[img[laptoplakeage.jpg]]\n\nSo I'm sitting outside in the sun, thinking a change of scenery might help, listening to Kate Rusby, still trying desperately to write this thing.
I'm serious about this being the most difficult thing I've written, maybe ever. I have no idea why it's such a struggle. It's true the ideas are complex, and there's a lot of strands to compress into a small space, but still, it shouldn't have taken three days...\nMy friends the ducks came to visit me in my gloom.\n\n[img[myFriendsTheDucks.jpg]]
[//That wasn't, incidentally, a reference to the Olympics, though that's what you'll get if you [[wikipedia|http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Citius_Altius_Fortius]] it (take it as part of an ongoing Greek reference if you like, whatever. 'Cos those is Greek lips, part of a larger piece that's taking some time.)//]\n\nOver the last few days I have been mainly working on a mammoth composite job, combining hundreds of individual shots into a collage, it's time consuming and fiddly - an experiment which may or may not make it into the finished piece. In other news [[Carla]] and I spent yesterday afternoon pushing an office chair around the river, doing some test shots to help her decide which film to make (at the moment it's a toss-up between a noir involving a trombone-playing criminal lawyer, or a subjective camera piece about a kid on a journey, with talking dogs. Both of which may or may not involve leprechauns, and doors.) Carla found a door to coo over, a short one.\nWe bumped into [[Phil]] and wound down the day with a delicious ginger beer in a lovely beer garden we'd not discovered before.\n\nSome webyliciousness for you:\n\n[[Gibraltar, UK|http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=es&geocode=&q=gibraltar,+uk&sll=37.0625,-95.677068&sspn=44.388698,61.435547&ie=UTF8&z=4&om=1]] vs. [[Gibraltar, Spain|http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=es&geocode=&q=gibraltar,+spain&sll=37.0625,-95.677068&sspn=44.388698,61.435547&ie=UTF8&z=13&iwloc=addr&om=1]]. (via [[Microsiervos|http://www.microsiervos.com/archivo/humor/avances-gibraltar-espanol.html]])\n\nSimilarly via Microsiervos, [[Sharks!|http://www.microsiervos.com/archivo/mundoreal/nadando-entre-tiburones.html]]\n\n[img[Shark.jpg][http://www.microsiervos.com/archivo/mundoreal/nadando-entre-tiburones.html]]\n\n[[This year's|http://www.flickr.com/photos/tags/28thworldwormcharmingchampionship/]] [[worm charming championship|http://www.wormcharming.com/]] (via [[Neatorama|http://www.neatorama.com/2007/07/01/worm-charming/]])\n\n[img[worms.jpg]]\n\nAnd finally, [[a little computer music|http://www.wired.com/culture/art/news/2007/07/IBM1401_Musical]], with dancing even.\n\n<html>\n<object width="425" height="350"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/CvPKxRMciRs"></param><param name="wmode" value="transparent"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/CvPKxRMciRs" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" width="425" height="350"></embed></object>\n</html>
Sometimes, [[I love Christianity|http://www.eveningservice.com/Video]] (wait for the chorus).
A poor excuse for completely unappealing pornography punctuated by music so bland that it's a toss up between the dire sex and the dire bands as to which makes you want to turn off more. A film with no redeeming features whatsoever, centred around a completely meaningless romance driven only by tragically boring sex scenes and lacking any emotion, appeal, interest, anything really.\nIt's difficult to belittle this poor excuse enough, so I'll stop wasting words on it.\nThere is one redeeming feature actually, it's only an hour long.\n\ngo on, if I must: [[IMDB Link|http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0411705/]]
Well, I did get it handed in eventually, at ten, but I wasn't particularly happy with it. Because I was nearly double the word limit I decided to ditch my central argument, which this morning feels like an absurd decision, not that it's morning anymore I notice.\n\nThis is what a man looks like during the final hour of his essay oblivion:\n<html>\n<object width="425" height="350"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/4Z5oIkj3Stg"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/4Z5oIkj3Stg" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="425" height="350"></embed></object>\n</html>\n\nAlso, I know there were problems with the clip I put in SumSeekethRaindance, they are now fixed and it should be watchable.
Today we have some recent web trawlings, today we'll be featuring a heavy geek theme.\n[I'm afraid I've lost most of the vias, sorry about that, I've only recently started keeping track of them.]\n\nRadest casemod eva - [[Compubeaver|http://yourpsychogirlfriend.com/beav/]].\n\nI've pretty much totally lost interest in Flash these days, but there's still some cool experimental stuff out there, how about [[Mathieu Badimon|http://lab.mathieu-badimon.com/]]. On the theme of flash, how about [[church as action movie|http://www.newbirth.org/]], seriously, I challenge anyone who isn't a Christian not to convert after seeing this one (via [[Something Awful|http://www.somethingawful.com/d/awful-links/extreme-church.php]]).\n\n[[aamath|http://fuse.superglue.se/aamath/]], I just love stumbling across random sites like this one - I love that there are people in the world who (like me) think things like "how would I send a complex mathematical equation to someone if I only had access to text only media?" and who then (unlike me) write a computer program to render equations in ASCII art. Genius.\n\nI'm currently quite addicted to the webcomic [[xkcd|http://www.xkcd.com/]], [[this is my favorite|http://www.xkcd.com/c85.html]] so far, not because it's funniest, but because before I read it I thought I was weird, and now I know there are others like me. Actually I find the problem somewhat more complicated than described, as soon as you have to cross a road as part of the route, you have to go way beyond trigonometry and start thinking about traffic volumes, statistical likelihoods, and time of day. It's a difficult world out there.\n\nThis one's only for the few who are seriously interested in the history of computing, I can only really imagine [[Ben]] even watching one of these videos, but anyway, It does get a bit dull after you've clicked on a million ram files (//so// web 1.0) and the programmers start talking (sorry guys, nothing personal)... [[Awesome computer demo from 1968|http://sloan.stanford.edu/mousesite/1968Demo.html]] including the first mouse. I like how they've already got 3 buttons, well done apple on that backwards evolutionary step you still stubbornly haven't rectified. And how so much time has passed but still people don't save their files regularly, and that mouse caught on, but not bug.\nInteresting too that the collaborative aspects are something that personal computers killed but which the furious web apps crowd, which ain't something I'm planning on trusting in the near future, are trying to bring back... new age of the mainframe anyone?\nBandwidth of 20Kb/s anyone? - prequel t'internet - this ended up as ~TouTube man... what a magical world we live in.\n\nAnd here's another one for Ben, [[pi to a thousand places, on a piano|http://www.tomdukich.com/math%20pi%20piano%20solo.html]] (via [[microsiervos|http://www.microsiervos.com/]]).\n\nAnd finally onto music,\nWhat I wouldn't give for one of these: [[a lemur|http://www.jazzmutant.com/lemur_overview.php]], interactive shininess abounds.\nAnd this looks pretty sweet, [[the reactable|http://mtg.upf.es/reactable/?media]], currently being employed on stage by Björk, (as you can see in [[this clip here|http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jcaj8YHg8ko]]) although it looks cool, I'm not sure that it actually adds very much to what you can do with a modular synth, or for that matter an audio programming language (I'm currently using [[ChucK|http://chuck.cs.princeton.edu/]] and [[Pure Data|http://puredata.info/]], and when I finally get sound to work in linux (grrrrrrrrrrrr), I shall be investigating [[SuperCollider|http://supercollider.sourceforge.net/]]) (both via [[Boing Boing|http://boingboing.net/]]).\nAnd, as an offshoot, [[genius|http://www.flickr.com/photos/danmcp/sets/72157594294355299/detail/]].\n\nHappy Clicking.\n
Well, [[Tzila]]'s back in the county, and you know what that means, non-stop tech support time.\nShe returned with hours and hours worth of badly encoded video ripped off of ancient VHS tapes onto ~DVDs and then ripped off of the ~DVDs in completely nonsensical incompatible formats and odd aspect ratios, half of which were corrupted in any case and unwatchable even with the codecs.\nThus the last few days have been spent dealing with this, back and forthing between her place and mine, and my computers been running pretty much 24 hours a day crunching video.\n\nThings I've learnt during this period:\n*[[VirtualDubMod|http://virtualdubmod.sourceforge.net/]] is a really useful program\n*In analogue video the chroma is encoded at a much lower resolution than the luma\n*~FAT32 file systems are a mega pain in the buttocks\nI did manage to organise a mega expedition to the Harry Potter opening, glad to contribute to the $44million or whatever it was record breaking opening wednesday (they do like to tweak the rules to allow for a fervent generation of records, do they not?). And the film was good, but not awesome, certainly better than the last one, though that's not saying much. The biggest surprise was that the acting was actually quite watchable, and I HATE Daniel Radcliffe, or rather, perhaps, the actors were directed surprisingly well. It was more of an emotional film, concentrated on character, with little grand spectacle, which I appreciated, but which I would have thought wouldn't woo the majority. The cinematography was great, the digital effects a little lackluster. Carla disliked the lack of Quidditch, I don't really care about Quidditch.\n\nAnd of course, the calamities of my own film have commenced. [[Pari]], who was my lead actor in the last film was going to be the same in this one, unfortunately, due to unavoidable circumstances she now can't afford to spend the time that my multiple complexly scripted scenes required. With no hope of a replacement, and very little time to work with I've had to vastly scale back my ambitions and am in process of some very difficult pruning and rewriting. The film isn't quite going to be about life the universe and everything now. Here's a concept sketch from one of the now abandoned scenes, which was going to be a big digital effects extravaganza:\n[img[conceptArt27.jpg]]\n\nAnd here's something to lighten the mood, similarly video related:\n\n<html>\n<object width="425" height="350"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/xfmJ6m97HqQ"></param><param name="wmode" value="transparent"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/xfmJ6m97HqQ" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" width="425" height="350"></embed></object>\n</html>\n[via [[core77|http://www.core77.com/blog/videos/trampoline_tumblers_perform_singletake_analog_video_editing_routine_6866.asp]]]
I'll emerge briefly from my sleep-deprived, library-inhabiting stupor, to give you a few small pieces of good news.\n\nFirstly, that film [[I wrote about a few days ago|SummerFever]] got accepted, and it's being screened. I know none of you are in Bath, but just as if you were, the premiere is this Friday (I, unfortunately, won't be able to attend), and then it's being shown in multiple locations all over Bath (bars and shops and cafes and places) for the next two or three weeks.\n\nSecondly, I made some little promotional films for Bath Uni, if you really must you can watch them online [[here|http://www.bath.ac.uk/esml/open-days/tour/tour1.html]]. (I didn't do the titles... and I haven't been paid yet neither).\n\nOh, and if anyone's interested, that assignment that precipitated all those written screams of anguish at the start of the month... well, I got it back, and the mark was good.\nNow I realise 'good' is a sliding scale, and what it means depends on lots of different things, not least my mood, so right now 'good' is anything above 75.\n\nNow, I suspect, no more posts until essay bedlam ends. Ciao
[img[deadletteroffice.jpg][http://www.asofterworld.com/index.php?id=239]]\n[[a softer world|http://www.asofterworld.com/index.php?id=239]]
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At the moment I'm working on a (very) long term project called (tentatively) //Adventures In Cities//. Eventually it's going (possible) to be a 3d city and a set of poems, right now it's some notes and a set of sketches, some of which you can view here:\n\nhttp://picasaweb.google.com/snailsnail/AdventuresInCities\n\n\n[img[Adventures In Cities|adventures-in-cities-vol07a.jpg]][img[Adventures In Cities|adventures-in-cities-vol16a.jpg]][img[Adventures In Cities|adventures-in-cities-vol19a.jpg]]
[>img[Alek|alekNYE.jpg]]
So, the last three days have been spent filming, and this afternoon too, hopefully. \nAs previously mentioned, [[Kristy]] got done on Wednesday, then Thursday we filmed half of [[Carla]]'s, because we only had one actor free. That got done pretty quick, Carla is a fast shooter, and then in the afternoon, after lunch at an Italian restaurant for [[Greg]]'s birthday, I filmed a couple of scenes for mine that only required one actor. Carla and I stayed at her place until deep into the night, mainly set-dressing, but nattering on too, as friends are wont to do, and both of us grasped minute hours of sleep. I came back at eight yesterday morning and we finished setting up, and waited for my actors. The whole day was then basically me shooting. I tried to move as fast as possible, but my elaborate sets meant we had long change-over times between scenes.\nIt's been really interesting working for different directors (Carla, Kristy) and comparing them to myself. Kristy is very dynamic - bam, bam bam, she shoots, she makes decisions, she does only one take (a horror I cower at), and her confidence overawes me. Carla works fast, but shoots the same thing again and again, varying the camera a little each time, and eventually getting an awesome performance. Me, well, I'm not best placed to judge. But I spend a lot of time setting up the details of the shot, the backgrounds, the lighting etc, and then I'm trying to be faster, although my inclination is always to go for 'one last time', multiple times.\nI was pleased to get everything done in a day... and I don't think I was too profligate with the time. I was scarred about one scene which was being shot in a single 12 minute take with 3 different characters moving in and out of frame, I was prepared to do it twice, but was dreading it going wrong the second time around. In the end only one take was necessary, which was awesome, my fellow actors did me proud, for I too am now one of my actors, and had to sit in front of the camera for one of the most technically difficult scenes - a two minute shot involving a dolly (improvised with a swivel chair), and two pans co-ordinated with off-screen actor movements, plus a change in focus - something none of us have really got the hang of. Kristy and Carla kicked bottom though, but it was still the most time consuming part of the whole process.\nI'm not an actor, and would never claim to be, I'm as wooden as the day is long, but it was a very interesting experience being one of the main parts. Lying in a bed, practically naked, in a stiflingly hot room lit with 60-odd candles, while someone else controlled the camera tracking along my body, was a weird experience, but good. I quite often have to ask actors to do what perhaps they don't want to (making Kristy into a beautiful little hippy chick in dress and flowers being one example), and I like to think that I would do anything I ask them to. [[Pari]], my lead actress, had been awesome to work with, I have had her in her underwear the whole time, running round the streets of bath barely clothed, and she hasn't batted an eyelid. So, for me, doing something similar was kind of a mark of respect and acknowledgment, whether the others took it as that or not, or just thought me narcissistic, who knows.\n\nThere's editing to do now of course, although I think mine'll be fairly straight forward, and shooting again today, but I'm looking forward immensely to having everything done.\n\nI edited just one short scene yesterday evening, and subtitled it (the film is in Greek, Spanish, French and English), to get the ball rolling, and it seems good. I'm not entirely sure my aesthetics will work, nor remain consistent, but we'll see. \n\nNo photos I'm afraid, I stupidly forgot a battery for Carla's, and then I can't really think about directing and taking fotos at the same time unfortunately. I'll get some frames up soon I think,
Well, since being connected to the electronic world at home It's been difficult to think of anything to write that could bridge the gap of months. Eventually events occurred significant enough that they demanded to be wroten. \nSome of the crew headed into the murkier parts of Bath last night to attend a charity screening of [[Kes|http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0064541/]]. Well after circling the entire football ground where it was taking place we eventually found the entrance and entered, following someone ahead of us. We were instantly plunged into a labyrinthine network of nondescript corridors and darkened rooms, 'I think we might be in the wrong place', ventured yours truly, 'lets get out.'\n'Ah,' I said, as I pushed at the front door, 'We're locked in. No really, I'm not kidding.' We hammered a bit, even neared at hollering, but to no avail. Oh well. We entered back into the labyrinth, walking through eerily empty dinning rooms, tables laid splendidly, until we found a fire exit, 'Hope it's not alarmed,' I said, as I walked out onto the darkened terraces, thankfully it wasn't. Still, we clambered down to the pitch, found only lock exits until eventually the only truly adventurous one among us (not yours truly) braved the barbed wire and climbed out to get help, and a key.\nIn any case, we made it to the screening, I had an argument with [[Ken Loach|http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0516360/]] about tv news cameraman, the film was good, though not projected in ideal circumstances, and one of our number won a signed poster.
Today I went to a colloquium (which is one of my favourite words) on Remembering and Forgetting - it was interesting in a social anthropology kind of way - observing academics in their natural (ha) environment, not cooped up in a teaching room, bashing their brains out on student ignorance.
[img[The moon|luna-eclipse.jpg][http://www.microsiervos.com/archivo/ciencia/foto-eclipse-lunar.html]]\n[^^That photo isn't mine incidentally, I stole it off the linked site^^]\nΚαλημέρα\n\nI pursuaded TheGang, or rather, a portion of it, that it'd be cool to wander into the countryside to watch the eclipse, which we did, and it was cool, and I made a video of it that you can watch if you like:\n\n[[YouTube link|http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EwNL3IGJh8s]]\n\nIt's probably a little long, but you can see us all go crazy as the magic of the event addles us - [[Phil]] has a rant (which isn't that uncommon) and [[Carla]] uncharacteristically eulogises a nationality other than her own, and then her eyes go funny.\n\n
Finally, through much encoding and hauling of data, my short film [[Love]] is now [[viewable on YouTube|http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xZZdeayw8Dc]] - crank it up loud because the music is mixed terribly. Once again thanks to everyone who helped, notably [[Carla]], [[Η Κυρία Γαβριέλα|Kristy]], and [[mum]].\n\nAnd today my phone seems finally to have given up the ghost, which is a little bit of a poo.
Today I made lemon curd... according to dear mama's recipe of course, and it went ok... tastes delicious anyway... bit lumpy though, I think I cooked it too hot.\nWe've had two days of filming on [[Carla]]'s film, which went ok I think, and now, in theory, we've wrapped... which is a big relief. I've also had two very successful editing days... So I've got about ten minutes of rough cut now, and the whole thing is really shaping itself as I worried it wouldn't, I should finish filming the last couple of bits next week with any luck.\n\nAnother work in progress:\n\n[img[Caro04WIP01.jpg]]
[>img[Anna|annaNYE.jpg]]
//A very convoluted and difficult to unpick dream, interrupted half way//\n\nI live in a house in an imaginary city that has appeared in my dreams before, it is quite large, old, full of churches and cathedrals.\nThere is a kind of magic that can be done. It involves spitting on stones in walls and then rubbing the spit out with computer icons - kind of like photoshop or something, but in real life. I wander past churches at night doing this sort of thing, there are lots of vaguely threatening homeless people around.\nThere is some great architecture in the city.\nAn old lady parks her car outside my house and rings the bell. She asks for directions. I know where she wants to go (the roads are laid out somewhat like the Lower Bristol Road area in [[Bath]]). I explain to her, it's quite complicated and involves mainly a detailed description of a hotel. The hotel is marvellous, it's ziggurat-like, a cross between Vietnamese pagodas and the hanging gardens of Babylon, it is a pale red and has lots of inverted arches. It's name changes during the dream. At one point it is a Hilton, and at another something different, beginning with "A".\nI think I get a bit carried away in my description of the hotel and the lady get confused about where she has to go. I end up having to go in her car to show her the way. We drive past the hotel.\nI do some more magic at night by a church. This time I am with a large group of people, it doesn't work, things are going wrong,\nI am woken up by my sister.
Currently in the library after a frustrating couple of days trying and failing to write what should be indescribably easy, a 1000 word write up of last weeks presentation. Unfortunately I feel like I'm slamming my head against stones, it's due in today and I'm getting nowhere, nowhere whatsoever. This is probably the most trouble I've had writing anything on the whole course, and I've no idea why.
Indeed, indeed - [[Ben]] came up trumps on the image padding issue and now we don't have text abutting photos - grandisimo, also I got rid of that annoying tag box and moved it to not exactly where I want it, that's a problem for the future. Right, no other news, back to Spanish terrorism.
Welcome to the year of the pig guys.\n\nThis weekend I have mainly been trying to write a script for the course, interspersed with librarian themed videos on ~YouTube, reading [[Sam|http://flipflahflo.blogspot.com/]]'s [[Story|http://www.litro.co.uk/pdfs/A_Line_of_Zs.pdf]] [pdf warning] (muy bien samuelito), and a [[Disney Nazi animation|http://vids.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids.individual&videoid=1501335896]]\n\nIt's an oft-repeated maxim that a good short film is one that is made with an awareness of the limitations of the format and I understand why it's good not to get too convoluted. But at the same time I'm sick and tired of watching one-gag shorts that are so self-conscious of their limitations, and I've promised myself that I'm going to stretch myself as much as possible with each new film I make, so I'm trying to write something a little more complex. But when you've only got 3-5 minutes to play with it's difficult to squeeze a lot in. And I don't want to make a choppy slick mtv calamity either - in fact I've been explicitly told not to after [[my effects heavy last effort|Love]], nor a pretentious meandering Goddardesque word-fest. (Wow, that's a lot of sentences beginning with 'connectives', or whatever it is they're called these days).\n\nSo what've we got then? \nWell, it's still in early stages but it's a melodrama(ish) centred around a woman who lives in a house with three men (and is involved with all of them) and realises that she is dividing herself up too much - she needs to escape, which she does, reclaiming her identity in the process, and in addition improving the lives of the three men who have been living through her. Everyone lives happily ever after.\nIt's going to be a musical, but, considering the time limit, with probably only one song; the dialogue is (at the moment) in English, Greek, Spanish and French (and maybe Mandarin Chinese if I can get an actor); I'm going to try and light all the interior scenes with candles (a la [[Barry Lyndon|http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0072684/]]) (fire hazard alert); one of the character is an uber-geek and open source software developer; there may be some children involved; there are going to be no computer graphics (except maybe, simply, for the titles), and that's about it. I've got the structure figured out, several scenes storyboarded, the aesthetics (more or less) figured out, one location decided on. On the other side - I've had no ideas about music; the middle of the film is a bit of a wasteland; it's in danger of getting a bit pretentious which I need to fight, I've very little dialogue and only the bare bones of characterisation worked out for two of the three male characters. Still, hopefully these can be sorted out with a few hundred pages of scrawled notes over a bottle of cheap red wine. And we might even end up with something good, perhaps. Of course I'm going to rewrite it about 70 times before I'm done, and the finished product will probably be unrecognisable, I felt the need to blather about it though, if you've read this far, well done.\nCiao for now.
