AmyRiley

Berlin Marathon 2011

2011-12-14T13:55:00.000-08:00

I did it - the Berlin Marathon! It took me 5 hours 45 minutes, at a leisurely pace, including stopping for toilets, free massage and loads of free refreshments. I ran with two other English people, one my mate Kat and another woman called Anne who we met in the toilet queue before the race started.

Running the marathon was honestly one of the most fun I'd had in ages.

A few days before, Kat and I went to the expo at Tempelhoff Airport, and there I met a couple, who joined me at the outdoor picnic tables. The man told me 'Definitely do the fun run the morning before the marathon. You won't regret it.' It was quite a bold move for me to run 6km before my first ever marathon, especially one that had been marred by shoddy training and serious confidence knocks. But he assured me, it was worth it.

The day before the marathon, I joined what became an increasingly mammoth sized party on the U-bahn at Merringdam station. People from literally every country hopped on the train, most of them in garish costume garb, which was totally amusing. The fun run started at a pace that I wouldn't normally even jog in, but I kept up with the majority, even though I could feel many people wanting to push on, through the crowds. I was around some seriously hardcore runners. What was I doing? Still the crowds were friendly, upbeat, stopping off to take group photos (the Japanese & Mexicans rocked) for each other and before I knew it, we were running just outside the perimeter of the Olympic Stadium. Next - we were running through it. The run had finished. We watched ourselves smiling on large TV screens. I was grateful for the free breakfast being handed out in the front, complete with a DJ and soundsystem; I felt simultaneously thrilled and cringy.

Cue 6am the next morning. The day of truth saw me getting to Tiergarten at 7.45am, for a 9am start from the centre. The proceeding 5 + hours was a civilised, exciting jaunt through every nook and cranny that Berlin provided, moving from Charlottenburg over to the East and then South through Kreuzberg, then West and then back up towards Tiergarten once again.

Literally all of Berlin and its residents emptied out into the streets to encourage us on, organising street parties, bands, jazz ensembles, raves, and shouty brigades. The sights and sounds were surreal, fun, inane and everything you'd hope for on a Sunday when you're sweating out everything you've got for charity.

Speaking of which, I managed to raise over £400 for 2 charities - my totals are here

http://www.charitiestrust.org/members_data/event/amysberlinmarathon11/

On to Barcelona, from the intrepid marathon runner!

Flash-lit Fiction: Brighton Digital Festival 2011

2011-08-27T05:05:00.000-07:00

I've been looking forward to doing a night with Tara Gould (Short Fuse/Story Studio) for some time. Tim and I met her in 2009, and later that year, she started helping me host on Writers Hub for Reverb. Those were fun days. Radio Reverb's a great station, but doing a one-hour monthly show that's not music-based takes a lot of time and energy to coordinate and plan.

I can't remember how we got the idea of the slam, but I'd been floating this idea to various writing people and we seized the opportunity to do something for Brighton Digital Festival.

I've never been to a fiction slam, but plenty of poetry slams and hiphop battles. When I first moved to Brighton, one of my favorite lit nights was Howling at the Moon at the Full Moon pub. Paul Stones put that on. Wish there were more informal nights like that.

I'm pretty sure this one will be a really fun night - lots of interesting acts in between heats. 12 writers and wannabes testing their 300 word pieces, hopefully on the theme of 21st century, although we won't hold people to it if it's 19th or 20th century stuff. Fame, glory and maybe even a prize!

We've still got a few spaces left for the slam, so if you're interested, write on our FB event wall http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=233314200036473&ref=ts or email us at flashlitdigital@gmail.com.

And for those up to speed with Twitter, we've got a story competition going on! If you wanna have a go, tag your piece with #FLF11 so we can find it. Richard Hearn from Paragraph Planet will be unveiling the short list on 11 September and judges will pick the top 5 winners.

To get your advanced ticket (fiver, more on door) > http://bit.ly/nlOpkW. Hope to see you on the night.

Training for Berlin Marathon

2011-07-23T11:19:00.000-07:00

So, quite a few people have probably heard that I'm training to run my first marathon. My first is the Berlin Marathon, deemed the flattest course of all marathons, and with it being in my favorite month of the year, September, I was taken with the idea of a new challenge, running through the city's beautiful parks and downtown.

Tomorrow will be the end of week 4 of my training. My optimism and excitement about doing the training and then actually completing the marathon has wavered wildly. From delusional euphoria

After seeing an osteopath for the extreme pain in my hip, which I developed shortly after doing the Brighton Half Marathon, I've managed to more or less get back to normal. But the training, with its shorts running bursts and long runs on Saturday and Sunday, haven't necessarily been smooth sailing.

Week 1 (27 June - 3 July) > 19.85 miles

Felt good but it was hotter than hell in Brighton.

Week 2 (4 July 10 July) > 15.14 miles

Started the week with hill training. That was fun. But how I got up on Sunday after partying for two nights in a row (and being woken up by my Texan friend at 6am) and managed the 9.4 miles I will never ever now. Again, fucking hot.

Noticing that the only thing that pulls me through the long runs is the vision of me sitting down with a roast and a glass of wine in a pub. Perhaps not the best motivation!

Week 3 (11 July - 17 July) > 9.07 miles

Not my best week. Having visitors, evening events or meetings - all excuses for pub and drinking culture - have taken their toll. Gave myself the week off, apart from Saturday and Sunday.

Week 4 (18 July - 24 July) > about 10- 15 miles TBC

Again, not my best week. I did one hill sprint on Wednesday, but skipped Thursday. Too much bloody work on. Today's run was 5 miles through Oxfordshire canals and meadows and tiny villages. Lovely, but not feeling the most fittest of runners.

Week 5 (25 July - 31 July) > all to be revealed in the next blog, I guess!

I'm actually training for Berlin with my mate Kat. Today was our first run together. She's a slightly better runner, averaging 6 miles per hour to my 5. But we're both full of pains and injuries and trying to work out what is the best way forward. Dodgy hips, shinsplints, stiff achilles heels, numb feet. It was good to run and compare stretching and running tips, and we eventually got into a good rhythm - right before we were finished!

A week ago I was close to throwing in the towel. BF said it seemed a shame, when I was only at the start of training. And now, I'm thinking maybe I can get into this. Read up on Runner's World, start making minor improvements to my diet. I've still got August and September to get better.

Kat and I have reasoned that at least we know that we can do 13 miles; the rest will be a mystery combo of running and walking. For the moment, I can stress about my Sunday runs turning into 13 and 15 miles. WTF!

If you're interested, here's the training programme I'm using: Marathon programme for Breakthrough Breast Cancer (although I'm not necessarily running for them, I should probably consider it, they're site is a great resource for runners).

I'm also Runkeeper to keep track of my runs > I'm amyriley.

I'm running for Audioactive, a children and young people's charity in Brighton. If you're interested in supporting, maybe you'd like to come along on Saturday 20 August to our one-day Audioactive Summer Festival at Hanover Community Centre, Southover Street, Brighton, 12-8pm. Again, all proceeds go to the charity for their programmes.

Advanced tickets or to simply donate to the charity, see: http://audioactivesummerfest11.eventbrite.com/

Tip from charles in charge

2011-06-26T09:54:00.001-07:00

www.simplynoise.com

He recommends brown noise, says its white noise with the high end cut out. I'm going to check it out.

"Simply noise will sort all your sound problems out."

Marathon training starts tomorrow: sweatbands

2011-05-31T15:47:00.000-07:00

Everyone thought I was being really '80s when I wrote on Facebook that 'I was shopping for headbands'. How wrong could they be? Sweatbands are the new portable hand fan, the new

So I've been looking for headbands, on and off, for about three days. It's been more off than on since Sky don't seem to prioritise Council estates for decent broadband. Apparently, broadband has reached an all-time low for most of the people I work with, which made me quickly shake my half-baked paranoid theories. The more likely reason is that a lot of people are shafted by the most basic of services like internet. It's all probably going to Korea.

A woman I work with said she'd heard that people are chipping away metal, that's something to do with the drop in service. I think I might go back to the socio economic conspiracy theories.

The broadband seems to be working just fine now. As if to spite me.

Tonight it took me about an hour to move past the novelty day-glo and imports from America. Like why would I want to pay £3 to ship a piece of fluffy elastic?

My first decent find is a Lebanon headband and wristband set . Red and white striped with a pine tree in the middle.

Perfectly attractive until I bid and then was told I was outbid, probably by myself. This sort of insanity could keep going on forever.

Also I noticed the postage was £4. Like - what? The postage is the same as the American counterparts, which seems crazy considering it's an extended bit of fluff, weighing slightly more than a ping pong and less than a book.

I hope I don't win.

ps - please someone outbid me

Old habits - a 425 word short story

2011-01-19T01:01:00.000-08:00

Here's a piece of flash fiction that I wrote just before Christmas. It was inspired by a 425 word writing competition run by Viva Lewes - thanks to Tara from Short Fuse (now Story Salon) for flagging it up!

Brighton author & poet Louise Halvardsson also wrote a great piece on the same theme, which you can read on her myspace page.

Old Habits - by Amy Riley

Fingernails to the quick – that’s me. I bite them every time I have a deadline, and being someone who always leaves things to the last minute, that’s every time an article’s due in.

It’s a frosty winter’s night as I pull the electric heater close and hunch over my pad. It’s 4.25am. Five more hours. My head hurts and sleep beckons, but I resist.

A badger wanders past.

Frost cracks across the patio, coats the grass and looks like an icy lace shawl under the half moon’s light.

The wind blows and heaves from the north, scaring me. I’m alone. I look up at the door, making sure no one’s trying to get in, and continue to write.

My writing takes me on a journey through a valley, where I can count the ghosts. I rifle through my pages of handwritten notes, wondering why my handwriting never improves over the years, wondering why I never bothered to learn shorthand, why I can never finish things.

A man’s voice calls through the pages. A hoarse voice, whiskey cured and Marlborough reds deepened, he can still curse on his deathbed.

‘Goddamn, give me some brew,’ he says to his son-in-law, who goes out to the fridge.

He was a man living out in the woods, nursed by his daughter and forgotten about by history. The oldest living Confederate, he claimed, with a cheeky glint in his eye.

‘You shouldn’t drink,’ says the daughter, who wipes his brow with a towel.

‘I can do what I damn well like’ says the man. ‘I’m going to drink my beer and I’m going to tell my story to this nice young man visiting us.’

The man looks at me, licking his lips, watching as the son-in-law, a heavy man with a blue lumberjack shirt, surrenders the can.

I was the one who travelled hundreds of miles, looking for the man they said had killed three bears with his bare hands, and I’d found him, invalid, sickly, dying of cancer.

As the sun begins to rise, I type away my notes, which I carried from Arizona to Texas to here, in a rucksack, by bus, car, motorcycle, train and then plane, and see my story take shape.

It is like watching a miracle happen, and I know that I’ll be able to finish the article, re-read it, sub it, then email it to the editor for 9am.

I tell myself I’ll start earlier, plan it better.

But old habits, true to the saying, die as hard as the oldest living Confederate.

Old books make light reading

2011-01-18T14:23:00.000-08:00

" 'There are three things that I like,' Amanda exclaimed upon awakening from her first long trance. 'These are: the butterfly, the cactus and the Infinite Goof.'

Later she amended the list to include mushrooms and motorcycles.

While strolling through her cactus gardens one warmish June morning, Amanda came upon an old Navajo man painting pictures in the sand.

'What is the function of the artist?' Amanda demanded of the talented trespasser. 'The function of the artist,' the Navajo answered, 'is to provide what life does not.'

Amanda became pregnant during a fierce thunderstorm. 'Was it the lightning or the lover?' she was sometimes heard to muse.

When her son was born with electric eyes, people no longer thought her foolish."

- from a slightly water warped version of Tom Robbins' 'Another Roadside Attraction'

Day 1 of detox

2011-01-03T16:23:00.000-08:00

Just a short post to say that I, like 90% of the rest of the country, am embarking on a seriously hardcore detox.

For anyone who knows me, the last time I detoxed from anything was back in January 2005, and I managed to ween myself off from alcohol for the whole month. I had some moral support in that my then boyfriend was also giving up the sauce, which was a huge inducement for me to stick to it.

Despite flying solo these days, I think the memory of my day long nausea will be enough motivation for me to stick with a detox for a while. I wasn't sick, but just that edgy sort of queasy, which stayed with me for the whole day. I have removed two wine glasses, three wine bottles (empty) and moved my new years eve emergency bottles of Westons cider to the wine rack - out of sight, out of mind. I decided to incentivise the whole project by mentally deciding that the lovely new bottle of Prosecco would be consumed if I could last out for a month.

The other reason for wanting to purge myself of my favorite liquid poison is that I'm training for a half marathon in February, and I'm convinced if I stopped, it might just give me that health edge I've been craving. I mean, why do all of this training and ruin it in the space of a couple of wine glasses per night? My personal trainer at the gym said that drinking destroys something like 60% of new muscle built.

So perhaps this month will be my little experiment. I know the training is working. My distance, speed, stamina and physical strength are slowly but surely improving. Sans booze for a month? Hopefully I'll be incredibly and unrecognizably fit, and will manage my soon approaching three-hour runs with speed and agility, like I'm one of those super-fit speedy runners on the seafront who I watch the backs of enviously, while they zoom off into the distance of Hove Lagoon, while I sadly lag behind eating their dust.

Before and after photos? Don't hold your breath. However, if you're interested in seeing how slowly I currently run (albeit for very long distances), you can check out my Run Keeper profile here: http://runkeeper.com/user/amyriley/profile.

Brighton Half Marathon is on Sunday 20 February 2011. If you feel like braving the cold, come out and support. After collapsing in a heap at the finish line, I plan on spending the whole of the afternoon in the pub, where there will no doubt be some excellent photos of carnage - by which point, I will be able to drink as much as I want to!

Happy new year 2011

2011-01-01T09:39:00.000-08:00

I've been acutely aware that I haven't written a blog post in over a year. The reason? 2010 was a massively busy year.

In April I moved house, once again, moving into a flat in the centre of town, with beautiful views of the sea.

In May, we ran our Grit Lit literary night at Redroaster and won the best literary event for Brighton Festival and Fringe!

In June, I started running a monthly spoken word and live music night called Countdown for Black History Month, which was a success. Then July, August, September and finally October! Man was I wiped!

I helped launch a successful new initiative called Brighton & Hove Community Reporters, which began in the winter 2009. My colleagues and I ran monthly meetups, and I ran free taster workshops all across the city, working with young people and adults, during the spring and summer of 2010, teaching them the basics of reporting in the community.

Worked with so many fab people. I love hearing about the various initiatives they've started up as a result - community radio programmes, websites, and more. Claire is now co-editor of Brighton Mums, for mums, dads, and everyone in Brighton. Ron Sharatt and Suchi Chatterji run a radio show called Same Difference, a program for disabled people and those with an interest in disability, on Brighton & Hove Community Radio. Keleche Turner runs a show on the station called the Keleche Turner Show, and Susi Oddball co-runs the radio station.

Suchi & Ron - "Same Difference" programme producers and presenters

The summer saw Caroline Sutton training up two batches of community reporters. The result? Over 20 fully trained up reporters and mainstreaming the training programme into the Friends Centre's adult education programme. The first training programme at the Friends Centre starts on 5 February 2011. Result indeed!

We also launched community reporting in schools during the summer, which was hectic, and I also ran IT training courses for 18-25 year old NEETs at the Friends Centre.

After a nasty breakup in August, I moved residence again in September, back up the snowy alps of Brighton. Now living a the John Steinbeck dream, with a writing cabin of my own. It's been good for my writing, and nearly done with the first draft of my third novel.

During the autumn, I produced a literary showcase for Black History Month in October, and helped out with a massive Street Party on New Road, our Film Festival and oh so many wonderful events.

In November, I studied with the famous Egyptian feminist writer Nawal el Saadawi for a weekend in London, started training for a half-marathon, and now write ferociously and run over 20k per week. I also got my British citizenship and man was that cause for celebration!

We ran our second Grit Lit of the year on 3 December, battling the snow and ice, and by the second week of December, I was definitely ready for wind down time. However, I got a job promotion and the flu for the last two weeks of work so not quite the right time.

Reflecting on it all, I'm not sure how I juggle so much and a full time job!

I'm giving a lot of thought about the coming year, and even though I have obvious regrets relating to my failed relationship, I'm hopeful that perhaps I'll get it right the next time around. What I am really thankful for right now is some really great friends, here in Brighton and around the world. Looking forward to spending this next year with you all.

Couch surfing

2009-12-09T09:53:00.000-08:00

Ways to spend your time when you're off work with a cold or flu.

1) Read a book and realise why you had that stack of books by the foot of your bed for so long, but you never had time to read. Realise that you actually have good taste, and know that it may be some time before you get the chance to read again (possibly even the next time you're sick).

2) Watch tv and become amazed at the number of things you notice. Such as how on Sky tv, they play the same 10 shows on constant repeat, from sun break to sun fall. Every day. The same as they did last year when you had a few days off and the same the year before last when you had a week off. You wonder if this constancy is resassuring or disturbing. If you don't have cable/sky tv, skip to 3.

3) Get so bored with tv that you leave it, the way our grandparents do, but put it on mute. So it's a bit like another person in the room, a background presence. No wonder old people believe in the beyond. Do something else.

4) At some point, start watching the muted tv again, watching the images flicker constantly, until you actually want to know what people are saying and it's a small relief to put the volume back on. Phew. Even if it is some fluff piece about Tom Cruise and his life/acting career and you actually don't believe people are being totally honest. Watch it for a bit and then think that was time well spent.

5) Start making lists. This is a great time. One of those things that's been on your to do lists for ages, hasn't it been? Well list making doesn't take too long and you can do it in your head if you want to go for the real minimal approach. No brainer. I preferred to perch my laptop on the living room coffee table and made semi-official ones. (Tip: don't do work if you're sick. You'll make a stupid mistake. It's inevitable)

Stuff I haven't made lists of but that you might want to consider: tv shows and films watched while sick, books read while sick, books ever read, countries you want to visit. Lists I've been half making in my head: friends I need to get back in touch with, stuff I need to ask people about, good quotes overheard from tv, catalogue of cold and flu symptoms. Important list: nearest and dearest who don't mind going to the shops for you or keeping you company during your ill period. Most important really.

