Things that (this very moment) make me happy:
- Clothbound books (c/0 sister's boyfriend)
- Scrubs
- "That thing you Do" (movie and song)
- pretty dresses
- The Eagles
Things that (seem to always) bug me:
- moody people
- Isolation
- overwhelming silence. Silence is good. but sometimes it just paves the way for more thinking time than necessary...or healthy.
Listening to: (see post above)
Reading: the Memory Keeper's Daughter
Feeling: good
Craving: a few good hugs from a few good friends
Sunday, December 27, 2009
Thursday, December 17, 2009
Despite that. I made a new friend.
The world has held great Heroes,
As history books have showed;
But never a name to go down to fame
Compared with that of Toad!
As history books have showed;
But never a name to go down to fame
Compared with that of Toad!
Toady sits beside my bed.
He reminds me of Harry Potter
(Chocolate Frogs).
He guards my daily 'uniform'.
He reminds me of Harry Potter
(Chocolate Frogs).
He guards my daily 'uniform'.
The clever men at Oxford
Know all that there is to be knowed.
But they none of them know one half as much
As intelligent Mr. Toad!
~"Wind in the Willows"
Know all that there is to be knowed.
But they none of them know one half as much
As intelligent Mr. Toad!
~"Wind in the Willows"
Listening to: the vacuum cleaner
Reading: nothing
Feeling: bit blah
Reading: nothing
Feeling: bit blah
Sunday, December 13, 2009
It's a little bit funny
Today was a day for relaxation. I discovered an indie/folk/semi-county Swedish duo called "First Aid Kit" and, as one does these days, decided to search for some videos on youtube. Though all were exceptional, one particular cover they did amused me in that "slightly sad but i guess that's how it is" kind of way.
The pair covered Buffy Sainte-Marie's "Universal Soldier". A protest song originally from 1964's. However, First Aid Kit changed the lyrics a bit to place the song in the context of today's society (the video was posted January 2009).
The original third verse:
And he's fighting for Canada,
He's fighting for France,
He's fighting for the USA,
And he's fighting for the Russians,
And he's fighting for Japan,
And he thinks we'll put an end to war this way.
First Aid Kit's third verse:
And he's fighting for Palestine,
He's fighting for Israel,
He's fighting for the USA,
And he's fighting for the Russians,
And he's fighting for Iraq,
And he thinks we'll put an end to war this way.
Note how, after 45 years, the USA and Russia are still fighting. Granted that they're not fighting each other anymore. It's a little bit funny...but then again not so much.
x
Cha
Listening to: Our Own Pretty Ways by First Aid Kit (and my neighbour practicing the drums)
Feeling: a little bit better and oddly sober (not in the un-sloshed kind of way)
Wanting to: know what it would be like to be a flower-child in the 60's.
The pair covered Buffy Sainte-Marie's "Universal Soldier". A protest song originally from 1964's. However, First Aid Kit changed the lyrics a bit to place the song in the context of today's society (the video was posted January 2009).
The original third verse:
And he's fighting for Canada,
He's fighting for France,
He's fighting for the USA,
And he's fighting for the Russians,
And he's fighting for Japan,
And he thinks we'll put an end to war this way.
First Aid Kit's third verse:
And he's fighting for Palestine,
He's fighting for Israel,
He's fighting for the USA,
And he's fighting for the Russians,
And he's fighting for Iraq,
And he thinks we'll put an end to war this way.
Note how, after 45 years, the USA and Russia are still fighting. Granted that they're not fighting each other anymore. It's a little bit funny...but then again not so much.
x
Cha
Listening to: Our Own Pretty Ways by First Aid Kit (and my neighbour practicing the drums)
Feeling: a little bit better and oddly sober (not in the un-sloshed kind of way)
Wanting to: know what it would be like to be a flower-child in the 60's.
Saturday, December 12, 2009
Back in the rat race
From one routine to another.
The end of classes (and assesments) for the year brought many promising opportunities for exploring the more "la-dee-dah"-ish things that have been buzzing around in my brain for a while.
And then came work.
Despite the much welcome injection of cash into my pockets, work has stripped me of any form of 'life' altogether...for now at least.
Things to Do before summer ends:
- Christmas Shopping
- Paint Room
- Make Memo Board
- Draw/ Paint
- Read a good book
- Catch up with friends
- 'Designer-y' stuff
- Beach it
x
Cha
Listening to: Winter Hymnal by Fleet Foxes
Feeling: tired but relaxed... and a little bit blah
Loving: the new bed sheets
Needing: to check on the washing and cooking.
The end of classes (and assesments) for the year brought many promising opportunities for exploring the more "la-dee-dah"-ish things that have been buzzing around in my brain for a while.
