remembering the present

I was doing some research into the culture of Luxembourg, i'm planning on applying for an art residency there, god knows if i'll get it. but i came across this website - http://portal.unesco.org/ci/en/ev.php-URL_ID=1538&URL_DO=DO_TOPIC&URL_SECTION=201.html - Memory of the World... kind of sounds like it's already gone. "To guard against collective amnesia"...

"..to guard against collective amnesia calling upon the preservation of the valuable archive holdings and library collections all over the world ensuring their wide dissemination."

it's interesting to see what has been included so far, it's relatively new only being established in 1992, so not as many things as you would expect are included yet. I went straight searching through for films, these are the ones i found -

Metropolis
The Wizard of Oz
Los Olvidados
Neighbours by Malcolm McClaren
Lumiere Brothers
Ingmar Bergman archives
The Battle of the Somme, a documentary record

palestine refugee woman cut off from her home by the "green line"

There are 3 bullet points under objectives -

• To facilitate preservation, by the most appropriate techniques, of the world's documentary heritage. 
• To assist universal access to documentary heritage.
• To increase awareness worldwide of the existence and significance of documentary heritage. 

Now, i have to go get ready, picking up mihaela from heathrow at 5:)

clearing snow

there's a view from outside my window, i've not noticed it for a while. Jules and Crispin is halfway finished, and the book should be finished soon. i've started wrapping presents, and will have to visit people too. the dvd's are carrying on burning, the post is still not here. i have to go to the job centre on christmas eve,and pray the snow is more manageable by monday. i have to put £25 in to the bank, before i get charged for an overdraught. have cleared the snow off the drives, so the car doesn't slide as you try to get in. I owe £320 for my dog's teeth, she had 7 or 8 out. everytime i start firefox, 'learn indesign' starts unnanounced. my brother and his girlfriend are coming for a visit overnight. i might be working in the new year, clearing out old unwanted junk. i was going to go to the pub today, but i don't have the money to go. but it's better than being a greedy swine, although there's no guarantee i ain't. gonna finish reading adrian mole, and restart linda nochlin. must go and do something productive. must start painting again soon.

no more ankles

it almost sound like it's cut out and formed from Lou Reed's Metal Machine Music. The video does go well with the song.. but i can think of other images that could go with it - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zr0KkzbbqPI. Quickly edited together images of death and bombs and murder is kind of an obvious solution, placed alongside this almost fairytale like song about orphans running through bloody snow. It's not very subtle or useful, and seems to just respond to the almost mindless punching of the guitar, but there's more to the song than that, how bout those words for a start - "Little Orphans running thru the Bloody Snow, Little Orphans running thru the Bloody Snow, Little Orphans running thru the Blood thru the Blood thru the blood. No more ankles and no more Clothes, Little Orphans running thru the Snow, Little orphans in the Blood in the Blood in the Blood."



and there's more, more to discover both here - http://www.lydia-lunch.org/ - and here

love of painting

I love painting, i love drawing, most of the time i'm not satisfied unless i'm working on something, only when i'm with m. But i can never finish anything, that was always my problem, you have a great idea that you're all worked up about and then it just fizzes away, you move on to something else, it's difficult to gauge what's worthwhile and what isn't, especially before you do it. It's hard to know whether you're turning your back on something for the right reason, or whether you just can't sit still.

In a few weeks i'm going to put an ebook on my website, it's not gonna cost very much, and you can download it instantly, leave comments etc, it'll be my first, hopefully of many, so i'd appreciate it if you reading this, you who stays quiet and hidden, would respond, comment, buy the book. After the ebook i'll release it as a proper, paper, hold-it-in-your-hands-and-smell-it book. And hopefully will be able to feel like i've done something that people will own, i'll have sat still for a little while and finished something.

My website is - www.wastelandnumberseven.com

ill and weird

i think i've caught something, i don't know how but i feel kinda cold even though i'm sweating, beginnings of a sore throat, slight headache.. great.

