be excellent to each other

First, a community announcement:
THE DIY ARTS SHOW CD SHOWCASE
Saturday April 1 at The Tote (Collingwood)
8:30pm 'till late. $10 entry + free copy of the CD!
Featuring: Rose Turtle-Ertler, Speculum, Trixie's
Undersea Adventure, Ewah lady, Nobody's Dreamboat [who is great] and Made Austria [who are a fucking AWESOME acapella metal/hard rock group].
The DIY Arts CD Showcase is on sale for *only $10* and is avaialble
through 3CR (21 Smith St Collingwood) and local retailers.

Awhile ago I did a parody sticker of the University of Melbourne logo for their student newspaper, Farrago. Basically, I was the design monkey and did what I was told. A few people have commented and said they saw it around, so I thought you might like to see the alternative designs. To see the original logo, click here.


The design that was printed. Click the image for a larger version.


I like this message better. I think the point of critiquing an elite university like Melbourne should be an examination of the role they play, rather than the quality of its deliverance. Meh, no-one listened to me when I was involved in student politics either.
Click the image for a larger version.


I thought this design would be good for the Farrago kids because half the student population would be like, "Oh no, I feel really horrible for being so frightfully rich. Perhaps I should join Socialist Alternative during my academic career to offset the damage [A bit like planting acres of homogeneous trees to offset carbon emissions]. I shall place this sticker in a prominant position and register my outrage at my privilege." The other half of the student population would be like, "Yeah. Let the fuckers eat cake. I can't wait to put this on the bumper of my Saab."
Click the image for a larger version.


I don't think I can open Illustrator without making a retro reference somewhere. This did make me and Hon laugh, though.
Click the image for a larger version.

I've also being going a bit nuts in Illustrator doing these nifty little simplified icon thingies. Remember the Australian mascot from the 1984 Olympics? This little guy was inspired by that.

spatula city

Made a mix CD for a friend today. Why not download the tracks and rock out? I'm staying home tonight to watch Antony (of Antony & The Johnsons fame) program Rage. But if it's all Jimmy Somerville and shit I'm just going to bed. (Good news, I just looked up the playlist and it's great. Link.)

Hipotitis-C Mixtape:
Side A
Real Wild Child (Wild One) - Iggy Pop
Friday On My Mind - The Easybeats
Ain't No Fun - 213
Like A Feather - Nikka Costa
Keep It Up - Fannypack
Boys In Town - The Divinyls
Hungry Like The Wolf - Duran Duran
Love Is The Drug - Roxy Music
Computer Camp Love - Datarock
Heartbeats - The Knife
Wuthering Heights - Kate Bush

Side B
Hope There's Someone - Antony And The Johnsons
Caring Is Creepy - The Shins
Ramblin' Man - Hank Williams
Old Cape Cod - Patti Page
We Will Become Silhouettes - The Postal Service
Sprout and the Bean - Joanna Newsom
Pass This On - The Knife
Calling It Quits - Aimee Mann
Where Is My Mind? - The Pixies
Fotzepolitic - Cocteau Twins


With the Commonwealth Games still going on, I haven't caught the train around the city, and so I haven't seen the devastation caused by painting grey slabs over the graffiti. Banksy has written an article about it in The Guardian here. I actually thought Banksy was a bit played out (a la Shepard Fairey) but then I followd the link to his pics on the Israeli Wall.

Oh, and here is my favourite new song (except for the bits where the guy is singing in the chorus. That part is shit).

snakes on a motherfuckin' plane

You might remember a few posts ago I lauded the coming of V for Vendetta. If you're familiar with both the graphic novel and anarchism, you'll probably be as excited as the boneheads were before Romper Stomper came out. Hey... what is a "romper" anyway? Someone who romps? Anyway, I predict V for Vendetta will have about as much to do with actually practiced anarchism as Van Helsing had to do with entertainment. Which makes this post on Infoshop.org all the more perplexing. And I quote:

This Friday marks the beginning of our most important opportunity in decades to communicate with millions about the possibility of a world without capitalism or coercion. On Friday, March 17, 2006, the long awaited film version of Alan Moore’s classic graphic novel, V for Vendetta, will premier throughout the US.

So far, so dodgy. I don't mind that a few people might want to capitalise on the opportunity the film might present in talking about anarchism as distinct from chaos. But then...

Through the use of literature, speakouts, lit tables, and street theater outside movie theaters showing the film, we can inspire moviegoers leaving the film to join the fight for a stateless society.

That's right, they're going inspire people with street theatre. I realise in this case it's easy to be a naysayer than to actually offer an alternative. My point is that perhaps this is not an opportunity at all. Putting aside the doginess of "propaganda by deed" (i.e. blowing shit up), I don't think a film is a substitute for actual work on the ground - or even a supplement. Of course, I haven't seen the film, but if the graphic novel is anything to go by, V for Vendetta isn't exactly Land and Freedom.

Okay, okay. If I can't write about anything remotely interesting, I can at least be a link whore for those of you who keep checking back. The following is a list of things that are getting me excited lately.

MC Chris.
AKA MC Pee Pants from Aqua Teen Hunger Force. It's nerd hip hop and more than a little contrived at times, but goddamn if I don't love the high-pitched voice and songs about Boba Fett. Best of all, you can download track for free from his website.

Pic from Antipopper. I wish I had've thought of this first. Damn it.

Battlestar Galactica.
This is fast approaching sci-fi perfection. I love the grittiness, the political intrigue and the savage violence. I watched an ep the other day (S02E17) that was about abortion. Abortion! After the first trimester! On a sci-fi show! And it played out really well, too. And the final episode offers a total blindsider in the final twenty minutes. So fire up your bit-torrents chaps, because that show is a doozy.

Sonic Covers.
I had forgotten how much I liked the music from the first couple of Sonic games on the Sega Megadrive. This fellow reminded me with this great video (see below). Coincidentally, about a week after I saw that vid, Coverville did a great show on video game covers in tribute to the 20th anniversary of Legend of Zelda's release on the Famicon.

mysterious mose

I love this shit.