Weblog | Events | Features | Gallery | Links | Consultants directory | Zine | About | Contact Weblog> September 2002 020929: Sun Sarah Breen interview and online gallery I uploaded the interview I did with Sarah Breen - interior designer this morning. Check it out! Her designs are very nice also. I particularly like the 'sensual' design. That particular image reminds me a little bit of some of Shag's work. She's done some very nice work and you can view some of her work at the CG Sarah Breen gallery area. Bourne Identity Bourne Identity came out on Thursday and I couldn't wait to see it. Saw the afternoon session yesterday. It's my kind of movie! Heaps of action and yet not too violent - ie not too graphic in a violent way. It's good to see that even though he does use guns to get himself out of situations from time to time, he actually leaves the gun behind on a few ocassions - almost like a film statement. Also Matt Damon is pretty cool is this role ;-). I didn't mind the official movie website either. Nicely done with the pan around to get to each section. I downloaded one of the wallpapers to my computer. I think I will leave that on for a little while. 020924: Tue Book reading list Items on my current 'to read' list include: - Experience design 1 by Nathan Shedroff - Buyer Beware by Terry Ryder - Graphis design: the international annual - The design manual by David Whitbread - Design it yourself newsletters: a step-by-step guide by Chuck Green - How to get things done: the art of stress free productivity by David Allen - Making money: the 10 steps to financial success by Paul Clitheroe - Black Chicks Talking by Leah Purcell - Simple food by Jill Dupleix + a heap of magazines as well. Events page has been updated Have taken off all the expired events and listed some new ones. These include: Digit 2002 - digital design conference, WOW 2002 - International Women's Film Festival, and Oppositionality - an exhibition of Interior Architecture graduates from Monash Uni, Melbourne. Diary of an Average Australian Been reading some of the weblogs listed on the Australian weblogs list. Have found Daniel Bowen's website titled 'Diary of an Average Australian' to be quite entertaining. Director 8.5 Will probably get into a bit of Director from now till Christmas at work. The architect firm is looking at doing some interactive digital presentations for future presentations to clients. I downloaded Director 8.5 trial yesterday just to have a play with it. It has changed so much since I last used a few years ago when it was Director 6. Will be a bit of learning curve for me to get into it again but I'm looking forward to developing some presentations using the software. Weekend Had a busy weekend last weekend. Saturday morning - had a brunch at 'Sel et Poivre' on Victoria St, Darlinghurst. It was pretty good value. Had the salmon on brioche with hollandaise sauce, side of mushrooms, friend had an omelette and chocolate croissant + 2 drinks for around $35. I'm generally eating much plainer food lately - and so found this a pretty heavy and filling after a while. Then went to Newtown to check out the 'Sarah-Jane' clothing sale which my friend told me about the day before. It was totally packed out and very sunny. Imagine an open-air narrow path at the back of the shop. I think I should've got there around 9am if I was going to seriously look for some good bargains. Ended up buying a skirt with a bit of lace fringing on the bottom with pink flowers on a black background. Then went into 'G & V Imaging' in town to get some Hi-8 digital video tapes to tape my friend's wedding later that afternoon. Then got dressed up etc and drove to the Botanical Gardens for the wedding. The ceremony was beautiful. The sun was out, the flowers were in bloom. the setting was great, the bride and groom looked wonderful. The bride wore a silver/grey dress which was off the shoulder and goes out at the waist into a full outward shape. She also had crystals sewn into the dress as the belt. The wedding cake was a two-layer chocolate mud cake with roses on it. A friend of theirs did the decorations and did a great job. There were like Christmas lights running along the outdoor canopy and under this was a red fabric which was shiny and kind of transparent and this was tied into a bows down the posts. It looked really, really neat. There were strawberries on each table, candles, flowers etc. Then after dinner, the guests danced the night away. It was also the Moon Cake festival on Saturday. So had some moon cake late in the evening when I got home. Didn't get to see the moon though. Worked on Sunday and Monday. Then this morning I just felt so tired. I got up at 6, 7, 8, then at 10. Up for a few hours, did lots of tidying up and have a whole list of things to do - not sure