h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

And says hello...

*looks around*

Hello.

Hello WM. It's lovely top see you. The old commune has been sadly in need of someone older than it's founder. Just to prove that there actually is such a thing. Ok, to be honest, I've been called a dinosaur recently by an impertinent fellow at tech support, but I'm really just a plain old librarian, president and commune founder - not a real dinosaur. Whereas, you on the other hand.......

Evolved long after the dinosaurs.. But am still older than nearly all humans. It's a nice place here, if in need of some restoration.

It has been neglected of late. My apologies. But mi casa, su casa. I'm afraid the quarters weren't designed for woolly mammoths, so you may need to make some alterations in order to be comfortable. If you find yourself in need of materials, please put in a requisition and I'll get them for you. I, ahem, have access to rather large sums of official Alabaster House bank notes.

I don't know what you're worried about.. it seems quite comfortable to me.

Apart from.

Ah.

Turns around and picks up an 3 foot cacti out of wool.

Notices the remains of a window sill.

Opps.

Sorry.

*es under Wool*

Love that posting notice!

Ahemmm, Wooly, I think a large comfy type of a floor pillow, like this lovely Victorian pattern, in magenta with fleur d'lis would be great right over there, to the side of the window. Banksy won't miss it! *drags in l-a-r-g-e floor pillow, made from a former art show rug of the same design*

And, no, I for one won't let Banksy in here to do any painting...

Such a nice comfy sort of a place *plops in the armchair by the bookshelf*

*settles comfortably on the large cushion*

Very nice it is to.

I have to admit I quite like Banksy's work: Especially this one, http://www.banksy.co.uk/outdoors/palestine/index.html#

It does raise interesting questions of ownership and the eternal question 'what is art'.

I really liked the Palestine wall art, too. It was interesting to read the comments from the people who "looked over his shoulder" while he was there. A lot of the comments were negative, but they agreed that the wall sucked, big time. General feeling I got from the comments was that "It's awful, don't make us look at it".

Also a bit of kerfluffle when he painted a relative of yours, Woolly! People couldn't decide if it was pointless or cruel or both...but that's L.A. for ya! I did notice that at least *all* the elephant's hide wasn't painted -- the fleur d'lis of the design were actually patches left unpainted.

BTW, should you ever visit L.A., Woolly, I'd stay away from the tar pits, if I were you -- we don't need any new additions! I found out the hard way that walking across the park by the museum can give a whole new meaning to "stepping in a puddle"!
http://www.tarpits.org/education/guide/index.html

SC

Are you making yourself at home, Woolly? It's so nice to have some people visit the compound again. And mammoths, too, of course.

We have a wall in WC that was painted by some chidren with disabilities. I should take a picture of it for you.

SC, did you actually begin to sink? I've always thought th etar pits sounded interesting. But so sad, too. What a horrible way to die.

Mmm yes, obviously there are some advantages to being Wooly, it does stop people painting you.

Mind you why do elephants let themselves be trained? I'll never understand that as a mammoth..

Tar pits , nope, never going anything near them. I once had a similar hair situation when I sunk into some sand, but the fire brigade let me out, which is a good thing.

Hi Woolly, nice to see you here. Glad there are no tar pits close by.

Hope you are having a nice day.
How's your head ache, Hyp?

Well, Space Cadette, I just gave you a new name. I must have fat fingered the e and the r. Sorry.

We have a mural in a little park uptown that is painted by the summer recreation kids. Each year the theme is different--last year it was the Wizard of Oz. I'm not sure what the one this year depicts.

The head is still aching, Lady C. But I can go home in 20 minutes and lie down. Unless there is hamering and swearing from the roof.

"SC, did you actually begin to sink? "

Yup, although not in any danger of ending up in a future exhibit. The tar oozes up in that area. There's a large tar pit pool right on Wilshire Blvd., next to the county museum of art and in front of the George Page paleontology museum. Really cool area, actually -- 4 museums and a couple of art galleries within 3-4 blocks, on a major bus route.

Before they built the Page (in 85, I think), you could be walking across the grass, and feel you foot sinking -- and there's tar oozing up at the base of a tree, covered by grass! Ruined a new pair of tennies that way, though. Now they at least put small fences 2' square around the upwellings, none of which are bigger across than about 6-8". The two larger ones are enclosed (8' or more) in walled areas, because they're ongoing paleo sites. The few places around the park aren't dangerous unless it's getting bigger and no one noticed or you're one of the very overweight little bunnies running around there.

SC

'ello.

I really like Banksy's stuff, I love the intelligent subversion of it.

I've got a side wall to my house, and I want to have something painted on it, but it will be a long time before I work out what would be right. It overlooks the valley and can be seen from about half a mile away, so whatever goes up there needs to work from close up and far away.

Oooh.... I've just remembered the graffito at Paddington "Far away is close at hand in images of elsewhere" - maybe I should just put up some graffiti, a favourite quote, summat like that.

*thinks*

Actually, I rather like normal graffiti too, if it's done well.

*thinks again*

"I am a note in the song of creation, sung by the voice of God" - too precious and too fey.

"Eat more protein" - good advice but perhaps "Eat less fat" would be better.

Anyway. Good morning all.

B

Personally, I prefer cryptic graffiti that confuse the heck out of people - and it'll hopefully make them use their brains trying to figure out what it means...

Some years ago I saw graffiti on a wall in a tunnel that really made me wonder what it was all about - I can't remember the exact wording, but it was something like 'icecold Russian female archeologists' or some such

On a road that gets jamed every single morning 'why do this every day'

Hi Old Bean, Ti.

I think the difficulty is determining when graffiti is art and when it is vandalism. Since art is so subjective, it creates a lot of problems for the people charged with making that determination.

Ti, having the wall painted in a tunnel is interesting. Wouldn't it be dangerous to do someting like that? Or are there times during the day when there are no trains at all?

There's just someting about a wall that screams out for decoration.

It was a pedestrian tunnel leading under a very busy highway - and the handwriting was very neatly done, not just hastily scribbled - that mystified me even more

Ah. Pedestrian tunnel. So safer. But I assume it was still illegal. Or am I wrong about it being illegal in Europe? I get into trouble all the time when I assume the rules are the same there as they are in the US.

I saw a fascinating documentary several years ago about the rival graffiti gangs in New York. Some of the stuff was wonderful contemporary art imho.