The Bristol Tesco Riots – Not So “Mild Mild West”
Banksy Mild Mild West
The UK city of Bristol is home to Modern Canvas Art, worldwide sellers of fantastic pop art canvas prints and pop art paintings, and world famous graffiti artist Banksy. Last week we saw an evening a unrest and rioting in our great city. The trouble flared while police were guarding a damaged “Tesco Express” store as local residents complained that heavy-handed police tactics had provoked a night of violent rioting.
The cause of the trouble has been somewhat confused by two separate issues; firstly, the police raided a squat occupied by opponents of the recently opened supermarket outlet and this led to eight police officers and several protesters becoming injured. However, ever since plans for the new Tesco Express store were mooted, there has been very strong opposition by the local community, a body of which describe themselves as “The People’s Republic of Stoke’s Croft”.
The store is seen as a threat to the businesses of local communities, which are made up from very wide and diverse ethnic backgrounds. Tesco is seen as a capitalist enemy, taking over communities and milking the resources from within them by driving down prices and putting convenience stores out of business. Ever since plans for the new Tesco were announced the reaction to it in Stoke’s Croft has been bitter and at times, quite hostile. The hostility prompted round the clock security to be installed at the store while it was being fitted out. Reports came in that petrol bombs were being assembled in the squat – being known to locals as “Telepathic Heights” – for, allegedly, use for an attack on the Tesco store. The police confirmed some time later that petrol bombs had been recovered from the house and these were being examined.
The Stoke’s Croft area is Banksy territory in Bristol. Indeed, some 200 yards down the road from the troubled Tesco Express store can be seen Banksy’s iconic “Mild Mild West” piece on the side of a building which dominates the view down the street. This is so iconic that it has been ordered to be preserved by Bristol City Council. In fact – iconic and ironic – in the early days of Banksy the Council could not remove his art from public spaces quick enough. Now of course, he has put Bristol on the map and there can be little doubt that many more visitors are drawn to the city to see his works. As a result, the Council are bending over backwards to preserve them.
By coincidence, Banksy has produced his own piece of art making fun of this country’s obsession to shopping and Tesco – see here At the current time a large part of the Stoke’s Croft area is cut off. One feels that this may not be the end of the trouble in store for Tesco. However, the feeling is that they will not be bullied out of the area. The largest supermarket in the UK does not become the largest supermarket in the UK by bowing to local pressure. It could be a long fight. Take a look at Modern Canvas Art for a selection of Banksy prints
Kate Middleton and Prince William: The Royal Wedding
With the media’s hype and attention heavily focused on the royal wedding that is set to take place next Friday 29th April, we take a look at the couple, their pre-wedding engagement and the wedding itself.
Union Jack Canvas Art Print
On 16thNovember 2010, Clarence House in Westminster announced that Prince William Arthur Philip Louis Mountbatten-Windsor was set to marry Catherine Elizabeth Middleton, his girlfriend since 2001, whom he met whilst studying at the University of St Andrews. The couple got engaged during a holiday to Kenya in October. The Queen stated she was “absolutely delighted”, while Prince Charles added that they had been “practising long enough”. Kate Middleton received the very same ring that had been given to William’s Mother Princess Diana by Prince Charles in their engagement back in 1981. The ring features 18-carat white gold, a 12-carat oval sapphire, 14 round diamonds and an approximate value of over £250,000.
Clarence House revealed on 23rd November that the Wedding was due to be held on 29th April 2011 and to be staged at Westminster Abbey, which has held previous weddings including the marriages of Elizabeth II and Prince Philip (1947), Princess Margaret to Anthony Armstrong-Jones (1960), Princess Anne to Captain Mark Philips (1973) and Prince Andrew to Sarah Ferguson (1986). Although Westminster Abbey has held numerous royal weddings, it was originally used generally for Coronations and had only held weddings since 1918. The wedding is to be funded solely by the Royal Family, the Middletons and the British Treasury.
