Helping

Hi folks! Hope you’re all having a lovely Sunday. I’m just calling in briefly this evening to share a link which I implore you click. Maybe it’s the raw human sadness of this woman’s story and the fact that it touches on one of my most innate fears,  or maybe (and most probably) it’s because the concept to help her is just so friggin’ beautiful,  but since reading this post this morning I haven’t been able to get it out of my head:

Bottle Bell Photography: Helping One Person Heals the World

It really is a beautiful idea, isn’t it? I don’t have much I can contribute myself, I’m just going to send a couple of my Flickr snaps I think, but I know what a talented and kind hearted bunch you lot are.  So please, take the time to read the post. I promise you’ll be as moved as I was. 

Zombie Love (Again)

Curious Printery

I just heard on the auld virtual grapevine that May is National Zombie Cultural Appreciation Month. Why am I only finding this out now?!* Anyway, I realise the ‘national’ part refers specifically to the US but, the way I see it, undead pandemics tend to be a worldwide phenomenon so I don’t see any reason why they shouldn’t be appreciated globally too. Plus, it’s a great excuse to indulge in a little zombie love.

I was going to make a list of my top five favourite zombie films to mark the occasion, but then I realised it’d just be a list of Romero flicks working in chronological order from Night of the Living Dead downwards (or should that be forwards?).  Since that’d be rather dull, I’ve instead decided to celebrate some of the other aspects of undead ‘culture’ out there in Geekland.  So, without further ado, here are just some of my favourite titbits. Enjoy!  

*Ok, so I actually found out two days ago - when I wrote this post. Argh! Cheers again Blogger for deleting it, comments and all. Ah well, at least I had it saved in drafts :)  

Zombie History

To understand any culture, as they say, you should look to where it came from. And according to the owner of this vintage map, “while no one can precisely pinpoint the first resurrections of the living undead, historians and scholars agree that Pittsburgh was the birthplace of the modern undead phenomenon.”  He goes on to explain that the grandson of the cartographer, one Mr Romero, later went on to make educational documentaries on various undead uprisings. Very excellent indeed.

Alternate Histories

Zombie Art and Décor

Ok, so there’s tons of this stuff out there to suit all tastes. These are just a couple of my choices for a chic and pretty plot:

 

 Lucky Faces

Beat Up Creations

Zombie Literature

Not literature about zombies, literature by zombies! Well magnetic fridge poetry anyway, with this set specifically tailored for the undead vocabulary from ThinkGeek. And for those lacking in the imagination department (which zombies are wont to do) they also have a great wee guide to haiku for the verbally challenged:

Zombie Food

Find out how to make these brainy treats in this photo-tutorial.

Zombie Fashion

For any style-conscious undead gals out there looking for something for that summer wedding:

Zombie Dolls

And to scrub up before hand, how about this bubble bath which “soothes and freshens dead and decaying flesh”: 

 

 Little Horror Box 

Zombie Music

I’d say their gigs would be good craic.

Wonderbros

For Little Zombies

To keep the wee monsters amused while mammy’s out hunting for fresh flesh.

Sunnfox

Pseudo Octopus

And Finally…

For those of you who aren’t as excited about a possible apocalypse as some of us, there’s plenty of protective products out there to calm your nerves. Like this lovely soap:

 Rude and Reckless

Seasonal Irony

Image via inishowennews.com

Well people, the rain’s back and so am I! Thank the heavens for it too - the rain that is, not me being back (I might be a bit ditsy but I’m not that self-absorbed).  And for once I’m not alone in rejoicing at the return of the clouds; it must be the first time in history people were actually praying for rain in Ireland. Things were getting a bit hairy there for a while!

For anyone not from these parts, we’ve been having some trouble with gorse fires recently. These past weeks of hot, dry, windy weather saw them popping up all over the British Isles. Donegal was quite badly hit, and while we were lucky enough to only have a few minor blazes in our immediate area (like the one photographed above), a large chunk of the rest of the county was ablaze. From our upstairs window you could see hills burning across the lough.  ‘The fires of Bealtaine’ as a friend on Facebook called them. Indeed.

