Category Archives: Happiness

More Kidstalk

My son, Jack, turned 4 last week.

The other day as we watched TV (I think The Simpsons was on -nothing to do with anything) Jack cheerily said “sure we’ll never get dead?”

I don’t think he was waiting for an answer. He was happy to leave it at that.

Lucy (aged 7) turned to me with a knowing smile and said “Daddy, will you tell him or will I?”

I didn’t ask her to expand on what she might tell him.

It was a funny and sad moment. An excellent combination I find. 🙂

– – – – – – – – – – –

Last night as I was dressing Jack for bed, he hung his head and quietly asked “Sure fuck off boyo isn’t a nice thing to say?”

I shook my head and told him no it’s not. He seemed happy to know it.

Working with elastics

OK I admit it. I flipped. I spent time photographing elastics in various poses. There -I’ve said it!

In my defence, I did them years ago, but I do think they’re kinda nice. I just thought to add them here. And why not?

virginlastic

These are part of my “Stretch Out of the Office” series. I think if there was any justice these images (framed) would be as de riguer in offices as, say, those classy poker playing dogs pieces.

Be sure to check out the rest!

Continue reading Working with elastics

Beautiful Rain

Yesterday John Poland and I  (with the help of other invaluable souls) shot another video. Our third. This one is called Beautiful Rain.

As you can imagine with a title like that, the video involved some rain. It was a tough shoot. Not very much went according to our simple plans.  On paper it was very straightforward: There are just two verses in this song, with a small instrumental bit in between.

The idea for the video was this:

1. We see rain.

2. JP sings the first verse while standing in the rain.

3. Gorilla sees JP, casts off his umbrella and begins dancing in the rain.

4. JP sings the 2nd verse while standing in the rain, turning in circles.

That, more or less was the plan. We even had a little actual rain, which was nice. But we knew we would need a little more rain no matter what, so we were prepared with a hose with suitable sprinkler attachment.

We did some practice takes, with rainwear, but only when JP removed his protective clothing and began singing under the falldown did it become apparent that it was too damn cold!

Unfortunately, in the spot we were filming we were unable to run some hot water through a hose, otherwise it probably might have been doable. But within a minute-or-so it was obvious this idea would have to be scrapped.

Take a look at a wet JP:

screenshot1“SMILE JOHN!”

screenshot2“SING THE WORDS JOHN!”

screenshot3“LOOK UP INTO THE RAIN JOHN!”

screenshot4“DON’T RAISE YOUR HAND!”  “OPEN YOUR EYES!”  “SMILE!”

screenshot5“KEEP FACING FORWARD! SMILE! SMILE YA BASTARD! SMILE INTO THE BEAUTIFUL RAIN!!”

.

As you can imagine, I didn’t have it easy. Nothing I did or said could make it possible for JP to do it.

Anyway, initially we thought the day was a washout if you pardon the pun, but after thinking about it some more we came up with other ways of doing things. We made some compromises and added some alternative shots. That’s what happens with filming all the time, no doubt.

The important thing is WE WERE NOT BEATEN! We got the shots we needed -well almost all. We just need a teensy bit more -but we’re waiting for the right time to shoot.

Fear not -you will see the final video on here first, so keep checking back throughout the week to see how it looks. And did I mention the song is very nice indeed? Wait til you hear it -another great tune for our forthcoming Happiness Album !

Victim o’ the wood

There is something sinister about a lone man in a wood don’t you think? No companion, no dog, no jogging outfit -just a man alone, walking perhaps. In a wood.

I mean, a woman would obviously be nuts to go walking alone in a dark wooded area, but only for her lack of fear. Who knows what danger lurks around the nearest tree? I’m not justifying the fear, simply pointing out that it is logical (or at least human) even if irrational, to think it. And it’s likewise irrational not to.

But a man alone in a wood is most certainly a psycho killer. He is on his way back from dumping the body and now you are a witness and now he is going to kill you. Nobody else is within sight or earshot. The path is bringing you closer to him. There is no way you can escape without highlighting your fear. You know your fear is irrational. You know it is nuts to run away. You are forced to pass him on the narrow path, placing yourself within easy reach of his murderous hands. Will you be the fool or the victim?

A short while ago I was that man -the psycho killer in the wood I mean. I confess I didn’t murder anyone, but I might as well have had.

Continue reading Victim o’ the wood

Simply Happy Ringtone!

I know what you’re thinking -“How could I possibly afford a Simply Happy Ringtone!?”

But fret not, because not only is this ringtone very cheap, it is in fact FREE!

You’ve watched the video, below, and sung along on the second listen and you found you couldn’t get the tune out of your head.

Now, take this mp3 ringtone (rightclick/Save-As) and do the same to your friends and enemies. Go forth and infest them with the upbeat positivity of your incoming phonecalls!

(Above ringtone contains the first Simply Happy chorus, followed by the more frenetic final chorus if you haven’t answered by then. If you’d prefer just the final chorus you can download it here.)

Spread the Happiness -Prepare to be hated!