living, breathing, dancing...

This blog will self-destruct...

2006-06-25T21:58:00.000+10:00

... well actually it probably won't. Its just that I'm not going to be updating it any more. I'll just let it float on in blog-space.

But not to worry. All you have to do is go to jhunytheboy.com.

Goodbye blogger!

Tags:Jhuny, blog, The End.

I really am! Honest!

2006-06-22T15:12:00.000+10:00

No amount of pink stripes and headings can disguise the fact that this blog has not been very gay lately. That thought occurred to me as I'm reading the various blog posts collected at Pinkboard and through all the whingeing and carrying on about rehabilitation, and touring around the country, all I've got in the last three months that suggests same-sex orientation is a cursory mention of the mystery man JPB and some random comment from an ex-housemate.

Well anyway here goes nothing: I AM GAY.

I'm so happy (gay, even) to hear that Kylie's touring again. I think that my ticket is for her first performance back, which will be amazing to go to. I was sitting in a cafe in Toowoomba and they were playing Kylie's Showgirl DVD and I was watching her perform Red Blooded Woman thinking "wow this is so gay".

The movie channels at the hotels that we've stayed at have all been playing Brokeback Mountain.

I'm glad I got that off my chest.

Tags: gay blog Kylie Minogue brokeback mountain.

PS I know that QP did a similar kind of post yesterday but at the very least he was being QueerActivist. I've just been a dancer (and, no, I've met enough straight male dancers, you can't just make any kinds of assumptions!).

Shut down

2006-06-21T21:44:00.000+10:00

What do you mean you don’t have Sunday trading? It’s only five o’clock, all I want is milk, why aren’t the supermarkets open?

No matter how pretty Toowoomba is, there’s a very strange vibe about the place. Being stuck there that late Sunday afternoon, walking around the Grand Central for an hour trying to find a way to get into Coles because there was no reason that a city of this size should go into almost complete shut down just because it was God’s holy day. The cinemas were open but I didn’t want popcorn I just needed nibblys and breakfast supplies for the next morning.

Very pretty place indeed. But it gave me the creeps walking on the streets at night, copping the occasional random yelling from lone cars driving by.

Oh, and I need to mention the hotel that we were staying at, the Quality Burke and Wills that does NOT have a one-off charge for local calls. What a bitch, especially when you’re on the internet as much as I am.

Pretty theatre the Empire, though, and lovely home-made biscuits.

Tags: Toowoomba.

Roundabout and swing

2006-06-20T01:08:00.000+10:00

Clan in Canberra and in many ways I felt like I had returned. It was here in Canberra that I first took up dance training that had sent me on my way to Bangarra. At the end of our media call on the day of our opening night the general manager of the theatre approached me to tell me that he was pleased to see an ex-Canberran back on his stage, a sentiment he repeated at the post show reception that night. It was a bit of a shock and perplexing really because, at that point I wasn’t really doing that much in the show; it seemed that having a post-injury me as the “swing person” was more important than getting me back into all of my roles. Which it is, I guess, but it makes it no less disappointing, and after all that anticipation of returning to form in the city that started me off.

By Saturday, however, due to yet another injury in the company, I found myself back in rather aptly titled section Power, the most demanding of the roles that I was to have in the program before I had injured myself. Misfortune had given back what she had initially taken away from me and it was both exciting and daunting, considering that for the past month I had had such a cruisy role in the show. At least I had the matinee that afternoon to rehearse before the “big one” that night, closing night, when JPB and a handful of other friends were to be in the audience. For those who haven’t seen the program, Power is almost entirely partner work (with a section in the middle where we sit down at the back and watch other dancers for a bit) and having not run it entirely for almost two years, I was more than a bit nervous.

Then again, as I said in a previous post, I’m much more relaxed about this whole dancing thing. Strangely enough, in the matinee, it was Power that was the best executed of my roles, the others suffering firstly from nerves and lastly from the exhaustion of actually having to exert myself. I was just happy to be back again and I couldn’t stop smiling the whole way through, even though I felt like I wanted to cough up a lung or something.

So I’m back in Canberra, I’m back doing the hard stuff. I don’t know how long I’ll be doing this role, I may revert back to being the swing. But it doesn’t matter. I had a taste of it, I can give it back now. None of the up-coming tour destinations mean as much to me as Canberra did.

Tags: Dance, Bangarra, Clan, Canberra, roundabout, swing.

Not Quite...

2006-06-10T20:21:00.000+10:00

I’m in Griffith with my new 3G mobile (Motorola RAZR V3x) and with no access to 3G services. The Company Manager is busy searching for a USB dial-up modem but all she can find are ADSL modems; meanwhile you could waste a whole day going through your emails with the speed of internet access available here. I set up a roaming dial-up internet account to use on this tour but, apart from Darwin where I’ve had access to my brother’s broadband anyway, I haven’t been able to use it because TPG doesn’t provide a local access number for the places we’ve been to. Carting my brick of a laptop across the continent took its toll on my purposely bought laptop-enabled backpack, one of the straps broke on the way to Geraldton, so I bought a wheel-around laptop-enabled cabin bag that I couldn’t even take onboard the Rex flight to Griffith because it was too bulky. This place is supposed to be cosmopolitan and multi-cultural but I still can’t find a decent cup of coffee.

Alanis Morrisette would call it ironic. I would call it a bitch.

(P.S. couldn't be bothered dealing with crap internet cafe so I'm posting this from Sydney. I ended up sleeping in and missing the check out call for the airport because, after setting the alarm on my new phone I didn't realise that I had to ENABLE it. Confusing!)

Reflections 2006

2006-06-10T20:17:00.000+10:00

Almost two years ago we were at the Griffith Regional Theatre teching through Spirit after completing what seemed like a tough major-cities season of Clan. Looking at the cramped wing space and the unforgiving sightlines, one of us jokingly pondered “what if we had to do Clan here?” For those who didn’t get to see it in 2004, the first half of Clan involved heaps of technical trickeries, props, quick changes and lots of quick exits-and-entrances, all for the purposes of reflecting on the man David Unaipon. Difficult for everyone involved.

I guess we asked for it.

And it’s more difficult this time ‘round, for the second half of Clan 2004 has been replaced by Rations, which is its own logistics nightmare for a travelling regional tour. Besides the dancers finding themselves at certain times in the show dancing with tin cans on their heads, throwing large flour bags across the stage, being wrapped up and rolling about in blankets, and flipping over and under a ‘fence', there’s also a large ten-metre ring that has to fly in and out throughout the dance. FR really likes her props.

What if? It was an important question back then. At the time I was having all sorts of anxieties with dance and, even just doing the relatively cruisy Spirit, going onstage came with a feeling of unease and dread. My nerves couldn’t cope with Clan again.

Two years and many frequent flyer points later we’ve finished our one show of Clan in Griffith and, well, everything went alright. It’s a shame that the only thing I exert in the first half is my voice box and that I’m only partly involved in the second half (thanks to the injury). But even if I’d been fit enough, the idea of doing this show doesn’t seem as crazy as it was back then. That Spirit regional tour was a seven-week marathon with its own demands and pressures but I think it allowed us to consolidate all that we gained as performers in Clan 2004. And having just completed the Gathering program with the Australian Ballet, it seems that just about everyone in the company has taken steps up. There seems to be more of a sense of ease and familiarity of this thing dance. The difficulty is there but there’s less anxiety about the whole thing.
I can’t wait for Canberra, where I get to flex my newly repaired calf muscle. My roles have changed since the injuries but there’s promise of getting more stage time.
And back to that original question, “what if?” Well the exits and entrances weren’t as slick as they have been, and there are some elements missing (such as the fantastic light boxes that fly in and out at the start of Motion) but all in all it’s there. And I guess it worked because there was quite a lot of applause at the end.

Tags: Bangarra, Dance, tour, Clan, Griffith, Spirit.

Amazing

2006-05-29T17:11:00.000+10:00

A couple of the other dancers had made the trek up Anzac Hill in Alice Springs to see the sun rise over the Alice. Although I have only a limited role in the current Bangarra tour I still didn't think it was a good idea to head off when we're doing full days in the theatre. The morning of our travel day to Darwin seemed like the perfect opportunity to make a trek. As with Castle Hill in Townsville, it seems like the only reasonable reaction to a big lump of rock is to climb it so at six in the morning I found myself rugged up and bleary-eyed walking in the pre-dawn darkness along the barren Todd River, racing to beat the Sun. Fingers frozen because I had neglected to pack my gloves and because I was holding my icy cold tripod in one hand.

But the effort was worth it. The streets of the Alice were slowly waking up and the sky was growing bluer and brighter. Three of the other dancers finally made it up the hill after me just in time to get front row seats for the daily spectacle, my tripod already set up and capturing the view and there were already a handful of random people also waiting around. A band of pink slowly swept across the sky to herald in the Sun, which finally emerged above the horizon as a piercing and brilliant glow. Several cameras suddenly went into action, including mine.

About an hour later we were back at the Alice Springs Resort tucking into a well-deserved hot breakfast, feeling energised from seeing such a glorious view. It was a good way to top off a pretty exhilarating few days in the Alice. The night before the company was receiving rapturous applause from an almost packed house at the Araluen Arts Centre. We even got a second curtain call, which is pretty special for a regional show. It was especially good because an hour prior to that there was serious drama going on backstage as the directors were trying to work out how to replace one of the dancers who had just received a blow to the nose and was off to get it checked out by a doctor. Conveniently enough DB has quite a big role in the second half including a solo that nobody else in the company had gotten around to understudying. None of this applied to me as I have such a reduced role in the show already but when the second half commenced there was quite a bit of anxiety as to how the show was going to go.

Half way through "String" there were a couple of strings in the wrong place. We were all able to work around them but it was clear that we were all on edge.

But once it was time for DB's solo, the anxiety started to lift as PT took to the stage. He had volunteered to improvise to fill in the time. It was both amazing and funny to watch from side stage, with the knowledge of the extremely late "casting change", just about the entire company were watching on the sides cheering him on as he proceeded to twist and turn to the music. The energy onstage had changed, it was another one of those amazing electric moments that I hadn't seen since Ground Force in Melbourne. And no one in the audience besides the directors were none the wiser.

In the space of half a day I had been blown away twice.

Tags: Dance, Bangarra, Alice Springs, Anzac Hill, Sunrise, Northern Territory, Clan

Sorry for not blogging for so long. I've been taking my time with a revamp of the whole thing. It's hopefully coming in the not too distant future...

Fame, the Wiki way.

2006-05-05T19:56:00.000+10:00

Wikipedia

Does it mean that you're famous when you have your very own entry in Wikipedia? That you didn't create yourself? Meanwhile, I didn't realise that she was Latina; fancy that, and after having lived with her for all that time!

How exciting!

tags: Angie Diaz, Wikipedia.

Two weeks

2006-04-26T11:56:00.000+10:00

It's now two weeks since I injured my calf and I seem to be recovering nicely. I can do about ten single leg calf raises on it before it gives up the ghost and needs to rest. I even managed to do a bit of a ballet barre yesterday though opted out of anything too strenuous on my leg. It ached a bit afterwards but today feels fine.

The big problem, though, is trying to keep fit. Twenty minutes on the bike and I'm puffing like a smoker. And what happened to my washboard abs that I worked so hard for? Okay, that might be a bit of an overstatement but my bod was looking pretty hot pre-calf-tear. I was feeling so good, I felt like I could fly. Now I'm in the pedestrian slow lane, sweating over a little walk down the road... Okay, another overstatement...

I'm back in rehearsals next week, though.

Excuse the pun...

2006-04-26T11:42:00.000+10:00

Hopes fade for three trapped miners
Grave fears are held for three miners after a small earthquake triggered a rockfall at a Tasmanian gold mine, trapping them almost a kilometre underground.

...

Not the best choice of word here...

More Water

2006-04-25T04:19:00.000+10:00

One day they're stranded in Katherine because of it. Now they're forced to flee to Katherine because it's roaring into town in the most intense Cyclone that Australia has ever seen.

Water. There's too much of the stuff up north in the past month. Cyclone Monica is moving towards Darwin, with wind gusts reportedly up to 350km/h. It's been a crazy couple of weeks for the family up north but they don't seem to be too concerned by it all. But it's not going to hit until later on today and, since it's already crossed inland, it'll weaken by the time it gets to Darwin, if it ever does. But it looks pretty big.

Tags: Weather, Cyclone Monica, Darwin, Northern Territory, Australia.

Update: she missed!

Hallelujah

2006-04-19T00:52:00.000+10:00

Day 6. Tuesday. I hadn't done my calf exercise today and, sitting on the massage table, I was getting a bit frustrated by my lack of co-ordination in my right calf. I CAN'T BLOODY POINT MY RIGHT FOOT PROPERLY ANYMORE! Still clunking around on my crutches. Earlier on, while boarding a bus to the Opera House, the bus driver took pity on me fumbling through my bag for my wallet whilst juggling my crutches and hopping to the ticket machine, he said not to worry and to just sit down. I thanked him but I felt quite embarrassed and really useless. I guess he was falling behind schedule and couldn't wait the five seconds extra it would have taken me to flash my TravelTen.

So when the physio told me to try walking without crutches I was a bit tentative. But, praise the Lord, I could do it! A day after Easter and Jhuny has risen from the dead. Hallelujah!

I couldn't help but show off my new trick to everyone. Today, I walk. Tomorrow, I dance...

... okay, so that's a bit too ambitious. But, as a consolation prize, I get to watch the show from the front. Can't wait, I heard it was quite good.

Tags: Bangarra, The Australian Ballet, injury, rehabilitaion, walking.

Faster

2006-04-18T12:56:00.000+10:00

When DM gave me my first set of crutches he assumed that I was his height and consequently set it a couple of notches too short. Walking around was a real bitch until GF pointed out that it was too low for me.

Since then I catapult down the footpath almost as fast as an able-bodied Jhuny would. I'm usually a relatively fast walker and I get incredibly frustrated with slow pedestrians, especially when they're supposed to be walking alongside with you. But even with crutches I end up overtaking slow walkers. Big groups of slow walkers piss me off because they break the rhythm that I've just built up. Have they no consideration for folks that have to hobble on crutches? It's bad enough that I have to get from the Circular Quay bus stop to the Opera House everyday to get treatment without having to deal with slack-legged tourists.

Yes, I get impatient easily. No, having crutches changes nothing.

Put your feet up.

2006-04-18T12:23:00.000+10:00

Nothing much going on since tearing my calf muscle. But to add insult to, er, injury I've managed to catch myself a flu virus as well. So not only am I hobbling around on a dodgy right leg but everything else is feeling really achy as well. It all started when I had coffee with a post-viral AD, recently arrived back from NZ, with DO. Now that I'm no longer performing I guess my body has decided to pick up and succumb to any old virus.

On the plus side, I was still able to enjoy a full easter weekend holiday. Spare a thought for the poor Bangarra and Australian Ballet dancers who had to perfom TWICE on Saturday and once on Monday, hehe, at least they had Good Friday off. Went and saw The Squid and The Whale, caught up with friends that I haven't seen for a while, drank too much alcohol for someone on rehab, and watched some Power Rangers. Cool.

Haven't given much thought to what I should be doing about work, though. I guess, in this case, rest really is work but no one seems to have confirmed this to me. Maybe it just goes without saying and, besides, I still can't even walk properly. Anyway, I'm feeling a bit useless and disconnected from everyone at the moment. Maybe it's just the flu.

Tags: sick, injured, feeling sorry for myself.

