Terry's Plagiarent Orange

Now if there's one thing in life that I have a natural talent for then it's making volcano based wordsearches and if there's another thing in life that I'm good at then it's making ridiculous volcano based food. So how do you think it feels to have these two talents being used (and not used very well) to market popular Christmas confectionery products? Not very good, I can tell you.

 So Terry's you stick to what you're good at (making chocolate that looks like fruit) and I'll stick to my more volcanic talents, yeah? Also putting popping candy in something does not make it volcanic, you have to construct something that actually looks like a volcano not just shove in gimmicky sweets. And if volcanoes erupted popping candy and lava was made from chocolate, then I don't think they'd be the amazing natural disaster that they are.

Thanks to my mummy for sending me this, although it would have been nice to get some actual chocolate not just the packet.

The Volcano at Night

I found out about this, wrote a blog post about it, forgot about it, was reminded about it and watched it. Everything about it is fantastic, has some great actual volcanic facts and not just some moron talking about Cyndi Lauper and making crap paper volcanoes. Io is really cool, I really want a telescope and Sir Patrick Moore is really really cool. I won't try and write about space volcanoes as I'll just get it wrong and look like an idiot so it's probably best just to watch the programme.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b00x7bxj/The_Sky_at_Night_03_01_2011/

Boxcano, Bookcanos, Happy New Yearcanos

Unsurprisingly I got a lot of volcano related products for Christmas (and have since bought myself some) and as there are technically three days left of the festive period I should probably share them before it gets too late.
Firstly this beautiful diorama showing 2 scenes of Mount Fuji was a late present from Isaac and is actually really really difficult to make but it was time well spent. It's actually so great that I'm thinking of replacing my TV with this boxcano.

This picture of the instructions shouldn't fool anyone into thinking it is at all easy to make. http://tatebanko.com/products/index.html Here is a link to the website for the kit makers- Tatebanko, it is apparently an ancient Japanese art (what isn't) the range includes Hello Kitty, The Scream, The Persistence of Memory and lots of other very Japanese things.

The second volpresento, also Japanese themed, is my new Taschen diary showing 'Famous Visions of Edo'. Edo is the former name for Tokyo and presumably the volcano depicted in many of these is also Mount Fuji. 

 

These are some of my favourite pictures, obviously I only included the ones with volcanoes in. There is a lovely reminder for everyone of what I'll be doing this week and if anyone wants to give me a job, preferably in a volcanic field (though that may be a little dangerous), that'd be great. 

My favourite new bookcano is the present I bought myself, which is 'Earth on Fire' by Bernhard Edmaier which is full of truly amazing volcano photographs and really great information. I won't write too much about the book as I'm sure I'll will reference it many times. 

These are two of my favourite pictures from the book and are of Mount St Helens, Washington and Nyamulagira, Democratic Republic of Congo and they inspired to do this volcano painting, I am aware that the heat energy of the eruption would probably melt the snow but I thought it would look pretty. 

Happy New Year!

Voliconos

Following on from the most recent issue, here are pictures of people who look like volcanoes. Let me know if you have any more.

Cyndi Lauper- I'll try and stop going on about much I love her- but look how cool she is!

Little My- should also probably stop going on about how much I love Moomins, her temper adds to her volcanicity and apparently I look like her, may also be due to grumpiness. 

Sideshow Bob- hair is the main way in which a person can resemble a volcano

Amy Winehouse- many reasons for this one

James Dean- smoking enhances a volcano likeness (see above), a personal style icon and the reason why I carry a comb in my pocket.

Brian Blessed- looks and acts like a volcano

Louis Saha- people say this hairstyle was a mistake but the poor boy was just trying to look like a volcano.

Bjork- like many on this list, I just really love her

Steve Bruce- pre eruption

Gerard Depardieu- crater nose

Regan McNeil- is her name, vomit is a bit like lava I suppose. 

So in conclusion most people don't look that much like volcanoes but this has been a very welcome opportunity to tell people how great Cyndi, Little My, James Dean and Bjork are.

Volcanoes of Christmasses past, present and yet to come

Spot the three volcanoes in the picture. Volcano Club Christmas Card from everyone at Volcano Club- so me and Roxy, who is my alter ego, so just me really. You will only be lucky enough to get this card if you receive your copy after Christmas day (to emphasise the unpredictability of volcanoes). Hope everyone had a Happy Christmas and has a good New Year and an especially Merry Melbourne!

Issue Three

Two days later than hoped but here it is- Issue Three. A lovely late Christmas present copies available from all good retailers.

Charley Harper Volcano

I had a lot of time to kill yesterday and I went to the bookshop Magma (I'm only mentioning the name because magma is what's in a volcano so it was kinda like I was actually inside a volcano, which was obviously very enjoyable). Looking through one of my favourite books 'Charley Harper, An Illustrated Life' - which I may or may not be getting for Christmas, I saw an incredibly beautiful volcano which mainly shows the volcano gases. I think it's from the Giant Book of Biology or something similar which is full of brilliant illustrations that are also scientifically accurate.

Google search found this pretty Charley Harper cool poster of Hawaii volcanoes. 

Next Volcano Club Issue will be out on Christmas Eve (two days) so if I see you around the Christmas period you will probably get a copy as a present, if I don't you can probably still have one.