“Cool, strange, wacky, weird, cultural, big, fast, colourful, busy, edgy, wonderful, inspiring, courteousness – I want to see it all.” Dan ‘Muchacho’ Reyes March 2011

W.T.F Japan Tour: Tokyo Preview
Third Stop – March 16th

Tokyo is not only the capital of Japan it’s also the world’s most populous metropolitan area with 35 to 39 million people (depending on definition) and the world’s largest metropolitan economy with a GDP of US $1.479 trillion – surpassing even New York City. Along with 39,000,000 everyday folks, Tokyo is home to the seat of the Japanese government, The Imperial Palace and indeed the Japanese Imperial Family.

As recently as 2010 Tokyo was named the second most expensive city in the world and yet also named the fourth Most Livable City – great if you’ve got money it seems. The Michelin Guide (a world-renowned food rating body) has awarded it by far the most Michelin stars of any capital in the world. In fact Tokyo has more Michelin stars than the combined score of Paris, Hong Kong, New York, LA and London – so looks like we’re set to be spoilt for choice on the food front!

But when it truly comes to the sights & sounds of Tokyo, where on earth do you begin? Now Sydney yes may have the Opera House, New York you may have The Empire State Building, France you even have the Effiel Tower – but seriously, none of them top this….

A giant robot, just standing there, out in the open, protecting the city from Godzilla. Words simply cannot describe the awesomeness of that picture. You can find out more about Giant Gundam (that’s his name) here

Last week, Tokyo held it’s 2011 Marathon. Normally, pretty much everywhere else in the world where marathons are held, participants don their high performance running gear, Nike trainers, pack the Powerade, load up the iPod shuffle and set out to pound the pavement for numerous hours.

In Tokyo, they just wear stuff like this.

View more photos here.

It made me wonder….if they wear fancy dress purely to go for a jog, what do they wear during the rest of the day?

Funnily enough that question is answered, via a quick Sunday trip to the Harajuku suburb.

Apparently every Sunday, young people dressed in a variety of styles including gothic lolita, visual kei, and decora spend the day in Harajuku socializing – as you do. It certainly makes a change from all the ginger moustaches and pretentious hipster types now rife throughout inner Sydney that’s for sure! So expect to see lots of happy snaps of people basically looking like extra’s from Pokemon.

We actually have 7 days in Tokyo itself, so hopefully that will be enough time to also visit: The electronics captial of the pretty much the world Akihabara, Shibuya with all it’s colour, those beautiful gardens in Rikugien, spend a few nights painting the town red in Roppongi, then be inspired by the art at the Mori Museum, stare in wonder at the animation studio housed within Ghibli Museum, enjoy the hustle and bustle of the Ameyoko markets, view some of the old-skool Tokyo at Asakusa, before switching gears to the more modern area of Odaiba and at some point ending up in the seedy red light area of Kabukicho at 3am wondering why I we all just ordered another round of Sake.

In terms of other notable landmarks, you can’t go past the Tokyo Imperial Palace with its rich tradition and for those postcard views, we’ll be heading up to the Tokyo Tower being the token snap-happy tourists I’m sure!

And finally, for the sheer novelty value alone, we might have the odd power nap, in one of those futuristic time capsules! You get air con and even a TV, just try not to think about the fact that there are 400 people surrounding you from all sides, also in the same plastic coffin.

Now that we’ve concluded the W.T.F. Japan Tour Preview, covering Osaka, Kyoto and Japan itself and despite all the best laid intentions to do all of those things, I’m sure there will be some that we won’t sadly get time to experience.

Some random event will occur and take us on a different path or we might be having so much fun somewhere that we decide to adjust our plans slightly. We might even have a scene where one of us was last seen topless at 6.30am in a karaoke bar, singing ‘Livin On A Prayer’ surrounded by 14 Harajuku fan girls. One thing I do know, is that it will be a fluid trip and I REALLY hope random things like this happen.

So what better way than ending it with a video which highlights just how frentic, compact and intense Tokyo has the potential to be.

