toil

Uh, a full day's hungover overtime at the bank today, spent spelling out upteen repetitions to a baying throng of a hundred thousand morons. Now I'm off out to a friend's photography show which ought to be alright and I had kindly offered to DJ, though now I really can't be bothered. Someone else is playing too, and I've found through bitter experience that sharing a bill with unknown quantities will inevitably lead to bruised egos and bitter tears. So no, then.

set

Excitingly enough, on December 14th NEON has a gig playing the Christmas party at Edinburgh's renowned Collective Gallery. Watch out for the contemporary-art/hard-rocking-disco collision...

The complete WILLO THE WISP

Listing for Thursday's Cine Salon:



A weekly display of hidden or neglected facets of the magic lantern.
The finest wines and cheeses shall be served. Don't miss!

3 Springfield, Dundee
Thursday 29th November, 9pm
THE COMPLETE WILLO THE WISP

Featuring the voice of comedy legend Kenneth Williams.

An exclusive screening of all 26 episodes!

Wikipedia.org:
Willo the Wisp is the name of a British cartoon series produced in 1981. Kenneth Williams provided voices for all of the characters. These included:

* Willo the Wisp, the narrator. A blue floating ghost-like creature, Willo had a long pointed nose which caricatured that of Williams.
* Arthur the caterpillar (as a gruff cockney).
* Mavis Cruet, a plump fairy with erratic magical powers.
* Evil Edna, a witch in the form of a walking, talking television set who could zap people with her aerial.
* Carwash, a snooty bespectacled cat (as Noel Coward).
* The Moog, a brainless dog.
* Twit, a small bird.
* The Beast, who began life as a dim prince before an unfortunate encounter with Edna ended up with his transformation into a hairy shambling creature.

The series was written and directed by Nick Spargo of Nicholas Cartoon Films.
It was produced by Nicholas Cartoon Films in association with the BBC and Tellytales Enterprises.
The stories were set in Doyley Woods, a small beech wood in Oxfordshire near the director's home.
Each of the 26 episodes lasted 5 minutes and was broadcast at 5.35 in the evening on BBC1.

Amazon.co.uk customer review:
In recent years, there has been much discussion as to whether The Sopranos, or perhaps The Wire, can claim to be The Greatest Television Ever Made.
They can't, wonderful as they are. It is a little known fact that the high-point of art on the small screen was reached in 1981, right here in the UK. And this is it.
Nothing, (I find), is quite as sublime as watching The Moog exclaim
"My name is The Moog. And I...Am...An...Elephant!!!"
Kenneth Williams was a genius and this is, oddly enough, probably his finest legacy. Delicious.
5/5

transit

So the poster arrived this morning, and it's really something of a mixed blessing. No cardboard tube, just a flimsy box for protection on a journey all the way from Switzerland, and unsurprisingly it got here a bit creased and dog-eared on its voyage. All annoying, except that the museum never charged any money or sent any invoice, so I'm hardly likely to moan too much.

Hopefully the framers can do a little restoration work, iron out the imperfections, and just maybe it'll leave me with something beautiful. Not that I've much room for another big picture on the wall, but then I really won't be living here forever and an art collection has to be a long-term project...

dark days

Ugh, spending the Sunday working in a call centre is miserable enough, but when you're feeling at death's door thanks to the previous night's misadventures... it's rather a day to forget.

Really do need to get my arse in gear and to start looking for a proper job, rather than sitting here complaining about the one I've already got. Yes I must, I really must.

lazy

Downloaded Audacity software so that we'll shortly be able to post up some NEON DJ mixes online.

Other than that, another lazy Saturday spent lounging round the living room, reading the paper, keeping tabs on the football scores and digging this mix of wavey sounds by
Deutschmark - Twilight Sleep.

"melancholic and psychedelic oldies and new tracks by ADN' Ckrystall, Dr. C. Stein, Bakterielle Infektion, Porn Darsteller and more..."

following orders

I'm sure the vast majority of right-minded people consider viral marketing campaigns to be a particularly insidious form of evil. Nevertheless, all it takes is for something like this to come along and I can't help spreading the infection among my friends and family.

