Trysting Fields

Recent Searchly Hits

• "want to work as a machinist"
• "masked woman"
• "salo castration"
• "how do you get 2 eggs on a tamagotchi in australia"
• "peter carey the cartographers" (Presumably looking for the story "Do You Love Me?", which I actually wanted to post but rejected on the grounds that it was too long.)
• "katie holmes brainwashed scientology"
• Four days later: "katie holmes has been brainwashed"
• A few days after that: "has katie holmes been brainwashed?"
• "teigan fun at the feddish"
• "neurophone pics"
• As always, several for (variously) "neurocam", "neurocam assignment", "neurocam operative"... but also multiple hits for "Robin Hely", mostly from Google New Zealand. Don't know what that's about.

Here Is The Neuronews

Official lines, in case there's any confusion:

Bridget Fischer, as all operatives were recently advised, has stood aside temporarily due to conflict of interest concerns.

Charles Hastings is currently acting CEO and a very busy man.

Miles Carrefour and Gertrude Zelle have been suspended from duties pending an internal enquiry regarding "recent security breaches".

The mail supposedly from Miles Carrefour posted recently on the Neuroboards is a "fabrication created by parties seeking to undermine Neurocam International".

The Neurocam website has gone down because it "has been hacked and is no longer secure. We are currently working on a new encryption system to enable us to get back online as soon as possible. The timeframe on this is unclear at this stage."

No one is receiving routine assignments. It is not known at this stage when they will start receiving them again. But they will.

The Neurocouncil

Operatives Rorschach and Li (note tragically melted face), and a non-blogging operative

It was a success, I think. A somewhat disappointing seven operatives showed up in person - Cat was there proverbially, and Operative Jojo sent an apologetic text message or two - but these operatives were not in themselves at all disappointing.

One I had never met but knew online. Three I had previously participated in an assignment with. Of these, one had officiated at my book burning, one I knew online, and one was half of the pair of elusive and, of course, mysterious non-bloggers who emerged from their holes - which is always good. One had discovered quite an interesting thing. (dude - email me)

A detailed report will not be made since somewhat inevitably more was said than is entirely suitable for broadcasting.

Operative "no pictures!" Reanimator and another non-blogging operative

Expect a William S. Burroughsesque audio cutup from Operative Reanimator shortly. Along with another interesting project or two.

An attempt at a collective audio blog post was made. It may require some work.

A good time was had by all.

I was a pussy and had to bail early.

Neurocam will be fine.

Everything is fine.

Relax.

Li's melted face is admired by a non-blogging operative and American Guy

UPDATE - American Guy & Reanimator have reports which actually cover what we discussed to some extent, if you're interested in that. A lot of Reanimator's is made up, though...

2nd UPDATE - Rorschach and Li have also posted reports, Li's being by far the most accurate.

ATTENTION MELBOURNE OPERATIVES

The Neurocouncil is tomorrow.

6:30pm, Feddish, Federation Square.

Be there.

(Then, after that - no, not directly after - Rorschach, Li, Reanimator and I are going goth clubbing.)

Blair 'desperately sorry' for shooting

British Prime Minister Tony Blair says he is "desperately sorry" for the death of a Brazilian electrician shot dead by London police after being mistaken for a suicide bomber.

Jean Charles de Menezes, 27, was killed by police at Stockwell underground station in south London on Friday.

The commission investigating his death said Mr Menezes was shot at close range eight times, not five, as originally reported.

Prime Minister Tony Blair said he was "desperately sorry'' for the shooting.

You can tell he really means it, too. He's really, really sorry. He feels just terrible about it. It burns him up inside. It's been keeping him awake at night. Honest.

Tony Blair: he means it, maaaan. He's got that whole "I'm sincere, me" thing down.

Respect.

Postcard!

From my old friend Martha of Ireland, who is holidaying on the continent (Italy, to be exact).

Man Shot Dead By London Police Actually Just Some Guy

Not a suicide bomber at all.

:O

Stop the violence!

Neurochat

I've just been on that IRC channel they're always banging on about at the Neuroboards.

