library exhibition of a 1879 letter - i like the penmanship

 Revel Cooper's school project.
he became a key Aborginal artist when he grew up.

strange exhibition of forts and randomness at the Paper Mountain Gallery
TARE TARE TARE!


met the Iranian guy who is in love with China by chance at the library. i gave him some help with Mandarin twice.
should have told him straight that i didn't want to help him anymore, but i didn't have the guts. i just ignored his calls after that, which was a few months ago.
he said, "if China had a team, i would want them to win". /brrrr.
i just noped it right out of there by rejecting any offers for tea, going home, or emails.

21 jun - met up with S and went to Fremantle with her and her colleagues :)

22 jun - went to Swan Valley with some friends :)
we ate at a fancy French restaurant as chosen by K.

the interior

 the entree page
 a Pinelli "sparkling juliet" ($9) - i thought it was a champagne but friends said it tasted like beer. lol
the Pinelli sweet rose (in the background $8) is very easy to drink though
we got a bit drunk

 duck confit ($40) - duck leg with sweet potato puree
tender and yum
 lamb ($40) with potato
a bit dry and a bit too lamb-y
 seafood board ($45) - squid, scallop, prawn
the 4 of us shared all this - felt bad but we're international students, we can do whatever :P

next we went to the Margaret River Chocolate Factory.
 free chocolate samples (dark, milk and white, scooped from huge bowls) and a chocolate Australia

 ice-cream corner

 more strange chocolate souvenirs

 the strangest one of all - Mr Teddy was at least 30 cm tall

 we traipsed over grape farms

 found some fuzzy baby cows and fed this white one grass

then we went to Spud Shed to buy 1 kg of prawns ($18) to have a sumptuous dinner.

source

finally figured out what was making this terrible racket for the last few months.

it wasn't the hard drive, but the fan on the right.

it's very loud, like sitting next to diesel engine.
i endure it by sticking my fingers into my ears, or going to the library.

luckily the hard drive is not dying yet.

 i have a young friend who loves Laruku and Marilyn Mason. unexpectedly she also loves Bastille and decided to make this her first concert-going experience.

we got the free-standing ($70+) and arranged to queue 4 hours before the 8pm start.
she was early, i was late, but i didn't see her in the 30+ queue of young teens at door 2.
turns out she was waiting at another door 2 of another building /facepalm

we met up and sat in the queue, it rained a little (thank god not a lot), and got herded into dark tunnels, having to stand for most of the time.
she wasn't happy with the standing. of course it was going to be worse at the pit.

teenagers are fierce and loud and assertive. sigh. had the pleasure of hearing their convos blasted behind me, something about Dave France being hot and their plans to charge for the front of stage.

 finally they let us in, it's a 1/3 the size of the Singapore Indoor Stadium, a nice venue.
we are 3 bodies from the front railings in the center, pretty sweet.
the dj playing is called Alice In Wonderland. she was good with the interesting beats and mixes.
some crazy boys push in, claiming that the people in the back were pushing them. then they bounce like crazies in front of me, and it was chaotic and the girls around us were trying to ignore them. more joined them but luckily they decided to get lost after a while.
 the opening act Foxes come in at 8pm, and did about 5 songs. i recognise 2 of them, one with Rudimental and one called Tragedy.
lead singer has expressive-hands-style of expression and would spin around in her white flowy jacket and wide pants. she has a cute voice and a sweet personality, thanking us a lot even though we were a meh crowd.
Bastille finally appeared after some set-up.
lead singer Dan was wearing a Night of the Living Dead black tee.
the crowd went wild and they started with a hit song and then some songs i didn't know. lol. i'm not a superfan, only know their main songs okay!

