before & after

Pascale Marthine Tayou at Malmö Konsthall 22 may - 22 august 2010

Magnifying Glass

Close up of the weave of a nylon stocking.

Lamb to the Slaughter

My task in today's Swedish class was a close reading of the Swedish translation of Roald Dahl's darkly comedic short story 'Lamb to the Slaughter' (1953), known in Swedish as 'Mysteriet med det Försvunna Mordvapnet' (The Mystery of the Vanished Murder Weapon).

The tale concerns a wife who bludgeons her policeman husband to death with a frozen leg of lamb, puts the lamb in the oven, establishes an alibi going to the grocery store to buy vegetables to accompany her roast, and proceeds to serve the murder weapon to the investigating officers.

After a fruitless search, the policemen bandy about possible locations of the murder weapon, while waiting to be served their dinner.

"It's probably right under our very noses."





Lamb to the Slaughter was adapted for television twice, first in 1958 as part of Alfred Hitchcock Presents, directed by the master of suspense himself, and starring Barbara Bel Geddes (Midge in Vertigo).

Another adaptation was included in Tales of the Unexpected, in 1979. Tales of the Unexpected was a collection of tales based on the short stories of Roald Dahl.

First Impressions of snow

I awoke this morning to a winter whitewash, and my first proper day of snow. After Swedish class I trekked through the frozen streets of Malmö, carpets of crisp, white icy snow stretching along footpaths and in gardens, and dirty snow clogging the gutters, the same colour and consistency as frozen coke, hatchback coupes transformed into hunchbacks with mounds of snow fixed upon boots and bonnets.
A group of teenage youths threw a snowball at my leg, then apologised.

Sushine state of mind

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Fendi Spring 2011

Words of advice/not so subliminal messages backstage at Michael Kors, which remind me a lot of Dr. Lawrence Jacoby's personal hypnosis cues, and those bizarre pictures dentists' always seem to have pinned to the ceiling above the chair.

Ship Shape

cross section

Tidbits

Drugs Are Like That (1979)

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Patricia Johanson
Stephen Long (1968)

"Stephen Long" extended 1600 feet, beyond the field of vision, and its colors were transformed by natural light. At sunset the yellow stripe changed to orange, and blue became violet.

via ROLU

recently I was told by my "job coach/life coach" that she would classify me as 'curious' person. I think this is just because so many interesting morsels are continuously dangled in front of me, and I need to discover more about them.

Promenade

Jack Nicholson & Anjelica Huston / River Phoenix & Martha Plimpton

Recent Acquisitions

Recent acquisitions accumulated during Alex's visit and the following weeks. Alex arrived laden with marvellous gifts including a copy of her recently published novel The Constant Losers, and another Ngaio Marsh mystery to add the the growing collection. During our day of op shopping I unearthed an orange sweater emblazoned with a galloping horse and jockey amongst a plethora of psychedelic tie dyed t-shirts and a few days later, some sturdy yet becoming winter boots, excellent for stomping around leaf strewn footpaths and staving off numb toe syndrome.
While kitted out in my new jersey and chimney-sweep boots, I can carry around my high literature in a brilliant University of Auckland Library bag, featuring the classic 'This Book Must Not Be Borrowed' slogan previously found in library reference books.

Skriv om din familj

Granny receives her new ride

Min far kommer från en ganska stor familj också. Han är ett av sju barn, och han bodde i ett gammalt hus i Wellingtons höjder. 1964 vann min farmor en tävling som heter 'Mini for Mum' och hon fick en ny bil.
Hon kunde passa in sju barn och en livlig hund i bilen.


The family get ready for a day at the beach

An excerpt from a piece of text I wrote for Swedish class. I now study Swedish every weekday morning and spend my time fabricating family histories to read out in class. The tale mentioned above might even be true.
It is nice knowing I can say "she could fit seven children and a lively dog in the car" in another language.

Smoke & Mirrors

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co-ordinates.

and self portrait whilst listening to various versions of 'You Really Got a Hold On Me' amongst other Miracles songs/albums.

TO BE PRECISE

DUPOND ET DUPONT, THE EARLY YEARS

Diamonds & Wood = best

Documented Movement

LOUISE MENZIES
Letters to Students of the Radiant Life
2010

Adam Art Gallery, University of Victoria, 2010-2011
Wellington

Photographs Robert Cross
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Contents as shown

KITCHEN OF A VICTORIAN HOUSE.

Gallery Opening

GALLERY OPENING / PLAYMOBIL WINE BAR
As to whether the figures are based on prominent wine personalities or notables from the Auckland gallery circuit is still being disputed.

Rocky's Livs

Mooning around Malmö - autunmal excursions with Alex during her brief 4 day visit over the weekend (the same weekend MFF win the Allsvenskan football league and some city-wide hooning commences) saw us getting up to the usual sort of mischief. Bike rides out to the piers at Ribersborg, sea swans, larking about in the leaves at Pildammsparken, trawling through second hand shops full of tie-dyed t-shirts and scores of Letraset. Galleries and gallery openings, record shopping with novelty 7"s. Stumbling across hilarious shops names and the Malmö branch of Rocky's Superette. Homemade pizza and the best falafel in Malmö.
Who needs to see the sights of Malmö when you can view them in miniature form at the Malmö-themed mini golf in Folkets Park?

White Wash

4000 Bauhaus/International Style buildings make up The White City in Tel Aviv, constructed in the 1930's by German Jewish architects who had immigrated to Palestine to escape the rise of the Nazi's. The White City is the largest collection of this style of building anywhere in the world.
Today, many of the striking buildings are in varying states of decay, while many are slowly being restored to their pristine white facades.

White walls against glaring blue sky with ripples of heat distorting the sharp, smooth lines and right angles; turning the structures into quivering mirages.

Hitchcockian

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At Sea

Tintin, Captain Haddock and Snowy about to be peppered by enemy fire, after the Captain got sloshed and decided to burn the oars of their dinghy because Tintin looked cold.
The Adventures of Tintin: The Secret of the Unicorn.
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