Art & About: Non-Sponsored Version
Astrid Spielman took her art to the streets on Saturday, well, to a pedestrian tunnel leading into Glebe's Jubilee Park, anyway. Normally a digital artist with a focus on video, Astrid this time put up a public installation, consisting of panels of 20cent piece-sized sequins lining the walls of the underpass, shimmering in the gentle breeze and illuminating a dark public space, making this utilitarian passage into an experience, one which, as I witnessed, delighted everyone passing through, perhaps particularly all the children on their way to and from the park, and all of whom seemed to take a genuine and participatory interest. Astrid's an inventive and engaging artist, and her work takes on an unexpected depth, at least insofar as prose descriptions fail its ingenuity and effect. I've got a small piece by her hanging in my lounge room, and love how even something less than an A4 sheet of paper can provide so much color and interest without fading over time. It's kind of a shame that the panels installed Saturday were temporary, but I'll be interested to see if there isn't some digitization on offer eventually.
28 August 2009
Not Quite Hollywood
There’s an argument I’ve seen made from time-to-time that there should be no government funding for the arts, particularly for such things as movies, which, according to the argument, would make plenty of money if there were any good. There’s something to be said for this, I suppose, but it’s usually only raised by the same kinds of people who argue there shouldn’t be any government assistance to anything or anybody, including, often enough, for health care or housing. These same people can be found also arguing that stop-light cameras and speed traps are an income-generating rort, an intrusion on the public simply to build up the state’s coffers for spending on things they don’t agree with. (Let’s leave aside the fact that if you’re running through red lights or speeding you are also endangering others and probably deserve to lose your license a lot sooner.)
So when actress and filmmaker Rachel Ward bemoans the inevitable fate of her movie in the public press, I’m inclined to let it through as more than just whinging. The fact is, one of the best Australian movies I’ve seen, Somersault, got great reviews – until it didn’t make any money. At that point, everybody dog-piled on to say how bad it was, and it started turning up as the argument against the independent Australian film industry.
Does anybody successfully compete against Hollywood? O.k., I guess Bollywood manages, but that seems a rather specialized market, like romance novels are, with a built-in audience share capable of competing with anyone. Similarly, most foreign films cater to their indigenous audience by reason of using the local language. Chinese films generally aren’t going to do as well outside China as they do inside, Crouching Tiger notwithstanding.
No, this is cultural-cringe stuff, I reckon. Australian movies don’t have to be Mad Max to garner audience share sufficient to sustain the industry as a whole, and it’s tough to get any sort of blockbuster out against Hollywood budgeting capacity, whether for production or marketing. Please also note that Hollywood finds it highly advantageous to spend that budget here in Australia, where they can access state-of-the-art equipment and highly accomplished professionals while taking advantage of the exchange and wage rates. Australia is unlikely to be able to compete against the Matrix or any of the other multi-multi-million dollar projects coming out of U.S. studios, but we can produce engaging, interesting, even entertaining features that are expressive of ourselves instead of imitations of some other culture. If we accept the worth of our culture in the first place.
There’s an argument I’ve seen made from time-to-time that there should be no government funding for the arts, particularly for such things as movies, which, according to the argument, would make plenty of money if there were any good. There’s something to be said for this, I suppose, but it’s usually only raised by the same kinds of people who argue there shouldn’t be any government assistance to anything or anybody, including, often enough, for health care or housing. These same people can be found also arguing that stop-light cameras and speed traps are an income-generating rort, an intrusion on the public simply to build up the state’s coffers for spending on things they don’t agree with. (Let’s leave aside the fact that if you’re running through red lights or speeding you are also endangering others and probably deserve to lose your license a lot sooner.)
So when actress and filmmaker Rachel Ward bemoans the inevitable fate of her movie in the public press, I’m inclined to let it through as more than just whinging. The fact is, one of the best Australian movies I’ve seen, Somersault, got great reviews – until it didn’t make any money. At that point, everybody dog-piled on to say how bad it was, and it started turning up as the argument against the independent Australian film industry.
Does anybody successfully compete against Hollywood? O.k., I guess Bollywood manages, but that seems a rather specialized market, like romance novels are, with a built-in audience share capable of competing with anyone. Similarly, most foreign films cater to their indigenous audience by reason of using the local language. Chinese films generally aren’t going to do as well outside China as they do inside, Crouching Tiger notwithstanding.
