shoes

Shoes are supposedly one of the most important hurdles of judgement men've got to jump over. A pair of old grungy converse all stars and horrify one woman yet excite another. A close friend of mine constantly begs of me, "Wear some damn sneakers for once! You try too hard in the way you dress." I'll admit I have an issue with dressing down; I adorn a shirt at least 60% of the time in public no matter the occasion. But, one of the real reasons I can't steer clear of a good pair of dress shoes is short man's syndrome.


God gave me false hopes. In the first few years of high school I was one of the biggest kids, in the right ways, in my year level of 150 boys. My final year came and friends were asking if I'd shrunk over summer. Back from my Gap year in England and again, "Matt, have you shrunk?" My answer was always, "No, everyone else has just finally grown!"


Don't get me wrong, I love a good pair of dress shoes. You can't wear a nice jacket with a pair of sneakers and I love a good jacket, but we'll leave that for another time. What I've realised is that as much as my love for them resides in their fashion credit, it's that extra inch lift under the heel that really wins me over. Girls, don't judge me for it.

mid morning light

My life of late has orientated very much around challenging my world. The world. 

Challenging whether I'm really here, whether I'm really seeing what's there and even whether I can know anything for certain. 

Light creates the world we see. In pitch black darkness there is no colour. Light gives things their colour. There are of course still forms; chairs, cars, balls etc But we couldn't see them without a light source. So this question begs, if without light we couldn't see anything, what is there in everyday life that we can't see? What is blatantly staring at us that our trained brains, minds and constrained thoughts can't detect?

mid morning light. my house. one of my homes. 

the difference.

my lectures were actually interesting but that doesn't mean my mind focuses. 

Jean Y Under Threat

While the baby boomer generation were the result of an unusually high rate of fertility, it is beginning to look as if the men of Gen Y will have the opposite success. They may know how to use every computer or phone thrust in front of them but it seems they've overlooked one of the basic requirements of existence; reproduction. 

The cause of this apparently inevitable dip has already spread through most of the West and is only withholding its mercy from overweight and unstylish men. Human behavioural specialists and scientists say they foresaw the problem years ago when the item concerned with causing such damage was released onto the market. Yet, some are praising the results saying it will solve the impending overpopulation of the planet. Suggestions are beginning to propose the East take similar measures to contain their population growth and also get some fashion sense.

This magical item that appears destined to solve the worlds population issues? Skinny jeans. Cheap Monday, Dr Denim, Levi’s, Diesel, Nudie, Topman and many more men’s clothes companies produce the now so called birth control jeans. They have all declined to comment on the arising situation.

What’s the big deal over a pair of jeans then? Human anatomic scientist Dr Fredericke Bovanne explains that, ‘because the jeans are so tight they restrict the freedom of the scrotum.’ He says this is significant as, ‘the scrotum hangs from the body so that it can cool more efficiently to adjust to an optimal sperm producing temperature.’ Dr Bovanne concludes that, ‘with such a widespread number of the male population wearing the jeans on a daily basis, we will see a higher rate of infertility in the very near future as not enough sperm can be produced to its usual high standard. There will be a very large gap in the population of the West in the approaching decade or two.’

The group of Parisian fashion designers responsible for introducing the male skinny jean to the world are instead refuting the developing dilemma and claiming, ‘we have solved global overpopulation.’ A male model from one of Melbourne’s leading men’s brands made his point clear, ‘we don’t care. If wearing skinny jeans gets us a beautiful woman, we’ll wear them, ya know? If I haven’t got a woman I can’t have babies anyway, ey?’

Only time will answer the speculation surrounding the issue. Melbourne is unfortunately highly susceptible to the affects of the male skinny jean due to its fashionable sensitivity. Women, if you want a family, find yourself an unfashionable overweight male. 

Matthew Defina
please apply common sense when analysing the truthfulness of the article. The names and quotes used in the article are that of fiction and are not from real people. 

Untitled.

To Irma and Victor
(my grandparents, whom I never met in person but who are constantly present spirits in my life)

A fine silver hair

the old weathered hand

rest delicately on the chair

bore a single band.

As she sat

staring.

He joined her

reflecting.

Her memories vivid

his spirit present

she almost shivered.

endless autumn afternoons

the beauty of nature. 

somewhere along the east coast

When one door closes, several others open. My closed door? Forgetting my DLSR camera for my trip up to Eden to meet with a friend from Sydney. The door that opened; a chance to get back to basics; a disposable film camera.

 

Endless country roads. My trip home was broken up when I picked up a German hitchhiker by the name of Marco! The last few hours of the trip flew with him to chat with. 

anywhere you want it to be

I could tell you where this is but instead, it can be yours. It can be anywhere you want it to be.

Hannah's poem

Round and round the fairy moon,

the fairies caught a beautiful butterfly.

Then the moon died.

No animals got drink, 

nothing got drink.

Then the moon got back to life 

and everything got water.

Then at the end

they all turned into princesses. 

Hannah (edited by Matt)

To the things you can learn from anyone and everyone.

your overexposed!

amazing what you can find lying around the corner...

YOUR OVEREXPOSED!

reminds me of the hey hey its saturday bird. clearly came down pretty badly after the retirement.

the sun is no discriminant of what it warms

just do it

Actions speak louder than words Matt. So get off your blog. Stop your 'musing' or whatever you call it and get out there and change your world. The world. Do what you want now. Today. Tonight. Hell if it's three in the morning do it then! Actually, get a good nights sleep. Stay in bed. BUT! When you wake up, write it down and do it then. Wait, write it down? What am I thinking? Just get up and do it right away. Right then.


