CORAL'S WEBLOG

Wrong day - AAAARRRRRGGGGGHHHH

2009-05-10T14:58:00.000-07:00

Pokemon Platinum is in the shops on the TWENTY SECOND of May. OMFG. I'll have died of suspense by then.

POKEMON PLATINUM IS OUT!!!

2009-05-07T15:27:00.000-07:00

Has anyone got hold of this yet?
I took my poorly self to Morrisons to look for a copy for my Nintendo DS, the first time I've been out of the house in 6 weeks, and by god I paid for it in pain later, only to find a complete lack of lovely pokemon. I was distraught.
Anyhoo, I'm desperate to play this game, and would love to hear from anyone who has, so they can tell me whether it's a good as I'm expecting it to be.
I understand there are new pokemon in platinum, which is a bit of a groan as my pokedex is still incomplete up to existing games, but is incredibly exciting as well. I could cheat by going wireless and trading with other folk to complete my pokedex, but I'm far too precious for that, I HAVE to do it myself, so I can feel marvellous compared to people who haven't completed their pokedexes yet, hee hee.
I'm going to take a look at the cheat sites to read the reviews, but I definitely need to talk about the game too.

A very strange bloke!

2009-05-07T15:00:00.000-07:00

I am having the most bizarre experience right now with a chap (can't name names) on the net who won't send me his rewritten story for issue 3 as he doubts my identity!!!
It's so funny because I actually offered to publish this bloke as he's never been in print and by the look of his message board posts, was getting downhearted about it. The story was basically good, but needed some work, which I was prepared to do myself.
When I put the story into the dtp to start work on it, I sent him a message asking for an address to send his contributor's copy to. He informed me that there was no need to rewrite for him as he was doing it himself, using the advice of one Mr Worthington as a guideline. Fair enough. However he declared that he could not send me the rewritten text until I could vouch for my identity in public.
The reason for this need for confirmation is apparently due to the fact that I deleted my account,(as it was a personal one) and started a fresh account solely for the purpose of running the magazine, which is all I do on the net now, apart from my lovely blogger blog!
Get this, he actually thought I might be an imposter, setting up an account and pretending to be me just so that I could gain access to his home address. Just his, nobody else's.
This given the fact that all my magazine conversations were still ongoing, etc etc, so I'm obviously me!
I'm afraid to say I absolutely howled, poor sod, I took the piss out of him rotten. His ungraciousness is forgivable, I suppose, him being only 19 and still full of adolescent ludicrousness, but his paranoia level is just so enormous as to afford much entertainment. How unkind I am.
I see another Chris Barker in the making.
I needed to share that as it's still boggling me a bit, I still haven't had the rewritten story I offered to publish. How very, very odd.

Even more rude veg!

2009-05-07T14:53:00.000-07:00

I can't believe it, I've actually got one of my own!
I didn't grow it, my daughter discovered it in a bag of shop-bought carrots while cruising for nibbles. Much hilarity ensued, then she ate it!!!!
Fortunately she took a photo of it before she scarfed it down, so here is my very own rude vegetable, ta-dah...

All on my own :(

2009-04-29T16:24:00.001-07:00

My co-editor Caroline Callaghan is no longer able to help me with the magazine. I would like to thank her for her support and work, and wish her all the best for the future.

Anyone want to be a co-editor???????

Black Book of Horror Volume 4.....

2009-04-28T15:36:00.000-07:00

Is here at last, hurrah!
The latest anthology of hair-raising, haunting, hellish horror from editor Charles Black is now available from his site, here:
http://www.freewebs.com/mortburypress/
If you haven't tried the Black Books yet you really are missing out. With a plethora of top writers creating some of the best horror fiction around at the moment, both classic style and modern, and the delightfully reminiscent Pan Book of Horror stylings, they are definitely a treat for lovers of the macabre.
I like them too!

The Fourth Black Book of Horror
Category: Writing and Poetry

The Fourth Black Book of Horror is now available.

CONTENTS

Soup - Craig Herbertson
Words - Paul Finch
A Cry For Help - Joel Lane
With Deepest Sympathy - Johnny Mains
Many Happy Returns - Carl T. Ford
All Hallow's Even - Franklin Marsh
Dead Water - David A. Sutton
And Still Those Screams Resound...' - Daniel McGachey
Love is in the Air - Gary McMahon
The Head - Reggie Oliver
The Devil Looks After His Own? - Ian C. Strachan
Bad Hair Day - Gary Fry
Flies - Hazel Quinn
Nails - Rog Pile
The Lord of the Law - David Conyers

15 TALES OF TERROR SELECTED BY CHARLES BLACK

Very, extremely, awfully,terribly ill...

2009-04-28T15:29:00.000-07:00

Argggghhhhh, help, dying etc.
There's been a big gap betwen the latest post and it's predecessor because I've been a bit poorly. Actually I'm still a bit poorly, but I'm bravely sweating over a hot computer whilst awaiting an operation to put me right. Hopefully it won't be much longer, then I will regale you with all the gory details, hee heee.

TTMC ISSUE 3 LINE UP

2009-04-28T15:25:00.000-07:00

Monday, April 27, 2009

TTMC HAS BALLS
Current mood: froggy

Metaphorically speaking of course!
Due to the fact that female submissions are at a premium, I've had no choice but to open submissions fully to male authors as well, otherwise it would be a positively anorexic publication.
Changes are going to have to be made. While I will still be rooting about trying to find new female talent, I will be considering submissions from both sexes for the main body of the magazine, rather than just having a men's section.
It will have to be the thinking PERSON's crumpet from now on, hee.
I refuse to feel a failure, if ladies won't submit I can't promote them, it's as simple as that.
I will get round to updating the various blurbs eventually. In the meantime here is the line up for issue three.

