no eye dear

This was cool - Suse and I went to the Missing the Mark exhibition at the Old Treasury Building. In what appears to be an attempt by the public archives office to prove they are in fact interesting (who knew?), they are showcasing entries for a little remembered competition held in 1978.

The 'landmark ideas competition' asked people to contribute what they thought could go in the space that is now Federation Square. And the people responded!

With a 6 legged crocodile:

A giant "m":

and some wickets:

Pictures from here.

And these were the better entires. For, in the late 1970's nothing it would appear, said 'Marvellous Melbourne' like a revolving restaurant. Particularly if said restaurant was placed in the head of a giant kangaroo not only affording patrons a 360 degree view of the city but also one can assume, those on the ground the rare treat of an enormous marsupial experiencing an exorcism.

As is often the case in exhibitions staffed by volunteers, we encountered an extremely passionate archives enthusiast who assisted us by pointing out what he deemed the interesting bits and lingering for our reaction. Awkward.

The fun continued downstairs, where there are permanent exhibitions set up in the old vaults. I must say, while I am a big fan of the full sensory experience (i.e. sight, sound, touch, etc) at these sort of things, here this was all rather eerily executed. The use of 'surprise' audio was rather disconcerting... For example, walking into one of the dark and dreary rooms set off an imagined conversation with members of the long dead family that used to live there. Shudder.

Anyway, we liked it. Best you go see for yourself if you've got a few minutes up your sleeve and are near parliament station.

Kitty x

a quick top five - recent reads

1. Sarah's Key. I know they've made this into a movie now and that reduces its stock somehow, but this is really good. There's a central happening/image that sticks with you once the book is done and dusted (for better or worse). Flicks between France in WWII and the present day.

2. Heartstone by C J Samson. I've spoken about hunchback lawyer Shardlake before, he's brilliant.

3. Ken Follett - Pillars of the Earth and World without End. Tick, tick. I think Pillars comes first. Set in the 1100's and 1300's respectively, these centre on the fictitious small town of Kingsbridge and its priory. Epic historical, my fave.

4. Bossypants. Tina Fey, I heart you. My only gripe is Fey keeps saying she's unattractive which clearly she is not. I can't decide if she is being falsely self deprecating or, as she mentions she was attacked as a child and has rather a large scar on her face, perhaps she thinks she really is unattractive? To be honest, I've never even noticed a scar. Anyway, Bossypants is an interesting read because Fey is a) hilarious and b) outwardly feminist. Interesting article on the portrayal of race and to a lesser extent, feminism on 30 Rock vs. The Office. I thought interesting, anyway.

5. The Book Thief. Slow to get started, but not bad.

And now you? I have a hard copy of Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell to read but I'm seriously having a hard time not reading on my kindle these days. It's just way too convenient. I love the thing. I'm going to buy Freedom by Johnathon Frazen next but I'm not that optimistic - everyone seemed to rave about The Corrections but it was a bit long in the tooth for me.

Anyway, cheerio,

Kitty

suburbia

Avril Rolfe is a pseudonym, so I'm not really sure who she is, but I love this review of Snowtown in the scriveners fancy. Particularly this bit, in which she talks about the iconography of the Australian underclass:

...ashtrays that are full to bursting; idle Hills Hoists that are, if possible, surrounded by garbage; the insistent sound of the tune the pokies sing; a broken fluorescent light; a quiz show playing on television, which indicates either the vast gap between the aspirational folk on said shows and the characters in the film, and/or the spiritual emptiness of contemporary society...

Well spotted 99. We have a broken hills hoist at our new house and I find it satisfyingly depressing... Preston is hardly downtown Compton, but it's a country mile from the leafy green vanilla plain Eastern suburbs.

But then maybe I'm kidding myself, the Melbourne version of 'stuff white people like' points out how nearby Northcote has people (self included) duped:

Northcote does not make sense. Positioned in the heartland of suburbia, a whopping nine stops away from the city (comparable to North Brighton, Ormond and Murrumbeena) it has somehow managed to defy geography and pass itself off as a gritty inner city urban wonderland. The brilliance of this suburb is only magnified when you go there and discover it’s mostly just a few kebab joints and a massive indoor shopping centre with Kmart, two Coles, Donut King and a fucking Bakers Delight. This is stuff the wrong white Melburnians like! I don’t know how, but Northcote has brainwashed Melbourne white people. Go there to experience genius.

It's true, that Northcote plaza is a dive and has one too many Coles.

But I'd still like to live there.

Kitty x

renovations

day 1:

keegs poses with paintbrush:

everyone eats Subway:

More happened, but either I looked awful or it was not captured on film. And then, Dick the helpful neighbour poked his head through the front window and made several helpful remarks. For example:

d: so, how much you pay for that paint?

k: I don't know, Carney got it.

d: where did he go?

k: not sure, maybe bunnings.

d: you guys should have checked out the tip. They had, like, a 40L bucket full of white paint and I asked the girl how much and she said... (mumble, mumble) and then I paid $15. hee, hee, $15.

k: right... that's pretty cheap. I suppose we kinda wanted the whole house the one colour so that's why we went with the conventional shop-route.

d: yep, yep, maybe for the ceiling though.

K: oh, yep, maybe for the ceiling.

And then he bought us two mugs of hot soup. Because he is Dick the helpful neighbour and not Dick the neighbour that does not share soup.

Kitty

a very good wednesday

For 2 reasons:

1. Dick the helpful neighbour dropped off an enormous box of bacon flavoured Samboy Chips. There are about 20 x 200g packets, just a few days out of date. Good gift.

2. We got the keys to our new house yesterday. Carney carried me over the threshold. Alas, it was less like this:

and more of a backward bear hug/stumble as my hands were (obviously) full of chips. and French champagne. And the congratulatory jam the real estate company gave us with the keys. The (raspberry) jam is not a metaphor in case you thought it was.

Kitty

yo ho ho and a bottle of rum

One week until we settle on our new house. These are the fun topics of conversation (/monologues) I have managed to steer the unsuspecting towards (or rather, regeal the unsuspecting with!) in the last month or so:

1. The merits and excessive cost of hydronic heating (also: how and why ducted heating causes allergies). How I wish I had more of a hydronic-heating-target-group readership and this post was sponsored by a hydronic heating company who were paying me to put in hydronic heating. Sad face.

2. Preferred fence materials and the number of permits that Council requires for fence building. This latter point is dictated by a random number generator with a surly and cranky male voiceover.

3. Dick the helpful neighbour. If ever I had a feeling of ominous-ness, it was when we visited our new house with respective families in tow for a 'show and tell' and Dick the helpful neighbour followed us inside, measured our windows and proclaimed he would purchase us $5 blinds from the tip.

4. Floorboards or carpet. Discuss.

5. My plan to optimise use of our three bedrooms. This is as follows: 1) Light and spacious bedroom with nothing but bed, lamps and side tables. 2) Dressing room/enormous walk in wardrobe. Contains all clothing/shoes/mirrors/items generally stored in bedroom. 3) reading room, includes computer/desk and fold out couch. I let Carney call the reading room 'the study', but it's not.

That feeling you're experiencing right now is jealousy.

Kitty x