I saw the The Phantom of the Opera at the Lyric Theatre today, the last day it is running in Sydney! Needless to say, it was a splentacular performance and a most enjoyable use of an afternoon 
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I’m blogging this as I sit just inside the glass wall of the Eastern Avenue complex, watching the constant stream of people walking past, both inside the building, and outside in the wintry conditions, hands in pockets, clutching a folder tightly, heads together, intensely gossiping. I’m like a fly in the corner, observing the movements of people as they go about their business at the university. If only they’d just look up slightly…
I suspect that the location of the SUITS Computer Artwork Exhibition 2007, as part of the University of Sydney Union’s Verge Arts Festival, while not disastrous, could be better. We had originally intended for them to be hung up with fishing wire from the air conditioning grate in the ceiling, but the building manager told the festival conveners that that wasn’t allowed (despite their earlier assurances). We settled for sticky-taping it to the glass wall instead, which also meant that we had to have them higher up to deter vandals and thieves.
So far, I’d say about 1 person in every 50 who walks past takes a glance upwards, pauses in momentary reflection, and then continues on their way. Part of the problem is that because of the glare from the glass, if you’re walking from the direction of Fisher, you won’t actually notice that there’s anything coming up. But of course, as the exhibition coordinator, I am liable to over-estimate the beauty of the thing that I have created.
Finally, I’d like to publicly thank Edmund for his assistance in the preparation of the artworks, and Balint for his contribution of his stunning particle simulation works.
Here are the PDF versions of the files, if you’re too lazy to head over to see it for yourself (warning: some of these files are BIG)
- Inside: title, Outside: automata
- Inside: balint-2, Outside: dielectric
- Inside: internet, Outside: balint-3
- Inside: apophysis-2, Outside: apophysis-1
- Inside: balint-1, Outside: lorenz
The Microsoft Publisher files can also be found here.
Update: I’ve uploaded them to my gallery as well.
Tags: artwork, exhibition, suits, sydney university, university of sydney union, verge arts festival
After going through the Verge Arts Festival programme booklet, I’ve jotted down the events that look pretty cool and I’ll try and attend some of them, time and company permitting (well, the last two years were miserable failures in terms of me actually attending the events I intended to attend):
- Free Vittoria’s Organic Rainforest Alliance coffee: Wed 5/9, 12-1pm, Festival Tent, Manning Forecourt
- Photosoc’s hats and feathers photo shoot: Mon 10/9, 11-2pm, Isabel Fidler, Manning
- Laura Imbruglia: Wed 12/9, 1-2pm, Festival Tent
- Jazz at Hermann’s: Wed 12/9, 5-7pm
- Theatresports Grand Final: Wed 12/9, 7:30pm, $5 Access
- Verge Twilight Market & Zine Fair: Fri 14/9, 6-10pm, Science Rd & Graffiti Tunnel
- Fuck Gender, Let’s Dance: Fri 14/9, 8pm, Hermann’s Bar
- Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban: Sun 16/9, 4pm, Main Quad - needs booking
- SUCS Comedy Gala: Mon 17/9, 12pm, Manning Bar
- Zombie make-up workshop: Tues 18/9, 5-7pm, Festival Tent
- Art by Women: Wed 19/9, 5pm, The Loggia, Manning
- Artistic Expressions of the Local Community: Thurs 20/9, 3-5pm, Festival Tent
- Farewell under the stars: Sun 23/9, 6pm, Quadrangle lawns
Exhibitions:
- IT Society Exhibition: from Tues 4/9, Eastern Ave - MUST SEE… not that I haven’t already seen it
- Let the walls speak: 30 years of passionate dissent: from Wed 5/9, The Bevery, Holme Building
- Art/photo/lit competition exhibition: from Tues 11/9, The Loggia
Tags: suits, sydney university, university of sydney union, verge arts festival
I’ve been meaning to blog more regularly, but I’ve just been too busy to write stuff up for your enjoyment. Sorry, I lie. I’ve just been too lazy, and there’s just so much going on in my head recently, it’s hard to concentrate on writing a coherent piece of prose.
