Dr. Who and Initial D! TV is my friend tonight.

Anyhow, I’m going to Melbourne next week and may not update for a while. To keep entertained I suggest you visit Uncyclopedia. It contains useful entries on:

Chicken of the Sea

The Russian Reversal

The Dolphin: cold-blooded sexual predator of the seas

How to Get Laid (”Mug her and steal her handbag. Girls like tough guys.”)

How to De-snake a Plane (”If you are unsure on how dangerous they are, stick your hand in there and see if he bites. If he does, then you probably shouldn’t have done that.”)

Plus many others, from the outrageously misleading to the entirely incomprehensible.

I’ll be sure and take pix while I’m away. See you the week after next, or perhaps earlier :)

There are some new pix up Flickr, including this one of Cressida Hayes from Alberta, who I am hopelessly in love with.

She is about to give a talk on body image and the culture of self-improvement at the University of Sydney. It was pretty awesome, though I reckon the discussion could have gone better.

So, all this hoo-hah about Harry Potter has been making me wonder: is fantasy the new sci-fi? I mean, has sci-fi pretty much died off, only to remain in comic books, obscure magazines and the nostalgic imaginations of trekkers?

What’s the evidence? a) All of the Star Trek spin-off serieses are over. Thank god. b) Stargate, which started out like a cut-rate Star Trek, ended up incorporating a bunch of fantasy elements. c) The biggest recent sci-fi movies (The Matrix sequels, the Star Wars prequels) all sucked. d) Harry Potter is now the biggest thing ever, and all the adults that would have read something like The Guide are now reading HP books or Discworld. e) LOTR got big, despite being one of the least conceptually challenging stories ever written. Point is, nothing really good has happened in sci-fi in the last ten years that wasn’t poorly-received and short-lived. Nothing that wasn’t anime, anyhow.

Was popular sci-fi really just a 70s thing? Are people fed up with the atheism, progressive values and social critique that were canon in SF, and moving toward a more traditional and spiritual outlook on life? Have we simply exhausted the storytelling capacity of spaceships and robots? I don’t know, but I think it’s a total downer. For two reasons. First, robots and spaceships are cool whereas wizards and dragons are lame. Second, fanstasy writers don’t really understand magic. They just translate the technology of sci-fi into the magic spells of fantasy. What’s the diff, really between Luke’s lightsaber and Harry’s wang wand? They are both a kind of technology, which puts fantasy magic as far away from traditional magic as Harry Houdini. As long as there are no gods involved, we’re talking Magic(tm) and a kind of anti-modernism that is entirely bereft of spirituality, despite the abundance of computer-generated ghosts.

Maybe there isn’t any hope for a new pop sci-fi. Or maybe we’ll have to wait for a mission to Mars or until the government stops covering up the alien landings. Whatever. It’s just that there’s a part of my imagination that’s only really satisfied when the Millenium Falcon is flying into battle or Sigourney Weaver is twatting aliens with a machine gun.

Random Chinese strawberry koala biscuits.

Loaded Questions:

Hypotheticals: If you created a new flavor of ice cream, what would it be?
How about… baclava? Is that a really great idea or a really bad one? I can’t tell.

Anything Goes: What celebrity makes you glad you are not a celebrity?
Pretty much everyone except Shatner. No, wait, I’m torn between Katie Steele and Luke Steele. Gawd they is dull wankers.

No-Brainers: Besides a cat or dog, what animal would you want as a house pet?
A ghost.

Personals: Which of the following do you feel yields the greatest benefits - extraordinary wealth, strong friendships, true love, or a loyal, loving family?
Gimme blingz!!!!!11!!!

http://www.friday5.org/

1. What’s something you were into before it became popular?

Blogging, but only by about six months.

2. What’s something you were reluctant to jump on the bandwagon with, but now are totally into?

Buffy. I was such a retard.

3. What’s a current trend or fad you just don’t get?

I don’t get Harry Potter. Anime fandom is neat, but HP is just too commercial and the books aren’t even that good.

4. If you could turn any current fondness of yours into a popular trend, what would it be?

Higher education.

5. What’s something that’s totally uncool that you love anyway?

T.S Eliot. No, fuck it, T.S. Eliot *is* cool. How about Garden State?

