Mickey Mouse is creepy

A mickey mouse mask, in silhouette, towering on a huge canvas, would make an interesting artwork.
How did I get this idea? On Saturday I went to see 'Aufsteig und Fall der Stadt Mahogany' at the Deutsche Oper. The staging was amazing. The whole stage floor was black and shiny. The stage had a normal straight front, but the other sides were curved round into a semicircle by a huge white cloth, which was lit from behind. All the cast were dressed in dinner jackets and wearing mickey mouse masks. The cast were so numerous they appeared as an army in silhouette, the Mickey ears silhouetted above them. There was a sharp side-lighting as well, giving the faces harsh contrast. At one point they held the masks up. The light shone through the eye sockets.
In the second act there was a hurricane, depicted as a huge German flag, the size of the stage, descending onto the cast. It was very graphic and bright, but sinister.

Photos of Berlin

I've posted a whole load of photos of Berlin, trying to capture

"its various resemblances to an industrial wasteland and slightly pompous imperial bits-and-pieces"

(quote from Adam)

A typoporn bite: "mimi numinum...

Blackletter types don't distinguish well between i, u m and n, especially since there aren't any dots on the 'i's. A 14th century joke to illustrate this was "mimi numinum niuium minimi munium nimium uini muniminum imminui uiui minimum uolunt". It translates as "the smallest mimes of the gods of snow do not wish at all in their life that the great duty of the defences of the wine be diminished". Blackletter types on Wikipedia.

I hacked my start button

Howto: icon & text.

Rising Sun Trousers

I made meself some trousers, based on the Japanese naval flag.
The paint is normal household gloss: careful to put paper through the legs or the paint will bleed through.
The sun does indeed shine out of my arse.

UK is the new OneState

The UK Police announced recently that they will be using the UK's almost blanket CCTV coverage to monitor all vehicles

The primary aims claimed for the system are tackling untaxed and uninsured vehicles, stolen cars and the considerably broader one of 'denying criminals the use of the roads'... Having one every quarter of a mile on motorways quite clearly means they'll be used to enforce speed limits as well,...otherwise, checking a vehicle's tax and insurance status every 15 seconds or thereabouts would seem overkill.

The Government is pulling the terrorism card far too freely:

• Iraq: the supposed 45 minutes (pdf) it would take Iraq to launch an attack has never been substantiated


• ID cards: will have what relevance exactly, when the terrorists are British?


• New Anti-terrorism legislation: seems ill-justified. Is it supposed to inspire confidence that they need 90 days to work out who they've arrested?
  

So I wrote to Nick Raynsford, my MP, to protest against compulsory ID cards (also, sticker):

Dear Nick,
I would like to protest very strongly against the introduction of ID cards in the UK. I have read thoroughly on the subject and so far cannot see any sense in their introduction.
I would like to attend one of your surgeries but I am living in Berlin until next August. Maybe I will be able to come around Christmas.
Your voting record on the issue is strongly in favour. I know you will be extremely well read on the subject, but I hope in this letter I might give you a fresh perspective.
My main objection to the scheme is that the return on investment of the scheme is poor. The Government estimates the cost of introduction to be six billion pounds, or £100 per person. The LSE estimated the cost may be as high as eighteen billion, or £300 per person. Six billion alone would pay for thirty new hospitals (or many other possibilities). Hospitals are a direct and tangible outcome from spending, as opposed to the uncertain benefits of ID cards.
The Bill lists the aims of the scheme as national security, prevention or detection of crime, enforcement of immigration controls, enforcement of prohibitions on unauthorised working or employment and securing the efficient and effective provision of public services.
I cannot see that the bill will effect these aims in any significant way. Focusing on immigration control as an example, how are ID cards any more effective than passports? Asylum seekers will not be affected, they are not UK citizens and as such are not entitled to a passport or ID card. Terrorism also lost credibility as an objective after all the London bombers were found to be British, and therefore would be entitled to an ID card.
I also object to the compulsory nature of the scheme on privacy grounds. ID cards are one of many modern examples of the use of technology to monitor individuals. There is a balance here of the right of the individual to privacy and the right of the society to know. I believe that unless a strong case can be made otherwise, the right of the individual should default over the right of the society or Government, because individuals are more fundamental. Societies come and go, individuals remain.
Modern computer systems would allow monitoring of all email. Mobile telephones allow the locations of individuals to be crudely monitored. Just because a technology is available for monitoring individuals, it does not mean it should be implemented, unless a clear benefit to the individual is apparent.
I am extremely interested in your response.

Ideas for Theatre:a Play to be Interpreted, 'Dream', the 'Corpse Bride' and 'Festen'.

Has anyone ever written a play which is designed to be interpreted? The trend in modern theatre (as opposed to Shakespeare etc.) seems that the author envisions almost everything and puts it down, to make any performance one of his original vision. I was thinking that if I wrote a play with no reference to anything about the character or appearance of the characters, maybe try to even leave out character genders, then performances would all be very different. Maybe I could use colours and typefaces to distinguish who was speaking.
I also thought it would be fun to do A Midsummer Night's Dream set in an office.
I envisage Puck as the computer nerd who does all the odd-jobs; Oberon as the grumpy senior management who can't work the gadgets himself, and can't quite articulate what he wants his staff to do; Titania the pretty but manipulative character (no change there) and Theseus as the CEO who occasionally comes on, takes control and sorts everything out.
Why was I thinking this? Liv, Betty and I went to Brecht's house at the weekend. It was lovely. Wide and tall and confident rooms. Full of books, shelves and shelves of Lenin and of English detective stories. He liked to have lots of tables out so he could work on several different things at once. His study looked over a cemetery, apparently he liked to look out at the graves of people he admired.
Thinking about corpses, the Corpse Bride by Tim Burton is masterful, and so much fun! The characters are fantastic (especially the Corpse herself, I would much rather her with her frown than the bland living girl: you can see her teeth through her cheek).
I also watched Festen with Liv and Betty on Friday. Another great film. Rather than fighting against the Dogme rules, Vinterberg works with them to produce a very grounded and realistic film which draws you in and makes you care for all the characters, for their success or demise.
This makes me want to make films! Good ideas don't present themselves to me, but I think maybe I trying to think of an idea for a film directly is too great a task, I should think of funny things first and try and scale them up.

New Mobile Phone Business Model

UK mobile phone contracts are pretty unfair:

• You get a mobile phone contract. With this you get a phone handset. Whether you pay something toward it or not, the network whom you connect to absorbs most of the cost.
• You pay high line rental and call charges to allow the network to recoup the cost of the phone.
• If you bring your own phone, you still have to pay the high call charges.
• Therefore people are forced to upgrade their phone every year and pay for it whether they want to or not.
• Pay-as-you-go seems fair, but actually the call charges are high as the phone is still subsidised.

A new network business model which offers extremely cheap rates and no line rental to users who supply their own handset will slowly but surely overtake 'traditional' businesses and their pricing models.

NO 2 ID: Sticker

I made a sticker. Stick it on all your friends!

• Download as a PDF
• See how your MP votes on the issue
• Write to them
• No to compulsory ID cards in the UK

George Bush as Che Guevara