I didn’t know what to expect when I went to listen to this album for the first time, I had heard Broni play a lot of the songs live. Both on his own and with the Broni band, but after hearing this album for the first time, it was constant, playing in the car, on the iPod, at home, everywhere.

In addition to the album being one of Melbournes best ever, Broni played an incredible residency at the Thornbury Theatre 4 weeks in a row and was unbelievable.

4. Tom Waits – Bad As Me

A long wait between albums, not counting that beautiful Orphans box set.

When I heard about the album, the excitement I had for it was pretty high, I got the album the day it came out and was blown away from start to finish.

3. Iron & Wine – Kiss Each Other Clean

I read an interview with Sam Beam where he said that the upcoming album was going to sound like 70s music that people used to listen to in their cars, he wasn’t wrong. This album is perfect for any occasion, this is one thats been on rotation since the end of January and still hasn’t stopped.

2. Deer Tick – Divine Providence

A complete accident just over a month ago, flicked the channel over and caught the last few minutes of Letterman, Deer Tick were playing and blew me away. Got the album and I would say thats its my favourite rock album of the last 5 years. Unbelievable, in my mind, a complete game changer.

1. Fleet Foxes – Helplessness Blues

Well, anyone who has been in my car this year has heard this album, this has been almost non stop.

My iTunes play counter tells me that I have listened to it over 60 times, plus when I get home I put the record on. God knows how many times I’ve listened to this album, its become one of my favourites of all time and its a close to perfect album.

Get this album now.

Click on any of those album titles and it should take you to the iTunes store, unless I’ve stuffed it up.

Here are some other albums from this year also worth checking out.

Boy & Bear – Moonfire

Okkervil River – I Am Very Far

Bon Iver – Bon Iver

Mariachi El Bronx – Mariachi El Bronx II

Foo Fighters – Wasting Light

Fucked Up – David Comes To Life

Noah And The Whale – Last Night On Earth

Bill Callahan – Apocalypse

City And Colour – Little Hell

So here’s the shit I watched this year.

January
Veronika Decides To Die – 2/5
Margot At The Wedding – 3.5
Greenberg – 3.5/5
Cadillac Records – 3.5/5
Black Swan – 5/5
Catfish – 4/5

February127 Hours – 4/5
The Taking Of Pelham 3/5
The Baader Meinhoff Complex – 4.5/5

March
When You’re Strange – 2/5
Dinner For Schmucks – 2/5
A Piece Of Work – 4/5
Cyrus – 3.5/5
The Runaways – 3/5
Get Him To The Greek – 3.5/5

April
The Kids Are All Right – 3.5/5
28 Weeks Later – 2.5/5
Deliver Us From Evil – 3/5
Thor – 3/5

May
Paperman – 3.5/5
Blood Into Wine – 4/5
Hangover II – 3.5/5

June
The Green Hornet – 3.5/5
Drive Angry – 4/5
American: The Bill Hicks Story – 4.5/5
Year One – 1/5
Super 8 – 4/5
Stranger Than Fiction – 4/5
Paul – 3.5/5
Journey Of The Childmen – 3.5/5
We Own The Night – 3/5
Insidious – 1/5
Rango – 4/5

July
We Are What We Are – 2/5
Bottle Shock – 3/5
Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows Part 2 – 3.5/5
Bridesmaids – 4.5/5
Accepted – 3/5
Monsters – 3/5
Despicable Me – 2.5/5

August
Sunshine – 4/5
Captain America – 3.5/5
The Losers – 3.5/5
Raising Arizona – 4.5/5
Paris, Texas – 5/5
Hesher – 5/5
The Music Never Stopped – 4/5
Man With The Screaming Brain – 2/5
Source Code – 3/5
Bad Teacher – 2/5
Me & Orson Wells – 2/5
The Best And The Brightest – 2.5/5

September
Everything Must Go – 3/5
The Beaver – 4.5/5
Burlesque – 1.5/5
Horrible Bosses – 2.5/5
Intolerable Cruelty – 3.5/5

October
Red State – 4/5

November
Living In The Material World – 5/5
Marley & Me – 2/5
Exit Through The Gift Shop – 4.5/5
Tucker & Dale Vs. Evil – 2.5/5

December
50/50 – 3.5/5
The Help – 4.5/5
The Myth Of The American Sleepover – 3.5/5
Contagion – 3.5/5
Our Idiot Brother – 2.5/5
Due Date – 2.5/5
Cherrybomb – 2.5/5
The Sorcerers Apprentice – 3/5
Project Nim – 4/5
Submarine – 5/5

So there it is, another year, another 72 new movies. 100 next year? Probably not, but we’ll see.

