The Twilight Report

rt: illinois

2011-06-05T16:22:00

My father lived in Chicago for much of the 80s and part of the early 90s before he moved back to Australia, and I often used to visit him in the summer, so Chicago like all the places I have lived forms part of my identity. I hadn't been back to the Windy City since my dad left about 20 years ago though, and Lena hadn't ever been so I decided as a surprise to take her on a train trip. There was a little mishap with a train ahead of us, and we got stuck at both meals with a couple of hippies (mentioned in previous episode), but we arrived only about half a day late.

From the hotel we headed to the Field Museum of Natural History, where we saw Sue, the most complete Tyrannosaurus ever discovered.

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dusty

2009-01-01T19:27:00

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standby

2007-10-06T22:25:00

also: I am hear by declaring that next Tuesday to be reclassified as Gorfstag.

Melbourne

2007-01-12T16:55:00

Melbourne, Day 2

On the second day we toured around the city. Oh, and my camera broke, the day before we were doing the Great Ocean Road! I couldn’t believe the horrible luck. I managed to pick up a used Nikon FM body in perfect condition to replace my FE. The FM is the mechanical version of the FE from the same time period. I could have probably gotten an auto focus camera new for less, but I had been enjoying the feel of my manual Nikon which hasn’t been getting much of a work out since I moved to Australia.

I shot three rolls of 24 in my new camera around the centre of Melbourne, and I felt like for the first time in ages I had gotten my camera legs back. Whatever that means.

Melbourne, Day 3

The next day we did the Great Ocean Road. It’s pretty. There are lots of flies. If you go you should arm yourself with some bug spray.

Melbourne, Day 4

Our last day in Melbourne was only a half day, so we didn’t do much. First we went to the Melbourne museum, where they had a blue whale skeleton. Actually it was a pigmy blue whale, named on account of it being small for the species. This is kind of funny because it was still enormous. They also had a vast collection of bugs. Some of them still alive even. Cicely came into the bug section to tell us that she wasn’t going to look at the bugs because they creeped her out, but by the time she was in she started looking around and didn’t seem so bugged out.

The computer geek in me enjoyed the CSIRAC, Australia’s first digital computer, and the worlds fifth stored program computer, and the oldest intact computer of either type in the world. Joe commented that “your” calculator probably has more computing power, to which I responded, “your” phone definitely has more computing power.

They also had an IBM PC... the original which was simply called a PC, because that wasn’t a generic term when it was produced. I think the oldest PC I ever used was an XT, which came out about two years later in 1983. The XT’s major innovation was that it had a hard disk, whereas the PC had two low density 5¼” floppy disk drives. In Sydney’s Powerhouse Museum, they have a TRS-80. There used to be a whole room full of them at my elementary school. Stuff I used to use is now showing up in museums. What are the museum curators trying to tell me?

For lunch we had Mongolian Barbecue. It was pretty good and all you can eat, so I wasn’t hungry again that day. After that we took a taxi to the airport and flew back to Sydney. When I looked out the window as we were landing, I saw a Tangara, which exists (I believe) only in Sydney and I started feeling oddly nostalgic being back in Sydney. It was really nice being back in Sydney after being away fro a week. It feels like home here.

Sydney, Today

I guess that brings me to today. Brian is off to Fiji. Joe and Cicely are climbing the bridge today and we are meeting later tonight for dinner, along with the girl that I met at Thanksgiving. Joe and Cicely fly back to the states tomorrow, and I’m back to work on Monday.

Justice & Police

2006-07-02T23:01:00

A few weeks ago I went to the Justice and Police Museum in Sydney for a special exhibit titled City of Shadows, which consisted primarily of black and white crime scene, mug shot, and other miscellaneous police photography from the early 20th century. The pictures were really fascinating, although the presentation really didn't do them justice. I would have really liked to have seen the actual prints!

As a camera geek, it was cool to see some of the old cameras they had on display:

(dorky stuff...)

I posted some more photographs of the old cameras and the museum here:

Police?Justice
2006

Rolling stone collects no MOS

2006-05-22T22:04:00

Saturday, I went to the Museum of Sydney (MOS) to see the Joseph Lycett exhibit which is on there right now. Lycett was an artist, forger, and convict in New South Wales, and his work is some of the most important visual record that exists of the time. What I found remarkable about Lycett's work is that the Europeans (individuals, towns and ships) look tiny in comparison to the environment that they find themselves in. One example struck me especially shows a tree by the shore four times the height of a three mast sailing ship (which is actually closer to the viewer). Even where there are not the immense incongruities, the Europeans look small vulnerable. The few pieces that I saw featuring aboriginals were scaled more realistically. Perhaps this is because Lycett knew his presumably European audience, and what they would be interested in seeing?

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Climbing trees in Canberra

2006-04-19T03:39:00

Today I climbed a tree in order to rescue Tristan's frisbee. It was a lot of fun, and felt like quite an accomplishment. It reminded me of two people I know who like to climb trees: Amber and Brad. It's fun to act young.

(more random thoughts that have collected over the easter weekend)

more pictures here

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In Houston

2004-05-30T14:48:00

I've been in Houston for the past few days, visiting my best friend Melly. They really like big friggin' trucks here. I'd be afraid to drive the freeway in my lil'ol civic hybrid. I think we are going to hit a museum today. I'm going to bring my camera, but I don't expect to be able to use it inside. Anyway, this random series of thoughts was brought to you by the letter R.