Whitechapel - ASK WHITECHAPEL - the You Can Haz Help Now thread (Nov 14th - Dec 11th)

ASK WHITECHAPEL - the You Can Haz Help Now thread (Nov 14th - Dec 11th)

Horrible Warning Si — Mon, 14 Nov 2011 01:37:40 -0800

Bring us your ontological queries. Bring us your relationship problems and the courage to be laughed at. Bring us your need to know that word, y’know the one, it’s on the tip of your tongue, what the fuck is that word, oh god oh god.
Bring us your yearning for solutions to mathematical dilemmas, beer-related uncertainties, genitalia-piercing indecision and demands for perspective. Bring us embarrassing questions regarding the removal of blunt objects from nether regions – it’s for a friend, honest – and bring us probing global challenges about How Those Other Guys Live.

Bring us research enquiries, cultural quandaries, opinion-baiting on relevant world events and Shit You’ve Always Wondered About.

Ask Whitechapel – anything.

And Whitechapellers? Be a brick and answer back, eh?

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Horror, horror, only horror, pure horror, unmitigated horror, constant and endless horror, for those who Fail To Follow Instructions.

ASK WHITECHAPEL - the You Can Haz Help Now thread (Nov 14th - Dec 11th)

Purple Wyrm — Tue, 15 Nov 2011 21:25:21 -0800

What? This thread has been open for over 24 hours and there are no questions? Has Whitechapel solved all the world's problems??

Apparently not - #SydneyAndAuckland

Early next year I'm fortunate enough to be taking a solo trip to both Sydney Australia and Auckland New Zealand (with a sea voyage in between). I'll be spending five days in each city and in considering ways to spend my time thought who better to advise me than the crew of lovably sick, sick individuals inhabiting this board.

Some background - I am a socially phobic nerd with an interest in history. I'm already planning a visit to the Powerhouse in Sydney and seeing if I can fit in a trip to the Jenolan Caves. Apart from that I have no firm plans.

Advise me Whitechapel!

ASK WHITECHAPEL - the You Can Haz Help Now thread (Nov 14th - Dec 11th)

Greasemonkey — Wed, 16 Nov 2011 00:37:38 -0800

#SydneyAndAuckland

Sydney.

Port Stephens is worth a visit. The drive out past the Stockton sand dunes is amazing, and Nelson Bay has loads of B&B's and a campground by the beach. Further north there's the old coast road from Taree to Forster, or if you're going south the coast road from Sutherland to Wollongong is spectacular.

If you're going out to Jenolan Caves, stop at Katoomba and check out the Three Sisters from the Echo Point lookout, and walk a few of the bush paths if you've got the time. The best route is down the Giant Staircase from Echo Point, then head around to the Scenic Railway which takes you back up the cliff face.

Sydney doesn't get any better than cruising the harbour on the ferry from Circular Quay to Manly Beach. Grab yourself some lunch at City Extra behind the ferry wharf at the Quay, where you can sit by the upstairs window and look out over the harbour, then catch the ferry to Manly. Sit on the outside deck on the bows of the boat for stellar views of the Opera House, Fort Denison and the Sydney Harbour Bridge. When you get to Manly, walk across the Corso to the ocean beach about half a kilometre away - the surf is usually awesome there, so take some boardies and a towel.

History-wise, the Rocks area under the south end of the Harbour Bridge is pretty interesting, and there are some good pubs. Don't buy anything there or at Darling Harbour, as it's all exorbitantly-priced tat for the tourists.

Oh, and take a gander at the Watters Gallery at 109 Riley Street, just up from Hyde Park. They always have loads of interesting art by locals such as Reg Mombassa, David Hawkes and Ian Howard.

ASK WHITECHAPEL - the You Can Haz Help Now thread (Nov 14th - Dec 11th)

Purple Wyrm — Wed, 16 Nov 2011 15:35:28 -0800

@Greasemonkey - Fantastic! Thank you.

I won't have my own vehicle so I'll be relying on public transport to get around - is this plan at all feasible, particularly on the weekends?

ASK WHITECHAPEL - the You Can Haz Help Now thread (Nov 14th - Dec 11th)

dorkmuffin — Wed, 16 Nov 2011 17:29:07 -0800

I'm SURE there has been a great thread/set of answers/panda about this recently, but!

#SellingArtOnline

I'm poor. ANd have a lot of art kicking around that I don't ever put on walls or do anything with.

Aside from starting a Facebook album for people to browse through of pieces available for sale, does anyone have any tips about how to sell art online in places that won't take a cut of the price? I don't want to deal with any Etsy fee bullshit (not until I am certain people will actually pay money for things I'm selling slash I can make prints of stuff).

Other thoughts? My other idea is building out an incredibly simple portfolio site and indicating that people can ask me about prices for things.

A thousand thanks in advance.

ASK WHITECHAPEL - the You Can Haz Help Now thread (Nov 14th - Dec 11th)

Greasemonkey — Wed, 16 Nov 2011 17:50:03 -0800

@Purple Wyrm - only the harbour and Katoomba parts are feasible with public transport. The railway station is right on Circular Quay, just a few steps from the ferry wharf, and you can walk to Darling Harbour and the Rocks from there. You can get the train out to Katoomba, check out the sights in the morning (there's a tour bus from the station down to Echo Point), then take the hourly coach out to Jenolan Caves after lunch. Be warned though, the Caves are expensive. It cost my wife and me $80 apiece for the bus and admission fee, and that was around four years ago. You can book your ticket at the tour office next to Katoomba railway station.

