This album cover cheers me up.
Friday 28 January 2011
Thursday 27 January 2011
Monday 24 January 2011
Jack Wills. Again.
I do apologize for the barrage of posts concerning the clothing brand Jack Wills. But hilariously, they continue to outdo themselves in terms of elitist pretentiousness. For those that don't know, Jack Wills' tagline is 'Fabulously British University Outfitters'. Basically, preppy with a capital prep. Despite once being original. So, it's fair enough that such an image-conscious brand would name their items of clothing after distinctly British sounding towns. For example, the 'Brayton Boyfriend Blazer' and the 'Springton Denim Shorts'.
Now I always vaguely wondered if these names had any significance. If that cut of blazer actually originated in Brayton. After all, Jack Wills have this way of making out like they're authentic. I quote: The Bobbington (cardigan) is inspired by Aran knitwear, created by the islanders of Aran over the centuries using their own yarn. Within the complex patterns each stitch is said to have a meaning; the cable is supposedly a symbol of good fortune when out at sea. However, cardi in question was in fact popularised by...ooh, how to put this politically correctly...nah. Chavs. And I can't see the islanders of Aran dubbing their local cardi 'The Bobbington'.
'Wills also tend to imbue the content of their promotional material with a kind of alluring, enviable mystique, by not stating anything clearly and bombarding us with images irrelevant to clothes advertising. I turn the last page of the 'Home and Accessories' section in the catalogue, and am presented with a double-spread they've bunged up with pictures of well-dressed, ray-banned hotties and captioned: From Nantucket to Salcombe, this summer holiday we bridged the atlantic with festivals and beach parties uniting the university crowd. What the hell? Of course you did! Had a nice Summer holiday, did you all?
Anyway, I'm leafing through this new catalogue, and I encounter 'The Hertford belt'. Now this is interesting, as I live next door to Hertford. And no, it is not a navy-blue-white-stripe themed town. Nor is it particularly renowned for being the native land of canvas belts with leather detail. Shortly after, I come across the 'Bayford Skinny Chino'. Bayford is just south of Hertford. It's a village populated mostly by wildlife. Sorry, Bayford folk. And cue the realization that they literally have just methodically gone through the map of England and selected atmospheric titles to allocate their products. And the fog of mystique lifts, somewhat. I suppose I just allowed the wool to be pulled over my eyes. Pun not intended, although duly noted. Oh well, fashion's not a sin. We all want to be deceived in some respect or another, aye? That we're part of something big and worthy, maybe?
I don't know any Bayford folk who have ever worn chinos. Sadly. The world could use more chino-sporters. I don't technically own chinos, but I'm satisfied with my trouser collection. No, I'm not going to bother to try and hide the extent of my victimization at the hands of fashion. It hurts so good.
God, have they ever actually created Oxford Jeans? Or a Cambridge Shirt? It would literally be the smart-cas combo to end all smart-cas combos. They would probably only release them as limited edition, anniversary edition, end-times edition garments at triple the price of their usual rip-offs.
She says all this seriously contemplating the Spring term range of jewellery. £6.50 for 4 inches of faux leather. A.K.A. the Wrayton Wristband. It says 'KEEP YOUR PECKER UP'. Think that's quite clever.
Ttfn.
Now I always vaguely wondered if these names had any significance. If that cut of blazer actually originated in Brayton. After all, Jack Wills have this way of making out like they're authentic. I quote: The Bobbington (cardigan) is inspired by Aran knitwear, created by the islanders of Aran over the centuries using their own yarn. Within the complex patterns each stitch is said to have a meaning; the cable is supposedly a symbol of good fortune when out at sea. However, cardi in question was in fact popularised by...ooh, how to put this politically correctly...nah. Chavs. And I can't see the islanders of Aran dubbing their local cardi 'The Bobbington'.
