Archive for September, 2010

I’ve been wondering about how often I do #followfriday on my twitter feed.   Partly because one follower DM’d me that I don’t do them often enough and another complained last time I did one because I flooded their stream.  So responding to the huge public interest on this burning issue of national interest I thought I’d take a leaf out of every red top newspapers book and run a poll…

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The small print: Please note that the management reserves the right to completely ignore the outcome of the poll unless it suits me.  Entrants must meet the eligibility requirements as specified in the interaction terms and conditions. Failure to meet the eligibility requirements may result in an entry being invalid and/or forfeiture of any prize.  You can complete the poll by filling out the form above.  Sending a message in a bottle via the ocean to arrive not later than the closing date of the poll is not a method of participating in the poll. That none binding resolutions are not binding.  That the sky is blue, grass is green.  That elves work in a chip shop.  Or is that Elvis?  I don’t know I’ve never been to that chip shop.

The Design Museum London

I’m a bit late posting a picture today because I’ve been trying to decide which one to use.  I took myself off to London last week for a few days and during the day went a little bit crazy and took quite a few pictures.  I wanted to use one of the Design Museum as it was one of the places in London I really wanted to visit.  I’ve wanted to go there since it opened in 1989 and so the Designs of the Year award exhibition was a great excuse to go there.

Originally it was going to be my first stop on a walk along the Thames however I reversed my walk and started at Tate Modern so I could pick up a ticket at The Globe on the way.  By the time I got to Tower Bridge my feet were telling me to go no further.  I almost gave in and did the Tower Bridge museum instead.   I persevered and I’m glad I did because the entrance fee was worth every penny.  Unfortunately afterwards I wasn’t really into the idea of taking a lot of photographs of the building so I had to go for the best of the four I took.  I’ve not really done the building any favours.

The exhibition included some really interesting work.  The folding plug should be a massive success for Min-Kyu Choi.  I had six chargers and six plugs with me for just a short break.  The folding plug would have saved me so much space.  The Kyoto Box, Soma and GINA Light Visionary Model all stand out in my mind a week on.  The L-E-D-LED-L-ED was immense fun to interact play with.  The Panda Eyes were scary but really fun.  All of the work made me think and after walking about 7km (excluding distances inside buildings) in the day that was a pretty amazing achievement.

One of my favourite bits of design wasn’t in the exhibition: The exhibition catalogue.  It’s a compact post card sized book about a centimetre thick with an entry and its description on facing pages.  The simple white cover with the categories depressed into it with the title block forming a square at the bottom left corner.  Best of all it was only £5.  I can flip through it when I want and get inspiration from it.  As a contrast the heavyweight tomes that the Tate Modern had for the excellent Exposed exhibition:  Beautiful, hard backed and £30.  Travelling light by train made it a book too far.   I’ve just noticed I can get it cheaper from Amazon than the Tate but still what I’d really have liked was something more like the one from the Design Museum.

It’s that day of the week again.  Here is my 8th updated Vue lighting rig which this week uses two lights shining horizontally on a figure.

• Sitting in the Natural History museum garden, the sun is out and there's a teacher channeling Joyce Grenfeld with a school trip… #
• @Danacea Didn't those henchemen I sent over help? I'll have them severely repromanded if they didn't in reply to Danacea #
• @6violet9 Thanks I am having a great day. Hope you're day gets better in reply to 6violet9 #
• @Thisangelbites One of the kids here was told to stop feeding the pigeons as they'd sit on him. It could have been sit with a h in it in reply to Thisangelbites #
• @Thisangelbites He had a game going: feed them then chase them. He's in for it in a big way when they have him sighted in reply to Thisangelbites #
• Comedy Store players last night were brilliant fun. @AndyCSP accidental Meryl Streep accent understudy inspired #comedystoreplayers #
• Lunch done. Time to go and be cultural. 3 hours. Two museums left. Can my feet take it? Only one way to find out. #
• My eccentric review of @stephenfry at the Albert Hall seems to have worked for at least one visitor http://bit.ly/aguws0 #
• @simplychrista A somewhat late thanks for the #ff in reply to simplychrista #
• Did I really take all these photos while I was away or has there been a mix up in the ether and I've got a tourists by mistake? #

I went to see Yes, Prime Minister at the Gielgud Theatre in London on the 18th September.  It’s a gentle re-imagining of the original rather than a rerun with a different cast, it’s not as radical in its re-imagining  as say Battlestar Galactica (thankfully Bernard hasn’t done a Starbuck).  However the changes aren’t just the cosmetic inclusion of a flat screen TV and an array of BlackBerrys.  A loud ringtone cleverly introduces the first act before any of the cast make an appearance.  The BlackBerry jokes are there but fortunately the play doesn’t become obsessed with phones or other modern innovations.

