Saturday 28 November 2009

receipts


Derek Raymond - I Was Dora Suarez, £2.69


Whitehouse - Mummy And Daddy, £13.33


Charley Says: Public Information Films - Vols. 1 & 2 (2 Discs), £12.89

Friday 27 November 2009

MSN preview



The forthcoming issue of Yuck 'n Yum will feature an MSN Messenger chat between myself, Nadia Rossi and Perri MacKenzie on the subject of the young US artist Ryan Trecartin. In the interests of full disclosure what follows is all the chat that was left on the cutting-room floor:

nightridr43 says: (20:57:59)

are you keeping your name as ben?

nightridr43 says: (20:58:08)

i changed mine

Ben says: (20:58:17)

how do I change it?

nightridr43 says: (20:58:38)

go to MESSENGER then preferences i think

_Black_Acrylic says: (20:59:15)

OK

_Black_Acrylic says: (20:59:41)

Not a bad turnout

nightridr43 says: (20:59:56)

for so

Mummy Bloghead says: (21:07:30)

what happened to your blogger name mssnrossi huh?

nightridr43 says: (21:07:49)

huh?

_Black_Acrylic says: (21:07:49)

We tried to have a Yuck 'n Yum meeting on Messenger earlier, total fucking disaster

Mummy Bloghead says: (21:07:57)

ah rubbish

nightridr43 says: (21:08:02)

really? how come?

Mummy Bloghead says: (21:08:12)

you're not showing up as niteridr anymore, that's all

nightridr43 says: (21:08:29)

i am on my convo box.....?

_Black_Acrylic says: (21:08:35)

here too

nightridr43 says: (21:08:50)

hmmm....

Mummy Bloghead says: (21:08:53)

oh that'S a funny one

Mummy Bloghead says: (21:09:13)

I think my version of messenger is full of bugs

Mummy Bloghead says: (21:09:18)

it won't let me change my picture

nightridr43 says: (21:09:33)

green fat man it is then

Mummy Bloghead says: (21:09:36)

I wanted something more matronly, more bloglike, but no.

nightridr43 says: (21:09:39)

could be worse.....

_Black_Acrylic says: (21:09:50)

you're looking green around the gills

Mummy Bloghead says: (21:10:14)

In my one I look blue

Mummy Bloghead says: (21:10:15)

WEIRD

_Black_Acrylic says: (21:10:45)

my picture's old. I've aged terribly since then

Mummy Bloghead says: (21:11:02)

Nonsense

_Black_Acrylic says: (21:19:12)

So who came as PASTA?

nightridr43 says: (21:19:27)

no one in the end

nightridr43 says: (21:19:36)

i had rice for dinner though

nightridr43 says: (21:19:43)

?

_Black_Acrylic says: (21:19:53)

It's a good look

nightridr43 says: (21:19:53)

RICE

Mummy Bloghead says: (21:19:57)

I was thinking of coming as Amerisha

nightridr43 says: (21:20:02)

I always forget about rice

nightridr43 says: (21:20:18)

I will be Shin then

_Black_Acrylic says: (21:20:36)

It just made a noise

nightridr43 says: (21:20:37)

I know she is kind of like pasta thou

nightridr43 says: (21:20:44)

what did?

nightridr43 says: (21:20:53)

our converstaion?

_Black_Acrylic says: (21:20:58)

The thing, the messenger

_Black_Acrylic says: (21:21:17)

Like a chime

nightridr43 says: (21:21:28)

Oh maybe it was just re organising something inside

nightridr43 says: (21:21:38)

OR YOU HAVE AN EMAIL

nightridr43 says: (21:21:48)

I think you have an email

_Black_Acrylic says: (21:21:50)

I'll go check

Mummy Bloghead says: (21:22:04)

A new area might have been created

Mummy Bloghead says: (21:22:16)

(I will shut up about areas soon I promise)

_Black_Acrylic says: (21:22:26)

A message on Facebook

_Black_Acrylic says: (21:22:37)

Very 2.0

nightridr43 says: (21:22:40)

Speaking of areas, how is yours mummy bloghead?

