Seaside Man

Don't worry, it's not me singing!

Bob Marley's song "Sun is Shining" was brilliantly transformed into pop music by Finlay Quaye, but here it is in beautiful dub reggae style by Black Uhuru. Turn it up as loud as your speakers can cope, close your eyes and float along with the bass:

Cheers, Tom.

I saw this stuck to a lamp-post yesterday (click it to enlarge it):

There was a real phone number at the bottom, but I've removed it.

Cheers, Tom.

(click the pictures to enlarge them)

I always reduce the size of my pictures before uploading them to BCUK and since I don't have any flashy software for this, I use Microsoft Paint. Right next to the button for this is one called "Invert Colours". For the above image I accidentally inverted the colours instead of shrinking it, and this is the result:

I think that looks rather interesting. What do you think?

Cheers, Tom.

P.S. I'll post some pictures from yesterday's music festival later.

It's a glorious morning, so I was just out in the garden seeing what I could snap. I rather liked the look of this with it's green background:

And this one with the much darker background too:

That shot was only possible because the head was in bright sunshine but the rest was in shadow, so the exposure for the bright bit has darkened the rest. I do believe this is another Painted Lady butterfly too, albeit a different variety:

And finally, this bee:

There is a free music festival on in Aberystwyth, "Castell Rock", this afternoon and evening, so I may pop over to that and see what's going on and take some pictures. Make hay while the sun shines and all that!

Cheers, Tom.

The sunshine today made me think of happy songs about forgetting your troubles, so here is one: "Looking Out My Back Door" by Creedence Clearwater Revival. I did it in one take so it's a bit rough around the edges, but I'll post it anyway:

Cheers, Tom.

I posted this picture yesterday asking what it was:

I got this response from the Butterfly Conservation Society:

"Dear Tom,

It's a Painted Lady - millions of them are streaming across Britain in a
rare mass migration - listen to the news tonight! (I'm going to be giving
interviews to BBC Radio Wales, Head Office will be on national channels.
Go to the national website to log your sightings and help us track this
migration!

www.Butterfly-conservation.org

Cheers

Jan Miller, Butterfly Conservation North Wales Branch organiser"

So there we are!

Cheers, Tom.

Woohoo!!

One of the main pleasures of this most monstrous of festivals is just wandering around, absorbing the friendly relaxed atmosphere, people-watching and generally chilling out. There is music on as well of course. This year the highlights for me are:

Neil Young
The Prodigy
Emiliana Torrini
Horace Andy
Roots Manuva

I might also take a peek at any of these:

Bruce Springsteen
Blur
Nick Cave
The Specials
Fleet Foxes
Yeah Yeah Yeahs
The Streets
Steel Pulse
Lamb
Fairport Convention
Animal Collective
Kasabian
Crosby, Stills & Nash
Franz Ferdinand
Pendulum
Pete Doherty
Jarvis Cocker
Lonnie Liston Smith
Stereo MCs
Bat For Lashes
Echo and the Bunnymen
Penguin Cafe Orchestra
Smith & Mighty
Steve Hillage & Gong
plus innumerable DJs and wandering minstrels...

... and lots more. Some people say the £180 tickets are too expensive, and they have a point, but when you think what it would cost to go see even a handful of these acts separately then it starts to sound more reasonable. The full line-up is here:

http://www.glastonburyfestivals.co.uk/line-up/

Cheers, Tom.

It was suggested a few years ago that prisons should be painted pink instead of grey as it might cheer up the prisoners. Grey is the traditional colour of depression and I'm not sure what pink is. Frankly, I'm dubious about the success of such a plan! But, I do think they could nicely cheer up railway lines by deliberately doing this sort of thing (It looks better bigger - click on the pic to enlarge):

This shell is fine as it is:

Cheers, Tom.

I just snapped this in our garden (click the pic to enlarge it):

Anyone know what it is?

Cheers, Tom.

