Regrettably, I seem to have missed the first of the two Today programmes that I wanted to listen to, the one edited by David Hockney, which was broadcast this morning. Which is a bit of a shame, as it looks quite good, and I'm not sure why the BBC can't put it on the iplayer, but never mind. There are some highlights to be listened to here:
David Hockney edited Today Show.
I think they might put it up in full tomorrow or something, as seemingly they can't put it up immediately afterwards because of interviews and possible changes to the schedule(?)
Anyway, the next one that I'd like to listen to, but which undoubtedly I will miss also, is edited by Robert Wyatt, and is being broadcast on New Year's Day. Not much hope of catching that one then, although I don't actually know what we're planning to do on New Year, although I'm quite sure alcohol will have some part to play in the proceedings.
In the mean time, here's Hibou, Anemone and Bear from Soft Machine's Volume Two:
And Robert Wyatt's cover of Elvis Costello's Shipbuilding, on The Old Grey Whistle Test:
Enjoy.
Tuesday, 29 December 2009
Sunday, 27 December 2009
Yo!! Sweetness.
I was checking this out recently, and I got to thinking about some of the worse album covers from other years. By that I don't necessarily mean album covers that are just completely bizarre and obscure (but admittedly hilarious), rather albums that are actually relatively well known, by popular or respected artists. Some of the main offenders here seem to be rappers; older albums often have strange and ridiculous fashions on display, while some of the more recent efforts from the Wu Tang are pretty 'orribly designed, even if the contents are often excellent (unlike with the pitchfork article above, which seems to be suggesting that the artists who make or commission bad album art are necessarily bad musicians). So I guess you can't judge a CD by its cover (even if you can usually judge a book by its cover). Anyways, here's a few for your consideration, in no particular order:
Inspectah Deck - Uncontrolled Substance (1999):
A good album ("my style's so underground I write rhymes on fossils"), awful art. Inspectah looks like he's dressed as a bin man, and he's pulling a very awkward pose. The movement lines around the car suggest it's driving past him, and yet there's a dog leaning on it barking. Also, check the awful pic art magnifying glass, the bad font, and the awkward and unnecessary use of the Wu's "W" symbol, which is a recurring theme in Wu Tang solo albums.
Method Man - Tical 0: The Prequel (2004):
Extremely confusing and cluttered. Is the baby flying? Has it been dropped? It looks in pain anyway. More awkward "W" usage, this time it's been turned upside down. (Edit - just realised that it's a giant baby, wrecking a city)
GZA - Beneath the Surface (1999):
Another Wu Tang. Not sure what it is about this one that gets on my nerves; I think it just looks like a poorly made PC game from the late nineties, some sort of space related strategy game, but I can't really put my finger on it. The idea of imprinting a massive "G" on the world is a nice metaphor, but it looks rubbish in execution. Also, the "Parental Guidance" symbol is far too big, and it's guilty again of "W" manipulation. It's strange, because Liquid Swords has one of the coolest Wu covers, and yet this one is rubbish - perhaps he went to a different guy for Liquid Swords, and reverted back to the same crappy graphic artist that all of Wu seem to be friends with for this one.
GZA - Legend of the Liquid Sword (2002):
Pretty much the same deal as above, looks like a bad 90s PC game, except this one reminds me of this also:
GZA and the person he's with have been badly pasted behind that console they're looking at, so it seems as if they are just disembodied torsos without legs, just floating there above it.
Wu-Tang Clan - 8 Diagrams (2007):
Mortal Kombat.
Bob Dylan - Self Portrait (1970):
This one is pretty famously bad. Created by Bob himself, I guess by this point he was surrounded by sycophants and yes men who didn't bother to tell him he couldn't paint.
David Bowie - Earthling (1997):
I'm afraid to listen to this, because it contains the infamous drum and bass track he did. I'm sure I'm not missing very much, late Bowie tends to be pretty dull, but he's certainly not doing himself any favours by dressing up as Geri Haliwell's dad on the front cover.
Bobby Womack - The Poet II (1984):
Apparently tired of being of his image as a sexy sounding soul singer with big glasses, Bobby Womack decided to up his game in the mid 80s by dressing in pink leather. This seems to be part of a trend with soul and funk singers, who in trying to appear sensual and sensitive, sometimes cross the line into flaming homosexuality. I actually found this album in Groucho's once, but, perhaps unsurprisingly, I didn't buy it.
Isaac Hayes - Joy (1973):
Same as the description for The Poet II, although it's worth noting the tiny Isaac jumping for "joy" above his name in a nice ballet pose, as well as the back cover for this album:
How can someone wearing that have such a manly pose? Because he's Isaac Hayes.
MC Hammer - Please Hammer, Don't Hurt 'Em (1990):
Bad cover, terrible (although unintentionally hilarious) title. This one runs against my "don't judge a CD..." comment somewhat.
Kool Moe Dee - How Ya Like Me Now (1987):
This is one of the few bad album covers that is both completely horrible and completely awesome at the same time. My brain is swinging between the opinions so quickly that it's making me feel sick. Kool Moe Dee famously feuded with this guy:
LL Cool J - Walking Like a Panther (1989):
This one is more baffling than anything else. How were they allowed to do this? Does the purchaser/listener really need to be shown a panther in a gold chain in order to understand where LL is coming from here? Also, is it just me, or does that panther actually seem to be somewhat weighed down by the chain? It looks like his head is drooping. And what does that briefcase with the handcuffs have to do with anything?
Anyway, that's enough for now, but I might come back to this. I found some of these just as I was writing this blog, like the Panther one, so I guess there are probably an awful lot more out there than I'm aware.
On a side note, hope everyone is having a good Christmas.
Inspectah Deck - Uncontrolled Substance (1999):
A good album ("my style's so underground I write rhymes on fossils"), awful art. Inspectah looks like he's dressed as a bin man, and he's pulling a very awkward pose. The movement lines around the car suggest it's driving past him, and yet there's a dog leaning on it barking. Also, check the awful pic art magnifying glass, the bad font, and the awkward and unnecessary use of the Wu's "W" symbol, which is a recurring theme in Wu Tang solo albums.
Method Man - Tical 0: The Prequel (2004):
Extremely confusing and cluttered. Is the baby flying? Has it been dropped? It looks in pain anyway. More awkward "W" usage, this time it's been turned upside down. (Edit - just realised that it's a giant baby, wrecking a city)
GZA - Beneath the Surface (1999):
Another Wu Tang. Not sure what it is about this one that gets on my nerves; I think it just looks like a poorly made PC game from the late nineties, some sort of space related strategy game, but I can't really put my finger on it. The idea of imprinting a massive "G" on the world is a nice metaphor, but it looks rubbish in execution. Also, the "Parental Guidance" symbol is far too big, and it's guilty again of "W" manipulation. It's strange, because Liquid Swords has one of the coolest Wu covers, and yet this one is rubbish - perhaps he went to a different guy for Liquid Swords, and reverted back to the same crappy graphic artist that all of Wu seem to be friends with for this one.
GZA - Legend of the Liquid Sword (2002):
Pretty much the same deal as above, looks like a bad 90s PC game, except this one reminds me of this also:
GZA and the person he's with have been badly pasted behind that console they're looking at, so it seems as if they are just disembodied torsos without legs, just floating there above it.
Wu-Tang Clan - 8 Diagrams (2007):
Mortal Kombat.
Bob Dylan - Self Portrait (1970):
This one is pretty famously bad. Created by Bob himself, I guess by this point he was surrounded by sycophants and yes men who didn't bother to tell him he couldn't paint.
David Bowie - Earthling (1997):
I'm afraid to listen to this, because it contains the infamous drum and bass track he did. I'm sure I'm not missing very much, late Bowie tends to be pretty dull, but he's certainly not doing himself any favours by dressing up as Geri Haliwell's dad on the front cover.
Bobby Womack - The Poet II (1984):
Apparently tired of being of his image as a sexy sounding soul singer with big glasses, Bobby Womack decided to up his game in the mid 80s by dressing in pink leather. This seems to be part of a trend with soul and funk singers, who in trying to appear sensual and sensitive, sometimes cross the line into flaming homosexuality. I actually found this album in Groucho's once, but, perhaps unsurprisingly, I didn't buy it.
Isaac Hayes - Joy (1973):
Same as the description for The Poet II, although it's worth noting the tiny Isaac jumping for "joy" above his name in a nice ballet pose, as well as the back cover for this album:
How can someone wearing that have such a manly pose? Because he's Isaac Hayes.
MC Hammer - Please Hammer, Don't Hurt 'Em (1990):
Bad cover, terrible (although unintentionally hilarious) title. This one runs against my "don't judge a CD..." comment somewhat.
Kool Moe Dee - How Ya Like Me Now (1987):
This is one of the few bad album covers that is both completely horrible and completely awesome at the same time. My brain is swinging between the opinions so quickly that it's making me feel sick. Kool Moe Dee famously feuded with this guy:
LL Cool J - Walking Like a Panther (1989):
This one is more baffling than anything else. How were they allowed to do this? Does the purchaser/listener really need to be shown a panther in a gold chain in order to understand where LL is coming from here? Also, is it just me, or does that panther actually seem to be somewhat weighed down by the chain? It looks like his head is drooping. And what does that briefcase with the handcuffs have to do with anything?
Anyway, that's enough for now, but I might come back to this. I found some of these just as I was writing this blog, like the Panther one, so I guess there are probably an awful lot more out there than I'm aware.
On a side note, hope everyone is having a good Christmas.
Wednesday, 16 December 2009
I hope you choke on it.
It's been very quiet on this blog of late, I guess because I've been finishing coursework and whatnot, and because I've just had a bit of a block in terms of having anything to say. However, the opportunity arose last night, when I wrote a couple of reviews for Clash that were too late to be included in the magazine (the deadline was last Friday), so I thought I'd post them; not because the bands I reviewed are any good, but because they are spectacularly bad, so you might get some small amusement from reading someone slating them:
Sgt. Wolfbanger – Think Inside the Box.
S.A.C Records.
The quality of Sgt. Wolfbanger's debut album is, sadly, easy to predict without a single listen; they've supported McFly. They have a song called “Ctrl Alt Retreat”. If you were to buy their album, you'd find the lyrics for this song printed inside, which include the rhyming dictionary fest, “now pull me from the mire, my eyes are pits of fire, never will I aspire, you've nothing to admire, not the type to inspire...” (it goes on like that, but I won't bore you further). Whether or not these points put you off, there's probably little purpose in reading the rest of this review; it's a foregone conclusion. If this description sounds appealing to you so far, chances are you aren't going to listen to reason. However, suffice to say, the music is the type of dull, uninspired and idiotic pop punk that you'd expect.
0.5/10 (for bravery).
Three tracks: If you want a laugh, listen to Take Me Away, which includes the line “when he buys you a drink, I hope you choke on it”.
Dig this? Dig Deeper: McFly, Busted, Noise Next Door.
Hadouken! - For the Masses.
Surface Noise Recordings.
In the press release for this album, Hadouken's lead singer James Smith name checked the Prodigy, admitting that he feels Hadouken! are due some chart success as they are “cut from the same cloth.” Immediately, listening to this album, alarm bells began to ring in my head; it seemed like Hadouken! aren't similar to the Prodigy; rather, they are actually trying to be the Prodigy, in the most cynical, shallow and brainless way possible; remember the part in Peep Show, where we hear the song Jeremy has been working on (“This is outrageous! This is contagious!”)? Well that's kind of what this album sounds like, except that along with the dumb chanting about drumming drums and cracking craniums, shouted over the generic dance music, James Smith also seems to be aping Dizzee Rascal's vocal style, to give the album the best chance of popular acceptance.
1/10.
Three tracks: It doesn't matter, they all sound the same.
Dig this? Dig Deeper: The Prodigy?
As well as ripping into horribly unconsidered music, last night I watched Hunger, which was excellent, if not particularly Christmassy. It was very quiet and reflective, and the parts that were noisy seemed absolutely deafening, in sharp contrast to the silence of the rest of the film.
The quote from Thatcher at the beginning of the trailer is particularly interesting; I find it hard to believe people swallowed her bullshit so easily. Obviously I'm not advocating the bombings in London and elsewhere by the IRA, but how can she justify the Falklands War if she thinks there is no such violence as political violence, only criminal?
Anyways, check that fillum if you get the chance.
Sgt. Wolfbanger – Think Inside the Box.
S.A.C Records.
The quality of Sgt. Wolfbanger's debut album is, sadly, easy to predict without a single listen; they've supported McFly. They have a song called “Ctrl Alt Retreat”. If you were to buy their album, you'd find the lyrics for this song printed inside, which include the rhyming dictionary fest, “now pull me from the mire, my eyes are pits of fire, never will I aspire, you've nothing to admire, not the type to inspire...” (it goes on like that, but I won't bore you further). Whether or not these points put you off, there's probably little purpose in reading the rest of this review; it's a foregone conclusion. If this description sounds appealing to you so far, chances are you aren't going to listen to reason. However, suffice to say, the music is the type of dull, uninspired and idiotic pop punk that you'd expect.
