About

23 year old curmudgeon.

Serial pessimist.

Born in Jesusland, raised in Redneck Wonderland… suffice to say that both these experiences damaged me profoundly.

Much happier now in the Inner West. I dig the diversity, and the fact that Sydney is the kind of place you can go looking for discourse, dissent, music etc and pretty much find it most nights of the week. Vegetarian since May, glad to be rid of the cognitive dissonance, loving the availability & variety of delicious animal-friendly food from all around the world.

I’m fond of black coffee & cigarettes in a leafy spot somewhere with a book… But I’m much more likely to be running a tedious errand somewhere, wasting my life in endless traffic for not very much money. For maintaining sanity on long and/or repetitive trips, I recommend the following excellent podcasts: Citizen Radio, Democracy Now!, Reasonable Doubts, The Non-Prophets, Radio Dispatch, Pretentious Makes Perfect & Philip Adam’s Late Night Live.

At the moment, the underling drone role allows me to stay afloat enough to channel as much of my time and energy into more pressing concerns… most of which will be derided by those still clinging to the illusion that they participate meaningfully in controlling their own lives as vaguely treasonous. Or as a waste of time. Or whatever. I don’t get it.

Nothing is more cathartic in a perpetually depressing world than about an hour with a guitar. I now have two that I adore. Not the greatest instruments in the world, but they’ve become very dear, and between them are capable of sounding like pretty much anything I want them to.

My girlfriend calls me a music snob, and I guess I am, but I can’t forget what I know. I’ve been tracking my listening habits at Last FM for a couple of years now, which is much easier than trying to write an endless list of genres or bands or artists etc. There is great music everywhere, but very seldom is it on the radio. I can appreciate anything that is played from the fucking heart, as Bill Hicks implored.

Also tend to be geeky when it comes to comedy, graphic novels, zombies, The Simpsons and certain directors/screenwriters. In the future, expect gratuitous references to some or all of the above when I’m attempting to demonstrate a point.

I totally over-relate to the song Albright Monument, Baghdad by Propagandhi.

*The banner image currently on the blog is taken from the ‘muffled protest’, pulled off by the terrific artist/activist collective We Are All Boat People.*