New Portrait – Michael Sheen
‘Michael Sheen’ – acrylic on canvas 2011
I have known Michael for a little while, and recently went to see his Hamlet, directed by Ian Rickson and currently running at the New Vic. It’s phenomenal. Afterwards we had dinner and Michael spoke at length about what he and Ian had done with the play and why. A couple of weeks later we met again, I cooked an appalling piece of chicken and we asked him about his Passion, a mammoth modern unfurling of the Christ story spread across the streets and beaches of Port Talbot (an industrial port and market town where he grew up, and which has also produced Rob Brydon, Anthony Hopkins and Richard Burton). Michael is deeply energised about his work, and if the formula for success is TALENT + ENERGY (as noted by my manager, who added wisely that the formal for stardom is SUCCESS + ATTITUDE) then Michael radiates them powerfully. He’s surely one of the most extraordinary actors of our generation, and possesses a phenomenal creative drive without any of the exhausting ego that normally accompanies mere dull ambition.
So, as I tend to paint people that I know and find extraordinary, I asked if he would mind awfully. A bit over a week later, interrupted by Christmas of course, and tweeted in its various stages, the large (it’s five foot high) portrait above was completed. For those who do not tweet, or for those who do but who might like to see the sequence together, and above all for those who give a jot because they paint and are interested in the process, I shall set it out as best as I can. Here then, is how it came together:
Channel 4 to take over London’s tube for New Year’s Eve
Click the Image to watch a clip
“Channel 4 is to become the first advertiser to take over every digital screen on the London underground with a New Year’s Eve campaign featuring 16 stars including Jamie Oliver, Zooey Deschanel and Gordon Ramsay.
The campaign, which showcases next year’s Channel 4′s shows, will include three 40-second video clips of its TV stars becoming “increasingly more debauched” over the course of the night.
The “party carriage” video clips – which feature stars including Derren Brown, Alan Carr, Jon Snow and Kirstie Allsopp as “unlikely tube fellows” – aim to mimic a typical commuter using the tube to get to, and from, New Year’s Eve parties.
The videos will run from 6am on 31 December until “early morning” on 1 January.
Channel 4 said the first video clip will see its stars travelling on the tube “side by side, minding their own business, on their way to their respective big nights out”.
Later on, the scene will change and become “increasingly more debauched featuring Channel 4 stars looking slightly the worse for wear”.
Digital poster panels on escalators will appear to show Channel 4 talent travelling alongside commuters to catch the tube.”
Read more at The Guardian
Svengali 2012 – Aylesbury Tickets On Sale 22nd Dec
Just a quick post to let you all know that Svengali will be coming to Aylesbury from the 28th May 2012 through to 2nd June 2012.
Tickets go on sale Thursday 22nd Dec.
You can find a list of other 2012 tour dates at http://derrenbrown.co.uk/tour-dates/svengali/
New Paintings
I’ve been spending a bit of time in my painting studio. I thought I might update you. Twitter followers will have seen a shot of me painting the pianist James Rhodes. Here we are:
And here’s a better shot of the painting itself:
They’re acrylic on canvas. I’ve also been back and worked on the portrait of my father. Here it is, about the same size (5ft high) as the one of James:
and, for those who enjoy such things, a bit of detail:
Next up is actor friend Michael Sheen. I’ve taken a few shots and I’m about to get started. (I always take my own photographs and work quietly from them in my own time, as I only get a few hours here and there to paint). I’ll let you know when it’s done. What a great guy to paint. I can’t wait.
There are a few more pictures of portraits (including some of the older caricatures of Rufus Wainwright, Tom Waits, Clint Eastwood et al) on the artwork page of the main site. I’ll let you know here next time I have an exhibition: should be one next year somewhere.
Right, Merry Christmasses or just Happy Holidays, depending on whatnot. Ta-ta for now.
dx
Matrix-Style Learning Infiltrates Your Mind
“While it may not help you learn how to Kung Fu fight or fly a B212 Helicopter, a neurofeedback method of learning is reminiscent of something we might have seen in the movie, The Matrix.
The technique would provide more immediate and long-lasting knowledge in tasks that demand a significant level of visual performance, like hitting a curve ball or learning to play the piano.