Albion

Yes sorry, a post about football.

Really not doing a right lot today, just sitting around going over the postmortems of last night's disastrous England game. As an ex-pat I often have to endure accusations of gloating, snobbery and big-headedness, which I would dispute. Any England supporter I know would be the first to admit that their national team is shite. The players are a shower of overpaid hyped-up bling merchants incapable of all sitting on the same bus, never mind playing together as a team. I can't remember it ever being any other way, and only a few employees of the BBC sports department would argue any different.

In other non-football-related news, reading Wuthering Heights (for the first time, shamefully enough), sorting out more records to sell on eBay, and still putting off looking for a proper job.

reprieve

I was fairly disappointed not to have been able to work any overtime at the bank this week.

As things stand, it's rather a stroke a good fortune.

THE BEYOND

Listing for Thursday's Cine Salon:
Thursday 22nd November, 9pm
THE BEYOND (L'aldilà)

Wikipedia.org:
The Beyond (also known as E tu vivrai nel terrore - L'aldilà or Seven Doors of Death) is a 1981 Italian horror movie directed by Lucio Fulci. It is considered by some horror film fans to be one of the best movies made by the Italian director[citation needed]. The second film in Fulci's unofficial Gates of Hell trilogy (along with City of the Living Dead and The House by the Cemetery), The Beyond has gained a cult following over the decades — in part because of the film’s gore-filled murder sequences, which had been heavily censored when the film was originally released in the United States in 1983.

IMDB comments:
"If you think Dario Argento doesn't give a damn about coherent plots, check out Lucio Fulci! 'The Beyond' does have a (Lovecraftian) plot as such - a woman inherits a hotel in Louisiana that contains one of the doorways to Hell - but that is basically an excuse for Fulci to string together a series of fantastic and frequently gory images. These include zombie attacks, eye gougings, a better dog attack scene than 'Suspiria', the crucifixion of a Satanist, and a sequence involving tarantulas which has to be one of the high points of horror, anywhere, anytime.

'The Beyond' is sensational and a bona fide modern horror classic. Absolutely essential viewing!"

to do

Oh dear, just now is a real nothing sort of a time. No overtime available at work, no money in the bank, not sure if or when my Katie Orton review might be printed... and I must get looking for a proper job, yes really I must. Make some art, maybe see about renting a studio, enquire about design work, get a move on with the magazine, talk to people, get out of Dundee, see the world, achieve great things... how about making some art for a change? Art? Might just be an idea.

Oh, how life is passing us so busily by! What is left for us and where has all of that gone? Surely something has to be done.

But what...?

done

Sat doing a shift of invigilation at the Generator gallery, which is really not so bad as I'm able to keep tabs on the Leeds United score and also listen to the CBS too. Last night's NEON was a successful one, a respectable sized crowd eventually turned up and the dancefloor saw a fair amount of action. Having invested so much time and energy in the whole thing it's just a shame that it all has to be over in the twinkling of an eye. What's there left to look forward to now? Christmas?

I really must have one of these amazing prints, and have emailed the museum to ask about international shipping. I eagerly await their response.

Just waiting

Just waiting to go out, for the clock to strike 8 and I'll be bound for the DCA opening. This is to drum up some support among the art freeloaders to come to NEON. Not that any drumming up will really be needed, only there's not much else worse (I imagine...) than sitting about waiting for the clock to strike.

Bon anniversaire

Ironic that I'm able to keep a plentiful supply of Champagne flowing as host of the Salon, yet still I need to sell used CDs to Groucho's in order to keep the wolf from the door. Just one of the quirks of getting Markys vouchers as bonus payment I suppose.

So the schedule for tomorrow (my birthday, as it happens)...

8.30am - Put the only remaining poster up in the college
9.00am - Sell yet more CDs to Groucho's, probably earning £20 for various iconic Krautrock albums that never get listened to
9.15am - Sign in, late, for overtime at the call centre
12.00pm - Buy a posh packed lunch from Marks & Spencer's
1.00pm - Get the train to Edinburgh, maybe call in at a couple of galleries
5.00pm - Go see William Bennett's lecture at the university
7.00pm - Get the train back to Dundee
9.00pm - Host the Cine Salon, enjoying the finest Champaigne and cheeses

Remainder of the week should be great, promising all sorts of thrills and spills..

ARAKIMENTARI

Listing for Thursday's Cine Salon:
Thursday 15th November, 9pm
ARAKIMENTARI (2004, Dir. Travis Klose)

Documentary looking at the life and work of the acclaimed Japanese photographer Nobuyoshi Araki.

IMDB comments:
The life and work of Japanese photographer Nobuyoshi Araki. Mostly known for his erotic or perhaps pornographic photos its clear from this film that there is more to the man than just dirty pictures. Coming a cross as a charming rogue its clear that Araki loves what he's doing, which is photographing everyone and everything at all times. There is a comment by one of his fellow photographers to the effect that Araki is more than his erotic pictures and that there is nothing that he doesn't know about photography. Seeing his images whizzing by in the film its clear the statement is true as we see the vast range of his work that stretches from the mundane to flowers to portraits to porn to whatever else you can think of. He's an amazing man that I'm certain will worm his way into the hearts of anyone who sees the film.

Amazon customer review:
Araki is a brilliant and succesful Japanese photographer Unfortunately he has becme obsessed with vaginas and pubic hair. He gets away with it because he is famous, even though there was some problem with the japanese police. He photographs his models with their legs spread. When wearing clothes his camera will finds its way up her skirt or her skirt will be pulled up and her legs spread wide. He goes on to tell us this is art, which it is'nt He submits his works to magazines, obviously the ones bought by voyeurs. Unless you are one give thid DVD a big miss 1/5

correction

After some heated discussion, my hastily written post down there needs to be retracted. The picture's provenance has been called into question, and my claiming it as a Gillian Martin original is written off as being so much eyewash. All there is to say is that I never claimed to be any kind of art expert.

So maybe this won't now see the light of day, but I still maintain that it's a fun image.

sales

The NEON publicity machine clicks into gear, and I've been up early to do the college. Now about 8.30am is really peak flyering time, after the cleaners have gone but before students and rival posters have started to appear. Prime position is top of the stairs by the main entrance, and on a lovely sunny day like today whatever is posted there catches the light and is illuminated beautifully. Really I anticipate Friday's event to be super hard rocking, as there's a DCA show opening, a student art event on down Roseangle gallery who've been offered discounted tickets, and the only other show in town is the Reading Rooms whose drab promo material is put to shame by the luminous NEON owl. I also chanced upon a doodle by Gil on the back of one of our flyers; blown up to A3 it looks brilliant, and provides a cheaper alternative for when the colour material runs out.

The Servant

"I think everyone should have their favourite director tattooed on their arm. Wouldn't that make dating easier? If somebody had Henry Jaglom, I wouldn't date 'em! I'd get Joseph Losey tattooed on mine."
John Waters

So here I sit enjoying some expensive Marks & Spencer's wine, watching The Servant. I really cannot recommend this film highly enough, directed by Joseph Losey and scripted by Harold Pinter. It was recommended to me at college by my tutor Sarah Tripp, who saw in it a number of things of particular interest to me and my 'work'. Power relationships, class, Englishness, camp. It is pitiless in its depiction of all of these. It had been earmarked for the Salon, but it's really too subtle to appreciate in a situation involving alcohol. Oh well.

Internal Affairs

Declaring her interest in "the social and psychological implications of designed spaces", Katie Orton filters this fixation through a look inspired by the heroes of 20th century Modernism. Father figures Picasso and Matisse are slyly domesticated and their motifs lovingly rendered using the materials of handicraft. 'Internal Affairs', her solo show at Dundee's Generator Projects artists' space, presents a substantial display of work created while undertaking the RSA residency at Hospitalfield House. Large scale paintings depict interiors abstracted with touches of bawdily humourous figuration. One such scene of orgiastic coupling is contained within an angular configuration (Analysing the Polyhedron), while sculptures show subservient females emphasising their elegance (Waitress, Proud Cleaner). Elsewhere we see the interiors of a pool hall and a 'Design for Mental Health Centre Floor'. Wandering onto the stage set for a Cocteau play, as enacted by a repertory group populated by the local crafts guild, is one way of putting it. There is however only the most assured of touches on display here.

other people

Just some things I read this morning over breakfast....