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Bangor, city of dreams\n\n<html>\n\n<iframe width="425" height="350" frameborder="no" scrolling="no" marginheight="0" marginwidth="0" src="http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&geocode=&q=Bangor,+Wales&ie=UTF8&om=1&s=AARTsJp92kDU3RTkgE1bZJuoard_zeCTiA&ll=53.240462,-4.12571&spn=0.035956,0.072956&z=13&iwloc=addr&output=embed"></iframe><br/><a href="http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&geocode=&q=Bangor,+Wales&ie=UTF8&om=1&ll=53.240462,-4.12571&spn=0.035956,0.072956&z=13&iwloc=addr&source=embed" style="color:#0000FF;text-align:left;font-size:small">View Larger Map</a>\n\n</html>
!International New Year's Eve 2006-2007: Cubelles\n[>img[NYE|sidepicNYE.jpg]]December. 2006. Intrepids of Bangor unite. The place: [[Cubelles]], Catalunya. Headed by the remarkable skills - organisational, and super human - of [[Ruben]] and [[Vicky]], our tireless host. The reason: New Year 2006/2007.\n\nMy slant on things, somewhat disjointed diary entries - incoherent, inconsistent, partially inexistent - are readable. Click the Days to journey.\n\n[[Day1]], [[Day2]], [[Day3]], [[Day4]], [[Day5]], [[Day6]], [[Day7]], [[Day8]]\n\nFor photos, [[try the picasa album|http://picasaweb.google.com/InternationalNYE0607/BarcelonaNewYearSEve20062007]]\nand also, for other people's photos, and stuff in general, try [[GPSsandwich|http://gpssandwich.spaces.live.com/PersonalSpace.aspx]]\n\nHere are the people, hope I've not missed anybody:\n[[Alek]], [[Anna]], [[David]], [[Elisa]], [[Giorgos]], [[Hanna]], [[Ivania]], [[Jake]], [[Josephine]], [[Jouni]], [[Juanito]], [[Kate]], [[Kevin]], [[Laura]], [[Maria]], [[MariaTheGreek]], [[Mary]], [[Niklas]], [[Rene]], [[Richaud]], [[Ruben]], [[Stefan]], [[Tommy]], [[Vicky]], [[Zsofia]]
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barretina
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[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bathyscaphe|http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bathyscaphe]]
[>img[Ben|benJump.jpg]]Ben:\nhttps://www.srcf.ucam.org/~blb29/blog/
[>img[Blender Screenshot|blenderscreen1.jpg]]Blender is a free (as in both senses) 3d graphics program. It is quite startlingly lovely. \n\nYou can get it [[here|http://blender.org]].\n\nI use it for [[mattes]], and also pictures, some of which you can find [[here|http://picasaweb.google.com/snailsnail/RecentIshArtworks]]
[<img[Blender test one|243testone.jpg][243testone-l.jpg]]Well, [[Ben]] got there first, and I'd been watching the site all day, but much excitement over the latest version of possibly the best software ever - [[Blender 2.43|http://www.blender.org/]]. The site seems to be broken at the moment, which is a pile of poo, but I can trump Ben on one fact - [[this|243testone-l.jpg]] is my first test with the program. It's going to be a long, long time before I can explore it as much as I like but this features some fiddling with softbodies and the sculpt tool. Much fun awaits a free moment I think.\n\nThree posts in a day, can you tell I should be writing?
Apparently, relieving the pressure is not the thing to do, even if you think it's stopped.\n\n[img[ohDear2.jpg]]
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[>img[Caganer|caganer.jpg]]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caganer
Well, the Christmas break is upon us, the presentations and writeups are done, the essays loom, the debauchery is over with, and the first nestlings have fled. It's been pretty hectic for the past couple of weeks and now I have to start thinking about Essays, Christmas presents, a film project, and getting home. We've had a good couple of nights out, celebrating the end of the semester with staff and our Russian film-maker in residence, [[Evgenii Tsymbal|http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0875543/]], and saying goodbye to the first of our number to depart for the holidays, [[Tzila]]. Unfortunately, and disastrously, I managed last week to feed my digital camera to both the washing machine and the dryer, so no photos. I have, however, been keeping track of most of our excursions away from academia, in an album [[here|http://picasaweb.google.com/snailsnail/VariousBathianAnticsSeptDec06]].\nMy most recent film project is at the visual effects / scoring stage at the moment, to be handed in in January, it's a lesbian love story / gangster film, one minute long. You can see some photos taken during its making [[here|http://picasaweb.google.com/snailsnail/Filming]] and I'll put photos up from other people's projects when I get hold of them.\nRight, I'm off to watch some films.
[>img[women exercising|spy-photo-t.jpg][spy-photo.jpg]][<img[camera obscura lens|obscura-lens-t.jpg][obscura-lens.jpg]]As well as being a scotish indie pop band a camera obscura is a dark room with a pin hole or lens/mirror arrangement used to project an image onto a surface, blah, blah, blah. Most useful for spying on women flirting with their hunky fitness instructor.\n\n[[wikipedia link|http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Camera_obscura]]
[>img[Carla|carla1.jpg]]Sometimes, much to her chagrin, known as [[Carlita]]
This, to me, is the perfect way to make a (non-avant garde) political film and I'll contrast it with [[The Constant Gardener|http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0387131/]] because they share a great deal in terms of message, structure, narrative and so on, but whereas the former is very good, the latter is a pile of carp.\nThe pretty conventional arc of Robert Carlyle's character, from being motivated entirely by his feelings towards Carla towards political awareness, is well executed and convincing, and should mirror the uninformed viewer's progression through the film, which does, it must be said, get a bit polemic at times (particularly through the voice of the CIA agent). Nevertheless, the device of the love story as a route into a difficult message performs its role perfectly, never overwhelming the political, neither being subsumed by it, but instead complimenting it very well.\nIf the film falls down, it is where it rests a little too much in its early stages on coincidence - the start of the relationship between Carla and Carlyle beggars belief a little, reflecting, I suspect, the urge to get to Nicaragua and tell the real story.\n\n[[IMDB Link|http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0115832/]]
[>img[Carlita|carlita1.jpg]]More properly known as [[Carla]]
[img[1|ccc1NYE.jpg]]\n1. Find a gang\n[img[2|ccc2NYE.jpg]]\n2. Choose your weapons\n[img[3|ccc3NYE.jpg]]\n3. Pick up some churro\n[img[4|ccc4NYE.jpg]]\n4. Dip\n[img[5|ccc5NYE.jpg]]\n5. Partake\n[img[10|ccc10NYE.jpg]]\n6. Let your friends join in\n[img[6|ccc6NYE.jpg]]\n7. Munch\n[img[7|ccc7NYE.jpg]]\n8. Munch\n[img[8|ccc8NYE.jpg]]\n9. Munch\n[img[9|ccc9NYE.jpg]]\n10. Munch
[>img[kristy|kristy3.jpg]] Otherwise known as [[Kirsty]]
[img[WIPLIP.jpg]]
[<img[Clifton Suspension Bridge|suspect-bridge-t.jpg][suspect-bridge.jpg]][[wikipedia link|http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clifton_Suspension_Bridge]]\n\nMost exciting I think is that a woman survived a suicide attempt off of it when her skirt acted as a parachute.
[>img[Public toilet|bathPublicToilet.jpg]][<img[Random Bath view|randomBathView.jpg]]On Wednesday I was blessed with the presence of my [[young, Bristol dwelling sister|Hannah]], she popped over to [[Bath]] for the afternoon and we whiled the hours away in extreme laziness, eating muffins in a tiny cafe and then eating like impoverish kings humus and rolls in a nice little park we came across while trying to find something completely different. I also took some toilet fotos. Then I met up with [[Phil]], back from his jaunts, and we drank beer in a little pub.\n\nOn Thursday I came to [[Bangor]], somewhat on a whim and after only sleeping a smidgen, getting up at three to pack. It was great hearing Welsh again as I changed trains in Newport, and nearly ended up going to Cardiff by accident. And even greater seeing elements of the Bangor posy again. I'm staying with [[Vicky]] just until Saturday, when the next leg is to Liverpool. \n[>img[Scone 'n' Jam|scones.jpg]]We had a wee stroll down to the famous pier, the weather was splenderific, and we ate the famous scones, sat in the sun, caught it a little, and then retired to the famous Tap and Spile, a grand pub, where the afternoon quickly disappeared.\n[<img[Group hug|groupHug.jpg]]Last night was [[Kate]]'s birthday do, which was an accident again, well my presence there was an accident, and the unexpectedness of it amused many, mission accomplished. The pub crawl barely could be called such, succeeding only in reaching three establishments, but otherwise fulfilled all the normal requirements. When I got back to Vicky's I couldn't find the light switch, didn't feel like scaling the bed in the dark, and so slept on the sofa, where I froze.\n\n[>img[Mushrooms|mushrooms.jpg]]And now we're cooking mushrooms for Rubén and Kate.
A barrage of images, monstrous forms, many teethed faces, three-mouthed, shaven-headed gentlemen with glistening blotchy skin, women with vaginas next to their ears, slime and teeth and terror and teeth and gaping mouths and mainly teeth
<html>\n\n<iframe width="425" height="350" frameborder="no" scrolling="no" marginheight="0" marginwidth="0" src="http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&geocode=&q=Cubelles,+Spain&ie=UTF8&z=13&iwloc=addr&om=1&ll=41.224247,1.681252&output=embed&s=AARTsJqMKi_2qT4dKe1rFkYs1vqZYpfZaA"></iframe><br/><a href="http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&geocode=&q=Cubelles,+Spain&ie=UTF8&z=13&iwloc=addr&om=1&ll=41.224247,1.681252&source=embed" style="color:#0000FF;text-align:left;font-size:small">View Larger Map</a>\n\n</html>\n[img[cub5NYE.jpg]]\n[img[cub4NYE.jpg]]\n[img[cub3NYE.jpg]]\n[img[cub2NYE.jpg]]\n[img[cub1NYE.jpg]]\n[img[cubviewNYE.jpg]]
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[>img[David|davidNYE.jpg]]
!!!Barcelona - International New Year's Eve 2006-2007: Cubelles - 28 December 2006\n[>img[The glory of flight|t-planeNYE.jpg]]Ah, the grandness of British transport networks, replete still with the remnants of organisational finery still bedraping our fine nation, tatters left over from the heady days of Empire. Unannounced a section of the journey was bused - not necessarily a problem in itself, but the connecting train had been pointed in the wrong direction and crewed with a driver unqualified to pilot it.\nAnd then, don't count on the generous spirit of bus drivers at 2.30am in [[London]].\nStill, I got to the airport in the end, and of course, airports are a barrel of laughs anyway.\n12 hours after leaving the house I negotiate another labyrinth of non-space (that's just begging me to make some kind of post-modernist soup) to reach fresh Spanish air and a text message to say it's another two hours before I'll be picked up.\nI toy briefly with the idea of taking a train; film some generic airport shots (for aforementioned soup); take a café solo; finish my book on Von Trier; Ponder Surrealism; try to tune into some Spanish wavelengths (aided by Ojos de Brujo); realise I probably should have taken a train, dissolve in simulacra; write some dialogues.\nIn the end time passes, and [[Vicky]] comes to pick me up, we wait for [[Hanna]]'s flight and head for [[Cubelles]] and the flat.\n[<img[The flat|t-flatNYE.jpg]]I find myself a hat, but it blows off.\nMy post-modern inklings prove portentous - [[Cubelles]], at this time of year, is all deserted beaches, empty playgrounds, and open spaces flanked by generic architecture. Ideas form (slowly).\nWhile we are walking to the shops - the first of many supermarket excursions required to feed a horde - [[Stefan]] suggests we should maybe make a zombie film, I tell him why this is a bad idea.\nBy the evening, despite delays and complications, we are 14, fighting over bed space. I do not fight, I have the whole of outside, quite enough for one quiet soul.\n[>img[dinner|t-dinnerNYE.jpg]]It is great seeing a slew of the kids again, and some new faces. I serve food, practice my documentary technique, and wash up.\n\n''Photos:'' [[here|http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/search?q=day1&uname=InternationalNYE0607&psc=SELF]]\n[[Day2]]
!!!Barcelona - International New Year's Eve 2006-2007: Cubelles - 29 December 2006\n[<img[Morning on the beach|t-sunriseNYE.jpg]]Awoken early by the cold I stumbled in and snatched another hour or so indoors.\nThe house was full of people, there was not enough food for breakfast, [[Ruben]] had slept between two mattresses and, in general, we were cream-crackered.\nHeaded for [[Montserrat]] we made it to the station, via a rising sun, just in time to miss a train, but caught the next t'ward the city, and increasing sleepiness.\nThe city is brief, sparsely occupied, and groups itself around the nodes of train station and supermarket, another train takes us away.\n[>img[View|t-viewNYE.jpg]]We arrive at [[Monistrol]] and trudge uphillwards, I make some shots and conceive more fully the film at the top. Hours later the monastery feels a little like Disneyland, Jesusland [[Jake]] calls it, with restaurants, zip rides, hotels and a whacking great gaudy church, which is, of course, effervescently Catholic. I love the gaudiness of it all. The Black Virgin is traipsed up to where she occupies a disco-ball alcove like something out of a [[U2 tour|http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:U2-LiveInReggioEmilia-19970920-OpenLemon.jpg]]. I refrain from touching her balls.\n[<img[The gang|t-groupNYE.jpg]]Some of our number light candles, I steal one, in protest at the crass commercialisation of faith, we wait for [[Jake]], grab a bite, make an abortive push for the Teleferico, and finally catch a train back down.\nThe city at night is quite stunning, we wander towards El Palau Naciona, try to get into a big affair for children (because of the free balloons mainly), but it's closing, and my film ideas coalesce - this could be quite good - I film the blood red fountains, the crowds, and the awe and wonder. Then I film a balloon drifting into the night sky. \n\n\n''Photos:'' [[here|http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/search?q=day2&uname=InternationalNYE0607&psc=SELF]]\n[[Day3]]
!!!Barcelona - International New Year's Eve 2006-2007: Cubelles - 30 December 2006\nDespite the outsideness of the accommodation I was rudely awakened by [[Ruben]], afraid his foot would connect with stone-hard rigor-mortised flesh. We were late to pick up some more of the gang from the airport.\n[>img[Boat|t-boatNYE.jpg]]While waiting for the train we discussed the idyllic childhood of the españolito and the business of making films, I'm looking forward to seeing his magnum opus. We picked the kids up - [[Mary]] and [[Kate]] - and tripped into the city, locking a [[Monkey]] in a cabinet on the way.\n[<img[La Sagrada Familia|t-sagradaNYE.jpg]]We trundled about, mainly taking in the Gaudi's (exteriors only). I caused a señora to scream blue-murder and then collapse in fits merely by pfffing in her ear. We grabbed some (too much) all-you-can-eat, I braved the insanity of El Corte Inglés, and we trundled home. \n[>img[Jakey and Eli hug|t-hugNYE.jpg]]Mi [[Elisilla|Elisa]] met us at the station - long bear-hugged reunions transpired - a sumptuous meal occurred and an evening pulled itself over recollections and reunions towards tomorrow.\nThe garden was pleasant again.\n\n\n''Photos:'' [[here|http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/search?q=day3&uname=InternationalNYE0607&psc=SELF]]\n[[Day4]]
!!!Barcelona - International New Year's Eve 2006-2007: Cubelles - 31 December 2006 - NYE\n[<img[Beach Vodka|beachvodkaNYE.jpg]]I woke at six and from my sleeping bag watched the sky lighten in to a glorious day worthy of a British summertime. At nine I kicked [[Jouni]] awake to go shopping - the last consumerist gasp before 2007. We humped home burdened with kilos of water, 412 grapes (yes I did count), and party food that would remain uneaten. We returned to find still not a soul had arisen.\nWhen [[Elisa]] and co. arrived from their hotel I joined them on the beach for a few morning vodkas and a catch-up long overdue.\n[>img[Party|party2NYE.jpg]]As the day wore on and party preparations gained momentum more people arrived and I bunked off to take a little wander along the beach, nothing so captivating as the waves breaking. I broke from the trance and returned to see a filmic masterpiece - [[Ruben]]'s //And Then There Were None//. (I've checked IMDB for a page but it's not there - a travesty).\nThe party got off the ground with music and dancing, fancy dress and, somewhat inexplicably, [[Dinner for One|http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dinner_for_One]], a German tradition apparently. Midnight came and I was told I must film the eating of grapes. Now I consider myself quite good at doing two things at once, however, trying to engorge myself of fat, heavily pipped grapes under intense time pressure and operate a video camera at the same time nearly resulted in some very messy hurlage.\n[<img[Party|party1NYE.jpg]]Copious quantities of sangria later, with much sweat applied to the the (rather slippery) dance floor, and not a few glasses broken, the end appeared nigh. Eight of us made our beds on the beach where we slumbered our way fitfully through a few frozen hours (I had some [[crazy ass dreams|CrazyAssDream1]]) and we awoke to watch a glorious sunrise - The first of 2007.\n\n\n''Photos:'' [[here|http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/search?q=day4&uname=InternationalNYE0607&psc=SELF]]\n[[Day5]]
!!!Barcelona - International New Year's Eve 2006-2007: Cubelles - 1 January 2007\nThe last remaining beachites were re-awoken by Lucky - perhaps the most disobedient dog on the planet - who was chaperoned by her frankly pitifully ineffectual owner. The house was still dormant and the splendidness of the sunset proved to have been paid for by the only cloudy day of the holiday.\nLast night's beachers made off for another tradition, ChocolateConChurros, which we enjoyed even while criticising the improperness of the fare.\n[>img[Chocolate con Churros|churrosNYE.jpg]]Various people headed in their directions and I just entered the limbo of the perpetually-exhausted-but-not-quite-able-to-get-sleep. I did manage to film some monologues and by evening had perked up. After watching Finding Nemo (better in Spanish) those remaining headed to [[Sitges]] - a couple of towns along - for a couple of beers, and an entertaining evening, and getting resoundingly thrashed at table football by [[Alek]].\n[<img[A Sound Thrashing|tablefootballNYE.jpg]]We returned, there was more sangria needing drinking, and at last I got some sleep, out in the garden again and happy not to be in the contest for beds (which resulted in some sleeping in the kitchen).\n\n\n''Photos:'' [[here|http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/search?q=day5&uname=InternationalNYE0607&psc=SELF]]\n[[Day6]]
!!!Barcelona - International New Year's Eve 2006-2007: Cubelles - 2 January 2007\n[<img[Breakfast|breakfastingNYE.jpg]]Up a little late again to a house all a-bustle, despite the kitchen floor and its population still dormant. Quite caught up in the activity I change my mind about a quiet day at [[Cubelles]] and make to join in before, at the final hour, experiencing another dramatic reversal and deciding to stay to wish mi [[Elisilla|Elisa]] adieu.\n[>img[Reading|readingNYE.jpg]]A little later, after bemusing Spanish tv with [[Tommy]], and subjecting my mild hangover to a tea, toast and crab-apple jelly (Greek) regime, I am once again trajectorily reversed and head by train into [[Barcelona]] in any case, with our hostess [[Vicky]]. Somehow I blather away on the train, uncharacteristically voluble, much to the amusement of the señora opposite who can´t believe I´m Scottish.\nI am tour-guided most marvellously by the ever-ebullient [[Vicky]] and we wend our way to a rendezvous with the crew that stayed in the city last night.\nWe have a wander, have a bite, I have a highly thrilling, quite, quite heated argument with [[Stefan]] on the topic of science as religion, we agree to disagree, shake hands on a fight well fought and a deadlock handsomely achieved, and agree that he'll find new species and I'll make a filmic masterpiece. We get bored by a street entertainer, let the chicas buy their zapatos, marvel at the giant [[shitter|Caganer]], and fail to find a [[Barretina]].\n[<img[Playing With A Ball|playingwithballsNYE.jpg]]We pretend to take a coffee, run for a train, wish [[Zsofia]] a fond farewell, and [[Vicky]] and [[I|Juanito]] are left to continue our tour - a wander of the evening streets, a short beer in a square, and finally to her place, where I perform my standard meeting-the-parents farce, realise I'm not particularly house broken yet, can't speak a word of Spanish, and take an early night, indoors for a change, dagnamit - failed - apparently I'm a loco. \n\n\n''Photos:'' [[here|http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/search?q=day6&uname=InternationalNYE0607&psc=SELF]]\n[[Day7]]
!!!Barcelona - International New Year's Eve 2006-2007: Cubelles - 3 January 2007\n[<img[Port|port1NYE.jpg]]Having run out of money - today is my tourist day. I spend it on my own, just wandering around the city - I actually quite like it like this, I like being alone in a new place, particularly a city, just sniffing out nooks and crannies. I've developed a navigational technique that I conceived when I was in [[Toledo]] which involves, basically, two rules: only turning off a street (and always turning off it) along a road which is narrower that the one you're on, and never turning the same direction three times in a row (to avoid going in circles). It doesn't work all the time - but it's pretty good. So I spent a while strumming around the [[Gothic quarter]], Rambled around [[The Port]], got thoroughly disorientated, and ended up in [[La Parc de la Ciutadella]], where I spent quite a little pleasant while writing up this log book and writing a couple of poems ([[see a fragment|PoemFragment1]]).\n[>img[Arc de Triomf|arcdetriomfNYE.jpg]]Then I met up with Vicky (after multi-exit-metro-station-paranoia), we failed to retrieve one of the parties lost baggage, and we headed up [[Montjuic]] to the [[Castell]] where the sun was setting, the view was fierce, and I filmed a little more for the film (having up to this point totally regretted humping the camera around with me all day. We walked back down (having trained it up) and grabbed a beer and a bite before I took the train back to [[Cubelles]].\n[<img[Paloma|palomaNYE.jpg]]Here I found newly formed crime syndicates, a carnage of bodies, and, strangest of all, Italy. Like a good little documentalist I whipped my camera out and stuck it all on tape before joining in the fun.\n\n''Photos:'' [[here|http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/search?q=day7&uname=InternationalNYE0607&psc=SELF]]\n[[Day8]]\n\n\n[img[Panorama|barcelonapanoramaNYE.jpg]]
!!!Barcelona - International New Year's Eve 2006-2007: Cubelles - 4 January 2007\n[<img[Chefs Extraordinaire|cooksNYE.jpg]][>img[Que Rico|ricoNYE.jpg]] The last day in España. We got up early to wish some fellows bon voyage, and then did some cleaning. I spent the rest of the day alternating the scrubbing of toilets and patios with watching carp British tv and already slipping into reminiscences over the groups collated photos. I also drank, unconsciously, a not-insignificant number of beers. Evening came and we ate grandly again (I haven't mentioned enough the grandness of the chefs on this jolly), I filmed the final piece of the puzzle. There are now very few of us left, I settle down to my last night under the [[Barcelona]] stars and tommorrow I'll be on my way before the sun is up, back on a journey not uneventful, but not worth mentioning, to Buñuel, German Feminism, and British War Propaganda. The last goodbye is with [[Jake]] in the departure lounge, it's all pretty maudlin. Still, there's always next year...\n\n''Photos:'' [[here|http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/search?q=day8&uname=InternationalNYE0607&psc=SELF]]
[<img[weird horn bridge|weird-horns-t.jpg][weird-horns.jpg]]Having sussed the whole accommodation malarkey yesterday today seemed a chance for some good old fashioned pleasure seeking. Hannah was free too so we strolled through a park to get to the CliftonSuspensionBridge and then we visited a CameraObsucra, fascinating don't you know. We stopped at a wee cafe kind of a place and had a munch on some calorific delicacy and then, after luncheon, we journeyed down to the waterfront to watch exciting Japanese Film PrincessRaccoon.
