Yadda Yadda Yadda

Before I start, Glenn got himself a blog!

As promised, here it is! I have so much to say, I'll have to do it in little spurts I think. There is so much to say and so much action to take! It's all so exciting! I am totally passionate about the issues associated with caring for all our fellow humans. Let's stand together and not just think it's a nice idea, but live for change in our world!

More about action in days to come, I'll give you some easy practical steps we can all take to affect change in our world. For now, let me bang on about the concert on Friday night for a while. The most amazing concert I've ever been to! Such incredible acts! Such a great cause! It was amazing to see so many people united for a sole cause! Make Poverty History! We can do it! As Tim Costello said, we are the first generation that can make poverty history! We just need the will!

Here come the photos! You'll get them in alphabetical order of file name! This is Brent & I about 3/4 of the way through the night.


The overwhelmingly excited crowd! Well a small portion of them anyway. We got glow sticks that said "Make Poverty History" on them.


A long shot of the incredible Eskimo Joe! I'm in love with their music anew!


A photo of Evermore (well 2/3 of them anyway) on the big screen with the giant banner. Surprisingly they got the biggest response from the audience on the night! I generally like them, but they were the worst act.




There were about 4 giant beach balls with 'MAKE POVERTY HISTORY' on them being knocked around. Very fun!


The John Butler Trio! My favourite act of the night! They were incredible! I have also fallen in love with their music anew.


Jet closed the show and they were great. I'm loving their new music! However, the lead singer was chewing gum the whole time! Who does that?!


Kathryn & I at the Make Poverty History festival on the Saturday. Notice my lovely sunburn from the previous day...


This is Kathryn (also at the festival on Saturday) carying a bucket on her head to get water, in a kind of simuation for what people in third world countries have to do.


Lior singing a beautiful Hebrew prayer called 'Avinu Nalkeinu'


The boys I went to the concert with (Minus Rob). From left to right: Mark, Jad, Brent & Glenn


Paul Kelly. Brilliant!


A seriously over-exposed photo of Rob.


The wonderful Sarah Blasko. I adore her music. But she does look quite weird on stage. I think it's the way she moves.


And UJam!!! Who are they you ask? Well it's Pearl Jam, & Bono & The Edge from U2! Unbelievable! As a special surprise thing they opened the show with a kick arse song called 'Rockin in the free world'. All about making poverty history. It was soooooooo good! Bono is seriously a hero of mine!


Well there is my concert report. Much more still to come!

I have so much to tell you! The concert was incredible! In case you couldn't tell from my last post... The festival today was amazing too! I have lots of photos and lots to tell you. It's all been amazing and inspiring! Right now I'm sore and tired, so I'm going to go to bed. I'm sick and have lost my voice. Which is not so good seeing as I'm worship leading at church tomorrow... That might be interesting... I'll post photos and tell you all about it when I get some time. Busy weekend!

MAKE POVERTY HISTORY!!!

BEST CONCERT EVER!!!!!!!



Full report coming. For now, I must sleep. I'm stuffed. BEST CONCERT EVER!!!!!!!

I'm leaving now to get in line for the Make Poverty History concert! I'm so excited!!!

I found a great site that gives good, concise information about what's going on Darfur. Check this site out. Wikipedia also has some really good up to date information about what is being done about it.

There is some good news in the mdist of all the tragedy. After fighting worsened in July and August, on August 31, 2006, the United Nations Security Council approved Resolution 1706 which called for a new 20,000-troop UN peacekeeping force to supplant or supplement a poorly funded, ill-equipped 7,000-troop African Union Mission in Sudan peacekeeping force. Sudan strongly objected to the resolution and said that it would see the UN forces in the region as foreign invaders. The next day, the Sudanese military launched a major offensive in the region.

