Terrain Training Tuesday: Cannibalism

Hmmm...well, I may finally be over my training montage faze (I don’t think anyone truly gets over it but I will try to stop boring the world with it) and have decided to approach a rather disturbing topic which was broached earlier in the ship wrecked series: Cannibalism. I don’t mean the old put an ad in the paper and get some poor sucker wasted and proceed to eat bits of him like some weirdo Germans do, but survival cannibalism. The thing about survival cannibalism is that it appears to be innate in human nature, and in certain situations seems to be quite forgivable. As terrible as the thought is, it kinda makes sense. I think this topic has a similar debate as the urine drinking discussed much earlier.

Now, it appears that survival cannibalism had happened enough that by the 19th century it was an unspoken fact of life in the event of a shipwreck. This, as a custom of the sea, included general guidelines. Drawing straws was the traditional method of deciding who would be killed and eaten and who would carry out the killing. Usually, the person with the shortest straw died and the person with the next shortest straw was the one who did the dirty deed.

A 20th Century example is four men on a yacht named the Mignonette sailing from England to Australia were stranded in a lifeboat after the yacht sank in the Atlantic. They remained adrift for more than two months and exhausted the meat of a sea turtle they'd captured. One of the men -- a sailor named Richard Parker -- drank seawater out of desperate thirst. As his health declined, his shipmates opted to kill and eat him rather than wait for the young man to die naturally. A twist of irony is, a sailor named Richard Parker was eaten by his fellow castaways after they'd eaten a tortoise in a 1838 Edgar Allen Poe short story, "The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym".

THEN, in 1972, a group of 16 people, including members of a Uruguayan rugby team, faced a similar situation when a plane crash stranded them in the Andes Mountains in Chile. During their 70 days in the mountains, the surviving members of the team ate the flesh of others who died in the plane crash. This was made into a Hollywood film with Ethan Hawke playing one of the leads and everyone is a hero. Go figure.

Survival cannibalism is a LAST resort (at least that’s what you tell the authorities if you get caught), anything even remotely resembling food was first eaten. Dogs, candles, leather, shoes and blankets are all consumed first before cannibalism but remember people THIS IS survival. I'd go for the most annoying person to be honest and work my way back. And if you want to stay mysterious, people DO meet with 'accidents'.... (and hope that you are not stranded with Hercule Poirot).

Just remember to pack the salt and pepper.

Terrain Training Tuesday: Best training montages of all time!

I have to admit last week got me thinking....training montages....personally I love them. But what would be the best training montage that you have seen? Well, here are my personal top five. So when your training gets you down just think of these inspirational montages, cue the power song and get back out there into the terrain! So let’s start at Number five....

Number 5 is the Karate Kid: Who can forget poor Daniel, little weedy Daniel who had the whole Karate posse after him and made him trash his bike? Oh, yeah. There may not be a real montage in this but then the whole film is a training montage. Cue that song “You’re the best” and Daniel was off to Karate superpowerdom (no, I don’t think that’s a real word but we’re dealing with montages here, reality doesn’t enter into it).



Number 4 goes to Team America: What can I say?! We’re gonna need a montage! I love this.

Number 3 to Footloose: A Recon Unit personal favourite. And yes, it is a dance montage but it does take place in an abandoned garage and he is angry, so it is kinda cool. Funny enough there is a parallel bar section to this, so I’m guessing he’s in a parallel bar factory?



Number 2 is the ultimate in montages in Rocky: Any Rocky film will do, however Rocky IV (link goes to the video) kinda took the cake. While Rocky’s opponent trained in a high tech gym with super computers and crystals (yep, I said crystals), all our star Italian Stallion needed was a piece of wood, a rope, a sled and an 80’s leather jacket. Whilst Rocky crumples photos of his opponent and trains in the rural landscape of Russia (hilarious), his opponent trains the old fashioned way, with injections, a bank of hi-tech computers, and Brigitte Nielsen. It also ends with a mountain climb and a primal scream, who could ask for more? And the Berserkers love it.

And Number one is Turkish Star Wars Training Montage: All I can say is watch it, there are no words...



What do you think? Any to add to the list?

HiiRagi 'Plush you!' Interview

Just a quick note to say that the lovely Kristen who organises the Plush you! exhibition interviewed me last week and popped it on her blog. You can find it here.

August Sketchbook

Yes, I know that it is the middle of September and what a perfect time to finally pop up some sketches from my August Sketchbook. Enjoy!

Yes, that's right World Domination IS the HiiRagi Army way....

Spying, spying, spying.... They look made up but these binoculars are actually based on some WWII binoculars. Aren't they great?!

I'm going to pop these two together I think to make one whole image. I see t-shirts.....

Terrain Training Tuesday: Training Montage!

