The Poor Mouth

And now for that break

2012-01-20T17:03:00.002Z

Back soon In the meantime I will leave you with a photo from 208, a cairn on one of the Paps of Anu in Ireland. I know it's apeared here before but what harm in the odd repeat!

Dances with (well on) Mullahs

2012-01-20T15:01:00.001Z

Jump Rope from Firoozeh Bazrafkan on Vimeo.

Before I take my break here is one of a couple of things I couldn't resist posting. This video is by the supremely talented Iranian artist Firoozeh Bazrafkan. Firoozeh lives and works in Denmark.

Time for a break

2012-01-20T13:13:00.000Z

Will take a break from posting for a little while. There is so much I want to write about, particularly about Hungarian PM Orban and his increasing despotism but I am not in the mood.

Back soon.

2012-01-20T00:09:00.000Z

Iranian actress Golshifteh Farahani has appeared as one of a number of participants in a film called Corps et Ames.

Like Aliaa El Mahdy did last year, Gofishteh is making a powerful statement about cultural policies in Iran and particularly the status of women in that country.

The Iranian regime has had a hissy fit and she has basically been told not to return to the country.

Like Aliaa El Mahdy I salute Golshifteh's action. It is her body, her right and her choice. The gimlet eyed misogynists that rule Iran can go fuck themselves

Under the weather

2012-01-20T00:04:00.000Z

Robyn has been under the weather. I took him to the vet on Tuesday but mercifully the vet considered him to be in good shape for a cat who is not far off being an eighteen year old!

Staying with Tim and skulls - March 2011

2012-01-19T21:55:00.002Z

Tim and the skull chador

2012-01-19T21:53:00.000Z

What a difference a year makes

2012-01-19T21:43:00.000Z

Dandini - Azam Ali

2012-01-19T00:22:00.002Z

Sketches for Ophelia

2012-01-19T00:20:00.000Z

Tim Crazed

2012-01-19T00:02:00.000Z

When the US gets a cold we all get pneumonia - To hell with SOPA

2012-01-18T19:00:00.002Z

2012-01-17T23:23:00.000Z

At 6:30 on a July Morning after a night of drinking

2012-01-17T23:08:00.000Z

Four revised views of the Perfidious Madonna

2012-01-17T23:02:00.000Z

A difference of opinion between Tim and Iggy Pop

2012-01-17T16:28:00.002Z

Here Iggy tells the world that he wants to be a canine companion

And here my nephew makes it abundantly clear that he will NOT be a canine companion, even to his best friend!

Tim X3

2012-01-17T16:22:00.000Z

Tim Hijab July 2011

2012-01-17T00:19:00.000Z

Celena and wildflowers II

2012-01-17T00:14:00.002Z

Against the wall

2012-01-17T00:05:00.000Z

Celena distorted

2012-01-16T18:33:00.000Z

Celena, Infra Red

2012-01-16T17:55:00.000Z

Celena X3

2012-01-16T17:49:00.000Z

And some Souad Massi

2012-01-15T23:23:00.002Z

Celena and the wildflowers

2012-01-15T18:56:00.000Z

Celena Solar

2012-01-15T17:43:00.000Z

Face Isolate III

2012-01-15T14:08:00.000Z

Pastel

2012-01-14T02:57:00.000Z

Face Isolate II

2012-01-14T02:11:00.000Z

Face Isolate I

2012-01-14T02:09:00.000Z

Cat in Doghouse

2012-01-13T19:59:00.000Z

Boris is under strict curfew again after we discovered him at Izzy's house. I don't think anything will stop him visiting the 100kilo Mastiff...Hi ho.time for play dates I think!

© Shaun P Downey 2012

2012-01-13T19:41:00.000Z

This song stayed stuck in my mind from the first time I heard it back in 1980. It sounded like a nursery rhyme for Armageddon and it still does today ...

When the rich die last
Like the rabbits running
From a lucky past
Full of shadow cunning
And the world lights up
For the final day
We will all be poor
Having had our say

Put a blanket up on the window pane
When the baby cries lullaby again
As the light goes out on the final day
For the people who never had a say

There is so much noise
There is too much heat
And the living floor
throws you off your feet
As the final day falls into the night
There is peace outside
in the narrow light

I was delighted when the YMG's rather smalloutput was re-released a few years ago. well worth the money.

Robyn Hitchcock when he was in his late 20s and not his late 50s

2012-01-13T19:01:00.000Z

Robyn with the Soft Boys at the Futurama festival, September 1980

Superheroes of Science!

2012-01-12T20:07:00.000Z

New Scientist has a short film of students at St. Mark's School in Southborough, Massachusetts they're breaking a paper-folding record by completing 13 folds, a challenge that students at the school have been tackling for seven years with the help of teacher James Tanton.

Based on the thickness of a sheet of paper, a formula can be used to calculate the minimum length needed to fold it a given number of times. Paper roughly doubles in size with each fold and the sides become more rounded, making it harder and harder to bend. Wrinkles also have a significant impact, making the formula difficult to follow in practice. In addition, no single roll is long enough to fold thirteen times, requiring the group to tape together numerous rolls of industrial toilet paper 1.2 kilometers long.

To achieve the feat, the students first arranged and taped 64 layers of paper into the physical structure of the sixth fold. When you fold paper, the layers on the end form a pattern of peaks and valleys, so the configuration mimicked these layers to accommodate the 16 kilometers of paper inside. The students then proceeded to physically fold the stack. The final result was a 1.5-metre wide and 76-centimetre high wad comprising 8192 layers of paper.

Although no official rules govern the record, the students decided that the folds must be in one direction and that the complete structure should be freestanding.

