Saturday, March 17, 2012

Unpleasantville

The first week of chemo is over, most of which I spent feeling more sickened than I can recall.

Fortunately, I have a week off/week on, and after only one day off that wretched pump my head no longer feels like a giant water balloon filled with poison.
On the downside, I'm scheduled to put up with this through May and who knows how much longer.

I guess things could always be worse:


No, I have no idea how I acquired an Iraqi banknote.

Wednesday, March 14, 2012

In case you were wondering...

Yes, I'm afraid it's true:

Musical interlude

Haven't had one in a while.

I've been trying to silently sing myself to sleep – you know what I mean – quite unsuccessfully. For whatever reason, this song keeps coming up in my head.
We used to listen to Malcolm McLaren's Waltz Darling album all the time at Peter and Leona's studio.
Happy memories I guess:



Nighty night.

Tuesday, March 13, 2012

Learning to love your bumbag

I just read my previous post and I thought, no!

I will not be defeated by unflattering accoutrements.

Instead, I shall embrace my new companion, much as it has embraced me, and we will tackle life's obstacles together with stoicism (and extra pockets, always handy).

To be honest, I have already become accustomed to – nay, rather fond of – its little whirr-click every few minutes as it pumps more chemicals (yummy, nutritious chemicals) into my bloodstream.
It almost sounds like my stomach is taking photos.

A photo-blog!

I'll call it Gut Feeling: Something's not quite right.

Anyway, for no particular reason, apart from the fact I have no photo directly related to this post, here's a recent shot of Wiz and Lofty on the Horseshoe Bend breadline:

No-one said anything about a bumbag

I started chemo yesterday. We arrived at the Mater at 8.30am and I walked out eight hours later with a new PICC.

What's that, you ask?
Well! It's a Peripherally Inserted Central Catheter, a kind of teeny, bendy straw that they inserted into a vein in my left arm (don't ask how; I had my eyes closed).
This is attached to a tube, which is attached to a pump about the size of an early Walkman, which is housed in – a bumbag:


This is stuck to me for the foreseeable future.
If only I'd known...

Wednesday, March 7, 2012

Can you hear it?

It's the sound of dignity shattering into a million irreparable pieces, courtesy of the model here wearing Kenji Kawasumi, one of the Central St Martins fashion students who showed at London for Fall 2012:


Oh honey.
The same parade showcased the joint top students, Luke Brooks and Craig Green, who proceeded in a similar fashion, so to speak.
At the very least, they exemplified the ridiculous lengths to which fashion students are forced to go by their teachers in order to "find their muse". Or go viral on the internet.
Neither is necessarily a good thing.

Brooks, for instance, melded Mugatu's 'Derelicte' collection from Zoolander and David Cronenberg:


Don't you just want to give her a hug?

On the other hand, Craig Green's models looked liked they'd wandered off a Julie Taymor production and lost their puppets in the process:

Tuesday, March 6, 2012

Soaking in it

Swathes of New South Wales are currently underwater or subject to flood warnings and/or evacuation orders (to Kelly in Wagga Wagga – keep those shoes dry!).

We're okay up here for now (more rain is forecast), but a little traipse up the grassy knoll at the end of our street revealed an unnerving sight:



The Hunter River's been higher before, but still...
Never ceases to unease.

The circle of life, backyard edition

Absolutely beautiful:


And presumably delicious.

Sunday, March 4, 2012

Not my type (heh)

So the Fall 2012 collections are almost over. As always, I've been checking Style.com for regular updates; part of me still misses working in the biz. (Handy hint: Trying to work out how to pattern-make a frock in bed is ten times more effective than counting bloody sheep.)

Anyway, I've been watching the emergence of digital printing with interest, specifically engineered placement prints. It can be very impressive, in a what-the-hell kind of way, but the capacity to render anything in hyper-reality can lead to dubious aesthetic decisions.

This season, two designers chose to include a bizarre subject, one I associate not with high style, but rather fatigue, anxiety and creative block:
The typewriter/computer keyboard.
Is it Social Network sartorial backwash? I don't (won't) buy it.

From Mary Katrantzou, pioneer of this new breed of printers:


And two interpretations by Jeremy Scott, mad queen:



Now if they made a T-shirt with just one big 'delete' button...

Saturday, March 3, 2012

The upside of insomnia

Perhaps 'insomnia' is an exaggeration, but my body-clock is totally out of whack.

In any case, when struggling to get to sleep, there's nothing like a bit of Lou Ferrigno unleashing his pectorals.

At the rodeo:




I imagine most boys fantasised about being Superman, Spider-man, etc.
I preferred to imagine myself alone with Dr Bruce Banner. I'd get him drunk, naked and in bed, then piss him off with a narky comment and presto!
Angry Hulk sex!

While we're on the subject of guilty pleasures, namely Lou, I'm very excited to see that he's on the new season of Celebrity Apprentice. I love that show.

Surely they'll get him to strip down at some point...

Of course they will:


He's 60, by the way. Hubba hubba.
I kinda wish he'd grow his beard back though:


Either way, no complaints here.

Saturday, February 25, 2012

Lorn, well-manicured

Lorn is a tidy, leafy little suburb right on the other side of the river from us; you can see rooftops from our kitchen if you leap a little (and are utterly starved for activity.)
It's noticeably fancier than Horseshoe Bend, I must admit; Lorn is fairly riddled with "Federation gems", in real-estate parlance:


It's remarkably intact, architecturally, and some streets could be mistaken for Mosman or Woollahra in Sydney – without too much squinting and at a fraction of the price.

