David L. Atkinson's Blog, page 108
August 26, 2014
Writing - Richard Attenborough RIP
[image error]Richard Attenborough 1923 - 2014
It would be remiss of me not to mention the passing of this great man. He entertained me for part of my childhood and much of my adult life as I'm sure he did many others. One of my favourite films of his was The Great Escape and he was also imposing in Jurassic Park, but I thought he was brilliant in Miracle on 34th Street. In fact I have that film on my hard drive and watch it at least once every year. He certainly wasn't a one trick pony and acting roles ranged from serial killer to Santa Claus but he was also a great supporter of charitable causes. He was involved with the Muscular Dystrophy Society and United World Colleges having particularly strong links with such a college in Swaziland.There was tragedy later in his life in 2004 when the tsunami in the Indian Ocean hit Thailand where members of his family were holidaying. He lost a daughter and her mother-in-law and his granddaughter Lucy aged 15. He described it as the worst day of his life.
Lord Attenborough wasn't a writer but did produce an autobiography entitled Entirely up to you, Darling.
Attenborough as Pinkie Brown
God Bless
August 25, 2014
Tuesday Recipe - Italian Meat Loaf
This dish is more common in the USA than in the UK but is perhaps under sold on the English side of the pond.
Italian MeatloafMeatloaf is very versatile and to all intents and purposes is a minced meat sauce that may be eaten with rice or pasta. However, with the addition of breadcrumbs, egg and baked for an hour a dish is prepared that has all the taste and greater versatility. It can be served with rice, pasta, mashed potatoes, root vegetables and much more. Below it is served with roasted root vegetables also done in an Italian style.
Italian Meatloaf with roasted roots
The full recipe can be found on the relevant tab at the top of this page.
God Bless
August 24, 2014
Writing - The duty of writers.
What's in a name
As purveyors of the written word we spend a significant amount of time considering names. They may be purely fictitious, place names or fantasy names but whatever we need to spend time in choosing them because they are the handle on which we hang our stories. This place is a real village, Upper Slaughter, and it has a unique distinction.
[image error]
Upper Slaughter, Cotswolds
The mass slaughter of 1914-18 robbed the UK of a million lives, leaving no part of the country untouched. But there was a tiny handful of settlements where all those who served returned home. With its rows of ramshackle yellow stone cottages, set amid undulating Cotswold hills, the village of Upper Slaughter belies the violence of its name.
In hazy autumn sunlight, this corner of Gloucestershire might well have been rendered in watercolour. All the components of tourist-brochure Britain are here - the red phone box, the winding lanes, the wisteria draped around the windows.
But one normally ubiquitous feature is missing. Unlike the overwhelming majority of British settlements, Upper Slaughter has no war memorial.
Instead, tucked away in the village hall are two modest wooden plaques. They celebrate the men, and one woman, from the village who served in both world wars and, in every case, returned home.
For it is not only its postcard charm that offers pacific contrast to the name Upper Slaughter. It is that rarest of British locations, a "thankful village" - the term coined in the 1930s by the writer Arthur Mee to describe the handful of communities which suffered no military fatalities in World War I.
Arthur Mee 1875 - 1943
Arthur Mee was a non-fiction writer and journalist, his best known work was probably The Children's Encyclopaedia. He identified 52 'thankful villages' 14 of which became doubly thankful when they lost nobody to war in either 20th century conflict.
In carrying out research or just reading about the past it is remarkable the number of writers of 'other stuff' who record significant and fascinating events. Seems obvious doesn't it but it also perhaps means that as writers we have a duty to record our blogs and articles on current affairs and other fascinating happenings. It's also good practice.
God Bless
As purveyors of the written word we spend a significant amount of time considering names. They may be purely fictitious, place names or fantasy names but whatever we need to spend time in choosing them because they are the handle on which we hang our stories. This place is a real village, Upper Slaughter, and it has a unique distinction.
[image error]
Upper Slaughter, Cotswolds
The mass slaughter of 1914-18 robbed the UK of a million lives, leaving no part of the country untouched. But there was a tiny handful of settlements where all those who served returned home. With its rows of ramshackle yellow stone cottages, set amid undulating Cotswold hills, the village of Upper Slaughter belies the violence of its name.