what to do next. Don't really feel like doing all that much right now. Just went for a long afternoon walk so that was refreshing. Beth Orton's Daybreaker CD Bought the Daybreaker CD recently. I like to just listen to music in the background when I'm working away on the computer. This is a good CD to listen to. Due to the cover looking kind of romantic old style, country or whatever, I think the retailers at Metro in Town Hall didn't realise this was a recent release. They probably wondered why they had so many copies of it and so they marked it for sale at $21.95. Whatever their reasons, I got a good deal on this CD so that's cool. Rom: One I was sent a 'Rom: One' CD via snail mail a while ago. It's got some flash games on it and some online musical instruments - most probably also produced in Flash. It would've got my attention about 5 years ago but now it looks kind of standard. You can get cool stuff just by going to the Hotwired animation gallery area etc. Anyway, I saw a website address on the back of it and decide to check it out. The website is http://www.ronandson.com. I was surprised to discover that the people behind this are actually some of the members of 'Anti-rom'. I remember really admiring the work of 'Anti-rom' and really liked a performance they gave at Darling Harbour years ago at one of those digital design conferences. 020915: Sun Architects having alternative careers This article is Architectural Record magazine interviews 5 architects who have made successful careers and businesses out of something other than architecture. It's a good read. Amy Franceschini interview There's a cool online interview with Amy Franceschini of Future Farmers from Loud Paper. Bic Runga interview There's a Bic Runga interview in the Sunday magazine, in the Sunday Telegraph newspaper today. 020914: Sat Bic Runga concert coming soon I was having breakfast earlier in Surry Hills and saw a poster advertising Bic Runga's concerts at the Basement, Circular Quay. It's on Mon Sep 16 and Tue Sep 17. So I rang the Basement when I got back to hear a recorded message that both her shows have sold out :-(. I've registered my interest in a possible 3rd show. I love Bic Runga's music. I hadn't heard anything about her concerts till now. I feel so out of touch. I guess I should start picking up the local music newspapers again. Other concerts include Wendy Matthews tonight at the Canterbury RSL and Rick Price at a pub in Drummoyne - I think it might be called Drummoyne Manor but not sure. I drove past too quickly. This one's free so I may try and get more details next time I drive past. I think it might even be on in the next few days. Bills sweetcorn fritters Had brekkie at Bills 2. It's pretty much the same menu as the original Bills. I think I prefer the atmosphere of Bills though. I just really felt like having their sweetcorn fritters this morning. I thought of trying to make it myself. I recently bought the Bills food cookbook with the idea that I could cook the fritters for a brekkie brunch at home anytime. Also the book is around $35 retail so it works out to be pretty good value to get the book. I might try and make it myself next week ... Darren Hayes concert Darren Hayes' concert was initially going to be Mon Sep 2 but it got postponed till Sep 9 due to him being ill. The concert was pretty good. He was in a very relaxed mode dressed in tshirt and jeans with two back-up singers and band. It felt as if he was singing in a pub and just having a good time. Very different to his early Savage Garden days at the Entertainment Centre when he used to put a lot of effort into his outfits and choreography. I guess he's now a very seasoned performer and just doing everything the way he feels most comfortable with. It was a good night. BASF 2002 Design Awards at the Establishment BASF also make carpets. When I think of BASF, I think of blank video tapes. Maybe the two aren't even the same company. Anyway, they held some design awards on Thursday September 12 at the Establishment's ballroom. It was run by Shape Marketing. They showed a video clip of 15 minutes in length of William McDonough - a famous American architect talking about 'Green' and carpets I think. The night was successful in that there was a big turnout. But the sound was terrible. You couldn't hear anything at all and what I heard sounded muffled and I was standing literally at the front. The space was a long rectangle but the stage was at the short length of the rectangle. Then Andrew Parr spoke about his projects. He seemed a bit annoyed that no-one was listening. I can understand the people getting a bit agitated at listening to a video for 15 minutes when there was hardly any sound coming through but if the microphone and acoustics were good enough, I'm sure people would've at least listened to Andrew Parr's talk. But as it was, it was too hard to even try and hear anything. So you just heard people talking throughout. Andrew's from SJB Interiors. Cyclic Defrost Picked up a new freebie electronic zine from Hum along Oxford St, Paddington. It's called 'Cyclic Defrost'. It says they applied for funding with the Arts Council and got funding to last about 6 issues. That's pretty good how the people behind it have just got on with producing a product that they're passionate about. 