Monday, July 9, 2018

The Sea of Holes


Olga and I discovered this private mail outlet with its crazy (I should say dotty) front window yesterday. Doesn't it look like an art installation by Yayoi Kusama?  I love the way Olga's spots fit right in with all the rest.


We're still a bit sun-baked here, and will be for the foreseeable future. There's no rain in sight. Lots of dramatic shadows, though!

Yesterday Dave and I went to the Jester Festival, an annual summer event in West Hampstead. It's basically a collection of carnival rides and games, a musical stage, some vendors and food stalls. We took Olga and browsed the tables of a guy selling a huge variety of herbs -- we picked up some calendula, sunflowers, a castor bean plant and some others.


One of the carnival games had all these stuffed animal prizes suspended nearby. Dave said, "Doesn't it look like a tiger butcher?"

I spent most of the day reading and doing miscellaneous stuff around the house. In the evening I went to a special 50th anniversary screening of the animated Beatles movie "Yellow Submarine," at the Curzon cinema in Mayfair. As a child, when I watched "Yellow Submarine" on television, I wasn't all that impressed with it. I remember it being a bit boring. But as an adult, I can appreciate that the thin plot isn't the point of the film -- it's all about the explosion, the paisley unfurling, of psychedelic artwork in brilliant color, and seeing it on the big screen (with a gin & tonic) made it especially magical. It is a beautifully groovy movie!

In fact, the scenes in the Sea of Holes look a bit like that top photo -- maybe Olga and I could have slipped through one of those shadowy dots into Pepperland?!

14 comments:

Yorkshire Pudding said...

Ha-ha! Cue applause! I like the way you tied up this blogpost by referring back to the "holes" in the first picture. Very clever.

Vivian said...

How civilized! Watching Yellow Submarine with a G&T...sounds perfect to me.

Yes, those tiger toys are strung up gruesomely. I guess someone there doesn't care about merchandizing.

Sweet Olga's dots are warmer and fuzzier, the best kind of dots in my opinion,

Red said...

Yellow Submarine? My story. I was given a hotel room above the bar. In fact, it was right over the music box. I guess a few drunks liked Yellow submarine and kept plugging the machine with quarters. I listened to Yellow submarine all night.

Anonymous said...

That tiger display is rather butcher-ish and creepy. Cool shadow and dot photos. Enjoy the sunshine there, we're in a foggy spell right now and no shadows anywhere.

ellen abbott said...

I guess you had to have done some psychedelics to appreciate Yellow Submarine. I saw it when it came out in theaters. haven't been to a carnival in years!

Sharon said...

I hadn't thought about "Yellow Submarine" in ages. In fact, I don't remember much about the film except the unbelievable splash of color and patterns. I didn't even see Olga in the first photo until you mentioned her. She does blend right in.

crafty cat corner said...

Beautiful photo's as usual.
Briony
x

Catalyst said...

I remember (vaguely) watching "2001: A Space Odyssey" many years ago while stoned on marijuana. It was a remarkable experience.

jenny_o said...

I thought the same as Dave when I saw the tigers!

Any picture with Olga in it is a good picture :)

Ms. Moon said...

I believe that Yellow Submarine was specifically made to be watched under the influence of slightly different substances but a G&T did nicely, I'm sure. I think it's quite possible that you and Olga found a portal to Pepperland!
Tiger butcher! I love it.

e said...

Great post. Yellow Submarine is a fun film and I notice more each time I watch it. As a very little kid when it came out, I first saw it in the 80s.

Linda Sue said...

The last time I saw Yellow Submarine was the last time I went to the movies stoned...long time ago- remembering how delicious it looked . Love the dots with Olga , had you not pointed her out I would have missed her entirely.
We still have a tiger just like those in the butcher shop...It was Erik's "protector of the nursery", His name is Butterscotch. I still can not bear to give him away.

37paddington said...

you make me think about how intensely i responded to certain shows as a child, and how different my response would be now. lost in space, for example, was terrifying to me. so was dr. who. now they just seem kind of hokey. glad you had the opposite experience with yellow submarine.

Steve Reed said...

YP: The famous circular writing construction, which I am seldom conscientious enough to employ.

Vivian: G&T's make everything better. :)

Red: Ha! I'm sure it was driving you CRAZY after about the fifth time.

Robin: Well, a foggy spell can provide some pretty interesting pictures, too!

Ellen: I definitely think they were doing psychedelics when they MADE the movie.

Sharon: There's really not much more to the movie than the colors and patterns. It's a bit like an extended music video with only the thinnest of plots.

Briony: Thank you!

Catalyst: "2001" is a remarkable experience even sober. I can't imagine what it must have been like stoned! (But interestingly, it's another movie that I found boring as a kid. Kids just want action and story!)

Jenny-O: I believe you are Olga's most ardent fan. :)

Ms Moon: Well, as I said to Ellen, I think the makers were on different substances for sure. I can't imagine what it would be like to watch it while tripping. I think it might be terrifying.

E: Yeah, I saw it later on TV, too. Probably late '70s.

Linda Sue: And why should you? I say keep Butterscotch! He needs a home!

37P: Yeah, our brains are definitely in a different place as kids. Many of those old shows are just so painfully hokey now! (I think our parents found them hokey even then.)