Blog within a Blog 2 - July - December 2014.

Autumn Almanac

Here's that Kinks song again with some very tasteful photographs.


JULY


In July I found a poem by Robert Frost, perfectly suited to George Martin's saga " A Game of Ice And Fire."

Fire and Ice

BY ROBERT FROST (1920)

Some say the world will end in fire,

Some say in ice.

From what I’ve tasted of desire

I hold with those who favor fire.

But if it had to perish twice,

I think I know enough of hate

To say that for destruction ice

Is also great

And would suffice.

D.and I visited Lyme Regis again: here are two shots:

The top one looks out along the rocks at the end of The Cobb Harbour

The bottom shows The Cobb looking from the gardens at sunset.

July is  the month of the annual Cricket Festival, played on the college ground.
I penned a poem and researched some notes. Here are my closing statements:

" Cheltenham Cricket Festival is the longest running Cricket Festival on an out ground (Festival Ground) in the world. It was started by James Lillywhite in 1872 with the first match being played against Surrey and was won by Gloucestershire. No other Cricket Festival in the world has been played on the same ground for that length of time and no other cricket festival in the world lasts for twelve days or more.

As such it deserves my support.

The sun out; the craic mighty, what better way to spend a summer afternoon?

AUGUST

The Gloucestershire Citizen provided me with the shot of the month. Here it is.

A spectacular  lightning storm over Gloucester Docks. Quite a picture don't you agree?

D. and I greatly enjoyed the Cheltenham outdoor swimming pool: The Lido. D. swam, I read.

It was immaculately maintained and litter free. A haven in the sun, where naturally concessions ruled.

Perhaps, for a photographic opportunity, the biggest surprise of the month was in Cirencester, where we followed a sculpture trail of five foot high hares. Here are two examples.

I have just discovered that the forty ' March Hares ' were auctioned off for charity and reached a total of £113,000. Jolly good show, as the Major would say.

SEPTEMBER

In September, D. and I visited Spain with L. And A.

More particularly we stayed in Gandia, a small Spanish town, with a Mediterranean coastline.

I loved the feeling of hot sand under my feet on the beach, combined with the gentle sea waves.

I reckon the above pictures will carry me through the winter ahead.

Valencia, the nearest city was an elegant place,  steeped in history and culture,

The Fish Market was a marvel in its variety and display. I have placed these with other memorable pictures of this charming place.

 A Hanging Garden

Street Wall Art

The Expo Centre.

Finally my favourite shot of the holiday. So utterly alien, to what I am used to.

OCTOBER

 I wrote these rather introverted lines, which I actually rather like.

Inner Space

Will you deny me

the chance to explore

lands and worlds afar?

To see through minds

of other beings and

wonder at strange

landscapes.

Will you let me hear

sounds, discordant

to some, but mixed

in my head to form

an aural wallpaper

in left and right pulses?

I have been birthed in

the print and baptised

in a changing 

soundscape.

They reach my inner

space and grant me

outer peace.

Close to our local Waitrose, in a subway I found these pieces of graphic art; clearly  the people's gallery at work.

NOVEMBER

This was the month when D. and I visited my old school chum Kevin O'Neill in Cardiff in order to view his computer based art exhibition. It was great to see his work, which he usually posts daily to FaceBook , professionally mounted and displayed and I am pleased to report he has succeeded in making sales of some of his art. Well done Kevin.

DECEMBER

 d and I at the beginning of this month went to the cinema to view "Interstellar" a new space film, directed by Christopher Nolan.

Interstellar trailer.

We saw it at the recently opened iMax screen , which measures approximately 25 metres by 10 metres. The experience was a little awe-inspiring at first, but the effect soon wore off. Crucially, you see it was not in 3D and therefore big, but not making the viewer part of the action. Here is what I wrote about the film, taken from my FaceBook entry.

"Well first of all Interstellar is not a classic. It suffers from self indulgence on the part of director Chris Nolan; being at least 20 minutes too long. In my view "Gravity " is a tighter, crisper, better scripted film. Crucially its special effects gave a greater feeling of disorientation, in a spinning sense than ' 'stellar ' did.

Also I saw the film on an iMax screen about 25x 10M. It was big and bold and very loud; but once one got used to the size, I became quite passive about the experience. To make it work it needed 3D.

The opening section shot in Ohio? Flat corn fields felt ponderous to me. It reminded me  of visiting years ago a web-cam set in such a corn field. The camera refreshed itself every 30 seconds; but I can tell you folks,  not a lot, if anything happens. As interesting as recycled toilet paper. Thus, if I lived there I'd also probably want to be in space.

So, finally what did I like?
Well it certainly is spectacular at times. The sense of isolation and silence came through well; although the music did not inspire especially when ramped up. If you like time/ relativity mumbo-jumbo, 5D and black holes go see. If on the other hand you want to 'trip out ' seek out the great 2001 film. Nothing beats it
3••• "

As you can tell I was not enamoured. Two further observations. The music was a trifle predictable, orchestral and hardly futuristic. It was not creative, for example in the way " The Blue Danube" was  used in 2001 to demonstrate the docking procedures.

Secondly life on board the spacecraft seemed especially stilted and devoid of humour, which one one would hope was necessary for the maintenance of sanity in such a mission.

Finally i have just downloaded  "2001 A Space Odyssey " and can confirm,  it is, for all its age, a better constructed piece.

So all  that remains,  for me to wish you all, a very happy and peaceful Christmas and a rewarding New Year and as my old friend 'The Major' remarks ' May All Your Troubles Be Tax-Exempt.

Cheerio for 2014,

C.k