I was fortunate enough to bag an invite to a private viewing with a question and answer session with James and it feels a shame that it is only going to be around for 3 days over the Summer Bank Holiday.  So while some Londoner’s will be trotting down to Nottinghill for the carnival they’ll miss this merge of visual art and music.

Basically James has composed a variety of tracks, handed them to some highly acclaimed creative artists in the field of music, art, film, fashion and design and told them to come up with something for the exhibition. There are video arcade machines, toy sculptures, animatronic designs, lightboxes and believe it or not Azzi Glasser even created a scent!  So if you thought art galleries were just filled with dull paintings, this one will turn your world upside down!

Sadly I only had my mobile phone’s camera available to take some snaps with but the truth is, still photography doesn’t do it justice.  For me, some of the best pieces were the audio visual installations which included Jamie Shovlin’s TV installation Untitled (Separate Half), John Hillcoat’s Knob Creek, Jonathan Glazer’s amazing film Red Clay and Warren Du Preez & Nick Thornton Jones’s stunning video Follow Me Down. Warren and Nick also provided some stunning artworks on paper and glass.

As I said, it’s on from 27-30 August 2010 at The Haunch of Venison, 6 Burlington Gardens, London giving you 3 days to view 44 pieces that took 3 years to put together and was funded by Lee Message and her husband Brian, who manages Radiohead. More importantly, it’s FREE!

So, the end result is I’ve deleted all the drafts as can’t seem to find as much enthusiasm to finish them off as I obviously had when I started them.  This means of course that some topics I really wanted to mention I won’t because I’ve forgotten them.  That’s not to say the topics were not worth remembering, it’s because I naturally have a bad memory I sometimes rely on my blog to remind myself of things I like!

One campaign that I should mention is one being run by Aviva, it’s their Tell Us Your Story campaign.  They are looking for people who’ve gone out of their way to help others, caring souls (their words not mine!) who have answered the needs of an individual, family or local community.  You nominate them online and could win a £1,000 prize for Story of the Week.   Stories are also voted for by the public, with the overall favourite receiving a specially tailored grand prize worth £10,000. And it doesn’t stop there!  For every nomination made Aviva will be donating £1 to the Street to School programme.

This was a campaign that was brought to my attention about 3 weeks ago and I started to write about it and got side tracked however I was flicking through the newspaper when I actually paid attention to one of the full page ads, it was actually for the Tell Us your Story campaign.  If I’m honest I only paused to look at it because it was almost a page of yellow and it demanded a second look.  That said, the copy was deathly dull and that may explain why I’ve not heard much about the campaign and as I work in the third sector, these things are usually well circulated.

I think that in itself is a shame as it certainly looks worthwhile but I fear it may miss a larger target audience due to it’s ‘lack of life’.  My experience of the people that have the stories to tell is they do not have the time to read 4 condensed paragraphs of marketing techno-babble, hell I can barely do it and I’m selfishly only looking after myself!

In totally unrelated news I bought another painting from Scott Saw.  This one is based on his Axiom character.  Regular readers may recall I bought a few Axiom prints last year.  I probably ended up paying around $125 more than I needed to because I ended up outbidding myself after making my initial auction bid on the wrong account!  That said, I didn’t mind paying more as I paid what I thought was a fair price and allows the artist to know his work is appreciated.

Now I just need to figure out where to hang things, I’ve already started hanging art in the hallway and some walls have more art than wall on show. Like books and tattoos, collecting is a sometimes impulsive, sometimes long drawn ut process but ultimately very rewarding and enriching, even if we sometimes don’t realise it until much time has passed between acquisition and that light-bulb on moment.

And from charity to art to drugs in a few paragraphs!  I was intrigued to read about some new drug (Alemtuzumab) they’re hoping to licence which is based on the THC found in marijuana.  What’s interesting is that because marijuana is natural it cannot be patented so they have to extract it (the THC), jiggle around a proton or two and call it a unique process, earn a patent and small fortune from governments that prescribe the drug as a relief to suffers of MS.

From what I can gather this drug will cost on average £300pm per patient.  How much cheaper to dispense medical marijuana and allow people to self medicate with cookies, tea or an old fashioned spliff and all for far less than £300 per month!  They say it would be drug dealers who have most to fear from the legalisation of drugs, I’m not so sure myself…Drug patents, legalised drugs, is BIG business with a truly global market.  Something to think about huh?

