Monday, August 30, 2004

Slidenight: Farnan Findlay Architects

Small unknown Sydney based firm, Farnan Findlay Architects gets selected by super cool Wallpaper* magazine’s as one of 2003's top 10 architectural firms.

Find out what the fuss is all about, if it helped and how they did it as Joel Farnan and partner Michelle Findlay present a little bit of a mystery. (They have just finished jazzing up the Spanish Club front bar so check it out on the way up.)

18.30 31 August The Spanish Club Level 2, 88 Liverpool St, Sydney $5/$3 concession

Farnan Findlay Architects: http://www.farnanfindlay.com.au/
Slidenight website: http://www.sydneyarchitecture.org/slide

Sunday, August 29, 2004

Kick up the Dust - 25th September

Kick up the Dust is an annual competition with two categories of band and dance. This event provides a platform for multicultural young people (16 to 30) to express their passion for music and perform to a live crowd of up to 500. Most importantly, Kick up the Dust is for unsigned talents looking for a ‘break’. Six band and dance finalists will battle it out on stage on 25 September at the University of NSW.

A Different Corner Productions Inc. (ADC) is a non-profit voluntary organisation committed to bringing the Performing Arts to Australia’s culturally diverse community, as well as sharing cultural diversity to mainstream Australia via the Performing Arts.

KICK UP THE DUST 2004
6.30 – 11.00pm, Sat 25 Sep 2004
Science Theatre, University of NSW, Anzac Parade, Kensington
Tickets: $15 (pre-door), $20 (at door)

W: http://www.adifferentcorner.com

Weekend

Went to Kirribilli markets on Saturday morning. It was pretty busy at around 9.30am. It was a nice and sunny day too. There were a number of stalls selling funky, designy second hand clothes. There were also a number of original craft stalls including spray painted, stencilled caps, jewellery, and bags. Also lots of the usual food stalls including fresh danish profiteroles, turkish gozleme, satay chicken sticks and more. The markets are literally right next to Millers Point train station. So it's pretty convenient!

Also saw the Bourne Supremacy last night. It's fast-paced and never boring. Lots of action. If you liked the Bourne Identity, you'll get more of the same in the second movie. Lots of fun.

Caught up with some friends for yum cha at New Marigold today. Then wandered across the road and had a walk through Paddy's markets. Got some really cool brown monkey slippers - reminiscent of some Sylvester slippers I had once. A bit of fun.

Friday, August 27, 2004

Choc Tops in the Attic - Sydney 31st August

An evening of conversation & discussion for actors, writers, filmmakers, film lovers & students of film.

Independent spirits, Aspasia and Jaimie Leonarder are stalwarts of the independent and underground cinema and music scene in Australia.

Based in the inner west in Sydney and inveterate travellers to all national festivals, Jaimie and Aspa have been running Sounds of Seduction, Mu-Meson screenings and Cult Sinema movies for a decade or more and it's largely thanks to their tireless work and boundless curiosity that a number of Australian film makers and musicians have gone on to achieve marked success in this country.

Their catalogue and knowledge of cinema and lost genres is second to none and it's for this reason that Jaimie recently landed the role of co-host on the new SBS 'The Movie Show' and Aspasia runs a Thursday show on FBI radio.

Their respective backgrounds are as colourful and diverse as their personalities and together they've carved a substantial and unique niche and immensely popular following in Australia - whether it be for their multimedia nights at the Mu-Meson Archives with bands playing sets between reels of lost Man from Uncle episodes and Conspiracy documentaries or their marathon gigs around town playing lost classics of the 60's with modern loops or the more homely Monday night screenings of Cult Classics at the Annandale Hotel.

Dangerously funny, passionate with just about everything and thoroughly beyond sane description, an evening with Jaimie and Aspasia is guaranteed to be a memorable event.

