For reasons which are no longer important, I recently found myself trying to remember whether St Thomas Aquinas was for or against free will.
It got me thinking: If only someone could sum up the key points of St Thomas Aquinas's world view and set them to some sort of music....like, oh, I don't know, an iconic 80s pop classic, maybe.
Well, OK, it's not exactly what I ended up thinking. But even so, just imagine my joy when I found this early today:
The good news is, that there is a whole channel on of these clips on YouTube. Are you a bit rusty on the French Revolution? Here's some Lady Gaga. Or maybe you need to know how to make an Egyptian mummy, in which case Green Day can help you out.
And look! Look! They have even done THE CANTERBURY TALES!!
It is a brilliant idea. I am slowly making my way through all 47 of them, and am particularly looking forward to the story of Beowulf to the tune of 99 Luftballoons. The Justin Timberlake / Sexyback take on William the Conqueror, also.
Tuesday, 30 November 2010
Monday, 29 November 2010
They can only read the thoughts you put down, carefully and with great love, on the page
IT'S OVER. IT'S FINALLY OVER.
I finished NaNoWriMo today. By finished, I mean I wrote my 50,000th word, then wrote a few more to take me to the end of the scene I was in the middle of, then closed the document I've been working on all month with a massive sigh of relief.
It's been hard this year - really hard. And there is still plenty of work to be done. The story is nowhere near finished (except in my head) and it's full of holes where I skipped past bits which were too difficult or boring or scary to write. The parts I *did* write are full of spelling mistakes, cliches, strings of words which make no sense at all and clunky, cringe-inducing dialogue. I'm going to have to do some serious editing before I'm happy to start showing it to people, and can't even begin to imagine how may re-writes it will take to turn what I have so far into something which could possibly be described as a novel. I imagine very few of the 50,193 words I wrote this month will eventually make the final cut, but at least they're written down. Which means, in NaNoWriMo terms, I have FINISHED.
As much as I love NaNoWriMo, I have to admit I'm glad it's over. Sacrificing quality for quantity has served a purpose this month, but I can't wait to start working at a slower pace again, and on a smaller scale. Tinkering with stories - changing things, trying new ideas out, crafting and polishing sentences until they are just right - is one of my favourite parts of the process. It's sort of like a writer's version of pottering about in the garden shed, I suppose. I've missed it. I'm looking forward to mucking about with words again, and trying to get them right, safe in the knowledge that I can delete phrases and sentences - whole paragraphs even! - without having to worry about the detrimental effect on my word count.
It will be nice to actually *like* something I've written again, too. It has been a while. I hate the fact that the few blog posts I have mananged to squeeze out in November have been rushed and error-filled and poorly constructed; my excuse is I've been wanting to get back to my NaNoWriMo story which is, of course, also rushed and error-filled and poorly constructed. (Is that irony? I'm too tired to tell.)
This comes from a NaNoWriMo pep-talk penned by writer and McSweeny's founder Dave Eggers. He's explaining what he loves about NaNoWriMo:
Then of course you'll have to revise it ten or twenty times, but let's not talk about that yet.
I finished NaNoWriMo today. By finished, I mean I wrote my 50,000th word, then wrote a few more to take me to the end of the scene I was in the middle of, then closed the document I've been working on all month with a massive sigh of relief.
It's been hard this year - really hard. And there is still plenty of work to be done. The story is nowhere near finished (except in my head) and it's full of holes where I skipped past bits which were too difficult or boring or scary to write. The parts I *did* write are full of spelling mistakes, cliches, strings of words which make no sense at all and clunky, cringe-inducing dialogue. I'm going to have to do some serious editing before I'm happy to start showing it to people, and can't even begin to imagine how may re-writes it will take to turn what I have so far into something which could possibly be described as a novel. I imagine very few of the 50,193 words I wrote this month will eventually make the final cut, but at least they're written down. Which means, in NaNoWriMo terms, I have FINISHED.
As much as I love NaNoWriMo, I have to admit I'm glad it's over. Sacrificing quality for quantity has served a purpose this month, but I can't wait to start working at a slower pace again, and on a smaller scale. Tinkering with stories - changing things, trying new ideas out, crafting and polishing sentences until they are just right - is one of my favourite parts of the process. It's sort of like a writer's version of pottering about in the garden shed, I suppose. I've missed it. I'm looking forward to mucking about with words again, and trying to get them right, safe in the knowledge that I can delete phrases and sentences - whole paragraphs even! - without having to worry about the detrimental effect on my word count.
