Comix

Is it me or does there seem to be LOADS of bookish girl cartoonists on the internet these days.

This seems to be the WINNING EQUASION:

Female PLUS Cats PLUS literary references DIVIDED BY awkward situations MULTIPLIED BY Tumblr = joy to the world.

Artists I think win are:
"Comiques" by Anne Emond




"Hark, A Vagrant" by Kate Beaton



"Kate or Die" by Kate, I presume




"Cat Vs Human" by um ... A human, I guess ...




Yep, that's it.

SM

Your Scene Sucks

http://yourscenesucks.com/

she more closely resembles a warrior from mortal kombat than an actual human being. tattoos cover every inch of her body, facial piercings obscure her features, and the subdermal brass knuckle implant wards off anyone who doesn't take the body mod lifestyle seriously. small children burst into tears when she walks by, and aunt beverly has trouble recognizing her at family reunions.
yes, she might look like something out of hellraiser, but that doesn't stop her from posing nude at suicidegirls.com. thank god for the altporn audience, because no one in the "real world" would hire her- not even the local gas station.

as soon as she gets her first sg paycheck, she's rushing out to get that earth crisis facial tattoo she's always wanted.

ART! - Pictures up soon

Tumblr is great for finding new artists from around the world.
Such as http://ikenaga-yasunari.com/gallery/5.htm, a Japanese artist that reminds me of Klimt a little bit. Lovely lovely. (Pictures up soon!)

I've also found a wonderfully written blog - http://hauntednonsense.blogspot.com/ - reminds me of Rohan K a flicker of Lovecraft and Burton. All good fun, anyway! What alerted me to Larson's work was his illustration of Batman creeping along a passage way, a spotlight throwing his sillhouette onto the wall elongating his lean form and outstretched tallens a la Nostferatu. Thank you Tumblr! (Pictures up soon!)

And all variety of good things happening here: http://www.tumblr.com/tagged/illustration

SM

DW's latest blog post

Hooray for Danny Wong's blog! It's great to hear from the mentor/teacher/youth worker, a wise man of faith working in a mine field. CHECK IT OUT!!!

http://wongletong.blogspot.com/2011/04/my-workplace.html?showComment=1303067018090#c8282955868387378539

SM

Travel Blog: Ra Fish working for YWAM

(Our prayer team. From left to right: Rebekah, Matt, Andrew, Libby, Pippa, yours truely, Rach)

This title may not make sense unless you know two things. One: Ra Fish is the pseudonym of Rachel Patterson, another of my university chums who is doing something exciting on the other side of the world. Two: YWAM stands for 'Youth With A Mission' - Rach says:

"[this] is basically a course which teaches you about God and encourages you to apply what you learn through outreach both locally to the base to on outreach trips to different countries. It is all about knowing God and making Him known."

So far so good. Now, the blog itself.

My first thought is to compare this to Merrett's blog: Christian in a strange land, etc. etc. BUT they are obviously very different. Whereas Simon's blog was full of his trademark wry wit and hilarious ramblings about NYC, Rach puts her own personal stamp on the travel blog genre in a different and delightful way.

Firstly, and this is classic Patterson, btw, she is a diligent and detailed writer - unlike Merrett, who would always start with something like "sorry I've not written in a while, but I contracted this disease from someone on the subway the other day ...". With Patterson at the keyboard, I doubt readers will not be kept out of the loop for lengthy periods.

Next, what is the blog about? Well, it's a hodge-podge of notes from lectures and accounts of Rachel's adventures in Oz. Although she compares her posts to "essays", they are certainly not dull! Apart from dropping SPIRITUAL TRUTH on yo' ('My sins have gone, I've been set free' - stories from Repentence and Forgiveness week), Ra's writing is peppered with honest accounts of day-to-day struggles (cash flow - praying about it, btw) and humour (I particularly like the story about getting bitten but an ant: just the sort of thing I'd do in that situation!)

There are also some outreach stories not-completely-unlike-Christian-Union-scenarios which I can empathise with and fondly reminisce about.

Find the blog here:
http://www.travelblog.org/Bloggers/Ra-fish/

Find out more about YWAM here:
http://www.ywam.org/

So, to conclude, a thoroughly readable, enjoyable and educational in the best sense, with nothing "fishy" about it ... ahahhahah lolololol

'Fin'

Now with labels ...