RSVP to Tony: tony@doctorgram.com.au
Free admission - NAFA networking meetings are Free

Schedule:
6.30 pm - Get in early
6.45 pm - Start with Castings, Industry & NAFA announcements
7.15 pm ? Panel discussion
8.30 pm - Close

When: 31st August, 6.30 - 8.30pm
Where: ArtHouse Hotel, 275 Pitt Street, Sydney

Source: http://www.if.com.au/events/2004/08/27.html#item7776

Marking time to join the band

Interesting part of this SMH article is the reference to Unwired Australia's wireless broadband network in Sydney. It's bandwidth is similar to cable and ADSL but the selling point is that it is a wireless service so as long as the area you travel to eg home to work to uni to wherever..., you can still be on the net if your notebook has this service installed on it. Prices are similar to other services. Brilliant idea!

You can type in the street names and suburbs in Sydney to see if you'd get Unwired coverage. When it covers the few streets I'd like to have access, then I'd be keen to sign up.

SMH article link: http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2004/08/23/1093113130655.html
Unwired Australia's website: http://www.unwired.com.au

Tuesday, August 24, 2004

CG August zine now up!

This issue features interviews with Tin Nguyen and Edward Cutting of tin&ed, and Rachel Bending of Slingfings, artwork by Claudio Parentela, Citrus article by the Veggie Lady, Toni Salter and art and film reviews by Fiona Prior.

W: http://www.chaosgeneration.com/zine

Monday, August 23, 2004

The Corporation

Saw The Corporation documentary film at the Vahalla Cinemas, Glebe today. It talks about the modern corporation as an entity. It looks at their influence and impact on workers, people in the developing countries, the environment and more. The corporation serves the financial interests of the shareholders. The documentary features interviews with people including Michael Moore, Naomi Klein, Milton Friedman and Noam Chomsky. It's a must-see film and will make you think about the brands you're wearing and consuming and maybe think about how you can affect change for a better world in the future.

Valhalla Cinemas: http://www.valhallacinemas.com.au
Film website: http://www.thecorporation.com

Monday, August 16, 2004

Cute Things

Lili Chin of Fwak Animation has started a new blog of cute toys she likes with links to the websites.
W: http://agentchin.typepad.com/cutethings/

Sunday, August 15, 2004

Shakespeare's Twelfth Night : A Bollywood Experience

5 - 28 August 2004 @ Bondi Pavilion Theatre, Sydney

The producers of Shakespeare's Twelfth Night are kindly offering artsConnect readers TWO tickets for the price of ONE to see the show on Tuesday evening 17th August, or Tuesday evening 24th August.

For only $25.00, you and a friend can attend the show and enjoy this latest production of Shakespeare's
Twelfth Night, a la Bollywood style!

Bookings: www.ticketek.com.au or Call 02 9266 4800.
Mention artsConnect when booking the tickets.

Twelfth Night, one of Shakespeare's most popular and lighthearted comedies, is a bittersweet, gender-bending tale of mistaken identity and misdirected passion. Set in India in the 1890's this novel adaptation has been infused with a Bollywood theme and delivers a contemporary twist to the Bard's last romantic comedy. Directed by NIDA graduate Fiona Pulford, and produced by Shaughna E Productions, Twelfth Night is a colourful, zany and entertaining theatrical event, presented by a multicultural cast and talented creative team.

Please Note: The 2 for 1 offer applies for the evenings of Tues 17 Aug and Tues 24 Aug.
For more info, view the article on artsConnect

Source: Email from Teresa
Charchalis,
artsConect
15/8/04.


Our first Karaoke Idol

SBS will be broadcasting a series called The National Karoke Challenge. It'll start screening in October. There will be nine half-hour weekly shows. The public will vote for the winner. Michael Gudinski from the Mushroom Group will is the series' co-producer.

Article in SMH: http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2004/08/15/1092340553831.html

Art House: Playing the Game program on ABC Tuesdays 8pm

SMH has this article titled Creative drive. It talks about an upcoming TV show called Art House: Playing the Game, which follows Christie's David Cook and Deutscher-Menzies' Damien Hackett as they buy $7 million worth of paintings over 7 weeks in time for their August 2003 auctions. It's a behind the scenes look at the business of selling art.