It was good. Adren and Kybalion were there. I talked to Midnight and Colin, who I have actually met. And I encountered someone else from Melbourne who was not an op, but who had inherited someone else's Neurocam identifier.

irc.chat-solutions.org
#neurocam

All The Great Generals Were Keen On Seafood

On Thursday night I went to a double of Wong Kar Wai's 2046 and, excitingly, Peter Greenaway's last great movie, The Cook, The Thief, His Wife & Her Lover at the Astor.

It was pretty fuckin' good.

I Heart Marilyn Manson

And I don't care who knows it.

I cite him as a major influence.

From Rolling Stone:

"The other night I took an eighty-year-old taxidermied monkey, set it on fire in the pool and filmed it from beneath with an underwater camera," says Marilyn Manson, sitting in his home in Los Angeles. "It was beautiful, like the Titanic, the Hindenburg and King Kong all mixed into one."

Manson has come to a crossroads in his career. "I no longer want to make art that other people -- particularly record companies -- are turning into a product," he says. "I just want to make art." And he's invented a new genre for his new breed of art: "horripilation." "It's horrifying, and it's depilatory," he explains. "It will horrify the hair off of your legs."

First up is PHANTASMAGORIA: The Visions Of Lewis Carroll, a set of four short films to be released through his Web site. "It's the visions of Lewis Caroll -- in fact I'm playing Carroll," he says. In Installment One, Manson explores the origin of Alice in Wonderland's Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum. "I might add that the girls playing Tweedle Dee and Dum are twins who get to have real, genuine sex with each other. I like to make dreams come true."

Manson is also opening an art gallery in L.A., publishing a book of paintings, planning to convert his basement wine cellar into an opium den ("I don't drink wine") and sporting a goatee for an upcoming cameo opposite Lucy Liu in Rise.

He's also got eighteen songs in the can. "It's not like I'm going to stop making music and start knitting," he says. "I just don't think the world is worth putting the music into right now. First we're gonna fix the world with horripilation."

(interview by AUSTIN SCAGGS)

Simon's Gone To A Lot Of Trouble

And I want to see him getting some comments, okay?!

Okay.

Cometh The Punk Rock Librarian (Part Two)

Some of Ben's many tattoos:

"Don't forget to eat"

And my favourite:

Neurocam, Weblogs

I am not moving Tript's link out of the Neurobloggers' section in silent protest against his sad decision to give up the practice.

And I have added two, both from California: Dev of Neurowiki fame, and hitshermark, who is, weirdly, not actually an operative yet as far as I know.

Cometh The Punk Rock Librarian (Part One)

Things Ben bought whilst visiting Melbourne:

• Diskonto - "We Are The People Our Parents Warned Us About" LP ("Raging dis-core; possibly Swedish, maybe Japanese people singing in Swedish")
• The Curse of Shank - self-titled LP ("Scottish power-violence")
• Combat Wounded Veteran - "Duck Down For The Torso" 10" EP ("Awesome screaming artcore")
• Dead Silence - "Hell, How Could We Make Any More Money Than This?" 7" ("Colorado guys making fun of Bad Religion")
• Spazm 151 - self-titled LP ("Raging Texan hardcore")
• A-Ha - "Take On Me" 7" ("I can't believe I paid $5 for this")
• Blondie - "Parallel Lines" LP ("Did you know Hanging On The Telephone was a cover?") (NB I didn't.)
• Joe Satriani - "Surfing With The Alien" vinyl LP ("Fuck yeah!")
• Brian The Dog from Family Guy ("He might be based on Snoopy")
• Video of John Woo's Bullet In The Head ("John Woo! Fuck yeah!")

Li's Literacy Skills Are Progressing Well

It's really a shame about his face melting.

Goodbye, House

My sister is coming home tomorrow, and I shall be returning to my cosy St Kilda cupboard.

It's sad. But all good things must come to an end, I guess.

In other me-related news, Jojo thinks I'm great.

The Neurocouncil

Prompted by Reanimator, American Guy has proposed a 'Neurocouncil' meet in the Melbourne CBD to discuss recent upheavals.

He suggested this Wednesday, but I think we need at least another week to get more interest up.