Marina Hyde's column in today's paper taking issue with the new generation of young bloggers. I suppose she'll be interested to know that I no longer fancy her since I found out she slept with Piers Morgan.

K-Punk's article about Roisin Murphy. He makes some interesting points about glamour. There's sadly all too little of that about these days I feel.

high society

Lots on tonight, an opening at the Generator, NEON at the Art Bar and also some sort of Generator-related event happening at the Function Suite.

A full account, along with photos, to follow tomorrow.

addendum

Next week's Cine Salon event will be a screening of Arakimentari.

I must have been sleeping when this record by Dream Disco was released. Now it's all sold out and I don't have it. Bah!

William Bennett of Whitehouse will be giving a talk at Edinburgh University on November 15th, my birthday. Might have to go see that one I think.

Hoping that these M&S vouchers arrive tomorrow, so that I might splash out on some quality refreshments for tomorrow night's inaugural Salon.

looking forward

Taking the poster designs to the printers later, and very much looking forward to seeing this covering the whole of the west end. Lots to look forward to coming up, as there'll be Cine Salon events and NEON engagements both this week and the next. There's also talk of a possible trip through to Glasgow for the 23rd, so it's all quite exciting.

Prozac

If ever I'm in need of a quick cheering up, then this clip is guaranteed to put the smile back on my face. Even if it is about Manchester.

at home

So here I find myself, feeling frustration at whatever my lifestyle has settled itself into, but still. This living room is so exquisite, an arrangement of art objects that can be looked at endlessly, always with more meaning to be found in their singular qualities, and also in their juxtapositions. I can't, at this very moment, think of anywhere else that I'd rather be.

in order

Really very little to say, the days slipping into a deadly weekend routine just now. Each time is pretty much the same; go out Friday to the Art Bar or the DCA, head to the Function Suite afterwards, get drunk, spend a hungover Saturday following the football results as they come in, venture out only to buy some pizza and wine to consume on Saturday night, watching Match of the Day. Still, at least now I can watch it on a big telly. Ho hum.

nouvelle cuisine

Learned today exactly how much overtime I've been working these past two months. The bonus is paid in vouchers, redeemable at various high street spots including Marks & Spencer's, the sole food outlet. And how much? Six hundred and twenty pounds' worth, that's how much. Looks like being a diet of posh food for a good long while, and that's certainly the catering for the Cine Salon (the finest cheeses and wines, naturellement) sorted.

PR

Facebook listing for the _Black_Acrylic Cine Salon:

A weekly display of hidden or neglected facets of the magic lantern. The finest wines and cheeses shall be served. Don't miss! Thursdays 9pm, 3 Springfield, Dundee. Any ideas and guest curatorships are most welcome.

The inaugural Cine Salon event will take place 9pm on Thursday 8th November. Presenting a screening of LA PLANETE SAUVAGE

Wikipedia.org:
Fantastic Planet (French: La Planète sauvage, lit. The Savage Planet) an animated 1973 science fiction film directed by René Laloux. The film was an international production between France and Czechoslovakia and has been distributed in the United States by Roger Corman. It won the special jury prize at the Cannes Film Festival in 1973. The story is based on the novel, Oms en Série, by the French writer Stefan Wul.

Imdb summary: La Planète sauvage AKA Fantastic Planet is a surrealist story based on the Soviet occupation of Czechoslovakia. Set in a far distant world human beings or "Oms"have been domesticated by the gigantic Draags. Wild Oms however are a problem and are exterminated by the dozen. One domesticated om Terr is able to escape his masters with a headset that puts information directly into the brain. Armed now with the Draags technology he leads the Oms in an attempt to make life better for them...But will the deomizing destroy them?

The club's already got four members, including myself. Not bad going, all told.
(edit: now up to 21 members, far more than the living room's capacity...)