Everyone is banging on about how bad the logo is. Before you make up your mind, watch the official flash video. UPDATE: Film now changed as the original was too flickery!
Only then, can you comfortably come to the conclusion that it is a load of old wank...
Seth Godin has them bang to rights...
Monday, June 04, 2007
That new Olympics logo
An Englishman's home...
Goodrich Castle near Ross on Wye in Herefordshire is a worthy visit. Run by English Heritage, an imaginative audio guide takes you round and paints a rich verbal history of what it was (probably) like. Although somewhat ruined (ironically by Roaring Meg, the Cannon that now stands in the courtyard) enough remains to grasp how it evolved and was used.
As ever, the postcards and web turn up better images, but here are a few I took.
The approach to the Barbican. It was originally guarded by a drawbridge, two Portcullises and barricated doors, as well as arrow slits and murder holes.
The Courtyard, facing the Keep (which is a much older vintage than the towers.
The ramparts from the moat.
Ancient Monument advice.
A contemporary (1992) window in the Chapel, celebrating an RAF Radar unit.
The other window, for the Millennium, the one that can be seen to the left of the barbican entrance. I particularly like the colours cast onto the stone by the bright sunlight.
Sunday, June 03, 2007
Unmistakably Welsh
(Note: I have deliberately uploaded smaller image views as I am conscious of blog loading times for those web connection doesn't run at the speed of Pooh through a Goose. I'm also conscious that the blogger image sizing & wraparound code is pants so sorry for the quirky layout. As ever, click on a photo for a more detailed image).
David and I went on a backstage tour of the Cardiff Millennium Centre, home to Welsh National Opera and a bucket load of other theatre companies. The theatre is less than three years old. The signature aspect of the design is the huge bilingual calligraphy writing on the angled facade. 
The english bit says "In these stones horizons sing" and the Welsh bit says "Creu Gwir fel Gwydr o Ffwrnais Awen" and is a different phrase to the English one. I hoped that it translated to "My Hovercraft is full of Eels", but disappointingly, it actually means "Creating truth like glass from inspiration's furnace".
The guidebooks make a feature of the curved bulk of the roof but don't mention the view from the rear which is considerably less inspiring, consisting of utilitarian windows with air ducts above. 
This is very much the business end of the stage house with dressing rooms and offices (& presumably air handling plant above judging from the air ducts).The main cladding of the central building is a burnished steel but the flanking wings (known as the anchorage and the waterside to use nautical metaphors) are clad with slate and glass in a stratified manner.
Internally, various (sustainable) hardwoods are used for the balcony & stairwell facias, whilst the supporting columns are a very dark material in a diamond pattern that is very tactile. The columns are vaying heights and are capped with a functional light fitting described as industrial.
The calligraphy is also echoed internally and subtle tints of glass give a banding effect. Here is a billion monkeys self portrait of myself reflected in the bar mirror at the lowest of the three levels.
Sadly, this area is not open to the public outside of performances which is a real pain if toilets are closed as the two ends are not otherwise linked.
(We'd been in the building a couple of days previously and snapped this appearance of a Tardis & a Dalek!)
Photography wasn't allowed backstage or in the auditoria, so I had to make do with a snap of the advert banner for the tours. The main auditorium has a variable acoustic by the lowering of quilted sound absorbing panels to the sides. When raised, thousands of different sized mylar panels reflect sound in multiple directions (each one hand fitted to a complex plan from the acoustic consultants).
Here are a smattering of other images:
Checking up a few facts afterwards, I found out the tour that would have been the ideal one for me- the Access all areas Techie tour.
(Image from the Cardiff Millennium Centre website).
Why is the building unmistakably Welsh? Because the design brief said so.
"Vote early and vote often"
I've been merrily nominating all sorts of sites for all sorts of categories (even my own! after all, if I don't, no-one else probably will...)
Feel free to do the same, you have until Tuesday 9pm, after which it moves into the voting phase.
(Hat tip to Liz for the cartoon creator link)
(It was Al Capone, who said Vote Early, Vote Often, as well as alluded to by some Leeds Labour Councillors...)
Deja Vu
Deja Vu, "as any fule nose", is the feeling you get when you've been somewhere before. Sometimes you don't actually have to have been there and sometimes the feeling is associative through evocative memory rather than actuality.
I experienced it at Penarth, a small seaside town south west of Cardiff when I saw the Pier Pavilion building. I quickly made the connection- the 1999 arts film House! used it as the exterior of a former theatre turned cinema turned bingo hall. (The interiors used a Miners welfare Hall elsewhere). House! is set in South Wales and is a rather sentimental (to me) story about the decline and unexpected resurgence of a building after an unfortunate series of events. It is rather funny, tastefully made and well worth getting. (It is tricky to find on Amazon, so here is a link).
It hadn't been obvious to me that it had been a pier pavilion building in the film, but on rewatching key scenes, it is obvious in hindsight, particularly the two wings.
The exterior gives no clues at at to its current use. The Directors' commentary on the DVD referred to it being in use as a gym, which I took to mean a health club.
