These are a few of my favourite things…

It’s officially July 2009 and you know what that means!  Colder weather and warm doonas?  The raging and insatiable desire to eat all chocolate within a 1 kilometer radius?  Trying to figure out why “July” still evokes painful memories in me of sweltering Colorado summers, even though I’m in the southern hemisphere?  Well yes, all of these things are correct, but more importantly, July marks my having lived one WHOLE year in Australia!  I’ve learned heaps about this glorious, glorious land in the last 12 months and wanted to share with you some of my discoveries.  So, without further ado, I give you the First Annual Dirt Warrior End of the First Innagural Year of My Landing in Australia List of Things that I Really Like About this Country:

10.  Favourite Live Australian Act: Gurlesque

Formed by duo Sex Intents and Glitta Supernova in…THE YEAR 2000, Gurlesque is a favourite in the queer scene.  With shows that feature a fantastic host of performances, dancing and side-splitting comedy, these monthly acts aren’t to be missed.  I’ve been to two of these shows now and have had a spectacular time at both.

Sex Intents & Glitta Supernova of Sydney's Gurlesque

9.  Favourite Australian Sporting League: Sydney Roller Derby League

So I might be a little biased with this choice, as I am a skating member and I’m doing my research on the sport, but as Sydney’s first all-female flat-track roller derby leauge, the SRDL is fast, frantic and painfully hot.  Lucky for you, tickets for the last bout of the season (July 19th) are still on sale so you won’t miss out!

8.  Favourite Australian Music Groups:  I had a really tough time singling this catagory to a palatable four choices and the mixed results were chosen on how many times I play a certain track by a certain group per day, the “ass-shake” factor of said track (especially while in the car) and how giddy and retarded I get while listening to said artist.

Architecture in Helsinki: Apart from having a HUGE crush on the lady singer of Melbourne-based band Architecture in Helsinki (I think it’s the super sultry way she whispers “can you give me that…” in the single That Beep) my love for AiH stems from the bubbly, sugary-sweet pop/funk/synth energy of the group and the inevitable giddiness that listening to them brings.

Gotye: I was absolutely besotted with Melbourne-based Gotye’s single Heart’s a Mess when I first heard it some 6 months ago, and I still listen to the song once a day.  Haunting, lyrical and evocative of that certain…something, he is an artist that I’m glad I didn’t miss.

The Presets: This Sydney-based dance punk duo came screaming into my life via my girlfriend’s ringtone, as has settled in the cockles of my heart ever since.  Check out “Yippiyo-Ay”, “Talk Like That” and “My People” for some fantastic dance grooves.

Bertie Blackman: I was able to see Bertie Blackman live (and free!) at a hotel in Darling Harbour some time ago and fell in love with her Sia-like (another favourite Aussie artist) rasp and throbbing drum and bass lines.  Getting your hands on her CD outside of Australia (legally) is pretty tough, but worth it if you have the extra cash laying around.

7.  Favourite Australian Festival: Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras

The largest Pride parade in the world, with enough sequins and glitter to bedazzle Oxford street for weeks (I’m still finding glitter in places that glitter ought not be).  Camp and glam aside, the Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras is also a well-known platform for political and civil rights for the GLBT community and has gained world-wide fame for bringing hot, pressing GLBT issues to the masses since the late 70’s.

6.  Favourite Australian Pub: The Townhall Hotel, Newtown NSW

Sure it’s a little rough around the edges, the juke-box selections…”unique” and the odds of being racked by a drunkenly mishandled cue stick high, The Townie is still the best pub to be while in Newtown.  Unfortunately many of my more memorable stories of this place are not suitable for public Internet consumption, but I urge you to make your own memories over a schooner or two.  Just make sure to bring your ID, or you might find yourself walking back to St. Peters for it.

5.  Favourite Australian Beer: Coopers Sparkling Ale

Rich, a tad bitter, golden and bottle fermented this tasty little number packs a punch at 5.8% ABV that leaves you (sometimes) a bit groggy in the morning, but fondly recalling every golden minute.  Pairs nicely with pub burgers, roller girls and hot summer evenings.

4.  Favourite Australian Animal: Drop Bears

In Australia, there is a nation-wide inside joke regarding a fictional koala-like marsupial called a “Drop Bear” that is said to haunt the forests of Australia, ready to drop on and savagely maul unsuspecting victims below. Being the gullible dork that I am, I fell for the story for about a week (after, of course, confirming the validity of the story to every Australian that I knew) before taking it upon myself to do a little research.  What did I find?  Well, you’ll never see me walking through the bush without my handy Drop Bear Umbrella ever again!

