I recently came across this excellent animated short called "Adventure Time". Apparently it's going to premiere in late 2009 or early 2010, I'm just happy to see that psychedelic kids shows are still around.
Saturday, January 24, 2009
Thursday, January 22, 2009
Alcoholic Anecdotes
Since I have been spending inordinate amounts of time with the book "Booze: A Distilled History" by Craig Heron, I thought I would share with you some amusing instances from the history of alcohol consumption in Canada and elsewhere.
Most religions in history (except Islam) have been tolerant of moderate alcohol consumption, even at times supportive, as exemplified by Martin Luther in this statement:
"Who loves not women, wine and song/Remains a fool his whole life long."
Alcohol had great medicinal value in pre-industrial life. One cholera remedy, called Huxham's Tincture, contained two ounces of Peruvian bark, a half-ounce of Virginia snake root, and three and a half PINTS of whiskey.
Maybe people just became so drunk they forgot they had cholera. Cured!
Taverns and drinking were the centre of 19th century life in Canada. The first Parliament of Upper Canada met in a tavern on Niagara on the Lake in 1792.
Sir John A. was certainly known for his bouts of drunkenness. He once told an audience: "I know enough of the feeling of this meeting to know that you would rather have John A. Macdonald drunk than George Brown sober."
During WWI officers distributed rations of rum at dawn and dusk. One soldier claimed that "under the spell of this all-powerful stuff, one almost felt that he could eat a German, dead or alive steel helmet and all."
In response to the newly legislated prohibition laws, those who opposed it would sometimes pursue acts in guerilla warfare to get their message across. In one particular instance, a temperance advocate's home in Sarnia had his home dynamited!
That's right, fucking dynamited!
The oppositional movement to prohibiton was largely ambivalent. William Lyon Mackenzie King, after voting against the importation of liquor, wrote in his diary, dated April 1921: "the two boxes of whiskey that I had asked Lemieux to purchase for me in Montreal came today."
After drinking a bottle of illegal moonshine on a Saturday with some friends during prohibition, one farmer remembered the effects quite well. "About an hour later all of us were paralyzed to a certain degree, and by Sunday noon the ends of my fingers were still numb."
And now, my two favourite pictures:
This is an ad from 1961, when brewers were diversifying their products and dispersing them in "stubby" bottles for home consumption in order to satisfy consumers' needs.
The woman in this picture appears to be creepily happy about this trend...
Apparently by "sleeping" and not endorsing prohibition, people on the streets were:
-leaving babies on the ground.
-making people pulling out their hair in fits of drunken insanity.
-allowing husband's to ax their wives...
Cheers,
Kaelan
Most religions in history (except Islam) have been tolerant of moderate alcohol consumption, even at times supportive, as exemplified by Martin Luther in this statement:
"Who loves not women, wine and song/Remains a fool his whole life long."
Alcohol had great medicinal value in pre-industrial life. One cholera remedy, called Huxham's Tincture, contained two ounces of Peruvian bark, a half-ounce of Virginia snake root, and three and a half PINTS of whiskey.
Maybe people just became so drunk they forgot they had cholera. Cured!
Taverns and drinking were the centre of 19th century life in Canada. The first Parliament of Upper Canada met in a tavern on Niagara on the Lake in 1792.
Sir John A. was certainly known for his bouts of drunkenness. He once told an audience: "I know enough of the feeling of this meeting to know that you would rather have John A. Macdonald drunk than George Brown sober."
During WWI officers distributed rations of rum at dawn and dusk. One soldier claimed that "under the spell of this all-powerful stuff, one almost felt that he could eat a German, dead or alive steel helmet and all."
In response to the newly legislated prohibition laws, those who opposed it would sometimes pursue acts in guerilla warfare to get their message across. In one particular instance, a temperance advocate's home in Sarnia had his home dynamited!
That's right, fucking dynamited!
