13:12:46.090 - 13:12:46.107

First things first:

GO AND SEE HOT FUZZ.

Thank you.

The power of a lovely sunny morning can create some strange effects. I managed to drive as far as halfway through Broxburn this morning before the traffic, traffic-smell, traffic behaviour and the stupidity of Multimap contrived to stop me feeling anything but pleasantly chilled and pleased at the world. Retrieved monitor from Amtrak, returned home and decided to pop out for breakfast seeing as there was little breakfast-food in the flat besides coffee. Tried Assembly although I had to have a bacon-and-sausage roll as there were too many incompatible components within their grill selection. Reasonably pleasant coffee for a non-coffee-specific place although Nicky complained that hers tasted funny. When she gave it to me to finish I found it also tasted funny but only in that it tasted of her lip balm. Very nice toastybreadroll too but I wish more places did a breakfast of a set number of components which could consist of as many multiples of any available element as required by the customer to prevent the waste of any inedibles such as shrooms and black pudding.

Something during breakfast reminded me that Hot Fuzz was out as of yesterday so trundled over to Tollcross to see if it could be seen cheaply at the Cameo. It cannot but it was worth the detour for the walk through surprisingly unbusy yet sunlit town and to notice the marvellously vague signage just outside. Also spotted a bloke wearing some form of old (visibly metal-bodied and old-style logo) Minolta film SLR round his neck. I've noticed an increase in the number of older-skool-than-thou photographers around recently. Maybe there'll be a fad soon for using telephone boxes.

Galleries a little bit meh today; upper levels of the Dean were inaccessible although the toilets (above) were quite well-appointed and inspirational. The Off The Wall series at the Belford isn't anything you won't have seen before and the upstairs didn't have anything new in though there are still a few nice blobs of interesting around.
Although I hope I have a creative side or corner somewhere I am a scientist by training and I do like my facts. One thing which irritates me about galleries in Britain (never museumses) is the over-reliance on flannel and (if I may phrase it so) art-wank bollocks on the information cards beside paintings, sculptures and so on. Galleries abroad are nowhere near as bad... they explain the circumstances surrounding a painting, a bit about the technique and so on but don't bother with any of this "by placing the figure of the bird behind that of the cotton bud the artist expresses his contempt for the growing maritime art movement" gubbins. I often feel that the people writing the cards feel they have to invent something and make something up; particularly when it's referring to a photograph when it's highly likely that the photographer just thought the subject caught the light nicely.

Anyway...

The Plot Thickens 2007
Binary data on magnetic storage medium.
The frozen instant captured in the flow of water above symbolises the creator's desire to be able to summarise his day in a single image despite the veritable torrent of data about the world flooding in through his eyes. Although his mind, like the sink, can retain some of these images the plug must eventually be unplugged when it reaches capacity. Though the pattern of the water's flow is at first seemingly inchoate the persistence of vision shows the constantly-changing flow of water as a seemingly steady stream; likewise our lives, when viewed from outside over a greater span of time, are fixed and constant.

It was very warm inside and smelt of heated rubber due to the presence of a piece consisting of lots of plastic and rubber balls so some fresh air was welcome. There was also a little too much blaringly loud and distracting posh-ass banter inside to be able to concentrate and enjoy things; there must be a middle ground somewhere between a wee ned-child who spits everywhere, swearing every second word and a kid of merely six who uses "mama, there's a wonderful piece in gallery three" without any of his family bursting out laughing.

...and relax...

Some naughty people also went into "Landforms (1999, grass and topsoil on basalt over a liquid metal core)" despite the gate being shut. The wee man in the foyer ran out and shouted at them but moved too quickly to be caught. In case any of the naughty people are reading, after he shouted at you he muttered "that's why it fucking says 'closed' on the sign" as he turned his back and walked back in.

Wandered back slowly to catch Hot Fuzz. As good as Shaun of the Dead and better than Asylum though obviously still not quite up to the standard of Spaced. Still plenty of in-jokes and references although Nicky noticed that the childs in the row in front of us didn't get a mid-eighties reference or two. Hopefully the DVD when it comes out will have the homage-O-meter the Spaced special edition featured to enlighten them. Pegg and Wright's stuff reminds me a little of Peter Jackson's early stuff... lots of details which are remembered and referenced when they become relevant later in the film. A lot of the appreciation of watching comes from sheer respect for the concentration and enthusiasm which went into it. Anyway, go and see it and make your day happier.

Do you know anyone called Marjory? If so, there's a perfect outfit for someone of that name in one of the charity shops on Nicolson Street. There was also a second opto-chemical-film-Minolta-wielding bloke in front of me in the queue in Tesco although this one was sadly somewhat lacking in dignity.

After a brief moment of panic this morning when I though a wee speck of moisture on the newmonitor was a hot pixel in the camera there was a similar frettingness a short while ago when a less-easily-removed bright green speck looked like the equivalent of a non-switching spot on the monitor itself. Luckily it disappeared shortly after I took that picture.