Write on...

Today I have been feeling fairly productive with my writing - I have begun work on some new projects and resurrected some old ones.

However, I did just take the thought that I had not written anything for my Masters or for my job, which are probably more important than these tasks. It's the weekend however, and these are the "on the side" projects, which I am hoping will grow and grow.

I am not going to post the links to them at the moment, because they are not ready - some are active, but not ready.

Anyhow - yesterday we went to an event, where some guys from Tumblr came along and talked to some artists about using Tumblr to spread their creativity. What I was even doing there is a good question - but I tagged along as Francisca was representing the architecture and design firm she works for.

I asked quite a few questions, as I do already use Tumblr, but I was interested particularly in using it for I Love Chile and for creating some things to promote footbag. So in my mind, I was thinking these projects as we talked. The first is quite simple - and I have set it up already. It is simply sharing information about freestyle footbag.

The footbag community has really not done a good job of promoting itself with the social media platforms that are already available. I am hoping this will change it - and also give a voice from within the community, but give it a worldwide voice.

The second (well, third if you count I Love Chile), will be something I think has a huge amount of potential if other people start submitting regularly. The concept will be quite open: South American Freestyle. This will be a mix of "extreme" or "freestyle" sports, pictures, videos, interviews, events, whatever. The key will be it will be all about South America. So either the action happening in South America, or South Americans making the action happen elsewhere.

The key to this is maybe some rich companies will come along and find some cool stuff they want to have as part of their event, then maybe they will get me to be a part of the event and give me lots of money... after all, you never know your luck.

Next week I am going to head to the IV region to check them starting work on a new telescope - they are going to make a big explosion and it's going to apparently be a game changer for astronomy. That could be an adventure anyway...I've never been to the north of Santiago and haven't really gone too far south, so I think it's time to change all that.

I would like to buy a camera too...it's something I've been planning for a while, but haven't seen anything really catch my eye for the right price. I don't want anything special, just something I can take a few snaps with, and something portable - but not with the low resolution of my phone.

Opeth are playing in Chile in a couple of weeks...At The Gates in a few months, and Soilwork too...plenty to be excited about.

We are having our housewarming tonight which should be some good fun. I will try and keep up to date with my new projects and let you know how they all go. Let's see what happens...

Universidad de Chile 2- Vasco de Gamma 0

Last night I went and met up with a French guy, Julien. I met him at the hostel last year in Canberra. I'm pretty sure he was wearing a Ruiner shirt or something, so we got talking. I can't remember exactly but I think we went to see I Exist play, maybe with The Abandonment. I think Antti, one of the Finnish guys I made good friends with also came that day.

Anyway, Julien is travelling in South America now, he's been in Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia and now in Chile. We met up and got some dinner first. Of course it was some kind of sandwich variety. I tried to mix it up a bit, and should have learned from the last time, to just go for one of the usual options. This one wasn't too bad- but the previous time, I ordered what was basically a gherkin sandwich, I bit into, thinking it was covered in melted cheese- but that was actually artichoke- I hate artichoke.

This time around in was something like ham, Camembert cheese and a couple of other things. I also thought it would be a hot sandwich, but wrong again. No big deal though, it was cool to hang out and talk about our respective travels. He went to the World Cup last year in South Africa. I am going to try and go for sure in Brazil, maybe even try and get some kind of job on it.

So I told him there was The Match on last night- La U were playing with Vasco de Gamma from Brazil. We walked around a while, and I was actually surprised not to come across more places. We ended up going to the area around the street Suecia, which is mainly for gringos- we went to a place around the corner a bit, but there were actually no gringos to be fan, just abajos, the fans of La U- the underdogs.

This was the semi final, second leg of the Copa Sudamericana. The first leg in Brazil was 1-1. We were talking earlier about how teams, national teams, like Brazil and Argentina are on their way down- it's becoming much more even through South America, and it seems to be similar for clubs. I think normally you would think "team from Brazil vs team from Chile, Brazil will win. Not the case this time.

I thought Vasco de Gamma looked pretty solid to begin with, they had some good long passes that went straight to the blokes down the front- but then they took a free kick which practically went out of the stadium, and the fortunes changed from there.

