2006 November

Entries from November 2006

This bloke

November 10th, 2006 1 Comment

There’s this bloke who I often see while lunching by the river. Tall, slim, probably in his early 40s and bit haggard looking. Like an unpampered Jeremy Clarkson. While most of the regulars down there will squeeze into the last chink of autumn sunlight that manages to get past the buildings, eat a sandwich and [...]

Tags: river stories

Here I am

November 7th, 2006 No Comments

Well, as you can see, this blog appears to be up and running. I could hang around for ever while I get it looking pretty and functioning nicely, but I reckon I’m better off just jumping in. Let’s hope all this default stuff doesn’t hang around as long the dead links have on the home [...]

Tags: general

Billboard Psycho

November 7th, 2006 No Comments

06.11.06Originally uploaded by meltingman. Norman Bates behind a Matalan curtain. Vauxhall, London This is my first ‘blog this’ attempt from flickr and, my, it works!

Tags: photoblog

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Briliant!

Dave Brubeck with young Russian violinist

“During a visit to Moscow in the 80’s, Dave Brubeck met the faculty and students in Moscow Conservatory. While he was improvising on a “Ei, uhnem”, a Russian folk song, a young man downstage stood up to play Stéphane Grappelli-style violin jazz with him.”

(by afahsu)

via @openculture

(via Ai Weiwei Piles 1,200 Bikes On Top Of Each Other, For Dazzling Effect | Co.Design)

Infographic: The Changing TV Landscape

(via Iconic Photographs With Their Subjects Removed)

“I have only my talent for drawing, so I drew.”

austinkleon:

Ronald Searle, Les Très Riches Heures de Mrs Mole

47 jewel-like drawings by Ronald Searle made for his wife, Monica, each time she underwent chemotherapy. On New Year’s Eve 1969, Monica Searle was diagnosed with a rare and virulent form of breast cancer. Each time she underwent treatment, Ronald produced a Mrs Mole drawing ‘to cheer every dreaded chemotherapy session and evoke the blissful future ahead’. Filled with light and illuminated in glowing colours, the drawings speak of love, optimism and hope. Like the mediaeval illuminated manuscripts such as the 15th-century Les Tres Riches Heures du Duc de Berry, to which the title of this book refers, the 47 drawings are on an intimate scale and were never intended for publication.

When asked about the drawings, Searle said, “I have only my talent for drawing, so I drew.” Here’s a little more about them:

Prior to the cancer shock the couple had bought a decrepit house in the south of France and, despite her illness, Monica continued to devote her time making this house a home.

Devastated with his wife’s diagnosis Ronald did the only thing he knew how to do to cheer her up. .. draw.

Before every chemotherapy session he gave his wife a painting. Monica was depicted as a mole, a very happy mole celebrating life in their new home. (The Mole idea came after their discovery of a large celler that they made into a cosy room)

‘Everything about them had to be romantic and perfect,’ says Ronald. ‘I drew them originally for no one’s eyes except Mo’s, so she would look at them propped up against her bedside lamp and think: “When I’m better, everything will be beautiful.”

Searle died last week at 91.

(Images via bluedoorbooks)