Thoughts from the Bus Stop

Oh joy - it's an Elizabeth-fest! Tonight it's the first part of Channel Four's Elizabeth I, starring Helen Mirren.

Then in January Anne-Marie Duff (Fiona from the genius Shameless) plays Elizabeth in the BBC series Elizabeth I: The Virgin Queen. This will cover Elizabeth's life from her teens to her death at the age of 70.

And it's possible that Cate Blanchett will reprise her role as Elizabeth in The Golden Age, a sequel to Shekhar Kapur's 1998 film Elizabeth, which is probably one of my top five films ever (and along with David Starkey's biog and TV series, responsible for getting me hooked on Bess). But I'm not holding my breath on this one.

As Empire says: "It could be second time lucky for Cate Blanchett at the Oscars if this goes ahead. However, everything depends on Blanchett returning, and preferably the rest of the cast with her, and the script working out. We'll get excited if and when it all comes together."

The Makeup Gallery has a fantastic page of photos of actresses who have played Elizabeth on TV and in movies, linked to individual pages where their make-up jobs are gone into in detail - including some who agreed to shave their hairlines in order to get an authentic Tudor look... eeeshk!

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It's been a cracking week on Emmerdale - two hour-long episodes packed with suspense and plot twists... Patsy Kensit's Sadie turning up in the middle of Zoe's flight from the law, to secure Home Farm for the hated Kings by blackmail; Zoe's trial and surprise aquittal; Scott going loopy with a shotgun; and finally, just as Zoe leaves Home Farm for the last time with her kids, and the triumphant Kings arrive to take over, a delicious close-up of a disconnected gas pipe and a timer ticking away... and the place goes up in a gigantic soap explosion as Zoe looks on from the distance.

I can't bothered with any other soaps but I do love Emmerdale. Even when it's not morphing into Dynasty.


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If you happen to be listening to Radio 2 on Saturday lunchtime, don't miss The Flight Of The Conchords - improvised comedy starring Bret McKenzie and Jemaine Clement, and narrated by Rob Brydon:

"Over six weeks, New Zealand's fourth most popular folk parody band attempt to crack the UK's lucrative novelty music scene with songs such as 'Frodo, don't wear the ring'. Despite the fact The Conchords did appear in Peter Jackson's Lord of the Rings (do an internet search of the word 'Figwit' if you would like proof) this song was not featured on the original soundtrack, partly explaining why the band left New Zealand in the first place."

Best bit so far? When the band call Neil Finn to ask if Jemaine should or should not engage in a three-way with their only two fans...


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The Museum of London has used their vast collection of objects from all over London to produce the The Postcodes Project:
"To highlight some of their fascinating local stories we have selected a single object for each London postcode area. You can add to the richness of the site by submitting your own local stories."
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Fabric to Fashion: Scottish Textiles and International Style runs from 7 October 2005 –12 March 2006 at the Museum of Scotland, Edinburgh:

"Vivienne Westwood, Alexander McQueen and Louis Vuitton are just a few of the
top designers whose work will feature in an exciting new exhibition (which) will demonstrate how the world’s leading designers draw on Scottish textiles to create cutting-edge catwalk designs.

The exhibition builds on the success of Cloth to the Catwalk [pdf], an exhibition held at Shambellie House Museum of Costume last year, by doubling the number of designer items on show. New exhibits include a pair of Nike trainers made of Harris Tweed, a man’s tartan jacket and bondage trousers from Vivienne Westwood’s Anglomania collection; a Jean Paul Gaultier tartan jacket and skirt, designed using digital photography; and a man’s outfit designed especially for the young Korean market, by Kinloch Anderson...

The popularity of tartan, tweed and knitwear will be demonstrated through a display of designer clothing including a dress by Elizabeth Emanuel in the official Diana, Princess of Wales Memorial Tartan; a Louis Vuitton suit in an estate tweed by Johnstons and a pink cashmere top designed by Scott Henshall and worn by Jodie Kidd.The exciting display will demonstrate the creativity and success of Scottish textile firms such as Lochcarron of Scotland (Galashiels), who are lending the Elizabeth Emanuel dress, and The Lovat Mill (Hawick), who created the cloth for two items by Belgian designers – a suit donated by Dries van Noten and a coat (complete with ears and a tail) by Bernhard Willhelm...

Leading Scottish knitwear companies have also donated items for the exhibition, including a red cashmere sweater by Johnstons. Cashmere designers Queene and Belle, whose designs are worn by stars including Trudi Styler and Jemima Khan, donated a cream hand-painted cashmere cardigan..."

(...continues [pdf]).
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Mmmmm. Am contentedly full from a delicious plate of piping hot meatballs and mash wi’ gravy from those lovely people at Capers this lunchtime. And there might be nothing on the box tonight, but I do have my brand new DVD of Pride & Prejudice (the gorgeous BBC version). So I think I’ll settle in with that and a glass of cheap red and my knitting (got a deadline for someone’s birthday)... although my tax return is still staring accusingly at me from the pile of assorted crap on my desk, so I really ought to deal with that before the usually genial Adam Hart-Davis comes round on his snazzy bike and starts nagging me.
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The Cast Off Knitting Club for Boys and Girls invite you to The Knitted Wedding:

"Please help us knit the first completely knitted wedding! Everything at this wedding will be knitted, from the cameras, to the dress, the food, the decorations, something old, something new, something borrowed and something blue. Our bride is curator of the exhibition ‘Ceremony’, and Knitting Doctor, Freddie Robins. All knitters and their friends are invited to the wedding.