'Wills also tend to imbue the content of their promotional material with a kind of alluring, enviable mystique, by not stating anything clearly and bombarding us with images irrelevant to clothes advertising. I turn the last page of the 'Home and Accessories' section in the catalogue, and am presented with a double-spread they've bunged up with pictures of well-dressed, ray-banned hotties and captioned: From Nantucket to Salcombe, this summer holiday we bridged the atlantic with festivals and beach parties uniting the university crowd. What the hell? Of course you did! Had a nice Summer holiday, did you all?
Anyway, I'm leafing through this new catalogue, and I encounter 'The Hertford belt'. Now this is interesting, as I live next door to Hertford. And no, it is not a navy-blue-white-stripe themed town. Nor is it particularly renowned for being the native land of canvas belts with leather detail. Shortly after, I come across the 'Bayford Skinny Chino'. Bayford is just south of Hertford. It's a village populated mostly by wildlife. Sorry, Bayford folk. And cue the realization that they literally have just methodically gone through the map of England and selected atmospheric titles to allocate their products. And the fog of mystique lifts, somewhat. I suppose I just allowed the wool to be pulled over my eyes. Pun not intended, although duly noted. Oh well, fashion's not a sin. We all want to be deceived in some respect or another, aye? That we're part of something big and worthy, maybe?
I don't know any Bayford folk who have ever worn chinos. Sadly. The world could use more chino-sporters. I don't technically own chinos, but I'm satisfied with my trouser collection. No, I'm not going to bother to try and hide the extent of my victimization at the hands of fashion. It hurts so good.
God, have they ever actually created Oxford Jeans? Or a Cambridge Shirt? It would literally be the smart-cas combo to end all smart-cas combos. They would probably only release them as limited edition, anniversary edition, end-times edition garments at triple the price of their usual rip-offs.
She says all this seriously contemplating the Spring term range of jewellery. £6.50 for 4 inches of faux leather. A.K.A. the Wrayton Wristband. It says 'KEEP YOUR PECKER UP'. Think that's quite clever.
Ttfn.
Saturday 22 January 2011
Yesss!
Just ordered the brooklet skirt from Jack Wills outlet website. It's so cute!
You can't access the Jack Wills online sales unless you're invited by email. And bloody hell, not only does the sale expire, but the invitation expires too. Exclusivity. What a marketing technique. The sale is 'only open to a limited number of people'. Probably bull. Very clever though...
I think I have a problem. I have 10 times more clothes than I need but I just can't stop buying. I see it, I have to have it. Is this shopaholicism? Or am I just spoilt? I'd say the level of my consumerism is one or two steps below pathological. But god it's a pleasurable pathology.
You can't access the Jack Wills online sales unless you're invited by email. And bloody hell, not only does the sale expire, but the invitation expires too. Exclusivity. What a marketing technique. The sale is 'only open to a limited number of people'. Probably bull. Very clever though...
I think I have a problem. I have 10 times more clothes than I need but I just can't stop buying. I see it, I have to have it. Is this shopaholicism? Or am I just spoilt? I'd say the level of my consumerism is one or two steps below pathological. But god it's a pleasurable pathology.
Thursday 20 January 2011
Jack Wills
Just watched the 'Jack Wills film'. Now I love this shop, I love their style, but oh dear, I have never seen such unabashed self-adulation or exploitation of sex appeal. I mean for fuck's sake, if they're naked, they're hardly advertising the clothes are they? And was it really necessary for them to actually state under the link to the video 'contains scenes of a sexual nature' in bold blue writing? Besides, as if we don't know that from the catalogues already.
Clutter
My room. I took these this afternoon. I walked in and this shaft of sunlight was projected right across one wall, flooding in from a crack in the closed curtains. The entirety of my room was sunken in gloom, as per the usual, but there was a small, blinding white sheet of light over a DVD on a shelf, extending its influence over one corner of the room. It seemed to me like the light was tumbling down the shelves and over my desk, like a waterfall from its source, the pool at the top. Or like blossoms falling from a tree. There was something arresting about the dim shadows being penetrated so unforgivingly by this light, in its purest form. That was what I tried to capture on camera, and I think I just about succeeeded in the end. In the last photo.
I know it's very banal, but I found it a nice image. And when I say 'nice', I'm not copping out of finding a more creative word, I really mean nice. Pleasant, comforting. I love that kind of lighting in a room - largely dark wih one small, concentrated point of light. I can't deal with bright light, it makes me feel trapped and exposed. I generally try to dwell in relative darkness, if I had it my way, there'd never be a curtain open in the house. It's also personal, and tender...nostalgic. That area of my room contains objects that haven't moved from my room in years.
I know it's very banal, but I found it a nice image. And when I say 'nice', I'm not copping out of finding a more creative word, I really mean nice. Pleasant, comforting. I love that kind of lighting in a room - largely dark wih one small, concentrated point of light. I can't deal with bright light, it makes me feel trapped and exposed. I generally try to dwell in relative darkness, if I had it my way, there'd never be a curtain open in the house. It's also personal, and tender...nostalgic. That area of my room contains objects that haven't moved from my room in years.
Wednesday 19 January 2011
Sunrise II
Wroxham Gardens at roughly 8am this morning. Photos presented in the order I took them, so it's quite a good display of the path of the rising sun. I like how this photoshoot captures the transition from night to day, in that I've clearly just caught the end of the sunrise, and each consecutive photo shows the light higher in the sky...
Saturday 15 January 2011
Sunset
More of my own photography.
I suppose I need to declare my stance on photography before it can be judged correctly. After all, there are many different standards by which to judge photography. So, to issue a bit of a disclaimer - I've decided that on this blog, I'll post all photos that are worth exposure for whatever reason, regardless of whether they are good or bad photos artistically. I prefer to set the scene of my photo shoot and give a fuller impression of the experience, rather than create a showcase of my photography. After all, this is a personal blog, meaning its purpose is to tell my story, not to be of artistic value. I'm no professional or commercial photographer - I'm an amateur and a student with a casual interest in art.
To me, 90% of the success criteria for artistic photography is artistic vision, and the remaining percentage is technical skill. If a photograph succeeds in expressing what you want to express, it's a success. Even if your message is simply 'Look at how beautiful this is'. I'm no expert on photography technology, I'm no expert on cameras.
I'm an opportunist - I take my little, handbag-size digital camera everywhere I go so that when I see something worthy of immortalisation, I'm always ready to capture it on camera. Photos I post on this blog are no indication of where my interest in photography lies, i.e. I'm by no means a nature photographer. I felt the need to specify that, haha. Artistically, I find urban life much more interesting than rural life. In Europe, anyway. Outside Europe, that changes. However, due to the fact that I live in the suburbs, I suspect a lot of photos posted on this blog will be of a suburban environment. I also find suburbia artistically interesting...Thank you, Arcade Fire, for popularising that sentiment.
I feel there's a certain electricity to suburban scenes, if depicted well...they have an air of imminence and tension. I mean, in the wider scale of things, what is the significance of suburbia in art, cinema, literature? What does it stand for? The image of a suburban street epitomises mundanity. A lot of art over the past few decades has dictated that small town environments are never an end, they're the means to the end, the place that needs to be escaped from, the transitional area - suburbia is nowhere, neither here nor there. To me, suburbia can never mean more than a cage. It's the middle class, it's ennui, it's the machine, it's millions of lives spent in a rut, going nowhere. I'm aware that I sound very conspicuously teenage.
I feel suburban scenes have a significance something akin to 'something is about to happen, something is about to break free from this, because nothing can survive here for long'. It's bittersweet. Perhaps I'm a tad pessimistic. Maybe when I'm older I'll have a more positive view of the suburbs.
Anyway, that applies to a lot of the photographs I take. Not so much these ones, as the focus of the photos isn't on the artificial, man-made structures in them, it's on the natural ones. However, even despite that, the details of the photos make the suburban nature of the setting inescapable. The narrow street, the houses, the pylons.
Also, all these photos are unedited. They were taken in Brookmans Park, a village next to Potters Bar, in Hertfordshire. I was photographing the sunset on the walk to a friend's house. I'm inclined to say I think a few of these pictures are really pretty.
I suppose I need to declare my stance on photography before it can be judged correctly. After all, there are many different standards by which to judge photography. So, to issue a bit of a disclaimer - I've decided that on this blog, I'll post all photos that are worth exposure for whatever reason, regardless of whether they are good or bad photos artistically. I prefer to set the scene of my photo shoot and give a fuller impression of the experience, rather than create a showcase of my photography. After all, this is a personal blog, meaning its purpose is to tell my story, not to be of artistic value. I'm no professional or commercial photographer - I'm an amateur and a student with a casual interest in art.
To me, 90% of the success criteria for artistic photography is artistic vision, and the remaining percentage is technical skill. If a photograph succeeds in expressing what you want to express, it's a success. Even if your message is simply 'Look at how beautiful this is'. I'm no expert on photography technology, I'm no expert on cameras.
I'm an opportunist - I take my little, handbag-size digital camera everywhere I go so that when I see something worthy of immortalisation, I'm always ready to capture it on camera. Photos I post on this blog are no indication of where my interest in photography lies, i.e. I'm by no means a nature photographer. I felt the need to specify that, haha. Artistically, I find urban life much more interesting than rural life. In Europe, anyway. Outside Europe, that changes. However, due to the fact that I live in the suburbs, I suspect a lot of photos posted on this blog will be of a suburban environment. I also find suburbia artistically interesting...Thank you, Arcade Fire, for popularising that sentiment.
I feel there's a certain electricity to suburban scenes, if depicted well...they have an air of imminence and tension. I mean, in the wider scale of things, what is the significance of suburbia in art, cinema, literature? What does it stand for? The image of a suburban street epitomises mundanity. A lot of art over the past few decades has dictated that small town environments are never an end, they're the means to the end, the place that needs to be escaped from, the transitional area - suburbia is nowhere, neither here nor there. To me, suburbia can never mean more than a cage. It's the middle class, it's ennui, it's the machine, it's millions of lives spent in a rut, going nowhere. I'm aware that I sound very conspicuously teenage.
I feel suburban scenes have a significance something akin to 'something is about to happen, something is about to break free from this, because nothing can survive here for long'. It's bittersweet. Perhaps I'm a tad pessimistic. Maybe when I'm older I'll have a more positive view of the suburbs.
Anyway, that applies to a lot of the photographs I take. Not so much these ones, as the focus of the photos isn't on the artificial, man-made structures in them, it's on the natural ones. However, even despite that, the details of the photos make the suburban nature of the setting inescapable. The narrow street, the houses, the pylons.
Also, all these photos are unedited. They were taken in Brookmans Park, a village next to Potters Bar, in Hertfordshire. I was photographing the sunset on the walk to a friend's house. I'm inclined to say I think a few of these pictures are really pretty.
Thursday 13 January 2011
10/11/2010 Student Rally
I marched at the student rally against education cuts and the rising tuition fees on the 10th November last year at Westminster - a pretty important day for British politics. One of those days that makes you glad you bring your camera everywhere. It was my first rally too. I was right at the heart of the so-called 'riot' as far as I know, although sadly I never made it onto the roof of the Tory HQ...
In case you haven't noticed, I'm left wing. Sadly I was one of those poor suckers who supported the Lib Dems before this election. But, as a most impressive sign exhibited on the day of the rally stated, 'Nick Clegg sold out faster than Muse', so I don't support the Lib Dems anymore. Sorted. Managed to get some photos, so here are the ones that didn't make it onto facebook...I think these are photos that are relevant to a lot of people, so I'm glad to share them with the world. It's a shame the videos all seem to be too long to upload.
In case you haven't noticed, I'm left wing. Sadly I was one of those poor suckers who supported the Lib Dems before this election. But, as a most impressive sign exhibited on the day of the rally stated, 'Nick Clegg sold out faster than Muse', so I don't support the Lib Dems anymore. Sorted. Managed to get some photos, so here are the ones that didn't make it onto facebook...I think these are photos that are relevant to a lot of people, so I'm glad to share them with the world. It's a shame the videos all seem to be too long to upload.