Went out last night and had dinner with James and Andrew at the Strawberry Hills. There was a jazz band made up of old farts and a pianist that would bellow out these ancient love songs. Some 70-year-old hipster in a shiny turquoise suit was sitting next to us. They must have a Saturday night jazz thing, but more of a soft-jazz Brylcream set thing than a honk-snort-wheedle bebop thing. The warm and cramped atmosphere was pretty good and the food was tasty. I recommend it.

Oh, and it looks like I’m a bible expert. My expertise mainly comes from the bible stories episode of The Simpsons, so I shudder to think how dumb you’d have to be to get a lower result. They don’t even ask you about the Well of Zohasadar or the Bridalfeast of Bethchazruharazeb. (Actually that’s pretty mean. If you try it and get less that 77 you are probably still smart, but almost definitely going to hell for your lack of interest in the Jesus.)

Linked here is an mp3 of me speaking. I don’t say anything interesting, so feel free not to bother downloading it. It just has my version of an Australian accent.

Next time I’ll tell a joke or something.

Mmm, tv radiation photography.

So, how is Sydney life going? Well, there isn’t much to say about it. Nothing of note has happened since last time I mentioned that nothing of note had happened. I think I would be pissed off at this if it weren’t that some of the non-noteworthy stuff has been pretty good, like:
keeping fit on the bike
working smarter *and* harder on the thesis
Firefly box set director’s commentaries
new music downloads
Most importantly, I live in a big, sunny flat with neighbours I’m not scared of. I haven’t been going out much, except for hanging with James occasionally, but I don’t see the point in doing cool stuff if there’s nobody around to enjoy it with. Plus, Melbourne and Canada trips will be awesome enough to make up for dullness now.

The point anyway, is that Sydney Life v2.0 isn’t sustainable but it isn’t really a drag either. I don’t quite get how the single face-to-face supervision meeting I’ve had so far has justified moving away and sending all that money, but philosophy ain’t about asking questions, is it?* The one thing that really annoys me is not starting a band. Between a lack of wheels, a lack of contacts and a lack of motivation, it just isn’t happening and there are itches that need to be scratched. Looking at guitar pron in music store brochures and making bluegrass ditties on the ukelele isn’t helping either. Ah, one day there will be rock. And it will be so much better for cellaring. So anyway, back to the point: I miss my old home out there on the far edge of the world, but things could be worse where I am. To paraphrase the great J.W.: that ain’t much, but it’s enough.

*Someone once said to me, ‘Philosophy isn’t about the answers, it’s about asking the right questions.’ In practice, however, it’s the publications that everyone really cares about. We invented the ego, and now we’re busy feeding it.

1/2 way through a chapter edit
Up to Diesel Sweeties #1312 (So many puns!)
Learning to tune bike derailleurs
Otherwise bored
Thanks to everyone for your rockin’ out suggestions, I’ll try to give each one a listen.

Here are some things that rock that I discovered for myself:

1) The Blow - The best thing since sliced beer. Fun, intimate and unbelievably cool. Try ‘Come On Petunia’ or ‘Parentheses.’

2) Joanna Newsom - One of the sweetest and most idiosyncratic songwriters I can think of. She may irritate the crap out of some people, but that’s just an extra level of awesome. Try ‘Bridges and Balloons’ or ‘Emily.’

3) Be Your Own Pet - Loud, Fast, Silly. Like Nirvana on Red Cordial. Try ‘Bicycle, Bicycle, You Are My Bicycle’ or ‘Adventure.’

Notice a trend here? It’s all girls and it’s all cute. How about we finish on:

4) Iggy and the Stooges - If you haven’t rocked out to ‘Search and Destroy,’ you have wasted your life. It’s also interesting to ponder the links between Iggy Pop’s non-macho masculinity and Kurt Cobain’s attitude. He is like the anti-Jim Morrison.

PS: screw Of Montreal, they are way pretentious.

lolbots.com: this has to be the most arbitrary form of humour ever. They take robot photos and put badly written captions on them - it’s pretty damn hilarious. Very Vicky Pollard.

What else is new? Oh hey, I’m OUT OF NEW MUSIC! Can anyone tell me anything good to listen to? (Keep in mind that iPurchase my music - via dialup, even - and can’t download any old crap - if you have a suggestion, tell me the best song on the record so I can preview it.