amuse...

I am not dead.

2011-04-11T06:05:00.003+10:00

This is a post to say that I am still alive and kicking...just not regularly posting...that doesn't mean I haven't got 400 draft posts tucked away...life just got busy...this blog didn't. So my major news is that I am now based in London...living the life of a Londoner working for the BBC. Will I return to blogging? Not sure...but I do miss you all.

The end of Pollyanna...

2010-08-02T13:00:00.006+10:00

So I'm very much past my six week trial of being "glad", aka my own personal Pollyanna project. To catch you all up I challenege myself over a six week period to the task of noting things as part of an ordinary day in my life that I was glad about, that made my heart sing or my brain stop for just a moment or so - see the original post here. Then I blogged them - see the posts under the Pollyana Project.

All the budding researchers among you are awaiting my chapter on analysis and results I know, so here it is plain and simple. What makes me glad? (Or should I phrase that what are the moments of bliss in amongst the daily grind? Sorry Pollyana doesn't live here any more!) Well....

rainboots...and rain, and weather in general, storms, sunshine, the changing of the seasons and everything in between including spending time on the high seas!
professional people I admire, aka my professional heroes - getting to meet and work with them is an added bonus!
pets - other peoples, ones on the street, native wildlife. If I can pat it, I like it.
friends - that mostly love to eat (and yes have the odd tipple), and then there are their friends - the joy of meeting people that know your friends (social networks! gah!) are always a new possibility
time to myself - and learning to make that time
Phwoar and Swoon - men worthy of cravats and breeches (and cycling lyrca).
random acts of song/music - it is something about voices raised together (BYO daggy 80's hits) or music that floats into the street (BYO violinist and soprano)
armchair sport spectatorship - I've yelled and booed at the World Cup and the wondrous Le tour de France, perhaps lawns bowls spectatorship next?
art in everyday life - off to galleries and performances, being reminded of art works I love...
sleep - lots of it, preferably a nice daily dose.
giggling - to take a leaf out of Elizabeth Bennet's book 'Follies and nonsense, whims and inconsistencies do divert me, I own, and I laugh at them whenever I can' closely followed by instigating said giggling
achieving something - and having it immortalised on a plaque or planting the seeds of bigger achievements

So basically I'm glad if I get to sleep, eat, drink and giggle (preferably with other people), pat animals, hang out in the weather and watch other people play sport, make art and performance, and/or wear cravats. That is all.

The Sketchbook Project

2010-07-25T20:35:00.003+10:00

Again found via the lovely Vicki...what an awesome idea of user generated content not in a digital context! Makes me wish I could draw.

The Sketchbook Project
Each artist is sent the same blank Moleskine sketchbook. We've only got two rules: first, the book must be used in some way - no sending us back an empty book or a completely different book! Second, the sketchbook must stay within its original dimensions (because we don't want to have to provide an extra suitcase just for your book while we're touring the country).
Each book will be given a barcode so we can easily catalog it into The Brooklyn Art Library system. Once we catalog it, artists will be able to track where on the tour their book is viewed and how many times someone pulled it from the shelf - we want to make sure you can stay connected with your sketchbook!
The availability of sketchbooks vary each day, so sign up quickly to reserve the one you want! You have the option to choose the kind of Moleskine and the color of the cover when you add the project to your cart over to the right.

thunderbolt and lightning... very, very frightening!

2010-07-25T18:33:00.008+10:00

....I love storms, particularly ones that light up your whole house with that flash of silvery light before the boom, the crash....the opera? I'll stop with the musical references, but nothing quite thrills like the smell (yes smell!) and sound of ozone in action. Makes me think of all those long forgotten geography lessons on evaporation and precipitation, about the far too many documentaries on the weather I have watched....and Muffins the dog I had growing up who, if he was still with us, would be up on my lap the minute the first crash rang out!

SUNDAY

Glad moment: *flash*....Boom!

Aren't you glad I'm back?

2010-07-17T15:37:00.001+10:00

If you think the posts below magically appeared perhaps while you were napping...(I mean carefully watching Le Tour de France...) then the answer is yes. Things got busy. This blog didn't! But I'm back....I think I've lost some days in here somewhere...but I try my best to be the bearer of glad tidings.

TUESDAY

My bed! Finally my bed!

Glad moment: it made it up the stairs...now who wants to come over and try it out?

WEDNESDAY

Office pranks. If you think I'm kidding when I say I'll send you the bill in the internal mail, I wasn't. One perfectly delivered faux-invoice. A day to wait for the response.

Glad moment: the smugness that only delayed gratification can bring.

THURSDAY

Quick wit delivered by return internal snail mail. How I do love a sense of humour.

Glad moment: keeping pedants in business.

FRIDAY > SUNDAY

Lost somewhere in France.

MONDAY

Rest night at Le Tour de France...

Glad moment: finally a night in bed early!

TUESDAY

see Friday > Sunday.

WEDNESDAY

Old friends, old art...Abstraction at The Art Gallery of NSW followed by the perfect antidote, Victorian Visions. Don't get me wrong my bower-bird eyes lit up at the works in the Abstraction exhibition. The Mondrian and Braque works especially feel like old friends and I comprehend the momentous shift this exhibition tracks...but there is just something so lush and seductive about voluptuous figures and the quality of heavy oil work of the Pre-Raphaelites and their other Victorian-era friends that stirs something deep, or should I say much deeper.

Glad moment: 'other' art making my heart sing.

THURSDAY

Thinking about escape (I mean er, travel) plans!

Glad moment: The more I say it, the more it forms as a tangible alternative.

FRIDAY

Yep...I'm king of the mountains! Wearing polka dots did it today.

Glad moment: Yes, the lack of sleep does effect my wardrobe choice.

SATURDAY

Rollin with my homies...and eggs for breakfast.

Glad moment: Eggs taste better in the company of beloved girlfriends.

How I am feeling right now...

2010-07-16T20:30:00.004+10:00

Isn't it great when you hear a song and it fits you exact mood?

My annual holiday

2010-07-04T16:20:00.003+10:00

It's started! Is there anything more grand than Tour de France...ok possibly being at Tour de France could top merely enjoying it from my armchair perspective but I'm glad today to be looking forward to 21 days of French summer time fun (although we are in The Netherlands at the moment!), Mike Tomalaris, daily Gabriel Gate recipes, helicopters flying over châteaux...oh and a cycling race. Day 1 bodes well for Saxo Bank...(go Cancellara!) and make sure you check out this lovely website http://tdf.sbs.com.au/tdf2010/

Glad moment: Fabian Cancellara's thighs.

Why you should quit your job and travel around the world...

2010-07-04T16:15:00.005+10:00

Found via @vickiah on a site called The Art of Non-conformity, so who's up for it?

What is dangerous, however, is when delayed gratification becomes an excuse for not living the life you want.
How many people do you know that actually do the things they say they are going to when they reach arbitrary ages of leaving the jobs they have given their lives to? Far more common is the downsizing of dreams along the way.
If you want to play golf all day and take your medication at regular intervals, the 40-year career track plan should work well for you. If you have other ideas or ambitions, though, don’t kill yourself as a slave for the future. Instead, go and figure out where you want to travel and do something about it.

Cheers, it's cold...

2010-07-03T17:19:00.006+10:00

THURSDAY

Other people's leaving drinks. Any excuse to stop work at 4.30pm and have a glass (filled and re-filled for you) and some chatter.

Glad moment: never having to refill your own glass.

FRIDAY

New bed! (finally...the fact half of it hasn't made it up the stairs ain't great, but hey a good shove and it should make it fine....

Glad moment: lounging on a new bed even if it's just the mattress and it is still in plastic is a wondrous feeling.

SATURDAY

If it's cold, if it's July....it must be time for le Tour! (getting up at 2am tomorrow for the prelude is probably not the best way to make me glad but nonetheless!)

Glad moment: 21 days to go!

Ah yes, where was I?

2010-06-30T22:02:00.007+10:00

Ok....

SUNDAY

Cycle chic...see the post here, was a lovely (though hilly ride!) to and from Bondi Beach and a lovely afternoon in the company of other like-minded lovely people.

Glad moment: Chic is a serious business, lucky I had a gold dress in the wardrobe to match the Golden Mongoose.

MONDAY

I'm passing again. If you can find something glad about Mondays...good on you.

TUESDAY

Another Tuesday, another 'Insights Night'! Learning about the artform you promote is never dull.

Glad moment: feeling that a tiny part of what you do has a big impact on other people.

WEDNESDAY

Also known as 'plaque day'. No, not a trip to the dentist! Rather a time when I can actually sing along to this....

This is end, my beautiful friend...the end! And here's my plaque to prove it!

Glad moment: Everything looks better on a plaque.

THURSDAY

Um, er....pass again.

