Hi, I'm James. I'm 20 years old, squatting in Manchester England and working in an art supplies shop. In my spare time I draw a lot, read a lot of comics, smoke a lot of weed, sing in a band called Swinelord and make music under the name Crywank.
Legalize.
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06/04/2011 - 15:40 PM
I guess March just blurred past me. I’d like to indulge in details but I’m not really sure how interesting they would be. All I have to really say for myself is that I tried recording some more crywank stuff (didn’t go so great but i’ll eventually upload what I wrote), and I’ve read a lot of Alain de Botton. Reading his work honestly feels like a reward for everything in my life that has taken me up to the point of discovering his writings. They’re literally incredible. I wish I had more to say, I might even do, maybe I’m not really in the state to articulate myself right now.
I keep wanting to delete facebook but then backing out. I feel like it might actually have some kind of hold on me. Weak.
Currently Listening To “Of Broken Links’ by These Trails
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01/03/2011 - 1:55 PM
It turns out my last.fm was deleted by some jerk I used to be friends with. After stealing countless amounts from both me and my friend group, he seemed to think it was rational to delete the website I use to organize my crywank shows and talk to fans after I called him out on it. To a degree it’s my own fault for trusting someone so slimey with my password, but he’s out of my life now (or at least until he decides to make a public dick of himself in some other way).
I can’t really remember a whole lot of last week. I was pretty high throughout. I spent most of the days losing my voice and practicing with swinelord, and the evenings sat on one spot on the sofa refusing to move. I watched a load of human planet though on BBC Iplayer which is fucking awesome. At points it makes me envious that I’m not living a life similar to some of the tribes in the show, although physically and mentally I doubt I’d be able to cope with it. My western blanket smothers me into a comfortable submission.
Oh Hannah B and Pam came round for the evening the other night which was cool. I get very anxious when I have guests due to the fact that I am both a terrible host and bewildered when confronted with the task of entertaining. We ended up all watching ‘The Room’, which as far as I’m concerned is the height of entertainment. Sadly though they both missed the CRUSHING ending.
On Thursday I went to Abby’s fundraiser for her exhibition. I arrived early and spent about half an hour outside a pub chainsmoking and waiting for Ric while people in the street contemplated whether or not I was a celebrity who I look very little like. Ric came out of the pub and we went to Mr. Rick Hall’s car to get high and sing very loudly to Tenacious D and my new favourite band Deaf Circuit.
Eventually everyone arrived and we went into the fundraiser at the deaf institute where I spent the majority of the night in the smoking area, where a little scuffle broke out due to some numpty’s desperate attempt to get in on some of our J (he failed, then got dragged out after he got aggressive). The following morning I had a sausage sandwich and played Zuma with Tom. Man, I fucking love zuma.
On Friday we successfully rearranged the house for the houseshow the following day and had our final practice. The remainder of the day was as per usual spent getting high and watching ‘funny shit’. Emma came to visit for the weekend which was rad although as per usual with guests I was scared I was failing at entertaining, and then Ash came as well to stay who I feel I probably failed with as well.
The following day I went to work, and was treated to the company of Pam who Hannah had brought along for the day. Work went fairly fast, and I bought a book and infant school art, which I managed to leave at the shop. I also snuck out for a mid-work joint which mostly involved me snooping around Chorlton getting paranoid and exploring nearly every back-ally in the area. I also get 72 packets of marmite breadsticks from B&M for £3. Helluva bargin.
When I got back I immediatly downed a breakfast sized buckfast then played an awkward Crywank show which kinda made me feel like an idiot throughout the duration of the set. I didn’t really fit with the lineup and I felt how I regularly feel whenever I play in my hometown (moreso in my house), that I am forcing my friends to politely stand and listen to me play awful music for half an hour. People say different and I hope it’s true, but I get killer paranoid about anything I do creatively.
Bastard sons of Abraham played who where sweet, although I thought it was a good idea to watch them with no shoes on and was immediatly treated to boots slamming on my feet. Then Swinelord played which made me nervous as fuck, but people moved around and I successfully got beaten up by the crowd so that was pretty cool/painful. It kind of felt like practicing had been a waste of time due to how weak my vocals where when we played with the amount I was being ragged about, but hopefully nobody noticed. Also now Ric’s in the band I feel a bit more confident screaming, knowing I have someone to back me up if I ever failtothemaxxx.
