Sleeping under the same full moon

Waiting for my dream with you in it [Part 2]

You Look So Fine

You look so fine
I want to break your heart
And give you mine
You're taking me over

It's so insane
You've got me tethered and chained
I hear your name
And I'm falling over

I'm open wide
I want to take you home
We're wasting time
You're the only one for me

You look so fine
I'm like the desert tonight
Leave him behind
If you want to show me

I'm not like all the other boys
I won't take it like the other boys
I won't fake it like the other boys
That you used to know

You're taking me over
I'm falling over

- performed by Garbage

Waiting for my dream with you in it [Part 1]

A Long Walk

You’re here / I’m pleased / I really dig your company / Your style, your smile, your peace mentality / Lord have mercy on my / I was blind but now I see / What a king supposed to be / Baby I feel free come on and go with me

Your background ain’t squeaky clean / Sometimes we all gotta swim upstream/ You ain’t no saint, we all are sinners but you put your good foot down to make your soul the winner / I respect that / Man you’re so phat and you’re all that plus supreme / Then you’re humble, Man I’m numb yo with feelin’ I can feel everything that you bring

Maybe we can see a movie or maybe we can see a play on Saturday or maybe we can roll a tree and feel the breeze and listen to a symphony or maybe chill and just be or maybe/ Maybe we can take a cruise and listen to The Roots or maybe eat some passion fruit or maybe cry to the blues or maybe we can just be silent / Come on

Let’s take a long walk around the park after dark
Find a spot for us to spark
Conversation, verbal elation, stimulation
Share our situations, temptations, education, relaxations, elevations
Maybe we can talk about Revelations 3:17

- written by Jill Scott & Andre Harris
- performed by Jill Scott

Can you keep up Baby Boy?

I once wrote of the insanely hysterical audience members on Oprah's chat/giveaway/shrink show. It's happening again. Sitting down to watch afternoon TV today, I turned to Channel 10. There were screaming women everywhere. They were hugging and crying almost to the point of having a complete black out. It was tummy-trembling as a viewer. Speaking of tummies....did I mention that the Oprah show was actually hosting the world's largest ever baby shower?!?!

The stage was filled with baby toys and accessories. There were pastel colours everywhere, giant building blocks that spelled out 'O-P-R-A-H'. It was cute but scary. Chills ran up my spine as all I could think of relating this moment to was Circus Freak shows and American Reality TV circa 1960. It was most likely the uber levels of oestrogen that freaked me out.

I was a bit perturbed by the number of Supermodel mothers that Oprah had on hand for interviews and gift-giving. Imagine being an 8 month pregnant wife of a soldier that is away at war, the last thing you need is a reminder of the women your husband used to fantasise about before you were married (when you weren't pregnant), and also a reminder of how your body will most likely not look like after childbirth, that is, unless you have a personal trainer and cook. On top of that, Oprah had gorgeous blonde cheerleaders running the gifts out to every mother in the audiece. A bit of empathy, please Oprah.

Oprah was also crossing live to a mother giving birth....did I mention it was live? Yeah, 640 pregnant women, staring at what they'll be facing in a few months. Not a nice scene. A screaming woman in excruciating pain. Though I do need to mention the amazing help Oprah was giving to these servicemen's wives. Between Oprah and Johnson & Johnson, every audience member walked away with over US$10,000 each in gifts, including US$1,000 cash to fly a loved one over to be with the women during the childbirth. A beautiful final touch. Well done, Oprah. At this point in the show, I thought a few of them may go into labour, right then and there.

On Air with BlackPunk: Casey Donovan - The Flame [Live @ Australian Idol 2]

When I'm with you, you take me higher

Anonymity is a wonderful thing.
Sometimes bitter and twisted, but usually beautiful.
A Secret Admirer has entered my life.
It's definitely beautiful.
I know who it is.

Shall I leave the number on the windscreen?
I'll stay away as the nerves shake me to the core.
I'll wait for your message with baited breath.
I thought you'd gone.
An hour without you;
Feels like a million days.

On Air with BlackPunk: India.Arie - Get It Together

Mini Crini

The flood gates have finally opened.

Australian Idol 2

Casey Donovan and Anthony Callea are the two remaining finalists of the Australian Idol 2 competition. The Australian public have chosen well. The 16 year old Casey Donovan has managed to constantly mesmorise and bewitch the voters each week with emotionally pulsating and vocally moving performances, ever since the semi-finals, when she garnered the first 'Touchdown' for the season. Anthony Callea of Melbourne, although being the judges choice in the Wildcard round, has managed to create a massive national following, thanks to his unforgettable performance of 'The Prayer', originally performed by Andrea Bocelli and Celine Dion. The next two weeks, particularly next week, with contestants choosing their own songs and debuting the Australian Idol's debut single, should allow a better idea of who Australia should vote for as their next Idol. Choose well.

Vivienne Westwood

The National Gallery of Australia has expressed its disappointment over Vivienne Westwood's decision to turn down an accepted invitation to attend an exhibition being staged in her honour.

I really hope to get the chance to go to Canberra and see the exhibition, it contains parts that are unavailable to the Victoria and Albert Museum in London, and is the largestever exhibit of her work. Her classic and controversial mastering of the textile artform have stood strong over the times, making her one of the most influential designers of our time.

