this week my dad has been emptying my grandparents’ house after (finally) selling it following their passing…for all of us it has been emotional, no more so for him as it is the same house he spent his childhood. however, it has also been a time a great discovery and history, as we’ve found hundreds of photos, some dating back to mid-19th century. we’ve also found amazing, retro trinkets including a 1980′s ‘boombox’, some sensational leather suitcases, classic cameras (quickly snapped up by yours truly!), old toys, vintage china/cutlery/etc, and much more! it’s been really quite awesome discovering family history that we had no idea about. and a personal favourite find was my grandad’s RAF uniform, log book, medals, etc…unbelievably beautiful things that filled me with pride and joy…
here are a few pictures i took of our findings…
hmmm…apologies for the quality, but you get the jist!
from top we have: a couple of awesome, vintage suitcases, my grandad/dad’s tin of toy cars (including some that date back to almost a century ago!), two olddd chocolate boxes, a picture of my great grandad in his WW1 uniform with a fellow soldier buddy, a british flag owned by my grandma from VE-Day, a bunch of grandad’s WW2 things (including his medals, RAF badge, a stub from a wax museum when he was stationed in Kabul, and a 1944 five franc note), next his RAF uniform and log book, a couple of trinkets from around their house (including a drawing made by my grandma, a brilliantly classic jam holder and our Clan Davidson emblem), a retro games board, my grandad’s pretty brilliant school photo, an RAF guide to ‘what to do on leaving the service’, a clipping from the local Runcorn paper reporting my grandparents’ wedding, a toy bus that was made in 1920, and finally a leather suitcase packed with photos, letters, books and my grandad’s huge collection of stamps…
x
Filed under: on the film reel, on the horizon, on the mind, on the parchment, on the projector, on the streets, on the travels, on the turntable, on the waves | Tags: aberdeen uni, climate change, hard rain, mark edwards, project
if you’ve been on campus at any point this week, im sure you’ll have noticed the Hard Rain campaign near Elphinstone Hall and King’s College. i really hope that most people will have had the time to stop and take in the pain, shame, beauty and hope that is presented by Mark Edwards’ display….however if not, here’s a little bit of info (taken from the uni website) that may draw you into paying the exhibition a visit…
Artist Mark Edwards, one of the few environmental communicators to have personally witnessed the global issues that are defining the 21st century, will speak at 6pm on Tuesday March 22 in the Regent Building Lecture Theatre on the King’s College Campus.
Mark’s presentation — introduced with photos synced to Bob Dylan’s prophetic 60s masterpiece ‘A Hard Rain’s A-Gonna Fall’ shows habitat destruction, overconsumption, poverty, pollution, climate change, war, loneliness and despair gathered from Mark’s expeditions to over 150 countries over 40 years. The presentation explores the state of the world and its people, and brings alive the policies, technologies and lifestyle changes we need to adopt to reinvent the modern world to be compatible with nature.
The accompanying 60-metre outdoor photo exhibition will open beside the Elphinstone lawn on the King’s College campus on March 14 until April 12.
The exhibition has been seen by over 15 million people across all continents and has attracted huge public and critical acclaim. It has been shown at venues as diverse as the United Nations Headquarters in New York and national governments including Scotland, Australia, Belgium and Cuba, to the European supply chain for McDonalds, and the community of Wormwood Scrubs prison.
Hard Rain is being brought to the City by the Aberdeen University Students Association Climate Change Project and funded by the Scottish Government.
Jamie Peters, who represents the Climate Change Project, expressed his hope of the benefits the exhibitions and inspirational talk would have on the University and wider community of the north-east, saying: “The Climate Change Project has been engaging students in environmental discussion and equipping them with the tools to reduce their own environmental impacts since last summer. We are hoping that by hosting Hard Rain we can continue to get the community involved in making positive contributions to the environment and allow them to adopt more sustainable lifestyles.
“We have started a number of initiatives that are designed to reduce the community’s carbon footprint, save students money, help them meet new people, learn new skills, and reduce their carbon footprints in as fun a manner as possible. We feel that every single student can find something in our project that they can get involved in and hope that this exhibition will allow us to engage with even more people.”