In hazy autumn sunlight, this corner of Gloucestershire might well have been rendered in watercolour. All the components of tourist-brochure Britain are here - the red phone box, the winding lanes, the wisteria draped around the windows.
But one normally ubiquitous feature is missing. Unlike the overwhelming majority of British settlements, Upper Slaughter has no war memorial.
Instead, tucked away in the village hall are two modest wooden plaques. They celebrate the men, and one woman, from the village who served in both world wars and, in every case, returned home.
For it is not only its postcard charm that offers pacific contrast to the name Upper Slaughter. It is that rarest of British locations, a "thankful village" - the term coined in the 1930s by the writer Arthur Mee to describe the handful of communities which suffered no military fatalities in World War I.
Arthur Mee 1875 - 1943
Arthur Mee was a non-fiction writer and journalist, his best known work was probably The Children's Encyclopaedia. He identified 52 'thankful villages' 14 of which became doubly thankful when they lost nobody to war in either 20th century conflict.
In carrying out research or just reading about the past it is remarkable the number of writers of 'other stuff' who record significant and fascinating events. Seems obvious doesn't it but it also perhaps means that as writers we have a duty to record our blogs and articles on current affairs and other fascinating happenings. It's also good practice.
God Bless
August 23, 2014
Writing - 10 things we didn't know last week
Musical monarchs, tree hugging snakes and talking turtles.
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1. The Prince of Wales has an official harpist.
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2. Snakes squeeze tree trunks far harder than necessary.
----------------------------------
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3. Richard III was partial to swan, crane, heron and egret, and drank a bottle of wine a day after becoming king.
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4. Classical music is the worst genre to listen to for thrifty online shopping.
----------------------------------
5. It used to be believed that until 1903 the Auld Alliance made it possible for French people to claim Scottish nationality and vice-versa, although there's no record of this ever actually happening.
----------------------------------
6. Senior technology gurus at the White House don't have to tuck their shirts in.
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7. Italy has a national law permitting hunting with bow and arrow.
----------------------------------
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8. Baby corals and fish can smell the difference between good and decaying reefs.
----------------------------------
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9. Whether one eats breakfast or not appears to have no impact on losing weight.
----------------------------------
10. River turtles chat to each other using at least six different sounds.
----------------------------------
God Bless
[image error]
1. The Prince of Wales has an official harpist.
----------------------------------
[image error]
2. Snakes squeeze tree trunks far harder than necessary.
----------------------------------
[image error]
3. Richard III was partial to swan, crane, heron and egret, and drank a bottle of wine a day after becoming king.
----------------------------------
[image error]
4. Classical music is the worst genre to listen to for thrifty online shopping.
----------------------------------
5. It used to be believed that until 1903 the Auld Alliance made it possible for French people to claim Scottish nationality and vice-versa, although there's no record of this ever actually happening.
----------------------------------
6. Senior technology gurus at the White House don't have to tuck their shirts in.
----------------------------------
7. Italy has a national law permitting hunting with bow and arrow.
----------------------------------
[image error]
8. Baby corals and fish can smell the difference between good and decaying reefs.
----------------------------------
[image error]
9. Whether one eats breakfast or not appears to have no impact on losing weight.
----------------------------------
10. River turtles chat to each other using at least six different sounds.
----------------------------------
God Bless
August 22, 2014
Writing - Access to Steele and a bit more
My sales are maintaining the crashingly stupendous rate of one book per month. Thank you to those who have dipped into the Steele pool.
As a member of the writing fraternity I was again insulted by the crass behaviour of the publishing industry. I have not read '50 Shades of Grey' but it featured briefly in Richard Osman's new quiz show Tribes. The show uses responses to questions to divide contestants into groups and one of those questions yesterday was who has read the offending books. The people reading 50 Shades unanimously hated it (apparently it is a trilogy) and yet it was published. I believe that was because of the sexual content. Once again the recognised publishers put sales above worth at every turn.
The point of writing for me is to entertain not to line the pockets of already filthy rich publishing houses.