The service itself is due to start at 11:00 am, with the first of the guests arriving from 8:15 am. Prince William and his brother Harry, who is the best man for the wedding, will arrive by 10:15 am. Next the foreign royals arrive, after that the Middleton family and finally the Prince’s family. The wedding will end at 12:15, with the newly wedded couple and some other family members travelling to Buckingham palace in the form of a procession. At 1:25, Prince William and Kate Middleton will stand on the Buckingham Palace balcony to watch the Battle of Britain Memorial Flight “fly past”.
Various forms of merchandise and memorabilia have been designed for the wedding, including cushions, t-shirts, hats, mugs and many more various other items. Some other companies have opted to design more rather anti-royal wedding and humorous merchandise, for example mugs that say, “I am not a royal wedding mug“ or a plate that states in big letters “Thanks for the free day off”.
At Modern Canvas Art, we like the Royal Family and will have one eye on the wedding next Friday. Royal Wedding canvas prints are not really our thing as such, so we prefer to celebrate British culture and are proud of the union jack and all that it represents. You can take a look at our union jack canvas prints and Cool Britannia canvas prints and canvas paintings by clicking on the links
Visit Modern Canvas Art now and get some cool stuff on your wall !
The History of Video Gaming
Video gaming has become a major part of many of our lives, with hundreds of games to choose from spanning many different platforms and consoles. The industry has become one of the biggest in the world, but when and where did the modern day practice of video gaming originate from?
Pong Video Game Canvas Art Print
The first officially recognised video game was developed in 1948, which was called the “Cathode Ray Tube Amusement Device”. The game involved using buttons and knobs to control the cathode ray beam in order to simulate firing at airborne targets. Many other games were produced throughout the 1950s and 1960s (such as ‘OXO’ and ‘Tennis for Two’), however these were created more as a hobby and so were not commercially available, partly due to the lack of computers.
The 1970s brought upon the first generation of arcade video games – the first of which was created and installed in Stanford University. The game, which was called the ‘Galaxy Game’, was the first ever game that required the insertion of a coin in order to be played. Only one of these was built. A short while later in 1972, Atari was founded, allowing the hit video game ‘Pong’ to be born. Pong was the first commercially successful video game; it achieved sales of over 19000 units.
The 1980s gave us the second and third-generation consoles, allowing gamers to own consoles in their own houses rather than having to travel to an arcade. The late 1970s and early 80s were known as the ‘Golden Age’ in video gaming, where famous titles such as ‘Space Invaders’, ‘Asteroids’ and ‘Pac-Man’ entered the scene. In the late 1980s, many more home consoles and games were developed, including Nintendo and their Nintendo Entertainment System – this finally allowed the ‘Super Mario Bros’ to break into our homes. Other well-known faces appeared with the introduction of ‘The Legend Of Zelda’ and ‘Metal Gear’. The end of the ‘Golden Era’ was marked in 1995 after the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) was discontinued.
The 1990s saw Handheld LCD Games rapidly increase in popularity with the introduction of the Game Boy, while the arcade video games began to decrease in popularity due to the increasingly widespread availability of home consoles. Technological advances in 3D graphics saw the creation of other game genres such as the First Person Shooter and Real Time Strategy. These advances also saw three new consoles enter the stores – these were the Sega Saturn, the Playstation and the PC-FX. Another notable game created in this decade is ‘Alone in the Dark’ (1992) which was one of the first successful survival horror games – it was not the first game in the genre, but it set the tone for the future ones to come. Other successful franchises hit the market in the 90s, such as the ‘Sims’ series. Also, Nokia became the first phone developers to include time-killing games on their phones when they introduced snake to their range in 1998.
The 2000s saw the creation of sixth and seventh generation consoles, the most notable being the Playstation 2 (followed by the PS3), Xbox (followed by the Xbox 360) and the Nintendo Wii. Many popular games were produced for these consoles, such as Grand Theft Auto or Call of Duty. While these modern day games seem popular, the best selling game ever was actually Pokemon Red, Blue and Green for the Gameboy while the best selling franchise is the Mario series, which has spanned 200 games since 1981.
