Black taxi tours of the murals from both sides of the political divide in west Belfast are a well-established part of the tourist industry. (There are also tours of east Belfast.) The various gates in the “peace” line — shown here as closing nightly at 19:69 — are generally open during daylight hours.
The HBO show Game Of Thrones wrapped up its sixth season recently in its customary fashion, which is to say, with intrigue and murder.
Interior scenes for the show are shot at the old Harland & Wolff ‘Paint Hall’ in the Titanic Quarter. The filming is parodied in the image above — the boom operator is wearing a Northern Ireland football top and has a tattoo saying “Is grá liom uisce” (“I love water”) on his bicep.
More David Bowie commemoration in Belfast’s city centre: Visual Waste (Web | Fb) reproduces Bowie as Aladdin Sane, successor to Ziggy Stardust. Here’s an Independent article on the iconic image of Bowie with blue and red lightning bolt across his face. On the make-up artist for both Aladdin Sane and Ziggy Stardust, Pierre LaRoche, see this article.
“I’d rather trust a dealer on a badly lit street corner than an MLA in a three piece suit” — a hoarding over a street containing a Saracen, a DeLorean, and a heavily fortified British Army base: The original slogan (from a Maser piece of street art in Dublin) seems to have been “… than a criminal in a three piece suit” — the substitution with “MLA” suggesting criminality in the Assembly: there’s an Isle Of Man Bank check for seven million two hundred thousand pounds, made out to “ANMLA”, drawn on the account of “Northern and Southern Ireland tax payers” in the bottom left-hand corner.
And in three bubbles in the centre: “Do you think our 18 MPs came up the Bann in a bubble? Do you think out 108 MLAs came up the Lagan in a bubble? Do you think our 3 MEPs came up the Foyle in a bubble?” — meaning that none of these people were born yesterday — along with a fishbowl of bowler-hatted fish swimming around a Stormont flying the jolly roger/skull and cross-bones with a sign saying “Westminster 370 km”.
In the right-hand corner, Marguerite’s “traditional sweet shop” is “Closed For Ever!” The shop used to be on Waring Street at the junction with Hill Street (according to Frankie Quinn of the Red Barn Gallery).
Four faces watch from the window. Do you recognize any of them?
As Peggy Lee said in the song, “If that’s all there is my friends/Then let’s keep dancing, Let’s break out the booze and have a ball/If that’s all there is”.
These carefree dancers in Belfast’s city centre are by FGB (Francois Got Buffed – web | twitter).
Disclaimer in the window of The Seedy Side Of Town in Haymarket Arcade: “We are not able to give any growing advice, so please do not ask. Seeds are sold as souvenirs. Germination of seeds is ILLEGAL under the Misuse of Drugs Act 1971. Be informed before you purchase. By purchasing, you are indicating that you have reached the age of 18, and are aware of the law. You also waive any liability towards The Seedy Side of Town if you act outside the law. We are not trying to persuade anyone to break the law.”
David Bowie’s song Oh! You Pretty Things (from Hunky Dory) concerns “the impending obsolescence of the human race in favour of an alliance between arriving aliens and the youth of the present society” (Carr & Murray (1981). Bowie: An Illustrated Record: pp. 40-41 | WP). Ziggy Stardust also brought a message of hope for Earth’s youth. In the tribute poster to Bowie’s death (on January 10th, 2016), Leo Boyd (Tumblr | Belfast Print Workshop) takes the image from the cover of Earthling (Bowie’s 1997 album) and adds flying saucers, as though Bowie is to be beamed up. Farewell, Starman.
Here is the latest political comment from TLO (we assume): DUP member and former Minister for Culture, Arts, and Leisure Gregory Campbell – MLA for East Londonderry– is shown suffering from “Derryrhoea”. In the upper posters, his hair is orange and tongue red, while in the lower poster he appears to be seeing and thinking feces. Campbell has been twicebarred from speaking in the Assembly in the last 15 months.
On a headstone in City Cemetery: Che Guevara, the Virgin Mary, a guitar, a pair of football boots, and an invocation of St. Dympna, “patron saint of the nervous, emotionally disturbed, mentally ill, and those who suffer neurological disorders – and, consequently, of psychologists, psychiatrists, and neurologists” according to her WP page.
Seosamh Mac Coille Collection 