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Friday, June 29, 2007

noooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!!!!!!

when i heard it this morning i put it down to a lack of sleep mixed with painkillers.
i remember the feeling i had when new labour was elected for the first time. it was a moment akin to being lead into the light from the darkness.
to an extent it was the same when the other day when gordon brown became the pm.
how quickly that has turned to dust.
brown's broad cabinet of experts now features digby jones.
what on earth is going on in the world.

digby jones. why?
every time i think i have escaped his jowly voice he manages to get back into the public life.

the first thing brown needs to do is sack digby jones now...
please.

co-codamol

then
it was a saturday. plans hadn’t gone the way they were meant to. it was a nice sunny day. late in the afternoon. didn’t fancy a movie. had a coffee. didn’t want to go home. didn’t want to go into town. i know tate modern and there i can go to the marcus campbell bookshop and get some back issues of various art magazines.
sorted.
bus or tube?
bus it is.
liverpool street and off to st pauls on the bus.
camera out, take some photos from the top deck.
where to get out. the blackfriars stop, that works.
i’ll cut down here and do the millennium bridge rather than blackfriars.
shit. no through passage. walk back? jump over?
jump.
clamber up onto the wall.
get balanced, leave bags on the top. not too high. right hand down. get set.
ooh the thames looks lovely the sun is glinting off of it.
come on can’t lollygag the shop will close soon.
lift off.
land.
fuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuck!!!!
drop a bit more than i thought.
right hand still resting on the top.
shit pulled the shoulder.
that hurt.
shake it off. take some photos.
gotta get to the shop.
got to the shop, got the mags, saw gilbert and george.
home.
shoulder sore, work it out.
sleep.
sunday. just another day.

now
last week bit of a twinge in the shoulder. must really stop carrying heavy shoulder bags.
mmm twinge getting worse.
not going away. better get over to the docs. easier said than done as i am not registered with a doctor (stupid i know).
aha! whitechapel walk-in clinic here i come. can’t go tuesday, can’t go wednesday. thursday morning it is.
not many people in there. result.
booked in. breakfast tv on the screen. couple of people coming in to find out where another part of the hospital is. reluctant help given. girl comes in makes her complaint about maybe having glandular fever. told no blood tests done here, she flounces out.
i am called.
arm isn’t moving in this direction, only moves a little bit in that direction. looks like you have strained. phew nothing serious. here take some painkillers leave it for a while and then go to bart’s minor injury unit if it is not cleared up.
phew that seems easy. no problems. up and running in no time.
buy the painkillers. day goes by.
time to go to bed. take a painkiller. not much happening. can’t put my arm there. it hurts there. on my side? no. on my back? no. on my front? no. 1am, 2am, 3am. this is stupid. should i go to a&e? bollocks take another painkiller. oh look i am snoozing.
work. fucking hell i can type i can’t use the mouse. not sure i want another night like last night. this is stupid. it hurts.
half day. off to barts.
what a nice hospital. few people in the waiting area. receptionist tells me that we have all waited until the tennis came on before we mobbed her. there are two people in the waiting room.
10 minutes later i am describing what i think has happened.
the look of “you idiot!” clouds the nurse’s face.
shirt off. ooowww. a prod here, a prod there. lift it this way, lift it that way. fuckity fuck fuck that hurts. oh look push it up a bit more and the pain recedes. oh looks like you have torn your rotator cuff.
but going to ask the senior nurse.
she comes over. she does the push it this way, pull it over here. she grills the other nurse about what he thought. he aces it. she asks about the wall, the unspoken “you idiot!” is as clear as day on her face.
looks fairly straightforward, but we’ll do some x-rays.
third floor. out of puff from walking up there.
two petite girls take me to a room (woo hoo never been that lucky before). stand here, move to the right, a bit to left, rotate the wrist, stand still. don’t look at the x-ray machine. click. bang. done. now face the screen. prod here, prod there. oh they can’t seem to get it right. push here, push there. that’s right. click. bang. so why did you jump off the wall, her voice just oozed the subtext “you idiot!” done. be back in a minute. oops we need to do it again. click bang. back shortly. oh we need to do another one. different view this time. awww that hurts can’t stretch my arm out. click bang. done.