Not to worry, though, for the rain has returned, Ireland is once more her soggy (if a little smouldering) self, and all is right with the universe again. Well, aside from the fact that thousands of hectares of bog, woodland and forest have been decimated. Not to mention those wee chicks in their nests and all the other little unfortunate critters caught up in the flames. There may not have been any humans killed, but there’s fear now that some rare native bird species may have been completely wiped out. Devastating stuff altogether. 

Anyway.

Right, so I’ve been trying to think what I’ve been up to since I last made a proper post, as opposed to one where I just came on to blog about how I’ve not been blogging enough. Let’s see, what have I been at? Well, I’ve joined a local camera club, which has been both fun and educational in equal measure. Basically it just involves a bunch of super-cool folks sitting around looking at and talking about photographs.  And drinking tea. What more could a girl ask for? Here’s one of my photos from last week, the theme was ‘macro’. It’s not great, but, as I said, I’m learning loads from the group.

I’ve also been helping  my fiance’s dad out with a history and heritage group he’s involved with and I’ve found out some really interesting stuff about local ley lines and stone circles after he discovered these maps in an old book. The zoomed-out one charts the astronomical connection between several megalithic sites in the wider area, while the close up one concerns a circle just nearby my house!  I love this stuff…

In other news, any corrupt politicians or scandalous personalities in my vicinity should beware, I may soon be returning to the world of local hackdom. It’s all still up in the air at the minute but fingers and toes are crossed! I’ll keep you posted on any developments.

Finally this evening - last but certainly not least, and all that - I want to say a big happy HELLO to my latest follower, Libithina! Aside from having a really beautiful name, this lady also has several wonderful blogs to peruse. Here’s her profile link because I couldn’t decided which site to share. You see, my friends, the lovely Libithina is my 200 th follower! As such I’d just like to take this opportunity to say I LOVE YOU GUYS!

Thanks so much to each and every one of you who take the time to call into this little corner of webland. I can’t for the life of me think why anyone would want to, but I am really truly grateful to all who do. I’ve made some great friends here over the past year and it amazes me that I keep meeting new ones. I have to admit, I do feel a tad guilty since I’ve been such a bad blog buddy lately.

As I said though, I’m back now, and this weekend I’m making a point of catching up with you all - new friends and old!  Until then!

Mr Bean and The Web Pixies

© Kyle Bean

First things first - what the hell??? I leave my humble online abode for just a few wee days and come back to find web pixies have been wreaking havoc in my absence. Pesky pixies. As soon as I finish this post I’m off to sort them out. Or at least taking a wee spin over to see what in the world’s going on at Photobucket…  

Anyway, back to blog business! I’ve another of those artists to share this evening that you’ll probably already be familiar with. Even if you haven’t come across the name Kyle Bean before, chances are you’ve stumbled across the British designer at some point in your wanderings.  Specialising in hand crafted models and props, his work pops up all over the place. My personal favourites have to be that funky chicken above and these fantastic matchstick insects:

Oh, and how could I forget about this book/laptop hybrid, a statement on “how we’re sourcing information”:

 

Not too shabby, eh? The words ‘want’ and ‘now’ come to mind. Speaking of books and loveliness, you may even have a sample of the talented Mr Bean’s work on your shelf beside you since he’s also tried his hand at cover art…

…as well as dabbling in the publishing world himself. This is his Guide For The Unlucky, an interactive popup guide on how to avoid falling victim to everyday charms and curses:

 

What were those two words again? ;) Find out more about it here, and don’t miss the wonderful little video preview when you're there. Anyway folks, hope you’re all well and having a lovely week. Must get by your places for a wee visit just as soon as I go confront these pixies! 

Pencil Vs Camera

 © Ben Heine

Hello all you lovely blogging folk, how’s everyone doing this evening then? Having a fantastic week I hope. My own’s been a bit up and down; it started off super busy and positive until today when my usual yucky back trouble brought any productivity to an abrupt halt. Ah well - unpleasantness and pain aside, at least it’s given me a little time for some guilt-free blogging. And excused me from the remaining chores of the epic spring clean Himself and I began a couple of days ago. Silver linings and all that!

