Latest Vet Clinic in Fortitude Valley

Having relocated to Brisbane - I'm so pleased to have this new vet clinic in my neighbourhood servicing the area. There's always this moment where you squint at your fur baby and think... is this little twitch you've got going actually something worth worrying about... and will my vet judge me for freaking out about this. Y'see, the thing about finding a vet is that you always need to get the magic just right with your doctor.... also, it's a plus when you can literally roll out of the home and walk to a vet near New Farm.

Check out the interior decor (taken from their twitter page):

I'm told the food dispensers / interactive food bowls will slow down the feeding process for my puppy, which will reduce bloat (although they noted that the condition really affects older dogs) - still the benefits of ensuring that my puppy doesn't inhale his food may be quite the good thing....

They've got a pretty smashing art of a dalmatian swimming into a jellyfish. Pretty sure those are human legs sticking out from under it as well... anyway, check out Fortitude Valley Vet - it's pretty much a perfect vet clinic that somehow grew a seductive pet shop out the front. Very eye-catching!

More pictures of the display:

Love the dog beds!

David Bowie and Desire of the Endless

This incredible gif by Helen Green of David Bowie's transformation has been making the rounds on the Twitterverse (and what must be every other social media platform out there). And in the avalanche of tributes (including this lightning bolt constellation by Belgian Astronomers*), I'm left somewhat contemplative about this idea of Transformation. 

Sure, at this point, I'm transforming into a blind version of myself as I type out this post — this gif is sending screaming afterimage after afterimage down the quivering canal of my optic nerve. If only there was a function to arrest the circularity of Bowie's swing from left to right... much like the politics of idealistic greenhorns climbing into the corporate world, and then finding themselves dislocated into new ideologies... or old ideologies of power, wealth, and legacy.

This transformation is... Desire. I see it - Green's gif above is like Neil Gaiman's character Desire (from the Sandman series) - so sumptuous that the transformation is like a gargle in mid-mouth, aching to be released... and while something leave you feeling rather used at the end of the day, I reckon this one will leave you freshened.

Goodnight, Star Dust.

* the constellation is perched in the space corridor near Mars — a tiny part of the 'Stardust for Bowie' tribute project on Google Sky.

Flirting with San Francisco: All Over Coffee

My Dear Frisco,

You once said:

I agree, communication for us is a rather silent affair. I throw myself to your streets, you consume my thoughts, and at the end of the brief times I share with you... I'm always left with so many unvoiced questions, it gets harder and harder to talk about you.

We've had some good times:

May 10, 2009

November 9, 2008

May 15, 2006

But then I find out that you shared this incredible moment with someone else:

It's not that I mind... I just want to know when it happened?

- - - - - - - - - -

Paul Madonna has been drawing these deceptively inert illustrations for the San Francisco Chronicle since 2004 (his works were introduced by the paper in this article here). I absolutely love seeing his work on paper. His urban-scapes cling to the city - like a lover half-asleep in the morning. And the way in which he extracts brick, mortar, pavement, and window sill from their natural 'habitats', juxtaposing this wild scribble against the street - it's breathtakingly unsettled and... even liquid in manner. His piece above from 15 May 06: the ink-work is almost this stain that bends the curb to the road, nestling the grill against the urgency of the shadows. Textures are hinted at; cracks are pulled apart all the more widely; and the picture cuts off fiercely at the top as if to tell you, 'you're not looking at the right place'. And just off-center, the words: Your existence gives me hope... made all the more poignant because the graffiti actually exists in the Mission, SF. Or at least, it used to.

Paul's work has heavily featured the architecture of San Francisco, but in recent times, the he's ended up flirting with other cities (a trait we seem to share....)

Check out his archive here.

Wedding Talks with Tbilisi: The Genius of Victor Djorbenadze

Part of the 'Speed-Dating Cities' Series






Oh Beautiful Tbilisi,

I stumbled across this article on one of your Architect-sons the other day, and I just had to find out more about you. Sure, this is somewhat akin to stalking, but I am man caught by this intense desire to know more about Victor's Djorbenadze's Soviet Wedding Palace. Forgive me if I'm being too forward.

The aggravating thing about it all was that I began with the article - it didn't have pictures - and started slowly crawling around the net for images to bring to life Rolf Gross' intense imagery and descriptions of the place.



I found the plan of the Wedding Palace based on the anatomical drawing Victor Djobenadze got out of his mother's book (she's a gynaecologist).


Then I find an image of the "false dome" Gross compares with the stacked roof sructures in 4th Century Buddhist temples in Central Asia. His vision is incredible - the symmetry and the meditation of structure... it's interesting. Architecture is often described in very masculine terms, but this building is extraordinarily feminine.


Then I find this tantalising image of the palace interior with the bridge housing the choir for ceremonies. And a few more from Flickr:



some construction pictures:



Check out Igor Palmin's Flickr set (source for the B&W photos) here.

Other photos from here and here.

Finally, I end up at the same website I started from, but on a separate page where Gross has provided images to go with his descriptions... still, despite the aggravation, m'lady, you are most definitely worth the chase: