the other week, i was listening to the radio and heard an interview about virginia woolf, the role of the character in narrative and a woman she called "mrs brown"
it was wonderful to hear someone talk about virginia woolf, it was wonderful hearing an intelligent and articulate voice, melba cuddy-keane, a canadian scholar, it was good to be hearing with my "literary, intellectual" head - something i haven't bothered with for ages
it may not be politick to mention cities/countries being awarded mega-sporting events, as australia's world cup bid is brought down by qatar (achoo), but i happened to be in sydney this week for work
broken heart, ricky maynard
i didn't manage to hop on a ferry
...
or down a schooner
...
two things which i think it is essential to do when in sydney
i didn't even see the bridge or the house!
here is alternative kind of opera house,
i did get to the nsw gallery, though, and saw some regulars, as well as the art + soul exhibition (as seen on tv!!)
i saw a few people listening to commentary, but i was only doing a quick whip around,
mum has asked for the book (associated with the documentary) for christmas, a good present i think.
gallery guards were swarming like flies so i couldn't take many illegal gallery photos and those i did manage were pretty piss-poor as i pretended i was texting when really i was snapping off shots
not surprisingly, this idea came from dbc pierre p&i went to "a conversation with mr pierre" as part of the melbourne writers festival, oh back in early september. "this wine-drinking, perfume-spraying early morning Melbourne Writers Festival conversation" is available to read/view on slow tv, parts one and two, which is good because pierre has rather mellifluous tones and is good to listen to.
it was refreshing to hear someone thinking too. he waxed along about the collapse of civilisation, and read (in part two) from charles baudelaire GET DRUNK by Baudelaire ONE SHOULD always be drunk. That’s the great thing; the only question. Not to feel the horrible burden of Time weighing on your shoulders and bowing you to the earth, you should be drunk without respite. Drunk with what? With wine, with poetry, or with virtue, as you please. But get drunk. And if sometimes you should happen to awake, on the stairs of a palace, on the green grass of a ditch, in the dreary solitude of your own room, and find that your drunkenness is ebbing or has vanished, ask the wind and the wave, ask star, bird, or clock, ask everything that flies, everything that moans, everything that flows, everything that sings, everything that speaks, ask them the time; and the wind, the wave, the star, the bird and the clock will all reply: “It is Time to get drunk! If you are not to be the martyred slaves of Time, be perpetually drunk! With wine, with poetry, or with virtue, as you please.”
such a good sentiment, i want to be drunk on life it reminds me of oscar wilde (via chrissy hynde), we are all in the gutter, but some of us are looking at the stars which makes me think of van gogh's starry night
slowly, step by step, i'm getting there, exploring my joy, discovering my happiness (turns out it's green)
When spring begins, I can feel it in my body. It's the balmy air on my skin. It always reminds me of the sensation of a light cotton dress against my bare legs, after the winter gloom of heavier, warmer clothes. (When I was a kid, it was the transition from winter uniform - woollen tunic - into summer uniform - cotton dress). So, I'm thinking about dresses and skirts and bare (tanned!) legs. When I think dresses, two songs in particular pop into my head. both are 80s/early 90s songs, and (i had forgotten, but was reminded) in the 80s, early 90s, "alternative" girls wore second hand, opp shop dresses. so these are the dresses i think of when i think of these two songs. Lloyd Cole and the Commotions, Pretty Gone ...won't you put on your dress and come down to magazine avenue won't you put on your dress and come down ... sadly, not online but possibly available here
i suppose i have always thought of "utopia" as a kind of fantasy land and dimissed it. but the other day, i was indulging in some self-critique and was advised to take a more romantic view of myself that i should "just pretend you are in your own utopia and act like that, and enjoy yourself ..." (and crucially) "as though it is normal" re-arrange the world, or my own perspective of it, and live that reality a nice idea. a very good suggestion. because the world is rarely as crticial, as scary, as forbidding, as i have become accustomed to thinking it.