RICE

2006-04-14T21:37:00.000+10:00

Rest
Stage manager FB posted a beginners' call for Amalgamate but I was enjoying a delicious seven-dollar steak at the Captain Cook Hotel. By the time the dancers were painting up for Rites I had my right leg up, watching crap re-runs on Foxtel. It's a hard life.

Ice
I guess you could say that my dance career is temporarily on hold for now. Frozen. Like the back of my right calf, thanks to the ice pack that I have wrapped around my leg. No matter. JPB is making sure that I'm well looked after. My only gripe is that he now refers to me as "The Cripple". Or, sometimes, "Hoppy". Luckily I have a sense of humour.

Compression
It was a bit tight for a moment, though. After hobbling off at the end of Amalgamate on Wednesday night I was shephered into the Bangarra Ladies' changeroom where YB offered to give my right calf a bit of a massage. I was still clinging onto the hope that I was just suffering from a massive cramp and just needed it to release. But the more she massaged it the more it hurt. Not good. Meanwhile, the directors and stage management were running around backstage trying to find me. It was obvious in the curtain call, when poor little Jhuny limped on, that something was wrong though no-one had any idea that I was hurting quite early on in the piece. But it was clear then that I couldn't go on for Rites so an emergency mid-interval rehearsal was called to try to fill in the gaps that I left behind. Meanwhile, poor Jhuny started to get quietly emotional but realised that there was still the job of properly rehabilitating myself; I may not have been going on that night but possibly I could get back on stage by the weekend?

Elevation
Not bloody likely. For me it's foot up for at least the next couple of weeks, will complete rehabilitation after six weeks of limited dancing and maximum injury management. One moment, RR was perfectly balanced on my right shoulder and I was about pass her on to NF, as I've done for the past two months in rehearsals and in performance. The next moment I felt a sudden "twang!" in my right calf. There was still half an hour of the dance to go and only one stage exit, which wasn't for at least another twenty minutes or so. No one seemed to notice, though, the show went on. Luckily for me, most of the choreography was quite grounded and though I could only walk around with my legs bent and my body leaning slightly forward, that's pretty much the Bangarra style so I didn't look at all out-of-place. Most of the time...

Anyway, the next day I had my injury diagnosed the next day: a torn calf muscle. And, apparently, a really doozy of a tear. It's going to take the full six weeks to be properly rehabilitated. Great. Six weeks takes me right up to Alice Springs for the up-coming Clan program.

At the very least, it seems like a not-so-uncommon injury. AB director DM made sure my injury was taken care of, and he did a pretty good job too because he had personal experience of it. In the next twenty-four hours other AB dancers spoke to me of their own experiences of torn calf muscles. Every one of those incidents were the same: it came from out of the blue, it would feel like it was completely recovered after a couple of weeks but that was exactly the time when it was prone to re-injury, it would take a good six weeks for a complete recovery. The best of the AB have had it so at the very least I was in good company.

But I'd rather be up and about, running around onstage...

Tags: Dance, Bangarra, The Australian Ballet, Gathering, injury, muscle tear, RICE.

Going Under

2006-04-06T17:07:00.000+10:00

FLOOD ADVICE

ISSUED AT 3.30 PM THURSDAY 6 TH APRIL 2006.

At 3.05 pm the height of the Katherine River at the railway bridge was 18.89 metres and rising.

Water is flowing into the CBD from the Lindsay Street end but is expected to stabilize when the water level is on a par with the river level. It is not known what the exact level will be in the CBD when it stabilises, however it is expected to remain at that level for about 24 hours.

People, particularly those in low houses are advised that driving out of the Katherine North and Katherine South areas will not be possible for much longer.

We strongly advise to evacuate now.

Residents evacuating are advised to go to the Evacuation Centre at Casuarina Primary School in Casuarina Street.

People who wish to drive their own vehicles are strongly advised to leave them at the grain board yard opposite Dalgeteys in Crawford Street. A bus will then convey you to an evacuation centre. Pets can be left at the Council Depot beside Mitre 10.

People who have friends in higher areas are free to stay with them if they wish.

The next flood advice will be issued at 10.00 pm Thursday 6 th April 2006.

Road Report Number is 1800246199

Rising water.

2006-04-05T21:24:00.000+10:00

The Katherine River is on the rise again. The parents, who own a shop on the main street and lost alot of stock in the 1998 Australia Day floods, say they're prepared: they've raised stuff up off the ground and moved the rest. Its been raining constantly and the water is still rising but hopefully it won't be as bad as the last big flood.

Tags: Katherine River, Northern Territory, Australia, Katherine, Flood.

Yet another Gathering moment.

2006-03-29T21:47:00.000+11:00

Previous: Another Gathering Moment

I'm backstage preparing for the last section of Rites. This involves having to be covered head-to-toe in clay and, having just gotten off stage from the fire section, usually there's not that much time to do it. I'm also conscious that SS has even less time to prepare since he has to have a shower to clean off all the red paint that's put on him in the previous section so I try to get "ochred up" as quick as I can to get out of his way...

... though it would be preferable if I put on my costume first...

... picture one dancer, the odd one out, running around in only a jockstrap. Pretty...

Tags: Dance, Bangarra, The Australian Ballet, Gathering.

Update: the Ground Force moment continued to be re-lived throughout the day, much to the chagrin of the protagonist.

MoJ2006

2006-03-28T23:46:00.000+11:00

This mix was probably finished about three weeks ago but I've only just recently decided that this would be the final version. It's just that in that time I've tried to make changes to the mix but ended up not liking it so undid them. The main problem was when I mixed the Pussycat Dolls with Freeform Five: it sounds interesting only for a short time then I get bored. But I really wanted to have a *new* song in there (I started the mix a few weeks before Madonna released her new single, complete with remixes, in Australia but the mix took so long the remix has since been flogged to death) and there was nothing decent to fill it in. I had tried to fit Vandalism's Never Say Never but it didn't really mix into New Order well and I really wanted to keep those tracks in.

The New Order Jetstream section is a bit much but I especially like the Richard X remix of the track though I think for the general listener it may be too much. Also, it's a bit odd but I really like the ending, it goes on some crazy tangent and ends up with a mad rocking bouncy-breaks of a tune. It can't all sound like a night out at the Xchange! Probably my favourite moment was when Gloria turns the beat around and knocks Dannii out of the picture. I mean, what's up with her laying her voice over random instrumental club tracks anyway? The only problem is that I've played that section to death and I'm a bit over it now.

In fact, that's the big problem. I've spent so much time on the mix, and I've listened to it to death on my iPod to make sure it sounds okay, that I've just gotten sick of it. It's only just been finished and I'm over it already.

PT likes it, though. He's the only other person to have heard the mix.

Anyway, here's the tracklisting:

1. Kelly Clarkson vs Depeche Mode vs Rex The Dog - Since U Been Gahan (DJ Earworm mashup)
2. Coldplay - Speed of Sound (C-64 Remix)
3. Madonna - Sorry (Pet Shop Boys Maxi Mix)
4. Dannii Minogue & The Soul Seekers - Perfection
5. Gloria Estefan - Turn The Beat Around
6. Missy Elliott - Lose Control (Jacques Lu Cont Mix)
7. Black Eyed Peas vs Armand Van Helden - When My Lumps Go Down
8. Mylo - Muscle Car (Freeform Five Remix)
9. Mylo - Muscle Car (Sander Kleinenberg Pace Car Mix)
10. Freeform Five - No More Conversations
11. Rogue Traders - Watching You (James Ash's Club Mix)
12. Pussycat Dolls ft Will I Am vs Freeform Five - Beeeaaoowwp
13. New Order - Jetstream (Jacques Lu Cont Remix)
14. New Order - Jetstream (Richard X Remix)
15. Tiga - You Gonna Want Me
16. Gorillaz - Dirty Harry
17. The Prodigy - Out Of Space (Audio Bullys Remix)
18. Pendulum ft The Freestylers - Fasten Your Seatbelt
19. Ordinary Boys vs The Freestylers - Boys Will B-Boys (Dunproofin' Mashup)

Tags: Mix, dance music, CD cover, Ministry Of Jhuny.

Another Gathering Moment.

2006-03-28T22:15:00.000+11:00

Her nickname is Ground Force. Often times during technique classes or rehearsals we will find her crashing to the floor having lost her balance. It's a testament to her commitment to the dance that she will push herself to the limit and sometimes more. Sometimes it's thrilling to watching. Most times it's just plain funny.

Even when it happens in performance...

One second she's misjudged her distance from RL, almost sending her poor partner to the floor. Being slightly confused she trips up on her dress, falls over, rolls over her back and straight back into the choreography at exactly the correct time.

Legendary performance!

Tags: Dance, Bangarra, The Australian Ballet, Gathering, Ground Force, Falling Over.

Snap!

2006-03-28T16:58:00.000+11:00

Can't see it? Then try this.

A Gathering Moment

2006-03-28T16:45:00.000+11:00

Usually the dancers of the AB have quite specific requirements for their hair, particularly the women, and it’s usually up and out of their face. So to be able to wear their hair out for Amalgamate must be liberating on some level. And the women all have great hair so why not? Free-flowing hair can sometimes get in the way, especially mine; it’s in desperate need of a good trim so I slicked it back out of my face. Revelation: I could actually see my partner!

On Saturday morning, PK (from the AB) came in to warm-up class with his hair braided which was subsequently tidied up by ST. I think he wanted to try something different and it looked pretty crazy on stage for the matinee. Then RR got ST to do her hair for the night show, and PK had since undone his and was sporting a kind of short blonde afro. AK had his hair cut and RP (in a kind of role-reversal) had hers up in a messy bun. I was as slick as before (though it’s usually a messy by the finale) and the rest of the Bangarra girls were wearing their out and wild. It was a free-for-all in the hair department and the subsequent on-stage mood was electric. It was amazing and the audience responded really well, clapping at every opportunity before leaving a stunned silence at the end of Grant’s final song.

Let your hair down indeed!

Tags: Dance, Bangarra, The Australian Ballet, hair.

Heard on the 78 Tram up Chapel Street

2006-03-27T01:41:00.000+11:00

"I'm not sitting next to him, I'm a woman. Or am I?"

Tags: Melbourne, trams, Windsor, Crazy People.

Kaboom!

2006-03-27T00:34:00.000+11:00

Closing Ceremony Fireworks 15
Originally uploaded by Jhuny.

In the end there was no Ms Minogue and we had to make do with John Farnham back from retirement once again. The best thing about the Closing Ceremony was the Bollywood at the 'G, so much colour and movement and pretty people.

It's a bit of a shame that it's all ending, though. It was great to see the city so alive and packed full of people the last couple of weeks. Who cares that sometimes it takes twenty minutes to cross a bridge or that blue-shirted well-meaners yell at you to "Keep to the left!" I wasn't in Sydney for the Olympics but this was pretty good. If only I wasn't so busy with the show I could have gone to more events. Like the Big Top. Or Bollywood in the park.

At the very least I god some great pictures with my new camera and tripod.

Tags: Commonwealth Games, Melbourne2006, Fireworks, MCG, Closing Ceremony.

Amalgamated

2006-03-26T03:44:00.000+11:00

More from the Xchange.

2006-03-26T03:06:00.000+11:00

You're just too good to be true...
Can't take my eyes off you!

Greetings from the Xchange

2006-03-26T03:03:00.000+11:00

I love the fact that you can access the internet from a Gaybar. What will they think of next? Anyway, I'm pretty drunk, they're playing pretty gay tunes, all us dancers are having a gay old time. I'm pretty exhausted from the show, though, so may go home soon. Meanwhile, the show is going well, everyone's experimenting with their hair for the show, it's all pretty exciting.

None of this makes any sense and it's not supposed to. Have fun!

A Slice of Blog 2 - The Commonwealth Games edition.

2006-03-15T14:50:00.000+11:00

Previous: A slice of blog

More athletes need to blog. The next couple provide some insight into the world of elite swimming:

SwimSean - Life Around Swimming
I'm learning now that my moods can be very volatile. Some days I love my swimming and can't wait to get to the pool, then the next day I'll be looking for any excuse not to go.

Owen Morgan
Looking back I possibly just needed to relax and let it flow a bit more. Plenty more in the tank I fear...

Hmm... I was hoping to find a few more blogs. Oh well... moving on...

daily dancer
My dancing inspirations are characters like Napoleon Dynamite, who are geeks like myself, but don't let that stop them from sharing their passions for dancing.

I'm a bit partial to the odd bit of daggy dancing myself! To think that someone felt the need to post one daggy dance every couple of days or so is funny. You just have to appreciate the commitment to express geekiness through dance.

Camera Toss (The Blog)
Basic tossing tips: 1. Be careful - Yes it sounds obvious...

No shit! Anyway, some of the pictures that emerge look quite interesting. Certainly some are intriguing enough to make you wonder just how the photographer managed to create some of the patterns. But probably most intriguing thing is the idea that someone would endanger a handful of expensive technology for a pretty picture. If you have questionable hand-eye co-ordination I would suggest you not try this at home and let others do the work.

www.BrandonFlyte.com
When I showed my Marine Biology class the film [Brokeback High], the snuggle scene --which I might add was very tastefully done-- was left in. Apparently the administration thought that this was a big enough violation to warrant an expulsion. Only, it’s not being called an expulsion.

Quite articulate for a straight boy. Even more compelling is the fight he's having with the school administration, the local media... Is this all a crap publicity stunt to further his career in filmmaking? As Brandon says in his blog, we'll see where this goes.

Tags: Commonwealth Games, daggy, dance, photos, gay, Brokeback High, blogs.

Sneak Preview

2006-03-14T21:46:00.000+11:00

Managed to score a couple of tickets to the rehearsal of the Commonwealth Games Opening Ceremony. Was initially worried that I would not be able to take in my digital camera, considering the media bans that have been imposed, but was delighted that the ban only extended to “professional quality” cameras. Having never been in the ‘G, it was quite spectacular to finally see it, it’s such an awesome and expansive venue; I don’t remember being this impressed when I first saw Sydney’s Telstra Stadium.

Anyway, the show was entertaining enough: lots of colour and movement. But from Bay Q5, all the way up on level four, the performers were so far away. Even the tram-with-wings looked like a small token on some board game. The dancers from the Australian Ballet were also featured but it was impossible to distinguish them but they looked pretty; the crazy big tutus looked cool. But what was with the duck? And the backyard cricket was a bit of a non-event. Nevertheless I enthusiastically yelled the names of all the previous host cities when the audience was directed to and I even sang the national anthem loudly and proudly (nice to hear the second verse, too!)

Here's some lovely pictures. Hush-hush, though, it's all a secret!

tags: Commonwealth Games, Melbourne, Melbourne2006, Opening Ceremony, Australian Ballet.

Bloody Brits!

2006-03-09T21:41:00.000+11:00

Previously: Americans bloody approve.

FR recorded two different versions of the punchline: "So where the bloody hell are you?" and same sans "the bloody hell" and though it was a blonde in a bikini that ended up being chosen it is the mild profanity that has caused the British to ban the ad. What a load of Codswollop!

Luckily for us there's the alternative "clean" version and my messy mop will seen in millions of British homes.

tags: So where the bloody hell are you, Tourism Australia, Advertisement.

UPDATE: They showed us on TV! Channel Seven ran an article on the banning and showed our section of the ad. How exciting!

Americans bloody approve.

2006-03-08T23:49:00.000+11:00

Previously: There the bloody hell I am.

The San Franciscans think we're a wild bunch. None seem to be offended by the word "bloody". One was surprised we had whipped cream. Channel Ten failed to show the dancers that have been rehearsing for forty thousand years: with all that work, that's one hell of a pay packet coming to me.

Time will tell if the ad will bring more people here. I just want to get paid.