6) These lists get me on to the next idea: text your friends. Hit the friends who are not at work as they're more likely to have more time on their hands. Best to leave friends at work alone unless you really want to annoy them. It does make you realise just how gratingly annoying those people who text or phone when you're at work - don't they know - time is money??? Well now it's payback time. Hit those people who text super early or ring really really late, drunk, just to ask how you are. You can tell them all about it.

7) Sleep on the sofa. Being trapped in the box of your bedroom is no good. Set up ship on the sofa, throwing down a ton of blankets, duvets, keeping one for yourself, and hopefully getting a few good views of neighbours comings and goings, housemate noises and the best sleep of your life.

8) Realise when you're not as well as you thought you were and accept defeat.

On that note, I'm going to rest up, maybe put in a film, make mental notes on filming and editing techniques from stuff from the 80s, and count down the hours.

myPublicServices Conference, London, 26 November 2009

2009-11-28T05:19:00.000-08:00

On Thursday morning, Mark from SCIP and I took the 7.44am train up to Victoria for the myPublicServices conference. The conference was looking at how digital media could and is changing the face of public service delivery: via twitter, blogging, websites and youtube, it's used to open up two way dialogue, communicate messages, inspire, attract, ask for feedback, and ask not only service users and the public to reflect, but also service providers. Most of all it's about creating change- changing communication, changing mindsets, changing services to fit what people need.

Our role that day was to be social reporters, working alongside an informal team of other reporters, including @amyrsward, @brian_condon, @amandagore, @BenjaminEllis. The conference was organised by Patient Opinion, a site that brings NHS patients, carers, family, staff together, and with representatives from Headshift, myPolice, Enabled by Design, On Road Media , FutureGov, thinkPublic.

Having spent two years working with PPI Forums and what feels like a million years working with young people and in local communities, I was pleased to attend two morning workshops, "Understanding youth: connect, engage and inspire" and "The journey of myPolice" - I'll be posting up my write ups from both sessions shortly.

If you'd like to read more about the opening session, in which James Munro, Tom Loosemore, and Denise Stephens gave presentations, see BBC's coverage or search for #mps09 on Twitter.

A following, non-writing and a small tribute to Charlie Jordan

2009-09-24T15:12:00.000-07:00

A group of beasts from http://www.supermundane.com/

It's an evening of gentle leisure. That's as much as I can cope with today. First day back at work after a holiday. It wasn't particularly straining, but the plodding of 9-5 work wears me down more than I'm willing to acknowledge. I had stuff to do, but sitting hunched over a laptop every evening, after a day of work is just too much sometimes.

Found a few obituaries for Charlie Jordan, one by digging for the Tuesday Argus in the recycling bin at work. The other found on the CVSF email list. Charlie was a long-standing and well-respected Brighton community development worker and activist who did so much, it's almost hard to believe. Charlie, who set up the Emmaus community in Portslade, died quite young at 61 of a second heart attack last week. I couldn't believe it. I was in France when I read the email announcing his death. Of course, it was only a few years ago when we were all in France together, on a trip involving a breakdown, canoeing, bad singing and a beautiful farmhouse.

Charlie had been one of my trainers as a community development worker on the WICO (working in community organisations) course. He was the reason I gave up smoking about three years ago; it was talking to him about group dynamics, underneath a great old tree on his farm in the south of France, with all of us trainees, making us laugh with stories about him and his best friend Jacque and all their stupid drunk antics.

I remember Charlie telling us how he'd given up smoking after he had his first heart attack. Just like that, he took up jogging, starting riding a bike and swam regularly. I suppose it gave him another five or so years of extra life, but by god, we never imagined a person could go so suddenly. I remember he seemed disappointed when I saw him at Amy and John's wedding and I'd mentioned I'd stopped doing community work. Charlie was a great warm, tears perpetually streaming from his eyes from laughter kind of guy, and he will definitely be missed.

Tonight, I'd hoped to write. Ambitiously, a story, as that sometimes happens when I sit down with a pad and pen and give myself a good hour. But I find it so hard to settle - my own fault for not ignoring the lure of internet and other things I could categorise as 'research' - so instead I combed through a notebook from a year ago.

What a mess an entry is when it's just your rambling thoughts and fleeting emotions. And yet informing to accept that subjectivity on the road to something fresh, new and creative. I forget how many reams of paper it takes to get to good writing. Thousands of miles worth.

The notebook, a burgundy hardback A4 book, is the one I drafted part of my third novel in; in the back are three dozen loose sheets of notes and some of the chapters printed out. So the snippets of my own 'diary' entries throughout the notebook are fairly minimal and less interesting than the small stories within the story that lie within.

I forget that taking time to stop and take stock of past writing is all part of the process. It's the reason for being blocked half the time. Let's see what comes of this expedition.

Trash Menagerie (the site I write for) has been nominated !! Votes in !!

2009-08-15T04:46:00.000-07:00

News flash - the site that I write for, Trash Menagerie, has nominated by Dazed Digital, as one of the top 15 music blogs in the world. We're all quite chuffed at the nomination; needless to say, we're wetting ourselves that we might actually win.

Never heard of Dazed Digital? It's the online version of cooler-than-thou art/music/culture monthly magazine Dazed & Confused.

Apart from the obvious fame and glory, Trash will be featured in the Dazed October issue and will also receive £500 worth of G-Star product if chosen as the winners for the music section.

I/we would love it if you voted for Trash Menagerie - and you can do so here: http://www.dazeddigital.com/projects/BlogAwards/Finalists.aspx?Category=Music

Voting ends on 31 August.

Muchos besos for your support.

About the Dazed Raw Blog Awards:

"We don't need to tell you that blogs have been exploding in the past few years, growing in numbers, in influence and in quality. The Dazed Digital team alone read 300 blogs and on a day to day basis, we're constantly checking out, bookmarking and subscribing to new ones. So we have decided to get our bloglovin' habits out there officially and in association/collaboration with G-Star, we present our first ever Dazed Raw Blog Awards."

Breaking Up - again

2009-07-25T02:21:00.000-07:00

It's Saturday and I'm sitting here in my pajamas and a dressing gown, drinking black coffee and eating Bombay mix. Across the table are about six books, which include it's a breakup not a breakdown and I can mend your broken heart.

The residue of that Pimm's round Jen's houselast night (the one that made me pass out on the settee) is fading fast, but the memory that I was actually going out with someone with a sum total of three months - a record for me over the past three years - lingers in an annoying way, annoying mainly because it requires self-help books to shake off.

It's another break up and unlike the other two brief romances I've had during my glorious single years, I actually liked this guy when we split up and knew in a small way that I'd miss his company. I knew that, apart from my bruised ego and a dent in my self-esteem, it would be harder to accept the break up: I couldn't do a character assassination, diss his love-making skills, or otherwise denegrate his worth as a person in my head. There was nothing seriously wrong with this guy apart from the fact that he didn't want to be with me anymore. Which is fair enough. We weren't a match made in heaven - I guess we were two nice people enjoying one another's company, for as long as the enjoyment and mutual attaction could hold out.

The return to single life has been relatively smooth apart from the occasional emotional vacancy that accompanies splitting up. I never gave up my friends or lost myself in this guy. I have way too many extracurricular hobbies to get bored and I like my own company, sometimes for days on end.

There's something about dating that got a bit difficult logistically - for instance, when I stayed the night at his on a Friday night, Saturday morning I'd want to see him but I'd also want to jump on my computer and listen to some new tracks and write and somehow you're not allowed to have both when you're at someone else's flat. Because dating is about 'spending time' with that person. Not ignoring them for a few hours while you flick through blog entries and check out what your friends are up to on facebook.

Then there's the constant comments about your lifestyle and person that I definitely won't miss. I hate the feeling that I'm being scrutinised or judged, which is inevitable when you're dating someone and trying to suss out if they're good enough or right for you.

It's a nice day, sunny and the back garden beckons. Armed with a blanket and my laptop, I forsee an easy Saturday morning. On my own.

Menace to society: kids hanging out

2009-01-24T09:16:00.000-08:00

I'm a trustee of a local young people charity called Audioactive and we were recently revisiting our PEST analysis, which is in exercise in looking at political, social, economic and technological factors that can impact on your organisation and its work.

One of the things that came up in our analysis was the fact that nine years on, the media and general public are still tarring and feathering young people - it's something we still find shocking.

Back in 2000, the anti-social flavor of the month used to be ASBO kids, skateboarding, hoodies and graffiti; now it's knife crime. The papers across the country have gone knife mad, tacking campaigns on to this easy target - it started in London last summer and slowly got scooped up by Brighton local rag, the Argus.

Audioactive works with children and young people, building their confidence and skills in music, music technology, djing, art and the performing arts. It's also the kind of organisation that's worked with the city's toughest ASBO and at-risk kids, in pupil referral units, community centres and alternative schools. We know what's going down in the underground, and while knives are more of a problem than they were a decade ago (probably), it's not the issue it is in Brighton that it is in London.

Highlighting social problems is not inherently bad, but forcing facts to fit a theory where it may not be true is dangerous. Put an unnatural spotlight on a phenomemnon - don't be surprised when the "alarm" becomes a self-fulfilling prophesy.

I feel for today's teens - who wasn't challenging when they were that age? You can't generalise a nation of young people by a handful of incidents that happened in inner-city, deprived conditions. Most young people are just trying to survive the ever-increasing stresses, hormones and challenges of this fast-paced world.

The media feeds and is fed by the fear adults have of young people, but a bigger concern is for young people who feel unsafe amongst other young people - and who find it harder to protect themselves than adults. Sensationalist handling of this situation does not help.

Why doesn't the press focus on other, more problematic areas? Institutional racism and the police? Rich kids with too many drugs? White collar crime? Oh yeah, we're in a recession because of white collar crime. Nearly forgot.

I read a statistic recently that white middle class and affluent young people in England are more likely to have drugs than their Black counterparts. I can believe it.

I went to an inner city magnet high school where half the students were Black, with FOUR crack houses around the perimeter. Sure there were drugs in the area, but I never saw any drug deals in school, we only had one incident where someone (not from our school) brought a gun. In my senior year, the police did a drug bust of two rich, white high schools and made the biggest drug bust to date. Not the problem, Black, inner city kids that the media would otherwise love to report on.

So what ever will be next?

Thanks to Audioactive Chair Dom Green for emailing this article feature in the Onion to us as it sums up the media-created paranoia that grips people today.

Area Teen Up To Something
January 24, 2009 | Issue 45•04

GREENFIELD, OH—A local teenager, standing on the corner of Spring Street and Dunlap Lane, is clearly up to some kind of no good, neighborhood sources reported Thursday.
Enlarge Imag

Neighbors are keeping close watch on the teen, who has an unsettling number of pockets.

The teenager, spotted by Greenfield residents at approximately 4:36 p.m., has been described as tall, suspiciously quiet, and almost certainly looking for trouble. According to concerned sources, the teenager has absolutely no business being out there like that.

"Just look at him," said Bob Page, one of several men and women currently watching the 14-year-old from their living room window. "That boy's definitely up to something."

Signs that the teenager may be up to no good have so far included his hunched over posture, the way he keeps looking around with his eyes, and the fact that he probably owns a number of those violent video games.

Residents told reporters that they are especially troubled by the teenager's hooded sweatshirt, which he is wearing with the hood drawn, despite it not even raining outside.

"I don't like how I can't see his face," said homemaker Ellen Campbell, who attributed the teen's erratic behavior to the lack of positive role models in today's music industry. "He'd show his face if he weren't thinking of doing something wrong. I bet he's thinking of doing something wrong right now." read more

Donnie Photos - Christmas 2008

2009-01-12T13:04:00.000-08:00

Donnie going wild!

Donnie & I recently spent Xmas in Amersham with the Hardman family, having been invited by my friend Kat. During our stay, Donnie lived on the floor of the breakfast dining room. The Hardman family were enchanted by their unexpected little guest, taking his towel off every morning so they could sneak a peek at him.

Donnie, who had his second birthday on 19 August 2008, was on top top form this year. Christmas day started with a stocking that he received from Santa, filled with chocolate drops and hard orange hula hoop treats, which he stuffed his cheeks with. I received a nice present from Donnie (a first!), tubs of chocolate and tropical fruit body butter.

He came out several times to meet the family and visiting friends on Christmas day and everyone remarked what a nice personality he had. Later in the afternoon, I arranged for a photo session for Donnie, as Kat's brother Will received a camera for Christmas.

Donnie in a quiet, modest moment, looking like the Robert DeNiro of the rodent kingdom.

Overall, he seemed fat, healthy and happy, although when we came back to Brighton, he caught a slight cold and his eyes sealed up for a while. I'm not sure if it was the exposure to the cold weather due to this cold snap, but I can report that he's mending nicely now and has this year decided to go for a minimalist look for his crib, with a magenta bauble and a string of yellow plastic flowers along the top, which he hopes will kick off the year in a positive but lean way.

Me and Donnie chilling in the dining room.

Outfit ideas for the Arts Council "Club Tropicana" work xmas party

2008-12-07T13:40:00.000-08:00

This is like a dream come true for me. Second day of work at the Arts Council, big staff meeting, and the first thing that gets announced is - via slide show (oh yes) - this year's "Club Tropicana" Staff Xmas Party - and I'm practically wetting myself. What can I say? I'm easily pleased. I'm doubly bowled over by the fact that they've hired DJ Derek (it's his birthday on the day) but that's another story.

Just in case you didn''t know, I LOVE Wham's "Club Tropicana", more than life itself. So much that I used to listen to it every day in the morning before going to work. So much that I was considering having it as my birthday party theme for next year - but then decided against it since everyone is wearing bikini's, swimming trunks and sunglasses and there's simply not enough costume scope with that.

So, to find out that we're only dressing up in 1980s outfits in 2-3 weeks time and that people are definitely going to go to town with this - the stakes have been raised.

So for costumes, with people coming as Ronald Reagan and the A-team, I can't let this opportunity go a-miss.

Idea 1: KID N PLAY, FRESH PRINCE, SPIKE LEE - THAT WHOLE HIP HOP THANG

Found the Retro Kidz image on an '80s site' and it got me thinking. It got me thinking fuck-off ghetto blaster (we called them jam boxes), gold chains, tight acid washed jeans....hm. Or maybe just borrow some parachute pants from my friend Simon...!

Idea 2: WHO DO I ALREADY LOOK LIKE IN AN 80S FILM?

80s films. I love them. So much. "Pretty in Pink" - my all-time favourite movie. I won't get much respect for admitting that, but it's old news. It's really not that great, but the music, the clothes, the record shop that I swear was the one used in "High Fidelity". Appreciating PiP is like understanding how great it is to eat KitKats first thing in the morning and drinking Dr Pepper on a reallyhot day. It's not about taste, it's just about right place at the right time.

Again, these movie stills are nicked from The Eighties Blog.

Funnily enough, I spent a whole day recently, fed up of: being broke/unemployed/looking for jobs, listening to nearly every single podcast from Stuck in the 80s, a radio show and website from Florida. It's the sort of thing that makes you wish that you could go hang out with people who talked about things as stupid as the 1980s. A lot of my friends are doing the 80s for the first time and actually have an appreciation for the time, even if some of them weren't even born until 1985. Which is cool.

I just came across this site Fast-Rewind, which is devoted to the 80s cinema, so I might root around on their previews.

Winona Ryder in "Heathers" - I loved this movie when it came out. Who didn't want to be or already feel like her? Knew so many guys like Christian Slater, only luckily they didn't try to blow up the high school.

Winona again in "Beetlejuice" - a lot of people in junior high used to tell me that I looked like her, or like Anne Frank. I wasn't really doing the goth or new wave thing in 87/88 the way my friends were, but I definitely vintaged it up and that's probably - that and the rice powder - that made people draw the parallel.

Ally Sheedy in "Breakfast Club" - I feel like I master that look on a daily basis. Only I don't wear all black, but frumpy skirts and street shoes and a big bag - might give it a miss.

Idea3: INSPIRED BY MUSIC

Just found another site Like Totally 80s, which has some pretty cool ideas...Punk Rock Girl a la the Dead Milkmen Song. But I feel I did that look at the time TO ITS LIMIT ya know what I mean?

I bet these people never threw away these clothes and probably dress like this all the time.

Idea 4:PRETTY IN PINK

Not thinking Mollie Ringwald, but more Annie Potts.

I think I've exhausted myself with all of this online exertion and my neck is starting to stiffen up too. It's nearly 11pm. I need to get my beauty rest and dream up something good. Maybe I'll get the sewing machine out....will be drifting off to sleep to the sounds of El DeBarge "Rhythm of the Night" and Bell Biv Devoe's "Poison", two songs that for some reason are stuck on repeat - like for years. Not good, my friends. At least it's not Lionel Richie anymore!

Shakespeare in my bedroom

2008-12-07T11:55:00.000-08:00

Thanks to Tara Hanks, a novelist from my writers' group, for emailing this out to us.

It came in a particular 'god what am I doing on this quiet Sunday afternoon writing alone?' moment. Which sadly I don't have enough of.

The sort of solitude that my married/partnered with kids probably only dream of now. I know, I know. It's all good. I've been productive.

I cracked up reading this. I think it should start from the bottom, though, (so that you have to read up) to be true FB style. But still very funny.

HAMLET
(FACEBOOK NEWS FEED EDITION).
BY SARAH SCHMELLING

- - - -

Horatio thinks he saw a ghost.

Hamlet thinks it's annoying when your uncle marries your mother right after your dad dies.

The king thinks Hamlet's annoying.

Laertes thinks Ophelia can do better.

Hamlet's father is now a zombie.

- - - -

The king poked the queen.

The queen poked the king back.

Hamlet and the queen are no longer friends.

Marcellus is pretty sure something's rotten around here.

Hamlet became a fan of daggers.

- - - -

Polonius says Hamlet's crazy ... crazy in love!

Rosencrantz, Guildenstern, and Hamlet are now friends.

Hamlet wonders if he should continue to exist. Or not.

Hamlet thinks Ophelia might be happier in a convent.

Ophelia removed "moody princes" from her interests.

Hamlet posted an event: A Play That's Totally Fictional and In No Way About My Family

The king commented on Hamlet's play: "What is wrong with you?"

Polonius thinks this curtain looks like a good thing to hide behind.

Polonius is no longer online.

- - - -

Hamlet added England to the Places I've Been application.

The queen is worried about Ophelia.

Ophelia loves flowers. Flowers flowers flowers flowers flowers. Oh, look, a river.

Ophelia joined the group Maidens Who Don't Float.

Laertes wonders what the hell happened while he was gone.

- - - -

The king sent Hamlet a goblet of wine.

The queen likes wine!

The king likes ... oh crap.

The queen, the king, Laertes, and Hamlet are now zombies.

Horatio says well that was tragic.

Fortinbras, Prince of Norway, says yes, tragic. We'll take it from here.

Denmark is now Norwegian.

I was looking for music but instead i found love

2008-11-14T09:05:00.000-08:00

Lovers Lane advert for "chcito"

Really. I wanted to find some hippy folk music while I finished this job application and and thought the Austin Chronicle would be perfect to hit up.

As I headed for the music section, I saw this little cute Mexican man under Lovers Lane called Chcito. He left out the i in his name, maybe on purpose, but probably by accident.

I couldn't resist looking at his profile - it's a picture of him, standing in front of fake baseball backdrop. He probably got this picture taken at a sports bar liked Hooters.

I admire his honesty and he shouldn't put up with people "who drink too much and and drunk" because that's pretty no-go for conversation. Like talking to a broken record. A bad broken record at that. I'm probably like that, or worse. Far worse. Only I don't repeat myself, I just say stupid things that I should just write instead of say.

He reminds me of my grandfather, even though my grandfather looks nothing like him and is most definitely certainly not gay. I hope he finds love.

Here's his profile:

honest and loving

i am honest and loving looking for the same,i will take care of you and will be ready for you as i am a bottom looking for top i am clean ddf i love to be made love to kiss and suck my tit .i will kiss you all over and make you happy i have mine own place

Fill It

I consider myself an open-minded person, but my deal breakers are drink to much and and drunk

Design your ideal mate: the brain of loving and the body of nice

Something I said I'd never do but did anyway was like man

The first section I turn to in the Chronicle is 124933

The quickest way to my heart is kissing The quickest way to my bed is more kising And in the morning, I like my eggs cooked cook

It's Sunday morning at 10 a.m. If I'm not still sleeping, I'm making love

When I die, I believe I will go hell

I wouldn't be who I am if were not honest

It's Party Time!

2008-11-11T17:34:00.000-08:00

I don't think this photo needs an explanation.

I found it when I was going through my friend's stuff, which I'm keeping til she comes back to Brighton, and I couldn't resist pulling it out for a quick scan.

It looks like a church in Virgina. I bet they throw some good parties.

From Grey to Black in 20 minutes

2008-11-03T07:12:00.000-08:00

Somewhere Else, The Rising and Setting of the Sun, 2003, painting by Christopher Stevens, photo from art.net

I wanted to find a photograph that was darker than the previous rain-streaked window from Saturday's post, but instead, my mind on art and the need for more art, I came across my friend Chris's painting - and it seemed apt.

There was no sun today, clouds like an afterthought after cloudy cups of tea and blowing cobwebs from the bag of compost that lives underneath our kitchen sink. Grey swirls of mist, now turned pitch black.

This morning I went out to buy some cough medicine and get the rest of the rent money out.

I saw my friend, the wrinkled old guy who's probably not older than 40, sitting on the pavement next to the cashpoint, wearing a a straw hat, brown leather jacket and jeans and strumming his guitar. He gave me a thumbs up and a toothy grin when I said good morning.

"I hardly made anything yesterday," he informed me and I frowned. Yesterday had been a good day, bright blue sky held taut like a sheet by the confidence of an easy-going Sunday. But the shifting seasons, 3pm felt like 7pmp; another later and it was night.

Shuffling around in my wallet, I only expected to find 2ps. I scooped out 80p and handed it to him. Then I remembered my extraordinary luck - the third time to find money on the street - so I dug out another pound (what I'd found) and gave it to him as well. I remembered that's what I'd decided to do when I'd found it.

"Check the street for money," I told him. "Especially at night when the pubs kick out."

"Thanks for the tip," my friend said, assuring me he'd give it a go, although I can't imagine it's hardly a new thing for him.

I'm not sure today has actually started

2008-11-01T06:48:00.000-07:00

I'm about to do some writing, for the first time in - hang on, let me check the date - okay, this is bad. I've stopped writing done the date when I write in my notebook. So the last date I have recorded is 17th October. There's a few pages after that one so it's been awhile even for me to scrawl my dream in a half conscious state.

I woke up at 10 something am and it was grey outside my window. I started reading a new story in the Akashic Las Vegas Noir collection in bed. I love reading in bed.

When I was a kid, I used to invent new ways of going in late to school so that I could read for a few more hours.

Collections of coffee mugs with moldy remains of orange juice gathered like rats beneath my bed. Stacks of book tripped me up when I got up to go to the bathroom.

I used to be scared of the things beneath my bed when I was very young, and now I live with the unthinkable: my futon rests on the floor. Now I lie awake with irrational fears residing somewhere else.

Unlike most people in England, I don't complain about the cold wet weather that comes in like a bitter brew in the autumn. Maybe it's because I didn't have to grow up in it. The streaks of light that come in aren't inspiring, but unless you have to work outdoors, I don't see how it can really matter (unless you have holes in your shoes and then that's a real pain).

After getting a few pages in, I decided I needed a cup of tea, and as soon as I'm up to switch the kettle on, that's it. I'm up.

Mikey's still away in Reading so I have the house to myself. I made a simple breakfast - fried tomato with coriander and basil, eggs, bacon, hashbrowns leftover from last night's dinner, and coffee. I washed up all of the dishes, laughing along to Mark Steel on the radio, tidied all of the random bits of post and cds and dj set lists and stuff that just seems to accumulate on the end of the counter like some built up city.

The rain is crackling and pinging while I download Opera. I have to agree with Mark - it's a lot better than Flock. A browser for different moods.

The writer's group email discussion about Brand and Ross rages on and I check for updates.

Talk has branched out considerably, after a long debate over which aspect of the furor people thought was worth complaining about.

Derek: "Yes, the power of the people has made the Xmas TV schedule marginally more palatable."

Ed: "Let's face it, Derek, what you are really saying is that you love Hitler LOL"

Steve: "Surely the real victims here are the Spanish? ¡¡¡Maldígale para su Sachs de estereotipia viciosa!!!"

Tara: "I once saw Jonathan Ross on This Is Your Life, the most brilliant piece of TV. It was so obvious that everyone on it hated him, you could have cut the atmophere with a knife. Vic and Bob arrived half an hour late and blind drunk, great stuff. I bet there's a lot of happy people in Soho today..."

Me: "I can't believe no one has mentioned the fact that they are totally coked up.........."

Convo has since moved onto: Amy Winehouse, celebrity culture, fear and anxiety, the Daily Mail, the unconscious mind, and opportunism.

Okay - off to write. I'm making the most of being indoors. Later I'm being turned into a zombie, but I'll be able to keep my pajamas on for that one.

Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi and Positive Psychology

2008-10-02T09:53:00.001-07:00

I've been doing research all day on different publications, analysing the kind of features they have, and found an article on happiness, in an American Ariline magazine article of all places. The article referred to Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, a Hungarian psychology professor who writes about happiness and well-being - it's all about flow.

I like the idea of flow.

When I was working on my first novel, my friend Bonnie, a painter, used to ask me how the "flow" was going. I'd never heard that word used, apart from a dance sense, back when I used to talk about "energy". It wasn't until I left the realm of dancers that I realised that a lot of people didn't understand things like "energy" and "flow".

I'm not sure how much my writing is flowing, or at least it is , but not in the way that I once imagined. With creative writing, I write every day. This is what I tell other people, when we talk shop about writing fiction.

But if I'm honest - and this does occur to me all of the time - I don't really write every day now that I'm a freelance journalist. I jot down my dreams about 4 out of 7 days in the week. Sometimes if I'm good I'll do some writing practice or save a chunk of time just to work on the novella.

I do write a lot at the moment, though - but the outputs are usually articles, and more of my time is spent right now researching so I can get more freelance work and/or a full-time job.

So I am writing, but being a writer is not the constant days of writing I thought it would be. One web journalist I know writes 2000 words a day for articles for the magazine's site. Most people I've told this to say this is pretty good going.

I'm not at that stage yet, but this is perfectly okay with me. I know it's just a stage.

Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi and Positive Psychology

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RUSSELL BRAND = UGLY ENGLISHMAN

2008-09-19T06:20:00.000-07:00

I recently went for a reporter job at Digital Spy, for which I had to write three news articles and a review of a single on the UK top 10.

I wrote a news article about Russell Brand's performance as host on MTV's VMAs and how he's just been getting absolutley RUBBISHED online from the Americans right-wingers.

Some of the comments were just classic, but there was one that had me aching with laughter.

pinkcathy 09.14.08 | 7:53 PM
When you're #1, everyone is jealous, RUSSELL BRAND = UGLY ENGLISHMAN, Russell how would you like it if we got on BBC and talked s**t about the Queen? Hope you enjoyed your 15 minuites of fame, your career won't be long lived. Your a flash in the pan and so 15 minuites ago. Russell you sure didn't do Obama any favors!

It's an all-time high for celebrity hate mail. Have a look - the venom keeps increasing tenfold every day. http://www.mtv.com/overdrive/?id=1594254&vid=272743

Poor Russell. Do you hate him as much as the Americans do? Perhaps for other reasons. Let me know.

If you missed the VMAs and want to know what happened, read my 'article':

Video of Russell Brand’s MTV appearance attracts thousands of hate messages

Comedian Russell Brand failed to impress American viewers when he hosted 2008 MTV Video Music Awards, who have hit back on MTV’s website with 6495 comments about the footage of the night.

Brand was criticised for public endorsing Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama, but what most riled up American watchers, according to comments made on the site, was his appearance as Osama bin Laden.

Outraged comments include, “Thousands of Americans lost their lives on 911 and this so-called ‘genius’ Brand thinks it is a big joke and mocks us the day after by dressing up as Osama.” The barrage was recently featured ridiculed on UK weekly celebrity gossip website and newsletter, Popbitch.

The award footage, which isn’t available for viewing outside the US due to copyright restrictions, was uploaded on the MTV site following the ceremony on 7^th September 2008.

what are people like? A hurricane bigger than your own state comes for a visit and you decide to stay in.

2008-09-13T03:28:00.001-07:00

"When I woke up, my bed was floating in the house," said David Daubuisson, a handyman who narrowly escaped from his home in Bayou Vista. "I just took what I could and got out."

AT about 8am this morning, Hurricane Ike slammed down on Houston, in my home state of Texas. Nearly a category 3 storm, the hurricane delivered 20 foot wall of waves and whiplash winds. Fuck me.

Despite officials belting out urgent orders for people to evacuate homes, some cowboys decided to stay fixed in their easy chairs and split open a brewsky.

"It's not a time to play chicken with the storm," U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff said on Friday.

Two words spring to mind: NO SHIT.

Hurricane Ike slams into populous Texas coast | International | Reuters

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Saturday - a week after Pride

2008-08-09T00:32:00.001-07:00

Ah, waking up on the sofa with strange dreams in your head. And then, like a watered down slightly lamer version of "Murder She Wrote", stomping around the house trying to put the pieces together of how drinking margaritas at Audio with Jake and his brother meant I found my bike in the living room.

I'm never up this early, but after several attempts at possibly putting myself back to sleep, I realised, what the hell? it's 7.48 in the morning. there's wine in the fridge - wait, hang on, it's not pride so there's really no excuse to start that nonsense again. Is there?

Luckily my housemate is well out of the house and I'm hoping he was already gone by the time I got in, otherwise that might make for another embarrassing round of stories, mainly consisting of me being a complete dickhead. Yes people, it's possible. don't act shocked.

I dunno, I've done all the thing you can do when you wake up hungover - checked out all of my friend's photo albums on facebook so they don't go 'uh, didn't you see all the 300 pictures i put from that festival on facebook?'. replied properly to my mom's email which said 'hi how are you mom'. did a brainless scan of the bbc website to make sure nothing really IMPORTANT happened while I was asleep. because generally really IMPORTANT things happen when I'm awake and I manage to miss them for weeks. seriously.

This is my favorite headline, not ever, but just for right now:

BBC - Banks warned of economic worries : "The City watchdog tells banks to plan on the assumption economic conditions could be as bad for them as in the early 1990s."

Wow. The early 90s were pretty shit. I think we should all be worried!

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less is more?

2008-07-26T05:52:00.001-07:00

It's the ultimate in laziness blogging other people's writing. Apart from my best friend Maria, who blogs beautiful short stories on occasion, I secretly think it's a bit of a cop-out for writing your own original thoughts. But I understand the appeal, hence I'm doing it now.

Basically, it's called To Lazy To Add To De.licio.us (can never remember where the period goes).

I hate de.lici.ous. Maybe this is due to the fact that I probably don't tag things correctly - whereas my friend Mark is sensible and only uses a selection of maybe 30 tags, I've created about 200 and they're all equally random and arcane.

Anyways, no pomp and circumstance about this little gem, which I reckon I got off the Guardian website. Nor do I have anything to add that isn't self-evident.

Less news in American newspapers

July 22, 2008 7:10 AM

Almost two-thirds of American newspapers publish less foreign news than they did just three years ago, nearly as many print less national news, and despite increasing demands on newsrooms - like blogs and video - most of them have smaller staffs, according to a study by the Pew Research Centre and Tyler Marshall, a former foreign correspondent for the Los Angeles Times. Based on a written survey of editors at 259 newspapers plus interviews with some of them, you'll find more about its findings here.

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do you want a shipment of chocolate? My pajamas are blue

2008-07-24T07:25:00.001-07:00

Hi people

I seem to be head out of the asshole that is called periodical journalism. Don't get me wrong, an intensive course appeals to my lack of patience, but it was hard-going, and as I lay on my bed for an hour listening to a radio play on Radio 4, the time and ease felt like a hard-won bliss.

So back to work. or pseudo work. Was looking at a job going at the National Archives, which is all the lovely information available from the Freedom of Information Act and there was a page that translated certain messages using a French cipher.

I only got as far as invisible ink in my lifetime.

http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/spies/codemaster/default.asp

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Latitude: Overheard Conversations Part 4

2008-07-24T01:22:00.001-07:00

I went to Latitude Festival in Suffolk last weekend and came out slightly less narrow-minded.

Being a fan of electronic and dance music, I really didn't think I'd get on with this crowd, where rock and indie music reigned supreme but low-and-behold, there were other delights including a literary tent, comedy (I couldn't really get away with calling it a tent), poetry, films, and theatre. And even pink sheep.

I danced outside a disco shed, got all of Glenn's friends dressed up in my clothing in a swap-o-rama rave, attacked a man with a giant inflatable banana, watched a gay cabaret of men dressed up in gold lame thongs and serious amounts of glitter, bumped into a good friend who'd been a zombie with the Royal Shakespeare Company, and had some good clean fun. oh yeah, and also seeing Ross Noble lead 3000 people in a mass conga down the hill, go up to the veggie stand and all ask for sausage rolls.

Thanks to Glenn's friend Guy for finding this. Number 9 is my personal favorite.

http://www.uncut.co.uk/news/latitude_festival/news/11907

Latitude: Overheard Conversations Part 4

2008-07-20 20:27:24

The good folk of Latitude are becoming more lucid and lyrical, as guest blogger Terry Staunton has discovered...

Continued...

1. "I've embraced the concept of time, it's just that I'm not very good at telling it right now."

2. "Buying a brownie from an unshaven man in a field requires a leap of faith I'm not prepared to take."

3. "Unless you're fully committed to shitting, you'd be better off following me to the piss tent."

4. "The thing about being friends with Tap is that no matter how many drugs you take, you'll never reach his level of banality."

5. "My dad's off his face again, but at least he's nowhere near his Van Morrison CDs."

6. "That poet was talking about having a rhyming dictionary. Isn't that cheating? What a fuckin' fraud."

7. "I'm going to an STD clinic when I get home. I'm sure I've caught something off that toilet seat."

8. "Heart Of Glass got me through my exams, losing my virginity and leaving home. Their later stuff was bollocks, though."

9. "Seriously, I thought it was called Ricky Pedia. I assumed it was a bloke with a really popular MySpace page."

10. "I love it here. I was worried that it might be overrun by the sandals and henna brigade, but I can cope with them when they're a healthy minority."

PLUS…

The posh guy in the family camping area being huckled (admittedly quite heavy-handedly)by security shouting "I am not a violent man I'm a civil servant"!

Two men arguing outside my tent in the small hours and one shouted: "you've got your bum up your own arsehole!" i still have no idea what it means

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Lucky?

2008-07-23T09:08:00.001-07:00

Read this in the headlines at the Press Gazette - this is what I call lucky. Drunk texting AND getting money for it. Excellent precedent.

Sub editor sacked over text messages wins £20k payout

A local newspaper chief sub-editor has won £20,000 for being wrongfully dismissed after he drunkenly sent a personal late-night text message to a female junior colleague.

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View Out My Window At Elephant & Castle

2008-05-29T03:04:00.000-07:00

Writing much of anything apart from journalism pieces has become last priority since starting the course, which is a real shame since I think my soul, like an old Poloroid photograph, is starting to be bleach out and fade.

Everything is going out the window. Books, film, climbing up trees, barking after postmen.

Right now, I'm sitting in the library's "Silent Zone", in the computer lab. Which is a fucking joke since people still carry on with conversations or get phone calls. The undergraduates are so hyper-sensitive that if I glare at them for half a second, they soon get the drift.

It's a sunny day, less humour-less than Tuesday, the day after May bank holiday Monday. There are four big leafy trees that shield the sound of the buses circling on the roundabout.

I suddenly want to be a leaf in summertime. Or maybe a drunk elk.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/4419876.stm

Berlin-Brighton

2008-04-12T06:45:00.000-07:00

Yesterday my first day back in Brighton, after a slightly hellish 10 hour journey from Berlin. I thought I was going to conk out & have a quiet night in, but things never work out as you plan.

yesterday.
The sun came out to play, Kat texted and said "let's go to the beach" so at 6pm we headed down, me armed with a blanket, both of us armed with cans of beers and strong sunglasses. Mark came down and met us. The sea was choppy and the wind pushed the elements up a notch. It was slightly gorgeous, but it made all our teeth clatter.

Frozen to to the proverbial bone, we marched up to the Fishbowl for drinks and to defrost by the radiators. The pub was packed. We defrosted. Mark complained that he only wore a cardigan. Then Kat turned to me with a devilish grin and said, "Let's get fucked up!"

