War Horse

Pic: Andyrob, creative commons

Nick Stafford's adaptation of Michael Morpurgo's moving story of love, loss, determination, horror and hope is, without doubt, one of the more fascinating and impressive sights you are likely to see in 2009 and will hopefully continue its run - now at the West End's New London Theatre - for a long time.

From the haunting opening scene and the first glimpse of the foal Joey, masterfully brought to life by the Handspring Puppet Company, it is clear that the ensuing performance is going to be something entirely out of the ordinary.

The story itself, although ultimately unrealistic in its denouement, is a poignant interpretation of the Great War, seen through the eyes of a Devonshire farm horse, Joey, conscripted to aid the war effort overseas, and his master Albert, who braves the front line to bring him home again. This tale alone, and the way it is developed on stage with intricate drawings projected onto screen, darkly threatening wartime imagery juxtaposed with the simplicity of rural France and Devon, deafening cannonfire and captivating performances by the cast, should be enough to absorb even the most hardened of souls. But this is not where the magic of the performance lies.

The horses of the play, of which there are several, are all portrayed so realistically in movement and sound as well as size that it is almost impossible to think of them as anything but actual horses. The screams of terror as Joey hears his first gunshot, the sparring between him and Topthorn, the joyful gallops, kicking legs and tossing heads have been beautifully captured by the Handspring Puppet Company with complete originality and innovation. The skill and imagination applied to the construction of these magnificent works of art - for that is what they are - is remarkable. For that reason alone - although there are many more - you really must see this production.

Diary of a Bizarre fanatic

Monday 30 March 2009

Most disappointingly, the offices at Bizarre HQ are actually really normal. There's quite a bit of mess (standard for a news room), a sort of skull motif and a stuffed fox on top of a cupboard but other than that, not really what I expected at all. Yes, that's right, I've got two weeks' work experience with the lovely Bizarre folk and you can follow my experiences right here, right now.

I've been an avid reader of the magazine since I was knee high to a pig's eye and have seen it go from strength to strength, spreading the Bizarre message around an eagerly anticipatory world. So to get the chance to experience the inner workings of one of the most original magazines around was a veritable dream come true!

One day in and I've worked on the Ultravixens page (never dreamed I'd ever have to write the sentence "being strung up and suspended from the ceiling by ropes wasn't too bad either"!!) and researched items for Ebay Corner. And I've met the delectable Alix Fox, who's beautiful in a very elfin sort of way (probably the highlight of my day really, her writing's amazing...if you don't believe me, get your hands on a copy of Issue 147 and read her article about spanking. Entertaining and informative.)

Tuesday 31 March 2009

As second days in the world of Bizarre journalism go, this was as eye-opening as the first. My morning started with a meeting to discuss future issues of the magazine - body mods and body art were high on the agenda, great for me because I'm a fan of both (although I'm quite rubbish and shy so was too tongue-tied to throw my hat in the ring and shout out some ideas...typically, now, I have loads).

It was so interesting to see how decisions were made and the team's reaction to some of the stuff others came up with. Some of the images shown around were disturbing (not surprising) but the stories behind them all were absorbing and that's where the Bizarre magic lies.

While they deal in the macabre, the grotesque, the truly filthy, there are always important issues underlying the initial shock factor that they rely on that should, and need to be, revealed. Even if you're not of the Bizarre persuasion, the way they handle tough or uncomfortable subjects is worthy of anyone's attention. A quick perusal of any of their magazines will prove that there's something for everyone, despite your previous apprehensions. And who knows, you could end up learning something about yourself in the process.

I know I mentioned it yesterday but Alix Fox's article about spanking is something well worth reading. I'm not a massive spanker myself (although I have been known to dabble in the art) and I'm fairly sure I could never be prevailed upon to whale my hand against a stranger's bare arse but reading how Alix's experience of spanking and being spanked made her more aware of herself and her own physicality was enlightening and a great read, even for a non-spanker such as myself.