Looking Glamorous

Speaking of travelling (my travelling, that is), Harper's Bazaar (December 2004) have published an intriguing set of 'How To's'. There are a range of questions that are each answered by a well-known designer, offering their own advice and practice. I found one in particular most relevant to my desire to travel to Canberra.

"How to look glamorous when flying" by Michael Kors

There are five things you should always take with you when you travel: aviator sunglasses for departure and arrival, a black cashmere pullover, a cashmere blanket, a perfect khaki trench and a pair of fresh white jeans to change into.

With some simplification and less expenditure, the outfit is a definite possibility. It makes me want to travel from airport to airport, getting off the plane....getting on the plane...

Calming Sight of Sky Blue

Driving home after a tiresome and boring day at work, I came to rest at a busy Melbourne intersection. Letting my mind wander off my thoughts of Australian Idol, what was for dinner and whether or not I had scratched my new Dolce & Gabbana shoes, I looked up to see a beautiful fully-leafed tree, surrounded by light-blue skyline, juxtaposed against the 70's-esque brickwork of a private hospital. The world seemed so simple, just as it had when I was a young boy sitting in the back of my parents car, counting telegraph poles and falling asleep to the calming sight of sky blue. It made me wonder, when will we ever get back to the days when everything was so simple? Does everyone see the same unnecessarily complex traffic whirring around us? Does everyone want that feeling of the innocent child in the back seat?

You know who you are but not what you are to me

[Be a soldier and fight for love Pt. 2]

Just before our love got lost you said
"I am as constant as a northern star"
And I said
"Constant in the darkness. Where's that at?
If you want me I'll be in the bar"

On the back of a cartoon coaster
In the blue TV screen light
I drew a map of Canada
And your face I sketched on it twice

I remember that time that you told me, you said
"Love is touching souls"
Surely you touched mine
'cos part of you pours out of me
In these lines from time to time

I met a man
He had a mouth like yours
He knew your life
He knew your devils and your deeds
And he said
"Go to him, stay with him if you can
but be prepared to bleed"

You are in my blood, you're my holy wine
You are so bitter, bitter and so sweet
I could drink a case of you
Still I'd be on my feet
I would still be on my feet

- written and performed by Joni Mitchell

Your face sketched on it

Many of us -often due to our uncontrollable, manic and cluttered lives- easily experience self over-indulgence and unjustifiable expenses. Melbourne tends to do that to you. The culture engulfs your mind and body. Before you realise, you're a facet of Federation Square; a mere representation of city culture, consuming more and more culture each day. You immerse yourself in music, fashion, food or art. The thought of our unnecessary self over-indulgence and unjustifiable expenses makes me ask myself, are we eating away at our own lifeline by being too cultured? Is it realistic to expect that Melbourne will soon be over-cultured?

A characteristic that was once loved by all was the relative anonymity Melbourne culture once enjoyed. You either had to go searching for the coolest jazz bar by checking out all the laneways, or you overheard it from someone who had it recommended to them by their ex-girlfriend's best friend. You went shopping for hours, looking for that one bag you wanted, only to find it in a damp, rundown boutique above a solarium, 200 metres from the nearest main shopping precinct. Galleries were low-key and the key Melbourne artists exhibited their work on the alley walls. Graffitti and stencil art was the Caravaggio of the old Melbourne culture. These days, exploring Melbourne culture seems all too easy and hard at the same time. Turn a corner and there's another shopping precinct, turn another and there are 4 look-alike clubs and bars to choose from, head down towards the Shrine of Rememberence and the galleries are packed... spray paint and soap stains the gutters.

Perhaps I'm feeling trapped. I always felt that Melbourne was always an experience of freedom. I can feel the city is getting smaller, the faces all too familiar. My circumstance reminds me of a Series 5 episode of 'Sex And The City', where Samantha, persistant with the notion that New York is no longer exciting, begins to refer to New York as 'Old York'. It seems that we as a community may not be the only ones, but also Melbourne itself, that is over-indulging and compromising what was the integral heartbeat of our city. Time to simplify.

On Air with BlackPunk: Destiny's Child - Lose My Breath

/avoiding the anti-cruise

Feeling Oblivion

Cubscouts are screaming
Needing icescreaming and all the pleasures of June
I’m in a parked car

Flowers seem friendly and people in hall ways feel walls
Now it is night time
Maybe we’re cruising avoiding the anti-cruise
Oh I don’t really know where we are
If things get real promise to take me somewhere else
By the time fear takes me over
Will we still be rolling and feeling oblivion

Once in a while the lie in the laughter can burn through a hole in my ears
Like a man with glasses catching a sunbeam and burning the skin of a kid
Hypereal fragments disturbing the stagnants of almighty fear
Well I’ll just go under the water
If things get real promise to take me somewhere else
By the time fear takes me over
Will we still be rolling and feeling oblivion

So don’t leave me here on my own
So don’t leave me here on my own
If things get real promise to take me somewhere else
By the time fear takes me over
Will we still be rolling and feeling oblivion

- written and performed by Turin Brakes