2

disco
under
world
december
2008
issue #2
contents

Meet Joe Blogger:

Mike’s Space. Page 49

Dylan
Culhane James
Page 13 Barnett:
Pinkman:
Page 53
Page 21

Follow up on last month:

Who won the $500? Page 9

Quick quiz:

Think you’re smart?

Page 7

Web sites to watch:

Page 63 Page 65

And for something completely

different: be seen
zine Neil
Have you heard the one about
the rugby playing hair
Buddle:
dresser? Page 33 Page 37

“Life is like riding
a bicycle. To keep
your balance you
must keep moving”
Albert Einstein
The Greeks did it with
humourism, the Chinese believe
in it in Yin Yang and we all do it in
some way in our lives. Keeping
balance between
different aspects of our lives
helps to keep us out of the
hospital or loonie bin and in a
state of healthiness.
This issue profiles a diverse
selection of individuals, who each
portray balance in their lives
through different means. From
the career choices they have
made, to the messages they
portray in their artwork, to how
they go about their everyday
lives, the people in this issue
balance opposing or alike ideas
and views to create their own
vision of life.
I hope you enjoy this issue and I
look forward to hearing from you,
Stacey Childs
P.S. I think the idea behind New
Year’s resolutions is that we
balance out the over indulging we
all have to look forward to over
the next few weeks. Enjoy it!
disco underworld is published by
Online Insight Limited © copyright
2008. We welcome you sharing the
information in these pages, but
copyright laws apply for
reproducing or using any images or
articles for any sort of gain.
Editor: Stacey Childs
stacey@discounderworld.com
Sub Editor: Tessa Prebble
www.discounderworld.com. direct address page
“Interesting, especially your
article on Gen Y. I don't buy into
generational pigeon-holing. There
are too many individuals. I look at
my nieces and nephews and don't
see typical Gen Y-ers, and I look
at my staff here and I can't put
them all in one box or give them
one label.”
Dean Williamson, Sales Director,
Country-Wide Publications.
“Hi, My name is Marissa and I'm a
3rd year graphic designer
currently studying in Unitec. Your
magazine was highly entertaining
and provided a great inspiration
for me! Your magazine
encourages young designers a lot
and influences us too.”
5
What they’re saying
about issue #1
“I am most impressed with where
this looks to be going. The
magazine looks to me to be
something with great potential.
Incidentally, I liked your piece on
Generation Y.”
Peter Gilderdale, Head of
Department Graphic Design, AUT
University
“Hey Stacey, congrats on your
first edition. I've checked it out
and it's impressive.”
Marie Young, iJumP
www.ijump.co.nz
“WOW Stacey! disco underworld
issue 1 is just fab! I forwarded
to other artists I know and they
love it! Well done girl! Wishing you
much success!”
Amie McCarron
 7
disco
www.discounderworld.com. do you know it all? page

under
world Opportunity Navigator:

Be profiled and have heaps of people read about you and
y publishe
your work. You’ll also have the chance to win

u d l $500 and a spot in The Gold Edition.

ro d Entry on page 30.

p
Be in

by
The Be Seen Zine. Entry on page 65.
is

Design our front cover. Read more on page 34 and

e-mail stacey@discounderworld.com to find
out more.

Do You Know It All? 7. What is the tip of South

America called?

1. Who is the youngest 8. What does the word ‘manu’

person to ever win an Oscar? mean in Maori?

2. Who is Bret McKenzie? 9. Which three South American

countries does the equator
3. Where was President Elect pass through?
Barrak Obama born?
10. Spell the word that comes
Contact them first for all your digital publishing needs. before this line:
4. In the human body, which
lung takes in more air? “...............
They will collaborate with you, or create for you, from start to finish, Even though the sound of it
anything from digital media kits, travel brochures and annual reports 5. What is the only animal that Is something quite
to regular publications such as magazines and newspapers for you to cannot jump? atrocious”
share with the world.
6. Which two planets in the Find the answers on page 63
solar system do not have along with our web sites to
Visit www.online-insight.com and request an moons? watch.
obligation free quote.
 www.discounderworld.com. who won the $500? page 9

and the winner is...

