D'log

September, approaching: (large version, 80kb)

Urbis again:Manchester’s Urbis; slated by the broadsheet newspapers, but raved about by onOffonOff. Search IE Favorites:IE 6, not quite perfect yet; there’s the very annoying and stupid ‘Favorites’ bookmarking system, for instance. Don’t you wish you could just search your favorite bookmarks by keyword? Well, try this excellent free add-on; Quick Favorites Search. Download and […]

Midlanders go back to Skool: Gosh, it’s “back to school time”. Or the nu meedja / creatives equivalent, anyway. All of a sudden I’m bombarded with Midlands creatives doing things…. Jane of Hereford’s Rural Media Company sends word that they’ll be advertising four posts in September. “For full details see our website, look for ‘New […]

Striding forth:Stephen Foster’s novel Strides has just come out in paperback from Faber & Faber. This ex builder, who many claim is “better than Nick Hornby”, grew up in Stoke-on-Trent, and his first book was It Cracks Like Breaking Skin… “A novel about what it is to grow up. On street corners and market stalls, […]

2,469,940,685:There’s a new 2.46Bn Google data set to search. Fuji, Mounted:The 2002 Fuji Student Award winners are online in gallery form.

Power up:My F601z camera now has a spare NP-60 battery and a new 128Mb card, from

Field Scabious:I think this is the result of seeing seven episodes of Northern Exposure back-to-back. I felt compelled to wander through a meadow for a few hours. 😉 (large version, 55kb) Times a’ changin’:The future creative class votes with its feet. (Free registration required).

Pigeons & greenhouses:Virtual Brum has a large photo gallery/tour of Birmingham’s city centre ‘creative quarter’, Digbeth. It’s even got a pic of the Victorian Urinal, although the gallery does lack a photo of the new £6m Custard Factory extension, The Greenhouse. Now that the Custard Factory has new office space aimed resolutely at “new media” […]

Only 102 episodes to go:The complete Series 1 of my most-favorite-ever TV series, Northern Exposure, has been released on DVD. I’ve just ordered a copy for £25; very reasonable for a two-disc set that runs 6 hours. You can only buy it in the UK (the US studio has lucrative cable re-run income), and only […]

Coventry Co-op:There’s a good looking new West Midlands artists site, from the Coventry Artists Co-op.

Film Award:I may be giving Awards at this year’s Birmingham Film Festival. Yes, that’s giving, not given. Damn. Maybe if I made an arty film of this week’s epic painting exploits? 😉 Award for Fastest Second-Coat of Blue Paint on a Bathroom, including Fiddly-Edges, goes to… Wired to buy:Finally, an issue of Wired that I’ll […]

Cycling to work:Kuro5hin has a big article and debate about cycling to work. ‘This is interesting?’ you ask, eyebrow raised. Yes, for many reasons, including…. “During rush-two-and-a-half-hours, it takes me only slightly longer to ride the 18 miles to work on my bicycle than to drive the 15 miles to work in my car”. Hurrah!Happy […]

Comics talk:This weekend, among other things, I’ve been chairing a talk in Wolverhampton during a day devoted to comics; the panel of artists and writers talked about the industry structure and a lot of nuts & bolts issues; but also speculation about the future of comics. About how web-comics are currently more akin to a […]

Another orchid:Another event; the same place as last Saturday, the same poor lighting, the same flowers… and the same miraculous use of Photoshop ‘s auto-levels function. (large version, 58kb) Happy first birthday:My weblog’s now been running for one year.

Lenkiewicz, really dead this time:The major British painter Robert Lenkiewicz has passed away. Some years ago I was lucky enough to see the major retrospective of his work, which was the inaugural show at Birmingham’s ICC.

Good news:Under new proposals…. “Motorists would be responsible for all accidents involving cyclists”. When I was cycling in Spain, the motorists all knew they faced this responsibility; and so even the most manic were always very careful to give cyclists respect and room on the road. It seemed to work fine. Bad news:The Dept. of […]

Booze-ist:Here’s a juicy quote from the USA’s Creative Industries expert Richard Florida, ideal for when some suit at your local Council says that the Cultural (consumption) Quarter and the Creative (production) Quarter should both be located together in the city centre… “If there is one thing we have learned in our focus groups with knowledge […]

Visitor stat’s for July:July 2002 visitor figures: 5573 unique visitors, generating 61,000 hits.