Two Doors Down

There's a middle ground - in the most literal sense - between two doors down and Parramatta (comparable to Walthamstow in London) that a venue/place of interest has to hit for me to be, well, actually interested. Too far and it's just a plain ol' pain. Particularly when you have no car, license, money or access to a mode of transport that isn't public, expensive and unreliable. Too close though, and it simply requires too little effort; why, it would be silly to apply my organisational skills to arranging a trip downstairs, right? Before meandering down to said park/warehouse/sexpot, I see no reason I shouldn't wash my hair, pet my cat, have another go of beating B-Boy in Tetris Blast on my very eighties Gameboy, play with the (stuffed) squirrel sitting on my bed, stare at the photo I had taken of me and an (wholly alive) owl for a good twenty minutes and listen to that new Adam Green album. Twice. But then suddenly it's Midnight and I haven't left the house. With the half-hearted promise that I'll go tomorrow or the next week or perhaps the Friday after instead, the cycle repeats itself and, before I know it, it's been two years and it's moved or gone or been overrun by zombies. This happens to me on a semi regular basis. Last month however, I decided enough was enough and I was going to get my arse over to the Chinese Garden of Friendship before an asteroid hits it or something similarly unlikely yet very probable happens. I wholly recommend you do the same. It's really kind of amazing.

Here's me looking happy (and a little smug - if I read my expression correctly) that I successfully tore myself away from my pet squirrel/owl/cat to visit the Chinese Gardens. To clarify: I *am* referring to my happy smile, not the regrettable bulge in my pants, which is due to my bulky camera. It's true, I swear.

Next on my list of places to go that are just too darn close for comfort? The karaoke bar across the street, suitably named Ding Dong Dang - a name which is also apparently (I would guess) an homage to The Wizard of Oz which can only be a good sign - and High Tea, an intimate, RSVP only live music night which takes place every second Thursday in nearby warehouse.

Festival Song

Last Thursday I drifted my way in and out of a codeine-induced sleep throughout the four hour drive to Latitude Festival; the festival of choice, I soon discovered, for affluent, middle class and middle aged hippies and their kids. You might have noticed a lack of posts recently. Yes, I know that it was like, ten days of no posting, and the trip was only five days, but there was recovery time involved. Plus, almost a whole week of work immediately bit me on my hungover arse, which my body did not appreciate and subsequently rewarded me with aches and strains and a refusal to keep my eyelids open past midnight. I cannot deny, however, that the festival was utterly and completely worth it. Despite the unpredictable weather, Latitude easily topped the charts as the best festival of my life, hell, the best weekend of my life.

Above and above, the lovely, charming and, most importantly, very talented The Late Greats. And their severely under-age groupies.

Preparing for (above) and enjoying (below) David Ford's spectacular impromptu secret show by the woods.

"Bjork! Bjork! It's Bjork!" These strange piggies shouted as they outstretched their fingers and point their cameras at me.

Having one last practise before our performance of Gangsta's Paradise for The Late Greats' Indie Ghetto set (above). I say 'our' performance, but really, I was only one part of the five-piece (mostly talentless) chorus. A very important chorus, however.

See? We had the whole 'ghetto' thing down pat.

Jeffrey Lewis performed two sets over the weekend: One sans band (above) and one with band. Both were equally amazing. I think I might just be addicted to him.

The Tree of Lost Things.

Patrick Wolf. My, how I would kill for his costumes. He came out in a black and white, musical OWL outfit. Suffice to say, I almost fainted.

Bobs was asked to participate in a project for BBC (actually, I kind of volunteered him.) Listen to the end result here.

Many more photos here, if you're interested. And, on a side note, does anyone know how I can get my photos all big and lovely? I'm HTML incompetent, I'm afraid.

Right, back to bed, where I will be catching up on the mountains of sleep I've missed. It's tough when your used to 12-hour-long, uninterrupted slumbers. My only saviour to this relentless schedule (I don't care what you might say, festivals are hard work folks) has been the beautiful, delicious, Bonsoyed up coffee from Taylor St Baristas in Travelbag, on 130 Queens Rd, Brighton. I highly, highly recommend it. While I might just be particularly overjoyed to have found a little place with rich, smooth, nutty coffee, Australian baristas (with Australian accents - oh my, how I've missed you!) and BONSOY (the kind of soy milk that cows are frickin' jealous of), I don't think I'd be understating if I said it's the best coffee I've had in England. Hell, the best coffee in EUROPE, I've had thus far. Man, the best weekend and the best coffee ever. What's going to come next? The best sleep? Yes. Please.

