Little Black Gallery Chelsea - JUST OPENED . . .

WOW . . . This is one of the images at the new gallery in Clehsea. I read about it in the Guardian this morning
(Centre spread, EYEWITNESS - Most Wanted), and there is an informative link in the Independent at http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/art/features/a-life-brought-into-focus-a-new-gallery-celebrates-the-life-of-photographer-bob-carlos-clarke-1026125.html

It look fab, and seems to be just the place to visit on a grey afternoon, but only when my coursework is up-to-date . . .

Personal Identity Hijack

Franz Kafka wrote about this sort of thing.

It is very creepy to know that there's another person you've never met, who has all your identity documents, living a parallel life, doing all sorts of things you would never do.

Someone pretending to be me (complete with fraudulent passport and driving licence, so that he could open a bank account in my name) has just made £ 12,000 from a national government department. A bank where I've never had an account is where he keeps his money. When I rang that bank, they suggested I go immediately to the police, and report a crime.So I did.

Read about this sort of thing at
http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2008/may/28/ukcrime.scamsandfraud
and at
http://www.guardian.co.uk/money/2008/oct/08/identityfraud.immigration

I mentioned to the constable at the local nick that I was worried about how to clear my name (I hadn't taken the money, but someone using my identity has), and he couldn't tell me how I might explain to the Tax office, prospective employers, or indeed the courts, that it wasn't me who stole the money.

The Times covers this briefly in an article at
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/money/consumer_affairs/article1270214.ece

This raises the question "How can I prove that this person standing before you is really me, and not an impostor ?"
Unless my fingerprints are on a file somewhere (unlikely) then anyone who says they are me, can indeed act as me, until the real me comes along and challenges him.

It's not over yet. I am awaiting a call from the CID, who may take an interest in my case . . .

Did anything exciting happen to you this week ??

WOOLIES is on the way out. Some are bothereed more than others.

If you grew up buying your pocket-money Christmas presents for loved ones, Woolies holds a place close to your child-heart. And now's the time to shed a tear, as they are leaving rapidly. But, so are the rest of the retailers, if you read today's Guardian.

See http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2008/nov/20/woolworths-retail-high-street-christmas

Autumn EXHIBITION by Islington Art Society

Yes, I have put in four photos at the Art Society, and invite everyone to come and see.
Details are :-
Thurday 20 Nov '08 for the preview
18.00 h to 20.30 h.
The Gallery, Edwards Lane, Stoke Newington, London N16 0JS

Directions - Finsbury Park tube and National Rail, then a 106 bus along Lordship Park , alight at Lordship Road, then look at the thumbnail map I've attached,. the big red X is the gallery.

Highbury & islington tube and Overground, then a 73 bus up Albion Road. alight at Stoke Newington Church Street, turning left and you're almost at the gallery. see thumbnail map attached.

I passed . . .

After a really busy day at college, I went to the local St John Ambulance office this evening and re-took my First Aid. It hadn't lapsed, but there's a new regimen whereby one 're-validates' the certificates annually, rather than every three years.

And, I was offered to re-take my Advanced Skills, which I did do again. And I passed it all. I am chuffed. I am again a fully-fledged Advanced Skills First Aid person, but it's got to be renewed again in one year.

it's all about helping to keep a casualty well enough until they get to hospital if they are seriously ill. So, I can do the defillibration (electric shock to the heart) and administer medical gases( usually oxygen), which is really useful if the casualty doesn't have a pulse, or has difficulty breathing. So, well done me !

I need a new ISP . . .

I'm asking all my buddies to tell me what they might recommend as an alternative Internet Service Provider, as my Tiscali connection is expensive (£ 17 per month) and 8 kbps. I get to keep my BT line, but get no extras. What can you recommend ??
I've been to
http://www.top10-broadband.co.uk/?l4=to%20compare%20internet%20service%20providers
but I'm still not sure . . .

MOVEMBER . . .

Nope, I ddn't know what it was either. A very good friend has asked me to put a note on my blog, to let the 89 people who read it fnd out more about Movember. It is at

http://uk.movember.com/whatismov/content/What-is-Movember/

It is about supporting particular mens' health charities. My buddy's dad died from prostate cancer, so go to the link to find out more. For those who don't know, it is precisely because men don't do the exam as often as they need to, and because prostate cancer is VERY slow to appear once it starts, it is often too late to save you, when you find you have it.

