Amid the stress there is a new feeling.. new music... no, I didn't write a new song but a fellow Triber from Robbi Robb's message board has turned me onto a band called Archive. Great music, a certain raw vibe to it... if you go their site >>here<< you can listen to their latest album "Noise".

In other news.. I've written 2000 words for that report. Tried to get some words out of the way since I have to do more work on creative media tomorrow. Scanning some sketches and writing explanations of image choices... that kinda stuff. And some Red Rooster...yes, some Red Rooster.

*Wanders off in the twilight...*





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A letter via Registered Post was waiting for me yesterday morning on the kitchen table. From RMIT.

Some of you recall I worked at Siemens for 18 months and after my work experience there I am meant to submit a report. In my year the students were asked to submit this report "before graduation". So this was the impression I got... and after this month's exams I was going to begin working on it.

Basically, the letter says that I must hand in the report within five working days or else there will be dire consequences. The rules have now changed and the report is well overdue. I've decided to suck it up and just do this bloody thing and get it over with. I have other assignments and exams in less than 2 weeks! It will be interesting to see how much study I actually get in... and the results.

I look forward to flushing the bullshit that is RMIT Business down the toilet.



Grr grr grrrrrrrrr.







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Mordechai Vanunu's business card... I sent him an email the other night with my best wishes. Hopefully they ease up on him... but I guess if a government's army can shoot a four year-old girl to death on her way to buy candy... Click here





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"In the dark humor that has become so popular in Baghdad these days, one recently released detainee said, "The Americans brought electricity to my ass before they brought it to my house!""

Ah some humor from Iraq

Visit Dahr Jamail's blog at http://newstandardnews.net/iraqdispatches





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Turkiye!

That's right, I went along to the Australia v Turkey football game tonight at Telstra Dome. Over 28,000 of us (which I think is a pathetic figure for an international game) watched the Turks win 1-0. But we had a shitload of chances to score in both halves. Bresciano played well and looked threatening but when Turkey went forward they looked extremely threatening. The Aussies had most of the ball in the first half as I was on the edge of my seat... I love this game, it's the world game and is as exciting as anything else you'll ever watch (on par with Aussie Rules!). The referee was a damn rotten scoundrel! And some of the Turk players were bloody Logie contenders on the night, as the one goal they scored seconds from half-time was bullshittingly dubious. Frustrating!!!

It was disappointing to see the number of Turkish fans outnumber the Aussie fans. Soccer has a long way to go in this country but I hope people will get behind it. For a country of 20 million we have some awesome players and talent... we just have to support them and get out to the games they play! They'll feed off the support and when they need an extra bit of motivation we will give it to them!

Needless to say, I had a great time despite the loss. My first time watching The World Game live and it definitely won't be the last :) Damn I wish I was in Europe to watch Euro2004 as well as the UEFA Champions League final :(





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There must be something extreme about the energy around me and within me this week. It's like my mind has been dropped in a washing machine on super-speed... it's affecting everything I'm doing, I dunno what it is. I thought it might just be stress at uni but I feel it's more than that.

It's a really weird & topsy-turvy week in my life.

Whatever little negative things I've witnessed have just multiplied like rabbits in a cage... it's the kind of mood where I'll snap if someone really gets to me. I almost don't wanna be around anyone, the energy I'm giving off might be a little to cynical.

Sometimes all you can say to explain it is "fuck this".





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Hello lovely ones,

Since I shared a very crappy week with you in this blog, I thought a good Friday entry would be a nice change :)

I've just been for a bike ride and am reinvigorated! The blood is pumping and my thighs feel like steel columns... you see our area here is quite hilly, that's why it's often referred to as the Doncaster Hills area... anyway so I've just gone along the backstreets sans helmet to an old cricket reserve adjoining the Eastern Golf Course. We used to play cricket there back in primary school. The grass is long and wet (and muddy!) and there were ducks quacking around me while I was cruising along.
Then I rode back around to the Lawford Street Reserve around the block from our house.. (someone's written "This park sucks dicks" on the sign at the entrance hahaha) ... did a couple of heavy laps around the track and did a small search for lonely golf balls. This reserve is quite a distance from the first one I went to, but the Eastern Golf Course is quite huge so I have the pleasure of seeing the greens from many areas around our hills.

