COCO'S SOLID

One of New Zealand's most under-rated artists in my opinion, Coco Solid, with Bobbi Soxx as Parallel Dance Ensemble, just floored me with another fucking cool video clip. Not only is the song catchy and genuinely good, but the video is visually chur as, and the ideas are even more chur-able (overboard on the chur?).

I've met her, she's my friend's sister (big ups to Claire for your cameo in the latest video, strutting like a pro homegirl!), and I don't want to sound like a lick-ass, but she's pretty cool man! The woman can spit, she's already released her first zine (book/magazine kinda thing) - Philosoflygirl, she's held an art exhibition... She's a creative goddess pretty much. Article in the latest issue of Frankie magazine entitled "What Is 'Cool'?" defined it as four simple words: 'not giving a shit' - totes agree. And that's why I have mad respect for Coco Solid. She's a real individual, has her own style - which she tributes to her multicultural background. Being of Samoan/German/Maori decent has played a part in her love for hybridism. I can't think of anyone who is remotely like her in many senses. She comes across as someone who gives a shit about the right/important things maybe? To her. Not entirely sure how to explain what I mean. Anyway, really admire her for doing what she wants and doing it well.

The new video is so mean! Just like earlier videos like 'Weight Watchers', it's full of bright colours which makes it fun to watch. The shopping cart concept behind this one is what really impresses me. The idea of the woman buying the abstract things mentioned in the song that have become tangible in the products. The ambition, vision, feeling him in her heart etc. So smart! And the actual concept behind the song, I close to love even more. "It's a full time job to keep her shopping cart..." - lolburger! Bobbi Soxx gives the song a smooth la de da kind of feeling and Coco Solid's ease with words and ideas behind them makes the song more than some 'Souljah Boy up in this hoe' bullshit. Parallel Dance Ensemble - Shopping Cart - churrrrrrr.

'Weight Watchers' too, if you haven't seen/heard this - do itttttt.

In other news, weekend was the grossest I've had in a while. First Saturday night I've finished work early enough to go out after. Ugh. Damn you sickos - you know who you are. But it means I did get to spend Sunday arvo lunch with some of the crew I felt like I hadn't seen in ages. I missed you guys! I missed you bad! Until I became the butt of every joke again. Assholes.

P.s. Hiiiii Jenny, Mattpoo, Tanzy and Astaleeeeee. Welcome to the life and times :)
Also, decided to review Parallel Dance Ensemble to try something new. Will post more during the week for those who want to laugh at my expense etc.

Hollaaa

Also! Want to mention the few peeps who have peep'd the blog through these early stages. Emily, Kim, Claire and Sam - chur to the churrrrrr. I appreciate the feedback, it's got me on a bit of a buzz. This is dedicated to you! Ed Solo & Skool of Thought ft Darrison - Life Gets Better. It makes me feel good, hopefully does the same for you xx

Sigh a Sigh of Relief With Me!

I was in a bit of a shit yesterday. Just realised I had a shitload of fines to pay or I wouldn't be able to leave the country. Hence the psycho post. Please excuse me. I lol'd at it today.

But it did get me thinking. I was stressballing to the max when I realised there was a possibility I'd be stopped at the airport on the way to Melbourne (possibly the absolute epitome of 'shame bitch'). Just being on hold to the lovely lady at the Ministry (of Justice, not Magic. Douchelord), had me sweating in nearly every place possible! Including the ever-worrying upper lip.

There were two things I did while on hold.

Number one was make a cup of tea. Sure, I paced up and down the kitchen throughout the process, and I didn't even wait til the jug was fully boiled. But this cup of tea seemed to be that important. I've always been a tea kind of girl. Since I was honestly 8-years-old, I've had tea and toast for breakfast, I've had gingernuts dipped in tea after dinner with Nana, I've had tea at 2am whilst finishing assignments. A pot of tea has always been some kind of comfort to me. NB: Tea bags, unless Twinnings Earl Grey or any branded Green, do NOT have the same effect as tea leaves brewed in a pot. So while I was on hold to the Ministry (of Justice, not Magic. Douchelord), I brewed my tea. And once that teacup of comfort was good to go, with a bit of milk and half a teaspoon of sugar, I sat down on a couch and no shit, sighed a sigh of relief. A fucking cup of tea made me feel so much better!