My neighbour across the road had it for five or ten years before the doc said he had four months to live . . .

WACOM graphics tablet . . .

Just when I thought I'd blogged about all the computer bits I use (eg. PC or MacBook, laptop or desktop, printers and scanners) a friend rang up and asked about recommendations for a graphics tablet.

I have a LOVELY Wacom Intuos3 A5 tablet. It's about the size of an A4 sheet of paper, and it is 100 times better than a mouse for adjusting stuff on diigital images.
So I've lent it to Steve, and hopefully he won't leave the country before I get it back . . .
it was £ 300, but I see they're only £ 182 on e-bay now . . .

http://icanhascheezburger.com/page/363/

My buddy Maciej goes here, so why not share it with you . . http://icanhascheezburger.com/page/363/
Hundreds of photos and captions to [hide] for . . .

F A T

There's a lot of chat about FAT.

Susie Orbach (wrote about fat & feminism) in the Sunday Times has a review of recent government policy, and her own comments at
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/health/article5162289.ece

Enjoy that Kit-Kat. which by the way, is reducing the habitat for Orangutans [see http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/environment/article5162535.ece ]

Printers

I use an hp Photosmart 8750 ( I paid £ 325; PriceRunner listing is at http://www.shopcompare.eu/ash/retailer.php?pid=343190&adw=adw&dataset=U3BpZGVyZWQgUFIgcHJvZHVjdHMgUDE=&uid=62bd5679296b5397f9bc2563b77f6aaf&kuid=2856e811d05513471bf1f7cea45b243d&gclid=CKq29L2m-ZYCFRyR1QodUmpNYA)
it's working well after three years of hard use.
One advantage of hp is that every time you change the inkjet cartridge you change the nozzle, which keeps the prints razor-sharp. I can print up to 13" x 19" (bigger than A3). I have printed say 20, 000 A4 sheets, many of them photos, over the past three years. It never stops . . .

The only niggle is that colours are not according to a profile, so blues and greens are not exactly to the correct range. Only one or two people have complained, so it's good enough for everything except gallery art . . .
reviews are at http://www.pcpro.co.uk/reviews/167016/hp-photosmart-c7280.html.

Other makes which are in the same 'under £ 500' range are those made by Epson and Canon. Many friends say Epson and Canon are 'better' than hp, but you'll have to do your own homework on initial cost v. running costs to make your own evaluation. Please let me know what you find out.

Oh yes, I also use a laserjet (hp 2550, cheap and reasonable and FAST), but it's decided it doesn't want to work with my MacBook. I used it hard for three years with the Asus laptop, 30, 000 prints.

Scanners . . .

I use an hp G4050. it scans docs, it scans 35 mm. negs and 120 mm. negs. The film scanning is S L O W at high res, but it's cheaper (£170) than a drum scanner. Find specs at http://www.pcpro.co.uk/productssearch/.

Canon make a similar scanner range, as do Epson, but whether they also do 120 film is something you'll need to check. it is difficult to find these at places like PC World, but they are out there in London . . .

LAPTOP v. DESKTOP . . .

There's still a debate about which is best. I use a laptop for everything, and wouldn't go back to a big clunky thing on the desk. In my opinion there are exceptions, such as an iMac, but what if you need to work at the library or Starbuck's ??

















I use a MacBookPro (the old version) and LOVE it.


To find reviews of LOTS of PC's and laptops, I use PC Pro magazine listings. these are on the 'Web at http://www.pcpro.co.uk/productssearch/.
They've even got a MacBook review . . .
I paid £ 1,500 for an AJP/ ASUS laptop in 2003. You can buy a GOOD high-spec cool-looking laptop for £ 400 now . . .

Remembrance Sunday in Islington . . .

photo copyright A Eglin Nov08















Apparently this has been the best-attended Remembrance Day service in decades. Lots and lots of children and teen-agers from the Scouts, the Girl Guides, the various services cadets (Air Force, Territorial Army, Sea Cadets, etcetera), St John Ambulance, Police cadets, and a few more marched in the short parade from the Town Hall to the local war memorial, stood to attention for 45 minutes whilst Last Post was played and tributes read out, the hymns were sung, and then we marched back to the Town Hall. There were, of course, some very old service-men and women who survived the chaos of war and who joined us there today.

