New Banksy stuff

Channel 4 had a report on the five new pieces of work which Banksy has done for us, making very political statements in his traditional manner.

This time he has worked on the Israeli 'security wall', dividing Palestine from Israel.

The report is here and includes video of Banksy at work. I recommend you take five minutes to check this out.

Why not open a new window while the site downloads and look at some of the pix here while you wait?







Multi-modal fun.

Surreal

Swans by No Traces

Big Brother

has of course been a grand disappointment this year.

Many ex-watchers of that surreality tv programme have observed to me that it seems the producers were only intent on recruiting weirdoes for the show; people who would boost ratings by taking off their clothes all the time; people who would be willing to perform sexual acts on tv. (I say 'sexual acts' because what I have seen has not been people simply having sex. Oh no; nothing so unexotic. They have been sexual acts and I will not describe them as otherwise I would have to re-live the experiences.) I have been reticent to agree with whole sale slating of the 'housemates' as this does seem like a rather gross way to treat a bunch of people; but now after 71 long days, I feel I have to agree.

Luckily I have seen redeeming features in all the UK housemates from time to time; in some there have been more than one. However they all seem in general to be so unbearably slobby, rude and maniplative(apart from dear Eugene who therefore cannot be a real contestant this year).

Yet I have watched it nearly every night it has been on. Why?

I think it is dramatic tension; it is the sheer 'whatever next?' factor.

But next year

I WILL NOT BE WATCHING.

I have wasted my time, been lured in and not enjoyed it at all. It is the only tv programme I watch most nights and what a silly one to have chosen!!

In future I will remain where I am most evenings, having digital fun in the Internet.

I will not be voting for a Big Brother winner but urge you now, to get over to the final stage of The Big Blogger House and vote for Vitriola to win!!
Read her latest post here.

Come on come on. Today is your last chance!!

Vimeo

Ths site is a video sharing space, and it's 'About' page declares that:

The inspiration for this site, most prominently, comes from Ludicorp's Flickr, Josh Schacter's del.icio.us, Lev Manovich, Albert-Laszlo Barabasi, and Dr. Maria Montessori.

It is not blogging on video, (you are only alowed 8mgs of space per week)rather it allows you to put short videos on the web which you can then link to from your blog. I don't think you can download into the blog though, but reckon that must be coming...

Anyway no time to experiment with this today, but will do when I get back from my holiday.

In the meantime, why don't you check out the site and see what clips there are? I found some of them VERY puerile, while others just illustrate how hard it is to make a film that will capture and hold attention. Just because a film is shorter does not mean it is easier to make; it has to be well shot and well PLANNED. Most of the examples I saw on this site are not, but it is early days yet.
For what it's worth, I quickly learned from using my video camera, you are best off avoiding swooping about with the camera; you should take a series of shots; don't try to 'show everything' but instead should keep a tight, still frame round the subject.
But what the Hell do I know?
Nowt, probably.

No pix here

OK, so did you see Riverbend on 15th July?

She wrote of a fellow Iraqui blogger being abducted, and asked for prayers.

That abducted blogger, Khalid, is back now and blogging again. Read his thanks here. Read his story here.

So blogging can be very dangerous.

It can also be politically positive.

bikes

bikes
Originally uploaded by Dr Joolz.

TT bought these for us last summer. They are extremely whizzy and shiny.
It is however, rather naughty to keep them in the house like we do.
But we have not got a shed.
Does anyone know any good shed bulilders in Sheffield?

My new camera

lets me take lovely close up shots.








I have made these REALLY BIG just to show off.

I can't help it.

If walls could talk

When I was in Sheffield city centre today, I discovered a street with derelict buildings.
Really strange, as I had not noticed it before, I go past it often, and it is literally in the centre. Anyway, I looked through a broken, and very dirty window and saw four men, dressed in satin boxing shorts, boxing gloves etc etc, having a boxing match in a proper boxing ring. I have only ever seen that on the tv before and it was surreal seeing that funny little scene through the window.

I wonder what the story is there. (Did they break in? Is it their secret den? Are they renting it? Were they making a film? Was I in a time warp? Are they murderers? - ooops sorry got carried away.)


It was very weird but they looked as if they would hit me if I photographed them. So that's it; no pic.

I took this picture of a nearby cry for help instead:




Interesting that there is a web address; I like the way someone has neatly rammed the beer can in the air vent.

Who do you think wrote it and why? ( I DEFINITELY think it is a girl's writing)

Bendy Em

Bendy Em
Originally uploaded by hunchermuncher.

Yep.
I agree.
She is quite bendy.

clothespegs

clothespegs
Originally uploaded by The Rusty Projector.