ASK WHITECHAPEL - the You Can Haz Help Now thread (Nov 14th - Dec 11th)

Purple Wyrm — Wed, 16 Nov 2011 19:25:16 -0800

@Greasemonkey - Cheers, I'll modify my plans accordingly :)

ASK WHITECHAPEL - the You Can Haz Help Now thread (Nov 14th - Dec 11th)

Greasemonkey — Wed, 16 Nov 2011 19:50:17 -0800

A bit more about Sydney downtown.

If you get off the train at Town Hall station, you can see the excellently gothic St Andrew's Cathedral and Sydney Town Hall, and just across Park street is the Queen Victoria Building, a refurbished Romanesque Revival edifice from the Victorian era. Hike a few blocks east to get to Hyde Park, and the Australian Museum of Natural History is just across the other side. The aforementioned Watters Gallery is a couple of blocks further east on Riley Street.

You can either walk north from Hyde Park down Macquarie Street (passing the old military barracks on your right) to get to Circular Quay, or jump back on the train at Town Hall and ride down to Circular Quay station. There's an all day transport pass available called a Daytripper, which will save you a bunch of money if you're doing the train and ferry thing. I think it's about ten to fifteen dollars, haven't bought one in years.

If you want to check out the Opera House, it's about a ten minute walk around the foreshore from the Quay. The Botanic Gardens are right behind the Opera House at the top of the stone stairs, and they're pretty amazing.

Also, the ferry ride from Circular Quay to Parramatta and back is a nice scenic trip if you've got three hours and like river cruises. Parramatta itself is pretty scummy and crime-ridden apart from the huge Parramatta Park and Old Government House, so it's probably not worth getting off there - just stay on the boat and ride back to the Quay.

ASK WHITECHAPEL - the You Can Haz Help Now thread (Nov 14th - Dec 11th)

mojokingbee — Wed, 16 Nov 2011 21:38:03 -0800

@greasemonkey...you're making me want to revisit Syd...been too long since I visited...

ASK WHITECHAPEL - the You Can Haz Help Now thread (Nov 14th - Dec 11th)

glukkake — Wed, 16 Nov 2011 21:41:25 -0800

#sellingartonline
There are nifty sites like bigcartel and similar that offer easy to set up templates/shopping carts for items that I think start free for the first few listings. Otherwise, it's nab yourself a Paypal account & do the listings yourself on your own site.

ASK WHITECHAPEL - the You Can Haz Help Now thread (Nov 14th - Dec 11th)

Purple Wyrm — Thu, 17 Nov 2011 16:17:01 -0800

@greasemonkey - I'm staying right in the CBD so that's great info, thanks!

ASK WHITECHAPEL - the You Can Haz Help Now thread (Nov 14th - Dec 11th)

Greasemonkey — Thu, 17 Nov 2011 16:25:46 -0800

You might like to check out the NSW Art Gallery if you're staying downtown, if you're into that sort of thing. it's next to the Domain, not far from Hyde Park.

ASK WHITECHAPEL - the You Can Haz Help Now thread (Nov 14th - Dec 11th)

Stoto — Thu, 17 Nov 2011 20:17:49 -0800

#Koreancomics

I want to try and read some comics in Korean to help me learn the language.

There's a wealth of webcomics at Naver and Daum but I'm not sure which titles to start with. I know there are people here who can recommend good stuff :)

I'm thinking in a similar vein to the #AnimeReview suggestions from last month.

ASK WHITECHAPEL - the You Can Haz Help Now thread (Nov 14th - Dec 11th)

Kay Orchison — Thu, 17 Nov 2011 22:05:30 -0800

@Purple Wyrm - Everything Greasemonkey says is correct apart from the bit about Parramatta being scummy and crime-ridden - it's improved a lot. I had a residency at Parramatta Artists Studios for two years and found the place clean and amenable with good restaurants. I can dig up a list of the best ones if you decide to go out there. There are some excellent historic buildings out there as well because it was one of the earliest colonies in Australia.

I'd second the visit to the Art Gallery of NSW, it's well worth it. You easily can walk from there across the botanical gardens to the Opera House, then around Circular Quay to the Museum of Contemporary Art which is a truly top notch contemporary art museum - I've been to MoMA in New York and I reckon the MCA, while much smaller, gives it a fair run for the money in terms of quality. That lot by itself is an inexpensive and incredibly enjoyable day out. Take a picnic lunch and a bottle of champagne for maximum bliss. You can even take a detour via the State Library - apart from being one of the most stunning bits of colonial architecture in town, you want history, they've got it.

The Powerhouse is also well worth it and great fun. The collection of musical instruments on the bottom floor is brilliant.

Ignore what anyone tells you about Bondi, it's icky, and hard to get to by PT. Coogee is a much better beach for swimming, less polluted, more regular buses and fewer drunken idiots. The fish and chips at the kiosk on Coogee Beach are great too.

Other galleries worth seeing are Artspace in Woolloomooloo (just down behind the AGNSW) and Roslyn Oxley9 and Sherman Galleries in Paddington, all great places to see the best of Australian contemporary art in walking distance from each other.

Do remember that Katoomba and Jenolan are a seriously long way out of town. It's a hell of a long way for a day trip. I've done it, but you'll be pretty buggered when you get back. Equally, Newcastle is at the south end of that amazing beach that runs all the way to Stockton, and you can catch a train there and back in a day with time for a swim and a decent lunch at the Brewery, but take a few books, it's a long train ride. Newcastle Art Gallery is well worth a look if you get up there and there's heaps of great eateries in Dumaresq St nearby.

@Greasemonkey - Funny you should mention Reg and Ian, I did a lot of work for Ian on a couple of his shows and a mate of mine is etching with Reg this afternoon. Small world I guess.