It was electrifyingly quiet for the TWO Minutes silence, and we all had a think about what it all means, for us and for those who never made it back. What did you do today, to remember ?

Much Beloved Martin Parr . . .

the Grauniad commissioned Mr Parr to shoot British cities. The FABULOUS results are now serialised in the Saturday paper, starting on 01 November. The link for that date is
http://www.guardian.co.uk/artanddesign/gallery/2008/nov/01/photography-martin-parr?picture=339218399

Of course anyone can buy the book, either outrageously expensive, or merely a bit expensive. Either way, it will look pretty good, in my opinion . . .

W O W

Hugh Pearman writes in the Sunday Times on 02 November about this stunning garden designer Sarah Price; she is VERY VERY good at what she does !!
She has developed, for only £ 5 million of the £ 200 million total Olympics cost, a garden about the size of St. James Park in London which will showcase 400 years of horticultural plant-hunting from around the world. Read about it at http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/article5056419.ece

http://www.photomonth.org/ in London -TAKE TWO

It's still on, and I can still go to a few more events [ see http://www.photomonth.org/ ]. Last week I heard Tom Hunter at the Whitechapel Gallery; he explained his vision of Renaiissance re-enactment in his series of photos inspired by life in Hackney in the '80's and '90's. His new film is out in January, we had the preview (dark and dreamy, it has touches of Renaissance leit-motif in it, as one might expect).

Several of us went to the POLAROIDS preview at the AOP Gallery, and lovely it was too, Our tutor Nana had her series of polaroids of Athens Bauhaus up for grabs; I wish I had the money, as they've at once both evocative and atmospheric.

I went to the PhotoChats at Chat's Palace, where I was overwhelmed by the street documentary images of Tasser Alwan. All black and white, and all questioning the place of representation and imaging in a public place. It's beautifully crafted and curated.

In the Chat's Palace bar there's gob-smackingly huge black and white Art-Deco and Constructivist style images of London by Colin O'Brien. There are also slightly smaller cheeky photos of cheeky residents. It's a worthwhile expedition, and easy to get to on the London Overground, Homerton station.

Brighton Photo Fringe - AWESOME

On the Web, it's at http://www.photofringe.org/
It seems to be so tightly woven into the Biennial as to be indistinguishable, apart from the content. Now, there's a lot of different types of image, it all depends on where you go.
Bell's Gallery on the seafront is shockingly good, we spent a half-hour mesmerized by the 1.2 m square large-format landscapes. Sydney Street gallery is tiny, but has super music photos, in black and white.

There's another 57 venues, and it'll be a hard day's work doing it all; there's a very good map and handbook, available for free from lots of places in Brighton, which makes getting around a doddle. We met enthusiastic gallery-owners and shop-keepers; It is they who pump up the vibrancy so visible in this sleepy seaside town, and make that festival come alive. Yes, and the quality of the superb photos everywhere. Do go, you will enjoy it. And, there's the official Biennial, to sober you up.

bpb - Brighton Photo Biennial

We went as a college group. I downloaded lots of info from the official WebSite [ http://www.bpb.org.uk/ ], on artists, venues (it was at ten different places, some well outside Brighton), and the conference in a week's time. The Biennial is still on for another week or two. Having read through the on-line blurb, I was well prepared for the images of horror and destruction which the photo-essayists compiled on Vietnam and Iraq. I didn't have nightmares, but the aftermath of a B-52 bombing raid (32 tonnes of very high explosive per plane) was never seen by the pilots; we saw it up close in the photos from Vietnam on show here.

LIGHTHOUSE is a must-see, especially the super-creepy cellar video, FABRICA is rather unusual, UNIVERSITY OF BRIGHTON gallery is where the KEYNOTE exhibition is, and that kept us busy for a while.

Interwoven with the official shows was the un-official Fringe. The official set of shows is superbly curated and displayed. I do recommend it, although you'll need a good sense of direction to hit all the venues in one day. The rail fare is a steal, £ 6 for an advance-purchase fare. Brighton is a lot of fun, genteel and crisply-edged modern at the same time. We had fish and chips on the beach, and a coffee at the Pavillion later on. A few smiles and jokes along the way, and lots of smoke breaks (for the smokers, not for me), as we had a day off. Yes, we did enjoy ourselves, a lot like the best sort of sixth-form outing.