The next night being Saturday I checked out new night Death Disco and Grand Pacific Blue Room. Having recently picked up the decks (is that the right phrase?) I now understand that “rock/indie” djing really involves no djing skills per se, being fade out one fade in the other. It’s more like a great mixed tape. Which I think is why the night is getting the members from wicked bands of a certain flavour to ‘Dj’, (the flavour I’m referring to was seen the previous night and I’ll throw in other names like Dappled Cities Fly, Faker, Oblique, Red Sun Band, Riff Random, The Cops etc. – the new generation). Tonight was Youth Group and The Presets.
After this a chance encounter brought us some free passes to Y-Not, a night happening at UN club (where DCM is) every second Saturday, and witness some real Dj skill in the form of the always reliable Mark Dynamix, Ben Korbel and Crispin. Mark Dynamix being accompanied by bongo drums, sax and a singer during the funkier house part of his set was a nice change. The venue has a nice cosy little room and a bigger trashy one – so I’d stick to the smaller!
Come Sunday we tripped along to the Moulin Rouge (one of my favourite venues) for the launch of Liquid Sky. And we had fun bopping to the mix of 80s/electro/punk/disco amongst the mixed, up for it crowd. Come midnight there was some performance art, and greatly appreciated – I love nights who do something different. Bang Gang was another fantastic night I loved here (on Friday) but last I heard the night now PACKS OUT – typical of Sydney-siders to ruin anything good by hitting “the latest” night/place in force. So be lucky I’m giving you privy to liquid sky…and keep it to yourself! ;o)
I’m not a big television person: like swimming through a pool of crap reality and makeover/renovation programs. But Monday nights is the occasion where I like nothing more than bumming out in front of the box (god knows why, I have neither uni or work so I’m hardly pushing myself).
Last night a strange little program called Gerhard Reinke’s Wanderlust caught my eye (SBS, 8.30pm). Here an American comedian plays the part of a nerdy German backpacker and does a very cheesy travel show on the cheap. And there were definitely some laugh-out-loud moments (he gets a dubiously enjoyable massage and proclaims “I feel like a million Baht!…which is about $17.50 US”), but man, he’d hit a goldmine of jokes when it comes to (1) the backpacking culture and (2) travel shows, but he just wasn’t digging in all the right places!
But back to my Monday night staple which has claimed its fair share of space on this blog, that being Queer As Folk (SBS, 10.00pm). While I wish I’d seen the original UK version, the American one is doing me fine. Who can’t deny that the sexual tension between Brian and Justin isn’t just the most sexiest, romantic relationship on the box (or in time)? The shot to Brian’s hand on Justin, bringing him back during their argument almost killed me. Brian’s request that Justin never play violin music in his presence, the perfect solution to needing to reveal a character’s pain without betraying his characteristic icyness.
Is it wrong for me that I consider this show prime straight-woman porno? Which brings to me another interesting question, what is with straight woman porno? OK, I haven’t actually watched any (no really) but I did download a couple of “Optus studs” on my mobile, which by the way you don’t get to see before you purchase, and what’s the go? Don’t the men who organise this realise women need to see faces and like clothes and personality in their photos, not the full body shot of a naked dude awkwardly positioned.
Which is really what makes Queer As Folk more of a porno than any real porno. We still get the sex but that’s not enough for us: we need the relationships, drama and tension that surrounds it. We need real sex. That’s women for ya, huh?
…Can now beatmix if BPMs are the same…
…Now know the meaning of “stylus” and that record stores aren’t so scary (even after Will Styles points out that the track you’re totally digging as “your shit” is playing at the wrong speed)…
…Now realise that vinyl and DJ-ing is a very expensive hobby and must be funded by crappy part time job (or nice full time job if that’s what you’re lucky enough to have). Now to find another crappy part time job as current retail job will soon come to end with store closing down (did I play a part in its demise?)…
…Neglect of guitar was inevitable but am attempting to balance both…
…Am feeling smug at the idea of walking Sydney streets swinging guitar across one arm and trolleying bag of vinyl from the other – although likely to look more like a two-timing girl carrying equipment for boyfriends, one being a guitarist and the other a DJ…
After a month of traveling I finally settled in…only to be rudely interrupted with a plane back to Sydney. I will be honest – I’m not happy to be back. Not happy. The travel bug has well wormed its way into my heart and it pains me that I have had to return.
This trip was superb. Extraordinarily different to the last and extraordinarily different in itself. Let’s look at the places I covered: Waikiki and North Shore of Hawaii, Los Angeles, San Diego, Ensenada, La Pas, Acapulco, Puerto Escondido (plus Zipolite and Mazunte), Oaxaca, Puebla (plus Cholula), Mexico City and back to LA. Each stop greatly varying from the last. Particularly Mexico which is an amazing country of contradictions, summarised by the stupefying Mexico City (30 million people, each section of the city is so different, there’s a saying “if it happens in Mexico, it happens in Mexico City”, the locals call Mexico City “Mexico”).
I was going to give a detailed description about my trip, things I saw, did, people I met…but I can’t be arsed. Ask me in person ;o)
My last backpacking trip (last summer, on my own from Singapore to Bangkok) was truly about “discovering” myself, my capabilities and confidence in my own skin. It hasn’t been about that, so much this time. This time it was about truly immersing myself in different culture(s) (its very hard to do that in Southern Thailand – you tend to get served a nice sanitised tourist version of their culture, and fair enough, why should we be privy to the real deal? The difference in Mexico is that their life doesn’t revolve around us, so we are living in THEIR world), rediscovering certain aspects of myself (realising its still there is lovely, and realising that I’m now much more equipped to handle these aspects) as well as rediscovering my love for travel (I can hear all the travelers rejoice! But I will say I still hold a certain disdain for certain types of travel – and I am including types of backpacking here. The type where you spend majority of your time in the hostel, chatting on the internet and getting pissed at the local. That’s not traveling…).
Thank you to Brooke and Aaron for sharing this with me. Thank you to all those lovely people I met. Thank you Hawaii, US, Mexico, and until next time I hit the road, which will hopefully be after I graduate in which time is my largest luxury, Adios Amigos! xoxo Monica
(meanwhile, I’ll being seeing the rest of you in some dark alley in Sydney’s underground on a Thursday night… ;o) Stay tuned)
Photos fo yo ass Visual accompaniment. Click on da number.
1:: Me sitting on Waikiki beach, Hawaii. Beautiful enough but tourist-ville.
2:: Mexico sure is colourful. A street in Spanish styled Oaxaca, a beautiful little city.
3:: Princess Monica being sacrificed to the pagan gods…
4:: Lotsa beautiful churches in Mexico, where majority of people are Catholic. Virgin Mary incarnate style.
5:: The ruins north of Mexico City at Teotihucan are wicked. Bit of a hike up those pyramids!
6:: Ever seen a bullfight? No? Well I have! heehee