The Hard Rain Project was established as a charity in 2009 to support educational programmes for schools, universities and colleges, and public exhibitions that campaign for realistic solutions to the interlinked problems of climate change, poverty, the wasteful use of resources, population expansion, habitat destruction and species loss.
here’s a wee interview with Mark Edwards, taken from when the project was on show down in Manchester…
Filed under: on the film reel, on the mind | Tags: aid, earthquake, hilda grahnat, japan, red cross, relief, tsunami
if you haven’t donated yet…visit here…
x
Filed under: on the film reel, on the streets, on the travels | Tags: Aberdeen, angels, beach, broad hill, by order of me, lomo, signs, statues
as it’s been such a (surprisingly) lovely couple of days here in Aberdabbers, i went on a big mooch across town with the the ol’ cameraro, with a nice lomo add on…here’s some of the snaps!
see my flickr or facebook for more shots from my travels!
x
Filed under: on the film reel, on the mind | Tags: Bobby Kennedy, Christmas, Martin Luther King, New Year
oh hello
it’s been a few weeks, but im back to talk nonsense once again :)
i hope everyone had a lovely christmas and a fun new year’s eve…it’s been a pretty damn good couple of days at our end, lots of drinking, eating, dancing, and daftness to be had by all, including my silly old self…
2010 was quite the year, but we’ve already started 2011 with bang, no less in the world of sport, where i’m very happy to celebrate the retaining and winning of the Ashes last night by the England team in Sydney! special mention has to go to Cook, Anderson and in particular Bresnan and Tremmers, who as a fella more inclined to bowling than batting, i thought they came into the squad and a tough theatre of cricket with great style and charisma.
it’s also grand to see united still unbeaten and flying high as usual at the top of the league, while the other four challengers (and liverpool) fuck up in some pretty easy games! wolves beating chelsea?! brilliant stuff :)
time to settle down again though, with lots of revision to be getting done, the flu to be getting rid of and exams to fretting over!
this week’s ‘treat’ comes from 1968. i was watching the film Bobby again the other day and the final speech at the end always get’s to me…a beautifully written but heart felt speech from Robert Kennedy following the assassination of Martin Luther King…
x
Filed under: on the bookshelf, on the film reel, on the mind, on the muddy fields, on the parchment, on the plate, on the projector, on the screen, on the stage, on the streets, on the travels, on the turntable, on the waves
it’s almost the end of another year…so let’s review it!
these are all my personal opinions, so please feel free to agree or agressively criticise, sup to you :)
Best Moments Of The Year
- That first look at Mt. Everest
- Faithless followed by Stevie Wonder at Glastonbury 2010
- Going to the Taj Mahal
- Having an elephant back bath
- White water rafting in Nepal
Biggest Mares Of The Year
- Being told I had to turn back with Everest Basecamp just ahead (but at least im still alive!)
- The Tory Government coming to power
- The World Cup…both the event itself and our bid going to pot
- That bungee jump lol
- Come Around Sundown…get it together KOL!
Best Book I’ve Read This Year
- Lustrum – Robert Harris
Best 25 Albums Of The Year
- Warpaint – The Fool
- Arcade Fire – The Suburbs
- Laura Marling – I Speak Because I Can
- Stornoway – Beachcomber’s Windowsill
- Foals – Total Life Forever
- Bombay Bicycle Club – Flaws
- Tallest Man On Earth – The Wild Hunt
- Beach House – Teen Dreams
- The National – High Violet
- Lonelady – Nerve Up
- Villagers – Becoming A Jackal
- Gil Scott-Heron – I’m New Here
- GAYNGS – Relayted
- Deerhunter – Halycon Digest
- Broken Bells – Broken Bells
- Delta Spirit – History From Below
- Two Door Cinema Club – Tourist History
- Anais Mitchell – Hadestown
- Perfume Genius – Learning
- Phosphorescent – Here’s To Taking It Easy
- Midlake – Courage Of Others
- Band Of Horses – Infinite Arms
- Interpol – Interpol
- Best Coast – Crazy For You
- Robert Plant – Band Of Joy
Best Embarrassing Album Of The Year!
- Ellie Goulding – Lights
Best 25 Singles Of The Year (From What I Know Were Released As Singles…)
- Foals – Spanish Sahara
- Laura Marling – Rambling Man
- Two Door Cinema Club – What You Know
- Warpaint – Undertow
- Aracade Fire – Ready To Start
- Stornoway – Zorbing
- Foals – This Orient
- Mumford & Sons – The Cave
- Ray Lamontagne And The Pariah Dogs – Old Before Your Time
- Aloe Blacc – I Need A Dollar
- Villagers – Becoming A Jackal
- Bombay Bicycle Club – Ivy And Gold
- Gorillaz Ft. Little Dragon – Empire Ants (not a single, but such a fucking ace song!)