ASK WHITECHAPEL - the You Can Haz Help Now thread (Nov 14th - Dec 11th)

Kay Orchison — Thu, 17 Nov 2011 22:15:57 -0800

#SellingArtOnline - hard to do. People tend to buy art when they have some connection to the artist or to an intermediary such as a gallerist or dealer. They don't do a lot of buying it out of an online inventory.

Something that has worked well for me though is having slideshows online like this and giving people I meet IRL who want to see my work the URL. Also reminding my friends when I have new work online and that it is for sale.
'
Most of the sales I have made recently have been by subscription patronage - I have a few people who give me $100 per month and choose a work from my studio every year. I'm working on an online system to support this sort of activity but it's a slow process. It's puttering along on the backburner. Doesn't help that all the people involved skate that line between brilliant and severely mentally ill, so while our work is good it's intermittent.

ASK WHITECHAPEL - the You Can Haz Help Now thread (Nov 14th - Dec 11th)

Greasemonkey — Fri, 18 Nov 2011 00:30:38 -0800

@Kay - the Parramatta restaurant strip isn't bad. There's some decent places to eat, but my encounters with junkies and panhandlers have soured me on the place. Katoomba/Jenolan - definitely a long day trip that doesn't leave time or energy for much else.

Did you see Reg's exhibition last year at Watters? He had a bunch of charcoal and coloured pencil works I could've looked at all day.

'Hosing A Fire Demon' (c) Reg Mombassa 2009

Oh, and did you meet Patricia Prociv at the Parramatta studios? Nice lady, great artist.

ASK WHITECHAPEL - the You Can Haz Help Now thread (Nov 14th - Dec 11th)

Kosmopolit — Fri, 18 Nov 2011 04:00:01 -0800

#Android for Desktop

Has anyone tried installign and runnign the Android OS on a desktop machine?

There are a couple of Android apps I wouldn't mind having on my desktop then in lookng them up I noticed a comment that Android runs really fast on desktops since it was designed to run on much less powerful devices.

That in turn got me thinking - like most nerds these days I have abunch of computers that aren't broken exactly but have lots of trouble coping with moden bloatware and the incessant stream of upgrades.

So I'm considering trying to rejuventate one of them by intalling Android? Anyoen tired it? How hard is it? Is it likely to do what I want?

ASK WHITECHAPEL - the You Can Haz Help Now thread (Nov 14th - Dec 11th)

Kay Orchison — Fri, 18 Nov 2011 04:17:45 -0800

@Greasemonkey - Yes! I know her well. She's great company and a great artist. Has collaborated extensively with Fiona Davis who curated Looking At Others - The Death Project Part I, the group show where I trialed the first iteration of my work on roadside memorials. The two of them did all that excellent site-specific stuff around the vanished buildings of the early farms of Parramatta. Hauntology at its finest.

Reg is often underrated in Australia because of his early deal with Mambo surfwear. I think he'd be much better respected if his style wasn't associated with t-shirts worn by idiots. He'd be seen as a comic surrealist master if not for the very work that has supported him all this time. He's doing etchings with my old friends Michael Kempson and Tess Allas this week and I'm hopeful we'll get to meet up next weekend and see all their new work.

Regarding Parramatta - the concentration of homeless people in the square there was caused by the clearances of the CBD for the 2000 olympics. I wonder what has happened in Darwin this week with the Queen and then Obama visiting - I bet all the homeless got moved on there as well. The only time I ever had any drama in Parramatta was on the train one time, some tweaker with bugs under his skin was telling off an old man and I told him to quit it. He then had a 20 minute monologue to his invisible audience about how best to defeat me in the apparently inevitable hand to hand combat. He flinched when I stood up to get off the train, so I extended a hand to him and said "I wasn't ever going to hurt you, I just wanted you to be kind to the old bloke." He cried.

Then again I'm 5'7" but 3' across and my muttonchops are heritage listed. I come from a long line of army sergeants and policemen and have a baritone that can be clearly heard over the band when the PA gives out. I think I might have had a mohawk at that stage. I am mentally ill but I don't vibe vulnerable. I don't get hassled a lot.

ASK WHITECHAPEL - the You Can Haz Help Now thread (Nov 14th - Dec 11th)

Finagle — Fri, 18 Nov 2011 05:09:52 -0800

#Android for Desktop

Kosmo, I'm about to try this method myself.

I am also checking out BlueStacks.

ASK WHITECHAPEL - the You Can Haz Help Now thread (Nov 14th - Dec 11th)

oldhat — Fri, 18 Nov 2011 06:34:36 -0800

Just wanted to say thanks to Glukkake for reccomending Tekkonkinkreet. I was blown away by the trailer, but in the end decided to go with the manga before watching it and HOLY. SHIT. Amazing. Just amazing.

ASK WHITECHAPEL - the You Can Haz Help Now thread (Nov 14th - Dec 11th)

Nil — Fri, 18 Nov 2011 09:28:01 -0800

#Android for Desktop

Android-x86 (the eee-pc version) seems to run just fine in VirtualBox.

Note that I haven't tried anything more advanced than browsing the web with it, but installation was painless and relatively quick.

Edited to add:

So far the compatibility with just about everything seems pretty piss-poor. I think some of this is down to being run in VirtualBox (struggling to get SD card support working), but other than the pre-packaged apps basically nothing seems to work. So far it seems like a nice idea but not something you'd want as an everyday OS.

ASK WHITECHAPEL - the You Can Haz Help Now thread (Nov 14th - Dec 11th)

Greasemonkey — Fri, 18 Nov 2011 11:51:03 -0800

@Greasemonkey - Yes! I know her well. She's great company and a great artist. Has collaborated extensively with Fiona Davis who curated Looking At Others - The Death Project Part I, the group show where I trialed the first iteration of my work on roadside memorials. The two of them did all that excellent site-specific stuff around the vanished buildings of the early farms of Parramatta. Hauntology at its finest.

