sometimes you need to stop and rip it up and start again

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ESy-Z8vqMrE

writing a blog about not writing a blog

I take photos a lot and draw sometimes, and sometimes I write. I am writing in my head all the time, or maybe that is thinking, but I think of it as writing.

The past few weeks I have been writing in my head about places in this city that seem to be a cross road in my life. Places where I have been many times in different stages in my life.

Broadway and Main comes to mind. Lately I have been going into the Tim Horton's there to get coffees to take to my friend Ron's place at 28th and Main. This building used to be my bank years ago. It was the bank that had my safety deposit in, the one with my Brick Shares, my free experiment in owning shares, BC Government's waste of tax payer's money.

It was the corner where Keith and I used to go to a bake shop that had day olds and took them to his place at 10th and Main to have with coffee while I was living in my house with no hot water, under construction stuff, or the contractor taking money from my purse, I think the later. Keith would have a hot bath ready and coffee and I would bathe and drink the coffee, eat the pastry and leave for work.

It is the corner near where I found Keith dead in his apartment in July 2007. It has been hard going there for a long time.

But is just a corner, as Neil sings 'all my changes were there' well some of them anyway. Photos to follow and more about the corner of Broadway and Main. There, did it blogged. Ha

VIFF - White - South Korea 2011, 106 minutes

I really had no idea what to expect from this movie when I sat waiting for it to come on. I had already taken photos of the poster, and uploaded this one photo to Facebook and setting it as my profile photo. It is an endlessly fascinating photo of section of the poster. There even is Vancouver reflected into my photo on the right had side.



I will talk a bit about the film, and then the effect on me. The film starts with a girl group driving the fans, young girls crazy. The girl group is a signing group like Spice Girls, not a band like The Runnaways. Next the Pink Dolls came on and the audience was bored, texting, standing quiet, while these impossibly cute girls in pink lace performed. There career was tanking, management was getting ready to cut and run. They did not win the contest. Being the lead, standing centre rather than in the back is very importand to these young women, we Mick Jagger would understand.

These young girls, who quite often look alike all strive for the position on lead, even though as a band they have to the bottom of their career. They move into a news studio to record their last chance recording. Then luck changes, they find a song on a VHS tape, and hear a song, the video is blurry but the sound is a song, they song they need, with a beat so fresh, so unusual they know it will take them to heights they have never been to.

What is the price they pay?

I will not give the blood parts away. As I left the theatre I had no desire to look for tapes behind mirrors but I did wonder into a few shops looking for the pink lace and leather I had seen so often in this South Korean film.

Vancouver International Film Festival

I have decided on my first movie to see and blog about for the 2011 film festival, and again I find myself picking a movie by the photo in the online booklet. In 2004 I picked a movie to see from a photo ad for the movie 'DIG!' directed by Ondi Timoner and that movie changed my life. I may not have that expectation here, nor did I have it then however.

The first movie will be: http://filmguide.viff.org/tixSYS/2011/xslguide/eventnote.php?EventNumber=3323
Patience (After Sebald)
[PATIE] (Feature)
Nonfiction Features: Arts and Letters
(UK, 2011, 80 mins, HDCAM)

I will keep you posted on this adventure.

Well the images, filmed in black and white on a out of production Kodak film stock gave this film another wordily feel, time and space, a calm controlled palate to introduce other forms of colour film. This was used in a way so that at times my mind did not know if I was looking at colour or black and white and it did not mater.

I watched this film the way I would watch a butterfly in my yard. The trails through East Anglia, mapped are based on the walks in W.G Sebald (The Rings Of Saturn). It is not a story based on a book but a story about the book.

The slow deliberate pace of the movie contrasted with the fast passed walking colour footage taken by the director Grant Gee of his feet walking. This colour footage centred in the movie from time to time, was not jarring but more a tap on the shoulder to wake you from a dream of landscapes and places.

There are secret, and sacred places, and this movie lets us travel there with no feeling we would be hurt or shocked. All is calm, a treat to the eyes and our busy lives.

