Stuckism show in London turns eyes

Stuckism was founded by Charles Thomson and Billy Childish in 1999 with 12 artists to promote contemporary figurative painting and oppose conceptual art. It has since grown to an international art movement of 233 groups in 52 countries. The name was coined after Childish’s ex-girlfriend, Tracey Emin, said he was “Stuck! Stuck! Stuck!” The concept struck, the Stuckism movement brought forth several Stuckist manifestos in an effort to draw other artists to their cause, including one where the term "Remodernism" was coined.

This month the Bermondsey Project Gallery at 46 Willow Walk, London UK will host a special event titled: "Stuckists: Elizabethan Avant-Garde" and will run from Friday the 5th to Sunday the 21st of October, open 7 days a week, 1 – 6 pm. A press launch will be held on Thursday the 4th at 6:30.


For more info about the event visit www.bermondseyproject.co.uk or phone 020 7036 2416.

The special event will include paintings from over 30 Stuckist artists from the UK and abroad.

For more information on Stuckism we recommend reading "A Stuckist on Stuckism".

If you are looking for more information on other art movements check out the following art history links:


Abstract Expressionism  
American Scene 
Constructivism 
Cubism 
Dada  
Earth Art 
Fantasy Art 
Impressionism  
Neo-Gothic Art  
Neo-Pop Art  
Neue Sachlichkeit 
 Pin Up Art  
Pop Art  
Precisionism  
Prehistoric Art  
Romanticism 
Salon de la Rose Croix 
Social Realism 
Stuckism 
Surrealism 
Video Art 
Visionary Art 
World of Art

Zombie-fied British Royals

Worth a peek.

Zombie-fied Prince Charles and Queen Elizabeth from 'Zombiewood' by Canadian artist Rob Sacchetto.

Will Prince William become King Arthur?

POLITICS - It should be noted, for a variety of reasons, Prince Charles of Wales might never become King of England.

#1. Because he might actually die before his unusually long lived mother does. Queen Elizabeth II will be 85 in April, and her mother (the Queen Mum) lived to be 102. She might be on the throne for another 30 years.

#2. Because Prince Charles married a divorced woman. Camilla Parker Bowles divorced her husband in 1995. As the head of the Church of England, a king cannot be married to a divorced woman. This means if his mother died, Prince Charles would have to step aside and the next person in the line of succession would be his son, Prince William of Wales.

And even if Prince Charles does somehow become King (ie. they ignore the Church of England's rules), it will be a brief time period that he is on the throne. (Prince Charles will be 63 next November. Its possible he might live until he is 90 [males typical die sooner than females] and could be on the throne for 2 decades, but that will be a short time period compared to the six decades his mother has been Queen.)

Prince William Arthur Philip Louis (born 21 June 1982), would then have an interesting option before him. When ascending the throne he would get to pick his official royal name.

He could be King William V, King Arthur, King Philip (which sounds too much like the French and Spanish Kings) or King Louis (who again sounds too French).

It is possible he would pick King William V, but oh... wouldn't it be so much more interesting if he picked King Arthur?

Royal Wedding: Prince William & Kate Middleton

ENTERTAINMENT - Seriously, it doesn't count as politics when you announce Prince William of Britain & Kate Middleton are getting married. Maybe in the centuries past it would be politics, but these days its just celebrity buzz.

Prince William and his bride-to-be Kate Middleton will be getting married between March and September of 2011. They have yet to pick a date.

If they want a sunny wedding the list of dates are limited. Its pretty much guaranteed to be rainy regardless. [Although traditionally that is a good omen for fertility. ;)]

In other news Kate Middleton is 28 years old. That is practically 22 by today's standards. Most 20-somethings are waiting longer to get married.

Oh and there is the price tag... £25 million ($40 million USD) in taxpayer money from a country currently in the worst recession in decades. So will that mean cutting back on their budget?

Oh and British citizens are already betting on when the wedding will be... and how long it will last.

Prince Charles and Princess Diana's marriage lasted from July 29th 1981 until the separation in the early 1990s. The divorce was on August 28th 1996.

40% of marriages in Britain end in divorce, the highest divorce rate in the world.

Should Millionaires pay more Taxes?

POLITICS - Billionaire British novelist J.K. Rowling (the creator of Harry Potter) doesn't mind giving half of her income to income taxes. She and a growing number of wealthy people actually WANT higher income taxes for the rich and wealthy.

“I wanted my children to grow up where I grew up, to have proper roots … in a real country, not free-floating ex-pats, living in the limbo of some tax haven and associating only with the children of similarly greedy tax exiles,” says J.K. Rowling.

Despite her wealth and fame Rowling has stayed in the U.K. where the top tax bracket is 50% for anyone earning more than $240,000 per year.

In contrast if you go to Ontario, Canada our biggest tax bracket is 46.41% for people earning over $127,000.

The debate in North America is how much taxes should rich people pay? ie. Should we have a new tax bracket?

The proposal a number of people (including the rich!) is to add a new tax bracket of $300,000 and make it 50%. For the millionaires and billionaires it will effect it means 3.6% less money in their pocket... but that is pocket change to the super rich!

Linda McQuaig, a prolific author and newspaper columnist, and law professor Neil Brooks recently published a new book: "The Trouble With Billionaires". Its really not about billionaires... its about coddled elite in the United States and how little taxes they pay and yet still manage to pack away millions and billions of dollars in bank accounts which often sit there doing nothing...

FACT: A strong economy is based on money moving from hand to hand quickly. Hoarding money in banks actually HURTS the economy because it takes money out of circulation.

Sure some rich people like gold magnate Peter Munk and others donate some of their wealth and charitable tax credits and get university buildings and grants named after themselves... but the vast majority of millionaires have a tendency to just sit on their money and not use it.

Some people prefer the light touch to taxing the rich, because rich people often have powerful allies and can hurt a politicians political career. Canadian Prime Minister Brian Mulroney during the late 1980s for example cut taxes on the rich and then introduced the 7% GST (goods and services sales tax).

And then to prove how friendly he was with the super rich Brian Mulroney accepted money from suspected German bribemeister Karlheinz Schreiber in the Airbus scandal...

McQuaig and Brooks also talk about former finance minister Michael Wilson and how much he knew about wealthy clients being lured to place billions in secret offshore accounts. And then they talk about Frank Stronach and auto parts behemoth Magna International Inc. and the billion + he was paid to give up ownership of the company.

What it boils down to is that fact that these well-to-do rich people have a lot more than the rest of us, and that their wealth is the result of all the poor workers being extorted... so why not tax the rich another 3.6% and use that money to help everyone?

The rich would still continue flying and spending as much as they want and the minor drop in the amount of money they are hoarding will be no big whoop in the long run.

Canada for example has 55 people who make over a billion dollars each every year. From their pockets alone that is at least $36 million. And then there's the millionaires (tens of thousands of them) and anyone else who makes more $300,000. The potential windfall is enough to balance Canada's budget and leave a chunk left over to boost the economy and pay off Canada's national debt.

McQuaig and Brooks don't stop there either. They propose upping it to a 60% tax on people making more than $300,000 / year... and 70% for people making more than $2.5 million... which is historically still less than the amount rich people were paying in the 1950s.

You see, historically, 60 years ago tax revenues were split roughly 70% from rich people and corporations and 30% from the general population. In the decades since then its been slowly flip flopped until now the sources of government coffers are over 70% from the general population and less than 30% from the rich and corporations. All we'd be doing is going back to an older way of taxing the rich.

We think its a fabulous idea. Its put more money back into the economy and cuts down on hoarding. Let rich people pay more taxes. They can certainly afford it.

UK Taxi driver goes on shooting spree

POLITICS - Yesterday a 52-year-old taxi driver Derrick Bird went on a shooting rampage and killing 12 people and injuring 25 more in the quiet region of Cumbria west of Newcastle. He began by shooting people in one location, driving to another spot and shooting more, repeating this process. Today UK police are cleaning up 18 different crime scenes and trying to determine why these shootings happened.

The first victims were the Derrick Bird's brother and a solicitor, giving rise to theories it may have been related to a legal dispute. The next victims were other taxi drivers, suggesting Derrick Bird may have had issues with his co-workers or competition.

He even went through the trouble of switching cars, traveling from town to town as he left a wake of dead civilians and the injured.

Among the dead are:

David Bird was the first victim, the shooter's twin brother. It is believed Derrick rowed with his brother over his terminally-ill mother's will.

Kevin Commons, 60, was a senior partner at KJ Commons & Co solicitors. He was found dead in the driveway of his house on Frizington Road, Frizington.

Darren Rewcastle, a taxi driver, who was killed as Bird produced a gun and shot fellow taxi drivers in Duke Street, Whitehaven.

Susan Hughes, 57, was shot in the stomach in the Hagget End area of Egremont. She was walking home from a local shop when Bird killed her.

Ken Fishburn, a retired security worker at the Sellafield nuclear power plant, was killed on a bridge in Egremont. He was in his sixties.

Isaac Dixon was gunned down on the Egremont to Haile road near Wilton. The part-time mole catcher was in conversation with a farmer when Bird shot him dead at the edge of a field in Carleton, Cumbria. The farmer was left unharmed.

James "Jimmy" Jackson and Jennifer Jackson, retired husband and wife in their 60s were was gunned down in Wilton.

Garry Purdham, the 30-year-old son of a farmer, was gunned down around 11.30 AM as he fixed a gate on his family's Low Boonwood Farm.

Jane Robinson, a woman in her 70s, was shot dead outside her home she shared with her twin sister in Seascale. She was killed while going door-to-door delivering Betterware catalogues.

Michael Pike was shot dead in Seascale around midday. The 64-year-old was shot to death while riding a bicycle in the village.

James Clark, a 23-year-old real estate agent, was driving through Seascale when Bird opened fire on him. It is unclear whether it was one of Bird's bullets or the resulting crash which killed him.

The gunman Derrick Bird was found in a wooded area east of Beckfoot. He had shot himself.

England is in shock today with even Queen Elizabeth II expressing condolences and a Coronation Street episode being pulled from the lineup because the plot included a shooting rampage.

Should Fitness Gyms be Free?

HEALTH - Last year the City Council of Birmingham in England created a program to promote healthy living and general fitness called "Gym for Free", a program which has since won awards and international recognition.

At first it was just a pilot project for the neighbourhood of Ladywood but when attendance at the public gym went from 90 to more than 6,500 within 7 months the project was extended to all of the city's 1.1 million citizens.

Health benefits aside the city (Ladywood is one of Britain's poorest areas) has also seen some economic benefits. Higher gym attendance gets people talking, networking, finding jobs they didn't know about and people who are more active have more money for other things because they spend less on junk food... and the government ends up saving money over the long term because of reduced hospital costs.

So fitness and recreational fees hamper the public's health... interesting. So if local governments in Canada and the USA made access to gyms free (or at least subsidized private gyms) then Canadians and Americans would have better health and our governments would save money on medical costs. The value of prevention.

Its not just personal health either. There is also benefits for pregnant mothers. Less premature or still births. Less babies with low birth weight. More healthy children, less medical costs for the 2nd generation.

So will we make a similar program in North America? I think its possible progressive cities or provinces in Canada might do it... but I can't see the USA doing it. They're too paranoid about "socialized" healthcare in the United States.

Man gets Bionic Fingers

HEALTH/TECHNOLOGY - Frank Hrabanek lost his four fingers on his left hand in an industrial accident in 2007, but thanks to modern technology he now has a set of bionic fingers.

Touch Bionics of Britain has developed the robotic prosthetic fingers to help people who've lost fingers or thumbs to do things such as cut food, get dressed on their own, drive a car or go golfing.

The fingers are controlled using the muscles in his forearm and is an amazing breakthrough for amputees world wide. It takes approx. 5 minutes to learn how to use the fingers and the company is also working on a synthetic skin to cover the prosthetic so it will look more natural.

The amputee population that can benefit from these bionic fingers is estimated at around 40,000 in the United States and 1.2 million people worldwide.

British Citizen? Time to apply to MI6

POLITICS - Are you a British citizen? Have you always wanted to be a secret agent like James Bond?

Well MI6 (aka Britain's Secret Intelligence Service) is looking for new recruits and has even made a test on their website (see www.sis.gov.uk/output/self-selection-tool.html) to see if you have the memory skills to be an agent.

All you have to do is memorize the following cover story:

"You're stationed in Transeuratania. You're a vegetarian and the food isn't especially good in Metropoligrad – unlike the coffee, which costs less than a Shilling for a pot at the best hotel. Your name is Stephanie Johnson. You were born on 14th December 1974 in Skegness. At A Level, you gained an A in Geography, an A in French and a B in Economics. You have two sisters and a brother. You studied Geology at university and now work as a Management Consultant for a company called British Coal Associates."

And then answer 8 multiple choice questions in less than 2 minutes.

Even if you're not a British citizen its still fun to take the test. (I scored 8 out of 8, but unfortunately I am Canadian not British.)

After the test, and assuming you score at least a 7 or 8, you're asked if you'd be interested in applying to become an agent overseas.

If only CSIS or the CIA offered similar tests for people interested in applying.

And even if you can't be a government spy fighting Communists or terrorists there is also corporate spies.

Britain officially in deep recession

POLITICS - The British economy has officially sunk into recession, government statistics showed Friday, with output falling 1.5% in the fourth quarter of last year as the financial credit crisis ravaged banks, retail and manufacturing. Following the 0.6% decline recorded in the third quarter, Britain is now officially in recession – the standard definition of a recession is two quarters of economic shrinkage. A deep recession is any recession that has a combined bi-quarterly loss of 2% or more.

Britain joins the United States, Canada and several other countries now officially in a recession or depression. (A depression is any recession that lasts 2 years or more.)

Britain's economic slump is the biggest economic decline since the early days of Margaret Thatcher's government in 1980 and caused the British pound to slump to a new 23-1/2 year low against the U.S. dollar of $1.3503 and headed back towards parity against the Euro.

For 2008 as a whole, Britain's GDP rose by 0.7%, down on the 3% growth in 2007, and the lowest level of growth since 1992's 0.1%.

A sudden spike in suicide rates in Britain and North Ireland has caused the British government to set up free suicide prevention/stress related hotlines so people can talk about their woes.

In related news... Irish real-estate tycoon Patrick Rocca was found shot dead at his home in a suburb of Dublin in an apparent suicide.