Stuart Eglin

If we can't find Heaven, there are always blue jays

2008-11-16T21:07:00.000Z

“If we can’t find Heaven, there are always blue jays”
He said, as he opened the car door and walked off into the night.

I looked at his shadow shortening to the street corner
And wondered how I had been so gullible, to listen to this.

I was sitting there now, nothing left. No hope.
Just the memories of something I would not do again.

And like a blue jay, scavenging for food, an acorn or seeds
I looked for traces of hope, anything to put back

The stars that lit my skies, the sunshine and heaven
Before he pushed his way into life, and drained it dry.

The clouds that click, the inner vision, then the ancient burials
Redemption days which I thought I had lived, swept away with reason

And my mouth opens as I speak to the heavens, “Give me back the visionRemember the open flight of a bird that wanted to escape.”

Nil Recurring

2008-03-05T08:25:00.002Z

The album I am really enjoying listening to at the moment is the new Porcupine Tree album called ‘Nil Recurring’ – it is more of an EP than a full album with just 4 tracks and a running time of 30 minutes. These are pieces that were worked on at the same time as the last album ‘Fear of a Blank Planet’ – they are marvellous pieces of music – from the first instrumental track to the catchy chorus on the second track. There’s plenty of creative guitar work, really tight work by the whole band and some wonderful soloing on the first track from Robert Fripp. All good stuff. I also have 3 other albums to listen to which feature Steven Wilson – Blackfield, the first Porcupine Tree album and an electronic solo album.

This is in addition to the last couple of albums by the band - 'Fear of a Blank Planet' and 'Deadwing' both of which are geat listens. Give them a go!

I am becoming a big fan of both Porcupine Tree and the work of their guitarist Steven Wilson who is incredibly prolific. I am looking forward to hearing the new album by No-Man which is his collaboration with Tim Bowness. That is due out in the spring. I came to Porcupine Tree because their keyboard player is Richard Barbieri who was in Japan. Regular readers of this blog will know that I have been into Japan and David Sylvian since the 70s.

Celestine Prophecy: an experiential guide

2008-02-16T20:22:00.002Z

MICRO REVIEW

This book, written by James Redfield and Carol Adrienne builds on the original book "The Celestine Prophecy" written by Redfield.

Sometimes these add-on books are just an excuse to sustain an idea, keeping sales going by selling second book to those who bought the original book. In this case though, this books adds a lot to the original work with plenty of thought-provoking insight. It is a fascinating read with plenty of useful exercises. Each chapter takes one of the nine insights from the original texts, expands on the ideas behind the insight and then has a series of exercises for individual use and workshop ideas for group work.

Creator or Archivist

2008-01-12T08:06:00.000Z

Two important channels of creativity - archiving and creating. The act of creating new materials is important to ensure that we continue to generate new material. Then there is the Archivist who is the editor, remastering material, remixing it, producer, director and multi-media artist. Some of this activity will be about looking after the archive of work, ensuring that it is kept in a form that can receive an audience. But some of the activities of the Archivist stray into the creative - just like working with music or the visual arts, words can be shifted into new works. This can be done by expanding on original ideas, reworking, illustrating, creating sequels and prequels. All of this adds to the understanding of the work. It also ensures that the archive of work is not regarded as untouchable. Everything can be reworked, improved and reinterpreted.

Best of 2007 - albums

2007-12-23T07:50:00.001Z

I know everyone is doing it, but here is my list of favourite albums bought in 2007 in no particular order:

1. Porcupine Tree - Fear of a Blank Planet

2. Rush - Snakes and Arrows

3. Joanna Newsom - Ys

4. David Sylvian - When loud weather buffeted Naoshima

5. Robert Wyatt - Comicopera

6. Robert Plant & Alison Krauss - Raising Sands

7. Tracey Thorn - Out of the Woods

8. Sigur Ros - Hvarf / Heim

9. Arcade Fire - Neon Bible

10. Robert Fripp - At the End of Time

Friendship

2007-11-09T07:40:00.000Z

"Friendship is born at the moment when one person says to another,
'What, you too? I thought I was the only one.' "

- C S Lewis

Cultivating the Mind of Love - Thich Nhat Hanh

2007-10-08T21:33:00.001+01:00

MICRO REVIEW

This is a beautiful book about Mahayana Buddhism. Like all of the books I have read by Thich Nhat Hanh, it is written in a stunningly clear and lucid prose. He deals with very complex issues in a deceptively simple way. As a Vietnamese monk living in the South of France, he captures issues of the human condition with great precision. His story about his first love is poignant and thought-provoking.

If you are interested in Buddhism and have not read anything by this author I would urge you to try a book by him. This is a good place to start.

The Folkways Collection

2007-09-10T19:21:00.000+01:00

The Folkways Collection

'The Folkways Collection' is a 24 part series available as a freely downloadable podcast. Each episode is an hour long. Here is what the site says:

"This series of 24 one-hour programs explores the remarkable collection of music, spoken word, and sound recordings that make up Folkways Records (now at the Smithsonian as Smithsonian Folkways Recordings). The music of modern day giants like Bruce Springsteen, Bob Dylan, and Ani Difranco is interwoven with original Folkways recordings to demonstrate the lasting legacy that Folkways Records has on popular music. Recent and archival interviews with Pete Seeger, Woody Guthrie, Lead Belly, Mickey Hart, Studs Terkel, and others help reveal the remarkable human stories behind this equally remarkable collection. The series was produced by CKUA Radio in Alberta, Canada and originally aired in 1999."

I'm about a third of the way through the series. The sheer diversity of material collected is astounding. Well worth a listen!

The Daily Meme

2007-08-20T20:01:00.000+01:00

What is a meme? It is a term borrowed from evolutionary biology. Used in an internet context, the definition (taken from wikipedia) is:

"An Internet meme is a piece of digital content that spreads rapidly, widely, and organically from person to person on the internet. The term is a reference to memes as virus-like self-replicating packets of information."

So, if you are keen to spend time exploring this phenomenon there is a brilliant portal where a new meme is posted each day. It is run by Gary La Pointe, who has his own blog here.

The portal points to many sites where you will find memes. Many of them take the form of '5 questions' or '10 favourites' and spread using internet tag. I've answered this one, now I name 5 other bloggers and ask them to do it too. A bit like a blogging chain letter.

[from the 'Things I found' archive]

Fascinating facts # 1

2007-08-17T14:07:00.000+01:00

I like to buy magazines that I wouldn't normally buy every now and then. It is a great way to nurture creativity and to get the brain thinking in ways that are different.

Recently I bought an issue of 'BBC Focus' magazine, which is a science and technology magazine here in the UK, produced by the Public Broadcaster. It is full of fascinating facts.

There is a whole section on atoms, which includes this which I thought was really mind-warping:

"Atoms are 99.9% empty space. If all the space was sucked out of the atoms in your body, you'd shrink to the size of a grain of salt. If you did the same thing to the entire human race then all six billion of us would fit inside a single apple."

I'm doing a series on Buddhism on this blog at the moment. This fact about atoms conjures all sorts of ideas about us being full of emptiness, and the idea that we can all fit inside an apple is a beautiful way of looking at the connectivity of us all.

Spiritual Start-up

2007-08-10T12:19:00.000+01:00

[from a new poetry sequence which I am developing]

I watched the little specs of dust as they floated
In shafts of light through the church
A voice was working its way through a sermon
But my mind was engaged in this little world
Where the dust bits fall then spin and whirl
Some micro universe where I can imagine
A whole world flowing out and away

I imagine being a deity myself
A young Buddha watching worlds collide
Wanting to ease suffering, push aside
Left beneath the senses
Once it was all flickered into my inner world
Where the imagination can withstand anything outside
Crash of life-form to the real meaning of all things.

Diaries of Robert Fripp

2007-07-27T08:06:00.000+01:00

I have been reading Robert Fripp's online diary for a few years now. It is a fascinating source of information about touring, making music, running a music business. Oh, and the obsessions that Fripp has developed over the years - not being photographed, having been ripped off a few years ago by his management. He also talks about the Guitar Craft Workshops which he initiated and which happen around the world.

Fripp's rants are well worth a read. But it is also worth reading his considered thoughts on the process of living and creating. The site also generated frippisms which are good fun to read. For example:

"The question is its answer" and "Just below the surface of our everyday world lie riches"

These frippisms are randomly generated at the bottom of each page.

In recent months the number of photos he posts each day has grown, so that the site is also becoming a visual record of his day to day life.

It's also worth giving a quick mention to Sid Smith who is the webmaster of DGM Live - which hosts the diary, as well being a download site for the work of Robert Fripp, King Crimson and associated projects.

[from the 'Things I found' archive]

Exercises for creating new poems

2007-07-26T07:23:00.000+01:00

I thought it would be useful to set out some of the ideas and techniques I use to produce new poems. When the creative muse is off on holiday, I sometimes draw inspiration from old poems. I am also really interested in techniques from popular music, particularly approaches like remixing, remastering and cut-ups. These ideas can be adapted to the printed word.

So, I am currently using the following techniques:

Take a selection of old poems and re-work each one into a new version, using different lay-outs or verse forms.
Take old poems and redraft or create new poems as reactions, prequels, sequels and observations on the material in the original poems.
Take a number of poems and dismantle them to create new works from the pieces by putting them back together in new ways.
Take one poem and use each line from it as the first line or title of a new poem, creating a whole sequence of poems which builds on the original.
Take one poem and reconstruct it into a series of remixes - like musical remixes, draw out key lines and phrases for repetition and distortion.

I'm going to experiment with some of these techniques over coming weeks. If you use any of them, feel free to post feedback in the comments.

Time Banks UK

2007-07-24T07:33:00.000+01:00

I first came across Time Banks UK a couple of years ago. It builds on an idea I was aware of when I worked in the voluntary sector (now fashionably known as the Third Sector!) in the 1980s.

