#blog 15

[apathtohealing]

Blog 15: A comparison of Leonard Cohen films

The first movie about Leonard Cohen was Marianne & Leonard: Words of Love by Nick Broomfield. It was focused on Marianne and her relationship with Leonard. There was no real focus on the other women in his life and he was not glorified or vilified either. It seemed as if they tried to make him appear more human by showing his victories as well as his mistakes. It was a heartwarming story considering how Marianne ended up happy even without him and how even though they had a very complicated relationship, they still had love for one another in the end. They finally recognized the role of his muse Marianne and gave her the credit she deserved while depicting her as a somewhat strong and independent woman, even though they did not go into details about her as a person.  

On the other hand, the movie Ladies and Gentlemen... Mr. Leonard Cohen by Don Owen and Donald Brittain was solely focused on Leonard Cohen. Marianne was not particularly mentioned if at all. It was filmed all in black and white and in a way that reminds me of the early 90s. The target audience seems to be people who were already fans of him and just want to immerse themselves even more without being challenged on their idealized perspective. Leonard is being glorified, they only put forward his accomplishment and virtue. They talk about him being a vegetarian and how his interest in people was genuine and how funny he was amongst other things.

It almost feels as if both movies are not talking about the same man. In Ladies and Gentlemen... Mr. Leonard Cohen, he does not seem to have any real problem and seems to always be perfect without hurting the people surrounding him. The other movie talks about an artist looking for something he could not quite reach and causing pain to the people around him, especially Marianne. This one seemed too much choreographed and idealized, especially with the last scene where Cohen explains that it was just a performance.

[ollershonsblog]

Bandcamp Stats vs Soundcloud stats - 18 April

It’s been a couple of weeks since I’ve released the ep on Bandcamp and Soundcloud. I made the decision to really push Bandcamp as apposed to soundcloud which I havn’t posted on any sites. 

Bandcamp: Day of release 

Two weeks after: 

As you can see, the release day figures are pretty good but as I’ve let the campaign slip and let the listens generate organically they have gone done pretty dramatically. This was to be expected, however there are still small amounts of listens going which, however disappointing that it’s not a larger amount, is still positive. 

Soundcloud after two weeks 

As is obvious, the audience participation is next to nothing compared to that of Bandcamp. The metadata alone wasn’t enough to compete with the way that I marketed Bandcamp. 

I’m disappointed that not many people have downloaded the ep and instead have downloaded the first track. 

An issue with my announcement video was that freinds told me that they stopped watching before they got to the part that explained the bonus tracks or even the downloading part. This means that the video is too long to grab enough attention from people.

In conclusion: In future, I need to find a way to make my information more succinct yet still be able to communicate my identity and character 

[learningspacedesign-blog]

Melbourne School of Land and Environment project

Friday morning I visited the on going project at the Melbourne School of Land and Environment  I believe it was previously Land and Food Resources. This is a traditional red brick building which was used as a project brief at the very first Universitas 21 design forum led by Peter. I really like what is being done here, especially the way that a neighbouring garden has been opened up to the building. This picture shows the garden and the interesting building within through one of a series of wide openings in this wall.

 Here you can see the other side of the openings of which I believe there are 5 allowing plenty of natural daylight in. You will see the roof shape of a now demolished building on the right. The architects intend to clean the brick work but leave roof line as a reference to what has gone before. There are other places in the building where this has been done. A nice touch I thought.

 This is one of the teaching spaces which is tiered with a central aisle leading of to 'pods' on either side on three levels. One of the things we discussed here was the possibility of local lighting control. I have been pushing this at new spaces at Aberystwyth. If we are to provide pod like areas the users should have some control over the lighting which is best suited to their task, mood, motivation etc. We don't all like the same level of lighting. Walk down a corridor of offices and see what different lighting is in use, often something the occupant has provided themselves which I think demonstrates the importance of light to us. It may be too late in this case but the question is being asked.

 A different shot of the teaching space.

 This is a very interesting way to connect the indoors and exterior. The trees outside are part of the garden I mentioned above. There is a raised greenhouse type building in the distance and the architects have tried to connect these visually using similar elevations. This corridor could easily have been one of those wastes of space connecting areas that we are all familiar with. It reminded me very much of the team design I was involved with at the U21 event at UVA taking advantage of the oak canopy adjacent to the Carrs Hill fine arts library.

 A tighter shot of the one above.

 This is a glass writing wall within a science laboratory. This enlivened the space because everything else is in laboratory white which created a very sterile environment. I can here you say ' well it is a lab and white is what we use in labs'. Let's challenge that for a moment in the following pictures.

 This chamber has red, yellow, green, blue and black in it. It was a more interesting corner of the lab as a result. It had an identity of it's own in the mass of white everywhere else in the lab. To be honest I found that the light bouncing off the white strained my eyes.

 Now I am not suggesting a festival of colour such as Van Gogh or Dali may use but as an example could colour be introduced into these shelves? Or as Peter suggested the window reveals could be something other than white, which would also add some depth.

 I hope the project managers don't mind but I could not resist this in light of the signage problems Peter had at the airport. Everyone using the space will know this is the eyewash station but as you can see the sign is in the wrong position to do the job it is intended for. Move it 200mm problem solved. Attention to detail?



 I hope to visit again prior to departure to get some update pics. On the way back to the office I was fortunate to come across one of Peter's early attempts at an outdoor spaces.

Only joking

[christablack-blog]

Israeli Extravaganza Day 1 & 2

After 22 hours of flying, a German kid kicking my seat behind me, a talkative Jurassic Park loving 6-year-old in front of me, and 2 crying babies to my left, Studhubs and I safely landed in Tel Aviv to meet up with the fam on our trip to the holy land.

The occasion definitely merited a romp in the Mediterranean Sea (with Joppa in the background.  Yep, Jonah was from Joppa, but I managed not to get swallowed by a big fish)

Sibling + spouses ocean foot gathering.

Our first stop was at Independence Hall, the art gallery where Israel declared its independence in 1948 to form its own state.  As they met, Jerusalem was under siege, the British had pulled out of the country, and within 36 minutes, they had their new declaration of independence, and unfortunately, they've been at war ever since.  

Jane's Addiction, Roxette, Duran Duran and Moby?  My kinda place--they love the 80's, with a twist of 90 awesomeness.

We stopped in Ceasarea and checked out Herod's old swimming pool.  He built his palace by the sea and would bring in fresh water for the pool.  If you look really closely, you can see the tile work down on the rocks that are thousands of years old.

When the new rulers would come to power, they would just change out the heads on the statues (which is why most of them are missing).

Herod was a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad ruler, but he sure knew how to commission an aqueduct.

We stumbled upon an Israeli photo shoot, and I'm sure glad I chose not to wear my leopardskin catsuit with a bow and arrow that day.  Close twinkie call.

We stood at the top of Mt. Carmel overlooking the valley of Armegeddon, the very place where Elijah called down fire from heaven and burned up the 850 prophets of Baal and Ashura, then ran 12 miles and outbooked King Ahab in his chariot. (RAD).

We climbed the hill overlooking Nazareth, the very hill they think the townspeople wanted to throw Jesus off of in anger.  You can see Mount Gilboa in the background.

And now, we're at our Kabutz on the Sea of Galilee.  A Kabutz is where a group of people come together and live communally, sharing everything.  They run the hotel we're staying at, and are doing a pretty darn good job of it.

This country is breathtaking.  To walk in the same places as Jesus walked, to see where he grew up and the places he visited to preach.  There are just not enough words to describe it.  

Jet lag is kicking in and I'm about to pass out.....

zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

xx, Sista Christa