Sunday I spent the entire day recovering. This kind of lasted until halfway through Monday, then Tom came round and we went to go see Ric, Cia and Danny where we got blazed, ate some take-out and watched loads of ‘faking it’. I get the impression we may have watched some decent episodes (we only watched the music themed ones) but it had to be one of the most awkward shows I’ve seen. I loved the black lawyer who was scared of black people, he was such a clueless arse! (http://www.channel4.com/programmes/faking-it/4od#2922642)
Today I’m probably going to tidy. I’m not going to Newcastle until tomorrow now due to complications. It’s bizarre considering how excited I am for tomorrow though considering I was dreading playing with Crywank just three days ago.
Currently Listening To “Bug Vomit” by Admiral Angry
21/02/2011 - 4:20 AM
This evening I feel reliably unenthused. Since I last updated my blog I’ve been pretty much constantly trashed. I think I need to start spending some time doing something productive now to counteract the state I’ve put both my body and mind in. I might try cooking something nice this week. Me and Michael went back to Barnsley with my Dad on Wednesday. I smoked pot all night and watched the return of the rock on WWE (which my Dad narrated his opinions over with fervent vigor), then found myself declining into a state of angry romantic cynicism helped by Charlie Brookers’ ‘How TV Ruined Your Life’ which had an episode on love. A lot of the points raised triggered a nasty session of self assesment which pretty much consisted of “fuck, I’m an idiot” replaying in my head until I managed to fall asleep. Regardless of this though, it was a pretty good show. Watch it here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MCfSHuZtSSQ Part 1
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KTDLL1g52Y0 Part 2
The following day me and Michael went into Barnsley town center. It’s often quite shocking to go to back to Barnsley, I struggle to explain why though. I think it might be the lack of diversity combined with the feeling that everything has stayed exactly the same since I’ve left. The only difference I noticed in the town since I last went are that the new college is finished and looks exactly like the old one, and the old ‘rock’ bar which closed down about a year ago is now a chippy. It didn’t take long before we got bored of the center and went to hang out with Chris, listen to music, play Trials HD and get drunk. Then we went to poker where I spent the entire night feeling like I was going to whitey.
I can’t really remember much from the poker night other than a story one of the guys told. His friend apparently got hideously drunk then desperate for sex bought an old prositute. Due to his intoxication though he failed to get hard and ended up spending £200 to go down on a woman thirty years older than him. Humiliated by the experience he returned the following day to ‘prove himself’ to the woman and actually sleep with her. When it came to him being sober though he didn’t find her attractive whatsoever and so failed to get hard again, and so for a second time forked out £200 to go down on this woman. I really liked this story. I’ve always considered the act of soliciting a prostitute quite pathetic, so it was pretty funny to hear about someone taking a few steps further in regards to humiliation. I wonder what she spent her £400 on.
On friday I got driven back to Manchester by my Dad and we listening to ONSIND in the car. This brought up a discussion about hetrosexuality with my Dad, and me and Michael both admitted that despite the fact that neither of us had ever been with a man sexually before, we wouldn’t rule out ever being with a man just because we believe it’s possible to fall in love with anyone regardless of gender and to write it off because you’ve given yourself a sexual tag that you wouldn’t want to break is stupid. It was an odd situation, it felt like I was revealing a secret to my dad, or even ‘coming out’ to him in some degree, despite the fact that it was just an explination of whats possible, rather than what’s happened. I think he thought I was just being young and trying to be as liberal as possible.
When I arrived back in Manchester I got killer wasted. Everybody did. I got 24 cans of Coors for £6, so it got kinda messy pretty fast. The moment we left the house, literally less than a minute down the road we nearly got into a massive fight due to drunkness. It wasn’t good. The show was great though, we saw Pine Barrons and Bastard Sons of Abraham at the Whitworth which was awesome. Watching everyones ‘moves’ on the dance floor was pretty awesome as well. Everything was pretty reminisant of ‘The Drunken Master II’ (which I actually watched again today and blew my mind again). You should probably watch this fight scene when you get the chance:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pf45hmO_1ak
When we got back Cafren and Charlotte had turned the front room into a pirate ship, which quickly got destroyed. People started playing a game which simply involved punching each other as hard as they could in the stomach. Then I went to bed for three hours before work, which yet again I was totally not in the state to be at. This time moreso over being hungover and dazey though, rather than actually still wasted like the following few weeks I’ve been in…. yikes.
