The Decay of Books

This is an example of the work of artist Guy Laramee. He carves books into decaying and chilling landscapes. Concerned with the erosion of culture, he took a focus on the paperback book which is being replaced by ebooks, kindles and phone apps. He turns these 'useless' books into picturesque scenes of mountains in order to challenge our notion of the obsolete and the natural nothingness which we take for granted.

It's all very deep, but there's certainly something hauntingly beautiful about his work.

View more of his work, here.

Thanks for all the fish

So as the year draws to a close I thought it was time for a bit of reflection.

I am proud of what I have achieved this year, however there are many things that happened to me this year that I didn't expect. Not all of what happened this year was good; firstly I began the year fairly fresh to single life after having broken up with my boyfriend of four years. I was involved in a car accident, I didn't get the degree I wanted, I couldn't save enough to go travelling, out of my group of friends I was the only one to stay in my hometown and to some extent we all grew apart, and of course there was my complete inability to get a job that pays better than minimum wage.

Despite this I'd say that the ups far outweighed the downs. This may all sound a bit cliched (is it cliche to say that? Anyway...), but as my schoolfriends and I grew apart it allowed me to make some really great friends both with people at work and some who were once just acquaintances to me. I got a degree, I ran a 10k in under an hour, I achieved a bronze award in ballroom and latin dancing, I went to my first festival (and loved it), I went on a fantastic holiday (something I hadn't previously had the time or money to do), I completed the Bristol Zoo Gorilla Hunt, I got a job (even if I am just a waitress) and I learnt that I am a much, much stronger person than I ever gave myself credit for. Not to mention a whole host of other things that it would be tedious to write on here.

Overall I'd say that this had been a great year, one of the better ones. I can only hope that 2012 works out just as good, or better. Provided we don't all die in a fiery, mayan-predicted death before the end of it. Apocalypse aside, here's a list of things I wish to achieve (which I think is much better than a series of half hearted 'resolutions' that will only last a week):

• To run a half marathon.
• To go to at least two countries, Italy has to be one of them.
• To actually use a diary.
• To go to another festival
• To get myself some sort of career
• To learn a new skill (I hear fire breathing is popular, or perhaps making art in latte foam?)
• Read a book a month and review on here.
• To leave the parental home.
• And most importantly, to really just enjoy myself.

Let's hope this works.

Crackers about Christmas.

So in a moment of Kirstie Allsopp inspired Christmas madness I decided that I would make my own Christmas Crackers for the family this year. Now that they're finished I definitely have a joyous sense of achievement.

I mean doesn't it look great? It's all shiny. And handmade. With ribbons and hand-cut snowflakes. You can practically see the love.

However I have a few words of caution for those foolish souls like myself, that are not seasoned do-christmas-yourself professionals. DON'T DO IT. For the love of God, it's just not worth it. They took me 3 days. 3 days. Of sitting alone in a room with various differing size toilet rolls, a craft knife and a paper perforator. That's a lot of effort for something that's sole purpose in life is to be ripped apart with a bang.The ratio between achievement and toil is completely unbalanced. And in the name of all that is holy in this festive season, the worst decision you can make is to decorate said crackers with 3 individually handcrafted snowflakes. Just don't.

Tom Smith, you ain't. So just go out and buy them.

Black Mirror's Bleak Future

Whilst at work the other day I found myself completely lost amidst my colleagues discussion of the X Factor. Now the X Factor is something I do not watch partly because I don't have time for it, but majoratively because I really don't like it. And I specifically, really don't like everything that it stands for. It is a never-ending, completely pointless, fame hungry, mind numbingly tedious programme.

This is why I was thankful for a decent, thought provoking piece of television. Black Mirror. Severely underrated. Written by Charlie Brooker, whom I don't normally find very funny or entertaining, but Black Mirror is great dystopian programming worthy of Orwell or Atwood.

The second episode of the 3 part drama focuses on an unspecified point in the future of our own society; where the only way to escape a lifetime of exercise bike based drudgery is to enter 'Hotshot', a darker X Factor, which promises wealth, fame and a lifetime free of troubles. The technology is far more advanced, simple walls are interactive and advertise Hotshot frequently throughout the day. One of the scariest moments of Brooker's dystopian fantasy is that the adverts can only be skipped if you allow a fine to be incurred, however if you do not have enough 'points' (instead of money) you must watch, closing your eyes only pauses the advert. It must be watched.

Black Mirror is clearly an exaggeration but a lot of what Brooker points out already rings true. You only have to look at the power that the X Factor wields. It dominates viewing figures as well as the charts with it's manufactured brand of shitpop. But the X Factor not only creates it's own popstars but has power over existing chart acts. Any act put on the X Factor immediately begins to sell more.

Similarly songs featured in the X Factor receive a spike in popularity. This year's winner, Little Mix's debut single a cover of Damien Rice's single Cannonball, which was released a few years ago and went into the charts at no. 11, it re-entered last week at no.7. It achieved 4 places higher due to the power of the X. Madness.

Brooker's vision is very clear. It is a dig at our consumerist world, based around celebrity and everyones quest for something better than this provincial life. Whilst I watched Black Mirror on my laptop I found myself at one point, unable to pause let alone skip an advert. Which reminds me of Spotify's annoying habit of pausing an advert if you turn down the volume, only a problem if you do not pay for the premium account. And all of this makes me wonder how far in the future Brooker's dystopia is set? And if he really had exaggerated it that much after all?