no, these streets will make you feel brand new

 That lyric is so not about New York! Must be about Melbourne! Nah, actually, Melbourne's streets make you feel like you've lived here your whole life - comfy and easy and downright cool.

Today I went to the ACMI - Australian Centre for the Moving Image. They have this cool Dennis Hopper exhibit on, plus some other free stuff, so I went to check it out. The Dennis Hopper exhibit was very interesting - I'm ashamed to admit I really had no idea he had done so much. I sadly was not raised by cinephiles, and so have never seen Easy Rider or Rebel Without a Cause. But I also didn't realize he was so involved in visual art, as well. I've got some movies to add to my list, now!

After that exhibit, I wandered into a general exhibit called "Screen Worlds: The story of film, television and digital culture" which is exactly what it sounds like. It was actually pretty fun, and told from the Aussie perspective which is a nice little twist - turns out not everything revolves around America.

One of the cooler hands on parts of the exhibit was a display where you could create your own Matrix-esque animation. After a few tries at various kinds of movement, here's my timeslice animation.
And I only jumped once, actually, but I guess it just keeps going and going. I posted another effort on my facebook page.

That was pretty much my day. Bought some cool postcards and a keychain in the visitor centre in Federation Square (which I need to visit properly and take pictures of, cause it's very cool). Am hoping to see a movie tonight with a friend.

I leave you with the somewhat misguided lyrics of Jay-Z and Alicia Keys:

In New York, concrete jungle where dreams are made of
There's nothing you can't do
Now you're in New York
These streets will make you feel brand new
Big lights will inspire you

Which really, I mean, could apply to almost any city. 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

the moment I wake up

Image
Well, day 3 here in Sydney. So far it's been slow going, in terms of activities. Turns out it takes more than a day to sleep off the jet lag! I did go for a walk yesterday morning to Darling Harbour. It only took me about 10 minutes to get there from the hostel, which may have been why I chose it as my first destination. Darling Harbour has a really interesting history. When Sydney was settled way back when, settlers chose to use Sydney Cove as their shipping port, because the geography of the land made it difficult to get onland traffic to Darling Harbour. So instead it become a dirty industrial sinkhole, and remained so until about the 1980s, when some government types tore the whole thing down and re-designed it as a city center. There's loads of attractions there, including the aquarium, the convention center, Sydney's Wildlife World, the National Maritime Museum, etc. a row of shops and restaurants.   across the bay, a different row of shops, known as Harborsi...
Read more

An American in Melbourne

Image
There are times when a girl just craves the tastes of home. Well, May 1 was one of those times. I set out for a bike ride with a British friend who lives in my neck of the woods, but a flat tire, too much wind and sheer laziness sent us instead to Misty's Diner in Prahran, an American style diner I had heard about but never been to. I'd had a late night the evening prior, and alcohol was consumed, and I wasn't feeling at the top of my game. A Dr Pepper was definitely in order Yes! They had Dr Pepper! And it only got better when I decided to order the Bacon Ranch burger as my meal (at 11:30 am) Would you look at the amount of Ranch dressing on that thing!? It was heaven. My only comment would be to note that the bacon on said Bacon Ranch burger was definitely not "American-style" but I have found that bacon here is exceptional on a burger, no matter. So, a stellar meal, overall. The wall next to our booth had license plates from all the states on it (Americ...
Read more

been here all along so why can't you see

I've arrived in Australia. Good on ya! The flight was long and bumpy, and I somehow got stuck in a middle seat, much to my chagrin. But, the in-flight entertainment was enjoyable as was the captain or first officer or whoever kept making the announcements. Super Aussie - he probably does it on purpose. I arrived at my hostel, plunked my stuff down, and immediately went out shopping. One of the outside pockets on my suitcase came open and my toiletries bag fell out (time for a new suitcase, me thinks), so I had to go buy all those necessities like shampoo! Also bought a cell phone and some minutes or something - the system here is a lot different than in America, where you pay $x for x number of minutes. Here you pay $30 for $150 worth of talk time, $40 of texting, etc etc. So I really have no idea. I bought the bottom of the line, $39 phone, and it's so basic I can't even figure out how to use it! But I won't have much need for it, I think, at least not at first. An...
Read more