7000 + words

You may have read in the papers - right after the endless stories about how Jeremy Corbyn cloned Lenin and then totally did it with him while flipping off the queen - that I have finally finished the zoetrope I was working on. The above represents the remainder of the images used in the final thingamajig (well, there are over a dozen variations on the first image - the first frame of the animation inside the internal drum - each minutely dfferent from the last - but I think I can sppare you them) . Does it work? Am I happy with it? Yes and yes. Now let us never speak of it again.  Also there's another page of Rag and Bone because that's still stumbling on.

I've actually enrolled on an art course at my local college in an effort to improve my basic fundamentals, give me a grounding in different mediums and get me out of the house and away from the accusing voices that haunt my empty hours. I do worry that there might be a bit too much emphasis on the fundamentals. Last week I drew a pyramid. This week; spheres.

Love and Fishes

Dave D

The Ballad of Bruce Wayne

The people of Gotham despaired of Bruce Wayne

But what they never suspected was that

At night he would go and punch crime in the face

And he did it while dressed as a bat.

In a few months as Batman, Wayne had success

Getting the crime rate right down

Until a guy called the Joker startedmessing things up

And he did it while dressed as a clown.

The Joker was hired to kill our friend, Bats

At the behest of some dudes in the mob.

For crime was tired of being thumped in the mouth

Every time they went out on the rob.

They first fought one night during a soiree

And some poor buggers car got all bent.

Things then got worse! A hospital blew up!

Then Joker did a number on Dent

Bat finaly collared Joker one night

When trying to blow up some boats

The clown hit the bat in the face with a pipe

'I've beat you, you pansy' he boasts

But bats isn't beaten, he throws the crook off

And show him that crime doesn't pay

And Joker falls down, to certain death

And he did it while laughing away

But Batman lassoed him, before he went splat

And clown prince of crime hung there smiling

This joke's not funny, Batman decides,

So he hoyed the sod in Arkham Asylum

The people of Gotham still despair of Bruce Wayne,

They wish he would do something right

This is because they are kept in the dark

That Bruce Wayne is Gotham's Dark Night

The above was written as an attempt to teach a class of thirteen years olds about the ballad format of poetry, with various stanza's containing inciting incidents, rising action etc. etc. You probably didn't cotton on to this, but the plot is cribbed from Christopher Nolan's little known indie hit The Dark Night. I could tell by the faces of the children that they all thought I was a super cool guy, with great hair, who probably owns a kantana and is the best at swimming. Unfortunately I later decided that teaching is not for me, mainly as I cannot speak in front of a large group of people - even when those people are in a pupal state - without my voice rising three octaves and sweating profusely. Ho hum. The academic sector's loss is the soul crushing customer service industry's gain.

More recently the Alice in Sunderland project inches along, latest effort below:

For the remainder of this week I have been shaking my head in wearied horror at the shenanigans around the Labour leadershp election, trying to halt the decline in my physical state by lifting heavy things up and down and spendingmy valuable alone time pretending to be a cowboy complete with spit bucket and assless chaps.

Love and Fishes

Dave Denton

Whist Lads, Haad Yer Gobs

Another image for the Alice in Sunderland themed Zoetrope thing that I'm working on. I'm currently with struggling with how to get the bastard zoetrope thing to turn, however it has now occurred to me that I don't have to. All I need to do is get anyone observing it to run around the stationary images at a fast enough speed of 24 frames per second. This one conflating the Carrol poem Jabberwocky, with the North Eastern folk ballad The Lanbton Worm. For the record I'm far from being the first person in the world to make this link, so it's not like I'm just pullling it out me arse. The structure in the image is not the Acropolis but Penshaw monument, a Victorian folly that sits on a hill near Washington that the worm is meant to have wrapped itself around. Like all follies, the monument has never fulfilled any actual function beyond looking vaguely impressive and acting as a geographical point of reference when your a bit discombobulated. As I write this it occurs that I've never actually been up to see it, which I really should rectify at some point.