It will be nice to actually *like* something I've written again, too. It has been a while. I hate the fact that the few blog posts I have mananged to squeeze out in November have been rushed and error-filled and poorly constructed; my excuse is I've been wanting to get back to my NaNoWriMo story which is, of course, also rushed and error-filled and poorly constructed. (Is that irony? I'm too tired to tell.)
This comes from a NaNoWriMo pep-talk penned by writer and McSweeny's founder Dave Eggers. He's explaining what he loves about NaNoWriMo:
Knowing there are thousands of others out there trying to do the same, who are using this ridiculous deadline as cattle-prod and shame deterrent, means goddamnit, you better do it now because you know how to write, and you have fingers, and you have this one life, and during this one life, you should put your words down, and make your voice heard, and then let others hear your voice. And the only way any of that's going to happen is if you actually do it. People can't read the thoughts in your head. They can only read the thoughts you put down, carefully and with great love, on the page. So you have to do it, goddamnit. You have to do it, and you can step back and be happy. You can step back and relax. You can step back and feel something like pride.He's quite right, of course (goddamnit).
Then of course you'll have to revise it ten or twenty times, but let's not talk about that yet.
Thursday, 25 November 2010
Away
I'm not yet, but I will be from tomorrow, and I'm not going to be in front of a computer between now and then.*
Back Monday; have a lovely weekend. Stay warm.
* Normally at this point I'd say "so there will be no blog action for the next few days", or words to that effect, but given that NaNoWriMo has turned my November into No-No-Blog-Mo(nth), that just feels wrong. There probably wouldn't have been much blog action any way this weekend, but at least now you know it's because I'm too busy drinking champagne and shopping at the French Christmas markets and not because I'm sitting in front of a computer screen, swearing a lot and wondering what kind of IDIOT would ever think that trying to write 50,000 words might be a fun way to spend November.
Back Monday; have a lovely weekend. Stay warm.
* Normally at this point I'd say "so there will be no blog action for the next few days", or words to that effect, but given that NaNoWriMo has turned my November into No-No-Blog-Mo(nth), that just feels wrong. There probably wouldn't have been much blog action any way this weekend, but at least now you know it's because I'm too busy drinking champagne and shopping at the French Christmas markets and not because I'm sitting in front of a computer screen, swearing a lot and wondering what kind of IDIOT would ever think that trying to write 50,000 words might be a fun way to spend November.
Tuesday, 23 November 2010
2005: Australian man threatens to shoot down chopper with tomato-bazooka*.
I *love* the Today in History web gadget. Especially today.
On a less violent note, today also saw the world's first jukebox unveiled, the debut of Life Magazine, Dr Who being broadcast on TV for the first time, and the invention of the horse-shoe making machine.
If it happens to be your birthday, you share it with Otto the Great, Alfonso the Wise, and John Wallis, who invented the infinity symbol. (If you're not as wise as Alfonso, that's the one which looks like a sideways number eight.) Also Harpo Marx (from the Marx Brothers), and Maxwell Caulfield (from Grease 2, also known as The Worst Movie Sequel Of All Time) and a bunch of musicians, namely Bruce Hornsby, a rapper called Tha Dogg Pound and Ken Block. Ken Block is the lead sister of Sister Hazel, who are a band you might (probably) have never heard of, but probably (might) have heard, because loads of their songs are used in films and TV shows.
I really, really like Sister Hazel. Their music is great, which would be reason enough to like them, but I also heard them interviewed on a podcast once, and they just seemed like such nice blokes. Other great things about them: their hard-core fans are known as "Hazel-nuts"; they named themselves after a nun who runs a homeless shelter; they have a great song about a starfish, as per the video below. What's not to love?
By the way, if you arrived here because you are off to Tall Tales at the Peckham Literary Festival tonight, and followed that link in the program, then hello. You're in for a real treat.
*The tomato-bazooka was home-made, apparently; the man was so irritated by the noise being made by a helicopter flying over his house that he rang Air Services Australia and threatened to shoot it down. "Fruit is hardly a weapon of mass terror", said his solicitor.
