Category Archives: Blog

Tane Mahuta’s Triumph by Jane Crisp

In the beginning there was no sky, no sea no earth and no Gods. There was only darkness, only Te Kore, the Nothingness. From this nothingness, the primal parents of the Maori came, Papatuanuku, the Earth mother, and Ranginui, the Sky father. Papatuanuku and Ranginui came together,embracing in the darkness, and had 70 male children. TheseContinue reading “Tane Mahuta’s Triumph by Jane Crisp”

Welcome to the rumbling belly of the shaky isles: Orakei Korako

Welcome to the rumbling belly of the shaky isles: Orakei Korako! I visited one of Aotearoa’s most unique and unexpected delights, a #volcanic and #geothermal park near Taupo on the North Island #travel

Travel: Mornington Peninsula’s Antiques Roadshow at the Tyabb Packing House

The Mornington Peninsula (where I hail from originally) is located in the S.E tip of Port Phillip Bay, about 1 hour’s drive outside of Melbourne.  It’s a sundrenched and beachy part of Melbourne which features serene and quiet, toddler friendly beaches in sheltered Port Phillip Bay, along with colourful bathing boxes. On the other sideContinue reading “Travel: Mornington Peninsula’s Antiques Roadshow at the Tyabb Packing House”

The Private Lives of Animals circa 1842

This collection of funny and witty animal fables was originally published in 1842 in French as Scènes de la vie privée et publique des animaux. The authors of these fables are a who’s who of literature in the mid 19th-century including Honoré de Balzac, George Sand. Also The Private Lives of Animals boasts some fine,Continue reading “The Private Lives of Animals circa 1842”

Tech: A quaint visual voyage through the internet in 1996

Found in the David Rumsey Map Collection online, this poster entitled Ínternet Road Map from the magazine PC Computing dates from the quaint year of internet history, 1996. Back when I was a teen and when ‘surfing the web’ was something only geeks and introverts did, and therefore which I did with fervour using someContinue reading “Tech: A quaint visual voyage through the internet in 1996”

How slow-growing lichen opens up the vast universe

The Lichenologist from Matthew Killip on Vimeo. Hidden within this remarkable short film The Lichenologist is the slowly-growing story of the unassuming and vividly beautiful botanical wonder of lichen. Kerry Knudsen has the auspicious title of  Curator of Lichens at the University of California. He dispels common misconception between lichens and mosses. The latter beingContinue reading “How slow-growing lichen opens up the vast universe”

How animals would look in Minecraft

One clever coconut named Aditya has taken images from Unsplash and pixabay and created blocky, cube-shaped animals in novel art form known as Anicube. She created the images in Photoshop using the Liquify (Shift+Command+X) keys and then uploaded them to instagram. The comical and surreal results won her a lot of fans. See more of herContinue reading “How animals would look in Minecraft”

Book Review: Cats Galore, prominent cats throughout history

Spurred on by my recent missive about internet culture and the cult of cuteness, I moved very quickly down the rabbit hole into the depths of cat worship on the internet. Cats Galore is an art book with a difference. It’s what happens when internet culture gets mashed up and combined with the prominent artContinue reading “Book Review: Cats Galore, prominent cats throughout history”