if you haven't got a (de) clieu

today i ventured down gertrude st to get some coffee from de clieu, seven seeds' fitzroy franchise

threethousand told me that there is a "a faintly nautical theme harking back to the café's namesake, a sailor in Napoleon's army who chose to use his own drinking water rations to nurture stolen coffee plants."

this had me thinking PIRATES, but no, gabriel de clieu was no pirate but a naval officer and later a governor of guadaloupe (thank you wikipedia; apparently, too, de clieu's descendants are getting together, via facebook for heaven's sake, to set up a museum in de clieu's home town of dieppe)

pretty industrio-lights, courtesy of 6 degrees design aesthetic

side bar - clever cute names like de clieu

recycling, yet another thing

oh, i laughed when i saw this,

i have written much the same thing ... nothing makes me more furious than incorrect recycling! how ridiculous of me

f*ck a d*ck

i've never been a huge fan of mandarina duck but today strolling along at lunchtime (always a dangerous time) i saw a lovely bag before me,

this has started me on a search for this bag

searching for pre-loved mandarinas... but without knowing the style/model there's not much point.

i did find this one, though ...

and a blog about messenger bags

and another thing ...

my brother-in-law used to laugh whenever i raved on about something. he'd parody me with and ANOTHER thing ...

an article in today's age/smh raised my "and ANOTHER thing ..." hackles
can we afford to continue funding private schools (18 feb 2011)
i say, emphatically, no
recently i overheard a conversation on the tram, a man was telling a colleague that his daughter was leaving her state primary school to start grade 4 at a private primary school
the conversation went something like this ...
woman: oh, and was she wearing a hat?
man: yes, yes, she was
w: oh, how adorable
m: yes, we thought it was time ... she needed the change w: oh yes, well, it gives them better opportunities, doesn't it?
m: ... yes, we would have kept her at her old school but ...
w: well, if they were properly funded ...

precisely! exactly!! proper funding.

why oh why, do private schools get additional commonwealth funding, when it's their state school compatriots who need the extra help?
i like this from today's article
Simon Marginson, Academic: Once the public purse is used to fund private benefits enjoyed by a few — benefits that gain value from the fact that they are exclusive — we are on a slippery slope.
There is no end to possible private claims on the public purse. The practical question is whether we continue to provide money from the common pool of taxation for exclusive school communities. Australia is a low-tax country and resources for education are scarce. We can't afford to fund choices only some families can make — more so given that fostering exclusive education has weakened the standing of the public schools open to all, and eroded their educational quality.

other recent articles on the same subject

• Do we have fairness in funding for Australian schools? (14 feb 2011)
• Can we afford to continue funding private schools? (12 feb 2011)

where the wild things are

the wild animal graffiti of ROA, in mexico, unurth

photos of 'hyena men' by pieter hugo
an extract from the article,
These photographs came about after a friend emailed me an image taken on a cellphone through a car window in Lagos, Nigeria, which depicted a group of men walking down the street with a hyena in chains. A few days later I saw the image reproduced in a South African newspaper with the caption ‘The Streets of Lagos’. Nigerian newspapers reported that these men were bank robbers, bodyguards, drug dealers, debt collectors. Myths surrounded them...

It turned out that they were a group of itinerant minstrels, performers who used the animals to entertain crowds and sell traditional medicines. The animal handlers were all related to each other and were practising a tradition passed down from generation to generation.
...
Many animal-rights groups also contacted me, wanting to intervene (however, the keepers have permits from the Nigerian government). When I asked Nigerians, “How do you feel about the way they treat animals?”, the question confused people. Their responses always involved issues of economic survival. Seldom did anyone express strong concern for the well-being of the creatures. Europeans invariably only ask about the welfare of the animals but this question misses the point. Instead, perhaps, we could ask why these performers need to catch wild animals to make a living. Or why they are economically marginalised. Or why Nigeria, the world’s sixth largest exporter of oil, is in such a state of disarray.


i remember when i was watching spike jonze's where the wild things are i was struck that the "alien landscape" of the wild things was my backyard,
southern and central victoria,
the beach scenes are around the corner from cape schanck, an hour and a half from melbourne and 30 minutes from where my mum lives

the difference between wild and civilised can be so slight, a difference of where you put the accent, the emphasis

if this isn't happiness i don't know what is

some images from a tumblr site called this isn't happiness
-- art photography design & disappointment

ahoy

a while ago, i found a stripey top in an army supply store, and bought it for my love

it looks a bit like a breton shirt
(i sea stripes, breton shirt tribute site)

circa 1900 photo of French sailors wearing marinières

he was wearing it when we went to visit my mum who immediately identified it as a soviet/russian sailor's shirt (a telnyashka, Тельняшка).

so, i send this to him on v-day

another artist and his breton shirt
1. at his feet

2. self portrait with muse
2. self portrait with muse
2. self portrait with muse
2. self portrait with muse
2. self portrait with muse
2. self portrait with muse

2. self p2. 2. self portrait with muse


buy one here >>