Tags: Tourism Australia, So where the bloody hell are you.

Parade and punctuation.

2006-03-08T22:04:00.000+11:00

Post-parade Oxford Street had just deteriorated into the inevitable chaotic pedestrian thoroughfare; the once-orderly barricades now lie haphazardly fragmented across the road. I had just met a guy and had just gotten into a brief argument about apostrophes. About an hour later I was offloading the contents of my stomach at JPB’s house, I think it was about midnight but who can be sure?

I don’t know how the topic of apostrophes came up, though I’m pretty sure I brought it up. Anyway, two against one and it was no longer Chris’s [café] but just Chris’. I had mentioned I was reading Lynne Truss’s, sorry, Lynne Truss’ (yeah, right!) book Eats, Shoots & Leaves (funny book, by the way) and apparently I should know better. Well good on me, I do! Lynne backs me up, as well as the Apostrophe Protection Society, Fowler’s Modern English Usage, the editors of the Sydney Morning Herald… Truss does suggest that people have gotten into very heated discussions about the placement of the little mark but to have one on the street after the Mardi Gras parade?

No matter. JPB and I watched the parade from the fifteenth floor, looking down over the street. To see it from that height made me feel excited about the whole thing, after being quite unenthusiastic about it all. It was amazing to see the street so crowded with people. Pity it was too far away to make out the floats in any details but it didn’t matter: I had my main guy with me and we were drinking lovely wine having just eaten a lovely dinner. I didn’t bring my new camera, knowing that I was going to get a bit messy; I didn’t want to risk it so I grabbed the host’s camera and took pictures for him. Must get copies of those pictures!

Tags: Sydney Gay And Lesbian Mardi Gras, Punctuation.

Come together.

2006-03-04T10:43:00.000+11:00

Over the past three weeks the company has been working with the Australian Ballet. Maybe you've seen the posters, no? Anyway, it's been a pretty exhilarating experience so far, not least because, with a company of about seventy, I still feel like I'm meeting new people every day. I'm a bit envious of the fact that AB can chuck on a completely different cast of dancers, especially when the Melburnian thermometer is hitting thirty-three, we had a first and second cast run-through of Rites and I don't have an assigned understudy, though I was allowed to take it easy the second time around, it would have been preferable to sit it out and not sweat out litres of perspiration.

And then I had to run off and understudy one of the other Bangarra dancers in the new work!

I guess having too much to do is more preferable to not having anything at all.

But certainly the highlight AB experience is Wednesday night bowling, a regular event for a group of the ballet dancers. It's especially good when you win as well, albeit less from having a sizeable amount of bowling ability and more from everyone else having a few bevvies and losing a bit of concentration for the second round (or whatever you call ten bowling frames).

I'm loving spending so much time in Melbourne. I really do love the place, it just seems to be easier to do things here (except going out, the idea of cabbing it there and back to Commercial Road just puts me off having big nights out). Not to mention getting stuck in an apartment with a view over the port, that gets regularly serviced and is just down the road from work. Hard life.

Indidentally, I'm blogging this from Sydney, visiting JPB for the weekend. The fact that it's Mardi Gras weekend is a mere coincidence...

Tags: Dance, Bangarra, Australian Ballet, Melbourne.

I (heart) U Jhuny

2006-03-01T00:07:00.000+11:00

I (heart) U Jhuny 9
Originally uploaded by Jhuny.

JPB and I will always have Melbourne. He came down to visit me last week and it was brilliant. The delicious dinner at Ciccolina in St Kilda, afternoon drinks at Transport, seeing Capote, getting trapped by a flash flood on Brunswick street...

There the bloody hell I am.

2006-02-28T20:29:00.000+11:00

So where the bloody hell are ya?

Blink and you'll miss me...

Previously: Rainbow Valley.

Tags: Bangarra, Australia, Commercial

Pretty (but tough) In Pink

2006-02-19T18:46:00.000+11:00

If it IS the same girl, then Angie Diaz (actual name Angelyn) is an actress, dancer, and choreographer who's done a lot of work beside Jhuny-Boy Borja... If it's not the same girl, then she's either dead or she's a RE/MAX agent selling homes in Kissimmee, Florida. There are apparently no other Angie Diaz's worth mentioning, according to Google.

I happened across this Rangerboard (as in Power Rangers) link while perusing my site referrals. Its so exciting to hear that people are curious about a good friend of mine and it's funny to read about all the generally good-natured speculation about her. It's also funny to see that Feeding Time picture again, and in such a different context.

Hehe this is so cool. Angie is playing the character of Vida, the Pink Ranger, in the Mystic Forces season. I just found a video clip of her character as well:

Tags: Power Rangers, Mystic Forces, Vida, Angie Diaz.

Rainbow Valley

2006-02-13T19:25:00.000+11:00

The initial idea was for us to film and take photos for the latest Tourism Australia international ad campaign at Rainbow Valley last weekend but rain in the central desert forced the producers to delay the shoot. There was even a suggestion that the shoot would be moved to Uluru but the claypans of the valley had sufficiently dried out for us to proceed.

Which turned out to be a good thing. For no matter how spectacular the big red rock is, I’m glad we ended up coming to Rainbow Valley. With the expansive flatness of the cracked white claypans, it was an incredibly dramatic view and I guess it would have been far more preferable to be dancing on the soft white clay than the rough red dirt of Uluru. And the large sandstone formation had its own lighting tricks that, especially at dusk, would take our breath away.

Getting there was an ordeal, though. A three-hour flight from Sydney was followed by a bus trip that ended on a deafeningly rough stretch of dirt road. Every part of the bus rattled so noisily, and we were bouncing around in our seats. I again suffered from sinus problems from the aircraft’s air-conditioning and Telfast has simply stopped working two or three pills ago. But finally we spied what looked like a terrific bite out of the worn-down sandstone hills, which made the agony of travelling all worth it in the end. Interestingly enough it’s the less dramatic-looking hill to the south-east of the big bite that is the sacred site though there are some rocks around the main geological feature that are off-limits as well.

It was mid-afternoon on Friday when we started to prepare for the first photo shoot. The Sun was still quite brutal, the temperature was around the forty mark, and we were constantly being warned to drink water whenever possible. Nevertheless, the lack of moisture in the air made the conditions seem quite bearable; it was much more preferable than the horrible mid-thirties mugginess that we were experiencing at our Sydney studios over the last couple of weeks. Much later in the afternoon, just after sunset, the temperature became more comfortable but we then had to deal with the large number of flies which became a particularly bad problem when we had to hold poses for the camera.

Photo shoots are already an exhausting process, repetitive and exacting, but to do it in such harsh conditions was terribly draining. On Saturday we had a dawn photo shoot as well as an afternoon filming and by the end we were all delirious. The dawn photo shoot was particularly frustrating and by the end of it I certainly wasn’t looking forward to the filming, one would think that it would be harder. But, despite the added complexity of filming movement as opposed to capturing still moments, there were so many more people involved one would think that the process would be far harder to co-ordinate, it ended up being so much easier. The greater the logistical problem, the greater it is necessity of organization. What helped were the regular breaks to keep us fresh and hydrated, although I guess in this instance the dancers were not the central focus so we were only given quite general direction. Not only that but we had the extra adrenaline boost from having a helicopter flying over the top of us!

And all the way through, we couldn’t help but take our own photos of the landscape. It was certainly a great way to break in my new digital camera!

Tags: Bangarra, Dance, Rainbow Valley, Northern Territory, Commercial.

Homeless

2006-02-08T19:10:00.000+11:00

I opened the door to reveal a dark room with corrugated iron walls. The stacked chairs threatened to fall on me. At the very back I could make out a refridgerator and a sofa stacked on it's side. At my feet was a television and a computer monitor. Stacks and stacks of boxes.

So this is my life, then? All stuffed into a space no bigger than your average bathroom. Lucky for me I had sold my bed, there was no way it was going to all fit. I get the sense that there is alot, and that I have alot of junk, remembering that my washing machine and heaters are being loaned out to friends, and my car is parked out the front of the storage place. Then again, I don't own a house...

I found room to store a couple of last boxes and locked the door. It was kind of liberating to do that, like I was now living a slimmed-down version of my life. Surely the great Buddha realised that getting rid of your material possessions was good not to reach a higher spirituality but because moving is just such a bitch. Sometimes I fantasise about that room being nukes, obliterating all of that unnecessary stuff.

Being on opposite sides of the city from JPB got quite annoying. Besides, after *living* in the west (albeit extremely close to the city) for eight months I realise that I'm simply not a west end girl. Sure I only really spent at most two months there but it was enough to decide that I really don't need the space of a one-bedroom apartment at the moment in my life and that I would rather be where the action happens. Faced with a seven-week stint in Melbourne beginning in the next few days, it seemed like a good time to make the move; not having to pay Sydney rent for that time is a good thing!

Next on the agenda: get rid of the car...

Oh, and update my blog on a regular basis again...

Blockbuster

2006-01-23T19:50:00.000+11:00

Australian Open - Hingis vs Stosur

I'm sure that Hingis will prevail in the end but, man, it's a tough one to pick which one to cheer on. It's great to see Hingis back, bigger and better. Love that serve, baby, just put a bit more of that extra bulk that you've gymmed on and things will start to get interesting. Love the variety as well. Love the fact that, yes, she's accepted that there is more power in the game now but she hasn't lost her touch at all. I can't wait to see her play Clijsters or someone of that calibre, someone who can really test her.

That being said, come on Aussie!

tags: Tennis, Australian Open.

UPDATE: twenty two minutes and the first set has gone to Hingis. oops...

Rites and festivities

2006-01-16T18:43:00.000+11:00

Second day back at work and Jhuny has to go see an Osteo to get his back cracked. Bugger. These things always happen when starting back at work, I was totally expecting it to happen, but I'm not happy. That being said, with all the treatment that I've already gotten, it's not all bad, and the soreness and the stiffness in my upper back is starting to go away now. Which is a good thing. We pretty much hit the floor running and, all up, our first week back has been tiring and painful. I also indulged a bit over the holidays and IT SHOWS (not too stressed about it, though, the extra padding will go away soon).

Anyway, besides work, it's been pretty eventful the last few days. On Saturday, JPB and I went to see The Andersen Project and Antony and the Johnsons, both Sydney Festival event, both well worth your time; I may need to write about them later on. Upcoming events may include Chunky Move's I Want To Dance Better At Parties, Splinter Group's lawn and James Thierree's Bright Abyss. Fun stuff.

A proper blog entry to look forward to as well, I promise!

Top 50 of 2005

2006-01-06T15:22:00.000+11:00

Previous: Top 50 of 2004

I felt I couldn’t get as excited by new music this year as I was in 2004. Last year’s favourites went missing somewhere: Scissor Sisters were holding back on new music and instead went on tour and did a few collaborations; Franz Ferdinand lost some of the infectious immediacy in their hooks in their latest material; and groups like Girls Aloud and The Darkness made such a late entrance their new stuff now has to be delayed to the 2006 list.

At the end of the day, the top song is there not because it was anything amazing and exciting like Franz Ferdinand was last year but because I listened to it an awful lot.

Instead, 2005 for me was a backward looking year, full of mash-ups, remakes and Madonna. Mariah Carey made her so-called Comeback-of-the-Year though I found myself more interested than expected thanks to an extra cheesy mash-up. I was listening to a lot of mash-ups, perhaps too many, I could have searched out for more original material. But the rock hooks that I started to like in 2004 were there, they were just mashed up with some groovy vocals. Is that really a bad thing?

The following list is an attempt to represent the music that I was listening to in 2005. Gone are the days of weekly charts and point systems that may have been more accurate, there are tracks on the list like Inaya Day’s Nasty Girl that may have been higher up the list but have now lost a lot of their allure for me to place them there now. To deal with the sheer number of mash-ups I was listening to, I decided to only include those that used at least one track that was new for me in 2005. Songs can only occur once in the list, preventing a song, it’s remix and it’s mash-up from being on the list.

So here it is…

1. Missy Elliott ft Ciara & Fat Man Scoop – Lose Control
2. Goldfrapp – Ooh La La
3. Sugababes – Push The Button
4. Gorillaz – Feel Good Inc
5. Madonna – Hung Up
6. Mylo vs Miami Sound Machine – Doctor Pressure
7. Mariah Carey vs Cyndi Lauper – We Belong Together Time After Time (Arty Fufkin Mashup)
8. Gorillaz – Dare
9. Gwen Stefani – Hollaback Girl
10. Kelly Clarkson vs Depeche Mode vs Rex The Dog – Since U Been Gone (DJ Earworm Mashup)
11. Robbie Williams – Trippin’
12. Gwen Stefani – Cool
13. Rogue Traders – Voodoo Child
14. New Order – Jetstream (Richard X Remix)
15. The Prodigy – Girls (idiotech Remix)
16. Kylie Minogue – Giving You Up (Riton Re-Rub Dub)
17. Mylo – In My Arms (Sharam Jey Remix)
18. Lisa Stansfied vs Soul Central – Hold On To Life (Jhuny Mash)
19. Dean Gray – Boulevard of Broken Songs (Dance Mix)
20. Rihanna – Pon De Replay
21. The Prodigy – Out Of Space (Audio Bullys Remix)
22. Black Eyed Peas – My Humps
23. Ciara ft Missy Elliott – 1 2 Step
24. MIA – 10 Dollar
25. Gorillaz – Dirty Harry (Jon Carter Remix)
26. The Prodigy – Smack My Bitch Up (Sub Focus Remix)
27. Shakedown vs Taylor Dayne – Shakedown My Heart (DJ Matt Hite 4 Minute Man Mix)
28. Mariah Carey – It’s Like That (McSleazy Remix)
29. Madonna – Future Lovers
30. Inaya Day – Nasty Girl
31. MIA vs Nintendo – Superlangalang! (cry.on.my.console Mashup)
32. MIA – Bucky Done Gun
33. The Pussycat Dolls ft Busta Rhymes – Don’t Cha
34. Destiny’s Child ft TI & Lil’ Wayne – Soldier
35. Black Eyed Peas – Don’t Lie
36. Franz Ferdinand – Do You Want To
37. Bodyrockers – I Like The Way You Move
38. Kaiser Chiefs vs Amerie – One Less Thing (Cheekyboy Mashup)
39. Arctic Monkeys – I Bet You Look Good On The Dancefloor
40. Rachel Stevens – I Said Never Again
41. MIA – Sunshowers
42. Mylo – Destroy Rock & Roll (Tom Neville Remix)
43. Goldfrapp – Number 1
44. Sarah Vaughan – Fever (Adam Freeland Remix)
45. The Prodigy – Voodoo People (Pendulum Remix)
46. Basement Jaxx – Oh My Gosh
47. Robbie Williams – Advertising Space
48. Cabin Crew – Star 2 Fall
49. Destiny’s Child – Cater 2 U
50. Roisin Murphy – Leaving The City

Tags: Pop, music, chart, 2005.

Smashing time in the Hunter.

2006-01-05T10:47:00.000+11:00

JPB and I had just finished a fantastic meal at The Cellar in the Hunter Valley. I had taken him up there for his birthday and the dinner was a delightful way to finish off a fun day of wine tasting. Up until that point, it had been a perfect day.

So the last thing we were expecting was a wine glass to be thrown at us.

At the very least, I've had a very eventful holiday season. Though for the second time in about two weeks I found myself dusting off bits of glass. Most of the offending projectile landed in JPB's lap. Both of us weren't hurt, I was a bit rattled by the experience and needed to go home and have a good night sleep but JPB seemed quite unperturbed.

