Bim bam boom

The 30 Day Song Challenge begins

2011-05-16T22:47:00.000+10:00

Decided to start the (New and Improved) 30 Day Song Challenge.

Here's the rules:

Day 1. Your Current Favourite Song

2. A Song That Can Always Calm You Down

3. A Song You Like That No-One Else Seems To

4. A Song That Uses Weird Noises Well

5. A Song You Believe Has Great Lyrics

6. A Song You Would Like Played At Your Funeral

7. A Song That Gets Your Heart Racing

8. The Song That Changed Your Mind About Music

9. A Song By A Band You Stopped Listening To, But Started Again

10. A "Classic" Song Everybody Seems To Like But You

11. The Best Love Song You've Ever Heard

12. A Song That Ends Too Quickly

13. A Song With A Great Drum Rhythm

14. A Song By Your Favourite Singer

15. The Craziest Song You've Ever Heard

16. A Good Song That Does Get A Little Repetitive

17. A Song From Your Childhood

18. The Greatest Guitar Work You've Heard

19. An Exceptionally Sad Song

20. A Song By An Artist No Longer Living

21. A Song With A Great Bass Rhythm

22. A Song You Can Deeply Relate To

23. A Song You Could Play Over And Over And Never Get Sick Of

24. A Song Played At A Memorable Event In Your Life

25. A Song You Don't Understand

26. The Best Rock Song You've Heard

27. A Song That Forces You To Reminisce

28. A Song That Gives You Shivers

29. A Song That Helps You Live

30. Your New Current Favourite Song

And here's #1: James Blake - Unluck

As unluck would have it, for some reason there are only live version of the song on YouTube, so this is from an Italian website.

What do I love about it? The menacing minimal dub of Burial + the soul of Jeff Buckley + Jamie Lidell + Bon Iver + gospel. It has so many influences that it shouldn't work at all. And yet it rises above all of them to something amazing. And he uses autotune and it actually sounds good.

The result is... my current favourite

Rose's graduation show

2011-01-12T22:00:00.000+11:00

More photos from her NAS show here!

Celebrating Dad's 59th birthday in Austinmer

2010-02-22T20:32:00.000+11:00

The full set of photos from the day are here

Losing It

2009-09-27T10:56:00.003+10:00

Design is kinky

2009-09-26T18:57:00.005+10:00

I submitted these to Design Is Kinky a few years ago for some design comp. Didn't make it, but they're kind of cute.

Super bunny!

2009-09-26T16:18:00.002+10:00

Here's Gen, Easter circa Feb '82

Doodles

2009-09-26T16:16:00.001+10:00

Some time I scans these little doodles in - might as well share then now.

Home made cards

2009-09-26T15:57:00.007+10:00

I'm also packing up my trusty home G5 Mac, deleting what I don't need and backing up what I do. Here's a few things worth another look before they hit the trash.

Birthday at the trusty Waverley Bowlo

Pre Doha booze-up at the newly opened Beauchamp Hotel

Post-Doha yum cha catchup

Christmas card featuring the world's biggest chandelier, photo taken in Oman

Shirty thirty

A couple of rags that were once Tshirts

2009-09-15T22:07:00.003+10:00

Pota! Pota! Pota!
My host family bought this Tshirt for me in 1998. I had been looking for some mementos that were in Italian and this was one of the few around. The words are apparently Bergamo slang for something, and some comedians used to always say it on TV, along with 'Fia!'. Hilarious apparently, so much that they made Tshirts.

This on is also special as it has a screenprint on the back that I did with my late cousin Jack, probably not long after my time in Italy.

The next one Zander screenprinted for me, as a birthday present to accompany the main present; a ticket to Kraftwerk, with him and Ashley. We all got a Tshirt, but I bet they didn't hang onto theirs as long as I did. I persisted with wearing this one to the gym until only recently, when I discovered quite how threadbare it was when it went basically see0through after a sweaty session!

Farewell old friends, to landfill!

Moving out

2009-09-15T21:45:00.003+10:00

Gen and I have started the packing process; we move into our new house in a week and a half. I've been coming across a few of those things that have to be thrown out, but need recording first. So I'm taking pictures or scanning stuff as I go.

Remember this? This is Gen's SIM card from her first mobile phone, which was with the now defunct One Tel

And here's a matchbox from my favourite cafe in the world, Kobus Kuch, in Delft. Best apple pie ever. Gezellig...

So now I've shared, now I can throw this stuff out!

Mark Priestly one year on

2009-09-01T09:46:00.004+10:00

About a year ago our mate Mark Priestly took his own life. We all still miss you mate.

Back to the future photo time machine

2009-07-17T09:56:00.004+10:00

This is what Michael Jackson was supposed to look like in the year 2000

Love ya Dad

2009-06-15T09:44:00.005+10:00

Keyboard Cat is the new Fail

2009-05-13T20:42:00.003+10:00

I have to admit to a weakness for cats. Not in real life, just on the internets, where they're so much funnier. I've blogged before about my guilty obsession with ICanHaz Cheeseburger.com, where photographs of cats (mostly) have captions added to hilarious effect.

Keyboard cat but this latest one is even more irreverent. As far I can understand, the original video of a cat playing a ditty on the keyboard was first uploaded to You Tube by one Charlie Schmidt in 2007.

Next, someone named Brad O'Farrell combined this with a Fail video to create pure internet meme genious. The effect is that the cat 'plays' the subject of the video 'off' (stage).

Check out the ever growing list of videos here.

Sparkly sparks

2009-04-21T17:16:00.004+10:00

The SMH had pictures online today of antics of the local backyard boffin obsessed with very dangerous looking experiments involving electricity. The photos are amazing (even if the website is daggy).

Easter in the country

2009-04-15T22:07:00.008+10:00

Gen and Evie and I went down to visit Dad and Henriette in Jugiong, possibly the last time before Dad moves away. I have lots of photos of Evie being cute, but I also got some nice landscape pics early one morning. There's really nothing like warm, dawn, country light.

Houses to hunt

2009-03-29T13:12:00.000+11:00

House hunting sucks

It's a girl! Introducing Evie Pearl Ricketson

2009-02-08T10:29:00.003+11:00

For all your Evie needs go to her bloggy-wog here

To jump straight to photos, go to my Google web album here.

The olden days

2008-12-29T13:35:00.007+11:00

I just found this old photo while cleaning up my computer. It's from the big night we had when Gen moved over to Sydney in 2002. Young, silly, fun.
There are more here.

I also found this photo, showing many of the same stylish moves, from a dodgy club in the Cross, around the same time:

Bigger guts!

2008-12-15T13:39:00.001+11:00

Gen has reached 34 weeks. Everything is going along great!

Guts!