Entries written in December2006
[[InscritLeDansTonSlip...or...Goodbye]]\nBloodFlavouredUpdate\nMyStirFryWasBloodFlavoured\nDotDotDot\nPrincipiaMathematica\nInThisEternallyPrimitiveLand\nOfEmptyHeart\n[[Inside (Update)]]\nThatWideExpanse\n[[Inside]]\nToWallow\nAndThenHeLeft\nYouHaveTwoCows\n[[Hideous(AndKnowsIt)]]\nWeHadACommunistInTheFamily\nJustInCaseOfValediction
Deadlines and disaster loom. Mind you, I always feel like this at this sort of time. Still, there's a frightening heap of thing to be done.\nI'm very much looking forward to having finished, and spending a couple of weeks hedonisticly before getting cracking on the disertation.\n\nOh, and new version of [[Blender|http://www.blender.org/download/get-blender/]] out if anyone's interested.\n\n[img[topography.jpg]]
~YouTube is my new best way to waste time, I've discovered its mind rotting potential later than everyone else thankfully, but all distractions come to those who write essays (or screenplays) eventually. I've been doing quite a lot of work on gender in this course, most recently masculinity, and it's got to be said [[men are nuts|http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YCO3P3letKs]], not only to go to the ridiculous extreme of designing a usb stick that is bullet proof, but then to actually get a load of really big guns and shoot at it a lot - it's quite a long video it must be said.\n\nIf you're into kids - this is cool - [[photos based on kids drawings|http://www.yeondoojung.com/wonderland.html]] (via [[boing boing|http://boingboing.net/]])
Hey hey, that's the final essay written, printed and handed in. And to celebrate, here are some more fragments of //I'd Like To Place You In My Collection//\n\n[img[InMyCollectionFragment01.jpg]] [img[InMyCollectionFragment02.jpg]]\n[img[InMyCollectionFragment03.jpg]] [img[InMyCollectionFragment04.jpg]]
I've had a pretty good day today, not in terms of actual productivity (it's essay time) but in terms of sorting my head out from the mire of the pornography thing, tidying my room, doing some overdue backing up, a little editing, and working on a short film that I'm making for Bath film festival, hopefully to be shown with a bunch of other amateur shorts, and maybe even stuck on a dvd. It's due in in a few days, so I'm going to try and finish it all tomorrow so I really can do some essayage. Part of it is animated, and today I created pollen for it, I know it doesn't quite look like real pollen, so apologies to the biologists, but I think I'm close enough for my purposes:\n\n[img[snailsnail's best guess at pollen|pollenCompositeTest.jpg][http://picasaweb.google.com/snailsnail/FailuresTestsAndPoo/photo#5060854865246732898]\n\nJust out of interest, this was my main reference image: http://www.uiowa.edu/~cemrf/archive/sem/large/Pollen.gif\n\nJust in case you don't know, I create images like this in [[Blender|http://www.blender.org]], and you could too, 'cos it be free, in both senses.\n\nthis is a composite, I whacked the background ones in and blurred them in photoshop, just to make it look a bit more interesting.\n\nHopefully, if all goes according to plan, in the film these will drift genteely from a flower and float upon the breeze before becoming evil and menacing, and sliding up my nostril. The nostril is real not animated, and the composite is going to be a bit tricky, so I may have to change the plan if it doesn't come off.
And then... so did everyone else.
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[>img[Elichair|elichairNYE.jpg]](Sottttto Guttttiérrez)
Yesterday I decided to give myself a computer free day, because it's in danger of totally dominating my time. I sat in the garden, it were a beautiful day, totally ignoring my horrendous hay-fever, reading, and working on the next film, the dissertation one. At the moment it's a wild mass of unfocused ideas and images... I want it to be fairly free-form, and to improvise it with actors... but I need to set the constraints within which that'll work, and reign in my control-freakery. There's is the risk it'll get out of control, and be too scatterbrained... I foresee editing being very difficult.\nAnyway, I think I'll be heading to the bay for a while in the not too distant future... looking forward to seeing you guys... and I may bring a camera with me and rope some people in... if anyone fancies it.\nIn the evening I hung out with Phil, and we watched a film... dramatically.\nToday I've been chillin'. And burning ~DVDs for people.
[img[EnTusBrazos.png]]
I´ve had a fairly solid video editing day today and have now finished a rough cut of everything I´ve shot so far... which turns out at about six minutes. Obviously it doesn´t bare much relationship to what the finished product will become, but it´s good to start to shape it into a form. Everyone who´s taken part so far has been awesome, there´s some beautiful little moments with everyone I´ve filmed, and... at this early stage, it looks like the experiments are paying off. There´s still several months to go, so I´m hoping I´ll have time to get to something spectacular. Tomorrow I´m meeting my supervisors to discuss how thing´s are going, and we´ll see what they think about my slightly unusual way of working... and then it´s time to plan and instigate the next batch of 'interviews' and come up with a story too, about which I do have some ideas...\n\n[img[Clouds01.jpg]]
[img[No Mis-Aimed Lips|midStream.jpg][http://picasaweb.google.com/snailsnail/Wrks/photo#5036043660395360642]]\n\nI made this as a test of some stuff in Blender - namely the Displace modifier - this is just a cube subdivided and then displaced with a texture taken from [[Carla's hair|http://picasaweb.google.com/snailsnail/Wrks/photo#5035878450183352690]] - and then compositing with nodes - something I could probably do easier with the gimp or photoshop, but you've got to try new ways of doing sometimes, have you not?
[img[black|black.jpg]]
Death in Venice\nTrainspotting\nNaked\nLudvig:Requiem for a Virgin King\nJLG/JLG\nMy Life As A Dog\nThe French Leutenants Woman\nBabel\nManderlay\nThe Lost Honour of Katherine Blum\nMy Beautiful Laundrette\nLittle Red Flowers\nTwo or Three Things I Know About Her...\nHigh Hopes\nVolver\nComing Out\nThe Trial\nCoffee and Cigarettes\nAmores Perros\nHope and Glory\nCode Unknown\nFanny and Alexander\nClosely Observed Trains\nHappiness\nThe Royal Tennenbaums\nThe Squid and the Whale\nThe Player\nSebastien\nThe Science of Sleep\nThe Gospel According to St. Mathew\nThe House of Mirth\nThe Sky is Falling\nLike Water for Chocolate\nAmerican Splendour\nBeautiful Thing\nGrave of the Fireflies\nTrilogy: The Weeping Meadow\nHearts of Darkness\nRaining Stones\nShow Me Love\nThe Boxer\nIn The Name Of The Father\nThe Illusionist
It's been difficult to write for the last few days which have been very busy, filled with boring inductiony type things - how to write bibliographys, what it means to be a postgrad, etc. Even so it's been a really enjoyable time - meeting the other students and the members of staff (who seem to outnumber the students). Everyone is very enthusiastic and it looks to be a good year. It's that weird time when you first meet a group of people and everyone is getting on furiously, being very effusive and agreeing with everything everyone else says. Still it's pretty cool, I think already we've formed our little groupings, though that may change when we're split up be classes. I'm more convinced, moment by moment, of how right a thing to do this course is, it's going to be tough I think, and a lot of work, but it's very exciting to be with people who share intrests, in an atmosphere that fosters inquiry and creativity, and where people talk about more obscure films than me.\nEnough enthusiasm.\nIt's been pretty tiring travelling back and forth to [[Bristol]] every day, not to mention expensive, and I'm looking forward to moving into my new place on Sunday, and seeing the 'rents on Mon.\n\nI've seen a couple of films: IvanTheTerriblePartOne, which I've seen before and was the introductory film for the course, and TheConstantGardener, which I haven't and which was as terrible as I thought it was going to be.
[img[ForSheWhoDoesNotKnow.png]]
[img[elisa01.jpg][http://picasaweb.google.com/snailsnail/Wrks/photo#5078224543956715986]]\nHere's a little something I photoshopped together, obviously it's based on the fake album cover I made here: [[Landscape]].\nI did a little more filming with Sarah this evening, and generally tried to take it moderately easy.
#Carla, microphoning outside Kristy's bathroom while I shoot Pari painting her toenails. I have a couple of work lights that I use a lot for lighting. They're a blunt instrument, but can be used imaginatively. Here I'm just diffusing it a bit by bouncing of the back wall (foto by Kristy).\n#This is Pari, my lead actress, posing in one of my candle-lit sets, an homage to Barry Lyndon. We're shooting day-for-night, hence the heavy blanket black-outs on the windows (foto by Kristy).\n#Me shooting outside halls on Kristy's film (still untitled). Kristy let me do quite a lot of camerage, mainly I suspect, because of a different pain in the bum. (foto by Carla).\n#Me shooting my film in the hallway of Carla's house - work light being employed again, this time dangling unsafely from the banisters above. Carla is taking this foto, positioned in the lighting technician's spot - ready to yank plugs so we don't set anything of fire, or cause anything to explode.\n#Carla shooting Pari in the first day of her filming. I am taking the foto, and supposedly standing in for the other actor currently sweating blood over essays.\n#Carla discussing the scene with Pari (actually she was all our lead actress's) while I pretend to take the stand-in job seriously.
[[Jo K|http://curlykreeger.blogspot.com/]] is going to have a baby, we talk a bit about it. She has an ultrasound scan.\nA load of other stuff happens.\nI run home along a beach amazed at how fit I've become and vaguely aware that I am following someone who may be my dad, or may instead be a band called something like Scaelectrix, only not. Their logo is a BMX bike which adorns their clothes, sometimes it gets animated. They are talking about an editor. At some point I run through a supermarket, there are adverts for car kits consisting of maps, chargers, and something else, they seem to cost a lot of money.
[>img[Encoding Woes|encodingWoes.jpg]][<img[Pretending 'tis summer with Kristy 'n Carla|wineWithCarlaYKristy.jpg][http://picasaweb.google.com/snailsnail/VariousBathianAnticsJanWhenever07/photo#5042483827298859138]I spent the morning going nuts over video encoding issues, none of which I solved, and watching King Lear in Russian. In the afternoon we bunked off our Spanish class and headed out into the sun, pretended it was summer, lay on the grass, watched the ducks, scorned upon the idiots playing lacrosse, drank some wine and enjoyed wide-ranging intercourse. We went and got some more marks, and then headed back home, as if returning from holiday. Right now, it's only 10, but I'm exhausted to the point of coma, and yet cannot sleep, so I'm watching some Almodóvar instead, and waiting for what dreams may come (which is a Shakespeare rather than a Robin Williams reference).\n{{justifycent{\n[img[Volver|volverTitShot.jpg]]\n}}}
[<img[Lunch|olivesnfeta.jpg]][[Carla]], [[Kristy]] and I met up in town and had a very nice lunch in a cafe by the river. I had pasta with olives and feta, and a marvellous pot of earl grey. It was lovely to be together, un-worried by deadlines, we had a grand old time. That is until we were having a cup of coffee and a slice of carrot cake (in my case ginger) in our favourite cafe on Pulteney Bridge when a vile crotchety old gentlemen admonished me at length for, apparently, stopping him thinking. I wish I'd been born in the ghetto so that I could spew forth a stream of cusswords in reply, unfortunately my lips are too well bred and all I managed was to tell him I was shocked how rude he was and apologise for ruining his day - the wasp-queen he was in thrall to muttered 'you should be' and I stormed out - well, stormed isn't quite the right word - I managed to tip the waitress on the way. Ah, manners - they're not such a blessing when they dampen your invective.\n[>img[Carla and Kristy brave the winter|cnklunch.jpg]]
[>img[Giorgos|giorgosNYE.jpg]]
Films what I've watched and likes
[>img[a brave new world|bravenewworld-t.jpg][bravenewworld.jpg]] A new [[blog]], I think, for a new stretch of life.\n\nToday I traveled up to [[Bristol]] to stay with my [[Hannah]] while I go hunting for somewhere to live in [[Bath]] where I'm about to start my [[MA]] in [[European Cinema Studies]].\n\nInfo over. You all know all of that.\n\nWhat a palaver. I lost my wallet last night of course, so I've had a fun day - scrounging money and then buying a new train ticket for three times the price of the first one. Then, of course, the wallet turned up, though I'm still separated from it. But I'm glad because I would miss [[the nut and the bolt]] in it.\n\nThis, by the way, is a TiddlyWiki. You can find out about it, and get one yourself, [[here|http://www.tiddlywiki.com/]]. I've got big plans for it this coming year, but I won't say anything more 'cos all the plans'll awry themselves. It's all at its defaults now and I've not written much, but it'll grow.
[<img[Antigone|antigoneMoles.jpg]]We went on a surprisingly rare cinema trip yesterday, [[Carla]], [[Kristy]], y yo, to see //The Illusionist//, don't, it's rubbish.\nWe talked long and hard about its rubbishness at the pub afterwards, and were joined by a couple more Greeks, [[Pari]] - who lives with Kristy and is set to play the lead role in my next film, and Antigone - her friend visiting for the weekend. One of the problems, I think, with all these Greeks with their names, is that whenever they turn up, no one can resist going off on a rant along the lines of.. "Oh, I know you, you're the daughter and half-sister of Oedipus - you hanged yourself in a cave." Which is exactly what I did, although it's not going to stop me calling my first daughter Eurydice. Still, I don't think there were any hard feelings and we (Pari, Antigone and I, the others bailed) finally went to Moles, Baths best attempt at a club that I might actually want to go to, and it was not bad.\nBack in my room however, I'm almost entirely certain I saw a betailed rat-like creature disappear under my desk, I could have been halicinating, I couldn't find it when I tried to root it out, but whether I was or not, it probably was bad.
[>img[Greg|greg1.jpg]]Or, when he's been naughty, [[Gregory]].
[>img[Gregory|gregory1.jpg]]Or, more generally, [[Greg]]
{{justifycent{\n[img[composing.jpg]]\n}}}
Well, I didn't quite finish yesterday, mostly I got bogged down in long render times - all the non-animated stuff is finished though, including the difficult-to-edit conclusion, the most difficult shot awaits...\n\nI found time to watch [[London|http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0110377/]], a sort of documentary by [[Patrick Keiller|http://www.screenonline.org.uk/people/id/472615/]], which I've been meaning to do for an age. For me it's more akin to poetry than film, although admittedly very dense poetry about Britain under the Conservatives, Architecture, Romanticism, French Literature, and so forth. I followed it up (during another long render) with [[Robinson in Space|http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0120028/]], the sequel if you will, in the same vein but concerning the whole of England. Personally //Robinson is Space// seemed disjointed and less coherant than London, although maybe that's the point, and popular opinion seems to go against me, preferring the second of the two. Still, if you like good films, and you get a chance both are worth seeing.\n\nMy favorite quote is from //Robinson//, it won't give you any idea at all about what the film is really like...\n>[>img[busShelter.jpg]]"Much of life, for many people," read Robinson, "even in the heart of the first world consists of waiting in a bus shelter with your shopping for a bus that never comes."\n>The bus shelter was opposite the premises of Smallmen Lubricants.\n>When the bus finally arrived, Robinson had disappeared to a sexual encounter with a stranger he contacted through the Internet while we were waiting at the bus stop.
[>img[Hanna|hannaNYE.jpg]]
[>img[Hannah|hof-t.jpg][hof.jpg]]Hannah:\n[[http://www.runningforgrace.blogspot.com/|http://www.runningforgrace.blogspot.com/]]
[>img[IUDCheap.jpg][http://picasaweb.google.com/snailsnail/Wrks/photo#5061950446979433090]]Why thank you [[Hannah|http://runningforgrace.blogspot.com/2007/05/excitement-and-boredom.html]], one does try.\nThis is the latest from the doodling pen of the snail >>>\nThere've been strange goings on recently, but not elaboratable here, needless to say, I've been overdosing on terrible movies (6 today), and not writing scripts. This was not the plan, [[Phil]] and I unwound at his last night and watched something completely un work related, that Tristram Shandy film, in theory in anticipation of a full days graft today, didn't quite work unfortunately.\nTomorrow though, and this is a threat not a promise, I'll not be watching any, and I will be writing scripts.
<html>\n\n<iframe width="425" height="350" frameborder="no" scrolling="no" marginheight="0" marginwidth="0" src="http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&geocode=&q=Herne+Bay,+UK&sll=41.234782,1.811222&sspn=0.258698,0.6427&ie=UTF8&z=12&iwloc=addr&om=1&ll=51.397706,1.143265&output=embed&s=AARTsJocdMwVi5ILjMQaW_D7v_Csl_ykRg"></iframe><br/><a href="http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&geocode=&q=Herne+Bay,+UK&sll=41.234782,1.811222&sspn=0.258698,0.6427&ie=UTF8&z=12&iwloc=addr&om=1&ll=51.397706,1.143265&source=embed" style="color:#0000FF;text-align:left;font-size:small">View Larger Map</a>\n\n</html>
Home Town\n[img[map1.jpg]] [img[map2.jpg]]\n\n[img[map3.jpg]] [img[map4.jpg]]\n\n[img[map5.jpg]] [img[map6.jpg]]
The previous worKs in progress have been for a set of portraits [[Carolin]] asKed me to do, and here they are finished:\n\n[img[Caro01b.png]]\n\n[img[Caro02b.png]]\n\n[img[Caro03d.jpg]]\n\nMade mainly with [[inKscape|http://www.inkscape.org/]] (the last one has a tiny bit of photoshop in, to get the blur right). \nSeriously, this 'K' issue is really bugging me.
