A Break For Some Celebrations

Fine Wind, Clear Morning by Katsushika Hokusai

After getting Magpie episode 9 finished I've had a little time off. I turned 60 last week which means I'm starting on my second life, a big occasion. Katsushika Hokusai, a great artist of the end of the 18th and beginning of the 19th centuries, changed his name on turning 60 and called himself "old man crazy to paint." I'm undecided about my second life name; "old man crazy to animate" might work but I also draw comics. Maybe "old man crazy to draw stories" might work best.

Anyway, there will be more Magpie of Space coming soon. My wife and I will be celebrating our 30th wedding anniversary shortly and then I'll reveal whether Chief McPhail's crazy plan works out.

Hokusai painted Thirty-six Views of Mount Fuji, of which The Great Wave off Kanagawa is one (look in the background).

New Magpie of Space

Episode 9 is available over at Magpie of Space. Chief McPhail outlines her daring plan to get the Magpie recharged and away from the star pox but Mr Hazard adds a complication.

Magpie of Space: Contagion - Episode 7

Episodes 1 to 7 of The Magpie of Space are currently available and Episode 8 is being drawn now.

The crew are cooking up a new plan to escape lockdown in Station AE104 and continue their mission to explore the galaxy. How do they get past the BIG scary robot?

Magpie of Space: Contagion - Episode 7: Chief Engineer McPhail's robots stand in the docking port, ready to enter Station AE104 and find a way of recharging the Magpie's en...

Still Almost Weekly

The Magpie of Space is now into its sixth episode. Can McPhail's robots save the day and get the Magpie safely away from the star pox?

 See the Magpie of Space website.

More Photos From Lockdown

I've been steadily amassing a library of photos as I take my daily walk with my camera. There's a load of new additions to the Flickr album I set up for this project.

Have a look:

https://flic.kr/s/aHsmMmPjtr

Space Pilot Flies into the 21st Century

We've finally caught up with the 21st century and upgraded Space Pilot HQ to fibre broadband. With three homeworkers under lockdown we've been punishing the old system hard. Looking for a solution I discovered that BT had quietly installed fibre in our local junction box and not announced the fact. A quick visit to the PlusNet website and our upgrade was ordered.
Now the question is "What can the Space Pilot project do with this?"
Watch this space.

Magpie of Space continues...

... over on its own blog, Magpie of Space. 

Continuing almost weekly on the web ... Magpie of Space!

A Wee Bit Of Free Entertainment From A Star Of The Comics Community

Stref,who recently joined me in the Shoreline Of Infinity Group, has been making some comics fun available for free to everyone locked down in the pandemic crisis. For older readers there is a Raising Amy comic. You can get it by clicking on the cover image below.

For younger readers there is a Peter Pan activity pack with colouring pages and puzzles that you can gte by clicking on the Peter Pan image here.

Stref's blog is at http://artbystref.blogspot.com/

Have fun.

Pandemic Advice Through 1960s Drama

I've just been watching the classic Star Trek episode The Naked Time with my family as we hunker down in the Space Pilot Pandemic Isolation Bunker and it occurred to us that this is a valuable piece of viewing for our times. The adventure starts with Mr Spock and Joe Tormolen beaming down to a science station on a dying planet to find that everyone has died in bizarre circumstances. Forunately Spock and Joe have full environment suits on and are therefore protected from whatever contagion may have caused the suicidal behaviour of the science team. However Joe's behaviour is less than safe as this sequence shows. Look and learn - do not emulate Joe. Be like Spock: touch nothing and be safe.

Joe is safe in his environment suit... but he has an itchy nose.

This is where Joe starts to go wrong. He takes off his glove.

That feels better. He scratches his nose.

For now he is actually OK because he hasn't touched anything before taking his hand to his nose... but, Joe, where is your glove now?

Now Joe is in trouble. He is touching a possibly infected surface with his bare hand.

Look at that weird red stuff shooting out at his fingers.

It's on his hand now. If that hand goes anywhere near his face ....

Now he's done it. A good old dose is applied to Joe's nose.

Only now, too late, does he remember to put his glove back on.

What would Mr Spock have done in this situation?

Star Trek is copyright to CBS Corporation. No infringement is intended by this public information post.

The Great Wave of The River Nith

We heard this long before we saw it. I've never seen the tidal bore on the Nith this close to a Spring tide before but it was pretty spectacular on Easter Sunday.

I've long had an idea of drawing this, Hokusai style, with a portrait of Criffel, our local mountain, in the background. However I did manage to capture it with a nifty little Halina 500 I was out testing while my wife and I had our Covid-19 lockdown walk. Here is what it looked like.

50 Years Ago This Week - Apollo 13

It was this week 50 years ago when the world held its breath awaiting the news of the crew of Apollo 13. They were on their way to the Moon when there was an electrical fault in an oxygen tank which nearly destroyed the spacecraft and left the mission cruising towards its destination with insufficient oxygen and power to return to Earth.

NASA recounts the events here: 50 Years Ago: Apollo 13 Launch Date Reset

I can remember as a 9-year-old boy sitting in the cinema in East Kilbride when the film was interrupted by a slide displaying the simple message that the crew of Apollo 13 had splashed down safely in the Pacific. The whole cinema audience stood up and cheered and applauded. A magnificent example of rescuing success from utter disaster.