Meanderings of a Monkey Juggler

I've just downloaded a fantastic video of Dietz and some bloke called Schani.  It's a renegade act from EJC2003 and it's an oddity.

It starts as you'd expect with THOMAS! doing some 5 ball stuff and then progresses to some stealing and builds the numbers up to 7 or so.  But there's a twist.  At the beginning they bring on a table and load it up with a decent quantity of booze (beer and spirits).  So when one's doing something the other is knocking back some alcy as fast as possible.  This turns into a drinking competition as well as a juggling show off.  Watching THOMAS! trying 7 ball tricks whilst clearly not quite capable is quite a giggle and must have been fun to do as well as see.

Oh there's a fantastic hair-cut that walks past the camera at one point.

Have fun.

If you're a fan of Radio comedy you'll probably be slightly (or more) upset to hear this.

As with Peel and Hicks, it always gets the good ones.

Sigh.

PS Heard a good line by Linda this morning.

"I think these Asbos get an unfair press - after all, they're the only qualifications some of these kids are going to get."

Have fun.

PS Click on pic for a bigger one.

Look Rod will you please stop arsing about with your site and leave the bloody thing unmended as it wasn't broke!

ARRRRRRR!

I now have to re-change the damned thing on my site 'cos you can't sit still for 5 minutes without ants getting in your pants.

STOP IT!

An strange weekend.

On Saturday me and K went shopping to get a few minor things.  Whilst at Beaumont Leys I led her into Argos and swanked off my monetary worth by offering to buy us a new washing machine.  Ours washes but the dryer bit has broken (and I know she likes the dryer bit you see).  She said that she didn't want to "waste" money on a new one when we have one that works (to a degree).  That very night her mum informed us that the machine we have has now totally broked.  I had a go at mending it and mended it to the extent that we think it's still broked. 

Not to worry.  On Sunday to the parents's.  Drove there despite the car sounding like death for the first few seconds.  Loverley day at the folks's too.  Back into car but car no startey.  AA man starts it and says get it checked out sharpish.  It got us back to Leics fine tho'.

This morning got into car.  Car no startey.  AA cover doesn't include "Home start" so swiftly got onto bike to get to work (later than I need to be to get there on time).  Back tyre needs pumping up.  Walkman batteries dead.  Bugger.  Not raining though.  Nearly wiped out by bus en-route.  Wild and rude gestures from me ignored by driver of bus but car driver behind us found this very amusing.  Arrived late at work.

Phoned mechanic and they came to fetch car, yay!

They phoned back to say "It's dead".  Boo.  Not worth mending (looking at £500 plus of repairs) so now no car.

I've said I'm sorry, please make it stop!

My response to the Mercury answering whole swathes of anti-Springer letters has been printed with only slight editing.  It makes me sound a little terser than I'd like but it'll do.

And internet at home is still buggered.  Hence my relative quietness.

Have fun.

PS Has anyone else noticed that Rod's blog is dead?

UrbanFreeflow again.

I've just read their forum again and someone is offering to get decent info from his sister ('cos she's a "phisio"[sic]).  The guy's clearly a young'un and couldn't spell for toffee (I hate that!) so I doubt the info he drags up will be particularly helpful.

I could hold back no longer so I've put my first post on there which I'll re-print for your entertainment.

I'm a physio (UK registered and member of the CSP) and I specialise in musculo-skeletal work. I've been keeping an eye on these boards (and this site) for a while and generally there's some ok advice given but some of it is appalling (most notably 2 of the core level articles).

I sent an email a while back to the moderators offering to help out with the fitness angle (on the board and at workshops/events) but wasn't given the courtesy of a reply.

The basic thing that everybody needs to know is
"An answer to one person is probably not what YOU need to know even if your problem sounds similar to their's."

You should be asking someone who can look at you rather than reading stuff on the net. Most of the net is not accurate and much of it is so inaccurate it's potentially harmful. Just be careful with what you use and if you've a real problem then don't ask here, go and see someone.

Oh and I wouldn't listen to second-hand "advise"[sic] either.

Have fun.

You too.

They've now switched me to 2MB broadband but something they've done now means that, even though I'm connected, nothing comes through at all.  So I have no t'interweb again for a bit.

Oh and I'm on the Beeb's magazine page again.  Yay!

Have fun.

