Fusion View

We were having lunch with my pal Michael Spencer over the weekend and he was telling us about the educational workshops he runs in Japan to bring music into the lives of school kids. Here is a video of Mike doing his thing, bringing together the cultures of Europe and Japan in one concert. I’m particularly intrigued by how he used Skype for some of his workshops to bring the music of Spain to the Japanese kids!

My father continues his reminiscences about his days at school in colonial Malaya:

So every year I climbed each rung of the ladder until I reached the sixth form;every year gaining some new knowledge that will make me competent enough to enter a university and thereby make something of my life. School life was quite uneventful; I was not involved in any fights with any of my school fellows and not being sporting did not win any trophies only book prizes for coming top or near top of the form in examinations. The school had some annual events. They were the annual Shakespeares play staged for one week in the Town Hall by the School Drama Society. The parts were all played by the school boys and some were very good indeed. I remember the part of Falstaff played by a stout lad and he was very good; he appeared to understand who and what Falstaff was. This boy is now grown-up and has become the second richest man in the country.

The only involvement by the teachers was as directors of the plays and costume designers as the boys had little knowledge of Elizabethen costumes. For every night of the performance it was a full house. Then there were the annual science exhibitionsput up by the students of the higher science forms. I use the word students because by then there were girls in the sixth forms arts and science. They were well attended by pupils of other schools and one day byadults. Most of the exhibits were to show science being used in unusual ways. Then there were the Scouts Gang Show performed not by the school scout troops only but the combined scout troops of the State. Entrance fees were collected for the scout fund. There were also interschool matches between the school and another in the country in football, rugby and cricket. There were the annual school sports daysfor the athletes and annual speech days for the studious.

Life at home was also quite uneventful. Father was strict and kept an eye on our studies and was always making sure that we were well grounded in grammar and subsequently Latin. There were two things that he and the family never stinted on and they were food and books. When Father was free he would scout around bookshops to look for books which will solve some problems he has encountered in his preparations to tutor us. A very good English grammar book was by a writer called Nestle (sounds like the milk people). We would break up a sentence and place each phrase or clause to the correct part of speech (adverbial clause, phrase, etc.)

Then there were the months we spent reading David Copperfield in the unabridged version. All four of us would sit round the table and Father would lie in his lazy chair and we wouldeach in turn read a few pages stopping to look up the meanings of words. Although Father knew most of the meanings he wanted to know and wanted us to know the exact meaning of the words that we encountered. Two words I still remember that I learnt from this reading were simultaneous and vicissitudes.We grew very fond of some of the characters notably the eccentric aunt Betsy Trotwood so that we name our two dogs, one Betsy and the other Trotty for Trotwood; Peggotty and his wife with their boat house in Yarmouth. I tended to compare Murdoch, Davids stepfather with our Father because Murdoch was strict and stern and harsh with David as sometimes Father was to us.

My father has written a number of blog posts about his childhood memories of colonial Malaya - you can read them in the Memories of Malaya series here on this blog

memmlya

Photo: thanks to lowfatbrains from flickr.com (CCL)

by Guest Blogger Paola Minekov, artist

When, a few months ago after seeing my painting in a group show, Yang-May asked me to be a guest blogger on Fusion View and tell you something about my art, I really had no idea where to start. I asked her what she thought you’d be interested to know about and she was like: ‘Well, Paola, you know, people would like to know how you make your art, why, what inspires you…’ Simple, right? I make art, so one would think I’d be able to explain why and how without too much effort… except, I couldn’t really. Until last night that is, when I attended my first meditation lesson and it all clicked. People meditate because they need an outlet for their emotions, some ‘me time’, an escape from all the stress and their hectic lives. The thing is, it turns out that for me making art has always been a bit like meditation - a process in which I work on my painting with the kind of concentration that actually helps me forget to think - I stop hearing the music in the background, all my daily problems melt away, and all that’s left is the artwork. It may be because I’ve been painting all my life and having started to paint this young often means that there are no agendas, no specific thesis one necessarily needs to prove, discuss or conceptualize. It’s just what I do, because if I don’t, it feels wrong. And before I started painting and exhibiting professionally at the beginning of 2010, I used to mainly do it when I had a problem I needed to express, solve… or simply let go of.

