Posted on May 28, 2003
An Amazing day. I don’t use that adjective lightly here, it was an amazing day but then, it was always going to be a day for superrelatives. (not a spelling mistake, trust me!)
I woke with a start, after having had a dream in which I literally drew my last breath. In the dream, I remember lying down somewhere and then letting out an almighty exhalation of breath, conscious of it being my last and with a sense of being resigned to the inevitable but also with a sense of relief… ooooerrr!
I decided to sort out the MOT on my car and took it to the garage where after an interminable wait they finally tested it and then promptly failed it. (Arggghhhhh!) I now have the dilema of choosing either to scrap a car I’ve grown very fond of and get a ‘new’ old banger or pay for repairs that will cost twice it’s value. Love or an easy life… it always boils down to that choice. It’s almost like Neo’s predicament in Matrix Re-loaded… well maybe not.
Luckily, I had a distraction planned for the evening that would take my mind off the fate of my beloved chariot of (mis)fire – a concert at the Birmingham Symphony Hall, the Full Circle Tour – Ravi Shankar and Anoushka Shankar.
Whoah! what a distraction… I won’t review it, (cursed as I am with the musical vocabulary of a tone deaf but enthusiastic organ grinder’s monkey), but will say that it was mind blowing.
Actually there’s just Norah to go now and I’ll have a full set of Shankar concert memories. Okay, strictly speaking Norah Jones isn’t a Shankar and would probably not appreciate being referenced as one but she’s hardly likely to be reading this, is she? so, nah nah nah nah nah. Anyway, years ago I was at the Rocket Club on Holloway Road where I saw Ananda Shankar do his thing. It was Electric! A small venue with a highly charged up crowd – concerts should all be like that. Except, of course, when they feature Ravi Shankar, (truly, we are not worthy), and Anoushka Shankar, (I won’t mention how beautiful she is since I don’t want to take anything away from her incredible talent… doh!). A lesser venue than the superb Birmingham Symphony Hall would not have done justice to the presence of a musical god and his daughter.
I know, it’s all very sycophantic but I don’t care. It was my sister Pam who bought the tickets, so thanks to her I had an amazing day. (superrelatives … the Jabbars … the Shankars … geddit? … Oh! please yourself then.)
Posted on May 26, 2003
Just finished talking to Nicola, a friend of mine who works at the Runnymede Trust. She did a sterling job of editing a publication, ‘Complementing Teachers’ which describes itself as ‘A Practical Guide to Promoting Race Equality in Schools’.
The press release for the book says:
With pupils from minority ethnic backgrounds now forming 11% of the student population, the book will give teachers practical strategies for raising the awareness of different cultures in the classroom.
and
…also provides strategies for less diverse schools who have a duty under the Act [Race Relations (Amendment) Act 2000 - ed.] to promote race equality and nurture respect for the different cultures that exist in wider society.
which is then followed by a comment by the Director of The Runnymede Trust,
“Every Pupil should be helped to develop a sense of personal and cultural identity and to study in an environment that is respectful towards other identities. Complementing Teachers is a practical resource to help teachers raise the achievement of all pupils by developing the right environment for students of all ethnic groups to learn and ensuring that all cultures are represented equally in the curriculum.”
So now that you know, go get a copy.
(On a personal note, I once went to the Director’s birthday party, as Nicola’s guest, and have to say that Michelynn [the director] has a lovely house and grows the most fragrant roses I’ve ever sniffed in any garden in the Docklands. Okay, they’re the only roses I’ve ever thrust my nose at in the Docklands but I’m sure that they’re amongst the best there. Not that my recollections of the party are all that clear, apparently, during the course of the evening I destroyed her cats’ feeding bowls and tried to chat up one of her friends. This would have been fair enough, except that it was, rather unfortunately, in front of the said friend’s husband. I’m reliably informed that I rounded off the evening by falling down the stairs … or was I pushed?!).
Anyway, this undoubtedly useful resource costs just ??30 (plus VAT) and can be ordered from Granada Learning.
Posted on May 23, 2003
I saw a South Bank Show about Akram Khan a few months ago and have been meaning to go and see him in performance ever since.
This is the one drawback of living outside of London, the opportunity to see performers of his calibre. Actually Khan has performed outside of London but unless you’re a subscriber to a venue’s mailing list or a relevant publication there isn’t much chance of knowing what’s going on. Besides the performance runs don’t last very long out here in the sticks.
It’s not that I’m a great fan of modern dance but I want to see Khan for chauvinistic reasons – he’s a British born Bangladeshi and is wowing the British contemporary dance scene.
