::: XRAY STUDIOS :::

I shot the Sheriff.

noreply@blogger.com (Fox) — Fri, 11 May 2012 01:00:00 +0000

I have been in animated music video overdrive of late, with a number of projects nearing completion. Here's a few stills from something I'm working on for Melbourne band Sheriff who I came into contact with when they wanted to do a show with my band The Neptune Power Federation. How could they not be great fellows?! It is a ripping song with lyrics that evoke elements of Frankenstein, Soviet war propaganda and a heart wrenching love story.

Tanks for the memories.

noreply@blogger.com (Fox) — Fri, 11 May 2012 00:50:00 +0000

Another Ozcomics draw off challenge, this time featuring perhaps my favourite comic book hero of all time, Tank Girl. Jamie Hewlett is so boss.

The only way is up.

noreply@blogger.com (Fox) — Mon, 16 Apr 2012 13:19:00 +0000

It's a new Frenzal Rhomb tshirt design! Joining this notorious cast of tastefully conceived garments comes a new number cashing in on the popularity of One Direction whatever the hell that is. I'm pretty sure my concept of what boy bands wear is somewhat outdated but if you think I'm going to do research and watch a One Direction video when I already vaguely remember what New Kids On The Block looked like you are sadly mistaken. Anyway, it has funny vomit it in which is all Frenzal care about.

Quilt for speed.

noreply@blogger.com (Fox) — Mon, 16 Apr 2012 13:11:00 +0000

This week's Ozcomics challenge was little known crime fighter Batman. I thought he needed a more recognisable star to help sell the piece, so he was paired with the infamous household name Crazy Quilt.

My son, Batman fan and aspiring comic book artist Jed also submitted a drawing which has since obliterated mine for likes in the Facebook based contest. I have thrown his pencils in the bin and grounded him for 30 years. Seriously though, this is pretty killer...

I'm an oil man...

noreply@blogger.com (Fox) — Tue, 03 Apr 2012 12:27:00 +0000

The Dukes of Buzzard - My first foray into the world of oil painting is done. It's a bit rough and not as awesome as I imagined in my head but ok as a first attempt. At least "it aint no oil painting" is a criticism that can't be levelled at it. Oil paints do rule by the way, and I intend to get better at using them. Check out the step by step progress pics after the jump...

Is that a Gamorrean battle truncheon in your pocket...

noreply@blogger.com (Fox) — Sat, 31 Mar 2012 01:20:00 +0000

Another Ozcomics drawing challenge, this time requiring the creation of Star Wars comic book cover. The nerd bait proved suitably attractive and I went for it.

It's Alive.

noreply@blogger.com (Fox) — Fri, 24 Feb 2012 22:29:00 +0000

Frankenstein themed Ozcomics weekly draw off challenge. I must have drawn variations of this scene a zillion times. I have dug one out of the archives from 1998 below...

Uncage the Cage!

noreply@blogger.com (Fox) — Fri, 24 Feb 2012 22:19:00 +0000

Ozcomics weekly drawing challenge - Ghost Rider.

He is the law.

noreply@blogger.com (Fox) — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 01:22:00 +0000

My entry in last weeks Ozcomics drawing challenge. I went with a Hollywood adaptation dissing theme for my Judge Dredd entry.

Holidays out of the sun.

noreply@blogger.com (Fox) — Sat, 21 Jan 2012 15:16:00 +0000

I have just returned from a very relaxing holiday that included pursuits such as swimming, tennis and general healthy outdoor living. Of course as a dedicated indoorsman I still found time to include a Community DVD marathon and a bit of face time with my newly acquired iPad. Specifically seeing if it could operate as a decent drawing tablet with the help of an AluPen I picked up cheaply off the ebays and an app called Sketch Club. My choice to use Sketch Club was pretty arbitrary as there are a lot of decent looking drawing apps out there but it was cheap [$3 on the US iTunes store], has a nice range of brushes and most impressively includes layers with blend modes, photoshop style. It also has a cool feature that allows you to create a time lapse video of your illustration being created [I love watching other artists do these] and quite a thriving online community that you can upload and display your art with fellow digital scribblers.

It all worked pretty well. The obvious downside is that iPads are not pressure sensitive like proper drawing tablets which is a major bummer for truly natural looking illustration purposes. To compensate some of the Sketch Club brushes have some nice organic variations in line width which can offer neat results. I also had a recurring problem with my resting palm making the iPad think I was making a double finger pinch which rotated the canvas [Another cool feature of the app when summoned intentionally]. I ended up working around this by zooming into the area I was working on close enough that I didn't need my palm resting on the sensor glass to reach it.

Overall it was pretty cool. It's not nearly as godlike as my Waccom tablet but you can't beat the portability and I kind of like being forced to work within limitations and seeing what I can come up with.

Speaking of which, here's what I came up with including a couple of progress videos to "illuminate my process" as one would say if one were an annoying art wanker.

Once you go Bat you'll never go back.

noreply@blogger.com (Fox) — Tue, 10 Jan 2012 13:48:00 +0000

This week's Ozcomics challenge theme is Comic book romance. I've gone a little outside the box here [not as outside as my original homoerotic Batman and Robin concept] and honed in on Adam West's mighty 60s tv batman as opposed to the comic book version. Specifically the game changing moment when Bat was charmed by a groovy chick onto the dance floor where he lit rip with some almighty dance moves. Let us revisit this...

I hope Christopher Nolan somehow works this scene into The Dark Night Rises. I'm sure Christian Bale would be up for it - he seems to enjoy a laugh.

Anyway, here is my pictorial tribute to this great moment in Batman lore.

Metal Elf.

noreply@blogger.com (Fox) — Tue, 10 Jan 2012 13:35:00 +0000

Here's an illustration created for no better reason than to imagine an Elf listening to Elf's self titled album whilst making use of the hallucinogenic qualities of Elfland's bountiful supply of magic mushrooms.

Crazy like a bat.

noreply@blogger.com (Fox) — Sun, 01 Jan 2012 13:16:00 +0000

Each week Ozcomics has a cool super hero themed draw off - If there is a better use of my time I'd like to hear about it. My first entry is for this week's theme of Batgirl...

What kept my barge bouyant in 2011...

noreply@blogger.com (Fox) — Sat, 31 Dec 2011 10:25:00 +0000

So 2011 has seen a bunch of stuff happen and a certain percentage of it has been rather good. Here's what I deemed raddest subject to my own particular evaluation matrixes, neatly ordered in the popular "list" format, haute tension style.

MY FAVOURITE FILMS OF 2011

10. RISE OF THE PLANET OF THE APES

There was a bit of a gulf between the best and worst of the newest Apes instalment. The first half got bogged down way too much in the human's stories and their so called feelings which I was supposed to care about more than apes smashing their way out of ape jail and going all Kong on humankind's arse. Once it focused more on Caesar and his simian colleagues I was on board in a big way. The ape effects were awesome and the final showdown on the bridge evoked the radness of Conquest of the Planet of The Apes.

9. HOBO WITH A SHOTGUN

I happened to rewatch the first two Robo Cop films around the time of seeing this which served as a great comparison piece to evaluate how well Hobo nailed the whole 80s exploitation B movie genre. I'm here to congratulate it on achieving full marks. The look, the score and the editing were all bang on. There was no self conscious winking at the camera/audience, just unrepentant violence and bone headed vigilantism just like it was written in the video nasty scrolls. Crazy and entertaining.

8. KUNG FU PANDA 2

Being a parent of 2 young kids and an animation fan means I'm some kind of authority by default on contemporary animated films. I see pretty much every one multiple times, can assess them on a technical level, how much they bother engaging me and other adults and what notes they strike with kids. The thing that stands out at the moment is we're living in a golden age for these sorts of films. It wasn't that long ago there were heaps of shoddy low budget, minimum effort projects lurching along the assembly line [Hows it going Barnyard?]. These days it's genuinely difficult to discern the best with the sheer volume of high quality stuff being produced and KF2 is another fine example. Gorgeous animation and design, engaging story, attention to detail and rollicking action. A worthy follow up to the original and something I will happily re-watch.

