on my walls

...in my studio

real swine with back pieces

Wim Delvoye

Sang Bleu Magazine

GG//Global Gutz

Global Guts is an international urban bicycle race, run simultaneously across the globe. It's a long distance event, required to measure 21km's in length, and with 5 checkpoints. I got a puncture before the start, and was unable to ride, hence the photo's.
The winner in Melbourne was Lane, with a time of around 32 minutes (do the math). That is insanely fast, and the man is a monster rider on a fixed gear. several of the roadie riders were wheel lengths behind him, but they had brakes and gears.
The Brisbane ride was shut down by a concerted police effort. Apparently "17 police, 3 motorbikes, 2 pushbikes, a car-full, an undercover car and a paddy wagon"

Riders were cautioned for not having bicycle bells and then their tyres were let down and they were left to walk home. Sounds like my race then.

schmuck

I have to admit to never having entered the RMIT gallery before, despite spending 5 years going to the University. Perhaps related to the fact that the entrance is not something you can cautiously wander into and change your mind, but instead requires a focused navigation.

The only reason I finally visited was that an old housemate Marta from my overseas jaunt, had been selected to exhibit as part of the current exhibition, a travelling display from germany.

"SCHMUCK 2009 This annual exhibition, originating in Munich and now its fiftieth year, is widely recognised as the premier exposition of international contemporary jewellery"

contemporary jewellery. what is that. Sometimes it seems a little like a trick, a test to see how far 'wearable' and 'desirable' can be pushed. Not just pushing the envelope, but also pushing the entire postal delivery system.

Suprisingly I found myself fascinated by the different forms and materials. I was expecting to find it interesting but not to this extent. I spent much longer then i would normally spend looking round (I am a person who spends more time reading the label then looking at the piece, generally speaking), and with 60 artisans works displayed there was plenty to look at. I am thinking of popping in again to have another look, as the first time was almost information overload. Even a strait-line industrial designer could find some useful inspiration here. No pictures, because you'll know straight away if this is something you want to visit.

The exhibition runs till the 18th of July.

here's another (better) review on the Melbourne Jeweller blog, with pictures in following posts

Mid-Century Modernist

Panasonic Radness!, originally uploaded by caco-wixtle.

The mid century modernist blog consistently has the best looking home furnishings ever. they don't update much but when they do, pure gold.
http://www.midcenturymodernist.com/

run by Steven Coles, graphic designer and writer, beaming out of San Fran to the internet, the website features designs created and produced from 1945 to 1970, with a special eye for patina, warmth and quality.
the flickr photopool is also pretty cool

CTCV

I noticed a couple of months ago that all the 'throwups' (see i know the words)

on my local train station were written over with the tag CTCV, and there are about 30 of these pieces, each 2 to 3 metres in length, so it would take a determined effort to cover every one.

did some googling and discovered that CTCV is believed to stand for

'Cops That Catch Vandals'. Some kind of crack guerilla team of police and transport police working the morally murky depths. end justifying the means and all that. Whether there really is such a taskforce, and i find it hard to believe, the tags spread out all round the city, from moorabin out to footscray and even further.

here's my delicious links for the subject CTCV

shipshape

I have recently become more and more drawn towards waterborne craft once again. Perhaps logically enough, winter seems to have this effect on me, prompting me to remember summers spent sailing on lakes. or something. I also remember being freezing cold on boats, so maybe it's more to do with that. Cold and happy though.

I have long term boating goals involving 50ft yachts and europe and canals,

An original dutch 'tjalk' or sailing barge would be my preferred ride as in this picture taken by my sister in Rotterdam, but I'd settle for a giant shoal draft sharpie with tabernacle masts for clearing low bridges.

But as i am many tens of thousands of dollars away from that option, I started looking for something a little closer to home, and discovered Skin-on-Frame Kayaks, which are replicas of arctic circle seal hunting kayaks, but covered in modern ballistic nylon or PVC.

Yostwerks provided me with free plans for a multitude of craft, from which the 15ft Sea Tour looks the best suited for cartopping and use on rivers and port phillip bay. Total cost is estimated at $200, but i will try to cut some corners. weight of the finished craft will be 13kg which is very light.

Winter Project yay!