Documentary: The battle between Moderate and Radical Islam

Since yesterday, I've been busy working on a briefing analysis that I need to present to a group of highly opinionated I.R. students. I need to present an analysis on the bi-lateral cooperation between Australia and Indonesia as a result of the Bali attacks on October 12, 2002.

Whilst researching for this topic, I came across the following documentary, by Al Jazeera, in all its entirety conveniently available on YouTube.

Note that Indonesia is the most populous Muslim country in the world. Contrary to the beliefs and actions that are often referred to as "Islam radicalism", Islam is actually a a religion of tolerance and peace. Members of Jemaah Islamiah (JI) interpret the teachings of radical Islamist ideology as reaffirmed in such radical "boarding schools" (such as the one that Abu Bakar Bashir is the principal of) and are consequently encouraged to idolise posters of prominent jihad leaders such as Osama bin Laden (its true, watch the doc below). Such schools of teaching are actually breeding grounds for "terrorism" (a Western concept) however, the students of such schools are really "soldiers of war". I think that Indonesia needs to really take a firmer stand against such institutions as the curriculum that they have encourage these kids to see the world in a "us vs them" paradigm. Even though Indonesia is a developing democracy (after the fall of Suharto), all its citizens have the freedom to worship what ever religion they choose. However, like the anti-Semitic movement that dominated Germany's Nazi Party which eventually lead to WWII, this 'jihad' against non-Muslims (The West predominantly) is escalating as we speak.

Indonesia: Hearts and Minds (Part 1)



Indonesia: Hearts and Minds (Part 2)



Indonesia: Hearts and Minds (Part 3)

Classixx 2009 Australian Tour, Brisbane

So who's coming?
See you there. Isn't this just a co-incidence?

June 2009: Ipod playlist

1. Classixx feat. Juppe - I'll get you
2. Pheonix - Lisztomania (Classixx Remix)
3. Friendly Fires - Skeleton Boy (Air France Remix)
4. Friendly Fires feat Au Revoir Simone - Paris (Aeroplane Remix)
5. Ebony Bones - The Muzik (The Krays aka Yuksek & Brodinski remix)
6. Buraka Som Sistema - Aqui Para Voce
7. Friendly Fires - Jump In The Pool (Thin White Duke remix)
8. The Hours - See the light (Calvin Harris Remix)
9. Hot Chick - Pheo

So I know it's winter....

But just to help keep you warm... I thought this might help...

;P

If you love it so much, download it here.

I saw a UFO and nobody believes me

Think stiff beats, thick bass lines, lush melodies, haunting vocals, rolling
guitar licks and urban tales of love and loss. It is part-melancholic beauty
but
for the most part, it's party mayhem...

(courtesy of Sneaky Sound System's myspace)

I just saw Sneaky Sound System live!

It was great! The sound audio guys could've done a bit better with organising the audio stuff better so that the vocals came out clearer (i'm not sure of the technicalities) but either way, it didn't matter because everyone knew the lyrics anyways.

I didn't have my camera with me but my friends did so when I get a chance to, I will post some cool pictures of them including sassy pics of Miss Connie Mitchell up!

True to any other great performances (ie where the audience gets what they want), the trio ended and exited the stage much to the surprise of their fans without singing their hit, UFO. When they did, MC Double D carried a banner with the words "I believe in you" when he exited. They came back on for an encore, after the audience chanted for "UFO" and then Black Angus said upon returning "This is for all of those that believed". The crowd when crazy, when the intro for UFO started!

My favourite song they performed live would've had to be 'Goodbye' because ... ahm, doesn't Connie's vocals just BRING IT! It gives me so much hope now as I look forward to Thursday, October 11th when Paul van Dyk plays at the Family!

"Woop Woop, when you run come around cos I know you're the talk of the town yeah" (R.I.P Natasja).

p.s. MC Double D has a new admirer! Ahah

The worlds No.1 DJ: Paul van Dyk is coming to Brisbane!

Paul van Dyk is

coming to Brisbane Baby!

And guess who will be over 18?

M.E.

Jealous?

Searching for meaning

Yu save bislama?

Meet another friend of mine: Yasmine. Yas, I know this isn't the hottest picture of you, but you are too damn cute!

She's Filipino and Swedish but considers herself an island girl at heart (born and raised in Vanuatu before she being 'shipped' to boarding school). At the age of seventeen, almost immediately after graduating she secured a governess position on a farm in Longreach outback Queensland looking after three kids all under the age of 6. Quite a feat that the kids (or even she) survived considering she didn't know how to cook! Anyways, after six months she decided that home (Vanuatu) was where the heart was so is now 'retired' and living at her beach house, living the lonesome idealist/dreamer's life. A life I too, wouldn't mind living.

The slideshow features pictures of her beachhouse and other surrounding areas in Vanuatu - of which I had the pleasure of visiting, compliments of my dearly father as a graduation present!

She just posted her first bulletin on her myspace. Here it is.