0.5/10 (for bravery).
Three tracks: If you want a laugh, listen to Take Me Away, which includes the line “when he buys you a drink, I hope you choke on it”.
Dig this? Dig Deeper: McFly, Busted, Noise Next Door.
Hadouken! - For the Masses.
Surface Noise Recordings.
In the press release for this album, Hadouken's lead singer James Smith name checked the Prodigy, admitting that he feels Hadouken! are due some chart success as they are “cut from the same cloth.” Immediately, listening to this album, alarm bells began to ring in my head; it seemed like Hadouken! aren't similar to the Prodigy; rather, they are actually trying to be the Prodigy, in the most cynical, shallow and brainless way possible; remember the part in Peep Show, where we hear the song Jeremy has been working on (“This is outrageous! This is contagious!”)? Well that's kind of what this album sounds like, except that along with the dumb chanting about drumming drums and cracking craniums, shouted over the generic dance music, James Smith also seems to be aping Dizzee Rascal's vocal style, to give the album the best chance of popular acceptance.
1/10.
Three tracks: It doesn't matter, they all sound the same.
Dig this? Dig Deeper: The Prodigy?
As well as ripping into horribly unconsidered music, last night I watched Hunger, which was excellent, if not particularly Christmassy. It was very quiet and reflective, and the parts that were noisy seemed absolutely deafening, in sharp contrast to the silence of the rest of the film.
The quote from Thatcher at the beginning of the trailer is particularly interesting; I find it hard to believe people swallowed her bullshit so easily. Obviously I'm not advocating the bombings in London and elsewhere by the IRA, but how can she justify the Falklands War if she thinks there is no such violence as political violence, only criminal?
Anyways, check that fillum if you get the chance.
Saturday, 31 October 2009
Tuesday, 27 October 2009
The Ghost of a Flea.
William Blake - The Ghost of a Flea.
"Blake's explanation of the spirit he saw accords with the painting's extreme drama of scale, the contrast of the huge invisible monster with its tiny incarnation as insect. The blood-drinking household flea, said Blake, is in fact the physical shape taken by the souls of men who are so bloodthirsty that they are providentially confined to the size and form of insects.
The ghost is gorging on a bowl of blood. This is Blake's ultimate critique of the English portrait. How can empiricism, good manners and the sociability of a Gainsborough possibly acknowledge, as Blake does here, that one aspect of human nature is that of a blood-drinking ghoul?" - Johnathan Jones, the Guardian.
"Blake's explanation of the spirit he saw accords with the painting's extreme drama of scale, the contrast of the huge invisible monster with its tiny incarnation as insect. The blood-drinking household flea, said Blake, is in fact the physical shape taken by the souls of men who are so bloodthirsty that they are providentially confined to the size and form of insects.
The ghost is gorging on a bowl of blood. This is Blake's ultimate critique of the English portrait. How can empiricism, good manners and the sociability of a Gainsborough possibly acknowledge, as Blake does here, that one aspect of human nature is that of a blood-drinking ghoul?" - Johnathan Jones, the Guardian.
Tuesday, 20 October 2009
I have no love for the rich
One of the best detective/noir films I've ever seen... In fact, one of the best films I've ever seen generally, and probably my favourite Kurosawa so far:
This is the best trailer I found on Youtube, because it doesn't give too much away (unless you read Japanese, in which case it might well give the whole plot away), unlike most of the other ones. But you should go and watch the whole film; it's pretty long, but brilliantly suspenseful and doesn't seem long at all.
This is the best trailer I found on Youtube, because it doesn't give too much away (unless you read Japanese, in which case it might well give the whole plot away), unlike most of the other ones. But you should go and watch the whole film; it's pretty long, but brilliantly suspenseful and doesn't seem long at all.
Thursday, 15 October 2009
"No more squishin' and squashin'!"
"Or flippin' and floppin'!"
Sorry to keep going on about dumb informercials, but these things are just so fascinating and hilarious. The volume of this guy's voice is through the fucking roof. It's like they're just trying to scare and intimidate people into buying this shit. This must be where they got the inspiration for Barry Scott, guys like Billy Mays.
Sorry to keep going on about dumb informercials, but these things are just so fascinating and hilarious. The volume of this guy's voice is through the fucking roof. It's like they're just trying to scare and intimidate people into buying this shit. This must be where they got the inspiration for Barry Scott, guys like Billy Mays.
"The money you can claw back from things like home insurance is... invaluable."
Surely it is very easy to value money... It has a directly corresponding monetary value. It's pretty much the most easily valuable thing you get.
Stupid adverts.
Also, "School of Comedy" looks fucking awful. I hate TV, it makes me so angry.
Speaking of how much I like TV, here's a selection of interesting/amusing interviews from across the ages:
"Poppin' right around the studio"
Dave Letterman is a real asshole... As it says at the start of this video, you should check the context of what it is they're arguing about, but basically it comes down to Harvey protesting against General Electric, for various offenses like dumping toxic waste and testing nukes. General Electric own the television station NBC, which broadcasts the Dave Letterman show, so when Harvey came on with a t-shirt prompting people to boycott NBC, and starting mouthing off about General Electric, Dave Letterman wasn't having it and tried to shut him up, following which the in-house band played over him speaking and they cut to a commercial, despite having just come back from one. The video above seems to be NBC basically getting Harvey back in simply to make him look as stupid as possible, in order to belittle him and make sure that anyone who might have got a shock from the first time round fell back into being close minded zombies who don't care about what General Electric does as long as David Letterman keeps on with the funnies, which is incredibly hypocritical given how much Letterman tries to shout Harvey down by telling him he's being very rude in the first video. It also doesn't work, because he comes across as a complete prick. I think in both videos it shows how much of a bunch of assholes the live audience are also. Here's the first video:
While we're on the subject of television, I came across this guy today, who puts Barry Scott to shame in terms of sounding ridiculously hammy and over the top:
"Stop having a boring tuna, stop having a boring life" - basically the funniest line ever. "You're gonna have an exciting life now." If only this guy actually knew what irony meant... Perhaps he's taking the piss, but I'm afraid he might be serious. "You're gonna love my nuts". People say sex sells, I guess they're trying to sell this product to extremely desperate housewives or something.
Outside of the adverts, he was also arrested for beating up a prostitute after she bit his tongue. This guy is like the most stereotypical numbskull from L.A. that you could ever think of; clearly a failed actor, leading some empty vapid life where he goes around beating prostitutes and doing incredibly bad infomercials.
Anyway, sensory overload, that's enough for today.
Stupid adverts.
Also, "School of Comedy" looks fucking awful. I hate TV, it makes me so angry.
Speaking of how much I like TV, here's a selection of interesting/amusing interviews from across the ages:
"Poppin' right around the studio"
Dave Letterman is a real asshole... As it says at the start of this video, you should check the context of what it is they're arguing about, but basically it comes down to Harvey protesting against General Electric, for various offenses like dumping toxic waste and testing nukes. General Electric own the television station NBC, which broadcasts the Dave Letterman show, so when Harvey came on with a t-shirt prompting people to boycott NBC, and starting mouthing off about General Electric, Dave Letterman wasn't having it and tried to shut him up, following which the in-house band played over him speaking and they cut to a commercial, despite having just come back from one. The video above seems to be NBC basically getting Harvey back in simply to make him look as stupid as possible, in order to belittle him and make sure that anyone who might have got a shock from the first time round fell back into being close minded zombies who don't care about what General Electric does as long as David Letterman keeps on with the funnies, which is incredibly hypocritical given how much Letterman tries to shout Harvey down by telling him he's being very rude in the first video. It also doesn't work, because he comes across as a complete prick. I think in both videos it shows how much of a bunch of assholes the live audience are also. Here's the first video:
While we're on the subject of television, I came across this guy today, who puts Barry Scott to shame in terms of sounding ridiculously hammy and over the top:
"Stop having a boring tuna, stop having a boring life" - basically the funniest line ever. "You're gonna have an exciting life now." If only this guy actually knew what irony meant... Perhaps he's taking the piss, but I'm afraid he might be serious. "You're gonna love my nuts". People say sex sells, I guess they're trying to sell this product to extremely desperate housewives or something.
Outside of the adverts, he was also arrested for beating up a prostitute after she bit his tongue. This guy is like the most stereotypical numbskull from L.A. that you could ever think of; clearly a failed actor, leading some empty vapid life where he goes around beating prostitutes and doing incredibly bad infomercials.
Anyway, sensory overload, that's enough for today.
Tuesday, 6 October 2009
You feel so glad to be unable to go beyond
Not sure if the person who posted this on Youtube made it, or Wavves made it, or what, but here you go:
Monday, 5 October 2009
Thursday, 1 October 2009
Random
1. Proceeding, made, or occurring without definite aim, reason, or pattern: the random selection of numbers.
2. Statistics. of or characterizing a process of selection in which each item of a set has an equal probability of being chosen.
3. Building Trades.
a. (of building materials) lacking uniformity of dimensions: random shingles.
b. (of ashlar) laid without continuous courses.
c. constructed or applied without regularity: random bond.
It doesn't mean quirky, strange, or vaguely unlikeable. Just to clear that up.
I know a lot of people have a problem with the word "nice", I don't mind it, when it's not overused, and it's a lot less annoying and offensive than "random". I'd pretty much ban the word "random" if I could, for a while at least, so it could have a little cooling off period. People just insert it anywhere, as an exclamation or as a totally irrelevant adjective. It's pretty irritating, especially when people do it in my classes:
Lecturer: "Has anyone seen all of these poems?"
Person who never says anything vaguely interesting or useful: "Yeah... I have."
L: "OK, so what did you think of them?"
P.W.N.S.A.V.I.O.U: "I dunno... they were a bit random..."
Sigh...
This is good:
babel and escha - Urbanalities
I especially like the clock part, and the strange flowing shape inside the red clock face that follows it.
2. Statistics. of or characterizing a process of selection in which each item of a set has an equal probability of being chosen.
3. Building Trades.
a. (of building materials) lacking uniformity of dimensions: random shingles.
b. (of ashlar) laid without continuous courses.
c. constructed or applied without regularity: random bond.
It doesn't mean quirky, strange, or vaguely unlikeable. Just to clear that up.
I know a lot of people have a problem with the word "nice", I don't mind it, when it's not overused, and it's a lot less annoying and offensive than "random". I'd pretty much ban the word "random" if I could, for a while at least, so it could have a little cooling off period. People just insert it anywhere, as an exclamation or as a totally irrelevant adjective. It's pretty irritating, especially when people do it in my classes:
Lecturer: "Has anyone seen all of these poems?"
Person who never says anything vaguely interesting or useful: "Yeah... I have."
L: "OK, so what did you think of them?"
P.W.N.S.A.V.I.O.U: "I dunno... they were a bit random..."
Sigh...
This is good:
babel and escha - Urbanalities
I especially like the clock part, and the strange flowing shape inside the red clock face that follows it.
Saturday, 26 September 2009
Only inarticulate people use language
I wholeheartedly recommend this book:
It's great. So far it's been a pretty heavy introduction to comic criticism (in the part I was just reading, he was talking about Kant's Critique of Aesthetic Judgment), and yet it's so enjoyable and conversational that it hardly feels like anything arduous or even very academic. It's like a cunning trick.
So yeah, if you're interested in that sort of thing, buy it, or borrow it off me when I'm done.
I've been reading a lot of comics recently, as a matter of fact, mostly by Grant Morrison; I've read the first volume of Animal Man and the first couple of volumes of The Invisibles in the last couple of days. It's amazing to be able to do something so constructive and enjoyable, but admittedly it is kind of distracting me from my Digital Poetry module, and from doing my journal.
The Invisibles is great as well, now I come to mention it (Animal Man is good too, but The Invisibles is better):
Also bought some new music today, Pavement's Bright the Corners, Yo La Tengo's I'm Not Afraid of You and I Will Beat Your Ass and a Curtis Mayfield compilation, which was only £2.74 and has Move on Up, We the People Who Are Darker That Blue and Superfly on it.
So yeah.
It's great. So far it's been a pretty heavy introduction to comic criticism (in the part I was just reading, he was talking about Kant's Critique of Aesthetic Judgment), and yet it's so enjoyable and conversational that it hardly feels like anything arduous or even very academic. It's like a cunning trick.
So yeah, if you're interested in that sort of thing, buy it, or borrow it off me when I'm done.
I've been reading a lot of comics recently, as a matter of fact, mostly by Grant Morrison; I've read the first volume of Animal Man and the first couple of volumes of The Invisibles in the last couple of days. It's amazing to be able to do something so constructive and enjoyable, but admittedly it is kind of distracting me from my Digital Poetry module, and from doing my journal.
