It's friday night
April 24, 2009 4:17 AM   Subscribe

Who's going out in Cardiff tonight? Most everyone knows all about Hogarth and his work on Gin lane and women under the influence of good old British beer (leading to the passing of the Gin Act). Well, it would seem that nothing much changes, at least in Cardiff (unless, of course, the medical adviser gets his way).
posted by ciderwoman (30 comments total) 2 users marked this as a favorite
 
We do it with smokers -- why shouldn't the boozers get screwed over by regressive taxation as well?
posted by PeterMcDermott at 4:22 AM on April 24, 2009


OK, I really am an idiot, I nerfed the ONE LINK THAT MADE THIS POST OF INTEREST. So let's try again, here is the link to Cardiff in all it's modern day Hogarthian glory (and if anyone can edit the FPP to put that link in then that would be just lovely).
posted by ciderwoman at 4:23 AM on April 24, 2009


If the English can't drunk easily they will go extinct.
posted by srboisvert at 4:28 AM on April 24, 2009


These pictures are by the always awesome Maciej Dakowicz, but are ripped off from his site and rehosted without attribution, which is pretty poor form. Maybe the rogue link would be replaced with one from his site, rather than the shitty attuworld?
posted by Beautiful Screaming Lady at 4:31 AM on April 24, 2009 [1 favorite]


Thanks, BSL, I'd just been sent a link to his flickr site which I was about to post, you're right, apologies for not naming him in the FPP. I posting hungover, that's my excuse.
posted by ciderwoman at 4:36 AM on April 24, 2009 [1 favorite]


You should kill the link to the 'one interesting site' since they are basically making cash money off his photos. Kind of lame really.
posted by chunking express at 4:40 AM on April 24, 2009


The government rejected Liam Donaldson's (the Chief Medical Officer) proposals the next day.
posted by tawny at 5:11 AM on April 24, 2009


OP: Eponysterical.

If the English can't drunk easily they will go extinct.

Perhaps so, but I doubt the people of Cardiff would appreciate your referring to them as English. Probably violently so, judging by some of the photos.
posted by Bodd at 5:24 AM on April 24, 2009


Judging from these photos I think what the partiers of Cardiff need is more rubbish bins and pissoirs.

The collection of photos up at the attuworld.com link are a selection of the most 'shocking'. Cardiff Nights has the whole set, including some that look less sordid and more sweet.

posted by Tapioca at 5:49 AM on April 24, 2009


You should kill the link to the 'one interesting site' since they are basically making cash money off his photos. Kind of lame really.

It is lame of them to repost the photos without permission or attribution, but I found their page easier to look at than Dakowicz' own. As he himself says 'This gallery is not edited, it is a random unordered selection of photos, I simply add all new pictures here on the top'. In addition, his thumbnails are tiny. Doesn't excuse what they did, but I'd rather look at their page than that of the original photographer's.
posted by Ritchie at 5:51 AM on April 24, 2009




Perhaps so, but I doubt the people of Cardiff would appreciate your referring to them as English. Probably violently so, judging by some of the photos.

Ah crap. I keep making these mistakes where I should say British instead of English. I just can't get used to living in a kingdom.
posted by srboisvert at 6:11 AM on April 24, 2009


I dunno, I understand that attuworld is evil (as understood in internet terms), but they've hit some kind of sweet spot in arranging the photos in a straightforward top-to-bottom scrollable list, at the same time sizing the photos large enough that you can make out people's faces as well as foreground and background details, but small enough that you can see two or three photos at the same time. Is it okay for me to appreciate that kind of usability at the same time as acknowledging that they're shits for infringing on the photographer's rights?
posted by Ritchie at 6:19 AM on April 24, 2009


Mod note: Threw the Flickr link in around "Cardiff" in the main post.
posted by cortex (staff) at 6:38 AM on April 24, 2009


That is amazing. They have focaccia in Cardiff.
posted by Brian Lux at 6:54 AM on April 24, 2009


[sarcastic] See? See? This is why drugs must remain illegal! Think of the damage to society and individuals if canabis were legalised! [/sarcastic]
posted by alasdair at 7:23 AM on April 24, 2009


Or even cannabis, which is even worse! sigh
posted by alasdair at 7:23 AM on April 24, 2009


