James Holden & The Animal Spirits

What am I looking at? 

James Holden & The Animal Spirits. We went to see them live at the Islington Academy.

Whats with the shit photo? 

You like? We took it with our brand new fancy phone.

Anyway, how was the show? 

It was phenomenal! Transcendental! This is the third time we've seen James Holden live and he keeps getting better. He has now expanded to a full band which transforms his  otherwordly modular explorations a playful ethnological heft. The crowd were in great form too, with energetic spastic dancing and caterwauling in time with the chirpy music. This altogether made an unforgettable show which was by far our favourite of the year.

Wow. High praise indeed. Anything else? 

Listen to this. It's the first track off the Animal Spirits album and epitomizes what they're about.

Great. Thanks. Bye. 

Gillman Barracks

What am I looking at? 

Whilst out in Singapore we took a day out to see some art. Gillman Barracks is a former army base which has been converted into a complex of over 20 galleries.

Looks picturesque. See anything good? 
We saw a lot of things. Our favourites included the 3D animated film by Sun Xun which was created by layering woodcuts. Being fellow scanner enthusiasts we enjoyed Angki Purbandono's lightbox photographic series of Japan. We were also lucky enough to see the launch of the Singapore gif art festival.

Anything else? 
Nino is currently going through photographs from our Singapore trip. You can see the highlights on our Nino Tumblr page.

Great. Thanks. Bye. 

MCM London Comic Con

What am I looking at? 
Nino Paulito went to Comic Con.

What was there to see? 
Props and costumes from the latest Thor Ragnorak movie, (we saw it last night. It's was alrite), a shit load of toys, a gaming section where you could play the new Mario and obviously loads of comic books. Cosplay outfits are what this event is about though.

Did you cosplay? 
Oh yes. We created ourselves a Skips costume. He is a giant immortal ape from our fav cartoon Regular Show. We also went along with friend who dressed up as a member of the Star Ship Enterprise.

What were the most memorable costumes? 
As expected there was an abundance of Harlequins, a spattering of Pennywise clowns, lazy lab coat n wig Ricks and awkward Weeaboos dressed as obscure anime characters. We ignored all of them. Some memorable outfits for us was toddler Chun Li, a trio of Meeseeks and a  tiny girl dressed as the Jigsaw Killer on a tricycle.

Any photos? 
We forgot our camera so weren't able to take any pics sadly. But there are some snaps of us dicking about around the exhibition floor. You can view these on the Nino Tumblr.

Great. Thanks. Bye. 

Ninoween 17k

What am I looking at? 
It's Halloween.

Ok. 
Today marks 7 years of Nino Paulito. To celebrate we had a party in our new house where everyone had to dress up. You can see pictures of our favourite outfits over on the Nino Tumblr. We also went to Comic Con but we'll share more on that next time.

Great. Thanks. Bye. 

The World of Anna Sui

What am I looking at? 

Nino Paulito went to see the Anna Sui retrospective at the Fashion and Textile museum. 

Who is Anna Sui? 

A New York fashion designer who established her label during the 80's. Sui gained a cult following based on people who admired her uniquely customized clothes. She always had the ambition to make clothing for rock stars and it wasn't long before celebs such as Madonna started wearing her designs.

What's Anna Sui's style? 

We'd describe it as collage of Hippie, Goth and Grunge, a touch of Art Deco patterning and even elements of Baroque in Sui's choice of ornate floral fabrics and intricate detailing. This combination gives her work a feel of dramatic regal glamour.

Sure. What was your favourite look? 

The jester / horse thing was amazing. Its like a super lush version of that inflatable ostrich costume.

Overall, did you enjoy the show? 
Yes, we loved it. Aside from the clothes it was also great to see the wider range of Anna Sui creations such as her cosmetic range, personal sketches, a library of scents and a gallery of press release illustrations. Some of the packaging and design on these items are as equally inventive as her clothing.

Great. Thanks. Bye. 

Singapore

What am I looking at? 
We are back from our Singapore trip.

