New Years And The Great Push Into 2013.

After all of the various Christmas celebrations and the events of the year, it is a time that we change the end number of the year to a three instead of a two.

It is usual to make resolutions so that you can make next year better than the last but instead of doing that I merely tend to sum it up by thinking, "Let it be a good one." Instead of making resolutions I look at parts of my life and change and tweak things when I feel parts need a good M.O.T.

Here is some of my GENUINE well wishing to you... unless you're a frickin' Nazi (was that joke?... meh).

Happy New Year. May the Constants be just as happiness- inducing than the Changes. May you eat tasty food and drink good liquid... may you meet good people... and may you have your life improved and enhanced through everything that you experience in this new fraction of your life.

The picture below represents you stepping into the archway of the new year and shizz.

Happy New Year!

Over and Out.
ED.

My New Label.

A few weeks ago I was with my family and two other family friends, sitting around a table eating. For some reason we were talking about the type of people that we all were. Were each of us conventional, unconventional, traditional, liberal, sentimental, forward thinking... whatever. One of the so called family friends asked about the type of person that I was. There was a pause and after a thought or two my Mum came to the conclusion that,

"Ed is Ed."

Was I that hard to pin down? I was fine just being an Ed... but it got me trying to find the most accurate label possible that would show the world what I was.

Of course no one is fully anything... but what was the label that described me most effectively?

... But finally it struck me...

All the events that have occurred to me in my life have been leading me to the grand realisation... that I am a bohemian and always have been.

I've been called the 'bohemian' by a few people in my life so that will be a good enough representation of me to the general public.

How does this affect me?... not at all. I'll still live the same way that I have been living since birth but the label will do me.



Over and Out.
ED.

Finding Out About Sharon Van Etten.

This is a good way to discover music.

Bare with me on this story by the way... here I go anyway...


I was asleep and dreaming this morning, not long before I normally get up. In my dream all I remember was a man dressed warmly, surrounded by snow that had a line of tyre tracks running through it. The man pointed to the tyre tracks and said,

"Get the Etten."


I woke up and the first thing that came into my mind was,

'Holy crap, my dreams are trying to tell me something. Write that damn word down and research it. NOW!.'

I don't know why I thought this but I decided to go along with this unconscious urge by researching the word 'Etten'.

Here is what I found,

• Etten is a town in the Netherlands.
• There is a place called Etten- Leur that is famous for peat (?)
• Some place in Middle- Earth with the letters E.T.T.E and N in it.

... And a singer called Sharon Van Etten. 

Researched her for a bit and liked the sound. 

Wikipedia said this,

"Her songs are heartfelt without being overly earnest; her poetry is plainspoken but not overt, and her elegant voice is wrapped in enough rasp and sorrow to keep from sounding too pure or confident."

Sounds good to me. 

The first song I heard was 'Serpents' and thought it was amazing. I've been listening to her for ages now. 

Thanks for the recommendation snow pointing man in my dream... recommend some Trip- hop, Metal and a bit of folk as well next time. 

Over and Out.

ED.

Anthony Knows How It Goes Down.

"For a firm- rooted believer in such immeasurable ideas as these, which he punctuated with brisk application of the poker to the brave sparkle and glow of the fire, Anthony has a very pleasant appreciation of the measurable and the finite, and nobody in whom I have acquaintance has so keen a zest for life and its enjoyments as he.
He had given us this evening an admirable dinner, had passed around a port beyond praise, and had illuminated the jolly hours with the light of his infectious optimism...
'I adore life,' he said. 'I find it the most entrancing plaything. It's a delightful game, and as you know very well, the only conceivable way to play a game is to play it extremely seriously. If you say to yourself, "It's only a game", you cease to take the slightest interest in it. You have to know it's only a game, and behave as if it was the one object of existence. I should like it to go on for many years yet..."

Taken from 'In the Tube' by E.F Benson

Over and Out.
ED.

The Uncountable Selves.

"Nothing was, nothing will be; everything is, everything has being and presence."

This may not make sense.

You have no doubt read or are going to read the title of this blog post. Let me explain my internal dialogue reader... and I may involve you in this (yes... you) if you read on...

...but first forgive my initial self- contemplation.

Might I be so bold to say that I genuinely like people (90% of the time). I'm not the "I don't like people" person  and I never have been, regardless of mortal imperfections that are a part of our condition (and if you don't happen to like people that is fine, if that is your nature). For me, people are fascinating constructs of flesh, bone, thought, ideas... as many people say, every person is a complex world. Well, if that is the case then I want to explore all of these varied and fascinating worlds that float through my senses every day if the opportunity arises. We live in a universe of not only fellow worlds. I can go so far as saying all people are universes, multi- verses... or even omni- verses, completely endless and eternally renewable as long as we exist as people. We are complex creatures... monkeys with wings if you want to put it that way.

I have also always been what some may term a drifter. Unlike some people, I enjoy the company of people that are different to me as well as people I am similar to and so I can easily drift between social groups at will. I suppose you get the comfort that comes with hanging around people that are like you which is great I suppose... but talking to someone different to you is a joy because it enlightens you, challenges your views about the world and opens your eyes to many things also... and makes you a better person. Why should I shorten possible life experiences just because I might want to stay with people that are like me? Different people are one of the keys to a well rounded life. As Al Pacino said so perfectly on the silver screen as Keanu Reeves watches on,

"I'm a fan of man!"

One of the ways I make sense of people and explore the brains and minds of others is through reading books, knowing and exploring characters, scenes and situations in novels mostly for enjoyment and enlightenment but also so that it may help me to understand people in the world I see. It is no surprise that a lot of Freud's ideas about the human mind came from literature... and why not, stories are more than stories... they tell the psychological tale of the person, people or society and the inner impulses of the people who wrote them... plus more.

I'm getting to the point now... I think.

It only occurred to me recently that I seem to like being an observer. It's seems that I am the type of person that is a part of everything and part of nothing... and I don't know why but it always seems to have been this way (perhaps it is the same for other people as well). The question seems to crop up... where do I fit in? The answer that comes to me every time is... everywhere. Call me a townie, a rocker, a folkie, a hippy, a nerd, a dreamer, a writer, a skeptic  an idealist, whatever else... I am all of these things and others.

When it comes down to it I AM MORE THAN ONE PERSON AND MORE... AND SO ARE YOU.
I am the person I am and the person I want to be. I am Ed the son and brother, Ed the mate, Ed the vague person you know from that social gathering a few days ago... so even then I am more than the people I am, I am also the many people that others think I am. I am hundreds of people. And on top of that we are constantly reborn in a state of mental evolution. We are not the person we were a few years ago.

We are a microcosm as complex and real as the macrocosm.

We fit in everywhere and no where because we are endlessly complex creatures.

Hope this was an enjoyable, informal read.

Over and Out.
ED.

Clark Ashton Smith And Books For Children.

' "Go not too often among ruins," said the Daemon in one of his rare moods of admonitory confidence. "For there is a strangeness in the shadows which these memorials of the vastness of the Past, broken though they may be, have thrown for so many centuries upon the selfsame spot as in the dawn of their erection" '
Taken from 'The Peril that Lurks Among the Ruins' by Clark Ashton Smith.

