Top 10 blogs - smh

SMH article: "David Stonehouse peers into the overcrowded world of internet opinion - and nominates his top 10 blogs..."

W: http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2006/04/26/1145861416169.html?page=fullpage#contentSwap2

Muji competition: 15 May - 31st August

Muji is like an Ikea of Japan, but focussed more on clothing, homewares, stationery type items rather than large furniture items, though they do sell items like sofas and beds. Muji means no name brand but their items are very nicely designed and look pretty cool.

"Muji is launching an international design competition. A project calling for entries from all over the world of designs that shake up and stir people. The results will be announced at the Milan Salone. Our first theme is “SUMI”, We're asking you to focus your design, not on the major pieces that are central to a room, rather to observe the extremes of the space, the unexplored areas of consciousness. We invite anyone in the world to propose a new Muji product!"

First prize is US $20,000.

W: http://www.muji.net/award

m.a.d. make a difference sustainble art

Visited the Sustainable Art + Design Centre in Newtown today. They had a diverse range of colourful, hand-crafted items made from recycled materials. It's a great place to find that unique gift for someone or to find some cool jewellery, clothing, bag, artwork, or card for yourself. Definitely worth a visit.

It's at: 55 Enmore Rd, Newtown, Sydney 2042, ph:(02)9557 3411, f:(02)9557 3021

Open: Wed+Fri: 11-5.30pm, Thurs: 11-7pm, Sat: 10-6pm, Sun:11-4pm, or by appointment.
Info: pr@reversegarbage.org.au

"Due to the success of our Art and Design exhibition 'Junk Love', and our passion for Re-Use in contemporary living, Reverse Garbage has now decided to take the leap and create our own Sustainable Art and Design Centre.

This space showcases all the talented Sustainable Artists and Designers we work with, focusing within our local community. Our aim is to create a unique space which will engender all that is Re-use and environmentally sound through the sale of art and designer goods that are both innovative and unique. This centre is a Reverse Garbage Initiative, continuing to follow the ethical work practices of a Not-for-Profit community Co-Operative..."

Reverse Garbage: http://www.reversegarbage.org.au (then click on the 'm.a.d. make a difference' square to get to the m.a.d. page)

I took a few photos and posted them in the 'Sydney' photoset.
W: http://www.flickr.com/photos/chaosgeneration/sets/72057594108376430/

Make your own fortune

Article in the SMH: "Free, independent advice online has given financial power to the people..."

W: http://www.smh.com.au/news/money/make-your-own-fortune/2006/04/24/1145861284670.html

The Art of Lewis Morley - 7 July - 10 September

"I don't like analysing photographs, I don't like analysing paintings. My whole attitude to life has been emotional and I depend on emotions to get my kicks. I always find myself resisting reading people's motivations for their work. It could so easily not be the truth. - Lewis Morley

The exhibition Lewis Morley is the first time the Gallery has focussed on Lewis' career. It covers his work from the 1940s until now and includes 150 of Morley's photographs covering fashion, theatre and reportage plus a large selection of contact sheets, magazines and ephemera. Many of these photographs have not been seen before said curator of the Lewis Morley exhibition, Judy Annear.

Lewis worked as a fashion photographer both in London and in Sydney and he used his interest in street photography to enliven his fashion work and portraiture. He worked for Tatler, London Life, Go! and She. Morley took the first fashion photographs of Twiggy and of Jean Shrimpton and in 1963 took that picture of Christine Keeler, which has become one of the most iconic images of the 20th century...

From Lewis' point of view, the fact that he was a self taught photographer was an asset. He could work out how to do things in efficient and interesting ways. In-between magazine work he continued to do his own work, having studied painting at art schools in England and Paris, whether with the camera or with objects...

Lewis who is 81 in June, continues to work steadily and his most recent photographs in the exhibition are from the last few years and include many location shots as well as portraits of British luminaries such as Beth Orton and Tracey Emin and Australia's Margaret Olley.

The catalogue accompanying the exhibition includes an interview with Lewis where he discusses his thoughts on Cartier-Bresson and Lartigue, theatre and photography of the late 1950s and 1960s, his Chinese heritage and its importance, his love/hate relationship with photography and the enduring power of the image."

7 July - 10 September 2006
Art Gallery of New South Wales, Art Gallery Road, The Domain, Sydney, Australia
Admission $6 full price, $4 concession

W: http://www.artgallery.nsw.gov.au/exhibitions/coming/lewis_morley

Call for Artists: Temporary Cities

Video Art & Architecture event
Deadline for applications: May 30, 2006

Location: Cultural Communication Centre of Klaipeda, Lithuania

email: artexpo@lucacurci.com
more details: http://www.lucacurci.com/artexpo

International ArtExpo is selecting all interesting video/short.films to include in the next 2006 Exhibitions:

Temporary Cities - Video Art & Architecture event at the Cultural Communication Centre of Klaipeda, Lithuania (September 14-16, 2006). The deadline for applications is May 30, 2006.

