De-Facebooked, and lovin' it

After having a bit of a love affair with Facebook for quite some time, I've decided it's static, very one-way (especially those pages belonging to celebrities or politicians) and a good way to waste a great deal of time. What is the point of having a load of ''friends' whom you have never actually met. and really know nothing about? Also, it's a good trap into writing inane comments, and meaningless garble. Social networking is just not as much fun, nor as real as chatting over a glass of wine, where one can read facial expressions and have a real laugh, right here, right now, hopefully! Real time in real life, spending time with family and friends, how golden is that? As for blogging, now, that's a whole different story...!

Notes from Lecture Monday just gone, viewing of Vincent Ward's Vigil, context and content

Most of the lecture was spent viewing Vincent Ward's 1983 film Vigil, where we had to look and take notes of the context of the film. It's rural, farm-based, NZ set, isolated, the early eighities, could be compared to the work of Colin McCahon, he painted dark, interesting, textural landscapes. Vigil is comparable to another Kiwi film of the same era, Smash Palace, in its themes of relationshiips (and the breaking down of these), plus isolation, ruralness, and bleak, but beautiful NZ scenery The content of Vigil was family, relationships, isolation, poverty, a broken-down farm, fear, lonlieness, bleakness, death....heavy going, but interesting, a film full of visual and unspoken metaphors. Vincent Ward is also famous for The Navigator, and was one of the first Kiwi film-makers to put NZ on the art-film map and the world stage, NZ started to become well-known in the eighties, for various reasons, I'm thinking the Nuclear Free issue,  our politics, our dark films, our.isolated beauty, the edge of the world., Kiwi ingenuity.... excellent.marketing....all these things, plus lots more, it's as though the country suddenly grew up, and found a huge and sparkling confidence...

My "Monument" still in progress, a statement on NZ film and Kiwi politics, fantasy and fiction.

In our new Brief we have to create a monument, it can be anything we wish, but must be three dimensional, and it should communicate our statement behind the work. Hmm. This is quite a cool challenge. Having more than a passing interest in NZ politics, as well as iconic NZ films, I have decided to incorporate these two themes. The photo shows just the incubus of my idea, and I'm still working on it. I quite enjoy reading Ian Wishart's Investigate magazine (as it goes where the main stream media does not), so I might incorporate this somehow. The crux of my monument is really about  our Government not listening to the people, and at times, blatatnly not listening, despite hard evidence. This is still a work in progress, the photo is not very clear, but the DVD cover is attached to a coat hanger. I love the dark political themes which run through many Kiwi films, especially those made in the '70's and '80's.  Geoff Murphy's The Quiet Earth is another cracker, as is Jane Campion's An Angel At my Table and Peter Jackson's Heavenly Creatures...also Vigil, by Vincent Ward...such inspiration, such deep, dark contexts, such isolation...reflecting NZ and its place in the world, well, in part., that is...

Is it electric, Mum? A Saturday afternoon visit to Motat.

We visited Motat (my two sons and I, that is), on a showery day just recently, it was cold and windy, so we spent most of our time indoors. There was plenty to see and do, and the kids really enjoyed the 'hands-on' experience of it all, as well as the tram ride to Motat 2. There was quite a crowd, and it now seems to be a popular venue for themed birthday parties (at Motat One), of which there were quite a few in progress. Not a bad way to spend a wet afternoon, despite the cold, damp conditions. Thanks Motat, great for no charge to Waitakere residents as well, (during the month of May)  nice to see our Rates money coming back to us. Motat Two is quite interesting, enjoyed all the war planes on view., and the Melbourne tram is great...now, that brings back awesome holiday memories.. time to head back over...I wish, ha ha. Well, dreams are free, even if holidays are not!