ambiguity

Let's talk about the thing that everybody thinks about but nobody talks about, society's dirty little secret, yes of course what I'm talking about (as if I need to spell it out) is: apathy.
I always thought apathy was bad, and action good. But then I went to a seminar where a student showed us pictures of bored, unsmiling models which mesmerised us into thinking that while high fashion capitalism was glamourising apathy, if we took the message to heart and started being as apathetic as possible, we would stop buying stuff and capitalism would collapse.

So is the answer anti-apathy or action-antipathy? Is it ambivalence? To paraphrase The Simpsons: Are we being ironic? I don't know anymore...

It isn't doing a very good job then.
After walking past the second sign at the top of Albert Park, I got hungry and walked down to the Korean place on Lorne St for a sweet $2 pancake. (Is the road to hell paved with apathy or good intentions?)
And what should I see but this:

The small writing says: "The simplest solution to everything is apathy".
It's true. But ousting Paul Henry and installing Len Brown is far more satisfying.

common as bliss

Art on the street? Whoever heard of such a thing?


While the afterlife isn't a theme which inspires me personally (everyone knows it's candyfloss clouds), the idea of an artist exhibiting street posters is so revolutionary - even though it should be common-as-muck - that I am overwhelmed with gratitude.
ka\jf ljrg/lz.zmvl/x.dmv
that was me swooning all over the keyboard.

rhema in drag

For once, I have no few words. Someone else has already done the commentary:

Did you see what it says there?

Man, that's a pro job! See how well that "a" is lined up, and the font is near-perfect. Whoever you are, you are my Hero! You deserve a Parade!
The only possible problem is that it now sounds attractive - a men's event full of "gays", whoop whoop.
In other news, Radio Rhema might lose its commercial frequencies.
PS was I the only child who thought of 'Ribena' when I heard 'Radio Rhema'? I never liked blackcurrants.

where do I get me one of those face masks?

Whoa! I'm so excited! It's not everyday the marketing for a "Grammy-winning, Platinum-selling [sic]" band specifically targets me and my punctuation pedants demographic.
For there is no way this will appeal to anybody but us steely-eyed grammar nerds:

Looks like we got ourselves one of those *intellectual* bands - showing the mettle of their metal to become a geek crossover hit. After all, they did name one of their songs "Wherein Lies Continue" - I'm not sure if that's grammatically sound, or what it means, but it sure does sound brainy.

As for the poster, they must of been inspired by this t-shirt. And the DVD they're selling must tell the moving story of how the Loch Ness monster swims to France, frenchifies his name, and produces a whole brood of .... Nesses.

interlude

A photographer with any skillz whatsover (ie, not me) could make this look fantastically dramatic I reckon.

The graffiti throw-up is in the empty void where there used to be a water reservoir at the top of Symonds St. The church behind it is on Khyber Pass.
I like the contrast between the prim (yet unusually coloured) church and the energetic writing. But this tableau, which I've passed numerous times, also reminds me that both religion and "tagging" have something in common: they're both easy targets at the moment. Religion is portrayed as the butt of cheap jokes (at best) rather than a phenomenon worth explaining; tagging (which the piece above isn't really an example of) can get you killed.
Maybe the world is divided into two types of people: those who think tagging is worse than religion and those who think religion is worse than tagging...

beauty and the brute

The science building is arguably the University of Auckland Building Most Likely to Harbour a Communist Bloc Dictator, uglier even than the engineering one.
And you see some weird things sticking out of it sometimes - tubes at awkward angles, first year chemistry students etc - for important experiments that Arts students like myself couldn't begin to understand.
But wait - what's this?

That's not an alum crystal, it's a baroque, fripperied, fol-de-rolled and curlicued chandelier! It's ruining the brutalist lines and transforming the building from an imposing behemoth in its own right to merely a contrasting backdrop for prettiness. Huzzah!

Twenty metres further down the road, outside the Information Commons, students go about their business in ignorance of such annexation and colonisation of the Science podium by frothy aesthetics:

But wait - again, what's that?! A battle seems about to begin:

More chemistry fume induced hallucinations? Maybe one of the armies wants to cover the stone wall with some lacy fretwork to go with the chandelier. One can only hope!

artists unite

It was an action-packed weekend, because we also went to the Museum. The Museum is great, but these days is insisting that every visitor wears a sticker for some corporate KPI kind of reason, even though it's free to visit.
Well, we knew where we could stick those stickers:
Thanks to whoever started this communal totem pole, on a busstop post outside the Museum's main doors (we contributed 3 red stickers). Now that's a piece of real "public art".

all rights

Saving this blog from being all grumpy all the time and saving me from being Crabitt Mc Crabby-Crab is some anonymous, non-corporate citizen. With a wall:


How endearing is this? It was our own live neighbourhood scoreboard. The little smiley went up with the Slovakia score; the HEROS and big smiley went up when Italy went down, and was coloured in with the Paraguay score. So exciting to see it evolve. Proud as? Of my neighbourhood, totally.