miscellaneous pics

Tunnel of Hope by DW and the Benevolent Society (Sydney VIVID festival 2013). Bees by Jon Voss (VIVID festival 2013). Rubber duck by Florentijn Hofman in Darling Harbour (Sydney Festival 2012).

: ))

(images from friends' fb's)

craft & quilt fair

yesterday i went to the craft & quilt fair at darling harbour! it's on every year but this was the first time i've been to it & the place was HUGE! there were aisles A-K in 3 halls including a gallery of quilts, hsc textiles works, stalls for the exhibitors, workshops, demonstrations and a food/drinks area with tables. most of the stalls were, unsurprisingly, dedicated to quilting - selling patterns, "fat quarters" (materials with different prints for quilting) etc and there were also electronic sewing machines that can create complex embroidery automatically! (i can only hand-sew, so i found those so high-tech) but i think the best thing is knowing where to get craft materials besides from the 2 main craft-supply stores that are in sydney.

anyway, here are some photos :D

puff quilting? so cute! that tube on the left & the long flat rod is for stuffing the 'puff'

walls of pretty ribbons! from the Craft Queen stall

THE CUTEST STALL EVER! there were sock monkeys everywhere!! i so want to hug the big one! they also sold the hand-dyed red-heeled socks so you can give the monkeys red lips or red butts & books on how to make other animals. (these 'Rockford Red Heel' sock monkeys were from the Campbell's store, Morpeth stall)

what i bought: Penny Black rubber stamps (just the brand that was sold in a some stalls), Ashford pastel wool slivers (i think Merino is slightly softer, but i liked the colours) & some felt sheets from Krazy Kreations

some other stores that i liked: Kelani Fabric, BeBe Bold (contemporary Japanese textiles ie. cute patterns like Shinzi Katoh + kits for projects), By Lynette (they had a larger-than-usual bag of wool fibres for $4, but unfortunately not the white colour that i use the most. the lady passive-aggressively got mad at her husband for telling her not to pack more since they still have a lot at home haha)

open air cinema

watched Paul @ st george open air cinema yesterday (once again, i got the tickets from the smh newspaper subscription! originally it was for love & other drugs, but i received the tickets one day late, so i was sent another one). the film was good and fun, but i think it needed more jerk-funny moments. it was a surprise seeing jason bateman and jane lynch in it!

Pat & Stick's ice cream sandwich! caramel pecan & espresso lace flavour ;9

the screen rising! (cheesy inspirational drum-y music playing in the background)

annie leibovitz & artexpress

today i went to see annie leibovitz: a photographer's life 1990-2005 at the mca.


the highlight for me was the video that was played in a small room (went for quite a long time too!) which had footage of some of the shoots, scenes with her family where she is taking their photographs, and also herself and other artists/journalists giving commentary. besides photos of 'celebrities' and other famous people/artists/creators, the exhibition also showed some of her personal photos of her family and friends, especially her friend Susan - at first we were confused about who she was, and which Susan she was (there were a total of 3 Susans!) and i was surprised at how intimate/how much information was given about her life. well, seeing as the exhibition is titled that, i guess it's fitting! there were a few serious subject matters (though the notes displayed said that she didn't want to call herself a 'journalist', because journalists don't take sides, so rather she was a 'photographer'), but i liked the celebrity subjects the most. i find it so interesting to look at an image of someone you've seen before, but in a different light. towards the back of the exhibit were A4 papers showing images of each print categorised into years, all displayed behind glass on two long walls, there were also images here that weren't displayed, which was a bonus :)
my favourite image would have to be this one of jim carrey pulling a face. i can't help but laugh everytime i walk past it x)

source: nytimes

this image seriously does no justice to seeing the real thing, the scale and seeing it on actual paper is so much better! i also love how some of the photographs displayed showed the edges of the developing paper (if that's what it's called).

afterwards, we went to see the ARTEXPRESS exhibition at the art gallery of nsw (final works of year 12 visual art students that were chosen from the whole of nsw). previously i've only ever seen them showcased in the david jones store window displays, but to see so many types of media used in the museum and also the level of work was just so impressive!
these 3 were my favourites - images taken from the artexpress website, and some photos i took of the first artist - click for larger image (click on the artists' names to see a description of their work)

jacob zinman-jeanes
it looked like it should be in a picture book!



peta lilley
the paper cuts and the birds were especially wonderful! i also loved the eggs in the paper nests, which had (sad relationship) stories written on them.


katherine mcnamara
she hand stitched things onto her photographs and the outcome looked like a child's imagination come to life!

