SNARL 

CATCHER 

FILLET

Hello Thursday! 

I have prepared nothing for this week so, as usual, this will be a meandering affair, though hopefully with some items of interest embedded herein. The title of this post refers to an item in a display case at MOSi, which I visited at the weekend. I have no idea what it is...

I went to Manchester to see Jeremy Deller's 'Procession', part of the Manchester International Festival. 

I have not seen a procession or parade such as this for a long time, and I can't recall ever seeing one in this country. The participants were representative of Manchester and its history, from a group of 'Unrepentant Smokers' (with a banner designed by David Hockney) to a band of Sikh bagpipe players. I wasn't sure what to expect from this, but I really enjoyed it. I'm not sure, as a piece of 'work', how successful it was, and I don't really care, but as an experience I found it interesting. It really felt like everyone watching and everyone involved was having a good time, and united in this shared experience. After the last float; a steel band playing some of Manchester's best known and loved songs (Love will tear us apart etc), people started to follow, and we walked down Deansgate to the Cathedral where the whole thing came to an end. Post-procession I was aware of wanting something else to happen. It was the middle of the day, hot and bright, and the event had been quite short, so the excitement that had built over a relatively short time had nowhere else to manifest itself apart from in the pub (in my case) or milling around the streets.

This sort of thing should happen more often, and the fact that it was a piece of 'art' but also I think really inclusive, so much so that it could be experienced as an event, regardless of the artist behind it. I would have enjoyed it whether it was created by Jeremy Deller or my next door neighbour.

Anyway, enough of that. Something that my friend made me aware of this weekend was IDEO, a website that I still haven't explored properly, so I would be unqualified to say anything more than take a look. It seems to be a very broad-ranging design-based organisation and business, with educational techniques, interviews, ideas etc. Potential brain-food.

Credits go to Will for making me aware of this picture, from Mexico. The man's face is amazing, and I may have to paint it. 

I re-watched the film 'Paris, Texas' this week, directed by Wim Wenders and starring Harry Dean Stanton, Dean Stockwell and Natassja Kinski. I'd seen this before about a year ago, and wanted to watch it again for a long time now. The cinematography is amazing, nothing much happens and it is long and slow but i love it. One of my favourite things about it is Stanton's character, Travis Henderson. His outfits are amazing and he has a good beard / moustache. 

There is a shot that makes me laugh, though it is not a funny part of the film...they're looking through a one-way mirror but it looks as though Travis has on a wig...

Today I ate too much, and Psychoville is on in 5 minutes, so i'm going to stop here, Tea-leaf...