l i l l i p u t i a n

i made the law

2010-08-20T14:44:00.003+01:00

Calvin and Hobbes know all.

heart strings - jose fernandez

totem

2010-08-03T01:21:00.005+01:00

My day contained two spectacular things
Hands down the best movie i've seen in at least two years.
Maybe even three.

And Jon Stewart with his chin in a tub of Fluff.
He keeps my curmudgeonly ways in check.

lachrymosity

2010-07-25T12:47:00.006+01:00

Cristina Penescu
All done on scratchboard.
Things like this make my little artist's heart green with envy.
I like all kinds of art but i do always get drawn back into realistic work. I don't seem to be able to help myself. One of my heroes is Caravaggio for goodness sake. And these, even though i'm not a huge fan of animal portraits, are just about perfect realism.
Fur baffles me.
I think i'll be trying to get hold of some scratchboard pretty soon.

flaws

2010-07-17T16:14:00.005+01:00

If this blog were a pet, i'd be put away for neglect.
I did learn to knit while i was away. It gives me sore thumbs and itchy fingers.
But i like it.
My former class graduated from DOJ with their honours - congratulations everyone! - a very strange feeling, indeed.
We had to give away our Mollies due to them breeding like demons.
And my computer nearly died - touch wood it does not.
I'll get back to this properly when my brain is less tangled and incoherent.

For now, Bombay Bicycle Club covering John Martyn:

bombay bicycle club - fairytale lullaby

My parents used to sing this to my sisters and I when we were tiny little things.
I believed wholeheartedly that they had written it for us.
Until Mr Martyn proved me wrong.
I grew up listening to the best music.

animal arithmetic

2010-05-13T17:05:00.004+01:00

Seriously bad blogging. It's more blog bombing than anything else.
But i had to post something about Jónsi, seeing as he's monopolising all my listening time right now.
I think like everyone else with an iota of feeling, i instantly fell in love with Sigur Rós the millisecond i heard them and until then i wasn't sure i could love anything of it's kind, more. But i do, it feels wrong saying it, almost like cheating on them but i fell in love harder with 'Go' than i ever did with Sigur Rós' repertoire. Saying that, 'Go' is like listening to the manic depressive embodiment of Sigur Rós finally letting go of their demons. And that really is as lovely as it sounds.
Therefore, i must draw a line between Jón Þór Birgisson's two musical ventures because they're both too bloody beautiful to compare.
Enough blithering, have a listen:

Jónsi - Go Do from Jónsi on Vimeo.

the soft beating

2010-04-30T17:58:00.004+01:00

Songs of the week:
The Antlers - Kettering
Miike Snow - Black & Blue
Ramona Falls - Russia
Phoenix - Lasso
Bear In Heaven - Ultimate Satisfaction
Gene Vincent - Be-Bop-A-Lula
Bombay Bicycle Club - Dust On The Ground
Plan B - Stay Too Long
Band of Horses - Compliments
Matt Duke - Sex and Reruns
Little Richard - Long Tall Sally
George Balanchine's The Nutcracker - Act II: Sugarplum Fairy
My sister bought me a gerbera two weekends ago and it's still alive!
I've never looked after anything living before, well, not anything that didn't have whiskers and the vocal capacity to deafen you due to their desperate need for food/attention/your seat.

if only, one of us, had the guts tonight

2010-04-22T18:23:00.002+01:00

roy orbison - i drove all night

I lack words lately.
Spring does something to my endorphins.
Shiny happy fits of rage.

halcyon days

2010-04-16T18:41:00.003+01:00

Do i really need to say anything?

Thank you Benign Objects for bringing this into my life.

stevie wonder - we can work it out

maybe lately

2010-04-12T18:15:00.003+01:00

miracle fortress - have you seen in your dreams

replica sun machine

2010-04-07T18:52:00.002+01:00

It's 6:54pm and the sun is still out.
Nothing nicer.

the postal service - recycled air

swimmin' with the wimmin'

2010-04-06T16:22:00.004+01:00

Aron Wiesenfeld
Anastasia Ugorskaya
Tender Letters
Timothy Hon Hung Lee
Anne Kathrin Greiner

le loup - breathing raptures

summertime clothes

2010-04-03T18:09:00.008+01:00

Clearing out my camera

just blue

2010-04-02T18:22:00.005+01:00

I'm trying, unsuccessfully, to choose a colour for my room.
In the process I created a little alter to the colour chart gods.
Needless to say, the aforementioned gods are spiteful and mean and have not helped me choose a colour yet.

I'm severely temped to repaint it blue. A better blue. A less grey, depressing blue.
It is my favourite colour after all.
Something like this:
But another part of me wants a drastic change in the shape of raspberry red walls because of my deep-seated love of the colour maple leaves turn in autumn :
I'm a little stuck.
And the more time the pyramid stays on my wall, the less i want to take it down.

april fools

2010-04-01T12:42:00.003+01:00

DA always has a nice wee surprise for us on April Fool's Day.
I'm Team Gaga, which is pretty alright. I kind of love the mental.
I never remember it's April Fool's Day.

hammock

2010-03-26T19:31:00.003Z

I'm not a believer of magic.
I'm not a disbeliever, either.
I guess i see magic in the way birds move as a unit, in Saturn's rings, the fact that the cells in my body know exactly what to reproduce after they've been damaged.
The inexplicable things that just don't seem possible but are.
And every now and then i get to see something, a piece of work that reflects this feeling of wonder and amazement. I get to know that there are other people out there that are happy in their blindness of not understanding how things work and accept that they just do:

Hammock - Breathturn from David Altobelli on Vimeo.

sweet caroline

2010-03-25T11:41:00.003Z

short film / SPIDERBOY from ignacio ESTAREGUI on Vimeo.

This incredibly lovely film kept me from dying of complete boredom, whilst waiting for the boiler man to fix our heating.
It reminds me of a book i've been meaning to read since christmas, 'The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao' by Junot Diaz.
Does anyone else get stuck in ruts with books? I've started at least 5 in the past few months and been unable to finish. Something in my brain must have disconnected. Perhaps Oscar Wao can wire it back together.