Whitney Reid

A big congratulations must go to

Whitney for winning the $500 for
being last issue’s favourite profile.

Since being in disco underworld,

Whitney has completed a very
successful trip to Melbourne for a
client who has offered her
ongoing work.

She has also been connected with

DL Consulting, who have provided
her with a design job at
Innovation Park (Hamilton) where
she is the sole designer
responsible for the company’s
corporate designs, and the web
based design for their clients.

As for the money: She is

reinvesting it into her design
work, putting it towards her
degree show next semester.

You can read Whitney’s article in

last month’s issue here.
Make sure you vote for your
favourite profile this issue, the
voting forms are at the end of
each article. Enter your e-mail,
and we will send you one back to
verify your existence. If your
person gets the most votes over
100 votes, they will win the $500.
Who will ‘bow chik-ca reow reow...’
be in Four ways we can get to know each other a little better:

The Follow our blog and we’ll follow yours

Gold
Vote for
your
favourite facebook
become a ^ fan

Edition?
profile
using the
forms at the
end of each

de o
article.

un isc
r
ld

d
r
The profile with wo
the most votes
wins a spot in
The Gold Edition
2009, an annual
print publication
Find us on Behance
with glossy pages,
which re-visits the
most popular profiles it’ll keep you cool
in disco underworld as
voted by you. It’s
designed to look hot on
your coffee table or bedroom
floor.

Join us on
If the winning profile receives over
100 votes, they will also win NZ $500 cold
hard cash!

You can vote for as many people as you like, but

@discounderworld
only one vote per profile per e-mail will be counted.

Voting closes Sunday December 21st, 2008 at 12 pm

NZL time.
 www.discounderworld.com. dylan culhane. page 13

“I think you just have to

do what you love and
find a way to make that
work out for your life.”

Dylan Culhane

“Chaos”
“This is a page from my visual
diary, I drew a couple of little
drawings each day merging it into
the rest. It’s what I have seen,
heard and thought about that
day/week/month all rolled
into a drawing.”

Join our email

newsletter and be the
first to find out about
the profiles in the
upcoming magazine and
first to read
every edition of
discounderworld.
 www.discounderworld.com. dylan culhane. page 15

W


hen disco underworld
interviewed Dylan,
he was busy working
on the final stages of his
animations for a project at
university. He created an identity
for a television channel, seed TV,
and had already produced other
promotional material such as
business cards and posters (on
next pages), but the animations
were his pièce de résistance. “My eyes are
The process to create the becoming
animations was quite simple, but
very laborious. Dylan filmed his slightly
sister Rosie, using a cheap digital
camera, then imported the video
melted
into Adobe Flash, where he drew from the deep
over the video, using a tablet.
He drew every single frame of monitor burn
these animations, a process called
rotoscoping.
and my hand
is cranking
Before talking with us, Dylan had
completed over 500 drawings in occupational
just a few days. The effects were
clear. “My eyes are becoming
overuse
slightly melted from the deep syndrome.”
monitor burn and my hand is
cranking occupational overuse
syndrome.”

When you consider that it takes

one hour of drawing to produce
just two to three seconds worth
of frame, and there are over 600
drawings in his animations,
Animation by Dylan Culhane occupational overuse syndrome is
Music by Jeremy Hantler par for the course for Dylan.
 www.discounderworld.com. dylan culhane. page 17

Dylan describes the finished

product as a “colourful creative
exploration of ideas”. The story
is about the transferring of ideas
and inspiration. “The seed of an
idea grows in the brain giving
birth to creativity,” Dylan
“Had a explains. “This creativity gives
others new ideas and so the seed
pretty good spreads.”