Okay, that's a bit unrealistic. But don't put it down on your little 'bucket list' or whatever list you want to call it that includes everything you dream of doing but never really will. Write it down. Plan it. Do it. Enjoy the satisfaction. Tick it off and move onto your next goal. Don't undervalue each achievement but don't put it on a pedestal either. Same with everything in life. Take it as it is. See things as they are. Share love with people and they'll share it with you.


Thanks inner monologue. 

(Photo: Watching Benicassim. Benicassim, Spain. 18 July 2010)

watching on.

(Photo: Watching on. Trull Park, Trull, Somerset, United Kingdom.  5 December 2010)

A different photo that does more justice (I think) to the one below with 'stuff.' 

photograph folio

a work in progress, as is life. 

road tripping with papa bear

Driving back down from Pambula with Papa bear, I happened to have my camera with me to capture some typical Australian landscapes. It's really inspired me to photograph Australia in the next few years as the basis to a road trip. 

Pambula beach.

Butter factory.

Dad's canine daughter, Dixie, aka Boof. She never stops smiling and is always looking for your hand to shake and then pat her. 

Dixie + Diva

big cake or little one?

One of eight newly wed couples in the USA in 2009 met through the Internet. Also according to YouTube video ‘Did you know,’ one in four of us have been at our current job for less than a year and, if Facebook were a country, it would be the third largest in the world at 500 million people. What interested me most in this video though, was that there are 5,000 more words in existence now than when Shakespeare was putting his pen to work.

Our complex method of communication, our language, is one of our defining features as humans. It’s creation and development during the Stone Age was the beginning of our dominant development. Through hundreds of intricate languages we have been able to develop beyond any species present on the planet. But tell me, has our language developed for better or worse?

I wish I lived in Shakespeare’s age. For my writing’s sake that is, nothing else. He had 5,000 fewer words to choose from to create his subtle yet infinitely fundamental pieces of writing. It would have made writing so much easier; less options and variations. Given the large ideas he was trying to convey it’s no wonder he created over 900 of his own words and sayings.

Such creation is continuing in the 21^st century.  However, now words are not just being created but also used in a different manner.  A Shakespeare ‘Tragedy’ usually involved at least a few deaths and acts of incest. Now it can relate to a football players torn hamstring. Being called ‘gay’ is no longer a complement on ones happiness but instead related to being or doing something uncool. Using the word ‘hate’ used to turn heads. Now it’s thrown around haplessly, as if it carries no significant meaning whatsoever.  

LOL, ROFL, O-M-G, FYI and BT-dubs are all seemingly inexplicable acronyms thrown across the coffee tables of Melbourne and England between nearly every teenager. Our language has expanded and yet is being shortened. Our words are losing meaning while our breadth of expression is widening.

The consumer generation is taking hold on English. The exponential enlarging of information on the Internet is due to people’s unbridled license to upload their creative efforts. The number of literate people in Shakespeare’s era was so minor that highly paid jobs existed specifically for those who could simply read and write. Now we exist in an age where I, and millions others like me have our own website. Has this magnification of information, ideas and our language been for better or worse then?

Let’s bake a cake. A chocolate one. It’s only for you and no one else so it needn’t be large. We can buy some of the nicest ingredients and bake a precious little cake. We can enjoy each small bite and appreciate the intricate balance of flavours. Only nowadays, cakes have to be big. Have to contain lots of sugar and decorations. Need an example of the magnification of… everything? Go to the USA.  In fact Americanisation is just down the street. Go check it out.

Back to the cake now. I’m going to bake you a cake. Would you like a big cake that is bland but there is plenty of? Or a small cake that is rich in flavour?

My point in all of this is everything is big now. We have become so accustomed to it that we are desensitised to what it is we are actually consuming. The volume is more of a focus than the flavour. The amount of words we use is now more of a concern than their meaning. The next time you are conversing, think about what you are saying before you say it. Deliberate their meaning. The effect they may have on the person you are speaking with. Most importantly, consider whether what you are saying is what you really want to say. Do you really ‘hate’ your parents? Do you actually think he’s ‘gay’?

Has our language developed for better or worse? It’s developed and that’s the grey area. The meanings of words have changed. Their origin and hence first meaning hasn’t though.

I’d choose a small rich cake any day.

(Photo: 'The Heavens,'  Gothic Quarter, Barcelona, October 2010. Caelum is a Latin word meaning the heavens or sculptors chisel)

early morning ride

New road bike. The Great Ocean Road on my doorstep during the three days I was spending at a close mates beach house. Jacko and I made it an intent of ours to workout consistently while we were down there. David, my stepdad, had told me the best time to ride was early. This suggestion was followed by a chuckle and smile at the fact that I'd never get up early enough to take advantage of the deserted roads. Possibly true!

But no longer, here we are enjoying the views and sea breeze of the Great Ocean Road. Up at 6am, on the road by 6.20, it was a beautiful morning and a stretch of road I couldn't resist photographing. The lake in Anglsea, our destination, was a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. 

Training partner. Brother. Swedish Twin. School mate. Sports team mate. Europe backpacking compatriot. Now beach house host and road bike coach. Jacko.

All below: the Lake in Anglsea

First light, first feed.