Mummy Bloghead says: (21:23:40)

It's good thanks, expanding slowly

Mummy Bloghead says: (21:23:56)

How's your area niteridr?

nightridr43 says: (21:24:11)

same old, same old

nightridr43 says: (21:24:20)

not much to report

_Black_Acrylic says: (21:24:25)

Mine's decrepit

_Black_Acrylic says: (21:25:07)

I like it that way

nightridr43 says: (21:25:08)

really?

_Black_Acrylic says: (21:25:23)

Yep it's cool

nightridr43 says: (21:25:32)

like cold or kewl

Mummy Bloghead says: (21:25:41)

I really love Skippy

nightridr43 says: (21:25:49)

i hat spotify ads

nightridr43 says: (21:25:54)

hate

_Black_Acrylic says: (21:26:20)

Skippy's kewl. Don't know Spotify ads

nightridr43 says: (21:27:09)

brb

Mummy Bloghead says: (21:27:21)

Skippy and I Be make me think of members of Nsync

_Black_Acrylic says: (21:27:55)

Which NSync?

Mummy Bloghead says: (21:28:01)

I'm not sure

_Black_Acrylic says: (21:28:02)

Justin?

Mummy Bloghead says: (21:28:08)

maybe Justin yeah

_Black_Acrylic says: (21:28:18)

Don't know any more

_Black_Acrylic says: (21:28:33)

I'm more Take That

_Black_Acrylic says: (21:28:55)

or E17

_Black_Acrylic says: (21:29:50)

Boybands are over these days, now it's all indie schmindie

_Black_Acrylic says: (21:30:14)

Or arty farty

nightridr43 says: (21:30:20)

SOZ

_Black_Acrylic says: (21:30:39)

Don't apologise

nightridr43 says: (21:31:13)

im back...went to source some hot dessert but could only find cerea;

nightridr43 says: (21:31:15)

l

nightridr43 says: (21:31:51)

LIKE

nightridr43 says: (21:32:03)

i tried to press the like button

nightridr43 says: (21:33:20)

are we talking about the right things black acrylic....?

nightridr43 says: (21:33:29)

you are in charge in here

_Black_Acrylic says: (21:33:55)

Higher things like RT?

nightridr43 says: (21:34:36)

well i mean is this how we should talk, or should we talk in another kind of way

_Black_Acrylic says: (21:35:14)

This is cool. Talk how you feel like!

nightridr43 says: (21:36:27)

I had perfume called me2 when I was young

_Black_Acrylic says: (21:36:48)

I've not memorised enough quotes

nightridr43 says: (21:37:04)

mummy bloghead is a cheat

Mummy Bloghead says: (21:37:15)

I am a cheat-

Mummy Bloghead says: (21:37:22)

a dirty cheat.

Mummy Bloghead says: (21:46:49)

Home - School - Bank

nightridr43 says: (21:47:17)

banks, geez get out of there

_Black_Acrylic says: (21:47:37)

I work in one, it sucks!

nightridr43 says: (21:47:38)

i'm putting my cash under my bed from now on

nightridr43 says: (21:48:04)

1 pound a day interest on the overdraft and a fiver if you go over

nightridr43 says: (21:48:10)

total bump

nightridr43 says: (21:48:47)

i was working in a toy shop today

_Black_Acrylic says: (21:48:55)

Oh man. Or you can switch to the Ultimate Reward Account... wait I'm not at work

nightridr43 says: (21:48:55)

mummy were you at work?

Mummy Bloghead says: (21:49:32)

I was at work today

nightridr43 says: (21:49:34)

STOP B.A, they are taking over you from the inside out

_Black_Acrylic says: (21:50:06)

They'll never break me! Besides I'm an anarchist

nightridr43 says: (21:50:15)

what did you do today at work mummy?

nightridr43 says: (21:50:29)

an ar christ

_Black_Acrylic says: (21:50:40)

Where's mummy disappeared?

nightridr43 says: (21:51:09)

i don't know, but she is holding this family together...she better come back quick

_Black_Acrylic says: (21:51:20)

How was the toy shop anyway?

Mummy Bloghead says: (21:51:32)

I'm here!

_Black_Acrylic says: (21:51:40)

Yay!

Mummy Bloghead says: (21:51:45)

I had to deal with my least favourite age group today.