No, this is cultural-cringe stuff, I reckon. Australian movies don’t have to be Mad Max to garner audience share sufficient to sustain the industry as a whole, and it’s tough to get any sort of blockbuster out against Hollywood budgeting capacity, whether for production or marketing. Please also note that Hollywood finds it highly advantageous to spend that budget here in Australia, where they can access state-of-the-art equipment and highly accomplished professionals while taking advantage of the exchange and wage rates. Australia is unlikely to be able to compete against the Matrix or any of the other multi-multi-million dollar projects coming out of U.S. studios, but we can produce engaging, interesting, even entertaining features that are expressive of ourselves instead of imitations of some other culture. If we accept the worth of our culture in the first place.
Birds of the World
Although the office park where I work isn’t one of the nicest – that would have been the one down around Georgia where I spent some time one year training on some software – it has the advantage of abutting a national park, so the wildlife is plentiful, if largely represented by the various fowl: ibises, mynahs (Indian and native), crows, and magpies.
The maggies are big birds, on the order of crows, with a fearsome-looking beak. Their song is a somewhat spooky, fluting, quite distinct.
Every evening as I make my way through the street to the bus station, I pass one building in particular, with a curved face, along the top front edge of which the magpies gather, facing out into the coming night, piping home their fellows, it seems. Since their array is eastward, I can’t quite figure why that building and no other: prevailing wind for take-off and landing? The lowering sun’s not in their eyes or the rising sun is for an early wake-up call? In any case, it’s a pleasant walk, listening to them and recognising their sociability.
Although the office park where I work isn’t one of the nicest – that would have been the one down around Georgia where I spent some time one year training on some software – it has the advantage of abutting a national park, so the wildlife is plentiful, if largely represented by the various fowl: ibises, mynahs (Indian and native), crows, and magpies.
The maggies are big birds, on the order of crows, with a fearsome-looking beak. Their song is a somewhat spooky, fluting, quite distinct.
Every evening as I make my way through the street to the bus station, I pass one building in particular, with a curved face, along the top front edge of which the magpies gather, facing out into the coming night, piping home their fellows, it seems. Since their array is eastward, I can’t quite figure why that building and no other: prevailing wind for take-off and landing? The lowering sun’s not in their eyes or the rising sun is for an early wake-up call? In any case, it’s a pleasant walk, listening to them and recognising their sociability.
21 August 2009
Fiduciary
I reckon I'm not too bad with spreadsheets, but I've always avoided any sort of "treasurer" duties in my stints on one co-op/condo board or another. Sadly, this isn't the case where I am now, as there are only four units and none of us have much in the way of mathematical expertise. So I'm running half-assed balance statements and account registers (and that's probably half-arsed in this country), and trying to keep everything on the up-and-up. Well, I'm only eighty cents off on my own checking account register for the last two years, so maybe I'm better at this kind of thing than I think. I really hope so, because my MS-Excel skills are critical to the success of the project I'm on at work, and my boss has guaranteed to the CEO that "everybody will be paid, correctly and on time." Thanks for writing checks for me to pay, boss. But I'm absolutely committed anyway, if only because this is the best job I've ever had, even if it is the hardest. I guess there's something in that.
I reckon I'm not too bad with spreadsheets, but I've always avoided any sort of "treasurer" duties in my stints on one co-op/condo board or another. Sadly, this isn't the case where I am now, as there are only four units and none of us have much in the way of mathematical expertise. So I'm running half-assed balance statements and account registers (and that's probably half-arsed in this country), and trying to keep everything on the up-and-up. Well, I'm only eighty cents off on my own checking account register for the last two years, so maybe I'm better at this kind of thing than I think. I really hope so, because my MS-Excel skills are critical to the success of the project I'm on at work, and my boss has guaranteed to the CEO that "everybody will be paid, correctly and on time." Thanks for writing checks for me to pay, boss. But I'm absolutely committed anyway, if only because this is the best job I've ever had, even if it is the hardest. I guess there's something in that.
09 August 2009
Results
Well, that's 14k done 'n' dusted. 83 minutes by my watch, 81 on the clock at the finish, so we'll see what chip-time does for me, although I'm not expecting much. There are far too many people at the City-to-Surf these days: 75,000 entrants this year. The Pub-to-Pub, on the north shore, limits entries to something like 3,000, which I'll bet is just as crowded, given the neighborhood, but we're getting there for this one, I reckon. Just think: it took me 3 times as long to get out of Bondi as it did to get there in the first place. And somebody explain to me how, even within the first kilometer, there are people ahead of me walking, particularly since there's a special start section reserved for them (after mine, thanks)? I mean, you can walk to Bondi any weekend; there's only one City-to-Surf weekend. Get out of the way! Beep-Beep! I am the mighty Toad! Sorry, carried away with runner's high endorphins or something.