Stories:

CONTROL by Anna Stephens
GHOST by Sue Rule
THE STRANGE CRUCIFIXION by Lobolover
RUBBISH by Suzanne Jackson
SOLTICE by Franklin Marsh
SHE WALKED INTO NIGHT by Sue Rule
BEYOND THE DOOR by Benedict Jones

Also verse by Roswell Ivory and Mia Quayle, and art by Karn McCloud and Roger Pile.

More items are expected in from Glen Hamilton, James Stanger, Craig Herberson and Sean Parker, and with that, submissions for issue three are now closed. Should anyone care to submit for consideration in future issues, please feel free to do so, reading is not done at set times.

Coral x

Currently listening:
Rollodex Propaganda
By At the Drive in
Release date: 2000-12-04

"ODDEE"

2009-03-06T15:12:00.000-08:00

I was thinking of doing a humourous post on the weirdest place names in the world, as I've seen them on "Oddee", a site devoted to strange facts and amusing lists of stuff you'd never even think of, but I think it's probably better if you see for yourself. If you haven't visited the Oddee site yet, and you love hilarious trivia, then go and have a look, it really is quite...odd!

http://www.oddee.com/default_0_87_datetime.aspx

Serial Killers-5-Peter Kurten

2009-03-06T14:32:00.001-08:00

Peter Kurten - The Dusseldorf Vampire.

Peter stands out among the German serial killers and has a particular fascination for me. Unlike Fritz Harmann, there was no element of gain concurrent with the pleasure of his murderings. Nor was he extremely psycopathic like Grossman. In fact Peter killed purely for the thrill of it, in "cold blood", as it were, and in pretty much complete control of his faculties. He chose to kill. I think he justified his actions to himself as revenge on a society that had let him down, not showed him the proper respect. And indeed had punished him with prison sentences for his "lesser" crimes.
Germany between the wars was a fairly disorganised place, and was in a state of political and social flux, so it is partially possible to see why he got away with so many killings without being caught. Also he appeared on the surface to be quite normal. He married a lady with a resentful attitude similar to his own, possibly the one person in his life that he ever treated a a human being rather than an object to be subjugated to his will. He attended church regularly.
As the soubriquet suggests, there was a cannibalistic element to his murders. That usually suggests a killer who has tried everything and has reached the ultimate degredation. When the sexual appetite has become jaded enough to break this final and deep rooted taboo, it's generally a culmination of a lifetime's experimentation with all things "perverse", and after that, apart from becoming more abandoned in his actions, there was really nowhere left for Peter to go.
That, subconsciously, is when he became careless; the desire to be released from being driven by insatiable appetites making him vulnerable to errors of judgement that simply wouldn't have happened earlier on in his serial killings. Killers of this type have often to be "opportunist"" and grab their victims where they can, but to take one into his home, then allow her to leave unharmed, was definitely a sign that his reign of terror was becoming wearying to him. After all, being born in to a dysfunctional and abusive family, he had been practising sexual perversions since early childhood, starting with attempted rape and bestiality, and culminating in the first of his serial killings, the sexually motivated mutilation and murder of an eight year old girl.
His final intended victim kept her word not to say anything verbally, but a letter she wrote to a friend describing her experience was misdirected to a lady who was so shocked by the contents that she immediately reported it to the police. Thus the victim was contacted and asked by the police to show them where this person lived. She was able to remember his apartment in the Mettermanstrasse and took them straight there. That was the end of Peter Kurten's serial killings, based loosely in fantasy on the "Jack The Ripper" murders, for whom he had a great admiration.
Kurten was guillotined for his crimes in July 1931. His final wish was that he would hear his blood gushing out of his neck when his head was severed. Well, they do say that the sense of hearing is the last thing to go. That was his idea of the ultimate thrill.

Serial Killers-4-Harvey Glatman

2009-03-06T14:01:00.000-08:00

The chap you're thinking of goes by the name of Harvey Glatman. he used to pretend to be taking girls off to the desert for the privacy to take glamour shots of them, but when they arrived he would tie them up first then abuse them, taking pictures at each stage of abuse. Then when he was done he'd leave them to die or kill them himself. He didn't kill very many girls, indeed he often took them out and didn't do anything at all, and as you pointed out one of them got away, so he wasn't an awfully effective serial killer.
Glatman was committing crimes in the fifties when a car and a camera and a spot of cash in the pocket would have been an indication of a good character and he was an intelligent chap, so probably had no problem seeming sincere. By all accounts he was very unattractive physically and didn't have a good time at school, which left him with a great deal of resentment. He found his victims by advertising in a lonely hearts column.
He was finally stopped in his tracks by one of his victims who managed to gain control of his gun, despite already being wounded!
He ended up in San Quentin's gas chamber in August 1959.

Posted initially as a response to an enquity elsewhere.

