tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-40823801088606910912011-07-07T23:10:09.487+01:00Rhiannon Robertsnoreply@blogger.comBlogger451100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4082380108860691091.post-5022988215969343512010-09-28T23:19:00.000+01:002010-09-28T23:19:21.426+01:00

Ummm, so obviously this is on hold until I figure out what I'm doing with it. Or possibly start again. I'll let you know. I know it's not the same but I update twitter reasonably regularly, so follow me there. 140 characters at a time is somehow more manageable....

Rhiannon Robertsnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4082380108860691091.post-31133343109600151682010-05-12T03:33:00.003+01:002010-05-12T11:20:08.321+01:00

Not even the election has called me back to this blog recently - it seems there's enough words being written about it to over fill our ears. Tweeting felt like it had a point - almost like voting - you pitch your 140 character opinion into the mass and maybe just maybe it'll be part of a wave... and who knows how these twitter waves have resonated beyond our tweetdeck screens. (I can talk about

Rhiannon Robertsnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4082380108860691091.post-73520653377349536132010-03-24T23:25:00.003Z2010-05-03T23:57:17.895+01:00

Looking forwards inevitably leads to looking back. I just came across this short film I produced as an undergrad at uni. No budget, no training, no nothing. Watching it now, I'm proud to have helped make it happen. All artistic credit goes to writer and director Rahim Bagheri. At the time I think I found it hard to see the film beyond the director's requests for doves (seemingly not to be found

Rhiannon Robertsnoreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4082380108860691091.post-76502007703039804072010-02-19T00:07:00.000Z2010-02-19T00:07:43.046Z

Compared to a conspiracy thriller or Batman movies with their bad guys intent on evil domination, the stories of corporate control shown in Film Inc actually still seem rather far fetched. Made into a fiction film, you'd perhaps think that a storyline that involved the greed of a relative few rich men controlling a whole nations supply and choice of a substance as necessary and supposedly

Rhiannon Robertsnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4082380108860691091.post-19114638040946188752010-02-18T22:05:00.002Z2010-02-18T22:34:21.277Z

(We can't do that because....) 'To be fair to all our customers we'd have to do the same for everyone.' Said the man from the bank's credit card collection service, when I asked him to reduce my interest charge so that more than 50% of my payment each month would go towards reducing my debt rather than into their pockets. (Only what other credit cards have agreed to) I laughed out loud and

Rhiannon Robertsnoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4082380108860691091.post-28383643607561928932010-02-07T21:20:00.002Z2010-02-07T21:43:24.429Z

4 days coughing in bed left me with too much time to dwell on things and I am getting myself into a bit of an existential stew. However the one thing that consistently revives me (far more than films or books - perhaps because I keep choosing ones that takes me further down the same paths) is music. Here's a couple of things I've found recently: museradio.com - which has some lovely and at

Rhiannon Robertsnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4082380108860691091.post-7417286496836743862010-01-27T23:09:00.002Z2010-01-28T00:23:46.521Z

Y'know how once a number goes above a million it's very hard to work out whether it's a lot or not?So 5 billion spent on aid sounds like a lot, until compared to Roman Abramovich's 7 billion. And 1 billion lost to tax fraud could be a huge amount, until you compare to 12 billion lost to tax havens... There are plenty of fun and games of that kind to be had with The Billion Pound-O-Gram. Just (

Rhiannon Robertsnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4082380108860691091.post-43058817820744745642010-01-15T00:28:00.001Z2010-01-15T00:34:15.220Z

(some time to think is too much time to think) So the downside of going from a job which fills as many hours of every day as it can to one which is constricted to normal working hours (by plan, not because there isn't plenty more to do) is that I now have far too much time to think. Stupidly, I have not decided to fill my spare brain power with reality tv, but with launching myself back into

Rhiannon Robertsnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4082380108860691091.post-73870642110071007072009-12-31T11:42:00.000Z2009-12-31T11:42:42.638Z

Haven't quite got round to any follow up from Copenhagen. Numbing disappointment and tiredness followed by the need to instantly lift myself into Christmas spirits took over. In lieu, here's a Dr Seuss style summary of the negotiations. Laugh then cry.

