I make a great

I make a great team!

solipsistic, or just a daemon Tory child.. that's my daughter. I meekly suggest "WE make a good team"..."no, it's me."... age of austerity, indeed.

I like the three Penguins...

I like the three Penguins, they are my winner!

Gabi and I were asked to judge the Christmas card competition for Anne Begg today, Poppy was very excited about it too!... We went through around 500 cards! So many great designs to choose from... ah, but only one can be the winner... this will of course be announced in December...

My taste-buds...

My taste-buds are telling me....

Poppy seems to have some friends in her mouth that tell her stuff... stories, decisions and the like... I've seen them, rather large bobbly bits... sounds like ACC.

well, Poppy is a...

well, Poppy is a quiet girl, but she knows what she wants

We had a "parents night" at nursery tonight! what to hear?! Well, we find out she's quiet, works well on her own, gets on well with others, likes drawing... it's funny, because when we ask about school, she doesn't tell us ("her time")... but conversely, she obviously doesn't say much to the teachers about "outside school"... are we raising a spy? perhaps some water boarding might help, someone told me today, it's not torture... aye, right George.

Seems the world kicks art in the nuts...

Seems the world kicks art in the nuts, when the need it the most

Just found out today that the fantastic "Roxy Art House" in Edinburgh closed its doors after only 10 months... a little cultural cog in a big machine that's been "expended" due to ... once again... bloody money. When "money" is being cut left right and centre, from the people that need financial "assistance" the most, we watch and stand agog, as banks get millions (billions?) in bailouts, phone companies get let of with billion pound tax bills... apparently "we need these institutions to retain and generate wealth in the UK"... how does that work? they take all the money, find clever ways of not paying tax, charge us through the nose... What would it be like in a country that didn't think money was the most important thing to strive for in life? I've been chatting with a friend whom has just come back from West Africa, she met heaps of "poor" locals but were entirely happy with their lives, perhaps we all just need a little bit of sun, some white sands and delicious local, fresh food to keep us "happy" ? (Keep dreaming? I will, thanks).

Oh Mr Cameron...

Oh Mr Cameron, you are a silly man, kissing babies!

Popps is watching the "news" of the premier baby being wheeled out for the morons to oggle at... and came out with this surprisingly astute, or dare I say cynical reading? (NO prompt from this person, I promise you!)



I've no idea if I am allowed to link to this picture or not.. so if not, let me know and I'll gladly replace it.

I want a...

I want a cloned beef pasty!

What is the problem with everyone? (well...omnivores)... This rubbish story about "cloned beef" in the "food chain"... how many people actually know what they are talking about when discussing "cloning"... sadly (as always) the media has seemed to brainwash everyone into thinking "Frankenstein" (yes... his monster... yeah yeah, tell that to the morons too). Cloned doesn't mean "genetically modified" - it's not like a randy mutant bull will escape and wildly seed millions of cows, creating a possible future nightmare (unlike GM crops getting out into the wild and messing things up, that is a worry!)... It's a bunch of genes being continued...

the things people should be looking at are - Animal Welfare (or good husbandry)...

"Scientists Shouldn't Mess with God's Work"... leave it. Let's not get me started on that rubbish.

Read the new scientist, it's better than the bible.

ok?...OK. As Bill Hicks would say.

Daddy, the council told me to punish you ...

Daddy, the council told me to punish you by bothering you with old moths!

WTF?! Is poppy onto something?... scary.

Urban...

Urban Lobotomy

Reading some of the PnJ comments today, someone linked to a story about a TIF funded scheme in LA to destroy a historical aspect of the city - to build a bigger, more expensive "tidy" version... this phrase comes from this sentence within the story : "This is not a project for the bureaucrats but for the artists to lead the way. Bunker Hill was a CRA project and world planners and architects called it urban lobotomy."

Dear oh dear. Seems business and sterilisation wins again.

Well, that's bummed...

Well, that's bummed me out now!

Enjoying the fantastic Gray's Degree show tonight, Gabi, Poppy and I are strolling around - get in early (6pm) and headed to the top of the building (cool air at the start of the night!) - we head on down, and who are strolling around the 2nd floor? - just ACSEF and Sir Ian Wood... grooo! what is this? Is it a joke? are they the conceptual artists everyone says they are? Amazing audacity and bravado! Anyway, my "focus" to enjoying new graduates art was sadly destroyed. "you shouldn't care, it shouldn't get to you" I was told by someone... too sensitive? I didn't think so - It's just a shame that I'm so cynical to think that some rich old men can buy some graduates work, and think that this will be seen as "supporting the arts". Where's that Nirvana video again?....

This sign is...

This sign is as crap as the CSP

The "mass picnic" in UTG today... Gabi and I got there just before 2pm and the place was jumping... we sadly had to scoot off (funnily enough, to Peacock Visual Arts) to see Faythe Levine (Handmade nation) - she'd come to Scotland exclusively because PVA had asked her here... with a whistle stop tour of the DCA and PVA - world class creative people being attracted to Aberdeen? without having a massive concrete (planters, shrubs, turf, yeah, whatever) square? hmm...





you can also see John Rutherford and my ex boss Joan Ingram in that video...

So, what happens when...

So, what happens when you burn sequestered carbon?

you know, the usual Friday night argument you have with your right wing dad when staying in his house after he's had one and a half bottles of red wine... Man of science? Apparently only when science tells him not to care or that we're too far down a line to do anything about it, so go out with a bang! Sheesh... Poppy, I hope you don't have kids, white grandad doesn't give a stuff about them...

Rent-a...

Rent-a-mob

That's what the Lord Provost called the citizens of Aberdeen that bothered to go to a meeting in the Council about the future of their city Vs the future of a city owned by business.



shocking allegation from a City official! (but that's ok - they have the facts, it's us morons that don't get it and tell lies*)

*SARCASTICBASTARD

What are you going to do?

What are you going to do? Put plasters on my teeth?

poppy was naughty today, she bit mummy's hand, as she didn't want help crossing the road - mummy said "I'm going to have strong words with you when we get to the other side! And poppy snaps back with this! What would you do? Ah, hello the next 17 years. I hope it's not a metaphor for Tory rule!

It all changes...

It all changes today...or does it?

Wow, a historical day, political developments a-hoy! Gordon Brown makes a "game changing" statement with the Lib / Lab / Con governmental mashup today. I'm secretly relieved, and saddened...even thought I've never voted labour. Glad that "not the Tories" is back on the cards, Sad that a tragic character has done the right and noble thing (I still don't think the world's economic problems are his fault, whether he rubbed shoulders with the Lehman Brothers or whomever!). Nick Clegg must still be having some sleepless nights... I certainly don't envy his position!

it's all a big Con...

It's all a big Conservative worry

Well, there you have it - the people have mumbled. Yay! A hung parliament... well, not quite the one a lot of us were "hoping" for. I myself wanted to see a Lib / Lab parliament - experience with some fresh ideas (and checks and balances) - But, we're now in that worrying position that the Tories got a lot of seats and the Liberals are stuck between a rock and a hard place. Side with "the most popular" (or unpopular, depending on how you read such a split vote) or the least popular, "defeated" previous government... I'm guessing (and seeing from faceBook) that not a lot of Liberal Voters are happy at all, with the entertainment of the idea that Nick Glegg would consider sharing power with "the Tories"... difficult times for the UK indeed. A worrying development is the idea of another general election in the autumn ... groo.



thanks to Ryan Roberts for posting this image on facebook.