2008-11-07T18:35:00.000+11:00

Bub is coming along - 26 weeks down!

Our 'wedding' table

2008-11-07T18:33:00.001+11:00

Genevieve and I were married in April this year and our bridal registry was a hand-made cherry wood table for 10 people. This stop-frame animation shows the christening meal at table. Thanks to all those who generously contributed to it, we look forward to having you around for a meal soon!

Bill Posters is innocent!

2008-11-07T18:31:00.001+11:00

Spotted this today in Darlinghurst. Set Bill free

Introducing Marley Jay Dugard

2008-07-24T19:49:00.003+10:00

Born 6:45am, Friday 24th July 2009, to Ben and Jenny Dugard

(No this is not our baby - not yet!)

Danger danger!

2008-07-24T15:31:00.001+10:00

Rule Brittany!

2008-07-24T15:19:00.002+10:00

I have become lightly obsessed with the Tour De France, last night even staying up to the exciting end (just).

Admiring the cyclists' stamina is fascinating, as I'm puffed going up a gutter on my bike. Then there's the beautiful French countryside and towns, espsecially from the helipcopters.

And the finaly thing to enjoy is watching the loony European spectators who apparently camp beside the road for up to a week for w good position.

Amongst the all-orange Dutch fans, and the sunburnt fat Germans, and the occaisonal boxing Kangaroo, I have noticed this weird black and white flag. It kinda looked like the American flag, but bad-ass. I wondered if it was actually some kind of marketing thing and half expected to hear Nike had infiltrated.

In fact, the commentators mentioned the flag last night, and it's actually the flag of Brittany, also called the Gwenn-ha-du in Breton. There are some riders int he Tour from that region of France. So it all makes sense.

Allez! The coolest flag in the world.

Baby time!

2008-07-18T16:35:00.003+10:00

Great news - Gen is 12 weeks pregnant! Due late January 2009. We just has our first ultrasound - all things are good!

Wow. Deep breaths....

Full circle

2008-07-14T20:56:00.004+10:00

OK so I have come full circle in my musical tastes. I now officially like (almost) everything. My recent guilty pleasure has been the hokey country love duets by Skeeter Davis and Bobby Bare.

They're full of banjo, slide guitar and corny lyrics. But there's something about these two that's just real. They had screwed up lives, and they came together with music, and then they sang about it.

I haven't seen Walk the Line, but from what I understand of Johnny Cash and June Carter's life, there are some similarities. And their best-known duet Jackson was also recorded by the duo (it wasn't written by Cash and Carter), two years later in 1970. I actually prefer the Cash-Carter version, but some of their other duets are brilliant; heart-felt and a little creepy.

For example, Your Husband, My Wife is about them being in love, but both having other partners and families. I can't think of many other songs that explore this impossibly difficult situation.

Then there's There Never Was A Time We Didn't Love, about a tragic, hard, poor, but happy marriage. It's totally corny, but so heart-felt I totally love it. If only we could have played it at our wedding. But people would really have thought we weird (even more so that Sigur Ros down the aisle).

The of course, there are the fantastic album covers...

Skeeter Davis is a fascinating musician, born in a cabin in Kentucky in the 1930s, one of 7 children. She almost died in a car accident, and her singing partner did die, the dead girl's mother forcing Davis' sister to join the group.

She was a bit of a rebel in her own deep south Christian country music way. You can her influence on people like Dolly Parton, Patsy Cline and more lately, Gillian Welch.

iPose

2008-07-12T10:50:00.002+10:00

I got an iPhone.

To quote Fergus: snazzy.

Bam Bam

2008-07-09T21:08:00.004+10:00

Came across the , an editor of Vanity Fair, and a writer. Amongsthttp://www.blogger.com/img/gl.link.gif other things he takes photos of television. Love it.

The postcard project has begun!

2008-07-07T21:53:00.003+10:00

I've just started a harebrained idea - and one that I keep doing every day for the next year.

I'm going to write and send a postcard every day for 356 days. I've made a while new blog for it, over at 365postcards.blogspot.com

I hope to re-connect to people I have seen in a long time, to communicate in a new way to the people I do see, and use it as a daily creative outlet. I always do my best work when I'm making FOR someone I care about, so I hope I turn up some gold.

There are other reasons - everyone loves getting postcards, especially these days when we used snailmail post less and less. And for me it will be like keeping a journal; along with scanning the pretty pictures on the fronts of the postcards and posting them up, I am also scanning the back, what I write. These won't be up for public consumption, just for my record.

I am also using some of the nifty things this simple blog allows. Like I am including a Google Maps link with every post to show where the card goes.

And I am hoping that the recipients will log in and post comments in response to what they receive. This way it's not just a one way communication. And if anyone has ideas on where this idea could expand, I'd love to hear it.

It's also a big test of discipline - can I really find the time to write something interesting every day, along with scan and blog it? Who knows, and who know what crazy stuff will happen in the next year.

It's all going to be documented...

PS thanks to Gen's friend Beth Sometimes, who did this exact thing recently, just without all the fancy interweb stuff.

PPS if you want to receive a card, message me your address!

One sad zebra

2008-07-06T19:31:00.002+10:00

Sometimes even odd-toed ungulates get the blues.

Starry night

2008-07-05T12:31:00.002+10:00

Doing some more image searching and came across this fantastic photo. It is again from a NASA 'Astronomy picture of the day' website. Click on it to see the high-rez version in all its glory.

Lost it

2008-07-04T19:52:00.001+10:00

Discovered this little movie I shot with Rose and Taylor and Dibbs last year (?) when I was doing some cleaning up. Cute!

Moon bridge

2008-07-04T09:49:00.003+10:00

I came across this interesting photo today when searching for Bridge/Opera House pics for a pitch for the opening night of 'Australia'.

Secret project almost underway

2008-06-30T23:58:00.003+10:00

I have been busy getting ready for a special interweb / real world project. It's going to be a challenge, it's going to be fun, and I hope it will be interactive. It will also take a whole year! Should be underway before the end of the week.

In the meantime, here are some photos from Rose's 21st a couple of weekends ago. My lil sis is all growed. Apparently.

Stuck on a desert island

2008-06-29T17:28:00.007+10:00

Recently at work we've had a competition to guess who has chosen the gigs and albums they would take with them if stranded on a desert island forever. It's fun guessing who goes with what, but it also got me thinking who I would choose. First I have to work out what I've seen. Here's a rough, and no doubt growing, as memory returns, gigs I've been to.