7. RANGO
Whilst it's awesome to be living in the aforementioned golden age of animated kids films, it's even better that offbeat stuff like this is getting made and finding an audience. The character and set design in this film was so in my wheel house the wheels needed to be moved outside to make room. I loved the bizarre and often dark plot and the brief appearances of the beautifully realised cartoon Hunter S Thompson and Clint Eastwood.

6. SOURCE CODE
Whilst not as esoteric and mesmerising as his first film Moon, Duncan Jones's follow up was still a very solid chunk of mainstream sci fi goodness. The 12 Monkeys parallels were a little hard to ignore, but ignore them I did and found it all pretty damn entertaining, right down to Jeffrey Wright's quirky rendering of the pronunciation of the title phrase.

5. DRIVE
This instantly falls into the category many of my fave films sit in - Pulpy, familiar sounding stories elevated by a director imprinting them with their own distinctive kick arse style. Drive was filled with cool little touches that I was still thinking of days after seeing it. It's the polar opposite of the feeling that something was created by a committee trying to copy a previously successful film/genre. Albert Brooks is great as the Jewish mob boss and provides an extra layer of fabness by making possible the shutting of ones eyes and imagining the film's villain is Hank Scorpio.

4. SUPER 8
This wowed me way more than I expected as I'd constantly been non plussed by JJ Abrams gear previously despite trying and expecting to like it. Super 8 on the other hand hit all the right notes on my cinema bugle. Sure I'm probably in the perfect demographic to get sucked in by the 80s Spielbergian nostalgia [and I was] but the central story was engaging and fast moving and the characters [especially the kids] funny and likeable. Almost the polar opposite of how Cloverfield's twenty something protagonists were meh and boring. I also love a good film within a film and The Case was a total hoot.

3. ATTACK THE BLOCK
A tight, fast paced action flick with some greatly appreciated effort put into creating interesting, multi dimensional and believable protagonists [the lack of which is the most common and annoying fault with action films imo]. I also really liked the creature designs which is important in this kind of film and Nick Frost's involvement didn't hurt either.

2. BRIDESMAIDS
I have been quietly championing Kristen Wiig for a while now, and though still not a household name in Australia I'm happy this film has ensured she probably will be in the next few years. The cesspit of laziness that is the romantic comedy genre should hang it's head in shame [if a cesspit has a head, or shame] upon seeing how a film like this can mine so much comedy from situations and characters that usually make sane movie goers kick their eyes in the balls. The jewellery shop scene between Kristen and the school girl was killer and yet another example of how genuinely funny the word "cunt" can be if used properly in a comedic setting [see also Shaun Of The Dead and Hot Fuzz - Edgar Wright is rude].

1. BELLFLOWER
What a whacked out, artfully blurred, dirty lensed ball of crazy this was! These kind of mumble-core, plot-lite indie films can often find cause me to quickly lose interest and/or get angry but this had me riveted till the final shot. It was basically a twisted twenty something relationship / coming of age drama that somehow sandwiched in some serious Mad Max festishism which as a serious Mad Max fetishist, had my undivided attention. Seeing it was the most unique, giddy and cuckoo movie experience I've had in a while.

Films I haven't had a chance to see yet that I suspect may have challenged the top 10:

Hugo, The Adventures of Tin Tin, Martha Macey May Marlene, Shame.

Films I saw that were the opposite of my favourites: Your Highness, Cars 2, The Adjustment Bureau.

MY FAVOURITE ALBUMS OF 2011
The criteria for the list below is simply albums that I discovered and got into during 2011. Some came out this year, some are over ten years old. That's how this category rolls.

10. JJ SPEEDBALL: SOUTHSIDE WORLDWIDE
In a fairer world JJ Speedball would this year have swooped onto the ARIAs stage via a Bon Jovi Bungee rope to accept his lifetime Rock and Roll achievement award. Sadly, the world is unfair and, yet perhaps it is this very unfairness that is necessary to help generate the cherry fuelled gold that JJ does. Maybe a critically loved, multi award winning Speedball would now be releasing jazz and spoken word records instead of continuing to keep it real, overheating select Brisbane hotels and generally saving rock and roll.

