Lomokev And His Mellow Flickr Thing
November 30, 2005
 There was a comment left on one of my Flickr photos yesterday that led me on a little trail of discovery. Firstly I had a look at the photos of the guy that left the comment, Kevin Meredith, whose own photos are a unique combination of chance and brilliance - This one [left] is part of a set all produced without any Photoshopic intervention. In fact he claims some are scanned, so I don't know if they get slid about on the bed of the scanner or what!?!? This is a long exposure though. Anyway, most of these shots have been used in the video to "The India", a track off Chris Coco's new album Heavy Mellow - which I discover I happen to like. So cheers for your comment Kevin... and ain't Flickr great? Oh and hope yo don't mind the inclusion of this image. If you do, let me know and I'll remove it. There is also a Heavy Mellow website.
This site had a record breaking 208 visitors today, mostly looking for Sidewalk Chalk Guy for some reason! The majority are through Yahoo image searches for some reason... Kurt Wenner is the guy you're looking for.
I have added the nifty little 43 Places map - Which claims I am going to 5 places... I'm not. But I'd like to!
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Jess MODA
November 26, 2005
MODA Museum of Digital Art is an online museum of digital and computerized art pieces. It also gives new artists the opportunity to show their work as well as interesting essays, articles and book recommendations on digital art. So, I've put a few up there for approval. Look here - Although the navigation isn't perfect.
I'm trying out this javascript gizmo [pink square, bottom right] thingy for a bit - downloaded from Just Jessica [Liverpool transvestite - apparently you have to say that!] - Who, it turns out is a friend of Becky, whose Sudoku Flickr Thingy I mentioned in August - You wait for one tranny geek to fall out the wardrobe and two come at once!!! Go Girls! I don't know what good this little gizmo will do any of us yet, but hey, I'm curious.
Via Plasticbag
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Her Gamelan Noise
November 24, 2005
 Her Noise is a [not so] new exhibition at South London Gallery featuring:
Kim Gordon [Sonic Youth]
Jutta Koether
Christina Kubisch
Hayley Newman
Kaffe Matthews
Emma Hedditch
Running from 10 November - 18 December 2005 featuring five newly commissioned works by artists whose practice shares the use of sound as a medium to investigate social relations, inspire action or uncover hidden soundscapes. All involve high levels of participation and are set in motion only when used by visitors or performers forming a base for events, live music and performances.
South London Gallery65 Peckham Road London SE5 8UH 020 7703 6120 Open: Tuesday - Sunday 12-6pm, closed Mondays. Also, Gamelan Playtime on Hungerford terrace on London's South Bank. By moving hands across a tactile surface pedestrians can trigger sensors that release recordings of the Royal Festival Hall's Gamelan set being played by school children. The sounds, made up of the Gamelan instruments, human voices and song consist of patterns and are arranged on a 30m long wall.
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The Art Of Wank
November 23, 2005
 So, you don't see someone for 3 years or more and the next thing you know they are having an MA Final Show type thingy - And as there's free drink it seems churlish not to go and have a look.
Now, much as I'd like to lure others with the same promise of free booze - Too bad, you missed that bit. So, why should you go? Well, all of the 16 Photographers involved have toiled for this day for a couple of years now and it would be rude not to.
So what's to see?
Firstly we were interrupted by the announcement that there would be a £1000 prize for best in show. But there was a reason for this. David Sproxton, of Aardmann Animations fame, was introduced. As it was he who had stumped up the Grand, in the memory of his late brother. He then handed us over to a chap from the National Gallery and former pupil, Poppy de Villeneuve... Who, in their infinite wisdom, selected Matthew Andrew's intensely dull photos of, apparently, an archeological site [it's a bloody field!] and some anonymous server room. Look at Poppy's website, above, and you'll see why! Sigh!
So, with that out the way, what do I think should have won. I don't know actually, but I can tell you what I liked - Well, I should say Derek Mossop's In My Vanilla Life series, which, without sounding biased [as this is who I came to see] at least goes to the trouble of exploiting the photographs abilty to capture a fleeting moment in time - In this case, Le Petit Mort.
