Pinewood Design

DON’T get excited fellas – here’s one naked bird you might not want to cosy up to.

Oscar the female cockatoo is an internet hit as she chats away – in the buff.

The bird was taken in by the Florida-based Humane Society of Broward County after she was found to have a contagious disease called beak and feather.

Oscar was given just six months to live – but twelve years later she is still going strong despite the fact that she has lost her feathers.

The bird – whose favourite snacks include hash browns, egg rolls and lollipops – is a hit with staff.

Animal shelter worker Cherie Wachter said: “Everybody shares her lunch with her.”

LoL, that thing looks so nasty, ugly, but cute and funny!!!

written by Pinewood Design \\ tags: bird, bizarre, cockatoo, Naked, News

JK Rowling was almost in tears when she appeared in a U.S. court this week to stop a fan, Steve Vander Ark, publishing a lexicon of Harry Potter.

Rowling has enjoyed Mr Vander Ark’s Potter website in the past, but she now claims that if he brings out a printed version it will be “wholesale theft” and the thought is making her so upset she finds it hard to write.

Come again? After seven international bestsellers, has JK finally lost the plot? “I don’t want to cry, because I’m British,” she sniffed.

Darling, if you were being really British you’d have stayed at home and not made such a fuss.

Harry Potter Lexicon’s open letter to JK Rowling

written by Pinewood Design \\ tags: Harry Potter, JK Rowling, lexicon of Harry Potter, Steve Vander Ark

1. Fun in the Forbidden City IV 2. Boating in the Palace 3. Brother

4. Climbing over the Red Wall 5. Dialogue I 6. Dragon Boat

7. Empire State Building 8. Fishing 9. Flooding the Forbidden City I

10. Fun in the Forbidden City I 11. Fun in the Forbidden City II 12. Fun in the Forbidden City V

13. Golf Red Wall 14. Golf,The Farmer I 15. Golf,The Farmer II

16. Golf,The Farmer III 17. Golf,The Palace 18. Golf,Tiananmen I

19. Golf,Tiananmen II 20. Heroism 21. Hot 798 22. Victory

23. Idealism I 24. Routime Work I 25. Routine Work II

26. Sedar Car 27. Skiing 28. Smog I

29. Sweeping Tiantan 30. Swimming in the Forbidden City I 31. The City

32. The Sun in our heart 33. Tourists I 34. Tourists II

35. Somewhere in Beijing 3-3

In recent years contemporary Chinese art has become a hot topic at the auctions houses. When a gallery in Beijing or Hong Kong hangs contemporary works in their window, such as the “big baby” portraits, they immediately become popular. The concept of contemporary Chinese art came from the West and it referred to a new tide of art following World War II. Within contemporary Chinese art it is often hard to distinguish between what really belongs to this new tide and what are merely imitations.

During the 1980s and 1990s a few western journalists living in Beijing brought with them to Hong Kong some works by “underground” artists. Most of these were painted on cheap canvases, using poor quality materials, the subject matter was dark and dull. We couldn’t sell these works from our gallery. I believe this was Chinese contemporary art in its initial stages. Xing Xing artists began to emerge from the “underground” and later on came the Yuan Ming Yuan artists. Galleries in Hong Kong started promoting Chinese avant-garde art to the foreign market and international buyers started quietly collecting these works. Later on came the Song Village artists and early this century Yan Club became a pioneer in the area known as 798, which is now a hotbed of contemporary Chinese art in Beijing.

Among these contemporary artists were those who displayed their suffering, others merely imitated this suffering, some copied Western artists such as Hockney, Bacon and Warhol. But among them are also artists such as Chen Lianqing, who manage to skillfully express their own feelings onto canvas.

Lianqing was born in Sichuan Province – known in China as Paradise Province, although life there is actually tough. Sichuan people are sensitive and tolerant, but they also appreciate humour and their dialect reflects this humour. After mastering the skill of painting Lianqing was destined to become a pop artist. The fast developing China has its colorful, bright side, but the background to Lianqing’s paintings is grey, reminding us that there is another world existing. In his paintings there are always historic buildings and around these buildings are hundreds of small orange, very active men representing China’s mass of people. They do’t care about power. In the paintings they are pulling things down, having fun, causing trouble in and around the Palace. They are naughty, happy and very busy – typical Sichuan people. The little men swimming and diving in the flooded Forbidden City are even more interesting, but they also serve to remind us that Lianqing’s hometown was also flooded a few years ago.

Traditional oil painters often think that the technique used by contemporary artists of applying acrylic directly onto the canvas is too simple. On the other hand many traditional oil painters are incapable of painting without using a model. Isn’t this just as simple? Contemporary artists throw themselves into real life, they use real life situations to express their feelings about life. Their works therefore feel real and are easily accessible. All kinds of artists should learn from this.

When I was writing this article I met a director from Sotheby’s New York and I asked her what she thought would be the next hot topic after contemporary art and she said it will still be contemporary art, but just new faces. Good luck to the newcomers!

Fong Yuk Yan

April 2007

written by Pinewood Design \\ tags: Art, Chen Lianqing, China, contemporary Chinese art, Forbidden City, oil painting

Signature

director s cut directed by edouard salier

I saw this new smirnoff commercial on tv last month, and I was blown away. Super!!!!
I had to find out who made it. After some searching I found out it was done by Paranoid US and JWT

Click on the link and

http://www.paranoidus.com/projects.php?p=55

In what first appears to perhaps be a movie trailer, we see aerial shots of the arctic North complete with dramatic iceberg cliffs, the clear blue sea, under sea ice flows and floating icebergs. It’s matched perfectly with a movie preview-style voiceover and continues as such until a giant dagger with blueberries on it smashes into a towering iceberg. As the camera pans in and then back it’s revealed the entire scene is a glass of Smirnoff North, a new, berry-flavored vodka. At the same time the scene changes a new voiceover steps in and completes the commercial.
We like the ad’s simplicity. It was created by JWT with effects rendered by Version2.

Smirnoff: Purified

written by Pinewood Design \\ tags: commercial, Smirnoff

Watch Video Here: Meet the UK’s new TV Gladiators!!!

The 12 new bicep-bulging Gladiators wearing their uniform Lycra have been unveiled ahead of their appearance in the revamped TV series.
Battleaxe, Destroyer, Inferno, and Predator are among the fighting machines who will make their show debut next month.
At its peak, Gladiators, broadcast from 1992 to 2000, drew audiences of 14 million to its Saturday evening ITV slot with characters such as Trojan, Jet, Nightshade and Hunter becoming household names.
Richard Woolfe, Sky One director of programming, said: “The games are bigger, the contenders are stronger and the Gladiators are even more unbelievable.
“We’ve found extraordinary characters. It’s a colossus of a programme and it’s going to blow people’s socks off.”
Presenters Ian Wright and Kirsty Gallacher are the new John Fashanu and Ulrika Jonsson, while original referee John Anderson returns.
Producers have whittled down 20,000 hopefuls to 32 contenders who will take on the Gladiators in challenges such as Duel, Powerball, Hang Tough and The Eliminator for the £50,000 prize.

The new presenters are Kirsty Gallacher and Ian Wright while original referee John Anderson (centre) returns

The Gladiators are:

1: OBLIVION – Nicholas Aldis, 21, Norwich – “Leaves nothing in his path – extinguishes his opposition.”

2: BATTLEAXE – Shirley Webb, 26, Edinburgh – “A weapon of war, domineering, aggressive and indomitable. Battleaxe is a warrior queen.”

3: ATLAS – Sam Bond, 24, Bournemouth – “As strong as He-Man, fights hard and with dignity.”

4: ENIGMA – Jenny Pacey, 25, Borehamwood – “Mysterious and beautiful, contradictory and unpredictable, impossible to capture.”

5: PANTHER – Kara Nwidobie, 26, Morecambe – “Beautiful, sleek, aggressive and powerful. Panther is the strongest and fiercest of the wild cats.”

6: TEMPEST – Lucy Boggis, 19, Quintin, Wiltshire – “Naturally beautiful, a force of nature bringing furious agitation and commotion.”

7: TORNADO – David McIntosh, 22, Altrincham – “Violently destructive windstorm full of unstoppable energy – leaves you in a spin.”

8: ICE – Caroline Pearce, 27, Cambridge – “Cold, steely, frosty and beautiful.”

9: PREDATOR – Du’aine Ladejo, 36, Newark – “Volatile, quick and poisonous, hunts down prey and takes no prisoners.

10: INFERNO – Jemma Palmer, 24, Tamworth – “Hot, fiery, dangerous and destructive.”

11: SPARTAN – Roderick Bradley, 24, Grantham -”Handsome, disciplined and brave. Will take on any army – the perfect warrior.”

12: DESTROYER Damar Martin, 38, Croydon – “Determined and strong, angry and unstoppable – nothing gets in his way.”

So what do you think of the new Gladiators? And how do they stack up against the original British gladiators, such as Rhino, Wolf, Jet, Hunter and Shadow?

And more importantly: if you were a gladiator, what would you be called?

Watch Video Here: Meet the UK’s new TV Gladiators!!!

From: http://blogs.guardian.co.uk/organgrinder/ :

1.30pm – Sky One put on a very impressive, and expensive, press launch for the show in east London this morning on a mini Gladiators arena.

Sky One controller Richard Woolfe, ever the showman, appeared out of a mist of dry ice to a raging cry of “Woolfe ready!” Unfortunately, he was not wearing spandex, although he was carrying a large pugil stick.

Each gladiator was then introduced to banging music, pyrotechnics and bursts of very hot fire which nearly took out the guy who does those videos on Holy Moly!

As each gladiator came on, they tried to look as fierce as possible and then did their special “move”.

Here are some of my notes:

Destroyer - “Can barely walk because of huge thighs.”

Atlas – “Extremely big. Shaved chest.”

Spartan – “Comes on to extremely camp music.”

Battleaxe – “A look of fear in her eyes.”

I think I slightly upset Battleaxe when I asked her how she felt about picking the short straw when it came to names. “It is growing on me,” she said, putting a brave face on things.

Atlas is definitely lining up to be the big head of the group (which is ironic, given that his head looks pretty small compared to his huge body). The Hunter look-a-like told us: “Every man trembles in my wake. I will be following on from Hunter in my performance. Hunter was the best. I hope to perform as well as him.”

Tornado is in the Royal Marines and has been given six months off to do the show. He admits it will be good publicity for the military and is planning to return to the forces after the show.

More random stuff – the gladiators were only allowed to tell their nearest and dearest today that they were going to be on the show after being sworn to secrecy; they didn’t choose their names themselves but were told what they would be called; they were each randomly drug tested before being chosen for the show and will be given surprise tests throughout the series (so if one suddenly disappears we will know why).

Some of the gladiators are so huge that my whole body could fit into one of their thighs – and I’m thinking of Destroyer here who, despite being the oldest (and he wasn’t too happy about me asking about that), is also the biggest.

Watch Video Here: Meet the UK’s new TV Gladiators!!!

written by Pinewood Design \\ tags: 2008, Entertainment, Gladiators, Sky, tv, UK

Sarah Graham painting childhood memories

Success is sweet for Sarah Graham, who has gone from working on the pick’n'mix counter to being a highly-paid artist.

The 30-year-old makes a living from painting the sweets and toys of her childhood, from Black Jacks and Fruit Salad to Sindy dolls.

Her first job, when she was 16, was at Woolworths in the pick’n'mix sweets section. She’s moved on somewhat and, now, her colourful, photo-realistic oil paintings can sell for up to £10,000.

Miss Graham, who has a BA (Hons) in Fine Art, said she was inspired by the Pop Art of the 1960s and 1970s, when Andy Warhol immortalised Campbell’s soup tins amongst other things.

Sarah working

Candy Swirl | Available as print | Original 80 x 110 cm 2008

22. Cowboys and Indians – 50x100cm

24. Gnome with Apples – 90x135cm

10. Sugar Rush – 80x80cm

Betty | Original 110 x 85 cm 2007

Red Riding Hood | Original 90 x 90 cm 2008

Quack | Available as print | Original 120 x 120 cm 2008

19. Camper Vans – 80x100cm

Kaleidascope | Original 120 x 120 cm 2008

4. Refreshers – 60x90cm

Sweets for my sweet | Available as print | Original 110 x 80 cm 2008

3. Swizzel Lolly – 60x90cm

Double Mini | Original 100 x 50 cm 2006

Her brother’s comment on website:
Sarah is my only sister and she painted my son, Leo when he was very young at 3 months old and it takes pride of place in my house. It is an amazing painting and I love it to pieces. It’s so lovely that Leo will have it for always. Everybody who comes to my house comments on it and can’t believe it’s a painting as they just assume it’s a blown-up photograph!
She is really amazing and I love her to bits.
- Elaine Graham, Hitchin, UK

More Sarah Graham‘s works please visit her website. More info please contact her agent Washington Green.

written by Pinewood Design \\ tags: Fine Art, oil painting, photo realistic, Pop Art, Sarah Graham

Update 14/May/2008

Naked painting hits record sales

A PAINTING of a naked jobcentre supervisor has sold for a record £17.2million.

It is the largest ever amount paid for a piece of work by an artist who is still alive.

The life-size painting called Benefits Supervisor Sleeping, by German artist Lucian Freud hit the world auction record when it sold at Christie’s today.

The masterpiece was sold by a private European collector in a sale at New York’s Rockefeller Centre.

The previous world auction record for a work by a living artist was by Jeff Koons’ Hanging Heart, which fetched $23.5m (£11.3m) last year.

The 1995 Freud painting is of London benefits supervisor Sue Tilley, now 51, sleeping on a dilapidated sofa.

Thrilled

Ms Tilley, now a Jobcentre manager, said: “I’m thrilled. I still can’t believe such a bizarre thing has happened to me. It hasn’t sunk in properly.”

It was the first time Freud’s Benefits Supervisor Sleeping, which was the highlight of Christie’s New York Post-War and Contemporary Art Evening Sale, had appeared at auction.

The 85-year-old British artist first painted “Big Sue” in Evening In The Studio (1993), for which Ms Tilley had to lie in an uncomfortable pose on a bare floor.

Freud then bought the ragged sofa depicted in the 1995 painting for Ms Tilley – who was introduced to Freud by Australian performance artist Leigh Bowery – to lie on.

Ms Tilley, who posed for Freud for four years in the early 1990s, has said in the past of being his muse: “I think he probably picked me because he got value for money. He got a lot of flesh.”

A Christie’s spokesman said: “This picture is a simple and seemingly uncomposed depiction of one of the key features of Freud’s art – the forceful and undeniable physical presence of people and things.”

Before last night’s sale in New York, the auction record for a Freud painting was $19.3m (£9.3m) set in November 2007 for IB And Her Husband (1992).

THIS lifesize painting of a fat Jobcentre supervisor slumbering naked on a dilapidated old sofa is expected to smash auction records next month.

The masterpiece, titled Big Sue, by British artist Lucian Freud, 85, is tipped to fetch £18million at the sale in New York.

London benefits supervisor Sue Tilley, now 51, who posed for the picture in 1995, said: “I think he picked me because he got value for money. He got a lot of flesh!”

While Sue might not be a typical oil painting, the picture will be the most expensive piece of work by a living artist.

It is on view at Christie’s in London from today.

written by Pinewood Design \\ tags: artist, Big Sue, British, lifesize, Lucian Freud, Painting

On the train on the way to work, as you leave London Bridge heading towards Waterloo East, there is an empty yard. On the wall of an old building someone has spray painted in large letters the words, “BIG DAVE’S GUSSET”. I have no idea who dave is or why his gusset was worthy of such proclamation.

Now In the Aquarium has solved one of London’s great mysteries, she has actually written a poem about this, and has been in touch with Big Dave himself. Here is the story behind Big Dave’s Gusset.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Big Dave’s GussetIn June 2005 I wrote a poem that started with a piece of graffiti that I saw sprayed in a building on the train journey from London Bridge to Waterloo East. Its a great journey – over rooftops of ye olde London, interspaced with derelict signal buildings that would make great hideaways (typewriter laptop, kettle, perfect).

London Bridge to Waterloo East

Big Dave’s Gusset
sprayed on a derelict building.
Chimney pots of Borough.
A black cat sleeps
like a king
on a discarded sofa.
A platinum blond
watery blue eyes
fluffs her Marilynesque hair.
Sunlight golden on brick.Many people must have seen the grafitti and searched for big dave’s gusset out of curiosity for what it all means. No answers were forthcoming from my blog….

Until now. I have been emailing with Big Dave himself, I suspect because he must have come across my poem. And I am pleased to be able to splash the scoop of this little bit of underground London.

So I quote Dave:

I worked as an Engineer on the Jubilee Line Extension Project on London Bridge station’s expansion between summer 94 & summer 97. I was based in an office set up in the roof of the big shed you can see from the Southwark St railway bridge. Adjacent to this, at the end of the shed was a concrete batching plant which me & my colleagues in our little department were responsible for managing, it produced all the concrete that went into the structural linings of the tunnels. We also ran a materials testing laboratory on the ground level below our office, adjacent to this plant.

Now the concrete batcher was operated 24/7. 3 shifts of two men operated it so we had a responsibility to manage these guys where the quality control of the concrete was concerned. Working, as you do, with people like this, day & nightshifts, weekends etc some good friends were made and it was one of the batcher ops, Jason Gregory, who daubed the slogan ‘Big Daves Gusset’ across the end wall of the shed. There was an open gantry which he will have stood on to do it (it has been dismantled now).

The slogan was a homage to myself as I was known to some as Big Dave, or ‘The Biggun’ (that got a bit tedious actually but hey ho…) because I am a big guy & called Dave, and a placid even tempered character so very easy going and good for a laugh. The gusset reference was to my taste in underpants at the time. I had bought a job lot of Champion brand y-front style undies from TK Maxx and wore these most of the time. At the beginning and end of each shift we would change in or out of our civvies into our regulation orange hi-viz outfits and this is when folks caught a glimpse of Big Daves Gusset, it was often remarked upon as of course these trolleys weren’t the most fashionable, but comfort was the rule.

It was actually a mistake on my part that I bought these pants though as I had meant to get the same brand’s trendy trunk style however I realised I’d picked up 7 – yes one for everyday of the week – pairs of the Y-front style.

There you go. I’m loving this story. And this is what I love about blogging – all the coincidental tying up of loose ends. Fab!

written by Pinewood Design \\ tags: Big Dave's Gusset, london, London Bridge, mysteries, Waterloo

Madonna is HOT
she looks better than Britney Spears!
and Britney is 26 years old and Madonna is 50! danm!

written by Pinewood Design \\ tags: 4 Minutes, justin timberlake, madonna, music, video

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The Prophecy, a unique digital project created by Aymeric Giraudel for Beautifulmag and brought to you by BeautifulMag on January 21st 2008.
Visit http://beautifulmag.eu for the latest updates and on The Prophecy.

This video’s background is “the Beast Within” Marie Kairu’s singing (beautiful voice) and Madonna’s reading a verse of the Bible.

I have to say this is a picture of an incredible beauty. It is impressive, stunning. It must be seen absolutely. Very beautiful video,technically perfect. Love the incredible handle of images and creativity. Have some close look:

All through history there have been men and women with visionary ideas, that provoked a lot of protest of less adventurous people. When the first photographs came to existence, people looked upon it with doubt and anxiety. When digital photography came to existence, this technology too was baulked at. Little did we know that digital photography would become a new art and bring to life a society of modern magicians. And Aymeric Giraudel is a magicians master.

It took over 7 months of work and 35 different models – both amateurs and professionals – and many, many shots to create the incredible dynamic poses, to bring The Prophecy to life. It has become a work full of symbolism, sensation and emotion. Dynamic action that all concentrates around one character who, in a matter of speaking, ascents from the clashing human behavior, and becomes a personification from true beauty, like a phoenix from the flames.

Aymeric Giraudel’s work are captures of his dreams and visions of the future. Full of symbolism and surreal situations. Each piece that finds its origin in Aymeric’s creative brain tells us a story. He created The Prophecy specially for you, as a free high resolution download:

CLICK HERE FOR YOUR FREE DOWNLOAD OF THE PROPHECY | PART 1(17.5M)

CLICK HERE FOR YOUR FREE DOWNLOAD OF THE PROPHECY | PART 2(17.1M)

CLICK HERE FOR YOUR FREE DOWNLOAD OF THE PROPHECY | PART 3(17.4M)

But be nice, if you want to use it for commercial purpose, ask Beautifulmag’s permission to do so.

If this wonderful project has triggered your curiosity about this talented man, please visit the two part interview Beautiful had with Aymeric last year February: Digital Wizard Part 1 and Digital Wizard Part 2. Aymeric Giraudel is a man with a vision and the talent to visualize it.

Link:   Chronicles of Desire | Soon on BeautifulMag

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written by Pinewood Design \\ tags: Art, Aymeric Giraudel, beast, beautiful, Beautifulmag, gay, madonna, male, model, Photography, Prophecy