Twisted, Nicholas Kennedy’s photography | But Does It Float
Best of Breed, 102 champion dogs photographed at the Westminster Dog Show | NY TimesF.lux and Ommwriter, 2 programs to increase the aesthetics of productivity. I have been playing with them both and they are an excellent alternative to the Word.doc of death | Cellar Door
Miranda July Q&A, from Stylist’s clever masterclass series. I had a Q and MJ gave me an A! | Stylist Magazine
The changing leaves.
Finding the perfect snood.
Expired film.
Drinking wine with Hemi and Thom.
Carving my mini pumpkin.
Exploring my neighbourhood. (Discovering Vietnamese food!)
Cask ales and candlelight.
Bike rides on crisp mornings.
I have always wondered why some people are utterly in love with Autumn but it all makes sense in a colder climate.
This reminds me of the super-talents &some ideas (past and present!). Leading the way in Kinect hacking, they were doing some incredible stuff. This installation for New Zealand Post – Noise Ink – was one of my favourites.
On Saturday Liss, Thom & I headed to Stoke Newington to check out the weekly car-boot sale at the Princess May. It was my first time in Dalston and I loved it! We picked up some breakfast at the street market – hot naan bread wrapped in newspaper, priced at 2 for a pound, then coffee at a Turkish cafe. Then it was off to the school yard to do some serious fossicking.
We came home with some good booty – a 35mm camera of Russian origin for £10 , a Patricia Highsmith book for £1, that bold red bird-printed dress for £5, and a set of mint-condition fondue forks for £5. The forks were a most fortuitous find because next week I’m holding a little fondue get-together to celebrate my birthday.
There has been a lot of hoopla around Erin Morgenstern’s début novel – The Night Circus. After seeing many glowing reviews I was keen to read it myself, and even more so after hearing the book started life as a National Novel Writing Month manuscript. NaNoWriMo, as it is lovingly called, and is an annual challenge to write a 50,000 word first draft in the month of November (it’s a fun experiment and as my friend Rebekah said – it’s excellent for turning off the inner critic).
Last night I finished reading The Night Circus, and to my surprise felt very conflicted. I adore the premise – immersive experiences really float my boat. And the book is stuffed with gorgeous imagery – think ice gardens, a living carousel, paper birds and other transcendent illusions. I have no doubt that this story will be translated for the screen.
But when it comes to mechanic like character and plot, it is a rather clunky story. This thorough Amazon review cites a lot of grammatical errors that will make you frown, and the use of first person present tense makes you feel like you’re leafing through a child’s choose-your-own-adventure. While Harry Potter is technically for younger readers, as a 25-year-old I can still read the series and feel satisfied. Likewise with Meg Rosoff’s fantastic How I Live Now. I don’t feel this with The Night Circus.
The plot staggers around the world like a drunk, flipping from dull character to character. And like some drunks, it’s got a bit of a paunch. It just didn’t feel fully polished and the middle of the books sags. Writers, if you’re concerned about your weight, Kat Asharya has written an excellent piece on fictional Flabby Middles and How To Tone Them.
Once you’ve spewed your dreams on paper and have that shitty first draft down, it’s time to re-vision the work. It’s important to edit, edit, edit and when you’ think you’re done, put it away for a month before editing some more. Various writing tutors I’ve met over the years always say hard work is where the magic lies. I really wanted to love The Night Circus. To echo countless parents around the globe – I’m not angry, just disappointed.
This year’s Halloween weekend went like this: I sloppily carved a moustache into my mini pumpkin, I ripped my tights in anticipation, I pondered skullifying my face with a black eyebrow pencil, and then I just stayed home and wrote until the small hours. Oops! I will have to protest to my friends that I was there at those parties, just as a spectre.
Good news however. The calendar has only just flipped to Monday the 31st of October and there’s still time for me yet to get into the spirit. I just found this recipe for those cute little chocolate bats to make later this evening. Happy Halloween!
Donna Hay’s Marshmallow Vampire Bats
{From the NZ Herald}
To make twenty of the sugar bloodsuckers:
20 white marshmallows 200g dark chocolate, melted 20 small chocolate-coated biscuits, halved 40 small white chocolate melts
Dip the marshmallows into the melted chocolate and place each on 2 halves of the chocolate biscuits to create the bat bodies.Place on a baking tray lined with non-stick baking paper. Place 2 white chocolate melts on each bat to make eyes. Refrigerate until set.
My new dress, bought at a car-boot sale for a fiver. I never ever used to wear red, but this year it seems to have crept into my wardrobe more and more. Maybe it’s a reaction to my darkening environment (British Summer Time ended today). The print reminds me of these beautiful photos of birdsinflight by Sarah McLean.
From what I can tell it’s a Japanese brand – DELICE by DOLCAS Tokyo Style Co. Searching doesn’t reveal much but I’d like to know more!
This video was made at the very last minute for “Live Aid” in 1985. Bowie and Jagger were originally going to sing a duet, Bowie at Wembley and Jagger in Philadelphia. They discovered at the last minute that the sattelite technology of the time would cause a two second delay, so they could not sing in sync. Instead they decided to record this single. The video was shot on the Wednesday 10th, edited on Thursday 11th and released to the BBC on Friday 12th to be transmitted at Live Aid on Saturday 13th July 1985.
Brilliant. How drunk do you think these two were? I love the part where Mr. Jagger grabs his beer mid-shot.
As far back as 1014, and probably much earlier, London Bridge attracted traders selling grain, fish, vegetables and livestock. In the 13th century traders were relocated to what is now Borough High Street and a market has existed there ever since.
The other day we went to Borough Market. Alongside cheese, breads, cakes and all those good things, it has the widest choice of fruit and vegetables that I have ever seen.
The atmosphere was incredible too; imagine crowds of happy people trading, supping on aromatic mulled wine, popping truffles in their mouths, pressing juices, ordering coffee, carrying armfuls of bread, commiserating on the weather… All the while trains rumbled across the viaducts overhead. I want to go back again and again.
London – September/October 2011. Roll number 3 with the Diana Mini captured the last of the summer light. I love shooting film, but I’m not sure how committed I am to the Diana Mini. It might be time to pull out the Canon AE-1, and get a sturdier satchel (I have my eye on a Cambridge batchel) to carry all my crapola round with me.
A majestic building in Bloomsbury.
An alternate view of Marble Arch. (I always get the sublime Jeff Buckley in my head when I hear those words.)
A flat white at Flat White, Soho. Good coffee is hard to come by in this city (country?). All the best places are run by Aussies & Kiwis, which is not that surprising.
A day trip to Oxford feat. The Queen.
I adore Hyde Park’s deck chairs in the summer… But goodbye to all of that for now!
East London, walking to the DLR train in the morning. Every day it’s getting darker and colder. To beat the gloom I’ve planned my first mini jaunt to the continent. 2 nights in Brussels, in a couple of weeks. I’m looking forward to the famous chocolate and beer!
My gorgeous friend Laura reminded me of this ad from Telecom New Zealand – Keep In Touch. (L. why do you not have a blog already?)
The beach featured is Cheltenham, and in fact I grew up on this little slice of paradise! Way to make me all weepy. Maybe it’s time to boot up the rasterbator…
F.lux and Ommwriter, 2 programs to increase the aesthetics of productivity. I have been playing with them both and they are an excellent alternative to the Word.doc of death | Cellar Door
Rose & Clover and other colour schemes | Apartment Therapy
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