I don’t mean rhinestones!

I was having a conversation with FashionCousin the other day whereby she expressed some concern about how all her friends were beginning to settle down. Being the nice cousin I am I laughed in an evil way and said wait ’till they all start having babies!. She wasn’t impressed and I understood why. If I have to go to one more dinner party where I’m:

a) sitting at the head of the table because I’m the odd one out.
b) asked ‘why are you still single?’ or ‘found anyone special yet?’
c) not so subtly being set up with the only other single guy there
d) have to partake in conversation consisting only of dirty nappies/weddings/how hard it is for a couple to pay off a mortgage (fuck off!).

then I’m going to whip out my filed sharp toothbrush shank and start offing people.

Aaaaanyway, after talking about various weddings and engagements we’d been to lately FashionCousin decided that if she wasn’t married by the time she was 30 (she’s just turned 26) then she was going to do one big thing for herself: buy herself a mega -could be a deposit on a house- diamond ring.

This is not the first time I’ve heard of people doing this. In fact I’ve seen quite a few single women who are around 35-40 years old who have gorgeous, huge diamond rings that they bought themselves. Why? A few reasons:

a) they could afford to do so themselves
b) they wanted one as a treat “just for me”.
c) they didn’t want the only reason they have a beautiful diamond to be dependant on whether they were getting married or not.

The few women I’ve seen who have done this have come across as successful, independent women to me, some of whom even have long term partners. On the flipside I’ve also heard of a group of girlfriends all chipping in to buy another women a diamond ring. Personally I’ve always wanted a pair of diamond stud earrings and I know that if I want them it’s probably something I’m going to buy myself one day (err..when I finally save up). As for a ring, I want that to be from a the man I love/loves me (hm, had to stop writing to have a laughing fit there) – but that’s because that would be symbolic to me and would probably die with it on.

It’s interesting how beautiful jewellery once the domain of gift giving from men has become something that some women are willing to do for themselves now. Since I hear of so many men complaining about forking out for a diamond ring I wonder if this is something they are happy with now. I asked bro about this:

bro: if they buy their own ring, what are we supposed to buy for them?
me: err, I thought men hated buying the diamond ring. They’re always complaining about it.
bro: ….yeah..okay. But it still sucks.

Okay, so what say you? Why are women buying their own beautiful jewellery? Girls, would you buy your own piece of beautiful jewellery or is it something only done in romance? Men, are you insulted or relieved by women who buy their own jewellery?

I can’t see anyone else smiling in here

It wasn’t until the early 90s and the British Indie scene was starting to penetrate the smokey, strung out back rooms of mainstream nightclubs in Melbourne that people really noticed them. I wouldn’t know, I wasn’t in clubs then, I was sitting somewhere in the middle of a classroom listening to my headphones discretely under my school jumper, snaked up through the neck and under my hair. But somewhere in between deciding whether I could get away with wearing a bit of lippy to school and buying shitty op shop clothes with my hard earned pay packet I discovered Pulp. I admit, at first I was in it for the Cock(er) (typical, but what a way to go) but soon enough found they held other delights – namely the music.

I think being a bit besotted with Jarvis taught me a lot about how sexual attractiveness is about what goes on inside rather than all looks. Honestly, the man went against everything I really saw as sexy in men. He was greasy, skinny, awkward, lanky and looked as though he had pneumonia half the time – so of course I wanted to have his babies (probably still would). Why? Oh, so many reasons – starting with;

That voice.
Amazingly deep, soulful and way too sexy for a white skinny guy from Sheffield.

Then I discovered he was also side splittingly hilarious, plus politically motivated and not afraid to act on it. I was sold on Jarvis – and interestingly those qualities are first and foremost what I find sexy in men.

As for Pulp, the band, they had me from the moment I first heard them. The song at the time that was creaming corduroy pants around the nation was Common People and I loved that too, but the song that really drove me wild and still does is the rather wicked Babies. I can’t decide whether I want to just lay back and listen to this while staring at the clouds or whether I want to get up and dance. Both, now that I think of it.