nintendo 3DS

just went to see the nintendo 3DS preview at myer and i am just 8O astounded at the technology!!! the 3DS were attached via a cord to the belt the people working there wore, and at first we were just shown the demo games (can't press any buttons, can just watch previews) and even that was amazing - the 3D screen was wider than the previous DS, and even when the 3D effect was switched off, the quality of the images were still amazing! but then... just around the corner, is another table where there was something called "augmented reality" (ooooohh!!). this was the coolest thing i've ever seen. there was this flimsy looking paper card on a table, and when you pointed the camera to view and pressed "a", a box appeared and a game started where you had to aim and shoot at the creature that pops out of the box, and since you're holding the ds like a video camera thing, you can look at the object from all angles! it was so cool! and there was also a version where instead of a box with a creature inside, it was a dragon that could attack you back, and you had to shoot at it to defeat it. it was so futuristic! and after being so amazed at that, turned out that there were actual games that we could play!! we played capcom's street fighter. and remembering the original gameplay on play station whilst looking into the 3DS screen at the version they've done, it's just so WHOAAAAAA! the characters can move in all 3 dimensions!! and as well as the arrows and four buttons, you could also use the touch screen to enable the combo moves! i can't wait til it's released, and i'll just hang out in myer and play it! (unfortunately, it is quite expensive at $349, and the games are going to be region locked - from what i heard anyway. but considering what it does, how unbelievably, yes i'll use the overused word, awesome, the images are, and that games like metal gear solid can be played in the clearest quality ever, it can be comparable to a larger game console that costs about the same) one day when i have a job and self-sufficient, i'll get it, but in the meantime, just being amazed at the technology is way more than enough! *walks away from the too short play session in amazement*.

finders keepers

went to the finders keepers market today :D !

postcard

there were lots of new stalls this year, though i wished there were more things in the art gallery. i especially liked this illustration by lauren carney:

'the full moon rising'

these paper buildings by the paper convention were near the entrance. for a gold coin donation, they also had colourful geometric paper head bands that lots of people folded and wore.


we then went to a paper workshop by dear plastic on how to make paper from milk cartons:


it was simpler than i expected! and the texture of recycled paper (from pulp) is so... natural.. and crafty x) but after we finished browsing the markets, it wasn't dry enough yet for us to peel off without ripping it, so we had to leave without our small rectangle creation :( next project to do at home :D

this nice band was playing whilst we were making the paper:

fergus brown

got this super cute plate from the storybook rabbit


it was really hard choosing which one to get, all the designs were so lovely! they also had really pretty library book bags with a stream of different patterns of triangles on the top, and also t-shirts. but in the end, i chose this plate, which i will never eat off, and will just display and smile at.

the market was followed by lots and lots of eating. but most memorably: at bourke st bakery
a yummy pork & pancetta sandwich with PEAR MAYO - yes you heard right. it actually went well with the pork and not as weird as it sounds! a really nice and chocolate-y iced chocolate with some fancy chocolate brand which i forgot the name of (*update: it's callebaut chocolate). and of course a sausage roll ;) this time - the lamb.


finally going to watch harry potter tomorrow! xD
and probably followed by a bowen library dvd marathon ;)
good night :D

(photos from me & the sister)

wish it is the holidays

friday sep 24 5.30pm
free screening of the red shoes at the opera house

from sept 25
the future is wild exhibition at sydney aquarium
(and i still haven't seen the dugongs!)

should i go? maybe i will! uni can't make life that boring -assessment-wise.
(oh btw, i was handling a wallaby in a hessian sack last week, and when i opened its pouch, there was a joey!! i thought at first its teat was really long... but then turned out it was the joey's foot!)

so here's the promised pic:


that boomerang shape thing is its hindleg , and the thing with claws on the right is its arm! (when we opened the pouch wider it was like moving its fingers and going "nooooooo *twitch fingers*")
its eyes were still closed too!
it really doesn't do the cuteness/amazement-causing justice as in real life. it was quite hard getting a good pic, since we didn't want to open the pouch too wide, seeing as it's still hairless and all - and we learnt that joey's are basically fused to the teats when they are newly born... and not sure when that stopped happening. anyway... you can see the black dots where the whiskers will be!!
yea it does look kinda scary here. but the real thing was so cuutttteee!! made me smile in a cheek-hurting kinda way XD

invisible dogs!

remember Improv Everywhere's Invisible Dogs stunt??
[i would insert video here, but net is too slow so i can't get the embedding link from youtube]
rspca nsw are having a similar thing to promote the million paws walk!
it's gonna be on monday 3rd may at 7:15am at QVB, and the walk is from there to the hyde park fountain.
i would so go but have an exam that morning T__T
so yea. anybody who wants to go (there'll be camera crews too :-o), appear at 7:15am at the QVB statue area.