By the way...

Something I forgot to put in yesterday's three Strikes post: a blog post I wrote got picked up by Palidan's Empowerment Gazette, a self-help e-paper. The site refreshes every day, so I can't actually remember what it was.

Also: RIP Mark Chopper Read. Australian gangster, renowned and feared hitman but also a clumsy career criminal who spent most of his adult life in prison, Read became a household name worldwide (if your family is particularly interested in crime, whether organised or considerably disorganised) in 2000 with the release of biopic Chopper.

It's absolutely brilliant, and easily takes the mantle as Australia's most quotable film. And it was my first DVD. Bit of trivia for you there.

Three Strikes: Week 46

7/10-13/10

I met somebody famous this week. Stay tuned for a post on this. I also have a few more celebrity encounters lined up to fill the void that is my life over the next few weeks. Hoo... ray.

Struggling to even strike out on the last remaining movements at the gym in the Three Strikes project. Lat pulldown, seated row and horizontal dumbell fly are the only remaining movements left, and there's only one of each machine at OCL. I made the mistake of leaving the three most popular areas of the gym right to the end of the project. If you're going to give this weekly gym project a shot, start with the most popular machines first. Or go early, before work, when only the old biddies are there on the cross trainers, and the benches aren't being used.

May set the alarm a little earlier...

Three Strikes: Week 45

30/9-6/10

U.S.War novelist Tom Clancy died this week. I read two of his novels in college: Red Storm Rising, about World War 3 breaking out between Russia, Chechnya and the USA after an attack on an oil plant, and Without Remorse, featuring a Navy Seal juggling two missions- seeking revenge on his murdered girlfriend whilst rescuing Vietnam war prisoners.

The books were heavy, detailed war novels- technically informative and very believable- but you have to be able to stomach that level of military detail. You'll be subjected to pages of information about EXACTLY how a submarine does an about-turn to face the enemy vessels that are on its tail.

When you're 16-17 and reading novels of this weight and depth, your understanding can be impaired by a number of things. One is your own vocabulary, and whether you can get a gist of what a writer is telling you from the context. Another is your knowledge of the world and its politics. I read both of these before 11^th September 2001, at a time when I just wasn't interested in the news. It'd be a further 2 years until the World Trade Centre attack, the point at which I started regularly watching the news and learning about how- with its religions and warfare and ethics- the world works.

Also, when you're in your late teens and you haven't read that many adult novels, you don't have a great deal of previously read books to compare to, and your gauge of literary merit isn't as finely honed as it might be once you're in your twenties or thirties, and you've read a pile of good and not-so-good books. Unless you've got a big problem with a book, you might finish it and think, yeah, pretty good. Even when it perhaps wasn't. Note that Red Storm Rising wasn't optioned for a movie adaptation.

If you're prepared for an 800-page epic war story, pick a Clancy novel. The pace and the twists are good, and the military knowledge laced into the stories is comprehensive.

Moving on. I went to London this week to see relatives. I'm going to detail this in another post I think, as we packed a TON of stuff in- sightseeing touristy things I'd definitely recommend.

I got back into the swing of things at the gym, although Ibiza beat the living crap out of me and I found my fitness had hit a slump. Gym classes are hard when you've been abusing your body for a week prior. No records.

Ibiza: Day 8

21^st

Woke up after having virtually no sleep. Thankfully I wasn't the one driving to the airport.

Ibiza was fantastic, and even if you're not a big dance music fan you'd still love the island for its countryside, restaurants and beaches. I think renting a remote villa made transport a little difficult, although it was a damned good-looking place. There's probably countless things I'm forgetting to put in here, and there are certainly things that happened that aren’t my business to say, but Ibiza- I can safely say- is the only place I've been to and, afterwards, felt I MUST visit again. There's enough to do out there to keep you busy for at least two weeks, but whether your body- or your bank account- can handle being out there that long is another matter.

Oh, by the way, here's Deadmaus

Ibiza: Day 7

20^th

Watched the sun set through the large glass front of Ibiza Rocks Bar, San Antonio.

 

 

The bar's sister venture, Ibiza Rocks Hotel, has a reputation for offering the most crazy, non-stop-party accommodation on the island. The stories of sleep-deprived, drug-fueled madness caused by the residents are endless. The hotel itself, shaped like the outline of a rectangle, allows the rooms and their balconies look out over the venue's auditorium, meaning residents get free nightly shows without leaving their studios. The events are quite mainstream-music-orientated and not ideal for house music enthusiasts like myself, but the headlining acts are quite well-known.

We went on the Friday evening, for the closing party of We Are Rockstars, where Radio 1's Zane Lowe and singer Mark Ronson performed a mash-up of numerous random pop songs. Cheesy but entertaining, with the music selection including a few surprising oldies from the last 15 years or so.

 

An impressive venue until you see the queues at the bar and the horrific state of the toilets (with what looked like chopped chorizo splattered all over the bowls and floors).

Once the show had ended, the night was still young so we taxid over to the Ibiza Rocks Cafe again, then to Eden, for Judgement Fridays. Radio 1's Judge Jules span quite a heavy selection of house songs. He can't mix for shit! HOW did he end up on Radio 1?! Music was a bit too hard for my liking, but the décor, clientèle and view of the dancefloor from the club's balcony was brilliant.

Ibiza: Day 6

19^th

So blisteringly hot that the large chunks of ice I'd put in my drink had melted by the time I got from the kitchen to the lounger outside.

After sundown, we hit Cream at Amnesia, an absolutely massive warehouse-style venue with two giant inflatable superheroes pumped up on either side of the stage, between which was placed a spotlit DJ booth. The crowd- quite younger than at other clubs- lapped up the electro and dance mash-ups.

Here's DJ DOD...

...and Benny Banassi!

He bears a striking resemblance to Robert Downey Jr, don't you think?

Eddie Halliwell also performed a set although I didn't get a video for some reason.

Most memorably, when Laidback Luke took over, his promo team dished out about a thousand giant pointing foam fingers, first throwing them to the people at the front of the stage but soon frisbeeing each one as far as he could into the surging crowd, until the whole venue was a sea of yellow fingers, thrusting to the beat as the DJ twisted his fingers, his thumb and forefinger L-shaped, symmetrical.

Can't believe I didn't get a video of him either!

I apparently missed Paul Van Dyke because- unbeknown to me- there was another entire room with another stage, where PVD was playing. According to the group that room was the main stage, with a bigger, better layout. We must have split into two at some point, and found each other later on, something I have no recollection of at all- possibly due to not getting back to the villa 'til 7:30am.