Thursday, February 17, 2011

Tim Finn plays on the Beach


Tim Finn, what an amazing guy. After a big day at my nephew's Teddy Bears Picnic, I somehow managed to muster the effort to get all the way over to St Kilda to see Tim Finn performing pretty much on the beach! There was quite a seaside breeze, but I didn't really care cause they played Crowded House and more importantly Split Enz classics. Suddenly the long tram ride seemed insignificant when listening to masterpieces such as 'My Mistake', '6 Months in a Leaky Boat', 'Poor Boy' and 'Weather With You'. These are songs I thought that I would never ever hear live but there I was, hearing them live. It was almost surreal. Tim Finn had such a stage presence from the second he walked on, his silvery hair making a very dramatic statement, he is both an artist and musician, or is a musician one in the same.... I'm not sure I'm completely sold on Tim Finn's solo stuff but they were completely thoughtful and romantic songs, which is right up my street, most of the time.

So in conclusion - I am ever so grateful for busting my arse to get to this event because it made me oh so happy, I was grinning from ear to ear. And let this be a lesson to you, don't miss out on something great because you couldn't be arsed. Seize the day and all that. Thanks Tim Finn, you are my hero.x

Friday, February 11, 2011

New MAC. And in honour of such an event. An Apple.



Tuesday, February 8, 2011

Australian Picture Books


Yesterday I went to LOOK! 'The art of Australian Picture Books Today', an exhibition currently held at the State Library of Victoria. This exhibition was a chance to watch my childhood flash before my eyes by way of picture books. One of the cutest things about the exhibition was watching babies pretend to read, trying to look all grown up but perhaps they should go to school first, or even focus their efforts on walking. Babies are awesome, I shouldn't give them a hard time.

While I didn't recognise a lot of the books, the simplicity and style of illustration seems to be consistent and almost timeless throughout a generation. I attribute this to the crazy illustrators who all seem to have been around for a few decades and have developed a somewhat Beatrix Potter style. That is, they are appealing to the parents/adults, the primary picture book purchasers, who are likely to choose something that they can relate to through their own childhood. Effectively stagnating the progression of children's picture books, but I'm sure new styles are becoming popular...

Here are a few that I particularly liked-




So all in all, a pretty good exhibition. Nothing particularly ground breaking, very traditional but still useful to note different uses of media - watercolour, ink, pencil, collage. Perhaps my favourite part was making a paper frog from the free booklet. It was a pretty cool looking frog, pity it was crushed during transit. Maybe I'll make another one. Maybe.