want

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And, because it’s not all want, I’m quite enjoying the Loose Marbles CD the lovely D sent me. Check out their version of ‘When I get low I get high’ (yes, a drug reference, yes one of the bestest songs evah). You can hear and watch them here, playing one of my favourite songs, ‘Four or Five Times’, heading towards the version I most prefer (a la the McKinney’s Cotton Pickers). The lyrics?
Four or Five times – McKinney’s Cotton Pickers, 1928
[scat]
I’m never about,
??
Just keep a-strolling,
Keep the ball a-rolling,
This isn’t a boast
But what i like most
Is to have someone true
Who will love me too,
four or five times.
Four or five times
Four or five times
there is delight in doing things right
four or five times
[four or five times]
Maybe I’ll sigh,
Maybe I’ll cry,
And if I die,
I’m gonna try…
four or five times.
We like to play
We like to sing
We like to go scedadilah do
Four or five times.
Bibop one
Bibop two
bibop three
Didahdiladee
Four or five times
[scat]
Yes, sure, ok!
What?
Yes. ! !
Four or five times,
Four or five times,
There is delight,
In doing things right,
Four or five times.
There’s a bunch of scatting in there I couldn’t transcribe, but you get the point.
Oh, and yes, it’s all about double entendre, yet again.
I love this song a whole lot, especially this version, though I never get to play it (too old, too fast, to obscure for mainstream lindy hoppers). I do play a pretty fabulous 1930s version by Woody Herman and his Orchestra which always really rocks the dancers. It’s a lot straighter and safer and very lindy hoppable, but still lots of fun.
There’s a version by Jimmie Lunceford (c 1935) which gets a fair bit of play in Melbourne, and I do prefer it, musically, though it’s lower energy than the Herman version. I play the Herman far more often than the Lunceford version. I also have a fully sick version by Lionel Hampton, which I never seem to play. I have no idea why not – it’s freakin’ awesome.

i have nothing to do

and no energy even for made up jobs. It’s 11.13 and I’ve been up for hours already. The less I have to do, the earlier I get up so the more time I can spend sitting (or wandering) about, staring aimlessly into space or blindly tapping my way through the internet. I keep thinking ‘it’s cooler – go out and take advantage of it’ but I have no motivation.
I really don’t have anything to do. Well, I have a book review to do – but it’s not due til March. I haven’t read the book, but I’ve begun it and pretty much know how it’ll turn out. I have thought about making a conference paper into a journal article, but I lack inspiration. Or motivation. The thesis needs to become a book, quite soon, but you know what? I just can’t be arsed. Sewing? Hm, whatever. Fiddling with my music? Nah. The garden is weeded and mulched and happy on its own. The house isn’t too dirty.
Smells like post-holiday dumps.
We had a very nice time in Hobart. Nice weather (mostly), nice visit, nice festivus. We have to go up to Brisvegas for a funeral this week, which won’t be nice, but hopefully it’ll be ok. I haven’t been back in seven years. I’m not really looking forward to it. As The Squeeze says, We Don’t Go Back.
I have no plans for this year. I do have some sessional teaching lined up, possibly some lecturing, but I lack enthusiasm.
I have been doing some serious long stitching lately. Is that what it’s called? Where you do looong stitches across the canvas. Feels like cheating to me. I’m a tapestry person (when I can be arsed with canvas work), and all those long stitches feel like cheating. There are a couple of fancier knots and things, but still. We’ve been watching Hornblower DVDs compulsively since christmas. Dad, The Squeeze and I would take over the lounge room and giant telly and watch them in Hobart. We brought them home with us and lay on the couch watching a welshy annunciate his way through the Napoleonic wars through that latest hot spell. We have a bunch of Sharpes to get us through this weekend’s heat.
I’ve also been watching some other DVDs. Got Shameless season 1 from The Squeeze, and it’s great. All watched, though. Good thing there are four seasons (I think). Have also made my way through three Spike Lee films lately – Clockers, Do The Right Thing and Jungle Fever. Clockers was the only one I hadn’t seen, and it was ok. Bit preachy, really. I know that’s Lee’s thing, but I prefer the sermon cloaked with a little story telling. There were some nice wanky narrative tipups in there, but not all that amazing, really. But I do like Lee’s fillums. Crooklyn is my favourite, though. Of course. Though I quite liked Summer of Sam.
We saw Darjeeling Limited at the Kino this week. It was neat. I love that man’s fillums. I love them very much. We also saw The Golden Compass in Hobart. It was neat. We have plans to see I Am Legend, but I am suspecting some serious crap. That actor sucks bums and I bet there are some failures to explain basic historical and practical points. Electricity? Rotting bodies? A man who has to explore and hunt through a city using a treadmill to keep fit? Excuse me, mate, but subsistence living will strip the pounds from you to the point where you’ll be too busy for moping about on a treadmill. Is anyone else thinking Z For Zacharia here?
Speaking of which, what was it with all those fucking horrible post-apocalyptic, WWII, holocaust books we read at school? As a keen reader I was either thoroughly bored or thoroughly traumatised by the crap we read at school. Why not a nice, encouraging book about happy things? Maybe they figured all we northern suburb, working class public school types needed a bit of buck-up-man-ship.
Ok, so back to me and my malaise. Is malaise the right word? I feel slothful. Lazy. Unproductive. Apathetic. Guilty for having nothing to do. No serious work on the horizon. And any way, what should I research now? What should I write about? I really can’t think of anything. It’s like I’ve used up all my creativity with that PhD. I guess I’m looking forward to teaching – I always learn a lot and get all inspired and creative with my teaching. Pity it doesn’t leave me enough time to write anything. Guess I’d better get over that quick smart, though.
I am a miserable old poo. Guess I should get out and get some exercise. Give myself a bit of a happy endorphine injection. Bah humbug.

acma’s report on families, gender and media technology

I’m sorry I don’t have time to write something clever, but I thought some of you would be interested in this. It’s ACMA’s “Media and Communications in Australian Families 2007” report. I’d seen a few news articles about it, but have only just had time (because it’s boxing day and I’m home alone while the family are out buying stuff) to actually look through the report. If you can’t be bothered reading the whole report, check out the the press release for an overview.
There are, of course, some concerns about the sample size, etc, though it’s presented as a having used a representative sample (only 750 responses, but that’s actually not too bad, considering), I’m concerned about the issues of class etc tied up in the sampling process.
But if you read the report, there are some interesting points:

  • Around 70 per cent of girls aged 14–17 have a MySpace or similar profile,
    compared with 50 per cent of boys.
  • Almost two-thirds of girls use a mobile phone, but less than half of boys do.

Interesting stuff there, about gender and media use. My interest is caught by the fact that girls are more likely to use technology with an emphasis on communications. I do think, though, that it’d be worth exploring the communicative, collaborative potential of gaming. Apparently boys spend more time gaming than doing things like MySpace, and one of the definite appeals of things like WOW is the option of real time, collaborative play. Which of course, involves real time, collaborative problem solving and communicative ‘work’. Which is, of course, one of the functions of ‘gossip’ – real time, collaborative communicative work where participants explore potential ‘solutions’ or ‘answers’ or ‘reasons’ for interpersonal ‘problems’ (ie ‘maybe he cheated on you with her because she puts out?’).
I also wonder about the significance of literacy. Young people make greater use of online technologies as they get older – as their literacy skills improve. And I wonder about girls’ preference for text-based media. Is there perhaps a correlation between girls’ literacy and their social media use?
It’s all very interesting and definitely worth exploring.
The report itself has some problems – the same comments about ‘watching violence on telly making kids violent, which is actually quite difficult to substantiate. Violence is far more complex an issue than can simply accounted for by watching violence on telly. So, you might be more likely to ‘use’ violence on telly (whether for models for your own violence, or as inspiration or energiser) if you’re already living in a violent home, if you’ve had experience with violence, or if you’re otherwise vulnerable. So there’s a confluence of factors contributing to incidences of violence, and it’s inaccurate to say that ‘watching violence on telly makes you violent’. So this report doesn’t seem to have taken that into account.
There are also a few, similar problems about ideology and lifestyle – still the idea that ‘technology has an effect’ or that there’s a causal relationship between media technologies and social behaviour. We don’t approve of that, over here in the lefty cultural studies media studies feminist corner.

why didn’t anyone tell me

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Torchwood was fun?
Sure, it’s pretty freakin’ crappy telly (everything from the acting to the script, with a few pitstops for really awful editing on the way), but it’s also highly addictive. I just watched my way through season one, and i give it a tick tick. No V.G., but I’ll be looking out for season two, and it’s even made me want to watch the new Dr Who seasons to see how the two programs work out. Btw, isn’t that the awfulest PR shot ever? Yes, fisheye lens = fun, but why would you fill the shot with a giant, brown couch straight from the nearest sharehouse, squeeze everyone into one crowded corner and fail to consider the effects of fisheye lenses on apparent shoe sizes? I know they were hoping to get the big ‘Torchwood’ wall art into the shot, but they didn’t even manage to do that properly! Argh!
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I kind of like the premise – an other Earth, where there’s a big old rip in the fabric of time and space, through which stuff comes. And then gets collected. The ob-con part of me likes the idea of a ‘secret’* government agency whose sole purpose is tidying up lost stuff. I have to admit, I also like the fluid sexual preferences. Boys? Girls? Omnisexual? Whatever. It’s a nice change from the aggressive heterocentrism of Smalls.
It’s obviously a rip-off of all the best bits of Buffy and Angel, especially Angel. Immortal boss who can’t be injured, lives underground and broods a bit? Queer sex/romantic story lines? Bickering scooby gang? Slightly inappropriate romantic relationships between workmates and employees and employers? Yep. It’s also a little dodgy, ethics-wise (they characters pull all manner of dodgy stunts, and unlike House, there’s no ongoing negotiation and problematising of this behaviour). And it’s a bit crap, ‘fact’-wise. The one scene they had set in the 40s included some seriously shithouse and historically inaccurate dancing and music (The Squeeze has entertained himself uncovering the multiple historical inaccuracies, from engine types to planes), I noticed one scene suddenly shifting from dark night to afternoon (with no real explanation), and let’s not even go near the costumes. Captain Jack wearing trousers, collared shirt and braces with that ridiculous Great Coat, but no waistcoat, tie, or jacket? What a load of rot.
But I still like it. And, apparently, Spike’ll be in it in the second season. Probably snogging Cpt Jack.**
*Secret? Not when they order pizzas for ‘Torchwood’, delivered to their ‘secret’ HQ, they drive around in a seriously pimped black ‘SUV’ (that’s what they call it – the SUV) with ‘Torchwood’ written all over it, and they routinely bust in on police crime scenes saying things like ‘this case belongs to Torchwood now’. The fact that they’re also based in Cardiff, in a country I know first and foremost for its population made up of a) people I’m related to, and b) the most accomplished busybodies in the known universe, doesn’t really help convince me that this is a ‘secret’ agency.
**Though who hasn’t? Ianto has (talk about inappropriate workplace relationships – boss and employee? Boss and recently berieved employee?), the real Cpt Jack did. The Cpt Jack boss character’s supposed to be ‘bi’ (as in not actually operating within a specific orientation), but he’s yet to kiss any ladies. Come on – if he’s only into blokes, why not say so? I’m quite happy to deal with him waiting for his ‘special Doctor’, but why doesn’t he just come out already, and quit with the dithering?

monday jazzblogging (because everyday’s caturday when you likes jass)

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I wish I could shimmy like my sister Kate ~ Mugsy Spanier and His Ragtime Band 1939

Oh, wish I could shimmy,
like my sister Kate,
Now she shakes it like jelly,
On a plate.
My momma wanted,
To know last night,
Why the boys think Kate’s so nice,
Every boy in my neighbourhood
Now knew she could shimmy
And it’s understood,
I might be late,
But I’ll be up to date,
When I can shimmy like my sister Kate
I’m shoutin’
shimmy like my sister Kate,
Oh boy.

Just one verse, really, but it’s worth it, just for that line – she shakes it like jelly, on a plate. I like that sort of talk.
And the saucy trumpet (or is it a cornet?) solo makes it all work. But really, we’re all just waiting for the big old shouting chorus at the end.
(That’s not Kid’s Ragtime Band there in the image, it’s his other band – the Original Creole Jazz Band).
[PS – I just found this ‘collection of New Orleans greats by Mahalia Jackson’ and nearly weed with excitement. Apparently it’s a misprint. Wracked with disappointment. Trying to get over it]
[PPS my favourite Kid Ory song is ‘Creole Bo Bo’ – a French nursery rhyme done with a seriously swinging New Orleans rhythm which makes me HAPPY! It also defies DJing. At 203bpm, with French lyrics, an obviously nursery rhyme melody and too much swing for charleston, it’s just not a song you’ll play every day. For anyone other than yourself.]

seasonal rhinitis

Argh. These allergies are killing me. Snot everywhere, sinuses aching, dizzy and confused, itching all over, shaky, sneezing, coughing… Is it the weather (I’ve been taking antihistamines every day for ages, so surely it’s not that?), or is it the semi-annual going-through of boxes of old crap that are drowning in dust? Argh. I’m not tough enough for this.

nostalgia = go

Is it just me who’s really excited about this film coming out?

I really enjoyed the first one – I thought it looked lovely and lush, it was heaps of fun, and it actually seemed to make the gender stuff work ok. Perhaps I was blinded by nostalgia, but I thought it was neat. Probably because I thought the Lord of the Rings films were freakin’, shitfully dull, and the Narnia stories are heaps more fun. And with way less violence.
Which I think is appropriate for kids – I’m not one of these people who thinks kids should be reading and watching stories about the Holocaust, child abuse, dystopian post-apocalyptic societies where kids are left alone to battle nasty monsters, animal abuse, etc etc etc. The Narnia stories aren’t all sugar and sunlight, but I don’t approve of too much horribleness for kids.
And I’m a kid, and I don’t like that stuff. I like fantasy and flowers and kissing. Though I bet there won’t be much of that in the new Narnia film.
I’m also looking forward to The Golden Compass.