Song Lyrics

Inspired by (ok, you got me...I'm just stealing the idea) a few similar notes on facebook recently here are a few lyrics from some of my favourite songs and bands for you to try and guess. How many can you get...I've tried not to be too obscure but be prepared, this may get eclectic...

1) You quiver like a candle on fire, I'm putting you out

2) Take your shoes off and I'll throw them in the lake

3) No excuse to be so callous, dress yourself in bleeding madras, charm your way across the Khyber Pass

4) Here's an evening dark with shame, throw it on the fire, and here's the time I took the blame, throw it on the fire

5) Every time just like the last, on her ship tied to the mast

6) But ask me why and I'll spit in your eye. Oh ask me why and I'll spit in your eye

7) Now watch what you say or they'll be calling you a radical, a liberal, oh fanatical, a criminal. Oh won't you sign up your name we'd like to see you're acceptable, respectable, presentable, a vegetable.

8) I'm coming out of my cage and I've been doing just fine

9) She's a little pilot in my mind, singing songs I love to pass the time, gonna write a song so she can see, give her all the love she gives to me

10) He was shot six times by a man on the run and she couldn't find how to push through

11) Don't waste your time on me, you're already a voice inside my head

12) Windmill, windmill for the land is everybody in?

13) Mine is the sunlight, mine is the morning

14) We'll see the stars that shine bright, stars made for us tonight

15) Just trying to see in the dark, just try to make it work, feel the fear before you're here

16) Music's my language and all I can say, is that you are the one who takes me away

17) Um what you say? Um that you only meant well? Well of course you did

18) Speed so fast felt like I was drunk, city lights lay out before us

19) Sunny days where have you gone? I get the strangest feeling you belong

20) Because out of all the people I've known, the places I've been, the songs I have sung, the wonders I've seen. Now that the dreams are all coming true, who is the one that leads me on through? It's you!

House Hunting

My search for somewhere to live from April onwards continues apace, but I am starting to find the search a little stressful. I have never lived alone, so this is the first time I've viewed apartments knowing that it is my decision that is final. At university my source of income was fairly reasonable (parents, savings and student loan), council tax didn't need to be paid and all other bills were split three ways. I'm earning a reasonable wage now, but still it's difficult to be sure how much I can really afford.

So whenever I view a flat (which I'm doing again later today) I'm having to balance cost against all sorts of other parameters. Do I want to spend a little more for a bigger, nicer place? Or should I hold back so that I can spend a little more on furniture, bills and so on (I'm seriously considering going without a telephone landline and broadband, which may rather affect my blog rate)?

I appreciate that this is not particularly interesting to the average reader, but it is taking up a lot of my thinking time over this last month. Where once I might have been pondering a new post or poem, now I lie awake struggling with the complexities of interior design and just whether I can actually fit my parent's sofa up the stairs in the most recently viewed house.
With a bit of luck things will be sorted out in the next few days and things can return to some sort of normality...

...decisions...decisions

25 things that you may not know about me

1 - Had I been born a girl I would have been named Katherine, after one of the central characters of the Geoffrey Trease book 'Cue for Treason'

2 - I play chess at a reasonably decent level for my local team...I also write their match reports

3 - I am an awful liar

4 - My heroes include Marc Overmars, Groucho Marx and James Stewart

5 - I am interested in things like Tarot and Horoscopes even though I do not believe in astrology, I think they have a placebo like affect that can be beneficial

6 - If I had sons I would like to name them Jo and Dan, that is Johan and Dante

7 - I am incredibly nervous about public speaking or any other kind of performance

8 - Whilst I have an eclectic taste in music that leans predominantly towards indie my favourite music to listen to live is folk

9 - Despite being fairly sarcastic myself, I do not recognise other people's sarcasm very well at all.

10 - I spend hours worrying about the smallest of things, pondering the slightest thing that might have been said. My fear of rejection is immense, rivalled only by my fear of failure. I find it very difficult to accept that anyone actually likes me.

11 - I will do almost anything to avoid an argument about anything personal

12 - I subconsciously rehearse conversations in my head, when I say something witty it is often scripted

13 - Writing this list is incredibly difficult for me, real insight into my inner self is not something that I offer up to anyone, mostly because I'm ashamed of it.