Yes, it's a proper welcome back to Brighton. I have to say for the record that despite a couple of drinks bought for me, I managed to relatively with it. The night saw us return to Kat's, bumping into Lloyd & Kat grabbing him, going to 3and10, then off to Audio for a night of great minimalist techno........

KLIKS present JEREMY P. CAULFIELD (Dumb-Unit, Toronto)

A pretty good turnout, with a reassuring hard core of serious minimalist lovers in the front, as well as the requisite few powder puffed little girls in the toilet gabbing about "art and design" and "I love my minimalist". The thing I love about Kliks and most good music nights is that they're truly aimed at the music lovers (which is how it should be???) - notice for instance how everyone who runs other nights turn up too. Last night Magnus (C-Soul/On the House) & Billy were present, as was Jim (All time top 100) and Sam Watts (schtumm!). Caulfield played a pretty slow intro but it was well-worth the wait. Mental set and everyone danced in kind. Last night was the sort of night that should happen all the time.

here's what Kliks say:

Join us at Kliks as we welcome back one of our favourite DJs, Mr. Jeremy P. Caulfield. Founder of the scandalously good Dumb-Unit label, he's launched the careers of acclaimed minimal techno alumni like Butane, Lee Curtiss, Jake Fairley and Sweet N Candy, while also releasing a string of club hits in his trademark 'stallking' techno style.

As a DJ, Jeremy regularly rocks everywhere from Berlin's Watergate to Fabric, and we're delighted to have him back to tear it up at Kliks once again...he's joined, as ever, by residents Lee Smith and Mark Lerman.

never seen Jeremy Caulfield? check him out here.
Jeremy P. Caulfield - promo mix March 2008

tonight.
Off to London tonight, meeting up with Simon to compare notes on Berlin and talk music/art/love/life/sex/toilet paper. Go to Lesser Panda warehouse party. Meet up with Kesh, watch London marathon, cook a roast, discuss why it's better not to get too stressed about life. Then Monday, day 1 of my course. I'm still waiting to hear whether the loan has gone through, a bit annoying, but it just means having nerves of steel through the waiting game.

note.
the reason for so many dropped caps is my sticky second hand keyboard. Haphazard tea drinking habits around my desk meant that my nice wireless keyboard short-circuited and died a quick and painless death. a £2 replacement means that I must suffer until I buy a new one.

there's no good reason for dropped grammar though.

The YouTube Thing - Brighton

2008-04-11T06:56:00.000-07:00

This is a show curated by friends Nadege and Orion from collective art group ProtoPLAY. I got a sneak preview of one of the videos - this is really good weird shit. YouTube is like a bigger version of the access channel gone global, possibly interesting, and usually wrong. Those of you who are from the States know what I mean when I talk about the access channel - thank god for the freaks.

So if you're around on Tuesday 29th April, go check it out. It's free. And it's art!

VIDEOCLUB in collaboration with protoPLAY presents : The YouTube Thing
29 April 08 (Tuesday) - 7.30pm - Free entry - doors open at 6.30pm

The YouTube Thing is a curated screening of videos from YouTube, selected in collaboration with Nadege Derderian and Orion Maxted from protoPLAY. A screening of touching, angering, curious, visceral and ever-so voyeuristic pieces, taken from the mass contemporary ‘archive’ of YouTube.

There will be an opportunity for questions with the curators, and a special piece of writing about The YouTube Thing will be available.

Lighthouse, 28 Kensington Street, Brighton BN1 4AJ
www.lighthouse.co.uk

Cocktail happy hour at Lighthouse from 6.30pm

www.videoclub.org.uk

** Our collaboration with Northwest Film Forum (NWFF) in Seattle is going ahead. We will be exchanging a programme of work with NWFF later in the year. Work we have selected will be screened in September in Brighton and at NWFF's venue in Seattle in December. Submission deadline is 15 July 08 **

Who Needs Fight Club When There's Video Club?

2008-03-23T05:16:00.001-07:00

VIDEOCLUB NEWS and DATES 2008 programme

Our first event is on 29 April, and will be a curated screening of videos from YouTube, selected in collaboration with Nadege Derderian and Orion Maxted from protoPLAY. A screening of touching, angering, curious, visceral and ever-so voyeuristic pieces, taken from the mass contemporary ‘archive’ of YouTube.

On 18 May: Olsen at the Duke of York’s cinema with tea, homemade cake and tips on hand-processing film

On 25 October: A Wall is a Screen from Hamburg will be creating a moving image tour of Brighton for White Night

Also: North West Film Forum in Seattle are doing a film exchange with us later in the year, so keep your eyes peeled for the opportunity to submit work for cross-Atlantic trading.

www.videoclub.org.uk

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UK POLICE BAN PEACE ACTIVIST FILM

2008-03-21T04:26:00.000-07:00

Just read this on the SCIP (community e-group) list. Fucking hell. I find this extremely worrying.

PRESS RELEASE

MONDAY MARCH 17th 6 p.m

EMBARGO: IMMEDIATE RELEASE

WWW.SMASHEDO.ORG.UK <http://www.smashedo.org.uk/>

For more info contact Chloe Marsh or Andrew Beckett on 07875 708873

POLICE BAN PEACE ACTIVIST FILM

In a last-minute move Sussex Police have caused the Duke of York's
Cinema to cancel the showing of 'On the Verge' a documentary about
local peace campaigners SMASH EDO. The screening was due to be at
6.30pm tonight (Monday March 17th)

According to the Duke of York's cinema they received an e-mail at
4.15 p.m today (Mon March 17th) from Martin New , a council
environmental health officer. He explained that the police had
reported that the film had not been certificated and therefore should
not be shown. The Duke of York's were forced to pull the showing.

A spokesman for the production company SchMovies said "I am
extremely disappointed but not entirely surprised by the police's
action. As the showing of the film has been widely advertised for at
least six weeks, not least in the Duke of York's programme any
certification issues could have been dealt with well prior to the
event. Our film although focussing mainly on the rights and wrongs of
protest shows a number of examples of questionable police behaviour
Perhaps this is why they left their move so late."

Andrew Beckett, spokesman for the campaign said 'When the police are
reduced to banning film showings via the back door another blow has
been struck against our rights to free speech and free assembly'

Contacts:

Smash EDO Press 07875 708873

Duke of Yorks Cinema 01273 818549

Sussex Police Press Office 0845 60 70 999

Notes for Journalists:

THE FILM

On the Verge "An independent film about the SMASH EDO Campaign "
View a trailer at

http://www.schnews.org.uk/schmovies/index-on-the-verge.htm

In 2004 a group of Brighton peace campaigners began to bang pot
and pans outside their local arms manufacturers EDO MBM in disgust of
their part in the Iraq war. This has grown into the Smash EDO
campaign, which has cost the company millions, been the subject of
large scale police operations and has tested the right to protest in
the UK.Using activist, police and CCTV footage plus interviews with
those involved in the campaign, 'On The Verge' tells the story of one
of the most persistent and imaginative campaigns to emerge out of the
UK's anti-war movement and direct action scene.â??

The Company
EDO MBM Technologies Ltd are the sole UK subsidiary of huge U.S
weapons manufacturer EDO Corp.From their base in Moulescoombe
Brighton, EDO MBM
manufacture vital parts for the Hellfire and Paveway weapons
systems,laserguided missilesused extensively in Iraq, Lebanon,
Palestine and Somalia. EDO Corp
were recently acquired by ITT in multi-billion pound deal. ITT's
links to fascism go back to the 1930s. The founder Sosthenes Behn was
the first foreign businessman
received by Hitler after his seizure of power.

The Campaign
There has been active campaign against the presence of EDO MBM in Brighton since the outbreak of the Iraq war. Campaigners include students, Quakers , Palestine solidarity activists, anti-capitalists and academics. Despite an injunction under the protection of harassment act (which failed) and over forty arrests the campaign is still going strong.Their avowed aim is to expose EDO MBM and their complicity in war crimes and to removethem from Brighton. They hold regular weekly demos outside the Moulescoombe factory on
Wednesday's between 4 and 6.

Photo of the Day

2008-03-18T12:55:00.001-07:00

This looks like Brighton, no?

Atardecer rosarino on Flickr - Photo Sharing!

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The Delights That Await Me in Berlin

2008-03-18T03:03:00.001-07:00

I'm going to Germany (Berlin & Dresden) in April to visit my friends Sharon & Alex. Just got an email from Sharon & this is where she's taking us, as part of her brother's 33 birthday celebrations ?!?!

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Picture of the Day

2008-03-16T15:43:00.001-07:00

IMG_1493 on Flickr - Photo Sharing!

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Favorite Popbitch Fact of the Week

2008-03-13T08:32:00.000-07:00

I know I should be working, but every Thursday there are two things I can't resist: the Argus and Popbitch. Life's little pleasures, eh?

From Popbitch (13/3/08):

Wonder why The Klaxons looked so out of it trying
to mime alongside Rihanna at the Brits? They'd
dropped some acid before the show. Respect.

Picture of the Day,

2008-03-02T13:28:00.001-08:00

Photo from: http://www.flickr.com/photos/akbuthod/

Gangster teeth from Oklahoma. Yup, only $15! Bargain.

I'm Here, Just Being Quiet For Once

2008-02-25T13:03:00.000-08:00

Okay that's a complete lie. When am I ever quiet?

In the past month (February), I've posted six articles on Trash Menagerie (see below). Not been so enthusiastic about writing for Brighton Fusion only since my nights out are few and far between since 2008 began. January was a dry month. In February, I've been to Slackers Convention, Supercharged and the last (I think for a while rather than ever) Electric Playboys. That's it. Impressed?

My soul really needs a rest. Winter's been far more unbearable than it has been in years. I blame that on the lack of decent holidays over autumn. I yearn to be in the States right now. I need some sort of old familiarity, to laugh at ancient jokes and listen to songs I'd forgotten about and to drive down roads in the middle of the night - I don't even drive anymore so that might be a tough one. I need to get lost in a country that has no sides. There's no way of falling in to the ocean because there's just too much fucking land.

Well, instead I'll write, which is what I sit here doing now (for the past 4 hours), listening to a dubstep mix and drinking too much water.

Here's the pieces. Expect more soon.

Oh yeah, and it's my birthday in an hour. 33. The age of Jesus's sandles. Yum. I'll write a story about my coming of age and mail it to you.

Amy x

I Don’t Care About Atomic Hooligan, But You Should

Grooverider Sentenced to Four Years in Dubai Jail

It’s Breakspoll, Baby!

London’s Burning

Lesser Panda Party With Spektrum in Brick Lane’s 93 Feet East

Blokgolf and the Square Wave Revolution

February Slackers

2008-01-26T09:29:00.000-08:00

Yes, another shameless plug for the night I help run, the Slackers Convention. Actually, I never understood why it was shameless to plug anything. What should I feel ashamed? Am I a snail hiding under prehistoric rock formations? It's silly. Promoting fun is always worth while.

On that note, come down on 2nd Feburary & help us throw a great party for my birthday month, the month of love & the first sign of an approaching spring. In the main room, we've got Radioactive Man headlining, with support from party experts Ape-x (Jude & Castrillion), loveable Dirtpop, and some good ol' nu skool breaks from Pav & Squashqar.

Giving the headliners a run for their money in the bar & backroom, we've got Slackers residents DJ Y-Not and Matt Slackers, Funkcollectif sound system DJs, Subslider & from Electric Playboys DropTop Daddy and Moai. It's a shit hot line up for a what will be a well-needed and well-deserved dance-infested night.

If you're getting itchy feet, come down to the Slackers Warm Up at Riki Tiks, which runs from 6pm-10.30pm and listen to the guys and gals DJ live on NSB Radio.

Slackers Convention, Saturday 2nd February, Concorde 2, Brighton, 11pm - late, £6 before midnight.

Picture of the Day

2008-01-21T07:59:00.001-08:00

The radios just won't shut up about today being the Most Depressing Day of the Year. I didn't bankrupt myself on maxed out credit cards for hedonistic Christmas consumerism and even I feel depressed just hearing the radio dj's mindless refrain.

What's wrong with these people?

Hence this picture. Life must be pretty good if you're fruit enters into a dialogue with you about third-world economics and the benefits of a meat-free diet. I mean, what else could they be talking about?

Picture of the Week

2008-01-08T03:49:00.001-08:00

The rave generation in old age?

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In Memory of Joe Holmberg

2008-01-03T04:39:00.000-08:00

Ex-boyfriend and good friend Joe Holmberg sadly, passed away on Thursday December 28th at 7.25 GMT in is new hometown of Paris. He was being looked after by his girlfriend Emilie and his parents Geoff and Sheila. Joe had been diagnosed with malignant cancer, but friends and family were all hopeful that he would come through the chemotherapy.

I simply don't know what to write at the moment, but I can't leave his death unmarked. Joe was a great soul, and the world is diminished by not having him around.

Joe will be cremated and a service will be held first in Paris, then later in the UK. See his old blog for more details. http://nowhitelines.wordpress.com/

His old band, Republic of Heaven, have written an obituary.
http://therepublicofheaven.blogspot.com/2008/01/sad-news.html

There is also a Facebook group, which we'd all hoped would be used to mark Joe's progress back to health. http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=5578883195

My thoughts are with the whole Holmberg family, Emilie & Olivia.

In Memory of Lawrence Jupp

2007-12-11T04:58:00.000-08:00

Dave Wood phoned me up last night to share some bad news: our friend Lawrence was instantly killed yesterday morning in a head-on collision between his motorcycle and another vehicle in Essex. He was 28.

Lawrence had only recently returned from a year's travel around the world, and it was only 2 weeks ago that we were all sitting in the Basketmakers Pub catching up with him. I hadn't seen Lawrence in probably 4 or 5 years. It was a great reunion for all.

I first met Lawrence when I moved down to Brighton to live with Joe, who I was then dating. Lawrence attended Sussex University and graduated in 2000, having done an undergraduate degree in programming alongside Dave, Joe and others. I spent many a mornings with him and Bob that summer, drinking tea and sitting in the basement pf their student house watching morning tv and being grumpily unemployed together. When I saw him, I was struck by the fact that the grumpyness that marked his earlier 20s was replaced by an upbeat positivity and excitement for the wider world. He talked of maybe living in New Zealand next.

Lawrence was a keen outdoor enthusiast and it was great to become friends on Flickr where his pictures from his recent travels are on display. http://www.flickr.com/photos/ljupp/

The one thing Lawrence taught me was that you can eat meat that's gone past the sell-by date and it won't kill you. Either that, or he had a stomach of steel!

Dave's tribute
Article in Evening Star
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/essex/7137372.stm
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/essex/7139399.stm

Mozzeltof

2007-11-28T06:13:00.001-08:00

I had a dream the other night that still plagues me.

Tokyo & New York were two sides of the same coin. Night turned to day, people I met turned to cobwebs, and the sky, a steel gray, began to fill with rain. I walked out from the shelter of the building's awning and gazed down to one end of the city and then the other. My memories began to turn inside out in my flesh.

I walked into a dry cleaners, seeking clarity. Three brothers in chef whites and angry faces worked industriously inside. One turned to me and his stony face cracked into a warm smile. I began to work with them until my mother came in.

Then I said, "Mozzeltof."

Then I work up.

Does anyone know what they hell mozzeltof actually means? I've looked online, but as you probably already know, we are in a post-post modern age and Google is not God. Is mozzeltof one of those ubiquitous words, that means everything and nothing?

mozzeltof (uses of)
"You're pregnant, mozzeltof."
Ernie's been writing online for five years. Mozzeltof!
Unless you're Israeli, in which case...go crazy. Mozzeltof.
???

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Party In My Bedroom

2007-11-22T00:59:00.000-08:00

"When things are at their darkest, pal, it's a brave man that can kick back and party"
-- Lt Tuck Pendler (Dennis Quaid), "Inner Space"

I know that sounds completely dodgy, but in this case, the party is an obscure, little known reference to the fact that I've been spending more time than usual in my room due to being sick. The party attendees are me & Donnie, who keeps finding new sources of crack underneath my bookshelf and I don't know how he does it. I've been deeply ensconced in massive duvet action on my bed, with an armful of books and crap VHS tapes that I found in the hallway. My house, which in three weeks will soon be knocked down, turn to dust, is a large rambling place with strange collections of hothouse plants from Spain, books, movies, art, musical instruments, furniture, and oh yeah, people.

Everything went wrong Saturday before last; some of you know exactly what I'm talking about. But sometimes, when life shits in your cornflakes, you've just got to embrace it and run as fast as you can, as far as you can, until your lungs ache, the stitch in your side is screaming and then you remember that this is what it feels like to be alive. Really. It's hard to accept that sometimes it's okay for things to be shit.

Losing a phone is great. Instant holiday! I had to email my work that I was sick TWICE (even if I'd had my phone, they wouldn't have been able to understand my squeak of a voice.) Not being able to unlock my bike (keys were stolen) meant I just rode the bus all week. Being sick provides the perfect excuse for feeling sorry for yourself, the perfect structure - you even have a valid reason for making whimpering noises to yourself: you're no longer in existential pain, you're in REAL physical pain.

I'm telling you, this getting sick business is what everyone needs, especially if you're like me and never relax. Someone recently told me that the best approach to life is just to relax in any given situation; if I'm perfectly honest, I thought he was full of shit. He was younger than me and struck up a conversation with me by telling me he was a foot model. And we were sitting on the floor of an art gallery, half waiting for the next act to come on and half being the art, in a way, but not really. We met on the Saturday before last, before all the bad things happened and before, of course, I got sick. Now I see that he was right. I've sort of made it my mission if not to relax, then to at least remember that relaxing is the best approach to everything.

Anyways, I'm totally getting off the point. I was off sick from work for one day one week and then two days the following week. I watched loads of great movies that I saw probably more than a decade ago, and they they weren't as crap as I thought I'd think they were. "Inner Space" for instance. When Dennis Quaid said that line, he summed up exactly how I've been feeling for months - things have felt shit, and I almost wanted to take down the party and put it all back in the box. It takes a brave person to simply carry on and enjoy things and have fun in the face of massive change and uncertainty and to ride it like a fucking urban cowboy.

My friend Stu over at feelinglistless has this great technique starting each blog entry with a quote, which I totally love, and since this week has been perfect for quote accumulation, the first place I thought to put them was on the blog. How I feel about the quotes is how I used to feel about commercials when I was a kid. I was a complete tv junkie. My parents gave me free reign of a massively large screen tv and VCR. I didn't have any brothers or sisters. At the end of my complete fixation with tv-watching, and I began to grow bored of the tired cheap plotlines of sitcoms and soap operas and family dramas, that was when I fell in love with commercials. I'd spend hours flicking through the channels, just watching the 1 minute gems.