Me and Hannah came back to mine where everybody seemed to be killer hungover, and then watched a massive argument unfold with a take-away which was delivering our food to the wrong address. It was mostly just a massive error in communication, but it was pretty funny listening to the phone calls go down. Then we went to crack yr skull where I did the door for most of the night, although probably wasn’t in the right state to do so as I got drunk killer fast and was pretty high due to the pot I’ve been getting in recently being super potent!
I’m pretty confident a lot of people who where there last night hated me. I know this may sound like paranoid nonsense after I’ve just mentioned how awesome the pot I’ve been getting is, but only the friends I see regularly seemed happy to see me. A few people seemed what I should say was ‘standoffish’ but in all honesty was just dicky. Maybe they weren’t being dicky though and I was just reading them totally wrong. I just get a bit annoyed when you make an obvious effort to talk to someone and they just act dismissive. Not a cool way to be. Regardless Paul was there, and he was being rad and talking to me. It was pretty cool to see Paul (and to rap at him while he threw up).
Today I had a Swinelord practice which sounded pretty good. My headaches while I’ve been screaming have been coming later during the practices rather than appearing halfway through the first song. They’re pretty unbareable though. Screaming on the reg is taking it’s toll on me. My voice is pretty much constantly gone right now, although slowly improving. I then spent the rest of the night eating chinese food and watching movies and documentaries.
I watched an incredible documentary on the BBC called Human Planet, the episode I watched was about people who live in huts and boats in the middle of the ocean, some who havn’t been on land in years. The difference in lifestyle was astounding and I’m actually excited about watching the other episodes. It’s been a while since I’ve gotten excited about a television show. I think the last one was probably superjail. I also watched ‘Bigger Stronger Faster’ which took a different stance from what I thought it would but was enjoyable nonetheless, and ‘The Immaculate Conception of Little Dizzle”.
Little Dizzle often felt like it lacked on the plot front, and at point felt like a non-film. Where it sparkled though where some of the concepts it brought up, interesting scenes and shots that where sprinkled throughout the film and the low budget surrealism that kept my attention. I can see this being remembered as a cult film in a few years (it may even be considered one now I havn’t really looked). For a film that at points bored me I’m finding myself wanting to watch it again and reanalyse it. Because of that I’m guessing it’s kind of good. I did watch it with my housemate Ryan though who notoriously likes everything that he watches ever so his enjoyment of the film may have rubbed off on me.
I’m now in bed blogging. It’s just turned 4:20AM. I’ve just found out my last.fm has been deleted but I don’t know why. Lame.
Currently Listening To ‘Untitled #2’ by Lotus Eater
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3kxmi0ib4Hk
16/02/2011 - 4:40 AM
I’ve tried to get to sleep tonight, but my body isn’t letting me. My room is untidy, and a lack of motivation is stopping me from tidying it. It’s state of limbo has obviously disturbed some dust in my room and provoked an allergy attack. Usually these attacks are the result of a cleaning job well done, so it’s annoying that I’m being kept up only to be reminded of the dirt i’m choosing to surround myself with. I keep coughing over and over. It feels like I’m gonna hock something up, but it’s always just harsh air. My parents always tell me that a persons bedroom resembles their state of mind and that living in a tidy room can be thereputical. I agree with this but regardless my rooms always end up messy and cluttered.
I’ve been thinking loads about songs I never wrote. Things that remained in lyric books and have been doomed to be forgotten there due to a worry of how I would be viewed. When I wrote ‘James Is Going To Die Soon’ I made it no secret that this is a breakup album. Unfortunetly for those who know me, and knew the relationship I was in, there came a stage where any more songs about this person would simply become weird (or perhaps I should just say weirder…)
For someone who I am to some degree romatically ‘over’, it’s surely unfair to still be writing somes about them nearly three years after the end of a relationship, and yet I feel so much has been left unsaid. I’m contemplating trying to take everything unsaid and just abridge it into one song. I’d like to say this will close the box, but I don’t think anything ever will other than my brain simply forgetting. Age and changing views just allows my experiences to be analysed in a different way, and for me to constantly learn different lessons from my experiences long after I’ve experienced them.
