I'm a young independent intellectual living in Sydney, Australia, interested in meeting open-minded, progressive individuals who love life and are more interested in questions than answers! :o)
I guess this song sums up some of the ways I felt, towards the end of our relationship...
I wish I could say I'm enjoying being single again... but it's often a struggle just to make it through the end of the day feeling centred, jolly and the right kind of upside down.
I don't have serious issues to pick with Australia (or anyplace else, for that matter) - it's just difficult to feel alone.
But I'll be seeing my friends during the weekend, so it'll be okay.
I'll continue to 'work, rest, play' - a jingle from an ad for a chocolate bar, I believe. It's funny how you can associate positive things to some advertising campaigns. Even though I don't even like Snickers, or Mars, or whatever the chocolate bar in question was.
Perhaps I like the 'play' in that line the best. Work should be play, after all, and playing, if done right, is serious business.
Here's something less moody to meditate upon in the pop world:
Design a new boat to float - you are only limited by the chords of your imagination
Beauty and Boredom
Beautiful Boredom
Boring Beauty
There are as many versions of these as there are people
People are so numerous in range
That all you ever need is one
To kick off the connection-making
The spectrum unfolds
I attempt to love them, boldly
Whether you're a pedestrian in Bangkok or Frankfurt, Tokyo or Rome, the traffic is topical, for comparison's sake. Unruly Europe, or one whose orderly sobriety challenges a love of fun-making. An Asia so wild that it will impress upon you new standards of 'untamed', or one so meticulously organised that nothing seems out of place.
As I hopped from Asia to Australia, two earth segments I have strong connections to, I felt yanked from a world where pride new no bounds but was reeled in by mild-mannered politeness, where people spoke to me in soft and humble tones, made restrained but smooth movements, imparted a strong sense of keeping themselves collected in a scrupulous, ethically potent whole, and didn't take themselves incredibly seriously (a fun contemplation being just around the corner, no matter the topic). Girls with light pink shimmery eyeshadow and black eye-liner emphasising their almond-shaped eyes, sometimes with deep blue contacts and slick dark hair would simultaneously convenience and inconvenience me, as they spoke in English that had a degree of the undecipherable in a pleasant, would-be-helpful kind of manner. Dutiful smiles, genial countenance - a superficial kind of earnestness that I longed to be reproduced when I first came back to Sydney.
The Melbournian assumption that I would just be brimming with understated merriment got on my nerves early. Thankfully we had Jet Star staff from Bangkok for the flight to Australia's cultural capital, making the transition a little less overwhelming. I did not want to catch any Australian's eye and resonate or affirm their feeble assumptions. My incredulity faltering, I began to feel similarly to how I felt when I returned to Sydney after eight months in California: resentful of the hegemony of the abrasive culturally generated warmth. It was like a blanket that I didn't want to be wrapped up in, and it made me all the more depressed to realise that I was surrounded by this country and continent-wide attitude for miles and miles and miles. The closest country, New Zealand, was even worse in that respect.
No wonder I feel so flat in Australia - it kinda drives me crazy!
Here's the thing: it's not really better or worse than anyplace else. I find Sydney simultaneously more interesting and boring every day. It's my [more permanent than I'd like] window into world culture - an isolated capital city which nevertheless attracts people from all around the world, both as residents and as visitors or guests. I have come to accept that there are few other places which offer a lifestyle so admirable and profoundly well-meaning. Australia rocks... in a subdued, low-key kind of way. With an aggressive cheekiness that alienates you if you aren't going to accept the main thrust of its validity.
But it's okay... no irritation, intense pleasure, discomfort, or perk lasts forever. Australian life will suffice until the day I leave it behind without a second thought... only to return, again and again. What kind of cultures cheerfully co-exist in my head? That's the best question...
Although her music can be as moody as it is effervescent, Robyn's Twitter announcement that her new album will be released sometime next year has me filled with excitement. Here are some of my favourite songs of hers (some of them live, but most of them are official releases with stylish and experimental videos).
Yesterday, while I was walking to the Mut Mee Guesthouse, I chanced upon a group of young Thai boys and girls dancing to American hip hop music by the Mekong. In a sharp contrast to the smooth, flowing hand movements of tradtional Thai dance, where every movement is slow, graceful, deliberate and restrained, the Thais were putting together their own individualistic, hip-hop-inspired movements, which featured dramatic body twists, sudden and experssive hand movements, rapid realignments of posture. Some of the guys broke into break-dance-inspired moves, and they all improvised with the music and each other as inspiration.
