the vivian maier story

There was a great BBC Imagine documentary on the other night about Vivian Maier, the loner nanny who took thousands of photographs, mostly street scenes from around the Chicago area.
The photography itself was really high quality, but of course the most fascinating part of the story was that she kept the photographs to herself, and was so driven in her need to take them, expressing herself and capturing her own (and her surroundings) history.  I have always had a great admiration for anyone who just does their own thing, not caring what others think (hence my love of Keef), so this was right up my street.
Since her death in 2009, there has been a huge demand for her prints and originals, plus gallery displays and coffee table books, but you would like to think that she would still have had some success if her work had been unearthed earlier.  Now that she has ceased to be (as The Pythons would say), she will always be the elusive loner character, and her worth will probably only increase, as her cult following grows.
Maier kept her photography work in various storage containers, which was then bought unseen when she could not meet her storage bills, with the consequence that it was divided up among  innocents, collectors, and get rich quick charlatans.
Some of the images and information can be found here and here, and the BBC doc is here.
I may post some of her street photography at a later date, as l particularly like the ones with billboard or theater writing in the background, but for the meantime, above are some of her self portraits.
How very reflective.

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the rather magnificent rich hall

 

Myself, Robbo, Kerrie and the FPO went along to see Rich Hall in Middlesbrough in May, and it he was hilarious.  Up to then, the funniest comedian l had seen was Billy Connolly in a small place in New York (coz l'm cool!), but the night out with Rich Hall was sooooo much better than l had hoped for, and just as good (if not better) than the Connolly show.  I was crying with laughter throughout, and although a lot of the show is obviously scripted, there was a lot of riffing with members of the audience as well, which highlighted how quickly Hall thinks on his feet. Sadly, there was no appearance of his alter ego, Otis Lee Crenshaw, but that didn't matter, as his command of comedy which he has honed over the years more than made up for it.

I've since finished reading three of Hall's books, the results of which were varied.  I enjoyed them all, but although the language used and topics covered were impressive, there wasn't that many laugh out loud parts, except in the 'I Blame Society' one, which has a potted history of Otis' life and marriages to various Brendas.  Some of the song lyrics in that were both clever and funny, and you find yourself rooting for the old rascal.  The other two books would have been a lot better if performed on stage, as they lacked Halls delivery and timing, but the content was pretty top notch.

Anyway, here's a clip of him reading from 'Inglorious Bastards' and some videos.
Just a pity he didn't have tour posters for sale, as they would have been bought, signed, framed and hung in no time (a bit like Otis himself).








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cutting the bleeding grass (again!)

Well, the lawnmower has eventually been fixed, and l have been able to cut the bleeding grass at long last.  I had already cut it once this year when it was really overgrown, so l was a bit pissed off it had grown so much  again.  I even got a blister on my hand, as the last thing l am used to these days  is hard manual work (soft handed girl that l am).
I also cut some branches off the trees and am going to have a bonfire to burn them all, but l had better make sure Tubbs isn't hiding among the crap, like he was doing today.
Maybe he has had enough of being stuck with me and has got a death wish. He certainly didn't look too happy to be bought back in.
Time to get his mind right, as he needs to know who's boss around these parts (or no carrots for him in the morning).

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nozzer's vet bill

When sorting out some crap in the house the other night, l came across this old vet bill from when Nozzer, our old rabbit was going to the vets all of the time as he kept having puss oozing out of him.
£75.96 bleeding pounds!!!!
Luckily the rabbit had character, and if it cost that much to sort him out, so be it.
Sadly he didn't live that much longer, and Tubbs the idiot rabbit from outside got to come into the house and pester me.
Still, it was good while it lasted.

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black and white tights dance

An ingenious dance routine that is mind boggling and funny at the same time.
From Boing Boing.

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franz reichelt jumps off the eiffel tower

It's always good to have the courage of your convictions, but sometimes it can all go a bit pear shaped.
This is Franz Reichelt, a man who invented a new form of parachute that could be worn as a jacket.  To demonstrate how it would work, in 1912 he jumped off the Eiffel Tower in Paris.
Sadly for him, the parachute/jacket combination must have come from the same Acme Corporation store that Wile E. Coyote in the Road Runner cartoons uses, and he plummeted to his death.
He might have been barmy to leap off the tower in the first place, but that still took a hell of a lot of courage.
The video of the jump is below, and you will see him hesitating before jumping, with, as it turned out, good reason.

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scaring parents with adverts

A great marketing idea!  Scare the crap out of parents to make them buy your product.

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the lads from catterick

Various lads from the Colburn and Catterick Garrison area back in the day.  Not all of them are alive now, and there are some seriously bad fashions on display, but Coley looks cool rocking his long haired Shaun Ryder look.
They were the days.....van trips to festivals and gigs, drugs, drink and girls a plenty, Manchester United were just about to dominate English football, and The Scorpion (The Walkie) was still open.
These were a generation below me, but we certainly had some good times together.

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charles dickens looks old

I know that people used to dress differently in the old days, and therefore looked older, but come on!!
This is the late and great Charles Dickens, a man known to everybody due to his classic books.
Like lots of other famous men over the years, he ditched his wife (that bore him 10 children) for an 18 year old girl, even though he looked like the above picture. Fame and fortune go a long way.
Sadly though, there is no holding back age, and when he died, Dickens was 58 years old.
I'll repeat that.
He was 58.
Now look at the picture again - he looks about 70 or 80.
Suddenly, the image staring back at me in my mirror doesn't seem so bad after all.

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a dinosaur in the shopping centre

This looks fantastic, but would have been a whole lot better if the controllers legs had been covered up.  As l've stated before, the little things like that make all the difference.
Still excellent though.

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the dandy warhols artwork and spanish elvis

I always think if you are going to do something like be in a band, you should do it properly and take care of the minor details, as it enhances your appeal and attraction.  As a case in point, l will refer you to The Dandy Warhols, who's artwork and media presentation has been paid loving attention to, with superb results.



Also, I recently saw a Spanish Elvis Presley impersonator in Menorca, and was disappointed straight away, as he never came on to Elvis' theme music ( 'Also Sprach Zarathustra' ) and didn't do the old 'Elvis has now left the building' routine at the end.  Little things like that matter. Especially to me.
The clip below is the real Elvis, complete with the opening theme. Spanish Elvis was not the same.



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charles saatchi and the nigella lawson row

Charles Saatchi has apparently said today that his argument and throat grabbing with Nigella Lawson that was in the Sunday People yesterday was a playful tiff.  What a lying, full of crap bastard.
The camera can lie, but if he is prepared to treat her like that in public, leaving her in an obviously distressed state afterwards, and then deny it, rather than accepting responsibility and issuing an grovelling apology, what is he prepared to act like when they are alone at home together.
Sadly, l wouldn't be at all surprised if she defends him and stays with him, only to admit to the abusiveness when they eventually split up. She has admitted in the past  that he has a bad temper, and she goes quiet when he 'explodes', but even a multi millionaire can't act like a twat forever and get away with it without some kind of comeback, even if it is only in the form of bad publicity.

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the yellow duck sinks in liverpool

No doubt there will be calls for these tours to be banned after the Yellow Duck went down in Liverpool yesterday, but part of the attraction of these tours is the danger involved, and doing something that is exciting and different from everyday humdrum experiences.  Obviously the tours have to be safe, and the vehicles maintained, checked and serviced, but there have been numerous tours of this kind, in Liverpool, on the Thames and elsewhere,  with no fatalities (as far as l know).   There is always going to be some risk, but to ban them completely would be foolish.  There are plenty of other activities that involve risk which aren't banned, and as long as people want to do this kind of activity, they should be allowed to.  However, why they don't have easily accessible life jackets on the roof, plus some kind of external buoyancy to prevent this from happening, beats me.

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