I don’t know what I’m even really on about. Well I do. I just don’t feel like I’m articulating it very well. I’m probably going to do what I always do when I get anxious about what I’m saying or writing and apologize for ranting. I watched an incredible short film earlier which I also posted to the ‘Toons for stoners’ blog. Persevere with the video, it turns into something fluid and beautiful. I found myself watching the middle chunk of this over and over. It’s special, I swear. http://toonsforstoners.tumblr.com/post/3318582808/orgesticulanismus-mathieu-labaye-2008
Currently Listening To The Album “H.P. Lovecraft II” by H.P. Lovecraft
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16/02/2011 - 12:05 AM
This is going to be brief. Well brief for four days as I havn’t updated in a while, it’ll probably be a fair few paragraphs as usual. I can’t remember a vast amount of detail of the weekend though. We’ll blame that on the drugs. I know I blathered on to Ash Morris for a few hours, before I eventually stumbled to work. I set off far too early, but I didn’t really know how long it would take me to walk there in the state I was in, so after arriving I spent a good half an hour spinning around slowly on swivvel chair, routinely putting on the kettle for coffee after coffee every ten minutes, and eating a veggie sausage sandwich, which was annoyingly hard to find in chorlton (made even more annoying by the pork sausage sandwiches sold across the road at the pound bakery).
I also read quite a bit of “top shelf asks the big questions” again, which I brought for hannah to read on her trip away. The shift took ages from what I remember, me and Hannah had cupcakes and I can’t really remember serving anybody. When I got back to work I was complaining that I was struggling to remember it. Michael told me he thought I was stupid for complaining, and how great it must be to get cash in hand but not really remember what you did for it. I guess thats true. I just enjoy my days at work and like to remember the small details. I remember I wrote some of the lines from the comics in the top shelf book down to put in my lyric book later, but i think I forgot the slip of paper I wrote it on, along with the energy drink I bought.
When I got back home I bought some shisha, some new joss sticks, a new grinder and a bag of weed and spent the evening megamonging on my bed mostly out of how tired I was. The weed admitedly helped a lot though. I listened through the H.P Lovecraft II album, Serpentcult’s album and Jefferson Airplane’s “Surrealistic Pillow”. I then passed out to the max. (although I was cheekily woken up in the middle of the night for another joint by CP&MP). Oh and everyone crammed in my room to chill with me, probably just because I had bud but it was nice nontheless. Hopefully my room will be a lot more chill when it’s all painted and tidy.
The following day I woke up at one, and spent the entire day in bed, getting up only momentarily for a jam with Danny and MP, which I lost my voice fairly quickly during and so didn’t actually last very long. I don’t think I accomplished anything that day. Dan and Michael left, then the power cut so I went to bed. Then I got woken up at half past one by Tom knocking on my window which despite how confusing that initially was ended up being pretty cool.
On Monday I got up, tidied for a while then had a shisha with Will and Penny. Did a tiny bit of art, then after a period of blazing went with tom to sainsburys to get the ingredients for the meal we where cooking the girls for valentines day. We made them spinich rissotto and a white chocolate lemon drizzle cake, although Tom pretty much did all of the main course and I did the easy desert! Pretty embaressing but that was the first cake I’d made in years. I hella enjoyed making it though, and the whole meal tasted sweet. I feel motivated to do some more baking or cooking in the future. Then we layed around in the front room for a while listening to bad 90’s pop music.
