Linkies (some commentary)

Gypsyscarlett posted about the first horror film a while back, so I should point out how late (comparatively) this move into the horror genre was for early cinema. The first comic-book adaptation – something seen by many as a recent phenomenon – was in the 1880s. You can argue amongst yourselves if they meet the precise criteria, but both Ally Sloper and a series of untitled shorts based off a one-pager of a boy (sometimes a girl) standing on a water hose, then raising their foot when the gardener looks into the end of the hose, were made in the mid-1880’s (eighty-four seems to be a date that stands out)

Blake M. Petit put up his 100 favorite comics – there are some excellent choices in there, and I may steal borrow the idea at some point for a post. I really need to convert people to the wonders of Valerian, The Walking Dead and Black Jack for good karma points.

Neftwink has been posting some amazing photographs over the last couple of months, so you should be taking a look.

Oh, and Jamie DeBree raised a subject I’ve been trying to ignore. Notes. The mere thought of explaining how jotting down the things which make up my works-in-progress tick makes me cry.

At some point I’m going to have to explain how I pull all the threads into little blankets of text with which I try to wrap my characters into seamlessly. Hmm… Lots of fabric metaphors there. (You’re guess is as good as mine as to where that came from)

Talents. Uh. “I can see where the holes are.” Stop sniggering. It wasn’t meant like that, and you know it. When I look at things (from novels to comics, from television shows to news broadcasts) I can see where there are things which have been omitted, and where pieces which appear to be unconnected end up intersecting. It’s like I know instinctively where there ought to be more material. It also allows me to call bullshit on nearly everything which BBC News broadcasts – not that doing that is particularly difficult.

While I agree with this, I also acknowledge that there are times when calling someone names is not only necessary but demanded. Anyone who claims the live-action Transformers films are high art, for example, or who insist that Yoko Ono’s songs are beautiful.

When I saw this post my immediate reaction was to point out precisely why we need to be able to film police officers…

Can anyone say “Rodney King”?

Oh, and you must read this as a primer to the forthcoming apocalypse.

When The Universe Smiles…

Having made a point of getting my hands on a new ‘phone specifically for the purpose of keeping updated (and ensuring that everyone else was kept in the loop as well), I was rather annoyed to discover that Vodaphone doesn’t include a top up card with a new purchase. There was an entire week there (well… ‘there’ was a ways back) which felt as if I was in purgatory. The sense of being disconnected, of being unplugged, was completely unbearable for that first chunk of time, then… something happened. I’m not sure what it was, or why it happened, but I finally stopped fretting. This is a big deal, even though it may not seem like a big deal for most people.

For the first time in seven or eight years I was able to sit down and not think about the endless calls and e-mails, and I wasn’t thinking about work, or having to be someplace at a specific time. There are always jobs (small and large alike) which have a tendency to pile up on my to-do list, and somehow I was able to put the pressure to one side and just breathe. The Germans probably have a word for the specific feeling – they’re good at compressing complex states into words which encompass the emotional mood – though if there is one, it escapes me at this moment. I was completely calm and relaxed… It was a strange experience.

The universe may have smiled for a fleeting moment.

There’s a whole other post I could write about the period between escaping the clutches of over-protective relatives and timid doctors, and my return, but as I’m not sure of the precise mechanics of the psychological breakthrough just yet (or if this state of serenity is going to stick) it would only complicate my thoughts. Complexities have been plaguing me for so long that this still feels new and shiny, and I want to enjoy it for as long as I can.

Even though I am technically back – home, at any rate – I am still not ‘back’. There are some arrangements I want to make, and some papers I have to sign… stuff I have to do before I chicken out of the decisions made on my walkabout. It is long overdue I begin unshackling myself from the things which have been following me around for some time, and from place to place. My stored possessions hare already been dealt with, but other lingering pieces of business have long since moved from the ‘irritating’ column to ‘problematic’.

Further posts will probably make things clearer. Possibly. If none of this makes any sense, I apologize – this is still an unusual situation for me.