I am the type of person that needs brain stimulation a lot. I hate the idea of switching off and not being able to think, consider and be away from the beauty of thought, culture and the world of ideas... hopefully saying this doesn't make me sound like a knob.
It is my view that I can stop thinking when I'm dead, so until then I can enjoy a life of constant thinking, reading, writing, memorizing and so forth... because the inner world and my interaction with and understanding of it is the best way to attain any form of paradise in this life... for me anyway.
One way that I keep beauty and mind stimulation by my side is memorizing stuff that sounds good; poetry, quotes, anything that brings me that feeling that I have bettered myself from learning. One thing that I have done is memorize (mostly) the prose type poem, 'The Peril that Lurks Among the Ruins' by Clark Ashton Smith. I have known the poem for quite some time now and I have loved the imagery that comes from it.

 The above picture is what instantly drew me to Smith. I looked at that picture and thought,
"What a dude! What is this soulful looking person all about then?"
The picture itself is a work of art, something that I would love to have on my wall.
Smith is one of my greatest inspirations at the moment...  Hermann Hesse is the other one.

One other subject that has been in my thoughts is books for children. In the last blog post I copied out a quote from a book in the Redwall series by Brian Jacques, a quote that has been with me since I was about ten.
It got me thinking about perhaps writing something for kids. When I was young, my life or the perception of what I was capable of changed when I read the Redwall books. I identified with the heroes who rose up from being normal kids and through a crisis that was caused by an opposing character, the hero becomes the person they were meant to be. I always liked the message that the Redwall series gave, doing the right thing, having compassion and so forth.
But if I was to write a story what would be the message that I would want to give kids? I suppose I would want to encourage them to think for themselves, to have principles and to know the ins and outs of human nature and encourage them to nourish their minds as well as the rest of them, give them the urge for self exploration... as well as other good things.

The mind is the throne of a persons reality. I suppose if you can improve it then reality morphs into something far greater.

Over and Out.
ED.

One Great Childhood Memory.

Quote taken from the book 'The Long Patrol: A Tale of Redwall."


"What more is left to say, my friend? Redwall Abbey is as it always has been, basking in the shelter of Mossflower Wood, the gates ready to open any old sunny days to weary travelers  friends and visitors, all good honest creatures, like yourselves. Please come and feel free to stop for a season, any time. You are always welcome."

You're welcome for that quote, reader of the blog... also say thanks to Brian Jacques as well.

Over and Out.
ED.

A poem I didn't write but rearranged kind of.

I have put together stuff from Action Comics... things I thought sounded cool and have put it in a poem... kind of... Read if you want.
Kal- El leaves Krypton...


The void opened a roaring black mouth.
An echo he would never forget.
Never Ending.
And searching: optimum stellar spectra.
Blast damage: Quin Drive failing.
And searching.
A Ghost dog.
The Fading curses of transparent men and disembodied women.
Debris.
Superluminal Thrust Engage.
The Blinding Gulfs of Superspace.
Of Un- time.
Exquisite calculation.
The Last Song of Krypton Dreams.

Identified yellow G- Class Stellar Source.
98% Oxygen/ Nitrogen Atmosphere.
Systems failing.
A Doomed Level 3 world achieved Level 4 developmental potential.

What has been yielded to what was to come, as the seed of Krypton grew and bloomed.
And so began the age of Superhumans.
With new hopes, new fears, new wonders, new challenges, new and unimaginable evils...

Over and Out.
ED.

My Letter That I Put Into the Cracks In The Wall Of A Ruined Cottage.

I went and stayed at my uncles place in Wales for two weeks. On the last day I decided to write a letter and walk to a crumbling ruin of a cottage... where I put the letter in a plastic case thingy and then encased the letter in a hole in the wall over the fireplace. Here is the letter I wrote...

"To the reader of this letter,



My name is Ed(ward) James Norman Astill and I come from Leicestershire England.

I am currently staying at Twistybach, which is about five or so minutes down the trackway. It is here that I am staying with my mother Helen, my brother Thomas, my twin sister Hannah and my sister Mary for two weeks as my uncle Barry and his partner Claude go on holiday to France.

I write this on the last day of our stay, after taking ourselves to Llandrindod Wells in order to ramble around the shops- messing about and buying cheap books.

I have spent a lot of my time walking along the trackway, the fields and the river which is nearby and have got soggy a few times- but I wouldn't have wanted it any other way.

I have also been reading a lot and have taken advantage of the library that exists at the end of the house, overlooking the mountains.

One of the highlights of the stay was going to the nearby falls which is curiously called "Breaking- Your- Neck- Falls". None of us broke our neck but mother fell over and rolled down a steep hill for a bit- which is always going to be funny.

Visited the 13th century church of St Michael that exists in a field nearby. I was unsure if the cows and sheep were Christian because they rudely didn't answer me when I asked them.

We wandered around the church and found old graffiti in the porch area dating back to 1919- and to and a greater surprise was that most of the graffiti was written in pencil and yet to be rubbed away... that was how secluded the church was.

The family has been somewhat overfeeding and spoiling Cous Cous, the token feral cat that we have been taming too much (uncle Barry might not like that). She has been friendly and has a nice face so we have been over friendly towards her.

I woke up today and saw the geese in the fields sitting in chairs with monocles and pipes... what I really saw were four waddling individuals, squawking and being as dumb as ever- the chickens walked with their kids and paid no heed to the jibber jabber.

It was been a very good stay. I shall place this letter at the haunted house and hope that no supernatural entities nick it.

Yours Sincerly
Edward Astill."

What Books Mean To Me.

A quick fact but according to Wikipedia Google has estimated that 130 000 000 unique book titles have been published since the invention of printing... I was expecting a bit more to be honest.

I wish to use this blog post to go into a journey of the history of books, why I like them, how I got 'into' them and so on. There are people out there who (for whatever ridiculous reason) do not read... unless they are unable to get books, in which case I understand because they obviously can't read anything... or if people can't read... also understandable. What- EVER! *Cough*

I think that it is a shame that there are people who have not been reading from a young age. A complete tragedy that there are people that have not desired or been able to go on that journey in their head, that exploring and development of their inner world that you are given through the reading of books. Here is my journey through my inner world from what I can remember, starting from four and ending at the point in which this post is posted... if you're interested... I have a point to describing all this by the way.

The first memory of a book that I read was a small picture type book that told the story of a dog that was actually a dragon in disguise. I used to sit on the sofa with my other siblings and Mum and read that, point at the pictures and all that jazz. I can't remember the name but I remember that I liked the pictures.

The first book that I remember reading by myself was a book about dinosaurs and fossils, which I really liked and I think I still have. I also read a massive encyclopedia at the time and I remember constantly turning to the page that told information about turtles because of the fascination that I had with turtles at the time... I still have a smallish garden statue of a turtle in my room..

