Hutt Street Library outdoor reading room

I found an oasis of art, calm, green and reflection right in the heart of the city today - the Hutt St Library's outdoor reading room. The library wasn't open today but this fantastic little space, just a couple of parking spaces given new purpose, is available at any time (despite what the link says) and will be here until some time in April. The coffee shop next door serves a pretty decent coffee too.

 We're well within library wi-fi range so if you've had your login set up you can connect to the library wireless and download an e-book from the library's collection well outside of the actual opening hours of the library.  I took along a more traditional printed book - I'm currently reading 'The transformed library: e-books, expertise, and evolution' by Jeannette Woodward, which seems like a very appropriate book to read here. Why not come along and have a look, sit and read and enjoy a coffee? It's a wonderful thing to come across in the heart of the city.

P.S.   There are likely more things going on here during opening hour so I'll be visiting again later on.

Found Alphabet - G

This G is slightly behind schedule - I was having way too much fun on the weekend. Adelaide goes into full-blown festival mode for four weeks starting in mid-February. It's a giant party for that whole time, the biggest festival is the Adelaide Fringe, second only to the Edinburgh Fringe for festivals of its kind. Then there's Adelaide Writers' Week, Adelaide Festival of the Arts (every second year), WOMAD, Future Music Festival, Clipsal 500 and SO many more. After that Adelaide tends to re-disguise itself as a very quiet city. Until next year...

Anyhow, last year I was able to attend a huge number of events and performances, especially as I took advantage of last-minute cheap tickets wherever possible. I'm hoping to do much the same this year, at least for the first couple weeks as I'll likely be moving house after that (3rd time in 18 months. Ew.).

Enough explanation, on with the post! This was one of several Gs that I found this week - I expected to be struggling to find them but was pleased to find quite a few, all within the CBD. This was one of three I found in the same wrought iron fence around the Adelaide GPO. I wasn't expecting this one to be the winner but it was so much clearer and more defined than the others.

There are some more below - another from the GPO, a close-up of the hair on one of the Chinese lions guarding Moonta St. by the Adelaide Central Market and the third is from a very old and well-known fountain in Rundle Mall. The fountain looks like being shunted around in the near future, as will the famous Malls Balls - if I ever do a numbers series to continue this you can COUNT on that being no. 8.

 

Found Alphabet - F

I first saw this F when I was doing the D week - so I went back this week... and I'm so glad I did. This is one of the clearest and best letters I've found yet, and stands out boldly even without editing and cropping. I'm also especially glad that it's not an image that could just as easily be an E that's been cropped down. That would have been easy. Any of last week's images could be turned into a reasonable F with only a little adjustment.

The two below are from a visit I made to a library that I used to work in which is shortly to close to be reopened. It's very strange walking through seeing the almost empty shelves. Some areas still have a reasonable, if depleted, stock but others are bizzarely bare.

I'm expecting G week to be especially challenging. I've found one possible image already, but it's not as good as I'd like. I thought my way through the alphabet and I figure if I can work out this week the next worryingly difficult one is Q. So wish me luck!

Papercut Chinese New Year

I haven't posted a lot of crafts recently - many reasons, but I've been able to let out some of my creative energy in my work. One of the great bonuses of my current position!

This is the display I've put together for Chinese New Year - my supervisor gave me a small picture which she liked, but the resolution was far too low to use it directly - so I combined it with my love for paper crafting and this was the result.

The snake was far and away the hardest and most time consuming of the project - mostly cut with an exacto knife with a hammer-driven hole punch for some of the finer detail. I made it over several days - knifework can be tough on the hands, especially where a lot of detail is involved. I chose this colour palette as it's a water snake year. You might see a tiny issue there, but I'm not going to tell you - anyone's capable of a derp from time to time. It sticks out like a sore thumb to me but apparently some don't notice until it's pointed out.

The lanterns were made without a template, except for the script, of course. I had an idea, ran with it, and it worked out just fine. I couldn't use real lanterns because they set off the security system at night - I think these are a nice substitute.

The scroll was built using parts from an old Chinese New Year decoration that I butchered for the purpose. It took more trial and error than the other parts, if not as much time.

The display will be completed shortly with the addition of some work from kids' club - hence the empty spaces. If need be the scroll will be relocated.

But in the meantime I'm really happy with the way this came out!

Found Alphabet - E

E was a letter I found all over the place. It was easy to find - difficult to find those that were well defined. I didn't always have a camera hand but I had a lot of shots to look at this week. In the end I chose this one - it's an extreme close-up of a computer at work. If the staff don't look at me too funny I might try re-taking it next week. It's a little fuzzy. If I take one of the public computers before opening the light there should make it better.

There were several Es I liked so in the end I asked Mum to pick a winner. What do you think?

I have put a few of the others I liked below. Including one that's a bit of a cheat as it's lower case, but when I saw it I had to take it. Some of those I didn't include are a bit abstract, or a bit too like earlier weeks. There was another angled and cropped shot of a park sign like D, and another of the wood carvings in the hall, similar to C. The end of the slide was nice, but I decided it was not very clear, so ... these were my finalists.

I've already seen some Fs I want to try to photograph this week. I think like this week the challenge will be finding a high quality one, whereas I think that G week will, like B week, be more about finding one at all. I was thinking through the alphabet while walking and looking for Es earlier today... G and Q seem the most challenging. But first I'll worry about F.

