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March 31 The web, my own dependency and a new birth rightA week ago my web connection went dead for two and a half days and being used to always having information on tap it was like entering a different world. And as with any crisis (even as miniscule as this) I couldn’t stop thinking how we take things for granted till we lose them. But then was losing access to the web such a horrible thing? Well YES! But then the other day we had a conversation about simnel
cake (a great banal subject) and its origins and it really helped getting instantly to Wikipedia and
finding the answer on my handheld device. Sure it is possibly diminishing the
need to remember any intricate details about most not day to day items but it is
immensely fun having so much information on our fingertips. The novelty
never really wears off. A recent Guardian article put it in more old fashioned
terms…Wi-Fi is the nearest we can get in
our everyday life to magic. And I will have to second. Being able to stream video and
data over the air to any room we choose is a freedom I never imagined of. But
it just feels both luxurious and mystical. Maybe that is the reason that it makes it feel like a birth
right it’s the fact that data access is no more something that a dull black
cable brings to you, but part of the air we breathe.
February 12 Beauty + commercialism and the De La Warr PavilionI am an architecture junkie at most times and surely an
important building like the De La Warr Pavilion is a visit to treasure.While visiting the shop it was clear to me that the
merchandise was aimed at the wrong people. They had commissioned quite a few
trendy designers to come up with products that are inspired by the architecture
and reflect back on it.
The main products was a plate and a canvas bag. Unfortunately
while I was browsing books in their shop for 15 mins at least 5 people gasped
at the prices of those two items. The plate is being sold for £25 and the bag
for £14.50 (http://www.delawarrpavilion.com/shop/peoplewillalwaysneed.htm) February 04 Pimlico and the subtle art of deterring thugsFor a couple of months now
when I arrive to Pimlico tube every morning I seem to be walking as a late-comer
to a Symphonic concert. Normally I end up somewhere in the middle of the final
movement of Beethoven’s Pastoral Symphony or like today when I landed mid flow
of a Telemann quartet. I remember when London
Underground trialled playing orchestral music at Brixton Station back in 2001
with the obvious target being the various drug dealers that used to frequent
directly outside the foyer of the station. They even installed speakers on the
outside! It is rather intriguing
how the choice of music reflects back on Transport for London. They seem to go for a certain “unfashionable –
uncool” kind of music that petty criminals would not enjoy listening to (or at
least is what their advisors are telling them). While orchestral music is
in terminal decline in the public’s consciousness. And the record companies
have pretty much given up on new (studio recordings, live recordings don’t
really need the same amount of investment) ambitious recordings of Opera, Classical,
Romantic and Baroque repertoire. Most record companies seem to be more than
happy to rehash their back catalogue from the 1950s-80s into compilations. And
so avoiding taking any commercial risks and giving new artists and orchestras
the chance to record in studio conditions either contemporary music or give a
new breath of life to older repertoire. My personal response to the classical muzak, that Transport for London is putting us through, is contradictory. On one side I like listening to the music itself (the performances seems to be decent and the sound adequate) but on the other I have an uneasy feeling on the ethnic & economic profiling that has gone on in the background. Clearly TfL must be thinking that orchestral music will not appeal to the caricature of a mugger that they have in their minds (probably non-Caucasian and under 30). To me the amount of presumption that has gone on, before settling in this “novel” way to combat petty crime, creeps me out. Hallé: http://www.halle.co.uk/publishedSite/products.asp LSO: http://lso.co.uk/buyrecordings/catalogue http://www.urban75.org/brixton/features/brixton_tube.html http://blogs.guardian.co.uk/music/2007/08/should_music_be_used_for_crowd_control.html January 22 January Blues? Well it's dark, dingy and there are no presents to be had
Well well, almost the end of the month and I bothered to write another blog ;-)
After the foodie and financial excesses of Christmas it always feels like a terrible come down getting into January and thinking about the year ahead. This year I have no idea what I should be planning, I'll just let it roll.
I really find the idea of January New Year’s resolutions repulsive. Does anyone really hold on to those promises past 28th January? Aren't just a way to delude ourselves that we are in control of our life and an act of self-hatred? Possibly the whole idea of the New Year resolution must be an extraction of Christian ethics and rules that are especially formulated to combat desire and pleasure. What is the point in denying yourself a source of pleasure, really? (in line with all the self-flagellatory resolutions –not to eat this, not to smoke that etc-) Surely if you enjoy something what is the point of denying yourself that very pleasure and trying to be someone you are not? Is it all about self-discipline of just a mind-fuck that we all put ourselves through in order to be seen as more “virtuous” by other people?
