Sound Advice

It is, really, isn't it? 

When you think that the Hubble Telescope looked at a blank bit of space and came back with pictures of galaxies 100 times the size of the Milky Way the light from which took 12 billion years to travel here you're struck by the shear massiveness of it all. To quote Douglas Adams, "Space is big. You just won't believe how vastly, hugely, mind- bogglingly big it is. I mean, you may think it's a long way down the road to the chemist's, but that's just peanuts to space." To think of yourself as an ant against that kind of backdrop is to flatter yourself, you're more like a single cell amoeba living on the bacteria living on the ant. That said, most of the universe is made up of big burning gas balls and dead spinning rocks and so even an amoeba is pretty rare treat but even then the whole of humanity is a flash in the pan as far as the earth is concerned let alone the universe so my crummy life is barely going to register. I'm not trying to be negative, I'm just saying don't sweat the small stuff, or the big stuff cause, well, it's all pretty tiny. 

Tiger Got To Hunt

The words are from Cat's Cradle, the trees are from outside Julia's window in Donnerskirchen. 

National Collective Zine

Here's my contribution toward Scottish independence, it's the cover for National Collective's new zine! 

Scottish independence is the hot topic for discussion just now and in this piece I've tried to highlight Scotland's resources and traditions and the potential for a bright and productive independent Scotland. When I started thinking about this cover I decided there were a lot of thing I wanted to avoid putting in there, I didn't want to portray Scotland as a twee little country of Highland cows and tartan, so St. Andrews crosses, no Braveheart, no rolling mountains. We have great natural resources and proud heritage of engineers and inventors and could be a rich, prosperous independent nation (central to this is prosperity is whiskey which accounts for nearly 80% of UK food and drink exports and has increased in value by a massive 23% in recent years)

I'm no xenophobe. I don't identify with the Scotland the brave chat. I don't want independence because I hate the English (I'm half English myself). I am however ashamed of Britain, I'm ashamed of the Iraq War and Afghanistan War. I'm ashamed of the British Empire and the attitude people still have to it (the British Empire is what the Nazi's tried to build, that it is remembered fondly by some people is despicable "I think there is an enormous amount to be proud of in what the British empire did and was responsible for" - David Cameron) I'm ashamed that we spend millions of pounds on nuclear missiles but can't afford social welfare. I'm ashamed we have more bankers earning over a million pounds a year in this country than the rest of Europe put together. I'm ashamed and angry and frustrated by a lot of things to do with Britain. We talk a lot about the need for change and we have the chance for a bloodless revolution, we'd be foolish not to take it. 

Sentimental Bullshit

I don't really get Valentines Day, I always think it all a bit half arsed and predictable. Buying a card at a shop's got nothing to do with romance. So in the spirit of Valentines Day, here's my half arsed, slightly predictable card, the idea for which I pinched off someone else... 

Casual Seex

I totally forgot to put this up on the blog! Doing a show at Boda Bar in Leith and these are the posters

TV Took Our Boy

I read a thing the other day saying the number one hobby in the UK was watching TV. OK, I don't mind if folk watching a bit of TV, that's absolutely fine, but when asked by someone, they described it as their #1 hobby? How can you call watching TV a hobby? My problem with TV as a hobby is it's totally passive, you don't put in the hours and you can't get better at watching TV, you just lose the hours. 

This drawing is very much inspire by my good friend and painter Liana Moran

http://lianamoran.com/