Our great aunt, the ABC, celebrates her 75th birthday this weekend. If she had skin and bones, I imagine she’d be fully engaged with life: an early riser, avid reader, gardener, cook and adventurer still, with a sharp mind and quick wit. She’d have a vivid history, been a greenie before it was cool, have travelled the world, practiced arts, moved with revolutionaries and dignitaries and have more hidden talents than wrinkles. She’d listen to LPs and vodcasts and frequent the theatre. She’d delve often into her suitcase of stories, sharing wisdom and poetry around like salt and pepper. She can be trusted more than most. She’s been there for me, from Playschool, The Wombles and Mr Squiggle, to Doctor Who, The Goodies, D-Generation, The Late Show and Rage (can you believe the little tacker just turned 20?). She’s schooled me with Behind the News, Media Watch and The 7.30 Report. More recently, she’s given us Triple J, Kath and Kim, Australian Story, The Glasshouse, Enough Rope, Spicks and Specks and The Chaser’s War on Everything. Tomorrow she’s welcoming us into her living room, throwing open the doors of every major studio around the country. The feisty old girl will also take to Riverstage, with live broadcasts and entertainment from Blue King Brown, a couple of Chaser lads and the Scared Weird Little Guys, amongst others. Happy birthday ABC.
Monthly Archive for June, 2007
Tshirts often reveal something about us - things we think are cool, bands we love and things we find funny. Tshirts can be conversation starters, and Reactee are encouraging even more conversations by combining Tshirts and interactive SMS messaging. Only available in the US, the idea is that people create Tshirts printed with a personal slogan that is linked to a keyword and a message. If you see someone with a shirt, and intrigued enough by them or their slogan, you SMS their keyword and get a reply that reveals their message (which can be updated) . It suggest themes like Environment, Politics, Technology, Sports, Humour, Business, Community, World etc – but really the slogan and message could cover anything you want. These Tshirts are used as marketing tool for organizations and products - for example, you could put “Don’t Let Dreams Fade” on a shirt and people SMSing the keyword, could get Map Magazine’s details as a reply. They are also used to raise awareness about causes, connect people of similiar interests, or simply used to entice random conversation. Just might be cheaper to talk to the person rather than SMS, but at least if conversations start the shirts are ’successful’.
Bobby Flynn, last year’s most enigmatic Australian Idol contestant stunned TV audiences with his sensitive voice and brave song choices. In a competition all about winning and losing, Bobby’s philosophical go-with-the-flow attitude turned the show on its head. His presence also attracted a whole new crowd of watchers who tuned in with critical interest, and probably never admitted they did so. Now the thoughtful troubadour is touring the country, following his path, learning the life of the road and learning new things about himself. I know cos he told me. I’ve known him for years as a friend and a musician and his reputation for being both in an inspiring way well preceded his Idol days. I suspect it was his very openness and honesty as a person, so present in his songs, that intrigued the judges the most. Continue reading ‘the same old bobby’
And suddenly you’re writing with the intention of an Antarctic breeze. Emails are the new phone call. I estimate I spend half of my day reading, writing and re-writing emails. That’s why when one, a mile long comes in after hours from the West, you can treat it like a book and read without the pressure of your response. This particular email came from a friend who has been living in Geraldton, Western Australia for the past two years. He has been living in a four bedroom house, with his partner (now fiancée), about two blocks from deserted sand dunes and the big blue. He recently proposed to his girl, at sunset on these dunes and is now eyeing off returning to ACT and then to a very special place to host a wedding for friends and family, and get married, for each other.
Continue reading ‘of dunes and sunsets an email came my way.’
A magical riff chills you to the bone. A voice sends shivers dancing along your skin. A melodic phrase takes your thoughts to places you haven’t yet been able to express, and things begin to make more sense in the most euphoric and empowering way. Catching the tail end of a neverheardbefore song on the radio which renders you immobile, one foot out of the car, one hand still on the gear stick, as you pause reverently to hear the name of the artist who has crafted such a tune… these are the songs I live for.