Serial Killers-3-Elizabeth Bathory

2009-03-04T17:53:00.000-08:00

Did you know that mediaeval murderess Elizabeth Bathory was first recognised and encouraged as a sadist by her husband?? He liked her to be firm with staff and get good results from them, and as he was away so much, he thought it would do her good to have a little hobby, having also recognised her lesbian tendencies. By all accounts it was a good marriage, although Elizabeth outlived him.
To a certain degree I think she DID believe that bathing in blood was a good anti-ageing remedy, but it was also rather convenient given her tastes!
She had a specialised room for torturing girls that her two servants "in the know" helped her to operate, and a male servant to procure said girls. She liked to tie them helpless and flay, beat, bite and generally hurt them until they died of exhaustion and blood loss, allegedly gaining a great deal of sexual pleasure from doing so. Sometimes she had more than one tied up to torture at once, I think seven at one sitting was the record, but don't quote me on that.
The parish priest knew for some time what was happening up at the castle, but continued to bury the bodies while wondering what to do about it. The servants disposed of a great many of the bodies too, apparently they had to be put in the woods after the moat became too congested to hold any more.
The crunch only came for Elizabeth when she discovered that torturing the innocent, gently reared daughters of the nobility and other emminent citizens added a certain piquancy to the proceedings. Parents began to wonder why so many girls died off when taken into service at castle Bathory. Unlike the peasants who had too many mouths to feed, were unlettered and in the habit of putting their children out anywhere to work, or even selling them, the upper classes wanted to know what was happening to their valuable marriage tokens, and enquiries were made.
Under pressure the servants gave up their information and they were executed for their parts. However Elizabeth was too important to be executed so she was "walled up" in her own castle. A room slightly larger than an oubliette with no opening other than a small hatch for food and water to be passed in was her home for the last four years of her life.
The anti-ageing remedies must have been very good for her, she was obviously quite robust to last that long under those circumstances.

ISSUE 3 of TTMC.....

2009-03-04T14:54:00.000-08:00

Issue 3.....

WILL be published, despite my personal misgivings. I have had a great deal of input over this problem, and have decided that while I intend to cease trying to do "social networking" on the internet, I will continue for now to produce this magazine. We've already got some fabulous material lined up, and are looking forward to getting more. It would be a shame to let down the readers and contributors who have worked hard to make TTMC successful, so keep the subs coming and we'll publish in June. 

Serial Killers-2-Nature V Nurture?

2009-03-03T16:21:00.000-08:00

I think you're right there, if the soul could be translated as "conscience", or the ability to empathise with other people. The true psycopath does not have this ability, even non-psycopathic pattern offenders have less empathy and are able more easily to reason away the bit they do have to square things up with themselves.
I've been looking at the nurture verses nature issue lately, and whether psycopathy that leads to violent physical or sexual offenses has any real biological basis. I've not quite assimilated all the information yet, but there definitely seems to be more of a "nature" problem than a "nurture" one. Serial killers brains do usually have faults from birth, or lesions from other later traumas on the frontal lobes, the "conscience" area that helps people modify their natural instincts.
Obviously an abusive upbringing can bring out the worst in a child, or maybe surface later on in life, but the predisposition seems to already be there for these types, after all not all abused people go on to become abusive to others, physically or sexually, or even verbally.
One "nurture" factor that does seem to have a bearing is whether the person in question was properly bonded as an infant. Serial killers have a much higher incidence of maternal non-bonding than other types of offenders. Perhaps the infant had to spend a great deal of time in a hospital or other institution, or was seriously neglected company-wise in the home. Infants that don't make a specific bond with their main carers have a much more difficult time connecting on an every day levelwith others.
I'm not sure there can be one standard simple explanation for why a particular person becomes a serial killer, but there does appear to be a core of basic factors, the majority of which are biological, one or more of which are present in virtually every case of psycopathic pattern offense, particularly of a sexual type.
Does anyone have more information on the study of the damaged frontal lobes, I'd be really interested to hear it

Serial Killers-1-Albert Fish

2009-03-03T16:13:00.000-08:00

Albert is one of my personal favourites. I usually find the German serial killers more interesting than the British or American, but this guy's a real oddball amongst oddballs! Some facts about Albert that I found fascinating: He had children of his own and he got them to beat him up for masochistic pleasure. It took him nine days to completely consume the body of Grace Budd. When he was x-rayed, he was found to have a variety of metal objects (pins, nails etc) sunk in to the groin region of his body. I don't know if they went in too far and got "lost", or whether he embedded them fully on purpose. The mind boggles!

from the TTMC myspace blog, and ditto TTMC freewebs, and the two message boards I post at shortly...

2009-03-02T18:31:00.000-08:00

Tuesday, March 03, 2009

OK I GIVE IN
Current mood: disappointed
Category: Life

Anybody want a magazine???
OK here goes.
Obviously this needs to be discussed with Caroline, my co editor, but unless she absolutely desperately wants me to continue with TTMC I don't think I'll be doing any more.
I'm not wimping it, really I'm not, when one has ptsd as severely as I do it's virtually impossible to function as a human being anyway, without the stress of trying to ineract with the rest of the world. And if you're going to publish a magazine, interact you must.
During the majority of the three years I have been using the internet I have managed to produce two vaguely shabby magazines that quite frankly shame the authors that have contributed to them, and have made the sum total of one, yes one!, friend. These are very poor batting averages.
The internet is full of nutters and arseholes, I realise that, and I've as much right to be here as the next emotional cripple, but I've become a liability to anyone associated with me, and that really pisses me off, because all I want to do is be useful, believe it or not.
Anyhoo, forewarned is forearmed. I'll keep you posted. I'll probably keep my personal blog to witter about childrens programmes and funny shaped vegetables, it's theraputic, but the rest of it seems likely to fall by the wayside. My appologies.
Someody just wished me a happy life. I'd laugh if I hadn't cried so hard my head fell off, so now I have nothing to laugh with!!!
Bye for now.
Coral.

