Category Archives: Funny

Cartoon Political Maps of Europe

Cartoon Political Maps of Europe

The always fascinating BibliOdyssey has un-earthed and scanned some of those cartoon political maps. I’m a big fan of maps and a big fan of cartoons, so seeing them both together always puts a smile on my face. Here’s the Satirical Maps post, here’s an older post – Dogs of War, specifically about First World War maps.

Here’s a few more that I like – Hark! Hark! The Dogs Do Bark, European Revue (Kill That Eagle) and Das heutige Europa.

I’m particularly puzzled by this one below, what on earth could be going on there ;)

The French Invasion, or John Bull, bombarding the Bum-boats

The World That Booze Built

The World That Booze Built

Here’s an entertaining and interesting article – In Vino, Civitas by James Bridle, author of Cooking with Booze. James’s idea is that we drank ourselves into civilisation, that the cultivation of grains was driven not by hunger but by thirst.

“Beer, as well as spirits, allowed us to crowd together into cities where the water was foul and undrinkable, and it allowed us set off on long sea voyages of exploration and conquest. These two opportunities – urbanisation and exploration, have fuelled all major human activity since the renaissance.”

I love his little diagrams, the one above cracks me up.

Layer Tennis Results

Cook vs Crowle - Layer tennis

Game set and match to Rex by the look of the votes. If you missed it, you can still view the match volley by volley here » I think in the heat of the moment I kind of forgot about the ‘layer’ aspect of the game… The advantage of us both being in the same room was I could see what Rex was drawing and start sketching ideas for my return volley before my 15min had even started. But that kind of led to me just doing a doodle and not re-using any of the layers. Nevermind, it was a great match and we both had fun, especially the post match drinks :)

I was impressed with the speed that Rex could knock out full colour visuals. My usual style is to pencil sketch, scan, then work up vector outlines and then colour last. Not a hope in hell I could get all that done in 15min, so I just stuck to the pencil sketches. Rex though works straight into photoshop with a Wacom tablet, it was quite an eye opener, might have to get one and give it a go.

Thanks again to Anne for her commentry, check out her reflections on the game. And of course thanks to Coudal for inviting us to play :)

Here’s the both of us in action:

Playing layer tennis

Oxford & Cambridge Goat Race

Oxford & Cambridge Goat Race

On the same day as the boat race (29th March) London’s going to host a new event – The Oxford & Cambridge Goat Race ;) When Ant, Simeon & Anne told me their idea, I said where the hell are you going to get the goats from?!? Well luckily the nice folks at Spitalfields City Farm (just off Brick Lane) don’t mind us racing a couple of theirs around a field. In return the £3 admission fee will be going toward the up keep of their urban farm project.

THE EVENT:

2 actual real live goats, one representing Oxford and one representing Cambridge, race a tough, meandering course lined with cheering spectators. Then on to the pub for cheap or possibly free (trying to sort out a booze deal now) drinks and music.

AMUSEMENTS:

  • The Official Goat Race Bookie and Sweepstake
  • Enter the Goat Wrestling tournament (I’ve no idea wtf this is)
  • Goatee competition

TIME & PLACE:

Spitalfields City Farm E1, near Brick Lane – map »
Sunday March 29th
Get there 2.30pm
Race 3.30pm
After party from 4.30pm (in the pub)

DRESS CODE:

Strictly: Black Tie, Rowing lycra, boat club jackets and ties, or goat.

ADMISSION:

£3 on the door charge, all proceeds go to a Spitalfields City Farm Charity.

GET INVOLVED:

If you would like to attend, or get involved in any other way (you could turn up with a few metres of bunting at least), head over to the Goat Race Facebook page »

Organised by – Team Magic-Ish (Anne Hopkins, Simeon Rose & Anthony Goh)