Do I have to change my blog name?

Good news - I have an office! I'm heading back into town and setting up a nice little cosy home away from home on the corner of Woodward and Lambton. Got a wickedly nice view (to be posted in due course) and it's sunny to boot. I'm pretty damned pleased about this. The price is not bad either and it includes broadband. It's one of these "serviced offices" - there's a whole floor of them in the building I'm in. My friend Siobhan (who I've been doing some work with) is two doors along. She told me about the office a couple of weeks ago and I signed on the dotted line yesterday. I'm going to try to move in early next week. Can't wait! The house is going to be short of a few paintings - I'm gonna be raiding the place for anything that'll turn it into a styley designer office space - I'm going for black and white. Must do some "before and after" shots to post on the old blog. Dave is going to take over my office space at home and turn it into a painting studio - it's really ideal as it has great light - windows allr round - and a really nice outlook. I'll miss my little room, but it'll be so so nice to get out of the house. Now it'll seem lovely to "come home" at the end of the day.

My question: is it okay to keep my blog name?

Provincial New Zealand

It was good to get out of Wellington for a few days - back into work mode again now.

Here are some of the sights of New Plymouth - I was amazed by some of the old buildings (hopefully they don't get ripped down in the name of development).





This one is the old Nurses' Home connected to the old hopspital which is now disused. I hear the land and buildings are now owned by local Maori. It seems to be used for art and craft classes at the moment - the future for these buildings is still up in the air. I was blown away by it - such strange architecture for New Zealand.

I spent my first evening down at the local park watching an outdoor show of NZ short films put on by the Film Archive. First up, of course, were a couple of Len Lye films. Here's the Len Lye designed wind wand that wobbles about on the waterfront.







I go a shot of Mount Taranaki on my sunny morning drive out of New Plymouth.

Below that is another beautiful old building - an old hotel. It looks as though it's mostly unused. Probably an earthquake risk I guess.

(Yet) another list

Cheers to Paintergirl for this one:

4 places you've been on vacation
Bali, Sydney, Moeraki (NZ), Maubisse (East Timor)

4 websites you visit daily
lillyslounge,Pointless and Absurd, Paintergirl, Mick O'Grady

4 favorite foods
fresh strawberries, oysters, french cheeses, belgian chocolate truffles

4 places you'd rather be
London, Prague, Paris, Rome (although I have never been to any of these - one day!)

4 albums you can't live without: Broken Social Scene (You Forgot it in People), Neil Young (On the Beach), Bob Marley (Kaya), Bailter Space (Tanker)

4 vehicles you've owned: Toyota Starlet (pooh brown, according to my kids), Wine Red Rover (current vehicle and much improved on the pooh brown Starlet) and some old thing I can't remember before that. I think it was a Vauxhall...

4 jobs you've had in your life: waitress at Cobb & Co, shop assistant at an antique and gift store, manager of the Reprographic Department of a polytechnic college, evening job laying out ads at the local newspaper

4 movies you could watch over and over: Donnie Darko, Coffee and Cigarettes, Songs from the Second Floor, Labyrinth (spelling?!)

4 TV shows you love to watch: Shortland Street, The Office, Trailer Park Boys, Malcolm in the Middle

A brief excursion

I thought that since Dave was away I would head off for a little break myself so I'm currently at my sister's house in New Plymouth. I enjoyed the drive up - I love driving through countryside and turning the music up as loud as my ears will take it (usually involves some ringing in my ears at the end of the trip). I don't know quite how to describe how I'm feeling at the moment - I guess you could say "all over the place". My emotions seem to really up and down and tears spring unexpectedly. I hate feeling like this - it makes me feel weak and silly. Hopefully this is a passing thing. I think there has just been so much happening in my life at the moment that I'm suffering from emotional overload. I'm sure that everything will settle down soon and that life will settle down into some semblance of normality, whatever the hell that is! Well, everyone else seems to be venting at the moment, so I thought it must be my turn!

Anyway, heading home tomorrow morning and will try to upload some photos of the local scenery. Straight back into work upon my return (naturally!).

King Kong vs. Narnia

Have seen both of these films recently. Both have of course been hyped up to the extreme.

For a start, I'm not one for mainstream film and my prime objective when heading off to the cinema is not to be entertained (although there are occasions to the contrary when I'm feeling a bit jaded), so I guess I am not the target audience for films of this type. However, I have to say that I think King Kong misses the boat. Too long. I can sit through long films - the length itself is not a problem, but the film needed tighter editing. The action scenes (obviously set up as action sequences for where the real money is - Playstation and PC gaming) should have been half the length and I quickly lost my interest. Too much time was spent on Skull Island. There was a slow-mo action technique interpersed through the film that seemed unneccessary and poorly executed. And too many calculated close-up of expression-filled eyes. Yawn. Wide-open scared eyes looking into the distance - cue scary monsters coming to get someone. Maybe this is a nod to melodramatic films of the 30s, but I found the devices overused and shallow. Naomi Watts and Adrien Brody did shine though and Kong himself was a surprising success. I was glad when it was over though.

Narnia however, I did enjoy. I loved these books as a child and the resulting film fitted with my imagined world of Narnia amazingly well. Although Mr Tumnus looked more youthful than my version. There were many schmaltzy moments, but that was to be expected. With a book full of valour and virtue and personal sacrifice what else can you expect? I had the occasional lump in my throat, but I didn't feel manipulated into my emotional reactions. Tilda Swinton as the white witch was an inspired casting.

Braindead. Is this a new year kinda thing?

Listening to: Broken Social Scene, Broken Social Scene

I put a brown rice teabag in my cup. Came back five minutes later to pour in the water and added sugar and soymilk like I was gonna have a normal cuppa. Had to throw the whole thing out and start again. This must be a new year thing after having a break from work. Brain. Not. Engaged.

Hey, hey, Broken Social Scene might be coming our way this year! This excites me more than I can say. I sussed out that they were going to be playing a few gigs in Australia so made some enquiries via the tour manager over there to discover that there are negotiations underway for them to finish their tour with a show in Auckland. Unfortunately they don't think a gig in Wellington is a possibility sadly, but I am willing to travel the six hours necessary to see them. Waiting for comfirmation of the show. Hope they get it booked.