Stet » movie

The truckers were the real heroes

Ria — Wed, 30 Dec 2009 23:44:07 +0000

Our plan last night was to put up shelves in our wardrobe and further reduce the chaos of our living conditions, which seems to involve shifting boxes from one room to another, until it becomes unmanageable, then redistributing the boxes to other rooms. Every few days we generate enough garbage to fill the bus and

Continue reading The truckers were the real heroes

Ghetto can’t hold you back

Ria — Fri, 22 Aug 2008 21:51:30 +0000

The athletics results this last week in Beijing represent the summum of success for Jamaican runners, putting them in first place in the gold medal league table, equal with Russia and ahead of the US.

Bear in mind that Jamaica has a population of only 2.7 million.

The first gold medal went to Shelly-Ann

Continue reading Ghetto can’t hold you back

Photos in motion

Ria — Mon, 07 Jan 2008 23:53:29 +0000

Here are a couple of examples of a very neat little program called Sqirlz, which makes water-related animations out of photos. In the first example, of Villa Sonsbeek in Arnhem, I tried to capture the slow swell of a breeze-blown lake. I’d give it 5/10.

In the second example, more appropriate for this time of

Continue reading Photos in motion

Shaking Up Orange Street

Ria — Mon, 11 Jun 2007 19:22:23 +0000

Part II of my downtown tour should be loading below. It took a little longer to finish than I’d hoped, partly because I wanted to make it look better than my previous clip, and partly because uploading it to YouTube is very very slow.

As I’ve recommended previously, if your bandwidth is as bad as

Continue reading Shaking Up Orange Street

Driver! Don’t stop at all

Ria — Fri, 25 May 2007 15:34:31 +0000

Drawing to the end of my series of images of downtown Kingston, I post below the first part of a drive I took last week with my good friend, Barry White.

I know, it’s the voice.

If all goes according to plan, Part II will include a drive round the main square, Sir William Grant

Continue reading Driver! Don’t stop at all

I cover the waterfront

Ria — Wed, 09 May 2007 17:01:36 +0000

Downtown Kingston ends at the waterfront and the wide expanse of the seventh largest natural harbour in the world. Morris Cargill, veteran journalist at The Daily Gleaner, described it more equivocally as “the world’s most beautiful sewer”, as tons of garbage are washed down the gullies running through the city, straight into the water; and,

Continue reading I cover the waterfront

Cross Roads

Ria — Mon, 16 Apr 2007 17:59:30 +0000

While other place spellings may vary in Jamaica (Savannah-La-Mar, Savanna-La-Mar or Savanna la mar; Acadia or Arcadia), Cross Roads in Kingston is defiantly two separate words. A few years ago, it was considered to mark the frontier between uptown and downtown Kingston, although these days, one could argue the urban decay is still creeping northwards.

Continue reading Cross Roads

View from the hills

Ria — Fri, 30 Mar 2007 04:22:39 +0000

If you are patient enough for the panorama to load (1.42MB; need free Quicktime player?), you’ll see a view from the northern foothills looking south towards Kingston harbour. You can move the panorama using the controls indicated in the bar at the bottom, or just click and drag the image around. You may also notice

Continue reading View from the hills

Perry Henzell — Fire in the belly

Ria — Fri, 01 Dec 2006 04:06:04 +0000

I’ve just heard that Perry Henzell died this morning. I spoke to his wife, Sally, only a few days ago when we were staying at her hotel, Jake’s, in St Elizabeth. I asked her where Perry was and she pointed over her shoulder, “He’s up there in the house right on top of the hill.”

Continue reading Perry Henzell — Fire in the belly

Jamaican grass

Ria — Wed, 15 Nov 2006 16:15:06 +0000

At the swimming lesson, a group of kids were jumping up and down, waving their hands in the air and shouting,

“Uncle Mark! Uncle Mark! Can I drown next, pleeease?”

They were practising life-saving.

After that moment of excitement, my attention was drawn to the sound of the lawnmower … and the sight of

Continue reading Jamaican grass