A Night at the Opera

July 1st, 2010
An Evening at the Opera
No, there’s not a new Browser option on the market! This week we’re talking about real opera, you know,  singing and acting. There’s been quite a lot of interest recently about opera  with television programs about Glyndebourne and the Royal Opera House. With the beautiful weather we’ve been experiencing, you can now combine experiencing both of them with the wonderful BP Summer Screens season.
All over the country large screens have been put up to show a live feed from the Royal Opera House’s performances – the latest being Verdi’s Simon Boccanegra. You might not have heard of the opera, but you will certainly have heard of the person sining the lead role: Plácido Domingo
The idea is to promote opera to a larger audience. The screens are set up all around the country and you can just turn up, find a space and watch (and listen!) for free. There are lots of other things to do if you get there early.
Check out the Royal Opera House website for details on when and where the performances will take place, the London event is on the 13th July and the screens are at Canary Wharf and Trafalgar Square.

bp
No, there’s not a new Browser option on the market! This week we’re talking about real opera, you know,  singing and acting. There’s been quite a lot of interest recently about opera  with television programs about Glyndebourne and the Royal Opera House. With the beautiful weather we’ve been experiencing, you can now combine experiencing both of them with the wonderful BP Summer Screens season.

All over the country large screens have been put up to show a live feed from the Royal Opera House’s performances – the latest being Verdi’s Simon Boccanegra. You might not have heard of the opera, but you will certainly have heard of the person sining the lead role: Plácido Domingo

The idea is to promote opera to a larger audience. The screens are set up all around the country and you can just turn up, find a space and watch (and listen!) for free. There are lots of other things to do if you get there early.

Check out the Royal Opera House website for details on when and where the performances will take place, the London event is on the 13th July and the screens are at Canary Wharf and Trafalgar Square.

Click here for the Royal Opera House Website

Posted in Arts | No Comments »

Moore To See

June 25th, 2010
It’s hard to think about visiting exhibitions in this sweltering heat that we’re experiencing at the moment, but remember, this is the UK, it’ll be raining next week! And if it is, we can think of no better exhibition to see than the Henry Moore at Tate Britain.
Moore was a prolific and prolifically talented sculptor who was born in 1898 in West Yorkshire. He pioneered the ‘truth to materials’ approach whereby sculptors carved directly into stone or wood and allowed themselves to be directed by the material rather than by traditional representation.
His work abstract work was always clearly figurative and he was inspired by people and their movements. During the war he was an official war artist and his sketches of people huddled in tube stations (that were used as air raid shelters) show his prodigious ability as a draftsman and enamored him to the general public.
As he got older so his work became larger and bolder – his bronzes became monumental and many can be seen in public collections today.
The Tate show has over 150 of his works along with some of those amazing war time sketches.
Henry Moore: Giant of 20th Century Sculpture can be seen at Tate Britain until August 08.
Click here for more information.

moore

It’s hard to think about visiting exhibitions in this sweltering heat that we’re experiencing at the moment, but remember, this is the UK, it’ll be raining next week! And if it is, we can think of no better exhibition to see than the Henry Moore at Tate Britain.

Moore was a prolific and prolifically talented sculptor who was born in 1898 in West Yorkshire. He pioneered the ‘truth to materials’ approach whereby sculptors carved directly into stone or wood and allowed themselves to be directed by the material rather than by traditional representation.

His work abstract work was always clearly figurative and he was inspired by people and their movements. During the war he was an official war artist and his sketches of people huddled in tube stations (that were used as air raid shelters) show his prodigious ability as a draftsman and enamored him to the general public.

As he got older so his work became larger and bolder – his bronzes became monumental and many can be seen in public collections today.

The Tate show has over 150 of his works along with some of those amazing war time sketches.

Henry Moore: Giant of 20th Century Sculpture can be seen at Tate Britain until August 08.

Click here for more information.

