Posts Tagged ‘New Zealand’
3 items.
Today’s comic took a while to finish up. If you’ve been waiting for it, I apologise for the delay and hope you enjoy it. This one was actually based on a factual event. My friends Richard, Matt, Adam and I all went to a party and conversation always seems to start with talk about geographical location when you have a couple of guys from North America with you. Eventually there was some mild ribbing about Canada vs the USA, and without missing a beat Adam just calmly responds “It’s just great to be around all you Aussies”. Oh man, it was perfectly timed, and a well executed burn/response. I laughed pretty good with that one. Well done, sir. Now everyone can enjoy it – immortalised in comic form.
Last weekend I had the pleasure of attending a wedding of good friends of ours. However it was a terrible day weather wise and it was supposed to be a beach wedding. The whole drive there it was just pouring rain. Fortunately as we decended upon the beach everything cleared right up. It was great. We had the lovely intimate ceremony on the beach. The waves crashing in the background. Very appropriate as the bride and groom both lived out there, and the groom is a surfer.
No sooner had photos been taken and people were making their way back to the reception in their vehicles, it started raining again. The break in the weather was absolutely timed to perfection. Couldn’t have been better. It was good times all around.
Then a couple of days ago this happened not so far away from my house. Kinda crazy right?
Hope everyone else has had a good week.
Marc
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It’s coming up to February, which means it must be time for a group gallery show, am I right?
From February 4 (one day after ActionMan Adam completes its first year on the web!) those of you in North Carolina will be able to head to Wootini Gallery in Carrboro and see some sweet NZ art in person. My friend Jess has organised an amazing list of artists from New Zealand (something Jess knows well, as an unofficial New Zealander herself), is going to be curating this show, and I was very fortunate to be included amongst this group. Seriously, you should see some of the ill talent that has been amassed for this show! I feel very privileged to be a part of it. Thanks, Jess!
The only downside is I’ll be stuck in New Zealand while it is going on! However, if you live in the area, and want to go see some sweet art that has come from the other side of the world. Head on in to Wootini from February 4, and check it out!
Here are the details:
Opening Reception – Friday, February 4th, 7-11pm
Show Runs – February 4th – 28th, 2011
Wootini Gallery, 101 Lloyd Street, Carrboro, NC
Click here for Facebook page event info, the full press release, and a partial list of participating artists!
Thanks for reading,
Marc
Last night I was lucky enough to catch one of my favourite bands from my youth, Faith No More (who for the sake of my laziness will be referenced to as “FNM” in this post). The anticipation and expectation of their self proclaimed second coming had set the bar high. I think everyone was expecting a lot. To make things less complicated I actually took the day off work and spent the day drawing, slowly psyching myself for the upcoming show. By 6pm, I finally got my ass down to a local fast food joint and then after a rushed dinner made my way to the venue, Vector Arena in central Auckland.
Parking is always a pain in the ass, but I found a good spot. Not long after entering the venue, the first band Eagles of Death Metal came on to warm the crowd up. By the time they were down they had definitely accomplished that task. “Can you dig it?” and “Ladies!” seemed to be their catch cries of the evening. They were just good old rock n roll. It was fun. However the crowd were definitely there to see FNM. So…did they measure up? Quite frankly. Fuck yes.
The intro had the band playing a cover of “Reunited”, before Mike Patton strutted on stage in a pimping suit with a cane for walking aid to add the vocals. It was great. They quickly got into “From Out of Nowhere” to start proceedings off. I got pretty much all the songs I wanted to hear – except for “We Care A Lot”, can’t win them all I guess. There were even some unexpected songs thrown into the set. Very welcome. Some were the bands own. A couple were not. A brief cover of Lady GaGa’s “Pokerface” had the crowd amused before blasting into “Chinese Arithmetic”. At the end of the set the band gave us two encores. On the first they ended with Crowded House’s classic “Don’t dream it’s over”. Encore number 2 they came back and asked if the crowd wanted more. A rapturous cheer let the band know the verdict. Again, they launch into the same Crowded House song. They do this another couple of times before drawing some boos. Ha ha! Mike Patton replies to the criticism with a “what? – you said you wanted more – I thought we were giving you what you wanted?” It was awesome.
The crowd was definitely reflective of the bands longevity. I doubt there was anyone under the age of 25 at the venue.
It was an amazing concert. Some other things worth noting. The backdrop was simple velvet looking curtains being back-lit with different shades of lighting. It helped keep the casual mood. At one point someone threw a shoe on stage. Which Mike Patton picked up, huffed a couple of times, before throwing it back out into the crowd. The set was stopped for two minutes, with the band urging the crowd to chant “Tom Jones!” in an effort to coax the man from his hiding place. The attempt was in vein. Tom Jones never showed up. “I guess he ain’t here” – General Patton said. We put in all that effort and the bastard doesn’t even show up? Rude.
Photos of this concert are on my Flickr page.
The people surrounding me were mostly well behaved. I’ll post on this more tomorrow.
If the band is coming near you. I very much recommend attending the show.
Thanks for reading
Marc!