Things I Love Thursday – May 12

Here’s a curveball. I think the thing I love most this week is my job. Not just because today we got a ping pong table in our office, though that was BRILLIANT. And maybe it’s premature nostalgia, because in a couple of weeks I’ll be on a plane again and my temporary role will be up. But last Saturday we had a relaunch to celebrate being open again after the building was wrecked in the Brisbane floods (the water views come at a price), and I finally got to see The Edge full of young people performing and creating and learning and I got it.

See, the tricky thing about The Edge is that it’s hard to explain. My job is to communicate about it and I don’t know if I’ve ever given the same description twice. It’s new, just over a year old. It represents a hefty investment for the Queensland Government and the State Library of Queensland. It’s an incredible building with rich facilities: an auditorium with a sprung floor for dancers; a recording studio; a bunch of Macs loaded up with the software you can never afford to buy yourself. All the space young people need to dream big, and the resources and mentors to help them work toward realising their visions. It’s accessible and inspiring and free, but people don’t seem to know about it, or what it might be able to do for them. So to have the building open and full of people seeing it in full flight on Saturday, I think will go a long way towards building word of mouth that will drive kids in to check it out.

Every generation underestimates, or perhaps resents, the generation that follows it; I know I had to ditch a lot of notions I had about “kids these days” on Saturday. Sitting in the auditorium waiting for a dance workshop to start, I expected apathy, detachment and derision as were de rigueur in my high school days. But these kids were full of support for their contemporaries and there was no shame in participating, in risking looking silly. They learned new dance moves and then the whooped and cheered for the dancers' performance. (As did I. These kids from Fresh Elements are bloody amazing). So, um, way to go, young people. I’m going to miss my job and the rad people I work with; but I feel good knowing when I visit The Edge months and years from now, more and more kids will have found it and made the most of it.

Other things I’ve loved this week:

The beautiful Emily visiting from the UK and commanding quite a crowd of old school chums... Oranges... Freddo Frogs... Ping pong breaks at work! Doing my first shoulder stand at yoga... Crossing things off lists... The Jamie XX/Childish Gambino remix of “Rolling In The Deep”... Reading online advice columns... Wilco... The scary thrill of whizzing down hills on my bike in the dark... Watching girly TV with my very blokey housemate... Riding home without headphones tonight, and hearing someone playing trumpet across the river, notes floating across the water surreal and regal in the dusk. Oh, and I wired the LEDs in this lightning bolt:

OK, one last work-related thing. I have had so much fun writing bits and pieces of copy for the Future City project, which is part of the Ideas Festival. Basically it’s a role-playing game where six people will have to survive in the cultural precinct for a couple of days in the scenario that there’s been a climate apocalypse, civilisation as we know it is destroyed and zombies are marauding around Brisbane. Tomorrow’s the last day you can apply to play one of the characters so if you’re even the tiniest bit curious you should click here and read more. Go on.

What’s made you smile this week?

Things I Love Thursday: April 14

Can you believe how far into 2011 we are? This year is flying by. I hope you're finding time amidst the rush to enjoy life's little pleasures. Things like:

Rainy mornings + porridge, cinnamon & golden syrup

Rainy nights + a good book + tea + Green & Black's Maya Gold dark chocolate. This stuff is my crack.

Subsituting ridiculous, made-up facts when you don't know the real answers at trivia (after all, you never know when you might be awarded extra points for humour).

This incredible list of flapper slang, which is frankly the duck's quack, the cat's particulars and the monkey's eyebrows simultaneously. Ie, it is fantastic.

Amazing purple and orange sunsets over the Brisbane river. The cityscape gleaming in almost unnaturally golden light, cranes poking up here and there like bendy straws in an elaborate cocktail.
Yoga. Oh my, it is so good. Stretching out all those random sets of muscles, cracking up at all the animal-named poses (cobras, cats and cows, locusts, eagles and the dreaded downward dogs), tantalising aromas wafting from the Indian restaurant down the street, almost falling asleep in the meditation at the end of the session, even the ommmm-chanting is kind of cool with everyone making the same sound in a darkened room. Especially since our instructor is the first yogi I have encountered who actually has a sense of humour. I had to laugh, though, at Garance's all-too-familiar take on yoga - the inching boredom of the class, the awkwardness of the poses, the all-consuming smugness once it's over and raving to the uninitiated about how balancing it all is...