1:54 AM

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RETRACTION.

2009-03-02T13:56:00.000-08:00

I completely retract the entire "Bad Review" post. My comments were mistaken and ill-informed. My appologies to mr Tennant.

Cat-thulhu

2009-03-01T16:22:00.000-08:00

I found this photo on Photobucket a few years ago and posted it everywhere as I liked it so much. Here it is again for anyone who hasn't seen it yet. Cute or what?

Dydd Sant Ddewi Sant

2009-03-01T16:18:00.001-08:00

Happy St David's Day!!! Mae Dydd Dewi Sant Hapus I Chi!!!

YU-GI-OH!

2009-02-28T15:21:00.000-08:00

I'm having one of THOSE days.
Anyhoo, today Duff has mostly been watching "Yu-Gi-Oh" on Veoh Videos. It's not the best animation I've ever seen as the plot is so thin as to seem papery, but much exciting drawing is made of each battle scene, and the monsters are quite inventive. On the up side, there are literally hundreds of episodes, enough to keep the kids going for yonks, and they're all free to view.

http://www.veoh.com/search/videos/q/yugioh%20english#watch%3Dv1095700knjtKb42

I feel like Half Man Half Biscuit.....

2009-02-28T00:21:00.001-08:00

" I GOT A BAD REVIEW"
Well, I suppose it's not totally disasterous, but it's not great either!
Issue 2 of TTMC has been reviwed by Pete Tennant on his myspace blog, or rather " ridiculed" would be more apt.
I dunno, it wouldn't be so offensive if it was actually MY work, but to treat the writings of these earnest folks so offhandly is quite upsetting to me. After all, the point is not the snobbery and one-upmanship so prevelant in the SMALL small press, but actually the fiction, particularly first attempts at it.
TTMC is deliberately produced as cheaply as possible, without genre and formatting boundaries, particularly to help induce new writers to get up the courage to submit. It's about getting an audience for these peeps, adding something to their CV, encouraging them to go on to submit to more prestigious publications, not about out-doing the other small press mags.
The stories are "not the be all and end all" , according to mr Tennant, which although disheartening for the authors, is the one fair thing he says, after all, taste and opinion differ. Perhaps another reviewer will find them more interesting, who knows. Most folk I've spoken to so far thought they were mostly good to very good, I just wish they'd put it in writing!!!!!
HERE'S THE REVIEW:

http://blogs.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=blog.view&friendId=185348653&blogId=472812971

My Daughter's Review / Rebecca Elizabeth Spence Reviews Viva Pinata On Nintendo DS

2009-02-27T16:38:00.000-08:00

Ok so, the aim of this game is to run three diffrent gardens, fill the gardens with diffrent type of pinatas. To do this you must fill the required specifications of the specific pinata e.g you must have 80% of your garden land an 20% of the garden water to make one specific pinata become a resident in the garden (obviously the specs change for diffrent pinatas). Once the pinata enters the garden the objective is to feed it the right candys an stop it getting "poisened" by sour candy, until it is ready to "romance". As far as I can gather the main aim of the game is to become a master "romancer" an create diffrent colour pinatas. You can also theme your gardens. I am told it's alot more complex than this but I'm just giving a rough review of what its about.

My mum an my little sister have both been thoughly obsessed with the game for months now an I just had my first go an I can see why they like it, but I wonder about a few things on the game. The first thing is you get two of the same pinatas an feed the both a piece of candy, an then you push them together an they both get little love hearts above their heads, ok so now they are in love how cute; until they then start running towards their house an once they enter the house the house start violently bouncing up and down. I wonder what they could be doing the game calls it "romancing" how suitiable for children with the obvious refrence to sex.
An another thing is such thing as a "sour crawler" comes comes into the garden which the pinatas love to eat, but if they eat it it makes them ill so to stop the pinatas eating the sour crawlers sour candy you have to repeatedly smash the sour crawler in the head with a shovel! No joke, how violent is that? Also if you have unwanted pinatas you smash them over the head with a shovel an you can sell the candy that was inside them.

After all that said I still think its well worth a go (just aslong as you don't let yourself get addicted) LOL. I might add that we have two coppies of this game in my house so my mum an my sister can both play at the same time, as they were both arguing constantly about whos go it was to play.

Classic PUNK...I recommend this...

2009-02-25T16:39:00.000-08:00

My first Stranglers album, all those years ago, sigh.
Classic Stranglers, relying heavily on JJ Burnel's big baselines, and slightly dodgy lyrics which a least have a fictional quality to them rather than the usual political comment or plain shock material that was punks general fare at the time.
A link to one of my favourites:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UI7Wa637YQo

FOLLOWERS

2009-02-25T16:22:00.000-08:00

I gloated too soon!
My following has stayed at five instead of running into the hundreds as I confidently expected within days of my arrival here ;)
So now an appeal. Please dearest visitor, whomever you be, do click on the followers link, just to make me happy. After all, it doesn't mean you actually have to read it, hee hee.
Here's a photo from our trip to Truro the other day. My daughters, odd folk, but very super.

I AM READING....