The second thing I did was txt a friend. I quote, "Fml, wea u? Got cig? Dessssp" - haha. Prone to the sneaky drag or two, I not only needed a cigarette, but friendly banter always seemed to make me feel better in previous cases of stress too. So off I went to my cellular. Offloading my worry on to C.Bear also brought on a much needed sigh of relief. Even if her reply to my explanation txt was, "Oh rats! I'm rolling cigs as I have none, then I'll come" - haha. I strolled off to work after speaking to the lovely 'Ministry (of Justice, not Magic. Douchelord) lady', where I was due to start in a few hours, and there I had a chat with Big Tom P - my manager and friend - and another work mate, before Claire arrived. It was weird to think that the whole 15min walk to work had me furrowing my brows, biting my nails and, again, sweating in every place possible - but as soon as Luke, Tom and Claire all said hey, I completely forgot about my worries. We had a decent yarn and Claire assured me everything would be ok, Tom told me he had my back, aaand Luke fucked off to a gig. Can't win them all I guess.

Inso facto! (I hope that's the correct phrase) I have come to realise that when I'm going bonkers beyond measures, the two stress relieving options I have are: tea - a cup of comfort. Or socialising - a couple of mates. Sorry I took a while to get to the point. Lol, that's a bit of an anti-climax. But I encourage you to get amongst the tea and company whenever you think shit is hitting the fan. I'm absolutely ay-oh-kay today after a shit ripper of a day yesterday. Tea and company are sure cures for most things. If not, Claire suggested weed also works.

Biggie Was Right

Financial issues. You literally suck the fun out of life. Just when things start looking good, those damn isssssssues creep up on ya. So, money woes - kindly get fucked please. You put a damper on everything. I know I should be handling my business, but mate, you don't need to be a prick about it! Help this little brown girl out and cut me some slack wherever possible (preferrably in the area that has recently popped up - yeah I'm talking to you Ministry of Justice!). I will put my car on TradeMe this week just to make some easy moolah to pay my damn WOF dues, I'll put my iPhone up for sale if I have to, I'll even cut down to going out only once a week, I PROMISE. But please, don't make me sell myself on the street.

Biggie was right. Mo' money, mo' problems.

My Mates Are Cooler Than Yours

So I'm off to Melbourne in a little over a month to give living there a crack. Just realised how soon that actually is and I don't know if I'm prepared. Money issues aside, what the duck am I going to do without my beloved crew? Yeah I said what the duck, don't judge me. No more unexpected Sunday night drinks til 3am, no more Weekly Wednesdays out, no more arvo beers in the sun. I don't even want to think about the gigs I'm going to miss with them. I'm a self-confessed sufferer of FOMO ("Fear Of Missing Out" for those of you who have been living under a rock), and after missing out on a mate's 21st Saturday gone because of work, and throwing a bit of a sook about it, I'm starting to wonder how bad this FOMO is going to be once I'm across the ditch. Facebook updates, drunken 2am txts/calls - I can see myself literally going insane. What to do, what to do?! Thinking I could cut myself off at all new levels, but would that make it worse? Mehhh, maybe I'll find better friends in Melb and not miss anyone/anything one bit. Highly unlikely. My friends are one of a kind. They have home made foam machines at their parties, and they wake up with 50 dessert forks or icing in their bag after a big night out (no cake, just the icing), and they laugh at people with me outside Pony, and they tarp surf, and they drunkenly tell girls that they only THINK they're hot but they're not. They look after me when I'm annihilated, they laugh at me when I'm annihilated, and they usually get me annihilated. Safe to say my friends are special. Tear! Only time will tell I guess. *Heavy sigh*

On a lighter note, looking forward to hopefully catching the above at some point over in abo-diginal-land. New shiet from Drapht. Discovered this guy about a month ago and dude is LEGIT. He's a little white guy from Australia, can kind of hear his Aussie twang here and there. Have only downloaded a bit of his music, but so far, I've got a soft spot for him. Beats are cool, this one's real groovy I'd say? 60s/70s feel? And the guy is funny. 'Drink, Drank, Drunk' is another goody that will make you agree, he's out to take the piss at times. I've come to the conclusion that he reminds me a bit of New Zealand's Homebrew. Comical kind of rap. Anyway blah blah blah, I liiiiike!

Hoping Drapht isn't like our wannabe Usher - J.Williams, who I saw up at Neighbourhood last night (thanks Emily by the way, for the casual Sunday vino that turned into shit talking 101 at 3am for drunken fools). Fucking LOL. He sang. Ordinary People by John Legend. In public. To HIS group of mates. Loudly. And then he did a back flip. Way to find some attention and embarass your mates Jay!