La U went in with a 1-0 lead in the first half, the first goal was greeted with a mild celebration, but with one of the Vasco players receiving a red card for an elbow to the face, which looked more like it belonged in UFC, rather than on the field, it was time for azul to put the finishing touches on. I had remarked earlier that our UFC fighter, number 23, had looked like he had packed it in earlier in the game. The ball went out, he didn't chase it at all- and the TV zoomed in on his scowl on the face, which said "I hate losing, I want to go home". So he took the early exit, and La U scored practically immediately afterwards, capitalising on his absence down the left wing.

One noticable difference to the TV coverage was that when the goals were scored, there was no GGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOLLLLLLLLLLLLL. The commentators just stayed silent, probably knowing the crowds around the TV would be celebrating.

And straight after that goal, most of the people in the pub got up to the feet, raised their fists in the air and shouted-

CHI CHI CHI, LE LE LE, UNIVERSIDAD DE CHILE!!!!

The game was as good as over by then, though Vasco had a couple of shots on goal, there was no comeback on the cards. U de Chile were through to the finals for the first time ever, everybody clapped at the television.

I walked home, which takes about 45 minutes. All through the city you could hear horns honking to the tune of (Chi Chi Chi, Le Le Le). Not just for the walk home, but of course, throughout the night.

Parkway Drive- Club 334, Santiago de Chile

I have seen a fair few videos on Youtube of the Parkway Drive show a couple of nights ago- I think it is imperative to see them in another country- particularly one that doesn't speak English to see just how big they have become.

It's all well and good to play the big festivals, but a real test is to play in a country that speaks a different language, for the first time, and from what I could see, not a lot of advertising. Dad said he saw some advertising for their show in Argentina, but I definitely did not see any at all for the show here. It was similar when we saw Machine Head and Sepultura, I only saw any advertisements about one block away from the venue.

Funnily enough, the two different venues were only a couple of blocks away, on the same street. I guess that is a bit of poor form, we've been here for a month and only seen two shows, both of "big" bands. What was really weird though, at both shows is that there were no supports- I made a comment to someone that Parkway Drive would never had got anywhere if it weren't for some generous bands giving them a hand over the years- particularly with support slots. For me it has been a bit of a weird feeling- I'm getting old enough where I really don't care about the other bands and just want to get straight to the point, however I've just arrived in a foreign land, I want to check out some new bands, and international supports are often a great way to find out about a new band- as they are usually somewhere around the cream of the crop.

The video above (I didn't film it), it may make you feel a bit dizzy, but I think it shows exactly what the show was all about- apart from the inflatable beach balls, boats, crocodiles, but in general- flips off the speakers, everybody knowing all the worlds, and kids generally going crazy.

I do say kids, because most of the crowd seemed fairly young. It must be a weird feeling for Parkway Drive to turn up each night in somewhere far away from home, Serbia, China, tonight they play in Ecuador, and have the whole crowd screaming back at them- amazing to think about really, how a gang of surfer bums from Byron Bay could come so far, playing this aggressive style of music.

I had a lot of fun at the show, and I really hope they tour in South America again while we are still here- maybe they could bring some mates like Break Even and/or I Exist, now that would be a very fun show.

Capital Lies

So in the past few weeks I have been dwelling on our upcoming departure from Australia, and thinking of doing some kind of zine for the occasion. Of course, time is almost up, and I just have a blank page, and many more things to do, so there will be no farewell issue of the zine.

That's not to say there won't be any more issues though. I will probably do some more, from Chile, I haven't decided if I will keep the Capital Eyes thread running. I plan on making a zine about the adventures in South America of an Aussie Gringo, called Grassy Arse. (geddit...) I might even think about doing a podcast, but first things first, I'm going to get myself settled down over on the other side of the ocean.

We only have 3 days left in Sydney. Our time in Canberra finished earlier this week, we finally picked up one of those elusive $15 tickets on the bus. Got to see a lot of our friends, but of course you can't see everyone you plan on seeing.

Have already managed to catch up with quite a few friends, talk about the old days, etc and I have almost booked myself out for the next couple of days, so of course I will need to find some time to pack too. Busy times ahead in the next few days.