[>img[Christmas Dinner|crimbodin.jpg]]Christmas.\nIt's all fun and games back at CasaBarnes, and [[the bay|HerneBay]] in general.\n(Met some interesting people on TheJourney back.)\n\nActually it doesn't feel holidayish at all. Since getting back on Friday I've watched a load of German Feminist films, read a little Surrealist writing on cinema, made the soundtrack to a film, spent a long time building [[mattes]] for [[Kristy]]'s eyes and spent a little time catching up with friends.\nI had been planning on not even thinking about work while I've been here, but it hasn't worked out like that. Ho hum. \n\nAs ever there's a [[shed-load of photos|http://picasaweb.google.com/snailsnail/BackInTheBay]]\nOf course the prospect of the holiday in [[Barcelona]] keeps sanity more or less within arms reach.\nAlso, interestingly, I've been having [[dreams]]. This is after a long period of not really dreaming at all (don't say it, you'll get a rant about subjectivity, and blind acceptance of authority). So I'm going to try and document a few of them, dream diarys being all the rage.
[img[Complexions.png]]
[<img[Mother and I in front of Bath Abbey|mereyyo.jpg][http://picasaweb.google.com/snailsnail/VariousBathianAnticsJanWhenever07/photo#5025063732390761858]On Friday [[ma mere|mum]] popped round for a cup of tea and a natter, she cajoled me into letting her buy me stuff in our ramble around [[Bath]] and we sat deep into the night passing idle banter over cross stitch.\nYesterday we visited [[ma soeur|Hannah]] in [[Bristol]] where we nattered aimlessly, particularly on the subject of a lack of husbands, partook of a particularly scrumptious lunch, failed to get a recorder fixed (the real motivation for the whole trip), and dallied our way home, myself to [[Bath]], the [[mum]] to the [[Bay|HerneBay]].\n[[Carla]] and I went out in the evening to our standard watering hole, and enjoyed ourselves immensely moaning the night away.\nToday I have spent encoding video, reading poetry and drinking Darjeeling in my new [[cup]].\nOh, and I fixed the [[RSS|RSSFeed]] - happy now?\n[>img[Hannah and Mum playing dominoes|dominos.jpg][http://picasaweb.google.com/snailsnail/VariousBathianAnticsJanWhenever07/photo#5025064015858603426]
[img[requitalWIP03.jpg]]\nProgressing very, very slowly.
[img[requitalWIP01.jpg]]\n[img[requitalWIP02.jpg]]\n\nAnd some links and things:\n\n[>img[highHeels01.jpg]]Intriguing Japanese blood group thingamy:\n[[in English|http://www.kirainet.com/english/blood-types/]], and [[en Español|http://www.kirainet.com/grupos-sanguineos/]]\n\n[[Russian High-Heels Running contest|http://englishrussia.com/?p=1113]]\n\nand, some ~YouTubage:\n\nFirstly, the [[Vegetable Orchestra|http://www.gemueseorchester.org/]], a group I've known of for a while, and here's a great video of them in action:\n\n<html>\n\n<object width="425" height="350"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/hpfYt7vRHuY"></param><param name="wmode" value="transparent"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/hpfYt7vRHuY" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" width="425" height="350"></embed></object>\n\n</html>\n\nImpressive handage, to Daft Punk [via [[Dadanoias|http://dadanoias.blogspot.com/2007/07/harder-better-faster-stronger.html]]], stay with it for serious goodness.\n\n<html>\n\n<object width="425" height="350"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/K2cYWfq--Nw"></param><param name="wmode" value="transparent"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/K2cYWfq--Nw" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" width="425" height="350"></embed></object>\n\n</html>\n\nThe Algorithm March, as performed by Philippine prisoners (also, related, [[Algorithm march with Ninjas|http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=qDSGmx8c2AM&mode=related&search=]], not quite so impressive, but easier to see, has subtitles, and also, ninjas), the prisoners, who you'll see have a load more stuff on ~YouTube, have been [[picked up by the guardian|http://www.guardian.co.uk/international/story/0,,2136595,00.html?gusrc=rss&feed=12]].\n\n<html>\n\n<object width="425" height="350"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/WjMd2Vabcv8"></param><param name="wmode" value="transparent"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/WjMd2Vabcv8" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" width="425" height="350"></embed></object>\n\n</html>\n\nAnd finally, MPC skills, via [[Music Thing|http://musicthing.blogspot.com/2007/07/10-more-greatest-beat-making-videos.html]] (follow that link to find a load more similar).\n\n<html>\n\n<object width="425" height="350"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/V0klmHRRBSI"></param><param name="wmode" value="transparent"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/V0klmHRRBSI" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" width="425" height="350"></embed></object>\n\n</html>
[>img[IdLikeToPlaceYouInMyCollection.png]]\n\nYup, know it's huge, sorry.\n\n//Id Like To Place You In My Collection//\n\nInkscaped shapes, rendered in Blender, cropped and tweaked in Photoshop
[img[vine01.jpg]]\nA glorious day it were today and I went and had cream tea with [[Carla]] and the Greeks.\n\nPlus, working on some pictures,\nWork in progress:\n\n[img[Caro01WIP01b.jpg]]
[img[IfThisIsLoveThenThankYouButIdRatherNot.jpg]]\n\nVery much a work in progress, made in between writing dialog fragments.
Well yesterday nearly turned into a catalogue of calamitites, but by the skin of my teeth it all worked out in the end.\n[>img[Cube|cubeMicroplex.jpg]]So no sooner do I make a promise, than I keep it - I went the the [[Cube Cinema|http://microplex.cubecinema.com/cubewebsite/]] in [[Bristol]] last night for the closing event of the [[aforementioned|NIP]] [[NIP|http://newinterfaces.net/nip/]], I nearly didn't make it, managing to get lost a full half dozen time on the way, eventually, on the point of packing it in, I bumped into [[Tom Bugs|http://www.bugbrand.co.uk]] himself in the street, I told him I loved him, and he showed me where the place was, "we're in for a squelchy night," he said, and indeed we were. I think there's probably much to be said about the Cube, but I'll limit it to this, they serve [[Zubrowka|http://www.zubrowka.net/]], my favorite vodka.\n\n[<img[Tom Verbruggen|tomVerbruggen.jpg][http://picasaweb.google.com/snailsnail/VariousBathianAnticsJanWhenever07/photo#5048814152694257026]]Tom Bugs was great, and I'll talk more about his performance when I get round to editing a video of him, but the highlight was the also aforementioned [[Tom Verbruggen|http://www.sonidogris.com/]], who did amazing stuff that it's better to show than talk about, so it's a good thing I uploaded a video to ~YouTube isn't it:\n\n[[YouTube link|http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=87Tufey8Pxo]]\n\nturn it up loud - the perfect comination of noise, art, performance, etc. I could explain [[how it works]] if you like.\n\n(Incidentally, I know the pictures are looking terrible at the moment, I'm using Paint unfortunately, as I haven't got anything else to work with Vista yet)
Ok, so, yeah. I did a reckless thing. Well... I //did// need a break...\n[>img[Oh... At the Palace|theQueenAndI.jpg][http://picasaweb.google.com/snailsnail/VariousBathianAnticsJanWhenever07/photo#5067102374083976226]I went to London on Friday and met up with [[Carolin]], an ex-Bangorian over from Germany who I haven't seen for nigh on two years. We spent about two seconds being tourists, before flâneuring around. Then we went to [[Fabric|http://www.fabriclondon.com/]] and it were great to go out with someone who just wants to shake their wobbly bits from noon until noon again, a demographic saddly lacking amongst my friends and acquaintances. \n7 or so hours dancing, 2 hours sleep the night before, and far too little to eat left me with a completely wrecked body.\n[<img[Oh... At Fabric|ohTheBacksOfHeads.jpg][http://picasaweb.google.com/snailsnail/VariousBathianAnticsJanWhenever07/photo#5067102644666915906]]Chemical Brothers were sublime, though they pushed their luck a bit towards the end, LCD soundsystem left a little to be desired, the other djs were on the whole good, the bands lackluster. \nIn the coach station waiting for a coach home and writing essays I kept falling asleep mid sentence. One time I woke up having had strange indefinable dreams, to find the first half of my sentence harking on about the importance of subsidies for independent cinemas, and the second half about a confession obtained under torture by the Spanish Inquisition.\nMake of it what you will.\n\n[>img[Oh... At Fabric Too|ohTheFrontsOfHeadsOh.jpg][http://picasaweb.google.com/snailsnail/VariousBathianAnticsJanWhenever07/photo#5067102752041098338]]All did not quite go according to plan. I had calculated this in, but it didn't work, I let myself down and didn't quite get all the essays in, and had to ask for an extension of a couple of days. I'm a bit annoyed that I failed to get everything done on time, especially as I've never missed a deadline yet (well not entirely true, if you really want to know why [[click here|TheOtherDeadlinesThatIveMissed]]).\n\nOk, now I suspect no one's interested, but just in case you are, here's one of the pieces of work I just handed in, It's for a module on cinema and literature - an adaptation of a play, "Landscape" by Harold Pinter, I'm quite liking it, not that I'd ever want to make it, but still...: [["Landscape", by John Barnes|http://www.snailsnail.com/wrdstore/Landscape.pdf]] (pdf link)
[img[PureData01.jpg][noise/au/pariDancingThemeTace01.mp3]
[img[bye.jpg]]\n\nToday I leave Bath, and hence, this is the last post in this blog.\nLife is, perhaps more than at any time before, uncertain.\nI'll let you know.\nMaybe.\n\nHere's a bunch of stuff to keep you occupied:\n\n<html>\n\n<object width="425" height="350"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/AE3md_3khEE"></param><param name="wmode" value="transparent"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/AE3md_3khEE" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" width="425" height="350"></embed></object>\n\n</html>\n\nWhat's not to love about rapping swiss firemen? [via [[Nothing To Do With Arbroath|http://arbroath.blogspot.com/2007/09/swiss-firefighters-don-hot-pants-to-big.html]]]\n\n[[Photos of beautiful libraries|http://www.curiousexpeditions.org/2007/09/librophiliac_love_letter_a_com.html#more]]\n\nand finally, and awesome animation by Blu, who I've posted about before. [via[[Cartoon Brew|http://www.cartoonbrew.com/shorts/the-world-is-your-canvas]]]\n\n<html>\n\n<object width="425" height="350"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/6Jfcpa_x4Lg"></param><param name="wmode" value="transparent"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/6Jfcpa_x4Lg" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" width="425" height="350"></embed></object>\n\n</html>\n\noh, and some of you may not have seen the trailers for the film, here they are:\n\n<html>\n\n<object width="425" height="350"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/daEj-W_WcGU"></param><param name="wmode" value="transparent"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/daEj-W_WcGU" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" width="425" height="350"></embed></object>\n<br /><br />\n<object width="425" height="350"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/xmmEZjPmGLQ"></param><param name="wmode" value="transparent"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/xmmEZjPmGLQ" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" width="425" height="350"></embed></object>\n\n</html>
Nothing much to add, having a fairly vacant few moments...\nHere's an extension to the last work in progress:\n\n[img[Caro04WIP02.jpg]]\n\nI've been fairly envious for a while now of people who make photo-realistic vector art, although the actual results are often fairly unartistic (sorry, can't find any links right now)... anyway, this is kind of my first foray into doing something similar... it's turning out to look a bit weirdly airbrushed, though that may be inevitable, in any case... 'tis a challenge.
Finally!\n\nFinally they've put a search box in [[Google Reader|http://www.google.com/reader/]]. Why oh why it wasn't there before I don't know, it is, after all, a Google product. And this enables me to fill in the missing links from two posts ago.\n\nPhoto-realistic vector art\n\n[[1|http://www.dominiquefam.com/home.html]] and [[2|http://www.khulsey.com/masters_yukio_miyamoto.html]]\n\nAnd no, I couldn't have found them by hand:\n\n[img[timeWasting01.jpg]]\n\nYes, I do waste too much time on the internet.
Those of you who block such things may have noticed that I've recently google anyliticised this page because, well, I do want them to know everything possible about me.\nAnd today I noticed I got a hit via a google search for, and I kid you not, "naked kidz philms torrent"... which is a bit strange. I replicated the search but didn't find me.
[<img[Elisa|elisa-painting.jpg]]I've been neglecting this for a while I know, without excuse.\n\nAs it's //that// day, [[snailsnail.com|http://www.snailsnail.com]] has had an update to make it as web2.0 as possible, with, for a limited time only, a valentine feature.\nIt's no coincidence that the redesign coincides with the release of [[Incscape0.45|http://www.inkscape.org/]] (my favourite vector graphics program) and its exciting new blur feature.\n\nI've recently mainly been painting, reading a lot, watching many films and editing. You can catch some of the editing [[here on YouTube|http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wHbsomqsOHE]] - the new year's eve party (some bad language).\n\nWe spent a day in Bristol a couple of weeks ago, and you can watch the resulting video [[here, again on YouTube|http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w7ede-5cGng]].
[img[Kristy|kristy.jpg][kristy-vlarge.jpg]]\n(click for large)\n\nThe fruits of photoshop labor. Actually about half and half photoshop and [[inkscape|http://www.inkscape.org/]], the later of which is a free program I heartily recomend.\n\n[>img[lessons1.jpg]]Yesterday Phil and I had one of our now regular [[Herzog|http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Werner_Herzog]] (at whose altar we both bend a knee) evenings. We started of with //[[The Flying Doctors of East Africa|http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0064334/]]// which almost caused us to loose faith, it felt exploitative, agendaed, and severely dated. Our confidence was shaken. Then, however, we turned to //[[Lessons of Darkness|http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0104706/]]// and our faith was restored, and my, what a superb film - not a documentary, not, as Herzog would like us to believe, science fiction... just pure awesomeness. Some of the most stunning images captured on film decontextualised from their reality into Herzog's own grand epic imaginary world of madness and extremes.\nPoetry.\n\nThis evening some of us went to see //[[Water|http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0240200/]]//, an Indian film without dancing. It was ok, the subject matter was interesting... but it got a bit cheesy, the music was great, the cinematography was at times great but on the whole patchy and it just didn't enthrall. What really got my goat though, was that The Little, our local (semi) independent cinema, has chosen to install a jet-engine of an air conditioner in the auditorium. It drove. me. nuts.\n\nAnyway, after a lazy day today, tomorrow, I promise, I'm going to get down to some serious writing in preparation for filming next week, and I'll probably work a little on the music too.\n(oh, and I broke the RSS, but it's back now. Sorry.)\nCiao
[>img[Ivania|ivaniaNYE.jpg]]
[>img[Jake|jakeyNYE.jpg]]Fellow Brit
Entries written in January 2007
[>img[Josephine|josephineNYE.jpg]]
[>img[Jouni|jouniNYE.jpg]]
[>img[juanito|juanitoNYE.jpg]]Also, [[snailsnail]], and author of this.
[img[hatfieldInterior01.jpg]]\n\nI've got the house to myself at the moment, which is nice... because it means I can sit and work (or not) in rooms like this one.\n\nMore work in progress:\n\n[img[Caro02WIP01.jpg]]
[>img[Kate|kateNYE.jpg]]
[>img[Kevin|kevinNYE.jpg]]
[>img[kristy|kristy4.jpg]] Otherwise known as [[Tzila]]
[>img[kristy|kristy2.jpg]] Otherwise known as [[Christina-Chris Lountzi]]
[img[1|parc1NYE.jpg]]\n[img[2|parc2NYE.jpg]]\n[img[3|parc3NYE.jpg]]\n[img[4|parc4NYE.jpg]]\n[img[5|parc5NYE.jpg]]
[img[LaPrimeraNoche.png]]\n\nalso, here is a genius use of the imaging processing powers of computers:\nhttp://www.flight404.com/fezPigeon/\nseriously, this is why they were invented.\n(via [[we make money not art|http://www.we-make-money-not-art.com/archives/009520.php]])\nThis was done with [[processing|http://www.processing.org/]], something I last had a look at when it was in alpha, looks like I might have to have another peek.
I suppose most universities are a rather labyrinthine, but it's going a little far to ask someone to find room 4.3 in a building with 3 rooms numbered 4.3 (that I found), with the ground floor labelled level 2, and with arrows in stairwells erroneously pointing to level 4 in a downwards direction. Anyway, I was only 20 minutes late, and the Prof was later, so there you go. This is my first entry from the university computer rooms, I'm a little shocked to see that there's no [[Firefox|http://www.mozilla.com/firefox/]], I'd forgotten quite how rubbish [[IE|http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Internet+Explorer]] is. \nStupidly I left the charger for my camera at home, so no more photos for a while, I was quite enjoying documenting my foray into this exciting new world.\n
Today, avoiding writing scripts, I made the cd cover for my imaginary best of album:\n\n[img[Treebait Consortium - Best Of Vol. 01|treebaitVOl1a3.jpg][http://picasaweb.google.com/snailsnail/ExperimentsInNoise/photo#5063824856606753442]\n\nIt's probably true to say the cover is more exciting than the music.\n\nmade in [[inkscape|http://www.inkscape.org]], with a little photoshop thrown in (mainly colour correcting), photos by me and [[Elisa]].
[<img[Those Nearly Articulated Syllables That Emoticon Kiss|ThatEmoticonKiss.jpg][http://picasaweb.google.com/snailsnail/Wrks/photo#5020802289264442658]Among other things today I went and interviewed a cinematographer, Roger Chapman, who lives here in [[Bath]], for one of my essay's. He's a very nice bloke, but I had very little time, and my recording device broke, now I'm trying to hew a 3000 word essay on Cinematography, Technology and Television out of my pencilled scrawlings, it must be said that it contains quite a lot of guff. Many thanks go to [[Hannah]] though, who gave me some tips and tricks before I entered the breech.\nIn other news, oh wait, there is no other news - still in absolute essay city (favela) here, occasionally punctuated by some msning to alleviate the monotony, and the odd internet trawl:\nTime, once again, I think, to mention a glorious site, the fount of audio horrors that is the [[wfmu blog|http://blog.wfmu.org/]] - check it. They're posting [[mp3's every day|http://blog.wfmu.org/freeform/365_days_project/index.html]] in a revival of the legendary [[365 days project|http://www.wfmu.org/365/]]. My particular favourite thus far is [[this one|http://blog.wfmu.org/freeform/2007/01/365_days_10_pla.html]], got to be heard to be believed, an anti-intruder LP for pretending you're at home when you're not - absolute genius, laugh-out-loud, my favourite being:\n\n[>img[What Pedestal?|penis-crop.jpg][http://picasaweb.google.com/snailsnail/Wrks/photo#5021033014907583794]//Man// - But you're always gossiping, it drives me insane.\n//Woman// - Well, what else do I have to do, I mean, around the house all day.\n//M//- You're not chained to the house. You can go out whenever you want during the day, I never stop you\n//W// - Hahaha - I know\n//M// - Well?\n//W// - Well. Alright I'm sorry. I'll promise again... I'll try not to bring these things up with you, Ok? It's a bad habit I know.\n
[img[Carla|tresC.jpg]][img[Juanito|tresJ.jpg]][img[Kristy|tresK.jpg]]
[>img[Laura|lauraNYE.jpg]]
[>img[Our Glorious Leader|ourGloriousLeader.jpg][http://picasaweb.google.com/snailsnail/Filming/photo#5067845828627947586]] We spent most of today filming [[Kristy]]'s as yet untitled film project in glorious sunshine, it's in Greek and features two of my own actors, the wonderful [[Pari]] and [[Petros]]. You can see pictures online [[here|http://picasaweb.google.com/snailsnail/Filming]] (scroll down). Unfortunately for my own film, bad news came today - I lost a location, and due to busy schedules there was no way that I could get two of my actors together at the same time. I'm no Robert Rodriguez unfortunately, and don't have the time or resources to Green screen things, so it looked like a major re-write was in order - my backup actor failed me, and so I'm going to have to play one of the roles, not something I'd particularly ask to do - as I was having a cameo, that role's going to have to go to one of the girls, which means this ones' going to turn into a lesbian film as well, don't know how that happened. Maybe I'm in the midst of a gay trilogy. The time and actor problems mean that I've had to cut my ending, which is a pile of poo - now it's not a musical and it doesn't have a wondrous social realist epiphany. ho humm, they were going to be difficult though. Anyway, we'll be filming for the next two days, now it's back to my essay...\n[img[Filming|filmingKristys.jpg][http://picasaweb.google.com/snailsnail/Filming/photo#5067844432763575810]]
Proper news soon.\nFilmed on Carla's film yesterday,\nwrapped up the majority of my scenes today,\nhere are some frames.... yes, it is that kind of a film\n\n[img[beastFrame02.jpg]] [img[beastFrame05.jpg]] \n[img[beastFrame03.jpg]] [img[beastFrame01.jpg]]\n[img[beastFrame04.jpg]]\n\n\nAfter filming today the chicas and I took a meal together at a rather nice Indian place, then Carla and I saw the sun down with a bottle of Pinot Grigio.\nNext two days are most likely going to be spent solely in the employ of Kristy, finishing off her work for her... 'cos she's going back to Greece on Friday.