The silver-lining: after all that angst-ridden period of difficulty, I've definitely had a breakthrough in my thoughts about what I want to do over the next 6 months. I've made some decisions. Discussed plans with family and compared strategies. I also found a flat and it's beautiful and I'm just hoping that nothing hiccups. If all goes to plan, I'll be moving on Friday. My friend Col and her fiancee are planning to give me a hand, and a few other friends have also offered possible help.

I'm hopeful.

Brighton & Hove Web Awards

2007-11-08T08:26:00.000-08:00

It's that time of year again - yes, it's the local SCIP web awards. I really love and anticipate this competition because it's local, because poking my nose in and out of websites is fun. I don't like sport, but this is as close as I will get to waiting with abated breath as to who's gonna win.

Over the years, friends sites have come up as contenders and one year I helped out and got drunk for free at the awards ceremony. Hm. That was last year wasn't it? That's probably why I haven't been invited to help shortlist again, isn't it? Damn.

This year, the sites are ok, and on the blogger section, there are a few favorites, although I'd expect in a city with over 500 bloggers that people would deviate from the standard Blogger templates (okay, I haven't but that's because I don't know how !)

My friend, the amazingly gifted designer and artist Julia Zeen has had her simple yet stylish site be shortlisted for Best Business Site. How cool is that? Julia's most well known in Brighton for being the beauty behind the grime in Brighton music scene, designing many club flyers - check out the one she did for Cut Loose's night when they had John B headlining - simply too cool for school I think.

I highly recommend that you get your vote in - deadline is Wednesday 14th November. http://brightonwebawards.co.uk/votenow

Forward Planning

2007-11-04T15:12:00.000-08:00

It's official: I'm a bit bored of clubs. I'm tired, period. It's autumn. Life moves too fast and then we wonder why we start resembling pomeranians from Eastbourne. I think it's time to call a time-out, lean back on the half-sides, and watch orange-coloured leaves drift lazily down to the ground.......

However -- the only two things on my to-do list this month, which should be on everyone's social agenda all happen on Saturday 17th November. One is free, one is not -- both are great.

FOLLOWED BY

The Slackers Convention @ Concorde2
Saturday November 17th
3 Rooms of 'Breaks Beats and Party Vibes for the Discerning
Underachiever'

Main Room
General Midi (Distinctive)
SOTO (Botchitt)
Jnr Hacksaw LIVE (Trigger)
Dirtpop
Widescreen visuals from VJ Spank
The awesome Y-Inter Soundsystem

Bar - The Slackers Residents and Guests
Mjoogoo (NSB Radio)
Analogue People (NSB Radio)
Miss Max (Supatronix)
Symmetrik (Bloc/Hyponik)
Toxic Shock (Kinky Robot)

3rd Room
Open DJ competition hosted by Funkollectif Soundsystem see our
website for entry details

www.slackersconvention.com
http://www.myspace.com/slackersconvention

@ Concorde 2, Madeira Drive, Brighton
Venue Doors 11.00 - 5am
ID may be required

£7 Advance Tickets/Badge - Rounder, Resident and Ticketweb
£10 Door/£7 NUS

Dia De Los Muertos

2007-11-02T02:26:00.000-07:00

It's the Mexican day of the dead !

Fucked Over (Part Two)

2007-10-28T16:36:00.000-07:00

Okay, here's the other mix I've been loving all week, from Supatronix's Youthful Implants.

www.supatronix.org/YI_DiamondAgeMix.mp3

It's nu-skool all the way down the line and all in all, it's pretty sick. Picked it up off nuskoolbreaks.co.uk funnily enough, always a good place to catch up on some music & read stupid yet funny stuff that people have written.

Sometimes I think I should just listen to jazz and relax (like this morning) but instead I put on breaks & there's surely no rest for the criminally restless.

Props !

Btw, I haven't been fucked over, just in case my mom is reading this !! Only musically, but in a good way. Whatever :)

Fucked Over (Part One)

2007-10-28T11:56:00.000-07:00

From Allez-allez.co.uk - my new best friends (only they don't know it !)

Basically, this mix is sick. And if you don't grab it, that means you're a loser. Okay, tha'ts a bit harsh. Just grab it. Another mix is coming up.

the black dog live at the sub club glasgow, 2007 - the black dog (36.50mb, 39:58mins)
[right click here to save]

Domesticity Beckons (yeah right!)

2007-10-28T03:03:00.000-07:00

As I mentioned, I have to move in December, the month that Jesus and half my family was born. December is a month of unexpected sunshine in the midst of cold on our cheeks; in the States it is also the perfect justification for consumer frenzies, fights in department stores with total strangers, petrol consumption, food consumption, over-voltaging your house with a million chains of lights, and countless other enviable sins.

I just have to move house. And then - if all goes according to how I want it to - hop on a plane and land in George Bush International Airport, be whisked to Congress Avenue, change into a tanktop and a skirt and go sip margaritas outside at Guerros.

Until then, I need to figure out a master moving plan.

Last night was one of sheer decadence: wine, food, reading in bed, napping, more wine, more food and then sleep. So it's no surprise that I woke up at 7am. Got confused when I'd read about the clocks moving forwards, then realised that's happening LATER. Early starts are good. I knew it was time to get started on the moving project.

Moving in 10 Easy Steps

Check out rentals online. Realise that I probably want to get a 2 bedroom with someone else rather than a studio or 1 bedroom. Also that I can definitely find places in the area that I want to live(7 dials). Landsdowne Place is also lovely, as are parts of Hove so might be flexible.
Make coffee. Then Chinese chrysanth tea. Then hot water with lemon. Back to coffee again. It's funny how quickly you need to drink these things before they suddenly go cold.
Grab two black bin liners & then do nothing with them.
Look through stuff and wonder what to do with it all. Decide to buy storage boxes.
Throw old stuff away, one at a time - make a list of each thing thrown away with a promise to replace. Only one thing on that list at that moment, so not doing well.
Put on an electro mix I have to write about and decide to look for an old email that has to do with another mixI want to download but forgot about.
Go into the kitchen and talk to housemate about what to do with junk. He sold a box of junk on ebay and made £150. Also discovered that we don't have any vinegar in the house & that housemate cleans his records with lighter fluid. Tell him that's health and safety clearly out of the window. He nods and agrees.
Don't add vinegar to list of things to buy but instead pick up the dabs newsletter & look through. Realise they probably don't do phones.
Realise room looks exactly the same minus an empty wine bottle and a few envelopes.
Step 10 - decide to stop faffing around and just get on with it all. Which I am.

Awake (barely)

2007-10-23T22:46:00.000-07:00

"People with turbulent lives who spend their time on the phone are sexual freelancers."
-- Karl Lagerfeld (Lagerfeld Confidential)

I'm definitely a light-weight these days. Six o'clock in the morning is pretty major for me, and it's now six-fifty. It's the day of the conference that I've been helping a group of volunteer reps organise. We've been moving towards this day since April, and I'm very excited for my group, who are opening up an important dialogue between health and social care . I decided in advance that I'm not going to panic about what I'm wearing today (I'm not meeting any ambassadors or heads of state, so fuck it). Gave Donnie some fresh brocolli, monkey nuts and seed mixture (he opted for a monkey nut on this occasion). Made very strong coffee. Bring up the Village Voice website and stare at that for a while.

Yesterday I got news that my best friend, who lives in NYC, was in a fairly serious accident involving the freight elevator at work (Barnes & Nobles). She manages author readings for the main shop, which are daily. The day before yesterday they had Tony Bennett. The singer. For some reason he didn't want to use the main elevators so she had to use the back ones. Tony got out, she went flying through some gap and on to concrete & steel. She's ok, but still in hospital :(

A cunning plan, albeit a late one

2007-10-18T13:25:00.000-07:00

My friend Mark sent over a link to the German wings 0 euro special on flights, which is giving me all sorts of crazy ideas -- how about I get over to Cologne, then shimmy over to Berlin & dip into Dresden? Like, right about now? Or maybe in the 3 week vicinity? I'm poring over maps as I do my homework & it seems like a winning plan. I might book the flights tomorrow, but I'd better check with work -- they might not like me suddenly not turning up to work for a few random days !

Hm. Maybe not the best of of times, but then, I'm getting somewhat existential about life & I need to go on a new adventure soon. So what if I'm moving home in a few months. Por que no?

Who needs plans when reality is in the here-and-now?

A new twist in the story so far....

2007-10-16T11:18:00.000-07:00

Potential house nightmare, or the final eviction in the Big Brother house
For those of you who don't know, my housemates & I have been told that we have to move in 2 months time. We haven't had the legalese through the letter box yet, but with the luxury condominiums nearly complete next door & the knowledge that our house being knocked down is on the cards, it seems pointless to prolong the inevitable.

The Palace will soon be no longer. I know how much I've complained about it all in the past. How many months I toyed with the idea of moving out, only to change my mind, dig my heels in and stick it out. Today I officially stopped being annoyingly sentimental & maudlin about it, to the point where there is nothing more to say. I'm excited about finding a new place to live (in Brighton) & having a fresh start.

The social whirl
After Le Name in late September, the pace of life stepped up a notch -- with critical work for AudioActive (youth music charity) becoming an urgent priority, increased demands on my time with the freelance work I was doing, and a valiant effort on my part to balance the need to be a sane & professional worker during the week with the need to be a hedonistic party animal on the weekend. Um, did I just write that?

Le Name was 4 days of good wholesome French fun, but it in no way prepared me for the next three weekends, which were completely mental and got me into lots of trouble, but hey ! I'm fine now.

Weekend 1: Positive 15th Birthday: started at Audio, moved on at 3am to Funky Buddha Lounge, then at 5am moved on to Magnus's flat where we partied until Sunday afternoon and I made a wobbly uphill walk up to PV to meet Kesh for a roast. In the midst of all that, I also managed to pop out for Kesh's leaving drinks at the Fish Bowl, talk loads of rubbish to my friends & then return to the party. Classic.

Weekend 2: Kesh's leaving meal at Planet India, followed by a drink at All Time Top 100 at Cosmo bar to say hi to Jim. Mex from Black Grass was playing rap. Headed on to White Rhino at the Volks to party with Barney & that posse, as well as Kat & her new man. Cut up the dance floor with VJ Spank & the Y-Inter boys, then ran into a face from the past....and that was me done for the night. I did manage to get quite a bit of writing done on Saturday, but the night saw me dancing at Black Lion to Fat Daddy's dj sets, then on to Grant & Ben's friend's amazing flat (they had a trampoline & a punching bag) for continued party. I learned that "And the Beat Goes On" is NOT by Shalamar but by the Whisperers. On Sunday, I shivered through fear & loathing, but topped the night off with lovely visits to my friend's new flat and to hang out with a cool boy.

Weekend 3: It hurts me almost to write about this past weekend. Friday night - after work drinks with the people in my building. After being flooded in an endless wave of Tuaca and GOD KNOWS WHAT ELSE I KNOW I WAS PROBABLY ACTING SHAMELESSLY, I got pushed into a taxi and sent home.

Cut to 2 o'clock in the morning. Wake up in my bed & think "shit, I've missed the party!" Who do I know would be awake? Barney ! I ring him & he says, "yeah, come on over!". He and Paul My Finger are wasted - they insist I play Aquasky's "Overneath" TWICE! We head over to Gwen's, dance around, talk bollocks, I totally mess up my waxing appointment twice, lose my bank card, and end up crashing at Barneys so I can pull myself together. This does not happen as quickly as I imagine, and after eating Grubs, drinking rose and listening to Kraftwerk while starting at the seam of Barney's sofa, I start to feel marginally more awake. Then everyone comes back, rugby is blasting, Plum is screaming, we're drinking champagne, and then suddenly I'm at Audio dancing to D. Ramirez. Near the end, I decide to leave, but realising I have no housekeys, I realise I can't get flyers & I'm fairly stuffed at 2.30 in the morning without either. So I end up at Pressure Point for Beat Circus, which I've been meaning to go to for ages & Mark, Heather & Matt are there, which is just sheer luck. Mark & head upstairs, it's insane, Sarah & Cecil are there, I can go on and on telling you everything because this weekend just does not stop and thank god it did........

The end
It's Tuesday night and I feel sober and pretty good I guess. My yin/yang is still out of whack (too much acid in my stomach, mucus thing) so today my acupuncturist prescribed me chrysanthemum tea, which I'm supposed to have twice a day. It's not bad. My session was better today. Vivian explained that when the needles sting when they go in means that I have energy blocks. I thought a lot about this as I fell into a deep dark sleep on the treatment table.

I think I can probably keep clean this week -- I sure as hell need to. My hamster is crunching out the beat to Pink Floyd's "Wish You Were Here"and at night I dream that I am taking pictures of Owen Wilson who poses with a sunglass-wearing poodle as they hang out in a tent. I need the mental energy to block out my work colleagues who complain ceaselessly about EVERYTHING, which I find totally draining, as well as to carry on with the final arrangements for next Wednesday's conference. Slacker's is on Saturday & I need to be on my best behavior for that, for sure. More importantly, I need to get back to my novella, worry about finding a new place to live & try to eek out some sort of life that doesn't involve self-important assholes or vague artists.

What happened to the days when the only thing I had to do was write and drink tea?

Early Saturday evening treat

2007-10-09T10:23:00.001-07:00

Something to listen to while I get ready for Breakdown at Concorde 2 this Saturday !

My friend Sam Hell is up on this one.....

Le Name Festival - Word Up (literally)!

2007-10-07T07:38:00.000-07:00

How I find the time to work full-time, go out, get smashed, become obsessed with music for 20 out of 24 hours in a day and still find time to write is always beyond me. Honestly.

Here is my feature on Le Name Festival, which took place last month, and which I enjoyed the first leg of the whistlestop electro tour in Lille/Roubaix.

http://www.trashmenagerie.com/blog/2007/10/07/le-name-is-now/

Enjoy !

4th October 07, 8.20am : Meet me on the seafront between the two piers

2007-10-03T08:58:00.001-07:00

The Rum Diary

2007-10-01T07:42:00.000-07:00

St James's Tavern, on St James's Street, serves over 50 different types of rum. Like letters in the alphabet, I stared at the long list scribbled up on the chalkboard. I decided, upon the suggestion of my friend Ollie Glass, that each one would be mine, one shot at a time.

I'm hoping friends will join me on this journey.

1. Santa Teresa (Venezuela) - £2 per shot

Amy: "It was like walking into a national forest full of redwood trees and taking a bite."

Ollie: "There's the high notes, very sweet, distinctly sweet and um it kinda oversteeped the tone of the middle and bass section. It quickly dissipated and then the midsection was hurriedly introduced. Could have spent more time in transition....(can't read my notes)...the rum tried in its way to be free. The bass, like the rest, quiet, too dull to be understated.

Back from France

2007-09-23T13:16:00.000-07:00

A short message just to say I made it back safely from France, arriving back in Brighton at about 3pm. I had some people a little worried about the fact that I was going to a country where I didn't speak the language and I hadn't booked a hotel and didn't know anyone there. Point taken. Got a room in advance, and despite my French language skills at the moment = zero, I made many friends around the city, including all of the security guards at Le Name Festival.

I will write more when I've got more time (including a write up of the festival for TM / BF), but quickly.....

High points: Water fights in the toilet disco, cycling around the city and getting joyously lost, conversations with Fabian about records and Trappist beer, dancing all night, Antoine & the "french ravers are stupid" conversation, buying cheap red wine, sunshine, beautiful parks, cobbled streets, bread, minimalist techno, friendly friendly people, stupid costumes, free disco shuttles from Roubaix to Lille, new music (!).

Low points: Finding out that my ex boyfriend (Joe H) has malignant cancer, falling over on my bike when I was at a complete standstill at a traffic light (a nice man helped pick me up off the pavement), fretting that I didn't know how to speak French and/or that if I was mugged I wouldn't understand, generally feeling a bit scared (but that's the point of it all too).

I hope Joe doesn't mind me highlighting his blog posting -- but if anyone who reads this doesn't know already & knows him, send him a message.

Dave W phoned me up on Friday afternoon when I was hanging out in le cafe des sisc roses. I blocked his call, thinking he didn't realise I was in France & that he wanted to arrange a lunch with him and his girlfriend. Dave's response to my text was telling -- something was wrong-- so I told him to go ahead and phone me back, fearing the worst. The news was pretty gutting -- Joe and his girlfriend Emilie are living in Paris so already I was thinking of how they were doing. The raving must go on, but in my heart of hearts I am quietly thinking of Joe & the people who care for him and who are with him now.

Biting Fingernails While Watching the News

2007-09-19T04:45:00.000-07:00

I'm not a big horror fan anymore, but am partial to a few zombies now and then so I was pleased to read that George Romero has returned to his indie roots with his latest film,"Diary of the Dead", which has recently premiered at Toronto International Film Festival. Romero is hanging with the kids on this one, utilising the advent of Youtube, mobile phones ("cell phone" in North America), and video diaries (no!), and the film even has a myspace account -- oh yes! (okay, maybe Romero's not responsible for that one, but whatever --let's pretend it was his idea.)

There was a particular image I was tickled by, which featured in an interview with Romero in the Village Voice :

"You see all this shit happening that's just ridiculous, whether it's the war or the economy or housing. It seems like, 'Christ, the sky is falling!' " Romero says. "And I think there is a tendency with young people to think, 'Why get involved? You can't fix this mess—this stuff can just drive you crazy.' It can really breed paranoia. I once had an idea for a script about a guy who just sits biting his fingernails watching the news," he says, laughing. "Like a Warhol thing."

As everyone knows, I'm a big fan of DIY anything, especially film, but I did stop and think about what sort of risks Romero was taking by going back to independently-financed low-budget framework of producing a film. I'm sure it was just an aesthetic thing, in the same way that Lars von Trier and others embraced a return to a more stripped down way of filmmaking with their Dogme 95 rules. However, I do wonder how much Romero gambled on his bankeability as a renowned director. I suppose the gamble paid off. As reported in the Hollywood Reporter, Romero sold the North American rights for "Diary of the Dead" to the Weinstein brothers company for a cool $2 million-$2.5 million dollars ("Dead' sale reanimates Toronto market"). Okay for some.

