The Figure Project Updated
I'm pleased to say, after consulation with the mysterious guest blogger, that the Figure Project will indeed continue to its logical conclusion, and it's filled out significantly over the weekend.
If you're a regular reader, please take a minute to bring out your body parts, as Gert put it, and contribute to this composite MAWOL reader.
If you don't know what I'm talking about, the background is here, and you can launch the figure project to see progress so far.
Delayed Impact
I'm officially intrigued.
Over a month ago, while researching this column, I did a web search for any references to the disappearance of Hermelin Mavanga. At the time, Google offered one match (this one, in fact).
Today, wondering if there might have been any progress in his case, I ran the same search, with very different results. Eight separate sites, including mine, now mention him in some capacity. He disappeared in May of this year, and in the initial three months of his disappearance, he had generated precisely one internet reference, yet in month four, there are suddenly seven more. What's that all about?
Of course, I think the more recognition of his case the better, but I can't help thinking that this runs against the expected order of these things. So I'm intrigued.
Catching Up
Been doing a round of blogs and various other sites, so I thought I'd share a few bits and pieces:
Burnt Toast has both a new home and a new look, which is as good a reason as any to give it one of my occasional plugs.
Parallax View points us all at this amazing collection of 'antique' Kate Bush MP3s. Have I mentioned recently how incredible I've always thought the multi-talented Ms Bush is? Oh yes, I have, haven't I?
And Ain't It Cool News has seen the first new Buffy, and gives it five stars (Spoiler Warning).
Trying Something New
I haven't done a posting in this style before, so I thought it might be fun to give it a try:
Well, it's been a good week, though slightly different and less restful than I was hoping for. On Monday, after a frustrating day getting ready for a presentation for work (just one of those days where lots of little things kept going wrong), I did the presentation and then headed straight off to here to get on one of their trains to there. I was met by him, her, and Philippa, who had been down there since Friday, and taken to the place we were staying, which was the converted stables of a small farmhouse in the middle of here.
Apart from having to take part in a couple of conference calls following on from the presentation, I did manage to get a couple of relaxing days in, though not as much as I'd originally planned.
We did quite a bit of exploring. On Tuesday, we spent most of the day here, which is very nice, if a little twee in places. We took in a visit here while we were there, which is a stunning building, though smaller than I was expecting. In the evening, we watched a glorious sunset from here.
Wednesday was a horticultural day, split between here and here. I was expecting to be more interested in the latter, though it turned out to be the opposite way round. It's an amazing achievement, but I wasn't as bowled over as I was expecting to be. Exploring the former on a brilliantly sunny autumn morning, however, was really special, and highly recommended.
Thursday, apart from wasting half the day trying to get decent signal on my mobile so I could do that day's conference call, we mostly stayed fairly local. We walked across the causeway from here to here, which I'd never done before, and visited some local produce suppliers, including this place, which has a brilliant range of stuff, and is in the most amazing location, on a high clifftop, with a view along the clifs and coves, and across the huge bay to there. From there, we went for the one and only one of these I had all week, here (that site's got a holding page up at the moment, but you get the idea).
On Friday morning, after clearing out of the stable, we took a brief trip to here, via this, for a last-minute bit of exploration and to buy some of these, then we did a dash for the train back here.
And that was my few days off - we were really lucky with the weather - almost totally cloudless skies and warm sunshine are not my automatic expectation for the last week of September.
Home Again, Home Again
Well, I'm back, and I'll write up the trip in a few minutes. As The Figure Project got off to a slow start, I'll leave the links to it up in hopes that it can continue to grow, assuming the Guest Blogger is interested in continuing it - I'll check on Monday.
Thanks anyway for filling in - I do like the idea of getting this image together, so please do send in photos if you can.
figure project : arm
we now have an arm!
keep them coming in over the weekend and I'll update the figure on Monday.
figure project : addition 01
well, we have had our first contribution, thank you. it looks a bit odd on it own so I urge you to send in your photos and bring the figure to life. I mentioned yesterday that I would add animation or rollovers to parts of the figure; i think this is definitely required in the aim of adding movement to something that is quite static.
email your submissions now to guest@moreawayoflife.org
you can access the figure by clicking here
guest project
The idea of this project is to add something more colorful and graphical to MAWOL. It is an audience participation project that means if it does not suceed it is not my fault ;o) It could turn out very nicely or it could be rubbish.
The link below launches a window with an outline of a figure on it split into parts. The aim of the project is to invite people to submit photos of their corresponding body parts to make up the complete figure....
The inspiration is three-fold;
Firstly, to create a figure that is representative of the readers of MAWOL. How you appear is largely up to yourselves and your choice of submission*.
Secondly, from those drawings I used to do as a child where you folded a piece of paper into a concertina shape and each person drew a different part of the body which upon unfolding the paper was humorous.
Lastly, I have always been a fan of those David Hockney photo montages. This is a kind of bastardised multi-person version!
You can submit photos by emailing them to me at guest@moreawayoflife.org
*Submission Notes
If I am sent more than one photo of the same body part I may decide to use animated gifs or rollovers to scroll thru each one.
Any photos submitted will be used for this project only and then deleted.
The photos can be of any body part, clothed or not, which relates to the figure.
If you do not have a suitable graphics package and you wish me to crop a certain body part in your photo I can do this for you.
I will not use any parts of the photo you don't wish to appear.
I reserve the right to withold any photo from the figure that I deem unsuitable for whatever reason.
If you have any questions about the project please email me on the above address.
The project will run from now until the resident blogger decides they have had enough. I will endeavor to update the site each weekday evening, plus I will post a new entry when there is something new to see.
The Millennial Posting
Well, here it is - the last posting (by me) for five days. Two topics:
The German election - I've mentioned before that I'm an election junkie, and it's not just our own that I remain glued to. Yesterday's German vote was a bigger cliffhanger than the last US one, and I was extremely pleased to note that much of the credit for Gerhard Schroeder's recent revival of fortune is put down to his opposition to miltary action in Iraq. Still, it leaves him in control only by dint of his coalition with the Green party, and I'm equally pleased to see Greens in a position to wield influence.
And The Emmys - big shocks in the lead categories: Six Feet Under misses out on the major awards, and The West Wing grabs Best Drama for the third time. As I suggested might happen, Allison Janney won a third Best Actress award in a row, and John Spencer and Stockard Channing also got nods. I'm pleased about them all, but I'm stunned that Six Feet Under didn't do better.
I've averaged 1.88 postings per day over these first 1000, by the way.
Two Down, One To Go
I'm in the office at the moment, and on my way from the tube station, I passed a number of people heading for this Liberty And Livelihoods march that the Countryside Alliance have organised.
Incredibly, they were dressed in tweeds to a man (and the ones I saw were all men), and had their arms held exactly as if they had a shotgun in the crook. They were carrying banners with slogans like "Ban(g) Out Of Order" and "Call This A Minority At Your Peril" - which last seemed to carry with it the unstated continuation "....Because We'll Shoot You."
In my head, just reading the banners I couldn't hep but imagine a full-on huntin', shootin', fishin' voice - you know the one....
UPDATE - I forgot that the other banner that caught my eye was the one that said "Hunting=Natural Selection", which no matter how hard I try, I simply can't get my head round....