Art Attack!: Acclaimed artist/writer, genius... Graham Rawle

Graham Rawle is such a neat guy... I know, because I've met him! And right before I got to meet him and request to have a quick snapshot taken (about which he was very gracious, btw), I attended a presentation Graham gave discussing his latest work, 'The Wizard of Oz'. The text of the book is actually L. Frank Baum's original story, but all of the imagery is 100% classic Rawle.

Here, take a gander...






This beautiful book cover only hints at
the visual delights that await you, inside!







It looks like Toto is about to be a bite-sized
snack for the Cowardly Lion, here. But we
all know that's not the case, not with his
BFF, Dorothy, around. Besides, even if
Dorothy wasn't nearby, that little dog could
"Toto"-lly kick Lion's ass all by himself!







Merrily, merrily, merrily, merrily...
Oz is but a dream.

(Or, IS it?)







Here, we see a scene with a completely
different take, Rawle's take, on the
Wicked Witch o' the West's flying monkeys.

(I really dig Graham's sense of humor!)







And speak of the devil, here's
the WWoW, now! Weird as
she looks (and despite how we
expect her to appear because of
the MGM classic movie), my
understanding is that this is
actually much truer to how
she's described in Baum's
original book.





That was but a Whitman's Sampler, if you will. The rest of it is just as yummy for your eyes! So if I've piqued your interest, go ahead and pick up a copy of 'The Wizard of Oz', illustrated by Graham Rawle. You won't be disappointed.

Another creation of his, that I absolutely dig with a passion, is his book, 'Woman's World'. He both wrote and illustrated it, however, most of the "illustration" inside of the book is actually all cut 'n' pasted text and embellishments from old women's magazines of the 1940s. If you can believe it, Graham spent 5 years working on this book, and most of that time was spent cutting, collecting, organizing, pasting and basically assembling every word of the story... one by one. Hearing Graham talk about the process in his presentation was absolutely fascinating. I mean, the organizational system, alone, which he devised for the project was so impressive (if not a bit confusing) you could tell that this guy isn't just arty; he's also a smarty. I guess one could say he's an "arty-smarty"! Well, I will anyway...

Check out some of the stuff I'm talking about, below...







This is the cover for the
hardback edition.

(The one that I have.)







And this, here, is the wonderful
paperback/graphic novel edition.

(I want it, too! That cover appeals
to all of my kitsch-y sensibilities!)







This is just a glimpse into the madness...
Graham spent an average of 17 hours a
day, 7 days a week for 5 years sitting here
clipping 'n' pasting. Altogether, a total
of 40,000 fragments of text from vintage
women's magazines was assembled to
tell this unique and strangely charming
tale.









And, here, you can see the fruits of
his obsessive, slave-type labor.
You might suspect that it would be
hard to read, but it isn't! In fact,
Graham worked at figuring out just
the right formula, or words-to-page
ratio, that would be easiest for a
reader to tolerate. And it works!





As for the story to this intricately composed novel, let me share with you what the dust jacket says. It gives away just enough to set the scene and pull you in...


"Norma Fontaine lives in a world of handy tips and sensible advice. Whether it's choosing the right girdle or honing her feminine allure, she measures life by the standards set in women's magazines. But Norma discovers that the real world is less delightful-and more sinister-than the one portrayed in the glossies. When dark secrets threaten her brother's blossoming romance, Norma must decide whether to sacrifice life in a woman's world for the sake of her brother's happiness. As her decision is slowly revealed, readers realize that, like life in the magazines, Norma isn't quite what she seems."


Intrigued? Good.
Now, go find a copy and read it!
I think you'll be glad you did.







Look! It's Graham with
little ol' me! Like we're
"buds", or something.

(Yeah, right... I was lucky
he agreed to stand next
to me for the photo.)





I don't want to go on FOREVER (and believe me, I could), so I'll cut this one kinda short. I didn't even get to talk about Rawle's 'Diary of an Amateur Photographer' (one of my top faves), or his long-running 'Lost Consonants' series. Oh, well. I guess I'll cover those in a follow-up edition... Really, this man's work is quite prolific, plus everything he does is smart, clever, and funny! I just can't seem to say enough good things about the guy.

I know, how's this sound?
Graham Rawle... ARTISTIC GENIUS!

Yep, that about covers it.



~All pics via Google Images, except last personal photo of Anthony w/Graham, courtesy of Tommy Kovac.~

Board Games That Don't Bore Me: Scrabble

SCRABBLE is a fun, thinking person's word game. You either like the challenge, or you don't. To me, it's that plain and simple. Of course, having a "thing" for letters, words, and wordplay doesn't hurt, either! Another factor that appeals to me about this game (and this shouldn't come as any surprise to my regular readers), is the sense of order which is created as each player places their letter tiles on the big board's symmetrical grid. And, yes... I do prefer the raised-grid version of the playing board. Otherwise, your letter tiles go all wonky, and where's the order in that??! I'll tell you. Nowhere.

Even though I've played it for many years, I've never managed to score a Bingo. You know, that's when you play a word that uses all seven letters on the rack, and it earns you a bonus 50 points. I have witnessed my mother-in-law do this, however. Aaand more than once! Seriously, she kicks major SCRABBLE-butt!

Speaking of butts... Did you know that SCRABBLE was invented by an out-of-work architect named Alfred Mosher Butts? Funny last name, but obviously a pretty smart guy. Attempting to create a game that would use both chance and skill, Butts combined features of anagrams and the crossword puzzle. He first called it LEXIKO, but then changed it to CRISS CROSS WORDS. To decide on letter distribution, Butts studied the front page of The New York Times and did painstaking calculations of letter frequency. His basic cryptographic analysis of our language and his original tile distribution have remained valid for more than 50 years and billions of games played! (Now, if that alone doesn't make him a smarty-pants...)







Alfred M. Butts, sittin' pretty
atop Alphabet City.

(Is that a leisure suit?!)







CRISS CROSS WORDS, an early version
of SCRABBLE, featured a game board
made of architectural blueprint paper
glued over an old chess board.

(THAT'S ingenuity for you!)





At first, all established game manufacturers rejected Butts' invention for commercial development. Then, Butts met game-loving entrepreneur, James Brunot, who completely loved the concept. Together, they made some refinements to the rules and design, and most significantly, changed the name to SCRABBLE, a real word which means "to grope frantically." The game was finally trademarked as SCRABBLE Brand Crossword Game in 1948, but the first four years were pretty hard. The Brunots rented an abandoned schoolhouse in Dodgington, Connecticut, where with friends they turned out 12 games an hour, stamping letters on wooden tiles one at a time. After a bit, boards, boxes, and tiles were made elsewhere and sent to the factory for assembly and shipping. By 1949, the Brunots had made 2,400 sets on their own and lost $450. As is typical of the game business, the SCRABBLE game gained slow but steady popularity among a comparative handful of consumers. Then in the early 1950s, legend has it that the president of Macy's discovered the game on vacation and ordered some for his store. Within a year, everyone "had to have one" to the point that SCRABBLE games were being rationed to stores around the country.

In 1952, the Brunots realized they could no longer make the games fast enough to meet the growing demand. So they licensed the well-known game manufacturer, Long Island-based Selchow & Righter Company, to market and distribute the games in the U.S. and Canada.

Is all of this just totally boring to y'all? I like nitty-gritty details, so I tend to get carried away... Seriously, let me know in a comment whether you enjoy detailed posts like this occasionally, or if you'd rather I just "SHUT UP, already!"

Well, long story a bit shorter... In 1986, Hasbro purchased SCRABBLE and has owned it ever since. The End. No, not really. It wasn't "The End" for Alfred M. Butts until he passed away in April of 1993 at the age of 93! Of course, he did enjoy spending the later half of his long life playing SCRABBLE with family and friends. I wonder if during his very last game he was able to go out with a Bingo on his rack like:

I1 A1 M3 D2 E1 A1 D2







Super-Duper-Pricey-Fun-Time SCRABBLE!

