Friday, 21st April, 2006

This Away Rose

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Sunrise falls on chiffron

Thanks Lana It was just a tiny, momentary fragment of light that caught me through bleary eyes and demanded to be recorded. In my excitement though, I didn't realise I had my ISO set to 1600.

On The Subject Of Stripes

art stripes zipcodes

Since, you know, there seems to be a bit of discussion about them, I thought I'd just quickly link to a small explanation of what's going on in my stripey pictures.

The thing is though, I've reached a point where I think I've done them to death, so I'm going to put the whole series on the backburner and try and shift into a new direction.

Having said that, this afternoon I've got to go to the photo lab and pick up this one, get the bugger framed, then somehow get it down to Kim so we can auction it off as a fundraiser for Sparkle

0108

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Hmm.

See, what I find interesting is how the digitisation of photography causes different traditions, practices and disciplines to collide — perhaps rather awkwardly. Because there's (essentially) no physical difference between a 'documentative' photograph, a 'studio' photograph, and computer-generated images — they're just numbers and a JPEG algorithm after all — the different ways of reading them cause new perspectives.

I dunno. Maybe I'm talking out of my arse here. I was going to suggest that digital media somehow acts as a leveller, and that using languages based on Abstract Expressionism when discussing it is a new by-product of this. But then I remembered the work of prominent abstract photographers, and I realised that to some extents, all I'm doing is what they've already done — just in PhotoShop.

(There's a particular line in that article that I love: "Often working without cameras, lenses, film or even light".)

(PS, nope April — you shouldn't )

Thanks Jane When I finally finish the 90-minute stripe-a-thon I'm working on (still), I'll send you a copy.

How Long...

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...have I wanted to go to a masked ball? Like, forever

A Question For Power/MacBook Owners

mac powerbook apple static

There's been something I've been noticing for quite a while now, and I'm wondering if it's just me. If you've got your Mac there, try rubbing on the aluminium wrist-rest as if you were using the trackpad, and tell me if you feel a weird 'vibration'.

I mean, this could be me completely. But I feel one. It also happens if I stroke the outer case in the same way — but here's the really weird part. If, while I'm stroking the case, I rest my hand (or wrist) on the wrist-rest, the vibration stops.

So yeah: Anyone else? And if so, anyone know why?

No, really. I was about to add a little note as well, that actually the vibration is more intense if you rub the top lid — until someone brought the tone down to the gutter

try comparing with and with out it plugged in

Ooh. Interesting — it only happens when it's plugged into the the mains.

I think it has very fine raised ridges which rub against my finger prints/skin texture and make it feel like its vibrating.

Does it still happen if you touch it somewhere else with your other hand whilst rubbing it?

Some People Say I Write Too Much

random minutiae

But personally, I think I don't write enough. So . And to rectify that, here's a totally pointless detailing of what happened to me this afternoon/evening...

I have, you may have noticed been playing around with some ideas today. I'm not entirely sure exactly where they're going (and that linked-to one in particular, is just a bit of an extension of the Deformations idea that I've been working with previously), but meh. There's perhaps some potential in it.

(Note to Jon : No, it's not a montage of my naked body I'm wearing clothes in the originals )

But today has mainly been dominated by two things: (1) Me wanting to go and pick up the photograph from the lab, and (2) me thinking I need to sort myself out for the trip tomorrow.

I've been in a stress all day about what I'm going to wear tomorrow night — and odd thing indeed considering that I'm going to be a boy for the duration. I was thinking that I'd just wear my usual, before I remembered that I wore exactly that the last time I saw K , and it would be so uncool to wear the same thing twice.

But then I had a thought: "Hold on a second, I have money. I could go out and buy clothes to wear" ... which is exactly what I did — a couple of random "XS" grabs in Top Man (it's the only place I can find clothes to fit me easily), and a small browse round the little boutique where I got my 'Academic Hoodie' later, and I'm totally kitted out for some North-London-Barley-Action.

Then I went to my hair stylist and got a Geek Pie.

...

The thing is though, for some reason, I didnt seem to be in much of a conversational mood today. The guy in the boutique, who for some reason I've come to the conclusion has a thing about me, tried to strike up a conversation, and I totally couldn't do it.

Same thing happened in the photo lab — except the guy there probably doesn't have a thing about me — but that comes later.

...

On the whole, I hate kids. People who are reading this who have children please note that I dont hate your kids — I hate a very specific, generic sort of kid. The kind of 'kid' that features in the phrase "*pah*, kids today". The kind of kid that rides a bike on the north side of Lancaster and feels that gives him the right to comment freely — with disdain and intolerance — about people his pedals might bring him into close proximity with.

...

I was walking up towards Caton Road, past the skateboard 'park', when a group of kids started coming towards me on their BMXes (how retro). The kid in front started to put on a bit of a frantic pedal-spurt, and, just as he passed me, leaned over and shouted...

"POOF"

...in my ear.

In the seconds that followed, I thought to myself "Oooh, I must blog that", and "crap, if ever there was a perfect opportunity to shove a stick into someone's spokes, then I think I just missed it".

Sometimes, I long for a bit of public recognition of decisions and choices that I make about my appearance. When I actually get them though, they freak the fuck out of me.

...

Sparkle Print™ is gorgeous and is now being framed. I'm nervous about putting my work up for auction, but I guess as long as it sells for more than what I paid to have it made, then that's Good And Worthy™.

The hilarious moment that you all missed, was me trying to remember which way up it went when I was showing it to the framer. I had to try and visualise the original to remember which side the rainbow goes.

...

Being as I'm going down to That London™ tomorrow, I thought I'd do the decent thing of buying some wine for my host (I also bought some coffee — I work on the basis that you should bring as a present that what you expect to clean your host out of), and duly tripped off to Sainsburys armed with my credit card.

At the checkout, I was pleasantly surprised by the bill: Two bottles of wine and a packet of Alka Seltzer (I like to be prepared) came to less than £6

"How much was this bottle?" I asked the guy, curious and bemused.

"Um, hold on, I don't think that one got scanned"

*bleep*

"Ah, that'll be fifteen quid now then"

I hope and pray that my valiant belief in Karma, and the rewards I must be stacking up for myself in the future, actually come to pass.

...

Hmm. This worked a lot better the last time I did this

I put them back

Thanks though — that explains the whole weirdness for me

God no — that would give away the fact that I haven't shaved my legs for six months

Oooh, thank you

Interesting, and, as it happens, my G5 chirps — even after me disabling 'napping'. It's annoying, but not annoying enough for me to stop loving him.