With luck(?!) the gap between posts will reduce over the coming weeks.

I found out that Birmingham Royal Ballet were bringing their production of The Sleeping Beauty to London and as luck would have it, I was able to see it on opening night, the day before I was due to fly out to Kiev.  Well, Icelandic volcano ash put paid to the trip to Kiev but my trip to the ENO went ahead

I should actually mention that between the November 2009 and April 2010 I did manage get along to the Peacock Theatre to watch Blaze. Sleeping Beauty this was not.  If however you like street dance (what people my generation would probably call break dancing) then you’d have enjoyed it.  There was one really cringe-worthy scene where they try and do some weird rap about how it’s cool to be fat just eat vegetables and meat in sensible doses.  No, it was worse than I’m describing it, it was terrible. But, that was the only low and as lows go it wasn’t that bad.

A few years ago I enquired about the times of the street dance lessons at a local gym which holds classes and getting told in almost hushed tones that I should realise that I’d probably be the only guy in the class and everyone else would be aged 18-25…I think she was trying to discourage me, it worked and in a way I’m glad because after witnessing the mooves that were being busted during Blaze, I could see my creaky old bones would never keep up…

So, Sleeping Beauty. Well, well, well. I was initially a little intimidated.  Sadler’s Well was an airy, relaxed venue but the Coliseum heaves and throbs when full, as it was the night I went. I almost thought my fears were coming true when just as the lights dimmed and some people were heard to chatter for perhaps 5 or 6 seconds before others loudly Shhhhd their disapproval to the chatter until for a second or two the loudest noise was from the cacophony of Shhhs being Shhhhd! When quiet resumed I settled back to watch and listen.

Now, as a complete ignoramus when it comes to ballet and dance in general, I can only gauge something as good if it looks good to my untrained eye.  I do believe that the guy who sat in front of me was one of those devoted die-hards who was either a current or ex dancer or in some way involved in dance because he got so excited by the slightest of things.  A dancer would appear, hop, skip and pirouette and he sat clapping furiously like a small child.  It was quite amusing but I didn’t really catch what it was he was seeing, or if I was, I had no way of understanding what was so exciting…it was all fantastic as far as I was concerned.  Again, as with in Blaze, the physical abilities the dancers have is amazing, even my untrained eye could see some of the moves were feats of endurance combined with grace.

One thing I would say from my limited (2 visits) experience of ballet goers is that they are friendlier than opera goers.  As I looked around the Coliseum I saw a wide age range from perhaps 6 to 80, the same venue for an opera production has an age range of perhaps 25-80 and oh so very stuffy. Whilst sitting I discovered that the 3 generations of a family in the row in front (daughter, mother and grandmother) were there courtesy of grandfather as a birthday present.  The family next to me (American husband, Thai wife and 3 teenage kids) were more than happy to extol the many delights of ballet.  When I looked again at the chiselled calves of most of the dancers I realised she was being very polite when she insisted that even I could be a ballet dancer if I really wanted to be.  All that leaping and bounding? No thank you. But still, in all my years of going to opera, people hardly ever say a word out-with their companions.  I found that interesting.

The production itself was stunning, the sets and the costumes.  I think there was only one slight slip during the whole 3hr+ show and it was a case of blink and you miss it.  I could perhaps see that if you knew what you were watching, dance wise, it would be easy to end up like the guy in front who almost seemed to wet himself with his enthusiasm.  There were a few occasions where even I felt myself starting to applaud just as others were doing the same thing for a split second I started to think there was some subliminal message being transmitted in the dance that was brainwashing the audience.  But then I reminded myself I don’t believe in Big Brother and went back to being mesmerised by the dancing and the music and the costumes and sets.

If I’m honest I barely remembered the story and quickly had to search for it in my cobweb filled head as it turned out that what I thought was Sleeping Beauty was actually Snow White minus the dwarves.  However my fears were put to rest when I found I could follow the story from the action on stage although it may be that because I was watching for the story I was missing some of the dance but what I didn’t miss was amazing enough. Have I told you how good the production was? It really was.

I went along to see the ballet with a nothing to lose attitude.  I wasn’t sure if I was going to be a ballet liker but I was willing to give it a go and I’m glad I did.  I found it very entertaining and quite stimulating, energising and relaxing too.  Yes, it really was good.  Of course I’ve only ever seen Birmingham Royal Ballet productions, what if it’s them I like and not ballet at all?!  I guess I’ll just have to go to another production and find out!

So, while I type this in bed, recovering from some sort of mutant cold/flu bug (not man-flu) I thought I’d tell you about The Vice Guide to Film.  As you’d expect, this is no regular film guide.  Shane Smith, the co-founder of Vice Magazine, explores some of the less-known film movements and national cinemas of the world.   Shane gives you, the audience, a chance to peek behind the closed doors of the film industries in countries such as Iran and North Korea where he hangs out with maverick film makers like Gaspar Noé and throws himself in at the deep end by acting in a Mexican film.

The Vice Guide to Film not only discusses films, culture and politics, but it also seeks to give a voice to people without one. This is all done in true VICE fashion; taboo subjects and raw aesthetics make the show shocking and mind provoking.  By following the series of 6 episodes you’ll encounter film and life from North Korea, Mexico, Beirut, Russia, Iran and Japan; a varied selection you have to agree!

To whet your appetite, why not watch this trailer for the series which should start this week over on VBS.tv

So, I haven’t even blogged about the weekend in Paris, strangely I managed to upload the photos almost as soon as I returned but I kept putting off saying something because I wasn’t quite sure what to say and in my head I had the notion to construct something worthwhile, to do it justice.  I will do that but for the moment let me just say that I spent a very enjoyable weekend in the company a finer group of stranger you could care to meet.  The bloggers in question were Jenny, Claire and David and each brought a friend, or in David’s case his charming wife.  I invited Tanja, possibly the strangest 5th date but I think she enjoyed it.  In case you are new here the weekend was courtesy of the Comité Régional du Tourisme of Paris Ile-de-France as a result of a piece I blogged about back in December, the original trip was postponed due to the problems Eurostar had dealing with the wrong type of snow. Anyway, as I said, I’ll return to Paris at a later date…

Last week I attended the monthly London Bloggers Meet-up which was sponsored by Greene King IPA.  They’ve introduced a new fan-dangled pump dispenser that gives you either a Northern or a Southern style pint.  Now, I have to say, I’m not an ale drinker.  Until a few years ago I wasn’t even a lager drinker. Cider and Guinness were my pint sized tipples of choice.  So I felt a little strange appearing to be the only person drinking lager at the event but I finally relented and tried the IPA; obviously I had to have 2 pints, 1 Northern and 1 Southern just to compare.

As it happens the ale wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be, I’d tried drinking it many years ago but just couldn’t get over the feeling that I was drinking flat beer.  As I write this out I’m actually enjoying a glass of Greene King’s Ruddles Ale which was included in a very generous goodie bag.  I discovered that the bottled ales are carbonated and this therefore reminded me of McEwans Export which I used to drink when I lived in Glasgow.  Maybe it’s the bubbles that make it more palatable to me?  Anyway, I’ll probably write separately about Greene King as I have a stack of info on the new dispenser and they’ve offered a tour of the brewery so I may take them up on that and blog about the whole thing as one.

Finally, tonight I was very fortunate enough to attend a preview screening of the new Spike Jonze short film I’m Here which was done in collaboration with ABSOLUT vodka.  You may recall I wrote about it earlier this month. All I can say is it was awesome!  It won’t be released on the website until 1 March so obviously I can’t tell you too much about the story other than you MUST watch it!

I enjoyed everything about it, from the music to the story to the conversation afterwards with Chrissie as we shared our thoughts and discussed the many layers Spike created in just 30 minutes.  The venue for our screening was the basement of a car park and it was terrific, from the bubble-wrap carpet to the cardboard boxes that revealed self inflating mattresses just prior to the screening, Chrissie and I were very rebellious and chose to sit on the cardboard boxes instead, took me back to the gruesome 2 weeks I spent sleeping in the one under the Royal Free Hospital, only this time ABSOLUT had provided some cocktails.

There were even the obligatory ad-men prats who sat on shooting sticks, probably so coked up they didn’t realise they were not being hip, cool and trendy and people weren’t looking at them enviously, only as a re-affirmation of how their lives weren’t as bad as they thought the were!

So, that’s me more or less caught up with things, I’m sure I’ve missed a thing or two but c’est la vie!