Tasmania I - Hobart and the culture therein

I have been really bad about "blogging" this month, but I hope to be back on the wagon for some adventurous writings that will take you half way around the world! My husband and I just got home from Tasmania last week, and we saw many wonderful places and things, and spent a lot of money on food while we were at it. I wanted to give you a quick and hopefully interesting overview of what the Island is about. In my subsequent blogs, I'll talk about specific sites that may pique your interest. If nothing else, you'll have an arsenal of sleep aids for the next few weeks...at least with pretty pictures!

Here is just an overview of the island, customs and typical sights around the little place we called home for a few weeks:

Tasmania is an island state of Australia, is about the size of West Virginia. It is very mountainous and the people are extremely laid back. We stayed in Hobart, the capital, which is home to over half of Tasmania's population and lies in the central southern part of the island.

The east coast of Tasmania is more arid and mountainous. Blonde grasses are the base to dry knarled trees, and dark green bushes.

The west of more lush and a little more mountainous in contrast.

Hobart is very much a harbor town, and rich in history. It is nestled between the River Derwent and Mount Wellington.

While there, you...

don't typically tip for any services rendered. This was really strange at first, but after you start paying twice as much for half the amount of food, you'll get used to it really quick. By the way, the food there is excellent. You'll be hard pressed to find fast food there, aside from Subway. We ate a lot of seafood at the pier, which ended up to be one of the least expensive meals and most enjoyable treats of all.

may not want to plan on getting smashed. The taxes for alcohol and cigarettes are outrageous. The Cascade Brewery is in Hobart, but we still didn't see a beer for less than $6.00 a bottle, and a case for not less than $40. Apparently, when there is a grape swell, you can get wine for cheap. Wine was about on par with Charlotte prices. Cigarettes are $13-20/pack.

won't expect to see people on cell phones. We didn't see a whole lot of people flashing phones or talking to someone else while ordering and it was a "ear piece free" holiday for us. Thank God!

WILL see well behaved children. Wherever we went there were children. (and a lot of pregnant ladies. A lot!)

will need to order black coffee as "long black" and/or coffee with cream = Flat White. I don't know why, but some advice for you... don't act like you fit in if you are American. You don't. We thought we did for about 30 minutes. Then we ordered "coffee". oops.

will see well manicured yards and pretty gardens. People have a lot of respect for things there, and it shows in their lawn care!

can expect to have 71-75 degree weather with a breeze in the summer, which is our winter. It can be chilly once in awhile and don't be surprised about an afternoon rain shower. If you venture into the bush, bring a sweatshirt.

will experience kindness from people. It is clear that the people of Tasmania are honest, and don't need to find a reason to be mean or underhanded. Even the "punks" are polite.

should see a Tasmanian Devil. They are so adorable and currently endangered. There is an epidemic of tumors developing on the skin of the devil and eventually killing them. It makes my heart sick to know this. If you recall there was a Tasmanian Tiger. The last one died in captivity early this century. If you ask anyone there, there may be some still on the island, but no one wants to report it so that it won't be captured. There is something very powerful about the spirit of faith in anyone, let alone an island of people.

drive under the speed limit. There isn't a lot of "road rage", but great traffic signs!

will have a beautiful vacation that you will never forget!

* map of Tasmania from www.smallguide.com.au

Happy Holidays!

Hello everyone! I just wanted to extend a "Happy Holidays" from us at BJW Architecture to my blog subscribers! I hope everyone's year end is filled with smiles, laughter and joy. I have 15 hours of driving ahead of me, but, it'll all be worth snuggling up with my new husband to celebrate with my new and old families! From me to you: warm hugs and infinite stars to wish upon for this wonderful time of year! Cheers!

From the files of "How cool is this?" Part II

Hello! I have been really busy in the past few weeks at work, which is my own personal "How cool is this?", so I haven't had a ton of time that I usually allot to researching World War II Bunker design, mountain town art schools, or White Supremacist toy peddlers. I suppose I will have to figure out time management again. *sigh* I have decided to show you another installment of trends and designs in my world of interior design. I hope you enjoy, and I hope all is well in your worlds!

The candles and candle holders are from Designglut.com. This site is featured in some of my design magazines and never fails to "wow" me with unique items from home decor to jewelry.

