Blog Feed: Sails of Oblivion: A Diary of The Ulterior Wars

~ arm in python

Published on 2011-09-29 10:29:25

I heard a story the other day about a girl who, being thoroughly wasted, passed out on the couch in an unfamiliar house - to wake with her arm swallowed to the shoulder by an overly ambitious pet python.When people intersect with drugs, when the safe day-time world is penetrated by heavy-lidded Morlocks on Kronic or Crack, on Krank or Can-D, bizarre complications often ensue – a phenomenon I'm > read more

~ killer zombies

Published on 2011-07-24 05:51:55

On facebook, my old colleague Robert Chuter recently posted some images from a short film of the mid 80’s called ‘Killer Zombies’ made by Zlatco Kasumovic. The prosthetic work, done largely by Vivienne MacGillycuddy, was first class, but for the zombies themselves it was a test of endurance. These are polaroids of a mould of my head being taken.The process resulted in this souvenir - my old > read more

~ do you believe in the pink and plump?

Published on 2011-07-17 19:45:54

This morning I heard Rob Oakeshott phrase something rather eloquently on the science of Climate Change. To paraphrase, he asked would you take your child to the doctor if they were sick? Wouldn't you be negligent if you did not? If your car was malfunctioning, wouldn't you take it to a mechanic?This is to say that we rely, sensibly, on experts to inform and advise us on subjects in which we are > read more

~ lichen in the face of adversity

Published on 2011-07-15 21:13:59

With the last of the light, we drove to Thompson’s Dam, that vast body of water which supplies most of Melbourne’s water. Particularly during the drought, one was repeatedly shown evidence of its declining volume in newspapers and TV. The slopes of dark broken rock and the installation’s various towers and structures were therefore instantly familiar - none more so than the exposed strata along > read more

~ abhorrent

Published on 2011-07-15 20:18:13

I was in the country yesterday. East Gippsland. With Polly, her friend Y and Y’s dad. There was a surprising coincidence that day [the meat of which was reported on the evening news and in the following morning’s papers]

On Wednesday, in Frankston [Melbourne] a woman, who was a Greens party member, had been invited to a community meeting on the Carbon Tax to be hosted by Tony Abbott. But it wasn > read more

~ peripatetic insile

Published on 2011-07-10 22:59:33

Last night, after catching the final train home from a dreamy night at Cherry watching Steve Kilbey and Ricky Maymi's enigmatic tribute to the mysterious David Neal (in addition to a beautiful set from some unnamed Triffid remnants and a session of ab-zen counseling over liqueur coffee) my sleep was profound and my spirit rose through the upper airs into the realms of the firmament. Here, to my > read more

~ then fevers came, seemingly at random

Published on 2011-07-10 22:39:25

Slowly, with certainty, day by day, I’m emerging from the woes of the past 27 months. I still have plenty to agonise over as I flail in my bed at night, but it’s of a far different order than what has gone before.All that remains of the legal fiasco is a three-weekly visit to an unpleasant office in Oakleigh, where doors snap shut with the finality of jail cells. But after the many trials and > read more

~ why the coming generations may find hallucinogens passé

Published on 2011-07-07 20:27:40

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~ earth stars

Published on 2011-06-23 21:46:31

This morning on the ABC News Breakfast show, Mal Brough presented us an old chestnut which seems to be coming back into its own : why should Australia lead the world in reducing its carbon emissions (and why should we bother, as we're such a small po > read more

~ the ears, the lyrebird, april fifteen

Published on 2011-04-16 09:16:20

The Lyrebird Lounge is a tiny place, a shop front, but its size possibly had a bit to do with how wonderful the atmosphere became. Andrew had to sit on a couch with keyboard resting on his lap. I had to vocalise over an antique Galaga console. It was > read more

~ the cupboard moth

Published on 2011-04-14 05:24:27

It’s taken a few weeks for my black internal weather to disperse - but disperse it appears to be doing. The long long ordeal by law is petering out via an endless series of interviews with agents of Correctional Services Victoria, and no longer do > read more

~ a monstrous bellowing of gratitude

Published on 2011-03-24 06:17:17

A monstrous bellowing of gratitude. To those many many friends, who have supported me over the past two years. Those who put up their hand for the Ears Reunion at The Corner ... Those who vouched for my character, gave of their time ... Those whose s > read more

~ my intimate blood-borne saboteur.

Published on 2011-02-03 07:01:12

For better or for worse, I’ve enrolled myself in the trial of a new drug which may be a potent HCV inhibitor. It’s a triple therapy: as well as the study drug, I’m on the standard-of-care - peg-interferon and ribavirin: a toxic cocktail which > read more

~ dead chick

Published on 2011-01-20 06:45:41

This is a sad and compelling something, encountered by Polly on our driveway."I don't know what it is," she said. "But if I look at it again, I'll vomit."In a night or two I will have finished reading her Enid Blyton's Faraway Tr > read more

~ I try my hand at oding

Published on 2011-01-20 01:36:47

Down at the Grey Creek, since the rain, there is a super-abundance of dragonflies and their smaller cousins the damselflies. In my experience, there have never been so many. They are hovering, flashing bolts of iridescence, almost surreal in their va > read more

donald's christmas fear 2010

Published on 2011-01-09 23:36:28

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~ soulless machinations

Published on 2010-12-12 18:21:50

Walking Polly to school today, there were more musk lorikeets than I have ever seen in Mt Waverley. I love these birds - so much sweeter and gentler than the brash, squawking rainbow lorikeets who vastly outnumber them.This is the best I could do by > read more

~ lucas aid

Published on 2010-12-05 00:31:04

Though I may have crystallised my brain in the aftermath, Thursday’s show came off pretty well. Perhaps there weren’t quite enough people there to deal entirely with Steve Lucas’s chronic back, but it was fulsome nevertheless. Every time I saw > read more

~ pressure release

Published on 2010-11-24 14:59:56

I realised the other day - perhaps belatedly - why I’m seeing so many old-fashioned cigarette cases, particularly in the hands of women. It’s the images of diseased flesh, of course, which the arbiters of social control place with good intent on > read more

~ wry

Published on 2010-11-01 03:21:16

I’ve had a good week. My grant proposal for Ambergris (the play I’ve been battling with for a few years now) was accepted by the Victorian Arts Ministry. It’s been a long time since I’ve attempted one of these and, towards the end of the tram > read more

~ something eldritch

Published on 2010-10-25 04:01:08

My lovely, though sometimes worryingly anaemic psychologist is arranging for me to have a 'neuro-assessment'. It’s a legal thing, but it might be interesting. I do like to count things. For instance, and for your edification, I eat 12 strawberries > read more

~ the pittance

Published on 2010-10-20 04:22:54

I’ve been finding it difficult getting back into a routine with these blog posts. I think, perhaps, it’s because I’ve been so focused on work lately, trying to make every hour of every day count before I have to immerse myself in my legal defen > read more