The Inherited Stamp Collection

I don’t know much about it, but my nan used to work for a ‘stamp company’, in London, in the 1950s. This meant that both she and my granddad were collectors of stamps. I have now inherited this stamp collection, although I know nothing about stamps really.

The first day covers – a postage stamp on a post card or stamped envelope franked on the first day the issue is authorized for use within the country or territory of the stamp-issuing authority – are particularly interesting and appeal to me as a designer. I also like how most of the addresses (not actually addressed to either of my grandparents – must find out who C.A. Marsters Esq. is or was) are clearly typed on a typewriter.

I realise a lot of these are pretty wonky – my poor scanning skills.

These pages of the world stamp album were very difficult to scan, so I only did a few.

Sinister Santas

The weekend before last I met up with some of my Falmouth friends for a little pre-Christmas/end of the year get together. We did the typical Christmas time things of eating gingerbread, drinking mulled wine and watching a Christmas film (as well as Pitch Perfect, but that’s irrelevant). However, it wasn’t your typical cheery and merry, child-friendly Christmas film…

“In the depths of the Korvatunturi mountains, 486 metres deep, lies the closest ever guarded secret of Christmas. The time has come to dig it up! This Christmas everyone will believe in Santa Claus.” – Rare Exports

Rare Exports is a Finnish [subtitled] film set in Lapland, on the border of Russia – a place as dark and cold as the humour in the film. It made for a far more interesting film than most festive rubbish.

The Santa in the film is a ‘Joulupukki’ or Yule Goat – which might not sound so scary but legends tell of a devil-like creature who terrified children.

“Joulupukki was once a symbol of fertility and more of a frightening figure back then than today. He was clad in thick fur-lined coat turned inside out, wearing a mask and a pair of horns on his head.” – dlc.fi

But Finland isn’t the only country with a more sinister kind of Santa, in fact many countries around the world have their own variations. I read a great little article at the weekend, courtesy of Scroobius Pip on Twitter (as in, he led me to it – he didn’t actually write it).

“Earlier this year I set out to research the history of Father Christmas. I was fascinated by this mythical housebreaker who rewards the good and punishes the naughty. Santa struck me as being an older, gentler Robin Hood and I wanted to discover how and why the fabled gift-giving of St Nicholas had transformed into this magical character with a home at the North Pole and a workshop of elves.

What I discovered instead were stories of strange and terrifying creatures that wandered the winters of medieval Europe. Before Santa, and before Christmas firmly took hold in Europe, the middle of winter was seen as a harsh, sinister time filled with deadly and demonic monsters.” – Paul Hawkins, Naughty or Nice?

On Paul Hawkins’ blog he has been posting a different Bad Santa article everyday as part of an advent calendar, which accompanies the book – Bad Santas: and Other Creepy Christmas Characters. The first two of the illustrations below are featured in the advent calendar (and book) and link to those posts. The others I’ve found elsewhere on the Internet.

The Greek Kallikantzaroi (illustration by Mel Four)

The Dutch Sinterklaas (illustration, again, by Mel Four)

The German (and Austrian, Hungarian, Slovakian, Croatian… etc.) Krampus

The Icelandic Yule Lads

Merry Christmas!

Maus

I’ve mentioned before how I’m really disappointed that I didn’t properly study history at school – stupid “humanities”. But I am really quite interested in history in general and it’s better to be interested than interesting (said someone, who I’ve quoted before). Unfortunately, I feel pretty ignorant about most things. Even something as significant (and horrifying) as the holocaust, I learnt very little about at school.

Maus has long been on my book “wishlist”, although mostly because it’s considered to be a classic graphic novel rather than specifically the subject matter. It’s actually a biography of sorts, which I didn’t realise until I started reading it, and tells the story of the graphic novelist[Art Speigelman]’s father. So although the Nazis are represented as cats and the Jews as mice, it’s actually a very real story.

I’ve just got one remaining chapter to read and it’s genuinely been a brilliant read. If you can call something with such horrible subject matter such as Auschwitz a brilliant read. This person has written a better review than I could even attempt to do, so read their blog.

I am recommending you read this, whether you like graphic novels or not – this aint no super hero story.

Off With Their Heads!

I like history and I like learning. But I don't know much, so I bought a(nother) book. It helps when a history book is nicely designed and simplified into the "best bits of British history - with all the boring bits left out."

There are cute little character illustrations for various periods of history,
such as Henry VIII for the Tudors. I rather like the Viking chap (Early Middle Ages).

So I'm retiring to bed to read me some history. I've been hooked on George R.R. Martin's Clash of Kings for the last four days, but I finished the 900 page beast of a book last night. Brilliant, but I'm having a days break before I tackle the next book!

Tintagel Castle: II

Start of part two...

And then Photoshop made me a panorama - click for larger.

These were walls.

And here's the second 'rocks falling' sign.

Nice sign to finish.