mag.pie (mgp)

Find #008

2009-02-27T01:54:00.000-08:00

I found this on the same day as Find #007, on the pavement just outside my flat. I don't really get this guy scowling at the camera - what's up with him? He's dressed like Tony Halson, which I like, but otherwise he looks like a right nasty piece of work. And it's a cut down from a full sized photo, so someone cropped it for some purpose...a bit of a mystery I guess.

I read a nice thing recently on the subject of collecting little bits of anthropological ephemera, which was this:

"What appears to be mere curiosity in one age, may be useful in the next. Eventually, someone may care."

And that's a nice thought.

Find #007

2009-02-18T03:08:00.000-08:00

I found this by a bus stop in Earlsfield, not far from the train station. I tend to find these individual photos around near bus stops and places where people queue, opening their wallets and purses I guess. Still, it's kind of nicer than most I find, partly because it's in black and white, which has given it a really grainy quality that you don't see much in photos from newer Photo-Me booths. Photo-Me booths give everything this sort of bland and flat quality, I always end up looking like I have an inch of foundation on. I actually had to get some photos taken recently but all the booths in the area were bust, so I went to a Snappy-Snaps in Wandsworth, where I had to stand in fornt of a grey screen while a woman took my photo with a glorified polaroid and charged EIGHT POUNDS for it. Bastards. Chain-store bastards.

Find #006

2009-02-04T03:32:00.000-08:00

This is another from the blue folder. It's a thin sheet of metal which has been drawn on with a pencil on one side, creating this embossed duck on the other. It is either smoking, or has a long tongue, I don't know which, or which I'd rather.

Find #005

2009-02-02T07:21:00.001-08:00

Find #004

2009-02-02T06:51:00.001-08:00

I was meeting my Dad for lunch at London Bridge, so I was sort of mooching around up near the Northern line barriers, waiting for him to turn up. After about 20 minutes the CCTV camera began to follow me around, and I had a solid ten minutes of giggles hiding behind a pillar then jumping out from each side to fool the camera. Happy times. Then, bored of that I wandered over to the Photo-Me photo booth. I always hang about these booths if I'm waiting about in a tube station as if I'm going to make some huge Amelie (forget the subtitles and watch in glorious French) type discovery. This time, there actually were two sheets of photos perched on top of the booth. These things cost £4+ a set so it's strange that anyone would pay, then sit to have their photo taken, then leave without them. I bring them to you now in all their glory.

Find #003

2009-01-23T04:09:00.001-08:00

This is a View-Master reel from one of the compartments in my blue card-file (see previous 2 finds) titled "Barbie and the Rockers". Sounds a bit like Barbie goes porno huh? Are you already racing to find your View-Master so you can take a sneaky-peek at Barbie and her sex-less, poly-vinyl play-friends going at it?

Bad luck, this story in pictures is, sadly, devoid of filth. Instead, we are treated to technicolour dioramas such as "Hawaiian Concert is Fantastic" and "Barbie Wins Singer of the Year Award". For the moment, although you can click the image for a better view, you will have to imagine, dear reader, the delights. I will get to work on an attempt to scan these soon...

...more on Bobby Clarke

2009-01-22T04:12:00.001-08:00

I have just done a little more research into our Bobby Clarke (last post) and am pretty certain now that this is him (compare the photos...yes?) According to Wikipedia:

"One of the game's great leaders, Clarke was the captain of the notorious Broad Street Bullies during their heyday in the mid-1970s in sports 1970s. The Bullies were a reflection of their captain, who had a tireless work ethic, a strong will to win, a chippy side to him that often saw him deliver a cheap shot, only to have his bigger teammates finish what he started, and a willingness to do anything it took to win even if it meant bending the rules. The latter, some say, is exemplified best by Clarke's infamous slash to the ankle of Valeri Kharlamov during the Summit Series in 1972, which is still the source of controversy to the present day."

Recently I find more and more that little pop-culture references lead me to research little historical events that I would otherwise have never known about. Part of this is ignorance on my part, but it's also due to the relative obscurity of events like the 1972 Summit Series (ice hockey?! ICE HOCKEY?!) But having read the above quote from Wikipedia (thanks Wikipedia! Mwah x) I googled Valeri Khalamov, and can honestly say that I am one enlightened soul. I am confident that I know enough about the 1972 Summit Series to hold my own if approached by some nasty commie in the steam room. Red fiends.

Find #002

2009-01-22T03:46:00.001-08:00

In amongst the piles of stuff that I have next to my desk is an old blue card-file that I got for $10 at a flea market in New York. Each compartment has something different stuffed inside - the first ten have military patches, the second ten bubble gum stickers and the rest have just got random bits like these tickets. I've put them in together because this is how they came out of the file.

The green ticket is a train ticket, but it doesn't say where for, which is a shame. The other small piece of paper is the seal from a packet of cigarettes but you can't tell what type/brand of cigarettes. Wow - interesting evidence abounds... The larger piece of paper is a photograph cut from a newspaper of a guy called Bobby Clarke. I've looked him up and I reckon that this is Bobby Clarke, a famous Canadian ice hockey player. There's no other mention of hockey, and no other hockey pictures in the whole file, so I don't know what made the owner of the file cut out this particular picture.

I'm not so good at spinning stories around these finds huh?

Find #001

2009-01-20T03:51:00.000-08:00

This is part, just a wee small bit of a huge collection of animal postcards that I found stacked by some binbags near Waterloo station. Each 12" x 12" sheet has six postcards stuck on both front and back, and they are all in plastic sleeves with punched edges as if they've come from a big file.

There were literally HUNDREDS of sheets of these by the side of the road and I had to race through and pick the ten best 'cause I was on my way to work.

I can't see any logical order to the way that the postcards have been stuck together, they aren't organised by animal or anything. I've tried to get some of them away from the backing card but they're stuck on pretty well, there isn't any writing, so I guess they were bought especially to go in this album. The images are amazing, especially the ones wher the animals have been posed in some kind of setting, (as below) with flowers or in the long grass.

I have loads more photos of these but I don't want to oversell them. It's kind of like family portraiture for animals. I like them alot, I wish I could have carried more...

Find Archive #03: Photobooth Photos

2009-01-19T07:43:00.002-08:00

Just my three favourite found photobooth pics, you can click each image for a better view. I might add some more of these old finds, I have loads and I like photobooth shots. It's nice to find something that meant enough to someone that they caried it around in their wallet or purse all the time.

Find Archive #02: Photobooth Photos

2009-01-19T07:43:00.001-08:00

Find Archive #01: Photobooth Photos

2009-01-19T07:42:00.001-08:00