Pechacha!

So I wanted to write about this yesterday while it was still fresh and buzzing me out (that's an old skool term!), but I ran out of time.

I went along to Pecha Kucha at Galatos on Wednesday night. What happens is there are between 8-14 speakers (this time the full 14) and they each have 20 slides and are allowed to talk for 20 seconds per slide so 20/20. Pecha Kucha (roughly translated to mean 'the sound of conversation') has become a world-wide phenomenon and is now happening in 221 cities, including 6 cities in Aotearoa! Which really is quite impressive.

The good thing about having 14 speakers is that you are bound to like something and if you don't it doesn't matter because they are finished in 6 minutes and 40 seconds. I could talk about all of them, but I won't cause that would be boring. But I will just mention some I think you guys will like.

Janet Lilo, an artist was talking about her recent residency in Japan. You can check out some of her work on YouTube. I also liked Stacy Childs, she has an online magazine called disco underworld. It has loads of cool music, art stuff, you know cool things. I am currently working my way through the back issues. Simon Oosterdijk talked about some cool projects he is involved including PiePaper. I thought the presentation given by Matthew Salapu Faiumu aka ANONYMOUZ was choice! You can see who the other speakers were here if you are interested. There's bound to be something you like!

My favourite found object

I like found objects and this is definitely the best thing I have found for a while. I found it when I was walking to the supermarket around the time it gets dark so it was hard to spot. It doesn't really seem like it tells you much, but it does really - you'll see. Here it is:

Here's what I like about it: it is a colour chart of my favourite colour blue, I have always wanted to a paint a room a really deep shade of blue.

I live in a relatively 'middle-class' neighbourhood with lots of large villas and for a long time now a common middle-class pastime in NZ has been renovating and redecorating your villa. So it is no surprise to find a colour chart lying around really.

I also like to read about architecture and design, so I know that painting rooms in these shades of blue, particularly living rooms, is quite popular right now. A trend that was fueled by the makeover of Carrie's apartment in the Sex and City movie and recently recreated in a NZ TV house makeover show. This makes me laugh because I think that from what I've seen some of the people who live here, they would mindlessly follow trends and not really consider what they really like themselves. But that's just what I think anyway.

Here are two websites of with other people's interesting found objects. Found magazine and Passive Aggressive Notes.

Look out for more found objects coming soon....

Gardens make me happy

My garden is small, like really really small (I think about 2m by 4m) and it's a container garden. So when things grow I am amazed because it's actually quite difficult to garden on such a small scale.

Here are some photos of things that are making me happy in my garden at the moment:

Calendulas

Broad Bean flowers on my first ever broad beans!

A gorgeous Camellia in the driveway

Pita pocket pizza with rocket from my garden

My next garden project involves saving. I am coveting an outdoor table and chair set so I can sit in the afternoon sun and enjoy my little courtyard garden. So when/if the budget allows I would like to have something like this:

from Bunnings

or this from Recollections.

Te Wiki o Te Reo Maori

Although it is nearly over, there's no need to stop practising your reo. There are some great ideas of what you can do on the Māori Television website. Speaking of which has anyone seen the hilarious ad they are running on Māori TV to promote te wiki o te reo Māori?

I tried to find it for you guys. But basically it has this guy running around with a megaphone announcing things in te reo. Like going into the dairy to get milk and yelling out "Miraka!" Cracked me up.

Anyway, there are some really cool t-shirts, stickers and tattoos in the same design as the balloons on the Kōrero Māori site. And they have a really fun quiz as well. And to find out the 100 Māori words everyone should know you can go here.

Ka kite anō.

Most accidents occur at home

Here's the reason why you should not walk around the house in oversized slippers with a cup of black coffee:

Sorry stairs, sorry carpet, sorry landlord.

Belated highlights from the weekend

Kia ora!

I have been busy working this week. Even though it is only part-time (sorry to you real working people, who make me look slack) I am unaccustomed to how much time it takes up. And then I got struck down by my annual sinus infection. :( So that's why I haven't got around to updating this blogity, blog, blog.

So...I know it's now Thursday but the weekend just gone was so awesome! I am still reliving it now. Very indulgent and now I feel slightly lighter in the wallet area, although it made me happy, so what the hey!

Films and eating were the two concurrent themes (no surprises from me really) of the weekend. But there was also friends, birthdays, babies and children to entertain us as well.

Food highlights included:

• A chocolate birthday cake (not mine, but BTW mine was sooo good)
• A soysage dog with fries from Frankie's Wurstbude (they have the best aioli too)
• MP's mash and veg
• Coffee and orange almond cake at Mezze
• A fantastic quiche, followed by chilli chocolate

So many treats, all so bad for me!

I went to 2 more films in the festival (4 in total). I don't seem to be able to do more than four, maybe because I have the attention span of a midge.

Saturday was the 'world premiere' of Land of the Long White Cloud.

You could watch some bits on Youtube or you could lobby your local theatre to screen it. Which is probably a better option.

After the screening the 'cast' and crew got up and talked. It's a real treat to watch a film with the contributors in the audience. Everyone laughed and talked when they saw people they knew.

Anyway, the movie is lovely. Funny, amusing, and thoughtful. The scenery is stunning and the people are choice! The only not so great thing was I think they rushed with editing a bit (3 weeks!) and it showed.

The other movie I saw was Visual Acoustic which I mentioned last week. As a lover of modernism, and a person who LOVES to look at other peoples houses, it would have been a crime for me to miss it. And happily I can report it did not disappoint at all, not in any way. The film was incredibly well-made, the subject was fascinating and well explained. The houses were so drawl worthy. I was in heaven! And it is narrated by Dustin Hoffman, who has a really relaxing calming, steady voice.

So I am now planning a holiday in Palm Springs, so I can fully nerd it out and spend all day swooning over Modernist architecture and taking photos of amazing buildings.

And I would stay in this hotel (Source)

And visit the Palm Springs Art Museum (Shulman photo from Palm Springs Modernism Committee)

And maybe take a tour of some of the houses (source: Shulman photo from Taschen).

And as a memento I would buy this Taschen book set:

Source: Taschen

All this luxury living has left me feeling incredibly thankful for the things I get to do in my life.

It is Poetry Day. Well Montana has made it so. I have never been that 'into' poetry. But I wish I was.

Today I have been to see 24 City screening as part of the festival. I'm sure they screened this movie today on purpose (it would be an incredible coincidence if they didn't), but I did not make the connection between poetry day and this film until I was in the theatre watching.

The film is about a factory that once produced secret military hardware but is moving to a new greenfield site and the site of the old factory is becoming a housing and shopping development called 24 City. It is part fact and part fiction. According to the movie the name 24 City comes from an old poem: the cherished hibiscus of 24 city in full bloom, a flourishing flower

The film is broken up with WB Yeats poetry quoted across a black screen, including this one that is particularly poignant:

Though leaves are many, the root is one;

Through all the lying days of my youth

I swayed my leaves and flowers in the sun;

Now I may wither into the truth.

I am not sure what I thought of this film. I did enjoy the aesthetics of it. But emotionally I felt unattached, even though I think some people were sniffling in the audience (or was it swine flu?!)

Tony Rayns, London Film Festival, said this of the film "Jia once again humanises China's modern history - and turns it into poetry."

You can watch a trailer of this movie on YouTube. And read a review from the New York Times here.

Image from a scene in the film from NY Times