Congratulations AUSTRALIA, your NUMBER 1!!!!!…

 

NUMBER 1,

FATTEST NATION

ON THE PLANET!!!

its official, we have jus tipped the yanks by one percentage point

what an embarrassing lot, we laughed at the yanks and the fact that they were the fattest nation, now they can laugh back at us. at least they had an excuse for being fat, after all america stands for bigger, faster, stronger, greedier… it’s only natural that most of the population eat what they preach.

but us aussies, what excuse do we have? oh yeah, we’re piss week sheep, do as the yanks. so, we eat at mcdonalds 5 days a week in our teenage years, upgrade to kfc when we move out of home, fish and chips and burgers in our first year defacto relationship, then back to mcdonalds when our first kids grow teeth.

recently headed to sicily, italy after a 23 year absence, and my misguided knowledge told me that most sicilians where short and fat…

much like this..

but i was wayyy wrong.

 

 

 

they where more like this…

and thats no exaggeration. 

 

I put it down to one main thing.. culture. what do australian and american kids eat in their teenage years…walk into any macdonalds and you can see. the place is full of kids, even if you have two macdonalds on the opposite side of the street, they will both be full. walk into the single macdonalds in the city center of catania in sicily, and you see very little…very little in terms of kids…the joint was empty.

who do we blame? the companies  for selling the shit, the governments for not doing enough, the kids for spending their pocket money on burgers and fries…nope…i blame the parents.

who do you think gave these two kids money and drove them to mcdonalds… 

excuse me sir, are you going to finish that burger and chips?

 

things that make me smile no.56

the end is nigh for us all….

what the fuck?!!!

ever since i got back from overseas last weekend, except for the following day (which i spent most of asleep), i’ve been getting up fuckn early!… between 5 and 8am, and i’m  going to bed at 12, 1, 2am.

what the hell is going on? i dont normally get out of bed before 9.30-10. and the old days when i use to go to bed at 4am, it was a case of “don’t call me before 11am or i’ll be pissed”

this morning i woke up at 5.30am. this insanity must stop! i’m getting too much work done. where the fuck is howard? i gotta blame someone for this.

“Sleep is a natural state of bodily rest observed throughout the animal kingdom. It is common to all mammals and birds, and is also seen in many reptiles, amphibians and fish.

In humans, other mammals, and a substantial majority of other animals which have been studied — such as fish, birds, ants, andfruit-flies — regular sleep is essential for survival. However its purposes are only partly clear and are the subject of intense research.

The optimal amount of sleep is not a meaningful concept unless the timing of that sleep is seen in relation to an individual’s circadian rhythms. A person’s major sleep episode is relatively inefficient and inadequate when it occurs at the “wrong” time of day. The timing is correct when the following two circadian markers occur after the middle of the sleep episode but before awakening:

• maximum concentration of the hormone melatonin, and
• minimum core body temperature.

The National Sleep Foundation in the United States maintains that eight to nine hours of sleep for adult humans is optimal and that sufficient sleep benefits alertness, memory and problem solving, and overall health, as well as reducing the risk of accidents. A widely publicized 2003 study performed at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine demonstrated that cognitive performance declines with fewer than eight hours of sleep.

However, a University of California, San Diego psychiatry study of more than one million adults found that people who live the longest self-report sleeping for six to seven hours each night. Another study of sleep duration and mortality risk in women showed similar results. Other studies show that “sleeping more than 7 to 8 hours per day has been consistently associated with increased mortality“, though this study suggests the cause is probably other factors such as depression and socio-economic status which would correlate statistically.  It has been suggested that the correlation between lower sleep hours and reduced morbidity only occurs with those who wake after less sleep naturally, rather than those who use an alarm.

Causal links are currently speculative: the available data may only reflect comorbid depression, socioeconomic status, or even alcohol use, for example. These studies cannot be used to determine optimal sleep habits, only correlation — and empirically observed correlation is a necessary but not sufficient condition for causality. A need for nine or ten hours of sleep a day, or only five to six, may or may not have the same cause as the shortened life span. In other words, long or short sleep duration itself has not been shown to be a cause of early death.”

Ah, thats good to know… carry on then.

art or porn?

ok i gotta put my 2 cents in. when i heard that the latest bill henson exhibition had received complaints and had to shut down i wasnt surprised. the same thoughts of “oh here we go again, more uneducated idiots enforcing their opinion”, came through my mind. and yet again another attack on art by people that have no concept what so ever of it.

then…to hear that bill henson was being charged and his photos taken for evidence…that got me by surprise and a slight sense of dread to what we have come too.

bill henson has been around for a while, his photography, his style and subject matter has been praised, awarded and credited as a true and beautiful example of art.

now, 2008, out of the blue he is charged with, what we can only assume ( as official charges havent been layed yet) will be child pornography charges. the investigation has just begun the outcome we wont know, and regardless of the outcome, one thing important issue has been raised, the world that we have created.

