whitebait

Gig news

Whitebait is getting ready to start blogging again. I'm switching the focus here from cities to music. More to  come on that but in the meantime ...

.. I'm going to mention two gigs that Carsinthesky (ie Whitebait and FrauleinDrDr) are playing next weekend (15th and 16th February) on the noya (north of the yarra) side of the city. We're joining forces with Martin from Koshowko to perform some of the songs off their new Anarchy Monarchy EP now available from i-tunes (Whitebait helped produce 'It's Time Now'), as well as some Carsintheysky numbers.

15th February '08

Afterdark Bar and Gallery
LINE UP Other bands are Mousetrapreplica (www.myspace.com/mousetrapreplica - ambient electronica with live painting) and Rich Kids (www.myspace.com/kidsarerich - danceable electro with a whole art/visual inspiration). FREE ENTRY.

[NB - not sure when Koshowko-Carsinthesky are on - could be 9pm, could be more like 11.00pm - will update this message when Whitebait knows]

*UPDATE (12/2) on Afterdark LINEUP

9pm - Rich Kids

10pm - Mousetrapreplica

11pm - Koshowko with CarsintheSky

16th February '08

Glitch Bar

(We're going to be on sometime around 10.30pm). $5 COVER CHARGE

time for a change

Whitebait is thinking of shifting my (depleted) energy to some other bloggy-type projects. Will update on this soon.

rmit skyline

A view from the building in which my former office was located.

(When did this become a photo blog I hear you asking?)

the week in review

hana bi II

urban fish pond

one more reason to watch

For anyone who has been living on the television-viewing equivalent of a raft off the coast of New Zealand's Stewart Island, here is just one of the many reasons you should be watching The Wire. His name is Omar Little (Michael Kenneth Williams).

State's Attorney: Mr. Little, how does a man rob drug dealers for eight or nine years and live to tell about it?
Omar: Day at a time I suppose?

Currently kicking ass -- Season 3 that is -- at Whitebait's house.

friday cat blogging

Make sure you watch the end.

remember to breathe

This gorgeous view is from the Kuruma onsen located nearby Kyoto (photo by my friend E).

We revisited a few weeks back. Whitebait is especially fond of this place because it was his first onsen experience in Japan. Quite intimidating, initially, as at that time as he was the only non-Japanese in the men's section. While W. had done all his reading up on 'how to hang with naked Japanese guys etiquette' it was still slightly nerve-inducing. But in the end it was a revelation about what a great national past-time communal bathing is. Whitebait would put it in his top 5 things about Japan.

The recent onsen visit was great too but the picture was momentarily disturbed when a dude lay on his back on the bath's wooden surrounding plank (yes, in front of the magnificent view my friend and I were enjoying) and proceeded to do some half-arsed sit-ups accompanied by squelchy fart noises from the contact between skin, water and wood. Serenity now, huh.

A friend just gave FrauleinDrDr and I some gift vouchers to the local Japanese bathhouse in nearby Collingwood (with massage included). Hurrah and bless!

web trends as tokyo train lines

Whitebait likes this mapping of web trends on to the existing Tokyo train map. Abstract and geographical spaces thoroughly mashed up.

It is produced by Information Architects Japan (and W. discovered it via Q-Taro). As IAJ note,

People who know Tokyo will still find lots of little hints and sarcastic comments hidden in there.

Some interesting things to note

1. Google has moved from Shibuya, a humming place for young people, to Shinjuku, a suspicious, messy, Yakuza-controlled, but still a pretty cool place to hang out (Golden Gaya).
2. Youtube has conquered Shibuya.
3. Microsoft has moved to Ikebukuro, if you know what I mean.
4. Yahoo is in Ueno, a nice place but nothing going on there.
5. Wikipedia now is in Shimbashi, the place for the square and hard-headed Salaryman, like the Wikipedia watchdogs.
6. The Chinese line runs parallel to the “share line” which starts with the main pirates…
7. Paper info designer Tufte is right below the Federated Media, right before joining with the interactive information design circle in a 90 degree angle.
8. “You” are in the Emperor’s palace, in the center of the network.

There is also a bigger, clickable version of the map.