holga

 partly because i've been having a lark with a holga lens of late but also because i just like sitting down and having a listen to martin henson's channel, here's my last of year post... 

cheap dark room

 mostly these days, i take primarily black and white images, using a pinhole, using direct positive paper so i don't have an enlarger etc, i do have a space where i keep chemicals etc that i can use as a dark room space but i tend to do so very rarely. that said, i have been playing with a holga lens recently on an old digital body and, while i don't like the process much, i do like the results, so i can feel myself being gently pushed in the direction of a functioning darkroom. it will be basic - i like the idea of chemicals and processes but at the same time i like to keep things really simple. so this 

the balkans

 while my heart is always in mainland europe, if i was asked to pick a region (i couldn't!), the balkans would be high on the list. and having a big cycle would be perfect! 

michael kenna

 like bnw? rest that post xmas aching brain with this 

the 90 year old cyclist

 lovely 

interesting also to see a relative being documented. i really like audio/video for this. altho i've no experience of the viseo side for this. being able to watch/hear a person speak in their own time, at their own cadence, for me, seems so much more satisfying in this respect than an image on its own

tomten

 guaranteed to bring a tear to my eye - this traditional classic (with subtitles!) 

poem plus two english translations here

the kiffness

this is what happens when you spend too much time on youtube, have a stack of electronics, loads of instruments, talented mates. you're worth a browse thru his back catalogue, loads of collaboration and joyousness, in these difficult times surely what the internet is for! lol i so want a trumpet now! 

fulu miziki

 who needs drugs when you've got afrofuturism! lol this is so far from the day to day music i hear here it's just a joy to listen to. outstanding!

boring light

 the weather here of late has just been shocking. not poor as such, but dull and uninspiring. or is it? 

so much talent!

 of these the ones i'm most familiar with are ellen of ellenplaysbass and nandi bushell. i think ellen is about 9 here and nandi must be about 13 now. it's a how long's a piece of string question but it's possible that yoyoka may be the most precociously talented of the lot of them. she must be about 12 i think here and only the tip of the iceberg of supertalented japanese youngsters (nice wee fanboy doco of here here) 

obvs, supportive family is a given in all of these but, in a country where language, drama and music education are becoming more and more the province of a private school education i worry about where creative talent is being nurtured. children, despite what the media/your gran might say, are no less talented, its just that their elders have, and continue to, fail them, my generation being particular offenders in this respect

*twisted sister. it pains me. i have not, and will never be, a fan

the alchemistress

 very large format photography! i also love the prisoner pictures but no idea where they come from 

make your own pen

 this guy's great. i'm trying this! 

suminagashi

i'm doing some of this later on this week. this vid's in spanish but it's easy enough to follow along. there are loads of other but i didn't want to use one where the person doing the vocal track couldn't at least approximate the proper pronunciation! using glue is a new one on me (pva in uk i'm guessing) but i'll give that a go and see what happens 

tresor

 away back in the day i loved the tresor label and all that entailed. it's interesting to reflect, all these years later, just how much spaces like this, whether you like techno or not, affected not just the music of the time, but the ability to have a creative space to meet mingle and do all sorts of other forms of creative work. i look around where i used to go and every single venue is gone, with nothing to replace them, along with the gallery/performance spaces that accompanied them. there is a necessity for change, of course, but that change has to include the possibility of future change 

less gear, more bike

 i was talking to a work colleague recently about her son, who's recently pitched up with a violin. good i said, music is great. true, she said, but i thought you'd rather he was getting into cycling. in contrast, the violin he's been bought, if he keeps it up, will see him all thru his basic education and all thru his grades, if he so chooses. a bike, on the other hand. growth aside, for what i'd consider entry level, to do the equivalent for cycling, i could buy him a guitar, a bass, all his baseline recording things (daw, interface, microphone etc) and some healthy electronics - synthesiser/drum kit. and likely have money left over for his violin. it's no secret that the cost of cycling has ballooned these last few years, the cost of making music, even allowing for inflation, has remained relatively static - and your gear isn't built to wear out/become obselete!

here's a couple of vids around this topic. points to note

- just ride your bike

- i pursued and english degree and became a bike mechanic

*i'm not saying you shouldn't have electronic shifting etc. buy what you want! but don't forget what a bike is/was. and all that other stuff - the clothes, the stravaing etc. that's cosplay

focal dystonia

i like scott's bass channel and watching it, couldn't help but notice he wears, typically on his left hand, a glove. the story of that is in this vid. neuro is something i've steered clear of over the years but i'd never heard of focal dystonia. this is a really interesting take about living with a chronic condition, the difficulty of getting referrals, let alone diagnosis 

sonic storyboard

i love this idea! i've been absolutely unmotivated to do any sound recording since i came back to this country (and lost all my swedish sound files, possibly deliberately. maybe probably but i can't bring myself to accept someone would do such a thing!) but this actually wants me to get a decent mike set up, get out and capture soome sound, plus set up the electronics. 

