monkey to man

So i am sooooooooooooooo excited about going to this later on! woop woop!

here's a write up taken from here

Award-winning performer Baba Brinkman premieres the music videos – devised from his acclaimed show The Rap Guide to Evolution – that he hopes will get the world more engaged with science.

From Natural Selection to Evolutionary Psychology and everything in between, Baba has created some original raps and mixed well-know tracks that will lay bare the truth of Evolution at this exclusive event.
Baba’s aim is simple in principle but bold in practice – to combine the wit, poetry and charisma of an accomplished rapper with the accuracy, knowledge and expertise of an evolutionary scientist. Having performed The Rap Guide to Evolution at the Edinburgh Fringe in 2009, Baba was awarded a Scotsman Fringe First Award for Best New Theatre Writing as he combined original raps with remixes of well-known tracks – chronicling Natural Selection, Sexual Selection and Evolutionary Psychology.

The initial show which inspires the music videos and supporting materials was developed in response to a challenge from Dr. Mark Pallen, author of The Rough Guide to Evolution, who had seen Brinkman’s internationally acclaimed Rap Canterbury Tales and wanted Brinkman to “do for Darwin what he had done for Chaucer.” In order to ensure scientific and historical accuracy, Brinkman consulted Pallen throughout the creative process, making The Rap Guide to Evolutionthe first peer-reviewed hip-hop show. Pallen has described Brinkman as having “swallowed the idea and turned it into a work of genius.”

That he has done, and with Baba’s material being used in hundreds of schools around the world already, the hope is that many more teachers and pupils can benefit from his original approach to understanding evolution. Having worked with the production company behind West End-hits such as Into The Hoods, Baba will unveil a website hosting the music videos and supporting resources to assist teachers as they venture through the Evolutionary world of Evolutionary science.

Come down for a mixture of live performance, stylish music videos and a Q & A session to find out more about The Rap Guide to Evolution and enjoy the show that the New York Times described as "astonishing and brilliant”. Reception afterwards at the theatre bar.

and here is a video for your viewing pleasure!

folk you.

so last night after i got back from my ghost hunting, i was lucky enough to catch the 3 part BBC series "Folk America". it was awesome viewing. kept me up far too late, but was well worth it. For anyone into blues, country and folk, check it out.

here's part 1 for you luvvies!



i'll warn ya, it aint a short video, so get comfy.

i cant remember if it was in the 2nd part or the 3rd part, but some woman was talking bout the depression, and she says:
 "i was keeping my baby sister warm, and i look over to my Mama, and a rat was eating her eyebrows off!"

mental. anyways, google it, watch it online whatever. well worth it.

in other news, now i'm living solo, i am constantly paranoid about forgetting my keys at work, so i quickly did this.....

(i wrote it on my hand after unlocking the shop, and the whole time i was tattooing, it was showing thru my gloves clear as day, so i figured "fuck it. i'll make it as permanent as me.")

death by decay of human nature

so..... where do i start?!

yesterday me n my beloved partner in crime went on the ghost tour of high barnet, which for those of u who don't know.... is where i currently reside. I was a little dubious they'd end up stopping at my house and coming out with all sorts of dastardly tales and guess what?! they did. must be that 6th sense of mine.

anyways, here's some photo factual reference of the awesomeness that was had.....

yup, that'll be us lagging behind. at the beginning of the tour, the guide came out with the cheesiest safety talk ever. it went something like this:

"i want you to know you are responsible for your own safety. when we come to a road..... i will be crossing over first.... but don't worry.... i'll be waiting *insert epic pause* on the other side!" wow. me n kez knew we were in for a treat, despite the rest of the group being ... well..... numpties.

david livingstone's old gaff. no ghosts, but figured it was a kodak moment regardless.....

it was a very nice scenic walk once we entered Monken Hadley, which is apparently the 2nd most haunted village in England. 

despite the most unfortunate name i've heard since "sandy poon", mrs trollope's daughter died at 18 and is said to haunt not 1 but 2 sites around the village.

this church is said to be haunted by a nun in grey.... and had a kick ass cemetery...

the church was built in 1494. unfortunately this pic is kinda blurry, but if u click to enlarge, u might be able to make out the "half 8's" which were used as 4's back then. weird and wonderful.

the cemetery had a nice selection of anthropomorphic graves....

and it had the "pirates grave" (he wasn't a pirate)

but u can just about make out the skull n crossbones on the headstone. incidentally, pirates adopted this symbol from the Christians to represent to ability to bring deceased comrades back to life. the skull, coz they need the brain, and the crossed bones are the femurs so the dead dude can walk about.

anyways, the guide was saying that if u walk anti-clockwise around this grave 3 times, then knock, it will knock back. hmmmmm?!

so ending the walk in a huge park, and hearing weird tales of battles, buried riches, some moat close by that gets frequented at pagan festivals where u cut ur clothes up and tie them to some tree.... the group dispersed. 

me n kez headed straight back to the graveyard. of course. 

 first port of call now it was nice n dark n creepy was to take some creepy photos. 

i think this is pretty ghostly....

kerry's photography on the other hand..... definitely more ghastly than ghostly. maybe that's just my face. who knows.....

so after that, we went to the pirates grave to do the deed. we circled, arm in arm, and kerry refused to knock.... so i did.

and about 2 seconds later we heard this creepy tap, and all the trees started rustling, so like a bunch of school girls we fucking legged it. i have to say how impressed i am we didn't trip over any of the kids graves, coz there were a lot of them, all precariously sticking a few inches outta the ground. 