<html>\n\n<iframe width="425" height="350" frameborder="no" scrolling="no" marginheight="0" marginwidth="0" src="http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&geocode=&q=lima,+peru&ie=UTF8&ll=-2.811371,-72.773437&spn=42.698926,82.265625&z=4&om=1&output=embed&s=AARTsJoNdYbJYDuJfThCOqtviCYHXSsK5Q"></iframe><br/><a href="http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&geocode=&q=lima,+peru&ie=UTF8&ll=-2.811371,-72.773437&spn=42.698926,82.265625&z=4&om=1&source=embed" style="color:#0000FF;text-align:left;font-size:small">View Larger Map</a>\n\n</html>
[<img[First Aid Box|firstAidBox.jpg]]Today, apart from the weekly Spanish lesson, I spent most of my time finally editing the promotional footage I shot for the university (it's about time too) and marvelling at the abhorrentness of my camera-work (well, marvelling isn't quite right, I'm a little bit familiar with it).\nI found a brilliant metal first aid box which, If I still had the time to do any electronics stuff, would be immensely useful. And then I spent most of the rest of the evening re-writing my script and getting the French translations done for it. Tomorrow I'm hoping to get the Greek done which means I need really to finish writing my song lyrics tonight (fat chance). I recorded some tinkling on the piano a little while ago and I've been trying to digitally mash that into some form of a tune, but it's proving difficult. I have someone lined up to write the guitar parts for me so I may try and get the lyrics done (in Greek (I've decided it's important for the narrative that the songs are in Greek)) first, and then get him to do his stuff before I put the piano in. It's pretty obvious I guess that I don't know anything at all about music, but I'm going to give it my best shot. As I keep arguing with anyone who'll let me, it's very important for me to make things as difficult as possible for myself when making these films - to stretch my abilities, learn what I can do, and hopefully push the bounds of my creativity. In the context of music it's got to be said that I'm heavily influenced by [[Robert Rodriguez|http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0001675/]] (of spy kids, desperado, sin city fame), not the most obvious choice for a pretentious idiot studying European Cinema, but his desire to do as many jobs that he can on films, particularly ones he's not qualified for (like scoring), is one that I aspire to too, not that I'm making Sin City, it's just a little student piece, but still, you get the picture.\nRant over.
I've just got back from a film screening and ~QnA thingumy in which I determinedly didn't make a fool out of myself in front of Loachy baby at all. Which I was very pleased with. I did have rather a long chat with editor [[Jonathon Morris|http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0606682/]] and may have been slightly buffoonish when I started rattling on about trimming single frames but nevermind, it can't all go right in one go.\n\nYesterday I did my last presentation //ever//. And the last week or so leading up to it has been pretty grueling, it was all about pornography, force feeding, cameras mounted on dildos (a word, I note, that isn't in my spell checker dictionary), and that kind of thing, and I won't pretend it was fun but it does explain the title of the last post, and why I haven't been writing recently. Still, they seem to be making up for former shoddy performance and the mark came in today, and it weren't too shabby neither, and came appended by a comment that I won't pretend didn't swell my head a mite, "This was the best presentation I've heard in some time." I'm sure they say that to all the students, but you know, it's still nice to hear.\n\nRight, boasting over. \n(I can do it without guilt because, you know, because there's no comments on this thing, I know I'm not fishing for more praise).
[>img[Cut off in his prime|deadtrees.jpg][http://picasaweb.google.com/snailsnail/Bathnotpeople/photo#5040322681359885682][<img[Ken Loach|loachyBaby.jpg]]Yesterday Ken Loach came to give a seminar to us lucky fellows on the course. He was very good - charming, affable, funny, informative, and coped with our questions very well. I was roped in by the department to film it, I'm supposed to be producing video clips for their website, but we'll see, it depends on if I can squeeze any money out of them - this looks possible, I finished a promotional vid I did for them, a tour of the campus, and showed them yesterday - they loved it and asked me how much? I haven't decided what figure to set yet, but it'll probably be exorbitant because I know they'll argue me down, but not too high, I want more work. Back to Loach... I pulled a standard Johnian manoeuvre and as I asked him a question I kicked my tripod and camera over, what professionalism, and in front of a great director. He was very nice obviously, and paused in his answer so I could set it up again. Buffoonishness lives.\nIn the name, I suppose, of urban redevelopment, or something, they've started cutting all the trees down in Bath, great, just great - it fills me with rage. They have billboard sized artists impressions of what the area's going to look like and they're not even going to replace any of them- a travesty.
[<img[requital04.png]] That last one was thrown together a bit quick, I forgot a leg and a hand, here's a slightly better version. \nSo, yes, the important things are done now, filmwise, in that I have a title, 'Requital' and a poster... should be a breeze from now on. I still have a couple of scenes to shoot, but mostly we're done. I started editing seriously today, and spent a lot of time fiddling with some snazzy looking opening titles. Still have a mammoth compositing job ahead of me... a twenty second shot that's probably going to take me about three days hard graft to get it to work... was planning on starting that today, but couldn't quite face it. \nThursday night (Friday morning) we celebrated [[Pari]]'s saint day, and also [[Kristy]] leaving Bath permanently, here's a foto of she and I boogying, \n[img[KnJOpa.jpg]]\nwe swung a lock-in which grew strenuously Greek, hence the previous post. However, as mentioned before, I had spent the last two days rushing to finish Kristy's Dissertation film, a documentary on Zakynthos - I worked from midday wednesday, encountering numerous problems, finally was in a position to export at 1 in the morning, bedded down in Kristy's room while the computer crunched away but couldn't sleep... it finished at 3.00ish and I got up and had a check, spotted some problems and thought about fiddling, but didn't want to wake Kristy, and was knackered. Finally grabbed 4 hours of sleep and was up with the dawn to crank away again... burned the last dvd at about 5... and thusly wasn't quite the party animal I'd have liked. \nTearful farewells.\n\nI guess everybody's read Harry Potter by now. Here are some links:\n\nQuite, quite impressed that Spanish speaking Potter fans have already translated it and posted online:\nhttp://www.emol.com/noticias/cultura_espectaculos/detalle/detallenoticias.asp?idnoticia=263826\nYou can read it as [[a blog here|http://www.spanishhallows.blogspot.com/]]\n[via [[boing boing|http://www.boingboing.net/2007/07/26/fans_translate_new_h.html]]]\n\n[[JK Rowling interview|http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/19959323/]], with a few more details about what happens after the end of the book. [spoilers if you haven't read it] Frankly I'd rather not know this kind of stuff, because I'm perfectly capable of making it up in a lot more detail.\n\n[[Potter related comic|http://www.wondermark.com/d/321.html]] [no spoilers]\n[via [[boing boing|http://www.boingboing.net/2007/07/25/comic_about_harry_po.html]] again]\n\nOh, and those bangor fotos are coming eventually
A good (if slightly bizarre) first night back in Bath. In the pub with [[Carlita]] a guy came up to me out of the blue and (I'm paraphrasing slightly here) said, "Now, I don't think much about prophecy, but today a girl prophesied over me that I'd meet a guy tonight with exactly your hair. Would you like me to pray for you?" Later, in newly opened Greek bar [[Opa|http://www.opabath.com/]] (whose Greekness seemed to be expressed largely through a pair of taky, and frankly hilarious, statues of, I think, Nike, and that guy hurling a discus artistically), a very strange Spanish lady, who talked mainly about rats, asked me for a strand of my hair. I asked her if it was for voodoo or cloning, she replied in the negative and I acquiesed. However, she took three, and when her friend asked for the same I demanded that she share, because, you know, sharing's good for the soul. However, I'd much rather this kind of hair-based attention than that recieved in the Bay, which consists largely of ne'r-do-wells hanging out of car windows to shout "You f**king pink-haired w**ker". A guy taught me a Greek dance, from 'the islands', which I picked up pretty quickly, largely due to [[Angelopoulos|http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000766/]], although no glass smashing, a la //[[Never on Sunday|http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0054198/]]//, was involved.\nAnd now, bed.
!!!Love\nA 1 minute long lesbian gangster / love story in colour and black and white.\nThis was my second assessed film on the course - starring [[Kristy]] and [[Carlita]]. I spent far too much time on it, including writing the score (with the help of my [[mum]] who proved an excellent composer).\n\nYou can find pictures of the project, plus posters and stills right [[here|http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/search?q=love]]\n\nAnd you can watch the film [[on YouTube|http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xZZdeayw8Dc]]\n\n/%[img[Love Poster 2|loveposter.jpg]]%/\nHere are some stills from the finished film:\n[img[Film Still 1|love1.jpg]]\n[img[Film Still 3|love3.jpg]]\n[img[Film Still 2|love4.jpg]]
Just a quick one, I'm back in the real world after horrendous journeys, and a great time in [[Bangor]]... more on that later, along with pics. Found time to shoot a scene for the film with the lovely [[Rubén|Ruben]] and [[Kate]], and attended two graduations, which was weird, because I didn't even bother to go to my own. Congratulations to little [[Hannah]] who just graduated herself, welcome to the fold chicken!\n\nOf course the main news is Harry Potter, I got to Tesco in Bangor a little late to be front of the queue, which was already trailing round the building, but they were being mightily efficient and I was out clutching a tome in my clammy palm by ten past twelve. I spent the night reading under some trees and a lot of rain in a giant orange plastic bag.\nHave read it twice now, and it's all quite grand I think, a fitting end.
[img[wake.png]]
I've taken more blossom photos, because everyone loves blossom:\n[img[Blossom|moreBlossom1.jpg][http://picasaweb.google.com/snailsnail/Bathnotpeople/photo#5048089892359132450]]\n[img[Blossom|moreBlossom2.jpg][http://picasaweb.google.com/snailsnail/Bathnotpeople/photo#5048089467157370114]]\n[img[Blossom|moreBlossom3.jpg][http://picasaweb.google.com/snailsnail/Bathnotpeople/photo#5048089819344688402]]\nAnd I convalesced \n[img[Convalesced|convalesced.jpg][http://picasaweb.google.com/snailsnail/VariousBathianAnticsJanWhenever07/photo#5048090579553899842]]\nin the conservatory\n[img[Conservatory|conservatory.jpg][http://picasaweb.google.com/snailsnail/VariousBathianAnticsJanWhenever07/photo#5048092250296178018]]\n\nOne of the good things about being (relatively) computerless and (definitively) filmless is that I've got a lot of reading done, indeed I've finally managed to stick //Don Quixote// under my belt, and ooo it were grand, I shed a little tear at the end\n[img[Leer el Don en el jardin de invierno|donQuixote.jpg]]\n\nI've also used time to review and consolidate my ridiculous mess of back up dvds. An obscene and arbitrary system of backing stuff up which has varied flagrantly over the years has left me with, I guess, some 300 unlabeled or mislabeled disks sitting in stacks and I've spent significant portions of today sorting through them, a process which included the throwing away of some 89 corrupt, dubious, duplicitous or extraneous cds and dvds, think of all the wasted trees if they'd been made of paper, I've got to get a system.
Other blogs:\n[[Elichair|http://llluwiasss.spaces.live.com/]]\n[[Hannah|http://www.runningforgrace.blogspot.com/]]\n[[Ben|http://www.srcf.ucam.org/~blb29/blog/]]\n[[Marcus|http://seemyvlog.blogspot.com/]]\n[[Jo B|http://prettyinpink.blog-city.com/]]\n[[Steve|http://kreeger.blogspot.com/]]\n[[Obornes|http://flipflahflo.blogspot.com/]]\n[[Jo K|http://curlykreeger.blogspot.com/]]\n[[Sarah|http://hangin-in-the-nest.blogspot.com/]]\n[[Vicky|http://www1.fotolog.com/estrellades]]\n[[GPSsandwich|http://gpssandwich.spaces.live.com/PersonalSpace.aspx]]\n\n---\nEntries for \nSeptember:\n[[Inside]]\nThatWideExpanse\n[[Inside (Update)]]\nOfEmptyHeart\n[[InThis...|InThisEternallyPrimitiveLand]]\n[[Principia...|PrincipiaMathematica]]\nDotDotDot\n[[MyStirFry...|MyStirFryWasBloodFlavoured]]\n[[Update...|BloodFlavouredUpdate]]\n[[InscritLe...|InscritLeDansTonSlip...or...Goodbye]]\n\n<<tag August2007>>\n<<tag July2007>>\n<<tag June2007>>\n<<tag May2007>>\n<<tag April2007>>\n<<tag March2007>>\n<<tag February2007>>\n<<tag January2007>>\n<<tag December2006>>\n<<tag September2006>>\n
I took a rather extended break from preparing an essay on political violence(ish) to make this page a little fancier. I'm still not entirely satisfied - it could be better (how, for example, do I get padding round all my pictures? eh, eh?)
Well another full day of hard laptop bashing, good news is though - I got that three day compositing job done in two, so clap me on the back and call me Sally. Nothing pretty to show you though I'm afraid, instead, this, which is what I've been staring at for the past two days:\n[img[requitalWIP04.jpg]]\nNow I bet that means a lot, doesn't it. I could explain, but you'd fall asleep... sufficed to say, this is what animation seems to consist of the majority of the time. Now I'm going to go and look at something that doesn't glare back.
Oh yes, here it is... another bout of man flu, much maligned (by the females of our blogsphere) affliction.\nThis is roughly how I feel:\n[img[ratface.jpg]]\nTaken with [[Cameroid|http://www.cameroid.com/]], another pointless web app, via [[photojojo|http://photojojo.com/]]
[>img[Maria|mariaNYE.jpg]]
[>img[Maria The Greek|mariathegreekNYE.jpg]]Maria The Greek
Well, the first semester's marks have started to filter back, although they're unconfirmed because our external examiner decided to go on holiday.\nA bit of a mixed bag really - there's a couple I'm disappointed about - particularly being marked down for not pronouncing "regle de jour" correctly (this in a class half of whom are bloody foreigners and don't pronounce anything 'correctly' (no offence, I'm a linguist, I'm allowed) and in which the lecturer makes a point of pronouncing Quijote (as in Don) as if it's a minor variant of quixotic on a weekly basis). On the other hand, I managed to get a mark significantly higher than the maximum possible for my [[last film project|Love]], so it's not all doom and gloom.\nTo celebrate I thought I'd learn some Greek, so far all I know is this:\n\nΜε λένε Ξοην και είμαι από την Αγγλία.
[>img[Martin|martin1.jpg]]Pretty much know solely as Martin
[>img[Mary|maryNYE.jpg]]
Right then, after feeding the ducks with Pastor Darren, I'm off to [[Barcelona]]. Catch you on the flip side, with plenty of photos I hope. And maybe even a story or two to tell.\n\nOh, and I had [[a dream|FragmentaryDream1]] last night, didn't remember much though.\n\nAlso, If you want to check some recent pictures (that I shouldn't have been making instead of working) try [[here|http://picasaweb.google.com/snailsnail/RecentIshArtworks]]\n\n[img[Bastard Son Of Hub|bastardsonofhub1.jpg]] [img[Nel Mezzo Del Cammin Di Nostra Vita|whatinferno.jpg]] [img[That I Desire You|idesireyou.jpg]]
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[<img[mi gate|61gate-t.jpg][61gate.jpg]][>img[mi casa|casa-t.jpg][casa.jpg]] Take a peek at my new [[pad]]. Shockingly easy it was to find somewhere to live, move in on Sunday. It's great to get things over with, every place I phoned didn't have a room left except for this one and it seems really nice, I'll be living with a family which could be weird but lets see, I've high hopes.
[>img[Peas and You|peasandyou.jpg]]Frighteningly little to report at the moment actually.\nI've been eating these > recently - Japanese horseradish flavour roasted peas - interesting, I'm not entirely sure I like them, but I will.\n\nAlso, I want [[one of these|http://www.microsiervos.com/archivo/microciervadas-varias/avances-paraguas.html]].\n\nand I made this:\n[img[That Last, Final, Defining Turn of the Screw|finalstraw.jpg][http://picasaweb.google.com/snailsnail/Wrks/photo#5035619309036580786]
[img[Monkey|monkeyNYE.jpg]]
[>img[The gang on Montserrat|thegangmons.jpg]][[http://www.sacred-destinations.com/spain/montserrat-shrine.htm]]\n[[http://www.lodgephoto.com/galleries/spain/montserrat/]]
Nasa has a [[bad-ass eclipse animation|http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2007/12mar_stereoeclipse.htm?list39638]] for you to watch [via [[boing boing|http://www.boingboing.net]] (which seems to be cropping up with worrying frequency)]. Here's my suggestion: download the big version, play it full screen and on repeat, and in the background slip on [[some Theremin music from wfum|http://blog.wfmu.org/freeform/2007/03/a_batch_of_ther.html]] and drift into magical places. Now, I'm not one to suggest any additional chemical stimulation, but a cup of tea might help as well.
[>img[peruQuake01.jpg]]Much love to young [[Elisa]] in Peru after the earthquake last night ([[Guardian here|http://www.guardian.co.uk/international/story/0,,2149759,00.html?gusrc=rss&feed=12]], [[Blogged on here|http://andeancurrents.blogspot.com/2007/08/rising-death-toll-in-peru-quake.html]]), in her own words:\n\n>"...Un gran susto pero no ha pasado nada, estoy bien. Felizmente no estaba sola y salimos a la calle por si algo se caía. Vi como se movia mi edificio y un coche aparcado. Mareaba sentir el suelo moviéndose tanto. Me asusté más cuano el hombre de al lado se agarraba al árbol y sollozaba de miedo, y cuando me dijeron que en los años 70 se cayó lima..."\n\nOr, for those who don't speak Spanish, my own, possibly slightly inaccurate, translation:\n\n>"...It was a big scare but everything's fine, I'm ok. Thankfully I wasn't on my own, and we went out into the street in case anything fell. I saw my building moving, and a parked car too. The ground moving like that made me nauseous but what worried me more was when a guy next to me clutched onto a tree and sobbed with fear, and when he told me about the quake that hit Lima in the seventies..."\n\n[Foto from aforelinked Guardian article]\n\nMyself, well I'm still recovering from chatting to the young lady on skype 'til 7 this morning... I'll not knock these exciting modern methods of communication with which we're blessed, but combined with time-zones they can decimate your daily rest.\n\nHere's some webish videoness:\n\nLego wonderousness... Rubik Robot [via [[The Brothers Brick|http://www.brothers-brick.com/2007/08/15/daniele-benedettellis-mindstorms-nxt-rubiks-cube-solver/]]]\n<html>\n\n<object width="425" height="350"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/sRTcHnjNd5E"></param><param name="wmode" value="transparent"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/sRTcHnjNd5E" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" width="425" height="350"></embed></object>\n\n</html>\n\nand Football:\n\n<html>\n\n<embed src="http://www.metacafe.com/fplayer/697851/samsung_dance.swf" width="400" height="345" wmode="transparent" pluginspage="http://www.macromedia.com/go/getflashplayer" type="application/x-shockwave-flash"></embed><br/><font size="1">\n <a href="http://www.metacafe.com/watch/697851/samsung_dance/">Samsung Dance - video powered by Metacafe</a></font>\n\n</html>\n\n[via [[Cartoon Brew|http://www.cartoonbrew.com/music-videos/human-powered-animation]]]
A very productive, if rather tiring, day, after an almost completely unproductive yesterday. Now I'm going to watch a film, and probably fall asleep during it.