All the remains for me to say is, bring.it.on

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Today really is the end of an era.
Myspace Australia is set to officially close its doors at the end of the month - January 31^st 2011 to be precise. Until then, staff are sending out those final emails, tidying up those desks and easing the photos and posters off the walls. And whilst I no longer work for them and haven’t for 4 months – I still feel sad at hearing this news, especially after spending 4 years of my life there.

Make no mistake, it has been an incredible ride, not just for me but for the vast majority of individuals involved in the company. For all the external Myspace-bashing, there was an attitude and tangible sense of belief internally that everyone was part of something innovative and ground-breaking, a genuine pioneer in the digital realm. And from 2006-2008 that was actually very true. I would actually have people in the street offer me money to buy any Myspace merch I had, a bag, hat or hoodie – it was that popular!

Initially, there were three of us Rebekah Horne, Alexandra Fletcher and myself, the 3 amigos, 3 people in the right place, at the right time – the very foundation of Myspace in Australia. I even remember my first day in the job, making a phone call and introducing myself as “Alex from Myspace” and the response was “Sorry…from where?”

8 months later 3.5 million Australians were using the site on a weekly basis.

In the preceding 4 years, I had the opportunity to work out of Los Angeles, Texas, Auckland, Adelaide and Melbourne – I saw parts of the world, I probably would never have seen or experienced in any other circumstance. They empowered me by giving me the freedom to grow as an individual, to take risks, to be proactive and really challenge the conventional way of thinking within the Australian media landscape.

It’s those valuable lessons that I learnt during those early years, that have had a tremendous influence on my career since, and most likely always will. A true baptism of fire into a challenging, fast-paced, controversial and dynamic environment driven by sheer mass hysteria and bankrolled by Rupert Murdoch. And it’s those memories and moments, which will always allow me to look back on those formative years at Myspace with fondness and affection.

It was like a little family in a lot of ways, peaking in mid 2008 at around 50 people – long hours, parties, music blaring all the time, no dress code, VIP invites, secret shows, celebrity interviews, launch events…everything you would expect from an entertainment site, except that everyone who worked for the company, literally lived and breath it. I’ve made some genuine friends for life through the Myspace Family, for me, that really says it all about the team dynamic in those early days.

We all believed and knew we were part of something truly special. Young upstarts, empowered, ready to take on the traditional forms of media armed with internet acronyms & jargon, that famous US swagger and army of emo kids chanting our name as we walked out onto the big stage.

And then in early 2009, Facebook happened.

For all the talk of the arrogance of upper management, the greed of FOX (and it’s insistence of plastering every page with ads) through to the utter lack of vision by the key stakeholders – the real reason Facebook won, wasn’t because Myspace made errors, it was because it didn’t feel the need to adapt.

Look at the odds against Facebook, Myspace had music, videos, local partnerships, mobile integration, millions of bands, four times as many users, the marketing sway of the FOX media empire, 22 international offices and $900 million in cash from Google.

And Facebook still won out. You can’t deny that is impressive.

But how did they do it? How did they set the sun on what had up until that point been the golden era for MySpace?

They did so in 5 ways and not surprisingly, all of them are product related:

1. The Stream – All your friends activity in one continuous stream, updated every minute.

2. Real Names – Facebook forced you to sign up using your own name, which made it much easier to find people you knew, rather than guess their online nickname.

3. Email Verification - They made you verify your email address, this way you got constant alerts and notifications driving you back to the site.

4. Address Book Importer – Rather than searching for friends, you could import your Hotmail, Yahoo or Gmail contacts and instantly be paired with them, in effect shifting your entire network across. If you weren’t registered, they sent you an email alerting you to the fact I’d joined and you should too.

5. Built To Scale – It was designed with one central theme, to be a functional stable social network that would rival all others.

Myspace on the other hand, had no real-time stream. It allowed anyone with a fake name or email address to sign up and the only way you can find your friends on the network, was by manually typing their name in. If they had used the name ‘DanTheMan’ rather than ‘Dan Brown’ there was no way to find them. By the time Myspace had duplicated all the features of Facebook, they’d already lost ¾ of the battle.

The rest then came down to design, usability and marketing. No surprises for who won there.

