Yearly Archives: 2003

Weather Project

image of the whole sunpeople in front of the weathe rproject exhibitionI visited one of my favourite areas of London earlier today, the Thames’ South Bank where I went to see Olafur Eliasson’s Weather Project at The Tate Modern. There’s half circle of the Sun made up of mono-frequency lamps – the kind which provide the orange glow to our streets at night. Running along the ceiling of the vast turbine hall is a mirror which gives the whole image the look of a whole circle, the sun. You can watch yourself in the mirror on the ceiling and many people do, indeed, lie on the floor looking up at themselves and the other ant-sized people. The lamps really restrict the amount of colour that you can see and that makes the whole atmosphere and experience quite eerie indeed. In fact, despite the orange glow it’s very grey.

picture of the turbine hall sign at the tate modernlong shot of the weather project exhibition, tate modern, londonI am not in a great one for museums and galleries but I really do like the Tate Modern and The Turbine Hall in particular. If you don’t know it, it’s a vast gallery space that once housed the turbines of the bankside power station. It’s huge and always seems to house interesting works – which is what attracts me back on a regular basis to see them.

On this day…

2004: Night Off

Gangs Of New York

Gangs Of New York 2002Earlier tonight, and once again thanks to the joys of dvdsontap, PY and I watched Martin Scorsese’s 19th century epic, Gangs of New York on DVD. Apparently, Daniel Day-Lewis came out of a kind of retirement to film it.

The film tells us America was not quite the happy melting-pot of modern thinking. It’s an interesting mix of epic cinema and predicable story as DiCaprio looks to avenge his father’s death and falls for Cameron Diaz in the process, while all around the poor (literally) fight for survival against the corruption of the power holders. The sights of the coffins brought back from the Civil War remind us of another part of America’s past. If the movie is to be believed, Irish immigrants were marched off one ship to another where they acquire uniforms and the promise of ‘three meals a day’ on their way to a death further south.

Gangs of New York looks stunning but fails to deliver. Day-Lewis has a Munchausen moustache which is more absurd in pictures than it is in character, but still provides an amusing diversion. The movie is long, but apparently not as long as it was meant to be. A difficult film to decide upon.

On this day…

2005: Blog Madness
2004: A Box That Does It All
2004: Eleven Years In The Big Smoke

Another Rant on Phone and PDAs

Forbes has an interesting article on the pda/’phone combination I have been talking about recently. The article is basically saying that consumers need to be familiar with the tool so they can use it. Previous attempts to merge the two devices failed, it suggests, because often the ‘phone element was not good enough.

I think this is very clear reasoning indeed. The Treo 600 seems to come closest to that. My problem, however, is that I am looking for a small, powerful tool to do a number of items and, really, the market has not grasped this.

For starters, why am I looking to spend money on a new ‘phone and/or pda? My ‘phone is boxy but relatively new (although I, luckily, paid nothing for it). It’s a perfectly serviceable Nokia ‘phone with a built in camera that I occasionally use – primarily for images on my blog.

On this day…

2004: I Love Firework Displays

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Heavenly?

I enabled comments on the Man of the Moment pages to amuse myself more than anything. Dance over to Justin Timberlake’s pages right now to read about how someone claiming to be called Laura is a little fed up with people who put Justin right up there, “Ok I hear all these people saying Justin Is a God. Yeah he’s good, He’s hot and oh so cute! but Justin isn’t a GOD! There is the one and only God who we serve”.

And to think I almost removed it. If it were a commercial message for a company I probably would delete it. But a commercial for God, well, I don’t really know what to say.

On this day…

2005: Regent Street Lights 2005
2004: Great London Food Market Revisited
2003: Do I Hear Fi?
2003: Another Month Another Man
2003: Bring A Smile
2002: Fly Accipiter, Fly

Do I Hear Fi?

I made reference to Eddie Mair’s departure from the radio show ‘Broadcasting House’ some time ago. Back then it was not clear (at least to me) that he was staying with the BBC and continuing his work on Radio Four’s PM. It’s good news he’ll still be on the radio.

