British Lions Tour info

My advice to any of you who are visiting New Zealand for the Lions Tour next year is, get in touch with PARADISE PROMOTIONS!

Not just a golf tour company. This crowd can help you with anything you want. From day trips, accommodation, cool things to do over here, even selected opportunities to meet All Blacks!!!

As everywhere in New Zealand, they are getting booked up real quick, so get in touch as soon as you can with your enquiries!!!

It will be a great event, and I know you will LOVE the experience!!

Until next time,

Stace :D

Cool weather predictions

Here is an abridged copy of an email that my friend sent to me about a weatherman for the times;
thanks Maree; this guy is awesome!! A real dude!!!

check it out for yourself!...

"Hey dudes,
I was listening to Radio Tainui this morning and this fulla Ken predicts the weather the old ways.

He studies the moon, astrology and the elements
He sounds way cool and has predicted many major breaks in weather
He has a website www.predictweather.com

He also is happy to reply to e mails if someone is planning a wedding or a festival of some kind

May you:
kia kaha Be strong
kia toa Be brave
kia manawanui Be stouthearted"
(Maree 2004)

Cheap Clothes, Champagne, and Che

Well, what a Saturday!

I was invited to play with my slightly mad and very brilliant friend for the day and was lucky enough to be able to say 'yes'.

So off we went!

stop one - to our very favourite boutique (which is actually a clothing recycling centre - but we like to pretend that we are in Madrid :D) to check out the latest ethnic and retro offerings.
I honestly had NO intention of buying anything, so of course, ended up with a wonderful outfit for this evening.

stop two - we called on her equally mad and brilliant twin to say hi and view her new house. I ask you, how many people are lucky enough to buy a house that used to be a bowling club???
The grounds are AMAZING!
The house is so cool and we stayed, had lunch, and a couple of glasses of wine.

stop three - off we went to watch my friends significant other play soccer (or football, depending on where you are from :D) - I must admit to discovering the English football lout lurking in the recesses of my psyche as I fought the desparate urge to yell things like 'are you blind ref?' and 'kick his head in!'
So, slightly disturbed off we went to ...

stop four - back to friends twins house for more wine, frivolity, hair curling and silliness :D

stop five - off to my house to actually get changed and fix our faces before our night out.

stop six - Off we sauntered (with my friend looking a million dollars in layers of amazing fabrics and gorgeous raven curls, and me in my new and wonderful outfit from the boutique :D) to a good friends photo exhibition opening and 40th birthday bash - yes, it seems the 40's are upon us with a vengeance, and many of our friends are now celebrating this milestone!

It was here that I purchased a wonderful new piece for my art collection. A photograph of Che Guvara (not sure of spelling here)posters that were adorning an outside wall in some South American town that my friend visited.
Very cool!
So cool in fact, that I was so enthused with this piece, the only thing I spoke about for most of the evening was this photograph and how it made me feel - so much so that (to my knowledge) three others bought prints of the same photo!
Yay for my friends amazing talent!

So, after much champagne, purchasing art, talking loads of rubbish to virtual strangers and friends alike, and trying my darndest to get a hula hoop going around my ample hips (yes, even at our tender age we still like to play like a bunch of kids :D) it was time to go home.

What a wonderful, eventful, and exhausting day! And I have come to the conclusion that if I can't be a good example I will just have to be a terrible warning! :D

Thanks to all involved, thanks to Tania (my stlightly mad and brilliant friend, Maree (her equally mad and brilliant sister), Andy (Tania's significant other), and thanks to Helen for a great evening.

Check out Helens website of amazing photography at www.helenjonesphotography.co.nz

Authentic New Zealand photography from an authentic New Zealand talent!

I just LOVE her work!

So, until next time ...

Noho Ora Mai
(May I leave you in good health)

Stace

New Media Show dates ...

Over the past 2 weeks I have been checking out the new pieces at the New Media Show. Check my last 2 blogs for reviews.
If you can, get down to them and check them out - fun - free - and lots of great people.

I have cheked out the last 2 ... Now it is YOUR turn ...

NEW MEDIA SHOW
18th - 21st AUGUST
CURATOR: MAREE MILLS
OPENING: 6.00PM WEDNESDAY 18TH AUGUST


18TH - 21ST AUGUST
*MARK MCGEADY
*PAUL JUDGE
*SEAN CUBITT
*PAUL SMITH

25TH - 28TH AUGUST
*BEVIN YEATMEN
*SELUVALA LATU

PLATFORM01
FIRST FLOOR
467 VICTORIA ST
HAMILTON

Ka Kite Ano (see you again :D)

Women in New Zealand New Media

Another highly absorbing and thought provoking exhibition opened on Wednesday in Hamilton;

Two talented women joined forces for their exhibition opening at the New Media Show in Hamilton, New Zealand this week.

The first was Maree Mills (lecturer in video production and experimental video at University of Waikato).
Her installation 'Hau: breath/wind' explores
"communication of ethereal and/or cosmological concepts inherent in the Maori world view, from a female perspective.'
Maree believes video installation is a 'multi-layered form of communication that can make some headway towards articulating aspects of tikanga Maori for the twenty first century. Margaret Orbell in her book 'The Natural World of the Maori' says that "Human breath was experienced as the counterpart of the breath of the world, which was felt to possess a kind of life."
The harnessing of the elements in order to carry messages or the rising of winds to augur a spiritual presence is a concept notable in many indigenous cultures.
In this work, a female deity is called forth by the elements, from progeny of the deceased, in order to assist the journey of the soul." (Maree Mills, 2004)

I found 'Hau', with it's connetations to the divine, and the subtle, yet highly seducive placement of the video footage, mesmerising and intriguing. I feel this installation pulls you into the very chasm of creation and enables the viewer a tantalizing glipse of the circle of life.