Last Sunday is the day. It was sunny all day and when I got up there were butterflies in the garden. This is one of them:

We drove to Devil's Bridge, and this is a view across the valley there:

And this is some of the trees:

First glimpse of the waterfall:

Standing by the side of the waterfall:

Then we went a few miles away to a nature reserve. This lovely old building was on the way in:

Tim, Sara and Helen having a rest. Sara is Helen's sister:

Back to the beach and have a nice pint on the beach-side pub while watching people emjoy themselves in the sun:

And back home in time to watch the sunset:

Cheers, Tom.

This song was first recorded by Henry Thomas in 1927, when he was already 53 years old. It was soon after recorded in a different style by Sam Chatmon, and was "revived" by Taj Mahal in 1969 with a different style again. This version of mine is a hybrid of those 3. I welcome any comments on it:

Henry Thomas is very important in the history of (Texas) blues guitar playing as he was playing both before and during it's creation. His songs aren't really blues songs, although they do contain some of the elements. The lyrics are below, and I should point out that a "hoe cake" was a flat cake literally cooked on the blade of a gardening hoe. How about that for a slice of history (and cake)! I think it’s fair to say that the song is not entirely about fishing...

Cheers, Tom.

--------------------------

Betcha' go fishin', all the time
Your baby goin' fishin' too
You bet your life, that your sweet li’l wife
Can catch more fish than you

Many fish bite if you got good bait
Here's a little something I would like to relate
Many fish bite if you got good bait
So I'm a goin’ fishing, yes I'm goin’ fishin’
and my baby goin’ fishin‘, too

I went on down to my favourite fishing hole
And cut me a line and pole
I cast my line in
Caught a 9 pound Catfish
Took it home for supper time

Many fish bite if you got good bait
Here's a little something I would like to relate
Many fish bite if you got good bait
So I'm a goin’ fishing, yes I'm goin’ fishin’
and my baby goin’ fishin‘, too

My Baby brother’s drivin’ me outta my mind
Sayin’ can I go fishing with you?
I took him on down to the fishing hole
Now what did you think he might do?

Pulled a great big fish out the bottom of the pond
Then he laughed and jumped ‘cause he was real gone
Many fish bite, if you got good bait
I'm a goin fishing, yes I'm goin’ fishing
and my Baby goin fishing, too

You put him in the pot and you put him in the pan
And you cook ‘em ‘til their nice and brown.
Make yoself a batch of butter milk hoe cakes
Chew ’em up and chomp ‘em on down

Many fish bite if you got good bait
Here's a little something I would like to relate
Many fish bite if you got good bait
So I'm a goin’ fishing, yes I'm goin’ fishin’
and my baby goin’ fishin‘, too

(all the pictures enlarge when clicked upon)

The small ones do it:

The black ones do it:

The medium sized ones do it:

And the big ones do it:

Cheers, Tom.

I took this photograph today. Can you work out what it is? It gets larger if you click on it:

The guesses last night were getting very close. It's the ceiling of a train :-)

Are you kicking yourself now Mab?

Cheers, Tom.

This is Miss Flotsam's cabinet of delights, with some of her works in the background:

This is a close-up on one of the shelves:

Here are two more of Miss Flotsam's prints, a little larger than before:

Cheers, Tom.

I snapped the above picture of a woman in a lion's outfit from my balcony yesterday morning. It's actually an advert for Borth "Animalarium", this place:

http://www.animalarium.co.uk/

"The Animalarium at Borth is a collection of unusual and interesting animals to amuse and delight you. We have domestic and farm animals which you can pet and feed in the petting barn. Also there are exotic and endangered species in the larger enclosures, where we attempt to breed animals whose natural environment is under threat"

As far as I know they don‘t have a lion but they do have a leopard and some crocodiles.

Apparently they are hoping to get an honest MP to add to their collection of endangered species. Thanks, I’ll be here all week...Tip the waitresses...please, throw money rather than applauding...Please! I swapped my wife for a camel...something about a hump...it’s gone...

Cheers, Tom.

Here it is:

"Why on earth would you want to own one of those?", I hear you ask! There are lots of possible reasons including any or none of these:

-- As a reminder of the awfulness that humans are capable of
-- This symbol is FAR older than the Nazis
-- I collect medals and/or memorabilia
-- It's a tangible link to the past
-- I like the simple but effective design
-- It is valuable

I have it for a very simple reason: it was a gift and it reminds me of the person who gave it to me, but some of the reasons above are also true.

It is important to remember that symbols can have many interpretations. They are signifiers and the range of potential meanings is determined by culture, context and by the intention of the user of the symbol/sign. It is frequently the case that simplified (often inaccurate) meanings are applied because of prejudice and without due consideration of the intention of the symbol user.

Cheers, Tom.

Sorry I haven't been about much for the last few days. We had guests. I'll post some more pictures from Helen's exhibition later if I have time. For the moment, here are 3 I took last night with our mirrorball in the window.

Cheers, Tom.

Helen's exhibition opened last night. Here she is in front of two of her works:

I'll post more pictures of this later. It was fascinating to see what she'd been spending so long working on actually on the walls of a gallery. Everyone seemed to really like her work.

Cheers, Tom.

It can be a dangerous old business trying to get close to big splashy waves. I've got wet feet and legs several times, but only once so far have I got water all over a camera (and thankfully it was my old one!). It's worth the risk though, I think.

Cheers, Tom.

This song suits my voice better than some I've attempted recently and for a nice change the guitar part is really easy!

How did I do?

Cheers, Tom.

The wind is loud so don't have your speakers too loud!!

Cheers, Tom.

(all the photographs get larger if you click on them)

I've mentioned on this blog before about the ongoing battle between the black birds and the white birds. They are fighting over chips. Here is a Jackdaw flying past the chip shop (sorry, it's slightly blurred):

This is a gull wondering if I have any fat-coated root vegetables:

These two show a chase in progress:

Here we see the start of a gang:

Over the summer when lots of tourists are noshing deep fried potato treats and tossing them skywards, I intend to try and get a selection of action shots of the different types of birds as they swoop and dive and attack each other whilst in search of tasty, fatty morsels. The more tourists there are, the better my chances!

Cheers, Tom.

This grand old tale of theft and murder has been recorded by lots of different people over the years and is known variously as Stagolee, Stackolee, Stack O Lee, Stacker Lee and even Stagger Lee. This is my 1st attempt at it. It's a bit ropy in places, but I thought I'd post it anyway. Opinions are welcomed.

I'll be revisiting this song in a few months.

Cheers, Tom.

(both pics get bigger if you click on them)

The two pictures above were both taken from the same spot at the same time, but facing in different directions. The top one is facing more or less South and the bottom one about North. Quite a difference!

We had quite a large range of subjects for my final photography project, and "reciprocal viewpoints" was one of them. The above pair of pictures would have fitted it fairly well, I think. A while ago, Helen suggested that over the summer I should have a go at all the other projects, for the practice. I grok this is a good idea.

Cheers, Tom.

I suppose they do:

Cheers, Tom.

For example, Shep has learned recently that if he sits down when I tell him to and smiles nicely, then he might get a treat or at the very least a stroke and some attention. You can just see me in his right eye in this picture (click on the pic to enlarge it):

On the metaphor meaning of teaching old dogs new tricks, that's true as well. Lots of elderly people now happily use computers and the internet, for example, well into their 80s and even 90s in some cases. While there is life there is hope.

Cheers, Tom.

Sorry, these are rubbish pictures as they were at extreme zoom, but I thought I'd share them anyway. I always get a bit of a buzz when I see the dolphins even at a distance.

Cheers, Tom.

In my film studies class recently, someone announced that "Star Wars is the worst film EVER EVER made". I'm not a fan, but I have to say that is a teensy-weensy bit harsh, especially since the person saying it was only 17 and hasn't seen every film ever made. (see below for what I wrote on this blog about Star Wars a few months back)

The worst film ever made was probably only seen by the person who made it, and it's single copy languishes in a dusty drawer in a basement somewhere, but if we narrow the discussion down to reasonably well known feature films that you have seen, how would you answer these 2 questions:

What is the worst film you have ever seen?

What is the film you dislike the most?

