The Artist

I really want to see this movie ... have you seen it?



Is it as fabulous as the trailer suggests?

Captured!

Australian artist Anna-Wili Highfield makes delicately beautiful sculptures out of paper and thread:

I love the way she uses texture and a sense of movement to add life to her pieces ... they seem to have been captured in a split second.

The most powerful drug

Despite the reality of the political context, there's something about the colour and crazy-happy-shiny world of communist propaganda posters that appeals to me ...

 Supplying good quality products, serving people with all my heart.

 Exhibitions are good!

Push patriotic sanitation work to new heights!

 Vigorously promote patriotic sanitary activities!

Strive to be cultured, polite, hygienic, organised, and morally upstanding.

 Love manual labour!

 We love labour!

 Mobilize yourself to eliminate pests and eradicate diseases.

 Denounce the preference for sons over daughters and do a good job of family planning.

 Let's honour our teachers!

Make your own things.

 Face the enemy courageously!

  (??!!)

(Posters from Maopost)

Aakash Nihalani

Aakash Nihalani's playful street art makes me smile...

He uses colourful tape and the inspiration of urban geometry to create his simple, charming pieces.

Charmer (Zig Zag) from Aakash Nihalani on Vimeo.

Ha!

(found via Please Sir)

I think I prefer being tucked up in my own bed thank you.

How do you like to spend your Thursday evenings? Tonight I spent 40+ minutes squeezed into a noisy and scary machine with my feet tied together, and I didn't like it one bit.

I don't know what was worse - lying cramped and immobile while fighting the sudden, unexpected onset of claustrophobia, or being forced to listen to an excruciatingly horrible Enya CD played at high volume through bulky headphones. Both of these made my heart pound and my stomach churn.



* BTW - thanks for your messages of concern.... No big drama really - just some ongoing bone/tendon/joint issues that really need to be sorted before I start looking like an ancient old crone (believe me, I frequently feel - and move - like one!). I've answered a couple of your comments with another comment  - see below.

Star-spangled footpath

Autumnal improvements to ugly paving at uni.

In which Juddie hits the bottle

While we are grateful to have our lovely little house, our (unplanned) renovations do feel very tedious after 7 months of disruptions and cramped living. We are very much looking forward to having a kitchen - the idea of being able to prepare food on a bench top, put things in cupboards, and wash our dishes in a sink or dishwasher instead of in a tub in the bath, sounds almost exciting.

I can't wait to get rid of the knee-deep clay mud that surrounds the house and gets tracked inside on big puppy feet (although this may not be achieved for sevaral months yet .... *sigh!*), and also to seal the house properly so we can heat it. The delivery of some doors and windows has been delayed, so there are some rather large holes in the side of our house and we have no heating options other than blankets. It's been very cold and wet and rainy out there, with a chill breeze that isn't letting up. *.... Brrrrrr ....*

Thank goodness for my trusty hot water bottle!

Errand boy dreaming

I'm not usually fond of Jerry-Lewis-style comedy, but this little scene from 'The Errand Boy' is a gem. It made me smile.

Sweetness and light

Today I lay on my back in the long autumn grass in Melbourne's central urban grasslands, two dogs at my side, watching white clouds scudding by and dozens of swallows swooping overhead ....

Simple moments = pure bliss!





(image source - I forgot to take my camera)

USSR, 1953

Last year I had to explain to my class (of uni students, i.e.: young adults) what the USSR was, and some of its social and environmental implications. Wow. The generation gap makes me feel old, and I'm not yet 40!

Here are some lovely pictures from Soviet Russia in the early 50s - they were some of the first to be seen outside Russia in a decade. My family had escaped emigrated by then.

More here.