Interviewed by Dumbo Feather

-

Dumbo Feather is very nice to touch-and-sniff coffee table mag featuring interviews with people who've spent a bit of time physically and/or mentally outside their own postcode (or zipcode as they say upover).

If your internet connection doesn't complain about downloading the very stylishly art directed PDF, do avaread. You can find this link to it buried in my bio. They've made some of my snapshots look very arty indeed, including a classy cropping of the above shot, which is simply a close up of a topo map of the Nanawale Estates subdivision where I have my sliver of foliated lava on the Big Island of Hawaii.

I was contacted by Kiwi editor/owner Kate Bezar while downunder 2008, and she came over to my apartment and let me ramble into her little dictaphone. Since it came out I've received emails from some wonderful people from my past: Sue Carey and Gigi, from my days at Saatchi. And some coincidences: I was wandering down 19th street in Chelsea, Manhattan a month ago and stopped by a small restaurant called Tello, where I had a protracted conversation with the hostess out the front - an aspiring blond Aussie actress called Sarhys Page. Some weeks later I received this email from her:

I'm really hoping you remember me, although I understand if not haha. A few months ago you dropped into an Italian restaurant I was hostessing at in Chelsea called Tellos, and you wanted to come back with a bunch of friends. We were chatting for a while out the front and you told me your website but I lost it. I'm the 18 yr old Aussie girl that moved over here to get into acting... Ringing any bells? Well, my mother just came over here to visit me for the first time since I moved and she happened to have brought me a copy of Dumbo Feather. She is doing business with Kate at the moment (if you flick to the back page, every subscriber gets a free Moral Fibre t-shir t... Well my mother Billie Paris is the founder of Moral Fibre).

I have been writing weekly blogs since my international adventure began and mum showed Kate one of them, and to my utter amazement decided to publish one in the latest issue of DF ("Making it in NYC"). I was absolutely ecstatic when I found out! Then as I was flicking through the rest of the magazine I came across your interview! I can't believe how insane that is, what a small world. I didn't realise how much incredible stuff you've accomplished! Your story is so intriguing and inspiring, the fact that you just decided to pack up and start cycling is so amazing. We should definately stay in contact, I think we were meant to meet. ...


I've since caroused with Sarhys here in NY ... including dumpster diving on a pair of upper West Sidewalk discarded chairs, which went all the way to her digs in Bushwick on the train - intriguing bystanders and causing hawkers much envy. Multimedia on that soon ...

Gal in NYC multimedia

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

It's not a Junket. It's a Job - The making of my "Best Job in the World" submission

-
Image
This is my submission to the Queensland Tourism Island Caretaker Job , along with the 30,000 other applicants (including Dean Martin's son, the Edmund Hilarys and Jacques Cousteaus of the world, and even an hilarious Osama impersonator). I use it now as part of my bio/resume, to demonstrate what I can do in 1 minute with a pocket digital camera, a guitar, a Mac, and an old tatty straw hat. My friend and multi-award-winning Art Director downunder, Sue Carey, challenged me to defend my self-styled title as a Multimediaclast - so this is for you, Sue! Judging from the staggering caliber of applicants, I'll be surprised if it floats (ha!) but oh, I do so love a 1-minute creative challenge. I can also I console myself that I've been doing this exact same job for the past 5 years as the Customer Evangelist and chief content creator for Bike Friday. The only difference is my butt is planted on a bike saddle, rather than a boogieboard. For tech trivia buffs, here's
Read more

Still rolling after all these years: the Kosta Boda snowball

-
Image
The Kosta Boda snowball: the classiest affordable gift of the 80's, born in 1973 FOR THE BENEFIT of those D ownunder: last month  was Thanksgiving, the day when 'mericans down tools and celebrate the "the blessing of the harvest and the preceding year," according to Wikipedia . It's more like the blessing of the buffet, and generally not a day to bear gifts except for oneself, what with stores now opening on the actual day of thanks...is nothing sacred?  As an advertising/marketing pundit I use retail therapy to keep abreast of product design and retailing strategies (ok that's my excuse). My destination? The  TJ Maxx outlet in Wilton, Connecticut, where I'm visiting for the holiday.  Today it was empty. One explanation:  TJ's  merchandise is always on sale, so there's no real reason to make a beeline for it on  Black Friday.  "You're the first customer to acknowledge that," said the bored attendant at the jewelry
Read more

SuperGerd! 90 Years Young and a Double Centurion (twice)

-
Image
In my " decade from across the dining room table " as a former Bike Friday customer evangelist, I met so many extraordinary cyclists and adventurers that made my modest job feel like the best job in the world. Newly-nonagenerian Gerd Rosenblatt, an acclaimed former UC Berkeley physics professor certainly hasn't let the passing decades get in the way of HIS  physics ( watch him tackle this hill at age 74.5 ). I had the pleasure of crossing the country with him on an 80-120 miles-a-day Route 66 trip with PACTOUR in 2006 . While I now grumble if the mileage creeps north of 50, he's just kept piling on his odometer. Below is his personal account of his most impressive feat to date: a double century (that's 200 miles folks) at the ripe young age of 90. Go Gerd!  JUMP TO:  5 QUICK QUESTIONS FOR GERD ROSENBLATT  Grand Tour Lowland Double Century Cycling Report – Gerd Rosenblatt – 90th Birthday Ride June 24, 2023 Background This is a report on the double century that I
Read more