art teacher at Dylan decided in 2006 to go to

intermediate, University after a bout of what he
calls “post high school
he went by depression”: not knowing what he
wanted to do with the rest of his
the name of life, and thinking that art
Mr. Ralph. He “somehow did not seem like a
totally valid option for a career
has since quit path, too uncertain, too
unreliable.”
teaching art
and has The turning point came when he
realised that for him, settling for
become a something that just paid the bills
but that he didn’t truly enjoy,
full time drag would be selling himself short.
queen. I’m “I would prefer to work a job that I
not sure what thoroughly enjoyed but had
miniscule pay than a high
name he goes paying job in which I struggled to
by now.” get through the day. The extra
money would be spent trying to
make me feel good again! I
believe that if you love doing
what you do you will succeed at it.
So I enrolled at uni the day before
The concept
it began and have been cranking
poster for seed out the art/design since then.”
television.
 www.discounderworld.com. dylan culhane. page 19

Dylan chose to focus on

computer graphic design
because of his love of
computers, and the
ever-expanding world of
possibilities they
The business card create. He also
design for the seed
enjoys the texture and
series.
expressiveness of paint
and traditional methods of
art making.
“Computer graphic design
lets me create a mix
between these.”

For his ‘seed’ project he

used newspapers, grid
paper, paints, and pens
and pencils, combining
them all with his
hand-drawn animations in
Adobe Illustrator, Adobe
Photoshop and Adobe
Flash.

In the future Dylan hopes

to publish children’s books
and comics, and
“have my spirit remain
uncrushed by the real
world that I keep
hearing about.”

Animation by Dylan Culhane

Music by Jeremy Hantler
P
I
N
K
M
A
Who will
be in
The The inverted pink triangle was originally intended as a
badge of shame, used by the Nazis to identify male

Gold
Vote for prisoners in concentration camps who were sent
your there because of their homosexuality.
favourite

Edition?
profile
using the It has now become an international
forms at the symbol of gaypride and the gay rights
end of each movement, and is second in
article.
popularity only to the rainbow
The profile with flag.
the most votes
wins a spot in
The Gold Edition By choosing the name
2009, an annual “Pinkman”, Pinkman
print publication juxtaposes the two
with glossy pages,
which re-visits the words, blending
most popular profiles stereotypes and
in disco underworld as rebelling
voted by you. It’s
designed to look hot on against them
your coffee table or bedroom at the
floor. same
If the winning profile receives over time.
100 votes, they will also win NZ $500 cold
hard cash!

You can vote for as many people as you like, but

only one vote per profile per e-mail will be counted.

Voting closes Sunday December 21st, 2008 at 12 pm

NZL time.
 P
Pinkman’s latest
painting:
“Miruko”. “Miru” inkman, aka Ryota Saito,
means “looking” lives in Tokyo, Japan and
or “seeing” and describes himself as a fairy-
“ko” means “boy”
or “girl” in not because of his sexuality,
Japanese. The but because he actually is a
figure, which is fairy, something he realised on
both male and
female, is a recent camping trip in the
conscious of its woods.
sexuality, but is
also criticising
itself. He expresses his sexuality
through his art work, which
ranges from paintings on
canvas, to “live paintings”
where he performs at raves
and nightclubs around the
world and starts from scratch,
painting on anything from
paper to windows, walls to
ceilings.

His work attempts to

overcome obstacles in his life
such as religion, gender issues,
race and sexuality. He draws
on everyday life, music and
his critical mind to create art
from his unique perspective.

We interviewed him through

his friend and interpreter, Tim.
 www.discounderworld.com. pinkman. page
“Geijutsu wa
bakuhatsu da!
which means
‘Art is
explosion!’”
How long have you been painting
for?
I started going to art school at
seven years of age.
Who do you most admire from
the art world? Why?
Taro Okamoto, because he said
“geijutsu wa bakuhatsu da!”, which
means “Art is explosion!”
How would you describe your art?
I don't describe my art. I paint
what comes into my mind. I
express my feelings or my
thoughts and impressions on
things (be they around me, or
from things I have read or seen).
I read about the pink triangles and
the holocaust and have
incorporated that into my art
recently, but my art evolves and
moves and changes as I do.
27
What materials do you use?
I paint on canvas mostly, but
am also often asked to perform
Live Paintings at clubs, raves and
events where I paint on anything
from windows to walls. I don’t
usually decide what I am going to
paint before these events, I go
and let the space, crowd, mood
and music inspire me.
What has been the biggest
challenge in your life? How did
you overcome it?
I decided to drop out of my art
course at uni. It didn't inspire me
and I wasn't challenged. After
that I didn't know what to do. I
worked part-time in crappy jobs
and moved to the countryside by
myself for a while. Then I
realised that if art was what I
loved, I could still paint. I didn't
have to follow a conventional
method, so I began painting again.
I think following your heart is the
most important lesson I have
learnt in my life so far.
Also... being gay in Japan. I told
my mum, she wasn't happy, but
now she's come to understand
and accept me, but she won't let
me tell my father.
What is your philosophy for life?
Eat curry, wear pink, follow your
heart and be nice to fairies.
Live Painting @ COQDO records
 www.discounderworld.com. pinkman. page 31