Steele My hero was created post recession and so has no concept of how 'good' things were pre-2008. In 'I Have To Get It Right' when he began to flex his muscles he was working in an accountant's office. Then after the Gurentai took him under their wing and removed all of his financial worries, it was justice that was his major concern. He did become involved in international relations in 'The 51st State' but it was for the maintenance of a respectful distance between countries, rather than economic reasons. His trips into the USA had repercussions which can be read about in 'The Biter Bit' but then by the time things began to change in 2011 and the recession was really biting, Steele was trying to make sense of the state of the nation in 'A Changed Reality' and coming up against some really nasty people taking advantage of the shortage of money. By the time the USA are out of their recession Steele's steps are still being dogged by an unknown enemy from the same country. In 'Inceptus' we also find out more about what makes the man tick. The most recent Steele book 'Castled' Steele is once again at risk from unseen enemies. It would seem that he has become quite recession proof!
All books are available in paperback or ebook through Amazon, Smashwords and all good book shop websites.
Cessation This is a dystopian story that hinges directly on the state of the nation as a result of fiscal mismanagement. Having said that it is more a story of human relations, privations, love and loss.
God Bless
As a member of the writing fraternity I was again insulted by the crass behaviour of the publishing industry. I have not read '50 Shades of Grey' but it featured briefly in Richard Osman's new quiz show Tribes. The show uses responses to questions to divide contestants into groups and one of those questions yesterday was who has read the offending books. The people reading 50 Shades unanimously hated it (apparently it is a trilogy) and yet it was published. I believe that was because of the sexual content. Once again the recognised publishers put sales above worth at every turn.
The point of writing for me is to entertain not to line the pockets of already filthy rich publishing houses.
Steele My hero was created post recession and so has no concept of how 'good' things were pre-2008. In 'I Have To Get It Right' when he began to flex his muscles he was working in an accountant's office. Then after the Gurentai took him under their wing and removed all of his financial worries, it was justice that was his major concern. He did become involved in international relations in 'The 51st State' but it was for the maintenance of a respectful distance between countries, rather than economic reasons. His trips into the USA had repercussions which can be read about in 'The Biter Bit' but then by the time things began to change in 2011 and the recession was really biting, Steele was trying to make sense of the state of the nation in 'A Changed Reality' and coming up against some really nasty people taking advantage of the shortage of money. By the time the USA are out of their recession Steele's steps are still being dogged by an unknown enemy from the same country. In 'Inceptus' we also find out more about what makes the man tick. The most recent Steele book 'Castled' Steele is once again at risk from unseen enemies. It would seem that he has become quite recession proof!
All books are available in paperback or ebook through Amazon, Smashwords and all good book shop websites.
Cessation This is a dystopian story that hinges directly on the state of the nation as a result of fiscal mismanagement. Having said that it is more a story of human relations, privations, love and loss.
God Bless
August 21, 2014
Writing - History through social mores
We depend upon many sources for the history of our cultures. Nursery Rhymes are famous for telling stories by interpretation.
[image error]
Ring a ring o' rosesa pocket full of posiesatishoo atishoowe all fall down.
The above refers to the Black Death and is thought to originate in the 17th century. The 'ring of roses', and sneezing (atishoo) were symptoms of the plague. The posies were small bunches of sweet smelling flowers which was thought to ward off the illness. 'We all fall down' refers to the high death rate.
[image error]
Baa baa black sheep have you any wool,Yes sir, yes sir, three bags full,One for the master and one for the dame,and one for the little boy who lived down the lane.
This nursery rhyme was believed to be quite political. The 'Master' refers to one of two Plantagenet kings either Edward I or Edward II. In both cases it was suggested that the royals were trying to make money from the very healthy wool industry that existed in those days. Edward I was accused of adding a heavy tax on wool in 1275 whereas Edward II was encouraging European finishers and dyers who were felt to be better at the finishing processes involved in producing woollen material.
Further afield in Japan something of Japanese culture through the history of the geishas.
A literal translation of the term geisha is 'performing artist' and sometimes just 'artist'.The history of Japanese geisha as we know it begins at the turn of the 18th century. The first geisha were men, and their profession was purely to entertain, serving as a kind of ‘warm up’ for the headline act of the courtesans (oiran). A generation of teenage odoriko (the ‘dancing girls’ hired by upper-class samurai) saw the potential of this new art form, and as they advanced into adulthood many of them joined the ranks of geisha in the 1750s, with many choosing to sell their artistic skill as opposed to their bodies.On occasions more traditional prostitutes called themselves geisha which eventually led to a decline in the geisha industry in the middle of the 1900's. There is still a geisha industry today and it is principally to support the tourist trade and has returned to the original format of showcasing Japanese arts.
