Tricolour Design

Mysterious sculptures...

2011-07-01T16:25:00.002+01:00

This is marvellous: Small intricate paper sculptures have been left in several Scottish places.

See the Deadline article.

This small coffin was left with a note on a display case at the National Library of Scotland (note below).

No-one so far knows where these little paper sculptures come from, so much work has gone into them, but even Ian Rankin, the author who is so obviously linked to this, doesn't know what this is all about. Check out this link and forward to 25.38 to hear what Ian Rankin has to say about this.

Verrines, the new(ish) tapas

2011-06-23T16:09:00.002+01:00

An introduction
(for those who are not already in the know)
to the most delicious appetizers in the world!

Small, delightful mousses, blitzed veggies and/or meats/fish, that are light (well mostly light) and just scrumptious...
I am hungry just talking about it!!

The first ones I did consisted of cream cheese topped with salmon & lemon mousse with a mini salsa made up of sundried tomatoes & basil leaves on the top, yummy.
The second lot I did was avocado & tobasco mousse (more or less guacamole-like mousse) topped with bacon.

The idea is to marry different tastes (salty, hot, sour, etc) in order to get an explosion of beautiful flavours in one mouthful - and they shouldn't be bigger than a mouthful, that way you can try a few before you start dinner, or make a dinner out of it, tapas-style.

They can be served in shot glasses or chinese soup spoons (you know, the flat-bottom types).
You're looking for flavours and colours, perfect for the summer too!

Be creative, go mad, experiment and most of all enjoy :)

I have added a couple of recipes on a Squidoo lens, check it out at here, I'll be adding more when I have a minute.

I know, nothing to do with culture or art or freedom of speech, but food is another passion of mine...

Ai Weiwei

2011-05-10T22:11:00.000+01:00

So what is going on?
I have been away a while but I would love to know what is going on... When will he be released (if he ever is?)...See here

Supakitch & Koralie

2010-12-09T11:00:00.000Z

Museum of World Culture in Göteborg, Sweden

I want to share this video because I am fascinated by the artists' work and the process involved in making the final piece. Unbelievable stuff!

I suggest watching this on full-screen...

Ai Weiwei: Mass consumption, Chinese industry, famine and collective work...

2010-11-29T17:38:00.004Z

Ai Weiwei's Sunflower Seeds is made up of 100 million unique works of art, these life-sized sunflower seed husks are in fact intricately hand-crafted in porcelain.

Photo courtesy of Matthieu

Each seed has been individually sculpted and painted by specialists working in small-scale workshops in the Chinese city of Jingdezhen, China's porcelain capital. Far from being industrially produced, they are the effort of hundreds of skilled hands.

It is a meditation on the China of Mao and how uniformity will never completely erase human individuality. It is also about sharing, as Ai Weiwei explains in the film below.

NB: This installation was originally meant to be walked on, but due to health & safety reasons it is not possible to do so anymore (porcelain dust inhalation...). Yet, when I went to see the installation, I was quite shocked to see some people sneakily stealing some of the seeds...

Vote for faster Broadband in the CO10 area NOW!!

2010-11-27T11:36:00.000Z

We need to back a bid to get super-fast broadband:

BT has launched a scheme called "Race to Infinity" in which it has pledged to upgrade the five telephone exchanges that nationaly get the most votes.

The winning exchanges will be upgraded to fibre optic broadband by 2012 at the latest. I have just voted and my vote was only number 274... We need more votes!!

Please cast your votes here.

Many thanks!

Rice!!

2010-09-13T20:14:00.009+01:00

I have been told about a brilliant idea to help alleviate hunger in the world.
It's called the Free Rice game.

Basically you are given a word, followed by 4 definitions. You choose an answer and if you are correct you help donate 10 grains of rice.

Each time you get a right answer, the advertisers in the banners below change. They are the ones paying for the rice.

Considering a person needs 400g of rice a day (mixed with other foods) to get the daily required 2100 kcalories, you need to play an awful lot to get anywhere!!