*i'll add a bit here seeing as a lot of this summer has been involved with medium format photography for which i have no negatives. should something happen to these images there's no back up, they exist solely as themselves and, as they age, they will disappear. that my sound files should be subject to the same vagaries plain never occurred to me. this notion appears in byung-chul han's writings - the notion that in the digital panopticon nothing is forgotten - and not in a good way. i need to think on it a bit.

the mobile darkroom

 inasmuch as i have a darkroom it's super basic and limited by joinery, my lack of commitment to an actual enlarger and fears about ventilation. plus, no matter how you cut it, old school photogrpahy isn't cheap (i'm setting out today with a holga lens on an old canon later today, bnut that's a whole other story). that said, i love the creativity around it all. it's not to say that digital lacks creativity just that all that computer based malarkey isn't for me. check this out 

metropolis

 here's some christmas cheer! an absolute classic. i did find a rescored version but i wasn't superfussed for the score but, when i've more time on my hands, i'd love to try and score an old silent movie!

notes on the fretboard

 i've been mystified for years about why bass/guitar/uke players are mystified by the fretboard. i remember speaking to a guitary friend about it when he was getting confused by his chords etc (and before i'd ever picked up a guitar before) and i said - but all the relationships between the notes are the same. and then demonstrated, albeit via a piano keyboard, that given a basic knowledge of how a scale worked, i could work out any chord and find a position for it on the neck. which sounds great, except that when i'm playing guitars now i play like someone who learned piano as a child! anyway, this video is decent if you're finding all a bit of a pain, or like me, you're forgetting your basics

*ear players - this is a talent i do not have! it's not better or worse, just different. if you're not getting to grips with the above, consider yourself blessed you have an ear!

tour de tietema

 the tour de tietema lads have been a way for me, especially the last couple of years, to watch some tdf based irreverence and get some dutch listening practice. who'd have thought they'd now be a pro-continental set up!? here's that story 

work music

 further from yesterday's post. got a couple of things going on. all set up fora day of work. here's my initia; soundtrack to get me into it. no distractions. ideal! 

phyllida barlow

 came across this via insta and was taken with it just for this if nothing else - 

There are plenty of artists who don't have exhibitions, there is plenty of art that is never seen. … Making work that does not have a destination has it's loneliness and its sadness about it, and many artists endure that for their entire lives, and it's heroic.

i guess, these days, i would fall firmly into that camp but i don't find anything sad or lonely, let alone heroic about it. so much of 'recognition' it seems to me, is about external validation. i've got no need for any of that. i got published loads when i was writing but it just made me miserable. doing visual art, whether it was making it, or being involved in the business of selling, really wasn't any better.

i feel incredibly fortunate that creativity for me is a means to life not a way of life. i have no external deadlines, no gatekeepers, no need to be standing about, virtually or irl, droning on about art/writing etc. i am absolutely free to do what i want, when i want and to encourage others to do the same. it's a great mode of being!

*i'll make an exception for music, which is fabulous when it's shared. but, sadly, i'm rubbish at it. not that that's a bad thing - i'd wholly recommend having something you do, that you're just not good at, or at least only good enough to properly appreciate people who are. i still feel massively lucky to be part of the continuum of music. all of it really (even writing, which i'm gradually. gradually making my way back to after being pretty broken by all the publishing shenanigans) is just a joy

panceltic race

 it's that time of year again and i'm going to sit down with a cup of tea and watch their legs hurting so mine don't have to lol 

tim henson's guitar

back in early polyphia i heard tim henson was getting to put out his own guitar. looked lovely, sounded lovely and i love a nylon string. and now they're ludicrously priced on resale! my skill level is so low i can wait the current boom out but, watching this video, i still want one! lol 

midjourney does star wars by hieronymus bosch

 let's be clear, i don't love a computer. and i've especially not loved them, useful as they might be, as a means to creative process. as for ai, the vast majority of what i've seen is not the sort of thing i like. i want hands on, paint and glue, instruments to hold, blades and scrapers. that said my yt algorithm threw this at me and i have to say, i rather liked it. not so much as a thing in itself but as a reminder of just how bland much science fiction/alternative worlds look these days (i'm excepting the creator's recent outing). if midjourney and their ilk can be a springboard for a new way of looking then i'm all for it 

audre lord

i'm always happy when great books prof puts up a new video and, even moreso, when it's about something i know nothing about, in this case audre lord's the cancer journals. i ordered it immediately and my plan for this weekend is to read it slowly, let it percolate (i have a side plan to browse some susan sontag b ut i have to dig that out). so far what i'm loving is the language, the bare articulacy of it. obvs i see way more malignancy than most and, while i've read my fair share of disease journey books, i'm not certain i've found one that i've found that's chimed with me with such immediacy. partly i guess because while it's concenred with cancer it's really about life. i'd highly recommend. 