[image error]
When it comes to researching work for our stories then enriching the quality of the background to your settings may be in the areas of social history. I know I tend to go on at length about the depth of the setting and the characters in stories but it is in an effort to engage the reader and give a more satisfying reading experience.
God Bless
[image error]
Ring a ring o' rosesa pocket full of posiesatishoo atishoowe all fall down.
The above refers to the Black Death and is thought to originate in the 17th century. The 'ring of roses', and sneezing (atishoo) were symptoms of the plague. The posies were small bunches of sweet smelling flowers which was thought to ward off the illness. 'We all fall down' refers to the high death rate.
[image error]
Baa baa black sheep have you any wool,Yes sir, yes sir, three bags full,One for the master and one for the dame,and one for the little boy who lived down the lane.
This nursery rhyme was believed to be quite political. The 'Master' refers to one of two Plantagenet kings either Edward I or Edward II. In both cases it was suggested that the royals were trying to make money from the very healthy wool industry that existed in those days. Edward I was accused of adding a heavy tax on wool in 1275 whereas Edward II was encouraging European finishers and dyers who were felt to be better at the finishing processes involved in producing woollen material.
Further afield in Japan something of Japanese culture through the history of the geishas.
A literal translation of the term geisha is 'performing artist' and sometimes just 'artist'.The history of Japanese geisha as we know it begins at the turn of the 18th century. The first geisha were men, and their profession was purely to entertain, serving as a kind of ‘warm up’ for the headline act of the courtesans (oiran). A generation of teenage odoriko (the ‘dancing girls’ hired by upper-class samurai) saw the potential of this new art form, and as they advanced into adulthood many of them joined the ranks of geisha in the 1750s, with many choosing to sell their artistic skill as opposed to their bodies.On occasions more traditional prostitutes called themselves geisha which eventually led to a decline in the geisha industry in the middle of the 1900's. There is still a geisha industry today and it is principally to support the tourist trade and has returned to the original format of showcasing Japanese arts.
[image error]
When it comes to researching work for our stories then enriching the quality of the background to your settings may be in the areas of social history. I know I tend to go on at length about the depth of the setting and the characters in stories but it is in an effort to engage the reader and give a more satisfying reading experience.
God Bless
August 20, 2014
Poetry Thursday 124 - Where do the words come from?
The inspiration for the poem below came from 'The Magic of Bell Isles' which has so much to offer anyone who writes. The nine years old Finnegan O'Neil asks crusty old author Monty Wildhorn where stories come from? The answer was long and I'm not going into that but the idea of when words come hit me yesterday. I wasn't thinking specifically of poetry but words for my stories as well.
When do the words come?
They come as I fall asleepand again in the still of the nightas slumber approaches from deepor recedes as on occasion it might.As the moon driven tide laps shoresround the world’s watery margins.
They come at the behest of the viewor the sound of a trumpet callingas the notes have the power to reneweach one a clarion summoning.At every wave of the baton the conductordirects them to every corner of my mind.
They come when strange speakers deliverbut not in the original sequencein torrents or singly they quiverthe creative sail billowing in deference.Every line and sentence heard may only produce one needed word.
They come to me as a crowdjostling noisily for roomcreating mystery, love and umbrella proudunder which readers’ minds may bloom.Is there hope that those who readwill derive pleasure’s seed?© David L Atkinson August 2014
God Bless
When do the words come?
They come as I fall asleepand again in the still of the nightas slumber approaches from deepor recedes as on occasion it might.As the moon driven tide laps shoresround the world’s watery margins.
They come at the behest of the viewor the sound of a trumpet callingas the notes have the power to reneweach one a clarion summoning.At every wave of the baton the conductordirects them to every corner of my mind.
They come when strange speakers deliverbut not in the original sequencein torrents or singly they quiverthe creative sail billowing in deference.Every line and sentence heard may only produce one needed word.
They come to me as a crowdjostling noisily for roomcreating mystery, love and umbrella proudunder which readers’ minds may bloom.Is there hope that those who readwill derive pleasure’s seed?© David L Atkinson August 2014
God Bless
August 19, 2014
Writing - Don't believe everything your told!