14 - I buy wine almost entirely based upon the name and appearance of the bottle

15 - With a few exceptions I only do things that I find easy or am naturally good at...revision, practice and dedication are alien concepts to me

16 - Luckily I have a very high opinion of my own abilities, allowing me to complete everyday tasks under the illusion that I am doing them in a manner vastly superior to everybody else...seriously I believe myself to be better at shopping than other people.

17 - When I was very young I was sent to my room without dinner for refusing to be the farmer's wife in the game 'The farmer's in his den'

18 - My favourite composer is Bach, my favourite picture is 'The Ambassadors' by Hans Holbein (It's in the National Gallery in London, please take a look next time you are nearby) and my favourite poems are Tennyson's 'Charge of the Light Brigade' and Noakes' 'The Highwayman'

19 - I have only thrown up as a result of alcohol twice, but as an unfortunate side effect of drinking too much snaps in one evening I can no longer eat or drink anything with a peach flavour

20 - I turned vegetarian on a whim and have no particular reason for continuing to be so. Strangely enough I am steadily growing stricter on the matter.

21 - I prefer wearing smart clothes like suits and ties, I think this has something to do with my general preference for order and regulation alongside my complete artistic failings which continue into the world of fashion

22 - Films that I especially enjoy that you might not know include 'Harold & Maude', 'Jean de Florette' (and it's sequel 'Manon des Sources'), 'His Girl Friday', 'The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp' and 'It Happened One Night'. I cannot recommend any of these films too much

23 - I am exceedingly shallow and jealous of other's successes

24 - My dreams include living in New Zealand, sailing around the world and owning a VW camper van

25 - Three of the above are lies

More dangerous than horseriding...

You may have seen things in the news recently about this story.

To summarise, the government finances an independent scientific study into the dangers of Ecstasy. The results that were returned suggest that Ecstasy is not especially dangerous and should be reclassified as class B (down from class A). However the government ignores this recommendation and Ecstasy remains a class A substance. I find this incredibly irritating...

I am not an expert on drugs and this post is only superficially related to Ecstasy. Beyond the usual legal things such as alcohol, nicotine and caffeine I have only really tried marijuana, although I must admit that I do find that particular experience fairly enjoyable. I have friends who experiment or regularly take much stronger drugs, but it has never really appealed.

I digress, as I said before this post is not really about drug use or it's effects. My grievance is this...why is the government spending public money upon scientific enquiries that they evidently have no genuine interest in. If you commission a report where there are two possible outcomes (A and B), but regardless of the results you intend to follow path A anyway, well you might as well skip that step in the middle where you actually examine the evidence.

As for comments regarding the relative dangers of horse riding and ecstasy, well if the figures support the statement then fair enough. People ride horses to enjoy themselves, to feel good. It's a lifestyle choice. Mountaineering isn't illegal, but a very high percentage of people die doing it. I recall reading that in America more children are killed in accidents with swimming pools than accidents with guns.

I guess what I am trying to say is that there are dangers in many things, you could argue for a long time regarding that. What you cannot debate is that if you commission a report then completely ignore it you start to look a little bit of an idiot.

Till next week, may you trust the evidence
D

Primary Colours

Facebook is an interesting beast. It has some very obvious and irritating downsides, but I think these are easily outweighed by its overwhelming ability to connect people.

Sometimes I go a week without updating or even checking the site, other times I log in and something just makes me smile, perhaps a friend who I haven't spoken to in years or just a link to a far more interesting video or webpage. It's moments like that when I'm prepared to wade through the limitless applications and people I don't want to speak to...this week there was one of those moments.

No, not the rapidly spreading hordes of 25 things you didn't know... notes, though that may yet be the topic for a later blog. This was something a little more personal

You have probably noticed that there is a photo attached to this post...this is your cue to look at it...

...finished looking?

Did you spot me?

I'm not wearing a hat so I appreciate that this may be difficult...keep looking...

...yes yes this is complicated by the fact that I look quite a bit like one of the other guys...

...success?? If so - have a cookie...

...I'll give you a clue, I'm not one of the two on the far right...

..Still looking? Ok. I'm third in from the left. The young lad perched highest on the wall (aged about eleven)

So Dave (I hear you say) why are you so stoked up about an old picture? Well, mostly because this brings back a whole load of happy memories. As far as I can tell this picture was taken on my very last day at primary school. Those seven people were my entire school year and, as is no doubt common, I have happy, golden almost, memories of my school days.

