Pen And Ink Illustrations by Shohei Otomo

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There are far more at Shohei Otomos website (NSFW)

More expense drama..or should that be 'treuliau'?

I don't usually put my long-winded rants on this blog - but I want to put this one here for a reason - cos I want lots of people to see it. Promise I won't do it again (well - not for a while...lol) and we'll be back to the usual deviance forthwith.


Yet more scandal on the expenses front - but his time it's not Westminster that I'm talking about. This is far closer to me than that.

The Senedd (Welsh Assembly to you lot..lol) has released it's members expenses for the 08/09 year. It makes horrendous reading.

There are no claims for duck houses or damp-proofing and tbh the 'everyday' expenses of most of the AMs (Assembly Members) is pretty fair. I don't object to the travelling expenses, or really to the TVs and ipods bought out of my taxes....oh no...

What I have a real problem with is the 'Second home allowance'..

Don't get me wrong here - I've travelled the length and breadth of Wales and if you live any further North than Brecon - then that's too far away from Cardiff (home of the Senedd) to make a comfortable drive home. The distance may not be far, but when they say 'A road' in Wales what they really mean is a single lane track that is usually occupied by tractors, sheep or roadworks!

But - I took an example of two AMs - one is my local repesentative and the other is the closest representative of the party I voted for. Both of them also happen to be on my Facebook friends list (convenient ain't it...lol).

I looked up their expenses online - they were released today on the Assembly website.

Huw Lewis (my local AM) claimed just over £23,000

Bethan Jenkins (my nearest Plaid Cymru AM) claimed just over £31,000

Both of them claim a second home allowance - Huw Lewis has a mortgage, Bethan Jenkins rents...

Here's the rub - Huw Lewis lives less than half an hours drive from Cardiff (where he has his second home) and Bethan Jenkins lives less than an hours drive away....

You telling me they need a second home!!!??

I've popped down to Cardiff for a sandwich it's so close....

I asked both of these people why they think they need a second home....

Huw Lewis still hasn't replied, which has pissed me of a bit seeings that he's my local AM - MY representative..

But Bethan Jenkins has....she said - and this is the quote 'I don't think that this is unacceptable'....

Well I bloody do.

She said 'I rent my second property so I don't gain from it.'

Not exactly the point Bethan - it's MY taxes that pay that rent....and I can think of better things to spend it on.

Her messages to me about the issue were childish and condescending she even thought I wasn't aware enough of poitics to know that Huw Lewis and herself represent different parties....Her whole attitude was exactly the same as those 'we didn't break any rules' Westminster lot...

I lost patience and sent her quote to the BBC newsdesk....and an email to her boss.

I'm not surprised by any of this - they are politicians after all - but this is after their expenses were exposed last summer and an official inquiry set up to see if they were spending too much!

God help what they were skimming before.

The results of the inquiry will be released next week - should be interesting..

Anyhoo - rant over - going to hassle them a bit more on FB now...lol

Update: I have, since this post had quite an nice discussion with Bethan Jenkins who was happy to answer my questions. I can't say that she answered them all satisfactorily - but that's politics for ya!
My thanks to her for taking the time to debate the matter.

Guangzhou Steampunk

15 minutes of bliss.

Water Brain Complete Edition（16：9） from Johann.Poo on Vimeo.

via

For My Sons....

For my eldest, and his girlfriend who are looking for a place of their own.
To my central, who is working hard and thinking about making his own way in the world.
To my youngest, who is finding the limelight of youth.

I love you all.

Be careful - and if you make a mistake - don't worry.....all of you were! And look how you turned out....lol.

Human Skull - Dali

Harrison Ford Missing?

With all the news of Michael Jackson - this has gone unnoticed

A friend of mine in France has just said 'it's been reported that Harrison Ford has gone missing off the coast of St Tropez...

If I hear any more - I'll let you know.

Latest news HERE

Latest - May be a hoax - hope it is....

UPDATE - Definately a hoax......
although here's a picture of what He might have looked like if he had to jump from a sinking ship.

Seems that nothing can keep Han/Indy down...lol


Feel free to look round the rest of the site while you're here..

Michael Jackson Dies

According to TMZ, AP Press and the LA Times Michael Jackson died today.

Was never a fan myself - but here's a tribute (embedding on all other vids was disabled - this was all I could get...lol)

True Love

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Xanadu

One of lifes guilty pleasures...

Sry - couldn't find any vid of Newton-John in the leapard skin shorts....

Cat Stevens - Lady D'Arbanville

Esao Andrews

Images by Esao Andrews fromthe Vertigo comic House Of Mystery

Star Trek TOS Intro

Panties

Samuel L Jackson ....is Wiz

Donny And Marie Osmond Do Star Wars

Pretty much had the same feeling as Cynical-C when I saw this on his page - publish!!! Publish!! PUBLISH!!!!!

So sit back and enjoy the awesomely cheesy spectacle of Donny and Marie as Luke and Leia - and to top it all off - Kris Kristofferson as Han Solo.....

Obama - The Superhero!!!

I lol'd

Time.....

May not have much time to blog this weekend - but never fear, I'm still here....

'Civilization' Elevator Video

This is a video installation by artist/director Marco Brambilla for the elevators in The Standard Hotel in New York City.

Comprised of over 400 video clips it takes passengers on a trip from hell to heaven on the way up and heaven to hell on the way down.

Civilization by Marco Brambilla from CRUSH on Vimeo.

Watch in full screen with the volume up to get the most out of it.

Via Boing Boing where there are links to more info.

Monks On Segways....

...with fire on their heads!

(via Arbroath)

Aren't You A Little Short For A Stormtrooper?

You've Already Lost!

When you click on the stories below you begin to wonder why the powers that be don't just give it up as a bad job!

Pirate Bay launches VPN service.

UK government to crack down on illegal file-sharing.

Pirate Bay and Anonymous assist Iran activists.

Taut

Lego Zombies

Shhh...Cthulhu Can Hear You

The Old Ones are listening....

Big Giant Robots!

In honour of the UK premier of Transformers 2 tonight - here's the trailer!
Can't wait to see it!

And I know this isn't strictly a Transformer - but here's a few awesome pics of the giant Gundam statue in Tokyo.

....and not forgetting the best Transformers fancy dress outfit evah!!!

Japanese Ad For Painkiller Gel - I Think...

Monsters!!!!

Awesome movie monster illustrations by Yasushi Torisawa

More here

Pictures By Daikichi Amano

Can't go wrong with tentacles.
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7 Great Muppet Sci-Fi Moments

What would the weekend be without a muppet link - courtesy of io9.

Click the io9 link for the rest of the magical muppet moments.

'Unko-san' - Lucky Poo anime

“Unko-san,” a new anime series about a brown poo-shaped fairy with lots of luck, is fast becoming the rage among high school girls in western Japan. Short episodes of the anime are now showing in the Osaka area on Kansai TV’s “Otoemon” music program.
The stories revolve around Unko-san — whose name is a play on the Japanese words for “luck” (un) and “crap” (unko) — and his quest for happiness on Lucky Island, which is populated by a host of other poo fairies.
(via)

Inflatable Tower Could Climb Into Space

From New Scientist comes an article that tells us -
"A giant inflatable tower could carry people to the edge of space without the need for a rocket, and could be completed much sooner than a cable-based space elevator."

"To stay upright and withstand winds, full-scale structures would require gyroscopes and active stabilisation systems in each module. The team modelled a 15-kilometre tower made up of 100 modules, each one 150 metres tall and 230 metres in diameter, built from inflatable tubes 2 metres across. Quine estimates it would weigh about 800,000 tonnes when pressurised - around twice the weight of the world's largest supertanker.

"Twenty kilometres up is about as dark as outer space. You can see about 600 kilometres in any direction," Quine says. Tourists could get a view almost like that from space, but without the difficulties of coping with zero gravity. He calculates the tower could be extended up to low Earth orbit at 200 kilometres.

The tower does a similar job to the much-vaunted space elevator. But while the elevator envisages using ribbons woven from superstrong nanotubes - a material that is as yet non-existent - the tower would use materials that are already available. And should something go wrong with the tower, failure of a few modules would not cause the whole structure to collapse."

Yay!!! I'm gonna go into space on a bouncy castle!!!

Cute Animal Pics Of The Week

The Daily Telgraph has got 32 gorgeous animal pics including this one of a Siberian Tiger cub and it's mum at a zoo in Harbin, Heilongjiang Province, China.

I love the first one - the little fox's face as the lion chases him is priceless!

WANT!!!!!!

From Joanne Casey, who has indeed, Seen The Whole Of The Internet.

Anatomy of a Fairy Tale by Julia Murakami

A picture from one of my favourite - but now defunct - blogs - 'Hugo Strikes Back'.
Thankfully, he's back with a new blog full of the same kind of fantastic posts along with heaps of new stuff.

Live long and prosper at your new blog my friend.

'Tiny Chance' Of Planet Collision

In an article for 'Nature' a team of astronomers led by Jacques Laskar shows that there is a 'tiny' chance of either Venus or Mars colliding with Earth though they'd like to point out that it's not going to happen for a billion years.

The researchers carried out 2,500 tests and, in some, the outcome was Earth being involved in a collosion with Mars or Venus. The tests also showed that there was a chance that Mercury could collide with Venus creating a larger planet and that Mars could have a close encounter with Jupiter which would push it out of our Solar System.


Speaking of the collision and other results of the tests Professor Laskar said...

"It will be complete devastation," said Professor Laskar.

"The planet is coming in at 10km per second - 10 times the speed of a bullet - and of course Mars is much more massive than a bullet."

Professor Laskar's calculations also show that there is a possibility of Mercury crashing into Venus. But in that scenario, the Earth would not be significantly affected.

"If there is anyone around billions of years from now, they'd see a burst of light in the sky and the two planets would be merged," he said.

"The new planet would be a little bit bigger than Venus, and the Solar System would be a little more regular after the collision, but the Earth's orbit would not be affected."

For a slightly different view on worlds colliding - the whole of the movie 'When Worlds Collide' is on you tube. This is part one of nine - click through on the vid and the links to all nine parts are there.

Narwhals!

This is the only post today cos I'm feeling squiffy....I hope this little song cheers you up as much as it does me.

To see the full looped version - go HERE.

Machine Girl 2

Anyone who knows me - knows I loved the film 'Machine Girl'.

Due for release soon - here's the trailer for Machine Girl 2 ....w00t! A 22 minute spin off from the original film that concentrates on Noriko (who was stabbed in the head by the Yakuza in the first film)

Note to readers - trailer includes semi-naked Japanese girls with guns - lol - you'll watch it now won't you....


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'Sex Galaxy' - Recycled Vintage Porn - Slightly NSFW

A fantastic mash-up of vintage, out of copyright blue movies. A pretty saucy sci-fi romp with rockets, robots, aliens and naked ladies....

There's an interview with Mike Davies (Producer/Director) over at Wired.

Dance Baby, Dance!

This vid of a uniformed Korean guy dancing to the song 'Nobody' just gets better and better.

(via)

WolframAlpha Asked 'Are You Skynet?'

The WolframAlpha search engine answers the question we all wanted to know the answer to....

Click here for original (and larger) picture.

Stephen Fry On Drugs......

Oops - should have read 'Stephen Fry On The Subject Of Drugs'...

The Welsh Language

Being Welsh - I can wholeheartedly agree!

Naughty Naughty....

Human Looking Dragonfly

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Dr Terrors House Of Horrors

I noticed that this was on TV tomorrow night - Yay! One of my favourite film of all time!
Not only has it got Christopher Lee and Peter Cushing - but also the much forgotten Roy Castle.

If you're in the UK and want to watch it in the dark, on your own after the pub - then it's on BBC2 at 1.35am (saturday night/sunday morn).

If you're not in the UK - or just want to watch it now - then here it is in all it's glory.

Sleep tight..

The Greatest Virginity Story Ever Told

Most of the Brits that come here will probably remember a news story from March this year about Otto Baxter, the 21 year old with Down's Synddrome whose mother was looking for somone for him to have sex with....

Menstyle.com has got an update to his story - and it's one of the most uplifting things I've read online for a long time.......

"When guys go to Vegas, there's usually only one thing on their minds. Otto Baxter is no different—except for the fact that he has Down syndrome"

Click here to read it. I promise it'll make you smile :-)

Via Miss Cellania

RIP David Carradine

Kill Bill and Kung Fu star David Carradine has been found dead in a Bangkok hotel room, BBC correspondent Jonathan Head has reported.

The 72-year-old was in Thailand filming his latest film Stretch, according to his personal manager Chuck Binder.

BBC

Fairground Ride FAIL!!

I dread to think what Freud would make of this.......thousands of children flying past this image at 90mph......

Come to think of it - kinda explains rather a lot about me!

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Considering The Present Political Climate.....

.........I thought these two vids might be appropriate.

Small Bunny Rabbit

A Little Nonsense Now And Zen

WHILE Bankei was preaching quietly to his followers, his talk was
interrupted by a Shinshu priest who believed in miracles, and
thought salvation came from repeating holy words.

Bankei was unable to go on with his talk, and asked the priest
what he wanted to say.

"The founder of my religion," boasted the priest, "stood on one
shore of a river with a writing brush in his hand. His disciple
stood on the other shore holding a sheet of paper. And the founder
wrote the holy name of Amida onto the paper across the river
through the air. Can you do anything so miraculous?"

"No," said Bankei, "I can do only little miracles. Like: when I am
hungry, I eat; when I am thirsty, I drink; when I am insulted, I
forgive."

(Picture - taken by me - in my garden)

Explosions And Boobs

A website that contains exactly what it says it does!

Explosions......

.....and Boobs.

What more do you need?

Well.....maybe this...

Teachers Finally Caught 'Educating' Kids

I don't know how I managed to miss this one....

Two teachers from my home town have been thrust into the spotlight after a homemade porn film of their 'sex games' was posted on an amatuer porn site..

Jane and Colin Moyle were recognised from the video by pupils and parents from the two schools where they (used to) teach..
Worse for them the story was printed in the local rag 'The Merthyr Express' with their identity hidden - a full one day after the 'Daily Mail' had published their full names, schools and pictures!
Question is - did they upload it themselves - or maybe lent the dvd to a mate -who then uploaded it? Either way - important lesson on internet idiocy well and truly learned.

Btw - if anyone can get me a copy of the vid - I would be greatly amused....