Wikipedia says:
On August 31, the UNSC approved a resolution to send a new peacekeeping force of 20,000 to the region. Sudan has expressed strong opposition to the resolution. On September 1, AU officials reported that Sudan has launched a major offensive in Darfur. According to the AU, over 20 people were killed and 1,000 were displaced during clashes that began earlier in the week. On September 5, Sudan has asked the AU force in Darfur to leave the region by the end of the month, adding that "they have no right to transfer this assignment to the United Nations or any other party. This right rests with the government of Sudan." On September 4, in a move not viewed as surprising, Chad's president Idriss Déby voiced support for the new UN peacekeeping force. The AU, whose peacekeeping force mandate expires on September 30, has confirmed that they will do so. The next day, however, a senior US State Department official who declined to be identified, told reporters that the AU force might remain in the region past the deadline, citing this possibility as a "viable, live option."



It looks like the UN has stepped in unwanted and caused even more problems, but I don't think that's the case. The innocent people of Sudan need to be protected. There are militia armies out of control doing unspeakable things to the people of Sudan and this needs to be stopped. It's Rwanda again! Since Feb 2003 an estimated 180,000 people have been killed! That's unbelievable!!!

So it seems that Sudan is still suffering from extreme acts of violence, poverty and hunger. But at least the UN has stepped in and decided to help the Sudanese people attempt to being the process of disengaging the conflict.



Don't forget about the free MPH festival this Saturday, especially if you missed out on tickets to the concert on Friday night. I can't wait! There are free screenings of the concert at places in Melbourne if you're not going on Friday night. Check out the docklands one, some great live bands are playing there too.

I've managed to get sick. Doh! We just did some stuff on the relationship between stress and the common cold at uni yesterday. Seems appropriate. Being the end of semester I have lots of work to do, and now I'm sick. Doh. Fun things like a swollen throat, blocked sinuses, watery eyes. Yay... Twice today I blew my nose so much I made it bleed. I'm sure you wanted to know that!

Just got back from something called 'unearthed' run by a group called Global Interaction. Great stuff about mission in today's society. Lots of interesting things about how we get sucked in by what western culture tells us we should strive for, and what's really important. I guess the aim was to provoke thought and get people thinking about how we affect those around us and what our priorities are. Who do we live for? What is important to us? How do we live? Are we consumers? Or do we seek to make a positive difference?

Gotta love John Mayer! I adore his music. He is a real musician. This is him on Rove live a couple of weeks ago. So good!

Plus he has great hair these days...



Yes, I have discovered YouTube, and I am addicted!

Now I think Wikipedia is great, but lately it's become a point of amusement! One of my favourite radio shows 'Get This' has been encouraging people to 'vandalise' particular Wikipedia pages. It's hilarious! Check out the pages of the hosts of the show, Tony Martin & Ed Kavalee, & panelist Richard Marsland. You can't edit them anymore because of 'vandalism'! Haha! 'Get This' is one of the best radio shows around, although I found that it took a while to adjust to it. It's an aquired taste simply because of it's strange format. It doesn't sound like most radio shows, it has a distinct flavour. I love it now. They are self confessed geeks who are very, very funny! I'd love to hang out with them, I think they'd make me giggle like a school girl! The show is on Triple M from 9 - 10am weekdays. You can podcast it if you like. Well worth it!

Check out some of the segments from Hamish & Andy's tv show 'Real Stores'. Funny stuff!

Check this site out. It's an interesting site that works well in conjunction with the Make Poverty History campaign. It's Make Affluence History. It's about personal responsibility, not just lobbying for governments to relieve debt.

If you want to see how rich you are in comparison to the rest of the world, go here. You'll need to convert your earnings to British Pounds which you can do here.

If you missed out on the Make Poverty History concert tickets, you can still go to the festival the following day. That's free! Details here.

And don't forget to keep supporting the breast cancer site here. You can also link to other sites from there to support those in need without it costing you a cent! Just a few seconds!

This is Bobby Flynn. One of the most amazing musicians I've ever seen. Ignore the fact that it's a dodgy Australian Idol audition and concentrate on how incredible he is.



