I found this documentary on You Tube a while ago - The Eternal Children is about Coco Rosie, Devendra Banhart, Antony Hegarty and Vashti Bunyan. I watched it mainly because of the fascinating Coco Rosie. It's in 6 parts, and they are all on youtube.
Friday, May 21, 2010
Wednesday, May 5, 2010
Launching the Light Box blog
I have just launched the Light Box blog on Blogger! I did have the blog in the Light Box website, but I think blogs should be kept on blogger - they get more hits, people can follow them easier, and it's much more simple to blog on Blogger. It's a great feature of Blogger - being able to have more than one blog. and I can allow Lucy D to write for the new blog too, perfect.
Incase you didn't already know, Light Box is my charitable organisation. I am one half of its management, the Creative Director. We run a series of art workshops which advocate positive psychology, and had a manic month in March where we held 40 workshops, all free, in an empty shop in Bristol.
We've just finished writing our project report, and are now very busy patting ourselves on the back whilst thinking about the next project - which is to have our own premesis for a whole year, teaching stand-alone workshops and also courses, all for free to everyone and anyone.
Please have a look at the blog and spread the word!
http://lightboxhappiness.blogspot.com/
Incase you didn't already know, Light Box is my charitable organisation. I am one half of its management, the Creative Director. We run a series of art workshops which advocate positive psychology, and had a manic month in March where we held 40 workshops, all free, in an empty shop in Bristol.
We've just finished writing our project report, and are now very busy patting ourselves on the back whilst thinking about the next project - which is to have our own premesis for a whole year, teaching stand-alone workshops and also courses, all for free to everyone and anyone.
Please have a look at the blog and spread the word!
http://lightboxhappiness.blogspot.com/
Bohemian Babe: Kick Start Your Summer E-Course!
My dear friend Nicole Carlin is the director of Pop Fizz. She's just announced this great and varied E-Course. Here's a link to her blog too.
Learn how to become your most radiant self and join yoga and dance teacher Nicole Carlin in the Bohemian Babe E-Course to Kick Start Your Summer!
In this online course we'll be taking the 30 days in the run-up to the first day of summer to focus on rejuvenating the body, inspiring the soul and bringing ourselves into a health state of being. Through this class you may gain a greater peace of mind, more calm and clarity, more energy, weight loss and body toning, among other positive effects. You'll have the opportunity to join with other like-minded Bohemian Babes like yourself in our exclusive social network.
What You'll Get:
Every week you will have 3 new yoga classes to choose from and listen to at your leisure (x12 in total)
A meal plan for all 30 days
Healthy nutrition advice and guidelines
Weekly guided meditations (x4 in total)
A beginners guide to yoga handbook with photos and advice
Natural beauty advice
Inspirational challenges to kick start your life and creativity
Weekly live streaming chats with Nicole to as questions
Private access to class material
Private access to a social network of classmates to help you keep on track!
Tips for raising energy levels naturally
Daily motivational blogs and videos
Daily check-in sheets to print off to help you achieve your goals.
Thursday, April 29, 2010
Sunday, April 25, 2010
When in Portugal
I brought the wrong batteries for my Fuji cam to work, so that part of my 'photo heavy' holiday i planned didnt quite go to plan.
I took some pics on my iphone camera, which isnt much good compared, but ita aomething these are some things of interest i found in Portugal:
I took some pics on my iphone camera, which isnt much good compared, but ita aomething these are some things of interest i found in Portugal:
Trippy patterened tiles
Wall compositions
Things growing in Walls, secret plants.
Holes in Walls, mostly full of rubbish
Beautiful derelict buildings
But I only noticed one beautiful sunset
Saturday, April 24, 2010
Portugal Poppies
I'm in Carveiro in Portugal, and during the week of extra holiday due to the volcano, I have been pretty bored.
I finished all my books:
- A million little pieces by James Frey
- The Wind Up Bird Chronicle by Haruki Murakami
- Generation X by Douglas Coupland
- A box of Matches by Nicholson Baker
All were Great, especially the Murakami which I've owned for 4 years and never quite red. It's massive. And I loved it, I can't even describe it.
