~ Ripples & Waves ~

"Way Back Home" - street trials riding short film featuring Danny MacAskill

noreply@blogger.com (ßlϋeωãvε) — Thu, 18 Nov 2010 00:05:00 +0000

a-ha's last live session on the BBC

noreply@blogger.com (ßlϋeωãvε) — Wed, 29 Sep 2010 03:14:00 +0000

On 28th September a-ha were back in session at Maida Vale, this time on Ken Bruce's BBC Radio 2 show. a-ha are about to begin their worldwide 'Ending on a High Note' tour, starting and ending in Norway, so this live session would be their last for the BBC.

Just like last year, I've recorded it to share with others worldwide.

Part 1, (6m 53s): Introduction; song The Sun Always Shines On TV; the public's messages.

Part 2, (12m 50s): an acoustic version of Butterfly, Butterfly (The Last Hurrah); fan questions & messages; Analogue.

Part 3, (13m 53s): cover version of Soft Cell's Say Hello, Wave Goodbye; general chat and then Take On Me.

Britain back on the couch

noreply@blogger.com (ßlϋeωãvε) — Wed, 17 Mar 2010 20:47:00 +0000

This morning I happened to catch an interesting interview on BBC 5 Live's Up All Night of best-selling psychologist Dr. Oliver James. His book, Britain On The Couch has been re-released this year - it was a hit in the 90's and spawned a two-part Channel 4 documentary.

Presenter Rhod Sharp is asking the questions in this 28 minute recording: (one of the below players should work in your browser)

Slow motion Pedigree

noreply@blogger.com (ßlϋeωãvε) — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 08:37:00 +0000

Creative therapy

noreply@blogger.com (ßlϋeωãvε) — Tue, 11 Aug 2009 00:14:00 +0000

“Writing is a form of therapy; sometimes I wonder how all those, who do not write, compose, or paint can manage to escape the madness, the melancholia, the panic fear, which is inherent in a human condition.” — Graham Greene

Signs

noreply@blogger.com (ßlϋeωãvε) — Sun, 09 Aug 2009 14:35:00 +0000

We should always have a reason to wake up. What's yours?

Uploaded by SignsTheMovie.

a-ha live in session on the BBC

noreply@blogger.com (ßlϋeωãvε) — Sun, 26 Jul 2009 22:07:00 +0000

A-ha have been all over the British media recently promoting their new album Foot of the Mountain. On 25th July they were in session on Dermot O'Leary's BBC Radio 2 show, live from Maida Vale* (London), chatting and playing a mixture of old and new songs. The BBC's iPlayer only allows radio shows to be listened to again for a week, so I thought I'd record it to share with others worldwide.

Part 1, (13m 35s): Introduction and general chit-chat; songs The Sun Always Shines On TV and Riding The Crest; the public's questions.

Part 2, (11m 55s): Living in New York and Oslo; songs Foot of the Mountain and Question of Lust (a Depeche Mode cover, their choice for the Great British Songbook).

Part 3, (22m 02s): Sigur Rós; Greg's a-ha tattoos; random facts including Morten's orchid, Stoke FC support, tree climbing, stamp designing; songs Take On Me and Analogue; what they miss from Norway while away; Morten's special power boat; song Hunting High and Low.

__________________
*A photo of the Maida Vale setup, taken by someone and the link posted by @aha_com on Twitter.

Amazing products made from recycled materials

noreply@blogger.com (ßlϋeωãvε) — Sun, 26 Apr 2009 21:37:00 +0000

The Tech News blog has collated thirty-three products made from recycled materials. It's great to see people's innovative and creative thinking to make new things from old materials.

Fire Flower

noreply@blogger.com (ßlϋeωãvε) — Thu, 12 Mar 2009 17:23:00 +0000

Previously, ice + piano; now fire + piano. But done a thousand-times better than my efforts!

Pierre Michel’s latest film , “Fire Flower”, is an abstract vision of sensuality with hints of alchemical mysticism. Like Pierre’s other films, this project derives its power from an intense focus on texture and color backed by a dramatic soundtrack." (motionographer)

The making of Fire Flower.

Visual poetry

noreply@blogger.com (ßlϋeωãvε) — Sun, 08 Mar 2009 16:38:00 +0000

Late last Thursday evening I went into the kitchen to fix a snack, turned the light on and immediately paused as the un-curtained front window revealed typical wet Lewis snow (or sleet) hitting the glass, sliding down and stacking at the bottom. I knew I had to record it.

