Colin MacNeil and John Wagner. Buy it, read it. It is bloody awesome.
I was reminded of this by something on Twitter this morning and have been rereading it. One hell of a story by John Wagner beautifully illustrated and bloody hell so on the money given what is going on in America right now.
I am not trying to bash the US, I grew up in South Africa loving all things America, so it saddens me to see what is going on now.
Don’t say you weren’t warned though okay…just saying.
A print I picked up in Camden a few years ago
This is a signed print I picked up in Camden Market a few years ago now and I do love it. It is a quite fabulous art style and just appeals to me. David has done some work for 2000ad on Dredd and The Hunting Party but it was his work on Brodies Law that first caught my eye. I picked it up at London Comic Con a few years ago and loved it straight away. I should dig it out really…
Also, his website is worth a visit as he has some seriously cool stuff on there.
Mmmm frosting baby yeah.
Now here’s a curious thing. The longer I remain focussed on what I put into my body (no – this is a diet post not one of the weird posts I am prone to do so stay with me) the less interested I become on food in general.
Food for me was a comfort, a reward, a treat but five or six weeks in and I find myself not only considerably less hungry than I have ever been but also less fixated on the deliciousness of it. Perhaps foolishly I watch quite a lot of cooking shows, and mostly ones that focus on desserts, and in the past these would have inspired me to chocolate and cream filled monstrosities of pure delight but now I am mostly filled with something of a sense of indifference. Perhaps at the time I think I might whip up a triple layered mousse cake or a dozen scones to be savoured in the bath or in the middle of the night but it soon passes.
That said, I have been making some ice cream, but that’s just because I am not getting through the milk and don’t have the heart to tell the milk man to deliver less. Oh and there were those cup cakes with the vanilla frosting. But those aside, I do feel generally less compelled to feed my face.
When I set out on this journey I wanted to love better, lose weight, teach my kids to eat better and to sort out my relationship with food. I don’t think I am there yet and would probably still rub Nutella all over myself when the cravings strike but things certainly do seem to be changing.
Actually nothing to see but thanks for taking a look anyway.
At winters first chill.
nipples kindly remind me
must get some coat hooks
For those looking for a daily prompt take a look here!
Welcome to August 8, 2018 and to Fandango’s One-Word Challenge (aka, FOWC). It’s designed to fill the void after WordPress bailed on its daily one-word prompt. I will be posting each day’s word just after midnight Pacific Time (US). Today’s word is “below.” Write a post using that word. It can be prose, poetry, fiction, […]
Not only is AP one damned fine poet he just proved he’s rather cooler than the rest of us.
So…some time back, I finally saw my follower count roll over to 411. I’d made a video when my post count reached 411, so I was like, “Well…kinda makes sense to make a video for 411 followers, yes?” I was going to recite one of my poems, but then I couldn’t decide which one nor […]
Wednesday, well that came around rather quickly. Let’s start by being inappropriate shall we,
Once a frisk young beauty called Mandy
quite insatiable always quite randy
had two fellas most days
her loins always ablaze
and toys for in between, rather handy
The one where she gets him to dance for her…
I like to think that I am a fairly optimistic sort, given my situation. Yes, I will admit to occasionally succumbing to dark thoughts but given mu situation I would hope that you might appreciate the effect such things can have on you.
Take today for example. Everything was going pretty well and I had been left in the kitchen and forgetting to turn off the radio I was able to listen to the cricket. India had England under pressure but I remained hopeful given the time left in the day. She is working upstairs in the office and all is good in the world.
Until he arrived. You know the one, the plum smuggler. He popped over on the basis of something I care not one jot to recall and actually had the audacity to manhandle me. Apparently I am a rather cute bear. I swear to god his breath smelled very much like a dildo.
And before you ask I have it on very good authority after that time I was left upstairs and he had been away with work and she had taken to drinking and watching ‘Magic Mike’. For a while after she tried to get him to dance for her but he tripped and fell on his erection one night after she tried to get him to shake it a little too rigorously and he ended up in accident and emergency.
Turns out you can’t break your dick despite his assertions to the contrary.
Anyway, they ruined a perfectly good afternoons cricket. Bastards the lot of them.
Who fancies Tuesday then?
Once a chap with a craving for harlot’s
had a Julie, a Kate and a Scarlet
on whom he spend all his cash
and picked up quite a rash
which he gave to his poor girlfriend Charlotte
It’s Monday so must mean another of Ronovan’s prompts.