The wedding ceremony is at 2pm. At 2.45pm we will throw the woollen confetti. The champagne reception is at 3pm, with speeches and knitted cake. You may knit through the reception. There are drinks but you may want to bring a picnic, as the food is knitted. The 1st dance and the wedding disco with our favourite DJ Nervous Stephen, will start at 4pm and continue until 6.30 when the bride and groom leave."

Scroll to the bottom of this page for free wedding-themed knitting patterns, including candles, doves, flowers and sandwiches; as well as info on how to send your knitted items to the wedding. All work will be credited in a slide show during the reception, and later shown in a book - How to Knit Your Own Wedding - published by Cast Off.

The Knitted Wedding is part of the Ceremony exhibition at the Pump House Gallery in Battersea Park till 9 October 2005, "...fusing craft with live art Ceremony brings together an eclectic range of works, performances and projects that explore the performative relationship between object and ritual...ranging from cake decorating, metalwork, video, knitting, live art, quilting and floristry." Rachael and Annie from Cast Off will be knitting in the gallery, and showing films with weddings in, from 28th September to 2nd October, and 5th October to 8th October, 11am-5pm.
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Fashion Lives is a new exhibition at the British Library, running from 11 November 2005 – 7 February 2006. It will bring together a collection of post-war fashion leaders who have defined their profession and played a unique role in shaping the fashion industry as we know it today:

"The exhibition, curated by Alistair O'Neill from London College of Fashion (LCF), features exhibition design by St Martin’s graduate William Hall. It includes a specially commissioned repeatable design by fashion duo Eley Kishimoto that will form the backdrop to the exhibition and a series of commissioned portraits by the photographer Gareth McConnell.

The exhibition draws on the Oral History of British Fashion collection of oral history interviews from the National Life Story Collection at the British Library's Sound Archive. This new collaborative initiative between the London College of Fashion and the British Library documents fashion and its related industries within living memory. It contains interviews with Percy Savage, the man who was the first 'fashion PR' and was the name behind Christian Dior’s Eau Sauvage scent; Lily Silberberg, a former pupil of Barrett Street Needle Trade School and a teacher at London College of Fashion; Leslie Russell the 'Smile' hairdresser who, in the 1960s, cut the hair of Cathy McGowan (of 'Ready Steady Go' fame) and Peter Sellers; Savile Row tailor Angus Cundy of Henry Poole & Co; Marit Allen, former Young Idea at Vogue Fashion Editor from 1963 - 1973 and now an award winning costume designer for films such as Eyes Wide Shut and The Hulk; Tommy Roberts, the owner of the King's Road boutique 'Mr Freedom' in the 1970s and 'two columbia road' today; John Church, of Church’s Shoes, Northampton; and Michael Southgate of Adel Rootstein mannequins in London.

The fascinating reflections of each of the contributors highlights the importance of recording the craft skills and business techniques of the ever-changing British fashion industries. The exhibition stresses the continuing importance and relevance of ways of working that have been lost through the process of modernisation, by inviting a number of contemporary practitioners such as bespoke tailor Timothy Everest, womenswear designer Shelley Fox, fashion illustrator and designer Julie Verhoeven, and milliner Dai Rees to talk about the influence and importance of the work of each of the interviewees on their work today.

As well as oral testimonies, the exhibition will include a selection of printed ephemera, personal papers, clothing and textiles, newspapers and magazines, sketches, samplers and tools..." (...continues)

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Via The Guardian: "Opera meets knitting in the latest project from Tête à Tête. The opera company has already met over 100 knitters and spinners in preparation for A Shetland Odyssey, its retelling of Odysseus's journey home from Troy, to be performed by six singers, seven musicians and five craftspeople in autumn 2006."

The production is explained in depth in a great article from the Highlands & Islands Arts Journal: Navigating New Waters. (Should I make it to a performance, I think it only fitting that I should knit myself some opera gloves to wear...)
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I am agog having watched KT Tunstall's performance at the Mercury Music Prize the other night.

I didn't see it live but I was listening to it on the Mark Radcliffe show and he was chatting with her about how she'd performed without her band this time - though her performance definitely sounded like she'd had backing singers and percussion.

The video of the performance on the BBC site revealed all - the gal's got this tightly choreographed routine where she starts off doing a couple of bars of guitar, and puts it on a loop by kicking a box near her feet, then going on to do the same for handclaps, tambourine and 'ooh-oohs'. And she never missed a beat. Maybe this is an old trick, but I've never seen it done before and am dead impressed!

And I liked her frock. And her homepage reminds me of the set for Bjork's Human Behaviour vid...


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Popped into the AKUS website and took a look at the video they've made for the achingly gorgeous Restless (from Lonely Runs Both Ways).

Unlike the song, it's nothing special - just Alison skulking about looking melancholy... in shoes she can't walk in, poor lass. Click here to launch the video (.ram).


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Widows (detail). Joss Graham Oriental Textiles.

Via 24 Hour Museum:

"Intricate embroidery produced by a women’s organisation in India is currently on show at the Art Exchange Gallery in Nottingham. Stitching Women’s Lives, featuring highly detailed examples of Sujani – running stitch on layered cloth – and Khatwa – appliqué work with chain and running stitch – embroidery, is on display until September 29 2005.

The exhibition has been organised by the Nottingham-based Apna Arts and presents work by women from ADITHI, a project that aims to empower rural women in the state of Bihar in India through education and financial aid..." more...

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Comic performers Mitch Benn and the Distractions gently extract the michael with their new single Everything Sounds Like Coldplay Now. Click here to see the video.
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