Patricia's always given me loads of encouragement in my work, and she picked up a couple of paintings at my show in September last year. Wonderful woman. (I was best man at her daughter's wedding, too.)

Reg is often underrated in Australia because of his early deal with Mambo surfwear. I think he'd be much better respected if his style wasn't associated with t-shirts worn by idiots. He'd be seen as a comic surrealist master if not for the very work that has supported him all this time. He's doing etchings with my old friends Michael Kempson and Tess Allas this week and I'm hopeful we'll get to meet up next weekend and see all their new work.

I love Reg's t-shirts, have a bunch of them in mint condition. They'll be worth something as collectibles some day. Really wanted to purchase something at his exhibition last year, but I was saving up to move to Canada.

Regarding Parramatta - the concentration of homeless people in the square there was caused by the clearances of the CBD for the 2000 olympics. I wonder what has happened in Darwin this week with the Queen and then Obama visiting - I bet all the homeless got moved on there as well. The only time I ever had any drama in Parramatta was on the train one time, some tweaker with bugs under his skin was telling off an old man and I told him to quit it. He then had a 20 minute monologue to his invisible audience about how best to defeat me in the apparently inevitable hand to hand combat. He flinched when I stood up to get off the train, so I extended a hand to him and said "I wasn't ever going to hurt you, I just wanted you to be kind to the old bloke." He cried.

Then again I'm 5'7" but 3' across and my muttonchops are heritage listed. I come from a long line of army sergeants and policemen and have a baritone that can be clearly heard over the band when the PA gives out. I think I might have had a mohawk at that stage. I am mentally ill but I don't vibe vulnerable. I don't get hassled a lot.

I used to like Parramatta in the eighties, when there were loads of video arcades around the station and there were nice stores like David Jones down by the river, but it's gotten very seedy since then. Three of my friends have been mugged there, a friend's sister was pack raped on the train by a Lebanese gang, and I've lost count of the times I've been hassled for money by junkies around the bus terminal.

ASK WHITECHAPEL - the You Can Haz Help Now thread (Nov 14th - Dec 11th)

Kay Orchison — Fri, 18 Nov 2011 14:10:51 -0800

Wow, that's incredibly shit. I remember it in the '80s too, wagging school and getting the Castle Hill bus down to the Roxy, blowing all my paper round money on Galaga machines in the big arcade on Church, the cool shops, the best milkshake 75c could buy.

It's different now but I have to say - from 2007 when my wife got a job with the University of Western Sydney and I got the residency - we spent a lot of time there and never a hint of trouble. Lou just left that job a few weeks ago for a new post at the Bankstown campus. She caught the train from Stanmore to Parramatta and back every day for 5 years, never even saw anything bad. Bogans bickering on the train sometimes, but that's about it. I've copped more crap in Marrickville than I ever did out there.

I guess I never spent much time there at night, mind you. Maybe it's a different place after dark. Still, it'd be hard to recommend it as a tourist destination given your experience of it.

ASK WHITECHAPEL - the You Can Haz Help Now thread (Nov 14th - Dec 11th)

Greasemonkey — Fri, 18 Nov 2011 14:45:19 -0800

It's probably better during the day. Nights, going down the restaurant strip can get a bit hairy.

Remember the arcade on the top side of the station in the 80's? It was called The Alien, and they always had the newest and greatest games (it later became an Orbit franchise during the decline of video arcades in the 1990's). Glenn Ford opened his first Phantom Zone comic shop just a couple of doors up from there in 1989, and he used to run movie preview nights at the Roxy for his customers.

There was also Escape Entertainment just up Church Street from the main door of Westfield shopping centre, where all the metalheads used to hang, and the Moonraker was further up the hill and across the road (and was apparently the local drug bazaar and gay cruising spot of choice, but I never noticed anything while playing there). The big arcade at the front of the Roxy had more obscure games that you couldn't find anywhere else, plus the great booth games like Ridge Racer and Star Wars.

ASK WHITECHAPEL - the You Can Haz Help Now thread (Nov 14th - Dec 11th)

Kay Orchison — Fri, 18 Nov 2011 15:10:03 -0800

Yeah, do I ever. Is that right, drugs and cruising at the Moonraker, huh? Oblivious, me. Raiden! BombJack! I bought The Killing Joke from that Phantom Zone shop. Those metalheads, and their "gang" - God, what did they call it? Parrabangers? Hilarious. They were a fairly innocent breed compared to some of the ones that showed up in the 90s. The cathedral that burned down in Parramatta in the 90s was rumoured to have been torched by members of a touring Norwegian black metal band, though this was never proven.

ASK WHITECHAPEL - the You Can Haz Help Now thread (Nov 14th - Dec 11th)

Greasemonkey — Fri, 18 Nov 2011 15:55:53 -0800

Glenn still has a Phantom Zone shop at Parramatta, down on Horwood Place near the big car park. I only closed my account there in 2010 when I left for Canada, relinquishing the record for longest-standing customer account.

AFAIK St Patrick's church was torched by a schizophrenic parishioner who claimed the Devil told him to do it. My wife and I attended a Bach recital there a couple of years ago, and they've done a superb job of restoring the place.

ASK WHITECHAPEL - the You Can Haz Help Now thread (Nov 14th - Dec 11th)

Purple Wyrm — Fri, 18 Nov 2011 17:15:00 -0800

#SydneyAndAuckland

Thanks Greasemonkey and Kay - I've pretty much got an itinerary sorted out based on your advice. I'm going to have to give Parramatta a miss, but I've put a day aside to do the long haul out to Katoomba and the caves. I'm also planning to do a tour of the old Middle Head artillery emplacements, hit the galleries and museums and take in a few cheesy ghost walks in the evenings.