For all the times you’ve walked down the street with a certain rhythm in your step as you hear Bittersweet Symphony in your head, for all the kisses you’ve stolen at the exact moment Frou Frou crescendos to powerful new heights, for all the times you felt certain your life had a soundtrack, this is the cd for you. Few songs will arrest me enough to have me purchasing the cd without hearing more, but hearing To Build A Home a few months ago did just that. The Cinematic Orchestra presents a soundtrack to a movie that doesn’t even exist, providing a unity rarely felt in a cd because every song is actually supposed to sound similar, whilst reflecting different moods. The album, titled Ma Fleur moves through various contemplative stages of life in a gentle and empowering way, as your thoughts slide alongside the smooth melody to places you may not always reach.
Continue reading ‘a rose among the daisies’
This image is one of the first photos Adam Sebastian West posted on this site when he joined the Street Editors crew earlier in the year and it has stuck in my mind ever since, (a) because I can’t for the life of me figure out what it is of, and (b) because it is so very beautiful. This Friday 29 June from 6:30-8:30pm, I’ll be able to get closer to this image to see it in the flesh (it’s lifelike!) when Adam opens his Emotive Light photographic exhibition at the new Substation 4 Art Space at 22 Petrie Terrace, Spring Hill. His exhibition will offer an exploration of movement, light and emotion, and I guess that’s the perfect way to describe the ethereal moment he has captured. Aside from laying eyes on this and other of his works, I’m also intrigued to see the opening of the Substation 4 Art Space because this city can only benefit from more independent and professionally run creative spaces. Resident curator and space manager, Cate Brown, will curate exhibitions in the ground floor space, which is dedicated to showing new work by Queensland artists. Cate and the team supporting SS4 are setting themselves the admirable goal of demonstrating what an artist run space can look like in terms of interesting programming, quality exhibitions, solid exhibition design and general professionalism. Up to eight exhibitions are planned for each year, with the second exhibition, Ladies First, held in August to showcase the next generation of Australian female artists. Pop in to this Friday evening’s opening to see Adam’s work and the gallery for yourself.
The DESIGN 21: Social Design Network brings together designers to inspire social activism and find solutions to social and global issues. Partnered with UNESCO it is based on the premise that education, science, technology, culture and communication are tools to spread knowledge and information, build awareness and foster dialogue. It runs a series of competitions, and at the moment you can view and vote for 3 design competitions- 1) Heated Issue: Awareness campaigns to educate the public on the issue of global warming; 2) Child’s Play: Objects that encourages children to cultivate their own imagination and creativity and 3) ShelterMe: Temporary emergency shelter for deployment in a natural disaster
Continue reading ‘design 21′
Organic fair trade chocolate. Green and Black’s sources organic cocoa beans direct from growers for their exquisite range of chocolate bars, hot chocolate, biscuits and cocoa confections. They also have the proud distinction of producing the world’s first product to carry the Fairtrade mark – Maya Gold Chocolate, an intense dark chocolate mixed with orange, cinnamon, nutmeg and vanilla (which goes down mighty fine with a drop of Baileys). The product is made with cocoa grown by Maya Indian farmers in southern Belize who are assured a fair price for their crops. Green and Blacks has gone one step further and established a long-term contract to buy all the cocoa these growers can produce, providing them with security for a better life. The company also actively works to build the capacity of the Toledo Cocoa Growers Association, assisting some of the poorest people in Belize. It’s all heartening news for chocoholics, whose collective appetite indirectly fuels an industry marred by child labour. If you ever needed a reason to indulge your sweet tooth, this is it.
If you’re in need of a five minute creative distraction, give your page down key a workout and check out some cool graphics at the world’s longest visual website. Visuals of the World is an experiment in democratic design collaboration, with contributed images stitched together vertically. In apparent affront to principles of good web design, the web page comes in at over 15,000 centimetres long. Most of the contributions are from the design realm, and some of it is outright self-promotion, but the concept is kind of interesting. Check it out and decide for yourself. Now all it needs is a soundrack…
One, indulging the current fashion passion for boots and stockings (it’s a girl thing). Two, the start of the whale-watching season. Three, getting tickets to Powderchair. Four, the festivals are coming to town. Five, breakfast fry-ups of swiss brown mushrooms and organic scrambled eggs on toasted dark rye bread, all from the wonderful West End markets. Six, the Powerhouse is back. Seven, welcoming back the rain by shopping for a new umbrella/pot plants/rain-water tank. Eight, dinner with friends at Caravanserai, where the air is thick with laughter and diners are treated to a hip-shaking bellydancing show. Nine, spending Sunday afternoon in your favourite chair with a big roaring glass of red and Alexis Wright’s Miles Franklin winning Carpentaria. Ten, jumping in the car to experience the bracing cold of the Granite Belt, where real winter resides.
