Interesting BBC video blogs

Parisian abandoned suburban railway

Royal Mail tube system to be opened up

Medieval Paintings found in Welsh church

See, it's not just food n booze here kiddies.

Of Gigs and Exhibitions

Been awhile since I blogged about stuff, and as usual there's been a fair number of gigs/exhibitions involved. This is unlikely to be all of them, but briefly:


The main exhibition I've seen in this period was the Hockney at the RA. I really did not like this. I couldn't manage to engage with any of his pictures, they struck me as boring. Sure, strong colours, but they suffered, for me, from the problem painting of scenes often does - take a f'ing picture instead. I want paintings to challenge perception, stretch things.
This was the first time I've had such a feeling of almost physical revulsion to paintings.
I did love what he did in the multimedia section, I thought that was quite clever. Although a more mixed approach could have been better, for example different screens showing differing seasons, which in a composite display would have been quite cool.
I think what really struck me was the lack of creativity, it's all very samey, very mass produced. Or at least, it felt like it to me. Soulless.
I know there's a couple of artists who read this who've been, what did you think?


SeYes - The Musician, Leicester
A Yes tribute band, weren't too bad, vocalist was excellent. Seemed a bit rough in places, but enjoyable - and I can't complain at £7 entrance... I can complain about the fucktard who stole my bike tho'...

Tinderbox and Little Johnny England
I don't know if I should admit this, but I appear to be going through quite an English folk phase. In some ways, Paul T is to blame for reawakening my interest in Fairport Convention. Viewers of my last.fm page may have noticed repeat plays of John Babbacomb Lee. Frank Turner's most recent, from last year, has strong folk elements, at least lyrically so blame can be pushed at him too. Obviuosly I'm too weak to resist these two strong influences.
Tinderbox are a duo from Bournemouth (according to their website) on guitar and vocals. Very delicate, and very very good. The superlatives in the reviews on their site keep using the word 'gorgeous' and that's about right. There's sound samples on the site...

Little Johnny England I really enjoyed them. I'd had some beer, but as I'm writing this to the sound of the most recent CD, and enjoying that too, I think my beerview was still right. Electric folk? story based lyrics, and more importantly melodeon solos. They all seemed very good at what they do, and seemed to be having fun - which seems a good sign for a band... English folk seems a bit more subdued than Irish, less bitter, for some reason ! Oh and they even had reels and hornpipes, which didn't me angry, so they must be good!
Here ,have a video


Polar Bear described as avant-garde jazz worried me slightly, as I've been to a couple of those and hated them. Especially as this was led by two saxophonists. I shouldn't have worried, I thought it was all pretty safe - obviously those years of listening to King Crimson etc have made my avante-garde antenna a bit stronger. Very musical, lyrical jazz. And their album is out on vinyl, which I didn't pick up. But may yet...
Here, another video;


Arena
Ssshhhh don't say it too loud, but the new album is rather good. I went along to the gig for the cheesy prog factor, and came away a teensy wee bit impressed. The new (again?!) vocalist has a rather impressive set of pipes on him. And any band with the John's (Jowitt and Mitchell) will always get my vote (yes Jowitt is back in). All seemed to be having fun and the sound was superb.
As mentioned, for those of you who have slipped from the Arena fold, I know I had. It's worth picking up the new album, typically OTT subject matter, but musically very enjoyable.
here's a teaser video for the album.


The Watch - Genesis cover band
Fantastic. Want to hear Gabriel era Genesis? The Watch deliver.

Yes, a prog double-header. How happy was I !

Love B

Quick roundup of exhibitions

I've made it to a fair number of exhibitions this year, in fact looking at the Guardians top10 for the year, I'd hit 7 or 8 of them. go me. I'm all about kulture. The only one we missed that we wanted to get to was the daVinci, tho we did consider turning up and queuing one morning in the vague hope of getting tix. But didn't.