It's April in 6 days. SIX! I'd like to revert to a younger age when a year seemed like a lifetime. It's too quick. Too too quick.
Go here. There's a nice Spike Jonze surprising waiting to be discovered.

The first Glee soundtrack just came in the post. Neat. Now to see how far i can push the noise pollution limit with Gleeful goodness.

wrapped up in piano strings

2010-03-10T17:32:00.007Z

I've been such a deadbeat blogger of late.
I can't quite pinpoint why, but i think it has something to do with multiple things coming at me at once and my lack of ability to handle that.
I'm not very organised and i've discovered i like to make To Do lists but bury them under things - quite literally - and forget all about them.
This makes me gloomy and sets off my 'procrastination switch', so even less gets done!
My sisters do stuff like this for me though:
I don't know why but it helps to turn round from your desk and have something silly, mysteriously tacked to your window.
The only good thing right now is that i feel like drawing. I genuinely have the urge. I've still got to turn my procrastination switch off and actually do it but i missed that feeling. I lost it completely last year. I was only drawing to pass my third year, there was no enjoyment and no need. It's not a good place to be.
So it's nice, to feel like you're waking up.
Maybe it's the sunshine, i sometimes wonder if i'm part flower because i only really feel healthy and happy in the Summer.
I love the colder seasons but that's because i like snow and low winter sun. Plus i get to wear 6 thousand layers and feed my love of coats.
But warm is better. I just hope Scotland decides to play fair with the weather this year.

So, with Spring creeping in, hopefully it'll bring some new work from me. I can't promise because my moods have an uncanny resemblance to our erratic Scottish weather. But for now, something i did a couple of weeks ago and felt good about:
gonzales - overnight

spirit ditch

2010-03-10T01:50:00.004Z

I was so sad to hear of Mark Linkous' death.
His music was wonderful and it's awful to know he and his talent are gone.

My favourite:

Sad and Beautiful World from christina vantzou on Vimeo.

this too shall pass

2010-03-07T00:59:00.002Z

I think i just fell in love with them all over again.
Oh, to have their magical, mischievous minds.

salt skin

2010-03-01T18:47:00.004Z

'I see the winter. She's crawling up the lawn'

- Radical Face

This snowflake has been on my window for as long as i can remember.
I like to think of it as my little ode to winter during the warmer days.

ellie goulding - wish i stayed

adso

2010-02-28T22:36:00.004Z

Another season gone and another devastatingly intriguing ending.
Why must i love these three so much?
And why are they making an American version?
Did they look at the retelling of The Office and think it'd be a good idea?
I don't really understand the point of remaking already great shows. I was looking at a list of American tv shows remade for the UK and most them are rubbish to begin with, whilst the UK remakes are of some brilliant shows that should never have been touched:

The Young Person's Guide To Becoming A Rock Star
Queer As Folk (i've seen the American version and it's pretty appalling)
As If
Fawlty Towers (that's sacrilegious)
Outnumbered
even This Life

I don't get it.
An easy fix however, ignoring their existence.
I sound like i hate American tv, which couldn't be further from the truth. I'm wholly engrossed in Mad Men right now and got lost for at least a few months in Battlestar Galactica last Summer.
If asked to list my favourite shows, the percentage of American creations would tip the balance considerably.
I just don't like what happens to shows, that basically have 'We're British' stamped on their asses, when their shipped over to anywhere but here.

On a less curmudgeonly note, i finally watched UP today.
Totally worth the wait. Equal favourite with Finding Nemo, for sure.

out of a forest

2010-02-27T21:37:00.010Z

A few days ago i wasn't feeling so happy and to cheer me up my sister bought me a Malteser Bunny.
I don't really like chocolate but i do like almost everything animal shaped.
I ate its ears first. So it didn't suffer, obviously.
Ever since then, bunnies have hopped their way into my days.
Firstly with the discovery of Design Curiosities resident bunny, Eames.
He makes me want a rabbit all of my own. I fear my Misty would have something to say about it, however.
She always looks like pure, unadulterated evil when i take photographs of her!
She's really quite beautiful and lovely in person.

My third encounter with the long-eared, hoppity creatures was in the form of Bette Midler in a rabbit suit. Yes, i was watching Beaches.

And fourth and finally - as far as i know - was whilst having an afternoon wander through Vimeo today and discovering this ridiculously lovely stop-motion film by Tobias Gundorff Boesen.

Out Of A Forest from Tobias Gundorff Boesen on Vimeo.

Scored by one of my favourite bands, The National and finished with an unexpected, strangely heart-warming twist.
I'd never want to be an animator but i sure do love watching what they make.

apricot

2010-02-22T02:29:00.007Z

APRICOT, short film by Ben Briand (sponsored by his incredible actors and crew) from Moonwalk Films on Vimeo.

Our senses are wonderful things. They can deliver us back to the most private and momentous of times.
A beautiful short film for Nespresso by Ben Briand, to illustrate just that.

Vimeo is teeming with talent. I think a few days will be spent exploring for hidden wonders like this.

nuit blanche

2010-02-20T21:13:00.004Z

Nuit Blanche from Spy Films on Vimeo.

The aforementioned Dom, brought this spectacular short film to my attention.
I like shorts. I like finding them in the extras on dvds. I like watching them late at night.
I especially like when they have a score that swells and fits perfectly with the actions and emotions of the story.
So, for me, this is pretty much perfect.
The effects and film noir style are just a bonus.

for dom

2010-02-18T02:54:00.004Z

'In January 2002 an unexplained burst of light equal in brightness to 600,000 suns issued from a star in the constellation Monoceros. The event produced a series of "light echoes," as radiance from the flare-up ricocheted off surrounding clouds of dust. By last year the echoes were fading around the cool red star responsible for the bizarre spectacle.'