THIS IS MY FIRST BULLETIN. i thought i would take a break from the
following:

- swimming

- riding my bike (or my gardener's bike, sorry john)

- eating fresh fruit

- swimming

-body boarding

-verbally assaulting my dogs

-swimming ahahaha

-snorkelling

-lying in the sun

-looking at myself in the mirror and admiring my tan haha

- going into town to socialise briefly before repeating the above

-have spent five days literally by myself out here, first human being was
spotted yesterday (housegirl came back) yay!!but i wish i had a car. fuck that.
but am getting the tico this week, yeewww....despite sirens and graffitti and
stinkiness i feel so dumb doing this.

MISS THE FOLLOWING:kris,kat,nik,sof, nelle.

COME BACK AND ENJOY MY YOUTH WITH ME!!!!!!! dont go to uni or work!! we
will live off coconuts. and grow our own vegies and fruit. and kill our own
cows. and maybe swap our food for two chickens to eat and to have their eggs. we
will live without money....come on you five, come see me!!

Her bulletin brought back memories of life in the islands where everything is slow paced and sunsets never disappoint. Yas has always been vocal about her drive to travel the world and not care about superficial things. Before she left Brisbane for Vanuatu we had a conversation about how she wanted to experience life and how society's standards should not always be the driving force behind your life's decisions and dictate what you do in life. In her bulletin, she speaks of 'enjoying your youth', an ideal I am keen on pursuing especially at this pivotal stage in my life, something that seems so far away to grasp from the perspective of a uni student, yet something that funnily is still very tangible. This leads me onto questioning what our purpose, as individuals is in life?

I honestly don't want to be one of those people that finish their courses at uni and still feel undecided about my career and my future. I think this has a lot to do with discovering what each of our real purposes are. Our 'real purpose' must not be something that we feel obliged or pressured to accomplish because of societal of parental expecations however, it must be personal and something that you feel passionate about.

Okay, I am not overtly religious nor do I live a 'Christian life' but here is something from the Bible:

I denied myself nothing my eyes desired; I refused my heart no pleasure. My heart took delight in all my work, and this was the reward for all my labour. Yet when I surveyed all that my hands had done and what I toiled to achieve, everything was meaningless, a chasing after the wind; nothing was gained under the sun.

Ecclesiastes 2:10:11

Ministry of Sound Sessions 4

Went to a close friend's housewarming party on Friday night. She had the party downstairs in her rumpus room. She recently moved to Brisbane after securing a job with Leighton and has since been busy working on the Gateway Bridge project (she's an engineer - WE NEED MORE WOMEN IN MALE-DOMINATED PROFESSIONS).

After a couple of champagne bottles, continuous rounds of tequila shots - I again found myself losing all inhibitions and any sense of conscience. Surprisingly, I was able to control myself - there was no table-top dancing, well at least not by me :) I stuck mainly to the area between the projector screen (great lighting) and the bar (she's got a $30,000 entertainment system - that's actually insured...) I think it was the best housewarming party I've ever been to! I met a few interesting people :) - mostly people that work with her.

I got a chance to hear and review (finally) Ministry of Sound's Sessions 4, mixed by John Course and Dirty South.







It's 2CD compilation with about forty tracks:

Tracklist

DISC ONE
John Course

1. Gossip – Standing in the Way of Control (Headman Remix)
2. House Of Pain – Jump Around (Micky Slim Remix)
3. Toby Neal – Do You Really (Want My Love)? (Hook n Sling Remix)
4. Meck feat. Dino Lenny – Feels Like Home (TV Rock vs Dirty South Remix)
5. Alex Gaudino feat. Crystal Waters – Destination Calabria
6. TCS vs Level 42 – Lessons in Love (Mischa Daniels House Mix)
7. Armand Van Helden – NYC Beat (Original 12”)
8. The Sounds – Tony The Beat (Rex The Dog Disco Mix)
9. Jürgen Paape – Take That
10. Space Cowboy feat. Nadia Oh – My Egyptian Lover
11. Green Velvet feat. Walter Phillips – Shake And Pop
12. Electro Funk Lovers – Are You A Lover
13. Camille Jones vs Fedde Le Grand – The Creeps (Electro Funk Lovers Remix)
14. The Screetch – The Screetch
15. Katie Noonan – Time To Begin (Electro Funk Lovers Remix)
16. Jesse Garcia – Off Da Hook!
17. TV Rock vs The Dukes of Windsor – The Others (TV Rock Mainroom Mix)
18. The Potbelleez – Junkyard
19. Michael Gray feat. Steve Edwards – Somewhere Beyond (TV Rock Mix)
20. Mic Newman – Rhythm To Ya Hips (Mind Electric’s Twister Mix)
21. Mind Electric – Electrify

