My Views

Sorry for being so infrequent on my posts lately. Like most bloggers will say, have been busy…

What got me to blog was a blog (aside from the bad conscience) I saw called dolk.blogspot.com, this is a Norwegian blog (Dolk is Norwegian) that does just his stuff.

There are some great shots in there. I recommend it.

Here is one of the most recent ones that was posted, and once again he manages to put enough humor to make get the message through…

It’s good to be back [;-]

JM Berts, released a couple of new photos on his blog. This one from New York and then another one from Il Duomo in Milan.

The difference between JM Berts and Ansel Adams is the subject matter and probably that JM Berts has the advantage of perfecting a print using Photoshop.

This is a great one again. I am not posting the one on the Duomo as I find it too dark. But check it out, he’s on my blogroll.

[,-]

A few weeks ago the Church of Scientology launched a new line of books and recorded lectures on CD. There are 19 new books and 11 modules of CDs.

They are released under an overall banner called the Golden Age of Knowledge and Basics which you can learn more about on the web site.

Now I am writing this post from the viewpoint of design and lettering. The book covers, the color, the design and the interior design of these books is spectacular, I cropped a couple of parts from the covers and included them here.

The rules of color harmony have been adhered to exactly, the lettering is real smart - keep in mind that these books and lectures were released in 15 languages. So instead of doing custom lettering for every title in 15 languages what they did was select fonts and combine them into neat lettering.

The book quality is great, all digitally printed hardback books, even have thumb-indexes.

Then comes the CD modules. They’re sort of aerodynamic plastic modules that hold smaller modules within them and transcripts and glossary of same size.

The image above is a front shot of one of the books and one of the CD modules. It’s not really a descriptive shot - mainly artistic but gives some idea.

And check out the web site. It’s got a better shot of each of these books and modules plus a description of each. And enjoy the Flash graphics.

The images here are (in sequence) from, Advanced Procedures & Axioms book and the Thought, Emotion and Effort lectures. Then it is the cover art from the brochure (which you can see on-line) and the image on the bottom is from the Dianetics 55! book and the Unification Congress Lectures.

Enjoy.

[:-]

note: These books are read in a specific sequence, the presentation here is not per that sequence.

I saw an interesting piece of graffiti the other day. For the lettering boys like myself this is a pretty cool type (for others it’s probably the most boring stuff they’ve seen).

This photo doesn’t really show the piece well though so let me explain. The text LEDEUX that you see here is actually written with masking tape. Yes the type which painters use to cover windows etc.

The serifs on the fonts are really well done with perfectly cut rounded corners and all.

It’s a nice piece of lettering. And it’s even nicer when you look up close and see it’s actually masking tape.

Truly, environmentally friendly graffiti. The funny thing is it could be removed by anyone since it is just tape, yet nobody takes it off.

Enjoy.

[;-]

I just noticed that the links to Jean Michel Berts’ blog are down for some reason.

He has another site with a great series of slideshows of his work which you can check out here:

http://www.jeanmichelberts.com/berts-photographer-paris.html

I got some of the Paris photos which are posted here:

Eiffel Tower black and white and amazing light show.

Is this Pont Neuf? Well it’s an amazing Bridge in Paris.

I got a comment from Jean Michel Berts himself on my blog!

Wow! Check it out:

jean-michel berts | jeanmichelberts.blog.lemonde.fr |

Thank you so much! I appreciate that you speak about my work
All the best,
Jean-Michel Berts

It’s on the post about the recent New York photo he released which you can find by clicking on this text, thanks to the wonders of HTML.

Now I need to get a comment by Dolk himself… then I’ll have covered some of the two main celebrities that I have been blogging about.

[;-]

PS: I still think he is the new Ansel Adams…

I’ve posted quite a lot about Dolk the Norwegian Stencil Graffiti artist. It started when a friend of mine spotted some of his stencils and showed me the pictures. I posted those and found more stencils and took pictures of those and posted them too.

What has become my best resource for Dolk Stencil Graffiti news is http://www.thegiant.org/wiki/index.php/Dolk

It’s got pictures, stories, interviews and anecdotes.

There is a “Making of” his infamous Che Guevarra stencil (which I also found) that I thought was great.

Check it out here:

This two-color image, an “instant classic” as per Pictures on Walls and “Banksy-heavy” as per thethugsdontwork, features a cigar-smoking Che Guevara proudly pointing to his t-shirt, emblazoned with artist Jim Fitzpatrick’s rendering of Alberto Korda’s (in)famous, much pirated 1960 image of… Che Guevara.

And here is the stencil as it looks on a graffiti covered wall:

Note that the picture is wider than the post so click on it to get the whole thing.

I’ve decided to post on every new photo that JM Berts releases. They are pretty cool.

It’s funny to think that this is the same New York that’s covered in graffiti.

Well enjoy the photo and check out his site for more photos they’re cool.

[;-]

I got these pictures on an email of British signs. I thought they are just too funny to be kept only on email.

And probably someone else has posted them on their blogs too, but it’s just too cool. Who has the got the humor to make a sign like that and the guts to put it up.

And despite the otherwise serious facade of the British, stuff like this is just so unexpected.

Ah how I love these Brits.

Humor is a great thing - how much farther it goes to deliver an otherwise boring message. It’s like those Dolk stencils. One can deliver a message in a placid tone and probably nobody sees it or give it with a touch of humor and it goes a long way and gets remembered.

It’s like what FraudWasteAbuse does with his blog. They’re banal subjects delivered with with a touch of humor and I remember them better than the news of the day.

Cheers all of you.

At the Train Station:
KEEP BACK FROM PLATFORM EDGE
or you may get sucked off

At the Zoo:
PLEASE BE SAFE
Do not stant, sit, climb or lean on zoo fences.
If you fall, animals could eat you and that might make them sick.
Thank you.

In the bathroom:
OUT AIM IS TO KEEP THIS BATHROOM CLEAN
GENTLEMEN: Your aim will help. Stand closer it’s shorter than you think.
LADIES: Please remain seated for the entire performance.

On the High Tension machine:
CAUTION
This machine has no brain
Use your own

On the Air Conditioning Service Van:
Stiff Nipples Air Conditioning Service

On the Nitelink bus:
Ladies, the poles are fitted for your safety.
No dancing.

By the lake:
ATTENTION DOG GUARDIANS  Pick up after your dogs. Thank you.
ATTENTION DOGS  Grrrrr, bark, woof. Good dog.

Outside the Mr. Toskana lather goods store:
MR. TOSKANA has had an expensive divorce
and now needs the money, so SALE NOW ON!!

Somewhere else:
PLEASE
Don’t throw your cigarette ends on the floor
The cockroaches are getting cancer

I’ve been watching the hubbub on the net about the BBC reporter loosing it in the face of a Scientologist. So far I have been watching it and haven’t commented on it much. I didn’t want to mix this into my blog as I found it inappropriate. But I am a Scientologist and thought I would give My View.

Here are the key points.

About John Sweeney loosing it. Look, he’s a journalist and he has made it his life’s work to push people to the limit and pretend he didn’t notice it if they fall off the cliff. So can I forgive him for loosing it? No. If he messed up doing what he is paid for then there is no mercy really. If he plays the game in the global arena then you have to be willing to pay the price.

About Scientology having a problem with criticism. I think the people that write that haven’t been reading up on their history. I could name a quite a few religions that reacted a lot tougher than Scientology on this type of criticism. Cartoons come to mind anyone? The bottom line is attacking people’s religion is never a good idea. At best they get some publicity, but when it’s then a biased and incorrect - well that’s asking for trouble.

“If all the brightest minds since the fifth
century B.C. or before have never been able to
agree on the subject of religion or antireligion, it is
an arena of combat between people that one
would do well to stay out of.
“In this sea of contention, one bright principle
has emerged: the right to believe as one chooses.
‘Faith’ and ‘belief’ do not necessarily surrender
to logic: they cannot even be declared to be
illogical. They can be things quite apart.
“Any advice one might give another on this subject
is safest when it simply asserts the right to believe
as one chooses. One is at liberty to hold up his own
beliefs for acceptance. One is at risk when he seeks
to assault the beliefs of others, much more so when
he attacks and seeks to harm others because of their
religious convictions.” - The Way to Happiness

About the brainwashing accusation. I’ve been in Scientology for many years. I’ve also been out of Scientology for some years. Come on, that’s fiction my friend. Do I act brainwashed? read my blog. Does Chick Corea act brain washed? does Beck act brain washed? And in case that is your next question ["you are a fan of them just because they are Scientologists"], no I am not a fan of their music, and not just because they are Scientologists. But I certainly admire how they constantly are pushing the envelope of respectively Jazz and Rock.

Really I see this TV program and I wonder how any normal person reacts when he goes to a Church of Scientology with his little notepad from the program and looks and can’t find any of the stuff that Sweeney mentioned. BBC looses credit, world media looses credit, journalists in general loose credit and documentaries loose credit.

Now the sum of all this is, if anything, the internet has brought to the people the possibility to communicate freely and investigate for themselves. And the “web 2.0″ gives the people the possibility to do their own journalism and publishing.

People like John Sweeney and the BBC are no longer holding the monopoly of information and propaganda. Now call it web 2.0 call it Andy Warhol’s 15 minute of fame, call it what you will. I will call it the end of media monopoly. And it’s time the big Media corps realized that the “little” people in the streets can now do something against the Goliath of the media, they will need to stay on the straight and narrow now because they will be exposed.

As to my religion and my beliefs, well in short. I believe in Scientology because it is all about increasing understanding. When you increase understanding then you think better and do better. Scientology is systematic in the approach and it’s all about personal improvement. What do I do? I read books on the subject. I do courses and drill how to apply the information in the books. I listen to lectures by L. Ron Hubbard that elaborate on the books and they’re are pretty funny. Hubbard had a great sense of humor and a massive understanding of life.

Well enough of all that, there have been many John Sweeneys before and maybe there’ll be a day when that too comes to an end.

Cheers.

[;-]