- Arcade Fire – We Used To Wait
- Kelis – Acapella
- Black Keys – Tighten Up
- Interpol – Barricade
- Delta Spirit – Bushwick Blues
- Dum Dum Girls – Stiff Little Fingers
- LCD Soundsystem – Drunk Girls
- Lonelady – Intuition
- Beach House – Zebra
- The Morning Benders – Excuses
- Caribou – Odessa
- The Coral – 1000 Years
Best Embarrassing Single Of The Year!
- Katy Perry – Fireworks
Best Band/Artist Of The Year
- Justin Vernon – the dude is just everywhere, again, making sensational music! he features chiefly on Relayted by GAYNGS (a supergroup including the likes of Justin Vernon and Mike Noyce from Bon Iver, Ivan Howard from The Rosebuds, Joe Westurland and the Cook brothers from Megafaun and Jake Luck and Nick Ryan from the Leisure Birds). Vernon also features on many of the songs from Anais Mitchell’s brilliant folk opera Hadestown, based on a modern story of Orpheus and Eurydice. Finally, he even makes a couple of appearances on Kanye West’s knew record!
Best Gig Of The Year
- Interpol (Edinburgh Corn Exchange)
Best Festival Of The Year
- Glastonbury 2010
Best 30 Movies Of The Year (Released In The UK Since Jan 1st)
- Inception
- Un Prophete
- Shutter Island
- Scott Pilgrim Vs The World
- The Social Network
- Toy Story 3
- Exit Through The Gift Shop
- Crazy Heart
- The Secret In Their Eyes
- Gainsbourg
- Le Concert
- Winter’s Bone
- Another Year
- The Kids Are Alright
- Please Give (not released in uk, but seen and liked!)
- The Ghost Writer
- Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows Pt. 1
- A Single Man
- Kick-Ass
- Megamind
- Greenburg
- The Town
- L’arnacoeur
- The Lovely Bones
- Certified Copy
- The Road
- The American
- The Arbor
- Robin Hood
- L’Illusioniste
Plus…The Way Back, Black Swan, Blue Valentine, The King’s Speech, 127 Hours, The Tempest, Never Let Me Go and True Grit (not released yet…but i’m expecting them to be pretty darn good!)
Best Documentary Film
- When You’re Strange – A Film About The Doors
Best Embarrassing Movie!
- Easy A
Best Actor Of The Year
- Leonardo DiCaprio – as it has always been said…he doesn’t make a bad movie. And seeing how both the remarkable Shutter Island and the even greater Inception were released this year with DiCaprio playing the lead roles exceptionally, it couldn’t really go to anyone else!
Best Actress Of The Year
- Julianne Moore – i wasn’t sure who to pick to be completely honest, but Moore’s roles in both The Kids Are Alright and A Single Man were really very very good and im certain she’ll be up there with a fighting chance for an Oscar
Best 10 TV Programme’s Of The Year
- Accused
- This Is England 86
- Any Human Heart
- An Idiot Abroad
- IT Crowd
- Five Daughters
- I’m In A Rock N Roll Band
- I Am Slave
- Secret Britain
- Pillars Of The Earth
Best 5 Exhibitions Of The Year
- A World Observed – Dorothy Bohm – Manchester Art Gallery
- The Doors: When You’re Strange – Idea Generation Gallery
- Wolfgang Tillmans – The Serpentine Gallery
- Skin – The Wellcome Collection
- Exposed: Voyeurism, Suerveillance and the Camera – The Tate Modern
Best 5 Sporting Moments Of The Year
- The Ashes (not over yet, but we’re playing pretty damn well!)
- Rooney And Scholes’ last minute winning goals against Manchester City in January and April
- Amy Williams’ Winter Olympics gold medal
- England’s T20 World Cup Final victory over the Aussies
- Mark Cavendish kicking ass in the Tour De France
And Finally…Best Fish Of The Year!