Lighting it was tricky - I tried some torches and they gave an atmospheric sense but weren't really bright or wide enough to highlight the full extent of the ice crystals. I then re-arranged the kitchen anglepoise lamp just so to avoid reflections and flare, and used a black bin liner behind the camera to cover the kitchen's and my reflection in the window.

Twenty minutes later I'd recorded enough footage, my cup of tea was cold and the icy window display was fast disappearing, not to be replaced for the rest of the evening.

Knowing if I didn't keep the momentum going and do something with the footage, I'd lose interest or forget, and it would remain unused on my hard disk. The choice of music often sets the mood of a film, so I immediately went through my (fairly small) MP3 collection looking for inspiration and on not being satisfied went scouring the web, whereupon I found some excellent CC tracks. There are thousands and thousands of royalty-free tracks online but even with some websites allowing searches by genre and mood, it can take hours previewing them to find just the right ones. I don't know about you but reading descriptions of musical pieces just doesn't work for me - I have to use my ears to get a feel and then try to visualise it behind my video clips.

I used Adobe Premier Elements to edit this time instead of Windows Movie Maker, as it has more control of levels, colour grading, sound fades and sharpening. Why Movie Maker doesn't have a basic sharpening filter is strange. I'm still learning Premiere and find it a bit clumsy and slow to use. Things that are simple to achieve with Movie Maker, like a fade-in from white as on the first video below, take many more steps with Premiere and usually involve setting keyframes which can quickly become fiddly and tedious.

Speaking of tedious, I've written enough! The Flickr staff call their 90 second videos “long photos”. For these couple of films I prefer the term “visual poetry” and I hope you enjoy them.

Delicately stacked
music: Comfortable Mystery 3 by Kevin Macleod.

Moving apart yet coming together
music: Cold Night by Jimmy G.

Pixels of wax

noreply@blogger.com (ßlϋeωãvε) — Wed, 04 Mar 2009 07:19:00 +0000

Christian Faur is an American artist who makes pictures from wax crayons. He scans a picture, reduces it to blocks of colour and then uses this as a template to pack together lots of crayons that upon viewing from a distance resemble the picture. It's like making pixels of wax - simple but clever. He even makes his own crayons by hand-casting each one in a mould.

More examples on his website.

The making of 3D street art

noreply@blogger.com (ßlϋeωãvε) — Thu, 26 Feb 2009 22:02:00 +0000

Edgar Müller is a well-known 3D street artist and at the Festival of World Cultures in Dún Laoghaire, Ireland, he transformed a huge slice of the East Pier into a dramatic ice age scene.

If you have a fast PC and connection, be sure to click on HQ (bottom right) once the video starts for the best quality HD viewing (clicking on the video will take you to the YouTube page where the HD video can be viewed on large screens).

The Valentine's Day seesaw

noreply@blogger.com (ßlϋeωãvε) — Sat, 14 Feb 2009 14:35:00 +0000

Why I Love Valentine’s Day — o — Why I Hate Valentine’s Day

I offer nothing but a balanced viewpoint.

Photographic art, Chinese style

noreply@blogger.com (ßlϋeωãvε) — Fri, 13 Feb 2009 17:50:00 +0000

Li Wei, who lives in Beijing, creates images using mirrors, carefully hidden thin wires and his own acrobatic skills, honed from years of martial arts training. The pictures feature Wei suspended in a string of impossible situations at locations across Hong Kong and China.

Supposedly no computer trickery is used, although after watching a few of his works videos I think the wires are electronically cloned out of the final photos.

“I am fascinated by the unstable and dangerous sides of art and I hope my works reflect these aspects," he says. "Sometimes I am in real danger - I have to hang myself high with steel wires and people do get a little worried for me - but I am fine.”

Check out his website which shows his many fantastical works over the years.

Simmered gammon with watercress dumplings

noreply@blogger.com (ßlϋeωãvε) — Wed, 11 Feb 2009 13:07:00 +0000

This is a Gordon Ramsay recipe published in the Telegraph Magazine. Serves 4, or 1 for a few days if you can eat lots like me. :-)

Pleasingly green and peppery, watercress lightens the dumplings in this braised gammon dish, scented with star anise. Soak the gammon in cold water as soon as you unpack the shopping; it helps remove excess salt.

