Tannic Teeth

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

…and nobody gets hurt.

For this is my manta in the morning.

Okay. I may have a slight caffeine addiction, but I like the feeling caffeine gives to my brain – that tingly masseuse reinvigorating my neural pathways. And it tastes freaking good too, that is, if you have the right beans.

If you are a coffee buff in Perth then you would know 5 Senses. If you don’t know the brand, then I urge you to try them.

Essentially it started out as a PNG coffee grown by a small village in Papua New Guinea called Simbu. The local government funded a project to assist in sustainability and diversification. The coffee is grown on mixed use land so the growers are not reliant on coffee as an income per se.

This has three fold advantage:

• the environment is not cleared for a monoculture – thus biodiversity remains.
• the growers are not subject to punitive prices offered by multinational coffee houses – locking them into a cycle of poverty.
• because the land is mixed use, the growers can give the coffee bushes more attention to pest and disease management whilst still growing other crops for their own subsistence.

I won’t explore the flavour and aroma characteristics of this coffee because I don’t understand enough about coffee to do so.

All I know is, it’s very palatable for the tongue and the conscience.