About Live Painting at COQ Do you think your culture and

Go on!
Share your talents with the rest of us!
records:
I had decided that I wanted to
do a painting of two people
kissing as I began to set up for
the event. When it was time for
me to paint, I just started and
let the paints and colours help
me to build my image.
It took about 2 to 3 hours. As
people come up to chat, it's a
different timeframe/process
each time I do a live gig.
Best things about living in Japan?
upbringing manifest themselves in
your art?
I don’t try to be a Japanese artist
painting Japanese-esque images.
I try to let my paintings express
me and be relevant to everyone
across cultures.
If you could go anywhere in the
world where would it be and why?
I don’t remember the country,
but the place that has the pink
beach.... why? Because it’s PINK!

discounderworld Access to music & art (there are

doesn’t
discriminate:
If you can capture your work on
paper, video, audio...whatever,
we can publish it, and if we do
you will get these:
so many scenes in Tokyo) and of
Visit Ryota’s website to see
course THE FOOD.
more paintings:
I also love the “weird” things www.pppinkman.com
about Japan that don’t exist in
other countries.

n hyperlinks to your blog/email/ Worst things?

website

n at least a four page spread of Lack of art funding and expense

you and your work of gallery space.
n the chance to win $500, decided
by our readers How would you describe the
people there?
n the chance to be profiled again
in The Gold Edition, published It seems people just want to be
December 2009
regular.
Enter your details here, along
with a description of you and
your work. Include your website/
blog if you have one, and we will
be in touch!
 www.discounderworld.com. now for something completely different. page
Did you hear the one about the rugby
playing hair dresser?
T
here is a store in
Tennessee that has the
title “The Shoes and
Cheese Store.” WTF? The
juxtaposition in that choice of
name made me want to know
more. So when I heard about a
rugby-playing hairdresser that
lived in my home town, I had the
same reaction, and popped into
his salon to arrange an interview.
Aaron Smith was part of the New
Zealand under 20 rugby team that
took out the World Cup in Wales
this year. His is an unusual, but
intriguing story about balancing
his passion for playing rugby, with
his finesse for hairdressing.
When I asked which one he
prefers, his eyes lit up
immediately. “Rugby. I love it. It’s
every boy’s dream to be an
All Black.”
Aaron’s life would be a lot
simpler without hairdressing, and
when asked why he does both, he
quotes All Blacks coach Graham
Henry by saying, “better people
make better All Blacks”, and he
believes that the balance that
hairdressing and rugby provides
keeps him grounded.
33
Written by Stacey Childs
“Better people make
better All Blacks.”
“Mum always told me that rugby
doesn’t last forever, and that you
have to have balance in life. And
she was right, I broke my leg
playing rugby in August this year.”
Luckily, his leg is healing well, and
he is back training with his team.
A normal week sees Aaron
getting out of bed at six am for
his training programme; work
from 9am–5.30pm; followed up
with more training with his team.
Games are on Saturdays, and
Sundays are for rest and
recovery. He also juggles family,
a girlfriend, and hair college, but
says he wouldn’t do it any other
way.
A mixture of things got him into
hairdressing: one of his mate’s
mothers owned a salon and would
trim and style all their hair. Aaron
was always interested in what she
did, asking questions and learning
how to cut and style himself.
 www.discounderworld.com. now for something completely different. page 35
Have a
crack
at Eventually, he started cutting
his mate’s hair whenever they
designing
needed it, and knew he wanted to
our study hairdressing. Unfortunately,
front every school holidays he had a “When I started
cover, rugby camp so had no way of
taking up a hairdressing
earning money for
and we
will thank apprenticeship. playing rugby, and I
you After finishing school, he was was like, yeah I can
publicly
for your
lucky enough to be offered an
apprenticeship with a local
do this.”
effort. hairdresser, who was sympathetic
to the fact that he needed a lot
We may
of time off for rugby. He now
even use works there when he is not
it on a playing rugby or attending hair
future college. He lists failure as the most
issue,
Want Kudos?
difficult thing in his life, but also
which When Aaron was younger (and labels it as the driving force
didn’t know the option of being behind his success. He has failed
then an All Black was a real one), he at making teams in the past, and
means wanted to be a jet fighter, and “out of failure, comes wanting it
you will later, Neo from The Matrix. more.”
have a
choice He realised he could make money Aaron is working towards the
from playing rugby when he was dream of the All Blacks, taking
story 17 and first began getting paid for steps in the right direction, with
to tell playing the game he loved. club rugby, New Zealand age
your group representation, and
friends, “At high school I made the best provincial rugby. At only 19, he’s
and lots team we had, at 15 years old. well on his way to every Kiwi
Then I was picked for the Junior boy’s dream.
of Hurricanes (the team for
people emerging players in the province). And one last thing: Does he get
will see When I made the Manawatu team much shit from his teammates?
your while I was still at high school,
design. that was when I started earning “Nah they think it’s kinda cool,
money for playing rugby, and I kinda different. They ask how
Hence was like, yeah I can do this.” they should get their hair cut.”
“kudos”.
 www.discounderworld.com. neil buddle. page 37