Anyhoo, I’m actually in the middle of preparing a post in response to a few queries I’ve had regarding photo texturing. It’s taking much longer than I’d anticipated, though, so in the meantime I thought I’d share these wonderfully imaginative ‘Pencil vs Camera’ images by Belgian-based artist Ben Heine. I was especially interested to read that this guy is actually a trained journalist who’s  “many years of graphic exploration, artistic experience and his very own vision of the world” led him to the career he has today.  It’s all a little inspiring for this particular unemployed hack :)

Barking Mad

The stuff of memories?

So it’s the start of National Tree Week everybody! Great, right? Well please forgive this particular leaf lover for not getting too over excited.  Sure I’m all for celebrating our wooded wonders and I give a big virtual pat on the back to those lovely folk over at the Tree Council of Ireland, they do good work. But I’m afraid I’m going to have to kick off their well intentioned week with a rant. 

You see I’m finding it very hard at the minute to muster up any national pride in the way our country cares for trees, especially since it’s recently been revealed that we’re planning on selling them all off! Well, maybe not all of them exactly, just our remaining forests.  Over a million acres to be precise. Kind of ironic when you consider the theme for this year’s week is ‘Celebrating Forests for People’.

Regular readers to this blog will have heard me lamenting our embattled trees before. Irish trees were arguably the biggest losers of the Celtic Tiger era and its head long rush towards development and ‘progress’, and I had hoped the recession might have provided them with some respite from the builders’ bulldozers. Unfortunately that appears to have been a rather naive notion.

Yup, Ireland’s forests are now up for sale along with everything else in the country, reduced to nothing more than a commodity to be monopolised by private investors.

In fairness, the plan isn’t necessarily to chop all the forests down. Well it is actually, but not in the way you might think. Apparently interest has been expressed in the prized lots by a Swiss finance company called Helvetia Wealth, who own the International Forestry Fund. Interestingly, the IFF is now chaired by former Taoiseach Bertie Ahern (those of you after a cynical chuckle should read the laudations for him on their website).  

 

Speaking of their website, after reading it one could be forgiven for being a tad optimistic about the future of our forests; lots of talk of sustainability and ethical and environmental consideration, pictures of bluebell carpeted woods, details of how entire local economies can flourish around the forests themselves… It all sounds quite reasonable, doesn’t it?

You’ll have to pardon my scepticism, but I find it hard to be convinced that a multinational corporation driven solely by profit garnered from timbering has the best interests of our country’s natural heritage at heart.  My suspicion was further heightened by the ‘terms and conditions’ you have to agree to before even logging into their site, basically a disclaimer which warns that not everything on the website should be taken as set-in-stone fact. I think that one was aimed at the investors, but it still takes the shine out the silver lining I highlighted above.

You know it’s issues like this that have me itching all the more to get my journalism boots back on. So far the Irish media have paid little attention to the plight of our forests, but I suppose why would they if it wasn’t sent out pre-explained in a press release? Investigative reporting was already on its last legs but I think the recession has finally killed it off. Newsrooms are just so short staffed theses days that editors can’t afford to give their reporters the time needed to look into these things properly. Ah, but I digress…

 

Back to the trees! So I realise a lot of you fellow inhabitants of this soon-to-be-not-so-emerald isle will already be up to speed on all this thanks to the petition doing the rounds on Facebook. Those of you from further a field that are interested can find out more here at The Woodland League, where you’ll find a copy of the petition to our president. Feel free to sign it! The more countries that say no to this carry on, the harder it’ll be for leaders to get away with it elsewhere. And doubt for a second that similar shenanigans aren’t afoot in your own respective backyards!

The British public have already shown that it’s possible to get governments to change their minds on these matters, now it’s Irelands turn to take back the trees. We’re only a little country, and from what I can see our leaders rarely listen to anything we say, so we could do with all help we can get. I thought maybe I might be able to rally some international support from all you lovely blogger folk? Especially you American ones, our government has always done everything you Yanks have told it to ;) So sign up, pass it on, and help us save our forests! The Irish nation thanks you in advance.

Guilty Pleasures

Some of my not-so-guilty pleasures :)

 

One of the main reasons I’ve been neglecting blogging so much recently is, put simply, guilt. It might sound mad but I feel guilty because I love it so much; I love writing posts about pointless things, I love wandering the web hunting for arty treasure to share, and I love catching up with all my blogging buddies. Lately, though, every time I sit down to do any of the above I’m overcome with self-reproach and an overwhelming sense that I should be doing something more ‘constructive’.