Posted in Arts | No Comments »

Lock Stock

June 18th, 2010
gettyimagesIn an interesting move, Flickr and Getty have opened wide the doors of stock photography. The two companies have been working together for a while now, where users can post their images to a ‘consider me for Getty’ group and where Getty have actively sought out images that they would like in their library.
But from now on ALL users have the ability to click a “Request to license” link whereby their images can be potentially included in the Getty Library. Flickr users have to agree to certain terms and conditions, and the rates for the images are not being disclosed, but it’s a bold and significant step by Getty to, in one foul swoop, gain access to the largest collection of images on the net by over 40million registered users.
Most amateurs would, naturally, love to make some money out of their hobbies, however, there is an ever increasing band of users who do not like what’s happening here. In essence this democratising of stock photography will inevitably lead to less work for professional photographers as more and more images are sources for less and less money.
Whether this is a good or bad thing, is to be seen, one thing for sure is that Getty’s stranglehold over the stock photography market has just got tighter.

gettyimages

In an interesting move, Flickr and Getty have opened wide the doors of stock photography. The two companies have been working together for a while now, where users can post their images to a ‘consider me for Getty’ group and where Getty have actively sought out images that they would like in their library.

But from now on ALL users have the ability to click a “Request to license” link whereby their images can be potentially included in the Getty Library. Flickr users have to agree to certain terms and conditions, and the rates for the images are not being disclosed, but it’s a bold and significant step by Getty to, in one foul swoop, gain access to the largest collection of images on the net by over 40million registered users.

Most amateurs would, naturally, love to make some money out of their hobbies, however, there is an ever increasing band of users who do not like what’s happening here. In essence this democratising of stock photography will inevitably lead to less work for professional photographers as more and more images are sources for less and less money.

Whether this is a good or bad thing, is to be seen, one thing for sure is that Getty’s stranglehold over the stock photography market has just got tighter.

Posted in design | No Comments »

The Fourth Way

June 11th, 2010
Apple’s announcements usually cause frantic speculation within the industry – will they or won’t they …. But this week their announcement of the new iPhone 4 was something of a ‘been there, done that’ The technology blog Gizmodo had already published a list of the changes when they happened to ’stumble’ across one that had been left in a cafe by an Apple employee.
However, not everyone reads Gizmodo(!) so here’s a catch up of the new features to be found in Apples latest device:
It’s redesigned to begin with – being thinner and more stainless steel than previous models, it has two cameras (more of this later) and a gyroscope. You maybe wondering what the later is all about, put basically you’ll be able to use your iPhone like you do your wii controller – waving it around to control apps. (they haven’t provided a strap though – so if you’re an insurance company, maybe now’s the time to introduce some new iPhone cover products?) There’s also hi-def video recording.
The thing that has everyone excited is the reason for those two cameras. The new iPhone comes with FaceTime a video conferencing app which (although only working through wi-fi at the moment) seems set to revolutionise the way we communicate. Reports are that it works very well.
Other small changes have been made that people have been crying out for ( a led-flash for the camera for example) but we’ve still to see  the one thing that pretty much all iPhone fans (apart from Steve Jobs) seem to want … and that’s flash….
Check out all the changes and marvel in the loveliness of the thing at:
http://www.apple.com/iphone/design/

apple-logo1

Apple’s announcements usually cause frantic speculation within the industry – will they or won’t they …. But this week their announcement of the new iPhone 4 was something of a ‘been there, done that’ The technology blog Gizmodo had already published a list of the changes when they happened to ’stumble’ across one that had been left in a cafe by an Apple employee.

However, not everyone reads Gizmodo(!) so here’s a catch up of the new features to be found in Apples latest device:

It’s redesigned to begin with – being thinner and more stainless steel than previous models, it has two cameras (more of this later) and a gyroscope. You maybe wondering what the later is all about, put basically you’ll be able to use your iPhone like you do your wii controller – waving it around to control apps. (they haven’t provided a strap though – so if you’re an insurance company, maybe now’s the time to introduce some new iPhone cover products?) There’s also hi-def video recording.

The thing that has everyone excited is the reason for those two cameras. The new iPhone comes with FaceTime a video conferencing app which (although only working through wi-fi at the moment) seems set to revolutionise the way we communicate. Reports are that it works very well.

Other small changes have been made that people have been crying out for ( a led-flash for the camera for example) but we’ve still to see  the one thing that pretty much all iPhone fans (apart from Steve Jobs) seem to want … and that’s flash….

