St Pancras Panda is an strip by Alan Moore back when he was a drawer as well as a writer. Many know of Maxwell the Magic Cat but this one was news to me. It ran in the Back Street Bugle, an underground paper from Oxford, circa 1978-9.
All 11 pages have been scanned and uploaded by Alan Moore aficionado and archivist Pádraig Ó Méalóid.
via LMG
I’ve had this open in a tab for a while now, wondering what exactly it is. Is it real? Is it a fake? I honestly can’t tell, and that makes it all the more intriguing.
Update: Thanks to Chris in the comments, turns out it’s what I believe the kids call a “viral” to promote a film by the guy who did Garth Marenghi which, to be honest, I wasn’t a huge fan of but I’ll reserve my judgement.
What I find interesting about this 15 minute tutorial in cutout animation, beyond seeing a young Gilliam being sensible and coherent, is the connection between his approach to and style of animation and the Flash work that came out of B3ta in the early 2000s from the likes of Joel Veitch and Jonti. This, for example, is not a million miles from Gilliam.
via Kottke
She’s like the middle of a Freddie Mercury / Toyah Wilcox / Genesis P Orridge venn diagram. Quite astonishing.
According to reviewer Fritz Rumler: “she thrusts herself into the music, aggressively, directly, furiously, roars in the most beautiful opera alto, then, through shrieks and squeals, precipitates into luminous soprano heights, she parodies, satirises, and howls on stage like a dervish.”
One to investigate further, methinks.
via Eighths
Adam Curtis posts a great little film made by the BBC in 1973, following a UK chapter of the Hells Angels motorcycle club.
They’re obviously not very nice people (especially as they tend to go on about Nazis). And the film has a disapproving commentary that talks about their “psychotic tendencies” and their “empty daily existence”. But as you watch the film you begin to realise that the director (or possibly the editor) was making a completely different film. It uses the Hells Angels as a comic and exaggerated parody of the emptiness of the daily life for everyone in Britain.
I’m tempted to draw parallels with the rioting youth of last week, although that might be too simplistic. The drudgery and no-future of non-working class men and their romanticism of Californian outlaw biker lifestyles is potent though.
via Mindless Ones
The great thing about this footage is the lingering shots of the crowd. The 70s really was another country.
via Clusterflock
Update: And here’s where he was busking.
