http://www.flickr.com/apps/slideshow/show.swf?v=69832
I’ve just come back from Helsinki’s Pixelache festival. Rather than try and write some words about it right now, I’m just going to put up this slideshow from my Flickr set because I’m feeling a bit under the weather. I do have an idea for a longer written piece, but it’ll have to wait until I can get out of bed.
Finland seems to be entirely decorated with objects from Ikea. It’s like somebody said “hej, we liked what you did with your house, here’s an enormous amount of money – please decorate the nation in the same style”. I even managed to find a cafe that had those green marzipan cakes that I’ve only ever seen in Ikea. I’m prepared to concede that perhaps it’s the other way round, and that the great nation of Scandifinlandadia is using cheap flat-pack shelves to take over the rest of the world.
I’m travelling to Berlin for ten days, from today, and as such will not have regular access to email. Rather than attempt to keep up with the enormous volume of email I get, or wade through the majority to find the interesting stuff, I’m not going to read any of it. Sorry. It’s a time/efficiency thing; it’s not efficient for me to use my time picking through ten days worth of emails. I’d miss things that were important, dawdle over things that weren’t, and generally just take too long to get back to work.
Therefore, I’m going to just ignore that ten days worth of emails. If you really need to talk to me, you can email me again on the sixth of February.
I often seem to myself like some sort of internet-appliance-made-flesh. And this month, we have the phone bill to prove it, with a massive overcharge for 47gb of ‘excess internet usage’. Thanks, BT! I love you too!
However, after my last post I managed to climb out of my stained office chair, throw on some clothes, and accompany Paul Grimmer on a video shoot. Paul was awarded a Triparks residency earlier this year, and he has been shooting high-definition video across Northumbria. He offered me the chance to go with him this week, and I got really excited and said yes without really thinking what it would mean.
What did it mean? Well, getting in a car, driving a while, getting out of the car, looking confused for a bit, getting back in and driving to a hill and then carrying a bad-ass tripod for a bit. Of course, that was just what I did; Paul, being a seasoned pro, carried the camera.
Paul was looking to take panoramic shots of the area, and we didn’t manage to get many before the rain rolled in.
While he shot the hills, I was looking at the countryside. On a bike, this is the sort of area I guess you don’t see, and I would like to go back there sometime. Even in the downpour that followed, the landscape was quite fun.
As an aside, I must point out that my recent injuries left me confined to a few small rooms for the best part of two months. This means that while a lot of my friends are complaining about this seasons horrible weather, I’m just happy to be outside.
Eventually, the rain got the better of us, and I convinced Paul to go back to the car for the thermos of hot coffee I’d brought with me. But not before mugging for one last shot – check out that water saturated look!
I’d like to thank Paul for letting me accompany him out to the country for the day, and if you want to follow his progress on the Triparks residency, check out the blog hes doing with fellow artist Bridget Kennedy here.
