OMG OMG OMG! Best news - King Khan and The Shrines... in digital, colour greatness. Check out their new video. Admire The King himself - and those dancers. Yikes. Thanks Pitchfork.tv
So I don't want to get all earnest on yo ass, but community engagement has been a big all-consuming theme this week. Tonight, I was talking with some girlfriends about the living local project. Sydney based company Digital Eskimo have started this experiment / online project which is all about encouraging people to think more about their local world. Their local economy, the produce you eat and where it comes from and try to eat stuff that's local, which is better for our environment, generally to engage with the people and things around you...
In some ways it's a complementary extension of the slow food movement I guess. Although it's not just about food - it's all about slowing down, taking the time to connect with your neighborhood and community, and random strangers.
I've been thinking a lot about these themes lately, taking the time to nurture the things that are important to you, rather than spending crazy amounts of time working. Feeling like you're the meat in a sausage factory. What's also interesting about this living locally project is how it's an online initiative to get people connecting with people, face to face in the real world. Nice layers there.
It also reminds me of one of my favourite art projects that Sydney artist Lucas Ihlein did in 2006. The Petersham Bilateral Project, also known as the 'sham. Basically, Lucas got funding to have an artist residency in his own suburb and he didn't leave for a few months. He got to know his neighbours and community, and documented the whole experience. Go back and check out the archives, it's so great.
And, if you like the sounds of of this whole local focus thing, keep an eye out around Sydney. The amazing Lee Tran Lam is currently putting together a zine on our fine city. I don't really know much more about it than that. She's been a bit mysterious about it. But all will be revealed at the Sydney Writers Festival Zine Fair in May...
I’ve been writing lists – hundreds of lists of things to do, things to listen to, to watch, to play on my show, plans to make, people to call, yuddah yuddah … but I feel like I’ve been lost in some sort of vortex and each week is just racing by. It’s now almost Easter. Frig. Daylight saving has ended, which makes getting up at 5.55am to go to training easier, because it’s no longer dark...
But it also means we’re heading headlong into the long darkness of winter. I always get nostalgic about winter in the height of summer, fondly remembering it as a time of scarves, foxy trench coats, late nights filled with good music, red wine, friends and cosy indoor spaces. But as winter starts to arrive I start to remembering that it’s not quite the romance that I’d been affectionately recalling during the summer months.
But winter also means more motivation to stay in and hang on the couch. On the list of things to watch is ‘True Blood’ – check out the opening titles below. Amazing.
On the tip of plans to make – I’m dreaming about ATP in NYC.
As for things I'm to listening to today: trawling through G the P’s blogand archive of old gold, if you’re feeling like some fuzzed out guitars, tambourines, hand-claps, do-wops or the new DOOM album if you want something shiny and new. OR if you want something that mixes old and new together listen to the Meanest Man Contest Category Killer Selection
And as for things to do, if you’re in Sydney at the moment, check out the new Paddington Reservoir – according the Time Out It was “built 142 years ago, was decommissioned in 1914 and became a garage. In 1993, the servo's roof caved-in, leaving the site derelict but for hordes of feral cats and a shadowy graffiti movement who under the cover of night filled the walls of the 1023-square-metre site with stunning frescoes and murals…” anyway, now it’s been restored and looks amazing. Check out some photos here
Anna Burns presents weekend lunch on Sydney's FBi Radio. In a past life she spent her weekdays working in television and making the occasional radio feature documentary. Now, she lives a life of early mornings, sharp tayloring and mystery. Her passions are music, late nights, food, New York and HBO tv shows. She has recently discovered the joy of jogging.