The program starts on Tuesday at 8pm on the ABC.
W: http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2004/08/09/1092022390625.html

Saturday, August 14, 2004

Digit Expo conference - day 3

Day 3 - Sat 14th Aug
Ashley Ringrose - Soap Creative (http://www.soapcreative.com)
Spoke about the business side of running a web studio, 2 years on. They're now 7 people. Ashley spoke about the studio's structure, writing business plans, looking after the accounts, writing proposals and estimating costs and more. It was a very practical, useful session.

David Gravina - Digital Eskimo (http://www.digitaleskimo.net/)
David's design studio is built on a high standard of ethics, social and environmental consciousness. He talked about how he achieves this and works with clients who's values are aligned with the studio's.

Brendan Cook - PictureDrift (http://www.picturedrift.com.au)
Brendan was asked to speak about creativity and the client brief. He put together a great documentary asking his design friends questions on how they work with briefs etc. It was really interesting getting a diverse range of perspectives. Anthony Geernaert was one of the people featured in the doco.

Ryosuke Tei - Furi Furi (http://www.furifuri.com)
Ryosuke is based in Japan and talked about his cute characters. He likes to create characters that all ages can enjoy, and wants to keep the characters positive and uplifting. He's very much against featuring any guns or violence in graphic design. He wants his characters to have a healing effect on people and finished off by saying "let's all have fun and be happy".

Richard Hogg - Airside (http://www.airside.co.uk)
Richard was asked to speak again. He was asked to speak yesterday as the organisers were hoping that David Carson would arrive today and then take the final slot of the day. But Carson didn't show. Good on Richard for giving another presentation. He phoned his colleagues to get some new material to show in today's presentation. People who had heard him speak yesterday stayed for his presentation today as well. He's a true champ!

So it's been a great, fun 3 days of really interesting presentations.

Friday, August 13, 2004

Digit Expo conference

Went to the Digit Expo conference yesterday and today. It's on again tomorrow. It's been an interesting couple of days so far. The Digit Expo format has been interesting in that they've asked speakers to present about a particular topic. Speakers have spoken about running a business, clients, process and more. Another interesting aspect is that a number of the presenters are also lecturers or have run their design studios for a number of years and were very generous in sharing their knowledge and lessons they've learned along the way. Below are a few v.brief summaries on a few of the speakers.

Day 1: Thu 12th Aug
Garry Emery - Garry Emergy Design (http://www.emeryfrost.com)
Garry's a self-taught designer. He started designing when design wasn't even a formal course yet. He's now the Adjunct Professor at RMIT uni. Garry talked about the process of developing a font he called Buff. It was based on the concept of what Melbourne stands for. He talked about the values associated with Melbourne.

Elliott Goodman - Babyfoot Productions (http://www.babyfoot.net/)
Elliott talked about the illustration and animation process involved in making 1200 Techniques' Fork in the Road video clip. He also talked about Will Young's (UK Idol) video and how it took 2 weeks to add little Christmas light effects onto Will Young's jacket.

Nille Svensson - Sweden Graphics
Nille's topic was "The worst of Sweden Graphics". Nille was a really terrific presenter. He was really funny. He delivered a lot of cool 'lessons' or tips in a very humourous way. He's also a lecturer in Sweden. He used some examples o fhis work to illustrate why those examples probably didn't turn out as well as they could have. His lessons included taking responsibility even if clients change their briefs at the last minute or whatever...

Day 2: Fri 13th Aug
Andrew Hoyne - Hoyne Design (http://www.hoyne.com.au)
Andrew talked about his studio's design work, building client relationships and finding out what the clients are trying to achieve, and their agendas, how he creates a team where they all support each other, how he employs people with strengths that contribute to the studio's strength, how he has a general manager/accounts person who looks after the running of the business so he can focus on what he does best and is passionate about - which is being a designer.