stewart copeland

i'm in the midst of discovering, even by my already low standards, what a truly dreadful drummer i'd make. that said, in terms of pushing my body/brain to do things they're not used to, i think it's really valuable. there's a wealth of drumming info online, drumeo a particular highlight, but i'm also enjoying listening to and about stewart copeland  

how a sailing ship works

not maybe something i thought would've tweaked my interest when i was young but ever since i saw the vasa in stockholm away back when i do love me a sailing ship! 

rembrandt's prints

 i love these how this was done videos! 

byung-chul han

been doing a fair bit of reading of byung-chul han recently. the burnout society i've seen described as a good basic primer but, for me, i'd say psychopolitics is a better place to start. further, i've seen criticism of him that his books really don't progress, don't rea;;y say anything particularly different from one another. at this stage, i'd have to say i'm inclined to agree but that said, psychopolitics in particular, i've really enjoyed reading him

philip guston

 nice wee doco on philip guston 

pj harvey

pj harvey - without doubt one of the finest english musicians working today. what a joy seeing her do tiny desk 

and i like her so much, here's more. one of the old classics but performed as she is now, not repeating what she did then. love it all! 

vinyl

 old school mixing. ideal for mindless work round the house! 

barniz de pasto cabinet

 v&a delivers again! this was all new information to me! 

tetrapack printing

 there's a couple of things i'd take issue with in this. i think the dark stripes are done with a method she's not shown, i wouldn't apply ink with my bare hands - you'll get coloured fingers and you're asking for trouble with your paper, and i definitely wouldn't even try the spatula method! mainly because it's time consuming, your pressures will never be even, it'll compress your printing surface, and i just don't think it'll work. other than that, solid vid 

and, obvs, i'd be circumspect about tracing someone else's image!

chung sang-hwa

 insight into chung sag-hwa's process 

the madness of max

 more australian documentary (and just a bit of spanish practice!) 

chiharu shiota

 beautiful. but if cats get in there..... 

blood and thunder - the sound of alberts

 really good doco about australian rock music back in the day 

pinhole

 another vid about doing pinhole photography. and why not! lol 

midori takada

 sublime

ansel adams

 old school doco on ansel adams - who plays his own piano! 

papa jo jones

 massive skills! 

armour

 old school craft! lol 

the etruscans

 a documentary for sunday....

bad brains

it's a mystery to me quite why i never got to see bad brains when i was living my new york life, let alone at cbgbs which, while not my favourite venue, i was certainly at on a not irregular basis. i think the first thing i bought by them was a cassette of rock for light and i've never quite got over it. 

ando glaso

 i was out seeing this lot last night. a joy! 

tho it has to be said i was lucky if, during the romanian songs, i recognised more than three words! and, the only song i did recognise, it's been so long i couldn't remember either its title or how to sing along or the words (bulgarian), despite knowing it really well back when i was listening to such things.

but excellent to see the roma community here making themselves and their culture felt

drum practice

along with balance board etc i think that coordination is something that needs practice, particularly as age kicks in. i'm fortunate that i have my cajon to play with but a drum pad is super handy also 

drumming

 am going through a percussion phase and really enjoying watching drummers at work on drumeo. i;ve particularly liked these two - 

very different styles of drummer but, rather than get bogged down in genre, it's just great to see proper musicians at work

dr najeeb

 i don't do much in the way of teaching these days but if i was going to dr najeeb would be my first stop as the litmus paper of finding out if i knew what i was talking about, it's a joy that he appears in my algorithm. a delight to listen to 

ana luisa negrao

i know a flat zero about contemporary dance but i do know what bendiness is and, if i ever had it, it's long vanished. if i had my time over it's the one thing i'd like to have done. i knew, in my early teens, that dance was something amazing having seen, i think, nureyev doing some sort of solo routine, but any notion that i'd do the same was thoroughly ridiculed out of me. to be honest, i don't think things have improved that much. so thank you ana luisa negrao. for taking something that's lovely and a mystery to me, and smashing it out of the park. sublime 

hinault

 what a legend 

ufo

this was my personal favourite from back in the day. couldn't make any sense of the series then or now but loved eberything else about it. string vests in submarines? why not! lol 

barry gray info here

space 1999

 a different time for tv music! 

and there's more... 

cyanotype

 i've had cyanotype on my horizon for a little while and this is a decent wee vid about how to start with prints. i'm not sure i can be bothered with the faff of photoshop, printers and transparencies but that's likely to do with my luddite tendencies!

that said, outwith a uv lamp if you live in duller climes, there's plenty to get creative with, without needing to use transparencies 

william blake's printing

 what a brilliant thing to get into! i remember a time, going to vienna years ago and not having previously been taken with the wake of egon schiele, sitting in the leopold museum (?) thinking, i could draw like that. then picking up my sketchbook and altering my process immediately. and still, if i'm feeling i can't make up my mind what to do, copying a schiele is just a lovely wait to settle my mind and go off at a tangent. this guy, tho, takes it to a whole other level! 

michael phillips again. same thing but more detail. and close ups! 

slavoj zizek

there's no better example of binary thinking, coupled with appalling human cost, than palestine israel. i wouldn't know how to make a comment nor, these days, would it be wise to do so on this or so many other issues that have dissolved into binary positioning. fortunately slavoj zizek is here for that. 

