ARTISTS TALKING

# 71 [15 March 2007]

"Kill your little darlings!"

Fat chance! I gave the rough edit of the video I had agreed ( reluctantly) to make for a friends exhibition in France a week ago and suggested she reduce it by at least five minutes.

No she couldnt bring herself to part with her images, in fact she wanted more added at which point I got all frosty and uptight and said"no way".

Yet this is the stage where you have to be ruthless:"kill your little darlings!" was how one tutor at Glasgow School of Art summed it up; painful but necessary.

# 70 [9 March 2007]

Very scary landing at midnight in a snowstorm into Glasgow airport. The plane appeared to "wobble" high over the landing strip - with all 300 passengers fresh from the Sinai dessert on board- then took off again!....A long silence followed. Where was the captain? Eventually his voice came over the inter-com. He said that due to weather conditions he had decided to "make a second landing". Eventually the plane touched down. And the passengers applauded.

# 69 [7 March 2007]

There's something weird about sitting in an internet cafe in Dahab checking emails from research information pouring in from Wales regarding an institution that existed 50 years ago.

There's also something comforting in knowing that the world is all linked together, no matter where you are. And I am on the edge of the Sinai dessert.

Will post images as soon as I get back.

# 68 [4 March 2007]

Lunar eclipse in the Sinai dessert

 Watched the moon turn red last night while lying under the stars out in the Sinai dessert ( OK there were a few dozen other people there as well so it was hardly a solitary experience).

Before we watch the moon eclipse we look at the rings of Saturn through a gigantic telescope. This is extraordinary. It seems "alive", that's the only way I can describe the rings, composed of rock and ice hurtling around the planet.

As for the telescopes, they look like huge sci-fi monsters perched in the dessert. There are six of them.

 As the moon disappears in the cloudless dessert sky it's recorded for posterity with much clicking of cameras, mobile phones and camcorders( and yes, I am one of them).

The security guy in the van is a bit of a surprise but we are assured this is essential. 36 folk got killed in Dahab last year in a bombing attack.

Fears that there would be no internet access in this part of the world are groundless.

Have found four internet cafes in Dahab.

# 67 [2 March 2007]

Dahab, Egypt

Got internet access but its about to run out of money. Wish I had brought my laptop, every room is WI.FI . Have updated blog: www.craig-y-nos.blogspoot.com 

Fantastic light here. Am about to start some photography. Tomorrow there is a lunar eclipse in the desert.

# 66 [28 February 2007]

Egypt

Off to Duhab tomorrow.  The next week is going to be a real test for me of using the technology.  Will I find internet access in the middle of the desert? will I be able to upload my daily blog on stories and pictures ?  These are already stored on a remote server so in theory providing I can find a computer linked to the web I should still be able to upload text and images. Had thought of taking my "work in progress" along on a memory stick until I learnt that this is a popular way for hackers to get into computers. Going to a country  paranoid about terrorists it is unlikely I would be allowed  to access a computer with a memory stick.

Material for my book continues to flow in at a steady rate and I need email access daily. Folk get stroppy if they dont get an email reply within 24 hours. Thanks to a visiting young Dutch boy next door have finally managed to convert all my audio files into MP3 so I can edit interviews. My online book will now have podcasts- oral history in the raw.

Hope to do some video in the coming week, the location should be great, and it will be a change from delving into the past.

# 65 [26 February 2007]

Visited the Tate Modern while in London, always a stiumulating experience- and there's a good cafe too.

 And yes I did see the Gilbert and George exhibition though now I wonder why I spent £9 to see one whole floor of the Tate devoted to the work of these two men. Two or three rooms would have been more than sufficient. Seems the public are voting with their feet too . This is not the blockbuster they had expected.
Do I really want to spend my Sunday afternoons staring at larger than lifesize images of giant penis' made of shit? and reading walls covered in graffitti?Anyway, I think it was mean of Gilbert and George to insist that the big slide is switched off during their exhibtion; only the smaller ones were in operation.
If art reflects the culture of its times then in a strange way the work of Gilbert and George holds a mirror up to our celebrity obsessed, consumer driven age. Yet in a curious way it all seemed to so..er...English and slightly old-fashioned. Oh well, back to Scotland...

# 64 [22 February 2007]

Well, I have just finished the rough edit for my friend's video to go with her exhibition next month in France.

And there's at least 3-4 hours work still to be done to complete the video, make the DVD cover, and of course put the whole thing down to DVD.

Tomorrow I go to London for the weekend and next Thursday fly out to Duhab.

 Just checked on the internet and discovered that 30 people were shot in this resort a year ago.

No wonder its a bargain basement winter holiday!

Meanwhile how do I get internet access? The London hotel promises all rooms are WI.Fi but Egypt? that's another matter.

# 63 [21 February 2007]

Where have all these photos of Craig-y-nos Castle come from? I must have had around 300 sent in so far.They are very small, often crumpled but clearly treasured memories of a unique experience which girls, now mature to elderly women, are keen to share.
Today the local paper in Wales has had a photo spread ( have yet to see it) and I fear this will result in an avalanche of more photographs.
 it is quite extraordinary!

# 62 [19 February 2007]

Damien Hirst
Anyone wanting a lesson in media manipulation should read the following link http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol1389313.ece
on how Damien Hirst is "doing Hollywood" with impeccable timing for the Oscars and flying in a 100 members of his staff for the occasion after the New York critics trashed his show in New York.