1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10... 598, 599, 600

Been a delightful few days - my apologies to anyone whom I owe email to, I'm back and getting on with it...!

Firstly headed down to London for the surprise 31st Birthday of Andy from Digitonal. I think that was possibly the first surprise party I've been to where the birthdayee was genuinely surprised... especially as we all bukkaked him with party poopers. Happy birthday mate!

Isobel came up on Sunday with her Dad and we all went off to see Richard Thompson play the Lyceum Theatre. Despite being way high up in gods, and being compressed into a space smaller than your average aeroplane toilet for 3 hours, and some truly god awful support, it was a good night. Not exactly what I listen to normally, but hey, it's always good to check out different and new artists.

Isobel had taken Monday off so we had a great day just hanging out, eating food, drinking beer etc, and then as she shuffled toward the train station I shuffled toward the 65dos house where I, alongside many others,, spent my entire evening individually numbering 600 copies of their 'Radio Protector' 7" single. Each one is handstamped, numbered and has a unique polaroid attached to the front.



They are beautiful. The singles, that is, not Simon and Robb who are pictured above. Those guys are beautiful too, now I think about it, but not in the way the singles are beautiful.

When I started this blog I imagined it would be a harvesting ground for my philisophical musings and sardonic viewpoints on life. But it's just a list of things I've done, innit...?

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Conspiracy Theory

Ok. So, first Mark Oaten is publicly crucified and resigns for having an affair with a rent boy. Second comes George Galloway being slandered every day in the press (I think the headline was "Hated Galloway Faces Ruin") and having old or speculative headlines used as a tool against him. Now Simon Hughes has had to pre-empt the Sun's no-doubt gleeful outing, causing more of our nations journalists to talk of the Liberal Democrats decline.

I smell more than a strong whiff of our tabloid hacks attempting to discredit any third party that offers an alternative to the right/far right options we have right now. By inferment and implication they have gently led opinion toward a personal dislike of these figures, irrespective of their policies and political backgrounds.

George Galloway may be many things - good and bad - but dragging up old news and splashing speculation across the front pages when they know he cannot defend himself is cheap and lazy. Equally, calling someone a liar for wishing to remain in the closet and claiming it news is both offensive and incredulous.

I just want to live in a nation of adults.

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Go Sheffield!

Congratulations to Tom and Tom at Go Sheffo for getting through to the next stage of the Channel 4 Big Art Project. I think that their 'Cooling the Towers' project is one of the best ideas to have hit Sheffield in a very long time and I wish them the very best of luck. They propose to turn Sheffields long defunct industrial cooling towers into huge pieces of public art that stand to remind the millions of people that drive past them every year that we are an innovative, artistic city looking to the future.

They explain it much better on their Cooling the Towers page than I would ever be capable of, so I urge you to head over there and bask in their wonderful grasp of the English language.

This could be our Angel of the North

Chris Penn RIP

And so the big guy has taken the final lead in the B-movie in the sky... odds are it's Best of the Best VI: A New Beginning, but I guess only time will tell.

So long Chris, we'll miss you; 'Remembering Chris Penn'

breaktime

Colder in Sheffield than the polars of hell today...


There should be more to say as so much has happened recently (not least my live VJing debut for Nine More Lies) but that can all wait. Spent much of my time at work today setting up the Showroom cinema employees blog for us to contribute to whilst waiting for work and / or customers. It's a hard life and no mistakin'.

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learning curve

Another day. Another moment of a finite lifetime passing me by.

I've spent all day rebuilding and reinstalling my computer as that virus still had a stranglehold. It worries me how much of my life revolves around my computer... it will be only a matter of years until the prophecies of Neal Stephensons 'Snow Crash' come true. We will travel in a virtual online world where each webpage is a house, each person an avatar and the superhighway is an actual superhighway with trams to take you from IP address to IP address.

I between restarts, installs amd frantic searches for drivers I spent some time learning some new VJ software. Vidvox Grid Pro looks like this...


Rehearsals for the 65 tour start tonight so, much like exams, I've been cramming.

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Touring

Just noticed this on the 65daysofstatic website; the first tour poster. Being on tour is about as much fun as it is possible to have, and I cannot wait for this one.

I swear. I'm going to bed. Now.

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Invigorated...

...hmmm... hardly

Spent all day making DVDs and mailing them out. 65dos master here, visuals there, showreels somewhere else... and now I've just found a small glitch in one of them, which is not only very annoying, it's also a tad worrying.

Isobel sent me a care package today. 1 x scarf, 1x humourous political badge, 1 x photo of us taken around 10 years ago and 1x satirical postcard. This is the postcard:


I look at it as a care package. The scarf will keep me warm, the badge will stop me being shot by overzealous police on the London Underground, the photo will remind me always to have humility and the postcard makes me smile because she wrote nice things on the back. If there's not looking after me, I don't know what is.

Start at the break of dawn tomorrow who comes to the cinema at 8am?

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Haaaair...cuuuut

I have shaved my head... a hot shower on a freshly shaven head is the greatest sensation known to man.

