Geoffrey Palmer in the News

Hey, I've just realised, the Jubilee Line at the end of my garden spoils my view of Shoot-up-Hill, a Roman road, no less. I shall immediately write to the actor/campaigner Geoffrey Palmer to mount a protest and have the blasted tracks removed. He can bring some some of his nice middle class friends and their kids too. Kilburn Station is such a dashed eyesore!

Brian's Novel

Stewie on Brian's novel; Bloody Murdochs gang at Fox have removed the excerpt. I should have known better than to have anything to do with his sh*t.

Boycott everything that he owns.

The Writer's Journey by Christopher Vogler

This book seems a bit light after Roland Barthes essay, Structural Analysis of Narratives. The Writer's Journey is California dreamin...

Bought a tiny Samsung laser printer. It just purrs obediently and efficiently like the black cat I don't have. Far superior to my clackety Epson inkjet '3 in 1'.

'Troubles' by JG Farrell - winner of the 'Lost Booker'

This book was a revelation to me. I swiftly became immersed in 1919-21 Ireland. Action is centred on the fictive Majestic Hotel in County Wexford as the country is on the verge of civil war. The run-down establishment is emblematic of the last days of British rule. Owned and managed by an eccentric unionist, the hotel caters for guests that are largely of that political hue, though there are a few notable exceptions. The Majestic is an enclave of the ascendancy. A siege mentality develops amongst the elderly guests. Life here is viewed through the prism of a young, liberal major just returned from the Great War and casually planning to marry the proprietor's daughter. His plans are thwarted by fate. One of many scenes that intrigued me was when a group of Oxford undergraduates stayed at the hotel. (Farrell himself attended Brasenose College, Oxford).  The proprietor, Edward Spencer expects them to support his bigoted, racist views of the native Irish. The visitors, despite their establishment backgrounds, empathise with the indigenous population's wish to break free of the colonial power. Spencer is livid.

The book was awarded the 1970 Man Booker prize in May 2010 - to make good the oversight of not awarding the prize that year - something to do with a mix-up in qualification dates. Anyway, unlike most Booker awards, the decision of the judges - in this case, the reading public - was overwhelming. It is clear to see why. It is very funny, quirky, sad, wise, and yet analogous of the troubled Ireland of the Nineteen-Seventies, when the story was written. I devoured the last 250 pages in one sitting. Sadly the author, JG Farrell drowned in 1979 in a Cork fishing accident. He had a reputation for being something of a curmudgeon on colonialism and capitalism. But for all that, the text never preaches and is concerned above all with the intrinsic humanity of its characters. 'Troubles' is part of Farrell's 'Empire Trilogy", the rest of which I cannot wait to savour.

Resurgence of literary avant-garde.

The avant-garde writer and critic, Tom McCarthy tells James Purdon of The Observer why his new novel, C, acts as a bridge between the future and the past Resurgence of literary avant-garde against the recent popularity of realism.

The realist novel 'Netherland'referred to in the article is, in my opinion, interminably long-winded and frankly, it doesn't help that this reader is no fan of cricket. George Bernard Shaw said "The English are not very spiritual people, so they invented cricket to give them some idea of eternity". The author, O'Neill - another Irishman - supplers a further infinity metaphor in the pacing of 'Netherland'.

Zac Goldsmith

What a gentleman! I think this interview says it all.

Come on Ghana!

Heading down to the local pub with friend and two of her grandchildren to support Ghana in the World Cup. Pity they don't have Michael Essien, who's injured. Their opponents, USA have been impressive. Hope the little girls don't get too bored. Now where did I leave my kente gear?

I upgraded the iPhone for the new software. Fine. Then I decided to use the new folder facility. Now the bloody thing makes the most horrendous squawk every time I use it. Life is too short to get involved in this stuff. Sometimes I envy people who have rejected mobile phones and online 'culture'; though it's becoming increasingly difficult to do so. We are enslaved by 'labour-saving' gadgets.

