Meet My New Friend, Robot 6N7

Funny little fellah, ain't he? I made him this morning because I was feeling lonely...so I went to work in the lab. 6N7 isn't much of a name, so I call him 'Les Monk' ('Monk' for short) because I programmed him to play piano and he sounds like a cross between Thelonious Monk and Les Dawson. Although he appears harmless I also programmed him to fire lethal rays (from his eyes) at anyone who pisses me off. Sod Asimov's laws of robotics...

Space Age Pinball Machines

1963

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1973

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1967

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1976

ARK.........Words and Images from the Royal College of Art

Great book. Contains every cover (with separate spine binding for that section) and selected articles. Well designed, as you'd expect. Theinhard and Antwerp fonts - very cool. Available here

The Computer - A Ladybird Book, 1971

Hammer House Horror - Art Deco Delight

Strolling through Soho the other day LJ stopped, saying 'Hold on, look at this!'. So I did. We found ourselves staring in wonder at a magnificent Art Deco doorway. Looking up, we saw it belonged to Hammer House. That's Hammer as in Hammer horror films. Along with Doctor Who, they gave us British kids our first taste of fear on TV in the 60s. Fear and the psycho-sexual terror of busty beauties being ravished by monsters, but perhaps we could not fully understand the (Freudian?) meaning of all that blood and bodice-ripping.  

We chatted to the guy sitting behind what must be one of the oldest reception desks in London, the country, even. It was tiny, the original 30s desk, squatting in a nook under the stairs and in front of the lift. Part of it is visible in the reflection on the first shot, to the right of me squatting on the stairs. I would have photographed it but we were too busy listening to him tell us about the building. You read a bit about it here. 

Modern film production companies run by the likes of comedian Jimmy Carr use the building, so it's still involved in horror. Unless you think those 'comedy' panel shows are good. Anyway, here's the door from inside and out.

'This coach is bound for a terrifying destination' (as the voice-over says) should be an announcement on the 259 to Tottenham...

Concrete Is Good For You - Brutalist Architecture

 More from Architectural Record magazine. The second shot of the Trent building looks very sci-fi, complete with the desolate landscape of a remote planet...

Some ads from the magazine here

Champlain College

Trent University

The Chemistry Building

Pet Plaza, St Louis

60s Modernism: Architectural Record September 1969 Ads

It's 1969 OK. Yes, all across the USA. Here are some ads from Architectural Record magazine from September. That's the Trent University building on the cover - pure brutalism, and handy ledges for students to climb on and throw Molotovs when demonstrating. Although such is the imposing nature of this building I doubt they could muster the nerve because the beast looks as if it would crush humans who dare to climb onto it. Some other time I'll scan the best photos from within. There are some real gems.

'PPG's Solarban Bronze Twindow made possible an open building design for Mutual
of Omaha's new Regional Home Office in Miami'

Inland-Ryerson wall panels

'Our company image sets the pattern for offices of The Home Insurance Company.
Our choice in furniture is Royalmetal.'

'The challenge of the Electro-environment'. National Electrical Contractors Association

Richard Hamilton Screenprints: Man, Machine and Motion at The ICA

The Man, Machine and Motion moved from the Hatton Gallery in Newcastle to London's Institute of Contemporary Arts in 1955. It was the second show to be organised by Hamilton as part of the Independent Group.

'Man has realized an aspiration which lies deeper than thought, the longing for a power with no natural limits; he finds himself in real life the super-human inhabitant of his dearest fantasy' 

              (L. Gowing and R. Hamilton, 'Man, Machine and Motion')

Richard Hamilton panels for the show. Screenprints on formica.

Miscellany: Elbow / Raymond Scott's Lightworks / Seaes II /Art and Artists magazine, 1969

Elbow - why? I couldn't help but wonder watching some of their Glastonbury performance last night on TV - the portly singer dressed as if about to do some DIY, leaning forward towards his adoring audience, encouraging them to wave their arms from side-to-side and telling them how wonderful they were between each song - he knows how to boost sales - he's just one of them, an ordinary Mancunian with no airs and graces, just like Elbow's music, no aspiration towards anything other than turgid 'anthems' with simplistic melodies that build, endlessly, towards the kind of 'climatic' last few minutes which make simpletons feel they're experiencing something truly epic. The BBC editor was fond of picking out girls from the crowd, girls on someone's shoulders, 'pretty' girls, of course, all called Tabitha or Tamara, having the time of their lives, all smiles - 'It's all so co-o-o-ol!' But Elbow. Such was the extent of their ordinariness that I became transfixed, unable to reach for the remote, trapped by the sluggish waves of sound emanating from the box. Thankfully, I was set free when it ended. But the residual, numbing horror remained for some time.

*****

Here's an ad break for the ladies...

The name of the game is Lightworks...Raymond Scott's music for the ad...

*****

Look at this. A beautiful minimalist design, is it not? It's a 4-disc compilation of music by Seaes, who is none other than Chris Douglas (aka Dalglish, Scald Rougish, O.S.T.) put together by the label, MEDS. The 56 tracks cover the years from 1999 to 2012, no titles, just TL (2004), ML (2000) etc. Need I tell you that's it's an essential purchase? And at £14.99, a real bargain. Only 15 of 100 left on pre-order here as I write. Fans of Chris Douglas' work will not be disappointed. More on this release soon. Something like a review.

*****

Art and Artists magazine, 1969