The Invisibles is great as well, now I come to mention it (Animal Man is good too, but The Invisibles is better):
Also bought some new music today, Pavement's Bright the Corners, Yo La Tengo's I'm Not Afraid of You and I Will Beat Your Ass and a Curtis Mayfield compilation, which was only £2.74 and has Move on Up, We the People Who Are Darker That Blue and Superfly on it.
So yeah.
Thursday, 24 September 2009
Space is the place
Sun Ra made a movie, apparently:
Sun Ra - Rocket Number Nine
Meanwhile, on Earth...
Broadcasting on 28/9/09 (next Monday):
1. The Smiths - Sheila Take a Bow
2. Lambchop - Ohio
3. Television Personalities - Part Time Punks
4. Field Music - 17
5. Tom Waits - 16 Shells From a Thirty-Ought-Six
6. Times New Viking - Those Days
7. Frank Black - Los Angeles
8. The xx - Crystalised
9. Jimi Hendrix - Crosstown Traffic
10. Jack Lewis and Friends - Polar Bear
11. Jurassic 5 - Lesson 6: The Lecture
12. Clap Your Hands Say Yeah - The Skin of My Yellow Country Teeth
13. Vashti Bunyan - 17 Pink Sugar Elephants
14. The Specials - Too Much Too Young
15. Japanther - Um Like Your Smile is Totally Ruling Me
16. The Clash - Rudie Can't Fail
17. Deerhunter - Rainwater Cassette Exchange
18. Atlas Sound - Quarantined
19. Jeff Buckley - Hallelujah
20. Cocteau Twins - Sugar Hiccup
21. Indian Jewelry - Bird is Broke (Won't Sing)
Sun Ra - Rocket Number Nine
Meanwhile, on Earth...
Broadcasting on 28/9/09 (next Monday):
1. The Smiths - Sheila Take a Bow
2. Lambchop - Ohio
3. Television Personalities - Part Time Punks
4. Field Music - 17
5. Tom Waits - 16 Shells From a Thirty-Ought-Six
6. Times New Viking - Those Days
7. Frank Black - Los Angeles
8. The xx - Crystalised
9. Jimi Hendrix - Crosstown Traffic
10. Jack Lewis and Friends - Polar Bear
11. Jurassic 5 - Lesson 6: The Lecture
12. Clap Your Hands Say Yeah - The Skin of My Yellow Country Teeth
13. Vashti Bunyan - 17 Pink Sugar Elephants
14. The Specials - Too Much Too Young
15. Japanther - Um Like Your Smile is Totally Ruling Me
16. The Clash - Rudie Can't Fail
17. Deerhunter - Rainwater Cassette Exchange
18. Atlas Sound - Quarantined
19. Jeff Buckley - Hallelujah
20. Cocteau Twins - Sugar Hiccup
21. Indian Jewelry - Bird is Broke (Won't Sing)
Monday, 21 September 2009
I can't leave her behind
I've been desperate to repost this ever since I saw it on Aquarium Drunkard. I think it's been long enough since they originally brought it to my attention, so now I'm passing it on to you, a very small but hopefully appreciative extra audience. This is one of the most wonderful snippets of music I've ever come across. It brings tears to my eyes, and very few songs do that:
Anyone who knows me well will tell you how much I love Bob Dylan, how much I love his style, his lyrics and his music, but this is perhaps the most beautiful love song he has ever sung, in one of the loveliest singing voices I've ever heard. I know, right? Why doesn't he just sing like that all the time, instead of nasal-o-jefferies? (as much as I love nasal-o-jefferies). I dunno, you'd have to ask him I guess, the man's an enigma wrapped in a puzzle.
P.S. I found the original Aquarium Drunkard post, while trying to find out whether this song had ever been recorded, and they posted the lyrics as follows (with a couple of amendments):
“Where she leads me I do not know, well she leads me where she goes. I can’t find her nowhere. Well, she needs me how, all aware, I just can’t hear her walk, I just can’t hear her talk, though sometimes you know you will. And when she comes my way, I’ll just be left any night or day, I will hear her say, that I don’t wanna try, I tried, also cried, but I can’t leave her behind.”
Anyone who knows me well will tell you how much I love Bob Dylan, how much I love his style, his lyrics and his music, but this is perhaps the most beautiful love song he has ever sung, in one of the loveliest singing voices I've ever heard. I know, right? Why doesn't he just sing like that all the time, instead of nasal-o-jefferies? (as much as I love nasal-o-jefferies). I dunno, you'd have to ask him I guess, the man's an enigma wrapped in a puzzle.
P.S. I found the original Aquarium Drunkard post, while trying to find out whether this song had ever been recorded, and they posted the lyrics as follows (with a couple of amendments):
“Where she leads me I do not know, well she leads me where she goes. I can’t find her nowhere. Well, she needs me how, all aware, I just can’t hear her walk, I just can’t hear her talk, though sometimes you know you will. And when she comes my way, I’ll just be left any night or day, I will hear her say, that I don’t wanna try, I tried, also cried, but I can’t leave her behind.”
Rad! Oh?
See what I did? Maybe not.
Broadcast 21/9/09 (ie tonight, I hope):
1. They Might Be Giants - James Ensor
2. Stanley Brinks - Stanley Brinks
3. A Hawk and a Hacksaw - Hummingbirds
4. Devo - Whip it
5. The Smiths - That Joke isn't Funny Any More
6. Wolf Parade - Shine a Light
7. Siouxsie and the Banshees - Helter Skelter
8. Tom Waits - Grapefruit Moon
9. Herman Dune - 1,2,3 Apple Tree
10. Zombie Zombie - What's Happening in the City
11. The Kinks - This Time Tomorrow
12. Tapes n' Tapes - Crazy Eights
13. Public Enemy - Don't Believe the Hype
14. Ananda Shankar - Jumping Jack Flash
15. Pink Mountaintops - Gayest of Sunbeams
16. Marvin Gaye - What's Going On?
17. Beach House - Heart of Chambers
18. No Age - Teen Creeps
19. Bob Dylan - Gates of Eden
20. Times New Viking - End of All Things.
Broadcast 21/9/09 (ie tonight, I hope):
1. They Might Be Giants - James Ensor
2. Stanley Brinks - Stanley Brinks
3. A Hawk and a Hacksaw - Hummingbirds
4. Devo - Whip it
5. The Smiths - That Joke isn't Funny Any More
6. Wolf Parade - Shine a Light
7. Siouxsie and the Banshees - Helter Skelter
8. Tom Waits - Grapefruit Moon
9. Herman Dune - 1,2,3 Apple Tree
10. Zombie Zombie - What's Happening in the City
11. The Kinks - This Time Tomorrow
12. Tapes n' Tapes - Crazy Eights
13. Public Enemy - Don't Believe the Hype
14. Ananda Shankar - Jumping Jack Flash
15. Pink Mountaintops - Gayest of Sunbeams
16. Marvin Gaye - What's Going On?
17. Beach House - Heart of Chambers
18. No Age - Teen Creeps
19. Bob Dylan - Gates of Eden
20. Times New Viking - End of All Things.
Grib grib gribbet
It's fun to listen to Adam and Joe podcasts on my iPod, not only for the obvious reason that it's hilarious, but also because I find it quite fun to play a little game with myself, where I try to laugh as little as possible, and also because when I do laugh it's invariably when someone is walking past and it looks like I'm laughing at them. This can be fun when there are so many awful freshers around, and I like to think that their self confidence crumbles under my snickering, although of course it probably doesn't.
Anyways, here's a sort of bizarre clip from the TV show what they did, with Mark E Smith appearing on Vinyl Justice:
He gets pretty violent, as you can probably see. I feel pretty bad for A+J, because even though they seem to cope with it quite well, I think they are the kind of guys who don't respond very well to confrontation, and are probably therefore quite scared and intimidated.
In a side note, when we were doing the pub quiz last week, someone had the team name "Steven!", and so I dutifully shouted out "just coming!" when they got called up to receive some sort of prize.
Yeah, it was great.
Anyways, here's a sort of bizarre clip from the TV show what they did, with Mark E Smith appearing on Vinyl Justice:
He gets pretty violent, as you can probably see. I feel pretty bad for A+J, because even though they seem to cope with it quite well, I think they are the kind of guys who don't respond very well to confrontation, and are probably therefore quite scared and intimidated.
In a side note, when we were doing the pub quiz last week, someone had the team name "Steven!", and so I dutifully shouted out "just coming!" when they got called up to receive some sort of prize.
Yeah, it was great.
Sunday, 20 September 2009
Saturday, 19 September 2009
Half time hero
I remembered that Heather actually posted the show that we did before she left, so I'll post the tracks I've been playing over the past couple of weeks. Did two shows in a row today, which was pretty dull and tiring. Anyway, here you go:
Show 1 (broadcast 14/9/09):
1. Belle and Sebastian - The Boy With the Arab Strap
2. Roy Orbison - In Dreams
3. Yo La Tengo - Sometimes I Don't Get You
4. Bob Dylan - From a Buick 6
5. Health - Death+
6. The Stooges - Search and Destroy
7. A Place to Bury Strangers - In Your Heart
8. The Specials - A Message to You Rudy
9. Tune-Yards - Sunlight
10. Nick Drake - Parasite
11. Black Sabbath - Paranoid
12. Women - Black Rice
13. Sonic Youth - Mary-Christ
14. The Mountain Goats - Psalms 40:2
15. Patrick Kelleher - Coat to Wear
16. Pavement - Heaven is a Truck
17. Chuck Berry - Johnny B. Goode
18. Tall Firs - Loveless
19. De La Soul - Tread Water
20. - Connan Mockasin - Sneaky Sneaky Dogfriend
Things that were planned but didn't make it:
Clap Your Hands Say Yeah - Satan Said Dance
Boris - LaserBeam
There's the first one anyway, I'll post the others another time.
Got Condemned today, it's pretty scary stuff. Been playing it a little, but I was also watching LOTR on channel 4 for a while, which was strangely both quite engrossing and laughable at the same time. Merry and Pippin are two of the most annoying fucking characters in film history, not only to the audience, but to the other characters as well; you almost start to think that they are agents of Sauron, they do such a good job of fucking things up. Sam isn't much better in terms of dumbness, but is equally irritating, due to his near willingness to actually commit suicide rather than allow Frodo to go off on his own, and his melodramatic, "I'm just a simple lad really" bullshit, like the part where he holds Frodo up in a field to tell him that if he takes one more step, he'll be the furthest away he's ever been. So fucking what? That's not in any way significant.
However, check this shizz:
For all that people (myself included) grumble about CGI, and how silly some of the acting is, and how ridiculously some of the characters are portrayed, I can't help preferring Peter Jackson's version over the animated one, in this scene at least (I haven't seen all of it, although I should, for kicks). Despite being animated, the Balrog still looks like a guy in a suit. How is that even possible? Plus it looks like he's seductively dancing towards Gandalf, rather than actually attacking him. As for Gandalf, he sounds almost nonchalant about the whole affair, even when he says "fly, you fools". Ian McKellen is pretty awesome though I guess, it'd be hard for him to be topped by a cartoon version.
Fly, you fools!
Show 1 (broadcast 14/9/09):
1. Belle and Sebastian - The Boy With the Arab Strap
2. Roy Orbison - In Dreams
3. Yo La Tengo - Sometimes I Don't Get You
4. Bob Dylan - From a Buick 6
5. Health - Death+
6. The Stooges - Search and Destroy
7. A Place to Bury Strangers - In Your Heart
8. The Specials - A Message to You Rudy
9. Tune-Yards - Sunlight
10. Nick Drake - Parasite
11. Black Sabbath - Paranoid
12. Women - Black Rice
13. Sonic Youth - Mary-Christ
14. The Mountain Goats - Psalms 40:2
15. Patrick Kelleher - Coat to Wear
16. Pavement - Heaven is a Truck
17. Chuck Berry - Johnny B. Goode
18. Tall Firs - Loveless
19. De La Soul - Tread Water
20. - Connan Mockasin - Sneaky Sneaky Dogfriend
Things that were planned but didn't make it:
Clap Your Hands Say Yeah - Satan Said Dance
Boris - LaserBeam
There's the first one anyway, I'll post the others another time.
Got Condemned today, it's pretty scary stuff. Been playing it a little, but I was also watching LOTR on channel 4 for a while, which was strangely both quite engrossing and laughable at the same time. Merry and Pippin are two of the most annoying fucking characters in film history, not only to the audience, but to the other characters as well; you almost start to think that they are agents of Sauron, they do such a good job of fucking things up. Sam isn't much better in terms of dumbness, but is equally irritating, due to his near willingness to actually commit suicide rather than allow Frodo to go off on his own, and his melodramatic, "I'm just a simple lad really" bullshit, like the part where he holds Frodo up in a field to tell him that if he takes one more step, he'll be the furthest away he's ever been. So fucking what? That's not in any way significant.
