“The Scottish Hippo” By Alasdair Gray.

Seemingly inspired by “The Hippopotamus” by T.S. Elliot, here is Alasdair Gray‘s poem, “The Scottish Hippo”, and it’s beautiful accompanying illustrations…

The Scottish Hippo by Alasdair Gray

The muckle hippopotamus
spelders in glaur apo’ his kite.
A solid fact he seems tae some.
They arena right.

The hippo’s coorse digestive tract
erodes through frequent emptying.
The KIRK’s the only solid fact
that winna ding.

In gaitherin o’ warldly gear
the hippo often gangs agley.
The KIRK can hunker on her rear
and draw her pay.

The apples hippo gapes tae pree
are oot the reach o’ sic a brute.
The KIRK’s refreshed frae yont the sea
wi’ juicy fruit.

A hippo, fashed by fleshy thorn,
ejaculates in congress grubby.
The KIRK bel-cantos nicht and morn,
GOD is her hubby.

When cloud o’ mirk obscures creation
the hippo wakes tae hunt its meat.
The KIRK’s suspendit animation
can sleep and eat.

Behold the hippopotamus arise,
clap his broad wings and, soaring,
claim the skies!
Angles sing him in,
saints bring him in
to paradise!

In pure flood
of lamb’s blood
he’s laundered neat.
To gold harp
in f-sharp
he warbles sweet.

Clean o’ stain
amang his ain
each martyred virgin is his jo.
The auld KIRK
in the auld mirk
foozles below.

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* Al Cook’s “Necropolis”
* The Glasgow Alphabet By Rosemary Cunningham
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Artist István Orosz & The Hidden Skulls.

Hungarian artist István Orosz has created some new illustrations for “Ship Of Fools“, a medieval book of satire originally published in 1494 in Basel, Switzerland, by Sebastian Brant and as you are about to see, all of the illustrations cleverly ‘conceal’ human skulls…

 

View the full set on István Orosz’ site HERE.

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* Cracking Open A Cold One
* Macabre, Weird & Wonderful Childrens’ Book Illustrations By Gōjin Ishihara
* Stop-Motion Animation …On A Vinyl Record!

Gorgeous Portraits Of Movie Characters & Classic Shots.

I’d like to tell you all a little bit about the magnificent paintings of cinematic classics you’re about to see but unfortunately, I know almost nothing.

Here’s what I do know: The artist seems to be called Massimo Carnevale and…that’s it!

The Great Dictator (1940):

Some Like It Hot (1959):

The Fearless Vampire Killers (1967):

Serpico (1973):

JAWS (1975):

Taxi Driver (1976):

Saturday Night Fever (1977):

Alien !1979):

The Blues Brothers (1980):

The Elephant Man (1980):

The Shining (1980):

Back To the Future (1985):

Brazil (1985):

Full Metal Jacket (1987):

Point Break (1991):

The Silence Of The Lambs (1991):

True Romance (1993):

The Crow (1994):

The Green Mile (1999):

Death Proof (2007):

Bronson (2007):

Gran Torino (2008):

Machete (2010):

Django unchained (2012):

There are a HELLUVA lot more of these wonderful paintings and they can be viewed HERE.
The original artist seems to have a blog HERE.

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* Trailer: “Drew: The Man Behind The Poster”
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Rejected Album Artwork: David Bowie’s “The Man Who Sold The World”.

This is how we all know and recognise David Bowie’s album “The Man Who Sold The World”:

Ah, but things could’ve been very different…

The original 1970 US release of “The Man Who Sold The World” employed a cartoon-like cover drawing by Bowie’s friend Michael J. Weller, featuring a cowboy in front of the Cane Hill mental asylum.

The first UK cover, on which Bowie is seen reclining in a Mr Fish “man’s dress”, was an early indication of his interest in exploiting his androgynous appearance. The dress was designed by British fashion designer Michael Fish, and Bowie also used it in February 1971 on his first promotional tour to the United States, where he wore it during interviews despite the fact that the Americans had no knowledge of the as yet unreleased UK cover.

It has been said that his “bleached blond locks, falling below shoulder level”, were inspired by a Pre-Raphaelite painting by Dante Gabriel Rossetti.

The 1971 German release presented a winged hybrid creature with Bowie’s head and a hand for a body, preparing to flick the Earth away.

The 1972 worldwide reissue by RCA Records used a black-and-white picture of Ziggy Stardust on the sleeve which remained until 1990 when the Rykodisc reissue reinstated the original UK “dress” cover. It also appeared on the 1999 EMI remaster.

“Oh By Jingo!” indeed.

Stop-Motion Animation …On A Vinyl Record!

By Danish designer Michael Hansen, this is one of the greatest ideas for vinyl record design I’ve ever seen!

“An album cover for the modern classical composer Allan Gravgaard Madsen. My idea was to translate Allan’s sensorial music into a visual experience with elements of sensuality. The two pieces of music is separated on the records two sides. There is not an A- or B-side. Each piece has its own front page; Waves is a visualisation of the music performed by nine trompets. I made it as simple as possible with nine circles on a line. Crystal Tapestry is a pattern of crystals that has no front or back end, it refers to a crystal that merge into it self. Inside I made a visualisation that combines the two sides, a crystalized wave. On the record i created patterns that gives the design a visual sensuality. I made an analog animation with a 50 Hz strobe lamp and made it interact with the music.”

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* Album Cover Artwork: “Love Lust Tales”
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