This is blu-tacked to my wall.
I think i nabbed the article from one of my Dad's New Scientists, i'm not sure. I try not to spend too much time reading NS, it usually finds some way to terrify me.
Hiccups. All i'll say.
I like space though, so there was no way i wasn't stealing it.
If i could find it, i would be painting my ceiling with galaxy paint.
I saw it being used on a decorating program a good few years ago and had a little fit of glee. I don't know if it's the same stuff exactly, perhaps why i haven't painted everything in sight with it.
How lovely would it be to fall asleep to an indoor galaxy every night though.

This little, slightly rambled post is dedicated to my dearest friend Dom.
For he likes space and that's pretty neat.

wave II

2010-02-17T01:53:00.004Z

I wish this James Jean print was cheaper.
It's so lovely.
Perhaps some wealthy citizen will deliver it to my door.
I can but dream.

david bowie - golden years

golden years

2010-02-15T23:30:00.004Z

Yeasayer. Not a band i fell in love with instantly, but for some reason listened to their debut album, All Hour Cymbals, on repeat for days.
It turned out to be one of my most loved albums.
I really like when that happens.
So, today i downloaded a track from their sophomore album, 'Odd Blood'. It was the free single of the week on iTunes.
Stellar choice, Mister Apple.
After the guttural, tribal sounds of their previous release, i really wasn't expecting what blasted out of my speakers.

yeasayer - O.N.E

There are so many influences going on here and i love them all.
From Depeche Mode to Animal Collective, Talking Heads to FrankMusik, 80s dance like Adamski & Seal, and even a little Bowie thrown in for good measure.
But all the while remaining very much, Yeasayer.
I know a lot of people who get pissed off when bands change their style like this, and to a degree i can understand because it can really suck sometimes - cue obligatory Coldplay reference. But i like it, it's dull when bands stand still. It becomes stagnant and boring. Yes, it can go horribly wrong but sometimes it goes the way of Yeasayer.
Oh so listenable.
Everything about O.N.E just kills me, so excuse me while i listen to it obsessively and hunt down the copy of Odd Blood that i know is lurking in my house somewhere!

life is good, when you're full of blood

2010-02-14T16:47:00.005Z

charis-isidore-jury-louis

I find myself more and more drawn to photographs that possess the traces of human presence, rather than the humans themselves.
They contain a sort of lingering emotional residue, as if part of someone's life has just happened and what's left in the image is the ghost of it.
I find them strangely comforting.
In some ways they remind me of a process in mono-printing, where after you have printed your image, you reprint it on a sheet of newsprint to take away any excess ink and as a result are left with a 'ghost' print.
They always turned out to be my favourite of the two images.

the real tuesday weld - blood sugar love

susanna and the magical orchestra - believer

ps. Dear eldest sibling, can you see it now?

sibyl

2010-02-14T02:20:00.003Z

The Princess and the Warrior

If you get the chance, watch this.

arcadia

2010-02-14T01:21:00.001Z

Pakayla Biehn

phantogram

2010-02-11T02:22:00.002Z

Ólafur Arnalds - Ljósið (Official Music Video) from Erased Tapes on Vimeo.

I hope synaesthesia is just like this, i really do.

jetsetter musicletter

2010-02-09T02:06:00.007Z

Channel 4 keeps taunting me with Season 5, it starts tomorrow on Living.
I won't see it until April, when the dvds are released.
Why must Living steal things just when hell breaks loose?
[cue colourful and plentiful cursing]

Until then, i'll be watching:
Why do shows like this get cancelled and One Tree Hill bleats onto its 7th season?
It's Mandy Patinkin being a grim reaper for crying out loud.He's the stuff of legends.
Many a table in Blair High will forever possess his infamous Princess Bride speech because of my love for him.
It seems to be an unspoken ritual for people to scrawl this speech places, i found one in a lecture theatre in Dundee Uni and another on the back of a bus seat.
I now want a Princess Bride t shirt and this little hand crafted beauty:
Found here.

erik hassle - hurtful

snowden's jig

2010-02-07T17:10:00.003Z

'La ninha del acantilado' by Marcos Rey 'Amalgam' by Dirk Dzimirsky

A painting and a drawing.

Who wouldn't want to be at this level.

Photorealism is all very impressive and i often find myself slack-jawed at the sight of these inconceivably perfect works of art but i need a bit more, a bit of depth, intrigue, meaning and i find that in these talented artists' work.
While Marcos Rey's work has an obvious impact of sex, life, human interaction and fragility, Dirk Dzimirsky's pieces take a while to settle into your system. On first impact they are picture-perfect portraits of unknowns but after a while, because of their muted tone, they become silenced souls, lost creatures. His sickeningly accurate muses' eyes bore into you in a desperate and uncomfortable way, as if asking you, 'why?'.
Marcos Rey, while easier to process, still makes my head spin. For me his work is about fragments, capturing moments that come and go every millisecond of the day but get lost or unseen because they just aren't stimulating enough to make us pause for thought. I like that he takes those moments, he pays attention to them and produces them perfectly so that just maybe you'll sit up and take notice and see just how bloody beautiful things can be.

These guys really are at the top of their game and god love them for it, because even though they make my little artistic heart sink because i'm nowhere near as good, they're something to aspire to and i need all of the aspirations i can get right now.

Currently falling for the Carolina Chocolate Drops:

alma

2010-02-03T02:34:00.002Z

Alma from Rodrigo Blaas on Vimeo.

