Big theme in my life. Experimental 3D / Documentary. We interviewed a broad cross section of the community in response to the cover of a men’s magazine that was displayed in the streets of Sydney, Aug 1999.
To this day, i still don’t understand why they have women on the covers of women’s magazines. Perhaps we’re all lesbians.
Now it’s my own father’s turn for the spotlight. For years, he always used to go on about how he couldn’t wait to wear one of those graduation hats just so that he could have a go at being Groucho Marx for a day, and sing “I’m Against It”. Dream came true on my brother’s graduation day. If i had to summarise my Dad in a few basic shots, this would definitely be one of the best tokens so far.
Wonka…. clearly a very big part of our lives, along with the Marx Brothers. Other comedians like 3 Stooges, Laurel & Hardy, Charlie Chaplin ~ and every other comedian who got summarised within the documentary known as,
“Hollywood ~ The Gift of Laughter”
The gift of laughter… I definitely get that from my Dad.
Documentary on my late FIL produced in 1998, together with Michelle Moo & Sam Hughes.
My FIL was quite the story teller, so it was very difficult for us to summarise him into “3 minutes”. As he talked so much, we felt it was necessary to exceed the time-limit set by Kate Richards and did our best to try and squeeze the bastard into 8 minutes. It was the equivalent of trying to sit on top of an excessively over-stuffed luggage bag and trying to zip it shut.
Very experimental in our apporach, that’s how we liked it ~ always, unconventional and baring the brunt of profuse criticism by many over whether or not this could actually be classified as a documentary. Funny how in the now of life, it’s summarised the late John James Smith’s life rather well.
We travelled by train, and had a big drama on the way up because the train got on fire. Had to take a bus up into Lithgow for the remainder of the journey.
As for the very bizzare scenes along the lines of nuking veggies in microwave ovens and getting murdered, a very natural consequence that results from when you drink far too much beer and are cooped up together with an old fart who doesn’t shut the fuck up. I speak like this as a term of endearment btw, because as i said ~ he was quite the story teller. One of his stories was almost something like 1.5 hours long until he delivered the punch line. Perhaps the longest running joke in history? ~ who knows, for now ~ it will never fit on a single stream via You Tube.
Ah… my late FIL. *sighs* Will i ever get around to the ‘directors cut’ that includes the hilarious funeral he always dreamed of? One day ~ I’m sure.
Going through a bit of a journey down memory lane with my old films. I stopped producing them shortly after The Child arrived. I get the feeling that life is telling me that…. hmm ~
No ~ I will just let life move forward, in the way it will go forward. In the meanwhile, a taste of Australiyarna for my international friends out there to enjoy ~ JJ style.
Like, my son is related to Captain Cook & Bob Hawke… hehehehe (yeah seriously, it’s TRUE!)
Experimental animation from 1998, one of my professional practise units @ uni. My own work in design has followed a very similar ethos ~ where i’ve had to be very selective about the kinds of devils i choose to sell my soul to.
When i did art, they told me ~ “that’s not art, it’s more like design”.
When i did design, they told me ~ “this is not design (not commercial enough), how do you expect to get a job producing work like that?! your target audience, it doesn’t even exist!”
I still continue to enjoy how Newtown Mums became the ultimate up-yours, to the latter.
Received a very patronising letter attempting to inform me about the provisions of the Education Act 1990 by a robot the other day, so this is my tongue-in-cheek reply ~ to that robot:
My typography teacher @ uni tried to fail me in the subject after these infamous words were submitted in a very naughty piece that broke all the rules and totally shitted all over the design brief. Rewarded with high distinction by another lecturer who happened to agree with it’s sentiment in this music video. For now ~ I am content with allowing this post to remain as it was originally intended to be.
A poem from 1997, which i’m now using in response to another stupid robot from 2008.
You Are A Robot
In negative philosophy,
time passes.
A lingering bad smell,
is stained upon the university walls.
Vacant stares,
evaporate into silence….
Tuberculosis,
on a hot
neon sign,
yearning for a good wank
in opulent water.
Sorrow burns tenaciously,
in an everlasting bubble of rushes.
I hate this so-called “God”.
Syphilis on him!
An absolute waste of copious time.
Of all that money has to offer,
I’m presented with this,
pathetic lecturer!
émigré?!
So what!
You are a robot.
Simon Says…
Doubt Yourself.
A seductive tool,
to remind us of time
and how distorted it becomes.
Away…. Away!
..at how the nadir darkens onto a
burnt-out pool of vomit.
Idiot!
Outrageously uncreative,
stupid,
little,
so and so.
Yearning to bring back to life,
dead old ways.
I close my ears,
to drown out your insipid notions.
FUCK YOU!
…I quietly scream.
Tolerating what I can…
You are a Robot.
Simon Says…
Confuse Yourself.
To you,
it’s all nothing!
Your idealism,
lacerates
every drop of inspiration.
A rancid reflection,
of eclectic lost causes.
How invigorating,
to see Neolithic half-witted dorks,
show their intolerance!
How do we fucking escape these contradictions?
Riot?!!
Stuff their mouths with
Kellogs Cornflakes?
~ Why not?!!
You are a robot.
Simon Says…
“Hate Yourself”
I know what lies ahead,
you have to find,
The Brain.
Only YOU,
can kill the brain!
Yes,
some of us just may disagree with your arguments.
Keen to attack it,
with our own opinion.
Then I think…
What good ~
…would that do?
Our own opinions,
are underrated,
and rejected ~
because having to listen to,
New Ideas,
don’t correspond to your own fucking idea of,
“evergreen design” ~
I fucking hate you!
Go on and forcefully insert your
foul iconoclast contradictions,
up into the air,
and hear us laugh at two baboons.
You people,
are the tyrannical rats,
of evolving dismemberment.
A long wait it becomes,
to complete the instructed tasks.
Buzz off,
Angel from Below.
I curse and will,
enjoy to see your stupidness
become further outmoded,
and DIE!
~
Hmm… Aidan’s start with the new school year has been unsettled. Year 1 is definitely not as much fun compared to Kindy. A lot more structured, more work at the “table” - and it’s making life very difficult for him.
He had a virus 2 weeks ago, which caused a rise in his temperature but it didn’t result in any overt cold’n'flu symptoms. Enough to keep him at home for a day, but the day after that - Mitch & I kicked into the,
“You must soldier on kiddo - mum & dad don’t take time off work.”
…in the sense that our own parents did no differently with my husband & me when we ued to holler out,
“Mum/Dad - i’m not feeling well, i don’t want to go to school today.”
It was during this time that some of Aidan’s angst towards school started to come out and it hasn’t been easy for me to drop him off at school for the last 2 weeks. I’ve had this sinking feeling. I’ve been trusting my intuition very deeply of late. It’s been so accurate and spot-on, which makes me trust my gut-feelings even more. This is no mystical-psychic ability I’ve got here, i’m regarding it like a very sophisticated computer in my body that’s making super-fast calculations which I know are based on very logical-like explanations behind it all. I guess it would take me a bloody novel to explain it all - no need for me to justify, i just “know” and i’m trusting my gut religiously.
February 11th - that’s when the uber-intuitive sensations struck me really hard. There - it’s been 16 days since i’ve been sensing something “askew” even though i’ve been picking up on this for a while longer. I found it really hard to “let go” of my son that day. I was overwhelmed by this sensation that i had just made a terrible mistake by leaving my kid at school that day. I wasn’t able to shake that feeling off for a few hours - it was really disturbing for me. It was making me feel so uneasy that i was almost contemplating on calling the school,
“If Aidan has trouble at school today, can you please give us a call? I’ve got this sensation that i think he could have a very unsettled day today.”
…and my body, still screaming at me,
“Something’s not right! Something’s not right!!!” my body - wishing i had never left him there. My body - feeling so unsettled,
“Go to the school, take him out of it now - you need to be there, he needs you, you’ve just left him to the wolves!”
/// ~ how to explain that rationally?
…and of course i hesitated on making that phone call - didn’t exactly want to make a fool out of myself on the basis of having a “HUNCH”, hey - even consulted with my husband to see if i was being “over the top” with “just imagining things” (ok, maybe over the top to call the school, but we will need to check in with them)…but oh my - those feelings, and the way that the day had panned out…(and in hindsight, i regret “denying” and invalidating my feelings/intuition in the way that i did).
Major class disruptions due to enrolment numbers. My son’s aid didn’t arrive at school that day -off at an interview for another job, she’s moving on and will eventually be replaced by someone else.
Aidan’s mood/morale/attitude towards school - not good. Seriously - not good in our opinion, cause for concern and I’ve started doing the rounds of contacting other people. Checked in with the school, the hospital, family support services, scheduling Aidan to try a drama class next week - taking the steps required to get some help to intervene with this.
I was hoping that a change of scenery could’ve helped lift Aidan’s spirits up, so i took him to my parent’s place over the weekend whilst Mitch was away on business over the weekend. We spent about 6 hours swimming at the pool. He’s progressing rather well with it - learnt how to do forward/backward sommersaults underwater. My mother could see the shift in his mood, she can sense how the school environment is not helping. We’re not imagining it - even my son’s aid can see it. If i face anyone who fails to see it - i’m not going to think very highly of them.
~
My husband checked in with his new teacher recently. I’m not sure of how that conversation panned out as i had to wrangle the kid away to the car. We’re not comfortable about Aidan being present when adults are “talking about him”. It affects him, so this has made our bodies sensitive to it, as we’re the ones who has to live with his interpretations & internalisations of what the adutls are talking about.
I caught myself off-guard tonight when Aidan’s aid called me tonight. I was asking her if she’s seen his library bag, because he didn’t bring it home. Aidan was right next to me on the phone - he heard every single word, every single one of my “concerns” raised over the phone. I later faced this terrible story of this nightmare he imagined of being charged by the librarian loaded with so much persecutory attack towards himself.
The red flag for us was a few days ago,
“Why don’t they all (school) just get a gun and shoot me/put me into jail.”
~
As for the uber-validation of my kid?
*sighs*
I experienced it on Monday. It was the way my son woke up in the morning, that made me stop and take the time to really listen to him.
“Mum - i really don’t want to go to school today. I’m not feeling well. I need to take a day off to heal.”
No signs of cold’n'flu, his mood/morale was down, he was tired - but it was the way he said “heal” that made me listen more. My “you must soldier on” way of life lost it’s power. As soon as i heard my son telling me that he needed time to heal, i backed off.
“Ok honey - let’s take it easy today and take the time to heal…”
It was followed by,
“I love you mum…” but when he said that - it sounded like,
“Thanks mum - thanks for listening to me…”
So - we took things really easy on Monday.
“Are you starting to feel a bit better?”
“Yes mum! I’m getting better!”
Got a call from the aid, saying she won’t be in on Tuesday.
Fine - we’ll take Tuesday to heal as well.
Another call tonight - aid not coming in on Wednesday - working at the other school.
Fine - i’m not taking my kid into school tomorrow either. Not taking him in, until my gut-feeling starts to shift and unless my son’s regular aid will be there.
~
“Ayca - he’s so lost now….”
No - that’s not my kid. It’s another one a year ahead. Less funding, assistance from the aid slowly being withdrawn. We’re not feeling confident that the school has enough experience with this. I’m trusting my gut-feelings.
~
I’m not overtly stressed. I’m not feeling helpless. I’m feeling very capable & resourceful. I’m feeling very skilled & confident in knowing how to deal with this remarkably well. My intuition - is serving me well. I can almost see the answers right in front of me - within me. I can feel the answers inside me. I’m taking action every day.
~
The state of my house is reflecting my mood. I can see great clarity & strength emerging.
~
The beauty of conflict, is it’s capacity to inspire change & amazing things that follow as the result of that change. Without it, i think we’d all still be living in mudbrick shithouses and complaining because no one came up with the idea of designing a sewage system to effectively deal with the stinking shit on the streets.
Like, in the olden days - people used to wear 20-30cm wooden platform shoes to stop all the piss & shit on the streets from staining their clothes… and i’m sure we can be thankful to the guy who invented toilet paper a few centuries ago as well.
Well, this is nothing new to me. Spotted this one over at Forbidden Planet
Here’s my nerd factor:
| What Be Your Nerd Type?
Your Result: Musician
Doo doo de doo waaaa doo de doo! (<-- That's you playing something.) Everyone appreciates the band/orchestra geeks and the pretty voices. Whether you sing in the choir, participate in a school/local band, or sit at home writing music, you contribute a joy to society that everyone can agree on. Yay! Welcome to actually doing something for poor, pathetic human souls. (Just kidding.) |
|
| Science/Math Nerd |
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| Artistic Nerd |
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| Literature Nerd |
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| Gamer/Computer Nerd |
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| Drama Nerd |
|
| Social Nerd |
|
| Anime Nerd |
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| What Be Your Nerd Type? | |
For crazy thinking mums who have a bloody sense of humour!