1kg (2¼lb) raw gammon
2 shallots, peeled and halved
2 large carrots, sliced diagonally
1-2 stick celery, very thinly sliced
2 star anise
about 1½ltr (3pt) fresh beef or chicken stock

For the dumplings:
60g (2oz) suet
120g (4oz) self-raising flour
leaves from 1 bunch of watercress, chopped
½ tsp of salt

Watercress oil to serve:
leaves from a second bunch of watercress, chopped
4 tbsp olive oil
pinch of salt

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Put the gammon in a pan and cover with water. Bring to the boil, then throw the water away. Add the vegetables to the pan with the star anise, and cover with the stock. Bring to the boil again, removing any foamy scum that rises to the surface. Turn down the heat — the liquid should simmer slowly, barely moving — and cook for one and half to two hours until the gammon is tender. Add a few twists of black pepper; you are unlikely to need salt.

Meanwhile make the dumplings. Mix together the suet, flour, watercress and half a teaspoon of salt. Add cold water, a tablespoon at a time, until you have a dryish dough that just holds together. With the help of extra flour, lightly shape the dumplings into walnut-sized rounds.

To make the watercress oil, pound together the watercress and olive oil with a pinch of salt until it’s a smooth green emulsion and put in a separate bowl to serve at the table.

Pour half the broth from the gammon into a separate pan, bring it to the boil and drop the dumplings in one by one. Cook them in the simmering stock until they float to the surface and small bubbles erupt on their surface.

Slice the gammon, and serve with the dumplings and vegetable, the broth spooned over the top. Zig-zag a little watercress oil over each plate.

Flickr shares my birthday

noreply@blogger.com (ßlϋeωãvε) — Tue, 10 Feb 2009 17:15:00 +0000

According to the Flickr blog, their site was launched 5 years ago at ETech at 5:15PM Pacific time on 10th February. For some reason I thought they had started before the day I entered my third decade.

I joined Flickr to share a variety of slide scans I'd made - my first upload was this this Lewis sunset from the summer of 2002. I don't exactly remember now why I chose Flickr over any of the other free photo sharing sites on offer, except perhaps I liked the simple interface, ease of use and the quality of other's photos there. The whole "community of members" aspect wasn't even considered.

My use of the site increased greatly after I borrowed a Canon IXUS 500 from the friend I was visiting and snapped things around Birmingham, enjoying the instant results. Before then and despite owning a film SLR, photography wasn't really a hobby and I didn't look at things differently, at new angles, shapes and colours or pleasing compositions.

The first digital camera I bought (secondhand) was the Canon Pro1, in February 2006. Since then digital photography has been like a crash-course in seeing anew and I now have over 2000 items on Flickr; small change compared to many other prolific users.

While I hope Flickr goes on to see its tenth birthday, I wish they'd listen to the users more and implement basic features that should have been there from the start. There's plenty of good competing sites available now, but it's often Flickr's community of like-minded people sharing their experience and talent that stop me from making a switch.

Fading into beautiful light

noreply@blogger.com (ßlϋeωãvε) — Tue, 10 Feb 2009 10:02:00 +0000

A year older today and this is how I feel...

You say you wander your own land,
But when I think about it,
I don't see how you can.

You're aching, you're breaking
And I can see the pain in your eyes;
Since everybody's changing
And I don't know why.

So little time,
Try to understand that I'm
Trying to make a move just to stay in the game
I try to stay awake and remember my name
But everybody's changing
And I don't feel the same.

You're gone from here
Soon you will disappear,
Fading into beautiful light.
'cause everybody's changing
And I don't feel right.

So little time,
Try to understand that I'm
Trying to make a move just to stay in the game
I try to stay awake and remember my name
But everybody's changing
And I don't feel the same.

So little time,
Try to understand that I'm
Trying to make a move just to stay in the game
I try to stay awake and remember my name
But everybody's changing
And I don't feel the same.

Ooo...
Everybody's changing
And I don't feel the same.

A peaking trend?

noreply@blogger.com (ßlϋeωãvε) — Wed, 04 Feb 2009 21:38:00 +0000

With the popularity of digital cameras these days, time-lapse and stop-motion videos have become very popular. Tune into any BBC natural history programme, or one that uses landscape filler shots, and you can be guaranteed to see the whizzing-by clouds and rapidly-moving light that characterises time-lapse. Even the BBC news is at it, showing time-lapse clips of building construction, bustling streets and snow falling/melting.

I just wonder if this trend is starting to peak now as people get fed-up with seeing the technique so widely used. However, when it's done as well as this Olen Lavie video for his song Her Morning Elegance, which I've watched at least five times so far, I think there's still room for creativity to enthrall and amaze.

More information about how and who shot this video can be found on this blog entry by Olen.

I'll finish this post by a quote from Robert Wright which may sum up how many feel:

“Time lapse is to photography as the Drum Solo is to rock music: it’s thrilling in the beginning but halfway through you wish it was over...”