Resource libraries in architecture and interior design firms are flooded with over 700,000 carpet samples every year. What can you do with these carpet samples when you don’t need them anymore? Ample Sample challenged designers to “rethink, reuse and upcycle” carpet samples into interior products such as functional fixtures and furniture. The finalists included chairs, wall partition, magazine caddy, handbag and a wine carrier. The winner was “Rugburn” a colourful lounge chair using 42 rolled carpet tiles. The different diameters of rolled tiles creates different comfort densities (the tighter the tiles are rolled the harder the chair is) and ergonomics determines where the rolls were located.
The desire to help when a crisis hits is a feeling most of us are familiar with. Scenes of natural disasters, civil unrest, war and famine are beamed into our lives every day, but the problems often seem so far away, leaving us feeling helpless to do anything about it. Two inspirational young Australians Hayley Maynard and Jess Brown found a way to directly help the communities affected by the Boxing Day tsunami. They went to Sri Lanka. Through word of mouth, the cousins; one a journalist, one a photographer; put their hands up to go to Sri Lanka to help.Talalla Bay, a small village in the south of Sri Lanka was blessed with the undivided attention of Hayley, Jess and a group of three others who set up a charity and spent months restoring the community. They hit the ground running; clearing the village, helping families assess the damages and rebuilding the communities by employing locals and creating opportunities for them to make a living again.
floating land
The Noosa Regional Gallery recently hosted Floating Land- a combination of interactive art events, workshops, exhibitions and sunset suppers. Exploring ‘Light in Nature’, artists went to work creating a myriad of installations within the Noosa Shire. Certainly for me the most spectacular of these events was ‘Firings By The Lake’. Artists and Sculptors worked for days constructing wood ,paper and clay kilns built on the water of Lake Cootharaba. The kilns were lit just before sunset as hundreds of people gathered on the shore to witness this beautiful and mystical event.
Wire coat hangers are good for many things, like hanging up faux fur coats, opening locked car doors, and making giant bubble wands but, aside from all its cheerful usefulness, the trusty wire coat hanger has a darker side. First invented by Albert J. Parkhouse in 1803, the wire coat hanger is one of the least biodegradable items in the world and in America is contributing to an eco-nightmare with 3.5billion hangers tossed into landfills each year. An American advertiser has invented an alternative coat hanger, the EcoHanger, that is being touted as an ‘everyone’s a winner’ scenario. EcoHangers are made from 100 per cent recycled paper materials in American factories that adhere to regulations of fair pay for workers and low carbon emission standards. Advertisers pay to splash their branding all over the hangers and dry cleaning companies receive the EcoHangers for free (rather than paying the previous 8cent fee per hanger). The only potential loser in the scenario, in my humble opinion, is the consumer who is subliminally bombarded with yet another advertising message but, for the good of the planet, I’m sure ethical consumers will cheer on other countries to follow the American lead and ‘just do it’.
Cities are getting smarter, realising that ‘being green’ is not just an environmental imperative but it’s a competitive advantage. It sets them apart, makes them work better and influences why people choose to live there or why businesses invest there.
The 10 greenest cities in the US and the good things they’ve been doing include - Continue reading ‘greenest cities’
“We hope this music will bring an awareness of human rights to a new generation. After all, human rights are what make music possible — we wouldn’t be able to create music, listen to it or dance to it without freedom of speech, expression, and association.”
These words, spoken by Irene Khan, Secretary General of Amnesty International, sum up beautifully the strength and intention behind their latest campaign to raise awareness of the current human rights crisis in the Darfur region of Sudan. Over 30 of the world’s most brilliant musicians of this generations have come together to produce a double cd named Make Some Noise, containing their versions of songs by one of the most influential and amazing musicians of the last century - John Lennon - to be released in late June.