There is also good news about the Sunday slot. Fi Glover is rumoured to be coming back to UK radio (after some time writing another book about radio in the US) and taking up the post Mair will leave vacant in the new year. Her style is very similar to that of Eddie and I believe her slightly irreverent ways will keep listeners tuned. Great news.

On this day…

2005: Regent Street Lights 2005
2004: Great London Food Market Revisited
2003: Heavenly?
2003: Another Month Another Man
2003: Bring A Smile
2002: Fly Accipiter, Fly

Another Month Another Man

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[photograph of philip olivier]It’s a new month and as a tribute to the final episodes of Brookside that aired this week, Philip Olivier (aka Tim O’Leary) is this month’s Man of the Moment. If you’re a Philip fan then hop over to the Man of the Moment pages and leave us a message. If you’re not a fan then normal service will be resumed soon. If you have a suggestion for the Man of the Moment feature then why not leave a suggestion in the comments there?

On this day…

2005: Regent Street Lights 2005
2004: Great London Food Market Revisited
2003: Heavenly?
2003: Do I Hear Fi?
2003: Bring A Smile
2002: Fly Accipiter, Fly

Bring A Smile

Sometimes, you have to smile. Although I don’t have a list of current links on this site there are, occasionally, some things I want to point you to (and to record for myself):

thesamis.net, who originally pointed me to the the Dell DJ (Digital Jukebox), posted the following:

IF A MAN COMES TO YOUR FRONT DOOR AND SAYS HE IS CONDUCTING A SURVEY AND ASKS YOU TO SHOW HIM YOUR BOOBS, DO NOT SHOW HIM YOUR BOOBS. THIS IS A SCAM. HE ONLY WANTS TO SEE YOUR BOOBS.

Then Jase points to some lovely pictures at istockphoto.com – like this guy without shirt. There is something very sexy about these pictures.

Finally, go and play Guess the Dictator and/or Television Sit-Com Character – it’s a great game and I’ve already wasted too much time playing it.

On this day…

2005: Regent Street Lights 2005
2004: Great London Food Market Revisited
2003: Heavenly?
2003: Do I Hear Fi?
2003: Another Month Another Man
2002: Fly Accipiter, Fly

Brookside Closed

In an interview over on the official Brookside site, Phil Redmond said that

Overall it has done what I wanted it to do – especially this year – blending entertainment with the examination of contemporary social issues – but at times I admit it has had to bend with fashion and broadcaster demand.

brookside close street sign imageI watched some of last night’s episode. I haven’t watched it for a while but it did seem to have dated somewhat. I know soap opera worlds are dangerous places to be but I think that Brookside close must take the biscuit – I am so glad that I did not live anywhere near it!

Did it change the face of soap operas in the UK? It certainly was more contemporary than anything else when it started and it was very rooted in the real world – but I think it also aged very quickly. Still, sad to see it go and sad to see Jimmy Corkhill disappear from the television screens.

Media Guardian has a potted history of the soap if you are not familiar with it.

On this day…

2004: More Say About Trains Than Bush
2001: About Musak

Bye Bye Brookside

It’s been 21 years since Brookside first hit our screens and tonight it bows out for the final time in, what I imagine is, a little watched late-night slot on Channel 4. I wonder how many people will tune in? Clearly not enough people have been watching since Channel 4 moved it from it’s prime time slot but I wonder how many, like me, will dip in tonight to at least get some idea about what is going to happen. Will all the old scores be settled?

I was never really a big Brookside fan but I do recall, occasionally, following individual storylines. Gordon Collins was probably one of my first sights of a relatively normal gay person on television and, I imagine, that is true for a lot of people in their teens at the time.

I wonder what we’ll be saying about it in the next few years? Will it make a Crossroads style come back in ten years? Say farewell to Brookside Close! 

On this day…

2004: A Familiar City
2003: More PDA and Phone Nonsense

More PDA and Phone Nonsense

Well, after having said what I said about ‘phones and PDA units last week, the Treo 600 is getting some interesting, and quite good, reviews (archive). I guess that’s pretty good news for PalmOne, which has now acquired Handspring (makers of the Treo). I have always been a huge fan of the Palm for its simplicity but it must move forward to compete with the Windows handheld models.

On this day…

2004: A Familiar City
2003: Bye Bye Brookside