Showing posts with label Australia. Show all posts

A friend of my friend debuted 2 weeks ago as a one-man-band with this EP. Unfortunately I couldn't attend the launch party but the tracks are out for purchase and on spotify now and I'm quite digging the sound (bias aside). The vocal reminds me much of Timo Kotipelto (vocal of Stratovarius, 90s flashback anyone?) and overall it's less hardcore than what I usually listen to and quite 'versatile' in the sense that it's easy to listen to however your mood is for the day.

Like his page on facebook here (where you can stalk the talent for some live performance around Sydney region)

Just have to share this. Kudos to Cate for such a brilliant speech and this so deserves to go viral.

#auspol

the Australian cover for the book. Synopsis: Here

Just finished this wonderful read today, not much to complain except I thought it would be even colder and more depressing, considering it's done a great job opening the story and it's set in Iceland based on a true event. Personally I love the kind of brutal bleakness that numbs one's brain and heart, not that it's not cold (actually I believe most readers would think the words are already gelid enough), but the author Hannah Kent picked up the pace a little bit towards the end of the story and gave the words some more life, a bit of a shame to my taste but to each their own.

Another thing I'm not sure about is the editing, especially the epilogue, I personally think it would be so much better to insert a blank page between the last chapter and the epilogue, an empty space to let out the emotions.

Other than that I must say, I haven't read any english book that matches my taste so well in a very long time. I love the depression of knowing no future, of seeing the love in that one person's eyes moved on to somebody else, of waiting for a lonely and violent death with no peace awaits. I love how the emotions erupt out like the Icelandic volcanoes in the right time at the right place, leaving only the aftertaste that lingers around for ever. I like it so much to the point that I don't even know what I should read next, a Murakami maybe, or maybe some bite-size fictions to refresh my taste buds.

All in all, 8/10 highly recommend

p.s. was listening to Haiku by Stefano Guzzetti from his lastest album At Home - Piano Book (Volume One) when I was reading through the last few chapters, surprisingly matching

Saw this wonderful documentary last night at George's Event, hosted by Queer Screen.

Synopsis from IMDb 'A behind-the-scenes look inside the case to overturn California's ban on same-sex marriage. Shot over five years, the film follows the unlikely team that took the first federal marriage equality lawsuit to the U.S. Supreme Court.'

It is hands down one of the most emotional films I've seen this year. So powerful that I had to try so hard not to burst into tears during the entire film (and just FYI, I failed at the end). Last time I cried so bad at cinema was last year's Blackfish, which you should all watch, but unlike that time, I wasn't crying of anger, sadness or disgust, I was crying of joy. I was so happy for them, so proud of them and so grateful of them for what they did and what they went through.

The director said that the film is coming to cinema for public audience this early October (Dendy Newtown for Sydneysiders) and also they're planning for a special screening in a few weeks time at the Australian parliament with Ted Olson coming over, a pro-gay-marriage American conservative to a bunch of homophobic Aussie conservatives.

Highly recommend to everyone interested or affected or involved in LGBTQIA activism. Also highly recommend to everyone who thinks f*gg*ts should be burnt in hell. Although if that's the case you should really just get off my blog and f*ck off before that.

Rating: 8/10

Platic Pollution killed this bird. Picture Credit: Greenpeace Australia

It's always been normal for me to categorise, rinse and recycle rubbish and I've always seen that as a part of my life and what we should do as a citizen of this planet. So when I moved to Sydney a few years ago I was shocked that so many of my neighbours didn't care about what would end up in the landfill. Maybe I've just been really unfortunate and only lived in bad suburbs but I still can't believe how overly simplified the recycling program is here and thinking there are people who can't even follow that just makes me cringe every time. And the fact that there is only one teeny tiny recycling station in the whole Randwick city and only TWO teeny tiny bins there are for uncoloured styrofoam. Just think about how much styrofoam could end up in the open wild poisoning this land and all the other creatures living on it.

I've lived here for almost four years and I've heard and seen a lot about Australian spirit and its nationalism, whether in the form of racism or just pure pride of being an Aussie, but to me, a real Aussie that treasures this amazing country should be someone that doesn't trash this land, and that of course applies to everybody else in the world.

So here it is, Greenpeace Australia has launched a campaign calling for 'Cash for Containers' in NSW. Although it is not directly stopping plastic pollution and wasteful landfill it definitely will encourage more consciousness and recycling and reduce tragedies like the picture above. Please take a few seconds to take action for a more sustainble Aussie way of living.