Tuesday 31 August 2010

PC Friend Focus - Thomas Stamp

The Painter's Chronicle Team are delighted to announce yet another new regular feature to our website, 'PC Friend Focus'. This will be a monthly offering and each month we will focus on a PC subscripient who has something a little different and special about them. This month we speak to a young up and coming photographer, who first came to our attention when we stumbled across his photography websites when surfing the world wide web. The debut guest for PC Friend Focus is Cragg Vale's own, Thomas Stamp.

About Thomas Stamp...
I’m 16 years old and living in Cragg Vale. I started getting into photography back in 2006 when my Great Grandma gave me a camera. It was a Canon compact and it was great! I used it all the time and was taking pictures of everything.

In Summer 2007 was when my interest in photography really started to take off. I went to Saint Tropez with my family for a holiday for 3 weeks, so I had a lot of time to shoot. I got some really great landscapes with my point and shoot but compact cameras have limitations. So when I got home my Dad let me use his old Minolta film camera. I used that for about 3 months and at Christmas I was lucky enough to get a Canon eos digital camera.

Since that moment I have not stopped taking photos and have think I've improved vastly and have mainly focused on Landscape photography. I’m now working in a local photography studio training to be a photographer and taking photos for the local newspapers.

I have recently been given my own space in the studio to sell my Landscapes. Sort of like a gallery for me to sell some of my landscapes. You can drop into Philip Fearnley Photography in Sowerby Bridge to see them or they can be bought at www.choosecapture.co.uk

You can see some more of Tom's excellent work via his Flickr Page.

Monday 30 August 2010

Billy's Ugandan Journal

Having now returned from Uganda, and having the experience of a lifetime, I have decided to gather my thoughts and stories and compile them for the readers of The Painter's Chronicle, but most importantly, the rest of the Great Generation Team. Keep logging on every Monday for the next 15 weeks as I take you through day-by-day the thrills and spills of one unforgettable trip...

Day 1 – Friday 16th July
Finally, after just under 12 months of fundraising, debate, planning and preparation the big day had finally arrived. We all met at Huddersfield Train Station around midday and it was at that point it really hit me that the next two weeks were going to be one great experience, and as I looked around I thought to myself what a great group of people to be experiencing it with. I knew just from the faces and the characters that the group had within it that we were going to become one close family that would be there for each other whether in times of sadness and challenges or times of banter and spontaneous comical moments. We were all sporting our extremely luminous yellow T-shirts, each with a number and nickname on the back, I think we stood out quite a bit to be honest! Several members of the group at this point were also getting slightly worried about exceeding their bag allowances, only to be made worse when Jez decided to surprise us all with several kilos of additional soap to take out too. This didn’t bother me in the slightest as I was rather smug about how much my bag weighed, you’ll find out later exactly how light it was.

We then said our goodbyes and farewells and boarded the train at 12.15pm to head to Manchester Airport. I think that this was the point where the true adrenaline and excitement really did kick in. There were moments of pauses and big grins on the faces of everyone and constant phrases of ‘I can’t wait’ and ‘I wonder what...’ The giddiness between the lads then rose to the next level when Patrick, in his ever observant mind set, spotted what turned out to be some peoples highlight of the trip (David Hyatt). Sky Sports pundit Chris Kamara was sat in the next coach to us, this sparked an immediate reaction and countless amounts of ‘Unbelievable Jeff’ muttered beneath our breaths. We’d all seen Chris Kamara, which was quite a shock and one we would remember, but for some people, namely David Hyatt (who else) a sighting wasn’t good enough and before we knew it he was stood in front of Kammy trying to make conversation, stuttering and clutching a piece of paper at the same time at this point we were all rolling our eyes and chuckling away at Hyatt’s attempt to impress. We could have carried on watching for the remainder of the journey and count the number of awkward silences between the two but it was the first day after all and I decided I couldn’t be quite that harsh just yet. I decided to bite the bullet and help the poor guy out and between the three of us we managed to get a rather interesting debate going about the recent World Cup and England’s performance. A really nice person and the same person we all know and love from Soccer Saturday. With this in mind and the sight of Hyatt nervously clutching a pen and paper, I thought I’d better ask for an autograph otherwise Hyatt would be kicking himself for 2 weeks in Uganda something none of us would be able to deal with. Kammy duly obliged and was even kind enough to have his photo taken with 17 people dressed in radiant yellow T-shirts, a brave man indeed. It’s just a shame that not everyone realised who we managed to meet, one female member of the group even thinking we’d met Lionel Richie!