So after the books were all read, I started writing letters to friends, writing a 'holiday journal', writing a personal journal, playing shit-head, playing Angry Birds on my phone and walked around a lot.
There are lots of wild flowers here, many pathes of unkept land. Lots of birds and bugs and also lots of my favourite flower, the poppy. I have picked hundreds, all transported back to my hotel room to be pressed in my sketchbook. They will take a couple of weeks to dry and become super thin and dry. Ill add them to my collection of dried poppies, which i am going to make something with one day soon. They are so fragile and ephemeral, just what I like.
Friday, April 23, 2010
Stuck
I am currently out in Portugal, stuck for an extra week of holiday, which is quite nice ad quite crap at the same time.
Having lots of ideas and thoughts, but can't wait to get home and get on with it!
Having lots of ideas and thoughts, but can't wait to get home and get on with it!
Tuesday, April 6, 2010
Music to work to
Hello Easter break! I have been enjoying having the long weekend off, and now I have another week 'off work' (ie. no Light Box work, just me in my studio making stuff - which I have not done in months) I'm really enjoying it, and I have a week's holiday abroad to look forward to as well.
Today it's just me in the studio, sorting some pens and making some stuff. Bliss.
Music to work to today:
Today it's just me in the studio, sorting some pens and making some stuff. Bliss.
Music to work to today:
- It's The Motherf**king Remix - The Rub (download volume 3 here for free!)
- You Make My Dreams - Hall and Oates
- Spirit Lake - Coco Rosie
- Greatest Hits Vol 1 - The Eagles
- Alphabet Street - Prince
- U Got the Look - Prince
- She Drives Me Crazy - Fine Young Cannibals
- BBC Radio 4's MedMatters podcast
- Brick House - Commodores
- Greatest Hits - Herb Alpert
- Yo La Tengo
Tuesday, March 23, 2010
Tuesday, March 2, 2010
Sunday, February 21, 2010
Wednesday, February 17, 2010
Things
Things to watch:
- My Big Fat Gypsy Wedding: This Thursday
- Herb and his Tijuana Brass Band: watch on iPlayer
Monday, February 15, 2010
Tuesday, February 2, 2010
The Invisible Circus: St. Valentine's day Massaquerade
"A night of heart breaking, soul shaking, rip roaring circus, theatre and spectacle played out to a seductive, melt your heart soundtrack from some of the hottest live bands and DJs around!"
The Invisible Circus's St. Valentine's day Massaquerade / Massacre / Masquerade is going to be incredible. This will be another sell-out event, and I have managed to get some tickets! As for the 'Shotgun wedding' dress code, I'm trying to think of something more exciting than just a plain old bloodied bride fancy dress costume. Any ideas?
Friday, January 29, 2010
Four Tet - There is Love in You
I have just got round to buying the newest album by Four Tet, 'There is Love in You' but have not listened to it yet! I want to save it for when I reallllly want to hear it. Soon.
I love trying to put music into words, and may try my own review once I've listened to the new album. But for now, here's a BBC review by Si Hawkins
(I'm enjoying the words 'mesmeric', 'melody-laden' and 'bliss')
"You have to admire Kieran Hebden for sticking so rigidly to his vision. Back in 2003 the London-based producer made an album called Rounds, which became rather more popular than he’d envisaged due to its winning mix of beautiful, organic-sounding melodies and novel, cleverly-manipulated samples. Radiohead invited him out on tour, tracks from the album began to pop up on everything from sportswear ads to television gardening shows, and Hebden looked set to become a quasi-household name.
Instead, two years on he released Everything Ecstatic, a record that upped the beats-per-minute dramatically in a bid to counteract the unlovely term ‘folktronica’ he’d been saddled with, and any suggestion of commercial intent. Those listeners who abandoned Four Tet at this point may want to give There is Love in You a spin, however, because, as the title suggests: the bliss is back.
Five years is a fair gap between Four Tet albums but then Hebden’s tracks are aural mosaics, painstakingly compiled to work on several levels. The skipping two-step of Love Cry, for example, may appear relatively traditional; but take a closer listen and there are intricacies aplenty, including an underlying synth whirr that sounds oddly reminiscent of the noise Fred Flintstone’s legs used to make when he carried the car to work. This presumably wasn’t the intention.
