Creativity is memory [491]

Greetings from the shed...

Sep 27, 2024

I’m Christian Payne, in this weekly dispatch I seek out novelty, explore the relations between things, how we share, what we share and consume, plus where we might be going. Thanks for joining in.

#TheAction

Just got back from spending the day hanging out in a massive building with hundreds of radio nerds. That’s why this newsletter is late and most likely sparse.

I’ll save you the tales of tech and toys, clubs and old boys, buckets of components and stories in the noise. I have another newsletter for my radio chatter. I’ll report over there.

I also got to go back to school. To my Son’s sixth form open evening where he got to hear about A-Level stuff. The photo at the top of this email is from a room I’d have liked to enter, and a teacher I’d have liked to meet.

I know many of you could not wait to get out of school, but I didn’t mind it. But we only had the four years and around 300 students, so there was no chance of staying on there after 16. Also they knocked it down a few years later.

I left to begin a zigzag path ricocheting from Youth Training Scheme, to an apprenticeship, into industry and briefly into University before ditching it all to travel for the rest of the decade.

I think i’d have enjoyed the deep dive into some meaningful subjects and to live the student life. Not the inevitable debt though.

So although sixth form felt filled with possibilities and hope. I’m glad I travelled the world until I decided not to. It’s a great way to learn how to survive, and when you eventually figure out what you’d like to do for a living, you’re not £40,000 in debt.

But there are so many paths and lots of ways to thrive. Or take a dive. Just as long as we live.

“To live is the rarest thing in the world. Most people exist, that is all.” ― Oscar Wilde

#ThePictures

There’s a few techniques from the V.O.M.I.T. journaling system that I’m keen to use in my own journaling.

A short well shot film called ‘Red Wine’.

#TheWords

I love

Dan Kieran

’s thoughts on how he felt when he saw the ‘Write with A.I.’ button on LinkedIn.

The Moleskin brand of notebooks were yet to be reborn when I began my traveling years. If you are interested in the backstory of the Moleskin brand you will like this article.

I initially picked up a few notebooks from ‘Rod Wasp’, a family run stationers in Rugby town. I favoured hardback notebooks I could fit in a pocket.

I’ve just started to type up the one pictured below. It’s been such a long time since I’ve looked at these. I never know what I’ll find when I open them.

The full version of the poem above goes…

I must go down to the seas again to the lonely sea and the sky,
And all I ask is a tall ship and a star to steer her by,
And the wheel's kick and the wind's song and the white sails shaking,
And a grey mist on the sea's face and a grey dawn breaking.
I must go down to the seas again, for the call of the running tide
Is a wild call and a clear call that may not be denied;
And all I ask is a windy day with the white clouds flying,
And the flung spray and the blown spume and the seagull crying. I must go down to the sea again, to the vagrant gypsy life, To the gull's way and the whale's way where the wind's like a whetted knife: And all I ask is a merry yarn from a laughing fellow rover, And a quiet sleep and a sweet dream when the long trip's over. - Sea Feaver by John Masefield

As I was flying to Moscow I probably didn’t feel the whole see based poem to be fitting.

I just opened the diary to the 27th of September 1993. Exactly 31 years ago today. I had just travelled illegally over the border from Sumy, Ukraine in to Kursk, Russia. The family I was staying with had gone out leaving me to my own devices for a few hours. With only ballet and football on the two working TV channels, I turned it off.

Turning out the light, I faced the multi-channelled, multi-screen entertainment that are the flats opposite. Far more interesting.
The programs switch on and off all the time. More than programs. Portals into other peoples lives. In one window a family was having tea, in another, a woman was dancing around the room thinking she was on her own. Across from her two kids were scrapping, next door but in the same house, things I’ll not mention for fear of being branded a peeping tom.
You'd think people would at least draw their curtains at night. Or perhaps they don't have to. Perhaps it's illegal to look into other peoples homes. It's hardly avoidable. Everyone is packed in so close. Close enough to smell them cooking and see them _______.

#TheSound

This record unexpectedly arrived at my door this week.

Should you be interested in listening to it… The Dice Man Speaks is on Youtube.

It was a gift from friend and Author Chris Sands.

#TheConsumed

‘Dine and Dash’ appears to be on the rise in the UK.

#TheThings

Quadlock have a new bike mount out and as I have washers on my stem I think this will work great for me.

I’m guessing it will be suited more for sit-up-and-beg type riding positions and of course those not already using a riding computer. Full report when I get it on the bike.

I really wanted to like the Rollei 35AF compact film camera when it was announced. But at over £600 for this reimagining of the classic, I wasn’t going to rush out and buy one. And I’m glad I didn’t. It looks a lot bigger and one of the selling points of the original was its size. That and the Zeiss lens. It doesn’t have that either. It’s also got a really noisy autofocus and that’s the last nail in the coffin as far as i’m concerned. There is already a glut of pre-release review videos out there and I sense a slight disappointment in many of them.

Should you be looking for a compact film camera, a few of them mention the Ricoh GR1 as an alternative. As I still own both the GR1s and GR1v I shall be not rushing out to buy this new Rollei. Recently the price on eBay has doubled. Or in the case of this offering, gone up 10X!

And the LCD screen doesn’t even work.

I featured some images from my Ricoh GR1 compacts in this post.

Back to the Rollei 35 AF. Kudos should still be given to Mint Cameras for doing all the work and bring another new film camera to market. Who knows. It still might garner a loyal or even cult following. And from what I have seen the images can be sharp and the results impressive. And that’s what really counts. This video from Lucy Lumen where she tests it against the new half frame Pentax has her not happy with the user experience, but loving the results. And this shorter video from Kai W shows another decent test.

I've been doing a lot of research into e-ink tablets. After looking at all the specs, the one I felt I could really get on with and reduce a stack of paper is the Supernote Nomad. But then I read their ‘Privacy policy’. Wow.

I’m not sure if the 1984 folio case is a joke but it’s certainly fitting.

#TheThanks

Thank you to all the paying subscribers that support my time here and keep this dispatch free for everyone. Please consider upgrading to become a paid supporter. Especially if you like my audio posts. For instance, if you’d like to hear what happened in the following 26 minutes after two religious salesman came to my door while I was in a talkative mood…

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#TheWeb

Cement company Lafarge paid millions to islamic state in Syria
Walking as inactivity.
Have you added yourself to the Documentally community map?
Bellingcat’s online investigations toolkit
The UK grocery shop Aldi is famous for scanning items at checkout way faster than is comfortable for the average shopper. Allegedly the staff are timed from the first scanned idem to the point you pay with your card. Although I appreciate the low prices, I’m not keen on the mad race in trying to keep up as the weekly shop flies towards me faster than I can grab rotate and pack. I have since learnt a few tricks in gaining a little time and have almost mastered the art. This recent article will certainly help you on your next shop.
Some of my other places include Letterboxd, Discogs, Flickr, Strava, Swarm, LinkedIn, YouTube, Mastodon, or search ‘Documentally’ on Wire, Birdsite or Bluesky
It was cold and rainy when I was born. How about you?

#TheEnd

Thank you for reading, sharing and liking. It’s great to know who’s out there and what you are up to. I’m planning a weekend of tinkering, building and writing.

Whatever you are up to, have a great week.

“The system of nature, of which man is a part, tends to be self-balancing, self-adjusting, self-cleansing. Not so with technology.” - E. F. Schumacher

Balance,

See you out there.

Over…

Documentally