I am totally in love (and have been for many years) with ornate or plain furniture with funky color and/or fabric combinations. This below is a shining example, but not necessarily a cheap one. This piece can go in a more modern setting or, dare I say, a traditional one? The table below can be found at williamswitzer.com and is called the Palazzo Caponi Console. Love it, love it, love it.This here below isn't necessarily what you'd see in my dream home, but I thought it was really cool anyway. The picture is hard to see, but if you look closely at the glass, there is a tv screen embedded in the glass. Although it is super cool technology, I am not sure why we are pushed to the development edge on this one, or simply why there is a need to watch TV while scrubbing your pearls with the last of your Colgate paste. This puts me in mind of an old classmate in college. he was very "gadgety" and usually had this type of stuff in his projects. Good old Casey. This, and more information can be found at www.electricmirror.com

I should probably apologize to you ,my reader, for a few reasons.

1. I haven't blogged in ages. I realize that you aren't up in the wee hours (like I am now), wondering if I could pull together a few paragraphs on something feigning design blogging. But, you as my reader, deserve more out of me, so I will try harder: for you.

2. I couldn't sleep. For all I know, this is written in "wingding" font. And, if it isn't, it probably makes as much sense.

There is a light at the end of the long dark tunnel of tuning into my blog. I am getting ready to head literally half way around the world to Tasmania. I will have (hopefully) a series of blogs on my adventures with my new husband, who right now, is tucked warmly in our bed upstairs, perhaps even dreaming of sugarplums ('tis the season). Maybe he is awake though, and wondering where the "eff "I am.

The New Yankees Stadium

(image from: www.farm4static.flickr.com)

On the corner of East 161st St. and River Avenue sits the new home of the Yankee’s, Yankee Stadium II. I realize this is the second new stadium I have written about, but it couldn’t be more perfect, considering tonight is Game 6 in New York and the potential win for the Bronx Bombers. This will be the 27th World Series victory for the organization.

I first got a glimpse of the interior in 'Pinstripe Pride', and article in Contract Magazine’s August 2009 issue. Inevitably, the interior was custom made, and had an extreme attention to detail. This was, and still is, in stark contrast to the rest of the building climate this year. The estimated cost of the stadium alone (not parking, civil improvements, etc.) was $1.5 billion and designed by HOK Sports, with hospitality interiors by II by IV Design Associates.

In true “New Yorker” form, the construction didn’t just start in 2006. It dripped with sentimentality and purpose, and started on the 58th anniversary of Babe Ruth’s death. Quite fitting for the downfall of his “house” across the street, I think. Rumor has it that a worker put a David Ortiz (Red Sox player) jersey in the wall of the home dugout to return the favor for the “Curse of the Bambino” at Fenway Park. He was “tattled on” by other workers and was forced to exhume the remnant.

(image from: www.newyorklogue.com)

Why did they build a new stadium, you ask? Greed? Kind of. Originally, owner George Steinbrenner deemed the South Bronx too dangerous for fans in the early 1980’s. Just after that, the Yankees gained popularity and because Mattingly wouldn’t cut his hair. Kidding. They were winning, so it allowed for increased security at the park, and record fan turnouts. So basically, across the street didn’t look so bad anymore. In the early 21st Century, Mr. Giuliani stated publicly that there were negotiations in the works, but new Mayor Michael Bloomberg wanted the funding for the new stadium (and new Mets stadium) halted. The final result was that the city owns the property still, charges the Yankees organization rent, and doesn’t require them to pay taxes. It was finally opened in April of this year.

Okay, the whole point of this blog is to get you all pumped up for the game tonight, so I will leave you now with pictures of the stadium and images of World Series victories…but first, a piece of an old familiar song….

"Take me out to the ball game,
Take me out with the crowd.
Buy me some peanuts and cracker jack,

I don't care if I never get back,

Let me root, root, root for the home team.
If they don't win it's a shame.

For it's one, two, three strikes, you're out,

At the old ball game."

– Jack Norworth

http://www.baseball-almanac.com/poetry/po_stmo.shtml



Note: The following interiors pictures are from Contract magazine, and designed by II by IV Design Associates.

Lou Gehrig’s mug on the wall of The Legends Suite Dugout Lounge for premium seats. Ticket holders pay upwards of $350/per ticket for the game, but do have access to this area. I am a big fan of super graphics!

NYY Steak: Open to the public with GORGEOUS black oak floors, custom “Yankees” carpets and “walls of backlit, acid –etched bronze mirrors of the or autographs of people who have contributed to Yankee History” –Contract Magazine

Access to the Legends Suite Club at Gate 4. The blue glass flanking the stairs have interlocking NY logo to make up the pattern. I haven’t seen this in person, but it already looks a little dated to me.

A Scene from the past…

(image from: www.images.pictopia.com)

Tonight???

(image from: www.msnbc.media.msn.com)

for more pictures, please visit:

http://newyork.yankees.mlb.com/nyy/ballpark/new_stadium_photos.jsp

Step Pyramid at Saqqara

Where do I start with this one? Maybe I should start at the end……the only content from this tomb is a mummified left foot and a pile of rock. Okay, now let’s move backward. The Step Pyramid for Djoser (Zoser) was the largest pyramid of it’s time when completed around 2600 B.C., and was made of stone, not mud and clay like its edificial predecessors.

(image from: www.en.wikipedia.org)

The tomb was built in the third dynasty in Egypt (the Early Dynastic period, if anyone cares) and was meant to be the final resting place for the Pharoah, Djoser. Well, this guy reigned north and south Egypt for almost 20 years, (some say 30) and gave the Architect, Imhotep, plenty of time to keep building and building and turning this tomb into a complex. This complex trumped any previous tomb to date in size. It is one of 97 pyramids found at Saqqara near the necropolis (City of the dead) Memphis, Egypt. It still remains, although its outer limestone shell has since disintegrated.

The final pyramid design ended up being 6 stepped levels above ground, built one at a time. Each level is called a mastaba. Or “bench”. As usual, there was a maze of chambers underground as well. It is believed that the complex, as a whole, emulates the kingship of Djoser over the North and South of Egypt. There are double courts and two mock palaces within the temple walls. Today a scale model is housed at the Royal Ontario Museum in Toronto. I know, because I was just there and I saw it!

Egyptians believed that the structure of the tomb was relevant in this life and the afterlife. The steps have been thought to be a way to ascend to the North Star. Others have suggested that they resemble a crown, but the definitive reason for the shape is unknown. And the tombs have always been grand enough to accommodate even the richest, pickiest king in all the land in the afterlife. There were also false doors along the enclosure wall used for the King’s use in the afterlife, and for the Ka (soul) to move in and out of the tomb. In the years after the construction was complete, this complex doubled as a distribution center for agricultural products that flowed into this funerary estate. Having said that, I suppose I should pay homage to this tomb and complex for being one of the first distribution centers. Today's distribution centers are still made of stone and are also enormous. However, you won't find anyone's Ka there, though. They are generally pretty soulless. We have, however, refined the art of Code compliance. That is, until the current code changes or the wind blows.

(image from www.touregypt.com)

Frank Gehry

I swear; I feel compelled to write about an Architect because this is what I used to have to do for piano class. (Of course, the subject then was a composer) Well, let me back up. This is what I’d forget to do, and then my best friend would write my biography for me while I went into my lesson, and vice versa. This is my reparation for it…..

Ephraim Owen Goldberg is one of the greatest living Architects of our time. You may know him better as Frank Gehry, the Canadian guy who gave us edificial eye candy all over the world. He is one of the outliers of contemporary Architecture and is referred to as a “Starchitect” in reference to his celebrity status. (I didn’t make it up)


Gehry was born in Toronto Canada on February 28th, 1929. As a boy, his grandmother encouraged him to be creative. He built little cities out of scrap wood and anything that he could use from his grandfathers hardware store. He is now known as the ‘the apostle of chain-link fencing and corrugated metal siding‘; Makes sense. His designs are in step with Deconstructionism or Decon Architecture.

With fame, comes judgment. He is criticized for his reuse of ideas and the similarity of his designs. His uniqueness is also mistaken for crudeness, but it has been proven that he is ‘a sophisticated classical artist”.