Dan was on great form and it was really good to see them live. fantastic energy from them and the crowd, even with all the photo/video taking, there were people with their arms up, clapping and dancing.
being so close, Dan was in front of us most of the time, looking at us, doing his signature move of (air) drum hitting. heh.

the light design was awesome too, especially the white footlights forming a net of diagonal lines toward us.
at a "slow and depressing" song as Dan put it, the other members came to the keyboard and the drummer waved his lit lighter, so everyone turned on their phone flashlight and i bet it looked amazing but i didn't turn around to see.

drumsticks were thrown into the pit, shoutouts were responded to, Dan was thankful to be here and basically thanked us a lot.
they took a picture of us and the girl in front carried her friend up for the photo. i would be hidden behind the elevated girl. lol

at one song he wore his grey hoodie, and to our surprise he went into the pit on the mid left. he didn't crowd-surf, i think. the crowd surged terribly as everyone tried to track where the hell he was. he was making a circle through the crowd, judging from the eyeline of the seated audience, singing the whole time, and emerged magically back on stage from the mid right.
i imagined that a real stampede would certainly crush me. i was separated from my friend for quite long already and hoped she was fine.

during Rhythm of the Night, he told us to do some audience participation, namely "pogo" and "get down" because he was "embarrassed to dance by himself".
the getting down part was hard as there wasn't space after the crowd super-compacted itself when Dan was in the pit.
the pogo-ing was fun but hell tiring.
 at the end, since this was the last leg of their Australian tour, they got Alice and Foxes to join in for their final song.
it was awesome and everyone had their arms in the air.

what a great concert experience!
this can all be re-lived through the videos on youtube, i imagine.
only in Perth do i ever get to be near the front of stage.

 L.G's brush work as art therapy
painted here, mounted overseas and shipped back here.
 F.C's retro hand-craft-style design investigation
she's a professional graphic designer.
 L.E's markings on architecture graph film to invoke whispers, smoke, breath, hair, skin
she has a solo show in Fremantle next year.
examiners looking at my work.


the examiners were dressed casually, non-threatening. tutor said they were very friendly, which was true.
the format was to introduce the work when they enter the space, answer their questions while they experience it for the first time, then leave the room for them to examine and discuss. finally, they give some feedback and it's over.

my supervisor was there for moral support, i think he's more enthusiastic about my work than i am.

i introduced it as 9 videos where the hand is the main performer, to show a different point of view. was nervous but didn't stumble on my words.
they asked about what i thought was the most complete one, and why there were shapes, and why on 3 projectors.

some comments: the juxtaposition of the videos worked well since some were fast and some were slow; it was a big leap from where i started (having no content) to this final result; interesting choices in the editing that i could write about as well. some of the videos worked better than the others; the glove one was like a cloud; homunculus; the squishing of the clay was humorous...
overall it worked well for them and they seemed to like it. as my supervisor says, it's "nice work".

i couldn't say that most of it was by chance and that i didn't know if what i was doing was okay, without my supervisor's advice.

in the end they told me to "not give up" (told me that twice) and continue doing video and art back in Singapore. maybe film the view from the streets at home. also upload this on vimeo, have a website, keep in contact and volunteer.
they were encouraging and it was a good experience to end off with.

then i hung around to help some classmates. 
my design classmate spent 20 minutes answering their questions (mine was less than half than time), L.E was told to "work her heart out" for her exhibition, L.G was very happy as her review was good...

tomorrow is the final "exam" i will have here.
the last academic milestone, in a way.
feeling strangely nervous because i have to wake up earlier than usual. and i forgot what i wrote in my dissertation so i have to read it again.

tomorrow the examiners will look at my practical work, which is my video installation. i don't have to prepare a presentation but it's still frightening to be there while they assess my work and maybe ask questions that will make me flustered and unsure.

i have to imagine that my work is separate from me so i don't panic.

kind of dreading not being a student anymore.
the other day my classmate randomly met some people and they immediately made friends. she's Chinese, studying to be a teacher, and said something that stuck in my head for quite long.
she said that we shouldn't just work for others, but should start something ourselves.
of course, that brings to mind my dad, who ironically told me to look for a job like yesterday.
my dad is an entrepreneur.
but what can i start?

difficult questions.

anyway i made fried chicken a few days ago. i can cook a number of things now. pretty cool.

squid and chips at Cicellero's ($17+).
tender.
batter is still tasteless.
and very expensive.
iced salted caramel from San Churros ($6.50)
omg.
so good.
so so good.
very strong caramel, exquisitely creamy, totally killer.
 cute pet birdy scratching its head.
hello from the doll house at Good Sammys.
JusBurger joint has very good burgers as confirmed by friend.

