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The National Theatre, London. March 2015.
Apr. 12th, 2015 01:54 pm
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The first couple of weeks in February saw several spectacular sunsets. This wasn't the most dramatic (in which the sky looked as if it was on fire, and has been well documented, though not by me!), but it was the one I was able to photograph.
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Walking. A Long Way.
Apr. 4th, 2015 02:57 pmIf we're friends over on Facebook, you might be aware that I will be taking part in a marathon-length sponsored walk, the Kiltwalk, in May.
I have been training for this. Kind of. In January, I downloaded a training schedule from the web. And found that I was way ahead of the schedule in my normal activity, so I haven't been sticking rigidly to a routine.
A decade or so ago, I walked the Edinburgh marathon, beating some runners (who took breaks whilst I just keep ploughing on) and clocking up a decent time of 5h 40m, an average speed of 4.58mph. My target for this walk is 5h 30m, needing an average of 4.73mph. Over 26 miles.
My main reason for repeating this is to get fit for mountain expeditions in the summer. After my last marathon, I completed four hill-walks that summer which were each greater than twenty two miles, near marathon length, more when you add in the ascent climbed, too. And if I want to finish my Munros, I need to complete several, very distant walks to remote hills. My fitness hasn't really been up to it in recent years, so I'm hoping doing a marathon in May might kickstart my summer.
Over five miles, I can do 5mph, though it is tough. In general, on longer practice walks, I have been averaging between 4.5 and 4.7mph, which suggests I might reach my target. If it isn't raining. And I can just keep it up.
Training for the Kiltwalk has completely changed my approach to walking. When I did the marathon before, I was walking about seven miles away: my training was walking to and from work, several times a week. Since I'm not working just now, that isn't an option. (I recently turned down a contract; one of their more attractive things about the job world have been the eight mile walk to get there!)
I have picked certain routes, and I know the distances involved. I know how far away two miles is (for a short, four mile walk there and back), I know a two and half mile marker (for five), and five (for ten). I have six, seven and eight mile walks. I need to join some together to make longer walks, up to fifteen miles or so. There aren't that many places to walk to in Edinburgh. The ring road is only about five miles away... (I have been planning to walk to the the Bridges - about ten miles - and get the train back, though I haven't yet. Maybe next week.)
So my random walks are currently on hold. I have only taken my camera out walking when I have wanted, deliberately, to slow myself down.
There are three things I have been focusing on: distance, stride, and rapidity - stride length and speed of stride giving the overall speed. Mostly, though just speed and distance. It is knackering.
The weather has a direct impact on my exercise. More particularly, the weather forecast. It determines when and where - or, more specifically, how far.
I also need to practice walking in my kilt. Kilts are heavy, hang differently from trousers and swing when you move. And I'll need to get over a certain embarrassment, too.
Should you want to sponsor me, you can do so HERE. I really think you should!
I have been training for this. Kind of. In January, I downloaded a training schedule from the web. And found that I was way ahead of the schedule in my normal activity, so I haven't been sticking rigidly to a routine.
A decade or so ago, I walked the Edinburgh marathon, beating some runners (who took breaks whilst I just keep ploughing on) and clocking up a decent time of 5h 40m, an average speed of 4.58mph. My target for this walk is 5h 30m, needing an average of 4.73mph. Over 26 miles.
My main reason for repeating this is to get fit for mountain expeditions in the summer. After my last marathon, I completed four hill-walks that summer which were each greater than twenty two miles, near marathon length, more when you add in the ascent climbed, too. And if I want to finish my Munros, I need to complete several, very distant walks to remote hills. My fitness hasn't really been up to it in recent years, so I'm hoping doing a marathon in May might kickstart my summer.
Over five miles, I can do 5mph, though it is tough. In general, on longer practice walks, I have been averaging between 4.5 and 4.7mph, which suggests I might reach my target. If it isn't raining. And I can just keep it up.
Training for the Kiltwalk has completely changed my approach to walking. When I did the marathon before, I was walking about seven miles away: my training was walking to and from work, several times a week. Since I'm not working just now, that isn't an option. (I recently turned down a contract; one of their more attractive things about the job world have been the eight mile walk to get there!)
I have picked certain routes, and I know the distances involved. I know how far away two miles is (for a short, four mile walk there and back), I know a two and half mile marker (for five), and five (for ten). I have six, seven and eight mile walks. I need to join some together to make longer walks, up to fifteen miles or so. There aren't that many places to walk to in Edinburgh. The ring road is only about five miles away... (I have been planning to walk to the the Bridges - about ten miles - and get the train back, though I haven't yet. Maybe next week.)
So my random walks are currently on hold. I have only taken my camera out walking when I have wanted, deliberately, to slow myself down.
There are three things I have been focusing on: distance, stride, and rapidity - stride length and speed of stride giving the overall speed. Mostly, though just speed and distance. It is knackering.
The weather has a direct impact on my exercise. More particularly, the weather forecast. It determines when and where - or, more specifically, how far.
I also need to practice walking in my kilt. Kilts are heavy, hang differently from trousers and swing when you move. And I'll need to get over a certain embarrassment, too.
Should you want to sponsor me, you can do so HERE. I really think you should!
Maxine Peake as "Hamlet". March, 2015.
Mar. 31st, 2015 10:34 pmI saw Maxine Peake play Hamlet today, in a screening of Royal Exchange Theatre's production.
It wasn't cinema (though I was watching in a cinema), it wasn't theatre (though it was filmed in a theatre).
The acting was superb. Peake was amazing - as were all the cast, actually.
It looked amazing - superb staging, and excellently captured on film. The way the set worked, and the lighting transformed the stage, was amazing.
It was way too long. I have long though Shakespeare needed an editor, and that was emphasised today - the first "half" came in at over two hours, the second at over an hour.
The strange way that Shakespearian language works by osmosis - if you stop and ask "what was just said?", you can't answer, but you know the meaning, if not the words - was the same as in the theatre.
I have not been to any stage production in the cinema before, and I'm not sure if it wholly works. Theatre demands more attention than cinema; cinema works in a different way. One's "willing suspension of disbelief" is far greater in the theatre, and it took longer for that magic to work, watching the theatre in a cinema.
Peake was totally convincing as Hamlet. The rest of the cast were switched in terms of gender, too, and that was fine - completely irrelevant. Race too. It didn't matter - the acting made it completely believable.
All in all, a very good way of watching a performance I would otherwise not be able to see. But neither theatre nor cinema - instead a kind of bastard hybrid, that works to the strength of neither medium.
And Maxine Peake is wonderful, and inhabited the role of Hamlet totally.
When I was at Tate Modern recently, I went into the space of the turbine hall. I wasn't overly impressed by the installation by Richard Tuttle, but I was very pleased to see the ghost of "Shibboleth". This was an installation by Doris Salcedo - maybe not so much an installation as an "exstillation", the removal of part of the floor to create a vast crack in the substance of the building.
It was a very powerful piece: the absence of matter.
When it was finished, the crack was filled in, and some of the floor slabs were replaced. But in places you can still see where the crack ran, like a ghost of the original artwork: the absence of matter is filled, removing the art but leaving its memory.
It was a very powerful piece: the absence of matter.
When it was finished, the crack was filled in, and some of the floor slabs were replaced. But in places you can still see where the crack ran, like a ghost of the original artwork: the absence of matter is filled, removing the art but leaving its memory.
Before
After
"Nae Nazis!"
Mar. 22nd, 2015 03:09 pmIt was such a glorious day that it felt wrong not to take full advantage, and so I decided to go for a walk through Holyrood Park - under the crags, up the Radical Road. I sat in the sunshine and ate lunch.
And so I got to the demonstration out the Scottish Parliament - at the foot of Arthur's Seat - late. Which is nothing new: these things usually seem to kick off later than anticipated.
This one, the first of the year (there had been one I intended to go to last weekend, but frankly I didn't feel like it), was protesting against a rally ostensibly by the German anti-immigrant, anti-Islam group Pegida. They had marched in Newcastle a couple of weeks ago, where the counter demonstration greatly outnumbered the marchers.
Personally, anti-immigrant marchers aren't welcome in my city: Edinburgh is an inclusive place, so this was a march I wanted to be part of. As I say, I got there late. There was a big crowd of anti-Pegida demonstrators (I had had a word with a policeman as I walked past on my way to the park, just to mark sure I got on the right side of barriers they were erecting: they were an awful lot of police around the Parliament, and it looked like there might be trouble, and I really didn't want to end up on the wrong side!). But no one on the opposing side. Perhaps they were late, I thought: previous marches by the "Scottish Defence League" had apparently bussed people from south of the border (such that SDL was actually said to stand for "Sunderland Defence League"): maybe they were held up on the A1.
But no: we were there, but the rally we were demonstrating against hadn't materialised. No one: nada.
For once the placards that said "Nae Nazis" were absolutely right: there were no Nazis there. As a friend said, it was the most successful demonstration ever!
But what were we to do? There were a few speeches, thanking us for coming out, praising the weather. There was a bit of a party atmosphere. Someone shouted they wanted to chant. So they lead us in some chants. To the amusement of the horde of police - who probably outnumbered us - we chanted "there are many many more of us than you!", which was undoubtedly true. And "whose streets? Our streets! Whose city? Our city!", also true.
It was a very good demo. The weather helped: it was gorgeous (and, beneath the crags, a superb setting). I'm hoping that the no-show by Pegida will be repeated, together with no-shows from the SDL/EDL, in the future. Though then there won't be a need for a demo. Perhaps we could have a commemoration of an inclusive, welcoming city, instead. Here's hoping.
Edit: in the interest of balance, it has been reported that there were actually four Pegida supported, but the hid behind a police van. And six others who arrived at Waverley, and stayed in the pub!
And so I got to the demonstration out the Scottish Parliament - at the foot of Arthur's Seat - late. Which is nothing new: these things usually seem to kick off later than anticipated.