back down to the nurse. x-rays on the computer. she explains how it all works. that one looks ok. that one shows a bit of a problem. oh look at that one. see that cloud there? it’s a little bit of calcium its your body trying to repair the damage, but we don’t want that we want it loose. so you need to exercise the arm. basically came down to shaking the arm and lifting it to the front, back and side.
how long will it take. 3 months. so several months of silly arm movements to look forward to.
oh. not so good.
it’ll hurt so here are some painkillers for you. take these co-codamol tablets they are pretty strong, they will allow you to work through the pain to exercise.

thoughts
sitting here typing this waiting for the painkillers to kick in.
couple of points to make.
once again i found myself in awe of the national health service. i try to use it as rarely as possible, but each time i am left with the feeling that the caring staff are truly awesome. gordon brown, if you are reading this (and i know he does) pay them more – take the money from the fatcats.
according to jay the painkiller i have been given can make you horny. this is a problem as the arm in question is my wanking arm.
not going to jump off walls anymore.
finally there is one thing that is certain in this multicultural ethnically diverse community we live in: it doesn’t matter which race or religion of the receptionist they all worship at the alter of unhelpfulness. a more miserable group of people i have never seen.

Sunday, June 24, 2007

welcome

let us all take a moment to welcome the team of gordon brown and harriet harman to the leadership of the new labour party.
already both their acceptance speeches have been more impressive than david cameron's recent one setting out the new vision of conservative party politics.
after wednesday gordon will be prime minister.
the honeymoon period he has with the media will be very short, if there is one at all.
already we can see that he has more than the measure of cameron and his cronies.
you can almost smell that historic fourth term.

800

woo hoo here is post 800.
to celebrate here is a pic of me looking biblical!



here is to 800 more.

Saturday, June 23, 2007

coke

there is a new coke on the market.
for a limited period of time you can get coke orange. it comes in a nice matt orange bottle (smart piece of marketing that).
it tastes ok, though you may as well buy fanta.
still hoping that one day soon i will be able to experience the delight of of coke blak but as yet i have not been able to find anywhere that sells it. ii mean what can be more perfect cok and coffee combined? it is almost like they dsigend the drink just for me.

i have a childish aspiration to drink all the varieties of coke that are availble.

but at the moment i am going through a childish fantasy phase - that can be the only reason i am sat here watching "2fast 2furious", hell not just watching it; i am enjoying it.

it is a nice counterpoint to my cynical side.

Friday, June 22, 2007

phones

i hate mobile phones. this shouldn’t come as a surprise to anyone as i pretty much hate everything so why should cell phones get away unscathed.
my hatred has grown a notch this week, as i need to get a new phone. i am not hundred percent sure why i need to get one but i kid myself that having one is necessary i have been seduced by the dark side of consumerism. in fact the only uses i have for a phone is to wake me up, to send derogatory emails to jay and to text people that i am running late – this is when i use it the most.

so the week i need to get a new phone is about the time that apple are about to launch their iphone. now apple are the kings of product launches. if one thing separates apple from the rest is their design aesthetic. their products look beautiful and carry out their tasks well.
but do i want an iphone? hell no.

oddly there was an article in the daily mail (i know i know i shouldn’t admit to reading it but….) that i had some sympathy with. it uses the advent of the iphone to go off on a rant about modern technology. there seems to be two main thrusts to the article. first that much of modern technology is badly designed (not a charge that can be laid at anything that apple do) but we can all look around to see pieces of technology that not only look ugly but seem to be designed in such a way as to make using them harder than necessary. secondly that much of modern technology is packed with features and functions that you don’t need and will probably never know how to use.

this is especially true of the mobile phone. who really needs all the functions that come with the phone? not me. frankly i want to kill all the designers who decided that an mp3 player in a phone was a good idea. it doesn’t matter how much the kids pay for their phone (or how cannily they target the phones they are going to steal) none of it gives them taste when it comes to choosing music – so every mobile phone that plays music ends up playing some urban shite that all sounds the same and just becomes a dull nagging irritating noise.
doesn’t anyone listen to doris day?

