Don’t forget to vote everyone!
I also made this graphic to celebrate; you might recognise it as a take on the Greens’ social media campaign.
Swing diary
I’ve been mulling over the sorts of content I should be putting in this website’s blog section for a little while, but after coming home from swing dancing class today I figured that part of it should be a place where I record the moves I’ve learned.
I’ve been learning to swing dance off and on for about 4 years (and I really mean the off-and-on bit) and have recently just got back into the scene. I started off as a follower, as most females do, but due to numbers in my class last semester I was a lead. I’m enjoying learning to do both, but as a lead there’s a lot more responsibility for well, leading the moves. I’m learning about three new moves a week, but I rarely social dance outside of class because I don’t have the time. So hopefully writing this down will help me, and might help anyone who’s interested in learning new moves.
Slingshot
Led in open cross-hand. Lead the follower down the line on your right side in the first two beats, triple step forward and bring right arm over the top so the follower does a little half turn. Emphasis beat 5 with right foot and by bringing the arm forward and down. Should feel somewhat elastic in order to swap to left hand leading.
Break steps
Lead the first 4 beats of a basic. Break step right, left, (4 beats) then back for 4 beats with a kick at the end to land on right foot in order to step back from the left. This step puts you 4 beats off the music.
Shiny and new
Construction on the website has finished, but please let me know if there are any remaining broken or missing things I’ve overlooked.
Bear with me as I transform this glorified website update announcer into a real blog.
Incidentally, if you’re looking for an example of a real blog might I recommend my Not a Cosplayer project?
Overhaul (Again)
The website is getting another overhaul and I’m finally updating my portfolio! Please be patient if something is broken or missing.
Steampump pictures
If you’re here looking for Steampump pictures, they are this way.
Made With Love
© Connie Chen. Do not reproduce without permission.
Repurposed cutlery, book binding, and designer wearables – in an age of mass production, quirky and handmade is popular once more at the Rose St Artists’ Market, Fitzroy.
Heidi Crawford is a market veteran and over the 4 years of selling, she’s seen attendance swell and market days extended.
“I just did this market to begin with,” says Heidi. “Now I’m doing one in Yarraville, Seddon, Northcote – there’s markets popping up everywhere. People just love handmade.”
No Clean Feed
I never thought it possible but the government has decided to go ahead with its plans for ISP filtering. While I agree with their intentions – that child pornography is abhorrent and children need to be restricted from viewing certain web content – the fact of the matter is that this should be the responsibility of the parent to install various local filtering technologies on their computers and to monitor their children when accessing the internet. It is not the government’s responsibility to monitor children, especially when it comes as a large cost to taxpayers – monetarily and by affecting their internet access.
Furthermore, the internet filtering study that’s been lauded as a “success” by Conroy shows that circumventing the filter is a trivial matter. Anyone with a good understanding of technologies can do it with Google, so it won’t actually prevent anyone who really wants to look at these sites from doing so. It is a waste of energy and time.
And what are these blacklisted websites? No doubt many of them do contain harmful content, but how do we know what is being filtered when the list is kept secret? Without transparency the government can easily push a one-sided agenda while blocking websites that give us another view.
There are so many reasons why we should fear this filter, why it is a waste of resources, and we need to take action and have our voices heard. I will be writing to Senator Conroy and my local representative. I hope you will be too.
Art of the Tease
© Connie Chen. Do not reproduce without permission.
Jac Bowie is bombarded with girls who want to be the next Dita von Teese and who think burlesque is nothing more than striptease. As the burlesque revival moves mainstream, more people are diluting the original spirit of the genre. One of her pet peeves is pop group, the Pussycat Dolls, labeling themselves a burlesque troupe.
“There’s no narrative,” she says. “You can’t get up in a bra and matching outfit, doing routines in time and taking clothes off and call that burlesque. Where’s the comedy? Where’s the mocking? Where’s the story in that?”
All Eyes on China
© Connie Chen. Do not reproduce without permission.
The last time an Asian country hosted the Olympics was in the midst of student riots and a bloody military regime in South Korea. Within the year, South Korea had a democratically elected leader.
For Beijing 2008 the Chinese government is working overtime to avoid conflict, and to give the impression of a peaceful society. While controversy in Beijing is unlikely to be as dramatic as in South Korea, this does not make the current changes in China any less significant.
Andy Griffiths Goes Back to School
© Connie Chen. Do not reproduce without permission.
Andy Griffiths doesn’t look like the type of person who sticks vomit labels on corn relish jars in the supermarket. For a person with a decade-long reputation for inspiring children with farts, bums and pranks, Andy is a surprisingly low-key person.