Writing about the impending zombie apocalypse, YouTubing the Bush Tucker Man and researching data visualisations... For my job!

Having a job.

Continually confusing Deerhoof and Deerhunter... Listening to and loving them both, anyway. Deerhoof Vs Evil is fantastic, by the way.

Contemplating taking to Baby Blue's forks with a sharpie, inspired by this amazing bike refurbishment by illustrator Pete Fong. If only I could draw beards that well...

This afternoon I left work on my bike, the sunset fading to lilac and the new My Morning Jacket song in my ears, and out of nowhere had this overwhelming rush of euphoria. Be it slap-up broke pasta dinners with my sister, swapping music with old school friends, Sunday afternoons playing trucks with a one-year-old, road-trip-planning emails from Pakistan or hours on skype with the cutest boy in all of Brooklyn... I feel profoundly motherfucking lucky at how many first-rate people are in my life. I hope you do too. xx

Things I Love Thursday: January 6

The Bureau of Meteorology have downgraded their predictions for flood levels in the George, so things are feeling less frantic around town. Channel Nine have sent out the big guns though - Bruce Page is here - so I hope they don't know something we don't! At any rate, the biggest thing I'm grateful for this week is that our place hasn't been threatened by the flood at all. That said, many people face terrible losses, not just here in St George but throughout the state. So our thoughts are with those returning home to face massive clean-up efforts, and those who are still stuck in evaucation centres waiting for the waters to reside.


Other highlights of this week include:

Baking biscotti... The insane patterns in the pool surface when it's raining... Wonderous words from across the seas, and discovering ee cummings... Vicarious glimpses of Milan from a talented photographer... Long phone chats with old chums... Afternoon naps on rare days off, and the crazy dreams they bring... Pesto made fresh with basil from the garden... And forget the boring official video for Kanye's "Monster" (to which I am ADDICTED) - clearly what's really needed to visually complement that song is muppets.

Things I Love Thursday: November 18

New York is full of surprises. For example, of all the musical genres I expected to be exposed to here, let along won over by, bluegrass was not high on the list. And yet last week the Bowery Ballroom was packed for the Infamous Stringdusters and Trampled By Turtles. Fiddles, mandolins, banjo, upright bass, not a drum kit in sight... A surfeit of facial hair and even the odd pair of ill-advised overalls, and you can amuse yourself by trying to determine which band members are brothers/cousins.

Sure, it's impossible to dance to without looking stupid, but it's so fun you can't help attempting to jiggle in time. And that's exactly what I did as I tried not to think about the old days in uni when I'd stridently deride my friends' love of "redneck" music. Though I maintain that both these bluegrass bands were infinitely superior to anything ever recorded by faux "country" singers like Keith Urban or Brad Paisley or (shudder) Big & Rich. Back at the Bowery, the best part of all was when both bands came out together for the encore and carried all their instruments down off the stage into the middle of the crowd, rocking out unplugged and finishing with a huge singalong to "The Weight". It was a moment of complete cosmic atonement for the Levon Helm Incident.

Other highlights from another great week:

Impromptu dinner parties (and a less spectacular reprise of DPD)... Getting paid to do some work for a change... Perhaps the most hilarious Freudian slip ever - referring to social networking site Foursquare as "foreskin"... My first commission as a photographer (that's what I'm calling it, anyway!)... Jukebox gold at the Magician... Accidentally discovering "the pit" - the home of bike polo in New York... Bagels... Still with the T-shirt weather Saturdays in November!

Enormous cashmere sweaters from the thriftshop that clearly once belonged to enormous prepsters... Looking up crazy recipes in the lead up to Thanksgiving next week... This dude across the table from me at Second Stop (it's a freelancer sweatshop in here, you can hardly move for MacBooks and Moleskines), whisper-reading his poetry as he writes... Drunkenly denigrating Paul McCartney... "Band On The Run" vs "Fox On The Run"...

Things I Love Thursday: November 4

These are the dying days of my 25th year so one thing I'm loving at the moment is birthday plans coming together! There’s been a distinct lack of bike action on this blog of late and I’m deeply sorry about that. But it’s my birthday on Saturday and what better way to celebrate than with a bike-riding foodie tour of Brooklyn and Manhattan! Cannot wait to get back in the saddle. Friends, food and lots of photos will just be the icing on the cake.

