Tag Writing

Words

The Storyteller’s Voice

I’ve been trying to write a blog post about my illness, specifically about the night that I nearly died, for a while now. It’s a story I’ve told to my friends over and over again, and despite it’s grim subject it’s something I can rely upon to have people laughing out loud. Trying to make [...]

From the Vaults: My Platform ’09 Application

I wrote this application for the Platform ’09 live art event back before I knew I was ill, but I was definitely suffering from all of the symptoms that would later see me hospitalised. I checked with a few people I knew, and found out that at least two of the people on the Platform [...]

On Music

I used to be seriously into music. Like, seriously spending all my money on CDs, reading about music, and playing instruments. I’ve mentioned a little just how staid my hometown is, but in middle school I was carting around a seriously boring instrument, the Bassoon (if you ever want to kill a kids interest in [...]

Countryside Invites

It is now officially summer. And with summer, there comes the dreaded “Countryside Invite”. That’s my term for those parties that are held in the middle of nowhere, but that you have to attend. It’s usually a not-too-interesting event – a relatives birthday, an engagement party, or some sort of art event – but it’s [...]

GTA:CW – GTFO

I had Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars on my iPhone for about 72 hours before I deleted it. GTA:CW is supposed to be one of the best games out there for the iPhone. It offers an immersive world, with full sandbox features, and it’s a continuation of one of the best game franchises around. So [...]

Slint and Swainston’s Fourlands

Slint are a seminal alternate guitar-rock band from the 1990s. I first came across them on the soundtrack to Larry Clark’s Kids, which was one of those albums which promised that the film would be a-fucking-mazing. Instead it was a bit of a bummer, but the majesty of Slint’s “Good Morning Captain”… Steph Swainston’s Fourlands [...]

Lord of Light: Why Cameron’s Avatar is just the latest reincarnation of Barnum-style showmanship

I knew it was a bad sign when, halfway through the film, I started regretting not going to Maplin’s. That’s not how it should work if you put the cash down to go and see the latest Hollywood blockbuster; you shouldn’t have the urge to stifle a yawn halfway through, let alone think about checking [...]

Complimentary Verbage

I set myself a few goals regarding blogging after I got back on my feet. One of those was that I wanted to write more, and to write intelligently about topics that I find interesting, such as the uses of technology and science fiction. So far I’ve almost been keeping to a schedule. What really slows [...]

MMX – The Start of the Post-Digital Decade

2010 and after are going to be about post-digital, by which I mean what comes after we’ve finished staring at our screens. We’re going to see an explosion in the amount of physical objects that would have been impossible without using digital process in the workflow, and objects that won’t work without a connection of some kind [...]