I finally saw 'in the flesh' so to speak, those vans that has my artwork on their arses, at this year's Birmingham ArtsFest. Keen to take a photo, I asked the lady in the van (it was a display van, so it had a desk and stuff in the back of it) if it was okay, as sometimes people can be funny about it, and there is copyright infringements and stuff to worry about (saying that though, I've just realised that I actually do own the copyright to those images!). She told me that "she wasn't in charge, Liz, who is in charge has just gone for a wee and she'll be back in five minutes. You could ask the guy in the other van, he might be in charge. Great artwork, by the way, I love it!"
Thanks for that. So I go into the next van, and ask the bloke sitting there if it's alright to take photos. "I don't give a shit. I'm just the driver!"
What I saw of ArtsFest this year was quite good, less wanky than last year, and actually had some popular art, such as rock concerts and stand-up comedy among the beardy crystal juggling and cacky performance art that these things usually have.
Its only bad point was having Jasper Carrott having his induction in Brum's 'Walk Of Fame' in the middle of it all. I've never been a big fan of his. Probably because he supports the scum Birmingham shitty football team, and he seems to have been doing the same routines for the last thirty years. While we're on the subject of football, normal service (after our win over Chelsea, and Gareth Barry's heroics for England) was resumed at Aston Villa, when we lost 1-0 to Manchester City. Like I've said before, supporting the Villa is crap most of the time.
Wednesday, September 19, 2007
Batmen on drugs.
Because of the overwhelming response to the film on my last post (all of no comments! Yay! still got it!), I've been digging around YouTube and found some more versions of the 21st Century classic that's called 'Batman On Drugs'. Basically, it takes a clip from the old '6os Batman TV show (the one where he does the 'Batusi' in a Gotham Discotheque!) loops it and adds a song that I don't know the name of, but it makes me smile and it is extremely catchy, although singing it out loud makes you sound like a mental.
Anyway, here's the version I posted last time, just to refresh your jaded minds:
Here is the fantastic Heavy Metal version of the same song:
And here is the Batman Begins update, starring Christian Bale, that welsh bloke with the weird jaw thing that my friend quite fancies...
Thanks for indulging me. Back soon-Same bat-time, same bat-blog!
Anyway, here's the version I posted last time, just to refresh your jaded minds:
Here is the fantastic Heavy Metal version of the same song:
And here is the Batman Begins update, starring Christian Bale, that welsh bloke with the weird jaw thing that my friend quite fancies...
Thanks for indulging me. Back soon-Same bat-time, same bat-blog!
Thursday, September 13, 2007
Fame Remaining: 14 mins and 59 secs...
Last night the BBC, as part of its Ramadan season, broadcast a programme entitled She's A Thoroughly Modern Muslim. I mention this because I was in it. For all of one second. Maybe a second and a half. The programme featured four Muslim women from around the country and how they're getting on in 21st Century Britain. One of the women was a member of the Midlands Comics Collective and rising star in the world of cartooning Asia Alfasi. The programme showed her at one of our meetings and I was in the background in my rather cool Silver Surfer T-shirt looking all handsome and talking to fellow MC2-er Mikey Ball (possibly also looking handsome, but you couldn't tell, as you only saw the back of his head). For all of one second.
Anyway, none of these thoroughly modern muslim women were quite as thoroughly modern as the lady I saw the other day. She was wearing the hijab headscarf, and she was also wearing quite revealing denim hotpants! Nothing illustrates the east meets west melting pot that is Brum better than that!
Maybe they should do another, similar documentary about another misunderstood minority in this country called He's A Thoroughly Modern Nerd, where I could talk about how society stereotypes me and thinks I'm oppressed, and think I'm forced to wear strange clothes, clothes like my rather cool Silver Surfer t-shirt. (NB. said garment was bought way before the Hollywood travesty FF2 came out and made Norrin Radd a bit rubbish. It depicts the cover of Silver Surfer #19 and has groovy John Buscema art on it. I love John Buscema's art.)
