Taxidermy as art
This is from a shop I saw in Adelong, near Tumut. If I had sideboards I'd have bought this.
The Hermit
Recently I saw a play about Griffith's hermit, written by Scott Howie and Matt Schulz. The play was okay but what really got my attention were the photos in the Griffith Theatre's foyer of how the cave looked when the hermit lived there. He had extensive gardens and rockwalls.
Here are a couple of pics I took when I visited the hermit's cave a few years ago. I like the irony in the top pic, now that suburbia is within a few hundred metres of the former refuge from society.
Ice afternoon
We had a wild hail storm last week.
I was out attempting to get a picture of one of Council's grader operators who has clocked up 40 years. The hail prevented the shot but I got this one of a currajong that had fallen across Brobenah Road. The trunk was rotten and full of white ants.
The hail was something else. Ice nuggets the size of golf balls and they weren't round, they had sharp edges and would've been painful.
Another sentimental tune I recorded for the RPM Challenge. Jo sang for me again and I attempted to play all the instruments and engineer also.
Facebook by ShowcaseJase
Lying down feeling low
Feel like I've got further to go
Shaking around in a sweat
Replay the scene of my regret
If I had known
If I had known
Find myself all alone
Inside the guilt a private show
Springtime day on tape delay
Replay the smile you gave me again
If I had known what now I know
How memories fade and regrets grow
Might have known to make the time
Might have known I could make you mine
Pull myself from the depth
Leave it behind and catch my breath
Shake the past and stand refreshed
Leave the memory I should repress
If I had known what now I know
How memories fade and regrets grow
Might have known to make the time
Might have known I could make you mine
Facebook by ShowcaseJase
Lying down feeling low
Feel like I've got further to go
Shaking around in a sweat
Replay the scene of my regret
If I had known
If I had known
Find myself all alone
Inside the guilt a private show
Springtime day on tape delay
Replay the smile you gave me again
If I had known what now I know
How memories fade and regrets grow
Might have known to make the time
Might have known I could make you mine
Pull myself from the depth
Leave it behind and catch my breath
Shake the past and stand refreshed
Leave the memory I should repress
If I had known what now I know
How memories fade and regrets grow
Might have known to make the time
Might have known I could make you mine
Blue moon
This is a track that Jo and I recorded for the 2008 RPM Challenge. It sounds sloppy but I thought it was an okay tune. Been meaning to re-record it.
Apparently there's a blue moon this new year's eve.
Blue Moon by ShowcaseJase
Old flame never tamed
still alive in my chest
your name sounding plain
could still quicken my breath
It aches a whisper quakes
on my soon remembered lip
as the thought is finished quickly
my guard no longer slipped
Why should I even care?
about something that was never there
Do you remember the blue moon?
it was the night you made me swoon
you probably never knew
you were in another room
Ease back from that flash
brought from the depth of my past
to steal back into
a self-conscious laugh
For your memory will still exist
after this moment has passed
It's my lacklustre tale
of a romance at half-mast
Why should I even care?
about something that was never there
Do you remember the blue moon?
it was the night you made me swoon
you probably never knew
you were in another room
dancing to a different tune
with some other dude
[Repeat first verse and then chorus twice]
Blue Moon (Jase's single take) by ShowcaseJase
Apparently there's a blue moon this new year's eve.
Blue Moon by ShowcaseJase
Old flame never tamed
still alive in my chest
your name sounding plain
could still quicken my breath
It aches a whisper quakes
on my soon remembered lip
as the thought is finished quickly
my guard no longer slipped
Why should I even care?
about something that was never there
Do you remember the blue moon?
it was the night you made me swoon
you probably never knew
you were in another room
Ease back from that flash
brought from the depth of my past
to steal back into
a self-conscious laugh
For your memory will still exist
after this moment has passed
It's my lacklustre tale
of a romance at half-mast
Why should I even care?
about something that was never there
Do you remember the blue moon?
it was the night you made me swoon
you probably never knew
you were in another room
dancing to a different tune
with some other dude
[Repeat first verse and then chorus twice]
Blue Moon (Jase's single take) by ShowcaseJase
Flame on
As much as I've been enthralled by the graffiti left around town by some misguided teen, I've been even more entertained to see her flamed by another misguided texta. Just as soon as Lori (formerly Lorrain Lee) had announced the latest in a string of romantic interests and she was set upon in her chosen medium.
Paris makes news
These articles at the SMH helped me to realise that, like bikinis, Paris Hilton can make news articles more interesting to look at.
Postmortemism
Here's one of my bassling film clips. Scroll down a bit and click on the left-hand link to get the album for FREE :)
Can women sell keyboards?
Previously I've observed the use of sexism to sell speakers so I was entertained to see it being employed to sell keyboards too. Maybe if they actually offered hot sex with every purchase?