For only $600 you can have this deluxe version that
includes a wood-framed board w/raised grid and
turn-table base, 100 letter tiles individually minted
and encrusted with 24k gold, and, of course, spacious
drawers to store them in.

(I want! I want!)







Tiles with style!

Here are the 24k gold encrusted letter tiles. A bit
garish, yes, but also very shiny and quite golden.




I'd better go now. It's my turn to make a word, and I see the perfect opportunity to use a Triple Word Score space...


~All photos via Google Images. History and information via the National Scrabble Association.~

'Match Game', the best t.v. game show ever!

I know one thing for darn sure... There's absolutely no way I could ever deny the fact that I was a child of the seventies. I just love too many iconic things within 1970s pop culture, and I figure it's gotta be a direct result of growing up during that era.

One of the decade's more popular and iconic game shows (and easily my all-time favorite) was the star-studded, fun and risque, 'Match Game'. With show regulars Brett Somers and Charles Nelson Reilly on every episode's celebrity panel, you knew you could always count on those two for laughter inducing entertainment. And if the other 4 stars also wound up being funny, well... that was just icing on the cake! The show still runs on Game Show Network, and I discovered only recently that you can buy a 4-disc 'Best of Match Game' DVD w/30 episodes on it. The DVD has been available since 2006, so I'm currently conducting an investigation into why I wasn't properly notified of the original release date. You probably think I'm kidding, don't you? My husband could tell you a thing or two about how nutty I am for stuff like this. It absolutely drives Tommy up a wall whenever I start "talking shop" about Charles Nelson Reilly, Paul Lynde, JoAnne Worley (Aunt JoAnne!), etc. with friends who share a mutual appreciation for such groovy '70s pop culture. But that's his loss! So much of that stuff just cracks me up, from the funky fashions to the eccentric and hilarious celebrities... And the t.v. shows, natch!








Having a gay old time!

I have no idea if Brett was a real-life friend
to Charles outside of the show, but those two
got along so well that she seemed like the
proverbial hag to his imperiously prissy fag.
And I truly mean that in a good way!

They broke the mold when Charles Nelson
Reilly came into this world. Just think about
the nerve it must have taken, and the high
level of self-confidence he must've had in
order to be so freely "himself" as a television
celebrity of the day. I mean, we're talking
about 40 years ago! Granted, I'm fairly sure
he never officially came OUT of the closet,
but he certainly didn't hide in there, either!
He just was who he was. He didn't try to act a
certain way that would be considered more
socially acceptable.

He was true to himself, and you
either liked him, or you didn't. I admire
Mr. Reilly for that, neck scarf and all!

Oh, and I also happen to think he was
pretty darn hilarious!







"Write down your best answer to THIS!"

The goofily charming and witty host of
Match Game, Gene Rayburn, is obviously
caught here in one of his more playful
moods. I have no clue what he was actually
talking about. Although, we can clearly see
what it looks like...

(Psst! Get a load of that bow tie on Gene! And is
that lady wearing a dark blue denim jacket?)







"Party don't stop till the panties drop!"

Another one of my favorite celebrity panelists,
Fannie Flagg, was always upbeat and amusing.
Hearing that Southern lilt in her voice was also
quite comforting, and somehow added to her
comedic flavor.







"Hey, big boy..."

Here, feeling comfortable in its natural
environment, we see the reilly creature
caught in an act of seduction ritual
which is rarely ever witnessed by others.







"I drew a blank! Get it??"

Joyce Bulifant was one of the semi-regular celebs
that would come on and be a real hoot every
time she was on! She was a bit ditzy, she did have
that goofy voice, and she almost always gave odd
(wtf?) answers, but there was something quite
endearing about her at the same time...










He was suave and debonair,
with a nose for fashion...

I never enjoyed Richard Dawson when he
hosted The Family Feud, but I did think that
he seemed like a pretty cool cat, back on this
show! Check out those funky fab styles, too!
What must each of those have been called,
Purple Plaid Passion and Sailor Boy Chic?!





