The victorialucas38 YouTube Channel

Posted By Mark on Aug 18, 2013

Just discovered, and absolutely fantastic. You need to be subscribed to the victorialucas38 YouTube channel right now and you need to take a look at some – or possible all – of the videos on it because not enough people have. Let me whet your appetite for 1970s and early 1980s spoof television shows right here. Ask The Family (Spoof) BBC Schools & Colleges (Spoof) John Craven’s Newsround (Spoof) Local Cinema Adverts (Spoof) I’d embed every video on the channel if I...

Street Photography By Mehedi Hasan

Posted By Mark on Aug 18, 2013

One of those fairly recent and beneficial features of Google+ has been the inclusion of posts in the main stream that have been +1ed by people you know; through it – because I mainly use Google+ for its photography network – I’ve discovered a lot of new photographers that I might otherwise have missed and this morning I stumbled upon the work of Bangladeshi photographer Mehedi Hasan. I’ve got a great love of street photography and any examples of it that highlight a culture or social standing significantly different from my own are especially outstanding in my opinion. So, without further ado, a selection of some of Mehedi Hasan’s pictures for your appreciation: This was the photo that first grabbed my attention. Great use of geometry to split the picture up and lead the eyes on a dance across the picture. There’s also an element of illusion in the shot where you’re not quite sure what you’re looking at at first. This picture contrasts for me the sense of deprivation in the area with an almost carefree attitude in the walking style of the girl. There’s a lot of skill in that activity. I know I certainly couldn’t do it. One of Mehedi Hasan’s first uploaded photos and I love this; I don’t know why but it conjures up feelings of romance with the two lovers locked up mere metres apart unable to quite reach one another. Elements of Romeo and Juliet too and the balcony scene. Mehedi Hasan is on Google+...

Ghosts In Water Vapour

Posted By Mark on Aug 17, 2013

From This Is Cornwall comes this amazing story definitely worthy of reporting as news and absolutely not a pile of steaming horseshit. Hugh Fairman, psychic expert, sent over these photographs of faces that appeared in water vapour during a psychic reading, which he then captured on camera. What pictures are those, you ask? I’m glad you did. Friends, we are gathered here today to mourn the loss of our dearly departed common sense. On the top row you can see Rasputin and Vera Lynn. On the bottom row it’s Eleanor of Aquitaine and Brian Blessed. Admittedly, he’s not dead yet but he’s got such a strong personality it’s already projecting into the spirit world whilst still with us. Wait a second! I meant – of course – that the top row features Merlin and a Tellarite from the original series of Star Trek while the bottom row contains images from the afterlife of Louise Carter (lived in the 18th century, worked in a post office in a village that’s no longer there, ate some dodgy rabbit, died from complications caused by a bad batch of recuperative leeches; you probably don’t know her) and Bewitched actor David White. Appearing in such a Satanic show probably explains why he’s a ghost now. Hugh does tell the website: “We think is [sic] may be possible to explain all of this to a greater or lesser extent with reference to scientific concepts.” and he’s absolutely right. That bit of science he’s referring to is called pareidolia and it’s the science that explains why people see things that aren’t there all the time. Random patterns, memory, imagination, and persuasion all work to fool the brain which, for the record, is very easily fooled; it’s the price to pay for excellent pattern recognition. Remember when you were young and looked up into the sky and saw a shape in the clouds? Yeah, well it turns out that wasn’t a 900-foot long, dead, mega-butterfly appearing thanks to a nearby psychic with a speciality in communicating with deceased fauna from the lepidoptera order of insects. If you’re interested in seeing some more random and abstract patterns declared to be things that everyone who isn’t mental knows they aren’t then check out “psychic expert” Hugh and “psychic” Tina on Facebook. Oh. And if you really want to know who are the actual ghosts with the mosts willing to appear in steam near you now then you’ll have to follow the link to the original article at the top of this page. And now for some more ghosts caught in water...

A Gathering

Posted By Mark on Aug 17, 2013

They gathered en masse under the awning of the stall, grabbing a little shelter from the light but persistent drizzle. Even from a distance it was clear that they were crowding the proprietor of the street business; it looked… odd. "Do you have any large bags?" asked the woman at the front, her eyes scanning the stall but not glancing at its owner. "I've got some small paper bags," she answered with a smile. "They should be big enough for anything you buy here." "We're after large bags," came the reply after a moment's pause. "The more impractical for wandering around the streets with, the better." I watched the lady who ran the stall look around uncomfortably. She did her best to smile again and pointed at the signs that decorated her mobile place of business. "Handmade bracelets and anklets. Silver jewellery. That's all I sell here." "We would like to buy some oversized bags," one of the children intoned. The market stall proprietor looked uneasy and turned to address the first person who had spoken to her. "No, I only sell bracelets, anklets, and bits of silver jewellery. Things like that. Rings. You know?" "You do not have large bags that look ridiculously out of place here." It came across more like a statement than a question. I could feel the silence that followed swell suffocatingly. Abruptly, the group turned and slowly wandered off as one without a word, accompanied by the rough, rolling sound of their bags' plastic wheels clattering on the flagstones. Almost all of the group, anyway. The one remaining member stared into the eyes of the stallholder, holding that piercing look for an unsettlingly long period of time before she spoke. "Do you have any stupidly large footballs?" With a furtive glance left and right the stall's owner ducked down and reached under the main tray of wares. "A fiver each or two for eight quid," she half-whispered. Google+: View post on...

Drinking Problem

Posted By Mark on Aug 15, 2013