Old Graffiti

Evening all. Aside from chanelling the spirit of PC George Dixon, I've been examining illegal daubs and smears throughout the ages. Here's some underneath this very paragraph.

Playgrounds = perfectly fine to hang around in when you should be at school. I love the carefree white fluffy clouds scudding gaily across the sky, whilst some Mad Max-esque poles loom menacingly over the world's ugliest wall. PS - Question: What is pain? Answer: Falling off that cast-iron see-saw.

I'll take mine with a red wedge. Powerful stuff, although it does look like it was sprayed on the door of one of the generators you find round the back of blocks of flats.

How shall we see this? The rise of a new youth culture eclipsing the old? The arrival of a fresh, vibrant youth culture that the previous generation could not possibly own? Or that despite having any number of fresh and vibrant youth cultures, we will always have someone called 'Nidge' writing on walls? Reader, you are the ref.

Try googling 'Techno Force'. You ain't gonna find what they were graffiting about. Or perhaps the artists were a group of young, urban gunslingers who were proper into evaporators and driers? I don't know. Let's all just google 'Nidge'. Be seeing you!

Devon Folklore Tapes

This is a very interesting project (and if you're reading this then the chances are you will agree) that is well worth a look. A handmade package consisting of Devonian folklore and a cassette of spectral, field recording-style folk, it's just the sort of thing that I would pop on the shelf (much to the distress of Mrs. BC).

I couldn't put it any better than the folks responsible for it all, so here's a link to their site plus another to the soundcloud page where it can be aurally perused. I hope you like it, I certainly do.

Samuel Youd, 1922-2012

Samuel Youd, better known as the writer John Christopher, passed away on the 3rd. Writer of numerous brit sci-fi classics, I always enjoyed his books and will now hunt down my copy of 'The Death of Grass' by way of tribute. I may also hunt down a copy of the 1970 film adaptation 'No Blade of Grass', starring Nigel Davenport and directed by Cornel Wilde. The main theme is apparently by Roger Whittaker.

Although many of his books are out of print there are plenty to look for; Youd / Christopher wrote prolifically under several aliases including Stanley Winchester, Hilary Ford and Peter Graaf. 'The World in Winter' is great, as are 'The Guardians' and 'The Possessors'. 'The Long Voyage' would have made a great obscure mid-sixties thriller and is very entertaining. But I'm sure you know all this already. Here's to a writer who will be remembered for his very plausible (and peculiarly British) science fiction.