1990
Ziggy Marley

1994
Red Hot Chilli Peppers

1994
Bjork
Primus
Soundgarden
Ministry
TISM

1996
DJ Rap
Carl Cox
QBert
Biochip C
Crowded House

1997
Amon Tobin

1998
Armand Van Helden
DJ Krush
Underworld
Beastie Boys

1999
Mark Farina
Stacey Pullen
QBert

2000
Jan Jelinek
Derrick May
I:Cube

2001
Matthew Herbert
St Germain
The Necks

2002
Felix Da Housecat
Manitoba
Monolake
Kid Koala
Decoder Ring
Radiohead
RJD2

2003
Tortoise
The Strokes
Underworld
Basement Jaxx
Kings of Leon
Jet
Black Eyed Peas
dj/Rupture
Dirty Three
Lou Barlow
Madlib

2004
Dj Spooky
Jet
The Red Sun Band
Pivot
Kevin Blechdom
Mum
Aphex Twin
Luke Vibert
David Pajo

2005
Sonic Youth
David Grubbs
Boom Bip
Metro Area
Lotek HiFi
Dj Shadow
Greyboy
Sigur Ros
Monolake

2006
Kraftwerk
Mark Kozelek
Will Oldham
Burnt Friedman
Mark N
Jamie Lidell
SPOD
Dabrye
Joanna Newsom
Smog
Jose Gonzalez

2007
Hot Chip
Triosk
Four Tet

2008
Architecture in Helsinki
Spank Rock
Nick Cave and Grinderman
Mice Parade
PNAU
Angus and Julia Stone
Pivot
Andy Weatherall

Now, what the hell were the best ones?!

PS The Herald has a blog up of the top 50 Australian albums. Almost all pub rock. Yawn

McHome

2008-06-22T18:29:00.000+10:00

Lazor robotor

2008-06-15T19:50:00.004+10:00

Ash, Zander and I went to a warehouse party in Sydnenham put on my HaHa Industries. It was no mid-90s Vibe Tribe rave, but it was fun.

I took my camera and hopefully the laser didn't fry it catching these interesting shots.

Durrty mo

2008-06-03T21:10:00.002+10:00

I was making space on my laptop and came across this rude pic from the end of the summer holiday this year. If only it was still the 1970's, I would RUN THIS TOWN. And people would respect my authorataaae.

Blogs white people like

2008-05-27T20:57:00.008+10:00

So I've been keeping a blog for a while now, but I've never actually been someone who reads other blogs much. Or at least, reads certain blogs regularly. But now there are a couple that I do, so I may as well pimp them.

The first is Stuff White People Like. They describe it thusly: 'This is a scientific approach to highlight and explain stuff white people like. They are pretty predictable.' Indeed they identify universal truths of white people (or more the the point, 'liberal' or lefty middleclass white people).

So far there are about 100 topics, with #1 being coffee, #2: Religions that their parents don’t belong to ("Mostly they are into religion that fits really well into their homes or wardrobe and doesn’t require them to do very much").

They've got better lately, eg Scarves ("He’s clearly more sensitive to wind, so he’s probably more sensitive in general. You should totally date him"), and Bumper Stickers ("If you have decided that you want to improve your status with white people by applying a bumper sticker to your car do not make the assumption that you can just use anything! Stickers that support right wing politics, guns, patriotism, war, or hunting are all unacceptable. It is also unacceptable to use a sticker with a clever slogan that does not support a left wing political cause. Any of these stickers will likely end any chance you had of befriending a white person").

Almost as funny as the postings are the readers' responses. Most get the idea and add their own personal but equally cynical insights.

The other blog I loved straight from the first read is The Paupered Chef. It's written by chefs, with each entry devoted to a particular gastronomic delight, from the everyday (the science of the perfect hardboiled egg)to the exotic (who knew you needed pig jowls for the prefect carbonara?) and location-specific (Madrid and San Sebastian).

Mouthwatering and inspirational.

PS props to Celia for enjoying these as much as I do!

Outer space

2008-05-19T09:43:00.004+10:00

Often I have stumbled upon beautiful high resolution photos like these from NASA. Love em. These were even TIFs, so they could have been printed out as large glossy photos if desired.

Draft invitations

2008-05-16T10:54:00.006+10:00

Thought the other ideas we had for our wedding invite shouldn't go completely to waste. And it's always good to see the process behind the outcome.

We were trying to continue our tree theme from our Save the Date invitation. At first we thought of taking it away from the art nouveau look into the Arabic style, as in the above circular designs. They never really worked.

We had a reference from one of my favourite designers, Build, of a Coke graphic he did (I know!), which we adapted. The colour is right, in that it's totally Gen, and the idea is right, in that it makes the link back to the old design. And of course it allowed us to put in the mushy love words, but against a cool backdrop (hopefully).

PS those looking for wedding pics click here!

One up!

2008-05-14T21:28:00.003+10:00

I took this pic in Melbourne when I was there last. I always seem to get good shots when I'm there, whether it's because it's a photogenic joint or I'm just inspired to be away I don't know.

Very much looking forward to a photo field trip on Sunday to the western suburbs. Unsure exactly where yet, hopefully we'll just stumble upon interesting places. One certainty, though, is the Lebanese sweets shop I saw on TV last week. Baklavas I had never even seen before. Ooooh yeah.

Strange charts

2008-05-11T16:10:00.004+10:00

Here's a couple of unusual charts / diagrams I came across last year when I was looking for weather images for a job.

Wed!

2008-04-28T12:17:00.003+10:00

I have put up some photos of our wedding - and honeymoon - at my Picasa photosite thinger

Nuptials

2008-04-07T19:08:00.001+10:00

This Sunday - wow.

Cyclic 19 is out!

2008-04-07T19:04:00.002+10:00

CyclicDefrost.com

Melbourne motorshow

2008-03-02T16:22:00.002+11:00

Badgerino's discoball

2008-03-02T16:08:00.000+11:00

All My Friends

2008-02-17T11:34:00.010+11:00

I bought myself a new iPod shuffle as reward for wasting half my life at the gym in the lead-up to the wedding. My old guy is a brick compared to this, too big to carry when running, and I couldn't bare hearing the shitty hi-nrg cardio mix favoured by the gym any longer.

My gym mix consists of the like of John Tejada (Wavescraper is the most amazing EP, I would love to hear it in a club sometime), Midnight Juggernaughts (not convinced yet), Tom Clark, The Emperor Machine and LCD Soundsystem.

Pitchfork readers rated LCD's 'All My Friends' as one of their top tracks of 2007, so when it came up I listened with particular interest. It's a unique song, epically long, no verse/chorus structure, and just a single chord played throughout.

The lyrics are also a bit special, so I looked them up. I'm not the only one for whom they ring true, with various posters to this Song Meanings website discussing in depth the nature of the lyrics. This seems like a reasonable interpretation, posted by tesla3396 on 25.03.2007:

"So it's fairly straightforward that the song is a retrospective on the rock 'n roll lifestyle and whether it was worth it and what was actually gained from it. What I liked most about it was the monotony of the keyboard and bass line mimicking a life that just goes on and on, regardless of how tired one gets of it, or how oblivious one is to time's passage. It's as if the melody represents the same repetitive tasks of life: sleep, breathe, do the damn thing, etc.

