self portraits with alzheimers - william utermohlen

I've worked with people who have developed Alzheimer's disease, and as you can imagine, it is not pleasant at all for the unfortunate individual who suffers from it.
William Utermohlen was diagnosed with it in 1995, and decided to do self portraits as it progressed, to document the way it affected himself, both in his ability to capture his own image, and his perception of that image.
The results are above.  The first self portrait is from 1967, but the rest are from 1996 to 2000.  William died in 2007.
More information can be found here.

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the spoof greggs the bakers logo -' providing shit to scum for over 70 years'

It's been taken down now, but when you googled Greggs the bakers earlier on today, the blue signage was not the usual one, as you can see in the above image.
I just missed out on taking a screenshot, but managed to get a photo, even if it is poor quality. Much as l am scum myself and enjoy Greggs food, this was a classic prank, and l am all for it.

Saying that, Greggs response to it was also pretty good (click photo to enlarge).

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another brave look for summer - the face-kini

After the photographs of the ball bag pouch for men in the earlier post, here's something for everyone.
It's the face-kini.  Pioneered in China to keep the suns rays off the face, it is a craze that is sure to spread. The above fashion shots are all from the CR Fashion Book, whose article can be found here.
As you may have already guessed, the top photo is of some Chinese ladies.
I've already ordered my own (face-kini, not Chinese ladies), and plenty of people would probably say that it would be an improvement on my normal look.
And they could well be right.

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mr parrot looking happy

Mr Parrot looking happy.  Taunting me after the Swansea v Manchester United result.
He'll be going in the oven if he continues to mock me.

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the story on the wall and enlarged graffiti

I love this sort of stuff.  Someone did a line of graffiti on a wall in Jerome street, London, and then added another line of text to the story whenever it was painted over.
Genius, although l did a similar thing years ago with a small cartoon graffiti which then got painted over, so l proceeded to redo the cartoons, making them bigger with each reapplication, with a message saying that they would increase in size if they were painted over again. It developed into a battle of wits, which l won, until  l got bored of it. I also know that l would have derived a lot more enjoyment out of the battle, as  the shop owner must have been pulling his hair out in frustration, and the police never caught me doing it.
Of course the days of doing stupid stuff like that are long gone, as l am now respectable (sort of), but l was way ahead of my time.

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ball bags for men

What  the modern man on the beach should be wearing nowadays.  The ball bag pouch (two versions available!!).
I think l managed to pull it off (Fnaar) in Ibiza.

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henry and nessie's funerals

Rather sadly, l have just been to two funerals within a week of each other at St Anne's church in Hipswell, Catterick.  One was for a friends mother l knew (Nessie, Podge's mum), and the other was for an ex serviceman who l knew from drinking with in my local pub (Henry Jennings).
Nessie had cancer, and l called in at her birthday party in Richmond on 9th August, as everyone knew it would be her last, seeing as she was given about two months to live six months ago.  She looked well, was in top form, but sadly died two weeks to the day afterwards. lt was all back to the sunny Unicorn beer garden afterwards, and she would have laughed at the cd getting stuck as she was carried out of church,as she was certainly a character. The picture of her drinking a pint is from the aforementioned birthday bash, making the most of what life she had left.
As for Henry, he was a man who rose through the ranks in the army (Royal Signals), but was captured during the war in Korea, and spent nearly three years in a prisoner of war camp in the 1950's, which he described as a very harrowing place (to put it mildly). Sadly for him, his wife and children suffered early deaths, and he developed Dementia in the last stage of his life, but after he died, was bought up from his care home in Eastbourne to be buried at Catterick (where his home was).

He is also commemorated in a painting smashing up his radio set before being captured, a copy of which is still displayed  in Hunters wine bar, and is used as the cover of the above book.
Both services were kept short, with only the one song/hymn, which in both cases was 'All things bright and beautiful', but in Henry's case, it was back to The Wine Bar (Hunters) afterwards.
Everyone grows old and dies, but it was a great idea to have an early picture of Henry larking about on the back of his order of service, to remind people that he was once a young, good looking man with a wicked sense of humour and fun.
It's a cliche to state that funerals put things into perspective, but that's not going to prevent me from stating that it is true, so try and enjoy life. In the great randomness of the Cosmos, most things aren't worth the hassle of worrying about.
Or to quote Bobby McFerrin - Don't worry - be happy.

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ibiza

Part of the reason for not posting recently.  I've been in Ibiza!
Photos and more information will follow.

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best tattoo ever

I like my new tattoo, but also have a nagging feeling that l should have gone for this one.
What an inspired idea, and it helps that old Brucie was pretty cool (and very hard) back in the day.

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hello hello - l'm back again!!

Did you miss me - while l was away?
Did you hang my picture on your door?
I'd better stop there before l get too identified with Gary Glitter.

Anyhow, after my extended break, l thought l would get straight back into the swing of things with an amazing photograph of a baby clutching the surgeons hand from within the womb.  The 1999 photograph is called 'The hand of hope', and is by Michael Clancy, but the staggering thing about the picture, is that the baby was not born until  four months after.
A follow up on the story can be found here.

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