WasherHelp: UK washing machines

noreply@blogger.com (ßlϋeωãvε) — Wed, 04 Feb 2009 20:45:00 +0000

In my research for buying my next washing machine, which is predictably proving more problematic thanks to living on this island, I found the WasherHelp website and forum which has been most helpful in answering some questions I had.

The site is run by Andy Trigg who has spent 30 years in the White Goods trade with plenty of experience in repairing washing machines. He writes on the About me page:

“I’m giving away free help and advice. In return I gamble that relevant adverts will be used by my readers. ... I strive to be balanced and fair at all times and I believe in being fair and honest even if it means apparently losing out in some way. The challenge of proving to any (understandable) sceptics that my advice remains unbiased, honest and sincere is motivating.”

I'm becomming convinced that a new machine will probably not last as long as my old Hotpoint did without an expensive repair after a few years; that manufacturer's energy ratings are misleading; that biological washing powder should only be used at 40°C but if a non-bio is preferred then the machine should have a maintenance wash once a month to prevent slime and bacteria build-up; that the Germans make the best machines (hey, what's new?!) but many of them are not available in the U.K.; that it could be cheaper to just pay someone else to do my washing and ironing for the next few months!

Flood in the kitchen

noreply@blogger.com (ßlϋeωãvε) — Tue, 03 Feb 2009 04:35:00 +0000

What you’re looking at above is the reason for the latest leak to afflict my property: corrosion and broken metal at the bottom of my, admittedly aged, washing machine drum. Mopping up lots of soapy water with soggy bits of hair, dust, cobwebs and goodness knows what else in it is not my idea of fun on a Monday. Taking the back off the machine I was hoping the problem would only be a split rubber pipe, easily repairable, but with water still dribbling out of the drum, it was obvious the old credit card was going to have to be whipped out.

Judging by the lowest couple of rusted nuts and bolts (you can see how the non-rusty ones look in the background of the photo), the drum must have been leaking for a while, albeit not in sufficient quantity for it to run out from under the machine and thus to my attention. What’s interesting to any metallurgists is that it wasn’t the bolt that broke but the non-ferrous metal around the bolt. I think last weeks fast spin of a couple of pillows may have vibrated the drum to destruction.

I mentioned this house has had its fair share of water-related problems. They started (since I’ve been here) with rain getting under the roof leading, running down the side of the chimney and soaking a bedroom wall causing the wallpaper to ripple. A few gales have dislodged house and garage tiles which has led to damp, and last year saw several double-glazed windows badly leak due to the amount of rain and the pressure of the wind pushing on the seals – this prevented me going away until silicon had been applied under the seals and a new unit fitted. Then there was the cracked bathroom basin, dampness of the carpet and concrete just inside the door, and the double-flapped letterbox which leaks if the wind is blowing in a certain direction. A major soggy ceiling mess was thankfully avoided when the water tank had to be replaced because the plumber couldn’t remove the broken element – it was the original, inefficient unit, and on taking it out it was obvious by the weeping green marks that copper corrosion was happening and it was only a matter of time before the tank burst.

Fun, hey?

So, when I’m next in town I’ll be scouting around for a new washing machine. There’s no point buying one online as the delivery charges will negate any cost benefits, and I’d still be left with the old machine to somehow dispose of - washing machines weigh a tonne with their concrete weights and metal drums. I’ll see what the Co-Op has to offer first as £200+ will equate to lots of loyalty-card points, plus cashback on the credit card if I use that.

Busy, busy, always busy!

noreply@blogger.com (ßlϋeωãvε) — Sat, 31 Jan 2009 05:21:00 +0000

While listening to longwave radio one night I heard the presenter mention Constant Partial Attention, or CPA, a term coined by Linda Stone, a former executive at both Microsoft and Apple. I made a mental note and Googled the next day and it makes interesting reading.

Andrew May is considered Australia's leading expert on performance and productivity. He is a corporate speaker, business coach and bestselling author of Flip the Switch. He gave Microsoft some great performance coaching tips based off of his apparent many years supporting athletic and business professionals. He wrote:

“Have you ever had one of those days when you return home and friends or loved ones ask the obvious question ‘how was your day?’ You immediately retort ‘busy, yeah – really busy!’ as this has now become the standard response to any question in relation to work. The follow up question though is the killer punch. ‘So, what did you actually do?’

You stop, reflect and then stare back blankly, thinking to yourself, ‘well, what I really did was bounce from one document to the next; check emails every time the pop up alert came on; jumped from a power point presentation, to an excel spreadsheet, to Facebook and then shared files on Flickr, to checking MSN Messenger, sending text messages and handling walk-ins all at the same time; plus also pretending to check in for a couple of meetings’...”