On the subject of evenings, do either of you know any particularly good (or particularly bad) places to eat in the CBD?

Now I've just go to figure out Auckland...

ASK WHITECHAPEL - the You Can Haz Help Now thread (Nov 14th - Dec 11th)

Greasemonkey — Fri, 18 Nov 2011 18:24:38 -0800

CBD eateries:

1) My absolute favourite place in the city is The Prophet at 274 Cleveland Street, just a short walk from Central Station. Family-run Lebanese restaurant which serves basic, delicious, affordable Middle Eastern cuisine. I recommend the stuffed zucchinis, refried green beans and chicken skewers. They give you a big dish of flat bread which you tear into pieces and wrap around morsels of food - order hummus and fatoush as an entree, and eat them rolled in flat bread with some of the pickles they always serve. I'd recommend taking a dinner companion as the dishes are fairly large and are meant to be shared amongst a couple of people.

2) City Extra at Circular Quay, right behind the ferry wharf. The food's pretty good, although you're paying downtown prices, and the view at any time of the day is spectacular from the top floor, especially if you ask for a table by the front window. The fish is totally decent, as is the mixed grill if you like your meat. Don't order a lot of alcohol, as their markup on booze is fairly steep. Worth it just for the experience of eating dinner with the perfect view of the Harbour Bridge. Don't order any dessert either, just walk down toward the bridge afterwards and get some gelato at one of the stands along the Quay (NOT the ones in the ferry terminal).

3) Sydney Cove Oyster Bar is built right on the harbour wall just around from the Quay. Perfect place to spend an hour or so on a summer afternoon, eating seafood and drinking white wine. They're only open until 5:30 in the afternoon, so do it as a lunch date.

4) Head south on George St to Chinatown. Loads of fantastic Asian places on Dickson and Goulburn Sts. My favourite Chinese joint is the BBQ King at 20 Goulburn, but they'll only serve you the White People Menu (which is damned good) unless you're Chinese or have a Cantonese-speaking friend who can demand the (completely awesome) Chinese regional menu.

5) This is WAY out of the CBD, but there's a place up at Pennant Hills which has Australia's best pizza. Belmonte Pizzaria is at 116 Yarrara Rd, just across the road and up the hill from Pennant Hills railway station. The owner's a huge stickler for quality ingredients, and the toppings are seriously at least an inch thick. Again, take a friend because you won't have a hope of finishing a whole pizza by yourself. Belmonte's pizza is so good that people drive 2 hours down from the mountains just to eat there.

6) Finally, there's the ultimate Sydney icon, Harry's Cafe de Wheels at the corner of Cowper Wharf Roadway & Brougham Road Woolloomooloo. You can walk there through the Domain from the CBD in about 30 minutes. They only serve pie and peas, hot dogs, mashed potato and such, but . . . . just trust me. Go to Harry's at 3am on a Saturday after a pub crawl, buy a pie and peas, and you'll experience something quintessentially Sydney.

ASK WHITECHAPEL - the You Can Haz Help Now thread (Nov 14th - Dec 11th)

Beamish — Fri, 18 Nov 2011 18:37:31 -0800

#Android for Desktop

I tried the how-to-geek method and it was kind of neat. It worked, and looked like a big phone, but without deeper fiddling it doesn't seem worth it.

ASK WHITECHAPEL - the You Can Haz Help Now thread (Nov 14th - Dec 11th)

lazarus corporation — Sat, 19 Nov 2011 03:01:14 -0800

#SellingArtOnline -

to avoid big fees then you'll need to use PayPal or Google Checkout. They both charge small fees, but they're fairly negligible. I haven't used Google Checkout for selling yet, but I've used PayPal - at the basic level they provide you with a step-by-step "wizard" for creating customized "buy" buttons that give you a chunk of HTML to drop into the relevant page on your website. At an advanced level you can start using the PayPal Software Development Kit and doing all sorts of fancy programming integration. I've used the basic version to successfully sell artwork from my site, and I'm preparing to dive into the advanced version soon.

The downside of selling work through your own site is getting people to view it (it's the attention economy again). Etsy etc are a focus for people looking to buy reasonably-priced artwork (and, as you say, they charge you a big cut for that). Convincing people to stray from the beaten track is a little more difficult without a few attention philanthropists willing to help you out.

ASK WHITECHAPEL - the You Can Haz Help Now thread (Nov 14th - Dec 11th)

Kay Orchison — Sat, 19 Nov 2011 05:09:36 -0800

@Purple Wyrm

#SydneyAndAuckland

I have to disagree with Greasemonkey on the eateries. Avoid City Extra, it's pricey and fucking ordinary IMHO. Don't buy food at the Quay or in the CBD. If you absolutely have to, the pizza at the Australian Hotel in the Rocks is worth the walk. Order the one with kangaroo on it. The pumpkin one is also great.

Harry's is shit but it's true Sydney shit. I love it. Everyone I've ever taken there has vomited. Be warned. That said, I've generally poured a representative selection of Australian beer into anyone who is drunk enough to agree to eat "food" at Harry's. Think Cut Me Own Throat Dibbler in Ankh-Morpork (for Pratchett fans) and you've got Harry's. Also: never go drinking with me. It will end badly.

The best places to eat in Sydney are dirty old Abdul's on the corner of Elizabeth and Cleveland in Surry Hills, 250m south of Central Station; order the garlic chicken with extra garlic and get a jug of the house lemonade. The place looks like shit. You'll wonder why anyone sent you until you open your mouth. If you go in with a head cold you will leave without it. AJ's in Marsfield is a right cunt to get to, I only know about it because I lived a block away from it for a couple of years, but Indian food: I had better in London on the night I proposed to my wife, but that's the only time in 25 years of eating in Indian restaurants. There isn't better in Australia. Order the malai kofta, it's fucking amazing. Tell Sanjay I sent you, he'll make your night. It's about a 2km walk from either Macquarie Uni or Eastwood stations. Get a cab.