Other stuff that's floating my boat:

My new roommate’s quirky taste in vintage and antique furnishings and decoration – there are so many little curiosities in this apartment. I snuck a peek into her room and she has three pipe-cases mounted on the wall.

Making pea soup with giant slabs of bacon from Model T... Photo booths... Turtle burgers... Delicious tapas (Brussels sprouts and chorizo? Dates wrapped in bacon?? Yes please!) and wine at Boqueria with a bunch of Aussies... Trying to explain the Australian compulsion to shorten all names – Daz, Muzz, etc – to an American friend...

Williamsburg street art... Talking animation, music and ghost stories over beers with the boys at Daddy’s... Three dollar Hendricks martinis and tiny gourmet grilled cheese sangers at the Connectors NYC networking meet-up... Bored to Death... Finally some Waldorf-Bassian sexytime... Little kids in super cute Halloween costumes... Prospect Park... Leather gloves... Markedly different streetlife in my new neighbourhood, forcing me to think for the first time about the origins of the words “ghetto blaster”... Brooklyn Bowl!!


Daz yodelling while performing a Slim Dusty cover at Living Room... Morning coffee and the biscuit (read: scone) with egg, sausage and cheese from Goods... HALLOWEEN!!
Getting up before 9am (shocking, I know)... This taupe nail polish that looks like pearly mushroom soup... Cat stretches... Getting my subway sea legs... Rocking out to ELO... Sam Rockwell’s amazing acting in Moon... Thrift store heaven at Beacon’s Closet and Atlantis Attic... Random smile exchanges with strangers... The “other” Halloween parade – unfortunate souls doing the next morning walk-of-shame home in their costumes (thanks, How I Met Your Mother)... and, finally, Jon Stewart’s speech at the Rally To Restore Sanity &/or Fear:

Things I Love Thursday: October 28

Sorry I’ve been a ghost this week! It’s been magnificently, unseasonably warm in New York – singlet and T-shirt weather and it’s almost November, imagine! So it’s been lovely to be gadding about outside... Here are some of the best parts:

The word “autumnal”... Gold and russet leaves swirling through the air like confetti in Prospect Park this morning... Listening to Electric Light Orchestra because over-the-top strings and harmonies seem like the only logical soundtrack to days this perfect; it’s like living in some hipster romantic comedy.

Everyone gets so into the Halloween spirit here! Every doorstep is festooned with cobwebs and skeletons, pumpkins pepper the streets.. Every second conversation you eavesdrop on in the subway involves the weighing of Halloween weekend party options, and the intricacies of various costumes. I went to one of the temporary costume stores that popped up all over the city in the past couple of weeks, like a plague of mushrooms, and walked out even more confused – there are so many possibilities you really need to go into those places with a plan! Leaning towards a semi-saucy “White Russian” costume, not only because it plays into my recent fur hat obsession, but because it could potentially do double duty for Lebowskifest....

Roadtrips... Patting puppies in Park Slope bars... Buskers on the subway in the wee hours... Elvis Perkins in Dearland... Cruising comics and zines I can’t afford at Desert Island... Perving on other people’s literary tattoos... Growing obsessed with the sick, sad world of bemulleted bogan Kenny Powers via Eastbound & Down... Lychee sorbet and fur hats in Chinatown... Hometown friends in LES bars... the ever-growing Australian contingent – “New York is the new London”...

Things I Love Thursday: 21 October

It's been a weird week; the dizzying highs of this amazing city tempered by feeling a long, long way from home. Life has also taken on a temporarily nocturnal routine with this week's slew of gigs - tonight brings the third of five sets from My Morning Jacket, when I expect they will eclipse even the incredible shows of Monday and Tuesday night. Each show the band plays a different album, in full and in sequence - how often do you get the opportunity to see your favourite band do that? Particularly on the first night, playing their sprawling lo-fi debut The Tennessee Fire, some of these songs had never been performed in concert before. And then after they've played the album they roll into B-sides and covers, like their chilling version of "Rocket Man" or a funked up "Miss You".

Hairy philosopher frontman Jim James is in magnificent voice, the band sounds amazing, and already epic songs are teased out with incendiary jam sessions. There have already been too many highlights to list, but I reckon Jim's own lyric sums it up pretty well:

Why does my mind blow to bits every time
They play that song?
It's just the way that he sings,
Not the words that he says, or the band.
I'm in love with this soul, it's a meaning that I understand.

It's been everything a fan could hope for and more. I'm crossing all my fingers tonight's rendition of my favourite album, It Still Moves, will be complete with a horn section. Equally as awesome as the music itself? Rocking up to a gig alone only to meet a kindred spirit – both in obsessive MMJ fandom, and the pains of Tall Person Gig Guilt (TPGG).

Other things that rocked my world this week:

Accidentally discovering the flamingos at the Bronx Zoo just when we were about to leave... Coming home in the wee hours to find that Christmas decorations have gone up and my street is now laced with tinsel... Discovering the spicy Mexican mocha from Beaner Bar and knowing it will become a vital part of my winter survival plan... Catching the legendary Tony Joe White’s CMJ set and shaking his hand afterward (do you know his gorgeous song “Rainy Night in Georgia”?)... Playing random old video games at Barcade... 2am diner burgers... Seeing friends’ names among this year’s Walkley finalists announced this week... Baggy, super soft, worn-in old shirts... Listening to David Dondero... Trying to decide on a Halloween costume...

And a special shout-out to my family: whom I love every day, but today especially I wish I were with them.

Things I love Thursday: 14 October

Oops! So much has been going on I haven’t had a chance to do this the last couple weeks, but there’s so much to love right now. What have you been digging this past week? I love:

Fairy lights... Popping out of the subway at night and seeing the Chrysler building lit up in the distance like my north star... “bedtime tea” with honey and vanilla soy milk... Lingering over coffee and cannoli at a mob bakery, eavesdropping and brainstorming story ideas while cigar smoke and machismo waft over me... Talking about music and film-making with a random guy at the Royale who has apparently just made a doco about Kings of Leon. It’s called Talihina Sky and they’ve entered it for Sundance so you heard it here first!

...Making a delicious dinner for my new room-mates with goodies from the farmer’s market. Did you know you can eat the leaves of beetroot? They’re so delicious – I was inspired by this recipe but added carrots and whole garlic cloves to the roasting pan....


Exploring... Coney Island... Burgers at all hours... Cooking my first (amazing) New York steak courtesy of the crazy guys at my new neighbourhood butcher, Model T Meats – sawdust on the floors, an ancient cash register, prices straight out of the 1970s and ALL the local gossip... Listening to I Will Love You At All while traipsing around museums and botanic gardens... Planning adventures in this hectic city –this weekend I'm aiming to do Friday evening drinks at the Met’s rooftop sculpture garden, scout for Halloween costumes at the Superhero Supply store, test boutique gin from the Breukelen Distillery, and then we're heading upstate to pick apples on Sunday....

...Spying a colony of no less than six rats in the subway station last night... The "Subway Wars" episode of How I Met Your Mother... Watching the leaves changing colour in my first real “fall”... wine and cheese on rooftops... Catching glimpses of that amazing skyline and remembering holy shit: I'm in New York.

Things I Love Thursday

This is a little feature I’ve admired for a while on various blogs. The ever-inspiring Gala Darling is a perfect example, and swears by it as a great way to take stock of all the things you’re thankful for on a regular basis. So here’s what I’m loving this week:

...Sitting under the hills hoist counting the stars, smoking and listening to Band of Horses... Discovering liquid eyeliner (thanks Ferris!)... Devouring fresh goodness from dad’s garden – homegrown herbs, celery, spinach, chillies and sweet little sugarbomb carrots...

...Playing cards with my nanna (and even winning occasionally)... Trawling through faded old family photos and boxes of notebooks and diaries full of memories...

...Sitting in cafes scribbling, trying to design logos for the Handsome Darlings sausage dog stud... Reading through old travel journals and starting to feel the butterflies of adventure in my tummy... Catching up with great new(ish) blogs by my talented mates Alison and Mel (both highly recommended)...

...Crawling around trying to keep up with puppies to take their photos... Switching out uncomfortable races shoes for daggy Cons and feeling like a whole new person – and ready to dance!