Rodrigo Blaas

the ugly bug ball

2010-01-29T17:25:00.009Z

Today has been a day of Disney coincidences.
I woke up.
I put on my stupidly cosy Mickey & Minnie jumper, because i've got reptilian blood apparently.
Checked the blogs i follow, to discover the lovely people at DEER BRAINS had been writing about Bambi of all things.
A minor coinkydink, nothing strange.
(I love saying coinkydink)
A few hours later a trailer for Aladdin appeared on the tv - aired on 5ive this Sunday, for all who lovelovelove Aladdin.
Then Pogo started playing his reworking of Alice at me on iTunes!
And my last.fm has looked pretty much like this all day, as a result:

I think Disney is stalking me.
Not that i'm complaining.
I can't wait for The Princess and the Frog.

louis armstrong - when you wish upon a star

samuel e. wright - kiss the girl

burl ives - the ugly bug ball

angela lansbury - beauty and the beast

kathryn beaumont - the unbirthday song

I couldn't decide which song!

ps. I just about had a heart attack when i thought i'd deleted my massive playlist on Spotify forever. All praise the 'undo' shortcut.

dust me off

2010-01-29T01:09:00.006Z

A little advanced warning.
Over the next while i'll be trying to sort out my blog. I'm a little tired of the entire thing, so it'll be getting an overhaul to placate my pissyness.
Therefore, expect a mess.
I know, mostly, how i want it to look but i have this feeling it's only achievable in my head - like most things i want to do.
So this may take a while to figure out and actually format. My procrastination has reached new heights of ludicrous.
For now, i leave you with a duvet cover i can't afford to ship over from the US, (90 pounds worth of material and shipping is a bit too rich for my sleepy blood):
and a piece of music composed by John Murphy for Danny Boyle's stellar film, Sunshine, that i just can't stop listening to:

the city of prague philharmonic orchestra - adagio in D minor

I'm a sucker for a good movie score and has Danny Boyle ever made a bad movie?
Probably, but i'll ignore its existence.

if i had a heart

2010-01-17T00:56:00.002Z

Quite possibly my favourite part =]

when i grow up

2010-01-15T02:44:00.003Z

Y'know that squeaky noise kids make when they see something shiny and possibly chewable?
Well, i made that noise when i saw this bed.
Available for all fairytale lovers to salivate over, here

glee cast - somebody to love

sleeping sickness

2010-01-10T02:51:00.002Z

I think i've gone a little bit blind from looking at my computer screen for too long.
Ouch.

blue notebooks

2010-01-07T18:17:00.008Z

I'm currently lusting after this little beauty.
I haven't actually read Lord of the Flies but i've always meant to.
The thing is, i don't think i'd actually read this if i bought it. It'd just sit on my shelves and look pretty with all Sam Weber's wonderful illustrations just existing inside being wonderful.
Yes, i am indeed so ridiculous that i'd buy a book just to admire it. But if i had the cash, i'd collect all kinds of books. Rare ones, first edition ones, illustrated-by-artists-i-love ones.
But luckily, i'm but a lowly twenty two year old without a proper job to feed literary needs.
Otherwise, i'd be broke.
My Dad did however, gift me a first edition The Hunting of the Snark and a really lovely copy of The City of Beautiful Nonsense which is over a hundred years old i think.
They make the nerd in me giddy.

See more illustrations here.

max richter - horizon variations

ways and means

2010-01-04T02:17:00.005Z

Photographs like this always send my imagination into a frenzy.
I'd like to live by a body of water someday, not the sea, but a giant pond - also known as a loch, to those who are not me.
I really miss the 'field that once was' that happily existed right outside my house. They built over it with suburbia and yappy dogs. It makes me sad. I hope we don't build over the entire countryside, i think i'd go stir crazy in the city.
I need birds, fresh air, stars!
state radio - keepsake

I hope everyone enjoyed their christmas and new years, mine were quiet and lovely.
As for 2010, I've got some things i'm wanting to do and i'm determined not to procrastinate and waste the time i've been given before i restart my education. So, hopefully - because i really do procrastinate a lot - i'll be filling my little blog with not just drawings but all manner of expressive things.
My sister said she'll teach me how to knit =]

nobody knows

2009-12-27T01:44:00.001Z

is this all that you want

2009-12-23T19:18:00.001Z

One of the advantages of being nocturnal, is seeing things like this.
It seemed abnormally light when i finally switched my light out at around 3am last night/this morning. I almost didn't get up to inspect the strange, orangey glow coming through my curtains but my curiousity usually gets the better of me.
To my delight, it was snowing and the streetlights were turning my little corner of the world a bright, burnt orange.
No-one else in my family witnessed this because they sleep normal hours but i don't mind.
I like to see things others don't.

christmas morning creeps

2009-12-23T18:39:00.007Z

We are all about the twinkly lights in the Boyd household.
I don't normally partake in Christmas decorations in my room, mostly out of laziness, but this year i invested in some metallic star lights. They have smaller stars cut out of them, which means they do this to my room:

I'm kind of in love with them.

bon iver - blood bank

that secret that you know

2009-12-21T17:00:00.006Z

'It's Running You With Red'

Drawn a few months ago. I had forgotten its existence, as my sketchbooks have been tucked away in drawers, ready to come out when the need to work again struck - just tingles right now but it's coming.

This is a piece entirely open to interpretation, even for myself as i forced no particular story. It was an experiment into the collaboration of images and whether a tangible link could be made between them. I don't really like to force things as i'm interested in real life and the absurdities that naturally go with it. So, in order to 'create' an image, which generally goes against the grain of reality, i took a shot in the dark with my reference material and let the work grow from there. I'm not sure if it works but it's one of my favourites.

10 points for those who know who the first image is of.

My apologies for the absolutely crap quality of this photograph, my camera cannot handle black or my caffeine addict hands.

literary boxes

2009-12-21T15:33:00.004Z

'The best moments in reading are when you come across something - a thought, a feeling, a way of looking at things - that you'd thought special, particular to you. And here it is, set down by someone else, a person you've never met, maybe even someone long dead. And it's as if a hand has come out, and taken yours.'

- Hector
'The History Boys'

rene

2009-12-21T03:46:00.003Z

I just ruined the season finale of True Blood for myself.
I suck.
Pun intended.

how to be

2009-12-18T01:30:00.001Z

I reached 10,000 views on DA this evening
Quite satisfying really.

watching: QI

tabarly

2009-12-17T22:03:00.003Z

I was happily surprised to find my weather report being snowed on =]
Just enough snow today to make me happy all day long.
Inside, i've remained 5 years old.

when you are the moon

2009-12-17T03:00:00.003Z

I sometimes wonder if there's anyone else out there that discovers mysterious bruises and grazes on themselves throughout the day.

