Melbourne Loft

I loved this piece of news when I read it this morning.  Apparently there is a dedicated bus tunnel somewhere in western Sydney where the bus drivers are drag racing each other through the tunnel.   The camera shots are of the buses shooting out of the tunnel.   Now let’s get some reality here…  the tunnel has a 20 km per hour limit.   These guys are doing 75 km / hr through the tunnel.   Not knowing the tunnel I don’t know how hazardous this could be.   But 75 clicks is not really that fast.   I remember hour excited I would get when my school bus would pick up speed in crowded areas.    But that’s just me.  There is one shot of a bus hitting the wall there.
Oh dear god I hope they  have video footage of these buses on A Current Affair tonite.  I’ve really got a thing for bus racing now.   Apparently the guys were also photographing themselves racing….  I want the photos…  and hopefully there’ll be some video too!   They also complained of bad backs because of speed humps in the tunnels…  and had them removed!   I love these guys!
Now get yourself over to Google and type in Bus Racing.   You will be surprised…

It’s true…   check out Plushie’s deepest thoughts HERE.

I’m having a lot of fun with my photography now playing with the new lights mixed with natural light.   I tried using the large black backdrops in my last shoot but thet seemed to make it look like I was trying to be professional…   which I don’t really like.   So I’m going back to using natural backgrounds  (like th kitchen in this case).   I might use the backdrops to hide the junk corner.   This is French student Luc.  His shoot will be posted in the Private Room shortly.

There’s those who talk and those who walk….   and I’me doing a bloody lot of talking about this scooter and not a lot of walking!
I have been sweet on the Vmoto Monaco since I test rode it in South melbourne about a month ago.   But I have been suspect of the quality of the bike.   It seemed to run a little rougher than Dart’s Bolwell Shark.   So I have been waiting for something comparable to come onto the market.  I have been waiting a while now for the Bolwell VS125 to come to Australia.   I’d only ever seen a short video advertisement of it…  and it does look like a sexy kinda scooter.   It’s also a 125cc.   The difference is the Bolwell comes from Taiwan while the Vmoto hails from China.   Dart assures me that the Taiwanese work is better.   So ScootaCity on Elizabeth Street tells me that they’ll have them in stock this weekend.  So I’m hoping to get a test drive.   I forgot to mention that the 2 bikes are exactly the same price.   So who knows….   I might be walking this weekend.

Here is the Vmoto Monaco again so you can compare the looks of the two…

The report below is taken from the Animal Liberation Victoria newsletter to promote their new website.

Since McDonald’s launched their massive “Name it Burger” campaign to name the new McDonald’s burger, their website has been inundated with suggestions like ‘Murder Burger’, the ‘Obese Burger’, the ‘Animal Abuse Burger’, the ‘McColonCancer Burger’, and the ‘McDeath.’ Sadly, it is unlikely that McDonald’s will ever make these brilliant suggestions public. So in the interests of letting the public know what people really think the new McDonald’s burger should be named, ALV has launched NameItMurder.com. If you want to let the world know what you really think of the new McDonald’s burger, please visit the site and enter our Name it Murder competition (the competition ends in one week so get your entries in soon). Please also forward a link to nameitmurder.com to as many people as you can! While you’re at it, feel free to visit the McDonald’s site NameItBurger to directly let them know what you think of them.

Ahhh…   I was so excited to run into this while I was look for background music for some of my Private Room videos tonite.   This really is mid-80’s St Kilda punk band royalty!   I Spit on your Gravy was getting around Melbourne pubs during the time I was coming to Melbourne for my holidays.   I particularly loved this song “Piranha”.   If anyone knows what happened to these guys please comment away.    One day I will make a movie that will go with this song.   Click on the picture above to watch the video clip  (which I think was made at the Esplanade Hotel in St Kilda…  1987.

Apart from getting to hang out in San Francisco for 10 days I’m also looking forward to checking out the Folsom Street Fair again this year (on Sun 30th Sep).   The things I saw at the fair last year would make your toes curl  (is that the expression?)    After seeing all the wild outfits I am giving a lot of thought to what I will wear this year.   I wore leather last year, but the day is usually very hot.   So I’m thinking that less is best.  Any suggestions?   Please leave your comments.
To get your ideas flowing go to Flickr.com   and search on “Folsom Street Fair” and then change to Thumbnails.   You’ll be there for hours and eventually forget why you went there.
I met the guy in the photo above last year…   he had his pants on when I met him.

Just a quick update on my travel plans.   Using my points I have requested an upgrade to business class when I fly to San Francisco in September.   I won’t actually know if my upgrade request is successful until the day before I travel.  
Funnily enough my booking has come at the same time that Qantas has announced their new log and aircraft fitouts.   The blue seats are all turning red.   New seats, a premium economy class and new entertainment systems!  
They hava also announced some details about the upcoming A380 Airbus.   When Qantas start using the new Airbus the first long haul route will be MEL to LAX….    so I guess I should plan another US trip for next year.

Features of Qantas new A380 inflight entertainment system include:
* Wide screen monitors in all cabins with digital picture and sound quality;
* Audio and video on demand with over 100 on demand movies, 350 television selections, 500 audio CDs, 30 PC style games, as well as a selection of audio books and radio channels;
* Lonely Planet destination and arrival guides;
* Language tutorials;
* Deloitte Leadership Academy;
* Online duty free shopping;
* Moving maps, text news and weather;
* An intuitive state-of-the-art graphic user interface allowing customers to easily navigate through entertainment options or use the in-seat communications;
* Wireless connectivity throughout the aircraft;
* In-seat access to email and the internet, telephone and SMS;
* USB and RJ45 ports as well as PC power for all seats; and
* An external camera giving a pilot’s eye view of take-off, landing and cruising.

The shot below is one config for First Class in the A380.   It is not the Qantas fit out.   Qantas are going to have mini suites.    Oooh….  so spacey!

Last weekend I did the first shoot under the new studio lights we picked up at Vanbar.   These large daylight fluro lights are amazing!   I’m not sure how I will make good use of them yet…  but they are helping me to experiment more with other aspects of photography and worry less about the lighting.   Of course the rest of this shoot is posted in the Private Room.

Something strange has happened over the past year.   All of my closest friends, who were in long term relationships are now single again.   Each of them were in relationships from 2 to 8 years long.   And now they are single.   And I kinda like having my friends single…   it means they have more time to hang out with me.   Of course I’m sure it has much harsher impacts on their lives.
I have been single for 10 years now.   Sure I have seen people along the way…  but nothing really serious.  So it’s kinda strange to hear my friends talk about how hard it will be for them to be single again, or how much they are going to enjoy being single.   What does single really mean?   Is it possible to be single in a relationship?   That would be my ideal relationship….   company with space.
Even worse…  one of mates has found that his ex is now seeing his previous ex.    Do we have no boundaries???  
What’s the worse break up scenario you know of?   Feel free to post your comments here.