Check this out.
Click on the photo tile and then look at the whole English summer set.

Just to add

to claire's post on Mediated here there is also this piece from The Observer/Guardian here about Teens and Queens.

Keep your screen clean

with this.

Let's play .'It's Essential!!'

In an exciting multimodal expose of my lifestyle, I am going to reveal to you all my kitchen gadgets!!! (Hooray!!)

However I will tell you at the outset, I also have the following:

Candy floss maker
Yoghourt maker
An electric steamer
A Pressure cooker.

Frankly, I got tired after heaving all the other stuff out of my cupboard.

OK so here goes:

1. Popular with the kids, as it is so easy to use, I give you the ...

Toaster and Toasted Sandwich-Maker:

Teenagers can endlessly make (and consume) toast and toasted sandwiches - (but canNOT wash-up.)

2. Next up is the item which was supposed to end the heartbreak of returning from holiday. Having learned that Margaritas are essential, we had to have the proper glasses, cocktail jug and stirrer, as well as the ICE CRUSHER:



After several months of getting totally pisst every night, we knocked that habit on the head and only use this little darling occasionally now. (But it was fun at the time!)

3. This next item is totally essential. It is a combination cooker - convention and microwave - and gets used every mealtime.



4. Now, my sister bought me these as a wedding present on my FIRST marriage of the series, about twenty years ago. They began just with Imperial weights but I have recently bought grammes and kilogrammes for use with those irksome new recipes:



I use it all the time as I am useless at guessing portions.


5. Okay, now for a real faddy purchase: I stuck with it for about nine months, daily making fresh bread. But I put on about ten pounds in weight and the kids thought the bread was foul (hence I ate it all.) I give you, the

Great White elephant

: (Breadmaker)



6. This little item is especially important around birthdays. It is the whisk - mainly used to make cakes but sometimes is involved in pancakes and ommelettes:



7. These things RARELY get put in cupboards. This is the real play area of my kitchen. Rosa makes her millions of fruit juice smoothies, vegetable concoctions and other wild experiments. Also here, is the blender, which may be called in to help with banana whizzing but is more often part of a whole soup-making rigmarole. (I love soups.)
The garlic/herb crushing thing (curved knife and board) is used a lot too as I find it therapeutic to mince fresh herbs (from the garden) with it; the electric onion and garlic chopper also gets used a LOT. I keep a lot of dried herbs and spices here as I forget to use them otherwise.



8. This is the gadget I claim not to know how to use so that TT has something to do after he has eaten the wholesome evening meals I lovingly (and slavishly) cook for him:




So there you have it. These are (most of) my kitchen gadgets.

What do you find essential in YOUR kitchen and WHY?

I am

quite worried about the literacy levels in Liverpool:



And yes Kelly-Marie, I dispair of you.

And how are we to know how many fat boys this cafe is for?



In case the author of this signage is looking, can I just say:

Fat boy's cafe = The cafe is for just one fat boy
Fat boys' Cafe = The cafe is for lots of fat boys.

And that is even before we start thinking about the Public Health and Safety aspects on the cuisine in this particular establishment.

And I DEFINITELY do not want to buy liver from here:

Answer to the quiz

Well I am afraid there were not many entries.
(One to be exact.)

Unfortunately as I did not understand Kate's guess, ('It is a textual aftefact which has narrative overtones.Anyone can see that.') I do not know if she won.

The answer was, it is a snippet from this HUGE Ratty, done by Banksy:



Kate's prize, (as I think she may be right) is a free trip to Banksy's Gallery here.

Yorkshire Sculpture Park

Went to the sculpture park yesterday and saw an orange man in the trees.



TT and his son Sam The Man were with me and never behave when I take their photo:

.

TT is in the pose I associate with knitting patterns.

Anyway we went mainly to see this.
TT took a picture of the poster outside as there were body guards indoors protecting all the little people from havingtheir souls stolen.

More on this exhibition here.

Quiz answer from Saturday comes later today ...

Retail therapy

Do you like these?



I hope so, they cost a flaming fortune!!

Glass beads

"All the way from Brazil'"

said the VERY charming boy in the shop!!

Liverpool

Phew!!
We need a bit of a lighter note from yesterday I think ...
Today I went on a visit to LIverpool, home of so much culture.



The city does have a reputation for crime and so naturally I felt nervous when I saw this warning...



So I kept a vigilant eye out for dodgy juveniles and saw them abusing the scenery EVERYWHERE.

There was this one in a hoody:



Obviously more scarey as I could not see his face.

This one was marching through the fountain

EVEN THOUGH HIS MOTHER KEPT CALLING HIM OUT.

This one attacked a defenceless old lady, Miss Rigby:



(I saw him just run up and hit her. Really I did.

Anyway, what do you think this is?



The answer, and more multimodal narrative soon.

Bad mother?

Anya cited Weblogged who cited Anne (ha!ha! ha! - so many citations) all reaching to this article about a mother who is so enlightened that she has realised that not only are blogs not harmful, but they could also be educational.
Well, yes, I agree this is what we are all driving after, but I am not sure I see this parent (great credentials 'single mother of two') as liberated and enlightened as Weblogged does.

I may well be a bit too lackadaisical in my care of my two teens, but I would never feel I should vet their friendships anymore than I would stand at the edge of the playground; follow them round town; or check out who they spoke to at the bus stop (etc.)

I agree that it is important to try and ensure that your children make sensible decisions about others; that they are careful etc, but the idea of signing contracts is way out of my league:

This is what Laura, ('single mother and freelance journalist') says:

'Like any privilege, computers can be a lesson in responsibility. Before gaining access to the computer at age 13, my children had to sign a computer contract of appropriate online behavior (see box below). They learned early that Internet privileges stem from whether I (the bill-paying head-of-household) think that they (the eager self-expressive socializers) have a full grasp of the issues. The contract was a first step in proving their understanding of what was at stake.'

For what it's worth, I think that teaching kids values is not a one off where you swear to agree to a contract, but shown through daily lived experience and ongoing discussions about people, about life, how to judge situations. And after that you have to trust and let them take their own risks.

I cannot believe she insisted on being able to access her 16 year old daughter's Xanga blog!! Surely a blog can be private if the blogger wants.

When Laura writes:

'To keep a blog going, you have to have the discipline to write daily. This puts today's young bloggers on the fast track to future Pulitzers. To keep your friends coming back, you have to be interesting, funny, intelligent, relevant. These kids are all that and more. Once I got past the immature spelling and punctuation (along with usual teen slang and vulgarity), I was treated to some of the best poetry I've ever read. '


I think the blog is being judged in a way that is inappropriate and intrusive. I'd like ,to think beyond the idea of blogs being just a training ground for novelists; how about being a good blogger fullstop? The spellings I have observed are not immature; what kind of comment is that?
Yes I AM glad about the fact that she does say some good stuff and may be encouraging othes to be less bigotted; but I think we need to ask for even more understanding than this.


OK. Am I being mean to Laura?

Am I too permissive with my kids?

Have I been cossetted by my own good luck of having kids who act responsibly? (Am I naive?)

Or are they like they are because I DO trust them?

One little anecdote: my friend's Mum used to stand at the back of youth club discos when we were teenagers - just checking that she did not kiss boys. But I can tell you, where her Mum did not follow (i.e. in the youth club cloakroom) she did things her Mum did not dream of - but was the only one who did behave like this.

What do you think of that?

uphill

uphill
Originally uploaded by Gadjo Dilo.

I love it, that even when life is a bit of a struggle, people still manage to look stylish when they want.
I really like this shot.

dreaming

dreaming
Originally uploaded by Gadjo Dilo.

Oh nice to just relax and read.
This is a theme on my blog at the moment it seems. Maybe I am yearning to be on holiday!

Reading Faust

ReadingFaust
Originally uploaded by Lt. TL.

Loving this!!
Reading Faust.
On duty in Iraq.
Marvellous.

Making like the old folks

Yesterday the weather was dreadful, especially considering we expect sultry warmth at this time of year.

Anyway, we decided to make the best of it and 'made like old people'. We went for a drive, occasionally pulled up at the side of the road and took photos through the windows.

It were grand.

On one occasion we even stood by the car for a few minutes and took photos standing up.



Photography is all the rage in our neck of the woods.






As usual, this was all I could see of my husband ...



And if you look closely, I am in his lens - so to speak.

Who dies in Harry Potter?

Found this video cited on Joi Ito's site, it is a video - called Potter Crash (man spoils harry potter ending - funny) - video.
I thought it was funny but am in a MEAN mood.
(Obviously you should only watach this if you want to know who gets killed by who without reading the book.)

I am name dropping - Joi Ito is Mimi's brother.
keep it in the family.

More from the glocality

Abu dhabi girls in traditional outfits
Originally uploaded by Emaratiprincess.

There is a group called Muslim cultures on Flickr.
There is also a blog which has arisen frrom the pool here.

This is DrJoolz bringing you pix from across the globe, into our glocality.

Reading is very bad

Obviously it is not just play station and computer games which some parents want to ban.
If a book is really popular then that needs to be slated too.