One bruised leg and one grazed thumb.
How long they've been there, i could not say.
I think i have sleepy fights with myself in the night.
My camera cannot handle photographing in the dark.

glee

2009-12-15T21:47:00.005Z

I adore Glee.
I'd been waiting a stupidly long time to see it and one episode in, i'm hooked.
What clinched it though, was the cast - the actual cast, no miming here - singing Journey at the end of the episode. =]
I love Journey.
It's bordering on ridiculous how much i love them.
If only Rock Band would include Don't Stop Believin' in the next release, i'd be a very happy girl.
Anyway, have a look at the Glee club performing one of my favourite songs.

artie abrams

2009-12-15T21:05:00.009Z

The 15th
I've become a little bewitched by the sunsets the past few days.
Plenty of documentation will be occurring.

watching: glee

it's a new dawn

2009-12-15T17:48:00.003Z

Keaton Henson

Keaton Henson! from John Moore on Vimeo.

This is a real sweet way of presenting a bio.
Not that it actually tells you very much but sweet all the same.
Websites with a bit of quirk are always better than the run of the mill.

I really need to get a website set up.

my brightest diamond - feeling good

georgia

2009-12-13T16:46:00.009Z

The 12th
The 13th

Most of the images above can be seen from this window, the view from my room. It's a pretty nice place to be.

Lots of people have visited my little town and proclaimed it rubbish.
They're very wrong.
I've lived here all my life - bar a 3 year stint in Ellon, of which i remember nothing about! - and it's pretty beautiful, if you're willing to look in the right places and in the right way.

watching: elf

try a little tenderness

2009-12-13T03:11:00.003Z

HAD I the heavens’ embroidered cloths,
Enwrought with golden and silver light,
The blue and the dim and the dark cloths
Of night and light and the half light,
I would spread the cloths under your feet:
But I, being poor, have only my dreams;
I have spread my dreams under your feet;
Tread softly because you tread on my dreams.

- W.B. Yeats

tiger balm

2009-12-12T16:18:00.004Z

Lovely, lovely Tiger Balm
If you suffer from migraines and pressure headaches like myself, I'd very much suggest getting yourself a tub.
It's prevents any messy implosions of the brain.

Ibuprofen + paracetamol + tiger balm = sanctuary

mumford & sons - timshel

ankle-grabbers

2009-12-09T16:18:00.000Z

granola granola granola

2009-12-09T03:14:00.005Z

Mix My Granola

One of the few times i've wished i lived in America.
Darn.

eels - can't help falling in love

sam green

2009-12-08T22:18:00.002Z

!
It's finally a print!
By 2010, i will have this on my wall.

kings and queens and gentlemen

2009-12-07T18:36:00.000Z

pumpkin korroke

2009-12-07T18:16:00.004Z

Who loves Yo! Sushi?
I do I do.

For once i didn't feel murderous in Glasgow, i'd say that's progress.
I do, however, stink. Why must the ladies in Frasers spray me with their nasty perfume =[
My hair smells like cheap tart now. Great...

dan auerbach - when the night comes

mesmerene

2009-12-06T01:32:00.002Z

I think i can safely say this is my Dad and I's album of 2009.
I'd usually choose something created within the year but this just surpassed everything by miles.

watching: true blood

nathan

2009-12-05T23:06:00.006Z

This is what looking at other people's tumblrs gets me, posting pictures of fathers using the jedi force on their babies.
Amazing though, yeah?
I love the look on the Dad's face. It's like, 'My kid is outstanding!'

until we bleed

2009-12-04T17:28:00.006Z

Things i've liked this week:
Lei Xue
Keith Perelli
Gottfried Helnwein
Verginer Willy
Chadwick Tyler
And my dream bed:
Someone make me one, please, oh please.

kleerup feat. lykke li- until we bleed

not with a whimper but a bang

2009-11-30T04:01:00.005Z

Jousting With Dracula
These lovely boys used my artwork for their debut EP - which is pretty smashing by the way - and have plastered it all over Glasgow on posters for all the world to see. So incredibly bizarre.
But i'm pretty stoked, i've always wanted my work involved in music, especially good music.
So go see them play and purchase an EP while you're at it. They make lovely sounds.

watching: when harry met sally

there's a possibility

2009-11-17T13:30:00.003Z

Ivan Puig
Perception is an artist's plaything.
We can screw with your head as much as we like.

and stretch!

2009-11-15T17:51:00.003Z

For the love of all that's cute and fluffy.

jason stackhouse

2009-11-06T02:21:00.002Z

My new televisual hero.
Even if i didn't like True Blood, i'd watch it for him.
Funny hick.

all my life

2009-11-04T16:58:00.006Z

Ridding ponds of their annual stock of decaying leaves is not a fun job at all.
And we have five!

I don't think anyone on the planet hates Dave Grohl or even mildly dislikes. It's pretty hard to loathe someone so damn nice and is responsible for some of the best, iconic music of his genre.
However, the Foo's new song, 'Wheels', taken from their Greatest Hits is heartbreakingly reminiscent of, dare i even mention them on my blog, Nickelback. Very sad, very sad indeed.
I hope Mister Grohl gets back to the likes of Monkey Wrench, Learn To Fly and Stacked Actors for his next venture. One of which being his supergroup collaboration with Josh Homme and John Paul Jones, to form Them Crooked Vultures - awesome name and artwork to boot.

I've got a strange relationship with music right now. It used to be the thing i loved most of all, over books, films and even art but for the past year or so it's left me cold. I don't really have the energy to search it out anymore because after trying for so long and only discovering a couple of bands that i truly, truly love, it's all just a bit too disappointing.
Maybe it's that current music isn't quite hitting the mark for me or that it's all just a bit too easy for musicians to get signed these days and we're being overrun with mediocre crap.
I'm finding it all a bit sad but i do find things. Eddie Vedder's soundtrack to 'Into The Wild' is incredible, Thomas Feiner's 'The Opiates' is a piece of genius, Bon Iver i've loved the minute i discovered him on a free cd - i treasure free cds - a while before his landmark performance on Jools Holland. But it's not enough. I crave music but i'm just not getting it right now. In any sense.
What makes it worse is the disappearance of the music store. I'll be distraught the day cds disappear. One of the most enjoyable things to do is spend hours in a music store, rifling through countless genres of music and happening across miniature wonders. FOPP is the last remaining place that happens for me but i barely go since its disappearance from Dundee. A sad day for my buddy Sinead and I. It doesn't happen on the internet, yes there are suggestions of what you may like but there's no happy accidents. It's all just a bit too easy.
I think i'll spend some time with the oldies, de-clutter my LP player and get back to basics with my parents' record collection.