2009-02-22T15:16:00.001-08:00

CANNIBAL -
The History Of The People-Eaters
by Daniel Korn,
Mark Radice,
Charlie Hawes.

This book accompanies a Channel 4 television series of the same name which I haven't seen, but am now going to look out for as I'm fascinated by the written version.
Simply written and laid out in chronological order, from earliest times to modern day, Cannibal charts the social implications of humans eating humans, the traditional , religious and plain "just for fun" aspects. It manages to be informative without patronising folk who may already have some knowledge of the subject, and it explores this taboo of people eating thoroughly and candidly without undue lack of sensitivity.
If you are as fascinated as I am with this trait of human nature, along with all things criminal and taboo, you'll enjoy reading "Cannibal."

Rude veg, part 2 thereof

2009-02-22T15:08:00.000-08:00

OK, enough with the silly vegetables. But no, I'm afraid I'll be searching these out at regular intervals. Why, because they combine so many of my favourite things in one; such as vegetable growing, (surprise!) peurile humour, and ludicrous sexual innuendo.
In fact, I'd love to see any odd shaped thing that you've grown personally, if you wouldn't mind revealing it of course.
These are great!

MUSIC - A blast from the past..

2009-02-22T15:00:00.000-08:00

BIG HAIR ROCK!
If like me you're a fan of 80's AOR, you'll like this album by American veterans of rock, GIANT. It's called "Last of the Runaways", and it's jam packed with every big hair/stadium cliche. Imagine Aerosmith, Scorpions and Heart all rolled into one and you've got it. Ballads, upbeat sexy numbers, throwaway humour, and ample doses of Malmsteen-like twiddly bits.
A lovely trip down memory lane.

I Googled PUSSY

2009-02-22T14:49:00.000-08:00

And here are a few things that came up. Apparently one can wear it, drink it, pet it, in fact you name it and there's a product for it called "pussy"!
And of course there's the obvious, yes, CATS.
My favourite animal. I prefer cats to people sometimes, and defintely I prefer them to children.

TTMC ISSUE 3

2009-02-21T21:14:00.000-08:00

copied and pasted wholesale from the magazine myspace page!!!

Sunday, February 22, 2009

Submissions for Issue Three are now open.
Current mood: awake

Please send in what you have by way of words or pictures as we're now taking the submissions for the next issue, being number three.
ETA is May/June, so I could do with everything being in by the beginning of April, please.
Issue One, which was originally published in June last year, will also be released again at the same time, as not everybody got a copy who wanted one due to my grand disappearing act. As I have none of the original copies, it will be a fresh creation, and although using the same stories, I would be pleased to have a couple more, and maybe some extra artwork too, as not all the original material has surived.
More definite information will be posted here very shortly, as I have some some different ideas for no 3 that Caroline and I will have to arrange between us.
Coral.

Currently playing:
Hello Kitty: Big City Dreams (Nintendo DS)
Release date: 2008-11-28

4:37 AM

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Now playing on Nintendo DS - HELLO KITTY, Big City Dreams

2009-02-21T17:11:00.000-08:00

All little girls love pink things; cute, sweet, small, shiny pink things. Actually, so do some big girls too. Ahem, anyway, I bought this, for my daughter of course, but obviously had to test run it to check it was suitable before handing it over ;)
It's small, it's cute, it's painfully sweet, and it's as pink as any small girl could wish!!!
Kitty moves into the city to start life in her own apartment. The city is divided into tree main areas, linked by train, and different activities are accessed in each third. Kitty's aim is to earn friendshp points which she can use like money to upgrade to larger rooms in her apartment block, ending up on the top floor penthouse suite. Nothing like a bit of healthy ambititon, eh?
Along the way she can shop at the Sanrio kiosk, learn to make sushi, and capture spooks in the haunted house.
This game is simple to use for even tiny ones, and is visually pretty enough to mask the very simple graphics. It's one of the cheaper games in the DS range, so well worth buying for your little, or not so little one.

COOLIRIS

2009-02-21T16:44:00.000-08:00

Roger discovered this briliant new faciity yesterday. It's called "COOLIRIS", and it's a whole new way of browsing the web.
The graphics, layout and effects are truly gorgeous, it's a pleasure to use from an aesthetic point of view, and it's also very, very simple to navigate, which is good news for technodunces like me.
It works along side all the usual blogs, galleries and searches, and has it's own features. Lots of them.
For anyone who hasn't seen it yet, here's the info link:

http://www.cooliris.com/launch/done

I love the games there, typical, what about news and world affairs, hmmm? You'll need to set up an account to share, post etc, but you can download and join with a few clicks. Enjoy.

COMMENTS!!!

2009-02-21T16:28:00.000-08:00

Erm...I didn't realise folk had been leaving comments on my posts until last night, when I also realised that I hadn't noticed that my "comments visible" setting wasn't ticked. Duh. Thanks for commenting peeps, please keep doing so, and perhaps I'll be able to reply now!!!!!

EXCITING NEW PURCHASES:

2009-02-19T17:38:00.000-08:00

Nintendo nerd extraordinaire announces smashing new accessory purchases. Am I alone, or does anyone else here like gaming on DS?

A bus Ride in Cornwall

2009-02-19T15:53:00.000-08:00

St Day and Truro Cathedral.