Rhiannon Robertsnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4082380108860691091.post-57847065130572751302009-12-16T13:21:00.000Z2009-12-16T13:21:29.684Z

Feeling slightly overwhelmed by being at Copenhagen conference right now. Toes cold from waiting to get in for ages cos of security shut down amongst ministers who should be in here and press who were mainly rude and pushy. Protestors outside reportedly being tear gassed or peppersprayed. NGOs and civil society not allowed in anymore. Feel bad for being in here at all - should we have walked out

Rhiannon Robertsnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4082380108860691091.post-11182176056239578212009-12-13T18:02:00.001Z2009-12-13T18:06:39.688Z

<p><p>Your browser does not support iframes.</p></p> Here it is. The Stupid Show, brought to you by the makers of The Age of Stupid.  Making sense of humankind's most important get together, live from Copenhagen at 8pm every eve (or always available to watch again at www.stupidshow.tv) Best way to follow

Rhiannon Robertsnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4082380108860691091.post-38941238836112656312009-12-13T18:00:00.000Z2009-12-13T18:00:16.522Z

My head is fuzzy with tiredness from long hours and all night dancing to release the week just gone but at the end of week one I feel I need to write something about it all. Coming here by train, overnight ferry then bus much overloaded with filming gear and props (not least a suitcase full of spraypaint) seemed to be stretching our physical ability to carry weight far beyond what was actually

Rhiannon Robertsnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4082380108860691091.post-65683365766951735132009-11-26T21:18:00.001Z2009-11-26T21:27:35.052Z

And in case you think what the politicians are saying is sounding promising: David Horsey / Hearst Newspapers - Week in Cartoons - The Daily Beast

Rhiannon Robertsnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4082380108860691091.post-24131855531620649562009-11-26T21:06:00.001Z2009-11-26T21:27:59.679Z

Kinda got the point that Copenhagen is really really important to our future but not sure why agreeing that we should save ourselves is gonna be so goddamn difficult? Cos it's a fight... Whole strip (it's well worth looking at): http://www.newint.org/features/cartoon/2009/12/01/climate-cartoon/

Rhiannon Robertsnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4082380108860691091.post-20526680192800111902009-11-25T19:50:00.001Z2009-11-25T19:54:05.473Z

[published on behalf of yesterday] Today didn't start well. I was late for a meeting. I couldn't work out why I'd set my alarm so early on a Saturday so I turned it off and went back to sleep. Which says something about the effect that working 12 pretty long days in a row is having on me. Tired as I was, my day had many lovely things in it. Here they are, in the order they brightened things up

Rhiannon Robertsnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4082380108860691091.post-54303062330712141782009-11-11T01:38:00.001Z2009-11-11T01:38:56.948Z

It needed to be a bit cleaner, I felt. There's a few teething problems around the edges, bear with me. Unfortunately the new look isn't accompanied by a new sense of purpose so this will continue to be a loosely linked collection of random things.

Rhiannon Robertsnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4082380108860691091.post-43299305681661232902009-11-11T00:04:00.003Z2009-11-11T01:32:40.548Z

Tear down this wall! And save the planet | Mikhail Gorbachev - Times Online A reminder for anyone who thinks we can't achieve the impossible.