Magazine

The talented and discerning people at ElleGirl Korea have done a feature page on yours truly. You can find it in the March issue of the magazine. Yes, I do realise that it's April now. However, you see, apparently it takes weeks upon weeks to ship things from Korea. By the time it finally arrived in Sydney, I had already left for England. Hence I had to coach my Mother in the art of scanning and saving a picture file as a picture file, not as a Word document. This kind of implies that we were successful. We weren't. In fact, I just wasted an hour and a bit of both our time. Thank God for Skype, otherwise I would be even more broke than I am now (if such a thing were possible). Lucky for me however, over the weekend she had a computer-savvy friend visit her who, on hearing about the saga, wham bam emailed it right over. Et voila!


I feel that it's important to mention at this point that I don't speak Korean. So for all I know they could be talking about my weirdly long and wonky fingers in the photo where I hold Miranda July's No One Belongs Here More Than You. Or my typically (roll of the eyes) indie taste in music/film. So rather than give you a long list of what they might be saying, here is a copy of the article I sent them, in English and in the full. I'm the non-bold bits, in case, like me, you're easily confused.

INTRODUCE YOURSELF. "My name's Emma Harrison. I'm twenty and I live and work on the top floor of an amazing heritage-listed, graffiti-ridden, green maze of a warehouse building in Sydney, Australia. The building is also home to a monthly Vintage and Retro Market that I run."


DESCRIBE YOUR DAILY LIFE. "My days usually consist of buying (and getting very excited about) lots of beautiful old clothes, browsing the Internet for inspiration like the below picture, blogging, arranging my next market, sketching and listening to very good music. Sometimes, if it's not 40 degrees as it is today, I might lounge on my roof with a book. If there's a glint in my eye and I have my thinking face on, it's almost certainly clothes on my mind."


WHAT'S YOUR DREAM? "I would love to one day be making enough profit from my Vintage and Retro Markets to be able to turn my entire floor into a space where people could drop in and buy incredible clothes and pretty things, drink coffee made by our (currently non-existent) in-house barista and hang out on our (also non-existent) Astroturfed roof. I would also have a cinema room with super comfy little seats and a gigantic projector that screened cult hits and shit we like but no-one else does. And if people were hungry we'd serve them brownies."

WHAT INSPIRES YOU?
"Books
No One Belongs Here More Than You is a collection of beautiful, quirky and often sad stories by Miranda July. Writers like her inspire and influence me more than anything else. The images that a wonderful writer can conjure in one's mind is difficult to beat. It might be a phrase or a chapter, it might be the way it's told or the way it unravels. I consider styling and thrifting to also be processes of telling a story and when I shop for vintage clothes I like to consider the direction the piece's story has gone and will go in, often with the aim to take it in a direction it hasn't seen before."


"Lipstick
Lipstick can bring a giant white singlet and shorts from a sunny sandy day into a wonderful summer night. It brings together an outfit not unlike a great pair of shoes does. Lipstick reminds me of autumn. Lipstick makes me feel okay for not wearing any other make-up to a party. And when it ends up smudged across your face in the morning, it's okay because clowns are cool."

"Home
The wonderful thing about my building is that it's full of surprises. New artworks (some of them mind-blowing, others horribly amateur) crop up constantly. It's where the cool congregate and the amazing and creative live (me being more the latter than the former)."

"Millie
While it's difficult not to admit that she is by far at her friendliest when she's looking to be fed, my cat is still a beautiful creature. Millie's a lovely companion. I named her such because she was born in the Millennium year. Clearly, my creativity came later in life."


"Bobby
Since my boyfriend Bobby and I have been together, I think both our senses of style have developed. While, individually, we have always had a keen eye for the old and the newly put together, I think that, as a couple, we serve to inspire and open each other's minds. He borrows my blouses and I borrow his skinny ties. It's a pretty sweet deal."


"Cafes
With all the little cafes so close by it's easy to take a little time out of my schedule to sit down and relax with a mug and a sketchbook and let the ideas flow. The moment you sit down and make that decision to do very little, you find yourself noticing things that many people are looking too hard to see. The twist in the girl's hair who's sitting next to you, the amazing shoes that just stomped past, the way the old leather is cracking on the seat beneath you. People-watching is a rewarding sport if you pick the right spot."

"DVD
Ghost World is so wonderfully put together. The colours and perfectly framed shots of those big Docs with those dowdy clothes and wonderful glasses just couldn't get any better. And how could one not relate to such a film? I doubt that there is anyone who has never felt like an outcast. But despite the characters being total losers, they are also some of the coolest ones to grace our screens."


"CDs
I'd like to quote that CSS lyric and say, "Music is my boyfriend". The truth though is that my boyfriend is my boyfriend. However, you can't put my boyfriend on the stereo (very loudly) and dance badly around the room to him. No matter how hard you might wish."


"Pay by the kilo thrifting
Some things you have to be in the right state of mind to endure. Getting up early on a Saturday morning and trawling through mountains of (mainly rubbish) clothes at the pay-by-the-kilo warehouse we frequent is hard work. But it's worth the effort when you chance upon a gem. I always manage to find the most ridiculously wonderful '80s garments."


"Vintage and Retro Market
The Vintage and Retro Market I run is my baby. Once a month I gather together a bunch of little indie sellers and we set up our pop-up store. Personally, I collect and sell things that I want to wear but just don't have room for. Quirky vintage dresses and sweet little skirts. It's lovely to see Sydney's cool kids visit my place and discover their own new treasures."

"Art/photography
Comic books, superheroes and vintage photos are fantastic eye candy. Also, magazines are a great quick source for photographs and art that are put together with the sole purpose of intriguing and inspiring. Even junk mail can be visually inspiring."


"Blogging
Since starting up my blog, I find myself constantly searching for new and inspirational things to blog about. It keeps me on my toes. It makes me strive to put together better outfits. I have a file on my computer and a few little art books lying around that I use to collate ideas. It very much helps when you can't remember what you were getting so excited about just an hour before. Writing it down or writing it up on my blog also helps to cement the ideas in my head and is, for me, a way of keeping track of things."


Update: Thanks to the very kind and multilingual Grace, what follows is a translation of the introduction to the article. "Emma (Age 20) lives in Sydney, and is a fashionholic. She never wears normal t-shirts and jeans, but each day creates a new style by following her mood and mixing and matching vintage items. On a typical day this red haired dreamer usually spends time shopping and blogging, but hopes to run an atelier of her own some day."

Two Thousand & Great

Without lists, it's very likely that I would never remember (or do) anything at all. It would be difficult to argue with the stubborn fact that I would spend my days doing little but playing tetris in the sun on my newly rediscovered gameboy, browsing charity stores and listening to very loud music. Below are my lists for the best dressed - not strictly in terms of style - of the year. Please feel free to leave your own (presumably mini) lists in the comments, perhaps you'll enlighten me to some new music, that I will no doubt enjoy blaring from the speakers in lieu of doing anything productive. Just the thought is getting me excited.

Top 10 Albums

Adam Green - Sixes & Sevens
The Kills - Midnight Boom
Kitty, Daisy & Lewis - Kitty, Daisy & Lewis (pictured below)
The Felice Brothers - The Felice Brothers
Late of the Pier - Fantasy Black Channel
Metronomy - Nights Out
Dr Dog - Fate
Teeth & Tongue - Monobasic
Cassette Kids - We Are
Ratatat - LP3

Top 5 Singles

I'm Not Gonna Teach Your Boyfriend How To Dance With You - Black Kids
Young Love - Mystery Jets
That's Not My Name - Ting Tings
Paris is Burning - Ladyhawke
At Last - The Do

Top 5 Gigs

Adam Green (pictured below)
SoKo
Kimya Dawson
Grafton Primary
Cassette Kids

Top 3 Movies

Juno
Young At Heart
The Diving Bell and the Butterfly

Top 10 Online Destinations

Two Thousand
The Selby (pictured below)
Flickr
Facebook
Face Hunter
Kingdom of Style
Bobbysix
Flavorpill
Style Bytes
Ringo Have a Banana

Top 5 Eats

Govinda's
Shakespeare Hotel
Hot Wok Master
Elephant Jump
Bourke Street Bakery

Top 10 Material Acquisitions

Black and Brown Saddle Bag
Black Lace Up Shoes
Teddy Bear Belt
Pastel Striped Dress
Navy High Waisted Pants
Red and Brown Patterned Scarf
Black Patterned Cropped Top
Cropped White Jumper
Checkered Jodphurs
Long Green Skirt
Camel Wool Vest


Top 5 Outfits From Other Bloggers

Highlights of the Year

Finding such a wonderful, inspiring and central place to live, the plethora of amazing charity shop finds and, most importantly, meeting the man I love.