Dave Grohl reaffirmed my love for him on Jools Holland last night whilst playing Times Like These and with his acoustic performance of My Hero for the massively annoying Fearne Cotton.
Watch Jools on Friday for Erik Mongrain's performance. Another of the treasures i've found and refused to tell people about. Weirdly protective of the music i find.

alexander supertramp

2009-10-29T01:39:00.005Z

I can't remember reading Perfume. All i can remember is how much i didn't enjoy it. I firmly believe this was because i saw the film before reading its origins. A rookie mistake, as i spent the entire novel contrasting and comparing. It was horribly distracting, so much so that i've avoided both the film and the novel for over a year now, so i can give the book another go. Here's hoping.
And since then i've promised myself i wouldn't watch another adaptation before reading the book.
So far, so good.

Let The Right One In and Into The Wild.
Two films i'd been dying to see. I made myself wait however, until i fulfilled my promise of reading the originals. Neither disappointed.
Let The Right One In has to be one of the most beautiful films i have ever seen. I don't like using the word beautiful, it gets overused and used badly, but in LTROI's case, it's the only word possible. Not what you would expect to be used to describe a vampire film but it is for one about friendship and longing, which is what LTROI is really about. John Ajvide Lindqvist managed to elevate the typical vampire character to a softer, gentler place without robbing the mythic creature of its status in the monster hierarchy. A clever man.
The novel is far more grotesque but again, quietly beautiful. There are things in the novel that especially in today's society would mark it as being abhorrent and the film as a result, i believe, would have been dismissed out of hand, had such things been included - slightly cryptic but it's an important part of the story and i don't want to spoil potential readers. So i'm glad they were left out and the heart of the story was focused on.
All in all, the story is compelling and ridiculously layered with stories you just want to read more and more of as they meld into one. The actors are wonderful, especially the children - it's always amazing to watch someone so young, show the older actors how it's done. Abigail Breslin in Little Miss Sunshine, for example. I want to see Zombieland, yes i do.
I suggest watching and reading it, so my incoherent ramblings make slightly more sense.

On a bad note, lazy americans are remaking LTROI in english. Just read the subtitles for pete's sake!
This moment pretty much sums up Into The Wild for me. A boy so completely in love with nature and freedom, to the exclusion of all else at that moment in time.
I loved this book and i loved this film. I haven't been, 'moved', shall we say, by a film in such a long time, not since i watched Northfork a year or so ago. It's a hard film to watch because it sticks to the truth, embellishments and speculations were of course made because Chris McCandless wasn't there to tell his story himself and Jon Krakauer had to piece it together through the people he met and the journals and photographs he left behind. But i don't think it went off course or made too much of him. The film has been accused of glorifying a boy who they believed was foolish and cared for no one but himself.
I don't think they were paying close enough attention.
This man says it much better than i ever could.

Have you ever wanted to see something so beautiful it brought you to tears?
Well, i think he did, i think he saw something almost every day and i'm really quite jealous.

Up next on the agenda are The Road, Alice In Wonderland, The Time Traveler's Wife and Where The Wild Things Are.
I won't see them until they're on DVD because i am useless =]

watching: somersault

black river killer

2009-10-02T18:17:00.007+01:00

These were done whilst i was deciding whether to go back to uni or not. I think the mood i was in shows pretty well.
They do however show that drawing is my number one priority. I get asked a lot how i draw. How i actually physically and mentally manage to translate a real thing into a drawing and i've never been able to answer. I just can. It takes practice though. The development comes through that and then without even knowing why, or how it happened, you're suddenly a better draughtsman.
It's crazy really but a whole lot of fun when you surprise even yourself by how skilled you've gotten.
I
drawing basically.

paramore - playing god

spoonman

2009-09-29T22:52:00.003+01:00

I sometimes read over my blog to refresh my memory of the things that have interested me in the past wee while.
I did that today and realised that there is this very noticeable change in the way i was posting.
I became miserable, really.
Artistically, i'm in a bit of a mess and due to that fact, i have deferred from university for a year. Those who know me well, will think this entirely out of character and i guess it is. I've been solely dedicated to getting my honours degree in art for so long that it has basically crushed me. So, i'm going away to be an artist. That sounds silly. I'm going away to be an artist that isn't a slave to the system. And when i return next year to Duncan of Jordanstone to get that roll of paper i'm so desperate for, i'll hopefully have the kind of work i'll be proud to say is mine and no one else's. And most of all, i'll enjoy doing it.

Wish me luck?

soundgarden - the day i tried to live

papaya and satchmo

2009-09-16T01:25:00.002+01:00

I've had this song in my head all day.
I've got to make a life-changing decision and i don't know what to do.
Someone take PJ Harvey away from me before i decide to live in a cupboard with my books and music and never come out again.

silversun

2009-09-09T15:49:00.004+01:00

Hmm, so, yesterday was matriculation and that took all of two minutes.
Friday is our first meeting as 4th years and in-between the two is finding my studio - which a huge part of me hopes is in the huts so i can retain my hermit-like status - and claiming a space.
I did not feel like a 4th year whilst looking a the 4th year board. Not one little bit.