We know all about Harry Potter and how it turns kids evil. The pope has even spoken out against him. And he is usually very liberal of course.

Now we need to keep them away from Mark Haddon's foul book.

fresh fruit

fresh fruit
Originally uploaded by snapshots of life.

Mmmmm scrumptious.
This is from 'Snapshots of Life' - uncannily like my blog title.
This photographer has LOADS of lovely photos - check them out.

free prostitutes

free prostitutes
Originally uploaded by wacky doodler.

Thanks so much to wacky for so much blogging material lately!!

fat orange

fat orange
Originally uploaded by Madge Webb.

Yep.

What would Trinny and Susannah say?
I agree.
Why not check out what Victriolica has been up to lately?
She's even got new paintbrushes and has been conjuring some EXCELLENT visual treats for us.

Gangsta Grannies

I am sure the Hoody Moral Panic group on Flickr will be delighted to know that in Margate the Grannies are joining in the irony.
Thanks to Vitriolica for the marvellous illustration.

Digital Glocalities

she woke up that morning, and she had no idea she was going to die.
Originally uploaded by wacky doodler.

This is an art installation set up by a group of artists, 'Visual Resistance' who use artefacts in order to make protest statements.
I recommend following this visual resistance link, to the VR blog as it is interesting.
There are a number of photos of so-called Ghost Bikes on Flickr.


I think it is interesting the various ways in which people make protests and I like the way people realise that the web can be used to distribute art. I like the idea of political art. I like the way we can see so much of the world from our homes and hear messages of local protest. And I like the way we get these messages from small groups now, rather than from huge corporations all the time.

As Vic and Allan might say

"Keep it Glocal!"

Lots of mess

Kate is so interested in mess and in artefacts that I found these for her on Flickr.

This is the chaos pool , which includes some pics of messy houses.
This one is of a group focussing on messy desks which has a certain appeal.
And these photos, are all tagged with 'messy'.

Kate also lurves artefacts and so here are some of those.

But if you spell it like the Americans as 'artifacts' then it is more interesting. Which shows that Americans get it and that the English do not understand like Kate.


But look how many people want to share their graduation photos!!

(I am such a miserable blighter that I did not go to mine.)

Flickrites sharing their mess and their victories with the whole wide world.

Now, why do they want to do that then ? Huh?

You tell me.

Reality Drama - Real- not -Real

Sometimes you just cannot be bothered to do anything at all in the evening ...so last night I watched tv from about 7 p.m. to about 11 p.m.

Fantastic.

The news at 7, followed by some awful thing about doing up your street with the neighbours. It did not live up to the hype and I watched people choose what walls to knock down, put up and then knock down again. I could not decide whether to watch the reality show about hellish neighbours, but instead (like Clare) opted for the old faves Trinny and Susannah. I saw them blitz a couple of women's wardrobes so they could be made into Trinny and Susannah clones on holiday. Then I think it was straight into Big Brother which I now cannot bare but HAVE to watch. I now do not want anyone to win and it is as much fun as being in a car crash with all your enemies, watching that. But I force myself just to show a bit of discipline; I mean if I cannot stick at something for a couple of months, what am I worth?

I had to pay the price for all this fun fun fun, by getting up at 6.45 in order to read a dissertation chapter ready for a student meeting me at 10. (Should have read it the previous evening of course.)

But nightmare, nightmare, had to do Tuesday's washing up as had not done it on Tuesday and was so rushed that I smashed the penultimate wine glass against the sink.

Fabulous.

Basically the margins between Reality TV and those of my life are blurring; this is all so post-modern I don't know who I live with. The walls of the BB house are ever open and I live in that house with THEM, but OMG they are in my house with me. It is all so confusing.

So here I am this evening back in my blogging routine.

In the Big Mother House.

It is day 5,000; I have done the cooking; I have washed up; I have done my marking; am doing my blog.

Bet you're pleased.

I know I am.

here n there

Great set of photos here.

Interesting theme, abandoned, here.

Read a bit of online journalese on The Culture of Participation.

That's all for today.

Am zoned out.

summer in the steel city

I only live twenty minutes walk from the Sheffield city centre so I tend to walk in.
It is always pretty, especially so on Saturday as it was so sunny and I saw tennis, and frisbee, kids in the park and men playing bowls in Crookesmoor park - which has a lake (with fish).



I know you can't see much from this, so let's check out the detail ...

Here we have an exchange of tactics...



And I thought this lot were meant to be watching ...



The wives are just talking about their suntans I reckon, and the little guy is off and away..

