I've said it before and I'll say it again -

fuck China.



On this July morning, 75 tonnes of sharks are being processed in the city of Kesennuma in north-eastern Japan. The animals feed a brisk domestic market in shark fins for soup, though some of the meat also ends up in Chinese bowls. Last year, Japanese fishing boats hauled in 35,000 tonnes of shark; 90 per cent of it came through this port, which operates six days a week.

The image was caught by photographer Alex Hofford, based in Hong Kong, who over two days witnessed 119 tonnes of blue shark arrive as well as salmon shark, shortfin mako shark, and endangered bluefin tuna pass through these docks.

fonk.

‘Confinement in this case, stretches as far as the eye can see.’

Kicking against the war. Looking for a sign of life, somewhere and anywhere and everywhere. Life that remains hidden in the spaces between TV shows. Warming milk on the stove until the bubbles explode and stick. Blistering heat and freezing cold. Pain and pleasure making birds fly and angels fall to earth. Any sign at all. Kicking out of a paper bag like a newborn with a grudge on creation, its ears open and eyes closed. A rolled cigarette sitting alone in the drawer waiting to die. A headache removed a hundred times from the everyday. The skirmish breaking out behind your eyes pacified only by solitude. A night in December that gathers others around a cauldron to cast spells on you, and you alone. Freedom, ecstasy, kicking, burning. Looking for a sign of life, somewhere and anywhere and everywhere. Signs hidden in those tiny black spaces between the stars.


circa 2009

Mr Lif kitchen freestyle

Quote of the Day

'Whosoever is delighted in solitude is either a wild beast or a god.'
Francis Bacon

Movies...

A couple of quick reviews I forgot to post at the time of watching...

The Lovely Bones is a pretty good book. I generally don’t read fiction but wanted something easy to read and picked it off the shelf, finding it nicely written and quite different from most of the other popular novels on offer at the time. The book is pretty graphic but also balanced out with some ethereal aspects and that is one of the main reasons it works in my opinion.
The film removes all the specifics of the darkness that the book so intimately describes – and for that reason above all else, it falls down at the first hurdle. The beauty and colour and otherworldly elements are all present, Peter Jackson being a master of communicating those things – but making it a more ‘PG’ screenplay kind of shifted the balance away from the poetic aspects of the original story, and for someone who has no idea of the source material it may come over as a little overly romantic or even cheesy.
That said, it’s still well made and the main plot changes work well on screen, even if they did leave a little too much subplot on the cutting room floor.
And while we’re talking about books...

The book of Eli – What a waste of a great idea. I hate to say that about a film starring Denzel and Gary Oldman – but I think the Hughes Brothers (Menace II Society / From Hell) let a potentially great idea escape them with this one. I won’t spoil it by elaborating on this – you find out the basis of the story about halfway through – but after it was over I couldn’t help but think about how much deeper they could’ve gone with the initial premise. It’s a nice looking, well made action film with a small twist and good performances – but had they rewritten the original script and maybe extended it out for another 30 minutes – they could’ve had a classic cult movie on their hands rather than something most people won’t really remember in 5 years time.

Vert

I remember seeing this pic when it came out - a reminder if people needed it that Tony Hawk is gnar.

Amongst the waves

Pearl Jam Oceans from Pearl Jam on Vimeo.

New PJ video - and website.

History of the NBA

If you don’t have cable nowadays you don’t get to see any NBA games – or if they're on TV they’re pretty old and shown around 2 in the morning.

The NBA website has a great archive of history of the game, players and lots more to read through instead of working like you should be.
For people like me who were big fans but have essentially missed a 8-9 year chunk of games and goings-on within the NBA – it’s a great resource.

'Quote' of the day

We the [American] working population
Hate the fact that eight hours a day
Is wasted on chasing the dream of someone that isn't us
And we may not hate our jobs,
But we hate jobs in general
That don't have to do with fighting our own causes.
We the [American] working population
Hate the nine-to-five day-in/day-out
When we'd rather be supporting ourselves
By being paid to perfect the pasttimes
That we have harbored based solely on the fact
That it makes us smile if it sounds dope.

Aes Rizzle.
9-5er's Anthem

Of no consequence.