For the like 5 people who read this blog, I have made it easier to find things. I have labelled everything under the following:

"Art" -- the thing that I've "written" the most about at the moment. This tells you that I am a visual-thinking person (who likes searching for images on the internet...) I've also included my creative writing / the writing of others in this label, for better or worse ...

"Blogs" -- I LOVE writing about blogs: blogs that I have found, celebrity blogs, blogs that my friends are writing ... check this one out often!

"Music" -- like the art, I guess.

"Politics" -- agh, what am I talking about?? Usually things that interest me, that I have no authority on whatsoever ... I'll come back to this one ...

"Religion" -- the term "religion" is a bit of a drag, but it's what I live and breathe for, what gets me up in the morning; when I am (often) completely broken my the world -- believe me, I feel like this a lot!!! -- it is by the grace of God that I'm where I am right now. Again, not authority on what I write; I'm just a guy trying to work this stuff out ... check out some of the blogs on the righthand side for more wisedom on the subject.

"Teaching" -- A little bit about teaching. Know less than I do about this than I do about politics ...

So there you go: to conclude, I never really know what I'm talking about.

SM

Blog Anniversary ...

1 year old??? In four days?!? 73 posts later ...



So I Googled my name hoping a picture of me would come up I could post and this David Shrigley picture that I used way back last year!! So I thought I would put it up. Enjoy.

SM

Blogging in Iran

An interesting mini-documentary on Iran and blogging. Reading Persepolis first got me interested in Iran and the variuos ways in which the people of that country resist the oppression they face.

The film tells of a variety of topics covered by these blogs:

Politics

Love

Human Rights

Freedom

Change

Wit

Eloquence

Anger

So if this sounds like your cup of tea check the link:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EPKTyDcinDg&feature=channel

SM

Blog News

Holla peeps,

3 things:

1.) I'm happy to announce that my friend and brother Danny 'Wonletong' Wong has joined the blogging community. He's one of the coolest guys I know; no doubt his blogs will be entertaining, insightful, spiritual, cooler than beans. Ch-ch-check it out:

http://wongletong.blogspot.com/2010/06/friday-fellowship-beatitudes.html

2.) Secondly, if you want to read a blog written by a man / badger who knows what he's talking about, why not have a read of Mr Paul Rockbadger's blog; a smorgasbord of wit and wisdom:

http://paulhuxley.blogspot.com/



Rock.



Badger!

3.) Finally, I'm very happy to recommend a fellow artiste Kayleigh, who will undoubtably enjoy all the Neil Gaiman pictures, etc. She is a writer (give generously!)Read her blog, read her writing -- just like old times!!:

http://kaye-harper.blogspot.com/

Cheers,

SM

Back to holiday

Right so I'm back! I've finished the PGCE and got a job all lined up for September. There are several things that I would like to cover in the blog in no particular order:

1.) Post my thoughts on social networking sites - I'm doin a talk for the University of the Third Age on the subject this week which will be great fun and it would be nice to put this up on the blog. 'Researching' sns reminded me how cool blogs were, that is why I also want to...

2.) ... remind everyone of the great blogs of my friends and also the celebs I stalk via blogging. Life goes on and it is great to catch up on the posts that I have missed.

3.) I want to get back to the roots of my faith. I have started reading 'Mere Christianity' by CS Lewis and I plan to document my reactions to the bitesize chapters.

4.) Use the blog to comment on my summer reading. I've just finished Jaws which I borrowed from James' parents ages ago and I'm halfway through 'Fear and Loathing in Las Vagas'. Both books have been nice and easy to read (if occasionally a bit too graphic for my taste). I also read a bit of Murakami which was good -- but again I've been warned about the 'dodgy' bits ...

5.) Maybe talk a bit about teaching? It is / will be my job, after all.

SM

Amanda Palmer: Readers of Her Blog and the News

"Dude, WE WENT TO THE MOON. Seriously, we can pretty much do anything, once we stop talking ourselves out of it."

John C Welsh, from Amanda Palmer's blog

People Harry Knows

Hey all,

Just a quick note; my esteemed art-pal Harry Hasson has started a sister blog which hath sprung from the loins of his design based scribblings ... Design at Harrys.

