naive. super

Naive. Super is a book by Erland Loe which I have just finished approximately 30 seconds ago.

I really would not know how to describe this novel. I have found myself talking about it copiously with my friends- telling little snippets and ideas, (of which there are many) but as a 'good read' it really is quite dry and bland and a little like hearing the inner monologue of a man close to depression.
It is a Norwegien book and weirdly, having been to Norway last year, I feel that fact on its own explains alot about this book. the clarity, the straightforwardness and the linear feeling of the narrative... I'm not sure how this correlates with the country of Norway.. but I find it is also very straightforward and simple and beautiful. Like the ideas contained within this novel.

The narrator is completely endearing. He has a wonderful way of saying things when he thinks them and wants to share his thoughts with other people. He moves to his brothers apartment, meets a boy, faxes his friend, reads a book on space and time, buys a ball, a hammer and nail toy, rides his bike and visits New York. Being perilously close to turning 25 myself (which was the pinnicle of the narrators leaving university and losing his sense of being) I felt as though this book brought something extra in to my life. I suddenly wanted to go and buy a ball, to bounce it against a wall and stop thinking about direction/meaning/purpose/time...
But instead, as the narrator does in the book, I decided to write a list of things that made me happy and a list of things that made me happy as a child. I love that lists were so prevalent in this book. I feel as though lists are extremely prevalent in my own every day life. my bedroom floor is littered with them, my desk at work is covered with tiny post it lists, every notebook i own has repeated lists between their covers. I cant imagine a life without lists.

things that made me happy when i was young:

my friends
sleeping
cycling
my lego pirate ship
marbles
miniture things
giving inanimate objects personalities
long grass
climbing trees
my piano
scary stories
horses
my school of stuffed toys
playing my recorder
cycling shorts
tie dye
reading books
writing stories
maths
drawing
colouring in
swimming in the sea
my dogs and cats
bare feet
bonfires
snow
sunshine
tom and jerry
pineapple
dancing

things that make me happy now:

my friends
my boyfriend
swimming in the sea
climbing ropes
trapeze
cycling
learning
scarves
reading books
music
seeing foxes in the city
making strangers smile
mountains
new places
sunshine
drawing
bare feet
fires
letters
snow
pineapple
dancing
big windows
woolly jumpers
art
tents
hot cross buns
really long emails/letters about important things
hugs hello and goodbye
laughing out loud
Bristol

I have also discovered that for me- it is not bouncing a ball that makes me happy, it is climbing onto trapezes and ropes to swing around in the air.
loveliness.

starling

Whilst in Holland I visited the Kroller Muller sculpture park and was blown away by this beautiful piece of art work by Simon Starling, blue, red, yellow, djungel.

the work included a massive piece of fabric with a beautifully hand printed pattern. All the materials used and needed for such a magnificent piece were included in the exhibition, the pots of dye, the table used for the printing, the pattern presses and even the Trinidadian tree from which the stamps were made. Stunning to look at and incredible to think of all the time and effort that goes into creating something so simple and beautiful. well done starling.

really amazing exhibiton space too. kind of like a very very upper end centre parks. without the screaming children and leisure facilities. just the trees.

mix tapes

This week i have been an extremely lucky girl.
I have received two mix tapes.

It feels like many many days since i last received a mix tape, but i know in fact it has not been that long at all.

One of these mix tapes has been on repeat since i picked it up and help it to my ear. It is wonderful thinking music and makes me stop and change. it has stopped me from washing up and started me reading the news paper. Then stopped me from reading and started me drawing in my sketchbook. Then stopped me from drawing and started me typing this.
I'm sure I will stop in a second.

listen to Aaron desner and justin vernon's the big red machine here

well done emily teague for such a gem.

prison

today I wrote an email to a friend which included a prolific conversation i had recently with an inmate of a youth offenders institute close to the city in which i live.
I visited the prison without any preconceptions. i had not even seriously considered what the building i was walking in to stood for, what it represented and most importantly, what it was trying to do. in the gym I found a small group of young people huddled around a display board, listening to one another, braiding one others hair and having a discussion too quiet for me to over hear. the exhibition board before them was one which concerned the life of anne frank. anne frank is the infamous young Jewish girl who lost her life in world war two, but left her diary behind which journals her experiences. and can help to teach us the lessons of the past.
Later, I was sat in a living area of one of the blocks, on hard plastic seats facing a row of cell doors that opened into small compact living quarters. a young man was invited to sit with us for a conversation. Ironically the young person in question looked as though he was 25 and was built like a concrete block. he was huge. but well spoken, articulate and as gentle as a giant can be.
a question was asked; 'what did you think of the anne frank exhibition?'
The young man answered.
He had been a tour guide for the exhibit. A few of the inmates had been chosen to learn about certain aspects of anne franks experiences in order to show visitors around and explain the exhibition to other prisoners. he spoke of big ideas, big words and big consequences. the experience had taught him that it is important to stand up for what you believe in. In his words- if you don't then who will? and it is important to stand up for those was cannot speak for themselves. Equality and diversity must be respected and valued and appreciated.
I was quite taken by the words the young man said. they rang of truth and lessons taught by history and the wonderful gift it can bring us- education. truth. honesty. clarity. i was touched when he spoke of ganhi and martin luther king and the importance of respect.
and i wondered how such a bright, intelligent and personable young man could live his life in the boxed room of a cell on a wing of a block inside big dark grey walls which shield the world from the terribleness of his being.

sometimes i just don't understand this society and its excuses.

pianos

On fri 18th september the big golden midas touched wall of bristol's colston hall opens.
I'm not sure if there is anything of much interest on the other side.
I think its just a foyer. a really really big over priced one.
but nevertheless bristol is having a treat which I'm pretty excited about.

Play Me I'm Yours by Luke Jerram

Lots of little pianos will be dotted about the city centre for the public to enjoy.
I just can't believe we haven't thought of this before... lets keep them and have a tinkle.

sam

itsnicethat has just found me a wonderly magic making word smith that goes by the name of sam winston

He not only uses words and writes them, he mixes them and changes the narrative and lets them go wherever they may want.

it is lovely. and you should look too.

Its all about the little simple things that we often forget to use. like how we read and what words look like when they are put in a new space.