It's a way to encourage community building by getting people to offer their skills into a bank so that they can trade them for the skills of others. Thus, you could offer an hour's baby-sitting time in return for an hour of painting and decorating. I really like the idea.

From the website:

"Time Banks UK is the national umbrella charity linking and supporting time banks across the country by providing inspiration, guidance and practical help. Time banks link people locally to share their time and skills. Everyone's time is equal: one hour of your time earns you one time credit to spend when you need."

Their patron is Dame Anita Roddick who was the founder of Body Shop in the UK - she brings a lot of credibility.

The mission of the organisation is described as - building community, caring for the marginalised, bringing up healthy children, and fighting social injustice. Great aims.

[from the 'Things I found' archive]

The Open - The Silent Hours, Statues

2007-07-20T07:18:00.000+01:00

Last year I posted about the Liverpool band, The Open, several times. I thought their two albums were fantastic. The first, full of catchy pop songs - and the second reaching out into diverse influences like free jazz, reminded me of Talk Talk (another big favourite).

I've just been listening to the two albums again, and decided to do a bit of net searching to see what's going on. I drew a blank everywhere I looked. The band's own site now re-routes to Polydor records, and the fan site has been taken over by a golf site! (Yes, I understand the link!)

I've tried searching for Steven Bayley (singer, writer, guitarist, pianist etc) but can't find anything. Does anyone know what has happened to him and the others in the band. Are they making music? I have this romantic notion that Bayley will reappear to make a solo album. Now, when Mark Hollis made his solo album some years after Talk Talk split up, it was a work of remarkable genius. So, I remain optimistic. If you have any information, please leave a comment.

REM - something for free whilst the new album is being made

2007-07-17T08:21:00.000+01:00

R.E.M.hq: EXTRAS-REMix

When the last REM album (Around the Sun) came out a couple of years ago, I saw the video to the first single, - 'Leaving New York'.

It was nothing startling or different, but then why would REM want to do that when they have a formula that works. As with much of their best work, the lyrics tug at a melancholic feeling that connects us together. After watching the video I visited their official website for the first time. And found that they have a load of remix downloads available which are worth a listen. They can be downloaded for free - just follow the link.

REM have just finished a series of dates in Ireland to test out new material and are now in a studio in that country working on the new album.

[From the 'Things I found' archive - with an update!]

One or Two

2007-07-16T07:43:00.000+01:00

A quote from e e cummings:

"One's not half of two, it's two that are halves of one"

Wow. I found that in a book I have just begun to read called 'Man's journey to Simple Abundance' edited by Sarah Ban Breathnach.

Global Children's Art Gallery

2007-07-12T07:58:00.000+01:00

I first found this website a couple of years ago. Another look today, and I see that it is still thriving. So many websites are ephemeral - they come and go. But ones like the Global Children's Art Gallery deserve to persist as the web grows and evolves.

Put simply, the site is a collection of children's art - totally inspiring. When you consider that many great artists aspire to be able to rediscover the innocence with which they painted when they were young, it makes sense to put together such stunning work.

"Every child is an artist. The problem is how to remain an artist once we grow up."- Pablo Picasso

The project belongs to the Natural Child Project - "Our vision is a world in which all children are treated with dignity, respect, understanding, and compassion. In such a world, every child can grow into adulthood with a generous capacity for love and trust. Our society has no more urgent task."

The Global Children's Art Gallery now features 1,050 pictures by children from 67 countries. Browse all the pictures, and order prints, posters, greeting cards and clothing to support our work. Take a look.

[From the 'Things I found' archive]

Buddhism: part 2 – the early spiritual journey

2007-07-10T07:52:00.000+01:00

[To read the other parts of this series on Buddhism, click here.]

It was in my middle teenage years that I first became interested in Buddhism. I had grown up in a traditionally Christian family. My parents were both regular attenders of the village church. My older brother and I were both in the choir, and we were also altar boys. In fact, my older brother went on to be ordained into the church and is a practising minister still.

I remember from a young age, sitting in church on Sunday evenings and feeling a sense of spiritual presence, but being in awe and fear of the overwhelmingly paternal perspective of the protestant church. In fact, the ramble of the sermon was usually lost to me as I drifted off in my imagination. I would sit and watch motes of dust as they drifted through the light beams that shone from the stained glass windows, and imagine whole worlds within those specks of dust.

In my teenage years, I drifted away from regular church going and began to explore ideas of philosophy.

Then my reading brought me to an awareness of Buddhism. Schools are more inclined to look at the religions of the world today than they were in the 1970s. There was no mention of other religions in either Religious Studies, History or Geography lessons. It was my explorations in poetry, philosophy, fiction and psychology that opened up the world of Buddhism.

Probably one of the earliest influences would have been ‘Siddhartha’ by Herman Hesse. I had read ‘Steppenwolf’ first – curious to follow the link back to the book from the Canadian rock band who produced the hit ‘Born to be Wild’. I enjoyed the novel so much that I went on to read many of his others, and came across ‘Siddhartha’. This allegorical novel tells the spiritual journey of an Indian man called Siddhartha during the time of Buddha. The story follows him as he goes through a series of changes and realizations to achieve his goal of enlightenment. It is a beautifully written novel and charmed me into wanting to find out more about Buddhism.

Tate Gallery, Liverpool - Gallagher & Blake

2007-07-09T18:13:00.000+01:00

We went to the Tate Gallery in Liverpool at the weekend. Liverpool's preparations to become European City of Culture next year are going well. There are new buildings appearing all over the city centre, and the roads are slowly improving as a result of much road digging and disruption.

There were two fabulous exhibitions which we saw. The first, on the ground floor, is by Ellen Gallagher. To quote the Tate's site:

"Ellen Gallagher (born 1965) is a leading contemporary painter who also creates drawings, prints, sculptures and films. Her works explore the language of Modernist painting with symbolic or narrative content, often touching on issues of representation. In her recent work she has explored the myth of Drexciya - populated by a marine species descended from captive African slaves thrown overboard for being sick and disruptive cargo during the gruelling journey from Africa to America. Ellen Gallagher's Tate Liverpool exhibition includes a range of work to reflect the breadth of her practice."

The work is very subtle, requiring lots of close attention. I really liked the mythical underpinning to the collection.

The other exhibition was a major retrospective of the work of Peter Blake. Most people will be aware of his paintings in the form of pop culture, particularly the cover to 'Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band' by The Beatles. He also did the cover to 'Stanley Road' by Paul Weller and the recent compilation album by Oasis.

The impressive thing about this exhibition is the sheer range of Blake's work. When an artist becomes famous for a particular style, it is easy not to realise the sheer breadth of work achieved, as is the case with Blake.

There are paintings from his Pop art work in the 60s. But there are also paintings that are more abstract, many pieces which use collage, and a series of illustrations for Alice in Wonderland. This is the largest exhibition of his work since 1983 and contains paintings drawn from a wide range of galleries. The work divides into sections:

The 1950s

Deja vu

Wrestlers and Pin-up girls

The Brotherhood of Ruralists

Venice Beach

The National Gallery Residency

Marcel Duchamp's World Tour

From this moment on...

The final section contains paintings which are unfinished. It's an inspiring exhibition. Whatever your own art form is, the range of work by Peter Blake and his ability to borrow from others and make things his own, makes me want to experiment myself. I was impressed with Peter Blake's technical ability and his creative range. An exhibition well worth a visit!

Editors - An End Has a Start

2007-07-06T08:08:00.000+01:00

Last weekend I bought the second album by Editors, a band from Birmingham in the UK. It is a really accomplished piece of work. I always wonder how bands manage to pull together their second album when they are busy touring and promoting the first one. I guess this problem gets more acute by the time the third album comes along and any material which was ready before the recording contract has been exhausted - hence, the difficult third album!

I saw Editors as a support band last year when Franz Ferdinand played Manchester. It was one of those gigs where the support band have half the PA system and almost no lights, but they still played a blinding set. I thought I had spotted a real gem that evening. They were a marvellous mix of Joy Division, Echo and the Bunnymen, Psychedelic Furs and The Cure (all bands I saw in Liverpool in the late 70s and early 80s).

It was great to hear all of those bands from my formative years melded together into something new and shiny. It's a great album and I was positively so surprised to see this new album leap into the charts last week in the UK at number one. The album has slipped to number two this week, being displaced by the new album from reformed Crowded House, but I guess it is still selling well. Go listen - and enjoy...

Self Publishing

2007-07-04T08:24:00.000+01:00

In a recent post, Rik Roots talks about self-publishing using a print-on-demand service called Lulu. This is a really interesting approach to producing perfect-bound books without having a heap of them sitting about on a shelf.

Rik points out that he has a specific need to publish so that he can share his work with friends, family and people who ask to see work. The web, in the form of downloadable pdf files is one way to satisy this demand. But there really is nothing like a real artefact to hold in the hand and turn the pages.

Something well worth investigating further.

I have self-published chapbooks / booklets a couple of years ago under the bluewater books imprint, and am in the middle of preparing a new series of booklets - all produced myself. I like the idea of a service like Lulu where the work is done for you.

Global Ideas Blog

2007-07-03T08:04:00.000+01:00

I first wrote about the Global Ideas Bank on my old blog called 'Things I found' back in 2004. It's great to revisit some of these things and still find the energy there. This blog, not a high frequency one, has great links to places like NESTA (National Endowment for Science, Technology and the Arts) which are well worth exploring.

The blog belongs to the Global Ideas Bank site. The bank is a place where you can find or post your own big ideas. It's a great place to look for inspiration. Meanwhile, the blog is a good read too, and has good links to other blogs with ideas on them.