Aiya, UNSW Law Revue 2007 (entitled Poll Fiction) was a load of shit. A complete waste of a Thursday, the leaden acting, lame jokes that lacked even the concept of a punch-line and the bright spotlights that seemed intent on burning my retinas out made the night a memorable event for all the wrong reasons. I won’t be going back any time soon la~ Fine, there were some enjoyable skits, but the drive home (thanks Tommy!) was a more interesting experience than the revue itself. Yeah, what he said. Daniel and I were youtube-ing before heading off, and we noticed a video (now deleted? can’t find it now) from someone at Usyd blasting the UNSW revue for making fun of our quad and having the UNSW Galactica joke - well, there wasn’t a Usyd quad in sight, but the Galactica got a mention. With the Galactica joke, I think it’s more likely that there’s a mole on the UNSW team that allowed Usyd to score a hit against UNSW before their revue even started.
Over the weekend, I went to Malaysia Fest 2007 (photos) and got myself a dose of Malaysian culture. I can see why it’s true that Malaysians are said to live to eat… the food, having Malay, Chinese and Indian influences, was quite interesting and tasty =) Of course, it helped that I had a guide who lives to eat, so Ru Jih, if you actually read this, many thanks for a great day out, wouldn’t have been the same without you 
… hope it didn’t make you too homesick~
The other thing that’s happened recently is, of course, the lunar eclipse. Conclusion: I need a tripod. These black rectangles are awful - you really can’t do a shutter speed longer than 1/60s if you’re holding the camera with your hand, and when the moon’s that dim, you’d need at least a few seconds of exposure. Still, it was a very beautiful thing to watch, and literally out of this world.
Tags: blogging, eclipse, exposure, laziness, malaysia, moon, prose, revue, sydney university, unsw, youtube
There’ll be a total eclipse of the moon on 28 August from 7:52 to 9:23pm (at least in Sydney).
Look up!
Update: Look to the east.
I was going with Ru Jih to Darling Harbour last week (she hasn’t been there before!) when we ran into the Earth from Above exhibition, a series of breathtaking aerial photographs displayed alongside the pathway from Haymarket to Darling Harbour (adjacent to the so-called “Urban Stream”). Photographed by Yann Arthus-Bertrand, the idea behind the exhibition is to focus attention on sustainable development, and short factoids about the impact of human development accompanied the photographs.
I don’t think I’ve ever seen anything like that at Darling Harbour, or for that matter, in Sydney - I was nicely surprised to come by it. Given my recent comments on how Sydney feels like a doughnut, hollow in the centre, compared with Melbourne, I’d have to say this is a positive step forward, in bringing some sense of “culture” back into the city. Danielle didn’t seem to think so; on hearing about it, he commented, “this would be high culture… what about the culture that develops naturally. the vibe of a city”.
I guess you can’t please everyone. I just wished that I had known about it before - but it’s there till 26 December if you’re interested in seeing it.
In any case, Darling Harbour will have to wait another day; we used up all our time looking at the pictures.
Tags: aerial photography, culture, darling harbour, exhibition, melbourne, sustainability, sydney
The singing, dancing extravaganza that is the SULS Law Revue is back in town, and judging from previous years, this was one revue that I couldn’t miss. (I’ve also been missing my daily dose of law while doing honours, so I just had to go!) I still recall last year’s French Hakka, and the oh-so-wrong Kirby sing-and-dance - and both of these left me with high expectations about what my peers can do (while dressed and undressed).
Shred - the greatest story in litigation ever told - started with the cast telling us about Australian values in lyrical fashion. I had hoped for something about Shrek, or even something about Shred, but no, we didn’t get anything related to the title this year apart from a malfunctioning fax machine that happens to eat documents later on. The first half of the revue was a bit flat I thought. As many commented, the ideas behind the skits and the jokes were fantastic, but the execution was lacking: the jokes climaxed at the start or in the middle, the punch-lines often lacking. The songs were premised on what could’ve been really great ideas, but the words in them just didn’t carry the amusement throughout. Law students are said to be left while at uni, and right when they start working, but the Liberal horse was flogged well beyond death during the show.
I guess they saved the best till last, for the second half almost made up for what was lacking in the first. The anti-piracy video (a parody of the ones you see before movies) was so hilarious (”copyright is… a chose in action”), but according to Daniel, the idea was copied from the UQ law revue. We heard a song about the snail in the ginger beer bottle from Donoghue v Stevenson, and the Facebook prayer (”deliver us from MySpace”). Backyard Blitzkrieg transformed backyards and Hitler’s words to great effect. Oh, and the nude scene… a tradition, but the best I can say about it is that it has potential to be worked a little deeper. The ending was a saving grace though: the APEC song (to the tune of YMCA) was well written and carried the joke throughout.
