beeker ideas

bill owens, and taking other people's photos

Last time I went to Bristol in March I went to see a Bill Owens exhibition at The Arnolfini.  (The Arnolfini played an occasional and rather arcane part in my childhood imagination, at the bottom of the docks, opposite the much friendlier looking Watershed, it housed films so art house they were a bit like stabbing your own eyes and equally esoteric, blink and you miss them art shows.  In fact I'm not certain it's changed that much, maybe I'm just more pretentious, but I like it better these days.)  Not having heard of him before, I was dragged in by my mum after coffee for a surprise treat. 

It would be disingenuous of me to say I wasn't sure if photos were allowed.  I'm almost certain they weren't,  But seeing as I didn't actually find out, here are a couple, and here's a link to the proper place to see them.  I didn't get any of the portraits - the gems like these. 

And then a few weeks ago I noticed how all sorts of things were infiltrating my own photos that weren't really my things.

Sometimes I'll do direct tributes on purpose, like this one to Anne's beach pictures (which to me are the beautiful photography equivalent of the little camera film pots of favourite beach sand I collected for years).

But it's not always conscious.  And I know everyone always talks about stealing ideas and all that (including me).  But I suppose I'm interested more in the visual blurring more than the conceptual one.  (If you can the two.)  Sometimes it's homage, sometimes unintentional but obvious, and most often it's probably something we don't notice at all because it's a more subtle kind of diffraction.  Looking at lots of pictures every day (as you do if you love Flickr as much as me) you must end up absorbing and learning and adapting even tiny parts of people's picture taking, without even thinking in a conscious way that I like or admire it.

Which feels nice and almost Darwinian in a magical kind of way. 

changes

Seu Jorge singing David Bowie in The Life Aquatic

There are a few changes coming up for me.  One main one really, which is a new job.  And of course that involves all sorts of other changes I suppose, big and small.  Like getting to know new people, moving to a new part of town, learning a whole other discipline, working out what kind of tea people drink.

I'd forgotten what a funny time it is working out your notice somewhere.  There's all the excitement of going somewhere new, and then - if you're lucky - the sadness of leaving.  My family are famous for ridiculous, prolonged goodbyes.  It takes about an hour to leave someone's house after tea, for example.  And this feels a bit like that.  A big long goodbye.  But the next bit's very close now and I can't wait.

This time round, instead of letting the blog slump while I adjust I was thinking I might document the whole thing a bit better.  I'm going to need to learn a lot, so hopefully it'll be interesting.  As long as my new people don't mind.  (They're all digital like, so it seems appropriate.) 

oceans and oddballs

Oceans.
'You don't know what it will become, what it will bring you, and that is precisely why you must accept it.  Otherwise you are only half alive, you are living like a nonswimmer wading near the shore, while the ocean is not really the ocean until you are out of your depth.'

Oddballs.
'Oddballs have an easy life when they succeed in making people respect their oddballness', said Olga.

halotography

Not really my look, gaming.  But Wonderland is right.  This is gobsmacking photography, from joshuadamon

humph + big joe turner

I just saw this clip on Jools Holland and it was so wonderful I had to put it up here straight away.  Humphrey comes in on trumpet about 2.40 in.  But watch it all if you have time.  Glorious footage (of which there's miles - just start here.)

jeffre's new site

What a great idea.  Just need to figure out which from the grillion possible candidates is my first go.

The frontrunners are Frankie Goes to Hollywood (the video for which I just looked up and realised I can't really face over my sandwich.)

And Positive K (not a whole load more appetising.  I guess I see why Jeffre made this all about the audio.)

good grief

I think I'm late with this, but I just found what's been going on via here.

rainbow election

So good.

As first seen on HIGNFY, and courtesy of London Shite.

showtime + colorwars

I love this via Ze Frank for so many reasons.

Mainly, it's just brilliant, joyous stuff.  Also, I have ultimate respect for anyone who can learn the choreography of their four year-old self who didn't have the strictest regard for the beat.  And also because it supports the spirit of the new Colorwars game so beautifully.  Come on, come and play with us.

mr & mrs dopplr-smith

Two of my favourite companies, Smith and Dopplr have got together to make beautiful content.  (In fact their names aren't half bad double-barrelled - a true test of a marriage made in heaven if ever there was one).

We've worked with Smith (who do the nice hotel event stuff) at Bloom from the year nod, and I've used and admired Dopplr's traveller network thing for a while now, so it's extra exciting.

Now when I log onto Dopplr to plan trips to Bristol and Brighton I see lovely things like this

and this

and then get tempted to book fancy hotels instead of staying with my mum or Matt's.