Until 2002, it was thought that paper could only be folded a maximum of seven times. High school student Britney Gallivan dispelled the popular myth by resolving the mathematics and successfully folding a single roll of toilet paper twelve times in a record-breaking feat.

Now it seems that Britney's groundbreaking research has been proved slightly wrong and it is possible to fold toilet paper one extra time. The student's wk is truly epoch making. Do not consider it an amusement it is truly a paradigm shift in science. The world will never be the same again!

Virgin Mary at Hamburger Mary?

2012-01-12T19:42:00.001Z

(Photo from WTSP.COM site)

It's been fat too long since a simulacrum graced these pages so here goes According to wtsp.com the name of a restaurant in Ybor City, Tampa has taken on a new meaning after the image of the Virgin Mary appeared on one of its walls.

The location of said appearance is Hamburger Mary's

The image first got attention over the weekend after some customers noted its appearance on a stainless steel plate on the wall near the kitchen. "From certain angles it does look like the Virgin Mary," says acting manager Melanie Todd. "I never have noticed it myself, before."

This isn't the first time the Blessed Virgin has appeared on an inanimate object in Tampa Bay. For several years an image said to be her adorned the glass windows of a Clearwater office building. Vandals destroyed the several of the windows in 2004.

Todd says the image at the restaurant -- known for its gay karaoke and drag queen bingo nights -- reminds her of that earlier appearance in Clearwater. "Everybody is curious to see it," she says. "It's a true image, it really is."

Excellent stuff but I must admit the drag bingo must be a good draw too!

Lily, er, detail

2012-01-11T20:52:00.000Z

Dreaming of warmer days

2012-01-11T20:51:00.000Z

And more Tim Revisited

2012-01-11T19:55:00.001Z

They boy who loved hijabs - Redux

2012-01-11T19:27:00.000Z

And yet more Dame Pandora revisited

2012-01-10T21:45:00.000Z

Truly They are Gods Among the Dull!

2012-01-10T19:28:00.000Z

As a fervent supporter of the Dull Men's Club... Hold on fervent is the wrong word, I mean I have a passing interest in dull things but I must doff my cap to those sterling men and women who are participating in this contest.

The world Watching Paint Dry competition is proving to be a massive hit according to the Metro attracting participants from around the world... Well I say a massive hit, what I mean is that a number of the more hardcore among we dullards have participated so far.

Those looking to compete in the championships must send in a photo of themselves watching paint dry and state the longest time they’ve managed to stare at a wall of drying paint without looking away.
They will also need to tell organisers what their favourite colour is and why.
One contestant that has entered the fray is Bence Baksa from Hungary who has reportedly watched paint drying for five hours straight.

Paul Bailey from Wiltshire has also taken on the challenge and says his favourite paint colour is magnolia.

A spokeswoman for competition organisers LocalTraders.com, which also operates in Holland, Sweden and Finland, said she was delighted at how well received the contest has been. 'We’ve all heard the phrase "I’d rather watch paint dry" and so we have decided the time has come to give people the chance to do so, for as long as they can manage,' she said. 'We’re pleased that paint watchers from across the world have put themselves forward for the competition and nominations from as far away as India and the US make give it a real international flavour.

'Paint is used throughout the world so I suppose in a way it’s no surprise we’ve had foreign entrants willing to challenge some of Britain’s best paint watchers.'

Submissions for the championships must be made by January 27. A shortlist will then be drawn up and those contestants will be invited to attend an ultimate final in front of media at a location in central England.
The final stare down will see six paint watchers from around the world fight it out for the international title and an iPad.

For more information or to enter the competition, visit http://www.localtraders.com/watching-paint-dry-championships.php

Truly these men and perhaps women (although most women, I would imagine, are far too sensible to waste their time like this) are the the cutting edge of dullness. As boring and unadventurous as I am, I am not fit to talk about bus spotting with these pioneers who are pushing (gently_ at the grey barriers of the quotidian!

The War on Chuddies

2012-01-10T18:44:00.000Z

Today's Guardian reports reports that the importation of "articles of second-hand undergarments of any type, form or description, whether purchased, donated or procured in any other manner", is now forbidden, according to statutory instrument 150 of 2011.

The measure is apparently the brainchild of finance minister Tendai Biti of the rival Movement for Democratic Change. Biti was shocked to discover many Zimbabweans bought used underwear from flea markets or stalls.

"I am told we are now even importing women's underwear in this country," he was quoted saying recently. "How does that happen? If you are a husband and you see your wife buying underwear from the flea market, you would have failed... If I was your in-law, I would take my daughter and urge you to first put your house in order if you still want her back."

Zimbabwe has one of the highest unemployment rates in the world, estimated at more than 90%. Poverty has driven many to buy secondhand underwear from markets which are supplied with used stock or donations from the west.
The ban, which became effective on 30 December, has reportedly triggered protests from traders who say it will push them out of business.

But there are hopes the change will help protect Zimbabwe's struggling domestic textiles industry. Local media also suggested that it would improve public hygiene and self-esteem.

In an editorial, NewsDay argued: "One of the best laws that our country has put in place in recent years is the total ban on the importation of secondhand underwear. "Wearing used underwear is most dehumanising and no government worth its salt should allow its citizens to be abused to this extent. It is a fact that our flea markets receive bales of clothing, some of which is exclusively used underwear, some of which is soiled. What nation have we become that knowingly subjects its people to humiliation and disease? It is inconceivable for a country to open its borders for the importation of used underwear – to allow our women to wear undergarments that other women in other countries have used and discarded."

Under the new legislation the Zimbabwe Revenue Authority will charge 40% duty and 15% VAT on all underwear imports and apply a US$3 levy on every kilogram of underwear entering the country.

What to say? I know I would not be keen on second hand underwear but perhaps there are a few other things for the Zimbabwean government to concentrate on... just a thought...