Le Petit Mort refers to the timeless moment of orgasm: a brief release from life, mind, and ego. For an instant the world falls away, and as the mind is silenced one is open to an ecstatic union as self glimpses Self. The ego is momentarily displaced: the little death... So the French say anyhow.
Or is that all wank?
So, the also rans included -
Peter Holmboe: I feel I missed the point here, not noticing that the subjects were transgendered individual's and more taken by their rooms and the lighting.
Richard Kelly: Portraits of the women in his family work well both as individual portraits and as a series.
Robert Ball: Unsurprisingly, given the subject matter on his site, is a Scene of Crime photographer, but the set of Pacemakers exhibited here work in both an abstract way as well as the obvious life/death suggestion they allude to.
Anna Guldager: Covers old ground. the biker has been seen as a so called outsider for 50 years or more and there are far more disaffected "tribes" these days... but the portraits here are fine black and white prints, with more than a nod toward Richard Avedon.
Miranda Hutton: These photographs of spaces left behind by the deceased; their homes and possesions, still awaiting their return, are little short of haunting.
The rest didn't even qualify as art wank as far as I'm concerned and as Thumper says, "If yer can't say anything nice, don't say nothing at all"! Or something like that... [apart from if someone won a Grand for it].
But Hey! What do I know - Go and have a look for yourselves. The London College Of Communications MA Photography Final Show 2005 runs until 2nd December and is at...
The Galleries
London College of Communication
Elephant & Castle
SE1 6SB
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Vidz And Plazes
November 18, 2005
I've just discovered Plazes. An alternative to the Google Map Builder I was playing with the other day [see below]. It's pretty good. You download a little app that works out your location by using your routers mac address and pops you up on a map in the browser. It wasn't entirely accurate in my case though as it thought I was in Charing Cross, but I put it straight.
You can add flickr photos that relate to a "Plaze" and it geo tags them for you! Problem is, not all the places I've taken photos in have been claimed yet and I don't think you can add a location unless someone has claimed it!
It will be handy on a laptop though when travelling as you can add locations and photo's as you go. There is also a Javascript "badge" that you can add to your page to show exactly where you are at any given time you happen to be logged in. Far less clunky than the Google app, even though it uses Google maps in it. Just need to find somewhere in my redesign to include the Where Am I? map now! can't include it in a Blog as it doesn't allow Javascript.
Never mind Google, just let them finish it off and buy them out! Or will Yahoo get there first? the Google Video beta is a better proposition from them for me, but even there, there's competition... greatestjournal.com are a similar set up but with a bit of generated code to include your uploaded vids on any page you want them - jut started working with Vegas 4.0, producing some stop motion stuff, so i'll try them both out, when I get it finished - Could be a while yet though.
Whilst on the subject of Web 2.0 type stuff, I happened across a link to etsy.com, a unique shopping site [another beta] that allows you to shop by tag, colour, material or geo location - It's aimed at craft like cottage industries but is fascinating to play with - you have to try it to fully appreciate it. I'm not sure I have got my head around the "Time Machine" option yet. I'll have to check the forums to see if I'm missing the point somewhere.
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Leave Those Walls Alone [Nearly Grafitti]
November 16, 2005
 A couple of artists I want to mention - Firstly, Hutch, particularly for this canvas of Pete Doherty. Now I haven't got a cell in my body that cares a jot for this guy. He's pulled the wool over a lot of eyes as far as his musical abilities are concerned - But, hey!
He looks the part... and that's counted for a lot for a long while now. He must be doing something right if press column inches are anything to go by! I particularly like the smudge on his hair in this - Most [if not all] Hutch's canvases are stencils of 20th/21st Century icons. Andy Warhol would be proud!
Next, TVBoy. How to describe TVBoy? Up market grafitti artist? I don't think so... More like a graphic designer/illustrator that happened to paint on a wall...
tvboy & lolo - carrer ros de olano - rojo entrance
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Map Builder
November 15, 2005
Just been playing with Map Builder - Click the My Map icon on the right to see mine, but there's nothing on it yet. To see the full fabulousness of it try Diamond Geezer's, complete with pictures from his flickr account, just as I intend to do... as soon as I can Geo Tag my pictures.
This seems to work better in Firefox than IE.
