fourth floor feminism | sociable speculation

There is a fearlessness to good writing that I am yet to fully embrace. I only write what I know, so if I write anything that is not about me, it is inevitably about someone real. And I am not fond of the idea of writing about someone I know purely from my point of view, because it somehow seems untrue to their history. There is a variously attributed (and edited) quote that suggests ‘mediocre writers borrow, great writers steal’. That idea sets my teeth on edge, but I must add more characters than just myself to my writing, so I frame each story of a friend within my own story, so it can clearly sit as my own experience of that friend, not some truth of their own, discreet life. A lot of my memories are about the quality of the light I travel into. When I drive back home from the farm, I usually come down Greenmount Hill into the sunset or into the dusk. I descend into orange or grey light, and my thoughts turn to orange or grey thoughts. Things to do, things to face, the work ahead...

Having really enjoyed Live Blogging with Guests for The Voice , I sat on Facebook for four hours and let anyone say anything about the Diamond Jubilee Concert. It was fun. Below are the best bits in my humble opinion. C + M: the queen is known to recycle outfits rarely (due to global financial crisis), but always has the same hand bag - i think she may have a gun inside? - She's So Mall ... it's Pandemonium in Pall Mall as Her Majesty drops two of the attackers before the Horse Guards even get their spurs into the flanks of their Chargers ... C: ROBBIE! The crowd will always go crazy for Robbie. He is kinda going Eminem right now. I can only think of a night in Kingston at McCluskys and the boys going crazy when a Robbie song came on, leaving the girls and and dancing with their arms around each other. Robbie! Prince Edward loved Robbie. Rob Brydon you legend, the man that I quote almost as much as Shakespeare. Rob doing Tom Jones! Shout out to the mighty Welsh! Haaaaaaaa...

My Live Blogging of The Voice has changed in the last four weeks and become a different animal altogether. From the second week I had lurkers interjecting occasionally, in the third week the comments were shaping some of my answers and this week the Live Blogging went the way of Joel's hair and became a herd of cats from Perth and Glasgow. But I would like to preserve the fun times, so here is the transcript, only lightly edited. Ah, and language warnings for my own writing. Claire wishes she could have tonight's Live Blog for Kevin, Alicia, Marlee and Iain read out by a Voice Over Artist to get the excitement really up there! I presume Keith and Joel will be performing - I am so looking forward to this! Iain Im in a pub in Glasgow waiting with bated breath! via mobile Claire You are the best! Marlee keith's turn to be orange! via mobile Claire Seal and Keith are in black, JOEL IS IN THREE ANIMAL PRINTS: in tiger striped hair, cheetah print t-shirt and leop...

So, the roundup from last week; all the songs reached the Top 20 in iTunes and the results of the votes for Team Keith and Team Joel are coming in. And Seal and Delta are going to sing their trademark songs with their Teams! Wheeeee. Oh no, Host is Not in Suit of Sex. It is a Sweet Suit though ... Seal is in Black, Joel is dressed as an Amish Man, Delta is in White and Keith is Skyping It In from the US! Team Keith's winners by Australian Public Vote are The Man with the Velvet Voice, Darren and The Interchangeable Blonde (her dress really is good), Brittnay. Keith hates that he is not there for his Team, but he loves them all and feels very close to them. Keith picks The Greek Goddess Diana, and The Shy Boy Adam. That strange man, Jimmy, is leaving ... Team Joel is up next and Big Red (that hair!) gets in with Australia's Vote - PHARQUE - the power of the Screaming Girls of Australia gets Edward Cullen/Robert Pattinson in. Sigh. Joel then selects Ben (he has no nickname fo...

One of Team Joel had to leave because she had done a Video Clip with Famous Sebastian. Naughty Girls start off the night. Seal's shirt is open to his navel (and he has fingerless white gloves on! They somehow look as if they attach to his shirt), Joel is going sleeveless again, Delta is finally in something skintight and black with boobs and a ponytail and Keith is being all darling in gray. Cute host in full-on three piece suit. Results from last week are coming in - Team Seal first. The winners from the Australian Public Votes are the Girl That Makes Seal Dance and The Girl That Needs to be Styled Way Better. Seal nominates (after a lecture) The Diamond/Feather Girl and The Other Sebastian. Team Delta wins The Russian and The Angel through with Australian Public Votes, and Delta (her foundation is too light for her neck, makeup FAIL) decides on The Backup Singer (because he moved Keith to tears) and then, after a really long speech, with The Singing Teacher. Christ, Team Ke...

Flâneuse watched the boy from the painting. The boy was solemnly assessing his coiffure, a mane unparalleled in Flâneuse’ interested observation. The boy from the painting darted his hands in, around, and out of the flames atop his crown in a sudden movement that spoke of the restraint necessary in taking his hair from unruly to half-tamed. Such hair must be treated as the finest pastry, the moment between perfection and destruction could rest in a fleeting pat. The boy from the painting rested his hands, and glanced at Flâneuse in the glass. Flâneuse rose slowly from the frame and brushed her ignescent tail around the boy’s ankle as they finished his toilet for the day. Photo Credit: The Sartoralist; On the Street ... Redhead, Paris With Thanks to Jennifer for the inspiration 22 September 2008

My fabulous American Pastry Chef Housemate, the awesome Kevin, has left the building and I miss our three-hour conversations, his cooking and the fact that you find out something new about him each time you talk to him. Kevin and I watched The Voice together and I promised to Live Blog on Facebook the episodes that he was missing by not being in the country. Seal tells me that ‘you're never going to survive (without Kevin) unless you get a little crazy’, so let's get this crazy Live Blogging party started ... The judges are singing - Joel in white sleeveless vest, Seal in a grey suit, Keith in grey marle t-shirt with drum kit print and Delta with braids and bronze sequinned long flowy gown. They are singing 'Sing' from My Chemical Romance. Why. Talking to the Judges as they settle in their red thrones, Seal is stroking everyone's ego and being messianic, Joel wants an Australian passport, Delta is being vague and Keith well, he was just cute. Seal's sweet...

During my Honours year I was the first person to introduce myself in the Irish History seminar, and I told the class that my father’s family was very proud of its Irish heritage. That fact, surprisingly, resulted in two small problems for me. One was that I had already been exposed to the Irish Diaspora history, which meant that reading any kind of Irish history made my heart pound as well as my mind. And secondly the rest of the class, not of Irish descent but still aware of Irish pride, started deferring to me as the ‘Irishman’ in the class. Considering the topic of the first seminar – Revision of Irish history – these two problems really brought home to me the challenges of looking at Irish history. One historian said that ‘in Irish history myth is part of the reality’, and in each seminar of the semester the myths of the Irish Diaspora turned me into a slightly emotional speaker and my audience into deferential listeners. Even though we weren’t Irish nor in Ireland. Our tutor p...

I only just got home from my Twenties and I’m trying to sort out the contents of my bags into three piles; one for laundry, one for souvenirs and for gifts. There are packets of postcards everywhere, strings of gaudy plastic beads slither into cracks in the furniture and I have brought back too many pairs of stockings for the climate here. Perhaps I should consider the parallels between my frequently indulged impulse to buy anything I like in every colour available and the hedonistic whirl of the decade only just finished? With the washing machine going and the pasta boiling I sit cross legged on the floor sorting the piles of items to keep and things to give away. Some are handled quickly lest the resentments of their time rise from the depths with their touch, some are held for a time to enjoy the pleasure of associations and memories triggered by their weight in my hands. The most important objects tug a corner of my mouth up in a smile while I tap buttons to find the song that co...

At the movies today I got up close and personal with a great movie poster ... this is approximately a third of the poster for Alice in Wonderland. I particularly loved the addition of a library book in Wonderland! There are some really lovely details in the rest of the poster as well.

