Tavi Gevinson – ROOKIE DAY

Tavi is a young girl like us who wanted to live her dream and do what she likes best! Since Tavi was 11 she has been blogging in her bedroom on fashion. When she was that age she never pictured her life like this, famous, people wanting her autograph and being their idol. Tavi has a wonderful individual and inspiring fashion sense.

Tavi is still a young girl like us who has to go to school! Her normal day is like this:

• School
• If nothing is urgent she hangs out with friends
• If something is urgent or doesn’t want to hang out she goes home to blog for a few hours
• Homework for about 3 hours
• Go to bed

Now you know how she does it all but she doesn’t find this work she finds this fun. Tavi finds if she has lots of work she has less times to worry about things.

Tavi always keeps things new, fun and exiting when she is talking to us on Rookie and her amazing life. Her presentations were interesting. She added in jokes on the topic and made a power point presentation which was very artistic. I heard Tavi talk the night before Rookie Day. I knew more about her but she didn’t talk on anything she had already said the night before. I learnt a lot from her like how to handle a bad hair day just think I don’t have to look at it, if it helps Beyoncé. That’s what Tavi does.

Rookie Day was awesome we listened to all the girls speak then we made a mind map of things we like best with pictures from magazines. All my pictures were from Frankie magazines. My mind map was mainly based on yummy biscuits. This is because I was hungry. I left my lunch at home in all the excitement of leaving for Rookie day. But it wore off quick because we were about to start dancing in the dark.

When Tavi signed my Year Book she used my Gold pen, this pen shall now be called the “Special Pen”.

Tavi Gevinson is the  most wonderous, groovy and inspiring blogger I have ever met! I love the idea of Rookie, and the way she has put it up online. After Tavi I was inspired to blog more.

Roola Boola

On the school holidays my brother and I went to Roola Boola’s Hip Hop workshop. My Brother really, really enjoyed it. At home his favorite move is the pancake, which he loves to show every one.  We learnt other moves such as the snake, stomp body roll, wave  roller skating and some others. The age group was 4-10 years old but I think was more for a younger age group 3-7.

Roola Boola festival had other great activities during the school holidays. The Curious Game, Kapow, The Buzznicks as well as dance, circus, arts and craft workshops.

Rhythm Machine – MSO

MSO put on a production called Rhythm Machine. The wonderful MSO was conducted by Benjamin Northey with O Duo (Oliver Cox and Owen Gunnel, percussionists from the UK).  Fraser Trainer, a composer, introduced several pieces talking about the music and composer. I came away having learned about different styles, rhythm and concertos.

O Duo were very energetic performers! During Bolero by Maurice Ravel, Owen appeared on roller blades, skating around the audience playing a drum. When Owen was roller blading he had to keep his balance and play the right rhythm on his drum . O Duo were entertaining when talking about the music. They also played some very strange instruments.

Some instruments O Duo played! 

My two favourite pieces played were Bolero (Maurice Ravel) and Danzon #2 (Arturo Marquez). They played a concerto by Béla Bartók and a piece called Breaking Silence a concerto by Fraser Trainer that was written especially for O Duo and the MSO. The mix of music was good. I liked the way they finished the concert with Danzon #2  making me feel energised and happy.

This concert proved to me that not all classical music is boring, but some is! It was interesting to learn that the clave rhythm used in Danzon #2  is now widely used in popular music today! Perhaps that is why I liked Danzon #2 so much. I look forward to exploring more classical music to understand what I like and dislike about it.

Thanks MSO, O Duo and Fraser Trainer for a fabulous concert.

ANIMUS – By Liam Lynch

Mum took me to see my first photographic exhibition ANIMUS by Liam Lynch. The exhibition is about wildlife both underwater and on land. Some photos were large and majestic even though the focus of the photo is of little aspects, like an elephants eye, but they were so beautiful! Liam also uses a special technique called paladium printing.

The elephant’s eye

Cute!

 

I would like to thank Liam for taking the time to answer my questions:

Do you only photograph animals? No, I’m primarily a commercial photographer, wildlife forms part of my fine art work.

Do you have a favourite animal to photograph? Not exclusively but I do enjoy photographing weedy sea dragons.

What is your favourite photo in your current exhibition and why? The spider crabs is my favourite image in the current exhibition, I love how it looks so alien & everybody thinks it’s been manipulated.. but it hasn’t!!

What inspired you to be a photographer? My mum came home one day with a b&w print of her car that she had taken & printed herself when I was about 11years old, that was enough to make me want to explore the medium myself.

How long does it take for you do a palladium print? That’s a great question, I can’t put an exact time on it, but the process from applying the emulsion thru exposure to the finished print can take up to 4hrs.

My favourite photo!

