We’re getting slack keeping this blog up to date sorry. Besides romping around the Caribbean seas with a knife in one hand and a bottle of rum in the other, we’ve been busy making these little movies (here’s two in one go for you BAM!) and doing other fun stuff including writing for Whiteboard which is the Rushfaster blog. Go read it!

OK, so i’m pretty sure that nobody reads this blog (and rightfully so, we are pretty drab at the best of times,) but IF you do, and you would like to see the next leg of our quest for world domination, then click the play button below and marvel at our amateur film making skills in AMAZING technicolor©

As you can see we have been keeping a bit of a vlog of our travels, and therefore neglecting the blog in a sense. Either way, the videos are kinda fun to make but take up most of our spare time. You know, when we ain’t sippin cocktails out of coconuts and shit.

As you’ll see, we’ve been busy. Well by busy, we mean busy travelling Mexico. It is a particularly fine specimen of a country, but I’m sure you already knew that.

Here is Part Two: Mexico

Newtown based Metal/Post-hardcore/Progressive band Arteries have just dropped their much anticipated debut track, Memento. Listen to it twice, not only is it epic, it is also abrasive and catchy as hell! If you like what you hear, you can catch them at their first ever show at the Annandale Hotel on the 25th of November for what will be, no doubt, a raucous and memorable evening.

You may, or may not, have noticed that DAA has been rather quiet over the past couple of months. There are two main reasons: one we were hacked, hence the different layout; and two we are currently making our way around the world. We packed in our jobs and started our travels in the good ol’ US of A. We have been documenting our trip using the great Sony HX9V Cyber-shot and figured it (hopefully) should be more exciting than reading about it.

We bring you Part One: The USA.

Usually it takes someone walking too slowly in front of me at the tube station to really rile me up, but I’ll have to admit, these London riots are just the teensiest bit irritating, and not only because the constant sirens outside my window keep making me lose my train of thought.

The thing that I can’t wrap my tiny squirrel brain around is what it is that is making these people believe in what they are doing. Seems to me, that unless Mark Duggan, the 29 year old father of four who was killed, allegedly by a police officer last Thursday was some kind of fighter for peace, freedom or civil rights for the masses, these riots are seemingly completely purposeless. In spite of the Duggan family publicly admonishing any person who would commit acts of violence or crime in the name of their son and brother, the initial unrest in the man’s local area is almost understandable. Almost. Perhaps the people committing these acts of destruction and violence knew the deceased well and were inconsolably distressed by his death, to the point of inciting riot. It’s not too far-fetched.  I can deal with this. I don’t really believe it, but hooded rioters, this I will give you. But fuck. What has gone on in all four corners of London, and even in all four corners of England since then, just isn’t cool.

Since the first night of unrest in Tottenham, the conflagration, thievery and violence is entirely without justifiable cause. Now don’t get me wrong, I like setting fires as much as the next guy, and we all did a bit of shoplifting in high school, maybe even some petty thuggery, but this goes beyond that. To justify the violence, destruction and total disregard for human life that has been displayed in London over the past four days, I would have thought there would have needed to be evidence of some pretty severe breaches of human or civil rights or political or social justice.  But there hasn’t. A life was lost, and that is always a sad thing. However, it does not justify lawlessness.

In history, there have been all sorts of reasons behind riots, whether these were reasonable motives like response to mass political murders or unreasonable motives like racism, generally there has been at least some motive behind riots and extreme disorder.

The riots that are happening all over England as I write this seem to be motivated by nothing more than rioting for the sake of rioting. With a strong emphasis on the looting aspect of the operation. Yes, the people have realised that it’s way easier to get what you want by just smashing and grabbing. (I’ve always had an inkling, but kept it to myself).  Now I’m going to assume that at least some of these rioters were aware of the joys of break-in and theft prior to the riots. It’s a reasonable assumption; surely they can’t all be classifiable in the ‘moron or below’ intelligence bracket. So basically we have a bunch of people who’ve always known that smashing shop windows and stealing the goods inside was a great way of getting new things, but who also, prior to these past few days have refrained from doing so.  What’s changed? Other people they know are doing it. It has become, in their circles at least, both acceptable and more importantly, possible. To me, this is gutlessness to a tee.

I’ve been hearing ‘experts’ and youth workers and any dickhead who manages to get his head in front of a camera bang on for 2 days about the ‘disenfranchised youth’, about the high unemployment levels and about poverty stricken families from poverty stricken areas. BULLSHIT. These people have no idea what it is to be poor. And it’s evident in their actions. These people aren’t stealing food for their starving families; they’re stealing huge fuck-off plasma TV’s and video games, all on the back of one death that I probably have more information about. They’re not poor, they’re not disenfranchised, they’re undisciplined, greedy opportunists. In this humble reporters opinion.