I'd really appreciate some honest feedback on my new songs too. Please let me know what you really think! Really! If you think they're completely unoriginal then please tell me. Check them out here

Did anyone watch the finale last night?! I have never cried so much in a tv show in my life! The best season finale I've ever seen in a drama show! It was so well done and so intense and made me cry so damn much! I bought the snow patrol song they used in the show off itunes last night, 'chasing cars'. What a great song. I've always liked snow patrol, but now I love them! Sigh... such an incredible show. I am seriously moved. I want to cry every time I hear the song now. That show has such incredible character development and really sucks me in. Such a well written show! I am totally hooked. Wish I'd started watchig it earlier. I only started watching it when the code black this happened about 8 or so episodes ago. I'll have to get my hands on some earlier episodes I think.

Check me out! I have my very own MySpace! Some of my new tunes are up there, so have a squiz.

Here I Am!

Guess what?! I'm NOT at the Darfur rally/benefit concert. I'm so annoyed! I was at the train station with Rob, ready to get on the train and head into the city when I got a phone call from work asing if I could come in 15 minutes early. I forgot I was working today! Nooooooooooo!!!!!!!!! So I'm at work right now. Damnit!

I'm going to the make poverty history concert!!! Rob won tickets and he's taking me! He rocks! WHOO!!! I've entered about 16 times and haven't won. Yay for Rob!!!

Current Fav songs:

See ya Later - Mr. Dillon
You give me something - James Morrison
See You Today - Zoophyte
Smile - Lily Allen
But It's Better If You Do - Panic at the disco
Gone - The Butterfly Effect

The Make Poverty History Concert tickets went up today. You have to win them in an SMS competition. That's how they're raising the funds I guess. Good idea, except that I can't win tickets! :( Wire managed to win tickets. I hate him right now... Someone take me if they win tickets? I'll keep trying...

How cool is this?

From the bushfires in Hobart.

Don't forget! NOISE for Darfur, this Saturday 28 Oct, 12–6pm @ Federation Square, Main Stage.

I went and saw Boytown with a few people on Friday night. Great movie! It's really great Aussie comedy. I expected it to be ok and kinda funny, but it was really good! Funnier than I thought it would be. It certainly won't go down as one of the best movies of all time, but it's well worth a watch. Seeing Glenn Robbins in leather pants is slightly (ok, very) disturbing, but highly amusing at the same time! I love Bob Franklin! He cracks me up! I don't usually like Mick Malloy (he wrote and starred in it), but he is quite good in this. I despise his radio show, he's so disgusting sometimes (or often!)



It has the funniest dodgy boy band music ever! See the boys used to be in a boy band in the 80's. They were the original boyband, now they want to get the band back together, and it doesn't work at all. So they start writing music for women their own age. Very funny! Some of the song titles are: I cry, special time (of the month), picking the kids up from school, and love handles. Check it out! It's very funny!

NOISE for Darfur

Come show your support for the people of war torn Darfur and break the silence… make NOISE for Darfur! An initiative of the Darfur Australia Network (DAN), NOISE for Darfur will take place at Federation Square, Main Stage, on 28 October 2006 from 12pm – 6pm and will be the official launch of our organization and the finale of Refugee Week 2006.

Several bands will take to the stage at this free event, including The Inches, Felicity Hunter and Some Kind of Life as well as performances by Nuba Community Dance and the Darfur Community Association. The day will also include informational speakers, an email letter send-off to Alexander Downer, partner NGO and food stalls, and a "kid's marquee" where Aussie and Darfuri kids will together paint a huge map of Darfur to "put Darfur on the map."


What: NOISE for Darfur

When: Saturday 28 October 2006
12pm – 6pm

Where: Federation Square , Main Stage

Cost: Free


For further information regarding this event please contact:

Samm Steains on 0412 688 325



On another social justice note, do something with the make poverty history camapign here. It'll only take a second.

And Make Poverty History are putting on a killer concert which I'm definitely going to! The Make Poverty History concert is on Friday November 17. The line up includes Sarah Blasko, Eskimo Joe, Evermore, the Hilltop Hoods, the John Butler Trio and Paul Kelly. How exciting is that?! Tickets go on sale on October 25. Check it out here!

