Serial Killers

Suddenly
Out of the blue
There it is
Heady,
Turbulent, delusive
All wrapped up in smooth
Lavish glamour,
The lame remainder
Of some fruitless
Meditating effort
To drive it home
And lose myself
On the winding road
Of some criminal thought
Not incestuous though,
Yet most certainly flawed.
Over righteous
And too respectful
Of the choice to be
Doubtless and doubtfree
Thus presuming
I'm perpetuating
The mighty fancy
Of some loving dream.
Ultimately,
The voice went silent;
So much love had killed it.

About this piece

• The title is kind of elusive as it refers to the original text written solely with adjectives ending in “tueuse” (literally -tuous) which sounds and spells like “killer” in feminine gender in French. Although all puns are obviously untranslatable, I decided to give my best rendition of it so here is.

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Blood on Our Hands

Manosangre

There is no land around
Without God,
Resulting from the work
Of Nature.

Words wrapped in silence,
Gone quiet forever,
Eroded within time,
And dying in the dark.

There's blood on the rocks
That the sea will wash away.

We spread misery
To everyone,
Unknowingly ruining
That future of ours,
Remainders of our humanity.

There's blood on the rocks
That the sea will wash away.

Original text by TOMÁS BATISTA translated from Spanish by EY@EL
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May Day

While in France, May Day is generally associated to Labour Day and International Workers' Day, it is also a traditional spring holiday celebrated in a number of countries from the Northern hemisphere — a Celtic heritage taking its roots in an old Pagan festival (Beltane) to mark the transition from dark to light season as opposed to Samain or Halloween. However, for those of us who are neither unionists, Satanists nor even tribalistic, it's usually the opportunity to enjoy an extra day off to go and pick lilies of the valley in the woods and smell their magical fragrance (that is when the weather's fine otherwise you're most likely to pick up slugs instead). A bit like what I had envisioned for my second cousin Margot (a teenager now) in the above picture I designed ages ago.

Happy May Day!

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Subterranean Homesick Alien

The breath of the morning:
I keep forgetting
The smell of the warm summer air.
I live in a town
Where you can’t smell a thing,
You watch your feet
For cracks in the pavement.

Up above, aliens hover
Making home movies
For the folks back home.
Of all these weird creatures
Who lock up their spirits,
Drill holes in themselves
And live for their secrets.

They’re all
Uptight... Uptight...
Uptight... Uptight...
Uptight... Uptight...

I wish that they’d swoop down
In a country lane
Late at night when I’m driving,
Take me on board their beautiful ship,
Show me the world as I’d love to see it.

I’d tell all my friends but they’d never believe me,
They’d think that I’d finally lost it completely.
I’d show them the stars and the meaning of life,
They’d shut me away

But I’d be
Alright... Alright...
I’d be alright...
I’m alright.

I’m just
Uptight... Uptight...
Uptight... Uptight...
Uptight... Uptight...
Uptight.

Original text by THOM YORKE

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Moon Shadows

Caw crow
That handsome body
On the cross
Cross my heart
Crossed swords
Uncloaking
Some strange
Unwise
Fallen angel
Figures crossing
Across the chasm
Of some epic
Winged dream
Torn down
By the sharp
Pointy thorns
Of some epiphanic
Dawn

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Follow the White Rabbit

Right through the current turmoil and overwhelming energies pulling us down, learn to unload the burden off your heart by focusing on the only thing that really matters: love. Whatever form it may take is irrelevant; its vibration is so powerful, they do everything to prevent us from transmitting or receiving it. Do not nip it in the bud.

Different types of love...
Different types of love...
Different types of love...
Are possible...
Are possible...

"Desert Island Disk", Radiohead (2016)

 "Desert Island Disk", Radiohead (2016)

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How to Colourise Portrait Photos

In my first photo editing tutorial I taught you how to colourise photos using other pictures. However, since the latter technique only applies to landscapes, here is how I revived this dusty complexion of mine with some colours (which only works on pictures, unfortunately). I used Paint Shop Pro X but any basic photo editing software will do the trick.

Materials

• a preferably well-contrasted black and white (or monochrome) portrait picture

Instructions

1. Open a copy of the black and white (or monochrome) picture you wish to colourise. Increase colours to 16 million in order to be able to add colours.

2. Add a new layer and set blend mode to either Colour or Colour (Legacy) and reduce opacity according to your desired effect.

3. Start with skin tones. I recommend picking the appropriate hue from an existing colour picture and change it accordingly. Cover all flesh areas using brush and eraser or freehand tool/magic wand to select and fill zones depending on what's best for you.

4. Repeat procedure for each colour.

5. Once you're happy with the result, merge all visible layers then make some adjustments or use filters to enhance your picture.

NOTE: Since the original picture I used is actually a scan from a sepia coloured print, I first had to reduce colour saturation to 0 so as to obtain a greyscale image (in such case, no need to increase colours). After merging layers, I experimented with global and flesh tones contrast with the Color Efex Pro filter series.

For this second example, I just partially coloured the picture using lesser layer opacity in order to produce a soft pastel effect in perfect adequacy with the original atmosphere.

I hope this makes you want to experiment. You may also use colour pictures and turn them to greyscale before recolourising them. The possibilities are endless and can only be limited by your imagination and creativity.

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