(maybe its punishment for the last blog post, which was, if you didn't notice, an advert.. god, i disgust myself sometimes)

it's getting cold

apparently it's gonna snow the weekend, and i have this drama group i'm a member of, not much of a member at the moment, i don't participate that much, but i'm gonna be doing this thing at the Black Country museum, which is in Dudley, an old victorian era museum, and we all dress up in costume and sing carols. Only trouble is it's so damn cold, it's right next to a canal which doesnt help. Back in bucharest it's warmer, it was before i left anyway, now it's snowy. There are a couple of places i've been looking for warm clothes, there were these three i saw - 'machine jeans': http://clothing-and-accessories.become.com/machine-jeans-co 'jimmy jean clothing': http://clothing-and-accessories.become.com/avirex-jimmy-jean and 'bikers denim vest with patches prices': http://www.become.com/denim-vest

anyone has any ideas which they think is best, or what they'd choose please let me know.. I'm leaning towards the jeans on this page, look kinda sturdy - http://clothing-and-accessories.become.com/machine-jeans-co  - but then there's this - http://clothing-and-accessories.become.com/machine-jeans-co - which has a lot of good prices too - and i really like the cowboy looking denim waistcoat on this too - http://www.become.com/denim-vest - kind of reminds me of back to the future 3...

now i'm tired, really must go to bed, more work tomorrow! less internet.

thanks..

illegally downloading long ignored art

While i was in Romania i did a lot of downloading, mostly on films that are unavailable, like Angelopoulos films, here's a list -

the travelling players; suspended step of the stork; voyage to cythera; landscape in the mist; the hunters; dust of time; en rachachant; films of jiri trnka; mr klein; blood of the beasts; las hurdes; lola (both fassbinder and demy); bay of angels; fear eats the soul; the outlaw and his wife; peter and the wolf; the unknown; waxworks; cria cuervos; the celebration; jigokumon; tale of tales; hedgehog in the fog; kriemhilds revenge; chimes at midnight; night and fog; la regle du jeu; the southerner; five women around utamaro; sisters of the gion; ugetsu monogatari; the phantom carriage; from the life of the marionettes; day of wrath; gertrud; the bigamist; van gogh; the man from london; bonjour tristesse; dinner at eight; partie de campagne; violette noziere; raise the red lantern; shanghai triad; the story of qiu ju; fires on the plain; hotel terminus; the tough; mortal storm; il grido; wr mysteries of the organism; the switchboard operator; man is not a bird; innocence unprotected; fists in the pocket; the big clock; criss cross; chats perches; le tombeau d'alexandre; the bitter tears of petra von kant; l'amour l'apres midi; floating clouds; a time to live and a time to die; la religieuse; lonesome cowboys; la notte; marriage of maria braun; the mother and the whore; truly madly deeply; wit; late spring; floating weeds; buster keaton shorts; masters of russian animation; a century of animated shorts 1, 2 and 3.

and i think that was about it. The majority of which are brilliant films, and are unavailable so far. Last time i checked, the only angelopoulos you could buy were the beekeeper and weeping meadow, the only sjostrom was.. well, nothing. Same with makavejev, and yuri norstein, and jiri trnka..... and the list goes on. I fail to see why sharing such things (as great art) should be frowned upon.

all the splendour of the job centre

Made a new claim at the job centre this morning, and things have changed. Took into a room with 5 other people and given a presentation on what 'signing on' entails, what's expected of me, and what i should expect of them. I am of course, expected to look for work, and record my lookings, attend the job centre every two weeks, attend another crappy place called 'future skills' every two weeks, and not take part in any fraudulent activities... like not declaring work, or volunteering.. or getting an education.

I, in turn, can expect them to make me feel like giblet in a chicken factory; pressure me to apply for work that should be behind me, or is completely alien to me, or work which i'd rather live in sedgley woods than do. Today, for instance, they have hooked me up with the following 'opportunities' - working in a warehouse, demonstrating kitchen implements, and a delivery driving job. I, of course, will follow them all up, because a) they'll stop my money if i don't, and b) almost any bloody job is better than signing on (except teaching, which sucks).

I will be carrying on looking for work which i am actually suited to, like illustration, design, murals, painting, drawing, art, or anything else like that, but you don't go to the job centre with 'lofty' ideas like these. In fact the job centre tries to steer you away from any job which could be considered fulfilling or enjoyable, it wants you start at the bottom, that way you have more chance of finding work (making tea and sweeping) and can sign off quicker.

