bright stem

White Box by Makoto Yabuki

2011-04-17T11:53:00.000-07:00

Not Squares - Yeah!

2011-03-20T14:18:00.000-07:00

Here's Yeah! the 3rd video for Belfast band Not Squares. The video is entirely made out of found footage from Singing In The Rain to Norman Mclearens avan garde films from the 1950's you'll find it all in there!

Baraka dance sequence

2011-03-20T14:17:00.000-07:00

I was talking with a friend last night about the yeah video and we got on to Koyaanisqatsi and then Baraka which I totaly forgot to use in the music vid. This clip from Baraka is one of my fav dance clips ever right up there with signing in the rain. So thought I'd share it with you all enjoy!

3D printing (the real and the virtual)

2011-03-16T08:26:00.000-07:00

I've been seeing more and more clips recently showing the advances in 3d printing and its new applications within science health care and manufacturing. One of the most incredible things I've seen is this talk by Anthony Atala on TED in which a new replacement human kidney is printed. I haven't been able to get it out of my mind. I kept asking myself why? Why is this so intriguing, amazing even mind melding?? Am I just amazed in the technical advances 'wow look at what we are able to achieve!' No its more fundamental than that. I find myself thinking back to my studies when I wrote about Kandinsky, Post Modernism and the real and the abstract/virtual.

That line we hold so dear between the real and the virtual. It continues to evaporate piece by piece as we become more an more adapt at altering changing our environment in ever more sophisticated ways.

When one thinks of ones self 'the indavidual' one thinks of ones body 'ones body is ones self'. But all these parts/organs will soon be replaceable they are no different from mechanical parts in a car or the inerds of a computer. Complex parts yes but is the internet not complex? And complexity isn't enough anyway i.e. humanity = complexity is a very unsatisfactory equation, some times what makes us human can be incredibly simple. So ones left asking what is humanity if not physical? Is it the manipulation of data/the things we perceive deciphered through a certain code/our DNA?

If so how does the virtual and real becoming ever more intertwined effect us? You could take the point of view that we are loosing our humanity messing around in areas we should not. You might have all sorts of dystopian science fiction films swirling around your head where one is unable to separate the dream from reality where we lose some basic understanding of what it is to be human.

But thats not what I see I think the line between the real and the virtual has always been frankly ludicrous it is the very fact that we alter our world and then in turn our world alters us which defines us as humans. What is clear is that what we create is up to us and therefore we need to focus and also broaden our vision of what we want to create. That is why these video clips have such an effect on me they challenge us, they say come on you need to try harder, the world is moving at an unprecedented speed (particularly in terms of technology) and we need to keep up with it. We need to look again at what it is where doing and why it is where doing it.

Grandpas Garden (2007)

2010-08-22T09:20:00.001-07:00

Wrote this in 2007 whilst working on building blocks for my MA but thought I'd put it back up on the blog. Will start doing some more up to date blogs soon promise!

Grandpas Garden

I Came home for a short visit to see dad and we went across to see Grandpa. I sat with Grandpa for a while in his bedroom looking out across the valley whilst he retold old army stories which I had heard many times before. After a short while dad came back into the room with 3 cups of tea we all continue chatting for a while whilst drinking our tea then dad asked me if I'd like to see what he's been doing in the garden “yes” I say “I'd love to.” Grandpa decides he's going to come as well so we all venture outside!

As we get to the back garden dad begins to point out which bits he's been working on and what he's done. There is a clear improvement, mainly due to the fact that he's cut down the hedge which separates the two sections of the garden this allows you to get a really good view of the valley. Whilst Dad is telling me this Grandpa is pocking his walking stick at the ground saying “I'll have to get out here and do some weeding.” This seems to be mildly irritating Dad as Grandpa seems to be more interested in the weeds than all the work he has done to the garden. At the side of grandpas house his new neighbours are re building there house, in its present state it seems quit an imposing structure with all its scaffolding up, as it drastically alters a space which I have known since my earliest childhood.

We walk down to the bottom garden along the way dad points out all the flowers in bloom. The delicate structure and colouring of some of the flowers is quite extraordinary. They are like jewels from another world. As I look at them I start to think how silly this thing called art is and how completely unable it is to compete with such natural structures which lie unknown in the corner of my Grandpas garden .

Once we are in the bottom garden we can see all the new housing estates which have been built over the last 7 years. They still sit oddly for me within the context of grandpa's garden, as this was all moorland when I used to come here as a child. It seems like we are looking down upon a different reality. I am glad to be stud at a distance from them, as they seem to suffocate me somehow. It is as if they are saying hey everything's normal everything's fine, don't worry, aren't we friendly everything is clean and shiny here, almost as if they are little mazes which people could loose there whole life within without even realising. They don't seem to work in relation to there surroundings, as if they could have been placed anywhere in the UK . Grandpa seems equally irritated by there presence. I think to my self if they seem so alien to me then how odd must they seem to him?

I decide to gather the three of us together at the bottom of the garden for a group photo the first attempt goes a little wrong as I stand in front of dads head which I realise at the last minute and try to move out of the way which makes grandpa laugh. On the second attempt I get it right but on reflection maybe the first was better! It is nice to see a picture of the three of us together (just missing Graham).

Belfast crossing 2008 (We are closed in we are trapped.)

2010-07-19T08:29:00.001-07:00

Found this filed away from 2008 and felt it was worthy of a blog:

We are closed in we are trapped.

I’m sat at Liverpool docklands in front of me are rows of cars and to the right rows of lorries. I’m one of a dozen foot passengers all waiting to board the ship for an 8 hour crossing over to Belfast. I’ve decided to travel by ferry rather than plane to try and cut down on my carbon footprint.

I'm starting to wonder if I've made the right decision as I wait to board, I've paid almost double what I would have to fly and my back is now killing from carrying my rucksack across Liverpool as the train station is on the opposite side of the river.

But this isn’t just a matter of it being less convenient or more expensive for me to travel by ferry, unlike most people I love flying it is the one time when I am allowed to experience life from an entirely different perspective to see us in relation to the world we live and most importantly to be truly amazed by that world in which we live. I’m glued to the window from take off to landing. But it’s time to make a stand and as I get older I realise it is often in the smallest of deeds that we can make a change. So here I am wishing I was looking out of one of those little windows staring down at the clouds and the sea and the citys and lakes and boats and all those little things we call life but I’m also thinking that I’m proud of myself for trying.

As I bored the boat with this thought still heavily pressed upon my mind I take comfort in the fact that I will soon be able to stand at the front of the boat as we head out to sea. We enter at the very back of the boat so I begin to head through the many flights of stairs corridors, cafés, bars, and restaurants until I come to an area crossed of with a rope. There is no obvious sign post directing me outside. So I stand confused in the strangely artificial surroundings in which music no lets just call it noise fills the space. I decide to ask the man behind the bar . 'hello could you tell me how to get outside?' 'yeah just go through those doors.' I see them they look like the sort of doors that might set off a fire alarm if you open them, black with fire exit stickers on. I exit outside, seeing a set of stairs to my right I head over to them . Two men are coming down they tell me briefly ‘nothing up there mate’ hmm I’m confused. As I’m sure it should lead to the front of the ship . I follow the same men to the back of the ship only to find the same. So I head across to the other side of the ship only to find the same there. Someone in uniform is walking past I ask ‘how do I get to the front of the ship’ and he informs me that there used to be access to the front so passengers could walk about but it was decided that the space would be best used as a restaurant. So I’m left with a bench made of two metal strips I sit and look out over Liverpool. I quickly become the only person sat out side and as the boat leaves the dock and heads out into the ocean I’m the only one watching as the skyline of Liverpool disappears and the wide blue ocean opens up in front of us.

After spending so long working away in my little room at home it is a complete rush to be looking out at such an expanse of blue. But I’m angered at the layout of the ship preventing us from getting to the front, and disappointed that I am the only one sat outside. Whilst the rest of the passengers try desperately to ignore that they are sat on this tiny ship bobbing up and down on the vast ocean, just as passengers on a plane try to ignore the fact that they are moving at hundreds of miles an hour, thousands of feet in the sky.

It seems to say so much about how we are going wrong hiding in our own little worlds. I want to drag all the passengers out and make them look at the view. We must have a relationship with nature to understand our place in it. But it seems to me that everything is set against this. We need to to be shaken to be amazed! But how does one 'shake' what is required to create that change.....