This photo wasn't taken tonight. But a shaved head is a shaved head.

critical response

After writing about screening the new 65dos video to the band a couple of days ago I've been thinking alot about how I handle criticism to my work. My friend Dan was at a screening party in Manchester at the weekend and had a conversation with a guy from Sheffield who was not a fan of the Media Lounge. Apparently our work is "not very good" and we are placed somewhere up and inside our own intenstinal tracts. I also found this weird old thread which mentions our unsavourary characteristics and my (unnatural) height.

It's a difficult balance; on one hand I am very proud of our work and genuinely think that what we do is very good, but on the flipside (whoops, mixing metaphores there) I am aware that what we do is not to everyones taste and is guaranteed to not be liked by everyone. I suspect that, secretly, I like hearing the negative comments more than the positive - when I get complimented about our work I find it difficult and embarrassing, but when it is criticised I immediately become curious as to i) how that impression was formed, and ii) if there are any improvements that can be made. I've never taken it personally.

Opinion is, after all, a matter of opinion and any compliments or criticisms are the result of one interpretation. Saving Private Ryan really offended me, but that does not mean Steven Spielberg set out purposefully to offend me, or to make something that I would interpret as offensive - it is the result of a thousand different factors, non of which are controllable. Therefore when I hear of people who like or dislike what I do I find it more interesting to consider how that opinion was formed as opposed to take it as a personal compliment or attack.

I think the syndrome is called Anhedonia.

The 65dos video worked out just peachy, by the way. We have a finished cut and its being sent off to the PR people tomorrow. And only 9 days over the deadline. Yay! Go Dave!

I'm reading the John Peel autobiography at the moment; almost every page is making me sad.

.

bastards

Some cunt has infected my PC so it disconnects at random moments and slooooooooooows down my machine whenever I'm online.

Fuck you, you fucking fucks.

Fuck.

Musical snobbery

The charts are a popularity contest, no debate there, so it is little surprise that the gaps between what the public lap up in their millions and the preference and critical opinions of the music press. Last year, when X-Factor finally rolled over and crushed the last musical hopes of a generation, the recipe for success never seemed more obvious - take a bunch of artists, whittle away any elements that the majority of people don't like and you will end up with someone who is the least offensive to the most number of people. That is why, at the end of the 'competition' you ended up with a man called Steve from Leeds who sang cover version.

And now the music press are struggling to understand the popularity of James Blunt. Of course he is bland, of course he is boring, of course he is the middle of the road - that is why he is so popular. In an increasingly hermoginised industry how is the casual music listener to find new artists when there is such meagre choice in the first place? James Blunt succeeds because there are no people being offered up to replace him - criticise the horrific tedium of his music, by all means, but please stop expressing disbelief at his success. He is the natural product of an industry that grows less and less risky by each day. James Blunt may be the nadir of popular music, but at least he's a fair representation of the state of it.

Link hilarity

So my blog address is http://www.dawnofthedave.blogspot.com yes?
Take out the S of blogpsot and you get http://www.dawnofthedave.blogpot.com which is something altogther different...

Update

Turns out the Matador was pretty good... who'd have thought a Pierce Brosnan movie could achieve the status of pretty good? He's come a long way since he quit Bond...

Dopo Mezzanotte

Caught a good film today - After Midnight (or Dopo Mezzanotte), a really quite charming Italian comedy set in the Museum of Cinema in Turin. It's always a pleasure to watch a movie that you know very little about, and have no expectations of, and be completely won over be it.

Much like Cinema Paradiso, it is about the history of cinema and how it weaves into peoples lives. Turin looked absolutely gorgeous, as did the lead actress Francesca Inaudi.

Very few better ways to spend a Wednesday afternoon I reckon, and since I was paid to be there, it was even better. Gonna go catch The Matador tonight - I don't particulary expect too much from it but it's always good to catch a spot of Hollywood from time to time.

I screened the pre-final cut of the new 65daysofstatic video to the band last night. It's never a pleasant experience, showing your work to people, and even though the band are very good friends, this wasn't any better.

Don't get me wrong; they liked it and I am happy with what I've done - but you have a very close and personal relationship with a job and the fear of it not being liked or understood is very real. We ran through it a few times, offering constructive criticism and we've found ways to improve it. Another days cutting and it should be totally finished and ready for public consumption. I'll post a link when it's ready.

Today was the first day of Spring - not officially, but it felt like it on the walk to work this morning. Looks like we'll be at war with Iran just as soon as we wrap up converting those pesky Iraqis... the world will never learn. It was said in Waking Life that "now is absolutely the most exciting time to be alive so whatever you do, don't be bored" but at the moment I'd settle for a little less excitement and a little more stability.

Peace

Bad Guy

If I was a bitter, aggressive convict on the run, I'd want to be called Desolation Williams as well.






"Come any closer and I'll cut this dyke bitchs head off."