It's now 2pm and I'm back recovering... huffing, puffing, blowing houses down. My thighs are feeling firm and tight lol. Really belted that bike up the hills, the veins in my forehead are throbbing!

So I've completed the research journal for the photomontage assignment. One down... many more to go! One step at a time. It's the first time in more than 12 months I've been overly stressed by uni. I have to pass this semester to graduate (as well as complete a 5,000 word report on the co-op year at Siemens.. fuck!).

Ok. I will chat to you all soon... take care of yourselves.

Peace, love and understanding,
Dankoman.






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"The poet in me flies with the wind and in the wind I show you words to blow your heart away"






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So what are you thinking?

It's after 1am here and I'm in a blank-minded mood... hopefully it doesn't slide into the same mood tomorrow. The cold, rainy and windy weather might make it worse.

SO what's on your mind?

My mind is skidding over many things, I'm not really concentrating on any one topic... hmm.





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What do you do when someone doesn't want to help themselves?

What do you say to make them realise they are harming themselves?

It's been going on for too long now with really minimal improvement, if any... there's only so much a nice chat can do you know.

And I hope that it doesn't have to get to the point where she's in hospital and finally realises what's happening.

*sigh*





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Found a great bike track today... well I just haven't been there before and I think it's amazing. It's all along the Yarra River, Westerfold's Park. Kilometres of paths along and sloping down to the Yarra... some great rapids and nice places to wander down to and enjoy the sound of rushing water and birds. Nice and quiet too, you can't hear the sound of traffic at all (maybe that's because I've been deafened by Rock 'n' Roll hehe).

So that was great... some fresh air to get mind off things... I'll make sure next week I wake up early and get down their for a couple of hours or so.

Uni is really shitting me these days... I have these troughs where I can't stand it. And it's especially bad when there are assignments due, cos I can't bring myself to do it even though it's some days away. Fuck it!!!

Is anyone reading this thing? haha. It's supposed to be for everyone not just me to write :)

Enough for now... save it for later... ;)






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Check this out, it holds a lot of truth...
http://www.empirenotes.org/may04.html#11may043





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Inbetween day... job enquiries, it's a dirty job selling yourself. So to speak.

Just came back from a bike ride, it's opened up my airwaves, although having been out there for 20 minutes riding about leave a lot to be desired haha.



I'm listening to Fela Kuti on the speakers... Mr Robbi Robb has alerted me to this band... went to his site today (www.robbirobb.com - awesome website) and this is what he has said about the new Tribe After Tribe record:

"I have a great ideas for the new Tribe record .. There is a magazine called 'Weekly World News' - it's what we call a tabliod type magazine - anyway on the cover it has this picture of a soldier leaning over a dead angel and the headlines say 'Angel shot down by US Troops'. It's the most saddening and beautiful thing I have ever seen .. I wrote a whole album about it and what I have done is taken excerpts from the bible where GOD gives MOSES and the Israelistes permission and strength to 'kill, every woman man and child'. So it's all coming together .. You will like the style of the music and the whole album. Think of Fela Kuti meets Mogwai - African drumming and many beautiful guitar parts put together like a Pink Floyd album."

To say I'm looking forward to this album is an understatement... I've already got three of his albums, he's a great artist. Furthermore, he seems to be a really positive and caring dude. So check out www.robbirobb.com



And... here is Fela Kuti's website... this man died in 1997 from AIDS, but his music is still full of so much life. I love this stuff, please check it out! (His bio is very interested indeed)



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A Short Piece

Didn't you say, it wasn't the right time... the right time to come in... a limit set, pieces they became regrets...

And so I visited a place you'd turned around... upside down... without a care in the world, we stayed up til dawn... I heard the rain fall, but it was the tears down the wall





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Mother's Day weekend...

Erica's shindig last night, cool to see her friends there... some good food too as well as conversations of high school days.