Things time makes precious
memories, family, laughter
…regular movements
Why not eh
Curly haired scots lad, Mackenzie
red hair, freckles put the girls in a frenzy
Bed sweet Jane all weekend
Thursday, Friday her friend
Monday Tuesday hot Belle, rest on Wednesday
I’ve been all around the world and today I stood back where it all started.
I have lived in many places, both north and south of the equator but in the beginning there was Hull. I left when I was 9 but there is something about the place that resonates with me still and despite the many roads that took me away from the place there is still part of me that thinks of it as home. Perhaps it is because it fills my very earliest memories and names and places that I should have forgotten remain with me still. Maybe it is because the accents and turns of phrase hold for me a comfort and familiarity which I cannot describe but that make me feel part of something in many ways long forgotten.
Whatever it is I always enjoy the occasions when I get to go back. Today was one of those days when I got to met up with family on my Mum’s side to celebrate my cousin’s son’s 21st. My mum is one of 8 and at last count there were at least 48 of us on that side of the family so there are always reunions to be had even if we don’t always remember each others names.
Whilst the day itself was great it was the detour on the way home that I enjoyed most. I decided to go and take a look at the house I grew up in as I had heard that the estate is now mostly derelict and scheduled for demolition. Sadly it is and the photo below shows the house now. It is only the left hand side of it.
So many great memories came flooding back and as sad as it is times change and things move on and whilst it was a quite wonderful place in the late seventies it’s days are now sadly numbered. I remembered old Stan from across the street who we would taunt with songs of ‘Stan stan the mucky old man washed his face in a frying pan.’ God kids are bastards. Stood outside I could still hear the sounds of kids laughing on a late summer evening and playing ‘Kerby’ as cars passed us by. With a smile I remembered painting the electricity box with oil paints and my dad being so angry and I could still see snow falling through the amber lights in winter. I also remember where I was when I was told that a friend of ours had died that day.
Such a mix of emotions and memories but it was not all sad though, and in fact it turned out to be a pretty amazing trip when we saw what had been done to a number of the properties in the area. Keep in mind that there are probably a few hundred of these places being demolished and though the memories and lives that have been lived will remain eventually there will be nothing left of themso to see what some amazing graffiti artists did to lift the place was just fantastic.
I think the photos say it all.
The homes will be gone in 6 months and will be replaced with new builds and the hope was that there would be less chance of people vandalising them if they were decorated. The more things change the more they stay the same I guess as eventually new families will move in and the cycle starts again.
It is here at least…
Once a lonely young fellow from China
on the net bought a plastic vagina
alas counterfeit wares
suffered bad penis tears
should have gone to Flesh Light, there’s none finer.
I now have a search on my laptop for best fake vagina. Bloody hell. Actually I also have one from this morning for symptoms of gonorrhoea. I think perhaps I may need to flush my cookies and search history just in case the kids have a go on my laptop. Or my wife.
Rather grateful for what I don’t have…
Dewey eyed and quite upset
The tears they run his cheeks quite wet
Hands over ears tries to forget
And block out all the noise
That’s all I am writing. I do occasionally dabble in things that might be considered a little deeper but to be honest I don’t really have the experience or the emotional depth to pull it off. Oh I can fake it but that’s not the same is it.
I can listen to a song and transform the sentiment into my own words or the emotions into something different but those feelings are not mine. I can pick a topic and attempt to wax lyrical but I find myself rolling my eyes at myself.
I haven’t had a particularly difficult life and feel very lucky and I often see so many wonderful emotive pieces and get quite envious but then I remember that there are real people and real emotions behind much of what I read and before I know it I am writing about a man from Ceylon who had a pendulous dong instead.
I suppose I could write about the angst of not being able to find my remote control or perhaps write a sonnet about the challenges of having the most untidy garden on the street.
Ooh what about something in iambic pentameter about the challenges of being a white middle class male.
As great as it would be to be able to convey such emotional intensity I realise that I am quite lucky to not necessarily have those things to write about. I realise that when the revolution I will likely be first against the wall. But hey, finding a couple of words to rhyme with gonorrhoea is something right!
Thinking too much she falls
a rabbit hole of awkward smiles and good intentions
and alone her cries echo on cold stone walls
Wanting too much she aches
She’s been around, wet streets know her reflection
And as much as she gives she never takes
Feeling too much she cries
And avoiding your gaze and close inspection
Smiles as time and tide wasted past her flies
And living too little she dies
A candle unburnt without connection
Unnamed burning star in the skies
It will clear up probably maybe.
