Thursday, January 24, 2008
In the news again!
Mat: You know you're integrating into the community when you appear in the local paper twice in the same week! This article in the West Briton is the result of a telephone interview I did a few weeks ago about new businesses in the West Country. As is the case with all articles I've ever read about me the quotes are made up, which seems to defy the whole point of a quote in the first place. But what do I know about journalism?Wednesday, January 23, 2008
Western Morning News
Lostwithiel became a Transition Town last year and has only really just started the first steps towards Transition: raising awareness of the challenges faced by the community from climate change and peak oil. We found out about TL during their film festival at the end of last year and since then have been helping the group plan what to do next.
This month's event will be Excess Baggage - Can Lostwithiel go plastic bag free?, following the example of Modbury in Devon last year. Now there are lots of towns working towards the same goal, even Chesham! It's a long process and needs to have the approval and co-operation of as many people in town as possible, especially the traders, before we can even think about setting a date. To kick the idea off, this Friday we're showing Rebecca Hosking's film, Message in the Waves, which helped inspire her home-town of Modbury to become plastic bag free, followed by a talk by local recycling pioneer Richard Bower MBE. Mat has designed a very natty poster which is now adorning every telegraph pole in town.
Tuesday, January 15, 2008
Amazing photographs
Mat: I don't usually advertise other people's work, but yesterday Bryan sent me a link that he found on the BBC News site, and I discovered some amazing photographs by Carl Warner. He has created what he calls Foodscapes, photomontages created entirely out of food. My favourite is a rural Italian scene constructed entirely out of Italian ingredients.His website demonstrates everything I hate about Flash, so I feel I'll have to give instructions about how to see the pictures I love. Go to his site, then click the large orange box, then click the second little suitcase on the next page.
Great photographs Carl, shame about the site.
Saturday, January 05, 2008
Train your brain
Mat: Since I didn't get many Christmas presents, I have to get excited about other people's. While we were staying with Mel and Joel, she let me play with her new toy - a Nintendo DS Lite. She has a great game called Dr Kawashima's Brain Training. One of the parts was having to solve a hundred simple calculations in as little time as possible, which I loved so much I've had to recreate so I can play it endlessly. To begin with I was rubbish, but the more I've practiced the better I've become (which is the whole idea). Now you can have a go too; I present Calcul8.Thursday, January 03, 2008
Xmas and NYE
We caught up with several other relatives and old friends over the the next few days, then on New Year's Eve Mel and Joel threw a Star Trek vs Star Wars party at their pad. As you'll see from the pics, it was a small but very well dressed gathering with Star Wars (especially Princess Leia) in the majority. Mat and I stayed on to celebrate Mel's birthday on the 2nd and have been busily training our brains on her new DS Lite which is just like Bishi Bashi but less pointless and inane. My brain is currently just a couple of years older than me but Mat's is already 5 years younger!