Adam is love

My first ANZAC day memorial service

2010-04-25T08:30:00.000-07:00

Ok so haven't blogged in a while so thought I would blog about my first Anzac day memorial I went to.

First of all I was not really enthused about going, getting up early is one thing I hate but I had to go to do a photography assignment I am doing for university (we have to take photos and select 5 to represent ANZAC day how we want to). So I got up at like 4:30am with not much sleep beforehand and went to Henderson park (Mildura) for the Dawn service. Immediatly I was shocked as to see how many people were there, young and old. The youngest in thier mothers arms still asleep the oldest in wheelchairs. As I have never been to one before I wasn't sure what to expect and as the crowd grew and the sun slowy rose I saw the 4 ARMY servicemen (and one women I think) stand around the shrine I knew this was going to be interesting. We said a prayer (which I didn't know was a big thing) to pay our respects to the fallen members of the ANZACS. I knew it from catholic upbringing but I think it was more the church of England version.

I chose not to take any photos till after the minute silence out of respect, and didn't even dream of taking any during it. After the service was complete people layed wreaths on the shrine, their were school groups doing this as well which I found extremly touching. The fact they got up early on a Sunday morning in their school uniforms to pay thier respects. It is this generation that is going to have to keep the tradition alive once we lose the WWII veterans.

After this service we went out to Red Cliffs for their service, it was smaller but had a much stronger affect on me. I met the oldest member of the Red Cliffs division who was very nice and allowed us to take photos of his medals (he had quite a few). Just the way these men and women and even thier relatives wore these with such pride and heads held high was good to see. They earned them and you knew they deserved them, I just wish I could have talked to a few of them and ask them about them. But I was rushing around taking photos of everything and anything. During the Red Cliffs service a woman from the nursing division spoke about the nurses on the warfront. This is something I have never thought about and her story was touching. She spoke of how the nurses helped lead the way for women in the armed forces and how they were the unsung heroes of the war(s) which I believe is true. She read a touching poem about how the nurses were the last people the soldiers died in the make shift hospitals. They were thier last friends and the last person to hear them speak. As she read it images in my head were of a soldier holding the hands of a nurse and just saying thank you before he died. I admit I nearly got a bit teary at this point. Her story was amazing to say the least, if I can get a copy of the poem I will post it.

Another thing that touched me was both at the Mildura and Red Cliffs memorial walls I noticed Gleeson was on thier, they may not be related but just to see my family name on thier made me proud. Both my Grandfathers didn't fight in the war. My mum's father got called but got out of going due to his work on the family farm. My dad's father went to Darwin but didn't go to the war front, Dad says he isn't sure what happened my Poppy never talked about it. So although I had no direct family members in the war to see my family name up there still made me proud and thats who I thought about during my 3 minute silence (1 minute at Mildura 2 at Red cliffs). I couldn't put a face to the name but I quietly said thank you to them.

Then we went to the Mildura march and to see again young and old marching was awesome. This talk about not having children marching in the march is stupid in my opnion, it is them who we have to carry on this legacy for their grandparents and pay respect to a history that is dear to Australia.

I believe after my first ANZAC day I will be going again and again sure I don't have medals of grandparents to show but I still think it's important to remember the men and women who risked thier lives to fight in a war that shouldn't even have started under the Australian flag and for our freedom. ANZAC day is not a celebration of war but a remembrance of those lost and living who kept this country safe. Every country has somesort of remembrance for war and people who were lost http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Remembrance_days (list of some of them)

I have decided I will be going to the dawn service every year now (it is one day of the year I have to get up early) and also decided I want to go to Gallipoli for an ANZAC service one day and even eventually walk the Kokoda trail (if we still can). Just to pay my respects and say thanks

LEST WE FORGET!!

Alice in Wonderland Review

2010-03-07T19:08:00.000-08:00

I am a big Tim Burton fan and when I discovered this was coming out I was super excited, Alice is one of my favourite stories of all time. The only thing I hate when remakes are done is how they don't stick to the stories properly. Alice in wonderland and Alice through the looking glass are two different stories. But as we see in most representations of Wonderland we see Twiddle dee and Twiddle Dum appear (these characters actually appear in the looking glassm which isn't actually Wonderland) With Tim Burton's Alice it created a new dimension to the much loved story. What if Alice is grown up and goes back to Wonderland?

Plot:
Alice is now 19 years old and is having dreams about a white rabbit in a blue waistcoat since she was young, she has forgotten about her last adventures in wonderland and all the creatures/characters she met 13 years ago. Alice is going to be asked to marry a man she may not even love mainly for the benefits of the two families combining. When she is proposed too she decides to run away and follow the white rabbit. She is shoved into the rabbit hole and greeted by the White Rabbit, The Twiddles, Dodo and Doormouse. Telling her she is the right Alice. Alice is very confused about this and they confront the Blue Caterpillar. Alice goes on a journy through Underland (What Wonderland is really called, Alice just misheard it as Wonderland 13 years earlier). Underland is not the previous Wonderland we have come to love over many other remakes. It looks like a barren wasteland with dead trees and scary forests everywhere (only the white queens castle looks beautiful and maintained) Alice confronts the Mad Hatter who greets her with open arms. Alice must defeat the Red Queen and allow the White Queen to regain rule over Underland. To do this Alice must look deep inside herself and find her inner bravery to defeat the Red Queen's champion the Jabberwocky.