On a business trip to Tanzania
chap I know came back with gonorrhoea
which he gave to his wife
now lives the single life
Oh the things that come from just one beer
Eight minutes of more odd questions and me often not answering…
Something a little different. There may be more they may not.
Did you have a good day? Perhaps you spent it with loved ones working on those important relationships in your life. Maybe you were fortunate enough to find yourself doing something exciting or uplifting or perchance you just put your feet up with a good book and a nice cup of tea.
Sounds lovely right, the wonderous ways one can spend ones time. I suppose that’s what the ability to choose provides isn’t it – options and variety – two things that I lack as much as I do eye lids.
Do you know what I did today? I doubt you will guess, but I will tell you anyway. Today I did bloody well nothing. I was left face down on the sofa with my arse in the air when they headed off and there I lay for the entire day. Have you any idea what that is like? I doubt it very much indeed. There is a madness that descends and makes you consider the most terrible things when faced with such an ordeal.
Despite being righted and enjoying a few cuddles before bed I remain consumed with the desire to witness a violent home invasion or even a drive by shooting. I don’t imagine drive byes are common in this neighbourhood but it would be jolly nice were a gang – perhaps Mexican – to suffer a sat-nav malfunction and open fire on the wrong address. I can just see them now arguing over directions in their crisp white vests and distinctive bandanas. How wonderful.
That assumes they use sat-nav. A bear can live in hope I guess.
From London Super Comic Con in 2013
Mike Collins did this piece for me in London in 2013. Mike was a thoroughly pleasant chap and has a fabulous body of work including Dredd (which I will show you another time), Slaine, Rogue Trooper, Spiderman, Batman, Doctor Who, Transformers, Superman.
Rogue is a genetically engineered super soldier and one of the defining characters in 2000AD. Just last week it was announced that Duncan Jones will be directing a new ROgue film. I will admit to having pissed a little upon hearing the news. At least now it might be easier to explain who Rogue is when they see my Rogue Trooper tattoo. You know I don’t think I’ve shown you that one yet have I. Must get round to it.
I’m wondering if it’s a wee bit obtuse. We shall see.
Colleen’s Tanka Tuesday
This week the challenge was to use synonyms for HAPPY and MOROSE. I used CONTENT and DOUR.
uncontent wage slave
dour faced, shuffles through life
home to nagging wife
a new lease of life springs forth
new patio lifts spirits
Bryan Talbot’s quite wonderful graphic novel exploring the links between Lewis Carroll and the Sunderland area.
Okay so where do I start with this. This is what Wikipedia has to say:
Alice in Sunderland: An Entertainment is a graphic novel by comics writer and artist Bryan Talbot. It explores the links between Lewis Carroll and the Sunderland area, with wider themes of history, myth and storytelling.
I discovered Bryan Talbot in the pages of 2000AD and in particular through the stories of Nemesis the Warlock. It is probably easy to think of him simply as a chap who draws comic book characters but heavens his work is far more than that. With a huge body of work and a lifetime of achievements and awards he is one of my favourites story tellers.
I stumbled upon “Alice in Sunderland” a number of years ago and still find it fascinating now and each time I read it there is more to see and more to learn. The art style is eclectic and the story telling an intense affair but so much fun is to be had. One day I might even fully understand what is going on but until then I will keep enjoying it.
Or maybe. Possibly. Actually it’s up to you I’m not the boss of you.
needs to go shopping
Ate the contents of the fridge
shared it with Jesus
Fancy one of these to start the day?
Once a lady of grace poise and style
with a wink and caress would beguile
round her finger she wrapped
foolish men, quite entrapped
and the things she could do with a smile
Get your whimsy over at Robbie’s.
I’ve built a new contraption A great big paper plane. It’s very eco-friendly It uses no propane. It cannot hold much cargo Its landings aren’t precise, But when a nice big wind blows It floats along real nice. I’ve built a new contraption The seating is not great. There’s no room for a Captain And […]
Looking for a poetry challenge? Get your butt over to Colleen.
WELCOME TO TANKA TUESDAY! Hi! I’m glad to see you here. Are you ready to write some poetry? HERE’S THE CATCH: You can’t use the prompt words! SYNONYMS ONLY! I hope you will support the other poets with visits to blogs and leaving comments. Sharing each other’s work on social media is always nice too. Opportunities for […]
Afterwards 