Earthdance 09 Redux

Alright, now that I've had a chance to shower, and sleep [literally for about 20 hours] I can make a nice big post about Earthdance this year and share some of my favorite pics.

This year went incredibly well, we had an enormous turn out [a few hundred more than we were expecting] and it was insanely hectic, with most of the organisers pulling 36 hour shifts at one point or another. My official job was "gate coordinator" which essentially meant that I was here

for the overwhelming majority of the festival, administering entry to the party.

Come Saturday night thought, when the gate had slowed down enough to allow me to stick some volunteers on it, I had a shift at running the festival. We broke it down into shifts so that we could all finally get some rest. It had the added advantage for me of giving me the opportunity to actually see the festival, which I had not had a chance to do yet. [other than seeing Oxygens set on friday night, which was rad]

It's easy to forget when you're an organiser that you're surrounded by people having an incredible time. All we tend to see are the problems that need attending to so that everything travels smoothly. It's kind of like a duck on a pond, it glides along serenely, but under the surface it's kicking like mad.

To combat this I made a point of going around asking punters how they were going and if they thought there was anything that needed seeing to. The overwhelming majority of people were happy, and having a grand old time boogying, or chilling with mates, or going for a bushwalk.

This does not mean, however, that there were no problems.

First of all, I'd like to register my supreme distaste for people who cant handle their drugs, illegal or otherwise. Now I recognise that I helped put on an electronic music festival, and as such, there was always going to be people getting sideways at the party. But seriously, to all the people who have ever gotten so drunk, high, stoned, ripped, zonked, or whatever other contemporary nonmenclature you wanna use, that you can no longer a] control yourself, and b] have any higher level knowledge of what you're doing. Take a good, long, hard, look at your motivations for doing the things that you are doing. I hate the fact that people simply retreat into a land of substance abuse to avoid dealing with the world without asking why first. I've mentioned anomie before, it's a concept I've come across only recently at uni, but it's one of the very few things I've learned that seems to be hugely applicable to the problems of the world. Booze and drugs seem to be one of societies go to fixes for anomie.

Another issue I had with the weekend as a whole was the police. Now, up until this weekend I'd always tried to maintain respect for the fuzz. They're one of the professions in this world that should get the most respect [alongside teachers and nurses]but seems to get the least. After last years Earthdance the police informed us that they would not support us coming back, this year they did everything in their power to ensure that we will not return next year. Roadblocks into and out of the festival [which they did not inform us of, a courtesy normally afforded festival organisers] with sniffer dogs and drug checks. There were also roaming squads within the festival itself randomly searching people for drugs and age checks for drinking. They also endeared themselves well to the private security we hired, yellow stickering their car on the way in [again, not hugely professional to do that to the men who you'll be liaising with all festival and who are your first port of call for behavioral troubles all event]. They also did things like drive their cars around the dance floors with lights on, just to really intimidate all our punters. The thing that troubles me the most though, is that I can fully understand them not wanting a bunch of tripping city slickers in their neck of the woods, but their behavior and organisation was not designed to minimise impact, or keep as many drugs in the city, or anything of that nature. It was to bust people, as many as possible. After the behavior of the police this weekend, I have lost ALL respect for the members of WAPOL, and going forward into the future will do my utmost to undermine their authority and thwart their plans.

On the plus side though, the security I mentioned previously... amazing. The guys we hired for this event, although stretched over their limit, did an amazing job, professional, understanding, severe when the need was present, but otherwise concerned with avoiding trouble rather than stopping it. Something the police could have taken notes on.

Finally I'm going to share some of the pics I took that I really enjoyed.

This first one is of my amazing friend Justine [left] and my amazing friend and partner Alia [right] around the campfire late on Sunday night. They were incredibly patient with me asking them to hold really still for the 4 second exposure it took to get them this clearly.

This is of Al Star, old school member of the doof scene and a pretty awesome sonic engineer, it was his system that we used on the second stage. He's also a mad good DJ/producer.

Lol, this one was taken after Alia [who is a barber by trade] had given me a shave with her cuthroat razor in the bush. The water is all blown out and over exposed, which adds to the look that I'm being redeemed by some kind of whack televangelist minister.

This final shot is of bad quality, but the composition pretty much perfectly sums up the feel of earthdance.

That's all for now folks, if you like the shots you can see more at my picasa page

And remember guys, if you like this stuff, vote for me like mad. I can win an internship at sunset events, something this post should prove I'd be pretty keen on.

Con the fruiterer hasn't got nothing on my house.

