The Creative Identity

On The Merits of ROCKY

When I first came across the trailer of Creed, in the very late summer, it was evident that I could not have maintained my Rocky virginity for much longer. Creed qualifies as the seventh Rocky movie, why getting to it cold? Unlike the North American territory, in which this movie was released in November, it was only going to hit the UK in mid-January... I figured I'd have plenty of time to catch up on Rocky. Imagine my delight when I came across a pristine box-set of all six movies in a charity shop just before Christmas. What are the odds of finding a movie you want in a charity shop, let alone an entire series of six, precisely when you need it as well? This was serendipity at its best dear reader. And so it goes that I will forever associate Rocky with Christmas 2015, for I started on the first one a few days before Christmas itself and... I haven't stopped playing these movies. Yes, you've heard, even now, a good five weeks later, I've got Rocky on a loop. I saw a preview of Creed last week and that itself continued to stoke my fire of fondness for these characters in ways I never thought possible. This year marks the fortieth anniversary of Rocky, which was released in time for Thanksgiving in 1976 and goes on to follow the lives of our characters from mid-November to 1st January. The first time I watched the seminal movie, I... Read more →

Intermission

Perhaps you went to see Legend because you were seduced by the wonderful trailer in which an exceptional tune plays half-way through... but... you've been wondering what on earth that is? Well yes, sometimes I feel like the so-called generational gap isn't so much a gap but the Mariana Trench. You can thank me later. Read more →

Dead Calm

Three years ago I bought one of those little 5-year diaries, you know the sort? The ones that allow a few lines per day and you update it every day for a year, then start again and so on for five years? I have this one. I've shown up every day since 1st Jan 2014, even though I must confess that, while the premise is to record 'events most worthy of consideration', in many places I slid into a veritable compendium of the boring and the mundane. Several days over this past summer were merely recorded as 'NALGO' [=web-speak for 'not a lot going on' if you don't know, but you know now] which is as far from the raison d'être of these diaries as one could possibly get. But still, now that I am filling in year three and already have two to compare, I am having quite a lot of fun in remembering where I was and what I was doing exactly on day X, including on 'NALGO' days, which mostly qualified as 'working from Nero, not much happening', a blur of sameness. But there's another reason for 'NALGO'. 2015 has been a thorough disappointment. It's been more than a disappointment, it's been a total kick in the teeth, only topped by 2010 and 2012 [God, why so many ghastly years so close together!]. At the end of the year we are all on our blogs and sites, all celebrating the wonderful things we have and we do,... Read more →

Building A Library : Thoughts on Over-Indulgence

For a number of weeks I've been toying with the idea of buying no books whatsoever in 2016 and to read only from my own library. I am saying 'toying with the idea' here but it was more like a very fleeting thought that first came and went while I was browsing the SALE bin in Foyles. Then it surfaced again when, looking for a set of pencils, I came across a number of boxes in the guest bedroom [whaaaaat?! I moved 8 months ago! How can these still be here?!], two of which contain books from the house in Cheshire I forgot I had [but was very thrilled to see again, The Polar Express amongst them, as well as the Tutankhamen book of the exhibition from a few years back]. But there it was again, that passing suggestion to myself that, hey, you've got tons of wonderful books you've yet to read right here at home. Allow me to tell you at this point that I did not feel bad about it at all; when one buys books at the rate I do [350+ over the past three years alone], one isn't really doing so in order to rush home to crack a new pristine spine by the fireplace, but because the Building of The Perfect Library is a lifelong commitment. And yet, having moved twice in 26 months, the silent brown boxes stacked in many corners have been a very stern reminder that I've got plenty at home,... Read more →

The Best [of my] Colouring Books

In my draft folder sits a post I started in July, titled Summer Neurasthenia. I never did finish it, in fact, I did not even make it to half-way through, mostly because, while I was focusing on the reasons for being so damn uneasy and restless at the time, I actually picked up one of the many colouring books for adults that have sprung up everywhere since the beginning of last year. I drifted away from writing on here and started piling up colouring books. Soon I realised that I was becoming particularly picky about them and that what once seemed like 'nice enough' would never cut it if I were to put pen to paper. Yes, here's the thing, I use pens to colour, not pencils or felt-tips. Specifically, I use Sakura's Jelly Rolls, which I find to be of great intensity, easy to get into super-tiny detail and great at spurring me on not to correct anything, quite simply because I can't. It's a great antidote to terminal perfectionist syndrome. I try not to surf the web looking at what others have done because instead of finding it inspirational I tend to beat myself up for colouring like a three-year-old, which is really amusing because when I was small I would never colour anything in. I was big on sketching, in pen, and on never ever correcting or colouring anything. Now I have approached colouring with no plans and no vision. I get a pen out of my... Read more →