Bloom's Day

Happy Bloom's Day! I've just had the pork kidney for breakfast, duly scorched. A reading tonight of Molly Bloom's dream would be a fitting end to the great day.

writLOUD

Attended writLOUD, Birkbeck's reading event on Monday. Impressed by Orange shotlistee Monique Roffey's reading from "The White Woman on the Green Bicycle'', set in Trinidad, and fellow MACW student, Alice Fitzgerald Wickham's excellent Dublin-based bildungsroman - somewhat in the style of a female Roddy Doyle. A new comic writer to watch!

Toby Litt

I found Toby Litt's piece in today's Observer interesting: a bit of good luck being in Prague in 1990 and deciding become a writer. He's on the staff of the MA in CW at Birkbeck.

A poem to die for - literally

The 'democratic' Republic of Kurdistan is no place to write poems critical of the President.

Catch my Drift

...by Lyrispect

It's the Met Police again - a true story

I live in a ground-floor studio flat in a council block.

I am awoken abruptly this morning at 8:45 by banging on my door.

“Who’s there?” I inquire grumpily.

From the corridor, “Police”

“Not again”, to myself. More knocking.

“Hang on” I throw a shirt and jeans on.

More persistent and much louder banging on door. I open up and am confronted by six male police officers

“Are you Mr R...?”

Before they get a chance to go any further, I intervene brimming with anger and righteous indignation,

“I’m fed up with this; this is the second time in a year I’ve been woken by the police looking for various suspects...”

"How long have you been here?"

“Five years...five years to the week and this is the second time I’ve been woken recently by police banging on the door and demanding me to open up immediately and wanting to know about somebody I’ve never heard of... I’m sick of it... you need to get your database sorted out”. I ‘m gesturing with my right hand to emphasise the point, palm facing chest, as I do when giving a powerpoint presentation.

The one closest to me with jet black hair, who seems to be leading the posse says - and who looks oddly familiar -

“You’ve raised your voice and made an intimidating gesture at me”

“What are you talking about?”

“You pointed your finger at me. That is an intimidating gesture.”

“ It's not me who's intimidating, I'm naturally angry. Who is the highest ranking officer here?” I ask.

A fair-haired one says “We’re all the same...”

“Well I want to report this.”

The dark-haired one then says,

“We’re looking for someone called R.... He was reported for assault by a woman who gave us this address”.

Well...why does this happen to me all the time? You need to find out why she gave you the wrong address. I’m a law-abiding citizen. I’ve never had a problem with the law. I’m a graduate - an english graduate, I say pathetically as if graduates, and more precisely english graduates don’t carry out assaults, like the way priests were never thought to do wrong.

Then Fair-haired says, “I’m a graduate too”.

My neighbour - a big guy with big feet, emerges from around the corner and suggests,

“it might have something to do with the previous tenant.”

I had been tipped-off that the previous tenant was apparently ‘known’ to the local constabulary. Fair-haired then asks my name and date of birth, presumably to look me up on their rotten database. I stupidly give it to him.

Another one says,

“Maybe it’s the address, are you on the electors register?”

“Five years on the register at this address”, I say.

Dark-haired then gives me his tag number, a “CAB” number and the name of his station. They leave, and I shut the door.

Till the next time...

Election UK - Clegg Unique Opportunity

I voted for the Liberal Democrats because they were against the invasion of Iraq and they are in favour of proportional representation. I believe that despite the disappointing election result for the Lib Dems - which is hardly surprising since most electors are afraid that under the undemocratic 'first past the post' system in the UK at present their votes will be wasted. This is because Britain sometimes resembles an elective dictatorship. Clegg uniquely has an opportunity to change this. He must demand, as a quid pro quo of supporting (hopefully Labour under a new leader) that there is an immediate change in the constitution to introduce PR (hopefully STV version). If this requires a referendum, then so be it.

