31 December 06 - 14:34Symphony of Metal Part 3: Angtoria - God Has A Plan For Us All

Angtoria is a new symphonic metal group fronted by Sarah Jezebel Deva, who is well-known for her work as a backing vocalist for a whole heap of metal bands, including Cradle of Filth and Therion. I got to see Sarah perform when Cradle of Filth toured here a few years ago, and was really impressed at how good she was live, so I have been looking forward to the Angtoria album for some time.



Their debut album God Has A Plan for us all is very impressive. It deals with the themes of child abuse and hypocrisy in organised religion. At times the lyrics on the album are a bit cliched (BTW, I hate it when metal bands put wanky spoken interludes in a song - it hardly ever works, and it's really jarring when Angtoria do it in Original Sin), but it's easy to overlook them, as the rest of the album is really good. Sarah's vocals are amazing, her singing style is both cleaner and stronger and with a greater range, than her work with Cradle of Filth. The stand-out tracks for me are God Has A Plan for us all, Suicide on my mind and an excellent cover of Kylie Minogue's Confide in Me.

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31 December 06 - 12:48Happy New Year!

Have fun tonight, and don't get too wasted. .

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28 December 06 - 23:44Look what Olav and I got for Christmas

Sorry, but I just had to share.

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28 December 06 - 12:01Lyn Allison on the dangers on nuclear power

Lyn Allison has written an article published in The Australian today on the potential dangers nuclear power poses, and discusses the flaws in the Government's recent nuclear review. Lyn has done a lot of work on nuclear issues since she has been in parliament, particularly in the area of the effect on veterans exposed to radiation fallout from nuclear testing, and she has done this work at an international level.

Some environmentalists advocate the use of nuclear power as a source of "clean" power, and as an alternative to coal power plants, but it's important not to ignore the risks involved in ensuring the security of the industry's waste products, as well as to recognise the fact that substituting nuclear for coal is simply switching one non-renewable resource for another (and my understanding is that there's a hell of a lot more coal in the world than uranium).

One of the biggest contributors to someone from the western world's greenhouse gas emissions is usually transportation, in the form of car use and petrol used by cars, rather than electricity from coal generation. Providing decent public transportation systems for people in cities and incentives for their use will go along way towards cutting greenhouse gas emissions without the need to walk down the nuclear path in this country.

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27 December 06 - 00:10Feeling of Impending Doom: Candlemass' Candlemass

My sister gave me an iTunes music card for Christmas, so yesterday evening I bought Swedish doom metal band Candlemass' 2005 release Candlemass.



Candlemass has been one of the most influentual doom metal bands since their first album Epicus Doomicus Metallicus was released in 1986. Doom metal has been heavily influenced by the legendary Black Sabbath, and the genre is characterised by its slow tempo, dark atmosphere, clean vocals, and menacing, heavy guitar riffs.

Candlemass is a brilliant example of doom metal. I can't pick a stand out track on the album just because they all flow seamlessly together. The guitars are extremely atmospheric, and (now ex-again) singer Messiah Marcolin's vocals are rich and clean, and - unlike many old-school metal vocalists - significantly enhance the the sound of the music. If you're going to listen to the album, turn off the lights, crank up the bass on a really good stereo, and lie back in a comfortable chair and wait for a wave of sound to slowly wash over you and reverb in your chest. It's an amazing experience.

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25 December 06 - 00:50Christmas

Christmas is a time for loved ones and friendship. It was great to see so many wonderful people tonight.
I've been very lucky to meet so many great people, who are caring, compassionate, and wonderful friends.
Merry Christmas to you all, and may you all get through today being appreciated for the great people that you are.

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24 December 06 - 13:29Symphony of Metal Part 2: Epica - Consign to Oblivion

Consign to Oblivion is the second release by the Dutch symphonic metal band, Epica. I picked up a copy of Consign to Oblivion the other day on the recommendation of the metal chick who works at the JB HiFi in Dandenong (which has one of the best metal collections in Melbourne outside of specialty stores like Metal Mayhem) after having a chat about Nightwish, Within Temptation and Leaves' Eyes.



Consign to Oblivion is classic symphonic metal, with bombastic orchestral arrangements, thumping metal guitars, and soaring mezzo-soprano vocals from lead singer Simone Simons. Although not quite as good as Nightwish or Within Temptation, it's still a really strong and consistent album. I particularly like the single from the album Solitary Ground, and Blank Infinity. Trois Vierges, a duet sung by Simone Simons with Roy Khan from Kamelot, is exquisitely beautiful, although it's soft enough that I could play it to my mum (which I'm sure is the sort of thing that makes some metal boys hate them ). If you like Nightwish or Within Temptation, then Consign to Oblivion is definitely worth listening to.

