The Latest List

It's quite late, too.

The only books i've been buying lately have been from readings i've attended. I have to budget strictly at the minute, but it would be stupid to go to a reading and not get at least one book. Though these readings were a while ago, i thought i'd still get these books up here.

• Selected Poems - Lee Harwood (from the last Storm and Golden Sky reading - link opens to next event)
• Ghost Orchard - Anthony Keating (from last Edge Hill reading - link opens to next events)
• Of Being Circular - Scott Thurston (from same Edge Hill reading)
• The Writer's Toolbox - Jamie Cat Callan (this was actually for my birthday)

So there you have it. Again my drafts are piling up as quick as snow in a blizzard, but i'm really hoping to publish more 'actual stuff' soon, so watch this space...

Peace and love.

Just Got Some Beer

And some cider, but the cider is for James, whose birthday twas on the 30th! God bless he.

Gonna be going out with him and some mates this fine night, though unfortunately we'll probs be heading to Toast, Lancaster's far-from-Premier nightclub... Its floors are stickier than the great tree-trunk tentacles of the Kraken. Its entry prices are steeper than the great galleon-grinding wave caused by the fiercest typhoon. Its clientele smell worse than the most fearsome and ancient Moby Dick (and that's after I cut it up for its blubber. Believe me that's an awful smell...). Its drinks taste fouler than the saltiest sea brine, even when the blood of yer shipmates has rolled across yer deck and mixed with that deep blue ocean. Its toilets... well... there's no comparison other than Davy Jones' Locker itself...

Slight bit of hyperbole there... Sure it's the crew that makes the fun, not the galleys ye frequent. Hopefully.

Happy Birthday Dad!

Well, tis me dear ol' dad's **th birthday today, so throw up yer glasses to him please! We went out for lunch together (he and ma came up by car to see moi. Ain't that good of 'em?) and it were lovely. Couldn't finish my pie mind you, there was a lot there...
Just recently watched The Untouchables with Robert De Niro, Sean Connery, Kevin Costner and Andy Garcia. I gotta say, it's one of the best ideas ever: the action packed story of how Al Capone finally got put away. It wasn't one of the best films ever, though. Hiring the most Scottish guy ever (Connery) as an Irish policeman is a very obvious casting flaw. Then there's the fact they put really cliched elements into the story, like the accountant (who comes up with the plan to put Capone behind bars) being a huge-glasses wearing geek for one example... Urgh. Some of the pseudo-comical moments made me cringe too, like when Costner's character decides that lying flat on the ground will help him shoot at a car coming towards him but - get this - he doesn't get up in time and the car runs him over!!! Oh don't worry folks, the wheels went either side of him! He's not injured at all, just a complete tool. Frank Nitti (Capone's protege) was given an interesting portrayal by a very reptilian looking Billy Drago. He looked a bit scary, but out of place too. I think I prefer Sylvester Stalone's Frank from Capone (the 1970s version, there's probably been a few others). De Niro made a fantastic Capone, with a bit more fat on him than in Taxi Driver, one of my fave films ever. The other strong positive about the film is the graphic scenes. When you make a film about violent people, I think it's good to use violence well, not just willy-nilly. The opening scene, where a little girl is blown up in a pub that won't buy Capone's liquor, is a very striking start. The one where Alphonse himself cracks some guy's skull with a baseball bat for failing in his organization is very brutal indeed, but it's not gratuitous at all, it's telling you about his character.
Film review aside, I found a note I'd written about edible thongs that taste of exhaust-smoked roadkill a couple of minutes ago. Would you buy one?