For the birds... - October 1, 2007

Bah!

One of the top-five worst concerts I have ever seen. Decent lazy weekend (quite rare), of cloudy weather and days spent in bed. A bit overcome with how little of the Spanish language I actually know, also filled with glee devouring the new Naomi Klein book, The Shock Doctrine.

Actually, as I stare at the horrific pile of books both spent and un-spent next to my bed, I think I will begin some sort of Nick Book-of-the-Week club. Yes, brilliant. More to come.



Caught "The War on Democracy" this weekend, heavy handed, but a simple and sobering re-telling of some of America's brutal acts in South America. For a real treat, check out any episode of "Alo Presidente" on youtube, Chavez's wickedly bizarre weekly show in Venezuela. I swear, the masses will never oust a big jolly man who wears only red and has his own tv show. Of course there was that messy business with the elves...



Anywho, to help us all deal with the disappointments of global politics and vis-a-vis, Ian's rantings, here is a video of me being attacked by Emus:

Bye guys!

The Rise and Fall of Empires - September 28th, 2007

Ah, so let's drum out Cato and get the quill flowing, the times are a-changing.

Under-reported story from last week, the Pies ended their season in a valiant effort against the tyrannically talented Geelong Cats. I was so very lucky to get tickets to the game at the MCG, and joined the record setting crowd of 98,002 fans. That's a hundred thousand people, ladies and gents, not a mob to snuffed at. Anywho, we lost by less than a goal, which is epic, and my sadness was offput by the start of the Hockey season back home, which tempers any true loss.

Videos and photos are up at the revamped album, click here:




As for the other Empire of mention, the Cat Empire play a free outdoor show tonight at Federation Square, and you'd best be damn right if you are picturing me in all my dancing duds. Hopefully it doesn't rain, I've waited for this gig for quite some time.

Here's why they're worth it:



See you later,

Nick!

Chasing Boomers - September 26th, 2007

Hey! I got the video thingy on Blogger working, and that makes the total overall headache of myphotoalbum.com much better. I'm going to throw up a couple great videos of my eternal quest to bond with the animal kingdom, specifically, getting Roos to hug me.

Is this dangerous? Yes. Is it the key to salvation? Double Yes.

In this video, Jess and I found a roo at the base of the Grampians, and I went in for the kill..

Next, Jess and I popped into the Werribee Open Range Zoo, and I used my turn-of-the-century-British-heart-of-Africa-explorer accent in an attempt to lure the fairly large and surly Eastern Grey Roos. The encounter did not go as planned...

Well, as you can see, I may have hit rock bottom here down under, but so long as it's on video, we can get some enjoyment out of it.

Peace,

Nick

Back from the hills - September 17, 2007

Hey all,

Jess and I just got back from some sublime camping up in the Grampian Mountain range, although we officially revoke any Aussie use of the word "mountain" from now on.

Fantastic couple days hiking in a relatively venom-free animal kingdom, plus I got Jess to climb her first mountain. Quite brave actually, when you consider it was called "Mt. Difficult".

We found this sign on the way down, rest assured Jess would have left me there if we'd seen it on the way up:

















Also, this here was a simple recap of our experiences at Ballarat, wherein I try desperately to receive the unfettered love of the animal kingdom...


Oodles of photos are up in the album, check 'em out at this link:

Grampians

Talk to you all in a bit,

Nick

Quick Pics - September 14th, 2007

Hey guys, about half of the photos are ordered and up on the photo album. Check 'em out in the Sydney Album.

Marty McFly - September 13, 2007

Ah, back to the horrific miasma of blogging from Melbourne.

Life continues on the usual course of relative amazing, but hampered with my inability to get photos in this space to convey that.

I got my saturday protest photos back from the developers today, (film! can you believe it? I felt buttoning up my spats and dialing a rotary phone.) and as expected, they kind of suck. I'm organizing and captioning all the photos right now, and the videos will probably be worth a shot.

Looking forward to looking forward at the end of my time here in Oz, as Jess and I are buying a car and driving across the country. This weekend we're off to the Grampians:

Should be a blast.

I'll let you all know what happened on Monday.

Oh, and the Pies are up for destroying the Eagles tomorrow, so look out for that, we're premiership bound this year kids.

p.s. Ian, according to the rules, you have to ask, and I have to say yes. Although...still...

The calm after the calm - September 9th

Hey crew,

So the march went "fine", as in peaceful and short. No one really arrested, least of all me. A bit of craziness with some neo-nazis, but all went well in the end, as in, nothing happened. The march went along the brief, police-designated march path, and wrapped up in the quant, police-designated protest park. I have to say that if this is what Australians call dissent than they deserve to watch their country turn into a desert.