Everything on this table, sans the fruitbowl and pumpkin in the top left, was purchased for 20 dollars. That huge box of tomatoes was 2 bucks. They're not even manky or anything.

Stock rd markets on a sunday. Freo markets, you aint got malarky on those guys.

Media!

I made a video of me reading the news for my unit "Radio News". This is radio broadcasting in all its glory my friends. The funny faces I am making is because my teacher is sitting behind the sound proof glass frantically telling me to slow it down. I'm a fast talker.

On the left I have made a little box to always maintain the links of the latest edition of my show on Radio Fremantle. I'm on 5-7 friday nights playing new music as well as a live artist each week. My taste is pretty diverse, so have a listen, there is bound to be something you like. Unless all you like is commercial stuff, in which case there will be nothing you like.

And now... LINKS

This little Pearler Comes courtesy of Brains? I. Ducking. Love. Tilt Shift optics. How they work is a bit of physics jargon that goes mostly over my head, but the end result is that normal sized things end up looking like minatures. Make sure you watch for the trains around the minute mark.

Tilt Shift Test #1 from jaemiem on Vimeo.

On the topic of cool optic stuff. Check this program out. Photolapse, in conjunction with a tripod and a niceish camera allows you you make time lapse sequences. Which if you aren't familiar with, look like this [this totally uses HDR photography as well if you're wondering why the colours are so awesome]

Twin Peaks San Francisco Sunrise (HDR time-lapse) from Chad Richard on Vimeo.

What would time lapse and tilt shift photography look like when combined I hear you ask?

Bathtub V from Keith Loutit on Vimeo.

Radical.

For the nerds in the crowd, this is a cool development in motherboards, hybrid systems. Basically you can run a low powered atom based server as well as a decent spec gaming/media rig at the same time. Want.

The kids'll be alright

So, on Friday night while I was at work a bunch of people I know went down to the beach. I joined them later in the evening. Here is a selection of shots Josh took. Josh is also my housemate, and I guess sort of the resident photographer of my, and a few other friends lives. He takes some pretty alright photos too, just d
on't tell him I said so. You can peruse his flickr at your leisure

A night of lolygaggery and ballywho

So last night we had some peeps over, and as always seems to be the case, the funny hats went on and the cameras came out.

I work at the Newport right, which if you've not heard of it, is kind of renowned for being the bar in freo for young crew to go to and get messed up, it's busy, it's popular. Now, I'm 100% down with the need to blow of steam, unwind, and generally just escape the pressures of life, be them uni, work, family, or anything else. But what I don't understand is why people need to cut loose in such impersonal, gross ways. Let us use clubbing as an example, although it's starting to get better, there are very few clubs in Perth with good music, which at 100 decibles, is pretty much the only thing you're going to get from a club. They are too loud for genuine social interaction. Have that particular sickly sweet scent of dried vomit and spilled booze. Are possibly the most inconvenient places to get to, and from, in the universe. And are, without exception, filled with more frowns that smiles, at least past 11pm. Every weekend, I see hundreds of people in this city's nightspots staggering around anomic as all hell. I put if forth to you world, that we need to recapture friendship and social interaction centred around respect and [without being too hallmark here] love, rather than convenience, and an archaic notion of being true to your mates.

Now, I don't want it to seem like I'm some kind of reculse shutin that looks down from atop my mighty peak of pretension on the peons below me who could possible want to go clubbing. Not at all, I've had some great times in clubs getting my freak on out on the dance floor, or making smokey eye contact with that sexy someone across the room. These are things that I'm more than willing to own up to enjoying. What baffles me is how people willingly get so sideways that they either don't have a good time, or can't remember the awesome falling and vomiting and passing out that they might have really enjoyed at the time.

The point of all this waffling is to say, it don't gots to be this way, yo. You can get some good mates, some good tunes, some good food, [last night's example of this were some bomb digity goood cookies from Faye for fixing her computer. Big ups Faye, they were tasty] and some silly clothes, and have damn near the best night possible.

So without further ado, photos from a really awesome night last night.

The First set of pictures is an ode to all the lame assed cam girls out there who still think they are fooling people about their weight by doing overhead shots. Also, showing your titties, not attractive.

Gerry

Brennon


Sascha


Josh


My Badself


James

While we still had our funny hats on I demanded that we sit for family portrait, my glorious, ever patient friends indulged me.

Finally, a few notable mentions for some scraggly shots that don't really have friends. Awwwww.

OMG TAKING THE REVERSE SHOT FROM THE PORTRAIT

Put two glasses down this boy and he's anyone's.

Complete Accident. Flash and digital, no fun.