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23 December 06 - 20:37Monash Council- disgraceful violence at mayor's swearing-in ceremony

Well I wasn't going to post about politics for a while, but then I read this article about one of Paul Klisaris's supporters physically assaulting Dane Manzie after he voted for Tom Morrisey instead of Kilsaris to be Monash mayor for the next year.
This is not the first time that there has been controversy surrounding the council, and it's very disappointing to see the council regularly descend to this level. As a long term resident of the area it really pisses me off to see this sort of crap going on, and hopefully some people will get booted out in the next council elections at 2008.

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23 December 06 - 14:50Crazy christmas shopping centres

I'm sitting here, looking for excuses not to go and do the last minute Christmas shopping that we absolutely have to get done by the end of tomorrow. Quite frankly, I'd rather wash the cats than brave suburban shopping centres at the moment. They are a completely crowded, feral mass of human stress at this time of the year. If we didn't need to pick up a whole heap of cat food and bulky stuff I'd take the smart bus to Chadstone, but I think we'll go to the Coles at Spaghetti Junction in Springvale, where it should be a bit more normal.
Oh well, one more coffee, and then we'll have to head off and get it over with.

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23 December 06 - 00:20Symphony of Metal Part I: Leaves' Eyes - Vinland Saga

I'm officially on holiday for the next couple of weeks, and one of the things I'm planning on doing is spending a fair bit of time sprawled on the couch while listening to some great symphonic metal. I figure I'll write a bit about some of the groups and albums as the mood takes me, and it'll make up for all the politics-related posts that have been here lately.

When most people around these parts think about heavy metal (that's assuming they think about metal at all, of course) they probably either think of 80s glam rock hair bands like Poison or Bon Jovi, or nu metal groups like Korn or Linkin Park. Possibly they think about goth rock group Evanescence, but that's about as close as most people ever get to symphonic metal. Symphonic metal is a wonderful genre of music that blends metal with symphonic or classical elements which started in the early in 1990s in Scandinavia with groups such as Therion. Symphonic metal bands often feature strong female vocals with operatic themes.

Metal has more sub-genres than you can poke a stick at, and I'm sure some people will think that I'm wrong to classify Leaves' Eyes as symphonic metal rather than gothic metal (what other musical culture could come up with categories like melodic death metal or Viking metal, complete with obsessive fans who have long running flame wars over what genre particular bands do or don't fit into?). Moving right along from that can of worms though, Leaves' Eyes latest album Vinland Saga is really, really good.



Vinland Saga is a concept album based around the story of Leif Erikson, the Viking explorer who was the first European to discover North America (known to the Vikings as Vinland). As a theme for a metal concept album, it's far more interesting to me than yet another generic sword and sorcery themed album, which is more the standard fare for european metal bands.

Leaves' Eyes is fronted by the amazingly talented, and gorgeous Liv Kristine (the ex-lead singer of the historically influentual Theatre of Tragedy). Liv brings her powerful, yet hauntingly beautiful vocals to the group, which is backed by the members of Atrocity, including her husband Alexander Krull. She also writes all the band's lyrics. The overall quality of the album is extremely high, with rich, layered music that has a consistent feel while still having tracks that vary in style. My favourite song from the album so far is Elegy, which was released as a single.

You can view the video clip for Elegy, which is visually stunning, here.

Other noteworthy tracks are The Thorn, which is a classic "Beauty and the Beast" style duet performed with Alexander Krull; Amhran (Song of the Winds), which is sung in Norwegian; and New Found Land, which is just damn good.
I'll probably end up driving Olav and Daniel nuts with Vinland Saga, because I could easily listen to it over and over again.

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21 December 06 - 22:34DLP's Peter Kavanagh supports gay civil unions

I just read this article, where Peter Kavanagh (the new DLP MLC in the Victorian parliament) says he supports gay civil unions. This quote, in particular, is worth noting:

"I'm not anti-gay, particularly," the 47-year-old former barrister and schoolteacher said, "provided we retain a special place for traditional marriage . . . if it is necessary to change the law to avoid exploitation in a gay relationship, or to help with superannuation or to end unfair discrimination, then I would support it."

Wow. How unexpected. Good on him, and nice to see him diverge from John Mulholland's past anti-gay rhetoric.
Hopefully this will put more pressure on the Bracks Government to do the right thing and recognise gay civil unions. His position is also consistent for a social conservative, and I wish more social conservatives would look at the issue of legal protection for civil unions within a secular society on its merits. Surely social conservatives ought to support same sex civil unions as it gives legal protection to people in loving, stable relationships, and encourages people to enter into committed relationships that have both rights and responsibilities.

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20 December 06 - 08:58Fires threaten Walhalla

Fires are threatening the historic and beautiful township of Walhalla in Gippsland. It's a former gold rush mining town that is built in an extremely narrow valley between two mountains. There is a narrow, winding road leading into Walhalla that was once blocked by a landslide. I can't even begin to imagine how difficult it must be to fight fires in such difficult terrain.

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15 December 06 - 23:41First they came for your ciggies, now they are coming for your chocolates

I just read this article over half a mexican pizza washed down with a bottle of beer. This turned out to be quite appropriate, as the article is about a report that appeared in the British Medical Journal which called for obesity help line numbers to be printed on the labels of women's clothes sized 16 and above, and on men's clothes with a waistline of 100cm or more.

WTF? Will they advocate putting anorexia helplines on the labels of really small sized clothes as well?
What will be next, will they ban overweight people from the local pub, maccas and Krispy Kremes store? Will we have the chocolate police, demanding that anyone overweight who has health problems be refused medical treatment if they're found to have a stash hidden away in the pantry cupboard? There are seriously some people out there who advocate denying smokers, drinkers and the overweight medical treatment due to the cost on the health system.

As someone who is very overweight (with a BMI in the mid to high 30s) - believe me - I'm well aware of it every time I try to find clothes that aren't completely hideous and are in the right size. I already know I need to get 4-5 hours of exercise a week, and to eat a healthier diet. It's finding the time and motivation to make these lifestyle changes that's my problem, and not a lack of awareness about the causes of obesity. Go into any bookshop or newsagent, and you will get bombarded by the diet books and magazines on display. If they ever did introduce this here, I would (like most people I'm sure) cut the labels off the clothes as soon as I got home from the store and throw them in the bin.

This reminds me of a product I saw recently in the local servo called Artpacks, which is a cardboard case covered in artwork for wrapping your cigarette packet in so you don't have to look at the picture of someone's mouth with mouth cancer. How many smokers will be moved to quit by these photos appearing on cigarette packets who had previously kept on smoking in spite of the written warnings about smoking causing cancer that used be printed on the packets? Did all the smokers miss (or sleep through) the various, and very prominent, Quit campaigns over the years? I still remember the old tv ad that showed tar being squeezed out of a sponge representing someone's lungs.

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14 December 06 - 09:22Upper house recount: Extra Green, 1 Less DLP

The upper house recount has finished, and the results have changed in both Western metro and Northern Metro.
In Northern metro, The 3rd ALP candidate Nazih Elasmar has beaten the DLP's John Mulholland, leaving the DLP with 1 MP, Peter Kavanagh in Western Victoria, although they are now no longer a balance of power option for the ALP. In Western Metro, the Greens Colleen Hartland has defeated the 4th ALP candidate, Henry Barlow, giving the Greens 3 MPs. The final numbers are: 19 ALP, 3 Greens, 2 Nat, 1 DLP and 15 Lib, with shared balance of power between the Greens and the Nationals, with the ALP being able to choose between either of these 2 parties to negotiate through legislation.

The best coverage is once again found at Andrew Landeryou's blog (here and here - if you're a Greens supporter you'll probably be offended, but it is still worth reading) and at The Poll Bludger.

And finally, everyone who is happy to see non major parties get elected to the Victorian upper house should say a big thank you to the excellent John Lenders from the ALP who had the vision and the courage to push the reform of the upper house through, despite knowing that it would cost the ALP seats.

Oh, and kudos to Aaron for predicting the final outcome correctly.

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12 December 06 - 23:10Vic Upper house: Provisional results shock as DLP given seat in Northern Metro

Provisional results have come through for the Victorian upper house this evening, and in a big shock, the DLP's leader John Mulholland (pictured below) has been elected to the 5th seat in Northern Metro ahead of the 3rd ALP candidate (who was just below the quota), with the final allocation in this region being 2 ALP, 1 Green, 1 Lib, and 1 DLP.


The DLP have beaten the Greens for the final seat in Western Victoria, due to the ALP preferencing them ahead of the Greens, which means that Western Victoria returns 2 ALP, 2 Libs and 1 DLP member, Peter Kavanagh, who has a weblog if you're interested in reading more about what makes him (politically) tick.

Southern Metropolitan has seen Evan Thornley from the ALP beat the Liberals' David Southwick for the final seat, after Sue Penniciuk from the Greens was elected to the 4th seat as the combined Greens/Dem vote pushed the Greens over the quota. This means Southern metropolitan ends up with the following 2 Liberals, 1 Green and 2 ALP.

Eastern Metropolitan returns 3 Libs and 2 ALP, South Eastern Metropolitan returns 3 ALP, 2 Libs, Northern Victoria returns 2 ALP, 2 Libs and 1 Nat, and Eastern Victoria returns 2 ALP, 2 Libs and 1 Nat.
This results in 19 ALP, 15 Lib, 2 Nat, 2 Greens and 2 DLP, giving the ALP the option of going to any of the Greens, the DLP, or the Nationals to get legislation passed through the upper house.

