Man-Bag-iness

In response to Warren Ellis's Bad Signal Confession:

I have been man-bag guy for many years, so many that I was that kid in school with a briefcase. OK that's a bit of a lie, I had a briefcase but didn't take it to school. What I did have was what can only be described as medium sized luggage. The thing was big enough to fit the entire classes books in and once over-balanced my considerable limited judo skills to get me a good kicking from some passing bullies. Contents:

* School books (backed in wallpaper).
* P.E. kit (in an attractive red-sock in with the whites shade of pink).
* Pencil case (full of random pens, pencil sharpener, protractor and coloured pencils with the colour names on them).
* Random sweet wrappers (empty).

That was, of course, when I had to carry what my Mum bought. For years after that, when I spent most of my time Roleplaying and had money in my pocket, it was a CAT record bag that hung from my shoulder. Contents:

* No records.
* RPG books (Feng Shui, Call of Cthulhu, Champions or Star Wars).
* Extra pencils, sharpener and a rubber.
* Many, many dice (d4, d6, d8, d10, d12 & d20s).
* An A4 writing pad (full of random campaign notes, tally-lists and calculations).
* An A5 note book (full of top secret campaign notes - well actually it was mostly empty, I never made notes).
* Comics (double bagged for protection).

These days it's a simple Gymsack (a horrible name). Light-weight and inconspicuous, if a little flimsy; I'm on my 2nd one now. Contains:

* A6 note pad & pen.
* Baseball cap; in-case it rains (currently Boston Red Socks).
* A draw-string plastic bag (to waterproof my stuff, these bags are very thin and I live in Manchester).
* The Metro (the best paper in the world).
* Whatever paperback I'm reading at the moment (right now - Around the World in Eighty Days).

Maybe I need to upgrade?

Words and Very Pretty Pictures

I have a friend called Melanie who works as a commercial artist and draws very pretty pictures. She's done a lot of things but mainly illustrates children's books and has five new books coming out soon:

That Pesky Dragon :: Buy from Amazon.co.uk or Amazon.com

Cinderella's Party Night :: Buy from Amazon.co.uk

Three Goat's Gruff and a Grumpy Troll :: Buy from Amazon.co.uk

I Win :: Buy from Amazon.co.uk

Rise and Shine :: Buy from Amazon.co.uk or Amazon.com

Why not buy one (or all of them!) as a present for a son, niece, grandson or even yourself?

Or check out Melanie's other books at Amazon.co.uk or Amazon.com

To blog, or not to blog ... 2

I admit it; I'm suffering from Blog Depression.

There are two main reasons for this:

1st - I am easily bored. I'm a fast learner, so once I got the hand of the basics of creating and running a blog the novelty had worn off. So I started tinkering, one of my favourite pass-times and biggest flaws - tinkerers rarely finish anything. Which was fine until I reached the limit of my technical know-how.

2nd - I'm a always trying to create something that's one step beyond what I can practically achieve. When I envision things in my mind, and believe me when I say I put far too much though into most things, they they reach a level idealism that when I actually start to make them I an immediately disappointed.

So when I these two characteristics with the real-life practicalities and the fact that no-one was reading the blog - not even I find playing to an empty house that interesting - I gave up.

So a few random posts and year-or-so later and here we are.

So why start again?

To be continued...

To blog, or not to blog ...

As you might have noticed, if you even exist at-all, I've not really bloged in a while. Apart from some random bits of stuff I've been off the posting-wagon since December 2005.

There are some practical reasons for this.

I have been busy moving and am now the proud owner of my first property, a nice little one-bedroom flat in a cool looking 100-year-old, 4-storey, redbrick converted school building. This has meant two things: one, I've had a lot less money to spend and two, I was physically off-line for a couple of months while I moved and had my broadband installed.

But to be honest these problem were resolved months ago. The main reason is I’ve had something of an existential crisis about my reasons for continuing to blog.

In my first post I said “The reason for doing this blog ... well truthfully there isn't one” but that wasn’t entirely truthful.

I had this idea that it would be a good way to record and share the things in the interweb that I liked and also a way to practice and publish my writing; something between an old fashioned link-list and micro-journalism.

Things started off well. My posts were irregular but a pleasant mix between the micro-journalism, links to the fun and the interesting on the web and original content (photos and the like). I even branched out into other specific blogs, one to record my birthday trip to America and a communal blog with my mate to dramatise our Urban Dead games. There were a couple more blogs that stayed at the idea stage but the whole blogging experience was ticking along nicely.

So, what went wrong?

To be continued …

06+06+06

So the world didn't end ... damn!

By The Omen (DVD) from Amazon.co.uk / Amazon.com

25590

Next Sun (21st May) I will be running in the Great Manchester 10k Run for the 2nd time. Last year was the first time I had run in an organised race and the first time I had run 10k - or anything over for the bus distance to be honest.

Last year I raised money for an AIDS charity in Africa - Tackle Africa - but this time I've picked something a little closer to home. I'll be raising money for the Yorkshire Cancer Research charity.