City-to-Surf is a great race. NYCRRC had a race pretty much every other weekend, in Central Park, Prospect Park, Flushing Meadows, but almost none of them compare to the exhilaration of this 14k fun run. Probably the New Year's Midnight Run, maybe the Shea Stadium run. O.k., Fifth Avenue Mile was pretty special. But this is something on a different order of magnitude.
Update: 80 minutes, official and some awful photos.
Well, that's 14k done 'n' dusted. 83 minutes by my watch, 81 on the clock at the finish, so we'll see what chip-time does for me, although I'm not expecting much. There are far too many people at the City-to-Surf these days: 75,000 entrants this year. The Pub-to-Pub, on the north shore, limits entries to something like 3,000, which I'll bet is just as crowded, given the neighborhood, but we're getting there for this one, I reckon. Just think: it took me 3 times as long to get out of Bondi as it did to get there in the first place. And somebody explain to me how, even within the first kilometer, there are people ahead of me walking, particularly since there's a special start section reserved for them (after mine, thanks)? I mean, you can walk to Bondi any weekend; there's only one City-to-Surf weekend. Get out of the way! Beep-Beep! I am the mighty Toad! Sorry, carried away with runner's high endorphins or something.
City-to-Surf is a great race. NYCRRC had a race pretty much every other weekend, in Central Park, Prospect Park, Flushing Meadows, but almost none of them compare to the exhilaration of this 14k fun run. Probably the New Year's Midnight Run, maybe the Shea Stadium run. O.k., Fifth Avenue Mile was pretty special. But this is something on a different order of magnitude.
Update: 80 minutes, official and some awful photos.
07 August 2009
Weakend
While in the grip of the grippe, I lost a week of training, then another just to be sure and because my phlegm production was still noticably higher than indicated it would be o.k. to start running again. Then I discovered that I had only a week left before the City-to-Surf. So I did some mid-week runs, 5-10-5 k's, Tuesday-Wednesday-Thursday. Wednesday's 10 was tough, as two weeks off meant the initial 5 left me a little sore, but Thursday's 5 was tougher, as the 10 really did a number, especially on my calfs. (Is that right? We're not talking about veal, here, so is it calves or calfs?) Two days off before Sunday's 14k race should be enough to see me right, but all things considered I suppose I ought not expect to repeat or improve my last 76-77 minute completion time.
While in the grip of the grippe, I lost a week of training, then another just to be sure and because my phlegm production was still noticably higher than indicated it would be o.k. to start running again. Then I discovered that I had only a week left before the City-to-Surf. So I did some mid-week runs, 5-10-5 k's, Tuesday-Wednesday-Thursday. Wednesday's 10 was tough, as two weeks off meant the initial 5 left me a little sore, but Thursday's 5 was tougher, as the 10 really did a number, especially on my calfs. (Is that right? We're not talking about veal, here, so is it calves or calfs?) Two days off before Sunday's 14k race should be enough to see me right, but all things considered I suppose I ought not expect to repeat or improve my last 76-77 minute completion time.
02 August 2009
Three Out of Four
For the last month, the Rabbitohs were on a tear, winning three in a row, and thereby igniting hope of achieving a spot in the top eight, being only one or two competition points away. So of course we drop today's match to the Bulldogs.
I know my presence or absence has no determining effect on a game, but having not been in attendance for the three wins - two away and one where I was still too sick to be sitting out in a stadium in the middle of winter - rejoining the team in time to witness today's loss does make me feel a bit of a Jonah. A strong first half - despite some fairly stupid errors - was matched by a declining second half - including one of the most stupid errors I've ever seen. Sometimes it's better to take the tackle, even in your own goal, than try to keep the ball alive and watch the other side score a try. Of course, that said, it isn't as though the referee wasn't taking our side back past ten meters, and Canterbury weren't offside for about half the game. Manly next week, which could be interesting.
For the last month, the Rabbitohs were on a tear, winning three in a row, and thereby igniting hope of achieving a spot in the top eight, being only one or two competition points away. So of course we drop today's match to the Bulldogs.
I know my presence or absence has no determining effect on a game, but having not been in attendance for the three wins - two away and one where I was still too sick to be sitting out in a stadium in the middle of winter - rejoining the team in time to witness today's loss does make me feel a bit of a Jonah. A strong first half - despite some fairly stupid errors - was matched by a declining second half - including one of the most stupid errors I've ever seen. Sometimes it's better to take the tackle, even in your own goal, than try to keep the ball alive and watch the other side score a try. Of course, that said, it isn't as though the referee wasn't taking our side back past ten meters, and Canterbury weren't offside for about half the game. Manly next week, which could be interesting.
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