Category Archives: arts

arts, food+drink, history, memes, personal, photography, sexuality, topographical

Nico's


Nico’s, originally uploaded by kcm76.

This week’s self-portrait: 52 Weeks 33/52 (2008 week 41).
Yet another reflection picture!

This week I’ve been eating out at the best “greasy spoon” in all London: Nico’s, 299 Cambridge Heath Road, London, E2 0EL. Open Monday thru’ Saturday, 0645 to 1900. It is right outside Bethnal Green tube station on junction of Bethnal Green Road and Cambridge Heath Road.

Greek Cypriot, now run by the second generation. You can have anything from a bacon roll, through Egg & Chips to Dolmades or Kleftico. The food is cheap and the portions are large; do not order the mixed grill unless you are a real glutton or starving: it comes on two(!!) oval plates, one of meat the other piled with chips. A steak sandwich comes with (free) chips on the side — a full portion of chips that is! And they’re real chips too. Everything is cooked to order and the kitchen is openly visible from the counter. Needless to say it does a steady trade! Eat in or take-away.

It is very close to the V&A Museum of Childhood, where Noreen works; I was there too earlier this week and was taken out to lunch at Nico’s: I had: 2 (large) Sausages, Mushrooms and (a pile of) Chips; can Diet Coke. Noreen had: Double Egg, Beans and (a pile of) Chips; can Diet Coke. Total cost £8.50.

Highly recommended for restoring the soul but not for either the cholesterol levels or the waistline. Pure food pornography. 🙂


Nico’s, originally uploaded by kcm76.
arts, books, history, personal

Noreen Marshall, Her Book

After something like 2 years in gestation Noreen’s book, Dictionary of Children’s Clothes, finally appears in early-October. Here’s what the V&A’s blurb for the book says:

Over the last 300 years, children’s clothing has witnessed a gradual shift from dressing children to adult requirements, in multiple layers and formal styles, to the booming designer childrenswear market of today. This accessible and well-illustrated dictionary features over 300 garments, from air-raid suits to zouave jackets, with specially commissioned photographs from the world’s largest and most diverse collection at the V&A Museum of Childhood. A fully illustrated timeline and introduction offer an at-a-glance understanding of the changes in children’s fashions and a rich selection of line drawings and illustrations from sewing and knitting patterns, to catalogues, dolls, fashion plates, photographs, paintings and children’s fiction put the garments in context. Noreen Marshall is Curator of the Dress, Doll and Childcare Collections at the V&A Museum of Childhood. She has worked on a number of V&A exhibitions, including Stile Liberty, Jolly Hockey Sticks, The Pack Age, and a series of Christmas exhibitions.

Despite having been married to Noreen for most of the 30-odd years she’s worked at the Museum of Childhood, I have seen relatively little of this book during its birth traumas; it’s been a closely guarded secret. Until now, that is! I have now seen an early-released copy and, as can be seen from the dust-jacket (above), it’s a sumptuous volume illustrated with specially commissioned colour photographs on every page of the dictionary section. As well as the dictionary there is an extended essay by way of introduction, a 300-year timeline and several appendixes which enhance the main content. The book isn’t cheaply produced, something which is reflected in the cover price of £30, but this is excellent value considering the quality and the work which has gone into the production.

This book is a real treasure for anyone interested in costume or childhood. It may be pre-ordered from Amazon UK or from the V&A Online Shop.

Dictionary of Children’s Clothes, 1700 to the Present, by Noreen Marshall, is published on 06 October by the Victoria & Albert Museum at £30; ISBN 9781851775477.

arts, memes, photography, pleasures

Alternate Meme


Alternate Meme, originally uploaded by kcm76.

1. black.sky, 2. Blue Ocean, 3. Glass House Mountains, 4. Sun Moon Venus Mercury, 5. Perseid Meteor Night Shoot • Milky-way and 2 Meteors, 6. Vanilla Sky, 7. swimming to the Moks, 8. China Beach Sunrise, 9. Find a bird, 10. Spooky, Flying Space-Cat, 11. a good wine, 12. Luna and the Evening Star

This is for the alternative meme made available for anyone who doesn’t have a car and so didn’t want to do this week’s main meme. Many of us have of course chosen to do both! I deceided to do this with two extra rules: (a) the pictures must come from the first two pages of results and (b) each would be a skyscape. The latter was surprisingly easy; number 10 being the biggest challenge. Enjoy!

The Questions & Answers:
You’re given 2 words and choose the word that you associate with the most … your first thought:
1. black / white
2. ocean / river
3. desert / mountains
4. sun / moon
5. day / night
6. chocolate / vanilla
7. swim / ski
8. beach / pool
9. birds / butterflies
10. cat / dog
11. wine / beer
12. even / odd

Created with fd’s Flickr Toys.

arts, photography

Medicated Scan


Medicated Scan, originally uploaded by kcm76.

Just for fun I took the scan I used for this week’s self-portrait and mucked about with it in Photoshop and PaintShop Pro. Result: one sea blue, dis-armed hand.

arts, food+drink, memes, photography

2008.8.22 Bonus Meme


2008.8.22 Bonus Meme, originally uploaded by kcm76.

1. Early Morning Fog, 2. KCM, 3. 365 Toy Project: Day 57, 4. sunday morning 10am, 5. REJOICE and then……….., 6. Pear Trees Mean Spring, 7. Lovely To See You, 8. Avocado Sandwich, 9. pale green butterfly, 10. Mon-DAY 163: saturated in the snow, 11. 92/365- My Inquiry, 12. Cleaning lady / Upratovačka

The concept:
a. Type your answer to each of the questions below into Flickr Search.
b. Using only the first page, pick an image.
c. Copy and paste the html into your blog or Flickr stream (the easiest way is to copy the URLs and then head over to the fd’s flickr toys link above and use the mosaic maker).

The questions and answers:
1. What is your fave time of day Early morning, not that I can ever get up!
2. Your initials KCM — sorry this had to be a pic of me, it was the only half decent one I was offered!
3. Your age in years 57
4. What day of the week is your birthday this year Sunday
5. What is the first thing you are going to do when you retire Rejoice
6. What is your fave season Spring
7. Grab a cd at random without looking, and then look and search for a track title Lovely to See You from the Moody Blues On the Threshold of a Dream
8. What di you have for lunch today Salad sandwiches and avocado
9. What color is your car (or bike if no car) Bike: pale green
10. How many flickr groups do you belong to 163
11. What color are your pants Natural skin; that’s right, I’m not wearing any!
12. What is the first thing you would buy if you one the lottery A cleaning lady

I wanted to get a person in each of the pictures, but that just proved too hard, at least to do in a sensible time.

Created with fd’s Flickr Toys.

arts, memes, photography

Playing with Mosaics


Playing with Mosaics, originally uploaded by kcm76.

1. autumn leaves, 2. week 31/52. 28 days; 4 weeks; 1 month., 3. The Mood O Meter, Independent Subarus, Victor Idaho, AKA Gallagher’s, AKA Sue’s Roos, 4. green veined white
5. red cabbage, 6. Tomb plate, Standish, 7. summerishere, 8. Looking landwards across Slapton Ley
9. Bloom, 10. Red Arrows Lowestoft 08, 11. The Drunken Ducks, 12. Untitled

Created with fd’s Flickr Toys.

I was just playing with the Mosaic Maker tool at Big Huge Labs and created this from the most recent 12 of my Flickr favourites. Thought it was worth keeping. It’s a super sample of some of the brilliant photography on Flickr: follow the links to each one; they’re well worth it.

amusements, arts, beliefs, books, memes, nudism, thoughts, topographical

Friday Five: Wishes

OK so here, a bit late, is this week’s Friday Five …

1. Name one movie you wish everybody could watch.

  • None of them. I dislike movies and wouldn’t cry if they sunk without trace. Doesn’t mean other people shouldn’t watch them, just don’t expect me to or to share your enthusiasm.

2. Name two books you wish everybody could read.

  • Anthony Powell, A Dance to the Music of Time. Well it’s one novel in 12 volumes, so I’ll count it as one. Read it if only as a social history of England from 1914 to 1970. Oh come on, you expected me to say that, didn’t you?
  • Lewis Carroll, Alice in Wonderland (by which I mean the two works Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking-Glass). Read them and think about the logical conundrums presented; now apply them and change the way you look at the world!

3. Name three goals you wish everybody could achieve.

  • True inner peace and happiness.
  • Reconciliation and friendship with their parents.
  • To always treat others as you would like to be treated yourself (it’s part of what the Dalai Lama calls “compassion”).

4. Name four people you wish everybody could know.
I am going to assume the people don’t have to be alive now, but could come from any era. So I’ll nominate:

  • Richard Feynman; for his logic, his insights, his humour and his determination to overcome obstacles.
  • Galileo Galilei; a profound scientist who wasn’t afraid of standing up and being counted.
  • Leonardo da Vinci; another way out mind as well as a superb artist.
  • The present Dalai Lama; for his profound thinking, his happiness and his compassion.

That was hard! Four people I wish I knew would be easy, but to translate that into something for everyone is much, much harder.

5. Name five places you wish everybody could visit.

  • Rural England
  • Japan
  • A nudist community; to see just how it isn’t like everyone seems to think it is and to experience the freedom of life without clothes.
  • A small town in medieval England (or Europe at least) to see just what life really was like 600+ years ago and how far we have come.
  • Their special place. I believe we all have at least one place which is special and energises us (just as we have people who do this for us). It may be a town somewhere, or a country, or just a building (I know Stonehenge does it for some people, though not for me). Finding it is a whole different matter though.

[Brought to you courtesy of Friday Five.]

arts, history, personal

Tower of Babel

The Tower of Babel by Pieter Brueghel the Elder (1563)

The other day for no apparent reason, I was reminded of this painting, which I had not seen for a while. I don’t now even remember what it was that triggered the memory. Anyway I had to go and find a reproduction of it on the web. And I thought I’d share it as for some reason it is one of those paintings which just works for me, and has an almost magical effect. I think it must be something to do with the intricacy, the detail, and also the lighting; both of which are characteristic of Brueghel’s work. Perhaps the lighting is especially what works for me, as 17th century Dutch sea paintings (eg. Cuyp and Vermeer) do much the same, as do the Norwich School of painters.
arts, books, personal

Books Do Furnish a Room

I’ve just come across Terence Jagger’s weblog Books Do Furnish a Room about books, trees and gardens, wildlife, ideas. As those of your who know me at well will know Books Do Furnish a Room is the title of volume 10 of Anthony Powell’s 12-volume sequence A Dance to the Music of Time. And indeed Jagger does occasionally make reference to Powell, so his weblog is a “must read” for me. The first Powell-related items I spotted are Borage, Writer with the X Factor and Uncommon Readers. This weblog is well worth a look for those interested in books.