Tannic Teeth

Perhaps I’m deluded in thinking there is some nobility in doing a Perth summer without aircon.

Yep. We don’t have one, and I’m reminded just how sweltering it can be in a small (rented) townhouse when the temperature soars above 40 and spiders die on the west-facing wall.

I guess you could say I’m tight in refusing to buy a small evaporative aircon unit, but I really can’t see the point as the (town)house is so poorly insulated that filling a room with a desirable 16C zephyr will be all but eradicated. And even then, come the afternoon, when the Fremantle doctor breezes though Perth, it’s bearable enough to open the house. So really you’re spending a lot of energy (and money) on cooling something that will eventually be lost. I can understand if your house was designed with an energy conscious mind: have double glazed windows, reflective blinds etc, then you’d get more efficiency from running a said unit.

Given that most of the houses in Perth are appallingly designed to maximise heating/cooling efficiency, where does that leave those (like us) who don’t want to Bikram conditions, but CBF wasting money on a crappy aircon unit?

Fans.

Then you mosey on down to a department store to find a quality fan. Let me tell you, finding a quality fan is as hard as finding an energy efficient townhouse. So a bit of research, on design, quality, build brought me to an American brand of fan called Vornado. I know the name and marketing is dorky (and so is the box it comes in), but by-gees it’s a good fan! The model that caught my eye, the Vornado VF20 is a re-jigged replica of the very model released by the company in the 1940s. Sleek all steel construction, double-cone inlet, and deep pitched propeller blades speak volumes of the insightful design. You can feel the solid construction — this fan is quality.

Operating at full-bore it chews up only 29 watts, 26 watts on medium and 20 watts when it purrs on low. It can be tilted directly upwards, though it doesn’t have a oscillate function. Vornado’s website suggests this is because it’s less of a fan and more an air circulator. By moving air in summer or winter, you reduce heat gradients that naturally occur, reducing heating/cooling costs. Simply aim the fan to the farthest point of the room and it circulates enough air for you to reconsider running aircon in summer. But at $239 (not what I paid online, but RRP) it’s not an easy sale, especially when you can get a simple, plastic pedestal fan for $30.

Weighing up the option of a small (evaporative) aircon unit, which will:

1. only be efficient when the humidity is low,

2. require a constant flow of dry air (so as to remain efficient) — hence an open window letting in warm air somewhere in the house (thus more-or-less negating the aircon in the first place),

3. use 1000+ watts of energy,

4. only really needs to be used on 35C plus days, (but when the Freo doctor comes in, it’s therefore more eco-nomical to turn it off)…

… it was obvious the fan was a better year-round purchase.

We bought this thinking that if the fan was a dud in some way, it’ll still look dapper as a 60-year-old curio does on a shelf.

So impressed we were, we now have two.

Winter in Perth is punitive.

It’s not particularly so as a result of the weather — often the powder-blue lens of the sky curves around us most of the day — but more so for artistic diurnal options.

We struggle when it comes to arts and museums. Perth is culturally anaemic.

If only we could be more like our quirky and experimental sister, Melbourne. I guess however one could argue, we would be, er, Melbourne and lose our Perthian identity. Screw that — I ain’t wearing brown and grey tones.

Picking up on the flailing threads of a struggling arts and culture, the new elected Lord Mayor trumpeted to action, reviving Perth’s Arts and Culture scene.

So now we have more interesting nibbles when it comes to exhibitions. The Art Gallery WA is exhibiting ‘Relativity’, the grotesquely endearing works of Australian artist Patricia Piccinini. It unashamedly details the visual affect of converging biotechnology and the human body — we CAN return to apes. The WA Museum is also dealing out it’s own fire and brimstone. A Day in Pompeii it’s called. When Mt Vesuvius spat the dummy.

Due to contractual agreements, no photography is allowed in the exhibition . However what I can tell you is it’s worth checking out.

There is something mortally binding about staring at a body cast of a Roman knowing they were incinerated in 1000C pyroclastic flow. They carbonised.
Their jaggedly poised bodies, speak volumes of our own precarious existence of our life on top a sea of lava. How quickly life is abandoned and forgotten.

It’s an exhibition that doesn’t make the rounds a lot.

The last time it came I was inutero. All I can say is, that it was much better the second time.

A Day in Pompeii — Wester Australian Museum Perth (Cultural Centre)

Erupting 21st May — 5th September 2010

Prices

$20 Adults

$14 Concession

$12 Child

$54 Family

We moved house to City Beach last week.

