Pisces: A Poem

Esperanto

Thankyou, Brian Barker, for sharing this clip.

Here, Claude Piron, psychologist and former UN and WHO translater, speaks about the language of Esperanto and the value in adopting it as the universal language, not instead of our own languages but as well. According to Piron, Esperanto is a lot quicker and easier to learn than other languages. The structure is simple, and regular. As someone who has spent years learning French, a language quite similar to my native English, without gaining fluency, I can definitely see the value in this language.

Both Wikipedia and Google have versions in Esperanto. According to Wikipedia, Esperanto is 'the most widely spoken constructed international auxiliary language, meaning it did not evolve but was designed for its purpose. This purpose is to provide a language which is accessible worldwide, requiring minimal resources to access and learn it. I'm certainly interested in a language whose name means 'one who hopes'.

You can find Esperanto tutorials on Youtube.

Interestingly, Malcolm Gladwell writes in Outliers, that the reason it is widely believed that Asian people are the best at maths is because their number structure is much simpler than that of English, or other languages. Gladwell quotes Stanislas Dehaene's book The Number Sense:

'Chinese number words are remarkably brief. Most of them can be uttered in less than one-quarter of a second... The memory gap between English and Chinese is apparently entirely due to this difference in length.'

And goes on to state:

'It turns out that there is also a big difference in how number-naming systems in Western and Asian languages are constructed... The number system in English is highly irregular. Not so in China, Japan and Korea. They have a logical counting system. Eleven is ten one. Twelve is ten two. Twenty-four is two ten four, and so on.'

Because of these simple differences, Chinese students get ahead in primary school and it snowballs from there. Outliers is a fantastic book, informative and inspiring. Despite being non-fiction, it's a real page-turner. I highly recommend it.

It's Cold Outside

So cold, there was nothing left to do but snuggle into bed with scissors and glue... voilá collage!

I did drag my weary bones outside today, spending the whole morning wandering through the MCA. I enjoyed myself, despite my soggy socks (boots, you'll soon be in the bin!). The Sydney Biennale is on, and if you go I think you'll be pleasantly surprised. At least, most of the work is right up my alley. Very contemporary, without being obscure or overly simple/ugly. I found nearly all of the work engaging, developing ideas of diversity and cultural criticism without pandering to the PC police. A good mix of installation, painting/drawing/print, photo and video work.

The stand-out pieces? Definitely Angela Ellsworth's Seer Bonnets: A Continuing Offense. These had an amazing presence, taking over one room. The bonnets are completely filled with pearl-headed hat pins, pointing inwards, from crown to the trailing lengths of the ribbons. The thought of them was painful, but they were crying out for me to touch them (don't worry, I withstood the urge). The folds of material took on another life, strangely sumptuous.

Another work that is surprisingly sumptuous is Salla Tykkä's Victoria, a sensual video portrait of a giant water lily. The slow motions of the bloom, as it matures, are otherworldly in this dense, jungle-like scene. At first, I wasn't particularly interested, but somehow it drew me in and my fascination grew. The effect is heightened by the classical music, accompanying the movements through sound.

Another video work, Susan Hiller's The Last Silent Movie, kept me coming back. Every time I caught a drift of voice, I was drawn into that dark room to sit and listen. A very simple but effective piece, the work made use of archival recordings of extinct and endangered languages, with a translation projected onto the wall. These ranged from familiar, French-sounding languages to those more akin to birdsong. One recording couldn't even be translated. In an adjacent room hang a series of prints; minimal, quiet and beautiful. They show an excerpt from each recording, and a corresponding soundwave pattern.

Fiona Pardington's series, Ahua: A Beautiful Hesitation, has a similar mournful beauty. Each image shows a life-cast, either a life or death mask, sourced from museums and photographed against a contrasting background. The ink on rag paper presentation allows you to fall into the image, unaware of the surface of the print. Each face is lifelike, yet heavy. The light passivity of the closed eyes sits uneasily with the solid bronze or plaster forms.

Wow, that's tired me out. I might speak more about the other works that blew me away, later.

Sometimes the best nights are spent Home Alone

(Even on a Friday night? Yes!)

Chamomile Tea + Playlist* = I might actually get some Housework done

(with a few distractions, see below)

Here's what I'll be having for dinner, yum...

Artichoke Risoni (adapted to my pantry)

serves 1 (me!)

30g butter

1 tablespoon oil

fennel bulb**

150g marinated artichoke heart

75 ml cream

1 tablespoon whatever mustard I can find in the fridge

(in this case, Dijon)

3 tablespoons rosé thats been hanging around

1/2 cup shredded Tasty cheese

1-2 cups brown rice

bunch of English spinach

Cook and combine according to common sense

Serve with bitter salad leaves on the side, add dressing to taste

Enjoy!

*Midnight Special - Credence Clearwater Revival

Guilty - Barbara Streisand & Barry Gibb

The Woman That Got Away - J.J. Cale

Too Fake - Hockey

Such Great Heights - Ben Folds

(even better seeing him play this live in Ireland)

Hold Me Now - Thompson Twins

Mathematics - Little Boots

Where Did You Sleep Last Night - Leadbelly

**Couldn't find fennel, so leek will have to do. If I was a Boy Scout, this never would've happened... But then again, I'd probably be eating Beef Stroganoff cold from the can.

Jogging

My sister and I have taken up jogging. Just a few blocks, a few days a week, followed by stretches. I feel so good afterwards, I don't know why I've been putting it off for so long. We started with a strict 5 days a week rule, but as soon as it's an obligation, my body starts objecting and I can't seem to make myself. It's been a relief to give myself some breathing space, jogging when it suits the both of us. I feel less resistant to the idea, and super proud of myself with each notch on the belt.

Flame-haired Betties

First page in my new diary, the rule for which is if you don't have anything nice to say, don't say anything at all

Work In Progress

These are some drawings and water colours that I did recently, some I'm still working on. I have discovered how fun water colours are, every mistake you make looks better than what you were trying to do.