I'm kicking back watching The Dish. What a classic Australian film. It's all about the role that one of our telescopes played in the moon landing - one of my favourite films of all time really. Many moons ago on this blog I posted some photos of the dish that was in the movie. It is such a magnificent structure.

Back to the movie, though. Australians have grown to be so good at taking the piss out of themselves, even within a serious context. A bunch of guys playing cricket in the bowl of a telescope is so... us. That's our culture all over.

"You just bullshitted NASA!"

Music taste

What kind of music do you like?

I like anything.
All types.

Actually, no. A few things could have happened there. One possibility is that you've just been put on the spot about what you like and your head froze up. Another is that you don't want to offend a prospective new friend by saying their favourite music is shit. Who knows? That person you tell to listen to some real music when they confess their love for the Spice Girls could have been your best friend, but you'll never know because they've fucked off to spice up their life without you.

I love those sorts of conversations. I had one recently with a work friend who is thinking about having guitar lessons from me. He's had them before from someone in the past, and told me he lost interest and got bored. I told him my perspective is that especially for adult learning, you have to be able to justify your means toward a goal. And so I asked the question:

What's a song you really like?

I like lots of music. All types. Even classical.

Really? Woohoo! Let's learn a classical piece then!

Oh no, I wouldn't want to play classical.

And we're back to square one.

Old is the new Old

For fuck's sake. The bands I listened to as a teenager are releasing new albums. Some are bands I thought were long gone. Some are bands that have had a really good bash at longevity. Some are bands that have evolved into playing completely different music over time. But that's beside the point.

It only struck me yesterday, when I discovered that No Doubt is giving it all another go. The memories came flooding back of having friends wanting me to play Don't Speak for them while we rammed into a tiny boarding school dorm room. Those same days of bunches of teenagers screaming out Alanis - "Are you thinking of me, when you fuck her?". Oh and I can still picture clearly my mother's face when she decided that Matchbox Twenty were no good because you shouldn't sing about pushing people around, it's not nice.

All that isn't yesterday any more. Not by a long shot. It's a long time ago now. I've lost a good sixteen years bumming around and these guys are still out there making music and flogging it to the world.

I feel old.