Hobo Gestapo: Afternoon delight

I have featured Hobo Gestapo and its brilliant gang of photographers on In Ghost Colours a couple of times before - if you still haven't added the site to your bookmarks yet, I suggest you change that quick smart! 

Is Hobo Gestapo's Artemis working for Rusty? How else could you explain the styling in these photos:

Anyone have any answers?

This Winter in Melbourne

The hardest part about winter is having to get out of bed. Snuggling up in bed is one of my favourite activities and thankfully, being on holiday means I get to sleep in as much as I want. But I have learnt from previous experience that this will inevitably lead to the depressing feeling that I am wasting my life away. Don't let yourself get caught in this trap! Go out, experience culture. Here are some things to do in Melbourne this winter that are better for your health than sleeping all day (though if you do get Swine Flu from one of these places, don't blame me).

The Bang Gang Monthly

There is only a small handful of DJs who could convince me to dance at a trashy club and let my dignity fall by the wayside. The Bang Gang are one of them. Ajax, Doom and Hoodrat are back at Sorry Grandma, where we can can all dance away our winter chills.

Friday 26 June

Sorry Grandma, Corner of Uniacke court and Little Bourke st

The Birmingham Hotel's First Birthday

After getting a revamp a year ago, The Birmy (as it's known to locals) has become a pretty cool place. Come celebrate the first anniversary of it being 'pretty cool' with FREE ENTRY and 12 pretty cool bands... well, maybe 11, since the Frowning Clouds are nowhere near being pretty cool, but still, 12 bands for the price of FREE is a great bargain. 

Saturday 27 June

333 Smith st, Fitzroy (corner of Johnston st)

More details here

Hello Sailor Vintage Fair

Just what the title says really, though the title doesn't mention the sausage sizzle and DJs that will also be there. Thumbs up.

1-6pm 27 - 28 June

Carlton Hotel and Studios, 193 Bourke st

The Clothing Exchange

Need some new clothes, but you can't afford to go shopping? Then the Clothing Exchange is for you. Take along 6 garments or accessories, swap 'em for buttons which is the only valid currency at TCE, and fight your way (no doubt it will be popular) to a refreshed wardrobe.

6.30pm 29 June

Atrium, Federation Square, Corner of Flinders and Swanston sts

More details here

Ice Skating at QV

"Ice skating and winter go hand-in-hand and the best place to enjoy winter this year is QV, where you can ice skate hand-in-hand with your special someone or bring the kids and let them experience the best of winter, on QV’s synthetic rink located in QV Square." Cute! I've always wanted to try ice skating, but I know I will end up gracelessly sprawled on the ice. Still, it'll be fun to wear mittens and frolic amongst the synthetic snow and pine trees. If only winter was as beautiful as it looks in New York movies.

June 27 - July 25

More details here

The aforementioned Bastille Day Ball

July 12

This is Not a Design Market

This is Not a Design Market aims to support local designers where everything from clothing, music, lighting, furniture, homewares and graphic design will be on offer. Apparently there will also be a bar! If all goes well with the first Design Market, there will be others all across Australia. 

Sunday 19 July

The Factory, 500 Latrobe st, Melbourne

More details here

Melbourne International Film Festival

Oh boy I love film festivals. I don't often get to the movies (due to time/financial restraints), but I will make the effort for a film festival film, which I know are less likely to come out on DVD and more likely to be awesome. Winter is the best time for going to the movies. The festival programme comes out July 10.

July 24 - August 9

More details here

Friendly Fires

These kids told So So Modern to change the name of their EP (which was called Friendly Fires and came about not too long before Friendly Fires started to get noticed in the UK), OR ELSE. I held a grudge against them for a little while, but then I heard their album which is so ridiculously fun that I now pretend that I always loved them, like a true pretentious music jerk. I can't wait to dance at this gig!

July 29

Prince Bandroom, 29 Fitzroy st, St Kilda

It's sold out, so unless you already have a ticket, you ain't going. Sorry.

If you know of any other events that you think should be here, contact me via email and I can add it to the list. I will keep updating this post so make sure you keep checking back. Also keep an eye on Three Thousand for a weekly rundown on all the interesting events happening around Melbourne.

The Spooky Art

Part of the reason why I started this blog was to become more comfortable with my writing and try to figure out what my 'style' is. I am constantly questioning if what I'm writing is reflective of my personality, or someone else's. 

My style of writing for this blog is different to how I write for publication. Here I am no good at being objective and tend to go overboard on the love, especially when I'm posting photos from a gig, but when I'm reviewing something for a magazine or whatever, that's when I push my preconceived notions about the subject aside and truly pay attention to what it is trying to achieve and I can be fair with what I write about it. 

In the first version of In Ghost Colours, I was emulating what I liked in other blogs and wasn't really being myself. So I deleted it shortly after. Now I am becoming more comfortable with what I am posting, though I often wonder if my sarcasm comes out in written word as I hear it in my head. Maybe it doesn't and you just think I'm a dick.