Mummy Bloghead says: (21:51:54)

children aged 6-8.

Mummy Bloghead says: (21:51:58)

it was HIDEOUS

nightridr43 says: (21:51:59)

i made paper chains and a lucky dip ice box with fake snow and tinsel

nightridr43 says: (21:52:11)

it cost 50p to have a go

_Black_Acrylic says: (21:52:14)

Teenagers are worst

nightridr43 says: (21:52:35)

6-8, hmmm. do boys like girls at that age?

Mummy Bloghead says: (21:52:37)

At least teenagers can kind of engage with you

nightridr43 says: (21:52:45)

like in a friendly way not a fancy way

_Black_Acrylic says: (21:52:55)

Boys like girls at all ages

nightridr43 says: (21:53:00)

I can never remember what age you hate boys at

Mummy Bloghead says: (21:53:10)

at 6 to 8 they never ever remember your name, even if you've been working with them for months

nightridr43 says: (21:53:10)

nu-uh

nightridr43 says: (21:53:17)

dicks

Mummy Bloghead says: (21:53:23)

and when they talk to you they have this unfocused look that really gets to me

_Black_Acrylic says: (21:53:43)

You say you hate girls to look cool but secretly you love them and feel ashamed

nightridr43 says: (21:53:46)

like the look thats on my face most of the time?

Mummy Bloghead says: (21:53:53)

Exactly!

Mummy Bloghead says: (21:53:59)

Especially on your wee boy face

_Black_Acrylic says: (21:54:29)

I got IDd the other week in M&S

nightridr43 says: (21:54:35)

i only have that look because there is too much to look at and listen to and get out of the way of

Mummy Bloghead says: (21:54:49)

aw no!

Mummy Bloghead says: (21:54:57)

I suppose both you and niterider have wee boy faces then

nightridr43 says: (21:55:10)

suppose so

_Black_Acrylic says: (21:55:29)

Just carry ID

nightridr43 says: (21:56:33)

I do

_Black_Acrylic says: (21:56:47)

I don't have any

nightridr43 says: (21:57:05)

You should make some out of something you've had for years

nightridr43 says: (21:57:20)

And be like, I've had this for years, I'm old

_Black_Acrylic says: (21:57:41)

Not carrying my passport everywhere

_Black_Acrylic says: (21:57:56)

Carry a really old teddy bear

nightridr43 says: (21:58:28)

Yes but bearcareful not to lose him

_Black_Acrylic says: (21:58:41)

true

_Black_Acrylic says: (21:58:53)

tie him to your coat

nightridr43 says: (21:59:12)

using a key ribbon, mummy has one of those

nightridr43 says: (21:59:19)

its blue and has lots of keys on it

_Black_Acrylic says: (21:59:22)

good idea

nightridr43 says: (21:59:28)

do you think we will still have keys in the future?

nightridr43 says: (21:59:43)

we won't have wires or real money

_Black_Acrylic says: (21:59:48)

it will all be microchips

nightridr43 says: (22:00:10)

like sd cards? will they look like those?

_Black_Acrylic says: (22:00:27)

what are sd cards?

nightridr43 says: (22:00:40)

those wee cards you get in your camera

Mummy Bloghead has left the conversation.

_Black_Acrylic says: (22:01:08)

come back Mummy Bloghead!

_Black_Acrylic says: (22:01:57)

Well that's cool, we have a lot of material there

nightridr43 says: (22:02:13)

think we do?

nightridr43 says: (22:02:56)

what are you thinking...taking a wee bits from this and adding it to the text you sent earlier or something?

_Black_Acrylic says: (22:03:13)

Yeah, it can be edited. If you think of any good points you can email them as well

nightridr43 says: (22:03:52)

sure thing

_Black_Acrylic says: (22:04:13)

Nice 1, cheers nightridr43

nightridr43 says: (22:04:36)

no problem ba, takes me back being on msn....

nightridr43 says: (22:04:51)

let me know how things go with putting this together

nightridr43 says: (22:04:59)

i'll send anything else i think of over

_Black_Acrylic says: (22:05:22)

Good times. This meeting went much better than the one earlier

nightridr43 says: (22:05:34)

really? must have been a bad time

nightridr43 says: (22:05:41)

we need to learn to type like the kids

nightridr43 says: (22:05:43)

http://www.webopedia.com/quick_ref/textmessageabbreviations.asp

nightridr43 says: (22:06:14)

we could speak much more in much less time

_Black_Acrylic says: (22:06:24)

:)

nightridr43 says: (22:07:07)

L8R

_Black_Acrylic says: (22:07:22)

L8R2

Wednesday 25 November 2009

Winter 09 issue launch



On Friday 11th December come enjoy the frenzy of festive fanzine fun! Yuck 'n Yum will launch the hotly anticipated NEW issue of your fave Scottish art zine, and the night promises free goods and myriad musical acts. The non-stop cavalcade of joy includes the legendary Celemas Seasonal Band, hot DJ action from Skint Richie and the enigmatic genius of Grandpappy Stacks. Oh Yuck 'n Yum with this winter launch you are really spoiling us!

Sunday 22 November 2009

festen

Hardly any blogging action this past week as I was down in Leeds for my birthday. To mark my return, and in tribute to my dad's marvelous cooking, here is a picture of a paella he made:

Thursday 19 November 2009

tweet


The always-fully-Web-2.0-enabled folk at Yuck 'n Yum have finally bowed to the inevitable and opened a Twitter account. Come follow, and chart the progress of our now-embryonic yet soon-to-be-dazzling online venture: http://twitter.com/yucknyum

Monday 16 November 2009

dance

BASS MECHANIC


TRACK: Electric Shock ARTIST: Dan Bell (aka) DB-X THE NEW DANCE SHOW Detroit, MI


The Scene Kano- I'm Ready


The Percolator, Cajmere: THE NEW DANCE SHOW Detroit, MI


Sharevari @ The Scene, Detroit


LIVE IN DETROIT 100% MOTOR CITY Year: 1985 Track: No UFOs Artist: Model 500

Saturday 14 November 2009

Piccolo

A few photos from last night's meal at Piccolo:







Friday 13 November 2009

split

Extract from Philip K. Dick, Dr Bloodmoney:

I must be dreadfully worried today, Bruno Bluthgeld said to himself. For now an even graver alteration in his sense-perceptions was setting in, and one unfamiliar to him. A dull, smoky cast was beginning to settle over all the environment around him, making the buildings and cars seem like inert, gloomy mounds, without colour or motion.
And where were the people? He seemed to be plodding along totally by himself in his listing, difficult journey up Oxford Street to where he had parked his Cadillac. Had they (odd thought) all gone indoors? As if, he thought, to get out of the rain ... this rain of fine, sooty particles that seemed to fill the air, to impede his breathing, his sight, his progress.
He stopped. And standing there at the intersection, seeing down the side street where it descended into a kind of darkness, and then off to the right where it rose and snapped off, as if twisted and broken, he saw to his amazement - and this he could not explain immediately in terms of some specific physiological impairment of function - that cracks had opened up. The buildings to his left had split. Jagged breaks in them, as if the hardest substances, the cement itself which underlay the city, making up the streets and buildings, the very foundations around him, were coming apart.
Good Christ, he thought. What is it? He peered into the sooty fog; now the sky was gone, obscured entirely by the rain of dark.
And then he saw, picking about in the gloom, among the split sections of concrete, in the debris, little shriveled shapes: people, the pedestrians who had been there before and then vanished - they were back now, but all of them dwarfed, and gaping at him sightlessly, not speaking but simply poking about in an aimless manner.
What is it? he asked himself again, this time speaking aloud: he heard his voice dully rebounding. It's all broken; the town is broken up into pieces. What has hit it? He began to walk from the pavement, finding his way among the strewn, severed parts of Berkeley. It isn't me, he realized; some great catastrophe has happened. The noise, now, boomed in his ears, and the soot stirred, moved by the noise. A car horn sounded, stuck on, but very far off and faint.

Monday 9 November 2009

mnemonica



A timely reminder: the Yuck 'n Yum deadline is almost upon us: LINK

Saturday 7 November 2009

Alfred Jarry, The Passion Considered As An Uphill Bicycle Race (1907)



(Translated by Roger Shattuck)


Barabbas, slated to race, was scratched.

Pilate, the starter, pulling out his clepsydra or water clock, an operation which wet his hands unless he had merely spit on them -- Pilate gave the send-off.

Jesus got away to a good start.

In those days, according to the excellent sports commentator St. Matthew, it was customary to flagellate the sprinters at the start the way a coachman whips his horses. The whip both stimulates and gives a hygienic massage. Jesus, then, got off in good form, but he had a fiat right away. A bed of thorns punctured the whole circumference of his front tire.

Today in the shop windows of bicycle dealers you can see a reproduction of this veritable crown of thorns as an ad for puncture-proof tires. But Jesus's was an ordinary single-tube racing tire.

The two thieves, obviously in cahoots and therefore "thick as thieves," took the lead.

It is not true that there were any nails. The three objects usually shown in the ads belong to a rapid-change tire tool called the "Jiffy."

We had better begin by telling about the spills; but before that the machine itself must be described.

The bicycle frame in use today is of relatively recent invention. It appeared around 1890. Previous to that time the body of the machine was constructed of two tubes soldered together at right angles. It was generally called the right-angle or cross bicycle. Jesus, after his puncture, climbed the slope on foot, carrying on his shoulder the bike frame, or, if you will, the cross.

Contemporary engravings reproduce this scene from photographs. But it appears that the sport of cycling, as a result of the well known accident which put a grievous end to the Passion race and which was brought up to date almost on its anniversary by the similar accident of Count Zborowski on the Turbie slope -- the sport of cycling was for a time prohibited by state ordinance. That explains why the illustrated magazines, in reproducing this celebrated scene, show bicycles of a rather imaginary design. They confuse the machine's cross frame with that other cross, the straight handlebar. They represent Jesus with his hands spread on the handlebars, and it is worth mentioning in this connection that Jesus rode lying flat on his back in order to reduce his air resistance.

Note also that the frame or cross was made of wood, just as wheels are to this day.

A few people have insinuated falsely that Jesus's machine was a draisienne , an unlikely mount for a hill-climbing contest. According to the old cyclophile hagiographers, St. Briget, St. Gregory of Tours, and St. Irene, the cross was equipped with a device which they name suppedaneum. There is no need to be a great scholar to translate this as "pedal."

Lipsius, Justinian, Bosius, and Erycius Puteanus describe an other accessory which one still finds, according to Cornelius Curtius in 1643, on Japanese crosses: a protuberance of leather or wood on the shaft which the rider sits astride -- manifestly the seat or saddle.

This general description, furthermore, suits the definition of a bicycle current among the Chinese: "A little mule which is led by the ears and urged along by showering it with kicks."

We shall abridge the story of the race itself, for it has been narrated in detail by specialized works and illustrated by sculpture and painting visible in monuments built to house such art. There are fourteen turns in the difficult Golgotha course. Jesus took his first spill at the third turn. His mother, who was in the stands, became alarmed.

His excellent trainer, Simon the Cyrenian, who but for the thorn accident would have been riding out in front to cut the wind, carried the machine.

Jesus, though carrying nothing, perspired heavily. It is not certain whether a female spectator wiped his brow, but we know that Veronica, a girl reporter, got a good shot of him with her Kodak.

The second spill came at the seventh turn on some slippery pavement. Jesus went down for the third time at the eleventh turn, skidding on a rail.

The Israelite demimondaines waved their handkerchiefs at the eighth.

The deplorable accident familiar to us all took place at the twelfth turn. Jesus was in a dead heat at the time with the thieves. We know that he continued the race airborne -- but that is another story.

Friday 6 November 2009

DC/RT



Dennis Cooper's pointed me to a super-interesting article he wrote about the mighty Ryan Trecartin back in 2006: LINK

Thursday 5 November 2009

I-BE AREA (Hunter Pasta Mayflyflowna)

Booked my ticket for next week's Ryan Trecartin screening at Glasgow's Tramway.

Tuesday 3 November 2009

documenta

Having had my camera on loan for just about the duration of the Cupar Arts Festival, here at last is a halfway-decent photo of my Public Holidays (Maldoror) print: