I call photoshop.

[Found in here.]


UPDATE: The photographer is Sory Sanlé.
“I grew up in a rural area of what is now Burkina Faso, but I moved to Bobo-Dioulasso, the country’s second city, when I was about 17. There was a real buzz about the town. I started taking ID photos, straight-up portraits, for a small fee. With the help of my cousin Idrissa Koné, who was a musician and entrepreneur, I was able to set up a studio called Volta Photo. That’s when it all began.”

Inkyman

Erasure- Art inspiration: Zhang Huan (Chinese, born Anyang, 1965). Family Tree, 2001. China.

A series of nine photographs in which the artist Zhang Huan’s face gradually becomes covered in ink and traditional calligraphy.

The text on the artist’s face consists of words, names, and stories related to his cultural heritage—words with personal meaning to him. The dots on his face in the first photograph represent moles and their connection to one’s fate. In Chinese cultures, it is said that having moles in certain areas on the face symbolizes good luck and fortune.

By the last picture, Huan’s face is completely covered in ink. Though the words on his face are about his character and fate, they ultimately obscure his entire identity. The piece seems to say that traditional words and ways of thinking can erase the things that make us individuals.

[Image and description found here.]


Updated: Corrected spelling of performance artist’s name Zhang Huan & added link: https://www.theartstory.org/artist/zhang-huan/

Troubles on the Mainline – Internet access is snailing, too slow to post, hope to be back up soon.

Saturday Matinee – The Ides of March, Lucky Chops & GA-20

“This is really a monster song; no matter which dial you punch on that radio, you’ll hear this one.”
I don’t know about punching dials, but The Ides of March helped bring the horns back into rock with Vehicle (1970).

Lucky you. It’s Pizza Day via Lucky Chops.

Nice cover of Mel London‘s Cut You A-Loose.
GA-20 came onto my radar relatively recently, and they definitely got the sound.

Looks like it’s gonna be a nice weekend despite what everyone says. See you back here tomorrow.

The .Gif Friday Post No. 699 – Pixeldog, Intimidating the Broccoli & Mocking the Dog

[Found here, here and and here.]

Glass’ & Reed’s Contribution to the World – Mr. Machine

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia:
Mr. Machine is a once popular children’s mechanical toy originally manufactured by the Ideal Toy Company in 1960. Mr. Machine was a robot-like mechanical man wearing a top hat. The body had a giant windup key at the back. When the toy was wound up it would “walk”, swinging its arms and repeatedly ringing a bell mounted on its front; and after every few steps emit a mechanical “Ah!”, as if it were speaking. The toy stood about 18 inches tall (roughly 46 cm).

The gimmick of Mr. Machine was that one could not only see all of his mechanical “innards” through his clear plastic body, but one could also take the toy apart and put it back together, over and over, like a Lego toy or a jigsaw puzzle.

Mr. Machine was one of Ideal’s most popular toys. The company reissued it in 1978, but with some alterations: it could no longer be taken apart (owing to the tendency of very young children to put small pieces in their mouths which could be accidentally swallowed or present a choking hazard), and instead of ringing a bell and making the “Ah” sound, it now whistled “This Old Man”.

This later version of Mr. Machine was brought back once more in the 1980s. In 2004, the Poof-Slinky Company remanufactured the original 1960 version (using the actual Ideal molds whenever possible), which made the original sounds and could be disassembled, and with the intention of being marketed to nostalgic adults as a collectible.

[U.S. Patent image found here. Unfortunately it’s only a single page, but it refers to related patents. Description and more found here.]

King’s Pawn Takes Rhino

Elvis and the rhinoceros appear daily at 10am.
Top image from Google Maps Street View. The faces were blurred out, so I had to take a closer look, and it’s more awesome than I imagined. (The note on Elvis’ guitar reads “Neck is broke don’t bother stealing.” I checked, and the King’s neck is intact.)