I was particularly surprised to see one of the young men balance his body on one hand and his head, because in Buddhist culture the head is the most prized/holy part of the body, and the feet are the lowest/dirtiest. Therefore to place your head (even though he had a hood) where the feet would normally be is, I assume, a no-no for most Buddhists
Western music that I would normally dismiss as shallow or problematic has become something here in Lopburi, as the exposure to English is minimal. I find myself actually enjoying Love and Sex Magic by Justin Timberlake and Ciara, or whatever it's called, and (I'm a bit ashamed to admit this) I found myself dancing to Katy Perry's I Kissed A Girl, the lyrics of which I find very problematic
"Go for broke. Always try and do too much. Dispense with safety nets. Take a deep breath before you begin talking. Aim for the stars. Keep grinning. Be bloody-minded. Argue with the world. And never forget that writing is as close as we get to keeping a hold on the thousand and one things--childhood, certainties, cities, doubts, dreams, instants, phrases, parents, loves--that go on slipping , like sand, through our fingers."
Yesterday I spread out on comfortable green chair of my Hotel Radisson room and wrote pages and pages in my new notebook... as I turned off the light sometime round midnight I thought 'this is the life'! I am forever looking for a peaceful place to work, being that my Sydney home isn't what I would call such.
I am a big fan of moving in and out of spaces. Savouring every inch, every contour, every angle, every shade of the environment I find myself in... and then moving on to the next... it's no surprise that my dream of Robyn included such fascinating new spaces, colours and motifs. I am undergoing dramatic changes in my living environment, and reinventing what it means to exist from one day to the next. I note the way I am changing in relation to finding myself in new environments all the time. I don't want to be overloaded, but I also don't want to be understimulated either. Balance, peace and moderation are they key words, and which continent is better suited to getting in touch with my inner serenity
I will have to look up The Hours and Times and get back to you...
I agree about The Portrait/Picture of Dorian Gray, and the actor they have cast as Dorian is one of the least good-looking actors I have seen! Don't know what they were thinking. I don't feel like seeing it at all.
Okay, forget I said anything about 'Dorian Gray' - it looks very straight from the trailer - a shame, considering I always imagined Dorian was bisexual.
I have seen My Own Private Idaho (good movie, but depressing) and The Hours. I have mentioned that The Hours wasn't my cup of tea before.
I have high hopes for A Single Man, can't wait till it comes out in Aus!
Hi Cinema is Truth, thank you for your feedback and I will enjoy checking out your list... (please let me know when it's out because I'm travelling at the moment and don't have much time to browse Orble) there is actually a bunch of gay-themed movies coming out this Oscar Season, with A Single Man, I Love You, Philip Morris, The Danish Girl and Dorian Gray coming out soon... I loved Milk, also. I will do a Part 2 when I have enough great films on my list. The '90s New Queer Cinema' doesn't ring any bells, but if you list specific titles I will probably know them...
Oh yes, there were two films shown at this year's Sydney Queer Film Festival that I really liked - Patrik, 1.5, and I Can't Thnk Straight. Hey, I almost have enough for another list!
Anotehr things I learnt from Brian is that Myanmar is a fusion of cultures - many different ethnicities co-exist peacefully. He described it as a 'melting pot', with some people lookign visibly different.
I'm at the Praram hospital as I write this, on the 1st of November.
I also would have voted for Anderson Cooper if he had been listed. Out of the people in that poll, I would have voted for Jon Stewart, but only because I am most familiar with him - and because by taking the media on as a satirist he also reproduces the function of the typical journalist - to inform. The basic elements of communicating 'truth' to the audience is inevitably part of this repertoire.
I like this poll, I must say.
Maybe what it says is that Americans have a good sense of humour and like the 'wild card' option as opposed to the journalists who all go about telling the truth in the same way. It shows that people value creativity, and what is more creative than being tickled into laugher?
I think this law is a sign that Mali is changing... if it doesn't get through this time, it will the next time... it's only a matter of time as the world becomes more globalised and womens' rights issues become more important to everyone everywhere. Let's look at Mali as one of teh countries with the longest way to go, and keep fighting for womens' rights where and when we can. Slowly, we are making big changes.
I plan to avoid informing of them of going to India for as long as possible (I decided to make tracks back to Bangkok and fly from there to Kolkata or Delhi), but they will either find out when we talk on the phone and there is a different two letter country code preceding my number, or when they ask to see my photos... Hopefully I can just email them and then they won't know until I've left, although I do want to be in India for a while... Fingers crossed for the best!
Add Comments
Read More
Comment by Postmodern Critic
on Top 10 Films Featuring Gay and Lesbian Themes
Postmodern Critic
Daily Inspirations
Relativity Watch
Padsoc
I agree about The Portrait/Picture of Dorian Gray, and the actor they have cast as Dorian is one of the least good-looking actors I have seen! Don't know what they were thinking. I don't feel like seeing it at all.