Feculent verbiage

It’s just so easy to sound ridiculous.

Dirty talk, I mean.

It seems like it should be easy, and enjoyable; a chance to explore your wildest fantasies without actually having to live up to them. But sex can be pressure enough, without having to keep up an explicit play-by-play as well. I’m sure it’s very erotic if you’re good at it, but I’m the sort of person who practices phone-calls in the mirror and drafts his greetings while standing in line at checkouts.

Of course, it’s not like I don’t think of abject filth I’d love to divulge to my bedroom guests, but a spontaneous smooth-talker I am not, and I fear blundering into a ‘hump me with your mega-cock’ scenario far too much to actually risk spouting it. And I have too much pride to embarrass myself further in the bedroom.

Anyway, unless you’re a pornographic Wordsworth, you’re going to run out of vocabulary pretty quick. I mean, there’s only so many ways you can conjugate the verb ‘to fuck’ before you start sounding like a Scarface soundboard.

FYMP Research Diary 11

Ok, so I haven’t made a post since vaguely organising my trip to the monkey sanctuary, and I’d just like to be clear that I made it back from Cornwall alright, and wasn’t murdered to death by backwoods cannibals. On the contrary, the trip was enjoyable and worthwhile. I experienced the varying smells of monkey poo at the Wild Futures sanctuary, along with being assaulted and laughed at by capuchins.

There were moments of loneliness and contemplation on the weekends and days off; especially after being violently mugged by a seagull in Looe, but for the most part, I found the place equal parts fascinating and rewarding. I learned a lot, and got to appreciate two weeks of vegan detox, with only the odd Cornish pasty to taint it.

Regarding the community, I felt accepted, but fringed myself somewhat due to social inadequacy. I made sure to be as social as I could, but even that still left me limited. Christmas night was my best showing, as everybody felt free to quaff from Bacchus’s chalice; not least of all me.

It’s such a cliche to say I ‘fell in love with the place,’ and I don’t think that would be the case anyway, but I certainly got close. I loved the work, the place and the surroundings. It really was fantastic. The only thing that spoiled it for me was the people; at times it felt like living with a dozen of the worst university housemates I’ve known.

During the new year festivities, I was again able to grease the wheels of social interaction with the folks at Trelay in north Cornwall, thanks to some of the finest libations I have had the pleasure to imbibe, resulting in another thoroughly enjoyable time. I was immediately impressed by this community’s decency when a few members arrived to pick me up from the sanctuary, nearly fifty miles to the south.

I learned a lot from the community’s only remaining founder, Jackie, who really showed me what I needed before I could be truly happy in such a place. The key, it seems, is to make oneself as socially approachable as possible, something that is far from natural for me. So it seems that no matter how much I admire and enjoy them,  I will never be comfortable in a community until I can overcome my social anxieties.

As we approach the end of this project, I have one community left to visit and film at. ‘Grow Heathrow’ is a communal squat in Sipson, a small village right next to the airport, set up four years ago to protest the building of another runway. I have already been for a preliminary visit, but will return tomorrow in the hopes of getting more footage and interviews with the residents.

I’m very tired, both in general, and of the project, and I just want the editing to be done now. I have nearly finished with the monkey sanctuary, to my satisfaction, leaving Trelay and Heathrow to finish in the next week.

Please lord, take me now…

Public debate: Remove the SEB painting?

Recording of a public debate about diversity and representation at the University of Winchester on the 7th of November 2013, in front of the painting that sparked the controversy.

A Day in the Life of a Capoeirista

‘A Documentary Photographic Profile’

by Graeme Blake

You may have seen it performed in this BBC ident from a few years ago; a pair of lithe young men engaged in an entrancing non-contact battle. But is it a martial art or a dance?

With its high kicks, low sweeps and emphasis on rhythm and movement, CAPOEIRA clearly has elements of both. While the details surrounding its origins are debated, capoeira was almost certainly influenced to some degree by enslaved Africans brought to Brazil beginning in the sixteenth century, who may have used it as a tool to build relations with other slaves from different regions, a method of self-defence from slavers or as a call-back to older forms of African dance(1).