[From the 'Things I found' archive]

Buddhism: part 1 - introduction

2007-06-30T14:16:00.000+01:00

I have begun to write a series of posts for this blog about my interest in Buddhism. The posts will cover my early experiences of religion and spirituality growing up in the 60s and 70s through to my growing interest in recent years. I will look at Tibetan Buddhism and Zen Buddhism - describing my experiences with these two strands of the religion and philosophy.

Buddhism is followed by some 350 million people in the world today. Being brought up as a Christian it has taken me a long time to feel comfortable with the idea of describing myself as a Buddhist. In recent months I realised that I had reached that point. And I came to the understanding that being a Buddhist doesn't require formal practise at a shrine a daily routines. That just isn't me anyway!

So, now I have the acceptance it is time to trace the journey. Further episodes follow over the coming weeks. You can track the whole series by clicking on the 'Buddhism' label in the right-hand column of the blog.

World Cafe - a great way to get everyone involved

2007-06-29T07:40:00.000+01:00

Welcome to The World Cafe

A couple of years ago, I took part in a knowledge cafe, run by David Gurteen. I wrote about it on my now deceased blog called 'Things I found'. The technique, which is openly available in a truly open source way, is a brilliant way to get true participation. I used it myself for an event which I facilitated at the start of this year.

The technique is taken from the work of the World Cafe, which can be found at their website. The Principles of the World Café are:

* Clarify the Context
* Create Hospitable Space
* Explore Questions That Matter
* Connect Diverse Perspectives
* Encourage Each Person's Contribution
* Listen Together for Patterns, Insights and Deeper Questions
* Share Collective Discoveries

They work well because:

* The future is born in webs of human conversation
* Compelling questions encourage collective learning
* Networks are the underlying pattern of living systems
* Human systems--organizations, families, communities--are living systems
* Intelligence emerges as the system connects to itself in diverse and creative ways
* Collectively, we have access to all the wisdom and resources we need

I particularly like the fact each table is covered in paper sheets and everyone is encouraged to write or draw on them. This gives the quieter members of a group an alternative way to contribute. I also like the 'consensus' approach which encourages everyone to build on others' ideas rather than to critique them.

(From the 'Things I found' archive)

When the muse strikes, rather than being on strike

2007-06-26T07:48:00.000+01:00

After a long poetic silence, words are beginning to appear in my head again.

Some new poetry fragments – towards a 2007 sequence…

(1)

The sound of the helicopter blades reminded me that
The first time I had stood on this rocky outcrop I had
Wondered what I was doing next
Then the pieces of the jigsaw all fitted

Because the steam-like mist rose from the valleys below
As if it was time to be going
Growing like an adolescent in the kitchen raiding the fridge
Watching everything like it’s the first time.

(2)

Pictures on the wall were all taken with this new camera
Living in a world where every second can be captured as a
Perfect digital image. Still or moving images

Everything caught as a series of digital code
So that every trace of every life can be saved for future viewing
If only we had the time to review everything

At least then we might learn something from the mistakes of history.

(3)

Be here, be now
Somehow holding on
To everything that we thought was
Precious and spoken

(4)

Tangled spindrift
Winged fragments of encapsulation
Such as bones and carcasses
Pieces becoming new things, new essences
As though the earth were starting all over again
Washed and bleached inside the sea-bed
Where once waited creatures now extinct
Flapped and furrowed, waxed and winnowed
Embraced in water, pictured on the stones
Each one scraped against the soul.

Elephant Talk, a King Crimson website - now it's a Wiki

2007-06-05T07:46:00.000+01:00

ETWiki Home - ETWiki

Elephant Talk was a regular newsletter for some 15 years which updated the fan / fanatic about the activities of King Crimson, all of its members through the years and their own solo activities. It took the form of a discussion list, so there were many diverse views in each edition. At times Robert Fripp himself posted entries to it.

Anyway it ceased publication as a newsletter recently, and has now entered the world of Web 2.0 by converting itself into a Wiki using the same technology as Wikipedia itself. It's worth a look if you are curious about any of this branch of music. There's probably the answer to pretty much anything you might want to know in the pages of the wiki.

Now, I've been thinking for a while that there must be some really useful applications of wiki technology. I have started to experiment again with WikidPad which is really easy to use and has moved on a lot since I last used it. Of course, it is always important to avoid the trap of finding a useful piece of technology and then hunting desperately for something to use it on. It should be the other way round! That said, I will be experimenting with the whole wiki approach because I really like the intuitive and flexible approach.

May - a quick music update

2007-05-25T07:32:00.000+01:00

I have a heap of fantastic albums which I am listening to at the moment. They include:

The Guillemots - Through the Windowpane
Badly Drawn Boy - Born in the UK
Duke Special - Songs from the Deep Forest
Tracy Thorn - Out of the Wood
Porcupine Tree - Fear of a Blank Planet
Rush - Snakes & Arrows

This is a post on the run, so no detail. But, go explore - you won't be disappointed...

Anglesey

2007-05-06T07:24:00.000+01:00

We went to Anglesey for the day and had a fantastic time. I took a heap of photos. One thing I love about digital cameras is the fact that you can get into trial and error much more, and really capture everything that catches the attention. I have put a new header on the blog (the bit at the top of the page). The background is a photo of rocks taken on the same day out.

Spring getting ahead of itself

2007-04-14T13:42:00.000+01:00

Spring in full flow:

Burnt from a fire - this doesn't usually happen until much later in the season:

So many shades of green:

Ken Wilber: Welcome

2007-03-20T07:11:00.000Z

Many months ago I spent an evening in a bookshop, browsing through books and drinking coffee (vanilla latte - my favourite). I spent a while browsing through a book called 'One Taste' which is in the form of a diary. It comprises daily reflections on a wide range of subjects. It was an excellent book to dip into. It sort of reminded me of 'A Year with Swollen Appendices' by Brian Eno which is an absorbing read across a dizzying array of subjects.

TED Talks

2007-03-15T20:33:00.000Z

TEDTalks (audio, video)

I was led to 'TED' by David Gurteen who wrote about it in one of his recent newsletters (well worth subscribing to - it is free!) TED stands for 'Technology, Entertainment, Design'. It is an annual event which hosts talks, music etc. But it is much more than that description implies. If I said that speakers over the years have included Tony Robbins, Malcolm Gladwell, Bono, Peter Gabriel, Richard Dawkins, Dan Gilbert, Nicholas Negroponte, Dan Dennett, and Al Gore - would that give some idea of the sheer range and depth of presentations? TED sells out at least a year ahead, and is to an invited audience anyway. So, why should I be talking about this? Well, the link above takes you to a page where you can download videos of over 70 of these speakers. More are added each week - using an RSS feed, they can be downloaded as video podcasts. I've watched a handful of them and am incredibly inspired by what I have seen.

Now it's so easy to use music legally in podcasts

2007-03-14T06:49:00.000Z

Back in June 2005 I wrote about using music legally in podcasts. That page has become one of the most visited pages on this site, so I thought an update was long overdue.

At the time I wrote that first post, it was difficult and probably near impossible to use music in podcasts without breaking the law. Many early podcasters were playing copyrighted music without permission. One of these early podcasters (who may lay claim to having invented podcasting) Adam Curry, received a 'cease and desist' letter and promptly stopped playing music other than that which he had permission to play.

For many podcasters at that time, the only way to do this was by searching for music from independent artists who had no recording contract and were able to give permission for their music to be used. Artists like Hollow Horse, Chance, Three Blind Mice and Brother Love became widely used.

Alternatives were inevitably going to be needed.

Then along came the podsafe music network. It wasn't the first (labels like Magnatunes were already making mp3 files available) - but they did provide a real leap forward. Established by Adam Curry, the Podsafe Music Network has grown massively since it was set up last year. Alongside a podcaster delivery system, it provides an easy way to find music that can be played legally on a podcast. And there is some excellent music on the network - including some big artists who have put a few tracks on there like James Brown (RIP) and Tom Waits.

Innovations like this have led to an increasing explosion in podcasting. There are heaps of new podcasters appearing daily on the internet, and the medium is being used by an increasingly diverse range of people for an incredibly wide ranging set of uses. In the coming weeks I am going to run a series of posts where I write about the podcasts which I regularly listen to (such delights as Adam Curry's Daily Source Code, Lynn Parsons, Dark Compass, PodcastPaul, the Zencast, Shrink Rap Radio, Ultima Thule, Echoes, Typecast, Steve Pavlina).

M Scott Peck - the ideas or the life

2007-03-13T08:05:00.000Z

I spent a lazy evening recently browsing through my local branch of 'Borders' bookshop. I came across a copy of a new biography about M Scott Peck. Written by Arthur Jones, it is a detailed description of Scott Peck's life.

Regular readers will recall that I wrote about Peck's death a while back, and was particularly unimpressed by obituaries which were around at the time. There was an undue focus on the way in which his life had failed to live up to the promise of 'The Road Less Travelled' and his other books. Now I don't think that an obituary is the place to tackle that kind of thing.

Doubtless, there is the fact that he left his wife of 40 years a few years before he died, remarried again. And he was reported to be estranged from his children.

It just feels to me that those who criticise are failing to understand the key message in Peck's writing. He wasn't putting himself up as a role model or guru. He was just offering advice on how to live a life. I found the advice incredibly useful at the stage I was at in my life when I first read it. For that I am grateful.

As for the biography, I'm as fascinated as anyone to read about the lives of others - that is how we learn. But we shouldn't be disappointed when we find a flawed and deeply human person rather than someone who is perfect.

Link to Earlier post

Paris Transatlantic magazine

2007-03-09T07:47:00.000Z

'Paris Transatlantic' is an online magazine. I originally found it and posted a link to it a couple of years ago, on an earlier weblog.

If you are interested in new music, contemporary, electronica and jazz it is well worth a visit. It would appeal to anyone who wants to explore sounds and names that they are unlikely to have heard of before. The editing of the magazine is handled by a team of people including Nate Dorward (who also edits an excellent poetry magazine) and Dan Warburton who has written for Wire magazine for a few years now. Dan Warburton has also produced music for the online stasisfield music label, which I love.