Anyway, us thoroughly modern nerds have something to shout about, as BBC4 are currently having the Comics Britannia season, the Comics Britannia show itself was quite good, focusing on the history of the Dandy and the Beano and all their spin-offs and imitators. It was good as I found out what Kevin O'Neill looks like, and he surprised me as he doesn't look like his drawings. People say the characters in my strips look like me (although, looking at my strips, I've yet to draw a fat four-eyed bastard, so maybe they're wrong), and a lot of the fairly well-known artists I've met over the years look like their drawings. Especially Bisley! But Kevin doesn't. That would be quite difficult though,as Kev O'Neill's characters are a lot more abstract than most other mainstream artists. Don't get me wrong, I wasn't expecting them to be interviewing a real-life Nemesis The Warlock on his love for the Beano, but that would've been cool, though, wouldn't it? My main problem with the documentary was that a lot of the original creators and fans said that political correctness had ruined the D.C. Thompson comic books, but I'm sick of this notion that all P.C. is bad and restricts any kind of freedom of expression. You can't have a comic book aimed at kids (or anyone, really) that's as full of racial stereotypes as the Beano used to be, especially as a fair number of the readers of these books are now from a non-white family. And having bullying and corporal punishment used as entertainment just can't be right. Despite this, I enjoyed the documentary, and I'm looking forward to the next part. Also, on Sunday is a show called In Search Of Steve Ditko, in which Jonathan Ross interviews the Spider-man co-creator. Also fab, are the re-runs of the old '60s Batman TV show, which are great. The sight of Batters disco-dancing with Jill St. John is fantastic and gives me an excuse to re-post this clip, one of my YouTube favourites:
See you all again soon.
Anyway, none of these thoroughly modern muslim women were quite as thoroughly modern as the lady I saw the other day. She was wearing the hijab headscarf, and she was also wearing quite revealing denim hotpants! Nothing illustrates the east meets west melting pot that is Brum better than that!
Maybe they should do another, similar documentary about another misunderstood minority in this country called He's A Thoroughly Modern Nerd, where I could talk about how society stereotypes me and thinks I'm oppressed, and think I'm forced to wear strange clothes, clothes like my rather cool Silver Surfer t-shirt. (NB. said garment was bought way before the Hollywood travesty FF2 came out and made Norrin Radd a bit rubbish. It depicts the cover of Silver Surfer #19 and has groovy John Buscema art on it. I love John Buscema's art.)
Anyway, us thoroughly modern nerds have something to shout about, as BBC4 are currently having the Comics Britannia season, the Comics Britannia show itself was quite good, focusing on the history of the Dandy and the Beano and all their spin-offs and imitators. It was good as I found out what Kevin O'Neill looks like, and he surprised me as he doesn't look like his drawings. People say the characters in my strips look like me (although, looking at my strips, I've yet to draw a fat four-eyed bastard, so maybe they're wrong), and a lot of the fairly well-known artists I've met over the years look like their drawings. Especially Bisley! But Kevin doesn't. That would be quite difficult though,as Kev O'Neill's characters are a lot more abstract than most other mainstream artists. Don't get me wrong, I wasn't expecting them to be interviewing a real-life Nemesis The Warlock on his love for the Beano, but that would've been cool, though, wouldn't it? My main problem with the documentary was that a lot of the original creators and fans said that political correctness had ruined the D.C. Thompson comic books, but I'm sick of this notion that all P.C. is bad and restricts any kind of freedom of expression. You can't have a comic book aimed at kids (or anyone, really) that's as full of racial stereotypes as the Beano used to be, especially as a fair number of the readers of these books are now from a non-white family. And having bullying and corporal punishment used as entertainment just can't be right. Despite this, I enjoyed the documentary, and I'm looking forward to the next part. Also, on Sunday is a show called In Search Of Steve Ditko, in which Jonathan Ross interviews the Spider-man co-creator. Also fab, are the re-runs of the old '60s Batman TV show, which are great. The sight of Batters disco-dancing with Jill St. John is fantastic and gives me an excuse to re-post this clip, one of my YouTube favourites:
See you all again soon.
Wednesday, September 05, 2007
Jose Who?
I'm still smiling (I know it's strange) from the brilliant result the mighty Aston Villa got against Chelsea on Sunday. The cheating Cockney bastards got stuffed 2-0! First time they've been beaten in seven months! Our mostly British team beat the team of expensive foreigners! Both goals scored by lifelong Villa-supporting Brummies as well!