This morning I got up, had a joint with laura and decided to take it upon myself to force loads of music upon her while she had to do some work. I played her some Grass Widows, H.P Lovecraft and Jordaan Mason & The Horse Museum. Then I walked home, had some Tomato soup, and scraped out every grinder in the house. I’m drawing now, and eating a cheesecake. I also just watched an incredible animated cartoon called “the art of drowning”. It’s on the cartoons for stoners blog here: http://vimeo.com/13110245
Oh and I nearly forgot. A horrible video of me doing my grazes cover has emerged online. You can hear my voice totally go in the shouting and everything. I love being such a massive failure at hitting notes, and how well my failings at this are documented online. The video gets a little louder from the crowds side at the end. This is due to the fake mosh pit I recieved. Something I havn’t had the honour of recieving since I was 15. I hope to hell I don’t look back on crywank with as much embaressment as what I do for my childhood band. Sure I look back on it with fondness as well, but a fondness I do not wish to share with anyone other than my original bandmates….. ever. ‘Tash Up’ cover can be seen here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tmkX9M8PFF8
Currently Listening To the Album “One Way Streets” by Call Before You Dig
12/02/2011 - 5:15 AM
I’m really really tired, I’ve had a bit too much tonight, but I have work in three hours so I just have to stick it out. I’m looking for something to watch to keep me occupied and awake. Doing this just seems to be making me tireder though. Not good. I need to bash out some coffee and put on something that will keep me awake. I’m listening to Serpentcult again right now, and despite how heavy and crushing they are there is something killer sleepy about their sound that I havn’t recognized until now.
I played the house show tonight which was rad. Grazes where rad as hell and I even crowdsurfed which I havn’t done in a long time. I got a free t-shirt as well which I’ll be wearing to work today! I can’t really remember how well I played, I forgot to perform ‘late night people watching’, and my daggermouth and limp bizkit covers though. I was kind of in a daze while I played, I felt a bizarre mixture of confidence and overwhelming insecurity throughout.
The show was hella fun though, afterwards while walking back home some cunt ran over my friend Lucy which was fucking horrible and freaked me out into a weird mood for the rest of the night. Some jerk just served to hit her then when he obviously realized he had drove off. The police and ambulance came quickly and from what I’ve been told she’s fine, and if having some (or probably had by now) some stitches. I hope she’s ok, I’m the kind of dweeb who lets things like this affect me loads. Lucy is a strong one though, after it happened she seemed more pissed off at the situation than shook up. It’s weird seeing somebody handle a situation so well that you know you’d almost definetly be in hysterical tears throughout.
When I got back my house was full of people who I didn’t know and I felt alienated in my front room all night. I tried to socialize but nobody really seemed that bothered about talking to me. I might be being paranoid though. I don’t know. I’m blathering on and I’ll probably regret writing this so terribly in the morning. Ash Morris just knocked on the door because he’s locked out of his house, good job I was still up. I’m gonna stop writing this and talk to him now.
Currently Listening To The Album “Weight of Light” by Serpentcult
11/02/2011 - 11:10 AM
Eugh, Tumblr is annoying the hell out of me. I just spent about half an hour writing a fairly long post about my morning, with a few views and opinions of things thrown in for good measure and the fucking website deleted it right after I posted it. Ack! I should really learn to copy and paste thing before I click post incase this happens. Now what you’re going to be given is something that I’m fully aware won’t be as readable or interesting as what I previously wrote. It will be rushed and written in a bad mood. bleeuegghgh!
I ended up falling asleep, and was then woken up at about quarter past seven, meaning I only had two hours sleep and I am now currently tireder than what I would be if I hadn’t slept at all. My Dad took me to work with him so I can get a lift to the show tonight, but I’ve been left in his office with little to do. I keep drinking coffee to stay awake and smoking a load of fags and as cool as coffee and cigs are meant to be, I can’t help but shake the feeling that I’m going to shit my pants, and if not that at least spend the entireity of the day letting out little wet smelly farts. There’s a detail that wasn’t in the original draft of this post that you probably didn’t enjoy, you can blame you knowing that on tumblr.
I at least have a book to read while I’m here. In the original post this entire section was about how much I am enjoying “The Waterproof Bible” by Andrew Kaufman that I’m reading at the moment, and how I bought it pretty much right after finishing “All My Friends Are Superheroes” which was also awesome. I can’t be bothered to go into detail again though. Nor can I be bothered to lay down some detail about my enjoyment of other authers who I’m trying to read more work by such as Dave Eggers and Michael Chabon, or the little rant I gave about how I sometimes feel like I am neglecting literature due to a love of comic books crushing it as I feel like they are in direct oppersition rather than totally seperate ways of portraying a narrative.