The magazine comes out monthly and is worth a surf when you have a few minutes to spare.

(From the 'things i found' archive)

Friday Playlist 3

2007-03-02T07:23:00.000Z

It's been a while since I did one of these - a list of the albums I am listening to at the moment. (Earlier ones are here and here).

The music which is forming the soundtrack for my life at the moment is:

1. Nine Horses - Money for all

I bought the original album 'Snow Borne Sorrow' a while back when it came out. This new release is a mixture of new tracks (3 of them) and remixes of tracks from the album. David Sylvian works well in the mix with Steve Jansen and Burnt Friedman. It's a CD which slowly burns into your memory banks and demands replays.

2. Tom Waits - Orphans

This had such amazing reviews, that I couldn't wait to get hold of a copy. I got it for Christmas, and have been dipping into it ever since. Three hours of Tom Waits, meandering all over his various muscial styles, voices and topics. The third CD is probably the weirdest (saying something where Waits is concerned!) as it mixes stories, poems and soundtrack outtakes. The whole CD set is a mammoth thing which surprisingly hangs together.

3. Ketil Bjornstad /David Darling - Epigraphs

This is a stunning album of improvisations between piano and cello. It shifts from modern ambient, cool jazz to echoes of Bach and Mozart. Great music for thinking and creating.

4. Joanna Newsom - Ys

It's an epic album, full of stories and threads of ideas. The orchestration by Van Dyke Parks is amazing and the whole thing is a labryinth which reveals new secrets on each listen.

5. Joanna Newsom - The Milk Eyed Mender

Well, the new album took me into the first one. This is a much starker arrangement. Her voice is somewhere between Bjork, Kate Bush and Tori Amos. But it has its own unique territory too! I love the lyrics, and I love the arrangements for each song.

6. Badly Drawn Boy - About a Boy

I know he has a new album out - and no, I haven't heard it yet. But I saw the film of which this is the soundtrack again recently, and was drawn back to this album. Damon Gough carves out his own furrow. But above all else, he writes great melodies. I absolutely love the song 'Silent Sigh', used at a particularly painful moment in the film.

7. Fennesz - Endless Summer

I came to Fennesz's work through a collaboration he did with David Sylvian. He is a guitarist and laptop improviser from Austria. This album is truly beautiful - it rises gently out of a backround of noise and captures you like a stunning sunrise on a crisp morning.

8. John Cale - Black Acetate

An eclectic mix of styles, some killer riffs and a giant bag of seething energy. And the production is stunning. I'm not particularly precious about production values - but this one just reaches out of the speakers and grabs you by the throat.

9. Paul Weller - Stanley Road

I'm not sure how I missed this when it first came out. Last year I bought the anniversary edition and have listened to it so many times since. What a classic album!

10. Sigur Ros - Takk

I know I have chosen this album before on this blog, but it really does tease out new things on each listen. Earlier this week I spent an evening listening really carefully to it through headphones and there is so much going on in the mix that I hadn't heard before.

He's Mark Rushton, He makes music and art

2007-02-28T07:48:00.000Z

I have been following the work of Mark Rushton for a couple of years now. He used to run a website called 'Hooray for Vouvray' and then migrated all of his activities to his own domain. As well as creating ambient and drone music, he is also a painter. He produces a new podcast every month or so with samples of the music he is working on. Well worth a listen.

One thing I particularly like about the site, is watching someone who is clearly following their passion.

10,000 readers

2007-02-11T20:45:00.000Z

Earlier today this weblog received its 10,000th visitor. That is cause for a small celebration - OK, only for a minute. This happens at a time when things have been incredibly quiet here. Well, that will change soon. I am in the middle of plans to overhaul this site. At the moment it is a mixture of posts on music, poetry, self-development, technology and many other issues. Plus a few photos. I'm going to develop the site as a series of channels - using blogger's label feature, so that visitors can choose their channel and explore from there.

Gurteen Knowledge Seeds

2007-02-02T07:09:00.000Z

This is brilliant! I attended a Workshop a couple of years ago, run by David Gurteen. I also subscribe to his monthly e-newsletter. Follow the link and you will find a page with a button on it. Click the button, and a small window opens where ideas will be posted at an interval which you can choose. The ideas range from quotes, to suggestions, or book references. Try it.

It's a great way to get inspiration moving. But do be warned - if you are easily distracted like I am, you will need to time its use very carefully.

This is the first of a series of posts taken from a parallel weblog which I ran for a while called "Things I found". It was a place I used to keep links to interesting things on the internet. Now that blogger has labels I can do this within the main blog!

because the light faded when it should have stayed bright

2007-01-22T07:42:00.000Z

When at school, nowhere else but the space that was given
And those tighter moments, when the neurosis of the time
Made no more sense than the 70s were supposed to…

Three lines, two times, and once we had become
The glide of a hawk, the times when we captured
All the dreams that had been spinning around outside

And put them in a small leather bag, pressed in tight
So that we could save them for later
Hang on until it all felt right

Dreams are alive in my head now
Good and bad, sad and mad
Wanting to be regrets, urgent needs to do things now

And so I jump out of the plane, ask rather than waiting
Sing rather than whisper, let go rather than clutch
And think that it is all too much, too particular…

Here comes autumn

2006-10-31T08:06:00.000Z

The importance of scarcity

2006-09-12T20:50:00.000+01:00

I have an idea for an article which I am going to write. The title is "Being overwhelmed with musical choice - the importance of scarcity" and it will be about the dilemma created by the digital age. Thanks to the internet and digital files, there is more choice than we have ever experienced. This seems like an incredible opportunity. All that music, all those podcasts to listen to, all those audio books, all those text files.

But the down-side of all this is that we reach saturation point where it is no longer possible to take in everything that we collect. Look at the total time-span of all the material loaded onto the mp3 player and ask yourself whether you really do have the time to listen to everything that is on it.

The result of all this is that music and literature become disposable. I remember back in the 70s and 80s buying a vinyl record every so often and making a real commitment to listen to it and absorb it, get to know it. Now there are so many new albums being released every week. This democracy is great, but it does mean that only the truly and incredibly special gets through to my ears.

The resulting feeling reminds me of the feeling I used to get as a teenager late on a Saturday after I had been listening to the radio for a whole day and was just beyond saturation point, jaded and in desperate need of silence.

Standing Stones in Corsica

2006-09-11T18:33:00.000+01:00

Here are a couple of pictures taken in Corsica back in July. We visited a site full of standing stones, which was beautiful and filled with a deep presence. It was unusual to see these stones somewhere so hot, rather than in deepest Wales with wind and rain.

Space Age Accommodation

2006-09-07T20:06:00.000+01:00

I'm away at a two-day conference at the University of Hertfordshire. This is the first time I have spent the night in a university hall of residence room since I was a student 25 years ago!

Things have changed. The campus itself is comprised of a cluster of spectacular statements and feats of architecture. The accommodation itself was in a building shaped like a third of a giant ring doughnut with rooms on four floors looking in to a central courtyard.

This university used to be called Hatfield Polytechnic - a poly with a real history. It also hosted a great venue for music in the 70s and 80s.

Two exhausting days later I find myself home again, easing myself through a day, picking up the actions that came out of the event and clearing the eternal backlog of email.

imagining possibilities

2006-09-05T07:30:00.000+01:00

you see, when I was young and writing for all I could find
I read somewhere that it was wrong to use too many words
that end in –ing, so avoided it, wanting to get it right

how stupid though, how the rules that we get are really all
there to be ignored, to be recreated. When word writing
is like sound making, a kingdom where you can become your own king

and king can sing like the ings that are all waiting to be worshipped
or the swings that I sat on and went as high as I could
kicking my feet to the clouds, and feeling the rush of my stomach

whatever direction you take – no, wait – it’s me I’m writing about
take the you away, drift into the inner world of my mind
imaginations that are special, filled with quiet secrets

surely the inner signals that we fill the landscape with, are no
more than the rich resonance of colours and sounds, the
one meaning that fits with a spectacle of memories

now – the kingfisher, the colour blue, the word ‘just’
little ticks that litter these constructions, and the breath
the inward and outward signs of life, of purpose.

New Blogger Beta

2006-09-01T19:16:00.000+01:00

OK, so I'm probably one of a million people (slight exaggeration) to write about the new blogger beta. A lot of changes are promised in this beta phase. I was offered sign up earlier today, so accepted. I haven't made any changes yet. But you can expect a combination of changes and mistakes over the coming weeks as I try to get to grips with what is on offer....

Watch this space .... as they say in all the good periodicals.

The Friday Playlist 2

2006-08-18T07:46:00.000+01:00

Here are a few albums which I just can't stop playing at the moment:

1. Mark Hollis - Mark Hollis

I have been looking for this album for years. It is the only solo album to date, by the singer from Talk Talk. The later albums by Talk Talk before they split up took them further into the avant garde and painfully beautiful yet minimal sounds. This album continues that journey. The lyrics are sparse, the arrangements stunningly unusual. The use of guitar and piano fragments is haunting. I can't stop listening to it - and continue to muse over the lyrics and the overall atmosphere which is evoked by this music.

2. Thom Yorke - The Eraser

This new album by the singer from Radiohead could almost be companion album to the Mark Hollis one. Except that, where Hollis has a clear focus on acoustic instruments, Yorke uses electronics and laptop for his pre-occupations. The lyrics are similarly oblique. The voice is beautiful. Great voices in modern music always push forward without any sense of the self-conscious. There are some beatiful melodies on this album. Try the title track or 'And it rained all night' to see what I mean. Love it!

3. Clap your hands say yeah - Clap you hands say yeah

I really like this album, in spite of the first track which sounds like some demented circus act. Sometimes I wonder whether anyone ever says to bands, don't use that as the first track, otherwise people might get no further. This is the case with so many REM records - they begin with a 'difficult' track! Anyway, this album settles down into a great sound, somewhere between Talking Heads and Pere Ubu. They also sound very like The Arcade Fire on some tracks, in the way that they wind up through a track, gathering momentum. At times the singer Alec Ounsworth sounds unnervingly like David Byrne. It's an album well worth a listen, and I particularly like the fact that it is about the length of an old vinyl album. Too many albums go on for too long these days...

Other albums I'm listening to, that I have already written about:

4. The Open - Statues

5. Sigur Ros - Takk

Click here for Friday Playlist 1

Whenever she says she does

2006-08-15T07:55:00.000+01:00

Here is one of the poems which I wrote back in March. I'm about to start writing again. This one stirred me to the page again, and it brought to mind the golden eagles I wrote about in the last post to the blog. The birds in this poem were flying in a massive flock around a railway station as I stood on the platform waiting for a train to arrive:

Whenever she says she does she does
But the light never shines above her head
The way it should – like a veil

I watch the birds, 1028 of them, fly overhead
Like one organism, flexing and changing shape
Creating a mass of darkness in a blue sky surround

The sense of menace is as real as
The sense of plenty that sometimes comes through
Just when I worry about things too much

When the light shines above my own head
I can sometimes pull it down and through
Then the warmth of it all is palpable

Here comes the birds organism again, fifth time around
With each circle of the town, I can feel a little more sense
Understand the way 2056 wings can make a unified sound

Like fingers beating on a microphone as a test –
Pulling patterns together that would be meaningless
Sense, connections, lines between – where the ends meet the means.

Fly like an eagle

2006-08-05T15:39:00.000+01:00

One day on this holiday we went on a trip through the mountains in Corsica. It is an island of great beauty, and real contrasts.

I stopped the car to take some photos of the mountains - one range looked like something out of 'Lord of the Rings' - and as I was taking the photos I noticed four birds soaring over the valley beneath me.

They were golden eagles, and were calling to each other. Their lilting cry was haunting, stirring to the soul. I remember being captivated by golden eagles when I was young, but never thought I would actually see them flying in the wild. It was an amazing experience.

It left me moved for several hours - their cry really pulled at something primeval within me.

A picture would have shown more than I can describe - but the photos show only landscape, not the birds themselves. I guess I need a better camera.

Yoga - wow!

2006-07-29T15:34:00.000+01:00

I have tried all sorts of relaxation approaches - meditation, reiki, tai chi, qi gong. But I have never tried yoga. Well, I am on holiday at the moment. We are in the middle of an activity week. We are learning to sail - something I am not finding easy. Capsizing seems to be the bit which I find particularly easy.

Each morning we have a class of yoga, which is amazing. We are learning Ashtanga Yoga - it is one of the most strenuous hours I have spent. I am gaining remarkable levels of fitness really quickly.

I intend to continue with yoga after the holiday.

Poetry silence - when to start again

2006-07-24T21:20:00.000+01:00

I have written hardly any poetry in such a long time now - March was the last time I put anything together which might be called a poem.

I'm inspired by the daily posts on Greg Perry's blog at the moment. He is writing a canto series. Each day sees at least one new poem, and they are well worth a read. Well done Greg - now for some words of my own.....

Great books - Proust

2006-07-20T21:05:00.000+01:00

Step One of the 'Big Reads' challenge. I have borrowed 'Swann's Way' from my local library. The first part of 'In Search of Lost Time'.

Podcasts backlog

2006-07-15T21:01:00.000+01:00

I've not been listening to podcasts for a little while. It's something I have just returned to - thanks to a little gadget which makes it possible for me to listen to them in the car through my iriver mp3 player. Before I got this gadget the only way to listen to podcasts was by burning them to CD-RW discs which was a real pain. Now I can listen to anything on the iriver through the radio in the car. It is brilliant.

I do, however, have a huge backlog to listen to. I'm ploughing through them, and really enjoying what I am hearing. The best of the bunch are Adam Curry's 'Daily Source Code', Rowland Cutler's 'Dark Compass', Podcast Paul and Lynn Parsons' 'Chalet Show'. There are also a bunch of shows which cover self-development which are excellent. These include Steve Pavlina, Robin Sharma, and a collection of weekly shows on Hayhouse Radio. And the other feed which I am really enjoying is a weekly podcast called Zencast which is about all things buddhist and includes some programmes by Thich Nhat Hanh.

All of this makes the commute to and from work a little less tedious.

The world of podcasting has changed a lot since I last posted on the subject. There are now many legal sources of music for podcasters. More on this in a future post.

Big reads

2006-07-10T22:08:00.000+01:00

There are three big books which I have not read in my life:

Marcel Proust - In Search of Lost Time
Leo Tolstoy - War & Peace
Edward Gibbon - Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire

Like climbing mountains, I need to read them because they are there to conquer. Do any of you have other suggestions for the 'big books' challenge?

Foundlings Five: Scribbles Underfoot

2006-06-22T21:31:00.000+01:00

The cowboys have gone out of business or
Pretend to be self-made commercial heroes,
The fantasy of TV is a bore,
His town and home barely exist in prose.

Scribbles underfoot were rare, too discrete
They left him to his own devices.
He looked for lovers, quiet town, no-one to meet.
Only sources of pleasure were vices.

Salt water on his skin, so the sun burns
Like breaths of healthy old he diverges,
Takes a girl out and watches as she turns
From beauty of which splendour emerges.

His town and home barely exist in prose,
In poetry oft’ times anything goes.

The Open are no more

2006-06-21T18:53:00.001+01:00

I wrote about the second album by Liverpool band ‘The Open’ recently. They have produced two beautiful albums, and I was settling in to wait for great albums to come, but that has fallen away now.

Why? Because I have just read in the official forum that they have decided to split. That’s such a shame. If you are unfamiliar with the band, search out their two albums - The Silent Hours and Statues. To be totally blown away, try the first track of the second album, ‘Forever’, and see what you think. The title seems a bit ironic given the fate of the band, but it is a truly stunning piece of music.

Now we just have to wait and see what the members of the band will do next.

BlueWater Books - Series Two - Coming Soon

2006-06-20T08:03:00.000+01:00

After nearly two years, I have decided that it is time to begin work on the second series of books from my poetry press. BlueWater Books was launched in 2004 with two books of poems - 'Zen Words' and 'Umbrian Images'.

The second series will be available in the early autumn. More news of the titles that will be available will be posted on the blog soon.

Oh, and if you want copies of the first two booklets I still have a few left, so email me your details and I will send them to you.

Spaces and Gaps

2006-06-18T22:25:00.000+01:00

...two months pass. And then... a short posting.

As if nothing had happened!

And the transmissions begin again, from here.

Listening to Robert Fripp, and wondering whether the deep and mysterious messages which are so elusive in Gurdjieff's work are the reason that the 'work' is so resonant, so meaningful and so prolific.

The Friday Playlist 1

2006-04-07T08:34:00.000+01:00

The Friday playlist:

The Open – Statues

The Liverpool band’s second album begins with a track recorded in deepest Wales – yearning trumpet and a voice that comes from god knows where. This is a classic track called ‘forever’ which is one of the best album openers I have heard in ages. The second track takes us into more familiar Liverpool music scene. But the rest of the album which was recorded in France, is full of surprises. There’s prog rock, radiohead, jazz and straight-ahead pop. It’s a great album which grows with each play. Their first album “The Silent hours” is one of the best first albums I have heard in years.

Doves – Lost Souls

I’ve spent the last few months working my way backwards through the Doves’ back catalogue. This, their first album from 2000, is fantastic.

Neil Young – Prairie Wind

This is taking a bit of playtime to get to – I have problems with the sound of country, and this album is full of steel guitar. Great songs, as you’d expect. Neil Young reacting to the health scare he experienced in the middle of working on the album. Sometimes the albums that stay on the playlist are the ones that aren’t instant –this could be one of those.

Robert Fripp – Love cannot bear

I love the soundscape albums of Fripp, and this one is the best yet. It gathers tracks from across the years, each a live track from the USA. The result is a journey of immense emotional intensity.

Nitin Sawhney – Philtre

World travelling from the UK – a stunning melding of influences. This is the fourth album by Sawhney that I have bought recently. I find his music fascinating. Sometimes you hear music and think that it sounds like a soundtrack and lacks the visuals of a film. With Sawhney it sounds like a soundtrack that doesn’t need a film.

Also listening to:

The Tears – Here come the tears
Morrissey – Vauxhall and I
Sigur Rós – Takk
The Jam – Snap!
Paul Weller – Stanley Road

Setting goals

2006-04-06T17:09:00.000+01:00

“The greatest danger for most of us
is not that our aim is too high and we miss it,
but that it is too low and we reach it”

- Michelangelo

Winter Trees

2006-03-13T21:18:00.000Z

...another March fragment...

2006-03-06T07:39:00.000Z

Three are the ways that I have seen you
Gliding across the sky like Jove awakening
Wondering why there are honeyed spaces between
Every field of your vision, every space kept unseen

Remember the secrets you told me, kept separate
Not available for decipher
Un-placed now, re-arranged as though you want
Some bespoke arrangement that only I will understand

Never have I left such distance between as the moments of now
And the time is moving fast and slow all at once
How strange! Take a madman and put him on show
Make him a leader and watch the world glow

RSS Feeds

2006-03-03T16:37:00.000Z

Just a thought in passing really. It's so easy to assume that everyone knows what an RSS feed is and how to read blogs through a feed aggregator. It sounds mind-boggling. But essentially we are talking about a web-based service which captures updates to a blog and tells you when they are there for you to read. You can then read all of those updates through one browser.

The service I use is www.bloglines.com which is worth looking at. You can 'subscribe' to a blog by clicking on an RSS button on the page, or use a button in your browser which you can download, or within bloglines itself. It's a great way to keep up to date with your online reading!

Austrian landscape

2006-03-02T08:08:00.000Z

... and here is a photo, which is the working image for the cover of the work in progress mentioned in the previous post:

Out of Hibernation

2006-03-02T07:23:00.000Z

Coming out of winter hibernation, I have begun a project for the month of March. 31 poems in 31 days. I'm also carrying a camera and capturing images as the month progresses which I may use to complement the poems. Here is the second poem - unedited or worked, just in its raw form:

Whenever she says she does she does
But the light never shines above her head
The way it should – like a veil

I watch the birds, 1028 of them, fly overhead
Like one organism, flexing and changing shape
Creating a mass of darkness in a blue sky surround

The sense of menace is as real as
The sense of plenty that sometimes comes through
Just when I worry about things too much

When the light shines above my own head
I can sometimes pull it down and through
Then the warmth of it all is palpable

Here comes the birds organism again, fifth time around
With each circle of the town, I can feel a little more sense
Understand the way 2056 wings can make a unified sound

Like fingers beating on a microphone as a test –
Pulling patterns together that would be meaningless
Sense, connections, lines between – where the ends meet the means.

Sunset February

2006-02-15T22:43:00.000Z

Running your own race

2006-01-26T18:55:00.000Z

Robin's Blog: Blog Archive: "Robin, the most important thing in life is to run your own race." Never forgotten that one. Run your own race. Don't worry about what others are doing. Stick to your values and cling to your dreams.

This is a quote from the latest post on Robin Sharma's weblog. It is a really thought-provoking idea. I remember being really hopeless at sport at school - and I think that was because it was always someone else's race I was a part of, so I was always going to fail. It took a while into adulthood to realise that the way to progress was to compete with myself - to run my own race. Another way of looking at this is to see it as a process of continuing self-improvement.

one big race

2006-01-17T19:20:00.000Z

you’re at that age when
everything’s moving faster,
but you can’t play god.

Sid Smith's Postcards From The Yellow Room: Climate Of Hunter by Scott Walker

2006-01-16T20:17:00.000Z

Sid Smith's Postcards From The Yellow Room: Climate Of Hunter by Scott Walker

The latest post on Sid Smith's marvellous blog is a review of Scott Walker's album 'Climate of Hunter'. When Sid likes something he has a way of writing about it which draws you into it, and makes you want to go out and buy it. Sid's book about King Crimson ('In the Court of King Crimson') achieves this with each of the albums over the band's 40 year history. It's a great read.

I wrote about the Scott Walker 5-CD set 'In Five Easy Pieces' ages ago, and also posted a link to an informative site about him. Thanks to Sid's review, I'll be diving back into that 5-CD set - as soon as I have finished listening to Robert Fripp's latest album 'Love Cannot Bear' which has been played at least once a day since I bought it just over a week ago. I know I referred to it on the last post, but it deserves another mention. Beautiful and serene soundscapes that touch something deep into the soul and leave the listener breathless. And there's even a track where Fripp 'sings' a poem - well, he does it through a heavily treated piece of electronics. It is very moving and unsettling in the way that Laurie Anderson can be.

Oh, and it's a great CD to play whilst working too!

Happy New Year ... at last

2006-01-09T20:50:00.000Z

Happy New Year … at last

In spite of all the promises I stayed away from the computer for the whole of the festive season. There are times when it is important to have a break from the gadgets!

Three things preoccupied me over the festive season:

Music – I listened to a fantastic range of music. I now have two albums by Doves which are regularly on my CD player, especially in the car. The latest album ‘Some Cities’ is great, but I am also enjoying listening to ‘The Last Broadcast’ which is heavily influenced by King Crimson.

But the album which has really gripped me over the last couple of days is the latest album by Robert Fripp. Called ‘Love Cannot Bear: Soundscapes – Live in the USA’ it has taken me a few weeks to get hold of this one. I was pleasantly surprise to find that it was on sale in a local record shop (I thought it was internet sale only!). I love Fripp’s soundscape albums. My favourite is ‘A Blessing of Tears’ which I often play when I want a deeper level of concentration for some prolonged writing. This new album is stunningly serene. It draws out elongated emotional expressions, almost symphonic in its deliberations. If you have the chance to get hold of this CD, do so. If you want to hear some extracts you can go to Fripp’s latest site here.

Books – I’m in the middle of reading Robin Sharma’s ‘The monk who sold his Ferrari’. It is a really good read – lots of self development ideas. I recognise a few of them from writers like Tony Robbins, but the book has a real inspirational air to it. I like the Dan Millman style of story telling which is used. I recently subscribed to the Sharma podcast which is well worth a listen too.

Reiki – I am consolidating Reiki 2 and have begun to think about doing Reiki Masters. I will make decisions about this in the next couple of days. In the meantime, I am working with the energy and working through a few issues towards the right place to decide. If anyone finds their way to this writing through serendipity and has a useful comment or advice feel free to post something. I welcome your views as I move to the next stage in a spiritual journey.

All the great bands

2005-12-19T08:15:00.000Z

There are so many bands around at the moment who are making great music. It feels like being a teenager all over again. The influences are straight from that time for me – Joy Division, Television, Richard Hell & The Voidoids, Patti Smith, Talking Heads.

I have been really impressed with albums by Doves (‘Some Cities’ and ‘The Last Broadcast’), The Editors (‘The Back Room’), The Open (‘The Silent Hours’) and Kasabian (‘Kasabian’) and The Arcade Fire (‘Funeral’). There is nothing pretentious about this music – just great guitar band music. I saw The Editors recently playing support to Franz Ferdinand, and thought they were really good. This music restores faith in the direction of music again.

Looking back over the last few decades, music seems to go through cycles. Just as we are enjoying music like the current scene, it won’t be long before the focus shifts to dance-oriented and manufactured music again. So we might as well enjoy it whilst it is here.

What's he building in there?

2005-12-17T22:59:00.000Z

What’s he building in there?

Apologies for the prolonged break in transmission. There is an immutable law in this process which says that the longer you leave it before posting, the harder it is to get back to. This is because the expectation I place on myself that the return post should be fantastic increases the pressure. So the gap grows and the expectation rises.

Sometimes the best thing to do is to just get on with it. So here I am. What have I been building? Well, I have been putting a lot of time and effort into the world of work, the world of music, and the world of Buddhism and Reiki. Although the last pair in that list would benefit from a lot more focus than I have given of late.

I have been writing up entries in the other journal I keep – the one with a rubber band round it, which I carry most places with me, and which I keep private thoughts in. This is where I play and test out ideas. Some of them find their way onto this blog. Some don’t.

Well, the posting resumes – I am a few days away from a break, and with it will come an increase in posts to the blog…

The title of this post – “What’s he building in there?” – follow the link for the song it comes from.

Sounds that need time

2005-12-04T23:43:00.000Z

Here are some CDs that have appeared in my collection over recent months and are just shouting out for more time to listen. I have so much wonderful music at my fingertips that sounds better the more it is played:

Iarla O’Lionaird – Invisible Fields

Nine Horses – Snow Borne Sorrow

Kate Bush – Aerial

Jon Hassell – Maarifa Street

Brian Eno – Another Day on Earth

Afro Celt Sound System – Anatomic

Jackson Browne – Solo Acoustic Vol. 1

Nitin Sawhney – Prophesy

Nitin Sawhney – Human

Keith Jarrett – Radiance

Charles Lloyd & Billy Higgins – Which way is East

Charles Lloyd – Lift Every Voice

… and in most cases – the better for listening through headphones.

but she's a girl... Kate Bush - Aerial

2005-11-14T08:49:00.000Z

I was going to post a review of the new Kate Bush album. 'Aerial' is her first album since 1993, and I approached the first listen with a little trepidation. When expectations are so high it is easy to be disappointed. The album is a slow grower - and I like it that way. The albums that stay in my playlist the longest are the ones that take a time to get under my skin.

Well, I won't post a full review, because I read a brilliant review last night. The "but she's a girl" blog has a really good post about the album which says exactly what I would have wanted to say. So why repeat, when you can link!

Sonic Turtle -- Adham Shaikh

2005-11-03T21:39:00.000Z

Sonic Turtle -- Adham Shaikh

I am a regular reader of the 'nervenet' mailing list, which is a list for comment on Brian Eno's music and all things related.

Over the last couple of days there has been reference to the work of Adham Shaikh. I had never heard of him, so followed the link to the Sonic Turtle website. There are a handful of mp3 files to download there. His music is stunning - a mix of ambient, world beat and electronica. I am very impressed. Time to go hunting for albums by him I think.

County Kerry - Glenbeigh

2005-10-31T20:33:00.000Z

Back from a few days away in Ireland. Visiting friends, and marvelling at the constant rain! We spent a few days in Kerry, in a small village called Glenbeigh which is beautiful. We had all day views of the Dingle Peninsula, which changed by the minute with the change of light.

Plans to go whale and dolphin watching were cancelled due to bad weather, but that didn't take away from the experience.

I'll post some photos over the coming days - if any of them were worth looking at.

Monetisation versus Open Source

2005-10-22T10:43:00.000+01:00

There is an interesting tension building on the internet between the whole principle that anyone who blogs or podcasts might want to get to the situation where they can monetise what they do (an Americanism for "Make Money out of!") – and the concept that the web is the means by which to provide vast amounts of content in an Open Source way.

For an example of the monetisation concept, I look to the work being done by Adam Curry in the podcasting world – he is mindful of the free-at-source roots of podcasting but can see the opportunities too, and is looking to monetise this sector. I'm not critical of this. There are loads of podcasters producing content for reasons of passion and obsession rather than for commerical gain. But there are many people who want to generate income. Adam Curry is working ingeniously to deliver business models which make that possible.