But what the hell do I know? I drunkenly cried myself to sleep over this song the other night."

Here's what the lyrics probably are. Brilliant:

LCD Soundsystem: All My Friends

That's how it starts
We go back to your house
We check the charts
And start to figure it out

And if it's crowded, all the better
Because we know we're gonna be up late
But if you're worried about the weather
Then you picked the wrong place to stay
That's how it starts

And so it starts
You switch the engine on
We set controls for the heart of the sun
one of the ways we show our age

And if the sun comes up, if the sun comes up, if the sun comes up
And I still don't wanna stagger home
Then it's the memory of our betters
That are keeping us on our feet

You spent the first five years trying to get with the plan
And the next five years trying to be with your friends again

You're talking 45 turns just as fast as you can
Teah, I know it gets tired, but it's better when we pretend

It comes apart
The way it does in bad films
Except in parts
When the moral kicks in

Though when we're running out of the drugs
And the conversation's winding away
I wouldn't trade one stupid decision
For another five years of lies

You drop the first ten years just as fast as you can
And the next ten people who are trying to be polite
When you're blowing eighty-five days in the middle of France
Yeah, I know it gets tired only where are your friends tonight?

And to tell the truth
Oh, this could be the last time
So here we go
Like a sales force into the night

And if I made a fool, if I made a fool, if I made a fool
on the road, there's always this
And if I'm sewn into submission
I can still come home to this

And with a face like a dad and a laughable stand
You can sleep on the plane or review what you said
When you're drunk and the kids leave impossible tasks
You think over and over, "hey, I'm finally dead."

Oh, if the trip and the plan come apart in your hand
Tou look contorted on yourself your ridiculous prop
You forgot what you meant when you read what you said
And you always knew you were tired, but then
Where are your friends tonight?

Where are your friends tonight?
Where are your friends tonight?

If I could see all my friends tonight
If I could see all my friends tonight
If I could see all my friends tonight
If I could see all my friends tonight

While on LCD Soundsystem lyrics, his track Losing My Edge was the first I heard, from an early EP, which also has fantastic lyrics, about growing old, getting less and less cool, more cynical and desperate. I've tried playing this at gigs but unless you're listening to the lyrics it doesn't really work for people.

LCD Soundsystem - Losing My Edge

Yeah, I'm losing my edge.
I'm losing my edge.
The kids are coming up from behind.
I'm losing my edge.
I'm losing my edge to the kids from France and from London.
But I was there.

I was there in 1968.
I was there at the first Can show in Cologne.
I'm losing my edge.
I'm losing my edge to the kids whose footsteps I hear when they get on the decks.
I'm losing my edge to the Internet seekers who can tell me every member of every good group from 1962 to 1978.
I'm losing my edge.

To all the kids in Tokyo and Berlin.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Brooklynites in little jackets and borrowed nostalgia for the unremembered eighties.

But I'm losing my edge.
I'm losing my edge, but I was there.
I was there.
But I was there.

I'm losing my edge.
I'm losing my edge.
I can hear the footsteps every night on the decks.
But I was there.
I was there in 1974 at the first Suicide practices in a loft in New York City.
I was working on the organ sounds with much patience.
I was there when Captain Beefheart started up his first band.
I told him, "Don't do it that way. You'll never make a dime."
I was there.
I was the first guy playing Daft Punk to the rock kids.
I played it at CBGB's.
Everybody thought I was crazy.
We all know.
I was there.
I was there.
I've never been wrong.

I used to work in the record store.
I had everything before anyone.
I was there in the Paradise Garage DJ booth with Larry Levan.
I was there in Jamaica during the great sound clashes.
I woke up naked on the beach in Ibiza in 1988.

But I'm losing my edge to better-looking people with better ideas and more talent.
And they're actually really, really nice.

I'm losing my edge.

I heard you have a compilation of every good song ever done by anybody. Every great song by the Beach Boys. All the underground hits. All the Modern Lovers tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Niagra record on German import. I heard that you have a white label of every seminal Detroit techno hit - 1985, '86, '87. I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '60s cut and another box set from the '70s.

I hear you're buying a synthesizer and an arpeggiator and are throwing your computer out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Yaz record.

I hear that you and your band have sold your guitars and bought turntables.
I hear that you and your band have sold your turntables and bought guitars.

I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.

But have you seen my records? This Heat, Pere Ubu, Outsiders, Nation of Ulysses, Mars, The Trojans, The Black Dice, Todd Terry, the Germs, Section 25, Althea and Donna, Sexual Harrassment, a-ha, Pere Ubu, Dorothy Ashby, PIL, the Fania All-Stars, the Bar-Kays, the Human League, the Normal, Lou Reed, Scott Walker, Monks, Niagra,

Joy Division, Lower 48, the Association, Sun Ra,
Scientists, Royal Trux, 10cc,

Eric B. and Rakim, Index, Basic Channel, Soulsonic Force ("just hit me"!), Juan Atkins, David Axelrod, Electric Prunes, Gil! Scott! Heron!, the Slits, Faust, Mantronix, Pharaoh Sanders and the Fire Engines, the Swans, the Soft Cell, the Sonics, the Sonics, the Sonics, the Sonics.

You don't know what you really want. (x15)

Pooh's Piglet censored!

2008-01-30T21:26:00.000+11:00

Qatar is playing Australia in Melbourne next week in a qualifying match for the football , so the tiny nation is in the news.

I looked around on some Qatari papers to see how the event was being reported on the other side. Nothing interesting as there is no real free press and papers typically regurgitate press releases from the palace or government.

I did come across one anomaly though, which wasn't there last I checked. The Qatar Journal appears to be an online newspaper setup by an expat that must have raised the ire of someone because it's been shut down!

A statement made last week says, a little cryptically:

"I'm sorry to say that Qatar Journal will no longer be publishing news. I'd like to thank everyone for their support over the last year, especially those who supplied me with stories. If you would like to make an archive of news stories, do it now, because in a few weeks the site will disappear. I'd like to offer encouragement to anyone who plans to set up a similar venture in the future. Perhaps Qatar's next online newspaper might be more successful. Many thanks again for reading."

This is a real shame. It was probably to do with the author's coverage of controversial subjects that I have been keeping an eye since I left, such as the treatment of South Asian workers in regards to working conditions and visas.

Indeed these subject seem to be well covered in the Human Rights section, with recent articles titled 'India urges sponsorship reform', 'Miserable lives of camel-farm workers' and 'Nepalis claim harassment by sponsor'.

