Following on from the previous post, where the power of the mighty telephoto reduced tall buildings to flatness in a single bound, we here at the Fish thought that it might be time to try that trick on other streets.
Flattening out perspective, as shown here in the classic (but I’ve always thought, slightly dodgy) example of Albrecht Durer from 1525 “Draughtsman drawing a recumbent woman” can have interesting effects, sometimes bringing things to attention in an unexpected manner. Methinks Durer copped an eyeful there, and stuck to drawing hares after that (with some considerable success).
Fore-shortening can work wonders…
read the full entryLooking up Vivian St, past the closed down peepshows and the sadly tacky brothels, a new building can be spied on the hill.
It’s the new student accommodation block called Te Puni, and the neighbours on the hill are in trepidation – apparently 375 horny 18 year olds are inside. Yes, it will be noisy – expect lots of puking in the bushes for the first few weeks, and then they’ll settle down. But I’m more interested in the architecture.
The building is by Architectus, an Auckland based company with offshoots in other towns in NZ and even in Oz…
read the full entryThe latest iteration of what was once Transit, now called the NZ Transport Agency, (obligatory maori moniker: Waka Kotahi) is now into publishing.
Edition no. 3 of Pathways is glossy and cheerful, and like most of the recent publications from recently re-organised public service departments, entirely full of bumpf and platitudes with nothing much useful to say at all. One article however was worse than plain useless: it was simply plain wrong.
The author was off on a simile voyage, claiming that designing roads was like being a master chef:
“The planning of walking and cycling facilities in New Zealand resembles dinner…
If you head on over to fish central, we’re diving deep into the murky depths in order to protest S92A. We’re sure you’ve heard all about it, so we’ll spare the diatribe.
However, things arent all gloomy. Check back in a day (or two) to find a newly re-emerged fish – things will have changed…
Cuba Carnivale is upon us once more.
But will the showers hold off for us today, or is it time to think of the perhaps inevitable: do we need a SambaDome?
Carnival night parade is all about being hot and sweaty and (so it seems, near-naked), along with the inevitable music, rhythm and hypnotic samba music beats. Will the crowd break into spontaneous dance and applause this time, or merely look askance again at the funny people with feathers in their hair and sequins on their bums?
We’ll see you there tonight.
Update: the weather was perfect. The stalls and food was…
read the full entryNewsflash: Mill Creek Wind Farm approved, almost all intact – just 2 turbines short of the full picnic. We blogged about it before, back in June last year when it was announced and publicly notified – and we thought that the residents of Ohariu Valley might put up a bigger stink than the residents of nearby Makara did when they were confronted with Project West Wind. There’s certainly a hefty list of Conditions, and a very thorough report of all the issues discussed (200-odd pages all up), but it seems to have gone through, as it should, with due consideration of the…
read the full entryIn case you’re a new visitor to Eye of the Fish, and are looking for some of the particular posts on certain subjects, here’s a quick summary of some links that you can click on and take you straight there. Please do feel free to add your comment on any of the subjects. For instance:
Discussing the proposals for the National Library
Debating the proposed Flyover at the Basin Reserve
Talking about Manners Mall conversion into a bussed street
Musing on what makes Cuba Street just soooo good
Proposing that the Swan Lane car park is purchased and made into…
read the full entryWhen I was younger, I sometimes thought it would be good to be a black woman, so that I could qualify as a backing singer for Talking Heads: they always seemed to have the best dancers / singers / ass-shakers in the business, and they could get so close to the Master Byrne himself. Perhaps that’s just me. I never viewed it as a comment on society that perhaps they were pigeon-holed into that role: I was just jealous that they had what I thought was the best job in the world.
That may come as some surprise to those who know…
read the full entryMuch as we’ve always enjoyed a good stimulus package up here at Eye of the Fish world headquarters (beaming at you tonight from way up on the Majestic Tower because, to be frank, we’re sick of all that cloud down there at ground level): we’re left a little unstimulated by the whip of our new master. He’s cracking, but I don’t hear no jumping.
Yes, today (well, actually, yesterday, today, most probably tomorrow too, and a fair bit of next week etc) Prime Minister Key unveiled the long-awaited stimulus package, featuring projects “vital to the construction industry”. Well yes, but…
read the full entryThe Eye of the Fish has tried to keep away from the whole sorry saga of the Sports Centre, but recent developments deserve a forum for comment. The entire Sports Centre fad has escaped by the Fish, for whom the idea of 12 courts full of screaming netballers sounds more like a living hell than a place we’d ever want to go to. Apparently even 12 courts is a small number, claim the supporters, who point a regional places like Palmerston North have more courts, like a somewhat ridiculous 20 or so. Given that Palmerston North is an odious hellhole…
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