just a quickie....

...well chuffed.
after (insert the diety of your choice here) alone knows how many months of non-correspondence, I wake up to find that little darling Carrie has sent me a card. How's that for a surprise and a half!?!
Now if I can find somewhere good to host some images for me, I'll get a copy of it up here.

.....grammer police strikes again....

For those of us who write in a blog or post on forums:
we have an edit button.

It's bad enough that most of us seem to have stopped being able to type in coherent sentences or even use words to their correct meaning but how hard is it to go back and fix bad spellings. Sure I know that a lot of the times, we type on the proverbial spur as a responce to something that's just come up and heck, we'll allowed a typo or two but please, if you genuinely don't know how to spell something, how hard is it to go look in a dictionary?
What bugs me even more is the growing number of people, invariably "kids" who type not only in sms/text language but also those who type in fake US gangsta speach. What the fuck? Some tosser born and raised in london wants to sound like 50 cent? What makes it worse is that I know that is 100% down to them imitating the US rap culture and the things you see in the films. I made a post about the intelligence of the viewers but this almost disproves my previous statement.
How about those US style (again) EMO kids? It appears as they've superceded the goths in terms of uselessness on the internet blog world. It's no longer just random words strung together into things that are supposed to be poetry and "[gruff crazy voice]beware the dark pits of my eternal misery and pity[/gruff crazy voice]. Instead we get "No one cares" (and?), "the girl I fancy doesn't know I like her...."(then tell her you twat) "my parents stopped my credit cards".... (get a job?) "i want to die"....(nothing stopping you)

Really?
you want to die?
for those it may concern, it's not across the street, or even down the highway; it's right across the jugular.
go and learn to type and interact in an adult way of just go and die properly.

dust settles, mess everywhere.....

.....at the moment, it seems that my life and my day to day schedule is settling into a relatively nice routine; survey's on monday, drawing up on tuesday, meeting on wednesday, design proposals on thursday, finalise details friday. If it all goes smoothly, then that would mean I can get one project finished a week and would also give me the weekend as a buffer just in case something big comes up (like those four blocks of flats that I had to do in ooohhh one month...).

Because of this, I've been looking to going back to my fighting ways as it's been way too long since I donned a pair of gloves and had seven (+1) shades of shitake mushrooms beaten out of me and well, the urge has been rising again. Good news is that one of the direct descendents of a particular school from HK/China has recently moved to the UK and opened up a school (mainly in hope of spreading his family style due to it being relatively closed for the past 100 odd years) and they're not too far from me. It would be a great contrast from my previous stuff as it looks to be one of the styles that was developed at the same time, around the same areas and from the same "parent" style (that being White Crane from the Fukian region.... More details later). AS such, it would serve as another perspective from which to look at what I've done before. Anyway, I've sent the e-mail alerting them of my intentions to join them and am currently waiting for a reply.

More martial art geekery later.

dedicated follower of fashion...

as you may or many not have known, yesterday in the United States, it was Martin Luther King day and as per usual, when one of these "events" come up, people will all of a sudden become experts on the subject and suddenly have, for that one day and maybe the day after an opinion on the subject matter.
Of course, me being the bitter and twisted individual that I am, am obviously being too harsh on these temporary supporters as for the most part, they probably do actually hold those opinions and beliefs and the event is just an opportunity for them to express them in a more welcome than usual forum.

So "what is this all about now?" i hear you virtually ask...
not really sure myself.
on the one hand, as the title alludes to, I want to highlight the way that people go with the current popular opinion oh, so easily. In the UK the best recent example would probably be the whole Diana death thing; no one gives a damn until the memorial day comes around again. Not true? Ask yourself, can you remember the date? Oh, and don't even get me started on George Best...

Shouldn't there be more emphasis on such things that are ultimately something that has changed the way we lived (not so much with Diana who I have to admit, I don't care for too much) but what of things such as the end of World War Two, the day the Berlin Wall came down and even more local events such as the Paddington train crash or the bombing of Canary Wharf that signalled the end of the ceasefire.
It seems that more and more these days, such things are deemed almost unimportant. Ok, again, this might not be entirely fair but still, things that i think should be taught in schools aren't or at least things are taught in such a remote way that the importance is lost. Do people really understand the importance of the Normandy landing? The significance of the results of the actions of so many people?
On a slightly perverted tangent, is it going to take careful planning by parties to make certain events more memorable? 9/11 and god help me.... july 7th (7/7....... ugh... i've actually heard someone try to call it like that)? Does it have to have a catchy title to make it stick in people's minds?