John Martin 'Apocalypse' 
I caught this in Sheffield after the bikeride, having decided to wander along to an art gallery. Martin was a favourite of the people and disliked by the art snobs. And this was the first major retrospective in over 30 years (yes I am stealing from the blurb there). It's had rave reviews from a number of papers since it's turned up at the Tate. I didn't like it.
I think Martin sums up, to me, everything I don't like about the Victorian style of painting. It's overtly romanticised, it's hyper-nature, and especially in Martin's work, there's a 'don't fuck with god' theme rocking it's way through everything. The paintings are big, bold, and thematically huge. But left me cold. I could see how his imagery influenced fantasy art, although given his limited popularity after his lifetime, whether it actually did or not is another question.

That's from the Tate, one of the prints you can buy - click here.

L.S.Lowry - Nottingham Uni

I like Lowry, and it was certainly one goal while over here to see more of his paintings in the flesh. We caught a fair number in Manchester while we there, but then an exhibition just up the road kinda fell in our lap. We came across it thanks to the local BBC news. Generally a waste of time, it redeemed itself. Once.

Nottingham Uni have an art gallery (news to me too!) which had a major exhibition of Lowry's work.  Go see it.

Brief review that one. Um yeah, had everything I wanted and more. His delicate portrayal of northern life kinda sucks you in, and makes me wonder how much influence he had on the eastern european animated cartoonists.  There's a lot more to Lowry than his working class painting, there's collections of caricatures.  I particularly enjoyed the increasing sense of isolation and separation in his later works - after his mother died - helped no end as I was playing Kate Bush's 50 words for snow, which fitted perfectly the desolate landscapes dotted through the exhibition - something I didn't realise he did, no people at all in these. 

A large number of cartoons I thought emphasised the affection Lowry seems to have had for his subjects, and they demonstrate the weirdness he does with perspective occurred in the drafts for the paintings. Cool.

More importantly, I got to see one of my favourite Lowry's, not one of his industrials, rather it's of a graveyard. I dunno why I like it, possibly the influence on Tim Burton? Who knows, anyway here it is:

That's from the Abacus Gallery who do prints of it.

This reminds me, I was going to go back again. Hmmm must sort that out (yeah, that's how much I liked the exhibition, oh and it's free. WTF?)

Gerhard Richter - Tate

I like him. And since we were down in London before I went to a Marillion gig, and then to Belgium, hell why  not take in an exhibition. And it's a rather major exhibition. There seemed to be something for everyone in this, history (confronting the nazi heritage, 9/11, baader meinhof), isolation, comedy, landscapes to lose yourself in. Some of it's confrontational, some comforting. Pretty much everything you want in an exhibtion. And even better, it wasn't packed. Something to be said for early Weds afternoon viewings... I liked that he wasnt stuck in one medium, he seemed to dabble in everything. There's links to many prominent 20th C painters (Rothko, Twombly etc), which probably explains why I like Richter. Hard to pick favourites, but I did enjoy the grey series. 

Rather than picking one picture, here's a link to pretty much everything.

Ford Maddox Brown - Manchester Art Gallery

We enjoyed our trip to Manchester - we decided to make a long weekend of it with Tori Amos being the Friday night, then wandering around pubs and art galleries on the Sat/Sun. Oh and music shops. Yeah, Manc seems to tick the boxes for us, good food, beer, music and art. 

Ford Maddox Brown was a pre-Raph painter. I prefer slightly more obscure or later stuff, but I enjoyed this exhibition. He'd come up recently on Antiques Roadshow as they showed the murals in the Manc Town Hall, which is probably what prompted us to head in. 

There's other exhibitions I've pottered along to, but those ones I wanted to comment on.

Next up, possibly gigs, or food.

me.

Of cuts, scrapes and gigs

I see winter has decided to arrive. This time last year the UK was dying in a unexpected arrival of snow. In winter. Yes, surprise all around. The rest of Europe seemed to cope OK, a situation reflected in recent Eurozone discussions. Britain on the outer, everyone else banding together to sort stuff out. Maybe.