I wonder how many people will have the same answer for both! I’ll give my answers later.

Cheers, Tom.

-------------------------------------

Star Wars

"As well as being more crass than a drunken 16-year-old at a porn party, this film also marked the start of the Summer Blockbuster monstrosity, the start of large-scale merchandizing, and it almost killed proper Science Fiction films. It will thus always be deserving of spite.

The story is ridiculously simplistic: good guy underdog beats all the heavy-duty bad guys - it’s basically The Lone Ranger in space. Then we have the completely hammed up acting, the dire script, the bogus mythology and to top it all off a furry alien and 2 camp robots. It’s basically a kids film with everything in it utterly dumbed down, even to the level of good guys in white and bad guys in black. And that’s the basic reason  why I can’t stand it: it’s so simple that it doesn’t engage my mind on any level at all. It’s about as true to proper science fiction as a WI jam-making session is"

I couldn't see any signs of distress! Where is Inspector Morse?

Cheers, Tom.

(P.S. this place has chopped off the right edge of the picture!!)

I was reading a friend's blog the other day and they were talking about holding grudges, and there was a quote on the subject I was trying to remember that eluded me. I have it now:

"To carry a grudge is like being stung to death by one bee"  -- William H. Walton

I know just what he means. Whilst hunting, I found this one as well:

"If a small thing has the power to make you angry, does that not indicate something about your size?"  -- Sydney J. Harris

Now there is food for thought. Since a grudge is "a feeling of ill will or resentment", this one is relevant too:

"Resentment is like taking poison and waiting for the other person to die" -- Malachy McCourt

Ouch! How does one get past a grudge or resentment:

"When you hold resentment toward another, you are bound to that person or condition by an emotional link that is stronger than steel. Forgiveness is the only way to dissolve that link and get free" -- Catherine Ponder

"The weak can never forgive. Forgiveness is the attribute of the strong" -- Mahatma Gandhi

Cheers, Tom.

In-Between

Between the high tide and the low tide is a special place
where the waters stroll out to expose our dreams
and then stride back to cover the screams

Dreams are wishes to float us away but if we stray
below the low tide, beyond the shore
we swim with the fishes forever more

Stay above the high water line and all your hopes are left behind
to litter the beach with jetsam of dreams
and leaving you come apart at the seams

But in the spaces in-between below the high above the mean
There is the place where we may soar
I am human, hear me roar!

"Wave after wave, each mightier than the last,
Till last, a ninth one, gathering half the deep
And full of voices, slowly rose and plunged
Roaring, and all the wave was in a flame"

-- Alfred Lord Tennyson

Ivan Aivazovsky's painting "The Ninth Wave" has been called "The most beautiful painting in Russia":

It's a theme that interested Kate Bush too. Here is a lovely calming tune for a Sunday morning from the start of her Ninth Wave "And Dream Of Sheep" (ignore the video, it's just a load of pictures of her):

Cheers, Tom.

I'm seeing Neil Young live next month, so here is another of his songs done by me:

Cheers, Tom.

The first project I did on my photography course was on stones. Looking back at it now I can see things I would have done differently.  This was one of the first ones I did:

There's nothing wrong with that picture, but I was uncreative with the light. This one is a bit better, I think:

This one is a bit lacklustre, but at least I picked nice stones for it:

All in all not a bad effort, but could have been better. I learned an awful lot from doing it though, and that's the important thing.

Cheers, Tom.

Here is my newly recorded cover of Neil Young's song Sugar Mountain. As always, I humbly request and welcome all opinions whether good or bad.

Cheers, Tom.

Nothing to do with Victor Meldrew, I meant this (click it to see it larger):

I've mentioned on this blog before that I have taken pictures here at sunset that simply look unreal, and the above is perhaps the best example yet. I haven't "enhanced" the colours at all, that is how it actually looked about 20 minutes after the sun went down.

Cheers, Tom.

(Note: there are no spoilers in this review that aren't on the film's publicity)

It was revealed by trailers and pre-publicity that this is a "reboot" of the Star Trek Universe. It uses the characters from The Original Series, with new actors, earlier in time. This film is clearly the start of a new franchise and the future is set for many more films. Smart writing means they can do this without worrying about the future histories of all the other series and films - they have a clean slate to write upon.