The strange thing is that I'm not even sure that it was as wonderful as I remember, no doubt I was bullied, bored and unhappy some of the time, but all that is now long forgotten. In fact, I don't really want to remember everything...I'm quite happy with my selective memories.

At this point I was going to ramble on with a description of my classmates and so on, but I suspect you wouldn't be anywhere near as interested as I am. So let's leave it here. Brevity is next to godliness and all that.

Until next time, may you remember what you want to and forget what you don't

Entitlement

I was chatting to my mother last night (as you do) about this and that and the conversation worked its way round to what my friends from university are doing now, jobwise.
Now the thing that struck me at this point was that (like me) most of my close friends are not working in a job that they want to turn into something long term. In the main we seem to be temping, working in retail or doing simplistic clerical admin things. Of my friends who are graduates less than a quarter are working in so called 'graduate jobs'.

Initially this seemed slightly strange, the people I was talking about are all intelligent, (relatively) hard working and distinctly employable (even in a down turn). So how come we are all doing low level short term jobs?

This is particularly the case in my personal view of my own job, which was initially taken as a two month temporary position whilst I looked for a 'proper' job. Over 18 months later and I'm still there on roughly the same wage, still telling people that I'm only doing this until I get a 'real' job.

Have I been seriously looking for another job over the last two years? Apart from a couple of interviews, no.
Is my a job a temporary one? Obviously not
So is my poorly paid, relatively easy position my 'real' job? Apparently so

Somehow for over a year I've managed to deceive myself into thinking that I was just going to get a better job, because I deserved it, because I was entitled to it.

So having finally realised the bleeding obvious I guess it's time to do something about it.

See you in February
D

Mish Mash

Someone appears to be ironically (I assume) marking the occasional post as awesome...I cannot tell you how much good this is doing for my ego. Please keep at it.

I'm taking my own advice and going to the cinema tomorrow, better still I've got the day off work as well. With a bit of luck I'll be able to watch two films back to back, which let's face it should be great. It's looking a lot like Frost/Nixon leading into Slumdog Millionaire, but I'll have to see how it works out...maybe watch a DVD when I get home (I've still got In Bruges left over from Xmas) that's what I call a productive day.

As I write this I'm also browsing over on rightmove.com. My parents are throwing me out (figuratively not literally) so the search is on...the big question is how much do I really want to spend on rent and bills???
Should I splash out for somewhere nice and perhaps cut back on the luxuries to make up the difference? Or settle for something a little smaller, cheaper and in a worse area to leave more cash for spending on things to brighten life up. It's a tricky balance and one that I'm running out of time to solve...my savings may take quite a pounding over the next year

Because I post a poem every week or so it perhaps gives the impression that I'm a fairly regular writer, this couldn't be further from the truth. Like reading and watching films I seem to go through cycles of interest lasting a week or so. This week creative writing seems to have drifted to the top, I even started writing a novel. Jokingly entitled 'Three men in a pub' it's a slightly predictable mish mash of On the road, Withnail and I, Thelma and Louise and obviously 3 men in a boat. Naturally I dashed down a thousand words in about half an hour and haven't looked at the thing since.

Happily when I come to write a poem I usually have a reasonable amount of it worked out in my head before I even reach a computer (or, heaven forbid, make cursory notes on paper...with a real pen). When combined with the relative shortness of a poem when contrasted with a novel we end up with the happy result that I might actually finish something.

Not that I've finished anything this week...but I have started two poems...and I can confirm that at least one line is really something! The rest is thoroughly average, but that line...I can confirm myself to be content

Anyway I'm wandering so let's wrap this up. One more post due for January then it'll be back to the poems in Feb. Till then, this is Dave Marshall telling you to keep blogging...or else...muahaha

My mate Oscar

Let's be honest, January and February are not the highlight of most people's year. It's cold, wet and windy. Dark when you go to work and darker still by the time you get back. Worse still, even without the credit crunch most of your money was probably spent over Christmas so it's a struggle to afford anything to brighten up the gloom.
However there is one obvious highlight of the early months...the cinema

