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8:42 Nov 27th, 2009 | 4 notes
First Look: Lane Cove Market Square. It has been the buzz of the North Shore of Sydney for some months now, but finally, Market Square in the heart of Lane Cove has opened. And yesterday, I had the chance to take a look around. The first thing you’ll notice is that it fits in with the rest of Lane Cove. Rather than being a huge mega mall complex, Market Square stays true to its name with a modest dozen or so new shops along with a Woolworths supermarket, a wine bar/restaurant and a Fitness First gracing the modern interior. The building itself remains inconspicuously hidden, remaining low rise and using the natural slope of the land to pack in stores and 300 car park spaces. Market Square curves around to adjoin the local library, which is in the process of a similar makeover. Around the bend you’ll find a lovely courtyard and coffee shop which directly competes with the shop I work at and which could risk my job security, so don’t drink there (I tried their cappuccino, it’s really good!). You’ll find boutique clothe shops, a sushi bar, children’s gift shop, pharmacy, butcher, deli, optometrist and even a fish monger along the brightly lit, glass fronted hallway of Market Square. The architects made the incredibly smart decision to include three sizable elevators in the design, quite a few for a center the size of Market Square. It’s a welcome addition that will please customers greatly. One design feature that made me smile was the twitter inspired car park walls. Okay, while it may not be purposeful, for me its very reminiscent (much like the Windows 7 login screen) of the social network I love. For those in the UK, you’ll understand what I mean when I say that the Woolworths looks very similar to M&S Food. The polished concrete flooring, brushed aluminum and dark wood made me feel like I was taking a trip down Monnow Street in Monmouth to the local M&S to pick something up for dinner. Granted, the Woolworths in Market Square is larger than a local M&S but you get the idea. It’s been around ten years since the idea for a complex in the heart of Lane Cove was suggested. But now, many, many court battles amounting to nothing at all, Lane Cove has it’s missing piece. Market Place connects the Plaza with Longueville road, provides a fresh new shopping experience complete with modern cuisine and adds much needed car parking spaces. After seeing the Plaza boarded up for so long, its great to see Lane Cove finally complete. Please enjoy a selections of blurry photos of the new Market Square! BONUS QUESTION: In which photo does mother make an cameo appearance? EDIT: WINNERS! Mother is in the Woolworths photo. Congrats to @brokentapedeck and @dominicmay The iGeneration And The Downfall of Murdoch6:00 Nov 21st, 2009 | Notes
I was dumfounded when I heard Rupert Murdoch’s interview on Sky News a few weeks ago. There I saw the founder of the modern journalism industry proclaiming that he is going to undo a decades worth of progress into the online market by reverting back to the tired, old methods of the past. What really struck me was this: Murdoch doesn’t know who he’s up against. The iGeneration, my generation. The generation born from the early 1990s up until now. The generation who has been the first to grow up from childhood with the computer. We’re the first generation to have known instant communication, the MP3 player, digital entertainment, cable television and the cell phone since birth. And yes, we’re the first generation to grow up with the internet. Growing up in such a world, connected like never before, earned us the nickname “Digital Natives”. Growing up in the internet age also taught us a frightening lesson: media is free. We explore our world and find two realities in front of us. We find the first reality, in which people go into physical stores to purchase movies, music, news and games. In this reality, physical versions of these items are received in exchange for currency. We see that the older generations like this reality and remain content to exist solely within it. The iGeneration are confused by this. For as we turn our heads we see another reality, an invisible one. In this second reality, those same items exist, but we can’t see them. We delight to discover that all of the items are much cheaper than they are in the first reality. Sometimes, if we’re sneaky, we can get them for free! But for everything that means breaking the law to do so. Everything but news. You see, here is where Murdoch’s plan to raise the dollar sign in front of peoples’ faces hits a snag. It hits a snag with my generation, the iGeneration. As I’ve explained, we’ve grown up watching free news on the TV, listening to free news on the radio and reading free news on the internet. The only time where we’ve encountered payed news is when we wanted to get berated by loud, intolerant people, or when as young children we looked at our parents, wondering why they would bother struggling to unfold a giant piece of paper with tiny writing on it when there were easier alternatives. I’ve personally bought a newspaper only once in my life and regretted it very soon after as I realized I had to carry it around with me, and even more so when I realized I could get the same news for free on my iPhone. In fact, the only person I’ve know to carry around a newspaper is one who drinks way too much coffee for a 17 year old and who so obviously belongs with the university crowd that it could be said he is already subconsciously practicing his future habits. Murdoch is forgetting that despite my generation being the wealthiest in history, we are also the most stingy when it comes to news. We have cell phones to buy, skinny jeans to try on. There are social expectations to conform to, politicians to swear at without discerning our own political views. We don’t have the time or money to spend on some of the smut you describe as “Quality Journalism”. We’re the status update generation, garnering all our news and information from one line of text. We’re the 8 second news grab generation, the targeted advertising generation, the news on tiny screens generation, not the news on paper generation. We’re the generation with the world in our pockets, the history of anyone and everything at our fingertips. All the while, it is free. Information flows into our elastic minds more freely than water into our mouths. Rupert Murdoch faces the most commercially hardened generation in history as his upcoming audience, and he expects them to pay. Rupert Murdoch wants the iGeneration to pay for online news. Good luck. 12th, 13th and 14th Of July: I Know, I’m Sorry!1:08 Jul 16th, 2009 | 2 notes
Well once again I haven’t posted about my holiday for a few days. That’s because nothing interesting happened. Yesterday we drove from Monmouth to Ludlow, walked around Ludlow, went into a wonky old Tudor house in Ludlow and had cream tea in Ludlow. Today we spent hours driving from Ludlow to Morecambe which, as you know if you’ve been reading my twitter, is the seedy British equivalent of Bondi. I’m sorry, but it’s true. There are dilapidated buildings all over the place, a creepy closed theme park, broken windows, teenage mothers and a giant tower with “Polo” painted all over it. Not a nice place. So to brighten up your day today, my mum Carole Wilson is making a cameo appearance to tell you about her recent college reunion. Hello! Too many years ago a group of enthusiastic teenagers attended Harrow School of Photography. My friend, Margaret, took up my idea of a reunion and undertook the task of tracking everyone down. The reunion took place at Symonds Yat . There were two partners who attended as well as nine other ex-students. Two people could not attend, one being in Texas USA. We met at the Wye Knot (after the River Wye) Hotel for lunch. There was a special surprise for me in meeting a close friend after many years and others were anticipating a surprised and delighted look on my face. However, they were disappointed because I failed to recognise him at all! Rather embarrassing especially for the person concerned! We had all changed so much but after spending the afternoon together it soon became apparent that we had not changed at all in our personalities. Not many of us are still involved in photography but one makes guest appearances on ‘The Antiques Road Show’ as an expert on Art Deco and Art Nouveau. We spent the afternoon after lunch going on a walk, finding our way out of a maze, going to a butterfly zoo, having a cream tea at Rose Cottage and finishing by having a boat trip on the river Wye. My brother killed himself laughing when he saw the itinerary and asked “WHAT HAPPENED TO DRUGS, SEX AND ROCK AND ROLL!?” Oh well! We swapped photographs of all those years ago so we have our memories! Thanks Mum for the cameo appearance! Now, back to your regular daily features! Observations: · The British can’t make coffee · There isn’t free Wifi anywhere! · A British ‘beach’ isn’t the same as an Australian beach
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