And Two more of Dame Pandora

2012-01-09T23:14:00.000Z

And another one of Dame Pandora of Dark Sanctuary

2012-01-09T21:27:00.000Z

2012-01-09T21:26:00.000Z

Dame Pandora, of Dark Sanctuary at their last ever concert at St Pancars Church, 3 October 2009

Photos © Shaun P Downey 2009, 2012

The Cahtholic plot for nuclear proliferation...

2012-01-09T20:24:00.000Z

Kevin Myers is a regular commentator for the Irish Independent. Although in my own way I am as sceptical as he is about elements of Irish history as it is portrayed, I consider him to be an arsehole of the first order.

Just before Xhristmas he wrote a piece called: In Part the Marists of Ireland Helped Equip the Marxists of North Korea-with-nuclear-weapons-2972402.html

This coming year marks (2012) the 120th anniversary of the establishment by Irish Marists of St Anthony's school in Lahore, in what was then the Punjab Province of the British Raj in India. It's usually forgotten nowadays -- thanks to a republicanised history curriculum -- that the Irish were often enthusiastic participants in the empire, as missionaries in particular, but also as soldiers and civil servants...

... St Anthony's opened its doors on Empress Road in 1892, to just three pupils. Soon it was given a grant by the local railway company, and later, by the Viceroy of India, Lord Lansdowne, sometime 6th Earl of Kerry... The Indian passion for learning, and the dedication of the Irish Marists, soon made St Anthony's one of the foremost schools in the Punjab...

... With Indian independence, and the bloody calamity of partition, came the formation of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan. But whereas the new state was uncongenial for Hindus, it was a different matter for Catholics. The efforts of the Irish missionaries were apparently not resented in Pakistan, and the native Catholic population was allowed to live in relative peace. Today, the Catholic diocese of Lahore has half a million adherents, and its seminaries probably have more student-priests than there are in all of Ireland.
St Anthony's prospered in the new state, not least because it had already opened its doors to boys of all religions.... But most interestingly of all, St Anthony's produced two great nuclear scientists: Sameer Mubarakmand and Abdul Qadeer Khan. The former also specialised in ballistic rocketry, the latter in the centrifuges that are essential for the isolation of uranium isotopes.

These two men were absolutely vital in the creation of the Pakistani nuclear bomb, which -- despite the existential lunacy of such a project -- was an astounding achievement for a country that has been so racked by poverty, corruption, coups and violence. Khan, as it happened, was the more important of these two pioneers: and his mind was on more than just ensuring nuclear parity with the old foe, India.

For he then became the most catastrophic nuclear proliferator in history. From an office in Dubai, he peddled the know-how for harnessing the uranium isotopes that were essential for the manufacture of non-plutonium nuclear bombs. He tried to sell his secrets to Saddam Hussein, and did sell them to Libya and to Iran, which -- happily -- has not yet mastered the necessary centrifugal techniques to make a nuclear bomb. China swapped rocket technology in exchange for Khan's secrets, and this has been incorporated into Pakistan's missiles by his old Marist school chum, Mubarakmand. But most significantly, it was North Korea -- run by one of the most demented dynasties the world has ever known -- that showed it could turn Khan's expensively bought secrets into a viable nuclear weapon.

Five years ago, President Kim Jong-il's scientists detonated a nuclear bomb, based on Khan's blueprints. With Jong-il's death last week, his remarkably fat son Kim Jong-un becomes the first ever third-generation leader from a single family to inherit control over both a communist state and a nuclear weapons arsenal. Moreover, since his father and his grandfather were psychotic sociopaths, and given that he was raised to esteem the core dynastic values of famine, torture, brainwashing and murder, there's no reason to believe that the North Korean heir-apparent could possibly be cut from a different psychiatric cloth.

The missionaries of Ireland went to India to spread the word of God, and to bring education to the poor, opening St Anthony's College in Lahore just 120 years ago. The reach of history is long, and its dominos seldom ever fall as planned. But has any outcome ever been so utterly removed from intention as here? For in part thanks to the school they founded in Lahore, the Marists of Ireland helped over time equip the Marxists of North Korea with nuclear weapons. What a difference an X makes.

Yes it is strange how things pan out but perhaps St Benedict didn't plan for one of his order's elementary schools run by the Lambach Monastery.... Hi ho

THe power of half a million Irish men and women

2012-01-08T23:21:00.000Z

Last week the Irish Independent carried an item from the Irish governmental archives of 1981. This one concerned a secret contingency plans for a World War Three.

Classified files disclose arguments by Irish intelligence services for a "friendly" pact with the UK in the event of a threatened nuclear holocaust.

A four-page document, from February 23, 1981 titled 'The Strategic Importance of Ireland to the UK in Times of War', was drawn up in preparation for a feared outbreak of atomic war between the Soviets and the western world.

Despite its official neutrality, the report warns that Ireland may not have been spared a nuclear strike, with Shannon and Bantry Bay pinpointed as likely targets. (Shannon being a major airport and Bantry being the site of a massive oil terminal)

It outlines potential help to Britain "bearing in mind that one of the guiding principles of nuclear warfare is the dispersal of forces and facilities so as to present as small a target as possible to the enemy".

In a pact, Ireland could have offered "over 500,000 of its citizens fit for military service" as well as sites for missiles, 38 airfields, six major and 38 minor ports, a potential supply of oil and a staging post for reinforcements from THe USA and Canada.

Siting radar sites along the west and south coasts could have helped detect an imminent nuclear strike on the UK and allow it to be intercepted further out in the Atlantic. Furthermore, the use of ports in Ireland would have improved the protection of the English Channel and communication with Europe, while boosting supply routes for military reinforcements, food and fuel.

