26 February 2004

ooh ooh - I have some too!
Peter Singer, Damon Alban, Berniccio del Torro, all the Beasties, the odd compost loving dude from Gardening Australia.

25 February 2004

Life of the Mind
Music, sweet music preserver of sanity. Dan Brodie you are among my favourite Australian men. Music and smells I think both talk to the same section of the brain. Vague recollections its the limbic system, but don't quote me on that. There's the first part of a doco on tonight on the ABC, about emotions. Its called Primal Instincts and is on at 8.30 pm tonight. "For the first time on television, Primal Instincts examines the primitive forces that drive us to acts of creative inspiration, passion, even murder". Here in the bunker there is no ABC TV, so if anyones catches it can they send me a review? Or even stick in on comments here - dont be shy, I'll give ya full credit. I love this shit where science tackles emotion and and trys to hang rationalism on the mystery of existence. The docos are usually done well, and always re-enforce my sense of awe in biology and life on earth, rather than make it "disappear in a puff of logic" (thank you Mr Adams).

And it has occured to me that a casual reader may get a sense that 'ol Aunty B has bit of thing against men. Well she doesn't actually, in fact there are some man-traits that she admires and even emulates. (I did say some). So in the interest of balance, here's some more of my favourite Aussie men:
- Phillip Adams, Leunig, Paul Kelly, Andrew Denton, Don Watson, Nick Cave, Mick Harvey, Dale Royce - Rockstar, Tim Flannery, Adam Spencer, Richard Kingsmill, Paul McDermott, Bob Brown.

And non-Oz:
- John Ralston Saul, Henry Rollins, Carl Hiassen, Robbie Williams, Louis deBernieres, Ben Elton, Joss Whedon, Johnny Depp, Tim Robbins, Tom Robbins, Lux Interior, Robert Smith, David Suzuki, David Attenborough, Douglas Adams.

Ther are more. Chicks to come in another edition of BSharp Idol.

23 February 2004

Age and cunning...

Hey, it was my brithday today. And everyone was astoundingly, mind-bogglingly nice. And best of all I got both Kath and Kim dress-up fridge magnets. From different people. Independently. Super chuffed. That human beens can listen to you just crap on non-stop all year, then send emails, texts and get cool stuff is beyond me.

THANK YOU WORLD OF FRIENDS.

19 February 2004

The pursuit of happiness.

I love Ross Gittins. He's an economist come good. Read this article, it will expire off the web in 9 days.

And.. its a bit de-flating when a new niche-marketing target group depicts you to a tee..

"They are high-earners, articulate, green and getting increasingly cheesed off with corporate Australia and politics"SMH 18/2/04

15 February 2004

Mixed tape geek alert.

Hi Betty Sue. Yes, a timely reminder that I really should spend a bit less time complaining. Do Indian ladies generally not spend a lot of time in public? (excuse my terrible cultural ignorance -- its due entirely to, well, ignorance). Because the ladies here have those beautiful saris with the terribly saucy bit of stomach and waist showing, I would have thought that the female form was not such a huge novelty... Or is the western-ism part of it? Or perhaps just that seemingly inbuilt need for humans to select a class that is considered "other", and make their lives unpleasant? Sounds like the hassling would get very boring. I hope Andrew is being a suitably dutiful husband. Thanks for the updates, with great lashings of irreverance.

And to last night (Valium day), well there was a party, there was good dancey music, the was a Perfect Match homage (perfect snatch, anyone?), and I got a couple of good chat up lines to add to the list. Namely : "Aren't you a bit young to be flirting with me?" Excuse me... who said I was flirting? I just had 4 vodkas in a row, I was trying to stand up and using you as a focal point! And how old are you? I'm not even remotely in the ballpark of "young!" But thanks for giving it a shot anyway. And in case you are gasping in anticipation about whether this went anywhere.... Well, no, they turned the ugly lights on about about 1am. And there would have been problems with border patrol anyway (eastern suburbs resident).

So - to the interesting part. Mixed tapes. Look away now if those words make you go rigid with boredom. In true Nick Hornby style, I am using the technology to make a few cds. (All from my own collection of course- note to corporate music giants scanning blogs). Now, in this instance I'm going for *obvious*. Tracks people know. Not the cooler-than-thou- god I-am-such-a-hard-core-music-fan style, that's just for me in the privacy of my bedroom.

The themes so far are: "Cheesy Pop", "Nu-swamp" and "Retro indie cool" (alt. title: "Oh I remember this one from uni!).
Post your track preferences, if this is your bag, baby. Oh - you may be asked to follow up with the cd.

14 February 2004

I'll tell you about male vs female semantics! (warning - vast generalisations coloured by a healthy dose of prejudice coming up)

Indian men are raised as little gods with no contact with women. As a result they have no idea how to (1) treat a woman as an equal; (2) interact with women in a social setting.

