American Psycho

I've decided to periodically add book reviews to this blog. If anyone is reading this, it will be something different and I really enjoy doing it.

So here we go; my first review will be of American Psycho by Bret Easton Ellis.

Ellis paints a portrait of a man called Patrick Bateman, who lives in the materialistic New York City in the 80s.

In his third novel, Ellis creates a world where everyone is exceedingly narcissistic and self absorbed; characters in the novel don't hear or see each other. They are however concerned with where they are seated at a restaurant, and with all the designer labels they are wearing. Friendship is reduced to comparing designer clothes, business cards and contemplating the differences between different brands of bottled water together. Seduction and romance are nonexistant, and as for sex, in the novel Patrick has sex with many women, and each scene is as unmemorable as the last, often resulting in boredom on the part of the participants.

In this materialistic sphere everyone is equally rich, equally in designer fashion and equally superficial, making them interchangeable (Patrick and others in his circle of "friends" are often mistaken for one another), and this makes it uncertain as to whether Patrick actually committed his gory crimes only in his imagination. But does it even matter? Even the heinous crimes he theoretically commits result in nothing; there is no recognition, no consequence, no missing of any of his `victims'.

Ellis flawlessly satirizes modern consumerism, exposing its redundancy through his unique prose; gaining personal wealth, a perfect body, designer clothes, designer girls, no longer makes a person stand out. In Bateman, he creates a character that is so caught up in his materialisic world that he is not free to have whatever he wants and be happy; on the contrary, he is trapped in a rigid, monotonous existance, and he loses his identity, and control over himself.

Ellis' novel embodies the makings of a true contemporary tragedy. Patrick Bateman is a man with everything, and nothing. Ellis uses this vapid character to portray the growing lack of emotion and rise in a purely consumer society. Bateman is perhaps one of the most crucial characters in 20th century literature, and Ellis is definitely one of the most important authors.

Yes, I warn you that the violence is graphic and horrifying. But don't get stuck inside that. Look further. Don't miss this book!!!!

Mrs. Henry rock the Next Big Thing

Local Perth band Mrs. Henry got into Western Australia's well known band competition, the Next Big Thing. The four piece band, consisting of David Lee Owen (guitar & vocals), Jack Midalia (guitar), JP Papineau (drums) and Kok-Wah Seet (bass) got through their heat and last Saturday played in the Semi-Final.

The competition was tough; among the other artists were a hip hop/funk band, a 70s-inspired rock and roll band, a bluegrass duo...

Each band got only 20 minutes to play, and the first act had to go on at 7:30 or so, for a total of seven acts. The order was decided with a random draw. Mrs. Henry did well in the draw and got the 9:50 slot. I was pretty nervous for them as the time before they went on passed and as they got onstage, but all traces of worry vanished when they began to play. I say with confidence that this was the best show the band has ever put on.

They started out with Kissing Girls, a song with clever lyrics and a slow, unsettling sound that unfolded into an explosion of rock music. Their second song, Trombone Sally was pure pop rocks, catchy melodies and energy that just has to be danced to and sung along with. The vibe changed a bit with the band's next song, Choke On Your Words, a heavier, angrier song with hushed tones contrasting with thunderous, guitar-heavy choruses that bring back memories of the best music from the 90s yet somehow without sounding too derivative. Next, the band played Terminal Party, the title track of their recently released EP. Terminal Party is truly the band's magnum opus. It is an epic, extremely compelling song with amazing changes that give the listener chills. It is a song that takes risks and really succeeds; The melodies and structure are just brilliant, and the lyrics are haunting and provoking. After the intensity of Choke on Your Words and Terminal Party, Mrs. Henry wisely ended their set with a new, untitled (referred to as SY Song thus far) track, a raucous, thrashing punk rock song that ended with a rockin jam and a bang. Great fun.

As it turned out, they didn't get through to the Final (the hip hop band ended up coming in first...), but they were very, very close. There were a lot of people there who thought they should have won. The point is, it would have been great to win, but everyone had a great night, and they played their hearts out. And hey, it's cool to be the band that is sort of the underdog, the band that everyone thought should have come first. Everyone was happy. And there was a girl who asked to have her picture taken with Dave.

On a side note, a bunch of us who went to the show were having a wonderful time drawing mustaches on the insides of our index fingers, courtesy of Gaby and taking pictures of it. Great times.


Mrs Henry got absolutely sparkling reviews in Xpress and Drum Media.

From Xpress:
Mrs. Henry, wildcard potentials from Semifinal 2, are pretty damn handy at upgrading their chosen genre of music, which happens to be the oft-left-unchanged realm of indie-rock. Not a band to play by the rules, Mrs. Henry put more power and balls into the indie mix than anyone has dared since the Pixies, but also make sure there's enough pop in the rock mix to see them sure-fire radio fodder. Able to jump from delicate lows to soaring highs within the same song, Mrs. Henry are all about versatility in a world of music that has long given up rising to such a challenge.

Thr review from Drum Media was particularly impressive. Each band in the competition got a little something said about them, and many reviews were pretty damn unflattering. "woefully unimaginative", "Audioslave with added vocal echo" and "perverse embarrassment" are some examples of descriptions from some reviews.

Bands got good things said about them, but Mrs. Henry was actually the ONLY band that got a purely good review! Here it is:
Mrs Henry plays and incredible and enigmatic set. Lead singer/guitarist Dave Henry stalks the stage like Groucho Marx, his body reeling in short, sharp fits. His entire being yelps through his guitar...through his throat. Songs hurl from riff to riff like magic and I am suddenly excited about indie rock all over again.

Yay!

If you want to hear Mrs. Henry you should check out their Myspace.

www.myspace.com/mrshenrytheband
The have an EP out as well.

Three Years

Dave and I celebrated our 3-year anniversary together! We went away for the weekend and it was lovely.

The Friday we left was my last day of my 2nd Prac. It was so great to have the weekend away to look forward to. Dave and I spent the first night in Bunbury, we got pizza, drank Absolut Raspberry and watched "the Notorious Bettie Page".

Saturday it was time to get a move on down South! We drove into Dunsborough to have lunch, but ended up deciding to eat at a winery instead. We went to Driftwood Estates, a really nice, fancy winery for lunch. Dave had linguine with seafood (we don't really ever cook seafood since I don't eat it) and I had a steak with mustard sauce, gravy and sweet potato, mmmmm.

We went to the shops to get some picnic foods, went to the Moss Brothers winery for some wine, and in Margaret River, visited the cheese factory and the chocolate factory for yummies, and then it was off to the Yallingup Luxury Retreat!

The place was beautiful with a king size bed full of soft blankets, pillows and cushions that was so easy to just sink into. The huge bathroom had two sinks, a shower with two showerheads and a massive jacuzzi spa! Ooohhh, and there were fluffy robes to lounge around in. It was great! We had a nice picnic on the bed, drank red wine from the winery and watched some movies, spent time together.

The next day we went to see the ocean. It was crashing with some impressive waves and it was a gorgeous sunny day, warm for the time of year.

Highlights

So here we are, I missed so much time writing in here that I'm afraid I'll have to Tell everyone what's been going on in brief snippets. They won't even necessarily be in order - I'll just write as I remember.

A few weeks ago Big Dave had his 30th birthday and to celebrate, he threw a big party; the theme was "A Night at the Playboy Mansion" It was an amazing party - the girls were in cocktail dresses or Playboy Bunny outfits, the guys in 70s style suits, pyjamas or robes. Hors d'Oeuvres and cocktails were being passed around. It was a great night with great people.

Dave's band, Mrs Henry had their EP launch over Easter Weekend at the Velvet Lounge, and it was a real success. They recently got into the Next Big Thing band competition, and also made it through the first heat! They are playing this saturday to determine who goes into the finals.

Navin is coming back on Sunday from a big trip around India and Europe. Larni is travelling in India. Busta went to visit Liz and Rowan in the UK and travelled.

Our friends Taryn and Eddie had a lovely party to celebrate the first birthday of their daughter Raajni.

We had our housewarming party on Walcott street, it was great fun. Here's a pic of a few of the girls (side note: we all decided independently to cut our fringes, it was pretty funny):

I'm booked to go on a visit to Montreal, I arrive on December 15. Dave's going to be there too, For Christmas, he's also going to the UK to see his sister, some friends and go to his cousin's wedding (I was invited too, but I can't go. booooooo.) I'm really hoping to see Matt, Brian and my cousins from Western Canada, I miss them so much.

Dave and I bought a digital piano, and I've been loving it. I've found a lot of websites for sheet music, and I'm re-learning old tunes as well as learning new ones. Dave has also been learning to play, it's great!

On downtime, Dave and I have been into the Sopranos, and now, Six Feet Under. Yay, stories! Haha.

The last party hosted by the girls on Bagot Road was the "Bitches, Bastards and Badasses" party. Dave and I went as Gordon Ramsay and Courtney Love. I loved Gaby's Robin Hood costume the best I think. Lou and Larni went as the wicked stepsisters, Kat was a ninja and Mel was Uma in Pulp Fiction. Their new place, a house of 4 girls: Kat, Gaby, Lou and Sian held a "Dessert only" dinner party. Delicious!

Last week Dave and I went out to the Sparrow with Nat and her Mom, who is visiting her in Australia, it was really good to see them.

The Winter Music Festival came and went, this year it was horror themed. That was pretty cool.

Last weekend was Dave Cutbush's birthday at Shape, and it was a good night, but I ended up drinking like a bottle and a half of champagne, so the next day wasn't so great. And I punched Jack. Never again! It was silly of me.

That's all I've got for now. Lots of great days and nights, and more to come.

Months Later

For the past...what...4 months I have been telling myself to update and add more to this blog.  Well, today I was watching an episode of "Desperate Housewives" (which by the way is awesome, why did I never watch it before??) and I thought that at this point I have no excuse! 

I'm on school holidays for a bit, it's been great. Last I wrote, my Mom had just left Australia - I'm hoping to fill in some of the blanks later, but for now, I'll do a quick rundown, with the best intentions of keeping this blog up better.

My job at Dymocks turned out to be not so good. My boss has his two daughters, age 19 and I think 22 working there, and he gave them both manager positions. Problem is, they are both spoiled and horrible, and the younger one especially is unqualified.  These girls were always bossing everyone around, and talking to us like 4-year-old children, and we couldn't do anything about it, because they were the boss's daughters, and if one of them had a problem with you, it would be hell to be at work.  They were also known for being catty and perpetrating gossip at work.  It turned out that for some reason the younger one took a dislike to me. I would grit my teeth and bear it when she made comments about my work, personality, even my appearance, particularly my hair and weight. She would give me irrelevant jobs, like going upstairs to do everyones' dishes. At this point, I started looking around for something else, but not seriously, and I guess while I was at it, I stopped humoring the daughter so much. Several staff members came to me to tell me that this daughter didn't like me and that she was spreading gossip about me in the workplace. I just kept out of it. But then when the next month's roster was posted, I wasn't on it.  I knew what happened. The same thing had happened to another work colleague of mine who this girl didn't care for.  When I went to talk to the boss, I was floored by how rude and inhumane he was.  He told me that one of his his "trusted managers" had "reported" that I wasn't doing my job properly. That was preposterous; everyone there knows that I go above and beyond what is required over there.  When I told the boss this, he just smirked and told me that since I went back to school and went from full-time to casual, I no longer had rights in the workplace. There are a lot of other things he said to me, but I won't go through it all here, it was all very awful, mean and unprofessional.  I started to tear up in his office and all he said when he saw was "Are we done here?" Anyway. I'll be happy if I never see him or his daughters again!

I am about half done the Graduate Diploma of Education (high school teaching) and a lot of it has been pretty intense. I was terrified going into my first Prac for instance - I definitely didn't feel prepared to teach a high school class, and the first time I did it, my hands were shaking as I took the roll. It all worked out though, and I ended up really enjoying it. My mentor teacher, Rick London, was really cool, and we got along very well and had some great chats. He's an amazing person, and weirdly, he looks quite a bit like Bret Easton Ellis.

It seemed like moments after Prac that it was time for presentations, microteaching and written assignments, followed by exam week, followed immediately by Prac #2! Luckily, 2nd Prac was at the same school as 1st Prac, and I did well, and had a good time with Rick and the rest of the English department. I think I learned more in the three weeks of prac than in the whole school semester. It was really an eye opener to see what worked, what didn't, and to really get in there. I fell on my face a couple of times for sure, but that's how you learn.  I got to know the kids a lot better, and taught some year 12 classes. I was sad to leave some of the kids, and they told me that they really liked having me as their teacher. Really good experience.