Go-Karting
November 19, 2007
Spent my Sunday go-karting at Daytona Sandown Park. Organised by my very good friend Nigel. It’s a fantastic outdoor track and there were 21 of us on it! Needless to say it was chaos. Of note though, was that on that track with all of us was none other than Phil Prew. Who’s Phil Prew? He’s Lewis Hamilton’s race engineer! He came second and not one of us mentioned the Chinese Grand Prix tire gamble!
I came sixth if you care, with a fastest lap of 00:52:11.
High on London
November 16, 2007
London is an amazing city and I have spend a lot of time photographing it. I have become somewhat obsessed (I’ll admit) with the London Skyline. Perhaps it’s unique to my experience but I’ve found it extremely difficult to get access to certain sites in London. I really don’t like that fact that they’re exclusive; try getting into St Mary’s Axe (The Gherkin) and you’ll see what I mean. Apart from a few sites London ‘highs’ are off limits. It’s a sign of the times I guess.
But, saying that, we’re far from deprived. There is the London Eye, Tower 42 and Monument (scheduled to re-open in 2008) amongst others. There’s also the London Open House (the dates for 2008 are the 20th and 21st September) and I would encourage everyone to make the most of the two days of the year the rest of us get to enjoy otherwise restricted access to some of London’s beautiful building.
As as side note, you may or may not be aware that Ken Livingston has lifted the limit on tall buildings in London and that currently there are several large scale building projects due for completion by 2012. For more details on these project take a look here.
Canon EOS 300
November 16, 2007
She was my workhorse but now she’s worn out. Broken. My dear old Canon EOS. She’s taken some beautiful photo’s. She’s been all over the world to exotic places like India and New York. Anyway. I was gutted. That was until my wonderful wife logged on to eBay and bought me another. It cost £10 with postage. T.E.N quid! Bloody great. Thanks darling!
Robert Llewellyn
November 16, 2007
If you’re searching for happiness, earn less. If you’re searching for a new Audi TT, and you think that’s going to make you happy, earn more.
Quote { Robert Llewellyn: Making do }
Pressure to grow
November 15, 2007
Why the incessant pressure to grow. Always striving for bigger, better, faster, further. Does anyone ever stop and wonder why? In this age of sustainability is it not possible to maintain a balance? Isn’t it time to challenge the concept of bigger is better. It can be detrimental and counter productive and it’s simply not possible to grow indefinitely; the result of continued growth must eventually be decline.
I’ve lots of questions and I’m constantly looking for answers. Is it something we learn as kids or is it in our nature? Is it linked to satisfaction and contentment? Is it possible to reach and maintain a balance?
I like to think so. Grow, float, bust, splinter, grow, float, bust; It doesn’t make sense. Wouldn’t it be better to aim for that place in the middle. That place where you work hard but still find time for the things that are important. It’s not easy. That place doesn’t come easy.
I often think about people that make business their business. The MBA’s. The guys that spend their whole lives doing business. I wonder who their role models are. Are all the business models based on growth? Off the top of my head I can think of tons of examples, Microsoft and Facebook are a good start. In fact you can pick just about any business. It’s way harder to think of examples that go against the grain.
So, who are our models for sustainability. Well, I immediately think Patagonia and 37 Signals. To my mind, they’re not about getting big. They’re about making good products and sustaining business in order to continue making those products better.
Perhaps one day I will run my own gig. It’ll be small. It’ll be specialised. It’ll be sustainable.
Making do
November 15, 2007
Kids and consumerism. Buying them things, usually lots of toys. Wanting them to have all the things you didn’t, without spoiling them whilst instilling in them an appreciation for things. It’s not easy but it got me thinking about my favourite toys as a kid that lasted in my mind. I’d happily give these to my kids.
- The Rubik’s Cube, Puzzles, Dominoes, Battleships, Twister, YoYo’s, Pick-up Sticks, Marbles, Spinning Tops
- Construction/buillding toys like Lego, Mechano, Mr. Potato Head, Play Doh and Silly Putty
- Board Games like Chess, Checkers, Backgammon, Monopoly, Scrabble and Trivial Pursuit
- Card Games like Poker and Snap! (I remember playing this for hours with my sister!)
- Wooden… anything. Wooden toys rock!
- Games Consoles. Hey, I’m a gamer. It’s part of who I am. I’ve owned them all. Commodore, Spectrum, Atari (an all time fave), Nintendo, Sega, Playstation, Xbox.. the lot.
- Scalextric. Not the substitutes they try to fob you off with. The real deal. The one where the cars cost 50 quid and you have to re-mortgage your house to extend the track! Fuck yeah!
Trees Outside The Academy
September 14, 2007
It’s like 1988 all over again! The last time I saw Thurston Moore, solo, was back in 1999 at the The Cooler in New York. Overall it was a pretty depressing and unspectacular affair. Now were on the verge of the release of his latest solo album “Trees Outside The Academy” out on his own independent record label Ecstatic Peace!
If you’re a fan I would take the time to watch this little web clip.
I have to say it all sounds amazing and I really can’t wait. It feels like it’s 1988 all over again!
Outbid!
August 24, 2007
The highs and lows of eBay. Needless to say I’m absolutely devastated! I must persevere.
Screaming Tea Party
August 21, 2007
One of life’s happy accidents. I was wondering around Battersea Park on a lazy Sunday afternoon and stumbled across Screaming Tea Party playling a lively set at the Pump House Gallery. Bloody brilliant they were too!
Check out Screaming Tea Party on their MySpace page and at Stolen Recordings
facebook de-activated!
August 06, 2007
Pointless. Absurd groups and frivolous (emphasising the quotes) “friendships”. I enjoyed it for about a week but to be honest the contrived wit just got too much for me. So, I de-activated.
This note shortly afterwards from Igor: moon-stomper extraordinaire, made me smile:
“It said ’Greg Reed is leaving Facebook. Really. (13s ago)’… and I hit refresh and you had gone!”
I’m very glad there was someone around to witness the momentous occasion! I feel unchanged… like I did yesterday… but with 15 minutes extra in my day to do something more constructive, like visit LOLCATS or wikipedia…
facebook is stalking me!
July 26, 2007
Does anyone every really leave facebook? This week I attempted to ‘close’ my Facebook account (yes, I don’t want my Facebook account anymore!). You can ‘de-activate’ your account but I’m more than a a little worried that I can’t completely delete it. So now I have to remove all my apps and friends and all my personal details (the history of which they’re probably storing anyway) and chalk it up to a ‘pretty dull and rather pointless experience’ to be honest. It’s a bit like that person you got involved with because they were really beautiful and you knew it was a bad idea and it wouldn’t last but then when you decided to call it off they turned out to be psycho and started stalking you and threatening to spread ugly rumours about you to all your good friends.
I know that there are those of you who swear by it but I fail to see the point other than inflating the value of Facebook so the owners can sell it and all my information for a gazzilion dollars to Rupert Murdoch so he can spam me to death with more shit I don’t want or need!
No thanks! Anyone up for a ‘Facebook is stalking me!’ group?
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