Also, try the Free Sound Project Map. The Freesound Project aims to create a huge collaborative database of audio snippets, samples, recordings, bleeps, ... released under the Creative Commons Sampling Plus License. The Freesound Project provides new and interesting ways of accessing these samples, allowing users to:
- Browse the sounds in new ways using keywords, a "sounds-like" type of browsing and more.
- Up and download sounds to and from the database, under the same creative commons license.
- Interact with fellow sound-artists!
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Balancing Things Out
November 14, 2005
 Read the Desyn Masiello interview at Resident Advisor - His new mix album - Balance 008 for EQ is out today.
There is also an interview with Richie Hawtin on the release of his Transitions set on Novamute.
Apologies to any of you that have subscribed to this site and been pinged relentlessly with updates as I have been going through old posts and re-doing the layout of a few and deleting the odd crap one! I'll stop now - Honest!
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Flyer As Art
November 11, 2005
 If you look beyond the flyer as a signpost directing you toward your favourite club night and study it a little closer you may see it as something else – a work of art. Flyer As Art is a two week exhibition showcasing the art of club flyers, featuring some of the most celebrated UK illustrators & designers involved in this movement.
Featuring:
Ali Augur - Plastic People
Andrew Rae - Perverted Science/Neighbourhood
Elliot Thoburn - 333
Fred Deakin - Impotent Fury/Lemon Jelly
Kristophe - All over my face
Mr. Scruff - Keep it Unreal
Eg.g - Electric Chair/Electric Souls
Tim Ellis - Aficionado
Will Sweeney - Bashy/All Night Schlong
Adrian Fillary - Lovebox/Horse Meat Disco/Whistlebump
James Joyce - It's Bigger Than
Limited edition artworks by all featured artists will be available to buy during the exhibition.
La Viande
3 Charlotte Road
London
EC2A 3DH
020 7613 0988/07968 959545
mailto:959545info@laviande.co.uk
10/11/05 - 23/11/05
Gallery open every day 12-6.
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New Underworld Album... Sort Of
November 10, 2005
 Underworld
Lovely Broken Thing
Jal To Tokyo
Billy Goat
Peggy Sussed
Dub Shepherd
Lenny Penne
Monkey Wink
Witness
Exclusive to Underworld Live this is the first in a series of 'bundled' releases from Underworld. The bundles contain audio, a gallery and cover artwork. The audio section of "Lovely Broken Thing" is made up of 7 new tracks worked together into a single piece.
The gallery is made up of a selection of Karls photographs curated by Tomato's John Warwicker, who also designed the artwork.
28' 36" audio [mp3]
177 photos in gallery [html]
front cover artwork [pdf]
DOWNLOAD ONLY from underworldlive.com
£5.00
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mTune-N
 These look cool - Macally have created the mTune-N. A cordless stereo headset, specially designed for the iPod nano. Plug the nano into the slot and away you go. No batteries required. Mind you it's not as if the nano is cumbersome to carry around anyway and surely some bud headphones would be far more comfortable and make you look less of a knob! Just add legwarmers and roller blades - In fact it's a crap idea! They do fold up apparently, but still... Oh I don't know...I haven't got a Nano anyway, so what do I care! Nice to see Junior J. doing well for himself these days with the start of Jnrs Jamms at Jamm in Brixton on November 19th.
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Marfa Movie
November 09, 2005
 Thanks to Things, as usual, I'm pleased to discover that there is to be a Townes Van Zandt movie. Whether it'll get a release here or not I don't know, but a DVD will appear soon. I first came across Van Zandt in the brilliant, 1977, James Szalapski documentary, Heartworn Highways.
Hearing his performance of "Waiting Round To Die" in that movie made me track down his albums, which weren't readily available then. Anyway, the reason I discovered this is Things link to the bizarre Prada installation in Marfa, Texas, which was vandalised recently. Looking at the Marfa blog I noticed the the film, Be There To Love Me, will be previewing there next week. Not that I'll be going, much as I'd love to, but as I don't drive I don't know how I'll ever reach the place. I've found where I'd like to stay if I ever do though. Hotel Paisano. It's where Liz Taylor, James Dean and Rock Hudson hung out whilst filming Giant.