Unfortunately, it was a much bigger challenge than I had anticipated to find decent enough images online for use here in my post. And that's a bummer because I really wanted to include a few other favorite regular/semi-regular celebs in the gallery such as Betty White, Avery Schreiber, Patti Deutsch, etc. Oh, well. There certainly isn't anything stopping me from doing an update, or a revision, sometime down the road. I bet Tommy would just love that, huh? I know... if/when I do some sort of follow-up post, I'll have to dedicate it to him! Just because I can be a brat that way, once in a while [Insert Muttley's trademark wheezing snicker, here].

Now, I leave you with a little treat. It's quite a funny clip, and a fine example of the sort of uproarious antics they would get into on the show, from time to time. Have fun with it, and prepare to do some snickering of your own...








~All photos and screen captures via Google Images.~

She's quite the naughty Lady! Check out Gaga's music video for 'Alejandro'...

This sizzling HOT super star is doing a fine job of further pushing the boundaries of sex and art in entertainment, just like a certain predecessor. Only, I think that this video might even make Madonna blush!

It's really great, it's over 8 minutes long, and Miss Gaga looks fab-yoo-lous! But folks who tend to have a weak stomach for such sexual shenanigans might want to steer clear of it. It gets that sexual. To clarify, there isn't any nudity. Everything is just very suggestive through body movement and wardrobe, or lack of it.

Watch and enjoy...





~Top screen capture photo via Google Images~

Photo 'a Go Go!: Antvision [[Pix-travaganza]]

I'm happy to say, "I'm still snappin', folks!"

My 365project has been a blast, and it has also been every bit the challenge that I figured it would be! That's a good thing, too, because it helps in both keeping my mind sharp and keeping it in an almost constant state of creative thinking! Since the idea is to produce a new photo every day, I find myself pondering nearly non-stop what sort of subject I'll shoot, the story it (or I) could tell, the technique I might use, etc. I must admit that some days I do feel as if it could all drive me insane, but I usually manage to push through! Usually...

Anyway, if you happen to be interested in seeing more of my project photos, please, step right this way into our Gallery of Fine Art Photography tent. Here, you'll find another (rather voluminous) collection of imagery covering a variety of interesting subjects in this latest exhibit we like to call, Antvision [[Pix-travaganza]]!







Happiness... dried & preserved

October 4th, 2008 was a very important date.
It was also quite a happy one, for that was the
day on which my husband and I got married!
We had already been together exclusively for
18 years by then, but since there was a brief
period at the time allowing same-sex couples
to legally marry, we decided to go ahead and
"seal the deal".

These roses are from the dinner reception we
had immediately following the ceremony. No
matter how dried, dusty and withered they
become over the years, I know that they will
always seem just as beautiful to me as they
did on our wedding day.







Andrew Bear

This cute and lumpy vintage teddy bear is
just about 60+ years old, around the same
age as my mother-in-law. In fact, she grew
up with it, and then years later passed it
down to her son (my husband) when he
was a child.

Andrew Bear has always sat on this little
chair for as long as I can remember. That,
too, was from my husband's childhood, and
even has his name across the back of it in
tiny letters. I like to picture Tommy sitting
on the chair as a little boy. I just know he
had to have been SO cute! Now, it's hard to
imagine Andrew Bear sitting anywhere else...







Branching out

I finally made a point to grab my camera and
take it outside with me, immediately upon
returning home from work today. As I walked
around looking for photo-ops in the late
afternoon sun, I spotted this great tree branch
covered in all of its wonderful craggy bark and
delicious contrasting shadows! So I HAD to
capture it! Boy, have I EVER missed shooting
outdoor photography...







So very succulent!

Just a beautiful plant in a pot, on our back patio.







Oh, so soft and succulent...

Yet another plant on our patio which I
found to be quite striking, shot close-up
and in soft focus. I was real pleased with
how just the right amount of daylight
helped to produce such terrific natural
shades of pink, purple and green...

No help from Photoshop, either!







