Dirty Car Art by Tamara Navarro

With the hosepipe ban in the South East at the moment, I was expecting my car to be filthy by now. As it turns out, it hasn't stopped raining since the drought officially began, so it's not faring too badly.  If it does eventually end up covered in a layer of dirt, though, I hope Tamara Navarro's around to use it as a canvas. There's something intriguingly contradictory about making something so well-thought-out and beautiful out of something so dirty and neglected. And if nothing else, I'd have an excuse to never wash my car again.

Pentametron

After seeing the Pointless contestants struggle over the poetry round earlier this week, I started thinking how sad it is that more people don't enjoy poetry -- how it seems to be marginalised and considered either irrelevant or pretentious.  I'm no poetry expert, but I've always enjoyed wordplay and I especially love it when things inadvertently rhyme. There's a Dr Seuss-like neatness to it that just appeals to me.

And that's when I discovered Pentametron.  It uses Twitter to "find inadvertent poetry in the endless torrents of language that slosh around the internet".  Pentametron uses algorithms to search through up to 5 million tweets a day and find those unwittingly written in iambic pentameter.  Then it puts them together in a collection of rhyming 'sonnets'. What a great way to bring poetry into the 21st century, social-networking spotlight -- I love it!

Follow Pentametron on Twitter @pentametron.

Pointless Poems

I'm a huge fan of the BBC quiz show Pointless, and I just had to share today's round on 'Poems and Their Poets'.  If you haven't seen the programme before, the basic idea is that before the show they've given 100 members of the public the names of twelve poems and asked them to name the poets who wrote them. The contestants on the show then have to choose the poem they think the lowest number of those 100 people knew…but they also have to be able to name the poet who wrote it themselves. The ultimate achievement is to get a 'pointless' answer -- that is, to know the answer to one that none of the 100 people knew.  I suppose it's kind of a Family Fortunes in reverse. Does that make any sense? I doubt it -- my skills of explanation are not my strongest point, and I know it took me a few watches to get my head around the concept! But rules aside, these are the poems:

I managed to name the poets of eight of them. And I kicked myself when I found out the answer to one of the others. The remaining three I've never heard of and should probably look up sometime.  

How many can you get?

Olivier Awards 2012

Musical Theatre is one of my guilty pleasures, and I honestly can't imagine a better way to spend a rainy Sunday evening in than watching the Olivier Awards.  It's a great opportunity to see some classic performances by old hands (no Oliviers ceremony would be complete without a belter by Elaine Page) and there were plenty that I couldn't help but sing along to.  Fortunately there was no-one around to hear my questionable accompaniments to 'I Know Him So Well', so I think I got away with it.

As a personal favourite of mine, I was really pleased to see Les Misérables win the BBC Radio 2 Olivier Audience Award.  Having seen it twice in the West End, I still can't get enough of it, and I loved the rousing performance of 'One Day More', with Enjolras at the head of the march proudly brandishing their Olivier Award in the place of his usual rifle.

Other highlights for me were Sir Tim Rice's acceptance speech for his outstanding contribution award: "if anyone could thank God I suppose I could. I've made a lot of money off of God", and the impressive improvisation of Rory Kinnear when the sound failed at the most inopportune moment -- during his introduction to the montage of theatre professionals who have died this year. The cast of the Lion King taking over the entire theatre for the finale performance was also breathtaking as always.

The biggest winner of the night though, was Matilda. The cast and crew took home seven awards between them, including Best New Musical, Best Actor in a Musical, and Best Actress in a Musical which was shared by the four Matildas. The girls now hold the record of the youngest ever recipients of an Olivier Award.  I haven't seen Matilda yet, but I love Tim Minchin and was pleased to see it do so well.  I really must try to get tickets -- but after tonight I have a feeling I won't be the only one. I’d better get on the waiting list…

A full list of winners is available on the Olivier Awards website.

Diem Chau’s Crayon Sculptures

I happened across these crayon sculptures on the Internet this week, and I absolutely love them.  I'm always impressed by carving, since it's something I wouldn't have the first clue how to do myself -- but there's something particularly striking about Chau's work, as seen in this Chinese zodiac set.  I love the bright colours, and there's something ironic about making a drawing tool into the actual focus of the piece. Mostly it’s just incredibly talented and fun, and makes me want to search out a box of crayons so I can try it myself. 

This image is taken from the Packer Schopf Gallery's website, but there are plenty more on Chau's blog.  I've just lost the best part of an evening being mesmerised by all the crayon sculptures I found there.

The Big Egg Hunt, Part 2: 'The Grand Eggstravaganza'

At the risk of being tediously repetitive, I feel I have to blog about the Big Egg Hunt again….it is Easter after all. This weekend was the 'Grand Eggstravaganza' in Covent Garden's piazza, where all 210 of the decorated eggs were displayed.  I still didn't manage to find them all (which greatly upsets the obsessive side of my personality), but I wanted to share my top 5 favourites of the ones I did see.*

*My amateur photography skills in no way do these eggs justice!

5. 'It Is But It Isn't' by Andrew Sturgeon

There was something about the rusticity (or was it just rust?!) and the use of negative space that drew me to this egg.  Having since read Sturgeon's description, I now understand that it represents different stages of life -- including birth, the decay as we age (represented by the missing segments and tarnished exterior), and the youthfulness we carry inside even in later years (represented by the polished interior).  I'll happily admit that I didn't decipher any of that myself when I saw it, but it was one of only a few eggs that I felt I could realistically live with long-term. I hope it's not too derogatory to say that I could imagine it sitting perfectly as a sculpture in my garden?!

4. 'Alpha Egg of London' by Joanne Holbrook

Despite (or maybe because of) this being one of the more light-hearted and seemingly child-targeted eggs, I spent by far the longest time looking at it.  It's great to see such a simple concept so charmingly executed, and the imagination that went into compiling such a comprehensive alphabet of London is impressive by any standard.  I can even forgive the tenuous 'X is for OXO Tower' for the inspired 'S is for apples and pears'.  Great fun.

3. 'On/Oeuf' by Oliver Clegg, and 'Metropolis' by Rob & Nick Carter

Technically two eggs, I know, but it was the combination of the two together that made them so striking.  The brightly coloured neon of Metropolis shining through the clear glass lightbulb of On/Oeuf was mesmerising, and reminded me of spending far too long decorating the Christmas tree, arranging and rearranging fairy lights behind glass baubles trying to get the best effect.  For me, On/Oeuf also wins the best egg pun hands down (and trust me, there were a LOT of bad egg puns to choose from!)

2. 'Egg Letter Box' by Benjamin Shine

In contrast to Andrew Sturgeon's deep meaning, I had to admire Shine for simply imagining a weird parallel universe where everything is egg-shaped.  I love the Egg Letter Box and its nod to such an iconic British structure.  It made me feel nostalgic for my young letter-writing self, and the wonder of communicating with penpals on the other side of the world simply through one of these post boxes. My favourite detail, though, has to be the apt EGG monogram.

1. 'The Birth of a Legend' by Theo Fennell

There's not much to say about this one. I just love unicorns, so Fennell's egg takes the top spot for me.  Apparently it symbolises the current renaissance of craftsmanship, but the main reaction it inspired in me was an outbreak of Agnes's Despicable Me song:  'unicorns I love them, unicorns I love them, uni- uni- unicorns, I loo-oo-oove them'. Thank you Theo Fennell for making me smile today.

The Big Egg Hunt

This weekend I finally got around to joining in with the Big Egg Hunt in London.  If you've been in central London in the last 6 weeks, you will most likely have passed at least one of the giant eggs in question.  There are over 200 of them, each decorated by a different designer, artist or celebrity, and hidden in any one of 12 different "egg zones" right across London.  Downloadable zone maps tell you which eggs are in which zone, but it's down to you to find them, and when you do, to text in the egg's unique keyword to be in with a chance of winning the £100,000 Diamond Jubilee Faberge egg.  All proceeds go to the two charities behind the Big Egg Hunt: Elephant Family and Action for Children.

'Street Homage to Faberge' by Zandra Rhodes

There are so many things I found inspiring about this project.  First of all, it's just plain fun.  I completely lost myself in the thrill of the hunt.  There's just nothing quite like the buzz of spotting an elusive egg across a crowded plaza, through a shop window, or suspended high above the street.  The search took me to places I'd never been before -- even walking the usually familiar Southbank, I saw the river from a new vantage point on the top terrace of the National Theatre.  It also simultaneously brought out characteristics of grave competitiveness and heart-warming teamwork.  One minute I was arguing with my egg-hunting buddy about which of us had spotted a particular egg first.  The next minute we were both comparing notes with another couple in Covent Garden studiously crossing items off of their own zone map.  They told us they'd spotted over 150 eggs already, and I'm really rooting for them to find the rest.  Getting strangers to talk to each other in central London is no mean feat, and I think the organisers should be truly proud of themselves for achieving that.

'Eggsquisit London' by Paul Kenton

But not to lose sight of the artworks themselves -- another just as impressive achievement of the project is that it has made a whole exhibition of painting and sculpture effortlessly accessible to all.  With such a diversity of style and approach, I'd be amazed if you couldn’t find an egg that makes you smile.  I know I barely stopped smiling all day.  I overheard dozens of conversations admiring the unique beauty of one particular egg or another.  I have to say I noticed a lot of these conversations happening around Brodie Neill’s 'Gregg', which seemed to be a firm favourite.  Generally, though, I can't remember the last time I heard an exhibition of artwork inspire such enthusiastic discussion -- picking out favourites, and discussing how we might have decorated our own eggs given the opportunity. 

'Sarah' by Natasha Mann

For the record, my personal preferences were for the more "sculptured" pieces that focussed on the egg shape as the basis for the design concept – Sponge Creatives' 'Pop', for example, and Rachel Waldron's 'Busby'  were especially good fun.  Speaking as a self-confessed unicorn fan, though, the hands down favourite for me was Theo Fennell's 'The Birth of a Legend'.  If only I had a spare £4,000, I'd put a bid on it at the Big Egg Auction.

I'm only sorry that I didn't have time to explore more egg zones. I would have loved to have searched them all out.  But I look forward to seeing all 210 on display in Covent Garden over the Easter weekend, and I can't wait to see what Elephant Family come up with next time.