That's why I make sure I never have any!

Edward Teach

I was feeling a little artsy last night and so I sketched an image of Blackbeard to use as a reference for a later work. I was so happy with my preliminary sketch that I decided to run with it. This is the direction I ran...

What do you think?

Myself circa 2003

 

Back around 2003 one of my good friends from University (I'm sure I've written about Flash before. Perhaps I refered to him as Sebastian Fish, either way, it's the same guy) drew a picture of me as a superhero. At the time I was going through a top hat, curly moustache, lumberjack underwear (with the bum flap!) phase. Nothing too unusual. The other day I was thinking of it and figured I'd have a stab at doing a version myself. This is what I came up with.

It's a twisted little miracle!

Gaze, fair reader, upon the face of my latest creation. This marks the dawn of a new age in my life as an artist (and a ticking off of one of the items on my '1001 in 101' list!). Take a look, check back often, and leave lots of comments so I know what you're thinking!

http://quarterpagecomics.blogspot.com/

I found a webcam in the office

So I did what any self respecting telemarketer would do...

Next time Adam...

Gentleman me?

This Friday I had planned to, with Fiona, accompany a friend to Oxford for a few drinks. This was the plan until Thursday when I found out that Mr. B was going to be playing at the Vaudeville Rave in Reading on the same night. Needless to say I amended my plans accordingly!

It was a really, really good evening and I plan to attend another at some point. The whole experience really reminded me of the Unfair that I went to when I lived in Halifax. The only difference that really stood out was that at this Vaudeville Rave everyone was in costume. It was an eclectic mix (trust me, this is not an exaggeration) of gypsy, burlesque, renaissance fair, chap and steam punk.

The evening unfolded along the following lines...

DJ Dubious rocked the party with his Balkan/Swing from the turntables. (I've just realized we heard him play once before at the Global Cafe! It's good to know these guys are all local!)

Our MC for the evening was Bass6 who's beat boxing was incredible!

The first half of the show was a cabaret including sword swallowing, belly dancing, light bulb eating, unicycling, magic, a very strange contest between 2 fellows who reckoned they could solve a rubics cube faster than their opponent while being distracted by volunteers from the audience, and various other acts.

Following the cabaret the chairs facing the stage were removed and the music began. The first group was Tankus the Henge followed by the main act Mr. B, The Gentleman Rhymer (you've already been introduced). I bumped into him in the clutter of people in front of the washrooms. I tapped him on the back before I realized I didn't really have anything to say to him, so I just shook his hand, said that I wanted to say hello, and then said I wouldn't keep him as I knew where he was heading. Smooth aren't I?

The next band was Sam and the Womp who blended Balkan and Dubstep with outstanding results. It was during their set that we bumped into Gentleman Jeeves who invited Fiona and I backstage for a cup of tea. We had a choice of Jasmin or Darjeeling. I chose Darjeeling but should really have chosen Jasmin as there was no milk on offer. Behind us was a 4 poster bed upon which people were jumping. It was all very surreal and only compounded by the fact that the entrance to the back of stage area was just next to a croquet field where ladies and gents were competing.

At this point it was 3ish in the morning and Fiona and I decided (in light of the fact that all of our friends had already departed) that we would head home. That meant we missed the last act Dutty Moonshine who I'm sure was excellent.

And that was our evening! Since the carnaval in Dunkerque there's been a lot of occasions for costumes! I'm going to put some serious thought into the possibility of establishing one of my own!

Colourful traditions

As promised, here are the pictures from our recent road trip to the Dunkerque Carnaval!

http://www.flickr.com/photos/48141953@N02/sets/72157626147664009/

If you're inclined you can learn more about the history of the carnaval here or even visit the official site here.

Poetry Slam

Last night I participated in a poetry slam down at the global cafe and I had a really good time. The poem I'd written and recited was okay although I wasn't completely happy with it. Despite the fact that I'd only written the poem the night before I made it into the final round! Sadly, I hadn't anticipated that and hadn't prepared a second poem, so instead I read aloud The Cremation of Sam McGee, which ran overtime, and because it wasn't my original material I was disqualified from the competition. Although in fairness I had already disqualified myself aloud to the audience when I opted to read something other than that which I had written myself.