Mancala

This African stone game has always
appealed to me, mainly because of the
glass marble-like stones that are used,
but also because of its simplicity. I
should admit, though, that I've never
actually played the game. And I even
OWN it - that's MY game in the picture!!
Ridiculous, I know... Just never got
around to learning the rules.

Maybe, before I put it away on the game
shelf again, I'll try to talk someone into
learning and PLAYING this colorful
game with me. Either that, or it'll just
end up sitting on the shelf collecting
dust for ANOTHER 10 years...







Peacock feather (Detail)

Still experimenting with my macro lens,
trying to get used to the focal field & range.
I'm sort of figuring out that I need to be
even closer to my subject than this, for
optimal focus coverage. But I like how this
turned out, with the edges of the feather
being all that's in focus. The colors, too... I
was real happy with how they all turned out!

And is it just me, or does the center of the
feather look kinda like a heart to you? That's
really strange because I didn't alter the photo
to look like that, and it doesn't look that way
to the naked eye, either. Only in my photo.
Bizarre, huh?







Two koi... to be conceited.

I captured this vibrant shot while visiting
with my in-laws. They have a beautiful koi
pond in their backyard, with a waterfall at
one end and a bridge across the center.

In fact, I sat down on that very bridge so I
could take this photo.







What is it?

Well, can you tell what IT is? If you don't
manage to figure it out, you're gonna want
to kick yourself because it's actually pretty
darn obvious...

So put on your Thinking Cap, but don't go
OVER-thinking it. I'll reveal the answer at
the end of this post!







Timeslip

Just the idea that such a paranormal
phenomenon could exist which allows
a person, or a group of people, to travel
through time due to a rift in the very
fabric of time itself, fascinates me to no
end! I'm very open minded about para-
normal and supernatural possibilities,
but I also view the world around me
with a healthy dose of skepticism.

If you could "slip" away to any date or
place in time, what or where would it
be, and why?







Bouncing rubber baby pony

No, it doesn't REALLY bounce, I just
thought the title sounded a lot more fun
that way (plus, it's a fun thing at parties
to try and make people say, real quick-like
and several times in a row)! But it IS made
of rubber, and it's vintage from like the
'40s or '50s. I found it in an antique shop
and gave it to my husband, either for
Christmas or his Birthday. He loves, loves,
LOVES ponies!

We have a few other neat, old, rubber toys
sitting around our house. Perhaps, one day,
I'll make THEM model for the camera, too...







'Magic 8 Ball' optimism

Wouldn't it be great if we could start off
EVERY day receiving this kind of positive
and encouraging prediction?

It would most certainly beat getting the
alternative message, "Better not tell you now"...





I hope that you've enjoyed this latest update of my progress with the 365project. If you haven't, well... that's your problem! I just have one last message for my loyal Captivated Spectators, before I sign off. I'm well aware that when considering the infrequency of my posting, I am very lucky to have many of you still coming back to my circus on a regular basis AND always leaving me such kind comments. For both things, I am extremely grateful! I'm hoping to "get my act together" and eventually start posting waaay more often. Wish me luck with that, I'll NEED it!

Until next time, remember... Clowns are only funny from a distance. If you get too close, you'll find out the hard way. Byyye!



*ANSWER to 'What is it?': The end of a white starfish's arm.



~All photos by Anthony (aka Antvision). Except top 'Photo 'a Go Go!' background dancers, they were spotted hitchhiking along the Google Images highway with signs that read, "Will SHIMMY & SHAKE for FOOD!"~

Art Attack!: Collage artist, Dadadreams, is sometimes warped, and always entertaining!

'Strange Ritual' by Dadadreams



Where DO I begin with this delightfully funny and greatly talented Cut 'n' Paster? I guess that telling you how I first discovered Dadadreams and her wonderful artwork would be a good place to begin. So there I was, new to flickr, just pokin' around checking the place out, when somehow or another I stumbled across artwork by a self-taught collagist who goes by the name of Dadadreams (her real name is Michelle Lanter) and lives in Houston, Texas. You could almost say that, for me, seeing her work was love at first sight...






'Bad Hare Day'
~By Dadadreams

She should have known that
trying out a new hare-style
was a hare-brained idea.




Since I'm a big fan of witty puns and word-play, I was won over by that angle alone pretty instantaneously. Which reminds me, I must clarify that for the entirety of this post any captions you see underneath Dadadreams' images are also written by her... I wish that I could take credit for them, they're so clever! Another thing that I love is vintage and retro-type imagery, and that's almost exclusively what she works with when creating her masterpieces. In fact, there's a part in her flickr profile that reads, "I have an ever growing collection of vintage ephemera, mostly magazines, books and encyclopedias from the '40s, '50s and '60s." Boy, I could just sit contently for hours and hours sifting through her collection! I think another reason her pieces visually appeal to me so much is the overall color palette she uses when putting them together. I find that verrry pleasing. It may not even be intentional on her part, I suppose it could just be total serendipity... Whatever the case, it works!






'Jello Possum Surprise'
~By Dadadreams

A tasty treat your family is sure to enjoy!







'Jams and Jellies'
~By Dadadreams

Timmy does great in school
because he fuels up with a
good breakfast. A big part of
that is yummy jams and jellies.
His favorite? Unless he pulled
an all-nighter and needs an
extra charge, the ones without
stinging tentacles.







'Peep Show'
~By Dadadreams

What do you do with all those
leftover Easter Peeps? Have a
Peep Show, of course!




Regarding the process of her work, Lanter says, "Collage is a way for me to give these images new life. I love being able to combine images and turn them into something completely new and different. For me, collage is a form of play. I love to spread the ephemera (my toys) on the floor and rearrange them until an image comes together. I work intuitively and lose all track of time when I'm collaging."






'Best Friends'
~By Dadadreams

((No caption for this one, but I say it's brilliant!))




Lanter is specifically fascinated by squids, dinosaurs, medical imagery and retro food. So those images often find their way into her work. The artwork directly below is a terrific example of one of her squid pieces...






'Squidware Party'
~By Dadadreams

I'm pleased to present the newest
piece of Squidware. It has a unique
design and a beautiful pink color.
Best of all, it has the same super
sucker suction lid that you've come
to expect in Squidware.
Get yours today!







'Pie in the Sky'
~By Dadadreams

((Again, no caption for this, but I
love the literal interpretation!))







'The Normals'
~By Dadadreams

I'd had enough of the oversized shoes
and the tiny cars. As I was packing my
bag to head off to accounting school,
Mom came in my room. I'll never forget
the look on her face. Choking back tears,
I said, "Goodbye, I am running away to
join the normals."







'Bed Head'
~By Dadadreams

Futons are popular. Waterbeds
are so 70's. Tempurpedic is nice,
if a little high-end. For me, I
prefer the traditional box spring
style bed head.








'Photo Op'
~By Dadadreams

Some people are just dying
to get the perfect shot!







'Domestic Goddess'
~By Dadadreams

She cooks, cleans and entertains
effortlessly. She is the inspiration
for all who keep up a home. She is
the Domestic Goddess.




This Dadadreams mini-gallery is exactly that. It's just a very small representation of Lanter's entire body of work, and only begins to scratch the surface. If you've enjoyed what is on display here, please, go and visit the official Dadadreams' Photostream on flickr to see even more of her wonderful art. It's really neat and convenient how she has her work organized into different themes like 'Beauty and Fashion', 'Kid Stuff', 'Retro Housewife', 'Land of the Lost', etc. Aaand if you see anything that makes you think, "Gee, but I'd sure be delighted to own something like that!", just go and visit the Dadadreams' Curious Collage Creations shop on Etsy. There's some great stuff there, from original art pieces to hand-made jewelry to vintage ephemera. I've been itchin' to make a purchase there, myself!

Well, that'll do it for today's Art Attack! edition. Thank you for "pop"-ping in to check out this artist. We hope to continue featuring such fantastic artists as Dadadreams in future Art Attack! editions, so be sure to stay tuned...

Later, clowns!


~All artwork copyright Dadadreams (aka Michelle Lanter)~