Chemical infusion

Ok, so I know I resolved with myself to take a step back from the mosh pits, but I couldn’t stop myself from re-entering the chaos within this evening.

The Chemical brothers were doing this cd launch gig at Trafalgar square tonight but you couldn’t buy tickets – you had to win them. As it turns out I won a competition that I entered hours earlier to for one of the last 20 double tickets. As roger was busy and couldn’t make it in time, I scalped the 2nd ticket for £20.00, then I quickly made it to the front of the stage where I remained somewhat unbothered by other ravers.

Bit of a lucky day hey. And what can I say, they rocked! But now I’m going to have to listen to my body complain as I drag it onto a plane for 24hrs. Think a little of the ol’ bailies will go a long way!

Did someone say work?

Icmc rocked. The papers and presentations ranged from exceedingly good to astoundingly dodgy, but I think the most fun was in catching up with friends and making new ones. Copenhagen is such a beautiful city. Everything is designed to be aesthetically pleasing as well as innovative. Before I left I also got to spend some time in the rebel sector of Christiania – a hippie community that segregated itself from Copenhagen in the 70’s, refusing to pay taxes. Whilst losing myself in the city I also joined a very large and noisy group of punks and metal heads marching through the streets. After about an hour and wandering quite far I decided I’d had enough and stopped to ask someone what the purpose of the march was. Their response - ‘I’m sorry I don’t speak danish’. Well I’d better start speaking english thinks me. Apparently the march was anti police in response to a home for youth that had been recently closed and left a lot of kids homeless.
So now I’m in London for my last few days in London before I’m deported to the colonies. I had to go buy an extra suitcase to put the heavy items in (the proceedings are like phone books), I’m really interested to see how heavy my luggage actually is as I will be struggling to carry it – im guessing around 40kgs for the backpack, then a couple of kgs for my hand luggage (laptop etc).

Just a spoon full of sugar...

So i've been doing a rather good mary poppins impersonation lately as its been raining everyday here in london! But the wintery weather has provided perfect oppertunities to spend the entire day hiding in the galleries and museums without feeling too guilty! Of course then the huge number of people also flooding the galleries start to drive me nuts and in effort to escape them i end up exploring the depths of the galleries looking at bizarre exhibitions and artifacts. But its been so wonderful to absorb so much art and culture.

Am leaving london for copenhagen tomorrow (sat). I'm really looking forward to it as will attending the icmc conference!!! woohoo!!! Whew their is a massive list of papers and gigs! I can see i'm going to be freaking out at the thought of having to decided which of the dual presentations i can attend!

Barbara who was at marcs at the start of the year (and also at montreal) is one of the keynoters, so it will be great to see her presentation! Plus it'll be great to catch up with the usual folk! Whew, i think its going to be a big week of partying, Oops i mean work.

OzzFest

Ahh a return to the devil of metal's mecca that is birmingham. Thats right the dark lord Ozzy Osbourne (well LOTR sauron as well) is a born and bread brummy. Actually one of his sons still lives in b'ham and was doing dj gigs when i was last there, but i didnt see any advertised gigs this time round. It was so nice to be back in b'ham, even though it was only a few days - although i had forgotten how much of a hard core city it is! I went and checked out my old house and the uni! Nothings changed!

I'm now bouncing around london, spending my days in galleries and cafes, catching up with a few folk, nick tomorrow, roger (who is working in london for 2 months - quite looking forward to our masters meetings in funky cafes), then when im back in london after copenhagen, will be catching up with rick and carole, and lastly kelly, lianne and jason before im deported :OS ho hum!

Hey hey back in the UK!

I’ve stepped out of the tardis into 21st century Coventry and Lady Godiva is still roaming the streets almost 1k later.

It’s been a relaxing part of my trip and great being able to chill out with my mates Jas, Kelly + Lianne doing quite a bit of site-seeing, going up to monkey world (!), tobogganing and seeing some great live comedy.

About to head up to Birmingham for a couple of days where I will check out the uni and old stomping grounds before heading back to London for a week.

Where the bloody hell am i ?

Ok so quickly posting now as the next few days are going to be quite busy.

The last few days have been fantastic. I was lucky enough to have opportunity to meet and discuss stream segregation with Prof Bregman as part of my mentorship, although due to unforeseen circumstances we did not get to spend as much time in discussions as planned. But its not too bad as we are going to continue our meetings using skype :o)

Also got to party down with the marmuts (v cute beasties) at Piknic Electronik on Parc Jean Depard Sunday, and just generally immersing in the plentiful art and culture Montreal offers! But unfortunately I have to bid Montreal au revoir for now. I'm rather sad as its such a beautiful city. Hopefully it wont take me so many years to return next time.

So tomorrow I’ll be catching the Adirondack back to NY to catch my flight to the UK. I’m pretty nervous about going back through customs but fingers crossed my next words will be from somewhere in the UK and not Aus!. I’m due to arrive in NY 10pm-ish, then catch thurs 8.45am flight to Heathrow. Since their are only a few hours between the two trips, I’m not planning on booking into a hotel (I don’t do mornings well and would definitely have trouble waking up and getting to the airport in time!) so I’ll be looking for some luggage storage, then hit downtown for the night! Most likely head back to the village!.

Once I'm aboard my flight to the UK, I arrive at heathrow 8.30pm and will book in for the night, before heading up to Coventry on Friday to stay with my mate Jason and fam :o)

So the next few days will be rather dizzy….

Lemon Sorbet Haze...