Spent yesterday building sandcastles on the beach. It should be noted at this point that I do not have or am in any way associated with any young children. The whole thing was done at the behest of my thirty something girlfriend, whose enthusiams for the whole thing didn't stop her insisting that I go on her behalf to purchase a (Mr Man themed) bucket and spade. Joke's on her though as my sandcastle was blatantly better than hers, mainly thanks to clever use of my Little Miss Sunshine sand rake to form a drawbridge. Scintillating stuff.

Love and Fishes

Dave Denton

 

Wuh Aall a Lirrel Mad Round Here

I'm currently working on an Alice in Wonderland themed zoetrope, because that is what Jesus would want me to do. Actually its more to do with the 150th anniversary of the books for which local big wigs have asked for submissions in any artistic medium around the theme of Alice in... wait for it... Sunderland. My thinking is that a zoetrope (it's an early animation thingamajig. You'd know one if you saw one) is a more interesting submission than just a picture of the of the mad hatter and march hare, blaked on Frosty Jack and screaming at seagulls. Also it's a fun word to say.

As I've mentioned before the North East has numerous connections to the artist formerly known as Dobson's Victorian masterpiece. Most of these links are highly tangential. In the case of Bryan Talbot's graphic novel Alice in Sunderland that's kinda the point - that everything is connected to everything else and that every community has a wealth of culture and history, often of national or even global significance, if you care to look for it. The local authority appear to have taken this as a starting point and ran with it, leading to the slightly eyebrow raising implication that Carroll's book has the same sort of relationship with the North East as the works of the Bronte's have with Yorkshire or Hardy's to the West Country. Which is bollocks, but understandable given that Wonderland is one of the biggest literary brands this side of Narnia,

The below are works in progress intended to go on the outside of the device, with the inside showing a short animation of Alice falling down the rabbit hole. In case you're wondering, I''ve sacked off the traditional appearance of Alice with blonde hair and blue dress as i wanted to have the city colours of red, white and black prominent and also because I figured she'd be easier to animate in keks. If you're unfamiliar with Sunderland landmarks such as Roker pier and Wearmouth bridge, let me assure you that I've got them spot on and you should be well impressed.

Love and Fishes

Dave Denton

Festivities (Various)

A week last Thursday saw the launch of the first Sunderland Short Film Festival, a sister festival to the already established Washington DC event. I like to consider myself something of an aficionado of the silver screen being a fully paid up member of the Billy Zane fanclub and having seen almost all of the Police Academy movies and so duly toddled down to the first screening being held at Sunderland Minster. Given that the thing had barely been promoted and nobody I spoke to in the days leading up to it was even vaguely aware of the its existence the capacity audience was a pleasant surprise, as was the free popcorn and Indian street food, As well as the eight or so screenings there was also speeches from councillors, the US festival's currator (who put me in mind of Vince Gilligans slightly camp uncle) and a peformance by the band Lilliput, who kinda passed me by when I saw them at last years Split festival, but here, at much closer quarters, made a much more positive impression.

The festival lasted four days, but lack of coinage and real world commitments meant I was unable to attend every screening, although I did go to the announcement of the festival winners, this time held at the city's software centre, which it must be said is considerably less dramatic or evocative location, feeling as it does like what it is: a clean and modern, but utterly unremarkable office building. Of course its about what you see rather than where you see it and of the entries that I managed to catch all were at least interesting with most being very good. The eight winners - who each received a years supply of gravy and bus money home - are below (links to films, trailers and clips in title -where I've been able to find them):

Best Drama - I'm in the Corner with Bluebells (Ako Mitchell) - Drama about two biological siblings meeting for the first time as adults and immediately feeling an intense sexual attraction. The (somewhat squicky) subject matter is sensitively handled with the nature of the situation revealed to the audience through pregnant pauses and  awkward glances rather than anything too on the nose. Very well acted and beautifully shot.

Best Foreign Film - Dinner's Served (Tony Partamian) - Armenian (I think) story of an ageing couple preparing for their (I guess) children to return to the nest for (presumably) Christmas. Unfortunately the screen was angled in such a way that the subtitles were obscured by the various bonces of the front row. Much as it pains me to admit it, my Armenian is somewhat sub par, so I feel unable to provide any sort of informed judgement on what I'm sure was a wonderful work. 

Best Art Film - Intrinsic Moral Evil (Harm Weistra) - Interpretive dance piece about church classification of homosexuality as a sin. Normally I'd wonder what the point is of putting a stage-bound medium on film, though there's enough cinematic flourishes to justify the use of the medium. S'alreet. Definitely at the more abstract end of the spectrum.. 

Best Documentary - The Reinvention of Normal - (Liam Saint-Pierre) - Lovely documentary following Dominic Wilcox, an inventor who's work revolves around challenging perceptions of what constitutes normal - such as a device that transfers sounds from your left to your right ear an vice versa. I loved the use of animated interludes and the note of disappointment in Wilcox's father's voice when he says that his son is going to forgo the family business to spend his time creating toothbrush maracas.

Best Sci-Fi/Horror - The Herd - (Melanie Light) - Horror about trafficked women. I'm sure it's brilliant, but the organisers were unable to screen it due to the presence of a minor in the audience. The little shit.

Best Animation - Late (Christi Bertelsen) - US animation about losing your keys/phone/bus pass take on a life of their own. Not the most incisive observation perhaps, but there's a definite charm to the animation.

Best Comedy - After Eric: Part of that World (Marcus J Richardson) Mockumentary following Ariel (of The Little Mermaid fame) a few years after she left the sea. Less Walt Disney and more Jeremy Kyle, Ariel is now depresssed, single (Her lover couldn't handle people yelling "fish fucker" at him) and desperate. Her health's declining and her waist expanding ("Y'see I used to go swimming all the time" she explains). It's genuinely funny with a nice melancholy undertone and enough subdued criticism of the occasionally horrendous morals of its source material to make it interesting. How the film, and its score in particular, has escaped the attention of the notoriously litigation happy Disney company I'll never know.

Audience Favourite Award - Stephen Caught a Star (Michiel ten Kleij) Dutch fantasy film about a little boy's flights of fancy which are, in part, a coping mechanism to deal with the breakdown in his parent's marriage. The film contains one trope that has never really worked for me - the parent who is bafflingly aghast that a small children has an active imaginations - but leaving that aside, I love me some whimsy which this had in spades along with some very high production values.

Best Regional Film or Geet Canniest Fillum Road (Robert Carr) A man wakes up on an empty road, shoeless and with no recollection of how he got there. With no other options presenting themselves he begins to head down the road, hoping for answers. It's a nice set up which wasn't, in my opinion, matched by its pay off. Still some of the imagery is striking and imaginative. The guy who made it also looks sickeningly young.

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I originally meant to post the above a week ago, however real life drama reared it's ugly, invidious head and so I've been sufficiently delayed that I might as well mention another festival thingummy that took place the other day; the Sunniside Live Festival.

For those unfamiliar with the area, Sunniside gardens is the historical centre of the city which was  redeveloped a few years ago in the hopes of establishing it as a cultural quarter. Unfortunately, due to its perceived isolation from the rest of the city centre, a proliferation of halfway houses, hostels and needle exchanges immediately adjacent and the generally shitty economic climate of the last few years, its highly underused save for skateboarding yoofs and the perpetually refreshed (or piss artists, to put it crassly). Which is a shame as, as it stands, it is by far the best looking part of the city and a lot of time, money and effort has been spent restoring it. 

Hence Sunniside Live, a free music event put on by local artist and businesses to draw people into the area and remind them that there's more to the town than betting shops, Greggs and Poundlands. The event can also be seen as a scaled back replacement for the very much missed Split festival, giving local artists a platform to reach new audiences.

Unfortunately I missed Social Room, who got a place on the bill by virtue of winning a battle of the bands. Since then I've listened to a couple of their tracks via the wonder of Youtube and there's a lot to like, the lead singer's got a good voice if nowt else. Hopefully hear more of them in the future.

To be honest a lot of the acts prior to the headliners seemed to fall into the professional karaoke category, while Olivia Lawson, from The Voice, sounded a bit crap from where I was sitting. The event didn't really get started until Hyde and Beast took the stage just as the weather seemed to be taking a turn for the worse. The band remain as tight as a nut, with a knack for a catchy tune and lovely harmonies. Being completely honest, the band's Randy Newman by way of The Beatles sound, as undeniably well done as it is, isn't something I'm automatically drawn to, although the noticeably rockier and lead track off their upcoming EP definitely is and sounds like it's going to be worth looking out for.

Bill topping duties went to local good eggs Frankie & the Heartstrings The Heartstrings have never really impressed me on record (that is, prior to their just released third record, Decency which I'm still digesting, but so far has done a much better job of grabbing me). Live, they're a much more engaging prospect; fast, wiry and urgent and with a bit of a thump behind the music. The crowd were all onside, the threat of rain vanished and good times were had.  Hip Hip - and indeed - hurray

If I had to criticise anything it'd be that there was a stupidly long wait between acts and that the choice of drinks at the bar was shite. I do wonder if this wasn't deliberate as it encouraged people to leave the festival area and sink a few in one of the other pubs and bars in the area, before returning suitably merry. As with the film festival, Sunniside Live is just starting out. It certainly seemed like a success and hopefully it can grow into an annual event with organisers building on the experiences of this year to create something special.

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In unrelated news, here are some pictures what I drew:

Love and fishes

Dave Denton

Lord Bludveld

Oh, save us, Lord Bludveld

Arch foe of good

Herald of the Many Mouthed God

Our leaders grow feeble 

It's time for new blood 

And we think you're the chap for the job.

Unemployment is up

Tax revenues down

Our legislature a right shower

So we now seek the king

In Drac Mortef's crown

To appropriate executive power

Your siege of the troll-folk

The rape of Moongate

Has led us to the conclusion:

You slew the bone knight,

You're unlikely to break

When dealing with uppity Unions

We desire a leader,

A man's man who knows

How to kill a guy with his bare hands.

Who quaffs honeyed mead

from the skulls of his foes

When reviewing departmental plans

But first you've a rival

Who you'll have to best

who's running a rival campaign

But his spending's not credible,

Foreign policy? A mess! 

Russia will laugh at a leader called Wayne

So, please Dread Lord Bludveld

Doom of the black dwarves

We'd be honoured if you accepted this crown

You're a statesman, a scholar

And also, of course

You've the monopoly of violence locked down.

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Random daftnesss. Huzzah! Will most likely return and edit the ever loving shit out of this so that it scans better at a later date. Also apologies for being about six years too late to the party in using what is possibly the most parodied image of the 21st century. Also, apologies to anybody named Wayne. Yours is a fine name that just so happened to fit in with the rhyme scheme I was working with

Love and fishes

Dave Denton

Altruistic Bloviation Negation

Just doing an image dump this week as nothing of consequence has happened to me in the outer world while my once rich internal life has shrivelled to the point that it basically consists of me staring slack jawed at the wall and trying to figure out if I'm hungry or merely bored.

Still I did a title page/front cover for that Rag and Bone thing I am always bleating on about. I always feel - for want of a better word - sort of presumptuous making stuff like this, but the deed is done so might as well hoy it on here.

Also, here's another thing that I thingled. I'm not sure I'm 100% happy with it, although the background, even when taking into account the gratuitous use of gaussian blur (a favoured tool of the lazy and the scoundrelous) turned out far better than I thought it would 

Love and Fishes

Dave Denton