*that doesn't mean he gets a free pass on his references!

desmond doom

 desmond's vid's are a bit tongue in cheek but, at the same time, if you've got any of this equipment, there's no excuse not to have an entertaining afternoon, knocking together some retro sounding old track. and if not, why not? 

joe van cleave

 there are two things i love about this video. firstly the notion of some sort of community of large format photographers getting together. secondly, that there are a certain type of man out in the world, who will see a situation, and, with the help of a notebook and a pencil, come up with some sort of solution. lovely. 

tangerine dream

 constraints are great. here tangerine dream get ten minutes in the studio to see what they come up with. clearly that ten minutes didn't include setting up all that electroinica! lol but lovely nonetheless. when i have a wee ten minutes musical noodling to myself the results are much less tuneful! lol but i love them! (harmonica these days - who knew!) 

i'd recommend 180 fact also. you may not like everything but there's always something interesting in the pipeline

i'm just a pencil

 super worthwhile watch. love the connection to form rather than self. and while i'm super happy jacob samuel got to make a living out of this, the idea that you make what you make, that you get to work and collaborate with other people is fundamental to what i've done most of my life. it's true, of late, i've given up, more or less, on the collaboration, although i'm still communicating at a very low level, but i'm still making, still exploring. and giving up that notion of art as work (i have work, i've done that and i like to think that, on my day, i've been really good at it, but that's a different thing) and accepting it rather as a means of life. love this. 

barbara walker

 it's like the air i breathe. that was enough for me. but, of course, art is always political, especially if you've been designated a minority. beautiful drawings. i'd love to have a go with the charcoal on a big long stick! 

botanical notebook

i don't have a botanical notebook but i do have a nature book which i take out every time i go for a wander. i don't sketch but i do write lists of what i see, what the weather's doing, word fragments, wee breaths of poetry (the only poetry i write now). it's a great way of slowing, stopping, noticing.

this is a lovely wee vid, and the spanish is supereasy to listen along to. 

etienne krähenbühl

 i love me some kinetic sculpture, or just something that's plonked down and does stuff with the air. i have no idea how etienne krähenbühl makes all this function but i find his work deeply satisfying 

huntress

 there's more variations in frames, i still don't understand the obsession with fixies, but it's nice to see some people rocking ultra narrow bars. i was likely at my quickest/most stupid back in my ny days and it was always a plan to try and fix a video camera (!!!) to the bike to see me whizzing down the island. lovely wee film. i'll allow myself some nostalgia!

pom klementieff

i don't know how i missed this first time round. the only slightly amusing thing that's emerged from the crushingly dull world of marvel in recent years! lol  

alexandre mccormack

talking of the body in space - was buying myself some tickets for physical theatre (not since before covid!) when this popped up in my yt feed. when i was young i really liked the physicality of ballet, a fact i foolishly expressed, resulting in 'no son of mine' declarations etc, coupled with caring what other people thought for years after, meant i never engaged with dance as a form (even as i was writing plays which depended implicitly on movement!). 

after listening to jojo mayer yesterday on the fundamentality of rhythm, it's nice to remember the same about movement and expression. plus it's good for you! alex mccormack only has a couple of videos on yt, check out his insta channel for more 

jojo mayer

 breathtaking drumming from jojo mayer. doing my resolution not to buy a drum kit no good at all! lol (not because i think i could ever play like this, but because of all the body in space stuff being good for my brain = perhaps more later) 

here's more at an interesting ted talk

rosinha de valença‬

 never heard of her before yesterday, wow!

bookbinding

i'm planning on making an artists book sometime next year with gelli print negatives, sketches etc. here's a great vid with no voiceover, no music, just someone making their own book. it's not too difficult, just requires a bit of patience and some basic tools. everyone should do it! 

rebecca stevenson

rebecca stevenson - i don't really make three dimensional things much any more as i don't have anywhere to put them. i do like a play with wax tho. these are joyous 

switching lanes

 or how a bike rescued from a skip can change a person's life....

carl sandburg

 

after yesterday's documentary, here's this. i'm not a fan of this form of documentary but, at the same time, it's carl sandburg, so i'll likely try and listen to it while i'm working. i used ot really like sandburg but, for some reason, haven't read him in years

shadow of a wheel

 made the rare (these days) decision to watch some tv, specifically this recent documentary from pbs - shadow of a wheel - which concerns a group of american teenagers cycling across their country in 1982

loved . i loved it because of the way the documentary managed, somehow, to make both the teenagers and their older selves present at the same time, and thru that i remembered my own teenage self, my own time on the bike, and, like them, the way those experiences manifest themselves in the present. i can't imagine a life without the bike. indeed, i can't imagine what my life would have been like without cycling in it, and everything that lead from that. only books have any equivalency in terms of effect.