I'm sure the march served as a good introduction for all those who had never been to one before, and hopefully this event kindles their future usage of their right to disagree. But frankly...sigh. I'm not harping for violence, but I feel like protests, when done like this, are almost completely irrelevant.

Anyways, I got to spend all of Sunday enjoying Sydney, and I'll put lots of pretty photos up on Monday. Oh, and the internet here blows, and all of my protest day photos are on film (for security), so there won't be anything snazzy until Mon. Sorry.

All my love guys,
Nick

Mic Check - September 7, 2007

Well well, what an intense day. Still not arrested though, but a bit more notorious to say the least.

Today was, as I expected, more about goofy green protesting than tomorrow is shaping up to be. Police presence like a bad rash, and everybody nervous.

I felt like a professional though, I don't know if that sounds good or not, but I clearly knew my way around antsy cops and counter-protesters. Surprised myself with how prepared I was, and played it safe (ish) from start to finish.


Started the day at a peaceful human banner on Bondi beach put on by the tamest green group on the planet, Get Up! Australia. I think all they're trying to accomplish is getting rich people to drive their lexus just a little less.

Spent the afternoon at Hyde park, especially with the peacebus people, where I was put into circulation as the go-to guy and built about 17 dancing skeleton people and countless skull lanterns. Basically I got to saw and hammer a lot of stuff, and was quite content.

The real highlight though, without hesitation, came when I summoned the courage to speak at the open mic. One of the bravest moments of my life, really. To have the audacity to speak to a large public about your thoughts in a matter which you feel is both unique and potent comes with some amount of trepidation. In the end I didn't speak as well as I could have, but it was my first time, I got a lot of applause, and a couple people came up to me afterwards and said thanks. Feedback I desperately needed, as my confidence was pretty rock-bottom.

The night ended up with lots of rain, some bared bums, and a diva dance party with all the stuff we'd built. Not exactly a tough protest so far, but I'm pretty sure Aussies just don't care enough to run a full riot out of this thing. It's good for me though, I don't need the temptation of hearing the wall is coming down. That would be very bad.

Tomorrow's rally starts at 10am, I'll keep you in the loop after that...

-n

p.s. Blogger is screwing up, and I can't get any more photos up. Hopefully tomorrow I can put up all my vids and whatnot.

On the ground - September 6, 2007

Landed in Sydney tonight. It's a police state here to say the least. Choppers buzz overhead continually and what can only be described as "packs" of cops loiter around.

A bit overcast and drizzly, so no photos yet. Pretty horrid train ride to get here so I'm bushed. I'll probably try the security zone after this post and see what it's like, then tomorrow the day starts with some goofy green actions.

Really early in the morning off to Bondi beach to make some sort of human banner, and then in the afternoon we're going for a world record mooning. I guess it's not Oz unless there's a naked bum in there. I don't really like green actions, and I certainly didn't come here to partake in them, but the reality is that I am going to be pretty constricted in my choice of protest and will have to take what I can get. The authorities sure are spoiling for a fight...

For a quick idea of what this whole APEC thing is about, I'll refer you to the always amazing Aussie comedy team, The Chasers.



Oh, and they were just arrested for pretending to be Canadians and sneaking all the way into the exclusion zone. They figured no one would really bother to check. Gorgeous.

I'll post tomorrow night after a day of silly democratic foolishness.

Love,
Nick

Backs to the fence - September 5th, 2007

Hey guys,

As some of you know, I'm off tomorrow to protest the APEC summit in Sydney. Lots of preparation and consternation as there is quiet fear of deportation. The odds are pretty low, but the Australian government really is flexing it's muscle on this one and I have to be smart.

A lovely train ride across the countryside should provide lots of relaxation enroute, then a day to see Sydney (what isn't encapsulated in a massive, expensive, security fence), then the major protests begin on Saturday and Sunday.

I'm a bit nervous about this one, namely being able to restrain myself from fully participating in democratic action, and having to resist when the moment arrives. The stakes are just too high though for me to risk arrest or deportation, seeing as the office needs me fairly badly. James did an excellent patrician job of reminding me that after a lovely and costly trip half-way around the world, I'm not allowed to get sent home.

Lots of photos will come, but not from Sat and Sun, when I will not be using my digital camera but instead easily-transferred film. I'll be posting every day for the next week or so, so keep in touch and you'll get some idea of what the APEC summit is really about...

Nick.

P.s. For the Aussie secret service, which has no doubt picked up on the keywords I've used in this post, let me clarify that I'm no terrorist, but one of the millions unwilling to accept the state of our world, and willing to use my voice to say so. See you on the barricade.

Oh, and if you guys were going for "scary", David Hasslehoff shouldn't have been your inspiration.