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World AIDS Day 2009

I know I come across as a misanthrope because I am one, but I wouldn’t wish HIV or AIDS on my least favourite people (not going to mention names because I just don’t have the money to hire a good lawyer right now and the list would take up loads of space and you’d get bored and probably scared reading it). So peeps please practice safe sex on World AIDS Day and everyday – it’s really not that difficult. Oh and for those smart arses reading this, I know that HIV can be spread other ways, but unprotected sex is the most common way it’s transferred.

On a related note, Prawn and I were at the Ocean View police station last night – long story – and I was really pleased to see that they had loads of free condoms and femidoms prominently displayed right next to the front desk. I couldn’t resist snapping a photo of a rather amusing visual pun created by the profilactics and the station’s notice board, check it … after the jump.

Joshua Grierson: Little Boy Blue(s)

Capetonian singer-songwriter Joshua Grierson’s offerings are simple and soulful, melancholy and beautiful. His influences are some of my very favourite musicians like Bobby D and Tom Waits, so how could I not love his bluesy/folksy music.

This 25-year-old journeyman certainly has some great guitar skills and we look forward to catching him live sometime (you might have been lucky enough to see him in Jozi and Pretoria earlier this month). In the meantime you can check out one of his recent track here – it’s a live recording of Joshua performing, impromptu, at The Waiting Room above Royale on Long Street.

Hit the jump to find out more about the man.

Marc Quinn: Blood face

Well technically blood head. I first heard about British sculptor Marc Quinn when he revealed Sphinx (a sculpture of Kate Moss in a yoga pose) in 2007. I wasn’t that impressed to tell you the truth. Anyway, today I was browsing Neatorama and I saw Quinn’s signature piece, which quite literally blew me away. The work is entitled Self and is made entirely from 4.5 litres of his own blood which has been frozen in a mould of his head. It’s definitely gruesome and perhaps even nauseating for some, but it’s also so human that it’s strangely alluring.

The delicate frost crystals gathered on the “skin” and the underlying deep scarlet of the frozen blood almost make me want to lick it. Eeew can’t believe I just wrote that, but it’s true. Self is an on going project, Quinn makes another blood cast of his head every five years which will result in a unique and visceral record of the artist aging.

For those who find this work a little over the top but totally cool, you can see more of Quinn’s works which include giant pieces of pop corn, beautiful plants frozen forever in liquid silicone, enormous orchids, and a huge sculpture of Darth Vader’s head at FACTUM ARTE.

Cartoon Sexy: Marge Simpson poses for Playboy

To celebrate the 20th season of the Simpsons, devoted wife, loving mother and island of calm in a family-sized crazy storm, Marge Simpson is about to do something no cartoon character has ever done. The sweet, husky-voiced lady with her signature towering blue hairdo will be gracing the cover of Playboy magazine. Marge will also appear in her own spread where her modesty will be tastefully preserved by some cartoon lingerie. I don’t know about you, but I think it’s cool. Sure Marge is a mother, and a house wife, but who says those things make a woman unsexy?

Playboy CEO Scott Flanders, has said that he is hoping that featuring Marge will attract younger readers (those in their 20s) to the magazine. Only time will tell if this works. See the cover after the jump.

Obama: Nobel Peace Prize winner

Sometime ago (I know it’s been “sometime” since I posted), I posted an opinion piece on South Africa denying the Dalai Lama a visa, and I was given a jolly good smack down by some arb. Anyway, after that incident I promised to stay away from politics and all that jazz, and I just know that my opinion on this matter should I post it,  will result in floods of comments that will make me feel…well kak to be honest. So this is just straight forward news. Barack Obama, president of the USA has been awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in recognition for “his extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and cooperation between peoples” in particular, his outreach to the Muslim world and attempts to curb nuclear proliferation. ORLY?

As you see, I’m a chicken and not in the mood to stick my neck out but what do y’all think?

Perfect prints: Team OLP and friends go screen printing

So a bunch of us decided to do a screen printing workshop with Toby (who is super cool) at Fittees in Obs. It’s something Prawn and I have always been interested in trying. We’ve taken books on the subject out of the library and looked at stuff on the interweb, but never got round to actually doing it. Anyway all I can say is, if you ever get the opportunity to learn about screen printing, you should definitely do it. Toby’s workshop is very good. He guides you through the whole process explaining every element most thoroughly and, you get good coffee and yummy snacks!

On the Friday before the workshop, we sent our chosen designs to Toby who created positives by printing the designs out on acetate. On Saturday, screens were primed with a chemical that becomes impermeable to ink when exposed to light, our designs were placed on the screens, and the screens where then exposed to bright light. The area of the screen covered by the positive image, stayed permeable and thus our designs were transferred onto the screens. We then chose our ink colours and got busy printing onto t-shirts, calico and paper with some really wicked results.

Hit the jump to see more photos of the workshop, and our finished prints.

Goodbye Grasshopper

Ah so much nostalgia. Sitting round the TV on wintry Saturday afternoons eating Corn Curls, drinking Sparletta Cherry Plum and watching David Carradine in Kung Fu and Kung Fu: The Legend Continues. Those were the days man. Needless to say I was very sad to hear that David Carradine famous for playing Kwai Chang Caine and Bill in Kill Bill had topped himself in a hotel room in Bangkok. There is much speculation as to whether like INXS vocalist Michael Hutchence, David Carradine didn’t actually mean to hang himself, but rather died as the result of a (solo?) sex act gone wrong.

Whatever happened, I think David Carradine was a fantastic actor and had a certain charisma about him that made even corny kung fu TV shows seem special.

Goodbye Grasshopper and good luck for whatever comes next.

Our Dumb World

Mostly the peeps over at The Onion have the same dark, cynical, and often down right depressing view of our world that I do. Although sometimes, even I, the devil’s handmaiden find their stories a little too on the bitter side and they remind me of that awful stuff my gran used to put on my nails to stop me biting them when I was little.

Yesterday however I found their amusing Our Dumb World Atlas of the Planet Earth, and it rocks. They’ve added their Our Dumb World layer to Google Earth. It features little onion icons, that when clicked on, pop up country profiles and other interesting cultural, political and historical facts. Well I don’t know if I should actually call them facts, as most of them are made up – anyway they’re funny go check it out.

germany

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Read Dracula in real time

Binder of beautiful and elegant books, Whitney Sorrow, is posting each entry of Jonathan Harker’s diary (the diary entries make up the Bram Stoker novel Dracula) on her blog on the actual days that the entries are written. She started on the 3rd of May which is Jonathan’s first entry. However, I’m a bit slow on the uptake and only found it today.

It’s a pretty cool way to experience this epistolary novel whether you’ve read it before or not, as you get to experience the action at the same time as the characters do. Read your daily instalment at Dracula but I warn you, one entry a day just makes you want more!

Ross Horsley Rocks!

I know I posted about this guy like a minute ago, but I just found further evidence of his dark brilliance in the form of his experimental photo comic strip called the Wesleys on his other blog Musty Moments.

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Ross is apparently a timid librarian by day, and a frenzied fan of gory slasher flicks by night. Oh well no-one’s perfect I guess.

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More at The Wesleys.

Afrigator myScoop