I used to have a list of favourite Thai and Vietnamese restaurants but most of them have changed hands. Banks Thai on Enmore Road is always good. Bay Tinh in Marrickville used to be brilliant. Thai Power II on Addison Rd is pretty consistently great. Email me at the address on my profile and I'll give you my mobile phone no in case you get lost or need advice on the fly.

k.

For cheap night eats, Saray in Enmore is the bomb. Pide to die for. Drink beer at the Courthouse in Newtown, a block south-west of Saray. Order Coopers Pale Ale in a schooner glass. Drink several. It's very easy to do once you get started. Get a cab afterwards, don't try to walk.

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Kay Orchison — Sat, 19 Nov 2011 05:20:29 -0800

Oh yeah and the gelato at Bar Italia on Norton St in Leichhardt. And the coffee at Campos on Missenden Rd in Newtown. Breakfast cafe repast is best at the Big Brekkie in Stanmore (order the house baked beans) or the Post Cafe in Marrickville (anything with fried haloumi). Both serve Campos coffee.

Check out the markets at the Addison Rd Community Center on a Sunday for food, music and flea market heaven - they're held between The Bower and Reverse Garbage, two giant warehouses of second hand goods. Gould's Books on the north end of King St in Newtown is worth checking out as well if you like second hand shopping, but if you want Australian literature and poetry in particular go to Gleebooks on Glebe Point Rd in Glebe (a short walk across a nice park from Newtown) and particularly check out their selection from Vagabond Press.

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256 — Sat, 19 Nov 2011 06:20:37 -0800

I don't think I've ever wanted to go to Sydney more than I do right now.

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Greasemonkey — Sat, 19 Nov 2011 15:15:14 -0800

Don't listen to the blasphemer - City Extra and Harry's are part and parcel of the Sydney experience, and I've been celebrating almost every one of my birthdays at Belmonte's since 1975. Their pizza is without peer.

Second on Dirty Old Abdul's, Big Brekkie and Saray. Bar Italia has outstanding gelato which they make themselves on the premises, but they're very overpriced and you really only want to go there for dessert. Epping Hotel has been famous for its food for some years now, ever since the new owner refurbished the place and hired a proper chef from one of the downtown restaurants, but I've heard things have gone downhill there lately.

Doyle's on the harbour for fish and chips.

Take a look at the Strand Arcade on George Street. Genuine, old-time high end shopping arcade from 1892, immaculately preserved. I wouldn't buy anything in there without mortgaging the house first, but it's very pretty.

Centrepoint tower in the CBD is worth the entry fee for the view of the city. Security has gotten tight there post 9/11, but it hasn't reached the bend-over-and-cough stage yet so it's not intolerable.

There's also a climbing tour of the Sydney Harbour Bridge, but be prepared to sell a kidney to pay for it.

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Kosmopolit — Sun, 20 Nov 2011 02:47:46 -0800

There are some pretty amazing Chinese restaurants in Haymarket.

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Kay Orchison — Sun, 20 Nov 2011 04:08:29 -0800

@Kosmopolit: true that. Red Chilli, the Marigold for yum cha, even some of the little food court places.

Greasemonkey's right about the prices at Bar Italia. Apart from the gelato it's not somewhere I'd go generally. They do charge like a wounded bull. The gelato is killer though.

The Epping Hotel were making good food when it was my local about 3 years ago but don't go there after work on a Friday or Saturday - unless you're a bogan trying to get laid, in which case it's ideal. Epic meatmarket. The refit was a weird thing, they did that sort of conversation pit thing downstairs but didn't bother to level the surrounding floor so it kind of made it hard to stay on a bar stool or set down a full glass. I heard tell that they ripped it all out again a couple of years later and did a new refit! Really bizarre. I remember seeing Jesus Jones there years ago, and the Cruel Sea prior to Tex, and Died Pretty. No bands there now. Not much of anything to see or do in Epping really! For pub food I'd actually go to the Duke of Edinburgh for preference, on Enmore Rd. Good shopping up that Newtown/Enmore strip. Epping's got 2 decent bookshops but that's really it, not much reward for a 40 minute train ride.

The Bridge climb is a bit of a hard recommendation too, it's eye-wateringly pricey and you can't take a camera up there - you're above the traffic, so you can't take anything that might be dropped. The view is really something though. So is the wind. I did it kind of unofficially one night a couple of decades ago. Painters had left a ladder out. There may have been a large amount of beer involved, and a good cigar at the top. I'd say go Centrepoint for preference though, if you had to choose. You can take a camera at least.

And I retract my remarks about Belmonte. It really is pretty good pizza. I just... "Australia's best" ... hmmm

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Greasemonkey — Sun, 20 Nov 2011 14:36:16 -0800

Oh yes, definitely the Marigold. Chinese friends at my last job introduced me to it, taught me to eat Hulutou Paomo without gagging ;-)

Newtown is a fun place and often has street bazaars on weekends. You can get there by train from the CBD in about ten minutes. There's the Dendy cinema which often shows offbeat arty films, plus several fantastic bookshops and an excellent noodle restaurant. It's also a major pink-collar enclave, so there's loads of chi-chi boutique stores.

Oh, and places to avoid unless you want to catch a raging case of galloping E-coli:

1) Any of the quick-serve places around public transport. The Quay ferry terminal is the worst of the worst, with dubious wilty prawn sandwiches that've sat around all day in the heat, but all the city subway stations have dodgy eateries as well.

