Frankie went to Hollywood April 17, 2005
Posted by Andy Roberts in : soundvideo , add a commentFrankie Roberto spent a week in California, which is why his blog etc has been quiet ( I don’t think they have Internet in LA yet) but upon his return he’s posted this cool Vlog which is well worth a download and a marvel really, that it was entirely shot and edited on his mobile phone.
Great stuff.
How do you arrange your bookcases? April 15, 2005
Posted by Andy Roberts in : hi res photos , 3commentsThe most obvious choice is probably
but why bother with that? For a system prioritised for ease of maintenance how about
.. just add new books to the end.
Sometimes it’s only practical to make the best use of available shelf space by organising books together based on
Now check out the photo below - it’s a bookcase which somebody rearranged according to
The very idea of this conjures up all sorts of questions. Can you judge a book by it’s cover afterall? As the years go by, names and titles are easy to forget but perhaps visual memory is more persistent and much faster to zoom in on. The alphabet is quite an unnatural construction with no real logical sequence between any of the letters, in fact come to think of it - the alphabet is completely and pointlessy arbitrary! What use is the alphabetical sequence to any one and why on earth does it feature so highly in early literacy teaching? You would think that at the very least they could have grouped the vowels together, but no. .
Clearly a new, logical alphabetical sequence needs to be invented and I propose that it should be based either on the phonetic function of the letters, or on their written appearance (lower case version)
By the way, I found the photo deep in the archives of an old hard disk and I’ve no idea where it came from originally, so if it’s yours , - please claim copywright by commenting below.
Peak Oil April 15, 2005
Posted by Andy Roberts in : Memetics , add a commentHave you heard the expression “Peak Oil” referring to the event of of global oil production reaching its peak quite soon, and all the ramifications thereof?
If so, how long ago did you first come across the term?
If this is the first time you’ve seen it, how soon afterwards do you notice the second instance?
Some info… life after the oil crash
posted in category ‘memetics’
Loudon Wainwright April 14, 2005
Posted by Andy Roberts in : Music , 2commentsI just found out that Loudon Wainwright III has recorded his 21st album…
London Gig : April 26 Queen Elizabeth Hall, Southbank.
Introducing a WIKI to a Community of Practice April 12, 2005
Posted by Andy Roberts in : distributed research, COP, Wiki , add a commentIntroducing a WIKI to a Community of Practice is the title of the Action Enquiry report which I finalised and submitted before the Easter Holidays. The findings were nearly all positive so I decided to try and take it further by publishing the work and seeking wider comment and comparison with others’ experiences. So far I have received a couple of comments in the small group community, nothing in Ultraversity Community, some encouragment from Nancy White, and a request to be interviewed about 43things for a Harvard graduate’s research project.
My intention is to update and re-present the findings in a shorter format to share with people who have done or are considering similar enterprises, in the hope that this leads to enough new learning to make up an Independent learning Module.
Introducing a WIKI to a Community of Practice April 12, 2005
Posted by Andy Roberts in : learning , 3commentsIntroducing a WIKI to a Community of Practice is the title of the Action Enquiry report which I finalised and submitted before the Easter Holidays. The findings were nearly all positive so I decided to try and take it further by publishing the work and seeking wider comment and comparison with others’ experiences. So far I have received a couple of comments in the small group community, nothing in Ultraversity Community, some encouragment from Nancy White, and a request to be interviewed about 43things for a Harvard graduate’s research project.
My intention is to update and re-present the findings in a shorter format to share with people who have done or are considering similar enterprises, in the hope that this leads to enough new learning to make up an Independent learning Module.
Sushi April 11, 2005
Posted by Andy Roberts in : movie clips , add a comment
Landscape no. 2 April 5, 2005
Posted by Andy Roberts in : Art, London , 1 comment so far
inspired by Virtue
( no 1 )
the Baroque Guitar April 4, 2005
Posted by Andy Roberts in : Art, Music, London , 1 comment so far
I was walking across Hampstead Heath on Saturday, and came across Kenwood House and grounds, which are freely open to the public. Inside there are painted rooms, and a lot of old paintings. mostly portrait s of long dead rich people. I walked into one room and went straight up to one painting remarking out loud “Ah, somebody has tried to paint a guitar”. Reading the inscription, it was by Vermeer - a well known “old master”. Looking closely at the guitar something was clearly not right. “It’s only got five strings ! How can she be really playing it when one of the strings is missing?“.
So it turns out that this was a very famous painting, Vermeer’s “The guitar player” In 1974, the painting was stolen from Kenwood House by supporters of the IRA, and found in a churchyard ten weeks later.
“This painting exudes a joyous energy that makes it one of Vermeer’s most appealing works. One can almost hear the chords of the music the woman plays, an effect Vermeer created by painting diffused guitar strings that seemingly vibrate from her touch. Indeed, the image’s spontaneity results largely from the vigor of Vermeer’s increasingly abstract manner of painting, as in the boldly unmodulated planes of color defining her dress. “
Except from Vermeer, the complete works by Arthur K. Wheelock Jr
Ok, so the strings are meant to be moving - that’s fair enough but there are still only five of them. 1670 is quite a long time ago though.
“Vermeer’s compostitional organization my be linked to his decision to depict a guitar player rather than a lute player. The guitar was just coming into vogue in the late seventeenth century as a popular instrument for solo accompaniment. The music it created was bolder than that of the lute, in large part because its chords produced a resonance not possible on the lute which had begun to take on associations with an idealized past, a sophisticated era where music had been enjoyed and contemplated for the purity of its sounds. The bright and direct character of The Guitar Player thus, spoke more to the modern world of music represented by the guitar than to the conservative and contemplative traditions of the lute. “
The baroque guitar
The baroque guitar may be considered as having had its own particular history both in terms of its shape, tuning, sound and style. It was very often used as a solo instrument but, according to certain sources, also as an accompanying instrument. Even though it may be difficult to give exact dates, it was in use in the second half of the 16th Century until the end of the 18th Century in Italy, Spain and France. The baroque guitar is a lightweight instrument with a clear yet rich timbre that is perfect for accompanying the voice while still being capable of making itself heard in the company of other instruments.
It is used in continuo playing and is often included in ensembles with the theorbo, archlute, viola da gamba and other continuo instruments.
So the Baroque guitar does have 5 strings, or rather five courses of doubled up strings, in much the same way as my own prized vintage american 12 string guitar.
is an online professional who initiated DARnet 
