a blogger?

 

a blogger?

is that what I am? I check the ever declining post count that sits aside the years that scroll down the side of the page like a dipstick being plunged into my own personal history. more frequently coming up empty.

am I a blogger?

 

sometimes I wish that I still was. I still have a blog that exists, but everything is changing. The Internet is changing. Attitudes are changing. Interests are changing. I am changing. And blogging is a strange lost art, not just to myself but to so many creative outlets that I used to ponder over and draw inspiration from.

Now I see bland advertising and twee snapshots of happy lives that link to instagram profiles. I'm sure that somewhere out there my happiness lays in wait, but I've never the time to look for it.

 

And I mourn my own lack of writing. This is my diary. A public domain documentation of the person I am happy to present for display. On occasions I even read my own prior blog posts and smile at who I was, and feel proud that whatever was inside of me in that moment has been captured, and preserved perhaps forever.

 

So am I a blogger?

I'm certainly not a career-minded brand that exists in every corner of the world wide webs global reach. I'm too tired for that. The internet seems to keep displaying bad timing as far as I'm concerned. I haven't got the energy, and the energy I do have I am putting into other things that I am not always annotating.

I've got meals to make, a house to keep clean, a garden to tend to, a wife to support practically and emotionally. I'm sometimes exhausted by life, but I still want to be more.

 

But am I a blogger?

Right now, I am a comic book writer. I've only just started and I don't imagine my first run through will be particularly amazing, but I have wanted to do it for a long time, and I decided that October would be when I become that thing that I want to be, I'll just have to find time to be all those other things I still want to be.

And perhaps I should blog about my comic book writing, I'm pretty sure that is something I would have enjoyed reading about in the blogging hey-dey of whenever it was, before the whole world fitted in my pocket. Perhaps I will. Or perhaps I won't.

 

And I'm trying to tweet more often. Not for any real reason other than to stay sane and determine that I have things to say that are more interesting than boring things, but that is only a matter of opinion anyway. I am still slightly fascinated by twitter, not as a 'social network' (if that is still a thing...) but as what I always remember it being referred to when people referred to it and it was a novel idea... as a 'micro-blog’. Where I can think things, and express them, in miniature.

It's more time effective for a start to dash off a handful of sub-140 character nuances that nobody will read than to spend time crafting an exemplary display of the written world which will hobble onto my blog to be read by no-one.

But right now I have chosen to take my thoughts, mush my fingers all over a touchscreen and conjur up a rambling stream of consciousness that I shall drop onto my once well-attended soapbox and I've enjoyed the chiming sense of release that such a practise emits.

 

I call this a blog post from a far-too infrequent blogger.

 

 

a lengthy absence.

Oh.  Wow.

Over 6 months have passed.

More than half a year.

In real life, that is a long time.

In blogging life, that is a phenomenally long time.  So much so that I thought I would never come back.  When it's been that long is there really any point? Any momentum, any sort of pace or direction or forward motion has planted itself solidly in the ground.

Regardless, I've always written purely because I love writing, when I get the bug for it it's like an itch that I just have to scratch.  I need to find more time to scratch my itch.

Back when I was on more regular blogging duty, a couple of weeks felt like a long time and I would feel the need to apologise for such rubbishness.  and the I vowed to stop apologising for such rubbishness because it was turning into a whole load of apologising for such rubbishness, but right now is an exception.

Cos I've been rubbish.

At times, life has been rubbish.  Personal circumstances have been spectacularly rubbish at the worst of times, and sometimes not even that great at the best of times.  Life was changing, my job changed, since January I've found myself stuck behind a desk, one place I never thought I'd actually end up, all of these things, the time constraints, the constraints of having too much time to think while you mindlessly process data-entry yet never find time to act upon your 'real' thoughts, they have affected me.

When people say that they 'weren't in a very good place', I think I've been there now, it's true, it's not very good, don't bother going there, don't even pass through, there is nothing to see there.

It hasn't been completely fruitless, reviews and articles and mixtapes have cropped up in a few places, but for a long time it's been hard to feel like myself... I think I may be finding my way back there slowly.

in just this week alone I've managed to knock out a couple of reviews, as well as getting slightly more creative/constructive things done around the house/garden, and I thought a new entry for the blog should be next in line.