FRIDAY

Spontaneous invites by email....the subject line of this one was...'Would you like to go sailing on Sunday?'...now ask yourself, what else would I want to do on a Sunday.

Glad moment: a return to the high seas

SATURDAY

Menu planning for said sail trip...this is where the 'part-domestic goddess' persona kicks in...rushing about, attempting to work out just what encapsulates a winner picnic for a Sunday sailing trip. I am usually so much better at spring/summer catering but nonetheless not daunted...if only I could take my nounce for picnic catering into other areas of my life.

Glad moment: gluttony can extend onto the high seas

SUNDAY

Sailing!

Glad moment: Realising that I love to be out on the water and I'm not altogether useless crew! A gold moon on the horizon as I drove home to a warm shower.

MONDAY

Um, er...

TUESDAY

Ditto.

WEDNESDAY

Glad moment: Mulled wine and being only slight tiddled...

So, you want to video something...

2010-06-28T21:10:00.002+10:00

I promise I will stop posting links from UK-based arts discussions. I will stop when the content stops becoming so bloody relevant! More goodies today...

Today’s Topic: The production and distribution of video is increasingly accessible and affordable, offering new ways to explore artistic programs and engage audiences. In contrast, broadcast platforms remain off-limits to most art forms and their respective audience interests. In this AoDL salon we will primarily explore how arts organisations can create video for online and mobile platforms. Secondly, we would like to encourage a discussion about how the Public Service Broadcast network might forge relationships with arts organizations as ‘content providers’, thus possibly prizing open an avenue for greater presence (and diversity) within the broadcast arena.

For more read on!

Monday box grumblings

2010-06-28T18:08:00.003+10:00

MONDAY

Astrobarry makes me glad today, always some sage advice that doesn't (at least I hope not) have a hidden agenda....! Glad moment: Nicely said today Barry...

Want to think outside the box? You have to leave the box.

Cycle Chic Sundays

2010-06-21T11:59:00.003+10:00

I met them down at Bondi Beach and morphed into chic (aka cycling lycra be damed!)...welcome to the first ride in the Sydney version of Cycle Chic Sundays! Check out more here, thanks to the lovely Miss Saskia!

if music be the food of love, play on!

2010-06-19T22:18:00.004+10:00

Ok, back to the gladness!

TUESDAY

An 'Insights Night' where we invite Patrons and Friends to find out all about new productions. The Insights were great (even for seasoned workers!).

Glad moment: Sitting in the back row like naughty school children was also most agreeable.

WEDNESDAY

Um, er...pass.

THURSDAY

Dinner with friends who work too hard... escaping the office at 5.15pm, dinner, dessert and drinks after...

Glad moment: Team Gourmet rocks.

FRIDAY

I think I have morose Friday's, that is, I always somehow end up with a rather anti-climatic feeling. So there I was walking home feeling rather flat (it may also have been the effect of two or three glasses of wine on an empty stomach) but...lets say a slight ennui was engulfing me. Suddenly I had musical accompaniment! There is a violist who lives on one street I travel as I walk home. I don't hear them all the time, but sometimes (usually when you least expect it) notes catch you and then I stop and listen for a few minutes. Tonight after my stop with the violinist, I was walking down my own street and there was a lovely soprano voice. Haven't heard that one before....but how lovely. Ennui gone, glad face back on.

Glad moment: Walk home concerts.

SATURDAY

Possums in the park by daylight. Taking the Golden Moongose for a spin around a few blocks to enjoy the sunshine and spotting another cyclist who has stopped and is doing what can only be described as chatting to a possum. Now I love these possums, but I have never seen them by daylight. Usually it's night and I have been known to hand over a piece of fruit (that has spent too much time at the bottom of my handbag) but here was one in broad daylight...we both stopped, we watched as a possum decided the ground cover plants was a better place to hide than on the street chatting to two cyclists...and ran off!

Glad moment: random wildlife moments

How 'old' are young audiences?

2010-06-18T16:26:00.004+10:00

An interesting article that popped up in the most recent email from Audiences London and made me look twice...

"Culture Hounds" - a new audience segment?
The Edinburgh International Festival will launch its INcrowd promotion next week. Aimed at attenders in their 20s and 30s, the scheme costs £20 to join and offers exclusive benefits and discounts and is designed to engage the over 26 group who miss out on the best discounts for students and young people.

For more details check out...http://www.eif.co.uk/news/incrowd

What's happening in London? Tell Boris your thoughts...

2010-06-18T16:25:00.003+10:00

What's happening to culture in London? Who knows really (wish I was there!). However we can all have a say in the Cultural Strategy for London through a nice little bit of sharing via the web. With a click of a button you can view and comment on the draft strategy dreamed up by Boris and his team to drive London's cultural future. You can see all the documents here, and the introduction below.

Cultural Strategy
Closing Date:
6 September, 2010 - 18:00
“As Mayor of London I want us to continue to be the greatest cultural capital of the world, a city that attracts millions of people from overseas and the rest of the country each year, but also, of course, one that Londoners find never endingly stimulating, provocative and enjoyable.”
- Boris Johnson, Mayor of London
The Mayor’s Cultural Strategy sets out his vision, priorities and recommendations for how to strengthen the cultural life of Londoners across the capital. It recognises the significance of the cultural and creative sectors in making London a successful world city, and puts forward a case for its continued support and investment – particularly in the run up to the 2012 Olympics and the opportunity it presents for London to undertake a step change in cultural activity and participation.
The strategy is now available for public consultation. Results of the consultation will be published in late 2010.

This reminds me a lot of what the Australian Federal Government was trying to do with the discussions around the NBN and the good old 2020 summit days. The right to comment on various pieces of government strategy is not new (heck, knock yourself out and lodge a response to a local council planning development application as a fun Saturday afternoon piece of participating in democracy). What is interesting however, is the advent of commenting online. I only wish we could see all the responses to Boris in real time.

Another year, another OzCo Summit

2010-06-17T16:18:00.009+10:00

I'm not in attendance this year at the Australia Council Marketing Summit, but participating from afar is almost as good. A few conference activities I have enjoyed include:

Catching up on the You Tube stream from the conference at #msummit2010
Reading the links referenced in various speaker's presentation. A particular post of interest has been the talk by Claire Eva - Head of Marketing and Audiences, at the Tate UK and links to the Tate Online Strategy 2010–12 and the idea of 'Your Tate Track'.
Reading other's wrap up of the events....check out this great blog wrap up of several presentations.
And of course, you can check out the OzCo site for all the presentations files, video and audio.

Happy reading! (from afar!)

Just another phwoar related post...for your coffee break

2010-06-14T19:09:00.002+10:00

I didn't realise that Joseph Fiennes was also doing some seductive coffee break reading...this campaign works for me (and I don't even drink coffee!). Ohh and more Greg Wise readings too...heaven!

Facebook things to play with...

2010-06-14T18:59:00.002+10:00

I am now a Facebook page admin. Actually I'm the admin of three pages. One is an older work-related page that will soon by superseded by a shiny new work-related page launching in a month or so. The other is my play space, which is a space I really need as I get to grips with custom tabs, promotion rules, writing FBML, Facebook API, custom applications and the myriad of analytics that come with running a page for an organisation.

Who said Facebook was for kids? I'm off to read the Developer pages like a proper nerd.

The Big Shaggy...

2010-06-14T14:31:00.004+10:00

No it's not about Scooby Doo...found via Sarah Wilson, David Brooks from the New York Times says...more...

studying the humanities helps you befriend The Big Shaggy.

Another day, more rambling

2010-06-14T13:39:00.005+10:00

This gladness business is getting me down, well Friday was. Friday was a hard day to be glad...I really struggled to reflect on something from the day that made me glad. But I hope I've made up for it over the next few. Well let's not talk about Monday either at this point. Ok, so here's just some ramblings.

FRIDAY

I'm going to need to think.

Glad moment: My game, my rules, I'm not skipping today, I'm just passing for now.

EDITED - ok I'm back and I've got something. This made me laugh on Thursday night (and continued when I shared it with [I hope] a like-minded soul on Friday...Tour de France you are so close, I can't wait!

Having trouble deciding who to support at the Tour de France? Cycling Weekly has this handy guide.

SATURDAY

This is going to sound really odd, but I saw my favourite shoppers today, my 'Maltese Falcons' as I call them (apologies to Dashiell Hammett). Ok, stay with me while I explain. I am a creature of habit really and I love to grocery shop early on Saturday mornings. Less crowds, better parking, a reason to get out of bed and get to the growers markets early, all day stretching before you (and all of Saturday to cook!). In my years of shopping for groceries on Saturday mornings you start to notice the same people. It's like commuting, there's always the people you notice who do the same thing as you at the same time.