BJ

There has yet to be a  year where I’ve hit my goal.

But for anyone interested, here are my five favourite things I watched this year.

1. Submarine (2011)

2. Hesher (2011)

3. Black Swan (2011)

4. Living In The Material World (2011)

5. Paris Texas (1984)

I’ll post my whole list later today most likely.

I dont know exactly know what the difference is between then and now. But whatever I had in me last week to write, isn’t here right now. In an attempt to keep writing on a regular basis however, I’m going to push myself to write this, no matter how bad this blog ends up being.

This is a perfect example of the self doubt I was talking about last week, it plagues me. Again, as I’m sure it does everyone.
I think too much about what I’m doing, then the doubt kicks in.
“Will this be good enough for people to enjoy reading?”
“No-one gives a fuck about what’s on my mind or what I have to say”
“Your writing is terrible and you should stop”
“What’s the point of any of this”
The usual stuff that runs through my head when I’m doing anything creative, whether it be writing this, or doing the podcasts. How to get it out of my head? Success? Well that would be nice, but it makes me wonder if this same feeling would still exist if anything I did was to be successful. Lets hope for my sake and my sanity, that I’m able to find out.

December 2005
I sat on a balcony overlooking a bunch of trees and ocean as far as you could see, beer in my left hand, feet up on the railing of the balcony, an Esky full of beer separating my myself from Shaun, it was around day 8 of a complete bender.
We had been drinking for eight days, drinking far too much, sleeping too little,  your normal schoolies story.
High school was over, to us, there was no better thing to do than get complete fucked up to celebrate.
12 of us had been crammed into this house for over a week, early in the week was filled with general craziness and chaos around the house. the thing that I think that was different between Shaun and myself and most other people that go on schoolies. We didn’t go out to pubs to drink, we drank at home, so when schoolies had come around I wanted to stay in this house and drink.
By this stage, day eight, every chair in this rented house was broken, every glass smashed in a competition of who could smash the most off the balcony, two of the fences around the house broken, various alcohol spilled into the carpet and nearly every framed picture in the house either sprayed with beer or ready to fall off. My hand poorly wrapped up because the night before Shaun and I had an argument and I punched a hole through the wall, a hole which we later covered up with a lamp.

So, it was day eight, feet up on the railing, staring out at the ocean, thinking to myself for the first time
“What the fuck do I do now?”
People at school knew what they wanted to do, knew the courses they wanted to enrol in and had a fairly good idea of what kind of career they wanted.
Me, I had absolutely no idea. Do I have an idea now? Not really, but I have a better idea now than I did five and a half years ago.

I had just quit my part-time job of two years, where I had life changing moments, working with two guys who I will never, ever forget, two guys who taught me one of the most important lessons I will ever learn at my job. They taught me, that any job you do isn’t boring, you can always have fun.
Did we fuck around? Yes.
Did we still get everything we needed to do done? Yes.
We worked pretty hard, in my opinion anyway, well harder than a lot people that worked there, but there was never a dull shift working there, packing fruit, telling ridiculous stories, listening to music so loud  that people out in the shop could hear.
Most of all, we were having fun, well, at least I was anyway. I will tell stories about this job another time.
February 2006
After the hangover of a two week binge had finally gone away, I was speaking with my uncle to see if he knew of any call centres that I would be able to put my resume in at. He gave me a contact and I had a job interview the following week.

I got the job, and was sitting in a call centre a 50 minute drive from home, surrounded by people from completely different backgrounds, talking to people on the phone, my main objective – get these motherfuckers to buy something.