I quite enjoyed this film and the idea of Alice coming back to Wonderland (or Underland) and seeing the differences in previous adaptions. Another interesting thing is that all the characters Mad Hatter, both Queens and the Blue Caterpillar actually have real names (although I can't remember them nor spell them) this adds much more depth to the characters I think. It makes them seem more human in a way.
Now the Actors
Mia Wasikowska - Alice - Being an Australian actress in one of her first feature films and to score the leading role must be pretty big. She captured the innocence of Alice quite well, still living in her mind the childhood she has left behind. I think she has a big future Ahead of her

Helena Bonham Carter - Red Queen - she looked amazing, that big head was what made her character so good. That and her acting of course. I would consider her a cross between Beatrix Lestrange (Harry Potter) and Mrs Lovett (Sweeny Todd). You can see she has had a tough childhood competing with her sister (White Queen) for attention. Her soloution to everything is off with thier head. Surely one of the best character adaptations. (My favourite still maintans Miranda Richardson in a mini series a few years ago)

Johnny Depp - Mad Hatter - Johnny never ceases to amaze me with his talent. He can play a shy man with scissor hands, a drugged induced journalist, a homicidal barber, an over the top chocolate maker, a rum hungry pirate or just a sweet boyfriend who gets killed by a guy with knife hands. Now he plays an eccentric Mad Hatter with a bit to much Mercury in the brain. This I think is up here as one of his best characters. It wasn't as over the top as I expected but that i gathered was due to the changes in Underland throughout the years. He was cleary born for this role

Anne Hathaway - White Queen - When I heard this my initial response was Anne Hathaway in a Tim Burton film? NO WAY CAN SHE PULL THAT OFF.....well she proved me wrong. She was so graceful, she floated around with her hands in the air and was a complete juxtapostion to her sister. I would really like to see her in more roles like this. Although the dissapointment was that she didn't seem to get much air time through the film.

All in all this was a good film and good adaption of the franchise and having Tim Burtons touch was what made it good (I actually found myself comparing sets like that from Nightmare before christmas and Edward scissorhands - thats the kind of mood it sets). So yes it was visually stunning, yes the story was great, yes the actors acting was excellent. But no it is not my favourite Tim Burton film. I think I was let down by it expecting it to overtake Nightmare before Christmas as my favourite, but it didn't there was just something that sat odd with me about the whole film and I can't put my finger on it

3/5

Now as an added bonus I thought I would rank my Tim Burton films from as far as him Directing.

1. Nightmare before christmas
2. Beetlejuice
3. Edward scissorhands
4. Charlie and the Chocolate factory
5. Corpse Bride
6. Alice in wonderland
7. Mars Attacks
8. Sleepy Hollow
9. Batman
10. Batman returns
11. Planet of the apes

http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000318/ according to IMDB, I have not seen Big Fish yet (thought I had) nor have I seen some of his earlier short films

Like to know some of your favourite Tim Burton films.

Game Review: Assassins Creed

2010-02-22T03:03:00.000-08:00

Ok so I know I am a bit late jumping on this bandwagon but I bought this game for about $20 for my desktop computer but it didn't work. So I tried it on my laptop and to my suprise it worked. I finished the game in about a week (thought it would take longer). So now I thought I would do my first game review.

First a little plot telling:
Desmond Miles has been kidnapped by a company called Abstergo Industries, a pharmaceutical company. They plan to use him in a machine called the Animus which can read a persons DNA to recall ancestors memories. The memories Abstergo are after are that of Altaïr ibn La-Ahad, who is a member of a league of assassins during the year 1191AD. After going on a mission with fellow assassins and making a decesion that risks the life of him and his fellow assassins, Altair is demoted losing all his weapons and skills (how one loses skills I don't know). But his master Al Mualim tells him he must kill 9 people to regain his rank as he had before. His mission takes him to Acre, Jeruselem and Damascus. Each of these 9 gives him an insight into why they did what they were doing and Altair discovers that they are all members of The Knights Templar. As Desmond and Alatair are exploring the memory they discover the hidden truth behind why Abstergo wants Desmonds memory of Alatair and why Al Mualim wants Alatiar to kill the 9 people.

So thats the plot I didn't want to spoil much. The game starts is spilt between the two controlable characters of Desmond and Alatair. Although all Desmond can really do is wonder around the Animus room of Abstergo, go to bed, hack into peoples email accounts and talk to Lucy (Animus operator with a secret of her own....insert dramatic music here). So mainly its up to Alatair to gain all the information. Too kill the 9 you must first discover the map of the three towns by climbing on tall buildings and "syncronising" with them to get a feel for the world around. This unlocks different missions to which you discober where and when the assassination target will be. This includes pickpocketing letters, interrogating people who rant about the target on the street, helping an assassin who supplies information or simply eavesdropping on someones conversation. After this you gain access to where the target is and must report to the assassination bureau of the town to get a feather (this feather as proof of the kill with the targets blood wiped on it). The idea is to be stealthy for these missions but I found this to be quite difficult so i found myself running to kill the person them running away to a point and me chasing after them and getting in a big sword fight with them and about 20 guards and make sure i was the last man standing. Probably the most difficult I found was one of the earlier ones (i was still trying to be stealthy) It was a doctor accused of drugging his patients with a drug allowing them to be controlled. So you go into this hospital and I am being all stealthy but there were these rabid patients who kept pushing me. One happened to push me into a guard and the guard attacked me....so i had to kill the guards kill the guy and get the hell out. Then I couldn't find the exit. I got out eventually and hid in a haystack.
It is stuff like this that makes the game difficult. As the game progresses the guards get more suspicious and to get from one place to the other you have to walk (running apprently causes to much suspicion, so what running was outlawed in 1191?)
Like I said before the game wasn't as challanging as I thought. There were a few times I died but after trying it one or two more times doing exactly the same thing I found myself passing it. Using my laptop was a bit difficult as the game uses the traditional WASD for movement while the arrows are used for camera, and the mouse pad for attacking. I got quite annoyed because for some reason the game never opened in full and i still had the windows toolbar down the bottom and often found myself clicking out of the game mid stab. But this is a computer problem not the game I guess. I have often been weary of playing games on computer with the WASD controls I didn't mind it, the only thing was to run fast whilst knocking people out of the way I had to press W, left mouse button, shift, spacebar and of course to run diagonally you had to press WD (or any combo of W-S with the A-D) buttons and this got difficult.

