australian rozie

There is a competition in Grazia magazine to be a blogger for 30 Days of Fashion & Beauty in September. You need to write 300-350 words in the style of a gossip blog. So I did. The magazine (the printed paper version) says to enter, log on to grazia.com.au to submit your entry. What sucks is that I can’t seem to find anywhere on their website to enter the comp - in fact they don’t even mention this on their competitions page. What gives? Such a shame the competition closes at 11:59pm AEST on August 17. I can’t even ring up or email anyone to find out more. AND, their isn’t even any Contact Us details on the Grazia website. AND it’s part of ninemsn which Dave advises me, sucks. Anyway, here is my entry:
On a cold and bitter Wednesday night, Honka Princess and I (Australian Rozie) ventured down to the Rosemount Sydney Fashion Festival for Review Show #1. Firstly we went up to the MLC Centre for pre-show drinks in the Rosemount VIP Wine Bar. We were greeted by very friendly staff who gave us a bag that included MAC make-up and a bottle of wine. We tried to get our hands on as much free food as possible, but sadly the waitress just passed us by, surely they knew we weren’t models and we wanted to eat. Just to make sure that A-listers’ shit don’t stink, they had Jo Malone candles in the ladies toilets!
We headed into the big marquee in the middle of Martin Place for the show. Luckily, I bumped into my brother who had spare tickets. His seats were much better than the ones we had, so we took them. Honka Princess went around to grab the goodie bags that were on the seats we didn’t take, she ended up with three bags - always the frugal princess. We ended up sitting right at the end of the runway, just in front of the the photographers, in the second row behind Simon Lock’s shiny head. The show featured Australian designers such as Alex Perry, Camilla, Easton Pearson, Lisa Ho and Hotel Bondi Swim. The models didn’t smile much. I don’t know why they didn’t look happy, if I had a body like that I’d be laughing. The clothes in the parade covered everything from cocktail dresses to bikini’s. The music was quite terrible, there was a Blondie track (how predictable), some of the mixing was really messy and they played a god-awful electro-clashy song that used the lyrics of Careless Whisper. Could do better! Before we knew it, the show was over and everyone was filing out. I saw the always perky, Catriona Rowntree and the Director of the MCA, Elizabeth Ann Macgregor (please, you’ve got to lose the tartan, even Isabella Blow changed her hats).

Dave said it was a bit negative, but I was just being a bitchy gossip girl.
You can see some more photos of the night here

Pivot @ the Oxford Art Factory

Originally uploaded by Australian Rozie

Supported by Kirin J Callinan - he was different, unusual. I actually found him to be quite entertaining, though it felt like he and his band may have not had many gigs before, if you know what I mean. It was kind of a cross between Boy George, Joy Division, Placebo and I don’t know what. I found it amusing when he couldn’t get the guitar strap on properly just before he needed to play a song and he screamed into the mic “freakin strap” or something like that. Dave said that it reminded him of a scene in 24 Hour Party People where the Hacienda has just opened and they have booked these odd avant garde indie bands to play but there are hardly any people attending.
Next up were Fabulous Diamonds - they were OK, sometimes the vocalist sounded a bit like Sinead O’Connor lite which wasn’t bad. The music was instrumental (keyboards and drums) and minimal. Wasn’t really paying attention at this stage as the room was filling up and getting crowded.
Finally Pivot came on (I’ve seen them about 4 times which is quite an effort for me - it must mean I like them a lot). They played mostly new stuff which was quite interesting. They seem to have got into a psychedelic, electronic with guitars style (sorry Matt, I am terrible at describing music). My favourite band member - the one who holds his guitar like Sting, now does some vocals as well. It was more like primal screaming with fx over it. I really like their podcast which seems like a mood board for their new album ‘O Soundtrack My Heart’. You can check it out here: http://www.pivotpivot.net/ Honka Princess came along too but she had a nap near the end.

While I was browsing on MyCareer, I saw this awesome job…
I would say I have about 2% qualification for this role ;P

Head of Design

* Artistic and educational vision
* Leadership in design training
* Industry standing

NIDA is Australia’s national institute of dramatic art. Located in Sydney, it is a centre of excellence in education and training for careers in theatre, film, television and other performance media.
We are seeking an inspiring and energetic Head of Design to develop and direct the teaching program for the Bachelor of Dramatic Art (Design) and to manage the design elements of NIDA’s Play Production Program. This is a unique opportunity to take on a key role in one of Australia’s most influential arts and education institutions.

With a significant track record of achievement in arts/entertainment and insight into the role of education and training, you will have a respected profile in the cultural sector. You will have the ability to contribute to a collaborative educational environment to develop the potential of students pursuing a professional career.

Red Tape, Gold Scissors: The Story of Sydney’s Chinese

Originally uploaded by Australian Rozie

I have been after this book for a while. As an ABC (Australian Born Chinese), I have always had some interest in the history of Chinese in Australia and especially Sydney because it’s my hometown. This book first came to my notice when I attended a talk by the The Chinese Heritage Association of Australia in 2007. I looked for the book on amazon but it was not available. Luckily today I went to the State Library to see the World Press Photo 08 exhibition (still have time to do things I enjoy - yah). Of course I went to the book shop afterwards. Red Tape, Gold Scissors: The Story of Sydney’s Chinese was on the shelf. (Actually I also saw it in a glass display box in a hidden corridor upstairs while looking at old photos of Sydney with the bridge half built, but anyhoo). There were 2 versions, the only difference were the covers - green or red. I thought, if any Chinese person is making the choice, they’re going to take the red one of course. As I was paying for the book, a dude (aka a grey haired gentleman) comes out of the back and says “Oh, would you like the author to sign it?”. I thought he was the author (duh - he didn’t look like a Shirley, I didn’t realise the name of the author at the time of purchase). So he gets a lady to come from the next room and she is Shirley Fitzgerald! How random! She signs the book for me with best wishes and I decide to have a chat with them on their way out. This chance meeting really spurs me onto writing about my family history and how they came to Australia even more now.