The second was Margi Moore (teacher at the Waikato Institute of Technology).
Her film 'Rory 2004'
Abby plays The Sims for 45 minutes (Video 22 minute loop)
"This video work is deliberately antithetical to most video games. Unlike the games, is quiet, repeptitive, lacking in colour and has little or no activity. Sound is excluded, offering little clue as to what is occuring. This is the face of video games that parents rarely see, as we are normally removed from the activity. The game is an occupier of time, a tool for entertainment, or at worst, a babysitter.

As the author of this work, I too am absent. I set up the camera and left the scene so my presence did not impact on the experience. Rory is the identity Abby gives herself as a character in the games. As a viewer you are invited to contemplate her face and the subtle responses Abby has to the game she is playing." (Margi Moore, 2004)

My reaction to 'Rory April 2004' was that I found it both fascinating and disturbing; Fascinating because you cannot seem to take your eyes away from the obviously rapped attention on this girls face. Disturbing because it is not YOU the girls is fascinated with, but something you cannot SEE; in the fact that you watch the face of a young woman who shows absolutely no cultural or social recognition of another being present throughout the whole video. It is almost as if you are within the computer and a tiny part of her game without her recognition at all. A strong message to us all and perhaps a glimpse of the very near future?

Both pieces are wonderfully and terribly powerful. A great sinergy of different world views and messages, joining forces to bring to us the power and talent of these amazing women.

Strong talent, bold statements, amazing creative energies!

If you are anywhere in Hamilton I definitely recommend a visit:
New Media Show
10-14 August 2004 (Maree and Margi)
Platform 01
Victoria Street
Hamilton
New Zealand

New Media Arts; New Zealand Style!

"Magic is all about making you think that you saw something happen in a particular way, design is about making you think in a particular way, the two can be intrinsically linked, and there you have it, me as a person, a creative deciever." (Dave Gardener, 2004)

Last night I attended the opening of a new media arts exhibition - the first installation was by Dave Gardener and is entitled 'Trigger 870'. Which studies the close relationship between a lock and lock picker, the work is interactive in the way that the movement of the viewer is translated via a web cam into a resulting projected narrative, that is constructed from 870 paragraphs from a lock picking reference manual. The smoother the movement, the more logical the narrative. (D.G, 2004)

Needless to say; I was fascinated with the concept. Unfortunately, the opening was very successful, and of course there were a lot of bodies making a lot of movements in a small area. Thus, we had the web cam 'strobing' through the instructions like a thing posessed! The design of the piece begs for stillness, contemplation, and patience. Three things we definitely need to work on in the 21st century!

I msut admit to being quite tempted to go back when nobody is around, and taking advantage of the invitation to 'be still, you might learn something!' I am also quite keen to try my lock picking abilities on the chest that is placed in the centre of the room. Pandoras box indeed!

Conceptual art at it's best - in little old Hamilton! Nice one Dave.

Imbolc in New Zealand

It's at times like these that I realise just how lucky I am to be living in this wonderful country!

In New Zealand it is Winter,but yesterday was the most amazingly beautiful day; the kind of day you cannot help but think is a gift from the Goddess (and/or God). Wonderfully clear skies, sunny weather, no wind. Absolutely stunning!

Today is Imbolc; also known as Candlemass, Brigids day, and (I am informed) the Chinese New Year. On top of all that it was a full moon last night; the ice moon, or wishing moon!
Lots to celebrate! Lots to do!

Imbolc - the very middle of Winter Solstice and Spring Equinox - the emerging light celebration. The Spring is on the way - Winter has had it's last and is slowly leaving. The animals are birthing; the milk is in!
This is a celebration of newness! New beginnings, new starts. The Greek Maiden Goddess, Persephone, has returned from the underworld, and brings the promise of Spring with her.

It is a time to rejoice!!

So, we all gathered at our good friends house for fellowship, fun, frivolity, and a good old feeding up of each others ego's (which seem to get so depleted by the 'real world' we have to live in).

We sang, made Goddess sculptures, jumped on the trampoline, enjoyed a guided meditation, ate, drank, sang some more, laughed and cried. All in celebration of our wonderful planet and of US!

How empowering it is to meet with like-minded people and to have the ability to share in the gifts that surround us all. I feel so blessed that I have these amazing people in my life and we all share these precious times together.

The greatest message that Imbolc has to offer, I believe is this:
When times seem the darkest, remember the light is not far away.
Everything is circular; there IS no linear pattern!
All of life works and moves in a cycle.
When you are in a dark place, you will emerge into the light.
You learn and grow stronger from this experience, and when you are next in a dark place the lessons you learned from your last visit will make you stronger again, thus allowing you to emerge even greater the second time,
and so on.

Therefore, take courage; for the light always follows the darkness. Be thankful for the darkness; it is your teacher and heralds the light that will surely follow.

Brightest blessings until next time

Ka Kite Ano
(see you again :D)

Stacey