Over the next few months I met a bunch of people that I really liked, people I thought were funny and interesting people, but, jesus, did I meet a lot of idiots and weirdos. More than I would like to remember, but those are stories for a different time.

A year into the job, still feeling uncomfortable and worried I didn’t fit in with all these people I worked with, staff started getting laid off, or rested, as in, we don’t have any work for you now….or perhaps ever. It got to December, there were 4 or 5 of us left from a staff of about between 60-80.
All the normal campaigns for selling stuff had dried up over the holidays, school finished, people went away, there aren’t many people left at home to sell shit to. Makes sense.
We were selling, I use that term very loosely, we were offering free internet to people in rural areas, I believe it was part of some government initiative, I’m not sure to be honest, because the only thing on my mind, was doing well enough to to join the 70 other people who had been ‘rested’.
I sat down with two guys I hadn’t really met before, I had seen them around the office for the last 10 months or so, but never really chatted with them, even though they had been there a lot longer than myself.
After the first day of working with them, I knew going into work every day was going to be fun. All these two would do, is sit there and insult each other all day, friendly jibes for the most part, but at times it would get heated and they would be at each others throats.
After a while, one of these guys left the company, he would come back a few years later.
The other guy (Rudda, a Sri Lankan gentleman, one of the most good natured people I have ever met) and myself had moved into different roles in the company, I was team leading and he was taking inbound calls.
We got to know each other pretty well over the next year or so while we were in the different departments, talking a lot of crap, trying to make each other laugh. Another guy had started at this time, Graz.
Rudda, Graz and I, share very similar senses of humour, which was never a problem, that is, until I was moved out of my position of team leading into the inbound call centre team.

From pretty much the first day I hit that team it was fun, I was having fun at work. More fun than I had ever had at work before. Taking calls ALWAYS came second to our stupid games, jokes, stories. Anything we could think of to make sure the eight hours we were stuck in this brightly coloured were never dull.
They never were. We would antagonise each other for hours and hours on end, see who could annoy the boss the most, who could say the most disgusting thing they could think of.
Most people would have had this kind of relationship with people they work with I think, this is just my own personal experience. So hopefully most people are on the same wavelength as me here.
If you spend eight hours a day with someone, five days a week and you share interests or enjoy each others company, you are pretty much forced to be friends. We hung out after work, we called each other and annoyed each an hour after work was over. To me, it was never too much, maybe it was for these guys, but it wasn’t for me. I had so much fun when I was at work, I didn’t want to stop talking to them.
The stories the three of us share from working in that place are a huge part of my life, I have five years worth of stories from that job, but none of them anywhere near as important as when I worked with these two guys.
I don’t want this blog to start sounding like I’m trying to suck their dicks, who knows if they will even see it. I’m writing this for me, in an attempt to get some of my thoughts out of my head.

At some point in a blog I will share a bunch of these stories, but I dont know if I’m ready to yet, they are stories that have been retold time and time again, whether we are out to dinner, or if it’s just me telling them to my friends. But they are stories that one day I will be ready to type out and let people see.
These are two gentleman that mean a lot to me and again, managed to drill into me, that work can ALWAYS be fun.

I know that I will never have a job as fun as the job I had at Data-Active/Data-Response, and people can talk badly about the place all they want, as I have heard them do many, many times over the years, and while yes, it wasn’t always the best place to work, you can’t say you didn’t have a fucking fun time.

I had a fun time there. I know that I will never have a job where I have as much fun as I did there, I will certainly never be able to get away with the antics we pulled working there.
I didn’t think I would be able to write this much, but it got easier as I went along. Probably not as well written as last week, probably a bunch less interesting. But, hey, at least I’m writing.

There has always been one other that really made sense to me and is really what drives me to do what I’m doing at the moment, dont get me wrong, this isn’t me writing about how you should check out what I’m doing with all the podcast network stuff I’m constantly talking/typing about, its about me trying to explain why I’m doing what I’m doing. Maybe, just maybe, I’m writing this to explain to myself why I’m doing all this podcast network stuff.

