Latitude 2008: Day 1


Beth Orton @ Latitude 2008
Originally uploaded by ultrahi.

Ah, the wonders of writing a blog out of order when you finally get a chance to upload photos… The current batch of pics is from the first day of Latitude 2008 and you can see them here.

Highlights of the day? Well after we finally got into the arena after a) being directed all the way round the wrong way to get our wristbands and b) finding out that ‘cameras with detachable lenses’ were not allowed into the festival – thanks for that pre-warning Mr Latitude – and consequent walk back to the car to hide it, the good news is that there were plenty of highlights.

Hanif Kureshi read some wonderful excerpts from his books and short story involving his own turds – probably not auto-biographical. Beth Orton lulled our ears into happiness. The Aliens, formed out of the sadly defunct Beta Band, rocked out in their own wonderful, special way and the day was topped by the excellent Franz Ferdinand on the main stage. A good full day indeed.

Latitude Festival: So Far


Iain Banks
Originally uploaded by ultrahi.

Yesteryday was the second day of the Latitude festival – and it was another blinder.

After our first day’s confusion from being mis-directed to ticket booths a few times, we now knew the ropes and got to the arena pretty quickly from my sister’s house – of course this still meant we were 20 minutes late to Hanif Kureshi’s wonderful Q&A. Kureshi, author of Buddha of Suburbia amongst others, is a wonderful raconteur – even when hung over. He can make you laugh and think in the most economical number of words, each perfectly chosen.

Next we wandered around avoiding the rain before squeezing in outside the pitifully small comedy tent to listen to Bill Bailey. Some hilarious song spoofs, but somehow not as funny as he is on quiz shows. Ah well. Then it was back down to the even tinier literary tent to avoid the rain and stake a place for Iain Banks’ bit – which meant we caught the excellent Word Theatre, presenting love letters from the ages read by stars of stage and screen, including the gravelly David Soul.

As soon as Iain Banks kicked off the crowds appeared, as did the torrential rain. Banks is a big hero of mine, and it did make me think that you should sometimes never meet your heroes – especially after just hearing Hanif Kureshi.. Iain’s stories run on indefinately in a machine gun fire lilting Scots accent, and funny though they often are it somehow felt less than wonderful. Ah well, his books are still amazing and I’ll treasure the tattered copy of Walking on Glass that he signed afterwards – thanks for that, plus the random sighting of Phil Jupitus wandering around at the same time.

Book stuff over we re-joined my sister and family for some food, with Seasick Dave in the background before checking out Elbow for a bit of their excellent set. Then it was over to the start of Mars Volta – which was a bit too intense for me – and finally back with strong coffees in hand for the amazing sounds and lights of Sigur Ros. Wonderful.

Highlight of the day was definitely Mr Kureshi, CBE – and only today’s final line-up, including Blondie, will tell if that is my festival highlight. More later. And in the meantime here are more photos of Latitude Festival day 2.

Rise and Shine

We all had a splendid afternoon yesterday at the Rise Festival – a diverse collection of musical groups that combined together to support racial tolerance in the form of a free concert in Finsbury Park. The weather had been threatening all morning, but once we got there and met up with Chris et al the weather stayed lovely and sunny for the most part. Of course none of us had brought suntan lotion so there are a few tan lines today.

We arrived in time for the Dub Pistols, who I don’t really know, but they were accompanied by Terry Hall from The Specials who I do know which meant we all got very excited when they played some Specials tracks. They also played a dub version of Peaches by The Stranglers which made me think for a moment they had some of those guys up there with them as well, but unfortunately not. And as Terry Hall reminded us, this festival is not really about music, it’s about saying ‘F*ck the BNP!’ Nice. In-between the main bands we were entertained by beatboxing from Beardyman, who is something quite special indeed with his beatbox versions of most popular dance anthems.

My personal highlight of the day was CSS – who were as strange and bouncy as ever, even if the sound was a bit off. Although they got most of the crowd bouncing, they were outdone by Jimmy Cliff who played some classic tracks that had the whole crowd swaying along. Lovely stuff, and the sunset that accompanied him was perfectly timed.

Another Pre-Failed Government Policy

The British Government in an attempt to curb the ‘increasing’ scourge of knife related violence has decreed that youths caught carrying a knife should be made to visit victims of knife crime in hospital. Genius. I mean what would really stop a young kid, scared enough to carry a knife at the thought of being attacked by other kids with knives, other than seeing how gruesome knife wounds are. Plus if you’d just been put in hospital with a knife wound then getting lots of visits from young thugs, some of whom might even be the ones who knifed you, would surely be a wonderful aid to the healing process. Not.

Perhaps a better way to fix this would be to take an approach like learner plates on cars. Until you’ve learnt that carrying a knife is not a responsible way to behave then you should be forced to wear an embarrassing t-shirt or cap visible at all times, something so ugly and patently designed by a committee of caring types that it could never become a badge of honour. In fact can I suggest the London Olympic logo committee as a good place to start for design suggestions.

Achey, Not Breaky Legs

My poor gams are aching like crazy right now, but thankfully they are still in one piece. The reason for this? Playing my first ‘proper’ game of football in over ten years. Tully has a regular Friday game that he plays near Arsenal and they had a spare spot tonight so I went along, nervously, as it has been so long since playing any serious team sport. Luckily it was a lot of fun, and I even scored the first goal – go figure. Of course there will be payback from my legs tomorrow for this, but that’s another day… Goooooooo ooooooooo oooooooooo ooooooooooo aaaaaaaaaaa aaaall!!!!

Who? Doctor Who?

Well that was one of the best Doctor Who episodes in a while. Explosions. Multiple cameos. Emotional wrenching turmoil. The usual. Plus Davros is back again, splendid stuff.

Oh, and a resolution to last week’s cliffhanger where the Doctor was shot by a dalek that I promise you won’t expect. Big ups to Russell T Davis and the rest of the team.

Battersea Power Station


Battersea Power Station
Originally uploaded by ultrahi.

Today we cycled (yes, cycled) down to Battersea Power Station which is currently open to let you walk around. Sweet! Battersea is such a classic London landmark, but for years no-one has had any real idea what to do with it. Everyone wants it to stay there, but it’s not an easy building to adapt to other purposes.

The present proposal is for the outer shell to be kept, small spaces to be added inside the walls and a park to be created around the site. Then behind the power station a new building is proposed, using ecological principles to minimise its carbon footprint; basically it’s a tower like an old kiln, but built totally of glass – the direct sun causes the air inside to heat and rise, generating electricity and also automated cooling effects. It all looks very clever, and definately something to watch out for.

Oh, and happy Independence Day to all my American chums!

Wall-E: More Pixar Wonder

To help pre-celebrate tomorrow’s Canada day, we went along to see Wall-E, the latest masterpiece from Pixar. I don’t know how Pixar always make me think their movies will be a bit crap from the trailers, but they do. Thankfully the movie is wonderful. The story follows a garbage collecting robot as he scurries around a trash covered planet Earth sometime in the future. An inquisitive chap, Wall-E collects trinkets, repairs himself with parts from his fallen colleagues and has a pet cockroach. Yes, that’s right. Pixar are so damn good these days they can make you emotionally connect not only with robots, but cockroaches. In fact for the first half of the film you hardly see a human at all and there is very little spoken – the epic scenes of abandoned cities full of garbage, with a futuristic sound track just fill you with wonder and sadness at the same time.

Wall-E is an ecological love story between two robots – one the red-headed step child of Number Five from Short Circuit, the other the evolved pinnacle of iPod style design. The film tells us the ultimate end point of our consumerist obsessions, but never preaches and offers a hopeful ending as the credits roll. It’s a heart achingly beautiful movie, yet fun to watch. What more could you want?

Pride in Toronto


Dressed to Impress @ Toronto Pride
Originally uploaded by ultrahi.

Yesterday was the Toronto Pride parade – the biggest gay pride parade in North America*. So as a brief stopover between Mathew and Micah’s post wedding brunch (congratulations again!) and a Miette family barbecue I got the chance to wander through the thronged (and thonged) masses in the Toronto down-town. Quite the spectacle.

Thankfully my camera survived some folks throwing buckets of water from their apartment building onto the crowd so here are more photos of Toronto Pride.

*Also I believe it temporarily makes downtown Toronto hold the highest concentrations of rainbows in the world, so how come I didn’t find any pots of gold? Pesky leprechauns.

Getting Ready for M&M’s Wedding


Getting there…
Originally uploaded by ultrahi.

We had a busy day yesterday, making pom poms, tying up a complicated system of ropes, putting things out, carrying things up stairs, taking photos, trying not to eat the delicious looking cupcakes. Mmm..

The main event is later today, so expect plenty more photos. In the meantime here are some of the setup. Here comes the bride….