I really, really like Sister Hazel. Their music is great, which would be reason enough to like them, but I also heard them interviewed on a podcast once, and they just seemed like such nice blokes. Other great things about them: their hard-core fans are known as "Hazel-nuts"; they named themselves after a nun who runs a homeless shelter; they have a great song about a starfish, as per the video below. What's not to love?
By the way, if you arrived here because you are off to Tall Tales at the Peckham Literary Festival tonight, and followed that link in the program, then hello. You're in for a real treat.
Sunday, 21 November 2010
Sunday Night Music Club
The good news is, after writing 9400 words this weekend my NanoWriMo project is back on track. The bad news is, after writing 9400 words this weekend, I am wrecked. Absolutely wrecked.
Just replace the word "September" in this song with the word "November", and you'll have a clue as to my mental state at the moment.
Don't get me wrong: after falling so far behind, I'm really glad to have caught up, and after this weekend there's no way in the world I'm not going to finish this thing, but PLEASE COULD SOMEBODY MAKE IT STOP?
Just replace the word "September" in this song with the word "November", and you'll have a clue as to my mental state at the moment.
Don't get me wrong: after falling so far behind, I'm really glad to have caught up, and after this weekend there's no way in the world I'm not going to finish this thing, but PLEASE COULD SOMEBODY MAKE IT STOP?
Wednesday, 17 November 2010
Sorry Sorry Sorry Sorry Sorry Sorry Sorry Sorry
Sorry.
It is Wednesday, which means there is ANOTHER Apprentice episode on tonight, and I still haven't done a round-up of last week's yet. And that was the round-up which was going to start with a quick mini-round-up of the week before, because I didn't manage to do that one either. On the round-up front, I'm failing miserably, is what I'm basically saying.
Sorry.
Speaking of failing miserably, see that little NaNoWriMo progress bar over on the right? We are over half way through November. Is 23,000 words more than half of 50, 000? No it is not. No matter how bad you are at maths.
*Sigh*
It is Wednesday, which means there is ANOTHER Apprentice episode on tonight, and I still haven't done a round-up of last week's yet. And that was the round-up which was going to start with a quick mini-round-up of the week before, because I didn't manage to do that one either. On the round-up front, I'm failing miserably, is what I'm basically saying.
Sorry.
Speaking of failing miserably, see that little NaNoWriMo progress bar over on the right? We are over half way through November. Is 23,000 words more than half of 50, 000? No it is not. No matter how bad you are at maths.
*Sigh*
Sunday, 14 November 2010
Sunday Night Music Club
The link is tenuous, but bear with me.
I've just come home from a lovely long lunch at Artisan and Vine, one of my favourite places,in the world. It's my birthday tomorrow, and lunch was the culmination of an excellent weekend of birthday celebrations with various friends, most (all) of which involved quite a lot of wine and all of which were a lot of fun.
A friend gave me some cheese as a birthday present. Not just any cheese; it's the cheese made by Alex James from out of Blur. One reason I like Artisan and Vine so much is it's the kind of place where, when my friend said "it's her birthday and she's just been given some special cheese; would you mind if we had some bread so we can all try it?" the waiter didn't even bat an eyelid.
The cheese was ace, lunch was ace, my other presents were all ace, the whole weekend has been ace. It's been the best birthday I've had in years, and IT'S STILL NOT EVEN MY ACTUAL BIRTHDAY YET. I have some seriously excellent friends.
All this means that picking a song tonight was tricky, becuase I wanted to mark the occasion in some way. I nearly picked a "getting older" song, and then I nearly picked a Blur song and then I nearly picked an "all my friends are absolutely ACE" song and then I looked up Alex James on Wikipedia and discovered he has a son called Gallileo and then I remembered this:
I've just come home from a lovely long lunch at Artisan and Vine, one of my favourite places,in the world. It's my birthday tomorrow, and lunch was the culmination of an excellent weekend of birthday celebrations with various friends, most (all) of which involved quite a lot of wine and all of which were a lot of fun.
A friend gave me some cheese as a birthday present. Not just any cheese; it's the cheese made by Alex James from out of Blur. One reason I like Artisan and Vine so much is it's the kind of place where, when my friend said "it's her birthday and she's just been given some special cheese; would you mind if we had some bread so we can all try it?" the waiter didn't even bat an eyelid.