Myspace was never built to have 110 million users at its peak, purely because founders Tom Anderson & Chris DeWolfe never envisaged it growing so rapidly. Amusingly enough, the ability to actually customize your page was a coding loophole that a user exploited originally. The company then decided to use it as the point of difference in the market. It was that very same ability to customize your profile, which would later become their downfall as millions upon millions of hideous fluro profiles, loaded with dozens of animated gifs crashed browsers around the world.

As Myspace’s audience grew to phenomenal levels after breaking into the mainstream (it was at one point the biggest website in the US), it then began the ill-fated attempt to appeal to all the different demographics using the site. A mile wide and an inch deep was the internal mantra. It morphed into a music site, a video channel, a blogging platform, an email client, a place to share photos, a forum, an instant messaging client, even a toolbar in your browser – hundreds of communities within communities from horoscopes to art, fashion through to surfing advice all housed on the one domain.

Everyone had something to play with.

The reality though, was a clunky, buggy, bloated, complex and incoherent mash up of poorly designed products without any tangible theme to hold it together. They thought they were untouchable and in the process, stopped innovating and started stagnating instead.

Facebook were the polar opposite, laser focused on one thing – enabling you to discover and stay up to date with your family and friends.

It’s similar to comparing Apple and the simplicity of their iPod verses Windows and their pointless feature-packed Windows Media Player that always crashes.

And then one day, (as predicted by just about everyone who didn’t work at Myspace) it happened – Facebook overtook in terms of traffic and users, first internationally and then in the US.

You would never hear this in the press, for all the talk of declining audiences, poor design and spam bots crippling the site – working in that environment in 2009 during the rise of Facebook, everyone was genuinely ready for the fight. We had a signed sealed and delivered contract from the 4 major record labels to host their entire music catalogues, they didn’t. We put on free concerts & movie screenings for our users, they didn’t. We helped Kevin Rudd launch his election campaign, they didn’t. We told you what bands were going to make it, they didn’t.

But Facebook literally never looked back. They had won through sheer simplicity.

Fast-forward another year and it is here where we end up today – with mass redundancies, skeleton staff and a site a mere shadow of its former glory. A team who’s motivation faded some time ago, a site re-launch meant to inspire in October 2010, but which has been so underwhelming and dismal that it’s resulted in 50% of staff being laid off. All that remains, is a very uncertain future and talk of a fire sale. It has been a dramatic fall from grace, with different CEO’s, leaders, views, visions and politics all playing their part in the past 2 years decline.

But in the end, if you look at it objectively, innovation and product won. And whilst that’s not necessarily a good thing if you’re a Myspace employee right now – it’s a good thing for the web as whole.

Myspace was a moment in time, it literally changed the way the world communicated. It changed the way you and I discovered music and above all, it brought the whole world just that little bit closer together.

I will always enjoy and be eternally grateful for having played a very small role in that.

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I hope you had a lovely Christmas with your family, friends and loved ones and wherever you are, all the best for 2011 – it’s going to be OUR year, of that I have no doubt

And finally a very special thank you for all your wonderful words and kind support throughout 2010 both on here, via Twitter & Facebook – it’s comforting to know there are people out there listening and even more surprising they care.

Much Love,



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p.s. Turn your volume up

Cameras, video cameras and even projectors were a staple of my childhood – my Dad was always a keen photographer, he took some truly stunning black and white shots of my Mum during the early years of their marriage, way back in the 1970s – some of which I’ve only just seen. And as a kid I always remember there being a heavy camera with a dense a robust lens on many an office or coffee table.

There were also numerous times when the video camera (arguably the size of bazooka at the time) was blinking it’s red light at me, recording various high school Christmas Nativity plays (I was usually a Shepard) or when I was skiing in Europe, clad in an embarrassing puffy shell-suit, comprised entirely of a shocking array of 80′s fluro colours.

I vividly remember Santa giving me one of those fantastic toy cameras (originally called The Viewmaster), where you would click and it clacked a new image in front of your eyes. I honestly thought it was the coolest thing ever, to the point where I deluded myself into believing I was taking a new photo each time (despite the reality of it continuously cycling through the same 10 photos) regardless of what was ACTUALLY in front of me.