Peering through a fire escape window, the reality is even more surprising- it is full of artistic gymnastics equipment like parallel bars, balance bars, high bars and lots & lots of blue mats.
The hall is rather squalid internally, although it does have a gallery at land end, but surprisingly, not a stage at the sea end. A curved glazed lounge complements the entrance area on the opposite end of the building and the turrets are matched.
This was a steamer pier rather than a pleasure one and has been damaged a couple of times over the decades, as is often the fate of most seaside piers. It does, however, seem to be fairly popular and not specifically threatened. (There are even plans to restore the interior, pdf here
The beach is a bit of a letdown though- shale even coarser than Brighton. Throwing rocks into the sea is a Junior's idea of heaven though!
Five miles further round the coastline lies Barry Island, renowned for its golden sands and Fun Fair.
The beach is really nice and the Prom spacious. (The strange tubular object bottom right is the top of the telescope that I used the housing for as a panorama tripod).
I imagine that Barry island is to a Cardiffian (?) what Whitley Bay is to a Geordie- full of happy memories but now past its best.
The entrances to the Fun Fair promise a lot, but the delights within are something of a let-down.
The Fun fair was a big disappointment, half the rides were closed or not even there. The Log Flume looked attractive, running over a (closed) river caves type ride next door...
But the rest of the park gave way to spartan touring rides and scattered sideshows.
David loved the beach though!
Deja Vu at barry- for the Spanish City in Whitley.
Girl you look so pretty to me,
just like you always did,
Like the Spanish City to me,
when we were kids...
(Tunnel of Love, by Dire Straits, decrepid image of the crumbling Spanish City found on Google Images from Radio Paradise)
Saturday, June 02, 2007
Eco-Balls
Being sponsored by the Guardian, you'd expect a bit of planet saving at Hay on Wye.
Here is a bit- Sky's minimum carbon footprint house (& they don't mean live in a tent!)
The writing is on the wall, or ratrher, the mirror. The message is- take a look at yourself.
Lots of handy hints & tips from nanny.
A combined mulcher and worm colony!
A kettle that only boils as much water as you need- you pump a cupful to the element.
These balls go in your dryer & help the process. (Of course, a washing line and airer are much better approaches)
There they are- the eco-balls. Own up; you thought the article title was an opinion, not a product! (Well, it turns out to be both!)
Blogpower awards
I joined the informal Blogpower collective back in January. Within the social sphere that it creates, forty or so minor league bloggers (like me) support each other so that we are not voices in the wilderness. (This is where a lot of my comments come from).
Whilst I've been away on holiday, Nourishing Obscurity has, in a rebellious act of counter-anarchism, persuaded the others to support our very own set of awards. There are twenty categories, from the sublime to the ridiculous.
The big difference with the Blogpower awards is that they are considerably more transparent than the dead paper variety and have evolved via discussion within the community rather than be contrived in smoke filled rooms.
You can find them appearing HERE, summary below.
1 Best Britblog or Column
2 Best North American Blog or Column
3 Best Blog or Column outside North America and the U.K.
4 Best Fisker
5 Best Ranter
6 Best Political Blog or Column
7 Best Blogpower Blog or Column
8 Best Layout and Style
9 Best Post of All Time
10 Best Little Blogger [i.e. under 100 uniques a day]
11 Most Articulate Wordsmith
12 Most Under-rated Blog or Column
13 Most Over-rated Blog or Column
14 Most Politically Incorrect Blog or Column
15 Most Sadly Missed or Whom We Feel Sorry For
16 Most Unintentionally Humorous post
17 Most Consistently Entertaining Blog or Column
18 Prettiest or Tastiest Blog or Column [refers to food or domestic bloggers]
19 Award for Shameless Self-Promotion
20 Award for Services to Blogging
Hopefully, he will put up some clear guidelines for people so they don't have to go looking for them, in the meantime, look here.
(Cut & paste:)
How to nominate someone
1] Copy and paste the number of the category and its name directly from the appropriate post header into your e-mail message.
2] There are no restrictions on how many categories you nominate for, how many people you nominate and how often. The only restriction is that once you have nominated someone for a particular category, you may not nominate that person again within that category.
3] Nominate the person by name [if possible] then by blog name or column.
4] Please don't include extraneous words in the e-mail as I have to wade through this to get to your nomination. It's not necessary that you justify your nomination - just nominate!
5] Send this e-mail to: jameshighamatmaildotcom .(note for the thick- change "at" to "@" and "dot" to "."! Ian)
6] If you have no e-mail or wish to not reveal it, then create an e-mail just for this time at some freehost like MSN or Maildotcom or Googlemail.Nominations close tuesday 9pm and I'll post when it is possible to vote.
"Greengrocer Grammer..."
Zaftig has a post about irritating punctuation, something that I concur on, especially by intelligent people who you would expect to know better.
As seen at the Newcastle Eldon Square Shopping Centre...
(It was next to the new temporary Green Market bit so the old adage holds true)
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