Even the more straightforward offerings, such as the aptly-titled This Unfolds, gently lull the listener in while sneaking a bewildering array of bells and whistles into the mix, so by the denouement you’re blissfully nodding along to what in less dextrous hands would be a chaotic maelstrom of noise.
There are a few recognisable Four Tet trademarks along the way, notably the chopped-up vocals and general CD-on-the-blink effects of album opener Angel Echoes, which, again, may sound slightly off-putting for those who wouldn’t normally purchase experimental electronica. But the soulful female voice, stuttering and struggling against the onrushing sonic wave, is so affecting that the track’s abstract nature becomes almost incidental.
It’s a theme that recurs throughout the record, and, indeed, that defines the Four Tet canon: mesmeric, melody-laden music, with varying degrees of difficulty. There is Love in You should be a fine introductory course."
I once met Kieran Hebden after sneaking backstage at a gig. Here's me and Four Tet smiling wildly in 2007:
Some audio for you (Please go and buy the album though!)
Burial & Four Tet - Moth
Four Tet - Angel Echoes (Radio 1 live session)
Angel Echoes (BBC session) by Four Tet
I love trying to put music into words, and may try my own review once I've listened to the new album. But for now, here's a BBC review by Si Hawkins
"You have to admire Kieran Hebden for sticking so rigidly to his vision. Back in 2003 the London-based producer made an album called Rounds, which became rather more popular than he’d envisaged due to its winning mix of beautiful, organic-sounding melodies and novel, cleverly-manipulated samples. Radiohead invited him out on tour, tracks from the album began to pop up on everything from sportswear ads to television gardening shows, and Hebden looked set to become a quasi-household name.
Instead, two years on he released Everything Ecstatic, a record that upped the beats-per-minute dramatically in a bid to counteract the unlovely term ‘folktronica’ he’d been saddled with, and any suggestion of commercial intent. Those listeners who abandoned Four Tet at this point may want to give There is Love in You a spin, however, because, as the title suggests: the bliss is back.
Five years is a fair gap between Four Tet albums but then Hebden’s tracks are aural mosaics, painstakingly compiled to work on several levels. The skipping two-step of Love Cry, for example, may appear relatively traditional; but take a closer listen and there are intricacies aplenty, including an underlying synth whirr that sounds oddly reminiscent of the noise Fred Flintstone’s legs used to make when he carried the car to work. This presumably wasn’t the intention.
Even the more straightforward offerings, such as the aptly-titled This Unfolds, gently lull the listener in while sneaking a bewildering array of bells and whistles into the mix, so by the denouement you’re blissfully nodding along to what in less dextrous hands would be a chaotic maelstrom of noise.
There are a few recognisable Four Tet trademarks along the way, notably the chopped-up vocals and general CD-on-the-blink effects of album opener Angel Echoes, which, again, may sound slightly off-putting for those who wouldn’t normally purchase experimental electronica. But the soulful female voice, stuttering and struggling against the onrushing sonic wave, is so affecting that the track’s abstract nature becomes almost incidental.
It’s a theme that recurs throughout the record, and, indeed, that defines the Four Tet canon: mesmeric, melody-laden music, with varying degrees of difficulty. There is Love in You should be a fine introductory course."
I once met Kieran Hebden after sneaking backstage at a gig. Here's me and Four Tet smiling wildly in 2007:
Some audio for you (Please go and buy the album though!)
Burial & Four Tet - Moth
Four Tet - Angel Echoes (Radio 1 live session)
Angel Echoes (BBC session) by Four Tet
Tuesday, January 19, 2010
Little colored bits
Gross words/sayings
gutted
guts
chow down
simmer down
"I'll see if i have some shrapnel"
kooky
Sophie Ellis Bextor sounds like Alan Partridge "it's murder on the dancefloor, but you better not kill the groove"
guts
chow down
simmer down
"I'll see if i have some shrapnel"
kooky
Sophie Ellis Bextor sounds like Alan Partridge "it's murder on the dancefloor, but you better not kill the groove"
Monday, January 18, 2010
Union Street, Bristol
Barfoot and Duggan have been busy creating an attractive shop front hoarding to use to board up the disused shops in Union Street, Broadmead, Bristol.