The 10 pictures came on a card disc and were rather like the negatives you used to get with your photos using a 35mm camera. Each image was then magnified when you looked through the viewer, so that as a kid they appeared as large as a TV-sized image. It was certainly better than any Kaleidoscope I’d ever had, even if it was limited to a few photos. It made an awesome sound too.

I didn’t get my own “real” camera until middle school, which funnily enough I won in the school raffle. I remember it was painted silver and it looked really expensive, but when I was given it, I was bitterly disappointed because unlike all the cameras I’d seen at home, this one was a light-weight, made of  nasty plastic, with a cheap airbrushed silver look, a no-name brand that didn’t even have a flash.

Fast forward a few decades and I’d gone through a few digital cameras, always handy to capture parties and friends – but nothing that would really capture moments as it were. I use to pull some decent shots from my old Canon IXUS but nothing that I would ever call close to being “professional”.

So in late 2009, I invested in a Canon Digital SLR – several weeks rent, well spent as they say.

Since then, I’ve been putting it to good use and the definition and colour of my photos has come on in leaps and bounds. The difference is quite remarkable at times, even if the photos themselves aren’t always living up to the capabilities of the device itself.

I would never classify myself as a photographer, I’m acutely aware of my technical limitations and utter naivety about what makes a good photo. There are so many truly inspirational photographers out there in the world, who operate on an entirely different level, capturing images that defy logic and take your breath away. Photos that us mere mortals, could only ever dream of taking.

If you read this blog regularly, you’ll know that 2010 has been an incredibly dramatic year for me. But along the way, I’ve had my camera by side – documenting it all, even at some of the most inopportune moments. I think that is what photography should be about, being bold, harnessing a sense of occasion and revealing elements of the world around us, which we are normally blind to or simply take for granted.

With these images below, I hope you’re able to get some insight into the journey I’ve been on thus far, the places I’ve experienced and the emotions I’ve lived through since the start of 2010.

From each of the places I’ve been to, I’ve selected photos of personal significance or simply because I liked the shot.

Simply click on any image to view the rest of the photos in that album, or view the entire collection on my Flickr page.

I hope you enjoy these photos, notice their faults, see their strengths and let the feelings and emotions I tried to convey in each, resonate with you.

Even now, some of these are hard for me to look at, but I think that’s why I took them to begin with.

NORFOLK , UNITED KINGDOM MARCH (2010)

BARCELONA, SPAIN MARCH (2010)

AUTUMN IN SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA (2010)

HOLIDAY IN KIAMA, SYDNEY AUSTRALIA APRIL (2010)

MELBOURNE CITY, AUSTRALIA MAY (2010)

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Giving a demo at the MySpace Music press conference October 1st 2009

It’s been a hectic few days, in fact the last couple of weeks have been somewhat of a blur. This is largely due to spending excessive hours @ work, in preparation for the launch of MySpace Music in Australia and New Zealand.

On October 1st, key media players across Australia were invited to come down for the great unveiling and celebrate it’s arrival at the press conference. From the major record labels (who have equity in the venture) through to established news outlets such as SMH, News Ltd, to industry coverage from the Music Network and support from the ever dependable ABC, everyone, who is anyone in Australian media, was there.

As you’d expect, there was a tremendous amount of excitement, fanfare and relief on the day. The product had been in development for over a year, with on-going rumors raising the expectation levels each and every day, however, I’m delighted to say they’ve been met & even exceeded with it’s launch. It really is a fantastic avenue for musicians and there’s little doubt in my mind, that it’s a massive step-forward for individuals who are fans of music and want free, quick and easy access to it.

As a result, Australian and New Zealand MySpace users can listen to songs & albums from over 5 MILLION artists on the site, including their extensive back catalogues.

It’s mind-boggling trying to even begin to comprehend that isn’t it

To give you an example,  Elvis Presley alone has 121 albums available on MySpace all of which you can stream in their entirety, unlimited, legally and for free.

(I’ve been listening to Daft Punk’s 2007 Alive album religiously recently).

Plus you can create your own playlists and share them with friends – just like you did with those old-skool mixtapes back in the 80′s & 90′s. Even Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd has put together his own personal playlist on the site, respect!

Those two quick examples alone, should demonstrate the reach, influence, impact and potential MySpace Music has. It truly is instant and free access for everyone who is a fan of music. Come and try it out.