One of the most phenomenal aspects of his craft, to me, is that he is known for meeting budgets. Any building can easily go way over budget, but especially “show stopping” pieces are prone to it. It has been reported that the Sydney Opera House was over budget...just a little. (originally budgeted at $7 million, completed at $102 million) But, Geary’s come in on budget and on time. Bravo Frank!

Not only is he an architect, but he has a jewelry and furniture line as well. He is inspired by fish, and loves hockey. What a canuck.
I’ll leave you with some pictures of his buildings to enjoy!

Royal Canadian Museum

*I will see you soon, my friend. Inside and out.*

The Dancing House - Prague, Czechoslovakia

*Also "The drunk House" or "Fred And Ginger" *

Walt Disney Concert Hall - Los Angeles, California

*hard edges: shimmer in the SoCal sun*

Gehry House - Hanover, Germany

*assymetrical: yet orderly*

The Guggenheim Museum - Balboa, Spain

*snake like and brittle: perhaps his most famous*

Frank Gehry's private residence

*Gehry got acclaim : paper architect no more*

Kitchen at Gehry's residence

*oh my! This kitchen I do adore!*

X-Ray Spex and the Aryan Nation

I heard a stint on the radio yesterday, that really made me smile, and freightened me too. It was about X ray glasses, sea monkeys, and their inventor. My generation was on the tail end of novelty toys, sadly, but I did dabble in the fine art of using trick ink and cultivating a farm of Amazing Hair Raising Monsters.

Back in the 50’s, 60’s, and 70’s, kids clamored for comic books. The advertisements in in the comic books were targeted directly at the heart of every kid’s fantasy world of alternate universes, crime solving and prank pulling. One of the inventors of such novelty toys, had 195 patents, was a marketing genius, and a bigot. (yuk!)

Harold von Braunhut was Jewish, and evidently supported the Aryan Nation by purchasing fire arms for the Ku Klux Klan, and speaking at Aryan Conferences. He was quoted as saying, "Hitler wasn't a bad guy. He just received bad press." He died on November 28, 2003 at the age of 77, after an accidental fall. By the way, November 28th, is the day that I am to be wed this year!

von Braunhut invented Sea Monkeys, Amazing Hair raising Monsters, Invisible Goldfish and X-Ray Spex. Let’s break this down.

Everyone knows what Sea Monkeys are. The ad pitch looked like this:

image from www.wishlistnuwp/content.com

And you got this…. in a plastic tank

image from: www.regals.net

They were simply Brine Shrimp. Imagine if this guy had to pitch a High School Biology class to children?! They are supposedly “Sea Monkeys” because they are
1. in water
2. Have Tails
3. Are playful like a primate.....?

The secret formula for the revival of the “Sea Monkeys” was kept secret by the inventor and his wife.

Another product “invented” by von Braunhut was the Invisible Goldfish:
Come on! Only a child with a piggy bank burning a hole would actually go for this. The funny part about this one is that it was guaranteed!!!!

X Ray Spex:
The Ad should have said, “For the Pervert in all of us”, but instead was “see the bones in your hand and see through clothes.”

These were nothing more than a cheap pair of plastic glasses with cardboard lenses with a hole. In each hole, there was a feather, and it refracted images and gave the illusion of an X- ray. If a kid would have broken this down for a moment, they could have saved their money for the Johnny Bench rookie card. We are all required to put on ironclad suits to get an X-ray at the hospital because the rays are so dangerous. Adults didn’t have any type of X-ray glasses, and in hind sight, $1.25 wouldn’t have covered the cost per pair.

Now, a kid doesn’t think about this, especially one with raging hormones. This product was going to change his/her (most likely his) life. Now, he can see what are behind closed doors, and learn of the inner workings of a woman and her bra. He’d be a man. He’d know only what adults did, and at such a young age! Well, I guess some of that statement is true. He’d learn the very adult disappointments of life, and that not everything is what it seems at all.

Image from: www.3dstereo.com

So, what have we learned today? As children, our parents mowed grass, had a paper route and took out the trash in order to secretly buy gimmicks that would transform their lives. Instead, a piece of junk arrived and their money went straight to the munitions of white supremacists, or so it is alleged.

For more information about von Braunhut’s life, go to:http://www.splcenter.org/intel/intelreport/article.jsp?aid=390