A Door To Another Universe

I remember as a child watching a Japanese cartoon series called Marineboy. It told the tale of a boy who could swim underwater and stopped invading monsters through using exploding boomerangs.

The one thing that I haven't forgotten is that all the characters had such big eyes, which these days is known as Manga.

So I was pleased to see these characters protecting the doorway to a comic shop in the Lace Market. Looking at the state of it, especially with those bricks missing, it certainly needs something.

Papering Over The Cracks

A day off work today, as a photographer I know called Theresa was flying over for the day from Dublin to visit Beeston for the first time and a see a friend called Marysia that we both know.

We all met up at L'Oliva's cafe on the High Road, and had a good chat over a drink and some food. A little later we went for a walk down at the marina in the afternoon sunshine. Chatting and taking photos. Marysia had her dog Tag with her, who is a bit of a star on LinkedIn.

At the side of the lock keeper's cottage, there is an old building that has been derelict for a number of years now, but recently some funding has been received so it can be renovated and eventually will be turned into a educational centre, with a cafe and allotment.

Marysia is involved in the project and so she started taking to one of the men that was working on the site. He asked us if we wanted to have a look around, and as it is usually off limits to the general public, we all of course said yes.

And so we spent some time walking around the grounds and taking photos. We also went inside the building, which was a in varying states of rebuild. Upstairs were the bedrooms. One was obviously for a child, as the walls were still covered in Care Bears wallpaper. So obviously it hadn't been touched since the 1980s. Another room had had a lot of wallpaper removed. But a couple of walls still had paper on them. Some stripping had taken place to reveal this Chinese or Japanese design from I would say the 1950s.

He Let His Fingers Do The Walking

This is Japanese musician Anchorsong, who I went to see tonight at the Nottingham Contemporary.

Besides using a Korg synth, most of his music was created through Akai & Yamaha rhythm machines.

I wasn't sure what to expect, as haven't heard of him before, but being a fan of electronic music, I thought I would pop along and see what music he would be creating. Most of it was through pressing buttons and turning knobs. It was interesting to watch, and he was pretty quick tapping away with his fingers.

There were a lot of people there, bopping along to his unique brand of music. I recorded a couple of his songs on my camera, and have uploaded it to YouTube, so you can all enjoy it. Here is the link Anchorsong.

Cheeky Monkeys

Here's another shot from the window of the junk shop that opened recently in Beeston. A model of the Three Wise Monkeys:
"Speak no Evil, "See no Evil", "Hear no Evil".

Looking up the meaning on Wikipedia, the monkeys are Japanese and are called Kikazaru, who hears no evil, Mizaru, who sees no evil and Iwazaru, who speaks no evil. Sometimes there is a fourth monkey called Shizaru, who does no evil and is depicted crossing his arms.

Obviously someone who lives like that would be a very virtuous person; almost saintly in character. They of course may not even exist in the 21st century. Even the most honest of people (me included!) may break these cardinal rules in one way or another. Even unconsciously.