And there it is I guess, nothing too special.  But it is just me, writing again. and it feels better than it has for a long time.

door number 1

I've been off my blog-game, that much is clear, but that doesn't mean I've been slacking

in fact I've been trying to build up my empire slowly over at Desperately Seeking Susan Boyle, working hard on mixtapes and making connections, tweeting, pushing and cross-pollinating

it's been a strange journey, I started the seeking subo blog when I noticed that I was devoting a lot of blog space to music over here, and I reasoned that people looking to get a fix of a music blog may not be quite as appreciative of some of the other random crap that mixes in along with the music talk over here, whether it be my own music (kinda the reason I sorta set this blog up originally), my poetry, my thoughts, or just anything else that I felt the need to throw in with the rest of it

of course, since choosing to devote a blog to the music of others I then found myself blogging less about the music of others, I now seem to have come back around on myself and am blogging more over at seeking subo than I am over here...

and the one thing I tell myself that I probly shouldn't blog about is my own lack of blogging, frankly I feel that it must make a terrible read, but dammit, I'm human and things get in the way of other things, and if I didn't admit to this and instead gave of an air of the infallible then I doubt I would be very much like myself at all

all of which is a rather long winded way of saying that in recognition of the usual practises of blogmas and adventness I thought I should blog just a little bit more this month, don't be daft and expect a blog every day... I wouldn't want to disappoint you, but maybe if I can tap tap tap away for a bundle of minutes on a number of evenings this month and share my brainwaves, then perhaps that would be a good thing for me to get my creative juices going again (not guaranteeing that this is a good thing for anyone else tho....)

so... one post down!

all about the timing

Some things are all about the timing

and in this constantly connected, constantly evolving and ever changing world that we are living in this is thoroughly important in the game of 'self-promotion'

so, of course my timing is completely off...


urgh, self-promotion, what an ugly little term, essentially jumping up and down and going 'oooooh, look at me!', this is pretty much the opposite of how I choose to live my life, nothing wrong with a little bit of shameless plugging here and there... but I'd rather kinda just get on with it and hope that the universe shares a little bit of good will with me, hardly a go get'em attitude, I know, but this is simply how I am

thankfully, the modern world makes it far easier to be less show-offish and still get noticed, social media, blogs and unparalleled connectivity make short work of being in touch with people and getting your voice heard.

so of course my timing is completely off...


currently, in a whirlwind of stolen moments and furious activity, I am arranging self-publishing my debut novel, (hey, wasn't that coming out in April?), releasing my debut single (on course to be derailed, but with you very soon-ish), followed by the release of my debut album (in June, definitely in June), so I guess my online banter should make reference to the fact that all these things are happening!

of course my timing is completely off...

it has been nearly a year since I started a new job, a new job that pays ridiculously badly and leaves me with next to no free time throughout the day, compared to my job of 11 years prior to that, which paid poorly but gave me enough free time to try and be who I wanted to be, I felt that was a fair compromise to be honest.

email checking, social networking, actual networking, blogging, researching, all of these were possible if work was quiet, not the case anymore, my time is limited and little indulgences like these are long gone, my social networking presence has certainly taken a hit and prior to this, my last blog post was over a month ago!

of course, my timing is completely off!!!

and of course, the book I grabbed from the library, a book about one man choosing to flee his life of paying exorbitant London rents and instead living out of hotel rooms around the world in a social experiment in keeping costs down isn't just a book about the former mentioned, it is all this plus preparing for the release of his debut book...

as a 'published author' he is often on the blag and making ends meet via freelance work as he builds on his reputation, as the publishing date nears he relays the importance of his online standing and traffic to his frequently updated blog.

(grumble) ok, so my timing is completely off....

I can see the similarities and I can see the differences, both of us gearing up for the release of our first novel, him flying around the world (hey, to Vegas and Rekjavic and erm, the Soho Revue Bar, places I have also been!) and updating his blog and forging his reputation and living off the advance he has been paid, and me, who is selfpublishing, expecting to make no money, and haven't blogged in a while.


and I can see what I have to do, but so much of it comes down to having the time, I no longer have this disposable commodity to do so freely with as I wish, the time that I should perhaps be spending trying to maintain my online presence and keeping the world updated of my progress is instead spent trying to make progress, or trying to make dinner and make the house look tidy and all the other household chores, and then squeeze in a little bit of progress if I can find the time


I guess it's all about timing

Type Writer

I find a certain sense of freedom in writing, the chance to empty my brain, regardless of if anyone bothers to read my outpourings or not.

and my current writings are freer than ever

the last post I wrote on the floor of my spare bedroom, I was in there putting clothes away and the thought struck me to write, so I did

and this post is being beamed into the Internet from on the can, after having just endured watching David Cronenburg's Naked Lunch. it bored me terribly.

perhaps it is films about writers, I didn't much care for Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas either, something about both films (and Hunter S. Thompson's book) just left me feeling cold

but the use of typewriters intrigues me still.... I used to use one when I was younger, it made me feel like a real writer, probably because I was told not to play with it, so I didn't play with it, I wrote with it, and I still have a handful of pages of a Batman story I began writing knocking around somewhere at my mum's house