I may or may not have a hole between my nostriles big enough to fit a finger through [note: not from cocain use.]

-22.706, 128.898. September 20th 2015

Good morning internet, it's a bright and lovely mid-morning here in Lake McKay. According to the GPS I'm still in WA technically, but to be honest out here it's hard to care for such things. The last week was moderately eventful. Since my update a week ago I've covered about 250 km's. The terrain has been a little rough on Ephos in parts, camel feet really don't like the super rocky terrain, they's all about the sand yo. We saw [yes I refer to the camel and myself as a “we”. Contrary to what you think, it actually shores up my sanity rather than eroding it] that pack of feral dogs again yesterday. Now far be it from me to rag on the canine's natural capacity to hunt or anything, I know these dogs are plenty dangerous, but seriously guys, you might want to try this whole silent stalking thing a little bit better. It's reminiscent from that old scene in family guy where the mum springs the child snatcher with an admonishing “oh you almost made it!”. I honestly think half the reason they're following us isn't to eat us but just cause we're interesting and noisy, there is still a lot of dog in there. It's cool though. Ephos doesn't take no guff from them at night, so I just get nice and close to the big girl.
Now if you've been following my daily updates throughout the week you'll have seen *this link to the guy who made his home aquaculture setup under his house, with clear perspex windows in the floor... I don't want to sound hyperbolic, but that's basically the coolest thing I've ever seen, ever. The best thing for me is, I hate seafood, so when I put a similar thing In my dream home [which I'm totally going to] I can have something purely decorative, like Koi. This is where the future of sustainability lies people, it's the same reason why wind turbines don't ruin views, there is beauty in the augmentation of the world to save it.
In other news, tonight's podcast is shaping up to be killer. I'm here on the “shores” of Lake McKay, so I'll just wander a kilometre or so into the salt pan. If you can find a better place to record on earth, I'd like to hear about it. We might be lucky and get the dog's howling to the moon again as well. I've found some fantastic new tunes this week in my online meanderings. Mike Patton's new project has dripped a song or two into the ether which I've got for you. I swear, after the apocalypse there is going to be cockroaches and Mike Patton, the guy is unkillable. I've also grabbed an interview with Matt Pollack, leader of a new political party in Brisbane called the reformers. They're ambitious goal is to transcend election cycle politics and subvert the spin cycle of the media with boder line realtime information through the intergoogles. This guy is much more than your run of the mill crackpot, so be sure to have a listen.
Also, I got a voice message from my little brother yesterday. For those of you who aren't familiar I mean my “Bigger Brothers, Bigger Sisters” little brother. I'm not allowed to identify him obviously, so I use the pseudonym “Gaz”. It's fantastic that the top brass over at BBBS ok'd Gaz retaining me as his Bigger Brother for this trip. Normally kids need a bit of structure in their lives, and that's what BBBS provides, so I'd have been replaced with someone else. But it would have taken Gaz a fair while to warm up to a new person, he sure did with me. But I digress. Point is, the footy team he plays for is in the grand final, I wont name the team but what I've done is opened up a new comments page so if anyone wants to wish him and his team good luck I'll link him to it before his game.
I'm sit by the smouldering remnants of last nights fire, my trusty desert ship off foraging for her breakfast while I make mine. It occurs to me that I basically have the best job in the whole world. When I was sitting in the Murdoch news room all those summers ago, I was stressing about making the cut for the ABC cadetship. I've now used the skills I learned in my degree, not my degree, to build the greatest job I could have imagined. I'm paid [by all you lovely people] to trawl the world's information and present it to you for your enjoyment. I get to listen to all the new songs, see all the new movies, and have a finger on the pulse of news, the fact that I'm doing all of this from atop a camel in the middle of Australia via wireless broadband means that the moniker “Culture Cowboy” is all the more applicable [which is awesome cause that moniker is wicked] I guess what I'm trying to say is, cheers.
I'm running low on meat my fellow netizens, so I'm off to hunt a Roo. If I can get one today I'll make a “how to smoke your own meat in the bush” guide and put it up for you. Remember that the podcast goes up tonight so tune in live from Lake McKay or listen to it later [although that's heaps less cool] otherwise kids, I'll see you Monday.

Awesome Chai Recipe!

chaichaichaichaichaichaichai

Reminds me of this guy

So we pretty much live in the future.

Agreed.

Link Post.

First up we've got some pretty bullshit Guitar playing. It's a pretty impressive set of skills that can keep an electro head like me enthralled for 7 minutes.

ALL GLORY TO HYPNOTOAD

The merchant vessel ghost fleet moored off Singapore.

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Parkor on a bike!