calendar related sunday dotpoints

This is Ma's 2013 calendar... given that we didn't go on a trip this year (not counting the short weekend trip to Melbourne in February) and the fact that she has a thing about sailboats, and masts in particular (I'm so not going to even try to work out what that's about), I decided to go with a seaside/beach/boats themed calendar of existing photos.

The cover image is one of Store's lovely ladies... the mermaid down at Glenelg.

And yes, I did get all pretentious and French with the title... I don't even care if it's correct French... "Au bord de la mer" sounds more interesting that "Seaside".

Today was the day for printing the calendar and getting it bound... which set into motion the following dot points...

• I had to leave myself a note inside the calendar Photoshop file to adjust things so that I can print it edge to edge without any problems... it isn't quite the right size so things end up close to the edge and cropped weirdly.
• Sunday staff are generally a little bit rubbish... staff who only work over Christmas are often a little bit rubbish. Sunday staff who only work over Christmas... you can see where I'm going with this, right?
• Thank you Target for having very large shiny red gift boxes for low, low, low prices. That's the wrapping for Ma's art related presents solved! Although having Santa wandering around the store occasionally wringing a big ass bell is a little creepy... I can imagine it would be even worse if he was doing it when there was hardly anybody in the store...
• I need to remember that the only viable time to go to Officeworks this close to Christmas is when they open... which this year was 9am (I assumed it was 11am, but I was running late even for that).
• I should also write down exactly what kind of binding I want so that I can just rattle it off in store... I think this year the number of people threw me a little... but it's a clear plastic cover, white wire binding (that's usually the bit I get wrong or have to check) and a cardboard backing in an appropriate colour.
• One of the few things I like about Summer is that guys wear a minimal amount of clothing and then go out in public. This is doubly good when it's a sporting uniform.
• Officeworks is like catnip to me... I find myself wanting to buy things I don't really need just because they're pretty and useful and there.
• I did end up buying a new case for my netbook and some grey card for a photography background.
• It shouldn't be strange to see guys from Grindr at my supermarket... especially since the gym moved in upstairs, but somehow it still is... and dude, I know you say you're tall in your profile, but DAMN!

And that was essentially the last thing I have to organise... okay, I need to buy Ma some nougat, because that's what I do now for some reason... but that's easily done next Saturday.

Now I know it's a little bit warm, but what I really need is someone to come and cuddle up on my bed with me while we watch Christmas movies...

Current Mood:

photo friday: topham soldier crew

The Toy Soldier Crew have invaded Topham Wall!

And these pictures explain exactly why I love their work so much.

It's a unified visual style, even though each piece is its own unique artwork, they've used a limited pallet, and all but one (okay, maybe two if you count the bat they left visible from the previous artwork) have a "space" theme. So it all ties in together.

You can see it more when viewing the whole piece in it's entirety but I think it comes across in the photos too.

I'm also loving this particular evolution of Benzo's work... it's somewhere between the "fire dancer" behind Light Square and the aquanaut from Glenelg... although I get a strong cyclist vibe from the piece. It is beautiful though, especially with the Kirbyesque use of coloured dots to give it almost a sparkling effect.

Looking at the photos again though, it almost looks a little unfinished. The top of the helmet is very undefined and it doesn't have the same orange "back-lighting" as the rest.

I'm not sure exactly who is responsible for the other pieces... the monkey might be Fredrock, and the girl might be Store, but I'll have to "check with my sources".

Yesterday, to paraphrase from Winnie-The-Pooh, was A Very Busy Day. Or, more accurately, A Very Busy Afternoon/Evening/Night.

It started with a Burger Theory lunch (always good), but with three trucks (four if you count the Jonny's Popcorn van parked around the corner) in Hindmarsh Square the place was stacked with people and service took a little while.

Then I had a meeting with H-San and the girly from my agency about some OHSW stuff, which was time consuming, but mostly painless (plus she brought good cupcakes from BTS).

I then did my usual walk home, made sure my car was still working (I hadn't used it in a couple of weeks, and after the last time it conked out on me I've been a little gun-shy as they say), got changed and headed out to These Walls Don't Lie Gallery for their "Take Away Sale" show... which was pretty much just a collection of pieces that hadn't sold in either their shows or shows in other galleries but had been marked down.

I picked up a piece by Dan Withey that was part of TWDL's 80's show, a black and white rendition of Beetle Juice. Very cool.

I also ran into an artist I used to know through Raury but haven't seen in years and years and years, so that was cool.