However, check this shizz:
For all that people (myself included) grumble about CGI, and how silly some of the acting is, and how ridiculously some of the characters are portrayed, I can't help preferring Peter Jackson's version over the animated one, in this scene at least (I haven't seen all of it, although I should, for kicks). Despite being animated, the Balrog still looks like a guy in a suit. How is that even possible? Plus it looks like he's seductively dancing towards Gandalf, rather than actually attacking him. As for Gandalf, he sounds almost nonchalant about the whole affair, even when he says "fly, you fools". Ian McKellen is pretty awesome though I guess, it'd be hard for him to be topped by a cartoon version.
Fly, you fools!
Friday, 18 September 2009
Cate Blanket
I couldn't really give a flying fuck about fashion, but it's pretty infuriating how badly people have reacted to this:
That is one of the coolest, most original dresses I have ever seen anyone wear on pretty much any award show/event/whatever. And yet people are slagging it off and calling her "Cate Blanket" because it looks like something someone's granny would knit, or some shit like that.
Who cares? I don't think it looks like something an old person would knit, unless they were born in the 60s or something, but even if it did, grannies are cool. I'd wear something my granny knitted me. Better than wearing some over expensive, generic lookin' black or red dress like everyone else. Plus, it's bright and kinda psychedelic, which are obviously good points.
Fashion writers are full of shit.
That is one of the coolest, most original dresses I have ever seen anyone wear on pretty much any award show/event/whatever. And yet people are slagging it off and calling her "Cate Blanket" because it looks like something someone's granny would knit, or some shit like that.
Who cares? I don't think it looks like something an old person would knit, unless they were born in the 60s or something, but even if it did, grannies are cool. I'd wear something my granny knitted me. Better than wearing some over expensive, generic lookin' black or red dress like everyone else. Plus, it's bright and kinda psychedelic, which are obviously good points.
Fashion writers are full of shit.
Thursday, 17 September 2009
Your funeral, my trial
Check this wack shit:
My parent's application for a house extension, which they need so that they can properly accommodate the foster children in their care.
What's so wack about it is the fact that so many of my selfish ex-neighbours are bitching and moaning about the fact that it will effect their sunlight levels and privacy, even saying that less sun during winter afternoons will have a negative effect on their heating bill (from a guy who only visits at weekends. Also, what planet's he living on? What sun during winter? Even if it's present, it sure as hell isn't warm). Even the people next door are complaining, and they've already had their own extension built, to provide themselves with a lovely conservatory, sticking a big wall in the way of the back garden view in the process. Goddamn hypocrites. The keeping up with the Jones's bullshit and rivalry that goes on in that street makes me ill; it was the same sort of situation when one person in the street got a balcony, and suddenly everyone was building one. Except my parents have a genuine need for more room, whereas practically everyone else who lives there is either extremely old and childless, or only visit on weekends, or both.
Anyway, check that link and lend your support if you have a few seconds; I'm pretty proud of the little rant I put there, but all it would take is a little "I support the plans, Ian and Carol are doing a great job and one important to society and need the room" or whatever, and hopefully we can drown out all of the miserable bastards who have a problem with it.
I got hassled by someone outside the union today, advertising something called "Shag Tag". I pointed out to Matthew that it looked stupid, and she advanced on me and forced a leaflet under my friggin' armpit, shouting "TAKE ONE!" like a mad harpie bitch.
Grumble grumble grumble... I hate the union, and I hate my old neighbours, and I miss Heather.
I like this though:
John Caley - Overboard.
My parent's application for a house extension, which they need so that they can properly accommodate the foster children in their care.
What's so wack about it is the fact that so many of my selfish ex-neighbours are bitching and moaning about the fact that it will effect their sunlight levels and privacy, even saying that less sun during winter afternoons will have a negative effect on their heating bill (from a guy who only visits at weekends. Also, what planet's he living on? What sun during winter? Even if it's present, it sure as hell isn't warm). Even the people next door are complaining, and they've already had their own extension built, to provide themselves with a lovely conservatory, sticking a big wall in the way of the back garden view in the process. Goddamn hypocrites. The keeping up with the Jones's bullshit and rivalry that goes on in that street makes me ill; it was the same sort of situation when one person in the street got a balcony, and suddenly everyone was building one. Except my parents have a genuine need for more room, whereas practically everyone else who lives there is either extremely old and childless, or only visit on weekends, or both.
Anyway, check that link and lend your support if you have a few seconds; I'm pretty proud of the little rant I put there, but all it would take is a little "I support the plans, Ian and Carol are doing a great job and one important to society and need the room" or whatever, and hopefully we can drown out all of the miserable bastards who have a problem with it.
I got hassled by someone outside the union today, advertising something called "Shag Tag". I pointed out to Matthew that it looked stupid, and she advanced on me and forced a leaflet under my friggin' armpit, shouting "TAKE ONE!" like a mad harpie bitch.
Grumble grumble grumble... I hate the union, and I hate my old neighbours, and I miss Heather.
I like this though:
John Caley - Overboard.
Wednesday, 16 September 2009
There were these two guys in a lunatic asylum...
...and one night, one night they decide they don't like living in an asylum anymore. They decide they're going to escape!
So, like, they get up onto the roof, and there, just across this narrow gap, they see the rooftops of the town, stretching away in the moonlight... stretching away to freedom.
Now, the first guy, he jumps right across with no problem. But his friend, his friend daredn't make the leap. Y'see he's afraid of falling.
So then, the first guy has an idea. He says "Hey! I have my flashlight with me! I'll shine it across the gap between the buildings. You can walk along the beam and join me!"
But the second guy just shakes his head. He suh-says "Wh-what do you think I am? CRAZY?
You'd turn it off when I was half way across!"
Yeah... Just read The Killing Joke. Pretty disturbing stuff... You sympathise with a psychopath, and it's finally brought home just how bat shit crazy Batman really is.
Had my first class this week, and got another two tomorrow. Studying comics this semester, and I've never been so excited about reading the course material before. I've actually already read a lot of it, including the secondary sources and critical writing stuff, which leaves me in a pretty good position for focusing on reading for Digital Poetry, which looks to be pretty complex and intellectual. A lot of it is free online though, which is cool:
Young-Hae Chang Heavy Industries - Dakota.
In all, fourth year is looking to be pretty exciting; the lyrics of Bob Dylan and American Modernist Poetry next semester, another personal fandom/difficult and intellectual combo, and both very interesting (to me, anyway).
Been on a big hip hop binge lately; I dunno why, there seems to be this link in my head between comics and hip hop. Especially been listening to a lot of Wu Tang (yes, I am 13 years old), as well as the many solo albums that have been made by the various members, especially Liquid Swords by GZA/Genius. I was gonna post C.R.E.A.M, but this is more amusing, as it kinda gives the impression of a poorly made infomercial aimed at selling the Clan to record labels (which is actually pretty much what it is):
I like the way Ghostface's name is written "Ghost Face Killer" instead of the usual "Killah", as if they sent off the footage to some cheap professional movie editing company, and the guy making it refused to typset it "Killah" because it was a crime against English. Although, ODB has his name with the usual "Ol'" as opposed to "Old".
It's also funny how much they have to censor the swear words, especially during ODB's part. I think he says "bite my style, I'll bite your motherfucking ass" at about 2:31, all of which is bleeped, to comic effect.
I really am going to post more often from now on. Really.
So, like, they get up onto the roof, and there, just across this narrow gap, they see the rooftops of the town, stretching away in the moonlight... stretching away to freedom.
Now, the first guy, he jumps right across with no problem. But his friend, his friend daredn't make the leap. Y'see he's afraid of falling.
So then, the first guy has an idea. He says "Hey! I have my flashlight with me! I'll shine it across the gap between the buildings. You can walk along the beam and join me!"
But the second guy just shakes his head. He suh-says "Wh-what do you think I am? CRAZY?
You'd turn it off when I was half way across!"
Yeah... Just read The Killing Joke. Pretty disturbing stuff... You sympathise with a psychopath, and it's finally brought home just how bat shit crazy Batman really is.
Had my first class this week, and got another two tomorrow. Studying comics this semester, and I've never been so excited about reading the course material before. I've actually already read a lot of it, including the secondary sources and critical writing stuff, which leaves me in a pretty good position for focusing on reading for Digital Poetry, which looks to be pretty complex and intellectual. A lot of it is free online though, which is cool:
Young-Hae Chang Heavy Industries - Dakota.
In all, fourth year is looking to be pretty exciting; the lyrics of Bob Dylan and American Modernist Poetry next semester, another personal fandom/difficult and intellectual combo, and both very interesting (to me, anyway).
Been on a big hip hop binge lately; I dunno why, there seems to be this link in my head between comics and hip hop. Especially been listening to a lot of Wu Tang (yes, I am 13 years old), as well as the many solo albums that have been made by the various members, especially Liquid Swords by GZA/Genius. I was gonna post C.R.E.A.M, but this is more amusing, as it kinda gives the impression of a poorly made infomercial aimed at selling the Clan to record labels (which is actually pretty much what it is):
I like the way Ghostface's name is written "Ghost Face Killer" instead of the usual "Killah", as if they sent off the footage to some cheap professional movie editing company, and the guy making it refused to typset it "Killah" because it was a crime against English. Although, ODB has his name with the usual "Ol'" as opposed to "Old".
It's also funny how much they have to censor the swear words, especially during ODB's part. I think he says "bite my style, I'll bite your motherfucking ass" at about 2:31, all of which is bleeped, to comic effect.
I really am going to post more often from now on. Really.
Tuesday, 8 September 2009
Kool thing walking like a panther
I've had a shitty day. I'm totally sick of everyone at work; the kids, my co-workers, the parents (the ones who are on the committee, who effectively work there, but behind the scenes), they all seem to be busting my chops for no good goddamn reason. I need to find a new job.
Matthew and I watched Ghost Dog: Way of the Samurai last night. It was pretty great. My mum gave me it because I accidentally gave it to her for Christmas, and she didn't want it. Here's a clip that pretty much sums up the idea of the movie, without giving too much away:
The music in the film is pretty cool too, kinda lo-fi hip-hop stuff. It's all done by RZA, from the Wu Tang Clan, who makes a slightly unnecessary cameo appearance in the movie. He also appears in one of Jim Jarmusch's other films, Coffee and Cigarettes:
So yeah... gonna have to start posting again.
Matthew and I watched Ghost Dog: Way of the Samurai last night. It was pretty great. My mum gave me it because I accidentally gave it to her for Christmas, and she didn't want it. Here's a clip that pretty much sums up the idea of the movie, without giving too much away:
The music in the film is pretty cool too, kinda lo-fi hip-hop stuff. It's all done by RZA, from the Wu Tang Clan, who makes a slightly unnecessary cameo appearance in the movie. He also appears in one of Jim Jarmusch's other films, Coffee and Cigarettes:
So yeah... gonna have to start posting again.
Monday, 10 August 2009
What flavour!?
Watched You Can't Take It With You last night, another Capra with Jimmy starring. It was a little bit sappy at some points, but generally speaking hearts were warmed all round. Here's a scene where this fat horrible business man gets owned by a nice old man:
I like the way he says "human being".
Also watched Brewster's Millions yesterday afternoon, with most of the swearing and stuff cut out since it was for television (even though I picked up on Ricky Gervais saying "wank" on an advert for T4 just before it came on). It was pretty funny, and 80s-tastic, and also heartwarming, in it's own way:
Back to work today. It feels like going back to school after summer holidays; there's a kind of deep dread down in the pit of my chest. It's been nice lazing around, although I can't help feeling I kind of wasted the last weekend by getting drunk on Saturday night at Alex's party and spending the whole of Sunday recovering. The whole situation was like being a teenager again; having arduous and tedious work on the horizon, getting drunk and arguing pointlessly with random psychology students about God knows what for hours...
Anyway, gotta go to the junk shop.
I like the way he says "human being".
Also watched Brewster's Millions yesterday afternoon, with most of the swearing and stuff cut out since it was for television (even though I picked up on Ricky Gervais saying "wank" on an advert for T4 just before it came on). It was pretty funny, and 80s-tastic, and also heartwarming, in it's own way:
Back to work today. It feels like going back to school after summer holidays; there's a kind of deep dread down in the pit of my chest. It's been nice lazing around, although I can't help feeling I kind of wasted the last weekend by getting drunk on Saturday night at Alex's party and spending the whole of Sunday recovering. The whole situation was like being a teenager again; having arduous and tedious work on the horizon, getting drunk and arguing pointlessly with random psychology students about God knows what for hours...
Anyway, gotta go to the junk shop.
Tuesday, 4 August 2009
Quiet on yo' ass
Recently I've been pretty silent on this blog o' mine, mostly because I've been lazy, but also because I've had little to say in relation to the things I've been posting; I'm neither qualified or capable of saying anything useful about these paintings, so I thought it better to let them speak for themselves.
