I thought it was rather synchy that soon as I get home from Bluesfest last Sunday after seeing K T Tunstallsing this song - I get notified that Halfasheephas made a new You Tube abouta cherry tree in Japan that was grown from a seed that had been into space and is now growing at a cracking pace that has people baffled.
Synchronicity ˌsɪŋkrəˈnɪsɪti/ noun: synchronicity 1. the simultaneous occurrence of events which appear significantly related but have no discernible causal connection. I was listening to an Audible Book I won from a pod-cast show called42Minuteswhere the authors had an audible version of their book to give away as a prize to one lucky listener who could give the right answer to a question that was asked.
I thought it would be great having a copy to listen to, but since a story of mine appears in the MacGregor's book I thought I would stay out of the competition and let someone else go for it. After a few days of the pod-cast airing there was still no winner, so I thought what the hey, if it's meant to be mine, so be it. So, I submitted my answer and was told a day later that I was the winner. Pretty handy I thought, as I wanted a copy, but being out of work at the time and flat broke, there was no way I could afford the price for the book.
I think these Audible Books are a good idea, especially when you have already read the book once and wouldn't mind having it in another medium to listen to as a refresher later.
Well, I had a good time, but I don't know if it was such a good Friday for me personally, more like a just OK Friday.
Byron Bay bound ... eventually.
First of all, it took me two and a half hours in traffic like the shot above, for a trip that normally takes me an hour less. I kind of factored that in anyway, being Good Friday, so I thought I would just sit back and relax by listening to some CDs that I brought along for the drive, but my car CD player refused to read the discs, throwing up "error" messages for 45 mins. :-(
Click on this photo to make bigger
Then to make matters worse this year Bluesfest go and make new entries into the festival, so I don't realize until I zoom past the entry for the Northern car-park and end up going into the
Southern car-park, which puts me about as far away as it's possible to get from the entry gate. Oh well, at least the weather was good for a hike. I was starving for a bite to eat for lunch, so I grabbed a $9.50 burger from the new Grill'dwagon.
Then I decided to grab a beer next door. $8 FOR ONE TIN?!
Hat Fitz and Cara in there somewhere at Blusfest, Good Friday
Then I decided to go and catch two of my old favourites over at the Juke Joint,Hat Fitz and Cara, but the place is packed out. Doh!
I spotted this drone above, flying over the grounds giving me the creeps, too.
Suzanne Vega's performance on Friday
Then I got a half-way decent position in Suzanne Vega's performance, but being only 5 foot, 7 inches tall, when everyone in front seemed about 5 foot, 10 inches tall, made it impossible to see her, so I just sat down near the side of the tent and just listened to her songs.
Suzanne Vega signing the CD of the bloke in front of me in the lineup
At least I got to have a bit of a chat with Suzanne after her show, and got my CD signed.
Grace Potter at the signing tent
I even saw Grace Potter (I didn't have a clue who she was at the time) when I was buying a few other singer's CDs and she was giving hugs to everyone. I never caught her show, so I still don't know much about her. I might have to Google her clips on You Tube and find out?
Then I went and saw Joss Stone perform, and while she has an amazing voice nothing she sung really appealed to me. I took some photos of Joss, but they didn't turn out too good, so I uploaded a clip from You Tube for those who don't know who
Joss Stone is.
Buddy Guy on stage Good Friday
The best performance of my day's viewing was Buddy Guy. I saw Buddy last year and loved him, and he didn't let me down again either this year. At 77 this man puts people younger than half his age to shame.
Buddy Guy
Bos Scaggs on the Bluesfest stage Friday
Bos Scaggs was good, but his music never really appealed to me through the years and it still didn't on the night.
He played OK and I know he is 70, but he didn't look well to me for some reason, which kind of worried me and I kept speculating how many shows he had left in him.
Probably more shows than the days I have left in me?-)
Full moon (nearly) over Bluesfest 2014
Jack Johnson, Good Friday 2014
Then it was my last show for the day, Jack Johnson.
And while I like Jack Johnson and his music, I think he is right when he says his music is BBQmusic.