Due to the subtleties of the awards ceremonies entry conditions combining with the traditional delay in films crossing the Atlantic most of the genuinely great films (by which I mean non summer blockbusters) arrive in England in the first quarter of the year. In 2008 it was 'No country for old men' and 'There will be blood' (plus Sweeney Todd, Juno, Son of Rambow, In Bruges and so on). 2009 promises to be even better. Here are a few of the films that I'm really looking forward to

January - Slumdog Millionaire is already with us, but before the end of the month we'll also have two promising political features in the guise of Frost/Nixon and Milk (a profile of the first openly gay elected official in the USA). If you enjoyed Juno then you might like the new Michael Cera vehicle 'Nick and Norah's infinite playlist'. So that's four films that I definitely want to see, even before we consider Tom Cruise taking on Hitler in Valkyrie.

February - If you thought I liked January then hold on, cos February looks even better. David Fincher (Se7en, Fight Club) directs Brad Pitt in Benjamin Button, the story of a man who is born old aged but grows younger as his life goes on (based on a short story by F Scott Fitzgerald of Great Gatsby fame). Woody Allen returns to form with possibly the world's greatest threesome in 'Vicky Cristina Barcelona' and the ever reliable Clint Eastwood directs and stars in Gran Torino.
If that all sounds too serious then get along to Hamlet 2 (Steve Coogan) or a Korean reworking of a classic (with possibly the best film title ever) The Good, The Bad, The Weird

March - There can't be even more great films in March you say, oh yes there can says I. Movie event of the year Watchmen hits the multiplexes on March 6th. What will probably turn out to be the best football film ever 'The Dammed United' follows soon after. And, just sneaking into April (but they all count) Richard Curtis' 2nd outing as a director (following on from Love Actually) with pirate radio comedy - The boat that rocked (yes I know that's an awful title).

Seriously, there's more good films in the first three months than the rest of the year combined.

So until next time, this is Dave Marshall saying 'Bored? Cold? Broke? Get to the cinema!'

Resolutions

Happy New Year!

First up, apologies for missing a week of posts, I've been out most evenings so it's been a struggle to find the time. I must have 'written' three or four whole posts in my head at various points when I couldn't get to a computer, perhaps they will appear at some stage in the unforeseeable future.

This is going to be a bit of a fragmented post, but hopefully my usual fluid and easy going style will return next week. Either way I digress.

The New Year is traditionally a time for looking ahead and setting yourself aims and goals for the forthcoming twelve months. I try to take the time to sit down and write out a few targets, which I then check back to every now and again to see how things are getting on. Overall I was moderately happy with 2008, though it went a little off the rails for most of the summer.

I could just list all my resolutions for next year, but some of them are private, some are boring and some just wouldn't make any sense to most of you, so, here are a few selected thoughts.

1) Creative Writing - I previously suggested that I'd try to blog twice a week (once with a blog and once with a poem) I'm going to change that slightly to a target of 4 blogs and 4 poems each month (in no particular order). Sometimes I want to write everyday for a week, sometimes I couldn't care less for a fortnight. This approach is a little more flexible.
However it's easier to keep things going when you know someone, somewhere is reading. So please leave feedback (just clicking on the awful, average, awesome buttons at the bottom of each post really helps)

2 - I want to stay in touch with my friends - Sounds a little foolish I know, but when you live about a hundred miles from many of your close friends and acquaintances it's all too easy to lose touch. In 2008 I travelled as far and as regularly as I could to stay in contact and no doubt I'll do the same in 2009. Obviously friendship is a two way process, if you want to hang out some time then just give me a shout

3 - I'm looking for meaning - Let's be frank, somehow I don't think it's my life's purpose to do low level admin work, I don't think anyone's ultimate purpose involves low level admin work. But this is not the time for round the world voyages of discovery to search for greater meaning...sadly.

I guess the way I see 2009 is thus, money will be tighter, so it's the cheaper (or better yet free) things in life which will set the tone. Share and share alike may be my mantra (though it'll probably be 'Better to have loved and lost' like every other year).

Keep blogging, and all the very best for 2009
D

Hallelujah

One of the big talking points in the media this week has been the widespread (although mostly on the internet) opposition to x-factor winner Alexandra Burke presumed Christmas number 1 with a cover of Hallelujah. Seeing as this blog is indeed on the internet I probably ought to be taking this opportunity to join in the general hatred of Simon Cowell, but unfortunately I can't bring myself to do that.