Exciting times ahead

Speaking of exciting times, in under a week, I’m heading down to Melbourne to go and see Marilyn Manson play two shows there, how is that for dedication hehe, I seriously can’t wait, my version of a mini-holiday.

I’m actually seeing him twice in Sydney, so all up 4 times in 5 days, and if I’m really lucky who knows, I might even get to meet him again. If I do, rest assured I’m going to send the world the photos! His new record ‘The High End Of Low’ just keeps getting better and better with each listen.

I’ll be updating and using Twitter whilst I’m down there, so please do stay in touch if you don’t already. It blows my mind that I can take a photo from my Blackberry, send it to Twitter, which then syncs with my MySpace and Facebook accounts, allowing you guys to all view it.

I used it today actually.

I found this chap, around the back of Oxford Street, left for dead on the side of the curb, after a big night out. So I took it upon myself to prop him up and arrange him in a manner the locals would approve of….

I left him there like that, so here’s hoping he gets lucky tonight.

It’s true, I rarely fail in finding ways to amuse myself haha!

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p.s. Today I watched my beloved Sydney FC return to the top the league, Arsenal hammered Blackburn 6-2 and EVEN Norwich City won 5-1. Talk about a great weekend of football!

Aside from the fact that I woke up today, to see this is anyone else feeling a little shocked it’s nearly October already?

It seems only moments ago that I was thinking about what hidden surprises 2009 might have in store, yet here we are, with less than 100 days to go until Christmas.

I feel if I’m not careful, I might close my eyes for a few seconds, only to wake up in the future, reclining in a nursing home, with a Yogi Bear cookie jar next to me and a mangy moggy on my lap, who goes by the name of Mr. Bigglesworth….imagine the thought.

One thing I often DO imagine, is the first impression people have when they stumble across my Flickr page. They must genuinely think that my friends are entirely comprised of some of the loosest drunken pirate fiends in the entire Sydney metropolitan area.

I wonder where they might have potentially got that idea from?

But enough of dust, cats, old men and drunk people, there are more important things to consider in this world aren’t there? Specifically, hehe, that back in June (just realizing it’s been THAT long already baffles me) , I mentioned that I was starting work on a new little project . Since then, there has been some seriously late nights spent beavering away, and whilst the timeline has moved a little, I’m really pleased to report that we’re looking good, to potentially reveal all before the end of the year!

It’s been really fascinating watching it develop over the past few months. You feel as if you’re achieving something as each little piece slowly slots into place. But until nearer the end of the year, I’m going to keep you in suspense about any further details. As the below picture shows, I’m all about keeping things on the down low haha

And finally, to recap on worldly matters since my last post

HIGHLIGHTS
I’m playing tennis again (Yes, even I was surprised!)
Sydney FC are top of the table
Got a decent return from Mr Tax Man
Credit Card balance $0.00
Bought tickets to Marilyn Manson
This photograph of Barack Obama

LOWLIGHTS
Still need that new bed
Fucktards who use Facebook to tell me things like this
Tax return is going on dentist
Waking up to the Sydney Dust Storm this morning!
My body trying to reconcile the notion of “exercise”

Hope all is good in your world, over and out

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I’m sitting here writing this on a Sunday night feeling a little dusty after the weekends festivities, oh and what festivites they were.

For starters, it involved, multiple bird cages hanging from ceilings, clarinet playing dwarfs, various love triangles, discussions about the awesomeness of Bill Murray and then morphed into debates on the blight that is auto-tune in music, the unbridled spending of Kevin Rudd’s stimulus package, muffin wars, small-talk about the virtues of pole dancing (and why it really should be an Olympic sport), stolen drumsticks tapped vigerously, even Satan and a Cardinal (in stockings) made an appearance.

I wish I could have actually recorded some of the conversations onto film, because some of them were incredibly funny – but alas, you’ll have to make do with some equally amusing photos (which I guess only tell half the story) but it’s better than nothing right?

As you can see, things got a bit out of hand hahaha. In an attempt to wake JJ up, the girls decided it was STACKS ON!!! He must have thought all his Christmas’s had come at once!

