Wednesday 30 September 2009

Town Planning

From the time when all you need are straight edges and set squares.   Makes everywhere look like it was prototyped with SimCity.

Nowadays, suburb planning seems to demand all curves, and no straight lines.

Still, there must be a happy medium.

Best Cat Video Ever.  Trust Me

Tuesday 29 September 2009

That Clouds Looks Like A...

...a cloud.

There's a very distinctive bridge / causeway in this shot, but I can't identify it.

Bonus Extra : Cyriak's creation - Poo and Titchmarsh.   No, it's more disturbing than you imagine.

Monday 28 September 2009

Get thee to a Nunnery

There are now only two nunneries devoted to the veneration of St Beryl. The original one based in Norwich (England) and the one shown above which is in Phoenix Arizona.

Anyone interested in the background to the leaping order of St Beryl is advised to review this clip, but it will interest many of you to know that actress Demi Moore is close to joining the order. Obviously, she'll have to renounce all her worldly goods, but Sister Raquel (the Berylian PR) has confirmed that Sister Hact (Demi's new nunical name) will be permitted to carry on making movies, provided they are in keeping with the aims of St Beryl.

Sunday 27 September 2009

It' A Wrap - For The Reynolds

Hey. Not every slide has to be a happy, smiley, silly, cute, scenic or pretty one.

Sometimes, people just need to have a slide to, ummmm...,  project at the end of the evening's slide show of our trip to Marbella.

OK> Something to cheer you up. Or maybe not.



Saturday 26 September 2009

At The Local Pool Again

Dang. Them 'mericans love spending their days at the pool, and to mark today's decent weather (at Slide Villas at least) here's another wallpaper for you.

But what's that in the background?   A path with a chain link fence across it ?   Plants growing in metal waste paper bins?   Them crazy 'mericans.

Bonus - For this...someone's gonna get thrown off.


Friday 25 September 2009

Meanwhile, on a river in Vietnam...

...no. I'm completely mystified. A river-house, with a cat-flap big enough for a leopard?

 Heavens.  Whatever next?

Daily Video - Flooded meadow...

Thursday 24 September 2009

More Fish? Yes Please

The look in her eyes says it all. "You caught them honey...why don't YOU hold them?"

I expect this slide was used in evidenc at the subsequent divorce case.

(Yes, there is some sort of fungus growing on the sirface of this slide.)


Beyond Parody - Gordon Brown honoured in New York as world statesman of the year. The Daily Mail will love this...


Wednesday 23 September 2009

Memphis, Tennessee ?

No, Memphis, Lower Egypt.Well, it might be Egypt, and it's probably Luxor. However, unlike yesterday's slide, here's a decent holiday photo. Whether by luck or judgment, this photographer has served up an interesting snapshot. Again, its a shot that can't do justice to the whole scene and it lacks any human scale. 

However, this time its got a decent load of contrast - light and dark, and large and small. From the massive pillars, to the intricate carvings on the pillars.  And by focusing on a small set of features, the picture is interesting tho' hardly unique.

Well done, photogrpher man.

Tuesday 22 September 2009

Scenic...but....

...still dull.

I just thought I'd get a bit preach-y for a change. And the basic message of this sermon is "a scenic view does not necessarily make a decent photo."   I can imagine the photographer watching out the window, enjoying the scenery going past. Yes, it is a glorious scene, which rolling hills, pretty little fields, bright sunshine and an ever-changing view.

But as a slide....dull.    No drama, no composition, no human interest and 70% plain blue sky. And that's why it's today's Tedious Tuesday picture.  

Thank you and Amen.

Monday 21 September 2009

"From our holiday in Africa..."

Oh, how those winter nights must have flown by in the sixties.     A cold November night, and Mr and Mrs McGregor invite the neighbours round for some wine, some cheese, and some slide from their recent holiday in Kenya.

You can imagine their spirits being crushed as Mr McGregor sets up the projector and screen, Mrs McGregor handed round a bowl of nuts...the very bowl that she bought in that Nairobi suburb to help the natives.  As the slide show starts...yes, a slide of that very bowl they saw just seconds before.

No wonder Marijuana was so popular.

Bonus - Chester Zoo.      Chimp Breeding Centre ???

Sunday 20 September 2009

...and the prize goes to...

Four awkward teenagers !

From a series from the Herbert M Munroe Elementary School. Pure slideshow gold. (Pity this one was a bit underexposed.)

Bonus - Video Dating Selection...



Hi Mom

Saturday 19 September 2009

The Talent Show 5

Yes, Robert, it is a few months since the last "Kids putting on a talent show" slide, so here to bring a smile to your face are the Albert Fish Junior School Luau Dancers.

I bet they'd all love to be reminded of the 5 minutes in the spotlight of fame. I wonder how many are serious professionals now - doctors, policemen, bishops and politicians.  Hmm

Bonus - By artist Marcus Shafer - The Shoe Shine Witch.  I'm a bit of a sucker for Bettie Page art.

Friday 18 September 2009

You'll never guess ...

...what was written on the border of this slide.


Go on, guess.

Go on, go on, go on, go on.

Give up.

             "Stonehenge".

Amazing.

