It has been a while, hasn’t it?
Reading
Townie by Andre Dubus III
Reading about other people’s dysfunctional childhoods makes me realise how easy and white bred mine was.
The Monthly magazine
My folks got me a subscription for my birthday. I try to keep up generally with shit that’s going on in Australia, but it’s pretty hard when you’re not there to live it. Sitting back with a magazine every month is easier than trying to navigate the trainwreck that is The Age’s website every day.
Watching
The Slap
I, er, legally acquired the ABC TV series of the Christos Tsiolkas novel (which I never actually read). I thought it was generally excellent — great acting and script writing, the people and dialogue ran really true (though I did enjoy this Chaser parody — even if it dragged up a 10-year-old Big Brother joke — do middle class, inner city Melburnites use more cocaine than I realise?). Though I wasn’t entirely satisfied with the ending. Should there not have been more consequences for the girl lying about being raped?
Spy
Hulu is putting up new episodes of this great UK comedy series every Friday. Darren Boyd is brilliant. Everyone else seems to hate the kid, but I love him.
Playing
Boxing
I have started boxing. Again. This time more seriously at a real fight gym. After months of inaction, it kicked my arse doing exercise, but just three weeks in, I’m already seeing pretty big improvements in technique, speed and strength. Now I just have to start running again…
Cycling
It’s that time of year again, when the weather turns to shit, and all the fairweather cyclists leave the road. Not that I’m oh-so-hardcore, but I just have no other transportation method than my bike, so I cover myself in rain gear and get on with it.
Hearing
Kyuss Lives
Kyuss is probably one of my favourite bands — it certainly was when I was a teenager — and Kyuss Lives is Kyuss reunited minus lead guitarist Josh Homme. It played in Portland on Monday, so I felt I should go, even though I have mixed feelings about reunion shows. Most non-local bands I liked as a teenager were from before my time, and now every band that ever released an album is reuniting, I always feel I should go for the sake of it. But they’re often not quite… right. It feels like a tribute show rather than the real thing. I enjoyed Kyuss Lives, but I couldn’t say I loved it.