Her name was Joan and she was ITALIAN.
Only she wasn’t that Italian.
I mean – her name was Joan…

Joan was married to Colin. I liked Colin.
He was a nice guy, and as we all know, nice guys finish last.
I guess part of me should feel bad for being this way but
Fuck him.
I know too many people that were/are nice
And given the choice, I wouldn’t sit and drink with a single fucking one of them.

I prefer madness.
Deviance,
Subterfuge,
Underhanded tactics and ulterior motives.
All are signs of a more interesting human being.

I thought of them both today, Colin and Joan. I remembered them.
How odd that a couple with whom you spent so much time, in this case at work, would disappear entirely from memory.

Two people over the course of maybe 2 years, and I can recall not a single conversation. Not a gesture, not even a goodbye from either of them.

Life is full of these people.
They take your time, your energy, and ask unreasonable things of you while they make more money than you ever will. Because they are nice, they are professional.

And they do not know a single thing about their own minds,
And so shall never ask even the simplest of questions
As they’re too busy making it,
Climbing the ladder,
Being all they can be.

What bullshit.

Style you'll never have

Just added a link to Steve Caballero's blog some artwork of his and some great old photos on there too... I think he's gone all religious like Hosoi did - but still, he's Cab. He can do what he wants.

PIXAR

'To say the word Romanticism is to say modern art - that is, intimacy, spirituality, color, aspiration towards the infinite, expressed by every means available to the arts.'
Baudelaire.

Any excuse to sing the praises of Pixar... here is a little article from the Guardian.

RIP Rammellzee

A key figure and innovator in Hip Hop culture, Ramellzee's name is derived from "RAM" plus "'M' for 'Magnitude', 'Sigma' (Σ) the first summation operator, first 'L' - 'longitude', second 'L' - 'latitude', 'Z' - 'z-bar', Σ, Σ - 'summation'.

Happy Birthday Ray

Some things are engrained in your psyche during your childhood years - Sinbad, Clash of the Titans, Jason and the Argonauts... Ray H is the dude.

AintitCool article here.

At At

One of the reasons I love AintitCoolNews, is they put up things like this I'd probably never get to see otherwise...

I cried

yeah yeah yeah. let's get that over with right from the off. The other title for this post was going to be 'We are here to save your evening!' (Pele from the Hives).

Here's the setlist:

Given To Fly, Why Go, Brain Damage (cover), Corduroy, Got Some, Once, World Wide Suicide, Small Town, Amongst The Waves, Even Flow, Unthought Known, Nothing Man, Arms Aloft (cover), Not For You, Of The Earth, State Of Love And Trust, Do The Evolution, Wasted Reprise, Better Man/Save It For Later (cover)

1st encore: Just Breathe, Red Mosquito (feat. Ben Harper), Black, Porch

2nd encore: Go, The Fixer, Alive, Yellow Ledbetter

the weather couldn't have been better. The food and beer was expensive. I bought a T-shirt that I'm putting away for Isaac. The sound was better than I'd expected and aside from a strong rendition of an average Joe Strummer song (I don't care about the Clash, sorry) the set was kind of a greatest hits, and I'm perfectly happy with that - and the new track Of The Earth sounded amazing.

the only real downers were the 5 Heidi Montag sound-a-likes with their clutch bag collection, standing next to us facing the other way and talking to/texting each
other and eyeballing anyone who got too near them. I hope your plane crashes into whatever sun drenched neon lit, Rodeo Drive looking fucking toilet you came here from.

and - to Mr 'I'm a quiet loner who doesn't know one single song lyric yet if anyone tries to walk past me to the front I'll give them proper shit' (but am too much of a pussy to do anything when someone fronts me on it) you enjoy that lonely bus ride back to your mothers basement where your microwave bacon cheeseburger is waiting for you. You bald retard.

anyhooo, that aside the night was more or less perfect. Not going to review it here but will say that there's no band I've seen, ever, who are as tight as those guys. Especially this long into a career. It's all about consistency people.

here's a pic of Ben Harper who rocked the support slot after the Hives had finished, and Ben and Eddie doing Under Pressure from early in Bens set. (Not much I know, but I didn't include in the above list - those people who were filming the whole thing to put on YouTube tomorrow. And I mean the WHOLE thing. Put your cameras down and listen to the tunes - you assholes).