Passion for music
Ever watched a guitarist pulling faces while playing a solo? I remember seeing some that stand on one foot, carried away by the notes flowing from their fingers.
Reckon someone could make a cool quiz where you have to pick the guitarists from male pornstars mid-money shot :)
Bark marks
These tree etchings make for interesting graffiti - the effect that is, rather than the content.
Risky Business
Wagga's not actually so small that there are mothers of both the bride AND the groom!
McCaughey Mansion
I like this stained glass window at the McCaughey Mansion outside Yanco. He was the guy who showed that irrigation could work in the area and ended up in the NSW upper house.
The idyllic scene here shows something of the transition of Australia from bushland to sheep paddocks. Just down the staircase from this stained glass is a huge protrait of McCaughey Frederick McCubbin, an artist who painted a number of bushland scenes that show what the country must've looked like before settlement got underway in earnest.
Dust storm dedication for parts of Sydney, NSW and QLD
Dust Storm by bassling
Here's a tune of mine called Dust Storm that features me jamming along with the aeolian harp.
Pic of a dust storm outside Wagga from a few years ago.
Here's a tune of mine called Dust Storm that features me jamming along with the aeolian harp.
Pic of a dust storm outside Wagga from a few years ago.
Movie violence
Recently I've rediscovered the joy of watching films. For a while there I found them too long and often too silly.
One of the things they've got me thinking about is the role of violence in movies. There are few films that have no violence in them. Violence works as an important dramatic element, explaining motivations for characters but also I'd guess that it's something audiences must find some enjoyment in watching.
Some of the violence in films is over the top. Slow motion scenes of torture, ridiculously gory splatter movies, sprays of blood like fountains, etc.
It's kind of a horrible thinking that we might enjoy seeing pain inflicted on people, isn't it? Often I think there should be more sex in movies because it's a natural part of life. So what do the representations of violence in movies say about audiences.
My conclusion is that the violence in movies help audiences to make sense of the violence in life. The scenes of violence in films are often stylised or focused upon to explain character motivations in a way that gives the violent acts meaning within the film.
These meaningful representations of violence seem at odds with a lot of the violence in life. Much of the violence that occurs daily is almost meaningless. For every terrorist act that stems from an ideological statement, there are scores of violent acts that stems from some sort of opportunism - or perhaps inopportunism - of being in the wrong place and the wrong time.
One of the things they've got me thinking about is the role of violence in movies. There are few films that have no violence in them. Violence works as an important dramatic element, explaining motivations for characters but also I'd guess that it's something audiences must find some enjoyment in watching.
Some of the violence in films is over the top. Slow motion scenes of torture, ridiculously gory splatter movies, sprays of blood like fountains, etc.
It's kind of a horrible thinking that we might enjoy seeing pain inflicted on people, isn't it? Often I think there should be more sex in movies because it's a natural part of life. So what do the representations of violence in movies say about audiences.
My conclusion is that the violence in movies help audiences to make sense of the violence in life. The scenes of violence in films are often stylised or focused upon to explain character motivations in a way that gives the violent acts meaning within the film.
These meaningful representations of violence seem at odds with a lot of the violence in life. Much of the violence that occurs daily is almost meaningless. For every terrorist act that stems from an ideological statement, there are scores of violent acts that stems from some sort of opportunism - or perhaps inopportunism - of being in the wrong place and the wrong time.
Personal violence
On the night of my graduation from university I was assaulted as I walked to the taxi rank in town. Someone walked up and punched me in the jaw for no reason except that I was walking alone. I called the police to report the crime and they said that looking for my attacker would be like looking for a needle in a haystack. The following day I called a friend who worked as a journalist at the local community paper and explained what happened. "That's terrible," he said. "What can I do?"
"You should write a story," said I. "It'd warn people about the danger when walking through the city late at night."
"Jase, it happens every day," he replied.
The meaningless act of being punched in the head had an ongoing impact upon me. I flinched when a drunk stranger walked toward me one night to ask the time. He saw my reaction and gave a sympathetic response. When I moved to the country I'd freeze when being abused from passing cars as I walked the street. (Abusing people while driving along the main street on a Friday or Saturday night is something of a sport in country towns.)
"You should write a story," said I. "It'd warn people about the danger when walking through the city late at night."
"Jase, it happens every day," he replied.
The meaningless act of being punched in the head had an ongoing impact upon me. I flinched when a drunk stranger walked toward me one night to ask the time. He saw my reaction and gave a sympathetic response. When I moved to the country I'd freeze when being abused from passing cars as I walked the street. (Abusing people while driving along the main street on a Friday or Saturday night is something of a sport in country towns.)
Tip for parents of toddlers
A great way to save having to keep putting stuff back into cupboards is to use octupus straps to stop toddlers from getting into those cupboards. It ain't pretty but it works.
Neopuff
When my beloved and I were in hospital for the birth of Eden, we were amused by this device. We're still convinced that babies are too young to puff ;)
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