As the date of performance gets ever nearer the whinging bleaters get louder.  Today's Mercury has at least 2 letters from those "wishing to add to the chorus of disapproval".  Stuff 'em.  Here's a reply from me.

As a libertarian I find this whole outcry about the Jerry Springer Opera offensive (and I don't even want to watch the thing). Please get the outraged letters banned as they offend my sensibilities. Why is this view of any less worth than those who have complained about the play? I would argue that it isn't. How dare you tell me what I may be allowed to see?

Finally this is is a fictional play. I don't think I should have to explain what "fictional" means but apparently those following religion don't seem to comprehend the difference between reality and fiction. Oh the irony.

Have fun.

I have been thinking about writing this for months and I've finally had the inspiration to do it.

Which do you prefer?  Ancient or Modern art?  Classical or contemporary? 

I'll describe a couple of museums/exhibitions for you.

1 - The Louvre, Paris

Very, very large and stuffed full with ancient and medieval artworks.  The monetary value of this collection is beyond counting.  So what's there?  Firstly large numbers of devotional paintings - fair enough, and if you're interested enough you can see the evolution of religious painting in action as it were.  Lots of sculptures from the Roman and Greek periods plus some newer renaissance stuff.  As you'd expect, most of this work is rather representational ie it looks like the thing it says it is.  In this museum you can see some of the finest examples of classical European art anywhere in the world.

So why it so bloody boring?!

Once you've seen 37 images of Christ on the cross and another 64 depicting other scenes from the Bible well forgive me for finding it all a bit "samey".  These paintings had an original purpose and it wasn't to sit in a municipal gallery for listless children to complain that they have to see and their feet hurt.

Context is important in this case.  Devotional pictures were used in churches and private chapels.  They fit there and are worth seeing in that setting.  I've said before that I rather like churches (eg Notre Dame) because of the style and the architecture.  The paintings and windows of those churches add to the style.  In a gallery they become mere novelties although highly expensive ones.  When do novelties stop being novel?  When there are 37 very similar novelties in close proximity that's when.

Portraits are all very well and good and there's no doubting the skills of the best portrateurs (?) but are they of interest to anyone other than the subject or their family and friends?  I'll pose that question in a different way: Are my holiday snaps of any interest to anyone except those in them or those that know me?  They may be if there's something arrestingly bizarre or beautiful in them but generally they're not.  The only reason the Mona Lisa is famous and popular is because it's famous and popular.  The art equivalents of fashion victims maintain and sustain the myth of its wonderfulness.

These are the reasons why people are bored witless by art galleries that peddle this sort of material.

If you have an interest in the history of art then such a place would be heaven.  I'm not that interested in art that I want to look at similar pictures for hours (with my feet aching like crazy).

2 - Sensation, London, New York and others

Sensation was an exhibition put on by Charles Saatchi (I think) of some of his collection of modern and contemporary art done by young British artists, the most famous of whom were Damien Hirst and Tracy Emin.  There was a follow-up called "Ant Noises" (an anagram of "Sensation", oh the wit) which showcased other less famous people's work.  I saw this when I was in New York and it was the most interesting and unusual art showcase I've ever seen.

It was at most about 1/100th the size of the Louvre's collection but infinitely more engaging.  The first thing it did right was to have an audio tour but not an ordinary one.  This one was voiced by David Bowie and it wasn't just a dry history of each piece.  It told a narrative showing the development and history of the collection.

The artwork was usually interesting, had more to it than at first look and actually had some passion behind it.  You could see things that even the artist probably hadn't intended.  Compare this to looking at a picture of a landscape.  You see a landscape and.....that's it.  "No! Ooh ooh look there's a bird too".  See it doesn't really grab you.  When you look at Jake and Dinos Chapman's demented version of the Garden of Eden though you can see new stuff all the time.

"What about Tracy Emin's unmade bed and the tent with the names of all the people she's slept with?" I hear you scoff.  Well I haven't seen the bed.  The tent was quite sweet and wasn't as described in your rather scornful question.  It's actually got sewn into the inside of the walls a complete list of all the people she's ever shared her bed with.  This includes her mother as well as some relative who used to abuse her.  The only way to get to see it is to get inside it.  As it's a tent it's rather small and you get a feeling of isolation from the rest of the gallery.  It's like being in a private world.  Which was probably the aim of the artist.  I liked it a lot.

I could go on but you're bored already.

Summary : Modern art = interesting and makes you think, classical art belongs in context not in a gallery.

Have fun.