Such help would have allowed the UK to "face East in the confidence that the West flank is more secure", the report states. It adds that all the benefits of Ireland acting as a British ally would also apply to the rest of western Europe.

Under such a scenario, European governments exiled by a Soviet invasion and "free forces" could have taken refuge in Ireland and continue their struggle. The intelligence services, based at Army headquarters, write that the UK had long been seriously concerned that Ireland's warning and monitoring system was "very unreliable".

The report reveals that UK's nuclear Warning and Monitoring Organisation (UKWMO) did not accept there would not have been any direct strikes on Ireland in the event of a war. "The UKWMO take the view that there is a real immediate danger to them from nuclear bursts either in the Atlantic off our west coast, or on our territory where places like Shannon, Bantry and other useful installations would be taken out as interdiction targets," it states.

The intelligence suggests a deal could have removed the "trivial but still annoying" practice of Britain not admitting to NATO partners that Ireland is in direct contact with two of its nuclear surveillance installations -- in Lisburn and near Bath. Ireland would have exchanged information "as a matter of course in the event of a nuclear attack", it adds.

The report concludes that Ireland's strategic importance to Britain had increased because of the short timescale of a nuclear attack. Early warning systems on Irish territory "could mean the difference between success and failure of any reaction to or defence against such an attack", it states.

Four pages is hardy an in depth report on the matter and I wonder where the 500,000 military fit civilians would come from , or how the definition itay fir would be tinkered with to ensure that there such a number available! If Ireland could find that number I wonder what they would use for uniforms and weapons, given that the total strength of Irish Armed forces would have been around 10,000; the Territorial Army equivalent,the FCA as it was called at the time, would have been around twice the size

It is not outwith the realms of possibility that Ireland may have been hit during a nuclear war. The USSR had rather more weapons that than it did targets (as did the USA but I doubt even the US military at their stupidest would have targeted a friendly state!), so it might just have a couple of missiles lobbed at lesser targets for the purpose of interdiction, especially if there was any possibility that Ireland may provide the assistance suggested.

Even though Ireland would almost certainly have been in a rather better state after a nuckear war than most of Europe (and certainly far better off than the eastern edge of London, I'm sure) but things would have been pretty grim, to say the least!

Some of the Irish Government, would have been relatively safe, operating perhaps from the now decommissioned shelter under the Custume Barracks in Athlone (or perhaps somewhere else - I am most definitely no expert on Irish Civil Defence plans) but that is the way of things everywhere

And the future of the Ambulance servcies under the Tories....

2012-01-08T18:25:00.001Z

A piracy warning for the SOPA age?

2012-01-08T18:17:00.001Z

From the IT Crowd episode Moss and the German. Just afterward the camera pulls away to Moss and Roy. The punch line is "These piracy ads are getting really mean"

On the other hand if the US passes the Stop Online Piracy Act, then..????!!!!

David Bowie qualifies for his buss pass today

2012-01-08T17:50:00.000Z

But still he will look like this to me:

or this...

or this...

but not as a member of Tin Machine!

Another view of the Muse

2012-01-07T20:17:00.000Z

And a bit more by Warren Zevon

2012-01-07T03:28:00.001Z

Excitable Boy

2012-01-07T03:24:00.004Z

Still one of the greats

And some Neko Case

2012-01-07T03:16:00.001Z

Dreadful but wonderful!

2012-01-07T03:14:00.001Z

Dictator with maggot cock may feel just the slightest stirring in his loins today

2012-01-06T22:42:00.001Z

The Guardian's Comment is Free section has more than its fair share of jerks and arseholes. Sometimes commenters do make interesting points as with this one by Mike Harris

As of this morning, the internet in Belarus got smaller. A draconian new law is in force that allows the authorities to prosecute internet cafes if their users visit any foreign sites without being "monitored" by the owner. All commercial activity online is now illegal unless conducted via a .by (Belarusian) domain name, making Amazon and eBay's operations against the law unless they collaborate with the regime's censorship and register there.

Belarusians who allow friends to use their internet connection at home will be responsible for the sites they visit. Some have tried to defend the law, stating all countries regulate the internet in some form – but the Belarusian banned list of websites contains all the leading opposition websites. The fine for visiting these sites is half a month's wages for a single view.

Lukashenko attempted to destroy the political opposition after the rigged 2010 presidential elections. Seven of the nine presidential candidates were arrested alongside thousands of political activists. The will of those detained was tested: there are allegations that presidential candidates Andrei Sannikov and Mikalai Statkevich have been tortured while in prison. The opposition is yet to recover; many of its leading figures have fled to Lithuania and Poland.Within this vacuum of leadership, the internet helped spur a civil society backlash. After the sentencing of the presidential candidates, a movement inspired by the Arab spring "The Revolution Via Social Networks" mushroomed into a wave of protests that brought dissent to towns across Belarus usually loyal to Lukashenko. As the penal code had already criminalised spontaneous political protest with its requirements for pre-notification, the demonstrations were silent, with no slogans, no banners, no flags, no shouting, no swearing – just clapping.

"The Revolution Via Social Networks" (RSN) helped co-ordinate these protests online via VKontakte (the biggest rival to Facebook in Russia and Belarus with more than 135 million registered users). RSN splits its four administrators between Minsk and Krakow to keep the page active even when the state blocks access to the page, or the country's secret police (hauntingly still called the KGB) intimidate them.

The protests were so effective at associating clapping with dissent that the traditional 3 July independence day military parade was held without applause with only the brass bands of the military puncturing the silence. As lines of soldiers, trucks, tanks and special forces paraded past Lukashenko and his six-year-old son dressed in military uniform, those gathered waved flags in a crowd packed with plain-clothed agents ready to arrest anyone who dared clap or boo.