So that was the morning. In the afternoon, I did some research for the Introducing... section, collating background information on a variety of people from sideshow performers to models and artists that Bizarre readers might want to know more about. I also had to come up with 15 or so questions for each which proved harder than I at first anticipated. Trying to constantly think of more interesting questions than "who's your inspiration" was tricky but I think I got there in the end.

Onward to my third day!

Wednesday 01 April 2009

Sadly, rather a slow day in the office although it's great to be in a working environment where playing music constantly is almost a requirement! I've been introduced to a plethora of new bands already which, for someone with no money and a broken radio, doesn't happen too often.

I also had a very transcribey sort of day which, ordinarily I'd sigh heavily about because, let's face it, no-one likes transcribing interviews - it's painstaking and can be tricky when there's lots of noise interference - but this time the interview was with the one and only Duff McKagan (Guns 'n' Roses, baby!) so I was more than happy to lend my ears to the task. And what a lovely man he seems...there was also a particularly amusing mix up between the interviewer and Duff regarding peanuts and penises. I actually thought he said 'pianist' so there was triple the amount of confusion but, thankfully, it all came good in the end. I also transcribed an interview with Medina Lake who, I'm sorry to confess, I've not really heard of, except in passing but the interview was so interesting (all about the space-time continuum, very Doc Brown) that I actually enjoyed typing as fast as my little fingers could go.

And then, just to prove that journalism isn't all glitz and glamour, I spent some time updating the Bizarre database which took me some time, purely and simply because I kept finding myself engrossed in the articles that I was supposed to be collating. How is it that even the most seemingly mundane task in the Bizarre office is actually still really fun? Dream job, I say!

And that was me done for the third day. The week is going awfully fast - it will be next Friday before I know it.

Thursday 02 April 2009

Struggled with my creativity today and spent ages trying to come up with some ideas, any ideas! Am clearly experiencing some sort of mental block with this which couldn't really have come at a worse time. I came up with a few How To's for the inside back cover but not without some difficulty, it must be said and I also got thinking about some possible feature ideas but I've not come up with anything absolutely amazing as yet. Inspiration is decidedly lacking. Hopefully it will return soon.

I also worked on the Newsflash articles for the Weird World section which is proving difficult as well. I've been called a "word fairy" before now and find it hard writing summaries of 150 words. I've now had to cut that down to 70-80 which is nigh on impossible for someone who's as in love with adjectives as I am. The situation's worsened by how interesting the subjects are - I have to be very selective about what information I include and when it's all pure gold, it's not easy. PLUS I've only just written my law essay for my university course, don't pretend to understand it and haven't started revising for my exam yet and I've already encountered legal practice in the journalism workplace. What luck! In relation to the Newsflash items I have to be very careful what stories I choose and where they come from. I have to be sure of source reliability, all facts of the story, be aware of what country the story originated in, and be careful when writing about crime stories and allegations as I could potentially influence trials and court cases and be responsible for the downfall of Bizarre. Quite a lot to think about for a 70 word article.

So the end of my fourth day is upon me. I'm actually quite disappointed because Alix Fox invited me to watch her compere with Des O'Connor tonight at a burlesque show at Last Days of Decadence which sounds ace and I can't go. I'm off to the theatre myself tonight to see Michael Morpurgo's Warhorse which is about as different as you can get to a burlesque night but I'm really looking forward to it just the same. Apparently there are puppets involved. You really can't go wrong with puppets.

Friday 03 April 2009

The week is over, only one more to go. I know they say time flies when you're having fun but this is ridiculous Soon I'll have to say my sorrowful goodbyes to the delightful Bizarre-ees and wing my way back to windy Caerdydd. Woe is me!