Rhiannon Robertsnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4082380108860691091.post-74326515089793035682009-11-10T22:58:00.005Z2009-11-11T19:34:50.467Z

This is the slideshow story of the man that lives in the sailing boat that brought the celebrities to the New York premiere. One morning in the office, it rather messed up my concentration. With thoughts of a life that involved wind on your face and seaspray and dropping out whilst still having a very successful life. (Why is that then dropping out?) Around the time he decided to 'drop out' of

Rhiannon Robertsnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4082380108860691091.post-27697385921158760502009-10-21T00:18:00.001+01:002009-10-21T00:49:18.045+01:00

I keep writing scraps of posts and then not posting them. I wrote a whole torrent about san francisco at the airport which I just discovered I didn't save properly. I'd just left with tears in my eyes (I'll try and explain why in another post). Followed by a phone call home from the taxi - I'd finally worked out the time difference and the length of my flight - I'd been ignoring such things -

Rhiannon Robertsnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4082380108860691091.post-6169799491762120952009-09-15T18:22:00.000+01:002009-09-15T18:22:28.803+01:00

I have never got round to spending enough time reading about GM food to really know what to believe. I have to say, I trust this though, much as I'd rather not.

Rhiannon Robertsnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4082380108860691091.post-86906791589276882362009-08-29T05:20:00.004+01:002010-07-15T23:44:34.453+01:00

Eskimo Wedding Vow You are my husband/wife My feet shall run because of you. My feet dance because of you. My eyes see because of you. My mind thinks because of you. And I shall love because of you. Not having anyone in particular to share this with right now I just thought I'd share it with whoever is reading this. And then you can share it with someone. It's perfect. (I almost don't

Rhiannon Robertsnoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4082380108860691091.post-40077670411728393992009-08-24T05:28:00.017+01:002010-01-28T00:03:47.971Z

Ahh. I get it now. Twitter - told me that there were some extra tickets on sale and led to me abandoning my relaxing afternoon in central park and hurtling down as fast as I could to the Webster Hall. Twitter made me realise that seeing 2 shows from the same tour did not make me an obsessive - no where near in fact (compared to the people seeing all 4 NYC shows in a row), so

Rhiannon Robertsnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4082380108860691091.post-21710429496706215702009-08-23T15:52:00.010+01:002009-11-10T23:11:57.782Z

Just been reading about James Cameron's Avatar film coming out in December... which I'm now pretty excited about. 12 mins of 3d Harry Potter film at the IMAX left me wanting to see more, I was even excited about going to see Scrooge from its 3D trailer. But, I think seeing Avatar in 3D will be more to the point. What I didn't know though is it's environmental themes: The eagerly anticipated

Rhiannon Robertsnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4082380108860691091.post-80149214294961384252009-08-23T04:24:00.010+01:002009-08-23T19:29:59.291+01:00

So, what to say about my first week in New York?I'll go backwards.It's Saturday night, 11.30 and I'm back at home in the flat feeling very very grateful for RXP, the rock music radio station which has saved me from US pop radio, which I was enjoying even less than in the UK. But now I have Led Zep, Audioslave, Nirvana, Steely Dan...and sounds from my festival summer - Neil Young helping me rock (

Rhiannon Robertsnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4082380108860691091.post-43757102993043485952009-08-06T22:07:00.004+01:002010-02-10T00:10:00.678Z

Johann Hari has written an inspiring comment piece on how important we all are to creating change, and why it's not an option to not be political. If only I could word it this well everytime someone tells me they don't vote, or don't think they have the power to change anything. Here's the last bit although reading the whole thing is always better: This isn't something remote. It's very simple

Rhiannon Robertsnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4082380108860691091.post-25183255200918049702009-07-10T13:31:00.003+01:002009-07-11T17:42:49.394+01:00

The G8 this week in Italy might not have achieved much, but Greenpeace came up with a whole bunch of brilliant actions, which are enough to get anyone (well me at least) wanting to illegally scale tall structures and send clear messages out that we're angry...The two faves:Really great banner. Hope our politicians see this too, they could do with being reminded about what real leadership on

Rhiannon Robertsnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4082380108860691091.post-59862427165815748882009-07-09T21:54:00.003+01:002010-02-10T00:14:10.400Z

I came across The Happy Planet Index which "reveals the ecological efficiency with which human well-being is delivered" on a country by country basis a while ago and thought it was great, but have just been reminded of it by Franny's mailout message, which points out the following: "nine of the top 10 nations are in Latin America. Big cheer. Saudi Arabia is 13th, China is 20th, India 35th. Not