2) You take your chances eating anywhere in Chinatown that you don't know. Mate of mine used to be a health inspector and has a million stories about gag-inducing filth in Chinatown's establishments.

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Kay Orchison — Mon, 21 Nov 2011 13:30:55 -0800

#SellingArtOnline

"As far as can be ascertained, cyberspace has yet to launch the career of any previously unknown artist into stardom. Most serious Internet sales appear to be backed by the legitimating collateral of a respected art dealer and physical gallery space. One noteworthy alternative model of autonomous online representation is Justseeds.org, a cooperative web platform made up of left-leaning artists from Canada, Mexico, and across the United States (although primarily from the west coast and Midwest). Thematically focused on issues of social justice and anarchist history, Just Seeds artists produce “traditional” graphic works—silk-screen posters, spray painted stencils, even linoleum block prints. The pieces are displayed as digital images on the website and sell for modest prices, often between 10 and 75 dollars. As if illustrating the long-tail theory of retailing in which numerous specialized interests form a proportionally larger consumer base than that of mainstream buyers, Just Seeds’ tiny sales add up to at least enough to sustain both the website and provide a partial income stream for participants."

Gregory Sholette - "Glut, Overproduction, Redundancy," in Dark Matter: Art and Politics in the Age of Enterprise Culture

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Soviet Rocket No. 9 — Mon, 21 Nov 2011 17:13:01 -0800

#Ridofchewingfingers

I have pretty much made an addiction, out of chewing my fingers and soles of feet since I was a wee lad. Has anyone whose had this addiction, broken it? How?

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dorkmuffin — Mon, 21 Nov 2011 17:21:32 -0800

@Kay, that's fascinating!

And yeah, I'm not looking for fame here. I'm just looking to make an extra buck. I like that model described in the quote you posted.

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Warped Savant — Mon, 21 Nov 2011 18:39:15 -0800

#Ridofchewingfingers

I use to chew my nails all the time, the only thing that broke that habit of mine was getting braces. But instead of chewing my nails I started picking my lips, which I still do.
But apparently it can be caused by something missing in your diet and I've known a person or two to break it by starting to eat the right thing. (I think one of them started eating more bananas to get potassium.)
Mind you, that might have just been a placebo.

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RenThing — Mon, 21 Nov 2011 19:52:08 -0800

@Soviet Rocket

#ridofchewingfingers

Do you do it all the time or you do it only under times of stress? Could be an impulse related to something like trichotillomania but instead of pulling your hair out you gnaw on your digits.

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Purple Wyrm — Mon, 21 Nov 2011 19:55:38 -0800

#SydneyAndAuckland

Greasemonkey and Kay - I haven't been around for a few days thanks to major computer problems, but big thanks for all the info. I've pretty much got my plans all nailed down and if I wasn't so severely socially phobic I'd offer to shout you both a beer when I'm in town. Please enjoy the theoretical/figurative beers I've just sent both your ways, and if you even need info or advice about the shanty town on the edge of the Indian Ocean that is Perth you need only ask.

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Greasemonkey — Mon, 21 Nov 2011 19:59:30 -0800

Cheers mate. I'm living in Toronto these days with my Canadian wife, but the good thoughts are appreciated. (I'm also originally from WA, and my sister still lives in Perth).

Let us know how the Sydney leg of your trip goes.

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odarable — Mon, 21 Nov 2011 23:55:21 -0800

#GoodHappyPillsForOdaElisabeth

Hi lovely people. I could really use your help. Does any of you have a wide experience with antidepressants, or know a lot about them? I have Borderline Personality Disorder so it's not for Treating Me And Making Me Sane Forever, but every autumn I also become terribly depressed and this year is worse than any other year I ever had. That may be because lots of unrelated shit hit the fan, but the standard "sad all the time, no energy to do anything, dropping out of school again, don't want to do anything" formula still applies. I could use some drug to take like, half the year? Thing is I've actually been on antidepressants once and they made me FAT and zombie-like and that's NOT worth it. I do NOT become less depressed by gaining 10+ kilos on Cipralex or another SSRI. So. Do any of you know of a good anti-depressant that does NOT have a history of making people gain weight? So that I can have a doctor prescribe it and I can try it out? General opinions and advice on antidepressants and the situation are also welcome.

Thanks. <3

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Kosmopolit — Tue, 22 Nov 2011 04:55:00 -0800

#GoodHappyPillsForOdaElisabeth

St John's Wort, a herb, has been demonstrated to be as effect as anti-depressants for mild to moderate depression.

So far as I know, it isn't linked to weight gain.

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Kay Orchison — Tue, 22 Nov 2011 05:15:50 -0800

#SydneyAndAuckland

One last bit of info, given that you mentioned you like history - this article has some recommendations to that end. And right now theoretical beer is probably better for me than the real thing anyway, but cheers for the thought. :)

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JP Carpenter — Tue, 22 Nov 2011 06:45:45 -0800

#GoodHappyPillsForOdaElisabeth

St John's Wort, a herb, has been demonstrated to be as effect as anti-depressants for mild to moderate depression.

But don't take alongside regular antidepressants as the combination can be harmful...

I'll post more on this later, at work at the moment, but the 'depression or zombiepill' dilemma is very familiar and not an easy one...

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MrMonk — Tue, 22 Nov 2011 07:31:17 -0800

#GoodHappyPillsForOdaElisabeth

The dilemma of SSRI (or other drugs) and weight gain is one that I, also, know. It was especially bothersome, since SSRI did little to nothing to help me.

Suggestion: if this is a seasonal disorder, find a peer-support group to get you through the season. I'm fortunate in having a number of groups, religious and secular, available to me. It's very helpful to talk about things with people who know where you're coming from.