[>img[Dinner at Carla's|dinnerAtCarlas.jpg][http://picasaweb.google.com/snailsnail/VariousBathianAnticsJanWhenever07/photo#5043607898344475058]]On Saturday, with St Patrick's Day as an excuse, we got together at [[Carla]]'s place for a meal and drinks - with the eventual aim of going out further afield, which didn't happen of course. I made cakes - which went down very well, though the carrot cake wasn't quite all that I hoped and I couldn't do [[Ben]]'s exciting chocolaty swirly things, and Carla, finally, made us some pasta, as has been promised for quite some time. We spent lots of time finding rude words for Carla's little black book, arguing about films, discussing the insanity of running a marathon, which [[Martin]] is about to do, along with [[someone else I know|Hannah]].\n\nOn dreadfuller news, my computer finally gave up the ghost, which has been expected for a while, but I'd hoped it could last out the course, unfortunately, it seems, not. This leaves me in something of a pickle, though everything was backed up, still, I'm sure a solution will reveal itself. To cap it off though, I've come down with a particularly virulent plague and feel about two inches from death. I'm dramatising of course, but things could, frankly, get better if they wanted to. Don't expect many more updates for the time being.\n\nHere, are some recent pictures from the picasa pages:\n\n[img[Juan Sketch|juanSketch01.jpg][http://picasaweb.google.com/snailsnail/SelfPortraits/photo#5042625647118973090] [img[No Mis-Aimed Lips component|SwitchingObsessionsMidStream-noComposit.jpg][http://picasaweb.google.com/snailsnail/FailuresTestsAndPoo/photo#5037679872071438850] [img[Illustration for BathYscaphe|bathyIll01.jpg][http://picasaweb.google.com/snailsnail/FailuresTestsAndPoo/photo#5041538569421518946] [img[A glimpse of summer|AGlimpseOfSummer.JPG][http://picasaweb.google.com/snailsnail/VariousBathianAnticsJanWhenever07/photo#5042483883133434002]] [img[Caramel shortbread|caramelShortbread.jpg][http://picasaweb.google.com/snailsnail/VariousBathianAnticsJanWhenever07/photo#5043607881164605842]]
[img[My Mate? My Guinness?|mymateguinness.jpg]]\nI bought some of this, I'm intrigued but I haven't decided if I'm going to eat it yet or save it for an heirloom.\n\n[[Here's one for the boys|http://www.duke.edu/~jwc13/beerlauncher.html]].(You'll want to watch the video) [via [[boing boing|http://boingboing.net/]]].\n\nI may not have [[Ben|http://www.srcf.ucam.org/~blb29/blog/]]'s [[Artistic acumen|https://www.srcf.ucam.org/~blb29/blog/my-doodles-etc/]], but thankfully I do know how to cheat, long live the computer:\n[img[Carlita Monster|carlaSketch2.jpg][http://picasaweb.google.com/snailsnail/Wrks/photo#5035878450183352690]\n\n
You know how they say a blunt knife's more dangerous than a sharp one, I'll tell you what's more dangerous, and that's a blunt one that's been sharpened while you weren't looking. And here's the proof:\n\n[img[OhDear.jpg]]\n\nFor the past few days I've been hammering away at the ol' film... pretty much twenty four seven. I finished editing Friday, which was nice, and making the soundtrack today, which was also nice, I'm pretty happy with it, but we'll see how it goes. I'm mixing the audio now, something I'll readily admit I'm not particularly proficient at, I think I just don't have the ear for it. I'll give it a go though, keeping a keen eye on decibels. Here's another poster for you. Sorry to everyone I'm ignoring online at the moment.\n\n[img[RequitalPoster4.jpg]]
On a whim I attended NIP today, not a contraction of nipple but [[New Interfaces for Performance|http://newinterfaces.net/nip/workshops/bristol/]], a conference-type thingy at [[Bristol]]'s [[Watershed|http://www.watershed.co.uk/cgi-bin/WebObjects/Watershed.woa/]]. It was interesting, and a big arty geeks and their ~MacBooks affair (not entirely fair, one even had no laptop at all and I estimate that only 80% brandished their Apples, although to quite comic effect when the fire alarm went off and they all dived for their most precious thing in the world and then the streets of Bristol could giggle at the be-laptopped throng). The main thing I went was to see [[Tom Bugs||http://www.bugbrand.co.uk]], noise hero, and he delighted with a couple of demonstrations but It would've been better to see more of him, I must catch him live one day soon, that's a promise. He stood out from the rest, all of whom were more interested in both arty poo and topics such as realtime polygone counts, electromagnetic induction, midi controllers and acoustic resonance than just wanting to shove oscillators in cigar boxes, something which I, too, will one day find the time to do. Others who stood out were [[Tom Verbruggen|http://newinterfaces.net/nip/artists/tom-verbruggen/]] who uses joysticks to remix his mum cooking, and [[Torsten Lauschmann|http://newinterfaces.net/nip/artists/torsten-lauschmann/]] who videotracked goldfish and busked round Europe with a laptop (better than it sounds). I videoed much of it and eventually may even post some noisy highlights.\nThe performances afterwards by [[Random Function|http://www.randomfunction.com/]] were a little disappointing, I was hoping to find a little refuge of noise but it was pretty uninspiring stuff, and you know, how exciting can watching a man (and they are all men) stare at a laptop be?\n\nI found the time during a break to make a serious candle investment, and on the way out of the labyrinth (centered around the candle stall) was accosted by a raven-haired woman who beckoned conspiratorially, "you mustn't dye your hair," she whispered, and she was off, running amok about all the long-haired men in her life, "...to the buttocks...", natural oils, "...you haven't been using oils have you... ...I did mine yesterday..." and so on, you get the picture, eventually I extricated myself. Is it just me who finds it weird when a stranger touches your hair? Maybe strangers don't touch your hair... who knows...
[>img[Niklas|niklasNYE.jpg]]
So obviously I've fallen into that age old bloggers trap of letting too many things happen without updating, and there's been a ton of stuff, in brief then, because to be in full would be soporific:\n#my [[lovely sister|Hannah]] came to visit - we had a lazy day, ate muffins and then sat in a park with hummus and rolls, letting the good times flow.\n#Then I did some work\n#Then I went to [[Bangor]], had an amazing time, met up with a lot of great people. You can watch [[a video here|http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5vC0z0JI3_Y]], and see [[photos here|http://picasaweb.google.com/snailsnail/WhirlwindVisitToBangor]].\n#Spent a couple of days at easter in Liverpool. Largely managed to resist guitar hero, unlike ma mere - [[picture here|http://picasaweb.google.com/snailsnail/VariousBathianAnticsJanWhenever07/photo#5056763223268205506]].\n#My [[other lovely sister|Sarah]] came and stayed with me for a few days, we had a great time ([[pictures here|http://picasaweb.google.com/snailsnail/VariousBathianAnticsJanWhenever07]] (scroll to the end)) watched Meet the Robinsons - terrible Disney tripe, but with some of the best character animation I've ever seen - in quite splendid digital 3d (I was going to waffle on about the exciting technology behind this, but'll leave this for another time, we played crazy golf, and made a short film (currently in an advanced stage of unfinishedness).\n#There's other stuff, but I think I'll leave it at that for now - the new term's started, there's been a conference, essay writing, presentation preparation, cinemaing, reunioning, pubbing, short film making, etc....\n\nCongratulations to [[Martin]] for completing the London Marathon in 4 hours 11 minutes, despite having a malfunctioning leg, and welcome back to beer land.\n\nI've been a bit the worse for wear today, which was supposed to be a work day, because last night I was up until 5.30 translating documents about Peruvian regional education policy from (Latin American) Spanish into (North American) English (don't ask, I didn't) for the endlessly lovely, but equally exasperating, [[elichair|Elisa]]. In addition, over the last week the yearly glory of hay fever has begun its siege, and my face wants to fall off.\n\nThere's loads more to say, maybe I will later.\n\nI'm going to try and be better. Ok :) Muak.\n
[>img[tesura.jpg]]At the moment I am mostly listening to [[Columbian salsa of the 60s and 70s|http://www.soundwayrecords.com/.%5CalbumTrackList.cfm?type=releases&album=Colombia!%20%20The%20golden%20age%20of%20Discos%20Fuentes,%20the%20Powerhouse%20of%20Colombian%20music]]. The music's great, but that's beside the point, What's not to love about these guys? >>>
[>img[ericIdle.jpg]]Here's a weird one for you, we ([[Phil]], [[Martin]], [[Carla]] and I) went to the pub this evening and met Eric Idle, no really, //the Eric Idle//, star of //Nuns on the Run// and //Burn Hollywood Burn//, not a word of a lie. "I'm Eric," he said as he shook my hand. We (he and I) had an argument about directors, he told me my hair was pink (which I can't deny) and then said studying European Cinema was "a bit wank". After that I left the brown-nosing to Phil and Martin which they did superbly until Phil threw his beer down himself, and old Eric beat a hasty retreat. Carla didn't know who he was. And he was wearing Nike Air trainers.
\n[img[requitalFrame01.jpg]]\n\nThat's me performing the noble art of the transvestite prostitute in some toilets. Mama would be so proud.\n\nStrange, isn't it, how when loads of stuff's going on, it's harder to write a blog entry. Or not. Anyway, loads of stuff's been going on. Most notably, Carla's film is 100% finished now, and even has a title: //Since You Left//. We (the cast and crew) were voting for //Absent Friends// but she's the man in charge so she gets to decide. And I finally finished filming mine (a ridiculous four months after I started) with the last of my interview scenes with [[Phil]] and [[Martin]], and here they are:\n\n[img[requitalFrame03.jpg]]\n\nA day in [[Bristol]] with Carla, where I managed an all too rare meet up with young [[Hannah]], fresh from her Marathon insanity, here are a couple of frames from that, [[Marcus]], and anyone who's seen my photos from [[his jaunt up here|Silent]], will recognise the location:\n\n[img[requitalFrame02.jpg]]\n\n[img[requitalFrame04.jpg]]\n\nAnd finally a quick shoot up at the uni, beset with problems, with me as the aforementioned transvestite prostitute.\nI'm finalising my edit now, ready to hack away at the music next week.
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[>img[Pari y Juan|pariYJuan.jpg]]
//Fairly vague and horrendous dream.//\n\nMyself, [[Carla]], and one other are travelling around somewhere by train, or tube perhaps. We get to a ticket barrier and a guard/police/generic-hated-uniformed-authority-figure asks us for passports. The other two, not being British, start to fish theirs out. But I protest along the lines of I'm British, I'm travelling in my own country, I should have the right to travel freely, why should I carry my passport around? etc. I claim I haven't got my passport, although in fact I do, it's in my bag. Carla and the other urge me just to show it to them, but I'm getting more and more righteous and more flustered. The situation gets very intense and threatening.\nAnd then I wake up.
[>img[Phil|phil1.jpg]]Or, according to my phone, [[Philip]]
[>img[Philip|philip1.jpg]]On a good day, [[Phil]]
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Of the dog-tired, but breakfasted,\nNone forced against pipe-smoke walls\nAnd bricolage - the grey-green on faun.\nOut - a mainly-shadow passage,\nSome sunrise edges, some small scooter -\nA bark never proportional to size.\n\nOf a text, not a mandate this time\nWithout thought, creative bone, nor\nDiamond mine, with plenty of alternative\nScripture. When of much less import -\nThe whore's scent, than the pearl\nburied deep with the grime.
Philms what I've watched and what stinketh
[img[explodeMysticDove.jpg]]\n\na still, from an animation\n\nI'm sure everyone and their brother has seen this already, but still, it's probably the closest that adverts get to actually being good. And who wouldn't want to be paid to chuck very small amounts of stuff at insects in front of a high-speed camera? eh?\nhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y6nshKhqyqU
[>img[Princess Raccoon poster|PrincessRaccoon.jpg]]Quite, quite funky. A beguiling mix of tradition [[Japanese]] [[Kabukiesque|http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kabuki]] forms with western musical influences and intelligent use of digital effects, drawings and styilised studio sets. There's a lot of comedy, a lot of singing, and a lot of really cool costumes. From a western perspective the story, which is (perhaps, I guess) based around traditional [[Japanese]] myths and stories, is exceedingly bizarre, involving, as it does, "hacky sacks which turn into badgers" (that's a quote from [[sister1]]. However, the plot revolves simply around a fathers desire to prevent his son from usurping his position as "the fairest of all" and the forbidden love between a man and a raccoon princess. Pretty darn good. Recommended.\n\nThere doesn't seem to be much around the web on this but - \n\n[[imdb link|http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0441674/]]
[[link|http://quod.lib.umich.edu/cgi/t/text/pageviewer-idx?c=umhistmath;cc=umhistmath;rgn=full%20text;idno=AAT3201.0001.001;didno=AAT3201.0001.001;view=pdf;seq=00000401]]\n\nToday Carlita left.
Today is the big day, the first proper shooting day for my dissertation film, proper as in scripted, storyboarded and everything. It is, of course, an absolute nightmare. I've been writing and re-writting for the past few days, and it feels hopeless at this point. Now I've got to go off and learn my lines.\n\nAnd then, at 1 in the am, I'm catching a train to [[Bangor]]!\n\nI got some marks back yesterday, all good, though the problematic ones are still to come. Just in case anyone cares, here's a short script that I wrote for one of the modules, an adaptation of a short story by [[Neil Gaiman|http://www.neilgaiman.com/journal/]], [[How To Talk To Girls At Parties|HowToTalkToGirlsAtParties.pdf]], the original story is in fact available for download as a free text and audio book [[right here|http://www.neilgaiman.com/exclusive/shortstories/partiesstory/]].\nObviously it's completely unauthorised, I haven't got the rights, and much like the [[Pinter one|ImJustAMan]] I posted before, it's not like I'm going to actually going to make it or anything, still not entirely sure whether I should be sharing this, legally and everything.
if you must:\n\nhttp://www.snailsnail.com/index.xml\n
I mentioned last week the gloriousness of Skype, despite its recent problems... last night I had my first Spanish lesson with [[Elisa]] en [[Lima]]... four hours of it... although frankly, I ran out of Spanish about half way through... sometime technology kicks booty.\n\nWe filmed more of [[Carla]]'s film last week (promotional still below), three important scenes - which means the majority is done now.. there's one biggish scene to do, and a few little ones... hopefully we'll finish next week. Although I promised myself I'd have a serious editing week, I haven't really managed to.. still... gonna crack on this afternoon me thinks.\n\nquotation of the day is:\n> this awful city, it screams like an abattoir full of retarded children.\n[[Philip]]'s making me read picture books, or as some like to call them, 'graphic novels' (this is //[[Watchmen|http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Watchmen]]// by the way).\n\nscary link of the day: [[Bullet Proof Baby|http://www.bulletproofbaby.net/]] (watch the embedded video... you've got to love the "one more time guys"... and seriously... whole site concept... blows. me. away).\n\n[img[martinYmuriel.jpg]]
[>img[Rene|reneNYE.jpg]]What I mean is René
[<img[requital01-sq.jpg]]Very, very tired, 29 hours spent tech-supporting. But... must... party... tonight. End.
[>img[Richaud|richaudNYE.jpg]]
[>img[Ruben|rubenNYE.jpg]]By which, of course, I mean Rubén
~YouTube wonderfulness of the day:\n\n<html>\n<object width="425" height="350"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/45_8ejTGAw8"></param><param name="wmode" value="transparent"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/45_8ejTGAw8" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" width="425" height="350"></embed></object>\n</html>\n\n(via [[Japan Probe|http://www.japanprobe.com/?p=1737]])\n\nSad stuff: http://observer.guardian.co.uk/world/story/0,,2078424,00.html?gusrc=rss&feed=12\n\nNo inkscapeisms today, I'm banning myself from unsanctioned creativity.
[>img[Squidge|sarahBlemishless.jpg]]La pequeña, also known as [[Squidge]]
[<img[The Proportions That Your Words Assume These Past Few|TheYouBesides.jpg][http://picasaweb.google.com/snailsnail/Wrks/photo#5020352752217439186]]Left is one of yesterday's (Many) distractions. \n\nToday I handed [[the film|Love]] in, and went to speak to a couple of lecturers, got some good advice and switched one of my essay topics (somewhat last minute, but I was desperate).\nMet up with the wonderful [[Carlita]], fresh faced, full of the joys of spring, and just returned from Naples. [[Kristy]] came and joined us for lunch (a ridiculous burger) and it was quite the reunion - LasTres back together again, our little film-making collective.\nOn returning I photoshoped [[Sarah]] to high-heaven and failed to do very much work, right now I am postmoderising - all jolly.
Title stolen from [[here|http://www.asofterworld.com/]]\n\nStuff n Nonsense.\n\nWent out with the Greeks, got flustered at nationalism, ate an egg with two yolks, filmed clouds, lots of clouds, spoke to parents to let them know I was filming clouds and not their children, drew hundreds of storyboards, spent a long time tinkering with synth design, read some books, had trouble booking lots of Harry Potter tickets, drank rum and grapefruit.\n\nOf the Internets:\n\n[[Smells|http://www.interaction.rca.ac.uk/people/staff/james-auger/projects/project4.html]] (nudity warning).\n\nTwo awesome old-school animations:\n\n<html>\n<object width="425" height="350"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/X7nVyVgz8GY"></param><param name="wmode" value="transparent"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/X7nVyVgz8GY" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" width="425" height="350"></embed></object> <object width="425" height="350"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/P-NbblR9Xk0"></param><param name="wmode" value="transparent"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/P-NbblR9Xk0" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" width="425" height="350"></embed></object>\n</html>\n\n[via [[Wooster Collective|http://www.woostercollective.com/2007/07/essential_viewing_blus_wall_animation.html]] and [[Neatorama|http://www.neatorama.com/2007/07/06/awesome-old-school-animation/]]]\n\n77 drummers in a park:\n\n<html>\n<object width="425" height="350"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/_aWt-NKx-gI"></param><param name="wmode" value="transparent"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/_aWt-NKx-gI" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" width="425" height="350"></embed></object>\n</html>\n\n[via [[wfmu|http://blog.wfmu.org/freeform/2007/07/drum-spiral.html]]]\n\nWater music:\n\n<html>\n<object width="425" height="350"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/06Qm-Z5OsHw"></param><param name="wmode" value="transparent"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/06Qm-Z5OsHw" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" width="425" height="350"></embed></object>\n</html>\n\n[also via [[Neatorama|http://www.neatorama.com/2007/07/06/musica-da-lagoa/]]]\n
And... I'm computered again...\nSay hello to Κλυταιμνήστρα:\n[img[Κλυταιμνήστρα|lappy.jpg][http://picasaweb.google.com/snailsnail/Bathnotpeople/photo#5048111423030187378]]\nI could rant on about Vista, which I have to stomach, but it's not all bad, I don't hate it quite as much as I thought I would, and there's some bits I actually like, so that's a bonus, so I won't rant on about it. I'm still getting things set up at the moment, but with any luck I'll be a furious editing machine again by the end of the weekend.
Entries written in September 2006
Well, reports of my phone's demise may have been greatly exaggerated, it perked up again. I'm waiting for the day though.\n\nHere's one for cakey geeks, [[Edible Turing Machines|http://www.cs.duke.edu/~rodger/baking/cs040323.html]]. \nNow, I've read the [[Wikipedia Article|http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turing_machine]] right up to [img[oh|turingEquation.png]], and I don't really know what a Turing Machine is, but I like the idea that someone can make it possible for me to get around not understanding something by simply eating the problem, if only all life's little difficulties were like that. [via [[boing boing|http://boingboing.net/]]].\n\nThe title refers to [[this Guardian article|http://www.guardian.co.uk/spain/article/0,,2029920,00.html?gusrc=rss&feed=12]], and I quote:\n<<<\nThe Catalan regional government has decided to fund a series of blue movies after deeming them useful for spreading the Catalan language.\n\nThe grants of £10,000 to a local film-maker are for what he described as women-friendly erotic films called Laura is Not Alone, The Memory of Fish and The Sea Isn't Blue.\n<<<\nThe Memory of Fish seems the most appealing.\nThe guy being paid to do this has his website [[here|http://www.conradson.com/]] (incidentally, that link isn't for everyone, he is a porn director), looks like he could do with spending a little of that money on making it work properly.\nI don't remember covering this kind of activity when I studied minority languages, language preservation and all that, I sort of (only sort of) wish I was back in my linguistics degree, there could well be an essay in here, not that I think Catalan is particularly struggling to the extent that it needs weird measures like this.\nI did some rudimentary background research and uncovered these two articles in Spanish: [[one|http://www.abc.es/hemeroteca/historico-19-02-2007/Opinion/pornografia-con-dinero-de-todos_1631557727591.html]] [[two|http://www.abc.es/hemeroteca/historico-17-02-2007/Nacional/las-subvenciones-porno-de-erc_1631525321162.html]] which seem to take a similar line to me (although I've only hit one newspaper here, 'cause I don't have //that// much free time) - perhaps education is more in order than porno - also, it seems, the Guardian article is misrepresenting the facts a little bit, the money was to cover exhibition costs at a film festival.
This evening I went to a pub-film quiz with [[Martin]]. We were on a team together, and triumphed, most satisfactorily beating the founder and head of bath film festival. To tell the truth, Martin carried me, knowing, as he does, everything about film, I did get about four or so answers though, including knowing that Hitchcock used chocolate sauce as blood in psycho, and Timothy Dalton played Heathcliff, don't ask how.
<<search>><<closeAll>><<permaview>><<newTiddler>><<newJournal 'DD MMM YYYY'>><<saveChanges>><<slider chkSliderOptionsPanel OptionsPanel 'options »' 'Change TiddlyWiki advanced options'>>
[>img[jNMarcus01.jpg]]Had a rather groovy weekend with young [[Marcus]] who popped up... we pottered about, bought shoes, drank a lot of tea, drank a lot of beer also, went book shopping, got rained on, got imaginatively insulted by Bristolian knife-wielding youths, went to the cinema, and ate a lot of fried breakfast.\n\nquotation of the day is: \n>"When I crumple my paper, in my head it feels like a particle-based onscreen effect, like an explosion. That's not just a wad of paper in my left hand - it's a non-dimensional pyrotechnical event."\nYes, I've been reading Coupland, but don't worry, I've kept things balanced with Neruda (in Spanish) and Scandinavian indietronica, Murakami's next.