- Barry…because the other one died…
:) x
Filed under: on the film reel
if you want to view see some pics of my adventures over the past month, have a looksie here:
&& if you like the look of one soooo much, feel free to order one :)
email me with preffered size (max 12″ x 18″) and i’ll give you a quote! dominickay600@hotmail.com
just a wee suggestion to any bored folk in manchester looking to kill time…
pop down to Manchester Art Gallery and check out Dorothy Bohm‘s exhibition… A World Observed 1940 -2010
The first comprehensive retrospective to trace Dorothy Bohm’s exceptional photographic career – a career that spans six decades and several continents. From vintage portraits through jewel-like Polaroids to colourful images of contemporary life, the absorbing exhibition features over 200 original prints by the leading photographer. Discover a wide array of aesthetically striking and deeply humane works that document people and landscapes in a rapidly changing world.
Filed under: on the film reel, on the mind, on the parchment, on the projector, on the screen, on the turntable
someone told me the other day that i have been roaming this deeelightful world in 4 different decades, 2 centuries and 2 milleniums…and i’m only 20 years old. i like that fact. it makes me feel like father time himself!
anyways, i got to thinking, although i’ve only technically properly lived for more than a few months in two of these decades, the 90′s in particular really were awesome. i do actually wish sometimes that i had lived my late teenage years through the 60′s and early 70′s, however the things that i treasure from my childhood really defined the 90′s as a top time for me…
here are some classics from down memory lane :)
gooooood times!
x
Filed under: on the film reel, on the horizon, on the mannequin, on the mind, on the muddy fields, on the plate, on the projector, on the screen, on the stage, on the travels, on the turntable, on the waves
to begin 2010, let’s have a looksie back on the naughty noughties through the great power of a big fat list…
2000
1. i brought in the new year playing a shit board game and wearing a sparkly cardboard waistcoat that said millenium all over it :/
2. following the countdown to the year 2000, unsurprisingly nobody/nothing blew because of the millenium bug, although some may have sneezed… it depends whether they had a cold that day
3. although i do not know for sure, im pretty certain that in the year 2000, jarvis cocker did not hook up with that deborah that he was born within an hour of… despite suggesting that they should meet up when they were all fully grown at the fountain down the roooooaaaad… you bloody cow deborah, i don’t care whether your name suits you or not… you’re still a bint :)
4. america elected president george bush and fucked up the world for eight or so miserable years…. whilst britain began broadcasting big brother and fucked up the world for loads of miserable years
5. i probably ate a curly wurly
2001
1. stanley kubrick’s hopes and dreams all went to pot when 2001 ended up being fuck all like he had imagined in ‘a space odyssey’…. stupid stanley
2. the glorious wikipedia first launched on the internet, helping me improve every essay written ever since by a gazillion percent
3. some dicks blew up the twin towers in new york…and blamed it on the middle east… sparking the regular use of the word ‘terrorist’ for anyone that moves or breathes (ooooo controversial! but yeh i agree with that one particular conspiracy suggestion thing, but that’s it, just that one, so don’t judge me as a conspiracy nerd, because i’m not…. thanksss)
4. the sensational and only beatle really worth mentioning, george harrison, passed away :(
5. i both started and finished learning the saxophone
2002
1. a load of countries started using the euro, blowing every british mind for at least an hour when they went on their annual package holiday to spain, until they found the pies and chips and settled back down
2. all the scum in britain was put under the collective term ‘chav’ so that it was easier for the daily mail to describe them during their regular rants about society when not paying tribute to diana
3. pele began telling the world that sometimes he just couldn’t get it up like he used to
4. lots of people came to our manchester to see how good it was and take pictures and talk about it and love it and recommend it to everyone and also watch a few runners go round a track at the horrendously named ‘city of manchester stadium’
5. everyone at school voluntarily went in extra early… but to watch the world cup rather than to do extra science… or is some sad cases to see blazin squad mime their way through half an hour of painfully bad shit
2003
1. a bloke called johnny wilkinson twatted the ball over a bar in the last seconds of the rugby world cup, spreading a love of rugby across the nation for at least a week
2. tony blair shat himself when people started to discuss the failure the find any weapons of mass destruction during his bollocks campaign in iraq, so had one of these people, david kelly, murdered in the woods and tried to disguise it as suicide
3. saddam insane was caught chillin in an underground box and sentenced to death, whilst arnie took over the role as scary politician man and became governor of the OC
4. i reluctantly left the scouts after many happy years
5. the world lost some great names: johnny cash, barry white, katharine hepburn, concorde, dame thora hird from the stairlift ads and rod roddy from the price is right
2004
1. ireland banned smoking in all pubs, causing severe distress as old men are forced to leave their guinness and step outside for a feg
2. as i finally become cool by getting a mobile phone for my birthday, north korea banned the use of them…. because they’re simply mad
3. the film ‘the day after tomorrow’ scares the living daylights out of everyone and forces the world to go power saving crazy, introducing a trillion different things to stop global warming and polar bears from getting their feet wet
4. a huge tsunami buggered up christmas by killing over two hundred thousand folk on boxing day
5. a couple of blokes manage to explore well over six thousand feet below sea level, most likely to get away from all the shit that was happening up top…. in particular, greece winning the european championship… what the hell was that all about!?
2005
1. america didn’t learn from their idiocy so elected president bush again…twats
2. we didn’t learn from our idiocy and elected prime minister blair again… twats
3. pope john paul the second unfortunately popped his clogs and a german fella took over his job in the vatican… he celebrated his new position by munching on a well deserved curly wurly
4. because britain is ridiculous, any asian bloke seen with a rucksack suddenly became hated due to the london bombings in july
5. tons of famous musical faces and bob geldof joined hands across the world during the live 8 concerts in order to raise awareness for the call for complete debt cancellation and more aid for the world’s poorest people… which is fair enough!
6. some bitch called katrina decided it would be great fun to wipe out the home of jazz along with thousands of other homes… bloody wind
7. liverpool became the jammiest of all sods by coming back from three nil down, to beat ac milan on penalties
8. i finally got out of the hell hole that was secondary school, went to the haven that was college, began earning some money and joined a band… :D
9. luther vandross, arthur miller, richard pryor and george best all passed on
10. i obviously started registering things that took place around me in 2005
2006
1. hard rock hallelujah becomes the song on everyones lips as the mighty lordi destroy the competition…. in eurovision
2. for those not to arsed about lordi however, fourth trace delighted the crowds with the likes of parallel games and the fiesta song :/
3. england did shit again in the world cup
4. saddam insane was finally hung for being a complete nob
5. syd barrett of pink floyd passed on :(
2007
1. we all learnt the ending to harry potter’s life at hogwarts and i still want to know what that little creature was under dumbledore’s chair
2. some daft twat forgot to do his research and tried to drive a flaming truck into glasgow airport… he musn’t have known that glaswegians are fucking mental and one happy chappy decided to smack the on fire terrorist to pulp in between tokes on his cig and chugs on his irn-bru
3. gordon brown took the leadership of the labour party and the government, irritating, worrying and scaring people up and down the nation
4. i had the best year of my life by farrrrrrrrrrrrr
5. the legendary tony wilson of factory records passed away and manchester mourned
2008
1. the international year of the potato and sanitation!
2. manchester united boshed chelsea in the european cup final rendering me voiceless for three days :)
3. michael phelps and usain bolt went mental at the beijing olympics and smashed a bollock load of records whilst britain did pretty bloody awesome as well…. then they all ate curly wurlys
4. somalian pirates proved that pirates do still exist
5. the worlds economy broke down as huge banks all over went bankrupt, causing every news reader on the planet to litter our ears with the words ‘recession’ and ‘credit crunch’ fucking over and over again
6. barack obama was elected president of the us, finally ending the disgraceful power period of bush and giving new hope to the world
7. an extra second was added to the year….whoopdedoo!
8. i travelled europe and got to see the oddness of a stoned bloke with a flower pot on his head in amsterdam, mass celebrations and parties in the host capital cities of the european championships and almost forgot every important document ever in a bar in bruges
9. we said goodbye to heath ledger, yves saint laurent, paul newman, charlton heston, eartha kitt and isaac hayes
10. sadly… i did not have a curly wurly once over these 365 days
2009
1. swine flu broke out, scaring the bejeeezus out of everyone with half a brain cell, whilst everyone else just got on with their lives, even when they actually caught the virus
2. michael jackson died at the age of fifty, resulting in everyone side-stepping what they had whinged on about for years, his paedo-ness, and instead broke down in tears everytime his name was mentioned
3. i decided that i would trek to everest basecamp next year
4. i attended glastonbury for the first time and had most definitely the greatest experience of my life bar none
5. england qualified for the world cup, sparking everyone to reaffirm that we will definitely win it this time…. mhmm
and that my friends, was the noughties… i hope you enjoyed wasting the last twenty minutes of your life… you’re never getting them back you know :D
x