as i mentioned earlier in this rambling piece i need to get a new phone. i just need it to make and receive calls, do texts and that is pretty much it. my first trip to the shop shows that pretty much all phones come with more than that.
i have two other criteria when it comes to choosing the new phone: the first is that there are no bits that slide or open on the phone. i want a one-piece thing that i can’t break. the other criterion is that it is cheap.
with those factors in mind it becomes easy to track down a phone. i have. but then i walked out of the store because i just thought: do i need this?
the funny thing is it will do all i want, so all the other features are bonuses if i choose to use them, and if i don’t use them then it is not like the phone won’t work.
how i wish that all those people around me would ignore the other features of the phone…

surprisingly the one major complaint that anyone can have against modern technology is that it means we are always available. just because i have a mobile phone it doesn’t mean i am going to answer it. i love the microsoft ads that go on about how you can have a version of “office” for your mobile so you can pick up work emails… fuck let us enjoy some time away from work!
i was in coffee@ (the best coffee shop in the world) the other day. two people were sitting chatting to each other; both of them had their phones on the table in front of them. implicit in this was the fact they were both telling each other that no matter that they were deep in conversation that if the phone rang they had to pick it up straightaway. you had to wonder if they kept score, so that later in the evening they could brag to their friends “i got 5 calls, he only got 2… two i ask you…” or if they never received a call do they go home and sulk? do they then phone themselves just to check the phone works?

in writing about mobile phones i am indulging in something i dislike in other people: conversations about their phones. “my phone does this” “i wish my phone did this” “i don’t like the screen on my phone”… no no no more. boring idiotic talk.

all of this wouldn’t be so bad if most of the phone conversations you have no choice but to overhear where of any more substance than “yeah, yeah, innit”, but guess what? most of the time it is just moronic witterings that can’t leave anyone with the feeling that they have had a decent conversation.

i blame margaret thatcher for pretty much all the ills that beset britain.
but the mobile phone is a close second for why we are a less tolerant and polite society.

dialling 999 to tell them there is a rant in progress, but it will only work if i do it in txt spk.

i hate the mobile.

Thursday, June 21, 2007

gig

been a while since i was at a gig, so it was nice to break my drought with a humdinger of an event last night.
i was indulging in a bip (oh get me..) of electronica and digital music, and very fine it was too. three sets of duets with the musicians playing off of each other to create new and interesting soundscapes. find out more about it all here.
the only thing that was wrong with the night was that there didn’t seem to be enough people in the audience, but hey ho their loss.

as ever i had my camera with me and took some photos (but then what else am i going to do with a camera?). in keeping with the experimental avant garde feeling of the night i opted against using flash so what you have here are some “interesting” shots that create a mood and a feeling, give a feel of setting, a visualisation of the sounds… oh alright now i have started to talk bollocks.
look at the photos.
then go check out the sprawl site and more si-cut.db.










Tuesday, June 19, 2007

clouds

sometimes clouds are lovely things.
was watching some go by the other day and all i could think of was the "parade of the pink elephants" from dumbo.
probably had been drinking too much coffee.




Monday, June 18, 2007

cards

the prostitute call card, along with jammed up coin slots and the smell of tramp's piss, are pretty much a constant for central london phone boxes.
i have been collecting the cards for close on 20 years now. i probably have tens of thousands of them. back then they were often just cards with printed text on, or a black and white drawing. over the years they have become more sophisticated: now they proclaim they are "genuine photos" (i am sure they are - just perhaps not the "lady" you will be visiting..)
they are pretty much unique to london.
there used to be, very crude, cards available in brighton, i once found a few in manchester. new york does not have them - but then that city has the magazine "screw" and "village voice" both of which carry copious (and very strong) adverts for this sort of stuff.
someone i know occasionally gets me some from tokyo - and very nice their versions of the cards are.

there have been at least two books based on the cards, and one exhibition based around them.

i am not as an avid collector of them as i used to be, which is a shame as it used to help keep me fit.
of course popping into phone boxes and collecting the cards is not without its problems. i have been stopped by the police and i have also been accosted by the carders themselves.

on a collecting note: i can't really call it a collection as i can't define the number of cards that have been published and the ones i am missing. but i do like to think i have gone some way towards preserving what is a unique urban artform.
at least that is what i tell myself.