In primary school I got into the Goosebumps books by R.L Stine which I read and even traded them like the trading card craze that was also going on in the playground. Before I sold my Goosebumps collection I think I had about thirty odd books that I had compiled and enjoyed reading them while I was at that age. It was simplistic writing at the time and I have heard that Stine wrote one book every month (so they weren't going to be too detailed or complicated) but at the time they suited my child brain. I also made my first attempt at reading Dracula. My Mum had an old copy and I used to pick it up, turn to a part that I thought was scary at the time, read it, be scared and put it down as a cheap thrill.

I continued to read various other stuff that I can't recall but the latest series of books that really captured me was the Redwall series by Brian Jacques, a tale about anthropomorphic woodland animals living in and around an abbey in a medieval fantasy world. These books were my Harry Potter if you like. I loved the artwork on the covers and the interesting language and accents that were portrayed in the stories.

When I was fourteen I had an explosion. I loved gothic literature, mythology, legends, history, fiction, non fiction, facts, everything I could get my hands on. At about this age I bought lots of note books and wrote a lot of story ideas. I have a note book of a completed ''novel'' that I wrote in my early teens that was inspired by Redwall and the Fighting Fantasy Game books that I was also reading/ playing. It is about a group of people who are going on a journey to kill a vampire... and the main character is a midget.

When I was about eighteen I got the idea in my head that I would do things and find things out for myself, which I was kind of doing anyway, but I made a conscious decision to find out about things simply for my curiosity and for it's satisfaction. Reading and finding out things because I want to and not because I am told to learn it.

... and a few more books explored and read, I am pretty much at the point I am now and still going strong.

Books are an obvious benefit to everyone. They present stories (and stories alone have their own benefits also), they also present information, facts, wisdom... they put living thought onto paper.

The inner world is just as important as the outer one... obviously. Books are the food that enrich both realities in more ways than one... or five... or ten.

Over and Out.
ED.

The Benefactor.

I wrote the poem below a while back so I thought I would post it on my blog. Also remember kids that reading books is beautiful.




They say a bird can fly
for years over London
How shall I replace and repay
for your tool that creaked open my shackles
And the food that made you my son?

I cared like a leaf, my fate on judgement day
And when the burdens returned and I went away
I would shape my thoughts for your ascent
to be a goat for you
knowing that I was in a land of sheep.

I worked so you were heavy and I was light
And I, knowing the moment lingered
Came to London to show that
I was the one with the veil,
but unlike hers
Mine was with fatherly ambitions
Although I was the prodigal son.

Written by Ed Astill. (Inspired by Great Expectations by Charles Dickens.)

The Crumpet And Being Reminded That I Used To Eat Stones.

Last Friday I had gone to my Nan's house in order to help in the cutting of her lawn. Afterwards I was walking in her village on the way to a cafe when we (Mum/ Mother and Nan/ Nannie) were stopped by a woman that knew us but I hadn't apparently seen since childhood. One of the first things she said was,

"You've grown a lot since last I saw you. I remember when you used to eat stones."

That is what I used to do as a kid... eat stones. I suppose the reason for this is because little kids are meant to explore with their mouths... except I explored with swallowing and attempted digestion.

But I digress sir or madam...

About two weeks ago I was sat with my beloved band brainstorming. It had been decided that we needed a name for a band that wasn't The Garden Party so we got some crayons (yes... crayons) and paper and literally brainstormed. This is how we got our current name of "Common Names".

P1: We don't want a band name with 'The' at the beginning.

P2: Yeah we don't want to think of any common names.

P3: What about calling ourselves Common Names?

In Unison: That sounds alright.

It was with this new self- made- name- information that we set off to the Crumpet for an Open Mic Night and played three songs. The Crumpet is the pub opposite guitarist in band and friend Munchy's house... it's real name is the Horse and Trumpet but we call it the Crumpet... because...

I have also now read Great Expectations, Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and the Inferno part of the Divine Comedy.

Happy short blog post.

Over and Out.
ED.

The Divine Comedy And Dante Getting All The Torments All Scew Whiff.

"There ain't no grave that can hold my body down."
Johnny Cash.

I'm not trying to sound like a 'how- do- you- do' (if you know what I mean) in any way in this blog post but this is my latest interest.

A year or so ago I decided to buy a copy of the Divine Comedy from Oxford World Classics. I read the first few parts (each bit is called a Canto) of the Inferno and then read something else instead for whatever reason.

Anyway, it was a week ago that I looked at my book shelf and picked up the volume on a whim and started to read a canto or ten. After that first sitting I have started to grow a fascination with the work. After getting to grips with the life and times of Dante I began to understand what this Alighieri dude was all about.

Here is a small explanation of The Divine Comedy. It is written in the form of blank verse canto's and is a so called 'spiritual autobiography' of a man named Dante Alighieri. It goes into detail about Dante's inner workings in the form of going through a spiritual journey through the nine circles of hell which is in the first section called 'Inferno'... then through Purgatory in the second part which is called 'Purgatorio' and then lastly he goes up to heaven to see Paradise which he describes in the third section, Paradiso. Dante intends to travel through these three realms in order to be united with a woman called Beatrice who resides in Paradise.

... I'll not go to much into detail because the person reading this has no doubt been in contact with the Divine Comedy one way or another some time in their lives.

Dante was born in Florence in 1265 and basically was an important person politically and so forth.

As I read through Inferno Dante referred to being the lowest part of hell to be the worst part of it. In the last part of hell there was a frozen lake in which Satan was frozen in ice. For Dante the lowest part of hell was meant for betrayers... and what the punishment was was that they were frozen in ice like the Devil...

What the *cough* hell?

By the time of me reading this I had read through all of the other circles of hell that were not meant to be as harsh as the lowest part... and it was weird that Dante thought that the punishments for people on those circles were less than being  frozen in ice.

... I mean in these circles you had punishments like,

• Being hung upside down, being constantly burnt in a furnace.
• Have fire fall upon you as you try to run away from it... while being forced to step on hot sand.
• Being immersed in a lake of boiling blood. 

I don't feel that I need to say any more but if I was sent to hell and I heard about those punishments I would think that being trapped in a frozen lake was a blessing in disguise. What is most weird is that Dante thought that that was the *worst* punishment... I thought it was the most merciful actually.


I made up the basic dialogue below to emphasize my point...

Demon: You could be burnt for all eternity... immersed in lakes of boiling blood or constantly flayed with whips for all eternity.


Person: Oh crap that sounds bad.


Demon: And so your punishment will be the most severe because it shall be in the last part of hell...


Person: Crap!


Demon: You'll be put in a frozen lake.


Person: Oh thank goodness... I thought it was going to be an awful punishment.


Demon: What?!


Person: Uh... nothing.


Dante should get his facts straight.

Seriously though, it is something that everyone should try to read in their lives because it's pretty damn brilliant in so many ways.

Over and Out.
ED.

BEEEF Stock, The Festival To Change The World.

I am a member of a folk/ rock/ blues/whatever band as of quite recently. We had been practicing for a few weeks when I was told that we had our first gig. My first few questions were how, who booked us and where. I later found out that my fellow  members had gone down the DIY method and had ''booked'' a gig at the house of Sarah's, our singer/ guitarists house... to be the headlining band. We would play in the garden on a raised platform while people watched on as tents littered the grass.

