Thursday, December 16, 2004
Things I bought while in Perth. I always do a lot of shopping when I'm away (as opposed to the lot of shopping I do in Melbourne!). I am obsessed with the search for local specificity: finding something you'd never find here. Yet I also operate according to parallel logics of buying things as cheaply and in as trashy shops as possible. I have a terrible pattern of finding some teenwear shop and getting excited, and then realising we have them here, except only in those big suburban malls that I hardly ever go to. I was describing my shopping to Mel Gregg as a kind of bricolage. I talked about that in my paper as well. But anyway. Here is what I bought in Perth and surrounds.
1 button badge, hot pink with a pair of dice on it ($2.50), from a $2 shop in Fremantle. This was one of the few tasteful badges available: the rest said stuff like "I like getting raped." Okay, maybe I was paraphrasing. But I really dislike slogan clothing that suggests the sexual availability/promiscuity of the wearer. It's not witty. It's not post-feminist. It's just fucking stupid. Although there was one badge I was considering that said "I dig drunk chicks". And Gemma got a badge that said "For Fox Sake".
1 pair black tailored man-pants ($10), from Good Sammy's op-shop in Fremantle, which I plan to cut off into knee-length shorts for dressy summer occasions. I was inspired by Lucy-from-the-department, who has a great pair of man-shorts she calls her "Boy Scout Shorts". Except she is so little that they're probably actual boy scout shorts. I, however, have to wear Jolly Fat Man Shorts.
1 pair yellow thongs ($2), also from Good Sammy's. I was inspired by Stuart's green thongs, but I thought a) yellow was cheerier, and b) that I didn't want to get green and be a copy-cat.
1 black baseball cap that says "Jimmy Barnes" in red writing on the front ($2), from another op-shop across the road from Good Sammy's. I was worried about turning into one of those stupid Ultra Kid hipsters, but was reassured by the fact that I actually like Jimmy Barnes, from the Cold Chisel days when he had a great voice to the later highs of "Lay Down Your Guns" and "Too Much Ain't Enough Love". But the jury is still out on Soul Deep as well as his recent crazy attempt to appeal to the gay market. And let's not forget, this is the man who bred the Tin Lids.
1 pair faux-crystal drop earrings ($5) from a shop in Perth called Buss. (I think it's meant to be pronounced Buzz, but they looked like S-es.) We were drawn in by the homie hits they were playing: a strange temporal mix from Warren G & Nate Dogg's "Regulate" to Ja Rule's "Wonderful". And there was this one homie hit that sounded really gay: it had a male voice rapping about how he's going to stop doggin' around and appreciate his lover, while another male voice sings about being true to you, etc. It got me thinking about how someone at the conference had pointed to the repressed homoeroticism of hip-hop. I forget who that was. Reminds me of the conversation I had at the last conference about "who's gay in urban music".
1 peacock-green singlet top ($15) from Buss. It was quite low-cut, with those little tailored pouches to put your tits in. You know what I mean. And it was nice and long, with a little gathered bit in the front to hide my disgusting rolls of fat. And so cheap too! Everything in there was dirt cheap, and I probably should have bought some trashy sunglasses too, given that I make this my mission. I was really sad that I couldn't find the foolish reflective 80s ones I bought in Sydney in February. They look like the ones on the cover of Bright Like Neon Love.
3 CDs from an independent store in Perth called 78 Records. Lucy took us there as part of our request to show us the "cool" parts of Perth. These CDs were:
Love Angel Music Baby by Gwen Stefani ($22)
The Handler by Har Mar Superstar ($30)
Loc-ed After Dark by Tone Loc ($10)
I would also have bought something by Goldie Lookin' Chain, but I couldn't remember their name while I was in the store. I blank out like that sometimes. Maybe it's the sheer possibilities of all the CDs available for purchase. One time I had to call Lucy while I was in JB Hi-Fi to tell me that Depeche Mode was the band whose CD I was looking for.
1 button badge, hot pink with a pair of dice on it ($2.50), from a $2 shop in Fremantle. This was one of the few tasteful badges available: the rest said stuff like "I like getting raped." Okay, maybe I was paraphrasing. But I really dislike slogan clothing that suggests the sexual availability/promiscuity of the wearer. It's not witty. It's not post-feminist. It's just fucking stupid. Although there was one badge I was considering that said "I dig drunk chicks". And Gemma got a badge that said "For Fox Sake".
1 pair black tailored man-pants ($10), from Good Sammy's op-shop in Fremantle, which I plan to cut off into knee-length shorts for dressy summer occasions. I was inspired by Lucy-from-the-department, who has a great pair of man-shorts she calls her "Boy Scout Shorts". Except she is so little that they're probably actual boy scout shorts. I, however, have to wear Jolly Fat Man Shorts.
1 pair yellow thongs ($2), also from Good Sammy's. I was inspired by Stuart's green thongs, but I thought a) yellow was cheerier, and b) that I didn't want to get green and be a copy-cat.
1 black baseball cap that says "Jimmy Barnes" in red writing on the front ($2), from another op-shop across the road from Good Sammy's. I was worried about turning into one of those stupid Ultra Kid hipsters, but was reassured by the fact that I actually like Jimmy Barnes, from the Cold Chisel days when he had a great voice to the later highs of "Lay Down Your Guns" and "Too Much Ain't Enough Love". But the jury is still out on Soul Deep as well as his recent crazy attempt to appeal to the gay market. And let's not forget, this is the man who bred the Tin Lids.
1 pair faux-crystal drop earrings ($5) from a shop in Perth called Buss. (I think it's meant to be pronounced Buzz, but they looked like S-es.) We were drawn in by the homie hits they were playing: a strange temporal mix from Warren G & Nate Dogg's "Regulate" to Ja Rule's "Wonderful". And there was this one homie hit that sounded really gay: it had a male voice rapping about how he's going to stop doggin' around and appreciate his lover, while another male voice sings about being true to you, etc. It got me thinking about how someone at the conference had pointed to the repressed homoeroticism of hip-hop. I forget who that was. Reminds me of the conversation I had at the last conference about "who's gay in urban music".
1 peacock-green singlet top ($15) from Buss. It was quite low-cut, with those little tailored pouches to put your tits in. You know what I mean. And it was nice and long, with a little gathered bit in the front to hide my disgusting rolls of fat. And so cheap too! Everything in there was dirt cheap, and I probably should have bought some trashy sunglasses too, given that I make this my mission. I was really sad that I couldn't find the foolish reflective 80s ones I bought in Sydney in February. They look like the ones on the cover of Bright Like Neon Love.
3 CDs from an independent store in Perth called 78 Records. Lucy took us there as part of our request to show us the "cool" parts of Perth. These CDs were:
Love Angel Music Baby by Gwen Stefani ($22)
The Handler by Har Mar Superstar ($30)
Loc-ed After Dark by Tone Loc ($10)
I would also have bought something by Goldie Lookin' Chain, but I couldn't remember their name while I was in the store. I blank out like that sometimes. Maybe it's the sheer possibilities of all the CDs available for purchase. One time I had to call Lucy while I was in JB Hi-Fi to tell me that Depeche Mode was the band whose CD I was looking for.