The oppositional movement to prohibiton was largely ambivalent. William Lyon Mackenzie King, after voting against the importation of liquor, wrote in his diary, dated April 1921: "the two boxes of whiskey that I had asked Lemieux to purchase for me in Montreal came today."
After drinking a bottle of illegal moonshine on a Saturday with some friends during prohibition, one farmer remembered the effects quite well. "About an hour later all of us were paralyzed to a certain degree, and by Sunday noon the ends of my fingers were still numb."
And now, my two favourite pictures:
This is an ad from 1961, when brewers were diversifying their products and dispersing them in "stubby" bottles for home consumption in order to satisfy consumers' needs.
The woman in this picture appears to be creepily happy about this trend...
Apparently by "sleeping" and not endorsing prohibition, people on the streets were:
-leaving babies on the ground.
-making people pulling out their hair in fits of drunken insanity.
-allowing husband's to ax their wives...
Cheers,
Kaelan
Friday, January 9, 2009
Tilt-Shift-O-Rama
I recently discovered this website which takes your ordinary photos and adds the tilt-shift effect to them. This makes your picture look like a miniature reconstruction of whatever the focus may be (people, cars, flying giraffes, etc.). All it does is enhance the colours and blur a decided amount of the top and bottom portions of the photograph. Neat-o.
Original:
TILT-SHIFT'D!!!!
...original:
TILT-SHIFTTTTTT
Original, again:
TILT-SHIFT AMAZING! WOW
Original:
TILT-SHIFT'D!!!!
...original:
TILT-SHIFTTTTTT
Original, again:
TILT-SHIFT AMAZING! WOW
Sunday, December 28, 2008
Burn Christmas
Water your tree, or else this could happen:
Happy Holidays! Even though it's a little late...
Kaelan
Happy Holidays! Even though it's a little late...
Kaelan
Saturday, December 20, 2008
Friday, December 12, 2008
Netherlandish Proverbs
If you know of the incredible baroque-pop band, Fleet Foxes, you might recognize this painting as the cover of their self-titled full-length album.
The artwork itself is a 1559 painting by Pieter Bruegel the Elder. It depicts literal renditions of Dutch proverbs of the day. This has been the subject of my fascination for the past week. Here are some explanations of the most absurd ones (in the following format: Kaelan's observations ("Dutch proverb"): Meaning.):
Two bums sticking out the window ("They both shit through the same hole"): They are in agreement.
Creepy Satan-like creature ("To even be able to tie the devil to a pillow"): Obstinacy overcomes everything.
(No commentary is needed for this one) ("To bang one's head against a brick wall"): To try to achieve the impossible.
Two peasants doin' it! (A. "To stick out the broom" or B. "To marry under the broomstick"): A. To have fun while the master is away or B. To live together without marrying.
When the peasants became desperately hungry... ("To be a pillar-biter"): To be a religious hypocrite.
And more!
Here's a stunning video of the Fleet Foxes in an abandoned wing of the Grand Palais, in Paris.
Fleet Foxes - A Take Away Show from La Blogotheque on Vimeo.
Cheers,
Kaelan.
Friday, December 5, 2008
Various Drawings in My French Book
My scanner sucks and did not want to co-operate, so I took pictures of these instead.
Hilarious!
I apologize for the blurriness, I now have more incentive to A. get a better camera and B. buy a printer/scanner that does both of these things.
Stay tuned for more doodles in the notebook for next term...
Judgment Day.....with Robots!
"Hello?"
Pies
Washing the Car/House on Fire
Bacon
1929
Cheers,
Kaelan.
Hilarious!
I apologize for the blurriness, I now have more incentive to A. get a better camera and B. buy a printer/scanner that does both of these things.
Stay tuned for more doodles in the notebook for next term...
Judgment Day.....with Robots!
"Hello?"
Pies
Washing the Car/House on Fire
Bacon
1929
Cheers,
Kaelan.
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