Brutmann

Haven’t blogged in a while. This was supposed to be one of those regular things that I’d update weekly or even daily. Ha!

Life intervened.

Anyway, art lover that I am, something I saw recently woke me from my blogging slumber. Lovely video for a fine production, The Hired Man, which played at Bolton’s Octagon Theatre, just north of Manchester.

I was introduced to the production by ivideoproduction, friends of a friend Mark Attwood. Sometimes the arts can rejuvenate you so much!

Art lover that I am, I’ll be visiting my local art gallery this weekend, which is exhibiting an interesting display of cardboard shapes, created from soaking them in watery glue and letting street debris cling to them naturally. The idea is to represent the chaotic mix of urban modernity, the underbelly of the city, and the sad and generally ignored fall out of what we today call social “progress”.

I hope to write about that soon!

I knew I’d be asked. I mean, I’ve been asked so many times, I knew I’d be asked. So might as well get this out of the way.

“Why are you called Brutmann?”

Let me first explain. Brut aftershave, at one point in time, was the envy of the average high school teenager. Rocking up to the school gates in your Cortina with a pungent scent of Brut was the surest way to find your way into the hearts of many a short-skirted high school lady. And as a result, many a young high school gentleman was dousing themselves daily in the stuff.

It’s just that I took it too far. Before I was aware, an underground reputation had emerged – I was the guy who wore too much Brut! And the green trainers probably didn’t help.

Well, this is what you wanted isn’t it? Some kind of entertaining history about how I came to be called Brutmann? Well – sadly for you, it’s all BS. Brutmann is my name. European. In Europe, it’s actually quite common. That’s it.

Although I do like a bit of Brut when hitting the town on a Friday night…

This is the age of mass murder…9 people killed on the Gaza flotilla by Isreal…12 people slain by a taxi driver is Cumbria in broad daylight…3 prostitutes murdered in Yorkshire by a criminologist…God knows how many animals murdered and lives ruined by BP’s ridiculous oil leak…yet the human spirit continues. We fight on with our daily routines and with hope and love in our hearts. That is the true nature of humanity. Together we shall rise above the filth and the evil, and we shall become transcendent. Or something like that.

Here’s Obama Bin Barak using the BP incident to push alternative energy. Did you really think this guy would be any different to Bush?