APSA 2006... and other news

Writing from my room in the apartment in Newcastle - so far this conference has been a blast.

Nowhere near as boring as academic conferences are made out to be - in fact, not boring in the slightest. Met brilliant people - heard some great ideas and some not-so-great ones... ate great food and drank some good wine. No complaints so far.

The apartments are brilliant - here's some pics of my little room and the night view from my window - sorry for the poor quality taken from my mobile.







Gave my paper this moring, and that was great fun. There were about 20 people in the room - double what I'd expected - and had some great advice and discussions coming out of it. Also, met some other Melb Uni postgrads - there's five of us here - so that's been brilliant. We bonded at M.J. Finnegans, which appears to be Newcastle's pumping hot spot. Nothign like an irish pub to bring politics academics out of their rooms for a drink.

And in other news...

New Ray album is an absolute cracker. Quiet, brilliant with moments of pain and moments of beauty. Love every moment esp. 'Can I Stay'- can't wait till he tours it... and speaking of tours. Upcoming tix in my possession:

Joan as Policewoman @Northcote Social Club
Laura Album Launch @ Corner
Kate Miller-Heidke @ Northcote Social Club
Teddy Thompson @ Corner
U2 @ Telstra Dome
Mountain Goats @ Corner

Feel free to join us - so far these gigs are being attended by a mixture of Adrew, Miss Lin the Munchkin and me...

I'll rejoin the state on Thursday in time for Joan, and the Storm's [fingers crossed] victory in the first-ever all inter-state NRL Grand Final. C'mon Storm!