How was it? 
Insane. Singapore is a beautiful city with fantastically vibrant landscapes, architecture and beaches. The food is wonderful, plentiful and incredibly cheap. We spent most of our time wandering around the streets sampling many different types of snacks and confectionary. On the flip side, the people of Singapore are loud, brash and intense. After two weeks there Nino Paulito felt physically drained.

What were your highlights? 
Haw Par Villa was our absolute favourite place, maybe one of our favourite places ever. It is a theme park inhabited with extremely decadent models depicting various Chinese folk tales. We plan to do a special blog about this so will tell more at a later date. We also took a brief jaunt to Malaysia midway through our trip and spent some time in Penang. Again, another beautiful city, although in a lot more rustic way. Penang also has a flourishing art scene and we were lucky enough to get a personal tour to meet and view the artists and their work. We plan to do a separate post on this too at another date.

Great. Thanks. Bye. 

La Paresse: Nino Paulito Vacation '17

What am I looking at? 
La Paresse by printmaker Felix Vallotton.

Why? 
Today marks the start of Nino Paulito's annual autumn vacation. We'll be using this time to relax, refresh and unwind. Pretty much everything this picture exemplifies.

Any other plans? 
Yes. We are moving to Tooting which according to Lonely Planet is one of the top 10 places to live in the world. After that we are taking a round trip to Singapore and Penang. We're especially excited about Singapore airport as everyone tells us it's quite a location itself. Also, all the food and randomly flavoured snacks.

Anything else? 
Nino Paulito is now on Instagram.

Great. Thanks. Bye. 

Festival of Unfinished Things

What am I looking at?
The Fish King & his Mermaid creation.

Please explain.

Nino Paulito recently performed in the Festival of Unfinished Things, a cabaret-style event created by Will Tribble and Ellie Scanlan. An unfinished thing could be in any format including, music, an art, a film, a recipe, whatever... Each contributor presented their unfinished idea to a live audience who would then provide feedback/ comments which would hopefully help them complete the work.

What did you propose?

We arrived with our unfinished puppet Mermaid and asked the audience to draw some ideas on how to complete her. We then picked out our favourite idea which was Frogmaid with a Beenus and sculpted it live on the day.

Wonderful.

There were some other brilliant ideas. Our actual favourite was a shell house that the mermaid could crawl back into. We only had a very limited time to complete the work so went with the simplest idea. We'll probably explore this again in the future though.

Great. Thanks. Bye. 

Robots @ The Science Museum

What am I Looking at? 
Robots at the Science Museum. This exhibition documented the history of robotics from the clockwork automatons to the modern inventions containing super advanced AI.

What were the most interesting robots? 
The Milo robot by RoboKind was designed to help autistic children recognise different emotions. It could accurately read, mimic and respond to your facial expressions. Also impressive was the iit robot designed by iCub. This robot that could learn manual movements by watching a demonstration then repeating the action afterwards.

What were Nino's favourite robots? 
The famous movie robots were the most intriguing for us. This included the T800 endoskeleton and the Maschinenmensch from Fritz Lang's Metropolis. These are the archetype robots of our childhood. Seeing them live produced some confusingly profound emotions. 

Should we be concerned about super advanced AI taking over? 
We put this question to a robot at the exhibition and it assured us that there is nothing to worry about now. Thinking again, it did say so with an antagonistic and condescending tone. Those vacant eyes didn't fill us with much confidence either...

Great. Thanks. Bye. 

Kingston Karnival 2017

What am I looking at? 
It's Kingston Carnival!

Jamaica? 
Surrey...

Hmm. No wonder it looks so lame. 
We missed the real Notting Hill Carnival last week so had to make do with this suburban alternative. It wasn't all that bad actually. Was really nice to see Kingston's diverse inhabitants get together to parade and share their many cultural customs.

Such as? 
We had flamboyant costumes, g-strings, Samba and jiggling cellulite from Brazil. The Chinese did a lovely ribbon dance. There was live music from Senegal on the main stage. Bhangra and Bollywood style entertainment from the Punjabi quarter. Reggae soundsystems from the Jamaicans. Our favourites though were the Fortaleza dancers of Kingston's Bolivian community group. Their costumes were fantastic. Also, food. So much tasty food.

Still sounds shit. 
See more of our photographic highlights on the Nino Tumblr page.

