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blogonblogoff - side b

'everything is nothing if you've got no one'

Friday, April 30, 2004

Mixing it street style
Worth a look, break in the road. It's a nice idea that's been done with different things before but this one is nicely implemented. You go round the streets of London recording sounds and then you can create your own mix of the sounds. It's like a project that a student would do as part of their course.
Posted by Edward @ 05:39 PM GMT
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More Grey Issues
I seem to have at least one technical problem every six months with this blog. In the past some of the files got corruputed and that was it, my entire blog was made unusable. This time my archives have got errors in them. High time I set up a more stable blog or move over to my Lomo home blog maybe?
Posted by Edward @ 05:22 PM GMT
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To pen the le pen
I started reverting back to the way I used to blog, which is to write everything in my text editor when I think of it and then post it later. So I started doing this and then I just didn't have time to post it which I guess is silly but at least I wrote something down. Anyway here are my notes from three days ago.

Today (refering to yesterday(now refering to Monday)) I read one best news articles written by a broadsheet. For some reason the front page article on the Guardian on the far right Jean-Marie Le Pen's arrival to Manchester really made me smile and laugh out loud on the train. The reporting by Emma Brockes was pure brilliance, all done with a style of the reporter Kurt Clausen from one of my favourite books Begin To Exit Here almost reminiscent of the KKK chapter in there. Really straight forward reporting of the facts but written in such a way that it emphasised the whole farcical nature of not just the BNP and the far-right but the whole day. Convening at the Office World car park near Disbury where sunday shoppers and the store manager got a bit peeved off with the gathering journalists and BNP members.

Things I really liked:



  • Two children carrying a dog basket emerged from a pet shop hissed "idiots" - it wasn't clear to whom - while a clergywoman in a dog collar arrived carrying a banner reading Manchester Against Racism.



  • An elderley woman wandering through the riot outside the hotel looking for an advertised antiques fair. Asked for her views on the BNP she said, sensibly: "I've got no views at all".



  • The whole banter between the BNP and the anti-racism protestors, such as "facist" and "communist"!

I'm not saying the whole issue is laughable but in the day an age where everything is taken so seriously (and these issues should be), it's refreshing to get writing that isn't so dry and just a matter of fact.

Read it your self here Le Pen shares platform with the BNP.

Posted by Edward @ 05:22 PM GMT
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Tuesday, April 20, 2004
Five at the Number 6
Each year goes by and nothing much progresses in my life. In the past year I studied some more and then went and got a job. The studying was worth doing just for myself but I'm wondering if I should have held out for a better job opportunity. Then again if I stayed down in the South West I wouldn't be part of the brilliant Lomomanchester group doing all sorts of crazy things.

Why the sudden reflection? Yes it was my birthday on Sunday. I spent the day at my parents helping my dad cut granite floor tiles for the kitchen. For those of you that don't know me, I generally hate everything that goes with birthdays. I for one take it as a normal day. If I have something to celebrate I will celebrate it, but growing older and not much wiser is probably not one of them. I will celebrate if I win of the Lomo/BMWX3 competitions I've entered.

Five of us hardcore members took a trip down to Portmerion at the weekend. Home of the Prisoner TV series. The 2 and half hour car journey took us from the grim grey skies of Manchester to the white clouds and sunny skies of Portmerion. We were only there for a couple of hours but had lots of fun taking pictures and generally having a bit of a laugh. I've never been there before but the blue waters, palm trees, pastel colour buildings and the beach were all beautiful. It all seemed very Mediterranean and not at all Wales. As soon as we left we the clouds came over and it was rain back to Manchester...

Our group have some great things coming up soon (have to keep it under wraps). Very soon we will be THE hippest photographic collective in Northwest, with it's crazy take on point and shoot photography. Mark my words last Saturday at the Woodstock in Disbury, it was the start of something big.

Anyway on Friday i saw Calexico do a fantastic set at the smart Bridgewater Hall. It's great there but I wouldn't advise people to get the end seats of the front row. Much better to get a second/third row in the middle. It's mainly because of the arrangement of the stage that you don't get as clear a view and you get the Showsec security telling you not to take pictures. True to form with a camera that was used by the KGB you don't get caught. Superb renditions of song from their three albums including the excellent The Crystal Frontier as the finale. On their set list they had put down to do a cover of Love Will Tear Us Apart Again which they didn't do. That would have been special. Aidan Smith supporting was also in fine form.

Posted by Edward @ 03:24 PM GMT
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