It’s space night in the mistersnappy household. I’ve just finished watching Moonwalk One, which isn’t anything to do with the recently departed Michael Jackson, but a long lost film documenting the moon landings of 40 years ago. Obviously it’s highly recommended (by me) and available on Amazon at a good price!! To round off my evening I’d planned to watch the live stream, in HD no less, of the Space Shuttle Endeavour launch from Florida. It’s already been delayed a couple of times due to weather and they had a 40% chance of success today. Alas, at the last minute, or 5, the countdown was halted to resume in 48 hours.
I remember my excitement at the very first shuttle launch in the early 80’s, rushing home to watch it on the TV. Before the days when everyone had a VHS I think I recorded it onto an audio cassette which probably languishes in a cupboard at my parent’s house. Apart from a period in my life when girls and beer where more important, I’ve retained that childhood excitement for shuttle launches, while the world seems to have gotten used to the regular trips into near space. The advent of live web streaming of both launches and space walks makes these special occasions even more enjoyable for my inner 10 year old. The idea of watching astronauts working for hours on end, from the comfort of my desk, on a live stream is utterly fantastic and I could, and do, watch them for hours. They’re strangely relaxing! Just to make things a little better, I can now watch in glorious HD. What utter joy!
I still find it a little strange that we, on earth, take these fantastical feats of engineering, science and, dare I say it, project management, as the norm. Most launches don’t even get a side glance on the news these days. If they do, it would be for something like the continued delays of Endeavour, or the fact that there are only a few missions left before the Space Shuttle programme ends.
There will soon be no more significant manned launches out of NASA until Orion in about 2014 and I wonder if this period of reflection and development and the potential return of man to the moon in 2020 will re-egnite the interest of a new generation of space geeks and kidults alike.
Check out the latest delay announcement from NASA tv…
In an article in the Guardian Gordon Brown talks about how the internet allows people in oppressed nations tell their stories to the masses. He says that this this internet revolution gives people the opportunity to let their views be known and talks about this as if it’s new, like today new, like he’s just found out about it. He says, ‘Foreign Policy can never be the same again’. I bet that’s a right pain the in the arse Mr Brown!
The more I read this article, the more I think that isn’t actually what he’s talking about. What he’s really saying is that the advent of forums and platforms such as mobile phones, the internet, twitter and youtube mean that poor old Mr Brown and his political cohorts can no longer ignore these actual revolutions around the world, in our names, and without our knowledge. Popular media is enabling people in the midst of these political crises to get the word out and now it is us, the direct recipients of this mostly first hand information, who are applying pressure to governments world wide to take action, and sometimes taking action ourselves. No longer can the international political community ignore and keep quiet about incidents such as the Iranian elections and pass them off as ‘domestic incidents’ in which they can not be involved. They will find it increasingly difficult to brush oppression and war under the carpet and control the images that appear on our screens.
While some believe that social media is being used to subvert information that comes out of places like Iran, the constant stream of comment, photos and video will become increasingly difficult to ignore. We are now in a position that despite what the news agenda is, the social media universe will define it’s own agenda and will give a voice to people when the mainstream media have moved on to the latest celebrity boob job.
Social media has many faults and is still very much in its infancy but used in the right way it give power to the powerless and a voice to those that some would prefer silent.
Due to some strange loophole or legislation I’m just about to embark on the Ride2Work scheme from Evans Cycles. By paying for the bike over a year through my wages I make a saving of about 40% allowing me to get a shiny new bike to ride, the first new bike that’s come my way since 1993! Going even further back, this is the first time I’ve actually paid for a bike since I was about 10!! So here’s the chronology (without the dates!). Aged 10ish, Mum and Dad buy me a red Raleigh Chopper, which I adore. By the time I’m 13 I’m far to grown up for a Chopper and we sell it for more than they paid for it (what a BIG mistake that was!). With the proceeds of the Chopper I buy a red Raleigh Pacer. A rather natty racer which lasted me until I was 19, when I sold it for the same as I paid for it and bought a Raleigh Mustang. Raleigh Mustang stayed with me and covered many miles, coming to college in Birmingham with me, where it got nicked, sans saddle circa 1993. A small but legitimate insurance claim ensued and I bought my current bike, a red Diamondback Outlook for the same amount as the payout. And here we are, 30 odd years since we last paid for a bike!
…anyway, I did my homework and went for a sturdy hybrid they call the ‘Kona Smoke’. Looks the part, steel frame and more gears than you can shake a stick at. I went down to the Evans Rathbone Place store to try the ride for size and it fit well so I put down a deposit to ensure no one beat me to the sale. All seemed fine… until today when I arrange to go and pick up said bike and ride it (mostly) home. Apparently the bike got sent to ‘the warehouse’. What is this ‘the warehouse’ of which you speak, I asked… Sounds like a mythical place where bikes go to die, I thought. To be fair, it took three people to check a store room the size of my lounge (i.e. not very big!) to find a big black bike and they all failed and as it turned out, someone had booked the bike back to ‘the warehouse’ just as I put down my deposit. Unlucky me. To his credit, the manager was very helpful and made my wait of over an hour for a non existent bike worthwhile. I have been told the bike will be delivered to my house next week, which will save me the ride from W1 to Harrow.
Sitting by the side of the road in London’s St. James’ Park, waiting for my sister in law to hit the 25.5 mile mark. Her and a friend have raised over an amazing £6000 for their charity and have only got a few miles left to run. So… Get a move on! There is a bag of minstrels here with ur name on it
A while ago I mused about TV reviews becoming previews with the advent of iPlayer. At the time I recall there being a lot of noise about the coming of ‘on demand’ TV and how it would be the death of appointment to view TV. Well this might not relate to everyone but is certainly a growing phenomenon.
I am an infrequent user of iPlayer and 4OD. I only really use them when I really need to. I hardly download TV shows to watch and have taken to the box set DVD with low level enthusiasm. What I do do is Sky+ just about everything I’m following from MadMen and 24 to Charlie Brooker’s Newswipe and Heroes. A month or so ago I was chucking a late night shift watching Comic Relief while working and little and I got side tracked on Twitter. Using the #hashtag and twitter search I was able to identify who else was tweeting about #comicrelief and commenting on the sketches and gags. Coupling that with Twitterfall, which is a realtime feed of tweets that can be divided in to categories by search term, I was able to single out a feed for variants of comic relief and take part in the conversation. This added a fascinating realtime insight into the live show, kinda like watching it with mates but more so, more honest, mildly geeky but still with a community feel.
After a few days I forgot about it until I started to catch up with 24/Heroes/MadMen, or whatever, on Sky+ and suddenly wished I could share my shock/surprise/incredulity with a co-watcher but then realised that by time shifting my watching I was reduced to posting a single tweet or facebook upadate to a bunch of people who had watched the show days earlier. Hardly a virtual watercooler moment.
Now we don’t have to wait to get to the watercooler to discuss Doctor Who, we can do it online when the show is on. We can comment as the action is occuring and there is no need to wait. I’ve got cold water in my fridge… damn, there is beer in there somewhere too, you don’t get that at work.
Appointment to view TV is alive and kicking and the watercooler is dead… at least the one in the office is!
By the way… I’m watching the tralier for Ashes to Ashes and I can’t wait for next monday!!!
As well as fighting for the rights of the regular biker I was a passing onlooker to a G20 protester eviction. Although we were held back at a ’safe’ distance by police I was able to snatch a few shots of the unfolding story where a group of protesters had been squatting in a property near Liverpool Street and were about to be evicted by an unnecessarily large number of riot police.
From where I stood it wasn’t apparent that any of the squatters were in a position to be a threat to the incoming police, apart from verbally, and their presence was most certainly intended to intimidate and scare the squatters into giving up their place in that property.
The whole operation seemed to go off quite peacefully and from what has been widely reported, most of the squatters were released without charge. More here http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/7978105.stm
In true British style this became a bit of a freak show for office workers on their lunchtime trying to grab some shots on mobile phones. You might say my set of photos is no different but I have tried to capture a series of events unfolding as a photo essay rather than an act of entertaining voyeurism.
Until May Day…
I’ve been a little peeved for a while by the confusing and costly parking charges for motorcycles in Westminster. Firstly they seemed to be implemented back in August 2008 with little fanfare and secondly it irks me that I was actively encourged by the powers that be to get on to two wheels, get a free pass through the congestion charge and have now been hit for parking charges, that were previously free, in the most central of London boroughs, Westminster.
This ’scheme’ has been pitched as a trial, but from experience we all know that trials always become permanent. This is why the Say No To Bike Parking Fees campaign is so important to support. If Westminster council decide to make this scheme permanent it will only be a matter of time before the other London councils start to enforce parking charges and those charges will just rise as all other charges do.
This is now effectively an extra tax on bikers and scooterists alike. An excuse that I’ve heard is that the parking charge pays for road repairs etc… but I thought my road tax pays for that… that’s the road tax on my scooter that I’ve paid on top of the road tax I pay on my car!
So this evening I went along to the rally in Trafalgar Square in support of the campaign. It was extremely good natured and there were a lot more than the reported 100’s of bikes. The organisers spoke in Trafalgar Square before laying the ground rules for the ride out down to Westminster Town Hall. The ride out was led by Police riders on BMWs who couldn’t say whether they supported the campaign or not, but it was obvious!
Over the space of about 30 minutes or more the convoy parked up and a select few were allowed to attend the public meeting discussing the parking charges.
A lady I spoke to seemed to think that this wouldn’t be the last protest while I was a little more optimistic. I hope that the turn out will show the leaders of Westminster Council that the bike riders that are using the parking facilities in their borough (or not) are a force to be reckoned with. Maybe they will think again about their plans to move this silliness from a trial to a permament solution.
