Sean - bake the planet Jupiter

OK, this one is mainly for SG. And if you haven't already discovered this website I'll be mighty surprised. Tutorial on how to bake a scientifically accurate cake representation of the planet Jupiter.

http://cakecrumbs.me/2013/08/01/spherical-concentric-layer-cake-tutorial/

Sonya - Nothing is strange - finding Haruki Murakami's Jazz club

Every year I read at least one Haruki Murakami book, I really enjoy his writing style and the huge contrast between the protagonist's seemingly simple, contained and borderline anti-social existence and the bizarre quest they end up embarking on. 

His non-fiction book Underground - The Tokyo Gas Attack and the Japanese Psyche is one book I keep returning to, it's a fascinating and sometimes disturbing account of the Tokyo sarin gas attacks told in two parts.  The first half of the book contains first person accounts of witnesses and victims who were caught up in the terrorist attacks across multiple train stations. The second half of the book contains interviews with former members of the Aum cult. 

I was hunting through the Harper's Magazine website trying to find a different story that I wanted to share here (sadly it's not available online.. I might scan it!) and stumbled across 'Postcard - Nothing is strange, a trip to Haruki Murakami's jazz club'.

If you're a Murakami fan it's full of goodies, including links to his first non-fiction book on Jazz, which has never been fully translated into English (three chapters are available here). I also loved the details of the jazz club he ran with his wife, which they called Peter Cat after their pet, apparently there were lots of cat-themed items in the club.

Interestingly, this isn't the first article I've read where a reporter tries to follow the steps of Murakami. A few years ago, when his most recent (and epic) book IQ84 was published for Western audiences, this New York Times journo travelled to Japan and planned his trip around Murakami's Japan - including both fictitious and real places. This is another article with excellent links, including everything from a songs on the first record Murakami bought, to photos in his office and to the short story that inspired IQ84 (which incidentally was included in This American Life's Valentine's Day online feature this year - it's 'Perfect Girl')

There's one Murakami fan item that I've been dying to get my hands on - a copy of a book that lists all of the meals prepared across all of the novels. Unfortunately it's only available in Japanese. But I am not the only one interested in the meals described in the books - there are blogs that recreate the meals and post photos! Restaurants too!

The pic above is from his memoir What I talk about when I talk about running.

Sean - Mystic Mountains

On 360documentaries this week, highly recommended story from Jakarta based producer Rebecca Henschke, who I collaborated with on the Kuda doco. Rebecca goes into the field to explore two mountains in Central Java, and the spiritual beliefs around the mystic mountains. Wonderful piece. One of the mountains, Merapi - an active volcano, I spent some time filming on and around the slopes, as part of a dance/film collaboration with Indonesian dancer Agung Gunawan. This audio doco takes me right back there.

http://www.abc.net.au/radionational/programs/360/mystic-mountains/5328134

Mystic Mountains - Merapi

Sean filming with Agung in the cloud forest on the eastern slope of Mount Merapi

And here's an amazing stream of Merapi eruption images -

http://totallycoolpix.com/2010/11/the-mount-merapi-eruption/

Sean - Modernist Australia

Modernist Australia is interesting from an architectural and cultural angle, but it's also fun to look through the real estate section and imagine buying and living in some of these places. One of my favourite towns at the moment is not technically modernist (mid 20th century) but entirely 1920s - Ariah Park, in Sonya's region. As the sign says "The town of wowsers, bowsers, and peppercorn trees". It's just off the Walter Burley Griffin highway, and it's like driving onto the set of a 1920s rural village, incredibly well maintained, and with numerous gorgeous buildings for sale at bargain prices. This is the kind of place I dream about moving to when I become a landscape painter!

http://www.modernistaustralia.com/

A modernist interior

 A dream home in Ariah Park

Vanessa - some baby related links

Firstly, if you were wondering where Bryn gets the middle name Lewis, it's in honour of the sailor and author David Lewis. A brave, curious, humble adventurer. Here's his obituary, a great overview of his very full life:

The sailor who set out to see it all

I was looking for a photo of the moon on the night Bryn was born, and found a Facebook page where people post their moon shots from around the world. It's a really lovely thing to have pop up in your Facebook feed. Sean, there might be an Instagram equivalent.

Lunar101-Moon Book Facebook page

And this is a curious article by the photographer behind this image, often called the 'hand of hope', of a tiny hand reaching out from the womb during foetal surgery. He got caught up in a race to publish the photo before Life magazine published a similar image, and later, the surgeon who performed the surgery came out with a conflicting account of how the photo was taken. The crux of the argument is about whether the baby reached out or if his hand was taken out to pose the photo. Some classic questions about what makes a photo authentic, and also how an image can be used by different interest groups.

The story behind the picture- Michael Clancy

sonya - a bird flies south, and it's news

hello, a short and lovely read today about a spike in snowy owl sightings in boston since late last year, the 'unicorn' of the bird world.

it had volunteers working on annual bird counts leaving their designated zones in hope of spotting one!

a bird flies south, and it's news - the new york times

sonya - the transgender decision as an older man

I really enjoyed listening to this panel discussion hosted by Genevieve Jacobs on ABC 666. 'The transgender decision as an older man' features a former cop from Berridale and a retired engineer from Gundaroo who share their experiences of gender dysphoria and later, their decision to transition into women.

One of the men remains married to his wife, while the other started to explore life as a woman in the years following his wife's death.

Towards the end of the panel, one of the men talks about whether he had the right to inflict pain on the people he loves in making his decision to live life as a woman, which was the most powerful moment of the discussion for me.

And one related link - I Am A Girl! is a short documentary (that's online in full) about a 13 year old Dutch girl who was born a boy.

sonya - teen radio diaries on 360 documentaries

this coming sunday 360 documentaries is broadcasting an audio diary of a 16 year old girl from western sydney.

aubery's parents are separated and this looks like the second teen diary, following on from last year's 'I'm full samoan', which I really enjoyed.

sean - I found this whilst looking up the bird doco you mentioned from this week just past!