Babies – Pulp

click for song

ps: Jay did a great MM on Pulp not too long ago – much more comprehensive than mine – check it out.

Red Hat.

The great thing about my job is that I get to think about and view pieces of artwork all day and it’s all legit. People also approach me for my opinion about art as well. I find the later absolutely hilarious – since it was only a couple of years ago that I was in the classroom and people were asking me about reading instead. I haven’t changed qualifications overnight – just the perception of me has changed. It’s made me realise how titles can create an aura that has little to do with the actual person. To be fair, a lot of people talked to me about art before too – but just without illusions as to what I did and did not know.

I’ve been working with a lot of Australian painters with the kids this term. The upper levels with William Barak, the little ones with Charles Blackman and the middle kids with John Brack. I didn’t consciously intend to do an Australian theme across levels but somehow things just ended up that way. They just seemed like the best choices to use for what I wanted to demonstrate. A few years ago I wouldn’t have given Australian artists any credence but now I rate them highly. I guess I have always had a very euro-centric view of art which has been influenced partly by my upbringing but also by being an Australian, living in Australia. We tend to find validation in the outside rather than within.

Though I spend so much of my time now contemplating art, as well as teaching it – I’ve come to realise that I view Art primarily through my emotions and I didn’t realise that not everyone does that. I’ve got my red hat on, so to speak. A piece is good because it has the technique, the cultural significance, the je ne sais quoi – all that and more – but my favourite paintings are the ones that make me feel something. Maybe it’s a sense of sadness, or despair, or craziness, or ..something – whatever. For me, if it doesn’t make me feel then it hasn’t achieved it’s purpose. Yes, abstract art too (so bloody ignorantly assessed as being something ‘even a child can do’).

So when a colleague commented favourably on John Brack’s Collins St, 5pm, which I had displayed for my next lesson I was a little taken aback by her reasons for liking it – It really shows it all doesn it? The esablishment is there. She was refering of course to the stately buildings in the background. As well as this she liked how distinguished they looked in their coats, and commented that there were hardly any women. All valid of course. All true. Though I had never thought of the painting in these terms. For me it was about the drudgery of work life, the depressing nature of being part of the dehunanising machine – you get dressed, you get on the bus you go to work, you get out at 5pm with all the other plebs, go back to the bus looking a little more weary and begin the home life which may or may not also involve other aspects of drudgery – who knows? All we see is the ever imposing buildings (Bank of NSW, indeed) and flat, almost cardboard like quality of the figures, and of life itself. The painting makes me feel depressed and in some ways I can identify. It captures that sense of monotomous, monotonal life beautifully.

I was amazed my colleague didn’t touch on these points, which are so important to me and important when I view any piece of artwork. I want to know about the emotion and the feeling. I look for these things and my colleague doesn’t. She wouldn’t even enter into a discussion about it and I realised this is why people disagree about art. I wondered about it later and realised that she views most things, not so much superficially but does concentrate a lot on the establishment and the look. I tend to see things through the way I feel. Things aren’t going so well today because I’m frustrated. Or things are wonderful, I woke up happy. You might dismiss a certain kind of art (like say children’s art) because it’s not sophisticated, or not perfect but then maybe you view life in this way too – you might be unrelenting in other ways too. It’s interesting in that art really is life. I wonder how the way I view art is influencing my little students. I certainly look at all aspects, technique, culture, emotion etc but I only ever pick paintings which I, myself can feel. I’m like that with everything.

How do you view art? What do you look for?

Mango Tree

It’s Monday afternoon and I could almost fall asleep under the Art Room bench. In fact I almost didn’t make it out of bed this morning. I awoke momentarily only to roll right over and fall asleep again. Thank god I woke up again, not quite in time for a shower, but with enough time to rush and just make it. Don’t you just hate days like that? You’re already behind from the beginning. It was a stroke of genius to stay behind on Friday afternoon last week and set up the AR for this morning. Lucky me.