Friday, June 15, 2007

littlejohn

unlike my fellow bloggers cliff
and emma
i am not a reader of contemporary fiction; i have little time for books that do not involve murder, mayhem, maniacal machines or monsters. so you may ask why on earth i have a will self book. in truth i have no idea, my confusion is compounded by the fact that for a long time i have found will self somewhat of a pompous stuck up bore, though i have begun to warm to him over the last several months because of his columns in the independent and the evening standard.
regardless of my feelings towards self he is obvious a talented and intelligent writer.

littlejohn on the other hand isn’t.
littlejohn is a puffed up columnist who not only thinks he is funny (he isn’t) but also thinks he makes incisive political comments (he doesn’t). i suppose it wouldn’t be so bad if you thought he believed what he was talking about, but as you read his inflammatory words you can’t help but feel that for him it is just about the money and notoriety.

while exploring parts of the internet i stumbled across this
on the bbc website.
how my heart sang!

tomorrow i may just have to go out and buy a will self book.

pics

more pictures taken while being out and about.









macca

i am not a beatles fan. never have been. never will be.
used to cause some problems when i was at annemarie’s, she was from liverpool and it seems if you are a scouser you have to like the beatles.
but i do quite admire paul maccartney. he has written some memorable songs, he did one of the best bond songs ever with “live and let die”, and he keeps making music when he has nothing to prove. he is rich and successful.
yet that hasn’t stopped him suffering.
with the release of his new album and his 65th birthday almost coinciding there was a secret london gig. around a thousand people were invited to attend, including gareth gates.
c’mon macca i know it has been a tough year or so for you, but crikey you must know more than a thousand decent and talent celebrities. just how many had to call off before you had to call on gareth to make up the numbers?
i feel a little miffed that i wasn’t in camden on the night of the gig, i reckon if i loitered near the door i would have gotten in to make up the numbers.
everyone go out and buy sir paul’s cd, that way when he launches the next one he can afford a better class of guests.

(mmm do you think i could write for the celeb gossip columns? after all i am going to need a new job soon.)

why

why do people always wait until they are right at the ticket barriers at tube stations before they start to look for their tickets? i wouldn’t mind so much if they were tourists but no they are commuters. it must be fantastic to be surprised by the same thing each and every day. imagine how wonderful the world must seem to such people that no matter how many times they have seen something or done something they can be constantly be surprised by it.
i feel so dull that each time i enter a tube station i get my oyster card ready before i reach the barriers. no wonder i am cynical.

why is it that rather chubby cyclists seem to think that they look good when they dress in break yellow and lurid lime green very tight fitting lycra? do they think that because they are squeezed into their lycra they become aerodynamic? do they think that by wearing the lycra they can convince the rest of us that they are svelte fit athletes?
i can tell them now: it is not working.

why am i still being woken up by digby jones? (ok i am going to have to be honest here and my red mist fury at hearing meant that i couldn’t make out much of what he was saying from the sound of the rushing blood, but this is what i think he was talking about.) as ever digby was going on about government red tape, this time it was in relation to the “train to gain” programme. a programme that seems to be there to help small businesses get staff on training schemes, that is organised in part by the government and in part funded by the government (mmm maybe that is why there is government red tape?)
if digby really wanted to point fingers he could look to the various industries he champions and ask why they do not put their own cash into establishing training programmes and apprenticeships.
but to be fair he could have said that i would still disagree with him. i have just developed a total dislike for him.

Tuesday, June 12, 2007

Monday, June 11, 2007

headlines

“extinct: how willy the panda fell victim to the red tape poachers” screams the sunday mail headline
.
the world wide fund for nature (so the sunday mail calls them, i always thought it was the world wildlife fund – but go to their site and pretty much all they call themselves is the wwf, and after defeating vince mcmahon for the initials it is good to see them using them) is giving up using the panda collection boxes.
why?
it is because of the “pen-pushing predators” that have imposed uneconomic red tape on charity collection boxes.
those perfidious bastards, how could they? just what are they thinking when they add needless red tape and bureaucracy to charity collecting? basically it seems that the institute of fundraising (boo hiss boo) have said that collection boxes should have individual numbers, that the monies in them should be counted and sent to head offices at regular intervals. additionally boxes should be tamper proof.
how can anyone disagree with nigel evans (tory mp for ribble valley) when he says: "willy is iconic. for some piffling bureaucrats to interfere with this is just daft.
"the culture secretary should slap a preservation order on the boxes. we should save the panda in more ways than one."
hear hear.
except.
and lets be fair you knew there was going to be an except..
private eye does a little piece each week about how journalism works and this is one of those types of stories. while the headline and soundbites are juicy the evidence in the story does not necessarily back them up.
the wwf are going to be withdrawing nearly 400 of these collection boxes. by their own admission the amount collected each year has declined from £27,000 to £7000 in the last 3 years, or approximately £17 a box. so in the cold light of day not a particularly cost effective way of collecting the cash.
they also go on to ask members of the public to let them know if they see any stray panda boxes around as they say: "sometimes boxes are passed from one collector to another and they forget to tell us about the change.” ah right so a well regulated scheme then. i can see no reason why the institute of fundraisers might be interested in bringing a code of conduct.
so we have a system that doesn’t generate a lot of money and is very loosely organized yet it is an outrage that changes are being made.
still it is nice to know that some tories will call for state intervention, but only on the really important stuff.

