we went to the auckland zoo. we weren't able to see all the animals as some were not in their exhibit (damn tigers!) but we did manage to get it all done in 4 hours. i was able to see some new zealand animals, such as the kiwi and tuatara, which was cool.

strange little blue penguin

gorgeous nepalese red panda

quite inquisitive emu

meerkat1: please sir, can i have some more?
meerkat2: no flash photography!

saw a flyer a couple days ago for a free show in auckland to see le tigre and the donnas. both are performing at big day out but i figure if i get to see le tigre now, then i can watch another band at big day out. there's several stages performing at the same time so if i want to maximize, might as well see le tigre now, and on a small stage. we get there and it was actually a television taping for top of the pops. we almost didn't get in. the place was packed. you had to be on the list. you got on the list by emailing them earlier. we waited. they were kind and started to pack us in. they let in about 10. we wait. they let in another 10. we get in! we were in the back for the donnas. then got up in front for le tigre, so hey, i might be on kiwi tv on saturday. no cameras allowed but i had to sneak one in, you know, for skullblog!

"suck my left one!"

it was interesting to attend a tv taping. all the fuckups, both by the host and technical issues...we watched the donnas play the same song 3 times. then they played 1 more. then le tigre played the same song 2 times. that was it. i don't know the names of the songs, just that the main ones were singles. the single that the donnas played wasn't bad, (they sounded so much better in that little room than at lollapalooza), but as they were playing their second song, i realized what their weakness is: vocals. if the vocals could only be more dynamic, more powerful, they could really go somewhere. they're still very young though--we'll see what happens.

too bad le tigre only played one song. i wanted to check out more of their music. they didn't hang around to say hi either like the donnas did and i didn't want to bother hanging around for them. the female restroom was right by the exit area for the band so i said fuck it, i'll say something to the donnas. after all, gotta support ucsc slugs. so i asked the drummer which one of them went to ucsc and she named the 2 (bassist and guitarist i think). then the bassist asked if i liked 'the happy slug cafe' and i was a bit puzzled and just said it was ok. after all, all college food is just ok. then she said 'porter college' and i realized she meant the damn HUNGRY slug cafe, not HAPPY.