His profile on londondance.com states that he blends the Khatak dance style of Northern India with western contemporary styles but it’s his collaboration with other British Asian artists that particularly interests me,
His first full length production Kaash, a collaboration with world renowned sculptor Anish Kapoor and multi award winning composer Nitin Sawhney was premiered in May this year …
Actually, Kaash toured last year… of course I missed it! anyway, the magnitude of this collaboration can not be overestimated, Anish Kapoor is a brilliant artist in his own right and, although born in Mumbai, has lived and worked in Britain since the 70’s, (I’m claiming him as British anyway!). A Guardian interview with Nitin Sawhney reveals that this gifted musician, with Sanjeev Bhaskar, came up with the idea that eventually led to the ever watchable Goodness Gracious Me.
I’m reminded of the very first TV programme I ever watched that featured Asians in the British context. It used to air on Sunday, (or maybe Saturday), mornings, on the BBC during the 70’s and had Asian presenters delivering the weeks news in Urdu and often featured Asian artists. It was called – Naya Zindagi, Naya Jeevan – which Asian Dub Foundation translate as New Way, New Life
Akram Khan may give an encore performance of Kaash at the Royal Festival Hall this December. [Note to self - Be there!]
Posted on May 22, 2003
The cricket season has well and truly begun – a controversial Test match, (what other type is there?), is playing at Lords and the joyous news that Waqar joins Warwickshire.
It’s funny, I watched the FA Cup final on Saturday but didn’t find it that interesting, I’d watched some of the World Snooker Championship finals a week before but again wasn’t exactly riveted by the action. Both events would have had me totally engrossed in the past but no longer.
However, Cricket is different. A sport that can be played for five whole days and the result can still end up in an exciting draw! – on the face of it a poor match with our high-speed and ‘win at all cost’ society. A sport where everyone, (at least in the Test Match version), wears the same colours. Where you stop playing twice a day, to have lunch and take tea. Where the captain of the English team was born in India, of Muslim parents.
Yes, I’m still enamoured of cricket – it’s … it’s … well… it’s just Cricket!
(Shame that Bangladesh is so crap at it!)
[Update: diamond geezer felt differently ... Hrmphh!]
Posted on May 20, 2003
Have you ever heard of the Stevedoring Services of America (SSA)? No, well chances are that you’ve heard of their activities indirectly because one way or another they’re a major world player.
Cast your mind back to last year and you may remember vague reports in the ‘oh so not interested’ news media about a little dispute between the port operators, (with eventually, George Bush) and California’s longshoremen in the west coast port lockout saga. Then, after the other, somewhat better reported, dispute between George Bush and Iraq, there was the little affair of Umm Qasr. Where, despite the greedy protestations of Britain’s P&O company, SSA won a $4.8m contract to rebuild Umm Qasr’s port, for humanitarian reasons… of course!
Well, SSA seem to be hell bent on world domination, (at least in ter
Posted on May 19, 2003
Most of last week, I was in and around Wolverhampton on Matt and Nick’s documentary and didn’t really finish until yesterday.
I’d been at the Digital Shorts induction day on the Monday but in the evening Matt came round with some footage that needed to be edited for use on the following day’s shoot… we didn’t get it finished till about two in the morning. On Tuesday, I spent the day perfecting my camera assistant skills, which means that I was pushing Daryl, (the cameraman), along tracks all day. Wednesday, we met up with Shaw Taylor and shot all his stuff. I didn’t have to push Daryl about that day which meant that I had time to take some production stills with my camera. Thursday, I’ve blogged below, and Friday I dressed up as a Native American spirit medium and walked, danced and chanted all over the Black Country!
We transfered the DigiBeta footage onto VHS on Saturday and then I rounded off a fairly surreal, (and knackering), week, by standing in front of a power station in Rugely, yesterday and having my picture taken as I raised my arms in salute to a steaming cooling tower.
Honestly, it really is a documentary.
Posted on May 15, 2003
But the best thing that can be said about any set of rules is that they’re there to be broken.
Posted on May 15, 2003
I woke up this morning knowing that I had the day off from filming today, so naturally my thoughts turned to Bollywood actresses. Actually I’m not really a sad old lech I just happen to have a copy of Nasreen Munni Kabir’s book “Bollywood – The Indian Cinema Story”. I won’t be reviewing it, so relax but will recommend it if you’re at all interested in Indian Cinema.
I mention it because I was reading it this morning, well actually I was trying to read it but my thoughts kept drifting away towards this infernal weblogging business. Am I becoming obsessive? … not really because I abide by some rules …. (ahem!).
The first rule; don’t blog more than once per day.
Which I think is enough unless you’re a blogging anorak like instapundit, who remains as frightening as he is compelling, (like looking straight into the headlights of the American juggernaut), which brings me to,
the second rule; don’t fish for traffic
which is something that I have done in the past but am trying to avoid now. It’s just too ‘needy’ and speaks of a desire for validation. Instapundit is often credited for causing huge increases of traffic to people’s blogs, indeed the term ‘instapundited’ is used to describe exactly this as a mention on his website has that effect. So this means no leaving links back to my own blog when I leave comments on other’s … (yeeees! something I have been doing a lot of lately). Now these are my rules and I have a motive – I’m trying to get REAL!
I left a comment in the guestbook of fudgeit thanking her for visiting but then rather patronisingly adding that I thought her excellent weblog was ‘refreshingly real’, (who died and made me blog god!). The fact is that it is real and in comparision, some of my posts seem like pale imitations of assorted warblogs and daily journals and all the other good stuff I’ve read out there. Thus,
the third rule; blog with your head pulled out of your arse
which brings me straight to,
the fourth rule; that there is no fifth rule
(gimme a break! I’ve only just started all of this), so, trying to put a name to this developing manifesto I thought of some variation along the DOGME 95 lines.
(This is a set of rules that a couple of Danish film makers came up with as an antidote to the Hollywood method of making movies. Which I list here,
Shooting on location (no imported props or sets)
Sound and image produced together
A handheld camera
Natural light
No optical work or filters
No superficial action (murders, weapons)
No temporal or geographic alienation
No genre films
No signature
courtesy of an article in Bright Lights Film Journal.)
To be honest, this all stemmed from reading Salam Pax’s return to blogging, finally, last night. Here is a REAL blogger and I noticed that he listed fudgeit and moorish girl via blogrolling. Now, they’re both REAL and they’re also both weblogs where I’ve left comments recently, which were genuine enough but break the second and third rules.
At least I’m good at the first rule.
Posted on May 14, 2003
If I were to mention the name Shaw Taylor to people over the age of 30, who grew up in the Midlands or the South East regions, they’d tend to smile and say, “Oh yeahhh!… I wonder what happened to him?… Is he dead?”
Well he’s not! and I can categorically confirm that since I’ve spent most of the day in Wolverhampton on a documentary shoot with him.
(For those who don’t know – he is a TV Presenter who was most famous for presenting ‘Police 5′, a precursor of CrimeWatch, that ran for years. It’s hey days was probably the 70’s and the 80’s. He was also famous for presenting public information films asking people to wear seat belts or avoid flying kites near electricity pylons… you get the picture)
After that little broadcasting biography of the man I think it becomes obvious why he was the natural choice for Matt and Nick’s documentary, “Things to Do in Wolverhampton when you’re Dead”.
He’s an Old Pro! – that’s what I’ve got to say about this fine Gentlemen. He’s over 70 years old and he now lives with his wife, in retirement on the Isle of Wight but can obviously be presuaded to come out of retirement for the odd day or two. And they don’t get much odder than today!
At one point I witnessed our ‘pro-am’ TV crew explaining to a couple of uniformed police officers why Shaw Taylor was riding pillion to an eccentric Glaswegian ordained minister on a motorbike with a side car hearse which contained a seven foot coffin and a wreath with the name ‘SHAW’ spelled out in lovely white flowers. (Phew!)
When not actually on camera, Shaw served up a huge banquet of choice anectdotes from his 50 years of broadcasting, for us whippersnappers… one of which was that during the Second World War, He served as a frontline RAF Radar operator in Imphal, India (only a few miles away from Sylhet, Bangladesh!).
Of course, today wasn’t entirely about Shaw Taylor, there was the Kite Guy, the Cortina and the Chopper… Oh forget it! you’re not going to believe me anyway.
Posted on May 10, 2003
Was I on drugs yesterday? ….
Just fired up the laptop to check my mail and my Yahoo splash page yielded the following news links:
Iraqi Shiite leader calls for Islamic rule
WHO: Beijing’s SARS data seriously flawed
Bomb blast kills at least 13 in Philippines
Halliburton admits to $2.4M Nigerian bribe
I mean you don’t have to be a conspiracy theorist to see that the New American Centurians are fiddling away while the planet hurtles towards some sort of apocalyptic doom. (Another Hat tip to Soliloquist)
As if the Iraqi’s will be allowed to democratically elect an Islamic Republic, as for SARS – what can I say, it’s alarming to be sure. And despite the presence of over 1500 marines in Sulu island (and countless more on an offshore carrier battle group), Abu Sayaf is still killing and maiming, so wrongly, in the name of Islam. As for Halliburton – HAH! they’re so brazen… and it’s a measure of how invincible Cheney and his Neo-Cronies must feel at the moment.
That last news report rather neatly ties in with something I read via the ever excellent Robot Wisdom entitled U.S. Military “Footprint” Extends to Africa . It’s about American manuvourings along the West African Coast, now what on earth could possibly interest them there, hey?
How can anyone say that it isn’t all about Oil?
