VidLit Yiddish with Dick and Jane (via fishbucket)
VidLits will not perform properly on dial-up connections.
(It performs well enough to suggest it would be pretty good to see properly)
Wednesday, November 24, 2004
macro lens
The narrow depth of field of the macro lens creates the illusion of little self-contained worlds, each complete with its own light, its own atmosphere, its own mood.
A stunningly beautiful post at Paula's House of Toast
found via fait accompli
Comments: macro lens
speechless. thank you for that link.
Posted by kent at November 24, 2004 02:16 PM
One of those 'restores faith in blogging' links.
Posted by boynton at November 24, 2004 03:41 PM
Aren't they fabulous? Thanks for the pointer, B. I must find out more.
Posted by Dick at November 25, 2004 10:37 AM
me too.
Love the use of the medium here too.
Brief lyricism, visual narrative, and a link.
You have the intimacy of writer/reader and that sense of a wider web, interconnected conversations.
Could it happen as well in another medium?
Posted by boynton at November 25, 2004 03:46 PM
A stunningly beautiful post at Paula's House of Toast
found via fait accompli
Comments: macro lens
speechless. thank you for that link.
Posted by kent at November 24, 2004 02:16 PM
One of those 'restores faith in blogging' links.
Posted by boynton at November 24, 2004 03:41 PM
Aren't they fabulous? Thanks for the pointer, B. I must find out more.
Posted by Dick at November 25, 2004 10:37 AM
me too.
Love the use of the medium here too.
Brief lyricism, visual narrative, and a link.
You have the intimacy of writer/reader and that sense of a wider web, interconnected conversations.
Could it happen as well in another medium?
Posted by boynton at November 25, 2004 03:46 PM
Tuesday, November 23, 2004
dog tale
She turned her back for a minute, and when she looked round, the dogs had disappeared
On Friday a friend asked me what I thought of the dogs falling off a cliff story... I felt rather shamefaced to admit I was not well versed in the topic.
(He didn't tell me that one of the dogs involved was a black labrador.)
I was reminded of the story via diversionz and then found this account which reads like a cross between a fairy tale and a nineteenth century shipwreck report along the Port Campbell coast.
On Friday a friend asked me what I thought of the dogs falling off a cliff story... I felt rather shamefaced to admit I was not well versed in the topic.
(He didn't tell me that one of the dogs involved was a black labrador.)
I was reminded of the story via diversionz and then found this account which reads like a cross between a fairy tale and a nineteenth century shipwreck report along the Port Campbell coast.
'I walked along the cliff top to see if they were up there and everyone I saw I spoke to and stopped, asking if they had seen the dogs.
'By the time I got home with my children from school we went out again and searched.
'The night was drawing in and it was getting foggy.
'We had to stop looking for them.'
As darkness fell the dogs still hadn't been found.
petrol pix
the chic picnic shot I hit to Sedgwick* in the comments was found after searching for an old engraving I had once seen. Who knew picnic could deliver such riches or so many pages at the NLA Picture catalogue?
This was another:
I think Ted and Paxie worked for Ampol and Caltex.
This is a fabulous Collection - and I've only browsed the middle range of pages rather randomly. But the descriptions alone are so good, you can take your pick:
The premier of South Australia, Thomas Playford, displaying great interest in the new Ampol electric pump during the opening of the Birkenhead terminal, 29 September, 1950
Sir James Bisset, right, presenting a barometer to Thomas Playford, premier of South Australia, during the opening of the Birkenhead terminal, 29 September, 1950
Mrs. J. Robertson, Mrs. B. Weaver, Mrs. F. Egginton and Mrs. J. Evans in a class studying the recording of lubrication services conducted by A. Hollings at a merchandising school for lady service station operators, Flinders Park, South Australia, May, 1953
Portrait taken at the Birkenhead shipping terminal office of the Ampol programme sellers for the Jack Davey Ampol Show New Year's Eve special for charity held at the Davis cup arena, December, 1956
and my current favourite where the photo outdoes the description:
Mr. A. Hollings, Superintendent Marketing Development, demonstrating to Merchandisers the advantages of the new modern service station layouts in front of a map of Adelaide, April 1953
*any alt readings of the pix and misc. marginalia by Sedge would be most illuminating
Comments: petrol pix
Damn you boynton, and damn your picnic link to Hell!
Yesterday I spent far too much time at the NLA site than is good for my futile imagination. (Such treasure troves are sirens to the ear bent - and a mind similarly inclined to procrastination.)
I feel a series coming on - vs a one-dayer. Caption heaven is the NLA site. (And do they have rabbits?! Akubras by the ute load!)
Posted by Sedgwick at November 23, 2004 01:40 PM
You should try it on dial-up with a sluggISH ISP!
The treasure unfurls v-e-r-y slowly, but wot else can ya do with such a trove.
I was so enlightened by your reading of the pic.pic. that I was actually thinking this could be a good thing to do here. (snap) NLA Saturday or something. One photo for a slow day. With commentary. Hmmm...procrastinating...
(One link only - unlike today - when there are simply too many blue links for people to click through - but I just loved all those photos/desciptions and I didn't even get to the "wristlet and travelling rug" one)
Posted by boynton at November 23, 2004 01:57 PM
NLA Saturday ... bring it on!
Posted by Sedgwick at November 23, 2004 04:43 PM
alt. misc pix and marginalia all in one line. Impressive.
FXH - your site doesn't remember me. must be the new haircut or the tie nabakov recommended.
Posted by at November 24, 2004 12:15 PM
Yep - I thought it was a good line, taut and tautological at the same time ;)
when it doesn't remember you - it leaves a silent gap in the recent comments to symbolise amnesia I guess.
btw - hope I didn't somehow souvenir your Pen, FX?
Posted by boynton at November 24, 2004 12:24 PM
that is - I seem to have acquired (somehow) a very good pen - quite different to my usual no name cleanskin bic.
Thought it may have been in the exchanging of links at the blogger's do (what else would you expect bloggers to do)
Then again it may have been from Trivia etc...
/noticeboard.
Feel free to return to topic.
Posted by boynton at November 24, 2004 03:49 PM
mmh re pen - its possible, but I don't seem to be missing my good one/s.
