Sunday, February 28, 2010

Thunderstruck!

A few weeks ago, I was lucky enough to get a free ticket to AC/DC!

Like many Australians, I hold a soft spot for AC/DC and their music. It's hard not to have an appreciation for what is probably Australia's most famous and successful band.

When Josh managed to get tickets, Andy and I were more than happy to join him at the concert.
Armed with our jeans and black shirts, we dashed out of our respective offices. Wandering through the city, we were confronted by a strange mix of black shirts and flannelette.

In Australia, AC/DC attracts a strange combination of fans. From the dedicated lovers of hard rock, to the fans of rock and roll music and through to their most famous type of Australian fans.... the bogans.

Every country has bogans. In the UK, they're called "chavs". In the US, they're called "trash". In Singapore, I remember they were called "Ah Bengs".

Regardless, it would be a good atmosphere. The sheer crush of people attending would ensure that.

Josh had wrangled us good tickets. We were up in the members stand, with a clear view of the stage, comfortable seats and a private lounge behind us.
Before the main act, the newly constituted Wolfmother came out to entertain.

Sadly, they were far from capable of achieving this goal.

In fact, we found the "music" of Wolfmother to be so loud, out of synch and screetchy, that we decided that it would be best to retreat to the comfort of the lounge for some drinks and quiet.

Thankfully, we would have to wait long though.
The main act quickly came on!

And they did not disappoint.

From the very start, they did not disappoint.

The concert started out with a bang as Angus Young came charging out onto the stage in his famous schoolboy uniform. This alone made it worth attending the concert.
More was to come though. AC/DC were up to their usual antics and were a well oiled performance machine. There was a clear understanding between the band members of what was happening and when it was to happen.
Seeing AC/DC perform was definitely a "box ticker". It's one of those things that I'm glad to say I've been able to do, one of those things that needs to be done before the opportunity is gone.

Who knows, one day, maybe I'll be able to sit grand children down and tell them with pride that I was lucky enough to attend an AC/DC concert.... and then listen to them look at me with questioning faces and either laugh at me or ask who they are......

Saturday, February 20, 2010

Dexter-ing Josh's room

With Andy's room sorted, I turned my attention to Josh's room.

All of us are big fans of the show "Dexter", which follows the life of the serial Dexter Morgan. We're such big fans in fact, that Kosta gave me the perfect idea for how to destroy Josh's room. This would take some effort and work. We had decided to turn Josh's room into a replica of one of Dexter's "kill" rooms.

That should freak him out nicely!

So, with the help of Kosta, we gathered the materials we needed and set about turning Josh's room into the terrifying vision that we wanted.
This was not an easy job at all.

The amount of work that this took surprised the both of us. We came to the quick conclusion that there is no way that Dexter could put this set up together with such frequency by himself and in the time that is depicted. Showtime has lied to us.

After all the hard work, the room came together nicely though. We taped the plastic up all over the walls and we draped the bed and floor with the plastic as well.

To add a sense of terror to the whole prank, I even burned the Dexter theme onto a CD and played it on repeat on Josh's stereo.
With a final flourish, Kosta grabbed one of the large knives out of the kitchen and stabbed it into the head of the Dora the Explorer pinata. Placing it on the centre of Josh's bed was the final icing on what was now a very creepy cake.

Turning on Josh's stereo with the Dexter theme and standing in the middle of his now completely plastic-ed room, there was a strange feeling of oppression and strangely heat that was being trapped in the room. Standing silently in the middle of the room with Kosta... you could hear a strange echoing from the plastic and the occasional creak from the plastic as it shifted beneath your feet.
I think I need a new hobby....

What you need to Dexter-ise someone's room:
- an assistant;
- 2 rolls of painter's tape;
- 1 roll of double sided tape;
- 10m x 80m of builder's film or of plastic drop sheet;
- sturdy scissors;
- a step ladder;
- a way to play the opening theme of Dexter on a stereo.

Sunday, February 14, 2010

Destroying Andy's Room

My stupid housemates Andy and Josh had somehow managed to take over a month of leave from work (paid leave). With this enormous amount of freedom in hand, they decided that a long trip to South America was in order.

Stupid housemates....

Since they were coming back soon and since I was in no way at all jealous of their travels, I decided that I needed to leave them some nice surprises for their return home.

Did I mention that I wasn't in any way jealous of their travels?

First up was Andy's room.

For Andy, I decided that what was needed was massive inconvenience for him.

So I cling wrapped everything in his room.
And I mean EVERYTHING in his room.

His drawers, his clock, his lamp, his shoes, his camera tripod, his chair, the things that were on his chair, his pillows, his bed.

EVERYTHING.
It seemed like it would be a relatively simple thing to do, but my god, it took an age. Roll after roll of cling wrap disappeared as everything slowly disappeared beneath the transparent film of the wrap.

Josh's room would be next. What I had in store for him would take a fair bit of effort and planning.

Thursday, February 04, 2010

Travelling for work

It's a bit of a difference when you travel for work instead of working for travel.

Being sent to strange locations is a rarity for work, but it's not unwelcome.

It's been a while since I've actually gone and done any real travelling so I need to take advantage of any opportunity I get to do some exploring.

I was a bit surprised when I was sent out to rural Australia though.....
I was even more surprised by how much this place looked like Canberra.

.... like seriously......
This place was like mini-Canberra....

Or rather maybe it's that Canberra is just a slightly enlarged version of Albury?
Regardless, it was something new. I'm constantly amazed by Australia. The size of this country is difficult to fathom. It's strange how little of this place I've really seen.