One of the guys at the next table stood up, yelled "Why do I have to sit here and watch this all night?", and stormed off. Alot of commotion on the next table and an embarrassed young lady came up to us to check if we were alright; she apologised and offered to take care of our bill while the rest of her party took off. I was quite stunned and couldn't say a word. The lovely wait staff efficiently took care of us, making sure we were okay and whisking us to an empty table to clean up the mess. JPB and I aren't even sure what was thrown at us, it could have been a glass or a bottle, but everything was cleaned up so quickly. Before we knew it the neighouring party had left, the table had been cleaned up and the other restaurant patrons were focussed back on their own tables. Though our bill was paid, on our departure JPB offered a significant tip to thank the girls for their help. Nothing was said on the entire trip back to our guest house.

The entire night I hadn't paid any attention to anyone else but JPB and even though JPB had been directly facing the guy the whole night and saw him stand up to throw the glass, it all came out of nowhere for him as well. We don't think they would be local people because, well, it's the Hunter Valley, you'd expect the locals to be used to poof couples visiting for the lovely food and wine. JPB and I had been on a bus tour the whole day, we had been to a number of wineries, we had been affectionate the entire time and up until then no one around us seemed to have a problem.

It was such a shame. It could have been a perfect day.

Tags: Gay, Hunter Valley, The Cellar, restaurant, homophobia.

Classified

2005-12-25T03:50:00.000+11:00

As seen in the most recent edition of Katherine Times:

The Borja family wish to thank the emergency services of Pine Creek for assisting our son on the Stuart Highway on Friday December 16. Special thanks to the other drivers on the highway that stopped to lend their support. Their good spirits have helped to ensure our Christmas will be happy.

Wonder what that was about?

Tags: Classifieds, Newspaper, Katherine Times, Thanks.

Not a creature was stirring, except for my mouse...

2005-12-25T03:44:00.000+11:00

It's well past two hours into Christmas already. Santa has come and gone. I should hurry to bed so I can get up and unwrap some presents.

Merry Christmas!

Gay up North

2005-12-22T11:56:00.000+11:00

With JPB and I separated by a few thousand kilometres, there's not very much "gay" happening at the moment. I'm on the phone to Sydney pretty much every night and I did catch up with FagInTheBush but that's about it. Talking. Oh, and telling JPB that I love him and I miss him and JPB being worried about me when I told him about the blowout.

I set up my parent's audiovisual centre a couple of days ago and used Kylie's Showgirl dvd to test it out. Okay so this is not necessarily a "gay" thing but you can't deny that Red Blooded Woman is dripping wet with homo, none of the male dancers seem at all concerned about Kylie and instead would rather flex their muscles at each other. mmm... muscles... Oh, and there's that Pet Shop Boys collaboration with Kylie about some guy who's In Denial.

And on the news I saw Elton John and partner (sorry, dude, for not knowing your name) get "together". Not officially "married", to be sure, but at least recognised and with legal rights to... something... well anyway it was a bit of a shock to hear Tony Blair comment on it, saying that he proud that Britain is taking this step forward, allowing gay civil partnerships to occur. Good on you. Had you not sent troops to Iraq you'd be my favourite pollie.

Tags: Gay, News, Northern Territory, Civil Union, Gay Marriage, Elton John.

Update: Watching more news. Dad grunted disapprovingly and I chirped that it was a good thing. Elton John and partner are currently the face of gay marriage (even though they aren't really married). Lots of talk about the estimated combined annual income of all the poofs in Great Britain and I'm thinking "what's that got to do with love?" Maybe it's because Mr and Mr Elton John aren't really married, which is about love (apparently), they're just "unified civilly", which is more about tax. Oh well, baby steps...

Life

2005-12-20T23:44:00.000+11:00

So the last couple of posts have been a touch morbid. So to make up for it, I've got some lovely pictures!

On the right is the main intersection of the town where I grew up. Nothing much has changed, except the traffic lights got put up after I left. Can you feel the heat and humidity? It was about 36C that afternoon and the clouds were threatening to burst; they didn't, though, it was just hot and muggy.

The dog's name is Badyou (pronounced "Badge-oo") he kinda looks cute in a scruffy kind of way. My parents also have goats, and they sure do like to pose!

And finally, here's a picture my Dad took. Seems like it's not just the people that like a good beer...

Killer

2005-12-20T02:53:00.000+11:00

I just killed something and I'm a bit distressed! I'm still shaking.

It's quite late at night and everyone else has gone to bed. Earlier on the dogs had been barking at something in the shed. It was a rat. Dad got woken up by the dogs and sent me out with a torch and a spear to kill it. Extremely reluctant, I headed off into the garden, spotted the rat, speared... and missed. Though I scared it off which seemed to silence the dogs for a while.

But about an hour later the dogs stared barking again and sure enough the rat had reappeared, it's cute little eyes and it's furry little body... well anyway i took aim again, speared... BULLS EYE!

Unfortunately this wasn't quite enough to pierce the rat's body because the spear was blunt. Instead it was jammed up against the shed wall, letting out this cute little squeal as I tried to ram the prongs through. To no avail. The dogs were going wild by this stage and I was getting quite distressed, I had to prop the spear up against a gas cylinder to keep the rat from getting away so I could walk around to rev myself up. I took up the spear again, looked away and gave one almight shove and... nothing! The rat was wailing to high heaven by this stage and, seeing the bloody hungry dogs jumping around madly, I took the rat by its tail and dangled it in front of the biggest dog, which then ravenously snatched the little critter into it's mouth and finished the job.

... I think I need a lie down...

Tags: Rat, Kill, Spear, Dogs.

Blowout

2005-12-18T15:14:00.000+11:00

The police officer asked me how fast I was going: “I think I was going 110”. “You realise this is a 100 zone?” Crap. Way to go admitting to a cop that I was speeding. In fact, for the entire journey up until the car ended up on its roof on the side of the road I was pretty much averaging 110 anyway, I was in too numb at the time to fabricate a lie. Still, skid marks notwithstanding, there’s no way he could prove I was speeding and, besides, much of the highway from Darwin to Katherine has no speed restrictions so luckily I wasn’t going faster.

Because if I was going faster maybe I would have lost control of the car earlier… maybe…

After the cop had stepped out the length of the skid marks on the road he came back and told me that, in his experience and what information he gathered, it looked like I was ‘gunning it’ more than 110. Earlier on he had referred to me as a ‘boy’ (thanks to my *youthful* complexion) and immediately I got an idea of the kind of person he judged me to be: a reckless young speeding male, he had mentally placed me in THAT demographic. I know that demographic well, I had been in enough cars with lunatic, testosterone fuelled young Katherine male drivers taking all sorts of risks; not a lot, but definitely enough.

A few kilometers down the road, a few moments back in time, I WAS going faster. But not that much faster, it wasn’t like I was ‘gunning it’ at all: I was overtaking and I had hit 120 when the car started to shake. Sensing something wrong I decided to ramp it down to 110 and, knowing that I was only an hour out of town, hoped (foolishly perhaps) that I would make it home to sort it out. At the time of the blow out, I had it in my head that 110 was going to be my maximum speed all the way home. But arguing with the cop wasn’t going to get me anywhere.

There was no acceptable reason why the tyre blew out as they were new and only just replaced a few months ago. But the brand of the tyre was Bridgestone; once the cop and the guys with the tow truck saw this they immediately began to recount stories of other tyre blowouts in the area involving Bridgestone tyres. Apparently Bridgestone tyres are unreliable but knowing this gives me no comfort, they simply shouldn’t have failed.

That being said, as far as tyre blowouts are concerned, this was thankfully a pretty lacklustre event. There was no oncoming traffic. It was a rear tyre, not a front one that blew out. I didn’t panic and slam on the brakes (and I’m really surprised that I didn’t do that!) instead I just kept on telling myself to keep the car on the road as long as possible, which I did, I managed to just miss the large sign on the opposite side of the road. I was wearing a seat belt. I had a satellite phone. The car that I overtook was not that far behind (in my mind, this was the saving grace for the case for me only doing 110 because their car was having problems, too, and they too decided to stick to a reduced speed). The car I was driving was a tank and did not lose any of its structure.

The game of “What If?” is truly a waste of energy. And yet it’s so easy to slip into that mode: Whilst typing the previous paragraph I initially typed by mistake: “I managed to hit the large sign”. Had this actually occurred the outcome would have been much different, and for the worse. Twenty-four hours later and the alternative scenarios (mainly the detrimental ones) still makes their way into my brain. I have to try to focus on what actually happened. Knowing that it could have been a lot worse doesn’t help at all.

I have to remember that it was just a freak accident. I did the best that I could and the car’s sturdiness did the rest. I have to remind myself that I walked away from it without even one scratch.

BTW I unfortunately don’t remember the names of the two people in the car that saw the whole thing, that helped me out and waited with me until the police arrived, but I just want to thank them for being so kind. I’d also like to thank the police officer, the guys with the tow truck, and the firemen for helping out as well, and my Dad for picking me up (he told the people blocking off the road to “fuck off, my son is in there!”) and driving me to Katherine. Thanks to the many people that slowed down to ask if I needed any help (even the random guy that took the opportunity to dump his worn-out shoes on the side of the road). Sorry to all those drivers that had to wait until my car was loaded on the truck.

Tags: Car Accident, Tyre Blowout, Northern Territory, Stuart Highway, Photos.

Time Warp

2005-12-17T18:28:00.000+11:00

I finally made it to Katherine last night (big ordeal, tell ya about it later...) It's always like going back in time, nothing much changes. Oh sure we might have different dogs but at least their names don't change. And while the furniture is as uncomfortable as ever, at least there's always a new television or hi-fi component in the living room (this time a huge widescreen CRT which runs rings around LCDs and especially Plasma).

I was digging through all my old stuff and came across a book that I kept a weekly top 10 favourite songs through 1990 (in 1991 it expanded to a top 20). I even had a point system whereby I could collate the year's top songs and even assigned gold and (multi) platinum status to long endurance tracks. Fifteen years ago the chart looked like this (don't laugh!):

15 December 1990
(9) 10. DNA ft Suzanne Vega - Tom's Diner
(6) 9. Dee-Lite - Groove is in the Heart
(8) 8. Kylie Minogue - Step Back in Time
(10) 7. Technotronic - Wave
(RE) 6. Jean Michel Jarre - Equinox
(4) 5. Vanilla Ice - Ice Ice Baby
(5) 4. Jean Michel Jarre - Industrial Revolution
(3) 3. Snap - Cult Of Snap
(1) 2. Technotronic - Megamix
(2) 1. Betty Boo - Doin' The Do

Let me explain: Jean Michel Jarre was only in the charts because some boy that I had a crush on started listening to it so, voila the Jarre-meister makes a mid-chart entry. Bad move. Apart from that, everyone thought that my taste in music sucked but I thought I was too cool.

Anyway, the year-end chart went a bit like this
G 10. MC Hammer - U Can't Touch This
G 9. Young MC - Bust A Move
G 8. Kylie Minogue - Better The Devil You Know
G 7. Starlight - Numero Uno
1P 6. Technotronic - Megamix
1P 5. Rococo - Megamix
2P 4. Madonna - Vogue
2P 3. Technotronic - Pump Up The Jam
2P 2. Technotronic - Get Up
4P 1. 49'ers - Touch Me

Sure, I had a thing for crappy girly Euro-housey stuff but, hey there's classic Kylie and Madonna in there! The rest of that chart went past 100 and also included alot of Paula Abdul, Grandmaster Chicken and DJ Duck's Check Out The Chicken and two different versions of Lambada.

Oi! Stop laughing! Things have gotten better: stay tuned for the Top 50 of 2005...

Tags: Music, Pop, House, Charts, Retro.

That Pandora; she thinks she knows everything!

2005-12-15T23:48:00.000+11:00

I told Pandora that I liked Kylie Minogue and after supposing the reasons why I would listen to that kind of music (it features "pop rock qualities, electronica influences, a subtle use of vocal harmony, mild rhythmic syncopation and extensive vamping"... well, yeah, I guess so...) she gives me a track called Sugar Daddy by Laika: kinda nice in a airy-fairy kind of way. Then she gives me Britney's I'm a Slave 4 U. Umm... no... not quite... After a crap electro-pop cover by The Pussycat Dolls and some Euro-crap courtesy of Cynthia (who?) I'm thinking I need to give Pandora a bit more information.

"I also like M.I.A.

"Is M.I.A. an artist or a song title?

"An artist

So now Pandora thinks I like certain songs because they feature "danceable beats, a highly synthetic sonority, prevalent use of groove and many other similarities identified in the music genome project". Whatever. The second track sucked. She's got alot to learn about Jhuny...

Tags: Music, Pop, Music Genome Project, Pandora.

Update: A bit of Goldfrapp and a bit of Depeche Mode and, by golly gosh I think she's starting to get the hang of it!

Update: Radio Romance by Tiffany? Pandora has a sense of humour!

Update: Now this is getting scary. And this is after telling Pandora that I also like Goldfrapp and Bjork. She's now playing Kim Wilde's You Came. I hate to admit it but I really did like this song (as well as the Tiffany song) when it first came out. What's the connection?

Like A Virgin

2005-12-14T23:56:00.000+11:00

Thank the Lord for web check-in. And I thought that check-in kiosks were great. Upon arrival at T2 I took a moment to laugh at all the losers waiting in line as I gracefully dumped my bag at the counter, safe in the knowledge that I had window seats all the way. No line. It would have been quicker had I not had to fish my boarding pass (that I printed at JPB's house) out of my bag.

Even without internet access at home I don't know why anyone would bother with lines when there's check-in kiosks that aren't being fully appreciated. Losers.

Anyway, after cuddling up to JPB at gate 31 I was off on my outback tour.

tags: Flying, Goodbye, Northern Territory, Darwin.

Goldfrapp, Madonna and hit-making.

2005-12-10T14:05:00.000+11:00

I'm not a particularly big fan of Madonna's music. I can't get passionate about the music she puts out there. I think her persona is far more fascinating for me and for a lot of people.

- Alison Goldfrapp

You make a few well-timed comments about Madonna and suddenly there's alot more interest about you than usual. In Goldfrapp's case, Madonna takes a few pointers from you ("Like It Or Not", a track off the latest album that I'm starting to like more...), you make a few comments and suddenly everyone's asking questions. Or, in my case, you devote some blog space talking about Madonna's new single and album and suddenly your hits counter is going ballistic or, more realistically, it splutters around the 50 per day mark and then goes all quiet again. Kylie doesn't have that kind of effect, even after talking about the televised snippets of her Showgirl concert. And now that the initial excitement about Madonna's new album has died down a bit I don't know if this desperate ditch for hits will attract that kind of attention again.

It's been on my mind for a while now: What do I have to do to get hits? As a gay blog there aren't nearly enough pictures of naked men and stories of exciting sexcapades to entice the pink readers but I just simply don't want to do that. In terms of pop culture I guess my taste lies in the no-man's-land between the overly maintstream and the downright geeky. And contemporary dance has never had a large audience, on stage or in blog space. Sure, I started this thing (almost twelve months ago now!) for my own interest but now that there is a bit of an audience out there, why not try to get MORE of an audience? Without losing the "essence of Jhuny"...

A few concise and well-timed references to things that would conceivably generate alot of hits?

I've got a couple of weeks in the middle of nowhere to have a think about it some more. In anycase, this site is due for a re-design anyway...

Tags: Goldfrapp, Madonna, Kylie Minogue, hits, pop, blog.

Fill my stocking.

2005-12-09T12:01:00.000+11:00

I've been doing a terrible job of christmas shopping lately. It's been a nightmare. Just about everyone either doesn't need nor want anything and I don't want to waste my money on junk that'll just be stowed away. Who decided that Christmas should be about buying things?

