The Awesome Snow Ken and Friends...

Built by Richard Gennard (and Family?) during the recent UK cold snap.

Cheers!

The Story of Festivus

The Great 2009 Winter Solstice Mystery

Being the ungodly heathens we are at Amos (although it is well possible that JJ may find the Lord in the near future), we like to send out Winter Solstice greetings on December 21st, as this is the shortest day of the year and the turning point before we start the rush to Summer (or Winter if you are based in the Southern Hemisphere). This time of year affects us all and its existence cannot be denied, so it would seem right to mark it with some form of celebration. But this year there has been some confusion as to when the Solstice should be celebrated. The Druids, usually reliable keepers of solar time, could not decide amongst themselves. Here in the UK a bunch turned up to celebrate at Stonehenge (or Henge as we affectionately like to call it) on both the dawn of the 21st and the 22nd of December. The Gregorian calendar is out of synch with the solar calendar so they decided the Solstice should be celebrated on the 22nd. Yet, according to astronomers, the earth was furthest away from the sun at 17:47 on December 21st. So what decides when the Solstice should be recognised.?

After some research we have concluded that if the sun sets AFTER the actual Solstice, the Druids choose to celebrate on the following dawn (the 22nd in this case). This is despite the fact that this year there were fewer hours (9 hours and 43 minutes) between the actual Solstice and the dawn of the 21st which occurred at 08:04, than between the solstice and dawn on the 22nd which also occurred at 08:04 (14 hours and 17 minutes). Surely there is some Druid convention that comes into play here? And what of other pagan religions? When did they celebrate the Solstice? Any clarification on when we should have been celebrating the Solstice would be much appreciated.

In the meantime (and somewhat belatedly) seasons greetings to all, whatever your spiritual or philosophical inclinations.

Teenage Filmstars - Physical Graffiti

Discovered these guys recently. Totally missed them at the time. Ed Ball is a genius. This is my absolute favourite tune right now. Madness.

King Ken Carpets

We finally got our King Ken rugs delivered. They will go out to all those that pre-ordered over the next week. We messed up our order slightly so we have a few spare. Not many mind. And in brown or pink only. These will go live at store.amostoys.com on Saturday. Don't think they will last very long so if you need a big ape on a rug then be quick.

JJ Update

Just to let people know, I'm currently in bed with what looks like Swine Flu, so the Plymouth artwork is on hold until I am back on my feet.

Central Park Skateboard Park, Plymouth

Next week I will be painting a large scale artwork at the Central Park Skateboard Park in Plymouth. I should be working on Tuesday and Wednesday. I'm hoping the weather will improve - it looks pretty stormy in that neck of the woods.