At Modern Canvas Art, we fondly remember the childhood days of Pong and latterly the Sinclair ZX Spectrum with its “massive” 48K ram pack, where we would spend our childhood days playing Jetpac and Jet Set Willy. Check out our Classic Canvas Art Prints and our Classic Pop Art Canvas Paintings now!
Lewis Hamilton Wins Shanghai Grand Prix
Lewis Hamilton Canvas Art Print
Lewis Hamilton stormed to victory at the Shanghai Grand Prix this weekend with his first win in almost eight months, which was back in August 2010 at Spa. This adds life to his season as he has now closed the gap on the Red Bull driver Sebastien Vettel, who is the Championship leader, to a mere 21 points. Hamilton told the press that it was a win on par with those of his at Silverstone and Monaco. “I live, breathe and exist to win,” he also said. Hamilton drove a brilliant race, involving swift manoeuvres to pass the likes of Felipe Massa, Nico Rosberg, Jensen Button and Sebastien Vettel (twice!). Lewis may have been lucky not to miss out on winning when Jensen Button missed his pit stop call, going in a lap late and consequently causing his fellow team mate to enter later, which cost him a place. Jenson Button was unable to fully recover from this odd error – he could only manage 4th place.
The team at Red Bull seemed happy with their team’s performance, as Sebastien Vettel and Mark Webber attained 2nd and 3rd places, also finishing 5 and 7 seconds behind the Brit respectively. Mark Webber performed rather well, considering the fact that he started the race in 18th position. Despite their impressive performances, they could only manage a total of 33 points, which was 4 points fewer than McLaren accumulated. Over at Ferrari, Felipe Massa and Fernando Alonso produced, what some might say, a disappointing performance. They could only obtain 14 points between them at 6th and 7th places. The remainder of the points were shared between Michael Schumacher (8th), Vitaly Petrov (9th) and Kamui Kobayashi (10th).
The next Grand Prix we have to look forward to will be the Turkish Grand Prix, to be held at Istanbul Park from the 6th to the 8th May. This race last year produced an incredibly exciting race, with Lewis Hamilton and Jensen Button swooping the top 2 positions with only 2 seconds separating the British duo. Kovalainen retired after just 33 laps and Sebastien Vettel crashed on his 39th lap.
At Modern Canvas Art, we love to see British athletes triumph, whatever the sport may be. Although having seen the poor performance at the 2010 world cup in South Africa, it’s beginning to feel like we might have to turn to other sports for joy.
Visit Modern Canvas Art to view our extensive range of Sport Canvas Prints, Pop Art Paintings and Multi-Panel Art.
Manchester City Reach the 2011 FA Cup Final
In the FA Cup Semi Final on 16th April 2011 treble-chasing Manchester United were beaten 1-0 by their rich (and trophy-starved) neighbours Manchester City. A goal in the second half by Yaya Toure following a stray cross-field pass from Michael Carrick was enough to give the blue half of Manchester another trip to Wembley in the final next month to play either Bolton or Stoke, who play later today in the other semi-final.
It was a bad day at the office for Man Utd. After a bright start in which Berbatov missed a couple of good chances, Man City grew more and more into the game and became stronger the longer it went on. In the middle of the park Yaya Toure put in a towering performance and strong defending by City ensured that Man Utd did not put in one of their typical late fightbacks for which they have been somewhat renowned this season.
The final will certainly be an interesting one from the neutrals point of view as none of the so called “Big 4”clubs are competing. Man City haven’t won a trophy since 1976 and for Bolton and Stoke (whoever gets through) the wait has been much longer. That’s the magic of the FA Cup. That magic is still alive although many people criticise the fact that the semi-finals are now played at Wembley, in addition to the final. That seemed all the more ridiculous this year given that 4 teams from the north west were in the semis. However, as we know, it is all about generating revenue and the colossal expense of re-building Wembley must be paid for.
At Modern Canvas Art we have a strong allegiance to a UK club (but we are not saying which!) All we will say is that they are by the far best team the world has ever seen, of course, and what a shame they are not in the final in May. For Man Utd fans, they still have the Premiership and the Champions League well within their grasp so it doesn’t look like being too bad a season for them.
