Open Wound

In the afternoon I began to bleed.

Then the real estate agent came, to start making deals to put the house on the market. Their house, the house that she and her ex bought together long ago. I hid in my study, trying not to overhear the small talk and business talk and the talk of relationships dissolving. Nostalgia for some past or another that I never had.

Later we went to the hospital to visit her sister and new nephew. I held the child, just one day old, wanting more than anything to lift my shirt to feed him. Her sister spoke of the birth, of the pressure and the sensation and the pain and the opening up in ways she had never before conceived or experienced. I yearned to open up in a warm bath, I wanted to push and to have my breath heavy and fast, I wanted the scream and the birth and the agony and the ecstasy. More than a yearn, a hunger, a emptiness, insatiable. I read Kristeva on the drive back.

Home again, red wine and more cotton padding. Today I mix and mould my thesis-child with cramps and hormones and craving for dairy and salt and iron. I want to taste rust and eat cheese and lick the tears trickling down my chest.

Another pro-creation myth.

Oh. Perfect!

CAPRICORN [December 22–January 19] Most art critics long regarded Gustav Klimt (1862–1918) as a second-tier modern painter, writes Don Thompson in The $12 Million Stuffed Shark. But that estimation got upgraded in 2006, when one of Klimt's paintings sold for $135 million. Art history was rewritten with a checkbook, says Thompson. According to my reading of the astrological omens, there's a possibility that your worth will also jump to a higher octave in 2009, Capricorn. But unlike Klimt, who didn't do anything new, you'll have to take action to earn your rise in status. How? 1) Practice forgiveness with more intensity; 2) Be more tolerant of imperfection in yourself and others; and 3) Expand your capacity to give.

AQUARIUS [January 20–February 18] In Poets' Jade Splinters, Lu Ji says: "Avoid the morning flower in full blossom and gather instead evening buds which are not yet open," telling people not to rely on what has already ripened, but to concentrate on what's still in embryonic form. Lu's colleague, Song Zijing, adds a complementary thought: "If you always use a compass to draw a circle and a ruler to draw a square, you will always remain a slave." Both Lu and Song's counsel will work very well for you in the coming year, Aquarius, even if you're not a poet.

Bloodletting

There's a crack in the mirror
And a bloodstain on the bed -
There's a crack in the mirror
And a bloodstain on the bed -
O you were a vampire and baby
I'm walking dead
O you were a vampire and baby
I'm walking dead

I got the ways and means
To New Orleans
I'm going down by the river
Where it's warm and green
I'm gonna have drink, and walk around
I got a lot to think about oh yeah

There's a rocking chair by the window
Down the hall
I hear something there in the shadow
Down the hall
O you were a vampire and now I am
Nothing at all
O you were a vampire and now I am
Nothing at all

They used to dance in the garden in the
Middle of the night
They used to dance in the garden in the
Middle of the night
They were naked as the day they were born
Skin all bone-china white
O you were a vampire
And I may never see the light

-Concrete Blonde

PACKING BOXES NEEDED *PERTH*

We need to get this house all neat and tidy-- agents coming through Friday and hopefully the thing will be on the market in the next week or two. We need it to be neat and tidy for this. And the best thing to do with clutter (after getting rid of as much as possible of course) is to pack it all in boxes and stash it somewhere so potential buyers don't see it. So... we need more packing boxes. If you have any spare: big, small, archive boxes etc, please do send them our way (we can collect of course). Ta!

Judith Supine

Amazing street art can be found at Judith Supine's flickr site. Here is just one example, Gouge It Out.

Breakfast In Bed

Was how I started my birthday yesterday: kind island yoghurt with strawberries, bananas and blackberries, crepes with lemon and sugar... Thankyou Monster!

Speaking of breakfast, look at this site, Mr Breakfast, for many many many morning food treats!

Identity Shift

Some days when I sign my 'real name' on official documents and emails I have to look twice. Its startling. Think it is a post-holiday thing at the moment-- have to put my Academic Head back on and start acting being all proper. Or thereabouts. Most people don't get to do their work naked I suppose.

The Burlesque Hour

is on again at the Studio, Sydney Opera House. See it if you can!

'The Burlesque Hour locks loads and liberates Burlesque for the 21st Century, bringing together Australia's hottest and most intelligent exponents of gender in performance and contemporary burlesque. Salubrious salon meets cutting edge culture; The Burlesque Hour invites its audience into a world of pure old-fashioned burlesque/variety/music hall, layered with the work of astonishing artists who have twisted this artform until it screams for more, and have exploded the boundaries of gender in performance for over a decade.
Created by artistic collaborators Moira Finucane & Jackie Smith, renowned for their creation of intimate theatrical spectacles where variety, cabaret, burlesque, the gothic and fairy tale are melded into indelible visions of gender, power, violence and desire; The Burlesque Hour is an explosive mix of circus, vaudeville, carnival, showgirl, magic realism, text, burlesque, music hall, dance, butoh and performance art; colliding in extraordinary images of liberation and oppression. A crash curve carnival of Bearded Ladies, Japanese Serpent Warriors, Italian Stallions, spike covered Showgirls with sharp teeth, trembling Victorian spinsters, mad Hello Kitty devotees, Ecstatic Ice Queens, Bodice Ripping Adventuresses, Apocalyptic Beasts in shredded fishnets and towering stilts.