And then came work.
Despite the much welcome injection of cash into my pockets, work has stripped me of any form of 'life' altogether...for now at least.
Things to Do before summer ends:
- Christmas Shopping
- Paint Room
- Make Memo Board
- Draw/ Paint
- Read a good book
- Catch up with friends
- 'Designer-y' stuff
- Beach it
x
Cha
Listening to: Winter Hymnal by Fleet Foxes
Feeling: tired but relaxed... and a little bit blah
Loving: the new bed sheets
Needing: to check on the washing and cooking.
Monday, November 9, 2009
Friday, November 6, 2009
A little bit Dramatic
Finally feeling that hype again. Just in time for the semester to end (2 assignments due and it's goodbye university for another 4 months). But it's good I suppose, because now i'm excited. Really excited. Second year means electives and electives means a class in Stage and Theater Design (Classical) for the Spring Semester. This is why I'm in my course.. set design. I'd always been a part of stage productions whether I was acting or operating the spot lights and audio. Throughout the course of the year any enthusiasm that I'd felt upon entering university was replaced with stress, exhaustion and lack of motivation, so this new found excitement is a much needed boost.
Bring on the scripts and mood lighting.
Feeling: giddy and proud
Needing: to build some models
Listening to: ABBA
Bring on the scripts and mood lighting.
Feeling: giddy and proud
Needing: to build some models
Listening to: ABBA
Monday, October 19, 2009
Pick-Me-Up
the direction of
your dreams.
Live the life
you've imagined "
- Henry David Thoreau
via my sister
circa jan.08.08
Rediscovered oct.19.09
Thanks sis.
Illustration from The Red Tree
- Shaun Tan
Wednesday, October 14, 2009
We are the Post-Modern (Part 1: Building Blues)
At 9:30 last thursday night, after a ridiculously energy draining stint at university, I found myself walking through the Circular Quay area with my older sister after we'd filled our bellies with Macdonalds. The trudge began when i'd mentioned that a task at uni required me to engage in a few feasibility studies of heritage buildings, so, she showed me her office, a heritage site, and took me on a tour.
We walked down a few quiet streets after that, craving some 30c cones (which ironically cost 50c), and managed to encounter a number of glorious building facades. Large stone walls flanking imposing wrought iron gates through which you could just glimpse a chandelier which could have easily appeared in the 'Phantom of the Opera'. Buildings whose stories and nature were told expressively through detail and design.
Once you turned into the more major roads however, the beautiful textures and intricacy were replaced by plain, large, blocks. What essentially were plain rectangles. It left me with a sour feeling in my mouth (and in more need of that soft serve).
I'm not saying that I don't respect modernist architecture. Art Deco is a style of modernism and I find myself incredibly drawn to it. It seems to be the 'International Style' which unnerves me so. I do respect the concepts behind it as well as the beauty inherent in the lines of a skyscraper's steel skeleton and the gleaming glass that acts as its skin. But seeing so much of it and thinking of what had to be destroyed to allow it to exists is a little heart breaking.
My favorite lecturer told us last week that it is just recently that the past has again been truly embraced by designers, and in turn, the world as a whole. He had said that during his time training as an architect, he'd been told that there was no past. All that existed was the present and the future. History hindered progress. Our generation, he said, were raised and taught in the school Post-Modernism. Told to value the past, incorporate its stories into our own.
Is that what it comes down to then? This odd dislike for things that are too sleek and 'modern'...A matter and product of my education and culture? Had I been born 50 years ago would I be one of those people cheering as a wrecking ball smashes into the facade of a Queen Anne structure? Reveling in the destruction of what I would have deemed as 'old' and eagerly anticipating the construction of something shiny and streamlined which meant 'progress'?
Or perhaps it all simply boils down to personal taste. Perhaps a bit of both.
Whatever it is. It's got me thinking. Every time I'm on my bus moving along York street I stare, more so that before, at the various structures to try to pin point what i like and don't. More than that.. i try to figure out why. It's made me question how i see the city I live in. I've always loved the city and I still do. But looking at it more closely in this manner has made me a little bit colder towards it. I question why, besides it's two obvious landmarks, it draws so many people. It's understandable that tourists come to 'feel' cities more so than 'see' them, I admit I crave to 'feel' London and New York and Paris and Amsterdam...But what does Sydney 'feel' like? Anyway. That's a question for another time.
For now my mind's too consumed with heritage vs Meis van der Rohe.
x
Cha
Listening to: Such Great Heights by Iron and wine
Reading: Rebuilding the Reichstag by Norman Foster
Feeling: just a bit blah.
We walked down a few quiet streets after that, craving some 30c cones (which ironically cost 50c), and managed to encounter a number of glorious building facades. Large stone walls flanking imposing wrought iron gates through which you could just glimpse a chandelier which could have easily appeared in the 'Phantom of the Opera'. Buildings whose stories and nature were told expressively through detail and design.
Once you turned into the more major roads however, the beautiful textures and intricacy were replaced by plain, large, blocks. What essentially were plain rectangles. It left me with a sour feeling in my mouth (and in more need of that soft serve).
I'm not saying that I don't respect modernist architecture. Art Deco is a style of modernism and I find myself incredibly drawn to it. It seems to be the 'International Style' which unnerves me so. I do respect the concepts behind it as well as the beauty inherent in the lines of a skyscraper's steel skeleton and the gleaming glass that acts as its skin. But seeing so much of it and thinking of what had to be destroyed to allow it to exists is a little heart breaking.
My favorite lecturer told us last week that it is just recently that the past has again been truly embraced by designers, and in turn, the world as a whole. He had said that during his time training as an architect, he'd been told that there was no past. All that existed was the present and the future. History hindered progress. Our generation, he said, were raised and taught in the school Post-Modernism. Told to value the past, incorporate its stories into our own.
Is that what it comes down to then? This odd dislike for things that are too sleek and 'modern'...A matter and product of my education and culture? Had I been born 50 years ago would I be one of those people cheering as a wrecking ball smashes into the facade of a Queen Anne structure? Reveling in the destruction of what I would have deemed as 'old' and eagerly anticipating the construction of something shiny and streamlined which meant 'progress'?
Or perhaps it all simply boils down to personal taste. Perhaps a bit of both.
Whatever it is. It's got me thinking. Every time I'm on my bus moving along York street I stare, more so that before, at the various structures to try to pin point what i like and don't. More than that.. i try to figure out why. It's made me question how i see the city I live in. I've always loved the city and I still do. But looking at it more closely in this manner has made me a little bit colder towards it. I question why, besides it's two obvious landmarks, it draws so many people. It's understandable that tourists come to 'feel' cities more so than 'see' them, I admit I crave to 'feel' London and New York and Paris and Amsterdam...But what does Sydney 'feel' like? Anyway. That's a question for another time.
For now my mind's too consumed with heritage vs Meis van der Rohe.
x
Cha
Listening to: Such Great Heights by Iron and wine
Reading: Rebuilding the Reichstag by Norman Foster
Feeling: just a bit blah.
Wednesday, September 23, 2009
"Project Chambre à Coucher"
As a someone who is studying how to make beautiful, functional and unique spaces...I am quite ashamed at the current state of my room.
*it's usually not that messy. The random shoe and tape
measure are my markers in attempting
to reconfigure the space.
It's stock standard, currently lacks character (bar from the spot behind the door where my bookcase/ knick knack display is) and is in need of a good paint job.
Thus, “Project Chambre à Coucher” is born. I know it won't get started today. Or next week. Or even the next. There's just no time for it right now, university assignments have seen to that, but this summer this is where I'll be. Painting and re-arranging and personalizing.
Update!
x
Cha
Loving: The smell of unlit cigarettes.
Feeling: Slightly sluggish.
Needing: To put my head down and do uni work.
*it's usually not that messy. The random shoe and tape
measure are my markers in attempting
to reconfigure the space.
Thus, “Project Chambre à Coucher” is born. I know it won't get started today. Or next week. Or even the next. There's just no time for it right now, university assignments have seen to that, but this summer this is where I'll be. Painting and re-arranging and personalizing.
Update!
Fixed my room today.. kind of. It's more of a simple re-orientation...and a clean up. There's still a lot of work to be done. But maybe I can see this as step one of project “chambre à coucher”. perhaps. Let's hope so.
x
Cha
Loving: The smell of unlit cigarettes.
Feeling: Slightly sluggish.
Needing: To put my head down and do uni work.
Red Dawns
Things to do:
Design History group meeting @ 10:30
Finish and Submit Digi Comm Interim Task
- Go to Reverse Garbage
- Do Materiality Research
Get a Job
Start a blog
- Get a proper desk lamp
*the view from the front door
x
Cha
Current Wishlist:
Wooden Magnetic Pegs:Vastkust (kikkiK)
Paper Clips: Coathanger (kikkiK)
Lifted Loafers (Anthropologie)
'Hello Goodbye' door knobs (Anthropologie)
'How does your Garden Grow?' necklage (Of Cabbages and Kings)
Reading: Vanity Fair by William Makepeace Thackeray
Listening to: The Gossip Standing in the Way of Control [Live]
Feeling: Quite Inspired.
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