Managed to slice my thumb while washing dishes. For I am that talented. While rinsing dishes, a plate broke and sliced through to the bone. Brilliant. Sacrificing a tea towel for blood soaking, we contacted NHS direct, ending up at the walkin center to collect some sutures.
What I learnt from this experience:
* I'm a crap patient, preferring to ignore everything (this came as a surprise to no-one)
* use disposable plates
* Tues evening is a great time to injure yourself in Lboro, the cemetary would have exhibited more life than the NHS walk-in.

It seems reasonable now (following infection, woohoo), just waiting for the numbness to clear. Stupid nerves.

Went down to Birmingham this weekend, loved the art gallery, hated the crowds. But yes, definitely recommend the gallery/museum. the Xmas markets were nice, but too crowded - didn't seem that bad last year, but then I realised I went during the week. and it was much much colder. But I had some mulled wine, so things were improved.

There's a small monthly classical gig scene at the University here in Lboro, which for the last few months I've missed - due to other gigs. But finally made it for the December gig. This was a duet between Maxim Rysanov (viola) and Ashley Wass (piano). Thoroughly enjoyed this, neither performer had huge stage presence, but the music was superb. Dominated by Faure and Debussy, the programme could have been quite boring. It started with Bach (Suite #2) as a solo performance by Maxim, brilliant. To the point where I picked up a CD of him playing three Bach cello suites after the gig. Two Faure pieces (Romance and Pavane); Debussy (claire de lune); and Faure (Elegie). So yes, lots of stuff you'd recognise. But sounded good, and some very good performances.

The second half kicked off Dubugnon (Incantatio for viola and piano). I'd never heard of the composer, but this was superb. Reminded me of Can, which may have something to do with listening to Tago Mago before hand. But it was great. Definitely recommend those of you who like more interesting music (classical or rock) to give him a spin.
Here's part 1 (part 2 is also availble on youtube)

Then back to Faure (Apres un reve); Dubugnon (lied); Debussy (Prelude: la fille aux cheveux de lin); Ravel (Pavane).

So yes, civilised evening. Following by a ball numbing bike ride home. See, it's early Dec and no snow, so still biking.

Gig next week is Marillion on Wednesday. So we're heading down to the Gerhard Richter Exhibition at the Tate before hand, check in at hotel, gig, then head to Namur for Belgium beer for a few days. Mmm beer. Ironic really, it was easier to get Belgium beer in Wellington than it is in the UK. FFS. And yes, I know I could use beers of europe website, but it doesn't seem to have a consistent selection.

Annoyingly I seem to have lost all my notes from my bikeride holiday, so it's just going to be distances and photos. Bollox.

me.

The week that was

It has been an interesting week, and by interesting I mean eventful. I'm in two minds over blogging details about specifics, so will leave that for a day or two.
But some things did go well, S now has a visa, thanks to the useless cocks at the border agency. Ok, in this case, they've done nothing wrong. But all in all, their main purpose seems to be to extort money. Nothing more, the concept of service with that?, yeah lets not go there.  This is likely to get worse judging by recent statements by the Cam-egg government. Even more annoyingly I've even had their staff say it's largely a money making exercise. Fuckers.
But come mid October, I can forget about them for another two years, and distract myself with a more coupley version of married life, as opposed to the current situation of married yet single.

In the mood for escapism, I wandered to an art gallery in Leicester. Nothing stunning, few interesting early expressionist pieces, reasonable collection of Durer prints. There was supposed to be a Lowry floating around, but I never found it. Damnit. But the highlight, oddly, was an exhibition they had on science fiction in popular culture. Oh go on, pretend to be surprised. Please? Lots of cool toys, games and posters. The highlights being a full length poster of Fritz Lang's Girl in the Moon, and a 1981 games console I remember playing with, extensively. Astro Wars!!!!
It seemed a reasonable thing to wander around while it was pissing down. Ahhh yes, English summer. I'm beginning to see why prog became popular, one track filled in time between showers.
Few things I could do today, but not in the mood at the moment, so may potter around and read my book for awhile.

