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Showing posts from July, 2009

Amazing 100 Year Old Russian Colour Photographs

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That's Leo Tolstoy (War And Peace and the like): The only color portrait known to exist of Leo Tolstoy (some maintain it is the first Russian color photographic portrait) was taken in 1908. One can only imagine the joy of the photographer to be given such an opportunity to capture for posterity (and in color) the grand old man of Russian letters. Taken two year’s before the author’s death in 1910 this picture beautifully captures the man behind masterpieces such as War and Peace and Anna Karenina. This image was widely reproduced on postcards and in various publications of the time. This (without forgetting or neglecting his reputation based on his other work on monuments) eventually brought him to the attention of Tsar Nicholas II. Tolstoy would be the inadvertent catalyst for the go ahead of the biggest project of Prokudin-Gorsky’s life. The photo's from Sergey Mikhaylovich Prokudin-Gorsky (1863-1944) are incredible (I even had to do a cursory check to see if they'r

The shop assistant is blonde.

More golden humour from JonnyB - The shop assistant is blonde. Includes this conversation piece: “Is it powdery and flaky, or gungey and weepy?” she asks. The conversation is already out of control – I am sure there is nothing in the ‘how to stop being a sad loser and get off with shop assistants – GUARANTEED’ self-help books about this.

Get Your Cheese Here [Updated]

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Actually, you can get your cheese over at the Harbourside Market (Chaffers) this Saturday Sunday from my awesome cheese-making friend Mindi: ... you'll find me launching my career as a cheesemonger. I'll be there alongside Espresso Rescue (Wendy & Conrad) peddling the fantastic cheeses of Sue from Over the Moon . If you've ever wanting a cheese experience to blow your mind, come and try the Volcano - a soft buffalo cheese that's a sensational smooth textured cheese with a hint of the outdoors about it! Say hi to Mindi and Wendy/Conrad from me

You Want Me To Show You Tough, I'LL Show You Tough!

Not ... :-) And then I recommend you all chill out with a Finnish Disco Dancing lesson Thanks Adam's email Jokeslist

Indian/Pakistani Border Closing Ceremony

Wow, the closing of the border between India and Pakistan at Wagah has everything from silly walks, passion, costumes, cheering crowds and a lot of "Britishness" - as Michael Palin puts it ( his vid here ), "This is chauvinism at it's most camp". Link from The Presurfer

Spam Of The Day

Made me giggle and so added to my spam collection ... Anne REDING to me Hi, My name is Ella Walker. I have many friends. But they aren't real. I want to find a real friend. And I don't have a guy. What do you think about this? Can share their photos, if you want. Please reply me at this email: [email address] since this email is not my. Ella Walker

For Eirwen, Thank You

First fumblings, first kisses, first loves, first guitar solos ... the sixth form common room of Monmouth Comp has a lot to answer to/be thankful for.

How Can I Give You Money?

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Before you plough in, the "you" I'm referring to is anyone that has a album out that I want to buy - Fat Freddys Drop's Dr. Boondigga & The Big BW for instance. Here's the problem when I want to buy the album: I can now buy most albums in any number of ways: high street store such as CD Store local music store such as RealGroovy local online store such as SmokeCDs international online store such as Amazon .. oh, no I can't iTunes Vodafone NZ ... I want to buy it as cost effectively as possible (make it easy and cheap) I want to make sure the artist (Fat Freddys in this case) get the most money from my purchas as possible I don't how I can do '2' AND '3' So, what do you suggest? Really what I want to know is how on earth do I know what's best ... even if I could ask Fat Freddy would they know although they do link to Amplifier for you to buy it , maybe that's the deal)?!?! All suggestions most welcome - leave a comment

Two Great Vids From New Zealand

I love these two from commercial Kiwi companies. The first is the safety video playing on Air New Zealand planes and, having just flown over the weekend I can safely say they not only get all the first timers (to the vid) watching but has enough "can you see anything!?" from those that are flying more times. Nice thinking out of the box Air New Zealand - oh, and check out the "making of" and "bloopers" videos as well The second video is an advert for the new mobile service, 2 Degrees Mobile , starring the fabulous Rhys Darby (Murray from the Flight Of The Conchords show). Enjoy