If you need a better reason to quit smoking than your own health

Child labourers in Malawi, some as young as 5 years old, are forced by poverty to pick tobacco. Working conditions are so poor that the children absorb nicotine through their hands equivalent to smoking 50 cigarettes a day. They are paid the equivalent of US1.75 cents an hour.

The majority of European and North American tobacco companies purchase tobacco from Malawi to use in their cigarettes.

Further details of the report, carried out by Plan International, can be read here:

https://www.plan.org.au/mediacentre/mediareleases/plan_exposes_malawi_child_tobacco_pickers_50-a-day_habit

On a positive note - Cadbury chocolate is now fair trade! (Which kind of makes me sad in a way, that I have been loving their chocolate all my life and not ever thought about the people involved in its manufacture).

monday morning

I have just read The Little Prince for the first time. It is so sweet and profound. I picked it off my housemate's shelf last night when I couldn't sleep, and finished it just now. What a great way to recover from what was a pretty awful day yesterday.

I've caught a cold. Today is usually one of my work from home days, but I think I will spend it in bed, rather than working on art projects. Annoying. I found an Alfred Hitchcock DVD collection in the loungeroom which has 45 movies on it, so I'll be pretty busy with that I think.

I finally processed a roll of film shot on my Anny (plastic camera from the 60's). It's a Diana clone, so it takes 120 medium format film. I am thrilled with the vignetting and rich colours. Half the roll was taken in 2005, the rest in 2009. More Anny photos on flickr.

handmade camera

When I went to Japan last year I bought three different camera kits - each one makes a plastic and cardboard pinhole camera which takes 35mm film, though each is slightly different. For some reason it has taken me over a year to sit down and make one of the cameras. Now that I have made one, I am really excited about making the rest!



















All of the instructions for this camera were in Japanese, but they were easy to follow because of incredibly clear diagrams. Also, each piece in the kit had a corresponding number on the instructions. Lucky, because there must have been 50 different pieces!



















The camera is held together with small plastic stickers, and is constructed of cardboard and plastic. The pinhole itself is f130, which requires about a 2-3 second exposure in sunlight with 100ISO film.

I shot a roll of film yesterday and it was quite challenging to hold the camera steady for such long exposures, even when leaning on a fence or the ground. I'll be getting the printed photos back tomorrow - and will be sure to post some online. Even if the results aren't great, I am totally in love with this camera just because of how cute it is.

west brunswick

I went for a walk this afternoon with my Holgaroid and my Polaroid SX70. I mostly went out to get away from my cat who must have missed me on the weekend because he spent the entire morning trying to sit right on my chest so I couldn't get any work done. I also thought it might be nice to have a look at the local back streets, since I am fairly new to West Brunswick.

I discovered there are some amazing houses around here. There are quite a few 1920s california bungalows and some art deco rounded-front brick homes. I saw some pretty fantastic gardens too. Funny trimmed hedges, ramshackle english style cottage gardens, vines, japanese cherry blossoms.

I took about a pack of shots on the SX70, and posted a few on my flickr. I also took some Holgaroids but something bad has obviously happened since I loaded the film a few months ago, because they all turned out with light leaks along the bottom right. This is a valuable lesson in why you should shoot a whole roll while it's fresh! So annoying!

BEARS!

BEARS! in Hamish's kitchen: Me, Hamish, Kristen.

My new-ish band, BEARS!, recorded a couple of demos on the weekend. We started playing together and writing songs in January. We haven't played live yet so this is the first time we've had any music to show anyone. The songs are on myspace at the link below. We've got about 8 songs now, and we are hoping to start playing shows in the next few months. I play drums and sing backing vocals. My friends Hamish and Kristen do guitar and bass, and they both do most of the singing. We have a lot of fun, I hope it shows in the music.

Listen to BEARS!

Sounds like

You know how when you insert a burnt CD in your computer iTunes queries the Gracenote database to find songs that match what is on your disk? Supposedly the database matches songs by metadata found in the file information, or a 'fuzzy matching' technique. What I want to know is, how did it come up with this list below? Because the disk I inserted is a recording of me singing the BEARS! song 'In the City' at band practice last night. Weird. And kind of funny.

now selling: home decor

I've just listed a new item on my etsy store. I am really excited to now be able to offer handmade home decor.

I'm making bunting flags! I first made a set of flags earlier this year because I wanted to dress up my new bedroom when I moved house. They are really fun to make, because I use my fabric remnants, and each piece of fabric reminds me of something different - maybe a house I used to live in, or a dress I made once. Some of the fabric is even remnants given to me by my mother.


Right, I am off to the library now
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