http://ifieverfeelbetter.com Sun, 22 Aug 2010 12:09:27 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en I get really into elections.  Really, really into elections.  It's partly strong political conviction - I think it matters who runs the country and what they stand for - and the remainder is just pure geekiness.  I love the mechanics and the personalities and I reel off stats and history ... http://ifieverfeelbetter.com/?p=237 After 12 months, 7 or 8 rehearsals and 2 drummers, I think Nikki and my band might finally be going somewhere.  Not anywhere fast, mind, but somewhere.  Last weekend, we had a practice at our place where we nailed our first song (including art rock outro with melodica), got somewhere ... http://ifieverfeelbetter.com/?p=236 I didn't grow up in a "dog" household, or really an animal household of any kind.  My parents bought us cats when we were very young.  The first didn't accompany us when we moved to Queensland in '85 and the last one met a tragic end in '89, as did ... http://ifieverfeelbetter.com/?p=233 Even though I haven't been posting at all, I still log into wordpress periodically to check for commenters and clear out the spam.  A lot of it is just gibberish and links to porn and Viagra and all that, but there's a fascinating psychology at foot in some of them.  ... http://ifieverfeelbetter.com/?p=231 When older people make sweeping generalisations about "Gen-Ys with their Twitters and their Facebooks", I usually think they're...well, generalising.  I was born in the 80s (at the early end) and I'm pretty comfortable with technology, but I'm not ADHD about it, nor do I feel the need to post daily ... http://ifieverfeelbetter.com/?p=229 "You're not blogging anymore," said my friend the other day, someone I hadn't seen in a few years. "No, I haven't really had the time." "I guess the angst is all gone too," she said.  "You're married, you've got a good job." Maybe.  I certainly don't feel the same way I did when ... http://ifieverfeelbetter.com/?p=228 Standing up the front at Phoenix's Sydney show this month, Nikki turned to me during the opening bars of "If I Ever Feel Better" and said "I just realised where your blog gets it's name." This coming from a massive Phoenix fan.  So much for flaunting my hipster cred in ... http://ifieverfeelbetter.com/?p=227 A decade isn't a long time, but it's apparently enough to trigger some heavy nostalgia among movie critics.  Not only did Popmatters run a gushing feature earlier in the year about all the brilliant films of 1999, now the Guardian is declaring 1999 "a cinematic goldmine".  I'm tempted to agree.  ... http://ifieverfeelbetter.com/?p=226 The internet makes everyone a critic - but fortunately it doesn't make everyone a good critic.  Everyone knows the quality of your average Amazon customer review, especially the one-star reviews. Thanks to the Guardian, I've now discovered Cynical-C's "You Can't Please Everyone", which collects the brilliant, misspelled contrarian wisdom of Amazon ... http://ifieverfeelbetter.com/?p=225 My introduction to post-honeymoon married life was a little bit bumpy.  A stressful time at work, a pulled muscle and a bad head cold all left me a touch grouchy and irritable.  Luckily none of that outweighed the sheer joy I get out of coming home to find Nikki here, ... http://ifieverfeelbetter.com/?p=224