The Burlesque Hour features internationally acclaimed Queen of Cabaret Bizarre Moira Finucane, whose volcanic physical performance has turned cabaret and variety on its head and made critics from Hong Kong to London exclaim she is 'a towering inferno' and 'less of an actor more of a force of nature'; Moscow circus trained Azaria Universe - a contemporary Circus and Burlesque Star, the love child of Mad Max and Marilyn Monroe; Japanese Shock Cabaret Artiste Yumi Umiumare - from Japan's seminal butoh company DaiRakudakan, a wild-cat amongst the pigeons.'

And check out Moira's other work here.

Beautiful Boyz

All those beautiful boys
Pimps and queens and criminal queers
All those beautiful boys
Tattoos of ships and tattoos of tears...

- Cocorosie

Bruised lipstick. Diamantes caught in damp fur. Swagger in high heels. Chipped polish on grimy nails. Net stockings. Football socks. Beer. Cigarettes. Small swathes of sparkle. Champagne. Metallic lashes. Ink. Orifices. Dark cubicles. Phoenix dancefloor promises.

All those beautiful boys.

Upstart/Pickups MELBOURNE

Upstart Alley VIII - Sat Feburary 7th 2009.
Pervy performance, rocking music, seedy side show entertainment and debauchery for all you misfits, queers and trans folk.
Topping off Gasworks’ Midsumma season the Upstart Alley troupe brings you another raucous performance party, teeming with dazzling displays of bent pervy performance, gender piracy and rocking tunes. Step right up for an action packed show from performers from near and far including Kelli Jean Drinkwater (Syd), Yumi Umiumare, Wes Snelling, Kaboobie (Adel), The Bad Father (Adel) and music from psychobilly rockers The Vaudevillains, DJ Linx and more!

Gasworks Theatre, Gasworks Arts Park.Corner Graham and Pickles Streets, Albert Park.
Sat, February 7th, Bar opens 8.30pm, Show start 9pm. Tickets $13 concession or group bookings/full $20. Bookings: t: 9699 3253 or www.gasworks.org.au

--
Queertrix and the 52 Pickup Melbourne Launch.

Sat 24th Jan. The Fox Hotel. 351 wellington st, collingwood. (cnr alexander pde), doors open 7pm, shows 8pm. $15/10.

Featuring: Toxic.Mitch Match.Mademoiselle Swan.Cleomatra, Queen of Denial.St John.KK No Pants. King Daddy and Candy.

I Found Myself Alone

Eat Me Daily is a curious blog full of interesting food-related articles. Such as this piece: 'Currently on display at the Zach Feuer Gallery in New York City is a stop-motion film and sculpture exhibition by Nathalie Djurberg called "I found myself alone." In the film, a hand-made puppet of a ballerina dances on a giant table set for tea, full of pastries. She wreaks havoc, attempting to cover a white vase with chocolate sauce, and eventually, she's overpowered by the table itself, drowning in candle wax dripping from a candelabra.'

Whimper. Pretties. Wax. Sauce. Whimper.

Don't Look Want YOU! c

This is where I held Curdled. Nice folk, interesting space:

'Over the last few years Don't Look Gallery has presented a diverse array of challenging experimental technology-based art from its shopfront in the outer-inner-west suburb of Dulwich Hill. Sound, video, computer art, vintage technologies, installation and conceptual art describe just some of the forms that have raised eyebrows in this modestly sized art space.

We are currently looking for artists (and potential artists) who may want to show at Don't Look Experimental New Media Gallery in 2009. Exhibitions run for 10 days (or longer by agreement), the rent is cheap and we help with publicity, setup and concept (if you wish). If you are interested in having an exhibition please email a proposal and CV (no more than two pages in all) to dontlookgallery@gmail.com.

In 2009 we will be also be starting a fortnightly experimental sound/new media performance night. If you're a musician and/or artist and want to try out something new, again please email dontlookgallery@gmail.com with a short description of the work and a CV. We look forward to hearing from all artists who are into making work
that doesn't fit neatly into a gilded frame, squarely on a wall!'

Laundry Day

Over six months of co-habitation with my Significant Monster, and I STILL often get excited when I hang out the washing and see our delicates flapping about together in the breeze. Smitten? Moi?

Mrs Monster

Monster booked us a weekend away in some love shack down Pemberton way as a birthday treat for me. Sweet. When the receipt came, it was addressed to MRS Monster. Now, even if you DID presume that a room for two was a boy/girl pairing, why the heck would you presume the couple was MARRIED? Weird. Very, very weird. I hope that is not banjos dueling in the background...

Erin Dollar Makes Beards

You can find a link at LostAtEMinor.

Vegan Recipe Sites

Any ideas for where to find INTERESTING vegan recipes on the web? Or any really good cookbooks? Not eliminating all dairy, but would certainly like to cut it down a lot. And have ALMOST removed all flesh, including the scaled and shelled kinds. Its a gradual process!

Trip Pix- The Beginnings

Lots more pix to be seen of FB in the very near future!

Happy 2009 From ZooFi

This being our last happy snap of 2008. Thanks to Morgan Carpenter/Same Same for the shot.