Please throw rocks at me if I do not finish the five books I have started by the end of April. This is a public appeal to save what little literacy skills I have before I turn into a poorly read, bumbling nincompoop. Slippery slope. You’re welcome to shame me in any way (within reason) if I have not read them.
To think I was once a girl who started a bookclub? Sigh.
Hibernated with my favourite person and watched this feature film yesterday. Sita Sings the Blues is an animated retelling of the Ramayana by the extra-talented-and-I-am-now-in-awe-of Nina Paley who wrote, directed, produced and animated it. Narration of the Ramayana, punctuated with irreverent shadow puppet commentary and scenes from the director’s own life, with perfectly sychronised musical interludes with 1920s jazz musician Annette Hanshaw’s songs. The animations are beautifully rendered and alternate between different styles. It’s a brilliant film, a delightful interpretation of this ancient epic.
Posted in Uncategorized
Tagged Artists, Comics, Films, India, Inspiration, Music, Nina Paley, Ramayana, Video
My girl Amrita’s work is now on the cover of Time Out magazine. A detailed and fantastically bizarre illustration adorns the Mumbai edition this month, and the Delhi edition last.
And she’s not just an illustrator. Artist, graphic designer, experimental filmmaker, photographer. The girl paints murals, she sings, she cooks, she exhibits. Her current exhibition runs till 18th March at Studio 21, in Calcutta.
Her blogs showcase a thoughtful and vivid collection of commercial and personal work. Graphic design and illustration can be found here, and her photography here. The Mahishadal Palace slideshows are especially wonderful.
Hire her please, so she won’t have to go to an office and can play with me all day instead.
*Studio 21, 17L Dover Terrace, Kolkata
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Tagged Artists, Bombay, Colour, Design, India, Mumbai, Photography
Talented Rhett Dashwood at Melbourne’s Wade Studios which produces some fantastic creative work made a weird little mirror music video for kicks. I’m in it at some point. Whee. So much fun.
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Tagged Art faggotry, Design, Melbourne, Music, Rhett Dashwood, studio, Video
I had been waiting so long for the new Deck of Secrets to be released and it’s out, it’s out! Not only is it out, I have my own copy! My photograph of a messy plate is the cover of the brand spanking new Dining Secrets Melbourne, a city restaurant guide that includes a selection of the best places to feed yourself in an adorable 52 card format, one for each week.
So if you live in the best city in the world or you’re visiting, pick up the pack of the new Eat Melbourne, or download it to your iPhone/smartphone. It’s a fantastic guide, the eateries so well picked and researched, I’m delighted to be a part of it.
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My favourite person in the world Teva is on the cover of Pedal Speed this month. A Japanese magazine dedicated to bicycles and riding, particularly fixed gear and BMX bikes or whatever’s taken everyone’s fancy at the time.
They also apparently go around the world to different bike shops and different cities and feature their cycling scenes. New Zealand’s turn, an article inside the magazine features Teva and T-Whites bikes, the bike shop he works at. Launched just in time before he travels to Tokyo, we joked that he should casually read the magazine wherever he goes.
Peep the feature. Cute boy, cute shop.
The nine day Kala Ghoda Arts Festival in Bombay just ended and it was a treat. Jampacked with art and activities, the historic arts precinct Kala Ghoda really puts on a show. Rampart Row is pedestrian only, decorated with flags and festoons, providing stage and street for live performances, hair installations, live painting to fire dancing and drum circles, photography exhibitions, as well as NGO, food, handicraft and independent designer stalls. Everywhere in the surrounds is a gallery space; the classrooms host workshops; the halls hold screenings; the gardens, book readings, panels and poetry slams.
I think however, to fully enjoy the festival, you have to become a part of it. I was dressed as an eggplant one day, a strawberry another, I took photos most nights for the Art Loft who organised the doll parades and a bevy of other performances daily. I painted faces. I attended a fantastic weekend workshop on freelance journalism, and a panel once on food and literature. I only wish I hadn’t missed the heritage walks! I am completely smitten with the Fort-Colaba-Churchgate triangle. I feel like I’m cheating on Bandra with South Bombay.
Rad, rad festival. This city needs it. Counting down to 2012′s.
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Tagged Art faggotry, Artists, Bombay, festival, India, Inspiration, Photography, Street, Travel
I wrote about Kala Ghoda Cafe on my food blog, and had to mention Obataimu, the gorgeous pop up menswear store behind it. ‘It’s like being back in Melbourne’, I thought when as I entered and five minutes later, two Australian girls declared those exact words. Almost in a secret alleyway, the guerilla shop is beautifully curated. I imagine much thought and consideration went into choosing the products and objects in store, I have big admiration for founder-designer Noorie Sadarangani who built the store from the ground up in under two weeks.
An eclectic assortment of clothing, furniture, knick knacks, vintage wares, wooden spectacle frames and handpicked books and games. The video with the clue of the shop’s location had me very curious and it was a lot like I’d imagined. The Japanese pronunciation (and word) for overtime, Obataimu embraces a design philosophy that propagates a leisurely way of living.
The only way to live?
P.S. My friend Vitek Goyel has a musical showcase there next Friday.
Kala Ghoda Café, 10 Ropewalk Lane, Kala Ghoda, Fort, Mumbai 01
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Rather happy with some wispy, pink, abstract old people’s art I made. Although I’ve been taking close ups for food for years now, this is my first proper foray into macro fine art photography.
For the last few weeks, I’ve been hanging out at my food blog Bowls of Shtoof writing about well, food, as Soph probably best describes it – through experiences not ingredients. Right now, it’s an archive of travel posts and unusual or interesting foods and finds and a smattering of recipes. It’s an exercise in writing often and about something I really love, so let me know what you think.
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Tagged blog, Daily Delicious, Eat me, Photography, Projects, Reviews, Sheena