Apparently they're going to make it a regular thing and if they do, I think I'd like to give it another whack!

Art for arts sake

I saw this and though it was very cool, I hope you do too. The only thing I find dismaying is all the paint left on the red brick wall at the beginning of the clip. Check it out...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uuGaqLT-gO4

The site I found this guy on was very cool as well. Have a look see and see for yourself. Poke around a bit. There are enough items on there that you'll need never again feel uninspired.

http://dornob.com/best-of-blu-famous-stop-motion-graffiti-artist-in-action/

Seeing double

Inspired by a picture taken a few years ago but recently remembered, I thought I'd make an attempt of my own. I'm quite happy with the results!

Ah ha ha

I was inspired by someone at work who was checking out her friends profile on facebook. I know it would appear that I seem to post only things that in some way IMMEDIATELY refer to myself, but what's another self portrait between friends?

As it turns out

Well, it would apear that I've been pfaffing around with the HTML of my blog for the past 5 years (sweet Jesus! It's been 5 years since I started this blog!) when low and behold, I could have just abandoned the whole thing and picked a new template from blogger.

I'd known that was an option for a while, but I didn't know I could make something look as cool as I could! I'm still going to try to personalize my blog a bit, but I decided that it was time to upgrade a little. (hopefully everyone can read the text on this blog!

So in addition to that, Ayden has been over to visit England and it was great to get a chance to hang out with him! It's been 3 years since we really hung out, and even before that, with me living away at University, the time we spent together was limited! It was good to see him and I'm going to miss him now that he's gone back to Canada!

The pictures I've posted were either taken by or of Ayden on our bike trip out from Salisbury over to Stonehenge! Because we took the old byways we ended up spending a great day together and seeing a lot of countryside in the bargain. I hadn't realized how much I'd missed being outside and breathing the fresh country air! (I mean that literally! It's not a figurative reference to the wafting scent of bovine feces!) I'm going to make a point to do this more often! Fiona is keen as well, so I think we'll be railing and trailing on weekends in the near future!

How 'bout this one?

Blast from the past?

Lego my... lego?

So... the profile pic above or the one below? Which one do you like?

http://www.reasonablyclever.com/?page_id=31

Poor little fellas

So while I was sitting around the Doras Gorm (Dur-ass Gur-um : Blue Door : Our little cottage) I got to drawing on the computer in MS Paint. I first drew a naked man running down the road into the distance, then a man with no nose standing next to one with two, then a robber and two lovely aliens, and finally this......which I liked best and, thus, decided to post it for all the world to enjoy. I hope you do.

And please, pitty these poor fools, for they know not what they do!

Blackbeard lies to read too!

I just wish he's get his own book and stop reading over my shoulder!

Puppets rule!

I had been told that I hadn't missed much by not watching 'Hell Boy II' but I wanted to see it anyway. It was good enough (and as it turns out the Elves ACTUALLY speak old Irish!!) but missing it wouldn't have been a terrible loss to me either.

What it did do was get me very excited for the Galway arts festival! Especially when they go to the Troll Market! Here, have a look...

This is Hellboy...

And this is the parade in Galway...

Okay, so the pictures I found don't ACTAULLY contrast the 2 as well as I'd wanted to, but whatever, it's the best I could do!

The parade is done by a group called Macnas (if we're lucky) and their website is here...

http://www.macnas.com/index.php

Also... I don't know why the pictures go under the rest of my blog info. I don't now how to change that! Oh well!

Aha

Done! The match is over (and it was a good one, unless you're big into Man. U.). But more importantly...

The update is done and up!

Let me know what you think of it!

I'd also like to add a little context to the picture I've selected for my profile. I know it's horribly unflattering, and that's why I picked it. It's important when viewing the picture to remember that I was not horribly sick, vomitously drunk, or dead when it was taken. It was just a bad moment to pull the trigger.

God it's terrible!

At last!

I've been wanting to make a sock monkey since Berlin, and today I did it! He's made out of a pair of toe socks which gives him both a cool head of hair and pretty awesome vice gripping hands.

That's his tail.