the trickle down theory

toodle pip

depressed? cheeky sod!

When l was out and about yesterday at work, the person l was supporting was given this leaflet by a passing member of the public (female).
What on Earth was she trying to hint at?
It's about finding a way out of depression by following the path of the Lord, but was she assuming the person l was supporting looked depressed?
Needed assistance from a higher power??
With me supporting them???
I'll have you know l am fantastic at my job thank you very much.
How very dare they (as Edith used to say)

toodle pip

and thinking about women photographers - sheila rock

 Sheila herself

The Buzzcocks

Siouxsie Sioux

The Cure

Johnny Rotton / Lydon

Billy Idol

The Clash

Debbie Harry

When the punk wars were happening, Sheila Rock was one of the photographers that was in the thick of it, shooting some iconic images along the way.  I don't know what l expected her to look like, but certainly not the innocent and sweet looking lady at the top.

She has a new book about Punk for sale, and her website is here.

It just goes to show (yet again) that you can't judge a book by it's cover.

However, you can judge a crap British 'Comedy film' by the amount of 'iconic' and 'hilarious' stars that are in it. But don't get me started on that one.

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the vivian maier story

There was a great BBC Imagine documentary on the other night about Vivian Maier, the loner nanny who took thousands of photographs, mostly street scenes from around the Chicago area.
The photography itself was really high quality, but of course the most fascinating part of the story was that she kept the photographs to herself, and was so driven in her need to take them, expressing herself and capturing her own (and her surroundings) history.  I have always had a great admiration for anyone who just does their own thing, not caring what others think (hence my love of Keef), so this was right up my street.
Since her death in 2009, there has been a huge demand for her prints and originals, plus gallery displays and coffee table books, but you would like to think that she would still have had some success if her work had been unearthed earlier.  Now that she has ceased to be (as The Pythons would say), she will always be the elusive loner character, and her worth will probably only increase, as her cult following grows.
Maier kept her photography work in various storage containers, which was then bought unseen when she could not meet her storage bills, with the consequence that it was divided up among  innocents, collectors, and get rich quick charlatans.
Some of the images and information can be found here and here, and the BBC doc is here.
I may post some of her street photography at a later date, as l particularly like the ones with billboard or theater writing in the background, but for the meantime, above are some of her self portraits.
How very reflective.

toodle pip

the rather magnificent rich hall

 

Myself, Robbo, Kerrie and the FPO went along to see Rich Hall in Middlesbrough in May, and it he was hilarious.  Up to then, the funniest comedian l had seen was Billy Connolly in a small place in New York (coz l'm cool!), but the night out with Rich Hall was sooooo much better than l had hoped for, and just as good (if not better) than the Connolly show.  I was crying with laughter throughout, and although a lot of the show is obviously scripted, there was a lot of riffing with members of the audience as well, which highlighted how quickly Hall thinks on his feet. Sadly, there was no appearance of his alter ego, Otis Lee Crenshaw, but that didn't matter, as his command of comedy which he has honed over the years more than made up for it.

I've since finished reading three of Hall's books, the results of which were varied.  I enjoyed them all, but although the language used and topics covered were impressive, there wasn't that many laugh out loud parts, except in the 'I Blame Society' one, which has a potted history of Otis' life and marriages to various Brendas.  Some of the song lyrics in that were both clever and funny, and you find yourself rooting for the old rascal.  The other two books would have been a lot better if performed on stage, as they lacked Halls delivery and timing, but the content was pretty top notch.

Anyway, here's a clip of him reading from 'Inglorious Bastards' and some videos.
Just a pity he didn't have tour posters for sale, as they would have been bought, signed, framed and hung in no time (a bit like Otis himself).








toodle pip

cutting the bleeding grass (again!)

Well, the lawnmower has eventually been fixed, and l have been able to cut the bleeding grass at long last.  I had already cut it once this year when it was really overgrown, so l was a bit pissed off it had grown so much  again.  I even got a blister on my hand, as the last thing l am used to these days  is hard manual work (soft handed girl that l am).
I also cut some branches off the trees and am going to have a bonfire to burn them all, but l had better make sure Tubbs isn't hiding among the crap, like he was doing today.
Maybe he has had enough of being stuck with me and has got a death wish. He certainly didn't look too happy to be bought back in.
Time to get his mind right, as he needs to know who's boss around these parts (or no carrots for him in the morning).

toodle pip

nozzer's vet bill

When sorting out some crap in the house the other night, l came across this old vet bill from when Nozzer, our old rabbit was going to the vets all of the time as he kept having puss oozing out of him.
£75.96 bleeding pounds!!!!
Luckily the rabbit had character, and if it cost that much to sort him out, so be it.
Sadly he didn't live that much longer, and Tubbs the idiot rabbit from outside got to come into the house and pester me.
Still, it was good while it lasted.

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black and white tights dance

An ingenious dance routine that is mind boggling and funny at the same time.
From Boing Boing.

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franz reichelt jumps off the eiffel tower

It's always good to have the courage of your convictions, but sometimes it can all go a bit pear shaped.
This is Franz Reichelt, a man who invented a new form of parachute that could be worn as a jacket.  To demonstrate how it would work, in 1912 he jumped off the Eiffel Tower in Paris.
Sadly for him, the parachute/jacket combination must have come from the same Acme Corporation store that Wile E. Coyote in the Road Runner cartoons uses, and he plummeted to his death.
He might have been barmy to leap off the tower in the first place, but that still took a hell of a lot of courage.
The video of the jump is below, and you will see him hesitating before jumping, with, as it turned out, good reason.

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