They still haven't called me. I'm not sure why they keep telling me they'll call me if they're not going to. :(

So it seems that fox keeps telling me one thing and doing another. Let's hope it's for real (just for you Wire) this time! Or for fake, which ever one works. Ok, so no one except Wire will get that. But that's ok. Anyway, it seems that I am going to precord the segment at 2pm tomorrow and I'll be on the Hamish & Andy show tomorrow. Let's hope that's true this time...

I've had a great 24 hours! First of all my friend Brandon from Canada (who I lived near in Tassie) was flying home to Canada and had an overnight layover in Melb, so he stayed at my place last night. He also bought another friend of his from Canada (who is currently living in the Barossa Valley SA) with him, Dave. By the way, I just LOVE the Canadian accent!!! So I picked the boys up from the airport and we headed out to dinner. Dave got a ridiculously big bowl of risotto that he a third of the way through, I did about the same with a giant bowl of pasta. Sofia's serves up giant meals! I'd forgotten how big they were! After that we headed home, watched some tv, then off to bed.

In the morning we got up super early (for me anyway) and drove to the airport. We dropped Brandon off, had some interesting luggage fun, got a parking fine, then Dave & I headed into the city for the day. It was fun showing someone around, I got to see some stuff I don't usually bother with. We had some late breakfast at a nice cafe, then went to the art gallery at Federation Square. I love art galleries. I don't go enough! Then we wandered through the main shopping strech of the city, got some sushi and went to the botanical gardens for a picnic lunch. What a perfect day! It was such great weather too! Then we headed back to my place for a while, played a bit of pool, then I took Dave to the airport.

I've had such a nice day. I was slightly trepidacious about hanging out with someone I'd never met before, but he was great and I had a great time. I'm pretty sure he did too. Yay!

Ok, so it looks like I'll be on air tomorrow @ about 5:45pm. I'm so excited!!! I thought there was a prize at the end of the week and there were lots of people in the running. Turns out there are only 2 people a day for 5 days. So I'm already in the top 10. And I thought there was a prize at the end of the week. Turns out someone wins every day! So now the chance is 1 in 2! WHOO!!! I want to go to the ARIA's in Sydney!!!

Looks like I'll be on the Hamish & Andy show tomorrow, not today. :( I was so psyched about it...

Listen to Hamish & Andy tomorrow (Monday!)! I'm going to be on!!!

Check it out! I'm in the new 'Charlotte's Web' trailer. Sure I'm so small you can't see me, but that's not the point! I'm in it! I'm not sure if you remember, but I worked as an extra on the movie last year. Check out the trailer here.


More photos from Tassie! This is a photo of Amy and her new baby Ezra. He had his one month birthday while I was there. He is so adorable! I want to steal him! Not in an actual stealing him kind of way if anyone from law enforcement is reading this.







And here's a close up of Ezra, it's a bit of an odd photo, he was grumpy and tired, but he's just so cute!







Amy & I doing our standard Zoolander face. I seem to have a lot of photos of me and someone doing a Zoolander face. What a great face!


And this is Paul, Josh & myself (from left to right). Paul is trying to make himself look as tall as Josh... I love these boys, it was so awesome to see them again!

I'm so excited! Hamish & Andy are running a competition at the moment where you can win tickets to the ARIA's. What you have to do is sing any jingle you want on any instrument you want. So I registered on the website and I got a call this arfternnon from one of the associate producers asking me to sing my stuff on Monday! Whoo!!! I'm going to do the cotties cordial jingle, but I've re-written it in the style of a corny power ballad. Oh yeah! I'm so excited!!!

Last night I headed out to see Zoophyte at Veludo's. They were sooooooo incredible! One of the best gigs I've been to in a long time! Their music rocked! I actually think they are better live than recorded. I did buy a cd last night. I'm loving it! I've listened to it a few times already today! If you can, get along to a show of theirs. They are so amazing!

Howie & Jenny have the best wedding photos I think I have ever seen! Check them out! I want this photographer! Incredible!

Finally I hear you say! Sorry I've been so slack, but I took so many photos, I had to sort through them all, then resize them for the web. Let's launch into it shall we! This is Biz & Kris towards the end of the reception. I can't be bothered sorting them into chronological order, so you'll have to put up with them in alphabetical order!






Biz & I at the reception. It was in a big marquee at her Father's church.










Another photo of Biz & I at the reception. Doesn't she look stunning?!








Biz just after the ceremony. It was at Liffey Falls, hence all the rainforresty looking stuff in the background. It was so stunning! What a great place to have a wedding. They're just lucky the weather was good in Tassie in October! Big Risk!








A shot during the ceremony with a blueish filter on my camera.






Brandon & I. He was a groomsman, and is about to head back to Canada. He'll be staying with me next week before he heads home actually. Doesn't he scrub up nicely?








Cutting the cake!













This is the wedding cake! While Biz & Kris are very cool and alternative, they also have the whole sci-fi thing going on, so they had a dalek cake! For those of you totally confused, it's a doctor who thing.








2 of the Groomsmen, Dan & Brandon, just after the cermony. Aren't they looking hot? Yay for Dan's hair!





This is Dan, myself & Bowen at the reception. Isn't Bowen hot? Oh yes. Ladies, control yourselves.






Geri & I just after the ceremony.









Kris & I at the reception. Isn't he looking so happy? I just want to squeeze his cheeks!









This is Kris just before the ceremony. Still a single man!














This is me & the very cool band 'safety first'. These guys played at the reception and are made up of students from the school in Poatina, where I was a teacher a few years ago. I feel old now.




Another shot from the ceremony where Janelle (Dan's wife) is doing a Bible reading.







Again, from the ceremony. This is Dan singing the song 'red prickle beard'. Great song. He sang an amazing version of it!





This is Safety First! Whoo!!! I was very impressed with them as a band! Joe is on guitar and singing. He was a year 10 student of mine, now in year 12. The drummer is Isaac who was a year 9 student of mine, now in year 11, and Doyle is on bass. I didn't teach him, he moved to the school the year after I left and is now in year 12 too. They made me feel old!


And this is Kris & Biz signing the register to make it all official and legal. Awwwww!

On Friday Kathryn & I headed down to the Jam Factory where Hamish & Andy were broadcasting live from the premiere of Boytown. I can't wait to see it! Anyway, I love Hamish & Andy. For those of you who don't know they have a radio show and a tv show here. They are unbelievably talented guys who are so very clever and so very funny. They make me laugh harder than anyone else! And it doesn't hurt that they are totally hot. :) I also got to meet some other celebrities while I was there. The evidence it at hand! But before I get into my photos, here is a pick from the new movie Boytown. Haha!




This is Hamish & Andy. Yes, I am aware they have their pants off. They have this thing called pants off Friday. They reckon that the best way to relax is to have your pants off, because then you can really chill out, so they do the show every Friday not wearing pants. Their live broadcast just happened to fall on a Friday! Haha! And because it was a red carpet thing they wore their tux's, but no pants. I love it!


Here are a few guys who decided to take their pants off too!









Mick Malloy, Bert Newton, Andy Lee & Hamish Blake.












Ryan Shelton & I













Hamish Blake & I














Andy Lee & I




Andy is in a really awesome band called Zoophyte which I'm going to see on Thursday night. Whoo! It also doesn't hurt that I totally have a crush on him at the moment.

If you don't know who any of these people are, look them up at IMDB.

Apparently there is significance of dreaming of broken teeth. Can anyone tell me what it is? I can't remember. I dreamt of brothen teeth the other night. And it's a line in a song I love by Bob Evans.

Just thought I'd give a short report on the gig last night. We had stack of fun! A huge thanks to everyone who came down and supported us. It really does mean a lot! Thought I'd post some photos. It's going to take me longer to get the photos from my Tassie trip together, get ready for another onslaught! You know how I love those photos!


I'm so glad the gig was last night! If it had been tonight I wouldn't have been able to do it. I had a bit of a scrathy throat yesterday, and mixed with travel sickness I was feeling pretty yucky. But today I woke up with a swollen throat and blocked sinuses. I'm feeling pretty bad. Whing whinge whine whine.

The title says it all.

Gig tonight! Come along!

Tassie report still to come.