Neil Buddle
“I am not overtly
political or
obsessively so. I just
think it is really
important for
artists to engage
with contemporary
issues and concerns.
Well, more
important than
endlessly
self-referencing art
and making in-jokes
anyway.”

He uses the alias for collaborative work, such
as DJing, and for DIGzine, his once off art zine,
which was inspired by the idea that artists
don’t have much money to buy other artist’s
art, postcards are the only cheap way to col-
lect other art. The DIG zine was only $5 and
featured 11 local artists work.
Geography is one of the biggest influences
in the work Neil produces. When studying in
Wales, his work was made up of mostly ‘found’
objects, from drains to charred pieces of wood,
he would use the piece as the inspiration, and
tell its story through the painting he did on its
surface.
Since living in New Zealand, his work is mostly
done as lino cuts ‘linos something I’ve done
since my early teens, and the reason for con-
tinuing is the ability to do it at home and the
‘quintness’ of the medium. Most people do
www.discounderworld.com. neil buddle. page 39
O
riginally from the UK,
Neil immigrated to New
Zealand in 1999, where
he worked hard in different arts
roles to establish new
programmes and develop the
reach of the arts community. At
the end of the day, he had little
energy left to pursue his own
artistic interests, so when the
opportunity arose, he moved to
Wanganui, choosing a job which
gave him the ability to balance his
professional career, his own
artistic interests, and his family
life and children.
Technique for Self Sabotage:
Shoot yourself in the foot.
“A humorous take on the last couple of years
of my life. This was due to past
decisions coming home to roost essentially
setting me back in my life. Often we like
to blame outside forces for our difficulties,
however on reflection all my difficulties were
directly or indirectly a result of my own
past decisions, actions and attitudes. This
spawned the idea of self-sabotage and the
several popular phrases to describe this i.e.
shoot yourself in the foot, cut off your nose
to spite your face, burn your bridges and
hoisted by your own petard (Historic = To
be blown up by your own bomb).”