Neuroboard thread here.

I Can't Keep Up This Frenetic Pace

I hosted a combined dinner party/book burning on Thursday night. I went out to the movies on Friday night. I spent all day at work fighting vigorously with baby sis via SMS and I've just been out trawling Brunswick St and drowning my sorrows with my cousin. Tomorrow night I'm doing things as yet unknown with Ben the punk rock librarian, who is down for a visit.

Then on Wednesday, there's looking to be The Neurocouncil.

I feel like Tript. The local chapter of the Recluse Society (oxymoron?) is going to be calling for my resignation at this rate.

It's good!

Exhausting, though.

PS I am becoming addicted to the Missy Higgins album. Is that wrong?

The Suspense Is Killing Me

Neurocam.com is still 'down'.

UPDATE: This bodes ill.

Ritual Burning Of The Magus by John Fowles

Operatives Jojo, Li, Reanimator, Teigan and Xade attending.

Audio Message From Lady J!! (452kb MP3)

I'm so proud.

I would normally keep such a thing out of the public sphere, but she posted mine.

It's All Gone Pear Shaped

Well it has.

Tript and Lady J have more.

WTF indeed.

Look, I Made Scones

But I had no one to share them with.

So sad. I feel so sorry for myself right now. You should too.

I am eating them alone, watching clips of that entertaining Jon Stewart, and crying.

Fischer Stands Aside, Khan Terminated

Didn't see this coming.

From: bridget.fischer@neurocam.com
Subject: Farewell
Date: 12 July 2005 12:48:02 PM

Attention all staff and operatives.

Earlier today, notice was sent to the Board of Directors for Neurocam International of my decision to temporarily vacate the office of Chief Executive Officer for Neurocam International due to what I feel to be a potential conflict of interest. The Board has accepted my request for temporary leave and will announce an acting CEO as soon as a suitable replacement is found. My leave will be effective immediately (Tuesday, July 12, 2005).

Furthermore, Neurocam International has terminated the commission of Ms. Madeline Khan, Assistant to the CEO, effective immediately. I hereby wish Ms. Khan all the best with her future endeavors.

No further correspondence will be entered into regarding these matters.

Ms. Khan's e-mail address will be inactivated immediately. My e-mail account shall remain active for fourteen days and all correspondence from it will be forwarded directly to the Head of Operations, Mr. Charles Hastings until such time as my successor is announced.

Regards,

Bridget Fischer
CEO
Neurocam International

Anyone know what's going on?

Ambitions

Someone asked me what my ambitions were the other day. I can't remember what I told them, but I should have said:

1. To work in a streetcorner newsbooth.
2. To become a cult leader by rising to the front ranks of Neurocam and then either taking it over, or creating a sizeable splinter group.
3. To write a novel, which I am doing in November.
4. To make an album, provisionally entitled "Everyone's Too Stupid", which I will do next year when I have more time.
5. To study for and obtain a degree in Creative Arts from Melbourne's premier university, guaranteeing me a colourful and lucrative subsequent career as a Creative Artist.
6. To finish reading "The Magus" by John Fowles, and then to ritually burn it.
7. To have fun and not care about people.
8. To be beautiful.
9. To be loved.

Other things I want:

• An umbrella.
• A preamping device for my microphone.
• A Bigpond Movies membership.
• A region-free DVD player.
• A better camera.
• Peter Greenaway DVDs.
• See also: Amazon wishlist.

Report On The Shadow Industry

by Peter Carey

From "Collected Stories", 1994, University of Queensland Press.

Reproduced without permission

• as a text file here
• read aloud here (1.2 Mb mp3).

Sneak Preview: Neurocam Spring Promotional Range

Available September 2005*

The Neurotoaster

The Neurotoilet

The Neurophone

(also available in contemporary pushbutton model)

The Neurodog

The Limited Edition NeuroiPod Mini (first 100 units personally autographed by the Chief Executive Officer)

*NB: not really

I'm Not The Architect Of Neurocam: Robin Hely

Robin Hely's comment is acknowledged.

UPDATE: American Guy points out that Hely's bio on the Conical site has changed.