Around the issue of Open Source I think the approaches of Tom Peters and Seth Godin are really interesting. Both of them have a growing store of freely downloadable material for people to read. I guess they figure that they make plenty of money and the issue is about getting readership.

Although they presumably also realise that giving away free electronic content does convert into sales in a world where people still prefer the real printed page to browse and stick on their shelf. And it is this translation of free to purchase that leads to something else.

There is actually a 3rd way in all of this – something at the interface between monetisation and open source. I guess in software terms it would be shareware. But that isn’t quite what I mean. I’m talking about the way in which it is possible to build market share (something Amazon did in the early stages of its business where it lost warehouses full of cash selling at ridiculously low prices to get customers), build readership (Godin & Peters) and develop a meme-like interest through the ‘give it away for free’ approach. I guess this idea needs more work, but I am sure that we are on the brink of some new business models, and exciting new ideas.

I have written before about the 'Creative Commons' idea - this weblog has a creative commons license. This is another aspect of this wider picture. The challenge which faces web publishers (bloggers?), podcasters and other net-entrepreneurs is to work out how to weave through all of this and get out of the net what we want to, whilst ensuring that we give the reader / surfer what they want too.

There is a lot of talk at the moment about Web 2.0 which will take us into the next era of the web, beyond the market place which it has become of late. Exciting times are ahead - more thought is needed about the collision of monetisation, open source and creative commons to create new ways of doing things.

Earthquakes and poetry

2005-10-21T07:30:00.000+01:00

I keep a regular track of the visitors to the series of weblogs which I host using sitemeter. This helps me to see how many visitors are looking at the site, how they get there, and a rough idea of where they are located.

Yesterday someone did a search on MSN Search looking for 'poems on earthquake' and found my weblog for the poetry press which I run. There is a book of poetry which I wrote a few years ago called 'Umbrian Images' which includes a poem about the earthquake in Assisi in 1997. The site visitor was in Pakistan and was therefore presumably looking for poetry about the Pakistan earthquake.

Well, as a response to this, I thought I should do two things. First, post the poem about Assisi - I think it brings into focus the difference between these two disasters. This year has been filled with disasters of immense scale and suffering. It is easy to become numb to it all. But I think we just need to keep responding, doing what we can. The world of global media is a two-edged sword which offers us information on an unprecedented scale and immediacy - but it does give an armageddon quality to all of this. Our reaction and support is vital. (There's a useful post about the impact of the internet on our view of disasters by Seth Godin here.) Which brings me to the second thing I can do as a response. Follow the link to the Disasters Emergency Committee to donate to the Appeal for the Asian Earthquake. Please help.

Assisi Earthquake
(some words taken from a Daily Telegraph article)

On the western edge of town
firemen fear the roof of the upper basilica
might not withstand
heavy rainfall.

The magnificent campanile’s bells
which sound when St Francis’s birds flock
have been eerily silenced as if
their tolling might be enough
to bring the tower crashing down.

The restorer says
“I know the fresco which included this detail.
I’ve restored it twice before,
to see it like this makes my heart sink.”

One local says of the monks,
“I don’t see any of them
rolling up their sleeves
and getting to work with a spade.”

Meantime,
twenty five thousand people
have no homes.

And
we look at moments of time
without the context of history
and emphasis becomes distorted.

3·10·97
13·47

Svarte Greiner's music mixes

2005-10-20T21:19:00.000+01:00

Type Records has a podcast feed where you can download mp3 files of music mixes. There are about 20 different downloads there - each is about an hour long. The link - http://www.typerecords.com/radio/ - is badged as a 'radio' page. I like the idea of this. The music mixes are eclectic, mostly a mixture of ambient / jazz / modern classical. There's a lot of music from the Rune Grammafon label, and plenty of Arvo Part, Dead Can Dance etc.

My favourite so far is a mix called 'under the leaves' by Svarte Greiner (aka Deaf Center's Erik Skodvin) - music from Arvo Part, Arve Henriksen, Julie London, Aphex Twin, Max Richter (a beautiful highlight), Biosphere and Cliff Martinez combine to make an hour of stunning sound. Download it and enjoy!

M Scott Peck dies

2005-10-12T07:00:00.000+01:00

I just found out today that M Scott Peck died at the end of September. He was 69. There is a full obituary in the Telegraph, a UK paper, which ends rather grudglingly and rudely in my view. Scott Peck wrote some fantastic books - to comment on his inability to write great songs seems like a mean-spirited sort of comment to me.

I read 'The Road Less Travelled' in the early 90s and was hugely influenced by it. The beginning 'Life is difficult' must be one of those great one-liners that helps with the process of growing up. It sits alongside 'life isn't meant to be fair' as one of those things that moved me forward in life.

I read several of his other books too - 'The Different Drum' is a wonderful book about building communities. My favourite book is 'In Search of Stones: A Pilgrimage of Faith, Reason and Discovery' which describes a journey which he made through Britain looking at ancient sites with standing stones. It's a spiritual read, and an enjoyable one too.

I was sad to hear that Scott Peck had left this life.

For a more recent post on this subject please click here

Borders - too many people

2005-10-05T07:39:00.000+01:00

I went to our local Borders last weekend for a couple of hours. This should have been fun - books, CDs and Starbucks. Unfortunately each time I go to this store it becomes more and more popular.

Why do car park designers have no idea how to design them in ways that avoid gridlock. I was gridlocked getting into the car park - and then again trying to get out. Then there was the human equivalent of a traffic jam at Starbucks - too many people with not enough seats and tables. It was chaos. There was nowhere to sit and browse, which is the whole point of the ambience of these places.

The whole experience showed me that the success of a place can become its failing too. Very zen!

Favourites - going going gone

2005-10-04T22:23:00.000+01:00

I spent some time last night checking through my favourites on Internet Explorer, looking to see what has happened to some of the many sites I have flagged over the last few years. It was a process that really showed me how ephemeral the internet can be. About 75% of all the links either didn't work at all, or were to temporary pages redirecting to another site. It's incredible to see how quickly things disappear on the net.

This makes it only too clear that publishing on the net doesn't necessarily mean that something is always out there. So many great sites have bitten the dust for one reason or another.

There are services set up to archive the internet - so I guess that archive pages of some of these sites will be sitting on some server somewhere - out in the deeper internet. But they are as good as lost to the casual browser.

All those billions of pages appearing and then disappearing - all that effort being wiped away in the blink of a computer screen.

E F Schumacher - Small is beautiful

2005-10-03T08:07:00.000+01:00

I am a few pages from the end of "Small is beautiful" by EF Schumacher. This is the first time I have read a book about Economics since I was at school. Although it is actually about a lot more than just Economics.

It was written over 30 years ago, and yet its preoccupations with ecology, the distinction between consumables and resources that we can't replace (fossil fuels!), issues of scale in the workplace, and the impact of technology on people's work - are as relevant today as they were when he was writing.

Schumacher talks about Third World aid, stressing that simply giving money doesn't help. We need to work with bankrupt economies to ensure that they build in capacity - ensure that through the use 'Intermediate Technologies' we are bridging the widening gap between our economies and theirs.

The main thing that has changed since Schumacher was writing, is that the gap has widened, probably to a greater extent than he could have imagined. The use of Aid is still a cynical and exploitative process by Western governments. Live 8 has come and gone, and the media has moved on to the next issue. The euphoria around that event has been replaced with the realisation that this is a long haul, not an issue that can be resolved in a few weeks of media frenzy.

Schumacher's book is an interesting read, because it helps with understanding the origins of the ecological movement. It gives a key historical perspective to the changes that we are seeing in the world. It is unnerving to realise that the issue of global warming and the limit to the world's resources was being raised as an issue 30 years ago, and being largely ignored then.

I also found it really interesting to read Schumacher's views on nationalised industry and issues of ownership - views that are very much out of fashion at the moment. It is refreshing to read them and realise that the arguments are robust and could be argued into the political debate to give some freshness to a world where there always seems to be only one right way to look at things.

All-in-all it is a book well worth ploughing through to open your mind to some of the big issues that stretch beyond the latest fad of our media-driven society.

David Hykes on WNYC - overtone singing

2005-10-02T21:57:00.000+01:00

WNYC - Soundcheck: Harmonic Universe (March 31, 2005)

Some weeks ago, someone posted a comment on this blog, in response to my comments about the overtone singing of Okna Tsahan Zam. The link above was posted by that person. It points to a US radio website with a link to a radio broadcast that you can hear with an interview with David Hykes who uses overtone singing. To quote from the site:

"Composer and educator David Hykes David and his ensemble The Harmonic Choir are celebrating their 30th year of creating enlightenment-dedicated music. Hykes has mastered overtone singing known as Harmonic Chant, the skill developed by Tibetan monk and Mongolian nomads that allows them to sing low and high notes simultaneously. Hykes and his Harmonic Choir explore the normally untapped resonances of the human voice."

It's worth a listen - the sound is more like the Hilliard Ensemble than throat singing to my ears. But I really like the ambience it creates. David Hykes actually demonstrates overtone singing to the interviewer which is fascinating to hear. David has his own website here.

BBC - collective - sigur ros 'takk' - listening post

2005-10-01T14:21:00.000+01:00

BBC - collective - sigur ros 'takk' - listening post

I haven't bought the new album by Sigur Ros yet. I plan to buy it in the next few days. In the meantime, there is a complete stream of it in Real Audio format, hosted by the BBC at the link above. Enjoy!

If you want to immerse yourself in a complete online experience before buying, go to the Sigur Ros site and look at lyrics, a documentary and a pile of other stuff. I really like the way that Sigur Ros have figured out that using the internet through downloading and streaming it is possible to build a fan-base. I first heard their music through the enormous stack of downloads on their website - that prompted me to go out and buy their albums.

Hearing the new album also helps me to decide to go and buy, in spite of the somewhat negative review in the latest issue of 'The Wire' magazine.

Playlist September 05

2005-09-30T07:49:00.000+01:00

Been listening to these CDs over last couple of weeks:

1. David Sylvian - The Good Son vs The Only Daughter

Remixes of the 'blemish' album - remarkably coherent, total retakes on some tracks, warmth brought to some of the more stark pieces from the original album.

2. Porcupine Tree - Stars Die

A 2-CD retrospective.

3. Harold Budd - Avalon Sutra

Double album - been on my playlist for a while now. Keeps haunting me.

4. Harold Budd - The Pavilion of Dreams

The first album I heard by Budd - still love it after all these years.

5. Brian Eno - Another Day on Earth

Eno does voices after so long - great depth that keeps coming through on each listen.

6. Fripp & Eno - The Equatorial Stars

Great for easing those tensions...

7. Jimi Hendrix - Electric Ladyland

I just love listening to someone push the boundaries, and those melodies, hooks, riffs!

8. Iarla O'Lionnaird - Invisible Fields

The singer from Afro Celts. Third solo album - a work of great late night beauty.

9. Jonny Greenwood - Bodysong

I love the jazz blasts on this - and the classical pieces - incredibly diverse.

10. Tom Waits - Alice: the complete demos

Great to hear this alongside the original album - the 'interlude' pieces are intriguing, and the singing is fantastic, often very funny.

Stasisfield mp3 releases : New Release : Preview EP : Fessenden

2005-09-29T22:35:00.000+01:00

Stasisfield.com : Stasisfield mp3 releases : Current Releases : Preview EP : Fessenden

I can't remember whether I have mentioned Stasisfield before. John Kannenberg runs this web-based music and images site from Chicago. All mp3s on the site are available for free download. You can also buy mp3 CDs of the back-catalogue if downloading masses of music is difficult through your internet connection. The music is ambient, minimalist soundscapes. I really like the very distinctive sound and look that is created for Stasisfield. John is a sound and image artist who produces all the artwork for the label, which I really like.

The latest release, an EP by Fessenden, called 'Preview' came out recently. I gave it a quick listen last night and was really impressed. This is one that I'll be working with over the next few weeks.

A recent innovation from John's site is an RSS feed, so it is now possible to sign up and get new releases as they become available in podcast form. This is a great idea, and makes the whole process so much easier.

Nine Horses

2005-09-28T20:56:00.000+01:00

If you have read more than a handful of posts here, you will know that I am a big fan of the work of David Sylvian. I have been listening to his music since his band Japan produced the album 'Quiet Life' back in 1980. It is more than a passing interest - I have some 35 albums of his work - ranging from stuff with Japan, to solo and collaborative projects and unofficial live albums.

His work over the last 6 years, after a long break, has been really fascinating. From the uneven album 'Dead Bees on a Cake' in 1999 to the stunning experimental work of 'blemish' which featured Christian Fennesz and Derek Bailey - his work has charted new areas, and pulled in the broadest range of influences. The highlight of this album was the closing track 'Fire in the Forest' with Fennesz which is a truly beautiful piece of music, bringing an album about pain to a stunning resolution.

There's a new album due out on 17th October. It's a collaboration with his brother Steve Jansen and the electronic artist Burnt Friedman under the name Nine Horses. The album is called 'Snow Borne Sorrow' and the clips I have heard sound really intriguing. Can't wait to hear the whole thing when it comes out. On the Sylvian

When the brain starts to work again

2005-09-27T07:00:00.000+01:00

Over the last couple of days, it has felt as though my brain has come back from an extended period of holiday. I'm beginning to understand patterns again. Things are pulling together into a bigger coherent picture.

It feels like the clearing of a heavy fog. As a result the state of stasis is easing. Writing has begun again, and the creative energies are flowing. You will see more here too.....

bright by echo of bright recall

2005-09-25T22:21:00.000+01:00

bright by echo of bright recall
there is nothing more

only the neatness brought about when we tidy as we go along
turning everything into some sort of song

then there is the won mind-set
no idea why!

then there was the loss of a consonant in a clever
smug sort of whatever

and finally we let it all go
pretend that nothing has happened

seal the secrets in a small envelope,
light a candle,

hold the secret over it
until it ignites, then let go and

watch the paper turn to blackened feather
light, and fragment, into the air

gone forever, burnt out of existence.

The words begin

2005-09-24T19:20:00.000+01:00

The words begin

Like something that slips down the page - not sure

And an image
that is all that poetry is
something that we can picture in our mind

like the arrival of god
at a party when he hasn't been invited
and the host is busy pouring drinks
nobody knows the way to speak

so the first person to open the door, says
"sorry, I know we must have met, at some point that is,
but I have no idea who you are, and you’re not coming in here!"

The door slammed shut…and then silence
nothing to say
the music dies away as the guests wonder whether
they have missed something really important
of consequence.

for it is all of consequences
outcomes
within the chaos of complex adaptive systems
we all try to make some sense.

seek out a god
and then when we find one,
we shut the door, refuse to recognise
ignore the voice in our head
and strike him off the guest list

safe in the company of those we know.

train fragment

2005-09-23T19:59:00.000+01:00

…travelling through the country from London to the North West of England on a train. Looking out of the window, there are huge formations of clouds hanging in an otherwise blue sky. It is the end of an exhausting working week…

Blogger suggestions

2005-09-22T16:21:00.000+01:00

Another day, another dollar. Blogging with Microsoft Word does make this whole process easier. The new facility, here, is a really good development. But what about Categories for Blogger? When are we going to see that development appear?

Blogger did a user survey recently – when are we going to get feedback, and what are they doing with the suggestions that were made in the survey?

Another thing that Blogger could provide, would be the facility to post a number of drafts and then have them automatically post to the site so that there is always a post from the backlog when there is nothing new. Other blogging tools can do this – why not Blogger? Is it just me, or do Google seem to be resting the whole development of Blogger since they bought it?

OK, whinge over!

I’m very blog-light at the moment as I rush about with the day job, and try to realign my life after a stack of changes. Things should pick up soon – promises, promises…

Escaping writer's block

2005-09-14T08:25:00.000+01:00

New words
New creations
New intimations of creativity
Old spaces
Seen before spoken
Somewhere we have been before
Law taken over
Wondering whether there is more in the dust
Specks that have recovered
Speeches that have been replayed

Once the lines have opened
There is not much left to the sands of timeliness
Such as the scan of a mission best replayed

U B U W E B :: Glenn Gould

2005-09-13T22:22:00.000+01:00

I've been a big fan of Ubuweb for a while now. The site hosts all manner of avant garde and dadaist media, including texts, mp3's and videos / films. There has been a feast of fascinating material on the site for some time now.

After a summer overhaul, there is now a lot of new material on the site. Follow the link to find three sound files of radio programmes created by Glenn Gould back in the 60s and 70s. I first heard these on UK's BBC Radio 3 which hosted a tribute evening to the pianist a few years ago, and broadcast the programmes which were originally heard on Canadian radio. They are bold adventures in radio, Gould literally using the studio as a composing instrument. Well worth a listen.

U B U W E B :: Glenn Gould

taking words apart

2005-09-01T16:34:00.000+01:00

Taking
Opening all out
Splitting a cloud like candy floss
Breaking air apart
An atom-smasher
Blaster.

Other words
Pretend
But do not understand the flow
Through all connections
No rejections
No sorry.

Not part
Not apart
Not even one strong sense of innocence
Would be enough
To split sides
Make asides
Not see.

Even when
The words are spent
The spoken sounds are louder than the heard
The things I say
Are not the same
As yours.

On returning

2005-08-31T07:12:00.000+01:00

…and so another holiday comes to an end. We spent this one in the south of France, soaking up sunshine, wine and food.

Whilst away I read ‘The Da Vinci Code’ by Dan Brown. Yes, I know, I must be the last person to read it. I thoroughly enjoyed it. It was in a completely different genre to the sort of things I would normally read, and that made the enjoyment even greater.

Poetry is about to step back into the foreground as I begin work on the second intense phase of creativity of this year.

Life in the maelstrom

2005-08-09T20:55:00.000+01:00

Sometimes life just gets in the sights, and the time for communicating beyond the face to face shrinks away so that there is nothing left. No blogging for a couple of weeks now. I read in many places that bloggers shouldn't apologise for not blogging. It's like starting a speech with "unaccustomed as I am to public speaking"!

But then all rules are set to be broken! And it is worth an apology for the low frequency of posts. It is unlikely to change until September now.

I am reading "In Search of the Miraculous" by P D Ouspensky and feeling bewildered by a lot of it. He puts across the theories of Gurdjieff really clearly - it is the theories themselves that are so baffling. The man-machine idea is fascinating. Does this have anything to do with where Kraftwerk got the name from? Man sleepwalking through life. More on this book in a later post...

Four-Fold Way

2005-07-22T16:54:00.000+01:00

Four-Fold Way

I was pointed to this site from Dave Pollard's blog (How to save the world - see the list of sites to the right). Angeles Arrien has developed the Four-Fold Way. It sets out four ways - the way of the warrior, the way of the healer, the way of the teacher and the way of the visionary.

Well worth a visit!

Blogsome - is it better than blogger?

2005-07-21T19:01:00.000+01:00

I stumbled across this weblog host, based in Ireland. The system is based on Wordpress technology. I use blogger at the moment and have done for over 2 years now. I like what blogger does. There is just one key thing which blogger can't do. It doesn't have the facility to sort posts into categories so that readers can select all posts in a certain category and browse through them. I think this is really important. I emailed blogger about it some months ago and got a bland response saying they were working on it. Well, I emailed them again earlier today to ask when they are planning to introduce it. If it isn't soon, I may consider switching to Blogsome. It has categories!