All in all though it was a good game, with good story lines and gameplay (except the issues I mentioned. But that just means I need a PS3 :-P ) although the game felt reptetive at times with the sub missions in order to reach the assassination it was the assassination that drove you to hang in there. With a cut scene before the assassaination of the target talking it allowed you to figure out a plan. For example one of the guys was an executioner and was onstage. As you can move around during the cutscene. I got up the front as close as I could and my plan was to once I could just one on stage. I managed to kill him before the guards came...ADAM WIN. then the guards chased after me and I had to run like a pansy boy...but I killed the bad man so ADAM STILL WINS. Also the good things about the cutscenes were that they had "Glitches" these glitches flashed up and if you pressed the mouse button it showed an alternate view.

I give the game 4/5 and now I have to wait till March till the number 2 is on computer :-( or buy a PS3/Xbox 360 before then....I will go with the first option

District 9 review

2010-02-17T06:59:00.000-08:00

Ok so I recently saw District 9 and thought it was blog review worthy.

First of all it wasn't what I expected at all. I saw the trailers and expected another "aliens attack, world is in doom" movie. But of course it wasn't. For those of you who don't know the story revolves around a spaceship hovering above Johannesburg, the aliens are sent to a shanty town to live (District 9) by order of the MNU (Multi-National United) here the Humans and Prawns (as they were called, sort of a racist slang) lived happily. Fast forward 20 years into 2010 and things are going bad the "prawns" and humans relationship is starting to break and the MNU decide to move them further out of Johannesburg to a place where they can not be disturbed (District 10) it is Wikus van der Merwe's job to round them up and move them to the other district. But he stumbles accross a fluid that one of the "Prawns" is working on which slowly starts turning him into one of the aliens. He seeks refuge in District 9 with the "prawns" and finds Christopher Johnson (The aliens are given Earth names) Chris eventually agrees to help Wilkes stop the alien transformation if Wilkes can get the fluid back that MNU has so Chris can go to the mothership. Thats just a brief outline. I don't want to spoil anything.

Now obviously the first thing you notice is the movie is set in a documentry style talking about the aliens and Wilkes operation and setting the scene of the aliens and humans parts in the story. The other thing you realise is just how poltical this movie is. I think it resonates with Australians well because of the on going "Boat People debate". The aliens them selves were Immigrants and seeked refuge to a better place only to find them selves in poor housing with little rights. This is in ways similar to the "boat people" being put in detention centres waiting to become australian citizens. Although the "Prawns".
When the MNU is rounding up the "Prawns" they do it peacefully but many of them disagree with the move and act out and end up getting shot or killed, they are then experimented on later in a biolab as the MNU is also trying to disover how to use the "Prawn's" weapons as it can only be used with their DNA. Wilkes can also acheive this once he starts turning into an alien and is used for similar testing.
Like I said the conditions they are living in are quite poor, even poorer than the poorest og the south africans are living in. The "Prawns" have to fend for them selves by dealing with the Nigerian war lords by trading guns and stolen goods for cat food (the choosen food of the "Prawns"). The government offers no assistance in anyway apart from the housing, they can not get jobs or anything (again boat people?)

The poltical aspects are certainly there and are quite evident of similar situations going in the world with refugees all over the world. What I liked most about this story is that instead of making the alien race superior and wanting to destroy the world; they are the good guys, the underdogs, the refugee. So instead of feeling sorry for the human race you feel for this alien race and are finding yourself barracking for them (and not your own race). I can't say I have seen many other movies where this happens, apart from maybe E.T. Which shows a similar story in a way, Alien refugee - humans want it for experiments - trying to get home - befriends a human. But District 9 pushes the poltical side of the story more with what the government ideally wants with these aliens (technology)

All in all I quite enjoyed the political satire of modern day issues with sci fi. I spent the whole time thinking "boat people are the least of Kevin Rudd's problem if this happens". Like I said i also liked making the aliens the good guys (we are seeing a lot of this role reversal stuff lately) I actually found myself comparing it to Avatar but its like reverse Avatar.
District 9 - Aliens come to Earth -> aliens get screwed over
Avatar - Earth goes to Pandora -> aleins get screwed over

Both have similar outcomes but the Human Race's part in each is completly different.

I give it 4/5 (guess i should review Avatar now, been a while since i saw it though)

I generation (pt 2)

2010-02-13T03:54:00.000-08:00

Ok so now is the time where I continue boring you with my thoughts on technology. Like I said, in this post I will be talking about movies, communication and life in general.

sooooooo Movies:

Well it is pretty obvious how far movies have come. Don't know if much of you know this but one of the first movies ever shown was the great train robbery and there was footage of a train coming towards the audience. The audience freaked out at this and thought the train was going to come out of the screen and hit them. Flash forward today and that is actually happening with more and more movies coming out in 3D (Monsters vs Aliens, Avatar etc) seems this is where movies are going now. But lets go back a few years before this. Looking at any movie in the 1920 till about the 50's and it's black and white. Wizard of Oz revolotionised film by combining both. Look at the early colour films and you see a different picture quality. Even movies up to the early 90's have a different quality somewhere in between now and the 50's. I am no expert on how films are made, but I assume this is due to such things as camera capturing, editing, lighting etc. Obviuosly now all the editing is done on computer making it a much more crisp image. Ever watched an old movie and wondered why a black spot flashes up every now and then and lines in the screen? Well this was the old edting style where they use to just glue the bits of film together from the reels those black dots are called "cigarette burns" and they are a mark to know where on reel ends and the other starts. so from the 90's 3d was a gimmick and around but very solemn I remember going to the Melbourne show and they had a tent that was a cinema showing 3d images and i was so scared I had to take my glasses off (a Bug came out trying to eat me and a tiger was jumping above my head) fast forward today and its the new norm. James Cameron has been waiting 10 years for technology to advance so he could make Avatar. Every new animation (disney pixar, dream works) is coming out in 3d now. So is it still a "gimmick"? I say no I think it is here to stay, with more and more live action films being rumoured to be 3d (Harry Potter, Spiderman, Avatar 2). Even T.V is becoming 3d with the release of 3d televisions. My question is will we see computer games take the step into 3d. I haven't heard anything yet but sure it is in the works.