Rhiannon Robertsnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4082380108860691091.post-32292691507986991162009-07-05T02:30:00.015+01:002009-07-11T14:41:52.292+01:00

I've spent this past week in vague mourning. Or more precisely, going through withdrawal stages - an initial refusal to believe that I wouldn't wake up and be there again and an inability to handle the transition back to reality. Then aches and pains, ignored whilst dancing till sunrise for the fourth night in a row, but hitting hard once I did stop and remembered what bodies are meant to feel

Rhiannon Robertsnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4082380108860691091.post-85571595232723318742009-06-20T14:29:00.005+01:002010-02-10T00:16:31.950Z

"The time would not pass. Somebody was playing with the clocks, and not only with the electric clocks, but the wind-up kind too. The second hand on my watch would twitch once, and a year would pass, and then it would twitch again. There was nothing I could do about it. As an Earthling, I had to believe whatever clocks said - and calendars." (p15 Slaughterhouse 5, Kurt Vonnegut) So glad my life

Rhiannon Robertsnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4082380108860691091.post-22409837845909956362009-06-19T00:33:00.004+01:002009-06-19T00:36:31.721+01:00

http://xkcd.com/24/Another lovely xkcd find. I like the funny ones too but somehow the romantic and contemplative ones are the ones I want to keep.

Rhiannon Robertsnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4082380108860691091.post-79845343277079598542009-02-22T21:51:00.004Z2009-02-23T00:07:47.046Z

So it turns out that I have found a job that has stopped even me from continuing to do all the things I usually do. Usually on an unstoppable mission to make life the more important part of the work/life balance, I have ended up on something that seems to have made work my entire life, and I actually don't seem to mind. Well, not quite. I still managed to go out rock n roll dancing (yes,

Rhiannon Robertsnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4082380108860691091.post-42511528610888749402009-02-06T00:25:00.005Z2009-02-23T00:07:12.852Z

Latitude, Google's new GPS-powered service, enables you to follow your friends movements on a map on your mobile phone... (read about it here or here).My first reaction was - that's scary. Why should anyone need to see where on a map I am other than me? And even though you can adjust your settings when you don't want to appear on your friends maps, just as with photo viewing settings on

Rhiannon Robertsnoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4082380108860691091.post-88314156236342611382009-02-04T00:28:00.005Z2009-02-04T01:11:54.742Z

Oil Barrels, 2008 Depicts 28,000 42-gallon barrels, the amount of of oil consumed in the United States every two minutes (equal to the flow of a medium-sized river).Chris Jordan's 'Running The Numbers: An American Self-Portrait' makes big numbers very scary. Large statistics are usually so overwhelming and impersonal that the number of 0's on the end does little to change how much they impress us

Rhiannon Robertsnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4082380108860691091.post-9436010150493030862009-02-02T20:40:00.008Z2009-02-02T21:44:29.447Z

The Age of Stupid: final trailer, Feb 2009 HD from Age of Stupid on Vimeo.Well it looks like this film is about to take over my life so I thought I should begin with an introduction...I started following the filmmakers' progress after encountering this film during research for my MA dissertation. After many books, articles and interviews my conclusion went something along the lines of saying that

Rhiannon Robertsnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4082380108860691091.post-26848849942046130242009-01-29T22:47:00.002Z2010-02-10T00:20:48.136Z

I just came across a quote I saved a while ago that I really should have included in my post about how generalists should be appreciated more. I want to make clear right now that I am not saying that experts and specialists are not incredibly important, however this little excerpt from Tim Adams' long article for the Guardian (on the financial crisis) adds to my point quite amusingly: "In

Rhiannon Robertsnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4082380108860691091.post-51529583599827910482009-01-29T21:12:00.009Z2009-01-29T22:04:23.436Z

This photo is fantastic!Make sure you view the full screen version, and have fun zooming right in and scrolling around.I'm glad I found something Obama related to post, because it felt strange not to have any record on here of such a fantastic moment 'in history'. (As everyone said, although I'm not entirely sure that that means as much as it sounds like.)However, it was a revelation that so