Found Alphabet - D

Much as with the week I was searching for A I kept on finding Ds everywhere. I need to get into the habit of carrying my camera everywhere again, as I wasn't always able to catch them. I did go D-hunting today (It's a long weekend so the Monday totally counts) and caught some at a party on Sunday. The one I chose I especially liked - and it's got the D for dog thing going which is a bonus. Playground equipment was also amazing for D finding. I found a whole lot more than I'm showing here. It was... a succesful week.

B was particularly elusive in its week - I didn't have any extras to show. But I did find an unexpected one today, this showed up where a piece of playground equipment had been ripped up.

Found Alphabet - C

 

C showed up in one of the wood carvings in the hallway here. I did have an offer to get this letter YMCA style but I did not need it this time around...

Not a lot to say this week I'm afraid! I've been listening to Nightwish quite a bit and finally got around to seeing Thor and Iron Man - the latter was by far the superior of the two. I've got a Jostein Gaarder book I haven't read before which I'm looking forward to. I also have to re-read The Solitaire Mystery as it's a significant book to me, and one I want to do justice when I review it.

Found Alphabet - B

B was a substantially more challenging letter to find - I was a bit worried I might not find a good one as it took me until Friday to locate this one. Whereas I had four good As (and a few less than amazing ones) I only found the two Bs. On each occasion I only had my phone's camera to do the work.

This is a close-up of the DVD racks in the library I work in. They're often full, and the plastic ends have mostly got lost over time - but when I put this one back in place after finding it on the floor I found myself staring right in the face of a good B for the alphabet...

The other might have been decent, but unfortunately I didn't have a proper camera with me and the phone camera doesn't cope well with low light, so this was too blurry. Time to start looking for C!

Review: The City's Son - Tom Pollock

Hidden under the surface of everyday London is a city of monsters and miracles, where wild train spirits stampede over the tracks and glass-skinned dancers with glowing veins light the streets. When a devastating betrayal drives her from her home, graffiti artist Beth Bradley stumbles into the secret city, where she finds Filius Viae, London's ragged crown prince, just when he needs someone most. An ancient enemy has returned to the darkness under St Paul's Cathedral, bent on reigniting a centuries-old war, and Beth and Fil find themselves in a desperate race through a bizarre urban wonderland, searching for a way to save the city they both love. The City's Son is the first book of The Skyscraper Throne trilogy: a story about family, friends and monsters, and how you can't always tell which is which. - blurb

The City's Son really only has one major fault. The second book in the series has not got a set release date yet. It's going to make me wait. The City's Son is inventive, gritty and visceral. China Mieville and Neil Gaiman are clear influences but Pollock remains highly original. The London we are introduced to is dirty, brutal and teeming with bizarre life in unexpected places. The multitude of creatures are unlike anything I've met in other urban fantasies. They are not clearly defined as good and evil - even the protagonists are a decided shade of grey, flawed and very real people.

The beginning of the book establishes the scene well, but initially didn't grab me. The characters were strong but the story wandered through a series of depressing developments. I kept reading out of curiosity and before I knew it a whole new world opened up before my eyes and I was thoroughly hooked. With spectacular worldbuilding London gains greater and greater complexity with time, and the possibilities for the rest of the series are huge. I won't spoil it for you - but the end of the book brings huge revelations that change everything. One in particular was quite thrilling - I had to sit back for a moment to let it sink in.

This book is relatively demanding of the reader - not because the concepts explored are demanding or that enormous leaps in logic are required, but because everything is completely different - China Mieville's Perdido Street Station does something similar, but to a greater degree. I do not find this a problem as I love a book that demands my undivided attention, however it's not particularly a book to read when you're already half asleep.

Once again I've found a fantastic new urban fantasy - hard to believe this is Tom Pollock's first book - that leaves me wanting so much more. This is an author to watch.

As a bonus, I want to give Scott Westerfeld's The Last Days a brief mention. A sequel to Peeps but one that never quite lived up to the standard of the first book. It almost lost me completely early on but after a while things improved and I found enough here to keep me interested for the duration of the book The characters from Peeps make cameo appearances but the book is mostly focused on a new group of characters. The new characters are strong and well written but things I loved about Peeps just didn't work here. Not a bad book - but living in the shadow of the original.

Found Alphabet - A

Late last year I decided that I would do a found alphabet - the plan was to post once every weekend starting in the first week of 2013 and to continue until Z is achieved. I was inspired by urban and natural alphabets I've seen made by photographers and artists. They are often quite strictly themed but I am being a little more relaxed - focusing on any part of my environment.

To that end, here is my first effort. I was amazed by how many As I found in my search. I found several in the branches of trees, some were there naturally, others were the product of perspective. I also found a few in unexpected places in the house. Once I started looking I saw letters all over the place. If I can get the lighting right I'll have a fairly awesome J in a few months!

The one I decided was clearest and best was this one - the last one I found out on a walk. This is in the playground at Bailey Reserve/Goodale Reserve (where the boundary lies I don't know).

I've come up with some rules for myself for this challenge... they are as follows.

• The alphabet will be completed in order
• Upper case is preferred
• Natural and man-made letters are acceptable
• Indoor and outdoor are acceptable
• Size of the letter does not matter
• Temporary and permanent objects are both fine
• Messing around with perspective, angles and direction are all fine
• The objects may not be deliberately placed or interfered with for the photograph
• They may not be deliberate representations of the letters - no signage or use of the Marion Community Centre wall allowed 

Just because, here are some of the other decent contenders for this week's letter.