Great. Thanks. Bye. 

Jurassic Fern

What am I looking at? 
One of Nino Paulito's many dying house plants.

What is it? 
A fern on the back of a Brontosaurus.

Groovy. 
Yes.

Great. Thanks. Bye. 

The End: Secret Garden Party 17

What am I looking at? 
The explosive fireworks finale at Secret Garden Party 2017. The burnt a bloody house down.

Sounds exciting. Did the rest of the festival live up to the hype? 
Oh yes. This year's theme was fame and celebrity which attendees interpreted as coat everything in glitter.

Cool. What were the highlights? 
Sunbathing down by The Lido and casually gazing at the parade of beautiful bodies dipping in the water. DJ Pete Leung matched the blissful mood perfectly with his mix of Balearic beats.
The Small Worlds tent (100% solar powered), was a stimulating place to be after dusk. You can sit back by the bonfire, smoke / sip your choice of herbals whilst Folk and Reggae bands played live until sunrise.
We dressed as wrestlers and had our eyeballs licked by a random woman.
The was a night of Disney songs where the entire crowd sang along to classics such as Under The Sea and Hakuna Matata.
When it rained we enjoyed some Science talks at the Guerilla Science tent.

Sounds pretty full on. Would you go again? 
This was our second time going to Secret Garden Party. Sadly this will be the last one ever :-(

Great. Thanks. Bye. 

House Hunt IV

Nino Paulito are moving home, again.
Hoping to find a place with lots of room
and a pretty views of the city.
Wish us luck...

Thanks. Bye.

Fug

Nino Paulito is currently in recovery mode.

We had a pretty hardcore weekend, (we will tell you about it next time), which has left our brains, body and hearts in a mush.

In the meantime sit back and enjoy this mesmerizing video clip from the 80's. You can join in too if you're feeling energetic.

Thanks. Bye

Dead Letter Drop

What am I looking at?
Some cryptic prose from The Postmaster.

Eh?
Read here, here and her for some back story.

Oh, that's nice. So what is is this all about then?
You tell we. Seems quite emotional though,

judging by the few words we can make out.

Also enclosed in our package was a postcard

with quite an inspirational message. We might

stick that on our fridge.

Hmmm. So any ideas for a response?
Yes but we are not telling.

Great. Thanks. Bye. 

Gorillaz Present: Demon Dayz @ Margate Dreamland

What am I looking at? 
Margate Dreamland. We went there a few weeks ago for the Gorillaz come back show.

Was it any good? 
It was a great day. We rode on every ride except the Roller Coaster, (two hour queue, no thanks). The musical acts were pretty good too. For us Danny Brown stole the show. Kali Uchis was G O R G E O U S. Gorillaz were alright too. Their recent material is pretty 'meh' but performed live sounded alright. They did play some older stuff including Nino Paulito favourites Tomorrow Comes Today and Dirty Harry. Each performance was accompanied by some fantastic visuals which made an amazing spectacle. Overall 9 /10

When did you start giving scores? 
We don't.

Great. Thanks. Bye. 

The Watchers

What am I looking at? 
Neil Spring's The Watchers.

Whassit about? 
Well... it starts off as a straight forward alien conspiracy thriller before morphing into a horror / occult nightmare.

Okay? 
There are reports of UFOs and aliens showing up in Wales doing terrible things to the locals and their children. It's mostly dismissed as a hoax until a government official turns up to investigate after receiving some classified documents hinting at military involvement. Could these peculiar happenings be some sort of unofficial weapon testing? As the story develops the protagonist starts to experience some of these peculiar happenings first hand. At first he is sceptical but begins to question his own sanity the more these occurrences happen. Are these events triggering some repressed memory or is he just becoming increasingly delusional? Who are these strange men in black suits? Military officials, aliens in disguise or could some other covert force be at hand?

Sounds a bit epic. 
It is and gets increasingly so as the tale goes on. By the the end we were completely wiped out.

Cool. So it's good then? 
Yes.

Great. Thanks. Bye. 

The Powerpuff Girls!

What am I looking at? 
A historic moment. Nino Paulito with the Powerpuff Girls!

