Particularly Good Finder:

Sunday 30 December 2012

thoughts about places: nz

so there's the obvious shit:  it's super beautiful, looks like the phantom movie one minute, the shining the next and then there's a beach - all on the same drive. but then there's the stuff that you'd only notice after having lived with the locals.

people think nothing of leaving food out overnight and chucking it the next day. leave their car lights on during the day. leave cupboard lights on, the light goes off when you close the door - refrigerator style. let the tap run when washing dishes. small things which made me realise how much i think about waste and not wasting on a daily basis. and it's super awkward to always be cleaning up, switching off, putting away - when it's someone else's home! so mostly did nothing. switched off a tap once. put leftover pizza in the fridge.

also they're generally happier than the brits. those brits are a grumpy, always making snarky jokes lot. nz jokes are friendlier. warm and fuzzy even when supposedly offensive (really not). [edit: this is purely my opinion of pri and liam's friends i think... considering they are the only people i really observed. the country is really that devoid of people.]

matarangi and me


what's not to love about vacations? a lot actually: they can be stressful endeavours featuring too many people and personalities and things to account for. but this trip to new zealand was simply the best. fights that could have easily happened were avoided, new people were met and enjoyed, reunions, rediscovering people - the works. it just worked. 

but possibly one of the best times was me alone on this beach. saturday morning, awake before everyone else. i left a note (because you always do) and headed out to the beach for a little paddle. let the waves bash my legs (did get swimsuited up later in the day and let the waves bash a whole lot more of me - also tons of fun) and considered the universe. had myself a carl sagan "pale blue dot" sort of moment. this is the planet i am stuck on and i like it. i liked my life. i liked the moment i was living in. 

more about matarangi beach:
also went for a long walk along the beach later later in the day in cliche "i like long walks on the beach" fashion. we observed the beachfront houses, compared architectural styles and made judgements about the people in them. watched the children play. walked in the shallows. watched the gulls. jumped on fragile sandy hills and broke down what the sea had made. drew in the sand. picked shells. buried our feet in the sand. pictured the ideal beach house. mine would be a lighthouse. non functioning - i have no desire to mislead ships to their death. or even the house we stayed at. it was pretty ideal. lots of light. 

being kidlike on the beach is the best. it's like a space where silliness is positively encouraged. as much as i like being alone on a beach - being with people on a beach is even better. i'm just a social animal. no loner am i. 

Tuesday 27 November 2012

lightmood


was generally in a crappy mood for much of the day and then on the way home passed by all the houses with all the lit lamps... immediate lift mood! that and happy music on the ipod. 

anthem of the moment: helplessness blues - fleet foxes (i shall karaoke it someday!)

realised i have never known why the lamps, just filled 'em up with oil and lit em up - full of glee and joy at the pretty – and the fun, sometimes arduous task of making sure the bad wind doesn't put em out. and it matters not – why the lamps. the lamps just are. the lamps must be. all is well in the world :)

was a good thing to come home to, some already lit – others waiting just for me. so much satisfaction!

Sunday 25 November 2012

sold!


the tom hanks episode of the nerdist made me watch storage wars (so addictive). it's one of the reality shows that tom likes. and it's crazy to think that this actually happens. so the thing is, if you live in america (or maybe just california) and dont pay your storage locker rent (about $50-250 per month) for 3 months, they auction all your stuff off. and the show follows around about 4 sets of buyers who do this as a profession. buy up other people's stuff and try to make a profit on it. they can only guess on the value of what they might find inside as they have to bid based on a 5 min peek inside. but it's just crazy, who are these people who just leave their stuff in storage and lose it all? i mean sometimes they find coin collections/sports memorabilia... really valuable shit. who is the dumbass who couldnt afford to pay for his locker? wouldnt you just take your stuff out and make money off it yourself? and 3 months ago you remembered the locker, so there's no way you just forgot you had one. other option – the owner died, no one knew about the locker... which is just so sad. who were you hoarding that stuff for? it's literally losing all the stuff that you collected, put away, which was important enough for you to pay someone else to store for you. and obviously you decide not to/are unable to pay this amount...


but why? it's this huge mystery to me. what happened that made you not just take the stuff out and sell it. yard sale. ebay. anything. or even just give it away. so much to wonder about. it's a reality show that provides: thrills (exciting bidding wars), suspense (is that a genuine movado watch or is it worthless?), drama (brandi and jarrod are married and she's always right but he doesnt listen) and the big mystery – who is this person who just lost all this shit?

drives me crazy. crazy americans.