The author, who I plan to contact, also details an ironic attempt to travel to Lebanon to visit the 2nd Arab Free Press Forum, only to be denied and exit visa. We all had frustrations with visas when were were there, but the author muses on a much more frightening prospect:

'The question I will be asking myself tonight as I fall asleep is: "If the bombs start to fall on Tehran in the New Year, will I be able to take my son and flee the country?" Until this morning, I thought I knew the answer, but now I'm not sure.'

There is also the hilarious story of another website reporting on Winnie the Pooh picture books being clumsily censored to removed the image of Piglet! Ok Islam prohibits the eating of pork but surely not the image of a cartoon piglet! Even more worryingly, the forum where expat were discussing their reactions was censored (which now appears to be lifted).

'In September, Qtel confirmed that blocked sites fall into three categories: "pornography, political criticism of Gulf countries and anti-Islamic sites." One of the maintainers of the site told Qatar Journal this was the first time in two years and over 50,000 discussions that a webpage had been blocked.'

I wonder what Pooh would think

Doha's 'ambitious' bid for the 2016 Olympics

2008-01-30T21:03:00.000+11:00

Today I came across a website which tracks all the big sporting bids like the Olympics and gives links to their bid documents, which I had previously assumed would be secret. I browsed a few for their graphic design presentation if nothing else. Tokyo's was surprisingly tame, and Baku's (Azerbaijan) was Eastern European utilitarian, Chicago's was slick if predictable.

Doha's design was actually the most impressive I looked at (though I did not check Madrid or Rio's), and they apparently used the same people as the London bid. The logo was a bit weak I thought though. Apparently it's The Aldahma: 'Flower of the Spring'. Probably the only flower that actually grows.

Bam BOOM

2008-01-18T16:45:00.000+11:00

Cloud streets

2008-01-18T16:33:00.000+11:00

Here's a beautiful aerial photograph from the NASA Earth Observatory website taken over the Bering sea. It shows what is poetically described as 'cloud streets'.

"Like the freshly raked white sand of a well-tended Japanese garden, rows of clouds stream over the Bering Sea from the edge of the sea ice. Called cloud streets, these cumulus clouds form when cold air from the ice blows over the open ocean, chilling the moist air. As the temperature drops, water freezes into tiny clouds, which are arranged in neat rows in line with the powerful sweep of the wind. Though some clouds form over the cracking sea ice on the right side of the image, most are over the unfrozen water."

Read the rest here.

La chute

2008-01-14T22:51:00.000+11:00

Somehow, searching for pictures of wind turbines for a freelance job I'm doing, I came across this website of beautiful frozen frame photographs. Fragile and about to be painful.

lol cats

2008-01-14T22:46:00.000+11:00

Came across this highly addictive, utterly hilarious website. Cats are the funniest creatures.

Mayumi Lake

2008-01-04T13:03:00.000+11:00

Came across this artist today when looking up someone with a similar name who has done paintings we are using for projections to accompany Symphony in the Domain as part of the Sydney Festival

http://mayumilake.com

Ex Mass Oh Seven

2008-01-02T21:39:00.000+11:00

Lordy Nelson

2007-12-24T16:46:00.000+11:00

Homebake 2007

2007-12-09T20:59:00.000+11:00

Scientologists: the new design critics

2007-12-03T21:27:00.000+11:00

After the launch I went into the city to get some pics of projections I have been working on for The Electric Canvas. I got to Town Hall as some Scientologists we packing up their stall for the night and was encouraged to hear that they didn't think much of the projections; "I'm trying to like them, but they should enhance the building, not detract from it". When I want an opinion on nut case alien based billionare cults I'll ask OK lady!

Overall I loved the projections, particularly those on Mcquarie Street, where the buildings have flatter, whiter surfaces.

I also made a friend at the Town Hall who made a great model.

Cyclic launch at Concrete

2007-12-03T20:59:00.000+11:00

Went to the small but cozy Concrete last night for the launch of the latest issue. Was treated to Sub Bass Snarl remixing a film live; but none of your high-falutin' Koyaanisqatsi or Erasurehead here, they were adding extra menace to John Carpenter's The Thing. Fucked up film, awesomely bad special effects. I had no idea what film it was until the end, so it was all a creepy, snowy, dog monstered, 70s big hair, adventure until the end.

Election reaction

2007-12-03T20:52:00.000+11:00

During the state election earlier this year I threw up an old but favourite photo of some post-election graffiti.

I found some more, similar, more extreme graffiti the day after last weekend's federal election.

Christmas projections

2007-11-28T20:59:00.000+11:00

There was an article last week touching on the designs I have been doing for The Electric Canvas for Christmas-themed projections on various buildings around the CBD. I look forward to getting out there one night soon and taking some photos; even better, forgetting and walking past a building a double-taking at one of my designs writ-large on the Town Hall or Mint or somesuch.

Mouse parade

2007-11-28T20:50:00.001+11:00

Untitled Mouse Detail by Tiffany Bozic

Cyclic 18 is out!

2007-11-24T13:50:00.001+11:00

The new issue of Cyclic Defrost will be hitting stores next week, with Cover design by Cailan Burns, one half of Pretty Boy Crossover. It also comes with free CD, a sampler from the recently revived Extreme Records.
This is my 6th as art director since I took over on issue 13, still in black and white, in mid 2006. I hope you can find a copy, and if you do, you enjoy the read and design!

Take the tape out now!

2007-11-20T18:34:00.000+11:00

Toxicology report: Newcastle

2007-11-18T18:53:00.000+11:00

Image blog?

2007-11-12T21:05:00.000+11:00

Seems I either don't have time to blog much any more, or nothing much of interest is happening. So my last two blogs have been images, and now I'm thinking this could be a good new thing to blog.

I deal in images as a designer all day long, and come across plenty of stuff that might be of interest to others. There are blogs and podcasts that just trawl other blogs or Youtube videos and select on comment on them, so why not a blog of found images from the internet toilet bowl surprise?

So here we go, with a new image, again on a charts theme. Beautiful, but no idea as to its meaning.

A knitted brain and a shaven cat

2007-11-09T13:10:00.000+11:00

Beautiful charts

2007-11-08T22:16:00.000+11:00

http://www.visualcomplexity.com/vc/
http://clasticdetritus.com/category/patterns/

Cyclic 17 launch

2007-08-01T21:39:00.001+10:00

Excited about tomorrow night's launch of the new issue, but as always, found the missed typos that will leap from the printed page where before they were invisible.

My sister has volunteered her illustration services for next issue; that should be fun. She better not be crap though. Heh.