I've been really interested in painting recently, which has been filtering into my dreams a lot; dreams about helter skelters set against fluorescent pink backdrops, extensive walks around art galleries, both as myself and as Sherlock Holmes, accompanied by Heather and Watson, respectively.
Here's some work by William Eggleston, about whom Heather and I watched a programme recently, presented by Alan Yentob, called Imagine:
Morton, Mississippi (1969-70):
Huntsville, Alabama (1971):
Untitled (1984):
Apart from anything else, it strikes me that the first two images, and much of Eggleston's work, seems to have been infuential on on the films of David Lynch; this was pointed out in the programme of course, so I probably had some help in making this amazing leap of reference. Regardless, they both have the same kind of facade of normality with an undercurrent of evil and loneliness that you would find in a film like Blue Velvet, with a similar subject matter of the American lower middle class. The first image is obviously more threatening than the second, which just seems very empty and sad.
The last picture is just odd; everything about it suggests a church or shrine to Elvis, and I think Kennedy, whose face I believe is in the American flag on the dresser. Obviously the owner of the house misses the 60s a great deal. In fact, I think it might have been taken inside Graceland, which would probably explain it.
Roy Orbison - In Dreams.
I've been really interested in painting recently, which has been filtering into my dreams a lot; dreams about helter skelters set against fluorescent pink backdrops, extensive walks around art galleries, both as myself and as Sherlock Holmes, accompanied by Heather and Watson, respectively.
Here's some work by William Eggleston, about whom Heather and I watched a programme recently, presented by Alan Yentob, called Imagine:
Morton, Mississippi (1969-70):
Huntsville, Alabama (1971):
Untitled (1984):
Apart from anything else, it strikes me that the first two images, and much of Eggleston's work, seems to have been infuential on on the films of David Lynch; this was pointed out in the programme of course, so I probably had some help in making this amazing leap of reference. Regardless, they both have the same kind of facade of normality with an undercurrent of evil and loneliness that you would find in a film like Blue Velvet, with a similar subject matter of the American lower middle class. The first image is obviously more threatening than the second, which just seems very empty and sad.
The last picture is just odd; everything about it suggests a church or shrine to Elvis, and I think Kennedy, whose face I believe is in the American flag on the dresser. Obviously the owner of the house misses the 60s a great deal. In fact, I think it might have been taken inside Graceland, which would probably explain it.
Roy Orbison - In Dreams.
Wednesday, 22 July 2009
Monday, 20 July 2009
Dig him up and shake his hand
James Ensor - Portrait of the Artist Surrounded By Masks (1809):
Skeletons Fighting Over a Pickled Herring (1891):
Skeletons Fighting Over a Pickled Herring (1891):
Tuesday, 30 June 2009
Saturday, 27 June 2009
Her death is quite romantic.
William Shakespeare - Hamlet (Act IV, Scene VII):
"There is a willow grows aslant a brook,
That shows his hoar leaves in the glassy stream;
There with fantastic garlands did she come
Of crow-flowers, nettles, daisies, and long purples
That liberal shepherds give a grosser name,
But our cold maids do dead men's fingers call them:
There, on the pendent boughs her coronet weeds
Clambering to hang, an envious sliver broke;
When down her weedy trophies and herself
Fell in the weeping brook. Her clothes spread wide;
And, mermaid-like, awhile they bore her up:
Which time she chanted snatches of old tunes;
As one incapable of her own distress,
Or like a creature native and indued
Unto that element: but long it could not be
Till that her garments, heavy with their drink,
Pull'd the poor wretch from her melodious lay
To muddy death."
John Millais - Ophelia (1852):
Bob Dylan - Desolation Row:
"Now Ophelia, she's 'neath the window,
For her I feel so afraid,
On her twenty-second birthday
She already is an old maid.
To her, death is quite romantic,
She wears an iron vest,
Her profession's her religion,
Her sin is her lifelessness,
And though her eyes are fixed upon
Noah's great rainbow,
She spends her time peeking
Into Desolation Row."
"There is a willow grows aslant a brook,
That shows his hoar leaves in the glassy stream;
There with fantastic garlands did she come
Of crow-flowers, nettles, daisies, and long purples
That liberal shepherds give a grosser name,
But our cold maids do dead men's fingers call them:
There, on the pendent boughs her coronet weeds
Clambering to hang, an envious sliver broke;
When down her weedy trophies and herself
Fell in the weeping brook. Her clothes spread wide;
And, mermaid-like, awhile they bore her up:
Which time she chanted snatches of old tunes;
As one incapable of her own distress,
Or like a creature native and indued
Unto that element: but long it could not be
Till that her garments, heavy with their drink,
Pull'd the poor wretch from her melodious lay
To muddy death."
John Millais - Ophelia (1852):
Bob Dylan - Desolation Row:
"Now Ophelia, she's 'neath the window,
For her I feel so afraid,
On her twenty-second birthday
She already is an old maid.
To her, death is quite romantic,
She wears an iron vest,
Her profession's her religion,
Her sin is her lifelessness,
And though her eyes are fixed upon
Noah's great rainbow,
She spends her time peeking
Into Desolation Row."
Straighten up your act and boogie down.
I know I said I wouldn't do this, but...
Of course, the Michael Jackson in this video has been gone for a long time, but it's still pretty sad. I didn't realise I'd be effected really, but he was so hugely famous that it feels like an important part of human civilisation has disappeared, as if the Statue of Liberty had fallen down or something. Even though it's remote, and I've never been a huge fan (although I've always liked his earlier music, I guess his image and "Earth Song" both kinda put me off him), I can't help but feel pretty weird about it.
Anyway, today I found an absolutely awesome album. Here's a picture, although the cover of the one I bought is different to this, you get the idea:
I don't know if you can quite read the little yellow strip in the top left corner, but it includes an amazing 80s-tastic poster on how to breakdance (which will be going up on the wall shortly), and an instructional "rap" on how to breakdance, which I haven't yet listened to. It also has a little glossary on the back of breakdance slang, which I will transcribe in full, because Heather is away at the moment and I'm sad and bored and have little else to do:
BITE - verb; to copy, duplicate or reproduce without consent; to steal from others.
Ex: "We were doing those steps way before them. They must have bit our moves.
CHILL - verb; to chill, chillout, chilin', the act of calming down, keeping under control, staying cool.
Ex: "Yo, chill out!" "I'm just chillin'!"
CRITICAL - adjective; describes an action poorly done, a state of poor condition.
Ex: "His graffiti piece was all critical, looked like a chimpanzee did it. He breaks all critical."
DIS - verb; to disrespect another person, to show no respect or regard for another person's feelings or property.
Ex: "When you talked about my girl, you really dissed me man."
DOG - verb; to overuse, abuse, spoil through excess.
Ex: "He dogged his sneakers. They were all critical looking."
FRESH - adjective; the hippest, the newest, the most together and unique. On time, well conceived and executed. Beautiful, aesthetically pleasing.
Ex: "The new Mercedes compact is fresh!" "I want that record with the fresh beats!"
FRONT, FRONTING - verb; to be irresponsible, to not show up, to break a promise.
Ex: "I was supposed to meet her here at 8.00, but it looks like she's fronting on me."
HOMEBOY, HOMEGIRL - pronoun, noun; comrade, companion, guys and girls from the neighbourhood.
Ex: "Yo man, let him in. He's one of my homeboys."
JERK - verb; to cheat, or to fool someone.
Ex: "He told me 50% but I only got 10; I got jerked."
MAX OUT - verb; a friendly term for parting with ease or saying goodbye.
Ex: "OK, I'll see you tomorrow. Yo, max out."
RUN - verb; to repeat in excess, to be redundant, to use over and over.
Ex: "That song was alright until they started running it."
SQUIGGLEY - adjective; nerdy, unhip or unattractive.
Ex: "I don't want to go out with that girl, she's too squiggley."
TRACK - noun; freeze move in which break ends in a bridge with stomach up, supported by hands and feet.
UPROCK - noun; duelling distance between 2 breakdancers, where the dancers mimic fighting an score points by getting non-contact blows or hits in first.
WACK - adjective; describes something poorly done or in bad tate, awkward, clumsy, off beat.
Ex: "That break move was wack!" "He's the wackest D.J. I know"
WORD - noun; an affirmation, a term to acknowledge or support a statement.
Ex: "That girl is fine. Word." "Do you want to be the best? Word, you know it!"
So there you go. I think my favourite might be Homeboy, the example for which sounds like alternative lyrics to "He Ain't Heavy, He's My Brother", and I like the cruelty of the Squiggley example.
It's weird, it also mentions MJ on the back of the album, in a little section on the history of breakdancing:
"At the moment Michael Jackson stepped on stage - dancing his "MOONWALK" on the 25th Anniversary Mowtown Special last year - Breakdancing took a giant step forward in the space of about a year, rock and pop videos, have brought breakdancing to international fame."
Obviously grammar isn't their strong point, but never mind.
Peace out homeboys.
Of course, the Michael Jackson in this video has been gone for a long time, but it's still pretty sad. I didn't realise I'd be effected really, but he was so hugely famous that it feels like an important part of human civilisation has disappeared, as if the Statue of Liberty had fallen down or something. Even though it's remote, and I've never been a huge fan (although I've always liked his earlier music, I guess his image and "Earth Song" both kinda put me off him), I can't help but feel pretty weird about it.
Anyway, today I found an absolutely awesome album. Here's a picture, although the cover of the one I bought is different to this, you get the idea:
I don't know if you can quite read the little yellow strip in the top left corner, but it includes an amazing 80s-tastic poster on how to breakdance (which will be going up on the wall shortly), and an instructional "rap" on how to breakdance, which I haven't yet listened to. It also has a little glossary on the back of breakdance slang, which I will transcribe in full, because Heather is away at the moment and I'm sad and bored and have little else to do:
BITE - verb; to copy, duplicate or reproduce without consent; to steal from others.
Ex: "We were doing those steps way before them. They must have bit our moves.
CHILL - verb; to chill, chillout, chilin', the act of calming down, keeping under control, staying cool.
Ex: "Yo, chill out!" "I'm just chillin'!"
CRITICAL - adjective; describes an action poorly done, a state of poor condition.
Ex: "His graffiti piece was all critical, looked like a chimpanzee did it. He breaks all critical."
DIS - verb; to disrespect another person, to show no respect or regard for another person's feelings or property.
Ex: "When you talked about my girl, you really dissed me man."
DOG - verb; to overuse, abuse, spoil through excess.
Ex: "He dogged his sneakers. They were all critical looking."
FRESH - adjective; the hippest, the newest, the most together and unique. On time, well conceived and executed. Beautiful, aesthetically pleasing.
Ex: "The new Mercedes compact is fresh!" "I want that record with the fresh beats!"
FRONT, FRONTING - verb; to be irresponsible, to not show up, to break a promise.
Ex: "I was supposed to meet her here at 8.00, but it looks like she's fronting on me."
HOMEBOY, HOMEGIRL - pronoun, noun; comrade, companion, guys and girls from the neighbourhood.
Ex: "Yo man, let him in. He's one of my homeboys."
JERK - verb; to cheat, or to fool someone.
Ex: "He told me 50% but I only got 10; I got jerked."
MAX OUT - verb; a friendly term for parting with ease or saying goodbye.
Ex: "OK, I'll see you tomorrow. Yo, max out."
RUN - verb; to repeat in excess, to be redundant, to use over and over.
Ex: "That song was alright until they started running it."
SQUIGGLEY - adjective; nerdy, unhip or unattractive.
Ex: "I don't want to go out with that girl, she's too squiggley."
TRACK - noun; freeze move in which break ends in a bridge with stomach up, supported by hands and feet.
UPROCK - noun; duelling distance between 2 breakdancers, where the dancers mimic fighting an score points by getting non-contact blows or hits in first.
WACK - adjective; describes something poorly done or in bad tate, awkward, clumsy, off beat.
Ex: "That break move was wack!" "He's the wackest D.J. I know"
WORD - noun; an affirmation, a term to acknowledge or support a statement.
Ex: "That girl is fine. Word." "Do you want to be the best? Word, you know it!"
So there you go. I think my favourite might be Homeboy, the example for which sounds like alternative lyrics to "He Ain't Heavy, He's My Brother", and I like the cruelty of the Squiggley example.
It's weird, it also mentions MJ on the back of the album, in a little section on the history of breakdancing:
"At the moment Michael Jackson stepped on stage - dancing his "MOONWALK" on the 25th Anniversary Mowtown Special last year - Breakdancing took a giant step forward in the space of about a year, rock and pop videos, have brought breakdancing to international fame."
Obviously grammar isn't their strong point, but never mind.
Peace out homeboys.
Sunday, 14 June 2009
Saturday, 30 May 2009
Public Enemy No. 1
I was going to post the original Crass version of Do The Owe Us A Living, but, controversial as it may be, I actually prefer the Jeffrey Lewis version. Here's a montage of Jeff and co. playing a selection of tracks from 12 Crass Songs:
And here also is something that I'm pretty surprised I haven't posted before, because it's excellent:
Jeff provides pretty convincing evidence that America is the original home of punk, although I suppose I still see merit in the argument that English bands really took it to the masses and developed it as an idea. Although I actually prefer "proto-punk" and "new wave" or "post-punk" to the actual punk era.
In reference to an earlier post, which recently provoked a pretty big reaction, in a way, it's sort of comforting to know that my opinions about student politics caused so much anger; DUSA seemed to go completely unchallenged for the most part, so it's pretty amusing to see them crawling over themselves to shout me down when I speak up (if you can even call posting my own opinion on my own, largely anonymous personal blog "speaking up"). It's especially funny to see people making particularly vitriolic posts under an anonymous name, before switching to their real name to act like "Uncle Democracy", inviting me over to their office or whatever... Or to see people acting real friendly in the face of what I've said about them, whilst belittling my opinions on their Facebook page.
Stay outta politics, kid. It's a goddamn mug's game. From now on I think I'll stick to talking about obscure bands and silly Youtube videos.
Cheery fucking bye!
And here also is something that I'm pretty surprised I haven't posted before, because it's excellent:
Jeff provides pretty convincing evidence that America is the original home of punk, although I suppose I still see merit in the argument that English bands really took it to the masses and developed it as an idea. Although I actually prefer "proto-punk" and "new wave" or "post-punk" to the actual punk era.
In reference to an earlier post, which recently provoked a pretty big reaction, in a way, it's sort of comforting to know that my opinions about student politics caused so much anger; DUSA seemed to go completely unchallenged for the most part, so it's pretty amusing to see them crawling over themselves to shout me down when I speak up (if you can even call posting my own opinion on my own, largely anonymous personal blog "speaking up"). It's especially funny to see people making particularly vitriolic posts under an anonymous name, before switching to their real name to act like "Uncle Democracy", inviting me over to their office or whatever... Or to see people acting real friendly in the face of what I've said about them, whilst belittling my opinions on their Facebook page.
Stay outta politics, kid. It's a goddamn mug's game. From now on I think I'll stick to talking about obscure bands and silly Youtube videos.
Cheery fucking bye!
Saturday, 16 May 2009
Gun Crazy!
Just got back from watching Gun Crazy at the DCA. It was pretty much one of the most exciting films I've ever seen. The chase scenes were fantastic. Here's a clip:
There's a little quote from the director that the person who posted the video stuck alongside it, which I thought was pretty cool:
"We started a mile out of town. John and Peggy knew the intent and content of the scene, improvised their own dialogue and generally played it by ear. It so happens a car pulled out as they drove up. Otherwise she was going to double park. We made two takes and used the second take. Off screen there were people that yelled 'They held up the bank'. It was so real and none of the bystanders knew what we were doing. We had no extras except the people the policeman dircted. Everything - cars, people - was there on the street."
It's amazing the things that you see in more recent films that you think are unique and original and great, only to find that they've been ripped off from some obscure film from 40 or 50 years ago. Nothing seems to be original. Some of the things Tarrantino gets away with are scandalous (for an example, check one of Heather's earlier posts for a clip from Bande Apart; it's a cafe dancing scene which is pretty much lifted wholesale and made into the Jackrabbit Slim's scene in Pulp Fiction.)
So yeah, that was pretty decent, check the whole film if you can, although I'd imagine it would be expensive to purchase. If you're in Dundee, it's on again at the DCA tomorrow night. There was only about 6 other people there, it was crazy. Gun crazy.
Work is going good, although my rather tiring daily activities pretty much consist of a constant reenactment of this video:
Bye!
There's a little quote from the director that the person who posted the video stuck alongside it, which I thought was pretty cool:
"We started a mile out of town. John and Peggy knew the intent and content of the scene, improvised their own dialogue and generally played it by ear. It so happens a car pulled out as they drove up. Otherwise she was going to double park. We made two takes and used the second take. Off screen there were people that yelled 'They held up the bank'. It was so real and none of the bystanders knew what we were doing. We had no extras except the people the policeman dircted. Everything - cars, people - was there on the street."
It's amazing the things that you see in more recent films that you think are unique and original and great, only to find that they've been ripped off from some obscure film from 40 or 50 years ago. Nothing seems to be original. Some of the things Tarrantino gets away with are scandalous (for an example, check one of Heather's earlier posts for a clip from Bande Apart; it's a cafe dancing scene which is pretty much lifted wholesale and made into the Jackrabbit Slim's scene in Pulp Fiction.)
So yeah, that was pretty decent, check the whole film if you can, although I'd imagine it would be expensive to purchase. If you're in Dundee, it's on again at the DCA tomorrow night. There was only about 6 other people there, it was crazy. Gun crazy.
Work is going good, although my rather tiring daily activities pretty much consist of a constant reenactment of this video:
Bye!
Thursday, 7 May 2009
And it burns, burns, burns!
Couldn't work out how to post this as an embedded file, because it's a bit of a funny link (ie, it's not on Youtube), but here's a link anyway:
Great big fire outside my house.
Full article, with my mother, AKA "Carol Harrison (50)", posing with a basin like a media whore.
So that's quite amusing, anyway.
Also, Stuart has a blog! There's a link to it on the right, but here's another for good measure:
Stuart's blog.
Also, here's Jeff's latest video, for To Be Objectified:
Jeff was fucking great when we saw him the other day, and I'm coming round to the new album more and more - I've found it to be clever rather than deep, if that makes sense. There's plenty of wit and intelligence, but (at first at least) there seemed to be less about life, how it should be lived, and whether anyone really has any idea what's it's all about anyway than in previous albums. But I think the deep thoughts are still there underneath the witticisms, and I like this video, although the start and finish are a bit cheesy (although if you pause the start you can see the cover of "Fuff #7", which is a great comic written by Jeff, which I have read all but one issue of, as I forgot to buy it in Aberdeen).
I forgot to mention the most important thing, at least in diary terms, which is that I got a job at one of the schools where Heather works, as a play worker! Which is awesome. I'm really looking forward to it, I met the kids when I went in for the interview and they seem really cool. I think I'm going to try out a comics class with them.
Anyway, that's enough for one evening.
Auf Wiedersehen!
Great big fire outside my house.
Full article, with my mother, AKA "Carol Harrison (50)", posing with a basin like a media whore.
So that's quite amusing, anyway.
Also, Stuart has a blog! There's a link to it on the right, but here's another for good measure:
Stuart's blog.
Also, here's Jeff's latest video, for To Be Objectified:
Jeff was fucking great when we saw him the other day, and I'm coming round to the new album more and more - I've found it to be clever rather than deep, if that makes sense. There's plenty of wit and intelligence, but (at first at least) there seemed to be less about life, how it should be lived, and whether anyone really has any idea what's it's all about anyway than in previous albums. But I think the deep thoughts are still there underneath the witticisms, and I like this video, although the start and finish are a bit cheesy (although if you pause the start you can see the cover of "Fuff #7", which is a great comic written by Jeff, which I have read all but one issue of, as I forgot to buy it in Aberdeen).
I forgot to mention the most important thing, at least in diary terms, which is that I got a job at one of the schools where Heather works, as a play worker! Which is awesome. I'm really looking forward to it, I met the kids when I went in for the interview and they seem really cool. I think I'm going to try out a comics class with them.
Anyway, that's enough for one evening.
Auf Wiedersehen!
Monday, 4 May 2009
If you're not greedy you will go far.
Heather downloaded Spotify recently, so we've been testing out it's boundaries by searching for various obscure bands and artists, and checking out some stuff we've not heard in a while, or at all. I was listening to the Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory soundtrack, until it got too annoying; somehow it's just not the same without the psychedelic visuals (sorry about the stupid title someone has given this video):
This was one of my favourite films as a kid, along with perhaps the Aristocats and The Yellow Submarine, which for a while I watched practically every time I went to Christopher's house (as well as watching that, we often recorded our own radio shows onto cassette - pretty portentous, I suppose):
So as well as reminiscing about my wayward childhood, which at the moment seems to have been as close to a series of psychedelic episodes as you can get without actually taking LCD, we've also been listening to some bands that have released CDs that are outside our budget, like Herman Dune, who are really great:
I would love to get hold of a pink bear hat like that one.
So yeah, download Spotify, it's great. There is a premium service, but the only real benefit is that you don't have to listen to adverts, which are very infrequent anyway, and mostly seem to be advertising the premium service. Which is strangely self serving and actually quite amusing, rather than annoying.
Toodle-oo!
This was one of my favourite films as a kid, along with perhaps the Aristocats and The Yellow Submarine, which for a while I watched practically every time I went to Christopher's house (as well as watching that, we often recorded our own radio shows onto cassette - pretty portentous, I suppose):
So as well as reminiscing about my wayward childhood, which at the moment seems to have been as close to a series of psychedelic episodes as you can get without actually taking LCD, we've also been listening to some bands that have released CDs that are outside our budget, like Herman Dune, who are really great:
I would love to get hold of a pink bear hat like that one.
So yeah, download Spotify, it's great. There is a premium service, but the only real benefit is that you don't have to listen to adverts, which are very infrequent anyway, and mostly seem to be advertising the premium service. Which is strangely self serving and actually quite amusing, rather than annoying.
Toodle-oo!
Wednesday, 29 April 2009
Satan's bingo
I justed wanted to draw your attention to this advert, and make some comments on it, if I may:
A) That fox man is the freakiest fucking mascot I think I have ever seen. It doesn't look natural. If you plan to use an animal as a mascot, they should either be ridiculously oversized (ie, football mascots), cartoons, or real animals that happen to have the power of human speech. This... mutant hybrid is just frightening. It looks enough like a fox to give it an air of cluelessness about its own actions, and enough like a man for it to seem like a dirty pervert/pimp.
B) This advert is probably also one of the most sexist I have ever seen, and it happens to be prejudice towards its own target audience. All of the women seem to be slags, lusting after this horrible fox creature because he keeps spouting cheesy, building site inspired one liners. Is it really that easy to get female admirers? Try dressing up in an animal costume and walking up the middle of the road, whilst playing Sister Sledge at an annoyingly loud volume, see where it gets you. Probably even further than this guy, because at least animal costumes from fancy dress shops are pretty cute, while this fox thing is freakish.
C) As well as alienating its target audience by portraying them as a bunch of desperate housewives, it seems to be further limiting the advert's appeal by only featuring women. Where are all the old men that go to bingo? Oh wait, there is one prominently featured man in this ad...
D) The dead guy, who comes back to life when he "sees" the fox walk past. Is this for real? Is the guy gay, or into bestiality, or does he just love bingo so fucking much that it brought him back to life?
E) While this advert seems to be full of blatant prejudice, it misses one obvious stereotype; the majority of people who go to bingo are very old. I'm not saying all of them are, some might even be glamourous bimbos like the one at the zebra crossing, but I'd say about 80% of the people following the fox creature should have zimmers.
F) They all gatecrash some poor bastards house at the end, just to use his internet.
There's probably more I could say about this monstrosity, but not without feeling violently ill, so I'll call it a night.
A) That fox man is the freakiest fucking mascot I think I have ever seen. It doesn't look natural. If you plan to use an animal as a mascot, they should either be ridiculously oversized (ie, football mascots), cartoons, or real animals that happen to have the power of human speech. This... mutant hybrid is just frightening. It looks enough like a fox to give it an air of cluelessness about its own actions, and enough like a man for it to seem like a dirty pervert/pimp.
B) This advert is probably also one of the most sexist I have ever seen, and it happens to be prejudice towards its own target audience. All of the women seem to be slags, lusting after this horrible fox creature because he keeps spouting cheesy, building site inspired one liners. Is it really that easy to get female admirers? Try dressing up in an animal costume and walking up the middle of the road, whilst playing Sister Sledge at an annoyingly loud volume, see where it gets you. Probably even further than this guy, because at least animal costumes from fancy dress shops are pretty cute, while this fox thing is freakish.
C) As well as alienating its target audience by portraying them as a bunch of desperate housewives, it seems to be further limiting the advert's appeal by only featuring women. Where are all the old men that go to bingo? Oh wait, there is one prominently featured man in this ad...
D) The dead guy, who comes back to life when he "sees" the fox walk past. Is this for real? Is the guy gay, or into bestiality, or does he just love bingo so fucking much that it brought him back to life?
E) While this advert seems to be full of blatant prejudice, it misses one obvious stereotype; the majority of people who go to bingo are very old. I'm not saying all of them are, some might even be glamourous bimbos like the one at the zebra crossing, but I'd say about 80% of the people following the fox creature should have zimmers.
F) They all gatecrash some poor bastards house at the end, just to use his internet.
There's probably more I could say about this monstrosity, but not without feeling violently ill, so I'll call it a night.