I know that I left off stranded on an island looking for treasure and trying to figure out who we were going to eat but I've lost interest in that. It's all turned just a little bit too Lord of the Flies. So when all else fails, what do you do? You pop in a training montage, well, a series of training images! Cue an 80's power ballad (I will always have a soft spot for 'Eye of the Tiger', it's obvious I know but hey...). All images from the NZ Army Site (aren't they ace?! The middle image in the dive suits is an interesting one....) Hopefully there will be a HiiRagi Army Training Montage soon!

Recon Unit: Geisha

Ahhhhh, the mysterious world of the Geisha. What secrets hide in the teahouses of Gion? Recon Unit goes undercover to discover the feminine skills behind bringing (salary) men to their kness with the flick of a wrist. This power must be harnessed for the HiiRagi cause.

These are three geisha that I have completed recently. The luscious red Geisha will be heading off to Seattle this week as part of the HiiRagi team in the 'Plush You!' exhibition.

Arigato gozaimasu!!!

New HiiRagi Cards!

I have been drawing away for a little while now and was pretty excited to pick up the new card range last week. The cards are two differed sets. The first is a card dedicated to each unit of the HiiRagi Army, meaning Recon Unit (see the card below), Occupational Force and Berserkers.

The second set is a HiiRagi Army Transportation set featuring members of the HiiRagi Army going places (aren't they always?!). There are three images: Military Helicopter (see below), Amphibious vehicle, and Snow mobile.

On the back of each card is a description of wither the Army member or the vehicle featured (we all know how much I like my technical details) and they teamed with a brown kraft envelope. Yay! Available from the HiiRagi online store now.

Terrain Training Tuesday: Shipwrecked! Part 3

Treasure (from Greek θησαυρός - thēsauros, meaning "treasure store) is a concentration of riches, often one which is considered lost or forgotten until being rediscovered. A buried treasure is an important part of the popular beliefs surrounding pirates. According to popular conception, pirates often buried their stolen fortunes in remote places, intending to return for them later (often with the use of treasure maps). Belief, my arse, we all know it’s a fact. I’ve seen Yellowbeard, I know.

Now since we don’t have a map on our deserted island we are most probably going to have to go dowsing to find our plentiful bounty.
Dowsing is a type of divination employed in attempts to locate water, buried metals or ores, gemstones and many other objects and materials, as well as so-called currents of earth radiation (aka Ley lines), without the use of scientific apparatus. Dowsing appears to have arisen in the context of Renaissance magic in Germany, although there is no accepted scientific rationale behind the concept and no scientific evidence that it is effective. At least that’s what they say...

Now, a Y- or L-shaped twig or rod, called a dowsing rod (obviously) is sometimes used during dowsing, although some dowsers use other equipment or no equipment at all. Others go high tech with a metal detector, which I would personally recommend but in our current shipwrecked condition I doubt that we have one at our disposal...Dammit!

Instructions to make your own Dowsing Rod:

1. Locate a small, forked branch of live wood. Willow and apple branches are traditional, but not necessary. Some modern dowsers even use plastic or metal rods
2. Cut the branch from the tree. Trim away small leaves or twigs.
3. Trim the branch so that each arm of the Y is approximately equal in length and between one and two feet long (this is a matter of personal preference). The joined section should be three to four inches in length.
4. Connect, if desired, a witness compartment. This is a device to hold a tiny sample of the material the dowser wishes to find. The cap from a ballpoint pen can form a great witness compartment although the end of the rod may need to be whittled down so that the cap will snugly fit over it. Witness compartments are a relatively new invention, and many dowsers choose not to use them.
5. Hold the palms up with an arm of the rod in each hand. Hold the rod away from the body. The rod should be kept parallel to the ground.
6. Walk over the area to be examined slowly and methodically thinking about the item trying to be found (water, oil or gold, for example).
7. Wait for the rod to suddenly swing up or down. This indicates a result, and the exact spot where this occurs should be searched. So now you just DIG DIG DIG DIG DIG! Until Hurrah! Treasure!!!!!!!!!!!

Many dowsers today use a pair of simple L-shaped metal rods. One rod is held in each hand, with the short arm of the L held upright, and the long arm pointing forward. When something is found, the rods cross over one another making an "X" over the found object.

At the very least this project will keep you occupied for at least half to a full day. This is good, because soon you will have to decide which of your companions you are going to have to eat first...

All Round Inspiration: King Brown Mag

Do you guys know King Brown Mag? I've only recently found it but I really like it for a bit of inspiration. Even better is it comes from Perth, WA ( I've been known to have my doubts about that place but I can't argue with this one.) It's just jammed packed full of street artists and illustrators from around the world, a bit of photography, maybe some music and it comes delivered in an awesome screened brown paper bag that they commission from an artist each issue.

It also tends to include a few stickers or postcards and I love a freebie. It is a tad expensive for a magazine but it's more like a book to be honest and the interviews are cool. Below are some images from Issue 5:

My favourite favourite thing, however, is the studio snapshot of each artist favourite things in their studio, I love a good sticky beak. If all else fails, just go and read the blog, yep, I know I sound like a broken record, but that's ace too..