Sunday, June 10, 2007

quotes

“sometimes i think that life might almost be halfway okay if only i didn’t have to deal with other people!” so says ivan brunetti in “misery loves comedy”. there are times when i know exactly where he is coming from.
brunettti’s is hard to describe. he is a talented and skilful cartoonist. his style is clean and distinctive, yet he has the ability to ably copy other famous strip cartoonists and subvert their style to his ends.
but it is not the why brunetti draws that makes him special but his brand of remorseless nihilism and self loathing yet somehow he is able to raise a chuckle in the reader.
there is a part of me thinks that much of it is just put on in the same way that tracey emin’s and trent reznor’s angst has moved from being heartfelt to being just an artistic signature. regardless of my feelings about brunetti’s authenticity he does it incredibly well.

oddly while i fine myself agreeing with brunetti i found myself totally disagreeing with another book i was reading where the author said that people soon get tired of brown-nosers. oh if only that was the case. most of the bosses i have worked just love the staff that toady up to them. even worse they always seem to be the staff that do well.

the morals of these stories? that being a miserable bastard can pay off, but things might be better if you suck up. i shall bear these lessons in mind when i get a new job.

Friday, June 08, 2007

logo

while the scorn and derision continues to be heaped in the direction of the london 2012 olympic logo (and i have to admit that as it suffers more abuse from daily telegraph readers my liking of it improves)i have decided to present this potential alternative.
seen in pudding mill lane.

you can already see some of the headlines that could have been written if this one had been chosen.
"full speed ahead for gold", "clutching at gold", "braking records" "indicates a winner" and probably hundreds more.
oh well we can only dream of what might have been...

pics

more from recent walk abouts.
i like the one of canary wharf as it gives a hint of just how the building dominates the area.
oddly that imposing feeling declines as more and more tall and large office blocks are built in the area. as part of ken's desire to see lonodn be more like new york city we may see many more large glass boxes erected and breaking up the skyline. the rush to emulate the new york city skyline ignores the simple fact london is not new york and shouldn't want to look like that city.
while the builders of these new buildings try to out do each other so that they can have the most recent iconic edifice - so rather than end up with an organically developed city we end up with a hodgepodge of ideas and ego.

ah well nothing stays the same forever, but some things shouldn't ruch to change.





bono

bono wears shades.
bono sings songs.
bono goes to the g8 summit.
bono edits vanity fair (20 covers).
bono tells us to care about africa.
bono cares.
bono and u2 avoid paying lots of tax.
bono seems to be a little bit of a cunt really.

diana

did channel 4 show their programme on the dying moments of diana? i can’t imagine that they did because the world is still turning. to hear some of the guff that had been spoken on the radio and printed in the papers it appeared that displaying pictures was tantamount to beginning the end as foretold in the book of revelations.

oh ok i know they showed it. how? well radio 5 covered it (along with talking about such shows as the apprentice and big brother) this morning. apparently there have been complaints made about the show – but at the time it was unsure how many were relevant because they don’t count those made before the show has been shown.
even so disaster didn’t strike, there were no plagues, maddie is still lost, no one was turned into pillars of salt. in fact life just went on.

all the fuss and bother about the show and it looks like it was a bit of a damp squib, no worries though i am sure that the newspapers will find a new way to get a diana mug shot in to their regular editions – but of course their dealing with the matter will be tasteful (a little like the story about who took camilla’s virginity) and not harming to the princes (william who was so worried he was apparently buying asda out of all their pimms on the day of the showing…)
of course none of this has anything to do with the fact the media has a vested interest in keeping the diana industry still going – it sells papers. the moral outrage that some of the papers had over this story was such that it gave channel 4 heaps of free publicity while allowing the media to rake over the various coals of the story. they looked liked they cared about moral standards while all the time selling themselves on the back of the story.
when it comes to hypocrisy there are times when it is very hard to beat fleet street.