“Artists have lost their
Neil believes it is an artist’s job
primarily to communicate with as
many people as possible, and then
to be involved in politics, whether
they be local, national or global.
ability to be involved. They
are becoming self
indulgent, and because life
is easy, they have been
taken away from the need
to be political. I’m not
staunchly political, more
interested in creating
discussion.”
www.discounderworld.com. neil buddle. page
Since living in New Zealand, his
work is mostly done as lino cuts.
“It’s something I’ve done since my
early teens, and the reason for
continuing is the ability to do it at
home and the ‘quaintness’ of the
medium. Most people do wood
cutting, and lots of people say
lino cutting is a children’s medium.
I like that. And I like the smell.”
41
Neil has been inspired by the
beauty of the landscape (see
“Towards Karekare”, one of four
prints done on the west coast of
New Zealand, around Piha), the
link between politics and culture
(see “H is for history”) and by
expired New Zealand icons (the
Afterlife series), of which Bruno
Lawrence is the favourite so far.
 www.discounderworld.com. neil buddle. page 43

H is for history
“Due to the Maori dialect in the
Whanganui area pronouncing 'wh'
as a 'w' not as a 'f', the early
settlers who transliterated the
name, called it Wanganui. If the
rules regarding transliteration are
followed the English written name
means nothing in Maori whereas
the name with the ‘h’ means big
water, or close to.

The semantics I see as

unimportant, however, how the
tangata whenua feel about it is.

The print depicts the name like

the Hollywood sign, stuck on the
side of a wealthy hill suburb, the
H fallen and neglected in the
river.”

The Afterlife Series

“The phenomenon of Reality
TV has swept the world,
providing the media-makers
with an endless supply of
cheap programming. As we,
the public, become the stars,
or villains of our own
entertainment, we become
cannibals, essentially
consuming ourselves in an
unhealthy voyeur-fest of
vicariousness by proxy.

Our perceptions of ourselves

and our environment are
becoming warped and
distorted and our
participation and interaction
with the 'real', diminished.

The piece itself shows a

dismembered hand operating
a remote control and setting
off an explosion on the screen
which simultaneously blows
up the TV. The image on the
TV is of a couple watching an
atomic bomb explode but the
image in the background is a
couple looking at a tree in the
moonlight. The
suggestion is that TV often
exaggerates and portrays
things as worse than they are,
for dramatic necessity, thus if
you only see the world on TV,
you aren't seeing the truth.”
 www.discounderworld.com. neil buddle. page 47

quick
1 Do you have any vices/guilty pleasures?

Goodness, the answer is yes, but not so

much anymore. I’ve always enjoyed the odd
psychedelic experience, but am relatively
vice free now.

2 What is the most awesome thing you

have ever done?

fire
Children. Nothing is quite as miraculous,
rewarding, challenging and painful than
having children. It’s the biggest miracle I’ve
been involved in.

3 What is your philosophy for life?

Being optimistic. It is very important to

retain a sense of magic in the world.

4 What are five materialistic things you

just can't live without?

ques-
I’ve lived with nothing, when backpacking
around Europe, I just had a sleeping bag. We
had a list of criteria for finding a place to
sleep, and they went in descending order of
importance: first was safety, then dry, then
comfortable (i.e. lying down flat).

5 What is life's greatest mystery?

Life itself. Humans are so passé, but

tions:
everything is amazing, we are amazing.

Visit Neil’s web site to see more: www.differentdrum.webs.com

 www.discounderworld.com. mike’s space. page 49

P
Mike’s Space:
eople talk about culture

When Culture Shocks

shock as a thing that
happens in other
countries. You know, over there.
No one ever talks about it in
relation to coming back home.
But coming home can be just as
disorienting, scary and shocking
as travelling to a foreign country
and culture. Maybe even more so.

Teaching English
“See: thinking a in Korea for a
hooker was a year was fraught
with more than
restaurant its fair share of
awkwardness
hostess and and
accidentally embarrassment.
See: thinking a
walking into her hooker was a
restaurant
place of business.” hostess and
accidentally walking into her place
of business. See: having to
explain to a roomful of attentive
teenagers why Uranus is the
funniest planet of all the planets.

Despite all those moments,

finding a way to fit back into my
own culture upon my return was
even more awkward.

