… oh batman, why so serious. A night out with DJ Man-bat will cheer you up.
Oh So Pleasant
January 29, 2010
Harvey and I Sit in Bars
Harvey and I sit in the bars… have a drink or two… play the juke box. And soon the faces of all the other people they turn toward mine and they smile. And they’re saying, “We don’t know your name, mister, but you’re a very nice fella.” Harvey and I warm ourselves in all these golden moments. We’ve entered as strangers – soon we have friends. And they come over… and they sit with us… and they drink with us… and they talk to us. They tell about the big terrible things they’ve done and the big wonderful things they’ll do. Their hopes, and their regrets, and their loves, and their hates. All very large, because nobody ever brings anything small into a bar. And then I introduce them to Harvey… and he’s bigger and grander than anything they offer me. And when they leave, they leave impressed. The same people seldom come back; but that’s envy, my dear. There’s a little bit of envy in the best of us.
I love Harvey. It might just be my favourite film. Sure its take on mental illness has errr, well, a special kind of cookie cutter schmaltz, but with every viewing the truth of Harvey, the giant rabbit comes into sharper focus.
I Heart Baby Directors
January 27, 2010Which is why, for the last couple of months I’ve been working on the Young Director Award blog with comrade and ex-boss Lyndy Stout. It’s a platform for newbie filmmakers to put on their prettiest frocks, tie their hair up in ringlets and show off. We’ve also got a few established music video and commercial filmmakers to offer their own words of advice, starting off with Tony Kaye which was.. er.. interesting.
Anyway, here are a couple of my favourite films:
Sam Wall: You Know Too Much
Jean Julien Pous – Seeking You
To view the blog go to http://youngdirectoraward.wordpress.com/
Zebra Crossing
January 14, 2010It’s dark and snowy and icy and sludgy and damp and dark and cold and squelchy and all of those other Januaresque adjectives.
Which is a great excuse for staying in with one’s felt tip pens of an evening. And also a very sensible reason for indulging in cosmic rainbow zebra unicorns. They don’t minge on about schools being closed and bins not being emptied and the economic GDP business poop of bad weather. No, were they to exist I think they would quite enjoy the snow. There might even be prancing, and there would most certainly be joyful tossing of mane. 
Psychedelic Saturnalia
December 25, 2009… or merry Christmas, if you like. I drew this because I fancied creating a Father Christmas who was a bit more pagan and ancient than the usual red-nosed fatso. I was going to have him dragging a slain reindeer through the snow to a winter feast… but I’m not the sort to jump up and down on other people’s snow men and I wasn’t about to butcher Rudolf.
I Come Bearing Gifts
Anyway, I got a bit over enthusiastic with the ol’ Photoshop, and gave Santa a cup of the ol’ Electric Kool Aid.
I Come Bearing Gifts: the midwinter trip
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- I Come Bearing Gifts
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- I Come Bearing Gifts
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- I Come Bearing Gifts: the midwinter trip
Snow Angels
December 25, 2009This year I went down the DIY route with my Christmas cards, and came up with this androgenous angel getting festive on the saxophone.
And here’s the finished card in all its glory…
Where Art My Tarts
December 4, 2009
Jack of Hearts turns cookie monster.
Traditional playing card designs are utterly, utterly beautiful. I hadn’t really noticed before, but they are massively intricate and are full of insanely detailed pattern. Anyway I found some interesting (based on the assumption that everyone else shares my ability to become fascinated by anything arcane or trivial) information on the history of playing card design here and here.
Archimedes
December 2, 2009
So there’s a remake of Clash of the Titans on the go – because it’s not like there’s about a hundred other Greek myths to plagiarise. I’m sure I’ll trundle along to see it when it comes out, although I don’t think any number of waxed chests and pixels will make up for the tangible magic of the stop-motion original. And I noticed a conspicuous absence from the new trailer – no Bubo the mechanical owl. Exclamation mark. My classics knowledge might be a little hazy, bt I’m pretty sure Robo Birdie wasn’t in the original mythology (and thus spake Athena: “F’ckin A, my owls got f’ckin LASER BEAMS COMING OUT OF IT’S EYES!!!”), but he was a great addition, being all shiny and cute. And Bubo v 2.0 with laser eyes and a facebook ap would have been just charming, I’m sure.
En Ecosse
November 10, 2009
A Scottish poem about cows, possibly by McGonagall:
On yonder hill
There stood a coo.
It must have moved.
Because it’s no’ there noo.