My weekend was a mix of friends and family as it tends to be on Mother’s Day weekends. The 30th birthdays have started in full swing and it’s a little scary to tell you the truth. The big difference between the 21st and the 30ths is that by 1am you actually are tired AND willing to submit to the tiredness. Plus you make your own speeches rather than have someone else do the dirty on you. By 30 I guess you’re owning it. That’s kind of cool. I’ve started to think of 21 year olds as kids now, so I guess I’m well and truly past it. Everyone seems to agree, leaving the 20s is hard but the 30s sound like much more fun.

It was interesting catching up with the buds for this particular 30th. B, we hardly see anymore since she up and moved to the country with two children in tow (definitely a yummy mummy). G is starting to scour the internet for true love (I told her about my experiment a while back. She tells me to submit it as an article to Cleo. lol), M is as always the perfect host and #2 is still living the rockstar lifestyle – which is apt since she married a muso. As for me – there’s something NQR. As always is the theme with me: I’m still waiting for this life thing to happen. I don’t know why it’s so hard for me to just leave everything behind and take a chance to make a change (whatever that chance and change may be), but alas it is. Funny, since I’m normally so spontaneous in everything I do.

But yes, something needs to change. I’m finding that I’m not even being myself anymore. It’s like I’m playing M the character, the protagonist in my own story – and that doesn’t seem like a way to live a life. But how do you? How do you change?

Anyway, today’s Musical Monday is simply a song I heard on the tele yesterday afternoon – on the Sunday Arts program on the ABC. Not quite high brow but it’s not Big Brother so that’s something. A brother and sister duo Angus and Julia Stone whom I’d never heard of before – with their song Mango Tree. It’s been playfully hanging around in my head all morning. I like it being there. I hope you like it too.

Mango Tree – Angus and Julia Stone

dunno

Panic! At the Emo.

No, not Elmo, EMO!

That’s right. Asymetrical hair sporting, black eyeliner wearing, Emotional hardedge music listening Emos. After the tragic suicides of teenagers Stephanie Gestier and Jodie Gater in Melbourne a few weeks ago it’s all anyone seems to be talking about these days. What is Emo? Who listens to it? Why does everyone hate Emos so much anyway?

I’m afraid I’m no expert on the matter. I first came across the term about 8 or so years ago on an online message board where everyone made fun of them. I learned there that Emos were somewhere between wannabes and social lepers. I guess 8 years on that basic definition hasn’t changed.

From what I understand Emo refers to Emotional hardcore or just Emotional. Where the music is kinda hardcore punkish but with a mainstream edge and their look is punk meets goth at Supre and then both go for a Boost Juice at the local Shopping Mall before heading off home to update their MySpace. Or in short; Got any blacker? I don’t quite understand it and that’s either because I’m way too old and cynical or because I haven’t bothered to understand. I guess for me if you like a punk sensibility in your music then what’s the point of listening to farking Jimmy Eat World when The Ramones are ready to rock?

An Emo may argue that they are a valid subculture and don’t want to listen to the music of other already established subcultures which are associated with another era. Fair enough every generation wants a valid representation of it’s members after all – I guess though when even the bands that we associate with Emo music are trying to disassociate themselves from the Emo subculture something has clearly gone wrong at headquarters. I keep reading that bands who are associated with the Emo scene keep denying they are Emo. I also keep reading the name Ian MacKaye being being associated with the Emo movement and this shocks me a bit. He’s responsible for the band Fugazi and Minor Threat which I guess are more Straight Edge punk-type music rather than Emo.

This brings me to the point – is Emo something you call yourself or is Emo something that someone else calls you?

I was talking about Emo the other day with someone when it became apparent through our conversation that most all important musical genres had gone through an initial struggle to be accepted by their peers. They were ridiculed for the way they dressed, they were ridiculed for their different to the mainstream, they were blamed for the ills of society (suicide etc). I had to laugh when I though about it but in 30 years are people going to regard Emo with ..respect?

God, that would trip my mind. That would mean that I’d be one of those stick-in-the-mud old naysayers who just don’t get it. I’m *gulp* un-hip.

Emo, love it or hate it?

Now here’s some music that isn’t Emo in the least, but I like anyway. Apparently I like being un-hip.

Golden Brown – The Stranglers