The number of works with you can participate is unlimited. All works must be on DVD (PAL or NTSC), no matter what the original source medium. The duration may be any, with a preference given to a max lenght of 15 minutes. If you are interested, send your video submissions (Name/Surname, City/Country, Film title, Running time, Brief film synopsis) with a CV/biography, videography and an introduction about the piece to:

arch. Luca Curci
via Casamassima, 75
70010 - Capurso (Bari) - Italy

International ArtExpo is a not for profit organization that provides a significant forum for cultural dialogue between all artists from different cultures and countries. We depend on the support of you. ArtExpo is grateful to all of the institutions, corporations, and individuals who support our efforts. We work with a number of national and international galleries as well as publishers, museums, curators and writers from all over the world. We help artists through solo and group exhibitions, gallery representation, magazine reviews and advertisements, press releases, internet promotion, as well as various curatorial projects.

Participation open to: professional artists, architects and designers, associate groups and studios.

Source: It's Liquid News enewsletter 19/4/06

ACP: Don't be Something Strong - Paul Knight

Photographs by Paul Knight
"Paul Knight's large-scale photographs of opulent interiors, urban streetscapes and subterranean panoramas suggest a psychogeography of human experience. Here environment is intimately connected to emotion and looking becomes inseparable from feeling. This solo exhibition by one of Australia's most insightful young photomedia artists features dynamic new works that describe ambiguous, highly charged physical relationships, offering a visceral counterpoint to the imagined possibilities of uninhabited space."

28 April - 3 June
Tue - Sun: 11.00am - 6.00pm
Galleries One, Two and Foyer

Curated by Bec Dean

See Also: Floortalk Saturday 29 April 2006 and http://www.paulknight.com.au

Cities within Cities: the Sydney Metropolitan Strategy

April 27. Lecture by Chris Johnson, Adjunct Professor, Faculty of Architecture, Executive Director Urban Renewal, Department of Planning

Time and Place: 6.00-7.30pm (unless otherwise stated)
Architecture lecture Theatre 1, level 2
Wilkinson Building, 148 City Rd
Free lecture

"The Faculty of Architecture at the University of Sydney invites you of its public program of Thursday Night lectures for the winter semester. Thursday Night Lectures investigate wide-ranging and interdisciplinary ideas about the culture of architecture, architectural science, urban design, and planning and allied arts."

W: http://www.arch.usyd.edu.au/web/general/tnl_current.html

Australia's Biggest Morning Tea

You can organise a morning tea at your workplace, home, school etc and help raise money for The Cancer Council Australia. The official date of the morning tea is Thursday 25th May but the morning tea can be held any day in May.

"Last year, Australia's Biggest Morning Tea raised an incredible $7.2 million Australia-wide. This money is used on research into the causes of cancer and into new and improved treatments. It's also used on education and prevention programs, and supports services for cancer patients and their families. The money raised really does make a difference: more than half of all cancers can now be successfully treated. Yet there is more to be done..."

W: http://www.biggestmorningtea.com.au

David Maister's blog

David Maister is a Boston based management consultant. He now has a blog on his website titled: Passion, People and Principles. You can also find podcasts, video and articles on his website.

In the AFR (Australian Financial Review) newspaper 28/3/06, he says: "It takes nine months to accumulate the material for a book and another nine months for the publisher to get it to the book stores... It is no longer a sensible way for any respectable author to get his or her ideas out there to the community.. I honestly don't believe I will write a book again..."

"Now, Maister has a feeder to monitor about 100 blogs and read for two hours a day... Maister says it is more useful to his readers to get 2000 words on a focused topic than a 300-page book..."

W: http://davidmaister.com/blog/

Coffee with a conscience

"You can make a big difference to the Third World at the checkout - at little cost to yourself.

If you could improve the life of a Colombian coffee farmer or a Ghanian cocoa grower by just changing brands, would you?

Millions of people worldwide have, simply by strolling into a supermarket in London or Berlin or Los Angeles or Sydney, and buying a Fair Trade product.

The blue-and-green Fair Trade mark appears on products as an independent guarantee that disadvantaged producers in the developing world are getting a better deal..."

W: http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2006/04/24/1145730846962.html

Great cities on the cheap

"You can spend thousands or, if you know where to look, you can experience these cities on next to nothing..." This SMH article tells you how to see and experience
London, Shanghai, Paris and New York for less.

W: http://smh.com.au/news/travel/great-cities-on-the-cheap/2006/04/22/1145344318314.html?page=fullpage#contentSwap2

A place to age in grace

"Elder-care innovators make senior citizens a vital part of the urban experience..."

W: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2006/04/23/REGJ9ID8RQ1.DTL

MobMov

The MobMov Manifesto: build your own drive-in that drives in

Introduction
"The mobile movie project has grown far beyond my wildest imaginations. What started as a hair-brained concept, first turned into something for friends to enjoy, and then quickly sparked an international interest. With humble intentions in saying so, now people from around the world are asking me how they can too start their own. Here we are and this is that."

