2008
December 2008
And one must never forget Yma Sumac.
Yma Sumac
(13/9/1922 - 1/11/2008)
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November 2008
Well, the mayor got chucked out along with his twin brother, but we got Obama elected, so all’s right with the world - or is it? Dunno. Tell yer what though, there’s a big art exhibition going on in Stoke right now called Conjunction 08 ‘Fantastic Found and Fake’, which should be good, but where, oh, where, are the Transformationalists?
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October 2008
There seem to be many documentaries about America on telly at the moment, presumably because of the upcoming election. The best one I’ve seen recently is ‘Interstate 60’ which includes a visit to the Museum of Art Fraud. I can heartily recommend this segment to all budding transformationalists.
And now that we sit in wonder at the unfolding of Damien Hirst’s latest work, ‘Money, what is it really?’, may I direct your attention to Jungle Panda.
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September 2008
The transformationalist agent at the Evening Sentinel managed another strike on Wednesday, 3rd. September:
There have been similar attacks in the past, most notably “Vale hand Grew the keeper’s jersey”, but a close reading of the text below usually reveals the sense of the transformationalist headline. However, in this case, I must confess myself completely baffled. Maybe I am just getting old and the intricacies of English grammar are beginning to elude me but I cannot make head nor tail of the phrase: “Do the people of this city or push this city forward?” Who is asking such a question? Is it the big Mark Meredith, mayor of our great City, or his deadly nemesis on the other side of the door - little Mark Meredith? I suspect the transformationalist headline-writer has recruited another member to his cell, someone from the picture department, since the inset reveals the error:
“HAVE YOUR SAY: Current elected mayor Mark Meredith, left, and his predecessor Mike Wolfe, right.” Right indeed. Let us have our say. Is the implication that Mark Meredith is merely a clone of Mike Wolfe, or vice versa. Are we to understand that the transformationalist agenda now disapproves of the ‘elected mayor’ system of local government. “Do the people of this city or push this city forward?” Whatever it means, I fear for the future.
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August 2008
I came across this in the archives of The Stage, from October 4th 1906:
I was particularly taken by the wonderful line-up at the Grand Theatre, Hanley. It’s no longer there of course, it burnt down in 1932 and the Odeon - that’s the original Odeon - was built on the site. No more shall we see such delights as the Three Sisters Slater (banjoists and dancers), Sidney Dole (mystifier) and the Three Laurels (in a speciality on a ping-pong table); not forgetting Ernest Rees (a real comedian).
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July 2008
The ways of the ancient Guild of Namers of Barbers are increasingly strange:
June 2008
For a minute there I thought the Transformationalists had returned but it turned out to be vandals.
stoke on trent city council PAINTED UP !!!
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May 2008
My thoughts on the ‘Turner Document’ have been added to the Essays Section of the site.
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April 2008
Now here’s a curious thing. This turned up in the papers of Cyril Turner, one of the founder members of the Artists Action Group, who disappeared in 1986. I was doing some research on Turner for my film about Borges’ The Garden of Forking Paths and I came across this peculiar document which appears to be in Turner’s hand, written on the back of a computer printout, dated 24th September, 1982.
The document appears to be Turner’s notes on the four founders of the Transformationalists and a (very) brief chronology of the movement. At this point I have not had time to assess the full implications of the ‘Turner document’ but I will return to the subject next month.
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March 2008
Hey! Check this out!
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February 2008
Very nice article about Stoke-on-Trent by Margaret Drabble in The Guardian the other week. Although the warm feelings of community spirit it engendered were rather brutally offset by a visit to the neighbouring domain of the Staffordshire Moorlands - Tittesworth Reservoir to be precise. It must be home to a cult intent on bringing back the Great Old Ones if this effigy of the Great Race of Yith is anything to go by. Yog sothoth indeed!
January 2008
Happy Transformationalistic New Year.
First Roger of Stoke, now Maid Marian - what’s going on?
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