Cate – Page 65 – everydaysparks

The Rats and Mice Show

Posted on April 6, 2012 by Cate

Every year, the Sydney Royal Easter Show is a big deal. It’s held at a huge (former Olympic) venue for a couple of weeks and bzillions of people and animals go along to experience country life – woodchopping, giant displays of fruit and vegetables, farm animals and Chiko Rolls. (If you’re not familiar with this bizarre Australian deep fried mystery, you can read more here.) There are hundreds of showbags for little kids and big kids, live music, carnival rides and all the fun of the fair.

But I’ve found a competition that I think should have top billing – I’m amazed that I never knew about it before today. I blame the marketers – too focussed on the rare breeds of alpacas and cows and dogs, instead of our smaller furry friends. The rats and mice. Yes, there is a whole competition for rodents.

Apparently, the Rat & Mouse Competition is a pet class that promotes public understanding of rats and mice within Agriculture and how we accept them in our community. Who knew that rats and mice were so misunderstood and felt so isolated in the farming community? Poor dears. For too long, they have been disregarded as pests, but really all they want is to fit in. I have images of the barn, with the ‘cool crowd’ of cows, sheep, pigs, horses and chickens chatting in the corner – then the rat and mouse come in, “Hey! Hey, guys! Over here! Yoo hoo! Guys! GUYS?” but no one will make beady eye contact.

Anyways, this competition is run by an organisation with the funniest name I’ve seen in a long time: The Australian Rodent Fanciers’ Society. Hmmmm. Bet you don’t see that listed under ‘memberships’ on many LinkedIn or online dating profiles. Sure, the name is pretty good, but it’s actually their website image that has become one of my all-time favourites. Rodents praying to a giant billboard? Sure, why not, Rodent Fanciers – it’s your Show!

Sparks at work

Buona Pasqua (and The Sticker Economy)

Posted on April 5, 2012 by Cate

This is the card that my niece Fox made this week in her Italian class (in her first year at high school), presumably to reassure the parents that the girls are at least covering the key festivities in their Italian lessons. The teacher (known as the mysterious “Prof C”) sounds like a truly eccentric Italian lady and it’s great to witness Fox’s Italian vocab and accent improving so quickly.

Prof C also appears to be running her classroom as a sort of alternate State, with its own currency – scratch ‘n’ sniff stickers. I didn’t even know that they made such things anymore, so perhaps the State is like a former Soviet territory, with slightly out-of-date music, fashion and stationery items. Anyhoo, the way the State economy works is thus: if you perform well in a test (8/10), then you are awarded one sticker to add to your workbook; if you perform really well in a test (10/10), then you are awarded two stickers to add to your workbook. At the end of the year, the person with the most stickers will receive a prize (very practically, a sticker book and a pencil case).

The first of four school terms has just finished and as yet it sounds as though there is no black market for scratch ‘n’ sniff stickers after class in the school hallways. But I like to think that by Term 3, some enterprising regazza will have worked out a way to trade stickers, upgrade stickers and possibly even forge stickers to supplement the workbooks of students who haven’t scored so well.

Or perhaps – like so many other economies built on big dreams – Prof C’s State will collapse in a dramatic meltdown by the year’s end. The market will be flooded with stickers, devaluing them and causing the weaker students to dance on the desktops with glee, while the advanced students shred their workbooks (neatly) into the bin of broken promises. Now that’s an education.

WWWhat?

Face it

Posted on April 4, 2012 by Cate

I stumbled across this guy on a Sunday afternoon stroll through the virtual world and thought it was a story worth sharing. Essentially because he has a cool name and a funny face and a crazy idea. An irresistable combination!

Jack Blankenship is a student at the University of Alabama and he recently became something of a late night talk show celebrity in the USA due to his genius idea of bringing a giant cutout of his face (twisted into a pretty kooky expression) to college basketball games to distract the opposing team. Not sure where he puts his Face when his team is scoring (cos that Face will take everyone’s focus off the game) and I haven’t seen stats on the University of Alabama’s success rate, but I really like this idea.