Along with this reboot goes a radical change of image. It no longer looks like traditional Star Trek, "it looks like a super-hero movie", as Zak from my Film Studies class rather accurately put it. .The cinematography is stunning, it looks fantastic in that CGI way that high concept American films do these days. It also has that frenzied editing in all the action sequences that is in vogue at the moment which I, personally, don't like, but which is effective at conveying excitement and a fast rhythm and in that way it achieves it's purpose.

The narrative is easy to follow and well written, the dialogue is effective and there are moments of genuine tension. The story retreads some ground that an old-time Trekker will recognise, but not to the extent that a new viewer would be confused. Equally, there is enough new material to keep it interesting for all. They achieve this delicate balancing act very well. The humour is still there, but it does get too cheesy at times. Really, this is an action film that happens to be set in space rather than "proper" sci-fi. The old Star Trek themes of science and philosophy are absent, because this is a modern, mainstream film, rather than a genre piece for a television audience of fans.

Other commentators have praised the cast, but I wasn't that impressed. Apart from Spock, I'd put them as adequate but not special. Zachary Quinto's Spock was very good indeed and it‘s hard to imagine anyone doing a better job. In contrast, Simon Pegg's Scotty was played as a joke that, for me, didn't work: he was simply the wrong man for the part. The new Kirk didn't impress me either. Helen pointed out that he lacked the Elvis Presley quality that William Shatner had and I agree. The new Kirk was just an action hero.

Now, I must mention the music. I thought it was dreadful. Intrusive, bombastic and as obvious as a slap in the face. This is a problem that many modern, American films have and I really hope it’s just a phase.

In summary it looks good and it’s exciting, but it is flawed. I was able to suspend my disbelief although there are aspects of the plot that it might be wise not to think too deeply about. The bottom line is that it's an entertaining mass-market film full of action that happens to be more or less in the sci-fi genre. If that appeals to you, then why not give it a try!

6.5/10

Cheers, Tom.

The final front ear. Later, Helen and I are going to explore strange new words, to seek out new lines and new cinematography and boldly go to see the new Star Trek film. I feel a small amount of trepidation as I first watched The Original Series in about 1970 and loved it. That love affair slowly diminished over the following 30 years or so until it was finally snuffed out by terminal story repetition.

Perhaps this new film will re-ignite my interest. We shall see - I'll post a review without spoilers either when I get back or in the morning.

Cheers, Tom.

My first real musical love was heavy rock music - Deep Purple, Led Zeppelin, Black Sabbath, that sort of thing. For some curious reason in the midst of all that metal music I bought a copy of "Decay Music" by Michael Nyman. This was modern, minimalist music based on a theme of decay - one side is mostly piano, the other bells. I still have the LP (yes, this was in the 1970s!). Perhaps I read a good review of it, I honestly can't remember, but I do know that this record opened the doors of my mind to different forms of music and I owe a debt of gratitude to Michael Nyman to this day for doing so. I was hoping to find it on youtube, but it isn't there.

Instead, this is probably Nyman's most famous piece, and it is utterly different:

 

What a brilliant film that is. Incredibly powerful.

Jane Campion's new film Bright Star is premiering right now at Cannes. Here are 22 stills from it:

http://www.ropeofsilicon.com/movie/bright-star/stills/

It's based on the romance between John Keats and Fanny Brawne.

Looks good!

On a very different note, Helen and I are off to see the new Star Trek film tonight.

Cheers, Tom

Please?

It's a picture of a picture taken by Artur Tabor which is part of the "Wild Poland" exhibition on the South Bank in London. This is Artur's website:

http://www.arturtabor.pl/index1_eng.htm

The picture was identified by Shipscook as a European Roller - thanks very much Ships!