If you would like to sponsor me you can online via the link below:

http://www.justgiving.com/markslattery2006

I'll let you know how I do next week.

Katrina Khaos

What's going on in New Orleans is mind boggling.

A natural disaster and such a chaotic aftermath is believable, and almost common place, in a so-called 3rd World country.

But in the heart of the civilised world?
In the middle of the World's only remaining Superpower?
Its almost unbelievable. Like a bad TV movie or a trashy airport paperback.

The similarities with Vertigo/DC Comics new mini-series DMZ is eerily prophetic.

Mr Bronson Dies

The actor Michael Sheard dies aged 65.

Apart from starring in Grange Hill, he also played Hitler in Indiana Jones and The Last Crusade and Admiral Ozzle in Empire Strikes Back.

I met him a couple of times at GenCon UK; a genuinely nice bloke, always free for a chat or a pint.

"Thank you my Very Dear Chums - See ya."
Michael Sheard (1940-2005)

DtRT: Do the Right Thing

This is my 100th blog post!

To mark the occasion, I thought I use the post to do something worthwhile...

As I mentioned in my I'm with the band post I've been trying to improve the way I interact with the world; trying to do my little part to make the world a better place.

The feeling that I needed to change/do something started as my 30th birthday loomed last year. The idea that I was going to be older, and therefore presumably more mature, evolved into me realising I should take more responsibility for the impact I have on the this world and for the legacy that I would leave behind.

So I started to change my attitudes and involvements with things like recycling, charity and the environment. Just little things at first, but like they say - "Every little helps".

Feel the same way?
Want to make a difference?

Here's where you can start:

First read The Rough Guide to a Better World; a very informative but easily read book. It's a good place to start and will teach you everything you need to known about world poverty, charities, fair trade and advocacy.

Then visit the we are what we do website and check out their list of the little things you can do everyday to change the world.

I'll post more suggestions and more on this subject in the future (look for DtRT in the post title), but remember doing the right thing doesn't stop you having fun.

I'm with the band

Charity bands have become popular over the past year. While I'm not a jewelry person generally, I too have subscribed to this new fashion and currently wear two bands:

The first is a white band for Make Poverty History (which I bought from Actionaid). As part of my attempt to make the world a better place I became involved with the campaign. While I didn't go to any of the protests, I did join in the online/postal advocacy campaign and wear the band to show my support.

The second is a black band from LIVEWRONG. Their philosophy is basically; do what you like. This speaks to the rebel in me and I like the way both the philosophies and the colours contrast each other.

However, I was criticised for wearing them on different wrists the other day. Apparently, this is a sign of racism - separating the colours. Now that's taking things too far...

Scotty Dies at 85

Star Trek's Scotty dies aged 85
BBC News

I'm not sure why, but I always though Scotty/James Doohan was the nice one from the ST:OS crew/cast.

He's one of the reasons I became and engineer and also one of the reasons I stopped. Working in a factory doesn't have the same buzz as fixing a warp core...

Terror Attack on London

London rocked by terror attacks
BBC News

A terrorist attack on London the day after it is awarded the 2012 Olympics and while the G8 conference is being held.

Coincidence? I don't think so

Evil? Without a doubt.

Deeply Dippy

Some people think a lot,
some people think very little
and some people just think wrong...

Jack Handy is one of those people and these are some of his thoughts:

Deep Thoughts

More Grave News

In a previous post I told you about Spike Milligan's grave stone. Well, it turns out he isn't the only famous name to use his wit to pen his own epitaph. Here are some others:

That's All Folks! - Mel Blanc
Do not walk on the grass - Peter Ustinov
Quoth the Rave, 'Nevermore' - Edgar Alan Poe
Don't cry for me - Eva Peron
I told you, you damned fools - HG Wells

Mine will be 'He wore a white hat'.

Searching

I keep looking, looking in a sea of faces.
In a crowded room and along a quiet street.
Searching by day, searching by night.
Out of the corner of my eye and in the reflection of a windowpane.
Ever vigilant and ever anticipant.
Looking for the face of love.

I told you I was ill!

This is what the late comedian Spike Milligan wanted on his grave stone.
Unfortunately the local parish where his grave was situated didn't share his sense of humour and objections were raised.
His estate managed to solve this problem by having the quote written in Welsh.

Clever.

So everyone after three ... 1 ... 2 ... 3 ...

"Duirt me leat go raibh me breoite!"

Is there anybody there?

Is there anybody there? 

This is a picture of my Niece.
This is what happens when you buy a five-year-old a camera.
Whitney Houston sang Children are our future ... God help us all!

Perfect Rain

It rained perfectly.
The tears of Heaven hiding my mortal own.
Nobody saw my sad face as they hung theirs.
Not so easily could I avoid my own sad rain.
Its rivulets carving scars on my face that may never heal.

Manchester? Where?

Did you know there are 15 towns called Manchester in the US? And they are all in the NE area. Odd. Maybe our ancestors were too lazy to travel any further?

There's even one in Pando, Bolivia!

So next time someone asks you where you're from, remember to be a little more specific.

www.multimap.com

p.s. There's also an Oldham in South Dakota, USA