*A.R.S.E*

Slowly but surely the challenge is starting to have its hypnotic effect on some big names and this week I am more than chuffed by the appearance of mega scupture and paint star Bites and well known musical identies Soxy Fleming and Paul Louis Villani / ALL MELBOURNITES I must add, there must be something in the water down here. / This week I announce part one of the First prize pool. / A very weighty tome and worth a few bob to boot. / The hardcover history of the world’s most famous virtual band The Gorillaz. / Current right up to their new release. / / All I can say is that I own it and love it to bits, it is funny and is jammed packed full of information, history and illustrations by one Jamie Hewlett. / If anyone has a copy can they please “big note it” for the punters in the comment section below. / And please don’t forget this is the first bit, I’ll announce more in the following weeks. / So / GO HERE AND FIND OUT WHY ALL THE COOL PEOPLE ARE JOINING ARSE AND PREPARING FOR THE BEST CHALLENGE EVER DEVISED ON RED BUBBLE The I AM THE BAND CHALLENGE / Note: Mr BigFatRobot is scheming up something hot and that’s all I ‘m saying about some other HUGE names already committed to the challenge. / D

Over at ARSE, yes that tired old piece of beaten up garbage of a group has resurrected itself, but in a good way. / To celebrate this rather ordinary event an exciting challenge has begun to create your own cartoon/virtual group just like Gorillaz, The Archies even the Groovy Goolies. / So tell your friends and join up and join in the fun. / There’ll be cool prizes to be won and a chance to revel in your past, present or future coolness by showing a creative side of you hidden from the world. / YOUR HIDDEN ROCKSTAR. / So head over to here and check out the conditions and time frame. / The I AM THE BAND challenge has now begun. / Cheers / D /

The Rad new challenge is still very rad and building momentum. / The I AM THE BAND challenge over at the ARSE Group is only a week old but the word is getting around about one of the potentially greatest and creative competitions in RB history. / Early interest was a bit slow until people started contacting me about stuff they were working on. / Early bird entries have already been posted. / First to enter are the superstars of vector T-shirt design: / Thickblackoutline, Jumpy, Scott Robinson, Tambatoys, Big Fat Robot and Mikota collectively known as Bubblerock. This is an earlier project and does fit the criteria and I’m hoping the guys will maybe add something to enhance the theme, maybe a CD cover or a gif? / There’s some mighty talent there, so I throw down the challenge. / Another early entry by Marysboychild has a unearthed a Russian collective that was hidden behind the Iron Curtain for years and is only now being realised as a hidden influence on popular music. / Evilfroot has made a token gesture and we hope will maybe release some new material (but we won’t hold our breath, they can be pretty stubborn) / So if you want to be in the fun go here and read the conditions and be in it for a chance at the prizes, which will be revealed next week. / Cheers / D

Slowly but surely the challenge is starting to have its hypnotic effect on some big names and this week I am more than chuffed by the appearance of mega scupture and paint star Bites and well known musical identies Soxy Fleming and Paul Louis Villani / ALL MELBOURNITES I must add, there must be something in the water down here. / This week I announce part one of the First prize pool. / A very weighty tome and worth a few bob to boot. / The hardcover history of the world’s most famous virtual band The Gorillaz. / Current right up to their new release. / / All I can say is that I own it and love it to bits, it is funny and is jammed packed full of information, history and illustrations by one Jamie Hewlett. / If anyone has a copy can they please “big note it” for the punters in the comment section below. / And please don’t forget this is the first bit, I’ll announce more in the following weeks. / So / GO HERE AND FIND OUT WHY ALL THE COOL PEOPLE ARE JOINING ARSE AND PREPARING FOR THE BEST CHALLENGE EVER DEVISED ON RED BUBBLE The I AM THE BAND CHALLENGE / Note: Mr BigFatRobot is scheming up something hot and that’s all I ‘m saying about some other HUGE names already committed to the challenge. / D

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The Rad new challenge is still very rad and building momentum. / The I AM THE BAND challenge over at the ARSE Group is only a week old but the word is getting around about one of the potentially greatest and creative competitions in RB history. / Early interest was a bit slow until people started contacting me about stuff they were working on. / Early bird entries have already been posted. / First to enter are the superstars of vector T-shirt design: / Thickblackoutline, Jumpy, Scott Robinson, Tambatoys, Big Fat Robot and Mikota collectively known as Bubblerock. This is an earlier project and does fit the criteria and I’m hoping the guys will maybe add something to enhance the theme, maybe a CD cover or a gif? / There’s some mighty talent there, so I throw down the challenge. / Another early entry by Marysboychild has a unearthed a Russian collective that was hidden behind the Iron Curtain for years and is only now being realised as a hidden influence on popular music. / Evilfroot has made a token gesture and we hope will maybe release some new material (but we won’t hold our breath, they can be pretty stubborn) / So if you want to be in the fun go here and read the conditions and be in it for a chance at the prizes, which will be revealed next week. / Cheers / D