It’s quite difficult to sneak up on a seagull. I try the walking slowly pretending to be going somewhere else technique, but Dan my dog just runs towards them at full pelt. He gets closer than I do, but neither of us stands a chance. Those birds are WARY! The above picture wasn’t a bad effort, taken at a range of about 10 metres a split second after he took off. I need to perfect my technique I think. That's the same seagull sat on the post in the below picture - that's where he flew to.

Today at 9AM I have a Film Studies exam. An exam seems like a strange prospect for me as it’s been such a long time since I took one, but I’m hopeful of a good result anyway.

Cheers, Tom.

The economy is going down the Swanee, unemployment is sky-rocketing, there is a risk of a flu pandemic and catastrophic climate change, civil war in Sri Lanka, deathly trouble in Africa, Palestine, and ongoing troubles in Pakistan, Afghanistan and Iraq, yet the top news story in every newspaper, and on every radio station and television station in the UK is MPs fiddling their expenses. A few million quid. This is a drop in the ocean of the budget. Compare it with the cost of Trident at 15 billion or the NHS at well over 100 billion a year and it becomes so tiny as to be almost invisible. Compare it to the loss of even one life and it doesn't stack up.

This is a story whipped up by the media to profit the media. It also acts as a nice diversion from the very serious real problems elsewhere. This is a small story, it's not life and death. It needs fixing, but it's not urgent, and all the time it's taking up now means that MPs don't have the time to discuss and perhaps even do something about all those other issues. You know, wars, unemployment, the failing economy and so on.

---------------------

I am one of the unemployed whose numbers have rocketed up in the last 3 months. I sign on every other Tuesday and a couple of days later some money appears in my bank.

Every signing on session, I'm there early to look through the lists of available jobs, and there is absolutely nothing I can do. The only thing I am qualified for and experienced at is to look after a room-full of computers of a particular type. Not surprisingly, jobs like that simply do not exist in this area. So I look at everything else (these all from today):

Cleaner: experience required
Care Assistant: NVQ Level 3 required
Driver: clean driving licence and "delivery experience" required
Labourer: electricians and plasterers only need apply
Nurse
Bar staff: 6 months experience required
Office Manager
etc.

There were 2 I could do:

Sales Rep
Hotel Receptionist

The sales rep wasn't even in this area, and the receptionist was a split shift 5 days a week, mornings and evenings, 10 miles away. So that's those 2 out as well.

There is also 2 hours a week for £10 per hour as a "Mystery Shopper", a "job" that has been on the list since I first signed on. Why is it still there, I wonder? Simple - if you get it, the pay comes off your claim. So, you are working for no pay. No surprise then that no-one wants to do it.

Cheers, Tom.

Big sun:

No sun:

Cheers, Tom.

(click the picture to enlarge it)

Sorry about the seagull poo, I hope this is better :-)

This sunset image is a little unconventionally composed with the sun in the middle and a low horizon line, but I rather liked the strong bottom-left to top-right diagonal with 2 seagulls on it (one is on the post).

Cheers, Tom.

Just look at that. What on earth had that seagull been eating, or was it some sort of competition

"Come on lads, let's all try and hit Tom's kitchen window it'll be a great laugh!".

Harrumph.

Tom.

We had a lovely weekend with my mum. A walk in the bluebell woods, a trip to the garden centre, trips to the allotment, and last night a fabulous meal out at out local curry house. I took this picture at a carboot sale yesterday:

If Dan wants to keep his most athletic dog crown, he needs to get practicing!

Nice pink sunset last night too:

This weekend has done my diet no good at all, unfortunately, but it's been worth it!

Cheers, Tom.

Rather strange stripes in the sky last night, blue and pink.

Yesterday was a nice day - walk with my mum and the dogs in a bluebell wood:

We went to a garden centre:

And we went to the allotment, did some digging and planted our first potential crop, shallots - see how keen the diggers are:

Cheers, Tom.

My mum is visiting, so we we went to the garden centre this morning to buy lots of seeds and vegetables, the plan being to plant them this afternoon. Now, of course, it's raining!

Typical!

Tom.

P.S. That's why I'm not around much this weekend too!

When we forget to spell out the words, we get bouncing dog syndrome! We need to learn from Billy Connolly:

Cheers, Tom.

