Tag Archives: art

Dead and not dead: Lou Reed and John Cooper Clarke

Which of these two reformed heroin-addicts and ex-boyfriends of Nico was likely to survive to this century? Neither. BBC4’s reputation for impressive rockumentary continues with a couple of programmes on the iPlayer now (for people in the UK who pay for it) about two wordsmiths, very different personalities but both towering figures of “alternative” popularContinue reading “Dead and not dead: Lou Reed and John Cooper Clarke”

Creative Qual Provides Fuel, Not The Chequered Flag

Start The Week: Creativity, with Jonah Lehrer and others A fascinating Start The Week this morning dealt with the subject of creativity, with that prolific interpreter of science for the masses, Jonah Lehrer discussing his new book. (OK, my bookshelf is now officially going to collapse with all these tomes I need to read). AboveContinue reading “Creative Qual Provides Fuel, Not The Chequered Flag”

Oscar for Best Live Action Short Film goes to … The Shore

Don’t worry, I’m not claiming credit for it. But great that a short film called The Shore, set and made in my native Northern Ireland, won an Oscar last night. I haven’t seen it yet, but I’m of course heavily into shore metaphors and a sucker for anything Ulster-ish, so I expect at the veryContinue reading “Oscar for Best Live Action Short Film goes to … The Shore”

Britney Spears: harder to stalk than I had imagined

This might bring a whole new audience to Strangers On The Shore and (another) one that will be bitterly disappointed. I went into t’ Smoke yesterday for a meeting on AQR ambassadorial business and had a spare half hour afterwards before my schlepp back to Jericho (in Oxford, not the West Bank). So I poppedContinue reading “Britney Spears: harder to stalk than I had imagined”

Man of Aran: A Story For Our Times

I started off thinking I’d post on this because it was a thing of beauty, even though it’s not very current – and then I realised, it sort of is current, in a funny kind of way.  (And anyway, why need we always privilege novelty over substance? Shore isn’t the News of the World.) There’sContinue reading “Man of Aran: A Story For Our Times”

Edgelands, wastelands and The Fall

Paul Farley and Michael Symmons Roberts‘ book Edgelands – about the aesthetics and psycho-geography of forgotten interzones of “waste” land on the edges of our towns and cities – has been an inspiring and thought-provoking book of the week on Radio 4: Edgelands – R4 Book of the Week Anyone who watched Coast a coupleContinue reading “Edgelands, wastelands and The Fall”

Keef’s Life: how we laugh at our icons

Reading this review of Keith Richards‘ autobiography – Life– enthused me to browse through it again with renewed interest. It reminded me what a good read the book is, but also how well cross-fertilisation can happen between a work and the comments around it. Perhaps it’s me being overly interested in the opinions of others,Continue reading “Keef’s Life: how we laugh at our icons”

Lovely alternative to PowerPoint

Just find a good cartoonist and a steady cameraperson … could be nice to do for a creds presentation, for example, rather than showing some stock slides. RSA animate presentation Idea from the RSA. So much good stuff on their website, check it out!