I hate all those trite social constructs that try to pigeonhole everyone and make our everyday life lack even more poetry and the unexpected. Why can’t we all think outside the social clichés this year and come up with a daily run of events that satisfy our needs and allow our imagination to fly?
George November 08 What's wrong with Mac users?Oh I do wonder sometimes, whenever there is a silly IT issue in the office and the only person around is a habitual Mac user, all they do is scratch their head and call for help. In a way Apple's computers with no need for configuration has created a breed of computer users that have no knowledge of the working parts of their machines. Pretty much in the same way that modern cars being more reliable have removed the need for the driver to have any mechanical knowledge. But it surely must be different with computers! We use them all the time and quite a few of us run parts of our lives through them. Some people will say that Apple's operating system is marvelous and an exemplary piece of engineering but my criticism is that mac users are technologically unintelligent as they cannot think what happens beneath the pretty interface that Apple provides them with. And that essential reality is what creates those blind followers of the cult of the Mac. As they are far too insecure to look around they will just follow like sheep Apple's latest OS update (Leopard where are you?) or run to buy the next available Apple gadget with an i prefix! Not considering what they are really buying, which most of the times is a pretty box that has limited expandability. In the real world some of Apple's gadgets would not have a commercial future, but then the consumer is seduced by great design and sleek surfaces! A quick rundown: The iPod, iTunes music store downloads are of a very average quality and they have a very limited amount of times they can be transfered to devices...oh and guess what they only play on the iPod! They never had the now standard FM radio or recording functionality (well not without spending another £30 for the add on module) The iMac, no possibility for upgrading components and if something goes wrong with the computer innards the whole thing is scrapped. The iPhone, locked down to a network with a really expensive airtime contract on top of the dear purchase price in the first place! No decent camera (2 MP? Oh come on Apple this is supposed to be a powerhouse of a phone) and Bluetooth that is only functional with Apple's own headset! Any company that would have produced such second rate devices would have been attacked numerous times by its very customers, but somehow the cult that Apple lovers are following is depriving them of critical thoughts of their beloved brand. And queuing in the Apple Store the other week really put me in the centre of the cyclone that he cult is. All those 'creative' tossers buying the latest shiny Apple box to replace their 12 month old previous purchase where there buying their way to an Apple utopia, a world where computers look good and under perform and where music devices come with shoddy screens and second rate music playing capability. Still though I appreciate Apple's design ethos I really do not like the stupid generation of technophobes it has created. At least the staff in the Regent Street Store were uber efficient and extremely pleasant. October 25 Facebook? More like Idlebook/ Crapbook/ Dullbook/ CrackbookWell well! Another invite to join the ranks of fools that have a Facebook profile.
Oh how much I hate those "I've added you as a friend on Facebook" automated messages! I thought friendship was all about personal interaction and exchange of ideas. The very process that Facebook's set-up negates.
Being in someone's list of "friends" is almost like looking in the party but not actually being there.
How can an inane comment of the "I'm eating crisps" kind of league constitute of communication? Isn't the very nature of meaningful communication that the broadcasted message is worthy of its broadcast? Who the hell cares if I am currently having a big bag of cracked pepper Kettle Chips?
When I asked a friend if he had moved to the new flat he was trying to buy in the last few months, all I got was an automated invite to join Facebook.
It's exactly the kind of degradation of individuality in interpersonal communication that makes me so angry.
If he bothered to let me know with a persona email I may have been more understanding...but answering to my email with a standard invite to Facebook? That is the equivalent of taking the piss!
Oh when will people see that its is just a pointless exercise for arrogant self publicising morons October 12 iPhone hysteria here we go!
The general hysteria that accompanies a major, and rather delayed, Apple Corp launch has started. O2 is the "lucky" network to pick it up in the UK. The iPhone will be launching on 9 November, rather handy for the critical Christmas sales.There's a rather buzzy photographic coverage on Engadget of the press launch: Especially when the iPhone is a rather crippled device that is locked down (impossible to run non apple aproved applications) and non expandable (no memory card reader). Hopefully the European mobile users will be more savvy and realise that it is a device firmly rooted to past of mobile telecommunications...pretty much the area occupied by the US. The US users are used to paying for their mobiles as they are used to paying for receiving text messages. Both are totally inconceivable in Europe, where the phones are heavily subsidised and the texts are free to receive. Also there has been an advertising campaign by NOKIA around the US pointing out that their Symbian based mobiles are open to new applications and customisations by the users...reminding all those iPhone users that are locked down to an 18month contract and paid for a device that they cannot customise without putting more money in Apple's pockets (e.g. ringtones through iTunes)
(picture from gadgetell.com) July 31 La Scala The Royal Opera House and the impossible steps of RudyI was waiting for months to see the La Scala Ballet dance The Sleeping Beauty in Nureyev's 1966 choreography.