So, to make your job easier, I present to you my wishlist so that your job of buying me a Christmas present will be easier:

- iPod nano accessories (in particular, a radio transmitter so that I can use it in my car - I don't know if these exist yet, though)
- phunky foto album
- Sony DSC-H1 or DSC-W5 or, if you prefer, Canon EOS 350D
- camera accessories
- cool headphones
- Hair Straightener
- Kylie Minogue Showgirl DVD
- Kath and Kim - Da Kath and Kim Code
- Tickets to various Sydney Festival events
- Lomo
- Brian Greene - The Elegant Universe: Superstrings, Hidden Dimensions, and the Quest for the Ultimate Theory

This list will be updated leading up to the day. Any suggestions will be considered.

Tags: Christmas, presents, Consumerism.

Camera Toss

2005-12-06T12:14:00.000+11:00

Pictures taken at a certain party on the weekend.

This is what happens when you get really drunk and fall over. Not. I wasn't that drunk. Anyway, I got the idea from this guy that has this site with cool (better) pictures from people that like throwing their expensive digital gadgets around. Not something that I would normally do; then again, I was quite drunk that night...

Tags: Photos, lights, Kinetic Photography.

UPDATE: Further investigation reveals that these pictures cannot technically be described as Camera Toss, rather they're more accurately described as Kinetic Photgraphy. These pictures are a result of me twirling my camera from it's strap on my wrist whilst standing in front of the party lights. Not really tossing my camera but I didn't realise that there were quite specific criteria...

I (heart) Sudoku

2005-12-05T14:47:00.000+11:00

It's becoming a bit of a ritual, to get out the Weekend Magazine from the Sydney Morning Herald, turn to the Samurai Sudoku, and kiss the weekend goodbye. What better way to waste brain cycles?

Tags: Sudoku.

Superheroes

2005-12-05T11:36:00.000+11:00

It's the end of the year, time to party! And what better way to do it than to dress up. Meanwhile, I kind of cheated 'cos I've dressed up as Monkey before and, having won the best dressed competition then with only a t-shirt, bits of fabric and a cardboard tube, knew it would be a winner. That being said, how hard is it to buy a plain red long sleeve t-shirt in summer?

No matter. Drank lots of fire trucks but by about four o'clock I was sober again, my Magic Wishing Staff was broken in three bits, and I was removing the temporary floor. Oh well... bring on 2006!

Tags: Bangarra, Costume, Party, Superheroes, Photos.

Where In The World?

2005-12-05T10:51:00.000+11:00

It's a bit misleading, that a large chunk of Asia is red when the only place I've been to in China is Hong Kong. Come back in a year's time, when a bit of the Continent and the Isles get coloured in.

create your own visited countries map
or vertaling Duits Nederlands

More: 43places.

Tags: Map, World, Visited Countries.

Dance of the earth.

2005-12-01T17:11:00.000+11:00

Earthdancer.

The 2003 evening was out of the best dance events, to have such an amazing gathering of companies to celebrate the memory of one person, it was amazing to be a part of it all. So we were all looking forward to Earthdancer 2005. That week we were rehearsing and/or performing three different works but everything went really well.

Besides Bangarra the program also included Kate Champion's Force Majeure (Already Elsewhere), Sydney Dance Company performing excerpts of a work by Narelle Benjamin, Legs On The Wall put in a bit, as did The Australian Ballet, and Christine Anu sang a few songs. But probably the stand-out work (besides Bangarra, of course) was presented by the 2003 Russell Page Fellow Antony Hamilton. Nice to see the money well spent ;-). Joined by a couple of his mates, he combined contemporary dance with breakdancing and grafitti. Clever, especially the scene where grafitti *magically* appeared on two large suspended panels (watching it from side-stage, it was quite obvious how it was done...), and energetic; though the dancers were at risk of asphyxiating from the fumes. The fellowship was won by Daniel Daw, a dancer with multiple sclerosis, who dances with Restless Dance Company. By the time the winner was announced my mind was well in performance mode but his story and speech was deservedly applauded.

As in 2003, Bangarra were the last company to perform, closing with my version of the last solo that Russell had performed. I was surprisingly not too stressed by it leading up to the performance, with all the warming-up and painting up there simply wasn't enough time to stress, but it was on my mind all day so by the end I was pretty happy just to get through it (sore back, though...). In one respect, a dance exists beyond individuals, that it's a sequence of movement and a collection of ideas and emotions that have to be executed and, having done it so many times over the last couple of years, this performance was no different than any other. But, I guess on this one night, the history of it weighs heavier than usual.

Sometimes it only dance but every now and again it can mean so much more.

Tags: Dance, Earthdancer, Bangarra, Russell Page.

Civilization and the City

2005-11-30T17:31:00.000+11:00

John Reader - Cities

Forget Madonna. I don't just love New York, I just love cities. They are incredible manifestations of collective human life and energy on the scale of millions. To see them from afar the physical architectural form or to experience them from within, they are beautiful things (or they can be). To think about the millions of lives that intersect through these comparatively tiny regions is mind-blowing.

So when I spied this book on the shelves in the local Gleebooks I just had to flick through it's pages. It reminded me of all the times I played Civilization. Indeed, playing Civilization can sometimes feel like a history lesson, whereby ensuring the survival of your settlements requires you to know and implement all the things that cities have required to grow and prosper. So reading about how important the technology of Pottery was to the growth of the first cities was a familiar idea because it's certainly a Civilization technology that a player wants to discover early in the game. The book, though, gives a much more complete explanation of why it was such an important technology - that by helping women to boil a milk substitute for their babies they were able to wean them earlier thus allowing them to have babies at a faster rate thus accelerating population growth. At least now there is a real appreciation of the technology, beyond the thought that Pottery is important just because the structure of the game says it is.

There are some points of difference between the book and the game concerning the causes of the establishment of the first cities. The game suggests that cities are established because of favourable environmental conditions that enable settlers to have surplus food harvests. While the author doesn't argue against the importance of the environment, he writes that cities were established because they were gathering points for craft specialists; food surpluses came afterwards, necessarily, to ensure the survivial of the population. Instead, in the game, you begin with a Settler unit (that, later on, can be disbanded and exchanged for food) and quickly try to find the best spot to found a city.

In any case, the experience of playing the game and of reading the book are both enjoyable in distinct ways. Haven't finished the book, I'm up to the part where trade and commerce become important developments in cities in fourteenth century Europe.

Tags: Cities, John Reader, Book, Civilization, game.

What one does when one gets an iPod.

2005-11-30T14:55:00.000+11:00

The first twenty shuffled tracks on my iPod

1. The Prodigy - Charly
2. Madonna - How High
3. MIA - 10 Dollar
4. Big Ruckus - It Takes a New Sensation
5. Shirley Bassey - If You Go Away (DJ Skymoo Mix)
6. Freestylers - Push Up
7. MIA - Bingo
8. Kiko, S. Deschezeaux - Rock Your Body
9. Kylie Minogue - Put Yourself In My Place
10. The Darkness - Love Is Only A Feeling
11. The Prodigy - Voodoo People
12. Spanky Wilson - Sunshine Of Your Love
13. Black Box - Everybody Everybody
14. Roisin Murphy - Leaving The City
15. Deep Dish vs Madonna - Sexy Music
16. Sugababes - Million Different Ways
17. Sugababes - We Could Have It All
18. Duran Duran vs Fake ID - Fake Reflex
19. Eric Prydz - Call On Me (Filterheadz Remix)
20. Kylie Minogue - I Believe In You (Skylark Mix)

Beyond that there's a bit of Scissor Sisters, Cyndi Lauper, Franz Ferdinand, a hell of alot of Kylie and a shitload of mash-ups. Actually, I don't really mind this shuffle playlist. It's much better than the last one.

Tags: iPod, playlist, shuffle, pop, music.

The Road Trip To Hell.

2005-11-29T18:57:00.000+11:00

Wolf Creek.

At the end of the credits there was the usual disclaimer that "any resemblance to characters or events is strictly coincidental" blah blah blah. But the brief on-screen notes book-ending the movie would have you believe otherwise. This is unnecessarily deceitful - it's bad enough that we have the Aussie accents, the not unfamiliar concept of Brit tourists trekking across the country in a bomb, the scorched earth and the blazing sky synonymous with Outback Australia. For me the movie is scary because it is so close to home; your typical Hollywood horror movie (not that I would necessarily watch them) occurs in a land an ocean away.

Sure, it's still thousands of kilometres from Fox Studios to Halls Creek. But to put such horror into a landscape that I find incredibly beautiful just makes it worse. And what pans out is thoroughly disturbing. I don't want to give too much away but I guess the experience of it is something that I just can't convey. It even SOUNDS bad, especially the "head on a stick" scene. And then to juxtapose that with a sunset of such rich and vibrant and beautiful colours is to emphasise the horror even more.

I held on tightly to JPB's hand like the wussy little girl I can be. Later on that night, the memory of the sound of the knife penetrating the flesh kept me up into the early hours.

Tags: Wolf Creek, Movie.

Wish List

2005-11-24T11:29:00.000+11:00

Other things on my wish list:
- full remedial massage
- iPod accessories
- tickets to see The Australian Ballet's Jiri

I'll keep updating this list throughout the day...

Tags: Birthday, Presents.

Welcome to the new age.

2005-11-24T09:25:00.000+11:00

This morning, JPB gave me my birthday present. Guess what it is: It's small, but it's not a mini...

yep! One of these.

How exciting. Can you top that?

Mind you, I'm happy enough just waking up in the morning with him...

Tags: Birthday, present, iPod, nano.

More info: I couldn't get back to sleep this morning so I went downstairs to watch some TV. Went back up to JPB's room at about the time we normally wake up to find two small packages beside the bed. Opened the first box, initially saw a pile of chocolate love hearts, how sweet. Dug underneath and pulled it out.

Sat there. Stunned...

Fwd: Petition to Barnaby Joyce - Take a Stand Barnaby Joyce

2005-11-23T13:59:00.000+11:00

Dear all

The ACTU has posted a petition on their site for Barnaby Joyce - please sign it and distribute it to as many people as possible so that the target of 10,000 signatures can be met by Friday 25 November (update: The target has been revised to 20,000, and may possibly again be revised to 50,000, since the initial target was met so rapidly).

To get his radical industrial relations legislation through the Senate, John Howard needs the vote of one critical Senator: Barnaby Joyce.

Senator Joyce has expressed grave concerns about WorkChoices, and declared last month: “I am always prepared to cross the floor, otherwise you aren’t doing your job.”

With the Senate sitting again from November 28, we now have less than a week to let Senator Joyce know that the concerns he holds about WorkChoices are valid. If Senator Joyce votes No, the Government’s legislation will be torn up.

Please sign the petition below and urge Senator Joyce to take a stand

Tags: WorkChoices, Industrial Relations, John Howard, Petition

The fabulous showgirl

2005-11-21T17:50:00.000+11:00

There were two particularly fabulous moments that night:
- the fabulous clubbed-up reinvention of Hand On Your Heart. It reminded me of Roger Sanchez's Another Chance (or maybe it was the love-hearts). I for one would love to hear the original to be remixed and re-released because it sounded awesome. Besides, it's been awhile since I'd bought any Kylie gear and, apart from the up-coming DVD of the tour, there's nothing to look forward to until she's well enough to work again. (UPDATE: I just read on the official Kylie website about the digital-only release of Somewhere Over The Rainbow on Christmas...)
- the fabulous staying-true-to-the-original I Should Be So Lucky. It was quite a shock, bold and defiant, Kylie singing such a sugary-sweet (and dare I say daggy) pop song so proudly and enthusiastically, it was like she was telling us, in her sweet and well-mannered way, to "fuck off, this is my song, I think it's rather good". I just couldn't stop smiling.

It's such a shame about the circumstances, and it's easy to understand why she was so disappointed that Australia didn't get to see this show because it looks bloody incredible. That stage is fucking mind-blowing. I don't think we got a full idea of how good it is and how it gets used, in the snippets that we saw on TV. It was like Mega-Techno-Vegas, fit for a modernised 21st Century showgirl like Kylie. And so many clever moments, too, like putting the Can't Get You Out Of My Head choreography with Locomotion and taking the piss out of herself and turning the whole arena into one giant Karaoke room for Especially For You. It seems like such a full and complete retrospective, it even has references to those classic b-side dance tracks I Guess I Like It Like That and Do You Dare. And, how cool, she even throws in a bit of Nick Cave as well. If anything was missing it was the easy-going banter that Kylie does with the audience throughout her shows, but I guess those bits just got cut for TV.

Kylie, I'm still holding on to my ticket. Can't wait to see this show (I hope I'm not on tour or something) it looks fabulous.

Tags: Kylie Minogue, Showgirl, Pop, Music, Concert.

Change or die.

2005-11-19T16:57:00.000+11:00

What's this? I see that only 28% of you are using either Firefox or Safari and a whopping 68% are still using Internet Explorer to read this blog! Are you nuts? Go ahead and get Firefox NOW!

Anti-theory

2005-11-19T13:51:00.000+11:00

There's nothing particularly wrong questioning a scientific theory. Indeed, had people at the start of the 20th century like Einstein not questioned the prevailing description of the universe, trying to account for observations such as the Michelson-Morley experiment, we may still be stuck with Newton's Laws. We wouldn't have TVs or computers or GPS or... er... the Bomb... And even with such powerful ideas, the theories of quantum mechanics and general relativity do not give us a complete description of the universe. There's still alot of research being done to solve these problems.

Science is a process of continuing refinement of our description of the universe based on testable and repeatable observations. So to associate the *idea* of Intelligent Design with the great scientific theories of quantum mechanics and general relativity is appalling, where the fundamental claim of ID is that there are natural systems that are so complex that it couldn't have been evolved gradually, rather, it was "designed". In other words, there are some problems out there that are hard so lets just call them "God's willing" and stop thinking about it. The problem doesn't get answered, rather it just gets labelled as being *designed* by some great supernatural Designer that is above investigation. ID proponents point to the revered flagellum, a propulsion mechanism for some bacteria, as a sign of design, insisting that it is "irreducibly complex" and ignoring the possibility that a flagellum may have had a completely different purpose earlier in it's evolution.

ID reeks of Creationism and christian fundamentalism, it is a bastardisation of what science is, and some of the critics are devoutly christian themselves. It would be wrong to even teach this crap in a religion class. And yet this idea is finding it's way into Australian schools' science class rooms, it's position justified by saying that the theory of evolution should be questioned. Well, yes, the theory of evolution should be questioned but ID is simply not a competing theory but an *anti-theory*, a means of stopping investigation and questioning. The theory of evolution is still being questioned and refined today (Sydney Morning Herald - A little help for Darwin from the tree frogs) not to mention that it is an explanation for why HIV is so difficult to treat, for example.

It's yet another example of the growing power of the Religious Right, backed by the Federal Government (ABC - [Federal Education Minister] Brendan Nelson suggests 'intelligent design' could be taught in schools) and some serious money (SMH - Science friction: God's defenders target 3000 schools) from the Campus Crusade for Christ. Nevermind that Hillsongs are profitting from our coffee-drinking habits (assuming that you actually drink at GJ's), now we have to deal with the possibility of school children not investigating and appreciating the beautiful complexity of life. Not to mention Family First, the continuing opposition by religious groups to gay marriage...

tags: Intelligent Design, Theory of Evolution, Science, Religion, fundamentalism.

Nephew number three.

