ipad

All this hype surrounding the new iPad, whatever happened to the 1983 Apple iPad?

shed 1

One for Sue. I know how much she loves sheds. This is a log house on wheels in Holland built as an office for music-entertainer Hans Liberg, designed by Piet Hein Eek.

stockholm

Odd how sometimes strange connections appear from completely different directions. A week ago I stumbled upon the band First Aid Kit - from Stockholm - via a blog link. A few days later Fever Ray - from Stockholm - via culture critic, and today an old photograph - In the Old Town of Stockholm, February, 1924. The spirit of ABBA must be in the air (Benny was also born in Stockholm!)

what type are you?

A great little viral from Pentagram. Make sure your speakers are turned on and remember your password is 'character'.

first aid kit

Just found this quirky music video. Thought it would be a good one to use to learn how to upload video onto my blog. I know nothing about First Aid Kit (they appear to be sisters from Stockholm and describe themselves as what Gary Numan would sound like if he made folk music) but you can listen to more here and via the little up arrow bottom right on the YouTube window.

(Added 24 jan) Found something about them here. I think this is a duo we might hear more of soon.

pont croix 1

The tower of the Church of Notre-Dame de Roscudon in Pont Croix, Finistere. Love the moss growing on the stonework. The tower is also loved by the many choucas that can always be seen flying around the centre of the town.

cloudy language

I came across a small book by Nick Asbury last year called Corpoetics. In it he has taken the words used by large companies in their Corporate Overviews on their websites and used them to create short poems. Corpoetics has just turned up again via a different series of blog links which I took as a sign to go back to one of his sites. Here I discovered this celebration of Cloudy Language - a collection by Sue Asbury of statements from our weather forecasters. Check it out, it's finger lingeringly good.

georges rouault

Just got in some great Georges Rouault etchings. They were made for The Passion by Andres Suares in 1936. I love the strength of his work. This suite is described as having '. . . an intensity of feeling usually equalled only in medieval art.'

Rouault was born in 1871 and died in 1958. When he was 14 he became an apprentice in a stained-glass workshop and it has been suggested that this influenced his later painting style - the use of heavy black lines and strong colours. At 20 he enrolled at the Paris Beaux-Art and became a pupil of Gustave Moreau. His paintings made in Paris during the 1910s ranged from Christ’s death and passion to whores, circus acrobats and clowns. All his life he showed great interest in engraving and lithography and produced some important series of work.

brittany coast 1

A couple of photos of Brittany from early last year. They keep appearing on my screen saver and it's a great coast. Wonderful rocks, small coves, muted colours and wild sea. It makes a change from white, snow covered England. I think I'll post some here every now and then.

poster 1

Just discovered this brilliant blog - ephemera assemblyman. Loads of groups of images of printed stuff like posters, matchboxes, postcards, tickets, adverts etc. etc. Found it via observatory.
Just chose this one because it feels snowy - like the weather here this week - and it's a great image.
It's labelled - Wildlife Photography, Wildlife Biology, Natural History Museum of Lucerne, 1982.

adventurer

Went to see Trevor's new boat today. He's expecting to spend about 2 years doing it up, so we'll have to come back regularly to see his progress. It seems quite a task to me, but Trevor's worked on many boats before and assures us it's easy!

sky 1

The recent blue moon meant the tides were high today. We went to the beach at Mesperleuc and the late afternoon brought this great sky.