And today was Mother's Day... went out for dinner with family friends. It was a good night, good food and some top wine! Interesting conversation too at times... mostly because I'm interested in what was said, Zeina seems to enjoy some of the same topics I like discussing too. It's a good thing as I don't come across many who like talking history and politics. I notice that in initial conversations with people I tend to want to listen and analyse their point-of-view and understand where they're coming from before making my contribution... also briefly discussed the Arts course offered at one of the universities here... doing my research for a possible application for 2005.

Also talked to Marwan about music and recording using computers etc... good to hear music is alive and well in our generation. Downloaded some of his tracks and they sound pretty good from a creative standpoint as well as production-wise. Good stuff!

So now I'm in a quiet mood... started a play list here with some psychedelic stuff... some Pink Floyd, Air, Soulfly then U2, Sabbath and Led Zeppelin. Also learnt the main riffs to Layla by Eric Clapton.. that was some good fun, but dammit he's a great guitarist.

Speaking as a child of the 90s,
Danko.



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An early morning wake-up, 7am. Yeah, that's early for me. I got message yesterday afternoon asking if I'd be able to do some reception work at dad's office for the whole day today. There is an assignment due at uni today but the lecturer accepted an emailed version last night which was good of him.

So I am here, it's 11:18am... been fixing some broken links on the website and answering calls. Looking forward to lunch today... funny how I'll be having it at a time of day when I usually have breakfast hahaha. Dan is a nightanimal :)

It's Erica's birthday today too, so please visit her blog and wish her a happy birthday :)

Looking forward to tomorrow quite a bit... gonna go bike riding and then rehearsal at night. Tried my delay+chorus pedal in the effects loop of my guitar set-up the other night.. it is damn hot! Gonna burn some eyebrows at rehearsal tomorrow...

Hmm...

You know something about rocking music... it's more intense and brings the point of a song across with feeling... and it's not about technical proficiency, I don't believe music is about that at all. It's to convey an emotion, whether that's to make u feel happy or sad... or to get you dancing and bopping... or sitting on your bed or in an armchair staring out the window, connecting with the message. I love the band's that just wear their hearts on their sleeves... they open up to something so honest and let it all out, share it with their fans and the world. The beat of the drums... the pulsing bass guitar... the searing lead and groove of the rhythm... the singer who gets up and brings the passion of the instruments together and screams the vocals to the world. Music is about emotion to me. First and foremost. When you have a band on stage that's free but connected with each other, no matter if there is ten little "mistakes", no matter if the singer shreds his or her throat, if it's honest it works and kicks arse. Emotion should never be censored... sadness inspires & once it's dealt with the happiness comes in. Indulge your emotions. As long as it's honest and you're not fucking anyone around, it's real.



That's why I love rock and roll.



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Rahul Mahajan is keeping an eye on some more interesting developments in Iraq... further abuse and mistreatment by liberating soldiers as well as the restriction of press freedom in the "new" Iraq.

You may want to keep an eye out here at Rahul's blog and in the regular news sources to see if they follow up these stories.



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The Bike-Riding Comeback Of The Century



Yes you heard me lovely folks! After 10 years in the two-wheeled wilderness I am back in action!
Late this afternoon I got the reborn mountain bike from the shed and did some laps of the backyard... Although my coordination and balance leaves plenty to be desired I decided to get the new helmet and ride down to the park. I haven't ridden the backstreets of my neighbourhood since my primary school days. It was a ride down memory lane :) The fresh air in my face (it was cold, I wasn't wearing my beanie) and the quaint homes looking all cosy in the cold. So I rode down the hill and around the block and entered the park through the back path... I'm 23 years old but I felt like a child (I think it was the helmet that made me feel that way). Being in a state of very low cardiovascular fitness, I took a rest after a few laps to adjust my helmet for comfort and take in the hilly surrounds of this pocket of my neighbourhood. A girl was walking around the track in the opposite direction to me and I immediately decided I would do this bike-riding thing more often.

I made my way home and felt on top of the world... heart racing to keep up with the will, walking like a cowboy from the heavy thighs and those sexy pulsing veins in my forehead. What an afternoon!

And how's everyone? Make your voices heard!





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