“Be yourself; everyone else is already taken.”

“Be yourself; everyone else is already taken.” – Oscar Wilde

I SEE MONSTAS | HOLDIN’ ON	ELISE HURST | MELBOURNE | AUSTRALIA

Interesting Couple | Catherine Martin & Baz Luhrmann

“ “You can’t divide them, CM and Baz. They blur—he helps her; she helps him,” says fellow Aussie Nicole Kidman, star of two Luhrmann epics, Moulin Rouge! and Australia. As far as Martin and Luhrmann are concerned, however, the line of demarcation is clear: The director, 50, is the visionary, the big dreamer, the story driver. Martin, 48, is the pragmatist, the one charged with bringing his schemes, no matter how wacky, to life. Over the course of a career, you come up with many ways to describe such an arrangement: “Baz is the author, the one who generates the kernel of the idea, and I’m an applied artist,” is one way Martin puts it. Or, “He’s driving the motorbike, and I’m in the sidecar.”  For his part, Luhrmann says CM—the nickname he gave her over two decades ago, now her standard appellation—is “my council on everything, my number-one debater, and my first-ever audience.” She’s also the person with the no-nonsense gumption to make it all happen. “She’s a general in the field,” he says, marveling. “I’ve seen her with some of the burliest building guys telling her, ‘Well, love, we’ll never be able to put a house in the jungle like that,’ and next thing you know there’s helicopters and moving trucks.”  ” SOURCE: ELLE "BAZ LUHRMANN’S LEADING LADY" MAY 3, 2013

Music | Sia for The Great Gatsby

Now a movie, but originally “The Great Gatsby is a novel by American author F. Scott Fitzgerald. The story takes place in 1922, during the Roaring Twenties, a time of prosperity in the United States after World War I.”

Fashion | Cate Blanchett in a red dress snapped by Annie Leibovitz

Music | Spinnerette ….

I am sitting the fuck down.

Music | and I can't believe that you're happy to bleed from your cold eyes

Interesting Couple | “God on a wheel!” at Decadent Old Bitches

The beauty of scouring internet and, thus, other blogs is all about finding the gems that hide out there in the ether. Here is one – Decadent Old Bitches. Loved it first for the title. I mean, it is just brilliantly arresting! This fabulosity of a blog was, alas, short lived – February to December 2011.       Ran by Red Revolution, Decadent Old Bitches was “set up […] as an educational resource and a canvas for [Red Revolution’s] market research. [In 2011, Red Revolution was] a final year fashion student in Brisbane, Australia preparing [their] graduate collection. [Their] target market [was] decadent old bitches and [Red Revolution] created this blog as a scrapbook to store all the information [they] could gather of various icons [they] perceive[d] to be [their] potential customer.” Love it even more!       Pity Red Revolution did not continue, but on December 3, 2011 they left on a fine note. Yes, this ROYCE & MARILYN video. Ah, the Dahlings! Related: Movies | The Good Life, or the riches-to-rags life of Matte and Annemette Beckmann

At Home | Shearers Quarters by John Wardle Architects on North Bruny Island sheep farm, Tasmania, Australia

One cannot go wrong in these beautiful surroundings, but one can get it very right. Based in a suburb of Melbourne, Collingwood, John Wardle Architects did just that by putting together snazzy quarters for Tasmanian shearers. They won a bunch of well-deserved awards for the effort, too (2012 Winner, Australian House of the Year, HOUSES Award. - 2012 Winner, New House Under 200m2, HOUSES Award. - The Esmond Dorney Award for Residential Architecture. Australian Institute of Architects Tasmanian Chapter 2012 - Colorbond Award for Steel Architecture, Australian Institute of Architects Tasmanian Chapter 2012 - Runner up in The AR House Award 2012, London, United Kingdom).

Photography ©Trevor Mein

Photography ©Trevor Mein

Music | Def FX I’ll Be Your Majick … for Mabon

From Wikipedia, “Def FX (1990–1997) was an Australian industrial-dance-rock group, formed in Sydney. The core of the group was the writer and bassist Martyn Basha, keyboardist and vocalist Sean Lowry (also a visual artist & writer) and vocalist Fiona Horne (a famous Wiccan and environmentalist).” 

Then May-June 2012 reunion tour happened and some wonderful soul finally put this video on YouTube! Blessed be!

Sport | Skiing vs. Snowboarding

As Australia nears the end of its winter season,

the rivalry is unlikely to end  - even in Falls Creek.

A T-shirt from years ago... Thanks Paul and Chris!

Bubbly

What do you think of when it comes to wine with bubbles? Champagne? Sparkling white? Either way, chances are it’s white. Alas, you didn’t think of color. OK, maybe rose crossed your mind, but something dark? Not so much. Ah, my dear, you are missing out! Check out some sparkling Shiraz, for example. Peter Lehmann’s ‘Black Queen’ was my first foray. And a memorable one, too. So next time you go to pop the cork for anyone you see, consider a bubbly with color.  This gem is named “in honour of the most hauntingly famous Black Queen of all, The Queen of Sheba, who describes herself in the book of Solomon “I am black, (and) comely.” There can be no better description of this wine. A truely indulgent pleasure.” Word! Bottoms up mates!