Anyway, we were watching Ferris Bueller on Monday night and it got to the line.
“the question isn’t what are we going to do, the question is what aren’t we going to do”
While probably a throw-away line to most people, it just really sunk in for the thousandth time.
Probably always thinking too much when I watch Ferris Bueller, maybe I could really do this and keep it up and not get filled with self-doubt and fear like I have with nearly everything I have done creatively, fear that what I’m doing isn’t good enough, and self-doubt where I feel like I can’t get the ideas out of my head like I wish I could and most of all, being afraid to try something and really put some effort behind it and fail. As most things I will write in this blog, it’s all been said and felt before and what I’m saying is nothing new. But again, if you’re still reading, I think I’m trying to explain this to myself.

I remember the first time I watched Ferris Bueller. It was 1997 and I was ten years old. I sat on a couch upstairs at a house in Tecoma with my oldest friends Amy & Bec. Their parents, my second parents, had hired a movie from 1986 for us kids to watch, while they cooked or watched whatever they wanted to watch…or, more likely, in an effort to get us all to shut the fuck up they put a movie on for us.
I remember for the next 98 minutes being completely glued to the screen, I had no idea of this movie before this very moment and in such a small moment, what now seems like such a long time ago, my life was changed, just a little bit. Enough for this movie to be watched by the three of us, over and over and over again. Something which has been happening to me for the last fourteen, almost fifteen years. It’s easily the movie gets played more than anything else in my collection.

If you’re reading this you’re probably saying “what an idiot, how can a movie influence your life so much”.
People are inspired by all kinds of different things, why should an 80′s movie with Jeffrey Jones not be one of the many things that inspires me.

In high school, I was lucky enough to have some really amazing and inspiring teachers, not that I thought it at the time. But I am glad I can look back on school now and realise that even though I never wanted to be there, I learnt a lot from some of these teachers, not what they were teaching, but the people they were, the life lessons, not the bullshit in the books that you will never need. Some of the teachers I had in high school were genuinely interesting, inspiring people. People who were born to teach and people who I think we need more of in our schools, people who actually inspire and people who can share wisdom with their students. Not a boring teacher, talking with absolutely zero passion about something that no one even gives a shit about. I’m lucky enough that my father is one of these inspiring teachers and I have got to spend almost 25 years with him.
Anyway, I keep getting sidetracked, high school. I had a teacher by the name of Tony Grayden.
Everyone who went to Heathmont knows who this gentleman is and anyone to went to Heathmont will probably know this story or have their own story like this.
Every class you ever had of his, whether he was filling in, or he was your regular teacher, would end probably about 10-15 minutes early. The classes would finish early so he could basically do trivia. Not trivia on anything we learnt about in the last hour, or week, or even year. It was trivia about shit that mattered to me, it was trivia about movies, tv shows and music. As you’ve already guessed, there was trivia about Ferris Bueller, so much trivia about Ferris Bueller in infact, thats what he was known for.
I knew the movie inside and out already, I had the answers, even the subjects that they are teaching in the opening scenes. I knew this movie. He obviously knew it too, well enough to be able to structure a whole 15 minute trivia session around it in pretty much every class I ever had with him.

After I had left school, I didn’t want to go back to that building for a long time, if not ever. I never really wanted to be there and I’m lucky that I had 3 friends who made it worth going every day and having endure all the bullshit that was high-school (again,  nothing new, just my experience)
Shaun and I would go back once or twice to say hello to some of the teachers or I would pick Josh up from school before he had his license.
But I didn’t really want to go back until Josh told me that Tony Grayden was leaving Heathmont and going to a different school. Josh like myself, thought the world of this teacher, so of course told me about Tony moving schools.
I decided to go down to the Heathmont on one of my days off from work.
Walking into the office, I felt like I had done something wrong again, felt like I was handing in a late slip, felt like I should be making fun of the principal who was a spitting image of Barry Bostwick, kinda scary how similar they looked.
It had been about 4 years since I had been inside the school. Waiting for the kids infront of me to talk to the office ladies, watching the line move, getting closer and closer to speaking to the office lady.
“Hi, I’m just wondering if Tony Grayden is teaching right now or if I’m able to say hi if he isn’t in class”
‘Do you have an appointment to see Mr Grayden?”
My head almost exploded, the tone this woman used, the attitude she had bought me right back to having to see the office ladies at school. Just wanting to scream at this woman “DROP THE ATTITUDE BITCH! I WORK IN AN OFFICE TOO, I KNOW EXACTLY WHAT YOUR FUCKING DAY IS LIKE, SO GROW UP AND TREAT PEOPLE OUTSIDE YOUR WEIRD LITTLE POD WITH THE RESPECT THAT YOU WANT TO BE SHOWN”
But being too scared to yell at this woman, knowing it would get me nowhere, I just politely said
“no, sorry, I didn’t know I had to have an appointment, I heard that Mr Grayden was leaving Heathmont and I just wanted to say thanks and wish him luck”
By this stage, she seemed to calm down a bit, but still wasn’t happy checking his roster for me.
In the end, it didn’t really matter, he was in the staff room and happened to walk through the office while I was standing there wanting to rip into this aggravating beast behind the desk.

I wished him well, spoke a little of Ferris Bueller, shook his hand. Then got in my car and drove Josh home from school.
Not a hugely monumental day in my life, but something that I felt like I owed the guy, a small gesture, that in no way, shape or form lives up to the life lessons he gave me. But as a small gesture of my appreciation to him for helping me become the person I have become. Whether it meant anything to him, who knows, I will probably never know. But it made me feel good, letting him know that he made enough of an impact on me for me to drag myself into a place I hate, deal with a wilderbeast, endure looking at the walls which looked like a Barry Bostwick lookalike contest. (Just to clarify, I’m talking Bostwick in Spin City, not Rocky Horror Bostwick). Just to say thanks and wish him the best.

This blog has more been just a rambling lot of thoughts loosely strung together with Ferris Bueller and went in a completely different place than I thought it would when I started writing it.

Well, lets see where I pick up next time.
If you made it this far…..thanks.

Also, if anyone who reads this is still in touch with Tony Grayden, would you please be able to pass this along to him, that would be great.

Until next time I feel the need to write,

BJ

January
Fantastic Mr. Fox – 4.5/5
Overnight – 3/5
Where The Buffalo Roam – 3.5/5
High Fidelity – 3/5
Horsemen – 1.5/5
Nine – 2.5/5
O’Brother Where Art Thou? – 5/5
Synecdoche, New York – 5/5
Storytelling –  3.5/5

February
Funny People – 4.5/5
Law Abiding Citizen – 1/5
Degrassi Spring Break – 2.5/5

March
Alice In Wonderland – 2/5
Kick Ass – 3.5/5
My Name Is Bruce – 3/5
The Men Who Stare At Goats – 3/5
Jesus Camp – 4/5
Cop Out – 3/5
Harold And Kumar Escape From Guantanamo Bay – 3/5

April
Nick & Norah’s Infinite Playlist – 3/5
Whatever Works – 2.5/5
The 40 Year Old Virgin – 4.5/5
Paranormal Activity – 3/5
Where The Wild Things Are – 3.5/5
It Might Get Loud – 4/5
Little Miss Sunshine – 4/5
The Book Of Eli – 3/5
Cold Souls – 3.5/5

May
Whip It – 4/5
Iron Man 2 – 4.5/5
Best In Show – 5/5

June
Adventureland – 2/5

July
Rec – 4/5
Toy Story 3 – 4.5/5
Inception – 4.5/5
Orphan – 5/5

August
The Boat That Rocked – 3/5
Surrogates – 1/5
Hot Tub Time Machine – 3/5
Scott Pilgrim vs The World – 2/5
Black Dynamite – 4/5
Date Night – 2/5
Wedding Crashers – 3/5

September
White Stripes: Under Great Northern White Lights – 5/5
Paper Heart – 4/5
I’m Still Here – 5/5

October
Worlds Greatest Dad – 4.5/5
Easy A – 4/5
The Vicious Kind – 5/5
Buried – 5/5
Observe & Report – 2.5/5
The Town – 3.5/5
7 Up – 4/5

