Monthly Archive

Bungalow 8 is a cafe/restaurant/bar on Brunswick St, Fitzroy. Formerly the ‘Hideout’, where my best friend once fell through the roof while retrieving supplies back in her days of waitressing, dreadlocks and Dr. Martens, it now has new owners.
A friend of mine ‘Keith’ discussed the possibility of an interactive, ‘live’ artwork in the space, as it is truly cavernous. There are two large television screens and a massive screen that could be used for projections, the idea was to hook up my laptop to a projector so people could watch my ‘work in progress’. Unfortunately the projector they had been using was stolen a month before… Plan B, an analog work? Why not!
Although intimidated by the sheer size of the place I opted to do an analog piece on MDF board, toying with the idea of something like this, and then realizing that would require an intense input of hours onsite, something I just can’t commit to as yet.
I opted instead for an work that is still interactive but doesn’t require me to be there on a full time basis, it relies solely on the input of customers at Bungalow 8. Basically the work consists of 12 squares of MDF, 30 x 30 cm in size, these are pieced together to make a work 90 cm high and 120 cm wide. Each week I will complete a piece of the puzzle, the first piece shown above, the following pieces decided on by anyone who feels inclined to suggest an ‘idea’ on the poster provided. It’s not that I am want for ideas, in fact quite the opposite, currently my head seems to be throwing out new images at an epileptic pace, it’s more that I want someone else to decide for once, kind of like art direction from complete strangers.

So head on down! They have a huge menu and an awesome selection of cakes as well as a ‘hotspot’ and some lovely red soft couches … go, eat, contemplate life, enjoy!
If you need more information please speak to Moura, Hannah or Jimmy at Bungalow 8 and they will be more than happy to direct you to the piece. Or if you are a hikikomori please just send me an email with your suggestion : innocentgirl@otoshimono.org

Over the next three months the piece will snake itself into creation and barring some expected, alcohol induced ‘obscene’ comments, I am quite looking forward to what will be suggested. I will be making regular updates here, including a break down of the process so keep on checking back and as I have written on the poster “Lets be making happy picture!”.

Recently while taking my Japanese friends on a trip around the city they spied the new Krispy Kreme Donut shop opposite the Southern Cross Station, shouts of “Ohhh, Krispy Kreme!” came from the back of the car so we decided as the store was practically empty now would be a good time to try them out so we jumped out onto the pavement ready to purchase some apparently irresistible donuts. As we were walking in a policeman walked out, the girls exclaimed (in Japanese) in all seriousness, “Oh, then it’s true that policemen love donuts!”.
While pondering why this phenomena existed we chose our donuts from what I considered to be a rather limited selection and we left.
To cut a long story short I was quite disappointed. The donuts did indeed taste like American donuts, kind of like they had been fried in an oil re-used continuously since the opening of the first Krispy Kreme store in the 1930’s, but there was nothing that screamed ‘Donuts worth waiting in a long queue for!’ to me.
When I first came to Japan I was dragged into a Mr. Donut store by an American friend of mine, I was quite apprehensive to begin with, thinking it was just another American franchise taking over the world, however when I spied the ‘Tofu’ donut I decided to give them ago.
Well the rest is history, I gained around 4 kilos that following winter and acquired several ‘gifts’ via the point card system.
They had it going on, the jingle, the point card gifts, the crazy selection of donuts, the characters, the place mats and most of all an insanely delicious dough that didn’t give a hint of deep fried greasiness. As a friend of mine once said while eating ‘deep-fried mochi cheese’ in an Izakaya in Japan with me once “These dudes know how to fry shit!”. Yes they do my friend.
I had to go cold turkey that spring, in an effort to lose the weight, and managed to do so, though it took a great deal of will power. Last Easter while in Japan on my own and with no chocolate eggs on offer I decided it would be the next best place to get a sugar fix and that’s when I did the sketch you see above. I love Mr. Donut, so much so that it’s around number 10 on my list of things I miss about Japan.
Mr. Donut versus Krispy Kreme… no competition.

Tofu Donuts (from Mr. Donuts)

The donut that got me hooked… Tofu donuts!

Some weeks back I wrote about a question that had been making it’s rounds on some forums “Is Illustration dead?” I would like to continue my argument against the negative with a some very delicious looking works by some of my fav artists in the field. Exhibit A is part of the Artists Bar series of chocolates being sold at Alison Nelson’s Chocolate Bar in New York. Created by peeps such as Nathan Jurevicius, Gary Baseman, Toy 2R and Friends with You just to name a few, it gives me deep, mouth watering feelings of happy joy over the existence of such a commission. Lets Enjoy! Exhibit A!

Well as you can see the diet has had little or no affect on our cat. I weighed her yesterday and she is still eight kilos! (sigh) She is very affectionate however and has a very endearing habit of wanting to sit as close to your head as she can when you sleep, at four kilos that was uncomfortable, now at eight kilos I actually fear for my life. Suffice to say she no longer sleeps in the same bed as me anymore.
I am starting to think that the bean bag (see pic) may be to blame, if she doesn’t drop some kg’s soon it may have to be removed from the house.

Today the inventor of instant noodles passed away. Momofuku Ando apparently came up with the idea after seeing a long line of people on a cold night shortly after World War II waiting to buy freshly made ramen at a black market food stall. See article here. Ando is quoted as saying “Peace will come to the world when the people have enough to eat”. This may well be true, but all I know is that many computer obsessed teenagers/adults would probably starve to death in front of their computers (and have; apparently a South Korean man died last year, from exhaustion, after playing online games for more than 50 hours) were it not for this ingenious invention, Cup Noodles being the staple diet of many young men and hikikomori as well.
There is even a museum in Japan devoted to the invention and ongoing marketing of Nissin Cup Noodles.
Ando is also quoted as saying “I’m happy I’ve realized my dream that noodles can go into space”. Said in reference to the most recent promotion for Nissinwhich is called the Freedom Projectthis is a 6 part animation series (commissioned by Nissin) by Katsuhiro Otomo, the creator of ‘Akira’ (a film that had a huge affect on my life growing up). The new films, of course, feature some pretty intense noodle product placement.

So what do noodles have to do with my Nana I hear you ask? Well not that much really, in fact I suspect she has ever consumed a single strand of instant noodle in her life, except it is her birthday today and she is 93! Noodles (especially Soba noodles) are often traditionally consumed on New Years morning as they are seen as a sign of longevity, being long. See there you go, how’s that for a tenuous link. Born in 1914 she has lived through two world wars, brought up two children, has five grandchildren and two great grandchildren. She can’t hear that well but still has an awesome sense of humour and will watch the cricket for hours on end. Happy Birthday Nana! love from your Cheeky Rabbit.