The human stains
Humanity just baffles and disgusts me. I've just seen a crowd form around the velvet rug they've thrown over that new statue of James Braidwood, so they can 'unveil it'. Seeing as any one of these people could have looked at it as much as they'd liked any time over the last month and riught up until 10am this morning, it seems a little nuts to crowd round just to see some dignitary rabble on about it then pull off the rug.
I also had my first encounter with BBC Radio 4 today. I doubt it endeared me towards it much seeing as I tuned in during Woman's Hour and had to listen to a group of 50 year old tory women arguing about 'urban gangs' and other such lower class problems. Carol Thatcher featured and unsurprisingly advocated zero tolerance and stronger punishments, considering she's so Conservative that if you cut her bones open you'd probably find blue marrow.
I've also been reading more for a change, and surprisingly have come to the realisation that twincest is one of the most tired and unequivocably crap plot devices I've ever read. It didn't work for Arundhati Roy and it don't work for Melvin Burgess either. Also ripping off Norse mythology only works if you have the imagination to take the story somewhere interesting and new such as Michael Crichton's Eater's of the Dead, or the literary ability to craft something beautiful out of it a'la Tolkien.
Adding to that the whole book doesn't have a clue what age-group it's aimed at. Comedy talking pig people who randomly say 'oink' mid-sentence don't belong in a book where there is incest, torture and bloody murder every few pages. Also don't decide halfway through the book to suddenly start the characters swearing when previously they've used irritatingly childish. Not good Mr Burgess. See me after class.
Needless to say, this ain't on my favourite book list. I am still interested in how he would handle a straight novel. i.e. Junk. and will have to read it at some stage.
Apart from this all seems decent on the home front, it's looking to be a productive weekend. Attic-explorations and last minute editing on Saturday and I'm seeing Lissa on Sunday. Who knows I may even manage a trip to the pictures over the weekend.
I also had my first encounter with BBC Radio 4 today. I doubt it endeared me towards it much seeing as I tuned in during Woman's Hour and had to listen to a group of 50 year old tory women arguing about 'urban gangs' and other such lower class problems. Carol Thatcher featured and unsurprisingly advocated zero tolerance and stronger punishments, considering she's so Conservative that if you cut her bones open you'd probably find blue marrow.
I've also been reading more for a change, and surprisingly have come to the realisation that twincest is one of the most tired and unequivocably crap plot devices I've ever read. It didn't work for Arundhati Roy and it don't work for Melvin Burgess either. Also ripping off Norse mythology only works if you have the imagination to take the story somewhere interesting and new such as Michael Crichton's Eater's of the Dead, or the literary ability to craft something beautiful out of it a'la Tolkien.
Adding to that the whole book doesn't have a clue what age-group it's aimed at. Comedy talking pig people who randomly say 'oink' mid-sentence don't belong in a book where there is incest, torture and bloody murder every few pages. Also don't decide halfway through the book to suddenly start the characters swearing when previously they've used irritatingly childish. Not good Mr Burgess. See me after class.
Needless to say, this ain't on my favourite book list. I am still interested in how he would handle a straight novel. i.e. Junk. and will have to read it at some stage.
Apart from this all seems decent on the home front, it's looking to be a productive weekend. Attic-explorations and last minute editing on Saturday and I'm seeing Lissa on Sunday. Who knows I may even manage a trip to the pictures over the weekend.