So this is a call to idle people the world over, start playing! It's fun and it's useful.

Warrior of the Light

2010-07-20T12:43:00.001+01:00

Persia: Man as the Ally of Good

The first story about the division between Good and Evil comes from ancient Persia. The God of Time, having created the universe, sees harmony all around him, but feels that there is still something very important missing, a companion with whom to share all this beauty.
For a thousand years, he prays for a son. The story does not say to whom he prays, given that he is omnipotent, the sole, supreme Lord; nevertheless, he prays and finally he becomes pregnant.
When he realizes he has achieved his heart’s desire, the god of time is filled with remorse, suddenly conscious of how fragile the balance of things is. But it is too late and the child is already on its way. All he achieves by his lamentations is to cause the son he is carrying in his belly to divide into two.
The legend recounts that just as Good (Ormuzd) is born out of the God of Time’s prayers, so Evil (Ahriman) is born out of his remorse - twin brothers...

Read more here Warrior of the Light Online.

by Paulo Coelho

Textura

2010-07-19T20:18:00.000+01:00

... and now for my favourite texture artist (so far!): Vered.

She creates (and has done for many years) beautiful textures, all done in Photoshop.
These are really useful for blog or site backgrounds, well they're great for anything really! If, like me, you can't get enough interesting textures that is...

It's all in a day's work

2010-07-19T12:32:00.002+01:00

I found IOGraphica on a friend's page and really like it!

It is a programme that records the movements of your mouse throughout the day and creates a picture out of it.

These are just a few hours of my day:

The circles represent periods of inactivity (the longer you leave the mouse alone the bigger the circles generated).

Have fun!

Elephants everywhere!

2010-06-16T18:29:00.001+01:00

London has been invaded by the largest herd of elephants ever seen in a city this size.

They are there for a purpose though, to raise money for the conservation of Indian elephants.

They were decorated by a myriad of different artists and personalities and can be seen in the streets and in certain shops, such as Selfridges until June 18th-20th.

From the 18th onwards they'll be gathered for touch-ups and can be seen during official viewing days at the Royal Hospital Chelsea on the 25th, 26th and 28th June, or at Westfield between June 21st-30th.

On July 3rd they will be auctioned off to raise money for conservation groups in India and in the UK.

See more here.

Genius

2010-05-31T14:47:00.009+01:00

Miguel Ripoll has to be one of my favourite designers, an all round genius.

An expert who marries typography & design in an exquisite way...

The site he created for the Department of Spanish and Portuguese @ the University of California, Berkeley (US), which is now, unfortunately, offline, is one of my favourite websites.

I can only dream of becoming this good, though I very much doubt it.

Race for Life

2010-03-14T12:46:00.012Z

Sponsor me!!!

I haven't published anything in a while but this is a personal thing for me.
I'll be running the 5k in Castle Park, Colchester on May 16th and would appreciate anything you can give, so here goes:

Many thanks!

2009-12-07T15:30:00.005Z

Turner prize to be announced in London later today

(BBC slideshow here).

I don't know if I am getting old, but there seems to be so much rubbish on each year nowadays.
I've always loved contemporary art but it really seems that no-one has managed to come up with new ideas since the 60s...

Ok, I'm exagerating. There is Tracy Amin, and a few others. But a lot of the stuff we see is rather gimmicky and doesn't really generate much thought in me...

Even Marcel Duchamp's work (like it or hate it) was thought-provoking, but melting a passenger jet engine to spray the resulting dust on a gallery floor?... Gimme a break...

Stainless steel lattice with cubes of cow brain... They used fat in the 60s... See! Nothing new!

I do like Enrico David's work though:

I know, I know, all art is subjective...

The three "R"s

2009-10-18T10:05:00.016+01:00

Reduce, Reuse & Recycle

For some time now I have been part of a very good Yahoo group called Freecycle.

The aim of this group is to recycle items you no longer need by passing them on to people who do need them, thus keeping a lot of stuff out of landfills.