Happy Birthday Emzilla Crowd Thriller

It was one of my longest friend's 21st birthday over the weekend just gone. I never really thought about how old our friendship was until I had to sit down to write a speech for the party she had at wee Sugar Bar (which I have to say, was a good choice of venue - nice and intimate - just what she wanted I think). Not going to lie, I wrote the speech literally half an hour before I got to the 21st, but she liked it. As follows...


"I've known Emily since we were about 9 years old, just before we started St Mary's together. This is where we also met Amanda - who unfortunately couldn't be here tonight - but wanted to make sure I made a few points about our friendship with Emz. The three of us have been close friends since form 1, so we've had the pleasure of watching Emily grow into the person she is today.

We've seen her go through a few boyfriends - the first of which was the legendary St Peter's boy Robert Borrell. This relationship was probably the best telephone relationship Emz has ever had I'm sure. The fact that he had three way made him so much more appealing to her. But she got over him quick, she dumped the poor guy, of course, over the phone, by playing him 'I Just Wanna Be Friends' by 50c.

We've seen her go through a number of email addresses too, all of which perfectly describe the phases she was going through at the time. We remember sweet and innocent butterfly_star@hotmail.com. Rapperz_hunnie was inspired by her obsession with Chingy in third or fourth form. And then there was hoochie_stylez - still unsure as to what inspired that one.

We've seen Emz rebel over the years. Getting caught smoking at school, being blamed for bullying, giving numberous amounts of teachers a hard time - especially the 'all evil' (according to Emily) Mrs Walsh; Emz has definitely had her moments. But not without taking others down with her. Being in the same class as her for seven years was tough on me. She had me banished to my own desk for months in one english class, had Mrs Johnstone believe I was aboriginal, and I cannot even count the amount of times we were separated in classes.

We've seen you at your worst and at your best Emz. It's hard to believe it's been something like 12 years since you found that mouldy muffin behind my bedroom curtain and still wanted to be my friend. Your stubborn nature is often mistaken for ur strong-will. Your sometimes bitchy comments can be mistaken for your opinionated and outspoken personality. But your jokes will never be funny.

Thank you for being there for Amanda and I, ready with crackers, cottage cheese and tomatoes at all times. Your friendship has been the most constant and important to me in my life. It's been amazing watching you grow into the beautiful young woman you are today. Happy 21st Birthday xxx"


Awwww isn't that cute. It was a real good night in the end. She only wanted a (I quote) "Low Key" 21st, and it was quite, but it was one of those 21sts that had all the important and real friends in attendance. Even though I lost everyone after the actual party before town etc, and ended up on Albert St on my own at 4am - yeah, it was a good night. Way to end the 21st season methinks!

Happy 21st Birthday Emzilla Crowd Thriller!

BRING BACK THE POPPA JACK

Went on a mini mission yesterday arvo with a mete. Found ourselves on the hunt for Poppa Jacks. Whaaat the hell! Who in their right mind would take this bag of goodness off their dairy shelves?! Crazy talk! Three dairies broke our hearts, with the last dairy owner telling us no one really carried them anymore. Pretty sure Foodtown and supermarkets sell them, but not at the same glorious price of $1.20, the way the dairies would back in the day. *SIGH*. Auckland dairies - sort it out! Holla if ya hear me.

Welcome to...

I am the product of a tertiary educated, Samoan/Fijian woman and a ginger ninja, born and bred Cantab man. I was brought up in a somewhat confusing environment at times, but I was always completely aware of my mixed culture.

I've been through phases. I've leaned towards my Pacific Island heritage - admitting my third form email address of fob_ova_hea@hotmail.com (lol slash cringe.) And I've embraced my Dad's background at times too, claiming to be an Irish dancer at the tender age of 6. Don't get me wrong, whether I was the 12-year-old obsessed with Nesian Mystik or the Michael Buble enthusiast of today, I've never denied one culture or the other.

At the ripe old age of 21, my Samoan is average to extremely poor, I have never been to Fiji and my knowledge of Dad's genealogy is shocking, but I can safely say I'm over leaning. I am half New Zealander, a quarter Fijian, a quarter Samoan and, ew - mind the cliche - proud of it.

Welcome to the life and times of a half-caste kid. A collection of stories, thoughts and general bullshit (that will more often than not, have absolutely nothing to do with being half-caste).