Rhiannon Robertsnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4082380108860691091.post-25906882747332965052009-01-24T16:05:00.009Z2009-01-24T18:26:31.643Z

Much as I am addicted to certain types of new technology (well, mainly the internet) it has caused some social changes that I really don't like being part of.This is a great advert to watch, but to me it just says - dancing to great music somewhere you're not meant to is much more fun than standing by and videoing it on your mobile. Which is presumably not the message they are trying to get

Rhiannon Robertsnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4082380108860691091.post-32970669386249978922009-01-23T00:23:00.004Z2009-01-23T00:55:58.724Z

I had to add this here just because I love it and the page needed brightening up with some good old fashioned hip thrusting dancing skeletons...This actually makes me laugh and smile the whole way through. Who needs CGI!

Rhiannon Robertsnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4082380108860691091.post-75921298678018398112009-01-22T22:47:00.014Z2010-02-10T00:23:45.510Z

An article in the Independent today, 'Culture of success: European schools introduce arts subjects to management curriculum' is yet another example of how the financial crisis is forcing some interesting rethinking across the spectrum. And this is another one which I am quite happy about. The article focuses on examples of arts and humanities topics being added to business courses and a shift

Rhiannon Robertsnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4082380108860691091.post-10220163431778428102009-01-18T14:32:00.006Z2009-01-19T18:33:55.293Z

The estate agent driven fashion for tagging 'village' onto any urban area with a couple of organic deli's and trendified pubs usually drives me mad (Hackney village? so it got a bit more middle class and fashionable, that hardly makes it a village). But cycling back from the Columbia Road flower market along the sunny canal, it suddenly all felt like I'd peddled into an idyllic morning in an

Rhiannon Robertsnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4082380108860691091.post-50681234345178136082009-01-17T00:15:00.007Z2009-01-17T02:30:41.412Z

(+ Q&A with director Gus Van Sant, writer Dustin Lance Black and actor James Franco at the BFI)Whilst watching, I was sure that the film would leave me more impressed with the man it portrays than the film itself. Given that I was surrounded by slightly awestruck Gus Van Sant admirers excitedly awaiting his wisdom in the following Q&A, I felt slightly like a traitor. However a few hours on and I

Rhiannon Robertsnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4082380108860691091.post-37372130200500209532009-01-06T00:22:00.013Z2009-01-17T02:25:39.552Z

(Thoughts after seeing Slumdog Millionaire + Q&A with director Danny Boyle)This evening I have once again left the BFI Southbank blown away by the fantastic possibilities of film. So many times I have made that familiar riverside walk to Embankment tube station looking at London's restaurant goers, skate kids and treasure trove of lights with eyes made new by a fantastic film or an inspiring

Rhiannon Robertsnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4082380108860691091.post-7902925108772776632009-01-03T19:29:00.006Z2009-01-18T16:38:12.803Z

Windturbines, E40, at sunset, originally uploaded by renmus.Driving across the Mendip hills this evening, as the trees cast out their long grey shadows through the golden red rays of the sinking sun, the solitary wind turbine turning slowly and restfully seemed very much at one with its landscape. Gently orchestrating that moment where nature loiters before descending into dusk.To me, wind farms

Rhiannon Robertsnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4082380108860691091.post-72288339919709969362009-01-02T19:44:00.008Z2009-01-03T02:10:28.800Z

Rhiannon Robertsnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4082380108860691091.post-69152303404202949432009-01-02T18:48:00.012Z2009-01-08T00:27:15.941Z

People are saying that 2008 is one of those years that will go down in history. Not just because big things happened, but because there have been so-called seismic shifts in attitude. It is now a cliche to point out that culturally, we cannot go back to the point where a black US president seemed impossible, or to the same trust in the financial system and the type of capitalism that went with it

Rhiannon Robertsnoreply@blogger.com0