The transition to theatre has changed Yes, Prime Minister.   Where the original TV episodes were 30 minute, multiple set productions this is two and a bit hours minus an interval and all takes place in a one room set.  With the extra time and limitations of the stage the plot leans closer to farce but doesn’t descend into it.  The satirical edge of the original is still there but either time has softened its bite a little or that is just the effect of the satires that have evolved from it in the twenty years since the last, first, run of the TV incarnation.

It takes a little time to get used to David Haig, Henry Goodman and Jonathan Slinger in the essential three roles.  Sir Humphrey has a nice pair of his trademark extended, convoluted and entirely content-free monologue responses to Hacker’s questions.  Fortunately they don’t slip into imitation and play them as original, modern characters.  There is a little of Blair in the new Hacker and has a few moments of channeling Churchill.  He manages to put Sir Humphrey on the back foot by turning the tables on him a few times.

One of the biggest changes in a way is a spin doctor is now included in the mix.  Frank Weisel aka the Weasal, Hackers political advisor, was quickly shuffled off into the bowels of a distant building in Yes, Minister.  Dorothy Wainright in Yes, Prime Minister was often smarter than Hacker but often acted as a foil to Sir Humprey so Bernard wasn’t always having to reveal Sir Humphrey’s schemes to Hacker.  Claire Sutton, Special Policy Advisor, feels more integrated.  She can and does put a spanner into Humphrey’s scheming but she is more than capable of causing a little chaos all by herself.

Of the big three Bernard is the most changed.  He barely mixes a metaphor and with the introduction and frequent presence of Claire Sutton he has less opportunity to have moments of confidence with Jim or Sir Humphrey.  I sort of miss Bernard as he was always my favourite character in the TV series.  He does have his moments though.

The Chequers set is exquisite and worked beautifully.  If I had my “architecture enthusiast” hat on I’d question the layout of Chequers having a bay window next to a door leading into a corridor.  With my “theatre isn’t reality it’s a reflection in a mirror that can get away with things because its theatre hat on” I’ll just enjoy it.  I’ll be back to the bay windows in a paragraph…

I think it’s a sad reflection on my leaning towards lighting design rather than audio that I can’t really comment on the sound side of the production.  The use of Elgar and other inspiring British orchestral music before the play starts works well to set the mood.  The sound effects worked at the right time.  I could hear what the actors were saying (and they paused during the longest laughs and applause or we’d have been lost).  The sound worked and I didn’t notice anything wrong with it.

The lighting largely consisted of a stage wash with some light fittings included in the set.  There were however a few moments of grand theatricality that were lit beautifully.  The set includes two large bay windows – one facing the audience and one angled from stage right.  The back window especially was used beautifully through a combination of a beautifully painted scenic cloth of a tree and lighting effects to create drama but also to subtly inform the audience of the time of day.

Where the TV episodes could cram a few levels of complication on top of each other the longer format allows more development with more elements dropped in.  There is some nice simple foreshadowing that made no real attempt to hide in plain sight but which clearly caught some of the audience unawares.  Many of the originals favourite political themes are still there – Europe, The BBC, the civil service and a fictional oil rich country.

I’m wondering if there isn’t a book to be written on the symbolic use of torrential rainfall in political dramas. The West Wing uses it several times and now the stage version of Yes, Prime Minister too.  I wish I was more up on my Shakespeare to know if it can all be blamed on his works.

At least from where I was sitting it was a full house, certainly full enough that I only just got served at the bar during the intermission and had to clutch a plastic cup of ice through the second half.  The audience was a broader mix than I expected.  There were a reasonable number of thirty somethings and some late teenagers with parents along with groups of older women and groups of older couples.  Given the price of the tickets and the age and nature of the original show I’m not surprised the audience wasn’t younger.  However I think this is a play that could be seen and enjoyed without any knowledge of the original.

One  word of advice – the Gielgud seems to be quite a warm theatre with a full house.  I was glad the good late September weather meant I didn’t need to wrap up against the elements.  If you have to wrap up make sure you can easily de-layer.

I’ve left the most important thing till last.  Is it funny?

After all this is a comedy based on one of the greatest and most original situation comedy series ever produced.