The Best Things In Life Are Free

2007-09-16T12:21:00.000-07:00

On Saturday, I met up with Simon, Andy & crew at Liverpool Station and accompanied them on one of the best free things I've done in ages -- the London Open House weekend, which takes place yearly. Most of our time was taken up going to the Lloyds building on Lime Street, which only opens its doors to the public once a year. It was Simon's childhood dream to go inside the building, which was completed in 1986 & has won all sorts of design awards for features such as the glass elevator boxes, which were the first at the time. The building was spectacular, although if it were a shopping mall in the US, we might not bother with the fly-catching expressions. I went round looking at different angles & wondering if it had been used in any films, and both Simon and I were amused by the dining room, which was (according to one of the security guards) purchased in whole at an auction and moved from Lloyds' previous building to the current building.

We also had a look at an 18th century church, which was very conservative with its holy-holy-ness and where I coined the term "twin-set and pearls with a bit of bling thrown in", which is a reference to the fashion of that period of decorating ceilings in pale blue, eggshell white, and gold leaf. Oh so modest. Give me Romanesque any day! We also had a look at some old Turkish baths a stone's throw away from the church, which is now an Italian restaurant. On the outside, it looks like a small OTT tiled hut, but inside, a stairwell leads you to where the baths once were and where the restaurant now resides. Apparently it's a "very famous restaurant"; the part I loved the most was the many photo collages in the entrance, which I used to love when I was a kid. I spent my childhood hanging out in restaurants and bars and they always had these photo collections -- good times, years passed, people being drunk and stupid. Excellent. Simon wanders up and squints at the photos -- "Ah, early Facebook! I love it."

Queuing for Lloyds ate up most of the time, and deciding we were going to collectively pass out from hunger, we made several failed attempts at finding places that were open. Simon pronounced it was Shoreditch we wanted, everyone (mainly me) groaned, and we trudged up the street until we found a half-decent bar that served food called Junos. I failed with my squid and chorizo salad, then sadly limped up to Old Street. It was time to go.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/thehalfblindphotographer/
These are Simon's pictures, but I took the first one (above).
>>See more by doing the right click. Laugh at the strange ones
of me. Be amazed at the space invaders.

Judgemental, me?

2007-09-12T15:18:00.000-07:00

Okay, I take it all back. I don't hate myself for buying the New Yorker, I don't hate every single aspect of the magazine, the advertising does annoy me, the band write-ups thoroughly piss me off even though I don't even like the bands in reference, and some of the articles are not half bad at all.

It's been a long day.
Every day seems long at the moment.

Writing, coffee, cycle, coffee, work, tea, stupid banter, work, cycle, water, write, eat, read, check emails, wonder about why if things are in pairs one always goes missing, brush teeth, sleep, dream, start all over again.

I never lose track of time except on weekends, and I never lose track of days except when I'm only holiday, so I'm looking forward to knowing that I'll lost at least one thing, if not more, when I skip off to France next Thursday for Le Name.

The Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism

2007-09-12T13:18:00.000-07:00

On Monday, I went to see Canadian writer Naomi Klein, most famous for her ground-breaking, consciousness-raiding book No Logo, read from her most recent book, The Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism. Her reading at the Old Market in Brighton. It was the first of her UK tour, and as events in this town go, there was little if no publicity for the night. Despite this, the auditorium was packed out, largely with intellectual types. I saw Colin Chalmers, Director of Community Base, in the bar when I went to get my free glass of wine. He theorised that there was a serious divide in Brighton between the people who participated in social activism (such as ourselves) and those who merely read about it. Tonight was a case in point -- Colin was much more active in local activists groups than I was and for a lot longer so he was definitely able to give his expert opinion that NONE of the wine-swilling crowd were the participatory type.

"Oh, look, that's why," Colin said, pointing at the book display table. "It's been organised by City Books. No wonder. All these people read books."

My friend Derek Parkinson, journalist for e-democracy company Headstar turned up just before it was time to go in, and as the auditorium was full, we made due with sitting way in the back. I had time to go say hi to Oli and Berkan (from old Runtime Collective/now-Magpie days), as well as well as Berkan's girlfriend Asa, who were sitting up front. A second later I suddenly noticed Naomi Klein emerge from the stage door, looking very sleek in her stylish bob and designer black jacket. Not really what I was expecting.

The talk started with a short film made by Alfonso Cuarón, director of "Children of Men", and Naomi Klein, and directed by Jonás Cuarón, which was based on the book. You can watch this film on You Tube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kieyjfZDUIc

Most of the evening was spent with Noami giving a talk about the concepts and theories fleshed out in her book, which looks at at how governments around the world use real or imagined crises to distract the public in order to slip pass legislation and permissions that are most favourable to big business. She particularly highlights the role of conservative think tanks, which she says are wholly unaccountable, in keeping the necessary ideas on standby for government when such occasions occur. Some examples she names include New Orleans floods, the Thai tsunami and the Falklands War. She further went on to say that these "shock and awe" tactics are by no means new.

As the event got to a late start, there was not a lot of time for questions from members of the audience, and those asked were of a particular poor standard. However, one of the last comments made was that Naomi seemed to be tarnishing Western capitalism as the architect of such tactics -- the member of the public pointed out that these tactics were widely used in totalitarian states. Very good point.

Afterwards, I went with Oli and Berkan and Asa for food and drinks at the Sanctuary Cafe round the corner, where we continued talking about the talk, arguing think tanks, big business and anti-intellectualism.

It was a good night.

Look out for a very bright yellow book. Tell me if you find anything new.

Disenchanted in 30 Seconds

2007-09-11T14:27:00.000-07:00

I take it all back. I've flipped through five pages. It's all come back. I remember why I thought what I used to think.

The Horrible Shame of Buying the New Yorker

2007-09-11T13:56:00.000-07:00

My coming out as a "closet intellectual" apparently hasn't surprised some people. My housemate Steve hopefully thought I might be a lesbian, but I reminded him that I didn't LIKE women (not in that way) and he was duly disappointed. However, when I said it was the fact that I was an intellectual, he quickly did a turn-face on his heel, in an oh-so-bitchy way, and was not impressed in the slightest. In the kitchen when I made my proclamation was Steve, Rob & his girlfriend Kirsty -- Ference hovered near the communal computer in the conservatory next door.

"My writer's group once a month is not enough," I dramatically announced.
"At least you have a writer's group," Steve replied. "I don't have that."
"That's your choice," I said.
"That's what you would say."
"I'm the same. Henceforth I'm fed up."

Okay, it was yesterday when I woke up, wrote for an hour and decided that I was tired of playing the "anti-intellectual" game, which is more about giving myself an opportunity to do social work & writing without the added pretense of giving it an intellectualised veneer, which is what I'd spent most of my teenager years and early 20s doing. Mind you, it wasn't done in a completely self-conscious way. It was really part of the culture and tradition of which I'd become part of, which is to say, part of the Austin literary tradition vis a vis the Wrights. I gave up reading the New Yorker in the late 90s as some sort of exercise and partial act of rebellion -- now I'm thinking, "Jesus, I'm really suffering without that fabric of civilisation, no matter how much I might hate or disagree with it. Shit."

I announced my return to the intelligentsia, after years of working in the frontline in a non-intellectual way (which is not to say that...oh fuck it) . Lines are crossed. I'm still doing it all. All I want to feel now is that I have some sort of social milieu, which almost seems an antiquated dream, since apart from anything, I feel like a hard-working, sacrificing idealist social worker living in an individualised society and frankly, give me the veneer any day.

Yet another new feature on Trash Menagerie

2007-09-11T13:01:00.001-07:00

Hi everyone

Just in case my day job didn't keep me busy enough, I've written another feature for Trash Menagerie, this time on breaks DJ Sam Hell, who's been recently pulled into the UK breaks label Sinister Recordings fold.

Ah......if you wanna read, more just check out the piece......
http://www.trashmenagerie.com/blog/2007/09/11/this-is-not-sam-hell/

Amy xx

When Your Dreams Become Suburban

2007-09-10T05:32:00.000-07:00

I keep dreaming I'm in grocery stores. This has been recurring for several nights now. Do dreams really mean anything or is it reflecting that life has just become dull? Maybe I'm getting too much sleep (true).

On the plus side, I was also driving in a computer game & went off the road. I was also a property developer. Jesus. I'll just stick to the writing, I think.

Groceries
To see fresh groceries in your dream, symbolizes abundance, ease and comfort.

Market
To dream that you are in a market, represents some emotional of physical need that you are currently lacking in your life. You may be in need of nurturance and some fulfillment. Consider the specific items that you are shopping for. Alternatively, the market signifies frugality.

To see an barren market in your dream, signifies depression and gloominess. There is a void in your life.

Fruit
To see fruit in your dream, signifies a period of growth, abundance and financial gain. Fruits generally represents lust and sexuality. In particular green fruit in your dream, denotes your hastiness and disappointed efforts. You need to work harder and longer in order to achieve your goals.

To see or eat rotting/bitter fruit, suggests your missed opportunities for growth and pleasure.

To dream that you buy or sell fruit, signifies much business but little profit in them.

From : http://www.dreammoods.com/dreamdictionary/

New piece on Trash Menagerie

2007-09-09T07:39:00.000-07:00

"The Fairer Sex"

This week I'm featuring Finnish designer-turned-cartoonist Venla Kivilahti, who we all know & love already, but now here's an even better reason to love her. A few her of her comics, but hopefully more to come.

http://www.trashmenagerie.com/blog/2007/09/09/the-fairer-sex/

If your life was a movie, what would its soundtrack be?

2007-09-06T14:59:00.000-07:00

Meme's as always come from DS, who I am desperate to hang out with. Fuck England. Bring on the last of the summer rose and let's all be in Manhattan !

If your life was a movie, what would its soundtrack be? Here's how it works:

Open your music library (iTunes, Winamp, Media Player, iPod etc.).

Put in on Shuffle.
Press Play.
For every question, type the title of the song that's playing.
When you go to a new question, click the Next button.
Don't lie, and try to pretend you're cool

Waking Up: Unchain My Heart, Ray Charles

Falling In Love: Grown Mix, Zebo

Fight Song: Neon Lights, Kraftwerk (what? sick!)

Breaking Up: The Sky is Crying, Stevie Ray Vaughn (apt)

Prom: Dim All the Lights, Donna Summers (and?)

Life's Just...: Take On Me, Ahaa

Mental Breakdown: Never Tear Us Apart, INXS (my jaw ceases to keep dropping)

Driving: Dreams Come True (Afronaught remix), Alison David -- Bugs in the Attic

Flashback: Send In The Clown, Lorez Alexandria

Getting Back Together: Moist (Koma & Bones Remix), Meat Katie (interesting)

Birth Of Child: Montego Bay, People Under the Stairs

Wedding: I'll Stop the World and Melt With You, Modern English (of course!)

Finale Battle: Shame & Scandle, Peter Tosh & the Skatalites

Death Scene: The Thrill is Gone, BB King

Funeral Song: Don't You Worry 'Bout A Thing, Stevie Wonder

2007-09-05T08:05:00.000-07:00

Another personality test, sent on the UK Press email list.
http://www.paulgoldinresearch.com/cg/index.htm

People on the list are mocking anyone who would fall for the general-ness of it. Fair game. It's a bit stupid, especially the idea that anyone would actually *want* to change their life on the basis of such readings (see mine below).

Choose from 8 colour cubes, then keep narrowing down until none are left. AND?

Tony Sleep explained there's more theory than meets the eye:

That's based on colour psychology, the idea that colours have definable
psychological and emotional associations that produce measureable
physiological effects too. Colour preferences and aversions can form a
sketch of the psychological priorities of an individual, but it's the
adjacencies that contribute a lot of the insight.

There was a book about all this stuff called the Luscher Colour test by Dr
Max Luscher, first published in the 1970's - a layman's 8-colour version
similar to this, based on much more extensive (200+) colour tests used in
psychology. OK, I admit that as a photographer interested in colour and
people, I found it fascinating;)

Luscher's home page is http://www.luscher-color.com/

With Luscher it's important to do at least two runs of the test, as this
often exposes ambivalences that one run conceals. The second is often the
more spontaneous and honest.

Even in the truncated 8-colour form Luscher is very 'rich' method, and a
competent interpretation can be astonishingly revealing. It's not however
especially deep, exposing what is going on for the individual at any
particular time of their life. If you do it some months later, for most
people results will have changed quite a lot. It also never tells you
anything you didn't know already, but if you want to get to know what's
going on for someone else, in a hurry, it's a demon tool.

The full analytic tests are for clinical use, and take many hours.

This web version lacks subtlety, compared to a proper interpretation of
results, but it's interesting that it's as good as it is.

There are loads of other versions on the web and lots of info - Google
luscher colour psychology.

Okay, okay. Back to work.

You are in a state of constant expectation and want interesting and exciting things to happen to you. But in fact, you are a 'Walter Mitty' at times - a dreamer - over-imaginative and often given to fantasy or day-dreaming. There is nothing wrong in 'dreaming' - how boring life would be if one just followed the doctrines of everyday life - but one must not continue leading a life of continuous fantasy. You need to face reality in spite of all its possible shortcomings.

You are very self-sufficient and methodical. You presume to know where you are going but need to find a person who will recognise the way you are, not be too demanding and who is, as they say in Italy, 'Simpatico'.

You are feeling under considerable pressure and you are being forced to make concessions. You are not particularly happy with this state of affairs but you feel that you have no alternative. If you were to force issues you would be left out or completely ignored by one and all.

The tension that you are experiencing at this time is perhaps due to physical and/or mental frustration. It would appear that you are not appreciated and as a consequence, the situation is most disagreeable. You seek personal recognition and the appreciation of others to compensate for the lack of like minded people with whom to ally yourself. You would like to surrender and merge with others but your inherent self-restraint makes it difficult for you to open up. This disturbs you as you regard such instincts as weaknesses to be overcome. You want to be liked, admired and appreciated for yourself.

You are greatly impressed by individuality and have interest in people who have outstanding qualities. You try to imitate those people that you admire and their characteristics, hoping that you will be able to display similar qualities in your own personality.

What I'm Really Thinking About: A List

2007-09-05T03:33:00.000-07:00

Obviously, there are more things going through my head, but if I told you that, that'd be saying a bit too much wouldn't it? (actually, not more than this!)

1. Found this in my email inbox this morning, courtesy of the UK Press email list: http://www.hiddenpsyche.com/personality/question/?c=1&

also this: http://www.personaldna.com/

I'm a teacher, apparently.

2. Woke up feeling like I have a cold. My housemate told me as he pressed his teabag against his mug that it actually wasn't cold in the house and that when he's feeling cold, he puts on 10 jackets and does star jumps (jumping jacks).

3. So on the basis of that, wore too many layers while I cycled to work & ended up sweating too much. Locked up my bike, decided that I would kill any potential colds with fruit juice. Walked into Somerfields, perused the juice department, ruled out all of the cheap juice on the basis that my friend Niall explained what concentrate was and decided that wasn't very good when you think you're getting a cold. So I went for Ocean Spray cranberry & raspberry.

When I got to my office, read the list of ingredients and guess what? It's a juice drink (20% actual juice, from concentrate). Decided I was a loser. What am I doing looking at juice packaging when I should be at work?

4. Found a giant mug to make my tea in and remembered that my kittens mug broke at Barnival when I set it on a speaker. Felt bad. I really liked that mug.

5. Despite my incurable happiness, I'm feeling a bit frustrated by the DVD drive I bought. I thought I could just take the CD writer out & replace it with this, but upon taking apart my whole computer, found that it was a fucking slave drive, with completely different port type. I don't know if I really want to or have the time to read all this shit I found about S-ATA ports and what I need to do next. I'm thinking I should have bought an external DVD writer.

6.Time, diary, time, meetings, fun.

7.Colleague's leaving do tomorrow for lunch: will I get a margarita or will that be a really bad idea?

8. I hope people in my office realise that I am not listening to what they're saying because I took an antihistimine and it's making me a bit spacy.

9. My citizenship test study guide is actually pretty boring.

10. Should I learn some French?

Positive Sound System's 15th Birthday

2007-09-02T11:43:00.001-07:00

The advent of Facebook and it's influence in my life means that....I really don't know where that thought came from and where it was meant to go but I'm going to just leave it there.

Positive Sound System are the people that are responsible for the best free parties I've ever been to, and I'm pleased and proud to know the warm souls who make up their crew. I can't think of a better reason to get mash up and sweaty than to celebrate the crusaders of repetitive beats 15 years of fucking up the virginal ears of all.

Audio - Friday 28th September - me - there. You?

More pictures

2007-08-30T15:02:00.001-07:00

page 2012
Originally uploaded by Fast Food

Another one from Barnival. It's my favorite, but couldn't be bothered to FB it.

Why Am I Always the Last To Find Out?

2007-08-30T07:03:00.000-07:00

Okay people, I've seen the light. I NEED to start listening the to radio or watching tv or something. BUT I HAVE ONLY JUST FOUND OUT about Owen Wilson's suicide attempt. Via Popbitch. How sad is that?

We have the radio at work, but do you think I actually listen to that shite? No.

thanks popbitch.

>> A life depressive <<
Owen Wilson takes a time-out

We reported back in November 2004, to the
consternation of his scary Hollywood lawyers,
that Owen Wilson might not be entirely
unfamiliar with hard drugs. It's somewhat
surprising that everyone seems to have fallen
hook, line and sinker for Courtney Love's guff
that it's all Steve Coogan's fault. Coogan may
be an unpleasant drug pig but this smacks only
of Love finally getting her revenge after the
humiliation of being dumped by Alan Partridge.
A rich, ageing celebrity bachelor with an
entourage of yes men to get him whatever he
wants and a stint in rehab for depression
already behind him - it's likely that Wilson
didn't need much encouragement.

Photographic Evidence (for those too sophisticated to be on FB)

2007-08-30T04:30:00.000-07:00

Pictures from Barnival, courtesy of Simon & Stephen.

Recovering from Barnival

2007-08-27T05:01:00.000-07:00

Like most people, I like instant gratification.

That's why I spent all this morning scanning in photos when I wasn't too sure if I was alive, asleep or just plain lucid dreaming. Real, real, instant, tea, tea, water. Sweet Jesus, the light was streaming in through my bedroom window, it was a hot day and I wasn't altogether sure if I could go outside by myself safely. I mean that. I was okay, after quite a bit of sleep, but the walk between here and Sainsbury's on the Western Road was perilous and full of fear and loathing of the surburban wastelands that surround my house.

Everything worked out okay. I saw the sea. I ate bbq. I talked to people who were in far worse states than I was in. I'm fairly certain that I wasted this weekend in the best way you could ever wish for.

Fucking hell, let's start it all over again, same time, same place.

"What better way to spend a weekend than to sit in a field with 50 of your closest friends and get absolutely wasted? "

--James

Drabble 1

2007-08-14T04:45:00.000-07:00

So, here are my first four drabbles. I've taken the first line of novels I especially like & written 100 word short shorts incorporating it.

Answers on a postcard?

--Amy xx

1) My favorite cousin Dante's secret love of Balzac

I dedicate this small fragment of a long story, not to the Roman prince, nor to their heir of the illustrious Cajetami family that has given Popes to Christendom, but to the learned commentator of Dante. I love Dante. He stopped at my house when I was depressed and told me the funniest joke. I drank tea, while he smoked Camels. He added three spoonfuls of sugar to his tea, then cocked his head and said to me, "You never finished Paradiso, did you?" I hadn't. He leaned over and plucked up a feather that had fallen to the ground.

2) Still life in Brighton

If this is typewriter can't do it, then fuck it, it can't be done. This is what Murphy Law thought as he wrestled with the old-fashioned punch key contraption his uncle kept in his office.

Murphy would have fallen into the profession if it hadn't been for his uncle Albert. Albert lay permanently on a nest of pillows, breathing into an accordion.

The office reeked of mothballs and the glare struck Murphy's oxygen-deprived eyeballs as he struggled with three months of old invoices. Carbon stained his fingers as he typed 1985.

Then the phone rang and a woman whispered cucumber.

3) Postcards & Tales from New York.

The valentine was a handmade pastiche of Victorian cherubs, pressed flowers and red glitter. I found it in a shoebox, amongst other postcards. It was a hot summer day in Brooklyn. Hot smog rolled off the river, while glitter mixed with dust in the curbs. The man selling his stuff wore a brown suede vest, old jeans and a feather in his hair. He rested on his haunches, leaning against a grey wooden fence. People stopped to gaze at his flea market of old memories, but he stared above the buildings and I remember thinking he looked like a dreamer.

4) Dick, as in Moby

Call me Ishmael. Everyone else does in this goddamn joint. Ishmael – is that some sort of Middle Eastern name? I suppose that's what I get for working in a place called Taj Mahal. My real name is Ben, short for Benjamin. Used to live 20 miles down the shore, but I'm living with my brother now. Supposedly pickings were rich, women were like carpet and benefits grew on trees. Yeah right. What's easy here? Saying no. No, I don't want to share your dodgy crack pipe. No, I don't like bears. Jesus. What sort of place have I landed in?

The Drabble is On !

2007-08-09T07:43:00.000-07:00

Steve's proposed a challenge for writer's group before next Tuesday, something he calls (I'm fairly sure it's made up) Drabble.

Drabble

The Rules:

Drabble is played sitting around a fire, while sipping brandy and partaking of pleasant conversation with friends. The first person to finish a novel wins.

This is the traditional game. For our contest, how about the more modern flashfic length of 100 words exactly? Titles etc are not counted but the story must be 100 words, no more, no less. We shall also omit the fire, the brandy and the pleasant conversation.

I've been using some of Unlce Kafka's first lines to get me started (there are some examples up at Silverwood Acres), but anything goes. Good luck!

Tonight!

2007-08-09T03:22:00.000-07:00

Re-opening tonight (Thursday 9th August) of the Third Space exhibition, Regency Town House, Brunswick Square. Sound installations by Orion Maxted and Grant Newman and performance by Miriam Austin.

Late Nights & Early Mornings

2007-08-09T00:30:00.000-07:00

I get about 100 emails a day from the two Arts Council email lists I'm on (yes, it's annoying), most of which I don't ever read. However, this one caught my eye:

fire-eater/performer (preferably gay male) wanted for appearance at
exhibition opening in September, limited cash for limited performance but
maybe perks i.e. photos.

I like the use of the word perks. Nice touch. If it appeals, get in touch for the original email.

I found this article in the Village Voice, about a Californian journalist murdered after exposing an Oakland black militant sect. http://www.villagevoice.com/news/0732,thompson,77457,2.html The story is sickening, more so that the authorities failed to follow up on any of the allegations. The article is written by a journalist who also wrote about the sect and had to go in hiding. He writes in the article,

"It's not the death threats I mind," I joked with friends. "It's the credible death threats."

Last night we watched the sunset from the rust-eaten legs of the West Pier. Marcus dove in the water and swam to a post, which he climbed up and stood on top of like a pale Grecian statue. Marcus is also pale, and skinny, so he looked more like a pelican. He dove into the water again and we lost sight of him for a long time until we finally saw his head bobbing right next to the decrepit corpse of the pier itself. When Marcus climbed out of the water, blood ran from both shins. He shrugged when we showed him. "Blood always runs like that when you've been in the sea."

Soon, Marcus stopped doing headstands on his towel & everyone left except for me, evil Ben, George & Kesh. Kesh got some sad news from Sri Lanka so we all stayed out longer than normal. I told her that distances make it harder, but that sometimes it's important to be sad because it reminds us that we are alive. The water was beautiful and shimmering, and I thought about my family and what is real and what is not. I also thought about how I live in a city where no one ever grows up and this made me simultaneously happy and sad all at once.

Evil Ben and George went up to Taj and picked up some dinner for us. We ripped tandoori chicken off the bone, scooped up tabouleh with the little plastic spoon and sipped wine from plastic cups. It wasn't really cold, just cooler, and we were all secretly glad that we weren't the two girls who were swimming in the sea in their underwear. George and Ben told us the story of how they met. It was nice and a bit silly, in the way that those stories always are. Polish bars and transvestites and places that don't exist anymore.

Slacker's 5th Birthday Party -- get tickets in advance to avoid extreme disappointment!

2007-08-03T14:23:00.000-07:00

Breaks Beats and Party Vibes for the Discerning Underachiever
Slacker's 5th Birthday
@ Concorde 2, Madeira Drive, Brighton
Venue Doors 11.00 - 5
ID may be required

£10 Door
£8 NUS - And Loop Festival* Wristband holders
£7 Limited Advance Tickets - Rounder, Resident and Ticketweb
Get Advance Tickets Here

For those still standing at the end of Concorde an afterparty at a secret location!

What Slackers Have to Say For Themselves:

Si Begg, A true British experi-mentalist headlines our 5th, an artist who constantly shifts his electronic styles under Bigfoot, Cabbageboy, Bunkfunk 3000 and SI Futures guises. A & R for imprint Noodles whos mantra is The most stupidest recording organisation in the world. nice

Merka also needs little intro, currently taking over the breaks universe with his Berserka LP, expect some phat genre bending monster tracks.

A live Electronic band Loved by those who know and about to be adored by those who don’t, said the BBC recently about Subsource. You’ll be greeted by 4 nutcases laying down the fiercest concoction of electro and break beatfrenetic punk rock energy.

Also big congratulations to JFB who is joining us. He recently won the UK DMC championship 07. Another well earned title.

3 Rooms Featuring
Si Begg
Subsource (LIVE)
Merka
Dirtpop
JFB - (UK DMC Champion 2007)
Medtronix & Squashgar
Strategy & Luke Vex
& The Slackers Residents

Widescreen visuals from VJ Spank
The unstoppable Y-Inter Soundsystem back in the main room
3rd room DJ competition hosted by Funkollectif Soundsystem

* On the same day is also Brightons Loop Festival so weve teamed up with them and happy to offer a little off door entry for wristbands. As its in the day/evening come down once its finished.

First Day of August and Even God Has Gone on Holiday

2007-08-01T05:25:00.000-07:00

Today is my last day of work for the week and thank the lucky starlings of Brighton Pier. I am literally dragging my sorry heels up and down North Street, in a bad semblance of a human being. Not only is my body reeling from the strange cakes and bacon buttes from Frequency Festival, but it is HOT. Summer has arrived and what I want to to know and scream and shout is -- why didn't I get advance notification? I was so enjoying the grey cold shit weather that adorned my shoulders like a spinster's shawl.

On top of everything, my clothes' buttons are popping off from PMS (PMT, whatever), I've had to cancel my bank card because some genius asshole got a copy of my card, eeked out my pin, went on holiday in Manhattan, and took out $200. I never took myself as a potential victim of card fraud, but it seems I'm not the only one. They say that chip and pin is helping beat the fraudsters, but I fail to see this logic as somone managed to get mine. After having two rather unsatisfactory conversations with my bank since yesterday, I now have to fax them all the relevant information so they can proceed with the investigation. I am full of vitriolic rage at the situation, but got some good pointers from a pal in the States, who phoned yesterday to commiserate.

To avoide being a victim of credit card fraud:

Report dodgy payments to your bank & cancel your card ASAP
Don't use ATM cash machines
Get cash from your bank branch
Get cash while at the grocery store, doing cash back
You can also do a credit freeze --CIFAS - the UK’s Fraud Prevention Service provides a range of services to enable its member organisations to exchange information and help identify and prevent fraud, including that relating to plastic cards. CIFAS’ main emphasis is on identity, application and first-party fraud. See www.cifas.org.uk

The sea beckons, but I've got another 3.5 hours of work, then it's all over for a little while. Sigh.

Another Director Bites the Dust

2007-07-30T09:25:00.000-07:00

Ingmar Bergman (1918-2007)

Sorry to be so crass, but when I finally made it back to my office today at 3.30pm after a long hard morning meeting in Battle, I wrestled with the work computer, got firefox up & then saw the news on the BBC website. WHAT???! It was only week before last that Channel 4 put on a week-long retrospective of his life & work. I knew I was going to be busy in the evenings, then away in Birmingham so I asked Stuart from Feelinglistless.com to record it for me since I knew he'd be watching it (and he did, kindly sending me some bonus CDs as well!)

Bergman (not to be confused with Ingrid, as so many people do) is in my all time top 10 list of film directors. Unfortunately, I'm still totally exhausted from the weekend to wax lyrical, but here's a nice little write up from Stuart's site: "I hope I never get so old I get religious." -- Ingmar Bergman

Back from Frequency

2007-07-29T15:23:00.000-07:00

I am way too tired to think, much less type. I finally made it home from Frequency Festival, just outside of Brighton. Sun, rain, swimming pool, raves, sleepless days and nights, mud, stinging nettles and campfires, balloon, friends and happy people. I do envy my friends who don't have to go to work tomorrow. A write up will soon follow.

In the meantime, have a look at this article about my university (college), Sarah Lawrence, which was in the running for Gawker's "Most annoying liberal arts school in the US". I don't think there needs to be any competition. Anyone who has ever been to SLC can attest to the numerous ways it should win hand-down. But winning isn't part of the school's vocab, hence the second prize is fitting. Thanks to Maria for sending it over -- it made me laugh !!

Mud-soakingly yours,
Amy x

Meanwhile, back in New York.....

2007-07-26T15:35:00.000-07:00

Outside Barnes & Nobles bookshop, Union Square, 21 July, on the day the new Harry Potter book was released on to the world. This is my best friend's shop & as she writes, she "survived the absolute worst twenty hours of my professional career, barely. Not much more to say about it, as I'd rather not revisit all that chaos. I was quite upset and drained for a whole day in the aftermath."More

Okay, I know I choose to live my life in a media-free vacuum to some extent or another, but I was really (fill in the blank) when I saw this picture. Dangerous dark flashbacks to 1993 when I was working at Westgate 8 screen cinema and "Jurassic Park" came out that summer. Oh my god, was it a complete and utter nightmare. We had people camping outside the mall for days.

This must have been HELL. She deserves the two-weeks off.

"First Times" -- Copenhagen, Denmark

2007-07-26T00:57:00.001-07:00

1. First time someone touched my breast
2. First time someone close to me died
3. First job
4. First time I dyed my hair blond
5. First time someone broke up with me
6. First time I paid the rent
7. First time I read a word
8. First newspaper I worked for
9. First time I slept with someone other than my boyfriend
10. First time I took drugs
11. First time I felt like a woman

Various destinations around Copenhagen.

Written by Johann.
Travelled by Oli.
Photo from: Abi Rahman (from Been There)

"First Times" -- Brighton, UK

2007-07-25T14:38:00.000-07:00

1. First time I lost a tooth
2. First time I wanted to kiss a girl
3. First time I said “I love you”
4. First time I made a tree house
5. First time I learned about rainforests
6. First time I got served in a pub
7. First time I felt like a man
8. First time I felt rejected
9. First time I felt heartbroken yet strangely elated
10. First time I went swimming naked

Across the road and down the hill from 363 Ditchling Road
20 meters up Trafalgar Street
Arundel Road
South end of Queen’s Park
Queens Park Road
Clarke’s Shoe Shop, Western Road
Shoreham Harbour
Provident – seafront

Church hall, just up and on the right from Five Ways
St Luke’s swimming pool

Brighton 1
Written by Oli.
First time he was born: 10/11/77
Photos from: Matt Locke

[The two photographs are from Matt Locke, who runs techie site www.test.org.uk and is a self-admited "geek", but also takes stunningly cool photographs. I found these in his archive.]

SuperSonic hits America (well, sort of)

2007-07-21T09:10:00.000-07:00

Hey everyone

For the past couple of months, I've been chatting with Lori, who runs music site Trash Menagerie, an American cousin site to Brighton's own Brighton Fusion. There is, of course, no direct connection between the sites apart from a shared love of electro, good music and COMPLETE AND UTTER DEBAUCHERY. haha, I'm just kidding. It's all about the music.

And so, I'm pleased to say that my account of SuperSonic Festival 2007 has hit their top of the site's homepage as of this evening.

http://www.trashmenagerie.com/blog/2007/07/21/the-accidental-tourist-a-look-in-at-supersonic-festival-07/

In all honesty, it's very similar to the below, but it means all of my American brethren will be able to revel in the bizarre but delectable electro-heavymetal-indie world of the Festival this year.

I am hoping to bounce between the two sites like the skilled literary acrobat that I am what the fuck am I talking about. Yeah. The Brighton club nights will continue to live and breathe within the alcohol-fuelled walls of Fusion, but I will hopefully be furthering my writing about music in strange and beautiful ways and I promise I will never use the word delectable again.

Report from SuperSonic Festival 07

2007-07-19T15:40:00.000-07:00

Pharaoh Overloard: pic from _Imax
Qui: pic from katiecarnage

The Accidental Tourist: A Look-in at SuperSonic Festival 07 Friday 13^th & Saturday 14^th July 2007, Custard Factory, Birmingham

Introduction

I came across SuperSonic Festival by chance, but chance in this case took the form of a series of logical musical steps: a massive consumption of French electro vis a vis the Fluokids made a natural segue into 26-year-old New York City electro grime-techno DJ & producer Drop the Lime (DTL).

When I saw DTL was performing at a then unheard of festival in Birmingham this summer, I picked up a ticket, deciding I would do the festival solo if need be. The line-up information provided me with the impression that the weekend programme was eclectic to say the least, a giant mashup of djs, bands, experimental musical mentalists and it was all taking place under the auspices of a former custard factory. Brilliant.

What I wasn’t expecting was the fact that part of this year’s festival would be a homage and symposium to Metal. As in Heavy. An aspect of the Midlands (West Midlands to be exact) I never considered much was that was it was kinda the birthplace of heavy metal and all its beautifully strange progeny. For the past five years, the festival has been curated and produced by Capsule’s Lisa Meyer and Jenny Moore, who are “Birmingham's most innovative art and music promoters, with the ears of true fans and a DIY commitment providing a regular flow of cutting edge, vital new music + art”.

Friday 13^th July

Fuck Buttons: pic from http://www.flickr.com/photos/garymcq/
Upstairs at the Custard Factory: pic from Niall.

So here we were, Friday night, and the sun was only just starting to set across the city. My friend Niall and I travelled up together from London Euston. We arrived, dropped off our stuff at our budget hotel and took a taxi to the industrial section of the city not far away. After walking up the cobble-stoned road and heading towards the Custard Factory banner billowing in the wind, we joined the queue. And it is then that we made friends with three Birmingham natives, Dave-Becky-Adam.

“You came all the way from Brighton just to come to this festival?” Becky asked. I nodded. Niall elaborated – “It seemed like a cool thing to come to.” It was. A lovely group of people, Dave-Becky-Adam were our friends for the remainder of the festival, nipping us out to a local pub for cheap pints and shots of Sambuca. Let’s get this party started.

Friday’s line up sprawled across two stage areas – the Medicine Bar and the Kitchen. The Medicine Bar was the live music stage, and the Kitchen featured DJ and live electronic music sets. Friday was, for all intensive purposes, the electro-tinged aperitif. It goes without saying that I spent most of the night in the Kitchen. Fuck Buttons were a two-man law unto themselves, performing with the aid of a keyboard-filled suitcase and a day-glo toy loudhaler. I wasn’t overly impressed to start and was further perturbed that everyone around me was close-eyed, swaying and looking like they were experiencing a communal holy wank. However, Fuck Buttons ambient music-making did grow on me and I got into the subtle vibe. For a bit.

Towards the end of the Fuck Button set, I wandered off. I was standing in the back of the Kitchen talking to someone when I saw him. Drop The Lime. “Hey look, it’s Drop the Lime,” I said to DTL. Okay, I was a bit drunk by this point (five cans of K cider, 8.4% of total badness, on the train might explain a little of that) and I do have a penchant for making an ass out of myself with DJs, which they either really love or really hate. I think in this case thinly-veiled confusion was the reaction. Bless.

DTL looks like he does in his picture, but is much cuter than that. “Would you like some cider?” I asked DTL. He looked at his guide for assistance; the guide shook his head. DTL smiled and said, “No thanks.” For a moment, he looked at the crowd and then returned his gaze. ”I’ll tell you what I want: I want that crowd to dance.”

And like the fool I am, I proceeded to jump on stage at the start of DTL’s set. The packed room quickly roused themselves out of their opium-induced slumber. It was an art school rave minus the glow sticks. It was hands in the air and a serious competition for dancing space on the stage (where I was). For the rest of the weekend, I was known to strangers as “oh, you’re that girl dancing on the stage!” DTL came in hard, fast and dirty, less “Good Inside”, more “Hear Me Monster”. DTL was followed on by a dj set from fellow American, Oakland boy Kid 606. He’s more or less on the same bass-heavy tip as DTL and but has more of a fucked up utilitarian militaristism to his 4-4.

The night, both my memory of it and my non-memory, was capped off with some drum n bass from Birmingham’s own PCM. I have a memory of being randomly snogged by some boys, then being dragged away by Niall. “You said you were hungry. Let’s go.” As we left the Custard Factory in search of food, Niall started talking about how good the drum n bass was. “Really?” I said. “What drum n bass?”

“The drum n bass we were dancing to.” Oops.

I bought a chicken burger and fries, then we caught a taxi. I refused to share my fries with Niall. I asked Niall what he thought of the festival so far. “It was good but there weren’t enough birds. I liked it, but I didn’t know what I was watching.” I pointed out that it might have been because he was drunk. “Oh yeah.

Saturday 14^th July

Woke up at about 11am totally hung over and drinking small plastic cupfuls of water that I got from the sink tap. Nasty. I heard a small moan and looked up. Niall was sleeping on the top bunk and I could see him wince as he shifted. “Are you alive?” I asked. “Just about,” he said.

I managed to pull body, mind and soul together to go downstairs. Niall descended first. In the lift, I met some guys who looked like fairly nu-skool techno and metal ravers. “Were you guys at the festival last night?” All six nodded. A red-haired guy in a black zip up nylon jacket and glasses squinted at me and cracked a smile. “You were that girl dancing on the stage!” We discussed the music. They were all having a good time.

I found Niall sitting at a bright yellow table, clutching a can of Coke and looking very unhappy. I sat down and looked around. “What’s up with the all-you-can-eat breakfast?” I asked.

Niall frowned. “They finished about half an hour ago.”

I groaned. “We’re on the set of Holly Oaks,” I said, unnerved by the early 90’s décor. “Look,” I hissed. Rows of Batchelors potnoodles, Walkers crisps and Cans of cokes lined the café. Barf. “We need to get out of here.” Niall nodded and looked like he was going to be sick.

We managed to make our way out of the hotel and descended towards China Town. We ate at a Chinese café, had some smoothies, got our names written in Chinese script, checked out the Latin American festival near Town Hall, and then went to see “How to Improve the World”, a British 60 year art retrospective at the local gallery, which was actually worth seeing. It wasn’t the big names that impressed, but I did love watching two of Gilbert & George’s 1972 films “A Portrait of the Artists as Young Men” and “Gordon's Makes Us Drunk”. I also liked Jeremy Dellett’s 2004 mind map “History of the World”, which links Acid House with Brass Bands. For the next two days, I was plagued by Niall’s trumpet versions of Pendulum’s “Fasten Your Seatbelt” and Josh Wink’s “Higher State of Consciousness”.

Saturday was what Niall and I referred to as the heavy metal day. The line up, which was now accommodated over four stages, featured up-and-coming and more established bands, with a particular slant on the bass heavy and speaker smashing of the indie world. Cool. We arrived at 4.45pm, a bit tanked up already on vodka-spiked energy drink, and straight away we ran into Dave-Becky-Adam. Niall apologised to Dave for yesterday, who had bought him a pint, then Niall proceeded to walk off. We went to the Medicine Bar for drinks. Along the side, there were still mile-long queues up two flights of stairs, the same as yesterday – at first, I thought they were for the toilet; I later found out they were people waiting to buy records from the record stalls. Drinks were bought. Onwards to the music.

My first band of the afternoon was Crippled Black Phoenix at the Arches Stage. The 8-membered band were heavy metal, but with a cellist. Their sound was melodic and serious, buttressed largely by the three ten-foot walls of speakers that surrounded them on stage. The last song featured raspy vocals and a closer-to-god moment where literally all the guitarists and bassists were turned to the walls of speakers, then suddenly dropped the song into a canyon-sized break. The heavily-tattooed guitarist gets lost messing around with loop peddles, the song disappears, and then one by one, each of the band members drift off stage, leaving the keyboardist sustaining the last note.

I wandered over to the Medicine Bar Stage to check out two Birmingham bands back-to-back: Calvados Beam Trio and Bee Stung Lips. Calvados were an energetic three-piece who fumbled and played with music for music’s sake, seeing where an improv took them. Bee Stung were a four-piece band, who were very different to Calvados: shouting thrashy troublemakers with a lead singer who looked a bit out of place with the band, but hey, he was the one with the voice. I think I saw this band with Dave, who opted out of the moshing idea, quite sensibly.

At around 9pm, Dave-Becky-Adam and Niall departed to the pub, but I’d just run into my an old friend, Charley, who used to own and run an independent record called “Charley’s Orbit” back in 2000 so I declined and caught up with him. He and his partner Jo were living in Cornwall, still involved with bands. Charley tipped me off on a few bands to check out (Qui, SUNN 0)))). After getting reasonably fed up with the suited, pink-shirt boys with toys (literally) Modified Toy Orchestra, who seemed a bit gimmicky and bland to me, I drifted into the Arches to check out Qui. I found Charley up at the front, standing with another Brightonian, the owner of a clothing shop called Cutie. Charley explained that Qui was the brainchild of David Yow, of Jesus Lizard fame. I left after about 10 minutes though – I couldn’t stomach Yow’s shouting directly at you. It felt a little like going to see “Jerry Sadowitch the Musical” (that is, if they ever made it).

Being sans friends, who were still at the pub, I would have been totally bored bonkers if SuperSonic hadn’t also cleverly featured the 7inch Cinema, which was more or less like a dark chill out room. As luck would have it, I had planned on going to see “The World of Ian Helliwell” at 9.20pm anyways. Ian was another Brighton person and renowned filmmaker. As I slid into the seat, I was treated with artfully-worked porn and Super 8 celluloid.

After about 15 minutes, Niall plonked himself down on my chair. “Hey.”

“You missed the porn,” I whispered.

“What porn?” he said bewildered and slightly jealous.

I have few memories of the next two hours, from 10pm to midnight. I vaguely remember buying some coffee with the guys and I think I went to see OM. But I can’t be certain. I can remember I was with Dave and we were walking back from the Arches and a band was on. We might as well have come back from visiting the moon. “Who’s that?” I asked, squinting at a band in the (short) distance. “Mogwai,” Dave replied. “Are you sure?” He laughed. “Yes.”

Mogwai played from midnight to 1.30am. They were amazing. They sound like how you’d expect them to sound, which is amazing. How do you describe a sunset or staring up at the stars in a warm summer night out in the country? I don’t think you can. I first started listening to Mogwai when I was going out with Joe, who was an Oxfordshire indie boy. It seemed every other gig we went to was either influence by them or sounded like them.

The night seemed to end in a messy confusion of goodbyes, and though Niall and I vowed we wouldn’t take a taxi with the hotel being so near, we were both so smithereened that we fell into the first one that would stop for us. When we got back to the hotel, I ate two bags of Doritos, complained to Niall about god knows what, then passed out.

SuperSonic was a fantastic experience, and like my friend Charley, who goes once a year just to see friends, I will probably end up doing the same.

Super Sonic Festival is presented by Capsule [www.capsule.org.uk]

Check out more pics from the Festival on Flickr[http://www.flickr.com/groups/supersonic/]

Look at more pics, video & comment on Created in Birmingham [http://www.createdinbirmingham.com]

You can even check out the sets from the event on Last FM: www.last.fm/user/supersonic_fest

Loads of media sponsors: Drowned in Sound, Last FM, Plan B Magazine, Rock a Rolla, Rock Sound, Vice, Zero Tolerance.

Loads of stalls: Aurora Borealis, Bearos Records, Cold Spring, Holy Roar, lapetus Recordings, Static Caravan, Southern Records, The Speeding Train, The Wire.

What Makes Me Angry

2007-07-19T07:32:00.000-07:00

WHYWHYWHY does the government insist on changing the names of their departments every 2 or 3 years?

http://www.dfes.gov.uk/

"Three new departments were set up by the Prime Minister on 28 June 2007. They replace the Department for Education and Skills (DfES) and the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI). The Department for Children, Schools and Families (DCSF) is responsible for improving the focus on all aspects of policy affecting children and young people, as part of the Government’s aim to deliver educational excellence."

"The new Department for Children, Schools and Families (DCSF) means we can really concentrate on achieving these objectives."

Does creating a new department really mean they'll do their job correctly -- now ? What were they doing before?! If I was more cynical, I'd say they're trying to throw the public off its scent. Ug. I've only recently learned that the Inland Revenue no longer exists. Double ug.

Check Me Out

2007-07-19T01:07:00.000-07:00

Audio’s 3^rd Birthday Party [16.7.07]

http://brightonfusion.co.uk/?cmd=articles_body.php&id=bd0707

I'm clearly not suffering for my art enough, but a club night on a Monday night. And I used to think that going to Supercharged on a Wednesday was decadent ! Audio's 3rd birthday was a real treat and it would have been extra sweet if they hadn't run out of champagne. Doh!

Spent last weekend at Super Sonic Festival in Birmingham -- currently working on a write up of the weekend. The previously boring weekday evenings are conspiring against me this week !

My Day

2007-07-12T08:02:00.000-07:00

4.03pm. From our office, which is spitting distance from Palace Pier and the beach, I can hear bagpipes. Yes, bagpipes. Elkie, our Australian temp, said she's never heard bagpipes in Brighton. We take turns sticking our heads out the window and look towards the ashtray-grey sea. It is a cold day. On the promenade across from the Sea Life Centre, I can see French young people in parachute-coloured windbreakers thinly huddled together, waiting for their picture to be taken. Beyond the pale turquoise railings, four boys shiver in the sea.

In my office, we are licking crumbs of chocolate-covered biscuits and tapping our feet to the whirr of the paper shredder which should ideally be able to also shred the Top 40 chart tunes for the good of civilisation as a whole. The radio sits behind me (behind my left shoulder) and it single-handedly discolours my auditory palate on a daily basis, thanks to FREE GIFTS from Viking. There are 87 minutes left to do my work. I tell Elkie to go ahead and buy 100 reams of photocopy paper so that she can get the free Ipod Nano. Is that bad?

The phone rings constantly. I am full of relief that I don't have to take the train anywhere today, even though I enjoy watching the cows and rabbits and clouds and everything else between Brighton and Hastings. The IT engineer has not turned up, so we call to complain. Helpdesk phones us back -- the engineer has gone missing. We wonder if he's decided to finally quit his job.

I have had 3 cups of coffee today and tomorrow I plan on having 2. Soon I will have none and then I will be one of those saddos that drinks decaf "for the taste".

Picture of the Day

2007-07-11T13:37:00.000-07:00

My camera wasn't working this weekend, so unfortunately I didn't get any pics of Hanover Day & all the mayhem that ensured around either end. Above -- Chris aka Shiny on the day before his bday & friends.

Footage of the Dalek race (from the Argus) :

http://www.theargus.co.uk/news/videos/index.var.6107.0.0.php

The Writing Life

2007-07-11T13:06:00.000-07:00

I'm in a dilemma.

After spending the past 14 years devoting myself to the craft of writing (ie writing at least 1 hour per day, minimum), I'm finding I don't know how to write anymore. Which is not the same as writer's block, I don't think. I am writing. A lot. Every day. But I am writing and writing and maybe I'm not not actually getting anywhere and maybe that *is* writer's block. Against the better judgement of a journalist friend, who upon hearing I was returning to the unfinished manuscript for my second novel "2+2=5", moaned "Oh no", I am indeed returning to grapple with the story of five unlikely friends and the once invisible central character who doesn't deem himself worthy of having a friend to spit on.

To be honest, it all just feels like fucking hard work when I get back to it. It's sure not like writing my fun and throw-away club reviews for Brighton Fusion. Nor does it match the intensity and perfect form of a short story. Nor are novels like life, which, although has a logic and symmetry all to itself, seems to just happen and sometimes seques into something else, but more likely than not, doesn't go on from there. Novels have a little more integrity than life. That is, if you're reading the right novels. Or maybe I'm just talking complete shite.

Aw, fuck it, I'll just go back to writing and stop complaining here.

Over & out

"Watching out for the grammar police",
Amy x

ps. Pretty cool weekend, which puts everything into perspective: music, festivals, birthdays, roasts, people, fires, 50p bargains, bags full of cider, sunshine, Brighton, hills, massive gardens, bands, random meetings, cute boys (mainly one), old friends, drugs comedown, running, good food, capoeria dance moves, free stuff, and a chance to think and breathe & jump around.

Super Sonic Festival (Birmingham), or giving festivals another go

2007-07-09T15:16:00.000-07:00

Shortly after my 32nd birthday, I began to wonder why I didn't do certain things, almost as though on principle. For instance, I had this fixed idea that "I wasn't a festival person" purely on the basis that I'd been to Glastonbury once (2000) and found the whole experience so distressing and apocalyptic that on some unconscious level, I must have decided I'd never do it again.

The same could be true of loads of things I'd at some point in my life just decided "I'm not that kind of person", on the basis of what, I'm not sure. Another example is skiing. I've somehow come up with this idea that I'm not a cold weather person but the fact is I've really enjoyed staying in Poland and Berlin, feeling more at ease in those places than I did in sunnier Mediterranean countries in some instances.

So, for the coming year I'm doing loads of things I don't normally do & first on that list is FESTIVALS, ESPECIALLY ONES WHERE YOU HAVE TO CAMP OUTDOORS IN NATURE. I got a ticket to Super Sonic after getting into Drop the Lime, a Brooklyn artist, and after following his trail to this Birmingham's "UK answer to Sonar", I immediately got myself a ticket, no matter if I ended up going alone. As it happens, I managed to find another music-loving adventurous soul to accompany this coming Friday. I plan to come back armed with pics & a write up. I'll be camping in a hotel for this one but the next two are definitely "twigs in the hair", "preparing for rain" sort of affairs.

This includes:
-- Brighton Frequency Festival (last weekend in July)
-- a secret festival in a barn somewhere (UK)

No camping, but perhaps some camp:
--Le Name, which I've written about (Lille)

Sadly, I'm not going to Glade, but you can't do everything & I've got plans for later this year.

Never mind the continuous rain & grey backdrops, enjoy the summer.

Picture of the Day

2007-07-04T12:24:00.000-07:00

"Lazy Sunday Evening Two Nights After Yet Another Car Bomb --
or Doesn't It Happen Every Day Here Too? "

[Photo taken by Niall O'Riain -- Sunday coming back from some pubs in Notting Hill after Simon's birthday -- the couple on the right are Simon's flatmates -- the couple on the left is Simon's flatmate's brother and his girlfriend -- no, not Simon's girlfriend, the flatmate's brother. I was there there too, but not then. I think I got off. Simon was there too, he's probably that white blurry bit or something. And I thought of the title, not Niall, who doesn't know I borrowed his pic. Oh yeah, it was taken with a mobile phone.]

Words

I know pictures are a cheat when a writer's blog is supposed to be about writing, but I am too tired from work at the moment and too absorbed with stuff I need to do at home (after/before work), like --

a) I've picked up on development on my second novel, which currently sits at 40,000 words and was something I'd gotten stuck on when I couldn't make up my mind about the plot progression. I'm glad I left it for 6 months -- the time has cleared my judgement on things I probably should have cut out.

b) I'm studying for my "Life in the UK" test.

c) Other things which I'll disclose at a later date.

x) I'm shelving the feature length script for a while. After being slashed and burned, then picking up some good ideas while in NYC, I need to let that one cool down. I'm letting go of a few things. Needs must.

Work is really stressing me out at the moment, but my room has gotten a new revamp so it's easy to forget about once I get home. Oh yeah, and I got a new bike !

Picture of the Day

2007-06-27T06:45:00.000-07:00

Ms. Wheelchair Pennsylvania 2006

AmyRiley

Berlin Marathon 2011

Flash-lit Fiction: Brighton Digital Festival 2011

Training for Berlin Marathon

Tip from charles in charge

Marathon training starts tomorrow: sweatbands

Old habits - a 425 word short story

Old books make light reading

Day 1 of detox

Happy new year 2011

Couch surfing

myPublicServices Conference, London, 26 November 2009

A following, non-writing and a small tribute to Charlie Jordan

Trash Menagerie (the site I write for) has been nominated !! Votes in !!

Breaking Up - again

Menace to society: kids hanging out

Donnie Photos - Christmas 2008

Outfit ideas for the Arts Council "Club Tropicana" work xmas party

Shakespeare in my bedroom

I was looking for music but instead i found love

It's Party Time!

From Grey to Black in 20 minutes

I'm not sure today has actually started

Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi and Positive Psychology

RUSSELL BRAND = UGLY ENGLISHMAN

what are people like? A hurricane bigger than your own state comes for a visit and you decide to stay in.

Saturday - a week after Pride

less is more?

Less news in American newspapers

do you want a shipment of chocolate? My pajamas are blue

Latitude: Overheard Conversations Part 4

I went to Latitude Festival in Suffolk last weekend and came out slightly less narrow-minded.

http://www.uncut.co.uk/news/latitude_festival/news/11907

Latitude: Overheard Conversations Part 4

Lucky?

View Out My Window At Elephant & Castle

Berlin-Brighton

The YouTube Thing - Brighton

Who Needs Fight Club When There's Video Club?

UK POLICE BAN PEACE ACTIVIST FILM

Photo of the Day

The Delights That Await Me in Berlin

Picture of the Day

Favorite Popbitch Fact of the Week

Picture of the Day,

I'm Here, Just Being Quiet For Once

February Slackers

Picture of the Day

Picture of the Week

In Memory of Joe Holmberg

In Memory of Lawrence Jupp

Mozzeltof

Party In My Bedroom

Brighton & Hove Web Awards

Forward Planning

Dia De Los Muertos

Fucked Over (Part Two)

Fucked Over (Part One)

Domesticity Beckons (yeah right!)

Awake (barely)

A cunning plan, albeit a late one

A new twist in the story so far....

Early Saturday evening treat

Le Name Festival - Word Up (literally)!

4th October 07, 8.20am : Meet me on the seafront between the two piers

The Rum Diary

Back from France

Biting Fingernails While Watching the News

The Best Things In Life *Are* Free

Judgemental, me?

The Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism

Disenchanted in 30 Seconds

The Horrible Shame of Buying the New Yorker

Yet another new feature on Trash Menagerie

When Your Dreams Become Suburban

New piece on Trash Menagerie

If your life was a movie, what would its soundtrack be?

What I'm Really Thinking About: A List

Positive Sound System's 15th Birthday

More pictures

The Best Things In Life Are Free

The Accidental Tourist: A Look-in at SuperSonic Festival 07 Friday 13^th & Saturday 14^th July 2007, Custard Factory, Birmingham