More happy snaps from the night are on Flickr, but if you can’t see the slideshow below simply click here to view them (see I’m full of good ideas.)

Also, thanks to help from my friend Dan, I’m going to be adding a new feature to Colours And Light. When you spend 12-14 hours a day on the internet like I do (scary huh?) you tend to see some really inspiring examples of people’s creativity in the world. From photographs, to illustrations, to blogs, to graphic design and independent film-making – there is so much quality and undiscovered talent out there.

So in attempt to share with you things which I think deserve to be seen, talked about or highlighted, I’m going to be creating a mini microblog which captures articles & images from the web.

It’ll be like an online scrap book if you like, constantly updated in real-time which will be cool. Its a few weeks off yet, but I hope you’ll dig it when it does go live – it’ll help you unearth new sites, communities and talent which you might not have seen before.

Until then, you might like some of the work featured here

Hope you’re doing well

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I want to preface this blog by saying that I feel extremely privileged and lucky to live in such a uniquely diverse country. I’m surrounded by different cultures, languages and backgrounds, all of which combine to form the rich tapestry of the Australia public.

We have over 140 nationalities represented, making Australia one of the most multi-cultural countries in the world. It highlights that we as a nation in the 21st century are (by and large) an open-minded, respectful and fundamentally accepting society. A nation where few regard ethnic background or varying languages as barriers.

If you took ten photographs, of ten everyday Australian’s in the street – you’d be presented with ten wildly different personas, which collectively form part of Australia society. It’s something to be justly proud of and embraced.

And whilst there are some, who say the wealth of all these different nationalities dilutes Australia’s cultural identity – you have to ask, what really IS this sacred perception that the select few, fear Australia will loose?

Well I can give you a little insight. I moved to Australia in 2000 from the UK. Prior to my arrival, my impression amounted to the following:

Steve Irwin & Crocodile Dundee typified your average Joe in the street, kangaroo’s were jokingly reffered to as a mode of transport, koala’s were present hanging from traffic lights on every street corner, everyone lived in either Ramsey Street or Summer Bay, every 2nd person who walked past was Aboriginal, fashion was encapsulated in stubbies, thongs and a pair of Oakley’s and finally the national cuisine revolved entirely around “throwing another shrimp on the Barbie” a can of Fosters and a meat pie!

Shockingly misguided yes, but there are certainly worse stereotypes to be saddled with. But does Australia deserve to have such a hokey and uninformed stereotype? Why would anyone wish to embrace, perpetuate or contribute to the notion that the ‘Land Downunder’ is the back waters of the world?

We deserve so much more.

Australia deserves so much more.

Every country is lumbered with a stereotype, Britain with the bowler hat and cucumber sandwiches, Spain and the bullfighting Matador, Germany with bearded men in Lederhosen, France with their berets, stripy shirts and garlic necklaces. And whilst I enjoy Steve Irwin, Crocodile Dundee movies, prawns on the BBQ and the occasional episode of Neighbours – surely we can find better examples, which highlight, reflect and more accurately define us a nation? The need for such definition is more vital than ever, our generation, have a real opportunity to make a difference.

Why can’t we be regarded as the leader on climate change? Or the country noted for our innovation? Or the beacon in progressive thinking for social issues and international affairs? Why should we merely cater to the self-imposed whims of tourists and their burning desire for Crocodile hunters and Macadamia nuts?

Australia hasn’t always been a model of tolerance and just a deeper exploration uncovers a few chilling facts. Its recent history is darkened by the actions and racial tension that ignited during the Cronulla riots. An event watched and frowned upon by the world, that left a sour taste in the mouths of all those who love this country.

In your grandparent’s lifetime, the ‘White Australia’ policy was enforced, a time when civil rights, compassion and decency were disregarded as ignorance and racism were firmly embraced.

Here’s an actual quote from Prime Minster Stanley Bruce during his 1925 election campaign speech.

“It is necessary that we should determine what are the ideals towards which every Australian would desire to strive. I think those ideals might well be stated as being to secure our national safety, and to ensure the maintenance of our White Australia Policy to continue as an integral portion of the British Empire. We intend to keep this country white and not allow its peoples to be faced with the problems that at present are practically insoluble in many parts of the world”

In a country only 100 years old, there are still poisonous attitudes which need changing and more work and education to be done. And yet this superiority complex hasn’t been merely restricted to ‘white’ Australia’s – minorities discriminate too.