This one, the first of the year (there had been one I intended to go to last weekend, but frankly I didn't feel like it), was protesting against a rally ostensibly by the German anti-immigrant, anti-Islam group Pegida. They had marched in Newcastle a couple of weeks ago, where the counter demonstration greatly outnumbered the marchers.
Personally, anti-immigrant marchers aren't welcome in my city: Edinburgh is an inclusive place, so this was a march I wanted to be part of. As I say, I got there late. There was a big crowd of anti-Pegida demonstrators (I had had a word with a policeman as I walked past on my way to the park, just to mark sure I got on the right side of barriers they were erecting: they were an awful lot of police around the Parliament, and it looked like there might be trouble, and I really didn't want to end up on the wrong side!). But no one on the opposing side. Perhaps they were late, I thought: previous marches by the "Scottish Defence League" had apparently bussed people from south of the border (such that SDL was actually said to stand for "Sunderland Defence League"): maybe they were held up on the A1.
But no: we were there, but the rally we were demonstrating against hadn't materialised. No one: nada.
For once the placards that said "Nae Nazis" were absolutely right: there were no Nazis there. As a friend said, it was the most successful demonstration ever!
But what were we to do? There were a few speeches, thanking us for coming out, praising the weather. There was a bit of a party atmosphere. Someone shouted they wanted to chant. So they lead us in some chants. To the amusement of the horde of police - who probably outnumbered us - we chanted "there are many many more of us than you!", which was undoubtedly true. And "whose streets? Our streets! Whose city? Our city!", also true.
It was a very good demo. The weather helped: it was gorgeous (and, beneath the crags, a superb setting). I'm hoping that the no-show by Pegida will be repeated, together with no-shows from the SDL/EDL, in the future. Though then there won't be a need for a demo. Perhaps we could have a commemoration of an inclusive, welcoming city, instead. Here's hoping.
Edit: in the interest of balance, it has been reported that there were actually four Pegida supported, but the hid behind a police van. And six others who arrived at Waverley, and stayed in the pub!
"Alabama".
Feb. 11th, 2015 10:43 pmOn the back of yesterday's Radio3 programme on the Coltrane's "A Love Supreme" and all the publicity over Selma, I have been listening to Coltrane's coruscating track Alabama (and the album it is on, Live at Birdland).
It was recorded in October 1963, over a year before A Love Supreme, and it sounds like a sketch for some of the slower passages. Curiously, Ashley Kahn, in his book about the making of A Love Supreme, calls Alabama "dirge-like", and doesn't make any connection with A Love Supreme - at least, none that he comments on. (I checked in case I was stealing the idea from him...)
Maybe not dirge-like: maybe a lament. Because Alabama isn't about Selma, Alabama, but Birmingham, Alabama. Where, in September, 1963 - just a month before Coltrane recorded Alabama - four children were killed when white supremacists fire bombed the 16th Street Baptist Church. Kahn says that Coltrane took a speech by Martin Luther King about the killing (which may have been the funeral oration) and made his saxophone voice the words - the rhythm and intonation, the phrasing; and the passion.
Trane did the same with his own poem, which became the final movement of A Love Supreme, Psalm.
The 16th Street Baptist Church killings are also referred to by Charles Mingus in his spoken word text to, confusingly, It Was A Lonely Day In Selma, Alabama:
before he goes into the poem, Freedom:
Presumably Mingus is first referring to the famous freedom march in Selma, which features in the film Selma, before he mentions the Birmingham killings.
It was recorded in October 1963, over a year before A Love Supreme, and it sounds like a sketch for some of the slower passages. Curiously, Ashley Kahn, in his book about the making of A Love Supreme, calls Alabama "dirge-like", and doesn't make any connection with A Love Supreme - at least, none that he comments on. (I checked in case I was stealing the idea from him...)
Maybe not dirge-like: maybe a lament. Because Alabama isn't about Selma, Alabama, but Birmingham, Alabama. Where, in September, 1963 - just a month before Coltrane recorded Alabama - four children were killed when white supremacists fire bombed the 16th Street Baptist Church. Kahn says that Coltrane took a speech by Martin Luther King about the killing (which may have been the funeral oration) and made his saxophone voice the words - the rhythm and intonation, the phrasing; and the passion.
Trane did the same with his own poem, which became the final movement of A Love Supreme, Psalm.
The 16th Street Baptist Church killings are also referred to by Charles Mingus in his spoken word text to, confusingly, It Was A Lonely Day In Selma, Alabama:
It was a lonely day in Selma Alabama
People gathered there to walk and watch for freedom
Mother with child in arms
I wonder about this freedom
Four little girls in the church
A minister and a longshoreman's wife
before he goes into the poem, Freedom:
Freedom for your mama
Freedom for your daddy
Freedom for your brothers and sisters
But no freedom for me...
Presumably Mingus is first referring to the famous freedom march in Selma, which features in the film Selma, before he mentions the Birmingham killings.