I have a lot of scribblings, a lot of poems, jotted down on scraps of paper and in A4 paper refill pads, some I may have shared here and there, some will probably remain unearthed for a very long time

and now, in more recent history I have latched onto blogging, taking the time to sit at a computer and publish my thoughts, except that lengths of time away from a computer sometimes leaves nasty gaps in my continued online journal

now, and now I blog with a greater freedom than ever, from my girlfriend's parents sofa, from the spare bedroom floor or from the bathroom

maybe a I shall even have a crack at my next novel on this dandy little gizmo

and maybe it will be better than Naked Lunch and Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, or maybe it won't

doing everything and nothing

well, i would like to introduce you all to my very first unemployed blog post...

for just over a week now i have probably been the most active bum on the planet, refusing to let losing my job bring me down too much, so instead i have been trying to fill my usual work hours with as much as possible

this means that i have more time to make sure that the house is always tidy, i have finished checking and editing my NaNoWriMo novel, i've finished reviving and painting the cabinet that i found flytipped and shall now use in my geek room, i've reorganised messy drawers, i've gone out for long-ass bike rides, heck, i've done bloody loads of stuff, including getting my CV up to date and starting applying for new jobs

all in an attempt to not feel mopey and useless and bored, in fact, i'm quite enjoying all this extra time to do things that matter more to me, the only problem is that paying bills and a mortgage are also pretty high up on my list of priorities, but my time as a house-husband is in fact rather liberating, now if only it would stop raining long enough for me to get out and do some gardening!

despite this extra time, there are a handful of things that i haven't spent enough time on yet.

the first is blogging (hey, i've been busy with other stuff!)

the second is my music (hey, i've been busy with other stuff!) but as i was telling my brother the other day, music is a hard beast to tame, a couple of hours sat infront of a machine with the intentions of producing a groundbreaking piece of music will more likely result in being sat infront of a machine for two hours and still not be much further than when you loaded it up, indeed today i have tried to complete the final track of a Giles Babel EP and found myself going almost nowhere with it, and when you are trying to get the most out of every hour it is hard to accept that time can just slip away alongside any further achievement... but i'm sticking with it, don't you worry, maybe i'll have another crack at it after i've put the dishes away...

and the third...  i've done nothing at all to draw your attentions to the t-shirts that accompany my currently worked on EP, four tracks are complete, four t-shirts are complete, and yet, as of typing, i've only loaded one t-shirt up and have not even mentioned it anywhere at all...

in my defence, i had a lot going on. and in my defence, i've still got a lot going on. but getting the Giles Babel collection up to date needs to be another task that i sit myself down to complete


so before i waffle on too much i think i may leave it at that, you've had a little update, and i shall now think about making myself some lunch, putting away the dishes, hoovering the front room, maybe doing a bit of polishing, uploading the next three t-shirts in the collection, tackling that fifth and final track again and then perhaps i shall see you on the other side to discuss the t-shirt in the next couple of days perhaps...

so why don't i leave you with the first track, Poptarts and Battleships, from "programmed to prevent war" and a little subtle link to follow if you'd like to view the tee right now, and i'll be back with more info soooooon

cosmic odyssey

and now i am just wondering where to go next.

i did spend the few days after completing my NaNovel not really knowing what to do with myself, knocking out a blog entry, but other than that, feeling slightly lost without the crutch of frantic and near-constant writing to lean on.


i could feel how devoting so much time to it had seemed to have given my life purpose, and how blocking out practically everything else (plus the looming deadline) had given me a strong focus.


sadly i feel it slipping away from me already, as 'normal' life creeps back in and all the jobs i had put off until i had finished writing now needed doing.

in addition to housework etc, there is still some more home improvements that need further advancing (if not finishing) before christmas, mix in my intentions to record another christmas single, a follow up to my 2008 effort, and also wanting to learn to play guitar a little more competently and my time is soon spent.  and then there is the full time job that i will need to fit all of this around.

i've also made promises of a couple of reviews of Enfield bands that need to go up on Desperately Seeking Susan Boyle sometime soonish and seeing if the Enfield Advertiser will go on ignoring pieces submitted on local acts by a local journalist, which i probably can't do until i've rewired some speakers, and i guess i've got my work cut out for me yet again.


progress on the NaNovel will wait for now, i'll take another look at it in January perhaps, give myself some distance from it and return to it fresh in the new year to work on a second draft, but for now my girlfriend is reading her way through it, and i am preparing a pdf copy to fire off to a handful of people for judgement.


and if i could find the time to write 50,000 words in just 29 days, i really haven't got much of an excuse for infrequent blogging, have i?

has absence made the heart grow fonder?

i would like to apologise.

if you read the last blog post that went up on the 2nd of november, then you are probably aware of why i had taken leave for so long.


it was not that i wanted to, but once i was caught up in my NaNoWriMo novel, it became difficult to escape it.

i have a passion for writing, clearly for writing about just about anything from the past form of this very blog, i have had a passion for writing about the music i love, whether it is being published or not, and i wanted to take up this challenge and write a novel.