The cheese was ace, lunch was ace, my other presents were all ace, the whole weekend has been ace. It's been the best birthday I've had in years, and IT'S STILL NOT EVEN MY ACTUAL BIRTHDAY YET. I have some seriously excellent friends.
All this means that picking a song tonight was tricky, becuase I wanted to mark the occasion in some way. I nearly picked a "getting older" song, and then I nearly picked a Blur song and then I nearly picked an "all my friends are absolutely ACE" song and then I looked up Alex James on Wikipedia and discovered he has a son called Gallileo and then I remembered this:
Saturday, 13 November 2010
It's only words.....
And to quote The Bee Gees/Boyzone (delete as applicable, depending on your age), they are all I have. About 18,000 of them, to be exact, which means I still have to find another 32,000 before the end of November.
I've also beeen loaned an excellent book of unusual words, which I've been dipping into and which is full of all sorts of interesting bits. For instance:
When you're looking at a map or navigtional chart and see little pointy marks indicating dangerous rocks, those are called vigias. The marks, I mean, not the rocks. Those are just called rocks. It comes from the Latin vigilia which means "keeping watch" and is where we get words like vigil, vigilance, vigilante etc. (Which reminds me, I haven't been to see what the Vigilant Citizen has been up to lately. I need to rectify this.)*
A mangonel (say it out loud; if there is any word that rolls off the tounge quite as nicely as this one does, I'd be surprised) is a contraption involving pullys and wheels and designed to throw large items - boulders, javelins, etc - during battles.
Pilgarlic is an old-fashioned word for being bald; it literally comes from the phrase "peeled garlic".
*I have just checked; there is an advertisment on his website which says:
TOP SECRET - How to make electricity at home. Discover what the electricity company has been hiding!
I'm glad he's been using his time wisely.
I've also beeen loaned an excellent book of unusual words, which I've been dipping into and which is full of all sorts of interesting bits. For instance:
When you're looking at a map or navigtional chart and see little pointy marks indicating dangerous rocks, those are called vigias. The marks, I mean, not the rocks. Those are just called rocks. It comes from the Latin vigilia which means "keeping watch" and is where we get words like vigil, vigilance, vigilante etc. (Which reminds me, I haven't been to see what the Vigilant Citizen has been up to lately. I need to rectify this.)*
A mangonel (say it out loud; if there is any word that rolls off the tounge quite as nicely as this one does, I'd be surprised) is a contraption involving pullys and wheels and designed to throw large items - boulders, javelins, etc - during battles.
Pilgarlic is an old-fashioned word for being bald; it literally comes from the phrase "peeled garlic".
*I have just checked; there is an advertisment on his website which says:
TOP SECRET - How to make electricity at home. Discover what the electricity company has been hiding!
I'm glad he's been using his time wisely.
Sunday, 7 November 2010
Sunday Night Music Club -the early edition
I'm going out for dinner later, so thought I'd slip this one in early.
Why this song now? Well, I'm listening almost exclusively to music which would have been around in Autumn 2002 at the moment, because that's when the story I'm writing is set. Basically it came down to a choice between this, Westlife and Liberty X.
You're welcome. Besides, it has that sort of melancholy Sunday night feel to it, don't you think?
Hard-core Stereophonics fans will tell you that this song was actually relased earlier than 2002 and they'd be quite right. But then I did say I'm listening to music which was *around* in Autumn 2002, and since that's when the second series of The Office was broadcast, and that series used a version (not this one) of Handbags and Gladrags as its theme-song, it was EVERYWHERE in Autumn 2002. Remember?
Why this song now? Well, I'm listening almost exclusively to music which would have been around in Autumn 2002 at the moment, because that's when the story I'm writing is set. Basically it came down to a choice between this, Westlife and Liberty X.
You're welcome. Besides, it has that sort of melancholy Sunday night feel to it, don't you think?
Hard-core Stereophonics fans will tell you that this song was actually relased earlier than 2002 and they'd be quite right. But then I did say I'm listening to music which was *around* in Autumn 2002, and since that's when the second series of The Office was broadcast, and that series used a version (not this one) of Handbags and Gladrags as its theme-song, it was EVERYWHERE in Autumn 2002. Remember?
Saturday, 6 November 2010
Test your powers of observation here
You may have already noticed; I've written 11 764 words this week. (If you hadn't already noticed, let me gently guide your eyes downwards and to the right slightly. And if you're still none the wiser about what this whole NaNoWriMo malarky is all about, let me gently point you over here.) Yay me.
