A Hazy Shade of Winter

[click images to enlarge]

ASH KILMARTIN
'RAIN'
 12.02.2011


A special parcel received in the post today travelled halfway across the world wrapped in paper adorned with colourful donuts. Inside was the eagerly anticipated publication made on the occasion of my great friend Ash Kilmartin's single-handed one day sculptural exhibit 'RAIN', situated in an abandoned lot in Melbourne.

Ash asked if I would contribute a piece of writing to accompany her exhibition as part of a small one-off publication, and I readily obliged. I penned a short piece about my first impressions of snow, (which is hopefully legible in the photo above) and thought about my feelings towards snow in relation to Ash's installation, delicate hand stitched fabrics draped over minimalist wooden frames.

The publication design is by another good friend, Claire Cooper. I am particularly partial to the horizontally bisected green hued centre-fold, opening out to reveal the text and various youtube stills.

A great project to be apart of and one which has already given me ideas of like-minded scenarios.

Rapunzel

Photograph documenting the first influx of undergraduate female students to Princeton University in the Autumn of 1969. Photographs for LIFE Magazine by Alfred Eisenstaedt.
Personally I have no idea how one could study anything with that amount of hair.

Found via Miss Moss

A Cowboy in Sweden

Momus in Sweden: giving a lecture in Lund which I sadly could not attend, and performing at Brogatan last night in a cramped and sweat inducing cellar, which was rumoured to have posed as a strip joint in a previous incarnation. The small confines and slightly disreputable hearsay of the venue only complemented Momus' intoxicating and beguiling presence, such an entertaining time at a gig I have not experienced in quite a while.

A friend asked me if I had spoken to Momus, and I had to reply that sadly no, I had not. I suppose, having only heard a few of his songs, and followed his tumblr, I preferred to keep him at an arms length, uphold the enigma and all that jazz. Besides, I would have had no idea what to say. Sometimes I would rather just be an innocent bystander enjoying watching everyone else.

17 Lies About A Shed In Lund lecture photo via Mrs Tsk*.
See more of Momus in action here.

Dream weaver

images via

Gareth Spor

'Nothing tells memories from ordinary moments (La Jetée)'
2008
and
'Mirror Universe'
2009



 Elements of science fiction and the universe are becoming more and more alluring to me.

A Cross Country Fantasy

photographs from the site of Henry S. Gurr

Amazing photographs from Robert M. Pirsig's original 1968 motorcycle excursion across America with his son Chris and John and Sylvia Sutherland, which in turn inspired the 1974 bestseller 'Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance', which I am presently reading. Both these images and the book are fuelling a sense of wanderlust and desire to escape the dreariness of winter, of the grey monotony of the city, and I have a yearning for spring to arrive and bring with it long bicycle rides, berry picking, ginger ale, and walks through forests.

Peg Leg

A study of different ways to create a faux bois/wood grain effect on a nylon stocking.

Seal of Approval

This set of James Bond stamps based on the book covers of Ian Fleming's original novels is almost enough to reinstate myself as a fully fledged philatelist.

If I Were A Carpenter

Last Thursday night I had the rare and always appreciated pleasure of being on the receiving end of a song dedication. The band (La Sera) dedicated their rendition of "Dedicated to the one I love" to us (the DJ's - well I was more of a musical advisor less of a dj I suppose), and the whole scenario felt a little more special as we had played The Shirelles' version earlier on in the night when no one was there bar us, the bands, the guy setting up the merch table and a staff member writing up the evening's specials on a black board and making a bit of a hash of it. If I was ever in the position where I could do a really swell cover of a heartfelt song and dedicate it to someone, I would choose this:

To take a squizz at the mammoth list of pretty excellent songs played by the tally ho's partner in crime 'RECORD TURNOVER', please stop by.

All the trimmings

umbrella storage unit

a necessary componant of any car to ensure no wet uphostery.

A spanner in the works

The door to my mind / forlorn fishing nets / dual 'Persona' /Naval Star gazing

It feels like lately I have been swamped by a deluge of swedish vocabulary, verb tenses and other such thrilling components which make up the untamable beast known as svenska. It is not as bad as it sounds, in fact, I thoroughly enjoy learning languages; nothing is so satisfying as drunkenly rambling in another language and people being able to understand you, as my friends and I discovered on saturday night. While my previous party trick may have been exclaiming 'How did I get so drunk?' in swedish, I am now able to give a detailed description of this inevitable demise.
Last night I prepared for my final swedish test by watching Ingmar Bergman's Smultronstället (Wild Strawberries) without subtitles. Judging by todays effort in my listening comprehension, it was perhaps not the most suitable method of practice, but in any respects the most engrossing. I am satisfied by the fact that I understood enough to figure out the plot lines.


The above film still is not from Smultronstället but another Bergman film, Persona, featuring the same actresses, Bibi Andersson and Ingrid Thulin. I have always liked the director who has a stable of trusted actors whose names become synonymous with the directors own.

I am also now completely intrigued by star charts, islands and fishing nets, to add to the ever growing list of 'things that inspire me that I really should do something about'. These include birds, faux bois, whittling, and such like. A collection of "things" laid out like in the positions of stars / faux bois embroidered stockings / balancing bird Alexander Calder-esque mobiles / whittled bath feet / tunnels of fishing net / on an island?

It all makes me feel rather intrepid. I definitely have more exploring to do in the coming warmer climes.
Spend my winter thinking, and my summer doing.

The mind boggles.

Maria Schneider

died on Thursday 3rd February 2011.


The Passenger is better than Last Tango in Paris.

via

Love Story

Love Affair, or the Case of the Missing Switchboard Operator

(Serbo.Croatian: Ljubavni slučaj ili tragedija službenice P.T.T. )

Yugoslavia, 1967

Directed by Dušan Makavejev

Quite a strange feeling watching a film from a country which no longer exists. Perhaps it is due to living in a foreign country and learning a new language, but I am now continuously drawn to films in other languages. Just so I can hear how different languages are spoken.

The second film still feature amazing film cartoons! Early tetra-pak perhaps?