This lovely song by Fred Neil has been covered by lots of people, perhaps most famously by Tim Buckley. Here is my version (sorry it's so dark):

The high note at the end is a little off...

Cheers, Tom.

How many millions of people have photographed St Paul's, or the London Eye before? Chance of something original: almost zero. But you have to have a go, it's the law. So, here is St Paul's:

Here is (part of) The London Eye:

This is the inside of a church somewhere near the Royal Academy of Art:

I don't think I need to say what this is:

And finally, here is something that just made me laugh that is probably very familiar to Londoners. This van just stopped in the middle of traffic while the guy sang a couple of songs. Literally hundreds of people took photographs and filmed this:

The big, famous buildings, structures and cityscapes are just so well known that when people see a picture of them, they just think "Oh, that's such-and-such". It's like photographing Madonna - if you're Annie Liebovitz, maybe you can capture something that no-one else has. For the rest of us...keep on trying!

Cheers, Tom.

Because time will not run backwards
Because time
Because time will not run
Hickory dickory

In the last minute of the first hour
I saw the mouse ascend the ancient time piece,
Claws whispering like wind in dry hyacinths.

One o'clock,
The street lamp said,
'Remark the mouse that races towards the carpet.'

And the unstilled wheel still turning
Hickory Dickory
Hickory Dickory
dock

-- Wendy Cope

In addition to going to Alternative Miss World at the weekend, Helen and I did some typical London tourist stuff too, a highlight of which for me was a walk along the South Bank. Click any of the pictures to enlarge them.

These lads were doing tricks on their bikes to entertain the tourists. I don't think they were getting any money for it, they just seemed to like the attention. They were happy to pose for me in front of the brilliant graffiti:

This chap was giving a lesson in leaping over things to two other blokes:

The cyclists seemed to have one end, the skateboarders the other:

Cheers, Tom.

These are both very low quality clips that don't do it justice at all, but they are all that's available until an official film comes out (there is going to be one - the director told me). Both these clips show fragments of Miss Flotsam on stage:

You can just about make out Andrew Logan announcing that she is "50 today" twice. That's not quite true - she's 50 later on in the year!

Cheers, Tom.

These are the last AMW pictures I'll be posting - I don't want to get boring! I tried to give the flavour of the evening yesterday in all it's exhilarating, exciting, colourful exhibitionist splendour. This morning, I want to show some different aspects.

This lovely Miss was just pausing after completing her make-up:

Here we have one of Miss Hokusai’s attendants (see yesterday morning’s blog) looking thoughtful during make-up:

These lovely ceiling flags were all ironed by Michael’s (Andrew Logan’s partner) Mother, not by Andrew’s sister-in-law Diane, as Ken Russell wrongly put it in The Times yesterday:

This huge, tattooed man, I think, carried Daniel Lismore onto the stage for one of her 3 appearances:

Here are 2 sperms ...don’t ask! ... Sorry about the bar across this picture, but I was barged out of the way literally as I took this one and didn't get the chance to take another:

This was just a nice pattern I spotted on the floor:

Here are some of the dancers rehearsing:

This is Miss Flotsam trying to sit down for a moment and getting a camera and mic thrust into her face:

Miss Flotsam at the end:

Cheers, Tom.

P.S. All the pictures get larger if you click on them!

As I mentioned yesterday, the Alternative Miss World winner was Miss Fancy Chance. However, the win was a team effort by 4 people. This is the team at the after-show party at Andrew Logan’s Glasshouse on Sunday evening:

Top left is Naomi Blume who is an artist
Top right is Rachel Freire who is a fashion designer
In the middle is Fancy Chance who is a Burlesque performer
At the bottom is the artist and sculptor Alex Wreckage (who is involved with Trash City at Glastonbury next month)

This is Sasha from Aquaaerobika (on the left) who sang during the show interval, with contestant Miss Daniel Lismore:

I’ll post some more AMW pictures tomorrow.

Cheers, Tom.

