Saturday, March 10, 2007
Puttied
To Gosport, visiting. My practical duties consisted mainly of doing things in the shed. Started out with the plan of errecting shelves to hold miscellaneous tins full of things to do things with cars with but soon decided that the window frame which was to hold one end of the shelves was in greater need of attention, with the base of the frame crumbling under the combined attack of wet rot and wood worm. Replaced base with a bit of 2 by 1 which happened to be lying about, so the uprights (not in too great condition themselves) now have solid support. In the course of all this I lost one of the four panes. I think it was cracked before I started. Yellow Pages directed me to an ancient hardware store (good that such places still exist) which cut me out something which was a very good match to what had broken - although slightly startled at paying £10 for a peice of glass 50 by 40 cm. Then reminded that my glazing skills have not yet reached NVQ standard. And the configuration of the new base meant that I thought best to fit an external glazing bead to it. I don't suppose it is going to last all that long - years rather than tens of years - so we will see if I still think it was best in five years time. Hands have now stopped smelling of putty, some 36 hours later.
I hear that the Mayor for London is collecting around 10 tons of free newspaper from the underground network each business day. Or at least he has some helpful people from Eastern Europe to do it for him. I think a good interim solution - entirely in keeping with our establishment's habit of throwing large sums of money at con artists of various sorts - would be to have competitive newspaper castle building in Jubilee Gardens on the South Bank. Every team entering (at least one member of which has to be a resident of the former greater Greater London Council area) will get a plot 15 by 15 feet and an unlimited supply of newsprint. Teams whose efforts fall outside their plot are instantly disqualified. I rather fancy a pyramid after the Mexican model. The winning team will get a grant from the Arts Council to move their entry into Tate Modern - the grant to include a cost of drink allowance. Reality TV and live webcasts throughout. Consolation prizes for exhibitionist (perferably pretty) castle builders to be awarded by viewers.
The only catch that I can think of is the need to firm the castles up. Maybe netting (the sort used on allotments is very cheap and only a few clicks away) fixed down with big staples and the whole covered with a thick layer of some varnish like stuff.
If successful, said Arts Council can export the concept across the world. If unsuccessful, the paper could be shipped to allotment sites across London to be used for compost.
A differant gang, the British Council, sponsored the production of 'A Midsummer's Night Dream' which we saw yesterday afternoon at the renovated Roundhouse - which some of us remembered being put to rather differant uses. Very colourful and entertaining if not depending on Shakespeare for much more than the story line - which last at least one member of the party thought was a good thing. Excellent set - a huge wall made of bamboo scaffolding and covered with plain white paper. The cast used the wall as a climbing frame and the paper gradually disappeared during the performance. Presumably more Eastern Europeans to stick it all back again between performances. One member of the cast was a mathematics teacher when he was resting so can't be all bad. Another member of the cast looked to be about 10 years old - which caused the Camden Council for Cruelty to Children (CCCC) pause for thought. But they were OK about it in the end.
The king was rather more kingly than is usual and the court scene towards the end more courtly. They gave a sense of their superiority and sloaniness which is often missing.
But not convinced by the poyglot script. OK, so they have a lot of big languages in India which all want some recognition, but couldn't see enough point in delivering the thing in a mixture of languages which any one person in the audience was unlikely to know more than two of - and outside India more than one of. Maybe this gave them a bit more choice when casting - with a few of the cast claiming not to perform in English - but for me - despite getting clues in English from time to time - the result was a mime rather than a play. Should have read the story before going. Nevertheless, all in all, a good outing.
On further thought, maybe polyglot would have been better had all the seats got little screens in their backs like you have in aeroplanes, and you got subtitles in the language of your choice. Complete with footnotes to explain any obsolete or difficult words. Or pop-ups when you hover the mouse over something. But all this might of been a bit tricky and/or expensive to organise in touring venues with demountable seating.
The stretch between Camden Town and Chalk Farm absolutely heaving with young people in dark clothes. Lots of shops selling beads, smells and tattoos. But civilisation broke in in the form of a Witherspoon's by the canal. Bombardier rules.
I hear that the Mayor for London is collecting around 10 tons of free newspaper from the underground network each business day. Or at least he has some helpful people from Eastern Europe to do it for him. I think a good interim solution - entirely in keeping with our establishment's habit of throwing large sums of money at con artists of various sorts - would be to have competitive newspaper castle building in Jubilee Gardens on the South Bank. Every team entering (at least one member of which has to be a resident of the former greater Greater London Council area) will get a plot 15 by 15 feet and an unlimited supply of newsprint. Teams whose efforts fall outside their plot are instantly disqualified. I rather fancy a pyramid after the Mexican model. The winning team will get a grant from the Arts Council to move their entry into Tate Modern - the grant to include a cost of drink allowance. Reality TV and live webcasts throughout. Consolation prizes for exhibitionist (perferably pretty) castle builders to be awarded by viewers.
The only catch that I can think of is the need to firm the castles up. Maybe netting (the sort used on allotments is very cheap and only a few clicks away) fixed down with big staples and the whole covered with a thick layer of some varnish like stuff.
If successful, said Arts Council can export the concept across the world. If unsuccessful, the paper could be shipped to allotment sites across London to be used for compost.
A differant gang, the British Council, sponsored the production of 'A Midsummer's Night Dream' which we saw yesterday afternoon at the renovated Roundhouse - which some of us remembered being put to rather differant uses. Very colourful and entertaining if not depending on Shakespeare for much more than the story line - which last at least one member of the party thought was a good thing. Excellent set - a huge wall made of bamboo scaffolding and covered with plain white paper. The cast used the wall as a climbing frame and the paper gradually disappeared during the performance. Presumably more Eastern Europeans to stick it all back again between performances. One member of the cast was a mathematics teacher when he was resting so can't be all bad. Another member of the cast looked to be about 10 years old - which caused the Camden Council for Cruelty to Children (CCCC) pause for thought. But they were OK about it in the end.
The king was rather more kingly than is usual and the court scene towards the end more courtly. They gave a sense of their superiority and sloaniness which is often missing.
But not convinced by the poyglot script. OK, so they have a lot of big languages in India which all want some recognition, but couldn't see enough point in delivering the thing in a mixture of languages which any one person in the audience was unlikely to know more than two of - and outside India more than one of. Maybe this gave them a bit more choice when casting - with a few of the cast claiming not to perform in English - but for me - despite getting clues in English from time to time - the result was a mime rather than a play. Should have read the story before going. Nevertheless, all in all, a good outing.
On further thought, maybe polyglot would have been better had all the seats got little screens in their backs like you have in aeroplanes, and you got subtitles in the language of your choice. Complete with footnotes to explain any obsolete or difficult words. Or pop-ups when you hover the mouse over something. But all this might of been a bit tricky and/or expensive to organise in touring venues with demountable seating.
The stretch between Camden Town and Chalk Farm absolutely heaving with young people in dark clothes. Lots of shops selling beads, smells and tattoos. But civilisation broke in in the form of a Witherspoon's by the canal. Bombardier rules.
# posted by Jim @ 10:26 PM 