When slavery was officially abolished in 1888, capoeira became associated with crime, as its newly abandoned practitioners used it to defy power exerted over them, which led to its prohibition. Severe punishments were applied to anyone caught practising it, such as the cutting of the achilles tendons, and those who continued to practice often did so under an alias or ‘appelido,’ which became another cultural tradition(2).

The practice continued, and two main styles developed under the same general principles; the legal variant known as Regional, and the more traditional Angola. Played as a game or ‘jogo,’ capoeira plays out like a rhythmic conversation of ‘attacks’ and ‘counters’ (3).

Changing and evolving with each new generation, today’s contemporary capoeira retains much of the ritual and philosophy of its predecessors. Taught all around the world at every level of experience, we caught up with the student practitioners  of Winchester University, under the tutelage of Monitor Coqueiro; the appelido of Akil Morgan,  student of Mestre Parente of CDO Northwest :

Before the class, Akil prepares by playing traditional music from his laptop and reviewing his practice notes.

The class begins with some warm-ups and stretches.

Akil demonstrates a position for the others to watch and learn.

The students then repeat the move. A lot is learned in the hour and a half session.

The session ends with more stretches to shift built up lactic acid and prevent muscle fatigue.

The class ends and everyone changes back into their casual clothes.

References:

(1), (2) History, Abada capoeira

(3) Capoeira, An Introductory History, Mestre Acordeon, 1996.

And: Capoeira history, Capoeira Universe, 2011.

Mum. A short documentary about my grandmother

This is a short documentary I made as part of my undergraduate journalism studies. It details events of my grandmother’s 97-year life and unfortunate decline into mental illness, as described by my mother, who also describes her experiences and difficulties growing up without a father in the 1950s.

Stills:

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Director: Graeme Blake

This is my first individually produced film, made with technical help from Jess Hallett and the media staff of Winchester university. The filming was unconfident, and the editing untrained; but I enjoyed making it and getting to talk to my family about things I’ve never discussed with them before. I was pretty directionless for a long time, only deciding on an angle during the last stages of editing, by which time I couldn’t film any more.

As a first film, I went for a simple expository style, but given more time, technical knowledge and a clearer vision, I would have liked to take a more poetic approach, to really bring out the emotions present. But this would have required pressing my family more than I was comfortable to.

The experience has taught me a lot about film-making, and I look forward to future projects.

Hey hey… FYMP Research Diary 10

About time for another update, as I’ve had my first offer from one of the communities I recently contacted, as mentioned last time. The Wild Futures’ Monkey Sanctuary rescues and rehabilitates monkeys saved from exotic pet-trade in the UK and overseas. The staff and volunteers live as a community at the centre, sharing cleaning and maintenance duties as well as meals. I have been offered a four-week volunteering placement to help with the running of the centre and its grounds, in return for room and board. And the fantastic experience of course!

The only catch? It’s just past Plymouth; just shy of 180 miles away. With no car of my own, the travelling will be either arduous or expensive, if not both, so my primary concern is finding a way to get there that is appropriate to my meagre student budget. First stop, car-sharing websites, which I’ve found to be pretty useless in the past. Public transport will likely be expensive, but I’ve found off-peak coaches to be the most reasonable option. Given the distance and length of stay, friends and family are almost certainly out, unless anyone’s aching for a month’s holiday by the sea…

This also means I’ll have to do all the filming done myself, something I’m not entirely confident with. Practice is required methinks…

My next FYP tasks are to define the themes and context of the doc, write interview questions and try to contact Steve Cheeseman; a former student who has made films with a similar focus, including this one where he spends time with Mark Boyle, who has spent the last 5 years living without money.