2005-11-17T09:18:00.000+11:00

In the end, he just couldn't wait, he had to just get out of there. Two months early and with relatively little fuss. So what my sister dismissed as random abdominal pain turned out to be her cervix dilating. She was told she should have been screaming in agony. Between her waters breaking and the birth my sister and her husband decided to attend the Brolga Awards. What a nice way to celebrate her birthday weekend!

So unexpected was his early arrival his parents hadn't even picked out a name, though there is a name that they are considering (it reminds me of clay). At the moment he's still in hospital and will be there for about a month.

I can't wait to see him.

Tag: baby, birth, family, Brolga Awards

Like it or not...

2005-11-12T12:38:00.000+11:00

Madonna - Confessions on a Dance Floor

"I don't like cities but I love New York, other cities make me feel like a dork."

After the first four tracks, leading with the first single Hung Up, the album starts of quite strongly. And then we get the pile of shit that is I Love New York. I don't care what she was intending to do with this track, the fact is is that it's embarrassingly awful. Witness the rhyming of mad with sad and glad. She obviously didn't record this one in New York because she really does sound like a dork. After that, the album just doesn't seem to recover, at times she sounds like we're listening to some mediocre poetry recital.

It's a bit of a shame, because I really like the first four tracks, especially Hung Up. It's got a great driving beat, the ABBA sample is fantastic, it's catchy, and when it all drops out in the middle and builds up again it absolutely soars. It may not be classic Madonna, we may not even be hearing any of these tracks five years time but they do get you dancing. Future Lovers is just as strong, taking it's cue from Donna Summer's I Feel Love (what tribute to dance music wouldn't touch on this?) even if you can't help but be reminded of Kylie's Light Years.

Second-half album tracks such as Forbidden Love and How High are almost as good and eff me I do like the "spirituality on the dance floor" moment that is Isaac. And on the last track Madonna does her best Goldfrapp impersonation in Like It Or Not but doesn't quite get there. Each of the tracks smoothly fade into each other, with traces of dance floor classics throughout, providing some kind of dance floor journey. It's all extremely well polished and produced but by about the middle of the album it all just seems to blur into one seamless homogenous beat with no obvious highlights. And nothing that Madonna sings sounds like it is actually important, gone are the days when she wanted every girl in the world to Express Themselves and find men that are worthy of their love. Gone are the days when we simply had to "let our bodies move to the music".

Maybe I just expect too much from Madonna. Maybe I should just take her advice, that this is who she is, like it or not. Then again, like ABBA and Donna Summer, Madonna is an important part of dance floor history but much of this album doesn't do that any justice.

Tags: Madonna, Confessions on a dance floor, Album review, Pop.

The tour from hell.

2005-11-10T18:09:00.000+11:00

Oh my god has anyone seen Bangarra's tour schedule for 2006? I knew it was going to be a hard year next year but this is bloody ridiculous! On the plus side, we're in Darwin at the end of May, it'll be our second tour destination so the show will still be fresh. But by the time we get to, say, Lismore, I'm going to be a nervous wreck. And what about JPB??? Did anyone at Bangarra consider the consequences this tour will have on my relationship with JPB? Not to mention the two months we'll be spending in Melbourne trying to get the Gathering program together with the Australian Ballet. Or the month that we'll be overseas for the UK tour.

Six months away from Sydney...

In truth, it's not beyond asking, a schedule like this. 2004 was almost as full-on as well. But back then I wasn't leaving anyone behind. This is going to be a problem.

Meanwhile, even though we only have a few more performances left this year, rehearsals have been pretty good. We're re-mounting Rites using a very obscure archive video of a performance from 1999. I guess the best thing about it is that it's NEW (at least for me) after touring a show that we've done for over two-and-a-half years. It's also fast and has alot of movement, alot of which is already familiar, stylistically. Questions oft asked in a Bangarra rehearsal like "is the foot flexed?" are easily answered and taken on ("of course the foot is flexed!") How's that for progress? It's been three years and now I've learnt that feet are usually flexed by default.

and you're probably gonna wanna *knock-knee* as well...

Of course it's not always that simple. But at the very least it no longer seems all that foreign to me anymore.

Tags: Dance, Bangarra, tour, travel.

Rize up and dance.

2005-11-08T20:58:00.000+11:00

.

This is not a trend...

Too late. Madonna's gone and rubbed ABBA all over it. But don't worry, Clown, 'cos what you've got is so extraordinary and special and I hope that the spirit lives on long after Hung Up has dropped out of the charts.

Tonight I went to a preview screening of Rize and was blown away. The movement! The bodies! The people! Wow! Once again, dance is a wonderful thing, it's something real and human and give you hope. Here, the dancers have turned to dance as an alternative to the destructive force of gangs and, while the different groups are quite competitive, the movement is extremely aggressive and there still are instances of destructive violence that is common in a place like LA's South Central, there is so much spirit that makes it a beautiful thing. LaChapelle uncovers some truly amazing characters and gives it a bit (a LOT) of polish, complete with tight glistening bodies in slo-mo action. There's Miss Prissy, who is Prissy by day and something completely different at night GO GIRLFRIEND! and Tommy the Clown who is the father of the whole thing! Even the "liturgical Krumping" rings some kind of truth there.

It's been a good year for dance documentaries, hasn't it? People should be out on the streets dancing because dance is good. Don't take my word for it, see these movies and see for yourself.

Tags: Rize, Dance, Documentary.

Inspection

2005-11-08T12:46:00.000+11:00

"Is there anything I need to attend to in the apartment?"

"No, everything looks alright."

"Great. Well can I please have someone fix the bedroom floor, the ceiling, the kitchen door and the bath tub? Oh and when will the fire detectors be installed?"

Thumbs up for Jhuny for keeping the place clean (if not exactly tidy!) Now he's back off to the other side of the city to be with his man...

A Slice of Blog

2005-11-08T12:00:00.000+11:00

that munanga linguist.
ebribodi bin make me proud tudei. ebribodi bin dum rili gud job tudei.

Ever see someone blog in kriol before? Read a bit of Alawa? Well here's your chance! The thing that I love most about this blogger is that his everyday work is quite extraordinary. Culture continues to be threatened and, although there isn't any explicit prohibition of speaking traditional languagues, there's still the problem of John Howard, not to mention the more local obstacles.

I first met this guy on my first tour with Bangarra to Brisbane in 2003, after being initially shocked at meeting someone outside of the NT that has intimate knowledge of Katherine. Since then, we've kept in contact; it's good to have a mate to hang out with when I'm visiting the family at home.

PostSecret.
Reveal anything - as long as it is true and you have never shared it with anyone before.

JPB turned me on to this one quite recently. There's a similar site that's also allows people to confess secrets but this one shows off other people's creativity as well. Whether or not these confessions are actually true is something else but it looks interesting, I'll be back.

Mashup of the Week Podcast.
Hey - back for another serving of Mash? Well we've always got plenty o' that for ya.

You can never OD on Mash. Trust me...

Miss McDonald.
The Miss McDonald project began as a Halloween costume...

Filipinos are funny, aren't they? This is truly bizarre and quite funny, especially the really mundane ones like when Miss McDonald goes to the dentist or when she cleans up the yard.

Random thoughts and occasional interesting information... but mainly random thoughts.
The thing about these blogs I like is these people have a purpose. And whatever shit happens to them along the way, they are still on the way to something.

I lived with Nina in Perth for three years when we were both going to WAAPA and it's good to see her out there in the world... somewhere... She's a singer, she's a creative type of person, and she likes a good drink.

Tags: Blogs.

Darlinghurst is burning.

2005-11-07T18:04:00.000+11:00

We were looking down on the homosexuals again. When I arrived, the gang were playing with lighters. Luckily I brought along my camera!

tags: Fire.

Show Must Go On.

2005-11-07T17:40:00.000+11:00

I found myself lying on my back staring up at the fire curtain of the Glen St Theatre and I just couldn't get that image out of my head: four squished goannas, severely lacerated by a massive sheet of iron. It would be a bit of a blow to my dance career, that's for sure.

Earlier we had been informed that there was a problem with the fire curtain and that it was *stuck*. It was being secured so that it doesn't drop mid-performance, requiring the show to be postponed for an hour and that if our safety could not be assured our final show of the year (besides Earthdancer) would have to be cancelled. I'm not sure how legal it is to have a fire curtain dangling down the proscenium but we were told it was safe and if Pops (the head tech guy) says so then all's well...

Then again... four squished goannas, it's such a vivid image. Not to mention that, the night before, YB had dreamed that a light fell on her while she was performing...

Tags: Dance, Theatre, Fire Curtain, Bangarra.

Visitor.

2005-11-03T15:33:00.000+11:00

Shock horror I've actually spent a couple of nights at my official place of residence. Sure, the Cross City Tunnel means that I'm only ten minutes from JPB but it still seems like a world away.

But at the very least it's not unbearably hot at night. I've had trouble dealing with the night time heat at JPB's place and, being in a Performance Week I simply had to spend a night in Glebe and I invited JPB to come over. Everything was going well but as we were preparing to go to bed, JPB spotted this furry eight-legged intruder.

I can normally deal with all sorts of bugs. I'm just not good with spiders. JPB screams at the sight of a fluttering moth so he wasn't going to be much help (actually, that's not very fair, he did manage to calmly talk me into doing it, I really needed the motivation). After about half an hour of planning and countless dry runs at trapping imaginary spiders I managed to catch it.

Phew! Don't know if JPB will ever visit again...

I may need to get myself one of these...

Tags: Spider, Huntsman Spider.

Horsing Around

2005-11-01T20:06:00.000+11:00

(this has to be quick. I just got the call to come and have a post Melbourne Cup drink.)

Last night JPB sat on top of me and gave me a big hug. So it was decided: I'd put my money on On a Jhuny... er... On a Jeune and Hugs Dancer. Hehe.

The next day at Glen St Theatre I put my hand into the envelope and pulled out Makybe Diva. Still sore from my victory in the tipping competition, everyone yelled out "RIGGED! RIGGED!", which was crap 'cos I didn't even organise it this time!

I'm not sure exactly how much money I won from betting on On a Jhuny at the TAB but, with a nice $14 pay off, I can't wait to check. After missing the opportunity to put some money on Jhuny... er... Jeune in 1994 I wasn't going to miss out this year! Meanwhile, I wasn't going to bet on Makybe Diva even though I had a feeling that she'd do well because, well, risk it sometimes more fun.

Tags: Melbourne Cup, On a Jeune, Hugs Dancer, Makybe Diva, Jeune,

Not a good day for drives.

2005-10-31T13:28:00.000+11:00

First the USB connector in my handy little portable hard drive broke. And now my DVD burner is making funny sounds. Not happy.

Jhuny to tour the Top End!

2005-10-31T12:54:00.000+11:00

You heard it first here on living, breathing, dancing... Jhuny is coming home for a limited time. Twelve and a half days, to be specific. So get in early to book a time to see me...

Tags: Jhuny, Travel, Northern Territory.

Gimme gimme gimme a mash up.

2005-10-28T14:24:00.000+10:00

Typical. I've been trying to find Madonna's new song to download and so far all i could find is a handful of mashups courtesy of HOW TO KILL THE DJ.

Don't worry, Maddy, I was always going to buy your new song. Honest! I just couldn't wait for you to release it! And, besides, your new *song* is like a mashup anyway (nevermind the fact that Hung Up doesn't exist as a standalone song independent of Gimme Gimme Gimme), does it matter that someone else thought that your lyrics sounded better with New Order rather than ABBA? The mashing up of Madonna with Gwen Stefani is particularly interesting (even if the actual mashup isn't so exciting): when I first saw the filmclip for No Doubt's Don't Speak I couldn't help but notice the similarity between the upcoming pop-rock-ette Stefani with the then fading Queen of pop Ciccone. Nowadays, while Gwen (the New Madonna) is pilfering eighties sounds, Madonna (the Old Madonna) is just blatantly ripping them out intact, which I guess is even more "now", more "pop", where innovation is to find the best samples and to use them in the cleverest way. Today SP brought into the studio a really cool eighties mix that has the track that contains that "Music makes you lose control" sample that Missy Elliott uses.

Pop has well and truly eaten itself, but we already knew that. I just want someone to please point me to the proper version.

Tags: Mashup, Madonna, Hung Up.

Guilty Guilty Blues

2005-10-24T14:39:00.000+10:00

Diamanda Galas - Guilty Guilty Guilty
The State Theatre, 21 October 2005

I had tried to explain to YB what I was going to see. Considering she is also a vocalist slash pianist (slash dancer...) skewed a couple of degrees anti-clockwise from the rest of us, I figured she might be a bit interested. Couldn't quite do it. Explain Diamanda. And after seeing her show I still can't.

I had expected the screeching and the wailing, the dark and morbid themes. Somehow having her at the State Theatre, a venue of such excessive, dramatic and opulent features, seemed quite appropriate even though I didn't really know what to expect. JPB wasn't sure if I would like her but a couple of seconds into her performance I knew I was watching something special.

I wasn't expecting her to be so bluesy, though. And unexpectedly humourous, too, launching into a jaunty little ditty about how her baby was a bit insane, and her version of I Put A Spell On You is wickedly and disturbingly funny. With her much-spoken-of four-octave range she begins from the pit of her stomach to soar to operatic heights only to crow like some possessed rooster, sometimes all in one very long breath. And the songs are so dark one can only wonder what kind of relationships she has had in her life to sing like this. She uses some audio effects; an everpresent echo throughout the show, the occasional incomprehensible chattering voices trailing her lyrics, and in one song her piano sounding like its from some 50's B-grade sci-fi - nothing too overwhelming though it makes me wonder what the show would be like, completely stripped back to just vocals and piano. Considering what she does with her voice, is there really a need for F/X?

Offstage, Galas is reportedly quite unlike her onstage tortured persona. Pleasant and quite likable (shouldn't really be that much of a surprise though, I find it is quite often the case that the performer doesn't usually correspond to the performance). She was gracious in her curtain call, extremely modest in her onstage badinage, and she took two encores. The next day I tried to explain to YB what I had seen but could only describe it as "Gothic Blues" which doesn't quite sum it all up. I guess you just had to be there.

Tags: Diamanda Galas, Guilty Guilty Guilty, State Theatre.

Group email turned into blog post.

2005-10-20T17:25:00.000+10:00

Sure. I'm a bit desperate for things to write about at the moment. There's only so much I want to publicly write about JPB, work is slowly winding it's way down for the end of the year with a handful of shows to go, and I don't have much time for anything else. Greg sent me this via group email which is soooo last year. So this will have to do for now...

1. What time did you get up this morning?
6:30, 7:15, 7:25, 7:35...

2. Diamonds or pearls?
Diamonds. They are a testament to the wonder of the element Carbon.

3. What was the last film you saw at the cinema?
Wallace and Gromit: The Curse of The Were-Rabbit. Funny, clever and awfully cute.

4. What is your favourite TV show?
I've gone a bit off TV at the moment. I'd have to say Queer As Folk but that's only by default, it's the only show that I'm regularly watching at the moment.

5. What did you have for breakfast?
JPB prepared for me two slices of toast with honey this morning.

6. What is your middle name?
I'm not saying...

7. What is your favourite food?
Ice cream.

8. What food do you dislike?
There really isn't alot that I wouldn't eat...

9. What is your favourite crisp flavour?
Salt and Vinegar!!!

10. What is your favourite CD at the moment?
Goldfrapp - Supernature.

11. What kind of car do you drive?
A white Mazda 323 Sedan.

12. Favourite sandwich ?
Anything with beetroot.

13. What characteristic do you despise?
Selfishness. Not to say that I'm not...

14. Favourite item of clothing?
My brand new white and gold Puma Future Cat Low shoes. Sleek, cool and comfy.

15. If you could go anywhere in the world on vacation, where would you go?
Europe. I'm not fussy, it's all good (or at the very least near something that's good).