I'm getting round india in baggy pants and a neck-to-mid-thigh baggy shirt with long sleeves and I still get treated like I'm walking round topless in hotpants - whistles, stupid kiss-kiss noises, arse-pinching, boob-bumping and the staring, oh my god the staring. Staring from a train seat less than a metre away for three hours straight - eventually I pulled out a sarong and put it over my head. Sure I couldn't see a thing but at least I had some privacy.

And the other annoying thing? If I'm with my "husband" I might as well not exist. I could shout at the top of my voice and they'd ignore me. I pay for dinner and they give him the change. I start a conversation and they talk to him.

By golly I'll be glad to be back where at least someone pays lipservice to equailty!

11 February 2004

Don't let go ..

... until they have to pry your jaws open. This is truly excellent.

9 February 2004

Return of the Yin

That was so funny I thought it deserved another airing. Well its been a full week and clearly noone reading this is interseted in the literatry semantics of what is male versus female in text. Sheesh! Fine. that's just fine.

Well clearly to my mind the notion of male is tied to the idea of "non-expressive" or "low on words" or "__r'kin silent". Because your estwhile Aunty B just CLAMMED UP the second she wondered how on earth to use a self-publishing medium the way a man would. No idea really. Just as well I didn't suddenly morph all the bits that go with blokiness, wouldn't have had a clue what to do with them all.

So I've learnt that gurly might just mean verbose. And I really have no problem with that. There's plenty of words to go around. I mean its not like we're going to run out or anything. Heaven forbid!

Did I mention I've just been at the sly fox? Coupla cocktails on a Monday night really goes a long way towards thinking about the nature of things.

Anyway, its good to be me again. Was kind of thinking a virtual 7-day gender change (evenings only) might be creative way to divert attention from the womb and into the intellect. But no, it wasn't boys and girls. It was a virtual stoppering of the flow. A finger in the dyke, so to speak. Ahem.

Things to come.......
Valium day. The pash palace probably. Reminds me of December quote "everyone likes a pash". They do. Its true.
MY BIRTHDAY. Yaaaaaaaaaaayyy. I'll be older. My car insurance would cost less. If I had a car.
Miss J's birthday. My sister's birthday. My housemate's birhday. My couple-friends birthday(s). A whole bunch of little fishies swimming around in the Cooltown pool. Love to youuse all.

Well, I've got to get my beauty sleep. Keep myself nice and all that.

Sweet dreams bloggy land.

8 February 2004

Tooth Hurty
I have to go to the dentist. My inner west friend who has a dentist brother has recommended a "Dr Andronicus". As in, "Like the coffee". I'm taking this as a good sign.

6 February 2004

Okay.
Its tough thinking what a bloke would write before putting finger to keyboard. Dunno how a real bloke does it.

On tuesday night, I met someone interesting. He works for medicens sans frontiers - an "aid-workers roadie". Having just got back from 10 months in a Afganistan, preceeded by a stint in a Somalian refugee hospital, living under armed guard, I was stuck for what to say over a beer. "Well, this week was good I spent a lot on electronic consumer goods to further my career goals in a wealthy, western society... Gee this beer really hits the spot after a hard day arguing with bureaucrats.. Wow the latest big budget hollywood gun-flick with vampires was a load of old bollocks wasn't it....?"

4 February 2004

Will probably go to see this:

Risque think piece takes on porn world

Naked people. Dancing.

And definitely this:

Man Ray

Quote of the week: "I just started talking about stick insects to keep my mouth busy!"

2 February 2004

I’m sick of being a girl.

I’m sick of the blood. I’m over the innate desire to keep other people happy. (Or at least not upset). I’m tired of the 28-day cycle of despair, optimism, frenzy, focus, reproductive drive, compulsion, lassitude, ennui, and repeat. I’m fed up with saying something about 7 times to male managers, and watching younger, less experienced guys say the same thing once as if they discovered it yesterday, and guess what? … get listened to. I’m done with the carping, whining tendencies. I’m finished with even being aware of gender issues. Enough.

For the next week you can all address me as Bill Sharp. Tell me, how does a man behave as a denizen of the internet? Post your thoughts, people.

Post scripts: Soul, your art stuff rules, babe.

*explanatory note...a spark for my obession with gender.. Sam Chater is a girl! She writes such detailed, trainspotting-style music reviews on Punch and Judy that I thought she was a he for ages. Go Sam.

1 February 2004

Proliferation.Wow check out these cats.....>

Miss J constantly cracking me up, as is her designated function. Look at Sea Green its got good art links; and a few familiar faces in the links bar too! Hi fellas.

Is "face" an appropriate metaphor for a web-page? Does anyone have a better one?

Why does a filthy hangover exacerabate my already socially-hampering tendency to think entirely in metaphors?