Saul Willams: Twice the First Time

I first heard this 11 years ago on the Ninja Tune 'Xen Cuts' compilation and it's still a blistering track today. I'd completely forgotten about it until I saw his name pop up on Janelle Monáe's 'Archandroid' album.

Amon Tobin: Verbal (Boom Bip Remix)

Every now and again I hear a track that makes me wish I made films so that I could put it on a soundtrack (but maybe that's just me!).

Los Angeles, July 16th, 2010 by The Gentleman Amateur

Los Angeles, July 16th, 2010, originally uploaded by The Gentleman Amateur.

As it seems to be bitterly cold in London at the moment, I reckon some sunny photos might help brighten things up a little.

groom by yukiharu*

groom, originally uploaded by yukiharu*.

Kitty, Daisy & Lewis 'Going up the Country'

Quite possibly the world's number one, singing, rockabilly teenagers (although there's maybe not a huge amount of competition to be fair). They've been around for a while now, but I'd forgotten about them for a bit before coming across them again today whilst flicking through tracks. This is a great cover of the Canned Heat classic. Bizarrely, the last time I heard a cover of this track it was being sung by a 'Human Jukebox' at Peter Blake's amazing Museum of Everything – best 50p I've ever spent I reckon...

Untitled by Charlie Colmer

, originally uploaded by charlie colmer.

Beautifully composed street photography from Charlie Colmer.

The Printspace Gallery

Newbold Comyn Goalpost, originally uploaded by tom_gifford.

I was very pleasantly suprised this morning to find that one of my photos has made it onto a shortlist for this month's Printspace Gallery 'Search for Exhibitors'. Of course, when I say 'made it onto a shortlist' what I actually mean is that I've been bombarding their Flickr group with submissions for weeks now and they've obviously realised this is the quickest way to get me to shut up and leave them alone...

Tina Hillier, who is currently exhibiting in this year's Taylor Wessing Photographic Portrait Prize 2010 is in charge of this month's judging and will be picking four shots from the shortlist. The four finalists will then appear in an annual exhibition at The Printspace Gallery in London. There's no guarantees I'll make it that far by any means, but it's very flattering and exciting to be on the shortlist at least.

*Update* Sadly I didn't get picked as one of the four winning shots for January. Not to worry, I'll just continue adding more shots in the hope that they relent eventually!

The Dark Side of the Lens

A stunning little film from Astray Films which I found on the CameraLuv blog.

Thames Path Photo Trickery

Greenwich 04, originally uploaded by tom_gifford.

As I mentioned a few days ago here, I finally got around to trying out a new photographic technique I'd seen on Flickr done by Slimmer Jimmer and Richard Kaye. My efforts haven't come out quite as successfully as there's but it was good fun and I'm definitely going to try it again. I think I'll try black and white film next time to see how well that works out.

Canary Wharf from Deptford, originally uploaded by tom_gifford.

Blockhead – The Music Scene

Found this today browsing through eMusic, gorgeous lumpy beats.

fallen leaves by Theo Gosselin

fallen leaves, originally uploaded by Theo Gosselin.

theo-gosselin.blogspot.com/

There's something very special about this shot that I can't quite put my finger on. I think it's possibly the way it looks almost posed, the compositon works so well. The shades of brown clothing and the angles of people's arms draws your eye from left to right perfectly. There's something quite painterly about it, I find it very compelling.

Spaghetti skyline by richard314159

Spaghetti skyline, originally uploaded by richard314159.

I finally got around to trying out this technique myself earlier today on the Thames with my Agfa Clack and some redscale 120 film. If mine come out half as well as this one by Richard Kaye then I'll be a very happy chappy.

Andreya Triana – A Town Called Obsolete

I couldn't pick a favourite track from 2010, there's far too many to choose from. I've been enjoying The Black Keys, King Cannibal, Caribou, The National and loads of others. This track is from one of my favourite albums though, 'Lost Where I Belong' by Andreya Triana. It's a great album in it's own right, although it fits together so beautifully with Bonobo's 'Black Sands' that you ought to buy them both. It also seems fitting to pick a Ninja Tune track as 2010 was their 20th anniversary and they hosted the best night out I had all year.

2010 in Books

What could possibly be more cringey, self-indulgent and pretentious than blogging about all the books you've read in the previous year? Erm, how about doing it two years running? 

Having ignored all common sense considerations of how much of a prize pillock it probably makes me sound, I sat down at this time last year to write up a list of all the books I read in 2009. Having successfully ignored the fact that it can be of no possible interest to anyone else, I may as well carry on in this ill-advised tradition that I've started. So anyhoo, that's enough of my jibber-jabber, without any further ado here's the list complete with random comments here and there:

Blood's a Rover James Elroy (Concluding what is probably the best trilogy I've read)

Pop. 1280 Jim Thompson
Freakonomics Steven Levitt and Stephen Dubner
The American Wife Curtis Sittenfeld (Superb, much better than I was expecting, it almost makes George Bush seem a likable and sympathetic character which is no mean feat. If the publishers are reading this (and I feel sure they're hanging on my every word), please change the awful chick-lit cover, it doesn't do the book justice at all)
Persepolis Marjane Satrapi
Darkmans Nicola Barker (Captivating and confusing but very enjoyable)
Homicide: A Year on the Killing Streets David Simon (If like most right-minded folk you enjoyed The Wire then you'll find this fascinating if a bit familiar in places)
The Tenderness of Wolves Stef Penney
Johnny Come Home Jake Arnott
But Beautiful Geoff Dyer (Fantastic, an amazing little book. If you have any interest in Jazz or approaches to writing non-fiction then I can't recommend it enough )
The White Tiger Aravind Adiga
The Spire William Golding
Wolf Hall Hilary Mantel

War Sebastian Junger

Midnight's Children Salman Rushdie (One of those books that had been on the shelf for ages)

Holidays in Hell P. J. O'Rourke

The Underground Man Mick Jackson

Alone in Berlin Hans Fallada

The Stars in the Bright Sky Alan Warner (I'm gradually resigning myself to the fact that he'll probably never match his first novel, 'Morvern Callar'. That said, he's still an astounding writer and I'll always read his new books come what may)

Unreasonable Behaviour Don McCullin (Autobiography doesn't normally interest me at all, but I'll make an exception for Don McCullin who's seen and accomplished more in his lifetime than most of us)

A Most Wanted Man John Le Carré (I was in Berlin on holiday, who else are you going to read in a city of cold-war spies? Not one of his best, but good fun all the same)

On Photography Susan Sontag (Heavy going, but plenty to think about)

Wildwood: A Journey Through Trees Roger Deakin (A beautiful, peaceful book that will make you want to go and sleep in a hedge)

Ordinary Thunderstorms William Boyd (More 'Restless' than 'Any Human Heart' unfortunately)

and our faces, my heart, brief as photos John Berger (A fascinating, thought-provoking little book, one of those I know I'll dip back into time and again. Many thanks to Jessie Campbell for such an enjoyable gift and for finding the one book I couldn't actually skim-read my way through)

Lady Barberina Henry James (Not my cup of tea at all. Mr James and I don't get on)

Paris, Trance Geoff Dyer

Up in the Old Hotel Joseph Mitchell (Brilliant collection of articles about New York in the 1930s and 40s)

Jeff in Venice, Death in Varanasi Geoff Dyer

Le Grand Meaulnes Alain-Fournier

The Plot Against America Philip Roth (I didn't enjoy 'Indignation' at all last year but I'm glad I gave him a second chance. This was great, very readable and reminded me a little of 'Middlesex' which is one of my favourites)

GB84 David Peace (Grim, nasty, brilliant little book. I haven't read a bad David Peace novel yet, might have to try his Tokyo novels this year)

How I Escaped My Certain Fate Stewart Lee

What I Loved Siri Hustvedt (A recommendation from a girl I met, and one of the best books I read this year. It reminds me a bit of 'We need to talk about Kevin' which is no bad thing at all, whilst still being very distinctive)

Birdsong Sebastian Faulks (Another one of those that I'd meant to read for ages)

The Daughter of Time Josephine Tey

One Day David Nicholls (Recommended by my friend Katie, good fun and quite resonant if a bit depressing in places. It'll be interesting to see how well the film version works)

Restoration Rose Tremain 

Phew, I think that makes 38 in total for this year which isn't too bad considering I had to find time to move house twice. Then again, I was single for most of 2010 which gave me a bit more reading time than usual (every cloud and all that...). I also started commuting to work which helped as well. I managed to mix in a bit of non-fiction here and there although I was less successful on the classics front. Despite enjoying Dickens so much last year I didn't get around to trying another. 

Geoff Dyer is rapidly becoming one of my favourite writers and I'm currently reading 'Working the Room' so he'll be featuring on next year's list already. I really can't recommend him highly enough, like Anna Funder (Stasiland) and Iain Sinclair he manages to meld together fiction and non-fiction to create something altogether different.

I don't really have any reading resolutions for 2011 as such. I'd quite like to have another crack at Tristam Shandy again and some more classics I guess. Other than that, I'll probably just muddle through, picking books on instinct and recommendation – it seems to have worked okay so far. Right then, that's quite enough of this wittering for another year...

Untitled by may the circle remain unbroken

, originally uploaded by may the circle remain unbroken.

Consistently one of my favourite photographers on Flickr.