liquid ideas

By Jen Russell

Not in the sense of the word that I might make it onto A Current Affair for piles of junk spilling out onto the street and being in need of serious intervention. But my hoarding tendencies have recently made me think about the necessity of material items and my unnecessary compulsion to acquire.

The problem came to my attention recently when I was packing up my house to embark on the very humbling situation of moving back with the oldies. My boyfriend and I had been kicked out of our dream house on the North Shore due to selfish owners who wanted to sell. We hadn’t found the perfect alternative yet and so we decided to embark on a terrifying journey into the absolute thick of suburbia – my big family home in Epping.

The Liquidites all know that I love my beer and wine, but they might not know the extent of my emotional experience with these alcoholic vices. Many will appreciate that a certain bottle of wine, or in my case beer too, can have a very special significance and tell a particular story. Each bottle of delicious ale is dutifully sampled out of a professional and personal desire to broaden my knowledge and palate. If it is average, I simply add it to my repertoire of experience. If it is fantastic – like a Mikkeller 1000 IBU or an 8-wired iStout – it goes on the beer wall. And the same goes for wine…

When you sample as much as I do, the beer wall becomes rather large and it is only when I have to pack up my things and then look at the 30 other boxes of ‘rubbish’, that I think mum and dad might not really appreciate my alcoholic journey. Not when I have a box full of clothes I haven’t worn in more than five years, hundreds of pairs of shoes that are equally out of fashion and I won’t even get started on the hair products or the hundreds of bottles of barely used foundation (I usually buy it, try it once and decide I don’t like it… But of course I don’t throw it out. I might need that shade one day).

I would like to put this behaviour into perspective by revealing that I have come from a long line of hoarders. My grandmother collected statues of cats in all shapes, sizes and materials, and my mum has kept a ponytail of mine that I got chopped off when I was 12. Weird I know…

It has been this habitual understanding however, that has allowed me to swoop back into my family home bearing copious boxes of unnecessary junk. Mum understands so much that she has allowed me to stack all of my junk into one room at the back of the house and permanently close the door – out of sight, out of mind! This would be fine except that many of the other rooms are already infiltrated with ‘stuff’ that just got left behind each time I moved to another share house. The same goes for each other member of my family however. We are a proud hoarding bunch!

When I did come back to the family home I realised just how much junk I had kept over the years, stuff that my equally guilty hoarding mother has never had the nerve to get rid of. This includes ugly hot pink earrings, ab crunchers, stories I wrote when I was ten, clothes that fit in an entirely distant stick figure life, and the list goes on. It’s when you come home to your old bedside table to find really old photos, a cassette tape and love letters from old boyfriends that you know you’ve gone too far. Especially when you’re living with your current boyfriend.

I have been there almost two weeks now, and I have barely needed a single thing out of that shamefully concealed room. Admittedly my parents have more than what I would need on a daily basis, but it’s a little worrying, or perhaps encouraging that I have only entered the hoarding den once or twice.

I don’t know how long I will be back at the family abode. I’m hoping not long, even though it’s really not that bad… But when I do move out again, I would like to think that I’ve taken a step towards identifying what I do need and parting with what I don’t. I am not going to unpack everything – only what I actually use. And I’m not buying anything else.. well maybe just a few new pretty things…

I might have a way to go, but they do say that the first step in treatment is acknowledging that you have a problem…

Oh and I do feel sorry for my parents for that day they decide to move out of the big family home and into the retirement village… There’s decades of hoarding standing in their way.

By Sylvia Fonseca

I recently moved out of home for the first time. It’s been almost a month and we still don’t have the Internet. It’s driving me crazy! Everything I normally do is online, whether I’m researching new bands, reading the newspaper, shopping, ordering food, catching up with friends overseas on skype, live streaming television. You name it, I love being connected 24/7 and I’ve become reliant.

I’m having serious withdrawals and it got me thinking about the way we receive information on a daily basis and just how much it has and continues to evolve over time.

The main source we use today is the Internet, at home, at work and even on the run – whether we’re using Google, Facebook, Twitter, online newspapers, Media Monitors, AAP Media Net, or email - we’re constantly connected and most of the information we gather is digital.

So think back 30 years, to a world where the internet did not exist, where electric type writers and telegrams were used, where there were no scanning or photocopying machines, where cable television and IQ didn’t exist and where there were no mobile phones… Imagine completing all the jobs you do in one day without any of these things.

If 30 years ago none of this existed, I wonder what it will be like 10 years from now?

I recently downloaded an awesome lecture from Oxford University through iTunes U by a film and TV producer called Stephen Garrett, in which he talks about the way that technology is rapidly changing our everyday lives and raises some really interesting facts.

For example:

- The amount of technical information being created is doubling every two years, meaning that for someone embarking on a four year university degree, half of what they learn in the first year will be out dated before they graduate.