50,000 words in 30 days.

mine weighed in at 50,778 when i verified the word count last night.


it was enjoyable, and it was stressful, and it was so rewarding to have crossed the finish line, and to have crossed it with time to spare.


it was not looking quite so hopeful earlier this month, i had been writing daily, writing under my own steam, and figured i was not too far off the cumulative word count expected when trying to attain 1,666 words written each day, some days i had missed and i hoped others had made up for it.

on day 17 i took a break from the writing to log back into my NaNoWriMo account and log my word count, only discovering at that time that it would be input onto a dandy little graph and would spout statistics at me.

this was wonderful.

what was not quite so wonderful was the fact that even writing just short of twenty thousand words by that point, i was still over 8,000 off par.

the stats told me my average daily word count to date, how many words i would need to write daily to finish on time, and if i kept going at the rate i was, i would finish on the 13th of december.


much like drivers always aim to beat the little estimated time of arrival that their sat-nav displays as they set off on a journey, i too aimed to whittle down the days and reign in the challenge.  i would be proud of myself regardless of when it was complete.  but i wanted to do this.


and that is my excuse really.

i'm sorry i couldn't share any words with you over the course of my writing, almost everything that fell from my mind was channelled straight into the novel, i allowed myself the timely distractions of tweeting, but to have given any kind of worthy update on here, or to share anything on here at all, would have felt like a squandering of words that were much needed to plump up my novel.


so now, on this last day of november i sit here.

relieved it is over.

proud that i made it.

contemplating my return to blogging.


and with a rather attractive handlebar moustache to boot.

(please donate what you can afford, thank you)

promises, promises

we in England have been promised an Indian Summer all week, it finally decided to arrive today.

most people pray that our country's pitiful amount of sunshine will actually land on their day off, but i tend to be quite the opposite.

whilst other people may relish the chance to laze about in the sun on their day off, i actually see it as an inconvenience, for whilst we are supposedly living in the future and so much of our lives depends on keeping our social networks up-to-date, i would much rather break away from the computer when the sun is shining, which means that remix-work or writing or blog-posts will likely go AWOL whilst i seek to spend my few hours away from housework out in the garden or on the sun-drenched streets.

owning your own home becomes such an enormous burden, waking up on a beautiful day to find that this unseasonal warmth means the bedclothes need changing, and of course the bedroom needs sweeping, and clothes need putting away, and the washing up too, not to mention the fact that i want to finish a remix that needs to be submitted today, when all i should really be doing in basking in the sun like a teenage mutant vitamin D obsessed turtle.

so with housework done, i proceed to prepare for our unseasonable Barbeque, it will be the first of october on saturday, today, on wednesday, just three days prior to that traditionally autumnal month, we are experiencing heatwaves and planning for BBQs, just a shame that the sun still seems to set at some time just after 7pm.

so i google some vegetarian BBQ recipes, head off to the Co-Op down the road to pick up a couple of ingredients, and then later, with my dishes ready to marinate and a couple of sailor jerry and cokes down myself, i proceeded to make room in my fridge for the influx of beer that i expect.

jars of olives and capers are repositioned, and tubs of philly are moved.

which reminds me....

didn't i say i was gonna post up some ol' draft blog posts...

last week i had gone looking into Forbidden Planet for a couple of back issues of some DC comics (that i never managed to find), particularly the DC Retro-Active line of comics, featuring stories by writers and artist from the '70's, '80's and '90's.

i was looking out for the 80's era Superman issue, anything featuring Batman, and the '90's era Green Lantern.

y'see, i liked Kyle Rayner, of course i liked Hal, but i was also quite into this new age of comic books that seemed to be occurring around me and the new blood in superhero talent that seemed to be taking over from some of the old guard.

of course it was all a marketing ploy back then and given time the status quo would be restored (hmmmmmmmmm) and of course, the new Green Lanterns and Green Arrows and whatever else would be usurped by their predecessors given time , but i didn't realise that then.

anyways, much like most plotting for modern day comic books, i have no idea where i thought i was going with this, but i do know that i told you guys that i was intending to shed light on some almost forgotten blog-posts, and y-know what, as fate would have it, the oldest of those posts actually does pertain to circa '90's Green Lantern Kyle Rayner, and a rather unfortunate predicament his girlfriend found herself in..



see....

this is almost practically relevant to my BBQ preparations.

i had to find room in our fridge for all the chicken and other marinated meat that were likely to turn up.

and yeah, a bad guy stuffed Kyle Rayner's girlfriend in a fridge.

i might explain further tomorrow if the sun isn't shining.

otherwise you'll have to wait.........

saved as draft

i was just about to knock up a quick blog post, inspired by an image i had seen in a newspaper at the weekend, relating it back to an earlier post on this blog that it had reminded me of.

so, with picture uploaded i went searching through my archives in order to find the relevant post in question.

and it didn't exist.