Thoughts on Pot vs. Alcohol from a Former Police Chief
Over the past four years I've asked police officers throughout the U.S. (and in Canada) two questions. When's the last time you had to fight someone under the influence of marijuana? (I'm talking marijuana only, not pot plus a six-pack or a fifth of tequila.) My colleagues pause, they reflect. Their eyes widen as they realize that in their five or fifteen or thirty years on the job they have never had to fight a marijuana user. I then ask: When's the last time you had to fight a drunk? They look at their watches.
posted by chunking express at 7:27 AM on April 24, 2009 [3 favorites]


*shakes head*

And we think that Wisconsin has a bad drinking culture.

Also, I just heard -- on the commentary for Get Carter -- Michael Caine relating how up in Newcastle, the general hospital used to have a special Brown Ale ward. I couldn't find anything like a contemporary account, though, so it may just be an apposite urban legend.
posted by dhartung at 8:24 AM on April 24, 2009 [1 favorite]


That's the Welsh for you, mate: filth, the lot of them.

Those pictures are all incredibly engaging though.
posted by Edwahd at 8:56 AM on April 24, 2009


Some party. Why are most of them out in costume? Is there some holiday I'm not aware of?
posted by backseatpilot at 9:10 AM on April 24, 2009


I got stuck a couple of times in the centre of Cardiff after midnight on Saturday nights over twenty years ago, and it was just like that. I think that might be Cardiff's natural state.
posted by Grangousier at 9:23 AM on April 24, 2009


...do not go gentle into that good night...but piss, piss against the dying of the light...
posted by Jody Tresidder at 10:00 AM on April 24, 2009


Newport's where it's at bra! Safe as fuck! Big shout out to the GLC massive--you knows it! ASBO 4 life!

Seriously, I have much love for Wales. These are great shots.
posted by Admiral Haddock at 10:09 AM on April 24, 2009


Some party. Why are most of them out in costume? Is there some holiday I'm not aware of?

Nah, it's a just a thing. If you're going out as a group, dress up around a theme -- for one of my mate's birthdays we all gothed it up, and it was awesomely fun. It also makes it easier to pick people out in a crowd.

And, aw. This is totally what Cardiff looks like, for better or worse. I will say, though, that the night Ireland won the Six Nations Grand Slam was one of the best citywide parties I've ever been to....
posted by kalimac at 12:57 PM on April 24, 2009


Costumes make a night out. No holidays needed.
posted by Helga-woo at 1:10 PM on April 24, 2009


If there's one thing we still know how to do in the UK it's how to go out and have a good time on a Friday. I did worry that making this a FPP might lead to much virtual tutting and shaking of heads, but I'm glad to see it was taken in the spirit it was meant.

And the GLC massive gtting a mention is always a bonus.
posted by ciderwoman at 4:01 PM on April 24, 2009


She said: "It tends to bring up the prices of the alcoholic drinks that are drunk by harmful and very young drinkers, whereas you'll find that moderate drinkers tend not to really see a negligible financial effect."

You'll find + tend to + not really + negligible?

Barkeep, I'll take a fuzzy negative, please. Wait, make that a double.
posted by pracowity at 4:50 AM on April 25, 2009


Coincidentally, I was listening to the new Goldie Lookin' Chain album, ASBO 4 Life, and this song stuck out as the perfect theme song for nights out in Wales for a large portion of the youth.

Anyone know about how Dakowicz gets these shots? Obviously, the EXIF data shows he's got a 5D, the 35mm f1.4 and is shooting at 1600 at about 1/15 or 1/20. My fast lens is a nifty fifty, which is a bit harder to pull off when shooting at 1/15 (marginally easier at 35). Is he shooting from the hip with the lens set for its hyperfocal distance, or really framing each one, I wonder? I might just have to drop him a line--these are really great street shots.
posted by Admiral Haddock at 1:41 PM on April 26, 2009


Your depth of field at f/1.4 isn't going to be wide enough to make shooting without using your cameras autofocus a worthwhile effort. I'm pretty sure he is out there with a giant ass camera to his face, snapping photos. These are way too well composed to be shot from the hip or over his shoulder or whatever else.
posted by chunking express at 7:29 AM on April 27, 2009


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