This meant nothing to me at the time, but now...!
Wednesday, 29 October 2008
The Hands resist him
The Hands resist him is a painting, painted by Californian painter Bill Stoneham in 1979. I recently found a thread about it online as well as a video which suggests that the painting maybe "haunted". I'm not too sure about this, but the picture really scares me!
The glass door behind the boy (who is flippin scary, and is also the painter age 5)is meant to represent the door before this world and the world of dreams, and the doll is meant to be the boy's guide through the door. The painting was put on Ebay in 2000, and the sellers also mentioned that the painting may be possessed and that during the night the figures leave the painting. The doll in the painting is also said to have turned red.
Ridiculous meme? Regardless of if this picture is haunted, the boy and the doll really scare me.
Wiki entry
A creepy video
Thursday, 23 October 2008
Wednesday, 22 October 2008
The Corpus Clock
"The Corpus Clock has been invented and designed by Dr John Taylor for Corpus Christi College Cambridge for the exterior of the college's new library building.
It will be unveiled on 19 September by Prof Stephen Hawking, cosmologist and author of the global bestseller, A Brief History of Time.
The £1 million timepiece, known as The Corpus Clock, has been commissioned and designed to honour John Harrison, who was famously the pioneer of Longitude and inventor of the esoteric clock mechanism known as a grasshopper escapement.
The clock has been designed by the inventor and horologist Dr John Taylor and makes ingenious use of the grasshopper escapement, moving it from the inside of the clock to the outside and refashioning it as a Chronophage, or time-eater, which literally devours time." - Chronophage
Apparently it's stopped several times already...
Tuesday, 21 October 2008
Granny Squares!
144 squares later, I'm ready to start sewing the little buggers together... (the part I'm not looking forward to!) Then I'm going to edge each newly created larger square (of nine mini squares) with more brown. Cos I love brown.
And then I can make Arigurumi :)
Monday, 20 October 2008
Frodo is grea.....Who is THAT??!
Me and the Sham have recently taken a liking to the wonderful Flight of the Conchords, and through this discovered the wonders of Figwit! And when i was wonders...i really just mean we discovered him. From Wiki:
Figwit is a fan-derived name for an unnamed elf extra in Peter Jackson's The Lord of the Rings triology, played by actor and musician Bret McKenzie of Flight of the Conchords and The Black Seeds fame. The name Figwit derives from an acronym for "Frodo is grea...who is THAT?!?", a phrase coined by fan Iris Hadad.Though he only appeared for about three seconds in the first film, Figwit's popularity soon blossomed, with Hadad stating that "[the fan site] got a lot of emails from people who thought they were the only ones who had noticed that handsome, dark-haired elf".Figwit's physical appearance and demeanor are the source of much of his popularity: he has been noted for his "lithe and graceful" movement, "enigmatic broodiness", "haughty demeanor", and "pouty" looks. His fan website proclaims him "in a word, gorgeous. Or another, stunning... hypnotic... stupendous... captivating... take your pick."
McKenzie has stated that the Figwit obsession is "weird", though he is "flattered".He has remarked that "it's so hilarious because it's been propelled by so little ... I'm famous for doing nothing."
Isnt fandom a wonderful thing? *sighs* Go here for much nerdy joy: Figwitlives.net
Here be a picture of FOTC. Lovely.
Sir David Attenborough Picture of the Day
Friday, 17 October 2008
The Creepy Gnome
I first heared about this through Arbroath. In case you know nothing about it:
See it here:A TOWN in South America is living in fear after several sightings of a 'creepy gnome' that locals claim stalks the streets at night.
The midget - which wears a pointy hat and has a distinctive sideways walk - was caught on video last week by a terrified group of youngsters.
Teenager Jose Alvarez - who filmed the gnome - yesterday told national newspaper El Tribuno that they caught the creature while larking about in their hometown of General Guemes, in the province of Salta, Argentina.
He said: “We were chatting about our last fishing trip. It was one in the morning.
“I began to film a bit with my mobile phone while the others were chatting and joking."Suddenly we heard something - a weird noise as if someone was throwing stones.
"We looked to one side and saw that the grass was moving. To begin with we thought it was a dog but when we saw this gnome-like figure begin to emerge we were really afraid."
Jose added that other locals had come forward to say they had spotted the gnome.
He said: “This is no joke. We are still afraid to go out - just like everyone else in the neighbourhood now.
"One of my friends was so scared after seeing that thing that we had to take him to the hospital.”
Is this for real? If it is, then you've got to feel sorry for the 'gnome'... But they do look very sinister, especially dressed in a 'pointy hat'. Bad choice of dress, I say...
The spirit photographs of William Hope
These photographs of 'spirits' are taken from an album of photographs unearthed in a Lancashire second-hand and antiquarian bookshop by one of the Museum's curators. They were taken by a controversial medium called William Hope (1863-1933).
To read more about him and to see more of his photos, please visit The National Media museum on Flickr.
'Most Haunted' couldn't do better really...
David Attenborough Picture of the Day
The Travel and Exploration Unit was created by the BBC to manage the miles of film brought back from expeditions all over the world. This 1962 image shows, from left to right, Harry Hastings, production assistant, David Attenborough, editor of the Unit, and Brian Branston, Producer.
Doesn't he look dapper?