Over at ARSE, yes that tired old piece of beaten up garbage of a group has resurrected itself, but in a good way. / To celebrate this rather ordinary event an exciting challenge has begun to create your own cartoon/virtual group just like Gorillaz, The Archies even the Groovy Goolies. / So tell your friends and join up and join in the fun. / There’ll be cool prizes to be won and a chance to revel in your past, present or future coolness by showing a creative side of you hidden from the world. / YOUR HIDDEN ROCKSTAR. / So head over to here and check out the conditions and time frame. / The I AM THE BAND challenge has now begun. / Cheers / D /

Hey there… / Well i was just knocking out some documentation for a workshop i did today (to acquit the funding and help get more workshops) for a local community centre and i thought…it is about tees, why not throw it up on the bubble as i have been fairly quiet online of late. Anywho, it started out being a workshop for fifteen kids to make a tee each as part of a holiday program…and it ended up some forty odd t-shirts later, twelve dead cans of spray paint, a bunch of very dead stencils, lots of messy hands…as fifteen pairs of gloves dont cover forty pairs of hands…oh, and one fairy sunburned neck. It’s funny with community art, there is always the old elite sentiment that it breeds mediocracy…and indeed it often does. But these kids took to the workshop like ducks to water, and even if i found some of the tees not always of the highest artistic merit(lots more were awesome), these kids had a ball and because they had ownership over creating the tees, they all loved them and they could hardly wait to put them on as soon as they were dry…and you couldn’t get the smiles off their faces. Among the crew that turned up, T-Shirts were made by a mid-forties Russian mum, a family of nine Sudanese kids, an eight year old deaf girl and the usual bunch of teenagers you get at events like this. The best part is with the diversity of participants…they all helped each other hold down the tees and stencils in the wind, worked together really well and shared the cans politely. I even actually only heard the f-bomb once the whole day…and the girl looked at me and apologised…i must be looking old! / I digress… / I think all involved had a great day and the whole event and materials cost the partipants absolutely nothing! In the end, the kids even came and offered to help me tidy and pack up eveything. So win-win. What i learned… / 1) It is hard to cut a stencil for a child quickly…especially when they are hanging on your shoulder. (No, i wasn’t going to arm strange small children with scalpels) / 2) Stencils don’t last long when an eight year old unloads half a can on 80 gsm paper from about one centimetre away. / 3) And no matter where you are…skulls are always in! Location: community centre and one outdoor derelict b-ball halfcourt. / Materials: Spray Paint, fabric markers paper stencils and misc. other supplies laying around. Oh, and before i get asked. Yes, Spraypaint stays on after washing(and the tee goes soft again too). Hope you enjoyed the read! / G

Woo hoo! In what I believe could be a WORLD EXCLUSIVE the most amazing Mr Baxter has written a guest post on This Is Not ….. my Redbubble tshirt blog! Brilliant!

One of my unofficial, non-sanctioned New Year’s resolutions (I decided just now, three days late) is that I’d like to write a story a week AT LEAST. A couple of days ago Lorraine Creagh put out the call on Facebook for someone to write a story about one of her photos, the lovely Mazzotti Mansion and I felt somewhat inspired. In these four walls is what resulted. I’m pleased with the fact that I was able to respond and actually produce something, and quite pleased with the story itself. Perhaps the visual is what I need to kick start the process. I find browsing around Redbubble eats up my time alarmingly. I get lost and distracted by the amazing work here, but because there is so much, writing doesn’t usually result. Perhaps its the wood for the trees or something like that. My point? I’m asking you, the artist and/or photographer to suggest your images to me for some accompanying words. Is there a story you would like told? Do you have any sketchy information that you would like to see woven into a tale? Ultimately, I would like to produce a book. I think a story a week … 52 words and images, could make really nice book, don’t you think? Perhaps cut it back to 40 so it can be done in time for next Christmas. Anyway, let me know if you’d like me to consider your image. Perhaps even paste it in the comments below. Or send me a bubblemail if you want to keep it covert. / / Just an idea I had while driving to the shops a little earlier tonight and it’s been pingponging around in my head since.