(All the pictures get larger if you click on them)

Andrew Logan is world-famous for his Jewellery and sculpture, and of course for being the founder of the AMW, and his role in cultural and fashion history is also huge. This is Andrew in his half male half female guise:

Andrew held the first AMW in 1972, and on Saturday night at the Roundhouse in Camden, the 12th one was held. It loosely follows the Miss World format, having day-wear, swim-wear and evening-wear sections. My partner Helen was competing as Miss Flotsam so I was in a rather privileged position for photography, having access to all areas for the whole event. This was the chaotic scene back-stage during the first section:

Andrew’s co-host for the evening was Ruby Wax, and this is Ruby at the end of the evening with two nice lads:

Here is Miss Flotsam in her day-wear, before and during performance:

Matthew Flowers is a personal friend of Andrew’s and runs art galleries in London and New York. This was his day outfit as Little Miss Sustainability:

This is Matthew in his evening outfit, and afterwards looking tired and happy:

This woman was having a fabulous time:

An oriental theme here - this is Miss Hokusai who came third:

One lump or two?

Sea sea:

This is Miss Flotsam in swim-wear, but I wouldn’t advise trying to swim in it. The woman in the background on the right is Scarlett, the “secretary” for the evening. She was lovely:

That looks heavy:

This is Miss Bubbles Of Hope who came 2nd

This chap was one of the Miss Elementary My Dear team:

This is Miss Flotsam in her evening wear, and being interviewed by Andrew and Ruby:

And this is the winner, Miss Fancy Chance. Her victory was in the bag when she was hoisted by her hair out of a huge ball-gown (which I failed to photograph). I met her at a party at Andrew’s house the next day, and she was really nice. At 4’9” she is 3 inches shorter than Ruby:

And finally, this is the view from the side balcony with the stage at the right, the crowd in the middle, the judges box on the left and much bunting and lights above. The judges were Celia Birtwell, Julian Clary, Tim Curry, Marcus Davey, Gayk Simonyan, Tony Elliott, Philip Hughes, Bruce Lacey, Amy Lame, Betty McIntosh, Richard O'Brien, Molly Parkin, Zandra Rhodes, Ken Russell, Saheev Sethi amd Jonny Woo.

I may post a few more pictures tomorrow.

Thanks to everyone involved for making the evening so utterly marvelous.

Cheers, Tom.

It was absolutely BRILLIANT! A fantastic evening all round and if you ever get the chance to go to it when another one is on (probably not until 2012 now) grab it with both hands. I met some great people, saw some utterly astonishing costumes and we both had a marvelous time. It was positively buzzing with energy backstage, and the atmosphere in the cloud was electric. Everyone had a fabulous time, and I honestly can't praise it highly enough.

I'll post some photos of it tomorrow and there are some clips on youtube too if you fancy a peek.

Cheers for now, Tom.

Back in a few days...

http://seasideman.blog.co.uk/2009/04/20/rock-balancing-5975072/comment_ID/9792554/rtc/1/#c9792554

"Greeting . . . My name is Bill Dan . . . I am the Guy in "questions" . . . . for more about My Art, I'll give You some links that'll hopefully give You Guys more input about the ARt.

Some videos on http://youtube.com/bebalance

Some more images on http://flickr.com/photos/rocker

and I have a blog http://billdan.blogspot.com - where You can see images send from all over the World about the Art - a lot of People are having fun Balancing Rocks . . .

Rocks On - Bill Dan"

Thanks again Dan!

Literally "No dogs on the beach", 1st May to 30th September. And the date today is: 1st May. Poo: exactly.

It’s not so bad though - it’s only a 5 minute walk to a section of beach where my lovely doggies are welcome all year round.

Those same doggies are off into the kennels for a couple of nights too, and they won’t like that! The reason: Helen and I will be at the Alternative Miss World competition in London. It will make a really nice change even though Helen will be knackered by the end of it. It was rather bad timing that this happened to come up as she was getting her MA exhibition ready, but that’s the way it seems to go in this life sometimes:

“There is a time to surf and a time to wax your board”

Anyway, no blogs from me for the next couple of days.

Cheers, Tom.