an added bonus, and who knows how they got all the permissions, was this is one of the best soundtracked pieces of film i've seen. i knew all the songs even if i couldn't remember who sang them! and there they are, just like i was, numbed into inactivity by music videos, as mtv arrives. as they lie about, moan, sleep, let of fireworks etc i can't think of anything else that quite captures the immediacy of teenagehood, the black and white certainty, the insecurity, the newness.

but after watching it i'm more certain than ever that, after finishing my last zwift target that's it for me with strava, koms, zwift, all of that, and giving myself up to the very thing that got me out on the bike on the first place, the need to be on the road, the need to see what was round the next corner, to be on my own, encountering the world at a pace befitting my years, taking my time, stepping off, seeing the colours. i highly, highly, recommend this film

shading

i don't love a computer it's true but this vid shows how you can have a play with the likes of photoshop and maybe make your drawing process a bit easier. or, just the ball thing is a great exercise. draw that and vary your light source for a bit, then work into more complex shapes 

wet plate collodion

 ...is a degree of faff that i just can't be doing with (right now) but there's no arguing with the images the process produces. i have one plate that i've made from an unfortunate time in my past that i never look at but which i'd never give up. which is why, if i ever do take it up, i know that my house will end up full of plates! lol 

definitely check out ruhter's insta channel. he's got some nteresting views on getting out and about and not using ai.

and here's em white for more 

fork set up

this is clear and concise. best bit for me - make a note of your settings. a lesson i've never managed to learn! lol me, i run forks too stiff, tyres too hard. each to their own! 

burroughs and bacon

 there are worse ways to pass time than listen to this pair burbling on! lol

karen carpenter - drummer

i don't know a great deal about karen carpenter but i certainly didn't know how good she was on drums!. the sound on this is very of its time and there's nothing beyond that i don't like about it but, despite the keyboards and the bass, she is spectacular on those drums! 

book press

 it's highly unlikely i'll ever need a book oress but, after seeing this, i want to make one!

sylvia plath

really interesting podcast re sylvia plath. i'm not the biggest plath fan, in part because of the baggage plath comes with and, for a long while i avoided her because, as a man, it just didn't seem possible to enage with her. i do like anne sexton tho and it was interesting reading her letters that the antagonistic relationship i'd been led to believe in, wasn't really supported by the primary material. plus, the sylvia plath that emerged, was much more the version that emerges in this podcast - a vibrant, interesting writer, rather than someone who killed herself and lived in the shadow of some bloke. 

back in the day i parallel read anne sexton's biography, her letters and the poems and it was a great exercise. on the basis of this i really fancy going back to plath and doing the same 

georgia o'keeffe

 georgia o'keeffe documentary? can't go wrong with that!

gary mayer

they had me at 'i work in construction'. for me, tho not at first, having a job was the single most important thing in terms of creative development. i'm not dependent on or accountable to anyone and the time i have outside of work is precious. 

labels

do photographers talk more about their work rather than actually doing it more than any other creative types? except poetry types obviously! lol but, facetiousness aside, i was quite interested in this in the way it talked about validation in relation to creative output. me, i don't publish/sell anything anymore, partly because, with visual art in particular, people kept keeping my money and/or my stuff, but mainly because that whole side of things just made me miserable.

am i lessened by it? in real terms, definitely not. i'm at a rich point in my 'creative journey' and living my best life. at the same time i haven't escaped my consumerist culture in that, if i'm not selling, am i really 'an artist'? not that bothered but interesting to think about 

logan hicks

 check this guy out! not to my taste but loving the technique. i've no idea how he gets his stencils made - here, i can't even get a decent bnw print made! lol so no chance to try it.  website here 

beckett

 i'm not going to lie, i'm excited about this. love, love, love beckett 

larissa huff

 of whom i know nothing beyond this. that said as a fully paid up member of the patriarchy it's been interesting as my life's gone by to watch as i see my firsts - female medical consultants, firefighters, bike mechanics etc etc. and i'm so old now i'm meeting the female children of the above at work! (time to retire!). 

why is this important? because when i was a father/uncle etc i felt i really needed to be able to show my little women what was possible, not just say it. that said, it's an ongoing process. it's been gladdening to see more female photographers out and about but as yet i only know two female pinhole photographers. sound recording i think i only know one one female sound recordist. and i've never met a female cabinet maker so now i've seen larissa huff i'm waiting for her to appear.  

learning another language

i don't think i have enough life left for my language learning needs but if i did, and i could, shona would be right up there. for no good reason other than the loveliness of it upon the tongue. check it out 

raiders of the lost ark - the soderbergh mix

after yesterday's post here's this. i couldn't find the soderbergh cut and, while this is a bit didactic, you'll get the point.