Communication (is the key.....lol had to say that)

Obviously communication has changed probably the most over the decades. Carrier pigeons, Telegraphs, Morse code are all things of the past and now replaced with Email, Mobile phones, and instant messaging (MSN,Skype etc). Alexander Bell created the telephone, I wonder what he would think now if he saw us on mobile phones. Mobile phones started off as "bricks" and only the wealthy could afford it (think i heard they started at 1000 dollars). Now nearly everyone has one and they are now only half a brick in size (although still getting smaller) Now phones aren't just used for ringing people but also used for text messaging, surfing the web, sending emails, organising your life, listening to music...and the list goes on. I am typing this on my laptop but I could easily type this again on my Iphone, seems computers are becoming obselete with mobile phones doing pretty much everything a computer can do anyway.
Gone are the days we send some a letter or decreasing slowly is calling people. With social netowrking sites increasing why spend money calling someone? When you can simply send them a message on facebook. I am noticing a trend of instead when we used to call someone for thier birthday we know text messaging them or even just facebook them (Thank you Facebook for reminding me of my friends birthdays so I don't have to remember). Communication stays fundamentally the same with the generic "how are you going" it's just the way we send it that is changing.

Life:

with technological changes obviously we adjust our lives accordingly. As I write this on my LAP TOP I am watching T.V with the SET TOP box my IPHONE is next to me and I am also uploading photos from my DIGITAL CAMERA. (see all the technology I am using in everyday life)
I watched an interesing documentry (can't remember the name) but it was all about a family use to having all the above technology and more going back to the 1900's and every day they would go forward a decade till they got to the year 2000. They had kids who were use to laptops and game consoles and tv, and the parents had laptops mobile phones. It got me thinking how would i survive? The answer is....I couldn't I would be so bored and wouldn't know what to do without having a mobile or a laptop or even some form of game console. I agree myself this sounds bad but having been use to growing up with this it is hard to think of life without all the stuff i take for granted.

So in conclusion thinking about my life I think I was born at the right time (1988) I have seen the development of computers ( From Amega Commodore to Acer Aspire laptop), Tapes to C.D's to Digital downloads, game consoles (atari to Wii). It kinda freaks me out that in 22 years of my life just how much technology has changed and how I have adapted, I remember my first internet experience I had no idea what I was doing, now look at me here in the blogosphere, on facebook, twitter,msn,itunes,email etc etc.
I thought the atari was the best thing ever invented (I said that for the nintendo, gameboy, N64, Playstation and Wii).
Just goes to show how much tecnology has changed throughout the years and I hope you think next time you are surfing the web or playing a game console.....WHAT WOULD MY LIFE BE LIKE WITHOUT THIS. Because unfortunatley there are places in the world where people can't afford stuff like this or have no internet/ game consoles etc.

Would like to hear your thoughts on this and how you have seen technology change or bring up anything I missed. So leave comments please

I generation

2010-02-08T03:49:00.001-08:00

As you will see by the time you get to the bottom of this page, I have written this post on my iPhone. It has come to my attention that this iPhone is slowly taking over my life. I recently downloaded this application as well as some ones for Twitter. I was never caught up in the Twitter craze I signed up to check it out and shortly after left it alone. Now that I have the iPhone though I have found myself checking every 5 minutes along with my facebook. Having these things at my fingertips is now making me think why I feel the need to check them so often. What are the odds if someone posting something on my wall or tweeting me something in a space of 5 minutes..... Highly doubtful I assume, but then there is the fact I feel the need to know everyones business by checking thier status/tweet when I could easily just pick up my iPhone and call them (I know you can call people on them too... Amazing!)
The day after I got my iPhone I went down to Melbourne and whilst sitting on the train I was looking at all the people with iPhones typing away a message, playing their music or just checking facebook (Me) and thought how these devices have changed since the brick phone days and now most phones come with Internet, mp3, camera etc capablities. It only makes you wonder where we go from here with the release of the ipad makes you wonder where the next step is in the likes of mobile devices and what they can do. I can already order pizza via an app or tweet my poo with details, make a band, update numerous social sites plus much more I have yet to discover.

The reason I titled this blog I generation is reference to an MC Lars track of the same name. We really are living in an I generation where moat households probably own one or my apple products . I only have my iPhone and iPod. But with so many products out there doing the same thing anyway it really is the genration of the uber-do-everything phone. Being 22 I have seen technology change a fair bit. Let's break this up in tecnology genres:

Entertainment: first video game console we owned was the atari my brother got it for his birthday and I thought it was the best thing ever. We then got a nintendo (original) then the first real taste of handheld gaming he gameboy (and later the
Advance) then came the N64 the first look at 3d gaming then I got a ps2 same sorta thing just a little crisper picture and now I own the wii which is working towards the first virtual reality console (one day?) all the predesscers to the wii have become obselete and are in boxes somewhere and only bought out on days I feel really nostalgic.

Music: obviously the genres have changed due to technolgy but I am more talking about how we get music. I may be a bit too young for records but I still remember listening to them occasionaly and taping them on to tapes. My first tape player was a hand me down that still works I used to record my own voice or stuff off the radio and listen to it over and over. I still remember my first cassette I ever got a tape full of kids tv show themes (still listen to it sometimes) then came CDs we bought a cd/tape/record player all in one for about 500 bucks back when CDs first came out. The first cd I ever got was simpsons in the key of Springfield but it wasn't till about a year later I got my own cd player , this unfortunately died a few years ago and I have not had another cd player since. You see I used my computer as a cd player and put all
My music on there then i got my iPod and could take my music where I want when I want. Now with the launch of iTunes and file sharing I found myself visitng the music stores less and less I only ever by hard copies of stuff if I really like the band. I admit I do download music but I then go out and buy it if I like it enough. The stuff I don't just gets fogotten about. If only most people thought this way then downloading wouldn't be such a problem.

Anyway I am going to leave this here for now and will continue later with communication, movies and life just in general....thanks for letting me bore you

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Album review - Regina Spektor - Far

2010-02-06T03:45:00.001-08:00

Ok another album review for you. This time Regina Spektor's new album far. I would say this is one of her best albums yet and she is back with her heart felt and deep lyrics that we all know and love. Her vocal range is also showcased nicely in such songs as "eet" that's the sound she makes in the first single off the album. Like I said before her lyrical genius is shown again. I will share some of my favourties with you

You use your headphones to drown out your mind -eet
Blue lips, blue veins, blur the colour of our planet from far far away- from blue lips
No one laughs at god in a hospital no laughs at god in a war - laughing with (whole song is like this, but it isn't preachy that's why I like it)

Also makes you wonder the meanings of each song for example machines sounds like her anti piracy song to me but that is open to opinion like I said laughing with is her song about religion and how when bad things happen people curse god even if they don't believe

The album again is also ranged from the mellow to the upbeat each showcasing her amazing vocal range and random sounds she makes such as the song dance anthem of the 80's which has similar singing to that of my favourite song of hers "that time"

In conclusion really is a good album showing us what she is really capable of and a great follow up to begin to hope. I swear she just keeps getting better

4/5 rating

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Location:,Mildura,Australia

Album Review The Vampire Weekend - Contra

2010-01-28T22:01:00.000-08:00

Got this album the other day and just can't stop listening to it. I first got into Vampire Weekend same way I get into most my music, Triple J Hottest 100 they had a little song on their a few years ago called Oxford Comma, at first I didn't like it but then it slowly started getting stuck in my head and I would find myself singing "Who gives a fuck about the oxford comma" so I knew I had to get on this bands bandwagon, so i purchased the first cd (self titlted) and recently discovered they had a new cd out so I knew I had to buy it. Now the first is good don't get me wrong and i found myself singing along and bopping but Contra has just blown me away (as I type this I am listening to it and dancing on my chair)
Each song has it's own little quirky guitar riff or Ezra Koenig's voice. (prime example of this is Californian English where he sings along side a keyboard which makes his voice sound disorted and making it impossible to sing along to)
The Lyrics are what makes this album unique though you sing along and then stop and question what you just sang out loudly in public. My personal favourite line is from Horchata "In December drinking horchata I'd look psychotic in a balaclava".

Or the signature song of the album "I think Ur A Contra" actually sent me searching the web for what contra meant, still unsure but I got a fair idea.
Overall the album takes you on a half hour journey with each song different from the last the only way of knowing they are by the same band is by Ezra's unique voice, one of the most unique in the music biz at the moment probably (Big call? yes but I wouldn't just say that about anyone)

Lets hope they tour Australia again soon so I can see them live. 5/5

In a creative mood

2009-09-29T06:37:00.000-07:00

I feel in a rather creative mood today so came up with something to use it. I will search randomly on wikipedia using the random articles tool to get ideas for a short story. So let's begin by getting the ideas.

Who (search random article and find two names First and Last) Karyala
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karyala

What (what the story is about) Skull Island

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skull_Island

Where (where it is set) Osiglia

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Osiglia

Why (why are the events in the story happening) War loot
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/War_loot

I did have to edit the picks a bit as they weren't really anything to do with the one i was picking for, so let's begin.

In a small town in Italy called Osiglia, where nothing much happens at all and everyone only ever dreams of leaving the town and heading to a bigger city like Rome or Venice. People rarely leave the town and if they do it is often for a holiday or the occasional business trip. But not much business happens here with a population of about 500 people nothing much happens.
That is until one young girl was born. Karyala was born with crystal blue eyes, olive skin and the hint of long flowing blonde hair to grow into. From the moment her parents saw her they knew she wasn't going to be the average kid. They could see her sense of adventure in her straight away. Whilst Karyala was being held in her mothers arms for the first time she reached up and grabbed the pearls around her mothers neck and smiled. Growing up she always held this sense of discovery and intrigue. Always looking at things and analysing them. She broke the mould of the dumb blonde by going to univeristy and getting a major in archelogy.
Her whole life changed one evening though when she was in her Roman apartment and received a package under her door, she opened her door but no one was there. "That concierege is sneaky" she muttered to herself as she picked up the package. It was unmarked, no name, no return address. It felt bulky in her arms, how did it fit under the door? She wondered. As she opened it and looked inside she saw an old document a printed letter and photographs. She laid them all on her bed and took the printed letter and began to read it.

Dear Karyala

My name is Joseph Vinciatti. I am writing to you from the Vatican. I am a member of the historical team here. We specialise in finding historic items around the world for collections in museums, we do this without any benefit and give all credit to the discoverer. That's where you come in. It has come to our intention that a place by the name of Skull Island holds many treasures from some of the great wars of our time, from the Ancient Greeks to the riegn of Hitler. We are not sure how this war loot arrived there, but that is for you to find out and bring it back to be distrubted to the right countries. The reason I have selected you is because the island is believed to be off the coast of Osiglia (If my sources are correct you grew up here). So who knows this place better than you. Please find enclosed my business card. Look over the facts and contact me with your thoughts and response.

To be continued

Album Reviews

2009-09-15T08:25:00.000-07:00

First off I downloaded a leak of Brand New - Daisy. My all time favourite band I could not wait till the end of the month, but I will buy it when it comes out. This album is amazing, like always Brand New never cease to amaze me with the lyrics they come up with such as from the song i am listening to now You Stole "Last night they said the fire had spread and we said our prayers And now the flames are burning me in my bed but I just don't care"
they create really good imagery and although they have changed their sound a bit they still sound much the same with similar sounds to previous albums. With Brand New it is always hard for me to pick my favourite album, and this just makes it harder.
4/5

The Used - Artwork, I admit I kind of went of The Used for a while but once I found out they were bringing out a new album I was quite excited. Although I didn't want to buy till I at least heard one song off it. So I You Tubed their single. Blood On My Hands, and was amazed this is The Used I first fell in love with. So I then went and got the album listened to it and was quite impressed. Seems they have kept their roots but also gone a little harder at the same time. It also seems to me that this album has a much more clean sound, where as the earlier ones sounded much more raw, I liked this about them but this sound is different but you can still hear aspects of The Used from the earlier albums as well
3/5

Muse - The Resistance. I think I was a bit late getting into Muse. I liked some songs but not all of them, it wasn't till I sat down and listened to them that I realised this band is worth listening to. So I back tracked and got all the albums, that was about a year ago. When I found out this was coming up I was again excited. I heard rumours it sounded like Queen which made me even more intrigued. Listening to the album you immediately get that impression. I think it is most evident in United States of Eurasia, as soon as I heard it it reminded me of Bohemian Rhapsody, with the vocal changes and piano and the awesome guitar riffs. The good thing about this album is all the songs are different and have thier own unique sound.....a good purchase I say
5/5

day 4 and 5

2009-09-12T01:37:00.000-07:00

Ok so here are days for and 5 of the 365 challenge

Day 4 see's me home alone, so when I came back from uni I the first thing that came to my head. Something completely random and pointless. I had this idea for a profile picture, oh and I felt like a drink too haha

Day 5 sees the weather in Mildura be so lovely but really windy. When it is windy up here we get dust storms this is not a bad one (the bad ones you can't go outside without dust getting in your eye). I thought this photo was cool as the sun is blocked out and looks really eerie. I will try to upload a photo of the sunset (which I should have made day 5) but oh well.

day 2 and 3 of the challenge

2009-09-10T01:55:00.000-07:00

Forgot to update with yesterdays photos so here is Day 2 and 3

Day 2

Day 3

Day 2 : I finally got my watched fixed after not wearing a watch for so long it feels weird (notice all the Green Day CD's in the back

Day 3: me with my dog Oscar or like I call him Oscar the Wonder Dog. He means the world to me really is a mans best friend.

I have also been told to mention my friend Ben's Blog (who I got this idea from, so click on the link to check it out)

365 challenge day 1

2009-09-08T05:43:00.000-07:00

I stole this idea from my friend Ben (he blogs way more than me but I am trying) the challenge is to take a photo of something in your life everyday for 365 days, so here is day 1. My essay I am working on. 625 words out of 1000. Should really get back to it and not take photos.

where was I?

2009-09-06T07:04:00.000-07:00

After watching a bit of The Queen I started thinking "where was I during big moments in history?" So here are some of the ones I can remember.

Princess Diana's Death: I was at my best friend at the time Jasmines house, we were young and her step father came home and said that she had died me and her mum were shocked although Jasmine didn't know who she was so here I was at about 8-9 explaining who she was. I found it weird that someone so well known in the world that my best friend didn't know who she was and yet I did.

World trade centre attacks: I was in bed when it actually happened I was about 14 and I heard my mum and brother talking sounding worried so I got out of bed and asked what happened, they said the world trade centre had a plane fly into it (the others had not happened yet) I didn't know what the WTC was but my brother told me...although it was late and i had school the next day I was shocked that something like this could happen, I remember going to school the next day and everyone was talking about it and we even watched the news in home group.

Barrack Obama getting elected: I actually stayed up for his ignagraul speech and was so moved by what he said and thought wow this is amazing a black man as president and that he talked so well and was such a family man (all the presidents are) but just the way he bought it accross you knew he was going to be good.

Micheal jackson dies: i was in bed but heard the next day and was utterly shocked it was so unexpected then i started getting cut at the fact that Farrah Fawcett who died on the same day suddenly wasn't top news anymore.

i can't really think of any others just yet but if you do let me know and i will think where i was, or feel free to share your "where was I" stories.

ADAM OUT!!

Staring death in the eye (work in prigress)

2009-09-04T08:14:00.000-07:00

Staring death in the eye

Cancer, heart attack, car accident, suicide, falls down stairs, cancer, murdered, dies at childbirth, aids, old age.

You may wonder why I am listing all these ways of dying? Well I am sitting in a major coffee shop with my lap top writing what I see. What am I seeing? How people die.

You probably think I am crazy, well no unfortunately for you its true. You see I have a rare gift, no a curse. Call it what you will this “ability” allows me to see how people die.
I know what you’re thinking get the straight jacket, but its true. Now this is where I begin my sad story of life and death and how I witness it every day.

It all started when I was 10 years old I was in grade 5 and my world was about to be turned upside down, inside out and around in circles. My grandmother, my best friend was on her death bed, we were visiting her. Little did I know it was the last visit I would get to have. My mum obviously knew this so she gave me and my brother 10 minutes each to say our goodbye, being the youngest I went last. She started with the the words I neaver want to hear again, although many times in my visions I have. Those two words that shatter world like glass. “I’m Dying”
That’s only one way to destroy a 10 year old though. The next thing she said was that she has an incredible secret that she has never told anyone and that she is trusting me with it. Step two on how to destroy a ten year old. I can’t keep secrets for shit. But this is my grandmother my best friend that I would do anything for so I reluctantly said ok.
She told me she has the a gift and it has been past down throughout every generation to the youngest child in the family at the time of the givers death.
Step three on how to destroy a ten year old. I hate responsibility.
She takes a breathe and a harsh cough follows, even this young I know death isn’t far off with his scythe and black cloak.
She takes me my hand and with a faint dry whisper she said she is passing it on to me. The last words she whispered were “The vision of death”. I didn’t understand it at the time but as she died it was as if I saw it playing twice at the same time. Once in front of me but also in my head, like a movie in my mind. Except this was real and happening in front of me.
That was it she was gone, I hugged and kissed her for the last time. She was still warm, my tears seemed to glisten on her skin like shiny little diamonds. It was then my family walked back into the room. Within seconds the video player of my mind played again this time showing my mother and brother dying. I won’t say how but it is something a ten year old doesn’t need to see.
I understood vision of death now. But was it real? What had grandma done, my best friend had dammed me forever. Step 4 to destroying a ten year old.
I was screaming horrifically now after randomly seeing how my family died. Not only that but it pinpointed the exact time to the second and what day of what year it would happen.
My mum came to my side and hugged me
“Don’t die Mummy!” I said whilst tears raced down my cheek
“I’m not gong anywhere” as she comforted with her warm arms that felt like the support of my favourite doona
“Bt you will die mummy and leave me”
“Not for a while yet”
She hugged me and held me closer now. I knew what she said was a lie, she died last year and I knew for ten years it was coming.