16. What colour is your bathroom?
White tiles and off-white paint that's cracked and peeling. Maroon concrete floor. Pink towels.

17. Favourite brand of clothing?
Syke. And G-Star, if I could afford it.

18. Where would you retire to?
Wouldn't have a clue. Darwin?

19. Favourite time of the day?
Dinner time.

20. What was your most memorable birthday?
My twenty-eighth. Mainly because it's my most recent. Also because we had a day off, I was meeting up with people all day to celebrate. The next day we went on a harbour cruise as part of work, it was a beautiful day. On the weekend I went out (with ST) and got some birthday action.

21. Where were you born?
Manila, The Phillipines.

22. Favourite sport to watch?
Tennis, NRL and Gymnastics.

23. Who do you least expect to send this back to you?
No one because I'm not sending it out to anyone.

24. Person you expect to send it back first?
see the answer to Question 23

25. What detergent do you use?
Green Clean. I think that's what it's called. Or whatever they have in the laundry room at the studio.

26. Coke or Pepsi?
COCA COLA!

27. Are you a morning person or a night owl?
Night Owl.

28. What is your shoe size?
UK9

29. Do you have any pets?
No.

30. Any new and exciting news you'd like to share with your family & friends?
I've got a great boyfriend that I love very much.

31. What did you want to be when you were little?
An Astronomer.

Right. I'm off to see Compagnie Jant-Bi's Fagaala. Tomorrow night I'm seeing Diamanda Galas at the State Theatre. Saturday I'm performing in Roseville. There's a few posts waiting to happen!

Milestone

2005-10-19T15:31:00.000+10:00

JPB said he had a surprise for me and led me up to his room. This is what I found:

(point at the pictures to see what the labels say)

Aww... It's the sweetest thing yet, even better than key-swapping and leaving toothbrushes.

The next day, Jonathan Cainer has this to say to me:

Tuesday, 18th October 2005 What goes up must come down. Unless, that is, it happens to be a rocket, capable of defying the earth's gravity. Such vessels only have to come back if their pilots want them to. They can float in space forever if they are not deliberately drawn down again. You are launching a satellite. Or rather, you are pursuing what you hope will be a permanent plan. You are setting a process in motion which, you feel sure, ought to continue for the rest of your life. You are a little scared in case it fails to fulfil its promise. But it will.

It hasn't been long but it's been brilliant.

The Price of Dance

2005-10-13T16:10:00.000+10:00

I wandered down to the Sydney Theatre box office to get two tickets to Stephen Petronio's The Gotham Suite after JPB tried to deal with their really annoying online box office (it seems to select seats for you closer to the stage whereas I would prefer more to be seated closer to the middle and, especially for dance, I would normally prefer to have some distance from the stage) and was pleasantly surprised to find that they had a two-for-one offer. Hooray for me! Really bad news for them, though. But it's not much of a surprise: at $69 a pop it's more than what you would pay for mainstream high-profile Australian contemporary dance such as SDC or ADT and almost places it in the realms of the Ballet. Not to say that that Stephen Petronio's dancers were less deserving of your money than a ballet dancer, on the contrary, those dancers were working pretty damned hard!

The Sydney Theatre online box office would have you believe that there were now only a limited number of seats left but, having chosen seats for JPB and I the middle of row N over seats to the left in row L, we found that there was absolutely no-one sitting behind us! What a shame. And how many people know that you can buy two tickets for the price of one, when the online box office doesn't mention it at all?

I was always intending to go to see this show at $69 anyway but at $34.50 each (as well as sitting next to the one you love) it's an absolute bargain that deserves much more attention than it's getting. Petronio's choreography is fast, full-bodied, and highly detailed and its amazing to see these dancers that have so completely mastered it. Makes me wanna get up and swing my head around while catapulting myself across the room. That being said, again it's a case of: Good dancers, shame about the dance Petronio goes from starkly abstract to rock-song-lyric literalism with no middle ground. One minute it's like a fractal: impossibly detailed but with little being expressed besides what you make of it. Next, it's like a connect-the-dots: the song words tell you what's going on. I want to see a painting. SDC's Petronio-choreographed Underland was a much more coherent production (though I do recall being a bit frustrated by that work as well.)

Not a bad show. But I wanted to see something that was more deserving of the dancers' abilities. It seems to want to say something but, to me anyway, doesn't quite get there.

Tags: Dance, Stephen Petronio, The Gotham Suite, Sydney Theatre.

Start The Dance 3

2005-10-12T17:19:00.000+10:00

Start The Dance 3
Originally uploaded by Jhuny.

Previous: Club SP

As with the last mix, my intention was to complete this compilation on tour as well. Had I actually copied the required files onto my laptop I could have done it. It's been difficult since getting back from tour to finish it because of all the time I've spent with JPB. One weekend I resorted to perservering with the laptop (at half the normal amount of memory because, post new hard drive installation, it simply doesn't like having more than one stick of memory in it) at JPB to get it done, only to find that I didn't like what I did.

Anyway, I've been wanting to do a mix of nineties house and garage tunes and, prior to the tour, it was going really well. I'd gotten my hands on a whole bunch of acapellas, I was raring to go. But I just can't seem to quite get it right. I love it from Hideaway to Deeper And Deeper, and the mashup of Britney with Size 9's "I'm Ready" seems to work pretty well (although I'm sure that a more talented masher would be able to do a better, crazier job). I'm also happy about ending it with C&C Music Factory's "Just A Touch Of Love", which was my overall favourite song of 1990. I haven't decided if Vanilla Ice really fits where it is, the two *songs* after Deeper and Deeper seem like a cop-out, and I was really hoping that I could fit in Crystal Waters' "100% Pure Love" in there somewhere (maybe over the top of Aretha Franklin).

Quite possibly I was aiming for something more than I'm capable of. Hopefully by the time I get to Start The Dance 20 I'll get it right.

Tracklisting:
1. (Intro)
2. Beyonce - Work It Out
3. Sub Sub ft Melanie Williams - Ain't No Love, Ain't No Use
4. Snap - The Power
5. Vanilla Ice - Ice Ice Baby
6. De'Lacy - Hideaway
7. C&C Music Factory - Do You Wanna Get Funky
8. Black Box - Strike It Up
9. Livin' Joy - Dreamer
10. Aretha Franklin - A Deeper Love
11. Aretha Franklin - A Deeper Mix
12. Madonna - Deeper And Deeper
13. Eve Gallagher - You Can Have It All
14. Robin S - Show Me Love
15. Britney Spears - I'm A Slave 4 U
16. Staxx - Joy
17. Black Box - Everybody Everybody
18. C&C Music Factory - Just A Touch Of Love (Everyday)

In there is M People "Open Your Heart" and Size 9 "I'm Ready", not to mention multiple mixes of the listed tracks all mixed up.

Tags: Mix, Start The Dance, nineties, House.

A Bugz Life

2005-10-11T17:17:00.000+10:00

STC Blueprints and The Malthouse Theatre co-presents an Australian adaptation of Franz Kafka's The Metamorphosis.

All I knew about the work was that it was about a guy who wakes up to find that he's turned into a bug. Who knew that he meant that the character ACTUALLY turns into a bug, it's not a metaphor for the way he feels or the way his life is going. He actually becomes a creepy crawly thing that leaves goo all over the walls. And here's me only just dealing with the idea of a metaphor, after this weekend's weekly horoscope in The Weekend Australian that said that I have just found the perfect pair of jeans, that fit perfectly, that has the perfect butt and the perfect crotch... (JPB tried to explain to me that the jeans are a metaphor but I just wanted to go shopping...)

So anyway, it's an absurd idea, turning into a bug overnight. I spent a good few minutes trying to decide which bits of the work were similarly odd but everything seemed quite familiar (if a couple of degrees off reality). What, the family are not intrigued about how a man can turn into a bug, they are just concerned with how gross he is. We could have been watching some bizarre parody of Neighbours, there was quite alot of commentary about suburban Australia in this adaptation. Except that there's this bug.

The bug was pretty impressive, though. Sorry, don't know his name. He didn't REALLY look like a bug but he had a certain bug-like quality when he moved around the room. There was a little bit of physical theatre thrown in to complete the effect as well, nothing too energetic, just a couple of precarious balances and wall-climbing. Poor thing, really, what happened to that character. The breadwinner one day, ugly and repulsive the next. We'd expect people to have a breakdown when being the sole provider for such a dysfunctional family, but not to turn into a bug.

Anyway, it was funny and manic. And clever. Not being too familiar with the original story I'm not sure what exactly is adapted bits, though it would be safe to presume that the original family didn't talk about taking the bridge to Auckland. Neither did the daughter hope to make it to the Australian Idol final twelve. But was the original mother so obsessed with cleaning because of her asthma? (the theory goes that there's a link between hyper-cleanliness and the asthma *epidemic*, and the image of the mother keeping her suburban house clean with Enjo and all sorts of cleaning products is so familiar) Certainly the original family themselves were just as repugnant as these modern-day suburbanites that are able to completely reject a member of their family just because he has become grotesque and unintelligible, so obsessed they are with the superficial.

Two thumbs up.

Tags: Theatre, The Metamorphosis, Franz Kafka, Sydney Theatre.

Looking down on those Homosexuals

2005-10-10T14:48:00.000+10:00

On Saturday JPB and I got invited to go to a BBQ at the apartments on top of Oxford Square. From floor fifteen, Oxford Street actually looks quite pretty (It's a shame that I didn't bring my camera!) especially knowing what it looks like at street level. No trash, no scum, and that's just the people. You can barely make out the litter and the worn-out pavement from that high up, it's all about the trees and the car headlights, reflecting off the windows of the buildings along the street. Pretty.

Being higher up, the view isn't quite as good as the skyscraper panorama from the Burton Street roof-top (there is no Harbour Bridge from this address) but it has some things in common. Horizon, that wavy white monstrosity is seems even more obtuse at this distance, it's so abrupt, it just comes out of nowhere, and just because some rich people want to see the ocean from the centre of town. And Oxford Street is several orders of magnitude more luminous than anything else around.

After a few bottles of wine, stumbling back up the road and it's back to reality: crazy people, construction and chaos. I have to move back to the East!

Tags: Oxford Street, Sydney

Update: Got pictures!!!

See? Pretty.

Mad Hot Stars Dancing

2005-10-05T16:58:00.000+10:00

Previously: Tom: A National Obsession

I was so into season two. Watching a recording of last night's episode was a bit of a shock. Was it really this cheesy last time around? Were the stars really this boring? And the only couple that seems to do a decent job of dancing (as opposed to just hamming it up) is Chris and her partner, she's doing her best to be this season's Holly though not quite as sharp or as quick. As for Dicko, he's musical and co-ordinated but he looks bloody shocking and, sure, he's a bit funny but I just can't quite bring myself to liking him.

Give 'em a chance, Jhuny, give 'em a chance...

MEANWHILE I saw Mad Hot Ballroom last night. Brilliant!!! Following teams of ballroom dancers from several New York City public primary schools from dance lessons to the finals at the World Financial Centre, it was more than just about dancing (though there's some pretty good dancers in some of those schools!) It's about the social diversity of New York, it's about turning the lives around for children, turning them into Ladies and Gentlemen (as one of the teachers puts it), and the unexpected benefits of dance. It was great to see such a bright and generally open-minded bunch of kids. Kids are great. Dancing is great. Go see the movie! And watch out for the boy with the beautiful eyes...

Tags: Dancing, Dancing With The Stars, Mad Hot Ballroom.

Shiny brand new.

2005-10-04T12:39:00.000+10:00

ARIA charts

* 1 (-) Shannon Noll - Shine
* 14 (-) Ricki-Lee - Sunshine
* 27 (-) Paulmac - Sunshine Eyes

Three Aussies. Three new songs. It must be springtime in Australia.

Tags: Music, Shine, Australia, Spring.

NRL 2005 Tipping Grand Final

2005-10-03T20:32:00.000+10:00

Well well... it's the end and guess who won!

...

ME!

And, no, I still don't see anything wrong with that! Someone has to organise the competition, and why should anyone else outside of the competition be lumped with that job when they're not going to get anything out of it? And why should I deny myself a chance at the prize just because I take on the job?

Anyway, it was an interesting situation tipping for the grand final. With both underdogs upsetting the favourites, denying me of tipping points for an entire round, second place RP was in striking distance and was still able to win. Even before the game was set to start, it became apparent that RP and I tipping the same team to win the grand final would ensure that I would win the tipping competition regardless of the match outcome. Being from the far North Queensland and so far being totally loyal to the Cowboys, it was easy to predict what team RP was going to tip and had I could have just tipped Cowboys and taken the shortcut to the finish line. RP could have taken a risk that I would do this and gone for the Tigers and, had she picked the margin, would have sneakily taken the top spot from me (of course I could have just waited for RP to tip then copy her to ensure my victory either way but that would be cheating and I DON'T CHEAT!). The problem with this strategy is that, if Cowboys won she ran the risk of losing her top three spot had NL and JG both tipped Cowboys (JG with the added condition that she get the right margin as well), with no prizemoney and the added agony of knowing that she was disloyal (which, knowing RP, she would never do). That being said it was just as unlikely for NL, a proud westie, to tip agains the Wests as it was for RP to tip the Cowboys and that brings up the other situation where RP tips the Tigers to play for second spot knowing that NL would most likely pick her home team.

In the end, everyone pretty much tipped as expected and as we now know the Wests Tigers finally won. When Benji set up that try just before half time it started to become apparent that I would win the tipping competition and that westie girl NL would get second spot. But what else was starting to happen was that the tipping margin was beginning to be important as the Wests Tigers extended their lead just after half time. JG tipped a close match with the Wests Tigers winning and she needed those bonus points to overtake RP and take third spot. In effect JG needed to pray that the Cowboys could contain the Tigers and not allow them to extend their lead. Had Scott Prince managed to kick that field goal near the end of the match and that was that then RP would have taken the cash winning third spot. Prince, as it turned out, missed and it wasn't until Hodgson converted at full time that RP's prize was assured.

It was tense for a moment there, JPB was hoping for RP's sake that the Wests Tigers would extend the margin (she had won him over in Melbourne when she said he was handsome) and was relieved when Hodgson booted the ball between the poles. Hooray!

My prize has already been spent, by the way...

Tags: NRL.

Straight people trying to do a parade

2005-09-30T13:50:00.000+10:00

(apologies to all homosexuals involved in organising this parade...)

What went wrong:
1. Not enough colours. There are six colours in the rainbow and they only used one. Even the audience was pretty much homogenous, which is the wrong kind of homo.
1a. Not enough sequins. Though the tape flickering overhead on this gloriously fine day was quite pretty.

2. Not enough flesh shown. A team of beautiful bodies, all covered up in red and white. Boo.

3. No disco. There were bands, there were people singing something about how the Swans will go in and win over all. All very good but not very danceable

4. Not enough floats. And they were all pretty much the same: a ute and two guys. The last guy had a big shiny cup and some streamers but, overall, pretty disappointing. Maybe the club can sponsor other floats with sequined half-naked guys dancing to disco.

5. No drag queens. Just Sandra Sully.

Please take note of the 2006 Mardi Gras parade and try to do a better job for next year.

What went right:
1. We won. Yay.

Cheer, Cheer, the Red and the White,
Honour the name, by day and by night;
Lift that noble banner high,
Shake down the thunder from the sky.
What though the odds be great, or small,
Swans will go in and win over all;
While her loyal sons are marching
Onward to Victory.