Primo Track: Very Cherry Street [nepotism alert - I made this video]

9. BORIS: HEAVY ROCKS

Hey another of my fave albums of the year actually released in 2011 - I totally have my finger on the pulse! Ha ha - but seriously whilst Boris did release an album called Heavy Rocks in 2011, they also released an album of that name in 2002 which is the one I'm talking about [Though both are great]. Yes sir we're in experimental art rock lets have two albums of the same name territory! A little outside my comfort zone but a zone I enjoyed a lot regardless. Boris toy with genres as casually and easily as I do similes and have dabbled in everything from noise, doom and J pop, though this album is pretty much balls to the wall stoner rock. The production is an unrelenting series of punches in the face and has me primed for their tour Australian tour in 2012. Bring it on!

Primo Track: Rattlesnake

8. ELECTRIC EEL: SHOCK BEAT ME
Sticking with the theme of Japan based rock supremacy, I only stumbled upon Electric Eel Shock this year and the fact it took me this long to discover them led to a forehead slap that could be heard in Tokyo.. which is where the band are from!! [No idea why the NME don't return my calls]. The band joyfully straddle the line between old school metal, punk and garage with the lack of self consciousness that only Japanese bands can effortlessly pull off. Did I mention the drummer plays with 4 sticks in the nude? Well he totally does.

Primo track: Bastard [Live version below possesses extra fabness]

7. SWEATMASTER: SHARP CUT
I got into these guys via Last FM's recommendation matrix. They are a tight three piece with a frisky, stabby style [Hello? NME?] similar to the The Hives. If that wasn't enough to win my favour they have a song called I am a Demon and I Love Rock and Roll. So there's that too.

Primo track: I Am a Demon and I Love Rock and Roll

6. BABY MACHINE: APPETITE FOR REPRODUCTION
Being a riot grrrl isn't the coolest thing anymore. Especially when you are also a forty year old dude driving kids to school in a white station wagon. Yet I still proudly sport my docs and flannos and flog L7 albums all the time so just try and tell me I'm not. Thus it was with great delight that I discovered this Wollongong 3 piece who delivered some awesomely hostile 3 piece fuzzed up chick rock directly to my wheel house. Lots of catchy, angry stuff and the incredible achievement of creating a lyric that makes the F6 to Wollongong sound cool [I've driven down it and it is not].

Primo track: Wollongong

5. THE JIM JONES REVUE: BURNING YOUR HOUSE DOWN
Getting hit with TJJR's manic overdriven craziness makes me imagine and envy how 50s kids felt like when Little Richard and Jerry Lee Lewis were blowing their minds back at rock and roll ground zero. Whilst not quite as out of the blue, The Revue's current day emergence still has an element of that danger and other worldliness and therefore provide the only substitute that will come close. I'm seeing them in a weeks time at The Annandale and expecting awesomeness.

Primo track: High Horse

4. DIAMONDSNAKE: ??
Not really an actual album but a collection of songs briefly posted for free on the band's Facebook page, this nonetheless rocked my socks right off. The band's official bio states Diamondsnake combine "such disparate influences as rock, hard rock, metal, and heavy metal" which pretty much says all you need to know. The singer performed on the truly godlike Tragedy: All Heavy Metal Tribute to The Bee Gees album and the guitarist is Moby! No kidding!!

Primo track: Woman [Yeah]

3. THE MONSTERS: POP UP YOURS
This bad boy dropped in September and came to my attention after being championed by the awesome blog/podcast Long gone Loser. The Monsters are a Swiss garage rock band who have been kicking around for over 25 years. Based on this release they have somehow studiously avoided the notions of slowing down and/or becoming lame and Pop Up Yours has the fire and intensity of a much younger band. I'm enthusiastically traversing their back catalogue at the moment.

Primo track: Blow Um Mau Mau

2. RED PLANET: LETS DEGENERATE
I stumbled across this album via an iTunes genius recommendation, a function that has fluctuated from being really helpful to not really working at all this year [I was recommended a Best of Black n Blue compilation unchanged for about 2 months straight]. It's a sweet hard rocking power pop platter with some choice keyboard work that would totally fog the spectacles of my old Nancy Vandal colleague Tess. If you were ever after a snottier, more amphetamine loaded version of the Cars, this is your disc.

