dorian moore

The small things in life

a lens adapter for my camera

A small package from nextphoto.net arrived today. It contained a single piece of metal. It was a 58mm to 72mm lens adapter for my Nikon Coolpix 5700. It means that I can put filters on my camera, and still use the full scope of my zoom lens. It's such a simple thing, but will be so nice to use. I wonder why Nikon don't produce one, and why I had to find a company in America to get one shipped.

But still another vote for the Internet, much more helpful than any camera shop I've been in to... I found it after all [after some searching] and maybe this page will help other people with the same need find it as easily.

It also has the stunning advantage of making my camera much nicer to hold. Feels more like an SLR now as I can hold the camera with two hands and not obstruct anything.

Now all I want is for my anamorphic lens to arrive from Italy...

Alice Coltrane - Journey In Satchidananda (Impulse Reissue)

Just wow..

The Art Ensemble of Chicago

Theme De Yoyo from Les Stances A Sophie

Kid Koala - 'Some of my best friends are DJs'

Turntablism meets New Orleans, a young man telling stories...

I've been a fan of Kid Koala since I first heard '' on Ninja in, oh, 96?

Anyway his new album has instantly got me hooked - after takingh 2 months to buy it. His style of composing together sounds is lovely. It explores a number of jazz themes whilst also referencing more modern turntablism. It has a lot of soul and it is more than just a piece of music - it's Kid Koala telling stories.

Ninja are selling it as a book + CD [a great VAT get out clause guys] and it comes with a beautifully illustrated 50 page comic book drawn by Kid Koala and telling short stories of lifes frustations - Skid's quest for love is something that was refelcted in the 'Carpal Tunnel Syndrome' and the gamesong that James Tindall did for the 'Fender Bender' single. I remember Eric speaking to us at Kleber at the time and saying he didn't want to have any way of loosing the game, and how strongly he felt about anything being done in his name. A very proud artist.

And it's got a beautiful video on the CD as well.... overall it's a great example of a package which has had a lot of love put into it by the producer, not just another faceless product. The kind of thing that could only be nurtured by an independent record label, not by an artist alone or by people out to make a fast buck.

He's also great live.

'Some of my best friends are DJs' ... go buy it.

Snowmail

News reports from John Snow and colleagues at Channel 4 News.

Having not had a television for almost a year I've come to miss some things about it. Mostly being able to watch the news of an evening. However over the time I've become more and more fond of the other way I receive my daily update of what's going on in the world. It's short, and it's a bit more personal.

Snowmail.

I also enjoy getting The Wrap from the Guardian every day. And The Informer.

Predictably I use both the guardian and channel 4 news websites for reading about news, as well as BBC News On-Line.

But I still like the simplest push media. email. If only there wasn't so much spam.

Oh, and Jude has just done this: GhostWriter. Which has reminded me to link to medialens. And indymedia. For balance.

Christian Marclay & Steve Beresford

Live at the Spitz. Speechless.

Watch 25 minutes as quicktime video here. Filmed in shakeycam with suroundings sound, but maybe interesting to you. Should stream over dsl/cable modem.

DJ Rupture / The Bug / Kid 606

At the ICA [2 weeks ago]

I forgot to add this at the time. This was one of the best gigs I've been to in a long time. 3 artists producing relentless pounding sounds of distorted noise and rhythms. Totally blew me away.

What I've been listening to, courtesy of last.fm

listed over at AudioScrobbler

Johnie Red by The Electones

One from last year that I've just got round to playing... nice smooth beats.

Summer

Don't we all like it?

It's been a while, but Matey told me earlier how happy I seemed. You know. and I am. And it's summer. And it is good.

I'm still enough of a cynic to say "It won't last"... but hey, as Stef said on saturday. "You never know".

I think the comfort is coming through. I'm doing things. Goddamit I'm updating my website. Am I sharing the joy? I do so hope so.

All my good energy is being sent to Danny