a world in which a nude photo of a child, will immediately bring outcries of pedophilia, child porn and ‘abhorrent’ behavior from the person that took the photo. and i havent even described the photo, explained the context, or even why, how or when the photo was taken….we just immediately think of it as a bad thing. and that is because of the world of fear we have created, the same with the world of fear the coalition of the willing have created against muslims and anyone with a beard.

now before i go on…
if at this stage, anyone has already come to the conclusion that i support or condone or even mildly turn a blind eye to child pornography or child exploitation, then you are one of those uneducated idiots that i mentioned in the first paragraph. then you havent even sat down for more then two seconds and even tried to follow what i am saying…cause clearly you have your head stuck so far up your own ass to cant see anything outside of your own cavity.

now let me continue…. 
the headlines on the papers today read, Art or Porn? seriously, what a fuckn stupid question. if i asked 1000 people what porn is, i’m sure in general replies would include words like, erect dicks, fucking, blowjobs, sex, sex and more sex. if i asked a 1000 people what art is, i would get close to a 1000 different words, opinions and views.

if you look at a photo of bill henson, which one of the above descriptions would it fit in? 
do i see sex, dicks, blowjobs, girls bent over a couch with legs spread open? or do i see something beautiful, do i see an emotion, a message? (of course for some they would see all three of the later in a debbie does dallas movie, but thats logic to stupid to even take seriously)

so is it porn or is it art…if you look at a bill henson photo and you see porn, then your perspective is pretty fucked up. if you see a photo of a naked child just standing there, in a plain room, saying or doing nothing, and you instantly think ‘abhorrent’..then again your perspective on the world is fucked. there is such a thing as context, and if you place a naked child in a piece of art, then that naked child is part of that art…if you place a naked child in a pornographic photo, then that photo is ‘abhorrent’ and illegal…its as simple as that….there is no fine line, there is no grey area.

bill henson creates ART! not porn.
pedophiles create abuse and suffering, nor art, nor porn.

open up your eyes idiots!

clueless idiots no. 41

someone explain to me whats with guys and pink tshirts. since when did pink become a choice of colour for a guy to wear? i know i know, it hsnt happened over night, its been a trend for some time now….but every time i see a guy wearing a pink t shirt i just have to pause in wonder. WHAT THE FUCK IS HE THINKING?

come on… pink looks cute on a girl, thats about it…what do you think pink is going to look like on a guy? cute? tough? cool? what the hell is your statement…your wearing a pink t-shirt for fucks sake.

now 5% of guys may have some clue to what they are wearing, 60% of guys have zero fashion sense, the other 35% just sees the guy next to him and copies what he wears.

you wouldnt drive a pink car, you wouldn’t buy a pink couch, you wouldn’t have pink bed sheets, what makes you think a pink shirt is going to look good on you?

most people that know me, now that if they invented a colour darker then black, i’d wear it..otherwise all i wear is black. but i do have my colour days..i throw in the odd grey tshirt, dark red top, or maybe a bit of greenish grey…hell even brown has made its way…yes brown. no goth would be caught dead in brown you say…well lucky i’m no goth.

so just because all i believe in is black, i’m not expecting every other guy to wear black just so they can be as cool as i am….i’m sure if you have any dress sense at all, you can make orange, yellow, or blue look good…all fine colours…but pink?

i have no logical explanation for it, other then your all a bunch of sheep, blindly following fuck awful trends.

what are you gonna wear next summer moron? thigh high socks?

a christmas message

hahaha..its so fuckn funny, the time of the year when all is pretty and all are jolly, i tend to turn into a grumpy old man sitting at his front porch yelling at the kids on their bikes. what does that to me you ask? CHRISTMAS! Yes, fuckn christmas..it just shits me…it shits me to no end seeing all the niceties and all the messages of love and shit.I cant tolerate a fake smile on someones face at the best of time…so a fake smile brought on by christmas cheer, makes me want to slit someone elses wrists.now i sound kinda bitter and angry and shitty and like a 13 year old boy who didnt get halo 3 for xmas, but its really not like that.

 

see..most other years..yeah, i’d be shitty and i would have had 1200 word rant up by now on how much i hate christmas, humankind and the entire planet…but this year its different….no, i havent been reborn.. i still hate christmas. but maybe at my old age i’m tolerating it more, kinda getting tired of fighting it and just accept it. or maybe i’m just taking a rest for a year, so as to build up the energy for a 34 volume rant next year.

 

so no big rant this year, but rather quiet reflection. what have i been reflecting on..well one word comes to mind, hypocrite. one of the biggest human traits i deplore and something that i avoid doing myself. but i do hate christmas, but i do accept the gifts…so that makes me a hypocrite…plain and simple. now i’m sure if you sit down and really analyze it, and you have some small understanding on how my brain works you may find explanations that could very well save me from my self confested sin. but i think i just want to dwell on it for a little while, its something that doesnt completely eat me up inside and make me want to burn all my material possessions and flog myself with 100 lashes. but its something that does make me think.

 

at times i feel incredible guilt when a good friend and good person wishes me a happy christmas or sends me a card, and i hadnt done so. i do thank them, but it doesnt seem to be enough…and therefore we are back to the hating yet needing to embrace it part of the hypocrite in me.