The full PDF by Andrew is here, or a shorter article is here.

Frustrated at Facebook

noreply@blogger.com (ßlϋeωãvε) — Sat, 31 Jan 2009 04:00:00 +0000

Facebook seems to frequently frustrate and induce me to ranting (at least to myself). Recently I was getting annoyed at the frequency and type of ads it was showing me: "Single? Meet beautiful girls like Britney", "Date models at MeetAModel.com", "Ashley is single and wants to meet you. So do her friends!", "Over 30 and still single. Join our club", "How can you still be single? Is there something wrong with you?", "All your peers have partners and are happy. Find out why they secretly think you're weird."

Okay, I made those last two up but you get the gist. Facebook, like Google and many other "free online services" uses your profile and other personal information to target ads at you that they think, hope, you'll subsequently click on. I can accept this trade-off up to a point, but not when they continually target one part of my personal data over and over.

It's not like such systems are particularly accurate either. Last year every time I went to Facebook I was being shown Norwegian adverts of all sorts for a few months, perhaps because the targeting software thought Stornoway is near enough to Norway that we must speak Norwegian here. The ads are often U.S.-centric also, with monetary values in dollars, and offers only available to those living in America. This despite my profile listing me living in the good old U.K.

Anyway, the ads for meeting luscious ladies, gorgeous girls and sexy singles finally got too much and I decided to blank-out the "Relationship status" and "Looking for" options in my profile and this was broadcast to my contacts. As a result a friend saw my changed status and got excited that she might have to buy a new hat soon, only to be disappointed when I explained the more pragmatic reason for the update.

"What new ads would be sent my way now?" I thought. On the left is a flavour of the answer: ads featuring Obama, getting free money from the U.S. government or making money through some scheme or other, and bizarrely links to IQ tests.

A couple of points: how do they know Obama's IQ and if he is that intelligent why does he smoke? How is showing a smoking President going to entice me to click on the ad to test my own intelligence? Reverse psychology perhaps. And no, the actual number of triangles in that graphic is never going to scare me. Ever.

Single, intelligent man signing off.

Eyebrow dancing

noreply@blogger.com (ßlϋeωãvε) — Sun, 25 Jan 2009 19:06:00 +0000

Those advertising geniuses at the Fallon agency are at it again having produced this fun new Cadbury's advert soundtracked by Freestyle's Don't Stop the Rock. It even briefly features a photographer:

“Over at Glass and a Half Full Productions we noticed the wriggly potential of eyebrows and thought we would have a bit of fun with them,” said the Cadbury marketing director, Phil Rumbol.

“Like the other productions 'Eyebrows' is all about losing yourself and embracing that moment of joy... after all, everybody remembers pulling a silly face or getting up to no good as a child when backs were turned.”

Cadbury has renamed February as “Febrowary” in a bid to “pay its dues to some of the finest eyebrows ever sported”. To this end the chocolate manufacturer has polled members of the public to find the “eyebrow king and queen”.

James Bond star Sean Connery topped the poll, with Brooke Shields at number two.

The full list is as follows:

Sean Connery
Brooke Shields
Count von Count from Sesame Street
Alistair Darling
Brains from Thunderbirds
Noel Gallagher
Des Lynam
Frida Kahlo
Liam Gallagher
Vanilla Ice

(I say, “What? Dennis Healey didn't make the top ten?!” Great photo of him here.)

Cadbury reckons that only 35% of the British public can move their eyebrows independently, and within this group just 18% are “fully eyebrow ambidextrous”.
(article source: guardian.co.uk)

Both my eyebrows like to dance so I am one of those 18%. ^_^

First of the year

noreply@blogger.com (ßlϋeωãvε) — Sun, 18 Jan 2009 12:00:00 +0000

The first 100mph+ storm winds of 2009 blew in last night, as predicted:

My house got off lightly with just some concrete popping out from the side of the garage roof - how it managed to do that I don't know, but strong winds can do mysterious things! It's now glued back in.

As the storm was raging I recorded the roaring sound my fireplace was making (sounds pretty awesome through earphones):

Many others around the islands were not so fortunate: green houses blew down, sheds flew away and walls collapsed (£100,000 of damage - ouch!). I'm sure this won't be the last of the nasty storms this year.

New year, new hope

noreply@blogger.com (ßlϋeωãvε) — Thu, 01 Jan 2009 12:01:00 +0000

The bells of the Palace of Westminster clock-tower, and specifically the Big Ben bell, are such an evocative sound.

Happy New Year to any readers that come by this somewhat random and neglected blog.