On a whim I decided to take a trip to the nearest big town today. That happens to be Truro, a tiny cathedral city nine miles away from the hamlet near Redruth where I currently reside.
Despite the nine mile proximty, the travelling time on the T7 bus, which departs once an hour from outside my door (luxury compared to Llanfair Caereinion, which has zero buses!), is one hour and five minutes.
The route was possibly the most rural available in south west Cornwall, where the scenery is pastoral yet densely inhabited, not that there was a choice, of course. Circuitous is the best way to describe the navigation, with double-backs, detours round hamlets and villages; and mostly on B roads that would have barely enough room for two bicycles to pass each other.
Unfortuately the cranky old bus broke down two miles out of Truro and we passengers were transferred wholesale onto a different service. It was actually a blessing in disguise, as the new bus took a direct route into town, whereas the previous one would have subjected us to a further fifteen minutes of doubing back before we got there.
The countryside I passed through made the journey worth while though, sitting high up on a bus is defintely the best way to get a good view over the hedges and cottages. Hamlets and villages tended to sprawl longways over the miles of twisty lanes merging and thinning again so that no area was truly empty, and no area particularly packed.
I passed through a couple of miniature towns, and those too tended to straggle along side the streets rather than clump together in the centre, the centre usually being a fairly open area with the streets radiating off.
The views, especially over the more open land, tended to be rather chocolate-box picturesque, not full of outstanding natural beauty but rather charming, with quaintly shaped stone cottages and fields with natural hedgerows and ditches.
When the sun poked through from time to time a drastic change came over the whole landscape. The cottages glowed and the hedges sparkled with the first wild flowers giving an early taste of the rich, colourful rusticity that folk travel here to take in during the summer months. During winter Cornwall is as bleak as anywhere else, I can assure you. I can see in my mind's eye that well thumbed image of the dusty travelers expression of satisfaction as the honeysuckled inn full of cool draught beers hoves into view in the village square on a warm afternoon in early September.
There was one small town, not far out of Redruth that made me feel dreadfully homesick. A little place called St Day. It reminded me very strongly of Machynlleth in mid west Wales, and I was taken over momentarily by the biggest wave of hiraeth since I left my beloved homeland. Oddly, I have found a lot of racial rejudice against me in the hamlet where I live. Apparently to be Welsh is the worst possible handicap one could suffer in life, and the local children don't wish to catch any Welshness from my daughter. Shame really, she might have had a good effect on their diction, and taught them English as a language rather than a collection of simple sayings strung together that serve all purposes.
The Cornish people are quite simple folk on the whole, they don't acively dislike outsiders as such, merely ignore them and hope they'll go away. Those involved in the tourist industry have good people skills and are polite and friendly, unlike their Welsh village counterparts who will discuss you while you stand there, in their native language. I haven't come across Cornish spoken as a seperate language yet, so intend to purchase a primer to teach myself.
The city of Truro is laid out in the same way as the other groups of buildings, scaling up in size from hamlet, through village and town, to city. The small but beautiful perpendicular cathedral lies in a small grounds at the centre,with the streets running outwards like the spokes of a wheel, joined acrossways with smaller roads creating a fine network of rambly, old, cobweb shaped build up.
It's really quite lovely. Everything old has been preserved as such and there's no shame in not presenting an ultra modern covenience style facade. Truro likes to be exactly what it is, a Cornish market town.
The shopping areas seem to have absorbed the fast food and technology places without altering their fundamental integrity, and defintely compare with Chester, if not quite Shrewsbury; there's still plenty of original architecture to be seen. However the little quayside could do with a bit of a facelift, I think, it's very full of traffic cones and shopping trolleys, and a massive old houseboat that's seen better days.
Moving about is no problem, the town centre is busy and bustling, but not so overcrowed as to make things uncomfortable. The train and bus stations are conveniently placed, but the car parking facilties are inadequate to say the least. There's very little of it, and it's mostly out of town, making the walk from the outskirts rather long and tedious. I think perhaps when these lovely old market towns were growing people brought their produce, livestock etc in on foot, leaving their horses and carts and such at inns and ostelries around the outskirts of town. Many had central market areas with trestles or booths ready set up, or ready to be set up, often after paying for the privelage of using them, and times and places for particular goods and services. The church was very often the source of rules and fees, owning the land on which the cental plaza stands.
After a good browse around, taking in some lovely pseudo-archaic shops such as Pasttimes and Whittards, I ate fast food and purchased technology! My daughter had take out hot chocolate from Costa, and I treated her to her own copy of Viva Pinata from HMV to stop her taking mine off me all the time! Absolutely the best of both worlds, pleasantly blended, on a small enough scale to take in in an afternoon make Truro a very nice place to have a small shopping trip. If you're ever in Cornwall, do have a look.
The bus ride home passed easily, I drowsed on and off, and think I possibly snored for a while, making it much shorter. The bus itself actually made it back to Redruth without breaking down again, although that is apparently a common thing. I was sceptical at first when I found the local buses to have a tendency to be late, if they turn up at all, but now I see why. The drivers actually put up a valiant ongoing struggle against unsuitable roads, passengers who steadfastly refuse to be picked up anywhere but their own doorsteps, physically getting round other road users, and the vagueries of weather. The vehicles take quite a hammering.
I thoroughly enjoyed the trip on the whole, and would heartily recommend seeing Cornwall by bus rather than train or car as you get much further "under the skin" of the real countryside and its views and goings-on.
I was quite tired by the time I got home, and more than ready for my evening trifle. It's not something I'd do every day, but next time I feel like sitting back and watching the country go by, I'll take another bus ride.

