Isn’t this one of the most beautiful places on earth? The Rushall station bridge over the Merri Creek. If you’re cycling to Collingwood from Northcote, this route takes longer but it’s so much more lovely. When there’s been a lot of rain you’ll see the creek rise a few feet and spread out to the sides. Recently the water took a whole new path around a tree which used to be at the North bank. I like biking or walking across because it’s so far above the water, yet the trees are even higher.
via Rushall station bridge, Merri Creek – Photosynth.
i’ve been playing around with panorama shots on the iPod touch. You can use an app called Photosynth (microsoft app on an apple device). I took another one last week that was better, except the app freezes at 27% stitching. [You’ll need the microsoft thing called “silverlight” to view this shot.. but that lets you go full screen and move around the whole scene.]
I’ve seen this bunch of diehard jazz freaks play a few times now: at the Village in Edinburgh Gardens, supporting the inimitable Bohjass at the Northcote Social Club.. and now headlining at the East Brunswick. And each time i see them, i love them even more.
Such brilliant musicianship, such joyful playing, such contained energy in the singing. It’s modern Northcote music that draws on the traditional jazz styles of the 30’s and 40’s. Songs of love.. songs about the chicken truck that goes up High Street late at night.
My dad was mad for a bit of trad jazz, and i think he would have approved of this crowd as well. Read the rest of this entry »
Went to a meeting in Richmond, came out to find my bike had subtly changed.
Without knowing the original condition, can you spot the difference?
(This photo was taken after unlocking the bike and moving to another location.)
Here at the Grandview, we’ve just joined a very wonderful food co-op. Exciting times for foodlovers.
i deliberately used some bad English in an email. (i mean grammatically non-standard English.)
My housemate was appalled.
So i took it all too far, with a genuine LoLcats poster from icanhazcheeseburger.
i’m fascinated by the way new language evolves in a new environment. LoLcats has become one of the latest new English dialects. If i put on my linguist hat for a minute, it’s easy to find a quote from David Crystal (one of the world’s most amazing academic linguist people), in an article at the BBC.
Word play For English speakers there are cult websites devoted to cult dialects – “LOLcat” – a phonetic and deliberately grammatically incorrect caption that accompanies a picture of a cat, and “Leetspeak” in which some letters are replaced by numbers which stem from programming code. “There are about a dozen of these games cooked up by a crowd of geeks who, like anybody, play language games,” said Professor Crystal. “They might not be reading Shakespeare and Dickens but they are reading and cooking up these amazing little games – and showing that they are very creative. I’m quite impressed with these movements.”
Word play For English speakers there are cult websites devoted to cult dialects – “LOLcat” – a phonetic and deliberately grammatically incorrect caption that accompanies a picture of a cat, and “Leetspeak” in which some letters are replaced by numbers which stem from programming code.
“There are about a dozen of these games cooked up by a crowd of geeks who, like anybody, play language games,” said Professor Crystal.
“They might not be reading Shakespeare and Dickens but they are reading and cooking up these amazing little games – and showing that they are very creative. I’m quite impressed with these movements.”
Okay that really belongs on my work blog, but hey, everyone loves the LoLcats, don’t they?
It’s always good to remember how incredibly lucky i am, living in a developed country, having a roof over my head, access to public transport, and some kind of employment, as well as amazing social support networks. Many people around the world don’t get this lucky.
There’s been so much going on in my life lately:
But telling stories here on the blog.. haven’t had the follow-through lately. Too busy enjoying life, too nervous about writing in public, too stressed about moving house and finding new workplaces.
So there’s the overview.
Maybe i’ll come back with some detail, one day soon.
photo credit: cloud_nine
Apparently life on Earth is very unlikely.
i’m re-reading chunks of Bill Bryson’s “A Short History of Nearly Everything”. In chapter 19, ”The Rise of Life’, he points out that collagen – one of many useful proteins for life – needs 1055 amino acids to be organised in exactly the right sequence.
And collagen organises itself spontaneously. There isn’t someone assembling it each time.
“The chances of a 1,055-sequence molecule like collagen spontaneously self-assembling are, frankly, nil” (p351). Bryson
First attempt to read the car Reg. over the phone:
“i’m sorry, i didn’t hear anything. Please tell me the registration number..”
second attempt
“Did you say ROFL w t f 6 8 3 ?”
another go:
“Did you say LOL w t f 6 8 3 ?”
i was sure the insanely cheerful machine at the other end of the phone line was giving me some kind of internet speak as well as the registration number. In fact i’m sure the eastlink machine with the personality disorder was laughing at me.. in LOLCATS language.
“For F sake,” i cried, “What does it take to get a live human being around here.”
“Now transferring you to an operator.”
.
$5 to drive to Frankston these days.
But all that ART along the way makes it almost worth the cash. The mini-hotel? Hilarious!
photo credit: (creative commons at flickr) Thanks: peter forret, and Vermin Inc.
“You are invited to join Sanctum Theatre and Fenestra Productions in celebrating the 233rd anniversary of Adam Smith’s seminal work, Wealth of Nations as part of this year’s Melbourne Fringe Festival. The ship may be sinking, the ‘invisible hand’ might have lost its grip on the invisible wheel, but there is an alternative. For two weekends in September Sanctum and Fenestra break away from the globular economic system to realise Smith’s ideal of a true and unfettered market on a small patch of turf in Brunswick – ‘Wall Street on Barkly’.”
Lachlan read us the Business Age yesterday, because the economical journalists there had noticed the number 233 in connection with Adam Smith. They suspect theatrical shenanigans. They would be correct: here comes the Nut Economy. The roller coaster of free trade.
Here are some photos from the previous incarnation back in May ’09
Oh and here’s the official publicity line: ‘Merchants of mania, hawkers of hubris, snake oil salesmen and peddlers of useless pendants’ peddle their wares in the Wealth of Nations market place. Do you have anything to offer? Come up with a product and a pitch, fill in a Trader’s Application form, get in for free and earn your peanuts to buy drinks for the evening. Get your Trader’s Application form from Sanctum Theatre.
WARNING: MAY CONTAIN PEANUTS!!
Each night will feature a different band and guest performer. Bands include:
I Dream a Highway just had their 2nd birthday gathering.
(If you don’t know yet, it’s a funky retail outlet on the Northcote Hill opposite the Wesley Anne, with clothes and cds and lovely arty stuff.)
Ben and Rhi laid on the liquor and some scrumptious Mein Leibe pizzas for all their friends, family and neighbours.
“Great year to be a Saints supporter,” says Matt at work.. and i must agree with him.