DISC TWO
Dirty South

1. Dirty South & Paul Harris feat. Rudy – Better Day
2. Ryan Murgatroyd feat. Trisha - Funk Country (Micky Slim Remix)
3. The Migrants – I Thought That (Boris Dlugosch Mix)
4. Claude VonStroke – The Whistler (Aston Shuffle Mix)
5. Cicada – Cut Right Through (DJ Delicious Remix)
6. Axwell / Angello / Ingrosso / Laidback Luke - Get Dumb
7. Freakx Brothers – Tension
8. John Acquaviva pres. Swen Weber – First Stroke
9. Tyken feat. Awa – Every Word (Dave Spoon Remix)
10. Tommy Trash & Tom Piper – F**k To The Bass (TT Electro Remix)
11. Arno Cost & Arias – Magenta (Dave Spoon Remix)
12. Federico Franchi – Cream
13. Goodwill & Tommy Trash – It’s A Swede Thing
14. Kaskade – Sorry (Dirty South Remix)
15. Tonite Only – Where the Party’s At (Dada Life Remix)
16. Sneaky Sound System – UFO (Van She Tech Remix)
17. Klaxons – Gravity’s Rainbow (Van She Remix)
18. Wink – Higher State Of Consciousness (Dirty South vs TV Rock Remix)
19. poxyMUSIC – She Bites (Swen Weber Mix)
20. Laidback Luke feat. Steve Granville – Hypnotize (Steve Angello Remix)

To find out more, visit tthe Ministry of Sound website here.

Overall, Ministry of Sound delivered once again. Being a fan of the indie/electro/house genres, I was blown away especially by some of the electro-house monsters esp. Armand Van Helden's – NYC Beat (Original 12”)...luuurve it!

(singing)

Up town, Down town,

Turn the beat around town,

Hip hopping, beat bopping,

There ’s no stopping to the sound of the New York City beat.

Press play...

Armand Vanhelden -...

I was lucky enough to score the whole compilation - FOR FREE!

I wish I could put the pictures of the party here, but to preserve the integrity (lol) of the attendees, I will hold onto that thought...for a really long time.

Winter Racing Carnival

Just got fresh pictures that were taken a couple of weeks ago at the Queensland Oaks' Day (Ladies Day). I really wanted to go because TV Rock were performing live after the races.

I wasn't going to watch the horses because I am NOT A GAMBLER. I spread the word around my friends and Zanthea (aka Zee) was keen. Got very excited but the excitement subdued and literally died when I did some research and found out from the Queensland Turf Club's website that:

(Under 18s must be accompanied by a responsible adult exercising parental supervision).

ARGHHHHHHHHHHH. Okay, don't panic...think of someone really hard that you know that is over eighteen and will do anything for you....ANSWER: ALEX KALINOE. Made a quick call and all was settled.

Saturday June 2

Woke up early but procrastinated for two hours in bed. Called Alex at 9.45am and asked where she was: almost in the city. Oh $h!t. I did the 'it's okay, I'll be there in no time' attitude and procrastinated some more. Received a text message: 'I'm in the city, let me know when you get in'...I replied: "Don't worry, take your time...I'm still straightening my hair". Half an hour later, I discovered that the zipper on my dress had decided to end its life and not fulfil its purpose - okay, no time to moan and cry - it can be fixed. I then made a mental note to grab a few safety pins when I got into the city. Threw a pair of jeans, boots and jumper on and hopped into a cab and headed directly for the city. Met Alex at Pig N Whistle. She was all glamed up and looked puzzled when she saw how casual I dressed. Lol. I reassured her that I was going to be ready in less than half an hour: first I needed some safety pins, chicken fillets (substitute for strapless bra: ugly silicone 'fake breasts' that push your ahems up) and a quick dash to the Hilton bathrooms to change.

2.30 p.m. Four and a half hours later, I was finally dressed - thankfully, got the safety pins to sit perfectly without protruding out my back, and hailed a cab. "So where are we off to ladies". In a chorus, we both replied: "Eagle Farm Racecourse pleeeeeeeeeease!"











Thanks for an awesome day Lexy. I know you had fun too burning the grass in your Wittner heels to hits like 'Flaunt it' and 'Smack my bitch up'...good times!

I forgot that i might see so many beautiful things

I cooked my own breakfast this morning! I can't remember the last time I cooked a decent meal. It's not actually the traditional, egg benedict, toast and bacon this morning but this morning I've decided to test my agility in the kitchen by frying some kebabs , tossing a rocket salad (avocado, tomatoes, balsamic dressing) that I grabbed from Zone Fresh, New Market yesterday afternoon. I wish I could take a picture and post it here but I screwed up my memory card while holidaying in Vanuatu a couple of months ago. Pictures from that holiday too can no longer be retrieved. :(

Anyways, its raining here in Brisbane. Temperature unknown. I'm being a silent observer this morning. Despite the occassional interruption of birds whistling and 'Beautiful things' by Tiesto playing, I'm enjoying the beauty and serenity of being especially lucky to sit upstairs on the balcony. There are trees, mostly palm trees that cacoon the balcony. It's really pretty to look out - very calming especially when its the first thing you wake up to the morning. There are so many tall palms here and a number of birds usually visit them - to do what, I don't know (?). The birds are being especially noisy this morning (some kinky mating ritual I suppose), but I'd rather wake up to wildlife then to the sound of trains or worse - AN ALARM CLOCK! Thank God, I didn't set mine this morning.