The new measures coming into force today merely build upon earlier restrictions. The official position of the Belarusian government from the operations and analysis centre of the presidential administration is: "The access of citizens to internet resources, including foreign ones, is not restricted in Belarus." Yet, in reality the government blocks websites at will, especially during protests. Just after Christmas, the leading opposition website Charter 97 was hacked, its archive part-deleted and a defamatory post about jailed presidential candidate Andrei Sannikov published on the site. The site's editor, Natalia Radzina, who has faced years of vile death and rape threats and escaped from Belarus after being placed in internal exile last year, says she has "no doubt" that the government was behind the hack. This is one of a series of attacks on Charter 97, which include co-ordinated DDOS (denial of service) attacks orchestrated by the KGB through an illegal botnet of up to 35,000 infected computers worldwide.

Today marks yet another low in Belarus's miserable slide back to its Soviet past. Clapping in the street is now illegal. NGOs have been forced underground and their work criminalised.Former presidential candidates languish in jail. The internet is the last free public space.
Lukashenko will do all he can to close down this freedom. In Europe, the battle has opened between the netizens of Belarus and its government. Who wins will be a matter of interest for us all.

As they say: big hat, tiny dick

I would laugh at the revolting little shit bag if he was not the dictator of the last Stalinist state in Europe. Hopefully the little maggot-cocked inadequate will be deposed, after which I hope he does not face the vile treament he has meted out on his opponents ... even if my gut reaction is to hang the bastard from a street lamp with piano wire

Lubyankashenko, I hope, will be consigned to the dustbin of history

Some more of Dame Pandora

2012-01-06T19:48:00.000Z

Reworked photos taken at Dark Sanctuary's last concert 3 October 2009

One Day I will wear your skin as a hat, human

2012-01-06T17:47:00.000Z

2012-01-05T19:28:00.000Z

A few reworked photos of Dame Pandora performing at Dark Sanctuary's final concert in October 2009

Looking at some old photos

2012-01-05T17:14:00.000Z

Some poor photos from Darya Dadvar's London Concert in 2009. I've reworked them t see if I could improve them. Sadly they are improved by not much

Parasite and Proud of it!

2012-01-04T20:59:00.001Z

Shaun Ryder on UFOS?

2012-01-04T20:58:00.000Z

One thing I discovered early about having cable tv is that having 120+ channels does not mean that there will be anything worth watching on any of them.

One Channel that used to have to occasional programme of interest was the History Channel, even if it had far too much on WWII. I was particularly pleased when, some years ago, the channel showed a number of episodes of RTE's Hidden History strand.

Fat chance of that anymore, what with wall to wall reality shit about lorry drivers on dodgy ice roads, rednecks so stupid that they mislaid the "e" on their ax and so on and so forth...

And just when I thought that Hostry could not stoop any lower I noticed an ad for a forthcoming series "Shaun Ryder on UFOs".

Oh for fuck's sake!With his taste in "mind expanders" in the past, I am not surprised by his belief in UFOs...

Paul McMullen

2012-01-04T18:27:00.000Z

Nothing new but still proof that McMullen is still a sleazy piece of shit

And some Dark Sanctuary

2012-01-03T23:51:00.001Z

A dose of Mailenarianism

2012-01-03T17:27:00.004Z

The Daily Mail exists to scare the shit out of a couple of million masochists, err I mean readers, with lurid tales about paedophile-marxist-nazis banning Christmas, Easter eggs and the baby Jesus and cucumbers causing cancer... and so on and so forth.

Yesterday the Mail was on top form with an article titled Is a super-volcano just 390 miles from London about to erupt?

A sleeping super-volcano in Germany is showing worrying signs of waking up. It's lurking just 390 miles away underneath the tranquil Laacher See lake near Bonn and is capable of ejecting billions of tons of magma.

This monster erupts every 10 to 12,000 years and last went off 12,900 years ago, so it could blow at any time. It covered 620 square miles of land with ash and rocks and several small earthquakes in the region last year indicate that it could be awakening from its deep sleep.

It’s thought that the volcano is similar in size and power to Mount Pinatubo in the Philippines, which blew in 1991 and became the biggest eruption of the 20th century. It ejected 10 billion tons of magma, 20 billion tons of sulphur dioxide 16 cubic kilometres of ash and caused a 0.5C drop in global temperatures.

Volcanologists believe that the Laacher See volcano is still active as carbon dioxide is bubbling up to the lake’s surface, which indicates that the magma chamber below is 'degassing'.

Well there you have it. If domination of the Euro won't bring Europe to its knees then those devilish Huns have a dastardly Plan B!

While the story is not totally ludicrous - the Laacher See is part of a potentially active volcanic region, the Vulkan Eifel, and it did erupt 12,900 years ago with an estimated power somewhere similar to that of Mount Pinatubo (level 6 on the Volcanic Explosivity Index) but to initmate that it is ready to engulf large areas of Northern Europe in volcanic ash is just moonshine.

If one wishes to be scared by volcanic activity in mainland Europe, I would remain just a little more fearful for the people of Naples than we hardy souls who eke out existences in London....

I wonder what other scare stories the Mail and the rest of the press will have for us in 2012? Another Storegga slide to engulf the eastern coast of Britain or perhaps a hypercane in Hunstanton? I wait with interest....

NB Mailenarianism is a subset of millenarianism in which the earth is purged of the unworthy and ungodly in a terrible and bloody end time. Afterwards 144,000 true Tory believers will establish the New Kingdom on earth in the name of Blessed Trinity of Margaret Thatcher (PBUH), Milton Friedman and Friedrich Hayek .

Screw the New Year!

2012-01-03T00:33:00.001Z

A Happy Birthday to my Father

2012-01-02T01:24:00.000Z

My Father is 86 today.

Midnight, 2 January 2012

2012-01-02T00:13:00.000Z

Even the Trees are angry

My New Year's Resolution is

2012-01-01T21:15:00.000Z

to see if I can produce better portrait in 2012 than these ones:

Oh and sort out my shit and my head....

This song shold ensure the victory of the 99% against the verminous 1%

2012-01-01T01:11:00.000Z

Surely enough bad karma is produced by this autotuned wank that that only the humbling of the greed merchants of the Square Mile, Wall Street etc could offset it

Perhaps if I play this there will be no war with Iran...

2012-01-01T00:34:00.000Z

On the other hand....

2012-01-01T00:21:00.000Z

I now this song is several yrars old but I daresay 2012 will be as bad as this

If I post this then perhaps....

2012-01-01T00:01:00.000Z

This s the worst thing to happen in 2012

Happy new year

2011-12-31T23:59:00.001Z

For my family, friends and Blog comrades across the world:

godt nytår
gelukkig nieuwjaar
bonne année
prost Neujahr
שנה טובה
ath bhliain faoi mhaise
felice anno nuovo
laimīgu Jauno gadu
sâle no mobârak
szczęśliwego nowego roku
feliz ano novo
un an nou fericit
С Новым Годом
bliadhna mhath ur
feliz año nuevo

Let's hope 2012 is not as shot as 2011. Sadly in some respects I fear it will be a lot worse, especially in relation to Iran

Something else new to listen to next year

2011-12-31T22:11:00.000Z

This is MuHa. They are based in Nottiingham. The guitarist Dmitry is a friend of a friend of mine in Latvia.

As the drumbeats of war with Iran get louder...

2011-12-31T18:41:00.000Z

Just a few words from three great Iranian women to ponder.

It is only through literature that one can put oneself in someone else’s shoes and understand the other’s different and contradictory sides and refrain from becoming too ruthless. Outside the sphere of literature only one aspect of individuals is revealed. But if you understand their different dimensions you cannot easily murder them. . .

Azar Nafisi - From Reading Lolita in Tehran

The idea of cultural relativism is nothing but an excuse to violate human rights.

Shirin Ebadi

It's time to mow the flowers,
don't procrastinate.
Fetch the sickles, come,
don't spare a single tulip in the fields.
The meadows are in bloom:
who has ever seen such insolence?
The grass is growing again:
step nowhere else but on its head.
Blossoms are opening on every branch,
exposing the happiness in their hearts:
such colorful exhibitions must be stopped.
Bring your scalpels to the meadow
to cut out the eyes of flowers.
So that none may see or desire,
let not a seeing eye remain.
I fear the narcissus is spreading corruption:
stop its displays in a golden bowl
on a six-sided tray.
What is the use of your ax,
if not to chop down the elm tree?
In the maple's branches
allow not a single bird a moment's rest.
My poems and the wild mint
bear messages and perfumes.
Don't let them create a riot with their wild singing.
My heart is greener than green,
flowers sprout from the mud and water of my being.
Don't let me stand, if you are the enemies of Spring.

Simin Behbahani, the Lioness of Iran

Translation. by Farzaneh Milani and Kaveh Safa, Strange Times, My Dear: The PEN Anthology of Contemporary Iranian Lit (Arcade). THis poem was found here

As much as I loathe the mullahs, Ahmadinejad and his lackeys, the Waffen SS-alikes that are the Revolutionary Guards and the Einsatzgrupen in being that are the Baseej militia units (I hope to see each and every one of these bastards crushed, but by the people of Iran), any pre-emptive strike on Iran would be a disaster. It legitimise each and every one of these scumbags and as the people fall in behind leaders it would destroy the opposition movement at a stroke.

Perhaps it is time for the hawks to take a step back and stop swinging their tiny little dicks for a moment. Perhaps it would allow time for the addled little brains to engage.

The Spirit of Christmas in Hornchuch

2011-12-30T18:15:00.000Z

As seen adorning a house in Osborne Road, Hornchurch. I wish had seen it last week. Still better late than never!

My favourite Poor Mouth Post of 2011

2011-12-30T17:01:00.001Z

I can't say that the Poor Mouth is replete with erudition but I wuld choose this post as my favourite of 2011.

The First Cosmonaut

There has been a lot of speculation about whether the USSR attempted to send a cosmonaut into space before Yuri Gagarin. Most of the discussion has been within the realm of the conspiracy theorist and quite honestly, the supporting evidence is pretty thin… until now that is.

model of a Vostok era cosmonaut

A new book published today reveals that there was in fact one partly successful space flight prior to Gagarin but the cosmonaut was so badly injured that Nikita Kruschev himself ordered the suppression of all records pertaining to the flight.

Ivan Ivanovich Maketov was born in Begemodsk, near Moscow, in 1923. Commissioned into the Red Air Force in 1941 he served with distinction and it was his exemplary war record that landed him a position as a test pilot for the Mikoyan Gurevitch design bureau.

In 1958 Maketov was one of six Air Force officers selected for cosmonaut training. Maketov was considered the most able candidate, better even than Gagarin and so it was no surprise whent he was selected for the first Vostok flight in March 1961.

Vostok 1 was launched on 9 March. Maketov made three successful orbits of the earth before returning to earth. During re entry, an electrc malfunction caused a fire in the capsule burning Maketov severely. Despite this he was able to bail out of the capsule but landed badly breaking his back, hip and legs.

An injured Matekov after bailing out of Vostok 1

Because of his injuries it was decided that a severely injured cosmonaut would not present the Soviet Union’ in the best light. All information about Maketov’s was suppressed. On 12 April Gagarin made his historic flight. His vessel was originally designated Vostok 2 but was renamed Vostok 1 as part of the cover up.