I can remember my father often saying that you shouldn't believe everything your told. He trotted out this mantra on many occasions when governments made claims or stories appeared in the press that had the potential for spurious content. Today a couple of such tales have hit the news in the UK.
[image error]
This is purely political. Today the rail network fixes ticket prices for the next 12 months. The price increase is set by the government to be inflation plus 1%. There are a couple of significant and spurious facts in this action.
First of all inflation rate. We have been told for the last couple of years that inflation has never been more than 2% but last year the calculation for the price of rail tickets was supposedly 3.4%! It will be interesting to see what the government comes up with today.
Secondly, when British rail was privatised the British people were told that privatisation would mean greater investment that would improve services and drive down prices. To say that was spurious is wishy-washy it was a downright lie. In fact there was a recent example when the private companies running the east coast part of the service failed and it was taken over by the government it turned a profit for the first time since privatisation. What have the government done? Re-privatised the line - stupid or what?
[image error]
Julian Assange is reportedly to come out of the Ecuadorean embassy where he has been hiding for 2 years to escape extradition to Sweden where he is wanted on sex related charges. He of course was the Wikileaks founder. This man, irrespective of some of the good he may have done has cost the people of the UK £7 million in costs for policing the embassy so that he couldn't escape.
Writing fiction is not unlike writing articles for the newspapers. If you are sceptical about the quality of writing thrust at you in various forms, remember even TV news is written and simply read from an Autocue teleprompter machine, take a story read it in two different newspapers and compare with TV news. It is blatantly sensationalist and edited to give a 'better affect' and so increase circulation or viewing numbers. It is not as factual as you should be entitled to.
When you create stories you can manipulate words to achieve a given end and the only limit is the stretch of your imagination. We ask our readers to believe what we are telling them but they read our work knowing that it is a creation of another's mind. The news we are fed should be factual and not a source of entertainment.
Okay, political rant over. I was reading some advice about marketing books specific to stories written as part of a series. The advice was simple and obvious when you think about it.
'Push the first book in a series'
'I Have To Get It Right' is the first book in the Steele series. It was the first full length novel I have written and so is not as polished as the later ones. (I'm not saying they are perfect!) On the other hand it is the one where Patrick A Steele is introduced and the scene set for the future novels. I'm currently over half way through number 7.
If you like thrillers, adventure, travel and more then Steele could be right up your street. I have been told twice recently that my stories would make great TV. Give them a try. There are samples to read on Smashwords and CompletelyNovel.com as well as in Amazon Kindle.
On VG today.
http://venturegalleries.com/serial/time-fuse-bomb-gave-chance-escape/
God Bless
[image error]
This is purely political. Today the rail network fixes ticket prices for the next 12 months. The price increase is set by the government to be inflation plus 1%. There are a couple of significant and spurious facts in this action.
First of all inflation rate. We have been told for the last couple of years that inflation has never been more than 2% but last year the calculation for the price of rail tickets was supposedly 3.4%! It will be interesting to see what the government comes up with today.
Secondly, when British rail was privatised the British people were told that privatisation would mean greater investment that would improve services and drive down prices. To say that was spurious is wishy-washy it was a downright lie. In fact there was a recent example when the private companies running the east coast part of the service failed and it was taken over by the government it turned a profit for the first time since privatisation. What have the government done? Re-privatised the line - stupid or what?
[image error]
Julian Assange is reportedly to come out of the Ecuadorean embassy where he has been hiding for 2 years to escape extradition to Sweden where he is wanted on sex related charges. He of course was the Wikileaks founder. This man, irrespective of some of the good he may have done has cost the people of the UK £7 million in costs for policing the embassy so that he couldn't escape.
Writing fiction is not unlike writing articles for the newspapers. If you are sceptical about the quality of writing thrust at you in various forms, remember even TV news is written and simply read from an Autocue teleprompter machine, take a story read it in two different newspapers and compare with TV news. It is blatantly sensationalist and edited to give a 'better affect' and so increase circulation or viewing numbers. It is not as factual as you should be entitled to.
When you create stories you can manipulate words to achieve a given end and the only limit is the stretch of your imagination. We ask our readers to believe what we are telling them but they read our work knowing that it is a creation of another's mind. The news we are fed should be factual and not a source of entertainment.