You see here's the thing, the main argument seems to be something on these lines. Hallelujah is a great song, that is special to an awful lot of people, so therefore it shouldn't be commercialised.

Now that's quite a good argument, but sadly the reality is that great songs are sometimes going to be butchered by later pop covers (case in point, the brilliance that is Axel F, destroyed forever by the evil that is the Crazy Frog). If songs are going to be covered you have to accept that some will be good and some will be bad, that's just how it is.

That is not to say that I won't be overjoyed if Jeff Buckley is propelled to the top of the charts, it's just that I'm not upset about x-factor winners singing good songs. The way I see it, I'd rather listen to a passable version of a great song than Shayne Ward warbling 'That's my goal' or some similar tripe.

You're more than welcome to disagree with me in the strongest possible terms via the comments box, but remember this, no covers means no Buckley version either. If I have to ignore an awful version of a song in order to hear a great version then that's a price I'm willing to pay.

On a similar (but festive) note I'd just like to point out that the best xmas number one ever was also a cover...that's right Only You by The Flying Pickets

Returning to Hallelujah, here's a quick run down of a few of the many versions that are out there on Youtube. I've trawled the internet so that you don't have to.

Leonard Cohen - The original, but probably not the best. Cohen delivers in his typical singing-talking hybrid. Though quite frankly he wrote the thing so he can do whatever the hell he likes.

Jeff Buckley - Minimalistic, guitar backed, epic length version. If you are an angst-ridden teen, as opposed to a screaming pop-idol loving teen this will probably be your favourite.

Alexandra Burke - Not as bad as people seem to think, Burke can certainly sing a bit and it's nice to hear a version with a bit more in the way of backing. Though Dermot O'Leary doesn't add much with his cameo and there appears to be a point at which Westlife would stand up if they were singing it. Definitely goes down hill in the second half.

Kate Voegele - Sounds not entirely disimilar to a female Jeff Buckley version, not quite as good as Jeff but miles better than Alexandra.

Imogen Heap - Short A-Capella version, certainly different, but loses marks since it was recorded for use in The OC.

Rufus Wainwright - Piano backed, this is my favourite...so there

KD Lang - Somewhere in the gap between Rufus and Jeff, theres even a string section in there somewhere...marvelous

So there you go, if you know another good version please let me know the link (no rick-rolling please lol)

Have a great Christmas, may you receive many hats
D

Dave on...The Credit Crunch

I work with accountants, but I'm not exactly an economic wizard myself, but I'm still pretty interested in the current situation. So I thought I would share my limited knowledge with you.

The first thing is this, the credit crunch is not entirely a bad thing. Sure some people are losing their jobs. And I'll admit that if you took out a mortgage in the last five years you're probably F***ed, but there is a bright side...let's look at which business' are in trouble
Woolworths only sells things that you could get in Tesco for cheaper...so no loss there
MFI, Land of Leather...if DFS gets into trouble we'll really be cooking
Chrysler??? General Motors, they're only killing the planet with gas guzzlers that no one wants anyway

So all things considered we're not losing anything worth having and with a little bit of luck we might manage to get rid of a few faceless coffee houses and mobile phone shops as well

The main question though is this, why are these companies in trouble??
The answer is simple, they all make shit that we don't want.

Land of Leather aren't selling any sofas because most people are still paying for the ones they bought back in 2006 with a pay nothing for two years deal. Something that has always confused me is this, who actually buys a couch after watching a tv advert? Or for that matter, who buys a tv? I've always assumed that anyone watching an ad on tv, probably already has a tv, which rather takes away the main selling point.
The same is (you would assume) true for reasonably priced, leather, three piece suites now available at up to 50% off. If you are watching tv (I would assume) that you probably already have something to sit on.

Most advertising works best with the sort of stuff you might buy on the spur of the moment, as I'm wandering through Tesco or Asda (but not woolworths) I might pick up a particular bar of chocolate. Domino's adverts have made me fancy a pizza. Grabbing a brand new car with my morning paper? Less so...

