Rookie!

Recently I went to two events featuring the amazing Tavi Gevinson!

For those who are wondering, Tavi Gevinson is the editor and founder of Rookie, an online magazine for teens.

She started with her own fashion blog at the age of 11 and was noticed immediately.

Over the past 6 years, her popularity has soared and many people around the world look up to her.

She has also helped publish the Rookie Yearbook One and soon to be released Rookie Yearbook Two.

She is an amazing person!

As part of the Melbourne Writer’s Festival, I went to her talk named ‘Tavi’s World!’

The talk was engaging, exciting and full of humour.

She spoke extremely well and was very popular with the audience.

I also attended ‘Rookie Day’ and event in which multiple women spoke including:

• Katie Williams  – Video Game Reviewer
• Jessica Alice – Community Radio Activist
• Linh Do – Environmental Activist
• Minna Gilligan – Artist and Editor for Rookie

and of course… Tavi!

It was a great inspirational day and I had lots of fun!

I hope you get to visit the MWF next year and have the same amazing experience I did!

Puss ‘n’ Boots!

Recently I went with my friends to see Puss ‘n Boots as an opera performed by the Victorian Opera at the Art Centre. It was a great show and we all really enjoyed it!

The show was in Spanish with a projected storyline behind it, causing everyone to think about what they were seeing and not just hearing.

It was mainly for kids and lots of schools were there! There was one set which was altered as the show went on to suit what happened, and it was very creatively done, so that there wasn’t too much changing around.

The story tells the tale of a poor miller, who inherits a cat and is disappointed. When the cat declares that he will bring his miller fortunes but needs a cape sword and boots, the miller is taken aback, but obediently does what he’s told. The cat is delighted with his armour, and goes out to win the hand of a princess, and a castle for the miller, battling Ogres, Kings and Mighty Rivers!

The highlight of the show for me, was watching the miller ‘drown in the river;’ a job of someone creating waves with a blue silk sheet and the miller pretending to sink into its folds!

The actors were very talented, as they had to dance, sing and act!

There was a group of live musicians who did an excellent job and added to the story!

The show was fun, entertaining and engaging and all the actors and musicians did a really great job!

I would rate it 9/10!

The Rythm Machine

Recently I went to see ‘The Rythm Machine’,  a concert performed by two percussionists from the UK, Oliver Cox and Owen Gunnell called O Duo. They played along with composer Fraser Trainer and the MSO (Melbourne Symphony Orchestra) at the Town Hall, as part of the MSO’s Education Week.

It was a 50 minute long performance for children, and I really enjoyed it!

The show featured many pieces from different countries.

The two percussionists used a range of instruments, from a World War II Clicker, and Squeezy Toys to Cowbells!

The show was very well organised, funny, engaging and full of interesting pieces. They also involved the audience by teaching us lots of fun rhythms (some of which were quite tricky ! ) and ways to get better with our percussion playing!

My favourite piece was a movement called ‘Hook’,  from  Breaking Silence  by Fraser Trainer. It had lots of rhythm, it was very lively and involved lots of body percussion with the orchestra as well.

The highlight of the show, was when they roller-skated through the audience… while playing the snare drum!

It was truly amazing and sent gasps through the audience!

I really enjoyed the show and would rate it 9/10!

Australian Open – Kids Day

Hi, I’m back again, and this time I’m going to write about another great experience I have had!

On the 12th of January, I went with my friends to an event hosted by a company called MLC tennis Hot Shots where I learn tennis from. It was callled the Australian Open Kids Day. The event took place in the area around the Rod Laver Arena and kids from all over Melbourne could come and participate in heaps of Activities. There were many food stalls and lots of active events in which you could play tennis on the actual Australian Open Courts!! There were also many shows by the famous characters Dora, Boots and Diego from Dora the Explorer and Spongebob and Patrick from Spongebob Squarepants. You could also win lots of great prizes like new rackets (size 23), tennis balls, T-shirst, hats, face painting, balloons and lots more! Then at the very end everyone went IN to the Rod Laver Arena and saw a fun match played by the Famous Players…

• Serena Williams
• Novak Djokovic
• Roger Federer
• Joe-Wilfried Tsonga
• Victoria Azarenka
• Ana Ivanovic

It was a huge success and in the end they had heaps of fun and Novak and Serena even did Gangnam Style!!!

At the end they ended with a concert by Guy Sebastian!!!

It was a great day and everyone had fun 🙂

To find out more about the day click here

Hope you go Next Year!!

Gangnam Style!!!

All Our Stars

Photography with Sophie Reed!

On the 5th of August at our regular E-Art Kid meeting, Sophie Reed came in as a guest speaker to talk about photography, we learnt lots of things and I am going to post it up here to help you!

Top Tips:

1. Subject – if you are taking a photo of one particular thing, ask yourself, Can the viewer tell what I am focusing on? Which element on the photo stands out  and is it the element I wanted?
2. Distance – A great way to focus on something is distance. Bring the object you want to focus on as close as you can, to make it stand out. You don’t always need a focus lens to make something stand out!
3. Background – some of the most common mistakes photographers make are to do with the background. We often tend to focus on the background – eg. how the background relates to the foreground, or colour contrast. When a viewer looks at a picture, you want them to notice the foreground first – so higlight the foreground, then work on the background effects.
4. Point of  View– point of view changes the effect of a picture. Birds-eye and worms-eye view make a picture look totally different. For e.g. If the sun is setting and you wanted to take a picture of a rose, you would hold the rose up and let the sun’s light shine on it from underneath.  If you hold the rose lower so the sun shines over the top,  the rose would be darkened, wasting the sunlights effect.
5. Light– in photography, no light no picture! Literally, light plays a HUGE role in taking pictures. The best source of light in general photgraphy is the sun! Though some camera’s have high-tech lighting, the sun is best! You can also have side lighting – used a lot in food photography, and forward lighting – used in modeling.

All these tips are guaranteed to make you a great photographer…..if you become a pro, you have me to thank!!

I think the workshop was great!! Here are some of the pictures we took with Sophie, I hope you like them!!

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