Philip Brophy (http://www.philipbrophy.com)
He talked about his Body Malleable project which is a project that can be experienced at ACMI, Federation Square. He talked about the process of creating the project. He's an amazing presenter! He's so funny, witty, cool!

Richard Hogg - Airside (http://www.airside.co.uk)
Richard's a designer based in the UK. He talked about being a commercial artist. He talks about fighting for his designs if he feels the design as is will be of benefit to the client's objectives. He also talked about creating a shop section of the Airside site and making knitted 'animals' that sell out v.quickly so they're making an army of them before releasing them again. He talks about creating a community on their website. He talks about there being a lot of design aware fans out there but he also wants to design for everyone and thinks that everyone should be able to appreciate good design.

Also had a look around the Digit Expo exhibition - bought a copy of Paint Shop Pro 8 for $64 which I thought was a really good deal. Also got a free light ball toy and a free pen which flashes blue or gives solid blue light which is pretty handy. It's also a torch and keyring. Pretty cool actually. Will have to see if the market stalls also sell these.

W: http://www.digitexpo.com


Your CV has a fatal error

Article in the SMH about employers increasingly using automated software to pre-screen potential job candidates. If your cv doesn't contain particular keywords, you get a computer generated rejection letter that gets automatically sent to you. The software mentioned in this article is called TurboRecruit, put out by Recruit Advantage. Companies already using this technology include Coca-Cola Amatil, Centrelink, Sydey Water and the Department of Defence.

Employers are also increasingly using software to assess an applicant's psychological make-up online. So your cv may get rejected before ever being sighted by a human.

W: http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2004/08/12/1092102594952.html

Jon Simon - MD Warner Music New Media Asia Pacific 'live' interview - 8 September

Domain presents Fourth EstateDOMAIN - free event

"Jon Simon, Managing Director Warner Music New Media Asia Pacific will be interviewed on the couch by Mike Walsh of Fourth Estate.

Music was one of the first major media categories to be transformed by digital delivery, and with the increasing popularity of everything from iPods to ringtones, continues to set the entertainment agenda.

Our guest is Jon Simon, Director of New Media - Warner Music Australia. Jon is responsible for developing strategies for Warner music via online distribution channels and the development of B2B and B2C websites across 12 territories within the SE Asian region. For the two years prior to joining Warner Music Australia, Jon was VP Business Development and Ecommerce for OzEmail Internet. Prior to joining OzEmail, Jon was Chief Executive of SAI Media and Director of Pacific New Media (interactive divisions of PMP Communications)."

Where: The Club Bar, Level 3, CBD Hotel, Cnr York & King Sts, 6:00pm networking, 7:20pm interview begins, 7:50pm Q&A, 8:00pm back to networking, 10pm bar is closed

To register to attend the event: http://www.the-domain.org/107.html

Grow-a-brain

Grow-a-brain is a cool blog from Hanan Levin, who works in real estate in California. Their website says: "Welcome to the "Original Real Estate Blog" of "The Great Team" realtors in Anaheim Hills, California. We hope you enjoy our world-famous collection of intelligent links and our daily weblog."

W: http://growabrain.typepad.com/growabrain/
Source: first sighted on Fwak Animation's blog

East Sydney Spring Festival - 26 September 2004

The Inaugural East Sydney Spring Festival - a celebration of village life!
Sunday September 26th 2004, 12noon-8pm, Taylor Square North

Has Winter kept you off the streets of late?
Feel like a beer while strolling down Bourke St listening to bands & DJ’s?
Been a while since you saw a drag show in broad daylight?

Kinselas and The Colombian Hotel are proud to announce the upcoming inaugural East Sydney Spring Festival, to be held on Sunday September 26th, 2004. The Festival will celebrate the colour and vibrancy of the local community – comprising East Sydney, Darlinghurst, Surry Hills, Paddington and beyond. That which is normally kept indoors and in the dark will be brought out into broad daylight for a day of music, food, fashion, entertainment and general revelry with hosts Miranda Fair & Sandy Toggs.