It would seem that the gods looked favorably on our band because while I was walking back with fellow band mate and friend for a long time, Munchy, after our first band practice... we saw a rainbow in the sky... and while the below picture was taken we decided to take it as an omen of good fortune...

Weeks later it was decided that our band was called The Garden Party and that the festival that we had just thought up would called BEEEF Stock.

A banner was made of radiant beauty...

Now I know that there seems to be three E's in Beef. The extra E is for emphasis... but actually the real reason was that I accidentally made the F the last E and so had to create another F instead.

It turned out that on the day the garden in which BEEEF Stock would have been held was waterlogged because of the rain so instead we were able to relocate our festival to the Paget Arms in Loughborough town.

... and so we played our songs... for the first time ever... in front of an audience.

... and here is a picture of the performance in front of friends, acquaintances and the woman that may have watched behind the bar.

To celebrate our first gig as a band we ate some dried crickets that they were selling behind the bar... then got up on a table and recited a sonnet.

BEST... GIG... EVER.

Over and Out.
ED.

The Theatre Production of Frankenstein... In The Cinema.

"I saw the pale student of unhallowed arts kneeling beside the thing he had put together. I saw the hideous phantasm of a man stretched out, and then, on the working of some powerful engine, show signs of life, and stir with an uneasy, half vital motion. Frightful must it be; for supremely frightful would be the effect of any human endeavour to mock the stupendous mechanism of the Creator of the world"
The recollection of Mary Shelley's waking dream that inspired the story of Frankenstein.

In Leicester (as some people may know) there is the Curve cinema in the 'culture district' or whatever it is meant to be called. I happened to be in a bar (which was a bit of an arty- farty place) sitting there with company and as I was leaving I picked up a brochure for the Curve cinema. 


After flicking through some of the productions I happened to comes across the filmed production of Danny Boyle's Frankenstein play. It was on (as my sister later pointed out in conversation) a so called 'encore run' because loads of people wanted to see it. 
Instead of going to the curve it turned out that myself and company would go to the special cinema in Nottingham. We bought our tickets and went. 


Man, I love gothic literature. You could pick between two versions of the production (oh yeah and it's from the National Theater by the way), one in which John Lee Miller was the monster and Benedict Cumberbatch was Victor or you could have it the other way round, with Cumberbatch as the monster and Victor being Miller. I went to the production with Miller as the monster. I always imagined Cumberbatch to play the more scientist- y, suave type, characters anyway just by the general way that he acts... in person.


Here is part of the blurb of the play that was on the souvenir sheet program,


"Childlike in his innocence but grotesque in form, Frankenstein's bewildered Creature is cast out into a hostile universe by his horror- struck maker...the friendless Creature... determines to track down his creator and strike a terrifying deal." 


The film/play went on for two hours and fifteen minutes and I was literally blown away by how brilliantly amazing it was.


The story starts with the creation of the creature, bursting out of his womb- like cocoon like a new born yet fully grown, stitched up baby. The first few minutes starts with a simple scene with the creature trying in several attempts to begin to walk. He is unable to talk so his initial frustrations can only be expressed through grunts. The first scene ends with Victor walking into the scene, looking with disgust at his creation, running away screaming.


As the play went on it went with the creature itself, allowing you to see into his early experiences of this new world that he has come into. Themes of fallen angels and the worth of all life spills into the play... a satisfying watch. 


Whenever he met a human he is rejected and reviled... which leads him to find his creator to ask him to do something for him... to create a mate, made the same way he was so that he may leave human society and flee to South America...


... that is all I shall describe about the play because you should go to the appropriate cinema and watch the play and/or read the book.


By the way the story is far more complex and wonderful than the small description that I have written.


OH BOY WAS IT GOOD! The scenery... the acting... the heart rending portrayal of the monster (I sound like a right reviewer). 


The climax of the play differed from that of the book... but didn't at all matter because it helped to express the point that was needed to be shown to the audience. The creature fighting his creator and the creator pursuing the creature... was there any purpose to it? Could both of them be each others keys to understanding the world... or be each others purposes for living? FANTASTIC!!!


Whatever type of thing is your 'thing'... then this 'thing' will be your 'thing' also no matter what 'thing' you normally like... this is something that you should see... as a favor to yourself you might say.


Nice one.


Over and Out.
ED.


P.S--- Johnny Lee Miller was a wonderful beyond believe Creature. Also where does the origin of the surname Cumberbatch come from... because it doesn't sound Anglo- Saxon or Scandinavian or anything like that... and yet it sounds English (?)

Micro Blogging... summing events and stuff in short paragraphs.

"The person who is really in revolt lives and dies in a desperate effort to persuade all the other people how good they are. It has been proved hundreds of times over that if you really wish to enrage people and make them angry, even unto death, the right way to do it is to tell them that they are all sons of God."


With the whole Queen's Jubilee thingy- ma- bob happening and then that whole Euro football thing that I hear is round the corner, flags have been pretty much been seen everyday for ages through my eyes.

I've started to pick up again the ambition of learning how to read Tarot cards... just one of those fun party tricks that I want to develop... I've said about that ages ago in my blog.

I am now officially in a band. The names of the other comrades are a lady called Sarah, Munchy and I (as in 'Ed'... when I say I, I am referring to me... not a person called I). We have had two practices so far and meet up every Wednesday.

The bus service is the backbone of Britain.

I have been interviewed by a teaching agency and soon I may be called Ed Astill/ Mr Astill, 'Covering Supervisor' or 'Support Teacher'... I just need to scan over my certificates of qualifications and wait for my CRB thing to pass through. I want to inspire minds in some way... like Samuel L. Jackson in that film... but seriously I want to inspire minds.

The latest ambition I'm working up to is getting a house of some sort of residence that has a full on library... books and bookcases on each of the four walls and a comfy seat, perhaps a table also.

Within the next year I WILL skydive.

This is my 50th post this year... the same number of blog posts that I made during my first year of doing blogging... in my second year it was 42. More blog posts shall be made... and long may it continue.

Over and Out.
ED.

Ed's Thought(s) of Yesterday.

While I was walking between two villages yesterday (for various reasons) I was thinking about a storytelling medium that I could potentially live without.

The storytelling types that I thought while I was walking went thusly and so on,

1. Books.
2. The Theater.
3. Comics.
4. Oral Storytelling.
5. Television series and Film.
6. Radio.

Obviously humans need stories through some means. Which one could I live without? I came to the conclusion that television will have to go if push comes to shove. This was my line of thinking...

If you think about it television series and films are just ebooks of the theatre... 

I say they are ebooks of the theatre because television is the electric version of the theatre just as  kindles are the electric version of the book...

So basically television stuff and films are merely extensions of theatrical performances on stage (but have the obvious differences that are part of the television/film storytelling medium).

So basically I could still get a similar experience from the theater and watching a play and still be highly enriched...

You may also be thinking... but what about if you want those ongoing series that you get on television? You can't go to the theater every week as the actors and actresses would have to learn a new ongoing script all the time. Well the answer to ongoing series are comic books and the radio. Comics are just as visual and radio is also good... plus it encourages you to use the imagination a bit differently because you invoke the scene in your head with a little visual stimulation...

So television would have to go I suppose.

And to finish this post I am currently reading 'The Historian' by Elizabeth Kostova.

Peace Out.

Over and Out.
ED.

In Defense Of The Ridiculous.

I always had a thought. I want to find out about a person that most of the population finds deplorable, horrible, a vile human being... and then sit down with a tea or some other civilized drink and have a chat with them to find out about their point of view.
What if you could go up to the crazy drunk person that is shouting and babbling nonsense in the middle of the street, the type that everyone looks at in disgust,... in order to ask them if they would like a drink and a chat? What are they doing? What are their thoughts?

I think that I will draw the line about chatting to street preachers because... you know.... as long as they don't talk too much about their personal beliefs or give me any quotes from that well known book they seem to like so much.

I bet if I sat down with Hitler, he would no doubt be charming and interesting to talk to... but I would never talk to him because of that little (massive) hiccup(s) that he did a few decades ago.

I wish to talk about the ridiculous and the awe inspiring greatness of comic books (and is also linked to the subject of this blog). I started to read comic books in my GCSE years at school as a way to gain a light relief from revision. I started by going to the local shops and buying issues of 2000 ad. As time went on I looked at American comics and got into the various titles that were available. They are great ten minute bursts of thrilling brilliance while you have a break from whatever you are doing. Great disposable literature (although nowadays no one disposes of their comic books... they either sell them or collect them).
I have always loved the story-lines of comic books. Many story arcs may have been built up over weeks, months or even years. These create a wonderful interweaving history of the characters and the world that they inhabit but also makes it thrilling to read. I REALLY want everyone who reads about me ranting about comic books on this post, to pick up at least one issue of any title of your choosing. Most single issues are commonly about £2- something and you can also appreciate the art work as well as the stories... and if you start collecting then you can be constantly reminded of all of the twists and turns had happened many issues ago and still be thrilled by the past stories.
This is why some of the stories are ridiculous... in a wonderful, fantastic, glorious way... marvelous way. I shall give you an example of a real story arc... the story arc being called 'The Apocalypse Solution.' Here is how the story arc goes (it stretches a few issues)...

There is a group of superhumans who have banded together in order to tackle threats on mankind and superhuman kind through lethal means. The first ever 'superhuman' was overcome some time ago (he is a villain by the way) but it was found by this team that the first superhuman... whose name is Apocalypse has been reborn as a child. They find that this evil first superhuman called Apocalypse is on a moon base... on the moon... and that in child form he has no idea about his past life but is being taught about his legacy by a sentient spaceship that manifests itself in the shape of an old woman... also the story includes a geisha girl that shoots deadly bugs from her mouth and the minotaur from ancient myth.


...and that description is the dumbed down version. I would say that I read prose novels more but I have grown a great enthusiasm for the comic book medium.

Over and Out.
ED.

Ghosts And The Deceptive Lack Of Them In Some Stories.

"We are all haunted houses... full of rooms that time has shut off. To wander sometimes through such rooms can be agonizingly rich and sweet."

I'm livid... slightly (or humorously for the sake of making this blog post a better read). Recently I read 'A Knock At the Manor Gate' by Franz Kafka. It was in a book of ghost stories so it was quite easy to know the type of story that I was expecting. It starts with a young boy and her sister. The sister decides to knock on the door and run away. As they are walking away they see a carriage coming out of the manor that the sister just knocked on. As the carriage comes out of the gate all of the villagers look on terrified. The carriage goes up to the two children and takes them away. The boy is thrown into some sort of prison cell... and the story ends there...

Where the hell was the ghost then?...

Apparently this work is a type of flash fiction... because it's really short... is the thing that can be assumed.

I then read 'The Lilies' by Alison Prince which was in the same short story book than the Manor Gate story. The story is about a young girl who lives with her mother. Their garden is full of all sorts of flowers. The mother has a weird ritual of cutting some flowers down, burying the flower and then putting a small grave over it with the name of the flower carved onto the headstone. One day this arse-y priest comes round saying,
"This is sacrilege... a pagan practice."
The priest then slips, hits his head and is a gonner. The mother tells the young girl to bury the priest in the garden saying,
"Shame to put him to waste."
The young girl buries the priest.
I won't go into too much detail about the rest of the story but their certainly is no ghost in the story.

It's false advertising basically... putting vaguely creepy stories into a short story book that presents itself as a collection of ghost stories. When it says on the cover "Ghost Stories" you expect there to be some form of ghost in every story.

Oh well... I'm only joking... I enjoyed all of the stories in the collection. I absorb stories like cake or toast energy going into the bloodstream... stories are like food and if I don't have enough then I starve... that was  what I was trying to say.

Over and Out.
ED.

I Suppose You Can Call It It One Of My Hobbies...

For about two Sundays now my family (my brother and two sisters) have been gathering with various other associates to go to the local pub quiz at The White Horse pub.
Our first go we came third and gained a £5 bar tab... which was meant to be shared by six people. The second go, to make sure that everything was fair, everyone donated money and put it into a kitty (as in money kitty... sick) and put the bar tab into that  so that nobody knows who has used the £5 bar tab... and with the money left over we can use to enter the quiz next time.
...And our second time we had a go at the pub quiz and came forth as fourth... out of many, many other teams. Also through the use of the bar tab we technically need a treasurer or something now to handle the left over money.
Pub quiz... aww yeah!

... and we are trying to get more people into the team... the more the merrier.

For the last two times we have been calling ourselves Quizzy Rascal but other options for names are...

• The Birstall Crew. 
• Universally Challenged (yes I did take that from The original Office tv series).
• Wikipedia Appreciation Team. 
• The Devil Wears Pub Quiz.

More names!


It was highlighted a few days ago that whenever I put a swear word on my blog, I put the star symbol over some letters. I was asked why I did this and I realised to my horror that I didn't really know. Personally I think that swearing is needed and is a wonderful part of language. I would feel weird if I was told that I could never swear again. In fact I think that swearing is fantastic and I do it all the time.
I suppose it's due to the fact that there might be an off chance that an old person might be reading it or something... and I've always felt guilty about swearing in front of old people.
It's the same reason that some novels from back in the day wouldn't put a date down in their story. They would go 18- and leave the rest to the imagination of the reader.
If anyone happens to see me around the place I'll swear then... I'll swear like a fu***** raving bas**** if the situation wishes it. But I only swear when there is  purpose for doing so... I don't want people to think I'm effing and blinding all the time... just the same amount as any other person.

Pub Quiz!


Over and Out.
ED.

Imagination (2). A Weird Occurence.

"Those who spend the greater part of their time in reading or writing books are, of course, apt to take rather particular notice of accumulations of books when they come across them. They will not pass a stall, a shop, or even a bedroom- shelf without reading some title, and if they find themselves in an unfamiliar library, no host need trouble himself further in their entertainment."
A Neigbour's Landmark by M.R James.


"Welcome to InputOutput, the show that brings you live music in a new and exciting way... sort of like the infusion of influx of sound and voice where the band show yourselves what kind of apple juice you can find in your next soup presentation."
Rich Fulcher. 