Primo track: Get Back At You
Get Back At You

1. TRICKY WOO: SOMETIMES I CRY
My fave album of the year is also the oldest. I was right in the middle of a garage rock band love affair in 1999 but somehow never heard of these guys. Their discography spans a hugely diverse range of styles dipping into 60s, 70s and 80s influences, all done with an ease that might annoy a more jealousy inclined musician. Sometimes I Cry is in the garagey end of the pool and is an urgent, high energy tour de force of non stop rocking. Not only my favourite album of this year but pushing into my all time list.

Primo track: Fly The Orient

MY FAVOURITE TV SHOWS OF 2011

THE WALKING DEAD
Despite the significant scorn this series seems to generate, I'm still tentatively on board with it. Sure the characters make some dumb decisions [lowering Glenn down the well being the nadir of the group's so called survival strategies], and the zombies manage to often appear suddenly given their mindless shuffling nature but the production values are great, adventures compelling enough and actual zombie effects awesome.

GAME OF THRONES
The fantasy tv series for people that like their fantasy based in reality. What kind of craziness is that? Whatever it is, I dig it. Epic scale, swords and sandal adventure that focuses on characters whilst still meeting the high HBO standards of quality sex and violence. Great first season.

BOARDWALK EMPIRE
In a Mad Men-less environment this show met my period piece needs. Deadwood-esque in many ways, the show boasts fantastic complex characters, wavering moral compasses and awesome set / costume design. Whats more the vast web of lies, burnt bridges and bitter rivalries suggest the best is yet to come.

The 2011 Xray Studios dream journal.

noreply@blogger.com (Fox) — Thu, 22 Dec 2011 06:05:00 +0000

Here's a collection of things I drew, animated or shot in 2011. The soundtrack is a work in progress from my new band The Neptune Power Federation and will appear on the debut album in 2012. The video is in 1080p HD so you can totally full screen that bad boy.

Love making secrets of the ancients

noreply@blogger.com (Fox) — Tue, 29 Nov 2011 12:03:00 +0000

Behold the ancient scrolls originally recorded by the unholy order of the Shaman of Poontang. Their verses have since been transcribed and set to music by an exciting new rock act known to sexually active Wizards and Maidens as The Neptune Power Federation.

Fail Satan!!

noreply@blogger.com (Fox) — Thu, 10 Nov 2011 13:12:00 +0000

It seems to me in these uncertain economic times one of the few fail-safe methods of ensuring fiscal soundness is to start another band. Or at least that is what the financial advisor inside my head has suggested and who am I to argue with a head partner from Tipton & Downing Financial Planning Strategies and Wealth Mapping?

So form a new band I did. Grammy engravers, start getting accustomed to the spelling of a fearsome new outfit I like to call The Neptune Power Federation. The NPF [as the kids are already texting] like to perform fuzzed up NWOBHM tinged punk rock with a subtle stoner flavour and richly lathered in the occult. Riffs are typically judged successful if they roughly evoke the manner of a large inbred man-child chopping down a tree.

The band features an international lineup of players over-experienced in the ways of rock who collectively have performed in bands like Your Mother, All You Can Eat, Frenzal Rhomb, Mortal Sin, Demolition High Style, Nancy Vandal as well as winning an international air guitar championship. You'll just know them by their way wicked band names The Black Plagums [vox], Inverted CruciFox [gtr], Search and DesTroy [gtr], Jaytanic Ritual [bass] and Mr Styx [drums].

Whats more, this will be the first musical project I am taking the reigns of in my new role as world renowned super producer. Armed with an in the box Pro Tools system and an unshakable faith in my ability to learn stuff without being taught, I will be mixing the debut NPF album here at the Xray Studios sound lab. Sounds like a bit of a crazy idea huh? Well let me tell you a story about another guy from a very long time ago who people also thought had a lot of "crazy ideas". The story is from a little book you might have heard of called the Bible, and the guys name is Satan, and he has complete faith in me and super digs this band.

