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A human authored journal in search of novelty, exploring what we share, how we share, and where we’re going.

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Everything pencilled in [397]

Greetings from a grounded flight…

Documentally

Mar 31, 2023

There is a cabin in some woods in the Netherlands that might be empty tonight. I was quite looking forward to spending a few days there but it’s looking likely that the air traffic control strikes have put a stop to that. Best laid plans and all that.

#TheAction

At least I got to see The Cat Empire play in Cambridge this week.

It’s not the first time I’ve had the pleasure of seeing this amazing jazz, ska, funk, indie rock with heavy Latin influence band. Although it’s the fist time I’ve seen them in this new lineup.

Founded as a three-piece with Ollie McGill on keyboards, Felix Riebl on percussion and vocals and Ryan Monro on double bass, Ryan announced his retirement last year and the new lineup is Felix Riebl, Ollie McGill, Grace Barbé on bass, and Daniel Farrugia on drums. The stage is always filled with other amazing musicians and the audience is an eclectic mass of bodies never still, always dancing.

I have seen a lot of live bands but for me these are the best.

I guess we will see tomorrow if Musk stands buy his promise to remove blue ticks.

I guess i’ll miss it a bit. Mostly because some people do tag unfounded value to it. But that disappeared when you could buy them. Coinciding with an increase in impersonations of some household name celebs and journalists.

I can’t see the great tick purge helping with that issue. This plummeting, flaming wreckage of a platform needs to pull up from an impossibly steep dive and land gently outside a fire station, if it’s to recover from Elon’s brief joyride in the cockpit.

#ThePictures

A gamer spots his set up as a painting in a London Gallery.

I had to view this in Firefox as my adblocker shows a blank page. The artist has since contacted Hubie and asked if he would get more meta by hanging a study of painting in his living room so it can be painted again.

Amazon is shutting down DPReview. I can’t remember all the cameras I bought after reading the advice on that site. It was not only my goto place, it was the place I would send anyone to if they asked me what camera to buy.

Once you knew what kind of photography or what kind of photos you would like to take, you could head there and narrow things right down. As a result I’ve owned some pretty special cameras. Still have a bunch of them. End of an era but buying a dedicated camera is a niche activity today.

An old video not but a great summery of an interesting collaboration. Via

simfin

#TheWords

Thankyou for the kind words regarding my post from Wednesday… I have lived today.

I have enjoyed Mic Wright’s aka @Brokenbottleboy’s writing for well over a decade. After Paul O’Grady’s death he wrote this brilliant post righting a lot of the wrongs regarding the obits that glossed over Paul’s political leanings.

I also wrote this blog post earlier in the week. I know. My actual blog. It’s about some storymaking tools that I have used this week. I covered some of it in the last public email but added some more videos and the audio gear I used while recording a choir.

#TheSound

In the post earlier in the week I recounted how I met Pascal Khoo Thwe. Here is some audio from the Radio Netherlands Archives documenting his journey. And a hardback copy of his book just arrived!

#TheConsumed

Last weekend I had the pleasure of attending a pasta cooking class at Food At 52.

Over the day and in between glasses of wine I made Pesto De Rucola, Spinach pasta ravioli with spinach e ricotta, lemon and pepper linguine, Gnocchi with sun dried tomatoes, thyme and mozzarella, finishing with a delicious flourless chocolate cake called Torte Caprese. The day after at home I made some of the freshest most amazing pasta ever. And I shall do so again.

#TheThings

While in a coffee shop in St Neots I met Sara Kathleen, the artist behind these amazing Tarot cards. Check out her work on SaraKathleen.co.uk.

I laid the spread below. Make of it what you will. ;-) I just put these cards down to photograph without thinking of a question to ponder. So there wasn’t really anything for me to find or ‘interpret’ from the cards.

I’m not really one for fortune telling. I was interested in my youth. I still find the practice of divination fascinating though. Its potential benefits and drawbacks have been studied by psychology and sociology researchers but divination is not considered a scientifically proven method for predicting the future. It’s only really as reliable as your own intuition when it comes to giving you guidance on what you should or shouldn’t do with your life.

Nevertheless I’m sure those who believe in divination may feel a sense of reassurance from consulting tools like tarot cards. Perhaps this is the power of suggestion or some kind of placebo effect, where your internal belief in a particular outcome might influence ongoing behaviour or how you might perceive an event in your life.

While some critics argue that divination preys on the weak minded, I don’t see it that differently to rolling dice. Creating options to roll for, might be in some ways similar to finding meaning in a drawn card.

Sara’s design has really made the the symbolism accessible. I can see how someone might use these tools for a little self-reflection, personal growth, or spiritual exploration. Even just a little fun.

There are lots of influences that might affect an interpretation of a tarot spread. The reader's knowledge of the cards, Past dealings, an understanding of symbolism or perhaps unfinished business in the mind of the person reflecting.

I’m happy to have fun with them, but still favour a little critical thinking if I’m looking for insight or guidance on a particular issue.

I wasn’t sure why Insta 360 had brought out a gimbal after everyone got board of them but this seems to do quite a lot.

I think I could make use of the facial tracking while doing pieces to camera. Would be handy for demos.

#TheThanks

Thank you to those who send me the price of a fancy coffee every month. That small amount of money helps keep things going and I appreciate you supporting my work. If you are able, please upgrade to become a paid supporter.

Last week in the poll 65% of you who don’t subscribe said it was because you are over subscribed elsewhere. If you don’t want another subscription but still want to support, send a tip via PayPal and i’ll you give you full supporters access. The same goes if you are one of the 24% unsure of the benefits or the 12% who thought it was too expensive. Either way… Thank you for reading.

#TheWeb

I really want Substack to survive. And I’d certainly invest if I thought it might help. But this post gives me the jitters.
Still getting a few cool new people from Germany subscribe (who said what, where?) but they haven’t added themselves to the Documentally community map yet. Of course it is purely voluntary.
Mark Hamill voices Ukraine’s air raid warnings.
I once had to give myself a ‘temporary’ filling while travelling in Africa and it lasted me 10 years. So I’m not surprised to read that one in ten Britons do or have done their own dental work.
Cory Doctorow is crowdfunding for a fascinating looking DRM-free audiobook read by Wil Wheaton.
I spend a little time on Mastodon as Documentally@octodon.social.

#TheEnd

The kids are off for two weeks now. I’ll let you know in a podcast or some less public post what happened here. There is always the ferry ;-)

I hope you manage a few adventures yourself. Even when things get tough. Stay motivated and inspired. Keep moving towards whatever goals you might have.

Thanks for reading.