Lately I've been hankering (nostalgic?) for a ye olde Vibe Tribe warehouse rave circa 1995. The 0055 number, the glow paint, the creepy warehouse, putting your head inside a speaker, tracking down a purple ohm, dancing all night then freezing in a park as the sun comes up. Did we really do this? Yes, and almost every weekend it feels like. Do these gigs still happen? Yes, probably, but I'm way out of the loop.

I almost feel like going to one of those mega-stadium-super-commercial 'Utopia 65' raves just because its the closest thing going. Can't the old acid heads get back together, break into a warehouse, photocopy some flyers, throw them up around Newtown, and throw one more killer rave please? I promise I'll get my mega wide jeans out, find a tshirt with some kind of cartoon character on it, and skull guarana all night. Good times...

I'm in a mind to at least re-live the memories by scanning in my old Vibe Tribe flyers, converting old recordings from Radio Skid row into MP3 and creating some kind of tragic online place where all us oldies can go and complain about 'kids today' and bliss out to the old fashion Goa trance sounds of Dj Zeitgeist...

Message me if you know you want this

Rain

2007-06-17T18:24:00.001+10:00

It really is very cold and wet, after such a long drought.

I should be happy, but actually I am cold as hell and want the good old days back please.

Soldiers

2007-06-13T22:03:00.000+10:00

Crazy storm in the Hunter over the long weekend resulted in some good photos opps when it had all cleared...

Betweenies

2007-05-31T11:49:00.000+10:00

I am currently 'between jobs'. Read: have had too much time to work on my folio and website...

Am I already missing the 18 hour / 7 day weeks of just a month ago?

Melbourne visit

2007-05-19T17:16:00.000+10:00

Gen was bumping in Bangara's new show True Stories in Melbourne so I went down a day early to hang out. The weather was perfect to maintain my impression of Melbourne - rainy, chilly and cozy.

I enjoyed 2 days of wondering around, going to the galleries, taking photos, listening to my iPod and reading.

To have this time to myself, away from the old desk and regular life, was excellent for recharging the creative batteries. I re-visited ideas I had when away in Doha, and which I can hopefully pick up again now.

This photo was taken at ACMI's exhibition of Centre Pompidou Video Art 1965-2005. In fact I had already seen it here in Sydney, but I got more from it this time, partly due emphasis on different films, and partly due to having more time to spend.

I think the still above is from a film made by Peter Campus, which involved fading between layers of film of the same face. I really enjoyed Isaac Julien's Baltimore, despite having watched most of in Sydney, it seemed more powerful this time round.

I hope I can translate all those inspiring thoughts into action now I'm back!

Welcome all hoople head googlers

2007-04-23T18:11:00.000+10:00

Godamn hoople-head cocksuckers.

I've got my father addicted to Deadwood after I lent him my DVDs. As his nearest conduit to the interweb he asked me to look up the meaning of the oft-uttered term 'hoople-head'.

The funny thing was that I didn't get a satisfactory answer, but I did end up at some girl's blog who had used the term. She wrote how she suddenly got tonnes of hits on his blog after including the hoople-head in the body of his blog. She guessed lots of people were watching the show, Googling the term, and hers was one of the few instances Google could find.

"Lots of folks are looking for hoople-heads, cocksuckers, Jack McCall, and tight Levis so, of course, they wind up here. How disappointed they must be when they find no real information on hoople-heads or Jack McCall just my peculiar musings about Deadwood," she wrote.

So here goes, maybe if I mention hoople-head a few more times a million Deadwood fans will end up here.

Some people did have some interesting theories on the origins of the word, none of them trult credible though.

Posted by: Terry Houlahan | May 15, 2004 at 11:39 AM
Hoople is a city in North Dakota, so one could presume that hoople-head was a generic term for someone that left their farming community to try to strike it rich in the gold rush fever.

Makes sense I suppose, but was this town even around back then?

Posted by: YAPAPI KRUSTY© | May 18, 2004 at 07:35 AM
The town name is unrelated to the usage here, unless someone had an odd sense of humor. Hoople is from the Dutch meaning "hoop", go figure...
It stands to reason that hoople head would be a hoop head, that is, empty headed. Seems to be a borrowing of a Dutch insult as opposed to being applied to Dutch people.

This doesn't make much sense because hoop just means hope in Dutch, which is no insult.

Posted by: AdventureGirl | May 18, 2004 at 09:30
Synonyms: Hay-eater, Honky, Hoople

Spears, Richard A. Slang and Euphemism:
A Dictionary of Oaths, Curses, Insults, Sexual Slang and Metaphor, Racial Slurs, Drug Talk, Homosexual Lingo, and Related Matters.
Middle Village, N.Y.: David Publishers, 1981: 88

This seems the most credible, but the following is probably just as credible, from the Urban Dictionary

Hoople: A person who frequently drinks alcohol to excess; to the point where it becomes his or her defining characteristic.

That guy is a real hoople.

And therefore: Hoople-head: dervied from slang "hoople" which means a drunk; a drunkard
Source: HBO Original Series Deadwood
Give those hoople heads some drinks to calm them down.

Reelife real hours

2007-04-20T16:11:00.000+10:00

The Reelife Film Festival, of which I am the director, starts next week, simultaneously in Sydney and Canberra, followed by Brisbane and then Melbourne. Nice screenings altogether, more than 2000 tickets need to be sold for it to break even. A tiny budget for promotion and marketing. Eek.

Trying as hard as I can to stay positive about working 6-7 days a week for a month for less than my rent costs. Grrrrr. It can't be right, even for a not-for-profit organisation.

By this time next week the worst of it will be over, thankfully, as well as having done the fun stuff, like go to the screenings and see how audiences react.

But to be truthful, I can't wait for it to be over so I can get on with other stuff.

And a good time was had by all

2007-04-15T16:40:00.000+10:00

Check out pix of the engagement party on Flickr

PS this is not Gen, this is Noo, an extremely short girl

Easter in Jugiong

2007-04-10T10:42:00.000+10:00

<3 time lapse

If you voted Liberal

2007-03-31T21:13:00.000+10:00

I just found this image on an old school friend's blog. I remember seeing this in the street the day after one of the - many - John Howard elections. Resonated because it captured my exact feelings.

Glad someone got a pic of it and that I can let it live again. It actually looks like the exact spot where I shot some of Live To Give.

Let us all hope we never have to see graffiti like this again after the next election.

Where in the world is Carmen San Diego?

2007-03-31T12:32:00.000+10:00

It's our engagement party in two weeks time.

Must write speech. Include wit; humorous / embarrassing anecdotes; feelings from the heart. Remember to thank the hosts. Audience tears desirable. Get a haircut. Don't drink too much champagne. Circulate. Introduce people. Take photographs. Do not dance. Encourage some guests to loosen up by filling their glasses. Discourage others from drinking too much. Work out how to achieve this. If unsuccessful hope they are from the other side of the family. Have a night not to forget.