blast it, damn, it must have been one of those ideas that i had previously had, yet never had the chance to fully flesh out, any self-respecting blogger will know that these are saved as drafts, so that they can be revisited later, updated and blogged properly.

yet any self-respecting blogger will probably also know that it isn't always the case that these drafts actually see the light of day.

they're just forgotten about, as you go about your normal bloggy life, whilst other ideas that come to fruition quicker supercede that initial thought and get left behind.

this also reminded me of another idea that i'd had way back when, when it had got to the point that i had a number of drafts that were being neglected.... 'hey! why don't i do a number of posts that finally shed light on those poor discarded nearly-posts!'

yep, that was the plan, except i never got round to doing that either.

i now have 120 draft blog posts. not all of these were destined for publishing, i sometimes use blogger just to put together ideas, or to work on reviews that end up on other websites, i tend to find blogger and it's auto-save a rather reliable tool and it also means i don't have to worry about where a word document is saved and having to take it with me


but considering my blogging can get a little bit slack occasionally, i think i shall have to go back through my saved posts and breath new life into them

and what can you expect?

hmmmm, well the missing post i went searching for featured a certain superhero clad in green that has resurfaced a few times since what should have been his initial debut on my blog. so keep your eyes peeled for that one....


but i can't be the only one with drafts piling up. what does your unpublished blog list look like?

mind the gap

shit.

that has been a little while hasn't it.


and yet again i find myself apologising, for it is slightly embarrassing in a strange augmented-reality kind of way, for my blog being so barren for so long

i've got bloomin plenty that i could spout on about, yet i haven't got the time to get the words down, so instead you get filler and excuses while i wonder if i'll ever get the chance to recollect my journeys in Las Vegas, i also need to knock out a handful or music articles and reviews, step up my blogging game again and get on with it


it may look to you that i haven't blogged for 11days

but for 11 days i have been busy, living my life, taking a holiday, taking photos, babysitting a puppy and sadly getting back into the swing of things at work

all these things (except maybe the full-time job) enrich my life, so there is no reason for me to apologise for that at all

today

today i should have been woken by a rather stupidly early alarm after holding down discussions as to when Sel would be round to pick me up

it wouldn't have really mattered as the build up of excitement would have kept me awake and the momentum of the day would have kept me going until i finally retired to our tent in a field in Sommerset amidst the familiar smells of camp fires and bbqs



but not today

sadly, this is the first year that we have taken the decision not to go to Glastonbury



it wasn't a decision any of us took lightly, but after failing to actually get hold of tickets at the very first hurdle we were distraught, but slowly came to accept that perhaps 2011 just wasn't gonna be our year

it all seemed perhaps for the best, me and my girlfriend had bought a house and, useful as the deposit scheme is, it would all come at the wrong time, and as the ticket price has increased eash year, we would have struggled slightly with it leaving our now-joint account

and Sel was planning on doing some travelling this year and would be paying out a lot for that

we then took into account that, since they had split up, a couple of friends that we usually camp with would not be going this year, neither would their friend, and another couple that have joined us the past few years didn't manage to get tickets either

last year's Glastonbury, bathed in glorious sunshine for the whole time was a perfect way to leave it, we'd witnessed floods in our times going and we have had one particular wet and miserable weekend that nearly drove us to the edge of sanity (and led me and my girlfriend to give Benicassim a go)

but it felt like those years that we had stuck with the festival had really paid off, as 2010 saw us camped with more friends than we ever have before, we didn't have to suffer a single drop of rain, and the intense sunshine changed the whole dynamic of the usually soggy Sommerset bash

the temperature was up, high spirits were soaring and every single person battled dehydration as we rejoiced, caught up in the giddy throes of a laid back, serotonin enriched festival that England so rarely witnesses

so we bowed out on a high!


i know coverage shall be hard to avoid, and i've cringed everytime there is even so much of a mention of this year's glasto, completelly racked with jealousy and sentimentality for the good ol' days

i've tried to ignore the innevitable stage line-up reveals, and tried telling myself that Beyonce, Coldplay and U2 won't be much of a line-up anyway

but Glastonbury is so much more than just the headliners, and it is so much more than just the music.


my memories of times, good and the bad, at Glasto are innumerable, but i shall have to leave it to all of this years ticket holders to create their own unique take on Glastonbury 2011 as i sit at a desk typing out this blog, considering putting the tent up in our garden, instead of being sat in a car filled to bursting with all our kit, eagerly awaiting the sight of Stone Henge and the requisite stop-off at Countess Services

toys

for those that felt drawn to looking at my geeky toys on display and felt pleasant waves of nostalgia waving through them, i've got another site that you may wanna take a brief look at

i recently stumpled upon Jason Vorhees' exhaustive toy blog via branded in the 80s

and boy, was that an eye-opening experience, as Jason recounts obtaining practically every retro toy that he has had the good fortune to lay his eyes upon, and takes the whole act of collecting very seriously, whether it is items he has won on ebay, found in toy store bargain basements or at yard and garage sales.

