. One of his friends did attempt to discuss anaemia with me when she saw me heading for the 'rare/raw' pile again, and I kind of listened.

This week hasn't been as consumed with work, and the mood around Food/Living HQ seems a lot better. It was pretty relaxed today when Matt played us all a voicemail requesting his services for a 'hand job'- turns out he's a part time hand model! Perfect.

What I have been doing is more stuff for uni, and I'm just beginning to think that I might get everything in. No guarantee, but it just might be alright.

This weekend is shaping up well, with a picnic (indoors?) at Tiff's, various parties, and then the WIFT (Women in Film and TV) Awards on Monday night. Love the dirty old sisterhood.