Category: Art

It’s like a tangerine in a wooden bowl cast off to sea under a deepened cyan sky.

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Awsome JCB Song

JCB Song

JCBSONG by Nizlopi: Monkeehub presents a music video to the single ‘JCB’ by band ‘Nizlopi’. It’s way awesome! Don’t forget to read all the credits.

Here’s the story behind the song from the monkeyhub site:

About the JCB song:

Being dyslexic in the early 80’s (oh the irony… give people who can’t spell a word that nobody can spell) Luke’s school days weren’t always that easy. Indeed he was victimized at school, not just by bullies, but by the school itself… so when he sings of “all the bullies and the teachers and their pets…” he knows what he’s talking about and this very much comes from the heart. There were school days when Luke’s Dad would decide he needed some “compassionate leave” and would take him to work, where the five year old would ride proudly on the toolbox of the old JCB and cook up vivid imaginings of diggers morphing into Jurassic monsters, vanquishing his school yard tormentors in a Bruce Lee, B.A. Barachus or Transformer style-lee – such fantasies so masterfully brought to life in Monkeebub’s Animation.

Because JCB Song embodies such real childhood experiences that I’m sure anyone who’s ever had a tough time at school can relate to, it is easy to appreciate why it strikes a chord with so many and has literally captured the hearts and imaginations of thousands (millions?) of people world-wide. Mid-December 2005 saw JCB Song released into the UK and Ireland charts, simultaneously entering at Number 1 and staying in the top ten for 8 weeks amassing 400,000+ sales (Gold Disc) in the UK and selling Double Platinum in Ireland.

While Luke and his father may have been holding up traffic on the by-pass, the adventures had in their “big yellow digger” have inspired floods of people to come see the beautifully playful JCB Song Animation, resulting in jcbsong.co.uk receiving over 1 million hits and counting, and the award-winning video being recognized globally as a work of pure genius. The public response to the song, site and video has been overwhelming with thousands of emails received from all ages, and from all around the globe, expressing their heart felt compassion and enthusiasm for the songs sentiments and Luke’s experiences.

The songs by Nizlopi represent fresh, child-like innocence… remember back when your dad was such a hero that nothing was bigger or better then he? Nobody knew anything as much as he did; nothing he did could let you down. Yeah – it’s that.

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The creative photographer

Where there are thousands of fantastic photographers there are hundreds of thousands of amateurs who have taken fantastic photographs. I’ve had to think a bit lately about what separates the two. Some very well established photographers have posted work up on Flickr or on their personal site that I thought – ehhh, that’s okay. Likewise, some very average photographers have posted some striking photos on Flickr that draw my admiration.

What is it that gives a photo that “WOW” factor? I think it’s the ability to give notice to things and move us by visuals that nearly everyone else takes for granted. It is also the ability to tell a story in a unique way, such as Carl Iwasaki’s famous photo of teenagers going steady. Sometimes it’s an unexpected gamble that produces a photograph, like Phitar’s photo: salomé spinning. Sometimes it’s just seeing a detail in the environment that others overlook.

I could try to imitate, but that only takes me as far as being a good imitator. It seems that in photography, using a fresh approach is what gives any shot the potential. That frustrates me because I feel so stale – writer’s-block, inhibition, whatever you wish to call it.

Joseph O. Holmes’ gallery of photos of people staring at African veldt dioramas is an extraordinary example of a good artistic result. (These pictures somehow remind me of a related Ray Bradbury story.) It would be amazing to delve into his brain with a few questions: What made him think to do this series (AMNH)? Did he naturally envision the result and go for it, or did it strike him at the moment? Was he inspired to do this work, and if so, what inspired him? Is this an imitation of another piece of art that he’s seen? Whatever his answers might be to some of these questions, I think we can all agree that he well deserves the $650 a-piece that each of these photographs sell for.

Poughkeepsie Journal Article on Joseph O. Holmes