3.  Favourite Australian Lingo: “Off your tits”

Used primarily as a description for being wildly drunk, this phrase has many an application.  None that I can think if right now mind you, but they’re there.  Trust me.  A close second in this category was this phase (as spoken by an Aussie); “No I don’t know which home is yours!”.

2.  Favourite Suburb in Sydney:  Newtown/St. Peters

Though I did spend the better part of a year in the northern suburb of Marsfield, I’ve always had a special place in my heart for King Street, Newtown and the Inner West.  The Coloradan in me can appreciate the Boulder-esque feel of the throbbing op-shop lined street, thronged with pierced and tattooed students and suited business people alike, while the newly christened gay in me loves the active lesbian nightlife and being able to walk down the street hand-in-hand with my girlfriend without getting funny looks.  Now that I live within a reasonable bike ride from the heart of this great little suburb, I have the feeling I’ll fall in love with it even more.

1.  Favourite Australian:  Ms. B.A.H.

For being lovely in everything that she does, and for possessing infinite amounts of patience with me, even when I’m being a total bastard.  Her kindness and dedication to others, daily inspires me to be a better person.  I would have long since quit and gone home without her support and for that I am eternally grateful.  My dear, if I could offer you the world, I would.

Best. Gift. Evah! Again.

I have the coolest girlfriend in the world:

Damn Australians and their feminine wiles…

im in ur stor bying gud buks

I have the coolest friends on the face of the planet:

“I got it from a Drop Bear”.

The elusive Drop Bear claims another victim

This post marks the first of two really, really long posts covering events that span one month – one spent with a good friend of mine who came to Sydney to visit and another from my month in Vietnam and Cambodia.  Let’s get it on!

In Australia, there is a nation-wide inside joke regarding a fictional marsupial called a “Drop Bear” that is said to haunt the forests of Australia, ready to drop on and savagely maul unsuspecting victims below.  Being the gullible dork that I am, I fell for the story for about a week.  However, the experience made me increasingly keen on getting a fellow foreigner in on the hilarity and shame of the Drop Bear.  Enter my friend Nick, a fellow Denverite visiting me for a month, who fortunately, has a pretty established sense of irony and humour so caught on to the joke quickly.  From then on it became an ongoing battle to see who can use the Drop Bear myth to outwit the other.  This leads to all sorts of silly and sometimes, completely retarded comments to each other (Nick and I act like 9 year-olds?  NO!), especially in public where our braying laughter can be heard by all of Sydney.  This was especially true at the first day celebrations for Sydney Festival 2009 – a month long extravaganza of music, performance and free stuff celebrating all that kicks ass in Sydney, the highlight of which, was hearing a song that (we thought) went like this:

I didn’t get it from the Lord,
But I know where I got it from.
I didn’t get it from the Lord,
I got it from a Drop Bear.

And peeing of the pants soon ensued.  No worries though, the Drop Bear and subsequent retardation from Nick and I is not the only reason for this post – I have cool pictures too.

As I mentioned before, we happened to be in the city on the opening night for the Sydney Festival and were able to catch all sorts of good stuff:

like some capoeira

and the "Break Dancing" these kids are into now a days.

Nick made an interesting point on something that I was picking up on after watching the breakers dance after the Capoeira group – both breaking and Capoeira utilise near identical moves to express all manner of feelings, emotions and other social goodies.  What was really interesting to me watching these two groups perform back to back were the ways that both groups (breaking and Capoeira – not the two groups of performers) share a common sort of social viewpoint that helped to create and maintain the individual forms, while enabling them to be brought to a larger audience.

At any rate, after more beer we walked a couple of blocks to another stage featuring all manner of dance troupes and routines.  It was pretty much “super bad ass”.

Stilts = the sex.

The final battle for $2000

Yoga as a form of dance? Absolutely!

Because as most of you are well aware, there are few things in life I love more then watching bodies in motion.

Speaking of music, Nick (the Buddy) is “in” with Public Enemy and was able to get us backstage for both the Newcastle and Sydney shows.  Granted, this is my first time experiencing Public Enemy live and my first time experiencing the mythical backstage.  Chuck D was very friendly and terribly intelligent, as was his wife Gayle.

Fight the power!

Flav wails on the drums

Apart from being a fantastic live show, we were offered the opportunity to ride from Newcastle back to Sydney on their tour bus.  We did.  It rocked your world.

As expected, we spent a good deal of time wandering around Sydney, doing things like a harbour tour:

Walked along the harbour bridge:

Wander around the Sydney Opera House:

And muck around the city:

That’s it (thankfully!) for now, but stay tuned for the Vietnam/Cambodia post in a couple of days.