More thoughts next week as the pound slides further towards parity with the euro...looks like everyone is holidaying in Scotland next year...bad times
Dave

Random thoughts of a random mind

My day has just been ruined. An advert has revealed to me that Camp Rock is actually a new Disney High School Musical spin off rather than the long awaited Scissor Sisters - Guns n Roses crossover album that I had previously assumed.
Bad times

I was off work last week for two days sick leave, which was a bit of a downer. I don't usually take much time off. My mother used to be a nurse, so I've never really got much sympathy unless I've been close to death (limbs missing or similar). At school I didn't get Man Flu, I got a cold, some vitamin C, a packet of tissues and thrown out the door into the swirling snow...it was a hard childhood

Christmas seems strangely close, yet still miles away. There's hardly any Christmas decorations up yet, but it's barely three weeks away. I must confess that I'm looking forward to it, unusual I know. There's going to be a fair few good friends back in the area, which should be a great excuse to drink to excess. Which lets face it, is the true meaning of Christmas

I appreciate that a few of my poems are a little bit vague on the specifics. The poem in my previous post would be one such example, so here is a little explanation. Both 'Half Forgotten Riff' and 'What was Said' are actually about the same (sadly drunken) night out, which rather sticks in the memory for mostly the wrong reasons.
Although the night is mostly a depressing blur, the most tangible memory of the evening was a particular song from the club we were in. This featured a very distinctive but unknown (at least to me) melody. Some how I ended up in a mindset whereby until I discovered the song, I wouldn't really be able to put the whole shambolic affair behind me. For two months the song taunted me, played at the start of a film, half heard in the background of a French Pizzeria. I think the poem was jotted down at some point during that period.
Eventually I managed to pin down the song (and by this stage it was a genuine relief), the tune? Time to Pretend by MGMT

So there you go, till next time, may you guard your words and feelings whilst under the influence
D

Meh

If I have learnt anything from reading and writing blogs it is this – Nothing happens as planned.

If someone says they’re going to blog on Friday, check back on Monday. If the subject is supposed to be films, then anticipate music. First in a series? I doubt the topic will ever be mentioned again. In short, your average blogger tends to make lots of plans and forget about them just as quickly…and I’m pretty much your average blogger.

Hence my earlier blog suggesting a topic for last Friday, obviously that went out the window. However, despite Dave’s first law of blogging (Don’t expect the expected) I am going to try and stick to a couple of very generic ideas.

Firstly come wind or rain, sun or snow, nuclear apocalypse or Armageddon I’m going to blog twice a week. The only exception being holidays and other periods where I can’t access a PC. That said I’m just a poor ex-student so holidays are fairly limited at the moment.

Secondly, I’m going to alternate between a blog style post and a piece of poetry. Hopefully this should force me into at least a little bit of creative writing each week.

Any more targets than that and I would be doomed to failure (curse my own innate laziness), so I won’t even try.

Right, on to a semi-serious post.
As you, my intelligent, well dressed, good looking readership, may be aware from your daily perusal of your favourite broadsheet or red top, ‘Meh’ has been recognised as a word by Collins (they make dictionaries, but you already knew that).

Now don’t get me wrong, I am all for the general addition of new words to the dictionary as they move into everyday parlance, but surely you have to draw a line somewhere. Meh, is not to my mind a proper word. Internet is a new word, fantastic, stick it in the dictionary. Meh is more of a sound, like saying hmm or tutting. Lol is probably recognised as a word now, what next? Zomg? Rofl? (actually rofl is probably recognised as a word already…what is the world coming to?? FFS?)

I guess my basic feeling is that terms that are widely used multi-cultural slang or abbreviations(particularly relating to the Internet) should not necessarily be added to the English language. What makes something a word?? Lots of people using it? Millions of people play World of Warcraft, so should we just add terms from that into English?? Of course not. Should we add every technical or slang term from every pastime, hobby or community (online or otherwise) to the language?? We could, but we’d end up with a dictionary substantially larger than what we have now (and the full English dictionary is pretty huge as it is).

On a similar note, I feel that in most cases you should wait a reasonable period to see if a word continues to be used. When I was eight, perhaps the two most common words were lush, and cool. Both obviously used outside of their normal context. People still say cool, but it’s a pretty long time since I heard anything called lush (do primary school kids still say that??).

