Saturday 31 March 2012

The Doings of Mrs Doonuthin

You may well ask:
"What of Mrs Doonuthin these days?...Be she animating yet?"
And I do say:
"Animating... shmanimating... Hah!"

My career still languishes.

Mrs Doonuthin be largely buried under crime books. Now and then the pile shifts queasily and she emerges to pour another glass of red... then she shuffles back into the pile. There sometimes be crunching noises coming from the book-pile also... The snack of choice these days do seem to be Japanese rice crackers... which I tell you be even noisier than tortilla chips....altogether a more high pitched, frantic noise....

She do mutter occasionally about "making" another character for animating....
What she do mean by "making"... I do not know. And sometimes I do roll my eyes heavenward and do feel like climbing the pile of books, forcing open a crack and yelling....

"Well get on with it then!"

Wednesday 28 March 2012

Down To The Beach

What a cracker of a day. Is it midsummer?
No... here we are... March.
Down to the beach... towards the Lizard... Gunwalloe ...
Hardly anyone there. Hot, clear blue sky.
Finding shells and one is a small entire crab shell.



Tuesday 27 March 2012

Greenfinch Goes a-Courting

There up in a tree I do see a greenfinch paying court to another greenfinch. First time I do see this.
First I hear the loud singing...
and then there is birdy....
flicking his tail and swivelling his body, wings trembling...
for all the world like a clockwork bird in a cage.

Never knew greenfinch could sing so pretty...

But she did fly off anyway... Sorry Birdy.

Monday 26 March 2012

....Upstairs and Downstairs and in The Old Man's Chambers

So The Old Man has received a copy of his Heart Doctor's letter to his GP.

Apparently... his "chambers" have shrunk.

But this appears to be a good thing.


Sunday 25 March 2012

Thursday 22 March 2012

Graphic Passions: Moebius & Jodorowsky's "The Incal"


So I do indeed grab me some Moebius comix as I did say I would in my Moebius post. I get hold of Jodorowsky & Moebius' sci-fi work "The Incal" (click here for the Guardian review.)

Now this is for Space Opera fans, you understand... galaxies and planets and monsters and multi-armed aliens and sooper-dooper trans-thingy beams and telepathy.... It's a space opera that is also filled with crazy 1980s New Age tosh... (You had to have been there.) In other words it's a real out of this world experience. There was a legal dispute between Jodorowsky and Luc Besson over similarities between "The Incal" and the film "The Fifth Element" which Jodorowsky lost. But you will see the territory we are in.

Graphic Novel publishers Self Made Hero have published a "restored and uncensored".. (that nudity thing)... edition which is a lovely thing to behold... and to read....

So here I am, drifting in space with the Moebius illustrations and travelling on beams of light ... and seriously contemplating acquiring a companion animal that I can call "Deepo" by way of tribute to P.I. John DiFool's own "concrete" bird......


Wednesday 21 March 2012

Where Are We Now?

















Inca ruins? Celtic tomb? Medieval castle?

Nope. Down at the site of the old Levant Mine again.

Not to forget the peregrine falcon on the fence post, the wheatears, and some sky-diving rock pipits singing for spring.



Monday 19 March 2012

The Old Man Says "Hypothecated"

So we'se fuming over breakfast toast as per usual. This be over the Government's latest bright idea...
to sell off the roads.

The Old Man is pontificating over the monies to be accrued by anybody who cares to lease our luverly run-down roadal infrastructure.

Cos people are saying that the new owners or rather "lessees" could take car or road taxes as theirs...
but at this point The Old Man munches delicately, swallows, and explains that the "car-tax" is no longer "hypothecated".

My eyebrows do take off like a rocket at this word.

Which apparently is Civil Service speak for "dedicated to" if you like...
This means in fact that in the case of UK Road Tax - this has not been allocated to the upkeep of our roads for 80 years or so. It disappears into the general taxation coffers.

So what, we do ask, would the new Tenant of the Roads of Britain gain by way of monies?
Answer? Tolls payments of course.

Saturday 17 March 2012

This Year's Kneehigh's Asylum Show


I be just a little worried over this.
As you may know I do look forward to a night out at Kneehigh Theatre's Asylum each summer, around July and August.
Then I read that their new show is "Steptoe and Son".

I never liked "Steptoe and Son".
And I never do understand why Dick van Dyke gets rubbished for his "Cockney" accent... and no one says nuffink about Harry H. Corbett's .

Sorry. I remain waiting to be convinced.
But they usually offer something else as well... they do.


Friday 16 March 2012

What We Did Today

We did hide around the corner of a windy street in Porthleven.
Keeping out the cold wind...
Munching on sticky buns.

Grey hair sprouting...
Cheeks bulging...

Chomp chomp...


Tuesday 13 March 2012

Animated Discussions: Les Maitres du Temps


I did say in the previous post that I would say more about Moebius aka Jean Girard.

Because you know that I do like a bit of animation. And Moebius did work with French animator Rene Laloux on this film here.... "Les Maitres Du Temp" (Time Masters).

For modern animation fans it may look a bit dated cos it's made in 1982 before the "benefits" of CGI and so on. Don't get me wrong I don't mind a bit of CGI... but sometimes it do get in the way I think... a bit of a stylistic... "Oh No... Here we go again..."

I do have on my DVD shelf - a copy of Laloux's 1973 film "La Planete Sauvage" (Fantastic Planet). Cos I'se that kind of girl. This is perhaps even harder to view in terms of modern techniques but that ain't what it's all about.

Anyway. I just be reading the wiki stuff on Rene Laloux and love the idea that he got started animating by working with patients in a psychiatric institution. I wonder if any got over-excited doing the animating and had to be sedated? I'm sure I would. But then... if you cain't control the world out there.... get yourself a little world on your tabletop and animate it. That's what I say.