020907: Sat Napoleon Hill tip Saw one of Napoleon's Hill book at the library and have heard that his 'Think and Grow Rich' book is a classic so got it out. This one was 'Napoleon Hill's a Year of Growing Rich: Fifty-Two Steps to Achieving Life's Rewards'. One of the tips I found useful was his reference to goal setting. He says to be successful, you have to figure out what your goals are and then work to work out the steps to get there, and how long it will take etc. He used the analogy of setting out on a road trip with a destination in mind and having worked out the roads you'll take to get there. Otherwise, you'll be just getting into the car and driving aimlessly without a destination. A World Without Water Came across this article about the limited water resources in the world and the privatisation of water in some parts of the world and the implications of this for some of the developing countries. Autumn leaves image on the front page My digital camera is working again. So I was walking around my neighbourhood the other day and decided to take some photos of trees and things. I decided to update the image on the front page with a new image. The autumn leaves picture doesn't really convey the weather and mood of Sydney at the moment as it's been pretty hot the last few days, but it's still a nice romantic kind of peaceful image - so I'll leave it in for now. I took a few photos whilst walking around at lunchtime in Darling Harbour as well which I've put into the new gallery section. I'm taking my camera out a bit more - I want to get a visual diary going where I take pictures of anything that I find interesting in my daily travels - whether it's just going to and from work, or going for a bit of a walk around the city etc. Abby dobson I've liked Abby Dobson's music since 'Leonardo's Bride' days. Found a link to some of the song 'Gonna Miss You' at the EMI Music site. I like the song 'Don't Ask for More' from the 'Secret Life of Us 2' soundtrack. Can't seem to find it as a single. May have to buy the soundtrack. Design talks They've been a lot of these happening around town lately and many more to come. I went to Richard Seymour's (UK) talk as part of the Sydney Design week program a few weeks ago. He was pretty interesting. He talked about how designers should look at the function of the product and then think about the best way to design it for the user, rather than just design another toilet for example that just uses slightly different materials or colour etc. He also mentioned that designers should think through what their values and purpose for design are and then this is the standpoint from where their design comes from. I think he said it better than what I've just written here - without notes, and weeks later. Also went to a talk of emerging architects. Architects who presented were: Sean Godsell, Ian Moore of Engelen and Moore, and Donavan Hill. It was cool to see their enthusiasm for their work coming through in the presentations. Got to see slides of a number of their projects. Upcoming talks include: Sam Marshall on Wednesday 11 September. RSVP to lectureseries@source490.com.au and Andrew Parr on Thursday 12 September at the Establishment. This talk is part of the BASF Awards night. RSVP to elsie@shape.com.au. Blogstreet Top 500 blogs Blogstreet lists the top 500 blogs in terms of how many people have linked to it. Web browser chart Webmonkey have published a web browser features comparison chart. The page also links to other useful resources like an html cheatsheet, javascript library, and a list of special characters. 'Fun' Intelligence tests The SMH have an article titled 'Know Thyself' which lists a few online personality tests you can take if you're into that stuff. There are links to tests including: 'What your Superpower?', 'Are you a Freak?' and 'The Emotional Intelligence Test' '. Happy testing. The sun is coming out It's the start of Spring only but already it's t-shirt weather here in Sydney. Lots of nice sunny days to look forward - hopefully it won't get too humid as we get into Summer. August 2002 July 2002 June 2002 May 2002 March 2002 February 2002 January 2002 December 2001 November 2001 October 2001 September 2001 August 2001 July 2001 June 2001

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