black and white

it's true that my photographic practice at the moment is entirely monochrome but that doesn't mean i think bnw is 'better'. i love a lush macro even if i don't like to think about the photshopping, let alone the in camera work, that goes into it. i'm kind of the same about film. as i've said before i really don't watch much in the way of films or movies these days but i do like a self indulgent sunday with some old classics. it makes me wistful for black and white movies.

so here's this. fury road was likely the last action movie i actually enjoyed and i love the notion here that the colour version is like a musical! 

cycling west sweden

every so often i like to torture myself with a video from sweden. brexit, brexit, brexit. that's all i'll say about that.  plus a healthy chunk of swedish bureaucracy but it is what is is and i am where i am. nevertheless i miss the place and the life i thought i might once have had. this vid has all the bits i like. except the running! lol sverige är bäst! 

large format developing

 i do have a super simple darkroom and, while i'd love to use a large format camera, i'm not sure i want to be committing the money to the process, even though the image making is lovely. were i to do so tho, who better to guide than martin henson? 

*i will be getting a couple more pinhole cameras tho. after that i think i'll be delving into macro

not accepting the rain

finally the weather is appropriate for sptember, i had to put the heating on briefly last night and a solid rain is falling. which is a relief but at the same time i'm not going to accept it. having a painting day and going to fill my ears with summer vibes 

el ministerio del tiempo

after yesterday's link to rtve play here's el minsterio del tiempo, my favourite spanish series ever. i can just about follow it with spanish subtitles but when i first saw it with english subtitles it was both a joy and an education! and funny. if anyone ever sees the english subtitled box set....

luis garcia montero

it's been a long time since i posted any poetry and, to be honest, i can't remember what i last read in english. i do, however, still like reading poetry in other languages, not least for the vocabulary practice! here's this  (i don't know who the translation is by - not me or it would've been shonkier!)

La ausencia es una forma de invierno

 

Como el cuerpo de un hombre derrotado en la nieve,

con ese mismo invierno que hiela las canciones

cuando la tarde cae en la radio de un coche,

como los telegramas, como la voz herida

que cruza los teléfonos nocturnos,

igual que un faro cruza

por la melancolía de las barcas en tierra,

como las dudas y las certidumbres,

como mi silueta en la ventana,

así duele una noche,

con ese mismo invierno de cuando tú me faltas,

con esa misma nieve que me ha dejado en blanco,

pues todo se me olvida

si tengo que aprender a recordarte.

Absence is a form of winter

Like a man's body defeated in the snow,

with that same winter that freezes the songs

when afternoon falls on a car radio,

like telegrams, like the voice wounded

who crosses the late night phones,

Just like a cross lighthouse

for the melancholy of the ships on land,

like doubts and certainties,

like my silhouette in the window,

so it hurts one night,

with that same winter when I miss you,

with the same snow that has left me white,

because I forget everything

if I have to learn to remember you.

you can listen to him reading it here

anselm

 no surprise i'm excited about this 

the last letterpress

 lovely wee film about a traditional printers which, somehow, is still managing to keep afloat. as i get older i find myself drawn more and more to these type of endeavours (indeed, sadly, all my sound recording gear and electronica is lying redundant as part of this), whether it's bookbinding, pinhole photography, mechanical bikes, or  

martin henson

martin henson's a niche pinhole treasure. this video on its own made me sit up and think about what i'm doing when i make images. absolutely subscribe.  

big daddy kane

 more old school rap with a band 

rakim

 old school rap with a band! outstanding! 

taking pinhole pictures

 here's ari, with a decent dive into the world of pinhole photography. you don't need all the shenanigans to start but if you do...you will! lol (talking of which 4x5 film holders are not cheap - if anyone wants to sort a brother out with a good deal, i'm all ears!) 

here's a second binus ari video. warning - instrument abuse ahead! a couple of things. first, you can make an image making tool out of just about anything - i'd super encourage this behaviour as it's a lark (see previous camera obscura posts). secondly, you'll note the presence of ukuleles, pianos etc in ari's house. having different interests is essential to practice! and, imo, the more analogue the better! 

women and photography

early women's photography. well, early wealthy women's photography but nonetheless. not the most dynamic vid but worth a listen 

and a bonus vid re julia margaret cameron. because i'm a fan but also that quote 'through endless failures....' 

toshio shibata

 hahaha! yt threw this up and i remembered i have a toshio shibata book in the house. as i'm taking a lot of pinhole images currently the problem of sky is always current, esp as, for the time being, i'm using the pinhole as a documentary tool. reflectivity of built surfaces - that's a whole other thing! lol but, it's always the way that the more that you look at ohter people's work, the more you get inspired, allow yourself to be influenced, or just see a different way of treating problems 

tim's vermeer

 after going on about this the other week the whole documentary pops up on yt. i found it really interesting, not so much re vermeer (there was some criticism around it, some justified, some just plain sniffy), but definitely as a portrait of a fixation. unfortunately the documentary makers don't really go into that at all. fair play to tim tho, he knew what he wanted to do and he got it done! 

portrait of nature

i'm never likely to do any of this sort of printing. i did do a wet plate collodion course a while ago but, while interesting, it wasn't for me. that said, i do love watching the process. so here's this  

long distance biking in scotland

 camping - cold, wet, getting eaten alive by midgies, cleggs and ticks, awful food, bad sleep. here's these guys doing it so that you don't have to 

and away from the sausage party of male cycling here's evidence that this sort of masochism isn't solely the domain of a y chromosome 

maybe i'd have been up for this caper when i was younger but there's so no chance i'd do this now (which altho i say this i have to admit to still have a cupboard full of gear that i can't sell/give away just yet!). that said, nestled on the couch, nice and warm, i like a watch of these things. fair play and well done to all involved.

bass practice

okay, not just bass practice, but it's the one i find most fun to do. as summer draws to a close i'm finding i'm picking up instruments and having a noodle. i really like desmond doom's videos because not only are they entertaining and funny but they're also really good to play along to or give you a starting point to branch off and do your own thing. i like the bass best - riffs are always easy but decent technique is the thing to really focus on. i don't love a computer these days but good also for having a fiddle with your daw. 

another camera obscura post

 once i regain the ability to bend over i want to get started on making another camera obscura and i'm going to use the plans that this guy has attached to this handy video. i ordered new magnifying glasses last week and they're waiting for use. i'm keen to make it old smartphone compatible, as previous, but i'm also aware, due to an acute lack of decent weather this year, my anthotype making has been non-existent and i'm wondering, with focused light, if i could put a sheet of reactive paper in there and get some sort of result. or a cyanotype? time will tell. 

don't fall!

there's a certain irony to posting this video as my current mobility issues, i think, are directly related to me falling off a painting platform (house painting, not the other sort!) last week. that said, i've been putting more effort into core stability, proprioception and balance this last year as, along with so much else, it's becoming painfully (sic!) my body is entering its sunset years. even for things like small cuts, it will not heal itself like it used to and, as time progresses, as the video points out, a bony injury like a broken femur, for older people, can be life changing, if not ending. the video title is clickbait - there is no 'this exercise'. a range of movement is requirement. me, i do love my balance board but, at the same time, i don't love squats or single leg exercises. but i do them! 

doing a step up. this looks super easy and yet, despite by any measure being a lot fitter than my peers, i don't have great form doing these and it's something i'm working on

 

or try this. no gear required whatsoever. i've been doing these for years. great exercise! 

achilles and priam

i've hurt my back sufficiently that i can't do anything except read. not a burden (except for the sitting part!). i've been reading a lot of camus lately, with simone weil on the backburner so i'll be going back to read about the iliad sometime soon. as is the way, the yt algorithm kicks up books prof re achilles and priam. it never occurred to me, despite all the rereadings over the years, that the iliad is bookended by notions of possession of bodies! interesting!

barbie girl

 off the back of the barbie movie here's this that i find deeply pleasing. it's a battle which he gets past first - my skill evel or my music theory knowledge!

bbc history of photography

 don't know how this got on yt but an easy watch 

two lanes

old school sounding electronica. i'm not complaining 

lamagaia

 this is what happens if you had parents who listened to too much krautrock while you were in the womb 

the art of listening

 people talk about music. lovely 

william friedkin

william friedkin died last week. here he is doing the criterion thing. i remember a time, not so long ago, when you could see such films on terrestrial tv. now, with streaming, it's a struggle, and i have to wonder how people will develop a visual lexicon. differently is the kindest way i can imagine. but it seems a pity that the likes of netflix et al don't have a classics section 

here's another one. he makes some odd statements on birth of a nation (which you're unlikely to see nor, having seen it, unless you're a film-maker/historian, are you likely to want to more than once) and also buster keaton. even when i was young i never thought of buster keaton as just a comedian! lol 

plan b

 drama! 

camera obscura

 it was world photography day the other day (it was also world anthotype day but such has been the summer i haven't even made one image this year!) - i hadn't paid much attention but what i did do was make a camera obscura out of a box, an old phone and a horrible 'magnifying glass'. it worked, after a fashion, but i was intrigued enough that i'm going to give ity another go. here's the original video where i got the idea and then two more where it's done much more effectively! 

learning old english

 

i'm not going to lie, super handy as this wee vid is, starting with such an avalanche of grammar is offputting for one who suffered from an education that  put the value on fun rather than utility!

an abundances of resources here tho, from medievalists, for learning old english. if only there was something similar for middle english!

the story of technoviking

 more niche documentary. this time it's technoviking, a meme, if you were in any way into dance music, you'd need to have lived under a rock to have missed. which is likely why, whoever technoviking was, he doesn't want anything to do with it. interesting take on this type of art/documentary, the assumptions of the makers, and what responsibility they should have to their subjects. that's the interest of the doco for me. as for technoviking - leave him in peace 

The Story Of Technoviking - 2016 - Short Version - EN DE ES subs from Matthias Fritsch on Vimeo.

adrian street

i've only the vaguest memory of adrian street and i was never really into wrestling back in the day but, if you're of a certain age, or if you had a mate's dad who followed it, 'the wrestling' was unavoidable. jeremy deller on the other hand, i've lots of time for. so here's this on adrian street. despite living thru those times it looks very strange to me now and, as for street, massively transgressive. it's a shame street's partner, miss linda, doesn't make an appearance as it'd have been good to hear what she had to say. but, worth the watch whatever your views. 

