“A human being should be able to change a diaper, plan an invasion, butcher a hog, conn a ship, design a building, write a sonnet, balance accounts, build a wall, set a bone, comfort the dying, take orders, give orders, cooperate, act alone, solve equations, analyze a new problem, pitch manure, program a computer, cook a tasty meal, fight efficiently, die gallantly. Specialization is for insects.” — Robert Heinlein, Time Enough for Love
I’m happy to say I’m working on a poster for a fascinating and powerful film at the moment. It’s called The Arbor, and it’s about Bradford playwright Andrea Dunbar, who wrote the brilliant Rita Sue and Bob Too. As part of the campaign, we have licensed the above photograph by late great Guardian photographer Don McPhee. The picture, shown above, is wonderfully shot, in an atmospheric hallway, composed in available light by simply opening the door. And now I have the full resolution file, I can see more clearly the details; the stains on the stairs, and the fact that the tiles have been stolen from the floor. But the best detail is this: Andrea Dunbar is wearing carpet slippers. The man from the Guardian has come to photograph her because her play will be showing in the National Theatre in London, and she’s wearing carpet slippers. A great insight into the character of the woman, and also into the eye and process of a sadly missed photographer.
I’ve
just updated the office with one of these beauties. It’s a VeryPC Broadleaf BL3V-B-Q84. Not only is it blindingly fast (it boasts a quad core processor, with 4gb RAM) but it uses a 96W power supply, and generally consumes about 33W. Which is less than a third of the power consumption of a regular PC. It’s also more-or-less silent. And the cherry on the top is that it is designed and built in Sheffield, just 30 miles down the road from me.
I’m delighted with it. The silence, low power consumption, local build (and it’s guaranteed and carbon off-set for 5 years) are all great, but they are mere trifles compared to the main benefit which is this: I’m working on a 1GB Photoshop file for a film poster right now, which on my other PC would entail taking a tea-break every time I transform a layer, but the Broadleaf whizzes through tasks like this in seconds.
(This is an independent opinion by the way, VeryPC have had no input on this, nor have they given me a free PC. But they should, obviously.)