I arrived back in America after

a 14 hour flight from Seoul that
was so painfully boring I watched
An Inconvenient Truth four times,
and X-Men 3, once in Mandarin

because the English audio channel
didn’t work.
When the plane finally landed, I
waited patiently in the customs
line, holding my excitement subtly
under my bouncing heels. These
two guys in front of me, both
wearing backwards baseball caps,
Hawaiian board shorts and
cut-off t-shirts showing off
toneless biceps starched with a
more than an ample amount of
meat and potatoes, started
complaining about the line.
“Aw fuck,” one says to the other.
“This shit is so gay.”
“Calm down, dog,” the other
replies. “We’re almost the fuck
outta here.”
Me, I was just behind them,
smiling. What’s this I heard?
Blatant homophobia directed at
an inconvenient by-product?
Unashamed use of explicit
language in a public place? White
guys trying to talk black?
Hell yeah, I thought. I’m back. I’m
back in America!
I almost dropped my bags and
kissed the ground.
Despite my euphoric
introduction back to my
homeland, it only lasted so long.
My first week back in the States
was spent in Florida. It was
October. The beaches were
deserted, save for the snowbirds
slowly shuffling along the
tidelines in their running shoes
and stretched tube socks.
I walked with them along the
beach. I watched the moon tuck
down under the ocean in the early
morning since jet lag told me it
was midday. I wandered aimlessly
around town, still weaning myself
off a steady diet of kimchi and
fumbling my way through a meal
without chopsticks. Forks seemed
strange and awkward. When I
ordered food from a restaurant, I
said “Thank You’” in Korean when
I left. The hostess was confused
and chomped her gum loudly in
my direction.
I was a stranger in a strange, yet
vaguely familiar, land.
My second night back, we ate
at a seafood bar. No sushi was
available. No squid jerky, either.
The only things available were
fried fish, fried catfish and french
fries. A man sat in the corner and
tapped away Jimmy Buffet songs
on a keyboard.
www.discounderworld.com. mike’s space. page 51
Towards the end of the night, he
started playing the opening
stanzas to a song everyone
obviously knew because they
begin to stand. He asked
everyone to hold hands and form
a circle. They were already doing
this before he spoke. This was a
solemn moment.
“He then requested everyone sing along
to ‘I'm Proud to be an American.’ I held my
mom's hand, caught somewhere between
falling over in exhaustion and trying to
suppress laughter.”
“I'm just not ready for this,” I told
my mom. “It’s too much.”
She just gave me a hug, and told
me I needed to rest. On the way
back to the hotel, the soft refrain
of “Cheeseburgers in Paradise”
echoed down the coast. Part of
me wondered if that was all there
was to eat.
Mike Woodruff lives in Los Angeles. He is
currently working on his first novel, The
Spanish Mar. When not writing, he enjoys
playing basketball and throwing rocks at
unsuspecting brown bears. He also likes to eat
Flamin’ Hot Cheetos. You can find him on the
internet at www.mutinouswombats.blogspot.
com. Read last month’s Mike’s Space here.
 www.discounderworld.com. james barnett. page 53

James Barnett

“Enjoy the experiences life

gives you, even if they are
not what you were hoping for
or expecting.”
“Swim”, taken at the Salt Water baths in
North Narrbeen, Sydney
J


ames is a professional
photographer whose work
and motivation in life are
shaped by his unique perspective
of the world.

James immigrated to Australia

when he was 12, from his birth
country of South Africa. Born
with only one hand, James says
he “had to discover new ways
of doing things to keep up with
mates”. Today he operates his
camera without any modifications,
working things out as he goes.

James describes his childhood in

South Africa as just about the
same as any kids. "South Africa
could be a dangerous place, but
for a kid who didn’t know much
else, South Africa was just the
way life was.”

Leaving mates behind and having

to find new ones in another
country with another culture was
difficult, but he says the hardest
thing was getting used to the
Australian sense of humour.

