The First Blog

Ok, hello,

So this is my first proper attempt at writing a blog and I have set myself a manifesto ( I like manifestos):

a) To keep it as entertaining as possible
b) To keep it as up to date as possible (I will try to update this at least 3 times a week)
c) To keep it as informative and engaged with the world as possible
d) To keep it as a forum for free speech, thought and ideas.
e) To take no prisoners

This manifesto, like all manifestos, is a work in progress. You may have to bear with me for a short while, while this blog takes form and shape and discovers it's purpose. For the time being though expect a collection of what may seem like random musings on all sorts of stuff.

I wish I had thought of keeping up a blog over the summer during our 2777 mile round California roadtrip, something of a life changing experience. We took in LA, San Diego, Palm Springs, Death Valley, Vegas, The Grand Canyon ( one MASSIVE hole in the ground), Yosemite and Palm Springs. We saw Ghost Towns, Joshua Trees, the site of Gram Parson's cremation (strangely moving - photos are below), stood at the lowest point of elevation in the US, drove through a dusty desert night, along a deserted road, with Springsteen on the radio. We saw Kane's Xanadu, discovered a love of baseball, climbed Zabriskie Point, saw the sun come up and go down over the Grand Canyon, stopped at Bartsow on the edge of the desert (where the drugs began to take hold), drank Orbitinis, got heat stroke, eat giant portions of food, eat the best steak ever in a roadside ribshack in the middle of nowhere, drank wine in the Napa valley, crossed the Golden Gate Bridge, got banged up in Alcatraz, met prisoner #1422 Darwin E Coon ( 'he was making instant hole in the wall withdrawals long before the invention of the ATM), got lost in Compton, nearly made it in Hollywood, braved the LA freeway, sat on Maverick's bar stool, saw Giant sequoias, saw El Capitain, and fell even more in love with the USA.

*****

There's lots of good stuff on at the moment which I am aiming to see, chief among them is the Gauguin exhibition at the Tate Modern. He has always been one of those artists that has always fascinated me - I think because he discovered he could paint fairly late in life, and that he went of on this quest, starting in the Breton countryside and ending up in Tahiti, in order to immerse himself in 'the primitive' and find himself as an artist and person. Of course he was a total git as well - leaving his family behind him, treating Van Gogh like crap, and marrying a 13 year old Tahitian girl. Interesting chap.

*****

Currently trying to get together a paper in silence and politics in Korean Cinema, so it looks like today I will be sitting down to immerse myself in the world of Kim Ki-Duk (although I don't think I can take 'The Isle' again) and Park Chan Wook.

*****

Ok, so that's it for the first entry (for now), its a bit crap I know but I will get the hang of this blogging lark.

speak soon.

********