am I that transparent?

images from Matthew Cox via WTF

I haven't had an x-ray since I broke my arm playing netball that time in grade five. Oh and those mouth x-rays that have revealed what I already knew... my molars are less than average and aside from munching food are making it their personal business to devour themselves - sneaky little maxillary mutineers!


My x-rays despite revealing cracks and decay where I would rather they not be, were fairly standard, run-of-the-mill, stick it up on a light board and deliver the diagnosis kind of x-rays. Now that I have seen these 'haberdashery meets hospital' arty numbers, I have got to admit, I feel a little ripped off. Perhaps I would have dealt with the news that I needed a root canal, a little better, if my teeth were sprouting embroidered daisies? Surely, if I'm paying that much for someone to dig a hole in my tooth and then fill it up again, the least they could do is sugar-coat the news... actually, sugar-coating could be what got me into this mess. 
Oh, heck, you know what I mean.

What I am getting at is that I think this Matthew Cox guy is a clever duck and I might give his details to my dentist so he can make the news of impending dental work a little less bleak for the next person.


e.

it walks!

Animaris Umerus - Part 2 from Alexander Schlichter on Vimeo. (found via everyeskimo)

I have decided I want to move to Holland and be friends with Theo Jansen.
He made the beautiful kinetic sculpture featured in the video.

It walks by the power of the wind.
Now that is poetic.


e.

a letter or two for you

yup, i picked my own initial! images from n9ve

Our written language is represented through a system of symbols.

And in this enchanting little journey through our lovely alphabet, our symbols are represented by things that our language refers to. Oooh Yeah!

The Alphabet 2 from n9ve on Vimeo.

Tricky stuff! n9ve spells nice! (not literally - figuratively)

You like??

e.

pop!

images from [here]
note: pictures do not do this book justice - a real life look is muuuuuuch better. Promise!

I don't know if you have figured it out just yet but one of my vices (aside from shoes) are picture books. Stories don't have to be hundreds of thousands of words long, reduced to 10 point characters and lined up into chapters like picket-fenced suburbia. Not that there is anything wrong with a novel - it is just a slo-w-e-r process relying on inside-brain-imaginatory-pictures, ya see?


But, you know what they say (and so-help-me, I'm going to say it) a picture is worth a thousand words...blah-blah-blah. But seriously, sometimes it can be said better without handfuls of paragraphed character description. Indeed there is a time and a place for all things but there are many times when I would much rather prop myself on a miniature chair in the kiddie-corner of the library and get lost in multitudes of books about varied absurdities. 


Maybe this says something about my attention span which is obviously in limited showing here while I attempt to stay on track to write this post.


There's a childrens bookshop, 'The Little Bookroom', on Degraves st in Melbourne that I love. A few months ago I came across a pop-up book by French artist, Louis Rigaud. You guessed it, (or I gave it away with a picture): Popville. 
Normally I find pop-up books a little bit vain. All showy and brash - pretending to be something wonderful because they cross into the third dimension, when, really, they are completely devoid of an interesting narrative and in most cases get torn apart by the infant reader in a matter of weeks rendering the book a waste of paper unless discarded in the nearest recycling receptacle.
But Mr. Rigaud made me eat my words. It is a delightfully simple concept brought to life through the turning of pages.
Popville, sees a little rural farm house experience the perils of urbanisation. The little red house is progressively dwarfed by construction of roads and buildings and power lines. It is simple, but it is beautiful. 


And, because I believe this book is far from a waste of popping-up paper - I would avoid giving it to little ones with grabbing hands and instead I think it would make a perfect gift for a grown-up-kid, who, like me, enjoys little stories as much as the big ones.


e.


p.s. If you do happen to be in Melbourne CBD definitely stop in at The Little Bookroom. It's cosy and full of stories big and small. You can also see Rigaud's other pop-up book (also a winner).