Who is this guy?
February 28, 2008
Has this hit your email inbox yet?
Is he:
- German Ambassador to the U.S.?
- Spokane, Washington serial killer?
- Announced Presidential candidate in 08?
- CEO of BHP?
The answer is:
None of the above!
He is:
How old do you feel now?
I feel very old.
Kerching! Hugamuga hits pay dirt
February 27, 2008
Talking about tertiary education with 13-year-old Hugamuga this evening, Groover was asking what areas of interest Hugamuga was considering at this early stage.
In previous years it’s been botany botany botany. Take this early exchange aged 4.
Me: (To The Poshi’s Son - Hugamuga’s friend) What do you want to be when you grow up?
TPS: A power ranger!
Me: And what do you want to be Hugamuga?
Hugamuga: A flower arranger.
Bless.
Today’s answer included a subject we didn’t expect: Geology.
Kerching!!
A geologist in Western Australia? That’s a career that will take you places.
(Botany is still up there though)
Writers and Illustrators - a discussion
February 26, 2008
At this year’s writers’ festival I was privileged to witness a discussion between childrens’ book authors and illustrators. Two had worked together on a number of books - pictured in John Anderson’s photo to the right - Anna Fienberg and Kim Gamble. You might have heard or read to your children their popular Tashi series, and just recently I reviewed Horrendo’s Curse (charming).
As well, Bruce Atherton author of The Billycart Ride and Sally Heinrich author and illustrator of The Most Beautiful Lantern were part of the discussion. (I couldn’t find a link to Bruce but I did find that of one of the illustrators of his latest book “Tough Old Teddy”.)
So many interesting stories were told…
Bruce told of how precious his first book was - The Billycart Ride - it had been 12 years in the writing and he found it hard to let it go. He spent two years choosing the illustrator (unheard of - thought Kim - for a first time author but it turns out that Bruce knew Bryce Courtney - and he holds some sway!) and eventually set his sights on Keith McEwen who had illustrated Paul Jennings books - yes I think it was a singenpoo illustration he saw.
Anyway, Keith was going through some stuff and it took him four years to do the illustrations and the first ones to come back he’d made the billy cart as big as Chitty Chitty Bang Bang! Well that wasn’t what Bruce had in mind… He thinks Keith tried to show him what that felt like by suggesting some words to him! In hindsight, Bruce reckons he would have trusted Keith more and he’s definitely held back with his later books. And if you look on one of the illustrations - Keith has written Atherton on one of the bottles of wine!
Interestingly Anna had the opposite experience with one of her books. It was a story about a little boy, Harold, whose mum was a scientist and he’d been taught to test everything. So one day he heard the phrase a cat has nine lives… he found a rough old cat called Balthazar, and proceeded to test his theory… in the end he comes to his senses having grown fond of the old cat and saves him from certain death.
The last page, the text says that now he’s called Balthazar and he’s Harold’s cat and he sleeps on the bed and he has anchovies and milk for dinner. Harold says that he obviously loves the cat and how could he have done that? Obviously it’s more important to love the cat than to experiment on it.
Anna thought the story would resonate really well in schools because it brought up so many discussion points but it relied on the cat being battle scarred and tough. Things didn’t go to plan:
They were lovely drawings, but the cat was the most vulnerable, winsome little thing and of course he looked like he wouldn’t survive someone breathing on him let alone throwing him out of a plane. So it was reviewed, “What does Anna Fienberg think she’s doing,” and “Don’t stock this in your library or you’ll have everybody catching cats and tying them up.”
Sally Heinrich was really interesting too. She writes and illustrates her own work and being an artist first the story ideas come to her as an image in her mind first. For The Most Beautiful Lantern she painted all the pages first and then looked about for a writer. She was living with a copywriter at the time and thought he’d be the obvious choice but it turns out he wasn’t so engaged in the project and so after realising that she was spending a lot of energy on nagging him, she decided to write it herself.
Now it seems she can’t stop. I’ve just read Hungry Ghosts which is a novel for early teens I guess on making friends and cross-cultural assimilation. Not bad for a painter huh? (my review? - an interesting story - a little bit preachy toward the end but overall entertaining)
Kim Gamble who illustrates it seems all of Anna’s work now plus quite a few others told of one brief he really struggled with. He’d just split up with his wife and he was asked to illustrate a story called Dear Fred about a family split apart between the USA and Australia. He just couldn’t do it, it was too close to what he was going through, until his publisher suggested he change the family into mice.