Having felt, like the Duchess of Bedford, that 'sinking feeling' around 3pm in the afternoon, we decided to partake in an Afternoon Tea at the Peninsula Tea Gardens . The food was very good, the tea lovely, but the real luxury of the experience was the surroundings of Tranby House and the amazing silver service and fine china. I know I could cook an even more exquisite lot of quiches, cakes and sandwiches; but the scones were exceptional and the weight of silver spoons, water jugs and tea strainers would have me back there again and again.

A day like today, with a hot dry breeze demands a few things: 1. Staying on the beach until long past sunset, 2. Reading an excellent book until the light REALLY runs out, and 3. A few good minutes spent sifting the sand for treasures from the sea.

Poster: From Jen's first trip to Europe Pot Plant: Oscar Reason: Styling my rooms My part-time engineering consultant Germaine and I went to IKEA today to by some essentials for our respective rooms; for me it was a home for Oscar and something to enable me to hang Jen's poster finally. It was only halfway through the IKEA shopping trip that Germaine remembered to tell me that this particular IKEA had been designed by one of her classmates. It is a great thing that enough time has passed since the days of administering to the UWA Civil Engineering Class of '06 that they are designing the buildings I walk into.

Party: Marketing Agency Christmas Party Venue: The Quarry Amphitheatre Theme: Woodstock I got to wear hippie clothes, dance to sixties classics and I stole a smiley face hacky sack.

Premium fruit: Cherries Source: Jon Doust Reason: He brings Viv some each year after the Cherry Festival Cherries are the taste of an Australian Christmas. These beauties were brought straight from the orchards of Manjimup, and they are out of this world. First Class fruit is such a dilemma because it is so delicious that you don't want to gorge yourself lest you take the heavenly sweetness for granted; but they must be eaten so quickly in case someone else gets a chance to eat any ...

Pot plant: Oscar Reason: Atmosphere in my rooms The is a play staged by The Duck House about a girl called Claire and a pot plant called Oscar. I never saw it when it was playing, and I really wish I had - I keep on asking Sarah if she will re-stage it sometime, because I really want to see it. I can only imagine that it would be awesome, and hopefully quite a bit more interesting than my own adventures today with my own Oscar. The photo above was taken at about 8.45pm tonight, and I am only smiling because home was a mere 5 minutes away. You see, I had left work at 7pm and swung past the residence of a nice Italian lady on Bulwer Street who was selling pot plants. We spent some time deciding what my first pot plant will be, and I finally settled on Oscar. I paid a pittance for him and headed off in the dusk for home. Then the saga began - I answered my mobile on the corner of Vincent and Fitzgerald Street, my purse fell out of my bag as I walked up Fitzgerald talking on the...

Big Pot: A Christmas gift from my brothers Small Pot: A prop I bought for food photos Reason: Because a good stock pot, no matter its size, is a wonderful thing I don't want to give anything away, but I have this tiny ceramic George Clooney too ...

Potplant: No idea what it is called, I just bought it because it was red Reason: To create some responsibility in my life I needed a milestone in my life, so I bought a living thing. I will try not to kill it ...

Plaything: Fondant Main Ingredient: Fingers Reason: Truffles Last weekend Ariel and I planned to make six to eight different flavours of truffles - chocolate was stockpiled, alcohol obtained and imaginative combinations planned. Ariel has made truffles in her sleep and together we are no slouches in the kitchen. But that Saturday we destroyed everything we tried to cook - cheesecakes separated and curdled, ganaches separated or refused to set, cupcakes exploded and then collapsed, caramel ran, chocolate spread and frustration turned to hilarity as nothing, ABSOLUTELY NOTHING went right. So we threw sugar covered hands in the air, excessive amounts of dishes in the sink, uncooperative ingredients in the freezer and put on high heels to drink away our sorrows up and down Beaufort Street. Once out of the kitchen, things were brilliant. This weekend we have done everything possible to appease the Kitchen Gods who so spectacularly deserted us last weekend. Sacrifices and prayers ha...

Location: Cafe 130 Reason: The Bowen Girls are Unhinged I just love it that of all the things that could be written to deface this poster, it was my sister's name!