[[snailsnail]] tribulations
[img[BathYscaphe|HeaderBathImg.jpg]]BathYscaphe
Just a swift message to say that the [[snailsnail hub|http://www.snailsnail.com]] has been updated (visually) to a much more simple design reflecting my inability to put more content up more often. If you like the pics, which were [[Blendered|Blender]], then you can catch bigger versions [[here|http://picasaweb.google.com/snailsnail/FailuresTestsAndPoo]].
http://www.snailsnail.com/bathy.html
<html>\n\n<iframe width="425" height="350" frameborder="no" scrolling="no" marginheight="0" marginwidth="0" src="http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&geocode=&q=Sitges,+Spain&ie=UTF8&z=11&iwloc=addr&om=1&ll=41.298444,1.845016&output=embed&s=AARTsJo4BYNyS_YSNWPnmFAOEq4I7M1BZg"></iframe><br/><a href="http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&geocode=&q=Sitges,+Spain&ie=UTF8&z=11&iwloc=addr&om=1&ll=41.298444,1.845016&source=embed" style="color:#0000FF;text-align:left;font-size:small">View Larger Map</a>\n\n</html>\n\nhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sitges
[>img[Stefan|stefanNYE.jpg]]
[img[HotStrongLove.png]]\n\nAnd this one's mine:\n> AB 95 98 20 B6 5A 8B 85 B8 08 CB F3 DA 24 8C 3F\nhttp://www.freedom-to-tinker.com/?p=1155
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Well, you can't say boo to a goose.\nAnd you can't complain about two videos in one day (especially since my PC's blue-screened at least 15 times during their editing). This one's a [[Barcelona]] one, the follow up to [[New Year's Eve Party|ItsAllImaginaryAndSymbolicAnyway]], and the last to be made before the final, proper, serious one. It's difficult to believe it's March already, and I've made minimal progress on it, awww shucks. Anyway, if you want to find out what happened on the beach, then here it is:\n\n[[YouTube link|http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H9Pcd0WRhdY]]\n\namor y besos, Juan
[>img[graffiti|willy-t.jpg][willy.jpg]]Went to [[Hannah]]'s church in [[Bristol]] today, met the peeps, kept it real, had some cool [[graffiti]] on my chair.
<html>\n<object width="425" height="350"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/2cO_YnuL4Dc"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/2cO_YnuL4Dc" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="425" height="350"></embed></object>\n</html>\n\nThis is actually from another web-based project of artistical expression that I'm working on and off at the moment, no idea when it'll be for the public, but here's a taster. Music is from Björk's new album, Volta.
Well finally, sometime later than I thought, I've finished the little piece I've been working on. It's called Summer Fever and is 53 seconds long. It's pretty dense, sometimes with ten tracks of video overlayed, and that's why it's taken so long really - lots and lots of tweaking to get it to flow smoothly. I'm pretty pleased, but I'm not going to count my chickens, and I won't post it online until It gets shown (or not) as part of this year's Bath Film Festival. Don't get any excessive ideas, it's going to be one of about 60 others, so it's not special. Anyway, here are some stills to whet your appetite:\n[img[SummerFever01a.jpg]] [img[SummerFever01b.jpg]] [img[SummerFever01c.jpg]]\n[img[SummerFever01d.jpg]] [img[SummerFever01e.jpg]] [img[SummerFever01f.jpg]]\n[img[SummerFever01g.jpg]] [img[SummerFever01h.jpg]]
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[img[SomeRealitiesJustDontDeserveTheAttention.jpg][http://picasaweb.google.com/snailsnail/RecentIshArtworks/photo#5019595197295836050]\nThis is a picture I made today when I should have been writing an essay.\n\nToday I pretended I knew something about Macs. I did tech support for [[Kristy|Tzila]] via msn while she (re)edited her film [[Rehab]]. Then I left the house in any case and we went (rather unglamorously) to Ask for lunch. I had a seafood thing, it wasn't very filling. Mind you, the company was good.\n\nRight now it's all about [[Buñuel]], [[Powell and Pressburger]], and, ostensibly, German Feminism. I have nothing to say about any of these subjects. \nSince I've been back I've been essay writing mainly, also I finished my (very short) film [[Love]], and, of course, pontificating. Amongst the pontificating I semi-wrote up my holiday diaries from the new year, you could check them out if you want: [[Barcelona]]
[img[IDontWantToKnow.png]]\n\n//most thoughts are better left unsaid//\n\nI spotted this quite a while ago, but seeing as it gets a mention in this years University of Chicago Scavenger Hunt ([[pdf link|http://scavhunt1.uchicago.edu/lists/list2007.pdf]]), here are a couple of youtubeisms from Michel Gondry, film making god (excuse me). If you haven't seen The Science of Sleep yet then you probably should. Watch the first one first, alright?\n\n<html>\n<object width="425" height="350"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/WiQXgmVVGNA"></param><param name="wmode" value="transparent"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/WiQXgmVVGNA" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" width="425" height="350"></embed></object><br /> <br/>\n<object width="425" height="350"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/pB8XedMowDU"></param><param name="wmode" value="transparent"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/pB8XedMowDU" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" width="425" height="350"></embed></object>\n</html>\n\n[[everybody loves lego|http://entertainment.howstuffworks.com/lego2.htm]], right?\n
<div class='toolbar' macro='toolbar -closeTiddler closeOthers +editTiddler permalink references jump'></div>\n<div class='title' macro='view title'></div>\n<div class='subtitle'><span macro='view modifier link'></span>, <span macro='view modified date [[DD MMM YYYY]]'></span> (created <span macro='view created date [[DD MMM YYYY]]'></span>)</div>\n<div class='tagging' macro='tagging'></div>\n<div class='tagged' macro='tags'></div>\n<div class='viewer' macro='view text wikified'></div>\n<div class='tagClear'></div>
This table stolen from [[TiddlyWiki for the rest of us|http://www.giffmex.org/twfortherestofus.html]]\n\n|!Format|!It will look like this...|!...if you format it like this...|\n|Bold-faced type|''text''|{{{''text''}}}|\n|Italic text|//text//|{{{//text//}}}|\n|Underlined text|__text__|{{{__text__}}}|\n|Strike-through text|--text--|{{{--text--}}}|\n|Links with wikiwords|EnchiLada (inactive link - no tiddler yet)<br>WikiWord (active link to tiddler)|{{{EnchiLada}}}<br>{{{WikiWord}}}|\n|Links with brackets|[[How to add background images]]|{{{[[How to add background images]]}}}|\n|Pretty links|[[display text|ColorSchemes]] - links to the tiddler of color schemes|{{{[[display text|ColorSchemes]]}}}|\n|External links work the same way:|http://groups.google.com/group/TiddlyWiki <br><br>[[TiddlyWiki Google group|http://groups.google.com/group/TiddlyWiki]]|{{{http://groups.google.com/group/TiddlyWiki}}} <br><br> {{{[[TiddlyWiki Google group|http://groups.google.com/group/TiddlyWiki]]}}}|\n|Links to local files|To a file on a CD in your D drive: <br><br>To a file on your USB stick on your e drive: <br><br>To a file in your hard drive:|{{{file:///D:/filename.doc/}}}<br><br>{{{file:///E:/filename.doc/}}}<br><br>{{{file:///C:/filepath/filename.doc/}}}|\n|Colored text|@@color(green):green colored@@|{{{@@color(green):green colored@@}}}|\n|Text with colored background|@@bgcolor(#ff0000):color(#ffffff):red colored@@|{{{@@bgcolor(#ff0000):color(#ffffff):red colored@@}}}|\n|Highlighting|@@text@@|{{{@@text@@}}}|\n|Superscript|2^^3^^=8|{{{2^^3^^=8}}}|\n|Subscript|a~~ij~~ = -a~~ji~~|{{{a~~ij~~ = -a~~ji~~}}}|\n\n''Simple indenting:''\n{{{ {{indent{text }}} produces:\n\n{{indent{text\n\n''Numbered lists:''\n{{{#item one }}}\n{{{##Item 1a}}}\n{{{###Item 1ai}}} \n\nproduces:\n#item one \n##Item 1a \n###Item 1ai \n''Bulleted lists:''\n{{{*Bullet one}}}\n{{{**Bullet two}}}\n{{{***Bullet three}}}\n \nproduces:\n*Bullet one \n**Bullet two \n***Bullet level three \n''Headlines''\n\n{{{!Text}}} produces:\n!Text\n{{{!!Text}}} produces:\n!!Text\n{{{!!!Text}}} produces:\n!!!Text\nand so on.\n\n''Tables:''\nThis is the formatting:\n\n{{{|!Table header|!Column Two|}}}\n{{{|>| colspan |}}}\n{{{| rowspan |left aligned|}}}\n{{{|~| right aligned|}}}\n{{{|bgcolor(#DC1A1A):colored| centered |}}}\n{{{||*lists<br>*within<br>*tables<br><br>and double-spaced too|}}}\n{{{|caption|c}}}\n\nThis is the result:\n\n|!Table header|!Column Two|\n|>| colspan |\n| rowspan |left aligned|\n|~| right aligned|\n|bgcolor(#DC1A1A):colored| centered |\n||*lists<br>*within<br>*tables<br><br>and double-spaced too|\n|caption|c\n\nTo align a cell so that its text displays at the top rather than the center, add {{{vertical-align:top;}}} at the beginning of the cell.\n\n''Images:''\n{{{[img[http://farm1.static.flickr.com/39/122259544_6913ca58f3_m.jpg]]}}} is the formatting for:\n\n[img[http://farm1.static.flickr.com/39/122259544_6913ca58f3_m.jpg]]\n\n''Dotted horizontal lines:'' \n{{{----}}} produces:\n----\n\n''Line-by-line blockquotes:''\n{{{>level 1}}}\n{{{>level 1}}}\n{{{>>level 2}}}\n{{{>>level 2}}}\n{{{>>>level 3}}}\n{{{>>>level 3}}}\n{{{>>level 2}}}\n{{{>level 1}}}\n\nproduces:\n>level 1\n>level 1\n>>level 2\n>>level 2\n>>>level 3\n>>>level 3\n>>level 2\n>level 1\n\n''Extended blockquotes:''\n{{{<<<}}}\n{{{Extended blockquotesExtended blockquotesExtended blockquotesExtended blockquotesExtended blockquotesExtended blockquotesExtended blockquotesExtended blockquotesExtended blockquotesExtended blockquotesExtended blockquotesExtended blockquotesExtended blockquotesExtended blockquotesExtended blockquotesExtended blockquotesExtended blockquotesExtended blockquotes}}}\n{{{<<<}}} \n\nproduces:\n<<<\nExtended blockquotesExtended blockquotesExtended blockquotesExtended blockquotesExtended blockquotesExtended blockquotesExtended blockquotesExtended blockquotesExtended blockquotesExtended blockquotesExtended blockquotesExtended blockquotesExtended blockquotesExtended blockquotesExtended blockquotesExtended blockquotesExtended blockquotesExtended blockquotes\n<<<\n\n
Yessss...\nFinally, everything done, dusted, and handed in. Miraculous.\nNo blogging for a while, because I've just had an insanely stressful week or so, but I'm not going into that here.\nThanks to the girls who shot off home, leaving me to finish off and hand their bits in for them.\nI saw [[Kristy]] off on the train back to Greece on Friday, and here we are, saying our farewells:\n[img[goodbyeToKristy.jpg]]\nAnd now, I'm going to spend a few days mainly watching lots of non-course related films.\nSee you later.
Well why not...\nNot sure if this is finished or not yet, maybe,\n\nCitizen:\n\n[img[Citizen01-s.jpg]]\n\nOil, Acrylic, Red Wine and Sulfuric Acid on Card + sheet - Digitally manipulated photograph and vectors in Inkscape.\n\nPlus, the last Work in Progress, not sure what I think about this as a technique... obviously it's a beginners attempt, and to be honest, getting the levels right is really, really difficult... I kind of like the weird airbrushiness.\n\nCarolin:\n\n[img[Caro04f04-s.jpg]]\n\nAll in Inkscape.
[<img[Pinter cut and paste experiments 1|pinterPaste2.jpg][http://picasaweb.google.com/snailsnail/Bathnotpeople/photo#5048086147147650178]][>img[Pinter cut and paste experiments 2|pinterPaste1.jpg]]Life continues uneventfully in the ~BathYsphere. Everyone has gone home now, sans moi, and I sit in my castle pondering Pinter, reading non-course related books, and staggeringly little else. We went out kind of half-heartedly on thursday to say farewell, despite everyone feeling rancid, there are a number of plagues making the rounds at the moment.\nHere you see my cut and paste experiments with Pinter - progress is being made but in terms of actual writing I got as far as typing "INT -"... before deleting it, trying again with "EX"... before closing the document and thinking about something else.\n{{justifycent{\n[img[Last night on earth (Bath) (for now).|threeInRaven.jpg][http://picasaweb.google.com/snailsnail/VariousBathianAnticsJanWhenever07/photo#5048086980371305650]]\n}}}
[img[Most of The Gang|sumofthegang.jpg]]\n//This is most of the gang//\nThe gang consists of: [[Carla]], [[Greg]], [[Kristy]], [[Martin]], [[Phil]] and, claro, [[Juanito|snailsnail]]\nThere are other [[peeps]] of course.\n
On the train I meet a pair of girls: Mia(5) and Ellie(8). They are going with their father to the Natural History Museum, they want to see dinosaurs, preferably real ones, though there is some discussion as to whether or not these exist.\n\nMia regales me with nonsensical jokes such as:\n-Why is the man talking on his own?\n-Because he's talking to a woman who's a statue.\nand\n-Why can't cats speak?\n-Because they can only say miaow.\n\nEllie meanwhile tries to engage us all in a game of The Weakest Link. I fare reasonably, knowing that Tutankhamun became king at age 9, but not who the best footballer at Ellie's school is (Charlie).
It was a beautiful day and I was feeling quite springly so I took a blossom photo, because not all the trees in [[Bath]] have been cut down, and went for a stroll.\n\n[img[Blossom|springBlossom.jpg][http://picasaweb.google.com/snailsnail/Bathnotpeople/photo#5048085730535822402]]\n\nThe [[aforementioned|LoachPartTwo]] arboreal decimation has progressed to a frantic pace of wholesale destruction. The passersby look bemused; this man's filming it (something that happens a lot in Bath - a city where you can barely move five paces without tripping over a camera crew):\n\n[img[Camera Guy|filmingTheCarnage.jpg][http://picasaweb.google.com/snailsnail/Bathnotpeople/photo#5048086056953336946]];\n\nthe local paper's up in arms, though not about the trees - that's just me.\nThe demolition has been so furiously instigated that a pall of dust now hangs (probably menacingly) over the city.\n\nI frittered some time away reading in a park, before going candle hunting (for my //Barry Lyndon// scene in the next film (though I haven't any spy-satellite camera lenses)), and on the way back snapped these two young hoodlums playing on equipment intended for those four score and ten years less advanced in age:\n\n[img[Young Hoodlums|youngHoodlums.jpg][http://picasaweb.google.com/snailsnail/Bathnotpeople/photo#5048085846499939410]]\n\nTut, tut, tut.\n\nPS. I know the [[RSS|RSSFeed]] isn't working, I blame Linux personally.
Not really a story here at all, just for the sake of completeness...\nWe (read I) organised a wee protest at the state of our not getting any marks back, and we handed our work in a couple of weeks late.\nThe forthcoming film project had been granted a two week extension, but because they would be indisputably impossible to make otherwise with all our actors in exams.\nActually, this is turning into a bit of a nightmare... I have a cast of six, plus me, half can't do it the first week, half can't the second, half my cast and crew are shooting back to Greece far too early, my only driver is writing essays, I don't have any skirts, nor enough computer text books, my second choice location has just bailed on me... there's no song written for the finale... it goes on.
A little webby goodness:\n\nTrust Google to give you a web2.0y thing to let you know how many coffee makers they could power from the sun if they weren't letting people search for pr0n:\n\n[img[GoogleSolar.jpg][http://www.google.com/corporate/solarpanels/home]]\nhttp://www.google.com/corporate/solarpanels/home\n\nvia [[EcoGeek|http://www.ecogeek.org/content/view/734/]]\n\nSo if you like books, and/or art, \nthis could be a good one:\n[img[Primitive-Art.jpg][http://www.ninakatchadourian.com/languagetranslation/sortedbooks.php]]\nhttp://www.ninakatchadourian.com/languagetranslation/sortedbooks.php\n\nvia [[Neatorama|http://www.neatorama.com/2007/06/21/nina-katchadourians-sorted-book/]]\n\nand finally, because my mum liked it, groovy samurai sword video:\n\n<html>\n<object width="425" height="350"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/U_IXG3hx0iM"></param><param name="wmode" value="transparent"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/U_IXG3hx0iM" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" width="425" height="350"></embed></object>\n</html>\n\nvia [[Japan Probe|http://www.japanprobe.com/?p=2063]]
So we shot the rest of Carla's film, and then had a minor wrap party. It's been a long, difficult few days, and I'm not up to writing much right now, but here are a few stills from my film:\n\n[img[notLove.jpg]] [img[notLove02.jpg]] [img[notLove03.jpg]] \n[img[notLove04.jpg]] [img[notLove05.jpg]] [img[notLove06.jpg]] \n[img[notLove07.jpg]] [img[notLove08.jpg]] [img[notLove09.jpg]]\n[img[notLove10.jpg]]
[<img[kristySketch2.jpg]]Now really, why are faces so hard to draw... left is about the fiftieth attempt, and it still smells of poo... oh well, it was only meant to be a doodle.\nI've spent today finishing a book, and trying to force myself to be creative after a dry spell of filmic-inspiration. I made some progress, but it's been uphill.\nLast night I managed to break my bedroom window... whoops. So now I've got to put up with chipboard... and eventually, I guess, there'll be a bill. Rats.\n[>img[ohRats.jpg]]\n
We had our last lecture //ever// today, eight hours of editing bliss, I kid you knot, and I produced this:\n<html>\n<object width="425" height="350"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/hDnMHMr5ppU"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/hDnMHMr5ppU" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="425" height="350"></embed></object>\n</html>\nactually, I wasn't that impressed with myself over it, and after 8 hours I was kind of bored of something I didn't want to film anyway, so I destroyed it with cheap effects, like a numbskull on iMovie, but in imitation of [[Jaaaaam|http://www.channel4.com/entertainment/tv/microsites/J/jam/credits_ns6.html]]. You'll notice that it isn't filed under the snailsnail or over my head brands.\n\nFor your delectation and delight, some music, it's a genre I've dubed 'Amateur Noise':\n\nYou can have it all of a [[MP3|http://www.snailsnail.com/noise/au/teenangst.mp3]]\n\nThe track is called Teenage Angst (Type II), it's by Treebait Consortium, that's snailsnail producing and editing, Est Dir Fnc on programming, and John Barnes Performing. The entire thing is written in [[ChucK|http://chuck.cs.princeton.edu/]], an audio programing language, and then post-processed to make it more lo-fi, it's related to the project mentioned in the previous post.\n\nOh, and yes, if you've watched the previous video, you'll know I've shorn my locks - I was bored, I've never cut my own hair before, I thought it was worth a try, and I don't think it turned out that bad. Here's a picture of me now (deliberately so you can't really see my hair) with my face painted white (don't ask).\n\n[img[juanWhiteFace.jpg]]
[<img[At the height of essayage - my book heap|bednbooks.jpg]]Glory, Glory Hallelujah. The insanity passeth, for the time being at least. Everything got handed in. Deadline met. [[Half|snailsnail]] [[of|Tzila]] [[us|Martin]] made it, [[the|Greg]] [[other|Phil]] [[half|Carla]] got an extension. Today I'm going to do not very much at all, tomorrow I'll probably start editing my [[Barcelona]] footage. There's a week until lectures start, a much needed week.\nDid you know that yesterday was [[the most depressing day of the year|http://beatbluemonday.org.uk/]]?\nThank goodness it's all over and we can be happy again.\nPersonally I don't do resolutions, and I realise that it's probably too late and you've broken them all by now anyway, but if not, and you're trying to loose weight or cut down on sweet stuff, [[this site|http://www.sewdorky.com/menu.htm]] might help.\nAbout one billion congratulations must go to [[Jo|http://curlykreeger.blogspot.com/]] and [[Steve|http://kreeger.blogspot.com/2007/01/hello-world.html]] for making a bit more life, from the photos they almost look like proper parents.\nSo, not much to report then really, maybe this week I'll get up to some proper debauchery and have some stories to tell - 'til next time then, adiós.\n
This is a TiddlyWiki, a free micro content ~WikiWikiWeb created by Jeremy Ruston and a busy community of independent developers. It's written in HTML, CSS and Javascript to run on any modern browser without needing any server side logic. It allows anyone to create personal self contained hypertext documents that can be posted to a web server, sent by email or kept on a USB thumb drive. It is published under an open source license.\n\n(text coppied from [[TiddlyWiki.com|http://www.tiddlywiki.com/]])
yesterday, amidst some serious editing, making the curd, msn conversations, shopping, and drawing, I read //[[Blood, Sweat and Tea|http://www.amazon.co.uk/Blood-Sweat-Tea-Adventures-Inner-city/dp/1905548230/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1/202-6961814-7097432?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1188427622&sr=8-1]]//, my first foray into reading something published by [[a blogger|http://randomreality.blogware.com/blog]] I (vaguely) follow. I'm pretty intensely dubious, because writing an interesting blog ain't the same as novelising, and it's true this ain't no work of literature, but still, it was engaging enough to read in a day. It's not a blog transfered well into a book, because pretty much it's just a linear series of blog posts (complete with original titles) with the occasional addendum, and in that sense you may as well just trawl through the blog. But then again, there is something separate about publishing as a book (If you feel like ignoring the whole capitalist aspect of it, which, to be fair, sent him on a fairly extravagant holiday which he probably thoroughly deserved (not, it appears, that he enjoyed it that much)) and it does stand apart, as a testament to a fairly horrendous, but rewarding, job, and to all that humanity stuff that could be banged on about.\n
I shaved my beard off today for a job interview and now I want it back. The interview went ok I think, although it ended on one of those "Thank you very much Mr. Barnes, we'll be in touch," moments that make you think that actually it's gone horribly wrong. Maybe I should have un-dyed my hair as well, hmmm.\n\n[img[Beardless|juanSinBarba.jpg]]\n\nI learnt this today:\nθα ήθελα ένα ελληνικά καφέ\nWhich could be useful, I quite like Greek coffee
Aka Woody\nWhoops, Tommy, looks like you're the only one I haven't got a photo for - I'll correct it when someone uploads one somewhere
[[This|http://my.break.com/media/view.aspx?ContentID=206336]] made me laugh more than most things on the internet, but then again I guess most people don't know how true this is, and for those who don't know, I am a reformed [[DnD|http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dungeons_and_dragons]]er, I'm guessing that there's no one who reads this blog and who knows about M. Brown and the Samurai Sword (which sounds like a Harry Potter rip-off book title), and that's all the better, but anyway - have a giggle.\n\nAlso, I've done a couple more (computer facilitated) sketches: \n[img[Kristy Sketch|kristySketch1.jpg][http://picasaweb.google.com/snailsnail/Wrks/photo#5037073366305962018]] [img[Greg Sketch|gregSketch1.jpg][http://picasaweb.google.com/snailsnail/Wrks/photo#5037694578039460370]]\n\n
[img[TuBocaEnamorada.png]]\n\ntitle credit: http://zifra.blogalia.com/historias/49313
[>img[kristy|kristy1.jpg]] Otherwise known as [[Kristy]]\n
Having just partied 'till 5, I've one thing to say, Greeks are frickin' weird.
