July 2006 Archives
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Vote for meeee. Um, I mean: Vote for Whedonesque.com!
Since I forgot to print out my e-ticket at work on Friday and having no ink left in my printer, I had to cycle across town to Kinko's to print it out. Although I'm convinced I must have been a little grumpy, the Kinko's guy let me print out my stuff free of charge.
My trolleybag is packed. It was hard to imagine 'Dublin + heatwave = which clothes?' It's going to be 5 degrees cooler than Amsterdam, but still 27 C.
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'a tyre-scorching Epworth joyride through glitchy, anvil-thrashed rhythms, breathless synth freakouts and a gleeful eruption of blips and beeps and whirs and echoes.'
Richard's been a good one for catty remarks. This is probably the finest.
Michael: 'I don't like being called her and she. I prefer to be eccentric than camp. I like to retain my masculinity.'
Richard: You say that while juggling a big fat stuffed cat!
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That's her at the keyboards. And that was Robert. Sigh.
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Watch grizzly bears catch fish. Live.
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One of my favourite set openers ever. It's pompous and retro and it doesn't matter, it's glorious.
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'The difference between a good web designer and a great one is the ability to know how to take short cuts and save time without compromising the quality of work.'
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Fan records snippet of new U2 song outside their rehearsal room in France
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"The Chinese village of Huangyangtan hosts what must be the strangest military installation ever spotted by the Google Earth Community"
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Leonard does have other songs to cover, yo
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Tons of Ray Cokes' Most Wanted clips. Ah, I'm all verklempt now.
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Lots of David Sylvian video clips. I've hardly ever seen any video of this artist.
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Ray Cokes was the biz on MTV Europe back in my student years. Now he's on MySpace.
Steamed cod, pepper, fleur de sel, lemon juice, knob of butter.
Crushed new potatoes with olive oil, crema di balsamico, salt, pepper and parmesan cheese.
Took less than 15 minutes to prepare (I nuke the spuds in the microwave). Tasted like heaven.
What's your favourite simple meal?
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twttr is a text messaging service based on the idea that everyone and everything has a status. Your status right now is "reading about twttr".
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Streaming video live from the North Sea Jazz festival in the Netherlands
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'The Glaswegians Photo Archive is a record of Glasgow through photographs of its people - their lives, habits, quirks and cultures.'
Oh boy, oh boy, oh boy, the swap I initiated, oh, I don't know... two months ago, has finally come through. I just got my new Sigma 24-70mm 2.8 ASF DG EX which I'll be sending the swappee my Sigma 20mm 1.8 for. I'll be sad to let a prime lens (and that extra stop) go, but I've learnt I just don't feel comfortable at 20mm and sometimes practicality wins out over quality (a prime is sharper than a zoom, but it sucks to have to carry them all).
I've been wanting to write a bit about lens choice for a while now. You can get quite lost in glass envy and greed, even if you're well aware it's not about the tools, it's about what you *see*. But once you get past the 'complete beginner' stage, you'll find out that you do need the tools that suit *your* style.
A 20mm wide angle distances the photographer from the subject, if you don't move in real close. As someone who is awkward and shy, moving in real close is a problem for me. And I want to get closer to the world through my photography, not remove myself from it even further.
I start feeling more comfortable at 24mm. At that distance, it's like viewing the world through your own eyes. It could be different for you. If you can, borrow or rent different types of lenses so you can get a feel for what suits you best. And remember that there's a huge second hand market out there for sale or swaps - a lens that's been treated well doesn't go down in value all that much.
This 24-70 complements my 70-200 nicely. I've got the whole range covered now.
Now can I go home please, boss, to play with my new toy?
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I take back what I said. Not *everybody* could make this a it. Furtado... shut it, you donkey.
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Michele McNally will answer reader questions this week about photography at The Times.
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by Earworm
Would love to have a go at VOX, now that I've learnt it allows for friends/family only blogging, as well as looking pretty. I've no idea what else it does, but there's stuff I want to write about all the time that the world has no business knowing and is meant only for a handful of people. Tired of having to be vague all the time.
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Charlotte Gainsbourg new album samples. (via Momus)
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'So... a vocabulary exists, the Gainsbourg arrangement style. But would Serge, had he lived, have become dazzled by his own past?'
Me + bureaucracy = head go boom. I have the shortest fuse.
Our secretary put her arm around me and gently lead me away from the office...
In slightly better news... my most recent blood and eye tests came out well. Blood pressure OK. Blood glucose level average 6.1. Thyroid operating ok. Consequently I've been taken off the crappy Metformin.
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'Wham! Zidane uses his head on Materazzi in the 2006 World Cup Final - Italy vs France'
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Hadn't heard this one a while. Pity they don't play it anymore.
The good thing about having two ridiculous migraine attacks in the past couple of weeks? Not being able to keep anything down, not even water, and losing 2 kilos because of it.
These attacks are different from the ones I usually have, as they seem to stem from stomach/bowel irritation, with excessive nausea. I wonder if they're due to the Metformin I've been taking. I have another check up tomorrow, must remember to enquire.
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'There’s really no profile, just similar trajectories to joining the jihad and that most of these men were upwardly and geographically mobile. Because they were the best and brightest, they were sent abroad to study. They came from moderately religious,
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Smell ya later
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Nice tunes
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Bianca Ryan singing a Jennifer Holliday song
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New Jarvis Cocker song (cunts are still) Running the world
Ah yes, our bewilderment with Irish ticket sales policies continues. Sales for 'Came so far for beauty - an evening of Leonard Cohen songs' (all star cast: Lou Reed, Jarvis Cocker, Mary Margaret O'Hara, Nick Cave, Antony, our G., etc. etc.) were to start at 9am GMT this morning. When I checked the Ticketmaster site at 8.15am, they had already begun selling. A friend in Dublin who rang T'master at 9am was first in the queue and was given Stalls, block A, row GG. I got block A, row LL.
There was no queue at T'master's box office, so we can only assume the better tickets will be sold through the Theatre Festival box office, which will start selling August 8.
God only knows why they go about things this way, but allow me blame Ticketmaster until proven innocent. In any case, I will be trying again in August to get better seats and hopefully shift the ones I have now. I'm even considering signing up as a Dublin Theatre Festival 'friend', at 99 euro a year, to make use of their 'priority booking'. Front row or bust.
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gothicy metally
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Dutch DJ Sander Lantinga streaks at Wimbledon for BNN's tv show 'Try before you die'. BBC footage.
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In het kader van 400 jaar Rembrandt geven verschillende omroepen invulling aan het jubileum van de beroemdste schilder in binnen- en buitenland.
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So yeah, one of our DJ's...
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Or 'How we won the war'. Hydragenic and co go ticket hunting.
- People still use Corel Draw?
- My next book will be called 'A small favour...'
- 'Use drag and drop!' 'I don't know what you mean...'
Things I'm proud and not so proud of this week
- Finding out the hard way why Metformin states 'do not mix with alcohol'.
- Coming 6th (25+ teams) in Haarlem pub quiz.
- Not getting a lot of questions right.
- That glorious artwork.
- Digging deep to find lyrics of an obscure Can song.
- Enjoying company of people I wouldn't normally associate with
- Talking a stranger in a bar for 30 minutes
- Being told 'You're nearly as mad as I am'
- Spreading the words 'turkey slapping' around our lovely country
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(me: 88wpm, 397.06 cpm)
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'The exhibition God among the Dutch: Contemporary photography offers a striking overview of the Christian faith in the Netherlands in all its aspects.'
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'Gavin has designed a limited edition bottle label for Beck's. View it in our Beck's Art label gallery.'
Just how many camera bags does a girl need? Had to get this Lowe Pro Mini Trekker Classic (Shop: € 150. Ebay: € 65.) to be able to carry all my gear to Dublin comfortably at the end of the month, where I'll be photographing the last production meeting / dress rehearsal of the show. It'll fit all my lenses and accessories and I think having it on my back will be more comfortable than over the shoulder.
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Check the 'favourites' list. Lots of really good stuff.
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"ironic electro-pop"
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'I'm involved in the niche hobby of writing new music with old videogame hardware. The music you are hearing was programmed in notepad using a TurboGrafx 16 (PC Engine).'