Less grief, more beef: FYMP Research Diary 9

As is probably evident from my lack of updates for the past couple of months, I’ve been struggling to stay enthused with the project recently. Even though I found a good example in Hold Fast, I’ve never been comfortable with the direction I was heading in. I’ve got loads of research, feel I know the subject well, and have plenty of similar examples to build from; but actually doing something with it just hasn’t happened yet. Sure, I had a good experience while at Laughton, but the lack of contact following made me feel not quite as welcome as I thought, and perhaps I was undoing all their efforts to get away from established society. They have, after all, set up their own community for a reason, and my being there as an observer was something of an intrusion. I needed to think about what I was doing, and for a good few weeks I lost all enthusiasm for the task; even contemplating a complete change in project.

I thought about the original reason I came to university; to get more experience with entertainment magazine-style journalism, and toyed with the idea of creating a website with media reviews, articles and such. I was close to switching, but after some discussion with my eminent supervisor and others, instead decided to simplify things by narrowing my focus to a single ‘journey’ documentary film about my experiences living with self-sufficient communities.

The first thing I will do is use the knowledge I have gained from my research to create a shooting script of what I want to film in order to show this journey, from introduction, through planning and preparation, staying with the communities and learning more about them, to an ending and reflection on the experience.

As another change, I will be aiming to make these diaries shorter and simpler so I get less bogged down in unimportant guff like finding tangentially related pictures for every step, and can focus on doing work that actually contributes to the project. I’ll also aim to get back to doing weekly updates, now that the pace will be picking up (in theory..).

I’ve been contacting communities lately, and have had positive replies from a handful, which make for a good start. There’s plenty more in the area to contact as well, which I will be doing too. I’ll be adding these contacts to my research website, and giving some details about the communities they represent. I’ll also be adding some more secondary research, refining the technical and thematic pages to keep them relevant and perhaps editing the synopsis to get across why I have chosen this project and what it means to me, since this will inform the ‘journey’ aspect of my documentary.

So, as bad as it has been to lose enthusiasm and almost completely give up on the project, I’m now well back into it and taking good steps to stay positive about it.

Hold Fast and the Anarchist Yacht Club: The unlikely template

I don’t like the sea. It smells. Everything in it is either deadly or disgusting.

Often both…

I have no interest in boats or sailing. To me, the sea is nothing but an infinite plane of merciless, salty death.

I hate how it’s there, full of one of our most basic needs, but has to come with a catch; a huge, kidney destroying catch, out of pure spite, I’m sure. So given that, you’d think a no-budget film [sorry, ‘videozine’] about some punks in a crummy little tub would be of no interest to me.

But I love it!

A trip to Laughton Lodge

Laughton Lodge in east Sussex is one example of a community that shares a certain degree of responsibility between its residents. Originally found at Diggers and Dreamers (a hub-site for such communities, members and interested parties), the Laughton community is listed as not generating their own electricity or growing their own food, and are therefore not ‘self-sufficient’ in the traditional sense. The site says it is however a socially focused place where individuals share transport, utilities, tools and meals; and is definitely of interest to me in this project. The group’s page at the UK Cohousing network explains their motivation; ‘the aim of the group is to live co-operatively, jointly managing the land and communal facilities, informally sharing skills and support and generally enjoying each other’s company.’

Despite the diminutive name, the ‘lodge’ actually comprises 3 large buildings that have been converted into 16 family houses, as well as 4 newly built houses and a few smaller buildings in a 23 acre plot of land.

Electromagnetic cookers and Anarchist sailors: FYMP Research Diary 8

A bit later than planned, but for good reason. While I made good progress during the week, last Saturday offered something a bit different to the usual home research, as I took a trip to Brighton and Hove to check out their annual Eco Open Houses event. I want to keep my options open during this research period, so I’m looking into every potential aspect of the subject. Since much of the eco-housing concept involves reducing wastage and increasing efficiency, I felt it was suitably relevant. After all, it certainly represents another element of the eponymous Responsible Life to which I am working.

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