And I see such potential beyond the basketball court… Babysitting troubles? Bring out that giant cutout of Cranky Daddy and that should do the trick! Productivity issues in the office? Hello giant CEO Face hanging from the ceiling panels! Worried about amorous teenagers on a date? Not when Grandma Annie’s frowning face is towering over them from the next row in the cinema! And if you could hook the giant Face up with eye-cams and speakers, teachers wouldn’t have to set foot in the classroom.

Nice work, Blankenship – am sure your funny face has a big future. I’m thinking of a “Just say no” sort of tie-in with giant billboards for an anti-drugs campaign or anti-speeding campaign. Or a new Happy Meal at McDonald’s. Something like that.

See more on Know Your Meme

Fashion Sparks, Sparks in the wild, WWWhat?

Sayonara, raindrops

Posted on April 3, 2012 by Cate

Rainy days make a lot of people cranky. Wet socks in wet shoes, wet hair on wet face, wet hands on wet iphones. And don’t even get me started on the disaster of an unexpected downpour when you’re wearing white. Let’s just say all those strangers aren’t staring because they’re concerned for your welfare.

But now you can take control of the elements and show those raindrops who’s boss. This Japanese (of course) umbrella design will help keep you dry and should also help to scare away any creepy dudes you may meet in dark alleys. (NB, if you are already able to fly above the rooftops, Crouching Tiger-style, this of course won’t be an important feature for you.)

I first spotted the umbrella on the fantastic Matomeno site (you will find it in the Rain Goods section) – it’s made by Kikkerland and is the perfect combo of function and form. It comes with a handy cover and carrying strap so you are always ready for action. There is also a mini version in case you prefer to keep your samurai skills on the down-low and want to tuck the umbrella in your handbag. You can see it on the Matomeno site here and buy it on the very cool Rakuten site here. Fear not the raindrops (or the dark-alley-dwellers), brave warrior.

Sparks in the wild

Welcome to Gnomesville

Posted on April 2, 2012 by Cate

It’s really tough to explain Gnomesville in Western Australia. Surely one of the most bizarre places I’ve ever been and I’m so grateful to my brother and sister-in-law for adding it to the itinerary when I visited Perth last year. Down a small side road, surrounded by bushland and farms, Gnomesville is another world. Its impossible to capture the scale of it with my limited photographic skills, but trust me when I say it covers a very large area. Just when you think you’ve passed the last gnome grotto, you’ll notice a little weather-beaten sign and yet another collection of slightly worse-for-wear little statues. There are bridges and hills creating sort of gnome-y neighbourhoods, often with their own theme and signage. And often pretty creepy.

There are more bad gnome puns than you can poke a stick at – mostly hand-painted on (sometimes quite elaborate) signs. And that’s probably what surprised me the most: the pre-meditation of Gnomesville tourism. I felt very slack turning up without a bunch of gnomes (tattooed with the names of my family) – like a vegetarian at a butcher’s BBQ or an unmanicured Kardashian, I was feeling unprepared and out of place. Clearly, people carefully plan their visits to Gnomesville – gathering their gnomes, preparing their puns, slapping up their signs and then ensuring that they find just the right part of the village to house their little friends.

And, just like anywhere else in Australia, there is a real mix of characters: from South African and Kiwi gnomes, to dodgy looking gnomes in trailers and on bikes, to a big group of scantily clad girlie gnomes, to gnomes commemorating anniversaries and births and all sorts of families. And a DJ gnome, a Doctor gnome (presumably to staff the gnome hospital, where they seem to throw all the broken pieces of gnome) and some interlopers like frogs and bears that are wannabe gnomes trying to fit into the neighbourhood.There is even a tin of Spam on display in a wooden frame attached to a tree trunk. It’s that kind of place.

So if you’re travelling around WA, it’s definitely worth stopping at Gnomesville for a unique experience of life in an alternate universe – where you are giant-sized, gnomes drive cars and run hospitals, puns abound and you start debating the relative attractiveness of little plaster statues with glasses or pointy hats. But be warned – it can get a bit overwhelming and creepy and mess with your head – so whatever you do, don’t camp there overnight. Lest you venture past the point of gnome return (dammit, see what I mean?) and become part of the madness…