The Tate Modern
We popped into the Tate Modern at the weekend, mainly to admire the wonderful feeling of space that has been created in the Turbine Hall.
May 25, 2004
Is there anything that can't be Abba-ified? I suspect not after noticing that June 10th is Brighton Racecource's "Thank you for the races" Abba night.
I quote: "This Super Trouper Evening will include a Live Tribute Band, competitions for the best dressed Abba character and drinks promotions all night - Mamma Mia this is a night not to be missed!"
Posted by Richard at 8:15 AM
- In other ABBA news.... we have ABBAfest (June 11-13) and also the Royal Philharmonic do ABBA The Symphony
In case you were wondering: April 6 this year was the 30th anniversary of ABBA winning the Eurovision in Brighton and the celebrations have been shifted to June.
Posted by Richard on 2004-06-02 07:42:14
May 24, 2004
The Tate Modern
We popped into the Tate Modern at the weekend, mainly to admire the wonderful feeling of space that has been created in the Turbine Hall.
Posted by Jane at 8:31 PM
This is just my kind of thing: Cloud Dynamics: Perspectives from art and science, but I'm already busy so won't be able to go.
Posted by Richard at 1:21 PM
May 21, 2004
As far as I'm aware 100% of children want to be astronauts (and also, possibly, some slightly older people who should know better). Now they have a survival guide from Emma. As she says: "Whether you want to join the elite corps of highly trained astronauts, or hand over giant wads of cash to pay for a ticket on a spaceship, you'll need to be prepared".
Posted by Richard at 9:07 AM
May 13, 2004
The last seven days have seen: our first beach BBQ of the year (pictured); our first drift-down-to-the-beach-of-an-evening-for-a-beer night of the year; and our one and only Brighton Festival event of the year, which was to see Richard Dawkins and Lalla Ward.
Posted by Richard at 8:07 AM
- eek
Bugger the hole in the ozone I think you have captured the first evidence of a hole in the Sun !
Posted by Jono on 2004-05-22 08:37:42
May 12, 2004
Gorillas on the Piste
I've just seen an article on TheBoarder about a charity event happening at Castleford Xscape snow dome in June. It involves dressing up in a gorilla costume and snowboarding/skiing with the intention of completing 100 miles in an hour between all the participants. The snowboarding bit doesn't seem so bad, but managing to get on the poma lift dressed as a gorilla sounds hard. Good luck to all those who take part.
Posted by Jane at 12:46 PM
- Sponsor a snowboarding gorilla
Should you wish to donate to this event - you can do so at http://www.justgiving.com/pages/?pid=69763
Posted by Jane on 2004-06-09 09:22:22
Postcards are dead
I was amazed that I could get GPRS service on my phone while in Canada. GPRS meant I could send and receive email. Ok, it wasn't terrible fast 5,760ft up in the middle of nowhere, but it worked, so naturally I bcc:ed a few people photos I'd taken with the phone. So much more personal than a default postcard, IMHO. And faster. Probably not cheaper.
Today I received the same back from a friend on holiday in Greece, so I can confirm that, on the receiving side, I prefer this to postcards.
Posted by Richard at 1:50 PM
May 10, 2004
I've been looking after the Brighton Bloggers site, and consequently this morning got an email from someone wanting a blog added to the list of Brighton Blogs. The email said "BEACHED is a photographic Blog chronicling life on Brighton Beach, England during British Summertime 2004." Great concept, and so far it's quite lovely.
Posted by Jane at 7:38 AM
May 06, 2004
Book Report
I've just finished reading another couple of autobiographies. The first was "Pretty good for a girl" by Tina Basich and the second was "It's not about the bike : My journey back to life" by Lance Armstrong.
Both are about sporting personalities, Tina Basich is a snowboarder who was one of the pioneers of female snowboarding and successful too having won many events including the Big Air competition at the 1998 Winter X Games, Lance Armstrong is a very successful cyclist having won the Tour de France 5 times despite (or maybe because of) fighting through a major illness.
Both were well written, both had poignant moments, both of them are inspiring. I might add "Every Second Counts" by Lance Armstrong to my wish list.
Posted by Jane at 4:52 PM
May 04, 2004
So it looks like the West Pier (the remains, I mean) will be demolished. The Heritage Lottery Fund withdrew their £14m funds when the West Pier Trust asked for another £5m. After fires and weather damage, they couldn't justify spending the money.
Who is going to pay for the demolition? I guess that I am, along with all the other council tax payers in the area. I was just trying to figure out what an estimated £2m demolition fee would cost me. It's not easy to work out...
Brighton receives around £67m+ in council tax revenue (PDF report), from a population of 248,000. Guessing at four people per property, that makes 62,000 homes and an average council tax bill of £1,092. Seems a little high, but let's run with it.
That means a demolition would add £32 to the average council tax bill. Or... how about considering the restoration as an investment? £19m contribution to a rebuild as a tax would add about £102 for three years (I'm assuming it's going to take a while to rebuild the thing). Doesn't sound so bad, but I'd need to see the guesstimates for the return on that investment to make sure the tax bill goes down in subsequent years.
I know all these calculations are naive, but it'd be interesting to see them run by someone who understood the politics, processes and accountancy.
Posted by Richard at 6:52 PM
- I think this is very sad news - after all that has happened to the pier and the eerily beautiful state it is in now, I think it should be left as it is. As far as I have seen, there is no more beautiful sight in the whole of Brighton and Hove than the starlings' murmuration at dusk. When (and if - judging by the estimated costs) the pier goes, it will be a sad day.
Posted by Domino on 2004-05-07 08:39:49
Richard received some information about Squash on the Beach the other day - it sounds like one of the stranger Brighton events for the summer. It makes Beach Soccer look like a sensible suggestion!
Posted by Jane at 7:11 PM