'From Kamara, to Kampala'
We then went into the airport and had the dreaded bag weigh in. I was relatively impressed, most people’s were a respectable 15/16kgs, not quite as impressive as my 12kgs but we’ll say no more on that one. A quick mention for Louis though who narrowly came 2nd. However, the greatest shock of the trip yet was when Hannah placed her bag on the scales to have it weighed, 24kg! It was so heavy even the airport staff looked at each other in amazement. Perhaps she’d packed goodies for everyone...

We then went through to the departure lounge, checked the weather for Kampala and saw that it was heavy rain for the next 7 days, oh dear! There’s a surprise we weren’t hoping for, it’s going to be a wet two weeks. We then boarded the Turkish Airlines flight and were on our way to Istanbul...

Thursday 26 August 2010

Vote Patrick McCallion!


The exciting musical talent that is Patrick McCallion is once again in with a great chance of more success, this time through his new music video; Neon Lights. This can be seen and heard on website Yobi.tv and to support Patrick it would be fantastic if you could sign up and vote for him too. Just follow this link.

All the best Patrick, another amazing piece of musical magic!

Monday 23 August 2010

Newport (Ymerodraeth State of Mind)

Friday 20 August 2010

Calder Valley FC

Two 5-A-Side Teams have been entered into an official, established, competitive 5-A-Side league. The teams of which are made up of Calder Valley representatives having regularly played football on a Wednesday afternoon after Billy initiated a general kick-about which has now lead to demand to start an actual team.  

This fixtures for the league entered take place every Tuesday night at Crossley Heath School, and our game will be timetabled in sometime between 7.00 and 9.30; with each game lasting half an hour. All games take place on the new indoor court. 

One side will be managed by Billy Painter, with the other by Cameron Taylor. We're on the lookout for new players to join us, and join what we hope will be a series of exciting, successful fixtures with of course the social aspect for after too.


If you are interested, please register your interest by emailing
billy@billypainter.com 


League and Cup Fixtures have now started, so do get in touch ASAP to avoid disappointment!

Thursday 19 August 2010

A-Level Results Day

Well, the big day has finally arrived! Do or Die, Make or Break, Success or Failure!

It's A-Level Result Day! The time where all 17/18 year olds find out whether two years of study and determination has guided them to some well deserved grades giving them foundation stones and scope for university and the world of work. 

The only thing left to say is... Whoever you are, wherever you are, what ever results your receiving, the very best of luck! Hopefully you got what you anticipated, and what you needed. 

Wednesday 18 August 2010

Film Review With Sam Larner

After his two week holiday, Sam Larner returns to the Painter's Chronicle website to give us another in depth fil review, this week of Inglorious Bastards. Enjoy!
   
Inglorious Bastards
   
This is the newest Quentin Tarantino film and is largely considered a return to form following the Kill Bill volumes. It has Tarantino's signature scrawled all over it with the use of chapters, the dark humour interlinked with serious plot and the inter textual comparisons. If you are already a Tarantino fan then you will find nothing to dislike in this new offering however if you think that he is a bit of a stuck up, arty ponce capable of sparks of brilliance but more often than not just settles for regular non descript action movies that his hordes of fanboy followers faun over like a new child.
   
Now, before I start the actual meat of the review I will just fill you in on a bit of background about my relationship with Tarantino's work. Firstly, I absolutely love "Pulp Fiction", it's one of my favourite films and will no doubt stay in my top 5 list for a very long time. I also loved "Reservoir Dogs" although slightly less than "Pulp Fiction", however I found that the "Kill Bill" films and "Death Proof" were really much too smug and self reflective than I could take. The biggest problem was that it is just one movie however you had to pay twice to see it. Tarantino said this was because of the length; well you know Quentin I don't want to tell you how to do your job but perhaps try and edit it down to a reasonable length. Quentin has also now surrounded himself with other film geeks such as Robert Rodriguez and Eli Roth, the latter even included references to "Pulp Fiction" in his "Hostel" movies, which really is the worst kind of ass licking imaginable.
                                                                                                                                             .
Right now that I've vented my spleen it's time to move onto the main review. Inglorious Basterds is set in mid war occupied France and follows a group of American soldiers who aim to kill and scalp as many German soldiers as they can. Brad Pitt stars as Aldo Raine the leader of this group of men. The film is split fairly equally between this group and Hans Landa, played by the magnificent Christophe Waltz. The chapters switch between Landa and the Basterds which is a very Tarantinoesque thing to do.
   