10 points for maneuvering

-10 for bravery.

super awesome night. good times.

oh god, and before i sign off, y'all need to hear about the quote of the evening. so the guide is telling us about some Friar who turned evil and got into alchemy n shit. 

guide: "he was a terrible man, horrible to his wife, and frequented at satanic orgies"

woman: (to husband stood next to her) "urgh! sounds like you!'

priceless.

c'est la vie

ok, so quick post to show y'all the finished drawing i started yesterday. Didn't have much in at work, so just finished it......

again, this is a photo, not a scan, so the right side of the page looks a little warped. 

it's based on an american steel song. 

here's some lyrics for you to peruse.....

i wandered miles in the rain
i hunted miles in my old man's shoes
i was singing
i was singing songs my mother sang to me
i hear where you're comin from
cause i'm not far away
i hear where you're comin from
cause i'm not far away
away

c'est la vie
save me
c'est la vie mon amie
save me for a rainy day
a rainy day

i never looked at you with hateful eyes
i never held you in angry arms
i'm not a statue to rise
i'm not a statue to fall
through the trials of time
who loses his arms
i'm your cold sweat epiphanies
you're my red wine soliloquies
so please

c'est la vie
save me
c'est la vie mon amie
save me for a rainy day

fuck it, here's the video too.....

once again, ppl on facebook will need to go here to hear the track....

i used to do quite a few paintings based on songs, and haven't in a while..... it's a super easy way to gain some inspiration when i'm lacking in that department.

if i moisturise my face, will it soften the blow?

urgh, what a shitty last few days i've had. i've had a lot to think about, work related, life related, friendships verging on co-dependency related. not good. been listening to the 4 track defeater album a lot..... when i say a lot, i mean on constant repeat, which in turn is how my days are feeling right now too.

here's a video of one of their favorite songs of mine. has a lot of personal meaning to me.... long story.... from long ago..... (facebook lurkers, you'll have to go to my real blog to see this link i'm afraid)



don't worry, i have branched out and been listening to the acoustic track on the end of prophet in plain clothes. i've posted that video before, so this time, as a super awesome treat, here's the lyrics instead....

"we'll i've been tired

cause' i don't sleep so well on trains

well i got ups and downs

but days are all the same

i've been low

but it never gets me down

well i've been thrown out

i've been let down 

i've been chased

well i've hardships

i've been stripped of pride and name

i've been low

but it never gets me down

and nights spent drinking

all the worry from my head

and days spent wandering

wishing i was dead

if i could only muster 

the words out from my mouth

i would sing

oh i would sing

i'll take the next train out

cause i've been hopin'

i've been praying theres some god

so when i die

i'm found and saved

and i'm not lost

cause all he's done

all for me

is take away the ones i love

and nights spent drinking

all the worry from my head

and days spent wandering

wishing i was dead

if i could only muster 

the words out from my mouth

i would sing

oh i would sing

i'll take the next train out

i'm gonna take it"

so, what else is new..... hmmm, oh, yesterday i threw some loose change at a massive "glass bottle" with a pirate ship in it. wasn't glass..... coin went "thunk". so disappointing.

then went and tortured myself by watching this don't do it people. it's a miracle i sat through it all. i often wonder why..... then remember why.... then wonder if i should have left anyways.....then realise i overthink everything.....then start all over again.

anyways, i'm done for the day, and really am starting to get ansy from a serious depravation of drawing, so think i'll start something before the end of day, might get it finished in time to post tomorrow, u never know.....

so in the mean time, here's a snippet of that snake sock i've been working on. we got all the black in today, as well as the red detailing on the spine. snakes have spines...right... ? yeah, of course they do..... sorry. ignore me.

sorry if my posts are getting stomach wrenchingly emo.... won't last. 

heartless

so it's been a hectic week, apologies for my lack of posts. blame it on my new super fancy phone which means i haven't had to use the shop laptop recently....

as many of y'all may know, me n ross have officially broken up, so it's been a bit mental recently.

anyways, here's a recent tattoo that seems completely juxtaposing to this post, but feel i should at least post 1 tattoo pic!

not the best photo, couldn't avoid the glare goblin on this one.....

and some new artwork i did the other day.... now i'll post a scan, and a photo, coz it's physically impossible to scan a perfectly square sketchbook without lobbing off a big ol' chunk of the page....

and the photo....

yes... that is silver.... yes this painting is muthafuckin' pimpin' dawg.

fighting like a coward.... running like the brave

so. yesterday, nice lil' day trip outta london to sunny ol' maidstone for another session on my backpiece. coming along nicely, got a big ol' chunk done. i'm starting to wonder if jay's gonna be taking inspiration from what underwear i wear each time. i always knew i had to be careful what i wore.... and now i know why. good thing i wasn't wearing spongebob undies or anything.

woke up this morning completely stuck to my bedding. had quite a mission getting outta that groggy pre-brain functioning escapade. have also completely given up on attempting to apply cream to it too. sometimes having 4 extra arms like a hindu deity seems like the perfect resolve. oh well, maybe in my next incarnation. 

in other news, i'm still getting mail for ummmmm..... yeah.....

lastly, thought i'd share this lil' piece of awesomeness.

cheered me up royally the other night.