The afternoon got to a promising start with corps du ballet being in great form and being my first matinee at Covent Garden it felt very different. The audience was rather mixed. With the usual overdressed madams of the Home Counties(looking more like they belonged on the stage than the stalls), some of the usual dancey crowd (waiting to castigate the Italian's technique) and a large smattering of families (trying to expand the horizons of their children while not falling asleep in the process). The most obvious difference in the behaviour of the crowd was their clapping which reminded me of a west end musical. They would clap every time Aurora and the Prince will come on stage...which was unneeded and anyway 19th century ballets allow plenty of space for applause anyway!
This work being one of Nureyev's earliest choreographic efforts it was suffering too much with his stamp on Petipa's beautiful classical line, most gestures and attempts to characterisation were smothered with lavish amounts of over-ornamentation. A simple ensemble rondo would turn into the most complicated affair known to man! Thankfully Aurora's part was not touched by Rudolph's heavy handed approach, may be owing to the great (meaning assertive) divas of his time like Fonteyn. Who they would not tolerate changes to the traditional Petipa choreography which is always the golden standard and the measure to judge Aurora's performance.
The most distinct aspect of the work as staged by La Scala was the over-emphasized role of the Prince (created for Nureyev himself) and especially in the third act the steps were so personal to him and his incredible ability to create high jumps out of nowhere. Massimo Caron who performed for us was very virile but he looked out of his depth when he had to deal with the demanding high jumps of the third act. To the point of almost narrowly escaping a fall. His part is custom made for Nureyev and his very personal and very powerful dancing style that very few dancers could match. Unfortunately when his choreography is being executed by anyone else it becomes a hollow vehicle that fights again the frothy 19th century heart of this ballet. In a way it reminds me of the 1964 Zeffirelli Tosca at Covent Garden which was made for Callas and her famously charismatic acting. Most Sopranos that filled Tosca's shoes did not really possess the same strengths as Callas and you could always feel the loss of the pre-requisite acting ability. After so many years on the stage those Sopranos tended to approach the role as Callas impersonators, trying to be her by assimilating her stage behaviour. Luckily the administrators of the Royal Opera saw sense and got the production out of its misery in 2005. Maybe La Scala Ballet should follow their lead and retire this Sleeping Beauty and allow a new choreographer to put his/her stamp on this piece.
I will not bore any more readers by commenting on the overblown sets and the rather glitzy costumes.
All in all a missed opportunity for La Scala
G July 13 Listmaking madness and the seven wonders of the worldOh dear we have all gone list crazy. From contacts lists to My Space/Facebook (so called) friends. When the media reported on a new list of the seven wonders of the world we all thought it was an interesting idea but the more one thinks about it the more "contemporary" the viewpoint is. It clearly stems from the revisionist tendency of the new world (mainly the US) to take on historic conventions and spin them for their uneducated and largely thick audience. Clearly looking into the Herodotus and his reported descriptions (as the text itself has not survived) of the ancient seven wonders was not enough...we need to jazz it up with SMS voting! What a load of crap! On the website: http://www.new7wonders.com/index.php?id=633 four out of seven new wonders are indeed ancient monuments...pretty much in line with the original list in Ancient Greek literature.
Clearly the ancient Greek list of: The Great Pyramid of Giza / The Hanging Gardens of Babylon / The Temple of Artemis at Ephesus / The Statue of Zeus at Olympia / The Mausoleum of Maussollos at Halicarnassus / The Colossus of Rhodes and The Lighthouse of Alexandria was not good enough anymore! Or maybe all the idiots that read the tabloids have never read any ancient Greek texts!
The above website had insinuated that UNESCO had been involved with the project, which made me question their judgement. Thankfully UNESCO have announced with a press release that they have not in any way collaborated on this commercial project. Check: http://portal.unesco.org/en/ev.php-URL_ID=38482&URL_DO=DO_TOPIC&URL_SECTION=201.html
UNESCO has its own list of World Heritage Sites: http://whc.unesco.org/en/list which is a list of sites of extreme significance to mankind and also a listing by them creates the basis for a conservation protocol for those sites. Which makes this list much more valuable than most. Unfortunately a scholarly and researched list like this one does not provide good voxpops for the media. And in our current news reporting culture all reporting is aimed at rolling news channels that only like 2 minute reports with not insight.