Thoroughly worth a look, People I Know exposes many creative types that this home-boy has 'rubbed shoulders' with - I predict a featurette of Hamford in the near future!

Good to see more creative bods being passed around the internet like pokemon cards or something much cooler.

All power to the engines,

Steve

Blog 1: http://peopleharryknows.blogspot.com

Blog 2: http://www.designatharrys.com/blog/

voice

"We know that tomorrow will not be like today. That is one of the few certainties of the present period."

My own aim is simple enough. I would like a future for my children in which they can lead productive lives, in a society which is positively engaged with the challenges of its time, and in which despair is, at least, balanced by hope, difficulty by pleasure. I happen to believe that the possibilities of communication are an essential foundation for that. ... I think that the meaning-making practises of the young humans which I have observed are a good starting point for that rethinking...

Gunther Kress, Before Writing

I love kids drawings. They are great: free expressions that are rich in thought and feeling on the page. Perhaps we need to look at how "the kids of today" are making meaning; whether this is blogs, graffitti, LOLcats, I don't know. Once we deconstruct these literacies, we finally have something to work from which everyone can relate to.

Kress addresses a couple of things that were / are "challenges of the time" like globalisation, economy, the media, cultural and political developments and there is a lot of stuff that we still have to deal with ...

There is a load more great stuff here. It is a very inspirational text, written with intelligence and character. I love the last sentence.

Much love to all humans

Steve

chatrooms of the apocalypse

From the 'Gunmen of the Apocalypse' episode of Red Dwarf.

"Cyberspace has been likened to a modern-day Lord of the Flies and the Wild West of modern times." Donna Kernaghan, T.E.S.

Brilliant.

These are no doubt loaded images. As cheesy as this sounds I do argee with this statement.

There is the potential on-line to create your own society away from adults, teachers and law-guardians ... but as we all know, it is only a matter of time before there is a paradise lost-style fall from grace. Or the bandits show up. Or the food runs out. Something bad happens. Then it is up to the kids / the sheriff's brother / a mysterious stranger with a troubled past to sort it out for themselves.

That is how the adventures happen: people grow / fight / learn / get knocked down, get up again.

That is how the West is won. Right?

Blogs really can change your world

Hey all!

So I was checking out Ham's new website and there is a link to a real and true magazine article telling the story he got to work on The Mr. Men Show in mutha-flipping LA:
http://www.samdransfield.co.uk/news.html

So it seems that the cheeses in charge got hold of the blog in question (http://hamuelo.blogspot.com/2008/05/id-like-piece-of-meat_22.html), saw Ham's arch-intelligent critiques, recognised his passion for animation and asked him if he wanted to work on the project!

Think about that for a second: it shows the power that the humble blog has to project the writer into the wider world of inter-web and beyond! Immence!

I wonder where that leaves me and my blog, which is essentially half-formed blabbing with lots of colours and pictures, maybe a little bit of passion every now and then.

Think-think about it.

Much love

Nut-log #1

I'm thinking of changing my blog to 'Nut-log'. Good eh?

***

It is interesting to me that 2 of the blogs I've been following have commented on conferences.

Simon has been describing his experience of US security: http://merrettinnewyork.blogspot.com/

Whist The Space Hijackers have been commenting on the spate of police brutality in responce to the G20 confrences in America: http://www.spacehijackers.org/blog/2009/09/usa_g20_arrests.html

To put in my two pennies worth, Cat, Kit and myself witnessed masses of protesters along Brighton seafront last weekend. All the hoo-ha was to catch the attention of the suits attending the HUGE Labour Party Confrence at the Brighton Centre.

He were having a barbeque on the beach and the ravings of the megaphoned mob mixed with The Police cover band playing at the beach-bar down a small way down the road.

ANYWAY, I thought that I would address the issue of police/protester violence in a piece I like to call

Why Can't We Be Friends?

Example 1:

Example 2

The moral of the story is there whatever happens, there is always a dude with a camera.

ALSO

Derren Brown sounds like a girl,

Peas out, y'all.