Here's an article warning about the dangers of raw peas.

And in a reasonably relaxed chilled day, my ipod ended up playing this as the last track before I got home. Go the poddikins.

Moma I was groped!

This one for Neil who feels modern art should be touched.

(in his defence, he was talking about Henry Moore).

Grope a MoMA.

Huzzah performance art!

A productive weekend

I've been procrastinating for months, 12 of them. I have had two papers all but ready for submission which, due to my antipathy to science, have lain dormant. I've spoken about 'finishing the papers' but really wasn't in the right headspace, and anyway didn't have any interest.
I think it's fair to say, I still don't have any interest, but I've finished them both over Easter. I did have to bribe myself; if I finished them, I could have a bottle of 14yo Edradour (as both my Edradour's passed on many months ago). As is common with my writing/editing style, the house is clean, all my papers reorganised, and many other things found to occupy my time.
One is now submitted, and the other is awaiting GenBank submission numbers, at which point it can be submitted too.

I'm thinking I might explore writing for myself, see where that takes me. Having said that, there is at least one more paper from the PhD that I could work on. A just-so story of evolution within the Reptilia. The way I approach it, it is more creative writing than hard science, a story rather than a law.

Van Gogh exhibition
The psychochicken mentioned he'd be in London over Easter, and perhaps we could have a beer. Normally I'd have said no, I'll be renewing my faith - however the bugger got me during a mindnumbingly tedious 2.5hr meeting. And I'd already decided I'd be writing/editing, and so was already looking for procrastination. Damn him. So we met up and toddled along to the Van Gogh (QI link on how to say Van Gogh) exhibition at the Royal Academy. Interesting. It's a combo of his letters (vg was a prolific letter writer apparently), his sketches and paintings. What struck me was his dedication and intelligence, the sketches were to improve his skills, often following criticism of his paintings. The sketches also demonstrated far more detail than ever made it to his paintings, which even in his still life studies appeared to be looking for the essence of the object, not the specifics.
I doubt I'm alone, but I preferred the latter era paintings. But honestly, the sketches did more for me. There was a lot of work on trees and orchards, whcih I liked. Atmospheric and dark, which I felt got lost when put on canvas.
Oddly, it appears PC, Fran and I all wander around exhibitions at roughly the same pace.

A few beers followed.

British Canal Museum
I had been intending to wander back to the Tate Britain for the Henry Moore exhibition, but decided I couldn't be bothered going that far - what with tube travel in the weekends being a whole new level of 'fun'. A quick google for museums and Kings Cross station found a few within quick walking distance, and I settled for the Canal Museum. This was far more interesting than I thought it would be. It's set in an old ice storage building, so there's a bit on that - and the ice trade interactions with canal boats.
There were only three of us there, so nice and quiet, which is something to treasure in London museums. What I found really interesting was the reliance during the second world war on the canal system, and how the Germans never bombed it - apparently railways were their major target. Even the bombing of St Pancras station managed to miss the canal alongside (with that sort of targetting, the Americans might want to chat to the Germans...).
Surprisingly recommended. It's quirky, it's obviously done by enthusiasts, and it's quiet.

Mmm might even review some CDs, or more Bgrade movies.

B

london on reflection

The V and A. Wandered around the new Renaissance stuff, which was superb. Definitely worth a trip. The forgery exhibition was a disappointment, 'twas ok, but just showed the forgery. I would have preferred a bit more detail on how they established the forgery, and possibly the original next to the copy - to compare how good they were. Highlight was, undoubtedly, the renaissance religious iconography. Spent a lot of time there. Mmm pretty. Also of interest was the contemporary design stuff.