I do despair about all the stupidity that is surrounding us and that has made culture just another badly packaged product for the consumption of the masses. But organisations like UNESCO and ICOM give me a little hope that all is not lost to the draw of the blockbuster exhibition and the latest Monet to appear on tea towels!
George
July 04 'The Tower'
Was watching the night before on BBC One 'The Tower' And I was really interested in the premise of the programme, development and regeneration of squalid parts of London. Surely Deptford is one of the armpits of London but not so the residents of Aragon Tower that Lewisham Council was ousting. The residents, even though in a Daily Mail kind of way I have expected to be abhorrent. But the only people that were shown to be truly awful were the developers, Council officials and estate agents that were in charge of the redevelopment. They seemed to be arrivistic non entities that had a very simplistic view of what constitutes redevelopment and regeneration. It seemed to them that as long as you get some so called ‘professionals’ to live in the tower block that would change the very constitution of the area. As a naive an attitude as the original policy that made possible for those horrible blocks to be built in the 70's. Back then the attitude was that if you make clean affordable housing that people on the Council's housing list would love and cherish them and would feel for ever grateful that you took them out of the slums. As we know the reality was very different most council built tower blocks were filled with people that never chose to be there. Instead of a new community spirit all the residents experience was excrement in the elevators and overcrowding. I suppose, this obvious housing disaster is acknowledged by the ease that Lewisham Council offloaded Aragon Tower to the developers. Thinking that if you get willing owners in the block all the problems of the area would go away. That very idea is what pushed the gentrification of huge enclaves of the capital...get the professionals and Starbucks in and push out all the unwanted trouble makers! The main problem of mass development is the lack of accountability and safety. What designers and developers forgot when they created those dreaded London tower blocks was that the basic principle for pedestrian (resident) safety is the road/walkways being overlooked by the residents. Jane Jacobs articulated the argument in 1961 in her book The Death and Life of Great American Cities especially in the chapter entitled: The Uses of Sidewalks: Safety she explains that very basic principle: if a road is overlooked by the residents anti-social activity is more than halved as the offending party gets deterred at the prospect of any eye witnesses present. Unfortunately that principle was not taken into account and most 1970’s blocks tend to have lots of internal or external corridors without any direct connection to the flats (or windows overlooking them). Nowadays councils are dotting CCTV cameras right left and centre trying to cover the inadequacies of the original design. Unfortunately the cameras do little to increase the sense of safety in the tower blocks. High rise living can be very successful indeed as long as it takes into account the wishes of the residents and is encouraging interaction. Tower blocks, when designed with vision, can create diverse housing that offers a rich emotional and sensory experience. Such towers were some of the early examples in London like the Trellick Tower which is a sought after address and has lots of proud residents. I do not think things will change soon enough though, as the developer is king and the need for profit is the main motivation.
Links A brief description of the programme on the BBC One website: The review of the programme on The Guardian’s website: http://www.guardian.co.uk/Columnists/Column/0,,2117049,00.html The developers page about the Aragon Tower development: http://www.berkeleyhomes.co.uk/index.cfm?articleID=1050
July 02 Update on Paris---post prisonParis's post prison interview to Larry King on CNN has made it on his podcast
Worth checking out:
It will be interesting to see how long this more restraint Paris will last!
Oh dear I just hope she will not drive to her next red carpet engagement!
G June 28 Madonna - Confessions Tour - Wembley Arena - August 16th 2006
I just found this little piece languishing in my drafts folder...
It was thrilling seeing Madge once more...but she kept us waiting for 1h and 10mins! But that is the problem with charismatic performers like her, you forget all about those kind of problems when she makes it on stage! The show was really tightly choreographed and with a great playlist. It was slightly more special than the rest of the nights she played as it was her birthday. So we all got to sing happy birthday to her...and quickly escape to Wembley Park tube station!
June 27 Milton Court a monstrocity or a lost jewel on Barbican's crown?I was browsing today and was made aware that Milton Court, at the edge of The Barbican in London is about to be redeveloped. Modernist architecture has had a very rough ride in the UK from most of last century. Especially in the aftermath of the dreadful social housing that used Modernist language without the philosophical and ideological background.
