arma et virumque cano - That is What I Kept Saying In My Head at the Airport

I started reading the Penguin Classics copy of Virgil's Aeneid, which is translated by W. F. Jackson Knight.  I'm pretty in love with it.  It's given me a new dream.  I've got to get good at translating the Aeneid.  Translating Latin is going to be my new talent.  At present, I have not been maintaining any talents, unless you call blogging a talent.

I might also pretend that I am Aeneas on my travels.  I'm not actually a fan or anything of the bloke, but I like to think that maybe someone like the Gods cares for me.  If that even makes sense.

I have been in Singapore for more than twenty-four hours now.  I had a turbulent flight.  But don't worry, it turned out okay and I didn't throw up even though I was stuck in my seat for three quarters of an hour with a painful bladder and a tray of cookies and cream mousse and lamb in cream sauce.  I'd like to be cryptic, or should I say "kryptik", and leave it to you to decide whether the A380 is Indie or not.  It's not that I'm a country turtle or anything, but I had the time of my life because the INFLIGHT ENTERTAINMENT WORKED.  Even during turbulence, take-off and landing, and other times.  I watched Gosford Park and I recommend it.  Indies are culturally aware and I think satirical movies about the English class-system in 1935 should be high on your agenda.  Like, one must get the staples watched, but it's really rather more important to digest the unmainstream Indie works.  I'm just saying.  But if you still wanna keep up with the Jones or the Jonas brothers or whatevs, fine, go ahead, waste your days away watching Woody Allen films until you feel you could respond to any situation as Woody Allen.  And it had a stunner cast!  Then I actually had a sleep.

Look at this cool thing from the aeroplane.  If you look hard, you will see that there is some bird crap with a feather in it stuck to the camera.

I went to Orchard Road today.  I walked up and down a million times, but one could count on one hand the number of shops I entered.  And the shop I wanted to go to was not even open.

Here are some things I have eaten today.  But I will spare you the details so I will not talk about the chuee kway, the apple or the curry puff, none of which I have photographed.

Note:  Above are two photos of one fish.  I didn't eat two, incase you know, you thought that.

I cannot remember a time when I ever went to Singapore and didn't go to Takashimaya to get a pancake filled with chocolate and in the shape of a fish.

Then I decided it would be cool to go to the mall for young people.  Unfortunately only the food places were open.  I took these photos of the closed clothes shops.  Most, I think, were hipster men's shops, but I imagined myself going in and buying something without realising they were for men.  Then I walked around the park and went to the 'underground' cool young people market.  I considered getting this coloured chalk pastels for hair.  Maybe when I go back.  All sorts of colours.  There was a picture of it's effect...on blonde hair.  So hmmm...

Naturally I came first, as  the mall was almost a ghost town.  But don't worry, I didn't get creeped out by the idea that people might pop out from around corners in hats like these:

That is class - using fonts which really speak to the niche.

The age old tradition cool young skaters have of buying hydroponic basil under the awning of an old red bus.

I think Maccas Mans has a competitor for Indiest outlet.

My lunch - Penang Char Kway Teow!

Saw some Indie people, too.  Shall I ask people if I can photograph them?

Also, I bought my brother a Gangnam Style t-shirt.  Good job Billie!

I Heart My Hair

Chapter #6 of Stuff Indie People Like by Joanna the Friend. It has a bit of a personal backstory - our cool Year Nine Religion and Philosophy teacher telling us about how she notices girls in particular getting a new haircut when they go through a big change in their life. That was related to the lesson because we were watching a seventies movie about this guy who gets into a cult and consequently gets a new hairstyle.

The last time I changed my hairstyle was at the end of my time in Singapore for my return to Australia. I didn't manage to get a new haircut for starting at my new school. However, in the couple of weeks before school, my hair had grown out quite a lot and was looking like The Rachel. [What does that mean? That I wasn't into new beginnings/newness anymore; that instead I was going through a time of growth?]

Which reminds me about how I love watching the changing hairstyles on the TV show Friends. Starting at the beginning: Joey moves in and Chandlers gets rid of his beard (okay, that one doesn't really count because we don't know about that until a flashback occurring later). Rachel leaves Barry and her old life at the altar and goes to New York where she then undergoes radical change - so does her hairstyle after the first couple of episodes!!

Indie Inspiration

I had to force myself to sit down and write this blog post. Sometimes things are such a drag and one is surrounded by the type of energy that blocks up the joke pipe and/or system of progression of ideas. But it's okay now because I've tied back my hair in a way I haven't done in a while and have been drinking Turkish apple tea from the special glasses which were a gift from a friend a couple of birthdays ago. But anyway, I was really inspired a few days ago reading a post on beautyfool.net about how to do fake dreadlocks with hair gel. (Note: Indies are always being inspired by this or that.) From there I went to find some images but was quite unsuccessful. 

So anyway, the dreadlocks style is rooted deep in ancient history and have been worn by many religious groups. Just look it up on Wikipedia. According to that one unreliable source (with questionable information on Australian breakfast under Australian cuisine), reasons for wearing dreadlocks are to express "deep religious or spiritual convictions", "a manifestation of ethnic pride", "a political statement" and as "a fashion preference." But that was hardly new knowledge. Dreadlocks are totally a mark of commitment to something. Like, they take ages to form, so it would be unwise to embark on the journey and decide half way through that you no longer wanted to be making whatever statement you supported before.

Dreadlocks are an iconic fashion statement among rebels. In the fifties, the Mau Mau rebels lived in the forests of Kenya growing dreadlocks and fighting against British rule. And of course the Rastafarian wearing of dreadlocks to, apparently, rebel against Eurocentric ideals about beauty and the way things should be cannot go unmentioned.

These days the dreadlocks look is associated with hippies, cults and new subcultures I didn't know existed until I saw them mentioned on Wikipedia and had no desire to look at their page. So pretty much, they are worn by people who are hard-core and are displaying their rebelness. And their inspiration was possibly the reggae vogue blah blah blah Bob Marley, a staple on the Facebook profile of Indies. The rebelling is probably against commercialisation of everything in society and the absurd triviality of society's routine (such as cleaning your head).

image: http://themusicsover.com/2010/05/11/bob-marley/

Online, the alternative can congregate together as a community on sites such as dreadheadhq.com. And purchase accessories, hair care items and synthetic extensions (I get this image of opening up a drawer in the dark and landing my hand upon fat coils) at dreadlocks.com.au. And the impatient dreadlocks lover could always get a salon dread perm using chemicals, which I reckon is what they did for the Argentinian brand Complot's verano 2009 collection. (Ha! And they've got all these pages about backstage, which is an Indie like, because it's a peak into the Industry.)

images from http://lomejordelamoda2008.blogspot.com/2008/10/complot-primavera-verano-2009.html