You post these items as "Offered" and people come and collect them. You can also request things by posting a "Wanted" item.

The beauty of it is that there is no money involved...

This is a global group with local cells (I belong to the Sudbury branch).
So far I have received a cookbook stand, a kettle & a toaster, and I have given a stepper, a cat-litter tray and cat-food.

It's worth joining, you'd be amazed to see what people advertise on the site (computers, huge trampolines, washing machines...) and it's definitely a good way of doing your bit for the planet.

Oh dear... Mr Zimmerman, what happened?

2009-10-14T09:54:00.009+01:00

I had found a YouTube clip of Bob Dylan's Christmas album but the guy who posted it removed it... :(
Believe you me, it was a scary sound!!!

The irony of a jewish man singing about Christmas & Jesus wasn't lost on me either but kudos to Mr Dylan, all proceeds will go to charity.

Beautiful images...

2009-10-13T20:53:00.005+01:00

Morgue File is the 1st place I go and visit whenever I need a beautiful image. I even have a look at the site for sheer pleasure, typing random search words to see what comes up.

Granted, some photos I see there are nothing special, but you can find true gems among the grit...

I love beautiful images, they can be so simple like a single drop of dew on a leaf, or they can contain interesting textures, like a nice black & white shot of old machinery, with lots of contrast - it can be anything...

It is never too late to do the right thing!

2009-10-13T20:36:00.009+01:00

"A former US soldier has returned two historic books he took as 'souvenirs' during World War II." (Source: BBC)

Read more here.

The power of thought

2009-10-06T19:50:00.019+01:00

"Imagine a world in which you don't have to flick a switch to turn the lights on or boil the kettle.

In this vision of utopia you don't even have to say "lights on" or "time for a cuppa". All you have to do is think it, and technology does the rest.

It's the stuff of science fiction. The kind of futuristic opening scene a film maker might employ to establish that the storyline is set well into the 22nd century.

Or maybe not..."(Source: BBC)

For more read here

I'm all for a colourful life!

2009-10-06T16:18:00.010+01:00

This site is a goldmine to find interesting colour schemes, palettes & patterns:
www.colourlovers.com
Enjoy!

Roman Polanski

2009-09-29T13:13:00.005+01:00

Should Roman Polanski be above the law?

"The Chinatown director's arrest on a 32-year-old charge of underage sex has outraged the French government and his fellow film-makers. But then, France has a long tradition of treating artists differently"(Source: The Guardian)...

For more read here

I must say that I have always loved his films, and although he did commit a crime, surely there is prescripion now!! Especially when "the victim at the centre of the case, Samantha Geimer, has previously asked for the charges to be dropped. She has already sued Polanski and reached an undisclosed settlement"(Source: BBC)...

Business Networking on Ecademy

2009-09-26T17:03:00.003+01:00

Ecademy enables business people to connect through online networking using social media tools, at business networking events and 1-2-1 meetings - a community that advocates, connects and helps one another.

A very useful tool indeed! My page...

Animated by a will to further my skills...

2009-09-25T13:11:00.010+01:00

...I am venturing into the wonderful world of Flash... (download Flash Player here)

BT warns of a phone scam

2009-09-22T10:08:00.003+01:00

What will they think of next...

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/8263637.stm

If you are ever in doubt regarding calls or emails you receive, just go and check out www.snopes.com and type a key word in the search box. They should be able to tell you if it's a fake or not.

A bit of self-promotion doesn't hurt anyone!

2009-09-15T15:14:00.005+01:00

ARE TYPESETTING SERVICES

COSTING YOU AN ARM & A LEG?

I offer typesetting services at highly competitive prices...
Just visit my site to see what I can do for you!

See what my clients say about my services here.
Hoping to hear from some of you soon!

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INTERESTING LINKS

Home

2009-09-02T10:42:00.000+01:00

I recommend this very good film to everyone, it concerns us all and you don't often see such beautiful pictures of our planet...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jqxENMKaeCU&feature=related

Enjoy,
Val