Researchers from Boston University (BU) and ATR Computational Neuroscience Laboratories in Kyoto, Japan recently demonstrated that they could induce brain activity patterns to match a targeted state by decoding a person’s functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) scan of their visual cortex.
In the future, researchers envision a person watching a computer screen and having their brain patterns manipulated to match those of a desired level of task performance, perhaps of an athlete or someone healing from an accident or disease.
Their findings were published in the most recent issue of Science.
“Adult early visual areas are sufficiently plastic to cause visual perceptual learning,” lead author and BU neuroscientist Takeo Watanabe said in a National Science Foundation press release.
However, there is one wrinkle in this Matrix-style approach to learning: the method worked on subjects even when they weren’t aware of what they were learning.
“We found that subjects were not aware of what was to be learned while behavioral data obtained before and after the neurofeedback training showed that subjects’ visual performance improved specifically for the target orientation,” Watanabe said.
Fascinating — sure — but this does open up the door to hypnosis and mind control, which Watanabe is keenly aware of.
“We have to be careful,” he said, “so that this method is not used in an unethical way.” Sounds like a good plot line for the next Matrix movie.”
Via Discovery News (Thanks Annette)
Atheists ‘hijack’ Nativity display in Santa Monica, critics say
“Organizers of Santa Monica’s well-known Christmas Nativity scene at Palisades Park are accusing atheists of “hijacking” the tradition.
Atheist groups objected to use of the park by churches to espouse a religious message and applied to the city of Santa Monica for their own spaces.
Officials used a lottery to dole out spots in the prime location along Ocean Avenue. The atheists turned out to be the lucky ones: Of the 21 plots in the park open for displays, they won 18. The Nativity story that once took 14 displays to tell — from the Annunciation, continuing to the manger in Bethlehem and onto infant Jesus’ journey to Egypt and back to Nazareth — had to be abridged to three and crammed into two plots.
“A small group of out-of-town atheists is trying to hijack Santa Monica’s nearly 60-year-long Christmas tradition,” said Hunter Jameson, chairman of the Santa Monica Nativity Scenes Committee, the group that works with more than a dozen churches and civic groups to organize the display.
Jameson said he intends to keep the Nativity tradition many have enjoyed since 1953 from being displaced. Palisades Park, he said, is the “historic home where it really belongs.”
“Their goal is getting rid of us, and squelching our 1st Amendment rights,” said Jameson, 65, who no longer lives in Santa Monica but still worships at Lighthouse Church of Santa Monica.
Patrick Elliott, a lawyer for the Freedom From Religion Foundation, said tradition is no excuse for violating the boundaries between church and state. “Just because they’re long-standing doesn’t mean they’re right,” he said.
Annie Laurie Gaylor, co-president of the Freedom From Religion Foundation, said December is a busy time for the organization’s attorneys, who challenge the use of public spaces for religious messages.
“It’s littering — literally, littering — these spaces,” Gaylor said of such displays, which she said are a “territorial attempt by Christians to impose their beliefs in this season.”"
Read more at Los Angeles Times (Thanks Roz)
Banksy unveils church abuse work
“Street artist Banksy has installed a vandalised sculpture of a priest in a gallery in Liverpool.
Cardinal Sin is a bust with its face sawn off and replaced by blank tiles, designed as a response to the child abuse scandal in the Catholic church.
In a statement, Banksy said: “I’m never sure who deserves to be put on a pedestal or crushed under one.”
The sculpture was unveiled at the Walker Art Gallery, where it is sitting alongside 17th Century religious art.
The bathroom tiles have been put in place of the priest’s face to create a pixelated effect.
“I love everything about the Walker Gallery – the Old Masters, the contemporary art, the rude girl in the cafe. And when I found out Mr Walker built it with beer money it became my favourite gallery,” said Banksy.
“The statue? I guess you could call it a Christmas present. At this time of year it’s easy to forget the true meaning of Christianity – the lies, the corruption, the abuse.”"
Read more at BBC News (Thanks Annette)
Punk’s not dead, it’s just gone to moral rehab
“Indonesian sharia police are “morally rehabilitating” more than 60 young punk rock fans in Aceh province on Sumatra island, saying the youths are tarnishing the province’s image.
