So I’m currently back in Vancouver for a little visit. It’s kind of odd being back at times. While I’m thrilled to be able to spend time with friends and family, I kind of feel like things have moved on without me in Vancouver. HOW DARE THEY. The fact that Vancouver is hosting the Olympics in 18 months hasn’t helped; many parts of the city are undergoing pretty big changes at the moment (rapid transit in Richmond!).

When I moved away (three years ago today, actually) I secretly hoped that Vancouver would just freeze as it was when I left. This way I could come back, things would unfreeze and everything would be exactly as I remember. The buildings, the restaurants, my friends, everything.

But I’m back and things have not worked out like that. Things change. Some for the better, some for the worse. I still find things to take comfort in, however. On my second day back home, when I was feeling particularly stuck between Vancouver and Sydney, I was in the car listening to the 99.3 The Fox and Econoline Crush’s All That You Are came on the radio. It’s very comforting to know that some things never, ever change.

Things I Did In Bed Last Night/This Morning
Internet
Listened to albums by Sigur Ros and Bjork
Read a few chapters of Yukio Mishima’s Spring Snow
Played Solitaire on my iPod
Listened to two episodes of the Flight of the Conchords BBC radio series
Watched it get light outside

Things I Did Not Do In Bed Last Night/This Morning
Sleep

After the rain cleared this morning, Amanda and I made our way towards the city to attend/shoot the main APEC March/Demonstration. While there have been many smaller protests around the city over the past four days, this was the protest that had the police warning that Sydney was in imminent danger of mass violence. Of course, none of that mass violence actually materialized.

The protest itself was, as many of these types of demos seem to be since the invasion of Iraq, a bit of a mess as far as focus goes. Some people were there to bring attention to climate change, others were there opposing the occupation of Iraq, while others seemed to be more concerned about protesting the fact that the protest route had been moved and that there was a massive police presence (which there was). Protests shouldn’t be self-referential.

Personally, I find that all these different causes lead to a complete lack of cohesion as far as getting any powerful message across. Instead of one strong voice being heard, many weaker voices were sort of, maybe, heard. Everyone has something to fight against.

Amanda and I nearly got caught up with one of the main arrests of the day as about seven cops tackled one guy just metres away from us which, of course, drew a massive crowd. It’s pretty eerie seeing a bunch of police officers running towards you while you are standing in the middle of a closed road with a helicopter buzzing overhead.

Once the demonstration headed into Hyde Park, Amanda and I took off to go wander down towards the APEC security zone around Bush’s hotel as the leaders were at the Opera House. It was so bizarre walking around a city that was nearly empty; The Specials’ song Ghost Town kept running through my head all day.

I’ve put up a bunch of photos from the day here. There were some pretty funny / amazing / ridiculous signs and banners at the protest. I wish I got more photos of them.

Other APEC bits from Day 2:

Photo slideshow from today’s protest at SMH

APEC Leaders Reach (A More or Less Meaningless) Climate Deal

The APEC Ugly Garment Photo-Op Tradition Continues – Less ugly this year than normal.

And with that, Bush is already outta here.

Apparently Stephen Harper is hanging out until Tuesday when he’s going to address Australian parliament. Should be thrilling.

(Mick, Keef, and I are not condoning or encouraging violence. Just some noise.)

I heard reports of people being one and a half hours late for work today. And the conference doesn’t even start until Friday. Nuts. I had no problems on the train or the bus today but there was a lot of security at Central. What else?

The BBC reports on John Howard’s YouTube plea for silence. Only five thousand views John? LonelyGirl15 you are not.

The BBC also has some photos of the security fence going up in the CBD as we speak.

John Howard misses the point and labels protesters as hypocrites.

Keep your eye on Sydney’s IndyMedia site this week.

And for all your mainstream APEC needs, hit up the Sydney Morning Herald special.

Should be an interesting week. Bush arrives tomorrow!

Thursday June 29, 2006

10.00: Arrive @ LAX after 13 hour (HELLISH) flight from Sydney. Picked up by Liss. Leave the Fifth Circle of Hell (LAX).

11.30: Relax at Lissa and Juston’s. Shower. Call my cousin Mark. Set up lunch. Visit with Liss.

13.30: Mark arrives. Walk to the Farmer’s Market/The Grove for lunch. Eat a wonderfully greasy American hamburger. Take notes Australia. Chat with Mark. Discuss novelwriting, Bob Dylan, Hollywood.

15.00: Walk back to Lissa’s. Then Mark drives us to Amoeba Records. Say goodbye to Mark. Shop. Wander around Hollywood. See Mann’s Chinese Theatre. Walk on the Walk of Fame. Bask in the sheer wonderful lunacy of Hollywood, and by extension, America.

17.30: Return to Lissa’s via cab. Freshen up. Say hi to Juston!

19.00: Peggy and Pete arrive to drive us to Radiohead. Three At Ease Power Couples in one room is kinda freaky. Love you Ade!

19.45: Arrive at the Greek Theatre in Griffiths Park as Deerhoof finish making their noise. Find seats. Mingle. Notice Beck sitting behind us.

20.00ish: Isn’t that Tobey Maguire? And that dude from the American Office?

22.00ish: Radiohead rock.

23.00: Battle the car out of stack parking. Rehash the show, the new songs.

Friday June 30, 2006

00.30: Holy crap bed. Sleep. For five hours.

05.30: Wake up. Shower. Prepare for Disneyland.

06.00: Cab arrives. To airport to meet Disneyland shuttle.

06.20: Arrive at airport early. Commandeer a shuttle to the ‘happiest place on Earth.’

08.00: Contemplate buying someone’s multiday pass for cheap. Deal disrupted by Lieutenant McDisney. Pay full price at the ticket booth. IN THE GATES.

08.08: Indiana Jones ride. No line. Score. Much of the same for the next couple hours.

10.00: Big Thunder Railroad rocks. DisneyLand is actually pretty damn cool. Appreciate it on a whole new level than the kids.

12.30: Space Mountain. The only real line of the day. 25 mins. It kicks ass. Saw this shirt in line and laughed:

13.30: Lunch in New Orleans (Square!). At least it’s dry. Final Disney moments. Donald Duck accosted by Amanda. Small children reel.

15.00: Meet our shuttle back to the Fifth Circle of Hell. We did everything at DisneyLand. We dominated that place. And we were out by 3pm. Eat that Frommer’s.

17.00ish: Picked up at LAXXX by Peggy and Pete. Drive to Santa Monica.

17.30: Putter around Santa Monica. Have a nice visit with Peg and Pete. Eat at a Greek restaurant on Third (I think) Avenue. I like Santa Monica. And Greek food.

19.00: Depart once again for the Greek Theatre and Radiohead. Much the same but with more celebrities.

20.30: It’s Gavin and Gwen! Leonardo DiCaprio! Tobey again!

22.00: Much better show tonight.

23.30: Peg and Pete drop us off at Lissa and Juston’s. Say goodbye. Visit/chat with Lissa and Juston. Til 02.30.

Saturday July 1, 2006

02.30: Decide two hours sleep isn’t really worth it, but crumple to sleep anyway.

04.30: Alarm goes off. Final packing. Quick shower.

05.00: Cab arrives and takes us to LAX. Again.

06.00: In the midst of the worst lineup/check-in procedure in the history of aviation.

08.00: Flight finally leaves. Late.

46 Hours
12 Friends/family visited with
7 hours sleep
7 hours at Disneyland
3 Meals
2 Radiohead shows
1 Hell of a couple days in LA

What follows is a list of six people I had never heard of until I moved here to Sydney. In their own unique ways they have entertained me or made me shake my head. By no means am I stating that these people are “good” or my “favourite” Australians. But…I don’t know what else to call them so…

My Top 6 Australians I Had No Knowledge of 9 Months Ago

How does a drug-taking model (are there any other kinds?) make it onto my list? Well, when she was imprisoned in Bali for possession, she suddenly turned to Islam; I think so she could have a valid reason for wearing a scarf to hide her face from the press. And to gain sympathy. I laughed and laughed…then she was released.

The leader of the opposition; Australia’s Jack Layton if you will. Like all opposition leaders, Beazley diametrically opposes everything his PM believes in (which in this case IS a good thing). However, I really do get the impression that if John Howard were to publicly state his fondness for oxygen, Beazley would appear on every available television network decrying such a wanton abuse of the lungs. Plus his name blurs far too easily into both Boozeley AND Sleazeley; that scores him some bonus points.

He’s an Australian television legend. I had seen him but took no notice of him until Amanda informed me his nickname is “Moonface.” AND HE SERIOUSLY LOOKS LIKE A MOON IT’S CRAZY OMG!!11111 I yell “Moonface” at the TV whenever he pops on.

Not only does she do the late news on Channel 10, but she also hosts “Australia’s Brainiest Kid/Athlete/Celebrity/Comedian” etc etc. I love this show for two reasons. First, it makes me feel smart. Second, it’s a great show for yelling at the TV. Also, when Sandra introduces the contestants on this show she has to read the worst writing on television EVER. Soooo bad. But she does it with a straight face. Amazing. I’ve also taken to calling her Sandra Sultry.

A tremendous cricket player. An incredible bowler. An icon. A man who can’t keep it in his pants. In the time it took you to read this entry, Shane Warne slept with 4 women.

Lead singer of The Grates. She’s the cutest, most joyful girl on Earth. She’s impossible not to love. She’s like puppies.

Photo of Patience by Amanda
Most other photos kindly stolen from the Sydney Morning Herald

So Amanda passed this on to me via her blog. Here are my iTunes facts! I feel I should have some music stuff here and not just at my music blog though I may stick this there as well. Post yours in the comments or on your blog!

Sort by Song Title
* First Song: ’84 Pontiac Dream – Boards of Canada
* Last Song: Zungo – Nina Simone

Sort by Time (excluding some random short sound effects and long podcasts etc)
* Shortest Song: The End of Love – Black Heart Procession (12 seconds)
* Longest Song: MFR (live) – Godspeed You! Black Emporer (35:31)

Sort by Album: (I’ve started dating albums by year…but just started so at the moment….)
* First Song: What’s Going On – Marvin Gaye
* Last Song: Mogwai Fear Satan – Mogwai (of songs that are actually tagged with an album)

Top 10 Most Played Songs (I only got this computer in August so since then…)
1. The Greatest – Cat Power
2. 7/4 (Shoreline) – Broken Social Scene
3. Do You Want To – Franz Ferdinand
4. Juicebox – The Strokes
5. Ooh La La – Goldfrapp
6. Number 1 – Goldfrapp
7. Precious – Depeche Mode
8. Heartbeats – Jose Gonzalez
9. I Want None of This – Radiohead
10. Shine a Light – Wolf Parade

Kinda lame…all new songs since August more or less. My real favourites are slowly creeping up though…

First five songs that come up on Party Shuffle

I have this disabled in iTunes so I don’t know. But how about 5 great party songs?

1. One More Time – Daft Punk
2. Losing My Edge – LCD Soundsystem
3. House of Jealous Lovers – The Rapture
OK I tried a theme there…a smart one but I’m stuck so…
4. All Nite Disco Party – Brakes
5. Wanna Be Starting Something – Michael Jackson

Search For…And How Many Songs Come Up? (also depends on how you use the search function)
“SEX”: 8 (songs by Decoder Ring, DFA1979, Feist, The Album Leaf, British Sea Power and some more…)
“LOVE”: 340 (including “The Love of Richard Nixon” by the Manics which just played)
“YOU”: 870
“DEATH”: 79 (including some band names)
“HATE”: 11 (including “All You Need Is Hate” by The Delgados)
“WISH”: 16 (largely due to various live versions of “Bulletproof…I Wish I Was” by Radiohead)