Release the bees

2010-05-29T05:06:00.000-07:00

Well Folks here it is the second video to come out of Bright Stem as well as being the second music video I've made for Not Squares. Its a bit of a departure from 'Asylum' and at 7.59 mins long its a bit of a beast but don't fret there's still dancing in it albeit a little more abstract! So sit back relax and enjoy!

Not Squares - Release the Bees from Bright Stem on Vimeo.

Don't put a spanner in the works!

2010-05-11T05:11:00.000-07:00

I'm hearing lots about the Welsh and Scottish nationalists getting too much out of an alliance deal but lets reverse this:

In Wales conservatives got 8 seats

In Scotland only 1 seat

Whilst in Northern Ireland the Ulster Conservatives and Unionists 0 seats ( I might add add this point that due to the political history in Northern Ireland such a coalition was a very silly idea. )

So if Conservatives where to take power It would quite clearly look like England was trying to rule over Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. Which in turn would give huge amounts of fuel to the furnace for the Welsh, Scotish Nationalists increase tensions in Northern Ireland and in turn tare the UK apart. England and more specificity the Conservatives I'm afraid are going to have to take this one on the chin for the good of the UK whether they like it or not.

So please Labour back bencher's don't put a spanner in the works!

Dear, Mr Cleg

2010-05-10T08:55:00.000-07:00

Dear, Mr Clegg

Please can you not do any thing silly over the next few days. Please can you ignore the silly press and media (yes I mean you too BBC) there is no 1st, 2nd and 3rd place this isn't a race you silly people! Please can you make sure your party does what it's been wanting to do for so long. Please don't let Gordy get in the way he's just a bit prickly, I'm sure he'll let you work with some one else if you ask nicely. Please make electoral reform a reality. Lets keep everyone talking lets all work together! If you do a deal with the torys not only will electoral reform be impossible but you'll also loose all your votes next time and then we'll go ten years backwards na twenty years backwards and be left with a silly 2 party system. the reds in one corner the blues in the other back and forth we'll go for ever more until no one even can be bothered voting due to the pure farcical nature of it all.

Also wouldn't it be nice to have the Green party and northern Ireland's Alliance party as part of a coalition there nice you'll get on with them!

We'll I'll leave it there hope your well and getting lots of sleep.

Best,

Andrew

http://www.voteforachange.co.uk/

http://www.stephenfry.com/2010/05/09/stalemate-pr-and-pr-ice-cream-bananas-and-fudge/

What Is Change?

2010-04-19T12:44:00.000-07:00

I'm so annoyed, bored and tired of hearing Cameron speak!

I don't want change not any sort of change you have to offer you giant numpty! Because you don't bloody understand the concept of change!

Look here this is what change looks like:

some things I like

2010-04-18T13:11:00.000-07:00

http://www.nickelinthemachine.com/

Wonders of the Solar System

2010-04-07T00:55:00.000-07:00

I've been watching the BBC's new documentary Wonders of the Solar System presented by Brian Cox. They have been truely amazing. Reminding me of those feelings of pure wonder when looking out to the night sky which where so prevalent on my daily thoughts when I was younger. Bellow are some images found which relate to the documentary. The white one is Europa a moon orbiting Jupiter. Its surface is made of ice which floats on a underground sea many time deeper than our own.. Truly beautiful I suggest you do the same as me and make one of these your desktop back ground just to remind you how amazing life is!

Yeah! becomes Release the Bees!

2010-03-22T03:13:00.000-07:00

So there's been a development. I'm now working on release the bees continuing on along same ideas as yeah! but we decided that the visuals I was creating fited release the bees much better plus that will be Not Squares next single. Won't be putting the video up until its done but will keep putting up development work so you can follow that.

Hello everyone.

So work is under way for Not Square's second music vid, this time it's their song Yeah!

I know how much people enjoyed being part of Asylum so wanting to make this video as inclusive as possible.

So, I've suggested to the lads that the development work should be posted online. This way if anyone has any suggestions/ideas, whether it's links to images/videos on the web or drawings you've done or whatever, they can all be shared in a collaborative project.

The work will be posted on the bright stem facebook page and blog so put your links there or email them across to andrew@brightstem.com No doubt the lads will post some stuff on their page as well.

Also hopefully I'll be organizing a day so that people can get together and get artistic with crayons and paints and shoot some footage for the vid. Should be a fun day if I get my arse in gear and get it organized!

Andrew x

Some ideas from Keith

Update 14.03.10

2010-03-16T10:14:00.000-07:00

Hello everyone

so here's some updates:

I have just loaded new card designs to the website: http://www.brightstem.com/greeting%20cards.htm

Work has just begun on the next music video for Not Squares song YEAH! will keep you updated on this but it looks like its going to be rather bright and rather exciting so keep your eyes open for that one!

Thanks for all the great feedback on the Asylum video. It seems to have gone down a real treat so couldn't be much happier with that :)

Facebook has changed the way its doing things. It seems groups where so last year so brightstem now has to have its own facebook page so that I can link it to my website:
http://www.facebook.com/pages/bright-stem/10150118251575125?ref=ts

bright stem also now has a twitter account if you'd prefer to be kept updated that way:
http://www.twitter.com/brightstem

as well as this I have started my own personal twitter and blog so feal welcome to follow those too they will be updated more regularly with whatever nonsense I feel like:
http://www.acwood-woody.blogspot.com/
http://www.twitter.com/acwood22

Best,
Andrew

6 reasons why women get there own day

2010-03-08T06:10:00.000-08:00

Lucid Dream

2010-03-03T23:53:00.000-08:00

Right this is quite exciting, I've been waking up quite early recently then falling back to sleep. This has resulted in remembering a number of dreams I've had and this morning i had a lucid dream! Only ever remember having one of these before when I was we lad. The dream was in HD i.e. crystal clear gorgeous colours I remember being absellutly amazed by the detail of it all. There where bushes and trees all in blossom . the scene was slowly moving like I was in a car travelling at slow speed (but there was no car) i began to realise that i was able to change what was happening not to exact forms it was sort of like moving your hand through water or playing music. I tried to make an actual form like a figure but it didn't work everything just fell apart and i was left with a white space with bits flying about. If this all sounds a bit weird well it was but imagine your watching a film and then you start to realise that the back ground is changing to reflect your feelings eventually you don't care about the actors or the narrative and you become like a conductor but a conductor in charge of all your senses and feelings its quite fantastic!

if you want to get an idea of what it looked like follow this link to a piece of work I did a few years ago but think less gold and more spring.http://www.acwood.co.uk/building%20blocks/golden%20snow/golden-snow-in-the-summer-.jpg

Circus activity day

2010-02-19T04:19:00.000-08:00

Just finished this design for a scout campsite and I quite like it! Can't take all the credit though it was designed by a wee whipper snapper called Jess Haynes age 13 1st burley guides (good work Jess!) All I did was jazz it up a bit. will post the original artwork as well.

Not Squares - Asylum

2010-02-18T08:31:00.000-08:00

Asylum video seems to be popping up all over so thought i'd better have it on mine as well!

Not Squares - Asylum from Bright Stem on Vimeo.

Yeasayer Ambling Alp Music Video

2010-02-17T14:24:00.000-08:00

A friend showed me this on tue and i think I've watched it about 5 times since then! Editing is superb.

superb

Not Squares - Asylum

2010-02-16T11:19:00.000-08:00

Not Squares - Asylum from Bright Stem on Vimeo.

Not Squares - Asylum

2010-02-16T11:18:00.001-08:00

Quote of the moment.

2010-02-16T10:51:00.000-08:00

"Our thinking is like lightning in the dark night. It was dark before we started thinking, and it will be dark again when we stop."

Heni Poincare

IMGP9861

2010-02-14T03:30:00.000-08:00

IMGP9861
Originally uploaded by acwood

test

1st blog

2010-02-14T02:48:00.000-08:00

First blog from bright stem! Recently changed company name from acorn cards to bright stem did this to coincide with the release of Not Squares, Music Vid Asylum. right that'll do for now

2010-02-13T11:29:00.000-08:00

The_Virtual_Revolution_The_Great_Levelling/