A debut song is a bees wang away from hitting the internets, and the complete album sometime early next year, hopefully on some kind of sweet vinyl. Until then, allow me to distract you after the jump with a bunch of artwork I have knocked up during NPF fuelled psychosis. You can also visit Facebook and become friends with the band and have future dealings with us. Welcome to the Federation.

Too soon or too late?

noreply@blogger.com (Fox) — Sun, 30 Oct 2011 13:39:00 +0000

The rather ace AMC The Walking Dead series is back on and I'm loving it. Here I tribute it via a double pronged assault of lame pun and Michael Jackson humour.

Merry Halloween everybody.

Engage filth protocols.

noreply@blogger.com (Fox) — Thu, 01 Sep 2011 09:21:00 +0000

Bow down and praise ye ancient gods of smut - It's time for the time honoured, multi award winning Xray Studios Swear Word of The Month™ announcement!! Which worthy entrant will have their carefully chosen cuss word immortalised* on the Xray Studios masthead and walk away with an awesome hand drawn piece from the classic Profane Robots of The 23rd Century series?!? The winner is....
Mjem Walshes with the seemingly bawdy but actually quite innocent "Giant Hairy Nevus". Try it yourself - It is an extremely hardy and versatile obscenity that would suit a variety of situations. I find for best results, use it where one would normally say "Christ on a Bike" or "By the beard of Zeus" if you are Ron Burgundy.

Mjem takes home the above piece of fine art - the 9th in the series. Only 3 remain!! To be in the running for next month's prize head on over to the Xray Studios Facebook page and post your potential prize winner. For September entries I would like to see names of people or places that also double as swear word. Like Rod for instance. Go get em Tigers.

*For 1 month

Strictly for the birds.

noreply@blogger.com (Fox) — Wed, 03 Aug 2011 07:52:00 +0000

Local citizens leisurely morning in a picturesque Canberra park is interrupted by what appears to be a small group of tramps desperately trying to escape the deranged voice within their heads. They run, arms flailing from one end of the grounds to another. One of their number vomits in the bushes while others appear to pass out on available park benches. Is it the decline of western civilisation? Or simply the glamourous set of the new Frenzal Rhomb music video Bird Attack?

It's both!!

Expletive saluted.

noreply@blogger.com (Fox) — Tue, 02 Aug 2011 01:21:00 +0000

Another month, another automaton let's it's feelings be known with some colourful language. That's right, announcement enthusiasts - it's time to unveil the Xray Studios Swear Word of The Month™!! Whose entry will take pride of place on the Xray Studios website header all August and take home a hand drawn rendering of their profanity? Celebrity guest judge Malcolm Tucker has decreed it be....

"Cock Alley" by foul mouthed correspondant Amelia!! As you will recall, August entries were required to have an olde world charm thus her prize is this steam punk influenced number. I'm particularly fond of this entry and believe it would fit perfectly in a context such as "Damn it all Shaftsbury! The entire expedition has gone up cock alley!"

Have you got what it takes to impress our Obscenity Judges? You too can take home a one off hand drawn piece of the Profane Robots of the 23rd Century series, lovingly mounted in the best frame my local $2 shop stocks. September entries are required to be strictly medical terms - No slang allowed! In short, something one could call a colleague at the pub to the amusement of all, but uttered in a doctors surgery, wouldn't raise an eyebrow [unless I was the Doctor in which case I'd probably piss myself]. Think "rectal prolapse" or "pubis" etc. Post your entries on the Xray Studios Facebook wall and let's get this party started as Pink once said.

Accidentally Cherry Street.

noreply@blogger.com (Fox) — Sun, 17 Jul 2011 11:13:00 +0000

I first encountered the rock and roll force of nature that is J.J Speedball on a mid 90s Nancy Vandal tour of the colourful northern city of Bris Vegas. J.J was playing with his old band Scrumfeeder and within seconds of seeing them performing I could tell we were in B.F.F. territory. Speedball's long hair was in school girl plaits, and the entire band was decked out in South Sydney jumpers and ludicrous face paint. There songs were just as short and stupid as ours and sure enough, post gig we all hit it off.