I love everyone really.

Link to Absolute Radio site here.

Quote of the Day

Don't get it right, just get it written.

James Thurber

This is quite lovely

CLICK HERE to see some Cotopaxi Volcano time lapse movies.

From the site: made at altitudes of 3800m and 4500m. Cotopaxi Volcano is very close to the Equator line, explaining why in this time lapse movie the celestial Southern Pole is located on the horizon behind the volcano. The coal sack and Southern Cross are visible above the crater. One can also see the flashlights of climbers going up the glacier.

(fyi - The S.S. Cotopaxi was a tramp steamer named after the Cotopaxi volcano. She sank in December 1925. All 32 crew were lost. In the Special Edition release of Close Encounters of the Third Kind, the Cotopaxi is discovered in the Gobi Desert.)

Quote of the Day

Life is nothing but a competition to be the criminal rather than the victim.
Bertrand Russell

This morning.

This morning was not a good morning.
Sometimes you can go to sleep practicing some kind of yogic ‘glass if half full’ positive energy exercise and still awaken with tears in your eyes.
The hard truth of it is – there is no glass.
The water, or whatever your particular poison happens to be, is held in your mouth.
And there are only 2 options if you feel the need to speak up – spit or swallow.
I came into work where actual half empty glasses of red wine sit along the top of white radiators.
A remnant of something inconsequential, yet of great importance to someone, somewhere.
Today is the longest day of the year.
I had no knowledge of that fact when I opened my eyes at 6am.
The clouds were grey and heavy, the flat being a basement – cold as usual.
So hard to tell what the day will hold after walking out of the front door.
Now the sky is blue.
The radio plays the same 10 songs I listened to last week.
But that’s alright.
Today is going to be the longest day of the year.
All things going to plan.

Just because the sun's out...

Summer lovin

Today is the Summer Solstice - which means someone somewhere, is sitting in the middle of a field with their long dreads under a red gold and green hat - smoking a fatty and staring at the clouds.

The Solstice occurs exactly when the Earth's axial tilt is most inclined towards the sun at its maximum of 23° 26'.

Enjoy it. It's all downhill from here.

On to the next one

 

So that’s STP over with. A good night all in all. When bands come back from a long hiatus with a new album, and/or new sound – the set lists tend to be pretty predictable:

Start with a few tracks off the early records (Vasoline etc)
Slip into the brand new material for a couple of songs
Some mid-era stuff and slowdown (Creep / Sour Girl)
More new stuff followed by the biggest single(s)(Plush)
Encore (I hate encores) of ‘the old track everyone knows they haven’t played yet’(Dead and Bloated)

Anyway, it works for me – and aside from the blonde girl in front with trustafarian dreads tonguing her boyfriend 2 inches from our faces all night – the crowd was mostly cool too.

Monday - bleurgh...

1st day back after a week off – and it feels really odd, like almost jet-lagged. Nothing is goign smoothly and I just spilled a full cup of coffee over my entire desk. Could be the lack of sleep, or it could be having to use my brain and navigate other people on the street for the 1st time in 10 days. It’s a lot of effort.

Looking forward to seeing these guys on Weds night...


And in the meantime I have these 2 (free) EPs to tide me over...

Part VI from Sepulcros De Miel - by Omar Rodriguez Lopez Quartet.


I’ve decided to nickname the How to Destroy Angels, ‘Nine Inch girls’. ‘cause I’m clever.

Lazy Lazy... Lazy

More YouTube - sorry. Still - I was thinking of things I hadn't seen in a while, and these came to mind:


Childhood memories and then some.

Wild Things

Watched this last night:

I liked it but not how I thought I would. It's kind of sad and kind of not - and a bit deep and dark in places, so I was back and forth on how I felt about it, from scene to scene.
By the end I was into it and really liked the whole thing overall. It's one of those flicks that you probably wouldn't feel the need to watch twice though.

Orgone Motor

I had a dream about this painting last night:
Can't remember it though. Annoying.
http://www.laffoley.com

Drinking coffee doesn't make you more alert

Oh Balls...

'zzzzew'

Geeks of Doom have taken the time to break down the evolution of our favorite Star Wars weapon.