So growing up with this hasn’t been easy everyone at school I mer I saw how they died, you get use to it. I found a satisfaction when I knew people died old and peacefully in there sleep rather than die young. I also found a sick satisfaction the three bullies who made my life hell since I was 13 all died of drug overdoses. You may call it harsh, I call it karma

I have never let slip of my gift. I was trusted to keep it a secret, I haven’t told a soul.
This has been the hardest I have been put through many shrinks not one ever gets close as to what is wrong. Most of them seem to think it is just the loss of my grandmother and a long grieving process. I am diagnosed as clinically depressed and mentally imbalanced and whatever else. I have to take so many drugs but that is what you get when everyone one thinks your crazy as a coconut.

So you could only imagine how hard living is when there is death all around you. You may wonder why I haven’t committed suicide. Well even though I can’t see how I die (unfortunately it doesn’t work like that) I just have a gut feeling that killing myself is not how I die and that there is more to this gift than meets the eye. It is hard to explain how it works. When I look a person in the eyes I see in my head how they die, doesn’t matter how nothing is spared. And in the corner is a time and date stamp just like when you record something on a video camera, this tells me the time and date of when they die. You could imagine I have seen some pretty horrific stuff. One of the worst that I can recall is seeing a five year old girl get stabbed in a petrol station by a robber who accidently ran into her as he was fleeing. Some of the images like still haunt me to this day, it really makes you question humanity a lot more. Statistically about 65% of the deaths I see are from old age closely followed by your diseases like cancer, then most other things like murder, suicide, car accidents, drugs are pretty even sharing around 10%. But walking around the streets you see a lot of people that means a lot of different deaths. I usually try to walk with my head down and not make eye contact with people but sometimes it can’t be helped. Trains are the worse I find myself staring at everyone for a few seconds and seeing the deaths of the commuters. I don’t even realize I am doing till about the tenth person, it is like scratching your ear I guess sometimes you really want to scratch it other times you don’t even realize you are doing it.
One thing I have discovered is that I can’t help people change how they die. It is already decided by God or what ever forces decide these things. Once I was walking down the street and met the eyes of the most beautiful woman, she was going to get hit by a car whilst crossing the street that day at 3:35pm. I looked at my watch and it was 3:35pm I ran to her and grabbed her back as a car sped around the corner missing her foot by inches. She thanked me with the little breath she had that wasn’t knocked out of her. I walked on after that and five seconds later heard a thump and the sound of a car speeding off. It was her; the same woman lay with blood everywhere only meters from where I last saw her. I looked up at the clock tower that surrounded the whole city then at my watch. Clock tower 3:35pm. My watch 3:36pm. After that I changed my watch back according to the clock tower, even then after I tried to help people it worked the same way. It just seemed it would happen anyway at the same time. I can’t explain it, but I learned after many attempts that trying to prevent death is changing the future and you can’t do that.

*editors note: the story goes on from here and goes into the point of view from his wife who can do the same thing and their son who can't but learns about it from them and how he feels about dying. There is a line that sums up death for me from Brand New's Jesus Christ "I'm not afraid of dying, I'm a little scared of what comes after, do I get the gold chariot, do i float through the ceiling". I also plan to make this into a play one day using video as the visions they have of death. Hope you enjoy.

Who's in control

2009-08-04T06:32:00.000-07:00

This is a song I came up with, pretty self explanatory I think, it is also a work in progress but yeah.

Who's In Control

Love is a two way street
But you're going the wrong way
Turn around and come home
We're not finished her yet.
It's not over till the fat lady sings
And I don't hear you singing this song.

Chorus:
I don't want to be with you
They say love is equal
But I say it's blind
And I'm losing my mind
Who's in control
of this commanding relationship?

They say love is a battlefield
we have the scars to prove it
Gun shots and Knife wounds
Are nothing compared to
The daggers you put into my heart

Chorus (replace commanding with meaningless)

You're driving me crazy
Up and down the wall
I'm tired of this game
That you long to win
I don't know how much more
Of this I can take
My friends say I should give up
But I love you too much
It pains me to say
That I might not be here
When you get home.

Chorus (replace with hopeless)

repeat chorus with Who's in control
of this Fucking relationship?

Whos in Control, Whos in control
another fucking relationship down the hole

Staring down the barrel of a 45

2009-07-19T07:50:00.000-07:00

This is my current favourite song by shinedown, first got into these guys through their single second chance, the lyrics of all their songs are great and this song is just so sad and compelling, it will most likely become my depressive theme song. Has a good message of don't give up when the going gets tough

Shinedown - .45




Send away for a priceless gift
One not subtle, one not on the list
Send away for a perfect world
One not simply so absurd
In these times of doing what you're told
Keep these feelings, no one knows

What ever happened to the young man's heart
Swallowed by pain as he slowly fell apart

And I'm staring down the barrell of a .45 (.45)
Swimming through the ashes of another life (another life)
No real reason to accept the way things have changed
Staring down the barrell of a .45

Send a message to the unborn child
Keep your eyes open for a while
In a box high upon a shelf
Left for you, no one else
There's a piece of a puzzle known as life
Wrapped in guilt, sealed up tight

What ever happened to the young man's heart
Swallowed by pain as he slowly fell apart

And I'm staring down the barrell of a .45 (.45)
Swimming through the ashes of another life (another life)
No real reason to accept the way things have changed
Staring down the barrell of a .45

Everyone's pointing their fingers
Always condemning me
Nobody knows what I believe
I believe

And I'm staring down the barrell of a .45 (.45)
Swimming through the ashes of another life (another life)
No real reason to accept the way things have changed
Staring down the barrell of a .45

And I'm staring down the barrell of a .45 (.45)
And I'm swimming through the ashes of another life (another life)
There is no real reason to accept the way things have changed
Staring down the barrell of a .45

R.E.S.P.E.C.T

2009-07-14T20:50:00.000-07:00

It has been recently bought to my attention that the JJJ hottest 100 of all time this year did not feature many female artists. So I thought I would share my top 10 female artists and songs.