“I guess most of my
life I've had to
discover new ways
of doing things to
keep up with mates!”
“60 Long Reef”, Sydney

James’ South African heritage
plays a big role in the things he
has done and the hopes he has
for the future.
Instead of celebrating his 21st
birthday with a big party, he and
some of his mates put in money
to help build a school in Africa,
and he hopes one day to work on
building sustainable projects
overseas, using his photography
www.discounderworld.com. james barnett. page 61
to help people in the third world. “Talking to people who grew up as
teenagers and young adults over
After 11 years of living in there reminds me how different “Seeing and growing
Australia, the thing he misses
most about South Africa is the
things are. I don’t know if I would
have had the same opportunities
up around the
national pride, as South Africa to follow a passion over there.” poverty and
comes out of apartheid. The
nation is strengthening and Australia has given him the violence in a third
safety and freedom to pursue
growing and hopeful for the
future, but he realizes that his life his dreams, and South Africa has world country has
now would be a lot different if he shaped his view of the world. really helped me to
was still there.
keep perspective in
my life. The world
is a big place with
lot of people worse
off than me and I
aim to do my best
to make the most
of the opportunities
I've been given.”
Visit James’ web site to see
more: www.jaywill.redbubble.com

web
wa t c h
www.sketchswap.com
Draw anything on the pad, hit
“submit drawing”, and get one in
response. Makes the world feel
like a smaller place.
www.discounderworld.com. web sites to watch. page 63
s i t e s t o
www.onesentence.org
True stories told in one sentence.
Answers to the quiz on page 7
Our favourite so far: “As I woke
up from my nap to find written on 1. Tatum O’Neal for Paper Moon 1974.
my feet ‘This is my momma and 2. Bret from Flight of the Conchords.
3. Hawaii
you can’t have her,’ I realized that
4. The right lung
my child is very, very strange.” 5. An elephant
Hop on there and find yours. 6. Mercury and Venus
7. Cape Horn
8. Bird
9. Ecuador, Colombia, Brazil.
10. Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious
www.postsecret.blogspot.com Do you know something no one
else knows?
People send in their secrets on Suggest questions here:
the back of postcards, which are
then posted on the blog.
Topics range from mundane to
meaningful, and there is an
English, French, Korean, German
and Spanish version too.

be seen
zine
Created to give every
artist exposure to people
who appreciate a good piece
of art when they see it.
Be in the next one:
The Be Seen Zine, introducing you to a wider range of styles and
be seen
zine
arty types. Proudly part of disco underworld since this issue.
AMIE McCARRON {Amie McCarron: Figurative Paintings} www.amiemccarron.co.nz
started working life climbing the
corporate ladder of multi-national
companies based in New Zealand. Name: Amie McCarron
The daily grind was wearing her
out more and more every day, Style: Figurative or Abstract
and she came to a point in her
life where enough was enough
and she had to get out of there
Website:
for sanity’s sake.
www.amiemccarron.co.nz
She now works from home,
painting, designing web sites, and
Email: amie@bluebubble.co.nz
walking dogs on the side. Even
though she is not earning like she
used to, she is happy and doing
what she wants. Her first
exhibition of paintings landed
her the National Women’s Work
Painting Award. Amie carried on
to sell well both nationally and
internationally but she began to
notice poorer quality copies of her
work being flogged off at cheaper
prices.
Early 2008, she’d had enough of
similar styles flooding the market
so decided to try a new medium:
encaustic. Encaustic is one of the
earliest forms of painting, used
by the ancient Greeks 2000 years
ago. The paint is created by
mixing pigment in a heated
beeswax and resin base, and is
built upon wooden frames, layer
by layer. All five visible sides of
the frame are covered by the
wax, creating depth and texture.
Amie was introduced to this style
by encaustics guru Paul
Hutchinson, from New Plymouth,
who taught her the techniques
of mixing the wax and fusing the
layers. Amie’s husband provided
the inspiration for the series,
suggesting she use the pictures
of stars and nebulas on the NASA
web site as inspiration.


{Darcy Gladwin: Documentry Photographer} www.blueamp.net.nz/darcygladwin {Justine Beckett: Colourful and Composed} www.justinebeckett.com

Name: Darcy Gladwin Name: Justine Beckett

Style: Documentary Photography Style: Colourful and Composed

Website: Website: www.justinebeckett.com

www.blueamp.net.nz/darcygladwin Email: mail@justinebeckett.com

Email: darcygladwin@gmail.com

The Be Seen Zine, introducing you to a wider range of styles and

arty types. Proudly part of disco underworld since this issue.
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