England is a country with such a thriving welfare system that is nearly impossible to live in real poverty.  Way to repay the government’s generosity guys.  It will be interesting to watch over the next few days to what extent these riots and destruction will flourish or be quelled, but for now all I have to say, in the immortal words of Derryn Hinch, is Shame, shame, shame.

OK, it’s in Melbourne but if you are around that part of the world make sure you don’t miss the closing event for the Everfresh residency this Friday the 8th July at NGV studio, located at Federation Square.

Some of the cities best street artists have been busy creating a bunch of solid new works, including the Graff Mobile (pictured), which was created especially for the NGV residency. So go check it out!

We happened to come upon a pretty awesome (not to mention hilarious) video a few days ago, affably named Vegan Black Metal Chef, a guy who does an online-type vegan cooking show in full Black Metal make up and many odd accessories (he has a knife collection our dear friend Das Snuggler would be rather envious of!).

So this guy makes vegan dishes and delivers them to the tune of his own music and lyrics/ingredients/method – all metal. The funny thing is, the dishes look awesome! What seemed at first a gimmick, now looks like a legitimate recipe. So we decided we’d have to give one of them a whirl. Pad Thai it is!

We’ve deciphered his black metal screaming into a list of ingredients and a somewhat normal process for cooking to see what we ended up with.

Ingredients
Tofu (silken)
Bean sprout
Tomato
Peanuts (unsalted)
Peanut Butter
Garlic (4 cloves)
Garlic powder
Sriracha (Thai hot sauce)
Chilli powder
Shallots (green onion) 4 or 5 stalks
Sugar
Salt
Rice Noodles
Coriander (cilantro)
Tamarind paste (or tamarind soup base)
Lime
Vinegar
Peanut oil/canola oil

Preparation
1. Break the rice noodles into a bowl of water to soak, set aside.
2. Cut the tofu into triangles, cover with two paper towels, press the water out of the tofu by putting pot or tray filled with heavy stuff over the top, set aside.
3. Crush unsalted peanuts into a chunky powder by putting in plastic (sandwich) bag and smash with rolling pin or something heavy

Sauce
1. Put sugar (one cup?) peanuts (1/2 cup), tamarind (3 tablespoons) salt (big pinches), garlic powder (big pinches),  two tablespoon of chili powder then fill bowl with water, a couple of cms over the ingredients
2. Add vinegar and sriacha and stir until mixed
3. Add grated or minced garlic into the sauce, add big handful of of coriander and stir.
4. Add peanut butter, roughly two even tablespoons or one big heaped one

Cooking
1. Chop the tomato into chunks
2. Cut the shallots into small stalks
3. Take the paper off the tofu and put tofu into peanut or canola oil and deep/shallow fry
4. cook the tomato in oil until softish, add shallots and bean sprouts and cook for one minute, then add the tofu
5. Add the sauce to the pot, stir, and then add the rice noodles, turn heat up to high,  and keep stirring for 6 minutes (until water is gone and mix is thick, you will see steam)

Serve with peanuts, bean sprouts and limes. Mmm.

We have now tried and tested this recipe, and it really is “fucking awesome,” just like the VBMC says. The only alterations we will make next time we cook it – yep, we’ll make it again – will be to use less sugar and to try a little harder to find (and use) the Sriracha sauce, our local supermarket didn’t have it so we used extra chilli powder and a touch of tabasco.

Tucked discreetly out of the way, just a street behind our current HQ in Newtown, or a short stroll from either Redfern or Macdonaldtown stations lies the Eveleigh CarriageWorks. The CarriageWorks, is an abandoned train workshop that was renovated a few years back and now hosts numerous events such as the TED forum, art exhibitions, Masterchef, and in this instance, our local markets.

This weekend saw the bi-annual Finders Keepers art and design markets combine with the weekly Eveleigh Growers Market.

A flurry of colour & expression in every direction, the Finders Keepers boasts a young, excited energy that showcases our most talented up & coming creatives selling their wares and networking with other like minds.

The Eveleigh Growers is, in our opinion, probably the best way to grab a Saturday morning recovery coffee & porridge and do a spot of fresh/exotic produce hunting to take home  for a yummo Saturday arvo cook up.

The sights, smells, sounds & atmosphere of these coinciding events are enough to leave a smile on your face all day, so we thought we would bring the camera along this time to share it with those who couldn’t make it.

The Eveleigh Growers/Finders Keepers double is fast becoming an inner Sydney institution (well twice a year anyway…)