But look at this for difficult to reach! The closest major airports are located in El Paso and Midland/Odessa. Marfa is approximately 200 miles from both cities. El Paso is serviced by American, Continental, Delta, and Southwest Airlines. Midland/Odessa is serviced by Southwest Airlines, American Eagle and Continental Airlines. Major car rental agencies are located at both airports. The Marfa airport is located three miles north of town and can service most small jets and jet-prop aircraft.
There are a few charter companies that service Marfa:
Aircraft Charter Services: 1 888 ALL JETS
Air Transport, El Paso: 432 772 1448
Airway: 815 235 3256 American Jet International, Houston: 713 644 4359
Jet Aviation, Dallas: 214 350 8523
Amtrak offers regular rail service to Alpine, which is approximately 26 miles east of Marfa.
Greyhound offers daily connections from El Paso and Midland/Odessa to Van Horn (74 miles Northwest of Marfa).
So, unless I can charter a plane, the nearest you can get by public transport is 26 miles away! It'll certainly be an adventure - But I've been wanting to visit the Chinati Foundation for years so I'll go one day. I hope!
Named in 1883 by the wife of a railroad executive, after a female servant in Dostoyevsky's The Brothers Karamozov [the book she was reading when she arrived there], the town of Marfa was originally known as Tank Town as it was a water stop on the Galveston, Harrisburg and San Antonio Railroad.
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Search Me
November 07, 2005
 Peter Denmark
Configuration No.2
1994
Acrylic on canvas
48" x 48"
£1,410/$2,710 from Britart.com
I like these geometric canvases [above]. Peter has apparently been commissioned to do paintings at Stanstead airport but I don't recall seeing any when I was there the week before last. Maybe they aren't in public area's.
As this site grows and before it gets out of control I thought I should add a search facility - So here it is. Top of the right hand column there. Courtesy of Google.
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Classic Crime Prevention
November 03, 2005
Piece in todays Guardian on Co-op stores at Seaton and Teignmouth, in Devon, playing Mozart, Brahms and Bach to discourage youths from hanging around their shops.
The supermarket plans to experiment with different types of classical music to see if particular styles are more effective. It's only been in place for just over a week and already kids have gone elsewhere.
Not as funny as the Bavarian Folk Dancing Association getting riled over only being allocated 45 seconds in the World Cup 2006 Opening Ceremony.
I estimate that the 20,000th hyperrealandsupercool page should be called up next Thursday, coincidentally, 6 months to the day that I anticipated the 10,000 mark!
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Frieze Flock
November 02, 2005
![Mel Bochner [oil on velvet]](http://static.flickr.com/27/58736733_50d495980c_m.jpg) I've been trying out the beta of the Flock browser whilst trying to decipher my notes from the Frieze Art fair last Monday [24th October]. Well, the notes are legible, it's just marrying up the artists and galleries with the photos I took. Not easy to remember who they were by, especially as I had the wrong ISO set on the camera [Doh!] and had to shoot most from a jaunty angle to avoid glare or "arty elbows"! Luckily Rodcorp managed to get some beter lit shots suitably annotated so I could fill in a few blanks. I'll be better at it next year. It's a bit of a full on art fest is Frieze. But I enjoyed every minute of it I must say and I'm sorry I missed all the other events going on the same week - But had to pop off to Spain - And as it was 26 degrees in Salou last week, I'm glad I did!
The browser is OK so far - Able to add del.icio.us links with one button, but not able to add tags and the entries appear at the bottom of the page rather than top, but it's a start. very similar to Firefox in looks. I'll keep you updated.
The Depeche Mode CD finally arrived from Amazon - Not sure I particularly like it at first listen. What I did get at the same time and is absolutely brilliant, is Roots Manuva's Awfully Deep album. Reminds me of Earthling here and there. Are they still about? I was also disappointed with the debut El Presidente album. It's too over produced for my liking. Every track is derivative of something I just can't put my finger on. Sort of 70's wishing it was 80's. Cock Rock wishing it was spunky funk, or somethig like that. I stopped paying attention after a bit. I'll give it another listen and see if I can think of something nicer to say.
I'll try and find time to add some links later - But as I've been trying to get a new post up for about 5 days now I thought I'd start without them!
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