In now particular order:

Macy Gray - I Try: Her voice is so different and many think its not that good but I love it and this song has such a good message

No Doubt - Don't Speak: Just a great song and quite sad I always belt this out when I hear it

Aretha Franklin - Respect: What can I say other than WOW! Her voice is absolutely amazing and can not be copied this song has such a good meaning behind it to respect women and I respect her for doing this.

Regina Spektor - Samson: I love so many of her songs but this one is probably on of my faves, it is such a sweet love song about a couple wrapped around the old biblical story of Samson and Delilah.

Garbage - When I grow up: This was my theme song long ago, such a nice song about growing up and living your dreams.

Santogold - LES Artistes: One of my current favourite songs, just such a great beat and lyrics and her voice is amazing.

Paramore - Decode: Written for the twilight movie, such a great love song and sums up that movie perfectly, it almost makes me cry about a love that shouldn't be (the song not so much the movie)

The Distillers - City of angels: One of my favourite punk bands even though I don't listen to them that much anymore, i love Brodie's voice and the hint of whining it has really suits this sort of music

M.I.A - Paper Planes: Only song of hers I really like, espeically the ALL WANNA DO IS *BANG BANG BANG* Such a catchy song

Angus and Julia Stone - Private Lawns: I love these guys and Julia singing is just amazing on this track they both have such lovely voices.

Honourble mentions also go to:
Donnas
Dresden Dolls/ Amanda Palmer
Le Tigre/Bikini Kill
Spice Girls (sure they may suck but they did a lot for music)
Britney Spears/Cristina Aguleria (same as above)
Pink
Cher
Bjork
Sara Barilles

and I could go on

Lessons Learned

2009-06-27T07:59:00.001-07:00

So at the moment i am obsessed with this song by Matt and Kim, Lessons Learned off the album Grand

Tape holds things that cannot stick
and keep leftovers in the fridge
while lessons learned go down the drain
I can't believe in everything
all the bad names gone
and the good ones were all wrong

and so I stayed up all night
slept in all day
this is my sound
thinking about tomorrow won't change how I feel today

Never let your mark erase
'cause broken legs can be replaced
two steps to the finish line
three sips till I finish mine
a straw will always suck it out
close your eyes and use your mouth
and tell me about your song

And so I stayed up night
slept in all day
this is my sound
thinking about tomorrow won't change how I feel today

i particularly like the chorus as i can relate to it and it just sends a good message about living in the moment and not caring what the consequences are.

The Media

2009-06-26T08:12:00.000-07:00

Okay so on this day both Micheal Jackson and Farrah Fawcett died

Now is it just me or does it seem like Farrah's death is getting overshadowed by Micheal's. Now don't get me wrong I saddened by the death of them both but i just feel sorry for Farrah when she has been battling cancer for three years and even made a movie about and was even going to marry her long time lover Ryan O'Neil.

I watched the news Micheal got about 15 mins of rememberence Farrah got about 3. I just think its bad on the media when two pop icons recognised for two different things don't get the same treatment, sure we all knew Farrah was going to die soon and Micheal was unexpected but i think it would just be the right thing if they both got the same treatment.

this is why i mostly try to avoid the news. but may they both rest in piece

The fire below the sink

2009-06-25T09:04:00.000-07:00

You think your life sucks
But I'm telling you are not alone
You can't grasp the future
If you haven't learnt to take hold of the past
This feeling inside won't last
Just remember the past, live the present and brace for the future

so I came up with this little thing the over day, it had something about holding on to a wheel and tying that into the past and future, but i can't remember it so i just wrote this, now I am going to explain my weird dream i had last night.

Well I can't quite remember how it all started but I was at my brothers house (only it wasn't his actually house) and for some reason I was told to light a fire under the sink in a meat tray, I don't think this was actually my brother but someone who turned into him later. Anyway i was giving exact instructions not to burn it too high and how to fuel it. Turns out this "Brother" (I can't remember if he had changed at this point) comes back and yells at me because I had burned the paint or something of the pipe under the sink and wasn't using the correct paper or whatever for the fire. Now the next bit I am certain was my brother, anyway after that whilst still in his kitchen i notice a jigsaw puzzle on the floor which i start to do at a rapid speed, but not only do i keep making mistakes it seems that although the pieces fit perfectly more and more "appear" and have to be placed around the border. The jigsaw is on a wooden board and by the time i am finished i have filled the board with jigs and can't fit anymore. This is where my brother informs me to stop because he is ready to go out for tea (apprently we are going out for tea and then i am going out with mates to get drunk and he is going somewhere else) so he is getting ready and leaves me with his roommate (who is actually his real life room mate who i have only met once. So we talk and its really awkward just cause we don't know what to say, so i go back to playing with the fire and throwing yellow, what seemed like tissue paper into it. my brother comes back and helps me and then we decide to leave as we are leaving i am woken from the dream from my phone ringing.

whats weirder about this dream is i was awake at early 9am, then fell back to sleep and woke up again at about 9:45 now what is weird is the dreamed seemed like 2 hours long but instead it was only about 30-45mins. so it was playing doubletime in my head but comprhending at normal speed. ODD!

anyway Adam out

just some random writing

2009-06-19T09:09:00.000-07:00

The chip on your shoulder, well it matches your eyes
When I look into them I see exactly what I despise
They can tear me apart or turn me to stone
Gone is the glimmer in which they shone.
What I despise most of all is you.

(Currently listening to Matt & Kim - Grand (album))

let it begin

2009-06-16T04:21:00.000-07:00

So i finally decided to create a blog. Why you may ask, well because i am bored and have nothing better to do, through this i will post my random writings up and general observations i may have, mainly it will just be a tool for writing any stories, poems, songs i may write. this way they will always be on the intehwebs and in one spot rather than on my computer and risking the case of losing

if you choose to read them that's up to you. so enjoy what lies ahead and look both ways before crossing the street