New Media - old demarcations redundant

With the arrival of paperless media, will literature as we know it today disappear? One thing that struck me about Steve Job's presentation of the Apple iPad, was the blurring of lines between text, audio, video, and as yet unidentified forms of communication and art. Things will never be the same again. Forget all this nostalgia pushed by luddites of all ages (some of them amazingly young) about the bullshit feel and smell of books. I am ....(redacted) and a half, and I can tell you that paper books have had their day. They are as extinct as the Sony Walkman, the typewriter and the pay-on-demand Times.

New Play

It's beginning to flow. Amazing what a couple of glasses of Merlot can do...

Death of a Salesman by Arthur Miller is a masterwork. The movie version with Dustin Hoffman as Willy Loman and John Malkovich as Biff is intense, maddening and sad. But then you don't need me to tell you that, d0 you?

New Play

I'm writing a play on the 'Crime & Punishment' theme, based in Dublin. The Birkbeck tutor says I should also take a look at Sophocles' Oedipus and and Arthur Miller's Death of a Salesman. So long as I don't take too long on the research; it's got to be done by 19th April. I've done it (April 2). Yeah, I can see his point, now...

Weather eye out for Weather men

'You don't need a weatherman to say which way the wind blows' Bob Dylan.

Like everyone else round here, I'd forgotten what winter was like. It came back with a jolt this time. Should have known that when the Met Office forecast a 'mild winter' after the 'barbecue summer', we were in for Arctic conditions. After bankers and politicians, they must surely be the most discredited profession. Jerome K Jerome said it one hundred and fifty odd years ago in Three men in a Boat. The weathermen or weather people have undertaken not to make long-term forecasts in future - or at least not to broadcast them. As something of a sailor for yonks, I must say that I 'm not impressed with the accuracy of their short-term ones either, despite the huge investment in so-called 'supercomputers'.

New Collection of Short Stories

Writer friend tells me that this is a great collection of short stories. Only available in the States at present.

Open University Graduation

Degree ceremony (BA (Hons) Lit 2.1) Dublin - sometime in April. Spending money I haven't got that much of, these days. Still, it's a new experience and I'm already well ensconced in the MA, and I might enrol in a PhD next. Mind you, I did Business Studies in the Seventies - that was a degree in everything but name.

New Apple Reader

Geeks are all wound up about the iSlate, iPad or whatever the new reading device from Apple is going to be called. Will it affect book publishing as the iPod impacted the music industry? We'll know by the end of the day. It will probably resemble a book in the same way the iPhone resembles the bakelite telephone of the fifties.

Computers are thick

Don't accept this wanky notion put out by geeks that computers are clever. No they're not: they're dumb. For instance, as I look at the page of this blog now there's an ad for teeth whitening - which may well be gone when you read this. Although now that I've mentioned the words again, the ad might become a fixture. The reason it appeared was because I mentioned the writer Zadie Smith, whose first and most famous - though not her best (that was On Beauty) was White Teeth. So the dumb logic of the system says Zadie Smith - White Teeth - right we need to sell the readers teeth whitening. No they don't. They need to have a link to first novelists or to books or movies with a similar theme as Ms Smith's work. The human brain is just so far ahead of these glorified abacuses in any form of nuance. A lot more interesting too. That's why I'm into humanities and not boring mechanical clunking 'information technology'. Sadly that's where governments want to steer 'education' these days. Rant ends.

Well ,Hello again

Haven't been here much. In fact it's the first time this year. The day job and Uni have kept me busy. Lame excuse, I know. Of course it is. Passed a professional exam in the New Year. That was a pleasant surprise. Now doing Playwriting module in Birkbeck. Great tutor - a northsider. Reading O'Casey's 'Juno and the Paycock'. Wonderful stuff: dialogue rich and as a Dub I feel it is a part of the heritage. I've even got hooked on Samuel Beckett. Sublime. So much brilliant Irish writing around. New stuff too. I haven't forgotten the rest of the world either...