Maketov after reconstructive surgery

Maketov, spent two years undergoing rehabilitation after the incident but was unable to make a full recovery. Despite numerous reconstructive operations his face remained severely disigured. In 1963 he was granted a pension and flat in Sochi where he lived until his death in 1988.

The First Cosmonaut was written by scientist and aviation historian Matyob Govnovsky.. He had been was granted unprecedented access to the Soviet spacet archives. Even so he was shocked to discover several files on Maketov.

“There has been a lot of speculation about failed missions before Gagarin”, he said “It was a genuine shock to discover that the speculations were actually based in fact”.

Govnovsky has already petitioned the Russian government to erect a memorial to Maketov. “Gagarin was a true hero but so was Maketov. It would take nothing away from Gagarin’s achievement to erect a memorial to another true hero of space,” he said.

The First Cosmonaut was originally posted on 1/4/2011 (or 4/1/2011 if American)

People of the year:

2011-12-30T16:55:00.000Z

Even in the worst of things some peole shine through. The riots that blighted many of our inner cities (and suburbs and a few towns large and not so large). Whatever the underlying causes of the riots the results where the same: idiots shitting on their own doorstep

Paulone Pearce struck a chord with her angry tirade.

Perhaps it is a cliche to say she was saying what a lot of people were thinking but in this case it is true

Tariq Jahan lost his son Haroon when a car ploughed into a group of young asians who were on the streets to defend properties and businesses from looters. Tariq's anguished words the following day almost certainly calmed down what could have been a vicious escalation in violence in the Handsworth area of Birmingham.

It would be wrong to canonise Pauline and Tariq but what they said at the time and place were more powerful, heartfelt and sincere than any thousand watchword filled speeches from a politician or so called leader.

Take it Easy Hospital - Human Jungle

2011-12-30T03:29:00.001Z

Ash Koshanejad and Negar Shaghaghi starred in the wonderful Iranian film No One Knows About Persian Cats. They fled to the UK and claimed asylum here immeidately after filming. Ash had already been imprisoned for his part in an unauthorised rock concert in Tehran, Negar would have faced dire consequences. had she stayed. Iran's loss is Britain's gain in my view but it shouldn't be that way.

Amal Murkus, another singer to listen to in 2012

2011-12-30T01:42:00.001Z

Forough Farrokhxad would still only be 78 years old

2011-12-30T01:00:00.000Z

Damn I forgot that Forough Farrokhzad's birthday was yesterday. She would have been 78 had she not been taken from the world at such a young age. She died in a car crash in 1967, she was just 32.

Here is one of her poems. I am sure I have posted this before but what the hell.

The Wind-Up Doll

More than this, yes
more than this one can stay silent.

With a fixed gaze
like that of the dead
one can stare for long hours
at the smoke rising from a cigarette
at the shape of a cup
at a faded flower on the rug
at a fading slogan on the wall.

One can draw back the drapes
with wrinkled fingers and watch
rain falling heavy in the alley
a child standing in a doorway
holding colorful kites
a rickety cart leaving the deserted square
in a noisy rush

One can stand motionless
by the drapes—blind, deaf.

One can cry out
with a voice quite false, quite remote
“I love…”
in a man’s domineering arms
one can be a healthy, beautiful female

With a body like a leather tablecloth
with two large and hard breasts,
in bed with a drunk, a madman, a tramp
one can stain the innocence of love.

One can degrade with guile
all the deep mysteries
one can keep on figuring out crossword puzzles
happily discover the inane answers
inane answers, yes—of five or six letters.

With bent head, one can
kneel a lifetime before the cold gilded grill of a tomb
one can find God in a nameless grave
one can trade one’s faith for a worthless coin
one can mold in the corner of a mosque
like an ancient reciter of pilgrim’s prayers.
one can be constant, like zero
whether adding, subtracting, or multiplying.
one can think of your --even your—eyes
in their cocoo of anger
as lusterless holes in a time-worn shoe.
one can dry up in one’s basin, like water.

With shame one can hide the beauty of a moment’s togetherness
at the bottom of a chest
like an old, funny looking snapshot,
in a day’s empty frame one can display
the picture of an execution, a crucifixion, or a martyrdom,
One can cover the crake in the wall with a mask
one can cope with images more hollow than these.

One can be like a wind-up doll
and look at the world with eyes of glass,
one can lie for years in lace and tinsel
a body stuffed with straw
inside a felt-lined box,
at every lustful touch
for no reason at all
one can give out a cry
“Ah, so happy am I!”’

Source

It's all good,,, the music anyway

2011-12-29T19:36:00.001Z

Gafsa

The Devil's Coachman

Triste Vals

The Beat that my Heart Skipped

30, Ahem. Glorious Years

2011-12-29T00:26:00.000Z

How could I have let Xmas pass without mentioning this.... but cast yourself
back to The run up to Christmas of 1981. I was just back from my first term at Southampton University due to meet an old school friend and a couple of upper sixth girls from the Frances Bardsley school in Romford, whom we both through knew via the local CND group , for a drink at the Ship in Gidea Park (consorting with non catholic girls, oh the humanity!).

ONe of the gils asked if they could bring along a rather quiet friend of theirs.I was happy for this to happen as there was no intention on my part to go on the pull anyway... And lot the quite girl in question was very quiet, slim and with very long hair.... I was smitten at first sight!

30 years later she is sat not far from me watching a recording of an Armstrong and Miller sitcom. She still puts up with my missing the toilet, my farting in bed (although she can match fart for fart!) and the same old shit repeated over and over again!

Who knows we may go mad one day and tie the knot, but several circles of Hell will probably have to freeze over first....