Will I ever find my own voice I am truly comfortable with? Do I already have it and I just need to refine it a little (or a lot)? Last year, I voiced my concerns about this to my uncle Pat who is a journalist in Perth and he told me that I shouldn't sit around and wait for my voice to suddenly appear, instead I should be reading lots of books and writing as often as I can. Not long after we had this discussion, he sent me a copy of Norman Mailer's The Spooky Art - Thoughts on Writing and I have read it numerous times since. Every writer should own a copy of this book. Mailer has so much good advice and little anecdotes that any writer can relate to. Here are two I particularly enjoy:

"Writing is spooky. There is no routine of an office to keep you going, only the blank page each morning, and you never know where your words are coming from, those divine words."

"A good skier rarely worries about a route. He just goes, confident that he'll react to changes in the trail as they come upon him. It's the same thing in writing: You have to have confidence in your technique. That is the beauty of mustering the right tone at the right time - it enables you to feel like a good skier, nice and relaxed for the next unexpected turn."

Cratemen

Photo by me, taken on the Geelong - Melbourne train journey just outside of Newport

Who is this mysterious crateman? I've seen him hanging around Melbourne train lines in various poses. He seems like a cool guy.

Lagerfeld Confidential

"I'm kind of a fashion nymphomaniac who never gets an orgasm"

Just a minute in June

Watching... Sex & the City. No matter what the situation is, there is always a quote from Sex & the City that is relevant.
Reading... How Language Works by David Crystal and the new No magazine. 
Listening... Primary Colours by the Horrors. They've stepped in a completely new direction and I'm not sure how this is possible, but I think I love Primary Colours more than Strange House. Primary Colours proves that they are talented musicians, not just a bunch of well dressed men (as excited as I was by their debut, I always wondered if they would be more than just a fad). Question, on the American release is it called 'Primary Colors'?
Making... plans for the holidays. I want to do everything and nothing.
Wanting... to spend my days talking to interesting people, playing with words and listening to music.
Promising... to be more careful with my money next time.

from August Street via Daydream Lily

Bastille Day at Sorry Grandma

J'adore le Francais. Paris, city of love. French accents. Daft Punk. Film noir. Pain au chocolat. Madeline. Garance Dore. Vincent Moon. Michel Gondry. Chanel. Chloe. Le Smoking. Berets. Striped tops. Marcel Marceau. Marcel Duchamp. Palace of Versailles. Victor Hugo. Hedi Slimane. Lou Dillon. Jaques Costeau. Marie Currie (just kidding, I hate science)... and so the list goes on. 

I learnt French for five years at school, even going on a trip to New Caledonia (I remember buying a packet of Tim Tams for NZD$12 and nearly stepping on a sea snake), but French just wasn't my forte. And so I dropped it after 5th form when the teacher's looks of disappointment at my lack of progress got to be too much. Four years later and the only phrases I can remember are "Je ne sais pas" (I don't know) and "Je ne comprend pas" (I don't understand). Hmmm, that kind of says something doesn't it? 

Like many women/girls/females (I'm about to turn 20 and I'm in the middle of going through a Britney Spears-esque existential crisis) I have an unrealistic dream of one day living in Paris. With the lyrics "One day we're going to live in Paris /// I promise /// I'm on it" there is no wonder why Friendly Fires' song Paris makes me close my eyes, cross my fingers and sing along in an unusually fervent display of emotion. That dream will come true at some point in the next 10 years, but luckily I've got Sorry Grandma's Bastille Day ball to tide me over in the mean time.

Sorry Grandma is a new Melbourne club with paintings on the walls which have been defaced with googly-eyes. While the drinks may be overpriced, I especially love Sorry Grandma for the decor. On July 12 Sorry Grandma are having a costume ball in honour of Bastille Day. French celebrations + dress ups + good music + good company sounds like a great night out to me. 

Here's what Sorry Grandma had to say about it:

Sacre bleu!
In le grande tradition of the famous honkytonks Bastille Day Balls comes the very first Sorry Grandma! Bastille Day Ball!
C'est magnifique!
Clearly this is not until Dimanche, Juillet 12 but we need time to get ready, and believe me, so do you!
It is a strictly costume affair mes amis, so use your imagination and thrill the world!
Such marvels we have planned!
C'est formidable!!!! C'est belle idee! ! ! 
C'est trop artistic!!!!

Bon chance et bon nuit xxx

I love costume parties, but there's always the tough decision to go all out or play it cool and understated. How extravagant should I go? What if I'm too over dressed and my wig ends up poking someone in the eye? What if my corset causes me to faint dramatically on the dancefloor? Will I be able to rave in a hoop skirt? And do I stick to the year exactly, what if I find something from 1791 and someone calls me out for it? That wouldn't be fun. All I'd be left with would be a pumpkin and one glass slipper.

There's so much to think about! I've got to start putting together my costume! I need to start practicing my nonchalant "Mais, oui."

Geelong Groceries

Photo credit: elinkan

This picture reminds me of how I feel going to the supermarket in Geelong. Overdressed. My love of bright red lipstick has drawn a fair amount of attention, some of it lovely, some of it lewd. One time on the train a girl turned to me and said "Ooooh I love your lipstick. You look like a beautiful Japanese girl!" Oh... uhhh, okay. Thanks. (please note I have absolutely no Japanese in me whatsoever - I'm an Irish/Scottish New Zealander through and through!)