My day's been full but slightly disturbing. I had fun in the morning writing about women gluing their eyelids shut, gay penguins and scissor-swallowing Chinamen but after lunch I spent an enlightening four hours looking into water torture. Not for the faint of heart, let me assure you. Very firmly rooted in history as a means of extracting information or exacting retribution (a subject was clamped in place with with water constantly dripping on their head, eventually driving them insane), it's a big thing in the bondage scene right now - although I think the desired result is somewhat different what to the interrogators of the 15th century had in mind.

In short, I've seen a lot of porn today.

Monday 06 April 2009

I'm scarred for life. I spent the first half of the day doing call outs for the Gallery of Pain and I've seen some truly horrendous pictures - mouths with no teeth, feet three times their normal size, feet with holes in them, no feet at all, bruises the like of which I hope I never sustain, shark bites, spider bites, human bites, gangrene...the list is scarily endless. And this was all before I had my lunch. Needless to say, my appetite was effectively squashed. I went all Web 2.0 and did shout outs on Twitter (to no avail), Facebook (got a couple of leads) and Myspace (nothing as yet) but Flickr was the most helpful source for all things injury-related. Hopefully something good (depending on your perspective obviously) will come of all this. Fingers crossed, anyway.

Tuesday 07 April 2009

Dear Diary,

I've had an interesting day. I learned all about saline inflations (except how to actually do it, the internet doesn't really give much away on that front) and what happens when you stick tubes in your forehead. It sounds pretty cool, although I don't think I'll be attempting it any time soon. All I could think about really while researching and writing was what would it feel like to poke someone's inflated pate. Squishy? A firmer consistency, similar to jelly? What would happen if you shook your head? Who knows?

In other news, I have a good lead on an injury story. Flickr came through.

I'll write again tomorrow, Diary. Have a great day.

Wednesday 08 April 2009

Much the same as yesterday. I interviewed Samppa von Cyborg, one of the leading lights in the body modification underworld, and questioned him on the finer points of saline inflation technique and then cobbled together a Bizarre's Handy Hints paragraph or two on how you might go about inflating yourself. It's all very interesting although not something I think I'll be attempting any time soon. Although I do still really want to know what it feels like to prod. I also discovered how to make interesting shapes in your scalp once your skin's all puffed up - that's probably the only reason I'd try saline infusions, although I'm sure it wouldn't be too hard to find someone on the inflation scene willing to let me at their forehead. I'll just have to go to Tokyo where inflating's quite en vogue right now, not a problem as I'd quite like to go there anyway.

Absolutely twitterific

Picture: carrotcreative, Flickr

Twitter - the David to Facebook's Goliath - has suddenly come into its own and upped the Web 2.0 ante to the nth degree. Absolutely everyone is tweeting, from z-list celeb to your 90 year-old neighbour Patricia, and if they aren't on the microblogging bandwagon, they desperately want to be and can't wait to start. This surge in popularity has, on occasion, resulted in a very minor Twitter meltdown - so many people want to Tweet that the system can't handle it and users are presented with a rather lovely picture of a whale and some birdies instead of their homepage.
Twitter is, in short, the new black.


Before you ask, just what is the point? let me answer quickly. If you're a business, what better way to keep in touch with your fast-thinking, ever-evolving community than by constant updates of products and news related to your company? Generating traffic towards specific sites has never been easier, now just a tweet away. But that's not all - now you too are inextricably linked to your customer, able to monitor their loves and hates, wants and don't wants, in a way never previously experienced. Being in business has never been more entertaining.


But, excitingly, that's not all! Twitter can do a lot for the individual too. It all depends what you put into it. For journalists in this ever-changing world of convergence, where social media is fast winning the news distribution race, Twitter is a saving grace and connecting with people you need for your stories as well as the people you want your stories to reach has never been easier or had more immediate results. For people who just love to keep on top of things, Twitter will be your best friend and Tweet you constantly about all the things you value most (it can even remind you to water your plants, if you're that forgetful). For the social butterflies, it's just as good, if not better, than Facebook as it doesn't have the ability to suck you into its timeless vortex of photos, friends of friends of friends, life-wasting applications where you just have to find out what kind of cocktail you would be had you the misfortune to be born a cocktail. With Facebook, the list is endless. Simple, as Twitter knows, says it best.

