Have dinner at ARIA, go watch Chick Corea, Sydney Symphonic Orchestra & Gary Burton perform at the Opera House then finish off with drinks at Opera Bar...
..now that's what you do when you're in Sydney :D

*happiness*

The performance was utter magic.. just magic. We knew it, they knew it - i really hope they make the recordings into a record.. as it is Chick hardly ever records with an orchestra and the orchestration under the spunky guidance of the conductor Johnathan Stockhammer was just amazing... at times in the first half Gary Burton (vibraphone/marimba) more or less stole the show. He's such an enigmatic guy to watch live and the fact that this complex jazz sound was coming out of what essentially looks like a glorified xylophone was quite bewildering - in a good sort of way.

We had these great seat smack in the middle of the row in the centre of the stalls.. close enough to see everything, far enough to get balanced sound *lovely*... the second half was where it got really interesting with some Corea favourites getting a revamp and remix with Gary coming in and the orchestra just making everything sound amazingly lush. The orchestra set a thick tapestry as a background and Corea and Burton just wove their way through it so beautifully - at times playing together as one instrument and at times going off on their own melodies. It really makes you wonder why they don't do more recordings with orchestras... *happy sigh*

It' been a while since i've been for a live performance that was this moving. One of my favorites of the nights was when the whole orchestra, Corea and Burton did this reinterpreted rendition of"La Fiesta".. WOW... i've never really liked the original recording of it but the one i heard tonight was really..wow... there was a point in it where i just closed my eyes and i could see it all - the little children running about, the dancers in their colourful dresses, the fanfare, the spirit, the confetti even *hahaha*.. What did it for me though was the encore when both Corea and Burton duetted on the vibraphones with a spontaneous version of Corea's "Spain"...

*standing ovation*

Listen to some tracks here and imagine them done live with an orchestra...






*happiness happiness happiness*


Now, i must return to my little hole in uni to live out the rest of the semester *bleurgh*

Labels: Australia, bar, jazz, music, Sydney, theatre

"And i find it kinda funny, i find it kinda sad, the dreams in which i'm dying are the best i've ever had..
i find it hard to tell you, i find it hard to take, when people run in circles it's a very, very mad world..."




For some strange reason, this song has been stuck in my head the whole day. A classmate of mine used this song for a photo presentation and it just stuck.. i'm not in a depressive mood, no. It's just sorta.. contemplative. Like taking a step back and looking at the world and realising that it's a really, really surreal and strange place. We are a peculiar species.. we keep thinking we're so different from each other and yet we share habits, thoughts and emotions that are so similar that sometimes i wonder why we ever saw a divide in the first place. In a rather floaty and thoughtful mood lately. I think the combination of lack of sleep, long walks barefoot all the way home, some long conversations and too much tea & coffee has brought on a strangely sedated state of consciousness.

It feels like i'm dreaming when i'm awake and sometimes it feels like i'm more awake when i'm dreaming... this might actually work out for the better though. I've got this really interesting assignment where i've got to study my dreams and translate them into a collage of sorts *fun*

Anyways, i've been spending too many nights in uni on my 3D Max project (remember the white one i loaded the other day?). FINALLY, i'm done with it... a total of 30+ rendering hours later and this is what that model looks like now... i'm quite happy with it since it's taken me long enough to try to figure the program out :)

And now, i am going to go sleep. zzzZZzzzZzz....... enjoy.



The lounge-ish area.. sunshine through the window *whee*


A close-up view of the cocktails, bottle and candle holders i modeled.. had some fun playing with the depth of field in this shot... i love my pink cocktails!


An overall view of the bar area..


A closeup of my bar area (*whee* handles handles handles*)...


I love the reflections on my shiny black glass bar top :) this render took 7+ hours to render *ugh*... O_o"

Labels: 3D Max, bar, emo, lounge, self-reflection, UNSW, work

"Nothing is certain except everything you know can change,
you worship the sun but now,
can you fall for the rain?"

- London Skies by Jamie Cullum

Labels: 3D Max, bar, black and white, conceptual, design, light, lounge, renders, work