ruby hunter RIP

i'm really sad this morning to hear of the death of ruby hunter. she and her partner, archie roach, did so much to bring a human face to the experiences of the stolen generation and help us understand a little bit of what they went through. for her to have been forcibly removed from her parents at the age of 8 and still go on to live such a full and productive life speaks of the amazing inner strength of the woman. also, to have met the love of her life at the age of 16 when homeless on the streets and to remain with him all her life speaks of her great loyalty. she was truly a remarkable australian and an inspiration and example to us all.

my thoughts are with archie roach and her family.

love it or leave - cya pauline

for all of her faults, you've gotta give credit to pauline hanson for having the integrity to truly embrace the 'love it or leave' mentality. so many people, usually meatheads, spout it as some sort of anti-immigration or anti-multiculturalism mantra directed at non-caucasian australians with the premise being if they don't love the meathead view of how australia should be they should leave. the funny thing is they chant it without really being prepared to leave the country themselves. the fact is, australia is a tolerant, multicultural society so either love it or leave... or in the words of the bumper sticker: FIFO (fit in or f**k off).

somewhere a village is missing an idiot...

lycra-clad loser

i almost had a prang with a cyclist on the way to work this morning. as i was turning right onto weaponess road at a roundabout, some dickhead on a pushbike decided that he didn't need to follow the rules of the road which demand that he give way to vehicles which have already entered the roundabout (usually coming from the right). instead he kept going as i was turning through the roundabout and then actually shouted at me when he was almost hit. i'm so over these lycra-clad losers. after a couple of years working on st georges tce i'd had more near misses as a pedestrian from these idiots hurtling along footpaths than i could count. they want drivers to treat them as equals on the road but they also want to be able to fly along footpaths. basically these arrogant prats want control of wherever they choose to ride and woe betide anyone who gets in their way.

what am i going to do about it? to be perfectly frank, absolutely nothing. apart from whining here that is.

laneway festival

i only got a ticket to today's laneway festival quite late but am so glad i did. first things first: northbridge is, without a doubt, THE worst venue for a festival i've ever been to. trying to get in and out of the main stage area is a nightmare. those unfortunate enough to be stuck at the back of the main crowd had views obstructed by the sound desk and the trees. also, the amount of sound carrying over from the other stages was dreadful. in theory, the northbridge cultural centre should be a fantastic place for a festival but in practice it's not. but that was the only negative for me. i came for the music and that was wonderful.

the first act we saw was whitely. i'm not a big fan and don't know much of his music but he was good. not good enough that i'd go out of my way to see him again but good enough that if he was on the bill of a concert i'd be happy to hear him.

one of the main draws for me was the fantastic voltaire twins. every time i see them i can imagine being in steve strange's blitz nightclub in london in the early 80s as they play such wonderful new romantic tinged electro-pop. their set was in the daylight which doesn't lend itself to their music but their stage presence is such that they're easily able to overcome this and draw the crowd in. as well as old faves, they played some new material which i presume will be on their debut album. the songs were strong and i'm certainly looking forward to the album.

next up was mumford and sons. as megan and i had stayed for the end of voltaire twins' set, we arrived at the main stage after m&s had started playing and got stuck up the back (see my earlier whinge about the difficulties of being stuck there). we hung around until they played 'little lion man' and then took off to see the middle east. they were good without being something to write home (or on a blog) about.

following the middle east, we headed over to watch sarah blasko. i'm not a fan of hers and this performance did nothing to change my mind. dull, boring, middle of the road dross for people who like whatever triple j tells them to is my opinion of her. megan enjoyed her though so i'm sure plenty of people will disagree with me.

the other act beside voltaire twins i was looking forward to was the xx and they didn't disappoint. i'm only a recent convert to this band but am totally sold on their debut album. their music is beautiful and powerful in its subtleness. what i hadn't expected was how good they'd be live. they managed to grab hold of me for the entirety of their set and even had me dancing (badly) at times. i'll definitely see them next time they come to perth.

the unexpected highlight of the show for me was florence and the machine. i quite like the songs i've heard of theirs and expected to enjoy their set but was amazed at how wonderful their live show is. florence's voice is a power to behold but when she combines it with antics such as crowd surfing and climbing the scaffolding, it's a formula for crowd ecstasy. i found the first couple of songs rather dull and was thinking that i'd not really enjoy the set but it just got better and better. the sight of the entire crowd bouncing in time was fantastic. the songs are good and she knows how to hold an audience in the palm of her hand. they were definitely the best act of the night in my not-so-humble opinion.

it was a very good festival and is only let down by the venue. i appreciate it was originally held as a festival in the laneways of melbourne (hence the name) but it's grown beyond that now. if they want to hold it in the northbridge cultural centre then they need to limit the numbers. if they want the large numbers then they need to hold it somewhere more appropriate. it seems silly to pretend it's some low-key underground festival when the number of punters doesn't bare this out.

this man is a moron

yep, this is the retard who thought it'd be a great idea to run onto the waca in the middle of a one day international and assault one of the pakistani players. really, you've got to wonder at what goes through the pea-brain of people like this. we all remember (well, the older ones amongst us do) what happened back in 1981 when some english idiots ran onto the waca and terry alderman ended up with a dislocated shoulder which wrecked the prime years of his career. there's simply no excuse for this type of behaviour. it's not funny or clever. it just betrays an astounding level of stupidity and a clear lack of appreciation for the sport. no true cricket lover would ever do something like this.

and what were his mates doing when this goose was hatching his ill-conceived plan? i'd imagine they were sitting there braying encouragement like the slow-witted donkeys they are. they'd be lucky to be able to scrape together a full brain between the lot of them.

in my not-so-humble opinion, the retard who ran onto the ground should be slapped with a huge fine and banned from all sporting events in WA for life. this would include football, soccer, basketball, cricket, rugby etc. we really can't have idiots like this spoiling it for everyone