flowerboy2, originally uploaded by DragonDrop.

Went to see a friend for her birthday yesterday, took my lomo fish eye out for a walk.

Superb! I’ve just won one of this [ LOMO smena ] off ebay for an absolute snip of a bargain:

“In the early 70′s, at a time when Western countries filled their cameras with decadent electronic gizmos, the glorious Soviet Union decided to offer its heroic workers a tool to put their natural creativity at the service of the Party and to take pictures of their holidays at Novosibirsk. The Lomo Smena 8M was born.” (www.lumieresenboite.com)

Another lomo camera that looks like it can get some fantastic results. I can’t wait to get it!

Hello this is me doing a test. please ignore.

sleeps, originally uploaded by DragonDrop.

Effective use of FIRE flyers #4846
With the kids stopping over at a friends house, we invited a few friends back to ours for a cuppa tea after an open mic / jam night at the Blues Bar. Darkus (pictured above) fell asleep and something got balanced on his knee.. That’s a good game thought we…

Watched Fargo last night. Good Film. The Coen brothers who wrote and directed the film are natural born film makers and who’s methodology is totally different to anyone else. They seem to have their own very laid back way of doing things, and think as a single unit. In the making of / extra features William H. Macy (lead male) said “it’s like someone gave a couple of stoners a million dollars and said – go make a movie”.
Some good cinematography in there as well – very atmospheric bleak landscapes, very believable! (I even believed the bit about it being based on a true story!)

Jam night at Honest Lawyer. Honestly, originally uploaded by DragonDrop.

Brought me drums down t jam night. Loads of old friends, musics ranging from white stripes to U2. Muchos fun.

Poster thingy, originally uploaded by DragonDrop.

I wish we had something like one of these in Harrogate. A site where bands / events etc. could freely and publically display listings and info. There are a few sites that have posters for council run (Harrogate International Centre) events but nothing is available for anyone else (or is there? Nothing I’m aware of) Hmm I think I’ll ping some emails off to the council and see what they say.

Hyde park, originally uploaded by DragonDrop.

Sat outside Hyde Park Picture House, we’d come here to see ‘Sky High’. It’s not on because of a problem with the booking.. Never mind.. Think we’ll got to the park for a bit, It’s a really nice day.

pav, originally uploaded by DragonDrop.

Flipping heck. He’s a bit on the good side.

Knboro bus, originally uploaded by DragonDrop.

Just been to Knaresorough for a look see. on our way back to Harrogate, destination Revolution to see Pav, busker percussionist turned Manumission resident percussionist.

hoodrat, originally uploaded by DragonDrop.

Felix my boy is keen on getting a pet rat. I’ve just taken him to see the real things because the nice folks who have an office below mine have got some… It seems to like Felix’s hood.

George and Maria get wed,
originally uploaded by DragonDrop.

Just come back from the wedding of an old friend George – At Harrogate District Hospital Chapel – He was a porter, she a Nurse, their eyes met over a hip operation patient a year ago this very day, and now they look like the happiest couple alive. Happy Happy Joy Joy. What a nice thing to do on Valentines day.

What a night for a Monday that turned out to be! Geeked out till about 9 with Al, working on some visuals for FIRE, then went to ‘gate for a quiet one the to the packed Blues Bar to see PTSFP. They rocked. Really tight slick stuff they have – a lot of ‘faster louder harder’ type 5 pieces end up sounding like a big pile of mush but these guys have a crisp clean sound, some clever stuff with harmonies and timings – skills. PTSFP dedicated their last tune to Craig Drummond – a chap who had a nasty tumble a few weeks ago but is reportedly on the road to recovery. Ended up popping into Native after that, then to what was reportedly the last ever Bottom of the Bottle at Carringtons. Twas a good night. Ended up in Shinaz for a curry.

Oh – just uploaded a bunch of watchcam shots to my flickr space (and I’ve just gone flickr pro – hark at me!)

This animation:

is created from a book I read since Sunday – Red Dog by Louis de Bernières – the same chap who write Birds without Wings which I loved. Red Dog is a small book that is based on a true story of a dog who roams around Western Australia. Good book – may read it to the kids at some point. Its pages are printed in 2 colours – and have a flicker book style animation at the top right of each page – I used my watcham to capture stills to create a short animation of it.

PTSFP,
originally uploaded by DragonDrop.

WATCHING Peace Through Superior Firepower at the Blues Bar. Full on. Quality stuff. Missed Mullholland but it sounded like they had a good un. Bar.

So apart from being whisked away on the magical mystery tour on Saturday, we’ve pretty much hibernated. I’ve been reading loads recently…

It’s ages since I’ve read a chunky graphic novel but I picked up Tricked by Alex Robinson and it was superb. The experience of ‘doing’ a graphic novel is more like watching a film that reading a book and if this were a film I think it would be a hit. The illustration work in here is so absorbing and the plot, following slices of the lives of 6 individuals initially unrelated, is addictive. I couldn’t put it down.
More info here and a forum that the author himself seems to frequent..

The other book I’ve read recently (finished it yesterday) is a new release – The Conjurors Bird by Martin Davies. It’s (another) 2 books in one styled book – a chapter to chapter tag team dual story, the first – a chip on his shoulder taxidermist who gets involved with a quest that soon takes over his every waking minute to solve, the second of the famous naturalist Joseph Banks who went with one of the finest Yorkshiremen ever – Captain James Cook on his first major voyage of discovery.

I liked it but found it perhaps a little padded out at times, and the romance angles were perhaps a little too ‘chick lit’ for my liking, but all in all an enjoyable read and apparently the factual reference (of which there is a fascinating amount) is true.