The Festival will run from 12noon-8pm at Taylor Square North, taking over the paved area of the square, and the entirety of both Bourke & Forbes to Burton Street. These streets will be lined with food & beverage stalls, drag shows by Claire de Lune & friends, displays by Mardi Gras and performances by local community groups. The Fashion Design Studio at the Sydney Institute of TAFE will be holding 2 spectacular fashion shows during the day.

Money raised will be donated to World AIDS Day, the Ted Noffs Foundation and the Bobby Goldsmith Foundation.

For further information, please contact Tiffany Farrington,
tiffany@breakfastpr.com.au office: 9331 6076 mobile: 0425 223 844

Wednesday, August 11, 2004

Metronaps



I like the idea of the Metronaps pod. People can now take a powernap in the office. I used to have some chocolate for my afternoon pick-me-up. Then an hour later, you'd need more... This is a great idea.

W: http://www.metronaps.com

Source: originally sighted on the Gizmo.com.au Aug 9, 2004 enewsletter.

Office in a bucket


The Office in a bucket is stored in a wheelie bin until needed. Your office can be ready for use in 8 minutes - the time it takes for your office to inflate. W: http://www.inflate.co.uk/oiab/

Source: originally sighted on the Gizmo.com.au Aug 9, 2004 enewsletter.


Friday, August 6, 2004

NUCA announces the 2004 UNCO Grants

NUCA [Network of UnCollectable Artists] is a brand new nation-wide affiliation connecting those who gravitate towards ephemeral projects, participatory experiences, illegal art actions, and activities that oddify everyday life.

NUCA’s first big project was the creation of a set of bubblegum collector cards documenting Australia’s 50 Most UnCollectable Artists. Astronomical sales have resulted in a budget surplus, which NUCA is plunging back into the network – NUCA now invites entries for the 2004 UNCO GRANTS!

From a pool of $2000, the 2004 UNCO GRANTS will be awarded to artists proposing worthy UnCollectable projects. So if you need that $0.40 for a box of matches, $2.90 for blutac or $540.30 for having an animal trained, we could help you out!

Send NUCA whatever is most appropriate in explaining your grand idea – jpgs, actual photos, video or film, sketches, blueprints, plans, prototypes, rumours, or illustrative cakes…and as much info as you can about why you need the cash, and a bit of a breakdown as to how its to be put to use.

Email: info@uncollectables.net
Mail: PO BOX 391 Newtown NSW 2042

REMEMBER! ENTRIES CLOSE HALLOWEEN 2004 [OCTOBER 31st]more info (soon, I hope) at http://www.uncollectables.net

ps also check out The Art Life Blog, which is an often entertaining, mysteriously authored blog reviewing art in Sydney. On Sunday, August 01, 2004 The Art Life wrote about NUCA!

NUCA's website: www.uncollectables.net

Source: Lucas Ihlein's Bilateral blog at: http://bilateral.blog-city.com/

Call for Musicians & Bands

Below are two new opportunities for original performing artists & bands - if you know of anyone who may be interested, please forward the details on.
================================================

:: LOOKING FOR UNRELEASED / UNSIGNED BANDS & MUSIC:: August 2004 - Sydney
Iconoclast Productions is a Sydney based film production company working in a range of areas from TVC's, short films, documentaries and feature films. They are nearing the post production stages of their latest feature film "Caught II" (Release title "Not About AJ") and are seeking some additional music options. Although most of the theme and underscore is already well into creation, Iconoclast are interested in exploring other original music to include in the film.

They are inviting bands / musicians of any genre to submit a CD or video tape of a live performance for consideration. They are not looking at the quality of the recording, just the potential of the musician / band and it's style and music. Must be original music.