What is the Powerpuff Girls? 
One of our favourite cartoons ever. Bubbles, Blossom and Buttercup are preteen superheroes, made by accident, who fight crime in the city of Townsville. They're from that golden era of Cartoon Network animation which also included Cow & Chicken, Jonny Bravo and Dextor's Laboratory.

What makes the Powerpuff Girls cartoon so special? 
What was most impressive about the Powerpuff Girls is the way it graciously subverted all the usual superhero conventions. It isn't boorish and predictable like it's modern counterpart either. Check out this classic episode for proof. It also has the most peculiar assortment of villains of any superhero series too. Our favourites include the maniacal Mojo Jojo and 'HIM'. The soundtrack is pretty awesome too.

Great. Thanks. Bye. 

Man Of 1000 Farces

What am I looking at? 
The man of 1000 Farces.

Who is this man of 100 farces? 
He is a clown, magician, mime, daredevil, performance dude. His act is based on a series of circus paintings. Each painting depicts a fictional character which is brought to life in his live show.

Alright. Can you describe some of these personas? 
Well, there is the coke head Spanish guy, a knife wielding punk and a stripper to name a few.

I see. Was he any good though? 
Yes. We loved the way he'd pretend to be really shit by messing tricks up or simply revealing how they were done, but then would surprise the audience with something ridiculously astonishing.

For example? 
There was one bit where he was this wiggly fingered Nosferatu type character who did shadow puppets. At first he just randomly waggled his fingers in front of a lamp but gradually the shapes morphed into some of the best finger puppetry we've ever seen. He did stuff like cowboys riding horses, a boxing match and even recreated the famous Dirty Dancing lift sequence.

Mind blowing. Anything else? 
Nah.

Great. Thanks. Bye. 

Hilda & The Troll

What am I looking at? 
Hilda & The Troll by Luke Pearson.

Who is Hilda the troll? 
Hilda is not the troll. She meets a troll and discovers they are not quite what they seem.

What the hell does that mean? 
Telling you would give it all away.

Don't care. 
Hilda is an explorer who likes to draw her discoveries. One day she sees a rock shaped like a troll so puts a bell around its neck. The rock turns out to be an actual troll and follows her home so she can take the bell back.

Sounds logical. Why put a bell on a rock? 
Troll lore 101: trolls don't like the sound of bells. It's a form of torture to them.

That's nice. So is this book any good then? 
If you are an explorer with a healthily vivid imagination, you will enjoy this.

Alrite. Anything else? 
Hilda and The Troll is going to be made into a Netflix series. Read all the books now before it starts and be one of those annoying people who spoil all the surprises.

Great. Thanks. Bye. 

Sarah & Duck's Big Top Birthday

What am I looking at? 
It's the Sarah and Duck live stage show.

Isn't that a baby program? 
So what? It was Nino's birthday last week and Sarah and Duck is what we wanted to see.

Fair enough. Was it any good? 
It took some effort to tune out the screaming babies and sticky faced toddlers but despite that we had a lot of fun. The puppets were amazing and the show featured a great range of the cast including our faves Moon and the Ribbon Sisters.

Anything else? 
For those who have never seen Sarah and Duck we recommend starting with the Cake Bake episode which introduces the Andy Kaufman-esque Cake character. The start is pretty anodyne pre school stuff then about half way in takes a dramatic turn into the surreal. It's a pretty good introduction to way things generally work in Sarah and Duck world.

Great. Thanks. Bye. 

XXXII

We is getting old.

Jazzing Socks

 What am I looking at? 

 What are you doing? 

 Why are you doing this? 

Just received our first pair of subscription socks from Henry J Socks.

 Fantastic. Why do you have a monthly sock subscription? 

Great. Thanks. Bye. 

na zdrowie!

Nino Paulito would like to congratulate the newly married couple Seamus & Ola. We wish you many great years of friendship and happiness!

Jurassic Kingdom

What the fuck am I looking at? 
The miracle of birth my friend.

What the fuck am I looking at? 
We went to Jurassic Kingdom last week. It was a exhibition of over 30 animatronic dinosaurs installed across Osterley Park. The experience was like visiting real life Jurassic Park, with extremely disappointing SFX. Was fun watching kids shit themselves though.