Once I got into town, the women there were much more attentive spectators of men:



These stylists from 'La Coupe' were checking out the credentials of the workmen knocking down a building. (I think they passed muster).

That's it really. A quiet weekend where I cleaned my house, went shopping and waited for TT to return.

I got presents. Yay!!!

But not from here.


TT seems to have spent most of his time taking weird photos like this with this.

Better luck for me next time maybe.

Detoxing

Rosa decided it was time to detox.
(Personally I am busy re-toxing as quickly as possible with the use of red wine and cheese. )

So, it was off to the beauty parlour and off with the shoes and off with the socks.

She stuck her feet in a potfull of water which, I kid you not, turned dark brown and had DISGUSTING blobby white bits floating all around.



Our beauty clinician (sic) reliably informed us that the treatment had 'worked' because the toxins were all coming away.

After further pursuit of The Truth (no time for post-modernism in my Real Life, thank you very much) I was told the following, in no uncertain terms:

(And as Kate would say, 'best read in a South Yorkshire accent')

You know like you're all made up of ions? Well any way you are. You are made up
of positive and negative ions and these are like pluses and minuses. Well the
pluses and minuses are suposed to be all sorted out and not muddled up. You have like pluses down one side, and minuses down t'other. But if
you are stressed, or ill, or depressed, the pluses and minuses get right, like
messed up. Well by having Aqua detox, they go back in order again and that's how
it works; it gets rid of the toxins then. But this takes several
treatments to work properly. We recommend five.'

Hmm, right, so that's that then.

The wonder of Science

(Five treatments @ £15.00 each is £75.00 to you. Thank you very much Mrs.)

We are back again next Tuesday, with our fingers crossed. (That's a plus.)

And another thing...

It was SO INSPIRATIONAL to hear Barbara Comber (University of South Australia) talk last week about Critical Literacies and turnaround pedaogies.

This is a researcher with sensitivity and respect for pupils and their teachers.

So eloquent was she, that as I listened I wanted her to repeat phrases so that I could keep them in my mind in the way she said them. Things like,
'teaching literacy is about helping pupils in assembling dynamic repertoires of literacy practices'

She had some gorgeous metaphors ... such as 'the virtual backpack' of knowledge that children bring to school.

She talked about how over recent years teacher autonomy and good practices are being eroded, so that

'what constitutes literacy has become colonised... by teaching 'blocks' and
'hours''

She said we need to teach literacies with

currency,
durability,
consequences.

In teaching repertoires of literacy practices, she talked about enabling the young, to enter different spheres of life.

'Literacy with currency and durability. Literacy that is legal tender in a range
of sites.'

She described this as urban renewal from the inside out and talked of projects where the young worked with architect students about developing their neighbourhood, and impacting on planning and building work. She talked about how it does not take a lot to reposition children as nowledgeable, as having opinions, of being curious and active. By seeing them differently, they behave differently, and tecahing needs to shift so that there is a shared investigative approach to learning.

This was sheer music; when I see the young learning together on the Internet, in groups and projects they have set up themselves, I wonder how it is that this is not going on in all our schools. The inspiration of Barbara Comber is that she manages to empower teachers to help the children act out powerfully in schools.

Here is a key note speech she gave elsewhere, but which outlines some of these ideas.

But I also like this, 'Coming ready or not.'

Well that's a relief

Clare has now got her own blog.

It's right good and there's only two posts so far.

OK so

you need to get over here and see a 'Many Lemons' production. Thanks to Anonymous leaving the address on my post yesterday.
This was the film which Mimi(yes we can call her this) aka Mizuko Ito showed us at UKLA conference. It is young people working 'beneath the gaze of adults' as she put it so eloquently.(Although not so 'beneath the gaze' as the Narutrx film did get two awards - one from the prestigious Boing Boing).

I recommend you also check out the Ninja spoof while you are over that part of the web, I actually like this one more. It has a related
'fan site' with loads of bits for you to fall over laughing at.

So thanks anon, I did Enjoy and hope everyone else will too.

PS I think I know who Anon is.

It is so hot here

that I have real sympathy with this.

Check out the rest here.

Read this aloud:

Margaret is training for movement and mime
She comes each morning in very good time
For she must keep the muscles of each lively limb
Mobile, nimble, rhythmic and trim.

Muriel had to recite this at her elocution lessons when she was a young girl.



In view of the fact that I could BARELY STAND from laughing after Muriel's well paced and practiced recitation, my little group attracted the attention of Henrietta Dombey who contributed this fine verse:

Uncle George and Aunty Mabel
Fainted at the breakfast table
This to you should be a warning
Never do it in the morning.

Goodness me.