No doubt, you’ll have your own opinion on this and fair play to you for that. However I feel there should be a line drawn between what is ultimately slang that may just be passing through and real words, the ones that everyone uses every day…like zugzwang and fianchetto

Until next time this is Dave Marshall telling you to use a spell checker (it won't recognise meh)

That's handy Jose

So here’s the thing. It’s only the first week of this new blogging network and already I’m verging on obsession. Any hour in which I don’t get the chance to check for updates is an hour wasted. I’m joking of course; I only check every third hour.
In all seriousness my working day has been brightened considerably knowing that each evening I’ll have the opportunity to spend an hour reading intelligent and well written posts, be they blogs, poetry or creative writing (and I still need to find time to listen to Marsh But True).

As more and more people start to blog there will be an even greater variety of quality posts to read, which is both fantastic and problematic at the same time. Fantastic, because with more activity and greater feedback the standard of the posts can only get better and better, but problematic because ultimately each individual can only read so much. In a sense our small network may become a microcosm of the internet as a whole, plenty of diversity, but no conceivable way to see (or hear) everything.
Hence our first problem, albeit a happy one, if more blogs start to appear (and considering that the rapidly growing facebook group has 40 plus members, I certainly hope there will be many more) how can anyone (not least me) be sure not to miss something great.

The first option is the obvious one, read everything. Right now that’s what I’m doing but with just a few more blogs you’d need an awful lot of time to be sure not to miss anything. You would have to be in front of a computer with nothing better to do for hours everyday. In short you’d need to be a student.
Clearly this is not much of a solution for all but a small minority, so we need to think again. If we can’t read every post of every blog we’ll have to be more selective.

Assuming that you’re only going to read a couple of posts each evening, or each week, how do you make that selection? Entirely at random? I suppose you could select your favourite authors and just read their posts, but as the bard said if variety is the spice of life, play on. You’re going to want a third choice.

Having reached this conclusion I’m going to help you (the discerning reader) as much as I can. Each week or fortnight or month, as appropriate, I’ll post some links to a small varied selection of blogs that you might enjoy. Obviously this can only ever give you a taste of the whole meal, but still, hopefully that’s better than nothing.
So far so good you say, but here we hit our second problem.

How do you or I, or anybody else for that matter, decide which blogs are most worthy of attention?

It’s troublesome to be sure, but please think about it, leave a comment and I’ll share my thoughts on the subject on Friday.

Until then if you’re reading this and haven’t got a blog of your own, why not sign up and get involved? It's great fun, even if you can only post on an irregular basis. This really is a case of the more the merrier.

Until next time,
D

In the beginning was the word… and the word scored pretty poorly when used in scrabble

So, as they say, what on earth is going on?

I have to concede that I’m not entirely sure myself, but to try and give you some idea you probably ought to check out this link.

Hopefully that makes things a little clearer, and if it doesn’t, well c’est la vie as I believe they say in Yorkshire. Let’s cover some basics.

Who am I?
I am Dave Marshall, formerly a student of religion at the University of Kent in Canterbury, more recently a low level administrative assistant for Wiltshire County Council. You may think that my job sounds quite boring, you would be absolutely right. I shall endeavour to steer well clear of the subject in all future posts.

Why am I blogging?
As the link above hopefully explained this is just one small part in what should be a whole network of other blogs. Many of the people in this group (including myself) are connected by the UKC Creative Writing Society, so please anticipate a fair amount of poetry and writing of a creative nature in among these assorted blogs. I’ll endeavour to draw your eyes to as many of the best pieces as I can.

What about this blog?
When I started university I blogged on a semi-frequent basis for the best part of two years. You can view that now defunct blog here. With this new project I’m going to try and move away from those longer personal posts/rants on a wildly eclectic set of subjects, instead I’ll be aiming to stick to the stated purpose, namely poetry and creative writing. With a different aim in mind I thought it best to start an entirely new blog.

What can you expect?
Well, I’ll have to wait and see how much activity there is across the network, but I’ll certainly be aiming to blog pretty regularly for the first month or so, then we’ll see where we are. Any predictions I make about the subjects of future posts are almost always doomed to wild inaccuracy, but if this blog doesn’t contain a fair few poems, a good helping of comment and terrible spelling and grammar then I would be very surprised.

So thanks for reading, check back soon and please feel free to drop me a line if you’ve got your own blog that you’d like me to take a look at.

Until next time, this is Dave Marshall telling you to wear more hats