Monday 12 March 2012

Graphic Passions: "Moebius" - Jean Giraud 1938-2012



A bit of a genius be Jean Giraud but now sadly died 10 March.

This is a trailer for a 2007 documentary about Giraud (aka Gir, aka Moebius) that I did see a year or so ago. As well as the "bandes dessinee" (comics) he worked on the costume designs for "Alien", input into "Tron" and influences upon other sci-fi films.

And Oh but I wish his collaboration with Alejandro Jodorowsky for a film of "Dune" had made it to the big screen.

First fame as Gir - with his anti-hero cowboy, Blueberry. Later he set up with others the magazine "Metal Hurlant" ("Heavy Metal") and explored sci-fi and fantasy. He also collaborated with Rene Laloux on his full-length animated movie "Les Maitres du Temps". About which.... more later.

For another YouTube tribute/taster try clicking through this link.

But me... I'm off to get me some of his graphics.....


Sunday 11 March 2012

Spring - Down Porthleven Way


You can't see it but the boys are out surfin. They hang in two tiny patches.. one at the entrance to the harbour... the other back from some rocks on the western side... where there be some waves. If you could see that lot ... they'd be tiny black dots over on the left hand side of the surf there.

And here's some celandine.... cos it's Spring.

Friday 9 March 2012

But in Cornwall... I'll Be Visiting Newlyn Art Gallery

... to see the Breon O'Casey exhibition there.

You may remember I did post about him shortly after his death. Cos I do remember him from my youthy days in Cornwall. I remember his jewellery of course, and paintings and prints but would like to see the rugs and... well everything all at once! He was a lovely man.

There's a good posting about the exhibition from a Blog called Instant Steve.

And you'll find Gallery details by clicking the link for Newlyn Art Gallery & Exhange over in the right had side panel there.

Thursday 8 March 2012

If I Were in London... I'd be Going to The Tate..

... to see the Yayoi Kusama exhibition.

This Grand Lady of Japanese Art , or you could argue Outsider Art, is now 82. Dots is her thing. And she have done the whole New York Art scene... and Happenings and stuff. Now she do voluntarily live in a psychiatric institution... cos she have always battled with some fragile boundaries.

Yes I know Damien Hirst does the dot thing too....

As you may have noticed in a post about being at Art College in the 60s-70s... I did favour painting Op Art... Somewhere at that time I must have seen work by artist Jeremy Moon... who sadly died in an accident in 1973. I think he did spots.... but now I can't find any images for that so maybe I's wrong there. I just can see paintings of spots... who's were they?

Anyway ... Yayoi Kusama...
I've never seen a real live piece of hers, I have to content myself with looking in a book. Which is why I do say... If I were in London I would.....

Tuesday 6 March 2012

Queening It

Recently... I be contemplating favouring monarchy as a way of government.

Course, sometimes some what do know me and The Old Man do call us anarchists...

....And Mr Smooth-Face Smartypants and his Cabinet is telling us that it is the Socialist Workers' Party (or as we used to say... the "Space Cadets") that have cowed the likes of Tesco, Superdrug, et al... so that they do get all nervous and back out of the government's work-for-nothing scheme.Though sometimes Mr Smooth-Face do say it's Anarchists. Tut-Tut. Who would have thought that Big Business could be frightened by "extremists" so easily. I think it may be a first.

Mind you. You never know who can influence opinion utterly. I seem to remember when Murdoch closed the News of the World... some furious spokesperson for something or other blamed it on members of MumsNet "eating their shortbread" and voting on the Web. It is obviously a shame that extremists such as SWP members and MumsNet members can hold Big Business... ahem.. cough... cough... the Nation to ransom in this way.

But my ponderin on Monarchy is rooted a bit more in the world view.... elections that get rigged... presidents that won't leave when their time is up... would rather slaughter their people than go.... Oh the joy of democracy.

Let's call a spade a spade... and go back to Kings and Queens.... then they can just haggle over the DNA of the matter.

Monday 5 March 2012

The Old Man's Telly Channel

So I do say... in my previous post... that The Old Man do pontificate somewhat. He do have a lot of views and do like to express them.

The other day we do have a visit from Family including Youngest Niece. And as we do all sit there... listening to The Old Man ... for often there are not many options ...

Niece says:

"It's like a TV show isn't it. Old Man's TV."

Friday 2 March 2012

The Old Man Gives "Those Who Kill" The Thumbs-up

So this is how it goes. We do record "Those Who Kill" on the Thursday night telly. Then we do watch it like Friday night... fast forwarding them pesky adverts... And now The Old Man has announced that he do prefer it to the various "Killings".

This is of course a modern-day sacrilege but The Old Man is now so confident in his views that he be pontificating on Euro-crime telly.... to ME! I mean I'ms the one who wants to watch it.

I have explained his difficulties with crime films/telly before... on account of all telly faces look pretty much the same for him. Well. Now that he has the familiarity of interchangeable Danish telly actors... he be happy.

Also... he do explain another advantage of "Those Who Kill".
It has one crime per episode... or strictly speaking... a serial crime per episode... This do give him another aspect of comfort. The monoplot.
"No sub-plots!" he do say. He be so pleased. Everything become easy now.

One thing I myself say about it.
Some critics have complained that "Katrine" is no Sarah Lund ("Forbrydelsen" reference).
Sillies. You be looking at the wrong obsessive, say I.

It's not Katrine who is the "Sarah Lund-alike" in this series.
It's Thomas Schaeffer... the psychiatrist.

Thursday 1 March 2012

Listening to.....Carolina Chocolate Drops



Just out, their latest album "Leaving Eden"....
and brought back for me from Truro by The Old Man... as a treat... cos I's a fan.