You may also have noticed, not many of those words have been ones I've written here. And having raised your expectations last week with with my oh-so-prompt Apprentice round-up, I've let them come crashing down again by not even managing to get one of those written this week. I feel bad.
Yes, I'm afraid there's a steadily growing pile of tumbleweed just on the other side of this blog. Sorry about that. But you didn't really expect me to write 50,000 words of a novel AND keep up with posts this month, did you? There are loads of things I *want* to blog about, including (in no particular order) that Apprentice round-up, a review of a brilliant book I read a few weeks ago, and my reaction to the NaNoWriMo backlash which rippled through the publishing industry this week. Also the lady I saw today at Royal Festival Hall, wearing a gold, skin tight leopard skin jumpsuit and blue stilettos and hula-hooping. So it's not that I'm short of ideas. Just short of time.
Normal service should resume in early December I hope; in the meantime I'll do my best to get a couple of short posts up during the week. Also in the meantime, here's something silly.* But quite brilliant.
*Bonus related fact (which might make more sense after you watch the clip): It's my birthday soon. Just saying.
You may also have noticed, not many of those words have been ones I've written here. And having raised your expectations last week with with my oh-so-prompt Apprentice round-up, I've let them come crashing down again by not even managing to get one of those written this week. I feel bad.
Yes, I'm afraid there's a steadily growing pile of tumbleweed just on the other side of this blog. Sorry about that. But you didn't really expect me to write 50,000 words of a novel AND keep up with posts this month, did you? There are loads of things I *want* to blog about, including (in no particular order) that Apprentice round-up, a review of a brilliant book I read a few weeks ago, and my reaction to the NaNoWriMo backlash which rippled through the publishing industry this week. Also the lady I saw today at Royal Festival Hall, wearing a gold, skin tight leopard skin jumpsuit and blue stilettos and hula-hooping. So it's not that I'm short of ideas. Just short of time.
Normal service should resume in early December I hope; in the meantime I'll do my best to get a couple of short posts up during the week. Also in the meantime, here's something silly.* But quite brilliant.
*Bonus related fact (which might make more sense after you watch the clip): It's my birthday soon. Just saying.
Monday, 1 November 2010
Pots, Kettles, and a case of mistaken identity
Just now on University Challenge, Jeremy Paxman told off one of the contestants: "you know, there's no need to be so disdainful, just because you think the questions are too easy". Quite right, Jeremy. That's your job.
This wasn't even the best moment of television brilliance I witnessed today. Earlier this afternoon, Iwas watching had on in the background and barely noticed becuase I was SO BUSY WORKING a quiz show called Pointless. It's hosted by Alexander Armstrong and involves contestants trying to come up with answers to questions which are correct but which no one else will think of. (I have not sold it well; it's actually a very clever concept and deserves better than the daytime slot it has been given, in my humble opinion.) Anyway, these two women had to name people who had been on the celebrity version of the Apprentice. After much conferring, they came up with Abi Titchmarch.
Alexander Armstrong did an admirable job of acting as if they had given a perfectly sensible answer; but then the ladies realised they had made a mistake. "No, wait, who do we mean?" one of them said. "We've got that wrong. Abi Titmuss. TITMUSS."
"Yes, I think you probably did mean Abi Titmus" said Alexander Armstrong, trying not to explode into fits of giggles. Erm, let's check to see how many of the people we surveyed said Abi Titchmarch, which is what you said, and so the answer I have to take. Not surprisingly, the answer was zero. Which is normally a good thing on this program, but only if the answer is actually correct, which of course it wasn't.
This wasn't even the best moment of television brilliance I witnessed today. Earlier this afternoon, I
Alexander Armstrong did an admirable job of acting as if they had given a perfectly sensible answer; but then the ladies realised they had made a mistake. "No, wait, who do we mean?" one of them said. "We've got that wrong. Abi Titmuss. TITMUSS."
"Yes, I think you probably did mean Abi Titmus" said Alexander Armstrong, trying not to explode into fits of giggles. Erm, let's check to see how many of the people we surveyed said Abi Titchmarch, which is what you said, and so the answer I have to take. Not surprisingly, the answer was zero. Which is normally a good thing on this program, but only if the answer is actually correct, which of course it wasn't.
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