A few brief notes about tea, conversations, books and sometimes cats
At university I read an interview with a writer who had worked on Ultra Violet, a vampire series set in the UK. In this interview he scoffed at the idea of the ‘good vampire’ and this got me thinking about the role of the bad and good characters in fiction. In real life nobody is …
Continue reading ““What can men do against such reckless hate?” The need for evil in drama.”
The Starwars universe is a mixed bag for me. It was the first science fiction I was introduced to since I saw Return of the Jedi in the cinema in Northwich. I couldn’t understand what was going on, I couldn’t read the subtitles and but I was overwhelming impressed by the Empire. The next day …
Art appreciation is a skill that I am very proud of and whilst I am a disappointment on the creative side I have strong ideas about what makes good art and what makes bad art. Good art in my opinion requires something to say and the ability to say it. Bad art at worst doesn’t …
Continue reading “Tolkien Art – Representation and Interpretation”
Despite being the venerable age of forty six I regularly work with children and the teachers who herd them. Most of these teachers with born in the 1990s, some in this century and have little to no conception of the world before computers. I was born in 1978 and the computer was a magical mystical …
Continue reading “I was brought up in the pre-computer age… when pen and paper ruled the world.”
We are very blessed in the 21st century West to have so much free time that we can ask what our FAVOURITE hobby or pastime it. I think of my Grandparents who got to work early, worked, returned home and then went out again to study at the local college. In my own world I …
Coventry is blessed with having three Cathedrals. The first was dissolved by Henry VIII and the second was destroyed during the war. The third is a huge modernist structure connected to the second and running over the site of the first. The cathedral is a very brave innovation drawing on modern architecture, glass and concrete …
Dashing Blades is the premier barbershop in the West Midlands, I will restrict myself to the West Midlands. It is situated in Fargo Village in Coventry and is part of the ‘hip’ vibe that is the KSI. This week it celebrates its tenth anniversary and is a remarkable success story. I must confess and conflict …
Ever since 1990 I have been an avid fan of Warhammer 40k. I was entranced by the models and by the art. As a student I struggled to read but I lapped up Warhammer lore. It was life changing and even sublime. I remember it very clearly, the first time I owned a Space Marine …
When Bilbo Baggins left Hobbiton for the second time after his birthday party he left presents. One of the presents was a waste paper bin for his aunt who had written him reams of advice for decades. Advice in Tolkiens world is a dangerous thing not to be given or taken lightly. Frodo says “do …
During an assembly at school one of the teachers played the “Coming of the Martians” as we came in and I was hooked. I had never heard anything like it because my parents were not fans of music. I got a copy and listened to the whole thing that night with my bemused Grandmother. In …