Until then I’ll either get the train in to Westminster or park in Camden, Southwark, Lambeth or any other neighbouring borough that is more supporting of motorcycling as an alternative form of transport.
Let me start by saying the scan was clear. I’m not fine, but the scan was clear… which is good… apparently. Anyway I wanted to tell you about my first CT scan. Over the years, being a clumsy arse with suspected asthma, I’ve had my fair share of x-rays. Legs, arms, ankles, wrists, back, chest and probably head at some stage too. The good thing is that everything righted itself in the end, all the limbs repaired and the back got better, although I’m still not so sure about the head! So I’ve been hacking up a lung for the last few weeks, grabbing air where I can get it and generally being useless to everyone. Last monday I bowled up at my local surgery having seen one doctor a day since the previous thursday. There was more blood in my oxygen than oxygen in my blood and the air, like my hair, was thin. So my doctor advised an immediate CT scan.
With a little apprehension missus snappy and I went to the local hospital to check in. Worryingly they were expecting me and ushered me straight off to the scanning room, or whatever you call it. I was treated to one of those unflattering hospital robes that deliver a sudden breeze to your rear end if you move too fast, and to counteract any blushes a blue version of the same robe that you put on the other way round. Genius eh!
I go along into the room to be confronted by what I can only describe as a cross between a large donut and a polo mint with a bed in the middle. I was asked to take my place on the bed and was confronted with one of those little hospital trolleys full of medical accoutrements and the radiographer gently broke the bad news to me. ‘You will need to have a little injection’ he said.
‘INJECTION, NEEDLES, WHY DID NO ONE TELL ME ABOUT THIS?’ I wheezed.
He said it was perfectly OK, he just needed to inject me with a little iodine to stain my organs. Stain my organs!! I composed myself, as far as you can with your backside hanging out and prepared to recieve that ‘little scratch’ they always tell you to expect. OUCH, little scratch my arse. I duly asked if there were any side effects, to which he replied no… you’re not allergic to seafood are you? ‘I don’t eat seafood’ I replied, ‘how would I know?’. Apparently if I feel a tightening in the throat that would be a bad thing! He then kindly shot a bit of cold saline up my right arm for fun and then disappeared off into another room. As he went he said the machine would tell me what to do but I could always talk to him in the other room if I needed to. Ok then!
The machine started to whirr and move and a lady’s voice told me repeatedly to hold my breath while the bed moved back and forth. I’d been hooked up to the iodine and had to keep my arms above my head and eventually the lady went quiet. Great, I thought, all done, that was a piece of cake! Then a voice comes from the ceiling telling me, in a thick Indian accent, that the scan was about to begin. Shit!
The iodine drip made a squirty noise and I felt a fluid rush up my arm and into my neck and then a warming sensation in my throat. ‘Hmmm, interesting’, I thought. Checking that I could still swallow I was relieved to discover that I wasn’t allergic to seafood. That’s always useful to know if I ever consider taking up shrimps, mussells and oysters. Then, as the iodine moved through my system the warm rush attacked the other two lower body orrifices. ‘I’m sure I’ve not wet myself’, I thought, holding my breath as instructed, ‘or worse!’. And then it was over as soon as it began. The radiographer re-entered the room from the safety of his lead lined lair and began to unhook me from the various tubes and with a little bit of applied pressure removed the need from my arm.
‘Is it normal to feel a warm sensation in certain parts of your body?’, I asked politely.
‘Yes, some people think they’ve wee’d themselves, but it’s all normal, nothing to worry about’, came his professional response.
I leave the room with the flaps on my robe blowing in the air-conditioned wind wondering if the answer to the question, ‘Are their any side effects I should know about?’ should have been yes!
Things you need to know about CT scans:
Keep still
Be ready to get jabbed in the arm, probably best not to look when they put the needle in
The first rush up the arm is just to make sure everything is working
The machine talks to you, it’s not as weird as it sounds, just do as you are told
Prepare yourself for a warming sensation around all of your bodily orifices apart from your nose
If you are worried about the warming go to the loo first for peace of mind
You don’t get to see the pictures straight away which sucks
You may have been wondering why my ability to make social arrangements has gone down the toilet since I started work at Milo Creative. For the last 7 months I’ve been working on a series of fantastic films with fascinating people for 9 of the most respected museums in the UK. The project is called Creative Spaces and it is the first social networking platform to be build around the museum’s collections. It allows you to browse the online collections, research your favourite objects and then share your thoughts and findings with others.
My corner of the project was continuing the good work of my colleague Elena and creating a body of almost 30 films showcasing artists, designers, photographers and others who have a deep rooted passion for objects in these museum collections. We’ve worked with people like Vivienne Westwood, Ian Hislop and Gerald Scarfe, all of which were both charming and happy to share stories about their lives and how they have been inspired by the objects or collections of their chosen museum.
I have to say that I’ve learnt an enormous amount over the last few months and have been very lucky to spend time with some of the most intersting people I’ve ever met.