Drogba, who is up for a BAFTA for his performance as 'man who has just been elbowed in the face' even though there was no contact at all, ironically REALLY did get injured and had to be helped off at the end. Serves the cheating bastard right. He is one of the best strikers in the world at the moment, and it saddens me that players of his calibre have to resort to play-acting. The same goes for that Ronaldo at Man Utd.
After the match, a bloke came into the pub covered in blood, telling someone on his mobile that he'd been jumped by three Chelsea supporters (it was probably only two, really) but, like he said 'at least we beat the cunts'. If he'd worn a claret shirt instead of a white one, the blood wouldn't have shown up anyway.
Being a Villa supporter is very hard work sometimes, but every now and again they do something that makes it all worthwhile, and Sunday was one of those times. When the second goal went in I was so happy it took me at least twenty minutes to get back to my natural 'slightly pissed off' state.
Also priceless was this moment, which happened straight after Gabby scored:
The way Doug Ellis is laughing at Abramovich almost made me like him again.
UP THE VILLA!!!
Drogba, who is up for a BAFTA for his performance as 'man who has just been elbowed in the face' even though there was no contact at all, ironically REALLY did get injured and had to be helped off at the end. Serves the cheating bastard right. He is one of the best strikers in the world at the moment, and it saddens me that players of his calibre have to resort to play-acting. The same goes for that Ronaldo at Man Utd.
After the match, a bloke came into the pub covered in blood, telling someone on his mobile that he'd been jumped by three Chelsea supporters (it was probably only two, really) but, like he said 'at least we beat the cunts'. If he'd worn a claret shirt instead of a white one, the blood wouldn't have shown up anyway.
Being a Villa supporter is very hard work sometimes, but every now and again they do something that makes it all worthwhile, and Sunday was one of those times. When the second goal went in I was so happy it took me at least twenty minutes to get back to my natural 'slightly pissed off' state.
Also priceless was this moment, which happened straight after Gabby scored:
The way Doug Ellis is laughing at Abramovich almost made me like him again.
UP THE VILLA!!!
It's Been a While!
How do. I know it's been a while since my last post, but I've been busy, ain't I?! Anyway, I'll tell those of you still with me what I've been up to.
Firstly, my brother Marc's wedding went brilliantly, and kinda weird as it's probably the first properly grown-up thing any of us have done! Also weird was seeing my mom and dad in the same room for the first time in what must be at least twelve years. And not scratching or biting each other. Or swearing. Or breaking furniture. Like I said, weird. Also weird was the photographer. I won't tell you why, just imagine! My other brother, Matthew (notice the 'M' motif with our names? Clever, eh? Not so clever when the post used to arrive with just 'M. Trimble' on it. I think our Dad planned it years in advance just so he could 'accidentally' read our mail! Only joking...) who was Best Man (I, apparently, was Head Usher, as I am so brilliant at ushing. One of my duties was walking the bride's mother down the aisle, a ritual I've never heard of or seen before) where was I? Oh yes, anyway, Matthew. He brought a piece of paper along that he thought was his speech, but it turned out to be the paperwork from the hotel we stayed at the week before in Cardiff. He had to make his speech unaided, and he nailed it. It was a brilliant speech, but that doesn't surprise me as he's always had the gift of the gab, the silver-tongued little git. All of us Trimbles have the talent for talking endless bollocks. Anyway, the couple looked great (If you're reading this, Marc, this is the only compliment you're getting out of me!) the weather was lovely and a good time was had by (mostly) all. I can't wait til Marc's next wedding!
Other stuff that has happened in the last couple of weeks: I've found out I'm allergic to my friends' cat, despite having no other allergies in my life before. Having a swollen face, itchy eyes and a runny nose is really horrible. Now I know why I'm a dog person.
I've been to see Nine Inch Nails (absolutely awesome) and Chris Cornell (good, but not awesome, and no support act either-boo!) in the last couple of weeks. Both were in the Carling Academy Birmingham which really is a terrible venue. Trent Reznor of NIN criticised it on stage calling it 'a shitty club'. He should've seen it when it was the Hummingbird all those years ago.