Wednesday 7 November 2012

a talkfine cover

have some eye candy, there hasnt been a video so pretty since more than words. gotta love pretty boys and falsetto.



Friday 2 November 2012

2 things

1

i just got done with the history of rome: episode 90, actually episode 100 (because some of those episodes were spilt into parts over a few podcast episodes)! kind of amazed that i stuck with it this long.  as was mike duncan when he made this episode. 100 episodes over 3 years. at the time seeing no quick end in sight. think it took him like 2 more years to be fully done with it (89 episodes to go). learnings: historians sometimes (often?) become as famous as the history they write about, eg the oft mentioned - tacitus:


or pliny the younger (as remembered in this tweet by @arze):


b-list still counts i think :D for sure! 
anyway where i'm going with this is – future historians will most likely remember mike duncan. 
this is mike:

(and yes that is baby in a sling. cute overload! *squee*)

2

many of my friendships are long distance. which means i miss many many people much of the time. this is truly a pain. but friends are the best. i loves everybody. you make me better. even when we dont talk for ages, i think on you and i am happy. 

Wednesday 17 October 2012

what i like about music #5: phish

one of the best things about music is the hunt. the finding of that song that sets you on a love affair with an album/band. but the thing is, as much as i'd love to be able to remember this process as a tell-able grand story... i'm more likely to forget it completely. in the case of phish, i know why i started listening to phish (because aj holmes and chris tomson are phans). i just gave it a shot and it grew on me. and it never runs out! i never have to sit and pine for a new album (i'm looking at you, vampire weekend! when? when?) i just pick a show to download off phishows.com via the advice of phish.net. but then i can never track/hope to track down why precisely i picked that show. ah well. matters not.

Tuesday 25 September 2012

maybe this time





3 absolutely fab versions. 3 differently damaged women. 4 if you count rachel berry.

Thursday 20 September 2012

Sentiment/Sentient



watched full metal jacket yesterday. i think it's the best war movie of all time. perhaps even the best movie. havent really stopped thinking about it. the expressions on various characters' faces. the duality of man. all that junk. but what makes it better than the rest? or specifically spielberg's saving private ryan. a movie that i found to be unnecessarily horrific. also incredibly sentimental. and the sentimental spielberg films are the ones i dont like so much (AI, amistad, the terminal.. ones i dig: jaws, munich, the adventures of tintin...). when he tells you exactly what to think, how to feel about something.


look! he must be a real boy because he's got a robot bear of his very own. 

vs.


Batty: That was irrational of you... not to mention unsportsmanlike.

or


where roy batty and david are just so obviously robotic but do human things like use sarcasm or are bitchy. there's room for you to make a judgement on how you feel about them. are they human? what is a machine? thought is possible beyond the manipulative doe eyes of haley joel osment.


it's the same with saving private ryan. look at those eyes? can you resist? do you want to cry?
I don’t know. Part of me thinks the kid’s right. What’s he done to deserve this? He wants to stay here, fine. Let’s leave him and go home. But another part of me thinks, what if we stay, and by some miracle we actually make it out of here alive? Someday we might look back on this and decide that saving Private Ryan was the one decent thing we were able to pull out of this whole godawful, shitty mess. 
—Tom Hanks
how about now?

vs.



Saturday 15 September 2012

i don't dance. but in my head i do.


i am this girl, who cannot tango but soon will – with a blind man and have a ball :) (ASIDE: poor charlie, you will probably never her meet again! *sigh* she would be so good to you, and vice versa). i am a clumsy person who trips over everything and cannot do choreography (i know, i've tried classes). but boy do i love dance movies. musicals. tap. step up 2. you would think that watching people do well, what i cant do at all – would irritate me. but nope. just makes me sigh and fangirl and store-up moments of great dancing in my head. for the perfect moment. for the days when i need to feel good inside. brave. like i'm a star. like i can kick your ass. and show you a thing or two. make my point. save the day. generally be awesome. in my head, i see this:


or... the world is just that little bit better with dancing. i give you: jonathan groff.


...and the boy can sing.

Monday 3 September 2012

XOXO or how i learned to loathe marian bantjes

back from designyatra 2012.
my favourite speakers:
ambrish arora • arunachalam muruganantham (SO BEST!) • paul barnes aka. @paulobarnesi • kentaro kimura • joachim sauter

marian got top billing, last day, last speaker. the headliner if you will. debbie millman's favourite person - marian bantjes. but marian is... shall we say the oprah of the design world. she has opinions on everything: the quality of her work, the sub-par-ness of others (everyone else).