It was fascinating to hear these behind-the-scenes stories and inspiring too. (you never know… maybe one day…)
And it leads me on to a special plug for Miscellaneous Mum who is in the midst of having her first book published. W00t!
From bar to e-nook in one generation
February 24, 2008
Today the Sunday paper’s real estate section taught me that areas like the one we have our computers in is no longer a “bar” but an “e-nook”.
As you might be able to tell in this photo - waaay back in 1977 when our house was built, complete with exposed beams, chocolate coloured metal window frames and hanging garden in the entry - it was a bar.
In just one generation we’ve turned our repository for alcohol into an office. Our beer fridge is now relegated to the laundry.
But how long will it last?
Already laptops and mobiles, playstations and PDA’s are seeing the need for the e-nook disappear. Add to that fridges with computers in them and surely it can’t be long before the only thing left is a lonely printer - and a wireless hub.
Perhaps the e-nook will become the e-cupboard or even the e-drawer?
Certainly we are seeing in our house the development of an e-breakfast bar.
What are you seeing in your house?
For all the new mums
February 24, 2008
And I include h&b, Icy and Kin in this list - congratulations!
Get your significant others to read this blog.
The Turning
February 23, 2008
I’m always keen to see at least one original commission for the Perth International Arts Festival, and this year’s re-imagining of Tim Winton’s collection of short stories - The Turning - did not disappoint.
I’m not a huge Tim Winton fan it must be said. Cloudstreet was okay, The Riders woeful IMHO - I just hated the ending, and you might have read what I thought of Dirt Music - the one I’ve liked most so far. Short stories don’t generally hold my attention so I haven’t read The Turning and can’t comment how faithful Bill McCluskey’s rendition of it is but I think it must be pretty close because all the way through I’m thinking “oooh this is very Tim Winton.”
Last year I went to see The Drovers’ Wives and I don’t know whether you caught this production - it was a dance piece reflecting Henry Lawson’s work and it used film to project the setting of the outback.
Likewise The Turning uses video and film to carry some of the story and set the scenes - very effectively. In a few of the scenes a woman films herself as she’s talking and that image is flashed up on one of the screens. Cleverly done. In fact the use of the film really does take the production to another level and I was intrigued by how well it captured the mood of the scene - important I suppose when you have a short scene and need to tell so much.
All they need to add is some of the smells - the bushland, the forest, the sea - to really take us there. That will be next I suppose.
The scenes though mostly dark and menacing are leavened by some almost Kath&Kim portrayals of West Australian characters. Ern, Cleo and Nan provided some much needed levity - with some classic lines:
It’s not a fucking truck, it’s a Landrover.
It is a truck and all we do is fuck in it!
Note: If you are offended by “strong language” - don’t go.
Groover’s fave was:
Cut me off at the knees and call me tripod.
Some parts were so Western Australian, I cringed, and wondered how the production might travel - even to other parts of the country.
The music - like The Drovers Wives was by Iain Grandage - and it was lovely. Setting the scene without intruding. And the acting was fantastic. Especially Nick Simpson-Deeks who plays Vic and Alison Van Reeken who plays Gail/Jackie. Jai Courtney was also impressive as Boner. In fact the whole cast was good.
A couple of things annoyed me though. I don’t know why he bothered to rename Albany, Angeles. I really don’t. Every other town is named and really - how many other towns have had a whaling station on the South Coast? Irritating.
Also (and this was just me - Groover worked it out) I got confused because one actress played two of the main parts and I thought she was playing the younger her grown up. For those who have seen it - the Gail/Jackie actress is the one I’m talking about.
And finally it’s just too long. 3 hours and 10 mins plus a 20 minute interval. Way too long. Was it Rogers and Hammerstein who insisted on cutting their shows to end no later than 11.00 so that people could catch the train home. Well we drove but the sentiment is a fine one. Cut it back by at least half an hour (though not sure what you would cut) and it would be perfect.