With all the Twitter-bility within microblogging reach, it seems a good idea to have a look at some of the more interesting uses of this service that's swimming around in the worldwide web. Intrigued? Read on...



1) Stefan the pilot

A Flightglobal creation, Stefan is - as posted by the magazine's editor Michael Targett - "a friend of Flightglobal...suave, fully qualified and ready for action." This is a great example of a business using microblogging to its advantage and engaging with the customer on an entirely fresh new level. Apparently, Stefan is quite the globetrotter, accompanying Flightglobal's journalists on their travels and Tweeting on breaking aviation news. And, for a piece of plastic, he does look quite dashing in uniform.


Stefan says - "Have arrived home after completing my Virgin 'round the world in eight days' tour. Nice landing, flightdeck."

2) Twitchhiker

Paul Smith has the right idea. On the first of March he embarked on a month-long journey from Newcastle upon Tyne to wherever the good nature of fellow Twitterers would take him. Having decided upon 5 golden rules for his travels (1: only accepting offers of travel and accommodation from those following him on Twitter, 2: only planning three days maximum in advance, 3: expenses that only include food, drink and what he can fit in his suitcase, 4: if there's more than one offer available he's able to choose between them - only one offer then he must take it, and 5: if he can't move on from a location within 48 hours, the challenge is over), he's got as far as New Zealand and is nearing the end of his travels. What's more, he's done all this and convinced everyone to sponsor him for charity:water, a non-profit organisation dedicated to providing safe drinking water for people in the developing world. So far, he's raised £4,312.45. What a guy.

Twitchhiker says - "I can't start planning Tuesday until tomorrow but I need to head south at speed - let's see what tomorrow brings!"

3) The Times

Even the broadsheets are going all Twitter innovative and The Times has jumped on board with a giant Tweet. During March they've been Tweeting the entireity of Romeo and Juliet, line by line, every 15 minutes. As they point out on their Times Labs blog, they aren't the only ones to do this but they are the only ones to have given each character of the play a painfully cute kitten alias. Pick your favourites, or the entire cast, for your daily dose of inspiration from the miaowing Bard.


Romeo says - "Flies may do this, but I from this must fly."


4) HisBoysCanSwim


Follow this little Tweeter's pregnancy adventure as she tells all 9,842 followers about the trials and tribulations of being with child. As her biography states, not even her family or friends know that she's pregnant. Just the whole world.

HisBoysCanSwim says - "Some days my bump seems huge. Other days it seems like it shrunk. Hmmm."

5) Twestival

Back in September 2008, some London-based Twitterers decided to get together outside the Twittersphere and organized a fundraising event for their local homeless charity in two weeks via Twitter. Across the globe, other Twitter communities were holding similar events and as a result, Twestival was born - Twitter-organised events on a local level but working simultaneously on a worldwide scale, all with the same aim in mind. February 12 2009 saw 202 cities worldwide held their own Twestivals and had fun raising funds for charity.


Twestival says - "It is proven from the first Twestival that bringing the Twittersphere together for a special event is not only a memorable night; it has momentum to bring about social change."

Colouring-in Cardiff - more creation, less destruction

The illustrious Dylan Thomas once wrote “great is the hand that holds dominion over man by a scribbled name.” Whilst the Welsh Poet Laureate may not have intended for his words to be used in reference to the urban landscape of the 21st century they certainly have more than a ring of truth for modern-day Cardiff and its beleaguered city walls.
The Welsh capital has long suffered the indignation of being a sprawling doodle pad for many a bored, mischief-making graffitier, with local authorities struggling to keep on top of the problem, both in terms of time and money spent.

The outlying town of Caerphilly, 20 minutes from Cardiff and famed more for its fresh air than its ASBOs, has felt itself particularly targeted by taggers in the past twelve months. The problem has in fact grown so severe that Caerphilly council, the Safer Caerphilly Community Safety Partnership and Caerphilly police joined forces throughout 2008 to find a suitable solution.
Earlier in the year, several workshops for Caerphilly kids were held – in conjunction with local professional graffiti artists – with graffiti education in mind, covering social responsibility, illegal graffiti laws, the history behind the art form and providing the opportunity for lessons in a few of the techniques. In July, an even bigger step towards decreasing tags was taken with the introduction of the town’s first legal graffiti wall, erected adjacent to the skate park.
6 months on and Hayley Lancaster, of Caerphilly County Borough Council, deems the wall a resounding success. “Tagging was such a problem in the town at the time – it was urgent that something had to be done. On the wall’s opening day, the young people were truly delighted. The local Youth Offending Service has been working with those arrested for illegal graffiti and once a month, they paint the wall white so it’s a blank canvas again. Tagging and graffiti…would be brought up constantly at Police and Communities Together meetings. Now, it’s not so much of an issue.”

Bryce Davies, 25, founder of Peaceful Progress – a Cardiff-based group of like-minded people dedicated to urban pursuits such as graffiti and break-dancing – agrees that workshops and legal walls are among the most effective methods of tackling tags. A teenage tagger himself, Davies – through Peaceful Progress – runs a very successful youth initiative, working in community centres in and around the greater Cardiff area. “What councils could be doing is what we try to promote through workshops. To say, “you’re obviously into [graffiti] for a reason. Every kid wants to be able to paint wicked pieces, which is why they start…Setting up legal graffiti walls is a good scheme, as is getting artists involved…Local kids take a lot from it.”
Originally conceived as a means for Davies to showcase his art on the internet, the focus of Peaceful Progress has widened dramatically since it emerged in 2001 and the community youth programmes are very well received by young people, parents and the council simultaneously, particularly because the art produced is relevant to the area in which it is created. “The workshops are site specific,” says Davies. “For example, [if we were in] St Mellons, we would do a big St Mellons piece about what goes on there. What the kids are into at that particular community centre – football, basketball, what music, what inspires them.”
Perhaps because of initiatives like Peaceful Progress, the distinctions between tagging and graffiti seem to be growing and graffiti as an art form seems to be becoming increasingly accepted by a more eclectic assemblage. In collaboration with professional artist Andy O’Rourke, and in association with Caerphilly Council’s Cleaner, Greener environment scheme, 2008 saw Davies commissioned to spray-paint 15 shop shutters along the stretch of Bargoed High Street. Although the council’s proposal for the idea originally excluded the use of graffiti, Davies and O’Rourke delivered their concept so winningly that it was consented to immediately, and with no misgivings. “The response from [this] was incredible. We got to know the whole of Bargoed by standing on their high street for two months. From [this] a lot more work has come…private commissions and also, the people who gave us that job…are looking outside of Bargoed and moving it into other parts of Caerphilly…basically giving us free rein to go and look at sites and propose them ourselves.”

Graffiti may be on the up-and-up but tagging still poses some difficult questions in need of some innovative answers. Whilst Davies does not condone vandalism, he also sees that tagging has its place in the wider graffiti sphere and is almost a permissible rite of passage into a more inventive, creative world. As he says, young people are frequently driven by their egos down the tagging road and “painting for your peers” is an oft-cited incentive for spraying your name on a wall. These markings do, however, also signify an interest in graffiti from an artistic point of view, an interest that should be carefully nurtured – by councils and communities alike - so that real talent can emerge.





