Now the new job led me to have my fortune told for the very first time at a work Christmas party. This was a useful diversion away from stuffing my face with canapes. The first words out of Madame Antoine’s mouth were “So, when are you planning to return to Paris?”. The hook worked and I sat enthralled for half an hour. My home my be Sydney but my heart belongs in France. 

Vive La France!

It was an amusing end to 2010 and a great beginning to 2011 as this month I take my cue from everything French and Chic: 

Fashion—–> She’s not French but she is chic… Vogue Japan Editor At Large  and avid fashion blogger Anna Dello Russo  is my fantasy fashion muse. If only I had the funds and the legs to wear her wardrobe. Conceptual outfits worn as daywear,  fruit inspired milinary, I imagine that having a watermelon on your head takes confidence (Sarah Jessica Parker should take note). As does being a non-conformist in the fashion industry. Dello Russo, I salute you, your blog and and your great legs! 

Literature—–> Last year, a dear friend insisted that I read ‘The Elegance of the Hedgehog’ by Muriel Barbery. Having read the synopsis, it sounded  thoroughly depressing. The novel focuses on the interwoven daily lives of a 12 year old girl who has decided to commit suicide and an older, grumpy concierge who happens to be an autodidact. They both reside at no 7 rue de Grenelle, a hotel particulier in Paris with intriguing residents. While rummaging through a book barn I came upon it again, read the first three pages and had to buy it. I am enjoying it so much so that I am purposely reading the last couple of chapters very slowly to prolong having to end it and I keep rereading chapters because it is without a doubt beautifully written. A classic example of not judging the book by it’s cover!  

Food—–> Larousse Gastronomique weighs about 3 kilos, the version I have was lovingly transported from the UK as part of my grandad’s luggage. It was a journey with a purpose. There is an excellent recipe for a Tarte Tatin which is my second favourite dessert (after poached peaches) that I made for New Years eve and went down a treat with Vanilla icecream and champagne. It also has a potted biography of Toulouse Lautrec on page 1,091. 

 C’est Magnifique!

Tale of Tales

Based out of Belgium, this game development studio see games as art, using game as the medium for many different stories and experiences rather than focusing on traditional ‘game play’. Highly recommend viewing, The Graveyard – you walk around a city graveyard as a little old lady, pondering the meaning of life and death. The animation and sentiment is beautiful.

Starlings

Developed by Russ Morris, Starlings is another independent game built in Unity 3D, over time you build a flock of starlings from playing one bird in flight. It’s a very simple concept that sounds like it’s going to be completely addictive. Again, it’s another game being developed that is unlike most out there, big props to Russ too for developing this himself with no prior experience, his development blog will be a valuable resource to others out there, detailing the highs and lows of bringing it all to life.

Starlings – Updated Trailer (April 2010) from Russ Morris on Vimeo.

Limbo The Game

The stark visuals of this haunting game remind me for some reason of the film, City of Lost Children, the French fantasy/drama film by Jean-Pierre Jeunet. Developed by another European game studio, Playdead out of Copenhagen.

Feist

This cinematic fairytale game follows the adventures of a little creature through forests, avoiding monsters along the way.

I love the clip below where she mentions that art always finds her even though she sometimes doesn’t want anything to do with it.

The first time I discovered her work at the Tate, it was like peering inside someone’s locked diary, as if you really shouldn’t be reading it, utterly compelling.

Much respect to ‘Mad Tracey from Margate’…….

Intel MultiTouch Wall at CES 2010 from Larry Stendebach on Vimeo.

Check out the rest of the XO-3 designs here by the Fuse design team and information on their work and how you can help. They look amazing…..

Dali with Man Ray

There are too many reasons to list why Dali rocks (see here with Man Ray). Here are just 4 and why if I sit there and think, that’s a bit of a crazy idea, I remind myself that society initially considered a lobster phone “art” with a capital “A”….probably not.

1. Expelled from Art School after stating that no one there was qualified enough to critque him.

2. Developed a signature mustache and once presented at a conference dressed as a deep sea diver (with helmet for added effect).

3. Dabbled in sculpture, writing and film outside of painting and illustrating collaborating with independent film maker, Luis Bunuel, horror maestro, Alfred Hitchcock and poet Garcia Lorca.

4. Became a massive influence on popular culture, fashion, theatre and film inspiring others such as Andy Warhol and Walt Disney.

5. Fearlessly explored the world around him. Dali used quantum physics as a theme for “The Disintegration of the Persistence of Memory”, a reworking of his most commonly known painting of melting clocks “The Persistence of Memory”.

Why do they inspire me?

Working within digital production, we  often work  backstage, pulling strings, making cups of tea and trying to figure out problems from the banal to the complex. Most of the time we sit staring at the pixels working with ‘digital’, something that is abstract and not physically in front of us, there is no mass to digital, it boils down to alot of binary.

Imagine the challenges however of trying to find a shade of black paint that is ’20 times blacker than the next blackest shade’ or fighting with the laws of physics all the while managing the creative expectations of an artist.

Despite the inevitable stresses and pressures that this process must entail, imagine too the satisfaction of having completed a monumental piece of installation art.

Drift from mustardcuffins on Vimeo.