dots and spaces

First snows in Sakhaline

This means its going to be very cold for JLC, and we're looking forward to him coming home. I hear he's been watching lots of DVD's. The bears are back in hibernation, so hopefully they won't be roaming the land looking to cause trouble.

John Peel

So sad to hear the news that John Peel has passed away whilst on holiday with his wife Sheila. His loss will be felt deeply by anyone who has ever listened to him on the radio. Personally, he was always a great comfort to me, a familiar voice when returning from abroad, when driving late through the night, or getting up on a wet saturday morning to listen to 'Home Truths'. John also gave you a good feeling to know that there is an alternative to the sedate, sterile and souless culture around you, that lurking late night on the radio is a world of mad musicians, lost genius, and bonkers Japanese metal technoheads that can just fill you with all that is good about life. He will be missed.

Kate Sutton

Kate Sutton is a very talented maker and drawer of things. She kindly spoke to dotsandspaces and donated a lovely banner. Click it and transport yourself to sleepy cow which has much of her work to date, including T-shirt designs for Howies, her own bags,toys, drawings galore and lots more. Kate battled with the dotsandspaces pop quiz. Here are a selection of her answers, including sketch. Pop Quiz Here

kate is currently making felt pigeons with pirate patches and here at dotsandspaces we would encourage this sort of activity. I hope that Kate will keep us up to date with any news which as always, will be a privilege to post.

Early ideas

Look...I know its early, and I know how much I complain about the Christmas stock being around now -before Halloween and the joys of pumpkin carving. Supermarkets have shelves to fill, and its just so boring when you see wrapping paper, card and strange Christmas themed kitchenware. Give me a break.

So try to remember that there are lots of other places to go - go seek out talented individuals who make things themselves; (look in these pages for ideas) buy items that are made to last a long time; buy from charities and don't spend stupid money on electronic goods.

Centurians - a short film

Found whilst leafing through some old work, scripts and notes for a short I was planning to make after Uni. Storyboards by Foz who is an old friend from Cardiff, who's doing very well and still making films. We all waited to the end of The Bourne Supremacyand cheered his credit, yay! Anyway, finding the drawings made me feel nostalgic and I thought I'd post his drawings with the relevant script sections.

Ext.Wasteland - Day

From above there is the figure of a young man. He is lying on the ground, surrounded by the mud and dirt of the wasteland. He seems to have fallen from the sky, and unconscious where he landed. There is a presence above him, a flicker of tiny lights, a whoosh sound.

His fingers twitch and his eyes blink, he sees that his hand is sunk in a puddle of black water. The water shivers and a reflection of tiny lights, the water disperses and the lights become more distant.

TWO MEN stand in a doorway.

The 1st MAN gets a small shiny cigarette case out from beneath his coat, opens it and takes a cigarette out. He holds it in his mouth as he pats his pockets for a lighter. The 2nd MAN leans forward, his face obscured, holds up a lighter, lights it with his hand and holds it with a giant, ant- like claw!

The planets slowly revolve. A small Flying Saucer spins its way across space. It is discernible as a white bullet shaped flash of light.

The Flying Saucer spins from view. The stars shine brightly in OUTER SPACE.

There is a huge flash of white and everything dissolves...

Hiromix

I've been a big fan of Hiromix for a while now, ever since I spotted one of her photos in a copy of the now defunct Face Magazine. She was part of a phenomenon of Japanese girl photographers, and shot her snaps using a Konica Big Mini, blowing them up on a colour photocopier. Her images were put together into a number of books, Girls Blue, Japanese Beauty, and Hiromix. There's a real feel of cinema with Hiromix, the photos are full of life and breath youth and immediacy. You can see some of her photos here at Photoarts, also good look at the books at Photoguide Japan, also some links here She also appears in Lost in translation as herself.

Oh, I found out that Zwemmer in Charing Cross is closing down. I use to pop in and get lots of great photo and graphics books there. Its very sad. I bought my first Hiromix book there, and the second I got during my visit to Tokyo.