Okay, political rant over. I was reading some advice about marketing books specific to stories written as part of a series. The advice was simple and obvious when you think about it.
'Push the first book in a series'
'I Have To Get It Right' is the first book in the Steele series. It was the first full length novel I have written and so is not as polished as the later ones. (I'm not saying they are perfect!) On the other hand it is the one where Patrick A Steele is introduced and the scene set for the future novels. I'm currently over half way through number 7.
If you like thrillers, adventure, travel and more then Steele could be right up your street. I have been told twice recently that my stories would make great TV. Give them a try. There are samples to read on Smashwords and CompletelyNovel.com as well as in Amazon Kindle.
On VG today.
http://venturegalleries.com/serial/time-fuse-bomb-gave-chance-escape/
God Bless
August 18, 2014
Tuesday Recipe - Pitta pizzas and roast pork with roasted vegetables
This week I present a culinary kaleidoscope of easy, cheap but very tasty meals.
Cheese and tomato pitta pizza
This very easy and cheap pizza is great for a supper or snack and can be a source of entertainment if you have the children help and make their own. Half a dozen (6) pittas cost 85p and one is perfectly adequate particularly if served with salad.
The most difficult part is the tomato sauce that you smear over the pitta bread before adding the topping. I used a can of tomatoes, an onion, finely chopped, a couple of cloves of garlic, a tablespoon of tomato paste and handful of basil. Fry off the onion in a tablespoon of oil and an ounce of butter. When soft add the minced garlic and fry for another couple of minutes. Season with salt and black pepper. Add the remaining ingredients and simmer for about fifteen minutes then put through a blender. Allow to cool then use as required.
The pizza above has tomatoes, cheese and onion. The one below chilli beef and cheese.
Finally, the weekend meals were roast park with the trimmings and roasted vegetables.
Again nothing special but the meal included three of your five-a-day. The vegetables that I find roast well are potatoes, carrots, parsnip and haricots (only ten minutes). I enjoy garlic, salt, black pepper and paprika and so the oil and butter in which I cook the vegetables is liberally laced with those products. I cook the harder veg for around 30 minutes at 175 degree C in a fan oven, adding the haricot beans for the last ten minutes.The shiny sauce you can see over the meat is the juices that the vegetables were roasted in plus a couple of teaspoons of gravy browning and a half pint of boiling water. I deglazed the roasting tin just by adding the water and gravy browning (granules or salt). The shiny finish is due to the butter and olive oil mix.
God Bless
Cheese and tomato pitta pizza
This very easy and cheap pizza is great for a supper or snack and can be a source of entertainment if you have the children help and make their own. Half a dozen (6) pittas cost 85p and one is perfectly adequate particularly if served with salad.
The most difficult part is the tomato sauce that you smear over the pitta bread before adding the topping. I used a can of tomatoes, an onion, finely chopped, a couple of cloves of garlic, a tablespoon of tomato paste and handful of basil. Fry off the onion in a tablespoon of oil and an ounce of butter. When soft add the minced garlic and fry for another couple of minutes. Season with salt and black pepper. Add the remaining ingredients and simmer for about fifteen minutes then put through a blender. Allow to cool then use as required.
The pizza above has tomatoes, cheese and onion. The one below chilli beef and cheese.
Finally, the weekend meals were roast park with the trimmings and roasted vegetables.
Again nothing special but the meal included three of your five-a-day. The vegetables that I find roast well are potatoes, carrots, parsnip and haricots (only ten minutes). I enjoy garlic, salt, black pepper and paprika and so the oil and butter in which I cook the vegetables is liberally laced with those products. I cook the harder veg for around 30 minutes at 175 degree C in a fan oven, adding the haricot beans for the last ten minutes.The shiny sauce you can see over the meat is the juices that the vegetables were roasted in plus a couple of teaspoons of gravy browning and a half pint of boiling water. I deglazed the roasting tin just by adding the water and gravy browning (granules or salt). The shiny finish is due to the butter and olive oil mix.
God Bless
August 17, 2014
Writing - Dream jobs and daft ideas
As I have aged I have noticed a propensity for the validation of daft ideas. Writing stories allows you to stretch your ideas into all kinds of shapes, sizes and functions but that is because they are accepted as not real, but since the advent of health and safety, political correctness and other such nonsense, it seems that writers no longer have cornered the market in imaginative creativity.
