Melody of discord:

I stumbled into the ANU wanting to come out hours later with my ears ringing. Four hours of interviewing potential bosses and talking about folk music had taken its' toll. I wanted the noise.

J. Mascis, former frontman of Dinosaur Jr, was just finishing his solo thing on stage. Seated and plucking away at the guitar in his lap was certainly not how i expected to see him, but there he was, seemingly blissfully ignorant of the people in front of him and playing like he was in his bedroom. It was quiet, sedate and i was having real difficulty combining this image with the one of the band who used to make guitars growl like beasts. The growls did eventually come but they were more of a purr. Has Mr Mascis slowed down? I don't know but it would have been interesting to have seen the whole set. He eventually shambled off the stage leaving a bemused but very happy audience behind.

Any show that starts with a single guitarist facing the amp and gently coaxing sounds from the instrument is either genius or stupidity. Jim O'Rourke's cardiganed figure had most of the crowd thinking he was a guitar tech. It wasn't until he was joined in guitar machinations by Lee Ranaldo that the punters worked out was going on. Drummer Steve Shelly appeared followed by the praying mantis figure of Thurston Moore and the petite Kim Deal. The five blended together perfectly, creating delicate fragments of music before descending into the aural onslaught that is Sonic Youth in full flight.

After the intro Thurston told the crowd that he hoped everything sounded okay 'cos these were borrowed instruments and theirs were still in L.A. Not that anyone would have noticed. How good is Sonic Youth? Four guitarists (Kim had swapped from her normal bass) on stage torturing, cajoling and threatening their guitars to make sounds Mr Fender never dreamed of and it all blends together seamlessly. Over the course of the two hour show there were songs of beauty, feedback that would make Lou Reed weep, guitars played with drum sticks and a whole lot of noodling.

And when i walked out into the cold and rain of a Canberra night in June there was the soft buzz in my ears that I'd been in search of.

Look:

Three images as Venus glided between us and the Sun's corona. These are from a Norwegian observation point on the ground. Remember we get to do this again in eight years. Someone asked me why the 120 year then 8 year pattern. Well it all has to do with the plane that the planets orbit the sun on. All the planets orbit the sun on plane tilted in a different direction and angle so it is a rare occurance when they cross in front of each other.

And in other parts of the Solar System Cassini is sending some nice photos of Saturn back to earth and one of the Mars Rvers is about to go into a crater from which it may never return. It's a good time to be an astronomy geek!

Think:

The American military has finally gotten around to laying charges against David Hicks. Am i the only one who thinks it strange that his American military lawyer is saying that the justice system he will be tried under is neither fair or established?

And while we are talking about subversive let's talk about being given change. Cashiers like to play a nice little mind game with you when they give you money. First the notes, then the coins. This gives the coins a nice slippery surface to slide right off and on to the floor. Sending you scrambling around on your hands and knees and holding everyone up. Those bastards.

Look



So what is it?

The blurry white line to the left of the big cricle is Venus in motion. The other thing is the Sun. The lie? Venus isn't really transiting the Sun, just the Sun's corona. The corona is the area surrounding the Sun that is composed of all the particles that stream out of it. The white circle is the Sun proper.

The image comes from SOHO. The orbital solar observatory. I'm gonna keep updating all day.

Yes, I'm a geek. Deal.

Read:

So people will stop asking me.

Spiderman 2 in cinemas on July 1

Jersey Girl (new Kevin Smith) in cinemas on August 12

and

Hellboy kickin monster arse on September 2

Howls of sorrow commence now.

We now return you to our normal programming

For a while anyway.

Ignore me you fucks:

No doubt you all know this by now but writing is cathartic and by Christ i need it.

This is selfish. No excuses.

I saw Ingrid last night and the wound that was healing tore open once again.

And it is still bleeding.

It is easy to ignore the feelings you have for someone when they are not around but once you see them, just like the tequila from the night before, they all come flooding back.

I love Ingrid like i've never loved anyone before. Actually the real truth is i haven't loved anyone before. First love at the age of 27. I'm either incredibly lucky or incredibly unlucky.

I used to imagine us married, living together and having children. The fact that i used to do this spins my head. The fact that i still do is just slicing open scar tissue.

So why did i end the relationship? If i love someone so much. If i happily imagine a future. How could i have done it?

Because we couldn't help each other. I couldn't listen to her and vice versa. And neither of us is able to come back to repair things. That's just how it is. And so i ended the relationship.

You gave me an amazing blessing and a horrible curse Ingrid.

You taught me to feel.

And i thank you for that and will never forget you.