Some ACE news

Good news! I do get to go to Cairo. I leave shortly with Helen. 

Whilst there i hope to see better what Egypt is like, which will then hopefully better inform the work i am doing here. 

So, i've started another two blogs to help document this trip -

http://cairoexpedition.blogspot.com/

http://aproductiondiary.blogspot.com/

A travel blog and a production-specific blog. I will continue to write here too, and hope to be able to write directly onto the Crescent Arts website soon too. I'm packing now, and preparing for the flight. I don't like planes. 

These are important i think.

 

I used to play football against my little brother. I beat him 10-0 once. A tree doesn't make a sound if no one hears it though.

A Mirror Every Day

I bought a Daily Mirror the other day, to read about Rooney's sexual indiscretions and see if they'd be in support of a union general strike (less work, more pay, i say).

I like the idea of news being a mirror. Its kinda like when Brutus says 'for the eye sees not itself, but by reflection, by some other things.'

Berlusconi says sex isn't fun if you have to pay.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/worldnews/article-1195128/I-paid-sex-theres-satisfaction-Berlusconi-hits-escort-claims.html

What a man he is. I bet Anthony never paid either, wit and appearance are enough for anyone to fall at your feet. Quite a feat. 

Footballers' have it right though, don't they? 'Less work, more pay'. 

Paying for things isn't good, but it must be nice to be in the position to afford it, Silvio.

Screen Tests

I've begun doing screen tests for the play using the masks i've been making and the projections of Alexandria. 

The first one was kind of successful i think. The disintegration of the body into pixels is a bit hard to see though, as it needs to be dark for the projection. Maybe i should use screens.

 

The spinning pyramid against the mask gave a nice effect though. 

They did screen tests to decide who would play Cleopatra et al. I think Joan Collins would have been better. Her eyes are further apart. 

It's not your eyes, its the distance between them. 

Projecting Alexandria Experiment 1

As part of this digitalisation experiment i've been working on, i've been making backgrounds onto which the pixel transformation could take place.

Here is my first attempt at projecting Alexandria into the Crescent Arts studios.

Liz's transformation could take place over it. More on this soon.

Digital Costumes

I've been making more masks and costumes today. I like the digital effect a lot. This 'pyramidization' of the body.

I am going to investigate what happens to you when you body becomes digitalised. It might help with the acting process in future re-enactments. 

This is a costume I made of Digital Liz. It still looks too scary though. Maybe it'll look better on someone. I'll do some experiments with it in the next few days and see.

Charity starts at home

What does that saying even mean? Just 'cause something is a saying (out of context) doesn't mean, like, its real, you know?

I dunno, i just seem to be hearing it alot at the moment. It came up again in the Daily Mail today-

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/debate/article-1303358/PETER-MCKAY-Charity-really-start-home.html

Its a funny article. I like the bit where someone describes pakistan here:

'Superficially cosmopolitan - for their children typically study abroad and imitate foreign accents and customs - they are left with utter contempt for those who are less fortunate.

'Few show izzat, or respect, to the lowest who work in their kitchens, drive their cars or hawk trinkets to them in the markets.'

Few of the rich pay taxes. 'This is a system of the elite, by the elite and for the elite,' said a retired government official who worked in tax collection for 38 years.

Thats just capitalism intit? 

Anyway, i generally say give people money if they'll die otherwise, you know?

Pyramid Studies

Given the apparent importance pyramids seem to be having going forward, I've decided to start a parallel blog called 'Pyramid Studies', where i will focus specifically on this subject. 

http://pyramidstudies.blogspot.com/

Digital Pyramids

Pyramids are pretty important i think. Structurally, they seem to be a blueprint for almost everything. I've been trying to draw ones for art, with like Hurst at the top and me and Helen near the bottom. Its free market stuff intit? 

Anyway, in making the Manda masks yesterday i noticed another (maybe more important) thing about pyramids. They work in the same way that digital pictures do, with lots of little blocks. And so now they aren't smooth, but have lots of little blocks that make curves and lines. (I know they were smoothed over at the time, but the point still stands)

So they're more than just blueprints for economics, they were a plan for the future construction of our world. Important indeed!

Here is a picture i made inadvertently by cutting out Manda's eye in a pixelated picture of her. 

Its called Digital Analogue Pyramid 1.

Masking

I've been making masks of Manda today, having finished editing the first meeting re-enactments. I think masks might be important going forward.

                                         

It does seem to look kinda scary though. I'm not sure if this is just in the way that all masks are scary, or this one in particular. I suppose its like people finding burkas scary, maybe? I dunno.

Anyway, these Manda masks will mean that i can start using boys to play Manda/Liz/Cleo, which i guess is what the play is about. 'and I shall see / Some squeaking Cleopatra boy' 5.2 219

                                          

My hair kinda ruins the suspension of the belief here though. I need a haircut.