Inevitable downside: If the area does flood again – unlikely as that is – Lorn goes first.

Insert schadenfreude here.

Today Mick and I embarked upon an unsuccessful trip to Lorn's butcher (too late), which Mick insisted start in East Maitland:


Sounds like a multinational arms dealer-cum-cosmetics giant, doesn't it? Or perhaps a dietary supplement concern...

In fact, it's a lighting store in East Maitland (Mick needed little radio bulbs).
I bet you any money the name Cetnaj actually has something to do with the wife's name being Jan and the kids' names starting with T, E and C.
Or something.
Terrible business name.

Never mind, we took advantage of a beautiful day – with Suzi in the backseat – and went the long way to our destination. As such, we did pass some noteworthy sights.

First, the work-in-progress boat that's been there as long as we can remember (three years or so):


Every time I see it, it looks more forlorn.
I like to think of it as an art installation, perhaps with its formerly high-flying owner trapped inside, suspended in formaldehyde.

And then we saw some brand-new arrivals – candy-coloured livestock:


The purpose of which is up for grabs. (A Mardi Gras tie-in is possible but unlikely.)

After the butcher disappointment, the sight of the business practically next door to it was a genuine surprise and greatly appreciated.

Presenting the Lorn franchise of Vile & Vile Solicitors:


They should really go national.

Thursday, February 23, 2012

Six degrees of Charlie Ruggles

Okay, so I'm up late again, watching Bringing Up Baby (1938), starring Katharine Hepburn and Cary Grant:


...when the cast credits come on.

It's Charlie. Again:


He really got around.

By the way, this movie famously has Cary Grant, wearing a fur-trimmed chiffon bedgown for reasons too screwball to repeat, announce to a bewildered matron when asked why he was dressed like that:

"I just went gay all of a sudden!"


He wore it well.

Wednesday, February 22, 2012

Statements of the obvious

They should do these in T-shirts, in order to let you know who to avoid walking behind at Woolies:





Rain, hail, waiting for sleet

The weather's been miserable. I love it.

We had an awesome hailstorm last week and have had several nights of lightning and thunder since.
Poor Suzi hasn't enjoyed it at all.

Still, this sort of weather brings out the critters, which have been strangely absent – or at least very discreet – so far this summer.
The current spiderwebs are pretty spectacular, especially when wet.
This was right outside our bedroom window last night:


This morning, it was gone.
How?
Do they pack them up? Eat them??

Spiders really do my head in.

Anyway, as for Suzi, she's getting used to the good life, to the point where she's mastered the sad-face – a truly unnerving, unflinching gaze indicating she wants food. Now.
Or she'll never stop staring at me.
Very passive-aggressive.

It's so cute though:


And highly effective.

Sunday, February 19, 2012

Dim lights, small city

I know the previous update gave you the bleak reality of my life; here's how I've managed to avoid reality entirely. Or at least put it off for a while.

Feeling sad?
Feed a horse bread or carrots or apples – anything within reason:


You'll get over it instantly.

When unable to sleep, you can't go past The Love Boat in the middle of the night.
When it stars Betty White and Carol Channing?

Hold me down:



The power of nonsense should never be underestimated.

When feeling a tad despairing of life and Australian culture in general, I like to focus on young people in town with a genuine artistic bent, or at least the ability to render more than his/her name in Magic Marker:


That's been stencilled directly across the road from the grand campery of the Masonic Temple:


Call me childish, but that really cheers me up.

And when in doubt, check out your garden.
As for food this winter, I think we're fine:

Saturday, February 18, 2012

Plus ça change...

Okay. Update.
I'm pretty much screwed; no doctor seems terribly optimistic about my outcome.
I do have chemo due early March though, so we'll soon see exactly how doomed I am.

Fun!

In the meantime, here's an overview of life as a hideously disfigured hermit in the Hunter Valley.
Again: Fun!

As the headline would suggest, the drive to Newcastle doctors really hasn't changed.
Especially Ossie the Mossie, who hasn't even bothered to ditch the hat since December:


Similarly, that wretched habit of vehicular ventriloquy shows no signs of abating.
If anything, it's worsened:


And you thought that was mindless (same car):


I wanted Mick to run this idiot woman off the road so much I almost popped a blood vessel.

Perhaps I should work on my anger issues.

I'm thinking of buying a crossbow...

Tuesday, January 31, 2012

Poor Shelley Winters

Another miracle on Australian TV.
They screened A Place in the Sun (1951) on the weekend:


A fabulous drama aided by the fact that Elizabeth Taylor and Montgomery Clift were at their most unspeakably glamorous:



Liz was a teenager.
Her best line?

"Tell mama... Tell mama all."

Sensational.

Where's Suzi?

Her new favourite hiding spot:

Sounds a bit queer #3

Heard yesterday at Pender Place.

I think it's now official:

The Coco Channel: He's a she!

Forgive me.

Due to the fact our new equine neighbour was always wearing a coat, I mistakenly identified Lofty (that's the real name; Mick ran into the owner) as male.

Au contraire.
Lofty just happens to be a very big-boned gal*:


She's actually slightly taller than Wiz, so I suppose the name fits, in an overly literal way.

Never mind, she's the consummate model.

The hair-flick:


The all-important "I eat, too" shot:


She's a natural.
Coco is pissed.

* k d lang knows all about it: