Today we went a-marketing. Sort of. But not really. We went to Vinnies down the road to scrounge up some 'vintage' finds. It started off well but ended more roughly than anticipated. It ended in a mental letter to "you".

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!

Toady sits beside my bed.
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"

Listening to: the vacuum cleaner
Reading: nothing
Feeling: bit blah

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.

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.

KURT!

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

Pick-Me-Up

" Go confidently in
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

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.