For me, there's the guy who puts the fruit out at Harris Farm markets (thanks for the tip on the ruby red navel oranges this week!) to the lady at Bi-Lo check out and then there is the shoppers themselves. Three of my favourites are a father and his two young sons. I don't see them all the time, but often enough they are there. He is tall, lanky and so very Irish with dark hair and killer blue eyes. I usually hear him before I see him, or should I say I hear them. The boys are I'm guessing around 7 and 4 and they are dark, Mediterranean looking (somehow I thought Maltese and it just stuck, how the falcon part crept in who knows, but stay with me). The boys are a delight, glorious in only the way that all little boys are rat bags really. Now they do tear about the shop a little but really Bi-Lo if you paint white and blue squares the length of the shop, any small child is likely see it as the ultimate hopscotch game. However, they are polite and a short sharp (though kind) remonstrance from dad usually brings them into line. Sweet and always smiling...they make me smile. I really want to play hopscotch too!

Glad moment: the future is not all bleak. Polite, well socialised and happy children do exist.

SUNDAY

Image: Anne Ferran

Earlier in the week, The Sagacious Friend and I were standing in a nondescript hallway and I turned around to see an Anne Ferran work on the wall. Anne Ferran is an artist I did a project on during my years studying Art History, she is an amazing Australian photographer and some of her work that resonated most with me was her images of movable cultural heritage objects from the Historic Houses collections that are both haunting and beautiful. It's been so long I don't even really remember what the I wrote about in my paper, all I can really remember is a trip to SCA to view an exhibition and an enjoyable research and discovery period. Perhaps it was this that sparked my interested in Australian colonial photography?

Anyhow...a fleeting moment in a hallway earlier this week, was recalled by a haunting image on my wall as the sun played with specs of dust on my window. I don't think Anne Ferran is in any danger, but reflected and refracted light is fun.

Glad moment: small things, small minds? A blast from the past?

MONDAY

I'm not going to be cynical. I'm not going to be cynical. Come on repeat it with me!

I am only going to say I am glad Australia has two more games to play in our group in the World Cup.

Glad moment: we all get another chance.

Singing and Nutters (and Mr Darcy)

2010-06-10T18:22:00.004+10:00

Singing and Nutters (and er, Mr Darcy), yep that's what is getting me glad over the last couple of days

WEDNESDAY

At the place of toil are some lovely and caring people. One such person sings a little song each morning when he starts work to another very dedicated early bird (and night hawk) in our office. The pleasure of coming in early and witnessing this seemingly random act of song just puts a smile on the face.

Glad moment: Random acts of song, you know I love to perform them, but I love to see others do the same too!

THURSDAY

Sometimes a little praise goes a long way. Being told you're good at what you do by someone you professionally admire makes it even better.

Glad moment #1: praise is sometimes the best motivator. Finding out said person is also a nutter (like me) is a bonus!

Phowar and swoon. Those words make my heart swell...if you are not sure what it means ask yourself if Mr Darcy and Mr Thornton (or any literary hero from the 19th century for that matter) mean anything to you...

Glad moment #2: finding other phwoar & swooners in the world...(hiding in the strangest places!)

Bend and stretch!

2010-06-08T20:46:00.005+10:00

Are you sick of me being glad yet? Are you? If you have no idea what I'm talking about see the earlier post. I'm on a mission of noticing and recording one thing each day for six weeks that makes me glad. Glad to be alive, glad to be where I am, just glad really. My impetus? Well, why not? Surely it can't hurt? This might be my alternative to organised religion. Who knows...I'm just out there doing and being and seeing the glass half full rather than empty (as I normally would!)

TUESDAY

So in today's glad tidings is yoga. Yoga at work. Now twice a week, now every Tuesday and Thursday at 1pm you can catch me downward dogging with the best in the boardroom. I've been doing it since February but today it just clicked. Here is 1 hour a week (now 2 hours a week!) where it's just about me. And breathing. And moving. And mostly dying and not believing I can wrap myself in knots and pretend to be a pretzel but holding on for a few more breaths. I haven't done yoga in a class format properly in years but boy I am enjoying this. And you should see my plank.

Glad moment: Me, yoga, boardroom, lunchtime...

Glad tidings...

2010-06-07T21:13:00.005+10:00

The gladness continues...

SATURDAY

The monthly pilgrimage to the Pyrmont Growers Market. Sunshine after a week of rain, finally lolling out of bed very late (in market terms) and still managing to get most of the purchases, and a discount on Rowie's Cakes! Sunshine, puppy dogs and bacon & eggs rolls.

Glad moment: All of the above, plus a tall ship against a Sydney skyline.

SUNDAY

Friends of friends influence your life in amazing ways. Catching up with friends (and their friends) for a movie and realising you can have things in common with veritable strangers (no more!). A movie being more than a longish, boring product placement vehicle, now that is gold.

Glad moment: a sweet film called Boy, if this get general release, see it! (and watch the trailer now...)

MONDAY

Glad moment: it's cold. That is all.

A week of Pollyanna-ing...

2010-06-04T22:06:00.003+10:00

So, yes I haven't had a chance to jump on here properly and fill you all in my week of gladness, but that doesn't mean I wasn't thinking glad!

MONDAY

Gladness was just a stroll to work, only to reflect I've missed Autumn. Somehow I have managed to wile away those precious months when the trees change and the temperature cools. Autumn is my favourite time of the year, but somehow Autumn and I didn't connect this year? Are the trees late? Was I walking about blind? Was there not a chill in the air? Did I miss the season of mist and mellow fruitfulness entirely?

Glad moment: a huge Autumn leaf across a path, far too big to be dampened by the rain, bigger than two hands and gloriously rusty.

TUESDAY

Glad moment: urban pets. Pets that aren't yours that just don't mind a pat as you walk past their place. Snapped on Belvoir Street.

WEDNESDAY
I didn't intentionally mean to have an urban pet themed week. Nor did I mean to sit in a park on Wednesday lunchtime and feed the last bit of my Bourke Street Bakery lamb and harissa sausage roll to a friendly labrador. But hey, those eyes!

Please note this is not the actual labrador in question (forgot to bring my phone with me!)
Glad moment: feeding a random labrador in the park. Urban pets rock.

THURSDAY
A new colleague started today, working on a project for the place of toil. She is someone I truly professionally admire, a real hero of mine...and I get to work with her!
Glad moment: inspiration now works in my building.

FRIDAY
Imagine you are having lunch. A Sagacious friend rings, invites you to a movie (with a choc top thrown in) after work. It pours and you get drenched (feet have never been wetter), but you know what, rain, movies, friends and choc tops make it worth it.

Glad moment: no one knows if your shoes are wet in a dark cinema. Conjuring up images of having to buy new shoes because the current collection just won't cut it through a rainy Sydney Winter. Burberry, Choo or Hunter wellies for me?

The Pollyanna project

2010-05-30T21:27:00.000+10:00

How to explain the Pollyanna project? Well the above is Pollyanna...and if you don't know who I am talking about, I'll let Wikipedia fill in the rest...

Pollyanna is a best-selling 1913 novel by Eleanor H. Porter that is now considered a classic of children's literature, with the title character's name becoming a popular term for someone with the same outlook...Pollyanna has been adapted for film several times. Some of the best-known include Disney's 1960 version starring child actress Hayley Mills

That Hayley Mills version is the only one I've seen, and before you ask, no I've never read the books. I took an instant dislike to the character Pollyanna, she's all sunshine and lollipops and I'm afraid that's not an outlook that I often inhabit. However lately I'm come to the realisation that life is much more than the daily grind to get things done. That buried somewhere beneath the toil and the everyday motions are 'moments'. Pure, simple pleasures, the work of an instant that somehow make this 'thing' of living seem worthwhile.

Yes I realise some of you may be aghast that I've only just worked that out. And that's not true, we all know it innately don't we? But so often I feel caught up in the everyday that those moments just wash over, unappreciated, not noticed in amongst the little petty cares and hurt we all wear. When that hurts border on the bitter, I'm sure a tiny bit of one's soul is chipped away. Does anyone else feel that way?

So here I am, attempting to save those tiny bits of my soul I guess, one Pollyanna 'glad' moment at a time.

I've decided to not get mad or even (well I might keep those thoughts somewhere as I do like to keep score) but mostly I'm going to get 'glad'. I ran into a neighbour this week and we were talking and she said that a friend passed on advice to her 'I'm not going to get mad, I'm going to get amused...' Look at the title of this blog. Can you imagine what impact that little comment had for me. So gladness is seems is the new black, well at least for me.

So back to Pollyanna. She gets glad. Most of the time she gets so glad that (previous to my new glad period) I would have said the whole community where she lived probably would have been glad to see the end of her. But instead of the ending I imagine (something to do with stapling things to her head) I've decided to walk a little in her, well, glad rags. So I present the Pollyanna project.

Six weeks...(that's about as long as I can see myself keeping this up!) six weeks of daily posts about being glad. Not that I probably will have a chance to post each day, but taking the time to reflect and posting when I can is what I am promising. And what are the outcomes? I will probably be glad it's over, but hey...what harm can it do?