What the fuck am I looking at? 
Well, I see you are quite clearly impressed. Check out the Nino Tumblr page where you can witness even more improbable delights such as the feasting Raptor and rideable mini T Rex.

What the fuck am I looking at? 
The London show has ended but travels to Birmingham on the 20th May. We recommend checking it out for yourself.

 ... 
Also! Did you hear the news? Some people have just uncovered real life dinosaur eggs in China.

Great. Thanks. Goodbye. 

Clown & Out

What am I looking at? 
Clown & Out. The final hole on Junk Yard Golf's clown course.

What is Junkyard Golf? 
It's an ostentatious mini golf course set within an old brewery. It has 4 themed mini golf courses each with impressively designed sets. Our favourite hole was the one where you had to fire the ball from a cannon and avoid hitting the target girl strapped on the opposite side. The venue also has a bar and plays funky music.

Sounds wank. How did you do? 
Well, when we took this photo we were 5 shots ahead of everyone so all we had to do was meet par to win the game. Sadly, we properly fucked up ended up finishing last.

Hmmm... 
We did have a second round on the Hollywood themed course. We were doing well again, scoring 2 hole in ones before we were forced to abruptly end our game because of a domestic matter.

Full of excuses today aren't you? 
No.

So why is this being posted now and not last Sunday? 
...

Great. Thanks. Bye. 

Pig Walking

What am I looking at? 
So... the other week we took a trip to Brighton. By the beach we spotted a man walking his pet pig.

And then? 
Thats it. There was a man by the beach walking a pig. A pig.

Great. Thanks. Goodbye. 

Adventures In Moomin Land*

What am I looking at? 

A poster.

You clever. What is it a poster for? 

Moomin’s Land.

What is Moomin’s Land? 

An exhibition at the Southbank about the Moomins.

What is a Moomin? 

Little white things with big noses. They go on adventures on islands in Moomin Land.

Who made the Moomins? 

A woman from Finland. She created them during WW2. She made them about her feelings during that time.

Do you like the Moomins? 

Yes. the stories are interesting and have real meanings. The Moomins are really loving characters.

Deep. Did you enjoy the exhibition? 

The decorations were really cool. I liked the jungle bit best because it was really detailed with trees and vines. You had to crawl and swerve between them to get through. That was fun. I also liked the Moomin house bit. There was a bedroom where you could peek through the door and hear them sleep. 

Ok. Anything else? 

The guide through the exhibition was also very nice. She made me carry the lantern and open all the secret doors.

Great. Thanks. Bye. 

Pornstars!

What am I looking at? 
A Pornstar Martini.

Why is it on fire? 
This Pornstar was from the Bohemia Grand Cafe in Brighton which we visited over the weekend. All cocktails from their showstopper menu come served with a sideshow of drama.

Alright. What else is good? 
If you like it theatrical, the Espresso Martini comes served in a smoking cafetiere. The Champagne Supernova looks and tastes like liquid pearls. Our personal favourite though was the Penicillin. Lemon, ginger, burnt peel and a generous lashing of scotch. Heaven.

Great. Thanks. Bye. 

Friday 17th MArch

What am I... 
It doesn't matter what you're looking at. It's Friday and we're drunk.

Erm. 
We've made drunk posts before. This time is special though because we've been up all night listening to Reggae.

Ok. What exactly have you been listening to? 
Barry Biggs, Carroll Thompson, Boris Gardiner...

... 
That Boris Gardiner song has more of a Soul/ RNB vibe but you get the point. Emotions.

... 
We just just watched Moonlight for the second or third time. The soundtrack is amazing. Every Nigger Is A Star is in the introduction. It's probably what lead us into this theme of conversation. We'd rate the movie a 6.5 -7 out of 10. The first third is great but after that it gets a bit to vague in parts. There are some scenes which are incredibly heart breaking though. Especially the end reunion at the cafe. Maaan, we could've cried.

Ok. Anything else? 
Today is Sunday. We are hungover. We've just gobbled a dirty fry up. Later we'll go to the cinema to watch Get Out.

Great. Thanks. Bye. 

Charlotte Day Wilson

What Am I Looking At? 
Charlotte Day Wilson.