Lyric of the Day

"Stop The Violence" by Wesley Willis

Stop killing innocent people
Stop killing police officers
Stop shooting at policemen
Stop shooting bystanders with handguns

Stop the violence
Stop the violence
Stop the violence
Stop the violence

Stop shooting old ladies
Stop beating up FBI agents
Stop killing the postal workers
Stop shooting at cops
Keep your ass out of jail

Stop the violence
Stop the violence
Stop the violence
Stop the violence

Stop raping women for crying out loud
Stop killing little kids
Keep yourself out of prison
Stay the hell out of trouble

Stop the violence
Stop the violence
Stop the violence
Stop the violence

Rock over London
Rock on Chicago

Pioneer, it's the art of entertainment.

Two Over fifty die in London terror blasts

Now Britain have even more reason to be at war with it. Terror, that is.

Oh dear.

I want a sidebar ticker that keeps track of the number of people killed as a result of recent international terrorism in Australia, the UK and America, and the number of civilians killed as a result of coalition activities in Afghanistan, Iraq, and whoever else "we're" attacking this week.

That's what I want.

Lemon Tree With Reclining Dog

RIP Zooey

Zooey the Tam died last night, aged 10. But not before going through the same weird birth-giving process described by Desci here.

So now I have a second generation boy Tam called Boda. He shits like a trouper.

Report From Our Man On The Frontier

Operative Li writes:

trying...to...audio...blog....
 
i'm kind of tripping right now and can't work my machinery...
 
i got this pic though.

is it supposed to mean something?  only the person i was 10 minutes ago knows for sure. 

So true.

Sidebar Updatage

Tobyesterhase aka Steve Cronin and Roger That have upped stakes.

Elmo has sadly resigned.

And Urchin X seems to have died.

This Just In: Robin Hely Is The Architect of Neurocam

... or so he claims... according to some website linked by an anonymous commenter at American Guy's.

Founded in August 2001, Conical Inc is a non-profit contemporary art centre directed by Adrien Allen with support from a core committee of 6 practising artists.

One of whom is none other than La Hely:

Robin Hely has had a checkered career as an artist working mainly in the medium of deception. The last five years has seen him masquerading as a missing person, attempting to deliver a 1m x 2.5m parcel to unknown recipients in Oporto Portugal, filling up Conical gallery with cardboard boxes, going on a blind date wearing a hidden camera and setting up a secret underground organization dedicated to altering the perceptions of its participants.

Hely was born on a sheep farm somewhere in New Zealand and purchased a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in Photography on the internet during 1993. After traversing the globe and learning the trade of a fine artist he returned to New Zealand to study. Following the erection of two billboards in conjunction with a spurious advertising campaign he was awarded a Masters in Fine Arts with distinction.

Hely now resides somewhere in Victoria and has developed a penchant for wearing masks.

And they're right here in Fitzroy.

UPDATE - Tript's remarks are acknowledged.

I Want To Work In A Streetcorner Newsbooth

Seriously. How do you get a job in one of those?

I'd be great. I could keep my toe in the communications industry, without compromising my integrity. And it would sound cool, too. "Oh, I work in a streetcorner newsbooth." "Wow, that must be interesting; what do you do there?" "Well, I sell news."

I can just see it.

I still want to work in a cinema. Longer-term readers will remember my ill-fated encounter with Village a while ago, which was disheartening. I haven't approached any others, partly coz I'm too shy, and partly because the dearth of proper, livable-off positions in the field is somewhat demotivating. Maybe I should, though.

I don't know.

Work! *throws up hands*

Trysting Fields Audio Directive 001-LN01/020605 (1Mb mp3)

From: Trysting Fields Central Communications
To: Operative [Censored] AKA Li Han, Blog Boy From Space
Date: Saturday 2nd July, 2005

Note To Weather Gods

If it continues to rain today, there will be consequences.

With her possession of this mug, my sister demonstrates a degree of self-awareness that I would not normally credit her with.

"Dissing Us Is Irresponsible": American Psychiatric Association

I'm with the clams on one thing: psychiatry is whack.

Go off your meds, kids!