I leave you with a line from the book, thanks Ms Porter...

"When you look for the bad in mankind expecting to find it, you surely will."

...a Masterful day

2010-05-21T16:44:00.005+10:00

It's all over red rover! My graduation for my Master of Arts was today, and so good to see staff and students that I actually knew! Also thanks to The Sagacious Friend, the extended family and all those who have sent well wishes...not sure I would of made it through some of those years without you all....[end soppy speech] now someone pour me a champers...I've put my life on hold for 5 years...it's time to party!

Thanks to The Sagacious Friend for the lovely paparazzi pics!

A rabbit story...

2010-05-11T18:32:00.005+10:00

One of these rabbits is me...(hint: I'm not tall one). Yes I went to my friend's office dressed as a rabbit...but so did the Sagacious Friend! Yes I sang a version of 'Happy Birthday Bunny Boy'. Yes the birthday girl was suitably impressed I hope. Yes this birthday stunt was inspired by the movie 'Beaches'. Hey what are girlfriends for?

Facebook makes me feel like...

2010-05-11T18:28:00.002+10:00

a shitty friend

But that got me thinking, all those people who are on Facebook are also on another network I use every day. It’s called the internet.
So why do I think I can connect and interact with them on Facebook but not anywhere else? Because Facebook made it easy. So now I have to wonder am I only staying in touch with those people because it requires absolutely zero effort on my part? What kind of a person does that make me? What does that say about how much I value their friendship? I feel like I’m saying “Oh hey there, I’m so glad I can see what is going on in your life so long as it’s wheeled out in front of me and doesn’t require me to actually lift a finger because if I had to do something like, type out your e-mail or go to your own website or *gasp* pick up a phone to talk to you that would just be too much.

Nicely said Mr Bonner!

The no-dig garden update...

2010-04-25T18:04:00.004+10:00

Did someone say I planted a no-dig jungle? My no-dig garden is doing wonderful and has provided a bounty that has kept me cooking for weeks.

So far, a million different version of salads, trays of eggplant parmigiana to use up the basil, a day of pizza dough making so I could pluck off and pile on, herb omelettes for weekend brunch...can't wait for winter roasts for the rosemary! Oh and the radishes are almost ready. Plus more marigolds than you could of ever imagined.

A no dig garden + farmer's market = an afternoon of cooking!

The herb potato salad

Yet another tray of eggplant, basil and buffalo mozzarella parmigiana

It's even more of a jungle now than in these pictures from last week. Yesterday I spotted a ladybug as well. However...the caterpillars have arrived...not too over the moon about the meal they have made of my lettuces and also the pak choi! Oh well, you live and learn. Hopefully tomorrow a day of sowing more seeds and harvesting something new...pure bliss!

Ode....to grey marl

2010-04-25T14:56:00.004+10:00

Oh grey marl

so very grey and usually

Soft; though light breaks through yonder window,

I know you represent time, time stopped not passing

Time to sit about aimlessly, tv glare upon my face;

face aglow though pale in the lazy haze of laptop screen illumination.

Oh bitter depths (of grey), oh white stitching,

Raglan sleeves make easy work; put it on, pull it off...

Will the cheering reds and brilliant blues, will the killer black and pristine whites

Ever know it's you I dream of. Grey Marl. Like an anchovy blistered in the sun.

A long weekend...still stretching.

PS. to hell with a proper Ode format...!

Launching into the digital realm

2010-04-22T00:30:00.001+10:00

A new role for me...just call me the Digital Marketing Officer. So now I get a chance to let my flight of fancy go wild! Well I suppose after all the blogging and internal angst as I mulled over all digital things it is only fitting it's my new purpose in life. Officially starting next week I have a long list of things to do in the digital realm. Wish me luck!

Work anywhere?

2010-04-21T13:46:00.003+10:00

Oooh jobs on country estates and boats...one to keep up the sleeves when wanderlust catches up with me.

http://anyworkanywhere.com

Are you in the top 100 Facebook fan pages?

2010-04-20T15:35:00.002+10:00

Another link to come back too. The List of Top 100 Australian Facebook fan pages...love the disclaimer about volume!

Do you tweet you thumb at me sir?

2010-04-17T12:17:00.008+10:00

So this is how it went down. I am a well know lover of language. However, this does not preclude me from being very excited at how our good old mother tongue will adapt in future. Tweet your Shakespeare? Let's face it, if he was alive today, good old Will would've of done it.

Call it a tenner...? (not a tenor)

2010-04-09T09:52:00.004+10:00

Pricing, once barely researched or mentioned in the arts, is increasingly recognised as a critical marketing and financial tool. In terms of maximising revenue, the growing adoption and adaptation of yield management techniques suggest that a new, more dynamic approach to pricing is emerging. Call it a tenner is a new collection of essays and case studies that debunks the myths and legends surrounding pricing in the arts. Commissioned by Arts Council England and written by some of the leading names in the arts, it provides a fresh perspective on the art of pricing.

Are you excited as I am to read this?

The 'Do' list

2010-04-08T16:02:00.004+10:00

Again another inspiration from The Sagacious Friend....why have a 'To Do' list when you can have a 'Do' list!

I find 'To Do' lists irksome, especially when nothing seems to move off your list because you spend time doing the things that pop up and are not even worth the time to pop on the 'To Do' list. I've tried to stop checking email when it comes, rather check it 2 or 3 times a day trick. I've tried turning the 'To Do' list into tasks that take 5 minutes or less, around 15 minutes or more than that and fitting them in when I can...I've tried doing all the things I don't want to do first...just grin and bare it!

Anyhow I'm going to see if a change of name for my list is as good as holiday. Ahhh more blogging is now higher up on my 'Do' list...wish it was on my 'Done' list.

A website is not, however, a digital strategy

2010-04-08T14:54:00.002+10:00

Via the folks at the ADVICE Project, this article had me at the word 'digital creep'. Here's just a few bits that piqued my interest...

It’s not just about the website – arts organisations should wake up to the wider possibilities of the digital world, says Susi O’Neill.

"I am shaping a holistic map of how it could use digital tools across the organisation: in internal communications, project management, collaboration with trainees and social marketing to improve communication with participants and stakeholders.

We identified existing activities and looked at how to integrate these into a new website that can be accessible to anyone, anywhere, on any device: photos from workshops will be shared on Flickr, a YouTube channel will display documentaries that currently sit on the shelf and mailshots will become blog posts. Website news will be moved onto Twitter, augmenting Threshold’s reach through automated, integrated tools. The new website will position it as a creative curator, exhibiting media in carefully crafted collections. Content hosted on social networking sites will be reintegrated into the main website which acts as a ‘hub’ for activity happening wherever its audiences are. A website is not, however, a digital strategy, and we are considering how to create a community of interest around Threshold’s diverse participants to provide ongoing support.

There’s a fear of the unknown in this realm. We need to form new relationships and create a genuine, meaningful depth of engagement in the online world for both audiences, artists and stakeholders. This is about a culture shift which is both challenging and exciting for the future of Threshold.”

Ivory tower myopia ails marketing

2010-04-08T09:55:00.002+10:00

From The Sagacious Friend...found after a long chat about experience versus academic research...

Ivory tower myopia ails marketing
LONG after marketing graduates have forgotten what the fourth P in the marketing mix - product, price, place and promotion - stands for (except when they look at the advertising agency's invoice and think it is profligacy), they remember Theodore Levitt.

Levitt changed marketing with his 1960 essay Marketing Myopia, which argued companies grow when they look beyond the products and services they sell to consider what the market needs.

But marketing academic Peter November, from Victoria University of Wellington, says no journal would accept it now: "It is a persuasive piece of writing but it's not a quantitative study." Hence, the title of November's 2004 essay, Seven Reasons Why Marketing Practitioners Should Ignore Marketing Academic Research.

...work stuff I promise!

2010-03-25T19:08:00.004+11:00

Not much time today, so only two links I should follow up at some time and actually read in-depth!

The 5 Top Social Media Blog Posts For 2010

SWOT Analysis of Opera - by Stephen Phillips, General Director, State Opera of South Australia

Time: ALL TIME 100 NOVELS

2010-03-20T22:51:00.004+11:00

Ok, I usually hate things like this, but it's Time mag so I suppose it has some credibility. I'm doing abysmal with only 13 out of 100, but I have time I suppose to catch up. Happy reading!

The ALL TIME 100 NOVELS
TIME critics Lev Grossman and Richard Lacayo pick the 100 best English-Language novels from 1923 to the present. Read more

Free things to do in Sydney...the Beta version

2010-03-20T21:49:00.010+11:00

So, we have been threatening to write the book for years. I'm sure we have discussed a Mike Whitney inspired tv show and yep, now we up to a blog. But The Sagacious Friend and I have always wanted to create a list of free things to do in Sydney. Not one of those 'show a tourist' round kind of things, but stuff for the locals that doesn't impact the purse strings, ok well maybe only slightly touches the purse strings, or at the very least gives a substantial discount.