Stoking the flames of rebellion ;)
Bonfire outside Tory HQ
'Angry scene at 30 Millbank'
Us lot. Far right, yours truly
Yours truly
Wednesday 12 January 2011
Studious Little Student
Yes! Step one of my new years resolution complete - I renewed my membership to the gym and had my induction earlier this evening. Now I just have to keep going...Anyway, introspection being something I seem annoyingly unable to help, I got thinking...
So I'm painting away at these sloppy little studies for art coursework when a note-worthy train of thought enters my mind...Here I am doing all my work on time, getting it done, doing everything required to get top marks. But I still wasn't good enough to be the best...I was rejected by Oxford see. Don't get me wrong, I couldn't care less, but it was a bit of a 'wow, life is demanding, think of all those people whose lives are just one long series of failures' moment. As in those people that truly deserve success but are just unlucky. To clarify, that's really not how I think of myself, haha. It's also a shame that it's not as simple as 'if you work hard, you'll find success and if you don't, you won't'- people that didn't really work for it will sometimes find success. These people are lucky or intelligent or alot of both. The variables are so endless, it's a sisyphean task trying to be successful. And by 'success' I do mean any individual's personal idea of success.
So when it comes down to it, it just makes you think, why bother with anything at all? But that's what everything comes down to, I suppose. All this post has done is explain in another set of words why for alot of us, it would be fine to just kill ourselves because we're overpopulating the planet :)
Or would it?
Is it ever right to deny the world your potential? Is suicide always selfish?
And there's the debate...
Is life worth it?
In my opinion there's two very strong arguments for either side of the debate.
Just pondering the slightly big questions here.
Listening to: Mogwai - Happy Songs for Happy People.
I think this album is so, so beautiful...I think reviews were largely positive but nothing to shout about. Certain artists imbue their music with the quality that this album has. This soft, tender quality that has the ability to sort of soak up pain. And it is an elusive quality - it's not the product of depressing/inspiring lyrics or cathartic guitar solos, I think it can genuinely only ever derive from real skill as a musician. The King had it, Bob Marley had it, and I think Mogwai does. I think it's partly the inspirational quality inherant in a masterpiece. It's about the simplicity of hearing something that is so good, it manages to move something seldom moved in you - awe. It leaves you reassured.
It also seems to require a slow, gentle tempo...it's a tempo you can keep up with when your mind is exhausted. Music is so fast these days it doesn't often give itself time to stop and contemplate itself - to give you a break from your equally fast life. It's all dance, dance, dance. I'm not complaining, I'm just saying, if you're not a constantly upbeat person you have to look harder than you would've 30 years ago for music you can identify with. I find I'm starting to seek out slower music. Getting old, clearly.
Mogwai remind me of more ambient Nine Inch Nails on this album. Nuff said. 'Moses I amn't' is full of echoes of 'A Warm Place' and 'The Downward Spiral'...I give this album 8 or 9 out of 10. It floats above the crap.
It is an outrage I don't own these guys' latest album yet...
So I'm painting away at these sloppy little studies for art coursework when a note-worthy train of thought enters my mind...Here I am doing all my work on time, getting it done, doing everything required to get top marks. But I still wasn't good enough to be the best...I was rejected by Oxford see. Don't get me wrong, I couldn't care less, but it was a bit of a 'wow, life is demanding, think of all those people whose lives are just one long series of failures' moment. As in those people that truly deserve success but are just unlucky. To clarify, that's really not how I think of myself, haha. It's also a shame that it's not as simple as 'if you work hard, you'll find success and if you don't, you won't'- people that didn't really work for it will sometimes find success. These people are lucky or intelligent or alot of both. The variables are so endless, it's a sisyphean task trying to be successful. And by 'success' I do mean any individual's personal idea of success.
So when it comes down to it, it just makes you think, why bother with anything at all? But that's what everything comes down to, I suppose. All this post has done is explain in another set of words why for alot of us, it would be fine to just kill ourselves because we're overpopulating the planet :)
Or would it?