lets be honest here – for all intents and purposes the fact she was being chased down by photographers who just wanted that one shot to earn them the big bucks had nothing to do with the fact that editors want them in their latest issues.

even better is the fact that we will get another chance to go through all this again when al fayed tries to get the queen to the witness stand.

diana, like kurt cobain, should be laid to rest and any paper or tv station making a show about them should be forced to donate their profits to charitable organisations.

it won’t happen because the diana industry is too lucrative and for all the wringing of hands about how the pictures on show were a step too far, there are still far too many people who are interested in the trials and tribulations of a troubled woman. even worse it isn’t because we want to see her life as a morality play, it just that celebrity culture demands we know everything.

Wednesday, June 06, 2007

pics

this time the pics are from pudding mill lane.
nature plays no part....











pics

some shots of things from a recent walkabout.
this is on the way home from working - going to pudding mill lane station. the side of the canal i am on isn't where the olympics are going to be, the other side will be.
not sure how that is going to affect the ducks though.







Tuesday, June 05, 2007

logo

now i am the first to admit i was not keen on the olympics coming to london, and it was only when it came down to a fight between london and paris that i decided that maybe it would be a good thing for it to be held in the capital.
in a karmic like way i have had to suffer for this moment of xenophobia as the olympic village means being turfed out of our offices and that means no job for me.
if losing your job wasn’t enough to make you want to hate the olympics then there are all the voices of doom that have gone on about it (i exempt myself as the voices of doom was one of the main reasons i didn’t want it, i know i know circuitous reasoning but there you go), but the main reason not to like the olympics is the unctuous face of the ex tory seb coe. oh sure he has won olympic gold but that doesn’t forgive him being a conservative and a pal of william hague.

but the olympics are coming to london and there is a chance it might just do some lasting good in the very deprived areas of east london. so there you go: bonus.

just as i am warming to the whole idea of the olympics being in london they launch the logo. well. now i am not so sure.

one of the more interesting things about the olympics and logos is that of course the who thing is fiercely policed because they do not want the various sponsors being short changed by any tom dick and kebab shop using words like “olympic” “gold medal” “2012” etc to promote themselves on the back of the work that the olympic movement has done in general and what the london olympic committee will do specifically to promote 2012.

coe, blair and everyone involved with this unveiling the logo talked about the brand (though at one point when coe was going on about we “don’t do bland, this isn’t a bland city” i thought he was taking the piss out of the japanese…) so what is a brand? well it is marketing speak. say no more you say. hell i say lets talk about brands very quickly. at its simplest it is an image or a logo. basically a brand does several things it sets you apart from your competitors (think nike’s swoosh as opposed to adidas’ three stripes), it should encompass some, if not all of the core values of the company, and it makes a promise to the consumer about what they are going to get (think coke and pepsi, think orange and vodaphone).
in short it is about perception. it is about what the company thinks it is about and what the consumer thinks it is about – these may not fall into alignment (think macdonalds).

you only have to look at the much maligned conservative party’s “squiggle tree” to see how it can work. the tree can be seen as being strong, it can be seen as representing growth, it can be seen as having roots, it can appeal to the country folk as well as those in the city, the branches can be seen as encompassing and protecting all, while also being individual. add to this it can imply alternative, green and environmental issues. lo and behold you have something more than just an expensive squiggle (such a shame the strength aspect is been shown to be a bit of a myth as cameron has given in on the question of grammar schools).

lets return to the london 2012 olympic logo, (if i must…)




what is it? well looking at it there are several things it can be. the obvious one is a stylised “2012” (with an extra bit). (which is what it is.)
then it could be that it “spells” london, the bit in the middle is an “o” while the top line is “l” and “n” and the bottom line is “d” and “n” (true the “n”s are different and yes i am grasping…)
it could be a very stylised version of the london map with the segments being boroughs.
it could also be a stylised version of the olympic rings.

actually what it is: is shit.

this is made worse because it cost £400,000 and it took a year to design. there is a lot of guff about how it has to work on many levels and how it has to convey a lot of information. if you accept that it is “2012” then the information is pretty straightforward and not exactly hard to convey.

go to the london 2012 website and you can discover exactly is implied by the logo/brand. the games are for the young. the games are for everyone. the games will inspire. it is dynamic, flexible and modern.
seb coe
says ““london 2012 is inspired by you and it’s for all of you…. let yourself be inspired to do something amazing…a games for the next generation.”