Here’s a rant I found on my floor in my room at home, I was going to illustrate it but then I felt like it wasn’t good enough, so it’s just being demoted into a crappy blog post that nobody is going to read. It’s pretty lame but due to my knowledge that not many people are going to read this I figure I’ll lay it down anyway. Wakka Wakka.
“When I wake up most mornings I tell myself immediatly that I will create something beautiful, but I never do. In all honesty there is very little stopping me. No Job, no love life, no long term goals, and so no distractions. But it is a lack of motivation that consumes me, and so regularly restricts me from even appreciating beauty, let alone creating it.
I often feel overdramatic, especially when I express myself. I’ve always felt though that it is very hard to be completely honest about emotion and no come across as overdramatic. That’s where I guess a lot of my insecurities come from regarding my general lack of output, anything I created that I would consider ’ art’ would be me expressing myself, and it’s this fear of being judged for my emotions that repells me from wanting to make my lack of emotional stability public through art.
Look at me, I’m only 20 years old and already making excuses for myself. I couldn’t even tell you what the word art means and I still have the audacity to use it as a descriptive word for my currently (and probably constantly) non-existant body of work.”
Currently Listening To “Molten Light” by Chad Vangaalen
(although I’m not, there’s silence, but when I first wrote this post thats what I was listening to, and I already found the picture so I’m going to lie so I can use it…)
11/02/2011 - 4:45 AM
I wish I could say I’ve been doing something while I’ve been staying awake for the whole night, but I havn’t really, at all. I played zuma blitz for ages while Listening to son of ran, and now I’ve ran out of lives and I’m listening to Serpentcult. I’ve looked at a few illustrators and read a few comics but it’s not like I’ve taken anything from them. I’m at that horrible state of ‘highness’ where your mind is just blank and the best thing to do is mong out and look at the ceiling but I don’t want to fall asleep.
I’m in quite a poor state for a rant though, currently I’m feeling opinionless and vacant. Sometimes I get tempted to carry a dictaphone around with me to collect my thoughts, but I firstly would like to avoid being one of those ‘dictaphone twats’ and secondly I’m not even sure my thoughts are worth collecting. I mean buying a gamebuy and collecting pokémon would probably be more rewarding.
Twat
I tried to get myself into the habit of carrying a notebook around with me to write down thoughts and lyric ideas but it’s rare I actually go through with it. When I do as well I think I conciously force myself to write things down (as I regularly do when I blog as well) so a lot of the time what comes out is just pointless shit. I mean like this blog post, this is pretty pointless shit. I mean I while typing that sentance about this blog being pointless shit I as trying to think of where I could take this blog post to, and what direction to go with it, but all I could think of is how bland the cadburys biscuits I have next to me are, and how I wasn’t meant to open them as my mum bought them for me to bring back to my housemates. Thats not interesting. You’ve just read that and you aren’t interested. I kind of wish I’d slept now. I’m gonna go and get another coffee in a moment. Sorry for being boring, I’ll plan before I post next time…
Currently Listening To The Album “Weight of Light” by Serpentcult
11/02/2011 - 2:50 AM
I woke it fairly late today, then mulled around the house for a while. I watched MTV for a while and got pretty disgusted at avril lavigne. I watched the video for ‘girlfriend’ which just appears to be a cruel girl stalking a couple while trying to physically bully the girl, then eventually humiliates the nerdy girl of the couple then fucks her boyfriend in a toilet cubicle. Apparently there was a point when this was the most watched video on youtube. Fucking hell…
Then my mum came back from work and I had pizza with her, listened to raised fist for a while in my room while working out (not even a joke), then went to play poker with my dad and his friends. I did pretty poorly in the first two games, but came second in the third so the night kinda paid for itself. I’m currently monging the hell out on my kitchen table high as hell. I’ve just eaten about eight bags of crisps and loads of ‘Club Orange’ biscuits. I’m pretty stoked about the show tomorrow, I have to be up hella early though as I’m going to work with my Dad as it’s the only way I can get back to Manchester (eugh).