D F LEWIS'S "Fuckbubble" !!

2009-02-18T16:30:00.000-08:00

I think pretty much everyone I know is suffering from stretched finances at the moment, and there doesn't seem to be any sort of remedy in view as yet. I've been taking part in a discussion on a forum I visit in a vain effort to understand what's going on in the world economy, and I'm finding it's a lot to get my head around. A chum of mine seems to have got HIS head around the problem, and there's a fair bit of enlightenment to be had from his succint description of the current FINANCIAL FUCKBUBBLE; it's certainly food for thought anyway to read the ideas of these intelligent people.
I can't work out a solution self, perhaps you'll have better luck?

http://www.knibbworld.com/campbelldiscuss/messages/1/1581.html?1234971627

W.I.T.C.H.

2009-02-16T18:10:00.000-08:00

Far from new, this is another young persons animation I've been watching with my daughter recently. While it couldn't be classed as manga, or anime, it is as well drawn as the best of Japanese animation. Indeed, some of the transformation scenes are absolutely beautiful, particularly the "astral drops" sequence. As it's made by Disney, you're unlikely to find it free on the net, but second hand copies on DVD are relatively inexpensive on Amazon.
Both sexes will find enough to identify with in the characters, the five Guardians of the Veil are modern young girls with substantial messages, and the teenage male leader of the revolution is slightly more sensitively portrayed than is usual.
This is less likely to interest adults, despite the strong plot, but for the young it's avery pleasant way to pass a rainy Sunday afternoon.
Here's a link to clips on youtube:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cCQKTW4L-dQ

The Horror Mall.

2009-02-16T17:34:00.000-08:00

"THE HAUNT", at the Horror Mall, is a great place to go online and interact with other fans of scary books and films. You'll find people from all walks of life, with all sorts of hobbies and interests, but all sharing one common delight; the love of a good fright!
If you like horror, in any or all of its various guises, go along and join up. There are profiles for finding friends and networking, if that's your bag, and forums to discuss every aspect of the spooky industry.
For a site devoted to horror, there's a decidely friendly atmosphere, and there's plenty of information available on finding books and films, including lataest releases, in both small and popular presses.
You will have to join to view the site, it's private membership, but as joining up takes about 35 seconds it's no hardship, and the owner is constantly working towards a spam and ad free environment that's relaxed and comfortable for members to browse.
I'm off to post a bulletin asking for information on where to obtain a copy of the original black and white film "Dead of Night", a I can't find one anywhere. See you there.

http://www.horror-mall.com/haunt/

How important am I ?

2009-02-16T17:17:00.000-08:00

MY FOLLOWING HAS REACHED 5 MEMBERS NOW, SO I THINK IT MUST BE TIME FOR SOME SORT OF COMMEMERATIVE OCCASION TO CELEBRATE MY NEW FOUND IMPORTANCE. I WILL PUBLISH A GIFT LIST SHORTLY, I JUST NEED TO POLISH MY MEDALS FIRST.

Good job I canl augh at myself,imagine if you started taking it seriously!!!

KEEP READING THOUGH FOLKS, I FEEL BETTER THAN JAMES BROWN....

a MUST for cheese lovers..!

2009-02-14T14:59:00.000-08:00

For sad peeps all around the world, do you like cheese? I admit to owning this tome; I picked it up cheap second hand and found it made fascinating reading, yes, REALLY. I'm particularly partial to a nice bit of Wensleydale. Also rans include Jarlsberg and Emmenthal. Wot's your favourite???

The "FANTASTIC FICTION" site.

2009-02-14T14:40:00.000-08:00

The Fantastic Fiction site is a valuable resource for research, personal or otherwise. Their catalogue of authors and titles is phenomenal, and is continually expanding.
If you're looking for information on a particular book by someone, or their entire bibliography, or even release dates and publishers details, it's all there. Nice if you're looking to browse an author for further reading for yourself too.
Fanastic Fiction welcome input, and are pleased to receive rare cover pictures to accompany the text.
The site is here:

http://www.fantasticfiction.co.uk/

Here a some of my personal favourites:
http://www.fantasticfiction.co.uk/l/norah-lofts/
http://www.fantasticfiction.co.uk/h/james-herbert/
http://www.fantasticfiction.co.uk/w/john-wyndham/
http://www.fantasticfiction.co.uk/c/ramsey-campbell/
http://www.fantasticfiction.co.uk/p/jean-plaidy/

MUSIC - I recommend this - ALICE DONUT

2009-02-13T15:30:00.000-08:00

If you like the indie style punk, you'll love Alice Donut. They're American, they've been going for 20 years or so, and their style is harsh and uncompromsing with a highly technical melodic background.
There's heaps of political and social observation, delivered forcibly with wailing trumpets and grunge guitars, and some just plain oddness. This video is one of my favourite tracks, "MEDICATION"...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5d72hc4nPiM

Anime ~ (TOKYO MEW) ~ Mew Mew Power.

2009-02-13T15:19:00.000-08:00

Mew Mew Power is the English language version of Toyo Mew, an anime devoted to a group of five girls with "animal" superpowers. By day they go to school and work part time in a cafe as a cover, but are ready to transform to do battle at a moments notice. It takes a few episodes to get off the ground and introduce the characters, and the characterisation isn't quite as good as it could be, but the drawing is great and the plot adequate.