The ALP are questioning the results in Northern metro and calling for a recount, and on the face of it, it seems fair enough, as even as recently as Monday, they were well ahead of the DLP for the last seat. It's possibly a misallocation of the Democrats split ticket after the exclusion of the Liberals (once the Libs are excluded, the votes from our split ticket should flow to the ALP ahead of the DLP - the speculation is that a bug in the software has failed to send our preferences to the ALP), or there have been a chunk of votes that have been counted in the last couple of days that go heavily against the ALP.

All the results are provisional, and subject to a recount if required. If the results in Northern metro are found to be wrong, the numbers change giving the ALP 20 and the DLP 1, however this doesn't change the balance of power situation in the upper house, as the ALP still won't have the numbers they need in their own right to pass legislation, and they will still be able to negotiate with any of the Greens, the Nats or the DLP.

Andrew Landeryou (here and here) and The Poll Bludger have some excellent commentry on the results.

UPDATE: Andrew Landeryou has an update on the situation in Northern metro. In summary, the VEC will conduct a recount in Northern metro tonight, due to concern that the Liberal Party vote has been overstated by about 6,000 votes, which could affect the outcome.

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09 December 06 - 21:42Grace Hopper

Rear Admiral Grace Hopper was born on this day one hundred years ago.



Grace Hopper developed the first compiler for a programming language. She is one of the legends of modern computer science. Her earlier work was instrumental in the development of the FORTRAN and COBOL programming languages, both of which are still in active use today (although I'm sure many geeks are cursing that fact). She was also a fantastic educator, and spent much of her later life promoting computing and its applications.

She is credited with popularising the term "computer bug". The story goes that a moth was found stuck in one of the relays of the Mark II Aiken Relay Calculator at Harvard in 1945.

You can find more information about Grace Hopper here and here.

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07 December 06 - 18:34Pauline Hanson - back in politics?

Pauline Hanson is back in the media, making offensive comments about black South African migrants having AIDS, and flagging her intention to run as an independent in Queensland in next year's federal election.
How lovely.
Andrew Bartlett says it better than I can:

"Once again Pauline Hanson opens her mouth and spreads offensive urban myths that bear no resemblance to reality," Senator Bartlett said in a statement.
"She brings no evidence to back up her claims. They are nothing more than hearsay.
"Her musings don't further debate or address community concerns, they only cause fear and division and they must be challenged."

and certainly better than Bob Brown who has resorted to personal invective again after his recent senate Garrett attack and called her a bloodsucker, which, if anything, will only help to get her back her sympathy vote (it was a well known phenomenon that whenever anyone personally criticised Pauline Hanson back in the late 90s, rather than attacking the substance or otherwise of her policies, that her support went up).

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03 December 06 - 16:05Failed New Years Resolutions

Last year, I foolishly made a New Years Resolution that I assumed I could actually keep. I vowed to learn to play the guitar better than Dave Lister.


Honestly, it's pretty sad to turn 30 and suddenly decide to go out and learn the guitar. If I start riding a motor bike and drooling over beautiful people in bars then just put me out of my early midlife crisis misery.
Anyway, it looks like I'm going to fail in this resolution, as I haven't touched the guitar for nearly a year. It's sitting in the top shelf of the built-in robe in the bedroom.
So I'm going to give myself some motivation by linking to some online guitar lessons (I have no idea if they're any good or not). I have less than a month to go. If anyone has links to some better ones feel free to chuck them in the comments.

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03 December 06 - 11:17What do the residents of Caroline Springs and Fitzroy have in common?

The Age has some articles on Melbourne's water usage by suburb. Apparently, while most suburbs have seen their water usage fall (with an average drop of 4.4%), residents of Caroline Springs and Fitzroy have increased their water usage on last year by about 20%.

Now, water usage will vary across suburbs due to factors such as block size, which is why it's shocking to see high-density Fitzroy with an increase of 19.9%. Fitzroy residents are using on average of 506 litres per household per day. The Age has a link to a spreadsheet with all the results for Melbourne suburbs, including usage per day and % increase/decrease on the previous year. It's interesting reading - most of the biggest water using households are in semi rural outer suburbs where people live on large blocks or have hobby farms such as Clyde or Narre Warren East, or in wealthy inner suburbs such as Toorak or Camberwell East. What's interesting to see is how poorly Fitzroy compares to outer suburbs such as Glen Waverley, Mulgrave, Vermont, Narre Warren and Berwick, with both a higher average household usage and a significant increase rather than a decrease.

I guess these Fitzroy water usage stats must put into question the widely held belief in the existence of the unwashed feral.

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