now, i would like to firmly stress to my girlfriend, if she is still reading, that i have not got the intention or the disposable income to go scouring the planet for every single toy ever created

my focus is primarily to rebuild my childhood memories of overactive imaginations by picking up action figures from the 80s and 90s that me and my brother would have played with, and then as we have both aged chosen to discard, if we'd have just hung onto them instead of foolishly growing out of them then this nostalgia-trip would be much simpler, but as it stands, it now means that any car boot sale or charity shop could be holding an articulated holy grail of mine

of course i could just max out a credit card on ebay, but where would be the sheer joy in a few clicks, a bulging 'my ebay' summary and somewhere in the region of £2 postage for every figure, nah, i'm kicking it old skool and gonna wait for these prized figures to find me


but Jason's blog has stirred up some vivid memories of old figures that had been lost in my densely populated cranium, anyone else remember army ants, supernaturals and troll warriors?

cloud above me

i feel that i haven't got much to say, and that can never be a good thing

so i thought maybe i should say it anyway in the hope that it will inspire something a little more profound



i usually have a lot of things that i want to say

i never have enough time to compose my thoughts and ideas


that is usually my life

hurtling along like some bizarre rollercoaster, to fast for me to succesfully manage all that i hope to achieve, except this type of rollercoaster doesn't involve queuing for 50 minutes only for the whole thing to be over in just a couple of paltry minutes before heading off to another 50 minute queue or a pizza hut buffet

perhaps it isn't like a rollercoaster at all

no, i guess it really isn't


apologies for the rambling, i thought that if i could just spill out a stream of consciousness then i may hit the creative stride that i have lacked recently, so apologies for that too, to myself and to anyone else that may take an interest in anything creative that i produce

i haven't even managed to knock out a full review this week, tho i guess i should, as i have a number of CDs that need my thoughts chucked at them for glasswerk, i did slightly regurgitate a number of musings on the music of Daniel Haaksman for publishing in the Enfield Advertiser as i hadn't been in touch for a while, although sending the finished article as my girlfriend slept though Glee on monday night already feels as if it was weeks ago

i guess the only reason i'm choosing to write right now is so that my blog looks a little less barren, sadly i seem to have less and less time to get my thoughts across, although i suppose i have already said that and since time is a premium i should spend less time repeating myself

so, today was for relaxing, or doing something, anything, but typically i just can't get my head right, i've had a stab at putting together a new giles babel piece of music, but it just didn't come together as easily as i'd hoped it would, and other than that, i feel as if the world is slipping away from me as i sit around unsure of what i should really be spending my time doing and trying to not think about the biscuits that are open in the cupboard


i guess it's a blip, i'll throw myself into something else and maybe, just maybe have another biscuit, and hopefully it won't be too long until i'm pulled out of whatever hole it is that i am currently wallowing in

and i hope that the next time my blog speaks to you that it sings a more joyous, more coherent song than you and i have both had to endure today



credit where it's due:


i wanted a moody looking picture for this post, i found one yesterday but the computer wouldn't save it, i found a different picture today, it doesn't have much to do with anything i've said and i've no real idea what it is, but i like it and i found it here

the spies came out of the water

i don't like to obsess about it too much, but every once in a while i will spend a few minutes taking a look over what my statcounter has got to say about those that have visiting my blog

i also don't like to talk about it too much on my blog as i wouldn't want anyone that frequents here, no matter how casually, to think that i am spying on them and tracking their every move



honestly, it is more just a curiosity

to see how paper came here and what they have googled in order to find whatever page they came across with whatever i may have been waffling about at that point in time

it is always a little bit exciting to see when people from other countries have stumbled across my musings, yet it is no longer such a thrill to find that someone from sweden or spain has been looking at Roxanne Pallett in her smalls again, but i did get a strange buzz to find that someone in the Houses Of Parliament had been taking a peek at monday's blog post on the Enfield Advertiser's strike action 

in fact, that little piece did drive a little bit of web traffic in my direction, so i hope that means that people are taking notice of the cause that the journalists and editors on the picket line outside the Advertiser's offices are fighting for, although it seems that the situation has only deteriorated, with staff now being warned of possible redundancies


and sadly, it seems that this weeks newspaper is not worth an awful lot of time flicking through, especially if you are looking for the laughably titled 'leisure and lifestyle guide', as it seems that even after all that shouting and making a fuss about how important it is and who it appeals to, The Weekender is not represented in this week's edition in any way, shape, or form

i can only hope that the organisation of the aforementioned strike action is the main culprit behind it's disapearance, but i do fear now that the end may be nigh for this longstanding entertainment section, and along with it will go any hopes local bands had of gaining further exposure through their local newspaper.


at least we still have the return of Doctor Who to look forward to this weekend, i suppose.