I find that the better groups will typically have a few trained group leaders (peers, not professionals), and a medical adviser (professional) who comes in from time to time to talk about special topics. The groups often have connections to others who can help you if things get seriously bad.

N.B., there are no magic pills. Check out St John's Wort or other "natural" remedies before you try them. All of this stuff has side effects.

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odarable — Tue, 22 Nov 2011 08:38:08 -0800

#GoodHappyPillsForOdaElisabeth

I can live with zombie, as long as it's not fat zombie. St. John's Wort would fuck up my birth control. :\

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JP Carpenter — Tue, 22 Nov 2011 11:46:32 -0800

#GoodHappyPillsForOdaElisabeth

I think everyone reacts differently to these things, so the caveat is that what works or has worked for me won't necessarily work at all for anyone else, but I'll share my experience in the hope that it's useful... Whatever, I really do feel for you, as it's not a nice position to be in, having to make a choice between rotten symptoms and medication that brings its own problems...

Cipralex is, from what I can tell, a pretty similar thing to Citalopram, which I've been on and off for the past three or so years - before that I'd taken venlafaxine and prozac for about 7 years. My weight has fluctuated quite a bit during that time, but usually edging upwards, I think since going onto antidepressants long term I gained three stone. I came off them for about 8 months in Jan this year, and lost over a stone in that period, without an awful lot of effort.

From what I've read of citalopram, it's not been found to cause weight gain. Now, that doesn't reflect my own experience, and I was really reluctant to go back on the blasted things in August because of it, and also, eh, other things which are known to be side effects not conducive to having babies...

But I'm not sure if the drugs themselves had caused the gain or the fact that I'm so chilled out by them that I'm not burning off huge amounts of energy by twitching or being way more wired than is healthy. Have you tried to figure out why you gained that 10kg? Could depression have made you avoid eating to a degree that lifting it through medication caused your appetite to return to an unhealthy degree?

For me, having lost a third of the weight I gained over the last decade, I'm trying to be really mindful not to put it back on, keeping to a pretty strict calorie intake and trying hard not to eat mindlessly, which I'd got into the habit of. So far it's working and I'm staying more or less in the same place, edging back down slowly. So it might be possible to stave off weight gain with discipline.

My partner and I have had a lot of arguments about my use of SSRIs, none of which are that helpful to either of us, as she finds that they change my personality and make me very cold and unemotional - but I've found them to be very effective for me particularly against anxiety and panic. Low mood is another matter, and I do really hate the feeling of being a cold, spocklike being. But it's better than the alternative.

I also got a bollocking from the doctor for cycling on and off them - that's pretty silly apparently and they shouldn't be stopped abruptly.

One thing that I am trying at the moment is CBT - I'm finding the approach of trying to see how behaviour, thought patterns, mood and body are interrelated and working on aspects of behaviour to influence the other areas is helping me - working to identify things that I've formerly enjoyed or found pleasurable and retreated from in depression - and reintroducing them as far as I can. Planning things and tracking them is helping too to bring back motivation. I don't know if there are any counselling services that offer this that are available to you? Don't think it would work for everyone, but it appealed to me because it seems very practical - there's no 'tell me about your mother' stuff, just things you can actively do.

Exercise, even if just walking is known to help too - when I went through a very severe depression about 10-11 years back (was off work for months, imagining telephones that weren't there, that it was winter outside in July, weeks of insomnia under a blanket on the sofa, no fun at all!), it did help in the end to just walk places, or even dance. Also, as I started to recover, making a schedule and planning my days as if I was at work REALLY helped me pull out of it - the 'work' I set myself was things that I wanted to do - learning shorthand, html, guitar scales. It was all diarised and I 'went home' at a certain time - this helped break the insomnia and get back to a normal, more healthy routine than catnapping and wandering about supermarkets at 3am...

Finally, there are dietary things you might want to look into - the 'potatos not prozac' idea of reducing sugar intake and using food at certain times of the day to boost seratonin levels - I've found food and booze do have a high impact on mood, and it's worth the effort to understand and tweak these to best suit you.

Sorry for long ramble, but think @MrMonk is right - in that there are no magic pills, but there are a lot of approaches and strategies, all of which might be effective if you work at them. And at least you have an understanding and awareness of what's going on, which I think is really important in helping to deal with it

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oldhat — Tue, 22 Nov 2011 12:14:11 -0800

#longdistancerelationships

Alright, so. As all of you know, Alan and I have decided that we're goofy over each other and want to make a long-distance relationship work. As it is it's not SO bad...he's about a 9 hour drive away and the chances of us seeing each other more are lookin' up. But the times in between are hard, especially now that our feelings for each other have deepened and we want to be a part of each other's lives on a more regular basis.

So folks who have done long distance relationships and made them work...got any tips?

And YES, we've been told about wanking on Skype, so don't bother.

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Beamish — Tue, 22 Nov 2011 13:09:44 -0800

Have you tried wan... Oh, just read the end, never mind.

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Jason A. Quest — Tue, 22 Nov 2011 15:01:30 -0800

I was in a relationship that went long-distance for a while and survived it. Kind of the flip-side of the wanking-on-Skype component was what to do about physical sex between conjugal visits. This doesn't work for everyone, but what worked for us was to say that it was OK to get it elsewhere when we were apart, as long as we each kept that no-strings-attached. And we talked about it to each other, because we found that hot and it totally undercut the notion that there was any "cheating" involved. But if either partner isn't comfortable with it, drop the idea immediately. Your Mileage May Vary. Limit One Per Customer. Void Where Prohibited By Law.

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oldhat — Tue, 22 Nov 2011 15:04:50 -0800