Oh, I forgot

Happy 100th Birthday, Gargoyle Humor Magazine

(And Sarah Choy)

Museum of Contemporary Art

OK OK OK OK.

So as most of you know, I'm a dumb art nerd.

So I spent a Saturday afternoon downtown, finishing with a trip to the Sydney Museum of Contemporary Art on a friend's suggestion. I really want to do more sightseeing instead of hitting up all the pubs and clubs with everyone.

Those of you familiar with the MCA in Chicago should be as skeptical as I am about the quality of 'modern art'. However, Australian artists picked up the slack and I really enjoyed what I saw!!

Unfortunately, the best exhibition there was not by an Australian artist. Yayoi Kusama took the prize easily with her TRIPPY INSTALLATIONS. I'm actually hidden in the first photo of this post, can you find me??


I like artists like her. They do what they want and they have no pretentious background behind their works, aside from the fact that they're what they want to do in the way they want to do it. What's fun? What's cool? Go for it and don't think twice. That's all there is to it.

There was also a 'I Walk The Line: New Australian Drawing' exhibition which had alot of really great Australian artists posting some of their work. Superb.

MOST IMPORTANTLY is the knowledge that a ZINE EXCHANGE will be held in May.

I think Australia needs a few copies of GIRLS ARE MADE OF ROBOTS AMIRITE!???


Thanks to the Gargoyle for giving a copy of said book to DON HERTZFELDT while he was in Ann Arbor. I LOVE YOU GUYSSSSSSS

'Senior/Freshies' Dates

So here's the set up.

Seniors are students who stay in the same college (dorm).
Freshies are students who just started living in a college.

Get it straight!

WE HAD DINNER AT A VERY NICE RESTAURANT ON THE COLLEGE'S TAB.
IT WAS GOOD herehavesomebadphotos.



Twas a fun dinner, but you don't really get *how* fun it was from these photos. They're here more to emphasize how great my semester is so far.

GBBGGSP Day

A holiday that the dorm I'm in celebrates.

Give a Boy some Beer, Give a Girl some Passion (fruit) Day.



This actually happened two weeks ago... I got some catching up to do with this blog.

Academia

Classes here are cool, even though they're in the way of my super cool Australian getaway.

I'm taking an Australian history course, which is revealing alot of cool stuff and dirty laundry about Australia that I've never heard of before.
Then there's my Logic course, which is way too much of a jerkoff than I can tolerate.
Then there's my Circuitry course, which is scaring me to death.

The last and most interesting course would be my Design and Manufacturing course. I'm in a team for that class and we have to machine a piston/cylinder water pump, which is hella cooler than the University of Michigan course equivalent where we would've made a case for eyeglasses. The only problem is that I'm pretty sure my machine shop instructor hates me.

Story time! I was in the machine shop last week, doing a lathing assignment where accuracy had to be obtained within half a millimeter. I was doing something wrong, so my instructor thought it would be a good idea to sneak up behind me and yell in my ear while I was working on that part. I can't think of anything smarter to do while I'm working with a machine that can eat my hand.

Did you know that a semester here costs $10,000 AUD? And that the government gives loans that are interest free until a year after graduation to all students? And if you manage to pay any of it early your tuition is lower?

Wow, a government that encourages higher education? How backwards.

Also consider that the minimum wage here is $14.31, and they're trying to raise it too.

My uncle is reading my blog, and he's got the best screen name ever. But it makes me wonder who else is lurking through my blog~

Evidence

The only existing photo of me during the 12 hour pub crawl from my first week in Sydney.

The costume theme was, "What you DON'T want to be when you grow up". I believe you can see a house bunny and a construction worker in the picture, and of course yours truly as a Border Patrol officer.

Were we going somewhere? Were we coming back from some place? Hell if I know, 12 hours of pubs can make your memory fuzzy.

Should I Buy This?

I found this guy in the front window of a toy store in the Queen Victoria Building, which is a large shopping complex in the middle of the city.

Apparently it is called a Golliwog, made by American children's cartoonist/author Florence Kate Upton in the late 19th century. Her inspiration was, according to Wikipedia, a 'blackface minstrel doll'.

Interesting.