Tuesday, 28 April 2009
Dada like these
Sunset Rubdown are releasing another album on Jagjaguwar, called Dragonheart. I've asked Clash if I can review it, but I haven't had an answer from them yet. However, I did get sent this by Jagjaguwar's PR guy, Manish:
Sunset Rubdown - Idiot Heart
It's a pretty good track. For anyone unfamiliar with Sunset Rubdown, they are a side project of Wolf Parade's Spencer Krug, who also plays in the "indie supergroup" Swan Lake. Heather pointed out that Idiot Heart sounds like an Interpol track, and I agree, although I wouldn't say it's necessarily a bad thing... Maybe a little bit bad. Not that I have anything against Interpol, but I'd rather other bands didn't sound like them, because Interpol themselves already sound like a few other bands (Spoon, Modest Mouse... Wolf Parade, etc).
Anyway, hopefully I'll get the album for free and I'll be able to judge it as a whole.
The sink got blocked last night and I fixed it. We also might be starting a podcast station. That makes me one of these:
We were also listening to a lot of soul/funk/disco last night, after watching a rubbish programme about 70s music. Here's a classic soul hit, followed by a kind of reworking by Alan Hawkshaw's band of session musicians, The Mohawks:
Otis Redding - Tramp
The Mohawks - The Champ
Funkaliscious!
Sunset Rubdown - Idiot Heart
It's a pretty good track. For anyone unfamiliar with Sunset Rubdown, they are a side project of Wolf Parade's Spencer Krug, who also plays in the "indie supergroup" Swan Lake. Heather pointed out that Idiot Heart sounds like an Interpol track, and I agree, although I wouldn't say it's necessarily a bad thing... Maybe a little bit bad. Not that I have anything against Interpol, but I'd rather other bands didn't sound like them, because Interpol themselves already sound like a few other bands (Spoon, Modest Mouse... Wolf Parade, etc).
Anyway, hopefully I'll get the album for free and I'll be able to judge it as a whole.
The sink got blocked last night and I fixed it. We also might be starting a podcast station. That makes me one of these:
We were also listening to a lot of soul/funk/disco last night, after watching a rubbish programme about 70s music. Here's a classic soul hit, followed by a kind of reworking by Alan Hawkshaw's band of session musicians, The Mohawks:
Otis Redding - Tramp
The Mohawks - The Champ
Funkaliscious!
Saturday, 25 April 2009
I wonder where that fish has gone?
This is how I feel right now:
We bought some fish today. A black one, an orange one and a white one. We were going to by a lovely orange/black one, but some couple bought it before us, even though they fecking heard us talking about buying it.
We watched Blowup last night, which was pretty good. By now we're starting to get pretty used to watching obvious but heart warming classic Hollywood movies, mostly starring Jimmy Stewart, so it made a nice change. Here's a trailer:
It has a really great and strange final scene, and on the whole it's well worth a watch, even if the lead character wears an obnoxious pair of white jeans throughout.
It's cold, so I'm going to go and find a jumper and check Jam hasn't broken the fish tank yet (for pictures of our lovely tank/fish, check Heather's blog).
Goodle Tip!
We bought some fish today. A black one, an orange one and a white one. We were going to by a lovely orange/black one, but some couple bought it before us, even though they fecking heard us talking about buying it.
We watched Blowup last night, which was pretty good. By now we're starting to get pretty used to watching obvious but heart warming classic Hollywood movies, mostly starring Jimmy Stewart, so it made a nice change. Here's a trailer:
It has a really great and strange final scene, and on the whole it's well worth a watch, even if the lead character wears an obnoxious pair of white jeans throughout.
It's cold, so I'm going to go and find a jumper and check Jam hasn't broken the fish tank yet (for pictures of our lovely tank/fish, check Heather's blog).
Goodle Tip!
Friday, 24 April 2009
A Perfect Day For Bananafish
I've been reading For Esme - With Love and Squalor, and to be honest I must have been insane to not do so before now. Catcher in the Rye is probably my favourite book of all time, and this collection of short stories hasn't disappointed so far. I don't always like reading short story collections, because I sort of enjoy the small sense of achievement and fufillment that comes with finishing a novel. When you finish a short story you immediately have to throw yourself into another, which can be tiring and irksome; not always of course, and certainly not in this case.
I just found A Perfect Day For Bananafish, which I urge you to read. It's probably best to just get hold of a copy of the story collection, but if Bananafish is online then there are probably quite a few others kicking around somewhere.
More colour field today. Here you can find the poet Frank O'Hara interviewing the colour field painter Barnett Newman; I didn't watch all of it, it's a little out of my depth in terms of intellectualism, but here's a couple of Newman's paintings:
Barnett Newman - Adam (1951-2):
Eve (1950):
Rather than try and explain these paintings, which of course I can't do accurately or even coherently, it's probably best to watch the afformentioned interview; however, I did find a quote from Newman which is very interesting in relation to these paintings:
"What is the explanation of the seemingly insane drive of man to be painter and poet if it is not an act of defiance against man's fall and an assertion that he return to the Garden of Eden? For the artists are the first men."
So there you go.
I just found A Perfect Day For Bananafish, which I urge you to read. It's probably best to just get hold of a copy of the story collection, but if Bananafish is online then there are probably quite a few others kicking around somewhere.
More colour field today. Here you can find the poet Frank O'Hara interviewing the colour field painter Barnett Newman; I didn't watch all of it, it's a little out of my depth in terms of intellectualism, but here's a couple of Newman's paintings:
Barnett Newman - Adam (1951-2):
Eve (1950):
Rather than try and explain these paintings, which of course I can't do accurately or even coherently, it's probably best to watch the afformentioned interview; however, I did find a quote from Newman which is very interesting in relation to these paintings:
"What is the explanation of the seemingly insane drive of man to be painter and poet if it is not an act of defiance against man's fall and an assertion that he return to the Garden of Eden? For the artists are the first men."
So there you go.
Thursday, 23 April 2009
Everything I have is down in pawn
Alright, it's been a fucking while, so what?
I've been to Morocco since the last time I posted, which was extremely interesting, not as relaxing as I thought it might be, and a little scary. So on the whole it was a positive and worthwhile experience. However, for the extensive low down on that sojourn the best place to head is Heather's blog, which is crammed with great pictures of our time.
I borrowed some books from the library to try and get through in between looking for jobs and trying to set up radio stations (best not to ask right now). These were:
J.D. Sallinger - For Esme - With Love and Squalor
Kurt Vonnegut - The Sirens of Titan
Phillip K. Dick - Do Androids Dream of Electric Sleep?
Graham Greene - Our Man In Havana
So mostly American novels.
I also filled in another couple of gaps from my Sandman gallery, by purchasing Doll's House, Fables and Reflections and the stand alone Endless Nights. I've read Doll's House already, which is great, as always, and has more of the beloved Corinthian, who is one creepy and charismatic bastard. He has teeth where his eyes should be and he eats the eyes of others, especially those of rent boys. Well, since you insist, here he is as he appears in The Kindly Ones:
.
Speaking of The Kindly Ones, it's still my favourite Sandman so far, which is really saying something, because they're all excellent. The art really stands out compared to the others; despite the gravitas of it's events, it being the virtual climax of the Sandman storyline (with The Wake acting as a kind of summing up book), the artist chosen for most of the book was Marc Hempel, who has a wonderfully bright, jagged, cartoony style:
Marc Hempel - Death:
To be honest, the artwork he has on his myspace doesn't really do him much justice, but here's a link anyway:
Marc Hempel.
It would be a much better idea to just buy The Kindly Ones - of course, it would make sense to buy and read the preceding books first. If you're lucky enough to know me personally I might let you take a look, inside my house and under my supervision.
I also found out that Chris Murray is running a module on British comic writers next year, which is the best news since Mr. Hovis wrote home to his son to inform him that he had just invented sliced bread. The Sandman is actually on the course, which is even better.
Anyway, I think Heather's a bit sleepy, so I'll call it a night.
Toodley George!
I've been to Morocco since the last time I posted, which was extremely interesting, not as relaxing as I thought it might be, and a little scary. So on the whole it was a positive and worthwhile experience. However, for the extensive low down on that sojourn the best place to head is Heather's blog, which is crammed with great pictures of our time.
I borrowed some books from the library to try and get through in between looking for jobs and trying to set up radio stations (best not to ask right now). These were:
J.D. Sallinger - For Esme - With Love and Squalor
Kurt Vonnegut - The Sirens of Titan
Phillip K. Dick - Do Androids Dream of Electric Sleep?
Graham Greene - Our Man In Havana
So mostly American novels.
I also filled in another couple of gaps from my Sandman gallery, by purchasing Doll's House, Fables and Reflections and the stand alone Endless Nights. I've read Doll's House already, which is great, as always, and has more of the beloved Corinthian, who is one creepy and charismatic bastard. He has teeth where his eyes should be and he eats the eyes of others, especially those of rent boys. Well, since you insist, here he is as he appears in The Kindly Ones:
.
Speaking of The Kindly Ones, it's still my favourite Sandman so far, which is really saying something, because they're all excellent. The art really stands out compared to the others; despite the gravitas of it's events, it being the virtual climax of the Sandman storyline (with The Wake acting as a kind of summing up book), the artist chosen for most of the book was Marc Hempel, who has a wonderfully bright, jagged, cartoony style:
Marc Hempel - Death:
To be honest, the artwork he has on his myspace doesn't really do him much justice, but here's a link anyway:
Marc Hempel.
It would be a much better idea to just buy The Kindly Ones - of course, it would make sense to buy and read the preceding books first. If you're lucky enough to know me personally I might let you take a look, inside my house and under my supervision.
I also found out that Chris Murray is running a module on British comic writers next year, which is the best news since Mr. Hovis wrote home to his son to inform him that he had just invented sliced bread. The Sandman is actually on the course, which is even better.
Anyway, I think Heather's a bit sleepy, so I'll call it a night.
Toodley George!
Monday, 30 March 2009
Saturday, 28 March 2009
1959
I'm just taking a pause from watching a programme about jazz in 1959, as Heather is drying her hair and we're going to the library soon, but here's a link:
1959: The Year That Changed Jazz.
It's really pretty great so far. I love BBC Four, pretty much everything on there is worth watching. I wish I had the time to just sit and watch educational programmes all day long, but alas, I must go and write my journals today. I also still have quite a lot of my portfolio to finish for creative writing, as well as an essay which explains my work. I had a go at the cut up technique the other day, and I think it went quite well (watch previous William Burrough video for explanation of cut up).
This is kind of a classic performance of So What, a Mile Davis track which features John Coltrane in the band on sax:
Enjoy.
1959: The Year That Changed Jazz.
It's really pretty great so far. I love BBC Four, pretty much everything on there is worth watching. I wish I had the time to just sit and watch educational programmes all day long, but alas, I must go and write my journals today. I also still have quite a lot of my portfolio to finish for creative writing, as well as an essay which explains my work. I had a go at the cut up technique the other day, and I think it went quite well (watch previous William Burrough video for explanation of cut up).
This is kind of a classic performance of So What, a Mile Davis track which features John Coltrane in the band on sax:
Enjoy.
Friday, 27 March 2009
You also invented homos!
We attended The Only Fun In Town last night, which was being hosted on the same night as "Ned and Emo night" at the union, an event which was sure to make my blood boil. Whenever I go to the union I try to keep an open mind about the other people who go there, but they sure make it difficult.
Practically everyone attending went as a "ned", presumably because they relished the chance to dress in the regalia of their spiritual ancestors, and those few people who did go as "emos" were dressed like gay ravers. Seriously, we're talking black tank tops, red ties on collarless black t-shirts, black armbands around biceps, mascara etc.
Also, when I went to the toilet, two cockmunchers obviously picked me out as an outsider to their carnival of idiocy, and turned the lights off. So I was groping around in the pitch blackness (there are no windows), when someone else came in and turned the light back on. I was like "Someone turned the light off when they went out", to which he responded, in a really smarmy voice "Oh yeah, sure, like you didn't do it yourself". In a fit of extreme manliness, I quipped back "Oh yeah, I did it myself, because I enjoy stumbling around in the dark you stupid prick", and walked out.
Zing!
There was also an awful lot of people touting various candidate t-shirts, hanging around in groups of differing political allegiance. I've noticed a somewhat more lackadaisical approach to canvassing this year, which hasn't involved screaming at people outside of the union like apes at a zoo (at least to our notice). Also, a lot of the policies seem pretty half-hearted and pointless (although that has been a feature of previous campaigns); for example, two separate candidates are promising to start a Facebook page. Surely that isn't something which takes a lot of time or effort?
EDIT:
Just wanted to show you this guy's campaign poster (there are quite a few bad ones, but this might be the worst this year):
I may be wrong about this, because I'm sure there have been some pretty awful ones in the past, but I think "Don't be a Focker, Vote for Cocker" might be the worst slogan of all time.