Here is a funny and bizarre thing that happened to me recently... and I found it so ridiculous that I thought I would write on my blog about it.

I was sitting down on a seat as a person nearby that I know sat on the next seat watching rugby on the television in front of them.


"Are you actually reading that book?" they asked.


(Oooooookaaaayyy then...)


"Yes." I replied.


"... But you aren't turning the pages" they said.


"That's because I'm reading the pages."


A minute or so passed and then they blurted out in sincere and heartfelt disgust. "It all looks so dull. It's worrying."


For the initiated readers (which is hopefully most people) reading is a fantastic thing that makes a lot of things possible. What is so dull about the imagination?

What a funny comment (or two) to make about reading... imagination is there for a reason you know.

Over and Out.
ED.

My (Supposedly) Innate Views About The Imagination.

This is mainly a riffing of thoughts that I sometimes do...

...Here I Go...

I think the imagination is one of the greatest things that exist. It's amazing... and what makes it more amazing is that it is always there and is a part of you all the time.
Recently I was contemplating to myself about the imagination and I came across a revelation that has been with me for a very long time but I had never brought it to the forefront of my consciousness. This was the revelation...

I have always seemed to innately think that human beings don't have separate imaginations. I have always seemed to assume that all humanity's imaginations are somehow connected together
or
all humanity is somehow connected to this one massive thing that we choose to call Imagination and when we are using our minds we are looking or using this one massive world of the imagination that we are all a part of. So when we see or experience the imagination, we are looking into the same world. So I have always been under the assumption that everyone's imaginations are not separate but connected and part of the same thing, world or substance.


Maybe people feel that same about this as well. That is quite a funny revelation that I came upon during my contemplation while I walked. Some might scoff by what I'm saying but why should the world of the imagination be less real than the world that we call reality? I mean people spend time in both of these worlds don't they?

I also think that just because things are in the imagination, that doesn't mean that they are not real. For example, all of the characters, people, places and so forth that you see through your imagination are just as real as what you see through your eyes. Some might even argue that what you see through your imagination is more real that what you see in the 'real' world.

If someone imagines a bookshelf with many books on it, nicely carved and varnished they may think,
"Wow, that table looks so amazing. I want that in my sitting room."
So what they do is that they get wood and the necessary instruments and they make it. They then look at what they have made and think,
"I now have it."
So what have they done? They seem to have pulled that 'real' bookcase that they see in their imagination and they made it manifest into this physical, material world. This is what humans have been doing for centuries. They have been taking objects or ideas from their imagination and made them manifest in our world. So when you look around at everything then all of these things have their origins in their world of the imagination that humanity has tapped into. Many things around you are gifts from the imagination and the world of ideas that we tap in to all the time.

Stuff like books and all sorts of culture are all gateways.

I'll probably stop here.

Take what you want from this. Perhaps what I have said is blatantly obvious to some people

Over and Out.
ED.

What made me laugh a year ago.

Today I reminded myself how much I made myself laugh while I was working on my degree nearly a year ago while sometimes being shamelessly hyped up on Relentless.

My good mate Kiran is in the position that I was in a year ago with being part of the university, working to achieve shizz, that knackering situation that many people go through (while having fun as they are doing it of course... this post is about one of the simple ways I did so).
Yesterday I picked up the phone to his voice asking me whether he could come round so I could give him the what's what about work. I was all too happy to enforce the principles of brotherhood/sisterhood so I was absolutely for obliging his request. He stayed for a few hours, I drank tea... he drank Lemsip and we talked about work and life plans for a few hours round the table (and chairs... we actually weren't around the chairs... aww yeahh!)
Before he left the house he asked whether I was alright to email my process analysis essay for one of my modules in order to help him. I said yes and we parted ways...

Now on to today I sent over my work through email while I was free from toil, which forced me to look at the work that was stored on my computer... and hence I was reminded about how I made myself laugh while I worked last year.

There were times in which I felt working was dry and tedious so I used to amuse myself while I was working through the use of inappropriate swear words... and this method works if you want to spice up your work time.  Firstly when I was saving work I would save it as,

Ed's F*CKING AMAZING short stories portfolio. 

or

This is my b*starding essay for Focus 3.


I would then go onto my hotmail account and email myself with all my work on attachment. Due to saving working through email attachment, I was given the opportunity to email myself... so I just wrote swear words and funny messages such as...

Hi Ed,


Here your ************* work.


Go eat some food and do your s*dding washing up yeah.


Yours sincerely 
Ed.


...But what my past self didn't know was that I had already done the washing up.

I also used to read my work out to myself in funny voices while I was by myself sometimes (never when I was in the library working of course)... usually under the veil of a delirium caused by exhaustion or boredom.

In other news I have watched The Avengers. In this you have it all. You have,

• The Patriotic character... the type you imagine says "Hey kiddo" quite a lot to people. (Captain America).
• The smart- arse Jekyll and Hyde 'Monster' character (The Hulk and Bruce Banner).
• The gun wielding eye candy. (Black Widow).
• The cool gadget guy that might like Black Sabbath and dances the robot (Iron Man).
• Some random guy with a crossbow (Hawkeye)
• A badass with an eye patch (Nick Fury).
• A God (Thor).
• A suave villain (Loki)

... and the rest. Quite brilliant. Good fun mixed with modern legends. 

And lastly I have hardly been reading anything apart from short stories for the past few years but now I am happily going back into novel (not funny) territory properly with 'To Kill A Mockingbird'... ooh la la.

Respect and all that.

Over and Out.

ED.

It Doesn't Affect Anyone So Give 'Em Gay Marriage. If They Want.

I wrote this because I believe that people have rights that go beyond some religious views... I emphasize that I said views... not truths...mere views.

Also I would like to think that people find it important to stand up for other peoples rights out of decency really. We all have the right to some rights.  So here I go I suppose.

I was inspired to write this post because of an article (see link at the end of this post) and a conversation I had.

I shall start by saying the obvious... gay people all around the world are born gay. If you tell a gay person to stop being gay you may as well also tell them to take off their own head and play catch with it.

I shall also put forth my view that I am  FOR gay people getting married if they want to do so. It isn't even an issue in my eyes. I see no problem whatsoever, in fact I think it is a natural step for society to take.

I am now going to talk about...(gasp)... religion. I believe that many religious people nowadays don't disagree with gay marriage because of what they think marriage is about plus the desire to keep their religion how it is... and these people are not necessarily homophobic at all.

I was talking today to an (unnamed) person who happened to be Catholic (my family happen to be Catholic so I'm not having a go at something I know nothing about). This was partly the inspiration for me writing about the issue on this post. This is a basic version of how the conversation went.

Ed: What do you think of gay marriage?


U: I don't think there should be gay marriage... I have nothing against gay people but I don't believe they should be allowed to marry in a church.


Ed: Why?


U: It takes away the whole point of marriage.


Ed: What do you think the point of marriage is?


U: One of the main points of marriage is to make a promise between a man and a woman that they will stay together so that they may be able to have children and create a family. Gay people can't reproduce, so they go against one of the main points of marriage.

Ed: But what about straight couples that get married in a church but decide that they don't want kids?


