Bad Broadband

Once again, here I am finding myself apologising for my silence... but it's not all my fault!

In July I signed up with BT for their super-fast fibre optic broadband. All went well with the 10 day 'burn-in' period, then on 3rd August it all went squiffy. My connection continually dropped, sometimes leaving me without a connection at all, and other times, only giving me 60 seconds before it cut out again.

Well, many, many phone calls, and one engineer visit later, I am still in the same situation - yet I write this during one of my 'good' moments of connectivity. I now await an engineer to call on 4th September (the engineer call arranged for yesterday, 30th August just didn't happen - they didn't turn up and couldn't be bothered to tell me).

So fingers crossed they will fix my problem and leave me with a fault free service, otherwise I can promise BT, I will be cancelling, though it pains me to say so. Normal service will resume once I have a reliable connection.

Digital Bath - The Mouth of Ghosts

For your listening pleasure I present to you the brilliant cover of the Deftones' 'Digital Bath ' by a brilliant band I discovered accidentally on FaceBook, called The Mouth of Ghosts.

I hope you enjoy the cover as much as I do. I've listened to the original version by the Deftones, and to be honest, I prefer this one... sorry to all you Deftone fans ;)

The original video I posted was blocked for copyright reasons, so I found this more recent version - honestly do not know what the image is about, but I hope the poster is kind enough to let me use their post for the purpose of my blog topic. Thank you, Miss Feet :)

Neil Gaiman: An Inspirational Speech (especially for writers).

I was linked this video showing Neil Gaiman giving an inspirational speech to the University of Arts Class 2012, by one of my close friends from my online gaming community. It's almost twenty minutes long, but it is an excellent speech, and for some reason, Neil Gaiman has this almost hypnotic quality that pulls you along.

I'm hoping those writer blogofs out there will appreciate this for the brilliant speech, wit and intellect that Neil Gaiman presents so effortlessly and with such confidence.

Watch, listen and most of all, enjoy :)

Infinite Third - Billy Mays III

Image copyright of Billy Mays III
& Infinite Third

It's not often that you find a musical artist with whom you feel truly connected with via their music, and it is less often such an artist is so warm, open and genuinely passionate about sharing their art form with their fan base that they offer it up virtually for free.

This is why I am honoured to be presenting to you, my fellow blogofs, one such person. He is an extremely talented and genuinely creative individual who doesn't shy away from interacting with his fan base. His name is Billy Mays III, and you can find him on Twitter, FaceBook, and here on YouTube .

In attempting to describe his music I realise that it encompasses a plethora of genres, of which the ones that spring to my mind are: electronic, ambient, experimental and chillout. But on reading his site info, other descriptors mentioned are: drone, shoegaze, soundscape, healing, love, spiritual and relaxing, to name but a few. I've listened to his music for the better part of a year now and am the proud owner of five of his albums, one of my favourites being 'Innermost Center '.

To listen to his latest album, also free to download, follow this link to (eardrops) by Infinite Third.
But you can support this musician by giving a donation when downloading his music, which I think is fair when you consider the amount of work Billy puts into each album.

Below is one of my favourite tracks entitled, "To Dream To..." - I think you'll agree, it's sublime, whilst being hauntingly beautiful. This music most deservedly belongs in film - only my humble opinion ;)

A big 'thank you' to Billy Mays III for giving me permission to write this little piece. All copyright for Infinite Third and the Infinite Third logo and accompanying videos/music belong to the artist, Billy Mays III. Enjoy :)

Sigur Rós - video #7

I'd like to share with you this beautiful music by Sigur Rós, coupled with a video produced by Melika Bass - you can find her website here.

The music is entitled: Varðeldur. I hope you enjoy :)

What is a Muse?

What exactly is a muse? What form does it manifest, if any? Do we, as creative types, all have a muse? Is it part of who we are, and if indeed 'the muse' is missing, is an individual capable of being creative?

I'm asking these questions as I've felt my writing inspiration, for want of a better word, 'missing'? This doesn't mean I cannot write, otherwise I wouldn't be here now. No, what I am saying is that flow, that 'mind pump' (as David Gemmell once called it in a letter he wrote to me), has gone very still and quiet.

Newton Faulkner

Listened to this on the way home from work this afternoon. Made me smile for many reasons, but I'm not sharing why. Regardless of that, it's a great song, and certainly gets the foot tapping and is quite an uplifting 'feel good' tune, so I thought I'd share the love... enjoy.

The Dangers of Using External Images on your Blog

Courtesy of : jimmyloy.wordpress.com

I've recently gained a fellow blogger as a follower (wow, that rhymed rather nicely) by the name of David Powers King. Perusing his blog I read his latest article regarding the use of images taken from the internet. It makes for very informative and disturbing reading concerning the copyright issues of such a practice.

So I'm providing the link here to David Powers King: The Cosmic Lair of Science Fiction and Fantasy, and the article in question. I seriously suggest you read it. David helpfully provides links to several sites for trouble-free use of images and photos.

Mean Mina's Question Challenge... Grrr!

Image courtesy of
www.dangerouscreation.com

Mina, I love you as a blogof, but man, you be tryin' my patience girl with this one! It's MASSIVE! Sooo many questions, too! I will endeavour to answer as best as my ageing brain will allow, but I'm not going to continue with the tagging game - I do hope you understand.

So, the culprit I am answering to is none other than the Goth Mistress of the Blogosphere herself: Mina Lobo of 'Some Dark Romantic'.

Apparently I have to reveal 11 things about myself. Eleven. Hell, that's going to be tough - but I shall do my utmost to fulfill this blog ritual as best I can, though feel free to fall asleep during the reading.

Coursera - a Free Online Source of Courses

A friend and fellow blogger, Cassandra of ' Musings from an astronaut bound to Earth ', drew my attention to a free online writing course hosted by a site named 'Coursera'.

Now, never one for education as a teenager, I couldn't wait to leave my high school at the first opportunity. Granted, as I matured I did embark on various courses, either correspondence, night school, college, and finally university. Upon completion of my degree I vowed never to do another educational course again - ever!

Guild Wars 2 Grand Master

Well, I was lucky enough to be invited to write a small piece for a fan-based Guild Wars 2 site, run by a great guy based in America, called Shaun.  So, if you're into Guild Wars 2, or thinking about getting into the game upon release and want to know more regarding tips, hints, play guides and more, then click onto the site name here ~ Guild Wars 2 Grand Master.

My little Asuran Elementalist performing his staff twirling routine. Why, I haven't a clue?

The article basically chats about my experience within the last beta test weekend playing the diminutive, but no less dangerously intelligent race, the Asura (with beta screen shots added).

Alex Clare

I heard this guy on the radio whilst driving and as usual forgot his name by the time I arrived home, but after much searching of YouTube I finally tracked him down. So here is his official site link: Alex Clare.

And allow me to present to you for your listening and viewing pleasure the video of his song, 'Too Close' - enjoy :)