Carved Wall Art

Just saw this on ebay - a very neat, simple idea - a carved tree revealing woodgrain behind. Neat.

Billy T: Te Movie

Billy T James died a fair few years ago now, but his legacy lives on in New Zealand - he is one of our cult classics.

This movie is a timely reminder of the effect this man had on our society in terms of his performances, and there effects on politics and the nation's psyche - a brilliant documentary movie.

Moreover, an excellent comedy given that over the last twenty years or so, we'd forgotten many of the classic gags.

Overall, 8/10, though non-kiwis might not understand...

Childrens bookshelves

Kids don't tend to have a lot of books, but they should still display them in style. Here are some neat mini-bookshelves from Dwellstudio.

A modernist lego-land scaled house

Many of the Lego models I see are now built in modular scale, but there is the odd gem in the more traditional scale, like this one by frogstudio:

AZ Desk by Guillaume Bouvet

Plywood is a brilliant material, and given it's strength and size, can create some very interesting designs.
Here is one neat example, the AZ desk by Guillaume Bouvet:

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2

The second half of a story, and the eighth in the series - a lot of anticipation was riding on this one.

I certainly enjoyed the movie, however, it wasn't as good as some of the others. Certainly the cinematography was on par with previous ones, but, the thing is, the story just wasn't designed to be cut in two.

The film therefore featured little character development, and Hermionne and Ron featured less than you might expect. However, there were certainly good moments, and it was good to see the story through to completion with thankfully a few plot twists which I would have seen coming had I read the books. Overall however 7/10.

Tutankhamun The Golden King and the Great Pharoahs

When I quit my last job, one disappointment for me was that I didn't make it to Melbourne one last time to visit the aforementioned exhibition.

Thankfully, however, I did make it there in the end, with an unexpected business trip to Victoria in my new role.

So, yesterday, after a lot of anticipation, I visited the Melbourne Museum, and the exhibit.

Tickets are limited to a set number each day, with entry every fifteen minutes. To be honest, I think they still sell too many tickets, and the batching of people to come in makes the crowding worse.

Moreover when you get to the end of the wait, and you think they're letting you in, that's not quite what's actually happening. You get marshalled into a room, the door is closed behind you, and you get told about the rules of exhibit and are forced to watch an introductory video.

Thankfully, that only lasts ten minutes or so, and then you get to go in.

The first few galleries focus on the time leading up to Tutankhamun, in particular the religious changes brought about by Tut's father, Akhanaten, who moved from the traditional gods, to one singular god (a move which Tutankhamun would reverse during his short reign).

Those galleries feature an interesting mix of items, including model wooden boats, models of animals and people, shabti (statuettes which would act as slaves in the afterlife) and religious iconography.

The latter half of the exhibition focuses on King Tut - with many items from his tomb - a childhood chair inlaid with the tiny pieces of ebony and ivory, a jewellery box with copper hinges (some of the earliest metal hinges found), and many other posessions.

The climax of the show of course are the more intricate posessions - the amulets with the tinest of inlays (some at a guess maybe 0.25mm accross), ceremonial weapons and tools, the lid to a canopic jar, and one of the coffinettes which contained his mummified stomach, and his golden slippers.

The one thing I did (wrongly) expect, was his iconic mask. I thought this because I thought that was what was on the posters - as it turns out, that was the coffinette mentioned earlier. I guess I'll have to visit egypt one of these days.

Having said that, there where some positive surpises too - I didn't even know that Egyptians kept dogs, let alone considered them highly, and some of the animal statues where remarkable.

Nonna Casalinga

If there is one thing I can consistently do, it's find good, albeit expensive food. I was a little worried when I first heard I was going to Warrnambool on a business trip - the challenge was definately on. However, I found the perfect place - Nonna Casalinga - with food that can easily compare in terms of quality with what the state capitals have to offer.

The portions are suitably sized for multiple course dining, and the prices are more on par with what you'd pay in bigger cities, but I don't mind that on both counts. What I like is what's on offer... be that a side of beans with hazelnut butter and sour cream, or a steak main with beetroot, blue cheese and walnut salad, or freshly prepared gnocchi.

The venue has a nice ambience (though it will get louder as it fills with patrons), and the staff are knowledgable and have perfect ettiquette.

10/10.

Tower Hill

Not far from Warrnambool in Victoria is a volcano after which Warrnambool is named. Ironically, that volcano is now called tower hill.

The hill has a tower, but more interestingly, a nature reserve where you can see some of Australia's wildlife, in today's case, Wallabies and Emus.

I completed two of the walks, the Peak walk, which is painfully steep but offers excellent views to the ocean, and the lava tongue walk. Both are perportedly half an hour long however I completed them in around half that time.

The Lincoln Lawyer

It is rare for me to watch an excellent movie on a plane, but on this occasion, I did - the Lincoln Lawyer.

Mick, the main character is one of those lawyers for whom you can have absolutely no respect, but by the end of the movie, you actually feel sympathy for him.

