behindthemagic

The truth behind the magic! – the on-line bookmaking sessions for Leicester Print Works appear to be going well – there are two courses at the moment and some interesting work is coming out of the workshops. It’s been an interesting exercise rethinking 26 years of thinking about books, reconfiguring and embedding it into the two program. Meanwhile the screen delivers The Dig – all very lovely and everything, Call my agent – probably missing the point about the role of the French actors. James Cousins Company has a great site with links to some beautiful dance pieces – The Secret of Having it all is especially excellent -https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yBAG7foEu_4&feature=emb_logo&ab_channel=JAMESCOUSINSCOMPANY

thinkingaboutthelonggonepast

 

unfoldingwalksandwatching

Work in terms of engaging with students on synthetic anatomy at Kings has started, online has made the work more focused and less ‘roaming’ we will see if the experience will be as rich – for both the participants and the teaching team – so far so good. The bookness course at Leicester Print Works continues. There is some exciting work created and even more, so the conversations are positive. after listening to Historian David Olusoga on Desert Island Discs (the most excellent tracks) Fela Kuti - Zombie https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qj5x6pbJMyU Bob Marley & The Wailers - You Can't Blame The Youth https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M3pi-6fInng Dr. Alimantado - Just The Other Day https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ay1c_oQUVUg I thought I would check out his work  - a house through time can be watched on iplayer - excellent - check out your history and privilege https://www.imdb.com/title/tt7829950/?ref_=nm_flmg_wr_1. American utopia https://www.imdb.com/title/tt11874226/ if you love talking heads and David Byrne you will love this but even if you do not there is much to enjoy. One Night in Miami - icons meet to explore and discuss https://www.imdb.com/title/tt10612922/?ref_=nv_sr_srsg_0 Nomadland – truly harrowing and dysfunctional but lots to learn here Marianne & Leonard: Words of Love – dubious unless you like Leonard Cohen but great landscapes Bridgerton – good frocks in between the sex if that’s your thinghttps://www.imdb.com/title/tt9770150/ finally a desolate portrayal of Oscar Wilde by Rupert Everett in The Happy Prince. Meanwhile in between walking I have become interested in the folding narratives encountered within packaging!

walkingandlookingand

the break has been all about long walks around Walberswick, Lowestoft and Southwold - managed to see an evening of projections at Snape Maltings, animating the buildings.  onto films - The threatening humour of The Green Butcher's https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0342492/?ref_=nv_sr_srsg_0 The glorious and thoughtful Beyond the Visible – Hilma af Klint https://www.imdb.com/title/tt9760516/ Love and monsters - effectively the odyssey with giant CGI insects men and chicken - twisted darkness that will make you feel a little tainted https://www.imdb.com/title/tt3877674/?ref_=nv_sr_srsg_0 Adams apples - is a dark dark dark experience of what holds us together when what holds us together is taken away https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0418455/?ref_=nv_sr_srsg_0 Another Round - a twisted tale of lost men trying to find themselves in a dystrophic whirlwind of madness https://www.imdb.com/title/tt10288566/ Spree - new ways of presenting new ways of being https://www.imdb.com/title/tt11394332/?ref_=nv_sr_srsg_0

ohyesididohnoididntandsomefilms

watched the Wolsey pantomime - oh no I didn't, well actually I did but live streamed from Ipswich into my house meant that it really wasn't the same - the covid context of its production was really considered but there is nothing like shouting out boooooo when the villains arrive surrounded by people who have all made the effort to be in the same place  - hopefully next year. films this week include the terrible - Best man and Best mans holiday, Sky fire - utter nonsense CGI overload, Color out of Space - made no sense. the ok - The vast of night - slow but with good character acting. Nightmare before Christmas and Wonder woman 1984 and the good - Soul https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2948372/ really quite beautiful, Host - really well done and scary reflection on how we engage with each other, The sound of metal https://www.imdb.com/title/tt5363618/ - heartrendingly beautiful journey into trusting oneself,  Bacurau - wonderful psychedelic madness and finally the ever-present Die Hard. Chalie Brooker's Screen wipe 2020 was disappointing, effectively a list of terribleness without the usual acerbic comment, only Hugh Grant's character could save it. John Cooper Clark's I wanna be me is an raucous upbeat read that I consumed with a wry recognition. 

twowalksandtherest

walks at the end of the day are the way I'm making sense of where I am at the moment - Walberswick looking both ways at the river. its that time of the year so teaching at NUA is all about admin, timetables and creating content for either/and/or online and face to face teaching depending on..................factors. ok - screens - so Tenet in its second viewing is neither better or worse just different - I would recommend it though so maybe the experience is worth it. The Song of Names moves along, although there are so many gaps/flaws in the characters developments. Prom is a case of leave whatever brain you have left somewhere, get on board and hang on for the ride. Superintelligence looks lightly at the surveillance state (very lightly). admitting that I actually did laugh at Freaky just feels wrong. Small Axe continues to be solid. the distressfully unpleasant characters in Industry and the actual process they are engaged in is impenetrable, both these factors don't help to make it watchable but it is car-crash-can't-look-away-TV.  

somestuffffutsemos

looking forward to receiving my anniversary tea towel from Focal point - https://www.fpg.org.uk/printed-matter/30th-anniversary-tea-towel/ - if I had any older relatives left alive it would be on my list of presents! But maybe my children will be getting something in their stockings! The first online session, structures 1. Experimental non adhesive binding structures, for Leicester Print works went well, I think. They are now working on their set task developing a 'family tree' of book forms, exploring their inherent qualities. LPW are thinking of creating a short course so if you are interested in making books, but not as you know them.....(apologies to Turn the Page) check out their site. The assessments went smoothly at NUA. Looking at work online is both sad in that the work has touch and feel at its core and also so much smoother and direct as students target their submissions to the Learning Outcomes and assessment criteria.  meanwhile  Hillbilly Elegy - no, The Undoing - yes but the ending - bad people are just bad, Tenet - yes, my head is still wonderfully spinning. The series Small Axe is totally glorious, the sensual and focused camera work at the dance in episode 2 was beautiful, I could of walked into a gallery and watched the 11 minute sequence of Silly Games on a loop all day. https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p08vxt33 thank you.