Here's a random episode:
http://www.veoh.com/collection/s288664/watch/e178390a8PMRMBg

WRITER'S MARKETS -

2009-02-13T15:12:00.000-08:00

If you are a writer and are looking for a home for your work, check out this site:

http://www.ralan.com/

It has everything in one place; paying and non paying publications, books, magazines, ezines and podcasts, all genres, fiction and otherwise. Ralan is a fantastic commodity for writers both new and established. It can be a bit boggling to navigate at first, but it's well worth the effort.

2009-02-13T15:08:00.000-08:00

My fetish for trifle has reached astronomical proportions. I don't suppose anyone could tell me how to make one myself ??? And before you say,"look in a cook book", I can tell you now they don't work. You end up with something runny that vaguely resembles strawberry soup. I NEED TRIFLE.

Issue 2 of TTMC

2009-02-12T16:16:00.000-08:00

Issue 2 of the TTMC magazine is now available. Excellent fiction, articles and verse from new and upcoming authors. Check out the site and get your copy at

http://www.freewebs.com/thettmcmagazine/orderform.htm

Currently Playing on Nintendo DS

2009-02-12T15:53:00.000-08:00

VIVA PINATA
The aim is to cultivate and populate a garden with odd creatures based on the Spanish pinata papier mache toys filled with sweets that kids bash blinfolded with sticks at parties. Great fun, if a little slow moving at times, but just like a real garden it has it's busy and quiet times. The graphics are very clear and colourful and the controls are easy to get the hang of. Romance those Pinatas!

BLACK BOOK OF HORROR volume 4

2009-02-12T15:44:00.000-08:00

The cover for the latest volume of The Black Book of Horror anthologies, no 4, has just been unveiled, and it's worth having a look at as a piece of art in itself. All the BB covers have been drawn by Paul Mudie, an absolutely cracking artist.

http://vaultofevil.proboards75.com/index.cgi?action=display&board=itsthenewthing&thread=2593&page=1

http://www.paulmudie.com/

2009-02-12T15:34:00.000-08:00

RACHEL PARKER
Just for the sake of it, a photograph of my beautiful daughter working on the art for TTMC magazine, in her pyjamas, awww.

Anime - The Melancholy Of Haruhi Suzumiya

2009-02-12T15:23:00.000-08:00

This is fabulous viewing for everyone, although care might be needed for the very young as there's a great deal of "MOE" !!!!
Haruhi is a bored schoolgirl with the power to change the world, unbeknownst to herself. As she busily seeks out paranormal mysteries she has a devastating effect on all around her, including aliens, time travellers and espers...
You may need to look this up on DVD, as I haven't found it free yet, but here's clips:

http://www.veoh.com/browse/videos/category/animation/watch/v763474JCdpfBK6

RUDE VEGETABLES!!!

2009-02-12T15:17:00.000-08:00

Being a vegetable grower myself, I find these endlessly fascinating. I've grown some pretty odd looking carrots and tomatoes in the past, but nothing like these :-o

Are you growing anything this year? I'll be starting non hardy stuff indoors in a week or so; peppers, pumpkins and morning glory. It's an exciting life ;)

Young persons ANIME

2009-02-10T04:15:00.000-08:00

If you have children, or like the younger anime yourself, "Cardcaptors", redone from the original Japanese by Canadian company Nelvana, is a beautifully drawn series of 70 episodes and 2 movies with plot and character depth enough to interest an adult in the unfurling story.
The majority of the episodes can be viewed for free on Veoh Video, but you may need to download their beta player to watch the movies.
Here is a random episode:

http://www.veoh.com/collection/CardcaptorsSeason03/watch/v1289702NMnGQTFj

Excellent reading - spooky anthologies..

2009-02-10T04:01:00.000-08:00

A chum of mine publishes a series of great horror anthologies styled lightly on the classic Pan Books of Horror and I love them, just right for a late evening blood-curdle.

If you like cracking modern fiction with added creeps, take a look at the Black Books of Horror, you'll finf info here:

Mortbury Press http://www.freewebs.com/mortburypress/

Old(ish) Blog

2009-02-08T23:15:00.000-08:00

I recently decided to use my myspace as a blog, as I've never run a personal blog before and wanted to try it. I rarely use the myspace page otherwise. However, shortly after having made that decision I discovered this place which actually seems to serve my purpose really well, and could have been what I have needed all along: a place to drop in to in my rare spare moments to offload all my various news and ramblings without feeling like I'm dropping empty words into a void. You can even make it look pretty!
In order not to lose the work I have already done on the myspace blog I am including it here as a piece of linked-to writing in it's own right, and will continue here from now on.

http://blogs.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=blog.ListAll&friendID=405012750

2009-02-08T16:51:00.000-08:00

I Googled Penis ~ and these re a slection of the items that came up, no pun intended. I''m going to Google a lot more words, what wonderful, peurile fun!!!

THE THINKING MAN'S CRUMPET!

2009-02-08T16:25:00.000-08:00

Today I finished printing out the body of issue 2, it took two days, groan. Pre-ordered and contributors copies will be in the post this week, at last, only the best part of almost a fortnight late. Spending a large part of January in hospital caused the delay.
The front cover is here -

http://ahaunteddollshouse.blogspot.com/

sometimes I draw pictures

2009-02-07T19:28:00.000-08:00

je pense que c'est moi...

2009-02-07T19:16:00.000-08:00