In my job as Investment and Spiritual Advisor to the Victorian Jesuit Gaming Services I often get pens at conferences. Does it look like a conference pen?
PS: That's in Vestments.
Posted by FXH at November 25, 2004 02:07 PM
A conference pen? It isn't branded...
in fact I just scanned it very badly
http://tinypic.com/nthle
(Hope it's not yours (or that of any other blogger) now. Scanning and paintshopping have made me rather attached to it.
Posted by boynton at November 25, 2004 03:24 PM
This was another:
I think Ted and Paxie worked for Ampol and Caltex.
This is a fabulous Collection - and I've only browsed the middle range of pages rather randomly. But the descriptions alone are so good, you can take your pick:
The premier of South Australia, Thomas Playford, displaying great interest in the new Ampol electric pump during the opening of the Birkenhead terminal, 29 September, 1950
Sir James Bisset, right, presenting a barometer to Thomas Playford, premier of South Australia, during the opening of the Birkenhead terminal, 29 September, 1950
Mrs. J. Robertson, Mrs. B. Weaver, Mrs. F. Egginton and Mrs. J. Evans in a class studying the recording of lubrication services conducted by A. Hollings at a merchandising school for lady service station operators, Flinders Park, South Australia, May, 1953
Portrait taken at the Birkenhead shipping terminal office of the Ampol programme sellers for the Jack Davey Ampol Show New Year's Eve special for charity held at the Davis cup arena, December, 1956
and my current favourite where the photo outdoes the description:
Mr. A. Hollings, Superintendent Marketing Development, demonstrating to Merchandisers the advantages of the new modern service station layouts in front of a map of Adelaide, April 1953
*any alt readings of the pix and misc. marginalia by Sedge would be most illuminating
Comments: petrol pix
Damn you boynton, and damn your picnic link to Hell!
Yesterday I spent far too much time at the NLA site than is good for my futile imagination. (Such treasure troves are sirens to the ear bent - and a mind similarly inclined to procrastination.)
I feel a series coming on - vs a one-dayer. Caption heaven is the NLA site. (And do they have rabbits?! Akubras by the ute load!)
Posted by Sedgwick at November 23, 2004 01:40 PM
You should try it on dial-up with a sluggISH ISP!
The treasure unfurls v-e-r-y slowly, but wot else can ya do with such a trove.
I was so enlightened by your reading of the pic.pic. that I was actually thinking this could be a good thing to do here. (snap) NLA Saturday or something. One photo for a slow day. With commentary. Hmmm...procrastinating...
(One link only - unlike today - when there are simply too many blue links for people to click through - but I just loved all those photos/desciptions and I didn't even get to the "wristlet and travelling rug" one)
Posted by boynton at November 23, 2004 01:57 PM
NLA Saturday ... bring it on!
Posted by Sedgwick at November 23, 2004 04:43 PM
alt. misc pix and marginalia all in one line. Impressive.
FXH - your site doesn't remember me. must be the new haircut or the tie nabakov recommended.
Posted by at November 24, 2004 12:15 PM
Yep - I thought it was a good line, taut and tautological at the same time ;)
when it doesn't remember you - it leaves a silent gap in the recent comments to symbolise amnesia I guess.
btw - hope I didn't somehow souvenir your Pen, FX?
Posted by boynton at November 24, 2004 12:24 PM
that is - I seem to have acquired (somehow) a very good pen - quite different to my usual no name cleanskin bic.
Thought it may have been in the exchanging of links at the blogger's do (what else would you expect bloggers to do)
Then again it may have been from Trivia etc...
/noticeboard.
Feel free to return to topic.
Posted by boynton at November 24, 2004 03:49 PM
mmh re pen - its possible, but I don't seem to be missing my good one/s.
In my job as Investment and Spiritual Advisor to the Victorian Jesuit Gaming Services I often get pens at conferences. Does it look like a conference pen?
PS: That's in Vestments.
Posted by FXH at November 25, 2004 02:07 PM
A conference pen? It isn't branded...
in fact I just scanned it very badly
http://tinypic.com/nthle
(Hope it's not yours (or that of any other blogger) now. Scanning and paintshopping have made me rather attached to it.
Posted by boynton at November 25, 2004 03:24 PM
Monday, November 22, 2004
hands
when I was thinking meta in that rambling post I saw this recursive Hand at J walk and thought there was something there akin to blogging.
I tried to find the tumbling house of cards at nobody here which I have twice linked to as another metaphor, but found instead Remember everything
Comments: hands
nobody home is hysterical. wot a find
Posted by mallrat at November 22, 2004 04:15 PM
That's brill boyn!
Posted by Link at November 22, 2004 08:45 PM
Yep - bigfan of NH.
Just saw 'extra toes'...
Posted by boynton at November 23, 2004 12:29 PM
I tried to find the tumbling house of cards at nobody here which I have twice linked to as another metaphor, but found instead Remember everything
Comments: hands
nobody home is hysterical. wot a find
Posted by mallrat at November 22, 2004 04:15 PM
That's brill boyn!
Posted by Link at November 22, 2004 08:45 PM
Yep - bigfan of NH.
Just saw 'extra toes'...
Posted by boynton at November 23, 2004 12:29 PM
Sunday, November 21, 2004
unsettled
Anyone who's feeling a little bummed out at Chris Sheil's recent departure from the 'sphere has just been handed another bummer
Gummo calls it a day.
I was indeed reeling from the loss of Back Pages on the day I met up with some of the bloggers for dinner and unveiling. BP was becoming the place to check into - a gpo. During the election there was that thing of everytime you'd refresh there'd be 3 more comments - what's the old media equivalent for such rapidfire discussion? Also Chris's reasons for stopping resonate. A big project like a book or a play is probably incompatible with the sport of blogging. As William Gibson famously noted
In this week of big planetary activity, with Scott (our generous host) also announcing a break, one of my favourite bloggers quietly reappeared after a year's absence. I had studiously kept the name on the blogroll as an act of faith or a souvenir of old paths. I may keep the Tugboat moored here for a while.
And suddenly there are blogs everywhere in a new wave.
I wonder if someone is charting it all, and can chronicle the skiffle and the currents? An index of genesis and exodus. A log of blogs.
You'd think the medium is built for auto-recording and archival study, with the digital traces of individual and group activity stored somewhere with a google master key, but perhaps that's one of the illusions of the game, and things can disappear into the ether here as in any old medium. We're all archived but it is essentially ephemeral, and a post about the weather will aways score comments. Never quite had the nerve to go completely minimalist and post the temperature (with a link to the BOM of course) but one day that may do as a forecast of hiatus. SomeI'mThing
An article on the academic dilemma of studying (colonising) weblogs noted:
Weblogs and the Dilemma of Academia (via Jerz's Literacy Weblog
Comments: unsettled
"interconnectedness"
In a nutshell.
All as sweet as a nut.
Nutty sweetness.
Sweet nutiness.
Sweaty neatness.
No sweat!
Posted by Sedgwick at November 21, 2004 05:26 PM
Tempted to use "sweet nuttiness" as a replacement for "I rarely have a name y'know" - except I guess sweetness is in the eyes of the beholder.
Quite happy to be thought of as nutty.
Posted by boynton at November 21, 2004 05:40 PM
Gummo calls it a day.
I was indeed reeling from the loss of Back Pages on the day I met up with some of the bloggers for dinner and unveiling. BP was becoming the place to check into - a gpo. During the election there was that thing of everytime you'd refresh there'd be 3 more comments - what's the old media equivalent for such rapidfire discussion? Also Chris's reasons for stopping resonate. A big project like a book or a play is probably incompatible with the sport of blogging. As William Gibson famously noted
One thing that was immediately clear to me, from the first blog, is that this is not an activity, for me, that can coexist with the writing of a novel. In some way I only dimly apprehend, it requires too much of the same bandwidth (yet never engages anything like the total *available* bandwidth).
But, definitely, the ecology of novelization and the ecology of blogging couldn't coexist, for me ...
In this week of big planetary activity, with Scott (our generous host) also announcing a break, one of my favourite bloggers quietly reappeared after a year's absence. I had studiously kept the name on the blogroll as an act of faith or a souvenir of old paths. I may keep the Tugboat moored here for a while.
And suddenly there are blogs everywhere in a new wave.
I wonder if someone is charting it all, and can chronicle the skiffle and the currents? An index of genesis and exodus. A log of blogs.
You'd think the medium is built for auto-recording and archival study, with the digital traces of individual and group activity stored somewhere with a google master key, but perhaps that's one of the illusions of the game, and things can disappear into the ether here as in any old medium. We're all archived but it is essentially ephemeral, and a post about the weather will aways score comments. Never quite had the nerve to go completely minimalist and post the temperature (with a link to the BOM of course) but one day that may do as a forecast of hiatus. SomeI'mThing
An article on the academic dilemma of studying (colonising) weblogs noted:
This is part of the nature of weblogs: a personal expression of perhaps not community but an understanding of connectedness. To post online is to declare that you are part of something larger, even if the post is just in order to whine about dinner or about having lost a boyfriend. To study weblogs should not just be a study of form and technicalities, but of interconnectedness
Weblogs and the Dilemma of Academia (via Jerz's Literacy Weblog
Comments: unsettled
"interconnectedness"
In a nutshell.
All as sweet as a nut.
Nutty sweetness.
Sweet nutiness.
Sweaty neatness.
No sweat!
Posted by Sedgwick at November 21, 2004 05:26 PM
Tempted to use "sweet nuttiness" as a replacement for "I rarely have a name y'know" - except I guess sweetness is in the eyes of the beholder.
Quite happy to be thought of as nutty.
Posted by boynton at November 21, 2004 05:40 PM
pink
Rounded a corner and suddenly saw a pink bear in a grevillea. Don't know if it was lost or found.
A kilometre down the track I almost stepped on a tiny pink hair brush that was either baby, barbie or fairy.
And then in an overgrown innercity garden I saw a single pink rose untended.
The day was too blue for linking, but maybe pink is the colour of the season.
A kilometre down the track I almost stepped on a tiny pink hair brush that was either baby, barbie or fairy.
And then in an overgrown innercity garden I saw a single pink rose untended.
The day was too blue for linking, but maybe pink is the colour of the season.
such delight
I was priviliged to view things on a high speed connection which is about 1000 times faster than here, so caught up with the wonder of solipsistic.
And within the middle of the splendour of Somewhither is the most amazing canine show.( Do take it in Once again for Refusal.) I saw it 4 times running and it still caught my breath.
And within the middle of the splendour of Somewhither is the most amazing canine show.( Do take it in Once again for Refusal.) I saw it 4 times running and it still caught my breath.
Friday, November 19, 2004
colour books
Books classified by colour (via J walk)
My own collection possibly suffers from a lack of Blue. Might scout the local haunts for some vintage teal.
If your books look sloppy, level the spines How to Use Books in Decor
Don't be afraid to display a favourite book open on a tabletop
5 Ways To Use Books in Decor
Comments: colour books
You'll find some coverage of the event on my blog, ... here, to be precise:
http://urbanist.typepad.com/jarrett_walker_home/2004/11/update_only_in_.html
Peace, Jarrett
Posted by Jarrett at November 21, 2004 01:36 PM
Thanks Jarrett
Great photos - looks wonderful.
For some reason it is the blues that get me in, (although in op-shops I usually look for the orange of old penguins) and a shame that the whites (of the 80's stark chic and beyond) are so
highly represented. I remember the wave of black classics in the 70's, and have a few midcentury items of serious blue paperback...
Posted by boynton at November 21, 2004 02:10 PM
Speaking as a bookseller, we are perennially asked by absent-minded customers for books of which they can remember neither the title, nor the author, but only that "it was blue...". A colleague of mine, faced with one such enquiry, after a hard morning at the bookface, drew himself up to his full height, and replied, with dignity, "Madam, you are in luck, for I am in charge of all the blue books in the shop."
Posted by dave at November 22, 2004 07:29 AM
Are you tempted to fend of the bookseller blues by arranging your books by colour, Dave?
Maybe it should be a thing like an annual "stocktake" - "Closed for Colour Alignment" - followed by a Colour Sale.
Posted by boynton at November 22, 2004 12:04 PM
I might suggest these ideas of yours to t'Management. I think they'd go down well. My own books are arranged in heaps, on the floor, mostly...
Posted by dave at November 25, 2004 08:32 PM
One day I'm going to attack my library stacks and colour code the heaps.
Posted by boynton at November 25, 2004 11:58 PM
My own collection possibly suffers from a lack of Blue. Might scout the local haunts for some vintage teal.
If your books look sloppy, level the spines How to Use Books in Decor
Don't be afraid to display a favourite book open on a tabletop
5 Ways To Use Books in Decor
Comments: colour books
You'll find some coverage of the event on my blog, ... here, to be precise:
http://urbanist.typepad.com/jarrett_walker_home/2004/11/update_only_in_.html
Peace, Jarrett
Posted by Jarrett at November 21, 2004 01:36 PM
Thanks Jarrett
Great photos - looks wonderful.
For some reason it is the blues that get me in, (although in op-shops I usually look for the orange of old penguins) and a shame that the whites (of the 80's stark chic and beyond) are so
highly represented. I remember the wave of black classics in the 70's, and have a few midcentury items of serious blue paperback...
Posted by boynton at November 21, 2004 02:10 PM
Speaking as a bookseller, we are perennially asked by absent-minded customers for books of which they can remember neither the title, nor the author, but only that "it was blue...". A colleague of mine, faced with one such enquiry, after a hard morning at the bookface, drew himself up to his full height, and replied, with dignity, "Madam, you are in luck, for I am in charge of all the blue books in the shop."
Posted by dave at November 22, 2004 07:29 AM
Are you tempted to fend of the bookseller blues by arranging your books by colour, Dave?
Maybe it should be a thing like an annual "stocktake" - "Closed for Colour Alignment" - followed by a Colour Sale.
Posted by boynton at November 22, 2004 12:04 PM
I might suggest these ideas of yours to t'Management. I think they'd go down well. My own books are arranged in heaps, on the floor, mostly...
Posted by dave at November 25, 2004 08:32 PM
One day I'm going to attack my library stacks and colour code the heaps.
Posted by boynton at November 25, 2004 11:58 PM
does a computer
Does A Computer Make Mistakes?
(the punching and verifying machines are identical in appearance)
There is something about computers that is both fascinating and alarming
How It Works...The Computer a scanned Ladybird 1971, 79 (via I like)
(the punching and verifying machines are identical in appearance)
There is something about computers that is both fascinating and alarming
How It Works...The Computer a scanned Ladybird 1971, 79 (via I like)
silhouettes
met some bloggers in brunswick. still recovering. *
Names Unknown (from drawings made by a Pilot)
from Silhouettes of Aeroplanes 1917 (via life in the present)
* from the no name cleanskin bubbly, I mean.
Comments: silhouettes
"No Name cleanskin bubbly"...
That sounds like a description of you, Boynton.
Posted by Nora at November 19, 2004 03:25 PM
Not so much of the 'bubbly', ok...
Posted by boynton at November 19, 2004 03:32 PM
'Twas the Turkish coffee that did for me. Still too wired to sleep.
Posted by Gummo Trotsky at November 19, 2004 07:01 PM
Nabakov owes you a drink.
Posted by mallrat at November 19, 2004 08:12 PM
Stayed away from the coffee, Gummo.
Cold caffeine today. is it.
Does he, mallrat?
That's a relief. I thought I owed him a drink.
Posted by boynton at November 19, 2004 11:09 PM
Nabs is not counting. As long as he can still move, he will talk - but I am not so sure about the adding up.
Meeting youse all was a heap of fun. Boynton turned out to have exactly the grace I imagined.
I truly didn't think that F.X. Holden would roll up disguised as an investment banker for a monastery with a particularly good line in ancient bottled decoctions.
Gummo looks like a cross between Bakunin and an Ent :) - I have aimed for that image in my time but failed due to my fine anaemic hair and the tendency for my skin to go veinous rather than barklike.
Posted by David Tiley at November 20, 2004 11:01 PM
mallrat has described it as akin to a "weird blind date" and it is that kind of territory - a reversal of familiarity. Lost long relatives.
A swap meet of the real and imagined...
However it was all suprisingly enjoyable, and consolidates the sense of community.
Hope we can do it again sometime.
Glad Nabakov lost count, I'm sure it's me who (ungraciously) piked on my round. I think I owe him a Robinson's Barley water.
Posted by boynton at November 20, 2004 11:32 PM
"Hope we can do it again sometime."
A Manetic pique nique
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v11/wombat3041/Comments/manet05.jpg
or perhaps something more Picassoesque?
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v11/wombat3041/Comments/picasso_dejeuner.jpg
Posted by Sedgwick at November 21, 2004 09:17 PM
A picnic would be lovely.
Maybe with a naked man, eh.
(I'm sure I've seen a different take on that with the male herbal picnickers in the raw)
in the meantime
http://nla.gov.au/nla.pic-an12799997
Posted by boynton at November 21, 2004 11:26 PM
"in the meantime"
What is notable about the photo is that it chronicles the advent of the revolutionary AWA Crystal Set Walkman. Dorothy here captured in gelatin, finger snapping along to "A Tisket A Tasket".
The day after the picnic Cicely decided to purchase her first pair of Fletcher Jones ladies' slacks.
The swashbuckling Randall (left) was soon to leave Australia seeking fame and fortune in Hollywood. Sadly he was overlooked for the lead role in "The Adventures Of Robin Hood" in favour of Errol Flynn. Returning to Australia in the same year, the undaunted Randall resurrected his aborted film career, spending the next 20 years as "The Man outside Hoyts".
Reginald (center) fared much better in Hollywood, starring in many films under the stage name, Frankie Avalon.
Percy (right) was to die a lonely and tragic figure soon after his best-selling autobiography, "The First Principal at The Heidelberg School - a Fortunate Life is Such" was exposed as fraudulent.
Posted by Sedgwick at November 22, 2004 08:30 AM
Chuckling.Out.Loud.Rolling.On.Travel.Rug.
Poor Percy. Perhaps he was writing "A Fortunate Sock" and suffered writer's block?
A Fraudulent Sock?
In another era he may have been a weekend colour supplement.
Posted by boynton at November 22, 2004 12:20 PM
Doesn't nabakov owe everyone a drink?
INcluding the poor dopey sods at the pokey place he shouted at!!
I owe you all the deserts I ate...
Posted by Martin Pike at November 22, 2004 07:06 PM
Whose shout was it at the pokies?
It was short and sweet there anyway...
& FX owes the machines a coffee I think.
Posted by boynton at November 23, 2004 12:25 PM
Re the aircraft silhouettes - the one on the left is a Pfalz scout and on the right, a member of the Albatri family, albeit with badly rendered tailplanes (which we'll all suffer from sooner or later). Ask me a hard one why don't you.
Jez, it feels funny commenting now I know who you are and want what yoiu look like - and vice versa.
Bit like seeing yer parents undressed for the first time.
Not that that's anything wrong with that. I mean I'm not thinking of you undressed like my parents - no, no, I mean I'm not thinking of undressed people - No, I mean I'm not talking on blogs about undressed people who are not you - No, no I mean I mean not talking about undressing my parents - No! I mean - oh fuck it, lets get naked and worship the sun.
Failing that, Dunlop volleys, Earl Grey (with a slug of gin), mustard and cress sandwiches, baklava and a cold VB, the hiss of freshly popped tennis ball cans, chalked baselines and disputed line calls anyone?
Posted by Nabakov at November 25, 2004 07:41 PM
"want what yoiu "
that should read "what you ".
Not a fraudian slip.
Posted by Nababov at November 25, 2004 09:01 PM
Indeed Nabs, naked parents should neither seen nor heard. I'm still recovering from seeing the naked 18 stone, 6' 6", bearded scottish dwarf aka Mallrat.
Picnic in the park (a neddy of that name raced into his own equine immortality) seems to be gaining momentum.
Anyone for a reenactment of the 'Blow Up' tennis scene. (Other 'Blow Up' scenes optional, but suspect wee Jock McMallrat is no Veruschka.)
Having watched "Last Orders" last night, have to say that David Hemmings seemed to have aged ... well ... agedly - to point of shuffling off. With eyebrows that Ming could have only dreamt of.
Posted by Sedgwick at November 25, 2004 11:23 PM
For some reason I often think aeroplanes when I think blogosphere. Hope it's not the mere presence of 'sphere'.
Where do we lob for Tennis? The Earl Grey and Gin sounds like a pretty good combo, (maybe with a dunlop chaser or a whitener snifter)
Hope Sedge keeps that in mind with the hamper happening. Glad to hear it may have legs.
Is this the territory?
http://libapp.sl.nsw.gov.au/cgi-bin/spydus/ENQ/PM/FULL1?391459,I
(I saw "Last Orders" not long ago - and thought the same thing.)
Posted by boynton at November 26, 2004 12:36 AM
Well fuck me gently with a chainsaw.
Was just watching "Blow Up" on DVD the other night. David Hemmings is even prettier than I remembered, Jane Birkin made zero impression and the overall plot is even more pointless than I remembered - but that park, with the wind rustling the trees, is still haunting.
Plus didn't Jimmy Page have a great smile as Jeff Beck lost it at the Ricky-Ticky club.
And I want that aeroplane propellor so bad. I reckon it came off a DH9.
Posted by Nabakov at November 26, 2004 01:28 AM
Mmmm, aren't those last two on the right, the long lost adopted out Kennedy children.
Pity Hemmings shuffled the short straw, had him pegged for the lead role in a Kingsley Amis bio-pic. He had developed a fine unlean, hungry, choleric and curmudgeonly look.
Picnic, tennis, Earl Grey and gin, mustard and cress sandwiches. A game of charades cannot be far away.
... and umbrellas.
Posted by Sedgwick at November 26, 2004 11:44 AM
Don't want to rain on your charade, Sedge, but I think I may prefer a quick round of 20 questions, (Would I be wrong in saying that I am a vegetable?) sardines or 'hide the thimble'.
Posted by boynton at November 26, 2004 11:40 PM
... or one of my childhood favorite games, "Consequences".
Strips of paper, a Staedtler HB and rudimentary origami skills.
Posted by Sedgwick at November 27, 2004 10:47 AM
I'm an old hand at "Consequences"
unplugged version of 'new digital' generators.
good for picknicking bloggers who migt be feeling nervous about being offline for 2 hours. ;)
Posted by boynton at November 27, 2004 11:10 AM
Names Unknown (from drawings made by a Pilot)
from Silhouettes of Aeroplanes 1917 (via life in the present)
* from the no name cleanskin bubbly, I mean.
Comments: silhouettes
"No Name cleanskin bubbly"...
That sounds like a description of you, Boynton.
Posted by Nora at November 19, 2004 03:25 PM
Not so much of the 'bubbly', ok...
Posted by boynton at November 19, 2004 03:32 PM
'Twas the Turkish coffee that did for me. Still too wired to sleep.
Posted by Gummo Trotsky at November 19, 2004 07:01 PM
Nabakov owes you a drink.
Posted by mallrat at November 19, 2004 08:12 PM
Stayed away from the coffee, Gummo.
Cold caffeine today. is it.
Does he, mallrat?
That's a relief. I thought I owed him a drink.
Posted by boynton at November 19, 2004 11:09 PM
Nabs is not counting. As long as he can still move, he will talk - but I am not so sure about the adding up.
Meeting youse all was a heap of fun. Boynton turned out to have exactly the grace I imagined.
I truly didn't think that F.X. Holden would roll up disguised as an investment banker for a monastery with a particularly good line in ancient bottled decoctions.
Gummo looks like a cross between Bakunin and an Ent :) - I have aimed for that image in my time but failed due to my fine anaemic hair and the tendency for my skin to go veinous rather than barklike.
Posted by David Tiley at November 20, 2004 11:01 PM
mallrat has described it as akin to a "weird blind date" and it is that kind of territory - a reversal of familiarity. Lost long relatives.
A swap meet of the real and imagined...
However it was all suprisingly enjoyable, and consolidates the sense of community.
Hope we can do it again sometime.
Glad Nabakov lost count, I'm sure it's me who (ungraciously) piked on my round. I think I owe him a Robinson's Barley water.
Posted by boynton at November 20, 2004 11:32 PM
"Hope we can do it again sometime."
A Manetic pique nique
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v11/wombat3041/Comments/manet05.jpg
or perhaps something more Picassoesque?
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v11/wombat3041/Comments/picasso_dejeuner.jpg
Posted by Sedgwick at November 21, 2004 09:17 PM
A picnic would be lovely.
Maybe with a naked man, eh.
(I'm sure I've seen a different take on that with the male herbal picnickers in the raw)
in the meantime
http://nla.gov.au/nla.pic-an12799997
Posted by boynton at November 21, 2004 11:26 PM
"in the meantime"
What is notable about the photo is that it chronicles the advent of the revolutionary AWA Crystal Set Walkman. Dorothy here captured in gelatin, finger snapping along to "A Tisket A Tasket".
The day after the picnic Cicely decided to purchase her first pair of Fletcher Jones ladies' slacks.
The swashbuckling Randall (left) was soon to leave Australia seeking fame and fortune in Hollywood. Sadly he was overlooked for the lead role in "The Adventures Of Robin Hood" in favour of Errol Flynn. Returning to Australia in the same year, the undaunted Randall resurrected his aborted film career, spending the next 20 years as "The Man outside Hoyts".
Reginald (center) fared much better in Hollywood, starring in many films under the stage name, Frankie Avalon.
Percy (right) was to die a lonely and tragic figure soon after his best-selling autobiography, "The First Principal at The Heidelberg School - a Fortunate Life is Such" was exposed as fraudulent.
Posted by Sedgwick at November 22, 2004 08:30 AM
Chuckling.Out.Loud.Rolling.On.Travel.Rug.
Poor Percy. Perhaps he was writing "A Fortunate Sock" and suffered writer's block?
A Fraudulent Sock?
In another era he may have been a weekend colour supplement.
Posted by boynton at November 22, 2004 12:20 PM
Doesn't nabakov owe everyone a drink?
INcluding the poor dopey sods at the pokey place he shouted at!!
I owe you all the deserts I ate...
Posted by Martin Pike at November 22, 2004 07:06 PM
Whose shout was it at the pokies?
It was short and sweet there anyway...
& FX owes the machines a coffee I think.
Posted by boynton at November 23, 2004 12:25 PM
Re the aircraft silhouettes - the one on the left is a Pfalz scout and on the right, a member of the Albatri family, albeit with badly rendered tailplanes (which we'll all suffer from sooner or later). Ask me a hard one why don't you.
Jez, it feels funny commenting now I know who you are and want what yoiu look like - and vice versa.
Bit like seeing yer parents undressed for the first time.
Not that that's anything wrong with that. I mean I'm not thinking of you undressed like my parents - no, no, I mean I'm not thinking of undressed people - No, I mean I'm not talking on blogs about undressed people who are not you - No, no I mean I mean not talking about undressing my parents - No! I mean - oh fuck it, lets get naked and worship the sun.
Failing that, Dunlop volleys, Earl Grey (with a slug of gin), mustard and cress sandwiches, baklava and a cold VB, the hiss of freshly popped tennis ball cans, chalked baselines and disputed line calls anyone?
Posted by Nabakov at November 25, 2004 07:41 PM
"want what yoiu "
that should read "what you ".
Not a fraudian slip.
Posted by Nababov at November 25, 2004 09:01 PM
Indeed Nabs, naked parents should neither seen nor heard. I'm still recovering from seeing the naked 18 stone, 6' 6", bearded scottish dwarf aka Mallrat.
Picnic in the park (a neddy of that name raced into his own equine immortality) seems to be gaining momentum.
Anyone for a reenactment of the 'Blow Up' tennis scene. (Other 'Blow Up' scenes optional, but suspect wee Jock McMallrat is no Veruschka.)
Having watched "Last Orders" last night, have to say that David Hemmings seemed to have aged ... well ... agedly - to point of shuffling off. With eyebrows that Ming could have only dreamt of.
Posted by Sedgwick at November 25, 2004 11:23 PM
For some reason I often think aeroplanes when I think blogosphere. Hope it's not the mere presence of 'sphere'.
Where do we lob for Tennis? The Earl Grey and Gin sounds like a pretty good combo, (maybe with a dunlop chaser or a whitener snifter)
Hope Sedge keeps that in mind with the hamper happening. Glad to hear it may have legs.
Is this the territory?
http://libapp.sl.nsw.gov.au/cgi-bin/spydus/ENQ/PM/FULL1?391459,I
(I saw "Last Orders" not long ago - and thought the same thing.)
Posted by boynton at November 26, 2004 12:36 AM
Well fuck me gently with a chainsaw.
Was just watching "Blow Up" on DVD the other night. David Hemmings is even prettier than I remembered, Jane Birkin made zero impression and the overall plot is even more pointless than I remembered - but that park, with the wind rustling the trees, is still haunting.
Plus didn't Jimmy Page have a great smile as Jeff Beck lost it at the Ricky-Ticky club.
And I want that aeroplane propellor so bad. I reckon it came off a DH9.
Posted by Nabakov at November 26, 2004 01:28 AM
Mmmm, aren't those last two on the right, the long lost adopted out Kennedy children.
Pity Hemmings shuffled the short straw, had him pegged for the lead role in a Kingsley Amis bio-pic. He had developed a fine unlean, hungry, choleric and curmudgeonly look.
Picnic, tennis, Earl Grey and gin, mustard and cress sandwiches. A game of charades cannot be far away.
... and umbrellas.
Posted by Sedgwick at November 26, 2004 11:44 AM
Don't want to rain on your charade, Sedge, but I think I may prefer a quick round of 20 questions, (Would I be wrong in saying that I am a vegetable?) sardines or 'hide the thimble'.
Posted by boynton at November 26, 2004 11:40 PM
... or one of my childhood favorite games, "Consequences".
Strips of paper, a Staedtler HB and rudimentary origami skills.
Posted by Sedgwick at November 27, 2004 10:47 AM
I'm an old hand at "Consequences"
unplugged version of 'new digital' generators.
good for picknicking bloggers who migt be feeling nervous about being offline for 2 hours. ;)
Posted by boynton at November 27, 2004 11:10 AM
Thursday, November 18, 2004
abram games
Reading the Natural History of the Visual Pun led to this gallery
Some of the most memorable graphic images of mid-20th century Britain were the work of the designer ABRAM GAMES (1914-1996).
In 1932, Games was hired as a studio boy at Askew-Young, a commercial art studio. Never popular with his employers, he was fired in 1936 after being caught jumping over four chairs as a joke.
Some of the most memorable graphic images of mid-20th century Britain were the work of the designer ABRAM GAMES (1914-1996).
In 1932, Games was hired as a studio boy at Askew-Young, a commercial art studio. Never popular with his employers, he was fired in 1936 after being caught jumping over four chairs as a joke.
Wednesday, November 17, 2004
cut ups
Cut-ups and the Internet An overview by Michael Stutz
(via Topher Tune's Times)
Lots of generators to play with. I put in a bit of my last decent post of original content - canine-centric of course - into the Shannonizer a web toy with delusions of literacy, and was most impressed with Lewis Carroll's version of A mobile for Flo...
(via Topher Tune's Times)
Lots of generators to play with. I put in a bit of my last decent post of original content - canine-centric of course - into the Shannonizer a web toy with delusions of literacy, and was most impressed with Lewis Carroll's version of A mobile for Flo...
And one thing I know: I don't think we would only say non-presence, because he sneezes, speaking absence, and she'd run under the Jubjub bird, it dead, ditto, but they are not exactly reassuring. The spatial confusion would have that bite, but they are usually less than excited to hear a familiar human voice on a familiar human voice on the frumious Bandersnatch!
pawalkrk
Visual Puns
via J walk - with more sites suggested in the comments.
pawalkrk comes from Rebus Puzzle Brainteasers
Might swipe this word as blogging shorthand for went for a stroll near the river with the dog and it was beautiful (which is roughly 30% of the average weekly content)
And then this dingbat some I'M thing might also be useful as hiatus minimalism
another less puzzling take:A Natural history of the visual Pun
Comments: pawalkrk
If yer can lay yer hands on it it, you will purely love Ian Lee's "The Third Wor'd War: Apostrophe Theory" - which really pucks around with how puns puck around with us ontologically. But best read in an oncologically enhanced state.
On ya.
Posted by Nabakov at November 18, 2004 12:29 AM
not much trace of this book ON line?
Alas - sounds intriguing, for a military thriller.
Might have to check the SLV.
Posted by boynton at November 18, 2004 12:12 PM
I have a copy of "The Third Wor∞d War," and would not take £1000 for it, if I could not replace it. It is brilliant.
Posted by El Jamón Misterioso at October 17, 2005 01:28 AM
oh well, I will
search
and...
Posted by nv green at October 17, 2005 01:32 PM
Re- that Third Wor'd War:
Can't get a copy myself - and I wrote it!
ps
Mr Misterioso has made my day!
Posted by ian lee at December 2, 2005 01:05 AM
Re that Third Wor'd War
Can't get hold of a copy myself - and I wrote it!
Posted by Ian Lee at December 2, 2005 01:06 AM
Oh dear - things are lookin' crook when an author can't get hold of their own book. There seems to be a few about in cyberbookstores, but then when I was trying to secure 'Len Deighton's Action Cookbook' recently, most of the virtual copies listed had disappeared. Maybe they were display copies only...
I doubt whether Nabakov will want to lend anyone his copy now. May have to read it in the Rare Books Collection on site someday.
Posted by boynton at December 2, 2005 01:46 PM
Bonty's right, Ian Lee. No way am I lending out my copy of that extremely original and thought-provoking book "The Third Wor'd War". Obviously created by someone from the country that invented cryptic crosswords but had no need to invent surrealism - because, as some French theorist pointed out, the English at their most logical will always end up more surreal than anyone else.
And please take this as a compliment Ian - it's a great podulating on the meaning of how we see stuff book when you're taking some quality time to move your bowels. Beats the shit out of Berger's "Ways Of Seeing" or McLuhan and Fiore's "The Medium Is The Massage".
Anyway, anytime you're in Melbourne, you're utterly welcome to inspect my copy of your book while being plied with good local plonk.
Posted by Nabakov at December 13, 2005 10:40 PM
via J walk - with more sites suggested in the comments.
pawalkrk comes from Rebus Puzzle Brainteasers
Might swipe this word as blogging shorthand for went for a stroll near the river with the dog and it was beautiful (which is roughly 30% of the average weekly content)
And then this dingbat some I'M thing might also be useful as hiatus minimalism
another less puzzling take:A Natural history of the visual Pun
Comments: pawalkrk
If yer can lay yer hands on it it, you will purely love Ian Lee's "The Third Wor'd War: Apostrophe Theory" - which really pucks around with how puns puck around with us ontologically. But best read in an oncologically enhanced state.
On ya.
Posted by Nabakov at November 18, 2004 12:29 AM
not much trace of this book ON line?
Alas - sounds intriguing, for a military thriller.
Might have to check the SLV.
Posted by boynton at November 18, 2004 12:12 PM
I have a copy of "The Third Wor∞d War," and would not take £1000 for it, if I could not replace it. It is brilliant.
Posted by El Jamón Misterioso at October 17, 2005 01:28 AM
oh well, I will
search
and...
Posted by nv green at October 17, 2005 01:32 PM
Re- that Third Wor'd War:
Can't get a copy myself - and I wrote it!
ps
Mr Misterioso has made my day!
Posted by ian lee at December 2, 2005 01:05 AM
Re that Third Wor'd War
Can't get hold of a copy myself - and I wrote it!
Posted by Ian Lee at December 2, 2005 01:06 AM
Oh dear - things are lookin' crook when an author can't get hold of their own book. There seems to be a few about in cyberbookstores, but then when I was trying to secure 'Len Deighton's Action Cookbook' recently, most of the virtual copies listed had disappeared. Maybe they were display copies only...
I doubt whether Nabakov will want to lend anyone his copy now. May have to read it in the Rare Books Collection on site someday.
Posted by boynton at December 2, 2005 01:46 PM
Bonty's right, Ian Lee. No way am I lending out my copy of that extremely original and thought-provoking book "The Third Wor'd War". Obviously created by someone from the country that invented cryptic crosswords but had no need to invent surrealism - because, as some French theorist pointed out, the English at their most logical will always end up more surreal than anyone else.
And please take this as a compliment Ian - it's a great podulating on the meaning of how we see stuff book when you're taking some quality time to move your bowels. Beats the shit out of Berger's "Ways Of Seeing" or McLuhan and Fiore's "The Medium Is The Massage".
Anyway, anytime you're in Melbourne, you're utterly welcome to inspect my copy of your book while being plied with good local plonk.
Posted by Nabakov at December 13, 2005 10:40 PM
Tuesday, November 16, 2004
I is for idiosyncrasy. Also, individualism. Both grossly overrated.
The high anxiety alphabet (via fishbucket)
The high anxiety alphabet (via fishbucket)
translations
And then I find myself drifting dreamily in agreement with him, back to my beloved East, and wondering, indeed, how on Earth it can be that we speak a language that has no equivalent for the most subtly delicious of all Japanese phrases: mono-no-aware, which means no more and no less than appreciating the sadness of existence. You see the cherry blossoms on the trees in Kyoto in April and you love them, but you love them most of all because you appreciate, so sadly, that soon they will all be gone. Mono-no-aware: a phrase, which like all Japanese words has every syllable pronounced, which deserves never to be lost in translation, and which serves as a reminder that the understanding of tongues other than our own offers us a chance to come to a better understanding of peoples other than ourselves—an understanding that can only be for the betterment of us all.
Simon Winchester In Other Words: A Foreword via wood s lot
more on mono-no-aware at language hat and the link to Jonathan Delacour's Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Sadness
And on a different tangent (perhaps because it is impossible to be seriously sad on such a glorious day) I put the quote through this Online translator recently found by barista
It is possible to be to speak the language which most does not have
the equal amount for that how as for us all Japanese phrases being
tasty in the earth most delicately?: Monaural it is understood, above this or no it does not mean or,
either one recognizes the grief of existence, at times a little. But
you observe at that the cherry tree of the April and your Kyoto wood
loves those being to recognize, it loves those mainly, heavyheartedly,
those go so eventually entirely. Monaural it is understood: Phrase, are pronounced there are all syllables which or like all
Japanese word either one being lost with translation it is not worthy
of under any condition either one
World Lingo Online translator (via barista)
Comments: translations
Yoko means horizontal. I didn't know that. In other laingo related news ...
oont kis karwat baithta hai
Not necessarily "sits".
Posted by Tony.T at November 17, 2004 12:36 PM
Laingo, of course, is from the old English and means lingo.
Posted by Tony.T at November 17, 2004 12:37 PM
was sometimes...
http://www.a-i-u.net/bedin35_event.html
I Like "laingo" - sounds like a nice drawl.
Attaccabottoni
a few about in the blogosphere. Probably me on a good day.
Posted by boynton at November 17, 2004 01:41 PM
Monday, November 15, 2004
tennis bag
What To Pack In Your Tennis Bag
Must remember number 8 if I ever play Socially.
8. Telephone list of your fellow players and a pen for writing down tips or successful tactics or even the odd joke you might hear.
Comments: tennis bag
A priest, a rabbi, and an atheist walk into a bar and the bartender says, "What is this, a joke?"
-
Quick, write that down.
Hey - I just flew in from Idaho, and boy are my arms tired!
-
This blue state/red state thing has gotten way out of hand:
http://www.tropmet.com/marine.htm
Posted by vernaculo at November 15, 2004 08:32 PM
What sort of dope carries around paper and a pen?
Posted by Tony.T at November 16, 2004 11:08 AM
LOL.I would write those down but I forgot to pack a notebook into my tennis bag.
Though I could write the jokes on the canvas of my spare shoes - or scribble on the tennis balls if they were Giant size, as the Pro people do.
A great marine map. Bigger picture than the river levels.
Tony - only the social dopes apparently.
The Rookie Pros don't need to carry a pen. Maybe they are less humourous, or at that level can commit the odd joke to memory. Could be the effect of the Sunglasses with head hugging arms
But the Pen is mightier than the Power Bar.
Posted by boynton at November 16, 2004 01:04 PM
Must remember number 8 if I ever play Socially.
8. Telephone list of your fellow players and a pen for writing down tips or successful tactics or even the odd joke you might hear.
Comments: tennis bag
A priest, a rabbi, and an atheist walk into a bar and the bartender says, "What is this, a joke?"
-
Quick, write that down.
Hey - I just flew in from Idaho, and boy are my arms tired!
-
This blue state/red state thing has gotten way out of hand:
http://www.tropmet.com/marine.htm
Posted by vernaculo at November 15, 2004 08:32 PM
What sort of dope carries around paper and a pen?
Posted by Tony.T at November 16, 2004 11:08 AM
LOL.I would write those down but I forgot to pack a notebook into my tennis bag.
Though I could write the jokes on the canvas of my spare shoes - or scribble on the tennis balls if they were Giant size, as the Pro people do.
A great marine map. Bigger picture than the river levels.
Tony - only the social dopes apparently.
The Rookie Pros don't need to carry a pen. Maybe they are less humourous, or at that level can commit the odd joke to memory. Could be the effect of the Sunglasses with head hugging arms
But the Pen is mightier than the Power Bar.
Posted by boynton at November 16, 2004 01:04 PM
the hug
If someone is not home to receive a hug, the other person can leave a message that includes voice and vibration patterns. The Hug can store up to four messages.
The Hug - a robotic pillow. (via diversionz)
The Hug - a robotic pillow. (via diversionz)
residue
Just as a point of interest,
tennis shoes, says Joe Souter
were actually whitened
with the residue that was created
by the generator
in the Attenborough’s church
at Dingley
I found this for a comments thread below. But the phrase is so wonderful it asked to be moved out of the box. It's from Big Night Out at the Kingston Narrative Projects
The whole article is full of the lovely phrases of social history, and of course Mordialloc Creek is a small poem in itself, or a third of a haiku.
tennis shoes, says Joe Souter
were actually whitened
with the residue that was created
by the generator
in the Attenborough’s church
at Dingley
I found this for a comments thread below. But the phrase is so wonderful it asked to be moved out of the box. It's from Big Night Out at the Kingston Narrative Projects
The whole article is full of the lovely phrases of social history, and of course Mordialloc Creek is a small poem in itself, or a third of a haiku.
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