But i seem to have digressed again.
I started this post with a memory of a conversation I've had about the urge by some to buy the lastest what-ever with this chat in particular being focused on the X-Box 360 . In particular, it was about and I'm almost embarrased to admit this, which machine is/will be better between the usual suspects (X-box/playstation; yes yes, i am gadget loving geek at heart). The result of this discussion, as expected, came out that to be that ultimately, the machine doesn't matter and that it was the games that make it what it is; after all, a machine with crap games does no one any good. Of course, there is also the purely objective perspective that on one level, any particular machine might actually be technically better but how much relelvance does that actually have with the casual consumer gamer? And this is really where my particular gripe comes into it. Too many people seem to have opinions based on well, nothing; they form a bias towards something without even knowing what it is that they are talking about. In particular, they seem so focused on havin their opinion on something that they miss the simple fact that opinions should be open to change depending on the given information. They seem intent on claiming that their opinion, in this case based on a known bias towards a brand, is the correct one.

* * * * *

I've had this post on the draft list and have been going back to it every day to try and see just what it is I was trying to say but alas, the thought seems to have left me. I think it's time I admit defeat and just click on that "publish post" button.

who am i?

no... this is not a post about the jackie chan movie (oh my god... i'm using american terminology...) but instead is a little look at me for a change and the simple question of "who i am" or for that matter who we are.

In our heads we all have an image of who we want to be. We know the things we'd like to do or be able to do. We know the things we'd like to be able to say. We know the things we'd like people to say about us.
I'm not sure if we all do this as I can only speak for myself but I am aware that I behave differently depending on who I am with. I speak differently, I talk about different things, I act differently to the extent that two possible groups of people that know me will not know that they, if they were to talk about me, were talking about the same person. Of course this might not be true as it's just something that I occasionally think about when I say something that I wouldnt normally in other company. Is it pretending? Well, in my case, I'm not sure.... At least I don't think so. After all, I still think of it; the only difference is whether or not I would say it out aloud. Some of this is just my adapting to the people around me; after all, what point is there in bringing up UK/US foreign policies to my aunt but it's not always about things like these. Occasionally, it seems like I lead separate lives that no one person is fully aware of and they would only know if they all got together and compared notes. Carrie has always said that she doesn't really know me. Lou still says that I am hard to get close to. Noo always said I keep things to myself. How much of this is true? Those that know me will see that the three people whose opinion I use to illustrate my point are people who I've had more than a passing crush on. Is this what it's all about? Do I pretend to be something else in front of the people I want to impress? Then again, I know full well that being distant and defensive towards someone you'd like to get close to isn't a good way about it so why do it?
I've always told Carrie that I was more like Gary than she'd know.
She always said she found that had to believe but well.... I'm not so sure. I mean, I do think on one level we are alike.

On a different slant of the title.
Who am I?
Who are we?
Heidigger said (kinda) that we are a reflection of what we project? We acknowledge our existance through our interaction with other people and other things that we know to be real. I know this chair is real. I can sit in the chair. I can interact with the chair and I can feel comfort from sitting in the chair. Therefore I must be real.
The same logic is applied to other people.
He thinks I am a nice person. He is nice to me because he thinks I am a nice person. Therefore, I must be a nice person.
(over simplified I know so please forgive me philosophy students...)
In short, who we are depends on the things that surround us and is also dependent on who we have around us and what image we project onto them. In other words, if we want to be nice, we make other people think we are nice. Of course, if you read into this on a slightly more real world way, you'd see that a part of it is about pretending to be something in order to simulate something. Pretend to be deep and intellectual and people might tink you are, even if you're just another dumbarse sap (but this goes into honesty of character which is an altogether different post).

My question is, what happens when you're on your own?
No one to talk to, no one to intereact with on any level. Does that in turn mean for that time when you are by yourself that you are in effect no-one? Perhaps it does, in which case it explains why people who are by themselves a lot talk to themselves in one manner or another. Heck, in one aspect, this blog is me talking to myself. So am I pretending to myself to be someone?
Who am I?

Answers on a postcard to the usual address.

.....taking a break.....

very unlike me but for the past three odd weeks, I have been hard at work actially doing well, work.... Of course part of my heavy load was all down to me eternal procrastination and in my defence, it was all in the Christmas/New Year period. Not all down to this as I'm sure the three nights a week since then haven't helped. In a fit of madness, I've cleared almost all of the planning apps on my pile (except two) and am looking to getting back to my usual way of taking it easy. As such I've been stocking up on all of my old painting and modelling supplies and getting chatted up by sales assistants in halfords at the same time (should i go back for her number?)

Anyway.
For a long time now, I've been tempted to dust off the old SLR (not the car) and get back into my photography and painting. At the same time, coincidentally, some people around me have also been doing the same and often, this comes up in conversation.
One thing that keeps coming up is the question of what makes a good photo and how do the pros get it so right?
The simple answer would be that they have a naturally good eye, as is usually the case for those in anything design related (i know, shameless back slapping here...) but there has to be more to it. Sure, today anything that goes wrong can and is indeed fixed in the virtual Photoshop lab but even ebfore this was accessible to all, some people used to get it right from the word go. Of course a large part of it is down to pure experience and from that experience the knowledge of what happens when x happens. The one thing that it all boils down to is time. What the professional has and the the average amatuer doesn't, is time to wait for the perfect shot. Almost all of us know that certain light conditions make photography easier but just how many of us can get out and set up location at 4am just to catch the sunrise and low light? How many of us will wait an hour for the clouds to break for one perfect snap? Too often, our meagre attempts fail not because we're not good at taking a photo; after all taking a photo at it's basic is simply framing something in a fixed area and pressing a button. a little practice is all it takes to get framing right. the thing that makes the difference is the environment that the photo is taken in. the perfect lighting, the perfect subject, the perfect everything go into making a photo great and unfortunately, to get it all so perfect takes a lot of waiting.
Of course (again) this is only true for one type of photography.
What of the other end where it is spontaneity and life and action that you want, where it is an instant that you want to capture. In these cases, time isn't the issue and instead it is the instant that is wanted. What now?
What makes a quick snap good?
Random quirky framed black and white?
Over-exposed landscape with lens flare chucked in for good measure?
Is there a check-list of things that you either do in situ via lens and filters or post production in photoshop to make a photo good or (gasp!) cool? For that matter, does it even well, matter? After all, if what you're after is a photo to record something, what use is a "badly" cropped image?
Eye of the beholder?
What happens when someone who views it has a very high standard?
Does it matter?
Should you care?

That's something I've never been able to deal with.
I don't mind critisms but I cannot for the life of me stand praises. Tear me and my work down please but please don't give me or it praise. It serves nothing. It does nothing except make me want to destroy whatever it is you are praising. I've never really understood this but that is how it's always been. Those who have been with me in a art/design environment knows that I have very critical eye and that is how i expect others to be with me. Is this a fault? Maybe but I prefer a certain a level of honesty in all things and i believe if you are honest, you have to give both the good and the bad. Unfortunately, this way of thinking seems to be getting more rare as days go by. Every time I go to a gallery or museum or exhibition hall, i hear people blindly saying, this is cool, this is nice this is whatever and well, it galls me knowing that these people don't even understand what it is they are looknig at and talking about. Snobbery on my part? Maybe but then i have taken the time to make sure that on one level that I know what I am talking about. If I dont know, I won't say. It's that simple. Sure you can always defend these sorts of things with the simple "freedom" argument, that all people are free to have an opinion, even if it is inherently based on mis-information (or even no information at all). Only thing is, isn't an opinion just a moment? A reasoning based on a state of understanding? If your opinion is based on something that is incorrect, then isn't that opinion wrong and hence needs to be addressed?

If you read and post on internet forums as I do, then you will have no doubt come acroos the same "i have the right to an opinion" statement, usually from those with limited understanding of how things are
(i.e dumbass american teenagers.... excuse me for being very general here...).
How come they can't see the simple fact that while it is true that you are entitled to an opinion, i too am entitled to disagree with that opinion and if that opinion is wrong, then it is benificial for you to learn why it is wrong? An attack on an opinion isn't an attack on you.
To learn is the only way forward and this goes back to censorship.
If things are edited away and deleted, then what do you learn?
Not a whole darn lot.
What you end up with, is a whole bunch of monkies repeating the same old thing.

...fine job you're doing....

...Mr Galloway.
Nice to see you're still doing a darn fine job of running your constituancy.