Sunday 20 December 2009



Thanks to Declan McDaid for this.

Tuesday 8 December 2009

Sunday 6 December 2009

Death Masks of the Famous

"The making of a death mask is a messy business – literally. They are difficult to make and the best position for the corpse is not lying down but sat up (as you can see in the picture). The shift from sculpture to masks came about in the Middle Ages when the art of waxwork and plaster casting became more sophisticated. The tradition evolved from royalty to eminent people and continues to this day. Another use, rather than in memoriam for an individuals was for the scientific study of human physiognomy. It was said that experts could tell criminals from the shape of their heads. Casts were also used to record and collect data on the racial differences in the human head."

- More

Friday 4 December 2009



"Trimble made a grand total of two albums in his early 20s: the last was released in 1982. He never had a record deal. The albums were privately released in minuscule quantities: he can't remember whether there were 300 or 500 copies pressed of his debut, Iron Curtain Innocence, but either way, there weren't many takers for his brand of lush-yet-disquieting Beatles and Pink Floyd- influenced psychedelia in early-80s New England. He never performed live outside of the central Massachusetts area. "We just played Worcester County, we didn't even play Boston," he says.

The problem was Trimble's habit of employing backing bands largely staffed by schoolchildren: fearing for their liquor licenses, clubs were disinclined to book Trimble if he insisted on working with the Kidds, whose average age was 12, or the Crippled Dog Band, with their 15-year-old rhythm section. "A few places let us in that sold alcohol, but it was like pulling teeth, it really was, they told us to get the hell out when we were done," he says. He doesn't sound like he sees anything unusual about a 23-year-old man forming a band with a bunch of 12-year-olds, either, although the parents of the Kidds apparently begged to differ, pulling the plug on the band."

- "He's for real. Or should I say surreal?" - the forgotten world of Bobb Trimble.

The Wilhelm Scream



“He always used to joke about how he was so great about screaming and dying in films,” she said. “I did know that his scream had been in some films, the older westerns, but I did not know about Star Wars and all. He would have got such a kick out of this. He would say, ‘I may be old but I’m still in the movies’.”

- AAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHH!!

Arcade Expressionism

By Brock Davies

Thanks to Susan Tomaselli for this.