Please visit the active Ultrasparky blog to browse the for the content that has accumulated since this all began in 1996.
October 2010
Multimedia punctuation
Here's an incredible assortment of animated GIFs that may come in handy in many instances of online communication, such as it is. You may wish to refer to the full explanations at Jezebel.
The Pink Mince mood board
If we were gonna make a few lots of little Pink Mince badges, what would you like to see on ‘em?
Pink Mince 101
Word on the street is that Pink Mince was trotted out as an example of well-designed independent publishing during a lecture at Central St Martins. Does that make us legit in academic circles?
The Pink Mince mood board
I sometimes worry that Pink Mince #5 — The Louche, Limp-Wristed Lifestyle — got a little lost on the shuffle once the STARKERS issue was released. #5 was a fantastic issue, with lots of great writing and even a colour centrefold (“color centerfold”, for my native countrymen). It’s also the biggest issue of Pink Mince yet — 52 pages, all for a cool 5 quid (postage included).
Oh, Superman
Secret Identity: The Fetish Art of Superman’s Co-creator Joe Shuster - Sensational book that showcases rare and recently discovered naughty artwork by Joe Shuster co-creator of the DC Comics character Superman. Pervy illustrations were created in the early 1950s when Shuster was sueing DC Comics over the copyright of Superman and was down on his luck. The racy material was published in an obscure series of magazines called “Nights of Horror,” that was strictly “under the counter” and consequently banned by the U.S. Senate. Without giving too much away, Shuster's “lost years” were marked by organized crime, murder, obscenity and juvenile deliquency. The story is equally as kinky as the illustrations.
The Pink Mince mood board
http://www.flickr.com/photos/moogy/5120235183/
My friend Lee took this rather lovely photo of me up on the roof of his flat in Oval yesterday. I like it; it’s possibly more a photo of the jumper than it is of me. I’m kind of in love with this jumper and Dan’s going to be wearing it in The Lengths at some point, I’m pretty sure of that.
I’m feeling really happy at the moment - The Lengths has started to arrive at people’s houses and (to my relief) they’re saying lovely things about it. I’m also really excited about the MCM Expo, the Comiket, AltCom, Thought Bubble and the Alternative Press Fair coming up this next month. I think there’s a hell of a lot to celebrate, don’t you think? It’s been a pretty fucking intense few months, and I have a feeling there’s loads more to come.
Head to http://cutebutsad.bigcartel.com/ to get yourself a copy of The Lengths.
Type is only skin-deep
Ready at last! Feast your eyes on this little video clip of me getting my tattoo of the "w" from Type Mafia's Actium Black Italic this Summer. Henk Schiffmacher, the tattoo artist, was quite a character, and luckily he got a kick out of the typographic tattoo theme — it always goes better that way. What's nice about the video is that it provides an answer to the third-most common question I get: Does the tattooist draw the letters freehand, or follow some kind of a guide? Voila! Watch Henk fill in a stencil made from artwork I provided.
Above: The Type Mafia art directs the process
By the way, to answer the first two:
No, not really. It feels like heat more than anything else.
They don't spell out anything
Pink Mini 5 — Homegrown
That little thing I posted about my recent trip to New York was actually the seed of the latest Pink Mini, a one-off loosely related to Pink Mince. You can order it here, if you want to see and read a little more about the trip.
The concrete vastness of New York
Things in New York change all the time — as mentioned earlier — but they haven't come quite this far yet. Unfortunately. EVERYTHING looks cooler in Kirby-vision.
[via Comic Book Cartography]
The Pink Mince mood board
Why yes, that IS Scooter LaForge and Krys Fox featured in the latest Pink Mini — Homegrown. Available now!
SCOOTER’S BIG BOY JUNK (Not Safe for Work) STREAMmy not safe for work stream is not JUST naked toons.
check out www.laforgensfw.tumblr.com to READ all
about the cool things that get my crayon going.
The Pink Mince mood board
Now available! Pink Mini #5! “Homegrown” is a scrapbook of a trip back to my hometown of New York City, armed with little more than an iPhone and an visitor’s perspective. Along the way I ran into old friends, new friends, an ex-boyfriend, cute guys, and local curiosities. All yours for just £2!
From the scrapbook
Not that it was always the woman in bondage on the covers in the 40s… Here we have Moon Girl doing the rescuing of her trussed-up sidekick.
The Pink Mince mood board
The incredible Lee Roberts, from Pink Mince #3 — Alter Egos & Secret Identities
The Pink Mince mood board
For years and years I’ve been trying to find a copy of this 1976 issue of Drummer magazine, just so I could frame this amazing cover. At least I can finally read the contents of the issue, if nothing else.
(This cover was a key inspiration for the type-centric escort ads in the back of each issue of Pink Mince.)
The slippery soapbox
I foolishly got involved in a heated online discussion about HIV and dating and disclosure this weekend. Foolish, that is, because in the midst of a lot of passionate — and often mean-spirited &mdash opinions firing back and forth, I chimed in without really anticipating that in the true spirit of the internet someone would anonymously choose to be a real asshole, and it would really rattle me. Aside from that unpleasantness, though, I made a few points that are probably worth sharing.
The Pink Mince mood board
I have a dream in which I coax Quinnford + Scout to submit some stuff for Pink Mince someday.
Quinnford + Scout
Go to The Lengths
Howard Hardiman’s amazing comic “The Lengths” that I was urging you to check out? Now on sale.
From the scrapbook
This seems like a really interesting approach for a magazine devoted to the work of William Addison Dwiggins.
WAD, The Man Issue cover
yesssssssss.
On a design note, OMG. I love it. Or rather, I love the idea. I’d like to adjust the kerning between the W and the A. Or just, I don’t know, find a better typeface.
dhasucdjsfds I want this as a giant print for my living room.
The Pink Mince mood board
Pink Mince officially endorses Howard and his remarkable comics.
The Lengths: Weird Hours. Arrives from the printer on Monday so will be in my web shop then. It’s safe to say that this is one of the most exciting things.
Home Again
It feels a bit wrong to say New York is home at this point. It's been four years now since I moved to the UK, and while London doesn't quite feel like home yet, New York just feels like the place I came from, a place I happen to know.
I’ve only been back a handful of times, but this last trip really felt more like being just a visitor than before. Since I was in town for work, I stayed at a swank hotel in Chelsea — the Maritime. I’ve never stayed in a hotel in New York before, just my own place when I lived here, or crashing with friends since I left.
Coming right into Manhattan from the airport, rather than easing into a visit by seeing friends first, is also a bit of a shock. I got in around 11 the first night, but it was such a perfect clear night that I went for a short stroll through the West Village to unwind before the travel fatigue caught up with me. I’m so used to living in Europe now that it felt so unexpected, so preposterous to hear myself surrounded by shouting, laughing, gabbing Americans. Part if it was that these were regular New Yorkers out on a Saturday night, instead of the blandly accented Americans I regularly hear on TV. I was sure I’d stop giggling and eavesdropping once I readjusted. But it was a delicious shock to the system in my weary state that night.
Distance from the everyday hassles of living, working,and subsisting in New York make it a lot easier to appreciate the changes to the city. Before, change always felt like a kind of betrayal of the New York I always loved. Despite the novelty and the improvements that made life better, my overall feeling was that I was constantly losing a sense of place that meant something to me.
Times Square was better when it was a den of sin! The Meat-Packing District was the place for sex clubs and late night food at Florent! My old neighbourhood in Bushwick used to have packs or feral dogs instead of boutiques! What's up with having a Barney's in Cobble Hill, anyway? Long-time New Yorkers gripe like this all the time.
Now that I’m just an occasional visitor — neither a tourist nor a resident — I realise that I don't really miss the city the way it used to be. I miss specific things — graffiti on the subways, CBGB's, subway tokens, the Lure — but I can see that all those things had their time, and that time has passed. It's been swept away, just like all the stuff that other people missed before my version of New York happened. I don't miss an older version of the city quite as much as I miss that moment when I was younger, more reckless, the early version of who I an now. It's nostalgia, that’s all.
The truth is that the city has been reimagined, reengineered, rebuilt over and over again. My New York was one moment, and now it's just another moment in a series. And honestly? New York is still fucking amazing, and it's a lot easier to appreciate that as a visitor, shielded from the day-to-day growing pains.
It's a luxury, even when I’m not here enjoying the trappings of luxury. I don't have to deal with the depressing shit like budget crises, Islamaphobia, health insurance, or rejection. (I get my fair share of that in London, anyway.) Now I get to enjoy New York at it's best. I get to zip through for a few days at a time, seeing my best friends there, walking and seeing what's new, eating food and buying stuff I can't get as cheaply — or can't get at all — in England. It's wilfully uncritical, perhaps, but turning a blind eye to the New York that once wore me down and embracing the New York that always enchanted me is a lot better for my morale.
The Pink Mince mood board
Y’all saw some of Jason’s amazing project in Pink Mince #6, right?
Gross Indecency Article 0009 Section L Paragraph L
In a world saturated with images of sex, the male form still remains the most controversial. Throughout human history, men have sort to control the male image, while exploiting the female form. Â
The rise of the male nude in the last twenty years has been meteoric, thanks largely to Calvin Klein and the world of fashion. However, the image of man that they have laid bare for us, is plucked and groomed, sanitised and homogenised, lying passive, pretty and (usually) in their underpants. The last taboo remains the penis — obsessed over far more by men than by women. The prolific recreational use of Viagra alone highlights the male obsession with being bigger, harder, longer and faster. But it’s potency lies in it’s mystery — it must be kept under wraps as, laid bare, it may wilt under the spotlight and potential ridicule. Whether male or female, straight or gay, when we gaze upon a naked man, it is hard to look beyond the penis. Oh, that’s a big one, oh that’s a small one, oh that’s a bit bendy
With Gross Indecency I have selected 144 regular and irregular men and have chosen to obscure their genitals, so that we can see the man behind the cock. As a footnote, the collages I have chosen for this purpose are photographs of the genitals of Greco-roman sculptures. In Victorian times, these brazen bronze and marble statues were censored with a fig leaf, so I enjoyed the irony of using them as my modern day equivalent.Â
From the scrapbook
David Hockney - Divine, 1979 (in “Ordinary Madness” at the Carnegie Museum of Art)
From the scrapbook
Super Rare “Bride of Frankenstein” (Universal, 1935) Teaser One Sheet Style E Movie Poster - “The tantalizing combination of rarity, quality and sheer artistry could all merge to create a world record price at public auction when the only known The Bride of Frankenstein (Universal, 1935) teaser one sheet Style E movie poster, from the renowned Collection of Todd Feiertag, comes up for auction as part of Heritage Auction Galleries Beverly Hills Signature Movie Poster Auction. It is estimated at $700,000+.”
The Pink Mince mood board
Another highlight from The Big Boys (September 1966), and the cover model for Pink Mince #4’s mini-supplement of vintage dirty pictures
The Pink Mince mood board
This page from The Big Boys (September 1966) is the source of a much-beloved detail in Pink Mince #4 — Your Dad Was Hot
The Pink Mince mood board
boom.
not really underwear.
pink mince shot that i lost the memory stick for and then couldn’t be part of. then i found it when i was packing for london. balls.
The Pink Mince mood board
GPOY: Shameless self-promotion edition.
One of the images I’m submitting to a zine for their summer publication.
The Pink Mince mood board
Pink Mince is a modest little zine “for the confirmed bachelor of exceptional taste”, published every couple of months or so. They aim to delight, titillate, amuse, provoke, and inspire. (That is to say: they feature jokes and blokes, possibly with a point behind it all.) And subscriptions are available!
The Pink Mince mood board
“Atash and the Man-Gods of The Homoverse” preview - by Sina Evil. Atash - Man-God of Fire and Passion! The full story will be available in Pink Mince no 7 - see http://www.pinkmince.com/ for more information…
The Pink Mince mood board
The image of Brando used for the cover of Pink Mini #4 — Johnny, are you queer?
Pink Mince
I’ve finally set up a Tumblr thing for all the material related to Pink Mince that’s piling up. Have a look-see.
The Pink Mince mood board
Burly, Beary, heart-breakingly talented Dogpoet, from Pink Mince #5 — The Louche, Limp-Wristed Lifestyle
From the scrapbook
That’s my pal and former housemate, Michi from the Typejockeys, in that photo.
Sometimes, when I feel like I’m not being a good friend, I make mixtapes as a token of my appreciation. This is one is for you all. The ridiculously long-awaited Episode 4 of the Nervous Acid Mixcast — now free of my chatter! (But mostly because I don’t have the time to sit down with a microphone.) And now with a presumptuous written introduction!
The tracklist:
- Bombay Bicycle Club “Rinse Me Down”
- School of Seven Bells “ILU” (Phantogram Remix)
- Tired Pony “Dead American Writers”
- Gold Panda “You”
- Built To Spill “I Dim Our Angst in Agony” (The Electronic Anthology Project)
- Underworld “Diamond Jigsaw”
- Stars “Wasted Daylight”
- The Submarines “Brighter Discontent” (Styrofoam Remix)
- Active Child “I’m In Your Church At Night”
- Unai “Blissful Burden”
Total Running Time: 43:43
Everything about this mix feels pretty personal to me — mostly in ways that I can’t quite articulate right now. But I’ve kinda been hammering these ten songs a lot on my commute back and forth to the Upper East Side over the last month, and that’s gotta mean something. Also, the cover photo was taken by my super good friend Sparky, who was just in New York visiting from London. It looks the way I want to feel.
So go listen to or download the entire mixcast from Soundcloud now or just download the mix directly. Enjoy!
From the scrapbook
Bacon in a Toaster. Bacon would be prefried, then hermetically sealed in this design for a future aluminum package. One way to heat it for eating would be to drop it in the toaster; another, put in oven or broiler. A major advantage is the elimination of utensils for cooking. Package is opened by turning back the edges. Leftovers are easily preserved by refolding the pouch.from 1975: And the Changes To Come by Arnold B. Barach
