Hooting & Howling

To much furore and backlash, and then backlash as a result of the backlash, it was recently announced that American restaurant chain 'Hooters' would be coming to the UK, nationwide. Fifty-four restaurants have been planned across the country, spanning as far as Bournemouth to Aberdeen, Oxford to Cambridge, even including our very own Bristol.

It raises questions as to the morality and relevance of the Licensing Act; councils can legally offer restaurant and bar permits but The Act limits who can provide legitimate complaints (i.e. local business owners - local meaning very local) etc.

The Art of Business is the Business of Art

So we all know not to mix business with pleasure.  But what about mixing business with art?  Art should provide critique and perspective on the direction the world is heading.  On its morals and meanings, its grave mistakes and its greatest triumphs.  So quite rightly the involvement of money and the flow of capital into an artist’s current account is looked on, not quite with scorn, but with raised eyebrows.  The reason being that perhaps the lump sum should be the subject of their next provocation rather than the basis for it.

At the same time, a hard up artist will not create many works from a casket.  There’s some sort of middle ground here.  This middle ground though is a bit like a Tibetan border; it’s a fluid concept about as stable as a well developed game of Jenga.

The Mash Up of August 13th, 2010

The Mash Up of August 13th, 2010

don't be scared of the short links... adds to the intrigue.

Branded content: http://bit.ly/bumj4n
Perfect from Puma

Northern Exhibition: http://bit.ly/cYLhJB
Suki Chan, who previously wowed with swarming starlings, now hits all the right notes with her study of London which focuses on the boundary between the beauty and the alienation of the capital

The play's the thing...

A new group of theatre critics has emerged in recent months, student-based, but outside of Union control and eschewing official affiliation. Their aim is to provide at least two individual reviews of each and every drama production put on by any society within the University of Bristol- and any others they may have seen in local theatres besides. They are anonymous, they are original, and they are here in Bristol.

Ladies and gentlemen, meet The Play Group. 

Want to see plays for just £5...?

If you're aged 15-25 years old, that dream could be a reality! The National Theatre is offering young people the opportunity to claim a free membership card by filling in just one easy form, which entitles you to theatre tickets for just £5, expect for the first one which is free!

For more details on how to claim your card, what's on in theatres and the scheme that makes this all possible, A Night Less Ordinary, simply visit this website.

Happy theatre- goings!

LE

Bristol Pride Week- acclaimed authors at the Arnolfini

Pride Bristol is a large festival that'll be taking place in Bristol this month. One of the main events of Pride Week will be a literary event featuring Stella Duffy, Rhona Cameron, Paul Burston and Jack Wolf. You can look at the website or facebook for more information.

They aim to encourage a diverse audience, including people who'd enjoy the event but wouldn't necessarily think to come to an LGBT festival.

Tickets are only £10 and include free acess to an afterparty on Under the Stars, a boat-turned-cafe-bar along the quay, and a complementary glass of wine!


Pride Bristol 2010

Celebrating Diversity, Championing Equality

Pride Week: 14 - 22 Aug

Pride Day: Sat 21 Aug



LE

MEET: Goldfrapp

Like an illicit marriage between Madonna and a disco ball, Goldfrapp’s fifth and latest record, Head First, descends upon us – its edges trimmed with glitter, its feathers all ruffled, and its core pulsating with a heart of gold. That’s Goldfrapp for you: the London duo of Alison Goldfrapp and Will Gregory may occasionally oscillate between downtempo trip hop (Felt Mountain) and shiny synth-pop (Supernature), but its innate theatricality and flamboyance remains in constant attendance. So as Alison and Will shape-shift into their fifth LP, you can expect another evolved sense of being – both in sound and in wardrobe, but of course, with those orchidaceous colours intact.

Danton's Death - a little predictable but worth a watch

Any true theatre (and film) geek like myself needs get no further than Toby Stephens' name on the cast list (which as the protagonist of this piece happens to be the first) to decide that this play is worth seeing and indeed with that incentive as well as the fame of this Buchner play and the bonus of it being as little as £10 means that no-one has an excuse not to watch this superb actor strut his nonchalent frown on the boards.

Generative Art

This post has been unashamedly,  lazily reproduced from a post for a different blog but hopefully it might be of interest to y'all...

I like digital art for reasons that I’ve mentioned previously in a post I wrote about the Decode exhibition at the V&A back in January.  The art on display there was split nicely into three themes: Code / Interactivity / Network.  I think in the long term Network digital art will prevail because it has the ability to provide timely comment on what we’re up to in the digital space.  But Interactivity is undoubtedly the most fun (as close as you can get over the age of twelve to a trip to the science museum) and Code is the aesthetically pleasing option.

This Code art from Keith Peters is intensely intricate and somewhat a visual jamboree:

Feathers

 
Cube Farm Cube

And for more, click here.

CA

Beck's Record Club

Record Club sets out to record an album a day.  They pick an album, play it and document it in the knowledge that they won't get a second shot.  They say:

"There is no intention to 'add to' the original work or attempt to recreate the power of the original recording. Only to play music and document what happens."

which I think is a pretty upstanding idea.  They're developing quite a back catalogue which is definitely worth having a flick through and all their videos are on vimeo.  If you're thinking this sounds a little amateur then don't panic.  They've got some old hands onboard to steady the ship like Nigel Godrich whose produced albums for Radiohead, Travis and Beck himself.  A particular favourite of mine is Tom Tom Club-esque cover of The Velvet Undergounrd and Nico's Run Run Run...




CA

Au Revoir, les Film Council.

Last week the coalition government's department for Culture, Media and Sport announced plans to axe the UK Film Council.

Sam Taylor-Wood's 'Nowhere Boy'

Launched by the former Labour government in 2000, the non-profit organisation independently selects film projects eligible for funding and has certainly been a much needed help for struggling film makers. It has poured £160m into more than 900 films since its inauguration and fought hard in having a greater number of films shown in more theatres across the country. It has garnered much commercial success with films such as Gosford Park and Bend It Like Beckham along with others, and has stimulated, both fiscally and creatively, a new wave of British film growth. The UKFC's dedication to unearthing new and important talent cannot be denied, what with such critically acclaimed productions as Hunger and The Wind That Shakes The Barley - films which almost certainly could not have been made without state backing.