PACIFIC PEARL AND VIVID SYDNEY

Today, June 10, is the last day of the VividSydney festival, and tonight is the last chance to see the brilliant light displays that have made Sydney magical since 24 May.

And May 24 and 25 were particularly magical for us, as the Pacific Pearl was docked at Circular Quay, to serve as a canvas for one of the amazing light shows. 

From the deck of the ship, we could see patterns play over the Sydney Opera House...

 

 

   

 

While by taking a stroll down the gangway and around the Quay, wending our way through a thick but very happy and well-behaved, enraptured crowd, we could take in a view of the ever-changing display on the side of our ship... 

 

 

 

To see more, and enjoy the full thrilling ambience, look at their website 

www.vividsydney.com

And be sure to look at the images that fans have loaded.

It's the best kaleidoscope around.

 



Michael King Fellow announced

Announcement from Creative New Zealand

Leading New Zealand author Fiona Farrell has been awarded the $100,000 Creative New Zealand Michael King Writer’s Fellowship to research and write twin books, one fiction and one non-fiction, inspired by her experiences of the Christchurch earthquakes.

Since the quakes struck, Farrell has felt “like a photographer who, after living quietly in Armentieres taking portraits of local dignitaries or photographing wild flowers, suddenly finds that they are caught up in the midst of the action. It’s frequently deeply disturbing, but there is a compulsion to record”.
Farrell’s twin books, both titled The Villa at the Edge of the Empire, will begin with the reconstruction of a city after a disaster, the author says. “The non-fiction book will place the reconstruction in a broad historical and geographic framework, while the fiction book will offer an intimate, emotional perspective.”

The Creative New Zealand Michael King Writer’s Fellowship is one of New Zealand’s largest writing fellowships and supports established writers to work on a major project over two or more years.

There were many applications of a very high calibre for this year’s fellowship, says Creative New Zealand’s Chief Executive, Stephen Wainwright. “This is a fantastic opportunity to support one of New Zealand’s leading writers to record an in-depth intellectual and emotional response to the rebuild of Christchurch."

My sincere congratulations to Fiona Farrell.

WELLINGTON LIVES!

"Where do you come from?"
 
(chuckle) "From Wellington, the dying city."

Or so the opening went for many a conversation on the latest lecturing "gig" on the P&O cruise ship Pacific Pearl.

This time, the passengers were mainly from New Zealand, and they all (even the Aucklanders) knew the joke.

Our Prime Minister, John Key (an Aucklander), declared not so long ago that Wellington is dying.

Dying! Almost dead!

Good lord! Our head of parliament dissing absolutely positively Wellington from his eyrie in the Beehive, which (though he had evidently forgotten) is in Wellington!  Off with his own head, we say! 

Well, the Dominion Post has decided to no longer take it as a joke. Today's front page is a huge cartoon of our cool little capital, with the headline ALIVE AND KICKING.

It's no time to be smug, the paper admits.  Perhaps, to a certain extent, we do have our heads in the sand.

So let's have a good look at our gorgeous little city, they say.  And it's the beginning of a six-part series, The Wellington Report, starting in this paper and on dompost.co.nz today.

New shoot for Hobbit

It's a big feature in Wellington's Dominion Post, today

Filming on The Hobbit trilogy will resume this month on Mt Crawford in Wellington, where a patch of bush has been transformed into a gutted citadel.

Sir Peter Jackson's spokesman, Matt Dravitzki, said the site on Miramar Peninsula was being prepared for a few days' filming as part of 10 weeks of final-cut shooting for the last two instalments of the trilogy.

"We're back filming in Miramar for 10 weeks, here till early July. We will be filming on Mt Crawford for a few days."

He would not comment on the details of the set or the filming taking place.
However, the set most probably depicts Dale, the town of men built in the shadow of the Lonely Mountain. Many of the yellow townhouses with terracotta roofs appear to have been gutted by fire, suggesting the shooting of scenes after or during the attack by the dragon Smaug.

Another set shows an elaborate entrance carved into a stone wall, possibly the gates to Erebor, the lost dwarven city where Smaug lives.

The next Hobbit instalment, The Desolation of Smaug, is due in cinemas in December.

Geeks rule

THE GEEKS SHALL INHERIT THE EARTH

Or so current economic conditions predict.

Luckily for Wonderful Wellington, this is where the coolest little capital in the world excels.

Which is why the theme of the Wellington Gold Awards dinner this year is "Geekonomics, technology game-changers".

The Wellington region has created several household names in the global marketing business -- WETA WORKSHOP being just one of them.

Others are Weta Digital, Icebreaker, Infratil, Trilogy, Trade Me, and Xero.

Amazon axes ties with booklovers' site

The Bookseller reports a mystifying move

The founders of the book recommendation site Lovereading have said they are “baffled and shocked” by Amazon’s decision to terminate its affiliate programme linking titles to the Amazon website.