Modern Canvas Art have some superb Man Utd canvas prints showing past great players and glories. Take a look at this classic George Best canvas print for example. Our canvas art prints and pop art paintings really are second to none. Order one and we guarantee you won’t be disappointed.
Doughnuts! Doughnuts!
Doughnut Canvas Print
A doughnut is a fried dough food and is popular all around the world. They are made from a flour dough are usually sweet and deep-fried, shaped in rings or otherwise flattened spheres that often contain fillings, the most popular one being jam. Other types of dough such as potato can also be used as well as other different types of batter. Various toppings and flavorings are used for different types of “filled” doughnuts. At Modern Canvas Art the Krispy Kreme doughnuts our favourites but we’re good boys here and we don’t eat too many of them. Hell, they can make you fat.
According to the Guinness Book of World Records, the world record for doughnut eating is held by a man named John Haight, who ate 52 ounces of doughnuts (about 26 average doughnuts) in just over six minutes in 1981. His mum must have been so proud!
The largest doughnut ever made was an American-style “jelly” doughnut which weighed 1.7 tonnes and measured 4.9 m (16 ft) in diameter and was 40.6cm (16in) high in the centre. It was made in Utica, New York, USA on January 21, 1993.
At Modern Canvas Art we are partial to the odd doughnut during breaks from producing our pop art prints and canvas paintings. To celebrate the great doughnut, we created this Doughnut Canvas Print which is quite funky we think you’ll agree and would look great in a kitchen or children’s bedroom. Take a look at Modern Canvas Art and check out our terrific canvas prints. Oh – and take a look at one of our Banksy prints featuring – yes – a doughnut.
Banksy Canvas Prints For Sale – But Who Is Banksy?
A Banksy canvas print makes an excellent decorative addition to any space, either in the home or workplace. The canvas print industry has evolved in the last ten years and it is now possible to purchase a canvas print of a chosen image to match the décor of the space that you care to put it in. Size is no difficulty either, since many companies can accommodate requests for large canvas sizes.
So who is this Banksy character then? The answer to this question is that nobody really knows, although the UK newspaper The Daily Mail have claimed to “out” him.
It is undisputed that Banksy is from the Bristol area. According to the Daily Mail, he is from a place called Yate which is a small town just a few miles north of Bristol. The housing boom in the 80’s and 90’s and rapid expansion of new housing developments in Bristol has effectively “merged” Yate as part of Bristol. The Daily Mail claimed that Banksy’s real name is Robin Banks. That’s a great name in itself and you could even be forgiven that this “real” name is made up !
There can be no doubt that Banksy is from Bristol as the majority of his urban graffiti works began in Bristol and are dotted around the city. In fact, if you took a short tour around the city centre you would probably spot at least half a dozen works of “art” in areas such as Stokes Croft, Park Row and Park Street to name but a few.
Banksy’s work has taken him around the UK and abroad. Many of his “famous” pieces are in London and there are other works attributed to him much further afield.
Quite apart from the mystery of “who is Banksy?”, another mystery remains, namely, “how has Banksy never been spotted?”. It is generally assumed that he has a very loyal team working for him which serves to keep him undercover. It is quite possible that Banksy’s “works” are actually created by a team of people working together, or alternatively, different individuals at different sites. The individual “Banksy” may not even exist at all. Nobody really knows, but as with all “mysteries” the actual truth would shatter the myth and the hype would evaporate. People are fascinated by the “unexplained” and it is perhaps better it stays that way.
There can be no doubt that the works Banksy attributes himself to are funny, ironic and thought-provoking. Photographs of these works are available as canvas prints and you can hang one of these graffiti works in your living room to admire.
British slider Amy Williams wins Olympic skeleton gold
Amy Williams won Britain’s first solo Winter Olympics gold medal for 30 years with victory in the women’s skeleton.
The Bath slider, 27, broke her own track record on the way to Team GB’s first medal of the Vancouver Games in a time of three minutes 35.64 seconds.