In summary, it’s ambitious, completely Australian and entertaining. And if you get a chance to see it I’d be interested in your thoughts.
Will I read the book? Maybe.
Other reviews: Australian Stage Online, Guera
My real website
February 23, 2008
If you stumble across this blog - please go to http://redsultana.com/blog for the self-hosted version
Playing with design - yet again
February 22, 2008
I wasn’t going to change my theme for a while but then I won this groovy new theme called Revolution Pro and I just couldn’t help myself but play with it.
I’ve been using Theme Test Drive to see how it looks and changing bits and pieces every night until it got to the point where I just wanted to look at my new site more than the old. Even though there are bits to fix and fiddle with.
So here you are world - my new look.
Revolution Pro makes use of things called Custom Fields for the images on the home page. Previously ignored by me in the past what you do is add say images in the custom fields and then call them up via CSS to appear where you want in relation to a specific post.
My new little logo I created at SP-Studio where you too can create your own little South Park character. I liked the way I could get books and cards into it - two of my favourite things. You might have seen an earlier version in an avatar I use around the place - it’s a bit racier - I’m (it is) wearing a red bikini.
I downloaded some new fonts from Simply the Best Fonts just for fun too.
There are still a few to do jobs.
- Look at changing the colour behind the H2 tag
- Incorporate my Flickr feed into the blog posts - done!
- Re-configure the sidebar on the blog posts
- Reorganise the categories and decide whether or not to keep the sub-nav bar
- Think about a redesign of the logo.
- Try out other background colours - I’m thinking the red is a bit much… what do you think?
And there are probably more things to look at as I get into it.
I know there is a lot of controversy surrounding magazine style blogs so I’ll be interested to read your feedback.
: )
UPDATE: You’ll see I’ve already moved away from the magazine style - simply to make it easier for bloggers to navigate. I know I know seems a waste of Brian’s lovely theme but I am using quite a lot of the elements. The review section in the sidebar for example, the flickr feed in the posts. If I could work it out I’d still have the home magazine page somewhere - but I’m having trouble with it…
The Pillow Wall: What they don’t tell you about falling pregnant
February 21, 2008
A number of people I know are pregnant at the moment and they’ve reached that happy stage of the third trimester where everything is oh so slightly uncomfortable, including sleep.
Slowly over the months they have been collecting pillows one by one. Arranging one behind their back, one between their thighs, one under the belly - now full and heavy - until it takes at least ten minutes to settle in the right spot - cocooned on what was once Passion Central and is now divided by… The Pillow Wall.
It’s in fact remarkably comfortable as I discovered when posing for this photograph to illustrate my point, but does tend to exclude the non-pregnant other.
My friend the other night complained bitterly that night after night he was slowly edged to the side of the bed until now his head rests on the bedside table and it is only by the most precarious of balancing acts that he sleeps - and he’s got six weeks to go!
(How is it that men hijack the most female of journeys? Once again - it’s all about them!)
He was slightly hysterical - not coping with the musical experience that was Miss Saigon.
In fact, just after the big chorus girl number his girlfriend got up and left rather quickly during the applause as if she was in the midst of a medical emergency. A minute later, my friend, acting all worried and concerned, followed her out. It was a performance that left us gasping with laughter.
The conversation at interval though did take me back nearly 11 years to my last pregnancy and my pillow wall.
Did you have one?
PS: An historical note. The pyjama pants I’m wearing in the photo were bought for me to wear in hospital the day Dippity was born. Groover had learned from Hugamuga’s birth, when he bought me the foulest, most unattractive, nasty nighties - a bit like surgical gowns without the gap in the back - to TMATP! The tee-shirt we bought on our honeymoon when we visited Eurodisney - which puts it at circa 1992.
PPS: TMATP=Throw Money At The Problem
An awkward conversation
February 20, 2008
Watching this gem from Servant of Chaos:
Me: Laughing at video
Dipp: Can I see mum?
Me: Um yes.
Dipp after watching final ad: I don’t get it. What is that?
Me: It’s a vibrator.
Dipp: A what?
Me: It’s used by women to feel good.
Dipp: ???
Me: Er… um… it’s a sex toy.
Dipp: …
Me to myself: Hmmm that went well…?