For fear of sounding melodramatic, I’ve been feeling rather panicky of late regarding my ‘direction’ and all that carry on. I’m fully aware that we’ve been going though the worst recession for generations, and I am accepting of the fact that I’ve had health issues hampering my quest, but I just can’t help shake this gloomy frustration at my faltering career. ‘Career’? I hate people who whine about their ‘career’! And I do  feel terrible even complaining about it because I realise I have it so much better than BILLIONS of other people and I have no right to moan whatsoever. I’m only mentioning it because this frustration is at the root of my guilt - I feel I always could be applying for another job instead spending time blogging.

Anyhow!  I came to a realisation this evening while taking a break from yet another siege of applications. I’d gone down for a cup of tea and decided to watch some TV to relax. I love films but except from a select few shows I don’t usually watch much telly. I usually read, write or play around with my photos to unwind but, with my head a bit fried from all the ‘hire me I’m great’ begging letters to newspapers and press offices and the like, tonight I felt I needed something a little more mindless. And so I found myself watching Eastenders, the most depressing of all the British soaps (which are all pretty darn depressing to be honest). That’s when it occurred to me that blogging is ‘constructive’!

It’s constructive in that it makes me happy, as opposed to sad, doomed and depressed which is the usual outcome of a visit to those cheery folks on Albert Square. I had been thinking that blogging had become one giant exercise in procrastination for me, but why should I see it that way and then think nothing of consigning 30 minutes of my life to soapy oblivion? I could easily had a blog post up in that time and I would’ve felt so much better for it! Why should I feel guilty about something just because I enjoy it?  From here on I’m turning over a new blogging leaf, folks. This post aside, there’ll be no more moaning and nearly week-long absences. I’m going to strive to find you all the most frivolous fanciful things I can and I’m not going to feel one iota of shame at doing so. See you all again soon!

Oh, and because I hate posts without imagery, here are some more of my not quite relevant photos. Just a few of my favourite things: tea, books and taking pictures :) 

 

 

 

The Wizard of Oz

A former resident of Bruno's Art and Sculpture Garden

Australia isn’t a country that’s ever been on my must-visit list. I’m not fully sure why, I’ve plenty of friends and even some family down there and I know it’s supposedly spectacular in parts. I’ve just never felt ‘drawn’ to it the way I am to other far away lands.  I think it’s them pesky arachnids that put me off. No, I know it’s the bugs. And the sun. I’m not a sunny person.

All that said, the 24-hour flight, spiders and heatstroke would definitely be worth it just to visit the whimsical world of Bruno Torfs. It is a place of magic, beauty and hope; not just because of the awe-inspiring creations which live there, but also because of the equally inspirational story behind this fantasy garden, nestled deep in the rainforest. A story which is still being written.

I first became aware of Mr Torfs’ magical sculptures last year when they were in the news after being totally destroyed by the 2009 bush fires. Yup, that wonderful wizard above is no more, charred away to cinders by the vengeful wrath of nature, along with almost the entirety of Torfs’ life’s work. It just doesn’t seem right that this special and wondrous place could fall victim to such devastation. But I suppose it would be more than a little naive to hope She would make an exception for art while human beings were dying.  Still, I can only imagine how heartbreaking it must have been for all involved. Here are a few more examples of the beauty that was lost:

 

 

Like in all good fantasy tales, however, out of the ashes of doom and despair our hero brings light. For, you see, Torfs’ “passion to share his love of art and the story of life with the world has not been damaged by the fires, in fact you could almost say it has been forged anew by the flames that nearly took it all away”. (Read his own words here.)

Yes folks, last month, less than a year after it was scorched to the ground, Bruno’s Art and Sculpture Garden reopened. Risen like a phoenix from the flames, if that’s not too cliched a way to put it.  He now has more than 100 new sculptures to share with visitors and you can be sure there’ll be many more to come. Here are few of the recently created wonders:

Anyway, I hope you all found the story of Bruno’s forest haven to be as uplifting as I did. I think if we all had even a fraction of the determination, resilience and vision of this man the world wouldn’t as depressing a place as it can seem these days. Oh, and sorry about the cheesy post title - I just couldn’t resist!