Moral? Legal? Well...you decide. Have I done most of them...well no, but then I've always been a goodie goodie...

Attend a graduation morning tea or lunch = find the catering spread (actually I graduate for my Masters in May...pop in!)
Attend a lecture at your local uni = randomly pick a building and walk in
Validate your parking at UTS library = if you know where to look
Hop a boat to your own island = actually not free but cheap and awesome (oh I did that one!)
Free breakfast UTS? = dress like a student
A dip at one of the secret pools of Sydney = can you find McCallum pool on the map?

Got any other ideas to share?

Me tutor. You Student.

2010-03-20T21:48:00.006+11:00

Who hoo I'm a tutor! I'm taking a semester of Marketing Foundations tutorials at UTS this Autumn. It's been a long time since I thought back on the fun that was this mandatory marketing subject...(and I did it at Sydney Uni, so there ends my comparison) but flicking through the textbook, ahh the memories! Hello product life cycle, consumer behaviour fundamentals, segmentation, qualitative market research and the joys of pricing strategies!

Somehow I think I'm going to really enjoy this! (perhaps a little too much!)

The no-dig garden

2010-03-02T01:11:00.007+11:00

About a year or so ago, Mother and I attended a no-dig garden course provided free by the City of Sydney in conjunction with The Watershed. What is no-dig gardening you ask? Well go google it, but basically it means no soil, no digging. Layers of newspaper, lucerne or other straw and manure...that's it, and of course your plants. The original workshop was great and we both came away with a recycled plastic container full of our new mini no-dig gardens. A year on these are fairing fantastically and have kept us in a supply of parsley and onion chives, only recently needing a few layers of top up.

Not one to let a great gardening idea stop there, I decided I needed a larger no-dig garden. An experiment to see what might work (or not work) on a larger scale. So using my best 'The Secret" vibes I focused on gaining a large container to use as my garden bed. Well and behold...an old bathtub was provided by the lovely Neal.

It sat for a while, waiting as I dreamed of walking out the door and snipping a salad for dinner and running my hands through the fragrant herbs after a light rain shower. An afternoon of work and my dream was a reality.

Step 1: layer by thy name

Step 2: yes it was slightly smelly...

Step 3: and repeat!

Step 4: Almost there!

Step 5: Plant!

Step 6: Ta da! I present, my bathtub no-dig garden!

Watch out for updates in the coming months!

More than bums on seats - who would of thought!

2010-03-02T00:35:00.012+11:00

So another month but finally shaking off the haze of summer. How do I know, well? The Australia Council launched a new research report today, nicely called...'More than bums on seats: Australian participation in the Arts' and a few favourite commentators have picked up on it....today I'm going with Ben Eltham who points out some of the study's limitations.

As an arts marketer working in an organisation heavily funded by Ozco can I say the dream is 'more than' bums on seats. Idealistically we toil everyday for those snippets of success when it is more than the transactional relationship. For those moments when an audiences' heart and mind is touched by something. A half forgotten memory just recalled, sheer pleasure and amazement, a chill down the spine, a moment out of the mind when an attendee just connects far beyond the exchange of cash for the 'service' of entertainment.

So what insights do Ozco have for us?

Young people are highly engaged with the arts.

Ok....er...

Oh, now this is getting interesting...Groups who were less engaged with the arts:

Those born overseas in a non-English speaking country have significantly lower levels of both creative and receptive participation compared to the total Australian population
Those for whom the main language spoken at home is not English are less likely to attend arts events.
People with a serious illness or disability experience significant difficulties accessing the various services offered by the arts and consequently had much lower levels of arts participation.
Regional areas have significantly lower levels of attendance at music events than inner metropolitan areas.
Rural residents are more likely than inner and outer metropolitan residents to have had a below average year of receptive participation in the arts compared to the year before.

Ok, there's a market or two and some cool segmentation names: The Lovers (heavy participation), The Flirters (influenced by friends to attend), the Unattached (can't see the relevance) and The Outsiders (keep me away from the pretentious art snobs). Kudos on the segmentation names to whom ever came up with those...they gave me a laugh.

And to top if off it's full of buzz words like 'building engagement', one of my favourites! I'm off to read the report in depth but again I have the feeling it will be more of the same, great stats and thoughts...but somehow, lacking the oomph and the final answer to assist us searching for that holy grail of 'more than bums on seats'.

Interesting garbage

2010-02-21T22:24:00.006+11:00

Yes...garbage is another of my hidden passions...but don't think for a second I find your tough stuff bags kinky or have gone all Safran and want to riffle though Ray Martin's trash (although there was that semester I devoted to a project on a rubbish dump in Orange, but that's another story)...rather I'm interested in the stuff you see lost on the street. Call it an overactive imagination, but where has all this stuff come from? What is its back story and sadly, is landfill the end? So this week I present round one of 'interesting garbage I snapped on the street'....(yes, it's true I ain't no Satorialist...more garbologist...)

Penguin - Chalmers Street

Men's shoes - Raglan Street

Time to think...(and drink)

2010-02-10T21:36:00.008+11:00

This week's mini Tessitura conference in Sydney went down like a treat. My presentation went well (everybody loved the Prezi software I used...more comments on that than the actual presentation content itself!), others gave inspiring presentations and it was great to be back catching up with all 'Tessy nerds' as well as friends and colleagues from around Australia and NZ. A great highlight from me was also having one presenter I deeply admire stop me and express sadness that my presentation was on the same time as hers...I was thinking the exact same thing!

When reflecting on the day I was struck with two things:

time to think

A day away from the office, but not a wasted one. When else do you get a chance to stand back, to listen, to reflect, to get the grey matter mulling over different scenarios and really delve into the questions of are we making the best use of our technology? The deeper question of course is are well doing all we can? What are we doing well and what could we be doing better? Time to think is grand, now if we could only schedule in some time to play and let those ideas develop we would be onto winner I think.

inspiring peeps

The conference and those mini catch ups you do with friends old and new is the type of communication and work process I like best. Inspiring and passionate people with vastly different skill sets to my own but all with a care for the end result. Yes we always don't agree about the one best way something might be completed, but there is a wish to assist each other, to work through a problem sorting it into logical parts and an attempt to innovate while ensuring the work we do now is flexible enough to adapt to the demands of the future. Got a problem, ask the brains trust!

Add in the fact these people are generally fun to work with and love a good debrief at the pub...and the whole experience was just about perfect. Surely these types of gatherings coupled with time after them to reflect and think is where both innovation and professional development spring?

Chuck Bass...

2010-02-06T02:06:00.005+11:00

is my guilty pleasure of the week. Catching up on S2 of Gossip Girl and the angst, the hurt, the Humphrey hanging out with Chuck Bass...that's some awesome pain and suffering there Chuck and a smoulder aplenty. Frankly better characterisation than I ever expected from this piece of mindless soap. This week... I'm Chuck Bass.

Radio Ga Ga

2010-02-06T01:39:00.005+11:00

and no....I haven't set up a Last.fm channel dedicated to the songs of Lady Ga Ga! I'm experiencing morning radio disillusionment, aka I can't find anything to listen to as I rush to get dressed and put on a face in the morning.

For many years I've been an avid Nova FM listener. Before that I fluctuated between a Triple M and 2day FM. Before that it was a Mike Carlton phase. Before that....I can't really remember. This all started when I got my radio mojo out of whack by not working for a couple of months, thereby having no need to listen to the radio as I got dressed and put on a face in the morning.

But now I am once again among the clothed and groomed, I need something. Suddenly the easy listening for the over 30's that was my holiday choice de jour...Vega FM doesn't suit a 8.30am rush about. It's not the music so much...although even I could eventually get sick of U2 followed by [insert 80s power ballad] but the announcer, the dj....eeek! If I wanted mundane suburban middle class values preached at me before breakfast...I'd...well....keep listening. So what to do and where to go?

ABC Classic FM - there's only so much I can take
Triple J - am I cool enough for the hipsters?
FBi - love you on a Sunday morning, but come on...even I could play the synthesizer better than that
AM dial? (do I even have an AM dial?) I hate news in the morning, weather yes, news I can leave

This week I have stuck it out with Triple J, but am I an impostor hipster, or someone trying to reclaim the the youth I never had? I'm really not sure, but if you know of a channel that may suit, recommendations are welcome!

Bagpipes and the blue rinse set....

2010-02-06T01:30:00.002+11:00

So off I went tonight to the Edinburgh Military Tattoo in Australia. Oh yes, you heard that right...me at the Military Tattoo!

