Innholdsfortegnelse for November - December 2017 i frankie Magazine

I couldn’t decide where to start this story, which is no great surprise because I can rarely decide on anything. When faced with a decision – any decision – I leap into research mode, because too much research is never enough. This generally leaves me paralysed by the bounty of options, confused by all the data, and disappointed that even a simple decision – like, what to eat for dinner – has me writing up lists of pros and cons. I often wish for a time when the choices were gruel or death. That’s an easy one. Now we’re in the age of endless alternatives; endless freedoms that in turn shackle and bind us, resulting in option paralysis. Peak decision anxiety comes when it’s time to eat out. I love…

I once lived with a housemate who deserved a PhD in passive aggression. Let’s call this person ‘Adam’, because that was his name. Adam was a master in the fine art of creative shit-slinging. Post-it notes and pettiness were child’s play to him – instead, his tactics were ice-cold and conniving. If you spent a second too long in the shower, you could expect your next rinse to be chilly. If you forgot to wash your dishes for a second night running, Adam wouldn’t just pop them to the side, he would take the offending tower of Tupperware and crockery and proudly pile it outside your bedroom door. Living with Adam felt like you were always one dirty dish away from being relentlessly pursued, like the lead in a psychological…

When you squeal over something cute, you’re not being weird. You’re actually responding to what Nobel Prize-winning scientist Konrad Lorenz described as “an innate releasing mechanism” that’s been programmed into you to ensure you’ll love and protect cute things – specifically, babies. Back in 1872, Charles Darwin suggested there must be something about kids that makes adults want to care for them and not flush them down the loo (I’m paraphrasing), but it was only in 1943 that someone went to the effort of figuring out exactly what that is. Enter Konrad with his Kindchenschema, or ‘baby schema’ for anyone who doesn’t speak Deutsch. The baby schema is a bunch of visual elements occurring on a bub that make you automatically smile: their disproportionately large head; big eyes set below…

Unexpectedly getting your period when you have zero pads or tampons on hand can prompt a very special brand of panic: the clumsy wadding of toilet paper; the frantic questioning of every friend or stranger within earshot; perhaps a hasty dash to the nearest store. But what if you were homeless and cashless, too? “We’ve all had that momentary panic – homeless women have a week-long panic every month,” says Lenny Jacoby, a renal nurse based in Perth. “They just use whatever they can find, whether it’s a sock or some toilet paper or leaves, or even spend the whole day in the public toilets. It’s going back to a really primitive lifestyle, and we’re quite a wealthy country. To think that women are out there doing that is just…

After travelling literally night and day to reach a remote northern Colombian region inhabited by one of the world’s last matriarchal societies – a clan notorious for being rather stand-offish – the first thing French photographer Delphine Blast did was buy a goat. Revered as a rare meaty delicacy in the area, that gifted goat quickly endeared Delphine to members of the little-known Wayúu community. Well, that and the instant kudos she scored by rolling into town beside the clan’s highly respected shaman, a woman Delphine had met by chance just a few days earlier. Delphine’s a self-taught photographer who studied international relations, before switching paths to follow her photography dream in her late 20s. Obsessed with South America, she headed to Colombia in 2014, planning to settle down…

The Proclaimers would walk 500 miles, and then 500 more, just to fall down at your door. It’s impressive, yes – but perhaps not quite as impressive as Rachel Aggs’s 10-hour commute to Glasgow. The Sacred Paws guitarist regularly makes the trek from her London home to play gigs, record tunes and watch the occasional X-Files marathon with drummer and bandmate Eilidh Rogers. “We wanted to spend more time together, because we got on really well when we were playing in another band,” Rachel says, tucked up in her sharehouse bunk bed in England. “We didn’t get to see each other that much, so we were like, ‘Let’s do another band.’ It was a bit crazy, because we lived so far away from each other.” Between jamming sessions, the duo…

I lived in an age before broadband. For the duration of my teens and early 20s, I, like most people, had to ‘dial up’ the internet, which took around a minute and frequently failed. Once I was on the internet, everything took hours to load (I recall blocking out a full morning to send an important email), and if I wanted to hear my favourite song, I was lucky if I was able to download it as a MIDI file. You see, there wasn’t so much on the internet. Now, if you want to know anything, you can. It takes seconds. Or less. One second and you can settle in to watch any porn you want (I assume – I haven’t searched for all of it). There is nothing stopping…

WIFE CARRYING WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP Despite setting the women’s lib movement back a century or so, the Wife Carrying World Championship has been held annually in Finland since 1992. Male competitors race across gruelling, obstacle-filled terrain with a female teammate slung over their shoulders – inexplicably harking back to the days when women were pillaged from nearby villages. WORLD WORM CHARMING CHAMPIONSHIP Ever heard of worm charming? It’s a little-known practice whereby earthworms are coaxed from the soil using underground tremors. Though usually reserved for gathering fishing bait, the English village of Willaston turned the technique into a sport in 1980 – since then, folks have come from far and wide each June to cajole as many worms as they can to the surface. (The current world record sits at 567…

Yes, frankie! Thank you so much for sharing the beautiful and inspiring story of Emily Somers and Bravery Co. As someone who was diagnosed with Non-Hodgkin lymphoma last year at the ripe old age of 26, I found myself going through the same battles Emily describes. We tend to see cancer as an older person’s disease, and when a young person experiences it, people freak out. No one knows how to react, and that’s reflected in the Curly Sue wig choices I was constantly exposed to. Thank you for helping people realise it's OK to talk about cancer openly, and that there’s not only support, but also a voice for younger people going through this illness. Georgia xoxo My beloved frankie, I must admit, we’ve had a bit of a…

To successfully build a backyard yurt, you will need: one 650-kilo crate of flat-packed materials imported from America; one obliging landlord; six strong friends who enjoy following excruciatingly detailed instruction manuals; and approximately seven hours. A yurt, by the way, is a huge circular tent traditionally used by nomads in places like Mongolia – and, more recently, at least one artist in Australia. “It’s like a spacecraft in our backyard,” says Singapore-born illustrator Dawn Tan, who built a giant yurt out the back of her Melbourne rental in April. Dawn’s husband Darren Lee initially came up with the idea, after realising Dawn was eyeing off their living room as a possible spot to claim as her studio. “He randomly suggested a teepee or a yurt and I thought he was…

If you’ve ever worn a onesie, you’d know they’re pretty darn comfy. They’re warm, they’re stretchy, and something about the extra flexibility makes you want to bust a move. But, no matter how footloose and fancy-free they make you feel, you probably wouldn’t wear them all the time – not to the office, to a wedding, or on a blind date. That would require a certain level of bravery and commitment – something artist Adele Varcoe knows all about. After all, the Melbourne-based fashion lecturer has worn a skin-tight bodysuit almost every day for the past six years. “I’ve got 50 onesies right now,” she says. “But over the years, I’ve had about 200.” Rather than hunting them down in stores, Adele whips them up herself, sewing a colourful wardrobe…

The worldwide metal community has been incredibly responsive to Voice of Baceprot (VoB). How did the band come about? We know each other through our high school. Playing music is something that was introduced to us by our English teacher – and now our manager – Abah Erza; it was Abah who taught us how to play all our instruments from scratch. We didn’t play metal songs straight away – only after we fell in love with the heavy music Abah routinely listened to. How did you decide who would play which instruments? It happened really organically. All of us were guitar players to begin with, and we experimented with the different instruments before we decided who would be the bass player and drummer. You’ve described an immediate connection to…

MATERIALS a wooden hoop with no screw (10-15cm in diameter) / micro hand-twist drill / 1-2mm drill bit / milliner needle (aka straw needle) / twisted threads / any cotton fabric / small pair of scissors / ruler / pencil CREATE THE MANE Using the pencil, mark even dots 5 to 10mm apart on the outer edge of the larger hoop. With a mini drill bit, pierce the wood at each dot. Then, starting from the inside of the hoop, insert a threaded needle into any hole, pulling it all the way through to the back. Go in through the next hole and out again through the one after. Once you’ve made it all the way around, you should have a dotted line. Go back the opposite way, filling the…

LITTLE BLUE INTERIORS Contemporary children’s furniture to suit the modern home. Our range – including an awesome kids’ rocking chair and a table and chair set – is built using birch plywood and finished with a child-safe, eco-friendly lacquer.littleblueinteriors.com.au BEBE & FAWN We make lush, stylish cloth nappies and accessories from sustainable materials. Our Originals Collection features bright, bold hues – lovely for bubs of all genders. We also have inserts to snap into our nappy shells, making change time hassle-free.bebeandfawn.com POP YA TOT An eco-friendly store for mums seeking stylish kids’ accessories. Our founding product is the POP (dummy chain). We also sell an amazing range of 100 per cent GOTS-certified cotton swaddles and BPA-free glass bottles.popyatot.com.au SCARLETT RED DESIGNS As the home of cool threads for little rockers,…

In the dream version of my life, I’m the type of person who could happily train for a marathon. In reality, I’m the type of person who goes for a single run, tells everyone how ‘refreshing’ it was, then avoids physical activity for the next two months. I blame high school sports. I don’t know who came up with the idea of forcing hormonal teenagers to race each other down 100-metre strips of grass, but so far as I can tell, it’s scarred us all for life. Exhibit A: literally every gym. Like many 20-something Australians, I let a bunch of overly toned exercisers take $20 out of my bank account each week in return for a swipe card that says ‘FITNESS’. Occasionally I use the swipe card to enter…

TEABAG It was a simple misunderstanding that led to the teabag you may well be dunking in a cuppa right now. In 1908, Thomas Sullivan, a New York tea merchant, began sending samples to his customers in small silky sacks. Rather than emptying out the leaves, some assumed the pouches were intended for easy steeping – an alternative to the metal infusers that were already in use – and whacked the whole thing into a pot. When feedback that the silk was too fine to let water in reached Thomas, a light bulb went off in his business-savvy mind. He designed purpose-made teabags with a looser, more brew-friendly gauze, complete with a handy string that hung over the brim of the cup. T-SHIRT A century ago, wearing a t-shirt in…

Are you packing your bags for a family trip? About to be stuck for hours in a moving vehicle with the people you love most in this world, but could also murder at the drop of a hat? Here are some tips for surviving – and even enjoying – your upcoming vacation. CHOOSE AN EASY DESTINATION Maybe it’s your personal dream to see the Northern Lights in Iceland or trek the Great Wall of China, but chances are you’re travelling with some older folks, or newborns, or a social media addict who can’t be away from a power source too long. Choose a destination that’s easy for everyone, taking into account things like transport options, climate, crazy crowds and a comfortable bed to flop into at the end of a…

FIGHT CLUB (1999) // In a sentence: An IKEA-addicted insomniac finds himself in a problematic relationship with an abusive dude who **SPOILER ALERT** is actually just his alter ego. A little more: Fight Club is a cautionary tale about inattentive doctors. When Jack visits his GP for insomnia, he’s told to suck it up and redirected to a testicular cancer support group, i.e. a place where he’ll see “real pain”. Cue months of increased emotional turmoil that might have been offset by a decent mental health plan. Jack becomes addicted to support groups, and runs into Tyler Durden, aka Brad Pitt. Tyler is what your parents would call a ‘bad influence’, and soon Jack is behaving like an egomaniacal bully. Together they start an anti-capitalist ‘Fight Club’ and a cult…

Enter any inner-urban café on a weekday and you’ll find tables covered with laptops, piles of notes and writing pads; power cables running across the floor; and, always, people staring at their screens. Sometimes too intently. They’re not staring that hard because they’re solving complex problems. Those deep looks of concentration are a stalling tactic – they’re trying to avoid the eyes of the waitstaff who are pacing around the low-return tables of freeloaders/freelancers. I should know; I’m often one of these people glued to my filthy laptop, near-empty coffee beside me, and no desire to give up my seat for the waiting masses until I’ve finished my work. It’s the modern dream: whiling away the days in the comfort of a café, rather than a fluoro-lit, ergonomically sound office.…

When I was three or four and living in Adelaide, I was obsessed with dinosaurs. I knew how to say the dinosaur names, and had loads of books. As I got a bit older, school projects on Egypt really struck a chord with me, and I moved away from dinosaurs to people. It started as, “I’m going to be a palaeontologist,” then became, “I’m going to be an archaeologist with palaeontology as plan B.” (Much to the frustration of my doubtful high school teachers.) There are two different sides to archaeology, which is essentially the study of people. You’ve got the research, which is very meticulous – the cliché of digging with a little brush. I did a bit of that in Australia. But most of what I’ve worked on…