...and you need to work to get on her valentine list. of about 400+ people? but even stefan sagmeister only got an "xoxo Marian". and poor david only got an "xo". i think where i'm going with this is... can you love 480 people? or is it inauthentic. now this is one of my favourite people - jason permenter with Good Morning, Annas:


http://bit.ly/hw53p
in his words:
Turns out this is exactly the sort of thing, for us, that makes an eight-hour time difference that much more bearable.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

marian also has no qualms about slagging off typography students who make alphabet posters (because where is the deep meaning in that? only marian makes meaningful work). that's 3 of the other speakers insulted already.

www.handpaintedtype.com 
part of the conference freebies

marian being meaningful:
“Get up from this table and go make a contribution to Doctors Without Borders. Donate enough that it hurts a little. Then come back to this table and enjoy your meal. Really, really enjoy your meal.”
sure, it's beautiful. but does it mean anything at all?

Friday 24 August 2012

parties and slumber

things that grow less acceptable over time: 1) birthday parties and 2) sleepovers. and i dont mean the adult variety. i'm talking cake and party hats here. and sleeping next to friends after talking about all and sundry random junk. a friend came over after lunch and we did our usual falling asleep in the afternoon routine. so yum. is the best kind of sleep. a) it's in the afternoon, during the day - so decadent! b) it's nice to fall asleep next to someone you love, and watch them fall asleep...and everything. so comfy. why all my sleepy-time-friends got to live so far away? and you bet i'm going to have candles on my cake when i'm 52. yes sir, i am.

Monday 20 August 2012

a spring bear



watching spirited away. kamaji keeps harping on the power of love... but it's true, at least in japanese fiction (both murakamis, yoshimoto) and movies and anime - things can get crazy random and still it's all love. even when it's giant frogs, love hotels, unicorn skulls or fish raining down from the sky. it's actually love. sigh. it's like this:

(video games - lana del rey)

“I really like you, Midori. A lot.”
“How much is a lot?”
“Like a spring bear,” I said.
“A spring bear?” Midori looked up again. “What’s that all about? A spring bear.”
“You’re walking through a field all by yourself one day in spring, and this sweet little bear cub with velvet fur and shiny little eyes comes walking along. And he says to you, “Hi, there, little lady. Want to tumble with me?’ So you and the bear cub spend the whole day in each other’s arms, tumbling down this clover-covered hill. Nice, huh?”
“Yeah. Really nice.”
“That’s how much I like you.” 

Monday 13 August 2012

shipping, the joys of

can feel myself becoming a more raged person. but i shall endeavour to avoid this by reading this excellent article periodically. and for that reason this will not be a rage post! and boy do i have things i could rage-post about, but for now - shipping - i dig it. it makes my heart go *squee*


fictional characters i ship*:
  • jogan (dalton)
  • rory gilmore and jess mariano (gilmore girls)
  • river and the doctor
  • the ponds (amy and rory, doctor who)
  • hannah and adam/ray and shosh (girls)
  • bunny and v'lu (jitterbug perfume - tom robbins)
  • michael and helen (an equal music - vikram seth) in my head they are so canon. *sigh* 
  • scripps and posner (the history boys) - here have a perfect fanfic.
  • jeff greene and dicey tillerman (the tillerman series - cynthia voigt)

i also ship people IRL*:
  • charlieissocoollike and bryarly
  • breredith 
  • marion cotillard and guillaume canet
  • aj holmes and ali gordon
  • kevin bacon and kyra sedgwick
  • jenson button and jessica michibata
  • kevin smith and jennifer schwalbach
  • wil and anne wheaton
  • jed and mo!

i think it's an exercise in happiness, like listening to mcfly/starkid/hanson. happy, but not too happy. and there is the devastation that comes with other people's breakups...shipping irl is painful (cameron crowe/nancy wilson, susan sarandon/tim robbins, cusack/piven *sobs*). fictional characters are easier to sort with a fanfic or two or a couple thousand.

*incomplete lists.

Wednesday 8 August 2012

i'm ba-ack!

brand new blog. expect the same ol' pseudo-philosophical "i understand the world a little bit better now" rubbish :) written in rambles and bullet points. or accounts of my voyeuristic ways. craazy dreams. rants. fiction? who knows. COMING SOON.