Sally was interested in the plasticine model I made of the fruitbat, so I have added this photo to the set. You can click to see it enlarged in different sizes. The yellow pins mark the performer’s eyes, and the black spot on the leg, their feet.
Meanwhile, Amy has given me Best Flying Rodent in an Insupportable Role – lol! Thanks, Amy.
The Gothia Gazette is reporting that The Mysterious Geographic Adventures of Jasper Morello, nominated for Best Animated Sort in the Academy Awards, will be screening on SBS on this Friday 10th March at 8.00pm. The DVD of Jasper Morello, including a ‘making of’ featurette and other award winning films by director Anthony Lucas will be in shops on March 15th. Don’t miss it!
“It seems the Cole inquiry has to separate the wheat from the chaff because AWB couldn’t see the wood for the trucking fees.”
–Peter Wall of Ascot, Queensland in the Sydney Morning Herald’s letters on Thursday.
It seems like you can still cast a vote in the AVENUE Q One Night Stand competition, but be quick! Three puppets have been chosen to go to see AVENUE Q on Broadway and meet the cast backstage after the show, but one winner and their puppet will have the once in a lifetime opportunity to step onstage at the Golden Theatre on Broadway with the cast of AVENUE Q!
Watch the videos of the three competing puppets, and vote for which one you would like to see win. Will it be Kitty Swallows, Miss Greta Green, or Maurice Tipo (pictured with Andrew MacDonald-Smith, who designed Maurice along with Konja Chen (of Chensational Puppets) in Toronto in honor of Avenue Q.)
Updated links 2015
As an antidote to the newspapers today, I’ve been drawing up a government wishlist. These are not in any particular order. I would like a government that:
- recognizes that the generous and unwavering support of public education is the best investment it can make in the future of our society, and likewise recognizes the value of tertiary education and those that become experts in their fields
- recognizes that the privatization of public utilities and facilities is like selling the family silver
- doesn’t think and act as if the economy is the be-all and end-all
- supports reconciliation, empowerment and the health of our indigenous people wholeheartedly
- supports multiculturalism wholeheartedly
- supports gender equality and gay rights wholeheartedly
- supports universal medicare and dental care wholeheartedly
- provides welfare that doesn’t require jumping through too many hoops
- generously treats all immigrants and asylum seekers with the compassion, humanity and dignity we would like if we were in their shoes
- doesn’t lie, duck, weave, or evade ministerial responsibility
- actively discourages jingoism, xenophobia and racism
- actively discourages fear as a tactic
- recognizes the seriousness of global warming and begins immediate planning and financial backing for the implementation of renewable energies without being swayed by the coal/oil lobby
- appreciates the humanities, the arts and the sciences as integral to the spirit, wellbeing and richness of our society and generously supports them
- supports unionism, and recognizes the skill base of negotiation skills that resides there
- is a republic
- that lobbies for global commons, justice, human rights and civil liberties, and against preventative detention, torture and the death penalty
- that won’t engage in warmongering
- that doesn’t have the media in its pocket
That will do for now, though I’m sure there is more. If you feel the same and would like to use one of the stitch-in-time buttons, please do.
Grab the code for the badge here and paste the code into your sidebar –
<a href=”http://spiritsdancing.typepad.com/spirits_dancing/2006/03/government_wish.html”>
<img src=”http://www.spiritsdancing.com/blog/stitchbutton.jpg” alt=”stitch-in-time” /></a>
Or you can download the badge image you want, upload it into your template
sidebar on your blog or into a post, and link the image back to this post.
Making this huge Fruit Batman character for The Fool Factory has been the thing keeping me so busy last month. The wingspan is 6-7 metres, and it is a stilt-walking character. The wings are articulated, and it has animatronic eyes and ears, but it was my brief to build the creature around those supplied elements. He is now in Adelaide, doing some performances in the streets during the Fringe Festival.
I’ve made a set of photos that show some of the making process. And there are some more stills and a couple of quicktimes on the Fool Factory’s new site. I was particularly happy with the head:
Lucy Tartan’s review of Margaret Atwood’s novel Alias Grace over at Sorrow at Sills Bend this morning prompted me to go hunting for my sketch of all the quilt square patterns that were used as chapter illustrations. I liked how the motif worked in with the story and themes of each chapter much better than I liked the book overall.
I always intended to make a sketch of all the knots used similarly in E. Annie Proulx’s wonderful book, The Shipping News, but haven’t as yet.
I once heard an interview with Margaret Atwood; it must have been on the ABC. In it I think – and I might be mistaken, I’d like confirmation – she defined the novel as writing that always has the notion of a clock in it. Does anyone else remember that? I guess it implies that there is always a timeline and a narrative, but being me, I started thinking of clocks and watches and other time pieces!
While you are at Sorrow at Sills Bend, don’t miss the rats and hydatid posters!
This is my absolute favourite cake. I like it best when it’s completely cooled down, and without any icing. It’s also really good buttered like bread. It always has interesting little dark specks in it, though I have known people to make banana cake that doesn’t – but that’s just weird!
Banana Bread
2 cups SR flour
125 g (1/4 lb) butter or marg
2 eggs
3 or 4 ripe bananas (can be over-ripe, variable number)
1 cup sugar
1 level teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
pinch saltCream butter and sugar, add mashed bananas, beat well, add beaten eggs. Sift flour and salt and add to mixture with 1/4 cup water in which the soda has been dissolved, beat well. Bake in a moderate oven for 1 hour.
The picture is me aged 7, showing off the first cake I ever made. I still have the little apron with the African animals, as I was fond of it. But I don’t bake often these days, and I discarded aprons many years ago.
I love the look of the sculptures that the Finnish visual artist Oona Tikkaoja makes, in particular her wolf creature (fourth pic along) and lizard robot killer. They are soft sculpture.
I also think her wooden horses are spectacular. They are beautifully jointed, and immediately conjure up thoughts of the mythical Trojan Horse. Take a look at the photo showing the construction, with all the clamps!
(via Extreme Craft)
Updated links 2015