[image error]
Cambridge University are offering a doctorate in chocolate! They are looking for someone to study the biochemistry of temperature stable chocolate so that the product can be made not to melt in hot climates. Really! Let me see, we have cancers aplenty, power shortages forecast for the future, and Ebola but we want to waste money on stopping chocolate from melting in the desert!!!!
Other creative arts showcase the ridiculous also. There are legions of examples but let me share some of my least favourite pieces.
[image error]Damien Hirst's half a cow!
Now I'm sure some art critic or even Mr Hirst himself would be able to justify this but I'll put my cards on the table and say that this was never or ever could be art. Honestly, I arrange the same with half of any creature preserved but it wouldn't make it art. As a 6th form Biology student we dissected rats weekly, and the final lay out could look quite interesting, gruesome but interesting!
[image error]by David Mach 1983
The submarine was created as a protest against the proliferation of nuclear weapons. So it had a purpose of sorts but then it was set on fire by a protester who subsequently died as a result of burns.
[image error]Bricks!!!
Sorry this is not art, its a pile of bricks laid out on the floor in a rectangle. The frightening thing is that someone probably received a degree education with all the financial subsidies that entails!
[image error]Pompidou Centre, Paris
I was fortunate enough to be able to spend a week in Paris in 1986 and while there visited a modern art exhibition in the above centre. Two exhibits stand out in my mind. The first was a steel girder about 12 feet long and with a piece of cotton wool wrapped round the centre. The second was 144 blue ceramic tiles laid out on the floor and called 'The Sea'. Now I think they were examples of artists taking the mickey out of the gullible onlookers, like me!
The point is, apart from a little light relief, art is whatever it is and some people will enjoy and appreciate different things. It is the same with writing. Critics who laud certain styles of writing and criticise others are expressing personal opinions. People who read will like some works and not others and we as writers have to accept that. If your focus as a writer is money then you will find the current most popular genre and attempt to produce that sort of story. However, if you write because that is what you enjoy doing then you're in the realm of pleasing some of the people some of the time. Whichever you are, enjoy the writing first and worry about the marketing later.
God Bless
[image error]
Cambridge University are offering a doctorate in chocolate! They are looking for someone to study the biochemistry of temperature stable chocolate so that the product can be made not to melt in hot climates. Really! Let me see, we have cancers aplenty, power shortages forecast for the future, and Ebola but we want to waste money on stopping chocolate from melting in the desert!!!!
Other creative arts showcase the ridiculous also. There are legions of examples but let me share some of my least favourite pieces.
[image error]Damien Hirst's half a cow!
Now I'm sure some art critic or even Mr Hirst himself would be able to justify this but I'll put my cards on the table and say that this was never or ever could be art. Honestly, I arrange the same with half of any creature preserved but it wouldn't make it art. As a 6th form Biology student we dissected rats weekly, and the final lay out could look quite interesting, gruesome but interesting!
[image error]by David Mach 1983
The submarine was created as a protest against the proliferation of nuclear weapons. So it had a purpose of sorts but then it was set on fire by a protester who subsequently died as a result of burns.
[image error]Bricks!!!
Sorry this is not art, its a pile of bricks laid out on the floor in a rectangle. The frightening thing is that someone probably received a degree education with all the financial subsidies that entails!
[image error]Pompidou Centre, Paris
I was fortunate enough to be able to spend a week in Paris in 1986 and while there visited a modern art exhibition in the above centre. Two exhibits stand out in my mind. The first was a steel girder about 12 feet long and with a piece of cotton wool wrapped round the centre. The second was 144 blue ceramic tiles laid out on the floor and called 'The Sea'. Now I think they were examples of artists taking the mickey out of the gullible onlookers, like me!
The point is, apart from a little light relief, art is whatever it is and some people will enjoy and appreciate different things. It is the same with writing. Critics who laud certain styles of writing and criticise others are expressing personal opinions. People who read will like some works and not others and we as writers have to accept that. If your focus as a writer is money then you will find the current most popular genre and attempt to produce that sort of story. However, if you write because that is what you enjoy doing then you're in the realm of pleasing some of the people some of the time. Whichever you are, enjoy the writing first and worry about the marketing later.
God Bless