While, or perhaps because, I come from a family of artists and have studied Fine Art for years, after graduating I decided I wasn’t ready to become a full time professional artist. I told myself (and everyone else) that I was too young to close myself in a studio and that I needed inspiration. This was partly true. As you’ve probably guessed by now, to me painting is a solitary business. The truth is though, that being an artist isn’t easy for more than just that reason. It’s a life full of ups and downs, where one’s body of work is constantly judged, evaluated and re-evaluated by literally everyone who sees it. It’s not that I don’t like hearing people’s comments, on the contrary, and nothing makes me happier than seeing another person connect with and relate to something I have painted. It gives a deeper, new and external meaning to my work. I would go as far as to say that it helps me see new things in my own work and develop so now I intentionally seek it… But because art is so damn personal, I still feel that I need to prove myself, over and over again, not only as an artist but also as a person - something I found very hard to come to terms with in my early 20s.

My paintings are and have always been conceived in my mind. They are my own, from the minute I first imagine them to the moment I paint the last brush stroke, take a step back, take a good look at my work and tell myself: ‘Yes, this is it, this is what I saw in my head’. After that they sort of acquire a life of their own, like grown up children who no longer need you… In this sense exhibiting and selling them can be likened to the process of letting go. It does however require a certain level of detachment and a mindset I’m still working towards.

Yet, my mind is full of colours and numerous images I’d like to paint. I’ve realized that what inspires me the most is the feelings and emotions of the people closest to me, the important events in my life and my immediate surroundings. Perhaps letting go of my completed works, the ones that no longer need me, also means making more space for new beginnings…

You can see Paola’s works at the Ballet Gala in the Britten Theatre on November 7.

Her website is www.paolaminekov.com where you can see some of her work. I love her fluid style that conveys graceful movement even of scenes you’d expect to be static such as cityscapes!

Images: from Paola’s website, with thanks

Following on from my previous blog post “What’s Your Summer Read?” I promised to tell you about my summer read - so here it is. I love books that evoke a place or time so vividly that you feel that you are right there. It’s even better when I know a little about that place or time where the story is set — in such cases, my own memory or knowledge adds another layer of texture to the experience of reading.

I’ve recently been enjoying the memoir and history, by Adam Nicolson, grandson of Vita Sackville West and Harold Nicolson. He writes about his family home with a tangible passion, evoking his childhood in this famous house – or rather, castle. The place is, of course, more than just his family home: it belongs to the nation through the National Trust, and all of us who visit it. In some small way, whenever any of us visit National Trust properties, strolling about the grounds and grand rooms, wondering what it must be like to live in such places, we all take part of those places away with us in our own memories and snapshots and souvenirs. So the story of Sissinghurst feels familiar to anyone to has been there and also to bookish types like me who’ve read about Vita and Virginia Woolf and the Bloomsbury set - and also new and fascinating by revealing an insiders view of these people and of this famous place.

Part of what makes the book intriguing is the behind-the-scenes glimpses we are given to the Nicolson family relationships. We see Nigel Nicolson (Adam’s father) as the well-known literary figure but also as a father and husband who could not easily bond with his wife and children. We also get to share in what it was like to grow up in the private family areas of this historic national treasure – just what National Trust fans want to hear about!

Nicholson also tells the story of his vision for reviving a working farm is part of the historic Castle and Gardens — and the challenge of making that vision a reality. The Castle and Gardens blong to the National Trust and he and his family are merely the donor residents who have a right to live there rent-free. He has to bring the National Trust and also the Sissinghurst management and staff on board to his plan and the journey is fraught with tensions and conflicting values. He describes difficult meetings and tense conversations with everyone involved. It takes a kind of courage, I think, to write about these less than noble aspects of people that you have to live and work with!

The book also offers a brief history of the National Trust and discusses the philosophy behind what the Trust does. It gives us a view into the workings and philosophies of that body behind the frontage of its well-kept heritage buildings and landscapes, which I found interesting and also amusing – especially in his throwaway comment that many of the Trust’s founding members were gay…

I also enjoyed the evocations of Kent and the history of its landscape. The descriptions made me want to get out of London right now and head on out to the woods and meadows of the Weald.

I would say that this has been a perfect summer read, combining history, family drama, the struggle to realise the vision and also beautiful descriptions of a gorgeous part of England.

Although – I should confess that I didn’t exactly read the book. It was read to me – as you know, I’m a fan of audiobooks and this one was read perfectly by Jeremy Clyde. I could be taken away to Kent and Sissinghurst as I did the ironing, sat on the bus, or just stared into space…

You can buy the audiobook from :

Or, if you prefer the actual physical book, Amazon.co.uk has it:

You can also find out details about visiting Sissinghurst on the National Trust website.

photo: thanks to alh1, from flickr.com (CCL)

Regular readers of this blog will know that I’m a keen e-book fan for their space saving qualities and the fact that you can make the text/ font larger for more easy reading. Along with audio books, e-books are beginning to become my number one format of book consumption.

At the moment, I’m reading e-books on my various PCs using the Mobipocket desktop reader and also the Kindle PC reader, which are both free applications. They are great for reading books while I’m munching at my sandwich lunch at my desk at the office, say, or sitting in an armchair with my laptop on my … er.. lap. But a more easily portable device would be great for commuting and lying down to read.

So, I’ve been watching the e-book reader battles over the last year or so between different devices and manufacturers. I’ve discussed the various pros and cons of the myriad of devices elsewhere on this blog. (See Going Shelfless and a href=”http://www.fusionview.co.uk/2009/10/a-thousand-books-in-my-pocket/”>A Thousand Books in My Pocket)Recently, the main battle seems to have been between the Kindle and the iPad. I’ve been quite taken by the Kindle over the iPad because it’s smaller and lighter. At the same time, the iPad is a multi-function device and having a colour touch screen makes the whole user interface so much more attractive.

The downside of the Kindle - up till now - was that you could only get it by ordering from the USA. But in the last week or so, it has finally come to Amazon’s UK store. It comes in cheaper than the iPad - £109 for the WiFi versionand £149 for the WiFi and 3G.

Here’s a YouTube video review of the Kindle, which shows how thin it is!

You can also add notes and upload pdfs as well as surf the net (albeit in a limited way). There is a text to audio feature which can read the books to you (though I expect a computer generated voice might not be the most soothing of ways to digest a book..!).

So if you’re in the UK and fancy getting one, you can click here to go for it… [You’ll need to pre-order it cos it looks like the first shipment is already sold out!]

I was having lunch with a friend the other day and the talk turned to our upcoming summer holidays. She was off to Norfolk for a week with some friends and a convoy of all their children. They were packing bicycles and kayaks and everyone was excited about having trips on the water and cycle rides on the flatlands and hikes across fields. But, my friend said, a part of her just wanted to veg out on a sun lounger and read the pile of books she’s had by her bedside now for months.

We talked about how much we loved having a good book to absorb us. She laughed, “Are you like me? I just don’t want to be disturbed. Never mind the kids. Never mind Pete (her husband). I just want them to go away so I can just get on with my book…”

Doesn’t it make you wish you were a kid or a student again? With all those long summer holidays - weeks and weeks of nothing to do but read and read? Nowadays, in our busy grown up lives, we all seem to have to squeeze in the pleasure of reading on commutes or in the few minutes before we go to bed.

Flashing through my mind are memories of many summers I’ve passed over the decades and the books that defined those long hot weeks. In my next few posts, I’m going to be blogging about those books and the times of my life that they conjure up for me.

For now, I’ve already started on my summer reading list and thoroughly enjoying it. I’m cheating a little as it’s not quite accurate to say that I’m reading my summer books - I’m actually listening to them: as audiobooks downloaded from Audible. I make sure to get the Unabridged versions so I get full value for money and also the full efforts of the author. Being read a story is one of the loveliest pleasures in life and I’m basking in the indlugence. I’ve ploughed through a few since spring and today, I’ve just started on a perfect summer book - and I’ll be blogging about what that is in a few days…

What I am more interested in knowing right now is: What’s on your list of books to read this summer?

~~~

Photo: thanks to Matt Seppings on flickr.com ((CCL)

There’s nothing like cute furry animals to make an online video go viral… These little guys make me feel sleepy and ready to curl up in my bath towel, too!

The short film is by Lucy Cooke, “Writer, filmmaker, blogger and frog lover”, whose mission is “Educating people about the amphibian extinction crisis and promoting the conservation of species and habitats that are otherwise ignored.”

I found this via The Guardian, which has a feature on viral videos and the Sheffield Documentary Film Festival.

As part of my occasional series on My Local London, I describe a visit to Beddington Park to look for the Lost Village of Beddington - in the otherwise unremarkable Greater London commuter town of Hackbridge

Here are the pics from our stroll:

I stare out at sea from The Cobb in Lyme Regis, pondering on the illusion and reality of John Fowles’s “The French Lieutenant’s Woman” and later, meet a friendly Fossil Hunter who shows us his “catch” from the rocks of the Undercliff.

And these are the snaps: