Links Ahoy! (10) : This time, the links will have their vengeance

Before I give you the usual delicious links to chew on, I must first poke you with some shameless plugging (hey, at least I'm doing it on my own blog).

I recently changed the theme of my "comics" blog, Flippy Doodles. I moved my comics over to Comic Fury, hence I changed Flippy Doodles to something more simplistic and artsy. So it's all going to be fancy, new age, minimalist and sexy...

Or more precisely, it's going to be a place for me to post any work which inspires me, and share it with readers. I will be posting work by other artists as well as putting up anything new I make. As well as this, I'm moving most of my poems to this link too.

But do not fear! I am going to post new poems on both Flippy Doodles and this blog (do you have a fear of not being able to read my robot poetry?)

Secondly, I have finally vested a renewed interest in my reviews blog, Shortcut Reviews. You can find me updating it more often now, with random movie reviews and entertainment news.

Since I am currently pretending to be emo, I have not been to the cinema for a while, so there are not many reviews of recent movies. But I am going to do a True Blood season 4 running blog series, with a review after each episode, so stay tuned.

Lastly, I have opened up my Twitter account (i.e. the tweets are not protected anymore), so if you want to stay in touch with all three of my blogs, as well as get updates about my mental condition, then link up!

Ok, now for some nom nom nom links:


Cargo

One of my favourite art blogs, but does it float, and recently 50 Watts (previously known as A Journey Around My Skull) run on Cargo. Cargo provides the user with a web publishing CMS and community-building platform, as well as a hosting address. But what's different about this platform is that it's aim is to connect and expose designers of all sorts.

If you are serious and passionate about any design work, or have a nice blog about art/design, consider joining the network. Of course, to maintain the high quality of content, membership is by invite only, but you can contact them to submit your work and see if they let you in.

Even if you don't wish to join, just visit to check out the blogs they have in their network. It's like pornography for anyone who likes design. There are SO MANY wonderful blogs on typography, design and whatnot, that you will feel dizzy just browsing through.

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Good Magazine: Infographics

A ton of awesome infographics! For infographic maniacs!

These have to be some of the best infographic layouts I have seen; I really want to know who designs them for Good Magazine.

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One Girl and Her iPod

Found this blog just yesterday via Blogger's Blogs of Note platter. At first sight it appears to be a daily life-update blog. But at the end of each post Emily (the blog author) recommends several songs. 

At first I was like 'meh!' (using nonsensical words to describe something is a human virtue); but then I checked out some of her recommendations, and I loved those songs so much. Since then, I am hooked. 

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50 Watts

I had once linked to A Journey Around My Skull, a blog by book cover art enthusiast Will Schofield. Well, now he has moved to a new location. 

I'm going to miss the old haunt, but I also love his new layout and everything. Check it out - full of lovely book covers and all sorts of other inspirational art work. 

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Groovy Post: How to Delete Your Facebook Account

I know this seems rather random in a Links Ahoy! but I remember once I was trying to delete my Facebook account and how incredibly difficult Facebook made it for me, so I just wanted to put this out there. 

You see, back in the good ol' days (circa 2006) you could not delete your Facebook account at all. Well sort of - you had to email their customer service, and even if they did delete it, all your data would remain on their server. So in order to delete your account fully, you had to remove every single bit of data from your profile (i.e. delete all wall posts, remove all your friends, etc). I got so sick of it that I threatened to sue them (I was a teenager, withering in pools of hyperbole in my prime).

Anyways, they have come a long way since then. So if you are someone out there looking to delete their Facebook account, use this tutorial. This is one of the most straightforward ones I have come across. 

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The Guardian: How to Spot a Psychopath 

A wonderful article by Jon Ronson, on his journey from Broadmoor psychiatric hospital to corporate boardrooms, to find out what exactly is a psychopath. I am worried about the fact that Ronson is not at all a trained professional in the area, so treat some of his claims with a pinch of salt. 

But it is a rather nice article, with most of it consisting of discussing a patient who got into the psychiatric hospital by "pretending" to be a psychopath. And I never considered the idea of economic psychopaths either...

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Allen Institute for Brain Science: Atlas of the Brain

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Scientists funded by Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen have developed a $55 million computerized atlas of the human brain, offering the first interactive research guide to the anatomy and genes that form the brain. The online atlas offers researchers a  new tool to understand where and how genes are at work in the brain. 