and in fact, Doctor Who is another one of the topics that seems to keep bringing people all over the world back to my humble little blogspot, so i'm hoping that once we are back in the swing of things i shall again be offering my occasional opinion on what is goin on Doctor-wise

by the end of Matt Smith's debut season, i will admit that he has grown on me, and clearly absence really has made the heart grow fonder, as i cannot wait for the new series to get started! (although this may have more to do with Amy Pond, than Matt Smith's Doctor)

so i shall eagerly wait and see what is instore this time around, with high hopes for an episode scripted by personal fave of mine, Neil Gaiman, and the possibility of more revelations about the enigmatic River Song.

and since we have been discussing favourites, and web traffic, it would be downright rude not to give a huge shout out to what is possible my biggest pull of all time, that gets hits daily from all over the world, i am, of course, talking about Roxanne Pallett in her underwear



it is very nice of you to have joined us again, and as long as people keep clicking, i will keep being tempted to post half naked pictures of famous women....    along with your usual expected insights and geek-outs

the barnyard battle

how foolish of me, there i was yesterday, typing up a long-awaited blog post and i only go and leave out something of relevance that i wanted to point readers in the direction of.

instead, you get more apologies and an extra post which i guess makes things look just a little bit more active around these parts.



so.

dubstep.


when i'm writing articles or features for The Enfield Advertiser (or possibly Seeking Susan Boyle or Glasswerk) i try to cover most bases, obviously the paper i try to anchor with local interest to keep it relevant, but i also like to mix in reviews of other artists, be they popular or rather niche, and i try to convey myself in my writing by offering up a number of opinion pieces.

something that i had been giving a fair bit of consideration to was the current state of dubstep, particularly how in the course of a year it went from bubbling on the underground, to spawning it's own 'pop'stars in the form of Katy B and Magnetic Man.

but writing takes a little time and commitment, and when i very rarely have an official deadline to meet for any of the platforms my pieces appear on, sometimes these ideas tend to slide.

so while i have been spending time becoming increasingly bored of social networking and waiting for something new to set a fire under my life, or just sinking my head deeper and deeper into comics, Eddy TM has overtaken me and given his own opinion on dubstep's current standing.

i won't bother to repeat any of it here, since it is well worth a read in it's own right.

and perhaps i'll pull my finger out, surprise even myself, and deliver a complete dubstep mix, aaand a dubstep article this week.

we'll see, eh?

credit where it's due:


accompanying image 'weird mouse' by Leo Loikkanen

where's my head at?

my head feels fuzzy

not in the worst way, but kind of bad enough to make you feel like someone else while your real self is floating around in a bubble

add to this the fact that my nose is alternating between running and bunged up and it equals possibly the worst onslaught of hayfever that i have encountered since i was about 11.

then factor in that i have either not had the means, the time, or the mental agility to bosh out a decent blog post of any real consequence.

and this means that i now feel a lot less like me.


on monday i was considering a blog about who i am, or who i used to be. or maybe who i once appeared to be in one particular photo.

i attempted to write that blog last night, and got all of about 18 words out before i faltered and just couldn't get into the right groove for blogging.

so here is a blog to fill the void, it is mostly hot air, fragranced with pollen and then showered in snot.
enjoy it if you can and pray that normal service will resume soon.

if not frequent blogging, then at least a regular mentality.

everyone's at it

twitter. tweeting. ok, i'll hold my hands up and admit that i don't really get it and i spent a good while saying that i just wouldn't bother with it but in my line of.. erm... unpaid employment i guess it can be used as a tool.

i spent the longest time saying that i wasn't gona set up a facebook for myself, and i held out for a very long time, and it was when logging into myspace and realising that pretty much no-one i knew used it anymore i kinda felt alone and needed the cyber comfort of my friends.

and guess what, i'm on the bloody thing near enough every day.

i use facebook on a more personal level, the myspace was about my musical identity of Hunchbakk, my facebook was actually me, the real person, or as real as i chose to be, i did get round to setting up a Hunchbakk facebook page for people to 'like' but i don't really devote too much time to it, it automatically updates with my blog posts, so you may as well just keep checking back here anyway.

it was at a friend's houseparty a few weeks back that i actually thoughtfully considered using twitter, me and my girlfriend were chatting to a guy in the kitchen, i called him Charlie Chaplin as i informed him that i was unlikely to remember his name and he had been drinking in a pub called the Charlie Chaplin before the party, and then not shown up to the party and then we all feared he was dead or worse as we realy weren't in the nicest part of london.  all this is besides the point...

i'm quite humble, and don't announce myself too loudly.  i sometimes forget the things i have achieved and all that i am, thankfully my girlfriend will occasionally big me up to people, it makes me feel proud, of myself and of her when she does this and i hope it means that she is proud of me. forget the day job, what really makes me interesting is all the other things that i get up to, and she proceeded to talk about my dan le sac vs madonna ciccone article that dan le sac himself acknowledged....

