Thursday, June 25, 2009

TOTH

Nabbed images from here







Born June 25, 1928. Reminded by bronzeageofblogs that today would have marked his birthday. Joe has posted a great pic over at his blog, well worth the visit.

Sorely missed.

Tuesday, June 9, 2009

1 YEAR OLD.

It almost completely passed me by; but it would appear that I have now been blogging and spewing out my own little shite tirade for one full year. First post was on the 2nd of June 2008.

What got me into this blogging lark you ask?

Well since you have asked so politely...

I had stumbled across a few blogs on my internet travels and for the most part many of them seemed to be mainly concerned with talkin' about their holidays or new car or how they cycled across Europe or some shit (Yeah- OK! I know,I know, I'm a hypocrite, I've blogged about riding my bike amongst other things, but c'mon at least I referred to it as my LAWMASTER MK 2 and I did bike cannon a few old biddies on my travels!)But anyway, let's just say I didn't hold the world of blogging in very high esteem at that point.

Then around two possibly three years ago I stumbled across Sean Phillips blog and having always liked his art and the fact that he was posting on a daily basis I started to tune in quite regularly. This led me to Chris Weston's blog and so on and so forth.

However it was two blogs in particular that really sold me on the idea:

The Vault of Buncheness
I believe it was through Chris Weston's blog that I came across Steve Bunche's Vault of Buncheness. Steve's blog is without doubt one of the best out there(sorry,but it's a fact)With pop culture ruminations on comics, music, film and even a bit of porn thrown in for good measure. Steve isn't too adverse about talking about his personal issues or work related problems either and his blog really does read like a diary of sorts(albeit, one that is actually interesting to read!)It's certainly not just because of his devotion to Devo and old school 2000AD! F#ck no!

The Bad Librarian (Don't get a big head Cardwell...) Mark's site was discovered around the same time and I dunno maybe I was missing the craic from back home and his Ulster wit struck a chord with me(I feel the need to really play his influence down...as his ego is already somewhat inflated..)But yeah, his posts were always entertaining and his rag's on Mark Millar every now and again always made me laugh(...and nod my head in agreement)

So yeah you can blame them...

You see in the beginning I was thinking of a sketch type blog, not unlike Tom Galvin's excellent blog; and I think you can see a little bit of that happening in some of my earlier posts. Although after a while I found myself leaning more and more towards just having fun with the idea, posting about whatever took my interest or pissed me off on a particular day, talkin' about art, films, comics, jizzin' on my dad's shoe - you know the normal type of stuff!

Along the way there has been many people who have left various comments and I have to say it's all appreciated. So thanks to Joe, Fluff, Scaramanga, Angie,Calvin,Igloo, Josh, Darius,Anton and Lu and everyone else who stopped by and took a moment to read and possibly meditate on my words of obvious wisdom. I am sure all your lives have been much enhanced because of it.

No, don't thank me...

Sunday, June 7, 2009

Woman at her toilet

Went along to the Vancouver art gallery this weekend to check out their latest exhibition: Vermeer, Rembrandt and the Golden Age of Dutch Art Masterpieces from The Rijksmuseum

Quite a decent exhibition and they had a lot more on show than I thought they would have. For example I hadn't come across this one in quite some time: Woman at her toilet by Jan Havicksz.



The below was taken from the Rijksmuseum website.

A young woman is sitting on the edge of her bed and removing a stocking. Marks left by the stocking are visible on her legs. There's a chamber pot on the floor and a dog lies sleeping on the cushion. It seems quite an innocent scene perhaps, but for an seventeenth-century audience the erotic references in the painting would have been immediately obvious.

Red stockings, chamber pot and candlestick: symbols of lust.

Red stockings, true love? The average contemporary of Jan Steen would have seen straight away that this was not the everyday action of an innocent young woman. 'Kous', the Dutch for stocking, could also mean the female genitals or a (loose) woman. Expressions such as 'she's darning her stockings' were frequently used to refer to the sexual act. In that period, a woman with red stockings was a prostitute. The half-filled chamber pot on the floor also refers to 'loose' women: a 'piskous' was another word for slut. And the message was reinforced by the discarded slippers, the dog and the candlestick on the chair: here these are all symbols of lust.


Thinking about doing a self portrait based on the above.

Let's see...

Red and black stripy socks, Spiderman mug and a big paintbrush: symbols of lust.

In the BG my monitor could be showing some porn, just to help sell the whole "lust" thing! I'll put my cat on my lap (possibly shaven...) and in my hand I'll have a red pencil and on my sketchpad I'll be scribbling a lovely Tulip! The Spiderman mug will be tipped over and have emptied its contents of milk onto the floor. Discarded slippers, some cacti and a couple of half eaten peaches may also be strewn about for added effect.

Friday, June 5, 2009


EMBED-Bug in Mouth Brings Out the Street in Reporter - Watch more free videos
www.diaryoffools.com

Hammer

I picked up the box-set of the Hammer House of Horror TV series quite a few years ago and have watched it numerous times since. I remember watching it as a kid and being completely scared shitless! The first episode 'The Witching Hour' stands out in my memory partly due to the fact of the "witch" dropping her robe at one point and showing off her lovely nakedness! 'The House That Bled to Death' also left quite an impression and I don't think I ever viewed birthday parties in the same light ever again after watching it.

Fantastic series.

If you have not seen it before, I would highly recommend checking it out. The good thing is that the entire series(there only was one season) is available on Youtube.

Below are a a few of my personal favorites. Episode seven 'The Silent Scream' starring the late great Peter Cushing and the then up and coming, Brian Cox is real highlight!









Here's the full episode listing:

Episode 1: Witching Time

Episode 2: The Thirteenth Reunion

Episode 3: Rude Awakening

Episode 4: Growing Pains

Episode 5: The House That Bled to Death
William and Emma Peters buy an old house where a brutal murder happened years ago in very bad condition with the intention of restoring it. They move with their daughter Sophie, and become friends of their neighbors Jean and George Evans. However, eerie events happen in the house, inclusive the death of Sophie's cat. In Sophie's birthday party, a pipe leaks blood and they leave the place, disclosing a secret later.

Episode 6: Charlie Boy
A carved African fetish with voodoo powers has a dangerous mind of its own.

Episode 7: The Silent Scream
When Chuck Spillers (Brian Cox) is released from prison, he tells his wife Annie (Elaine Donnelly) that he had been visited by an old man, Martin Blueck (Peter Cushing), along his sentence for robbing a safe, and Blueck had given some money for him to help a fresh start in life. On the next morning, Chuck pays a visit to Blueck in his pet shop to thank the support and is invited to work for him feeding his animals in his private zoo while he is traveling. Blueck explains that he trains animals, conditioning then to obey some signals. A couple of days later, Chuck sees a safe in the store, and decide to open it, being trapped in a weird situation and disclosing the truth about the sadistic Blueck.

Episode 8: Children of the Full Moon

Episode 9: Carpathian Eagle

Episode 10: Guardian of the Abyss

Episode 11: Visitor from the Grave

Episode 12: The Two Faces of Evil
A family on holiday stop to pick up a mysterious hitch-hiker.

Episode 13: The Mark of Satan

Umbrella Censorship of that "June the 4th Incident"



I personally don't think I could have retained the same unassuming, polite composure of the journalist! Then again the thought of spending some time in a Chinese prison may in fact have kept me in check...

www.boingboing.net

Wednesday, June 3, 2009

In the Valley of the Beatles.

Not a big fan of those "Rock Band" or "Guitar Hero" type computer games, but this is one hell of a trailer:



And I think Mark's right, that does look like the artistry of Robert Valley.