Oggling mind-boggling blogs

This is a celebration of the great blogs that I follow. In a sense it is a responce, but more about exposing their wonderful thoughts to a "wider" readership:

The Long and the Short of It
Wonderfully Bible-driven blog of ponderings, how to write a blog and what is important to shout about. Also a bit like a Fab ice-lollie. Very readable, engagable and with definite clout:

I just wrote a massive blog-post, dealing with life, the universe and just about everything my little brain could think to talk about. I was witty, I was clever, I was generally trying to write the best darn blog-post there ever had been. I then opened the Bible and read this: ...

http://natalie-hill.blogspot.com/

Scribblings From My Desk
This blog is a mix of stuff that is hearty: very real, very well thought through and researched. It is a joy to read and I have found it very helpful personally. It is also a hub of other great teachers -- just check out the blogs on the right hand side.
I particularly like the recent post about Robbie Williams :)
http://peterdray.blogspot.com/2009/09/robbie-williams-bodies.html

A Lamp to Our Feet
Well, now we have a rich fruit pudding of a blog! Book-smarts, honesty and real-life situations are a few reasons why this is just quality.
I'm going to try and put into words, drawing from my meditations and thoughts on both these books over the past few weeks, exactly why I feel more joyful because of them but it's going to be a struggle because it seems paradoxical and confusing even to me!
http://alamptoourfeet.blogspot.com/

Chatty

A selection of my thoughts on a tea-fuelled September evening.

Ham

I love Sam's blog. He writes about just the same sort of things I do.
Check out this blast from the past with the killer title 'If you fell over in the woods, would you make a sound?':

"I don't know why I'm directly addressing 'you' ... as the reader of this blog, as, obviously, nobody reads it, so you don't exist. "

Genius. I'm going to have to read them all.

He's also just got his website up. I've just had a look at it and it is ACE. I'd no idea he'd done (so much) work ...

http://www.samdransfield.co.uk/index.html

***

The BNP prt. 2

Fear comes from hate.
Hate comes from fear.

We have to love the BNP.
Someone has to.
Listen to thier stories.
They need to be broken with pity and love.

Love breaks fear.
Love breaks hate.

God equip us for our mission.

***

Amanda Palmer

The only reason I would follow twitter really is to follow Miss Amanda Palmer's tweets. She is a hugely sweet person, a great artist who loves music, her fans and her life. If I was to have a fictional dream (fictional and dream?!?) dinner party she would be the guest of honour. She uses Twitter and her blog as a world-wide love note to her fans, posting secret shows, using fans ideas, posting photos etc.

Wonderful.

Who is Amanda?: Amanda's Myspace: http://www.myspace.com/whokilledamandapalmer
Amanda's blog: http://blog.amandapalmer.net/post/171930303/fringe-london-out
Amanda's Twitter: http://twitter.com/amandaPalmer

***

My Folks

I'm sitting with my parents listening to C. S. Lewis on audio tape. They are pretty tired, almost falling asleep. I love them both very much. It is great being back home. I vow to love them, visit them and look after them as much as I can for the rest of our lives.

***

Teaching

Not long to go now. I start my course on Monday. I'm determined to give it my best. I owe it to tomorrow's youth.

More later, gang!

'The Happiest Blog on Earth' vs. ...

Hey gang,

For some reason I was looking for a happy blog and I found this: http://www.smilemyday.com/

I must admit that it is pretty cute ( I especially enjoy the rather fetching photo of Sean Connery) and it is a lovely project, but I feel that they are missing some great smiles. So here is Jack Nicholson with conpliments from 'If GRINS Could Kill'. XXX

'The Happiest Blog on Earth' vs. I.G.C.K

'The Happiest Blog on Earth' vs. 'Scribblings'

on a more practical note, this blog may offer a better understanding on happiness which is more enduring. This is called 'joy': http://peterdray.blogspot.com/search/label/joy

I hope to have my own thoughts on this one day.

Lots of love!

Also Samurai Jack rules!

Easter Eggs

Hey all,
I like putting links in my posts. It is fun for me the writer and hopefully fun for any potential readers I may get one day...

A good example of this can be found in some of the other blogs I enjoy:

"While going through the motions of your usual Friday night Wikipedia triva-felch last night, I clicked through to the article about SSD's drummer, Chris Foley. I won't detail the article here, go check it out for yourself. One thing I will say though is... Hardcore..."
http://hamuelo.blogspot.com/


I want to emulate this joys of these random links. Some are hidden (maybe because I didn't know what I was doing...), but some links will be more obvious.