Then it was back to the car (that's the one thing I hate about TWDL... both times I've been I end up parking in the parklands and then walking up Unley Road to the gallery), a quick stop for the quickest and easiest dinner I could think of (a pie from the 24 hour bakery... which was better than the original idea of going for greasy fried things from the Red and White Café) then home to eat, then take a shower and head off to see Tink for Haircut Day!

It was a pretty standard Haircut Day... I didn't really pay much attention to what she was doing to my hair, we chatted about this, that and the other, compared photos on our iPhones (me of artwork purchased, her of Tink Jr's birthday cake), then chatted some more.

And then new hair (if not shockingly different from the last several haircuts).

Speaking of slightly unfinished... this guy really should have two pupils... right?

It's weird when someone you had a massive screaming match with in the office less than a fortnight buys you a "Gorgeous Gruesome Zombies" sewing kit because "they just had to".

I'm getting to that point when the hoarder in me is warring with the homemaker... in a perfect world I'd move somewhere else, but I keep having the thought that I should go through every single thing that I own and be ruthless about throwing away anything and everything that I have no need or use or attachment to. What I don't have currently is the time or the energy to do that. But it keeps praying on my mind.

I should also remember to pay more attention to the (nice) voices in my head... I walked past a photo opportunity this morning and thought "nah, that'll be fine, there will be plenty of other opportunities today"... and given that today's Photo A Day word is "shadow" and the rest of the day has been incredibly overcast... not so much.

Current Mood:

morning street art safari

Thanks to an early morning visitor (you know the kind I mean) and having to take a drive afterwards, I was showered, dressed and felt like being out of the house quite early... which lead to a Street Art Safari in Bowden and the CBD...

It may also have given me an opportunity to release some more eyeBirds into the wild...

And discover some more of Peter Drew's Forgotten Outlaws...

Discover fantastic new works... and finally be able to put a name to the artist...

See some urban faces...

And discover a couple of well chosen words that made me smile...

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store's birds

Four different examples of Store's pigeons from four locations around the city...

Topham Mall, Blyth Street, Avoca Place and Kent Town... I do like the Kent Town one a lot... especially with the Gary Seaman pods and Yoda and whatnot...

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blythe street

As of Monday I've now been down Blythe Street in the city three times looking at street art... it probably would only have been twice but the day after Ma and I went to look down there I discovered that some new art had gone up, so I had to go back on Monday to take more photos.

Interestingly, even though the Benzo style tiki in the corner of one of the shots isn't actually Benzo... it's Store, in homage to Benzo... which is kind of amazing because I'm not sure I could pick the difference.

This week has been all about sugar, I swear... well, sugar and just food in general. As I mentioned on Monday we had both a birthday celebration and a pre-Easter celebration on Monday... today we had birthday donuts and went out to Saldechin for Rockchick's birthday... and I'm sure there's going to be chocolate of varying descriptions tomorrow.

In fact I know there will be because I bought a pack of Cadbury eggs to distribute on people's desks tomorrow morning...

But it also means I think I've been suffering from a combination of sugar highs and the associated post sugar crashes all week.

It's also possibly why I can't really string a coherent sentence together in my head at the moment...

Current Mood:

store in wonderland

One of the best things about the day that we went back to the Paper String Plastic gallery is the fact that I got to photograph the murals that Store did for them in the backroom!

Store in Wonderland... with Alice (post "Eat Me" cake... and the chain led to a wall clock standing in for the Rabbit's pocket watch), The White Rabbit, possibly one flamingos/croquet mallets belonging to the Queen of Hearts (it was in a whole different area, so I'm not sure if it really was from Wonderland) and Caterpillar complete with military jacket and awesome little moth friend.

The guy who runs the gallery said that the original plan was to have other artists come in and rotate the artworks, but after Store did these he doesn't know if he can bring himself to replace them.

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fringe: 100buck&runnin'4

I never quite know what to do with myself when I got to gallery opening type things on my own... so I end up not doing very much and running away early...

Of course, given that I parked about three streets away and had a play to go to directly afterwards meant I had to run away early anyway.

The gallery opening in question was 100Bucks&Runnin'4... artists are given the blank template to the right, complete with faceless running man stencil and can do as they wish with it.

There were definitely a range of ideas and executions... from those who stuck squarely to the stencil outline leaving it pretty much visible, right through to those who almost left no trace of it at all.

And there was a wider range of artistic skill than I was perhaps expecting. Sadly with maybe one or two exceptions I have no idea who did what since it was all anonymous (and each panel cost $100, hence the title of the exhibition).