The St Peter's Brewery pub is a very very small place, with excellent food and superb beer. I had quite a few beers. Many of them were high alcohol. This was a good thing.

Went to the Courtauld Gallery as they had an exhibition on Michelangelo's Dream, this turned out to be the highlight of the trip. Brilliant little gallery, lots of Impressionists, post-impressionists, Ruben's - excellent. Spent a lovely few hours wandering around this quiet, relaxing gallery. Not too many tourists, a few school groups, but they were just sitting down copying pictures, so also quiet. So just me, my headphones, Radiohead and Elbow.

The Scotch Malt Whisky Society rooms are a bloody nightmare to find, small glass door down a side street. but Craig and I managed it - and then tasted some excellent whisky. Not a huge surprise there. Not as much atmosphere as the Edinburgh rooms, but still quiet, relaxing, and not all pretentious. I have a review of a whisky, actually we made two reviews, but Wes forgot what
 the second one was. Silly boy.

Natural History Museum. Been awhile since I went there, and to be honest I was disappointed. Didn't help that it was packed with screaming school brats, but the exhibitions are dated, and the information is also 10-20 years old. It's a shame as the potential, with what they've got there, is immense, but it's not shown to it's best advantage. Possibly avoid unless it's very quiet. The human evolution section was poor, and the human biology section was dire - all looked liked late 70s, early 80s style of presentation. Urgh.

coffee: went to flat white, as one does, and found, in general, a much higher standard of coffee than previous visits. About bloody time. Small cafe off Leicester Square was quite a revelation. Even went back there a couple of times.

Overall, had a great relaxing time down there, my cold included :) I do like London for all it's grimy grotty chew-you-up attitude. Actually it's probably because of those. And it puts the Midlands into sharp relief. Nope, I'm not sold on this area of the world, but we shall see what happens.

Also saw The Lovely Bones. I think the critics have been unduly harsh on the movie. It's ok and flows well. I do agree the casting seems a bit 'must get a name actor here', which disrupts the flow slightly. Although having said that, the perspective is from the teenage girl, and so a 'everyone is pretty' view maybe accurate. If that is what Jackson et al were going for, they've nailed it, but it's not clear in the telling.
Dream sequences were average (if repetitive), but owed too much to Gilliam or LotR. Although why every dream sequence has to have a field of corn is beyond me. What is it with bloody corn?
One criticism has been that Jackson avoided the rape scene (I haven't read the book btw), but I don't think it woudl have added much to the story. It's certainly not central to the plot. My biggest criticism is that Jackson can't write an ending (LotR, Kong), there's about three false endings before the real one happens. Prompting a FFS from me. I'd give it a 6/10.

Me

Art, Tate, Beer, Cheese, Coffee

7-8 July

Got back from Glasgow and chilled with Andrew, played Nintendo64 as a tribute to the way we wasted hours of our youth.

It has been raining all day here, but that didn't stop me ambling down (well bus-ing) to the Monmouth Coffee Company to get some beans and a good espress, and then turning the corner and picking up some cheese from Neal's Cheese Yard. Yeah at times I'm predictable. In a continuing re-enactment of most other times I've been here, I then wandered to the Tate Modern.

I like my modern art. I like looking at Kandinsky, Miro,Rothko, Picasso, Mondrian, Metzinger (I particuarly liked the Woman with a Coffee Pot), Klee (who I like a lot), Braque (the darkness, ooohhh nice). I'm not sure why, probably as I don't like art that reflects an image. If I want an image, I'll look at a photo. I've thought about this, and wonder if my interest reflects two linked issues.
Firstly, one of the albums that got me into jazz, and that I found interesting was Brubeck's Time Further Out, with cover art by Miro. The original Time Out album had art by Fujita, which in it's decomposed nature is also typical of the style I like.

