The Magnet 092: Free Art, Free Music, Free-Range Thoughts
Random cool stuff I've been into lately
Hi and welcome to The Magnet! I'm Mark Frauenfelder, and in this 92nd issue, I present you with a fascinating collection of public domain art, a website that has genderswapped covers songs, a monthly video show by SubGenius exemplar Hal Robins, and the reason why so many modern movies seem to be dipped in blue ink. I hope you enjoy it!
MUSIC
Fun Cover Song Site
Genderswap.fm is a site that lets you listen to original songs and "genderswapped" cover versions. The beautifully designed site's creator, Eva Decker, has a loose definition of "genderswapped" but in most cases it means the original artist and the cover artist are of different genders. Here's Joan Jett & the Blackhearts covering The Stooges "I Wanna Be Your Dog." Jett's version sounds a lot like The Stooges'. I like Norah Jones' cover of Soundgarden's "Black Hole Sun" because she makes it her own. You can also submit genderswapped covers that aren't yet on the site. I added The Flying Lizard's 1979 minimalistic noise rendition of Barrett Strong's 1958 song "Money (That's What I Want)."
VIDEO
The Ask Dr. Hal Show
I first learned about Hal Robins from his comics in Weirdo magazine. His art is meticulously detailed and bursting with treats for the eye. Check out the Dinosaurs Attack! trading cards he painted for Topps in the late 1980s, which pay homage to the famous and gruesome Mars Attacks! cards from 1962. I hired Hal to draw illustrations for The Happy Mutant Handbook in 1995 and Make magazine many years later. He was also a voice actor for Valve's Half-Life. The best way to get to know this fascinating person is by watching his monthly video program called The Ask Dr. Hal Show. Each episode includes vintage cartoons, poetry recitations, and most importantly, Hal's fascinating extemporaneous answers to viewers' questions. From his website:
On any given evening, Dr. Hal recites long, obscure poems from memory, predicts future events, psychoanalyzes, tells fortunes and (sometimes) sings. Interspersed is a plethora of mad science, good music, eclectic guests and whatever it takes to get folks to put money in the tip jar. But do not insult Herr Doktor with insipid trivia; Dr. Hal need not be burdened with facts you already know or wish to challenge him on… Nay. We shall save that for YOUR Q&A show. Ask of the sapient Doctor something you have always wondered about. Something you need to know. Something that has possibly been on your mind for a few decades. This show is of an improvisational nature– please do your part. YOU are the ASK in The Ask Dr. Hal Show.
How can you say no to that? Past episodes are available at the Internet Archive.
RESOURCE
Public Domain Art Treasures
Artvee is a website that curates and provides free access to a vast collection of high-quality, public domain art images from museums and libraries around the world. The collection includes fine art, posters, advertisements, and book illustrations. It's well-designed, making it easy to discover, download, and use these images for any purpose. Here are a few samples to give you an idea of the variety: Demons Teasing Me; Poster for the James Ensor Exhibition at the Salon des Cent in Paris (1898), Gilbert & Parsons, hygienic whiskey–for medical use (1860), The web and the diamonds and the Big Spider himself all fell to the ground (1910), Group IV, No. 7, The Ten Largest, Adulthood (1907) Hilma af Klint. What creative uses can you think of for these?