Vapourware

Posted on by Alasdair

I’ve been taking creative stock of the year. To say I’m disappointed in myself is putting it mildly.

WEBSITES:

Ninth Art launched. Code re-write in progress.

Electricana mostly ready. Design needs a bit of tidying, and content needs writing.

Black Ink untouched. Inadequate.

The website side of things is, on balance, acceptable.

COMICS

ISAIAH BLACK. Nothing happening. Artist may be too busy. Pitch written.

2 BEATS SIDEWAYS. Nothing happening. Artist may be too busy. Pitch written.

STORMBREAK. Nothing happening. No artist. Pitch written.

ANIMA. Currently writing script. No artist. Hoping that this will be available mid-late next year, fear that publisher may turn out to be vapourware.

BLACK PLANET: WELFARE AND DEATH – should be available in the first half of next year.

BLACK PLANET: MINDGAMES – Currently writing scripts. No artists as yet, some prospects. Late next year.

This on the other hand, is just shit. I’d like to claim that I had good reasons why I haven’t been sending these pitches to anyone that will listen, but while I’ve got reasons, none of them are good enough. New Year, this changes.

Splendour

Posted on by Alasdair

Reading Barbelith Underground, I find a thread entirely devoted to getting people to list ten things that make them great. I applaud this notion. We’re all bastard fantastic, but society has, as someone pointed out in the thread, conditioned us to be hyper-aware of our own faults, but rely on others to point out how fucking fab we are. And of course, most people don’t really spend a lot of time pointing out how fab all their friends are, because they assume their friends are bright enough to know how ace they are. We never pause to think for a moment that everyone else might be as neurotically obsessed with their own shortcomings as we ourselves are. So anything that encourages people to list things that make them feel good about themselves is a Good and Right sort of thing.

I, of course, have no need to list ten things that make me ace. I know I’m fab. I bring joy and light into the universe by my mere existence.

Stop laughing, damn you.

Blister

Posted on by Alasdair

I have a small, but nonetheless sore, blister on my left thumb. I am not aware of having burned my thumb at any point in the past few days. Where the hell did this blister come from?

Quite Quote

Posted on by Alasdair

In a fit of boredom Fiona suggests doing a survey, where all the answers must be quotes. I am also bored, and will do this.

Who are you?

“Trying to define yourself is like trying to bite your own teeth.” – Alan W. Watts.

What do you look like?

“Exuberance is beauty.” – William Blake.

What’s your secret?

“He was born with a gift of laughter and a sense that the world was mad. “ – Rafael Sabatini

What do you want to be?

“I never know what I think about something until I read what I’ve written on it.” – William Faulkner

What can you do?

“I think knowing what you cannot do is more important than knowing what you can.” – Lucille Ball

What can’t you do?

“There is the view that poetry should improve your life. I think people confuse it with the Salvation Army.” – John Ashbury

What is love?

“To love another person is to see the face of God. “ – Victor Hugo

What is friendship?

“A friend is one who knows us, but loves us anyway.” – Jerome Cummings

Are you strong?

“I am a slow walker, but I never walk backwards.” – Abraham Lincoln

What are you afraid of?

“The fear of being wrong is the prime inhibitor of the creative process.” – Jean Bryant

What would you do with a million dollars?

“He who knows he has enough is rich.” – Lao-tzu

What would you tell the one who loves you?

“I love you, not for what you are, but for what I am when I am with you.” – Roy Croft

What do you want to do?

“Express thyself, say something loudly” – Nick Cave.

Where do you want to be?

“When a man is tired of London, he is tired of life.” – Samuel Johnson

Who do you love?

“If I love you, what business is it of yours?” – Goethe

Conviction

Posted on by Alasdair

“Turning and turning in the widening gyre

The falcon cannot hear the falconer;

Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold;

Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world,

The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere

The ceremony of innocence is drowned;

The best lack all convictions, while the worst

Are full of passionate intensity.” – Yeats The Second Coming. Pretty much my favourite poem. Yes, I do know that there’s more to it than that, but that’s the bit that I like.

Sell Out

Posted on by Alasdair

Like I said last week: I want to hate Starbucks. I know they’re evil. But they make gingerbread latte, and I am Weak. I never realised how cheaply I was willing to sell my principles, until now.

80

Posted on by Alasdair

Well, that was a bloody lovely weekend. Went to Northern Ireland for my Grannie’s 80th birthday celebrations, with the family. We won’t be able to go home for Christmas, because Mum and I are both working, so we had a long weekend away with them instead. Went out with my cousins on Friday night, had a big meal round at my Aunt’s on Saturday, and then Grannie took the lot of us out for a very nice meal on the Sunday. The company was great, and everyone was in good spirits. In a funny way, it was better than a family Christmas, because the celebration was a family one, and a special one, rather than the same holiday that comes round every year, if that makes sense.

Food

Posted on by Alasdair

Lunch:

Sandwich: Pret A Manger christmas sandwich.

Drink: Starbucks grande mocha with whipped cream

Luxury: Marks and Spencer fugdy chocolate brownie.

Gosh, that was nice. One the one hand, I’m a good little leftie, and am opposed to Evil Chains and the way they put independant stores out of business. On the other, it’s great to be able to know (wherever I am) that Starbucks mocha’s are better than the other chains, but Pret’s food leaves them standing, and that nothing beats an M&S; brownie. And the sad fact is that there’s an independant sandwich/coffee place much nearer work than those three, but the don’t do a sandwich or brownie as nice as the ones I bought, and their coffee just plain stinks.