I thought it would be fun to see our progress over time. This happened every 60 seconds and I chopped out the boring bits like sleep and work etc. The room goes from neat-ish to messy several times.

Wishing all the winemakers out there a safe, productive and piercingly fruitful vintage 2010.

Sunday was not only the birthday of my brother (the auspicious 21) and my partner’s brother (25).

But it was also the wedding day of my cousin.

Although I was not the offical photographer, I simply couldn’t resist taking a few candid pics of the day.

To capture the energy, as my gift to them.

Congratulations guys. You’re a beautiful couple. May you have many joyous years ahead.

More photos here.

So the wedding went really, really well.

There were two cameras. I had an assistant that worked alongside me.

Perhaps it’s something to get into on the basis upon request, that is, wedding photography.

Congrats Laily and Anthony. Was great fun to capture.

As life would have it, when I want to ramp  up more of the fun things, I get the things that I’d rather not have. A roster crammed with work, more consulting roles, more tastings, and less time to do it all in.

So you could say this is a form of apology for all the readers seeking small bar information. I’ll endeavour to visit more in the next few weeks.

But as for now, I’m a little anxious over a wedding that a friend of mine has shanghaied me into photographing. She ’strongly insisted’ that I do the photography for her, this being the first ever paid gig.

Ah well, she loved the pre-wedding shoot, and I’m sure it can’t be that bad. They’re an electric couple and capturing that energy won’t be hard.

And to the bride and groom, I wish you the best of what life has to offer.

Fingers crossed.

I was in the city the other day and saw colourful hand prints on the wall in Forrest Chase.

These were hand prints of supporters. Supporters against the abhorrent industry of human sex trafficking.

Of all the maligned things humans inflect upon each other, child/young person sex trafficking is the most diabolically horrific. Here are a few facts taken from The Body Shop’s site.

• Human trafficking is the third largest growing criminal industry in the world.
• 1.8 million children are exploited in the global commercial sex trade but this estimate is thought to be higher due to the underground nature of the crime.
• Sexual exploitation is the most common purpose for human trafficking.
• Once the children are successfully captured, they are abused, beaten or raped into submission so they can be sold repeatedly.
• They are psychologically and physically damaged but are too frightened or ashamed to ask for help.
• If they try to escape their lives or the lives of their families are threatened. If they do manage to escape the authorities don’t always provide immediate protection.

To show your support against atrociousness inflected upon the world’s innocent, click on the above link to The Body Shop.

(Warning – shameless self-promotion ahead)

It was quite some time ago that Steve [now editor of DDD] and I talked about starting a literary magazine for Perth. It was at Alda’s on a later summer day. It was a casual conversation born at a writing-meet held by myself to help writers publish their work. From small things, big things grow. Even magazines.

Dotdotdash came into being by a collaboration of artists, writers and a platoon of tireless helpers. All staff are volunteers with not a penny to be made. Its topics cover creative non-fiction, travel, poetry, short story. It’s textured with art throughout.  The first topic – quicksand.Steve has done a fantastic job creating a magazine showcasing some of Perth’s up-and-coming writers and artists.

Definitely watch this space.

dotdotdash

(Quarterly)

Issue 01 (Quicksand)

Out now

So I was supposed to have a get-away down South.

1 week of floundering around wineries of Margaret River, tasting wines and seasonal produce.

But Mr Murphy’s Law was rightfully instructing. We got sick.

3 days savagely bed ridden with a bout of gastro-intestinal dysfunction. Hoary! for Gastrolyte or I’d probably be dead.

Consolation prize: you get to discover the eateries 15 min drive from your hotel. Meal-up was one of those places.

It’s a kinda shop, open kitchen, tapas, light eatery thingy that is approachable at random hours of the day. Well random for the dysfunctional intestines we seemed to be suffering from.

The ‘take’ is: fresh, organic, wholesome and holistic. You will eat off biodegradable plates with biodegradable cutlery. The food is mindfully crafted by Chef Adam Lane. Nicolette helps with front of house with her gorgeous demeanour and stunning heterochromatic eyes (different eye colour). Husband and wife team helped by Lisa Tayolr. The food is nothing short of amazing. End of story.

Warming food. Warming philosophy. Love it. It helped healed my wretched belly

Meal-up

Shop 3

Bay View Centro

Dunsborough

P 9755 34 11

www.mealup.com.au