Who Is She? 
A singer from Toronto. We saw her
live this week.

She any good? 
She was amazing. The Waiting Room
was the perfect venue to watch her. It's
a really intimate space so you can get
right up close and appreciate the
delicate smokey tones of her vocals.

Anything else? 
In Your Eyes is of our favourite songs
by Charlotte Day Wilson. She played a
stripped down acoustic version on the
day which we loved. This song actually
features on the recent
BADBADNOTGOOD album, a band we
also love and will also see perform live
later this year too.

Great. Thanks. Bye. 

Blanca Li: Robot

What am I looking at? 
A dancing robot.

Carry on... 
We went to the Barbican to watch the latest production by the Blanca Li Dance Company.
Their current show is called Robot and combines modern dance, mime and performance art with robots.

Sounds a bit wank to me. 
The show was pleasantly accessible, infused with playful energy and the stage design was amazingly shoddy, (meant in the best possible way). The dancers too. So supple, so toned...

I see. You just spent the whole time perving then? 
No, no.

Don't believe you. 
Anyway, the show became especially exciting after the cute lil NAO robots were introduced. It was quite adorable the way they'd join the choreographed dance and self right themselves if they fell down during the performance.

Sure. Anything else? 
The music. It was played by an autonomous band of frankenstein machines made of random bits like fan blades and hoover engines. Their percussive style reminded us a lot of RAMZi. We loved it.

Great. Thanks. Bye. 

Trip To The Zoo

What Am I Looking At? 
We went to London Zoo.

Hmm. Can't say I agree with the zoo. 
Why? Whats not to love?

Mentally tortured animals frustratedly pacing about in circles all day. Toddlers running rampant in the aquarium. The loathsome sound of women cooing at baby chimps. The pungency of hippo shit... 
We experienced all those magical things and then some. It was wonderful.

Heartless bastards. Anything else to add? 
We took a couple snaps of things and made gifs. You can see them here on the Nino Tumblr.

Great. Thanks. Bye. 

Imaginary Friends / Imagine Children's Festival

What am I looking at? 
Don't know really. We caught a quick glimpse of it as it was being packed away.

That's helpful. Well, what can you tell me about this thing? 
It's a sculpture created by artist Jasmin Anoschkin which is currently on display at the Southbank Centre as part of the Imagine Festival.

Ok. What is the Imagine Festival? 
It's a series of arts events for children. Contributors are usually creators of popular children's books. Past contributors include Jon Klassen who had a live stage show of his book 'I Want My Hat Back' which Nino Paulito attended and enjoyed very much. The highlight of this year's show is the Adventures In Moomin Land interactive exhibition. Nino Paulito will be attending that exhibit in the near future.

Wonderful. Anything else? 
Yes. Staying on the theme of Children's books, Nino Paulito was sad to hear author Dick Bruner died this week. He was famous for his Miffy the Rabbit stories which we have referenced in our work on numerous occasions. We'd like to share this inspirational video of Bruner at work in his studio.

Great. Thanks. Bye. 

.

Nino Inamorato

What am I looking at? 
Happy Valentines Day!

Ugh... 
Don't act like you don't love it.

I don't. 
Whatever. Here's a  special
Valentines-y Mixtape from us.
Play it loud while you get
sexy tonight alone or with
some other.

x

Great. Thanks. Bye. 

p r e v e n g e

What am I looking at? 

P R E V E N G E. We went to a preview screening of the film last week which also included a Q&A with director Alice Lowe. Its a super dark horror/ comedy/ thriller/ mystery about a heavily pregnant woman who is convinced her prenatal child is encouraging her to murder people.

Hmmm, sounds lovely. 
It is fantastic. Go and see it. It is fantastic.

Alright. Are there any other films I can liken this too? 
Well, it's a bit like Sightseers but stranger. So if you liked that, you'll like this.

Okay. Anything else? 
Alice Lowe was actually 7 months pregnant when she made this film.

Great. Thanks. Bye. 

"The Maid of Orléans"

What am I looking at? 
A photo of...

...wait. Is this some shitty filler material because you've already run out of ideas to report? 
No. We have other things to tell you about but but they're not quite ready yet. So for now, we can talk about this.