I should go to bed now but I’m getting up so early that it seems pointless. I’m gonna crack on some coffee and look at pictures and cartoons all night. I might do a poster later in the morning showing my findings.
Currently Listening To The Album “One Way Streets” by Call Before You Dig
10/02/2011 - 2:00 AM
Today I woke up and tidied my room slowly until my dad arrived to drive me back to Barnsley, then I had tea with my parents and we attempted to watch Mr. Nice but my Mum talked through a lot of it, and then both my parents went to bed before it finished. I would go into more detail about my day but It isn’t really worthwhile. Other than a nice chat with my Dad in the car drive back to Barnlsey not much has really happened.
I just drank a coffee. A pretty stupid move considering I wanted an early night. My mum buys expencive coffee though, and while I’m staying with her I intend on taking full advantage of the kettle regardless of the hour. Now with a sudden burst of caffine flowing through me I’m spending the evening watching bizarre animated films online for my “toons for stoners” blog.
The only film I really found that felt worthy of my blog (HA, yeah i know…), was Asparagus by Suzan Pitt. Although maybe I don’t even have the right to put it on my blog considering I can barely describe it. All I can really remember from my 18 minutes of watching it is that the soundtrack was nausiating and hurt, and the visuals where incredible, sexual and bizarre as hell. The website I got it froms brief overview of the plot describes it better than I ever could.
(from 366weirdmovies.com) “Almost completely abstract, what little narrative there is revolves around a woman who doodles around her apartment, gazing at the jungle of thorny flowers and fields of wild phallic asparagus that grow outside her window, and visiting the theater before returning home for the night’s climax—she performs magical fellatio on one of the vegetable stalks. Story aside, the film gives us just what the marquee outside the theater she visits promises: “Wonders, attractions, astonishing feats of activity, surprising performances… Visions of the studio, or dreams of art.” There are disorienting reflexive images: the woman gazes into a room inside a shoebox apartment, inside of which is a woman just like her who is also looking into a shoebox diorama, and very soon we are no longer sure whether we’re inside or outside the box—as if it mattered. Visually, the style is Salvador Dalí by way of Monty Python-era Terry Gilliam, with a touch of Art Deco; the frame is full of objects, and everything is incredibly detailed and densely decorated. Inside the theater, the audience is modeled in clay; objects released from the protagonist’s satchel—a lamp, a snake, an armchair—float above their painted heads as they gasp and point in astonishment. This is definitely the one to put on when you’re peaking. “Asparagus” took four years to complete, using funds from the American Film Institute and the National Endowment for the Arts, and was exhibited alongside Eraserhead for two years on the midnight movie circuit. If it’s pure, undiluted weirdness you seek you can hardly do better than “Asparagus.” At only 18 minutes this snack leaves the viewer craving more, rather than bloating the eye with its rich surrealism.” If you fancy watching it the blog links are here:
http://toonsforstoners.tumblr.com/post/3208151109/asparagus-part-1-suzan-pitt-1979
http://toonsforstoners.tumblr.com/post/3208166548/asparagus-part-2-suzan-pitt-1979
The other short I watched and really enjoyed tonight although not an animation was ‘The Heart of The World’ by Guy Maddin. Again this film focus’s a lot more on style than plot, with the love triangle of the film either being unessesary or totally going over my head with what it was trying to represent. I just loved the relentless use of old shot styles, and the general pacing of the film made it hard for me to look away. I havn’t seen enough silent soviet films for me to really make an informed opinion on how great of a tribute it is, all I know is you could pause this film at nearly any moment and it would look fantastic, any film that can make me hold that opinion regardless of plot usually gets a thumbs up from me. That might be the “turn off my brain and mong out while watching nice visuals” side of me coming through though. Watch it here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r4JmeXXRmZg
I have about a jointsworth left so I’m going to roll that now and attempt sleeping. I’m still deciding on what I want to drift off to tonight, but right now Serpentcult are making me slowly headbang by myself in my parents front room. I may also raid the fridge while nobody else is up. I must have eaten over fifteen mini rolls tonight, I have no idea how I am still hungry. Crazy munchies.
Currently Listening To The Album “Trident Nor Fire” by Serpentcult
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