AN INTERVIEW WITH BRYCE DAVIES, Part 1




AN INTERVIEW WITH BRYCE DAVIES, Part 2




If you're interested in holding workshops in a community centre in your area, any of the following would be more than willing to help;

Peaceful Progress
Elemental Force
Dekoe Mural Arts, as part of the Cruel Vapours crew

CATHAYS YOUTH & COMMUNITY CENTRE GRAFFITI



THE VOICE OF CATHAYS YOUTH & COMMUNITY CENTRE





WHERE TO FIND SOME OF CARDIFF'S LEGAL WALLS


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Get Involved

Apparently, the journalism world is changing. There can be no further denial of that. We’re no longer in Kansas anymore, Toto. The way I thought I’d be telling stories, back in my eight year old Lois Lane/Clark Kent die-hard-try-hard-wannabe phase, has been unceremoniously chucked out of the window by the onslaught of digital media and the internet.

At first, I was aghast at this development. Not least because, naive as it may sound, I really didn’t see it coming at all. I was actually even quite happy using a pen to write things down. But then – after a fair amount of resisting and an unfair amount of whinging - I realised, despite the technological age slamming the window shut after it chucked my long-suffering pen out of it, just how many windows, doors, gateways, portals…whatever…it opened at the same time.

Daniel Meadows’ Digital Storytelling lecture in October made this even clearer to me. Watching digital stories made by members of the general public about subjects specific to them was illuminating – here was something I could do and, thanks to all the fantastic technology I had at my disposal, with comparable ease. I saw that new media could only really improve me as a writer, as a journalist, by providing me with all sorts of different ways to explore my own creativity and could only be of assistance to me in successfully engaging with my audience.

So, with that in mind, I took it upon myself to create a digital story of my very own, employing new tools and different techniques. The end result is unpolished, amateur to say the least and really rather rubbish but the process itself was interesting; by starting with pictures instead of words, the style of my story changed altogether and – although the content remained the same – appeared very differently to me, although I have regaled it – to poor unsuspecting people who don’t know better than to tell me to stop – many times. But – I shall let my masterpiece speak for itself.

“It's a thousand pages, give or take a few,I'll be writing more in a week or two.I can make it longer if you like the style,I can change it round and I want to be a Web 2.0 writer,Web 2.0 writer.” – Lennon/McCartney

It never really struck me that writing for an online publication would be so different to writing for a tangible title. Writing was writing was writing, as far as I was concerned. But it seems not only is it different but it is also somewhat harder. Or at least, more complicated with more than just the word count to consider.

Although there are similarities between print and online – obvious ones include the stellar, teacher’s red-pen-fave SPAG, consistent style and tone of voice and close observation of the house style guide – writing for the web involves a lot of thinking in a way I’m not quite used to yet. My headline writing has had to evolve in the space of five minutes.

I like to pun. If adjectives were people, I’d fancy them. Now, I have to write to help the reader find my story. If Google gets it, the reader gets it. Wahey! Job done. So no irrelevant words put in because you like the sound of them. Just fact, fact and more fact. Bye bye, beloved pun. Au revoir, adored adjective. Metaphor, you can bite the dusty dust. “Super Cally go ballistic Celtic are atrocious” counts for sweet FA. The sacrilege!

I suppose it’s not all bad. Headlines aside, in the main, I can write as I normally would, (ie; with a tendency to include as many adjectives as humanly possible without attracting the attention of my mortal enemy, the Red Pen).

There are a few extra things I have to do however, in order to ensure internetties get the gist of what I’m writing. Jakob Nielsen, in Writing for Web Studies, suggests that 79% of users scan instead of read and only 16% read everything word for word. Reading mode kicks in when content the user actually cares about crops up. Online writing has to reflect this reading technique by avoiding specialist jargon, sticking to facts and writing in short, sharp, choppy sentences. Writers have to pander to the needs of an impatient audience who are the harshest of critics.

In short – S.E.O. it, people!

The Hitchhiker's Guide to Blogging

Following the lecture, myself and some comrades saw fit to discuss the best ways to start up a blog, potential problems new bloggers may encounter, how to drive traffic towards your blog and possible ways to keep that same traffic constantly returning, as well as bringing new tourist cars along in their convoy. We multimedia-ed it up by recording it so...enjoy!

http://www.houndbite.com/?houndbite=5388