Jeremy Deller, So Many Ways To Hurt You, 2010-2012 from jeremy deller on Vimeo.

julia andersson

 

fabrizio paterlini

 

drawing

 i can see the end of summer now and i can feel myself getting ready to be back making indoors. and, coincidentally, this got thrown up in my feed. i don't draw much these days, at least not representative drawing. and it hadn't occurred to me that when i did my pencil technique was completely different. asemic writing, it turns out, really is still writing! check this out. if you're already doing it it's a nice conformation but if not, loosen up that crampy hand and give yourself more freedom!

examined life

and after yesterday's post, here's this! of course not all of it may be for everyone but, as i remember (it's on my watch again list), the points here are clearly discussed, interesting and thought provoking.  how annoying i find it, the modern preoccupation of so many that i hear, to only listen to perspectives they agree with, be unchallenged, to blind oneself to other possibilities. a shame! 

i'll report back if this isn't how i recall it but in my mind, it was a great watch

cornel west

 

i don't know if the doco examined life is floating about in the streaming world these days but, back when i still watched media, i did watch it with some enjoyment, especially this segment with cornel west. i really enjoy the positivity of it, hear echoes of things i say at work to my juniors (these days almost everyone! lol)

developer

currently i'm to lazy to be thinking about how i'm using developer but it's quickly becoming something that will become an issue, especially as, inevitably, a place in the house where i can fit an enlarger/uv box as part of a dark room set up forms itself in my mind.  

dark room getting started

 i set myself up a wee dark room recently. i don't have an enlarger etc (all of that disappeared in my last move) as it's really for pinhole/alternative process work. and it needs to fit in a cupboard. it's not hard but there's technique points that i have gaps in. so these ilford vids are great 

tetrapak printing

i've got this on the backburner for trying out in the winter 

lichens

 

it's irksome to me that my knowledge of lichens, bryophytes and mosses is so limited but i was loving a conversation the other day about the common names of lichens in different languages which, if nothing else, is a reminder of just why binomilas are so useful.

i did find this, which is a great wee resource for british lichens. but, i also found this, which is both challenging and lovely to read, replete with strange and wonderful french words to get my tongue round. also, i feel the frecnh one may have better pictures.

for the book inclined, i'm not long after reading robin wall kimmerer's gathering moss, a natural and cultural history of mosses, which i really enjoyed. i do have the british bryological society field guide which is as indispensible as it is intimidating. but again, a deep dive into a different world of creatures and language.

balance board

i picked up a balance board the other week partly (and wrongly) to rehab an ankle but also to help improve with core stability, balance and proprioception. all of the latter have been instantly useful and i've only taken one header - it was a sore one it has to be said, so my tip of the day if using one of these is leave enough space to have a fall! here's some vids (look in hobo  dan's video list of you want to see how to make one)

you can do tricks on them but you can also use them to support other core based moves. best dial in your skills first tho - i took the aforementioned header doing a squat like move!

in short, i'd highly recommend some version of one of these particularly if, like me, the years are ticking by and you're noticing that your balance isn't what it used to be. you don't have to get one of these larger boards - you could make a wee thing you could stand on while you're doing the dishes. five to ten minutes of this a day and you'll notice improvements in your core stability (no. this doesn't mean you'll get abs!) and, despite it being a fail on rehabbing my ankle, i still feel it's useful for improving proprioception in your joints

stipa caproni

 just back after a wee history break and came across mention of this. there's a nice wiki article with good associated maths that's worth a browse. obvs there's a lot of war going on in this wee doco but those were the times - it's brilliant to look back and see what what being done. not that i'd want to try one of these. and i couldn't design a spoon! lol

solaris

 a classic! 

stallion theory

this was a happy little pop up on my yt algorithm the other day not least i was just after what i was planning on doing over the course of the next six to eight months. most of what he says in the vid is self evident but seeing as my personal deadline is now within the foreseeable future being unshambolic about getting things done has taken on a bit more urgency!

morton feldman

 

arvo part

 

silk road mountain race

 

cuba libre

 

three peaks and in between

 

endless

 

the bicyle thieves

this massive classic. and hard italian practice for me!

you have to wonder what today's equivalent would be. 50 something man gets pinarello stolen when the security system in his bike storage shed fails and he can't make the sunday mates ride because he'd have to ride a lesser bike...... 

vivaldi - max richter

 after a hard week at work i'm kicking back with nice sounds

a sunday in hell

 a classic!

rising up

 

peter hogan