20May10
For the last six months or so I’ve been a regular guest on the Lost in The Wood radio show. Myself and the shows host, Nancy Bennie, have been hard at work to bring you the the first issue of the Lost in the Wood zine!
You can also view individual pages on flickr.
The first issue features an interview with the awesome Stinky Wizzleteat and articles and illustrations from Birmingham’s finest.
Printed copies will become available soon, as will details of how to get involved with the next one. Keep an eye on the blog for more updates.
Enjoy!
12Dec09
The production of Othello is going really well. We’re four performances in and have already received positive reviews from the Guardian, Telegraph and Times and generally positive reviews from friends and attendees.
Othello chorus. Photo by Fiona Cullinan
Unless you have bought a ticket unfortunately there’s no way to see it as all of the tickets have now sold out, but that only reiterates the popularity of the productions by the Birmingham Opera Company.
I’ve been to their last two productions (La Traviata and Idomeneo) and, after a bit of coaxing from friends and loved ones, I decided to take part in Othello. So, why am I doing it? I’ve been known to dabble in acting occasionally but this venture requires an additional set of skills that I’m not really known to have. There’s one main overriding reason why I’m doing it:
It’s fun.
Sure, it looks good to have Birmingham Opera Company on my CV, but in my overall goal to become more of a software/digital artist I feel being part of the opera only indirectly helps. If you’re an aspiring performer or singer then you should already know why you should be part of this 
My main point is that regardless of what background you’re from there’s a lot to be learnt and a lot of fun to be had. You’ll meet a great range of people, learn what goes into making a production and may discover a hidden singing or acting talent.
So, I’ll see you at rehearsals for the next production next year!
01Dec09
You may have noticed that in my previous post there was a nice little image of the Bull Ring Bull. I did that! Before I go on, it’s not an image that will be used for Birmingham’s City of Culture bid (though if you really like it monies plz). It’s more an image just to represent the work that we’re doing to collect opinions of Birmingham.
Although not a completely original concept (Andy Warhol anyone?) I have utilised a few newly found techniques to create it. Whilst the results, and indeed databending as a whole looks cool I have yet to use it in any real world situations. Until now that is.
To begin I found an image of the Bull and cut it out of the background. I then took it into Inkscape and used the Trace Bitmap function (Alt + Shift + B) and traced it several times using different settings. I saved svgs that scanned for several different colour values. After saving a copy of the original I basically databent it i.e. replaced some numbers with other numbers using a text editor. I’ve described this process in a lot more detail in this earlier tutorial.
I still did manipulate the image afterwards (a bit of shifting of layers and colour/opacity adjustments), but the overall random effect was achieved this way. Here’s how the others turned out:
And now we wait to see if we actually become City Of Culture
10Nov09
The Family play a sing song. Photo by The Family
On Thursday 5th November I was once again part of The Family for The Event. There’s something I really like about dressing in dungarees – which I haven’t done since I was about 10 – and marching around Digbeth! Other highlights include dropping in on an event about saftey in the community where we rescued some puppets and eating blue food, which tastes loads better than its plain counterpart
mmm, blue food. Photo by The Family
You can read more about my day with The Family on their website
04Nov09
Tomorrow I’ll be joining The Family at Birmingham Backpackers in Digbeth to take part in the activities as part of The Event. Ana summarises it all rather nicely:
…we’ll be spending the next 5 days changing our name every 6 hours, wearing hand decorated dungarees, playing thought-stopping games, eating brightly coloured food, asking questions, strengthening our Dantien, collective dreaming, strumming red, yellow, green and blue ukuleles, finding portals, calling rainbows, going to the top, chanting punk meditation, making friends, sleeping in pods, giving out flowers, love-bombing, and having all the fun we can cram into the day.
(Not a cult)
If you came to The Family Fun Day in September you’ll know what we’re all about, but either way come on down!
![hellocatfood posted a video: [Warning] Contains lots of flashing](http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4119/4908683008_78e25c4388_s.jpg "hellocatfood posted a video: [Warning] Contains lots of flashing")
