Einstein

"I swim, swim in a flickering. The relays clatter in my head...dreamy phase! I race through the convolutions of my brain, I look through the vitreous spheres of my eyes...exquisite speech bubbles burst in my brain, bespatter my perception, drip from furniture. In a rabble of words from condensed perceptual mist! The echo of the anthropomorphic shit resounds from every atom, to form calcified vessels. My watch ticks...tic-toc, like a small bird in a steel case, my head is a glass bubble through which one can glimpse a frantic ticking cog wheel mechanism -- and here, here in my pocket I have a little key with which I can set this mechanism in motion whenever I want."
- From the autobiography of Albert Einstein by Gerhard Roth (1972), via A Journey Round My Skull

What a dude.

Hospital & Hamner

Well! I got rushed off to hospital last Tuesday night. Three nights and four mornings later, back home, with a smiling scar below my belly! Wellington Hospital treated me so goddamn well. People give the health system a lot of shit, but everyone who helped me from arriving in ED thru being discharged was wonderful. (And it was free, too.)

It is very good to be home, however :-)

There is still one week to go before I can expect to be able to do much of anything active, so I've been laying in bed, reading book four of a million-book fantasy series, pumped up to the eyeballs with painkillers. Though today I went for an Adventure Outside, down to the dairy to buy supplies* with Cam, who is keeping a close eye on me and growling whenever I try to do too much <3 xx

Good timing, at least! Lucky I hadn't needed a hospital the previous week, which involved a trip to Hamner Springs via a night in Kaikoura. So much fun! The travelling to and fro was wonderful, too. I find that getting from A to B can be one of the most amazing parts of a trip away, especially if the sky is as clear and landscape as stunning.


Hamner is super-relaxing and just generally beautiful and great. The awesome motel, the homemade fudge place (Creme Brulee & Cookies and Cream!), mini golf (!), the Pickled Pig, becoming a prune in the hot pools, wandering around enjoying somewhere different, lights zig-zagging between huge trees at nighttime. Such an awesome holiday. I had never been to Hamner before; it doesn't have that tacky, plastic, touristy feel that some such places do, I'm looking forward to visiting again!

Pot smokers out for high holiday | Samsung Series 7 3D TV - Such a fan of 3D. Bring on 3D everything, as far as I am concerned. | Cirque du Soleil to create Thriller show

* butternut snaps, Cadbury hot chocolate ... the lady at Chang noticed I was walking funny (read: hobbling) and gifted me an easter egg when I told her about Me vs Ovarian Cyst Torsion... so sweet... Brooklyn is rad. There's everything you need and the people are so friendly here.

Around the Internet

At home, ill and pumped full of antibiotics.
Better than being at home, ill and not pumped full of antibiotics, I guess!


'Ziggy' by Jessica Josslin. Her work is amazing.

Also amazing: Sewing tattoos (!!!) on Flikr

I've been trying to find some articles that make me smile. It's harder than you'd expect. Everywhere you turn for news&views stuff: a million things negative.

All of this Hadron Collider stuff is rad, though.

"The world's largest experiment into the fundamental forces of nature has begun in silent pursuit of the answers to some of the most esoteric questions of science, hitherto addressed by spirituality and philosophy." - LHC: Will We Find The God Particle, Dark Matter and Supersymmetry?

Al Jazeera: Cern opens up the world of physics
Wall Street Journal: A Second Big Bang In Geneva?

Meanwhile...

Lord Layard's Movement for Happiness seeks a director with vision

Mr 9 to 5 Debut

Chrissy and I chillin' before the action starts


Coming soon to a dancefloor near you! A couple of mad talented friends have started an indiedarkelectrodance pop band called Mr 9 to 5 and they are going to take over the world, one shaking booty at a time.

Recently I was part of a convoy that took over the irish pub in Levin and saw 'em play for the Very First Time. It was epic fun.



















(Photos nicked from Isaac's FB)

Lady

If you haven't seen the amazing GRITtv interview with Kathleen Hanna yet: Do it!

I fucking love and respect her so much.

Bikini Kill revealed a world to me that my life is so much the better for knowing. Six or seven years ago, nineteen years old, I was confused and depressed and bewildered and pouring half of the attention I was supposed to be giving studying into listening to music and losing myself in thoughts (a familiar story, no doubt!). One day, flicking through discs at one of my favourite stores, I picked up an album by a band I'd heard a little about and been meaning to check out:




My mind was blown the first time I heard Pussywhipped. It was like this incredible, heart-soaring piece of aural evidence that empowering alternatives can and do exist. I was still a confused, depressed, bewildered nineteen year old, but one that had forever had a part of herself strengthened by the knowledge that it is possible for women and girls to live creative, unapologetic lives despite the shit society gives them.

That album, band, the incredible fuckedupfreeflawedfantastic movement they helped start, seemed so much more real and powerful and helpful than sitting in a class and tip-toeing through the Feminist Canon. It still does.

Every turn lately, something reminds me of Riot Grrrl. I've been thinking a lot about how truly grateful I am for that movement. It lit sparks, and is still lighting them, within so many people.

Every girl and boy needs a riot grrl education!



(Pic via First 3 Songs)

Pussywhipped is still one of my favourite albums ever.

Jared Brown

Embroidery by Jared Brown. Cool as.

Mark Johns

Love Mark Johns. Cutest ever!

(Thanks, Fancy!, you rule.)

Yayoi Kusama

(Pic via Word of Mouth)

The City Gallery looks better all covered in dots :-p



(Pic via howdystranger.tumblr.com)

Finally made it to the City Gallery's Yayoi Kusama exhibition. On the final day, naturally, when it was busy as hell, but the queues were worth it. Gutted for the people working there today :-p

My favourite part of the exhibition was the room pictured above, called 'Fireflies on the Water', a small room with a platform leading to the center, filled with hundreds of tiny coloured lights which are reflected in walls lined with mirrors and the water-covered floor. Such an amazing space to be in!

I stumbled upon an interactive panorama of that particular work (yay internets!), curious cats should head over here to check it out: http://www.mediavr.com/infinityroom2.htm.

So, so cool. I love her.

Giger Bar

Giger Bar; Gruyères, Switzerland.

Via Wired.

This looks so amazing!!!

Pity it's not open past 8.30pm. I guess they're afraid that the heathen public would destroy the place if it was a night spot, hah. They should have gigs there!

The bar is part of the H.R. Giger museum.
Check out the website for more delicious photos.

Galloway Forest Park

Astronomers name Scottish park one of world's best stargazing sites | Galloway Forest Park | International Dark Sky Association

In praise of real darkness - "It is estimated about 7,000 stars can be spotted from the Galloway park, compared with a paltry few hundred, at most, in Britain's towns and cities.

From the prime location of the park, the Milky Way and the nearest galaxy to our own, Andromeda, can be glimpsed with the naked eye. It also provides ring-side seats for spectacular meteor showers.

This sky there is "as dark as anything you will ever see" says Mr Owens."