A Special Shout Out

To the Ghost Train ride at West Midlands Safari Park called "Dr Umbotos catacombs".

  Featuring a rickety tram in 'near darkness' you wind your way past a TERRIFYING array of things inside. From a stuffed gorilla behind a glass case to a man being sick into a bin, this is surely worth a trip to this Halloween. 

Source:http://www.wmsp.co.uk/popupinfo.php?showPage=fun_amuse_catacombs&title=amusements

Is it Real?

      This lecture on realism made me think about Waxworks.  I hate the idea of Madame Tussauds completely and I don't see why anyone would want to spend the day gazing at slightly odd looking fake celebrities.  However one waxwork museum I would possibly like to go to is 'Louis Tussauds Waxworks-Blackpool', featuring the worlds worst waxworks! In 2008 they auctioned off 75 of 'the best', here are some examples:

Any idea who they are? Nope me neither. That last one's Marilyn Monroe apparently...they all look like they've got some horrible skin disease or something. 

Source http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-509100/Dud-ringers-The-worlds-worst-waxworks-sold-auction.html#ixzz0oESrKcLn

Anyway aside from this slightly ridiculous but entertaining place I think waxworks are very creepy and best left in the bin. 

    When at the Frieze art fair in London the other weekend I found this example of realist painting:

  Unfortunately I didn't write down who it was by and I can't find it on the internet so I can't tell you who painted it.  Although its good, I don't really feel that it being painted really adds any value to it and it could just as easily be a print or a photo. I agree with Wallace Stevens (poet) that "Realism is a corruption of reality" and art should be more about the transforming process rather than an exact copy.

Lecture Catchup

I didn't really know how to start writing about the lectures so I sort of have been avoiding it...but I suppose eventually it would have to spring up. Our first lecture was called 'This Rough Magic'.I actually missed this lecture unfortunately so had to try and make sense of the lecture notes. What I can gather mainly is that magic and creativity are the same, any creative person will work in a medium, and that medium depends on the type of creativity involved e.g. An author's medium is their pen..or maybe word processor on their laptop.
  'Rough' magic seems to be magic that is completely new and not entirely honed down to perfection. I liked the idea of early cave paintings being like animation.

This picture is of horses and rhinos and found in the Chauvet cave, France.  You can see the expression of movement in the repetitive, energetic marks.  

Source: http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2008/06/23/080623fa_fact_thurman

Amazing Jack O'Lantern/Happy Halloween

from http://punkbouncer.deviantart.com/art/Mario-Pumpkin-Carving-2-68169514

Song Time

Awesome video for Massive Attack's song Atlas Air.


Directed by Edouard Salier.

Model Research

When asked to look at old, modern, and inbetween aged models i found these images of flea circuses from Victorian times.

(image credit: John Torp's Flea Circus, via)


  Flea circuses were  popular until the 1930s and even operated as late as the 1970s. The tiny insects were often glued or tied to wheels and as they fought to escape, they moved the objects. Sounds a bit horrible really but I love the tiny objects made for them.   I also found this rather creepy picture of fleas dressed up as people...

  Whoever made the costumes must've had a lot of patience and very good eyesight!

First Attempt!

Hello all this is the first blog I've set up for fun/as part of our uni reflection on critical studies thing. Regardless of anyone reading it I think a blog will actually be useful to keep a note of interesting stuff I find on the internet and other sources.  So anyone out there, read on...

Glass Fishys

TROIKA_SHOAL from Troika on Vimeo.

Found this thing called 'Shoal' by Troika that is up in Canada apparently.