Sure. Carry on... 
Well, remember at the beginning of the year we promised that we'd post more from our famed found photos collection? Well this is part of that series.

I remember. Tell me what makes this particular photo so special? 
There is a lot we find interesting about it. Firstly, we can't really tell when this photo was taken and also have some difficulty deciding what its all about. Does it depict some kind of folksy nostalgia or is it just a random idiot kid playing dress up in the garden? What is the purpose of that chapel/ tent thing? Why does the kid have a sword? Is she Joan of Arc? What is she pointing at?

I see. It does provoke lots of questions. 
Yes.

Do you have anything else to add? 
No.

Ok. Thanks. Bye. 

Year of The Fire Cock

What am I looking at? 
A cock.

Lovely. Why? 
Today Yesterday was the start of the Chinese New Year. 2017 is the year of the Rooster. Traits of the Rooster include being highly sociable, having an immaculate taste in fashion and a somewhat frank attitude to life.

I see. Are there any particular things you do to mark the occasion? 
You are encouraged to drink lots of booze and eat sweet treats as this will bring 'sweet' fortune for the new year. Also, when greeting elders you must offer them a gift of two oranges. In return they reward you with a lil red packet filled with money.

Cash for oranges? Sounds like a rough deal. 
In Chinese the word for orange is very similar to the word for wealth. The bright colour of the fruit is also symbolic of gold. This exchange is a way of sharing/ wishing each other happiness and prosperity for the year ahead.

Fascinating. Anything else? 
Yeah. The card above was designed by sisters Melissa and Debra Choong. It rocks!

Great. Thanks. Bye. 

The Fury

What am I looking at? 
A book.

Please elaborate. 
It's about a teenage boy and a teenage girl who discover they have psychic powers. There is a shady government agency trying to capture so their powers can be exploited, likely for evil reasons. Underlying it all are themes of puberty/ sexual confusion, teenage angst and psychological trauma.

Is it any good? 
I somewhat liked it. I particularly enjoyed the scenes where the girl Gillian makes people bleed from their pores and eyeballs.

Ok. 
There is a movie version by Brian De Palma who also directed Carrie. I liked that film but not the film version of The Fury. Despite having a great cast including a grizzled Kirk 'Spartacus' Douglas and John Cassavetes as bad guy Childermass, I found watching the film quite boring. Its also missing a few key character such as the hippy doctor Gwyn and the boy's trans carer Granny Sig who together with Childermass has some of the best lines in the book.

Great. Thanks. Bye. 

Rodeo Wallpaper

What am I looking at? 
Rodeo wallpaper.

Why is this interesting? 
We went to a pub in Wales or somewhere some time ago. The pub itself was pretty shit but we thought the decorations especially the wallpaper was pretty swank.

Ok... 
As a kid didn't you always want to decorate your room with cool cowboy stuff?

No. 
We neither. We were fans of Micky Mouse. Had tons of that stuff on our walls. Gave us nightmares some days.

Fascinating. Anything else you'd like to add? 
Here is a cool song about cowboys (and Indians). It's by Gonjasufi.

Great. Thanks. Bye. 

Bath Pug

What am I looking at? 
A pug in a dinghy in a bath.

Ok. Why? 
Some friends gave this to us as a Christmas present. This is a video of us testing it out for the first time.

Great. Did you get any other gifts? 
Yes. A bike repair kit and a pair of glowing testicles.

Is there any footage of the glowing testicles? 
Yes. but we'd prefer to keep them private.

I think that would be wise. Bye. 

Nino Paulito 17k

So what am I looking at? 
A new Nino Paulito announcement thing.

Why? 
Nino Paulito has decided to make a return to Blogger. We are going to regularly write about things we are up to. This might be art stuff we are currently working on, events we have attended, musics we is listening to, stuff we bought etc...

Standard blog fare then? 
Yes.
Sort of. 
Maybe.

Whats the photo? 
We used to do a thing with old found photos of odd looking kids. We are bringing that back.

Fantastic. Anything else you'd like to add? 
Nino Paulito is also on Tumblr and Giphy. Follow our other stuff there.

Ok. Thanks.