German Kerstin Szymkowiak was 0.56 seconds behind in silver with her team-mate Anja Huber taking bronze, while GB’s Shelley Rudman finished sixth.
A Canadian complaint about the helmet worn by Williams was rejected.
It was the second complaint against the aerodynamics of her helmet after the United States issued a similar protest following the opening two runs on Thursday.
But Williams shrugged off the fuss surrounding the design of her headgear as she capitalised on a 0.30-second overnight lead.
She eclipsed the track record of 53.83 seconds, set in the first of her two runs on Thursday, by 0.15 seconds to open up a 0.52-second advantage over Canada’s pre-race favourite Mellisa Hollingsworth.
The pressure told on Hollingsworth, who faltered on her final slide and fell away to fifth, while Huber produced the second quickest time on the final run to move up from fifth to third.
Rudman, who was seventh overnight, recorded her two quickest slides, including the overall fastest of 53.82 seconds on the final run, but could only reach sixth.
Williams was last to slide and a solid run of 54.0 seconds was enough to hold off the German challenge and take the title.
She is Britain’s first individual champion since figure skater Robin Cousins won gold in Lake Placid in 1980.
“It’s crazy,” Williams, the first British woman to win individual gold at a Winter Games since 1952, told BBC Sport.
“I didn’t think I’d be standing here, it’s all such a blur, I can’t remember most of the last run.
“I came out at the bottom and saw our performance director Andi Schmid smiling, so I thought it must be good.
“Before the race I was OK, it was a bit weird as I was on my own in the changing room and didn’t know when to go out.
“I was a bit nervous before it but I thought I’ve got nothing to lose so I thought I’d just go out and enjoy it and it was great.”
Her achievement is all the more remarkable as Britain does not have a full skeleton track to train on, apart from a dry starting section near Bath.
Williams was a reserve in Turin four years ago when Rudman won silver and was used as a commentator on the event by BBC Radio 5 live.
She is set to receive her gold medal in a ceremony due to take place at about 0300 GMT on Sunday.
“Never in a million years did I think I’d come here and win gold,” she added. “I don’t think it will sink in for weeks and weeks.
“It’s amazing to do this for my country. I had nothing to lose here and I just went for it. I enjoyed every minute.
“I’ve done everything I possibly could in the last four years to get here and to put in my best performance.”
The United States lodged a complaint, supported by five other nations, against Williams’ helmet after Thursday’s two runs but it was dismissed by skeleton’s international governing body.
The US had claimed ridges on Williams’ helmet gave her an illegal aerodynamic advantage.
International Bobsleigh and Tobogganing Federation (FIBT) jury president Wolfgang Strauss said the helmet’s manufacturer confirmed the ridges, or spoilers, “are an integral part of the helmet”.
Canada then lodged a second complaint after Williams’ winning run on Friday but that too was thrown out.
Williams’ gold is Britain’s first at a Winter Olympics since Scot Rhona Martin led the curling team to victory in 2002, and the nation’s ninth gold in total.
Sir Steve Redgrave, who won five Olympic gold medals at the Summer Games, said the victory would prove inspirational for Team GB, which has waited until day seven of the Games for its first 2010 medal.
“It’s a huge boost,” he said. “All the British athletes in the village were buzzing that we were going to get a medal here and for that medal to be a gold one is very, very impressive.
“They’re going to be thrilled but they’re also going to be thinking, ‘Well, why can’t I do that?’ We’ve got a couple more chances but it was much needed for morale.”
The gold continues a fine run of British skeleton sliding since the sport was reintroduced to the Winter Olympics at the 2002 Salt Lake City Games.
Alex Coomber won bronze eight years ago, and Rudman secured silver in Turin in 2006.
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Wayne Rooney targets record haul for Manchester United
Wayne Rooney set his sights on beating his record of 23 goals in one season after scoring all of the goals in Manchester United’s 4-0 win over Hull.
The 24-year-old striker ensured United hit the Premier League summit, and he now has 19 goals this term.
He said: “It is the first time I have scored four times in a professional match and it is a great feeling.
“I am really proud of the achievement. It is something special. I’m confident of beating my best season at United.”
Rooney added he would be “disappointed” if he did not beat his previous best tally for United.
“I’ve still got hopefully another 20 games to play, I won’t be happy if I don’t get more than 23,” he added.
“The difference this season is that I’ve consciously been getting in the box more and trying to put myself in goalscoring situations.”
Rooney becomes the first United player to hit four in a game since Ruud van Nistelrooy did it in a Champions League encounter with Sparta Prague in November 2004.
And his superb form has come at just the right time for the champions as they push to try and successfully defend their title.
England boss Fabio Capello will also be delighted to learn of Rooney’s performance, which drew warm praise from beaten manager Phil Brown.
“I would have to say he is one of the best strikers in the world just now,” said Brown.
“He is someone who is capable of making half chances into a great chance.
“When you see him in that form it certainly bodes well for England at the World Cup.”
United boss Sir Alex Ferguson was also glowing in his analysis of the striker.
“Without doubt those four goals were the highlight for me,” said Ferguson.
“He has been wanting to develop himself as a scorer and there were some terrific finishes today.”
“He has always been a main player for us, from the moment he came to the club. He never gets left out.”
Rooney’s efforts were ably assisted by what was possibly Nani’s best performance in three seasons since his £17m arrival from Sporting Lisbon.
And they took the focus away from fan protests at the club’s ownership by the Glazer family.
It was recently announced that debts at United’s parent company, Red Football Joint Venture, were in excess of £700m – although on Friday, it was revealed that a bond issue had raised £504m.
That figure will enable the club to pay off nearly all of the £509m it owes to international banks, although it faces a £45m-a-year interest bill on the bonds, which mature in 2017.
However, pleas for unity from Ferguson in his programme notes went unheeded, with noisy and regular anti-Glazer chants of varying degrees of vulgarity echoed around the ground.
“There was no dissent against the players,” said Ferguson. “It did not have any effect at all.”
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U2 and Jay-Z record song for Haiti
U2, Jay-Z and producer Swizz Beatz have recorded a song together to raise money for victims of the Haiti earthquake.
U2′s guitarist The Edge told Irish radio station 2FM the band “wrote a song, finished and recorded” last week after being contacted about the idea.
The Edge, Bono and Jay-Z, along with Rihanna, are due to appear in London for “a group performance” as part of Friday’s Hope For Haiti telethon.
George Clooney’s two-hour benefit show will be aired on MTV in the UK.
The Edge told 2FM DJ Dave Fanning over the weekend: “Bono got a call from a producer, Swizz. He and Jay-Z wanted to do something for Haiti.
“So Bono came up with the phrase on the phone and last night we were here, we wrote a song, finished, recorded, and sent it back to them.
“So, that might be the next thing you hear from us.”
‘Something amazing’
Swizz Beatz also confirmed the project on his Twitter page, saying: “Me, Bono, Hova [Jay-Z's nickname] have something to say about Haiti. Stay tuned.
“I told you I was working on something amazing for Haiti. They need us!”
It is not clear when the single will be released, or whether the artists plan to premiere the song during Friday’s telethon
Jay-Z has played with the Irish rock group before, popping up for a handful of dates on last year’s 360 tour, and adding a rap to their hit single Sunday Bloody Sunday during the 2009 MTV Europe Awards.
Meanwhile, more acts have been added to the bill for the Haiti telethon including Coldplay, who will play at “a London location” alongside Jay-Z.
Kid Rock, Sheryl Crow and Keith Urban will appear in Los Angeles while Haitian-born Fugees star Wyclef Jean, Sting, Mary J Blige, Shakira and Bruce Springsteen will be among performers in New York.
Funds raised will go to Oxfam America, Red Cross, Unicef, Partners in Health and the Yele Haiti Foundation.
The telethon will be screened live in the UK from 0100 GMT on Saturday 23 January.
In the US, the telethon is being screened live without commercials on a number of channels including NBC, ABC and CBS.
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