tagged around with friends to Fremantle. it was meant to be a farewell for an American friend, but they/we didn't treat her or anything.
we hung at the second-hand store and bought Rummikub there for $2, which we played back at the flat. it's like a matching game based on number sequences and color groups. for some reason we played it for 3 hours and it descended into chaos. people got pissed. lol. fun times.

it was my Brazilian flatmate's birthday and even though it's study week (week before exam period), her boyfriend and good friend organized a surprise party at his flat.
first, they sent her with some friends on a scavenger hunt on campus with 8 post-it clues in various buildings.
the clues led back to the flat where we were waiting. about 12 of her Brazilian friends came with pizza and chips, and it was a taste of what it was like to visit - a lot of Portuguese and a lot of people who look very multi-national.
when she came in the dark and silent flat, she was pleasantly surprised and took it well because she is a social butterfly. she hugged everyone and opened her gifts and took photos with everyone.
as her boyfriend said, she is loved. :)
then we watched the latest episode of Game of Thrones.

 last Saturday of the end of semester celebration at Guild House, i met a friend/ex-colleague i haven't seen for a few months.
he invited me to have dinner at his house with 9 other guests the next day.
i arrived early and saw how they prepared the food.
he's Taiwanese/South African, and the others are his Malaysian housemates, his Malaysian girlfriend and her visiting mom and brother.

 the sweet and sour pork was pork cubes swimming in egg, dipped in a mix of different flour, fried and then refried, with chilli + tomato sauce, peppers and onions.
the milkfish had to be scaled and gutted to their surprise, which was fun - scales flying everywhere.
it had a lot of bones but it was good for pan frying.
egg was fried with scallion.
chicken was stuffed with thyme and a big lemon, really slow roasted so it was moist but also pink at the joints.
kangkong with garlic was really good.
and soup (not pictured) had sour cabbage, ginger and pork ribs. that was yum.

i haven't seen his girlfriend since the new year, she's really cool and funny, and they were all friendly, so the dinner was enjoyable as everyone chatted easily.

• half jar of maple peanut butter
• a lot of corn chips
• handful of dried cranberries
• some chocolate
• teaspoon of ovaltine
• 2 boxes of milk
• 2 packs of yakisoba
• 4 sausages
• half tub of spinach/feta dip
• 2 packs of instant asian soup noodle snacks
• 2 packs of indian ready-to-eat curry
• half tub raspberry yogurt
• bag of pasta
• 3 cans of soup
• handful of frozen mussels
• cup of frozen veg
• small quarter of cabbage
• 5 tomatoes
• 1 egg
• half bag of flour
• baking soda
• 6 servings of sticky date pudding
• 2 slices of lemon tart
• some tea bags
• teaspoon of sugar
• a lot of salt and pepper
• some belachan chili 
• some olive and sesame oil
• a lot of garlic
• 3 sticks of butter
• 1/3 loaf of bread
• half bag of frozen fries
• 2 packs of noguri instant noodles
• 8 battered fish slabs
• some rice
• a lot of vegemite

i have about 21 days left here.
let's see if how long this inventory can last.

supervisor invited us to the opening of his solo exhibition at the Perth Town Hall, which was held to commemorate the sister relationship between Perth and an Greek Island. the Greek Ambassador and the Perth Lord Mayor were there as well.
supervisor is an artist who works with nano-material - aerogel, which appears blue against dark backgrounds and yellowish against light backgrounds. it's not a gel but a solid.

 this is Nike
 the lovely red haired musician is supervisor's wife
 speech time.
my toes become numb from all the standing.
 he figured how to make clouds appear in the aerogel.
i remember all this from the lecture he gave us in the first semester.
 that's him being photographed by many people
all you need to hold it up is a bit of thin wire because the material is as light as air.



i haven't been updating because blogger was annoying and didn't show any of the pictures i uploaded last time.
anyway, i've been well and my video project is pretty much completed.
it will be presented to the examiners on 17 June.