He finds himself defending a dubious estate agent on a rape charge, but is that all this defendant is capable of.

The movie has a nice pace, both expected and unexpected plot twists, and a decent dose of humour - you can't really go wrong. 8/10.

Counting chickens before they hatch

A few years ago there was a lot of controversy over a proposal by Mighty River Power to re-fire the Marsden B power station using coal.

A long drawn out series of protests and legal actions eventually led the electricity producer to drop the venture.

Greenpeace claims this one as a victory over coal. It isn't however. The plant is being dismantled and shipped to India, where, guess what - it's going to burn coal.

In my opinion, if anything, it's worse than had we fired it up, as I suspect maintenance and monitoring will be much less in India than it would've been here. A loss, not a victory for green ideals.

Colour and grain

Generally, when it comes to furniture design, you get either solid colour, or wood, but rarely a mix of both, and more rarely still, a good mix of the two.

Of course, it is possible, as this Oak outdoor setting by Scout Regalia shows:

A home for a gnome

Lego's collectable minifigure have inspired many a model. Like this one, by aresze.

An Ice Cream Parlour

Lego models needn't be large to have interesting details. In fact, some of the smaller models are the more inspired ones. Here is one that meets those criteria nicely, by user Mariko.

The Porch at Waihi Beach

Beachside towns can be hit and miss when it comes to food, but the Porch in Waihi Beach is certainly a hit - having been there numerous times I'm happy to say that.

Saturday's effort involved a beef salad with horseradish dressing ... 8/10 - certainly nothing to complain about.

Orokawa Bay

At the northern tip of Waihi beach is a neat walk - which is still reasonably negotiable in winter, which takes you accross to Orokawa bay in about 45 minutes.

Once at Orokawa bay you are away from anything obviously manmade, and in a nice secluded spot, which you share only with Pohutukawa trees, birds, fish and fishermen.

Santa Isobel House

Certain materials get a hard time in architecture. Concrete in particular. Many people think of uninspired tilt slab construction or cheap tower blocks with no character.

The thing is, concrete can well have character, as this effort by Ricardo Bak Gordon shows. By casting concrete in wood, you get grains and interest, and create shadows and creases - the perfect startpoint for a patina of moss and the like to adjust the colour.

Hotel Chat Noir

A 1960's modular this time - a french hotel even - Hotel Chat Noir by hoexbroe

The Lion Gate hotel

This lego model is an intriguing story of scale - it isn't quite the same scale as modulars, and is in fact almost a smaller scale than regular town sets, but nevertheless, it works very well.

Bridesmaids

Winter is a pain - you can't do half as much outdoors.

For that reason, I seem to be at the cinema more often than perhaps I should be - in this case at the insistence of my wife.

So, a chick-flick it was - bridesmaids - think the Hangover, but with women. Well, maybe not that bad, but certainly the two movies share a lot of similarities. There are many times you are cringing at cliches, but thankfully there are a few laughs too.

Not too bad all round, 5/10.

A 'chinatown' for Auckland?

It seems as though Auckland has been comparing itself to others again, and realised it doesn't have a Chinatown.

I don't necessarily consider this to be a bad thing. A genuine "chinatown" is a great thing to visit, I agree, but all too often once it becomes a tourist attraction, pride goes out the window and quality deteriorates. This is certainly true for many outlets in Melbourne and Sydney.

Of course, "thown out the window" is exactly what should apply to Auckland's Chinatown. The article on stuff seems to forget there was a Chinatown in the past, which was gentrified into oblivion.

That chinatown lay on Grays Avenue in the city, Grays Street as it was then known. The upper Grays Avenue area was razed in the '40s for multi-storey state apartment blocks (which still stand), and last vestages of Chinatown disappeared in 1959 to make way for the Auckland city council buildings.

An article here outlines a little more of the history of the area. Below: Gray street flats.

A more interesting box

In architecture, the box shape will always exist - it's one of the most economical forms to build after all. That fact alone makes it particularly prevalent in commercial architecture.

That being said, there are more and less interesting ways to adorn the box. What gets me is dull tilt slab buildings. Moving to wood and glass is always a good bet, which is certainly what makes this one work: (SAC Federal Credit Union - Leo Daly).

The Green Lantern

Another day, another Marvel story turned movie.

This one I didn't have all to high an expectation of - really the main reason for watching it was to blob out without watching a movie I had already seen, or one I wanted to see at a later date.

The casting for this movie at first glance seems terrible, Ryan Reynolds belongs in comedies, and Blake Lively is not the person to play a serious businesswoman.

Having forgiven that, the movie was better than I'd expected. It wasn't too bad. The story was 2 hours long, yet didn't feel dragged out, and the soundtrack was quite decent too. Overall, 5/10.

4555 in a better form

One of the things that I would like to do in terms of Lego is to rebuild the original sets that I know and love in a form that is better than the original - larger scale and more detail.

Here is a good example done by builder fistach, inspired by set 4555.