Here are some of my sketchy designs:
I found those pics of the boxes in THE MOST AMAZING BOOK IN THE WORLD, Tactile:High Touch Visuals by Klanten, Ehmann and Hubner. Published by Dgv in November 2007. It's only £26.80 in Amazon, and I found it in Urban Outfitters for £25. The rrp is £40!
Everything in the book is so delicious, I am so inspired. There is also 'Tangible', which is next on my list!
So the box pics are titled 'De Designpolite' made by students at the Utrecht School of Art in 2004.
Here are some of my sketchy designs:
I found those pics of the boxes in THE MOST AMAZING BOOK IN THE WORLD, Tactile:High Touch Visuals by Klanten, Ehmann and Hubner. Published by Dgv in November 2007. It's only £26.80 in Amazon, and I found it in Urban Outfitters for £25. The rrp is £40!
Everything in the book is so delicious, I am so inspired. There is also 'Tangible', which is next on my list!
So the box pics are titled 'De Designpolite' made by students at the Utrecht School of Art in 2004.
The Text Project at Planet Pizza
The artwork is being displayed as a Valentines Exhibition, all pieces are for sale, at good prices -
small sizes (about 5" tall) are £15
the larger frames are £20
and there are two big pieces in wooden frames are £35
Click here to be redirected to my website where you can see all the pieces I have in stock!
All the other frames have been saved from being chucked, restored, polished and repainted.
I have many more text project pieces, and lots more Valentines ones too.
LO
VE
LO
VE
Confused man sculpture
My fingers made this silly little man out of clay, i don't know where he came from, but he obviously had to get out! I like his teeth the best.
And this is a bit of fluff i made from bits of fluff.
It reminds me of everlasting gob stoppers and my friend Jack Warren Meeks. Actually, It's pretty much exactly the same, and i only realised this since looking on his website. oh my!
And this is a bit of fluff i made from bits of fluff.
It reminds me of everlasting gob stoppers and my friend Jack Warren Meeks. Actually, It's pretty much exactly the same, and i only realised this since looking on his website. oh my!
Image copyright Jack Warren Meeks
Friday, January 15, 2010
Improv Everywhere: trouserless subway ride!
Incredible! 'Improv Everywhere' held it's ninth 'no pants subway ride' in New York this week.
Here's the video of the 2009 No pants subway ride:
Found on 'Color Me Katie' the great creative blog. Click here.
Here's the video of the 2009 No pants subway ride:
Found on 'Color Me Katie' the great creative blog. Click here.
Tuesday, January 12, 2010
There's More to Life than Lists caption competition!
Project 2010: The Love Of It
Project 2010: 52 projects. One year to live for the love of it. Oodles of fun! Get involved in the following Project 2010 challenges then send the outcomes to The Love Of It.
Project ONE
Put aside an hour this week to scribble down your ultimate ‘things to do before you die’ list. Where in the world do you want to go, what sights do you want to see, what books do you want to read and what adventures do you want to go on?
Email your list to loveofit@googlemail.com or, better still, write it on a scrap of paper, beer mat or postcard, cross things out, change your mind and write them back in again, cover it in doodles and send it to: The Love of It Bucket List, Barfoot and Duggan, Stokes Croft Studios, Top Floor, 77-79 Stokes Croft, Bristol BS1 3RD.
Here are a couple of samples of the postal lists we've recieved so far:
Project ONE
Put aside an hour this week to scribble down your ultimate ‘things to do before you die’ list. Where in the world do you want to go, what sights do you want to see, what books do you want to read and what adventures do you want to go on?
Email your list to loveofit@googlemail.com or, better still, write it on a scrap of paper, beer mat or postcard, cross things out, change your mind and write them back in again, cover it in doodles and send it to: The Love of It Bucket List, Barfoot and Duggan, Stokes Croft Studios, Top Floor, 77-79 Stokes Croft, Bristol BS1 3RD.
Here are a couple of samples of the postal lists we've recieved so far:
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