[Postcrossing]Where to get pretty postcard in Melbourne (2)

Following up on my last entry of Mission: finding postcards in Melbourne...
繼續發掘墨爾本可以買到漂亮明信片的地方。

Like I said before, Melbourne is a really hard place to get pretty postcards (Cards are easier, but really not Postcards). So I'm going to reveal more places / hide-outs where you can satisfy your desires for Postcrossing and collections.

        Postcrossing is a free online project, that once your register,

You would able to send and receive postcards for free all over the world.



No mail-related collection is completed without Postcrossing.

              Join, and support today!!

We really can't go without Linden Centre for Contemporary Arts...
It is really my favourite! Five stars out of Five stars!!

* 26 Acland Street, St Kilda 3182

Being the venue for Melbourne Annual Linden Postcard Show, the Centre also sells postcards printed from past and present exhibitions' entry, at the attractive price of $1 each. They are authentic local designer cards that smell the aurora of Melbourne!

And.. pay attention to the Date of the Postcard Show as well! It really can be ANYTIME of the year (2014 at Oct, but 2013 at March.. hehe). That would be discounts on the cards - buy one get one free in 2014!!

Buying your postcard online: Zazzle.com.au

My brother insists if you don't want to buy tourist card, your best bet is online. This statement is about 50% true in Melbourne. When I first began postcrossing, my instinct is also to start looking on the net (not many physical shops would come across you mind LOL).

Zazzle is an online retailer that allows users to upload images and create their own merchandise, or buy merchandise created by other users... (for more, check wiki). There are around 15000+ postcard items by now (LINK here), and if you search 'Australia' related product , 9000+ appeared (Wow!).

Prices are about one to two dollars each, shipping in Australia will cost you about $5.00.

Comments: A bit more expensive than cards you can get from shops (Tourist cards in City are about 70cents to 1dollar each, Penguin 100 postcard set is $29 for one pack). However, I cannot deny that most of them can't be found in anywhere else. Quality are averagely great, except there are bound to be a few stupid ones (not all image uploaders are talented photographers LOL)


My friend Kelly reminded me bookdepository.com (on 24 Jan 2015) also sells postcard sets.

Ooops... almost forgot this site (Haha!)

Lovely free shipping around the world, it has around 1000+ postcard related items - just search 'postcards' then filter it with 'stationary', you will see plenty of items.

Comments: Wonderful place to shop, it has basically everything you can get from Melbourne's local bookshops but prices are about 20% cheaper. So if you are thinking getting something from book stores, check this site first. (I got my 100 Jane Austen Set for $25.20 /Dymock price $29.99, and Secret Garden: 20 Postcards for $11.70 /Dymock price $19.00).

The problem is most card products from the BOOKDEPOSITORY have no detail images, which means buyer can only see the front cover but not how each cards looks like (Amazon does!) So I really need to spend some time google~ing.




Melbourne Zoo and Vic Market

If you wonder whether tourist attractions and special venues (eg. National Gallery, Melbourne Museum or Sea-Life Aquarium) have great cards, I can tell you that's not a lot of them. Most only have very tiny range, and similar substitutes can be found in Souvenir Shops in CBD.

Melbourne Zoo only sells FOUR varities of postcards - all animals (Snow Leopard, Koala, Mongoose, and I forgot the last one, maybe wombat), and they are only available in-zoo, which means you can't even purchase via the online shop (Haha!).

So you can debate internally about whether paying $30 admission (Adult price) is worthy to just get a few $1.00 cards.

Comment: ...yes, I have done that! The snow leopard card is utterly, utterly irresistibly cute!

Queen-Victoria Market is another spots that not good enough to get excited over, but not bad enough to forego without regret. Last time I visited (Nov 2014), there are only two shops have what we are looking for.
Both selling home-made designer cards, both belong to the expensive range. ($3-6 each)

IL PAPIRO: Florentine Paper Merchant
* Shop 5 Degraves st,  Melbourne 3000

It has a relatively small collection called 'Australiana Cards' that is visible online. These are the most expensive cards I have brought, but then, no real card-lovers would be able to resist the temptation of such exquisite cards with traditional fine printing methods.