 

so maybe this year i will take it easy, a little less of the christmas grinch and remain the ‘hypocrite’ till the 25th and workout a compromise for next year.  

 

nothing changes though..i still fuckn hate christmas.

 

have a safe and fun holiday people 

 

a proud australian once again…

for the past 11 years, i refused to consider myself a proud australian.

for the past 11 years, australia’s PM john howard, and his party created an australia that i was very little proud and even less willing to be associated with. in what was the sweetest of elections, last night, the man that i despised had been un-ceremoniously dumped by the people he betrayed. australia has vote with a very clear NO, that we no longer want him back, and for the 2nd time in australian political history, a PM has failed to hold his own electoral seat. a clearer message that we had had enough of him, and no longer want to see the little monkey, couldnt be sent.

with the center-left party of Rudd, now in power, i am not expecting great wonders, but in the three biggest fuck ups that howard has made in his 11 years: 
1. joining the war in iraq. 
2. removing australia from kyoto 
3. and the recent IR laws that stripped years off workers rights. 
Rudd has pledged to reverse and rectify. that too me represents a country with a soul and with brains.

so once again, i am a proud australian, living in the best country on the planet.

Marcel Marceau

$4 nin albums

cut and pasted from ‘the age’ australia online news.

Nine Inch Nails frontman Trent Reznor has slammed his record label and strongly encouraged fans to steal music.

Reznor launched a stinging tirade against Universal Music Australia on Sunday at the group’s concert at Sydney’s Hordern Pavilion, dismayed at the high price the label charged for CDs.

He called the record label “greedy f—ing assholes”. It followed similar diatribes earlier in the year.

“Steal it. Steal away. Steal, steal and steal some more and give it to all your friends and keep on stealing,” Reznor, who has been dubbed the Ralph Nader of the music industry, said.

“Because one way or another these mother f—ers will get it through their head that they’re ripping people off and that’s not right.”

The group’s latest album, Year Zero, sells for more than $30 in Australia, far more than albums from other artists.

A proud Reznor said Universal Music worldwide already hated him after he made similar comments on high CD prices the last time he visited Australia (“because I yelled at them and called them out for being greedy f—ing assholes”).

The Australian Recording Industry Association (ARIA), which has vigorously campaigned against music piracy, refused to comment on Reznor’s attack. Universal Music Australia did not return calls requesting comment.

Reznor’s endorsement of illegal downloading comes at a time when artists, particularly well-established ones, are cracking down on sites illegally distributing their music.

The crackdown is viewed by many as a desperate response to flagging physical CD sales in the face of digital downloads, both legal and illegal.

Figures released by ARIA last month revealed CD album and single sales dropped by 17 per cent and 47 per cent respectively in the first six months of this year, compared with the same period last year. Digital album sales increased by 67 per cent.

Last week, Prince said he planned to sue eBay, YouTube and The Pirate Bay for copyright infringement, in a bid to “reclaim his art on the internet”.

Days later, Can’t Stop Productions, which owns the rights to the Village People’s music, said it was preparing to sue YouTube over a Hitler-themed clip that used the group’s hit song, YMCA.

But Reznor, a self-confessed illegal downloader, has been campaigning to have CD prices reduced since May when, on the band’s website, he noted Year Zero sold in Australia for $34.99, compared with an Avril Lavigne album costing $21.99.

He said a Universal Music rep told him the price was so high because Nine Inch Nails fans would buy the record regardless of its cost.

“No wonder people steal music,” Reznor wrote.

This month before a concert at the Beijing Pop Festival he said: “It does not seem to be easy to obtain Western music via legal channels, so I have the following suggestion for our fans: if you can find and buy our legal CDs, I express my thanks for your support. If you cannot find it, I think that [illegally] downloading from the internet is a more acceptable option than buying pirated CDs.”

Reznor told his Chinese fans that Nine Inch Nails would put out one last album for Universal, after which it would sell directly to fans through its website for as cheaply as $4 an album.

in this day and age, i’d say record labels are obsolete. half the time they are out of touch with music lovers, continually rehashing and promoting the same clones, and looking for the next trend to follow. with the internet at everyones disposal, an artist no longer needs to sign their soul away to get their music out to their listeners, but can reach millions through popular networking site, word of mouth and smart self promotion, and keep their soul doing it.

if the big record labels had any brains, rather then trying to hold on with dear life to the empire they ran for so many years, they would see things are and have changed. why would i spend $30 to buy a cd from a cd store to then burn it onto my ipod when i can buy it from itunes for $16. and again, why would i spend $16, inflated again by the record labels, for an electronic album, when an unsigned artist is selling the same thing for $4 and is most likely making more money from each dollar then it would if a label sold it through itunes.

i look forward to the day that record labels are dead and artist sell their own music, under their own terms at the price they like. when that day comes, i’ll be browsing music sites all week sampling new music and buying an album a week.

sleeping

model: alive

photography: me