Why you should drink coffee black

This gem was provided to me by a fellow coffee aficianado in the hosting team at my current place of work:

http://ping.fm/Ol0vk

LOL

Official Announcement - 365 Portraits, LIVE!

OK, there has not been a lot of communication from me on this subject for a while and I realise that we are now getting into the realms of short-notice, but I can now announce with final and complete certainty (well almost, more on that later) that the exhibition of my project "365 Portraits" will run from 12/09/2008 to 18/09/2008 in The Turbine House Exhibition Gallery at The Blake's Lock Museum in Reading.

If you can see this, then you are warmly invited to attend the 'Private View' on Friday 12th of September, starting at 1900h.

There have been some roadblocks along the way, including the prohibitive cost of having the collection printed, but this is by no means designed to be a sob-story, and the important fact is that the mountain has been almost completely conquered and the show will go on.

There are two remaining details to deal with between now and the 10th (when I get the keys):

1. I am still in need of a volunteer or two who are prepared to be anything from bored out of their minds to engaged in deep discussions with interested members of the public, for either / both of Tuesday and Thursday the 16th and 18th. Basically to get the space, it must be 'open' from at least 1030h to 1830h during the entirety of the exhibition and I have to go to work... I will be keeping the exhibition open under my own steam on the evenings, and the weekend, but I need some people who need to ring-fence some quality reading time, but who are comfortable dealing with the public if necessary. Any offers greatly received, please email me at - maleghast at gmail dot com.

2. I need to provide my own Pulic Liability Insurance for the duration of the exhibition or Reading Borough Council will not let me have the space. It may be that I just have a butchers on the internet and buy what I can get / afford and be done with it, but if anyone out there has experience with arranging / sourcing / buying short-term event insurance of this type, or even of any type and particularly if they can recommend a good, cheap broker, then I would be in your debt.

I hope that some / many / all of the people who can see this, plus their significant others (if for some reason I can't reach them) will come and see the show - a lot of the people who will see this blog-post are in the show. I hope some of you will be able to make it on the Friday evening, where there will indeed be 'pie and punch', or perhaps something a little more sophisticated. Anyone who can hook me up with cheap wine that is actually drinkable, and / or good nibbles may well get a copy of their picture presented to them (though not the show copy, as I hope to re-exhibit later this year / early next).

Those of you who can see this who blog in other scenes / environments / areas or just have different audiences to me who are prepared to do their bit passing on the details, you are forever in my debt and you are also shiny, special people. So that you can spread the word, here are some details:

Blakes Lock Museum

Dates: 12/09 -> 18/09 2008 | 1030h to 2130h

The Project on Flickr

There will also be a 'Page' on my Wordpress Blog with these details, but it's not ready yet - I will send another Ping around when that's live.

Thanks in advance to any and all that talk / blog about this for me :-)

Finally... I am going to say this up-front so that it's not a shock to anyone, and also to make it as clear as I can to the people most important to me that I have no expectations on this front;

This endeavour is costing me (conservatively) about £1k. Now, that is my choice and I'm not asking anyone to either praise my commitment, or mock my lunacy, I wanted to do this, this is the best way to make sure that it's my show, my vision, my achievement. Nonetheless there will be a donations box at the show, and rather like the money you may (or may not) spend on a piece of good shareware software, or the tip you leave after a good meal, if you enjoy the show, then please think about leaving a donation. I do not expect to even get close to recouping costs, but if I do, the balance of any further donations will go to charity, I have honestly not decided which one yet. Please feel free to give me some ideas...

There will also be the chance to buy either an 'official' / licenced digital copy of the picture or pictures that you like, or to order paper or canvas prints. Again, I do not expect this of people, but I want it to be possible, and I want to be transparent about the fact that there will be a mark-up on printing, so if you want to get the best deal, then I would think about the digital route and doing your own printing - there is simply no way for me to get it any cheaper than you can. For Reading locals I will be recommending a local tradesman, who appears as one of the portraits in the show. He is an excellent printer and framer and his prices are very good considering the qualilty of what he turns out. There will be more details on his services in the show literature (must get to Kinko's this weekend)...

Okay, that's it for now - I look forward to seeing as many of you as I am lucky enough to get on the 12th; thanks fo reading...