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I didn't get much done last week. I wasn't feeling great (possibly a side-effect of cutting out caffeine) so took things easy. I didn't even do any writing, just concentrated on getting some sleep.

At the weekend I journeyed up to Lancaster for a conference, The Critic As Artist, which looked at the fusion of literary criticism and creative writing. Creative critical writing is different to every other type of writing and each of the papers I watched was delivered in completely different ways, including powerpoint experiments, fictional scholars, and post-it notes. Most fascinating for me was a paper by John Goodby that was edited into a poetic form and discussed "high street" poetics vs the experimental. I also saw presentations by a couple of University of Sussex poets, Abi Curtis and Sarah Jackson. 

I wasn't sure how I would find the conference after a couple of years outside academia. The ideas and techniques used left me invigorated. I know there was a lot I didn't understand but I was fascinated by what I did get.

One advantage of being in Lancaster was bring able to visit my cousin, as well as meeting his new daughter for the first time. I spent Sunday morning visiting the playground with my cousin's family before braving the train network, the only downside to any weekend away.

I've returned with Lancaster for various ideas on my work, as well as a renewed excitement. Which is a good thing as I have various projects people are waiting on. One is my reading in this year's Melbourne Festival (Melbourne, Derbyshire, that is). I've been thinking yet again about Matt Webb's presentation at dConstruct 2007, which is one of the most provocative talks I've seen. It dispenses with the usual structure of 'say what you'll say, say it, then say what you've said', in favour of 'a fool's alphabet'. I'm going to try something similar for my Melbourne Festival piece and see what that leads to.

I'm also possibly reading some work between bands at an event this weekend, which is something I've not tried before. I've been looking for pieces that will work best in this context, as well as writing some new ones. I'm most excited about 'Michael Jackson in heaven' which I wrote last night.

I'm also running again after a couple of weeks injured . I've signed up for the Brighton Marathon in 2010 and am very excited. A little exercise will do me good too – I was shocked by the photos from the last Short Fuse where I look more like Alfred Hitchcock than I'd like. I'm suspect this is what led to one of the poets at the conference remarking that I 'didn't look like a vegetarian'.

I've spent the last week on leave from work. It's been a very busy week and I've not done half of the things I planned to do (while managing to do a few things I hadn't expected).  A few exciting opportunities have also opened up, which I will be working on for a while.

• Last Sunday I went back to Henfield, the village where I grew up.  I visited Jake Spicer's art show as well as looking round the village, comparing it to the one I remembered. The roads all seemed far smaller than they were when I was young.
• Monday I was in London for Ride the Word X, a collaboration between Spread the Word and Ride the Word. The reading seemed to go very well. It was lovely to see Alex and Elle from Penumbra, as well as meeting Vincent de Souza and Jay Merill, who read a fantastic story called Billericay.
• Tuesday was Telling Lies. We had some amazing performances from Rosy, Chris Parkinson and Bill Jones, with fantastic musical interludes from Madame's Butterflies. The set was dressed by Jake and the pictures looked amazing. Thanks to everyone who came along and all the people who helped out.
• Wednesday was my birthday, which was celebrated in Brighton and Derbyshire. Rosy, Kitty and I shot zombies on the pier and then went on the helter-skelter, which provided great views and friction burns. We had lunch at Terre-a-terre then I headed off to Melbourne to see my sister before she went to Chicago, and ate lots of Indian food.
• Friday I visited my friend Sarah Harvey's sound installation, Chambers. This was based on some ECG recordings, which had then been transcribed to musical recordings and performed by voice, double bass, saxophone and piano. It sounded incredible – the urgency of the rhythm made me very aware of my own physicality, almost disorientatingly. It was well worth the detour to Wimbledon.

I'm now back in Brighton for a while. Tonight is the next Trailer Trash night, Tarantino, then things are going to be less hectic for a week or two. I'm looking forward to doing some writing.

Below are some of the photos I've taken in the last week.

Jake Spicer's art show

Kitty Peels rehearsing for Trailer Trash

Chris Parkinson performing at Telling Lies

A tasty cake made by Rosy

Rosy and Kitty on the Helter Skelter

Sarah Harvey's Chambers installation

Scott Pack from the Friday Project recently sent me a review copy of their new book, 'A Gaijin's Guide to Japan'.

A gaijin is an "outside country person", and the term is used of anyone born outside Japan, no matter how many years, or even decades, they've lived in the country. The book makes no pretense at providing an absolute understanding of Japan and is all the better for it. Instead it gives the experiences and enthusiasms of one gaijin who has married into a Japanese family. There are lots of personal anecdotes, many of which provide an insight into Japanese etiquette and faux-pas (with Stevens admitting some he has made himself). 

My favourite section was the discussion of what some people call Japlish. Rather than the mocking tone I've sometimes seen, Stevens talks fondly about Japanese English as a distinct dialect and claims that it needs to be incorrect: "Japanese English is Japanese English – it makes the product it's advertising seem 'cool', while also giving an assurance that it is, at heart Japanese. Perfect English would just make a product seem foreign".

The book uses an A-Z format rather than a series of chapters focussing on different aspects. This means the book starts with Abe Sada and continues through a kaleidoscope of Japanese history, pop-culture and tradition, with the mundane and serious side-by-side. Stevens also takes his time over some of his favourite stories, such as that of the warrior monk Benkei or the filmmaker Beat Takeshi.

A Gaijin's Guide to Japan is a fantasic, positive guide to Japan, and the writer's enthusiasm is infectious. I now want to visit Japan more than ever. Meanwhile, where can I find somewhere locally that sells Umeboshi?

Somehow two weeks have slipped by since I last posted. There are lots of things I need to write about, such as my next Literature Network blog post, Pictour, Penumbra's new issue and two readings I've got coming up in June.  I also have a pile of links to post.  Meanwhile here are some odds and ends I meant to post last week.

• At the end of April I read at Glue Gun '91.  I had a good time reading and, being on early, could relax and enjoy the rest of the show – dying clowns, fake newspaper front pages, factsheets, the end of the world and a stunning set by AKDK.  Glue gun '91 was incredible.  The next episode is May 21st at the Victory (Life after man!) and AKDK are playing at the Hope the following night.
• The new Art Brut album, Art Brut vs Satan, is amazing.
• Sometimes I've played a game with people where we try and figure out what we could invent if we were sent back in time a thousand years or more.  Life has become so abstracted that most of my skills and knowledge would be useless without an elaborate civilisation to back them up.  This poster will come in useful. I'd love to know who made it – maybe time-travellers from our own future?
• My run of running misfortune continued last week when I feel over, banging up my knee and hand pretty badly.  I despair of getting back in shape again.

Going to get an early night tonight.  I'm very excited about tomorrow as I'm finally going to watch Synecdoche NY.

My friend Richard Willis recently posted the complete text of his essay Swindon Orbital on his blog.  I proofread one of the earlier versions and over the weekend read the latest, which includes some great photographs.  I've never visited Swindon, and possibly never will, but the essay was still fascinating, showing how much significance there is in even the most mundane and unpromising of locations.

The essay mixes an account of a tour of Swindon with history, myth and "anti-wisdom", as well as references including the Prisoner, the Usual Suspects, Theseus, the Aztecs and James Bond, the Marie Celeste and Stonehenge.  There's also a weird sense of threat as the figure of the pentangle and the circle keep reappearing through time and space.

"swindon, you see, has long been acknowledged by the necessarily objective market research industry
to be, more than any other place, a microcosm of the united kingdom. it is statistically 'average',
meaning that when organisations want to know how well new schemes, promotions and products
will work across the country as a whole, they bring them to swindon to petri-dish them first. the
uncomfortable fact is: swindon is the cracked mirror that the rest of the uk looks into."

Swindon Orbital stunned me with the implication that you could write something similar about any town in England. I imagine, given the time, even the wastelands of Harlow (where I lived for a few years) might deliver something wonderful.

I’ve had a slow Sunday after a very busy weekend.  On Thursday I visited the Fabrica gallery for the first event in their Blood and Ink programme, which accompanies the gallery’s display of Anish Kapoor works.  Friday night was another excellent Tight Lip.  The event opened with Caroline Weeks playing a lovely acoustic set followed by some interesting poetry from Jeff Shepherd.  The evening was headlined by Stewart Home. He’s one of the best spoken word performers I’ve seen: funny, intelligent, fast and everything performed from memory.  He also tells some fantastic anecdotes. 

The hightlight of my weekend was the Trailer Trash night at the Komedia, organised by Rosy Carrick and Kitty Peels.  I was helping out with few things on the night which was fun.  I got to watch the rehearsals and felt the excitement building through the evening until doors opened.  It was great to see how many people had dressed up for the Beetlejuice theme. 

I watched most of the performances from the side of the stage and it was odd not to be able to see the audience but it sounded like they had fun.  Trailer Trash had a good range of acts: Bex Marks the Spot was first with a dance routine; Miss Baby Bones did a fire-act; there was a burlesque act from the Flirtinis; hoop from Miz Juz Squire; and some songs from the fantastic Mr. Joe Black.  Kitty’s trapeze act was in the center of the dance floor and looked incredible.  The photo below is from rehearsals and doesn’t show the green body pain she was decorated herself with.

I didn’t get to bed until 4 and ended up sleeping through until the late afternoon.  A lot of work went into the night, from the make-up crew, the photographers, DJs Elvis and Mr. Grinel, the undead popcorn usherettes and the staff of the Komedia but it was all worth it.  The next Trailer Trash is on June 18th 19th and will have a Tarantino theme. 

On Saturday there's a new club night at the Komedia, whose organisers include my friends Rosy Carrick and Miss Kitty Peels.  The night takes a different movie as its theme each week and is starting with Beetlejuice.  There will be clips, great music, performances; including aerial, a fire act with Miss Baby Bones and, um, I'm man-propping for Kitty.  And zombie popcorn usherettes!  Come along because it will be awesome.  Click on the flier below to see it at full size:

The latest incarnation from cult movie-themed club extravaganza TRAILER TRASH!

Film
scenes spliced up with twisted cabaret, circus sideshow and aerial live
acts, plus rock 'n' roll, dirty electro, neo-swing and classic 80's
hits from our resident DJ Mr Grinel, and special guest DJ The Future
Sound Of Elvis.

Hosted by the effortlessly effervescent ROSY
CARRICK, and featuring the delectable delights of MISS KITTY PEELS with
THE FLIRTINIS, BABY BONES, BEX MARKS THE SPOT and MIZ JUZ SQUIRE, with
live music from JOE BLACK.

Fire!

Hoop!

Silks!

Trapeze!

Fucked up Burlesque!

Undead Popcorn Usherettes!

Winona Ryder!

AND
YOU – Dress to Distress in your very best Tim
Burton/Beetlejuice/Redneck/ Zombie/Conservative Ghosty/ Oddball Goth/
Ballgown/ Formal/ Fetish/ FUN attire!

PLUS:

The first 50
people through the door on the night will have thrust into their
glittery hands a special event cd featuring songs from the night mixed
by guest DJ, The Future Sound Of Elvis!

Tickets cost £10.00/£8.00

Go to:

http://komediabrighton.ticketsolve.com/shows/702631/events

to book your tickets.

One thing I love about Brighton is how many things there are to do.  I've been out to three very different nights this week and had a great time at each:

• On Tuesday flashbrighton hosted a showing of Sita Sings the Blues.  The film was as good as I hoped, a series of overlaid retellings of a traditional Indian story, the Ramayana.  It's remarkable that such an inventive and well-produced work is freely distributed.  The folks at flashbrighton were lovely and I wished for the first time that I was a flash coder.  Thanks!
• Wednesday Waterstone's hosted a reading by Vanessa Gebbie and Alison MacLeod.  Vanessa read a fantastic story from her new collection, which is apparently going to have two fronts like the old Ace Doubles, one side funny and the other more serious.  It was lovely to hear Alison's reading, an extract from a story about the Ikea riot which persuaded me to give the collection a try.  Vanessa's account of the evening is here.
• Last night was Hammer&Tongue.  Abi Curtis was the local poet, reading some fantastic pieces from her forthcoming Salt collection.  Also appearing was Spliff Richards. It was the longest set I'd seen from him and very impressive.  His work is intricate and uplifting with an incredible delivery.  There was also a great atmosphere, which made it worth the late night.

I'm also very happy because of my run yesterday.  I didn't have much time and ended up running faster than usual, cutting over a minute off my best time for 4 miles.  I've definitely got my speed back.  At the weekend I'll find out if I have the endurance for the marathon.

One of my favourite books is American Psycho.  The constant bored tone Ellis uses is stunning.  I've never seen fiction handle boredom and disconnection so well.  When the film came out I decided not to watch it.  I couldn't see a movie replicating the things I admired about the book.  The requirements of a Hollywood movie would sensationalise a book I loved for its lack of sensationalism.  I didn't want this  completely different work to alter the way I thought of a novel I liked.

I feel the same way about Watchmen.  I love the book.  I remember arguing for hours with friends about which characters were the most moral, who was 'right'.  Then I watched the first trailer and heard Rorscach's voice.  In my mind Rorscach speaks in a weasely voice, closer to his secret identity than the figure he cuts in costume.  In the clip I saw he sounded more like the trailer-man.

I love the novel Watchmen.  I love the way it's paced, the speed at which it unfold when I read it.  I love the details in the background, the detours the story takes.  Like Alan Moore I can't see these things working in a movie.

A couple of links from LinkMachineGo sum up two other reasons I don't want to see the film: the tacky associated merchandise ("we're society's only protection"?) and that it's not likely to be a good adaptation.

I hope everyone enjoys the film, it's just not for me.

One of the most useful things I learned on my masters was the importance of citation.  It's not enough to provide a fact: you need to be show where it came from. 

I once spent a few hours in the University library tracing William Burrough's assertion that Tristan Tzara caused a riot by performing random poetry on stage. I'd seen the fact quoted in various places but ended up fairly sure it was an exaggeration on Burrough's part (as unlikely as that sounds).  By a process of repetition the story had gained an academic credence.

Another important thing I learned was to be suspicious of common sense.  If 'everyone knows' something it's worth figuring out where that belief comes from and what its limits are.

David Aaronovitch has written a brilliant article in the Times investigating the statistic that we are caught on CCTV 300 times a day.  It's a fantastic demonstration of how 'everyone' can come to know something.  (via As Above)