and Charlie Chaplin was quite blown away by this (which made me a little prouder) and he mentioned that i was selling myself short if i wasn't on twitter and trying to get myself out there and connecting with more people that are gonna take notice of what i write and what i do.

i'd even mentioned the use of twitter in the aforementioned article, and considered its use, and perhaps i should have dived in right there and then... but i didn't... i carried on mulling it over and not actually commiting myself to it, because i am a thinker and not a doer....

but it is done, that was a very long way of saying that it is done, i am on twitter, and it is neither musical nor wholly personal, i see it as some kind of self-promotional middle ground that is there for the sake of networking, as opposed to just keeping up with friends. i shall have to get in the habit of logging into it regularly, and linking to the various sites that i am involved in

so far, i have two beautiful followers (where you at @ianbyfordart ???) with whom to share my wares.

if you have any interest in my writing, my photography, my music, my poetry, or just me, then i suggest perhaps you look me up on there

and next time somebody is 'retweeting' my article or some such, i shall be there and be prepared to reap the anticipated rewards..... (and ensure that the bloody link works)

how i've rolled...

this week may not have been the most productive from a creative point of view

but they are things on the go and ideas up in the air (and articles to write)

i am still tinkering around - on acid - with a remix idea that i didn't find enough time to devote to this week, all the essentials of the finished piece are in place as far as i'm concerned, but now comes the hard graft and spit n polish that should see the track come through the other side as a fully formed remix ready to tackle the blogosphere (tho it will more likely become buried beneath a bundle of other un-inspiring remixes that have already been doing the rounds)

and i have also made prelimanary preparations for another three pieces of music, a couple of which shouldn't take too much time to complete, but then things very rarely, if ever, actually go to plan, so perhaps it would be best not to hold your breath waiting for a prolific splurge of new material from Hunchbakk.... those that hang around shall be rewarded eventually, and the wait shall be cluttered with mutterings, utterings and obviously videos of a geeky nature....

and what of my writing in general?  well, last week i had a preview copy of Beady Eye's debut album posted out to me, and my review should be up on glasswerk in the very near future, i'm also considering knocking together a piece on Liam Gallagher's new band to share between the Advertiser and my new blog, Desperately Seeking Susan Boyle, which is kind of like this blog, but for those with more discerning tastes that perhaps don't want to deal with all of my ramblings and obsessions... yes, it is a music blog in the more traditional sense

talking of music, and blogging, and music blogging, and also talking of the Enfield Advertiser, i have a couple more write-ups to be getting along with, one of which is the long-overdue 9Blind piece, and the second (tho it will likely come first) piece shall be on The Fetts, another local band, that have just self-released their debut album and who played at last week's Sel-out gig at Bar Form at which i DJed, all by myself up in that little triangle window...

the gig was hardly over-subscribed, but it was a nice little turn out for the band in an intimate environment, and without the pressure of trying to please a bunch of willies who have quite clearly turned up to the wrong night, shouting 'play something funky!' i could get a little bit self-indulgent and truly eclectic with my choices, knocking out a set choc-full of tracks i wouldn't usually play or perhaps have neglected, mixed in with a handful of old standards and crowd pleasers, even if the crowd hadn't considered it when they were heading for a night out, they did seem kinda pleased to hear boom-shak-a-lak

the nature of my DJ sets and the obscurity of my tastes did actually prompt a request for a mixtape of decent mixes, which is the third of its kind that i shall have to get to work on, and also brings me back quite nicely to the concept of blogging, and in particular back to Seeking Susan Boyle, for although the content may be pasable for now, i do hope to up the game a little bit, some artwork and an overall style aesthetic is being analysed as we speak, as are plans for a bit of coincidental merch, and also a monthly mxtape, for those that prefer their music in bulk, as opposed to drip fed weekly... all very exciting stuff... if only there were more time to do it all in....

oh damn it, better get started on these other articles......
but do check back, and check Seeking Susan Boyle

and consider yourselves updated
thank you

can you hear the tumbleweed??

not even my girlfriend could believe that i hadn't posted anything at all in february so far

and that i had not posted anything at all since january 28th


i'm not particularly proud of how quiet things have been around here, but good quality posts of the highest calibre that you have come to expect from Hunchbakk - music and musings take time, and i simply have not had enough time to pass off my random thoughts and observations in the form of witty blog posts

i fully intend to commit myself to a bit of writing tomorrow

but for now, to fill a gap, i thought i should post something that encapsulates so many of the things i love (and 1 thing i hate)

yep, COMICS! MOVIES! and A MASH-UP! all in one video, ch-ch-check it out



b-b-b-but what is that? at the end?

in 3D??!!!

i HATE 3D!!! seriously! can't you guys just get over it now...

(grumble grumble)