Our two bands have played a bunch of shows in the subsequent years together, and no matter how sparsely attended, J.J would be rocking at or above 150%, and deliver between song banter that made Paul Stanley seem like a timid wall flower. When not playing, Speedball would often act as our walk on M.C. delivering inspiring messages pertaining to "blowing the roof off this joint" and/or "setting the night on fire". He's also the kind of bloke that would think nothing of selflessly participating in a hard hitting interview on great hair metal albums of the late 80s in a Brissie pub toilet.

When he asked me to knock up an animated music video for a song from his recent hard rocking opus Southside Worldwide I was on the case within moments. Here are the results.....

I've never been so insulted.

noreply@blogger.com (Fox) — Fri, 08 Jul 2011 00:17:00 +0000

Great news major announcement enthusiasts - It's time to announce yet another Xray Studios Swear Word of The Month™! Last month I asked for entries that combined two words to create a foul mouthed compound masterpiece. What followed was simply outstanding and a literary equivalent of the human centipede. There can of course be only one winner, and as usual they will take away a framed piece of hand drawn original art in the form of #6 in the Profane Robots of The 23rd Century series. That winner is....

Dale McLean and his magnificently compiled "Cock Pirate". He wins this illustration of a dual headed protocol droid shortly before a factory recall.

For the August swear word of the month, I shall require a ye olde swear word. Something that may have been uttered in Victorian era England by an aristocrat whose gramophone just exploded. Now jump to it lest my cane meet your britches!!

Bangkok Shocks, Saigon Shakes, Soft Toy Rocks

noreply@blogger.com (Fox) — Wed, 15 Jun 2011 05:12:00 +0000

I recently became involved in a project called Teddy Rock, which is a new kids album full of traditional nursery rhymes performed in a variety of punk rock musical styles. Teddy Rock is the brainchild of Anton Hughes [who will surely forever be remembered as the Malcolm McLaren of soft toy entertainment] and has been picked up by the ABC who will be releasing the CD and DVD this August. I confidently recommend the album to parents like me who have discovered voices in their head instructing them to dismember the Wiggles or for anyone who wonders what The Farmer Takes A Wife would sound like if sung by Glenn Danzig.

The DVD contains 18 music videos I have been diligently creating over the past several months and the end result looks pretty neat. "I'll be the judge of that" I hear you interject, so to back up my bold assertion here's a few stills from the various songs. Click on an image to embiggen.

IIIIOOOOOIIIOOOOIIIIIO.

noreply@blogger.com (Fox) — Wed, 01 Jun 2011 10:10:00 +0000

Short of keyboard cat releasing a new album of Limp Bizkit covers, there is little that makes the internet totally wee it's britches with excitement more than the Xray Studios swear word of the month announcement. This month is no exception with celebrity judges Richard Pryor and Ian Chappell spending 34 sleepless nights pouring over a bevy of high quality entries.

They have decreed the award goes to Jase Woolmer whose football themed left field entry "Carlton" ignored most of the requirements of the competition however outside the box maverickism has never been discouraged at Xray Studios. It is also worth noting that Jase is a long time collaborator in numerous Xray Studios productions where financial renumeration has fallen significantly below industry standard [even for such classics as the IMDB listed You Are So Dead which took in over 180 million dolars at the box office]. Hopefully receiving this one off piece of framed sweary robo art [part of the prestigious Profane Robots of The 23rd Century Series] will mean we are now square.

For next months contest, I have taken a leaf out of my son's kindergarden teacher's approach to news day [I'm sure she will be delighted to be influencing the structure of an online swearing competion], and give some parameters for entries to maintain interest and focus in the whole operation. The Xray Studios July Swear Word Of The Month must be a compound swear word - i.e. combining two words to make a double headed cuss beast that would make a nanna blush and a Victorian police officer reach for the capsicum spray. What words will you choose to fuse together? Do you select two established profanities, disregard the laws of nature and forge a frankensteinesque super expletive? Or do you combine a regular obscenity with a totally unrelated word such as Nancy Vandal guitarist JJ La Moore did when formulating "dildo egg"? Do you choose two seemingly innocent words that together make Glengarry Glen Ross seem like an edited for christian television version of Highschool Musical? These are the choices you must make to run with the bulls in the Xray Studios SWOTM challenge. Now go my pretties... and fly!!