On my birthday, I received Aperture 3 from Paul and a Microplane grater from my parents. <3
I also received some other lovely presents and many well-wishes from here, there and everywhere. Many, many thanks to everyone. I also had a very lovely party; thank goodness it was last weekend…
I’d like to fall into the blog cliche here and apologise for not posting much of late. Been busy, la di dah di dah, all that stuff. The main reason though? We found out three weeks ago that, after 5 years and three months living here, our landlord is moving back in. Oh joy. Looking for a house during a heatwave at the end of the year is not fun. And rent is far more expensive these days than it was five years ago.
So far we’ve been rejected by one landlord because they apparently thought their fence wasn’t safe enough to keep the dogs in, we’ve rejected a landlord because we decided we didn’t want to settle on their crappy house after all, and we’ve been rejected by another landlord who seems to have some weird phobia of dogs. We really, really want the last house, and the real estate agent really, really wants us to have it. We should hear today if the landlord has changed his or her mind. I’m looking forward to the excessive amount of cupboards and having more than a 30×40cm patch of preparation space in the kitchen. Paul is looking forward to the air conditioner and the dishwasher/two sink combo (he will no longer have to do the dishes in what is essentially a doorless cupboard.)
On the knitting front, I’ve had to start a couple of things, but I’ve also continued my streak of finishing up old projects. The purple and gold sock in the photo above is a Sidewinder I started in July 2007 while in Darwin for my sister’s wedding. I finally sat down and grafted it together, and now just have to make the second one. Ravelry details are here. The grey, pink and green socks were started while gallery sitting our graduate show almost exactly a year ago using a basic sock recipe and ridiculously small needles. Ravelry details are here.
I also finished a pair of toe-up ankle socks made from Cascade Fixation… that I started in April 2007. 2007. I blame the fact that I hate the yarn for them taking so long. It only took me a day to finish the second sock once I started it, but I just hate the yarn so much. It’s a thickish blend of cotton and elastane and is a real chore to knit with. I’d also found that a previous pair of socks made with the same yarn really didn’t hold up well at all, but I was desperately in need of foot coverings, so I finished them anyway. Ravelry details here.
Anyway, be prepared for your next knitting pictures to feature 70s cream shag carpet instead of floorboards. Oh yeah.
Yesterday morning, knitting happily on the tram while travelling to work, I happened to look out the window and noticed a truck driving past. It told me not to drink science, because I don’t know where it’s been. This, quite frankly, horrified me. And what disappointed me even more is that the brand in question was Phoenix Organic Drinks. Phoenix are a New Zealand company who make tasty, tasty beverages that I like a lot, and now I can’t drink them because their marketing people are happily, blatantly promoting ignorance and stupidity. It’s almost as if Phoenix have taken a leaf from Barbie’s book and proclaimed, “Math is hard! Let’s go shopping!” And I say all this as a public servant who votes Green, studied fine art, has been vegetarian for over ten years, makes her own soap, and whose pantry contains vast amounts of brand-free dried legumes and 5kg cotton bags of rice.
1 : the state of knowing : knowledge as distinguished from ignorance or misunderstanding
2 a : a department of systematized knowledge as an object of study [the science of theology] b : something (as a sport or technique) that may be studied or learned like systematized knowledge [have it down to a science]
3 a : knowledge or a system of knowledge covering general truths or the operation of general laws especially as obtained and tested through scientific method b : such knowledge or such a system of knowledge concerned with the physical world and its phenomena : natural science
4 : a system or method reconciling practical ends with scientific laws [cooking is both a science and an art]
As noted in the dictionary definition above, science is not something separate from the natural world. It is a study of the natural world. Science is not merely random equations, chemicals and words that are hard to spell. It is a continual system of knowledge and understanding. I would never buy a mass-produced food item from a company that is proud of not having a science department. I want to know that the products I consume have been formulated, tested and proven not to make me sick, regardless of them being made from natural or synthesised ingredients. Just because something is natural, doesn’t mean it won’t hurt me. Like anthrax. Or arsenic. Or any number of ingredients or components of common ‘natural’ items. Hell, even regular issue Coca-Cola is made of all-natural products in Australia. We even still make it with cane sugar instead of corn syrup. Doesn’t mean it’s good for me. And you know what I do when I don’t know what something is, what a word means or how to spell an ingredient? I look it up. Simple as that. I’m sick to death of the anti-science ignorance that proponents of ‘natural’ and ‘organic’ lifestyles banter about. Science is not the enemy, and until you learn that I won’t be your friend. Or buy your things.
I wanted to add, I lifted these images off the Phoenix website because I think it’s important in this instance to see a physical representation of what I’m criticising. But I’m hosting them here as I’m not mean enough to hotlink.
Back in March, I was part of a wonderful group show called lots of people have what you have, curated by Anusha Kenny at George Paton Gallery, Melbourne University. The show has recently been reviewed in Un Magazine. You can download the PDF and read the review on page 42 (listed as page 79 in the actual magazine.)
Considering that I had a dream about Neil Gaiman last night (no, not that kind of dream), and you can’t actually see the full embroidered Sandman: Endless Nights quote talked about in the article from any of my text book pictures, I feel compelled to post it:
He did not create the path you walk. But the movements of atoms and galaxies are in his book, and he sees little difference between them.
It is all in his book. One day he will lay it down, when the book is done, and what comes after that is still unwritten.Destiny continues to walk.
He is holding a book. Inside the book is the Universe.
I have a few pieces in the latest salon-style show at Pigment Gallery in Melbourne. The show opens tonight, but is on for just over two weeks on level 2 of the Nicholas Building, near the corner of Swanston St and Flinders Lane in the city.
The pieces I’ve entered are stills from the animation I made last year. In the catalogue, they’ll appear as The Kraken, Alice Falls and The Kraken Rises, but yesterday when signing the proofs, I changed the titles to Below the thunders of the upper deep, Down, down, down. Would the fall never come to an end? and In roaring he shall rise and on the surface die. I’ve printed an edition of 20 12″ x 18″ photographs for each piece, available from the gallery at $100 each.
I hope you can come along and have a look at some stage during the show.
I’ve once again entered the weird and wonderful world of podcasting. I must say, it’s a helluva lot easier and more enjoyable with a bunch of other (enormously fun) people in the room.
This one’s all about our fair Melbourne town. Check it out — Macabre Melbourne.
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