While a lot of the songs on Lennon’s back catalogue may be unrecognisable to the younger members of our society, names like Matisyahu, Regina Spektor, Snow Patrol, Lenny Kravitz, REM, U2, The Postal Service and Australia’s Eskimo Joe (to name a few) will make the connection between music and generation that will bring this cd to the forefront, no doubt. Continue reading ‘making noise for darfur’
I had high hopes of Lismore’s lantern parade, a winter solstice celebration of light and paper art which this year included an untimely guest: rain, and lots of it. Arriving early, I was happy to don my raincoat and explore this stout blue-collar town, usually outshined by its arty neighbours. The Mecca Café, an ironically named American-style diner, proclaimed, in un-American style, ‘life’s too short for bad coffee’. I savoured my strong flat white while watching a banjo band, complete with snare drum and brushes, turn the wet street into a knee-slapping good time. The street entertainers soldiered on through the drizzle. PJ the knife juggler elicited a raucous response from the crowd, culminating in his whip trick where he decapitated a stuffed koala which had been holding a cigarette, ostensibly the target. Round the corner I found The Chocolate Bar, whose couverture fineries included iconic regional flavours like Bundaberg rum, Queensland pineapples and local staples, macadamia nuts and honey. The rain and irony continued as I sheltered in Noah’s Arc (yes, really), one of those quaint bookstores that sucks you into a time warp and spits you out, much later, with a dazed look and an armful of goodies. Proper coffee, real chocolate, quirky bookstore… Lismore is shaping up well. When the parade rolled around, I was all arms and dropped raincoats as I wrestled with my tripod and tried to keep my camera dry. The family next to me proffered a spare umbrella. The brolly had great karma. Continue reading ‘raining aardvarks and zebras’
There’s a fun Lego-like quality to these large-scale milk crate artworks seen around Melbourne. They are created by the mysterious Sam, Jerome, Ed and Gab. Located near freeways and train lines, these works play with the everyday experiences of passing commuters. I like public art that subverts built forms, and art that can make you smile is even better (I mean Crate Tetris on a freeway noise wall is funny!) . This is just one of the many street art works (both legal and illegal) featured on the hip Wooster Collective.
With Friday night approaching, and the exciting prospect of no pre-existing plans, it was decided that dinner at a nice restaurant was well in order. My first thought of where to dine went straight to the newly-reopened Powerhouse and its already well-known dining institution, Watt Modern Dining.
The last time I ate at Watt, a few years ago now, we quipped that the restaurant’s name came from the fact that none of the waitstaff seemed to know the answer to questions about the meals’ ingredients, and were continually asking ‘what?’ Well, last night I was more than pleasantly surprised by the obvious development of the professionalism of staff and the general ambience of the place. Upon arrival, we were greeted by a smiling girl who showed us to our table and gave us menus. No sooner had she disappeared than another had arrived with a pitcher of water to fill up our glasses. A third person came to our table about 5 minutes later with a little platter containing two (non-alcoholic) shots made of cucumber, crushed pineapple and chilli to stimulate our palates before we ordered. Wow.
Continue reading ‘watt, i thought’
life is now
Caution to reader: this post is peppered with wanton well-worn phrases. Do you suffer with the philosophy of what I have termed the “I’ll just” syndrome? It’s a way of thinking which I (unfortunately) sometimes subscribe to: I’ll just save enough money and then book that trip to India. I’ll just finish uni and then I’ll focus on my career. I’ll just lose a few kilos before I call that handsome boy. Its the syndrome when you think that very soon, in the near future, life will be just that little closer to perfect or a little closer to complete. But have you noticed that this near future I speak of never arrives like it promised? *Never leave for tomorrow what you can do today* It’s funny how sometimes you realise that ‘real life’ is on your doorstep. Today, we are taught that we can have it all. Being on the cusp of Gen Y and Gen X, I subscribe to the well-known Gen Y trait of expecting to be getting gold stars in all areas of life, NOW. Instant gratification, please. As a result, I think I can have a progressing career, earn big bucks, have an enviable social life, huge network of friends, lots of family time, achieve HDs in higher education and regular sabbaticals to Spain. Tick, tick, tick, tick. Thank you very much. But this is teamed with a constant pursuit of that something more; something else. It’s so easy to forget to enjoy it NOW. This is life. Life is now. Right now. *Life is not a dress-rehearsal* I’d hazard a guess that for most of us, life is pretty perfect right now. Soak it up. Squeeze a little bit more out of the day. Stay up later. Get up earlier. Don’t wait for something to complete you. Enjoy it NOW. *It’s the journey, not the destination*