Deadwood
When I first heard of Deadwood I was convinced I wouldn't like it, in the same way that I didn't like Goodfellas; unjustified violence, not one likable character and generally quite depressing. Determined not to write it off before I'd even seen it, and knowing the historical significance of a lot of the characters and the town itself, not to mention being a fan of Brad Dourif and John Hawkes, I rented the first disc of season one from LoveFilm.
Deadwood is an outlaw camp established in a time of Civil War and in 'Indian' territory. There's little more than a saloon and some tents, and calling the shots is the owner of 'The Gem', Al Swearengen (played by Ian McShane or Lovejoy as I like to fondly remember). He's a ruthless, sly man, who doesn't think twice about slitting a man's throat and feeding him to the pigs. Doing his dirty work are Dan Dority (part time bar tender, part time hitman) and E.B. Farnum, owner of Deadwood's only hotel. Swearengen's 'Gem' is a saloon and a whore-house. In fact every woman bar one in the first few episodes is a whore. There's a camp doctor Doc Cochran (Brad Dourif) who seems to be the only moral man there. Swearengen pays him to take care of the whores but Cochran isn't in his pocket. In fact he's one of few people with the guts to stand up to him.
New in camp are; life-long friends, now business partners Sol Star (John Hawkes) and Seth Bullock (Timothy Olyphant) who are looking to open a hardware store, Mr. and Mrs. Garrett (Molly Parker) from New York City looking to prospect gold, and Wild Bill Hickock and his companions Calamity Jane and Charlie Utter, seemingly there to just drink and gamble.
The first few episodes establish the characters and in this way, anyone new to the show shouldn't give up on it. I was tempted to after watching Swearengen beat up his favourite whore Trixie and after growing weary of the sight of tits of all sizes in the background of every scene set in 'The Gem'. But this rough start really gets you rooting for the underdogs as the women start to establish some independance, and Bullock, a former Marshall in Montana, starts making people answer for their dirty deeds and protecting the vulnerable people.
Nine episodes in and I would say that I officially love this show. I would even say that I kind of like Al Swearengen in a funny sort of way. Despite its appearances; filthy, foul-mouthed and immoral in places, Deadwood is very funny too. Upon accepting his innevitable role as Sheriff, Bullock stands on Swearengen's balcony. Swearengen turns to leave and says to Bullock: "I'm gonna walk past that bloodstain that mysteriously appeared and go oversee my business interests."
Another highly recommended show.
To read more about the show and more eloquent descriptions of the characters, visit the official Deadwood HBO site here.
Click thumbnails for (slightly) larger versions. Left to right; Calamity Jane, Seth Bullock, Cy Tolliver, Doc Cochran, Alma Garrett, Al Swearengen, and Trixie.
Thursday, 16 October 2008
David Attenborough Picture of the Day
I've decided to turn 'David Attenborough Quote of the Day' into a picture instead. There are much more of those and they speak for themselves really...
Amigurumi
Wiki - "Amigurumi (編み包み? lit. Knitted stuffed toy) is the Japanese art of knitting or crocheting small stuffed animals and anthropomorphic creatures. Amigurumi are typically cute animals (such as bears, rabbits, cats, dogs, etc.), but can include inanimate objects endowed with anthropomorphic features. Amigurumi can be either knitted or crocheted. In recent years crocheted amigurumi are more popular and more commonly seen."
This is our new favourite thing (Bek and me). We spent all of last night frowning at low-quality YouTube videos trying to figure out how it's done, not talking to each other as we tensely counted each stitch and swore when we lost count and had to unravel again. Crochet and foul language - who'd've thought the two would be linked...?
So, as it's so fun, easy and inspiringly adaptable I thought I'd put some information here for anyone else who might be interested in giving it a try. I think I'm going to make some cute animal Christmas tree baubles... pandas, cats and polar bears...
Amigurumi tutorial (part one)
Amigurumi tutorial (part two)
Free patterns
Cupcakes and other animals
Amigurumi Kingdom
Amigurumi cactus pattern (and others)
More crochet cacti
Roxycraft patterns
Ana Paula Rimoli Etsy shop
Wednesday, 15 October 2008
Mac Vs PC
In an article in The Guardian, Charlie Brooker points out that the use of the comedians Mitchell and Webb in the UK 'Mac Vs PC' campaign for Apple is curious. They both star in the sitcom Peep Show in which, to quote the article's author, "Mitchell plays a repressed, neurotic underdog, and Webb plays a selfish, self-regarding poseur". He goes on to say, "So when you see the ads, you think, 'PCs are a bit rubbish yet ultimately lovable, whereas Macs are just smug, preening tossers.'"
I love you Charlie Brooker. Though I do have a mac... but that's not the point here.
Tuesday, 14 October 2008
Friday, 10 October 2008
Lone Demos
The Serious Organised Crime and Police Act made it illegal to demonstrate anywhere near Parliament without official police permission, so if you feel strongly about this then become part of the monthly MASS LONE DEMONSTRATIONS to highlight the danger and stupidity of having this law in a democracy.
You don't have to demonstrate AGAINST anything - you can demonstrate FOR things too - Christmas leave to be for the mandatory 12 days, the right to wear odd socks and purchase them singly, for the Government to give more money to provide clean water in the 3rd world, the right to have free weekly therapy on the NHS... whatever.. Taking part in this is 100% LEGAL and peaceful - you're not going to get into any trouble providing you apply to demonstrate using the correct form.
Some of my favourites:
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