[img[juanPink-2s.jpg][http://picasaweb.google.com/snailsnail/SelfPortraits/photo#5066734127882984450]
[>img[John's old room|johnsOldRoom.jpg]]And then we ate the dinner, pontificated, and walked up Bangor mountain, where I used to live. We lolled in the sun, came back, ate fruit salad and ice cream and played Uno.\n\n[img[All of us on Bangor mountain|bangorMountainGroup.jpg]]
So, few posts recently... been very busy back in [[Herne Bay]] catching up with folks and starting filming.\nI filmed two scenes so far, with my wee [[Sarah|http://hangin-in-the-nest.blogspot.com/]] and with [[Sam and Abi|http://flipflahflo.blogspot.com/]]. Everybody's been amazing, and I think I've got some great stuff. Editing is proving very slow because I'm not quite motivated to do it while I'm still dreaming ideas up for filming, but we're getting there.\nToday I spent some time composing with my lovely mother, recording piano and recorder tracks for the film's theme which is fairly coherent and complex in my head, but I want to be experimental about it, loads of ideas and I'm waiting for them to coalesce.\nMore filming to do, and more meeting up with people, and then I'll be heading back to Bath on Friday morning.\nHere are some frames from what I've shot so far:\n[img[SarahFilmStill01.jpg]] [img[SamNAbiFilmStill01.jpg]]
[>img[Not a rat|notARat.jpg][http://picasaweb.google.com/snailsnail/Bathnotpeople/photo#5048087603141563602]]Well, I don't have a rat in my room as reported a few days ago, but after hearing scrabblingly gnawingly noises all night yesterday, and not being certain if they were feverish delusions, or hideous be-fanged beasties, and after gradually getting increasingly freaked out by those wee imperceptible motions at the limits of vision that don't mean anything unless you're in the emotional state for them to mean something quite, quite significant, I had a root around tonight and found a mouse - photo right - this was the best photo I could get as I chased it around my room, and man it's quite the wee little acrobat. Still not entirely sure where it lives, nor what to do about it, but I'm trying to move everything gnawable off the floor before I get some more fitful sleep tonight.
[>img[Vicky|vickyNYE.jpg]]Hostess extraordinaire
I've made a couple of short videos from stuff I filmed over the new year, they're on ~YouTube, as much as I despise it, it seemed easier. Alternatively you can download larger, prettier versions from Ourmedia (encoded with Xvid), there will hopefully be more eventually, but we'll see if I have time. Unfortunately I screwed up the sound on DoceUvas, sorry about that.\n\nLinks:\n\n[[Doce Uvas (Twelve Grapes)|http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m0QyL2uoz9Q]] (~YouTube)\n[[Doce Uvas (Twelve Grapes)|http://www.archive.org/download/snailsnailDoceUvas_TwelveGrapes_/Doce_UvasB_xvid.avi]] (Ourmedia, 50MB, avi, xvid).\n[[Barcelona Sants Ping Pong|http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=81hCnLCSNGo]] (~YouTube)\n[[Barcelona Sants Ping Pong|http://www.archive.org/download/snailsnailBarcelonaSantsPingPong/BarcelonaSantsPingPong01_xvid.avi]] (Ourmedia, 50MB, avi, xvid)\n\nYou can find these also on my [[Ourmedia page|http://www.ourmedia.org/user/108103]]
<div class='toolbar' macro='toolbar dropTagging dropTags -closeTiddler closeOthers +editTiddler permalink references jump'></div>\n<div class='title' style="text-align:right; padding-right:2em;" macro='view title'></div>\n<div class='subtitle'><span macro='view modifier link'></span> - <span macro='view created date [[DD MMM YYYY]]'></span> - <span macro='dropTagging'></span><span macro='dropTags'></span></div>\n<div class='viewer' macro='view text wikified'></div>\n<div class='tagClear'></div>
So finally I'm going to pay a visit back to the Bay, I'll be coming tomorrow for I don't know how long, but probably less than a week. Looking forward to seeing folks again. \nAnd I will indeed be bringing a camera with me, though the A/V department shafted me a bit and I'm microphone-less, which is a bit of a poo, have to make do with built-in mic and possibly dodgy radio mic....\nSo, I've got some parts in my dissertation film up for grabs - a lady character with your name on it [[Jo B|http://prettyinpink.blog-city.com/]], and parts for a couple I'll let you fight over, plus, maybe, a non-speaking male part, and a part for young [[Sarah|http://hangin-in-the-nest.blogspot.com/]], and maybe others... I'm up for suggestions. This project, which I'm not revealing too much about, I'd like to be heavily collaborative, I'm not scripting things, so get your improv hats on and I'll make you a star! or something.
[img[imagine01.jpg]]\nFinding new ways to imagine the body.\n\n>...to fully seize\n>contemporary life\n>while anticipating\n>its possible futures...\n\n[[Wenders' thoughts on the death of Antonioni|http://film.guardian.co.uk/features/featurepages/0,,2139929,00.html]]\n\nAnd finally, I hate James Blunt, but here he almost manages profound:\n\n<html>\n\n<object width="425" height="350"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/o2Z6tDSb6c8"></param><param name="wmode" value="transparent"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/o2Z6tDSb6c8" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" width="425" height="350"></embed></object>\n\n</html>\n\n[via [[Nothing To Do With Arbroath|http://arbroath.blogspot.com/2007/08/james-blunt-my-triangle.html]]]
Another work in progress:\n\n[img[Caro03WIP01.jpg]]\n\nalso today I did some painting, and the k key broke on my keyboard (how am I writing this then you may ask, well I copy-pasted every k in this post from the word "Vicky" over there on the left)... this leaves me in something of a quandary, because of course I could get my laptop repaired (it's under warranty) but I absolutely can't do without it until (at least) the end of September... looks like I'll be doing a lot of copy-pasting... at least it's a minor letter.\n\n
I got a little carried away last night, or, in other words, I finished editing the easy bits and got bored, and I made a (very) rough trailer for the Barcelona film, which has a (very) working title of [[No Se Puede Vivir Sin Amar]], which means, roughly, One cannot live without love, and is a quotation from Malcom Lowry's //Under The Volcano//.\nThe trailer is an exercise in excessive slow motion, and really has no relationship to the final film at all, it does serve to show fragments of (most of) the monologues I filmed for it.\nOnce again you can ~YouTube it, or get a much nicer version from Ourmedia\n\nLinks:\n\n[[Trailer 01|http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gytgmwvKNBY]] (~YouTube)\n//We're still waiting for the Ourmedia version to upload, I'll update when it has///%[[Trailer01]] (Ourmedia, 70MB, avi, xvid)%/\n\nWhen I started this Blog I was intending to use it much more rigorously in a documentary sense - to record (for example) all the films I was watching and my impressions of them, and also as a method for making notes on my course - not for anyone else's benefit, but as a personal record and aide to studying. These were the primary reasons to chose to use a TiddlyWiki, despite the obvious drawbacks (no comments, huge file sizes, and on my end a substantial incomprehensibility). Obviously I failed in these aims, partly due to lacking an internet connection for some time, but mainly just plain laziness. I'm trying to reinstate some of these aims to a lesser extent, hence - [[Good films I've watched recently|GoodFilms]], and [[Poo films I've watched recently|PooFilms]]. Intended to be in no way objective, nor comprehensive, nor intellectual, it's just the stuff that pops into my head.
[>img[Girls Reading|girlsReading.jpg][http://picasaweb.google.com/snailsnail/VariousBathianAnticsJanWhenever07/photo#5048087092040455362]]Well, am still layed low with the plague. Perhaps unwisely I dragged myself in to my 9am lecture this morning, mainly because it was a 'critical workshop' resulting in assessment. Still our lecturer, Wendy, chief panderer to student sympathies, told me to go home, which I duly did, bunking off the afternoon, sleeping for a couple of hours and then attempting to put in some essay related reading before giving up and reading all [[Paul|http://www.paulauster.co.uk/]] [[Auster|http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Auster]]'s [[New York Trilogy|http://www.amazon.co.uk/New-York-Trilogy-Ghosts-Locked/dp/0571152236/ref=pd_ka_1/026-8976972-3610045?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1174444124&sr=8-1]] instead, which wasn't that bad. What was particularly good about it was that, being ill, I didn't feel guilty at all about spending the afternoon reading. Tomorrow my killer four hour lecture has been canceled and hopefully I can feel better enough to start adapting a short play by [[Pinter|http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harold_Pinter]], //Landscape//, into a screenplay, possibly a quite insane task, we'll see....\nOoooo, and look at the chicas being studious>>>
Today the house is swarming with people, some kind of party going on methinks - this morning, while I was still in bed, editing, as one can do when one is lazy and has a laptop, a little girl of around four, closely followed by her father, burst in. "Wooo," was all I could manage before he said, "oh this is someone's room." Yes indeed it is.\n\nHere is today's offering from the internet, via [[Japan Probe|http://www.japanprobe.com/?p=2105]] again, quickly becoming one of my favourite blogs. You've probably seen this kind of crazy Japanese video before, Marcus introduced them to me years ago, but this is the best I've seen, a kind of rube goldberg disaster scenario, absolute genius. Click the above link for more of the same.\n\n<html>\n<object width="425" height="350"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/wsOWSpqOAyE"></param><param name="wmode" value="transparent"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/wsOWSpqOAyE" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" width="425" height="350"></embed></object>\n</html>\n\nLast night we crashed a party of people studying international development... It's always funny to see how one's course inflects one's socialising... we were subjected to a capella renditions of numerous national anthems, and much of the evening was spent playing with globes, poking them and talking rubbish about obscure bits of the world.\nWhat unchecked hilarity.\n\nHere's a ever-so-exciting screenshot of the old edit coming along:\n[img[WIPEditDissertation01.jpg]]
Here are some stills from today's filming:\n\n[img[Reculver01.jpg]] [img[Reculver02.jpg]] [img[Reculver03.jpg]]\n\nand yes, it is all about clouds and the sun.
[img[portionsOfShe.png]]\n\nLove it: http://scienceblogs.com/principles/2007/05/many_worlds_many_treats.php\n(via [[boing boing|http://www.boingboing.net/2007/05/10/howto_explain_quantu.html]])
Well, manflu continues unabated, though whereas yesterday the only thing I managed to do was to go shopping for soup, where a girl I refused to purchace liquor for farted on me as I went past, today I've been working hard on constructing what I imagine will be a mammoth score for the upcoming (some months upcoming) dissertation film:\n\n[img[WIPspindrum01.jpg]]\n\nI've been wanting to create some vast fluid soundscapy things but have lacked the wherewithal to do it. I tried creating some programs in pure data, but my skill is not sufficient, and I still really haven't got it to run properly on vista. So instead I've been having a play with some of the software created by [[ixi|http://www.ixi-software.net/]].\nAbove is a screenshot of spindrum which I've been having some success with, and stocksynth also is doing the kind of thing I want to, so props to them. Today I've generated ten minute long tracks of noise and mush and indefinable voices which will provide the underlay to much of my score.
//Update:// and if you're really interested you can download a small (1min, 1MB) [[segment of the soundscape|noise/au/SoundScape01-part.mp3]] so far (~MP3 link).
[>img[umbrelaGuy.jpg]]Well, news in distractions... the [[snailsnail hub|http://www.snailsnail.com]] has undergone an overhaul, featuring some of the more recent artwork I've done... basically I'm pilfering from myself. The old one was just too, well, boring, I wanted some colour, so there you go. Not that anyone notices anyway but umm, I realise it's pretty poor web design, I had ~ImageReady make it for me, and I couldn't get CSS to work with both IE and Firefox, so it's all tables, but who cares... it's only meant to be pretty.\nIt has, incidentally, been tested on firefox, IE, Opera & Safari, hope that satisfies everyone, but switch to [[firefox|http://www.mozilla.com/en-US/firefox/]] folks.
The impending imminence of a pair of not too distant sallying forths from the Harry Potter universe has got me in somewhat of a lather. Ok, I know there's a little bit to wait for the last and final, ultimate book in the series, and the next, hopefully better than the last, film in the series, but still, they're always on my mind. Who knows what'll happen?\nAnyhow, probably for fans and not alike, it had me in fits of giggles, is a narrated version of the first film, the first piece of which is [[YouTubeable here|http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sTPfMk34lz8]] - I dare you not to appreciate this on any number of levels. If it does tickle your fancy, then the link was via [[wfmu|http://blog.wfmu.org/freeform/2007/03/brad_neely_dear.html]] (perhaps the noisiest blog on the planet) where, by clicking on the immediately prior link, you can find out how to download whole chucks of the spectacular narration and synch it up with the dvds of the film which I know you own (alternatively there's always the internet, cough cough - do I hear a murmured 'bit torrent'? - don't feel guilty, everyone involved is rich enough to make you sick any way, and [[recent figures|http://www.variety.com/article/VR1117960597.html?categoryid=13&cs=1]] (via [[boing boing| http://www.boingboing.net/2007/03/07/box_office_numbers_d.html]]) suggest that by 'pirating' these things, you're proving yourself a better consumer - so both capitalism and anarchy win, what a result.)
[img[animationAsOf28092007-s.gif][animationAsOf28092007.gif]]\n\nAbove is an animation of the Greek fires that I constructed from NASA satellite imagery covering the last six days up to yesterday. Pretty horrible. You can access the original images (including very high res ones) [[here|http://rapidfire.sci.gsfc.nasa.gov/subsets/?AERONET_FORTH_CRETE/]]. And you can click on the above image for a larger version (1Meg).\n\n\nI'm moderately addicted at the moment to the site [[TorresMadrid|http://torresmadrid.com/blog/]] which basically just posts timelapse videos of skyscrapers being built in Madrid. The video's themselves are pretty mesmerising and, I guess, profound. Here's a recent compilation of sorts:\n\n<html>\n\n<div><object width="425" height="364"><param name="movie" value="http://www.dailymotion.com/swf/53z6JszLfzie6k5Gk"></param><param name="allowfullscreen" value="true"></param><embed src="http://www.dailymotion.com/swf/53z6JszLfzie6k5Gk" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="425" height="364" allowfullscreen="true"></embed></object></div>\n\n</html>
Today's webby goodness:\n\nFascinating 2001: A Space Odyssey special effect unpicking (although maybe only for film geeks like me):\n\n[img[slitscan01.jpg][http://seriss.com/people/erco/2001/]]\n\nhttp://seriss.com/people/erco/2001/\n\n(via: [[boing boing|http://www.boingboing.net/2007/06/22/cool_video_technique.html]])\n\nObligatory Japan-related link:\n\nContinuing the theme... catching arrows in flight:\n\n<html>\n<object width="425" height="350"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/gLLGEMwgIRw"></param><param name="wmode" value="transparent"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/gLLGEMwgIRw" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" width="425" height="350"></embed></object>\n</html>\n\n\n(via: [[Japan Probe|http://www.japanprobe.com/?p=2091]])
[>img[Zsofia|zsofiaNYE.jpg]]
Hello, I am [[snailsnail]]. This is a blog about my life studying at bath uni.\nThat is all\n\nYou can contact me at vulture [at] snailsnail [dot] com
Aside from the editing, and experimenting, I spent, oh, a number of hours yesterday, proof-reading a dissertation -\n6000 words of acquisitions and mergers... why anybody would study management is beyond me... oh yes, wait a moment, the money.\nDid learn about the pac-man defence though, an excitingly named managemebd tactic of dubious legality.\n
[img[mycup.jpg]]
This is a sort of dream diary, we'll see how long I dream for, that'll determine how long I keep it.
[>img[Noise Painting|noisePainting.jpg]]Not exactly as it appears as it turns out. The painting contains two wireless playstation controllers which transmit to a nearby laptop which converts their signal to midi which is then used to control [[LiSa|http://www.steim.org/steim/lisa.html]], a live sampling program by STEIM. The sampling is not done by the painting at all, but by a microphone hidden in the corner of the room. The controls on the painting are used to record and play different samples, and the knobs are used for transport, cutoff, etc. The laptop is plugged into the PA. And that's that.
[img[Kristy Matte Making|matte1.jpg]]\n\nI use [[Blender|http://blender.org]] mainly to hand animate my travelling mattes.\n\nhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matte_%28filmmaking%29
[img[mymotherandi.jpg]]
Most of the people mentioned here will be part of TheGang, people doing the same course as I, however there are others too, eg:\n//[[Pari]], [[Kristy]] ([[gang|TheGang]] member) and [[Simon]]//\n[img[Three people|lastres1.jpg]]\n
[>img[Juanito|juanito1.jpg]]That's me\n\nI have a website that I don't update very often:\n\nhttp://www.snailsnail.com\n\nI have a load of photos that I try to keep updated:\n\nhttp://picasaweb.google.com/snailsnail\n\nThere is some stuff about me, most of it not worth knowing. I'm at [[uni]] in [[Bath]] doing a masters in European Cinema, which is quite nice. Sometimes my hair is a funny colour; mostly I'm not very good at conversations; I'm not really a geek, I just like to pretend I'm one; I like to make pictures and films, sometimes I write things, mostly I pontificate; few of my illusions are verbalised; most of the things I profess are illusions.\n\nYou can contact me at vulture [at] snailsnail [dot] com
This tiddler will be made complete when I get my nut and bolt back\n\nUpdate: Looks like I'm never getting them back [sheds a little tear] oh well...
[>img[filmingJohns02.jpg]]I've actually spent almost the whole day troubleshooting. The girls are on a tight schedule, as they're both going back to their respective countries before the deadline, so it was a fairly major problem when we discovered that we didn't have access to an editing suite today, Sunday, and tomorrow, Bank Holiday. We'd gone to the uni yesterday to capture, but that was wasted time. Today I went to [[Kristy]]'s and spent a couple of hours recapturing her footage, setting her computer up with Premiere so she could edit with it, transferring the captured video to her machine, and then giving a whirlwind introductory tutorial on Premiere. I edited a bit, answering questions, and then went to [[Carla]]'s to perform exactly the same process with her, hampered somewhat by inordinately painful USB 1 transfer rates. She and [[Ceri]] very kindly fed me, in a healthy manner to which I am not accustomed, and I stayed there editing deep into the night.\n[<img[filmingJohns01.jpg]]I now have a completed rough-cut. I need some help with my subtitling, there's a lot of trimming and honing to do, there's music to put on (no composing this time).\n\nYou might have spotted that I talk a lot about the problems we get making these films, and that's because they're pretty much heavily problematic. But fun too, I've had some of the most fun shooting this time around, despite the insanities, and the people've been splendiferous. Looking forward to a solid day's editing tomorrow, and then I'm going to have to spend the evening troubleshooting again, I suspect.\n\nThere are more fotos [[here|http://picasaweb.google.com/snailsnail/Filming]] (and more to come).\n\n[img[filmingKristys02.jpg]] [img[filmingJohns03.jpg]]\n[img[filmingCarlas01.jpg]] [img[filmingCarlas02.jpg]]\n\nfoto credits - Kristy and Carla\n\n[[short photo notes explanations, if you wish|FotoExplain01]]\n\noh, and I'm not entirely sure that the title of this post is right, apologies if not.\n