:X

I'm sick as a dog <3 I've been getting no sleep at all this week, between St. Patrick's day and all my classes finally getting in gear. I've got a circuitry lab (in which I have absolutely NO idea what I'm doing) and a manufacturing course that requires me to go across Sydney to a separate campus for a 4 hour machining course from 4:30 to 9:30 at night. I shouldn't be complaining though, since they are totally hands-on and awesome instead of just textbook nonsense like the classes I have been taking. ALSO. There is an engineering degree program here called mechatronics, which is basically all engineering fields in one. Alot of people enter this degree program focusing in on ROBOTICS. In fact, I've already met 5 people who want to do robotics with their degree, which is five more than I've met in the ME department back home. What the hell, America? Get on that shit, I can't make robotics on just a mechanical degree or an electrical degree. Stop telling me to make cars, and stop telling me to get a BUSINESS DEGREE. RAGE!!

The birds here are stupid! Look at this asshole!
This jerk wakes me up EVERY SINGLE MORNING 2 hours early before I need to get up. And he's not even the worst one! Apparently kookaburras EXIST. I thought they were just something made up for that stupid children's song! BUT NO, THEY ARE REAL. AND THEY SCREAM LIKE DYING CHILDREN.

But overall things are pretttty sweet. Minus the whole bird thing.

Things Australians Say Wrong #2

When I was in elementary school, I remember something my English teacher told the class. She said that you can learn alot about a culture that uses a particular language if you notice how many different words they have for a singular concept. Specifically, languages spoken commonly by Eskimos are said to contain an extraordinary amount of words just for snow in it's various forms and situations. This was said to represent how important snow's presence was in their culture.
(However, upon further investigation for this update, this information all came from a hoax report made by some lazy linguistic. Check your sources next time, bbbitch)

Why did I introduce today's installment of Things Australians Say Wrong like this?

Because Australians have about 1,000 different words for being drunk.
'Maggot'
'Legless'
'Shickered'
'Pissed'

The list goes on for miles.

Surely, if the same rules apply as they supposedly did for the Eskimos, this doesn't mean that Australian culture is centered on fire water?

Lets review the photographic evidence from last night's St. Patty's celebration for a conclusion.


Conclusion: Australians are all drunk bastards. But that's why I love them :(

You're in the mix with DJ Adrian

(This post is divided into two parts, the adventure and photos of the performances! Don't miss out on both!!)


So there was a benefit concert for the bushfires in Victoria and the floods in Queensland. For $75 (AUD), I had a pretty kickass time.

From 12pm to 10:30pm, the Sydney Cricket Ground was filled with bands I both knew and loved and some amazing Aussie bands I ain't ever heard of before. To top it all off, the Sound Relief concert in Melbourne (with a different lineup) synchronized with Sydney to broadcast a live feed of performances during stage changes!

I was stuck in the rear standing section for most of the concert, so I could only see a good view of the stage via huge screens. But it was cool, cuz us Basser boys were rockin' out.


Even though there were lame asses in the crowd like THESE TWO GIRLS SITTING ON THE FLOOR AT THE UPMOST PART OF THE SECTION DURING A PERFORMANCE. FFFFFFFUCK.

But it's cool, after some indirect heckling from us, they ate shit and died.

The Cricket Ground was PACKED. Front standing section seats were sold out within an hour of their release online, and the rear standing tickets were sold out not too long after that.


The weather was amazing during the first third of the concert. Perhaps... too amazing. Guess where I got that nasty sunburn?

Then the weather turned. The temperature dropped AT LEAST 10 degrees and it rained for about half an hour.

Then it was sunny again! AND THEN IT RAINED AGAIN. But it was okay!! Because just as it started to pour The Presets, the last major act (probably the most looked forward to of the show), took the stage! It was AMAZING.

There were some special hosts and appearances, like Kylie Minogue, Prince William, and Prince Hitler.


I really don't have the computer-mouth-words to describe how fun this all was, but you're going to have to believe me, ok? :(

ANYWHO, HERE WAS THE LINEUP. Or the performances that were worth sharing. Not a fan of Coldplay, but how can I not love them when they release ONE HUNDRED PANDA-SIZED BALLOONS into the stadium??

Anyway, if you haven't heard of any of these bands, check them out. They're amazing.

Coldplay (Guess which song they were playing during these photos)


Wolfmother (yay!)
Hoodoo Gurus
Little Birdy
Architecture in Helsinki (Like... if My Dear Disco and the B-52s had a child)

Josh Pyke
Eskimo Joe
Live Broadcast of Jack Johnson in Melbourne

JET
The Presets (They give off a slight radiation of awesome that interferes with electronics and prevents their photo from being taken directly)

Ice House
BARRY GIBS and THE GHOST OF OLIVIA NEWTON JOHN!?

In summary, I approve of Australian taste in music and their manner of rocking out. Even if they aren't too keen on Hip Hop.