sam,
would that be for a second (or third) opinion?

Anyhow, to get back off topic asap, which cartridge should I be looking for to fit in my Trio KD-1033 deck?

ken

Snail, but like you I'm not really cool enough for them.
Also 2CVGB, but I've only really got time for one 2CV forum and I prefer this one.
Non 2CV related ... CycleChat.

Who likes irony in art?

These are by an artist called Robert LaDuke. Robert kills me with his wryly observed paintings that are thinly disguised comments on life. For example he told me the one above had the working title of 'Natural selection'.

His paintings are often a celebration of humanity and the whacky and often dangerous things that we do, although his hook is to portray folks as being totally oblivious to the obvious dangers ahead.

Here are a couple of others done in his curiously nostalgic yet imaginary style.

Quite like those below but have to admit not quite getting "modern art". Went to a Roy Lichtenstein exhibition a few years ago in London. Hmmm. But clearly someone likes his work as one was sold last week for £26M.

£26M for this

Edward Hopper Lite for the greetings card market?

No, I think that would be unfair to Robert. he has a real interest in people, and tries to capture what it is that fascinates him about them. Often his paintings are metaphors which engage on several levels, like the woman with the watering can.

They are always humorous, mostly with a genuine affection for the human race and it's various foibles. The Lichtenstein and others are something different again, they are pop art, produced solely for the art market imho as 'investments'.

Much in the way that in the seventeenth century the Dutch Tulip Bulb Market Bubble existed, artists like Lichtenstein have been boosted by becoming a commodity. The tulip was brought to Europe in the middle of the sixteenth century from the Ottoman Empire. Holland's upper classes soon competed for the rarest bulbs as tulips became a status symbol.

By 1636, tulip bulbs were traded on the stock exchanges of numerous Dutch towns and cities, encouraging all members of society to speculate in the markets. Many people traded or sold possessions to participate in the tulip market mania. Like any bubble, it all came to an end in 1637, when prices dropped and panic selling began. Bulbs were soon trading at a fraction of what they once had, leaving many people in financial ruin.

Artists like Lichtenstein are todays tulip bulbs.

Mike Dash did a good book on the tulip bubble, called Tulipomania, a few years back.

I quite like the surreal element of those pics, but I prefer my irony a bit more hard edged.

Here's some artwork that caught my eye recently:

Hmm I quite like those LaDuke paintings...

Mr Nail, ever come across Michael Sowa, a German artist Mrs Xmas put me onto many years ago. Love his wierdness:


Suppenschwien


Laptop Sheep


Girl Walking with Bear


Their Masters Voice


Dompteur

I've never seen those Xmas. There is a German artist who's work I like by the name of Sebastian Kruger. Kruger paints large caricature type paintings, mainly of celebrities like the Rolling Stones etc. He has a very good eye for detail on a large scale.