Louise Weir and Peter Crawshaw, co-founders of Lovereading, have displayed links to Amazon for the past five years without problems. However, the Amazon Associates Programme has now terminated the arrangement, with no further payments of advertising fees, after telling them that the website has violated the EU Associates Programme Operating Agreement.

Significantly, perhaps, Weir and Crawshaw received the communication shortly after Amazon bought Goodreads.

Asked for further explanation, Amazon merely said that the decision was final.

Weir told The Bookseller: “We feel our readers are suffering as a result, they no longer have the ability to click through directly from us to what they see as the best price. It makes no sense. We have linked to them for four to five years with no problem and then out of the blue we get this this.” She added: “It’s a blow for British book lovers, who have become used to being able to choose from all available formats on Lovereading.”

Amazon declined to comment.

Women's fiction prize won

A. M. Homes has won the Women’s Prize for Fiction this year for her novel, May We Be Forgiven.
The prize, formerly known as the OrangePrize for Fiction, will be renamed the “Baileys Women’s Prize for Fiction” next year. Chair Kate Mosse explained the new sponsorship deal in the release:

We were delighted by the range of interest – and enjoyed meeting brands in various sectors – but in the end, the Women’s Prize for Fiction Board felt Baileys was the ideal choice as our new partners. We were impressed not only by the scale of their ambition, but also their passion for celebrating outstanding fiction by women and willingness to help in bringing the prize to ever wider audiences.

From Mediabistro.com

Aussie telco changing tack

At last the consumers’ message has got through

More needs to be spent on maintaining and improving networks, and less on chasing new customers, says Optus boss Kevin Russell.

Russell went on to say that the Australian telco industry has gone backwards in the last six or so years, with an increasing number of customers registering dissatisfaction with their service.

Optus needs to focus more on improving its service for existing clients, so will be cutting costs in other areas.

Marketing will no longer be a priority, with anticipated closure of 45% of its stores.

“We are reducing our marketing budget this year,” he said, going on to state that it didn’t seem to make sense to spend dollars on marketing, “when your core service needs to get better.”

Not before time, I say, and predict that cutting back on marketing to consolidate the consumer base by providing a better service will become a worldwide trend.

A glorious end...

A TOUGH OLD COWBOY FROM SOUTH TEXAS COUNSELLED HIS GRANDDAUGHTER
THAT IF SHE WANTED TO LIVE A LONG LIFE, THE SECRET WAS TO SPRINKLE A
PINCH OF GUN POWDER ON HER OATMEAL EVERY MORNING.


THE GRANDDAUGHTER DID THIS RELIGIOUSLY TO THE AGE OF 103 WHEN SHE DIED.


SHE LEFT BEHIND 14 CHILDREN, 30 GRANDCHILDREN, 45 GREAT-GRANDCHILDREN, 25 GREAT-GREAT-GRANDCHILDREN, AND A 15-FOOT CRATER WHERE THE CREMATORIUM USED TO BE.

Ultimate Library and hotel book offerings

We all know what it is like to languish in a hotel room with nothing to read but the Bible in that bedside drawer.

Now, according to the Christian Science Monitor, the Ultimate Library aims to beef up hotel literary offerings.

Philip Blackwell, who once served as the CEO of his family’s bookstore business, decided it was time to upgrade the literary offerings available for guests at hotels and started the business Ultimate Library, which selects, then sells, books to hotels in an attempt to make the books offered at each location better for those staying there. The business was started in 2007, when there were not many people carrying Kindles and iPads in their cabin luggage.

“As frequent travellers and bibliophiles, we have always enjoyed reading about the places we visit and reading those books that best capture the sense of place, whether fiction, traveller's tales or even poetry,” Ultimate Library’s website reads. “Reading great books has always been an integral part of every holiday we have been on. But we have always been dismayed by the poor quality of reading material offered in hotels and have never understood why.”

What makes the idea relevant even in this tablet-reading era is that the books are chosen according to the hotel's location.

In addition to suggesting books for a library that are simply enjoyable to read, Ultimate Library notes a hotel’s location and selects books that are related to the surrounding area so guests can learn about where they are staying. Ultimate Library can select books for a hotel lounge, library, and/or guests’ rooms, depending on the hotel’s preference.

Blackwell told the Economist that the company works to create a selection from both second-hand and new titles so the hotel library they create doesn’t only have the current bestsellers.

“The library should not look like you walked into a bookshop in 2013,” Blackwell said. “It needs depth.”

Ultimate Library consults with writers and those who travel often to select books for a certain location. In addition, hotels can choose to have an Ultimate Library staff member come to the building to talk over book possibilities with management there. After the library has been created, the company then touches base with the hotel every so often to suggest new titles to add.
The company has supplied hotels all over the world, including chain locations such as Sheraton, Hilton, and Westin.