Also, if anyone has the chance, you should watch A Portrait of Scotland on BBC FOUR, presented and written than no other than Mister Peter Capaldi. It's a brilliant run through of the development of Scottish Art and Capaldi doesn't fail to hold your interest. Being a former Glasgow School of Art student himself and studying alongside no other than Peter Howson, he's able to speak in a perceptive and understandable way. Artists can more than often pick up on things that untrained eyes cannot and that's always nice to witness after the countless, mind-numbingly formulaic, suicidally boring art programmes out there. I wish they'd have shown me stuff like this in lectures. I might have stayed awake more often.

watching: gilmore girls

eli

2009-08-29T15:26:00.003+01:00

The Road
This is almost exactly as i imagined.
January 2010.
Not sure i can wait that long.

reading: let the right one in

white mike

2009-08-25T01:04:00.004+01:00

Twelve is one of my all-time favourite books and it's being adapted into a film.
Pretty exciting i thought.
That was until i read the cast list and much to my dismay it well and truly blows.
Three of the main parts are being taken on by Chace Crawford of Gossip Girl pretty boy fame, Emma 'i wouldn't have a career if my aunt wasn't famous' Roberts and best of all, best of freakin' all, 50 Cent.
And this is to name but a few of the useless hacks about to obliterate a book i love!

I hate when this happens.

beatles - while my guitar gently weeps

down river

2009-08-22T17:14:00.004+01:00

Cage the Songbird Sweet Suburbia Stray and Vanish and Return I Was Born and Not Very Much Was Said About It

very safe but very all alone

2009-08-12T01:51:00.003+01:00

There has been a significant lack of my work on this neglected little blog of mine.
This is mostly due to the paralysis that even the most fleeting thought of the ever looming last year of university causes.
Take 'terrified' and jump up about a billion steps and you've got me.
Blargh.
Anyhow, i forced myself to draw today. Not long but long enough to kill some of the fear. I was going to finish this but as it is becoming significantly clear, i just don't do that. Unfinished drawings. More potential. Leonardo da Vinci said that. Or maybe Michelangelo. I forget.
This is currently my favourite page from my sketchbook.
I like the bittersweetness of a statement like that.

watching: dawson's creek

king rat

2009-08-05T15:39:00.002+01:00

Modest Mouse - King Rat (International Version)
It's a shame Heath Ledger never got to finish directing this little piece of wondrousness.
Modest Mouse never fail to surprise
Vicious!

binary

2009-07-27T01:30:00.006+01:00

An awesomely geeky tattoo by Steve Losh.

The birds represent 1’s. The spaces represent 0’s. The arrangement of birds on the wires (with the flying bird) is:

01001101 01001111
01010110 01000101

Which means MOVE in binary (note for nerds: actually it translates to four numbers which represent those letters in the two most common text encodings [ASCII and UTF-8]). If the flying bird flies away, it changes to:

01001100 01001111
01010110 01000101

Which translates to LOVE.

i was born and not very much was said about it

2009-07-26T16:28:00.001+01:00

'A Hind's Daughter' Sir James Guthrie

we're all mad here

2009-07-24T18:37:00.004+01:00

Alice in Wonderland Trailer - Tim Burton from kevin powers on Vimeo.

Goosebumps. Actual goosebumps.
Mr Burton, please don't fail me!

saw death on a sunny snow

2009-07-11T23:13:00.004+01:00

Gustave Caillebotte 'The Floor Strippers'
John Singer Sargent 'The Daughters of Edward Darley Boit'
Andrew Wyeth 'Christina's World'

And one of my all-time favourites:
Albrecht Altdorfer 'The Battle of Issus'

florence and the machine - girl with one eye

parasitic

2009-07-11T17:48:00.005+01:00

'Why can't we have a bad news channel and a good news one.'

I lifted this from Dylan Moran's Twitter.
I'm not a big fan of Twitter, i think it's really quite inane and pointless but i've no problem with people using it to tell you what they had for breakfast, if they feel the need!
Anyhow, i was googling Mr Moran as i was watching 'How Do You Want Me?' last night and was curious to know just how old he was when he made it (27), he looked just a baby!
I came across his Twitter on the way and in one of his posts he had stated the above quote. I couldn't agree more.
It's a known fact in my house that i hate the news. Loathe it in fact. I hate the way it's spun and how exploitative it is. I hate newsreaders and that little gleam of excitement they get when something tragic happens. They went full blown giddy when 9/11 happened and i find it all fairly sickening.
But in relation to Mr Moran, it's the fact that all we ever get is doom and gloom. Yes, crappy things happen but good things too. Why can't we hear about those?
The happiest thing i've seen in the news lately were the ducks in America, being caught as they jumped from the lower part of a building!
That was pretty neat though.

I need to find a decent paper to read.

no dawn, no day

2009-07-11T16:33:00.006+01:00

Very scruffy silverpoint.
I was fully intending to draw the larger portrait precisely and shade it to an inch of its life but i put too thin a layer of gesso in my sketchbook. Stupid me.
I really do need a generous amount of gesso to get the darkest of darks, otherwise my drawings take on a monotone effect and i dislike it intensely. Tonal variation is the key!
Oh well, i've a few pre-gessoed pieces of A2 card that i can work on and hopefully get the results i'm used to.
Although if someone could inform me of how to get the gesso smooth, without those sometimes useful but mostly annoying grooves, i'd be ever so appreciative.

This was lovely:

florence and the machine - cosmic love

howl

2009-07-11T01:33:00.003+01:00

My anthem
I feel i should have this imprinted somewhere

florence and the machine - drumming song

quintessence

2009-07-09T02:25:00.003+01:00

I long for front porches and dusky fields.
I wish to live like an american hermit, it would seem.

blue notebooks

2009-07-03T02:47:00.005+01:00

Some of the crap i fill my sketchbooks with:
Sometimes, when my brain collapses, i draw tiny flocks of birds. I drew them on a voting ballot once.
'Do not buy either the moon or the news, for in the end they will both come out.'
An Arabic proverb in Russian. Bad Russian. Don't ask.
A seriously quick portrait from a Jordi Gual photograph. Eyes so dark they lack the pupil are difficult. But it's growing on me.

watching: the secret life of us

morgenrot

2009-06-29T23:23:00.003+01:00

Hauschka - Morgenrot from Jeff Desom on Vimeo.

A film by Jeff Desom for German experimental pianist, Hauschka's song 'Morgenrot'.
The film was created through Desom animating found postcards and photographs from the U.S. Library of Congress.
Absolutely stunning and quirkily inventive.
This made Hauschka just that tiny bit more magical for me.

salty oblivion

2009-06-29T18:25:00.005+01:00

My three favourite photographs from Sunday.
Try to praise the mutilated world.
Remember June's long days,
and wild strawberries, drops of wine, the dew.
The nettles that methodically overgrow
the abandoned homesteads of exiles.
You must praise the mutilated world.
You watched the stylish yachts and ships;
one of them had a long trip ahead of it,
while salty oblivion awaited others.
You've seen the refugees heading nowhere,
you've heard the executioners sing joyfully.
You should praise the mutilated world.
Remember the moments when we were together
in a white room and the curtain fluttered.
Return in thought to the concert where music flared.
You gathered acorns in the park in autumn
and leaves eddied over the earth's scars.
Praise the mutilated world
and the grey feather a thrush lost,
and the gentle light that strays and vanishes
and returns.

- 'Try To Praise The Mutilated World'
Adam Zagajewski

credit to my sister for the second photo.

inspiration information

2009-06-28T01:20:00.004+01:00

Chloe Gough 'Slump'

Miss Gough is one of Duncan of Jordanstone's very own. She just graduated this year with a degree in Fine Art and Philosophy. I didn't manage to see her work at the degree show but found this on her website. It's arresting in its hopelessness but bears a sense of forced propriety, so as to not offend the observing company. And this is all without even seeing the crumpled woman's expression. Very interesting indeed.
I used to see Chloe around the printmaking department and was always interested to see what she was working away at and i'm ashamed to say that doesn't happen often for me in DOJ. Bad-mouthing my university. Shameful.
Have a look at her website. There's some pieces really worth seeing.

my brightest diamond - feeling good

man in the mirror

2009-06-26T01:51:00.004+01:00

I never liked Michael Jackson but i bow down to his immense musical talent.
I adore his music and on hearing he had shuffled off this mortal coil, i had the same pang of sadness i had for John Martyn.
There will never be another original piece of music from these two remarkable musicians and that is truly upsetting.
There goes another of the greats eh.

and i want you to know

2009-06-25T23:16:00.002+01:00

It will be mine.

charles lutwidge dodgson

2009-06-25T14:42:00.005+01:00

"Tim Burton's forthcoming Alice in Wonderland looks highly promising: Lewis Carroll's alternative universe was already populated by oddballs, but photographs released this week hint that Burton will ramp up the weird factor significantly. Meanwhile, an early trailer, screened to journalists in London, shows a 17-year-old Alice (played by Australian newcomer Mia Wasikowska) returning to Wonderland a decade after her earlier adventures – and this time it's a lurid, nightmarish counterpart to Carroll's original.
Starring seven-time Burton collaborator Johnny Depp as the Hatter, the film mixes live action and CGI, borrowing storylines and characters from both Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass. Burton's partner, Helena Bonham Carter, plays the evil Red Queen (pictured), while Anne Hathaway plays the lovely White Queen. Alan Rickman (the Caterpillar), Matt Lucas (Tweedledum and Tweedledee), Stephen Fry (the Cheshire Cat), and Christopher Lee (the Jabberwock) also take part.

Burton has even signed up Barbara Windsor to play the Dormouse. The film is due for release in March 2010, and will screen in 3D."

Who knows if Tim Burton will ever be able to top the Disney interpretation of Alice, but it looks like he's giving it a bloody good try.
I'm giddy. Absolutely giddy =]
I hope they do the Lobster Quadrille!

pogo - alice

appalachia

2009-06-18T16:38:00.004+01:00

I've not been drawing a hell of a lot. Mostly 'cause i don't know what the hell to draw, so i've been filling my very first moleskine sketchbook with the usual quotes, images, absurd philosophy and illegible scribbles, to see if i can figure out what the hell my 4th year project will be.
I always wonder if other artists torture themselves this much over what their work will be or they just do it and see what happens. The latter seems like a much more forgiving process.

Anyhow, the first image is a copy of Nikola Borissov's photograph 'Isabella I'. A lovely photograph that i've wanted to copy for a while and finally got round to. It still needs some work but i've decided to leave it be. I get like that with drawings, let them alone for long enough and they just seem to finish themselves.
The second drawing is from my moleskine, the children are actually Regina Spektor as a wee girl. I'm not really a fan but she was an incredible looking kid. She reminds me of one those children you see in the World War photographs.

watching: carnivale

i thought i was free

2009-06-13T02:12:00.004+01:00

Hong Zhang
All charcoal, bar the first image which is oil paint.
Holy crap.

alva noto and ryuichi sakamoto - trioon i

like fawns and shape-shifters

2009-06-03T22:40:00.003+01:00

I am an avid fan of My Brightest Diamond and it's really nice to know that her voice is completely her own. It's something i look for in bands these days - the ability to sound record perfect, live. It doesn't happen often.

My Brightest Diamond - Inside A Boy from LaundroMatinee on Vimeo.

fawn

2009-06-03T15:59:00.003+01:00

Elena Kalis
Underwater photos pretty much kill me. I think i've visited her website everyday since i found it.

empire of the sun - walking on a dream

sixteen, fifteen, fourteen

2009-06-01T18:48:00.004+01:00

I pretty much live in awe of Gottfried Helnwein. I don't think he's a genius but he's definitely magical. The details blow my mind and the glow i covet is shown perfectly in everything he does.
Envy doesn't quite cover it.
The scale i also find fascinating. Large scale anything puts the fear of god into me and I think my tutors lie in wait for the day i draw something larger than A2.
It's wrong to steal people and force them teach you how to paint...right?

Hopefully i'll have some new stuff to put up here real soon. Post 3rd year burnout set in practically the day i finished. But i started drawing again and the ideas are actually coming quite quickly - something that rarely happens!
Now just to put them into practice and build up my terrifyingly expensive collection of books for the dreaded dissertation.
Scary.

here we go magic - tunnelvision

drip drip drop

2009-05-26T15:42:00.002+01:00

It's like recreating the 'little april showers' scene in Fantasia =]