Thursday 17 September 2009

Morgan's Grand Organ

Rev Trevor Morgan plays a selection of tune from The Organ  Portfolio.

On the Grand Piano. Madness, I tell you.

Yes, more poorly stored slides, I'm afraid.

Wednesday 16 September 2009

Baby in a Death-Trap


Why don't 'Elf n Safety ban these kiddie deathtraps? Surely McBroon and ZaNuLabour must see tha...
Sorry. I seem to have slipped into Daily Mail mode. ( A temporary mental condition  characterised by extreme idiotic outbursts, an inability to call politicians by their own names, and chanting of "Littlejohn for PM".)
But, I would be surprised if such a baby bed could be sold nowadays...too much metal and guillotining mechanisms.    Hmmm Babyfingers.
Bonus : Because I'm feeling like shit today, have an interesting slideshow on a Tibetan Sky Burial.        DAMN !     YouTube tubed it.    Just one of those days...

Tuesday 15 September 2009

( Not Norfolk )

Impressive scenery, but why did the photographers use UV Film?

Ah. He didn't. The curse of poorly stored Ektachrome.

Monday 14 September 2009

You Talkin' To Me ?

You talkin' to me? You talkin' to me? You talkin' to me? Then who the heck else are you talkin' to? You talkin' to me? Well I'm the only one here. Who the flup do you think you're talking to?

Sunday 13 September 2009

How Not To Be Seen - At A Wedding

A wedding is one of the most awkward challenges for someone who desires Not To Be Seen.

So many distractions...brides, bridesmaid, family, vicars.... there's no obvious way to blend into the background. However...

... Agent 17 has a novel strategy.  Try looking straight at her (he's behind the small bridesmaid). See, you conscious brain cannot maintain concentration on her, and you have to look away.

Agent 17's secret is the Paint Explosion Camouflage pattern dress, matched with the "What Were You Thinking?" wedding hat.  Available from BigCo...your brand leader is sarcastic snideness.

Bonus : Iron and Wine.

Saturday 12 September 2009

The Jersey City Glee Club

Getting together for the summer, for the 36th successive year. The JCGC met at Bettie Page High School, and have been friends through 6½ marriages, two wars, 2 divorces, 2 riots, 3 cases of Diptheria and 26 kids.

Good on you, folks.

Friday 11 September 2009

Not so much designed...

...as thrown together.

I mean, can you imagine any design or architect starting with a blank sheet of paper, and coming up with this. Unlikely, but somehow it just weeks utterly english.

Bonus : Please God, Let It Be Over !

Wednesday 9 September 2009

Tuesday 8 September 2009

The Lone Guardsman

...is not the name of a spin-off series from The X Files.

It's the title of this Tedious Tuesday slide. Yep. Plain, simple, boring.

BUT....a lone guardsman guarding...a palace ?  ...a castle?   ...a suburban street ?

I dunno.

Bonus - From the ever-silly Nothing To Do With Arbroath

Monday 7 September 2009

It's Apple Time !

September...a time of mellow fruitfulness. And misty mornings.  And apples.

Lots of apple.

Sunday 6 September 2009

Jigsaw into Eternity

This one almost made the 2010 calendar shortlist, but unfortunately, the over exposed flash / flesh ruled it out.  Damn.

...but is it over-exposed. OK, the skin has the washed out cadaver look, but maybe that's natural. Maybe the kids just couldn't live without ma 'n' pa being around, and had the stuffed.

Even worse, that chap has a definite "The Hunger" look about him. Specifically, John (David Bowie).

Saturday 5 September 2009

The Pool

Welcome back, my friends.

Yet another view of the country club pool dedication, that you may remember from here and here.

Le Pulp Fictione


Friday 4 September 2009

The Lonely Outpost

Now this intrigues me. No information at all for thi, but the other slides all look like the early sixties.

But hat is this?  Alaskan Oil Exploration camp? Siberian Loggers?  Canadian Seal Hunting base? Butlins' Brighton base?   I really dunno.

Thursday 3 September 2009

Gridlock..and the oasis of calm

Every so often, a slide turns up that makes you wonder if someone out there has some talent.

Alternatively, on the basis that a stopped clock is right twice a day, perhaps it's just the law of averages.

Maybe this photographer wanted to artistically comment on the complexity of city living, and the eternal struggle of personal space vs the speed of modern life.

Maybe he thought "The Baumgartners at no 47 will never believe just how close together these furriners park their cars, unless I take a photograph."

Headline of the week (or year?)

Wednesday 2 September 2009

This 'Ere's My Dawg

In response to very nearly two requests, here's another F.L.K. (That's a Funny Looking Kid, if you're not up with the abbreviations.)

An excellent shot of this little chap, living his cowboy dreams, with his trusty, umm, spaniel.


BONUS :

Tuesday 1 September 2009

Don Draper and The Seaweed

I'm on the horns of a Dilemma. It's Tedious Tuesday, so it has to be a rather dull slide, but against that it's the start of September, so I need a slide calendar that I can live with for a month. 

 The solution is this. A picture of some 1960's, chisel-jawed dude, who enjoys his smokes. Quite clearly a prototype for Don Draper.


Hope that satisfies.