It's a neat database, although it is way beyond anything that I can understand. But I am sure there are people who would find such a large database very interesting. So far, I'm only clicking on random links, like a monkey with a typewriter. 

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Chic Talk

Artist 1:


I really like mannequins. What do you think? Mannequins as inspiration. Great big mannequins, with extremely pale skin, sickly looking, hair falling out, and great bags under their eyes.


Artist 2:


Hmmmn... are you sure about that? Mannequins, eh? Hmmnn... I'm not completely sure if it's... stylish enough as an inspiration. Too old, don't you think?

Mannequins are all over the place now, with every corner of the Tate Modern filled with 'em. Sure, you can bludgeon them and poor cranberry juice with crow feathers, but still, it's not enough to use something which has already been extensively used.

Do you have any other ideas?


Artist 1:

Oh god, I never realised mannequins had turned into some hippie brigade. Jesus - wouldn't want people to think I was dippin' myself into the same themes as Ramien Ghirst.

Well, I did have something else in mind - how about water bottles?


Artist 2:

Water bottles, eh? Well, I dunno. A bit of a flimsy material, don't you think?


Artist 1:

Oh no, no, no, no. When I say water bottles, don't think of those normal ones, which every layman in the country possesses. Heavens no - those cheap, kitschy looking bits of polyethylene? Jesus Christ, I'd rather be found dead on the streets than use such a tasteless material.

No, no - I was referring to those nice water bottles. You know, the thick ones, the ones made out of nice shades of acrylic. You get them in all sorts of gorgeous colours, to comfortably store water in your fridge. The ones with the fancy decorated caps. You get them in Trendie Homes, in wonderful shades of aquamarine and royal purple.


Artist 2:

Oh yes, those types - yes, yes, well then, I am not worried. For a second I thought you were reffering to the cheap ones. Chirst, those cheap ones - they have been used all over, by all them creepy environmental types, they stick water bottles everywhere.

That gangly looking girl whose on the television all the time - the one who looks like she doesn't wash -


Artist 1:

Missie Coulhart?


Artist 2:

That's her idiotic name, is it? Yes her -

She just sticks those cheap water bottles all over the place. Inside the mouths of dead turtles; on top of post boxes of middle-class people's homes; lines them on streets around town. To think that she did not even get bored with herself!


Artist 1:

She also had some art show, in this hole in some corner of London. It was in the papers - she just glued water bottles inside frozen towels, and poured battery acid all over. That was it! That absolutely pathetic technique was used to make over five sculptures - just frozen towels with water bottles, molded together in some ghastly form.

I mean sure, fans of Forenco Maccenelli's will say that such extreme mixed media is exactly what is needed to make sculptures really speak to the audience. But really, battery acid? Towels? How ridiculously cheap looking. At least when Maccenelli used a combination of wood and decaying animal flesh in the twenties, it was something innovative for the audience. Since then, a slew of young "artistic" bastards think that they can get away with producing shit and displaying it on a pedestal.


Artist 2:

Well then, you must be glad to be rid of that ridiculous parade of lunatics. I'm telling you - with those acrylic bottles you will be well off. You do not want to be connected to all these hippies in anyway.

The difference between polyethylene and polycarbonate makes all the difference in the world. None of that cheap bastardly "art". Just pure, beautiful, good quality plastic.

Leonard Cohen - Suzanne

The original song:




...and the live cover by Nick Cave (my favourite):
Embedding is disabled, so go here.

Clearly defined on my varnished tiles

At dawn
the sun comes out
and casts a reflection on my tiles
my shiny, polished, fancy tiles
on the twentieth floor of this modern rise.

I never did notice that before
everyday I drank my tea and wiped my table clean
brushing the bread crumbs onto the floor
and ignore the bright reflection
of the sky above
clearly defined on my varnished tiles

But once, I threw a bouncy ball on the reflection
and - as if in a dream - it went straight through
it did not bounce on the tile, but disappeared through it
I looked up and saw the ball rising in to the sky at great speed
and fast disappearing into the cosmos.

Never did such a thing exist before
the gravity in the reflection making it fall forever
upwards into the sky
away from the gravity of this - real - world.

Now everyday
I never failed to notice the reflection
I walked around it, careful to avoid falling through
or falling up,
whatever you want to think.

I once playfully put my foot through it
just to see what it would be like.

It felt like nothing
but then I saw my foot
outside the window
floating in the air
like some grotesque decoration of the gods.

Only at night was I at peace
when the sun no longer shone
and there was no reflection
to engulf me.