Yes it would have been nice to have read the book that he is travelling through, but the journey is wonderful, the book will be next. I will look at my photos of East Anglia and if any of my black and white photos have the feel, I will add them to this review.

You might be thinking were might the music connection be, has bev given in to her photography. The director Grant Gee has made two previous impressionistic documentaries, such as Radiohead's "Meeting People is Easy" and his 2007 documentary, Joy Division.

film is showing Oct 6 at 11:30 at GR2 and Oct 13 at 11AM at Vancity Theatre

Vancouver's viaduct or shopping for a freeway

Other blogs on this subject and the meeting of April 7, 2011

* http://stephenrees.wordpress.com/


'In September 1965, Vancouver ratepayers were asked to vote on a $ 10 million money by-law authorizing City Council to replace the structurally unsafe Georgia Viaduct. Assuming this meant simply putting up a new viaduct, voters passed the by-law.

There was no indication that the viaduct would be part of a freeway system, since Vancouver had yet to adopt (as far as the public knew). However, City Council had refused to accept the City Engineer's proposal for the Viaduct. Instead, they decided to approach the province and see if financing could be arranged for Phase One of the original 1959 freeway plan. They were flatly refused by the Provincial and federal government.

Undaunted, the city hired Phillips, Barratt and Partners in late 1965, to study a new alinement for the Georgia Viaduct and to advise council on street planning in the urban renewal area to consider certain "freeway components" when designing a new viaducts - eg 1) an east/west freeway along Venables and/or Prior Street; 2) a waterfront freeway and a Brockton Point Crossing; and 3) a north/south freeway along Main Street. None of these were officially adopted by city council.

The first Georgia Street Viaduct was built between 1913 and 1915. The narrow structure included streetcar tracks that were never used. It was a poorly built structure which, over the years, threatened pedestrians below with falling pieces of concrete. At one point, every second lamppost was removed to remove weight. It was replaced in 1972 by the current viaduct, which is structurally separated and contains three lanes for each direction of traffic.

Nothing seems right

Today is April 5, 2011.

Early this morning, I was awoken from sleep and came down stairs into the living room.

Almost every other night I take my laptop to bed, but last nite I was fretting about an email I did not get so I closed it and left it behind.

I usually leave the laptop open on the bed to Deadtv, waiting for Anton's project to start where he plays some of the best music in the world.



This interview with Bobby from the Warlocks being interviewed by Anton used to come on when he was not broadcasting, and it could be turned off. Now we have an interview with Jon the artist.

This morning at 1:20 AM something woke me and called me to the computer. I know it was Anton, not that I had too, he was just saying.

This is a photo of me watching Deadtv last night.

My New hat

I have known about these Dead hats for a while. I am not sure when I first saw one of these hats on Anton Newcombe, but he was in Iceland I am sure. The hats are made of Icelandic wool. This hat is an art piece by Nonni Dead from Dead Skeletons. Here is a connection to their Dead Mantra on Youtube.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CsyrOGRxF0E

The phrase being said over and over is 'those who fear death can not enjoy life.'

I went to the Vancouver International Airport to meet Spliffriff when she was flying back to Germany. She gave me a Blue Angel Lounge LP # 255 out of 300 and I gave her a print of one of my photos of Anton Newcombe. We had talked on Anton's ustream show, Deadtv and this was the first time we met, only the 2nd person from that art project I have ever met, not counting Anton himself.

This is link to Anton's art project Deadtv

http://www.ustream.tv/channel/dead-tv-berlin

This is a link to Anton and I talking

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GdC298yGyWc

This is a link of me and Spliffriff doing a Deadtv ad at the airport

http://www.flickr.com/photos/bevdavies/5509982105/

When you look at this video you will see me wearing a white with black skulls Dead hat. This is the first time I was ever able to touch one of these soft excellent hats. I got to wear this wonderful hat. I decided to get one as soon as possible. This is me tonight, it came in the mail from Iceland yesterday.

In Canada we call this a toque.