australian rozie

I am happy with tonight’s two finalists Chrislyn Hamilton and Wes Carr for the Idol 2008 Top 12. I’ve liked these two even before the semi-final last night, so I’m glad they’ve both got in. Chrislyn has balls and Wes rocks out (please stop shaking your leg when you sing though).
On tonight’s semi-final show, I liked Amanda Grafanakis the best - she looks cool and sang a song by Pink. She reminds me of the girl who sang Standing in the Way of Control by The Gossip last year.
Natalie Colavito is going to give the big girls a run for their money, she sang Listen quite well but I think she could have been a bit more melodic. Is there enough room for two big girls in the Top 12? Quirky Brooke Wilkie lost her voice due to illness and unfortunately, shit happens - you don’t get another go next week. It’s a shame because her Top 100 performances were pretty cool and unlike last year’s quirky girl, she can sing. I was also going for Thanh Bui, but I think it was a sympathy vote because he’s Asian. His performance of One (U2) was, as the judges said, a bit boy band. Luke Dickens, the rock dude sang well, but he’s not my Idol material - a bit too rough. I have a bad feeling this year’s Matt Corby, Tom Williams will get through on his young, dreamboat looks - and he sang such a daggy song!
I missed quite a lot of Idol last year when I went overseas. No plans or $ to go anywhere this year - so it’s going to be Idol Central at the House of Wongillies!!!

Kota Ezawa’s The Simpson Verdict

Originally uploaded by Australian Rozie

During my “spare time” over the last two weeks, I’ve been to see a few exhibitions in Sydney. Here are some highlights:

Southern Exposure Works from the Collection of the San Diego MCA, 21 March - 1 June 2008.
Take a walk through the past four decades of contemporary art from America’s West Coast, with a new exhibition showcasing works from the collection of the Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego.
Jeremy Blake - Winchester Mystery House. I like how seeing an artwork leads me to find out about things I never knew about (random trivia?) such as the Winchester Mystery House.
Bill Viola - Eternal Return 2000 & Heaven and Earth 1992. Most of the Bill Viola stuff I have seen is very BIG & LOUD! These two works at the MCA were a bit different. One had two monitors facing each other with footage of his dying mother on one and his new born child on the other. It was a bit eerie looking at the poor old woman in such a state.
Jump by T. Kelly Mason and Diana Thater’s structuralist 16mm game involving jump-roping and a Bob Dylan song (Subterranean Homesick Blues). There were 4 different performances of the song in different styles such as folk and polka.
also at the MCA
Fiona Hall: Force Field 6 March - 1 June 2008.
This exhibition presents an in-depth survey of the work of Australian artist Fiona Hall from the 1970s to the present.

World Press Photo 08
This exhibition features the award-winning photographs from the 51st annual World Press Photo contest.
There were amazing images from war torn and poverty stricken countries as well as emotive portraits. One series I found striking was by Oliver Gulmann in the Comtemporary Issues section. It simply had photos of people watching TV, they were from varied places such as China, Morocco, USA, UK, Africa. What striked me was their expressions - zoned out, mesmerised and bored. It made me think about how mind numbing watching too much tv is!
I also liked the series by Travis Dove on images of Skatopia.

For a complete change the next exhibition I went to was Taisho Chic at AGNSW.
This exhibition explores the impact of the simultaneous clash and embrace of modernity and tradition on arts and design in Japan of the Greater Taisho period (1900–1930). 22 May - 3 August 2008. I really loved the artworks presented here, the modern meets tradition Japanese screens, prints and objects. I really liked the kimonos with modern patterns and I love art deco era hairstyles on Asian ladies.