Now before I divulge a secret love of tartan and that ear piercing sound that only an old skin bag which is blown into can make and I should mention my grandfather (on my father's side) did actually play the bagpipes I believe, but I was more coerced than jumping for joy at being a ticket holder. I went so my Mother could go....she who is an avid watcher of Tattoo on telly and who would love to go in person in Edinburgh, but for now the Sydney Football Stadium had to suffice.

So how was it? I've never seen a more orderly crowd, nor one containing that many blue rinses. The announcer pre show did a shout out of people...I think half of Queensland's retirees were there. Oh and did I mention it started to rain? Thankfully I look fabulous in a plastic poncho. My verdict = more bagpipes next time, I didn't leave with ringing in my ears, obviously an epic fail. AC/DC (my next big concert) I better be thunder struck.

My existential crisis re: Alice in Wonderland

2010-01-31T17:38:00.003+11:00

"I didn't like the Alice books because I found them creepy and horribly unfunny in a nasty, plonking, Victorian way. Oh, here's Mr Christmas Pudding On Legs, hohohoho, here's a Caterpillar Smoking A Pipe, hohohoho. When I was a kid the books created in me about the same revulsion as you get when, aged seven, you're invited to kiss your great-grandmother." - Terry Pratchett

Thankfully someone phrased it better than me. In speaking with a friend yesterday about the notion of narrative and plot, Alice in Wonderland came up. With it too came a quick realisation that I'm not a fan, and secondly that I don't understand one thing that happens in it.

Further investigation revealed that I was never a fan of the book as a child although Mother did read it to me. Apparently I didn't like the falling down a rabbit hole idea nor cakes and drinks that proclaimed 'eat me' and 'drink me'. I objected to the book so much that Mother donated it to charity and we never watched the movie, although I'm sure I've seen it parts of it at some point. This is course coming from someone who loves the Gene Wilder movie version of Willy Wonka, so no problems with the child on an adventure, makes choices good and bad and meets weirdos genre at all for me. Oh well...time to rediscover it and face those fears of rabbit holes?

The Liberty London Girl returns

2010-01-28T22:05:00.002+11:00

It's weird the connection you have with the bloggers you follow. In 2006 I was an avid follower of Liberty London Girl...we shared the common bond of both being female and me reading her blog. Never met, never exchanged words, but for a few minutes a couple of times a week, I'd log on and check in.

What grabbed me most was the complete swap in circumstances (she a fabulous UK fashion girl come NY local and me, well me) and of course the weather with LLG in boots and covering up from the cold and me turning the fan up. Sadly though for personal reasons she decided to stop blogging a while ago, and fair enough too although I knew I'd miss her keenly...but now she is back!

I happened upon her blog again when my work laptop went kaput. Suddenly all my favourites and internet links were held up on a dead machine and it was back to a world of network server...and some old links....and there she was...a quick click and we were back in business. But so much time has past...will we ever catch up...what has happened? And why do I want to send her a big hug as a thank-you for continuing her journey and the fortuitous event that brought me back to the site? Either way, if you are after me, I'm catching up with LLG.

The Golden Mongoose

2010-01-27T23:50:00.001+11:00

Yes, I've finally got around to uploading photos. So here it is...my new bike! Meet the Golden Mongoose.

And just look at that gold.

Gold in a way that is so Gold Coast tarnish rather than Olympic medal glory. Gold that is grungy gold that just screams the 1980's...and what better than to match your gold Mongoose to a gold and black helmet.

Ok, so it's not quite Copenhagen Cycle Chic, but watch out BMXers and Tour de Frenchies...

PS. The old friend's bike will go to good use too, I'm donating it to a charity that recycles bikes for underprivileged kids.

Like Hawaii threw up on my plum pudding

2010-01-27T23:39:00.002+11:00

or the 70's...that's how I'm describing this picture taken on Christmas Day. Well I had to do something to entertain myself and what better than an ugly tablecloth, some punch and umbrellas in my drink. Super stylish I know.

I made that pudding myself as well, but that involved hours of recipe research, extensive fruit soaking, a trip to pick up my pudding calico, soaking said calico, making the pudding, fussing about with how much flour was required to be spread on the cloth for skin forming, constructing a complex hanging method so the pudding is neither completely submerged nor not submerged enough...hours of waiting, a complete failure, a do-over, more hours of waiting...and then a week or so of worry before pudding time...but that is a much longer story!

Happy Lamington Day...

2010-01-27T23:38:00.006+11:00

So, as it was our National Day and I decided to make lamingtons. Not eating wheat or sugar for a few weeks and feeling like a sweet carb indulgence of course had no effect on my quest to make these sweet coco-nutty cakes at all you understand.

Much to my surprise Matt Moran provided the inspiration and before I knew it, 3 hours of careful baking later and voila! (well a few minutes of mixing, then sponge cooking, then waiting for it to cool for an hour or so, then about 5 minutes of roll it about in chocolatey niceness and fluff about with coconut).

The interesting part of my adventure was I also had no jam and no icing sugar in the cupboard. So? Well quince paste stepped in nicely for the jam, just a lovely bit of tartness, and in the place of the icing sugar some melted down orchid icing (you know that pre-rolled icing so favoured on iced fruit cakes, that was in cupboard too!), The result...bloody awesome. And can you see my very yellow sponge...how's that for a nice use of organic and biodynamic eggs, Happy Australia Day.

Image: Quince Paste Lamingtons on Wedgwood Jasper Conran 'Chinoiserie' saucer

On a presentation with a lose topic...but pretty pictures

2010-01-27T21:58:00.004+11:00

So I've been asked to speak at an upcoming conference regarding the use of Tstats. For those playing at home Tstats is a reporting and analysis add in for our Tessitura CRM...really for us visual learners it's all in the drag and drop reporting.

This all started as I mentioned the topic months ago in a meeting and am now apparently an 'expert', meaning I have used the program more than a few others. As I said to a colleague from the SOH my presentation would not be about how to use Tstats rather, how to utilise Tstats in amongst other reporting options.

So what to speak about, well...

1) I still don't trust it

2) configure rules

3) cross check

4) play

5) don't reinvent the wheel...

Yep that's about it for now, but at least I have a new toy to play with. I'm thinking about using Prezi as my tool for presenting as I am more than a little over powerpoint presentations and in a nerdy moment, absolutely love the flexibility of prezi (ok, yes I also love how it zooms in and out too)...now to just decide what to speak about...back to the drawing board!

On beachcombing

2010-01-02T12:44:00.000+11:00

Don't for a minute think that I have finally started on my longed for quest to visit every secret harbour beach in Sydney. No, this pleasure is a lot more er, armchair inclined.

With a midweek evening timeslot ABC1 are never wrong and my new love this week is Monty Halls and his Beachcomber Cottage. In a sentence...man leaves city (man is a marine biologist, yes a real one George Costanza fans!) moves to rugged Scottish coast and takes over a derelict crofter so essentially tries to adapt, ruralise and live off the land...buys boat, tries to fish...has spirited and playful dog...man builds his own composting toilet...looks lonely as the weather changes (think howling wind and flickering candlelight), man runs up hills to keep fit, takes shirt off occasionally. Are you with me now?

This BBC series is well worth a dip into and a perfect follow up after my River Cottage phase. Guilty pleasures abound. Oh dear, a press release I just found online for the series says he is a 'former Royal Marine'. Now that was something missing from the ABC teasers adverts!

...and so we beat on

2010-01-01T21:31:00.003+11:00

Gasp!....2010.

I will not attempt to write a 'best of 2009' post followed by a heady list of resolutions too soon forgotten and neatly summed up with a thoughtful and poignant remark about my hopes for 2010. Nor will I rant about the all those things we were suppose to have by this oddly futuristic date...aka where's my flying car Marty McFly? Nor will I do a best of the decade-type post as I'm sure 2003 and bits of 2006 slipped out of my brain at some stage. Instead I'm going to steal a quote from my favourite heroine Elizabeth Bennet and say that this year

'I am only resolved to act in that manner, which will, in my own opinion, constitute my happiness, without reference to you, or to any person so wholly unconnected with me...'

So there 19th century nirvana, pure and simple. Happy New Year!

The best Festivus ever...

2009-12-24T09:22:00.008+11:00

What makes a good Festivus you ask?

Well...Frank Costanza would have us believe that all it requires is to tell your family and friends all the ways they disappointed you over the year. But I'll let you in on a little secret, all the ways my friends have disappointed me this year is the exact reason I love them. So with a delayed plan to visit Harbour Islands as the brief, with one friend finally taking a day off work (she's promised for a while) and the other reining in her need to always argue...(loving her very George-like moment of realisation!)....a most awesome day was had yesterday out on Sydney Harbour.

There's a ferry that runs from Wharf 6 at Circular Quay (and Darling Harbour) that drops off at places like Fort Denison and Shark Island in Sydney Harbour. Lesson for yesterday was if you get the first ferry of the day and it's a quiet-ish weekday no one will be on Shark Island except you until the next ferry arrives 1 and 1/2 hours later!

Imagine a whole harbour island with stunning views back towards the city and Harbour Bridge/Opera House all to yourself. We also had some Sydney to Hobart yachts out in the harbour sailing past doing last minute training. Add a gourmet picnic and best of the best friends a girl could ever have = the best Festivus ever!

Happy Festivus.

No clean feed

2009-12-16T16:42:00.002+11:00

Internet filtering...censorship gone mad perhaps? What ever happened to old fashion taking responsibility for your actions (and if you are a parent instilling that in your children) and making your own choices?

A nice response here from Google and links to other commentators. A world gone mad me thinks.

Future trends and pearls of widsom

2009-12-12T07:35:00.004+11:00

Jim Richardson is at it again and what a splendid reading material it makes.

First up...Google Earthquake hits Museum marketing

So...a lesson for today, what is said about you any where is just as important as what you say.

A how-to guide for creating social media plans

Easy to read and very relevant...how does your social media strategy compare?

#bbfuture or Realising Our Broadband Future

2009-12-11T18:36:00.005+11:00

Hmmmm not so sure about the logo design above, but the wrap up is beginning on the two day Federal Government forum hosted by UNSW (and supported by numerous twitter and wiki inputs) to gather thoughts and strategies for (drum roll) 'Realising Our Broadband Future' (said with an eerie space is the final frontier type voice over...well at least in my head it was).

Again here is another example of what happens when even big brother is not sure of how to move forward digitally. But is anyone else seeing the pattern? All this online contribution to source a way forward is actually paving the path? Webcasts, twitter streams, wiki use...

Conroy: #bbfuture has more than 60,000 people on the wikis, generated over 3,300 Tweets & over 25,000 hits to the video live stream

Perhaps joram10 says it best...

@joram10 #bbfuture What a top experience - sitting in my office on the Sunshine Coast but participating as if I were there - sign of things to come.

See the Government site here where you can watch webcasts or listen on demand or perhaps browse the compiled wiki here or if you are on twitter search for #bbfuture

Geek in Residence

2009-12-11T18:21:00.002+11:00

Are you an arts organisation looking for a digital helper? OzCo under the Arts Digital Era program is running a 'Geek in Residence' scheme during 2010.

Geek in Residence | artsdigitalera

The Geek in Residence pilot program connects ‘geeks’ (by which we mean technically confident artists and creatively confident technicians) with arts organisations through a temporary subsidised secondment scheme.

The purpose of this fund is for the Australia Council to enable digital artists and technicians to share their skills and experiences with arts workers. Geeks will be able to share their passion for solving unknown technological problems in creative situations, and arts workers will feel better equipped to work in digital spaces.

Are you a Geek? Are you working at an arts organisation in need of a digital innovation (ohhh look at all the hands!) Yes? Well sign up...NOW! The deadline is now 18th December...tick tock.

Zen and the Art of Chucking…

2009-12-10T17:42:00.005+11:00

The last few weeks of my life, post holiday hiatus in the sun, have consisted of catching up on precious sleep (well trying to get back into a normal sleep pattern) and my new found calling…Zen and the Art of Chucking. Well don’t be under any illusions I have found nirvana…but I did find all my Nirvana albums if that will suffice?

Really, the last few weeks have been a time of sorting things into ‘recycle’, ‘donate’, ‘re-gift’, ‘chuck’, and er, ‘return to rightful owner’ and I should apologise in advance to Nicole for keeping her brother’s Ricky Martin album since 1996, though I’m not sure he’d want it back.

Anyhow, amid the dust I have been having a rather cathartic experience. It’s almost like the art of sorting and ordering ones’ external life assists with getting the internal one back on track. As if the ‘chucking’ out of bits of your past literally purges the emotions and cares invested in all this stuff.

Now I should say I’m not really a pack rat. It’s the sorting out of the last of my grandfather’s things that are still in the old terrace house and turning the spare room into a proper study/guest room. Oh and getting rid of the accumulation of about 5 years of bits of paper from my Masters. The secret of higher education I have learned is how many bits of paper you have in your house. I have so many bits of paper we would be putting them out for paper recycling for months so tomorrow we are off to the Visy Recycling Depot with a car load. And that’s not the only place getting my custom. I’m making friends with the local Salvation Army depot, and tomorrow’s car load marks my second trip. Trust me, there will be more.

For me as I sort out all these photocopied articles on everything from multiple regression through to how to construct statements of significance and piles of reading on art and life in the Italian states from 1200 – 1600 (yep, those exiting years!) I have realised just how much I have forgotten…most of the time I can barely remember studying or reading on these topics. So what remains? Ask me again when I’m not this tired. Hot bath and a good lie down here I come.

And Zen you ask? ZZZZzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

...and the winner is?

2009-12-10T17:20:00.004+11:00

Moi. My unit of study results are in and for my last subject with a score of 93% (that's another High Distinction) officially comes the end my friend, of the Masters forever.

New V&A Galleries

2009-12-05T13:02:00.003+11:00

Accompanying recent Guardian articles about the opening of the new V&A gallery spaces is a great time lapse video containing interviews with key gallery staff. A great idea and such a easy way to invite visitors into the space and let them explore it...even if they are thousands of miles away...anyone up for a V&A trip?

Mentionmaps for Twitter

2009-12-05T01:01:00.011+11:00

Now this is awesome...and the way it moves...if only all interrelated maps and web and social media metrics were so easy to display. So who's on your mention map?

Navigating Facebook’s New Contest Rules

2009-12-05T00:58:00.004+11:00

Ahhh one of those 'need to read' things...for anyone contemplating (or already) running competitions on Facebook, here is a round up of the new contest rules. Might be worth a look back into the the Twitter ones too. Play by the rules kids!

Creativity Routines

2009-12-04T09:51:00.005+11:00

Back to reality and another push from the Twitter realm, found through via @artsdigitalera RT @joanne_faulkner...and what was inspiring...well?

3 core processes essential for creative professionals
Most of us don't like to think about the labor involved in creativity. It takes away the glamour and the magic. But real creators know different. They know that creative work isn't particularly glamorous. It requires discipline, routine, and a nitpicky attention to detail. But they also know that none of that takes away the magic.

We often talk about “the creative process,” but it's really several interlocking processes. The magic happens at the point where they intersect.

Coasting-it...

2009-11-21T21:58:00.006+11:00

Hello dear readers,

I've just returned from a week's respite up on the Central Coast of NSW. This former haven of relaxed beachside living has seen some dramatic changes over the many years my family has holidayed in the area...and most of them aren't that great but here's a collection of thoughts, random of course, but they seemed important at the time, so indulge me...

I miss being 16 but there is no way I would go back

On my numerous beach days I was subjected to the inner most thoughts of the 16-18 year old psyche as numerous groups landed on the beaches around me...ahhh to have a life once more where the controversy of the day was what happened at the formal after party and where one would go for schoolies. As I watch their awkward interactions I realised how most of us deep down are still 16 at heart but also feeling a world away from their cares and worries.

They paved paradise and put up parking lot OR my version of the multinational that swallowed the little guy

This is the story of a local shopping strip, an IGA and the car park that now sits on its site. I won't go into a chorus of 'paving paradise to put up a parking lot' and I will admit, I did enjoy being able to buy my usual yoghurt brand...but surely when Coles moves into your holiday area...it's no longer a small out of the way destination. It's serious urban (coastal?) sprawl. And I'm not sure I like it. I mean, for the people who live there it's probably most convenient to have a Coles open to midnight where you can pick up your Jalna...but will the awful Coles bakery kill the local bakehouse where if you get there after 11am all the sticky buns have been sold but pies are only $2 after 2pm?

What is it with the smiling at people?

Everybody smiles and says hello as you pass them...I'm not complaining, only I think I spoke to more people in the past week than I have in the previous 3 weeks in Sydney. And actually wished them well. Good morning to the man whose campervan blocked the access to my accommodation. Hello pregnant lady with toddler at the ocean pool...hello man fishing on bridge as I ran past you...(you probably thought I was crazy running the lake circuit)...

The smell

And I don't mean a bad one...rather there is something so quintessentially holiday- smelling for me when you get paper-bark mingled with a soft breeze coming over the lake front mixed with the slightly dense humidity when you are just over a row of bushland to the ocean...

Miles of beachfront...no one there...bliss.

On being 'done'

2009-11-09T17:53:00.005+11:00

My mother has an oft-repeated statement that annoys me more than anything. It surrounds her notion of being 'done'...for her this is usually surrounded by a pleading stream of things that have to be 'done' household chores, ironing at 6am on Sunday mornings, cooking tea early on a Sunday evening...(I'm sure the last two are somehow related). I have often joked that on her eventual demise I will make some salacious speech about her finally 'being done'...(I am a nice daughter, I promise)...but today I can finally declare that 'I'm done'. Five years ago I decided I needed to do a Masters, five years before that I had this silly notion of going off to get myself a university education. Ten years later and the tax department should list me as a Gold Sponsor with the amount of HECs I will be paying back over the rest of my life. But you know what? I'm done.

I am done feeling guilty when I know I should be studying/reading/writting instead of well, having a life

I am done trying to do ridiculous all-nighters or the trick (that never works and I have Lisa to back me up on this) of the little nap...20 minutes at 3am does not make you a better proof reader...and I have proof

I am done with MLA, APA, Harvard in-text and the acronym Ibid.

I am done with economic multipliers, frescoes, oils, works on paper and movable cultural heritage, the 4 P's, the 7P's, narratology, semiology, communication theory and models, proposals, plans, reports, essays, critiques and the worse of all, the dreaded multiple choice!

I am done with using phrases such 'as Lord argues' and 'as Falk and Dierking outline'

I am done with reading others thoughts, summarising them, comparing, contrasting, arguing against them, reapplying their thinking to other disciplines and trying to make something original out of what is, lets face it, a crap essay question to begin with

I am done trying to out do everybody else to see if I can squeeze in another reference

I am done with the anti-climatic moment of handing things in

I am done trying to work out why although I get good marks no one has ever really offered any constructive criticism...yes I agree with you, that was a well written essay...but what happened to those other 5 marks? (oh, you lost them on your bell curve?)

I am done listing things I am done with.

Ahhhhhhh....now that's out of the way and the list of things I can now catch up on is in front of me...let's see, watching soap opera, sleeping in, gardening, sailing...well really leisure time in general, a social life, ironing at 6am on Sunday mornings, cleaning the oven...partying like it's 1999 (ahhh those ten years!)

...and now I'm done with this post.

On ruralising 'River Cottage' style

2009-11-06T13:25:00.003+11:00

I've got it bad. All this work at home by myself has me dipping into other obsessions, namely kitchen gardens. I'm currently planning away when I can next attack the very small yard out the back of the terrace and put in my summer/autumn plantings, a task spurred on by too much watching of River Cottage and The Wild Gourmets, both on the ABC and then streaming some episodes online as er, a reward and much needed study breaks.

I do have a history of kitchen gardens in the family, my mother's father was a keen gardener with a small plot in their inner city backyard as she grew up. His father and mother up near Mudgee in the northern part of the Central West (makes sense oui?) also had kitchen gardens, with orchards on neighbour's property over the hill. What I long for is one of those glorious French or English kitchen gardens, with rolling hills and pastures in the background...(kind of Central West but more green, less bush!). Lush woodlands, forest foraging, otters (yes I'll stop now!)...ahhh yes too much River Cottage for me.

On meetings...

2009-11-06T13:03:00.007+11:00

I miss meetings. But maybe as Alain de Botton (oh how I love to roll that name over my tongue!) reveals...it's the biscuits and the blather I miss most. Alain de Botton, another hero!

On Meetings: A Note On Dreaded Corporate Etiquette
When we look back on our working lives and wonder where the time has gone, the answer is, of course, meetings. The meeting is to modern office work what the hunt was to our primeval ancestors. Beneath the surface, civility is where money is made and survival is ensured — while an intriguing variety of biscuits sits untouched and brightly lit in the center of the wood-effect table.

Though there is always much to talk about and an agenda to get through, the protocol of meetings dictates that they cannot begin too abruptly. There must be at least seven (but never more) minutes of chat, a piece of dialogue entirely unrelated to the real reason why one has left one's desk — and which meanders painfully around insincere considerations of the weather, the children and a recent sporting event. It is embarrassment that causes the chat.

In a democratic egalitarian society, the person who has called the meeting hesitates before too clearly revealing its purpose to the subordinate or supplicant party seated across the biscuits. Just as manners were invented to disguise the brutishness of our appetites, so, too, the chat conceals the shame at the ruthless drives that pulsate beneath the politeness of office civilization. We may be itching to scold, order, bark, hire or fire, but, as if we essentially had nothing on our minds, we remark on the unusual chilliness of the season.

Yet it is a recklessly naive employee who inadvertently continues the chat for even a fraction of a minute longer than the time subtly allotted to it by the most powerful person in the room. We all know the naive, touching Don Quixotes who sally forth on an over-long anecdote just after the chairperson has mumbled the customary "Right, then."

What blatherers we humans are. If only we could communicate with the abbreviated accuracy of algebraic equations, and yet it is cheering that big decisions about the future of pipelines and data storage centers can be reached within a slurry of "To be honests" and "It could be argued thats".

There is often a moment in the meeting when something external happens which brings an element of self-consciousness to proceedings: an ambulance, hammering from upstairs, a fat fly obsessively buzzing around one participant. One can't ignore the issue — though one has to be relatively senior or cocky to draw attention to it: "This fly is clearly interested in tax deferment ..."

What immediate comedy and horror would result if a machine were plugged into our brains, beaming up on a PowerPoint screen all the thoughts we were having as we navigated the agenda; it would show our sexual fantasies, longings and despair while a little more sand trickled from the upper chamber of life's hourglass until we finally reached point 9.8 on the agenda.

Alain de Botton is the author of the book How Proust Can Change Your Life. He lives in London.

'City' ideas versus 'Natural' ideas

2009-11-05T20:40:00.003+11:00

Found via the blog Something Changed

"Millions of dollars are spent each year at conferences that people attend to be inspired, to learn the latest memes and speak the latest jargon. They stand around in hotel lobbies, drinking bottled water and swapping business cards. They look at what everyone else is doing, and try to figure out how to apply what they see to their own particular endeavor. These conferences lead to what I call “city ideas”. City ideas have to do with a particular moment in time, a scene, a movement, other people’s work, what critics say, or what’s happening in the zeitgeist. City ideas tend to be slick, sexy, smart, and savvy, like the people who live in cities. City ideas are often incremental improvements—small steps forward, usually in response to what your neighbor is doing or what you just read in the paper. City ideas, like cities, are fashionable. But fashions change quickly, so city ideas live and die on short cycles. The opposite of city ideas are “natural ideas”, which account for the big leaps forward and often appear to come from nowhere. These ideas come from nature, solitude, and meditation. They’re less concerned with how the world is, and more with how the world could and should be."
— Jonathan Harris, “Ideas,” World Building in a Crazy World

Why the Australia Council doesn’t get digital culture...

2009-11-05T20:36:00.004+11:00

Just had to share...following on from Marcus Westbury's article in The Age...here's an even better one Marcus pointed the way to. Ben Eltham...you are my new hero.

Was the Australia Concil’s abolition of the New Media Arts Board the single worst decision by an Australian cultural agency of the last decade? It’s certainly beginning to look that way.

Re-rite or how to make the most of your orchestra...

2009-11-05T14:15:00.000+11:00

I haven't had a chance to really have a look at the 'Re-rite' program, but it had me at the clever pun, and a post by Stephen Smoliar

re-rite is a new experiment by the British Philharmonia Orchestra and its Principal Conductor Esa-Pekka Salonen. It tries to confront the problem that most concert-goers not only are passive but also lack any sense of how they can actively engage through listening. re-rite tries to solve this problem by turning a recorded performance into an activity space.

Here's a bit more...

re-rite, the Philharmonia Orchestra's Digital Residency, will allow members of the public to conduct, play and step inside the Philharmonia Orchestra with Esa-Pekka Salonen through audio and video projections of musicians performing Stravinsky’s The Rite of Spring.
Opening to the public at the Bargehouse on London’s South Bank on Tuesday 3 November, the project will show every section of the Orchestra performing The Rite of Spring simultaneously ‘as live’ throughout a four-storey warehouse building. The public will able to sit amongst the horn players, perform in the percussion section and take up the baton and control sections of the Orchestra as they play.

Stephen does a great job of summarising it and linking through to other articles...all I'm going to add is when can we do this with the AOBO?

Image source: http://www.philharmonia.co.uk/re-rite/

National Cultural Policy

2009-10-27T14:47:00.003+11:00

Also up today, the Minister for the Arts (and crazy dancing in 1980's video clips) Mr Peter Garrett launched the national cultural policy. The words 'national cultural policy' make me shudder a bit...too much reading of dystopia (or was it anti-utopia?) at uni I suspect (I'm always waiting for big brother to step up and declare what 'culture' is and what is not and then hand me my matching outfit that we all wear...but I digress).

The Australian Government wants your feedback about the future of cultural policy in this nation. We haven't had a real policy since the Keating days...and I'm not sure anyone really gave us the chance to have a say about it before (does this mean they might actually listen?)...so what are you waiting for?

Is this the start of a utopia? Or another publicity stunt? Either way have your say, come on...I need some light entertainment to fill my days.

http://nationalculturalpolicy.com.au/