Sydney
During the Easter holidays I went to Sydney for about five days (as you can see from the too obvious picture). It was a nice break for my major project which I handed in this Monday, and which was the reason for not logging, calling and writing for quite a while. Sorry for that. Well, so I went to Sydney. Basically, except the standard tour Opera House, Botanical Garden and Harbour Bridge, I concentrated on pubs, and in fact there are a lot of them. My favourite is "The Old Fitzroy Hotel" in Woolloomooloo: very comfortable, includes a small theatre, a great bistro offering delicious laksa - just a very nice and relaxed athmosphere. Unfortunately there´s a rub in it: It closes around twelve which is a shame. It would the perfect place to end an evening.
Unplugged
I wonder if my menue does not become a bit too complex or, more to the point: "unreadable". The menue typo really wouldn´t win the first price (of any contest ever), but somehow it´s kind of unique. I know it´s not a question of vital importance these days but if you like just let me know if this one works or if the thing in the upper left of this page is just a graphic display error to you.
Best Viewed with Open Eyes
»Naturally the common people don't want war: Neither in Russia, nor in England, nor for that matter in Germany. That is understood. But, after all, it is the leaders of the country who determine the policy and it is always a simple matter to drag the people along, whether it is a democracy, or a fascist dictatorship, or a parliament, or a communist dictatorship. ... Voice or no voice, the people can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders. That is easy. All you have to do is tell them they are being attacked, and denounce the peacemakers for lack of patriotism and exposing the country to danger. It works the same in any country.«
- Herman Göring
It´s very unpleasant for me to quote this Nazi and I don´t intend to place anyone on a level with this ideology. However, it shows once again how simple the basic rules for propaganda are and how it works over and over and over again. For all who want to know the basic propaganda recipe to understand what lies beneath the news we are fed with and for all who aspire a job in the propaganda machinery of which country ever I highly recommend War, Propaganda and the Media.
The following is an exerpt from The Pure Essence Of Stupid and quotes Chris Mathews in his MSNBC talk show, 'Hardball.' in talk with Jed Babbin (former Undersecretary of Defense in the first Bush administration), December 9th 2002 (via Media, Propaganda and Iraq):
Matthews: »Shouldn't he have to show evidence? You're acting like it's a question mark. Isn't it necessary morally and politically and historically for this president to show his own people and the world he has evidence of weapons of mass destruction before going in?«
Babbin: »He has no obligations like that, Chris. This is not a trial. This is not a legal proceeding. This is a matter of national survival and national security.«
Matthews: »Well, how do the American people know that there's weapons of mass destruction in that country if the president can't show them there are?«
Babbin: »Because they trust their president. When he gets up, as he will soon, I believe, and tells them that they do have all the evidence that they need to proceed on Saddam's weapons.«
Matthews: »OK, so it's on his say-so. We're going to war on the president's say-so.«
Babbin: »That's the way it always is.«
I wish you all a nice week.
Tirez Sur le Cycliste
»The condoms in Asia are made smaller than in the West - a fact. If you are German, American, Canadian, Dutch or Australian take a supply from home if you think you'll need 'em. If you're English the local brand will probably fit fine.«Mr. Pumpy hit the road again in South East Asia. Let´s see what he will tell - he should be back in Australia since yesterday. This time, too, he decided to go with his 'long lasting' cycling partner Mr. Felix.
Music to Make Love to Your Old Lady By
For sure one of the most trashy of all covers I have, that´s what I like about Lovage by Nathaniel Merriweather (aka Dan the Automator or Del the Funky Homosapien). On songs like Anger Management Mike Patton´s voice this time adds a different note to the songs than I am used to * from projects like Fantômas, Mr. Bungle, Adult Themes for Voice, or Pranzo Oltranzista. The other lead voice is Jennifer Charles' (Elysian Fields). She, too, sounds quite different than usual, well, like Music to Make Love to: on Strangers On A Train or together with Mike Patton on Book Of The Month or Archie & Veronika. Find the difference: There is an instrumental version of Lovage with a slightly different cover. I recommend the vocal edition.
Talking about Mike Patton: Another CD I bought was Tomahawk. It´s really nice if you like the music of one of the bands above.
* never say 'than I am used to' when talking about Mike Patton
The Bayside
We, that is Yuki and me, change our accomodation from Flemington which is in the north of Melbourne to St. Kilda. We had very nice 6 months in our 2-houses-14-people shared accomodation. On February 1st we will move to a 3-bedroom appartment to the bayside. This means: a couple of minutes to St. Kilda beach and a few steps to Chappel Street, which is a nice place to go out. It´s also very close to the Astor cinema, a quite nice film theatre with a more special programme than most other cinemas, such as the triple feature Bad Taste, Meet The Feebles and Braindead which are the first three films by New Zealand director Peter Jackson. Or the double feature of Woody Allens earlie works Sleeper and Everything You Always Wanted To Know About Sex (but were afraid to ask).
From February 10 we are looking for a new sharemate. For guests: don´t hesitate to come over, we always have one bed free. (If it just was not so far away from Germany and Austria ...) So my new contact-address is:
Anatol Bogun
unit 8 / 26 Charnwood Crescent
St. Kilda, Melbourne
Victoria 3182
Australia
Talking about Peter Jackson: does anyone know Forgotten Silver? A great great mockumentary you shouldn´t miss out.
Café IMPERIAL
I finished my first (handdrawn) animation in November 2002 at Creative Media, RMIT university.
Special thanks to Felix Hude.
The story in brief: An ignoring waiter and an unfriendly customer is enough to make a situation delicious.
Now you can watch Café IMPERIAL online.
Enjoy!
Happy new year! (part three)
And Merry Christmas! I was travelling around for about one month on the Australian east coast. When I returned on December 24 I was not in the mood to turn on the computer at once. So, like last year, I am a bit too late. And concerning this I don´t have any premeditation for next year. Some pictures of my travelling can be found in the following articles above.
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