visual poetry

Our internet connection is so bad it has taken me all day to upload images.. grr.
Last night I went to see some friends play music in a confused club (Joel has pictures on his journal), was sat upon by a girl in sparkly underpants and accused of being bookish by a woman in a corset and a monster mask. I think I had a good time.

I meant to put these up a little while ago.. they are Shaker visual poems, produced in a similar way to automatic writing and considered gifts from heavenly spirits.





They remind me a bit of Adolf Wölfli's work. More examples and information can be found on UbuWeb, which also has recordings of adaptations of Wölfli's musical works here, along with an amazing archive of sound recordings.

Oh, and some friends received a well deserved 4-star write up in the Guardian today. Congratulations!

shopping for elves...

I was out looking for shoes today and discovered Birkenstock is selling these:




I have no idea what they had to kill to make them and I can't imagine anyone actually wanting to wear them, but if you happen to know some small people who work for Santa these may just be the perfect present.

Bric-a-Brac Theatre

If you were feeling very sad because the people you cared about were far away and it was the first time in 30 years you hadn't celebrated Thanksgiving, maybe this would cheer you up a little.

oh, and Happy Thanksgiving!

My family is having a huge Thanksgiving meal with somewhere between 12 and 15 people (no one seems to know quite how many) at home in Arizona today. I've been celebrating by dealing with the effects of a mouse infestation, which is not nearly as festive or as appetizing. Luckily these scenes from Miracle on 34th Street are helping to get me in a holiday mood..

busy busy busy!

I returned last night from a few days of teaching in Bristol, seeing friends, watching lots of Ray Harryhausen and getting rained on. I managed to do a lot of designing on the train which put me in a very good mood. I also found some random Edward Gorey images in a 26-year-old book on theatre posters and illustration. They were badly reproduced and I only had a scanner of dubious quality at my disposal, but here are copies of a few (click to enlarge):

Sybille von Cleve

If I had an outfit as amazing as this one, everything would be right with world..


Lucas Cranach the Elder
Sybille von Cleve, Duchess of Saxony c. 1531

3 Days, 4 Amazing Ladies

Thank you so much to everyone who donated to my family's team for the Breast Cancer 3-Day walk. Three days, 60 miles, several blisters and some heat rash later my mom, aunt and sisters are feeling tired but happy. I'm so proud!


Team Fancy Pink Swans (with a "fancy pink swan" in the background)

My dad and sister have posted pictures and video from the event (here and here respectively), and Brie has links to route maps and elevation info on her blog as well in case anyone is interested. Donations are still being accepted for another month; you can donate by going to the Fancy Pink Swans team site and choosing a team member. They have already raised more than $8,000 for cancer research and outreach programs. Thanks again!