November
The Social Network – 5.5
Jackass 3D – 3.5/5
7 + 7 Up – 3/5
The House Bunny – 2/5
21 Up – 3.5/5
28 Up – 3.5/5
35 Up – 3.5/5
42 Up – 4/5

December
Fanboys – 2/5
Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows Part 1 – 4/5
Splice – 3/5
Hart Eight – 4/5
Devil – 2/5
Animal House – 3.5/5
The Human Centipede – 3/5
Crazy Heart – 3/5
The Fountain – 4/5
49 Up – 4/5

These are not all movies from last year, most aren’t. These are movies that I have never seen before, new-to-me movies. So I am going to list the best 5 things I watched this year.

Top 5
The Vicious Kind (2009)
The Social Network (2010)
Synecdoche, New York (2008)
Orphan (2009)
I’m Still Here (2010)

Honorable Mentions
O’ Brother Where Art Thou (2000)
Best In Show (2000)
Buried (2010)
Worlds Greatest Dad (2009)
Hard Eight (1996)

Will be posting all the movies I watched this year  a little bit later.

I feel as though he has been a big part of my life, even though we haven’t really known each other that long.
I first met Gez through Ben Williams, who worked with Gez at EVs, at Bens place one night. I believe many drinks were consumed and everyone was chatting as a group.

In the months after meeting him I went to see his band The Tall Poppies multiple times.
Saw him at Bens a few more times.

When Gez opened Fist2Face is when I really started to get to know Gez. Going in there every week and buying more and more stuff, chatting to Gez everytime I was in there.
Megan also knew Gez, so its somewhere I could go and they would have a chat and I would just walk around and look at pretty much everything in there.

Since that time we have hung out more and more and gotten to know each other over dinners and Mario Kart tournaments and such.

But Gez really is an inspiration to me. As I am sure he is many others.
He really is Melbourne South Eastern music.

He put on gigs with Wildflower for so long.
He has made Fist2Face a home for kids who dont want to be at their home.
He has done so much for the local music community.

I am proud to call him my friend.

Sandi E

broadcast anything I write and see how much trouble you get in you total fuckwit.. Grow up and come up with your own ideas and not copy other that are for a good cause and no personal gain.

BJ Carter

You sent me a message via Facebook and then tell me I cant broadcast something that was sent to me?
Thats like telling me that I can buy a box of chocolates, but not share any of them with my friends, even though I don’t like chocolate, I’m stuck there with this disgusting box of things that I do not like.
I am posting what you have said whether you like it or not, perhaps in the future, you will learn that you think about things you put on the internet, because anything like this I can ALWAYS use for said ‘personal gain’

Sandi E

oh no you cant….there is a thing called privacy and thats where your downfall is….read what your sister-in-law wrote to you and grow up. Oh thats right she really isnt related to you so you probably dont give a fuck about upsetting her either.

BJ Carter

Its published over at my blog and its not coming down.
Sorry for the inconvenience.

Sandi E

your loss idiot

Now ladies and gents, I fail to see how this is my loss as I am amused as all hell about it.
But again poor ol’ BJ Carter comes off as the loser.
What a shame, as always.

How about you and your stupid girlfriend lay off the “To write love on her arms day”. This is for people with depression, self harm and suicidal thought to help them and let them know that people out there care about them and want them to live. Megan suffers from depression herself so one would think she would appreciate any support she could get. Both of you need to grow up. Oh and by the way….FTI is total crap… no one watches them…count ya hits and give up!

BJ Carter

You may think FTI is total crap, but please tell that to the few thousand people that subscribe via iTunes, that’s not counting the people that watch it via the blog or vimeo, you really need to do your research better.
The write fuck on her arms thing is a joke with my friends in the US, and what I find to be a rather funny way of promoting the podcast.

You make me laugh with your pathetic attempt at trying to ‘stick up’ for someone. And I will be broadcasting this message via my blog, so people can see how dumb you actually are.

Sincerley,
The host of that crap podcast

Please ladies and gents, let me know what you think.
And remember, FTI TV fucking sucks!