Definition of a Mobile Movie
"A "mobile movie" or mobmov for short, is quite simply a drive-in that drives-in. Participating in a mobmov is very similar to attending a drive-in from the days of old, except now the projector is located inside and powered by a car, and the audio is piped in stereo over the FM band to the attendees’ cars. As a mobmov driver, you assemble the kit, decide on the movies, and announce your showings to friends and the community at large. Then everyone assembles in a dark place with a big wall, and you watch a movie. It’s a new technological twist to a nostalgic idea..."

W: http://mobmov.org/manifesto/

First sighted in the Springwise enewsletter: http://www.springwise.com/entertainment/popup_drivein_movies/

Radical Simplicity - book

Dan Price wrote about creating an authentic and simple life for himself in the book titled Radical Simplicity. He appreciates the natural world around him and doesn't buy into the conventional wisdom meters of success.

"...My main focus all along has been to somehow dodge all those lassoes being thrown by that darn cowboy called life... I'm trying to ignore all the societal pressures that try to define who I'm supposed to be or what is deemed 'successful.' I'd like to just honor our sacred earth by becoming so small, so quiet, and so unsubstantial that hte environment I inhabit feels barely a whisper of my miniscule existence... In this way nature is free to express itself fully while I try to comprehend and appreciate its vast universal rhythms..." (This blurb appears on the back of the back and is pretty much a summary of what Dan Price is on about).

"After spending 15 years trying to edit and simplify his life to the nth degree, d. price sat down long enough to write a big book all about the whole amazing experience. In those years Price went from living in a 6-room Antebellum Kentucky mansion to a cabin, a flophouse room, a 16ft tipi, a burlap hut, mountain tents, 6x10 shed and now on an 8ft circular underground room. (This blurb was taken from the Moonlight Chronicles website about the book).

His book consists of simply drawn illustrations of his various projects and ideas and also includes b/w photos of his projects. The book is beautifully laid out and reads like a journal and thoughts book. It's an uplifting read that inspires and makes you think and your mind begins to wander...

The book was published by Running Press in 2005.

Radical Simplicity website: http://www.radicalsimplicitybook.com/
Moonlight Chronicles (his hardcopy zine): http://www.moonlight-chronicles.com/

YouTube

Came across YouTube. It's like flickr for videos. You can upload video clips for the world or just your friends to see, you can tag your clips, watch other people's
public clips and so on...

W: http://www.youtube.com/

Bondi Beach

Went to the Bondi markets on Sunday. It's on every Sunday from 10am - 5pm. It's at the Bondi Beach Public School, Campbell Parade (opp the beach). There were a lot of crafty, designy type stalls there including cool t-shirts, bags, jewellery, children's clothing etc. Haven't been to the Bondi markets in a long time. Haven't been to Bondi for a long time.

W: http://www.bondimarkets.com.au
(not much info on the website), P: 02 9315 8988

For a list of other markets around Australia, go to: http://www.marketsandfairs.com.au

Caught up with a friend, grabbed a coffee, walked along Campbell Parade - lots of fast food places and a cafes, and had a look at the beach too, then it got a bit windy towards the late afternoon, so decided to call it a day.

Don't seem to get out to the beaches much. In Sydney, you can pretty much get your hot chocolate, books, magazines, food etc from your local area and it's so easy to not to venture out to another part of Sydney unless you're visiting someone or specifically want to go somewhere. There's lots of happening in the inner west and probably the only thing we don't have around here are the beautiful beaches Sydney's famous for.

Shocking truth of childhood obesity

"A groundbreaking study produces the first conclusive evidence that excessive eating - not lack of exercise - is behind rocketing levels of childhood obesity, challenging the Federal Government's refusal to restrict food advertising aimed at children..."

W: http://www.smh.com.au/news/national/shocking-truth-of-childhood-obesity/2006/04/21/1145344273755.html

Tokyo photos

Put up some images from the Tokyo trip from April last year onto my Flickr account. Had meant to put them up ages ago but time seriously flies. Will hopefully put some descriptions to the images sometime as well.

W: http://www.flickr.com/photos/chaosgeneration/sets/72057594108248134/

CG photo sets on flickr: http://www.flickr.com/chaosgeneration

The Cutting Edge: A War on Science on SBS tonight 8.30pm

Darwinian evolution or intelligent design? This doco looks at both sides of the debate...

This BBC film looks at both sides of the argument. ID's proponents include born-again Christian Phillip Johnson, biochemist Michael Behe and philosopher Stephen Meyer. The case for Darwinism is represented by zoologist Richard Dawkins and naturalist David Attenborough..."

W: http://www.smh.com.au/news/tv-reviews/the-cutting-edge-a-war-on-science/2006/04/17/1145126045634.html