Thankfully the answer is a most definite yes.  It’s really funny.  It’s silly funny without anyone’s trousers falling down.  Essentially it’s clever funny too.  It manages to be current but at the same time to remain in that slightly parallel Yes, Minister universe to our own where Hacker, friends, enemies, Bernard and Sir Humphrey think they’re in charge.



Chinese lion Liverpool

A photograph of one of the Chinese lions around Liverpool’s Chinatown.  This one stands under the Chinese gate I posted a picture of a few weeks ago.

I saw the most astonishing arse today.

No stop it.

I don’t normally comment on such things.  I’m a gentleman who keeps such thought private while others utter them without the aid of a quantity of strong drink.

Stay with me a little there is a point to all this.  It might even relate to tonight’s entertainment by the extraordinary Mr Stephen Fry.

It belonged to a young lady (the bottom that is) and was clad in tight white jeans and it was moving at speed through, appropriately, the Power Hall at the Science Museum.  I suspect she was in some way involved in the private event in the area of the museum that was closed.

The thing about the arse in question is that it was tight, pert, perfectly formed and had two exceptional halves.

That is also a good description of Mr Fry’s show.

It had other qualities.  It was quite clearly structural.  The young lady in question reminded me of a Radio Four Afternoon Play I heard while holidaying in my teenage years in Yorkshire.  An architect told the story in the first person.  He described his lover in terms of elements of classical architecture.  In this case her legs, like Corinthian columns, were connected to her finely tapered torso by the ornate capital that was her arse.

While a slightly wandering (although not Corbutesque) monologue the evening’s entertainment was similarly well structured.  There were anecdotes, answers to questions, personal insights and jokes.  There were impressions and a hint of technology without slipping into modern, ancient or Koine Geek.  His beta software didn’t crash embarrisingly.

There was laughter.  I’ve been struck on this trip to London how laughter can be so varied.  I’ll come back to that in another post.  I’m wandering away from the main point (if well muscled twin hemispheres can be a point) which isn’t really the very exception glutæus maximus anyway.

Meandering even further from the arse briefly I must comment on the footwear.  Good footwear is important.  It acts as a sound foundation for the support of the legs and on up to the…

Now really do I have to tell you again?

…top of the head.  It can also encourage the arse to wiggle in a most pleasing manor.  The young lady in question had a rather fine pair of black, or possibly extraordinarily dark brown, patent leather boots with unexceptional heals and turnovers at the top.  Maybe a hint of the pirate about them.  Or more than a month of my salary.

Mr Fry’s show had similarly well prepared footwear.  The lighting was simple, tasteful and focused the eye on the stage.  At first I thought the screens might be a little small but I realised they were in fact perfectly choosen to supplement his performance rather than replace it.  The choice of (I think) mostly ‘50s music before and during the interval between part A and part 2 put a little swing into the proceedings.  The quality of the audio throughout was pleasing on the ear.  I feel it’s important to mention such things having been to concerts ruined by a sound system, to strain the analogy well past the point of good manners, consisting of a single, broken down, flip flop and a high heeled wellington boot caught in a crack in the paving of acoustical amplification.

Now the arse (there I’ve used the word three five times in one post which is five times more than the proceeding thousand and something posts on Too Many Ideas) may have been clad in perfect, tight, white jeans but it had hidden depths.

No really stop it.  Don’t make me delete this post because you can’t behave.

That white fabric was of such a fine weave that it was absolutely clear that something black was under it.  Not some sort of indiscreet thong above the waist or visible fabric line.  No this was a black something that may well have begun at the neck and gone all the way down into the boots.  If it did I hope she didn’t need to make too many trips to the toilet on work time.  It may have been in two pieces.  My apologies I was distracted by the demonstration of complex oscillations.  Quite possibly it would have been more appropriate on the third floor in amongst the machines for examining harmonic motion.

And yes (and I’m not going to apologise for starting a paragraph with an and) Mr Fry’s talk had hidden depths.  There were moments of poignancy and his thoughts on Wilde were an excellent (almost) end to the show.  The fine white weave of light humour and a rather funny short story covered another layer, that was not dark but simply not what I was necessarily expecting of the evening.

Now I didn’t want to give too much of the excellent evening’s entertainment away.  I don’t know how much of the upcoming shows will be similar or if there will be a future broadcast, DVD or wax cylinder release that I could spoil.   Hopefully my comparison of a rather extraordinarily sublime arse and Mr Fry’s fun little talk will suffice.  I could certainly have watched either of them for significantly longer than the duration of the show provided.

