Bali Highlights

We are in between worlds here at the moment. Recently returned from Bali and frantically planning our next big adventure. Basking in the warmth and colour of our recent trip .... as Melbourne weather starts to close in and bite .... especially around 4pm each evening. So much to do and only a month to go, so apologies for my tardiness here of late.

Here's a quick list of some of our recent Bali highlights.
Waterbom, a must for all ages!
An evening spent at La Lucciola
Komune Beach Club. Z and I spent a morning here by the pool while the boys surfed. It's spectacular & on my list for a return visit.
The food at Mama San.
Cocktails and club sandwiches at Potato Head.
The slower pace and feel of Canggu...after the frantic feel of Seminyak.
The entire vibe at Bungalow Living, Canggu. Great raw food, juices and pastries too.
Our villa but even more than the villa.... our gorgeous staff. Denik & Erma we miss you. xx
A day trip Denik and her family took us on to Tanah Lot.
Great music and coffee at Revolver.
A drink and a cheeky dip in the pool at the W.
Pampering at Bodyworks.... I had a facial that made my eyes water! There was definitely a little pain with the pleasure.... be warned.
Lunch at Sea Circus...twice. It's worth a second trip.
I love everything about Motel Mexicola, the drinks, the courtyard, the staff uniforms, the vibrant decor and the fact that a quick drink here could turn into a long night of frivolity. FUN!!

Bali has never been on my radar before this trip. It didn't excite me in the slightest. We only really went on this trip to celebrate a 40th birthday with good friends but I can honestly say it's captured me and I can't wait to head back and explore some of the more remote parts of this crazy, vibrant and incredible 'sweat producing' country. Their smiles are wide, their hearts are big and they live so simply. If you can get out of the road of the crazed tourist shopping at a frenzied pace there's so much beauty to be discovered in the slowness and simplicity of life here.

Thank you Bali. x

Something I didn't manage to do this time but is on my list for the next trip the Bali Bintang Bike Tour.

Dreaming of... The City of Love

I’m slowly getting together some research for our trip.... We are heading to Europe  for 3 months & it's coming around so quickly! 5 weeks to go arrgggghhhh. I'm bookmarking websites, booking tickets and generally getting a feel for some of the things we’ll slot into our days. Paris has been on my radar today and here are a couple of inspiring sites I’ve come across. I’m so excited.  Dreaming of exploring the back streets, cozy cafe’s and  pastries-a-plenty in the city of love. Woo hoo.

Hip Paris
Paris in Four Months
Little Pieces of Light
Carla Coulson’s Paris Favourites
101 cookbooks guide to Paris
Un Jour de Plus a Paris
Petite Passport

As we’re staying in the Marais Part 1 & Part 2 of Carla’s 'My Marais' posts will come in very handy!

If you have any additional tips on Paris I'd love to hear...especially any geared around Paris with kids.
xx

Thanks for all the additional information people. I'll update this post as new information comes to me.  That way I can keep it all in one place and hopefully aid others looking for handy tips on discovering Paris. See 'Read more.'.

Being Human

It's week 3 of the edcmooc and I am swimming in a stream of video footage, articles and tweets concerning the human experience & technology. I really enjoyed Steve Fuller's TEDx lecture on Defining Humanity. I have to say he delivered a very relatable view of our 'human' experience, past & present.
I also loved this mini film, They're Made Out of Meat, created by the New York Film Academy. I've never been much of a cy-fi geek but the reference to man as 'meat' cracked me up. Oh, the disdain and the fact that they were completely intrigued and yet quite repulsed by the physical nature of the said 'meat'. I thought it was a great play on the egocentric superiority of the human species and a very quirky reminder that reality really is a matter of perspective..... & just how subjective that reality is.

The above image is my entry into the week 3 competition to create an image that represents or illustrates any one of the themes we have come across in the course so far..... voting is over on the Flickr group. Pop on by, I'd love your support. x

Be my digitally artifact-ed Valentine?

I'm practicing making digital artifacts for the edcmooc and thought I'd try my hand at a little Valentine's Day clip for my boys using Animoto.

Happy Valentine's Day beautiful people.

XX

Technology as God

Today is 'officially' the first day of our E-learning and Digital Cultures course.  With around 40,000 people ennrolled in the Mooc it is definitely going to be a fascinating experience.  Not only is it navigating the course requirements that will challenge my thinking but also finding the right niche in terms of expression.  There are a multitude of platforms and personalities... so finding the right mix may be my greatest challenge.

In week one we are looking at digital cultures in relation to whether they create utopian or dystopian experiences/cultures/environments etc. One of our resources this week is from Spain, Zumbakamera’s short animation, Bendito Machine III.



Firstly, I'll just say I LOVE the fact that we experience a mini 'film festival' each week as part of our course content.  Hooray to the EDCMOOC creators you've definitely sparked my enthusiasm straight up.

Picture Postie App

NEWSFLASH :: PICTIRE POSTIE ARE OFFERING A SPECIAL READER OFFER Get 30% off your first order using promotional code FF30 (includes everything except 6x4" & shipping).

 

A couple of years ago I met a gorgeous girl at my local cafe with her 3 week old baby.  At the time Z was about 2 and I still felt helplessly delirious with baby brain.  I marveled at how she was out exercising, looking incredibly bright and cheerful.  She was engaged and totally engaging... no baby brain..... with a 3 week old baby!!! Crazy business.

Move forward a couple of years and that gorgeous girl is about to give birth to her second child but not before developing this amazing app.  Picture Postie.  Picture Postie is a super charged photo printing kiosk on your iPhone!  Forget having to save your photos to a memory stick or DVD and traipse off to Officeworks, you can do it all directly from your phone.  I love it.

It has it's own built in editing system, you can print in lustre or gloss, in various sizes, on canvas, you can even have them framed... and delivered directly to your door.
I'm looking forward to giving this a go on the weekend and catching up on a back load of photos waiting to be printed.

Congratulations Jen you really are a clever lass. xx

PS. You can also check them out on Instagram and enter their weekly photo competition!

Connectivity

Connecting (Full Film) from Bassett & Partners on Vimeo.

I find the whole future of our online world very fascinating.  What will our community look like?  Where will we be 'hanging out'? ........just how connected will we all be? Especially in terms of our children.... We have no idea what their future will look like. What will the quality of their 'downtime' be like? .... or will they simply always be 'on'?

There was nothing quite like long days at the beach without a mobile phone in sight. Not even an answering machine connected to the landline at home for all the calls we were 'supposedly' missing. If it was important enough people called back. Simple.

There was no drop pinning our location, texting or tweeting every inane action to the world or checking our friends Facebook updates every 10 minutes for FOMO. We were where we needed to be 100%, no distractions from the ever nudging online world.

I'm showing my age, I know. Don't get me wrong I am very excited to be a part of this unfolding world of connectivity. The challenge will be in holding our own sense of space in the mix. Setting our personal parameters and making conscious choices..... which is how I come full circle. Education & experience (and stepping away from a screen long enough to see clearly) will be key in making these choices.

If you too are curious about the ways we'll be connected and how and who is shaping our connectivity you may find this video interesting, I did.

Another scorcher here is Melbourne, I hope you manage to keep cool people.

xx