Drones, a family surprise, doing art (again) and more flowers
Drones Alice and I went to see Eye in the Sky this week. Wow! What an incredible (or rather, horribly credible) film. Exciting, informative, full of tension, occasionally humourous, and very touching too. Two slightly more out-of-the-way reviews can be found at New York Review of Books website and ArsTechnica.
This last site seems a really interesting one to follow if you're into both culture and geeky stuff. Like us here. In fact we've signed up.
My favourite bits were the actions of the Somali operative on the ground (played by Barkhad Abdi) with the miniature spy-drone disguised as a beetle: the stuff of James Bond (see GeekWire) and maybe not even possible - or just not yet? Alice said she learnt a lot about exactly how modern Drone Warfare is conducted; how many political niceties need to be observed, and how they all negotiate passing the buck (a phrase originating in the game of Poker.) She declared it all a very chilling scenario, and had tears in her eyes at the end of the film.
Do take a look at this revealing article in The Guardian, which includes a video about the psychological effects on the young (mostly) operators of this kill-at-a-distance technology. Or see the video separately here.
A family surpriseTo cheer herself up we went on a recce of the local charity shops. She's been doing this ever since seeing the documentary about Iris Apfel, which inspired her to wear more daring jewellery. Of course, Iris could afford multi-million dollar stuff, but she also hunted for super-cheap second-hand bargains. Don't forget to click on her fabulous picture.
Alice bought two more necklaces at her favourite Cancer Research shop. It's turning into such an obsession, we need a row of hooks to hang them on, before they get too tangled up. She's even got some hooks, but hasn't put them up yet. Typical.
And here comes my great surprise! |
| Shelter shop |
You can see from the photo here that I've found I have a distant relative, like Ba!
Although we bonded immediately on a visceral level, an unexpected language barrier meant we couldn't communicate further. My idle fantasy is that he's an endangered primate refugee who is suffering from shock, as he does have a somewhat sad air about him. But I suspect he's only been "liberated" from some child's toy box and certainly not stolen like Woody from Toy Story 2. I hope he finds a new home soon.
Doing art (again) and more flowers
We decided to take a look at some of the local exhibitions in the British Art Show 8.Our first stop was the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art - One, who were hosting part of the said Art Show 8.
It took us quite a while to progress up the drive.
Before we even got to the proper entrance of the Museum itself, I decided to explore a rather bizarre object.Where am I?
Not obvious at all is it, even if you see a bit more of it.
It's a "sculpture" we assume, beside the driveway.Much Googling (is that a verb now?) and surfing from one site to another by Alice, later on, revealed it is called Kolbenneblok by one Tony Cragg. The Gallery says it's from "a series of works he refers to as the 'Early Forms'. These mark a shift away from the artist's use of found objects towards the use of materials, such as plaster or bronze, to make malleable, hollow sculptures." So there.
See more about them on the Kew Gardens website.
Then we paused to enjoy the sun and admire the graceful Landform Ueda by Charles Jencks.
As for the exhibition itself, there was only one item all three of us really liked. It was Diagrams of Love: Marriage of Eyes by Linder. 
Here's a close-up from the online Exhibition Highlights. Apparently it's also featured in a ballet!
Right-click to see the details.
We relaxed afterwards in Modern One's pleasant cafe garden, before heading back home.
Writing this up has, as usual, taken much longer than it should do. If only Alice wasn't such a perfectionist and didn't get carried away surfing for links and then following those up with more still! Not to mention her endless fiddling with the layout here (Blogger input is not WYSIWYG) until she's satisfied with the relationship beween text and image.
So we're taking a break here, and will fill you in later on with either an update or a new post.
Update 1: Even more art and flowers
We had another warm sunny day not long afterwards. This saw us pursuing the trail of the British Art Show 8 again, this time in the small gallery at Inverleith House in Edinburgh's delightful Royal Botanic Gardens.There was a tapestry there we really liked, too: Mother George, 2015 by Caroline Achaintre.
We never found out who had inscribed this optimistic text above the doorway into the upstairs gallery. [Click on the photo to see it at readable size.]But the item on the wall opposite was fascinating. To create Fabulous Beasts, Simon Fujiwara purchased old fur coats – once luxury commodities – and shaved them to reveal the patchwork skin beneath. Did you ever!
The art with the heron is The whole vibe of everything, 2015 by Jesse Wine, a sculptor who works primarily with ceramics.
The catalogue says "Making use of traditional glazing and firing techniques he produces autobiographical works that often take the form of objects from his daily life. This piece sees him distil a complex scene from a Japanese screen into a single element." They don't half go on in this stilted language. I just liked it.There's a book to sign or add comments as you leave the building, but I couldn't think of anything at all to ask Alice to write. Anyway, Ba likes natural things, not invented objects, and was positively itching to get outside again.
We're taking another break now, to get some sleep: we'll catch up again tomorrow, we hope.
Update 2: Flowers again and a family extra
The Camelias were such a beautiful pink, that she didn't want to come down, but we persuaded her there were even more delights awaiting us if we carried on exploring further.
So we did.And found this delicate Blackthorn. [Click, won't you, click!]
Alice took several pictures at both stops, but says now we only have room for a selection on here, or else there's too much space and not enought text.
I don't think that matters, but she was most adamant. And she is the one actually doing all the layout jiggery-pokery.
I suspect that's because this first one was taken "against the light" and involved a great deal of fiddly editing (and some swearing) to get the flowers to look the right colour, instead of being mere dark sillhouettes. But, as she says, the information is there in among the pixels, so determination, plus trial and error, will eventually bring it to light. [Nice pun?]
Ba does look very fetching in the fading sunshine, doesn't she?
It was then getting close to closing time. You can't ignore that, as a couple of officials traverse the gardens from opposite ends (it's a pretty big area altogether) clanging loud hand bells - old school style ones - shouting "Closing Time! CLOSE-ING Time!" and herding us towards the gates.
I wonder if anyone does ever get locked in . . .Luckily we'd just had time to admire a simply ravishing Yoshino Cherry in full bloom. When we'd first arrived it had been commandeered by what looked like a professional fashion shoot, or an engagement party, so we couldn't get near.
It was worth the trudge all the way back to the East Gate just to see it properly, especially as they don't stay in bloom for very long and it might be over by the time of our next visit.Did you know that because of this, in Japan they have special cherry blossom parties in the parks? That's proper appreciation of nature for you! You can go there on blossom holidays from other countries, too.
Family extra
On the way home we passed Ba's Great Uncle's workplace, and found he had been moved to a different position in the window. You can just glimpse Alice's reflection with her camera at the apparent "back" of the room inside.There was a poster for the May Beltane in front of him! The image here, however, is derived from the website of the Beltane Fire Society, where you will find more information.
It's actually tonight as we write this, so you'll have to wait until next year, unless you're very quick off the mark.
unrecognisable Alice, dressed as one of the May Queen's White Women, when she took part in the Edinburgh Beltane festival, in the days when she was a fair bit younger.
That was before you had to pay to watch the event, too. It became so popular that the organisation of volunteer performers, musicians and other workers had to limit numbers and pay the Council for safety personnel and all the cleaning up afterwards. A shame in some ways - but it's still great fun to see, if you don't mind the huge crowds.
Now we're up to date at last, we might get back to editing our Reading in Bed: the Extras video.
So watch this space.