As always (at least when I remember) a quick one line summary: Mr Stephen Fry’s one man show is a wonderful way to spend an evening.

Oh and if the lady in question should by some strange twist of fate see this: my apologies, this really is a moment of madness and poor taste. But good grief you do have an exceptional behind.  How many hours of step do you do to keep it in such fine shape?

• Shop assistant: "Do you know the furry jacket on the dummy?" Responses: "You hum it & I'll sing along" and "Don't call shoppers dummies" #
• The image map I'm building keeps reminding me of a WarGames quote "Let's play Global Thermonuclear War" #
• @sandchigger Later. Let's play Global Thermonuclear War. in reply to sandchigger #
• @ehlanakovas I'm declaring my population as a deterrent in reply to ehlanakovas #
• @ehlanakovas That's what they all see till they see my impressive collection of space platform based ICBMs in reply to ehlanakovas #
• @Danacea in reply to Danacea #
• @ehlanakovas Your only being nice because you've just pulled the UFO technology card in reply to ehlanakovas #
• @cha0tic Anything to do with bicycling dresses? http://bit.ly/baFk33 in reply to cha0tic #
• @cha0tic Glad I didn't look at images. Guessing lycra content was high. Probably NSFW lol. in reply to cha0tic #
• @ehlanakovas And obviously peanuts may contain… Plutonium in reply to ehlanakovas #
• @simplychrista Your teacake taunting is making me hungry in reply to simplychrista #
• @pookie_uk Thanks you reminded me to do my bit for democracy too in reply to pookie_uk #
• @Level30yinzer I find tweetdeck and lists make life a lot easier. Especially the last few weeks when I've very little twitter time. in reply to Level30yinzer #
• @Level30yinzer I can understand that – won't even let twitter near my phone – it would cry and hide in a corner in reply to Level30yinzer #
• A curse on IE6. I really wish the jQuery I've just finished coding looked as impressive as the hours it took. #
• @jearle I can only guess but this one of mine has had more viewings than my others. Can you spot the common element? http://bit.ly/97j6OH in reply to jearle #
• @Danacea Sorry no minions available ATM. Could send some henchmen: they're quite medieval in their skill set and attitudes. Would they do? in reply to Danacea #
• @jearle Thats pretty cool but only £250 My gas bill got so messed up that I didn't pay anything for over 2 years => in reply to jearle #
• Kenny Dalglish's book signing line at Liverpool1 is 4iQ long (the iQ is the ISO measure of queue &= the length of an iPhone 4 launch queue) #
• @simplychrista Thanks for the #ff in reply to simplychrista #
• @greywulf I thought it was the hairs that were the main problem with Halfling Tiramisu in reply to greywulf #
• Waiter! Waiter! There's a hobbit in my soup… No sir that's a halfling and its supposed to be there #cookahalflingfriday #
• @AmpTheBard Good tip: does it get rid of the ingrown ones in the feet or do you suggest using only young halflings? #cookahalflingfriday in reply to AmpTheBard #
• @greywulf So if trapped by a dragon & orc horde offer the dragon Halfling Tiramisu and duck. in reply to greywulf #
• @DaveAllsop Blender the marmite of 3D software but at least it's free in reply to DaveAllsop #
• My feet hurt, my hands hurt and I don't care. The sun is shining, I'm on holiday and life is good. #
• @xtamsynx Probably for the best – at least they don't sell them like they do their ghost written autobiographies… in reply to xtamsynx #
• @Danacea I saw a gang of ladies in high heals, hats & troweled on makeup heading for Hyde Park. If the Pope spots them he's in for a fright. in reply to Danacea #
• @daneofwar A ball of string soaked in oils and set on fire in the sky pushed by a giant, flame retardant kitten kong #
• @daneofwar You need to grow special cat mint to lure the kitten your way or get extra large cat nip chocolates fired into the clouds in reply to daneofwar #

I had this Mackerel from M&S for my dinner.  Having not cooked Mackerel before I checked the instructions.  I couldn’t help noticing the information on the back…

I know they have to be complete but I’d be more worried if Mackerel didn’t contain fish.

Still it was very nice and I’m sure if they had the packet information read out by Dervla Kirwan I’d completely miss any mistakes, omissions or amusing details

Here is the now regular update for a Tuesday of one of my old Vue lighting rigs: tonight’s features Spotlights at 45 degrees from the Front and Back.