- Four Exabytes of unique information will be generated this year. Four of these equals to all the information generated in the last 5000 years put together.

- The first commercial SMS was sent in 1992. Now-a-days the text messages we send each day exceed the population of the world.

- Television took 13 years to reach an audience of 50 million…but it took Facebook merely two years to do the same thing.

- There are 400 million registered Facebook users – if Facebook were a country it would be the third largest after China and India, but well ahead of the USA, Brazil and Indonesia.

- Facebook is the number one site in terms of global visits – more than SIX BILLION minutes are spent on Facebook each day.

- More than five billion pieces of content are shared on Facebook every day.

- Facebook pages have created 5.3 billion fans for cultural objects ranging including bands, television shows, movies, people and fashion lines.

- 47% precent of Europeans watch television while on their laptops.

- 89% of internet users share content.

- YouTube celebrates its 6th birthday this year and is the second most used site on the Internet after Facebook with more than one billion views and more than 20 hours of video uploads each minute.

So, what can we take from all of this?

Garrett believes that ‘social’ is everywhere and that it’s no longer confined to social networking – all of these hand-held devices that we’ve created enable content to be consumed in a social experience 24 hours a day.

This “stream” on Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and the rest – of emotions, ideas, thoughts and conversations, are evolving in real time, and it’s increasingly us and those we know who are creating information, rather than broadcasters.

Now-a-days people are turning to Twitter for information – does this mean that people like Charlie Sheen and Ashton Kutcher are substantial media players? After all, their tweets are shaping the trends and cultural choices of their huge number of followers.

Our experiences have become interactive and as an audience we can no longer be referred to as viewers – the level of participation is too high.

It’s funny when you think back to way things used to be… the Internet has really changed everything – and I am really annoyed at the fact that I’m going to have to upload this blog onto a USB and bring it into work before I can post it online. We’re advancing so quickly, even the USB is out of date already.

By Allira Carroll

Audi Hamilton Island Race Week is well underway but it’s not just the hard-core yachties that have taken over the Whitsunday island for Australia's largest annual offshore keelboat regatta.

Last Friday, Australia’s most glamorous began descending on the island by private jets, helicopters and superyachts to enjoy what has to be one of the most lavish series of events and parties in the country. Oh, and there’s some sailing too.

Over the course of the week, models, business elite, fashion designers, celebrity chefs, television presenters, and actors are all rubbing shoulders and drinking a hell-of-a-lot of champagne. Moët & Chandon, naturally.

According to some yachting mates who have competed in regattas worldwide, Hamilton Island Race Week is the only one with a section on the event website dedicated to ‘Off Water Events’, aka par-tays.

The glittering calendar of events is enough to make a girl go broke just keeping up with the outfit changes. I’m talking opulent opening ceremonies, long luncheons, fashion showcases, and celebrity chefs Matt Moran and Shannon Bennett indulging guests in unforgettable culinary experiences, just to name a few. And did I mention the amount of champagne consumed? I heard they’d ordered 2,500 bottles but personally, I don’t think that will keep up with the demand.

The wow factor really ramped up at the Collette Dinnigan Cruise Collection 2011/12 and Moët & Chandon luncheon - the two most coveted invitations of the week.

The obvious location choice on Hamilton Island for Collette’s Saturday evening showcase was the six star, $100 million resort, qualia (pronounced kwah-lee-ah) which in Latin means "a collection of deeper sensory experiences". Luxury Audis transferred the fashionable set to the secluded northern-most tip of the island where guests were led down a candlelit path to the catwalk which had been elevated on the sandy shoreline of Pebble Beach and lit by firesticks.

It was Megan Gale’s first visit to the annual regatta and she suited the glamorous affair perfectly as emcee for the evening, dressed in a black lace number that fit like she’d been poured into it. Front row included Collette’s hotelier husband Bradley Cocks and daughter Estella, the Oatley family, Tom Williams, Matt Moran, Sandra Sully, Kylie Speers, Anthony Bell and Kelly Landry, Kathy Lette, Michael Pell, Melissa Hoyer among others.

(download)

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Sunday marked the Moët & Chandon luncheon, which celebrated the Australian launch of the new Moët Ice Imperial champagne. The dress code for this soiree was ‘white chic’ for the privileged designer clad crowd - the first in the country to taste this exclusive champagne designed to be served over ice.

This was a real sneak preview for guests as Moët Ice Imperial won’t be available to buy here until October and is currently only available only in the most exclusive celebrity hangouts around the world: from the beaches of Cabo San Lucas and Miami to Saint-Tropez, New York and Los Angeles.

Accompanying the free-flowing champagne was a degustation menu by qualia Executive Chef Jane-Therese Mulry. Pretty safe to say an unforgettable afternoon.

 Service staff and supplies have been ramped up across Hamilton Island to cater for the influx of more than 3,000 visitors to the island during the prestigious regatta. Top orders for the celebratory regatta include: 2,500 bottles of champagne, 8,400 punnets of strawberries, 12,000 oysters and 1,500 kilos of prawns. Gauging by how much went down in the first few days, I reckon they might need to put in a top-up order. Stat.

There is of course sailing thrown in there somewhere. Once you look past the canapés and champagne, it’s actually taken quite seriously. This year marks the 28th annual Race Week – considered one of Australia's favourite yachting events and a firm fixture on the international sailing calendar.

Nearly 200 yachts have entered the regatta which will run over seven days on widely varying courses around the Whitsunday Islands. Even for a non-sailor, I could sense the fierce competition between the 100-foot supermaxi Investec Loyal and five-time Rolex Sydney to Hobart winner, Wild Oats XI.

Taking in some of the sailing action is a must, but just when it seems like the race action is getting a little serious, Anthony Bell’s luxury yacht Ghost glides past and it’s back to sipping bubbles and celeb spotting. Oh, the glamour.

Audi Hamilton Island Race Week is on from 19 – 27 August http://www.hamiltonislandraceweek.com.au/

By Louise Tran

There’s something you should know about the faces behind the emails you receive from the Liquidites. Behind that cyber-façade lies a pretty varied bunch of people. With different interests and peculiarities. Different talents. Different skills. Different hobbies that – surprise, surprise - don’t always involve eating and drinking.

Most workplaces will say their lot is talented too. Of course they would. But whether or not it’s as diverse as the range of talents we’ve got is a different matter.

Let’s talk Liquid talents. Besides our day-to-day interests, we go beyond.

We’ve got a lead singer among the group. A violinist. A pianist. An actress. A dancer. A mean trumpeter. A musical theatre fanatic. Bit of a music, drama and entertainment theme going on here. Would you have guessed?

Then there are the sporties. The netballers, half marathon runners, AFL/NRL nuts, female cricket lovers. And let's not forget our young female beer enthusiast or more like beer guru (thanks Jen Russell)… Kirrily Waldhorn, you might want to watch this one closely.

And why not, let’s throw in a martial arts instructor.

Yep… that’s where I come in. LT. The Karate/Kung Fu/Muay Thai/some-weird-Asian-martial-arts instructor because no one ever actually remembers what it’s called.

Vovinam. VO-VI-NAM. Means Vietnamese martial arts when broken down.

Not really as well known in Australia as it is worldwide. From Vietnam to Cote D’Ivoire to Algeria to Germany, France, Italy and Spain, the list goes on… It’s an internationally recognised form of traditional Vietnamese martial art that is practiced all over the world and I’ve been doing it for over 10 years. Ok, minus a year or so of bludging.

Vovinam is based on the principle of ying and yang, hard and soft, attack and defense. There are patterns, combats and duels, wrestling techniques, weapons, a bit of jumping in the air and grabbing peoples’ necks with your legs (i.e. the ‘scissor’ kick). That usually gets a crowd excited. See below example.

  Yep, I can do that too…. What? Please, don’t look at me differently!

What I love most is that I meet fellow martial artists everywhere I go in the world. I’ve trained in Paris, Caen, Brussels, Liege, Saigon, Noumea and have made a bunch of Vovi-mates from all over.

The real challenge now, is to keep motivated, keep it up and to balance it with the drinking and eating habits, that is absolutely required of a Liquidite or I might be stripped me of my worthy Vovinam ‘instructor’ belt...

Yep, that's me on the left!

By Helen Lear

Back in May this year, I became an official citizen of Australia. This great day had been a long time coming, having first started the arduous visa process when I arrived here from England over five and a half years ago.

When walking up to shake hands with the Mayor and receive my certificate of citizenship at the official ceremony, I looked up to see a photograph on the wall of our great Queen Liz and suddenly felt a pang of guilt. Was I turning my back on my British roots by accepting citizenship to another country? The great thing about my new bi-citizenship (as I like to call it) is that I get be a citizen of both, but it still felt very strange to be pledging my allegiance to a country other than my native homeland.

So has anything changed since this symbolic day? Not really. I was given a lovely Wattle plant following the ceremony which now has pride of place on my dining table and I’m about to apply for a passport, but that’s about it to be honest.

As my accent hasn’t faded much since my arrival (in my opinion), everyone still calls me a pom and asks how long I’ve been here for, particularly as I work in an industry where half the people are ex-pats straight off the boat!

Of course when I go back home, everyone laughs at my accent and says that I sound like “someone off Home and Away” and they all assume I spend every minute of the day at the beach. Wouldn’t that be nice!

So it would seem that I’m now falling somewhere in between the cracks of these two great nations, neither British nor Australian, but more of a culmination of both. I guess my next step now is to work on my Aussie accent (shorten every word and add an ‘o’ on the end), grow a mullet and buy a Ute. Then I will feel fully assimilated!