Also, a young lady and I went to see The Bourne Ultimatum, which is an excellent movie, but a couple of things bug me about it. One is the fact that he seems to have an endless supply of money. With the CIA watching his every move, he can't really have a bank account, nor does he seem to have a job or any income, but if he wants to fly to Moscow, or New York, or get a boat to Tangier, or get the train to Waterloo, he has no trouble paying for it. The other thing was he bought a mobile phone from Carphone Warehouse which was seemingly fully charged when it was taken out of the box. But then, The Bourne waiting for two hours while his mobile charges up is less of a catchy title, I suppose. It's worth watching for the way Bourne uses a hardback book during a fight. Made me wince, anyway.
And finally, today was the day my youngest daughter started secondary school, and she looked very smart in her new uniform. She looked all grown up yet small (if you know what I mean) and I hope she does alright. Man, I feel old. And skint, after forking out for all the ephemera that kids need for school these days.
I'm sure there's loads of other stuff I wanted to tell you about, but I can't remember it right now, and you're probably not interested anyway, I was going to make a flippant comment about a washed-up has been pop star, but I get loads of comments telling me off when I do that, so I won't. See you soon.
Firstly, my brother Marc's wedding went brilliantly, and kinda weird as it's probably the first properly grown-up thing any of us have done! Also weird was seeing my mom and dad in the same room for the first time in what must be at least twelve years. And not scratching or biting each other. Or swearing. Or breaking furniture. Like I said, weird. Also weird was the photographer. I won't tell you why, just imagine! My other brother, Matthew (notice the 'M' motif with our names? Clever, eh? Not so clever when the post used to arrive with just 'M. Trimble' on it. I think our Dad planned it years in advance just so he could 'accidentally' read our mail! Only joking...) who was Best Man (I, apparently, was Head Usher, as I am so brilliant at ushing. One of my duties was walking the bride's mother down the aisle, a ritual I've never heard of or seen before) where was I? Oh yes, anyway, Matthew. He brought a piece of paper along that he thought was his speech, but it turned out to be the paperwork from the hotel we stayed at the week before in Cardiff. He had to make his speech unaided, and he nailed it. It was a brilliant speech, but that doesn't surprise me as he's always had the gift of the gab, the silver-tongued little git. All of us Trimbles have the talent for talking endless bollocks. Anyway, the couple looked great (If you're reading this, Marc, this is the only compliment you're getting out of me!) the weather was lovely and a good time was had by (mostly) all. I can't wait til Marc's next wedding!
Other stuff that has happened in the last couple of weeks: I've found out I'm allergic to my friends' cat, despite having no other allergies in my life before. Having a swollen face, itchy eyes and a runny nose is really horrible. Now I know why I'm a dog person.
I've been to see Nine Inch Nails (absolutely awesome) and Chris Cornell (good, but not awesome, and no support act either-boo!) in the last couple of weeks. Both were in the Carling Academy Birmingham which really is a terrible venue. Trent Reznor of NIN criticised it on stage calling it 'a shitty club'. He should've seen it when it was the Hummingbird all those years ago.
Also, a young lady and I went to see The Bourne Ultimatum, which is an excellent movie, but a couple of things bug me about it. One is the fact that he seems to have an endless supply of money. With the CIA watching his every move, he can't really have a bank account, nor does he seem to have a job or any income, but if he wants to fly to Moscow, or New York, or get a boat to Tangier, or get the train to Waterloo, he has no trouble paying for it. The other thing was he bought a mobile phone from Carphone Warehouse which was seemingly fully charged when it was taken out of the box. But then, The Bourne waiting for two hours while his mobile charges up is less of a catchy title, I suppose. It's worth watching for the way Bourne uses a hardback book during a fight. Made me wince, anyway.
And finally, today was the day my youngest daughter started secondary school, and she looked very smart in her new uniform. She looked all grown up yet small (if you know what I mean) and I hope she does alright. Man, I feel old. And skint, after forking out for all the ephemera that kids need for school these days.
I'm sure there's loads of other stuff I wanted to tell you about, but I can't remember it right now, and you're probably not interested anyway, I was going to make a flippant comment about a washed-up has been pop star, but I get loads of comments telling me off when I do that, so I won't. See you soon.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
