LINKS to Films for REVIEW

who cares;

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YMY3pIxLfuw

selfish memory;

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lvyzpjDWMps

a clown, a man, a rant;

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CQTFiqzAq00

liverpool to leeds;

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qxCE49NjFaQ

Liverpool to Leeds

This is the bike i rode 75 miles from Liverpool to Leeds. The video is now up on this link

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qxCE49NjFaQ

Collaboration

Nick De Jasy sat down in soul cafe the other day and mentioned he was looking for someone to dress in a gorilla suit, enter a room alone with someone they had never met (also in a gorilla suit), and interact with the objects in there without communicating in anyway other than monkey languages. I said I would do it.

Sunday morning I wake up with a call from Nick with only about an hour to get to his. I was fucked and although it wasn't an early wake up, I'm not usually in a and e til 9am with Duncan who, the previous night had gone samurai on a banana and cut his finger open resulting in 6 stitches from Joyce.

Anyway at Nicks he gave me a quick brief, basically don't touch the cameras and don't speak in any language. 

It was the weirdest thing. I entered the room in gorilla suit and mask to find an identically dressed being. We were shut in for 15 minutes or so and proceeded to smash plates, throw bananas, throw paint, set fire to things, smash plates with a golf club, smash glasses with a dogs toy, slide on the floor, fail to drink coke, bang on the windows at people in a cafe, smash more plates and generally sweat a lot inside the suits. Once the 15 was up Nick came in and we were de masked and introduced to each other. Dave turned out to live 10 doors down from me which was weird.

We both concluded that the experience was very weird and that we had been quite reserved with our smashing. We were dissapointed to have missed the oppurtunity to smash a tv with a golf club but we had both thought it was part of the set up and didn't want to risk it.

It was an interesting project to get involved with and because of Nick's organisation there were no problems on my behalf as a participant. it was a good collaboration to be involved with and I walked away with my creative mind buzzing. 

gay down syndrome porn addicts

I was enjoying a coffee with my friend Tom outside Soul Cafe on Bold St today discussing the problem of first time suit buying. An old man came out into the seating area and I over heard him say to a group of girls "Oh there's no seats, but when your in your mid seventies you learn not to give a shit" He then sat down opposite in a chair that became availible and after getting Tom to set the time on his mobile phone, taking the piss out of the leftovers of nail varnish on his hands and briefly talikng about his own supply of nail varnish remover and shampoo indebted to him by his grand daughters, the conversation swiftly ( and I'm still not sure how) turned to gay down syndrome porn addicts. Initially I inteneded on drinking my coffee as quickly as possible and making a dsah for it but i'm glad we didn't because he did have point, which he explained. It turned out that he was a lecturer at Liverpool uni and also ran a drama class of which one of his male pupils has down syndrome and is gay. Understandably (explained the old gentleman) it's difficult for this lad to meet and form relationships because (as i imagined) there aren't too many gay people with down syndrome. So this must have been a problem ... but according to the old bloke it has been solved... by the internet. The lad has been introduced to pornography on the internet which has helped him with sexual frustrations. This is obviously a good thing for him however apparently he has become an addict and has no moderation in the amount he uses xrated sites and more importantly where he uses them. Apparently when staying at his cousins he was using the computer in the living room, with others in the room, he began masturbating in front of them all. Despite a few incidents like these though I think it's a case of how much good the internet and technology can do.

The old man also talked about how he visited east germany before the wall came down and how he met underground artists who were illegally making art. Anyway this encounter has made soul cafe (bold st, liverpool) one of my favorite places to go.

Collaboration updates

I have spoken about my proposal to make a documentary film over the summer about the High Wycombe hardcore (HWHC) scene and the White Horse pub. Fundamentally this will be a documentary about subcultue, and importantly one that I experienced first hand. The potential of this documentary is great. It will be a collective of many interesting stories and experiences and it will be nostalgic for all participants. It will be a tangible record of a scene that could otherwise be forgotten in years to come and it could be a catalyst for a few band reunions and most definitely some old school antics (road rage in Downley perhaps...). There is already a large and keen interest in this project and it will take a lot of collaboration between a lot of willing people and some tight organisation on my behalf. The possible enormity of this project has already seen me request help from a few friends before even lifting a camera! This will no doubt be the biggest project I have undertaken and I expect it to be difficult and challenging but also extremely rewarding!

I have work experience lined up at the Bluecoat gallery Liverpool starting with a familiarisation session in the coming week.

by law...

I found this in another folder... must be a year old at least

By law you have the right to gather as a group in public for peaceful demonstration or general assembly.
By law you must inform authorities first.
By law you can be arrested and prosecuted for not doing so
By principle you have the right to do as you wish. Fuck the law.

something I wrote last year that I just found....

This is a word doc I found in my documents titled compassion;

As innocent children and women were being killed and men were fighting over oil and angry men were plotting to tear apart peace. As women were being trafficked from brothel to brothel and other women were raped or assaulted and as thin junkies were lying on the floors of smack dens spreading their poetry. As bullets flew across ganglands and as animals were brutally killed for their skins I sat at my PC in the warm dry library unable to bring myself to do anything about it. Love thy neighbour.

volunteer work

Thanks for your recent application to volunteer at the Bluecoat!

 

On Thursday April 29th at 2pm I am hosting an orientation session for volunteers who wish to work in the galleries. The session won’t last more than 30 minutes and it is very informal – a chance for you to ask questions and for me to find out more about you. Please let me know if you can attend.

 

Best wishes,

good news from the bluecoat