U: But they are capable of having kids.


Ed: Don't you think that everyone has a right to make that special promise to someone, no matter what their gender.


U: Well yes, gay people can do that... it's called civil partnership.


Ed: But what if they believe in God and they want to make that promise in front of their God in a church.


U: Well that goes against the teachings of the church.


Ed: Really? Jesus didn't say anything at all about homosexuals.


U: Yeah but gay marriage goes against the traditional teachings of the church.


Ed: If your God disagrees with gays then why did he make them in the first place then? Would he not think it was fine for a gay couple to make a marriage promise, to love and cherish each other. I thought you believed that God was loving and would want to promote love.


U: Yeah but it goes against church teachings.

... and so on.

The main reasons (in Britain anyway) that people are against gay marriage is because,
(1.) They have a different definition of what marriage is and what it is meant for.
(2.) The teachings of Christianity go against gay marriage... and they don't want to change those teachings.
(3.) They don't like change that they might see as being too radical.
(4.) Welll *cough* well yes I suppose they might actually just homophobic... but not always.

So they are not homophobic, they might just think that marriage is for straight people. Maybe there are some out there that are afraid of it all happening too quickly; some might want things to change more gradually (in some way), not all at once... which is fair enough I suppose... who am I to condemn that?

So I suppose if gay rights activists wish gay marriage to come about they need to make some people change their mind about the definition of marriage. There are some that are not for change just because they don't like it... so I suppose these people need to be somehow lured out of their comfort zone so they might be able to see things differently... if they don't want to see things differently then that is their choice and again... I suppose, again, who am I to condemn that?... because others might be willing to step outside of their comfort zone and see things differently.

Gay marriage isn't a threat to anyone... it's just a 'thing'.

Other people getting married to the same gender doesn't affect my life... it affects theirs. Why should it bother me or anyone else?

Let the gay babies have their bottle if they want it.

If you disagree with me for 'reasonable' reasons that is fine... freedom and all that... but I disagree.

Peace Out, whether you be gay, straight, bi... or Jeremy Clarkson.

Hail Diversity. Respect.

Over and Out.
ED.

Here is the link to the article I read.
http://www.newstatesman.com/religion/2012/04/scruffies-against-straights

• P.S- I (mostly) don't like to hold political views like this on my blog all the time. Also don't assume just because the article is from New Statesman that I'm left... I could be right or indeed centre... oi read all sorts of publications oi do.

Meat Is The Cause of Overpopulation Plus A Recollection of My First Recorded Nightmare.

"I'll tell you a plan for gaining wealth,
Better than banking trade or leases- 
Take a bank note and fold it up-
And then you will find you're money in creases!
From 'Epigram for Wall Street' by Edgar Allan Poe. 


I was reading the newspaper today and I read the headline,

EATING MEAT WAS THE KEY TO EXPANDING HUMAN RACE.

I was willing to accept that idea. It said that meat helped humanity to have more children because it made weaning come more early. The article made it sound like eating meat was the only reason that caused humanity to grow and get to where it is now. Surely there are the other factors that we can put into consideration. I mean thousands of years ago we were in danger of being wiped out and there were two human species, Neanderthals and us lot. If the climate and weather conditions didn't change then things might have been much more different.
Anyway if any politicians are complaining about there being too much people on the planet they should not introduce some sort of family planning thing... they should just tell people to go veggie.

A few nights ago I had my first ever nightmare. It was the first nightmare that I think I have ever remembered and it was about time.
I was running in a shadowy hallyway (not necessarily from something) and I ran into the lift that was at the end of the hall. I pressed the button for the lift to move and I realised that there was very little room in the lift because both my arms were touching both opposite sides of the lift. I began to fall and I remember clearly that I was anticipating what was going to happen when I hit the bottom. Just as I hit the bottom I raised my legs...
... then I woke up with a shudder (the type of shudder you sometimes get when you think you are falling while you are getting off to sleep). 

When I woke up I was genuinely grateful to be alive... I'm looking forward to another nightmare to be honest if my subconscious allows it.

Over and Out.
ED.

Haydock Horse Racing.

This is not an event that I have ever been to before.

On Saturday I went to the horse races at Haydock Park. I had never ever gone horse racing before so it was a unique experience.

My mates Munchy and Dave were there (this whole day was thanks to Munch who brought us along because at the Haydock races because he had a family gathering there every year and I was lucky enough to be invited).

Before the races we sat down and had a three course meal. For my starter I had a cube of haddock with salad leaves of some name that I don't know. For the main course I had salmon with some sort of bean sauce underneath it. Lastly for pudding I had a cheesecake with half a strawberry and some nice looking sauce sprinkled on top... and I couldn't tell you about the fancy names for each of the dishes but they were very good.

After the meal it was about time in which the racing started. My first bet that I made was on the second race and the horse was called Tiger O'Toole and was the second horse... and from this bet I won about £7. 50 for the £5 that I had bet for the horse. Dave being a lucky person placed a bet in the first race and his horse came first... which meant that he won about £80!

I don't know if there is a technical term for it but we were able to sit in a 'box'.

 We saw the horses strutting up and down after each race by the parade area which I bet the horses were annoyed (I assume) because by that time they would have been absolutely knackered... they seemed happy enough.
I wonder if the horses are aware that they are taking part in a race or whether they just think it is normal to be told to run fast by their trainers.

The day was really good, an enjoyable new experience. I just need to have better luck betting and have more knowledge about horses and the whole racing game so I can have a good chance at winning...

I would like to show my appreciation to Tiger O'Toole for the £7.50 I won.

Over and Out.
ED.

Everyone Needs Comic Books In Their Life If They Have Any Passion For Literature (A Post For The Uninitiated Or Reluctant).

I am writing this post in an attempt to try to get people who have never tried comics before to start reading comic books or at least attempt to... take what you want from this post. I was inspired to write this because of the lack of people that read comics in my general part of the world... and I haven't got anyone to talk to about about comics at the moment... plus I want to talk about comics anyway... cus I like 'em.

Those who read comics need not read past this sentence (instead you can go and read some comics).

I was sorting my bookcase out recently and while I was I got distracted by looking through my shelf and a half of comics and manga that I have stored with the rest of my 'regular' books.

I am a great comic books fan. I have been reading them off and on for the last few years but have really got into them in the last three. If you are aware of the whole comic book thing out there then you are aware of the many universes that are part of comic books. A few of the stories that I have been reading for a bit are,

• Batman (various story arcs).
• 30 Days of Night.
• Mice Templar.
• The Five Issue series retelling the Dracula novel.
• 2000 AD Programmes and Judge Dredd Magazine... in which my favorite strips are Defoe, The Ten Seconders and Strontium Dog.
• Marvel Zombies.
• Spiderman.
• Iron Man. 
• League of Extraordinary Gentleman: Century.
• 20th Century Boys (Manga).

As of not long ago my nearest newsagents have been stocking various Marvel publications so my interest in comics has resurfaced to regular reading. Many of the characters I like to read about have been having their continuing stories told for nearer to one hundred years now and are still living... even though some have died and been resurrected. The comic universes that exist are very much alive with real characters, in continual motion through the stories of all the many characters that you find on the shelf in various stores all over the place... you can only get real ever moving fictional universes with comic books nowadays. Brilliant stuff.