Is it ever right to deny the world your potential? Is suicide always selfish?
And there's the debate...
Is life worth it?
In my opinion there's two very strong arguments for either side of the debate.
Just pondering the slightly big questions here.
Listening to: Mogwai - Happy Songs for Happy People.
I think this album is so, so beautiful...I think reviews were largely positive but nothing to shout about. Certain artists imbue their music with the quality that this album has. This soft, tender quality that has the ability to sort of soak up pain. And it is an elusive quality - it's not the product of depressing/inspiring lyrics or cathartic guitar solos, I think it can genuinely only ever derive from real skill as a musician. The King had it, Bob Marley had it, and I think Mogwai does. I think it's partly the inspirational quality inherant in a masterpiece. It's about the simplicity of hearing something that is so good, it manages to move something seldom moved in you - awe. It leaves you reassured.
It also seems to require a slow, gentle tempo...it's a tempo you can keep up with when your mind is exhausted. Music is so fast these days it doesn't often give itself time to stop and contemplate itself - to give you a break from your equally fast life. It's all dance, dance, dance. I'm not complaining, I'm just saying, if you're not a constantly upbeat person you have to look harder than you would've 30 years ago for music you can identify with. I find I'm starting to seek out slower music. Getting old, clearly.
Mogwai remind me of more ambient Nine Inch Nails on this album. Nuff said. 'Moses I amn't' is full of echoes of 'A Warm Place' and 'The Downward Spiral'...I give this album 8 or 9 out of 10. It floats above the crap.
It is an outrage I don't own these guys' latest album yet...
Tuesday 11 January 2011
Inverse Reverse Perverse
I Encountered the name Cerith Wyn Evans whilst researching another artist today, and remembered that he was the creator of this interesting scultpure I'd seen at the Tate Britain the other week. It was part of a display of art from 1960-2000 and included Damien Hirst and Sarah Lucas, among other big names in modern art. Speaking of Sarah Lucas, has anyone seen the Black and White Bunny photos? This is them, respectively 1, 2 and 3. I had to spread these photos, this sculpture is just so laughably great...
That's me taking the picture - reflected in the top right hand corner of the sculpture. I stopped styudying any scientific subjects in year 9 so I have no idea how to describe the distorted type of reflections in this surface, but it was just eye-catching how the reflections swirled and whizzed as you moved around the sculpture. So, I was doing this, and a lightbulb goes on in my head: this can be captured on film ;) As I have proved below.
Got a bit sidetracked there, but anyway what I wanted to post was these photos and videos I took of the sculpture by Evans - they're below. I don't think Evans is a particularly renowned artist, but I like the idea of this piece...I like how it's interactive - as all mirrors are. It's called Inverse Reverse Perverse, was made in 1996, and is this round, reflective, concave surface which looks like this hung up on the wall:
That's me taking the picture - reflected in the top right hand corner of the sculpture. I stopped styudying any scientific subjects in year 9 so I have no idea how to describe the distorted type of reflections in this surface, but it was just eye-catching how the reflections swirled and whizzed as you moved around the sculpture. So, I was doing this, and a lightbulb goes on in my head: this can be captured on film ;) As I have proved below.
Wow, how disappointing...the decent videos won't upload so I've had to settle for this annoying, short one. Oh well. And then of course, me in the mirror-sculpture.
Monday 10 January 2011
Sunrise
You have to be so quick with these things - I wake up around 7 so I often catch the sunrise. Even when I don't, dawn's a beautiful time of the day. I'm in a hurry, so I don't have time to censor these photos and decide which ones are too crap to post, and which ones are too similar, but I'll post a few anyway. I saw the sky out of my study window when I turned on the computer this morning and decided to run outside to take pictures. I've seen skies much more special than this, but every time they're worth recording, so here's Wroxham Gardens, Potters Bar at 8 0 something in the am....
Now Listening To: White Lies - Bigger Than Us
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