Still the greatest living Briton

2011-12-28T17:21:00.000Z

He's 93, he's Britain's only double Nobel laureate and he is worth a billion Simon Cowells, Jeremy Clarksons or any other worthless shitbag you can mention.... and yet very few Britons will be able to identify him (if you don't know, just look down and check the tag to this post then look him up!).

It's a funny old world

All over the place

2011-12-28T16:15:00.000Z

I am not in a very good place at the moment. My mood is all over the place. Perhaps I will stop blogging soon. perhaps I won't. There are things I want to say.

On a brighter note I have a number of ideas I am working through with Tim and Celena which should produce some excellent photos.... if I get them right that is.

That said there are still some nasty storm clouds on the horizon that could destroy everything.

hiatus, possibly termination

2011-12-27T14:04:00.001Z

The Poor Mouth is going on indefinite hiatus as of now. I am not sure when or if it will return. I would like to thank my regular readers for all the support you have shown down the years. I would like to carry on but right here, right now I just can't.

New photos added to portfolio

2011-12-26T23:54:00.000Z

© Shaun P Downey 2011

I have added some new photos to my Portfolio blog. They are mainly from the two sessions with Tim (and Celena in the second session) . In addition I have added a photo each from the Hand of Glory and the Love of a Good Woman series.

Slipped off this mortal coil 2011

2011-12-26T19:28:00.002Z

Here's my annual roundup of people who have died this year. Some are deeply lamented, some are unsung:

January

January saw the death of film composer, John Barry aged 77. But for him there would be another James Bond theme

Dorothy Thomspn, leading historian of the Chartist movement died on 29 January at the age of 87. She was also the widow of social historian E P Thompson

Ugandan Gay Rights activist David Kato Kisule murdered by hompohobes on 26 January. Accused murderer Sidney Nsubuga Enoch was found guilty and sentenced to 30 years in prison on 10 November 201. Sadly the murderous attitudes towards gays across much of Africa remains as bad as it was

February

James Gruber, the last of the founding members of the Mattachine Society, died aged 82. The Mattachine Society were an early gay rights organisation founded in 1950.

Former Thin Lizzy guitarist (not to forget his long and successful solo career!) Died 6 February

Jane Russell died on 28 February at the age of 89. Need I say anymore?

March

Harry Coover, the inventor of superglue died on 26 March at the age of 94. Thanks to Harry, pranksters need look no further when they want to glue the testicles of a "mate" to any surface. Harry Coover you are one of the true greats!

Tawfik Towbi, the last surviving member the first Knesset.

Who is Tawfik Tubi? A Knesset member,
a Communist, an Arab who sits
in that House by full right...
That's democracy, not always easy,
but if we don't understand this part,
we haven't gotten anything at all

By poet Nathan Alberman

Former Elnad test Cricketer Fred Titmus died after a long illness on 23 March. He was 78 years old. What better tribute to the man than the Half Man Half Biscuit song

Channeling Kid Pambele

2011-12-26T14:25:00.003Z

Reality and impression differ

2011-12-26T14:18:00.000Z

Nephew

2011-12-26T13:35:00.000Z

Well it wouldn't be Christmas without a bit of Cthulhu

2011-12-24T00:04:00.000Z

That's me done for until after Xmas. Here's wWishing all my readers a terror filled Christmas and a nightmare filled New Year. Then again the Tories seem to be doing this job well enough without my intervention....

And more favourite photos of 2011

2011-12-23T23:16:00.002Z

Tim

Young Love

Celena

Tim

Paris by night

Muse and vines

Muse at Modigliani's grave

The poet as La Fumeuse

Tim

Grape Hyacinth

Hand of Glory

Muse and Modigliani

Mum

Kimono Boy

Three more photos from yesterday

2011-12-23T21:15:00.000Z

The best blog post of 2011

2011-12-23T21:03:00.001Z

2011 seemed to be a year where the blogosphere slowed down. I was very sorry to see the passing of Modernity's and Renegade Eye's bogs. Ren gave this blog a big boost when the Poor Mouth was in it's early days, back when there was more politics and fewer photos.

MY general enthusiasm for blogging has fallen this year. That said 2011 saw more posts on the Poor Mouth than any other year but that is down to the sheer number of photos I've taken (more than 7,000 so far). And March saw my millionth visitor, a Dane looking for porn but finding one of my photos of lily beetles in flagrante!

Oh and I won Knatolee's Hen Haiku competition, The prize was a delightful book she illustrated called Katie of the Sonoran Desert

While I would not pretend there has been any quality writing on this blog, the output of my favourite bloggers has remained consistently high.If I had to choose my favourite blog post of the year (which I am going to do or else this post would have even less point than it does!) I would have to go for The Art Class on Adventures, Ink.

Adventures, Ink is written by Susan of Phantsythat and deals with stories from a very rich life. Back in the early sixties when Susan was just 17, she decided to make some extra money to take her to Europe by working as a life model.

Susan provides some sage advice about posing - do not stand on one leg, do not keep your arm above head height for too long and for pity's sake don't try any positions learned from calisthenics!

But perhaps the best advice is not to wander around naked in the break to see how the artists have drawn you and certainly not to take them by surprise... unless you want to see them tip back out of their chair!

It is a delightful story which is made all the richer by Susan's wonderful line drawings/It is well worth checking out if you want a smile!

The last Friday cat post of 2011

2011-12-23T01:23:00.000Z

My Sister's cat Lexi

Headscarf and Manteau?

2011-12-23T01:17:00.000Z

The Boy with the bruja mask

2011-12-23T01:15:00.000Z

And my favourite song of 2011

2011-12-23T00:07:00.000Z

From the best album of the year - Let England Shake