Ah Montreal. Its such a beautiful city!
The appreciation of culture in this city is just so inspiring. We went to see the Orchestre Symphonique de Montreal perform wednesday night and the sound was amazing. Then last night I hit some nightclubs down st laurent with a few Quebecois natives, and of course the huge francofolies festival which has been running everynight, then theirs the electronicia on the island every sunday which we are bouncing over to. Their is just so much to see, hear and taste!! And I've become addicted to sorbet.

Amidst my ice-y sweet binge today I wandered around looking at architecture, and found some great spaces that were screaming out in silence for sound installations. Perhaps an excuse to return!!
It was also the last day of the SMPC conference. It's been running since monday and was one of the work segments of my trip. It was quite a good conference. Good papers (although i have to say im totally pitched out and my head will implode if i hear another paper on why the min 3rd is 'sad') and quite a few head honchos were present but i didnt bother to schmooze.

I did get to have a quick chat with prof. bregman though, which was great to catch him in person as its only been emails for a few months now. He is such a nice chap and i'm really looking forward to my mentorship with him on monday.

I also had to present my paper on thurs, which was the price i had to pay in selling my soul for a holiday! But the MARCSist party were happy with it, so life is sweet.

Their will be another gathering of MARCSists spreading the word in copenhagen in a few weeks, so that will be great. My presentation happens to be placed straight after robert's, and of course roger will be their. And Barbara who was a great help at the start of the year when i first moved to UWS also happens to be one of the keynotes, so it will be great to see everyone. Also recentely received news from the folks at icmc that they liked my paper and would like to include it in the Springer-Verlag LNCS series :o) Whats better is they are giving me the oppertunity to rewrite it with a limit of 30pgs (icmc was 4pgs!) and its not due till mid nov so hopefully should be able include some new experiments, analysis and discussion!.

Bonsoir!

Mon français est merde

Beautiful Montreal, one of my fav cities but let me repeat - bilingual my ass!

I’m a Francophile all the way, and have been trying not to butcher the language too much (My knowledge of French equates to naught) but I think they should ditch the split personality image and just promote the “its French or nothing baby”.

But i've moved up in the world regarding my accommodation situation!! Staying at the very suave RVC - which is on par with the pre renovated stanns, but is like a palace compared to the backpackers accomm! Its sooo nice to have my own sterile space! Actually it’s a little surreal - I was to commence my student exchange from Adelaide right about now and would have been based here at McGill and RVC.

One for the techies – I’ve tapped into the ‘digital composition studios’ wireless! Ahhh, its so heartwarming!!! Feels like home!

au revoir!

' later NY, Bonjour to Montreal.

Thought i'd quickly post now while i can easily hack into someone else's wireless (my bad!) - not sure if i can get up to mischeif in montreal.

Catching the amtrak Adirondack to montreal early sun morning. Really looking forward to the trip as I will be travelling through the catskills - near towns i adopted as home in 2001 when I was a camp counsellor at Band Camp! Really lovely countryside with weird looking beasties - btw - chased my first squirrel yesterday at battery park! Chipmonks are my fav nutty critter tho so hopefully will see a few along the way.

Will also be happy to be out of backpackers! Am staying at the Royal Vic college at McGill uni so will have my own space. I must be getting soft! The chelsea hostel is only a little skanky (!!!) and 2 gals in my room are from adelaide (nice to hear the SA accent btw! always much appreciated in stomping out the victorian!).

Gotham City

First day in NY and really enjoying it!

Flight over wasnt too bad. Although - I was stuck in the middle of a plane full of American Summer Camp Students, and the flight staff thought I was one of them so it was a little difficult convincing them to give me alcohol!.

And I wasnt hasseled when gaining entry in L.A. - I was a little worried i'd be refused entry and be sent back to Aus as on my last visit in '01 I had my working visa confiscated! But no problemo so far!

When I first got here last night, I headed for the village to chill out, then spent today in the met and getting quite lost in Central Park, before heading downtown to times square - which is a lot more blingy than on my last visit.

But no jet lag or climitisation effects - although I think this has more to do with my Aus. noctoural lifestyle with the heater set to 30. So i guess when all you folks thought I was bananas really I was just in the wrong timezone!

Postcard From Uncle Travelling Matt

Dear Fraggles!

Commencing my Journey into Outer Space in the morning.

Way too excited and hyper - I feel sorry for the poor bunny whos going to be sitting next to me in the plane for .... too many hrs. Not stopping in LA so the first place of party is NY, arr wed night heading for the village.

And now to divulge my appalling taste in TV! Can someone fill me in on wins Biggest Bogan (Oops, i mean Big Brother) Who dies in neighbours, and what happens in the final Dr Who ep!

Hanging with my housemate Farzana, Packed and ready for my Journey into Outter Space.

OS Plans

Hey folks,

So this is the blog I've set up to put some OS info letting you know approx where I am or where I should be, but more importantly - it will let me know where I am..... or where I should be.

Its a quick trip and i wont have much time to write proper emails, so I will try to post on here somewhat regularly.

Ok so heres how my itinerary is currently looking

Sydney

New York
Montreal
Bouncing Around the UK
Copenhagen

Or in textual terms:

07.07.25 Syd > LA > NY

07.07.29 NY > Mtrl

07.08.08 Mtrl > NY

07.08.09 NY > Ldn
?. ? . ? Ldn / B'ham / Cov ? ? ? ? ? ?

07.08.25 Ldn > Cphn
07.09.02 Cphn > Ldn

07.09.10 Ldn > Sgp >>>
07.09.11 Sgp > Syd