A very crowded room actually... crowded and sweaty (the second floor and no real air-conditioning)... so I know I missed seeing a few of the pieces.

My two favourite were these two...

The top one is Gary Seaman... and it was already sold when I got there, otherwise I would have slapped my $100 down on the spot, even though I bought a piece of his work on Saturday. Because, really, who doesn't love a genie?

I have no idea who produced the bottom one, but it's kinda awesome, especially if you know that the running man figure is there... it still follows those lines. And I have this thing about octopuses.

But none of the works really grabbed me enough to lay down my $100... either that or they were already sold.

100Bucks&Runnin'4 runs until March 18.

Current Mood:

montage tuesday: backstreets nine

And this is what I did with my Sunday when I wasn't photographing Mr Sloppy... equal parts street art and city architecture...

Was it worth the mild sunburn and all the traipsing around and indirectly being the reason I tripped and smacked my camera against the wall? Actually yes (well, maybe not the camera smacking part)...

Before this weekend I hadn't really created any montages other than travel ones for over a year and a half (the one exception being a Botanical Gardens themed montage last September)... and although I freely admit that they can be a total pain in the butt to put together, if only from the amount of time they take, I have missed doing them more regularly.

And more than putting them together, I've missed going out and doing the Photo Safaris...

So there's to both Photo Safaris and their resulting montages...

Current Mood:

photo friday: store's girl

Another one of the Hindley Street light-boxes from the Toy Soldiers crew... this time, one of Store's ladies...

Today has definitely had it's highs and lows...

A big high was today was Haircut Day... woohoo! And the beginning of the transition to Summer Hair. On top of that, a slightly more radical haircut than usual... that previous plan I had about growing my hair out has now officially been thrown out of the window, although it is slightly long on top, it's the ultimate in "short back and sides".

And two different colours... the Winter brown around the sides and then some balayage with blonde on the top...

As always Tink and I talked a lot of crap during the whole process which was nice.

Then after my haircut I wandered around town for a bit, got a bit of dinner, that kind of thing...

The big low for today happened around lunchtime. I went over to the Central Market, had the same thing I've had for lunch any number of times, and then on my way back I got the hiccups... which then turned into burping... and I've been burping almost continually since. It's very irritating and not a little bit gross. It's also kept turning back into hiccups which isn't any fun at all.

I even bought some Mylanta Rolltabs but they don't seem to have had very much of an effect. Hopefully it sorts itself out overnight.

So that's pretty much been the size of my day... *burp*

Current Mood:

bracegirdles, benzo and the beach

Actually, the title of this post is a little bit of a misnomer, but "Bracegirdles, Glenelg, Toy Soldiers and the Rundle Street Markets" didn't have that same alliterative ring to it...

Plus, the mermaid was done by Store, not Benzo... so it's all a big lie...

I had a plan today. As I said on Twitter on Friday... "I'm formulating a plan for Sunday that involves the beach, hot chocolate and street art... It's looking better all the time..."

Essentially it was a repeat of the plan from May last year... except on a smaller scale.

So this morning I pottered around the apartment for a bit then packed up all my bits and pieces and headed down to Glenelg.

I only really had two aims... to sit in the window of Bracegirdles with my book and a hot chocolate... and to photograph the completed Toy Soliders mural Ma and I discovered in progress on her pre-birthday outing.

The completed thing is gorgeous, and although I tried to do the panorama thing, I don't think I took enough shots to be able to stitch it together properly, so I'll have to attempt that again later... but it looks a little something like this...

While I know that the diver is Benzo, the mermaid is Store and the little rock/pod things are Fredrock, I have no idea who is responsible for either the crab, the treasure chest, the leafy sea dragon or the treasure chest... not to mention the bit TS logo.

Photography over, I wandered down to Bracegirdles, ordered myself a hot chocolate plus a ham and cheese omelette and proceeded to take up the whole leather sofa in the window.

*contented sigh*

Chocolate was good... omelette was good... book was good... sofa was good...

Eventually I reached a break in my book and relinquished the sofa to a hot boy and his blonde girlfriend and took myself on a wander down to the water where I snapped a few more shots.

Then I wandered down to the other end of Jetty Road, and back, grabbed a newspaper and headed for the car. I figured that since I was already going "past", I may as well stop off at the Rundle Street Markets, just for a look.

I swear that that place gets worse as time goes on... I did look at alpaca scarves though, but they were essentially all too short other than the really expensive ones. Nice though.

And then I brought myself home again, and it turned out to only be about 12:30.

It was a very enjoying morning... I should do more of those...

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