Grand Designs!

 

I wanted to recommend two artists whose work now features prominently in my house which I’ve recently been having redecorated room by room. One of the aspects I really wanted to freshen up were the wall hanging pictures. Previously there was an assortment of various images of different vintages whereas I wanted to have something more in line with the new furnishings. And that’s how I found two artists whose work I think is excellent and wanted to do a little to promote it in case you, too, were pondering over what art to put on your walls.

Science Fiction Monthly (1974-76)

 The Seventies was the golden age of monthly and weekly magazines which crowded the shelves of WH Smiths and John Menzies as well as local newsagents. One of the most visually memorable was Science Fiction Monthly. Due to being tabloid size (sixteen inches by eleven inches), like the weekly music magazines, rather than the conventional magazine size it stood out already. Yet what really made it dazzle were the covers. Gloriously colourful and evocative works depicting strange aliens, unusual planets, asymmetrical spaceships and much more were ideal images to stick on your bedroom wall! Which actually was the point!

Who is TG Jones?

 

The most lowkey takeover in recent retail history

 It may have taken a while for people to notice but a significant though unobtrusive change has been occurring throughout high streets in the UK. A familiar store remains open but look up and its name has changed. WH Smith is now TG Jones. You’d be forgiven for not noticing. The blue and white colour scheme of the sign remains the same, the stores untouched by any makeover. Yet those signs have been quietly changed- I don’t know when, I’ve yet to see it actually happening – in recent weeks. You’ll still find WH Smiths in airports and railway stations because the brand has been split in two, the high street shops sold off. It’s the end of an era though in other ways a return to how things started.

 

Canary Wharf Winter Lights 2025 photo post

Here's some pictures I took at this year's Canary Wharf Winter Lights. There's more on my Instagram page including video clips. Unfortunately its not possible to add film to Blogger any more.

Roll With It

 Bands always reunite!

This week’s announcement that Oasis are reforming for concerts next year came as a surprise to hardly anyone, not just because it’s been rumoured for months but because bands always reform in the end. As long as the members (or most of them) are still with us and  playing or performing they cannot resist.  There can be different reasons but there must come a point when they tire of the procrastination and think “Yeah, lets get ourselves to the O2 Arena asap”. Even bands who unequivocally rule it out end up coming around. At least Eagles – who had once stated they would reform “when hell freezes over”- had the wit to dub their comeback tour `Hell Freezes Over”!

 

Oasis looking delighted to be back together

Happy Twenty Ninth!

 

Are you a leapling? Tomorrow is 29th February – that date that only comes round every four years because of temporal oddities. As people ascribe superstition to anything a bit out of the ordinary there are a lot of Leap year traditions many of which relate to the old fashioned concept that only on this day a woman can propose to a man. In ye olden times only a man could propose marriage so women had to wait till 29 Feb to do so. Nowadays of course a woman can propose on any date of the year if she chooses and people don’t accuse her of breaking the laws of the land nor does she change into a turnip. So where does all this nonsense come from? The answer it seems involves an unlikely mash up of the Moon, Julius Caesar and St Patrick.

 

Canary Wharf Winter Lights 2024

 Some photos and videos I took at the Canary Wharf Winter Light event this week in London!

What's with all the Nutcracker Soldiers?

 

These Xmas decorations are everywhere this year- but why?

 The thing I’ve noticed about 2023’s Xmas decorations is the ubiquitous presence of toy soldiers. Or to give them their correct name Nutcracker Soldiers. They’ve always been about but recently there seem to have been more and more of them till 2023 has seen an explosion. They are everywhere!  Every shop selling decorations has had a lot of them.  Why they have suddenly proliferated this year is something of a festive mystery but they are available in all sizes from several feet tall to small models. Over the past couple of months they’ve rivalled Xmas trees in availability and the other day I saw a full size one standing guard in the porch of a house. What is going on?

 

Why don't more people use an umbrella?

 Once upon a time most people used an umbrella. People took them along if they went out just in case of  a shower. Anyone who worked in an office would often carry a lengthy one – the image of bowler hatted gents striding along with an umbrella even on a sunny day- is an enduring one. It is after all one of the uncontradictable facts that it’s frequently raining in Britain whatever the time of year and when that happens British people used to do one thing. They would produce an umbrella from their pocket or bag or they’d just be carrying one. The high street was packed with umbrellas jostling for position as they are inevitably wider than the average person. The etiquette was that you would get out of the way for every other person and they would reciprocate. Now though if it starts to pour umbrellas are rarely to be seen even if it’s the middle of winter. Even if it’s not windy. So is the humble umbrella disappearing into extinction and if so why, what can be done or indeed if anything does need to be done?

 

Liverpool River of Light 2023 Pix

 This week is the annual River of Light festival with displays dotted around the River Mersey waterfront and here's some pictures and videos from the event...

My Latest Book...

 

Aintnoway. I’ve somehow managed to write another novel. I know it is of limited interest to most people who view this blog as its aimed at the so called young adult market but other people might like it. And if you know any young adults who like to read. Anyway its taken about a year which considering what sort of a year I’ve had is really surprising. Then again while writing may tap into your own life but it can also provide a refuge from the worst parts of it. It’s a book about grief, loss, loneliness, giant swordfish, the Moon and a three hundred and twenty year old Cardinal. This is the cover created from my concept by the talented Glendon Haddix of Streetlight Graphics, an image which I hope the target audience would describe as “fire”.

 

Available on Amazon in print and Kindle ebook format  HERE

Brighton pix

 I went to Brighton for a few days last week and here's some pictures. Yes, I've been too busy to write anything since. And Brighton's great.

Hanging out on Olympus...Photo post

 

Checking out the Return of the Gods exhibition @Liverpool World Museum 

Before I was old enough to read science fiction novels, the stories that fascinated me were those of the old Greek and Roman Gods. I had no real context as to how they came to be created or what they symbolised because there are two aspects. One is about what they represented for the people who worshipped them. The other- the one that captivated me as a child- is that of the myths themselves. The thunderbolts, the turning to stone, the ordeals, familial rivalries and all the other behaviour. Looking back it was really like a soap opera, indeed I am sure some soaps have filched storylines from the tales of the Gods. Course I was too young and naïve to fully understand what was going on but, you know, it’s all fairly sordid for beings considered as Gods. I imagine this is because when creating religious myths societies do so within the confines of what they know. So, I was interested to visit this exhibition at Liverpool’s World Museum which opened in April. Most of the exhibits date back to the time when people believed in the Gods and were originally collected by the eighteenth century antiquarian Henry Blundell of Sefton. Its rare for so many of them to be collected in one place so the display is well worth a visit if you’re in the area. It runs at Liverpool World museum till 25 February 2024.

Netflix & the reality of modern television

 

It is often been said that there is more quality television drama than ever before now we have so many platforms on which to see it. By that measure its not too surprising to find there are more dramas cancelled than ever before. You see it happen often, a well liked or indeed beloved series is axed provoking a storm of protest, talk of petitions, boycotts and much else. Occasionally fan pressure has worked and brought back a show on another platform but generally this noise, however loud, is like shouting into the wind. What the platforms know is that people who engage in such an outcry are a small but noisy coterie and also that people do get over the cancellation of a television show however much of a shock it may be at that time. 

N for Netflix or for No?

London photo post

Some photos I took on recent trips to London last October and this month posted for no particular reason!

Ticked off

 

Has Twitter had its day?

 You may think that the current fuss about charging people for Twitter’s `blue tick` is a storm in a teacup but it is about fundamentally more than just the symbol. A symbol which by the way is a WHITE TICK on a blue background. The point is that by turning it from something that identifies authenticity into a symbol of status the nature of the site will alter. It is setting a way forward for dividing users into two types- leaders and followers because unless you have one of these symbols (which will cost you money) your Tweets will not be seen by anywhere near as many followers reducing you to second class status. And when so many people have the white tick that it becomes almost meaningless, Twitter will invent a green tick or something for which you pay even more for super duper status. It's been a nut nobody has cracked till now but welcome to the monetisation of social media.

 

Liverpool River of Light 2022

 Each year, Liverpool hosts the River of Light event in which ten works are displayed around the area near to the Mersey bringing art into the public domain. These are free, some of them interactive and you can wander around them in any order. The 2022 event opened on 21 October and runs till 6 November with displays switched on from around 5.30 till 9.00pm. Here's some photos and video clips from the various displays...

Sea Life Centre London Aquarium Photo and Video Special!

 If you find yourself in London, then I'd highly recommend the Sea Life Centre London Aquarium as an interesting place for people of all ages. The place is so well presented, really atmospheric lighting with mood music and different environments recreated. The assorted fish and sea creatures are fantastic. It takes about an hour and a half to two hours to go round. As you can hear from the clips it can be a bit noisy but that's all part of the atmosphere. Here's some photos and footage from my own visit there on Friday. Exhibits and penguin behaviour can vary!

The Queen's Funeral

 

Pomp meets circumstance

We're watching and making history all the time of course, in small ways, and sometimes bigger ones. These past six years we’ve been privy to rather more history than most people get what with Brexit, Covid and a seemingly endless cycle of recessions. So, the death of a Queen, however long lived, may appear to be a smaller affair. Not a bit of it. Even the television coverage of Covid did stop sometimes for other matters but ever since Queen Elizabeth the second passed away BBC and ITV have had virtually non stop Royal programming. If you really wanted to you could even watch a live stream of the lying in state of the coffin, surely of all things this is something that if you wanted to see it the preference would be to actually attend? The big day though was today. Why is it even in this blog, you're asking? Simply because it is the largest event any of us are likely to see this year.

The Queen

 

People are often cruel, judgmental or dismissive about the Royal Family in a way that they would never be about anyone else almost as if they didn’t think they are people. I’m not a Royalist nor anti- Royals it but the Queen has been a presence throughout my entire life in such a way that I feel like I know her even though I obviously don’t. Yes, I can smile at the number of times in the past twenty four hours the BBC has deployed their stock phrases (“mother of the nation”) in sombre tones and the way websites have unveiled their black livery but I do feel this all misses the sense of fun that the Queen herself preferred. After all, one of the last pieces of footage we have of her is tapping along on a teacup to `We Will Rock You`, the Queen playing along with Queen! Or the way she gamely engaged in a little James Bond fun a decade back for the Olympics. I reckon she’d prefer to be remembered like that.