Corn Starch Holes

Engagement party photos - part 2

Engagement party photos

Here's the first batch of photos from our Engagement Party in Utrecht. If you were wondering where the photos were, so were we. It turns out that the family had been preparing a really amazing printed book made from all the photos taken on the night. We were given the book and about 230 digital images when we went over for Sinterklaas. These are just a few of my favourites.

Barcelona Party

Here's a couple of photos from the Friday night party at Barcelona. Lotte is judging the Jack'n'Jill contest, and generally having a great time dancing to the spectacular Ivanow Jazz Group. We were over there for a series of weekend workshops that Lotte was teaching with Bill at the Balliball dance studio. I deejayed a 2 hour set on the Saturday night at the studio, and both of us had a fantastic time dancing till the wee hours both nights. We didn't really have enough time for sightseeing, even though we planned an extra couple of days -- but that just means we will have to go back for the Barcelona Swing Festival next year.

Stupidity is Global, but so is Bravery

Lotte and I were in Barcelona on the weekend, travelling on a train when a young guy standing next to us was attacked by thugs. It was just before 11pm and the trains were full, mostly with soccer fans returning from a big game that day. As we entered the carriage I noticed two guys with short cropped hair, army boots and the sort of straight-legged jeans of a trademarked 1970s skinhead. To top it off, even though they were speaking Catalan, they were sporting Union Jacks on their jackets, which made me think more of certain skinhead revivalists and their Nazist tendencies. They were probably about 18, sitting with their legs propped up across the benches, and travelling with a girl who was carrying a small white bulldog. It was the sort of group you generally try to avoid. We kept an eye on them until they got up to leave, pushing past me towards a young guy with long hair, probably 16 or 17, standing near the door right behind me. They started to speak to him, obviously taunting him, and one of them reached out and pulled his hair. Hard. He resisted answering them, and then as the train pulled up to the station each of the guys took a swing at him. They hit him hard -- one of the guys connected flush on with his face, sending his head backwards into the wall. It was all too fast to do anything much, and he just stood his ground. He was okay, physically, but I could see how shaken he was by it, as you would expect. All I want to do now is tell that guy how brave I thought he was to just stand there and not give the guys the satisfaction of a fight that could have ended very badly. We reported the thugs at the station, but that was all we could do. Sorry, kid.

UCPD Police Assault Student in University Library

If anyone needed any more evidence that the U.S. has become an out of control police state in the last few years, just watch the horrifying video that is doing the rounds today. The student was not able to produce ID on request. Despite the fact that he is quite clearly attempting to comply with the police, he was brutally attacked by several officers with a taser, a technology which is not used in many countries because of the potentially lethal effects. For more about the incident, see Student shot with Taser by UCPD officers and Community responds to Taser use in Powell in Daily Bruin, UCLA. Warning: the video below is distressing.

Does Bush Threaten World Peace?

Following up on my last post, it appears that a lot of people both in the U.S. and abroad agree. The Democrats now have control of both Houses, which no doubt has a lot to do with how out of touch the administration had become with public views on the War on Terror. I also noticed today that the Herald Tribune recently published an article entitled International poll ranks Bush a threat to world peace which states: "A majority of people in three countries with close ties to the U.S. — Britain, Canada and Mexico — consider President George W. Bush a threat to world peace, ranking the U.S. president right up there with the leaders of two countries he has labeled part of the "axis of evil" — North Korea's Kim Jong Il and Iran's Mahmoud Ahmadinejad... Majorities in Britain, Canada and Mexico — 69 percent, 62 percent and 57 percent, respectively — said U.S. foreign policy has made the world more dangerous since 2001, according to the poll." So what do you think? Does Bush threaten World Peace?

The US Government is Unhinged

Recently I've been following the case of Indiana graduate student Chris Soghoian, who got himself into trouble with the FBI after putting up a website that creates fake boarding passes, just to show how stupid airport security can be. You can argue that Chris made a mistake by creating a script to automatically generate a fake boarding pass, but he did it to prove a point. He probably should have stopped at describing how someone could do it rather than actually creating the script. But the FBI beating down his door to confiscate all of his computer equipment after the site had been taken down? That is not a response that's in proportion with the crime.

Today's Wired story on the incident has a good summary of what happened. Chris has been heartened by a back-down from one of the politicians who was rather hasty in calling for his apprehension, but the fact remains that undue force was used. The story reads more like something you would expect in China or a few years ago in the USSR, not "the home of the free". The speed of descent of United States into a police state is truly astounding, and the sad truth is that it is probably only because Chris is young, articulate, English speaking and computer literate that we're hearing his story at all. I happened to be watching CNN the other night when they were discussing the state of delusion that the US government appears to be in. I couldn't agree more with Andrew Sullivan in that interview. If you happen to be a US citizen, you should do something about it. Write to a politician and tell them you don't think it's right. Link to Chris' blog. And whatever you do, don't vote for the GOP.

Borat does Cambridge

I hadn't seen this before, but this clip is really worth watching. Borat interviews a few Cambridge Dons in front of Kings College, and learns how to play cricket.

BBC Article

The BBC Cambridgeshire website posted a story on swing dancing today, featuring me and Lotte answering some funny questions in a short video interview. There's even some shots of all of us doing the Shim Sham, and if you listen really closely you can hear us talking to a woman on her bicycle who wanted to know why not all of us were dressed up in 40s gear. It was all pretty unplanned, and the music's timing is a little off, but we really enjoyed doing it. Hopefully a few more people will hear about us as well.

Cambridge Lindy Hoppers Unite!

Over the past couple of weeks we've been working on launching a website for our new student society, Cambridge Lindy Hoppers. We're hoping this group will catalyse new interest in Lindy Hop in Cambridge, and we're planning to start classes with social dancing next month.

Justin and Sara

This week we were visited by Justin and Sara. Below are just a few of the 700+ photos taken mostly by Justin during the week. They spent a few days here in Cambridge before we headed down to London to hang out with Dozka, Heidi & Ian and Simon & George. Visiting London means we actually got to go social dancing, which we've been missing recently. We also finally got to go punting when the weather improved on Tuesday evening, and it was worth the wait.

Gothenburg and Kungshamn

My last post was a bit short on detail wasn't it? Perhaps I should explain. Every year (well almost) we go to the Herrang Dance Camp in Sweden. This year was my 6th at Herrang, and Lotte's 4th. The only recent year we've missed is 2003, and I can't remember why that was -- probably we'd already done too much travel that year! We're already planning to be there again next year.

More photos, including of Gothenburg and Kungshamn, here.

Herrang and Stockholm

Here are a few photos from Herrang and Stockholm. We've just returned from our trip this morning. It was a really fantastic holiday and involved an awful lot of dancing and an awful lot of sleeping, with some sightseeing in between. I'll post some from the second part of the trip (in Gothenburg and Kungshamn) shortly.

Dublin and Norwich

The past two weekends have been spent away, with Lotte assisting Bill to teach workshops in Dublin and Norwich. The photo is actually from Dublin, although you wouldn't necessarily know it. The group was really fantastic and learnt an awful lot in two days. The workshop in Norwich was very different -- part of a swing, tango and salsa "fusion" weekend. It had mixed success in the sense that their was a lot of learning but not much actual fusion between the different dance styles. I took part in a tango class and marvelled at the technical skills of the teachers. The fundamental concepts were very similar to Lindy Hop, but more emphasis was put on keeping everything on one level in tango instead of "sinking into the floor". When I took a step I was warned about "collapsing" my legs. I didn't take part in many classes however. For the most part, I did my own thing at these weekends. In Dublin this consisted of finishing my thesis and watching The Da Vinci Code on my laptop, as well as getting a good look around town. The city is beautiful, and the wide suburban expanse by the bay reminded me of home.

In Norwich the experience was quite unusual. We were staying at Bylaugh Hall (pronounced Beela Hall), an amazing restoration in progress of a rural mansion that was requisitioned during WWII by the RAF. There are still all kinds of temporary wartime structures such as bomb shelters standing near the house, all overgrown with vines and rusting. The building itself had become decrepit before restoration work started 6 years ago, and when you walk through some of the partly restored areas you can still see dead vines clinking to the pillars. It's now used as an arts and culture venue, and is hired out regularly for weddings and parties. We were treated to gourmet dining and luxury accommodation, all of which was very much appreciated after a hard slog for both of us. Lotte's been invited to teach with Bill on a more permanent basis in Europe, with the next set of workshops in a couple of months.

Another podcast

I forgot to mention that I recorded another presentation and posted it as a podcast on The Zotcast recently. Check it out.

It's finished.

Phew. A long journey has finally come to an end. The work for my MA I began in 1997 (yes, 9 years ago) has been completed with the finalisation of my thesis. If you're curious, you can read it here: The roles actors perform. Of course, I could still crash and burn if the examiners don't like it, but I live in hope. I'm just happy it's over!

Ice creams in front of Kings

Ko and Pascal visited us earlier this month, but this photo of them eating ice creams with Lotte in front of Kings College didn't make it off my phone until yesterday.

Meet the Parents

Last weekend Lisa, Mum and Dad headed over to Paris for a few nights before heading to Prague, and then on to Switzerland and Holland. Lotte and I picked up Mum and Dad at the airport in Amsterdam while Lisa visited her old friends Jean-Pierre and Christine in Switzerland. One of the aims was for Mum and Dad to meet Lotte's Mum in Zeeland, so we hired a car and headed down for the day.

Mum, Dad and Lisa in England

Captain Simon in Cambridge

Another Zotcast?!

Today I discovered there's actually another Zotcast, at a site called MacZot, which is giving away one of my favourite Mac Applications, SubEthaEdit by CodingMonkeys. I also learnt that SubEthaEdit gets its name from HHG2TG, also a favourite of mine:
"It's from Douglas Adams' a Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy. The reporters of the guide submit their entries using the SubEthaNet (interestingly enough the Ethernet wasn't yet available in time of writing of the HHGG) - therefore we named our editor SubEthaEdit in honor of Douglas Adams' great work." How weird is that?

My first Podcast

I created a podcast of a presentation I did at CARET last week. You can view it on The Zotcast.

"Brainport" turns tongues into eyes

This is amazing. ABC News is reporting that scientists are looking at the use of a specialised device that allows you to see using sensors connected to your tongue. "By routing signals from helmet-mounted cameras, sonar and other equipment through the tongue to the brain, they hope to give elite soldiers superhuman senses similar to owls, snakes and fish." While the research seems to be focused on military uses, they've also found that it can allow a blind person to catch a ball, and might be useful in treating vestibular disorders. "In testing, blind people found doorways, noticed people walking in front of them and caught balls. A version of the device, expected to be commercially marketed soon, has restored balance to those whose vestibular systems in the inner ear were destroyed by antibiotics." Read more.

Rollercoaster Month

A lot has happened since my last post -- some good, some not so good. People have been asking me to update, so I'll try to summarise the biggest news here. Sorry if this post is short, and I hope to post more regularly soon. First of all, we received the extremely sad news that my sister Kirsty lost her baby, Matilda. We felt the distance between Australia and the UK more keenly over that period than we have before, and it was upsetting not to be able to be at the service.

Some good news after that however, when I asked Lotte to marry me and she said yes! The entire story about the proposal will have to wait for now, but it was a wonderful day, and we're planning for a big engagement party in October in Utrecht, and a wedding about a year later in Melbourne. Mum and Dad then decided they'd push their UK visit forward to May, so we were starting to feel a bit more positive about things. Then more sadness: we got the news that Lotte's mum is ill and will need an operation in early May, so we're currently making plans to be in Holland for her recovery. However the initial signs are good, which is a big relief. For Lotte and I, life goes on and we're both fine and looking forward to Mum and Dad's visit.

Devil of a Holiday

The weekend in Hamburg was terrific. We had possibly the best Lindy hosts in the entire world, Arne and Fabian, who made sure to check with us on our breakfast preferences before we left, and then greeted us with a smile on arrival in Hamburg. They have a really interesting, large apartment at the top of a very steep spiralling staircase in a building in a handy part of the city. Hopefully they will get to Cambridge (or maybe even Melbourne?) one day so that we can return the favour. Lotte had a baptism of fire into the international lindy hop teaching world, with 12 hours of teaching over 2 days assisting Bill. The advanced classes were quite a decent level, so she had her work cut out for her, and she did an amazing job. At the end of the weekend they had them in the palm of their hands, and the students were all starting to really get it. I enjoyed the opportunity of a weekend with no responsibilities apart from doing a bit of DJing and having fun. I also met a DJ with perhaps the most astounding collection of beautiful swing music I've ever met -- Swingin' Swanee. This woman is a professional, and it shows. Bill, Ellen and I took her on in the DJ Battle and never stood a chance. I heard she owns around 4,000 albums, most of which were in her personal vinyl collection. She has only fairly recently started using CDs to DJ. I highly recommend getting hold of her CD collections Wild Party, Devil's Holiday, and That's Rhythm from Ceraton.

Frozen Hamburgers

This weekend we're off to Hop In The Spring in Hamburg, Germany. It looks like a fun weekend, but I'm wondering a bit about the name. It's below freezing in Hamburg right now, and the forecast is for snow, snow/rain, and snow. That doesn't sound like spring to me. This is sure to be a test of my not-very-snow-friendly shoes, especially because they will be doubling as my dance shoes. Hmmm...

First day on the job

Had a bad day at work? A friend sent me this telling example of a tough first day on the job.

Parkside

After a very sad start to the week, we were really glad to have some good news yesterday. Lotte has got a job! She'll be working as a Cover Supervisor (teaching assistant) at a fantastic school called Parkside Community College, right in the middle of Cambridge. She's overjoyed because the school is particularly good and the staff were really nice. They have a fantastic media arts programme and have dance and drama as part of the curriculum, which is what was important to Lotte. We've been looking at the website and hoping they would advertise something Lotte could apply for since before we left Australia. As if that wasn't enough, on the same day I found out I'll be getting a new Macbook Pro. Tonight our friends Simon and George are coming up to visit us from London, and we're going to celebrate Lotte's new job by going out to dinner.

Mr Squiggle

Last night we received news that our beloved cat, Mr Squiggle lost his short battle with liver cancer and passed away peacefully on Sunday. We're going to put together a collage of photos of him over the years, but for now, we've just got this page. It's very sad, but it's great to know that Squiggs was in such good care with Mum and Dad, and enjoyed his time over the past couple of months. We were fortunate that we knew he was not well before we left Australia, so we got to say our goodbyes properly. Lotte says that if he's in heaven, he's probably walking on God's pillow and waking him up at 3am. Here's to that thought.

Our first visitor

This week we played host to our first visitor -- Lotte's mum, who visited us from Holland. Happily our tiny flat seems up to the task, thanks to a newly acquired inflatable mattress. On the weekend we again had very nice weather, and we made the most of it with a long walk into town and then to Grantchester. We had lunch at The Orchard Tea Gardens. Don't be fooled by the sunny weather in the photos, it was pretty cold by the time we left and the sun was a little lower in the sky. But it was really nice sitting outside and taking in the scenery.