Pinocchio – Malthouse Theatre

I was lucky enough to go to the opening night of Pinocchio at the Malthouse. It was different because it was a modern day Pinocchio adapted from the original story with groovy music. I was pleasantly surprised as I thought it might be targeted to a younger audience. So do not be put off by thinking Pinocchio is for young children. This musical most definitely has a wide appeal. Click here to see a Pinocchio trailer.

I had many favourite parts of the play. I was impressed with the way Pinocchio was built and the way his nose grew. I also really liked the cricket. He was a puppet and the puppeteer had a great sense of humour. He also entertained us at interval. The set was awesome. I also loved how there was only one set used differently. It showed that you don’t need lots of different sets to tell a story, you just need imagination.

The playwright Julianne O’Brien, wrote the play bringing the story up to date. This combined with the music by Jethro Woodward and the direction of Rosemary Myers made for a very entertaining play.  I thoroughly enjoyed the production. The play was true to the storyline and the music added an extra element.

My brother attended as well. He is only 5 and loved it too. Therefore I would say this is definitly a play for all the family. I highly recommend this for ages 5+. Pinocchio is showing from 6-28 September, time for me to go again! Great activity for the school holidays, book now. There will be a Crafternoon at the Malthouse with craft activities, puppetry and music on the 22 Sept.

Man Covets Bird

I went to Man Covets Bird play at the Arts Centre. On entering the theatre we were asked to look into a box and the man told us we were going to go on a very fast train ride. I didn’t know much about the play before hand except that it was a boys journey growing up.

The beginning of the play was very fast paced. The play started with the birth of the boy and his life was fast and then it got slower. He found a bird that became his best friend. One morning he woke up and no one recognised him (because he was no longer a boy but a man) so he went far away with his bird. He moved to a big town and got a job in factory. At the factory no one spoke. On the train to and from work no one spoke.

It was during this part that the play started to get a little boring. But it wasn’t until after the play that I realised that perhaps some parts of life might be boring.  In the beginning the man was a lone but he had his bird. The bird did a lot for the man and made him happy. In the play no one talked on the train to and from work then the one day the man decided to share  his  bird with every one and they started to talk to one another and it bought them happiness. People around you can effect how you feel.

I liked the projections on the walls and the background music. There were 4 people in the show but only 1 actor the other 3 sung and played instruments.

It was good but perhaps a little boring in the middle which made the play feel a little too long. It did make me think about life and how people around you can affect how you feel. So I would say the play was thought provoking. I recommend Man Covets Bird for 10 +.

Annie – Musical

I love the movie Annie and the musical Annie was as good. Annie was held in the beautiful old Regent Theatre. It has mural paintings on the roof and lovely decor. When you enter the theatre the usher gave children a cushion. I had no trouble seeing the stage with the help of the cushion.

They changed the musical a bit but it was still like the original movie. There was lots of energetic singing and dancing. My favorite song and dance is  It’s a Hard Knock Life that the orphans and Annie sung. My favourite orphan was Molly she played her role exceptionally well.  The stage sets were great. The orphanage looked real and  Mr Warbucks house was beautifully decorated.

I made a poem about Annie.

Annie was good

Annie was fine

Annie has freckles,

That look divine

See the show

Then go dine

Before the show mum and I had a crepe. We found this old newspaper stand in Swanston St that was selling crepes. It was just like the street stalls that sell crepes in Paris. They had French music playing and the people working there were also French. The crepes were delicious! I had salted caramel. There were many different types of crepes to choose from. YUM.

I went to the evening show and it wasn’t hard to stay awake. The play went for 2 1/2 hours with an interval. Click here for performance information about Annie. I recommend it for 5+

Drawing Competition – Winter Kids Festival

Here is a picture of my winning entry to the Winter Kids Festival drawing competition.

The Queen from the Curious Game
(my entry)

The Winter Kids Festival at the Substation

Kids Winter Festival

The Winter Kids Festival had lots of entertaining things on. It was awesome I went 3 days in a row. I saw some great shows The Curious Game, The Magical Circus and The Listies (you can read my reviews below). There were readings at the bookshop, drawing competition and loads more things happening. I also enjoyed Mitchell’s magic tricks before the shows started. It was well organised and the Substation was a cool location for the festival. I hope there is a Spring Kids Festival for the next school holidays.

Thanks Mitchell for your magic tricks

The Listies

Rich me and Matt

Tayger’s List of The Listies

• Hysterical
• Rude
• Disgusting
• Cool
• Gross
• Whacky
• Hysterical
• Awesome
• Silly
• Funny
• Weird
• Hysterical
• Must see The Listies again!

This is a SENSATIONAL, side splitting funny show for all ages. It was very noisy because the entire audience was laughing.  The Listies, Richard and Matt are a great comedy duo. Rich is very serious and Matt is very very silly. They taught us about interesting/boring animals, rude words, secrets about nanas, facts about icicle chickens and how to make “the Ultimate Sandwidj.” I have seen the List Operators before and I have not tired of their silliness. 10/10