I went to Chadstone in another day and found two shops that shine out.

Card & Caboodle *Shop B 136A, Chadstone Shopping Centre (Downstair)

KAISERCRAFT *Shop B092, Chadstone Shopping Centre

For Card & Caboodle, I saw 5-6 different prints of Melbourne city-view card in-store. Their online store got a few more options, but I didn't see them in store at all.

KaiserCraft does not outrightly deal with any postcard, yet they sell journal cards with amazing patterns, which are in right sizes and rigid enough to pass as postcards. Moreover, they also sell wooden envelope templates that help you carve out paper envelope from colourful paper you choose! (if your postcrossing partner request an envelope)




And Finally......

AVANT Cards and their venues: where you can get free cards.

Avant Card: Postcard Printing and National Distribution is an media campiagn company who helps organisation to distribute their ad-cards. Well, I am not telling you to be their customer, I am saying it is a great chance for freebies!

Because AVANT not only circulates ad-cards for commercial purpose, it also prints art cards for arising artists and education cards for schools (for free! amazing!!). Those are available in public venues such as cafes, cinemas and libraries. I happened to pick up a few free AVANT art cards from Prahran Market corner and they remain my favourite all-time!

Download their National Venue Network List to see which place is close to you.




That's about everything I got on hand at the moment. I will keep updating this post later when I found another great shop. Again, like I said before, I'm never an expert of all suburbs, so please leave me a comment if you want to share a postcard shop you love!

如果你知道在哪裡可以買到更可愛、更有特色的明信片，歡迎留言！

[Postcrossing]Where to get pretty postcard in Melbourne (1)

近期沈迷Postcrossing，所以發一篇【玩物】誌，因為官方語言是英文，所以也會以英文寫（雖然台灣參加者好像也有很多，不過大家英文都很好吧XD）

This post is for the beginner of Postcrossing - about where to get pretty/ beautiful / unique postcards in Melbourne, Australia.

     
     【Homepage: Postcrossing】

Quite different from most European countries, which you can just pop into a book shop and check out many of unique designer cards, Melbourne postcard ranges seem quite narrowed and mostly limited to Tourist/Traveller cards.

So I did a little adventure: I just expedited different suburbs and checked out various shops to see what I can possibly find.

Let's start with the usual options - Souvenir shops.

Many Postcrossers favoured City-view / Night-view / Country Maps / Landscape / Architects / Special-shape or Animals postcards. Their wishes can be easily fulfilled by visiting local souvenir shops. (In fact, many postcrossers told me Australian city-skyline cards are not something you will get everyday LOL)

There are many Souvenir Shop for Tourists in Melbourne CBD area. Along Swanston Street, there are already five or six of them, including:

• Souvenir Collection, 13 Swanston St,
• Souvenir Australian, 224 Swanston Street,
• Souvenirs Australiana, 137 Swanston S
• Aussie Map Souvenirs, 63 Swanston St

... but hey! Those are not all! Don't miss the other two great shops in CBD (although I would say their locations are not as visible as the others). They have a slightly more uncommon collections.

Gift and Shell, Shop 6, Ground, 300 Flinders Street (next to University Arcade)
Traveller Souvenir and Luggage, 40 Elizabeth Street

Comment: My brother said 'Souvenir shops are probably still selling postcards from 10 years before', but my observation is otherwise. True, they will recycle some 'popular ones'... however, the majority will get new stocks every one~two months. So it is worthy to run regular check-up in City. You might find some really flashy.

That's always more in the City - Melbourne Visitor Centre

I'm a little embarrassed to say, only after two months I started Postcrossing did I realize they sell postcards at Visitor Centre LOL. Mainly toursit cards, they also have postcards of Australian celebrities and famous historical personnel such as Ned Kelly.

Comment: Get Free Ads Cards from the Visitor Centre! On the wall of the far-side, there are heaps of ad cards (events, festivals, concerts and activites etc.) and they don't cost you a cent. Some of them are supremely artistic and would really appeal to those who targeted old ads cards! 




Then we have (very close by) The Melbourne City Gallery (Melbourne Town Hall)

• Ground floor, 110 Swanston Street

The small free gallery not only have a small gallery exhibiting artworks of Melbourne city lifes, it also runs a little postcard stall in the front (Price: $1 each).


All postcards are in 'Old Photo-Style" - According to the small prints behind the cards, those are "one of a series from images of the City of Melbourne's Art and Heritage Collection. This collection of over 7000 artworks and historic media is an eclectic and endlessly fascinating record of Council and the it serves."

So vinatge photo, old news images, and black-and-white picture from 1900s... you have a wide range of options.

Profits from those postacrds are also going toward the conservation and maintenance of the City of Melbourne's Collection.






Our (and your) Local Post Offices:

Post Offices has all sorts of postcard, from ordinary tourist cards to stamp-theme Maxicard cards. My favourite are so far the 'Set of 6 Christmas 2014 maxicard' and 'Southern Lights (Aurora Australis)'.



You can also order cards through Post Online shop https://shop.auspost.com.au/. I have tried to order online twice now. After you created an online account and paid by credit card, it takes 2-3 business days to process the order, and up to 5 days to delivery (no shipping cost within Australia).

It is quite intriguing to see many online items are not-for-sale in Post Office (maybe they are old stocks?). Sometimes they will also sell single card from a Maxi-Set.


Comment: So, there are something you ought to know about Maxicard....

• Point-scoring: Maxicards include postage - just $1.80 each and you can send them to anywhere in the world. Compared to $2.75 to Europe and US, or $1.95 to Asian-Pacific (dated Jan 2015), that's a bit of saving considered the number of cards you sent each year.

• No-No's: Maxicard are slow - I have been experimenting with AustPost Maxicard. So far I have sent about 10 of them, and all DOUBLE or even triple the traveling time of my other cards.
  (regular card to Germany: 17-19 days; Maxicard: 50 days)
  (regular card to China: 28-30 days; Maxicard: 67 days)
  Besides, some Post do not sell a particular set or do not sell individual cards. So it is a bit annoying if you do not wish to get a whole set. (I would order online if I can't find one)

Newsagency ...

Not all newsagency sell postcards, but I still like to check out different newsagencies though.

You can find left-over stocks from many years before (dust-covered, truly vintage cards LOL), which makes it interesting and unique. Some agencies also put up cards that filmed and printed by locals on the shelves -  they are most places of local interest in a community that may not be even known by people who don't live here.

So... the question remains on... where to find them?

I actually have an answer for it. After scouting different suburbs in many weekends, there are apparantly some area that has more newsagencies that sell (wider range and prettier) postcard.

Try those: Fitzroy, Abbotsford, Richmond, South Yarra, Toorak, Prahran, Windsor and St Kilda






Finally, Bookshops...

Book shops and newsagency are just the same, not all of them have postcards you wanted. It is all depended on suburbs and area.

Dymocks that has a good collection (verified Jan 2015)

1. Knox City (Westfield) store - best collection I have found, many interesting postcard booklets and varied prices.
2. 234 Collin Street (City) store - Mainly selling the 100 postcard series from Penguin Publication  (eg. One Hundred Writers in One Box, 100 Cookery Postcard, 100 Postcard of Jane Austin). Please noticed, except in the LETTER and CARD section, there are postcard sets in the GIFT section as well.
3. Prahran store - selling many single card which I haven't found in anywhere else.

That's another book shop I personally want to recommand: Jeffreys Books

• 140 Glenferrie Road, Malvern

The collections are definitely exceptional. It is the first time I saw shops selling Star War postcard. More importantly, the prices of card set are slightly lower than its competitor by few dollars.

PS. hints: you can find few book stores along Glenferrie Road - Remember, check the price of the item before you paid. Some are really priced as high as a joke!

I am going to write another blog entry later about Where to get pretty postcard in Melbourne (2), which I'm going to reveal other hidden spots in Melbourne. （在墨爾本哪裡可以買漂亮的明信片？）

Meanwhile, if you have known any impressive shops selling Postcard in Melbourne or Victoria, please post a commect below so I can update my post!

簡易筆記「史萊姆」

「史萊姆」Slime

史萊姆（slime）是一種在電子遊戲與奇幻小說中時常出現的虛構生物。
其身體結構相當多樣化，從流動的黏稠液體，到半固體的果凍狀、具有彈性而能蹦跳移
動，有時全身是單一均質，有時具備眼、口等器官，更有些能變形擬態，依作品不同而
有很大的差異。

在英語中，"slime"原指泥狀、黏液狀的東西，例如水溝中的淤泥、爛泥、魚的黏液等。



（LIVESPACE舊家2006年發過的文章，現在再修訂）

「史萊姆」的年表
人類自古即不斷以已知的生物為基礎，想像出各種虛構生物。但古代對於變形蟲、黏菌等一無所知，因此史萊姆類型的不定形生物幾乎沒有出現在先民的神話傳說之中。

當今史萊姆類型生物，起源於1931年的恐怖小說《在瘋狂山上》（At the Mountains of Madness，BY H.P.洛夫克拉夫），主角在南極的地底下發現一種原生質狀的合成生物，名為「修可思」（Shoggoth），其顏色漆黑而且能隨意改變外形。

然後另一位恐怖小說作家約瑟夫·布倫南（Joseph Payne Brennan），在1953年名為《史萊姆Slime》的短篇小說中，首次以「史萊姆」為不定形生物命名，其後不定形生物成為科幻故事中常見的題材。

1958年史萊姆首次以影像出現：電影《幽浮魔點》The Blob中，「史萊姆」為出現一種來自外太空的紅色阿米巴蟲，此時期的史萊姆大多被描述為來路不明、且食慾無窮的恐怖生物。

到了1974年，史萊姆首次出現於遊戲中。
經典桌上角色扮演遊戲《龍與地下城》中的史萊姆，是一種迷宮中的危險生物。牠們黏附在迷宮的天花板上，當下方有生物經過時便會落下攻擊，分泌的酸液會腐蝕武器和防具。這種史萊姆是由許多細小個體組成的群體生物，不易徹底消滅，隨著群體規模逐漸擴張，最後甚至會成長為難以應付的巨大怪物。

但是到了1980年代，新問世的電腦角色扮演遊戲—例如《巫術》（Wizardry）和《夢幻仙境》（Hydlide）之中，史萊姆開始以非常弱的姿態登場，由此塑造了日後對史萊姆的一般印象；及至1986年經典遊戲《勇者鬥惡龍》之中，由鳥山明設計的史萊姆具有可愛的水滴狀外形，廣受玩家的喜愛。此後出現在日本角色扮演遊戲的史萊姆大都外形乾淨可愛，地位介於弱小怪物和可馴養的野生動物之間，時常也作為遊戲吉祥物而出現在宣傳廣告上。


2005年－－Chronic Logic LLC公司推出以「史萊姆」為主角的遊戲「史萊姆救美記」，講述一隻叫 "吉水" 的史萊姆拯救被擄走的女朋友，雖然是風格迴異的遊戲，但從 "吉水" 可作出的動作－－伸出芒刺、黏付天花板及牆壁行走、改變形狀滑過狹窄通道、變硬壓碎敵人等等來看，「史萊姆」的形象已經深入民心。




「史萊姆」的生物性
史萊姆是不存在於現實的生物，可是一般都被認為是以原生生物「黏菌 (Slime molds)」為幻想基礎的。
黏菌在分類學上的名稱為「Mycetozoa」，意思是「真菌動物」，這樣的名稱表現了其介乎於動物和真菌之間的外觀與生活型態－－黏菌多核，無葉綠素，運動形態(可以移動)和攝食方式和變形蟲類似，但是也與真菌類同樣擁有能夠釋放孢子的子實體，而這些特徵也使他們看起來和黴菌相似。

黏菌大多數為腐生菌，亦有少數為有害寄生性；喜愛陰涼潮濕的場所，只要有足夠濕的有機物質都可能成為其繁殖地點，常見於腐木、枯枝、落葉枯草等腐爛的植物殘留物，而在下雨過後的約三至七天內，在野外的活樹幹樹枝上也會看到不少，此外，還有糞黏菌和雪黏菌等的種類。

黏菌廣泛分佈於世界各地，具有許多不同的分類群，而不少分類群都是世界性的，其中較為著名兩大類是原生質體黏菌與細胞性黏菌。

流行文化中的史萊姆一般來說都是帶有黏液的流體生物，可以變形或進行分裂，是地下水道等缺乏陽光的地點生活，這都和黏菌的生態相類似；但是史萊姆並非單細胞生物，甚至將其歸類成智慧型液體金屬或是熔岩那樣的無機物也可以，而且具有再生能力，從生物學的角度，可以說是超越了地球上生物概念的超生物。



「史萊姆」的各種商品化

史萊姆的商品可以說是多不勝數，除了比較傳統的鎖匙扣、手辦、娃娃和抱枕之外，現在也有遊戲CONTROL甚至是食物和飲品等等

（史萊姆肉包的創意吃法）

閃光節腦抽系列 ☆゜ ゜( ∀ )!?

這不是什麼認真查證或學習（消音可（直接跳過可XD
只是有網主突然在閃光節大腦有幾絲神經搭錯線路而已.........

硬要編個主題的話可以稱為人老了就喜歡懷舊～

來聊一些90後絕對不會知道的歌或動畫，感覺非常暢快~♪
好像如果90後知道貓眼三姐妹或是城市獵人就已經是知識淵博了的樣子...


L□∨Ε...φ(￣▽￣*)ﾎﾟｯ -------○( ｀▽´)っ ○( ＾皿＾)っ　Let's Rock & Roll♪ (ﾉ∀｀●)⊃

這個盛大的腦抽是由Identity Crisis開始的XD

沒錯，就是眾所周知的Cyber Formula SAGA的主題曲。
雖然我更喜歡SIN的PRAY 聽歌固然是重點，不過問題是我聽歌的場所是在水管上，
然後我就在推薦影片欄旁邊最下的最下發了一個有趣的東西XDDDD



鐵人28耶！！！ ( ﾟдﾟ)ﾝﾏｯ!!!!!!!!

然後我就點進去了，當下的感覺是「嘩我還記得怎麼唱耶」XDDDDDDD!!
其實如果是原版的大鐵人的話，連我都是沒有看過直播的，不過鐵人28的話我倒是記得很清楚
　因為有個不泡在神秘液體裡就會從正太長大成美青年的主角宿敵

實在太神奇了、我的記憶XDDDDDDDDDDDD
我好想知道我到底會記得到什麼程度！！！！！！！！


於是右手一點，下一首：


絶対無敵ライジンオー　
完全可以唱出來哦XDDDD
所以說記憶真是種奇怪的東西啊，雖然劇情啊敵人啊完全不記得了(當然了,已經是1991年的作品了)
但是卻對 學校變成基地的畫面/他們班叫地球防衛組/作戰司令(即班長)是女生 這幾點非常有印象。




既然之前那首有印象的話，那1993年的 熱血最強ゴウザウラー 就更加有記得清楚了
機械的構成是恐龍，然後戰鬥的對象是推廣宇宙所有生命都要機械化的機械星人(拍拍手～)

題外：以我的觀點來說，絶対無敵ライジンオー在校舍的變化多層次實在是太原創了～
　　　不過熱血最強ゴウザウラー畢竟是三年後的作品，作畫就精美太多了，
　　　而且，人物性格設定方面也精緻了很多，尤其是敵人方面(那兩隻叫齒輪和螺絲傢伙很可愛~XDD)


似乎，然後，就打到我的怪癖了...
我對勇者動畫的有印象程度，是和該作出現「悲情的敵人」的比例有關的(默
　　　
大家都懂的，就是這類動畫中必定會出現的那些明明是敵人卻不同意對方BOSS反而認同主角最後落得悲情橫屍街頭下場的傢伙
（所以同期的作品太陽勇者或是黃金勇者我就沒什麼印象了.......


按照這樣計算的話，我印象深刻(完全無誤)的就是這部了：



勇者特急マイトガイン ワッショイヽ(゜∀゜)メ(゜∀゜)メ(゜∀゜)ノワッショイ

不不不、ＯＰ我只是順手貼的，ＥＤ這首BLACK DIAMOND才是我的王道啊！！！



這部悲情的敵人可以說是多得離譜，搞到最後每個人都有不得不作惡的原因（瀑布汗
對當年我這樣專看配角+奸角的怪人來說，簡直是太興奮了XD
因為包括那位ACEジョー、還有悲情的狙擊手ユリウス等人亂七八糟的過去，多了很多劇情可以看！


重點的話已經說完了，最後以這部來結束吧：勇者王ガオガイガー


基本上繼勇者特急マイトガイン之後我就只看過這部了...

97年的作品，美型是必然的，劇情也有用心，在動漫同好之中似乎非常受好評；不過個人有點、非常的、不喜歡啊！其實只要是看過Transformer動畫(特別是日版)的人就知道，勇者王ガオガイガー在機體、塗裝、變身方式甚至AI的性格上的模仿非常明顯，尤其是第二季後加入的新成員，完全是TF過來客串的.......

嘛，姑且來說，歌是很不錯的XDDDDD

[閱讀]什麼什麼法則（笑

其實是《必須知道的社會生活中十二大法則》啦。
名字超長的XD

這本不是書呢，應該歸類成'轉貼'或是'連鎖EMAIL'一類的東西吧，
是我近期發現的少數好物之一。

在網上很容易找得到的，強烈建議大家去拜估狗大神。


那麼內容有什麼法則呢？

1、馬太效應
2、手表定理
3、不值得定律
4、彼得原理
5、零和遊戲原理
6、華盛頓合作規律
7、酒與汙水定律
8、水桶定律
9、蘑菇管理
10、奧卡姆剃刀定律
11、二八法則
12、錢的問題

不知道大家到底聽過幾個？（嘛本人只有三個，就是1、2和10

我倒是不會在這樣說明每個啦，因為我想大家自己去看嘛XD
不過不說明的話，好像也無法產生吸引力呢？！所以就引用一個吧？


《新約馬太福音》中有這樣一個故事，一個國王遠行前，交給3個仆人每人一錠銀子，吩咐他們：“你們去做生意，等我回來時，再來見我。”國王回來時，第一個仆人說：“主人，你交給我們的一錠銀子，我已賺了10錠。”于是國王獎勵他10座城邑。第二個仆人報告說：“主人，你給我的一錠銀子，我已賺了5錠。”于是國王例獎勵了他5座城邑。第三個仆人報告說：“主人，你給我的一錠銀子，我一直包在手巾裏存著，我怕丟失，一直沒有拿出來。”于是國王命令將第三個仆人的一錠銀子也賞給第一個仆人，並且說：“凡是少的，就連他所有的也要奪過來。凡是多的，還要給他，叫他多多益善。”這就是馬太效應。看看我們周圍，就可以發現許多馬太效應的例子。朋友多的人會借助頻繁的交往得到更多的朋友；缺少朋友的人會一直孤獨下去。金錢方面更是如此，即使投資回報率相同，一個比別人投資多10倍的人，收益也多10倍。


眾多理論之中應該我就比較喜歡這個吧？

我覺得尤其是社會新鮮人就更應該正視這理論：銀行的存款雖少，但是總有用武之地的，
「上班太累」這個敵人雖然厲害，但是總可以打倒的，努力擴展社交圈是必須的。


在網上逛了一圈發現《必須知道的社會生活中十二大法則》有許多內容有些許差別的版本
（這也是必然的，畢竟是轉貼，也就是可以任意增訂吧？
有的會著重於職場管理理論的演繹，有的則是和個人成長和增值有關，
也建議大家多找幾個貼源．．．

總之～好物需要推介~XDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDD