Praeterita

Then watch this Tate Gallery, UK, compilation of archive footage of the great man:

After I got back from Paris on January 18th, I tried to cure some of my withdrawal symptoms (NB: didn't really work, but please read on) by creating a Google map of my 16 days there. Each point on the map has some notes attached, most have photos with them too, and there's a video I shot from a moving Metro train. I also discovered fun functions like being able to trace and highlight different walking routes, each with its own colour of line. For some reason, the photo links work best when you click on a point in the left-hand list, rather than the point on the map itself. Anyway, I had a blast creating it. It's kind of like an alternative photo album of a short and intensely-lived trip.

Me outside the Bateau Lavoir, and (top) the building in about 1905. You know those people that are completely obsessed fans of Star Wars, Game of Thrones, or any other kind of chronicle/team/celebrity/et cetera? The ones who secretly hoard collections of memorabilia, who consume everything created by the object of their obsession or written about it? The ones who, when asked a question about their pet subject, find it hard not to start gabbling wildly, trying to tell everything they know as fast as they can, in a way that makes the person who asked the question freeze with a ghastly smile on their face and wide, unblinking eyes that cannot hide their deep regret at starting a conversation with this complete and utter nutter? That's me, when it comes to Pablo Picasso and his early years in Paris. Picasso on the Place Ravignan, in front of Le Bateau Lavoir, in 1904. Thankfully, it started with his paintings, and later the other kinds of art he made, so at least my