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Saturday, 13 February 2010

Guardian All Ears 13th February


Spot the references...I couldn't resist the pool playing dogs (which don't show up at all in my copy of the paper - ho hum)
http://www.guardian.co.uk/culture/2010/feb/13/all-ears-the-guide


(Article by Michael Holden)
The world is full of strange cycles. Go into a pub to use the toilet,
buy a pint for the sake of protocol and pretty soon you’re back in the
toilet again. I was in one of these loops when I saw that the pub
itself was fixed in a weird judgemental cycle of its own. Two people
were looking at a laptop and pointing out things they didn’t approve
of on the Internet, themselves watched by two workmen who clearly had
no time for them, while next to me two more men talked disapprovingly
about popular art as I listened disapprovingly to them.

Man 1: “Did you see that documentary on the BBC the other night? It
was about that guy, Kit Williams, he did like photo-realism, it was
very popular in the 80’s –horrible pictures-he made a gold rabbit?”

Man 2 (decisively-and in no way confused by the fact that the
aforementioned artist’s most famous work was actually a hare) “No”

Man 1 (pleading) “You must remember the rabbit? Everyone was looking for it.”
Man 2 “I don’t recall. There was another thing though, something to do
with following letters of the alphabet. If you figured out the
sequence you got twenty grand or something. It wasn’t long ago.”

Man 1 “This was the 80’s. He was on Wogan.”

Man 2 “I don’t know him.”
Man 1 “It was a good documentary. But the thing with that stuff is
it’s all about the craft, ‘oh, it really looks like him.’ As if that’s
the most important thing!”
Man 2 “Like that Jack Vettriano. He knows what people who don’t like
art like. They like story.”
Man 1 (looking blankly afraid, as though suddenly alert to all his own
frustrations) “He makes millions.”
Man 2 (looking the same) “Yeah.”


Thursday, 11 February 2010

Imaginary medical conditions #1



A man afflicted with an inability to make noise is assisted by a helpful passing Foley artist to gain entry to his house.
The man is generally upset by his condition but is very popular with geese (see also - 'goose' & 'saying boo to')

Saturday, 6 February 2010

Guardian All Ears 6th February


Despite all labelling to the contrary I did draw this ...it's better than 'insert artist name here' which I've been referred to by before...someone shoot the sub editor!
http://www.guardian.co.uk/culture/2010/feb/06/michael-holden-all-ears

(Article by Michael Holden)

Listening to people who seem to have been parachuted into one another's company – yet appear to get along perfectly well – a very modern form of cynicism kicks in, at least for me. Like watching the opening scenes of Big Brother, part of me is always thinking, "This won't last. They will soon hate each other." So it was with two young men sitting at near me in a bar, exchanging stories of themselves for reasons that were never clear.

Man 1 "Your job sounds pretty relaxed."

Man 2 (as though what followed were something to be proud of) "Oh yeah, I watch a lot of stuff on YouTube, keep up with the latest viral ads. Sometimes I help out with a pitch. You're based in the Far East?"

Man 1 "Malaysia."

Man 2 "How's that?"

Man 1 "It's like the opposite of here. It's hot, the food's great …"

Man 2 "So what is it you do?"

Man 1 "Bit of everything. I'm part-training, part-headhunting with a bit of systems shit thrown in. My boss is opening a restaurant; I said I'll have some of that. So I'm a partner there too."

Man 2 (losing interest) "Pretty diverse, then?"

Man 1 "Oh yeah. I rip through the local legal shit, I make things happen. On a project-by-project basis. You need something done, we can take it all the way."

Man 2 "You speak the language?"

Man 1 (rubbing his fingertips together to illustrate his point) "Money talks. But that's not to say you don't have to get your hands dirty, get hands-on. You get off the path and it gets tribal. I've been to weddings barefoot. Drunk blood. Whatever it takes."

Man 2 "So what would you call it then?"

Man 1 "Systems analysis"

Man 2 "Right."

Monday, 1 February 2010

Ivory Coast-y head

Armchair Sinister Bird Theatre...(slight return)



Part 2 of a fictitious TV strand from my (pretend) youth



see also http://stevemaystuff.blogspot.com/2009/11/armchair-sinister-bird-theatre.html

whore's, dog's & sausage's



The 'whore's' quote was from an image at the Museum of Everything in Chalk Farm, the sausage references are too complicated to explain, although I definitely wish animals would stick to their alloted food clichés - dogs = sausages, bears = honey, elephants = buns etc. Would make everything sooo much simpler for everyone

(PS the misused apostrophes are deliberate dummy!)

Saturday, 30 January 2010

Guardian All Ears 30th January



Coming from a home town where street drinking is somewhat of an ancient tradition I rather warmed to this week's column...

http://www.guardian.co.uk/culture/2010/jan/30/clubs-michael-holden-all-ears


(Article by Michael Holden)
No matter what our circumstances, we are always alert to the notion that someone might be encroaching on them. I was in the library, sharing a table with two men who use the place to keep warm, when they began talking about a group of eastern European men whose attempts to use the facility for similar purposes had begun to cause friction with the indigenous community of no fixed abode.

Man 1 (looking across at the other table) "They're drinking again."

Man 2 (following his gaze but less intently) "Oh, aye."

Man 1 "They're gonna get us all kicked out."

Man 2 "You reckon?"

Man 1 "They don't take care of themselves. I see 'em on the streets; they'll drink till one of them falls over. Then they have to go to hospital. Then the others'll come and visit. You know what happens then?"

Man 2 "What?"

Man 1 "That stuff they have on the wards, the MRSA handwash? They nick that and drink it."

Man 2 "That'll fuck you up."

Man 1 "Cranial bleeding, haemorrhage. That said, it's not too different from your white cider; that's never been near an apple, you know that?"

Man 2 (sensing he was being chastised) "Yeah, I am aware of all that."

Man 1 "So that's the cycle: hospital, handwash, back into hospital again. And who do you think's paying for it?"

Man 2 (smiling) "When did you last pay any taxes?"

Man 1 (ignoring that inquiry and returning to his theme) "They're gonna get us all kicked out if they're not careful."