Rosie!

As you may be aware, Graeme Simsion's bestselling book 'the Rosie Project' is going to be made into a film later this year! How exciting! especially when Jeniffer Lawrence was announced as the leading lady! Read about it here. Hopefully Melbourne will make a feature? Well fingers crossed. The film Any Questions For Ben? is an example of our darling city in motion. 

Anyway, to celebrate, we will be announcing a competition next week so keep your eyes peeled for entry!

 
Here are some songs about 'Rosie'

Rosie by The Kooks
Rosie by Tom Waits
Rosie by Joan Armatrading

Am I sensing a theme here?? Enjoy!

Ai am Andy

I am so so so soooooooooooooo suprememly excited for the upcoming exhibition at the National Gallery of Victoria (NGV) at the end of the year. It is (if you haven't already heard) drumroll....

ANDY WARHOL | AI WEIWEI !!!!

It will be a beautiful thought provoking, awesome and highly cool exhibition with assistance of Ai Weiwei and in conjunction with the The Andy Warhol Museum, Pittsburgh. Argh I can't even begin to explain how exciting this is!

So here's a quick run down if you are unfamiliar with either of these excellent artists! 

ANDY WARHOL,
1928 -1987

Andy Warhol is arguably one of the most iconic and recognizable artists from the twentieth century. Contemporary art including his well versed skills in developing pop-art, was his style of choice. Basically, he was a very cool guy.

"More than twenty years after his death, Andy Warhol remains one of the most influential figures in contemporary art and culture. Warhol’s life and work inspires creative thinkers worldwide thanks to his enduring imagery, his artfully cultivated celebrity, and the ongoing research of dedicated scholars. His impact as an artist is far deeper and greater than his one prescient observation that “everyone will be world famous for fifteen minutes.” His omnivorous curiosity resulted in an enormous body of work that spanned every available medium and most importantly contributed to the collapse of boundaries between high and low culture. "
(source: The Andy Warhol Foundation website)

Find out more here or check out our books Andy Warhol: The Complete Commissioned Record Covers and This is Warhol (a member of the This is ____ series by Catherine Ingram)

 

AI WEIWEI
1957-

Ai Weiwei is a Chinese contemporary artist. Internationally acclaimed, his work is often frowned upon by the Chinese authorities due to his mainly dissident works concerning the current political regime. He hasn't been able to leave China in four years but has JUST GOTTEN IS PASSPORT BACK!! Which hopefully means that he'll be in Melbourne for his exhibition at the end of the year. Cross your fingers and toes. 

Here's an article from the Smithsonian Museum about him or you can check out his Instagram too.

As for books, Ai Weiwei Speaks (with Hans Ulrich Obrist) and Ai Weiwei's Blog cataloguing as you would expect, his blog.

 


















So I implore you all, at the end of the year to check out this exhibition! It'll be a as interesting as it is mind bending for sure.

'I had a lot of dates but I decided to stay home and dye my eyebrows.'

- Andy Warhol

'Never retreat, re-tweet!'

- Ai Weiwei

Spoilers Exist Everywhere

I hate to bring up Downton Abbey again (although I'm really not) but starting to watch Downton Abbey has opened my eyes to the world of plot line spoilers everywhere. THEY ARE EVERYWHERE! I tried to Google a character, found out who ends up with who, read the blurb - for goodness sake the DVD of a later season and find out who dies, talk to my sibling and find out more  about the circumstances in which they died. Even this may be a spoiler. Sorry. Basically, the moral of the story is keep your eyes peeled - or half closed whichever you prefer and get ready to run away whenever you hear someone even begin to talk about your favourite show. Or alternatively, people could just write/say/signal SPOILER ALERT and we'll all be fine. This is even applicable to football scores. Just turn that radio off.

Learn Singaporean Slang Here!

China Rich Girlfriend is the extremely funny sequel to Kevin Kwan's first novel Crazy Rich Asians. I realised that I read them in the wrong order (because the book wasn't very clear that it was a sequel) but that's okay! It flows very well regardless. After watching a few videos of author interviews I realised that the title's actually supposed to be about Asians who are crazy rich rather than Asians who are crazy and rich. Do you see the distinction? About the ultra rich in Asia it provides a humourous and shocking view into the lives of the rich and famous we can only imagine. Of course, it is clearly not to be taken seriously in every word so read it for what it is rather than isn't. It is refreshing though to have a chicklit(ish) novel based on people of an Asian background and written by a male none the less. And why shouldn't it be? He does a terrific (spiffingly) good job. It's always nice as well when you can sort of relate to a book and its jokes - for those who may be slightly less acquainted with Singapore slang, there are many helpful footnotes providing explanations.

It was the kind of book through that made me wonder, is it racist to laugh about them if they're making fun of or joking about at least, another culture that isn't your own? I suppose it depends on what sort of mindset you're reading it with because that could apply to a whole host of books. In the very least, just read it!

Down Town in Downton

I have a new revelation and that is Downton Abbey! I am a little slow, I know but we accidentally watched four episodes in a row in one night... is it just me or is Mary an exceedingly annoying character? Hopefully she gets better. Anyway, why I  mention this is because I realised that the Downton Abbey books that we stock at Andrew's finally interest me! I did make the mistake however, or not realising that there'd be spoilers so I feel a little as if I have shot myself in the foot. Never mind, I had guessed as much anyway. Not that the show is predictable, I can just guess what will happen in the following 15 minutes. So maybe a little predictable. I'm told it's because I read so much, so read at your own peril of movie enjoyment! But what I'm struck by is the complete dedication to the setting and period(ness) of the series. It's really stunning. It is a little infuriating that a man/woman who works - even in a perfectly respectable possessions such as doctor is seen as not respectable as they actually have to do work. I honestly don't know how people filled their time. And if they drunk so much tea then why do you never see them going to the toilet. I don't mean actually the toilet but no one ever says, I must excuse myself to relive myself do they?
OH! Also, I realised that the guy who plays Mr Pamuk in season one is ACTUALLY THEO JAMES of Divergent fame. He is extremely good looking (and I'm sure has a great personality). 

Everyone in Downton Abbey looks like someone else. It is really weird. Take for example, the character Gwen is actually EMMA STONE.She's not but seems so similar. Especially when she played Gwen Stacy. You know, this post is just going to be me finding doppelgangers so you're welcome.

And then Hugh Bonneville (Lord Grantham) and Victor Garber...

 Brendan Coyle (Bates) and Alec Baldwin... 

 Allan Leech (Branson) and.... Niall Horan. Don't pretend you can't see it.

I could go on all day apparently.

In other exciting TV news! If you follow Miss Fishers Murder Mysteries, well I won't give it away but what we've been waiting for has finally happened! This is good TV! (And not just for old people)