The Photographic Dictionary

Every picture tells a story, or as in this dictionary, every picture describes a word - often in wild, amusing, whimsical and completely unexpected ways.
You'd enjoy it, and you can access it here.

Happy Birthday Romir!

It's Romir's birthday today, Happy Birthday Romir.
He's my brother, & I don't get to see him much, but we speak very often, and the connection is good. Wishing you the best on this day. And, as our dad Clem would often say, "but are you happy..."
Here's Romir, mum and me...

Sit up and take note...

With just a 0.006°C rise in temperature, the following link from the UK's Numberswatch Organization tells you how much damage and change we can expect.
(Almost all the items in it are links that you can click through to).

To give yourself the jitters, go here.

(and we're predicting a 1°- 1.5°C rise in the near future!)

Some current links of interest

On the issue of the bailout:

The 'plan' not, according to Juan Enriquez:
(Juan Enriquez: A Harvard trained MBA, Enriquez is a broad thinker who studies the intersection of science, business and society. Formerly CEO of Mexico City's Urban Development Corporation and chief of staff for Mexico's secretary of state, Enriquez played a role in reforming Mexico's domestic policy and helped negotiate a cease-fire with Zapatista rebels. He is chair and CEO of Biotechonomy, a research and investment firm helping to fund new genomics firms. The Untied States of America, his latest book, looks at the forces threatening America's future as a unified country.)


For a perceptive video clip by Juan Enriquez, click this.

and

for Thomas Friedman's wild opinion for a solution, select this

and
for the Juan Enriquez article, here

and
this, from the US Congress' forecast...

Wesley College Induction at St. Paul's Cathedral

Mara is a Middle School leader & Tia is a Junior School leader. They both had to attend an induction and Commencement ceremony at the St Paul's Cathedral.

Gerda Steiner & Jörg Lenzinger at ACCA

The Australian Centre for Contemporary Art. First, it's a beautiful structure - dark mahogany rusting steel plates with impossible angles and right next to the contrasting conventional generous brick structure of the Malthouse Theatre. Kapil 'Knees' Talwar my good friend who's really clued into the subversive, contraversial and creative scene in Melbourne - suggested we see this show at ACCA. We went to see a great work by two Swiss installation artists - Gerda Steiner & Jörg Lenzinger. This installation piece was on ecology and the state of the environment.
You enter this installation via a freeform 'tunnel' of highly reflective billowing mylar that twists and turns and finally ejects you into what at first impressions initially seemed to be a landscape by Jackson Pollock on LSD experimenting with sculptural art in a flotsam paradise. It was great! Completely with abandon and demonstrating sheer determination and self assurance. The following images can't do it much justice or give you a feel for the scale of this piece. Regarding the environment, judging by what we've successfully done in trashing it, Gerda & Jörg seem to be spot on - the central piece in this work is a commode....

















And then the works continued, we stumbled beyond this exquisite trash-porn and got to this next space that had a water bed you lay (and then wallowed on), with projections an all the sides (and ceiling) - totally disorienting as well as impossible to photograph! Next, beyond this we get to another stark space (shown next) with this freaky kinetic mobiles that gently spun overhead (while you lay on either a swing/suspended bed, or a low cot. It was interesting because your view of the art constantly changes. Above one of the cots was a suspended Meteorite about the size of a large watermelon (on loan from the Science Centre), it was suspended by this multicore stainless steel cable, and out of this world heavy (I mean really unbelievably heavy - I couldn't even budge it), my fondling/handling immediately got a quick response from the young pimply Guardian Of The Rock, who pleaded, "eer c'mon, please don't touch it mate" and then laying under the meteorite, inches above my head and imagining the aviation-grade steel cable unravelling under the load and depositing this incredibly heavy turd-from-space on my face, and being squashed like a pimple, whatever... I had this amazing sensation when I got away - which I attributed to a holistic spacy mumbo jumbo experience, or maybe, just maybe it was the meteorite....







The next last area was filled with framed photographs, each one of o person hugging/lifting another person. It looked like all the images were shot in SE Asia - India, Bangladesh, Nepal, Sri Lanka etc. I thought this was the end, but wait, hang on, there was another tiny, tiny alcove that had a feeling like it might be a personal study, an office, perhaps a clinic? Nope - a Desalination Plant For Tears! Oh no fucking way! Oh yes indeedy, that's right, a desalination plant for tears. And here it is... Boo hoo..

Salvatore Malatesta - Mr. Coffee Meister

And at St. Ali I met up with Salvatore. A passionate Coffee Commandante. We had an instant connection. He is the major-domo of Melbourne coffee, and a great chap. The genuine article. He had all these amazing, absofuckinglutely wonderful coffee 'deux et machina' devices. This kind of passion I can totally relate to. We spoke of a plan on doing a documentary on coffee.
Here's Salvatore...

This seemingly simple device delivers an expresso cupful of coffee liquor over a 6 hour period.
I tried some, I can swear I levitated. I'm hooked, I want more......

And here's another Heath Robinson-ish coffee device - this time an inverted percolator.. If it looks like Max is rolling his eyes, it's because he is...

And this is the business end of Australia's first 'micro roaster' - enabling boutique sized 50gm. loads of coffee beans for custom roasting. Imagine 50 gm! I mean the usual roasting loads are 50 Kg. Is this mechanical coffee/passion/love, or what?

Here are some images of the interior of the 'roasting' side of St. Ali.

St. Ali Café

I went with Mo to St. Ali today. I was meeting with a dear friend and long time Melbourne buddy Max Waller.
St. Ali is a small café - hidden/tucked away in South Melbourne and a coffee aficionado's paradise. St. Ali is quietly famous - the signage is about the size of your open palm (I kid you not), and either you know it and are clued in, or you haven't yet had coffee!
Here's Max... you still have your mojo, mate.

And a cup of St. Ali joe....

D3

Just messing around with my new D3. It's a piece of work and I love it.

Dinostory at Frankston and Fisherman's Cove in Mornington

The Sunday sailing regatta for the Lidgett Trophy was cancelled because of high winds, so along with our good friends (and intrepid sailors) Dirke & Margaret Funke and their kids Viktor & Leonard; we went to the dinosaur sand sculptures and then to this wonderful idyllic swimming spot at Fisherman's Cove (near Mt. Eliza) Mornington Peninsular - about an hour from Melbourne.






















I don't know who this bloke was. He was spear fishing - successfully, and managed to get some flatheads and leatherbacks. I got chatting with him, and much later, he walked all the way over to where I was lounging on the beach and asked if I would like one of the large flatheads he had caught - 'wonderful grilled with a bit of butter and garlic, mate' - I declined, but I was so touched by his generosity and that Aussie spirit.
Whoever you are, you reaffirm my faith in the spirit of man...