There is something about the job centre which sucks the life and hope out of you.

first day of bookmaking!

Just spent the last 4 hours attempting to edit a picture book together in indesign (for both print and web), it's getting there.. veeeery slowly. This is pretty good at making you understand the basics of indesign (and all their other programs) - http://tv.adobe.com/ - but it's still pretty tough going.

Hopefully will make more progress tomorrow. My main focus is the order and choice of the drawings i'm using. I want people to read through it effortlessly, not to have one image completely undermine the one before it in style, i want it to have it's own complete and watertight world.

And although i don't intend it to be understandable as a story, i do want there to be little hints and whispers that an ambiguous little tale is being told.

abstract movements

http://www.wastelandnumberseven.com/?page_id=496

A series of abstract drawings and paintings completed in the summer of 2008 ... all about moving, and stuff..

poem from a train for the night

The empty room,

the empty bed,

the unkind words we left unsaid.
So dark yet warm,
when anger falls,
when anger blinds with frequent calls.
I left my forest,
i exchanged my home,
the abandoned past where now i roam.
My snow-clogged boots,
my weathered hands,
have all succumbed to wasted lands.

Dog's love

I was looking through my old sketchbooks when i came across this drawing, i've redone it as the original was all crinkled and creased.. although maybe that would have been nice too?

Just found this in my sketchbooks

"I suppose the most interesting thing about my work is that it's collaged together from many different sources. It's part observed, part dreamed, part remembered, part photograph, part written."

Cinematecii Romane

Back in England, and i brought back with me a programme of films from the Romanian Cinematech, here follows a list of films to be shown in just one week there!

Vivre Sa Vie
Manhattan Murder Mystery
Bande a part
Les Carabiniers
Ciuleandra
Ministry of Fear
Siegfried
M
Fury
Topkaki
Western Union
Citizen Kane
Little Big Man
Despre Alta Mama
Escapada
The Ox-Bow Incident
Love Finds Andy Hardy


The prints are usually in a bad condition, i went to see a copy of Shanghai Express while i was there, and there were frequent dips in sound and odd jumps. But, that is a wonderful list of films, for any cinema, and most cities in England only have one cinema showing old films, and that's usually only once or twice a week, and they usually don't have very many people attending unless it's a classic like It's a Wonderful Life. In Bucharest the cinema was pretty full.

heading to home (no.1)

Have just packed and am now scanning pirate bay for any last minute downloads. Leaving bucharest at 7:10 this evening, arrive in Budapest tomorrow morning, Munich tomorrow evening, Paris on Sunday morning and back in England by Sunday afternoon. 5 trains in all to get back home, all being well. But i have some paper and a pen and i intend to draw some on the way back. The comic, jules and crispin, and something for a submission to a magazine.

Also have my ipod full up with stuff, and a couple of books - adrian mole, david thomson, where's wally!, and Sherlock Holmes.

Old Poetry

Earlier this year my poetry was featured in an online magazine based in Manchester, Blankpages. I'm still pretty pleased about it, and attempt to share it wherever i go, so here's the link - http://www.blankmediacollective.org/images/uploads/blankpages20.pdf

Please look and then come back here and comment/praise/slag me off:)
Enjoy!

New Comics

I leave Bucharest on Friday evening and arrive back in England on Sunday evening. Last week i handed the keys back to the studio i've been renting, since then, not being able to paint, i've been working on my website and comics/illustration work. The website being - www.wastelandnumberseven.com - the main reason for my dissapearance off here over the last few months. On it i've tried to include all my work over the past 4 years, which is taking quite a long time.

The comic i'm working on (alongside the ongoing, 'as weekly as possible' www.julesandcrispin.com that i create with Mihaela Precup) is autobiographical, although attempts to play around with that idea of memory. Its about my first trip to france, a day trip.. and so far is called The Ferry, the Nipple and the Beer. I also have ideas for other projects, but it's difficult without any money coming. I've been trying to get to grips with certain design packages like photoshop, illustrator, indesign, and try and apply to jobs and competitions and commissions. I keep on being told i need to make artist friends, form alliances, but i don't know, i've never been great at that.

Here's a couple of examples of recent work from Bucharest,
enjoy!:)