Secondly, as demonstrated by witness statements, no two people see the same event identically. So why try to capture the entirety of a subject, why not try and break it up into the aspects that you identify with? That seems to me to be an ideal way of turning complexity into art. Nature is complex, not irreducibly so, as idiots in the amusingly titled Intelligent Design crew believe, but it is complex. The current climate of horror-story-mongering about melting ice caps and general global warming, is beginning to reveal to the average person how inter-related everything is.

Those two interests of mine are by no means unrelated. The syncopated rewriting of musical rules that jazz introduced leapt out at me. It was different. There wasn't a solid beat with musicians coming in at set times. It sounded spontaneous, they couldn't be layering complexity, it had to be immediate. Hmm that's just reminded me jazz might be the music form that reflects GenNow better than anything else - ironic that jazz is one art form that is danger of dying out then.

Well that went somewhere other than I thought it would. Woohoo for just sitting here and writing and seeing what comes out. I'd like to thank some cheese and some blackberries for sustenance during that.

Beer Review: Glencoe Wild Oat Stout (organic). This from the Bridge of Allan brewery we visited. Big chocolate toasted oatmeal flavour. Small head (low carbonation), The taste was sooo smooth, so rich, even down to the bottom of the glass. I'll keep an eye out for this one back home. Very recommended.

Tomorrow: i think the Tate Britain as Neil mentioned their Turner collection which probably needs a looksee after my realisation Turner didn't just do boring landscapes (thanks for that Neil and Antiques Roadshow - now there's a pairing I wouldn't have imaged...). Possibly some clothes shopping too.

B x.

Tuatara Times 05 Nov

The flight wasn't particularly exciting. Read my book, "Imperium" by Robert Harris, which was really good - a well researched fictional story of Cicero and his rise to power. Nice page turner too. Also read the new Vanity Fair as it had Hitchens, Stoppard and more criticism on Haliburton, Bush, Cheney and the war. Lots of stuff to watch on the in flight, but felt more like reading and listening to music - except for the Simpsons movie and some Top Gear episodes (S8).

Was only in Hong Kong for an hour and a half, had some issues in transit thanks to NZ duty free not sealing the bottle of voddie I got for Andrew. But I'll get in touch with Regency DF and see if they can sort that out. I was proud of myself, managed to keep calm and not yell or kill anyone. Go me! Got to London, found Andrew, headed back to his place to meet Alex (she's lovely) and shower. Oh god that was good.
Then to the pub. My cunning plan of dozing on the plane then drinking at the pub until 9ish seems to stop jet lag as i'm fine today.

Today I've been to the Monmouth Coffee Company and Neals Dairy Yard at the Borough Markets. Had a very good espresso there and bought some beans so thats the next couple of days sorted. Picked up some cheese too, some of which was in my sammie for lunch.

Wandered around a bit and realised I hadn't actually looked at a map all day...had a meander on the Thames track which I haven't been on before, went to Tate Modern and as luck would have it they had an exhibition of surrealism, abstract (ism?), smattering of cubism and modernism so lots of Picasso, Miro (who I think rocks), deKoening, Georges, quite a few Lichensteins, Warhol and many others. I like surrealism, it's one of my favourite forms of art. The, without wanting to sound wanky, juxtaposition between the preciseness of the art and the vaguely disconcerting feeling that something is wrong with the picture. A painted 'cinema of unease' which, if we believe Sam Neill, maybe why as a NZer I like it. That took me til about 3ish when I went and found some bread rolls and salad to go with my cheese, dropped in to say to Andrew, and am now sitting outside the Brit Museum. I went to the drawing exhibition - last time there were heaps of Caravaggio, this time an interesting selection of old masters drawings, and a collection of early 'comics' which was good. In fact great!

I saw that UCL has a couple of museums which I haven't been to so may see them tomorrow. Meeting Patrick (patron of the MMG) tonight for a beverage or two, and Cousy n Kate tomorrow night. Patrick was good, and still very very hairy!

Not sure when this will get put up on the blog...

Shalom, B.