The film starts with Landa who is visiting a French dairy farmer with the intentions of finding out about the Dreyfus family who are believed to be hiding in the building. After forcing the owner of the farm to disclose the hiding place he kills all but the daughter Shosanna who manages to escape and later owns and runs a cinema in Paris. The opening scene is a good one however it lasts for at least twenty minutes and there's another scene later in the film which lasts for almost thirty minutes. This is far too long for a film scene and it shows that what Tarantino wants to do is push boundaries he's not so concerned about the results.
     
Quentin also includes one of his signature styles which is to overlay 70's music and titles onto the movie. This also happens in "Inglorious" when Sgt Hugo Stiglitz is introduced. Now, I hate this kind of thing in films. The reason why Quentin is virtually the only person who uses this method because it takes the audience out of the film and removes the reality that all films need to have. He needs to prove that he can consistently make brilliant films before he decides to focus on art instead. A film that focuses on style over substance, which is exactly what Tarantino does, is often a failed film.
     
In summary, I don't like Tarantino however he has made some great films. Inglorious Basterds is not a great film however it is a passable one. It has some fantastic scenes and some of the acting from the foreign actors is stunningly good. However the problem is Quentin and someone needs to take away his fanboys and his inter textual references which are especially noticeable around the central section of this film, a section which includes many nods towards German cinema in the 30's. I'm not sure about you but I don't know that much about German cinema in the 30's and this seems purely to be there so that Tarantino can show off his intelligent. Being geeky isn't big and it isn't clever especially when it hampers the enjoyment of your audience. You're a film maker Quentin, act like it.

Wednesday 11 August 2010

Manshackle: Issue 3

The Painter's Chronicle are delighted to be able to present Fredrick Vinecliffe-Richard's latest work of art, in Issue 3 of 'Manshackle'. Enjoy! (Click to enlarge)

Monday 9 August 2010

Painter's Chronicle Fantasy Football

Hi Folks,

After several requests, the PC Fantasy Football League is back!

For those who didn't play last year, it's very simple!

Simply, logon to 'fantasy.premierleague.com'

Create a Username and Select Your Team

Then, join the PC League using the option on the left hand side. Our code is 738761-168148

Any problems, just send me a message and i'd be happy to help.

As always, we'll be keeping you updated with the latest league standings, on the website and on Facebook.

Good Luck!

Sven Goran-Painter
billypainter@painterschronicle.co.uk


Saturday 7 August 2010

Immigration


A question that has been puzzling me a lot recently is that of immigration. The topic was long debated during the run up to the election, and was (arguably) the cause for the increased support for the racist organisations of the British National Party and the English Defence League. Also, Turkey’s recent application for EU membership (and the challenging of this by the French and German governments) means that the question is being discussed all over again. Whenever this issue is being discussed it seems to be taken as read that immigration needs to be stopped to prevent unemployment amongst British citizens, but I’m not sure that that is the case.
First things first I would like to clear up that erroneous, clichéd and frankly ridiculous argument that England, or Britain as the case may be, ‘belongs’ to you. For some unfathomable reason people seem to think that in being born in a country gives you possession of it. As the comedian Russell Howard puts it, it’s not as if you chose to be born here: “Mummy, point your fanny towards Dover.” A slightly less vulgar form of this argument is that as a taxpayer you have a claim on Britain.  Firstly, immigrants pay taxes just as much as the next man, and even if they didn’t your taxes don’t go towards purchasing the lump of rock and earth sticking out of the Atlantic that is Britain, nor even towards the private industries which offer many of the jobs to which this question applies, they go towards public services such as the NHS.
However, whilst discussing the question with my friends and colleagues the point was made that it is unfair that British citizens are forced to move away from their hometowns just to find basic employment (or more accurately, employment paying the wages they want). For a while this had me stumped. It seemed a fair point, and for a week or two it had me convinced. Being forced from your hometown causes you great cultural turmoil, and can cause families to break up and all sorts of social problems. But then I realised that this unfair and forced migration from hometowns in search of a decent wage is exactly what drives the immigrants to Britain. Yes it’s unfair and sad that British citizens have to move house to find work, but it is equally sad and unfair that Polish citizens, for example, have to move house to find work. The question we should be asking is not how to provide jobs for British citizens, but how to provide jobs for the citizens of the world. It’s time to leave chauvinistic patriotism, childishness and prejudice behind and think about immigration logically and rationally.
If you have any opinions or ideas upon this matter please share them with me, I would love to hear them. Incidentally the English Defence League are having a demonstration in Bradford soon, in which it is thought that they have the intention of inciting racial hatred and provoking a riot. The anti-fascist internet group Hope Not Hate are running a petition to ask the government to make attempts to stop them, if you would like to add your name please follow this link.
Until next time,


Callum MacRae
Website Manager - Painter's Chronicle E-Magazine