Life right now

This is what my life has been like in the past weekend. I've been drowning in a sea of boxes that just don't seem to be disappearing fast enough (probably because I've all but given up right now). In other words we moved house on Saturday.

We were supposed to move house on Sunday but those plans changed on Friday when our removalist (my brother in law) had a job booked suddenly for late Sunday afternoon. This would have been ok had I actually began packing before Friday night. 

Friday night was pretty mad - I was up late trying to pack up my stuff, failed and slept. Saturday was pretty hectic too. I feel like my brain is all over the place at the moment and I've barely got anything organised. 

One thing that is sorted is my cd's - this puts a little bit of relief and it allows me to breathe a little easier while in my room. Only a little though.

This weekend is set to be amazing. I'm going to see Kasabian and The Vaccines on Saturday night and then I'm off to the Big Day Out on Sunday. Though I'm starting to freak out a little bit about which headliner I'll be seeing. I have two choices - Kanye West (who I saw in July at Splendour in the Grass) or Noel Gallagher and the High Flying Birds (who is pretty much amazing). I DON'T KNOW WHAT TO DO... Help!

If you couldn't tell already - my brain is a little fried so I'm going to stop here.

Much love 

 - Brooke

Wes Anderson is Perfection

Can we talk about how perfect this trailer is for just one second? 

I simply adore anything that Wes Anderson creates and it looks like this movie will be no different. I wasn't even aware of the fact that this movie was being made so seeing this trailer today was a lovely surprise.

I mean the synopsis was enough to draw my attention but that trailer is perfection - the music, the costumes, the style and Edward Norton.

Set on an island off the coast of New England in the 1960s, "Moonrise Kingdom" follows a young boy and girl falling in love. When they are moved to run away together, various factions of the town mobilize to search for them and the town is turned upside down – which might not be such a bad thing. 

It's nice to see some of the usual Wes Anderson gang in this trailer - Bill Murray & Jason Schwartzman.

WHY DO WE HAVE TO WAIT UNTIL MAY (maybe longer) FOR THIS TO BE RELEASED???

*swoon*

 - Brooke

Monkeys, kookiness and lists

Last week as I previously mentioned was a super busy week. Not only was I back at work after a bit of a break over New Years but I also attended 4 different gigs. Every year in Australia there are a few music festivals and the week after New Years we are inundated with amazing shows that I can never pass up.

This year I went to 2 x Arctic Monkeys shows (supported by Miles Kane), The Kooks and then CSS. All of these bands I have seen before so I can't count them as new bands, but they were all so fabulous. 

It was so nice to see these bands again as they have all evolved and grown as performers since the last time I've seen them. I first saw Arctic Monkeys back in 2007 when they headlined Glastonbury and also saw The Kooks and CSS at the same festival. They were all still relatively new bands back then so I think the fact that I'm still willing to buy and listen to their music and go to see them live is pretty impressive (I didn't realise that I saw all three at Glastonbury back then until I was typing this - weird).

These photos are just a few iPhone snaps I took at the shows - not the greatest quality but I'm hanging to get a new point and shoot camera so they'll have to do for now. I'm hoping I can get a new one before I attend the "Big Day Out" festival at the end of the month. 

I've also been seriously considering #12 on my 50 things list and I may have just found the most perfect image. 

The original image on the left is from (surprise surprise) Jack's Mannequin's latest album art and it has pretty much everything I could desire - cat, asterisk, simple but beautiful. I don't know if it looks better "normal" or if it were more a line image (hence the inverted image) - thoughts?

I have had it in my mind for YEARS that I've wanted the asterisk somewhere on my body - I read an interview with Andrew about the meaning of the symbol and his band and his meaning made sense. It is inspired by a quote from Siddartha "the river is everywhere", the asterisk's is the lines that represent life and all the things around you, and everything intersects meaning everything and everyone is connected uniting the universe. Now I have to work up the courage to get it done.

Wish me luck 

 - Brooke

Hottest 100 = a happy list

January is a time for reflection - in Australia to some people it's also the time to reflect on the music we've been listening to and vote in the Triple J Hottest 100. The Hottest 100 is broadcast on Australia Day (January 26th) and this year I'm planning on having friends around for a BBQ (in a true Australian way). 

I always struggle to try and get my list down to just 10 songs (YEAH 10 SONGS) and this year was no different. I had to cut out some songs from some of my favourite bands and I know I could just use another email account and vote for them but I feel like that defeats the point of voting. 

Here's the 10 songs I voted for (in alphabetical order):

1. Architecture in Helsinki - Contact High
2. Arctic Monkeys - Don't Sit Down Cause I've Moved Your Chair
3. Cage The Elephant - Shake Me Down
4. The Grates - Turn Me On
5. The Horrors - Still Life
6. Kaiser Chiefs - Little Shocks
7. Kasabian - Velociraptor
8. The Strokes - Under Cover of Darkness
9. The Vaccines - If You Wanna
10. The Vasco Era - Rock And Roll Is The Only Thing That Makes Me Feel Good

To make it easier for you to check out these amazing songs for yourself I created a playlist for your listening pleasure.

These songs make me smile. They are a lot more upbeat that some of the other songs I'd normally pick but after going through the list on offer I realised last year was a time for songs that made me want to dance around like crazy. I think that's a good thing.

Happy listening

 - Brooke

#41 of 50 things in 2012

Wow 2012 has started very very well. 

So far this week I've been to three shows (bands I've already seen before) and tonight there's another one. I'll post some pictures and mini reviews on the weekend.

Today I had the day off and after watching a bunch of American Horror Story (I'm only up to episode 7 so no spoilers) I decided to go for a wander and use some of the gift cards I got for Christmas. I was walking around Target and found that they had a sale on their record players. I texted my sister and asked if I should get one - her response "well it is on your list".

So I did it. I can now happily cross one thing off my list. I am now the proud owner of a working Record Player. The first thing I played? Razorlight - and it sounded delightful.

41. Get a Record Player

Happy happy,

 - Brooke

2011 was...

The year I dyed my hair purple:

The year I saw many many amazing bands:

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