Friday 27 February 2009

a poem

Think this is the first time I've ever approached writing a poem with any seriousness and seen it through to the end, certainly the first time I've put one out for others to view. Please do let me know what you think.

Method and Design

The procedure is as follows –

Take ONE in the morning
Enjoy extra cold
Pull down for easy pouring
Keep out of reach and sight of children
Next Payment Due: 25th October 2008
To be valid this notice must be served before the creation of a tenancy agreement

It might not be perfect, but that doesn’t matter
Because you’ve created a process

Keep your clothes looking their Best! – Sort by colour, and by item’s care label
Advance + 1 Hour
Ice cold when the Lion turns blue
Take ONE daily as directed
For your toughest stains add 80 ml
Should your reference check not pass you will be refunded your holding fee via CHEQUE

It might not be perfect, but that doesn’t matter
Because you’ve created a process

For your toughest stains, enjoy extra cold
Pull down out of reach and sight of children
Take ONE when the Lion turns blue
For easy pouring, the procedure is as follows –
Sort by item’s care label, before the creation of a tenancy agreement
Add 80 ml via CHEQUE

It might not be perfect, but that doesn’t matter
Because you’ve created a process

To be valid, this notice must be served by item’s care label
Advance +1 hour daily as directed
Add 80 ml ice cold, should your reference check not pass
Before the creation of a tenancy agreement, take ONE daily as directed
Enjoy your clothes looking their best, keep out of colour
By 25th October 2008, you will be refunded

It might not be perfect, but that doesn’t matter
Because you’ve created a process

Wednesday 25 February 2009

Swiftly followed by!

- an almighty big-up to egj, and their new (ish) blog, snap/fix: http://snapfiction.blogspot.com/.
This writer has a genuinely unique talent, I would truly urge anyone at all interested in contemporary literature to have a look at the output on display. The pieces up on the blog are all short and concise so far, so really you have no excuse not to have a read of them.
Once I'm less tired and more capable of coherent thought I will attempt a more in-depth post, or an expansion of this one, outlining what it is I value so much in the writing, but for now, seriously, just check out the damn blog. :D

And the first big-up goes to....

... the might Bruk Radio! Now these folks are more than deserving of a bit of promotion. The format is a radio show, with a sort of revolving team of different djs, that goes out from 11 am - 1pm each Saturday on Sub FM, broadcasting across London and Bristol. For those of you like myself who are outside the transmission zone, installments of the show are regularly posted up to download and sometimes to stream here: http://www.dissensus.com/showthread.php?t=7544. The thread has developed into a veritable archive of great music.
The show covers cutting edge music from across the hardcore continuum, along with classics from within its tradition plus the best in other currents of dance and electronic music that have fed into it. Musical flavours you can expect to here include dubstep, techno, garage, reggae, house and jungle. The tune selection on display is often nothing short of superb, there's a sort of beautiful logic to the way the tunes precede and follow each other. At its peak the show is educational in the best possible sense - dots are joined between different strands of music, highlighting shared elements and demonstrating patterns of influence. You can feel yourself taken on an effortless journey from music that you're familiar with to music that might be totally new to you. So next time it's on, do yourself the favour and tune in!

MISSION STATEMENT

How serious and official does that sound eh?
Well well well, this blog is set up with the remit of being a central point where I can gather together my various ramblings. The name of the blog isn't just a throwaway - I am tentative about the whole project, unsure about what I can achieve with it and how much energy is worth dedicating to it. Don't expect it to be anything regular and organised, because it won't. The most likely mode of operation will be spasmodic periods of energy split up by random lapses into silence.
I'm a 20something dude from Glasgow, former literature student and general layabout, chancer and dreamer.
I write, or attempt to. Done a good few stories and working, slowly but surely-ish, towards a novel. So I expect to be posting rough bits of new text from time to time, please have a read of them and if you're so inclined then you can tell me what you think. Hopefully having a regular outlet here will help me get off my arse and be more motivated with this.
Always been big into music, and had a recent resurgence of faith in how important it can all be, in large part through coming into the contact with the nexus of Simon Reynolds, dissensus.com and the whole mighty UK hardcore continuum - for those of you wondering what this is all about, they're all respresented in my links. Planning to write little snapshots about music I love as the mood takes me, old and new, various genres: expect the tone to be geeky but amateurish.
Trying to teach myself to DJ at the moment and all, so if it ever gets to the stage of promoting events, shows, mixes etc., that will be a part of the page too. But I expect this will end up as another aspect of my pipe-dream side. We'll see.
I also have a passing interest in politics - who doesn't? - and a slightly smaller one still in philosophy and critical theory, so I reckon a blog is about the right format for any non-expert opinions I might want to spout on these subjects.
Definetly a huge part of what I want to do here is big up all the blogs, forums and websites that inspire me, to shine attention on musicians, music writers and thinkers that I love, and especially to sing the praises of and communicate back and forth with other writers in my peer group (though some of them are a little slow with joining the whole on-line thing....). So that's the thinking behind my 'Things I Like' list. I know that initially many of you who will be visiting here will likely be familiar with most of the material, but please if there's anything new to you that catches your eye, at least give it a look. NB - just because I like all these sites, doesn't mean I agree with everything that's written on them. But even when I disagree quite strongly with them, I find myself coming back to them, they're stimulating, sometimes even inspiring.
That'll do for now I think. Expect it random, choppy and hopefully fun. That line from 24 Hour Party People is coming into my head - 'Factory isn't a record label, it's an experiment in human nature'. I'm like the Factory of blogs.

So...

... here I am.

This is as intimidating as I expected.

Mission statement/general introduction to follow shortly....