Most Boring People In The World?

2007-03-25T21:14:00.000+10:00

Gen and I are getting closer and closer to this title every week. All we do is work. We both work from home we rarely go outside. I have barely seen a friend in weeks. Celia claims to now know what I look like anymore.

Is it fun? Are we rich? No and no.

In that case, why are we doing it and why haven't we stopped?

Is the answer 'Its the nature of the freelancer'? You never say no to work because you never know if a dry spell is around the corner. So you end up doubling and tripling up work, and the deadlines all seem to be at the same time.

You're working from home, so when there's nothing on TV you drift into the office and 4 hours later its midnight on a Sunday and your eyes are square and you realise you're about to get up and do the same thing in a few hours time.

It's beyond your control, the work guides you, you have to take what's there, its the sacrifice you make for being your own boss and not having to pay a cut to anyone.

Bullshit. I don't think we work smart. Or for me at least (I've got a growing conviction that I'm far from smart in general).

I have freelance friends who don't live like this. Their home offices are neat, they can't be reached on weekends because they're off doing something. They enjoy what they do. They don't whinge and moan like I do all the time. What are they doing right that I am not?

There are a few things that I want to change in the not too distant future which I think will make a world of difference.

Firstly, I have to be patient and wait for the film festival work to be over. It deserves alot attention but is not very well paid. A normal week's work is done around the 8-20 hours that go into the festival. I get stressed that the festival is getting behind, (especially this year with so many more stakeholders to keep track of) and reduced available hours means my other work suffers - I'm rarely satisfied with the work I submit.

Next there's software and hardware shit. My external hard drive died this week (fingers crossed the data can be retrieved, but it will be expensive), but more stressful and inhibiting on ability to work fluidly, has been problems some of with my software.

I don't think I've ever paid for software; if I did pay for everything I used on this computer I would have a much lighter wallet. My sort of design does require a wide range of programs, all of them expensive - word processing, film, sound and photo editing, 3D modelling and rendering. But it's just got harder lately and after many many wasted hours trying workarounds, I will be shelling out a substantial wad of dough to purchase a couple of programs. But at least I won't be stressing about finding a solution and losing time. This will help me a great deal. Who knows, I may even feel like shelling out for the new Creative Suite when it comes out soon.

Since returning from Qatar its been pretty hand-t0-mouth without much strategy behind the clients I want. As a result I take everything. In a few months I hope to have the time to update my showreel, folio and website, and actually go out there and hit the places I actually want work from. I'd like to think that if the job didn't interest me, or I was too busy, I would say no.

Lastly, soon Gen and I will move over to a more 'business' way to run our businesses. This should help us both have a greater overview of work, hours, bills, pay. Seems crazy that it has taken us so long to get to this point, but there you are. Perhaps as a sole trader it doesn't feel so much like a business.

So here's hoping that within a few months all these thing will be lined up and I will find myself with the time to do normal stuff like hanging out with friends, going away to see Dad or Zander for a weekend, going to bed at normal times.

Blogging from the great outdoor

2007-03-19T18:18:00.000+11:00

I've returned from a day at the Vibewire office and found that I've left my keys either at work or here at home.

How can I be blogging if I can't get into the house? The wonders of wireless and a laptop! I'm sitting in from of my house on a comfy chair, connected to my wireless router. Gives you something to pass the time until Gen comes home and lets us in.

After weeks and weeks of hectic freelance, it looks like the load might lighten soon. Michael is back at Design team, so I probably won't be spending a couple of days a week there as I have been of late. I should be relieved, but of course I'm already stressing about losing the cash that goes with this.

I'm sure it won't last long, and I can use the time to create a new showreel and update my portfolio. I also have those thousands of photos I took in Qatar that need sorting. So some spare time will be good - for a short while.

But I bet that that time disappears into the Vibewire black hole, where all spare hours disappear. After a weekend watching our submissions, I made the 'final' selection this afternoon and started calling the lucky film makers.

One of the films was made in a youth drop-in centre, and is about the trials and tribs of trying to make a film in a place like that. A note at the end of the films states that many of the actors ended up in jail before the film could be completed, and that the camera was stolen.

True! When I called the film maker, she told me she may not be able to submit the film on Mini-DV, cos that probably disappeared with the camera.

Ekk!

Crap musician, but honest

2007-03-14T23:11:00.000+11:00

More evidence

2007-03-12T08:42:00.000+11:00

Great.

In a news item this morning titled Home loan costs pressure families more evidence of the unaffordability of housing in Sydney.

"Families in Sydney, where the median-priced home is $520,000, require a combined income of $145,000 to keep up with their mortgage payments."

We get nowhere near this, but this the price of house we have been looking at!

"... calculations were based on a household paying 30 per cent of income to service mortgage repayments.

Monthly mortgage repayments were calculated on the basis of a 25-year loan equal to 90 per cent of the median house price."

Get a mortgage, lose a life?

2007-03-11T21:32:00.000+11:00

It can't just be me. It seems almost impossible to be able to afford to buy a house, even with 2 incomes, and some help from the parents, if you're both designers.

An article on the weekend reminded me of a recent survey which found that the most unhappy people in Sydney live in the Inner West, where we are now. The theory this author put forward was that people in this area have the same middle class aspirations as everyone else, its just that the work in relatively low-paid areas of academia and the arts. This seems spot-on, for us at least.

We're working all the time, 7 days a week, often late into the night. But we never seem to get ahead. Today I had a go at the online mortgage calculators some lenders provide. Apparently we'd have to pay a mortgage of about $800 per week on a loan the size that you need to get anything in Sydney these days.

How the hell can we possibly pay that much?? That's double what we pay now. We can't work any harder in our design fields, already I feel like I have no life other than my office.

Is the only alternative to throw in the independence and return to an office job? Yawn. What, go back to the thing I left 3 years ago because I didn't enjoy it, and stay there for 25 until the mortgage is paid off? Seems depressing.

I gotta be honest with myself and say that the (close to) free work I do every week on the Film Festival is a big drain on my time when I could otherwise be working for coin. Of course my interest remains strongly in film - but as an administrator of other people's films, in a disorganised and underpaid youth organisation? Doesn't sound like it's progressing my ambitions anywhere fast does it? If I took the unpaid hours I have put into this festival in the last 18 month I probably could have written a feature film!

I will have to return to this topic after the festival has happened - maybe I will have had an amazing experience and my opportunities will have opened up as a result. Right now I feel I just don't have the time or desire to give away so many of my hours to these guys...

De-toxification

2007-03-08T09:45:00.000+11:00

I finished a 15 day detox and I was feeling great. Then I ate some lamb and barely slept a wink.