I understand no country is perfect and my views are that of a general nature, but in our attempt to be accommodating, tourist-friendly and perhaps too quick cover up our past indiscretions – has Australia become too politically correct?

Have we shifted from the abhorrent and aggressive “White Australia Only” mentality to the polar opposite of “Come One, Come All”? Are we to accepting of those, who have no intention on embracing Australian values? Are we leaving the gate unchecked and our expectations dangerously low? At times, it seems to me, that we forgot to stop somewhere in the middle ground.

I was both stunned and sadden by the story my grandfather told me. Being a huge fan of Oriental cuisine (who isn’t right!) he was in an Asian Supermarket buying ingredients, which he couldn’t get at his local Woollies. He went to the counter and was charged $2 more for the item, than the price originally displayed on the shelf.

“Excuse me, hello. Aren’t these $4? They say $4 on the shelf, not $6?”
“Oh $4 price on shelf for Asian’s only.”

My grandfather had a right to feel outraged at such blatant and appalling discrimination in his own country.

But is sadly doesn’t end there. I went to a club in the city, lined up in the cold, finally get to the front door only to be told “Your type can’t come in here”. I ask him what he meant by “My type” and he pointed to a sign on the wall which read “Asian Only Dance Party”.

Can you imagine the public outcry, if I put on a “Whites Only” event?

In this day and age, it defies logic and it’s a truly sickening feeling being discriminated against, I wouldn’t wish it on anyone.

But nobody points out the hypocrisy there, for fear of being un-PC. I’m sure there’s a minority of white Australian’s who are equally guilty of these quiet and individual forms of racism – but the frustrating aspect, is that none of it is needed or warranted from either side, minority or majority.

If you are living and enjoying the limitless perks of a democratic and peaceful Australia, if you wish to run a successful business – why on earth would you wish to create a divide by charging a group more because of their ethnicity? Why start a business and limit your customer base by only having your signs, menu or prices in a foreign language? Why not offer both? Double the custom. Why did white’s in Cronulla deem it necessary to beat upon anyone who wasn’t caucasian with sticks, baseball bats and broken glass?

Why internationally harm another human being, an innocent stranger purely because they look different? Why is the average bearded man of Middle Eastern descent with a suitcase at the airport, the subject of constant stares and murmurs of “he looks like he could be a terrorist?”.

Has the media REALLY been able to manipulate us to that extent?

It’s all so illogical, uninformed and unfounded. We as a nation should be better than that; we collectively need to rise above it.

Universally people are wary of the unknown, I understand that we’re all susceptible to that feeling. But Australians need to be open and receptive to change, not fearful of it – it’s inevitable. If minorities could be less introverted, less divisive and more inclusive, if we could all come together to understand and respect the subtle difference in each others cultures – then the world wouldn’t just stereotype us as ‘that place famous for Kenny The Plumber and all those Anzac Cookies’, but TRULY, as the greatest country in the world.

Your Friend,



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I don’t profess to be the greatest photographer ever, but when it comes to taking  photos, I try to do so, first with my heart and then my head. 

I hope you find a little bit of Sydney in them like I do. If you can’t see the slideshow below, click here 

Enjoy,



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Yayoi Kusama: Mirrored Years
Yayoi Kusama, is an avant-garde painter & sculptor. She’s also an award-winning film producer and fashion designer and even at the age of 80, she’s still creating and developing her art. She has experienced hallucinations and severe obsessive thoughts since childhood, often of a suicidal nature. She claims that as a small child she suffered severe physical abuse by her mother.

Early in career, she began covering surfaces (walls, floors, canvases, and later, household objects and naked assistants) with the polka dots that would become a trademark of her work. The vast fields of polka dots, or “infinity nets,” as she called them, were taken directly from her hallucinations.

Currently her new exhibit is on display at the Museum Of Contemporary Art.

The example below, is actually on display at the MCA.

You can read more about her via Wikipedia or visit her official site at this location.

Inspiring stuff don’t you think?

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