Ice Cube, long may you reign

Affairs of the day

Friday was the busiest day I have ever experienced at work. Normally the day begins easy and slowly gets easier - it's the perfect switch-off job, something that I truly appreciate as the rest of the time I am frantic with work. Having a part-time job such as this forces me to slow down and think about something else. A figurative jar of coffee in a perfume shop if you will... it resets me.

Not Friday. Brokeback Mountain (Bareback Mountain or "that gay cowboy movie" are the two most common mistakes) opened and the whole place was flooded with middle-aged liberals, all clammering to be the first to prove they're not homophobes.

Actually, its quite sweet. Almost all of our customers are lovely people and it is genuinely heartwarming to see people queuing to watch a movie that, even a few years ago, would never have had this much acclaim and notice. I'm really looking forward to seeing it.

The Christian Family Association, or the American Family Association, or Concerned Mothers of America, or somesuch other silly institution called it "vile" "abhorent" "neo-Marxist homosexual propaganda." I love those fucking guys - people so utterly removed the philisophical and moral nature of their own religions that they knee-jerk react to anything not in their Cleanflicks version of the Bible. These are the same people who boycott companies for daring to advertise in gay publications - sad, little bigoted dicks so terminally afraid of having responsibility for their own lives that they choose to instead claim their moral outrage as the wishes of an omnipotent deity who will reward them with everlasting joy.

I find that a bit fucking creepy.

Anyway. I have such a love affair with organised religion I find it difficult to start hypothesising on the philisophical flaws contained within it. I love them, I really really do. Due to the falibility of man, anything that is channelled through him must, be very definition, be open to corruption. While the Bible is the word of God, it was been written by man and therefore must be open to interpretation. If you placed your faith, values and life in a belief system, would not the most logical thing to do be constantly question and deepen your understanding of that system? A literal definition of a text that by its very nature must be flawed is both stupid and dangerous... as I recall, the only dictated words from God are the 10 Commandments and they make a hell of a lot more sense than "man shall not lie with man."

I'll stop now. I'm sure I'm wrong on everything - my knowledge of religion is limited, I just have an overinflated opinion.

Had a great weekend. It was the birthday night out for my girlfriend Isobel. It was the first time I had met the majority of her friends and I was expecting, to some degree, a spot of prodding and poking and approving. Turns out I was completely wrong, they were all totally lovely and we had a great night getting rip-roaringly pissed. I couldn't help but sleep the whole next morning... everytime I tried to open my eyes or have a conversation I just fell right back unconcious for another hour. I think I was so utterly exhausted, and because Isobels street is so quiet compared to mine, my body just grabbed onto the rest and wouldn't let go. I feel much better now.

Sunday was grand too - went and met Isobels parents (bit of a surprise that one, but again they were really nice so I had nothing to fear) and then caught up with my best friend Ellie who I haven't seen in months. We had a great chat for a couple of hours, a spot of hair-of-the-dog and I was on my way. Tomorrow its back to work and I have a video to finish, but for now I shall revel in my relaxed state.

Peace.

I'm so tired...

... so so tired...

I know. Melodramatic . Just can't help myself sometimes.

Worked every day since Boxing Day and been making the new 65dos music video at the same time. It's Isobels birthday tomorrow so I'm down in Nottingham while the deadline for the (as of yet unfinished) video goes whizzing past.

I've had a thousand witty things to write in this blog since the last entry, but none of them have some back to me. I'm so tired. Perhaps I should go to sleep instead of writing...

This is it...

The Dawn of a new Dave.

I write this from work where tedium has hit the nth degree. I figured that since I spend much of my time thinking articulate thoughts that are never articulated and witty comments that are never heard, I should use my time constructively and write a blog that will never be read.

The Guardian got me into it; that little boxout on page 2 that examines the worlds feelings on any given subject through the medium of a few quotes from random blogs. Even as I type this, I secretly wish that some journalist, scanning pages late into the night, will stumble upon my words of wisdom and quote them the following day. Hey you! Out there! Make my opinion matter!

I work in a cinema so as to continue to survive. Just over a year ago I was earning 3 times what I make now, but I also did that by making corporate videos that I didn't care about and spending all the time worrying about where the next big job would come from. Now I feel like a real artist as I struggle to get by every day but revel in indulging my artistic interests.

Art vs Commerce. Living vs Surviving.
I'm reminded of the lyrics from 'A Satisfied Mind' by Johnny Cash:

How many times have / you heard someone say
If I had his money / I'd do things my way
But let me tell you / it's so hard to find
One rich man in ten / with a satisfied mind

Oh what the hell, I'll keep going;

Money can't buy back / your youth when you're old
Or a friend when you're lonely / or a love that's grown cold
The wealthiest person / is a pauper at times
Compared to the man / with a satisfied mind.

I figure the best way to honour someones memory is to not go and see the biopic of their life.
http://www.walkthelinethemovie.com Walk the Line - Walk on by.

I'm swigging whiskey from a hipflask while I wait for the end of my shift. It can't come quick enough.

Dave

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Ignore all these photos, I use this post as a place to hold photos built into the HTML