blair, jowell, livingstone and coe all talk about how the brand will inspire and how it will motivate. they make the point that the brand is aimed at the “brand savvy” youth, who are not interested in static logos (yup nike sales will drop now…) (and we know this is aimed at the youth because it has a graffiti like look to it – though it is rare that graffiti looks quite so angular, but then what do i know?) in all of this the olympic spirit has been lost. it isn’t about sport; it isn’t about participation it is just about the brand logo.

while the public doesn’t like the brand logo, the sponsors love it because it can adapt it to their own needs. see the lloyds tsb add where the second 2 carries their message. apparently coke will be adapting it to their colours and their distinctive logo. so that is all right then.
it appears that the real message is: we want to keep the sponsors happy – the rest of you just accept the bullshit.

Friday, June 01, 2007

lost

another night when carefully laid plans end up on tatters on the floor, no worries i am getting used to that. so rather than go to the late tate event at the tate britain, or wander over to the tate modern, or even go to the royal academy – all of which i would have been too late to for a pleasurable stroll around.
instead i decided to go walkabout.
camera at the ready i set off to explore. now as it was a friday my bag was packed with goodies from work, plus a heap of cds i was bringing home (forward planning for when the office is closed – currently listening to the wonderful “going for the one” from yes, a prog classic) soon i was regretting that plan of action but hey ho by then it was too late.
the direction of exploration was the greenway pathway going towards plaistow. was going to walk along there take some photos swing by tescos get some food, catch the tube home and crash.
such a simple plan. almost foolproof.
all was going well. some interesting photos taken.
oh look there is the meridian line sundial. probably ignored by most people who walk over it. have to say i have no idea how it works and frankly it looks like something that might appear in an x-files episode in order to show that this was a place that ufos land.
mmm those chimneys look interesting. there is some nice graphitti. oh check out the water works building, blimey it is impressive. to continue the x-files theme, it is one of those buildings that look like no one has been in it for years but it is perfectly spic and span. it screams secret government experimental labs.
in the distance i can see canary wharf so i know i need to be heading in that direction to get to tescos, but the greenway keeps going straight. oh no it doesn’t look there is a path by the river (though not a very full river). i set off. the ducks quack. the trees rustle. avoid the nettles. bit spooky. seen too many slasher movies if i am not careful danny dyer is going to jump out and force me to appear in one of his movies – a pretty terrible fate just ask gillian anderson.
onwards. faint heart and all that.
oh there is a bit of a pong.
blimey the path is closed off because of some worth they are doing. so much for getting to the three mills site this way.
backtrack.
which way now? look there is a helpful map showing an alternative route. must be me i can’t understand it. bugger it lets go straight on.
this is dull not much to see of photograph along this way.
there is west ham station lets go over there and then i can head over to bromley-by-bow station and then tescos.
check in the station to see if they have a local area map so i can plan my route better. nope the one on the wall covers about a 100 metres in either direction.
no need to fret. i can still see canary wharf i will just go in this direction. manor road seems as good as any other…
i seem to be heading towards canning town. that isn’t right. look there is a gainsborough road.
oh lets scoot down here and … no that’s an industrial estate. oh so that is where the post office sorting depot is.
am i laughing out loud? i am. this is stupid. wish i had my tripod some very atmospheric shots here. bit of a weird ambience here not quiet the edge of the world feeling though not far from “here be monsters”.
sod it follow this road and see where i come out. who would have thought there would have been a sauna here, look it has a ladies night on wednesday (well can always bring the camera back…)
look there is canning town station. catch the dlr and get home. no! look canary wharf isn’t that far i can walk it by going down here. check out that view of the river and the very large empty concreted space. what are those blokes doing over there? no idea.
shit this was a stupid idea it is further than i thought. next time i will know don’t walk east india dock road.
lots of new building going on round here. mind you that one looks like it is about to be knocked down, seems a waste must be able to do it up and make it liveable again.
where am i? i know. cripes if i turn right here i can walk up to bromley-by-bow.
nope i am going to go to canary wharf go to the tescos in there.
they look like nice pizzas, wonder if they deliver to my area. no. bastards.
ooops took another wrong turn, bloody hell i am at crisp street.
that’s it enough walking.
there is all saints dlr and that will get me to tescos and then home.

the moral of this story is never ask me for directions.

where will i wander next?