I’d have to say that this year’s wasn’t the best Law Revue I’ve seen, but as the Director noted in the official programme, this year saw the departure of much of the talent from last year. I expect the lame, tacky or tactless joke or two in a revue, but as with all jokes, timing is of the essence. If the better skits are anything to go by, we should have plenty to laugh ourselves silly in coming years. Still, the law revue is a quality production, and a night well spent - I’d recommended seeing it.
Tags: apec, facebook, jokes, liberal party, michael kirby, nudity, piracy, revue, shrek, sydney university
Sydney Uni’s law students had their annual shebang last night - and what better way of showing off extravagance than to have it at the Sydney Town Hall. Complete with elegant red carpet, a seemingly endless supply of alcohol, and more staged poses and camera flashes than the paparazzi could muster, Sydney’s future legal fraternity, including the who’s who of the Sydney University Law Society, partied the night away to loud music, oblivious to the potential damage to their hearing and hence the potential for consequent multi-million dollar lawsuits. The atmosphere was indeed well-staged; the night’s entertainment, started off by a performance on the Town Hall’s famed organs and quartet pieces — evidently a nod at high culture — complemented the thematic lighting displayed on the ceiling, a combination as satisfactory as the champagne that accompanied the fine dining on offer. In the end, nothing was altogether surprising, nothing out of the ordinary to make the conservatives present cringe — there were the Asians who hung back chatting and playing with their camera phones, the adventurous and the drunk who removed articles of their clothing, and the economic misers among us who eagerly awaited the presentation of desert, going around to deserted tables and eating theirs too. A few Cinderellas would have lost their glass shoes by the end of the evening. And hence fun was had by all; of course, when dawn breaks and the alcohol wears off, it’s back to the books and the clerkship applications.
Tags: ball, law students, suls, sydney town hall, sydney university
I can say with some confidence that that was probably the most stressful stuvac I had ever endured. A presentation, an assignment and then another assignment due the same day as the exam on the first Monday… I was surprised I did reasonably ok at the exam itself having only slept maybe 3 hours the night before? It would be nice if I could lay all the blame on the lecturers for putting everything together but I don’t think the fault is entirely theirs…
More bad things happening. Stuck without an umbrella in torrential rain. Laptop latch broken, requires screwdriver. Norton AntiVirus 2007 “upgrade” does funny things to computer, ditched in fury.*
I’m going back to bed. My next exam isn’t till next Tuesday.
Footnote: * I am never buying another Symantec product again.
Tags: antivirus, assignments, exams, laptop, presentation, symantec, weather
Just a miscellany of things that I’ve been doing…
I’ve discovered Terra Politicus, an online game where you play a role in a fictional Australian federal parliament. It’s part run by Daniel, and the attraction is, I guess, that you can do stuff you can’t do in real life. In TP, I’m an annoying journalist - it’s less commitment than being an MP and I can pop in and out and pontificate.
I spent an entire day listening to little kids recite Chinese poetry, courtesy of Tommy, at the National Chinese Eisteddfods… and I never want to hear another line again The non-native Mandarin sessions were far more bearable, because at least I didn’t try to make sense of what they were saying. Funny thing - I ran into Josiah from IT, who happened to be a judge there…
I’ve also been going to people’s graduations… funny seeing everyone wear those funny hats. More seriously, it’s good to be there to congratulate them on completing a major milestone.
Other than that, nothing much apart from the usual slog of uni work. Oh, and I upgraded my cousin’s laptop to Vista (the OS stuffed up and they didn’t have an XP CD). I evidently didn’t do my research beforehand, because a number of their devices just didn’t work after the upgrade - driver problems (but that’s because their hardware is a little on the old side). There were howls of protest from my uncle (who’s overseas) because apparently “Vista’s crap” (paraphrasing) but how would you know if you haven’t tried it? I think I made the right decision, because Vista helps with protecting them from a problem they’ve always had: malicious software.
Tags: chinese, graduation, poetry, politics, vista
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