Since being arrested at a punk rock concert in the provincial capital Banda Aceh on Saturday night, 59 male and five female punk rock fans have been forced to have their hair cut, bathe in a lake, change clothes and pray.
“We feared that the Islamic sharia law implemented in this province will be tainted by their activities,” Banda Aceh deputy mayor Illiza Sa’aduddin Djamal, who ordered the arrests, said.
“We hope that by sending them to rehabilitation they will eventually repent.”
Hundreds of Indonesian punk fans came from around the country to attend the concert, organised to raise money for orphans.
Police stormed the venue and arrested fans sporting mohawks, tattoos, tight jeans and chains, who were on Tuesday taken to a nearby town to undergo a 10-day moral rehabilitation camp run by police.
A girl cried as women in headscarves cut her long unruly hair into a short bob, and some of the men groaned as their heads were shaved.
“Why did they arrest us? They haven’t given us any reason,” said Fauzal, 20.
“We didn’t steal anything, we weren’t bothering anyone. It’s our right to go to a concert.”
A 22-year-old man from Medan city who did not want to be named said he feared he would lose his job for staying at the camp for 10 days.
“I’ve just started with a bank in Medan. I don’t even know what to tell them because I don’t know why I’ve been arrested.”"
Read more at ABC News (Thanks Antony)
PayPal Has No Regrets
You may have heard about the kerfuffle caused by PayPal recently when they blocked a gift exchange initiative for 200 children organised by Regretsy.
According to Regretsy:
“We took many applications, vetted them carefully and set about creating a giant gift exchange program, where you could buy a gift for the over 200 children we’re helping.
We raised so much money that we found ourselves in a position of not just being able to send toys, but to send a monetary gift to the families as well. We hoped it might help them make their holiday dinners more special, or maybe pay a pressing bill.
Paypal shut it down.
Apparently we made the mistake of using the “Donate” button, which Paypal is now claiming is only for nonprofit organizations to use.* They froze the account, which also includes Zazzle money that we use to make emergency gifts. That money isn’t in issue, but what the hell! Might as well keep everything!”
You can read the full account, including a jaw-dropping phone conversation with a PayPal representative here.
After Regretsy publicised this and the web caught whiff of what was happening, Paypal reached out to Regretsy again to discuss the usage of the Donation button and to clarify that the information that they’d been given before had been false.
The upshot of all this is that PayPal has now agreed to send a $100 donation to each of the families that Regretsy was planning to send gifts to this Christmas.
Regretsy is the fail blog of hand crafts. Almost everything posted is collected from the web site, Etsy, though sometimes they feature crafting failures from other sites.
(Thanks Bruno)
Out-of-body experience: Master of illusion
“Henrik Ehrsson uses mannequins, rubber arms and virtual reality to create body illusions, all in the name of neuroscience.
It is not every day that you are separated from your body and then stabbed in the chest with a kitchen knife.
But such experiences are routine in the lab of Henrik Ehrsson, a neuroscientist at the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm, who uses illusions to probe, stretch and displace people’s sense of self. Today, using little more than a video camera, goggles and two sticks, he has convinced me that I am floating a few metres behind my own body. As I see a knife plunging towards my virtual chest, I flinch. Two electrodes on my fingers record the sweat that automatically erupts on my skin, and a nearby laptop plots my spiking fear on a graph.
Out-of-body experiences are just part of Ehrsson’s repertoire. He has convinced people that they have swapped bodies with another person1, gained a third arm2, shrunk to the size of a doll or grown to giant proportions3. The storeroom in his lab is stuffed with mannequins of various sizes, disembodied dolls’ heads, fake hands, cameras, knives and hammers. It looks like a serial killer’s basement. “The other neuroscientists think we’re a little crazy,” Ehrsson admits.
But Ehrsson’s unorthodox apparatus amount to more than cheap trickery. They are part of his quest to understand how people come to experience a sense of self, located within their own bodies. The feeling of body ownership is so ingrained that few people ever think about it — and those scientists and philosophers who do have assumed that it was unassailable.”
Read more at Nature.com (Thanks Annette)
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