Comic books can present stories so well and can be more effective than stories being written down. An example of this is Chapter 4 of the Watchmen graphic novel (which basically means a comic that is longer than a small comic issue. A graphic novel is usually collected issues of a whole story arc... info for the uninitiated). In this chapter the character of Dr Manhattan has transported himself to Mars. He is basically a naked blue man that is a godlike character. Watchmen was written in the eighties so the story surrounds the war with the Soviets and the threat of nuclear war. Dr Manhattan has the ability to save humanity but he slowly feels a growing indifference. The whole chapter is about Dr Manhatten contemplating about the universe, how he became who he was, humanity and the thing that started the universe. Dr Manhattan sees the passing of time differently (which is represented in the panels of the story) and can see what will happen and what has happened at the same time... which raises the question of whether we are just puppets without choice. I don't think that chapter could have been properly done if it wasn't in comic book form.

The prevailing thought I think is that so called 'normal' books are of a higher caliber than the visual storytelling of comics... when the only difference is that one uses artwork and words and the other just uses words. While a comic book story is being read you can see clues to what might happen in the future of the story in the artwork and a sense of the character through use of the artwork among other things... even the way that the artwork is drawn can set the tone for the story. 

Comic books are also continous. You can get an issue once every week or month and as you do you see how the characters solve a problem or deal with a situation. Here is a good quote,

"Once the reader immerses himself or herself, the ambiance changes. He or she is thrust into an unknown situation... The plot thickens and the hero is cast in circumstances that demand a resolution. The confrontation ensues and against seemingly impossible odds, the hero finds an answer in an unlikely place or person. Once the comic book is finished being read, very little time had elapsed."

You can identify with the characters as they try to find resolution and since many comics are continual it is as if you are going along with the lives of your favourite characters... and through this imaginative activity you can use what you have learnt through the storytelling in your life. Many of these characters have been developed and written by many people over the years so they truly are everyone's characters... and they will live on in literature long after the originator has gone.

If you want to see the original comics then just look on walls of ancient temples or in burial chambers of ancient pharaohs. 

Also if you enjoy art it is excellent because you get to know about the artists just as much as the writers in the comics field. 

There are many, many genres and varieties of comics, you just need to take your pick. You will definitely find something to suit you... and then you can recommend what you have found and we can both talk about it together.

If nothing else it is a form of cheap entertainment for one little issue.

Over and Out.

ED.

P.S- I have started to write my very own comic books script for the first time in my life.

In The Garden... Nought But Dust (I'm Tidying My Room As I Write This).

Below me are two pictures. Each of these pictures are different in some way.

Picture 1.

Picture 2.

The grass is not as tall as the other (picture 2 is the less tall grass one)... I probably should have made you guess but you may have just read on until you got the answer anyway.
I have been doing gardening recently (the pictures are from me gardening at my own house because... might as well) and I have not realised how beneficial to my inner world mowing the lawn is. As you mow the lawn you are basically forced to think... unless you're listening to music but then again you are usually thinking while you are listening to the music anyway. It is through my last few gardening jobs at the moment that have given me a compulsion to think a lot more than I already had been doing... which basically means that right now I am nothing more than a consciousness contemplating about everything.
As I was mowing the lawn today one of my thoughts was (not said in the way I shall present it to have been said but just as a thought... it was more of a lingering feeling if anything),

Ah mowing the lawn... I am taming the wilderness that has existed for millions of years before humanity. When humanity has gone this nature shall smash human civilisation and make the world it's dominion once again... Humans are nought but dust I tell ya!


You know by that description of the type of thoughts I was having... those vaguely profound ones in which you think about obvious subjects with obvious viewpoints but you are thinking about them because you are doing something that vaguely involves them at the time of your thinking those thoughts. It is similar to the thought that usually pops into my head when I am at the seaside,

Ah the sea... mother of creation. You can create and you destroy, raging and calm, like the gods of ancient myths. Your mystery knows know bounds. What does all this mean? Humans are nought but dust I tell ya!


or the thought that I have when I'm eating a sandwich.

Ah sandwich... quencher of hunger. You were made by humans hands... hands that are nought but dust...


As you can see there were some nice daffodils at the furthest lawn. I had to cut them down and mow over them... but fear not because they are now relaxing in a pot with their other mates.

Apart from gardening I have been reading, writing and winning four or so solitaire games this week and smelling the sweet smell of grass... amazing.

... I'm doing more gardening over the next few days as well. More contemplating for ole Ed.

Over and Out.
ED.

Advice For Writers.

Yes I know he is mainly a comic book writer but writing is writing. All writers will find this beneficial.

Alan Moore... wonderful man.

Over and Out.
ED.

Card Games and How I Get To Know My Characters... Chords Make Me All Fuzzy Inside.

I have a new goal that I am starting next week. I was out doing errands last Thursday and I forgot to take my keys so I couldn't get back into the house for a bit. I decided to ramble around for a bit and happened to go into a shop called 'Crazy Prices'. After browsing for about a minute or two I bought two packs of cards for £1 which in turn has inspired my goal that I have set for this week. My goal is to learn one card game each day a week during my spare time. It won't take too long to learn a card game... so by the end of the week I will know seven more games that will be in my head.

I think that one of the hardest parts of creating characters for stories is the supposedly simple task of naming them. Some of the names that I have given to some of old characters in old stories that I have done are as follows,

• John Watkins.
• Oliver Fendel.
• Howard Walters.
• Lucy Roch.

I have always found it easier to name women characters and I'm not entirely sure why. Women's names just sound nice to my ears. I seem to be writing women that look like nymphs or nature spirits and work at markets.

As for men I've been writing male characters that are academic but have anti hero qualities about them. I also like writing about male characters that have gone mad... or have 'supposedly' gone mad.

At the moment I also like writing about characters you might find if you went to a really dingy low life pub. Just imagine going into a really bad pub Here is what I mean. Imagine this...

You see that the walls are peeling and you hear mournful blues music being played as you enter the pub... there are few people around but as you buy a drink you look and see a figure in a dark corner just sitting there alone, nursing a drink and in deep contemplation.


The shadowy character I have just described are the type of characters I like to write at the moment. What happened in their life?... I want to find out by writing about them. Brilliant stuff. I love fallen or downtrodden characters.

Yesterday I was visited by me 'ole mate Kiran. We both tend to have the same tastes and views about things. The main things we do is talk about music we have bought recently, the stuff we have learnt on guitar since our last meeting, what is happening in our life and stupid people in politics that won't calm the 'eff down and get a grip.

After our talking for a bit we went off into the sunny day and sat in the garden at The White Horse by the canal and talked some more with a coke and a half cider.

... And it's a great day right now. Why am I inside writing this? I'm taking everything outside now.

And as I promised myself the first card game that I shall be learning today shall be Four Card Golf... one down, six to go.

Over and Out.
ED.  

P.S--- The picture was done by Munchy (looks at previous posts), taken ages ago and 'developed' by him.