As for the policies, this is one of the Facebook people; the other two policies are pointless, because I seriously doubt that a change in the legal drinking age is even going to happen, and even if it does it wouldn't be in the year that this guy is "Honorary Secretary" (a meaningless job title if ever I heard one), and even if it did happen this year, just what is this guy going to do about it? I suppose the Government/Council are going to cancel all plans for the law change and start running the other way once they hear that Cocker's on the case.
And it's wrapped up nicely with "Get Your Cocker Out!" Christ, are we living in a 1960s Carry On film?
(EDIT 2 - I took out some of the nastier stuff in this rant - I often get carried away with this sort of thing, and as readers can probably tell from Gary Cocker's post (if it is indeed Gary Cocker), he isn't a nasty guy. His campaign poster is still clearly misled, but it obviously got him elected, so what do I know? /EDIT 2)
/EDIT.
But anyway, we didn't stay too long for fear of getting terminally drunk, and so we went home and watched Ghost World instead, which was pretty great. Here's a clip:
While that clip kind of makes it look like a dumbass teen movie of sorts, it wasn't, but there are some pretty funny bits in it. Also, there's a great opening clip of a Bollywood dance routine, which I found in full, as the song is pretty damn catchy:
The film is pretty different from the comic; Seymour (played by the awesome Steve Buscemi) is kind of just a minor character in the book, while he plays a major part in the film. Also, in many ways the movie is a lot more depressing in an obvious way, rather than mildly melancholic, which is how I'd describe the comic. But I enjoyed it nonetheless.
This has been quite lengthy/ranty.
Practically everyone attending went as a "ned", presumably because they relished the chance to dress in the regalia of their spiritual ancestors, and those few people who did go as "emos" were dressed like gay ravers. Seriously, we're talking black tank tops, red ties on collarless black t-shirts, black armbands around biceps, mascara etc.
Also, when I went to the toilet, two cockmunchers obviously picked me out as an outsider to their carnival of idiocy, and turned the lights off. So I was groping around in the pitch blackness (there are no windows), when someone else came in and turned the light back on. I was like "Someone turned the light off when they went out", to which he responded, in a really smarmy voice "Oh yeah, sure, like you didn't do it yourself". In a fit of extreme manliness, I quipped back "Oh yeah, I did it myself, because I enjoy stumbling around in the dark you stupid prick", and walked out.
Zing!
There was also an awful lot of people touting various candidate t-shirts, hanging around in groups of differing political allegiance. I've noticed a somewhat more lackadaisical approach to canvassing this year, which hasn't involved screaming at people outside of the union like apes at a zoo (at least to our notice). Also, a lot of the policies seem pretty half-hearted and pointless (although that has been a feature of previous campaigns); for example, two separate candidates are promising to start a Facebook page. Surely that isn't something which takes a lot of time or effort?
EDIT:
Just wanted to show you this guy's campaign poster (there are quite a few bad ones, but this might be the worst this year):
I may be wrong about this, because I'm sure there have been some pretty awful ones in the past, but I think "Don't be a Focker, Vote for Cocker" might be the worst slogan of all time.
As for the policies, this is one of the Facebook people; the other two policies are pointless, because I seriously doubt that a change in the legal drinking age is even going to happen, and even if it does it wouldn't be in the year that this guy is "Honorary Secretary" (a meaningless job title if ever I heard one), and even if it did happen this year, just what is this guy going to do about it? I suppose the Government/Council are going to cancel all plans for the law change and start running the other way once they hear that Cocker's on the case.
And it's wrapped up nicely with "Get Your Cocker Out!" Christ, are we living in a 1960s Carry On film?
(EDIT 2 - I took out some of the nastier stuff in this rant - I often get carried away with this sort of thing, and as readers can probably tell from Gary Cocker's post (if it is indeed Gary Cocker), he isn't a nasty guy. His campaign poster is still clearly misled, but it obviously got him elected, so what do I know? /EDIT 2)
/EDIT.
But anyway, we didn't stay too long for fear of getting terminally drunk, and so we went home and watched Ghost World instead, which was pretty great. Here's a clip:
While that clip kind of makes it look like a dumbass teen movie of sorts, it wasn't, but there are some pretty funny bits in it. Also, there's a great opening clip of a Bollywood dance routine, which I found in full, as the song is pretty damn catchy:
The film is pretty different from the comic; Seymour (played by the awesome Steve Buscemi) is kind of just a minor character in the book, while he plays a major part in the film. Also, in many ways the movie is a lot more depressing in an obvious way, rather than mildly melancholic, which is how I'd describe the comic. But I enjoyed it nonetheless.
This has been quite lengthy/ranty.
Thursday, 26 March 2009
These words are not premature.
I'm attempting to read Naked Lunch again, which I can only really do at night, when I'm tired, otherwise I find my brain tries too hard to understand what is going on. At night the words and images just wash over me, and I'm left with an impression of what has happened, who the characters are, what is being referred to etc.
Here's a video about the cut up technique, which has an interview with Burroughs and Ginsberg, who shows up at the end:
And some other great artists:
And that is all for today.
Here's a video about the cut up technique, which has an interview with Burroughs and Ginsberg, who shows up at the end:
And some other great artists:
And that is all for today.
Tuesday, 24 March 2009
Brother, can you spare a dime?
Post-colonialism was a lot better today. The first hour or so was pretty awful, but I asked if I could go for a coffee before the second half started, which everyone seemed to appreciate, and things went a lot better when I came back. Gail also returned my seminar report, which I think I got a B2 for, although I can't remember now... She said I was coasting, as my class responses were better than my essay, which made me pleased and worried at the same time.
It isn't particularly hot today, but it's been nice the last few days, which always has a hip hop effect on my music tastes. I ordered a Talib Kweli album recently, as well as Madvillainy, but neither of them have arrived yet unfortunately. I know I posted some hip hop in my last blog, and I know that no one else (who reads this, at least) even likes it, but here's a short playlist of interesting tracks (in Youtube format, to make them slightly more interesting):
That's all for today, I need to go and try and wake up Heather.
It isn't particularly hot today, but it's been nice the last few days, which always has a hip hop effect on my music tastes. I ordered a Talib Kweli album recently, as well as Madvillainy, but neither of them have arrived yet unfortunately. I know I posted some hip hop in my last blog, and I know that no one else (who reads this, at least) even likes it, but here's a short playlist of interesting tracks (in Youtube format, to make them slightly more interesting):
That's all for today, I need to go and try and wake up Heather.
Wednesday, 18 March 2009
We was sittin' out on the step, you know...
What a nice day!
Played basketball for a bit with Alex yesterday, but ended up totally freezing my ass off - guess I underestimated just how cold it would get. Would have been nice to have some music, might have to see if I can get hold of a really cheap CD player if we're going to make it a regular thing during the summer.
Had a really awful headache for the past couple of days as well, which might be a bit worrying, but it seems to be a bit better today. Poor Heather had to put up with my whinging last night, and ended up having to make tea even though I said I'd do it.
Probably spend today tidying up, and might go to the library later and get out of Heather's way while she does her dissertation, if my head feels better.
Monday, 16 March 2009
Strange, but true?
Anyone else remember this programme? Along with X-Files, it was vital viewing for any intrepid young ghost hunter. The only one I actually remember vividly was an episode where this guy sees someone indentical to him driving an identical van at a crossroads, but I can't seem to find that on Youtube.
I wanted to find a suitable clip, and the first one I've found seems to contain the right creepy/stupid ratio, although most of the creepiness comes from the ghost saying he is "lying on top of Janet" (one of the little girls), rather than in the believability of the poltergeist.
It's quite long but it's worth it to hear the end, when the "ghost" starts talking. The actual recording where he apparently talks is bizarre, because Boris Gross (that's his actual name, also check the tash), the guy apparently investigating the poltergeist, hears a dog barking and then says "My name is Boris, say my name", or something like that, and then you hear this really stupid, gruff "ghost" voice in response, saying "BORIS!". Why would you say "my name is Boris, say my name" if you heard a dog bark?
The bit with the pictures is funny too, because they're clearly just jumping off the bed. Also, I'll be amazed if it was medical practise to give little girls valium to help them sleep in the 70s.
Man, the crazy thing is I actually remember being scared by this programme. Kids will get scared by anything.
Tomorrow I think we're going to go play basketball; Matthew, if you read this, I haven't asked you yet but that includes you.
That's enough for today methinks.
Keep watching the skies!
Saturday, 14 March 2009
Mr Sheen Shine Sheen Shine Sheen Sheen!
Today has been a day off for Heather, so we went to town and got rid of some of the expendable cash that we have piled up in the corners of our room. I bought The Heart of Saturday Night (I know, so soon after the last Tom Waits album I bought. But it's probably best to take advantage of the Zavvi sale before they sort their shit out and start selling things at hiked prices again), and Arsenic and Old Lace, which is one damn crazy film. It's lucky I'd heard it was good, and it's directed by Frank Capra, because if I saw the box without knowing what it was I never would have bought it. It has a really silly picture of Cary Grant running with the broad who plays his wife on his shoulder in a fireman's lift, and the title is pretty cheesy sounding. Cary Grant seems to be pretty much playing a straight comedy character, which is odd because he usually plays a smartass/hunk character, but it's full of him pulling stupid faces and falling over stuff. It also has Peter Lorre in it also, who is one of my favourite character actors. Here's a good bit:
Tomorrow we're planning to dress up, take pictures, dress normal, go to Broughty Ferry, take pictures, go to Dobbies and then come home.
The title of the blog tonight is what Heather thought the lyrics were for this:
Where it says "Mr Sheen shines umpteen things clean", she thought it was "Mr Sheen shine sheen shine sheen sheen!"
That's for all for this eve, cheerio!
Tomorrow we're planning to dress up, take pictures, dress normal, go to Broughty Ferry, take pictures, go to Dobbies and then come home.
The title of the blog tonight is what Heather thought the lyrics were for this:
Where it says "Mr Sheen shines umpteen things clean", she thought it was "Mr Sheen shine sheen shine sheen sheen!"
That's for all for this eve, cheerio!
Friday, 13 March 2009
Buzzards and dreadful crows
Langston Hughes is a great poet... I think I may have some of his poems in one of the Penguin Modern Poet books that I bought in Darlington. I studied him a little when I was doing an essay for American literature last year, but I should probably go back to him and have another look. Here's The Negro Speaks of Rivers:
So, yesterday I went and sorted out my new CV at the library, which I promptly posted off to Heather's work to so if I could try and get a job with her, which would be pretty awesome. We worked pretty well together in France, which was in extremely stressful circumstances, so it should be good to play games and paint pictures again. I really hope I get the job. If not, at least I'm ready to apply for some more now.
I guess I don't actually have a lot to say today... I'm pretty hungry, so I think I'll go get some breakfast. Here's Son House:
Bye!
So, yesterday I went and sorted out my new CV at the library, which I promptly posted off to Heather's work to so if I could try and get a job with her, which would be pretty awesome. We worked pretty well together in France, which was in extremely stressful circumstances, so it should be good to play games and paint pictures again. I really hope I get the job. If not, at least I'm ready to apply for some more now.
I guess I don't actually have a lot to say today... I'm pretty hungry, so I think I'll go get some breakfast. Here's Son House:
Bye!
Wednesday, 11 March 2009
Murder in Mesopotamia
It's been a while, so here is a couple very different paintings by the same artist, Kazimir Malevich. The first is a cubist painting - my understanding of cubism thus far is that it takes an object or scene, breaks it up into geometric shapes, and uses these shapes to represent the object from several different angles:
Bureau and Room (1913):
The second, which is the one that I was really looking for (but decided to post the first also, just as a contrast), is a monochrome painting. Monochrome is interesting, because it was so short lived (obviously there is only so much you can say with a lack of colour), and because it is both completely interpretative and completely non interpretative at the same time - that is to say, it's an almost blank canvas which almost any meaning can be projected onto, and at the same time nothing can be suggested by it.
White on White (1918):
It's also interesting that, while Bureau and Room seems to have so much more going on in it, White on White is the later painting, and is therefore something that Malevich has worked towards.
Personally I think I prefer looking at Bureau and Room; it's very striking. But White on White is very relaxing, and stylistically interesting.
Anyway, Heather needs to get one with some work, so I'm sure that's enough blundering around for one evening.
Goodnight.
Bureau and Room (1913):
The second, which is the one that I was really looking for (but decided to post the first also, just as a contrast), is a monochrome painting. Monochrome is interesting, because it was so short lived (obviously there is only so much you can say with a lack of colour), and because it is both completely interpretative and completely non interpretative at the same time - that is to say, it's an almost blank canvas which almost any meaning can be projected onto, and at the same time nothing can be suggested by it.
White on White (1918):
It's also interesting that, while Bureau and Room seems to have so much more going on in it, White on White is the later painting, and is therefore something that Malevich has worked towards.
Personally I think I prefer looking at Bureau and Room; it's very striking. But White on White is very relaxing, and stylistically interesting.
Anyway, Heather needs to get one with some work, so I'm sure that's enough blundering around for one evening.
Goodnight.
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