Iconoclast's standard Royalties contract will apply to the licence for use of any music. They are considering a royalty value of around $800 in Share Units per song. (That's generally more than a one night gig for 2 hours playing!)

Full details are available on the artsConnect website. Click on the Iconoclast logo on the front page: http://www.artsconnect.com.au
================================================

:: PROFESSIONAL DRUMMER / PERCUSSIONIST REQUIRED:: August 2004 - Sydney

Urgently seeking a professional drummer / percussionist for recording and touring end 2004. Tracey Wright is an emerging singer / songwriter recently signed to an Australian record label and under professional management. Folk / bluegrass, influences include Tracey Chapman, Joni Michell, Casey Chambers. Must be available to tour.

For more information contact Edwyn Garland: edwyngarland@yahoo.com.au

View Tracey's profile online here:
http://www.artsconnect.com.au/artists/perform/musicians/traceywright.htm

Source: Email from Teresa Charchalis, artsConnect, www.artsconnect.com.au

Web host's server down

Found my site down yesterday morning. Saw on their network status page, that their web server was down. But had to wait till midnight in Oz to talk to someone in the U.S. as their office hours are 9-6. Their servers had since been fixed but apparently they hadn't moved the files for the CG site back to the public directory or something like that. So luckily it was a quick fix once I got to speak to someone. I guess technology can break down at any time, not just during office hours.

So for seamless, reliable customer service, I.T. service providers should ideally have back-up systems ready to go, and emergency personnel that can be on call all hours, or have support available 24hrs in-house if they're in this type of virtual, hardware business.

Wednesday, August 4, 2004

The Bourne Supremacy

Really enjoyed The Bourne Identity when it came out. Am looking forward to seeing The Bourne Supremacy.

Official site: http://www.thebournesupremacy.com/
Hoyts site: http://hoyts.ninemsn.com.au/movie/763.asp

Before Sunset



Before Sunrise (Castle Rock, 1995) is one of my all time favourite films. Now Warner Independent Pictures have released Before Sunset, again starring Ethan Hawke and Julie Delpy. Will be showing in Hoyts, Australia starting from 19/8/04. Can't wait!

Official site: http://wip.warnerbros.com/beforesunset/, photo from official website
Hoyts site: http://hoyts.ninemsn.com.au/comingsoon/default.asp

Slingfings

Slingfings is a website selling funky, retro hand-crafted bags made from recycled and reclaimed materials, based in Bryon Bay. http://www.slingfings.com/

Bags mentioned in SMH article titled: Commercially sexy which has links to a few other interesting fashion items. http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2004/07/27/1090693948264.html

It's a small world after all

Article in the SMH giving an example of how dispersed a business can be in terms of physical setup. Jeremy Howard who runs FastMail.fm from Melbourne has staff in 4 regions of the world, servers in 2 locations, and customers in 168 countries. His hard drive in Manhatten, U.S. breaks down and yet from Melbourne, he is able to arrange for the the back-up server to be put into use and for IBM to pick up the old one. The actual article goes through all the kind detailed steps he took, which go beyond instructing one of his staff to do it all from the U.S. Fun read.

W: http://smh.com.au/articles/2004/08/02/1091412051791.html

Tuesday, August 3, 2004

CG August ezine coming soon

The August issue will feature an interview with Tin and Ed - mega talented young graphic design firm from Melbourne, An unReal Estate Guide to Finding Your Own Gallery - article by Lucas Ihlein, another travel column from Danijel Rahija and more...

Click at your own risk

Article in the SMH outlining that:

"Most people know it is illegal to download songs from the internet without paying. But far fewer people know it is illegal to copy music from a CD you have legally bought.

Anyone who has copied songs from a CD onto an iPod or computer hard drive has fallen foul of Australian copyright laws, which critics argue are failing to keep pace with technological change. Copying music for personal use is generally OK in the US and Europe. But not in Australia."

Full article at: http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2004/08/02/1091432115074.html