Milton Court was built in 1965 as a support building to the main Barbican Centre. It was not listed unlike the Centre and a few years ago all leftover residents were bought out of their flats and it has been lying empty read to be redeveloped, here's the proposed plan on the Corporation of London's website: http://www.cityoflondon.gov.uk/Corporation/media_centre/files2006/City+selects+preferred+Milton+Court+developer.htm
Here are some more links that relate to the campaign to save Milton Court on the debate about its architectural merit: The BBC's website: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/magazine/6222792.stm CABE's website with an elevation plan: http://www.cabe.org.uk/default.aspx?contentitemid=1925&refid=0&sl= Advocates of Milton Court have put together a website to try and save it: http://www.miltoncourt.org/ and also the 20th Centrury Society is advocating the building: http://www.c20society.org.uk/docs/press/060929_milton_court.html
CABE seems not to be too impressed by the quality of the proposed development "We do not think that the architecture in this case is of sufficient quality to make a positive contribution to its immediate and wider setting."
The objections of CABE are higlighting a major problem when developers are brought in to built mixed use development for public bodies. On one hand they have to keep their clients happy by fullfilling the brief even in the expense of the design. And also trying to deliver it to a predetermined price point and make enough money for the architectural practise and the contractor. Unfortunately this kind of development very rarely produces good architecture. And in this instance the Corporation of London should be thinking more about how to make a interesting contribution to the London skyline than how to self-finance the new theatre for the Guildhall School of Music by selling the flats in the new development.
Let's hope that reason will prevail and maybe a sensitive redevelopment will incorporate the original building.
George
 June 20 Police brutality alla GrecaWas amazed yesterday going through my usual sources of Greek news to discover a video showing a couple of policemen abusing two immigrants in a police station in the very centre of Athens.
Once more it demonstrates how far Greece can really be from the civilized west.
The minister in charge seems not too be too bothered about the whole situation and clearly is not able to offer his resignation.
In my 18 years I spend in Athens I was witnessing from all sides the inability of the Greeks to deal with difference and change. And the logical conclusion of intolerance is racism and xenophobia.
Back in 1996 everyone seemed to be up in arms about the influx of Albanians in Greece and how it changed the traditional social strata of the country. What most people refused to acknowledge though was the very fact that all the cheap labour helped Greece though some rough times, when the economy was very unsteady and almost ruled it out of the single European currency. All the migrant workers were referred to as if they were inanimate objects, there just to please the Greeks.
I am deeply ashamed looking back at those years realising with hindsight that the times were, and still are, deeply racist and intolerant.
Everything in Greece has a veneer of "national pride" which legitimises the most abhorrent behaviour. And most people think that the country is owed special dispensation from accepted wisdom and mores because it was the historic cradle of civilization. I remember countless conversations and quarrels at school when I expressed any views that did not reflect this pseudo-patriotic given. Other students would call me names and that I was anti-patriotic. For them being a patriot equalled agreeing with all the policies the Greek government came up with without judging them in the slightest. If the government wanted to go to war over the sea borders with Turkey then we all had to agree that Turkey is automatically the force of evil and it had to be ring fenced. The very fact that Greece is most probably the only European country to use land mines to protect its borders always used to pass by all those "patriots".
I'm sure a number of people will quietly applaud the police officers in the leaked video for "keeping in check the foreigners". Police brutality is nothing new in Greece. The power of the police over the lives of the citizens is immense. They pretty much have every right to stop and search anyone whenever they fancy and of course all of them being armed you wouldn't resist! That police state practically dates back to the dictatorship (1967-1974) when torturing the opposition became the norm. The country since then is pretty much run under a status quo of hatred, suspicion and fear. I just wish they would all wake up and realise that very much like ancient Greece built its success on huge numbers of slaves, modern Greece depends on human trafficking and bribery to keep itself going.
I will be watching the development of the story with huge interest and see if any politicians will take responsibility for the institutionally racist police force they have nurtured over the last 30 years.
The furore has not as yet made it to the UK media, here are a couple of links to the Athens News Agency in English:
and the link to the video on the Greek website that publishised it:
June 12 Organic and more organicHave been buying organic products for the last few years...mainly on the basis of taste.
Today have ordered my first box of organic vegetables straight from the farm!
Hopefully it will put a stop to my all too frequent visits to Marks&Spencer on the way home! And is surely cheaper than Marks. Plus you get to try new veggies that most supermarkets would not bother to stock (wet garlic anyone?)
Will report back on the first delivery, this coming Thursday
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