another utopia, this one very different. the community and erstwhile station in the northern territory which has produced hardship but also the incredible works of artists like minnie pwerle, emily kame kngwarreye (her sister in law), barbara weir (her daughter), and emily pwerle (her sister)
when i was little, i thought that water meters looked like crabs some days, i would pretend i believed they were crabs they do look remarkably like crabs! this picture accompanied an article about the famous crab migration of christmas island (in the telegraph, uk) i remember seeing a great documentary about the christmas island crab migration really well made here is a link to it, and a great dramatic blurb ... Red Crabs Crazy Ants [Christmas Island Crabs documentary][click to download and watch, or buy!] Two enemy armies are locked in a life and death struggle for Christmas Island, 360 kilometres south of Jakarta. During their spectacular annual migration millions of red crabs are under attack from yellow ants, and the ants are winning. Can worried scientists turn the tide? watch a little bit now...
i remember reading a travel guide about cuba too, an island with its own crab migrations. the author was trying to visit the bay of pigs, and there were all these crabs in the way an excerpt from cuba - wild island of the caribbean Each spring millions of small reddish land crabs emerge from the moist forests surrounding Cuba’s Bay of Pigs to breed in the nearby sea. As NATURE’s Cuba: Wild Island of the Caribbean shows, the evening invasions — which last for weeks — can wreak havoc on ordinary life. Roads become covered with smelly smashed crabs, while car owners must repair tires shredded by the sharp shells. part of the same show, Those that reach the sea face one last challenge — laying their eggs while avoiding being swept back into the water. watch the spawning cuban crabs another snippet of information i got somewhere (a book? a doco? the internet?!!) was about another snippet of information i got somewhere (a book? a doco? the internet?!!) was about hermit crabs hermit crabs live in shells. they also carry their shells, so if they outgrow their shell, it's not just a question of finding any old larger shell and using that one. it's important to find one that is "just right". so how do you find a "just right" shell?? this is what the scientists have found out about the hermit crab answer to the classifieds, When a hermit crab discovers an empty but oversized shell, it waits nearby rather than simply walking away. Once a small group gathers, crabs begin piggybacking by holding onto the shell of a larger crab and riding along. Such waiting and piggybacking behaviors seem to increase the chances that a synchronous vacancy chain will happen. "They spend hours queuing up, and then the chain fires off in seconds, just like a line of dominoes," says Rotjan. Computer models populated with virtual hermit crabs and shells confirmed that synchronous vacancy chains depend not only on crab density, but also on how long crabs are programmed to wait near an unsuitable shell. read more about it here video of hermit crabs moving house
oh i do love this story! this fitzroy crab looks pretty happy with its house, i must say. it's not going anywhere.
I first heard about james turrell's land art piece, roden crater, on robert hughes' american visions. robert hughes expressed wonder and delight (a nice contrast to the eloquent disgust he displayed when talking to jeff koons) trying to find out more about the project (eg will it open in 2011 after all? and when is the best time to visit - special things are supposed to happen at the winter or summer equinoxes* *Brown, Jullia. "Occluded Front, James Turrell". The Lapis Press. 1985. [official roden crater project text] this cross-section of the roden crater published in the seattle times this kind of searching leads you straight down the rabbit hole (or under the volcano see the article in the independent) - and down there you meet all sorts of "enthusiasts" and characters. one of my favourites (so far) is the graceful spoon blogwhich includes a map around the south western states, taking in robert smithson's spiral jetty, james turrell's roden crater, donald judd's studio/ museum, as well as natural wonders, grand canyon and various mesas nice shot of freight trains, very kerouac it's kind of nice, the whole mystery of what's going on at roden crater and not really knowing when it will be open to the public. as mysterious as the thing itself. hole mystery of what's going on at roden crater and not really knowing when it will be open to the public. as mysterious as the thing itself. as the thing itself. thing itself.
ny times: shh! it's a secret kind of outside art The artist James Turrell in 2001 at Roden Crater, his artwork (or his studio, depending on how you look at it). PHOTO - JORI FINKEL
robert hughes ... delighted with the roden crater ... american visions
from techeblog site In 1979, James Turrell purchased the 400,000 year old, 3km wide crater and transformed it into into a massive naked-eye observatory, designed specifically for the viewing of celestial phenomena. ...for the past 30 years or so an astounding renovation has been underway below roden crater, the brilliance of which probably won't be apparent until the large-scale art installation opens when ready, apparently in 2012 roden crater is on flickr
and then again the other night, an interview with james shapiro discussing his book, contested will: who wrote shakespeare?