Check out all the changes and marvel in the loveliness of the thing at:

http://www.apple.com/iphone/design/

Posted in design | No Comments »

Get Away from it all

June 4th, 2010
We’ve all been in the position at some point in our lives where we wish we could just get away from “it all” Well six potential cosmonauts have done just that, only rather than for a couple of days or a week – they’re getting away from it all for 18months!
They are taking part in a Russian experiment called Mars500, the aim of which is to try and see the emotional, physical and mental strains placed on humans on a trip to the red planet. Their “space-craft’ consists of four tubes with areas for living and working, but it’s not all just about the journey. There is also a room filled with rocks and sand which has been designed to represent the planet surface and two of the team will actually perform missions on the ’surface’
The only contact that the crew will have with the outside world will be via e-mail.
There’s more on the project website:
http://mars500.imbp.ru/en/index_e.html
And if you are really interested, why not follow one of the cosmonauts on twitter:
http://twitter.com/diegou

mars

We’ve all been in the position at some point in our lives where we wish we could just get away from “it all” Well six potential cosmonauts have done just that, only rather than for a couple of days or a week – they’re getting away from it all for 18months!

They are taking part in a Russian experiment called Mars500, the aim of which is to try and see the emotional, physical and mental strains placed on humans on a trip to the red planet. Their “space-craft’ consists of four tubes with areas for living and working, but it’s not all just about the journey. There is also a room filled with rocks and sand which has been designed to represent the planet surface and two of the team will actually perform missions on the ’surface’

The only contact that the crew will have with the outside world will be via e-mail.

There’s more on the project website:

http://mars500.imbp.ru/en/index_e.html

And if you are really interested, why not follow one of the cosmonauts on twitter:

http://twitter.com/diegou

Posted in Technology, science | No Comments »

Louise Bourgeois

June 1st, 2010
The news yesterday of the death of the sculptor Louise Bourgeois was saddening to all lovers of contemporary modern art. Probably one of the last great artists, she spent the majority of her life relatively unknown. Only in her later years did she get the attention that her phenomenal creative power deserved.
Born in Paris in 1911 – her early upbringing inspired her whole life’s work, in particular the philandering of her father and her mother’s glossing over of it. She married, in 1938, an American art historian and emigrated in the same year. It was in New York in the 40’s that she turned to sculpture and her first retrospective was aptly at MoMa in New York.
How work was always deeply personal and emotional, sometimes explicit, other times insular and deeply loving. She became most famous for her work Maman an enormous steel and marble sculpture of a spider which represented her mother in that it alluded to the protective nature of spiders to their offspring.
This work was shown as part of the Unilever Series at the Tate Modern and it was there that she also had an incredible retrospective.
If you want to find out more about this remarkable artist then there’s a wonderful interview with her that the Guardian conducted which you can read here:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/artanddesign/2007/oct/14/art4

louiseb

The news yesterday of the death of the sculptor Louise Bourgeois was saddening to all lovers of contemporary modern art. Probably one of the last great artists, she spent the majority of her life relatively unknown. Only in her later years did she get the attention that her phenomenal creative power deserved.

Born in Paris in 1911 – her early upbringing inspired her whole life’s work, in particular the philandering of her father and her mother’s glossing over of it. She married, in 1938, an American art historian and emigrated in the same year. It was in New York in the 40’s that she turned to sculpture and her first retrospective was aptly at MoMa in New York.

How work was always deeply personal and emotional, sometimes explicit, other times insular and deeply loving. She became most famous for her work Maman an enormous steel and marble sculpture of a spider which represented her mother in that it alluded to the protective nature of spiders to their offspring.

This work was shown as part of the Unilever Series at the Tate Modern and it was there that she also had an incredible retrospective.

If you want to find out more about this remarkable artist then there’s a wonderful interview with her that the Guardian conducted which you can read here:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/artanddesign/2007/oct/14/art4

Posted in Arts | No Comments »

Floating Splendor

May 28th, 2010
If you’ve ever been to Regents Park in the summer and cross over the bridge by the zoo you will no doubt have been struck by the incredible site of the Feng Shang Princess. What appears to be a Chinese House floating  in Cubmberland Basin. The Feng Shang Princess Floating Restaurant is run by Karen Chua and was built in the 80’s. It serves sumptuous Chinese food and delicacies to a discerning clientèle from celebrities of film, music and TV to locals and tourists alike.
The wonderful menu includes such treats as:
Whole Lobster in black pepper & French Red Wine Sauce, Stir Fried Ostrich with Japanese Yakiniku Sauce and Stir Fry Fillet Lamb in Claypot with Ginger & Spring Onions.
We were asked to create a site that matched the splendor of the restaurant and ended up not only designing and building a fully content managed site, but also taking all of the photography as well.
You can take a look at the site here:
www.fengshang.co.uk

fengshang
If you’ve ever been to Regents Park in the summer and cross over the bridge by the zoo you will no doubt have been struck by the incredible site of the Feng Shang Princess. What appears to be a Chinese House floating  in Cubmberland Basin. The Feng Shang Princess Floating Restaurant is run by Karen Chua and was built in the 80’s. It serves sumptuous Chinese food and delicacies to a discerning clientèle from celebrities of film, music and TV to locals and tourists alike.

The wonderful menu includes such treats as:

Whole Lobster in black pepper & French Red Wine Sauce, Stir Fried Ostrich with Japanese Yakiniku Sauce and Stir Fry Fillet Lamb in Claypot with Ginger & Spring Onions.

We were asked to create a site that matched the splendor of the restaurant and ended up not only designing and building a fully content managed site, but also taking all of the photography as well.

You can take a look at the site here:

www.fengshang.co.uk

Posted in design | No Comments »

Turning a paperclip into a house

May 25th, 2010

img-thing

Turning a Paperclip into a House
The internet can be a fascinating place with incredible opportunities if you’re willing to apply yourself. Young Canadian Kyle MacDonald certainly applied himself when he decided that it was time to get himself a house.
Kyle came up with the idea of trading ‘up’ using his website. The idea being to get someone to offer him something that was of greater value than his trade – hopefully managing a final trade which would bring him his much desired house.
He started with a large red paperclip. This was traded for a novelty pen which was traded for a handmade ceramic doorknob. The doorknob became a camping stove, then a generator, then a barrel of beer (with a neon sign). Various trades followed to where Kyle managed to get an afternoon with Alice Cooper.
Much to everyone’s disbelief, this was traded for a snowglobe. Unknown to most, however, was that film director Corbin Bernsen   collects snowglobes and in exchange for it he offered a paid role in his new film.
The town of Kipling, Saskatchewan decided that they would love to have one of their own in a movie and so offered Kyle his final goal – a house.
Find out more on Kyles blog:
http://www.oneredpaperclip.blogspot.com/
Now, where did I put those drawing pins…..

The internet can be a fascinating place with incredible opportunities if you’re willing to apply yourself. Young Canadian Kyle MacDonald certainly applied himself when he decided that it was time to get himself a house.

Kyle came up with the idea of trading ‘up’ using his website. The idea being to get someone to offer him something that was of greater value than his trade – hopefully managing a final trade which would bring him his much desired house.

He started with a large red paperclip. This was traded for a novelty pen which was traded for a handmade ceramic doorknob. The doorknob became a camping stove, then a generator, then a barrel of beer (with a neon sign). Various trades followed to where Kyle managed to get an afternoon with Alice Cooper.

Much to everyone’s disbelief, this was traded for a snowglobe. Unknown to most, however, was that film director Corbin Bernsen   collects snowglobes and in exchange for it he offered a paid role in his new film.

The town of Kipling, Saskatchewan decided that they would love to have one of their own in a movie and so offered Kyle his final goal – a house.

Find out more on Kyles blog:

http://www.oneredpaperclip.blogspot.com/

Now, where did I put those drawing pins…..

Posted in design | No Comments »

Raw

May 21st, 2010
You know that summer is finally here when Sainsbury’s sells out of disposable BBQ’s, everyone has their shorts and flip-flops on and the Royal Academy Summer Exhibition opens. The RA has run an open competition since 1769 and this year it’s the 242nd.
The show is open to anyone, simply submit two pieces of your art, pay your entry fee and wait for the good/bad news. As a result of this open submission policy, the show is a real mixture of styles (and some would say quality) but it’s this that makes it what it is.
There are six categories: paintings, prints, drawings, sculpture, architectural designs and models and virtually everything is for sale. The RA takes a commission on these sales and for an organisation that receives no financial help from the government, it’s a useful fundraiser.
Each year there’s a different theme and different judges – this year’s theme is ‘Raw’ and it should be interesting to see the various interpretations of these theme. There will also be new works from various Royal Academicians.
The show runs from 14 June—22 August 2010
Visit the RA site for more information
http://www.royalacademy.org.uk/exhibitions/summer-exhibition/

ra

You know that summer is finally here when Sainsbury’s sells out of disposable BBQ’s, everyone has their shorts and flip-flops on and the Royal Academy Summer Exhibition opens. The RA has run an open competition since 1769 and this year it’s the 242nd.

The show is open to anyone, simply submit two pieces of your art, pay your entry fee and wait for the good/bad news. As a result of this open submission policy, the show is a real mixture of styles (and some would say quality) but it’s this that makes it what it is.

There are six categories: paintings, prints, drawings, sculpture, architectural designs and models and virtually everything is for sale. The RA takes a commission on these sales and for an organisation that receives no financial help from the government, it’s a useful fundraiser.

Each year there’s a different theme and different judges – this year’s theme is ‘Raw’ and it should be interesting to see the various interpretations of these theme. There will also be new works from various Royal Academicians.

The show runs from 14 June—22 August 2010

Visit the RA site for more information

http://www.royalacademy.org.uk/exhibitions/summer-exhibition/

Posted in Arts, Exhibitions | No Comments »

Froyo

May 19th, 2010
Google have just announced Froyo – no not some Hobbit themed browser, but the latest release of their Android OS for mobile devices. Android has always seemed to be playing a bit of a catch up with Apples iPhone OS, but the new features detailed seem to make it a lot more tempting.
The updates are in five key areas:
Speed: We all like things to be fast and due to a new compiler it seems that Froyo will be two to five times quicker than the old Android – that’s quite some improvement.
Enterprise: Where both the iPhone and Android suffer over Blackberry is their percieved lack of business ‘ability’ – there are lots of integration changes, but probably (and probably not advertised as such) the most business like features will be in the way companies will be able to shut down phones and control what their users put on them….
Services: This is where things get exciting – it seems that you’ll be able to use your Android phone as a wi-fi hotspot – with an external USB device being able to get online through your phone.
Browser: There are lots of upgrades to the browser – again it’s mostly to do with speed – Google reckon that Android will provide the quickest browsing of any mobile platform.
Marketplace: Changes and upgrades to the Android Marketplace see Google trying to make inroads to Apples App Store. One nice feature (available for a long time on the iPhone) is the ability to update all your apps at once rather than have to update individually.
Whether these new features are enough to lure people away from their iPhones or to drive business away from Blackberry, it’s hard to tell – one thing that might sway iPhone users is full support for Adobe Flash Player 10.1 public beta …something you won’t be seeing soon on your apple!
Here’s some more info for you:
http://android-developers.blogspot.com/2010/05/android-22-and-developers-goodies.html

Google-Android-Froyo
Google have just announced Froyo – no not some Hobbit themed browser, but the latest release of their Android OS for mobile devices. Android has always seemed to be playing a bit of a catch up with Apples iPhone OS, but the new features detailed seem to make it a lot more tempting.

The updates are in five key areas:

Speed: We all like things to be fast and due to a new compiler it seems that Froyo will be two to five times quicker than the old Android – that’s quite some improvement.

Enterprise: Where both the iPhone and Android suffer over Blackberry is their percieved lack of business ‘ability’ – there are lots of integration changes, but probably (and probably not advertised as such) the most business like features will be in the way companies will be able to shut down phones and control what their users put on them….

Services: This is where things get exciting – it seems that you’ll be able to use your Android phone as a wi-fi hotspot – with an external USB device being able to get online through your phone.

Browser: There are lots of upgrades to the browser – again it’s mostly to do with speed – Google reckon that Android will provide the quickest browsing of any mobile platform.

Marketplace: Changes and upgrades to the Android Marketplace see Google trying to make inroads to Apples App Store. One nice feature (available for a long time on the iPhone) is the ability to update all your apps at once rather than have to update individually.

Whether these new features are enough to lure people away from their iPhones or to drive business away from Blackberry, it’s hard to tell – one thing that might sway iPhone users is full support for Adobe Flash Player 10.1 public beta …something you won’t be seeing soon on your apple!

Here’s some more info for you:

http://android-developers.blogspot.com/2010/05/android-22-and-developers-goodies.html

Posted in Technology | No Comments »

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