It's been 2 weeks with no alcohol, no caffeine, dairy, meat, white grains. Lots of brown rice, green tea, brightly coloured movements. Some herby pills to take around mealtimes. Filtered water, tofu and raw nuts.

Unlike the first time I did it two years ago I didn't get flu-like symptoms and end up in bed for days. And it wasn't nearly as difficult to stop the booze and coffee either. I just felt great.

Then last night, my first day free, Gen cooked lamb chops. I could feel them sitting in my gut all night long - I don't think my digestive system knew what the hell to do with it after fortnight of the most easily digestible foods.

I think I will continue on the vego and fish thing for a while longer and get more sleep.

MySpace vs Iran Maiden

2007-03-05T23:33:00.000+11:00

Oh dear. Someone just posted this MySpace page, which has a strangely good 'Arabic' cover of a Kylie song.

It's so wrong. But it's no worse than the real Kylie music played at the parade on the weekend

Laser graf!

2007-03-04T21:40:00.001+11:00

Seb's blog had a link to this page, which shows graf artists in Rotterdam painting a building with a laser beam.

Fucking wild, I want one.

More pics here.

2007 Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras

2007-03-04T13:53:00.000+11:00

I watched the parade last night from Rully's place on the second floor above Oxford Street, near Taylor's Square. It's the first time I've seen it from above, and of course you lose alot of the feeling.

I got a couple of good photos, but I really do need to shell out and buy a good zoom. These are all shot on my fixed 50mm.

I hit the streets after the parade hoping to get more good shots, but it wasn't the best time. If I was really dedicated to it I would have gone back to the same spot at dawn. Then there would be some images...

There has been some discussion in the media about whether the parade is still relevant. I wouldn't say its relevant in terms of a protest march any more as the community has mostly been incorporated into the mainstream now (2Day FM float with a Parramatta Eels jersey on display says alot), but rather it's a time to celebrate.

Every sector of the community has a special time to celebrate and come together (Christians>Christmas, Muslims>Ramadan etc) so this is the gay community's day to do the same.

But surely the music directors of the floats can let go of 1970s disco by now?

Cyclic Defrost issue 16 about to go to print

2007-03-04T12:41:00.000+11:00

I'm almost finished the new issue of Cyclic Defrost Magazine. This is my 4th issue as art director but the first that uses my own design rather than the existing template.

The previous issue was an ordeal to create in every sense - I was overseas in Qatar, my new laptop had software problems for months, patchy internet signal, working 6 days-a-week on the Ceremonies, isolated from the proofing process, and of course, the joy of working on a little screen.

Amazingly, we did get there, and the result wasn't too bad considering.

This time around I've had the luxury of a few weeks to re-imagine the format, including take full advantage of the colour printing throughout. A proper 250gsm varnished cover will add that final touch in bringing the mag from 'street rag' to 'art mag'. Incredibly, they are still free, you just have to be real quick if you want to find one!

One of the key elements I have introduced (other than a new grid and fonts etc) is a 8mm border
The guest cover designer this issue is Build, ex-Designers Republic, old school graphic design heroes. I struggled to make my new design format work with the articles until I did his - I used some of his EPS files (which of course you can blow up in scale indefinitely) in the borders. These files were mostly white with patches of black, so the border edges were implied rather than defined.

With this I was released from the constraint I had set myself. All the other articles flowed easily after this - just because I had created a border I don't need work it strictly, just referring to it in some fashion is enough to create the look. And it won't get boring with every article looking similar.

I look forward to anyone's thoughts on the success of the re-design.

Straya

2007-02-28T11:02:00.000+11:00

This photo was taken by Google maps on the afternoon of Australia day this year at Bondi Beach.

Doesn't it make you want to go for a swim right now?

Shadows at our new house

2007-02-26T20:59:00.000+11:00

We moved in January from Paddington to Alexandria.

The new place is very photogenic; it gets alot of light, and these create interesting moments around the house.

The pressed tin ceilings are especially cool.

The photo above is actually taken in the late afternoon with the light reflecting of a parked car into the hallway of the house, through our security door.

I wonder if by winter, we will have different light and shadow...

All the rest at http://www.flickr.com/photos/bimbam/

The internet sucks

2007-02-12T23:38:00.000+11:00

This photograph illustrates why the internet a) sucks b) is fascinating.

I Googled 'modern kitchen' and I get a photo a freaky Halloween half-rabbit kid.

The internet got my search wrong. And yet - it found me something surprising...

I <3 interweb.

Hazardous living

2007-02-11T13:03:00.000+11:00

If you consider that there has been an average of 160,000 troops in the Iraq theatre of operations during the last 22 months, and a total of 2,112 deaths, that gives a firearm death rate of 60 per 100,000 soldiers.

The firearm death rate in Washington D.C. is 80.6 per 100,000 for the same period.

That means that you are about 25% more likely to be shot and killed in the U.S. Capital which has some of the strictest gun control laws in the nation than you are in Iraq.

Conclusion: The U.S. should pull out of Washington

No houses - no shit

2007-02-11T09:02:00.000+11:00

While we were house-hunting there were reports in the media every day about the Sydney rental market going through the roof. This just enforced what we saw ourselves - not many properties advertised, lots of people at the inspections and over-priced places.

An article in the paper today has a photograph which is very familar. This is what greeted us at most inspections, including for this place.

Makes feel really happy we got somewhere when we did. And very sorry for anyone who hasn't.

Some interesting things from the article:

- "... city's lowest rental vacancy rate in 20 years could push up weekly rents by as much as $150 by year's end."

- "Sydney's 1.5 per cent vacancy rate was the lowest for 20 years."

- And this quote by house-hunters rings true: ""It's not very nice, but we still put in an application." !!

Designs itself

2007-02-08T18:38:00.000+11:00

I have been meaning to do something with this in a while.

This is a scan of a label from a hair gel tub. I like the random way the letters have smudged off over time. You couldn't get this kind of randomness if you tried.

The gel is crap though.

I guess this is a pretty nerdy post. Am I the only one who would be interested in this?

Arrgh freelance. It never rains.

2007-02-08T11:54:00.000+11:00

One week you're moving house, the next you're unpacked but have 6 clients all needing things yesterday. Such is the life a sole trading freelance designer. I really have to work out a way to manage when work comes in. If you havin any ideas please forward them to ineeditdoneyesterday@freelancesucker.com.au

I shouldn't complain, I need the work, my last paid day in Doha being in mid December. I had just got so peacefully used to working in an office with just one single client and job at hand.

How quickly I forgot what it was like to run an under-funded short film festival, art direct a magazine, quote and write proposals, design some exhibition stands and CAD up some retail. I did do some sums last year and I think I was writing more than 60 work-related emails over 5 overlapping jobs every day.

It's so hard to find good people these days.

Eeek I think my next appointment is arriving - gotta run!