Go the Wests Tigers (don't forget about them Westies!)

Tags: AFL, Sydney Swans, parade

I See Red (and white)

2005-09-26T12:02:00.000+10:00

Seven o'clock in the morning, just pulled up at Central on the XPT from Melbourne via Wagga and a sea of red spilled out onto the platform. Earlier on that morning, bleary eyed because even in first class those seats are far less comfortable than economy class across the Pacific, I awoke to a rendition of the red and white club song. The aisle of the carriage was lined with red and white flags.

On Saturday in Wagga we had decided to shift the schedule forward so that we could watch the match. It was bloody amazing to see the MCG awash with red, amazing because in Rugby League Central I didn't really think that there would be that many dedicated AFL fans. The extended break also meant an opportunity take a decent nap and, when the Swans were 39-19 up at about half time I decided to rest up, that the Swannies had it in the bag. By the middle of the fourth quarter I woke up to find that it was anything but, and fifteen minutes later I was wide awake and jumping around. We were all so excited that Bangarra decided to do a special dedication to the Swans. Had I had been more organised instead of stressing about my hair I would have done a special commemorative Goanna paint-up but instead had to make do with some random red and white stripes on my arms and legs. The dancers also gave them a bit of a cheer a post curtain call cheer but we got a bit confused because we weren't sure if we were going to cheer "Swans" or "Swannies" or "Sydney" or... Oh well.

Now if only that OTHER red and white team replicated the Swannies' victory. Then I wouldn't find myself at risk of being knocked off the top of the NRL tipping competition. Serves me right, I live in Wests Tigers' territory. Never again...

Tags: Sydney Swans, AFL.

Surprise!

2005-09-24T15:52:00.000+10:00

I have a little secret: I'm catching the midnight train from Wagga Wagga so that I can get into Sydney first thing in the morning. Shhh!!! Don't tell JPB. He'll be expecting me at about lunch time. This way we'll be able to fit in a few extra cuddles before breakfast.

Tags: Train, Gay, Secret.

Razor Sharp Fence

2005-09-23T23:36:00.000+10:00

I was trying so hard not to think about the three metre high razor wire fence surrounding the school. I had a lesson plan and a job to do. We were buzzed in and led to the Gymnasium by a guy wearing a black earpiece. All the doors were kept locked, even the toilets. Nearby was an ominous looking structure that looked like a watchtower (it probably wasn’t). The boys looked a bit rough and one had even started to ask us if we could do a back flip for them (I can’t). It was a struggle to get the boys to participate and in the end, there were more teaching staff participating than boys.

But strangely enough, and despite the depressing-looking pictures that I've included because I think they look interesting (there are more positive pictures but I don't want to include them because I haven't asked the people in the picture if they want to appear on this blog), it wasn’t the hardest dance workshop I’ve had to do. We received a warm and enthusiastic welcome from the staff at the detention centre and many of them told us that they really enjoy working there. The boys themselves seemed quite good-spirited, joking around and being quite your average bunch of teenagers. My role in the workshop was to lead a warm up and assist in teaching a repertoire and I had to make quite a few impromptu changes to my lesson plan as I tried to gauge what was working for the group. I even ended up ditching the accompaniment music that I spent all night and all morning trying to sort out. Some decisions proved to be a bit detrimental, for instance we demonstrated the crabbing section of the dance Canoe from Boomerang and, rather than inspire them to learn some more, they seemed to be put off by the effort (yes, dance is hard!) But they were interested, asking JG questions as she worked the CD player and video camera.

At the very least, it was a taste of something different for these boys. Presumably, they may not have had much of a chance to see contemporary dance before and it’s such a shame that the boys that are actually allowed to go on excursions outside the centre have other plans and won’t be coming to the show. We were told that they’ve also had other cultural people to visit, such as poets and classical musicians, and they’ve even done a program of drama workshops. They also have an arts room filled with some quite impressive paintings and drawings. Of course, there’s quite a lot of sports at the centre, too, with a gymnasium, tennis courts, basketball courts and an oval. It would look like any other school except for that razor wire fence.

Tags: Dance, Workshop, Wagga Wagga.

Back to Uni.

2005-09-22T23:22:00.000+10:00

Menzies1
Originally uploaded by Jhuny.

Way back in the early nineties I had put Monash University down as my fourth preference to study Maths and Engineering. It was a Band One University after all! There was never a chance that I would need to resort to considering any of the preferences apart from my first one, such was my high school results being what they were I pretty much could pick any Uni in the country. And fortunate for me, for Monash is out in the sticks! (Then again, ANU is in a big country town, not that much better than Clayton…)

The surroundings were familiar enough: a massive sprawl of really ugly buildings and patches of grass for the students to sit on and “study”. And really random bits of concrete that sort-of look like they’re supposed to have some kind of aesthetic value. A bit like ANU! The theatre where we performed was located near the Robert Menzies building, a breathtaking monstrosity that seems less “Melbourne” and more “Communist Russia”. Ironic because it is near a building housing an architecture exhibition and near another building that is housing student elections. It is so big and SO UGLY! Rather than inspire you to higher learning, it just makes you want to throw something at it. Like your textbooks.

Anyway... it was interesting getting caught up in the student elections. In search of nourishment, we were faced with a wall of hopeful candidates, mainly in blue, purple and orange. And because us dancers are quite fit, active and youthful-looking (and, with a full day in the theatre, wearing crap rehearsal clothes) we often got mistaken for being a student which I guess is kind of flattering in a way. For the first couple of times. After that we were calling it harassment. But not before teasing a couple of candidates: “Have you voted?” “No.” “Well blah blah blah….” “Oh that’s nice. And by the way I’m not a student…”

Later on, during the bus trip back to the hotel after our last performance, we were ruing the missed opportunity to question some of the candidates about their stance on indigenous issues at Uni. Just to stir the pot. It seems reasonable to assume that, with the indigenous population being a minority in their own country, they would be even more outnumbered when you consider that there seems to be many international students here as well. But, still, it’s a bit disappointing that out of the three major groups, Activate (not to endorse any of the groups, by the way) are the only one that even mentions the word Indigenous in their publicity material (well, that’s from a brief scan of the election guide). The Aboriginal and Torres Strait Island flags were flying over one of the buildings near the theatre but I wonder how many of the students even noticed. Not criticising (yet!), just observing.

Tags: Monash University

The Meaning of Orange Roses

2005-09-21T00:36:00.000+10:00

Apparently, orange roses says "well done, I am so proud of you". Or they mean enthusiasm, desire, and fascination. In any case, orange roses don't quite say what I wanted to say.

So I bought the red ones.

Tags: Roses, Colours.

Digital Gallery, Digital Dance

2005-09-14T01:06:00.000+10:00

White Noise at ACMI.
Lucy Guerin - Love Me

It was only the second time in my life that I found myself drunk, about this time fourteen years ago. Funnily enough, I had vowed earlier on that night that I would never drink again and, finding myself barely able to walk a straight line, I had inadvertently set up a pattern that would continue to this day. Some time during that night I found myself in front of the host’s Commodore 64, programming an undulating pattern of vertically scrolling horizontal lines that proved to be endlessly fascinating to the drunken teens at the party. I’m reminded of this fourteen years later, minus the teen spirit, face-to-face with a similar pattern but only this time projected on a wall in the darkened confines of ACMI at Federation Square for the White Noise exhibition. It was Ulf Langheinrich’s Drift.

Stark, mathematical, monochromatic and laser-precise, the exhibition reminded me of the pre-XGA days of home computer graphics, before the multi-million polygon reality of today’s first-person perspective games, where the state-of-the-art was Elite: linear, monochrome wireframe 3D models. Except for maybe Keiko Kimoto’s Imaginary Numbers in all its dynamic fractilian glory. And also Ernest Edmonds and Mark Fell’s Absolute_5, an interactive and rule-based aural and visual projection of sounds and colours. Even the exhibition space reflected this idea, the separate works are delineated by a single blue line along the sides and ceiling of the entrance to each section of the gallery. These entrances are aligned so that from the start of the exhibition the blue lines form a wireframe tunnel all the way to the back of the gallery, a striking sight. In Ryoji Ikeda’s data.spectra, lines of tiny numbers scrolling across the wall create a linear flowing stream with a sense of an underlying digital code. Langheinrich aforementioned work projects long horizontal lines that continually varied in thickness, scrolling up and down the wall, a mesmerizing and hypnotic display.

The latter two works were particularly notable for me for the way the viewer interacted with them, even though these works are essentially not interactive. The movement in these works is plain, linear, and not exceedingly complex. However, in a darkened box and being the only source of light I found it interesting in a choreographic sense to watch the silhouette of the other people in the viewing space, the visual effect of the contrasting movement of the bodies. I have touched on this through choreographic works that I’ve done that have employed projections, I do tend to be drawn to this kind of aesthetic. So, while watching Lucy Guerin’s latest three-piece program Love Me at The Malthouse Theatre, I was particularly excited to see her use this kind of *look* in the projections for her work On. I found this work to be the most interesting in the program that also consisted of the already-seen Melt and the twee and mainly inconsequential Reservoir of Giving.

In On, Kristie McCracken and Byron Perry are fluid, articulate and work extremely well together. Along with the projection of lines, scrolling numbers and graphical axes, there is a sense that the relationship being portrayed by McCracken and Perry is one where the protagonists are constantly measuring each other up, having a mechanical response to their partnership, where they quite literally push each other’s buttons. The rectangular boxes of light confine their relationship, categorizing them, individually and as a couple. And with a constant use of limbic movement derived from articulations from the shoulders and hips, producing lengthened lines and tight and expansive arcs, even the physical movement conveys a sense of the mechanical. An interesting scene occurs where a large rectangular projected box lights the dancers’ legs, showing a sort of tango as the dancers try to fit their legs between their partners, a kind of dance that occurs when a couple perform when in a close embrace. Do you stand with your legs kind of interleaved with your partner’s, or both your legs between your partner’s, and who decides who is *inside* the other, how are these decisions made?

Exhibitions like White Noise are interesting to me mainly because they explore the sense of sight in such a deliberate way, especially with the constant use of high contrast, the white shapes on a black background. They trick the eye into seeing shapes and forms that are not there, and the effect is deliberate and measured. I also find it interesting to see these effects used in dance in a more human, personal, less mechanical, abstracted way.

Tags: ACMI, Visual Art, Federation Square,
Dance, Lucy Guerin.

The Homosexuals on Chapel Street

2005-09-12T22:56:00.000+10:00

JPB and I like to kiss a lot and we tend to sneak a peck on the lips whenever we find ourselves waiting for the red man on the corner to turn green. Yes, we are one of THOSE couples, the same ones that walk around with a hand in each other’s back pockets. Sick, I know. In the pink ghetto of the harbour metropolis it’s not really that much of a deal. So we were mildly surprised when, after a quick exchange of saliva at an intersection along Chapel Street, a guy decided to give me a seemingly congratulatory pat on the shoulder as he and his female partner walked past. Two men kissing in public? Good work! I didn’t realise that our kind of people were such a novelty on Melbourne’s premiere shopping strip.

JPB and I tend to hold hands while walking down the street. Once, on our way down Toorak Road, just off Chapel Street, we caught a guy throwing a smile at us as if to say “it’s good to have guys like you here.” Unexpected and not exactly unwelcome attention. Most of the time I felt completely comfortable doing that even when we’re the only poofter couple doing so. And it’s not like we were the only ones, what with Commercial Road always just a few blocks away. And it’s not like we were trying to make a public statement about our couple-ness, I just really want to hold onto him. Maybe it’s a Sydney thing, the Melbourne poofs are far too cool to be so public.

Mind you, all of this changes on Friday and Saturday nights. I’m usually in fear of my life, hoping that I’m not going to be run over by a hotted-up car driven by a lunatic male of the just-got-my-license variety. It’s scary.

UP NEXT: Lucy vs ACMI (ie seeing the White Noise exhibition at ACMI and Lucy Guerin's Love Me in one afternoon with JPB), Loving the Lovely Lonnie.

Tags: gay, Chapel Street

Quick update

2005-09-06T23:46:00.000+10:00

JPB is coming to Melbourne tomorrow and I can't wait!!! It's an impulsive move and everything is going pretty fast considering I've been hundreds of kilometres away for a longer period of time than we have been together but I really like that. Anyway, I'm pretty excited. So far we've been having long conversations on the phone just about every day (and hundreds of SMSs) which has been great but I guess that that wasn't enough for some...

The only problem is that I seem to be coming down with a cold. Not happy. So I'm planning to load myself up with lots of drugs and stuff so that hopefully by the time he gets in I'll be on the up.

We've been to Sale and Warragul since my last post, opposite ends of the Gippsland and, while they have been quite pretty places I just can't wait to get back to Melbourne. But I was in such a happy mood today, everything just seemed to be so pretty. I had to stop and take photos of all the flowers 'cos they were all pretty. I seemed to have a sickenly contented smile on my face the whole day and I was copping alot of flak from the other dancers... hehe...

Nothing much else besides. Oh and I finished The Tipping Point and have some... er... tips for more books on the same lines. Though I am thinking of getting The Planets (by ???) next, when I'm in Melbourne.

A Tip From Me

2005-09-02T19:46:00.000+10:00

I haven’t finished this book yet but I’m so intrigued by what it says that I just had to write about it. (Also, at the moment, we’re in Sale and it is so boring I had nothing else to write about!)

Malcolm Gladwell – The Tipping Point

Like the previous book I read, James Surowiecki’s The Wisdom of Crowds, this book draws from many different perspectives to illustrate a simple point: that little things can have a big effect. Obviously this isn’t true all of the time, there are special conditions that allows this to happen. When it does occur, Gladwell likens the effect to an epidemic – a change that has a seemingly insignificant beginning but spreads like a contagious virus.

To illustrate this point, Gladwell goes from talking about Sesame Street to The American Revolution (specifically, how Paul Revere rode through the night to alert the local American militias to the coming of the British Regulars). To explain the former, Gladwell talks of the intricate connections of people, and how these networks are centred on special people, and the subtle forms of persuasion that some people have to incite people to action. For Sesame Street, Gladwell points out how it’s creators were able to grab the attention of young TV viewers for educational purposes, in a sense making the action of learning contagious. Further, there is one more condition, which is basically about the environment or the context that allows the epidemic to occur.

The subject of this book is basically about psychology but it’s the way that this information is presented that makes it interesting. In the words of Gladwell, this book is sticky. As Sesame Street uses fantasy and advertising techniques to be addictive viewing, this book reads like a blockbuster thriller: it begins with a sensational mystery and then introduces characters and situations in an attempt to solve the puzzle. Though I’m only halfway through I presume from the Table of Contents that there are two climactic conflicts before the puzzle is completed. In solving the puzzle, Gladwell himself becomes a Connector, Maven and Salesman; he collects and aggregates the information from all sorts of people that he connects with, and then writes about it in a very persuasive way.

As I was reading this book I started to think about how this relates to me as a dancer. When Gladwell describes a Salesman, it sounded to me like a good performer: his power is his ability to establish an emotional connection with the audience and to be persuasive in telling the story or the idea of the dance. A dancer goes through a lot of training and explores a wide range of movement disciplines and draws from these experiences to dance well which, in a sense is what a Maven does but with “dance information”. And the best dancers have worked with a wide range of people (consider Narelle Benjamin, who has worked with just about every major contemporary dance company in the country and even with the Australian Ballet).

Anyway, back to the book. I’m flying through it at a pretty rapid rate. It’s such a fascinating read and definitely recommended. (Damn if that was a really crap conclusion but I just ran out of words. Just read it!)

Tags: Book, The Tipping Point, Dance.