Good for listening too around a campfire on the beach, or backyard, rather than a big stage.
Then when I decided to leave Jack Johnson's show early and head back to the car-park to avoid the rush out of the car-park and the grid-lock, it took me 25 minutes to find my car.
I thought I would never see my car again at one stage.
I certainly took notice where I parked my car when I returned on Sunday.
All in all, I couldn't say it was the best line up I've ever seen at Bluesfest and to me it turned out just an OK Friday, not good one.
One thing I found rather amusing was I had to walk past the bus stops to get back to my car, because I was parked in the
Southern car-park.
I've never walked past the buses before, as I've always parked in the Northern car-park.
The book I was reading that week was called Mullumbimby and the only bus ready to go when I was walking past was the Mullumbimby bus.
I didn't even know that there was a Mullumbimbybus to Bluesfest until then.
This made my day and I just had to stop and take a photo of this personal synchronicity.
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over 2,500 films. http://www.filmsforaction.org/
I hired the movie Satellite Boy from My local Blockbuster video store a couple of weeks ago and found it a quite enjoyable and thought provoking movie.
"Pete lives with his grandfather in an old abandoned outdoor cinema in
the desert. When the old drive-in is threatened with demolition, ten
year old Pete takes off to the city with his best mate Kalmain, to save
his home. But the boys get lost in the Australian outback. Starving and
thirsty, Pete has to remember some of the old bush skills his
grandfather taught him to survive." After watching the movie I took a look at the special features on the disc and found out the movie was filmed in the Kimberley region of Australia.
"The Kimberley Waypointis the next spot where mission engineers want to drill into the Martian crust in order to search for alien life, either living or extinct. Astronomers believe the area may have once exhibited conditions favorable for the life. In the modern day, the region is home to large outcrops of a wide variety of rocks - the region features a junction of four major varieties. Curiosityhas been taking detailed photos of the rock formations using equipment aboard its Mastcam. Curiosity was directed to the Kimberley Waypoint after analysis of high-resolution images and spectrographic analysis from NASA's orbiting Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. The data suggested the area might have interesting geology. Controllers are currently driving Curiosityaround "The Kimberley"in order to find the next place to drill. They lately discovered an area giving the rover an extensive view of the region."
"Curiosityhas not drilled into the surface of Marssince the spring
of 2013, when samples were examined from areas dubbed "John Klein" and
"Cumberland." The rover has traveled a total of 3.8 miles since landing
on the surface of Mars 20 months ago. While at "Yellowknife Bay,"
Curiosity discovered evidence of an ancient marine environment and the
energy needed to spark life. The Kimberley is named after a remote region of Australia. Curiosityis expected to be in the area for a few weeks before moving on to its
next target."
I think the whole universe is more alive then we give it credit for somehow and things are becoming more curiouser and curiouser everyday.
I also like how the beam of light in the Kimberley on Mars might just be an old movie projector beaming the Martin version of the movie Satellite Boyinto space?-)
Now, I know that technically the Koala is not a bear, it's related more to the kangaroo and wombat and not even remotely related to bears, but who cares I say, if it looks like a bear ... well you know what I'm saying.
I wrote a post about koalas being like little Buddhas in this post a while back - Koala Dreamtime
I picked up an old copy of Injoy Magazine and read about some interesting facts on the koala in the junior page of the magazine.
But this paragraph really caught my attention - "A koala's scientific name is Phasclarctos Cinereus and the traditional Aboriginal name in traditional Bunjalung language is BUDDA-BAH, pronounced bubbha-bear."
I thought this was a really appropriate name for the koala, as they have always struck me to be meditating all the time, even if they really are just sleeping.
So many that a glossary was placed in the back of the novel.
The bus to Mullumbimbyfrom Bluesfest that I snapped on Good Friday
I loved this book and I hope it is eventually made into a movie. It touches on some really good issues and deserves to be read by a broad audience. It even features Buddhism as a comparison to some indigenous practices, as well.
12.24.13 Episode 116: Trish and Rob MacGregor
Link to this Episode
